#alex is absolutely a neighbourhood

[fire-but-ashes-too]

HI YOU LOOK COOL also i saw your froggy hat drawing and aasifods its so cute

also as someone who literally exclusively listens to like one thing which songs would you associate with your characters ? i'm curious

HIIII U LOOK VERY COOL TOO

okokokok I was LITERALLY thinks Ng about this yeaterdayyyyy aghghh why didn't I write it down nn

Alex: FAMILY LINE BY CONAN GRAY. ABSOLUTELY. also another song I can't remember now but it's probably in the same topic/style

OHHH YES I KNOW DADDY ISSUES BY THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

Anne: Runaway by AURORA for obv reasons and I am not a robot by MARINA cause she had her left arm removed so she has the.. the.. HOW IS IT CALLEDDDDDD THE THING. THAT THING. like the robotic arm?? that one

Indigo: Shatter me by Lindsey Stirling (that song is so good istg the vibessss) Oh No! by MARINA(lots of marina in here hehehe) Right there where you left me by Taylor Swift aaaaand ...what are we by Lizzy McAlpine!

Lee: literally anything from PORTALS by Melanie Martinezzzzzzzz

The-nameless-protagonist: My little dark age by 505 by Arctic Monkeys and My tears ricochet by Taylor Swift

Claire(new oc I drew yesterday hehe): Gods and Monsters by Lana del Rey, Angel of Small Death & the Codeine Scene by Hozier aand uhh definetly something by Florence + the Machine, i just cant remember what

TADAAAAAA

now ill definetly start doing playlists for ocs cause it helps me sm to associate them with songs, AND NOW I HAVE ACTUALLY TIMEEEEEE AAAHHHH

[detachable-tits]

Life is strange double exposure review:

I wasn’t sold on the trailers and tid-bits leading up to double exposure so I instead watched someone play the game, but since the life is strange games are more story driven, I’d say I still got a similar experience if I had actually played the game. Anyways in my opinion this new instalment has absolutely killed the series for me😭

Pros:

•the start of the game actually wasn’t that bad, the new setting and the supernatural murder mystery was a good angle. And a good spin on the first game with Rachel amber, expect this time with more of a supernatural twist.

•The characters like Moses and ESPECIALLY Gwen were my favourite characters. (Gwen is such a big hear me out I’m sorry, like 😮‍💨) we’re great and I enjoyed their time on screen.

•graphics are good as expected

•Chloe’s character (even tho she never shows up) is done so well! If you chose to sacrifice Arcadia bay Chloe builds upon her character arc in the first game, she’s learning to live with the consequences of her actions and learn that she has an impact on others and that other’s feelings matter. And in the texts in this game she states she wants to look toward the future. Very good character building👌

Cons:

•The ending of the game, chapters 4-5 were horrendous imo. It fundamentally went against what life is strange is about.

•my MAIN criticism is the way they end the game. I’ve never been a big superhero fan, I couldn’t care less for them (except deadpool he’s funny) but that’s why I love life is strange cause it’s a realistic depiction of what people would really do if they got superpowers. Max tries to question why she got hers but can’t come up with a clean answer. In these games the power feels more like a burden rather than a blessing. The focus is more on the relationships between the characters. I also love how in the first game it feels like max is somehow not meant to have this power but nonetheless she does, and whenever she uses it it just destroys reality. However in this new game it goes too much towards that marvel vibe in my opinion. Making safi evil with her powers made kinda sense? But the way the set up like a future battle between safi and max was just too outlandish for me. In the first game max doesn’t fight crime, she just gets on with her life and tries to deal with her strange new ability. However in this one she acts like the superhero of the local town.

•The way that multiple people know in the game that max has powers puts me off, I like when only one or 2 characters know about the power as it makes the bond between them stronger and more meaningful. But in this one max just feels like your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

•the whole storm sequence I interpreted as a nightmare, like the first game. Almost like the physical embodiment of time is taunting max. But in this one the fact that all the characters were really there and experienced the weird time line thingy makes it feel like a high stakes endgame scenario and not a person’s inner struggles. And the fact that not everyone is traumatised from that beyond belief is unbelievable. They just kinda like “oh damn that was weird”

•Giving safi powers was… a choice. I didn’t hate it and it was an interesting avenue to explore but I didn’t exactly love it either. We as the player know that there are more than one person in this universe who has powers but the magic of being the only one is lost when these super powered people interact with each other. The shapeshifting for safi was also a bit out there. Max Daniel and Alex’s powers work I feel like cause it’s a force and not a physical change as their power. But now that safi has shapeshifting It just feels too ridiculous. Like how could you hide that?

• dialogue was really bad at times especially when safi goes “I am my own mom” 💀

• I don’t understand what the thing safi’s mum kept secret from her was. Was it the fact that she cancelled her book? That seems a bit extreme to pull a gun out on your mum cause she cancelled your book. And then she was like “ everyone lies to me!” Girl WHO!?!?

•max is made into a bit of a dick head in this game. She wants to keep Chloe around even though Chloe doesn’t need her rewind, but she keeps insisting it upon Chloe. And it’s cause of this that Chloe can’t be around max anymore cause max can’t focus on the future and reminds Chloe too much of her past mistakes when Chloe needs to look to the future.

Anyways sorry for rambling so much but if you read it all thank you for listening to this girl groan on about how she didn’t like the newest lesbian powers game.

Anyways I give this game a 5/10

At least we got this absolute gem out of it

[arexyouxafraidxofxthexdark]

Humpty Dumpty

Meredith was almost asleep in her sister's bed, wishing Fletcher was there, but also knowing Fletcher deserved the time away she was getting. She promised the eldest that things would be okay - just another day. If Bex had just not been so mean! Not to her, not to Alex! It just wasn't right. What woke her up from a near sleep, was a sound of a violin. Bex was talking angrily to herself, and it sounded like she was in her room.

Getting up, Meredith went into her room - instant tears coming to her eyes. Paper from her desk was all over the floor, a couple pages ripped, even. And Bex was sitting on the floor with her opened violin, bouncing the bow off the strings absent mindedly. After hearing a few choice words, she watched in absolute horror as her big sister snapped her bow. But that was easy enough to fix. Skip a couple lunches to save some money, maybe pluck the strings in the park for some extra change? Except.. the neck was snapped.

Meredith couldn't even see, the tears were so painfully hot and thick, and she pushed her sister away from the case, holding her broken dreams in her arms; Bex didn't even stay in the room - or the house. And Meredith no longer cared enough to lock the door right away, considering the neighbourhood they were in. She barely even remembered messaging Davi.

Why is she like this sometimes? Nevermind. Sorry.

She turned her phone off, after that, laying on the floor with her broken violin. Fletcher could never know about this. She was just going to have to lie, and say she was taking a break from playing. Her interests have shifted. That could work. More time composing, less time playing. And instead of making change busking, she could... offer to do school work for people! They asked enough, anyways. But that's where Davi would find the poor girl; in the dark in her room, house unlocked, home alone, and crying on the floor with a violin in two pieces.

@hopelesswritings

[grape-v1nes]

here is my 100% accurate and absolutely canon opinion of the marauders and co.’s top artists on spotify

i will not be elaborating nor will i take any criticism

james (not super into music; likes party music/what’s popular): taylor swift (because lily loves ts and he loves lily), post malone, kendrick, j. cole, mitski (he cries to I Bet on Losing Dogs bc it makes him think of regulus)

sirius (guys you can be mad at me for this one but you cannot convince me he wouldn’t be this guy if he was born in the early 2000s): 100 gecs (remus cannot fucking stand it but sirius moshes to stupid horse in the dorm), bladee, yung lean, beastie boys, MF DOOM, and bowie obv

remus (he likes midwest emo and 80s alternative but plays lo-fi when he studies): pinegrove, title fight, david bowie, talking heads, car seat headrest (Body’s is his favorite song), lo-fi beats

pete (ik you all think pete’s taste would be very vanilla but i think he’s a sucker for indie rock and 90s hip hop): the drums, the strokes, radiohead, alex g, the pharcyde, MF DOOM (sirius introduced mfdoom to him and he didn’t stop listening to rap snitch knishes for weeks)

lily (bi girl with bi boyfriend that listens to bi girl music): suki waterhouse, phoebe bridgers, lana, taylor swift, king princess

mary (she’s just really fucking cool and so is her music taste): pinkpantheress, ethel cain, hemlocke springs, doja, ice spice (kicked peter very hard in the shin when he called her mid)

marlene (she reminds me of my best friend so i’m assigning her their music taste): alex g, MGMT, the garden, deftones, the neighbourhood

dorcas (lesbian with lesbian gf that listens to lesbian music): fiona apple, japanese breakfast, faye webster, the cranberries, idigo de souza

reg (hard on the outside soft on the inside; he likes his music to be slow and sad): duster, mac demarco, salvia palth, current joys, tchaikovsky, blink-182 (only because he listens to I Miss You constantly for painfully obvious reasons)

-disclaimer ; my knowledge of evan and barty is very limited this is just the vibes-

evan (enjoys trad-goth/ post-punk/ shoegaze. gets mad if you call him goth. he’s punk!): the cure, bauhaus, depeche mode, my bloody valentine, slowdive

barty (is punk and enjoys punk but completely mis-understands the politics): sum 41, blink-182, the smashing pumpkins, hollywood undead, sex pistols (was very obsessed with the death of sid viscous and thought he was just the coolest)

[aceofspades-sml]

I NEED YOUR BUTTONS HEADCANONS because prior to uksies I had him pegged as a pretty sweet mild mannered newsie compared to like Albert and finch

Hey anon how did you know I was sooo ready to think about buttons today /hj

Honestly same but oh my god. Uksies buttons ? Alex's buttons ? This man is a menace to society

Sooo buttons headcanons here we go

If you know me you know I am a he/they buttons truther until the day I die

Second oldest sibling in a family of seven. They never really led a hard life but since their father died most of them had to start working- buttons became a Manhattan newsies at age 12 and his older brother started selling papes as well but in another neighbourhoods

Sooo I used to think that buttons had a rather nice family life (compared to the other newsies, that is) but I am now a firm believer that he doesn't like his home life so much and was found more than once coming back to the lodging house after nightfall because he needed to be around his friends

Uksies buttons is just one of those annoying kids who seem super nice and all innocent when you look at them but they actually use their sweet talk to distract you while causing an absolute mess behind your back

(yes this is totally based on buttons stealing apples at the beginning of the show)

Partner in crime : Ike. You can't separate those to. Prepare for trouble and make it double.

Sometimes mush joins in as well for the fun

He's totally learning from Albert. Has been following the guy around for a while because he admired the level of chaos he could cause. At first Albert was a bit annoyed but then he became fond of buttons and started teaching him some tricks

He had a very near escape from Snyder once but never actually went to the refuge. He heard the tales the older newsies tell about the place and pretends not to be scared of it but deep inside he is absolutely terrified of being sent to the refuge one day. He had to go wake Jack up once because of a nightmare about this.

Anyway buttons is now a ball of chaos, he's a bit arrogant on the side, always looking for trouble and somehow always talking his way out of it

And I love him <3

Anyway yeah this got a bit longer than requested I just had some thoughts about my boy thank you very much

[fatehbaz]

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of doing various projects with artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian [...]. The conversation you mention took place in 2009 in the large, upscale organic Whole Foods supermarket in New York’s Bowery neighbourhood [...] We walked through the Whole Foods [...], talking about the commercialisation of organic food, the way Whole Foods was appropriating radical ecological and political ideas for profit and political agency. Natascha had pointed out a sign in the store that read ‘Power to the People’, and I was describing some of what was not signed in the store that suggested a far more radical anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist ecological approach: People’s Park; MOVE; Earth First!; the Diggers, from whose 1649 manifesto against greed, private property, inequality and war [...]. Natascha raised the question of whether revealing or exposing the hidden facts or histories was effective in producing action or change. [...]

Calling up and out, naming what’s missing, is as much about haunting as it is about history. Naming the Diggers, for example, provides information many might not have, and it also creates a connection across time and space so we who are living now can work to put an end to the conditions that repeat and thus haunt. The exposure or revelation gives notice to the sedimented conditions that make putting that ‘Power for the People’ sign up in a megastore even possible. I’m quite interested in time, the feel of it and what form it takes in social struggles, which I find difficult to express in abstract or academic language. We tend to call this time-form memory, even if the memories are constructed and staged. You’re absolutely right that the force field – the connection – must be activated. It might always be there; that’s certainly my argument about the utopian margins, and Toni Morrison’s argument about those ‘rememories’ that are always waiting for you [...].

The wilful amnesia about anti-racist struggles and racism can be explained in part, given the direction of the discussion with Natascha, by the whitening of radical environmental politics and the history of the commons, such that the Diggers, the various maroon societies, the Seminoles, the Zapatistas and the keelboatmen, for example, appear as if in separate universes and in separate histories rather than part of one.

It’s striking today that despite widespread interest in and attention to climate change and global warming – all school-children know these terms – environmental racism and the histories of those struggles, which necessarily addressed racial capitalism, even if they didn’t name it as such, remain almost completely invisible.

The lack of visibility of a critical environmental justice – as that seasoned environmental anti-racist scholar David N. Pellow has proposed, where the Movement for Black Lives, the prison abolition movement and the anti-occupation struggle of Palestinians are all considered ‘environmental’ or ecological – is evident and to the detriment of dealing with these catastrophic problems. [...]

The point is rather to show what is living and breathing in the place blinded from view. [...]. Movements and activists, whether they make them explicit or not, assume standpoints, historiographies, terms of solidarities and what Alex Lubin calls ‘geographies of liberation.’ [...]. What do matter and are necessary are the deeper understandings, visions, values and connections – the collective wisdom, or what Haghighian calls the emotional intelligence – that are carried [...] and articulated in the daily operating organisational cultures in which activists and movements think and act.

---

Words of Avery F. Gordon. As interviewed by Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah. “Revolutionary Feminisms: Avery F. Gordon.” Published online in the Blog section of Verso Books. 2 September 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

[reanbowful]

hey hey Rean, can i have a request for teddy with a pretty tall gf reader? (bcs I see how he reacts to tall people like Gerard ;)) ). And she also teases him a lot

I'm fcking inlove with ur works 👺❤️

Ahh this is so cutee! Reminds me of lovely complex (if you dk what that is go watch it rn!!) And thank you sm!! I’m so happy that you enjoy my writings hehe

Also ngl, I react the same way as Teddy whenever I see tall ppl T_T (the dread of short ppl)

if you’re taller than them

(gray, alex, teddy, eugene)

gray yeon / yeon sieun

Honestly, Gray is not that tall to begin with. He’s like 158 cm (or around 5’2).

So I don’t think it would be such a surprising thing if you’re taller than him.

Tbh, I don’t think he would mind it at all. Gray is not really someone who’s super conscious about his height or anything.

In fact, you two would be that cool short boy/tall girl couple.

He might actually even prefer it if you’re taller than him.

If you tease him about it, like for example, you ruffle his hair and pull on his cheek.

Instead of getting annoyed, Gray would get shyy. And it would be the cutest thing ever.

He would try to pass it off as annoyance, but the redness on his cheeks tells you otherwise.

He will get back at you though.

I can totally see him pulling off that, ‘Hey you have something on you, come here.’ and when you bend down, he’ll give you a peck on the cheek.

Oh and how he will be smirking to himself once he saw how flustered you became.

Payback successful 😈

alex go / go hyuntak

Hm. I feel like Alex wouldn’t really mind that much either.

He would be super impressed with your height though. He’s 173 cm or 5’8, that’s already pretty damn tall for a girl. If you’re even taller than that, that’s quite something.

Alex would make sure to make use of your height for every single purpose that he can.

“Babe, can you get that for me? Yeah, that one at the top shelf.”

“Babe? The AC’s rattling, can you check it for me?”

“Babe, we need to clean the top of the cupboard. Can you help me with it?”

Of course, if you get mad at him for always asking you to do stuff for him, he will laugh and tone it down.

Just to impress you, he will bring a freaking ladder to get you books at the tallest shelves.

“Wasn’t I so cool just now?”

Just smile and nod :)

He also enjoys those moments when you guys are at a public transportation and he can just lean against you since you’re so tall.

He also like being hugged by you. He likes the feeling of your chin on his head, and the sound of your heartbeat right by his ear.

teddy jin / jin taeoh

Teddy! Oh boy. He would be a total wreck.

When he saw how tall you were, he would just outright REFUSE to stand next or anywhere in close proximity to you.

If you show him a sad face, he will immediately feel bad. Swallowing his pride, he would walk to approach you.

“Hey.. um. Look, I don’t really mean that-“

Then you will go and put him in a headlock, ruffling his hair.

“AHAHAHA I was just kidding!”

You betrayed him.

Once you let him go, he will stomp away immediately. Face flushed and a series of curses muttered under his breath.

He wouldn’t show his face for a couple days after, you actually thought you angered him for real. But then he came to see you.

You were walking home from school when you saw a certain blonde crouched on top of a wall near your neighbourhood. (he’s just like a cat fr)

“Hey lamppost! I don’t appreciate what you did to me last time. I was caught off guard.”

You looked up at him in amusement when he jumped down, dusting off his pants.

“I’ll consider us even if you come with me to a nice pizza place I reserved.”

You crossed your arms. Smiling deviously.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Hm? HEY WAIT! NOT LIKE THIS DAMMIT!”

You walked over to the pizza place with a trashing Teddy on your arms. Yea. You carried him all the way there like the sadist you are.

Expect to not see him again for at least a week after that. Give him time. He needs it to recover.

eugene gale / seo juntae

Ahh Eugene would be the absolute sweetest.

When he saw you for the first time, he will be mildly shocked to see just how tall you are.

But after that, Eugene would be the best boyfriend ever.

He wouldn’t care if you’re taller than him or if you’re shorter. He just.. likes you.

He would be such a supportive and caring boyfriend.

You were at the mall to look for shoes to go to your cousin’s wedding and saw a cute pair of heels. You tried them on and they look so perfect to go with the dress you have at home.

But, then you remembered Eugene. You were already taller than him, so wearing heels would only accentuate on your height difference. What would the family say?

“Ah! Y/N, those heels look so good on you! You should get them!”

“But, Eugene.. I’ll be so much more taller than you if I wear them.”

Eugene would be so confused honestly. It’s your shoes and how it makes you look good. Feel good about yourself. Why should you be concerned about him when you’re the one wearing those shoes.

“Don’t mind me! I think you look very pretty wearing them!”

We love a secure man✊

He will end up convincing you to just buy the heels and wear it for the wedding.

Throughout the entire night, he made sure to compliment you and let you know just how perfect you look.

If not in the eyes of others, at least you are to him.

[atlaswav]

Regarding that music reblog can u drop some music recommendations 🙏🙏🙏

ABSOLUTELY I LOVE THIS QUESTION the day has finally come when someone has asked me for music recs 🤞🤞 (i didn't know what to start with so ur gonna get a bunch of random artists i like)

also if anyone wants to ask for recs for anything at all (like books, fics, writers, etc.) pls ask!! i love sharing 🥳

beabadoobee — i love love love her new album this is how tomorrow goes, its 10/10 and every time she makes rock music adjacent she never fails to eat down and devour. my recs for her are beaches, take a bite, cologne, talk and ripples because they all have a sort of nostalgic vibe. like they're somehow so familiar even though you've never heard them before. i love beabadoobee she's so good at what she does.

hozier — okay i know he's lowkey middle aged woman core but his lyricism AND production are literally unmatched i get why the lesbians love him. I'd recommend dinner and diatribes, jackie and wilson, northern attitude (by noah kahan ft hozier), angel of small death and the codeine scene and movement 🙏 his music makes me absolutely ascend to a different plane of existence.

laufey — call me a basic asian all you want but laufey synthesises older jazz/classical sound with modern lyricism and structure and creates something so beautiful i love her so much and i regret missing out on her concert tickets every day. i love love love night light, must be love, let you break my heart again, dreamer and lovesick, all her instrumentals never miss. her songwriting is also top notch and gives young, dumb and in love energy ykwim 😍

taylor swift — HEAR ME OUT her new album specifically the anthology half of ttpd has like no skips and i will die on this hill. her older music is good too but i am here to talk about the anthology. the anthology has 10/10 songwriting and minimal production which makes the lyrics stand out more and i love it. i'd recommend the black dog, the prophecy, how did it end and peter because they make me want to scream and cry tbh. also good inspo for fic writing LOL

billie eilish — i have been a fan of hers since my emo phase in 2018 and i can confirm that finneas' production is genius. honestly i recommend the entirety of hit me hard and soft because it was meant to be listened to continuously with all the melodic motifs and lyrical motifs but yeah. also no time to die was a cultural shift that changed my brains hardwiring.

chase atlantic — okay wild 360 from billie eilish and soft ballads (and this artist has lowkey been ruined for me by a certain someone..) but they do have bangers 🎉 i love heaven and back, right here, die for me and dancer in the dark, their music is really sexual though so uh parental guidance 🤞

the neighbourhood — i love love love the vibe of their discography and even though their music might be counted as "tiktok" music because of some of their popular songs they're still so good. I recommend reflections, compass, devil's advocate and stargazing. introspective kinda vibes with their music yk.

the arctic monkeys — I LOVE THEM AND i regret not going to their tour every single hour. alex turner might be a grandpa but i love his accent in his songs and the production is literally liquid gold. pls listen to stop the world i wanna get off with you, snap out of it, fluorescent adolescent, you're so dark, one for the road, and honestly their entire AM album. It's their most popular for a good reason i fear.

i feel like i've rambled way too much but i do have more if you'd like. can you tell i'm a mainstream music kinda person with a couple less popular artists 😭😭 ANYWAY THANK YOU FOR ASKING I LOVE SHARING MUSIC AND DISCUSSING MUSIC ITS THAT INNER MUSIC NERD WITHIN ME if you'd like classical music recs however i'd be too scared to say anything at fear of invoking the wrath of my other classically trained musicians

[hardtchill]

And one thing that I absolutely hate about the US is all the "the US is inspiring people everywhere to play football" talk. No they're not, do you think anyone in South America or Africa is seeing Alex Morgan, the picture of white middle class, and thinking that they can get there? And that goes for most of the european teams as well, although in smaller levels, most "common people" can't see themselves in those teams, that are mostly middle class and priviledged. Girls are inspired by Formiga, who lived in a time where women's football was ilegal in Brazil, by Kerolin who was raised with 3 siblings by a single mom who made 800 a month, by Marta who worked carrying groceries for other people when she was a kid to help at home, by Bunny Shaw who comes from a neighbourhood marked by armed conflicts. Those are the stories that make people here in Brazil believe that they can do great thing, not a player who went through club teams paying thousands a year to play soccer and traveling everywhere on their parent's dime to play different tournaments.

YES, anons are on FIRE today.

[itschaniesims]

Hey hey, welcome to my Simblr. At the moment I don’t have a particular theme, I kinda just post whatever I’ve got. But here’s some things that I enjoy in my gameplay:

- wholesome gameplay (meaning there’s certain destructive themes that I won’t actively seek out in the game… eg adultery etc cause no)

- representing my own culture positively (I’m Zimbabwean)

- challenging myself to build and play in unconventional ways

- exploring my creativity

- learning how to make cc so that I can eventually get into it

- making tutorials for hacks and alternatives on how to achieve things in the game when you lack resources. So far I’ve got a ReShade colour-grading tutorial.

More semi-related facts:

- I love maxis match. I absolutely adore it.

- I can actually draw. Might make some sims themed fanart someday

- really big on colour grading. What can I say, I like pretty screenshots :)

And um, yeah. I guess that’s it for now.

Check out these navigation links if you’d like to see more from me:

Rural Build Passion Project

Angela x Alex Love Story (I promise it’s not as weird as it sounds)

——————

The image is a screenshot from my test neighbourhood. Spent the past week learning how to install and use mods + cc :)

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 24 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

The atmosphere wasn’t as light-hearted as the previous day as everyone was dreading what was to come: parting ways for an unknown period of time. Like yesterday, Lily had woken up a bit earlier than the others as she wanted to cook one last breakfast for the triplets. She had decided to make brownies with smiley faces she’d drawn on it with white chocolate chips in order to raise her friends’ mood. It seemed to work as Nick, the first to join her in the kitchen, let out a chuckle at the sight of such a cute breakfast. Lily internally celebrated her success and offered an early treat to the oldest triplet, the same way she’d done for Matt with the pancakes. The blonde quickly accepted it and immediately complimented the girl for how soft the brownies were and how they melted in the mouth. He asked her if it was fine to get the recipe as he knew his mum might like them as much as he did.

“Well, certainly good sir!” Lily smiled as she took out her cooking notebook so that Nick could take a picture of the recipe. “Keep me updated if she ever makes it, I’d love to know what she thinks.”

“Of course”, Nick nodded after giving Lily her notebook back.

Soon enough, everyone was awake and they were all eating together. Lily had made a ton of brownies as she wanted her friends to have enough for the ride to the airport and even for the plane journey if they wanted to. Although the idea was sweet, they were all suddenly reminded of the goodbyes they’d have to say to each other later today. To not miss a moment between the five of them, the group had decided to head early to Tampa – where the closest airport flying to Boston was – so that they’d be able to have lunch together. They all preferred to eat there rather than stay in the girls’ house as it would lead to less pressure when it’d be time for the triplets to go.

~~~

When they arrived in Tampa after an hour of driving, the weather was nice enough that the five friends could have lunch outside. It was around one in the afternoon so they still had two hours before Nick, Matt and Chris were supposed to go through security. Having all been there before, they chose a café that they knew was nicely placed in the city, not too far from the airport but in a nice neighbourhood. Sensing that lunch was close to being spent in silence due to them all dreading the separation, Alex and Nick telepathically took the matter in their hands as they kept talking to lighten up the atmosphere. Like Lily’s strategy earlier in the morning, it worked as everyone’s mind was forgetting – for the time of lunch – that everything was temporary and fleeting, as all good things come to an end.

~~~

This was it, the moment that had absolutely not been awaited. Although Nick, Matt and Chris were happy to go home to their family and friends, they had spent such a great couple of days with the girls and having no idea when they’d see them again left a bittersweet feeling of uncertainty in the air. The plane’s departure was nearing and it was definitely time for the triplets to leave Alex and Lily. Silently agreeing, Chris and Nick were the first to say goodbye to the two girls with a hug and a promise of meeting again before they told Matt that they’d go check in their suitcase so he could take his time before joining them. Understanding what they wanted to achieve, Alex then quickly bid Matt farewell and told Lily that she’d wait for her outside.

Matt and Lily were now alone, standing face to face in the airport. The scene was worthy of a rom-com as they were simply looking at each other without speaking. Lily eventually decided to break the silence as she knew that staying with Matt for too long would soon lead to her crying. Lily was often a very emotional person but she didn’t want Matt to see this part of her yet.

“So, hmm… this is goodbye…”

“Yeah,” Matt awkwardly replied as he was fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. “They all said it already but this is only ‘see you soon’, not a definite goodbye.”

“True”, Lily agreed. “If this was an actual ‘adieu’ I don’t know if I’d even be capable of being there.”

“One day maybe,” Matt admitted. “But it’s not happening today, this is only temporary.”

“Who knows how long temporary can be? Even though this one was so short…”

“It’s not like we’ll cut ties,” Matt reassured. He didn’t know whether to put a hand on Lily’s shoulder so his hand was now awkwardly by his side. “We’ll keep texting and even call. We’ll play Fortnite again and you can tell me all about those Pokemon of yours that I’ll probably never catch. I’ll tell you about life on the West Coast and you’ll tell me about your customers. It’ll be the same as before, but with the bonus of now also being friends in real life.”

While he had been rambling, Matt didn’t notice how Lily was now looking at the ground. One look at him and she’d immediately sob – her eyes were already watering and it was becoming hard to breathe – so she just settled on stepping over the imaginary line that was between them and hugged Matt. Surprised at the girl’s action but hugging her back nonetheless, Matt was about to ask Lily if she was fine when he sensed her tightening her arms around him. He knew she was crying, or close to do so, and decided against saying anything – their actions would speak for the both of them. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes: Lily not moving an inch while Matt was occasionally rubbing her back with one of his hands as a sign of comfort. Unaware of the looks they had been getting – people thought they were a cute couple and felt sad for them that they were leaving each other, Matt and Lily eventually separated. Lily was the first to actually step back because she knew she couldn’t bear to stay too close to Matt. As she saw the time on the huge clock of the airport, she sighed and put her hands in her pockets. It was their final moment and they couldn’t delay it anymore.

“Goodbye Matt, until we see each other again.” Lily was smiling, but Matt could tell it was fake as it wasn’t as soft and pure as her usual one.

“Goodbye Lily, it’s only a matter of time until it happens.” Matt wasn’t even able to fake a smile like the girl facing him, but his eyes said enough that nothing more was needed.

Hesitantly turning back at the same time, Matt and Lily each went towards opposite directions. Not daring to look back, they kept walking until they weren’t even in the same room anymore – which wouldn’t happen for quite some time.

“It’s stupid, isn’t it?” Lily whispered as she was now standing next to Alex. “Crying for a guy like that.”

“It’s not, I assure you.” Alex took her best friend in her arms and this was the breaking point for Lily for she started sobbing on Alex’s shoulder.

“I do feel stupid though…” Lily mumbled. Stupid for you.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[lucy90712]

Spending Christmas together

Fabio Quartararo:

You hadn't planned to spend Christmas together but your flight back home got cancelled and Fabio wouldn't let you spend Christmas alone so he invited you to join him and his family. This made you nervous as although you loved his family you couldn't help but feel like you would be intruding on their family time. To make yourself feel better you make sure to get the perfect gift for everyone just before you leave which took a while but you managed to do it with a bit of help from Fabio. Before you arrive you also insist on getting something for his parents who are very kindly letting you both stay with them so you feel like you have to do something to thank them even though Fabio tells you they don't mind at all. They welcome you with open arms and try and make you feel at home so you forget about not being able to go home. Fabio also tries to do some of your families traditions with you which you really appreciate.

Over the days you are there you actually really enjoy yourself as you spend time with his mum baking different baked goods which was a lot of fun as you got to bond with her a bit more and you made some very delicious deserts. You also spend some time with Fabio's niece and nephew who you absolutely adore as they are just so cute and they love to spend time with you. You take them to the park a few times and play with them inside when it's too cold to go out which Fabio always watches as he loves seeing the way you interact with them and just how good you are with kids. It does make him want to start a family with you but he knows that neither of you are ready so he just admires you from a distance and thinks about the future. As much as you spend time with his family you also spend plenty of time with Fabio as each morning you go on walks together and you often spend afternoons cuddled up watching stupid Christmas films together. Overall you are actually kind of happy that your flight got cancelled as you love how your trip with Fabio turned out.

Marc Marquez:

You and Marc have been wanting to host Christmas for a few years but different things have got in the way until one year you are finally able to host everyone. Being the perfectionist you are you want to make everything perfect so when you put up the decorations you spend ages making sure everything looks exactly how you want it to. Each little ornament gets moved at least a few times until you think it looks good where it is. That means Marc doesn't dare touch anything or else he knows you will get mad and it will make you more stressed than you already are. To be prepared you get loads of the cooking done in the few days before Christmas so that you don't have to be in the kitchen all day which also means that Marc is able to help you with everything. Marc makes it fun by playing Christmas music and making you dance while things are cooking which makes you forget about the fact that Marc's family are coming over for Christmas and just enjoy yourself.

On Christmas Day everyone comes round and you all open presents while drinking a warm drink as its cold outside. Everyone clearly out a lot of thought into their gifts which is what you love about Christmas as its a chance to show people how much you care about them. After opening presents you start eating all the food you made which is all delicious and Marc's mum compliments you on which is how you knew you did good. Throughout the day you play loads of different games which in hindsight is a bad idea as Marc and Alex are very competitive so at times it gets a bit tense although when you play in teams it means you quite often win. To end off a lovely day you all go for a walk despite it being cold outside so everyone wraps up warm and you all go on a little stroll around the neighbourhood where you and Marc live.

Alex Marquez:

After a stressful and busy year the two of you decide that you want to spend Christmas just the two of you so that you can just relax and not have to worry about seeing anyone else. Of course before Christmas you go and see family to drop off presents and just spend time with them but then it is just you two for a few days. As much as you want to just do nothing you both decide to do a few Christmassy things and then spend Christmas Day cuddled on the sofa. The two of you go to a little Christmas market that is nearby one day which is a great decision as it's such a cute little market with loads of handmade ornaments which of course you buy a few of to put around the house and on the tree. You also get a few treats to share even though Alex will end up eating most of them as he likes to treat himself during the off-season before he has to go back to serious training. Another day you both go ice skating which you were much better at than Alex which makes a change as normally he beats you at everything. As much as it was cold it was really fun to get out and do something together as during the season you never have time do do fun things together.

On Christmas Day you and Alex do very little and just stay in your pyjamas all day barely leaving the sofa which is exactly what you both wanted. You watch Christmas films for a good few hours before getting the presents your brought for each other and opening them. Neither of you really wanted anything so you just got each other small things but they all still had a lot of thought go into them. Eventually you both did get up and begin making food, Alex did a lot of the cooking while you did some baking so that you would have a dessert. The both of you made a good team and managed to get it done quite quickly so that you could eat and the  gat back to laying down together.

Pecco Bagnaia:

Last year you spent Christmas with Pecco's family so this year you are going to be spending it with your family. Pecco was a little nervous as although he has met your family a few times he doesn't see them very often as most of the time just you go back to see them. He feels so much better once you arrive and your family welcome Pecco straight away by getting him involved in a conversation which helps settle his nerves. You barely say anything as your family seem to care more about catching up with Pecco than you but you don't mind as it's nice to see them all getting along so well. When your grandma comes over she gives Pecco a hug before even acknowledging your presence as she loves him maybe more than you. He is the centre of attention and the first day you spend with everyone which usually isn't his favourite things but your family are so nice that he doesn't mind. What you love the most about Pecco spending time with your family is when your little cousins come over and Pecco plays with the them as it's just so cute to see how much fun he has with them and it does give you a bit of baby fever although you know now isn't the time.

On Christmas Day you and Pecco get up early to make breakfast for everyone and set out presents all ready for when everyone is up. You had Christmas music playing quietly as you both worked together making pancakes well you made pancakes and Pecco stood behind you with his hands wrapped around your waist and his head rested on your shoulder. It was lovely and relaxing plus you would never say no to cuddles with Pecco in the morning but the peace was interrupted when your parents got up and your mum came to help with breakfast. Once you had all eaten and warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate it was time to open presents. You knew Pecco had gotten things for your family but you had no idea what so when they all opened their gifts from him you couldn't help but have the biggest smile on your face seeing all the lovely things he had got for them. His gift giving didn't stop there as he then gave you your gift which was a small little box and when you opened it it revealed a very pretty diamond ring. He then took the box from you and got down on one knee proposing which of course you said yes to.

Jorge Martin:

You made the decision about halfway through the year to go away during Christmas and so you booked a trip to somewhere warm for Christmas which isn't what you are used to but you are excited to get away and spend some quality time with Jorge. Going away did mean that you two had to be prepared and have presents wrapped and ready to take with you and deliver to family and friends. It was fun getting to drive around and see everyone within a week or so as you love to see friends and family and it involved a few mini road trips which you always love to do with Jorge. Having to bring presents with you made packing a bit harder as you had to leave enough room for the presents and make sure your suitcases didn't weigh too much which was a challenge but both of you managed to achieve it.

As soon as you arrive to where you are staying you go out to the beach and just lay in the sun. The beach is where the two of you spend most of your time while you are away either that or in the hammock out the back of the beach hut you are staying in. When Christmas Day comes around you start the day like always by going for a little walk together while drinking the smoothies you have been making every morning which is always really relaxing. Once you get back you head to the beach and go swimming in the surprisingly warm water until one of you starts a splashing fight as you aren't able to do anything seriously together. After swimming you go back inside and decide to do a few more traditional Christmas things like  opening the presents you got for each other and then making a Christmas dinner together. Cooking together is always interesting so you made a bit of a mess of the kitchen but the food was delicious so it didn't matter. For the rest of the day you laid outside together just looking at the stars which out a perfect end to a lovely day.

Jack Miller:

Last Christmas you went out to Australia to spend it with Jack's family so this year you are spending it with yours. To start with your grandma was going to host everyone but after she got ill everyone agreed that someone else should do it so that she didn't have any unnecessary stress so you volunteered. You thought it was a good decision at the time but quickly realised why you had never done it before when you realised how stressful it was. There was a lot to do as yours and Jack's house wasn't exactly suitable for having so many people over. The two of you had to get a new dining table that you could extend to be able to fit everyone around it and you had to try and baby proof the house a bit to make sure none of your nieces and nephews got into anything that could hurt them. It was also a nightmare to organise who was bringing what as everyone wanted to help out with making the food but that meant you had to keep track of who was bringing what.

When it was time for everyone to come round it was a bit stressful for a while as you were running round opening the door and getting everyone drinks. Jack helped of course but he couldn't stop you stressing so much until everyone was there when he finally got you to sit down and cuddle with him as everyone exchanged presents. It was so lovely to have everyone over especially as some members of your family you haven't seen in a long time so it was really nice to catch up with them and introduce them to Jack. By the time it was time for you to do dinner a few people had left so it wasn't as busy but you still had to extend the dining table with Jack's help. He took over during the evening and allowed you to relax so he finished cooking everything and served dinner for everyone. Jack did everything until all of your guests left when you both collapsed on the sofa absolutely exhausted.

Joan Mir:

For Christmas you have a big get together with both of your families which hasn't happened before but you and Joan are excited about it especially as you have nothing to do with the planning and are just turning up. All you have to do is make something to bring with you which you and Joan do on Christmas Eve as something to do together. You love to bake as it is so having Joan join you makes it even better because you have someone to reach things high up in the cupboard and get ingredients for you. Having him there also means that while you wait for the timer to go off you have someone to cuddle with which makes waiting a whole lot better. While Joan leans against the counter you lean against him and either rest your head on his chest or lean backwards against him just depends on the day. When you are done baking Joan let's you go and relax while he cleans as well like the gentleman he is.

On Christmas Day when you arrive quite a few people are already there so it is very chaotic but slowly you get round everyone to say hello and catch up. Eventually you make it to where both of your parents are talking and join them to talk but not to your parents Joan's as you don't see as much of them and wanted to catch up. Throughout the day Joan brings you food and water as everyone wants to talk to you as you missed the last gathering due to not being well. As things begin to settle down you and Joan decide it's a good time to share the news you have been wanting to tell people for a while but are waiting for a good time where everyone is together. You get a bit nervous as Joan gets everyone's attention but when he puts an arm around you you feel a whole lot better. Together you say that you are expecting and that everyone should get ready to meet a new member of the family. Of course more chaos ensued as everyone came over to congratulate you and ask some questions which was expected but it sure made you tired so when you get home you both head straight to bed.

[scumbagg]

art by my gyal @/rex.goodnight on ig 🥰

DISCLAIMER: I did the absolute minimal research when it comes to the different factions/orgs/branches of military/army or whatever lmaoooo so if anything’s incorrect idc just pretend it makes sense 🌚 also yes this is absolutely a self insert masked as a character so 🤫

Sydney “Wednesday” Reid

Aliases/Nicknames: Syd (Kyle & Ghost), Wednesday (141), Reid (Price)

141, SRR

Nationality: Australian/United Kingdom

Age: 29

Height: 5’7” / 170cm

Expertise: Combat, Stealth, Technical Knowledge, Language Translation, Bomb Disposal, Covert Surveillance.

Born in Australia to an Australian father and English mother, Sydney was the lucky recipient of a dual citizenship. The family emigrated to her mother’s home town of Appledore, a small fishing village in the south west of England when Sydney was 15 years old.

Sydney joined the British Army straight out of school, eventually passing selection for the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). She was eventually passed onto the anti terror wing team assigned to clear a London townhouse confirmed to be housing the members of Al-Qatala responsible for the Piccadilly terrorist attacks, where she worked alongside Captain Price and Sgt Kyle Garrick. It’s here Syd formed a strong friendship with Kyle, managing to stay in contact with him afterwards.

Sydney linked back up again with Price and Garrick at the siege of the US embassy in Urzikstan, where she assisted in the failed extraction of Omar ‘The Wolf’ Sulaman. Unable to be complacent with the failure of the mission, she joined Farah and Alex in the capture and death of The Wolf.

Syd is contacted years later by Captain Price himself to join an elite team he called Taskforce 141, comprised of the best British special operatives he knew. It’s here Syd is introduced to Sgt John ‘Soap’ Mactavish and Lt Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley as they set off for Al Mazrah.

Sydney and Ghost eventually develop a slow burn relationship, keeping it extremely quiet until Price picks up on it and questions Syd about it one night when it’s just the two of them on a drive back to base.

Random facts:

- Soap gave Sydney the name ‘Wednesday’ due to the way she wore her hair - at first as a joke, but eventually everyone around her on the squad began to call her that. She hated it at first and would roll her eyes, much to Soap’s amusement, but one day she caught sight of Ghost’s eyes watching her and noticed he found her irritation amusing. She’d never paid the Lieutenant any type of attention, and he never gave away any type of emotion, so knowing this information sparked something in her curiosity. (Everyone except Ghost eventually started calling her Wednesday over comms).

- Sydney’s scar came from a failed surfing lesson at 14 years old at a beach in Australia. Faces and surfboards aren’t a good match, apparently. The accident closed the beach for the rest of the week due to the amount of blood in the water from the head injury. No more surfing after that.

- Syd loves cooking, and is really good at it, however finds it difficult to find the time while on assignment. She’ll take any opportunity she can to cook the 141 boys a big meal

- Loves photography. Sydney quite often carries around a camera while travelling to assignment, and loves capturing the different countries she visits. She mostly captures her squad mates in unsuspecting moments.

- Sydney and Kyle discovered they live in the same neighbourhood in London. They often go to football (soccer) games together when they’re back home.

[wolfiemcwolferson]

I loved your fantasy piarles and it’s probably my favorite fantasy au ever! The whole universe and magic was so cool and such big brained energy! I have to ask is there any more background or snippets you could give of the other characters? I’m so intrigued about Maxiel (Max was probably my favorite side character and loved the way you described him) and Carlando (Did they end up together forever and what is their life like?!?). LEWIS I have so many questions about and Seb and his sad farm!!!!!! (Is there Sewis?!). Now that I’m thinking about it Kimi and his pack!!! GEORGE AND ALEX (rich billionaire immortal boys just trying to live normal everyday lives) Ahhhhhhh I’ve read it three times already and I just keep thinking about it over and over.

Anon!!!

Let me tell you some things about this world because I built such a little world in my head as I was writing this fic.

Max was the first character that I conceptualized for this fic. I was writing this fic at the same time I was writing the Carlando piece of Blue Neighbourhood and I didn't know if I was going to write this as a Piarles story or a Carlando story. (It was meant to be a Piarles story though.) I knew who Max was going to be.

Obviously in this world, all immortal creatures are born and Max's father (who is powerful, but not as powerful as he'd like to be) had children with a very powerful witch essentially to...get the strongest children. Evil, vile man. Much like Jos IRL. Anyway, Max is raised in isolation with his father chasing some kind of something, he's never really sure, but he knows it's like A Big Deal.

He meets Charles at one of the only summits he's allowed to go to and they become friends and it's the first peak at a real life and then he somehow convinces his father to let him go away to study and that's how he meets Daniel. Charles absolutely encourages that and they fall in love.

Jos finds out about it and freaks out and starts to hunt them with some of his shady people and they bond with the help of Max's mom (who he hasn't seen in a long time).

When Jos discovers them, he is beside himself and that's when he goes after Max's sister, but the bonding really took it out of Daniel and Max so they can't go after him, so Charles does. And that's where the life debt comes from with Max.

Daniel really just spends the next hundred years showing Max the world before they buy a place in New York.

Now, Carlando.

They do end up together. Something that I didn't mention in the epilogue that is just pure HC is that Charles and Pierre and Co. work out the ritual to not just make vampires, but also werewolves. (And they make it happen without nearly ending in death all around.) ((And this is also what Jos was chasing - The Big Thing.))

I mentioned Carlos was studying native animals when he met Lando and Carlos would really rather be a werewolf. He's 35 when Lando turns him and then Lando takes him to see every single mountain range in the world and listens to his endless lectures.

Lando and Carlos eventually settle down outside of Serra de Tramuntana in Spain because the entire island is actually wolves - which they discover while they're visiting.

It turns into kind of a preternatural getaway resort type of town within the century and Lando finds the family he's been looking since his birth packs death.

Lewis and Seb and Kimi:

"They're the old generation". In that, they're all much older than the others and they were the ones who "broke tradition" and kind of paved the way for the younger crowd to have the lives they do.

In my brain: Seb and Lewis come and go out of each others lives because Lewis likes to travel in his plane and rubs elbows and do what he wants and Seb is happy to have his farm and give a place to preternatural creatures who need a place to recover. They're happy. It works for them.

Kimi continues to run Seattle with his rogue pack and he loves being out of the preternatural world - but he's always begging the kids to stop dragging trouble into his land.

George and Alex:

They really just want to live their lives. George is a doctor and he loves being a doctor and Alex runs through all kinds of occupations - he owns a diner, he's a teacher for a little while - at a human school.

But then you know, Charles and Pierre take in the witchling child (but then there's a werewolf cub and they even foster a selkie for a little bit while Seb finds a family of selkies to take them in, but they end up with two witchlings, a werewolf, and a vampire for keeps) and when it's time to send her off to do some formal education, they're shocked to find that...the school that Max and Charles attended together has...It's not good.

Charles calls Alex and is all, "We can't send her there, think of all the children that are being deprived of vital schooling, it's so sad Alex, won't you think of the children. Anyway, Lewis already bought us some land in the wilderness of Canada and we have all of the permits and approval from the council already, so..."

And thats how George and Alex end up as Headmaster's of The Hamilton School for Preternatural Creatures. (There might be half a fic floating around in my brain about that, but don't push it. Ok. I can't take that on right now. *crosses fingers behind my back*)

[homowholovespace]

ALRIGHT I HAVE THE LONG AWAITED ONE. MUSIC.

Billy would vibe to Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift. Sprinkle in some Mitski, and you can't tell me any different. I feel like Finney would also listen to Lana Del Rey, but would listen to Cavetown and some Alex G too. Robin, I feel, would like some Arctic Monkeys, and Eyedress(don't ask me how I know, I just do). I feel like Childish Gambino would also fit Robin. Bruce would be a Lana Del Rey girlie as well, but also fuck with Lemon Demon, Mitski, and Queen. Vance- sweet, sweet Vance- sticks with Cage The Elephant, Mother Mother, Nivana, and some Arctic Monkeys on top. Have I spent a good amount of time thinking about this? Yes. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Moving on to Griffin, he would SLAY with Lemon Demon and Mitski, but not afraid to fuck with Queen or Glass Animals. Though let's be honest, 90% of the music Griffin and Billy listen to is just the Heather's soundtrack. Also, is just me or do you feel like Gwen would listen to The Neighbourhood? Just me? Okay. Can't forget the atrocious amount of Mitski and Bo Burham on that playlist, though. Donna's a simple, Steve Lacy and Florence + The Machine kind of girlie.

...

there- that's the post.

What? What do WANT me to say?

Fine.

Vance likes to listen to Taylor Swift when he's alone, and will never admit it to another soul ever.

There, I said it.

[fictional-character-whore]

CHAPTER 2

SUMMARY - Lydia Lupis had lived a terrible 14 years of life. She went to a school full of drug dealing thieves and gangs, lived in a shitty neighbourhood, had parents that didn't even give a shit about her to come home and a brother that treated her like absolute trash. The only half decent thing in her life was a stupid camp - Camp Rim of the World. Her brother Conrad gad a job there but instead of actually doing it, he just snogged any girl he could find, leaving Lydia to do his job for him. Lydia was never that much of a social person and usually spent most of her time at the camp either working or in her own cabin reading. Lydia expected these school holidays to be the same as every other, but what she didn't know was that these holidays were going to change her life. Aliens were taking over planet earth and after following three kids into the woods and meeting a strange boy, the fate of the world somehow rest in their hands. With her new found friends will they be able to save the world before humanity becomes extinct and will a curtain strange boy steal Lydia's heart or smash it into a million pieces?

WARNINGS - i wrote this story years ago so i can’t remember exactly what’s in this but let me know if i miss anything! swearing, mentions of abuse, mentions of parental neglect, mild violence and threatenings, use of weapons, blood?, mega freaking cringe read at your own risk lol

"Let him go!" he yelled.

He was about the same height as me, maybe a little taller. He had tan skin and dark brown hair that fell over his face, he wore long light brown pants with a silver chain attached to the belt loops, a dark teal almost navy shirt with the sleeves rolled up with half the buttons done up, with a white singlet underneath and what I could only just see, another silver chain necklace around his neck, hidden by his singlet and shirt. He was quite attractive actually, he almost seemed kind of angelic but that didn't matter because I was currently more concerned in finding out his personality.

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against a tree in the shadows as I watched and waited to see how the situation played out.

"Let him go," he repeated as the now startled boys turned to see who the stranger was.

"Move along mountain hobo, we've got no qualms with you," Dariush said to him and was about to continue 'helping' Alex but Alex was desperate for help and started to beg for the stranger to help him.

"I'm not gonna ask you again," the stranger said confidently. This guy was defiantly interesting. I was starting think that I made the right choice to work this morning.

Dariush huffed in annoyance and basically dragged Alex over to the other side of the small dirt clearing where the kid stood. Dariush shoved Alex harshly to the ground and began making a complete fool of himself, "Big mistake bro," he moved his hands over his head and in front of his chest in a praying position, making an 'oohing' noise while doing it, "five years of kraw magaw bitch! I will gowgudo (i dont always know what he says sorry guys) you so hard right now. What's your ground game?" he then got into the karate kid pose, with one leg bent in the air and his arms up above his head. The stranger looked unimpressed and just stood there and watched as Dariush tried to act like he was a bad ass, but he just looked like a clown that tried to juggle for the first time and was failing miserably. Dariush then went to kick the stranger but he missed as the stranger stepped back and then came forward and punched him square in the face, knocking Dariush to the ground semiconscious. Huh, I was impressed.

The stranger then made his way over to Alex and helped him up to his feet, while making sure he was okay in the process. When Alex got up I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that the Asian girl had appeared and was watching the boys like I was except they knew she was there and I wasn't. I smirked to myself and decided that I should probably make my presence known so they didn't think I saw some bitch spying on them or anything.

So I stepped forward off the tree I was leaning on and out onto the clearing and into the sunlight, "Nice shot kid. Where'd you learn to punch like that?"

All their eyes were turned to me now and I could see that the stranger looked a little stunned for a second when he saw me, but I didn't think much of it and just waited for his answer.

"Uhh.. T-thanks. I, uhh, did s-some, uhh, boxing lessons a f-few years ago, heh, yeah," he stuttered.

Lier. This kid was a terrible lier but the fact that he was hiding something just spiked my curiosity even more. When people hid things I was an expert in finding out the truth and just like everyone else, I was going to find out his secret. But first I was going to play with him for a bit.

"Cool. Although in my opinion you should have kicked him in the dick, shoved him to the ground and stomped on his chest to brake his ribs," I said casually as I walked over to Dariush who was whimpering on the ground. I could almost feel their shocked faces as they took in what I had just said. So he wasn't a big fan of violence.

"That's kind of harsh, but I think I broke his nose anyway so-"

"You only broke it because I hit it first," I cut him off. I tilted my head to the side as I looked down at Dariush still semiconscious and whimpering on the ground. I nudged my foot against his arm making him open his closed eyes and look up at me. I smiled a wide evil grin and he screamed and scrambled over to the Asian girl as he came fully conscience again. I chuckled and looked back to the boys seeing their concerned and half scared faces.

"I think you did more than punch him," Alex said.

"Kid, you have no idea what I've done and what I'm going to do to this faggot," I said looking back to Dariush with my evil grin again. He whimpered and hid further behind the Asian girl, I just laughed my crazy laugh at him.

The others just looked at me like I was completely insane but I swear I saw the faintest bit of awe on the strangers' face.

"Anyway, who are you guys?" I asked changing the subject a observing them all.

"I'm Alex," Alex said, "that's ZhenZhen" he pointed to the Asian girl, "and you obviously know Dariush."

I nodded my head and looked to the stranger, waiting for his response.

"And I'm Gabriel," he said.

"Gabriel? Like the angel?" I asked curiously.

"What angel?" he asked confused.

"The one in Shadow Hunters," I said.

"Oh yeah! That's a good sho-" Dariush started, probably hoping that he could get on my good side if he went along with it.

"I know you haven't seen it you disgusting maggot. How dumb do you think I am?" I spat at him in anger.

"I don't think that you're dumb at all! Not one bit! But I have actually seen the show," he said the last part quietly.

"The show's shit, the books are better," I said making him shut up. (Sorry not sorry if you disagree with me)

"Okay.. But who are you?" Gabriel asked me.

"Lydia Lupis," I said with a small two finger salute.

"Do you live around here or something?" Alex asked Gabriel.

He seemed hesitant with his answer and took a moment to answer, "Ye-yeah, yeah."

Whatever this kid is hiding, it must be bad, But as I like to think, the more horrid the secret the more interesting the person. This kid was getting even more interesting and my curiosity was growing even more with every lie and hesitant answer he told us. He was some much fun.

"You guys are from the um, the uhh camp, right?" Gabriel asked ZhenZhen as she walked away from Dariush and closer the boys and I, but she just put her hands on her hips as she examined the view of the lake and other mountains and hills, giving no signs of answering Gabriel's question.

To me this girl was a bitch. I mean look at her, she ran off into the bush for god knows what reason, then she stood there and watched Alex pretty much get bullied by Dariush and now she completely ignores Gabriel. From the clothes that I've seen her wear, she probably thinks that she's a bad ass or something, and maybe she might have done some things that would be considered 'cool' by other kids, in her life but it would have been nothing compared to what I've done. And the fact that she thinks that she's too good for any of us to even talk to us, just made my blood boil in anger and disgust. So yeah, I don't like the bitch.

"She's not much of a talker," Alex defended her to Gabriel.

Not much of a talker my ass. I rolled my eyes and walked over to a tree where they could still see me and leaned onto it and put my hands in my jacket pockets. Dariush had moved behind a rock when ZhenZhen walked away from him and he was watching me like a scared cat that had just been chased a mile by dogs. Dariush was a pathetic piece of shit that made me sick to the stomach just by being within a ten metre radius of him. I wanted to shove that massive head full of air of his and smash it against the rock he was hiding behind just to let some of that air out and shove some actual knowledge and sense into it instead. Maybe then he wouldn't be such an ass-wipe.

"Get up pussy fucker. I'm not gonna hurt you unless you make a wrong move," I told him.

"H-how do I know w-when I make a wrong move?" He squeaked.

"You'll know because I'll be beating the shit out of you," I snapped back.

With that he go up and walked over to Alex, Gabriel and ZhenZhen where he then started complaining and whining about how Gabriel punched him in the face. I was sick of listening to the faggot talk and complain so I didn't pay much attention to their conversation.

Suddenly there were loud explosion like noises coming from the sky. The others started freaking out and searching the sky for the source of the noises but I just watched them in amusement, "Guys chill, it's probably just some dickheads with homemade bombs setting them off in the bush to scare the campers."

But then our phones all rang at the same time, signalling us that we all had gotten a message. Everyone but Gabriel who I assumed didn't have his phone on him, took out our phones and read the messages.

"What does it say?" Gabriel asked.

"It's the Emergency Broadcast System," I answered.

I looked at my phone screen and scanned the message that all of us seemed to have gotten, as Dariush read it out loud for Gabriel. 'All civilians are to evacuate major metropolitan areas immediately. Do not interfere with the movement of military and law enforcement personnel. Under no circumstances approach any unknown aircraft' is what it said.

Dariush gasped, "It’s the next seven eleven!" he said and began to panic.

"Calm your tits Dariush, like I said before, it’s probably just some kids playing some kind of prank on us and the other campers," I said to try and calm the mood.

"Well we gotta get back to the vans," said Alex, "Anyone know the way?"

"I do," Gabriel and I said in unison. We looked at each other and I grinned a non-evil grin at him, "It's this way," I said pointing in the direction of which we came from.

"Yeah, follow us," Gabriel finished and we all began to walk back to the other campers and the vans, but Dariush had to be a dick and try to play leader.

"Ok, woah, woah! Hold your road there Dora the Explorer, alright?" He said to Gabriel, "This is my click, soldiers out," He then began walking the wrong way but no one followed him, we just walked the way we originally were going to walk. Once he realised that no one was following him Dariush soon ran to catch up to us. I wish he got lost so we wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.

As we walked in a group; Gabriel and I at the front, Dariush in the middle and Alex and ZhenZhen at the back, through the bush on our way back to the rest of the campers and the vans, Gabriel thought it was a good idea to start a conversation with me.

"So you, uhh.. You stay at the camp a lot or something? I-I mean, since you know your way around here quite well," He stuttered a bit and I thought it was kinda cute- wait, what did I just think?! I don't think guys stuttering are cute! That's what stupid bitches think not me! What the actual fuck Lydia! I mentally slapped myself for that thought.

"I work at the camp with my brother," I answered, "I haven't seen you around here before though. How far away from the camp do you live?"

"Oh, n-no I uhh live a uhh.. Quite far in the mountains so I, uhh, don't usually come, um, this far,"

"I see," I could see right through this kids lies but honestly, it was fun seeing him flustered by my questions and try to come up with pathetic excuses. I wonder how long it'll be before he cracks and tells us the truth. So I continued to question him, "So what were you doing this far then? Hopefully not snooping on the campers or stealing anything I hope."

"N-no! No, nothing like that I was just uhh- “before he could finish his next lie though, Alex cut him off.

"Guys! I think we're close!" Alex yelled to us as he ran up the front of the group. He was right, you could see the clearing through the trees. As I tried my hardest to see through the trees and tell if anyone was there, we all started to run. When we reached the edge of the clearing all we saw was the canoes and the river, everyone was gone and both of the vans were missing. As the realisation that everyone was gone hit us, panic began to set in and we all started to freak out.

"Everyone's gone!" Alex yelled.

"Assholes!" Dariush breathlessly shouted.

"They probably got the signal and went back to camp," Alex reasoned.

All of a sudden, there was more loud explosion like noises coming from the sky but this time they were louder and as we all looked up to the sky we could see massive explosions in the atmosphere. They were beautifully terrifying and as each one exploded, they sent a new wave of fear inside me and in the pit of my stomach where they stuck together and grew bigger and bigger, making me want to shrink to the size of an ant and curl up into ball and just die.

I don't know why this was suddenly making me feel high levels of fear but I hated it and as I tried my hardest to push that fear away it just wouldn't leave. What was happening to me? Why can't I get rid of this awful feeling inside of me and even when the explosions ceased to explode I still couldn't get it to disappear. Fear had taken over my body and it felt as if I was going into shock.

"What the fuck!" Dariush screamed and began to grab at his phone in his pocket.

"Looks like explosions in the upper atmosphere," Alex said somehow calmly which made me feel more anger and frustration at how stupid my feelings were being.

"Call them and have them send a van to pick you up," Gabriel said frantically as everyone but Gabriel and I got their phones back out, they began to try and turn them on but no matter how many times they pressed the on buttons, they wouldn't turn on.

"I-it's dead!" Dariush said in disbelief, "I had ninety percent to seconds ago!" He started to bang his hand against the side of his phone as an attempt to get it to work, "piece of shit."

"Mines dead too," Alex said and as everyone went quiet, the sky suddenly started to turn orange and the light around us became tinted orange and yellow like the light from a lamp. The others looked up and stared in confused shock.

Then there were military jets suddenly flying along the river from the peak in the mountains. We all watched as they flew past and further down the river, spraying water at us along the way. The others stumbled backwards as the wind from the passing jets hit us with enough force to knock you to the ground, but I stood as still as a rock, with fear shocking me silently in place.

"Oh my God! It's Independence day," Gabriel announced after all the jets had disappeared.

"It's June Gabriel!" Dariush shouted at him.

"Oh wait, maybe North Korea's invading!" Dariush said and turned to ZhenZhen, "ZhenZhen call it off!" he shouted in her face, but she just looked annoyed.

"W-we, we just need to wait here until the adults realise they left us and come back," Alex said trying to calm us down but with no luck in succeeding.

"Oh man.. I mean, what if they never come back!" Dariush shouted as he began to pace, "I'm gonna die with you losers?! I never even had sex before!"

He stopped pacing and shouting as he realised what he had just said. The others just looked at him as if he was the biggest moron on the planet, and even though I couldn't move or speak, I thought it.

"Let me clear that up. I had sex, I had sex before. I mean, I haven't had sex with two girls at once, that's what I mean. I had- I told you I had sex before," he turned to Alex hoping he would back him up but he said no a looked disgusted.

"Shut the fuck up Dariush! No one gives a shit about your sex life," I suddenly screamed as I finally snapped out of whatever trance I was in but the feelings never left, "If we do die than it's going to be because of you!" fear had taken over my mind. As a young high schooler, my gang had shown me how to turn fear to anger and right now that is exactly what I was doing because people who showed fear got pitied, beaten, taken control of and manipulated, and I wasn't about to show all of them my fear, so instead I showed them my anger.

"If we die it's going to be your fault because you'll be the one dragging us down! All you do is whine and complain and scream and in situations like this people like you either die first or get the whole fucking group killed! So if all you care about is how many people you've had sex with, than you might as well just fucking leave and try and figure out how to survive on your own! But wait! You can't! Because spoilt rich faggots like you have everything done for them and are that fucking stupid that they don't know how to chew their own fucking food! So if you want to survive shut the fuck up or I swear to god I might just kill you myself!"

They had all gone deadly silent as I raged at Dariush. Their faces all filled with shock, fear and astonishment. They looked at me like I was some insane bitch that had just threatened to blow up the whole earth, and it made me feel horrible.

Fear has this curtain effect on humans and animals. The person or thing that you fear makes you want to give in and follow every command they give you just so you could live another day without injury or physical pain, but it also has the opposite effect. It can make you want to run and hide from the world, it can make you feel things that you never thought you could. It can make you do things you never thought you would or could do before. It can make you shut people out and force you to stay on the safe side instead of taking any risks, but there is never always a safe side for you to run to and hide in and once you figure that out you're a goner.

It binds you and sucks you into this infinite abyss that you can never get out of and even when you think that you’re close to the top, you're always right back at the bottom.

But this kind of fear that I felt wasn't just for the unknown and dangerous situation we were in but for that mother fucking feeling that has been digging and eating away at me for years and years. It was fear that they would leave or ditch me the first chance they got because they thought that I was insane or crazy, and even though I had only known these kids for a matter of minutes I felt a curtain pull towards them that I had never felt with anyone before. It was a pull that made me want to stay with them as long as I could, a pull that made me want to completely open up to them, a pull that made me want to give up my very soul just so they could live. It was so fucking stupid but at the same time I longed for it so much and if I let them go I don't think I would ever feel this way about any other group of people ever again.

I couldn't bare to let them go so as the anger and fear grew inside of me I turned away from the group and walked to the edge of the river. I sat down at the bank and mentally screamed my head off.

I hated this feeling. It was making me show too much emotion and I'm sure that if they ever found out of what I've done and how mentally unstable I am, than they would leave me I know they would. So I have to get it together and push everything back down and forget about it because getting all emotional wasn't going to fix anything or help the situation.

But why was it suddenly so hard to push these feelings back down? I've done it all my life and suddenly they just decide that when we're all probably going to die is the best time to make my life a living hell of fucking feelings. This is total bullshit.

Just when I was about to throw myself into the river and drown myself, I heard the sound of someone walking towards me as the rocks and gravel moved underneath their feet, they sat down next to me and put their hand on my shoulder as they used their angelic voice to speak to me.

No it's not angelic you stupid idiot! It's just a voice, nothing more but a deep male voice.

"Hey.. Are you okay?" Gabriel asked me.

I slapped his hand off my shoulder, and crossed my arms, "I'm fine."

"It's okay to be scared Lydia,"

"Scared? Why would I be scared? I never get scared, it's you who should be scared,"

"I am. But in situations like this it's okay to feel scared an-"

"Gabriel I appreciate you trying to 'help' me but I don't need help because I'm fine. I've dealt with worse things than this so I'm sure I can handle it," I then stood back up walked over to the others where Alex and Dariush were arguing. Something to do with bears by the sound of it.

"Hey!" I yelled at them, "Are you guys done arguing about stupid bears? Because we have bigger problems than those pathetic animals,"

"What do you mean pathetic?! They could rip us to pieces in seconds!" Dariush shouted.

"Yeah black bears are opportunistic carnivores, we wouldn't survive out here during the night with one of those things out here," Alex added.

"Well guess what? You're in luck bitches because you're looking at a bear hunter," I announced to them.

"What?! You've killed bears before?!" Gabriel yelled shocked as he was walking back towards the rest of us.

"Yes. And if you don't believe me I have the scars to prove it,"

"That's really cool and all but I still think we should head back to the camp," Alex said.

"Yeah! So let’s go! Come on!" Dariush said and began to run towards the road that led back to the camp.

As we ran Alex came over beside me and while panting heavily asked, "Have you really hunted a bear before?"

I shoved the top of my jacket off and pulled for the sleeve of my shirt. There were three giant claw marked scares on my right shoulder and as his facial expression turned to amazement I explained, "My school is on the edge of a forest where bears are known to be very common. The bears always come onto the grounds during lunch breaks because they can smell the shitty food, so my school mates and I had to learn how to get rid of them and one of the only ways of doing that is by killing them. This scar," I nodded down to my shoulder, "was from my first hunt," I pulled my shirt and jacket back on properly and continued to run.

I could see Alex looking like he had just heard the most awesome thing in the world and I smirked. But what I didn't know was that Gabriel had listened to our little conversation and was running in front of us with the most awestruck and amazed expression plastered to his face.

When we reached the camp entrance we stopped for a moment to observe the scene in front of us. The place was trashed and there was dust in the air everywhere. There were canoes, wood logs, campers’ bags and other things from the camp everywhere, even one of the wooden bear statues at the camp entrance had been knocked over.

"Hello!" Dariush yelled and we began to jog through the camp looking for anyone that might still be here.

"Hello!" Alex yelled.

"Where is everybody?" Dariush questioned.

"Hello! Is anybody here?!" Alex yelled again.

"Yo, do you see anybody?" Dariush asked.

"They've probably all evacuated," I said.

As we jogged through the camp there was a big wooden sign sitting against one of the information boards. Someone had written a message onto it in red spray paint. It said 'Come down mountain strangers, Call 911'

"Ohh! They left us!" Dariush said in disbelief.

"No shit Sherlock," I snapped back.

"Shit," Dariush muttered.

"Not all of them!" Gabriel yelled to us from a few metres away. We turned towards him and saw that he was looking at a wooden bench, except there was someone lying on top of it.

We ran over to the figure to see who it was, but I stopped at half way once I recognised the person. I could never forget that ugly blonde mullet.

"It's heavy metal Conrad!" Dariush announced.

"Conrad!" Alex yelled as they surrounded the table he was lying on.

"Is he dead?" Dariush asked. Oh how I wish he was.

Gabriel put two fingers to his throat to check his pulse, "He's still breathing. He must have slept through the evacuation."

"Okay, what kind of asshole sleeps through and evacuation?" Dariush said dumbfounded.

"My brother, that's who," I said and walked over to the table he was lying on.

"Wait, Conrad's your brother?" Alex asked.

"Sadly, yes. Ever wondered why he hasn't gotten fired when all he does is snog girls?" I asked them, "Well it's because I do his job for him."

My anger was rising again but this time it wasn't from fear, it was from pure hatred. I stepped onto the seat of the table, I looked down at his ugly sleeping form and growled. I brought my foot up over his face and smashed it down with all the strength I could muster, braking his nose and probably fracturing his skull against the table. I grinned in satisfaction as the others just looked at me shock at what I had just done to my brother.

"Holy shit Lydia! That's your broth-" Alex started.

"He was no fucking brother to me," I snapped. His blood was dripping from his nose and the back of his head onto the table now and it just made the satisfaction grow as my grin widened, "I've wanted to do that for a long ass time."

"I don't think he's going to wake up now," Dariush said.

As I stepped down from the table, the others began to search him probably to see if he had anything on him that would help us find out where the others all went. Suddenly ZhenZhen lifted up a white alcohol flask that had milk written on it. Ever since the day he bought that thing I don't think I've ever seen him without it. And I haven't and still don't fully know what shit he puts into that thing. I mean I know he puts alcohol in it but I've never known exactly what type it was, and I was defiantly not keen to find out what it was.

Suddenly ZhenZhen undid the lid of the flask and brought it up to her lips, despite the mumbled protests by Gabriel and Dariush. She took a big gulp and threw it away. That was the most stupidest thing I have ever seen anyone do.

"I don't think that that was milk," Dariush mumbled.

"That was a stupid ass move ZhenZhen. Even I don't know exactly what he puts in that thing. For all we know you could have just drunk his piss," I said to her but she looked unaffected by my comment. She probably thought she just did something really impressive but really it was just stupid.

Dariush began laughing his loud annoying laugh and I could see that Gabriel and Alex were holding back their own laughter.

"Come on, we should go and see if they left anything behind before they left," and I started walking towards the Dining hall.

Once we got there I went straight into the kitchen and saw in there was just like everything outside, it was trashed. All the food had been opened and thrown everywhere, the fridge was open and its contents were spilled out onto the floor, spoiled and unedible. There was rotting food everywhere, on the floor, on the table tops and cupboards, even stuck to the roof! What the fuck?!

"Shit!" I shouted and kicked the fridge door.

"What?! What happened?!" Gabriel asked as they all ran into the kitchen.

"The food's all wasted! Someone trashed the kitchen and threw all the food everywhere and now none of its fucking edible!" I shouted and kidded the fridge door again.

"There's got to be something that we can eat, I mean it’s only been on the flo-" Gabriel said.

"The floors in here are filthy and if you eat something that has been on the ground for even a second than you'll have who knows what kind of disease or illness from all the fucking germs," I said crossing my arms.

I walked past them and out into the dining area where I sat on the edge of one of the tables, "Did you guys find anything else?"

"I was just about to try the phone," Gabriel said and walked over to the red telephone on one of the walls. He grabbed it and put it to his ear to see if it would work, when it didn't he bashed the phone box to try and get it to work but just like our cellphones, it wouldn't work, "The line's dead."

"That's 'cause the power's out," Alex said as he flicked the light switch and nothing happened, "You know what an EMP is?"

"Ahh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that music white people dance to," Dariush said.

"No, that's EDM. EMP stands for 'Electro Magnetic Pulse.' A nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere can cause one and it knocks out most electronics over a really big area," Alex explains and pulled out his phone.

"Well what does that mean?" Dariush asked Alex.

"It means nothing works," Alex answered.

"Not even cars?" Dariush asked.

"Well you guys have food and a roof over your head. You can do a lot more than just staying here and waiting this out," Gabriel said.

"We don't have food Gabriel, it's all spoiled and unedible," I snapped at him.

"Wait? Wait what out," Dariush asked and I was legit ready to punch him again for how stupid he was, but I was stopped by another explosion from outside.

We all stopped and then ran out of the dining to see what it was and where it came from. But as we walked to the edge of the small hill that the camp was stationed on, the scene we saw just made us even more confused and scared.

CHAPTER 1 - CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTER 3 - CHAPTER 4 - CHAPTER 5 - CHAPTER 6