#a sailor and a ranch hand walk into a store

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

LinkedUniverse Fanfiction Ch. 16: A Sailor and a Ranch Hand Walk into a Store

Stop! You’ve Violated the Law!

So, you’ve stumbled upon this original post for my Linked Universe fanfiction. That’s okay, it happens to everyone. As of March 2021, I’ve uploaded the entirety of this fanfic to my Archive of Our Own page. Along with finally giving the story a name–Oops! All Links: A Linked Universe Story–I made substantial edits to some of the chapters. These range from minor stylistic revisions to fixing a gaping plot hole that kinda completely broke the character conflict in the earlier chapters. I also renamed and renumbered (but not reordered) the chapters. Specifically, this is now Chapter 18: A Sailor and a Ranch Hand Walk Into a Store

The AO3 iterations of these chapters are the definitive versions. So, if you would like to read this fanfiction, please do so on AO3, right here. With this embedded link. Hehe. Geddit? Link?

Note: My screen name on AO3 is FrancisDuFresne. Yes, that is me. I am not plagiarizing myself.

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, the rest of the original post is below the cut.

Oof, it’s finally done. I’ll try to not let 3-month hiatuses become the norm... The last we saw our heroes, Wind and Twilight ended up in a treasure teller’s shop trying to earn back the money Wind’s missing wallet held. Thus begins the next chapter of my @linkeduniverse fan narrative.

Word Count: 2666

The Links started and whirled around, their hands flying to the hilts of their swords. The heroes scanned the front of the store for the source of the voice. No one seemed to be there. They drew their swords. Sunlight pouring through the high windows danced on the polished blades. A disembodied voice almost always meant bad news.

Suddenly, there was movement in the dark corner. The Links turned it face it. A pale, wrinkled hand seemed to appear out of nowhere and reached up. It drew back a veil to reveal a wizened old woman. Her sparse, stark white hair was pulled back into a loose bun. She looked positively ancient. She stepped forward.

Wind and Twilight stepped back. They now saw that her long robes matched the design of the walls. The same beads of the curtain made up the numerous necklaces and bracelets she wore. Twilight silently cursed himself for not seeing her before. She parted her thin lips in an unsettling smile. “Now, now, young men,” she continued in her dreamy drawl, “this is no place for swords.”

As the woman slowly walked around the heroes to her counter, they exchanged a quick look they understood as “don’t let your guard down,” and carefully sheathed their weapons. Now behind the counter, the woman eased herself onto a stool they hadn’t noticed either. It seemed the same wallpaper was painstakingly applied to the stool.

Leaning her elbows on the counter and resting her chin on crossed fingers, she stared through them. “Or, at the very least, no place for swords pointed at me. Now… how may I help you boys?”

Wind stepped forward. “You think you can scare us like that an—”

Twilight silenced his partner with a sharp nudge. After a fierce glare down at him, he turned back to the shopkeeper. “What my friend here means is ‘why were you hiding from us?’”

“Well…” she drawled, “I do quite enjoy getting a good… read… of my guests.”

“By hiding in the corner and spying on us while we waited for someone to come?” Wind shot.

The woman smiled again. “Yes.”

“You’re lucky we’re disciplined swordsmen,” Twilight said. He discreetly checked his pocket again. His wallet was still there. “We were about a second away from skewering you.”

“Heheheh,” the woman chuckled. “Yes, yes, very lucky indeed.”

Wind considered their options. Leave the store with no rupees or deal with this hag and maybe turn a profit. He decided to feign friendliness. “Well, ma’am, I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he said, offering his hand. “I’m Link, and this is…”

Twilight didn’t hesitate a beat before he finished, “Colin.”

The less she knows about us, he figured, the better.

The woman extended her skeletal, liver-spotted left hand to shake. Wind stared at it for a second. Left hand? he thought. Did she notice how we hold our swords?

The elder of the heroes nudged the younger again. Wind retracted his right hand and extended his left. He awkwardly shook the woman’s hand. Her grip was much stronger than he had expected. She then turned to Twilight. They shook left hands as well. Seemingly content, she crossed her fingers and rested her chin on them again.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Wind asked: “And your name is…”

“Madame Wondra Spectrula Viliafore.”

Another moment of quiet. Twilight decided he needed to keep the exchange rolling smoothly. “Pleased to meet you, Madame Viliafore.”

“Mmm… yes, likewise. Now, I believe you boys are here for a reason?” she asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “We have a few trinkets you may want to take off our hands.”

Madame Viliafore’s eyes opened just a bit wider. “Ooh, I do like trinkets. Let us see them.”

Wind tore his skeptical eyes from the old woman and rummaged in his spoils bag. Looking between what was essentially junk and actual quality treasure, he decided to start small and work upward. He grabbed one of the butterfly pendants. It really was garish. After a closer look, Wind could see why no one but that one teacher would like them. He placed it on the counter.

The skeletal hands gingerly picked up the necklace. The old woman inspected the pendant. Her nose wrinkled even more than it naturally was. Wind winced. She lowered the necklace and eyed Wind condescendingly. “Three,” she said with mild disgust; the dreaminess was gone from her voice.

“Deal,” Wind accepted. He was eager to take whatever he could get. He reached into his bag and retrieved the other six. Madame Viliafore raised an eyebrow higher into the folds of her forehead. She snatched them and, with the one already in her hands, placed them at one end of the counter.

Twenty-one… Twilight counted. He didn’t want this woman to pull a fast one on them.

“Anything else?” Madame Viliafore asked. Her voice was floaty again. “Anything less… common?”

Wind nodded. This time, he knew he had to gain her respect. Nothing too fancy, though. He pulled out five colorful feathers by their shafts. He gently placed then on the counter and fanned them out as if doing a magic trick. “These,” the youngest hero started with a dramatic flair, “are tailfeathers of the Helmaroc King, a magnificent and regal bird native to the Great Sea.”

Madame Viliafore picked up one of the feathers and scrutinized it. Sunlight played off the vibrant vane. Spring green faded into turquoise, then sunset orange, dandelion yellow, and finally brilliant gold. It seemed to glitter in the light. Wind was sure these were a step up from the awful butterfly pendants.

The Links waited in silence as the old woman inspected the feather. She turned it over in her hands, running her fingers gently across the smooth barbs. By the way her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, the heroes could tell she was interested. She set it down and carefully looked over the other four. She looked up at Twilight and Wind. “Thirteen each,” she said declared, her voice lacking its dreaminess once again.

Wind nodded. After all the grief the Helmaroc King put him and his family through, he was glad to be rid of the plumes. Twilight quickly crunched the numbers in his head. Eighty-six. Madame Viliafore moved her new spoils next to the chintzy necklaces. She rested her elbows on the counter once more, this time tapping her fingertips together slowly.

After a beat, Wind realized she was eagerly awaiting his next offer. Twilight looked on. He noted how wildly her demeanor changed. Clearly, the floaty dreaminess was a façade, and she was actually a thrifty businesswoman. Wind looked in his bag, reached in, then pulled out another necklace. This one was a set of jet-black pearls strung together on an ornate bronze chain.

This time, Madame Viliafore seemed genuinely interested. She leaned forward and snatched the necklace out of Wind’s hand. He seemed about to protest this rudeness, but Twilight nudged him again. Wind locked eyes with his partner. Even after their conversation in the street, he still felt like he was being treated like a little kid. He decided that problem could wait. For now, though, they needed rupees.

Madame Viliafore looked over the necklace as meticulously as she had the others. She was clearly interested, by the way she worked the pearls through her bony fingers. She raised it up to catch the sunlight, then gently lowered it to the counter. The Links waited with bated breath. At least, she spoke. “This one is a sight to see, my dearies…” she drawled. Then, with her deadpan voice, “Fifty.”

The Links exchanged another glace and a barely noticeable shrug. Wind turned back to the old woman. “Deal,” he assented.

“Heh heh heh…” she chuckled. It sounded as if she was expelling dust from her ancient lungs. “I assume you have more, Mister Link? More you weren’t showing until I gave a price?”

Wind stood and stared for a moment. She had figured out his tactic. Twilight knew she would figure it out instantly, but he gave Wind credit for drawing it out so long. The younger of the heroes didn’t take his eyes off the woman as he pulled an identical necklace from his pouch.

Madame Viliafore chuckled again. “Naturally, naturally… you do seem wise… for a child.”

This time, Wind forced himself to restrain a retort. He could feel Twilight’s eyes on him. “Funny,” he said through gritted teeth, “I’ve been told I’m more courageous than wise or powerful.”

Not bad, kid, Twilight thought as he flashed a grin. He resumed his counting. One eighty-six.

The old woman took the second pearl necklace from Wind’s outstretched hand and put it beside the other spoils. She went back to tapping her fingers together. Twilight noticed her eyes were wider than before; she knew they had more treasure up their sleeves. He hoped his partner could deliver.

Looking in his bag, an orange glimmer caught Wind’s eye. He smiled, reached in, and pulled out a solid chunk of amber. It was so large that it could only barely fit in his hand. Trapped in the center of it was a perfectly preserved horned beetle. Madame Viliafore’s eyes lit up as bright as the stone. “My, my… what do we have here?”

“Goron’s Amber,” Wind said suavely, or at least his best preteen attempt at it. He held it up to the light and an orange shadow fell upon the counter. “Fossilized tree sap so flawlessly preserved you can clearly see this eons-old beetle.”

The teller gazed upon the amber, mesmerized. She had stopped tapping her fingers, now pressing them stiffly together. She seemed to be restraining herself from snatching it out of the young hero’s hand. The Links exchanged a quick grin, knowing they had her in the palm of their hands.

Madame Viliafore stared for a few seconds more, then extended her hands slowly. Wind lowered the amber to her. He let go only when he knew she had it securely. He didn’t want their pièce de résistance shattering on the hardwood floor. Still, her hands dropped a fraction of an inch from its weight. Wind’s heart skipped a beat. The stone didn’t fall.

Twilight noticed a change in the woman. She seemed too awed by the amber to remember either of her façades. With a barely perceptible shake of her head, Madame Viliafore snapped out of her reverie. She looked up from the amber at the Links. She looked back down, then back up. Twilight couldn’t read her expression. “Well, dearies,” the old woman breathed, “you truly have caught my interest…”

The two young heroes glanced at each other again. Wind grinned. Twilight nodded. They looked back to Madame Viliafore. She looked them over in turn. “Eight hundred,” she said finally. Her voice was a confused sort of mixture between her two personas.

“Seriously?” Wind exclaimed. All that for a chunk of amber was a steal. Twilight was about to nudge his partner to mind his manners but was interrupted by the woman.

“Not enough?” she asked. “Fine, fine, nine hundred. No more.”

Wind turned to Twilight. The young seafarer’s eyes were gleaming. Twilight nodded. Wind turned to the woman. “Deal.”

Madame Viliafore perked up. She clearly hadn’t made such a trade in a long while. She gently lowered the amber onto the counter next to everything else she had purchased. Her eyes lingered on it a moment before she looked back to the two heroes. Falling back into her dreamy drawl, she continued, “And anything else for me, my dearies?”

Twilight didn’t wait for Wind’s assent before answering. “No, that will be all.” He crunched the numbers in his head. “I believe you offered one thousand eighty-six rupees for all these.”

The old woman’s face fell; she clearly wanted more treasure from them. Still, she withdrew a key from among the many necklaces she wore and inserted it into a drawer behind the counter. She withdrew three gold rupees, one silver, one purple, one red, three blue, and one green. Twilight grinned as she dropped them into his outstretched hand. He glanced down to his partner, who beamed back at him.

“Thank you, Madame,” Twilight said with a slight bow. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Wind added.

Madame Valiafore looked the heroes up and down again. To Twilight, it seemed she was wondering just who and what they were. How did they come across these treasures? Why was a boy so young armed with a sword and shield? Were they friends, or brothers, or something else? He realized how unusual they must seem to ordinary folk and found he couldn’t blame her for being so interested in them.

“Farewell, Colin,” she drawled. “Farewell, Link. It was a pleasure.”

The Links smiled, turned, and exited. Wind found himself squinting in the morning sun; the store had been rather dim. He turned to Twilight. His friend was fitting the rupees into his own wallet. A thought struck him. “Hey Twi?” he ventured. “Why did you say your name is Colin?”

Twilight glanced back at the storefront as they walked away. “Something about that hag put me on edge. I figured the less she knew about us, the better. It is very unusual that we share our name.”

“I guessed that much, but why Colin?”

“Oh,” he said. “That. One of the boys from my village is named Colin.”

“Ah,” Wind replied. He assumed Twilight was finished so was surprised when he continued.

“Colin…” Twilight almost whispered. His mind flashed with images of Colin, from his hometown to Kakariko Village to the Bridge of Eldin… to his friend bound to a war staff, to fighting furiously on horseback to save him. He shook his head to clear it. “His father practically raised me, so in a way, I suppose we’re… brothers, almost.”

The older of the two looked down to the younger to see him wide-eyed and smiling. For a moment, Twilight couldn’t help but see Colin in his other self. He returned the smile and ruffled Wind’s hair. “That was a good show back there,” he said.

“Thanks.” Wind hooked his thumbs in his belt as he walked. “I was put off by that woman, too. What do you think her deal is?”

Twilight crossed his arms. “Honestly, I think she’s just a weird old coot. She never tried to pull something over on us and paid what she promised.”

“What about the shaking hands thing?”

Both Links instinctively flexed their left hand. “Hm,” Twilight began. “She may have noticed how we held our swords, or she could have been a lefty herself.”

“Ya know, it wouldn’t surprise me if she did it to maintain her mystique. I bet you that isn’t even her real name.” Wind snorted. “ ’Madame Viliafore?’ Yeah, right.”

Twilight chuckled. “I’ll keep my rupees, thanks,” he conceded. It was a silly name.

The two Links shared a laugh. When Wind sobered up, he looked up at the late morning sky. Twilight mentioning rupees stirred a thought in his head. “Twi?”

“Hm?”

“Are you still mad at me for losing my wallet?”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, I was.”

Wind was still looking skyward but glanced at his friend in his peripheral vision. Was? he thought.

“You were irresponsible, and it was a hassle earning back the rupees, but we’re eight hundred rupees richer than we were yesterday. I can’t really stay mad about that.”

The youngest hero let out a sigh. His partner exhaled sharply through his nose and grinned. “Don’t take that as permission to lose your wallet again,” he joked.

“Alright, alright,” Wind waved Twilight off. “I’m sorry. It’s done and over now, though.”

“Yup. Time to buy potions.”

“Ugh, I forgot about that.”

Wind’s shoulders slumping and Twilight’s acute senses relaxing, the two continued their search for an apothecary. Hopefully, Twilight mused, our friends have had an easier morning.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Beautiful (Linked Universe story)

Summary: After consecutive days of battle, Warriors sees Twilight struggling and reaches out to help.

It hadn’t been a pleasant week.

 Having just entered this new Hyrule, whenever and wherever it was, the group had immediately set to work investigating. They’d figured out they were between heroes, which meant it was all the more urgent to hunt down the monster hordes before they could cause damage. That meant long days of hunting, and many nights interrupted by ambushes.

 Warriors ran a hand through his hair, weary from the most recent battle they’d finished a few hours ago. At this rate it almost felt like his war days again, constantly being on the move and running into armies trying to kill him and his troops. He smiled at his brothers, proud of their abilities.

 And then he frowned.

 Twilight sat slumped by the fire, his dinner untouched in his hands. That wasn’t like him at all – the younger man usually ate heartily.

 Warriors quickly scanned the rest of the group again – Time was setting up his bedroll and listening absentmindedly as Wind spoke to him about the fight earlier in the day (the sailor’s eyes were noticeably slowly drooping as he talked; Warriors figured he’d be out in a few minutes) while Legend and Hyrule had already fallen asleep back-to-back. Sky was fussing over Four’s laceration for the fifth time (the smithy remained patient and smiled at the concerned knight), and Wild was finishing storing the leftover food while humming Epona’s song. The camp rustled with soft activity before slowly, everyone started to fall asleep.

 Time was settling Wind into his bedroll as Wild walked over to Twilight.

 “What’s wrong? You’ve barely eaten,” Wild remarked. “Did it taste bad?”

 Twilight glanced at Wild, his expression tired, and he gave a meager smile. “Nah, ‘s ok, Champ. Just wasn’t that hungry.”

 Clearly what he was, however, was tired. Warriors knew the man’s accent was usually better contained than this. The captain remained still from his position, silently observing, waiting to see if he was needed.

 As Twilight insisted to his worried friend that everything was all right, he let Wild take the leftovers to store them as well. The champion settled uneasily in his bedroll, occasionally glancing at Twilight, but the rancher had first watch and was not going to be heading to bed anytime soon. By this point Wind, Legend, Hyrule, and Four were asleep. Time walked around the camp’s perimeter, easing his own nerves and ensuring that everything was indeed safe for the night (a ritual he often did, especially during stressful weeks like this), and Sky stretched, discarding old gauze beside his bedroll with carelessness and slumping onto the ground in exhaustion. Warriors watched to see if the old man spoke to Twilight at all, and Time gave the rancher a brief, stern, but concerned reminder to wake him for the next shift before going to bed.

 Twilight sighed, looking at the ground.

 Well, Warriors was honestly still too wound up from battle to rest anyway. Rising, he walked over to the fire and sat beside the ranch hand.

 “I’ve got first watch, remember?” Twilight said with a pointed look. “You need to sleep.”

 “We all need to sleep,” Warriors tossed back easily with a shrug. “It is what it is. You okay?”

 Twilight rolled his eyes. “Honestly, y’all are fussin’ too much.”

 “And you’re going Country on me.”

 “I am from the country.”

 “I know, Rancher. But I also know you always have an appetite, and you didn’t eat dinner.” Warriors noted, facing Twilight fully. “I’m not the Champion. You don’t have to put on a strong face for me. What’s wrong? Are you injured? Sick?”

 Twilight huffed out a mirthless laugh, keeping his gaze on the fire. “No, I’m not… it’s not… I’ll be alright, Captain.”

 Ah, the accent was disappearing. He was trying to convince him. Somehow, that just annoyed the captain even more. They were all tired, and his patience wasn’t what it should have been.

 “We’re adults for heaven’s sake, Rancher. Just be straight with me.”

 “It ain’t really your business, Cap.”

 “It is if it’s bothering you.”

 “Well, it won’t be tomorrow!” Twilight snapped all of a sudden, glaring at him. “Look, I just need a bit, but I’ll be fine, okay?”

 Warriors was silent, watching him. Given Twilight’s propensity to shoulder burdens and try to handle things alone, he wasn’t entirely trusting that the man wasn’t at least ill. Twilight, however, seemed to interpret his analytical silence for hurt, and he took a shuddering breath, closing his eyes.

 “I’m… ‘m sorry,” the Ordonian muttered. “Look, I just… I just don’t like talkin’ about what’s botherin’ me while it’s actively botherin’ me. Can’t put words to it, and don’t want to. Does that make sense?”

 Warriors still didn’t like seeing his friend, his brother, in this state. But he could respect that. “Yeah. It makes sense.”

 Twilight nodded in thanks and acknowledgement, opening his eyes and staring stubbornly at the fire, waiting for Warriors to go to bed.

 Except he didn’t. The captain wouldn’t talk to him if he didn’t want to, but he himself was still letting the adrenaline wear off, and he took comfort in others. He knew Twilight wasn’t as sociable as him, but given his current state it couldn’t hurt to have the company. Warriors certainly wasn’t the most comforting person in the group, but he could at least offer support silently while respecting Twilight’s privacy.

 For a while, it was okay. For a while, they both were lost in their own minds, whittling away the time in comfortable silence. But then, Twilight shuddered again, shaking his head at whatever was holding his mind captive. Warriors looked at him, and the attention was immediately noticed.

 “Sorry,” Twilight said softly. “Didn’t mean t’ bother you.”

 Warriors said nothing, not wanting to push. And for once, Twilight took the silence as an invitation, feeling the need to elaborate.

 “It’s just… that wolfos. There was a wolfos in the last fight.”

 Warriors nodded cautiously. “Yeah. There was.”

 “And… and that villager freaked out about it.”

 “The villager was freaking out about all the monsters, Rancher.”

 “Yeah, but… but they were lookin’ at the wolfos.”

 Warriors wondered if he might actually know where this conversation was going.

 “I just… it jus’ made me think about…” Twilight shifted, taking a fortifying breath, trying to spit the words out. “People don’t like wolves, Cap.”

 Warriors furrowed his brow, trying to parse this out. “Is this because you can turn into a wolf?”

 That had to be it. Twilight flinched and immediately spoke. “They… nobody knew. Nobody recognized me back in Ordon. And they…”

 Warriors could infer the rest easily enough. He imagined how hurtful and horrible it would be to see the people he loved cowering in fear at the sight of him. He wondered if they even tried to drive Twilight off. He didn’t dare ask.

 “’S stupid,” Twilight rambled on, but in a low tone as if he were speaking to himself. “I’ve gotten used to it. Doesn’t usually bother me anymore.”

 Warriors could at least speak to that issue. “You’re tired. We all are. We react differently when we’re tired. Things that don’t bother us are suddenly problems. Things that we’ve gotten through in the past suddenly come back to haunt us. There’s nothing stupid about that.”

 “They didn’t know any better,” Twilight said, shaking his head, his voice growing in strength, his accent slipping out of reach as he tried to steady himself. “And I know that. I knew that even then. There’s no reason for me to be upset about it now, to let it just take over my head like the Champion’s memories take over him. I don’t have that right.”

 Warriors furrowed his brow. “That right?”

 Twilight sighed, shaking his head. “Wrong phrasing. Sorry.”

 “No,” Warriors said firmly. “No, you meant something by that.”

 For a long time, Twilight said nothing. Warriors began to debate if he should press further or leave it alone. But Twilight swallowed thickly and then spoke. “It’s just… you… the others… it’s stupid, but I just… I feel like I don’t have the right to hurt like you guys do.”

 Warriors felt his body grow cold. What… what did that mean? Had Twilight been suffering in silence this entire time? How long had he felt like this?

 “I… I had a happy childhood. A good childhood,” Twilight explained, his emotions choking his voice, his accent back and threatening to make Warriors struggle to understand. “Belly always warm an’ full, people who loved me and supported me… never had t’ worry about whether there would be monsters huntin’ me or if the world was gonna end… and even when I was no spring cucco no more, I didn’ go through what y’all did… like, sure, the Twilight Realm made everythin’ all cattywampus, but I still had friends 'n’ family, I didn’ lose my entire identity an’ country an’ people like Champion, I didn’ have t’go on so many adventures that I wore myself ragged like Veteran, I didn’ have t’ fight a war like you. I don’ know what a lot of the others endured, but… the way Traveler always looks over his shoulder, the way Sailor laughs off the fact that he had t’ kill a man at thirteen… and that doesn’ even begin to cover some of the others…”

 Warriors waited patiently for Twilight to come to a point (and mentally stored away a few notes for later, like what the rancher knew about the Twilight Realm and what in the world cattywampus meant), and the wait paid off fairly quickly.

 “I jus’… there’s no reason for me to feel like this.”

 Warriors pat him on the back. “Everyone hurts sometimes, friend.”

 “Yeah, but I shouldn’t hurt like this. Not when I didn’ go through what y’all did.”

 “Link,” Warriors said, catching the man’s attention. “It doesn’t matter what walk of life we come from… we all hurt the same. There’s no shame in that.”

 Twilight’s cheeks puffed out, his face seeming to swell with stifled emotion. He cleared his throat and looked away. “You manage to hold yourself pretty well, all mighty handsome and put together.”

 Warriors choked out a laugh. “I’m more than happy to give you some tips if you want. Your hair could use a bit of work, but honestly, you’re pretty put together, certainly in comparison to the others. That wolf pet is a bit on the nose, though.”

 Here he finally managed to get a chuckle out of the ranch hand, and he felt some satisfaction with that. Then he added, “Besides, what’s on the inside matters far more.”

 “Sweet Ordona, I’m not that concerned about physical appearance,” Twilight groaned in exasperation. “I just mean you’re put together. But yeah, sure, you’re a very handsome man and a beautiful soul as well.”

 Although Warriors had heard plenty of compliments over the years, Twilight’s simple words touched him. He smiled, feeling his heart hum with peace and comfort, but then Twilight pinched the bridge of his nose.

 “You don’t think you’re put together or a beautiful soul?” Warriors questioned.

 “Do I look like either of those things right now?”

 Warriors shrugged. “Everyone’s allowed to falter.”

 Twilight looked down, his already round cheeks puffing out as his eyes watered. A single tear slipped down his face and he aggressively wiped it away with a mumbled, frustrated, “Shit.”

 Warriors shifted to kneel down directly in front of Twilight, ending up just a little below eye level of him. Taking the rancher’s hands in his own, he said, “Being put together isn’t everything, you know. And you know what? You’re beautiful just the way you are, Rancher. Hurting doesn’t change that. You don’t have to be perfect and always okay.”

 Twilight’s lips quivered, and he quickly sucked them in and bit them. The corner of his mouth curled upward in an acknowledging, heartfelt smile, and his eyes glittered as he held Warriors’ gaze. He squeezed his hands in return, unable to speak.

 Satisfied with the acknowledgement, Warriors smiled back, and then he rose to sit beside the rancher on the log. Wrapping an arm around him, he pulled him to his side and felt Twilight rest his head on his shoulder.

 “This is horse shit,” Twilight suddenly said, making Warriors stare at him in surprise and bewilderment. “I’m supposed to be the big brother of the group.”

 Warriors’ laughter was so loud he was sure he woke up the entire camp. Twilight clamped a hand over his mouth, throwing himself off balance, and they both unceremoniously fell backwards off the log. Warriors continued to laugh, and Twilight had to join him.

 Flat on their backs and giddy from the brief adrenaline rush of falling, the two giggled themselves into breathlessness, interrupted when Time appeared upside down in Warriors’ line of vision.

 “What are you boys up to?” the old man asked tiredly, his face a mixture of amusement, sleepiness, and mild curiosity.

 Warriors suddenly felt mischievousness bubble in his chest. “Rancher said ‘shit.’”

 Time’s eyebrows rose. After all, Twilight never swore.

 The Ordonian stammered, tripping over his words to save face, and then gave up, smacking Warriors on the chest.

 “Must be serious,” Time muttered, crossing his arms and giving a signature smirk that Warriors knew all too well from a certain troublemaking sprite.

 “Oh, it is,” Warriors went on as Twilight groaned. “He was asking for beauty tips.”

 “For the love of—” Twilight rolled onto his belly and buried his face into the ground. “That’s it, I’m leavin’, y’all take over watch.”

 There was a beat as Twilight caught his mistake and he shot up to his knees. “I—I mean you take care of watch; I’m just going to go patrol the area.”

 Time knew Twilight better than Warriors, and a simple slip of an accent and vernacular was all the excuse he needed. “No, I think it’s time you get some rest.”

 “But—”

 “My watch can start a little early, son.”

 Warriors blanched at the nickname, surprised at such a slip up (after all, Time filling in the void as a father figure to many of them was a specifically unspoken fact of the group), but he supposed after Twilight had almost died a few weeks ago Time’s pride wasn’t big enough to worry about it.

  Warriors was never going to let him hear the end of it.

 Despite Time’s tone brooking no argument, Twilight did, in fact, argue. Warriors eventually compromised between the two, offering to stay up with Twilight to accommodate both Time’s concern that he shouldn’t be on watch alone in his exhausted state and Twilight’s need to pull his weight. Time acquiesced with a stern look to the captain, a silent warning to not take total responsibility and refuse to wake him when it was his turn, and then went back to bed.

 Twilight sighed, rubbing his face. “I hate you.”

 Warriors looked affronted. “What did I do now?”

 “Make me talk about my feelings. I suck at that. I don’t like that.”

 “You’ve talked about things just fine in the past,” Warriors remarked with a shrug. “You’re not as broken as you think you are.”

 “I ain’t broken,” Twilight said with strength, his eyes fierce.

 Warriors smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re damn right.”

 After that, watch went by peacefully as the pair took turns stoking the fire in silence. When Twilight’s watch was up, he pulled his bedroll over beside Warriors, and the two stared up at the sky together pointing out different constellations. They were both still restless, both still hurting in different ways from the day, but they were together and content enough with that.

 Sure, they were hurting, but they were healing too.

 And it was beautiful.

[hibiscustea9]

10,000 views on “Fire Walk with Me”!

YOU GUYS. Late last night, “Fire Walk with Me” hit 10,000 views. I am beyond blown away by this. Nothing I have ever written has come anywhere close to the reception this story has gotten. To celebrate, I’m going to make the sort of post I don’t usually make and share one of my headcanons for each of the Stardew Valley villagers (excepting the few who don’t have any real impact on the story, like Gil and the Ginger Island villagers). Read on below the jump to see these (some of which have been shared already in “Fire Walk with Me”) and thank you, thank you for all of your support and reading this story. It’s made me so very happy.

Abigail secretly loves disco music. She hates the aesthetic and clothing of the era, but she will rock out to any of the great disco bands or divas when in her room and with her earbuds in. She would sooner die than have Sam and Sebastian find out about this.

Alex had offers to attend several universities on a full ride scholarship to play gridball, but turned them down out of fear of failing out of school. After high school, he was diagnosed as dyslexic. His teachers were encouraged to just pass him through without making him complete the work, which left him deeply insecure. He now has plans to go to trade school, which he feels might be his ticket out of Pelican Town.

Caroline is the wizard’s daughter, and a lay green witch. Her father was a sailor who was lost at sea and Rasmodius comforted her mother (which is the regret Rasmodius has that broke up his marriage). Caroline’s hair is naturally green. She is not aware of her magic, which manifests mostly as being able to grow any plants she wishes.

Clint left Pelican Town to go to college, only to have to come back when his father died to take care of his mother. He was a voice major and has a lovely singing voice, though he’s often too shy to show it off these days.

Demetrius is a skilled teacher and used to adjunct biology classes at Grampleton Community College to help support his family when Robin was getting her carpentry business off the ground. While he enjoyed teaching, the commute and long hours burnt him out after a year and he hasn’t felt the urge to teach since.

The Dwarf is a huge movie buff, but even more than the films, she enjoys turning around while sitting in the front row to look at the faces of the people watching the films.

Elliott is not a citizen of Ferngill but a foreign national. His posh accent and vocabulary rubbed some townsfolk the wrong way when he moved to Pelican Town. He managed to get on the good side of those same townsfolk when he accidentally knocked his bait bucket all over himself at his first Festival of Ice but continued fishing through it, coming in a respectable second to Willy that year.

Emily genuinely believes in the healing power of crystals and positive thinking, though she also has great respect for traditional medicine. She often asks Harvey medical questions when he’s at the bar. For his part, Harvey truly enjoys being able to talk about his discipline with anyone else, even a crunchy granola type like Emily.

Evelyn stopped believing in Yoba after her daughter was diagnosed with cancer and died young, leaving Alex in her care. She has never let on, given how George makes a point of attending weekly services. Seeing how much Clara suffered, first in an abusive marriage and then going through the failed treatment for her cancer, left Evelyn unable to believe in an all-powerful deity. Instead, she aims to spread as much kindness as she can, seeking salvation in other people instead of worship of Yoba.

George started watching so much television when Alex came to live with him and Evelyn. He didn’t like TV much before then, but got in the habit of letting Alex stay up late and watch reruns with him. While he claims to enjoy westerns the most, he has a not-so-secret love for classic game show reruns. The way the women dress reminds him of Evelyn when she was young, though he thinks none of them are quite as pretty as Evelyn.

Gus used to run a successful restaurant in the Zuzu City suburbs and is a classically-trained chef. The stress of running the restaurant and being in charge of both the front and back of the house took a toll on his health and his doctors recommended he step back and find something less strenuous to do. With his proceeds from selling the restaurant, he built the Stardrop Saloon and now is much happier with his life.

Gunther is a local son of Pelican Town who moved away to attend grad school in library science. He had a job in Zuzu City but moved back when he learned of the theft of the collection. He secretly resents returning to Pelican Town, which he was eager to leave, but feels it is his duty to stay and ensure the library is taken care of.

Haley’s ringtone on her phone is the National Geographic theme. When she was young, her parents took her and Emily all over the world and she grew fascinated with other cultures and other places. She has planned all the trips she wants to take. As much as she and Emily bicker, Emily is her favorite travel companion.

Harvey and his family were very poor when he was growing up. When he was fourteen, his sister contracted scarlet fever and they were unable to afford a doctor’s visit. A local doctor from a clinic came by and left medicine at her own expense. This led Harvey to pursue medicine as a career; he could make much more money in Grampleton or Zuzu City, but he stays on in Pelican Town because they really need a doctor. 

Jas helped Shane with his experiments in breeding the chickens. She has a natural head for science and once she got hold of Shane’s books, she plotted out how to look for recessive genes that would allow for chickens to be bred and emerge with blue feathers. She and Shane have a gentlemen’s agreement to not tell Marnie.

Jodi worked as a travel agent before she married Kent. She always envisioned the trips they would take as soon as they had the money, and then when Sam was grown, and then when Vincent was grown. She sometimes stays up late on the computer, looking at flight plans and planning the most affordable trips that would allow her to travel and see the places she most wants to see in the world.

Kent found comfort in another soldier when they were in the Gotoro prison camp. Though it became physical, it was more about finding something to hold onto than about the sex. His guilt over this relationship kept him distant from Jodi and his sons when he first returned. After confessing his indiscretion to Jodi, they attended relationship counseling. She has forgiven him, but he has yet to forgive himself.

Krobus is technically a liquid.

Leah earned an M.F.A. from Zuzu State, where she met and became friends with Elliott. Prior to attending her program, she interned as an apprentice carpenter in Grampleton. It was these same contacts who told her about Pelican Town and Robin, who let Leah stay at her home while she looked for a house to rent in town. Leah not so secretly has a crush of admiration on Robin.

Lewis, before becoming mayor of Pelican Town, owned a leatherworking business. He misses working with his hands, which is one of the reasons why he always visits the shopkeepers and is insistent on there being booths at the Stardew Valley Fair for the artisans in town to show off their wares.

Linus used to live in Pelican Town. He has a living relative in town. [REMAINDER REDACTED: SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING CHAPTERS OF “FIRE WALK WITH ME”]

Marlon saved George’s life the day of the mine cave-in. He was the only one willing to enter the caves and seek out the last missing miner. It was in the process of doing so that a falling rock blinded him in one eye. Despite his injury, Marlon managed to pull George to safety up through the mine shafts. Though his lost eye made him unable to be an active member of the Adventurer’s Guild, Marlon does not regret anything and would absolutely do it again.

Marnie wanted to be a veterinarian. She did very well in college, earning a degree in animal sciences from Zuzu State, and was on the verge of leaving Pelican Town permanently to pursue vet school when she interned at a vet’s office in Grampleton for a summer. She was so distraught the first time she had to assist with putting a dog to sleep that she gave up on the career and decided to open her ranch. She makes it a point to be present any time an animal has to be put to sleep to give it comfort, even though it wrecks her emotionally.

Maru got into science after Sebastian was completely uninterested in a chemistry set he got one year for the Feast of the Winter Star. She is still passionate about chemistry, despite her other interests in biology and robotics. She was briefly the most popular kid in town, despite being younger than most of the other young adults, when she learned how to make ice cream using ingredients found in any kitchen.

Morris was a child actor who had a small role in Junimo Forest, a nearly-forgotten children’s movie from more than forty years ago. He owns six of the known twenty surviving copies of the film.

Mr. Qi took Sandy on as his ward after her parents, who worked for him, died suddenly. He considers Sandy to be his own daughter and always looks out for her. It’s why the Oasis is still in business despite barely getting any customers.

Pam and Penny used to live above the library. Pam’s husband and Penny’s father was the former curator, who made off with the entire collection on a day when Pam took Penny to an academic competition her senior year of high school. The trailer was the only thing they could afford to move into. This was when Pam started drinking so heavily and Penny started longing so much to live in a house of her own.

Pierre holds a degree in economics that he wanted to use to help boost his family’s business. His secret stash is stock options that he has been investing in since taking over Pierre’s General Store from his father. Neither Caroline nor Abigail knows about this money that Pierre is sitting on.

(I am not the biggest fan of Pierre, in case you can’t guess.)

Rasmodius only built his tower after his daughter, Caroline, was born. He has looked over Caroline and her family ever since. Though his lifespan will last far beyond Caroline’s, he plans to watch over Abigail after she is gone, as well as any children Abigail has, or their descendants. His greatest regret is not being present in Caroline’s life as she was growing up.

Robin wanted to be a ballroom dancer, but at 5′11 was far too tall to actually enter the ballroom circuit. She met Demetrius at amateur ballroom dancing lessons and still knows how to perform any ballroom or Latin dances she learned. Her favorite dance is the tango because of the crisp precision required. After she retires, she and Demetrius have a plan to travel and dance the tango in all of the countries where it is taught.

Sam, despite a love of pranks, only ever really got in trouble once while in high school. He and Sebastian cut class and went to a local park, where Sam skateboarded and Sebastian smoked. A missed trick made Sam get so scraped up he had road rash for a month. After he got home, Jodi read him the riot act for once and grounded him from skateboarding until school was out. That was when Sam got into guitar and started thinking seriously about a career in music.

Sandy met Emily at a holistic retreat. She used to work for Mr. Qi, selling snake oil (literally - his iridium milk sells for a huge amount to those in the know), but was so energized by her encounter and conversation with Emily that she decided to go into running her own store.

Sebastian’s favorite adult in town (other than his mom) is Marnie, who recognizes in him a kindred spirit. Marnie taught Sebastian how to catch frogs when he was young and he still occasionally seeks her out to talk to and ask advice from. He vehemently dislikes Lewis because of his refusal to acknowledge his relationship with Marnie, and wants to see Marnie in a relationship with someone who will treat her right.

Shane was on track to be a major gridball star, and was the hope of Stardew Valley High, before getting in a car accident senior year. He almost lost a leg and had to spend six months relearning how to walk. He began drinking heavily afterward to cope with the constant physical pain. Marnie reached out to friends of his in Zuzu City, who had him come live with them and dry out. He remained sober until three months after he moved back to Pelican Town with Jas, his goddaughter. He started drinking again after working at JojaMart, much to Marnie’s dismay.

Vincent changes what he wants to be when he grows up on a weekly basis. Past desired jobs have included soldier (like his dad), musician (like his brother), teacher (like Miss Penny, but something fun like art, not yucky like spelling), game show host, Flower Queen, surfer, and astronaut. Jodi amuses herself by imagining what her son will wear to work on the weeks where he insists he’s going to be some combination of the above.

Willy is a veteran of the Ferngill Coast Guard. He is from the Fern Islands but vowed never to return after some of his siblings disputed his father’s will and caused a massive feud. He joined the Coast Guard as a way to stay on the water and get away from the islands. He was honorably discharged after suffering an injury on a rescue mission and decided to settle in the most peaceful seaside town in Ferngill that he could find, which led him to Pelican Town.

Once again, thank you all so, so, so much for reading “Fire Walk with Me”! I hope you enjoyed these headcanons and that they give you some insight into some of the way I’ve written characters in the story.

[eugenesmorphine]

Hiiii can you do something about Burgie?

Old School Southern Love // Romus “Burgie” Burgin Imagine

Taglist: @alienoresimagines @teenmagazines @punkgeekchic @hellitwasyoufirstsergeant @valterras @adamantiumdragonfly

Words: 2,378

  Romus Burgin rested on the train as he tilted his head back. He really was going back home to Texas after being stuck in the Pacfic Theater for god knows how long. He missed the feeling of his mattress. His dog. His parents and his siblings. And most importantly, his girl. Y/N L/N was the classic southern girl. Beautiful and almost the most dazzling young woman you would ever see walking the streets of Jewett, Texas. And her heart belonged to the Marine that was stationed in Japan, fighting for the country. And everyone in the area knew that more than anything. 

///

  Y/N and Romus met a while before the war. A few weeks before Pearl Harbor to be exact. Y/N was raised on a small horse ranch along with the rest of her family. Unlike her sisters, who were always gussied up, afraid to chip a nail type of gals. While Y/N always wore overalls and the same work boots. Always had her hair up and high away from her face. Always had some oil on her hands and dirt on her clothes and scattered on her face. She did enjoy dressing up from time to time, but she loved working hard. So when she went to the feed store in town to get some Hay for her family’s horses, Romus just so happened to be there. Jewett was a small town, so almost everyone knew each other. And Y/N was well known for her looks even when covered in dirt and motor oil. 

  Romus remembered when he heard the bell on the door of that little store ring. He remembered looking up and seeing her little sunhat at first as she walked to the counter. He was busy buying some smokes for his old man when he saw her walk up beside him. He damn near fell over when she saw the smile on her face as she asked the cashier to grab a few hay bales for her to grab. Romus realized he had been staring too long when he noticed Y/N turn to smile at him. Giving a small wave. Burgie’s ears turned a bright shade of red as he gulped in embarrassment. He returned her wave with a small embarrassed one. And that is when she spoke to him for the first time. And that is where he fell in love.

   “Hey stranger, I haven’t seen you around. Are you new?” she asked, turning to look at him. Even with the dirt caked on her face, her smile and bright eyes shined through it. She was so gorgeous, his heart melted right then and there. Taking off his hat quickly as the woman spoke to him. Placing it against his chest.

   “No, ma’am. Lived here my entire life. I know you though,” he said with a soft smile. Y/N let out a soft chuckle. Tilting her head to the side. Biting her bottom lip slightly.

   “What have you heard about me?” she asked with a flirtatious tone. Placing her hat back onto her head as she placed her hands on her hips. Romus smiled and turned more towards her. Nodding a bit as he placed his father’s smokes into the pocket of his work pants. Humming softly.

  “That you’re one of the most hard working, most pretty girls around,” he flirted. His voice is soft and sweet. Burgie was usually more quiet. He was on the shyer side of things. Yet, growing up in a small town, you grow out of it a bit. Y/N just blushed softly and turned her face away slightly to hide her reddened face.

   “A flirt aren’t you? I like that. I’m guessing you know my name, it is only fair if I ask you what yours is,” she said softly. Looking back at the counter and snatching an apple within the basket. Taking a nice big bite of it and wiping the juice that slid down her chin away with her sleeve. Romus chuckled and looked down for a moment. Licking his bottom lip before looking back up.

  “Romus Burgin, ma’am. Nice to meet you,” he said. Extending his hand. Y/N gladly took it in hers and a spark she felt within her as their hands touched. Grinning softly as his hand fell perfectly into hers. That was the moment both of them knew that this little meeting wouldn't be the first time they met.

  Of course throughout the days the two kept bumping into each other at the store and other places around town. Soon Y/N even invited Burgie over for dinner. Which they labeled as their first date. It was the start of something that would last a lifetime. And when Burgie joined the Marines, she was scared, but told him she would wait for him. Making Romus promise he would return to him alive. A promise he swore to keep and fulfilled. They were star crossed lovers. Soulmates. And everyone knew it.

 /// 

  Now Romus sat on the train bouncing his knee up and down. Chewing skin off of his bottom lip while he stared out the window. He didn’t know why he was nervous. He didn’t think Y/N left him or anything. They had been exchanging letters every day he had been gone. And she never missed a reply and was never late in sending a letter. Each one had another picture of herself, her perfume sprayed all over it, and Y/N’s signature red lipstick kiss stain on the bottom of each letter. Her words never failed to make his cheeks go red. So he didn’t know why he was so nervous. He guessed it was just because they had spent so much time apart. And he also thought that maybe he changed too much. That was one thing that scared him. If he would scare her off. But he shoved the thoughts away as he focused on seeing his family and the woman he was in love with.

  ///

   The train came to a halt. Lurching his body slightly. Hearing the caller over the barely working speakers call out his town. Checking his watch, Romus stood up and grabbed his travel bag. It was later, about nine at night. Some Marines, Sailors, and or Soldiers slept on the train. So he tried his best to remain quiet. Shuffling out and saying some quiet goodbyes to people that he had spoken to. But when his dress shoes hit the pavement of the train station, only one thing remained on his mind. And that was seeing Y/N. 

  First he stopped and found a taxi. Tossing his bag in and then climbing in. Giving a small smile to the taxi driver as he sat down. “Where to?” the man behind the wheel asked. His eyes looked tired. But nothing compared to what Burgie’s looked like. The man smiled a warm smile. An older gentleman with all his hair white and a nice white beard. Romus tiredly smiled in return as he gave his address. “Going home to the family? I want to thank you for your service,” he gave a small tip of his Irish cap to him as he began to drive down the road. The lights of the small town at night were comforting. It felt like an eternity since he saw them. Chuckling and looking out the window he nodded slightly.

“Thank you for the support,” Burgie said. Turning his head back to meet the driver’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, I get to see my family. But first I’m going to see my girl first,” Burgie responded. Grinning slightly as he thought about Y/N within his head. Digging his hand into his pocket to take out a small folded picture. Unfolding it and in his hand rested his favorite picture Y/N had sent him. He loved every picture she sent him. But this one was just her favorite. It was the one risky picture Y/N had ever sent, but it wasn’t the risky clothing she wore. It was the smile on her face. Romus could tell she had somehow managed to take the picture herself. And one thing he knew was that his Y/N would never let anyone see her in a lingerie piece that she had worn besides him. Y/N looked truly happy in that photo. Sure she looked more stunning than ever. But her face is what grasped his attention. Smiling at the photo he could feel his heart swarm with butterflies. The same feeling he got when he first saw her at that store.

   “I’m guessing she is a dime piece. I’m happy for you,” The taxi driver spoke, snapping Burgie out of his thoughts. He looked up at him and smiled shyly. His cheeks reddening slightly as he took one final glance at the photo and folded it back up. Placing it back into his dress greens pant pocket and nodding.

  “Oh boy, I sure do, sir. Most beautiful girl in the entire world,” he said softly. Biting his bottom lip in attempts to contain his excitement. He just couldn’t wait to see her. That was what he wanted to do. Touch her smooth skin, smell her shampoo in her hair and the perfume that rested on her. And her lips on his. The taxi driver chuckled as the car slowed. They had already reached their small ranch house that they had bought not too long before the attack on Pearl Harbor. His eyes widened as reality set in.

   “Well son, I let you Marines and Soldiers have this ride on the house. You saved our country. Now good luck with you million dollar, gal,” he smiled and laughed. Romus smiled and grabbed his bag. Thanking the nice driving as he stood up. His shoes hit the gravel driveway that wasn’t too far from the front door. Chewing on the inner lining of his cheek. It was a strong feeling of anxiety that washed over him. Did he not want to see her? What if she doesn’t feel the same anymore? He tried to suppress the silly thoughts as he knew that were all so stupid and he knew weren’t true. Taking a deep breath and exhaling as he began to make his way to the front door. Today was the day.

  When he approached the door, he brought his hand up and made a fist. Knocking on the wooden door. Not too hard, but not too soft where he wouldn’t be heard. Staring at his feet until he waited to hear the sounds of footsteps. A thought popped into his head as he dug his hand into his bag to pull out a slightly crushed rose he had bought. He sighed, yet he knew it would be just fine in Y/N’s eyes. Tapping his foot softly as he waited. The rose held tightly into his hand like a teenage boy nervously waiting for his prom date. And that’s when he heard it. Her footsteps and along with her voice.

  “One second!” she called as the footsteps grew louder. They were soft. Romus could tell she wasn’t wearing her normal leather boots. Smiling as he heard the door unlock and it creaked wide open. That is when he saw her. “I’m sorry for the wait I..” she stopped when her head turned and her eyes landed on his. First they widened and her mouth fell open slightly. Romus never told her when the train was coming. He actually told her he was going to be stuck on a ship for about a week. “Romus..” she whispered. Her mouth slowly turned up into a smile as she jumped up. “Romus!” Y/N shouted.

   “Hey, darling,” he could barely speak out before Y/N tackled him into a hug. He barely kept his balance as he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and spun her around in a hug. Placing her bare feet onto the concrete stairs. “Oh how I’ve missed you,” he said. Staring into her eyes, He wished he was the one to kiss her, but Y/N beat him to it when she smashed her lips onto his. Her soft hands going up to gently hold his face. Romus leaned against her and melted against the touch that he yearned for for so long. 

   Y/N tugged him inside and tossed his C-bag aside. “Oh, Romus! Why did you have to try and surprise me! I could’ve made you a nice meal!” she exclaimed. Rushing to the kitchen, already beginning to pull out some pots and pans. Laughing as he approached her and grabbed her hands gently. 

   “Y/N, I don’t need no fancy meal. It is too late in the night for that. Let’s just go sit and relax. Tomorrow we can go out dancing and get a nice meal. Tonight I only want to spend time with you before I see my parents,” he smiled and kissed her forehead. Y/N quickly melted against the kiss and gently wrapped her arms around his skinny waist. 

  “I need to fatten you up! You aren’t leaving my sight no more! Do you understand me, Sergeant?” she asked. Squishing his cheeks together softly. Her southern accent poking through more and more each word. 

  “Yes, ma’am. But.. maybe we could go and recreate my favorite picture now that we are here together again?” he offered with a cheeky smile. Causing his woman to toss her head back and let out a laugh. Looking back up at him with dusted pink cheeks.

  “Well what are we waiting for, Sergeant Burgin?” she smirked and giggled. Pulling him along to go upstairs into their bedroom. In that moment Burgie was swollen with love. All those anxieties went away in just seconds. Y/N was so unbothered and so full of love. He knew already that they were soulmates. Destined to be together for the rest of their lives. And now he knew he needed to carry that promise out. He would keep his promise, just like he did to her when he survived the war for her. Romus Burgin always kept his promises to Y/N L/N. No matter what.

[takethehighwaytoheaven]

The crysanthemums by John Steinbeck

Warning: This story is NOT mine(No hell) Hope you like it

The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot. On the broad, level land floor the gang plows bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut. On the foothill ranches across the Salinas River, the yellow stubble fields seemed to be bathed in pale cold sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the valley now in December. The thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive yellow leaves. It was a time of quiet and of waiting. The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long; but fog and rain did not go together. Across the river, on Henry Allen's foothill ranch there was little work to be done, for the hay was cut and stored and the orchards were plowed up to receive the rain deeply when it should come. The cattle on the higher slopes were becoming shaggy and rough-coated. Elisa Allen, working in her flower garden, looked down across the yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits. The three of them stood by the tractor shed, each man with one foot on the side of the little Fordson. They smoked cigarettes and studied the machine as they talked. Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work. She was thirtyfive. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked. She was cutting down the old year's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors. She looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and then. Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy. She brushed a cloud of hair out of her eyes with the back of her glove, and left a smudge of earth on her cheek in doing it. Behind her stood the neat white farm house with red geraniums close-banked around it as high as the windows. It was a hard-swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows, and a clean mud-mat on the front steps. Elisa cast another glance toward the tractor shed. The strangers were getting into their Ford coupe. She took off a glove and put her strong fingers down into the forest of new green chrysanthemum sprouts that were growing around the old roots. She spread the leaves and looked down among the close-growing stems. No aphids were there, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started. Elisa started at the sound of her husband's voice. He had come near quietly, and he leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens. "At it again," he said. "You've got a strong new crop coming." Elisa straightened her back and pulled on the gardening glove again. "Yes. They'll be strong this coming year." In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness. You've got a gift with things," Henry observed. "Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big." Her eyes sharpened. "Maybe I could do it, too. I've a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planters' hands that knew how to do it." "Well, it sure works with flowers," he said. "Henry, who were those men you were talking to?" "Why, sure, that's what I came to tell you. They were from the Western Meat Company. I sold those thirty head of three-year-old steers. Got nearly my own price, too." "Good," she said. "Good for you. "And I thought," he continued, "I thought how it's Saturday afternoon, and we might go into Salinas for dinner at a restaurant, and then to a picture show—to celebrate, you see." "Good," she repeated. "Oh, yes. That will be good." Henry put on his joking tone. "There's fights tonight. How'd you like to go to the fights?" "Oh, no," she said breathlessly. "No, I wouldn't like fights." "Just fooling, Elisa. We'll go to a movie. Let's see. It's two now. I'm going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the hill. It'll take us maybe two hours. We'll go in town about five and have dinner at the Cominos Hotel. Like that?" "Of course I'll like it. It's good to eat away from home." "All right, then. I'll go get up a couple of horses." She said, "I'll have plenty of time to transplant some of these sets, I guess." She heard her husband calling Scotty down by the barn. And a little later she saw the two men ride up the pale yellow hillside in search of the steers. There was a little square sandy bed kept for rooting the chrysanthemums. With her trowel she turned the soil over and over, and smoothed it and patted it firm. Then she dug ten parallel trenches to receive the sets. Back at the chrysanthemum bed she pulled out the little crisp shoots, trimmed off the leaves of each one with her scissors and laid it on a small orderly pile. A squeak of wheels and plod of hoofs came from the road. Elisa looked up. The country road ran along the dense bank of willows and cotton-woods that bordered the river, and up this road came a curious vehicle, curiously drawn. It was an old spring-wagon, with a round canvas top on it like the cover of a prairie schooner. It was drawn by an old bay horse and a little grey-and-white burro. A big stubblebearded man sat between the cover flaps and drove the crawling team. Underneath the wagon, between the hind wheels, a lean and rangy mongrel dog walked sedately. Words were painted on the canvas in clumsy, crooked letters. "Pots, pans, knives, sisors, lawn mores, Fixed." Two rows of articles, and the triumphantly definitive "Fixed" below. The black paint had run down in little sharp points beneath each letter. Elisa, squatting on the ground, watched to see the crazy, loose-jointed wagon pass by. But it didn't pass. It turned into the farm road in front of her house, crooked old wheels skirling and squeaking. The rangy dog darted from between the wheels and ran ahead. Instantly the two ranch shepherds flew out at him. Then all three stopped, and with stiff and quivering tails, with taut straight legs, with ambassadorial dignity, they slowly circled, sniffing daintily. The caravan pulled up to Elisa's wire fence and stopped. Now the newcomer dog, feeling outnumbered, lowered his tail and retired under the wagon with raised hackles and bared teeth. The man on the wagon seat called out, "That's a bad dog in a fight when he gets started." Elisa laughed. "I see he is. How soon does he generally get started?" The man caught up her laughter and echoed it heartily. "Sometimes not for weeks and weeks," he said. He climbed stiffly down, over the wheel. The horse and the donkey drooped like unwatered flowers. Elisa saw that he was a very big man. Although his hair and beard were graying, he did not look old. His worn black suit was wrinkled and spotted with grease. The laughter had disappeared from his face and eyes the moment his laughing voice ceased. His eyes were dark, and they were full of the brooding that gets in the eyes of teamsters and of sailors. The calloused hands he rested on the wire fence were cracked, and every crack was a black line. He took off his battered hat. "I'm off my general road, ma'am," he said. "Does this dirt road cut over across the river to the Los Angeles highway?" Elisa stood up and shoved the thick scissors in her apron pocket. "Well, yes, it does, but it winds around and then fords the river. I don't think your team could pull through the sand." He replied with some asperity, "It might surprise you what them beasts can pull through." "When they get started?" she asked. He smiled for a second. "Yes. When they get started." "Well," said Elisa, "I think you'll save time if you go back to the Salinas road and pick up the highway there." He drew a big finger down the chicken wire and made it sing. "I ain't in any hurry, ma am. I go from Seattle to San Diego and back every year. Takes all my time. About six months each way. I aim to follow nice weather." Elisa took off her gloves and stuffed them in the apron pocket with the scissors. She touched the under edge of her man's hat, searching for fugitive hairs. "That sounds like a nice kind of a way to live," she said. He leaned confidentially over the fence. "Maybe you noticed the writing on my wagon. I mend pots and sharpen knives and scissors. You got any of them things to do?" "Oh, no," she said quickly. "Nothing like that." Her eyes hardened with resistance. "Scissors is the worst thing," he explained. "Most people just ruin scissors trying to sharpen 'em, but I know how. I got a special tool. It's a little bobbit kind of thing, and patented. But it sure does the trick." "No. My scissors are all sharp." "All right, then. Take a pot," he continued earnestly, "a bent pot, or a pot with a hole. I can make it like new so you don't have to buy no new ones. That's a saving for you. "No," she said shortly. "I tell you I have nothing like that for you to do." His face fell to an exaggerated sadness. His voice took on a whining undertone. "I ain't had a thing to do today. Maybe I won't have no supper tonight. You see I'm off my regular road. I know folks on the highway clear from Seattle to San Diego. They save their things for me to sharpen up because they know I do it so good and save them money. "I'm sorry," Elisa said irritably. "I haven't anything for you to do." His eyes left her face and fell to searching the ground. They roamed about until they came to the chrysanthemum bed where she had been working. "What's them plants, ma'am?" The irritation and resistance melted from Elisa's face. "Oh, those are chrysanthemums, giant whites and yellows. I raise them every year, bigger than anybody around here." "Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colored smoke?" he asked. "That's it. What a nice way to describe them." "They smell kind of nasty till you get used to them," he said. "It's a good bitter smell," she retorted, "not nasty at all." He changed his tone quickly. "I like the smell myself." "I had ten-inch blooms this year," she said. The man leaned farther over the fence. "Look. I know a lady down the road a piece, has got the nicest garden you ever seen. Got nearly every kind of flower but no chrysanthemums. Last time I was mending a copper-bottom washtub for her (that's a hard job but I do it good), she said to me, 'If you ever run acrost some nice chrysanthemums I wish you'd try to get me a few seeds.' That's what she told me." Elisa's eyes grew alert and eager. "She couldn't have known much about chrysanthemums. You can raise them from seed, but it's much easier to root the little sprouts you see there." "Oh," he said. "I s'pose I can't take none to her, then." "Why yes you can," Elisa cried. "I can put some in damp sand, and you can carry them right along with you. They'll take root in the pot if you keep them damp. And then she can transplant them." "She'd sure like to have some, ma'am. You say they're nice ones?" "Beautiful," she said. "Oh, beautiful." Her eyes shone. She tore off the battered hat and shook out her dark pretty hair. "I'll put them in a flower pot, and you can take them right with you. Come into the yard." While the man came through the picket fence Elisa ran excitedly along the geranium-bordered path to the back of the house. And she returned carrying a big red flower pot. The gloves were forgotten now. She kneeled on the ground by the starting bed and dug up the sandy soil with her fingers and scooped it into the bright new flower pot. Then she picked up the little pile of shoots she had prepared. With her strong fingers she pressed them into the sand and tamped around them with her knuckles. The man stood over her. "I'll tell you what to do," she said. "You remember so you can tell the lady." "Yes, I'll try to remember." "Well, look. These will take root in about a month. Then she must set them out, about a foot apart in good rich earth like this, see?" She lifted a handful of dark soil for him to look at. "They'll grow fast and tall. Now remember this. In July tell her to cut them down, about eight inches from the ground." "Before they bloom?" he asked. "Yes, before they bloom." Her face was tight with eagerness. "They'll grow right up again. About the last of September the buds will start." She stopped and seemed perplexed. "It's the budding that takes the most care," she said hesitantlv. "I don't know how to tell you." She looked deep into his eyes, searchingly. Her mouth opened a little, and she seemed to be listening. "I'll try to tell you," she said. "Did you ever hear of planting hands?" "Can't say I have, ma'am." "Well, I can only tell you what it feels like. It's when you're picking off the buds you don't want. Everything goes right down into your fingertips. You watch your fingers work. They do it themselves. You can feel how it is. They pick and pick the buds. They never make a mistake. They're with the plant. Do you see? Your fingers and the plant. You can feel that, right up your arm. They know. They never make a mistake. You can feel it. When you're like that you can't do anything wrong. Do you see that? Can you understand that?" She was kneeling on the ground looking up at him. Her breast swelled passionately. The man's eyes narrowed. He looked away self-consciously. "Maybe I know," he said. "Sometimes in the night in the wagon there—" Elisa's voice grew husky. She broke in on him. "I've never lived as you do, but I know what you mean. When the night is dark—why, the stars are sharp-pointed, and there's quiet. Why, you rise up and up! Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It's like that. Hot and sharp and—lovely." Kneeling there, her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth. Then her hand dropped to the ground. She crouched low like a fawning dog. He said, "It's nice, just like you say. Only when you don't have no dinner, it ain't." She stood up then, very straight, and her face was ashamed. She held the flower pot out to him and placed it gently in his arms. "Here. Put it in your wagon, on the seat, where you can watch it. Maybe I can find something for you to do." At the back of the house she dug in the can pile and found two old and battered aluminum saucepans. She carried them back and gave them to him. "Here, maybe you can fix these." His manner changed. He became professional. "Good as new I can fix them." At the back of his wagon he set a little anvil, and out of an oily tool box dug a small machine hammer. Elisa came through the gate to watch him while he pounded out the dents in the kettles. His mouth grew sure and knowing. At a difficult part of the work he sucked his under-lip. "You sleep right in the wagon?" Elisa asked. "Right in the wagon, ma'am. Rain or shine I'm dry as a cow in there." It must be nice," she said. "It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things." "It ain't the right kind of a life for a woman. Her upper lip raised a little, showing her teeth. "How do you know? How can you tell?" she said. "I don't know, ma'am," he protested. "Of course I don't know. Now here's your kettles, done. You don't have to buy no new ones." "How much?" "Oh, fifty cents'll do. I keep my prices down and my work good. That's why I have all them satisfied customers up and down the highway." Elisa brought him a fifty-cent piece from the house and dropped it in his hand. "You might be surprised to have a rival some time. I can sharpen scissors, too. And I can beat the dents out of little pots. I could show you what a woman might do." He put his hammer back in the oily box and shoved the little anvil out of sight. "It would be a lonely life for a woman, ma'am, and a scarey life, too, with animals creeping under the wagon all night." He climbed over the singletree, steadying himself with a hand on the burro's white rump. He settled himself in the seat, picked up the lines. "Thank you kindly, ma'am," he said. "I'll do like you told me; I'll go back and catch the Salinas road." "Mind," she called, "if you're long in getting there, keep the sand damp." "Sand, ma'am?. .. Sand? Oh, sure. You mean around the chrysanthemums. Sure I will." He clucked his tongue. The beasts leaned luxuriously into their collars. The mongrel dog took his place between the back wheels. The wagon turned and crawled out the entrance road and back the way it had come, along the river. Elisa stood in front of her wire fence watching the slow progress of the caravan. Her shoulders were straight, her head thrown back, her eyes half-closed, so that the scene came vaguely into them. Her lips moved silently, forming the words "Goodbye—good-bye." Then she whispered, "That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there." The sound of her whisper startled her. She shook herself free and looked about to see whether anyone had been listening. Only the dogs had heard. They lifted their heads toward her from their sleeping in the dust, and then stretched out their chins and settled asleep again. Elisa turned and ran hurriedly into the house. In the kitchen she reached behind the stove and felt the water tank. It was full of hot water from the noonday cooking. In the bathroom she tore off her soiled clothes and flung them into the corner. And then she scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and arms, until her skin was scratched and red. When she had dried herself she stood in front of a mirror in her bedroom and looked at her body. She tightened her stomach and threw out her chest. She turned and looked over her shoulder at her back. After a while she began to dress, slowly. She put on her newest underclothing and her nicest stockings and the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness. She worked carefully on her hair, pencilled her eyebrows and rouged her lips. Before she was finished she heard the little thunder of hoofs and the shouts of Henry and his helper as they drove the red steers into the corral. She heard the gate bang shut and set herself for Henry's arrival. His step sounded on the porch. He entered the house calling, "Elisa, where are you?" "In my room, dressing. I'm not ready. There's hot water for your bath. Hurry up. It's getting late." When she heard him splashing in the tub, Elisa laid his dark suit on the bed, and shirt and socks and tie beside it. She stood his polished shoes on the floor beside the bed. Then she went to the porch and sat primly and stiffly down. She looked toward the river road where the willow-line was still yellow with frosted leaves so that under the high grey fog they seemed a thin band of sunshine. This was the only color in the grey afternoon. She sat unmoving for a long time. Her eyes blinked rarely. Henry came banging out of the door, shoving his tie inside his vest as he came. Elisa stiffened and her face grew tight. Henry stopped short and looked at her. "Why—why, Elisa. You look so nice!" "Nice? You think I look nice? What do you mean by 'nice'?" Henry blundered on. "I don't know. I mean you look different, strong and happy." "I am strong? Yes, strong. What do you mean 'strong'?" He looked bewildered. "You're playing some kind of a game," he said helplessly. "It's a kind of a play. You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon." For a second she lost her rigidity. "Henry! Don't talk like that. You didn't know what you said." She grew complete again. "I'm strong," she boasted. "I never knew before how strong." Henry looked down toward the tractor shed, and when he brought his eyes back to her, they were his own again. "I'll get out the car. You can put on your coat while I'm starting." Elisa went into the house. She heard him drive to the gate and idle down his motor, and then she took a long time to put on her hat. She pulled it here and pressed it there. When Henry turned the motor off she slipped into her coat and went out. The little roadster bounced along on the dirt road by the river, raising the birds and driving the rabbits into the brush. Two cranes flapped heavily over the willow- line and dropped into the river-bed. Far ahead on the road Elisa saw a dark speck. She knew. She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey. She whispered to herself sadly, "He might have thrown them off the road. That wouldn't have been much trouble, not very much. But he kept the pot," she explained. "He had to keep the pot. That's why he couldn't get them off the road." The roadster turned a bend and she saw the caravan ahead. She swung full around toward her husband so she could not see the little covered wagon and the mismatched team as the car passed them. In a moment it was over. The thing was done. She did not look back. She said loudly, to be heard above the motor, "It will be good, tonight, a good dinner." "Now you're changed again," Henry complained. He took one hand from the wheel and patted her knee. "I ought to take you in to dinner oftener. It would be good for both of us. We get so heavy out on the ranch." "Henry," she asked, "could we have wine at dinner?" "Sure we could. Say! That will be fine." She was silent for a while; then she said, "Henry, at those prize fights, do the men hurt each other very much?" "Sometimes a little, not often. Why?" "Well, I've read how they break noses, and blood runs down their chests. I've read how the fighting gloves get heavy and soggy with blood." He looked around at her. "What's the matter, Elisa? I didn't know you read things like that." He brought the car to a stop, then turned to the right over the Salinas River bridge. "Do any women ever go to the fights?" she asked. "Oh, sure, some. What's the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I don't think you'd like it, but I'll take you if you really want to go." She relaxed limply in the seat. "Oh, no. No. I don't want to go. I'm sure I don't." Her face was turned away from him. "It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty." She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly—like an old woman.

[hazeofhearts]

Sweet Treat (Robin x reader)

(It pained me to write Steve like how he was back in season 1 because he’s such a developed character now. It was really hard 😅)

Warnings: Minor homophobia.

The doorbell rang in your quiet house and you skidded along the floor in your socked feet to answer it. You smashed into the door and pulled it open in quick succession. There was Robin, your girlfriend, standing on your front steps with a full duffle bag and a tired look in her eye. She was still dressed in her work uniform; you giggled and, before you could stop yourself, you said,

“Ahoy!”

Robin stepped inside your house, dropping her bag on the floor and rolling her eyes at you, though her smiling lips told a different story.

“Shut up,” she grumbled, cupping your cheeks and pressing her lips to yours in a sweet kiss. You wrapped your arms around her waist and pulled her closer, smiling into the kiss. She pulled away after a moment.

“God, you’re so smiley and happy. It’s absolutely disgusting,” Robin said as she pinched your cheeks between her hand.

Robin said a lot of things that might seem mean spirited and rude but you saw through it. If you looked into her cornflower blue eyes, you could see a softness that she reserved only for you. Around others, she was a steel trap but with you, she transformed into a teddy bear.

“Hey, girls, no making out in the foyer. Go do that in your room instead,” your dad called from the den off to the right of the door. He and your papa were cuddled up together on the couch, despite the summer heat that had scorched through the house earlier that day.

“Yes, dad,” you said in a singsong voice, dragging Robin up the stairs as she greeted your dads.

“No ‘hey keep the door open’ or anything?”

“Their main concern is pregnancy. Since we can’t get pregnant, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I guess you have a point.”

You led Robin into your room, plopping down on your bed. She followed suit after taking off her hat.

“How was your day,” you whispered.

“Boring as shit, as usual. Really, you should come and work with me. I would love to have you around,” Robin responded, leaning forward to press another soft kiss to your lips.

“Mmm, my parents don’t like the mall. It creeps them out.”

Robin made a sad noise back at you and brushed a lock of hair out of your face. You followed her hand with your nose and brushed it carefully against her palm.

“You’re weird,” she said with a cute smirk.

“But I’m your brand of weird so that’s all that matters.”

“Correct.”

You giggled again and turned to fumble for your remote on your nightstand. You turned on the TV that was in the corner of your room before getting off your bed and turning off the overhead lights, washing the room in white blue light.

You changed quickly into your pajamas and laid down next to Robin. She pulled you to her chest and wrapped her arms around you with you doing the same to her.

“I don’t want to go to school in the fall,” Robin spoke softly into your hair.

“Why?”

“I won’t be able to kiss you how I want. At least not in public.”

You hum and snuggle closer to your girlfriend, burying your face into her uniform shirt and filling your nose with her perfume’s scent and the smell of waffle cone.

“You’re really trying to make me go to the mall with you tomorrow aren’t you?”

A beat of silence.

“Is it working?”

You smacked Robin’s butt and she jerked away from your hand, pushing you closer to the edge of your bed and almost making you fall off. You let out a squeal and clutched Robin close to you. If you were going down, she was going with you.

“Fine, fine! I’ll go to the mall with you in the morning.”

“Yes! There are so many things you can do in there, you don’t have to hang with me all day.”

“Oh? You don’t want me around when your boyfriend, Steve Harrington is around, huh?”

“Shut up! He’d probably flirt with you because he doesn’t know I’m gay and you’re my girlfriend.”

“I wish we could just be out and open,” you mumbled against Robin’s chest, right over her heart.

“Me too,” Robin replied as she rested her chin on top of your head.

The two of you laid like that until you almost fell asleep. Robin shifted under you and you groaned and moved so she could get up. You heard her go into the bathroom across the hall. Once the shower started, you walked over to the bathroom and opened the door.

“Robin, I’m gonna brush my teeth ok?”

“Sure,” Robin said from behind the curtain.

You did exactly as you said and went back to bed. You were already half asleep again when Robin came back into the room and crawled next to you.

“I love you,” she said, curling herself into your back, surrounding you in warmth.

“I love you too,” you slurred as you fell asleep.

——————————————

You woke late the next morning, the TV off and Robin rustling around your room.

“Stupid hat.”

You stood from bed and the springs creaked, startling Robin.

“Good morning,” she said to you.

You said nothing and instead went over to your lamp where Robin’s hat was perched on top. She had flung it there last night without looking where it went. You turned to her and plopped it on her head lopsided, pressing a kiss to her cheek right after.

“Good morning.”

You got ready quickly, donning a pair of cuffed, high waisted shorts and a white T-shirt with a little rainbow on the right breast pocket. Your parents had bought it for you after you came out to them. You traced the rainbow with a finger before turning to Robin.

“Ready?”

——————————-

You pulled into a parking space at the mall and got chills just from looking at it. You scoped out the parking lot and seeing nobody there, pressed a quick kiss to Robin’s lips before exiting the car. She stumbled out, a pink flush on her cheeks.

“You can’t just do that! I wasn’t ready!”

“That’s the entire point,” you said, sticking your tongue out. Once Robin caught up with you, you linked your arms together as you walked to the front entrance.

It was pretty dead on the outside, it being only 10:30 in the morning but when you walked in, there was a sizable amount of people in the food court just standing and sitting around. You looked around and saw all the food places that were on the ground floor and then up top where stores where.

“Impressive, right? Maybe you can expand your wardrobe now.”

“What’s wrong with my wardrobe,” you questioned accusingly.

“Nothing. I think you’re very cute but you should go shopping and have some fun, if only to purchase things that we can both appreciate.”

The two of you approached Scoops Ahoy where Robin worked, your cheeks flushed heavily as you swat your girlfriend. She only chuckled gently as you walked through the threshold.

Steve Harrington was already behind the counter, his own sailor hat on his head. He looked surprised to see you and you felt the same.

“I’m gonna go punch in. Steve, Y/N. Y/N, Steve.”

Robin left your side to go into the back, leaving you and Steve in the front of this empty ice cream shop. You shifted uncomfortably.

You were friends with Jonathan Byers and, by extension, Nancy and the Party. You’d hung out with them a lot this summer when you weren’t with Robin. You knew that Dustin was close with Steve but that doesn’t mean you had to be friendly.

When you were a sophomore and Steve was a junior, you brought both of your parents to parent-teacher conferences. You thought nothing of it until you actually stepped into the school and everyone stared at you. Your dads ushered you to your classes and got in and out of there quickly.

But that didn’t stop the student body from noticing. Steve’s group especially.

You were sitting at lunch with a couple of friends, Robin included. You hadn’t started dating yet for another year or so. There was a lot of commotion over at Steve’s table before he sauntered over to where you were sitting.

“Hey L/N, saw you at parent teacher conferences last night.”

You hummed indifferently but your heart was beating rapidly. After you’d returned home, your parents told you that you might get targeted for having two fathers. You didn’t understand but came to school prepared anyway.

“Yeah, so, were those guys your parents?”

You hummed again, spooning some applesauce into your mouth. No matter what, you had to keep your mouth full, otherwise you would do something or say something you’d regret. Your dad told you that you had to stay strong and not give in to their words. Your papa had said that they would defend your actions but that only you could control yourself.

“Pretty weird, I think, to have two dads. What happened to your mom, huh?”

You swallowed your mouthful and proceeded to take a large bite of your sandwich, stuffing your face so much you could choke.

“Something tells me-“

“Hey, fuck off Harrington. It’s none of your business,” one of your male friends said, defending you.

Steve steps back with his hands raised.

“I’m just saying it’s not quite right to be raised by-“

You stood up with your tray and turned to face Steve. You stared at him for a moment, just enough to make him uncomfortable, before smashing your tray into his chest, spilling food on his clothes. Your applesauce, your ranch dressing for your carrots and your open sandwich with yellow mustard. Everyone in the cafeteria went absolutely ape shit as you walked out, your friends trailing behind you to comfort you.

Steve never bothered you after that and neither did anybody else. If you were willing to mess with King Harrington, there was no telling how crazy you actually were.

You were brought back to the present by Steve calling your name gently.

“Do you want anything? Ice cream, I mean?”

“No thank you,” you said stiffly.

Steve rapped on the counter with his knuckles for a moment before he moved around the counter to stand next to you.

“Hey,” he said softly.

“Hi,” you replied.

“Uh, look. That shit I said when you were a sophomore. That wasn’t cool. I was a total asshole. I’m sorry.”

You gave Steve the side eye before leaning against the counter, crossing your arms.

“It definitely wasn’t cool. You were an asshole.”

Steve leaned next to you, pulling off his hat and fiddling with it between his fingers.

“Yeah. I think about that all the time. I know it’s not an excuse but Tommy H. said that I should do it and back then, I was so afraid of not being popular, so I did it. Really, I know it’s not an excuse.”

“It’s not. But peer pressure and the anxiety of trying to fit in is tough. I think I can forgive you.”

“Really? Oh thank god. I hate avoiding you when you hang out with the Party and I’m with Dustin. Now we can-“

“I can forgive you if I get a free ice cream today.”

Steve scoffed, chuckled and then full out laughed. You gave him a small smile.

“Sounds good. When do you want it?”

“Whenever your boss is around.”

Steve laugher again as Robin came out of the back.

“Hey you two, stop flirting out here. Dingus, get back here and help me prep. Y/N, I’ll see you later ok?”

“I’ll come and steal you for lunch,” you said, calling over your shoulder.

Steve slid next to Robin and gave her a look.

“What,” Robin asked.

“Do you think I have a chance? It’ll take her a while to forgive me and I can live with that. What are my odds, great wizard of love?”

Robin snorts.

“I wouldn’t even dare try. You’re definitely not her type.”

[redsun55]

Redsun55 Stream Music Info

“Roundup On the Prairie” by Aaron Kenny

“River Crossing” by ALBIS

“Daudir”, “Towards the Horizon” by Alexander Nakarada

“Extreme Energy” by Anwar Amr

“Banjo Kazooie - Title/Intro + Medley (Remix)” by Ben Zimmerman

“Going Higher”, “Happy Rock”, “A New Beginning” by Bensound

“Hooky With Sloane” by Bird Creek

“New Bark Town (Lofi - Remix)” by Blizzn

“Woody Woods (8-Bit; VRC6) - Mario Party 3″ by Branflakes

“Meanwhile Back At the Saloon”, “Rattlesnake Railroad” by Brett Van Donsel

“Battle of Heroes”, “Imperials Marching”, “Luke vs. Vader”, “Opening”, “Phantom of the Bricks” by BrickTrick

“Davy Jones Theme (LoFi Pirates of the Caribbean)” by Cadred

“Super Mario Land (Lo-Fi Instrumental)” by Chew Chew Beats

“Campfire Song”, “Firefly”, “Tumbleweed Texas”, “Tupelo Train”, “Way Out West” by Chris Haugen

“Rock Thing” by Creo

“Donkey Kong Country Theme (DJ AG Remix)” by DJ AG

“Chapstick”, “The Gunfight” by Everet Almond

“Battles of the Generations”, “A Dog and His Duck”, “It’s a Small World (Geshtro Remix)”, “Kongo Beat”, “Lavender Town”, “The One-Winged Angel”, “Overworld (Super Mario Bros. 2 [Geshtro Remix]”, “Spindashing Hills”, “Spooks of the Pumpkin King”, “Super Sarasaland Jam”, “There Are Mobs Nearby”, “Triforce Mania”, “Up Towards Spiral Mountain”, “Wakka Walking”, “1-Up Smash” by Geshtro

“No Secrets”, “See You Tomorrow” by GoSoundtrack

“Pirates of the Caribbean (Lo-Fi Version)” by Hazar

“Cianwood City”, “Danny”, “Dire Dire Docks”,��“Mice On Venus”, “National Park”, “Overworld”, “Piranha Plant Lullaby”, “Staff Roll”, “Subwoofer Lullaby”, “Sweden”, “Wet Hands” by Helynt

“Mayan Temple (Banjo & Kazooie - Mayahem Temple Remix)” by Howard Treesound

“Dear Death”, “Force of Habit”, “Significant”, “Sleep Deprivation”, “A Song About a Friend”, “The Stars in the Sky Resemble the Thoughts in My Mind”, “These Four Walls in My Head”, “Untitled”, “We Are Inevitable” by The Inevitable

“Bastila’s Struggle”, “Emond’s Field”, “Faeries”, “Glimpsing Into the One Power”, “Infiltrating the Empire”, “Into the Heart”, “Lost in the Desert (Lost on Tatooine)”, “Mirage”, “Revan’s Tribulations”, “The Streets of Baerlon” by Ivan Duch

“Locally Sourced”, “World Map” by Jason Farnham

“Acoustic Guitar #1″, “Crying in My Beer”, “Green Daze”, “Lazy Day”, “Marathon Man” by Jason Shaw (Audionautix)

“Tuscon Tease” by John Deley and the 41 Players

“Song of Storms (Lofi Hip Hop Remix)” by Jonas Munk Lindbo & GameChops

“Moonshine Town” by JR Tundra

“Jungle Japes Remastered (Donkey Kong 64 Orchestral Remix)” by JustRyland

“Colorado (Mickey’s Speedway USA Remix)”, Mickey’s Speedway USA Orchestration [”Chicago”, “Colorado”, “Grand Canyon”, “Hawaii”, “Washington D.C.”, “Yellowstone”], “New Bark Town (Pokemon HGSS Orchestration)” by Keatonkg360

“Drankin Song”, “Montauk Peak” by Kevin MacLeod

“Cactus in the Valley (Piano Cover)”, “Destiny 2 Beyond Light Main Theme (Piano Cover)”, “Hot Air Balloon (Piano Cover)”, “I See the Light (Piano Cover With Guitar)”, “Let It Go (Demi Lovato Version) [Piano Cover]”, “Let It Go (Idina Menzel Version) [Piano Cover]”, “Memphis May Fire Medley (Select Songs From Challenger) [Piano Cover]”, “Oswald’s Theme (Piano Cover)”, “Sailboats (Piano Cover)”, “Who Else Will I Have Ice Cream With (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Medley)”, “Wreck-It Ralph Main Theme (Mario Paint Composer Cover)” by Kyukiemusic

“Everyone You Know”, “Hey Sailor”, “Your Voice is American” by Letter Box

Banjo Kazooie Soundfont [”Amazing Grace”, “America”, “America the Beautiful”, “Arabian Nights”, “Bad Romance”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “A Bug’s Life”, “Cantina Band”, “Deck the Halls”, “Diddy Kong Racing Theme”, “Donut Plains”, “DuckTales Theme”, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, “Fortress & Castle”, “Friend Like Me”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Fur Elise”, “Ghost House”, “God Bless the USA”, “He’s a Pirate”, “Holly Jolly Christmas”, “Home On the Range”, “Hyrule Field Theme”, “I Bring You a Song”, “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, “Independence Day”, “Inside the Castle Walls”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Jingle Bells”, “Koopalings”, “Lavender Town”, “Little April Showers”, “Lon Lon Ranch”, “Lost Woods”, “Love is a Song”, “May the Fourth Be With You”, “The Misty Mountains Cold”, “Ode to Joy”, “Oh Holy Night”, “Oh Susanna”, “One Jump Ahead”, “Pomp and Circumstance”, “The Power of Love”, “Prince Ali”, “Rainbow Connection”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Sally’s Song”, “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “Strip It Down”, “Super Mario World Bonus Theme”, “Super Mario World Ending Theme”, “Super Mario World Special World Theme”, “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Theme”, “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner”, “This is Halloween”, “Turkish March”, “Underwater”, “United States Anthem”, “Vanilla Dome”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In”, “A Whole New World”, “Yankee Doodle”, “5th Symphony”], Banjo-Tooie Remixes [”Game Select”, “Intro”, “Mayhem Temple”, “Ordnance Storage (MuseScore 3 Remix)”, “Ordnance Storage (SNES Remix)”, “Title Screen (Bluegrass Remix)”, “Title Screen (Christmas Remix)”, “Title Screen (Fairgrounds Remix)”], Diddy Kong Racing Soundfont [”Krook’s March”, “Los Angeles”, “Phineas and Ferb Theme”], Donkey Kong 64 Remixes [”Angry Aztec”, “Army Dillo”, “Banana Fairy Isle (Version 3)”, “Battle Arena”, “Bonus Barrel”, “Candy’s Music Store”, “Cranky’s Lab”, “Credits”, “Creepy Castle”, “Crystal Caves”, “DK Isle”, “DK Rap”, “DK’s Treehouse”, “Frantic Factory (Version 3)”, “Fungi Forest Day (Version 2)”, “Gloomy Galleon”, “Hideout Helm”, “Jungle Japes”, “Jungle Japes Mine Cart”, “K. Lumsy”, “K. Rool Final Battle”, “King Kut Out”, “Krem Isle”, “Mad Jack”, “Main Menu”, “Monkey Smash”, “Pause Menu”, “Snide’s HQ”, “Troff ‘n’ Scoff (Version 3)”, “Wrinkly Kong”], Donkey Kong 64 Soundfont [”Battle of the Heroes”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Chim Chim Cheree”, “Circle of Life”, “Cranky’s Theme”, “Crocodile Cacophany”, “DK Island Swing”, “Drunken Sailor”, “Duel of the Fates”, “Eye of the Tiger”, “Feed the Birds”, “Gang-Plank Galleon”, “Gotta Go Fast”, “Hakuna Matata”, “Imperial March”, “The Incredibles Theme”, “Life is a Highway”, “My Heart Will Go On”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “Oogie Boogie’s Song”, “Pink Panther Theme”, “The Scare Floor”, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “Stickerbrush Symphony”, “Take On Me”, “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”, “Victory Celebration”, “Yoda’s Theme”], Donkey Kong Country Soundfont [”Be Prepared”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, “Creepy Castle”, “Donkey Kong Land Boss”, “Gruntilda’s Lair”, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, “Jungle Japes”, “Koopa’s Road”, “Spiral Mountain”], “Freezeezy Peak (Remix)”, “Los Angeles (Mario Kart 64 Soundfont)”, “Mickey Mouse March (Mickey’s Speedway USA Soundfont)”, “Across the Stars (Star Fox 64 Soundfont)”, Super Mario 64 Soundfont [”Athletic”, “Banjo-Kazooie Theme”, “Character Select”, “Davy Jones”, “Faithfully”, “Immortals”, “Independence Day”, “Jump”, “Life is a Highway”, “Look Through My Eyes”, “Ode to Joy”, “Overworld”, “Pokemon Theme”, “Poor Jack”, “Rainbow Cruise”, “Ride of the Valkyries”, “Son of Man”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “Star Trek”, “Sweden”, “Waluigi Pinball & Wario Stadium”], Super Mario Bros. Soundfont [”Aladdin Medley”, “Banjo-Kazooie Main Theme”, “Fur Elise”, “The Lion King Medley”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “One More Time”, “Overworld (Super Mario Bros. 2)”, “Overworld (Super Mario World)”], Super Mario World Soundfont [”Aquatic Ambience”, “Endless Staircase”, “Fur Elise”, “Indiana Jones Theme”, “Star Trek”, “Turkish March”, “William Tell Overture”, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”] by Matthew the Music Fan 2021

“Happy Mandolin” by Media Right Productions

“Pokemon Gym”, “Azalea Town”, “Ecruteak City”, “Fairy Fountain”, “Kakariko Village”, “Legend of Zelda Main Theme”, “Lost Woods”, “National Park”, “Ocarina of Time”, “Song of Storms”, “Title Screen”, “Zelda’s Lullaby” by Mikel

“Divided Soldiers” by MrDinko

“Waluigi’s Island - Mario Party 3″ by MusicalWolfe

“Complete OST Remix From Donkey Kong (NES)” by Nintempo

“Three Kinds of Suns” by Norma Rockwell

“Destiny Island (Chill/Lofi Remix)”, “Traverse Town (Lofi Mix)” by Original Kyle

“Escape From the Temple”, “Queen of the Night” by Per Kiilstofte

“Waluigi Pinball (Player2 Remix)” by Player2 & GameChops

“Spiral Mountain (Remix)”, “Super Mario Bros. 2 Overworld (Remix)”, “Super Mario Bros. 3 Overworld (Remix)”, “Super Mario Land Overworld (Birabuto Kingdom) [Remix]”, “Treasure Trove Cove (Remix/Cover)” by Qumu

“File Select Lofi”, “Main Theme Lofi”, “Overworld Lofi”, “Star Theme Lofi” by Rifti Beats

“Blizzards”, “Southern California”, “Target Practice” by Riot

“Monochrome Dreams/Timeless River Remix” by RiserEmilioX

“After the Battle”, “The Alpaca Hunter”, “The Astral Plane”, “Aug”, “Bahamut’s Realm”, “Bastil”, “The Beach”, “Becoming Myth and Legend”, “Ben’s True Form”, “The Black Adder”, “Bludvaren”, “The Boy and His Bear”, “Brain Dead”, “Brunhilde Hearthome”, “The Bugbears”, “Bysil”, “Cedar Country Intro”, “Charge!”, “The Church”, “Don’t Fear the Muzak”, “Dr. Frank Enstein, III”, “The Dugars”, “Ending in Little Whiskey”, “False Abigail”, “False Bahamut”, “Governor Gill”, “Grimm”, “Gunpowder”, “G-Reap (Instrumental)”, “Into the Dark”, “Jack”, “Jack’s Metal Wagon”, “Jarus”, “Joan Redsun”, “Killing the Monster”, “Maleocholas”, “Michael”, “Michael, First Paladin of Bahamut”, “Mind Flayer”, “Mystery of the Deer Carcass”, “Ornon Released”, “The Other Side of the Puddle”, “The Plains of Doom”, “The Portal Opened”, “Pretty Boring”, “Queen Arlana”, “Rainley”, “Reanimation”, “Rebuilding Rhomash”, “Rhomash Defeats the Skeleton Horde”, “Rhomash Scarbearer”, “A Riddle”, “Rise of a Lich”, “Robbing Reach Trust”, “Sage”, “Seebo Turel Nim”, “Throne Room”, “To War”, “The Story of St. Sauna”, “Vampire”, “Vassanoka”, “Welcome to Bludvaren”, “The Werewolf”, “West’s Port”, “Wolf’s Hold Bar Piano” by RJ Moore (Redsun55)

“Dearly Beloved” by RoboRob

“The Wild West” by Ross Bugden

“Galactic” by Seb Jaeger

“The Buccaneer’s Haul” by Shane Ivers 

“Awakening”, “Calgary Hill”, “Cut It”, “Daisy Dukes”, “DC Love Go-Go”, “Drop and Roll”, “The Engagement”, “Eviction”, “Grand Navy Plaza”, “Harvest Time”, “Heartland”, “Highway Danger”, “Humidity”, “Log Cabin”, “Open Wide”, “Parasail”, “Runaways”, “Sawdust”, “Seasonal”, “Succotash”, “Sugar Zone”, “Tucson” by Silent Partner

“He’s a Pirate (LoFi Hip Hop)” by STNF Music

“Digital Gunslinger”, “Pirate Waves” by TeknoAXE

“Mickey in New Mexico (Mickey’s Speedway USA Remix)” by TheJayNinja

“Creepy Castle (LoFi Donkey Kong 64 Remix)” by Tingle’s Jingles

“Garage”, “Horses to Water”, “Stalling”, “Uptown” by Topher Mohr & Alex Elena

“Way Out West” by Twin Musicom

“Mars, the Bringer of War”, “Mercury, the Winged Messenger”, “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity”, “Uranus, the Magician” by The United States Air Force Heritage of America Band. The Planets orchestral suite tracks written by Gustav Holst, obtained from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Planets_Suite

“The Pirate King” by Untold Journey

“Avocado Street”, “Despite the Traffic”, “Eagle Rock”, “One Down Dog” by Wes Hutchinson

“Beach Party”, “Redemption”, “Wild West”, “Destiny”, “Lonely Cowboy”, “New Lemon in Town”, “Seaside Beach”, “Wilderness Safari” by Zitronsound

“As We Go”, “Lonesome Avenue”, “My Sad Old Heart” by The 126ers

[wawerrell]

Nana

I lost my grandmother early in the morning on New Year’s Eve. Nana was loving, funny, and intelligent; she taught me how to read and how to love reading; she took me in her arms when I was upset; she showed me time and time again that I would never defeat her in Scrabble; she forgave me even when I did not deserve it; she stayed up past midnight to say, "Hey, Teach!" and enjoy champagne with me when I got my job. She changed the lives of those whom she met and loved and made me the person I am today.

She was my best friend.

Nana loved being a mother, a grandmother, and—as of just a few months ago—a great-grandmother more than anything else in the world. As we gathered by her bed and held her hand as she began to let go, “To the Lighthouse,” one of her favorite books, seemed to sing from the shelf. Nana’s writing adorns the opening page. She remarks how the book improves upon each reading, and then writes: “Philosophy is what we don’t know, want to know, tried to know—but only God knows.” Flipping through the worn pages, I traced her annotations throughout Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece. It is clear and unsurprising that Nana loved Mrs. Ramsay and Lily, for she connected with so many of the women’s interior monologues about emotional understanding and frustration. More than any other, though, one early passage stands out. Unlike many other passages with marginal explanations, Nana underlined and starred: “She would have liked always to have had a baby. She was happiest carrying one in her arms.” Just a few days before she died peacefully in the early morning, Nana held her first great-grandchild in her arms and laughed: she was happier in that moment than she had been in a long while.

Nana paused over—and could not find words for—a passage in which Mrs. Ramsay reflects on why children grow up so quickly, on why they seem so determined to rush toward the trials and pain that come with age, on how she wishes she could freeze time to protect them from the vicissitudes of fortune. I remember how clearly Nana echoed both the wishes and the frustrations of Mrs. Ramsay when Yaya, my mother’s mother, was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer: “Sugarfoot, I wish I could take all the pain and the sadness for you—I wish that I could shield you from loss. But I can’t. Because that’s life.”

Nana knew that life and love lead inevitably to death and loss. But she also knew what we can learn from “To the Lighthouse”: not just that life and death, like love and loss, are inextricably bound together, but that, more importantly, loss and continuity coexist within our hearts and memories. Love has within it the power to defeat time. In one of my favorite poems, John Donne reflects on sickness and death:

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown That this is my south-west discovery, Per fretum febris, by these straits to die,

I joy, that in these straits I see my west; For, though their currents yield return to none, What shall my west hurt me? As west and east In all flat maps (and I am one) are one, So death doth touch the resurrection.

His doctors surround his bedbound body and map out his ailments like constellations across the cosmos—and all see that his sickness points toward the setting of the sun in the west as surely as the North Star guides sailors at night. Donne reminds us, though, that flattened maps are misleading: for the further west one goes, the sooner one arrives in the east. Just so, he writes, death does not mark the end of love, but the continuation of it.

Like the effervescent Mrs. Ramsay, who dies suddenly and unexpectedly and unexplainedly in the middle of the night, Nana has died. And like Mrs. Ramsay, Nana will never really be gone. For, just as Arthur Hallam speaks once more to Alfred, Lord Tennyson as the poet turns over an old letter from his dear, dead friend, Mrs. Ramsay appears to Lily in a moment of sublime love and memory:

“Her heart leapt at her and seized her and tortured her. ‘Mrs. Ramsay! Mrs. Ramsay!’ she cried… Mrs. Ramsay—it was part of her perfect goodness—sat there quite simply, in the chair, flicked her needles to and fro, knitted her reddish-brown stocking, cast her shadow on the step. There she sat.”

Nana will be a wonderful part of all of us forever. Near the end of her life, Nana told the loving family gathered around her bed: “It’s time for me to go home.”

“Home” probably resembles her enchanted childhood, for the love that she gave us was the love that had surrounded and defined her life: not a day of her young life went by without visits from and to doting uncles, caring aunts, trifling cousins, and those familial taskmasters who never let little hands sit idle. Nana was the second child of Lee Roy and Alberteen, who had three daughters and one baby boy, John Leroy, whom the girls simply adored—and spoiled. From her father, Nana received a twinkle in her eye that never dissipated. Family meant everything to him, a trait that he passed on to his own children and grandchildren. From her mother, a gifted schoolteacher, Nana learned to love literature and poetry. Nana admired her mother’s intellectual curiosity, which had often landed her in hot water as a young girl “working” on a ranch: Teenie loved to read, but simply hated to churn butter. Teenie would spend all morning reading in the light of dawn, but always with open ears: whenever she heard somebody coming, she would hide the book under her apron and start churning away.

Many of Nana’s fondest childhood memories were of her visits with her own grandmother, a great student of the Bible named Zemma Yett. “Oh, here are my girls!” Grandmother Zemma would cry whenever Nana showed up with her sisters, Billie Marguerite and Nora Lanelle. Evenings on the screen porch were filled with the nighttime sounds of Texas and Zemma’s intonations of Scripture. For much of Nana’s childhood, Zemma read by the light of a kerosene lamp—until one day, when Nana watched from her lap as President Roosevelt’s trucks wove electrical wires throughout sleepy Florence, Texas like thread through a loom as part of Rural Electrification.

Nana grew up in a Texas that no longer exists: a verdant and lush place defined by neighborly care and compassion. Texans of all backgrounds came together around the porch of her father’s grocery store, the gathering place for the neighborhood. As the sun went down, neighbors would sit around and tell stories or listen to the radio. Nana recalled with pleasure the excitement of the entire town listening to the bout between Max Schmeling and Max Baer—and remembers how the town would grind to a halt whenever Joe Louis, “the best of all,” stepped into the ring.

But with World War II came rationing, the end of the family grocery, and loss: two of Nana’s cousins joined the Air Force but did not live to see peace. Any romanticizing of war a young girl might come to believe in in the shadow of the Alamo died alongside Edwin and Charles, who loomed in Nana’s memory as the handsome man with shining cowboy boots and jodhpurs—not as the bloated body that washed ashore when his plane went down. Nana, Billie, and Nonie spent afternoons anxiously awaiting the local newspaper’s updates of war casualties and kept tearful track of the losses in their yearbooks. But the dark clouds of violence across either ocean brought Nana closer to literature and poetry.

Literature brought with it both balm and escape, and, at college, Nana fell feverishly in love with Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She studied those Victorian works alongside Professor A. J. Armstrong, the head of the English department at Baylor, and became his academic assistant. Annotations in her neat-yet-illegible cursive sprawl across every single page of her textbooks; when space proved too tight for all she felt about her favorite poem, “Pippa Passes,” she inserted additional leaves.

She was working for the newspaper on a story about Christmas celebrations for soldiers when she interviewed about the handsomest man she had ever laid eyes upon: James MacDonald Werrell, who, forty years later, would be called Papa. Papa had returned to Texas, where his father was stationed at Fort Hood, to recover from a debilitating injury received during the Battle of the Bulge and to finish college. Although they fell for one another quite quickly—he was charming; she was witty—Jim fell out of touch over the Christmas holiday. Lee Roy did his best to comfort Nana, but she was broken-hearted.

And then, at long last, the phone rang. Nana gleefully accepted Papa’s apology—he had been on vacation with his parents, who, being nearly as cheap as he was, would not tolerate a long-distance telephone call no matter how in love he claimed to be—and hung up the phone in the kitchen only to find that her father had disappeared. Her mother stood next to the pantry door with her ear flat against it. As Nana walked toward her, she, too, heard her father’s crying: “Don’t worry, sugarfoot,” Alberteen whispered to her daughter, “Daddy just knows you’re going to be married now. He doesn’t want you to leave.”

They were married on December 20, 1947 and honeymooned in San Antonio in Papa’s yellow Jeep. Papa’s parents were not at the wedding both because they were stationed in Paris and because there was little love lost between in-laws: Angus Werrell was a Colonel in World War I, while Lee Roy had been a private. “It’s no man that blows a whistle,” Lee Roy remarked about commanders who stayed behind in trenches and sent men over the top and to their deaths. When Papa finished his studies at Baylor, he and Nana worked as fire lookouts in Colorado parks before going on a second honeymoon to visit his parents in Europe.

Nana saw many of the most beautiful sights in the world for the first time, while Papa saw them again, but in a vastly different light: with no heavy rifle, no wet socks, no constant vigilance or fear. Nana and Papa, alone in the Sistine Chapel for an hour, lay down on the floor to look up at the ceiling, then illuminated only by candlelight. They held hands through the streets of Paris and enjoyed picnics throughout the Austrian countryside—except when Jeanne, Papa’s sister, packed the food and placed the ham next to the petrol tank in the trunk of the car.

Nana continued her love affair with the world of art when she and Papa moved to New York City upon their return to the United States. In particular, Nana found herself under the spell of Bidu Sayão’s voice. Growing up, she had only ever heard the voice of Amelita Galli-Curci on the wind-up Victrola at her grandmother’s house, and so nothing prepared her for the clarity and beauty of the soprano singing Mimi in “La bohème,” Gilda in “Rigoletto,” or songs of her native Brazil. Papa’s days were filled with classes at the Columbia School of International Affairs, during which time Nana combed the hallways of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his evenings were dedicated to practicing his German nightly with their landlords, Josef and Emma Ledwig. But Nana, a natural learner, picked up the language faster and more fluently than Papa; more than seventy years later, Nana could still recite Goethe’s “Der Erlkönig” from memory.

Papa joined the State Department following his graduation—work that brought Nana and Papa and their first baby, James MacDonald Werrell, Jr., then just a few months old, to what was then called Siam. While Papa conducted spook-work, Nana walked baby Jamie hurriedly away from prowling Varanus monitors, visited temples, and became the most frequent customer at C. J. Chan & Co., an English bookshop in downtown Bangkok, where she discovered the works of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Upon their return to the United States, two sons—William Gresham Werrell, my father, and Timothy Savage Werrell—shortly followed their older brother into the world. And that was just the beginning of her adventures.

Nana lived to be so old in large part because she stopped driving. Like my high school English teacher Mrs. Chanson and so many other Southerners, Nana did not drive well, but instead casually: she did not always bother to open the garage door before reversing, for instance. While this might seem to suggest that she was just another little old lady from Texas, Nana was a political firecracker. She named her favorite dog, a territorial Jack Russell, after Lady Jane Digby, whose sex life created diplomatic tidal waves across two continents. She hated Viagra commercials with a passion because she believed they promulgated unhealthy and misogynistic views of sex: “They imply that it’s all up to the man: as soon as the man is ‘ready,’ one is supposed to drop everything one is doing to accommodate him. But what if I have a casserole in the oven?”

Indeed, one of the drawbacks of living for close to a century, Nana remarked this past Christmas, was that she had lived long enough to grow ashamed of Texas: her heart broke watching the most violent and vituperative voices attempt to speak for Texas and redefine Texan values. She loved her little brother so much that she could tolerate his support of Nixon—even when her sons and husband could barely stand to be at the dinner table with him. But politics changed, and so did her patience. Because nothing was dearer to Nana than her family, she knew in her heart that children belong in the arms of their loving family—not in cages. She could not abide hatred or vitriol; she could not understand why anyone would knowingly embrace cruelty, ignorance, or bigotry.

Driving to Charleston after leaving her now-empty home, I remembered the weeks she spent living with us and sleeping in my bedroom. We both kept one another awake with chatter and with snoring. During those late nights—Papa was in the hospital at the VA, reliving the Battle of the Bulge over and over again—we looked up at the phosphorescent stars on my ceiling and talked about school, books, friends, Papa, and memories.

I’ll always hear her voice.

[allorafaith]

Chapter 3 of If only it had been a Murderer. Hetalia fic.

I was just finishing the email to the company that was (potentially still) handling the sale of the ranch in Orchards when I heard Aria's door open and close. I quickly sent it and waited for Aria, oh so slowly, to make her way into the living room. Honda-san had noticed me putting my laptop to the side, so he paused the anime he was watching.

Aria looked annoyed as she started walking to a seat on the couch, “Couldn't sleep Aria? It's only been half an hour.” I teased her. She glared at me as she sat down. I just grinned and looked over at Honda-san.

“Well, since she's up now we can explain why you can't be seen outside right now.”

Aria gave me a dirty look, she knew I was going to leave it to her to explain properly.

“Right, since Allora is being a brat, I guess I have to explain. The lease only allows people on it, who are out of school and working age, to stay at the apartments for more than a week or two. People visiting is fine but, since they didn't see you arrive because of the crate they will ask questions since the office faces us. If we were in an apartment that was facing away or that was behind the office, it would be fine. We can add you to the lease once you get a job, but until then it would be best if you stay inside, if we can find another place and actually buy it or rent it quickly enough you can go there and do whatever you want until we move all the way over. Once we move over to a new place we can talk about ground rules. For now, all you have to know rules wise right now is to knock on the bedroom doors before you come in if you need something. Any questions Honda-san?” She asked.

Honda-san shook his head no.

“Right, do you two want to hear about what the research I did?” I asked.

They both perked up and looked at me. I snorted and teased them both, “You look like puppies looking for a treat.” Aria started glaring at me with murder in her eyes, “Anyway, I found the real estate company that is in charge of selling the ranch in Orchards. I just sent them an email about it, when you got back up Aria. On their website, I also found other places that we could probably look at and I'm sure Craigslist will have a few other places with land for sale or even rent on it.”

Aria nodded, “While you look at other real estate websites I can look at craigslist.”

I grinned and nodded, while I picked up my laptop again. I looked over at Honda-san while opening it. “You can go back to watching the anime if you want Honda-san.”

He nodded and un-paused the anime.

I open my email up again, so I can send emails about any that sound promising, and immediately saw that I had an email about the ranch already. Which is unusual I thought, in high school, I was told that these types of things took a few days. I didn't tell them that I received a reply, I wanted to see what it said before I told them. I read the email and started a smiling a little, making Aria look at me and ask, “Why are you smiling? Did you get distracted by fanfiction?”

I gave her an insulted look for that, making her grin. “No, for your information, I just got a reply from the real estate handling old man Miller's ranch well, the person in charge of selling the ranch said that if we had time next Saturday that we could go to his office and talk to him and old man Miller. I think we should Aria, we should continue looking but I have a good feeling about this Aria.”

“Tell them we can meet them then. The most they can do is tell us no.”

We both went back to looking for more places. After several hours I looked at the clock, it was nearing 12:30, none of us have eaten today.

“Aria, we should eat. If we can get to my bank before they close at 1:30 we can cash the check and use some of it to eat.”

Aria looked at the time and nodded to my suggestion.

“Let me go wake Kara, she needs to eat too. Honda-san would you like anything specific to eat?”

He thought for a moment, “Is there a place that serves ramen?” He asked.

In unison, Aria and I said, “Kenji’s,” then I continued, “it's really good, looks like that's what we are having. Aria go get Kara up.” I looked over at Honda-san, “While we are out we can stop at either at a thrift store or Walmart to get you some clothes, for now, why don't you go change into one of the kimonos. When Aria comes back she can go distract the office people with a fake question while we get you into the car. When we come back they will have seen you go into the apartment, so they won't question about when you got here.”

Aria went and woke up Kara, who wasn't happy to be woken up but wanted food so didn't complain too much, and after Aria distracted the office people we were all in the car. We made it to the bank and got in and out quickly, my bank was right next to Kenji’s, so we ate and then headed to Walmart since it was closer. We got him a few shirts and pants, and a jacket until we could do a proper shopping session. When we got home though, we saw something that made me groan.

A FedEx truck was in front of our apartment. I saw the same guy from this morning coming down our stairs looking annoyed. He happened to look over and see me, he looked half relieved and half annoyed.

“I don't know what you did, but the moment I got back to Change for the Better Inc. before heading back to the FedEx report center. I was told by a really angry customer service representative named Andria to go back out to do another delivery to you. What did you do?”

I snorted, “Do you have time to listen upstairs? I would rather talk about it out of the cold.”

He eyed me, I think I looked far too happy to have pissed someone off.

“Sure, I guess.”

We all started up the stairs, after we got in he moved the new units crate into the room. We all sat down, I told him what happened, and he started cracking up from it.

“The reason I was rude earlier is that only a few people in each city that work for FedEx are trained to handle Unit deliveries. After about 6 months delivering them… I have seen a lot of people who mistreat them and call them it and so on. I… I can’t do anything about it other than being as rude as possible to the owners.”

I stared at him, “I completely understand, it’s a coping device for you. Maybe when you see it’s a new person be nice and only be rude once you know how they treat them?”

He thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, then he got a gigantic smirk on his face. “Before I left to deliver the Unit her boss came out and ripped into her. He told her that all calls were recorded and that they hadn’t liked how she did anything, and that he didn’t like the fact that she was acting like she was. I saw him fire her for how she talked about the units and how she was using her position to make other’s lives difficult.” He got up and went to grab the smaller box and an envelope from on top of the crate. “He handed me this to deliver to you as well, he also said to apologize and tell you that they were going to re-train everyone because of it. He said that the unit will have another envelope still in it.” I was in the process of taking the envelope and froze. I got wide-eyed and stared at the envelope apprehensive. I shook it off and put the envelope to the side.

“Hey, can I ask a question, well actually a few?” I asked

He nodded.

“First what’s your name?”

“My names Jin Woo.”

“Nice to meet you, Jin Woo, secondly do you by any chance know how exactly they got my name? All the ad asked for was the address and absolutely nothing else. Since Ms. Andria was how she was I wasn’t able to ask her.”

He frowned, “No, sorry all I get is the name of who to deliver too and the address.”

I nodded in understanding, “The third question, we are looking for a different a place to live since this is, way too small. When we find a place how do I let the company know? Just call them or can I just tell you since we have 5 months to find a place and should see you before we completely move,”

“Since you have such a long time to find a place you can just straight up tell me, and I will let them know.”

“Last question, how often are we going to get another Unit do you know?”

“It's always going to be once every two weeks after today, as long as you don’t piss anyone off at Change for the Better again,” he told me while grinning.

Aria cut in, “As fascinating as this conversation is going, we have someone to let out of a cramped crate.”

I looked a Jin Woo, “Do you want to see the Unit or just leave?”

“I need to get back to Change for the Better to let them know that all Unit deliveries are done before I head back to FedEx to clock out.”

We saw him out then turned to the crate.

“Right let’s look at the manual for him, or her.”

I opened the box with the manual in it, it read,

Congratulations! You have successfully purchased a Lukas Dahl (Norway) Unit! In order to help you unlock your unit's full capabilities and for your safety we have provided you with this manual. (Reading is highly advised for the safety of self and property) Country Name: Kingdom of Norway Human name: Lukas Dahl Names that the unit will respond: Lukas, Mr. Dahl, Norway, Dahl. Place of Manufacture: USA, California Age: 20 Height:  5’0 Your Unit comes with: (1) Sailor suit (1) Viking Axe (1) Present Day Military Uniform (1) Viking outfit (1) Tackle box We are in the process of making Mr. Puffin Unit you will receive one after testing. Here are some jobs that your unit can get, all information to get a job comes with the unit. Fisherman: If there is a fishing competition or a boat looking for a hand, the job is made for him.

Childcare: Norway is Great with kids under the age of 15. So, daycare or even a Kindergarten teacher will do.

Librarian: He is very good at demanding quite in the library and getting books back. The children who visit will love to talk to him.

Baker: Anything you can think of, Lukas Dahl can and will, make it taste even better than you can imagine. To remove him safely from the crate, do one of the following: 1. Play 'Ja Vi Elsker Dette Landet', Norway's anthem. He will be curious and try to get out and see who is playing his anthem.

2. Play the 10-minute challenge of Iceland saying 'Onii-chan.' Norway will Immediately burst out and glomp the first figure he sees. When he notices that you're not Iceland, he will apologize, and you can start from there.

3. Tap the box and ask for some butter. He might share it but probably not since he almost ran out of it in late 2011 before Christmas. Keep in mind, he will be a bit selfish when it comes to butter. It depends on how close you are to him.

To reprogram your unit all you have to do is talk to them normally. Here are the modes your Lukas Dahl unit comes with: 1.         Emotionless (Default) 2.         Brotherly (Default) 3.         Viking (Locked)

Lukas Dahl is Emotionless by default mode. Everything is okay as long as he's emotionless. Even if you're panicking or sad, he'll still look emotionless but he understands even if he doesn't show it. Lukas Dahl, Brotherly Mode will come out if you are younger than him, you will know when this mode is used, when he checks up on you, ordering you to finish your homework or any paperwork, making sure you cleaned up your room, and walking you to school and pick you up. Norway is pretty used to having Iceland around a lot. So, either get used to it or order an Iceland Unit. He's pretty good with kids, but he's not good with them when they turn 15.

Lukas Dahl Viking Mode-locked, Norway was the fiercest Viking during the Viking Era, so he is the most dangerous out of the other Scandinavian Units. You need to watch out for him when he's like this. But it's pretty hard to get this Mode unlocked. Just don't press your luck with his line of patience.

If you have any questions, please call XXX-XXX-XXXX.

“Honestly the third option sounds like the best.” I thought out loud.

“Allora, maybe tell us whom the person is?”

I looked over at Aria startled, “Oh, its Norway. Sorry, I forgot to say that when I first started reading.”

I looked back at the crate looking for the hatch on top. I flipped the hatch and knocked on the crate, “Mr. Dahl, could I borrow some butter, please?”

I heard rustling from inside the crate, “No, I won’t share butter with someone I don’t know.”

I grinned a bit amused, I opened the top of the crate slightly to let the side facing me to come down. I stopped it from hitting the floor and gently lowered it.

“Right, come on out and bring your things with you. We need to get rid of the crate.”

“Honda-san and I can do that Allora, you would just slow us down.” Aria butted in.

I gave her a dirty look but didn’t protest as they started doing it after Norway moved. I hmphed and went to sit on the couch as Kara laughed at me.

“Right, Norway how would you like us to refer to you in terms of your human name?”

“Lukas or just Dahl is fine… may I ask where I am, and who everyone but Japan-san is?”

“Well, you are in America Vancouver, Washington to be exact. I am Allora, the one that is still here and not outside is Kara and the one that is helping Honda-san is Aria. We are looking for another place to live. Until then you and Honda-san will have to sleep in the living room. I'm really sorry about that.” I told him.

“That's fine, is there a place I can put my things?”

We found a place near the electric fireplace for him to put things. “We will have to find another place after we get a tree for this place. Kara, why don't we clean off the coffee table and put it in the outside storage until we can figure out how to do this?” I asked her.

She nodded, and we got to work on it. Dahl didn't hesitate to help without being asked. After Honda-san and Aria got back it was around 4:00 pm we had been out and about for a little while just to go straight to sitting and talking.

I looked over at Aria, “Since Dahl is here we should go back to Walmart to get him clothes, so he has something to wear.”

She made a face but nodded and grabbed the keys. “Kara, since the car is pretty small why don't you stay here? Honda-sans would you like to come with us or stay here as well?” Aria asked.

Honda-san replied, “I can stay here and continue watching anime while you take Dahl-san to get clothing.”

“Alrighty, then Dahl let’s go get this done and over with,” I said with false cheerfulness.

Aria gave me a look for being dramatic when I was the one to say we need to go do this.

After we finished at Walmart, which took two hours because of the looking for clothes and then waiting in the long lines since it was getting ever closer to Christmas, it was six o'clock at night. Since it was in the same parking lot we decided to go to my favorite fast food place Arby’s.

Aria called Kara and asked, “What do you and Honda-san want from Arby’s?”

“I would like just fries, I’m not that hungry, Honda-san doesn’t know what they have so would like to try what Allora is getting.”

“Alright, see you guys when we get back.”

We quickly got the food and headed back home.

Once we got inside we all sat down and started handing the food out to who got what. Instead of watching the anime Honda-san had in I put in a movie about a park involving dinosaurs failing on being safe. Kara and Aria both looked annoyed with my choice in movie since they weren't fans of dinosaurs. They didn’t complain though since Honda-san looked interested in it, Dahl we weren’t sure about, but none of us wanted to annoy him with questions about him being bored. After the movie, it was around 9 o’clock so we all decided to go to bed even though tomorrow was a Sunday.

End of chapter.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

@noblelightfighter asked: "How did you come up with the town scenarios? Like Wild trying to bargain and Sky being one of the links who was eager to try bomb-chu bowling?"

I’m really glad you asked this! I love talking about my thought process and inspirations when it comes to my writing, especially with Oops! All Links. There are a lot of sequences in the Selggog arc, so I may as well go through them chapter by chapter. More below the cut!

I'll start off by saying that around the time I wrote “Musings and Memories,” I read James Baldwin's short story “Sonny’s Blue’s.” Baldwin does a really good job keeping dialogue-heavy scenes interesting by describing the characters' poses and mundane actions. I thought, "damn, I want to do that too." So if you noticed another layer of detail in my writing at that point, that was why.

Chapter 15: Inn or Out... Maybe Just Inn.

Hyrule is by far the hardest Link to write for. He has hardly any source material, so all I really have to go off of is Jojo’s comic and other fan content. That's why I accidentally ignored him for the first 14 chapters. So I decided to give him much more of a spotlight in this arc, and one of the few concrete things that we know about him is that he has had to deal with vendors with wildly different prices. I figure, yeah, he probably got good at haggling.

I put Sky, Wild, and Hyrule together because they all have different experiences with vendors in their own games. I decided that I could add Baldwin-esque detail by describing the minutia of them undressing and eating supper. Damn, did I consult the original LU character concepts a ton for this segment. I also used this scene to add my headcanon/self-projection of Sky being vegetarian.

The Links also went through what could be a traumatic experience in the burning town. I had already written some fallout of Time using Darmani's Mask, where the others are mad at him, Wild flips shit, and Time describes how painful it is to use the masks. But Time only wore the mask to save Hyrule. Wouldn't Hyrule feel guilty about that? And who better to soothe that guilt than Wild, who must have felt incredible survivor guilt after the Calamity?

Chapter 16: Panacea

Scene 1: I wasn't sure why I made Twilight wake in a cold sweat, but it could be because of recalling his past experience in "Stars and Stories." Aside from giving Twi and Wars some 1-on-1 dialogue, this scene lets Twi have some pleasant memories of home after the awful ones in "Fire." It also shows his soft side when he lets Time oversleep.

Scene 2: This is mostly just setup for the rest of the arc, but eating breakfast and getting dressed is another Baldwin opportunity. The group also gets some downtime to decompress and act off of each other.

The title and Hyrule's line "And enjoying breakfast together in a warm and cozy inn is probably the panacea for that poison” is a reference to the Flobots song "Panacea for the Poison."

Chapters 17 & 18: To Sell a Butterfly (Necklace); A Sailor and a Ranch Hand Walk into a Store.

Bro, I love writing Twi and Wind together. All the Links consider each other sort of brothers, Twi acts like a big brother to his friends in Ordon, and Wind is the youngest Link. Perfect. These chapters let their relationship shine and give Wind a chance to use his own experience with treasure tellers for what I think were great character moments. Madame Viliafore wasn't really inspired by anything, she just kinda came into existence.

Twilight's line “Uh, I’m pretty sure most shops won’t buy off strangers. They’re trying to sell their junk, not buy yours. Think how fast they’d go bankrupt.” is a reference to the Snowdin shopkeeper in Undertale.

This is probably pretty obvious but the titles are references to To Kill a Mockingbird and that one joke (you know the one).

Chapter 19: Swords, Shields, Arrows

Wild is a knight and knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to weapons. The pose he ends his sword test with is a reference to the BotW Memory "Shelter from the Storm." He tries to haggle with the shop owner precisely because he just saw Hyrule do it, and they talked about it the previous night. He fails miserably because he has absolutely no idea how to do it. I also give Four and Wild some character interaction that stresses how much Wild's past messed with his head.

There's no particular reason the shopkeeper said they were scaring his customers when there weren't any customers in the shop, I just thought it would be funny.

Chapter 20: Mind the Tea

Hyrule got some comfort from Wild and Sky, but I felt he really needed to hear it from Time. Besides wrapping up all the plot threads from the previous chapters, I got to sprinkle in a bit more Time angst and humorously conclude the wallet side plot. I just thought it would be funny to make the events of two whole chapters entirely unnecessary.

This chapter and the opening to the next are inspired by the time I went to a British tearoom in New York City called Tea and Sympathy. It's a bit pricy but if you're ever in New York, you should check it out.

Rolling with the British theme, the title is a reference to the warning all over the London Underground saying "Mind the Gap."

Chapter 21: Me and the Boys

The Links needed some fun after everything, so I figured, what minigame from one of the Zelda games could all of them enjoy? Time said it himself, they all like explosions. Sky is the most enthusiastic to play (besides Wind) because he's generally one of the more positive Links, and one of his own minigames was that circus-themed diving game. I figured that this would remind him of that.

The girl at the counter is indeed the younger sister of the Bombchu girl in Ocarina of Time. The "heroic sideburns" line is a reference to Tri Force Heroes, which otherwise doesn't really come up in LU.

In my opinion, this is my funniest chapter by far. I really laid into the comedy here, because I knew that after this chapter, I was going into an arc centered around intense combat. I absolutely love Twilight's increasing concern over the Cucco, and Sky's line about animal welfare laws is a reference to the "Wait. That's illegal" meme from Red vs Blue.

My favorite jokes I've ever written are in this chapter:

“Games?” Hyrule replied. “You mean like chess?” Wind gaped at his friend in disbelief. “No, games are fun.”

And this entire bit here

The girl giggled from behind the counter. Legend shot daggers at her. She sobered up. Warriors snatched up a bombchu in one hand and patted Legend on the shoulder with the other. “Please, I’ll show you how it’s done,” he said with a wink to the shopkeeper. Warriors’ bombchu was as good as dead on arrival; it was blocked by the very first barrier. His shoulders slumped. “I don’t remember him asking for the quickest way to lose,” Wild teased. “Shut it, you don’t remember a lot of things,” Warriors shot back. “I—… okay, that’s fair.”

To finish up, I'll explain where this town's came from. Back in middle school, I ran a Minecraft server for my friends and me. We built a town and my friend decided to name it Selggog. Where did he get the name? We had just watched the "Lab Safety Song" in our science class, and it mentioned safety goggles. He wrote down "goggles" backward and, what do you know, he got "Selggog."