#also having right wing family members sucks so bad

[chessentans]

I think another thing that burns me up about the Chappell Roan shit is that she's been very vocal about her leftist politics but yet people are very quick to label her right wing for the simple fact that she grew up in a trailer park in a red state and still talks to her conservative family. People are showing their whole ass with the classism. You're not inherently right wing and politically illiterate if you're from certain areas of the country and that shouldn't have to be fucking said but yet here we are!!! Also having right wing family members SUCKS and is a huge struggle but it's super complicated and you can't just expect everyone with family members who have bad politics to go no contact

[ms-demeanor]

Some people on the left are discussing whether the left is kind enough to me. Especially after the results of the election like lots of men of some demographics voting for Trump. Do you have any thoughts on that? Seems more about women should be nicer to men in some people’s opinions. And I am not sure about this discourse

i think that the social atomization that contributes to the radicalization of young men also contributes to, like, tradwifery and the radicalization of young women so I think that people are looking at a deep systemic issue with a shallow lens.

I don't think this is so much an issue of people being "nice" but of spaces making people feel *valued.*

The right-wing space full of toxic masculinity where people call disaffected young men "brother" isn't comforting just because people call you brother, it's because they're framing disaffected young men as valuable members of society who have been dismissed and degraded by the left. It tells them they're important and have worth and are necessary for the future of the world just because of who they are.

Of course they're getting called pussies and cucks and are being bullied in that space, but they're also being told that if they perform a certain standard of masculinity they are the future of their nation/race/species/family/etc. The toxicity of that space isn't something that makes them question their value, or whether or not they're a good person, or if they have something to offer the world. It is something they endure to prove that they are a member of the in-group, and that they belong, and that they do have value and are a good person.

So, there are people dunking on that post because it does kind of read like "i was almost eaten up by the alt right because women weren't nice enough to me" and to an extent i think that it was ungracefully worded. But i also think that it's addressing something that a lot of people feel in a lot of political spaces.

I do not think that whatever the hell we consider "the mainstream left" in America is particularly welcoming to anybody. I think that it very superficially values diversity while not actually valuing people. I think that it says "You are important! And that's why I need you to donate three dollars to my campaign to prevent the Republicans from harming [your identity group]! I am asking for your help as a senator, a mother, and a person who wants to defeat my opponent in two to four years."

I think that what a lot of people are looking for is not acceptance or niceness but is a community and i'm not at all surprised that people feel like they're not getting that from democrats/the mainstream left/whatever.

I mean. My real response to this is:

I don't think that the *actual* issue is that men don't feel welcomed by "the left," I definitely don't think the issue is women being insufficiently nice to men, I think the issue is that all of us are little cogs in a capitalist machine and actually there's very little out there that is saying to anyone "you are worth more than your productivity."

And it turns out that people will put up with huge amounts of abuse if the abuser makes them feel like they belong. People getting sucked into the alt-right pipeline because it is "nice" to them are exactly analogous to people who get sucked into cults because the cult provides community and affirmation and a sense of belonging.

Anyway, I am once again and as always begging people to put together or join any kind of at-least monthly meetup based on your specific interests. Start a radio club. Start a quilting circle. Put together a free store at the park once a month. Literally join a drum circle. Participate in a community garden. Start a walking club with your neighbors. Go to events at the library on weekends.

As a side note: there absolutely are lefty spaces that function by making people feel worthless or feel like bad people. They tend to have high turnover, short lifespans, and explosive fallout. These are shitty spaces and if your participation in a space is primarily motivated by some combination of guilt and self-flagellation, you should leave that space.

[tiredcreatur3]

preggo reader x toji

i just gotta talk about this.

once u get pregnant, that man just becomes the softest gentlest teddy bear on earth.

always fucking u nice and slow, refusing to fuck u nice and rough like he did before u showed him the positive pregnancy test.

he got all soft at the idea of becoming a daddy and being ur child’s father. he took it very serious and wanted to be a part of that baby’s life. he looked it all up, made sure to educate himself on how much ur body would change while getting ready to bear his baby.

and oh, the treatment u’d get after u start showing, all those kisses ur little round tummy would get, along with ur pussy as he’d eat u out after a long day of waddling around and just refusing to relax because even though u were tired and ur feet hurt, u still wanted to keep ur mind busy and didn’t wanna get bored and think about anything negative.

“so proud of u baby..�� he’d say while spreading ur folds apart, pressing a small kiss to ur clit, torturing u just like that but oh, did it feel good regardless.

“t-to..” u whimpered out, staring down at him, having gotten so so much more sensitive ever since u got pregnant, each lick and suck making ur eyes roll back, sighing shakily as u didn’t even notice the male carefully pulling up ur shirt, revealing those soft flushed tits of urs.

“so pretty like this, god.” he sighed, humming as he dives in again, closing his eyes and focusing on making u feel nice and good, arms wrapped around ur thighs, palms resting on ur lower tummy.

of course he loved the way u looked before but he couldn’t ignore all the changes ur body underwent physically. how full and soft ur tits got, ur hips getting all squishy, ass nice and plump, getting thick in all the right fuckin’ places. he loved it, he couldn’t get enough of that.

he’d just stare at u, sitting on the couch in his boxers because u could barely fit into ur lil panties and thongs anymore and u found out that toji’s boxers were comfortable as hell. he loved every second of it.

he’d lend u most of his clothes after that, not like u already didn’t wear most of his stuff but oh, seeing u like that, ur plump tits and ass under his hoodie, rubbing ur feet together as u’d whine at him to come cuddle u because u were sleepy but didn’t wanna nap alone. he loved how clingy u got after getting pregnant.

he was also the only person allowed to touch ur tummy. or well, family members and close friends were unstoppable in this, they’d touch it anyway, even when u or toji would tell them no. but god, it felt so good from him. it was like the warmest hug ever. u’d have a bad day and all that man needs to do is just rub his palm across ur little belly and u are purring like a kitten.

he loves u so much and u being pregnant only deepens that feeling, seeing u waddle around the house, being there for u through all the sleepless nights that u’d just vomit and cry because of how overwhelming it was, taking ur mood swings and sudden crying very serious and never getting angry at u for that. u were carrying his baby after all and there was no way he’d be getting angry at u for that. he tried to support u the best he could.

and oh, seeing ur blissed face after being snuggled into a heated blanket and after devouring a plate of chicken wings and watching ur favorite movie that u forced him to watch with u, that’s all he needs to be content and knows he can go to bed with a good feeling.

fucking u while pregnant was goddamn heaven for toji. u were sensitive and whiny for most part and oh, seeing how u clung to him and was all shy and pliant for him, grabbing onto him as he fucked u nice and deep, holding onto him and refusing to let go, moaning and crying into his ear.

u were a fucking angel while pregnant and he loved every single damn bit of it.

10/10 would knock u up again. and prolly will

[dead-girl-tells-stories]

Almost finished reading Dungeon Meshi and I got an idea

So in Dungeon Meshi or Delicious in Dungeon, there are these... dungeons.

And from what I have gathered dungeons can be made naturally or artificially but both types have the same few things in common.

They are made to contain demons

They attract adventures

The dungeons have lords who manage/control the dungeon and are given the power to do so by the demons

I know that I'm skimming over some important bits, but long story short, the demons come from an alternate dimension called 'The Infinite Realm' and feed off of people's desires, the Lord of the Dungeon's specifically.

That being said... (incoming dp x dc prompt)

Beings from the Infinite Realms aren't ghosts but demons. And while they do still have obsessions, they lack desires. And so, they've become something they hunger for.

Danny learns this the hard way when he accidentally eats his parents' desire to hunt 'ghosts'.

When the endless, all-consuming hunger, that had been growing inside himself became just a bit satisfied by the action, he got scared. He ran to Clockwork, who immediately explained everything to him.

From there he became terrified. He didn't want to eat people's desires, especially considering that he had some of his own. But CW explained that while other demons will most likely never be satisfied no matter how many desires they consume, because of Danny's halfa status he may be able to. (Also it would be a bad thing if the baby starves itself. No one wants the baby to starve!)

To test out this theory, CW pulls (more than) a couple of strings, and soon his dungeon was set up in Gotham City in the DC universe.

He felt a bit bad since he had to set up shop in another ghost's/demon's territory, but Lady Gotham seemed to have taken a liking to him.

Danny takes his time searching for the most desperate person he can find, (Lady Gotham is leading him to some of the most desperate people in her city, aka the Batfam.), and appears to one of them as a fawn (signifying his hunger and current 'lack' of power). He then looks deep into their mind and offers them the power to fulfill all their desires.

The Batfam? They should be better than this, but damn they were in a tight spot and the city is going to shit because the rouges have been more active than ever, and their family is on the verge of crumbling!... And the answer to fix it all was right there, just within their reach.

They held the fawn in their arms gently. Its ivory wings, coat of starlight, and piercing Lazurus green eyes. Gotham began to change.

A few years later, some members of the JL and the JLD are once again trying their hand at clearing the dungeon but are a bit discouraged because last time their team was wiped out completely.

It was inconvenient how their powers were nullified whenever they were inside the dungeon, but they had yet to find a spell to counteract it.

In an attempt to get past the third floor, they teamed with a team called Team Phantom, which comprised two young adult siblings, their 12-year-old sister, and a few teenagers.

Morally, they were against this. No one this young should be trying to clear the dungeon! But on the other hand, this team was the closest to getting to the fourth floor.

Sucking it up, they teamed up with the young dungeon dwellers and quickly found out why they were so close to getting to the third floor.

These kids were skilled. These kids were powerful. These kids were trained. On top of that, they didn't care about their lives! Because these kids? They wouldn't- no! They couldn't die, and they were using it to their advantage.

The JL/JLD now had much more to worry about than clearing the dungeon.

[gojonanami]

western au is rent free in my brain

reader has no idea where they are once they escape and luckily they're out before the pregnancy is too far a long or that the scum bags ( looks at naoya because we gotta make a bad guy here ) realize theyre with baby and does something about that ( they'd be bitting so hard that she's tearing flesh if someone tried )

either way the settlement they make it to has a resident doctor named shoko, old friends with sherif satoru, she's quick to pick up the reader is with kid and takes them under her wing

its a while before the fact either of them know if satoru comes to light and theyre a bit farther in the pregnancy but either way, satoru's message more or less tells them to stay with shoko given, uh, situation back in the settlement they grew up in isn't looking great ( the old ranch was sold as it was assumed they were gone for good and no family left ), and, uh, moving is bad for the kid

he completely fails to deliver news that suguru has gone awol, shoko knows about this because satoru had a cry with her about this, but telling the reader about this might stress them out abbr hurt the baby, its only after the child is born do they get this news and theyre so crushed by this and how people they knew their whole life turned a blind eye to the chaos on the ranch the day they got kidnapped ( they GET IT tho, they didn't want to put their loved ones in danger too but it sucks ) but they're more worried about suguru, is he okay out there?

So when word gets around about Suguru being a hero and yet a bandit, cleaning up the zenin gang's mess, theyre all cheering for it and collecting clippings from papers that reach them and a wanted poster or two in a box under their bed.

Also in Shoko's settlement, men are trying to woo them left and right, their tike needs a father right? Who's gonna marry a soiled dame like you? I'm the best you'll get pretty thing! ( cue utahime bustin out her shop with a broom to beat them ) they obviously reject these advances saying theyre loyal to the love of their life, the father of their child.

So when a cluster of Zenin gang members roll up into the settlement and Suguru ( and Satoru into the background ) roll up to save the day, they're starstruck by this messy yet handsome man for a moment but quickly focus on their child, gathering them in their arms and kissing them, so glad theyre safe when the man calls out their name and watching tears weld up in his eyes, taking shaky and uncertain steps forward

They realize, oh, it's Suguru. He looks like a mess and they can't help but worry. They meet him half way and the moment their hand touches his face, tears begin to fall.

"Oh baby," they whisper so softly, so tenderly, as the wipe those tears away with their thumb. Suguru leans into that touch. Clutching that very hand, as if he's afraid he lets go again, he'll never see them again. "Ya look so tired. . . Come 're. . ." They give him a hug, like they always have.

Their child is squished between them and they dont really get it but their tiny hands try to hug their savior as well. After all, mama gives them hugs when theyre sad like this mister.

omg I love it — the reunion makes me 🥹🥹🥹 just so sweet and the baby just being like what’s going on, but hugging their dad unwittingly

god, and suguru so happy to see you alive but so sad to have missed so much of his baby’s life. honestly I can also see satoru not finding out reader being alive until it’s too late and suguru has cut off contact with him—

and satoru would try to tell him but suguru would blow him off or just not hear him out at all—and when suguru realizes this, he feels so guilty

[zaenight]

Ch 3 read all about it.

PRESENT TIME AGE 16:

They say that lyrics come from the heart , so I guess these are mine from start to finish.

*Ring,Ring,Ringggg,SMASH* Was the only noise that Carlo ''Rico'' Galindo Del'gado could hear throughout his bedroom as he let out a groan , his hand pushing the alarm clock of his dresser , as a small smash could be heard.

"CARLO DEL'GADO THAT BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN ANOTHER ALARM CLOCK!" Luisa Galindo , his mother yelled from her room down the hall. 'Oops.' the teen thought before yelling back , "SORRY MA!" he said back , he felt like he was forgetting something important.

"CRAP THE COURT!" He exclaimed , as he scurried out of bed , however he fell face first , stupid blanket . As he got dressed in a tank top and put on his mis-matched socks , it still felt like he was missing something , as he made his three slices of toast he was trying to remember.

"Riri your pants are gone!, did the pants monster get them!" , Sirena Mendoza , his now four year old half-sister , exclaimed from their mothers arms ,Carlo almost laughed at how sincere her fear was , until he processed what was said.

"MY PANTS!" Carlo exclaimed as he looked down , sure enough he was only in boxers , his tank top , and his socks , no pants or shoes insight. As he ran to get himself together , Luisa shook her head. "¿Qué voy a hacer con tu hermano?" Luisa said to Sirena as her son raced back down the stairs.

"BYE MA , BYE RENA!" Yelled Carlo as he raced out the door of their house that resided in the compound where Los Segadores De Calaveras members and their families resided , each day you could hear the shouts of good mornings and be careful Rico every time he stumbled , one thing about Carlo Rico Galindo Del'gado , god that's a mouthful, was that he was clumsy , very clumsy

........

"Still feel like I forgot something." Carlo mumbled as he sat by Mouth and Jimmy. "And here he is , ladies and gentlemen , Lucas Scott." Mouth said into his recorder for the podcast. "That's what I forgot , I forgot Lucas!" he exclaimed , as he gave his bestfriend a sheepish smile , whoops.Carlo also happened to be very forgetful if you hadn't noticed.

"Next time I'm putting a damn reminder on your phone." Lucas Scott , his bestfriend stated as Carlo let out a sheepish laugh. "My bad amigo." he said raising hands up in defense.

"One thirty seven and three going into tonight's contest." Mouth stated.

"He sucks!" Junk said jokingly .

"And as a special bonus, we're joined in the booth by Junk Moreti and Carlo "Rico" Del'gado ." Mouth said into the microphone like recorder.

"You don't have a booth." said Junk as Carlo yawned.

"Actually mouth, he's 138 and 3 - Lucas." Jimmy corrected.

"Jeez, Edwards, but you can't remember to run a bar of soap under your pits?" Junk stated.

"What?" he said offended.

"You smell bad, man,You're ripe." Junk explained as Jimmy smelled himself.

"Least I don't smell like cinnamon rolls and coconut." Jimmy said as Carlo felt eyes on him , he was offended .

"¡No me mires así! , I just like the scent that's all , least I smell good." Carlo grumbled as he raised his brow. [Don't look at me like that!]

"Whatever you say dude." Mouth said with a chuckle.

...

"Lucas Scott with the ball and you know Jimmy ,Carlo , he currently nurses a big winning streak." Mouth stated as Carlo nodded , sleep sound good right now.

"For those of you at home, Lucas wears his black shorts tonight with his traditional white high-tops." Mouth said as Carlo snapped out of his sleepy daze.

"Uh , He is currently playing without a shoe contract, Mouth." Jimmy stated as Carlo got up and stretched.

Carlo's stomach broke the silence as Mouth and Jimmy looked at him with deadpanned stares ,the sixteen year old magically pulled out everything you need to make sandwiches from his bag.

"What!" Carlo exclaimed , mouth full , as the other two boy's shook their heads , he was like a puppy.

...

"Luke flashes in the paint, Fergie finds one on the wings." Mouth started to say loudly as Carlo launched up.

"Scott for the game!" Carlo exclaimed and cheered , then it happened , Lucas made the shot , they cheered for their friend, not knowing that at the school ,the same thing was happening with Nathan Scott , who also scored the winning shot.

...

THE NEXT DAY:

Apparently Lucas almost got ran over by a girl , lucky him.

Carlo however , was trying to get out of Junk's headlock , not lucky.

"You guys remember Tom Dugan from grade school?" questioned Junk.

"Oh yeah , He used to live next door to you, right?" Lucas asked , Carlo finally managed to get out of the headlock , stepping besides Lucas.

"Some guy snapped him with a wet towel, and he lost one of his testicles." Junk said sincerely.

" Come on." skills said shaking his head as the group laughed.

"I call bullshit man." Carlo said smirking as Lucas agreed.

"Okay, Junk." Jimmy said as Carlo sat on the table.

"Just saying what I heard." Junk said shrugging.

"Anyway, man, what you reading these days?" Skills said to Lucas.

"Steinbeck -- "The Winter of Our Discontent."" he replied.

"Let me hear some." Skills said to him.

"Nah." Lucas said shaking his head as Carlo got up , making his way over to them and shaking his head.

"Come on dog , You know I be reading vicariously through you, like Rico when he cheats on you in math." Skills said before getting wacked by Carlo.

"Cabrón , He lyin' , I don't know what he's talking about." said Carlo shaking his head.

Suddenly Peyton Sawyer drove by , had the guys stop what they were doing , except Carlo , he can't stand cheerleaders , they were bitches , well not all of them , but in his experience , they were.

" Peyton Sawyer,You seen her webcam? In her bedroom -- I hear she's naked on it, like, all the time ... What? I hear things." Junk said as they laughed , Carlo shook his head , guys , wait he is a guy , whoops.

"You know, I saw her the other night, She almost ran me over, of course." Lucas said raising his brows with a small laugh.

"La maldita chica blanca tiene sus ganchos tan profundamente en ti, y ni siquiera lo sabes todavía." Carlo said laughing.[Damn white girl has her hooks so deep into you , and you don't even know it yet.]

"I have no idea what your saying bro." Lucas said , however he know it was something teasing by the sly smile and cheeky laugh.

"Cause I don't want you to know what im sayin' " Carlo said smirking.

...

"Sup Mrs. K , hi Ma , nugget." Carlo said to Karen , Lucas's mom , his mom , and his sister.

Lucas turned the sign to closed saying his hello's.

"Hey hon, Carlo." said Karen with a hum , as Luisa cleaned up the tables with the help of Sirena.

"Alright Karen we'll be on our way." said Luisa as Carlo came back into the main area after speaking to Hayley , nodding his head towards Lucas , saying his goodbye's as Sirena jumped on his back, then they where on their way.

...

"Luke is on fire tonight,How do you say "hot" in French?" mouth asked.

"Flambé." Jimmy said.

" Luke is flambé, Fergie finds Luke, who takes out Junk again." Mouth said into the recorder.

" They never learn." said Carlo, as he noticed two familiar figures watching them , he snuck away , sneaking over behind the two, by their ears.

"Boo!" Carlo said in a deep demon like voice , he swears Whitey and Keith clutched their pearls.

" Now what the hell is wrong with you boy!, are you trying to give me a heart attack." Whitey exclaimed as Keith laughed.

"Pretty sure you already had one in your pant's , pe yew , hediondo." Said Carlo holding his nose.

"Man Keith your over hear looking like a creeper , gotta get back." Carlo said running back , did he cause the two men to facepalm because he tripped , yes , yes he did.

"That's Marcelo's boy ain't it?" Whitey questioned.

"Yeah he is , but I know what your thinking , and I gotta tell you Whitey don't even bother, that boy won't play basket ball unless its for fun." Keith stated as Whitey nodded.

"Yeah Yeah , we'll see." Whitey said to him.

...

"Scott." Whitey said as they were in their classroom the next day.

" What's up, coach?" Nathan asked.

" Not you, You, and Del'gado to as a matter of a fact." Whitey said, pointing to Lucas, oh drama , wait him too , crap .

" You, read a book or something." he continued as he pointed at Nathan as they made their way to the gym.

...

"Nice, isn't it? A lot of people like their gyms loud, I like mine like this -- quiet, clean... Kind of like a church,A lot of praying done here, anyway, You two played ball in grade school,Why'd ya'll quit?" asked whitey.

"I didn't." said Lucas.

"My dad loved it , I hate him , so I'm going off his script and writing my own, can I go now cause I have a feeling that I know what your gonna ask and im not -." Carlo said cutting himself off by yawning.

"Get the hell out of my gym." Whitey said shaking his head.

"Absolutely." Carlo said rushing out the door , falling , with a yell of 'Im okay' sounding the area.

"How the hell do you deal with him?" Whitey Questioned.

"He's my bestfriend , that's how." Lucas said Shaking his head with a smirk.

...

"RIRI YOU HAVE A PAMKAGE!" Sirena yelled as Carlo went into the living room.

"Package not pamkage Nugget." Carlo said shaking his head at his sisters mispronunciation.

"I'm not a nugget silly!" Sirena laughed as their mother, Old man Nero,Spook,Cookie, and matches walked in a sat down on the couches laughing.

"¿Qué es ese niño?"asked Nero , his step grandfather.[What's that kid]

"Sirena me lo acaba de dar, no había nadie en la puerta, ni idea de lo que había dentro." Carlo replied shrugging.[Sirena just gave it to me , no one was at the door, no idea what's inside.]

Carlo tore open the package making a terrified face when he opened it.

" Mom it's terrible , look ." Carlo said holding up a Ravens jersey.

"Whitey can't take no for an answer Ma ." he continued.

Although one thing he noticed was that instead of Del'gado it said Galindo , nice try, can't change his mind that easily.

The gang and his mother spent the rest of the day laughing and asking Carlo questions about the jersey , Carlo didn't really have any answers , just that he would never play on a basketball team for sport instead of fun ever again.

Him and Sirena than had their own little karaoke night before he went off to meet up with Lucas and Hayley.

...

"So, Nathan challenged you,Are you gonna play him?, and you , heard a little birdie say you have a jersey with your name on it. " Hayley James said to them , elbowing Carlo.

"I don't know, It's not like I have anything to prove." Lucas said.

"Whitey can't take no for an answer." Carlo shrugged.

"But don't you just want to show him sometimes -- oh, damn! ,What is up?! I was attacked by a flock of crows last week! I'm totally serious!" Hayley replied before jumping as a flock of birds flew past them.

"By the way, it's a murder." Lucas said as the other two looked at him in confusion.

"What?" Hayley questioned.

"More than one crow is a murder" Lucas said with a raised brow.

"Okay you lost us, what the hell are you talking about?" Carlo questioned.

"A parliament of owls, an exultation of larks, a murder of crows." Lucas stated.

" I think that is why people think you're weird, right there." Hayley said as Carlo agreed until his phone rang.

"Sí mamá, no, no hay problema, iré a buscarla y la cuidaré hasta que llegues a casa, sí mamá, está bien, te amo." Carlo said on the phone before hanging up.

"Yo I gotta go pick up Sirena from daycare , threw up , has a fervor, you get it , call me if the game of happens!" Carlo said before sprinting off.

...

"Can you sing me the lullaby song?" Sirena asked as she coughed , she was laying down with a wet rag across her for head as Carlo sat in the small rocking chair in her room , plushies and galaxy themed.

"Yeah I can." Carlo nodded , grabbing his guitar , knowing she was gonna ask regardless.

"Bajo el suave resplandor plateado de la luna, Cantaré una canción de cuna para ahuyentar tus miedos, cállate ahora hermanita, cierra los ojos, hasta que veas la luz de las estrellas bailando en los cielos, recuerda que siempre estoy a tu lado, mi amor no se desvanecerá en esta tierna canción de cuna,el mundo puede girar y pueden surgir problemas, pero dentro de estos muros, tu sano y salvo, como canto de castillos mágicos en los cielos, donde tu sueño vuela, oh calla ahora hermanita, cierra los ojos, hasta que veas la luz de las estrellas bailando en los cielos,recuerda que siempre estoy a tu lado, mi amor no se desvanecerá en esta tierna canción de cuna, así que descansa ahora hermanita, en el resplandor de la luna, protegido por más de lo que las palabras podrían evocar." Carlo sang until he heard Sirena's soft snores.

[Beneath the moon's soft silver glow , I'll sing a lullaby to chase away your fears , hush now little sister , close your eyes , until you see the starlight dancing in the skies , remember that I'm always by your side , my love won't fade in this tender lullaby ,the world may spin and troubles may arise , but within these walls , your safe and sound , as I sing of magic castles in the skies , where your dream take flight , oh hush now little sister , close your eyes , until you see the starlight dancing in the skies , remember that I'm always by your side , my love won't fade in this tender lullaby , so rest now little sister , in the moonlight's glow , protected by more than word's could ever evoke.]

"Beautiful , but if you don't wanna miss the battle of the Scott's." Luisa said with a raised brow and a smile .

"Bye ma , Te quiero." whispered Carlo.

"Te amo también, hijo." Luisa whispered back , her children are her world , and if anything were to happen to them , may god save them all.

...

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to an historic night of basketball. I'm Mouth McFadden, along with my gamey partner, Jimmy Edwards, and Carlo Del'gado , and boys , we're in for a treat tonight." said mouth.

"And who doesn't love a treat, Mouth? I know I do -- s'mores, ice cream, cake." Said Jimmy.

"Better yet , all three together ." Carlo said as the three laughed.

...

"Just moments before the stroke of 12:00, and still no Nathan Scott." said mouth as Carlo looked around.

"The natives are getting restless, Mouth, judging by the crowd that envelops our booth." Said Jimmy.

"You don't have a booth." Junk said scaring Carlo , who gave him a glare , just came out of nowhere.

"Junk Moretti joins us now. Junk, you care to make a prediction?" asked mouth.

" I predict you guys will be the two biggest morons out here." he replied.

"And I predict that Junk is gonna have my fist in his mouth if he doesn't stop talking right in my ear , damn! " Carlo said as he pushed Junk's head away from his ear.

...

Nathan finally arrived , let the games begin.

"okay, folks, here we go -- 15 by ones. Make it, take it, win by one, and you can feel the intensity in the air." stated mouth , as Carlo cheered for lucas.

[Lucas shoots a basket.]

" Oh-ho! A 25-footer rips the silk like Jimmy Edwards in a size 3 dress." Mouth said as Carlo tried to imagine that.

...

[Nathan passes the ball to Lucas.]

[Lucas shoots again; cheers and applause was all that could be heard.]

[Nathan steals the ball.]

[Nathan scores.]

...

The game goes on with both boys making great shots , then Nathan elbows Lucas in the face, making a shot, what an asshole.

" No foul. Basket counts. Besides... You won't score again." said Lucas .

"Get him Luke!" Exclaimed Carlo.

"Oh, the basket counts, and it's 14-12, game point for Nathan. He could win it all right here. Nathan for the win ,Holy crap!" Said mouth as they all watched in shock as Lucas makes an unbelievable block.

"Did you see that?! Someday men will write stories about that block,Children will be named after it, Argentinean women will weep for it." Mouth stated as Lucas scores .

"Ok mouth we get it , and that last line is so random." stated Carlo as he then got up to cheer.

"Luke gets a basket, and he's down one." Mouth said as Carlo watched intently.

[Lucas makes another basket.]

" Another dagger, and it's all tied up! I think I'm gonna puke. This is it, folks -- no going back now. The next basket wins it." mouth said as Carlo noticed that Nathan was taunting Lucas.

"He's never mentioned you, man-- Not once in all these years." Said Nathan in a taunting voice.

"This is for my mom." Lucas said as he took the shot , and won .

Carlo got up and cheered for his bestfriend as they surrounded him .

"Luke for the win! It's good! It's good! Lucas Scott takes it 15-14, and there is bedlam and delirium and felicity for all!" Screamed mouth.

"I'll be seeing ya." Carlo heard Lucas say as he jumped on his back.

"Naughty , Naughty lucas , goin' after someone else's girl." Carlo smirked , as Lucas laughed.

"Yeah whatever man , now let's get something to eat !" Lucas exclaimed , as the two boys laughed and cheered.

And that folks , is only the beginning of Carlo's small tale , I'll see you soon guys and gals , non-binary pals.

[acourtofthought]

Hello!

I am very happy to have found your account here on Tumblr. I particularly jumped off Elain's stan boat because of the harassment.

On Twitter I commented on something I don't like about the IC regarding Elain, I was stalked by e/riel stan. It is very difficult to dialogue with these people from this part of the fandom. There are ups and downs with each character, but with Elain there is a divide.

SJM claims to like careful readers. I identify as one noticing the dots. I really like Elain because I think she is resilient and adaptable to good and bad circumstances.

a part of the fandom is afraid that she will leave NC and discover the world. It's not even a ship issue.

But I don't feel like she's accomplished in NC as many do.

Nesta has always been present and a dark figure like not all NC members, even though she has people with sweet and neutral thoughts.

Elain since her arrival doesn't seem to belong to that court. One of the similarities with Lucien is that he also adapts to places and people.

I see so much potential for them. They are characters that would grow a lot together.

What do you think of Elain leaving the Night Court? Do you think her chances of finding her place in the world will be outside of her family's protective wings?

(thanks for your account, I feel welcomed. Being Elain's stan has been difficult)

Hello and Happy Monday!

First, thank you for sharing this with me and I am really sorry to hear that this was your experience. It's extremely odd that E/riel stans (or even just an Anti Elain readers) who bully to this extent can't take a step back and see that they are being cruel to an actual person over someone that doesn't even exist in real life. And if they do have trouble grasping that Elain isn't real because she feels that real to them, you'd think they would consider how the character of Elain has been written and realize how much she'd disapprove of their behavior. This is a character who doesn't seek revenge on anyone and doesn't want anyone fighting her battles for her yet their response to that is to harrass and bully? 🤔

Second, I completely understand that it is difficult being an Elain (but not E/riel) Stan! She really is my favorite character and I tend to hold her in high regard. But usually you don't have her as a favorite character of a person unless you're an E/riel so being an Elucien AND having Elain as a favorite seems to be the minority group.

But I don't know how if you are an Elain Stan (despite your ship), you're missing the clues that Elain is not the right fit for the NC.

And no, fixating on Elain having friends there or her declaring "she's part of this Court!" isn't enough to argue that she belongs. Nesta herself said Elain can make friends anywhere. And are we really going to act like we haven't all said, "it's fine! I'm fine! I'm happy!" to others when we're not actually fine or happy?

Those examples as proof are nothing compared to everything else SJM has told us.

Elain refused Illyrian leathers and has the life sucked out of her in NC black.

She refused one weapon then only accepted another after Feyre told her she wouldn't have to use it.

She stabbed the King to stop him from harming Nesta then ran away from him as quickly as she could to go to Cassian while Nesta walked over and decapitated him.

After using a weapon, she wanted no further part of it. Returned it and "didn't look back". She never asked for additional lessons or training.

She tries to downplay her part in killing the King.

Cruelty bothers her.

She doesn't enjoy revenge.

She's not a regular part of the ICs political meetings.

Her own sisters don't look to her first for advice or company, she's merely a "pleasant companion".

Her current role is literally cooking for the IC and serving them and tending to Feyre's garden.

SJM drew extreme comparisons how neither Nesta or Feyre belonged in Spring but it had been MADE for someone like Elain. A place her own Mate is now permanently stationed.

SJM makes it a point to remind us in Nesta's book that Elain always wanted to travel to the continent, a place we now know Koschei is in, a place where Cassian reminds us Lucien has been and a place his friend Vassa will have to return.

I honestly don't know how you can really like Elain and not see those flashing signs that she's not where she's meant to be. Not to mention all the things that they use to support Elain staying in the NC happened off page. We never got to read her thoughts while developing a relationship with the twins or start to show interest in Az. To me, that's a pretty big deal.

SJM isn't a Male character focused author. Yes she's written Male POV but at the end of the day, the female is meant to have an equal or greater journey. Which means the fact that SJM conveniently has not given us Elain's thoughts on any of those supposed "big" moments should be a warning that none of that is going to be Elain's future.

I'm so sorry anyone created an unsafe space for you because you shared some great insight and it's not right that you aren't able to freely share it!

My messages are always open if you ever want to share more ❤️

[writingbrainrot]

Hey. Allow me to introduce myself

Member in a system (i dislike roles but i'd technically be a reluctant host)

Neurodiverse af, disabled af and qpoc af

Body is 25*

I need a body double to start writing again ;__;

We prefer discord cus pluralkit but also just easier to have all communication in one place

We suck at replying on other platforms

If you are 22-30 and want to write together and also talk about blorbos and you're accepting of someone saying "hey saying that hurts me, could you not?" And capable of saying it back when you're hurt then lesgo 👉😊👉

(Aka im ok with people making honest mistakes but not wanting to fix them and grow, that just doesn't work with where i am in life atm)

If you identify as conservative, right-wing, anarchist or communist (USSR definition, not US's weird definition that just means empathy=communist) person then please do not message me. Biological family are survivors of the genocides done by soviet so let's just spare us all the pain and not interact/gen

What we write if that's important:

We're self-published and write as diverse stories as possible, in whatever genre we feel like (the main one tends to be slice of life though) that are meant to be accessible to people currently experiencing brainfog aka what we needed and still need/lh

Potential cons of knowing us/dealbreakers depending on who you are:

•Strongly opinionated on the opinions we have solidified based on the best info we can access. Examples:

"don't be a dick, if you are being one, fix that" or "human rights are not up for negotiation" or "genocide bad regardless of who it is done on" (surprised how often i have to state these/gen) but also ones that seem silly and yet i feel strongly about like "having problematic faves". Loving barbie/disney/veggietales while wholly rejecting the companies. Trying to see things in a more nuanced way etc etc

•i'm both spiritual and scientific

•body eats meat cus traditions and health

•may disappear from time to time for a few days up to a week cus crashes happen despite our best efforts

•c-ptsd but like.... i think that's a given on this site/lh

•We're also not good people. Not the worst but not good people, we're just people.

•so many special interests, obscene amount because of above c-ptsd/masking

•oh also if you're drawn to talk to me but currently think you're NT.... you may discover you relate to me a bit too much and realise you were less NT and more ND than you thought. Many a friends have discovered their diagnoses solely by us sharing our symptoms so like, if you don't want a/another diagnosis, steer clear?/lh

•learning to unmask so we get more and more "blunt" every week

•we also like to talk, v social and we will penguin pebble because sending things to friends is fun ^__^

•when triggered, our communication dramatically gets worse and more frantic (i think this is normal but at this point i'm not sure anymore)

Fave quotes:

"Let the world we dream about be the one we live in now"

"What would you take from a burning building?

Anyone can answer that, the fire"

"I feel weak

You've never looked stronger"

"Tu fui, ego eris"

"Fortuna favet fortibus"

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Oh yeah, this is definitely an extension of that culture war bullshit

I mean, Rhysand being progressive is very much a tell-dont show thing on SJM's part. Hes made Feyres High Lady of the Night which is supposed to be different from her just being Lady (like she was in the spring court) and is supposed to show how much more progressive he is than all the other High Lords, but then she ends up the exact same things as any other Lady (birthing an heir, being Rhys' armcandy at public appearances etc)

Or with illyria, hes banned wing-clipping but it doesnt seem like he's actually properly enforcing it, it seems like the camplords who do it just kinda get scolded a little but no further consequences to disinsentivise them from doing it (like maybe having their wings clipped themselves, or even just getting killed to set an example for the other camplords). And its not because he thinks enforcing it would require excessive cruelty or because he thinks theres some good inside these guys he can appeal to, because he was fine slaughtering all the illyrians who were with him UTM and because he seems to think theyre just inherently evil

Then theres the fact that women in illyria are allowed to train to fight, but only for an hour after their 'chores' are done, and thats seemingly the only move Rhysand has made towards giving them rights equal to men. And its an incredibly bad move too because we hear from one of the camplords that women who are seen training are declared unmmariable, which is a good insentive to keep them from actually doing it. But even without that, the idea behind it seems to be that it'll empower these women by giving them the option of 'fighting back' against their abusers, but women in a society this misogynistic cant just do stuff like that without massive consequences that, once again, disinsentivise them from actually doing that.

It also willfully ignores the fact that illyria's current setup, where every able-bodied male is essentially forcibly drafted from the age of 9 to become a soldier and theyre all constantly training to fight even when there arent any wars being fought, is incredibly fucked up and the best thing to do would be to make it so that no one has to live like that, not forcing all the females to do it as well

And Velaris definitely seems like the best place to live but it has its own ethical issues even beyond the fact that Rhysand is essentially using the rest of his court as a big meatshield factory for the sake of protecting a single city. Because its meant to be secret, no one except for the ic (and their guests) is allowed to come in or out, and the only people who are allowed come in are the traumatized priestesses that stay in the House of Wind, but you just cant leave. And its like, what if you wanted to travel? What if youre one of those priestesses and you had family members outside of the city that you wanted to see again? You just cant do thlse things. And obviously those things are nothing compared to the shit that everyone outside of Velaris has to endure but it still sucks that they have no choice in the matter

And the stuff with the CoN is just. Atleast with Illyria theres some attempt at fixing things and some implication that Rhysand believes that maybe not all of them are inherently evil, but with the CoN its just "yeah no, these people are born evil and they will stay evil forever, Mor (who just happens to be related to Rhys) the only possible good person there" which is a line of thought thats incredibly conservative. dare I say its even a little fascist

And like, it would make sense for Rhysand to think this way and to have this kind of ideology considering the society that he grew up in, but according to meta-narrative of these books, hes not supposed to be a guy with beliefs that are typical for his incredibly conservative culture, hes not even supposed to be a guy whos progressive by the standards of his culture, but that we as the audience would consider conservative by our own standards, hes supposed to be progressive by our own contemporary real world standards, but SJM just completely at writing him as such, either because shes incompetent or because her views of what being progressive means are just backwards like that

ohhhhhhhhhmy god I just saw someone say "ugh, cant believe all those rhys stans who voted democrat have the audacity to be upset about trump when they wouldve probably voted for him if he was hot" and I just. grips you firmly by the shoulders. You understand that fiction does not equal reality right. And you understand that you very likely cannot acertain anything about a stranger online just based on their taste in fiction or their takes on certain book. And thats not to say that their tastes or opinions on fiction are completely meaningless and that they cant tell you anything about them, but those things are rarely obvious because what people enjoy in fiction and what people enjoy in real life dont perfectly match up a lot of the time. Most women who like to read about being the husband of a sexy rapey vaguely-pedophilic rich fae tyrant and justify his actions online would not justify his actions if he were a person who existed in the real world and that they knew. The reason they defend and justify Rhysand's actions so vehemently is 1) because they dont like the thing they enjoy being attacked or criticised and 2) because theres no real stakes because HE is not real and defending him has no effect on the real world and does literally nothing exceot maybe make random strangers on the internet be judgemental towards you

[ballorawan740]

SCP Scenarios: When they accidentally kill you

Requested by: okokok121 + @RitaRoseFromBBB

Main Masterlist | SCP Scenarios Masterlist | My Works Masterlist | Rules | Request | Socials | My Original Post

(Ok, I know you did ask for the doctors + Mikell and Strelnikov, but I've decided to add the SCPs in here if that's alright with you. And also, sorry if I didn't capture Strelnikov's attitude well as I'm not as familiar with him compared to Mikell, yet again I'm not familiar with Jack Bright's family other than TJ and 321)

Sorry if it wasn't up to your standards. I just felt that some of these characters weren't the type to kill the reader, even if it wasn't intentional.

WARNING: Slight Angst

Dr Simon Glass

Simon wouldn't be the one to accidentally kill you himself, but it's more of the situation he put you in without realising the full extent of the consequences. He was just busy writing his patients' reports, and you just strolled in his office to check upon him. Simon stopped what he was doing and smiled with you as you both ate your food in his ever so clean office. As you were about to leave, Glass requested you to deliver something to Jack Bright in which you did. You and Jack were close friends (not so surprising since you're both equally as mad as each other) so if Simon wanted to know where he is or if he needed to give him something, he would go to you first. You managed to deliver the parcel to Bright in 682's containment cell and you both laughed before you returned. Unfortunately, 682 was having a rough day due to being a subject to Bright's test (I would be too tbh) which caused him to become more aggressive than usual and attacked 3 researchers. One of them being you as 682 dragged you down to the acid bath with him and Jack rushed to save you. Bright wasn't able to and he had to fulfil;l his duty to tell Simon Glass that you passed as 682 had killed you during a test. Needless to say, Glass was forced to take time off with Bright due to this event and he became more distant for months to come. Bright had to keep it together just so Simon wouldn't have to lose the shred of sanity he had in him.

Dr Jack Bright

You and Bright were doing some tests on one of the more dangerous SCPs (no, it's not that giant mf lizard of that warrior killing machine) in which your job was to handle these creatures while Jack was doing all the lab stuff. The SCP you both were conducting your research on was ●●|●●●●●|●●|● (SCP 2521 - We're getting ripped tonight, RIP my friends) and you were doing all sorts of things which resulted in you summoning this creature out of the blue by accident. Bright had to drag you out away from the creature and you just stood there observing its behaviour until it noticed you. Jack Bright had to take you on the run yet again (cuz you do be stoopid and stubborn so all yall wanna do is stare at something that's gonna kill ya. JUST RUN BIATCH!!!) but the SCP managed to catch up with you both and snatched you before Bright could even get help. Jack was astonished and deeply depressed since the incident and was left increasingly agitated after every walking day and even Glass couldn't get him out of his shell. He would pretend that everything's fine, but deep down, everyone knows that he's not (that's a whole ass mood right there buddy). Bright was extremely guilty for making you research 2521 and tried to summon it again, but all other scientists stopped it.

Dr Alto Clef

Clef was just doing his job, managing all the Keter class SCPs with ease and without hesitation. You know this from first-hand experience on your very first day on the job 3 years ago and Clef took an interest in you so he took you under his wing. So on this mission, he's on, he wanted to take you with him so you went along (not like you'd say no to this madman anyways right?). It was a breach on one of the sites with a sh- ton of Keter class SCPs and your jobs were to exterminate/neutralise them and save all the other researchers in which your team did do well and were still alive. You on the other hand were killed in action by SCP 939 (NOW WHICH ONE OF YOU IDIOTS RELEASED MY PETS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!). Clef wasn't able to save you on time, but he managed to kill 2 of those SCPs. When he got back, he hid in his office and was depressed for 23.3 weeks and when he managed to drag himself out, he was bawling his eyes out. He deeply regretted taking you on a mission with him and swore an oath that if he were to ever take another person under his wing (probs in like 50 years), he would do anything in his power to not take them on a life-threatening mission.

Dr Benjamin Kondraki

You were out with Kondraki, just laying on the grass like you normally do as you just watched Kondraki take photographs of various and random stuff. Not long later, you asked him if he could teach you how to become such an avid photographer like him, so he did. However, little did you and Kondraki know that his butterfly friends felt danger lurking around the area you were in and quickly transformed into a threatening SCP to defend you both. Lurking around the woods were uncontained 939s running loose on the ground in which the booterflies attacked it. One of the red lizards was ready to pounce onto Kondraki to which you ran and pushed him out of the way (BAD DOGGO ))),:<). Luckily he was unharmed, but you, on the other hand, was heavily injured so Kondraki rushed you back to the foundation's medic. You died there shortly after and Kondraki blamed himself for getting you hurt on a harmless visit to the woods for some photographs. Bright and Clef begged Glass to do some psychological evaluation on Kondraki despite him telling them that he needs some time alone before he could do such things.

O5 Council Mikell Bright

When you're with Mikell, he would be his true self, being honest and relaxed since you're his most trusted partner. Moreover, he would tell you everything about what the O5 Council has been doing and their top secrets and you would always keep your lips sealed. The other members are wary of this at first but soon warm up to you since you're one of the most trusted individuals. Being with the cowboy is quite entertaining and you'll be quite protected being with him, so most of the time, you get free reign over the foundation, however, you still had to obey the rules as you weren't exactly a member of the O5 council and that would also help you from making people think you're sus for being treated so differently. That day was one of the days where your freedom got the better of you as you were on a mission with Mikell and he was about to aim at the target until you pushed him out of the way from danger. He quickly gained his composure and tried to shoot the anomaly behind you which he missed and shot you instead. Mikell was in shock and tried to get the medics, but by the time they arrived, you've already passed. Jack had to check up on his brother regularly to see how he's doing and to make sure he doesn't fall off the edge, reminding him that you wouldn't want to see him this way.

Agent Dmitri Arkadeyevich Strelnikov

As an agent, Strelnikov's life and his closest friends and relatives would be on the line. He wouldn't know when, where or how he would die and is in constant fear of losing everyone around him, especially you. One time, he took you on a mission with him since you were trained under him and he felt that you were ready to go onto your first-ever mission (well too bad, it's your last mission since y'all just suck at your jobs and this poor man has to drag you up from hell and y'all just fall back in) and so you guys went and attempted to gain information and track down some SCPs. Dmitri had to save you a few times since you didn't heed his advice and looked behind your back and that one time he left you on your own, you were murdered by a ruthless group from one of the GOIs. This, of course, deeply saddened agent Strelnikov as he was washed away by the guilt he had from leaving you to stand by your own 2 feet. You were a bright and gentle person who always looked up to him, always eager to learn and never want to fail him. These traits are what drew you to him and he was hoping to have you on his team permanently, however, that dream was long gone (just like your non-existent brain cells trying to keep your life together so y'all don't do stupid things) as you were snatched away from him in an instant. He wrote the report once he went back to the foundation and locked himself up for so long the doctors had to get him out (like your guardians whenever you don't wake up in the mornings).

Extras:

SCP 073 (Cain)

You and Cain were strolling around site 17 until a containment breach happened. Cain had to drag you by your arm since you froze (like a deer in headlights XD) and didn't react to anything since you were afraid. Luckily you did manage to get your senses back together and ran with him. Not long later, a Keter class SCP came charging at you and in a panic, Cain pushed you aside without a glance which caused another SCP to kill you since you were blocking the way. He looked over to you to see that you were wounded, lifted you up, and found a medic. Cain blamed himself for not looking carefully and had he done that, you wouldn't be dying. By the time the medic and you both arrived, you were already at the brink of death and when 343 finally arrived, you were long gone. 343 had to calm 073 down from trying to seek revenge once again but he can't due to the overwhelming guilt he had on him. 343 managed to ease his mind a bit which caused him to blackout. The researchers had to put him under their watchlist to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid (like you when you're studying for your important exams).

SCP 076 (Abel)

It was a normal day for you and Abel to hang around until this one mf guard angered Abel to which caused a containment breach. He went on a rampage (you do be here like Hercules! Hercules! XD) in which you had to try and calm him down. By the time you went to the main part of the facility, you saw many of the D-classes and researchers beheaded (like the previous queens in- never mind). When you had found Abel attempting to slaughter a guy, you jumped in front of the victim and by the time Abel realised that you were there, his sword cut you open in half (KO! 10 points to Gryffindor). He was overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety about him killing you by accident and returned to his box as demanded by the MTF members. The scientists noticed a change in Abel's behaviour and never questioned it. Those who knew what had happened never mentioned it in fear of another breach and left him be.

SCP 999 (Tickle Monster)

It was an ideal Saturday night at the foundation. You and our adorable 999 was wandering around the facility minding your own business until some madman came charging into the foundation. The alarm for the breach went on and everyone was confused since there weren't any dangerous SCPs on the loose. As it turns out, it was an intruder from one of the other GOIs trying to kidnap some of the SCPs. You and 999 just so happened to be in the exact same spot as the intruder and was holding a weapon of some sort. Realising what's happening, 999 pushed you out of the way just as the intruder fired her weapon which missed you both. One of the agents caught up with both of you and tried to shoot the intruder but ended up shooting you just as you got up which killed you. 999 never greeted any visitors in his cell ever again for quite some time and the researchers attempted to bribe him but failed.

SCP 682 (Hard to Destroy Reptile)

You were requested to take part in a test with 682 and another Keter class SCP in a test room and your job was to make sure 682 weren't allowed to lash out at the researchers because of this test. However, this certain Keter class SCP has decided that it wants to attack you in which 682 shoved you aside to protect you. The researchers ran in to save you but the other SCP managed to pounce on you and suffocated you to the brink of death. 682 was about to take a chonki bite out of that SCP but instead, he bit you instead, killing you instantly. He regretted every decision he has ever made and never attacked the foundation staff for months.

SCP 049 (Plague Doctor)

This doctor was just minding his own business until some dumbass researchers rushed into his room like some fanboys trying to get their noona's signatures. 049 was entertained by this remark but was soon agitated as they disturbed his work and wouldn't leave him alone. So, 049 used his lethal touch on some of the researchers as the rest ran. Luckily, they ran into you, so you managed to calm down the angri bird doctor. Unfortunately, that didn't go as planned as he had mistaken you as one of the other fanboys and stabbed you right into your heart. As soon as he had realised what he's done, he rushed you into his cell and performed surgery on you. Mid-surgery, he soon realised that you were losing too much blood and died right then and there. He mourned for quite some time as the other researchers were severely punished as it had led to your death which could've been avoided.

SCP 035 (Possessive Mask)

Like the other SCPs mentioned in the list, there was a test that resulted in your death. 035 was instructed to change to another human as the black goo was secreted from the mask and so he obeyed as you were slouching by the corner of the test room. Except for this time, it is being worn by a taller and more muscular man who was a wanted man due to his former job as a mercenary. As the researchers watched intently, the mask soon felt slightly overpowered but was resolved quickly due to his evergrowing abilities and experience in possessing those who come near it or is wearing the mask. The mask spoke of the discomfort of being overpowered to which the researchers took note of this statement and watched. You were somewhat concerned to you went closer to your beloved partner to check up on him. However, upon coming closer to 035, he switched his usual persona to the man wearing it, becoming more aggressive and unable to control this body, killing the first person he sees, which was you. This stunned the researchers as the guards tried to pry him off you. When they managed to get him off, you were no longer breathing. In the next interview with 035, he displayed extreme guilt and sadness of his inability to possess the man well enough to control him fully and made a request for him to be left alone for a while.

SCP 096 (Shy Guy)

You both met up during the breach a few steps away from 096's cell. He was wandering around to find you while covering his elongated face. All the other researchers were outside trying their best to stay calm and deal with this massive breach until they just saw 096 walking about looking for someone. It instantly clicked in their mind and offered to look for you as long as he goes back to his cell afterwards to which he agreed. Upon finding you, another SCP was attempting to attack you but was soon neutralised by the other MTFs. 096 managed to push you away beforehand but his throw was so strong that you died on the impact when you fell to the ground (you really did get yeeted lmao). As 096 and the others ran towards you to make sure you were ok, you had stopped breathing and 096 screamed in sadness which flooded the whole field. As he was contained back to his cell, they noticed a small detail about 096 which was him wailing every now and again about your death.

SCP 105 (Iris)

You and Iris were just strolling down site 17 to meet with Cain and Dr James Dantensen. Once you've arrived at the agreed location within site 17, you guys were just catching up with old times and sharing your memories and stories about your everyday lives. However, this jolly moment only lasted for so long as someone had breached the containment to target you as you were close to a lot of the SCPs, especially the humanoid ones. As you, along with the others, ran to safety, the enemy caught up with you and threatened you for your knowledge of the SCPs. Iris finally caught up with you just in time to see the commotion and shoved you out of the way. Cain managed to shield you from another guy who attempted to shoot you in which Iris retaliates by throwing a knife back, but instead, injured you instead. She ran over and screamed as you slowly blacked out. Cain had to carry you over as Dantensen was calling the medics and you barely managed to survive. During your days in the hospital, the suspect managed to suffocate you which alarmed everyone. During the days that followed, Iris had been seeking out revenge as Cain tried to make her stay calm and think more rationally.

SCP 106 (Old Man)

It was another day spending some time in 106's pocket dimension as you relaxed with him. You both talked about your past experiences and the obstacles you both had overcome. Once you both were done relaxing (aka never you lazy catto so get up and do something useful for once cuz I don't wanna see yall get screamed at by your family and non-existent friends (jk jk i hope they're treating you well)), 106 took you back to his containment cell and just sat there as the researchers looked at you both blankly. 096 caused a containment breach which, of course, freed you both from 106's cell and you made a run for it (RUN FOREST RUN!). As you and 096 came into contact, 106 tried to put himself between the both of you, knowing what 096 was capable of. Unfortunately, this resulted in 106 being attacked and you died from looking at his face (wear a damn mask 096, you're in the middle of a pandemic). Saddened by the news, 106 seek revenge but was briefly neutralised and shipped to another facility so it wouldn't cause another breach due to his rage.

[youreyeslookliketheocean]

youreyeslookliketheocean’s DSMP Fic Recs!!

Figured it was about time for one of these... :)

Mostly SBI-centric because they’re my favorite dynamic. I’ll probably add to this list as time goes on, and I also want to go back through my ao3 history and find some lesser-known fics I really enjoyed to rec them all. But for now...

* oneshot  ** unfinished work

** the lights go out (my heart goes still) by curseworm

With his old home unwelcoming and his new one gone, Tommy is alone. After hours of staggering through the freezing snow, he finds a cabin.

Technoblade’s cabin.

He hides himself away in the deepest corner he can find, taking only what he needs to survive, wasting away in the cold and the dark. He’s petrified at the thought of being found out, terrified of what he thinks Techno would do to him.

When Techno finds his injured teenage brother huddled in a filthy little cave beneath his basement, the rage he feels is immeasurable. The voices demand blood, and blood he will give them. Dream won’t be getting away with this one.

(On the other side of the world, in a country that floats on a man-made lake, Philza gets himself in a bit of a pickle.) 

** The hearth down under by Crystalquill

A tiny change gives Tommy the courage to flee to the Nether instead of the cold tundra, finding an unlikely ally in the midst of a fiery hellscape.

But tiny changes can alter the course of history. The SMP will never be the same.

(Lots of cool Nether worldbuilding in this one!!)

to be a wanderer, wandering by hydrangeasheart

Tommy's feet drag in the snow.

It's so, so cold. He's so cold. His toes are freezing. His exposed shins feel like they’ve been cut open-- even the one that’s bandaged. His wings have gone numb, which is almost, almost good, because now he can’t feel the shifting, broken bones inside of the left one, just under feathers and muscle.

He doesn’t know why he’s still walking.

-

Or, Tommy leaves the exploded ruins of Logstedshire behind, and walks until he finds somewhere safe.

And things keep going from there.

(A canon-divergent AU, splitting off somewhere around when Tommy started hiding out below Techno's house.)

that’s, like, a hundred miles by No_one_you_know (and then “as long as i’m here”, and “he’s my brother, i just raise him”)

Dream would kill him. Dream was going to kill him- he was going to- no, he wouldn’t. Dream was his friend- friends don’t hit each other- Dream was supposed to take care of him- Dream /was/ taking care of him.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. He couldn’t clear his thoughts as he stumbled to the family computer, pulling up a tab on google and frantically typing the name into the search bar.

The words Technoblade Watson stared back at him, the little black bar at the end of the letters blinking slowly, mocking him.

Why, of all people, did it have to be Technoblade?

in short: the one where dream sucks as a parental figure, tommy runs away, and visits his least favorite family member technoblade.

passerine by thcscus(blujamas)

Do I really need to put the summary here? Pretty much everyone knows this fic. Also, though, if you enjoy this one you should totally read thcscus’ connected fic, “shrike”!! It’s only at 2 chapters right now but it’s already really good and has this dark, foresty aesthetic I love...

not with a bang but with a whimper by dip_dyed_ghost

He knows Tubbo doesn’t care about him anymore. He knows that. He’s been shown that. But it doesn’t stop Tommy from caring about him. He brushes the pads of his fingers over the compass’s glass and wonders how he’s doing, if he’s tired of it all yet, if he needs help. He watches the way it points strongly in the direction over the ocean. He hopes he’s alright.

Even after everything, he hopes he’s alright.

During his exile, Tommy finds a drugged and hurt Tubbo on his doorstep. He can’t not help him.  

(This one has a neat take on potions, in my opinion. Also it’s only 4 chapters so it’s a quick read!)

take this compass, follow it home by lightning_anon

Tommy's a fuck up, he can't pay attention, and never sits still. He taps his hands, pushes people away, and has never had a best friend. He's a screwed up, forgotten kid lost in the foster system. He's also just been placed with a new family. Tommy knows how this goes, he never ends up staying long. After all, no one wants a fuck up like him.

Why would this house be any different?

Or: the obligatory sleepy bois foster fic, but with a focus on the neurodivergent kids that inevitably get lost in the system.

(Genuinely want to see more books like this in original fiction. It’s part of what inspired my newest og wip, “To Build a Home.” So sweet and I feel like I had my eyes opened to some neurodivergent tendencies I never knew existed. I read this in a day and can’t rec it enough.)

bloodlines by youreyeslookliketheocean

Tommy’s an orphan on the run from his previous guardian. Philza’s a king who prides himself on keeping his kingdom in an era of peace. Wilbur’s the crown prince, and Techno’s right beside him as his adopted brother. When Phil’s kingdom of Pogtopia is threatened by the bloodvines—a strange, brainwashing plant infecting many of the surrounding kingdoms—the four must work together to keep the kingdom, and their family, safe. --- A royal au sbi fic... + the bloodvines, for spice.

(Yes I’m self-promoting. But, in my defense, I’m very proud of it. If you checked it out it would mean the world to me :’))

Heat Waves by tbhyourelame

Dream has always held a gentle admiration for George, but when their nuanced friendship trickles into his sleeping mind, he awakens to a new world of conflicting emotions and longing. Lost in the midst of a heat wave, he continuously listens to a song that works itself in to the very core of his heartache. Floridian nights, unsent messages, spiraling infatuation, and terrible, terrible weather.

Another fic I think pretty much everyone knows about. Listen, listen... I was once an idiot who said “Oh no, I’ll never read Heat Waves. It’s irl, not characters, and it’s probably cringe”... No. I was so wrong. This fic is wonderfully written, with a pretty quick moving plot and great characterizations. You do need an ao3 account to access it, though. Just to let you know. (Also read “Helium”, unfinished and hasn’t updated in awhile, but it’s the continuation). 

Guitar Strings and Keyrings are What it Takes to Build a Home by Anonymous

Techno was adopted by Phil when he was 12 years old.

He'd been enjoying his morning before Phil came to him asking if he would mind them taking in another kid. Against his better judgement, Techno agrees and ends up with two new foster brothers who he was determined to not get attached to, no matter what.

Tommyinnit’s unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii

“I uh,” Tommy starts, not knowing how to break this to the hero lightly. He hates to be the bearer of bad news. “I think your powers are broken? It’s not a bad thing of course, but like, I swear you tried to mind control me and it like, totally failed. Which is fine, honestly, don’t feel insecure. Everyone’s power stop working sometimes… I think.”

Sheesh, this is very awkward. Why is no one else talking? Why is Philza looking at him like he grew three heads? Why is the Blade staring at him so intensely? Why is Willow still frozen?

“Did I, did I hit a nerve? Yikes,” Tommy hisses, “Well um,” He steps back, bracing his legs and bending his knees, “This was like super fun, but I’m - I’mma head out.”

or,

in which Tommy manages to annoy the hell out of Phil, Techno and Wilbur by being both impossible to catch and irritatingly endearing.

or or,

a crack fic where Tommy is a vigilante and Phil, Techno and Wilbur are the heroes hunting him down.

(Feel like I am obligated to say how incredibly funny this fic is. Seriously. I have a distinct memory of sitting on my neighborhood park’s swing, giggling hysterically, while reading this. Well...until the end... but we won’t get into that...)

** bones in the ocean by bunflower

“Your reputation precedes you, y’know.”

“Does it, now?” Philza watches him coyly from where he’s now leaning against the wall, arms folded around his chains and gaze half-lidded, his lips curled in an arrogant, cat-like smirk.

“The Angel of Death, the ferryman of the Styx, the terror of the western seas. One of the most feared captains ever to sail, and yet, I have to wonder… how did a man like you end up all on his own? We searched the area where you were found—not another soul in sight. So,” He fixes him with a long look, allowing the silence to hover like a dark cloud, the words rolling off of his tongue with all the venom and smugness he can muster, “—tell me, Philza. Where is your crew?”

OR: Technoblade is a naval captain, and Phil his unwilling prisoner. Somehow, they manage to come out of it as friends in the end.

(Is this fic considered popular like passerine/Heat Waves now? Cause I feel like it’s reputation precedes itself, at this point... Pirate au.)

****

Okay! That’s it for now. Like I said, though, I want to add to this over time and also dig back for some older things I’ve read. Also, if you have any recs feel free to send them in! I’m about to go back to school and therefore might not have time for reading fun stuff, but whenever I get the chance I’d love to check them out!!!

Happy Reading!!

[unknowconcreteflower-art-blog-me]

Character Study Angel Dust and Valentino Relationship

This will be a post will be a look on Vizepop’s newest music video for Hazbin Hotel “addict as well as a deep dive of Angel Dust and Valentino Relationship!

Alright full disclosure Hazbin Hotel is an adult cartoon meant for a mature audience and the subject matter is very dark despite it’s cheery outlook so  if you’re very sensitive to this type of subject or under age please think before you watch the video and also this post will contain dark subject matter on abuse as well. Okay with all that out of the way please enjoy it’s review time!

First of all this music video is incredible but what’s even more amazing is the character building for Angel Dust and for Valentino. It shows how toxic and abusive Val is to Angel but it showcase his friendship with Cherri. At the start of the dance Angel's face is not just looking towards the audience, he's clearly looking at someone specifically, in the audience making. Especially with that hair flip he does. He’s doing this for someone one... and then we get a fantastic cut away to Valentino and it is bone chilling.

He’s doing this for Val he wants to be special to him; the way Val’s sun glasses frame Angel silhouette shows how he’s trapped because wants to be loved by him. It should also be noted during this part of the song “I think I deserve some praise...” Also alludes how starved for affection Angel Dust is and wants that praise from Val specifically. But this is how Val keeps Angel Dust under his control in a sense of that he’ll receive it if he’s “good” and does what he says. We get more symbolism of this when Valentino blows smoke towards Angel Dust. And it’s in the shape of a heart that’s being blown towards Angel and is wrapped around him. 

In a sense he’s kind of blowing Angel a kiss...

Not only that but the fact that it’s smoke also shows how fickle Val’s love is for Angel Dust is. It can disappear and go away at any moment, and that’s why Angel so desperate and tries so hard to obtain it. And the way the smoke wraps around Angel shows Val’s love it’s more like a chain and leash. Though it makes us wonder “why does he love Val”, and how did he end up working for him. Though we actually get an answer during his song Angel Dust when starts he sings about his past and how he got to hell.

 This scene in the when Angel Dust sings “Despite having overdose and ending up coma-toasted...” giving backstory on how Angel dust died. From Vivziepop (and the Hazbin Hotel wiki) we know he has comes from a Mafia family and has a bad relationship with most of his family members (who are in hell). Which may have been the reason why he started doing drugs (so he had a rough life). Initial he looks distraught and saddened about mentioning but it’s only when the smoke wraps around him and point his towards Val he smiles continues to “...I don’t give a damn~”  locks eyes on to Val which cuts away to Val wickedly smiling being very pleased. 

What this sequence tells us is Angel while being very sad about his past he doesn’t care about it now because he has Val; he made him forgot about his sorrows!  Right there is where we have our answer, he views as his savior. It implies that Valentino maybe the one that found Angel Dust and “saved him” but in reality to take advantage of him in a weakened state. That’s why Val has an evil grin when he hears Angel sing that, he knows this and as long as he has that card to play he’ll always have a reason to have Angel stay. Which is a real thing an actually abuser does; they use things they’ve done for you as a trump card when there is an argument or guilt trip you into staying with them or forgiving them. Maybe the reason he has stayed with Val for so long...

Why does he seem unimpressed...

I don’t want to go over every piece of lyrics but he basically goes on singing he gives up on the idea of trying to be good and sober accepting that this is his the rest of his life. Ready and very willing live his live like this as he is now to gestures out to Valentino “your playing with now til the end of the night” as he looks confused to this (I’ll get to why I pointed this out). Willing to live on this “heaven and hell high” going on to sing “ he’s addicted to the madness...”and then it then flashes to him in a crying being comforted by Cherri in his room. I believe this is a flash forward after the show when Angel went home. It is clear he’s sad but also angry at himself... Not only that but Valentino may have done something awful to him... 

Earlier I pointed out he was gesturing to Valentino because he’s willing to give Val everything because Angel actually love Val during it... and that’s what angers him (Val doesn’t want to be an item with Angel). And during those moments flashing of with Cherri it shows that he’s going to regret that choice,  foreshadowing somethings going to happen leading up to this... Angel’s not addicted to his life style and I think deep down he doesn’t want it in reality he’s saying he’s addicted to Valentino. And he knows very well he’s not treating him right and he’s bad for him. That’s the scary thing about being in an abusive relationship despite being poorly treated you and wanting to leave you can’t. You can’t help but remember the good moments where they show you affection that makes you think its worth saying. And this next scene I think happened before Angel went home with Val (I assume that he’s the one driving Angel Dust home in this scene). This scene just show how much of a scumbag Val and how he really sees Angel.  

What he’s really cares about is the money that Angel Dust makes not Angel himself, he’s clearly an after thought not even giving him a second glance. Angel is obviously upset at waiting in the wing for Val to pay attention to him. The two girls making out (yes they’re important) Angel can’t even look at them and makes sure he’s looking the other way... Because Angel was hoping that Val would show him some love too but no the first thing he does is check how much he made. And he put in so much effort in the show just for Val and impress him too. You’d assume he’d thank and praise him the amazing show he put on and that performance was especially for Valentino. Though the way he’s just calmly containing his disappointment and anger shows that this is not the first time he’s done this to him just leaving him on the back burner. Just in a sighing slouch and in his head he’s probably thinking “what the hell was I to expect” or “why the hell am I not surprised... “

“Oh Angel didn’t see you there...”

And only when Val finishes counting all the money does he pull in Angel for a kiss, this pretty much saying “Oh Angel, you made me so much money I can reward you now...” making his love very conditional. And the way he snaps his neck up “oh sorry didn’t see you there...” as if he just remembered him now. He doesn’t love Angel he only loves that money that he brings in. I have think that Angel Dust only tries to be “the best” in porn studios so that he can stay on Val’s radar. But I think at this point in the relationship Angel just experience so much of the abuse and neglect from Val he just expects it. He is just unimpressed and he just drained from all of this. Which tells us two things one Angel Dust may have been under Vals thumb for years and Angel is at his wits end. The expression on Angel Dust face is practically saying “Oh you notice me now” when Val finally starts paying attention to him and Angel just wants to be special to him. And clearly wants to be something more to him than one of his hoes... he’s coming to the realization that may not never get that. He’s just a toy to him something that he can play with and toss out.

This scene just makes me so sad... when Val forces Angel into the kiss seconds before (if you look carefully) you can see Angel he really was leaning in for the kiss and closing his eyes so he can enjoy it. Showing apart of him really loved Valentino and he wanted this so badly; for his love & affection this just breaks my heart. Val managed to manipulate him to the point that where he thinks he truly loves him. The reason why Val wants to kiss Angel Dust because he thinks one kiss is all he needs to make Angel stay with him. You can see the gears slowly turning in his head, he’s catching on... aware of his mistreatment...this kiss is damage control. But you can see in Angel Dust’s eye he’s questioning “is it worth it...” now Angel starting to get the full picture, even if Val wants him he doesn’t care for him and tries to stop Val before he gets sucked in again. He’s had enough and this maybe the first time Angel rejected his advancements, that’s why Valentino is angry in a sense “you’ve never disobeyed me before”, and when an abuser loses control that’s when they start getting physically violent; this maybe the tipping point of when the abuse started to escalate. And we don’t know what happened after it just flashes them going to the Porn Studio. 

Which cuts to him throwing fit... after something happens and it’s so heartbreaking cause he clearly blames himself.  And just sinks down on to the floor and cries into his hands. We don’t know hat happened but we get our answer... near the end of the song we have Angel Dust at the Hazbin Hotel to now. Where he smoking just like Val he smokes a heart but it’s a broken one and it saying he’s addicted to the sorrow. Meaning he has given up on the idea of Valentino really loving him with him singing  “...when the buzz ends by tomorrow” and he’s singing about the love he had for Valentino is gone it was good for a while he had it  but now he has to deal with the price of being “addicted to that drug...or getting involved with Val in this case.”

Now he deal “with the poison in his vain” talking about the trauma he received from Valentino... That night he raped Angel Dust in the studio I had a screen shot of the shot of him with Valentino but I though it would be too dark. And he’s clearly dealing with aftermath of the pain and trauma of the relationship and dealing with the scars of it. Which is why there’s a flash of seeing Val in the mirror for a second. But “he’s dependent on Valentino” and has nothing but fear for him now; blames himself and his naivety believing that Val would love him. Before Val’s love was Angel’s drug, it made him feel happy and forget his troubles but eventually that high went down. Loving Valentino ended up hurting and damaging him even more.. and has a new pain that’s hurting him. It’s sad because this is what victims do sometimes they blame themselves. Angel did nothing wrong the poor guy he was manipulated and he’s to the point where Val had made him trapped now. 

Which shows the real reason why he wants to stay in the hotel so he won’t have to be so dependent of Val. Slowly but surely try to get better because in the Hazbin Hotel he still working for Val but it living in the hotel. Though the way he pushes of Charlie he’s clearly trying to hide the pain he suffer especially with how he cares himself. Pretending to be carefree and cheerful which makes it so painful to watch him force himself to be happy. I just love Angel Dust so much he’s just so precious! 

PLEASE SAVE HIM ALREADY!

Okay hope you all enjoy the post

[lis-likes-fics]

A Witch Life | Chapter 3

No coven was complete without a sigil and a motto. Over time, Y/N and her coven had been able to come up with both, carefully choosing the right message they would get across to others who would learn about them.

It was typically the familiar that represented the coven in a sigil, so the sigil for the witch counterpart of the Hale coven was simply Y/N's familiar mark.

Their motto had been a little bit harder to come up with. After a long discussion with her entire coven, it was finally created. Unlike the sigil, their motto would represent everyone in the coven.

"Forever we stand, even if we fall."

Every member of the coven held something in their past that made them feel small. They would never forget where they came from, it helped to make who they were today. But they overcame those dark places. Now they stand together as a family, and they would never fall as long as they had each other. Family was everything.

Y/N was proud to be a Cullen. But even as a Cullen, she was a Hale, and so was her coven. She felt it was only appropriate to name their family the Hale Coven.

Their first destination was Ireland, there was a famous coven in Wicklow. If you wanted to make strong relationships between witch covens, it was good to start with covens recognized with power.

Their leader was Vera Lynn of the Lynn Coven, which was known as the Godric Coven before her.

Unlike in kingdoms or the like, coven leaders did not come by blood, they came by the choice of their leader. If something were to happen to Y/N or Jasper, or she simply decided to pass on the power to someone else within her coven, it would either go to Althea or Eileen. Eileen was Y/N's right-hand, and Althea was the first born. With Althea, it would continue as Coven Hale-Cullen. But with Eileen, it would become Coven Ruth. That's how the coven system worked.

Vera Lynn was Lyon Godric's apprentice before he was killed, and she became the leader. But that was nearly half a century ago, and her coven has grown to be one of high status.

She was known for being intelligent, but she was also known for her choice between sides. If there was ever a battle or issue at hand, her choice was usually to be on the winning side. It was her way of staying alive. The survival of her coven was her priority.

Y/N stressed about how the meeting would go. Their sigil was a crow with spread wings, after her crow familiar, Varion. Their motto was "We live to survive," and she was a divination witch.

Divination witches were rare, but they were powerful. They were known to have foresight similar to Alice, wisdom and knowledge similar to Carlisle (but, of course, in greater quantity). They knew secrets that had been forgotten long ago and knew things that many would kill to know. These days, they work to preserve secrets and traditions of old so that the past of witches, man, and more would never be forgotten.

Vera would be a very intimidating witch to meet, but Y/N would suck it up and do it anyway.

She was taking Jasper, Celene, Anthony, and the familiars. Since Althea would be staying, Y/N decided to have Emrys stay behind with the others as well. She was leaving Eileen in charge of the witches while they were out.

She was going to take Eileen and Mariah with her again since they were her left and right hands, but decided it would be a good time to give them leadership positions for a little while. Besides, the couple deserved some time away from all of the travel and craziness.

Instead, she would be taking the newer couple along to test how well they could handle it. She did not think they would disappoint.

"And we'll call everyday and stay out of trouble. We should be back before Thanksgiving, maybe by Halloween," Y/N said, trying for the hundredth time to reassure everyone.

The last time they went on one of these trips, really bad things happened. They were right to be worried.

Jasper took over to try and calm everyone as Y/N checked over all of their supplies again. Celene was still preparing the familiars for the trip.

Althea was gripping onto Jasper, hugging him tight. "Don't go, Daddy! You have to stay here," she told him.

He bent down to her level, taking her hands and kissing her forehead. "I'll be alright, I'll see you soon. By then you'll have made tons of friends. If everything works out, you'll have even more witch friends your age around the world."

"But you and Momma will be gone a whole month," she frowned.

"And we'll call everyday and send you letters," he told her. "You'll be okay. And you got Ferra and Emrys to keep you company."

She huffed, "I don't want you to go."

He sighed gently. "I know, sweet pea, but someone's gotta make sure your momma doesn't start a war."

"I heard that," Y/N quipped as she looked through one of the enchanted bags. This made them both laugh and he smiled at Althea. "There's that smile."

He hugged her again, "I love you, Thea."

"Love you too, Daddy," she responded.

Emrys, holding Alice's hand as he stood with a finger in his mouth, started walking over. Jasper picked him up, kissing his temple as he walked over to Y/N.

She stood and smiled at the little boy. "Hey, Ryz," she spoke as she held her hands out for him. He smiled and held his own arms out.

She took him, swaying as she kissed his forehead. "We're gonna miss you while we're gone."

His words were choppy and quiet as he spoke back, "Why are you leave?"

"We gotta go make friends," she responded.

"Why?"

"So we can be safe."

"Why?"

"Cause I love you."

"Why?"

'Why' was Emrys' favorite word. In fact, it was his first word. He was always asking why.

"Because you're Emrys," she told him. He smiled and pointed to himself, "That's me."

"That's right! It's you," she smiled back. She looked at her watch, "We gotta go before we miss the train."

"Why?" he asked again. She shrugged, "I don't know."

"Okay, little stinker," Esme said as she grabbed Emrys.

Y/N gave Althea a hug and a kiss to the forehead. "I love you, Thea. We'll see you soon."

"Can I come with you next time?" she asked. Y/N tapped her nose and replied, "We'll see what we can do."

She beamed and went to stand with Emmett, who picked her up and set her on his shoulders.

Everyone waved as they stood outside of the house. Celene finished with the animals, concluding the spell to make Alexandra, Anthony's familiar, a dog to make her easier to board on the train.

"Bye, guys!" Celene exclaimed excitedly. "See you soon!"

"Bye," the covens replied as they waved. Y/N grabbed Jasper's hand so he could teleport safely before they all disappeared. When they reappeared, they were standing in a busy train station.

"Are you sure I should be here?" Jasper asked quietly so only she could hear. "There are witches everywhere and witches don't like vampires."

Y/N walked with her witches and familiar as she kept holding Jasper's hand. "You'll be fine. Look over there."

You gestured to three people rushing to catch one of the trains getting ready to depart. "What about them?" he wondered.

"They're werewolves," she told him. "Not shapeshifters like we have, werewolves." She gestured to another small group of people sitting on a bench. "Vampires."

She looked up at him and gave a smile, "You're okay here. You wouldn't be able to transport with us if you weren't."

"She's right," Celene said as she excitedly looked around. She loved going to the Mystic Station. "There's a spell over the whole place. No one the spell deems harmful is allowed passage. This place is one of the safest places on Earth."

She squeezed his hand gently, "You're fine here." With Freya perched on her shoulder, Cami on Celene's, and Alexandra walking happily next to Anthony, they all walked through the train station to get to their train.

The Mystic Train Station was another mode of witch transportation. It was only accessible to supernatural creatures and came straight from a Harry Potter book. The witches loved the idea so much it was added into real life.

The train they were boarding was at Platform 7 1/2.

When they reached the train, it was a magnificent violet with gold and red accents. All the trains were designed with colors like that. They were made to be colorful.

Y/N would have to admit, she had never been on one of the trains before. She had heard of it several times and even read about it in her books and grimoires. Being on it would definitely be an experience she was excited to introduce Althea and Emrys to.

"Everyone's here right? You have your tickets?" she asked as she turned to her small group and accounted for everyone. When that was confirmed, they all got on the train and picked cabins.

She checked her watch again after placing her bag in a cubby. "We should arrive in Ireland in a few hours."

"A few hours?" Jasper wondered.

Anthony smirked, "The train's magic. Witches don't do slow transportation. That's why we have teleportation and portals."

"I love trains," Celene smiled. "Just in general, trains are awesome!"

They all smiled at her enthusiasm. Y/N muttered, "God, I wanna show this to the kids. They would absolutely love the train."

"We'll get to," he smiled, taking her hand again and squeezing lightly.

Y/N turned to Anthony, "Have you ever been on the train before?"

He nodded, "Once. Years ago, before my mom died. We all went on a trip, besides Verity, she wasn't there at the time. We were going to Paris to visit some of my mother's old friends. Platform 2 1/4, the train was green with some blue and pink. I remember the conductor gave me and Kristen a free treat when we told her it was our first time on the train." He smiled at the memory, looking down at Celene. "It's cool to be on one again."

The train signaled that it would be departing with a loud toot. Last minute people jumped on the train, taking their seats as the train began to move.

A giddiness filled Y/N as speed picked up. They pulled out of the station, the chugging sound picking up as it started going.

In just a few hours, they would be in Ireland to meet the leader of the Lynn Coven.

~

The train slowed to a stop, another station surrounding them as they arrived at Ireland's Mystic Train Station. Jasper turned to Y/N, setting a hand gently on her cheek and whispering, "Y/N." She stirred slowly, her eyes peeking open as he gave her a soft smile. "We're here," he said.

She nodded, slowly waking up. When she stood, she stretched her limbs. Anthony and Celene did the same as they rose to their feet. They began grabbing their bags, their familiars unwilling but waking up to unboard the train.

As they stepped off of the train, they stopped at one of the cafes for food before they left. Y/N was nervously checking her watch, tapping her foot, and worrying over the first impression.

Jasper placed a hand on her leg and gave her a smile as he chuckled, "Y/N, calm down. If you panic any more, you're going to have a heart attack."

"Witches can't have heart attacks," she answered, her foot still bouncing.

He rolled his eyes, "I didn't mean literally."

"I know, I know," she said. "I'm just nervous. I've never done this type of thing before. Meeting other covens for allies can either go really well or really bad."

Celene gave her a smile, "Don't worry. It's not as stressful as you think."

Y/N asked, "Have you ever met Veda before?"

She shook her head, "No, but Romina has. She's not mean, but she is firm. Just be polite and there will be no problem."

She nodded and checked her watch again. "Let's go before we're late meeting them."

They finished eating and cleaned up before Y/N took Jasper's hand again. They teleported out of the station, appearing in the field outside of the coven's territory.

There was a grand wrought-iron gate in front of them. Across the top read the words "Mairimid Le Maireachtáil".

"We live to survive," Celene read. "Their coven motto."

Jasper hummed, "That's... nice."

"Be nice," Y/N muttered to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist to try and calm her, using his gift to help as well. She felt the calm fill her and smiled gently at him. "Thank you."

They walked through the large arch, through the open gates as they stepped into coven territory. As they walked across, the vast, green fields were replaced by a village-like town that stretched over the land.

Y/N's eyes lit up as she saw it. It was like a mix of a modern town and a medieval village. Romina's Residence changed to fit with the times because they had to be more subtle in New Orleans, but this was something entirely new and different for her.

"Wow," they all muttered.

"I'm glad you like it," an accented voice spoke. They turned to find two witches walking over to meet them. The first witch stood tall, her hair was black, flowing over her back and shoulders. Her eyes were green, a sort of pale green that shone in the way divination witches' shone. Her skin was pale, but rich and smooth. She also had a crow on her shoulder with brilliant blue eyes that eyeballed all of them. This was Veda Lynn and Varion.

The second witch stood just as tall, but was about an inch shorter. Her skin was darker, her hair a curly chestnut, and her eyes a light brown. While Veda's smile was more regal, hers was softer, kinder. She had a rabbit in her arms, who had a single ear colored green as its mark. This must have been her second.

"Yes," Y/N spoke. "It's beautiful, I've never seen anything like it."

"Well, we love to flatter," she replied with a light chuckle. She gestured to the woman next to her. "This is Gia, my right-hand. We have been eager for your arrival, Mother Hale."

She shook her head, "Please, call me Y/N."

"Then call me Veda," she replied.

Y/N gestured to her own group. "This is my husband, Jasper. My right-hand is back with the rest of my coven, but these are some of my people, Anthony Finn and Celene Marcel."

She bent down and picked up her fox, who was now nestled in her arm like royalty. "This is my familiar, Freya, and their familiar, Camille and Alexandra."

Cami hooted and Alexandra did a slight bow. Freya just nodded her head. She was very cocky.

"It is very nice to your lovely familiars," Gia smiled. "This is mine. Her name is Gwen."

"And I'm sure you already know Varion," Veda said, her bird cawing in response.

Celene smiled, "Is this the handsome bird I've heard so much about? He does not disappoint." The crow preened under her praise, very much satisfied with the attention. Most familiars loved praise.

Y/N smiled, "Celene is a creature witch. We have two in my coven so far."

"Very nice," Veda said. "Come, let's walk around the Residence."

They agreed and began walking with the two. Celene and Anthony broke off at some point when she found a stable where horses and familiar horses were kept. Alexandra was eager to find some like her and shifted back to play with them under the supervision of Celene and Anthony.

Y/N and Jasper continued walking and touring the Residence with Gia and Veda. She took pictures to send back to the coven, eager to show them.

Veda asked questions about Y/N and her coven, wanting to learn more about them as she also exchanged information about her own. Her own was definitely a lot bigger, even bigger than Romina's, which held roughly one to two hundred witches.

"How many people are in your coven?" Jasper asked as he looked around at all the witches and warlocks.

"We have a population of 964 witches here, but we also have 57 humans and five werewolves. Our werewolves are only here for temporary housing, simply passing through before they move on again. We often house visitors," Gia explained.

The shocked expression that crossed Y/N's face was almost comical. "Wow, that's a lot," she said.

Veda nodded, "Covens have been living on this Residence for a few hundred years."

You nodded, having known this. The Lynn Coven was very popular, very powerful, and would make a wonderful ally. Hopefully, everything would turn out.

[sivillanightchief]

ENERGY VAMPIRES

(By NBCNews) Energy vampires are friends, family members or coworkers who literally zap your emotional energy. They most often target those who are sensitive and compassionate — and likely to lend a listening ear. They leave you feeling drained after every conversation. They want your nonstop attention and the conversation is always about them. They may be charming, charismatic and the life-of-the-party  personality. They also may cheat. They may lie. And it’s probably someone else’s fault when something goes wrong. Spending too much time with energy vampires can make you sick What makes energy vampires so toxic is that they can be sources of chronic stress, says Northrup. Especially if the energy vampire is someone you can’t avoid — such as a spouse, a parent or a boss — constantly having your energy drained by that individual is a stressor, she says. “You’re constantly walking on eggshells around that person; waiting for the next shoe to drop.” How to vanquish energy vampires (or at least not get sucked dry) Remember that when it comes to looking out for your own energy and well-being around energy vampires, you’re not being selfish, you’re practicing good self-care, Orloff says. Doing so keeps you from getting overwhelmed, anxious and sick. Here’s how: • Cut them out of your life (if you can). If they’re not someone you can’t avoid (such as a boss or a family member), cut off contact with the person. If it’s an ex-spouse who you still need to communicate with — perhaps if you have children — communicate as little as possible and use technology to your advantage, she adds. Text or use a messaging app, rather than making plans over the phone.

• Set boundaries. Know what types of activities work well and which ones don’t, and plan accordingly. Maybe going out to lunch or coffee is bearable, but inviting that individual to your house is just too much. Set beginning and end times. • Lower expectations. If you’re dealing with a narcissist, know that these people are not capable of being empathetic toward you. So don’t expect that from them. Avoid bearing your soul to that person to protect yourself from feeling disappointed when they don’t meet you with the understanding you’re looking for. • Be too tired for them.  The strategy is called "broken wing.” When an energy vampire tries to bend your ear, tell them you feel under the weather or really tired. “They will go to another source immediately,” Northrup says. “They do not want to be around somebody who doesn’t have energy to give back.” • ‘Grey rock’ them. Act like a grey rock around them, Northrup says. Don’t entertain them. Don’t give them energy. Don’t give them the response (whether it be your open ear, your sympathy or your support) that they’re looking for and they’ll lose interest. • Know the difference between “venting” and “dumping.” Everybody needs to voice frustration now and again. Energy vampires constantly dump their frustrations, irritations, annoyances, bad days and negative feelings on others. • Do NOT overreact. Remain cool, calm and collected when dealing with an energy vampire, Northrup says. Losing it can cause an energy vampire to do the same and make you feel worse about yourself. • Make sure you have a way to reality check. Determine which of your friends or family can be your reality check on the situation — trusted individuals who can level set with you when the energy vampire in your life is acting up, Northrup says. “Yes, they’re acting crazy. Yes, it looks like they’re getting away with murder.” Those trusted reality check friends can help affirm that what you feel in your gut is right, and not the other way around. • Say “no” nicely. “It’s OK to not invite people to interact with you. And it’s OK to say no to people,” Orloff says. And remember, “no” is a sentence in and of itself, she adds. You can say it in a nice way that’s not impolite or uncaring, she says. “You can be a loving, compassionate person and still stick up for yourself. You don’t need to be a doormat.”

[memento-morri-writes]

Tag Replies for @rose-bookblood​

Since I’ve been neglecting your replies, and they’re all in the tags, meaning they won’t show up when I reblog, I decided to put all my replies in one post to avoid spamming you!  

Replies (and links to relevant posts) under the cut!

from this post  (X)

Yes!! I have a slight addiction to masquerades, so I absolutely needed to include one in ATQH!! (It’s my secret life goal to attend a masquerade ball irl.  I have a mask, actually.  I juts need to be invited to one.)

It is in my plans that eventually Hermes and Fallon make up, but it might not get shown in the book.  They do care about each other, and Fallon never intended to end on bad terms with anyone, but Hermes betrayed her trust and lied to her (even if his lie didn’t hurt anyone), and she already has trust issues.  Also, like I mentioned in the snippet, Hermes only revealed his lie because he found out that the lie had more truth than he thought.  He found out that rather than being an orphan as he always thought, he actually had a family, or at least a mother.  And of course Fallon’s jealous of that, because more than anything she wishes she could have her mother back. 

(and ofc, I’ll add you to the taglist right now!!)

From this post (X)

Agh, to hear that my silly little writing made you tear up... that means a lot to me! It means it’s working!!  And please do read those excerpts!! There’s actually more than that, and you can find them under the tag “excerpts: atqh” (X), or on my content masterpost (X).  There’s also the snippet tag (X) for shorter stuff.  I just linked the angsty stuff, lmao.  But those are the most fun, right?

(also, you should probably be worried about my plans for Kris.  Just because the story is done at this point doesn’t mean it’s all happily-ever-after...)

In reference to this post (X)

Yeppp.  Kristopher’s entire family sucks.  I just want to punch all of them.  (and so does Fallon...)  Especially Pierre (his father).  Because the main reason his brothers are so shitty is because their father took them under his wing and taught them how to be Class A Assholes.

And, yeah.  I also feel really bad for his sister.  But, like I said, she’s the only family member Kris invites to the wedding (or even tells about it), and she and Fallon get along like a house on fire, lmao.  Kris light-heartedly regrets it, because they get along so well, and it’s a little bit of an “oh fuck, now there’s two of them” situation, cause his sister is also very smart and headstrong like Fallon. 

She would totally help Fallon get ready for the wedding, since Fallon doesn’t have any family left, and they’d just chat and it would be really sweet.  She would totally wind up telling some embarrassing shit about Kris, lmao.  But more importantly, I can totally see her telling Fallon how happy she is to finally see Kris happy and not miserable, and it would just be so cute.  Ugh, I’m getting emotional about this.

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

THANK YOU for caring so much about my little WIP.  ATQH is my passion project, and the loml.  It’s been a constant hyperfixation since January, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.  Your interest in it means the world to me, and seeing your tags makes me happier than you can possibly imagine, and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

You have my full permission to scream at me over ask, DM, in the tags/reblogs, wherever.  I will never, ever be mad at someone for being excited about my WIPs.  <3

[red-jaebyrd]

My Brother’s Keeper

Ric hadn’t set out to make a new friend that day. In fact he hadn’t even expected to see the guy again once he had helped Ric push his busted cab to the side of the road.

Hardly anyone ever went out of their way to help others in Bludhaven. It surprised Ric when this guy, Jason just appeared as if out of nowhere to yell at honking drivers and help Ric get his cab out of the way of traffic. Ric had invited him to The Prodigal for a beer that night as a thank you. He wasn’t sure if Jason would even show up that night, but to his surprise he did.

“So what do you do when you're not swooping in to help complete strangers push their broken down cars out of rush hour traffic?” Ric asked.

Jason laughed. “Little bit of this, little bit of that, mostly free-lance stuff.”

It was a vague answer, but Ric let it slide. Everyone had their secrets, he couldn’t fault a guy he just met to have a few.

“Must be nice. Is it real lucrative?”

“The pay isn’t bad,” Jason shrugged. “I get to set my own hours and carry a gun.”

“Can’t argue with those perks,” Ric chuckled, taking a drink of his beer. “So did you grow up around here?”

“Nah, I grew up in Gotham, what about you?”

Ric tensed at hearing Gotham and gripped the handle of his beer mug tighter. He really hoped Jason wasn’t another one of Wayne’s associates trying to jog his memory and lure him back ‘home’. Maybe he should just play along.

“Same, seems everyone one I’ve run into lately is from Gotham.” Ric challenged.

“Well, to be fair Gotham is a pretty big place,” Jason replied causally. “So what brought you to Bludhaven?”

Ric shrugged allowing the tension to leave his shoulders. “Let’s just say I needed somewhere new to spread my wings.”

“And you chose Bludhaven?” Jason snorted. “Did you lose a bet?”

“Shut up.” Ric laughed, elbowing Jason in the arm. “Don’t knock it. You’re here too. What brought you to the ‘haven’?”

Jason ran a hand through his hair. His brow furrowed in thought before he answered. At first Ric thought that maybe he was prying too much into this guy’s life, or asking too many personal questions.  He couldn’t help it. He liked talking and Jason was the first person besides Bea that was actually interested in talking to him.

“Gotham wasn’t safe for us anymore, so my brothers and I bailed and came here.”

“Looks like you left just in time. I heard a lot of crazy shit with the Bat was happening in Gotham. Wait, did you say ‘brothers’?” Ric’s smiled wistfully.

Jason nodded. “I have four. One was staying with our sister the last time I checked in with him and the other two came here with me.”

Ric had always wondered what it would be like to be part of a big family.  He wondered if he had ever asked his parents for a brother or a sister. If they hadn’t died, would they have had more children? Would he have been a good big brother to them? Wayne did have a younger son, so Ric was technically a big brother, but he couldn’t remember his life with him. When it came to the Waynes, Ric was just a son and brother on paper.

“Where’s the other one? You said four brothers, but only mentioned three of them.”

He watched as Jason scratched along a groove in the wood of the bar, like he was trying to think of the right words to say. Ric’s stomach flipped as he started to speculate that maybe something serious did happen to Jason’s family. Or maybe Ric was just making Jason feel uncomfortable with all his questions. Ric did that sometimes when he got too excited talking to new people. Jason took a swig of his beer before answering Ric’s question.

“Our older brother...” Jason answered, running his fingers along the condensation of his mug. “…he went missing a few months ago. It’s been hard on the family, especially our father and my youngest brother.”

“I’m sorry. I can imagine it’s been difficult for everyone, especially you. It can’t be easy being the one that they depend on.”

Jason shook his head. “No, truthfully it sucks sometimes, but it has its moments. He was– I had a good role model and they’re good kids. They just miss him. I miss him too.”

“Well you got them somewhere safe,” Ric clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Well…relatively safe. Any leads on his whereabouts?”

“Nothing but dead ends. Deep down I don’t really think he wants to found,” Jason shrugged. “But I’ll keep looking for him. So what about you, any siblings?”

Ric knew a dismissal when he heard it. He didn’t mind the change in subject. He couldn’t blame Jason for not elaborating. It had to be stressful for anyone looking for a missing family member. He assumed this question was bound to make its way onto him.

“No, I’m an only child. My parents died when I was eight.”

“Shit, sorry man. We can talk about something else.”

“It’s fine. You told me about your brother. I can talk about this. I did get taken into a good home, so I shouldn’t really complain,” Ric shrugged.

“But…”

Ric shook his head. “It’s just frustrating to have these people who are supposed to be my ‘family’ constantly telling me how I should be living my life.”

“Oh, I know how that is, trust me. It’s the worst.”

“Right? Why can’t I live my life how I want to? I’m an adult. They’re not even interested in getting to know me,” Ric ranted. “They just want their precious ‘Dick Grayson’ back. It’s my life now not his, let me live it how I want to.”

Shit. He went too far. He could see the look of surprise on Jason’s face. The lull of silence between them stretched and Ric couldn’t form a cohesive thought. Ric’s brain was scrambling for something else to say, anything to say, to fix the mess he just made but nothing was coming. Instead his mind started replaying all recent moments of disappointed people coming and going in his life claiming that they loved him, but not wanting to take the time get to know him.

Ric really hated his brain sometimes and how there was no filter between what he was thinking and what came out of his mouth. He needed to explain himself to Jason fast. Ric knew Jason had to have noticed the gnarly scar on the side of his head. Maybe the scar would give him a free pass at his unfiltered choice of words.

“Sorry, sorry, that uh kinda came out of nowhere. I…uh…had a bit of an accident…” Ric explained, pointing at his scar. “…I got shot a few months ago and well let’s just say my “family” or whatever they want to call themselves, didn’t take to my recovery well.”

“I’m sorry. Sometimes injuries that intense can either bring a family closer together or tear them apart.”

Ric shrugged his shoulders. It had been rough having to relearn how to do everyday tasks like eating, writing his name, and walking. His “family” and friends had been there at every therapy session encouraging him with their words and overall presence. But the worst of it had been their reactions to the news that his memories of them were gone.

“I couldn’t remember them,” Ric admitted, staring at his near empty beer mug.  “They were literal strangers to me the moment I opened my eyes from the coma, and it was something that they wouldn’t accept. In the end their concern for me and my recovery just felt conditional, so I left and came here.”

“Damn. Do they at least check up on you?” Jason asked.

“The old man used to, but I haven’t seen him in a while. A red-headed chick did too, but I told her not to bother anymore. Not if she’s going to keep looking at me searching for ‘him’ to come back. Apparently the other guy they really want was a real ‘Golden boy’, that’s not me.”

Jason snorted.

“What did I say?” Ric quirked a smile.

“Nothing,” Jason smirked, and took a drink of his beer.

“I’m doing just fine on my own. I don’t need them.”

“No you don’t. I know they’re family, but fuck them.” Jason clinked his beer mug against Ric’s.

Oh Ric really liked this guy.

 8888

The next few weeks Ric and Jason met up at The Prodigal for beers. Some nights all they did was talk and drink. Other nights they drank and played pool. Jason became one of Ric’s favorite drinking buddies.

Ric couldn’t legitimately remember ever having a feeling of kinship with anyone like Jason before in his life. It was nice and a bit scary at the same time letting someone new in his life. Still, instead of running away from this newfound friendship, Ric embraced it.

Friendship was a concept Ric wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to again. He didn’t have many friends in Bludhaven, well friends that he remembered. Dick’s old friends wanted nothing to do with him. They kept waiting and pushing for Dick to “come back”. When he finally snapped at them that Dick was gone and never coming back, they stopped visiting him. He did have Bea. She was the only one who had welcomed him with open arms and genuinely wanted to get to know him.

Jason had been the only other person he had run into that also didn’t have some hidden agenda to “bring Dick back”. With Jason there wasn’t any pressure or demand to be anyone other than himself. He could be Ric with no expectations thrust upon him. Jason empathized with Ric’s struggle to find his identity apart from the Waynes.

This was what made hanging out with Jason so easy. The anxiety of having to censor himself, afraid he might say or do something that was so inherently not Dick didn’t exist when he was around Jason. It was such a relief and a weight off Ric’s shoulders to just exist in a space with a friend and be himself.

Once Jason had opened up to Ric, he learned that there was a whole slew of shit that had happened to his friend in just a short amount of time. Aside from his brother going missing, Jason had a serious falling out with his dad that had caused a significant rift between them causing him to take his brothers and leave. However, the most devastating news had to be hearing that Jason’s best friend had been killed while staying at an inpatient rehabilitation facility.

“I wish I had some advice to give you, but something tells me you weren’t looking for any,” Ric said.

“No, not really, just a sympathetic ear, I guess.”

“I’m sorry about your best friend. That really sucks what happened to him.”

“Thanks, man. At least we got to work one last job together before he died. Anyway, that’s enough of my bullshit. What’s up with you? You look like my little brother after seven Red Bulls and 3 hours of sleep.”

Ric sighed. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but I’ve been having these dreams lately of faceless people in weird costumes. In the dream I feel like I know them. I’m ready to say their name but I can’t talk. I wake up and by the time I try to recall the images I can’t remember them.”

“Do you think your memories are trying to come back?” Jason asked.

“I don’t know, maybe?” Ric shrugged.

“But…you don’t want them to come back, do you?”

It felt silly getting so worked up over something like lost memories resurfacing. Ric should be happy that parts of his lost past was trying to get through to him. He should be relieved that the 15 years of lost memories were finally starting to return, but he wasn’t happy or relieved. He was worried.

“What happens to me when I start remembering everything? Will I still be Ric when Dick’s memories come flooding back filling in the gaps? What if I don’t like the things I start to remember? What then?”

Jason turned in his stool to face Ric. “No matter what, you’ll still be Ric. You’ll still be the guy with the busted cab I had to push out of traffic. You’ll still be the guy that kicks my ass playing pool. You’ll still be the guy who insists on buying the first round and listening to all my bullshit. You’ll still be you, just with new memories.

“No matter what happens you are not obligated to go back to your old life or live your life by your old memories. You don’t owe those assholes in Gotham anything.”

Ric nodded allowing Jason’s words to sink in.

“We’ll take it one day at a time,” Jason clapped a hand on Ric’s shoulder. “Next round is on me.”

The anxiety slowly started to ebb away as Ric watched his friend leave their high top table and make his way to the bar to get another round of beers.

Ric couldn’t stop the new memories from coming. They were coming whether he wanted them to or not. And when they did come he was glad to have found such a great friend in Jason. The man was right, no matter what happened, he was not obligated to go back to his old life or live his life by his old memories.

Part 2: Somebody That I Used to Know