#also i have to keep hoping the auto accident

[murasaki-sama]

So far this week I have

slept 26 hours in a row

ran out of psych meds leading to withdrawal symptoms

got into a car accident

spent most of an entire day on the phone about said meds and car accident

....now its friday and please gods i need a good weekend okay? please?

[weixuldo]

Unconditionally Epilogue (pt 2)

Anakin X Reader

a/n: This is the complete end to unconditionally, i’ve been putting off finishing part two but i really just got into it these past few days (nostalgia is a weird thing haha) but i hope you enjoy and i want to thank you all again- i wouldn’t have ever continued to write if you guys hadn’t supported me in the first place- so thank you so much :)

10 years later...

It’s a busy week at the Skywalker household: the twins are turning 18 and you and Anakin are celebrating your 10th anniversary

Warnings: cursing, kids, nudity, no sex but implied, mention of injury and car accidents.

___________________

“Maker!! This is for me?” Leia exclaimed happily when the two of you handed her the smooth car fob. 

“It's all yours princess” Anakin smiled as he went in to hug her. 

“We wanted to send you off to college with a more reliable car; we also got you a bunch of accessories and stickers for the inside, they’re in the living room. I think you’ll really like them” you added. 

She hugged you next, “Thank you so much!”.

“Thank you daddy”  she said, walking towards the sleek auto infront of her.

“Yea. thanks ‘daddy’,” Han teased before going off to join his ecstatic girlfriend.

Anakin’s smile turned to an annoyed scowl; that smug son of a bitch was gonna get it some day, but as of now Anakin refrained from violence.

“I don't know about that Solo kid, he might end up six feet under with me holding the shovel someday” Anakin half joked, half actually meant. 

“Whatever” you rolled your eyes playfully, “as if you weren't a cocky son of a bitch when we first met”

He gave you a smug look with his brow raised.

“You know it's true, “Mr. Skywalker’” you smirked at the formal title you hadn't used in years. 

He huffed out a laugh and pulled you into his side, returning the smile. 

By the car, Leia raved to her boyfriend about the interior and he happily listened with a huge grin (he knew he’d be driving them on dates in it in the near future). 

Luke popped out of the garage with a smile and his safety goggles crookedly laid in his fluffy hair.

“Finally!” he exclaimed, “mom and dad have had me keeping your present in the garage for two weeks now! About time you got it”.

Leia turned to her brother, “you knew?!”.

“Of course I did, I helped pick it out- I got you the newest model with the best safety features. Cant have my sister going to college in a hunk-a-junk” he joked. 

A wide smile plastered itself on Leia's face as she rushed to embrace her brother. 

“I’m so glad you like it honey” you said, hugging her once more.

“And now that your brother finally stepped out of his cave, we can give you your gift,” Anakin said, turning to his son.

All of you walked back into the house and Anakin pulled out a plain white envelope.

“So, I know your sister’s gift is actually useful right now, but I’m sure you'll be very pleased with yours”, Anakin said as he handed the slip to his son.

Luke was confused but happily opened the envelope. You watched his blue eyes scan over the words and once it all clicked, he leapt up from the bar stool he was on. 

“No way! No fucking way!” he exclaimed, making Han and his sister laugh. 

Anakin shook his head with a smile. 

“What is it?” Leia asked, but before you could answer her, Luke practically tackled you in a giant hug. 

You smiled and embraced him warmly before he left to do the same to Anakin (a little gentler). 

“Thank you thank you!!” he said, clenching the paper. 

“Luke, what is it?” Leia asked again.

“They got me that old camaro that's been sitting in watto’s scrap yard. I’ve been wanting to fix that old thing up for years!” he grinned like a kid who just got told they were going to disney world. 

“There's more at the bottom,” you said with a smile. 

Luke shouted again, “NO WAY!”.

“What now?” Leia said, playfully rolling her eyes at her easily excitable brother. 

“Mom and dad got me a pass for next year’s car show- I’ll fix up the camaro and enter it!”. 

“That’s amazing Luke! You’ve wanted to be in one for forever!” 

He smiled and thanked the two of you once more. 

After the excitement of the gifts both of the twins went their separate ways to see their new presents; Leia went to test her car and Han helped Luke bring the other car over to the house. 

_________________________________________

“Be good for your sister and brother, alright baby?” you said as you hugged Rey close.

You and Anakin’s anniversary was tomorrow so you were leaving for the islands today. Anakin rolled the rest of the luggage into the back of his car before coming back to say goodbyes.

“I will mommy” Rey smiled proudly.

“That’s my girl” Anakin said, walking in from the garage.

“Daddy!” Rey exclaimed, reaching her arms up for Anakin.

He bent down to hug her tight and kissed her head, “Hey Pumpkin, we’ll be back in a week, alright?”.

Rey nodded her head before asking her brother to pick her up. He obliged as you, Anakin and Leia gave your parting hugs.

Next, Luke handed Rey over to Leia so he could hug you two goodbye.

“Have fun kids, we love you and will see you next tuesday” you smiled and waved as you headed for the car.

“make good choices- if I come home to a-“

“don’t worry daddy, i’ll keep these two idiots in line” Leia laughed as she pointed behind her at Han and Luke.

“ok- call if you need anything- love you!”

“of course! Miss you already” the twins smiled before going back into the house.

Once you and Anakin were buckled in, you squeezed his bicep with a wide grin.

“Someone’s excited” he laughed before kissing your forehead.

“You have no idea”

______________________

You arrived at your villa and flopped onto the large bed as Anakin put some of your luggage by the dresser on the other side of the room.

It was one that overlooked a private cove and came with pretty much every special amenity you could ask for (full working juice bar, hot tub, complimentary spa, embroidered towels, personalized rooms, you name it!).

“My love, come here” you called, patting the space beside you.

The smile lines in the corners of his beautiful eyes crinkled as the corners of his mouth turned upward, “alright angel”. 

He joined you and kissed you on the temple before asking what you wanted to show him. 

You dug around in your bag and pulled out a photo album you had made for your anniversary. 

“Happy anniversary, Ani,” you smiled. 

He looked at the square book and his eyes softened, “Is this for me?”.

You giggled, “who else would it be for silly?”. 

Your heart skipped when his mechanical hands brushed over yours as he took the book from you; even after ten years he still made you feel like a giddy teen. 

“Holy shit” he exclaimed as he opened the book, “Where’d you dig this one up from?”.

The first photo was a candid photo from your wedding; you were sitting in Anakin’s lap with your arms around his neck as he looked at you adoringly. 

“Rex actually took that one, he showed it to me when I went over there to pick Rey up from her playdate”.

“Maker, we look young- Well, you still look like this… I just look old” he joked. 

You kissed his temple, “no you don’t! You’re just well loved” you smiled. 

“That’s what you’d say to someone who looks old!” he exaggerated. 

You set the book up chronologically so that things from your college days when you first started working for him were at the beginning.

On the next page was a copy of the first check you ever got from him (obviously it was illegal to copy checks- but you weren’t actually going to use it).

His signature was much smoother back when he actually could sign with his hands. 

He eyed the page filled with small mementos from your early days together with a smile, “I can’t believe you kept some of this stuff” he said as he ran his mechanical fingers over the valet ticket stub from your first date.

“What can I say, I’m sentimental” you smiled, kissing his cheek. 

As the pages continued he watched his younger self become more and more happy with each turn. You really did light up his life.

There were photos of you and the twins playing, candid photos of him, ones that you took with him after long nights of love making… Everything was right here. 

“Hah! Look at that” he exclaimed as he came across some hand turkeys and swans you had taught the kids to make the first thanksgiving you were with them. 

“I used to find those damn things everywhere!”. 

He squinted once he reached the next page, there was a gray text message bubble cut out at the top of the page.

I should be home a bit earlier today, maybe we can watch that movie you’ve been talking about. 

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The last text you sent me before you got into your accident” you said, squeezing his upper arm softly. 

The next page had a picture of his completely totaled car as well as the first few photos you had of him when he was in a coma. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a part of him- a part of your journey together.

“Fuck, I forgot just how bad the car looked…” he said as he scanned the photo. 

His black Audi’s front was completely crushed and it barely looked like a car with the amount of dents and scrapes it’s body had collected.

You still weren’t completely sure what happened that day for it to have been so fatal. And Anakin barely remembered anything from the accident up to a few weeks after. 

“Maker- and me!” he said, diverting his analytic gaze to the glossy photos of his broken body lying in the ICU.

You nodded as he continued turning- the next few pages were his recovery period in the hospital; his first picture awake, his first with Ben and Satine, first with Ahsoka, his first with you, and his first with the twins. 

Looking back at the pictures made you really see how far he’d come- there was a time when the doctors didn’t think he would make it. 

Soon the pictures’ settings began to shift out of the hospital and into the house; his first time back home and other pictures from that christmas (there weren't many photos from the period you and him went through a rough patch, only one or two that Ben had lying around).

The next picture of everyone was at your college graduation; all smiles. 

You remembered your graduation like it was yesterday; it was the tail end of your rough patch with Anakin and he was the last person you expected to see in the sea of people. Your massive smile in the photo showcased just how happy you were to see him again. 

“You looked so good in that dress, Angel '' he cooed, nuzzling into your neck to steal a quick bite. 

“haha - stop!” you giggled, lightly pushing him away. 

“You still have it?” he asked jokingly with a smirk. 

You rolled your eyes, “...yes”.

His smirk grew into a lopsided grin, “I think you should wear it for me when we get back”. 

“HAH! Ani, I don’t even know if it still fits me?!”

He set the book in his lap and squeezed his mechanical hands around your waist making you squeal. 

“Ani! That tickles!” 

“Yea, i’d say you’d still fit- well maybe not this” he smiled grabbing the fat of your ass. 

“Ani!” you scolded.

All he could do was laugh, “What princess? I never said I didn’t like it- You know I love your ass”.

You swatted his hands away with a laugh- “Stop it! Finish looking at the book” you giggled. 

He turned his attention back to the album. The next few pages were covered in your wedding photos; a close up on his face when he saw you walk down the aisle, your face when he stood after saying his vows and a nice still photo of your first dance. 

“This was the best night of my life,” Anakin said with a reminiscent smile. 

“Me too, Ani”. 

The next photos were of his return to work, your pregnancy announcement, Rey’s birth, the twins’ first school dance, and other family milestones. 

There was a section near the end full of pictures of the kids; “first day of school” pics, vacation pics, and other moments where they were just being themselves.  

Finally the last page was the most recent picture of the two of you; it was at a rooftop bar for a gala his company hosted, he was dressed in a nice suit and you wore an off-the-shoulder gown- the photo was a candid Ben had taken of the two of you kissing after Anakin made his speech. 

He closed the book lightly and placed it on the end table beside the bed before turning to you with glassy eyes. 

“Y/n Skywalker, I love you more than anything on this earth- you are absolutely perfect” he said pulling you into his lap (which you gladly obliged). 

“Thank you” he said into your hair as he hugged you close. 

You tossed your arms around his neck and held on tightly, “I love you too, Anakin ''.

__________________________________

 Anakin’s gift to you was much more extravagant than yours to him, but the whole time he kept apologizing for his not being able to compare to yours (and you knew he meant it). 

He took you to one of the nicest restaurants on the island and then took you to the aquarium for part of your present. You were always a big fan of conservation and the oceans, so he donated a large sum to have a portion of the local reef named after you.

“Ani, this is amazing! Thank you so much!” you grinned ear to ear as you ran your fingers over the golden plaque with your name on it. 

He shyly cast his gaze away from yours, “It really doesn’t compare to yours- you’ve just always been the better gift giver”. 

You shook your head and grabbed his hands, “no, no Ani! I absolutely love this- and they’ll make sure to watch over the reef right?”.

He nodded with a smile, “Yes, my love. This section is under protection and will now be being sustained and cleaned by certified locals so that it will continue to thrive”.

You hugged him, “Thank you, I love it”.

“Of course. Angel”

The two of you walked hand in hand through the dark aquarium (Anakin had it completely reserved for tonight for just the two of you). 

Walking through the tunnel of brightly colored fish never failed to mesmerize you; their fluid motions, the shapes and sizes, you loved it.

Anakin watched your expressions change adoringly; after all these years, after becoming a mother, after becoming an influential and respected figure you could always find wonder in the smallest things. 

He loved that about you.

You did what he never could, you showed him how to be happy and how to push through the toughest times. That's why he knew you were perfect for him. 

After a few stolen kisses under the watery biomes, Anakin had a driver take you back to the villa.

Anakin began a warm bath for you in the fancy whirlpool tub; he opened the sunhatch, tuned on soft lights, added flower petals and some sweet fragrance. 

Once he entered the bedroom again, you had gotten undressed and were only wearing one of the new silk robes he got you and a smile.

“Hey Ani” you said with a small wave.

Like a moth to a flame, he walked towards you. 

“Hello, my love” he said with his low voice as he placed his mechanical hands on your hips, drawing you closer. 

You stood on your tippy toes and kissed him gently, “I think you should join me in the bath”.

When you leaned back he cocked his head to the side with a smirk, “Oh, should I now?” 

He played with a strand of your hair that you must have missed when you twisted it up. You nodded and began to take his suit coat off.

He chuckled at your determination and allowed you to help him undress; his body hadn’t seemed to change too drastically but there were some definite differences. 

He was more muscular than he was the first years after the accident but still wasn’t at the shape he was when you met him.

He was still slim but he collected some extra fat around his love handles; his crows feet and smile lines were more prominent, but in a way they made him more endearing. 

His scars had mostly all faded but every once in a while would flare up. As for his limbs, they all healed pretty well and his prosthetics were regularly updated. 

He was still just Anakin though… your Ani. 

“I think you’re ready” you said after placing a tender kiss on his bicep. 

His robotic digits danced around the hem of your robe until he pulled the loosely tied bow around your waist; the robe cascaded softly around your feet, leaving you bare. 

Anakin’s eyes admired your body and he sucked in a breath. 

“And now you are too”.

He was not the only one who’s body changed; after having Rey, you gained some light weight and stretch marks, your breasts had grown larger and you seemed to have a bit more fat on your ass (not that Anakin minded at all). 

You too had collected some smile lines but you had no problem with them. If you ever felt bad about your body, Anakin swatted those thoughts away really quick.

He always made you feel like the only girl in the world.

With a loving smile you led him into the large bathroom and helped him sit on the side of the tub before disassembling him. He always preferred legs first because he liked to hold onto you as long as he could.

At this point in life there was no part of him you hadn’t seen and no part of you that he hadn’t seen- so he was much less shy about having you help him.

Once everything was off you helped him into the tub; he sighed at the warm water caressing his body, you couldn’t wait to join him. 

You stretched once more and entered the tub gracefully. Before long you were lying against Anakin’s chest with a content smile- this was the best anniversary yet. 

Out of habit you fidgeted with the gold chain around your neck- you and Anakin had amassed several important dates since you first got each other the pendants. 

Anakin’s had your, the kids, and his first wife’s birthdays on them as well as the date of his accident and your wedding. And yours had Anakin’s, and the kids birthdays as well as your graduation date/when he proposed and your wedding day.

After all these years, after all you had been through together- you couldn’t ask for a better lover.

Only the stars knew that the mousy college student you were and the cold mannered businessman Anakin was, would eventually make it work.

You couldn’t be more thankful- and as you sat happily in Anakin’s embrace, you told him what you always did, 

“I love you so much Anakin…unconditionally”

***

a/n: so now it’s completely finished 🥲 i’ll miss this story but im also glad to have it finished :) i hope the epilogue chapters were enjoyable for u guys!! i tried to tie in the original trilogy and sequels a bit :) now we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming haha

Taglist: @katsukiswrld , @wtf-andys , @angeelcoree , @jetiikote , @khaleesihavilliard , @sxoulchvn, @sakura-amethyst, @dottodottoo , @vader-is-hot , @circuloctm , @jellydodger, @shadowheads-shitshow

[karasbroken]

Y'all can zero-note these Sex Shop AU posts, it's all right. I'm tough. You'll get it someday. And I have been writing for both my WIPs this week, so be proud of me. The Leviathan is at 23,000 words, the still tentatively named Bite the Dust is almost to 5k. Bit by bit.

This snippet is from after Gilina signed her and John up for a couple's kink exploration session with a pro-domme, only to bail once she realized the domme in question was Aeryn Sonne, disgraced former RAAF pilot, responsible for ending the career of Gilina's mentor. Tim Valorek. (Okay, I admit that sounds really silly.) This is in the parking lot after, where John is confused, but relieved, he was not in a great headspace for trying out floggers anyway because he's dealing with panic attacks while driving. Hmm, this is starting to sound complicated, I'll just dump the excerpt now.

(Nothing spicy besides a kiss, but content warning for auto accident, and related flashbacks.)

“I'm so sorry about this. Let me give you a ride to your car, at least.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he reminded her, pinning her against the car with his body so he could lean in for another kiss. “Just a wild coincidence. We're going to laugh about this later.” She looked like she wanted to argue with him, so he kissed Gilina again to keep her quiet. “A little walk will clear my head though. So just head home, okay? Call my cell phone when you get there?” He couldn't let her drop him off. She'd see that he'd lied about parking a couple blocks away.

“Fine. But if you keep up with this ‘ring me when you get home’ crap, I'm going to start calling you ‘daddy,’” she teased, pushing at John until he let her up so she could unlock the car door.

“God no, please. That is one kink I definitely do not have,” John groaned. He really didn't need any more reminders that he was almost a decade older than Gilina. He hadn’t been trying to be paternal. But since the accident, it helped him sleep to know she’d made it home safe. Time to get ahold of himself. “Don’t worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow, anyway, b-- Gil.” He caught himself just in time, and made a mental note to also remove ‘baby’ from his list of endearments. “I’m coming over to the lab to do another test of those heat sensors.” 

“That sounds like a line.”

“Maybe it will be. Hope it works.” He stole one more kiss before she got inside, then carefully closed the door for her. Gilina gave him a little wave before pulling out of the parking lot with enough acceleration to make her tires squeal and John sigh.

It was going to be another long walk back to his car. Consulting his map, he thought he’d save a couple minutes cutting through the building, so he went back inside. The mobile repair shop was closed now, so only The Leviathan’s doors were open. He toyed with the idea of going in, to apologize, explain, say something to Aaron, or at least to Jan, about the abruptly canceled appointment. But he couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make the situation worse. “Sorry, my girlfriend doesn’t want the guy that ruined her mentor’s career to show us how to use a flogger,” wasn’t exactly subtle. Keeping her fee was going to have to be apology enough. John was going to need to make that up to Gil. He knew the dominatrix hadn’t been cheap, especially not on a corporal’s salary.

John continued on, down the short hall leading out to Crown. The street was busy, popular with people avoiding the nearby toll road, and a lot of businesses in this stretch of road were still open. After one more quick look at the map, John had just started to head down the sidewalk when a car that had been parked at the curb pulled out into traffic right as a delivery truck going far too fast for a downtown street, blazed past. The delivery driver tried to avoid the car, but still smashed into the driver’s side before veering into the other lane, barely missing clipping an oncoming car. The crash of metal and blaring horns hit John like a stick to the head, painful and all-encompassing.

----

“Crichton,” a voice came from nearby, almost angry, barely audible over the rush of blood in his ears. “Crichton, get out of the street.” Was he in the street?

Hands grabbed the back of his coat and pulled. John thought he should struggle, or at least protest, but he was too busy fighting the surge of nausea. The grip dragged him until his shoe hit the curb. He would have fallen, but the hands wouldn’t let him, yanking up on his coat until he managed to gather his feet under him and step up onto the sidewalk. 

“Chelsea, ring triple-oh,” the same angry voice said, as John was abruptly released.

“Is everyone all right? What’s the matter with him?” A higher pitched voice, more broadly Australian, familiar and coming closer, startled John into awareness with the same question. It was happening again. At least he wasn’t in a car, because the gray fog had returned to the edge of his vision, and the concrete under his feet seemed to be tipping, slipping--

“Nothing,” answered the stern, lower pitched voice, almost a growl. The hands came back, well, one hand, gripping his upper arm so tightly that even through his coat it hurt. But now he couldn’t fall, it wouldn’t allow that. The pain was rhythmic, squeezing, fingers poking deep, then easing. Slower, far slower than his heart or his breathing. “Jan is checking over the woman in the car that got hit. She got the worst of it. The truck was like a tank, the car just bounced off.” The person talking, the owner of the hand holding him, pulled him a couple steps farther from the curb.

“But he doesn't--”

“I saw blood, Chi. Go back inside and ring triple-zero!”

John flinched at the crack of their raised voice, almost in his ear. There was the impression of movement, the sound of feet running. He wanted to move, but the hand didn’t allow it. He should be doing something. He had first aid training, he should be helping. But all he could do was stand there, listening to the repeated honking of offended car alarms, the prickle of pain coming and going in the same rhythm. John was aware of a growing crowd on the sidewalk with them, and across the street, clustering around the other car. He could hear the frightened cries of someone nearby, in pain, but he couldn’t make himself look. There was another voice woven in, softer, soothing, reassuring the injured girl. John tried to listen to it, but it was drowned out by the blaring horns and sirens, first distant, then coming closer. The grip on his arm eased and released just as the police cars and ambulances turned onto their street.

Sirens, oscillating too quickly, wrong, different from the screaming wail of police back home. The buzz of Australian ambulances like angry cartoon hornets, louder and louder until it was all he could hear. Rain coming down, but he couldn’t feel it hit his skin, just the wet, the cold, the light refracting in the blinding headlights until everything was rainbows and screaming. That was from a woman, with the bad luck to be passing by. Another victim, staring and crying and clutching her head at the blood, dark pools on the sidewalk and twitching limbs, and John could only stand and stare.

[cuddlepilefics]

Sprained ankle (short)

Fandom: Shinee/SuperM

Sickie: Taemin

Caregivers: Minho & Jongin

No one’s POV.:

How long had they been practicing? Taemin didn’t know, couldn’t possibly remember. Since all their groups had different schedules, him, Baekhyun and Jongin hadn’t been able to practice with the other SuperM members. While Baekhyun was away on solo promotions, Taemin and Jongin tried to catch up to what they had missed. They had recording sessions, squeezed in between their individual schedules and earlier that week, a choreographer had taught them the new dances, well aware that the two could practice by themselves after being shown the choreography. He also gave them a recording, so they could watch and teach themselves whenever they got the opportunity to.

Taemin and Jongin had met up outside their official schedule almost every night to practice the new choreographies. They were the main dancers of their individual groups, so they had a reputation to uphold and if that meant sacrificing their sleep in order to perfect their dancing, so be it. Taemin’s head ached from the lack of sleep and he had seen Jongin down two painkillers earlier too, though the younger didn’t mention what was bothering him. The endless hours of additional dance practice left them both incredibly sore and their groups had already started go worry, though they knew that sometimes this hard work was what it took to achieve their success.

Having completely switched to auto-pilot, Taemin executed the moves from muscle memory, his mind blank. It seemed like he was looking at himself in the large mirror to monitor his dancing but he wasn’t actually aware of what he saw or did. Only an intense pain shooting up his leg and his vision tilting sideways brought Taemin back to focus, though not in time to catch himself. “Shit! Are you okay, hyung?”, Jongin gasped, dropping into a crouch next to his friend. Gritting his teeth as he sat up, Taemin forced out: “Ugh, yeah. Think so.” The younger offered Taemin a hand and pulled him up, only for him to stumble immediately.

“Fuck!”, Taemin hissed, clinging to Jongin’s shoulder for support, “I hurt my ankle. Just realized when I tried to put weight on it.” Suppressing a curse of his own, Jongin helped the older limp over to their bags where he sat down and dropped his aching head back against the wall. While Taemin dried his face and started to unlace his shoe, Jongin offered: “Do you want me to call anyone? Any of your members or your manager?” – “None of the members”, the other groaned, studying the already developing bruise around his ankle, “I hope they’re asleep ‘cause our schedules have been tough. Maybe my manager or one of the company drivers? It’s already starting to swell, so I should probably get it looked at maybe have an x-ray taken.” – “I’ll call your manager”, Jongin nodded sympathetically, “He can take you to the hospital and adjust your schedules depending on the diagnosis.”

While they waited for Taemin’s manager to come and pick him up, Jongin got a bottle of ice cold water from a vending machine and poured it onto his friend’s towel before carefully draping the cold fabric around his ankle, hoping to dull the pain a little. “Thanks”, Taemin panted, “I’ll text you once I know how serious it is. Hope it’s just a sprain.” Jongin hummed in agreement, contemplating whether he should continue practicing on his own or call it a day to avoid injuring himself due to his exhaustion.

When Taemin had left with his manager, Jongin took a bathroom break to make up his mind and assess just how bad his exhaustion was. On his way back to the practice room, he ran into Minho, the older not yet having headed home. Jongin quickly told Minho about the accident and the other advised him not to keep practicing or else he might hurt himself too. Once they parted, Minho called their manager and agreed to meet them at the hospital.

Surprisingly, the waiting area wasn’t as packed as Minho had feared it’d be and he joined their manager, taking a seat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. There were no updates yet but they distracted themselves from the wait by discussing the possible changes that could be made to the groups schedule to accommodate Taemin’s recovery. Eventually, Minho looked up to see his dongsaeng hobbling towards them on crutches.

“Just a sprain”, Taemin announced with a tired smile, “What are you doing here, hyung?” – “I ran into Jongin and he told me what happened, so I wanted to see how you’re doing and if you need help”, Minho explained, “If you want, you can stay with me for a couple of days. I can help you out while you’re on crutches.” The younger felt the need to refuse, not wanting to burden his hyung but he was also exhausted to the bone and tired of being alone. It was especially at times of overlapping schedules and physical injuries that his mind questioned why he was doing this to himself and if it was the right path. Maybe he’d go with Minho, if just for the company and comfort he provided.

“’m so glad they gave me something for the pain”, Taemin yawned as they got into the car, “I can still feel it pulsing but my head feels better.” – “What about your head? You didn’t hit it when you fell, did you?”, Minho frowned worriedly. The younger shook his head before resting it on Minho’s shoulder, breathing: “My head was killing me earlier. Probably why I didn’t pay attention and tripped myself in the first place. The headache’s gone now though.” – “You’re unbelievable “, the older sighed, “You should’ve rested before it reached that point, you fool.” A sleepy smile played across Taemin’s face because he could hear the fondness in the other’s voice despite the scolding.

Taemin must have fallen asleep on Minho’s shoulder somewhere along the way because the next thing he knew was his hyung shaking him, encouraging: “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs and I’ll fetch you an icepack for your ankle before you’re going to sleep. Can’t let your exhaustion make you even clumsier and get you into more trouble.”

[bmodiwrites]

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Rating: Explicit (E) Notes: This was a work of love and took me quite a bit of time over the last few weeks. I hope that comes across as you read. Special thanks to @eddiemunsons-missingnipple for the amazing photos of Eddie & Steve. They are absolutely perfect for this story. I'm also using this as my movie au fill for the @batboysxprompts Valentine's prompts. Word Count: ~29k Warnings: There are brief mentions of child abuse, drug use/distribution and minor character death. Keep that in mind as you read! Summary:

Their fated romance started when Eddie and Steve were in their teens. They learned to love each other hard and fast, with the sort of reckless abandon only the young can prescribe to. It seems like it's absolutely perfect, but Eddie's past becomes a burden that breaks them apart.

19 years later, Wayne Munson dies, bringing Eddie and Steve back together. Is it fate that's drawing them towards the love that never left? After his accident, Eddie's more than willing to chalk his good fortune up to just about anything. Read to find out what happens when a chance occurrence gives Eddie the second chance he's always been looking for. Will their love win out or is the past too much for them to overcome?

Or - an attempt at a story about love that's lost and then found again.

It’d been quite a while since Steve was stood up.

While his dating history wasn’t all that extensive (especially with other boys), Steve had enough experience under his belt to read a person pretty well. He thought Eddie Munson’s quiet, obliviousness made him a sure thing. Steve figured the mere opportunity would bring that smart little man right out of his shell.

Instead, Steve was all by himself an hour and a half after the time Eddie agreed to meet him.

It usually wouldn’t have been that big of a deal to Steve, either. There were plenty of fish in the sea and a lot of them appreciated Steve’s time and effort. He even tried to remind himself of that when sadness trickled into his gut instead of the rightful anger that should’ve been there. A hit against his pride would’ve been easier to swallow than the disappointment that lingered.

Steve, despite not really knowing much about him, really liked Eddie. For the first time, maybe ever, Steve actually wanted to be seated across the table from another person just as eager to get to know him. The feeling was actually mutual.

At least, Steve had thought so.

Unable to sit there by himself any longer, Steve got up from his lonely table in the corner. As he did, the sight of Eddie’s cousin Gareth sitting with his knocked up girlfriend gave Steve one last burst of hope. Changing his trajectory, Steve bucked up some courage and walked with determination in Gareth’s direction.

“Where is he?” Steve asked without any preamble.

Gareth turned around with a knowing look in his eyes, his mouth already forming around the address to Wayne Munson’s place.

Steve was out of patience, so he didn’t linger around to show gratitude or make pleasantries. If all went according to plan, Steve would have lots of time to make amends with Eddie’s cousin. Something deep in Steve’s gut said this wouldn’t be the last time he and Gareth had to scheme to do what was best for Eddie.

Driving to the far side of town soothed some of Steve’s former irritation. He appreciated the ability to let everything go and listen to the music playing over the radio. By the time he pulled up to the auto shop, most of Steve’s resentment had trickled out into the night air.

Of course, it immediately came rushing back when Steve walked into the garage to see Eddie hiding behind the popped hood of a car. His plain white t-shirt was covered in oil and grease, rolled up over his biceps so that Steve had no other choice but to look (and admittedly appreciate the view). The whole scene made Steve see red.

As did Eddie’s opening words.

“I decided not to come.”

Blowing out an impatient breath, Steve stomped a little further into the garage. “Hm, yeah – I got that.”

Eddie had the decency to catch Steve’s eye, but only for a moment. It was hard to lie to someone while looking right at them. “I didn’t know how to get ahold of you.”

Snorting, Steve stopped his forward trek, opting to put both hands on his hips, instead. “Oh, well I was at Hop’s. You could’ve gotten ahold of me there.” His words were petty but Steve couldn’t help it. The hurt welling up inside of him was too much.

When Eddie ignored him, Steve rolled his eyes. Taking a second to breath and actually get a grip on his surroundings, Steve noticed a couple of things at once. A cot, still trussed up from someone sleeping on it, was pushed against the corner wall. What looked like Eddie’s things were scattered around the small camp bed.

“Are you living out here?” Steve thoughtlessly asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Is this some kind of game you’re playing? Huh? With your friends? A little science experiment you’ve got going on? What is it?” Eddie’s pitch was serious, the older boy obviously getting mad.

Steve couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of Eddie’s suggestion. The only real friend Steve had was Robin and she supported him wholeheartedly. Though, Eddie didn’t know that. “What you’re suggesting is insane. I hope you know,” Steve said, choosing to deflect instead of answering with any truth.

“It’s insane, is it?” Eddie asked, clapping back with a sarcastic tone to his voice. “Maybe you just like strays.”

As the combative words settled over him, Steve’s earlier resolve to be rational and calm about this whole situation snapped. “Or, maybe I just like good guys who haven’t had it all handed to them.” Steve was wrung out and drained after admitting that. Though, Eddie obviously didn’t buy it.

His chuckle stung against Steve’s skin. As did the mumbled “right” that so easily fell from Eddie’s lips. Steve felt tears prickle at the corner of his eyes – maybe this really was a lost cause.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” Without actually waiting for an answer, Steve turned around to sadly march right back where he came from. The stubbornness within him didn’t let Steve get but a few steps out of the garage before more things to throw in Eddie’s direction popped up in his brain.

Eddie embarrassed him and Steve wasn’t going to let him win that easily.

“You know, I just wanted a date. I wanted to go somewhere and maybe have some food or some ice cream.” Steve paused for a second, taking what he could see of Eddie in. His beautiful brown doe eyes were peaking up from behind the hood, half of his face still dark and covered. “Come on, you ask me questions and I ask you questions. And if we just so happen to like the answers, Eddie, then maybe we go on another one. And if we don’t, then we won’t.”

His outburst was cathartic, though of no use. Eddie didn’t budge or fight back or say anything at all.

“Forget it. I’m exhausted. Sorry for wasting your time, Munson.” Steve ran both hands through his perfectly styled hair to cover up the sob that wanted to escape. He tugged at the strands, forcing pesky tears from the corner of his eyes. The physical pain helped to dull the one developing in his heart. “I’m done.”

Letting out a long breath, Steve turned to once again make the trip to his car. This time, he almost made it all the way in before the urge to go back and fight some more won. Steve was spinning himself up at the same time Eddie came running from the garage.

Their joint effort to keep going back and forth with each other would’ve been sort of cute if it didn’t come with the sight of a black and blue bruise taking up the left side of Eddie’s face. The older boy standing him up suddenly made a whole lot more sense now.

As if reading his mind, Eddie pointed up at his black eye. “This is why I didn’t want to go out in public.” There was shame in his voice, though Steve had no idea why. Eddie certainly didn’t give himself such a nasty bruise.

Read the rest on AO3

[identifying-cars-in-posts]

I have a '97 toyota corolla and I love it to bits. what's your opinion on '97 toyota corollas (and how easily can they be repaired? mine is badly rusted on the underside and I'm worried about it breaking down because of it)

great cars! i had a ‘99!

while repairs on corollas is usually pretty cheap and easy, rust is really rough, i’ll be real with you. if the underside is badly rusted, depending on the severity you’ve probably got some frame damage, which is really bad if you get into an accident. bad underbody rust also usually means rust elsewhere too which can complicate other repairs - i just ran into that issue with my truck, which had bad rust around the brakes that made a repair that should’ve been simple way more difficult

it is possible to replace the chassis of a car but it’s usually a really expensive repair, and for a ‘97 corolla it could be worth it to just buy another used car. i would say call around a couple auto shops and get a couple different quotes

also, there’s a difference between surface rust and structural rot. if it’s just a coat of rust on the surface of parts that’s not too much of an issue as long as you undercoat and keep the area clean. however if you’ve got holes, chunks flaking off, etc, that’s rot and that’s where it becomes a problem. if it’s more than a quick bondo job or patch welded in, rot will kill a car before anything mechanical

sorry if this is a downer for you, i hope you’re able to either get it fixed or get something new!

[quartetofstories]

I forgot how much I love YouTube music

I only got spotify because my friends made fun of me

And I loved it because it was easy to switch from YouTube and I need music

Like some days I can't breathe without it

My brains too loud and even without music I have a constant stream of music in my head

I rely on my apps to control the chaos

If the music is controlled then I'm in control and it's not control line me and its easier to keep on track when the internal radio is given tracks instead of allowed to free roam

I listen to my music app on the daily, I rely on it as part of routine. I have music that I play specifically to help me sleep too, it helps me feel better. It energizes me, relaxes me, feeds my feelings and let's me let things out instead of holding them in.

I had hours of playlists and songs downloaded and different radios for different moods

I had this previously on YouTube and was finally getting my spotify to match because there somethings that I never got a chance to fully transfer over. I was literally using the app when it updated.

I went to change the playlist because I needed to feed myself so I needed my focus mix instead of my fun mix and I honestly thought I had crashed the app and it was glitching out.

Everything was wrong all at once. Like I spent an hour figuring out how to contact support because I thought I broke it or pushed the buttons and had changed the settings by accident. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong and was genuinely a little stressed out and upset, and then upset with myself for being upset about something so unimpressed as my app breaking down. Support basically apologized and was like it's the newest update were trying out and isnt it so much better and it's gonna be so cool. And it's bad, terrible and wrong. Like it's an infinite scroll, all but my recently listened to mixes are gone. There's no organization any more and the home page is full of random videos that auto play interrupting my music I'm listening too auto playing anytime I go to the home page even by accident. None of them are relevant and the search feature is equally as broke. Instead of like showing the lists of songs and videos or artist info it's more big ass tiles with fuckong videos. Spotify is an audio app, it's for music and podcasts. It's too listen not to watch, it's to Listen. I really really hate. And I wish they would just have left it as is. Maby this makes me old and uncool but like I need my scrolling app and my listening apps to be separate. I used this app like I breathe and they took everything that I need away.

So I'm really hoping they fix it, but I'm not optimistic. But also I forgot about YouTube music, and I reopened today for the first time in a long time and it was like coming home. So I updated my artists and liked paylists and its already updating and making me mixes that im really enjoying. I don't know if it's actually as good as I'm feeling or if I'm just tired and desperate for normalcy, but I loved it before spotify and it's so reliable even after spotify. Also it's got access to live recordings and YouTube only songs that just make my brain so happy. The variation is like a warm hug on my ears and for some of the songs the quality is just like sex.

Honestly even if spotify gets it's shit together I'm not sure if I'll go back. It's not like you music will go through the tick tock craze. The tube already has its own version and this is solely for listening and has never let me down. IDk time will tell

[mahindramotoringmagic]

What You Need To Know About Mahindra's Compact SUV

Why The Mahindra XUV300 Is The SUV You've Been Waiting For

In SA collisions are almost a norm - drivers change lanes and only then indicate, while others fail to keep to a safe following distance, so one’s driving expertise is a secondary factor on South African roads.

To be safe, you need to be in a car that has passed the crash safety test with flying colours. So, when I got a confirmation that I will be putting the Mahindra XUV300, W8, petrol variation to the test, I quickly googled the car, and the first thing that stood out for me was this: its safety credentials remain unmatched in its class.

It is needless to say that nobody leaves their homes with the hope that they will get into a car accident. But getting to your destination without a scratch on the car or losing your cool with fellow motorists is an underplayed win.

Parting ways with just over R300,000 for my protection in a car is not too bad at all. This Mahindra was tested by the Global New Car Assessment Programme for both India and Africa, the XUV300 set a new benchmark for crash safety in its class in Africa, and it boasts a score of 16.42 out of 17 for adult protection, giving it five out of five stars.

And if you drive with your little one sitting comfortably at the back, the car received four out of five stars for child safety.

I am generally not a fan of compact SUVs. They tend to straddle the line of giving you little of everything, and not entirely anything at the same time. That is my general view on compact SUVs, irrespective of the brand. Most of them don’t have enough boot space, and they give you just enough legroom, but you wish the people in the backseat would have enough legroom too.

But South Africans love compact SUVs, and they continue to buy them. That market is one of the toughest and most saturated. The Mahindra XUV300 competes in a rapidly growing segment with rivals such as the Hyundai Venue, Toyota Urban Cruiser, Mazda CX30, Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Chery Tiggo Pro 4, Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger, Haval H1, to name just a few.

With the XUV300, I thought the interior could have had a more luxurious finish to it, and less of the plastic feel. But the feature of an updated nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system makes you smile again. The new system is Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, making it easy to just plug and play.

With fuel prices always going up and down, the XUV300’s fuel capacity is also equal to most hatchbacks, taking in 42 litres. I consistently got a consumption of 6.4l /100km, but this could be due to the traffic between Sandton and Centurion in the morning and afternoon.

I still don’t understand why this car has a six-gear transmission; the five gears are enough. But it’s a head-turner. When I shared a few pictures of the car on my WhatsApp status, friends and family couldn’t outright guess the brand of the car. They named the competitor brands and were surprised by the beautiful design by Mahindra.

The Mahindra XUV300 is a car that is reliable and has a beautifully distinguishable design. And you are guaranteed the highest level of safety, should the undesirable happen, especially if you are going to be on the road daily.

.

.

.

Article source: https://ewn.co.za/

[ridergreys]

Skedit iphone

SKEDIT IPHONE FOR ANDROID

SKEDIT IPHONE FREE

You can set your favourite messenger to get notified when your messages was sent successfully via auto send (SMS only).You can import your contacts' birthdays to Scheduled.Once you connect your calendars with Scheduled App, it can help you schedule messages by giving you suggestions for important messages each week. This iOS text scheduler can connect your iOS-calendars.This Scheduled App supports scheduling iMessages/SMS (with Auto Send), Facebook messages, Line, Telegram, Twitter, Linkedln, Skype and phone call for you easily. Some users reflected that the app doesn't send the scheduled text message automatically on time.It seems that this app is not stable at some time.It helps you organize your work and life more effectively.

SKEDIT IPHONE FREE

Totally free and can work as your personal virtual assistant.

SKEDit is also a free and easy-to-use scheduling app for you to schedule text messgaes, WhatsApp messages, send emails later, set call reminders, and more.

Some users reflected that this app sometimes cannot send messages at the scheduled time.

A Wake Lock built in this app ensures the messages to go out at the scheduled time and not delayed if your device is in sleep mode.

So please make sure you have a texting plan through your carrier. It send standard SMS messages so you will be charged by your carrier regarding the sending of the SMS messages.

SKEDIT IPHONE FOR ANDROID

Text Later is a simple solution to send SMS at a later date for Android users.

This text scheduler saves the scheduled text messages in the stock SMS app, so there is a possibility that it may be deleted by accident.

It's necessary if you're sending texts that are greater than 160 characters, while other apps only send the first segment of the message, rather than the whole thing.

You can send messages in multiple parts.

7 different languages available: Vietnamese, English, French, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian.

With this text scheduler, you can schedule to send SMS at any time in the future as you like.

You need to keep the app running in background all the time, otherwise it will fail to deliver the scheduled messages in some occasions.

There are too many ads in this app, which makes users feel annoying.

You can create, edit, and delete scheduled messages.

And there are multiple options for delay frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually).

It supports for exact time and time-range.

It not only supports for scheduling SMS messages, but also for Email sending, Social network posting, Calling reminder.

Do It Later is one of the best apps to help you schedule text messages, Tweets, emails and even calls for a time that suits you. Just as its name suggests, this app helps you do things on a delayed time automatically.

It allows you to add multiple dates of month in same scheduled SMS.

You just need to write the message and set date and time well, then this text scheduler will send the message for you automatically on the exact date without any user intervention any more. Use SMS Scheduler, you will never miss birthdays, anniversaries, holiday greetings, important meetings and occasions. SMS Scheduler is a free text scheduling app for Android users. Also, if you want to read similar articles then here are a few recommendations for you guys.Part 1: SMS Schedulers for Android Device 1. I hope this article was helpful, if it was then do let us know in the comments down below. These are a few of the many benefits of scheduling messages. But you’ll still get a notification for it which will act as a reminder for you.

Acts as a remainder- Suppose you’ve scheduled a message but forgotten about it later.

Healthy work-life balance– If you often forget to send important mail or message to your boss or colleague at an off time of day or night, scheduling messages might help you to create a healthy work-life balance.

Here are some benefits of scheduling messages on WhatsApp or any other app. Using this method, you can only schedule messages for up to a week in advance. Tap the notification and it’ll open WhatsApp with the message posted at the text field.

Now at the scheduled time, you’ll receive a notification from the Shortcuts App.

Now select “Send message via WhatsApp”, choose the recipient and click on “Next”.

[crossbowking]

The Sweetest Thing

Summary: (Set mid-season 6) Daryl reflects on life before the end - before he met you.

Word Count: 1,948

A/N: I'M BACK! I'm so excited to share this with y'all! It's super short, super fluffy, and super sweet (get it...like the title...lolololol) And it's also Daryl's POV! Woo!

Initially, this was going to be heart-wrenching angst, but I decided that we all could use a little lovin', ya know? I've missed y'all so much and hope my muse decides to stay awhile! I do have a few other ideas brewing muahaha!

Anyways, I might be a little rusty as I get back into the swing of writing, so any comments and feedback are greatly appreciated! (Ooh, also, if you'd like to be added to my new tag list, just give me a shout!)

Love y'all!!

xx Jess

Masterlist

Tip Jar

Daryl Dixon was no stranger to pain.

When he was eight years old, he dislocated his shoulder falling out of a rickety, old, oak tree.

He’d scrambled up the gnarled trunk, ignoring the shouts and taunts from other kids who’d chased him into the woods just beyond the schoolyard. He’d found a sturdy branch to cling to as they’d gathered at the bottom, throwing stray rocks and sticks at him, calling him names, laughing amongst themselves until they’d eventually lost interest and wandered back to the playground.

He’d waited for the bell to ring, for classes to resume and the kids to disperse to wherever they belonged — and then he’d begun climbing down. Except he’d misjudged a step and before he knew it, the harsh wooded ground was rushing up to meet him. He’d fallen, hard, on his left side, hearing a distinct popping sound on impact.

He hadn’t bothered to return to school, instead walking the thirty minutes back home, left arm cradled against his chest, sniffling softly as the burning in his shoulder intensified.

When he’d gotten home, he’d found his dad passed out drunk on the sofa, snoring so loudly he didn’t hear his son's cries.

It wasn’t until Merle had stumbled in from the local bar later that night that his shoulder was popped back into place.

When Daryl was sixteen years old, he got into his first motorcycle accident.

He’d spent all summer fixing the bike up, pouring every ounce of his time, energy, and money into the project. Merle was serving in the Marine Corps, his old man’s drinking habits were the worst they’d ever been, and Daryl had felt the sting of his father’s belt buckle one too many times.

He’d thought maybe he’d leave Georgia once and for all — travel across the country and find somewhere to settle down. Maybe he’d open an auto body shop in Montana, buy a nice house near the mountains or deep in the woods. Maybe he’d get a dog to keep him company. If he thought about it long enough, the more it seemed within reach.

He just needed to get there.

So one night in August, Daryl packed a bag and left.

He snuck out around two in the morning, not that anyone would’ve known or cared he was missing, rolled his motorcycle to the end of his street, and took off.

He’d never forget how that felt, the freedom that grew in his chest as he left his shit-hole hometown and every bad thing in it behind. It’d nearly brought tears to his eyes, the idea of starting over, of no one knowing his name, of —

Not even ten miles later, a deer ran out in front of his bike. He’d swerved, lost control, and crashed into a tree along the side of the road.

He never made it past the Georgia state line.

When Daryl was twenty-eight, he fell in love.

Well, maybe not ‘love’, but a dire and desperate attempt to feel something, anything, that wasn’t the all-consuming numbness that’d become so familiar as year after year wore on.

Julie was her name.

She was older – late thirties, early forties – with long, bleached blonde hair and a slyness that Daryl should’ve picked up on sooner. She’d frequented the dive bar he and his brother had spent most nights at, making eyes at him from across the room until one night, she’d finally approached him.

Attention was a foreign concept to Daryl – a woman’s attention, especially. His face had grown haggard with contempt and disappointment over time, a seemingly permanent scowl etched onto his face – and if that wasn’t enough of a turn-off, his sharp tongue sealed the deal. He wasn’t sure when he’d begun to lose himself, when aspects of Merle’s personality had begun to morph into his own, but it was easier to drink away the thought than confront it.

Which had led him to that dive bar, led him to Julie.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Julie had been using him to get free goods from Merle – but he’d kept that to himself. She’d simply been a distraction, nothing more, nothing less, from the darkness that’d been festering within him since before he could remember.

Their relationship had been surface level at best, but it was more than Daryl had ever had a taste of and he’d clung to it.

A few weeks later, he’d found Merle and Julie in bed together.

She’d offered a half-assed apology – though made no move to unwind herself from around his brother’s body – while Merle, on the other hand, had shot him a shit-eating grin and shrugged. “A man’s gotta eat,” he’d jeered, the indifference in his tone turning the younger brother’s vision red.

His knuckles were bruised and bloody for days after that.

Daryl Dixon was no stranger to pain.

He’d been dealt traumas that most people could never understand, would never understand. For the longest time, he’d wondered what he’d done to deserve the life he’d been given. Maybe he’d been a sinner in another lifetime, and this was his punishment – to merely exist, day in and day out with no real purpose, no meaning, with nothing more to his name than the scars he’d bear.

But then the world ended.

And, oddly enough, his life began.

“Hey, you okay?” came a sudden voice.

Daryl snapped out of his reverie, not having realized he’d zoned out to begin with. “Hm?” he murmured, blinking away the daze.

You came into focus then, watching him curiously, your brow furrowed. “You disappeared on me there for a second,” you pointed out gently, the corner of your mouth quirking.

Daryl felt his gaze flicker down towards your lips before he refocused his attention straight ahead, ignoring the heat rushing to the tips of his ears. He quickly cleared his throat, ducking his head down. “M’ here,” he rumbled, sneaking another glance at you from beneath the hair that fell across his face.

You smiled sweetly and the archer felt his stomach flip-flop as you reached towards him and brushed the strands away. “Good – try to keep it that way,” you teased, pulling away a moment later.

The archer tried to ignore the prickling beneath his skin where your fingers had grazed — like every nerve-ending had been set aflame.

“So, what’d you think?” you asked then, crossing your arms over your chest and staring down at the map splayed out between you.

Daryl redirected his attention, reaching down and smoothing out the creases that’d formed along the page. He laid his palms flat on the table, drumming his fingers as he focused on the task at hand. With Rick now running Alexandria, he’d wanted to take every precaution possible in case the community was to fall – having a backup location that was safe, secure, and well-stocked was integral. “There,” he rasped after a moment, jabbing his finger towards the shoreline. “Head east, comb the shore, see what we can see.”

You hummed softly in approval. “That’s what I was thinking,” you murmured, shifting forward and resting your hands beside his, squinting slightly as you examined where he’d pointed. “We could find a boat, fix it up,” you mused. “Maybe catch some lobster for dinner,” you glanced over at him, waggling your eyebrows.

Daryl scoffed as he straightened. “Churn some butter while we’re a’ it,” he huffed, fighting back a smile.

You laughed, his comment catching you by surprise. “Don’t act like I won’t hold you to that, Dixon,” you grinned, leaning back against the table and facing him straight on.

“Mhm,” he rolled his eyes, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his worn jeans, rocking back and forth on his heels.

You held his gaze a moment longer, something warm flashing over your face before you pushed away from the table. “Alright, I’ll update Rick and get a group together – head out in twenty?”

Daryl grunted softly in response, suddenly unable to find his voice.

“Okay, see you in a bit,” you smiled warmly, reaching out and patting the archer’s chest affectionately as you began to move past him.

But before your hand could slip away, Daryl covered it with his own and held it in place, faltering your momentum.

You shifted, turning back towards him, a puzzled look in your gaze.

“I jus’ –” he rasped, shaking his head as he ducked his head down, searching for the right words. He brushed his thumb against yours, back and forth, grounding himself, before he focused back on you.

You simply nodded, giving him the space to continue.

He cleared his throat, feeling it tighten as he forced himself to let go of a lifetime's worth of conditioned self-consciousness. He inhaled a deep breath, regarding you earnestly. “You're jus’ so damn beautiful, ya know that?” he finally mustered, his words rumbling against your intertwined hands, still pressed against his chest.

You appeared taken aback for a moment like you were wondering if you’d misheard him, or he’d misspoken. But when he merely held your stare, your features softened. “Oh,” you whispered gently.

A beat passed between you before your face lit up and you stepped forward, wrapping your arms around him and sighing a long and heavy exhale.

Daryl welcomed the embrace, one arm snaking around your waist, his other hand moving to cradle the back of your head before he tightened his hold on you. His eyes closed as he breathed in the moment, committing the feeling to memory. You melted against him, nestling closer, fitting so perfectly it was as though you’d been crafted to from the very start.

When you pulled back, he couldn’t help but ache for you in the spaces you’d filled.

But then he opened his eyes and noticed the emotion that’d filled yours.

You sniffled softly, quickly swiping at a tear that’d slipped down your cheek as a hitched laugh pushed past your lips. “Now look at what you did,” you murmured playfully, almost bashfully.

Daryl snorted a breath, placing his hand against the side of your neck and using his thumb to brush away the trail of moisture left behind on your cheek. You laid your hand on top of his, leaning into his touch.

Neither of you moved for a long moment, simply breathing the other in before a small smile tugged at your lips. You shifted in his grasp, pressing a gentle kiss against his palm. “We should probably get going,” you sighed, the archer nodding once despite every fiber of his being screaming otherwise.

“Alright,” he rasped, balling his hands into fists and shoving them back into his pockets, ignoring the slight trembling in his fingertips.

“Alright,” you reiterated, a bounce in your step as you turned to leave. “Meet you at the gate?” you called from over your shoulder, yanking open the front door.

Daryl nodded once more, flicking the hair away from his face. “Mhm,” he rumbled, his voice once again lost.

“Cool,” you grinned, sending him a small wave before you slipped out, closing the door softly behind you without another word.

Daryl Dixon was no stranger to pain.

But you…

You were medicine to the sick, solace to the dying, strength to the weak. You’d crawled your way beneath his skin and called it ‘home’. You were everything he needed and nothing he deserved, and God damn it, he’d live this hellish life a thousand times over if it meant finding you.

Daryl Dixon was no stranger to pain.

But he’d shoulder the weight of the world’s suffering for you.

The sweet relief of you.

Fin.

A/N: Ugh, so cute it makes me sick :')))))) lmao hope y'all enjoyed!

By the way, did anyone see the new trailer??? I'M FREAKING.

I'm hoping to have another story out to y'all soon, so stay tuned! I'd like to shoot for a 3/4 parter, but we'll see what happens!

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[kaijutegu]

Hey Kaiju, hope you're doing well! It looks like NC is trying to ban tegus. Having a tegu yourself and being knowledgeable about them, what do you recommend we do? Theres a zoom meeting on the 20th about it and they're taking comments, I dont even know what to say. Can tegus even live that far north?

Yes they can, but a ban makes zero sense and here is why!

Unlike most... ok, unlike ALL other reptiles, tegus have some endothermic (warm blooded) properties. They can manipulate their internal body temperature some, primarily during breeding season, and this helps them survive winters that kill things like iguanas and the big pythons. As climate change continues, it's very likely that they'll keep pushing north, and there are parts of NC that could sustain that population.

BUT. When you look at the situation in Florida, North Carolina is not at the same level of risk. The big tegu populations down there came from one breeder release and one or more big warehouse escapes by importers. Escaped or released pets are not going to cause an invasive situation. The sensible solution, in my opinion, is permitting, licensure for breeders, and microchipping, as well as banning mass imports.

Each of these pieces would work a little differently. In order of importance, banning imports is the first thing NC should do. Banning mass imports would stop the warehouse situation from ever occurring. I don't think that NC currently really has any major reptile imports, at least not at the level Florida does/did. I think that before a pet owner ban, this must be in place first.

Then, license your breeders. Make it so that anybody producing tegus must have permission and must report their numbers. Here's how I'd do it: Put a cap on how many adults they can have and require an annual facility inspection. They have to prove that their containment is good- that the animals can't get out- and they have to report any escapes to Fish and Wildlife. They also need to produce an annual report keeping track of how many babies hatched and where those babies went, as well as how many adults they have of each sex. Hognose breeders (a permit species) here in IL do stuff like that all the time, and it's not a problem. Failure to report escapes=big fine. Failure to produce annual report=big fine after a couple of reminders. Honestly, a good breeder cares about where the babies end up, so collecting some data about where they go probably won't be pushing anybody too far.

I could also see the logic behind just blanket banning breeding. Babies are wriggly, clever escape artists and if you're producing dozens of them at a time, it could be pretty easy for them to get out. This could be enforced by capping the number of adults people are allowed to have and implementing heavy fines if they're caught breeding the animals or letting eggs hatch. (If accidents happen, you have... months to put the eggs in the freezer or otherwise destroy them.) But I think that introducing a licensing system would be worth a try, especially because right now there isn't an invasive population.

Permits for pet ownership are another thing that would be fairly easy to set up. They could even be auto-generated through Fish and Wildlife or the DNR or whatever NC calls it. The only point of these permits would be to track where existing animals are and to identify who has them. This is something that makes some people kinda bristle, because "muh privacy," but it's literally no different than a municipal license for a dog. Except cheaper– the permit doesn't have to be expensive, and honestly I think keeping it free would encourage people to go through with it. As an example, in IL, you need a permit to keep or breed the western hognose because it's threatened in our state. Keeping a few as a pet requires a free permit; breeding them requires a permit that comes with a 50 dollar annual fee. If you look at that pet permit, it's basically auto-generated. They don't really care too much about the individual- they just want to know where the animals are.

The most difficult idea to implement would be mass microchipping. In Florida, they use PIT tags which ping an antenna whenever the animal passes it. This helps track their location. I don't think NC needs that because they don't have an established invasive population. But requiring microchipping like you'd maybe do for a dog or cat is a good idea. If the animal does get out, it can be established quickly whether it's a pet or not. Once the animal is captured, it can be scanned for a chip. If it's not a pet, pay attention to the location and rethink the management strategy. If you get a LOT of non-chipped animals, it's time to reconsider the ban. But if it's chipped? Call up the owner. Potentially fine them. I'd probably implement a strike system, where if your animal gets out once, it's a warming and if it gets out again, it's a ticket or fine or something.

The challenge here would be getting people to chip their animals. Even though all tegu owners should have an exotic vet they regularly take their animal to for checkups, not everybody does that. This could be mitigated by state-sponsored chip clinics/chip days and heavy public outreach by local herp societies.

For the public meeting, here's the questions I would ask:

1. Where is the evidence that pet owners are causing or might cause an invasive tegu population in NC?

2. Why is the state going to a general ban instead of a permit system?

3. What impact studies or predictions have been produced that lead to these conclusions?

4. What makes them think a ban will work? What will prevent people who already have tegus from just going "eh" and releasing them?

5. What other methods is the state planning on using to stop a potential tegu threat? What early detection and response plans do they have in place?

6. Have there actually been any tegu sightings or evidence of tegu populations establishing themselves in NC? Somebody should just point blank ask them why they think this is a step they need to take.

If they say there's no evidence and they just want to keep it that way, you might want to point out that banning them won't actually stop people from getting them. It just makes it illegal, but the thing is, the reptile hobby doesn't always care about that. People will just go to expos out of state or order their animals online.

But! Providing a legal avenue towards ownership will just make their job easier. What that will do is create data about where these animals are. That way, if an invasive population does come into being, it can either be traced back to the humans responsible... or it will be evident that it's a migrating population from another state.

As of January 2022, there's only one news story about tegus being loose in NC. Three were spotted in Wake County in 2017, and the police initially misidentified them as Gila monsters, which is kinda funny. I couldn't find any followup but it was said that the three escaped from one home in Bowling Green, which means that they were probably in outside containment and they dug under or climbed over the fence.

USARK also has some talking points here, as well as a summary of the proposed legislation.

Good luck in that public meeting!

[segatoys]

Some yellowjackets thoughts cause i’m bored

1. i think the idea that the antler queen is not one force is correct and that this is a position the girls fight over

2. i think lottie will be antler queen or bring up the idea at some point (all the foreshadowing? come on), but i do also think at the same time she’s the girl in the pit. the girls dress resembles the one lottie was “baptized” in, her being cannibalized might be seen as another type of rebirth / life cycle

3. i also think that lottie is either hunted by the girls on purpose OR she has a psychotic episode and tries to run away; the sounds we hear (the sounds of girls making animal calls?) potentially being hallucinations and her believing she’s being hunted. Maybe falling into a trap by accident, the girls can’t waste an opportunity for meat, u know the drill

4. the recent episode mentions an anniversary for jeff and shauna. maybe the girl he was seeing was someone he was asking advice for for a gift? maybe it’s blackmail - his company is in deep financial troubles, maybe this is someone he’s talking to to get out of it? doesn’t want shauna to know or something.

5. i think the “adam is javi “ theory is kind of stupid. i think adam might be a yellowjackets fanboy - when shauna finally decides to google stuff about the YJs, one of the google auto fills is something like “are the YJs single?” implying a weird group of people who have weird feelings towards the surviving women

6. it’s clear taissa is projecting her issues into sammy. the psychiatrist for him mentioning his dissociative amnesia might be what’s applying to tai, but i really hope they don’t do the “jeckle and hyde” type of DID rep with tai. same thing with lottie - just let her be schizophrenic. Why the weird “she’s not psychotic, she’s actually has supernatural powers!” route.. it ruins the gravity and seriousness of the show

7. misty isn’t the sender of the postcards but is absolutely involved in some way with the threats. maybe she’s the one sending the texts to get the “everyone is here” feeling of a reunion; it seems like the girls really don’t enjoy staying in contact with each other? anyways. she’s a citizen detective but the way she lines up the crime scene photos THAT quickly is suspicious as shit.

8. laura lee will die first. She’s probably going to die in some way related to the plane they found, maybe trying to get it to start again (her fixation on that manual). she tries to start it again without the other girls to help her… Lotties vision of an explosion behind laura lee as she’s being baptized might foreshadow this death. i think her death being the first will be the final nail in the coffin for the “loss of innocence” theme; her being the puritan / religious one kinda goes into that.

9. ben was lying to misty about liking her for his own safety. he’s already been poisoned by her once and is well aware she cut off his leg. even i it was to save him that’s an insane thing for someone her age to be able to do with no hesitation. keeping it secret i think is obvious for two reasons - he doesn’t want the other girls to become scared of him for a lie, it also makes misty think she’s more special. Let’s not also forget the scene where she attempts to grope him in his sleep. and how in the “confession” scene ben kind of hesitated and thinks hard before calling her things like “my sweet misty” or whatever.

10. it’s really likely she will because we haven’t seen anything from her in the present day, but if van dies i’m rioting

[aliyah-the-creator]

This is my very first post, so I hope I do good! Please give me some feedback, I would love to hear it.

The Umbrella Academy Life Swap:

The Hargreaves switch lives instead of powers.

• Ben ran away at the age of 13 and got lost in the dimension inside his stomach, the Handler eventually finds him and recruits him to the Commission. He works as a super powered agent that saves his victims from his sadistic partners, Hazel and Cha-Cha. Ben doesn’t come back in a 13 year old body like Five, he’s the same age as his siblings, and Ben does know about the apocalypse and has the eye. And unlike Five, Ben actually tells his siblings about the apocalypse and how he was a super powered assassin that acted as the kidnapper and lookout. When the Hargreaves were 13, Ben had tried to talk to Five out of time traveling because logically, he may not know where he would end up, but Five wouldn’t listen to him and started arguing with him. The fighting got so loud that Vanya and Klaus eventually got pulled into the argument as well and it turned into a fistfight with all 4 of them. All of them ended up with scratches and bruises on their faces, a few chunks of their hair missing, and cleaning the mansion floors and ceilings from top to bottom and every single room without using their powers as a punishment for fighting by Reginald. At 2 am, Ben woke up after a nightmare and felt bad about getting Vanya and Klaus into trouble when they didn’t even started the fight in the first place and tried to go to their rooms to apologize, but he never did because the Horror became restless and angry that it didn’t get anything to eat and wanted to make Ben feel how trapped they felt when Reginald always had them kill people, so Ben’s tentacles grabbed him and opened the portal to their world, which was the apocalypse, and trapped him there for 10 years until the Handler came and recruited him and was never seen after that day again. Because of Ben’s disappearance, Vanya and Klaus blamed Five and his ambition for time travel since it was him who argued with Ben in the first place and Five had never forgotten it. Ben hopes that Klaus and Vanya would forgive Five in time. Ben read Klaus’s book about what happened to his family when he disappeared, he read about Luther running away to Dallas to forget about the Umbrella Academy, about Diego staying at the Academy to keep fighting crime, about Allison’s death and how she’s now mute, how Klaus is trying to get sober and stabling himself, how Five became a professor at a prestigious university and a vigilante, and how Vanya took a dark path into alcoholism.

• Five became a lowly-paid physics professor at community college after he was fired for punching a colleague at prestigious university and he’s also a vigilante, but his fiancé Delores doesn’t like it though. Five met Delores at a professor’s conference in Canada where she was presenting her findings on the science of gems and geodes since she’s a mineralogy professor (someone who teaches the study of rocks and crystals) and where he was discussing the possibility of time travel. Those two immediately hit it off and are now engaged, Five proposed to her by using different types of gems to spell it out. Five uses his powers of teleportation to be a mysterious assassin and hero.

• Klaus is a dancer at a local theater and he has somewhat control over his powers, but if the ghosts get too loud, he smokes cigarettes instead of weed so he wouldn’t be high at a recital. He became friends with Leonard Peabody aka Harold Jenkins when Klaus was 23 after his family abandoned him for writing an auto-biography about him having a power that traumatizes him and what the Umbrella Academy was really like behind the scenes, it’s called “The Ghosts Inside the Umbrella Academy: the life of Klaus Hargreaves”. Harold makes him more isolated by threatening to kill himself and haunting Klaus for the rest of his life if Klaus tries to leave him. Since Klaus never had someone ,besides Ben, care for him and give him a home and food since he was living at a homeless shelter when he met Leonard, Klaus thinks that this type of friendship is normal and doesn’t think twice about it. In his book, Klaus portrays his remaining siblings as people who knew about his drug abuse, but didn’t do anything about it; he portrayed Luther as a hotheaded daddy’s boy who was treated like the Golden child, Diego as a momma’s boy with daddy issues always trying to compete with Luther for everything, Allison as his favorite sister who was taken too soon, who’s death was the final straw that tore apart their family, and who acts as a silent ghost mother since she’s mute (no one believes him that he can see her though), he portrays Five as the cause of Ben’s disappearance and as a heartless gremlin who doesn’t care about his siblings enough to see that his siblings are hurting and have real problems of their own, he portrays Ben as his kind-hearted and favorite brother who was the glue that hold their family together and who’s disappearance drove a wedge between the family, and he portrays Vanya as his ordinary violin playing sister that desperately wanted to belong with their family in any way she could, but turned to alcohol when she learned that her dream of being in the Umbrella Academy was crushed by Reginald and who had the easy life of not being exploited by their father for her powers like he was. Vanya actually confronted him about her portrayal in the book and they said some things that they shouldn’t have, but they eventually forgave each other and Vanya moved in with him and Leonard a month later. Klaus didn’t mind that Vanya and Leonard were dating, but saw a striking difference between Vanya and Leonard’s relationship and Vanya and Sissy’s relationship when Vanya came back from the 60s. With Leonard, Vanya was walking on eggshells and isolated from her brothers and couldn’t be herself around him, but with Sissy, Klaus saw that Vanya was happier and could be herself around Sissy and loves Harlan like her own son. Klaus was the one to kill Leonard with his powers by having Allison choke him to death when he badly hurt Harlan with a gun and tried to drown Sissy.

• Allison dies at the age of 17 when her throat was slit by a serial killer on a mission and now acts like Klaus’s mother by always keeping him sober enough to conjure her and giving him healthy advice, but ultimately going along with almost every crazy idea Klaus has. Since she has a slit throat she can’t talk, but she does sign language instead and like Ben, she ages like Klaus, but still wears the same outfit she was buried in: a yellow and green striped dress with a blue flora printed jacket with red heels and a pair of black leggings. She HATES Leonard Peabody because he’s manipulating Klaus into isolation from their family and she tries to get Klaus out of their toxic friendship, but Klaus always denies Leonard’s abuse. She misses her siblings so much that she’s deeply hurt that she had ignored their problems for so long.

• Diego stayed at the Umbrella Academy because he didn’t know how to be anything else but a hero, he also didn’t want to Mom behind, so he began reading and writing code to free Grace from her restrictive rules that Reginald put on her, but after his accident that had him have scars all over his body and face to the point where he lost his left eye and his face is almost beyond recognition, Diego left the Academy when he realized that there was no point in staying and became a recluse in his good friend, Eudora’s house. Unlike Luther, Diego doesn’t have the monkey body because I just couldn’t see that type of body build on David Castaneda. Diego met Eudora at a local boxing gym, Eudora was impressed Diego’s fight skilled and was shocked to know that he was Diego “The Kraken” Hargreaves because Reginald told the whole world including their city and Luther, Klaus, Five, and Vanya that Diego died in an explosion a year ago when he had his accident. Diego ,of course, was pissed that his own father told everyone and his siblings that he was dead instead of saying that he survived the mission and was just scarred for the rest of his life, but he wasn’t surprised that Reginald did that to keep up his reputation. Him and Eudora immediately became fast friends and roommates at her house since Diego had nowhere to go when he left the Academy 6 months ago and was living at an run-down and moldy apartment. They actually tried dating at one point, but because of their conflicted personalities, they decided to just stay friends and roommates.

• 3 months after Allison’s funeral, Luther ran away to escape his father’s tight gripped and cold stare and the house that reminded him of his lovely yet dead Allison when he was 18 years old. He ended up in Dallas, Texas where he became a famous boxer named King Kong since he’s so huge and muscular, met and married a successful TV salesman named Elliott Gussman, and they adopted an African American baby girl who they named Claire Allison Gussman. Luther decided to take Elliott’s last name ,even though it was Luther who proposed to him, to cut his ties off from the Umbrella Academy and the man who turned 6 children into soldiers and who blamed the death of an innocent 17 year old girl that happened to be his adopted daughter on his 4 sons and 1 daughter instead of the person who killed her in the first place. Luther and Elliott had a happy marriage for 3 years until Klaus’s book came out that exposed the secrets of Luther’s past and made him into a hotheaded bully with daddy issues who followed Reginald around like a eager puppy trying to get a reward and a coward ran away from his problems instead of facing them. Elliott was furious at Luther because when Luther came to Dallas he lied about being from a mob family that did all types of shady businesses and that he ran away because his “family” couldn’t understand and accept him being bisexual instead of telling him truth about his abusive father who raised them to be child soldiers, how his brother Diego would always tried to be better than him to their father’s approval, how his brother Five was too smart for his own good, how he loved his sister Allison more than he should, how he tried to forget about Ben’s disappearance, how he ignored Klaus’s drug abuse, and how he denied Vanya’s problem with alcohol for so long. When Elliott read Klaus’s book about what Luther did and who he was, Elliott immediately started arguing with him about his true identity. Luther tried to deny it, but couldn’t because he loves Elliott too much to even hurt him in a way. Elliott actually threatened to separate from Luther when their arguments gotten too much, but he didn’t and instead drove Luther and him to see a marriage counselor so that they could actually talk to each other instead of just arguing. Luther and Elliott eventually made up, but because of the book, Luther is the one that’s more pissed about it and at Klaus for almost making Elliott lose his marriage to him. Btw, Claire is 6 years old in 2019 and was adopted as a baby in 2013 by the Gussman family when Luther was 24 and Elliott was 30, a year after Klaus’s book was published.

• Vanya was introduced to alcohol at 13 years old when Five and Klaus were drinking 2 cases of beer that Five stole, Klaus persuaded her to take a sip of his beer and she hasn’t stop drinking since. Besides the violin and her pills, alcohol was the thing that defined Vanya and her personality. Vanya thought that no one would care about what happened to her since she was so ordinary and isolated that she dumped all of her pills in the garbage disposal and drinks her problems away. With her new coping mechanism, Vanya’s personality changed from quiet and meek to sarcastic and drunk. Five and Vanya left the Academy for college together, but ended up separated by the time they were 20 because Vanya kept drinking her tutition away. By the age of 22, Vanya ended up being homeless because she got kicked out of her apartment for not paying her rent with the money she used to buy alcohol. She still plays her violin, but only for cash instead of at The Icarus Theatre. She also read Klaus’s book and was upset about her portrayal as his alcoholic sister who had an easy life of being ordinary and never going on missions because she doesn’t have a power that can’t be turned off willingly or that can kill somebody; she cried and drank her misery away for 3 weeks until she confronted Klaus about the book, they both admittedly said things that they regretted, but ended up apologizing to each other in the end. She also meets and dates Leonard like in the show and instead of Allison finding the truth about Leonard, it’s Five and Delores who both tried to convince Klaus and Vanya that Leonard is a snake, but they both denied it. Vanya ends up living with Klaus and Leonard when her and Klaus made up when she’s 23. In my first draft I made it Five and Delores that Vanya ended up rooming with, but I wanted to make Vanya and Klaus isolated further by Leonard manipulating both of them. When the house is attacked by Hazel and Cha-Cha, Vanya is the one that’s kidnapped and tortured by them for 2 days and is rescued by Eudora who arrives with back up this time, but is injured in the spine by Cha-Cha. Vanya takes the briefcase and time travels to October 12, 1963 where she ends up falling in love with a woman named Sissy Cooper, a widowed housewife who accidentally ran Vanya over with her car, and becoming a nanny/second mother to Sissy’s 5 year old autistic son named Harlan. Vanya stayed with them until 1966 when a neighbor reported their “unholy” relationship to the police, so to keep them safe Vanya used the briefcase to go back to 2019 with Sissy and Harlan.

—When Vanya gets back to 2019 with Sissy and Harlan, no one believes her story except for Klaus, who promises to her relationship with Sissy a secret from Leonard, and Ben, who was the only one that was worried about her whereabouts in the first place besides Klaus. Vanya tries to become sober for the sake of Harlan not being afraid of her when she gets drunk and for Sissy and her’s relationship since her late husband was an abusive alcoholic, instead of conjuring the one she loves’s ghost like Klaus did in the show. When Vanya was dating Leonard, he would constantly have her and Klaus practice their music and dance at 12am-6am to train them more and if one of them mess up, he’ll have them locked up in a dark and tiny closet with only one dimly lit lightbulb and they would have to balance on a stool on one leg for the duration of their training. Leonard would also take his anger out on Klaus and Vanya if he had a bad day at his shop, which would leave Klaus with bruises on his arms and a black eye and Vanya with scratches on her back and bruises on her neck. (Trigger Warning for those who can’t handle stories with domestic violence) When the 3 of them were 27, Leonard gotten pissed at how independent and successful Klaus and Vanya were getting in their lives by Klaus getting paid more from his dance recitals and Vanya going to AA meetings more to the point of being sober for 3 weeks that he took his frustrations about losing his control out on them by punching and slapping Klaus and choking and scratching Vanya, but thankfully a neighbor called the police after hearing their screams and Klaus and Vanya were taken to the hospital and Leonard was arrested, but unfortunately Klaus and Vanya bailed Leonard out due to dropping charges against him as an apologize.

Here are the things that I changed

• Klaus and Vanya both cause the apocalypse by combining their powers at Klaus’s dance recital with Vanya’s violin because Leonard isolated them from everyone, manipulated them to the point of denying the abuse he put them through, and because of him trying to kill Sissy and Harlan for taking Vanya away from him.

• Five and Delores tries to explain to Vanya and Klaus that Leonard only liked them to get revenge on the Umbrella Academy and it was him that kidnapped Sissy and Harlan to get them to come back to him, but Five gets stabbed in the stomach by Klaus’s new found telekinesis and Vanya makes Five and Delores’s apartment collapsed after knocking Delores out. When the apartment collapses, Allison , who’s coperal at the moment, immediately grabs both a bleeding Five and an unconscious Delores and saves them from death and takes them to the Academy to be treated by Grace. Delores unfortunately loses her right arm to a huge piece of shrapnel lodged into it that’s cutting the circulation.

• When Ben goes to the apocalypse for the first time, he finds Luther with the eye clutched in his hand, Diego wrapped in black bandages holding a woman with a long black ponytail (Eudora), Five in an Armani suit with his eyes opened, and a red headed woman in a polka dotted blouse and a black skirt holding one of Five’s hand (Delores). All of them are dead and Ben finds out that they’re his brothers by the faded black umbrella tattoo on Luther’s wrist when Ben was inspecting the bodies. The bodies that Ben couldn’t find were Allison, Vanya, and Klaus’s, but after learning about Allison’s death from Klaus’s book, Ben kept looking for Vanya and Klaus.

• Vanya gets her burst of powers when Harlan almost drown in the summer of ‘64 in the lake 10 miles away from the farm. Harlan was playing with a beach ball when it got away from him and he tried to get it while Vanya and Sissy were cuddling in the sand and a wave pulled him under the water. Sissy started crying and panicking when Vanya couldn’t get Harlan to the surface, but after a minute of silence she was shocked and relieved to see Vanya holding Harlan in her arms while she’s floating in the lake with glowing white eyes. As soon as they get to shore, Vanya gives Harlan cpr which transfers her newly found powers to him like in the canon.

• Diego doesn’t show himself to his siblings until episode 3 when Hazel and Cha-Cha attack the house because everyone thinks he’s dead and he’s a recluse. He finds out about the attack from Grace (mom) when she calls him from her bedroom phone since they talk every day so that he can know what’s going on and because of these calls, Diego knows about Ben being back, how the funeral went, and how much each of his siblings changed over the years.

• In episode 1, since the siblings’ lives are switched around, the way they found out that Reginald died is slightly different from canon. Luther finds out from the press badgering him after he won a fight, Diego finds out from Eudora when she comes home after work and turns on the Tv in a flash, Klaus finds out during rehearsal on the radio that him and his group are listening to to practice the recital while Allison is dancing in the shadows behind him when the news suddenly comes on, Five finds out from his phone on social media when one of his students sent him the news link after Five teleports to his apartment after saving a 12 year old boy from being abducted by a creep and almost killing said creep by beating him senseless, and Vanya finds out from a bar Tv when she and Leonard are on a date. She immediately calls Klaus who was immediately going to call her to tell her the same thing when he was done rehearsals.

• Just to clarify, since Vanya spent 3 years with Sissy and Harlan in Dallas from 1963-1966, she is 33 years old and Harlan is 8 years old because he was 5 when he and his mom met Vanya. Even though Vanya spent 3 years in the ‘60s, she was only gone for 2 days with Klaus, Five, Delores, Ben, and Leonard searching for her.

• When the Hargreeves all come back for the funeral, the introduction of them to each other are very different. Diego doesn’t show up to the funeral to keep up the reputation of him being dead. Vanya and Klaus show up together, but immediately split up when Vanya goes straight to the bar making drinks for her and her brothers (mostly for her though) and Klaus goes to his old room to reminisce about his past. Five checks their father’s room and office for evidence of something other than a heart attack, he is the one that thinks that Reginald was murdered by someone, and he also greets Vanya and Klaus with Delores who went with him to meet his family. Luther is trying to get through the funeral as possible by almost avoiding his siblings, but that backfires when Five calls a family meeting to talk about their father’s death and Luther sees a tipsy Vanya holding a mix of vodka and rum, Klaus talking to Delores who is laughing at a funny story Klaus is telling, and Five lecturing the remaining siblings on how their father might’ve been murdered.

• Eudora is more present in the show since she survives the gunshot wound in her spine by Cha-Cha, but she ends up being paralyzed from the waist down in a wheelchair. She helps Five with discovering how Reginald actually died and Diego with stepping out into the world and seeing his family for the first time in years. Like in canon, she is the first one to find Vanya at the motel after finding the message that Hazel and Cha-Cha left on the van when they burned down the prosthetic factory after they got drunk off of Vanya’s “special lemonade” which is just lemonade mixed with wine and vodka. Unlike in the show, Delores and Ben go with Eudora as back up in case something goes wrong and it does end up going wrong with Cha-Cha and Eudora having a shoot out with each other in the parking lot that ultimately ends up Eudora becoming paralyzed by Cha-Cha’s bullet ricocheting off a lamppost and lodging into Eudora’s spine with her laser gunand Ben wrestling with his former partner Hazel in the motel room while Vanya is escaping through the vent with the briefcase in her arms and Delores in tow.

Ben breaks Hazel’s wrist and almost beats him to a bloody pulp for kidnapping Vanya, but he stops when he hears Eudora’s screams from outside and sees her on the ground behind her car and he immediately drives her to the hospital while Hazel and Cha-Cha get away before the police show up. Delores and Vanya get on a nearby bus to escape the chaos and they talk about what’s going on in their lives and Delores talks about how Leonard treats Klaus when they’re alone, but Vanya denies any abuse and opens the briefcase. The last thing Vanya hears is Delores screaming.

• The episode “The Day that Wasn’t” doesn’t exist in my AU and is instead replaced with an episode called “Welcome to the 60’s” where Five interrogates Sissy and Harlan about the past while working on the beat up briefcase to learn more about how to time travel. Eudora and Diego talk about how their long time friendship has become into a sibling relationship and about how Diego can reconnect with his siblings again. Luther and Delores discuss how they both want a normal and ordinary life with their husband and fiancé respectively, but fail to see that things can never go back to way they were. Ben goes off on his own to find the truth about Leonard Peabody, but finds himself at Griddy’s where he sees Hazel kissing Agnes and talks to them about his problems. Agnes gives Ben advice about how he can reconcile with his family by actually giving them time to process him being a time traveling assassin and him telling Five to not feel guilty about causing a rift between him and Vanya and Klaus because it wasn’t Five’s fault that Ben “ran away”.

I’ll continue the rest of the story when I have the time. Right now I just want to post this.

[therenlover]

How The Evans (+ Quicksilver) Would React To Yoplait’s New Gushers Yogurt

a/n: I don’t honestly know how I came up with this. I guess I just really liked the yogurt I bought (I have big Gilear Faeth vibes rn) and decided I wanted to share it with all the Evans and you guys. I hope you enjoy and, like, maybe go buy some if you’re intrigued.

Warnings: Mild language, very small non-graphic mention of murder, recreational drug usage (Tate is a stoner, sue me)

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Tate Langdon

Because he died as a teen in the early 90′s, Tate would be a big fan of the types of crazy, super processed and flashy snacks that came out of that era.

Tate pretty much lived on 3D Doritos and Crystal Pepsi before his death. He still misses Dunkaroos.

He also has the biggest appetite of any ghost in the house because when he smokes he gets phantom munchies, so he sneaks into the kitchen and steals snacks to fulfill his cravings.

His first encounter with gushers yogurt would be on a snack run for the two of you while you were both zooted to high hell. 

He would return almost entirely snackless, fully fixated on the little yellow cup in his hand. 

“What the hell is this?” “Uh, yogurt?” “No, it’s not just yogurt, it’s weird!”

You’d finally look up from your place on the bed to find Tate in the doorway, red eyed, giving the yogurt cup a thousand yard stare.

Tate would be extremely confused because as far as he knew gushers were filled fruit snacks and definitely did NOT belong inside yogurt.

“Does it have gushers in it or something? Because that sounds awful,” “Kind of? It’s like... well, it would be easier to show you than to explain it. Did you bring a spoon?”

Of course he hadn’t.

When he did return with a spoon the two of you shared it.

Unsurprisingly, Tate didn’t hate it. It was a little weird, but overall it reminded him of the rare good times he had when he was still alive and the house hadn’t fully sunk it’s claws into him yet.

His favorite flavor is green apple. It just matches his vibe. 

Kit Walker

Kit is a man with pretty old fashioned values. He’s the kind of person who believes that he should be able to provide for his family so you don’t have to work. He also thinks it’s important for you to spend time with the kids because he’s gone at work so much.

This whole situation combined with the fact that money was a little tight led to you taking Thomas and Julia with you whenever you had to run errands and they weren’t at school.

One such time you were grocery shopping. That’s when they found the gushers yogurt.

 Kids have an eye for sweet things. Any food labelled like a dessert will make them go crazy, even if it’s just a flavored yogurt. 

In the end you bought a few. They were cheap enough that they didn’t make a huge difference to your budget and they were perfect to go in the kids lunches. 

Only the next morning did you realize that when you got the kids their yogurts you forgot to get Kit his own plain ones to put in his lunch. You mulled over your options and, in the end, decided to give Kit one of the gushers ones in his lunch pail for work. it’s just flavored yogurt, what could go wrong?

A lot, apparently.

At around lunch time you got a call from Kit at the shop.

“Mrs. Walka’, I believe I might have picked up the wrong lunch today,”

You’d immediately ask him what was wrong before remembering the yogurt.

“Nope, that’s yours Kit,” “Sweetheart, you’re killing me,” “Did I forget a spoon?”

Kit would explain, after some laughter, that the guys at the auto shop were giving him shit about the ‘kids yogurt’ in his lunch.

If you tried to apologize he’d stop you. It was all the same to him, he just wanted to make sure he hadn’t taken one of the kid’s lunches accidentally.

You’d laugh about it later as a bright spot in what ended up to be a long and tedious day for the both of you.

Besides that one occasion Kit wouldn’t eat gushers yogurt often, but sometimes if he was home during breakfast he’d have a cup of it with his cereal or toast.

He’s a fan of the classics, so his favorite flavor is tropical punch.

Kyle Spencer

Before his death, Kyle wouldn’t have any strong feelings towards gushers yogurt besides liking that it was a cheap snack that went on sale a lot.

As a broke college student with a calcium deficiency, he would appreciate it for what it was, a sweet means to an end.

After his death, though, it would be a different story.

Franken-Kyle had to re-learn all of his basic life skills from the ground up after the accident, which meant chewing food and not choking weren’t things he knew how to do automatically

In the time while he still couldn’t eat by himself, you fed him a lot of yogurt.

Most of the time it was cheaper and more pleasant that the baby food or health puree alternatives. It also was a food he had eaten pretty regularly when he was alive, so you thought it might make him happy to have some sense of normalcy in his new world.

He enjoyed the gushers yogurt particularly for a few reasons.

For one, it had fun colors! The bright reds, blues, and greens were entertaining and more mentally stimulating than the normal neutral colors of his food. It was also sweet, kind of like a dessert instead of a meal.

The big selling point, though, was the popping bubbles inside.

For a while after his death all Kyle ate were smooth semi-liquid foods he couldn’t possibly choke on while he re-learned how to feed himself. Gushers yogurt, though, had little popping bubbles that added texture while also not being large enough to choke on.

It was a win-win for both of you.

Even once Kyle had regained his ability to chew and eat normally, he still liked to have gushers yogurt with his breakfast.

“Bu...bbles,” “Huh?” “I want....bubbles” “Oh! You want the yogurt with the bubbles, Ky? I’ll get it in a second,” 

He wouldn’t have the words to express it, but the real reason Kyle likes gushers yogurt and continues to eat it is that it reminds him of you and the time you spent together while you taught him how to live again. 

His favorite is blue raspberry by a large margin. He enjoys tropical punch too, but he dislikes green apple.

Jimmy Darling

Jimmy has very few opinions when it comes to food. To him, eating is just something he has to do to keep himself alive and performing, so he doesn’t put much thought into what and when he eats, even at the diner.

When you first met him, he was barely eating one good meal a day just because he was so busy. 

So, one of the things you started to do when you and Jimmy got closer was bring him little snacks throughout the day he could eat quickly to keep him going.

They weren’t huge things, just an apple here and a sandwich there, but Jimmy really appreciated you putting in the effort to search him out and keep him healthy.

 The gushers yogurt would be introduced, once again, because it’s super inexpensive. 

You were out shopping for Jimmy’s snacks when you found it on sale, 20 for $10. It was a great deal, and Jimmy’s diet was severely lacking in calcium, so you bought a bunch of different flavors and brought one to him as a trial-run the next day after a performance.

“Hey dollface, you got something for me?” “I just might,” 

Only after he swept you up into a crushing hug would you be able to offer him the yogurt, which he’d take gratefully and eat in less than a minute. 

You took this as a good sign, and ended up buying some for Jimmy whenever it was on sale.

He asked you about why you bought them once and you genuinely couldn’t give him an answer. You just thought they were an easy snack and found they were on sale a lot more often than other things were.

Jimmy doesn’t have a favorite flavor, but if you asked him he’d just respond with whatever your favorite was.

James Patrick March

James Patrick March doesn’t usually have strong feelings about trivial things. As a serial killer and a ghost, small strange details of life in the 21st century just aren’t important enough for him to care about. Even modern foods with all of their artificial dyes and preservatives don’t tend to bother him. Well, all except one...

He fully believes that gushers yogurt is the worst, most evil thing that man has ever created in history, including himself.

It is entirely irrational how much he hates it.

The weirdest part is that he doesn’t mind how it tastes, he just has a random grudge against it by principle.

The first time he saw it was after Liz picked some up for you while she was out getting some groceries for the hotel.

James had come into the habit of asking you to make him grocery lists so the hotel had foods you enjoyed ever since the hoover stew incident. This time you had asked for something sweet you could eat as a snack between meals. Liz ended up picking out the gushers yogurts along with a few other little snacks

When you ran down to the kitchen to help Liz and Iris put the groceries away you grabbed a cup and ended up taking it upstairs so you could eat something while you were reading in bed.

It just so happens that James was finishing up with some office work and walked into your room right as you ate a spoonful of the bright blue yogurt. 

He was, to say the very least, concerned. 

Why was it that color? Food is not supposed to be that color???? And what were those little lumps?

While he fussed over your health, you held out your spoon and offered him a bite. He was skeptical at first, and his fears were only confirmed when he accepted the bite.

His delicate 1920′s tastebuds couldn’t take it.

“Darling, how do you eat that slop?” “James, it’s just yogurt!” “That is not yogurt, it’s an affront to the universe,”

Never one to back down in the face of James, you asked Liz to keep buying them every time she went out for groceries

Things were quiet until, a few months later, you found James standing over a recent kill eating a gushers yogurt.

“Darling, this isn’t what it looks like,” “I think it’s exactly what it looks like,” “There wasn’t anything else in the fridge,” “James, you’re dead. You don’t have to eat,” “...drat,”

James is adamant that he doesn’t have a favorite flavor because he hates it.... but its actually tropical punch.

Rory Monahan 

Rory normally wouldn’t feel any which way about gushers yogurt.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s a goof and has nothing against eating fun little dessert yogurt, there’s just no reason for him or you to buy and eat it.

But if he got a brand deal with Yoplait to advertise it?

Count him in.

You’re eating gushers yogurt with every meal while he vlogs.

Breakfast? Yup. Lunch? Yup. Dinner? Yup.

Oh, you’re getting a snack? Well the only snack Rory bought when he ran out to the store is gushers yogurt. 

It’s all over his social media.

He ends up becoming the face of Yoplait and does quite a few primetime commercials, which surprisingly help out with his career. Think what Shaq is the The General Auto Insurance. 

“Now with new popping bubbles that gush with roarin’ fruity flavor,” “pffffft!” “What! It’s paying our bills!” 

Despite being surrounded by gushers yogurt, Rory wouldn’t actually have a favorite flavor. Once you eat that much yogurt it all tastes exactly the same.

Kai Anderson

Kai... well Kai is a tough one, as usual.

He’s not someone who likes to be perceived as weak, and what’s weaker than a man who’s seen eating flavored yogurt made for kids?

Well, a lot of things, but Kai’s toxic masculinity doesn’t let him see that.

In his eyes, gushers yogurt is simply not befitting of the divine ruler.

If you were close enough to him to offer some in a private moment, he’d probably find some way to use it in a weird, extended metaphor about the world in the hopes of manipulating you.

“In this world there’s people like me, like this yogurt, and people like you, fragile bubbles waiting to burst and spread your issues to the people who can still be saved. People like me cushion-” “Oh shut up and eat your yogurt, Kai,” 

Kai doesn’t have a favorite flavor, but kind of like James he’s only being pretentious. Who knew divine rulers are above picking favorite flavors?

Peter Maximoff

Peter would be the most on-board of anybody on the gushers yogurt trend. Like, even more on board than Kyle. 

This man uses a loooot of energy while he’s running around, so he needs super sugary foods like twinkies to be around for his inevitable snackfests at random hours of the day.

He also loves junk food. At one point you started wondering whether the X-gene prevented Peter from getting cavities, because he eats more sugar than anybody else you know. 

You like to go shopping with Peter because it keeps him from stealing (well, keeps him from stealing as much, but that’s beside the point) and even though he acts like a literal child whenever you make him come with you, he appreciates slowing down and spending time doing something you like.

Usually he gets bored easily in the “healthy food” aisles at the grocery store, meaning anything that isn’t the soda, chips, or snack aisles, but during a random trip to the store he suddenly rushed off out of your sight while you were in the dairy aisle picking up cottage cheese.

When he came back a second later, his arms were full of yogurt.

“Peter, what are you doing?” “Have you seen these? Look at the flavors! They have starburst, and key lime pie, and gushers with popping beads!!!! Popping! Beads!”

You would try to insist that he didn’t need to buy that much yogurt, especially because he hadn’t tried it before and didn’t know if he’d like it, but Peter would give you his world famous puppy dog eyes and you’d give in. 

From then on he’d have gushers yogurt (and starburst yogurt, to be honest) in his mini-fridge most of the time.

You didn’t mind. Technically it was healthier than his twinkie addiction, so as long as your speedster was getting calcium in his diet you weren’t about to complain.

He probably has stronger bones than Wolverine with all the yogurt he eats.

His favorite flavor is green apple, but he’d say it’s blue raspberry to go with his aesthetic. 

[likeawildthing]

Not to be morbid on main, but everyone dies and people are rarely prepared for it. It’s so much easier when you know your loved one’s wishes. So even if you’re a teenager or twenty-three and healthy, I hope this helps you start thinking about end-of-life wishes, because it can happen to us all (both the dying and, rudely, being died upon).

Cremations are an affordable way to subvert the funeral industry, but going this route puts the burden of “the little things” on the family. I’ve learned a lot in the last 36 hours and wanted to pass those things that weren’t on any checklists, because the burden is on you to navigate the process.

Putting this under a cut because it’s so long (although not comprehensive). Obviously some of this is altered because COVID and some is meant to be applicable in some distant, theoretical future when we can go out to lunch again.

Before you die

Think about it, talk about it, write it down

Think about what kind of rememberance you want, if any. If it doesn’t matter, tell people that so they don’t fret about it and grieve in whatever way works best for them.

Communicate now to save your family and friends angst later.

Build an “in case of death” binder, zip drive, google doc with links, etc. Make sure your passwords are up to date so that’s not an administrative nightmare for your loved ones.

Advanced directives. Here’s a great article explaining the types of medical advanced directives and decisions to make before an accident or illness happens, including whether you want to donate your organs.

We lost grandma for about twenty minutes yesteday because we couldn’t find the paperwork and grandpa couldn’t remember where they signed up for services. Death. Binder. Have a death binder/folder/zip drive so no one loses grandma.

Insurance. 

You likely have insurance through work, so consider that. It will also expire if you leave your job.

You can usually get, with minimal fuss, a 10- or 20-year term policy with enough to cover your arrangements and debts for less than $20 a month. Death expenses are anywhere from $5-$20k, conservatively. 

Talk to your auto insurance agent and score a multi-line discount.

Body snatchers. 

If you want to be cremated, talk to a local crematory beforehand and give them your basic information. It can be paid out of your estate (i.e. by your family or a life insurance policy) when it happens. 

Most funeral homes (I believe) require pre-payment. It’s super morbid but there are TONS of heavily discounted grave sites for sale on Craigslist if that’s the route you want to go. 

Here’s a list of certified green burial sites in the US.

Donating your body to science 101.

Memorial service. 

The idea of a “proper” funeral is more or less out the window, especially in the time of COVID. Celebration of life? Religious ceremony (or not)? A picnic at your favorite park? Anything goes, so figure it out now. 

When my sister-in-law died, we had a celebration of life at a non-profit who donated the space and had a poker tournament with her ash tin (she lost). 

Whether you have strong or no preferences, write that down to guide decision-making. 

Memorials. 

Traditionally people would donate money in the event of a death to a charity, foundation, or family account, or flowers to a funeral home or church.

 Family accounts (like for children) are traditionally done in care of the deceased’s bank but online fundraisers are a thing. 

If you have a particular charity you love, add this to your list of wishes.

Food. 

Before COVID it was pretty typical for there to be some kind of meal after a funeral. Will this be a restaurant? 

This is ultimately up to the family but if you have strong preferences (i.e. no church or Italian food), tell people now.

Obituary. 

Writing down the basic facts of your life, hobbies, and accomplishments you want included in your obituary means your family doesn’t have to do a guessing game. 

Plants, animals, stuff, etc.

Do you want your clothes to go to a specific charity? 

Do you NOT want your stuff to go to a specific charity? (Goodwill is terrible!)

Who will get your car (person, donate, sell)? Want to have your record collection to go one sister? Obviously family will divvy up stuff how they like, but write down any special considerations.

Have a plan for your pets (insurance, vet info, guardianship).

Please organize and digitize your photos if they aren’t already.

If you lose someone close:

Identify the primary griever

Support that person/those people by providing feedback when solicited, running errands as needed, and running interference so they aren’t inundated with all the little things.

Notifying people

Use the phone tree method. Great Aunt M will be happy to help by calling your cousins. Your boss, coworkers and HR. Your mom’s best friend/your adoptive aunt, your mom’s bunco group. 

Ask that family not put anything on social media until the principal people are informed. I found out my grandpa died on facebook!

Esp these days, set boundaries for visits (who, where, and in what capacity).

Designate one person to be the primary contact for extended family to keep the burden off the primary griever(s). 

Give this persons’ information when the first phone calls are made. It also makes sense for this person to be the travel coordinator. 

This person should have a good handle on family dynamics (i.e. my aunt is flying in and would drive my grandma nuts so she’s staying with Mom). 

This should be their only task because it’s time consuming.

Food

When people die, people gather, even in the time of COVID. Be responsible but expect a ton of drop by food. Clean out the primary griever’s fridge in anticipaton.

Organization

Start a shared family Google doc or sheet. Consolidate to do lists, anecdotes, important contact information, questions and inquiries, etc. 

Pay to have the houses of anyone hosting (gatherings, people coming in from out of town, etc.) cleaned. Or, delegate. This can be an act of service for someone who wants to help and doesn’t mind doing the work. 

Find the death binder (hopefully), legal documentation, etc. Get a folder or binder for papers if one doesn’t exist. And start a shared google doc for loved ones to track everything.

Delegate

I know I have said this three times, but it’s important. If you’re a primary decision maker do not be the primary do-er. My mom is the primary decision maker so my sisters and I are doing literally everything else. 

Say YES when people ask if they can help you. Look at your running list of to-dos and say yes.

Pay to have the houses of people who are hosting cleaned. It will seriously be such a life saver, or this can be an act of service for someone who wants to help.

Social media

You will need to decide what to do with a person’s social media. Do you start a tribute page? Turn their facebook (if they’re old) into a tribute page for a time? Indefinitely? Things to think about. 

Thank yous

Keep a running list of people to thank after via hand-written thank you notes. The link includes guidelines on 

who should receive a thank you note (gave flowers, brought food, made donations, helped with arrangements or the service(s), did readings, or went well out of their way to warm your heart or show up)

when to send them (ideally 2-3 weeks after the funeral)

here’s how to write them (it doesn’t matter if you buy fancy, ones or dollar store ones, make sure they’re hand written).

Receipts. 

Don’t be the petty biatch your cousins hate, but do save significant receipts to be reimbursed by the estate. (I.e. catering hundreds of dollars of food, paying $250 for programs and thank-you cards like I just did, etc.)

Service.

You will have a million decisions to make including

what kind of service to hold, if any

where to hold it

costs

hymns, readings, and anecdotes to share

who will be pall bearers, readers, vocalists, and give eulogies

Crematories handle cremation only, not the service details. 

you will need photo boards (Hobby Lobby has nice black foamcore ones) or a powerpoint (and a way to display it depending on the venue)

a guest or memorial book

a card basket,

memorial cards, possibly programs, and thank you cards 

Officiants, musicians, religious institutions, etc. all need to be paid (and tipped) for their time.

If we ever wrangle this pandemic, donating funeral flowers to a nursing homes is a fantastic way to brighten residents’ days. 

Obituary.

Obituaries are expected, but traditionally costly ($200-$800). As part of the publishing fee, most newspapers keep the obituary on legacy.com indefinitely.

A funeral home will assist you with this, but the burden will be on you and your loved ones if using other methods. 

These take hours to write and many hands does not make light work. Keep it to 2-4 key people. Having the facts laid out will help, and so will looking at other obituaries. I read a great tip which was to write about your loved one in present tense first, then change the tense before submission. 

Newspapers will update your spelling and grammar but that’s about it. Cheaper alternatives: 

Death notice which gives age, date and location of death, and who is handling funeral arrangements. Our crematory put in the death notice for us because they had her body, but the requirements on this likely vary state-to-state. 

Here is a place to put a free online obituary.

Plants, animals, stuff, etc. 

Save the plants and pets. 

Household misc. are usually not dictated by the will, except in special circumstances or contested items. Closest members will go through possessions first. Voice early if you want something in particular, but understand that you may not get it. That’s ok. 

Going through someone’s life is an overwhelming process. You may be repulsed and sad and overwhelmed and amused, all at the same time.  

In deciding what to keep, as I’ve now cleared out three houses, I’ve found that quality over quantity is the way to go. The sweet spot? 1-2 sentimental + useful things. My great grandmother’s thimble and juicer? Use them all the time, and I remember her lemonade. 

It’s okay to throw away some keepsakes and let things get thrown out or donated, depending on the thing. 

Don’t give into guilt if you don’t want the china your Aunt Karen is pressuring you into taking when she doesn’t want it either.

Legal stuff. 

If someone dies, there will be all kinds of legal things you will need to do (bank accounts, utilities, debtors, education, etc.), investments or 401k, etc. 

This varies too much by state and circumstance to talk about in depth but there are guides to specifically help you.

If someone you love has lost someone they love

Do not give platitudes or ask if they’re ok

Don’t expect a response from someone grieving

Do send a card! It’s so thoughtful. I keep a stack of blank condolence cards and a set of forever stamps in my closet. It doesn’t have to be a $20 card to be special.

Don’t judge someone by how they grieve

Offer specific, actionable help if you’re close enough to give it

I am going to come over and clean at 10, leave the house unlocked

I’m at the store and am going to buy cheap vodka unless you tell me what kind of wine you want

oops I got you an uber eats gift card in your gmail sorry/not sorry

Buy thank you cards with stamps as a condolence gift, depending on the person and situation

Send a plant instead of a bouquet of flowers

Make a donation in the loved one’s name if you have the funds

If the grieving person is someone super close (best friend, sister, etc.) add the date in your recurring calender so you can check up on them this day next year with a card and/or phone call

[fieryhonesty]

The life of You

[AO3]

“This is funny I never planned this become multi chapter. Was meant only as chaptered oneshot (time to make a masterlist, huh) what can I promise you: this series will always have the banner where only name of specific chapters changes”

Words: 2479

Warning(s): rated this as mature on AO3 just cause it might turn whatever direction in future (I say might, not will 😳), already has swearing in and might get more (depends on situation I put characters in, we don’t swear without reason, right?), maybe suggestive innuendos

Perhaps you could have expected journeying with your ever so flirty friend would turn into one wild ride. Especially if the destination was Stormterror’s lair. As Dvalin was freed and the area is now accessible. The place piqued the curiosity of many. When Frostblade approached you if you were fancy to tag along. You were quite surprised as he didn’t seem like somebody who deliberately enjoys adventuring.

However after sharing his reason you quickly understood. Fatui started being active, the ones within city walls were seen in small groups. Debating about the honorary knight, no how people of Mondstadt were able to drive Stormterror away. They were scheming something, that’s for sure.

Maybe it hurt their imaginary pride or perhaps they had their own plans. Whatever it is, Kaeya wanted to be one step ahead. Seeing what was behind the wind barrier for so long was a good start. And who knows. Maybe he will be able to screw over Fatui plans. 

Well that’s it if the area was not overly complicated. The ruins you had to explore first in order to get further into the lair were quite complicated. But the problem was you accidentally activated a trap and now each of you were standing at different sides of the bars which nearly skewered you.

Staring with wide eyes at the bars which were just a few inches away from your face. One step more and you would be goner. Gulping loudly. “Too close to my comfort.”

“Oh? And if it were me?” Letting out a sigh and shaking your head in disapproval. “Then I’d reconsider if giving you frostbite would be punishment enough. Anyway I’ll backtrack and try to find another way.”

---

More than you finding another way, the another way has found you. During your exploration you came across a ruin guard. Its eye light up in dangerous demeanor. If one thing could go wrong then it was probably meeting up with this walking hunk of steel. Corridors were too narrow for fighting. 

You decided to run away from it, hoping it will either lose sight of you or get stuck somewhere. You had no idea where the hell you were running. But managed to end up in a dead end. However you noticed the wall was in a bad shape, feeling wind blowing between the bricks. 

Charging elemental energy in your sword and hurling it forward, creating a hole. Big enough for you to get out. Finally getting out and breathing fresh air, your hair were ruffled by the blowing wind. Such a nice change after all that time spent in ruins where it smelled like- well mold and dust. 

The noise of falling debris behind brought you back to reality. The ruin guard was making its way out. Following the intruder no matter what. Such a persistent thing. But at least now you can fight. Air got extremely cold as you summoned several cryo blades and dashed towards the machine. It tried to hit you but it’s too huge and slow to land a hit on you. Rolling to the side or jumping a bit back to avoid any kind of danger. No matter how much it tried, you were faster. Slashing here and there. Your attacks might not do much but there's way too many of them. Even the sturdy material those things are made off will slowly fall apart. Leaving the more vulnerable parts exposed. Nothing can work in such cold temperature as you were attacking it with.

Cutting one of its arms off. As it fell down, dust rose up. How heavy are those things? You better never find out. Sliding between its legs, leaving a thin slippery surface behind you, hoping it will slip and fall down. However the ice crushed under its weight. Well it was a good try?

Noticing how it turned around and kneeled. You had seen this once. Dashing behind a pillar and praying it will withstand the rockets. When you were sure no more explosives were coming your way. Jumping out of the hiding spot and seeing the Captain of Cavalry was having its attention. When did he get there?

You had exploited this situation and aimed one of the cryo blades at its weak spot on back which caused it to flinch. Kaeya didn’t waste any moment and used his own elemental power to hit its front eye, causing it to shut down. The damage caused by the both of you was enough for it to never initiate the auto recovery function. Leaving it in a half destroyed state forever. 

Keaya has looked towards you and clapped.

“I knew I can rely on you, partner.”

“Technically it was you who was the game changer. How did you find me anyway? The exit is near by?” Chuckle coming out of the male’s chest. He walked closer to you, lips curled up into his usual smug.

“Princess, I’m not deaf you know. I heard distant noise and thought it might be my cute friend needing help. But I guess you were having fun, sorry for breaking your toy.”

The sarcasm in his voice was more than obvious. Rising your hand up towards him, saying ‘high five’ which made him chuckle once more. He was quite worried when each of you stood at different sides of bars. He felt responsible for your well being although he knew you can take care of yourself. You had to do it for half a decade anyway. Yet, something inside of him was making him anxious.

As the two of you reunited it was time to slowly explore the unknown area. It was quite peaceful there but also empty. There probably used to grow trees and more stuff but now it was just a few twigs here and there. The lair felt like one big crater with several ruins shattered around with one bigger at the entrance. To probably keep invaders off. That’s it if they could get through the wind barrier. But it was gone now, so of course you would meet something here.

Hilichurls had several camps around the whole area. Making you wonder if they were living here ever since or just recently moved in. Also wild animals, which was even weirder as you knew animals are sensitive to elemental energy. And just until recently there was a huge concentration of anemo. 

To your surprise or maybe not, you had encountered a few more ruin guards. However as you are two it was no huge issue to deal with them. The only issue was it started raining during one of the encounters. Deciding it was kind of pointless to hide as your clothes were already wet so why not explore a bit more.

The fourth encounter with a ruin guard was quite more challenging for you than the rest. It seemed different than the others, it was bigger and more sturdier and hit like a truck. You were rubbing your wrist. It seemed alright however your sword didn't look so well. It was more than visible how the steel was slightly curved as you had to use it to block one of its attacks.

Looking up at Kaeya who was examining the destroyed colossus. Having a hand on his chin, thinking of something.

"Hmm, I just realized this is our second time being just the two of us and it's again raining." Rising his head and giving you a playful wink.

You just chuckled at his remark. He was not wrong. Ever since you got back you two didn't see each other that often. Kaeya was sort of avoiding you or so it seemed like. Until you accidently ran into him one day. You were hungry and decided to dine at Good Hunter. Before he could disappear you spoke up. Teasing him to yet again chickening out which obviously made him look back at you. Sometimes he is so easy to challenge.

In the end you sorted out everything over a double honey sticky roast. Talking about stuff like nothing, like you weren’t separated or anything. Since then you kept seeing each other here and now. Be at the tavern or when you were passing by the knights. Dropping by, knocking at doors and just exchanging a few words before you ran off to do your tasks.

"Still. It's so strange. Why is there so many of those oversized toys? And what's more strange. How the hell did Aether pass by without coming across any of them?!"

You pouted, arms crossed on your chest. When you come back to Monds you will have to ask the blonde.  

"I wouldn't be surprised if this was Abyss Order's makings." The bluenette answered and pointed towards something that looked like a small cave. "Let's head there and rest."

The cave was big enough to fit both of you in. However the issue was you were soaked and there was no way to make fire. Unless Kaeya will magically pull out of nowhere a few dry sticks. Luckily you had packed a blanket which surprised the iceman. Scoffing at him.

"What? I am an adventurer now, might not be a fully fledged one. But still I'm always ready!"

"Always ready, huh." 

His remark made you blush, you did not expect it. Well, maybe you did but still you reacted this way. ‘Why must he be like this?!’ Coughing a little.

"What I mean is. I always carry with me this little fuzzy blanket. It was my first thing I bought when I got here. And not once it proved to be useful. Also! I got some canned food!" You chirped happily. 

Ok, this surprised him even more. When he asked you to accompany him on a small venture. He did not expect you to bring an entire survival kit. The bag was not even that huge. How do women stuff so many things into such small bags?

"Let me guess. You got there packed your entire bedroom." He joked as he took one of the cans from you. Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, instead giving him a spoon.

Kaeya checked what's on the menu. Some veggies and ground meat. Not the fanciest thing he ever ate but better than nothing. All that fighting made him quite hungry after all. He won’t admit it but he quite enjoyed this little adventure with you. It’s been so long since he could fight side by side with his friend. The way you swung your blade and used the cryo vision to obliterate enemies. Color him impressed, not once he wanted to just whistle. 

When you had finished the very modest lunch it was still raining which meant you will be stuck there for a while. You stood up to pull the blanket over your friend and realized it’s not that big as you thought. Sitting next to him, your shoulders were brushing against each other. For some reason you could feel heat in your cheeks. Rather looking outside, hoping he didn’t see it. Otherwise you can ready up for another wave of teasing.

"It's sad none of us have pyro, we could dry our clothes." You whined while trying not to shake.

Suddenly feeling Kaeya's breath at you ear. "Dear, that would require you to be naked for a certain period of time." He whispered in a teasy manner. You didn’t look at him but you are one hundred percent sure his smile is dangerously wide.

The way you groaned, ears turned red despite all of your efforts. Kaeya was more than satisfied. It took him awhile to find out how to make you feel embarrassed. Now he just found deliberate joy in teasing you all the time. 

"You can be such an asshole sometimes, you know that?" You murmured with an annoyed voice. Eyes still locked at cave entrance. How long will it take until it stops raining?

The sound of rain drops landing on the ground was quite relaxing. It didn't take long until you felt really sleepy. Trying to keep eyes open was close to impossible. 

"Kaeya?"

The bluenette hummed in response.

"Talk to me or I will fall asleep..."

He did not want to admit it but he was already half asleep. The only thing which kept him awake was your occasional shaking. Silently chuckling as he turned head to you.

"I've got a better idea. Do you remember that one night when you were sleeping over and couldn't sleep. When I found you looking out of the window in the middle of night?" 

Shaking your head, not remembering anything at all. Wondering how he can remember something like that.

"Well, we ended up watching out of the window together. Sitting on a chair while you were leaning on me. We fell asleep and the maids woke us up in the morning. Questioning why we weren't in beds."

Really? Did they? Why can't you recall anything like that? Giving Kaeya a confused look.

"How could we fit one chair-" As you finished it, the answer flashed through your mind. Finally you get what he meant with lean on him.

Not even giving it a second thought you shifted in front of him, hesitantly pressing your back on his chest. If you did this as kids then it clearly felt different than now. You were not sure if the warm feeling was caused by your flushed cheeks. Feeling like your entire body is burning right now. Or if it was because of how Kaeya put the blanket over the two of you and wrapped one hand around your waist. 

"Don't mind that hand. I just want to have you secure.~"

"Secure for what?"

"In case you slide to side while sleeping, silly."

"I'm not going to sleep. It's embarrassing and worst is you are having fun!" You protested, pouting once again. 

He could not deny the fact he found this whole situation amusing. Not even feeling guilty for his little lie. You are such a cutie when you are pouting like that

"The real embarrassing thing would be you shifting around and waking up my-"

"What the- Kaeya!" You groaned and wanted to get up but couldn't as his hand kept you in place.

"Shh, I'm just joking, Dearie. Relax. Let's just keep each other warm." Pulling you closer, feeling how your muscles relaxed a bit.

There was silence between you for a while. You were wishing he can't hear your heart beating so loud for no reason. The butterfly feeling in your stomach was lingering there for the whole time.

"You better not run your mouth about this to anyone, or..." You whispered silently, not even bothering to finish the sentence.

"Or? What's wrong about two friends being close, hmm?"

"I dunno." Admitting while completely relaxing against him and closing eyes. You are too tired to bother about anything.

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