#also the phone call with my gran was funny

[a-sleepy-ginger]

12/2/24

❆❅❆❅❆

Woke up in clean comfy bedsheets

Got birthday wishes

Made millionaires shortbread

Got chocolate muffin

Gave brother a fright by accident

Felt cute wearing my jacket

Got a nice gift from my friend

Mother showed me my great nanny's jewellery and we talked (found out that apparently my fingers are small?)

Was cosy while taking dog out on his walk in heavy rain

Talked with family

Tried blood orange for the first time and liked it

Listened to my favourite songs

Managed to get out of going to see my grandma (she's not a nice person)

A sign of affection anime was really cute

[onthewaytosomewhere]

Espresso Martini for whatever rwrb ship strikes your fancy!

ok so i got a lot of espresso martini requests i just so happens i have one that will fit with this and not the other 2 so here we go

@duchessdepolignaca03 requested

---- so what we have here is firstprince but alex and philip meeting up

Alex is uncertain about this whole meeting, but he knows that Phillip has been trying, and Henry and Bea are both hopeful for some semblance of the relationship they used to have. So, here he is, about to enter the pub Philip picked out. He takes a deep breath, puts on his best not-quite-press smile, and walks through the door. He looks around the room and sees Philip sitting at a table at the back of the room. Alex walks towards him and watches as Philip turns his phone off and slips it to the side of the table.

He stops at the edge of the table, and Philip smiles up at him, “Alex, thanks for coming,” he gestures to the bench across from him. Alex sits down, and Philip slides the espresso martini across to him; it’s still cold, so it was recently ordered. Alex raises his eyebrow, and Philip shrugs, “Henry wouldn’t shut up for months about your love for coffee, so I figured this was a safe bet. The barkeep definitely laughed at me for ordering it, so please tell me you’ll drink it.”

Alex looks down at the drink in front of him, “Yeah, sure, I like a good espresso martini. Hopefully, y’all know how to make them here.”

“I’ve never had a bad drink here.”

The silence between them is awkward. Alex knows he should say something; he knows that Philip is owed an explanation, but he’s unsure how to start. He’s saved from having to say anything when Philip speaks.

“Alex … I suppose I would have ordered the espresso martini anyway; I remember your fascination with coffee without Henry having to bring it up every time I was at breakfast with him. Does he know?”

“That I’m here right now? That once upon a time, I considered you a friend? Yes, he also knows that, although he’s not sure how that could be. I guess I got lucky. I knew you when your Gran was just starting to get her claws so deep into you.”

“I’m sure it also helped that you met me after you met Henry at the Olympics, and what did you call him a pompous dick or something like that? So, of course, you expected me to be horrible, so it wasn’t a high bar to be better than you expected.” Philip raises his eyebrow in the same way that Alex thought was utterly annoying the first time they met, at some party after his mother won the election. He still finds it annoying, but it’s almost funny how it’s the least irritating thing about the man Philip became.

“Yeah, your brother definitely helped you out in that regard. Although maybe I just have a weakness for Fox men, your father was undeniably hot, and both you and Henry have some features in common with him. Although, I guess it’s probably good I didn’t have my bi-awakening with you. Martha would be even more unhappy with me.” Alex chuckles as he takes a drink of the martini at the appalled look on Philip’s face.

“Yeah, though, to be fair, she was trying to tell me there was something between the two of you back then. I didn’t want to hear it. I guess I assumed that even if we weren’t necessarily as close as we had been for a while there, you would have told me. Although it is pretty par for the course for you not to have known it yourself.” Philip shakes his head as if he can’t believe it and Alex takes another drink to avoid laughing. “Do I want to even know how you figured it out?”

“Well, you remember how Henry and Pez came to our New Year’s Eve party?” Philip nods, and Alex continues, “Well, Henry kissed me, and I found myself kissing him back. And then he ran back here and wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Wait, wasn’t he your guest at that dinner with the Prime Minister not long after that?” Philip looks as if he’s attempting to figure something out but is unsure if he really wants the answer.

Alex smirks and says, “Yes, he was,” with every bit of filthy implication he can pack into the three words.

“Ugh. I do not need to know what you are implying right now.”

Alex laughs and sees some heads turn their way out of the corner of his eye. “Well, I’m sure you were taught, with all your fancy education, not to ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”

“Well, I guess it does prove that I could have never been your bi-awakening, no matter how much you think I share any amount of looks with him or my father. I forgot you had a thing for Dad’s Bond movies; how does Henry take that?”

Alex chuckles, remembering the first time he had brought up how hot Arthur Fox was to Henry. “Well, better now than he used to. We actually watch them sometimes, which I think helps him feel a little bit closer; sometimes, I can get him to tell me stories about some of the ones he was on set for at some point during filming.”

They continue talking, and before Alex knows it, he’s on his third martini. It feels almost like he’s there with the Philip he knew a few years ago. He knows it will take a while, but he’s willing to help the Fox siblings work their stuff out; he knows Henry really wants it.

They’re leaving the bar, and before Philip turns to head toward his car, Alex says, “He loves you, ya know.” At Philip’s confused look, he says, “Henry, he loves you, so maybe figure your shit out so he can have his brother.” He turns and heads toward the car, waiting for him before Philip can answer, anxious to return to Henry.

[majorxmaggiexboy]

okay but Professor Hob bringing Dream to the campus where he works just as a little tour and it’s fun and different and a nice change of pace

They meet a few of Hob’s coworkers and it’s all super pleasant but then one of said coworkers just sort of. Won’t leave. Just keeps inserting himself back into the conversation and it’s a long few minutes before he leaves

Hob notices this little shift in Dream’s demeanor, (a slight flicker of expression, like his look when Jed called himself the sandman but. With a bit of that you dare energy) so Hob’s like “Yeah Killian can be a little intense. Teaches advanced biology. Anyway, greenhouses! I haven’t shown you-“

“Not so advanced,” Dream announces, “He was just thinking of performing. a vivisection. On. Me,”

Hob stares. “Mate, if you’re saying you think he was flirting-“

“His daydreams are…colorful. He would not enjoy the reality of them.”

“Well if he doesn’t, that’s his loss.”

“Thank you, Hob Gadling. Were his tastes akin to yours he would be less inclined to disappointment.”

“…right.”

Please it would be so funny, Dream doesn’t explain Anything. from Hob’s perspective it’s Wild Shaksberd all over again, Dream is just abruptly super interested in this rando. Which Hob respects, sure he’s a little hurt but is also like, cool, Stranger doesn’t want to be boyfriendzoned, that’s fine. But he’s still friendly levels of Concern. Like “hey, is my coworker suddenly giving off creep vibes or am I just jealous af” concern

meanwhile Dream is still between quests at this stage so he doesn’t have much better to do than be intrigued by this idiot’s violent daydream and the hilarious implications of fitting his ‘type’ while also being an entity so far beyond his mortal comprehension. So Dream is observing and trailing after him like a hubris-eating polar bear playing a ridiculous game of “yes, and?” the way you would keep a telemarketer on the phone so they’re stuck dealing with you instead of scamming someone’s gran

naturally these two perspectives meet at some point and Hob decks this guy who had Just pulled a knife,

“Sorry, duck, I expect you were about to handle that”

Dream, who just got a bit staggered by the revelation of the collector convention and the fact that Corinthian will be there, was in 0% meaningful danger but also doing heck all to not get stabbed, “…………………perhaps”

[rigil-kentauris]

9 people you’d like to get to know better

tagged by @valerianvault

Three Ships: JUST THREE???

i am ALSO on that ffxiv juice and as yall MAY have guessed from all my aymericposting its wol/aymeric.

id be here all night if i did ffxiv ships so moving on.

hm.

hm.

ffxiv has really taken oven my brain space huh? tbqh the other games im playing rn arent big shipping arenas for me. what do you ship in frostpunk? coal x generator fics i suppose. if youve got time to fuck youve got time to truck in some more steel from the steel pile. extended shifts for everyone.

this is where i would have put my feh ships if feh wasnt dead to me

well i could put bylad/claude three houses here. power couple of the century. going to get an emulator/mod at some point to restore justice in s supports. i havent got anything against bylass ships but usually the way people write her drives me fucking INSANE.

hm what for three. ugh. ugh. ugh i said no more ffxiv. but i would be lying if - and would LOVE to lie about it though - i would be lying if i tried to act like cidnero hasnt consumed at minimum 15% of my waking thoughts in recent months. its like a fucking perplexus sphere. a very Puzzle. like the rct2(?) roller coaster auto complete function. i WILL figure it out. whatever It is. but everytime i solve a piece another puzzle pops up. gonna reduce this fucking fraction youll see. youll all see.

First Ever Ship: lol. so way back when, my sister was trying to tell me her Lame Older Sister about this cool new thing called shipping. which i was NOT getting at all. and she, i would imagine because of the relative mainstream awareness at the time and the largely practical fact that i knew what marvel movies were, decided to offer the example of 'its like What If iron man and captain america were together'

which i thought was patently silly. i dont remember why now. i think my main objection was that it did not happen, and why would people spend so much time thinking about things that did not happen.

well anyway. tale old as time i thought it was very funny to ironically talk about it. and then it was not ironic anymore. so it goes.

Last Song: well according to my phone music app it was of the night by bastille.

Last Movie: hm what WAS the last movie i watched? i havent watched a movie in a minute. well we're going to be rewatching the gran turismo movie probably tonight. i liked it quite a bit in the theater (went to an empty matinée).

Currently Reading: UGH still slogging through Utopia. im at a part where it seems tommy has lost the thread, so, its difficult. and then my friend wrote a book! and im very excited to read the new draft

Currently Watching: SCAVENGERS REIGN!!!! a very beautiful and thought provoking show about a group of people who get stranded on an alien planet and how they interact with that biosphere and themselves. the animation is beautiful and colorful. it is on hbo max or whereever you receive hbo products. the last episodes drop today idk if i can handle it

Currently Consuming: nothing because i just woke up. im going to haul myself out of bed for some frosted shredded miniature wheats soon i hope

Currently Craving: anything but frosted shredded miniature wheats. bacon cheese egg wrap. chocolate chip brioch bun. pasta. hm i might be hungry. lets say Food

Tagging: @czigonas @plaidypus @lieutenantk thanks for joing me on my breadmaking saga yesterday.

[myyoungroyalsblog]

My liveblog as I read Red, White and Royal Blue

Oh boy all I'm gonna say is that it's looong

SPOILERS!!! (For Young Royals too)

Chapter 1

Siblings checking the tabloids love it lol

I love Nora

Ohhh enemies to lovers did not know that👀

Yeah the cakes price is depressing

Them falling on the cake... Amazing✨

Chapter 2

Wow Ellen chill (she ain't like Linda)

Ngl that whole CIA thing was funny

"You're a dumbass, love you" hilarious

Oh so it's enemies, pretend friendship and then lovers!?

Cornetto scene my beloved

"I didn't know you wore glasses" bitch neither did I!?

That whole scene where they are shoved into a supply closet 👀

"No booty calls" IM SCREAMING

Chapter 3

Their texting is adorable

Chapter 4

Why the FUCK does Alex want turkeys in his room

Fucking knew Henry was taking the piss afajsvhsjd

MR WOBBLES

That phone call... Yes... Just YES

"I BEG YOU TO NOT" afgaksbdkd I laughed so hard

Mansplain lol

I've lost count to how many times Henry says Christ... I like it

Also love June

The tie... He listened🥺 it ain't bland no more

Oh god... The dancing... The prince who only knows how to ball dance and the latino who knows how to move their hips👀 top tier shit

They... They kissed........ THEY FUCKING KISSED YAS GO HENRY FOR GRABBING ALEXS FACE AHSKSHSLSB

Loved the kissing scene, and that oh shit moment from Alex

Chapter 5

Of course he can't stop thinking about the kiss

Wait he's straight!? Since when!?

He made out with Liam!? And more!? Are you fucking kidding me!? Yes that means you're straight Alex lmao

Nora isn't straight!?

That oh moment... Yes

Poor baby can't stop thinking about him🥺

Fuckin knew the moment June gave Alex the magazine and said that Henry was in it that there would be gossip of him with a girl🤦

Wow really liked how Alex thought about Henrys position and his struggles as a gay royal👌 very mature

lol you go Liam

Chapter 6

"Alex wants to rip it off"

My god the pinning

Ahahaa an actress from doctor who lmao

Jfc Alex yes you need to go to horny jail you just shoved him against a fucking wall

I am loving flustered Henry

Ohh and demanding Alex... Yes pls

Oh😳

Their banter is just *chefs kiss*

"Your highness" yyyaaaassssss

I needed to stop a few times to breathe cause hot damn (also this is how i kinda thought Wilmons first time would be like too? Wtf?)

Oh god I'm already dreading the aftermath convertation

Okay wait is Alex suggesting friends with benefits?? But he obviously has a crush on Henry but doesn't want to persue it that way? But Henry really likes Alex right!? RIGHT!?

I just love how confident Alex is and Henry is shy

Oh god he's in love isn't he? Fuck

Alex you little shit I love you

Is Amy like Malin? Lmao

Did... Did Henry just do the no homo tap!? For the press but still afakshdhdk

Whips!? Pls don't let it be that kind of book

Thank fucking god

This dynamic... It's gonna be the death of me they are so fucking adorable

He was turned on by the getup afskdbsbjs ALEX KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS

Oh no the emails, are these the ones that get leaked? (I already knew about this spoiler)

Love the way they address each other and sign of the emails lmao

PLEASE THEIR INTERACTIONS ARE THE BEST I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😭

Chapter 7

Henry's the little spoon🥺

Also love Zahra now lol

"It's only physical" yeah right keep telling yourself that Alex (it's obvious that Henry likes him for more than that too)

He has a hickey! Hehe

Holy shit Henry has a long ass name (love the name James)

Gay kings!? Goerge and Edward!? Excuse me while I investigate which Edward it was and if it was my great great... Grandad lol

FUCKING YES IT WAS KING EDWARD II

I come from a gay king holy shit😳

Henry Wales sounds kinda nice

I know tricky dicky was Nixon from Doctor Who lmao

Bonding🥺

HE CALLED HIM BABY AFAKSHJ SOFT™

Poor Bea

Hell of a way to come out to your sister Henry holy shit (my heart breaks for them)

"Wanker" afajshshs PLEASE

Wow his grans a bitch

I want to give Henry a hug🫂

"I miss you / I miss you too" catch me crying at the club😭

Love the nickname Alex has for June, Bug🥺 and yeah June has the right to be pissed

HOLY SHIT JUNE KNOWS

Whenever they mention a scene where Alex rubs his fingers over Henrys face in the magazine all I think about is this👇

My god I love the sibling bond between Alex and June (it reminds me of Simon and Sara)

Wait so Amy is trans and has a wife right?

Yep love Pez too lol

So Henry's been pinning after Alex for a long time huh?😏

It's so cool that they're using the money for HIV clinics and LGBT youth shelters🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

What the hell are Oscar and Luna talking about? Ngl there was a 50-50 chance in my head that they walked out to talk about something like this, or to make out lol

Henry's "oh dear" was too endearing omg

Oh god pls be more classy than hooking up in the loo of a club🤦

Well, never mind then lol

Can we have a scene where Wille plays air guitar pls

Bea and Nora...👀 is that a thing?

"Tosser" lmao you go Bea

Their banter... I love it🥺 my god this is like fanfiction i love it so much

Oh shit their doing that okay😳

He called him love I CANT-

WAIT PEZ JUNE AND NORA!?👀

Hell yeah Cash lmao

Also Alex has friends yay :D

Chapter 8

Oh so James I is the other gay king

Oh my god Henry🥺 that email was so sweet... are you drunk? lol

I love how Alex calls him sweetheart too he's such a little shit

"Yours in sexual frustration" where's the lie?

Holy shit Philip what is up your ass? (He ain't no Erik)

Omg is Henry going to play the piano for Alex!?

Oh god they're in love FUCK🥺 are they going to say it?

Fuck... Luna what did you do...

He abandoned ship before it sunk the bastard

June calling Alex tiny itty bitty baby LOVE IT

Yayy Henry go cheer Alex up lol

"You are good" my soft boys🥺

Get in the closet lmao (story of my life)

HE STUMBLED OUT AFSKDBDHJD ICONIC

"God fucking dammit" I feel you Zahra but they're in love💕✨

Chapter 9

Thank god Ellen accepted him (maybe she is like Lind afterall?)

My god the power point presentation... Again

"Does he feel like forever?" Love that line (and I think he does)

Oh no he's off the campaign :(

Planned Parenthood hell yes

"History, huh? Bet we could make some" CAN I HAVE THIS TATTOOED ON MY FOREHEAD PLEASE!?!?

"Affectionately yours"... My heart🥺

Oh god Henry's offering him an out so that Alex can continue to do what he loves :( my god these two are too much

They really send each other love letters huh? (Emails but whatever afsjdhkldk)

Henry could easily be a writer follow your dreams babe (*˘︶˘*).｡*♡

Wish I could roadtrip and drive for hours too

"Do you feel forever about him?" Anghhh soft

"Hi, love" uh yeah they are forever SO PRECIOUS

His dad accepts him🥺

"Alex was so in love he could die" I... I need a moment

Alex making breakfast... Henry strolling in and kissing him on the cheek... Henry calling him love AGAIN... So domestic I CANT-

Lake scene my beloved

Henry saying he's the spare... *having flashbacks of Wilhelm saying the exact same thing holy shit*

Umm excuse me but WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? HENRY GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE

Chapter 10

Alex let me give you a hug😭🫂

Oh my god he's going to England

I love Alexes temper and how he curses like a sailor lmao

"YOUR ROYAL FUCKING HIGHNESS" AFAKSVSHJDJD OMFG Alex I love you

Oh god this is gonna get angsty... Bring it on

He said it... He fucking said it... I was hoping for the I love you confession during a fight asksvdhdjd my god this is so good

Henry loves him... He's in love with him too... I'm fucking dead

He can't abdicate? Hasn't he thought if that?

Angsty and sad fuck okay then😳

Not surprised that Alex drinks coffee and Henry tea lol

We👏support👏healthy👏communication👏

YESSS THEY'RE GONNA TRYY😭

Aww Mel and Sue yesss (I absoloutly adore Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins is such a gay icon)

"Since the Olympics!?" Bitch what!?

Hehe loved this

Running away at 2am how scandolous

Good god their interactions are just the sweetest🥰

Slow dancing... They're slow dancing and kissing... My little queer heart can't take this afakdgdhdh this is too adorable

Thank god I know spanish... Menos mal

Two homes side by side they are each others home I CANT FUCKING DEAL WITH THIS😭

Chapter 11

"Thoughts and prayers" ICONIC

So many Wilmon parallels holy shit

I just know Philip is going to be a fucking bastard (aka homophobe) when Henry tells him

Fuckin knew it

Again with the Jaffa Cakes lmao (I have a love hate relationship with those monstrosities) are those Henrys comfort food?

Yep Henry is a wonderful writer pls follow your dreams UGHHH fuck the monarchy (right Alex ;))

He made a list of things he loves about Henry what the actual fuck this is amazing

Chapter 12

Fucking press man yeah who the fuck goes over security footage??? Someone seems desperate

Poor Henry is suffering so much over this😔

"Because you're it, okay?" WHERE ARE MY GODDAMN TISSUES I NEED A MINUTE

Ohh I'm liking this interaction with Luna

I thought about this the first time they emailed each other but... Why does Henry use his Kensington email which I assume is like an official Royal email? And Alex is using one that says eclair? lmao

FUKCFUCKFUCKSHITFUCK THEY HAVE PHOTOS!?!?

FUCKFUCK IT'S THE EMAILS oh boy it's happened

I worried about the windshield... I fucking worried about it FUCK

You dumbfucks (affectionate) how could you not think about that!?

Also who's the fucking pervert taking the pictures!? And leaking the emails what the fuck!?

Fukcetyfuck the love letters were only for them to see ffuuuuuucucckkkkkk *scream into a pillow*

I really really hope Henry's okay I mean I know he isn't but idk the queen scares me, and Philip, hope Bea is with him :(

Chapter 13

I'm scared to continue someone hold me🥺🫂

"Are you okay?" Thank fucking god, Ellen you ain't so bad

Alex feels forever about Henry I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THIS (and the fact that Henry feels the same way🥺)

Mother first, president second AS IT SHOULD BE (Kristina take fucking notes)

Yep I like Ellen

Fucking hell, their entire relationship and privacy for the world to see (like the sex tape holy shit) these four boys all have ptsd I swear

They're going to London, baby!!!! (yes that is a Joey Tribbiani reference lmao)

"Listen up, you fuck" my god I'm loving all the swearing in this book it's absolute gold

THEY'RE TALKING AHAHAAAAAAAA

"Sweetheart" "Hi, love" NO ONE TOUCH ME

They want to tell the truth... I love them so much can I give them a hug?😭🫂

WAIT SHAAN IS ZAHRAS FIANCE!?!? I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING OMFG that is too cute (had to reread the phone call from earlier becuase now it's so much funnier afaksvshshs)

Bea my beloved💕

Alex and Beas convertation was amazing

Yep Philip ain't no Erik (switch places with him lol)

Henry is braver than you ever were Philip🖕

Yeah what Alex said afajsvdhkdldh

The abdicate™ bomb, yas queen👑💅

Fucking love how Henry is a "fuck the monarchy" type of person too, just like Alex (my god they are distant cousins to Wilhelm and Simon I SWEAR)

Go Catherine!!! (Also love how when Henry calls her mum and Alex calls Ellen mom they're spelt in the way of their country lol)

I fucking hope it ends well, otherwise I will Riot

The support of the people is just amazing🥺🏳️‍🌈

"Tories and Brexit fools" lmao

Yyeeesss Catherinee go off!!!!

Bea 👆

They love each other so much😭

Chapter 14

"History, huh?" Yeah I want that T-shirt NOW

Oh god is Nora okay? What?

I have an inclining that Nora has been looking for the son of a bitch who leaked everything

Knew it lmao (it just made me think of Felice when she was looking for the bitch who leaked the tape)

Fucking Richards, just like their names they are dicks wtf fucking perverts LEAVE THOSE TWO IN GODDAMN PEACE

I bet it was Luna who sent Nora everything come on

Hehe YES

Oh fuck is that why Luna left? Because he knew they were doing that? I'm just trying to think about the convertation that Alex overheard with him and Oscar cause they did it for a reason right? Idk lol

Confirmed, Amy is trans and has a wife fuck yeah

Also Cash is pan!? Hello!?

Luna needs to be protected, what happened to him is fucking horrendous

"innit?" So British love it

They are so in love it's disgusting

Chapter 15

Henry's official portrait is with Alex I CANT-😭

"Bea's charity fund supporting addiction recovery programs and Henry's LGBT rights foundation"... *Cries*

Oh god Philip, he better be there to support them and not be a shitty sibling

Well, at least he's trying?

"The Super Six" Love them all

"Se repetira la historia?" Alex por favor habla mas español😩 hablale a Henry en español jeje

The tie... AGAIN AHAAAAHHHH can yall stop being adorable for five goddamn minutes!?

Hope they win🤞

The moment I read that Alex collides with someone I just fucking knew it was Liam

Fuck... they need to win Texas

"Four more years!" FUCK YES THEY WON!!!

Henry bought a brownstone in Brooklyn awww they're gonna be so domestic I love it

They're riding on bikes that is so wholesome

"We won" yes you fucking did

The End

MY THOUGHTS (just a ps but english isn't my first language)

Love it

Absoloutly goddamn fucking loved it

All the characters are just so amazing and Henry and Alex... so much love for them💜 Anyone know where I can find love like that? 🥺👉👈

Ngl a bit too horny for me lol but it wasn't as explicit as the usual fanfiction that I find so it didn't trigger my sex repulsiveness yay :D

Also the part where they said they wanted to tell the truth I could not stop thinking about Wille and Kristinas convertation in the car: "Is it worth it?" Aka, Is he worth it? Does he feel like forever? FFUUUUCCCKKK Young Royals season 2 where you at?

So many times I thought about Wilmon holy shit (but in a good way)

Overall 11/10 fuckin loved it, so so good would recommend!

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it lol 💜

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to read Firstprince fanfiction on ao3 byeeee

Ps you bet your ass I pictured almost every character with the cast of Young Royals lmao

[fyeahsharonrooney]

Sharon Rooney as Josephine in The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain.

The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain: Sharon Rooney on acting her age, reuniting with Benedict Cumberbatch and falling for Mr Bumble (Sunday Post, January 1, 2022)

Deep-set crow’s feet, neck wattle and wrinkles: at 33, Glasgow girl Sharon Rooney has the lot – but only when shooting her new movie.

The My Mad Fat Diary star sat patiently for hours while make-up artists transformed her into a 72-year-old with glued-on jowls and special contact lenses to create the illusion of rheumy eyes.

[[MORE]]

“I would get messages from my mum saying ‘Send me pictures,’” recalls Rooney.

“Eventually I gave in and immediately she said, ‘You look like your gran.’ That’s what I tried to warn her! I looked so like her mum, who passed away not long ago, although my gran wouldn’t mind, she’d have found it funny.

“I found it fascinating, but not scary because we should be allowed to age. In fact, there’s something beautiful about ageing.

“You can see a life in a face. For instance, I have a really strong frown line between my eyes because I frown when I’m concentrating. I also have smile lines, because that’s been my life, so I’d never want to erase that.”

In The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain, Rooney plays the sister of the titular artist, who made a fortune painting affectionate pictures of cats, only to lose the lot through bad business deals and ill health.

Since the movies spans decades she appears first as a teen, then a middle–aged woman and eventually as a pensioner.

“The make-up people were brilliant,” she says. “But I think it was harder making me look 17 than it was to make me look 70.”

The film is a passion project for Benedict Cumberbatch, who produced it through his own company, as well as starring as the cat-obsessed Louis Wain.

It reunited Rooney and the Doctor Strange star for the first time since 2013, when she was cast in a Sherlock episode called The Empty Hearse: “I only had a tiny wee scene and it wasn’t even with Benedict but Sherlock is one of my mum’s favourite shows and before filming the whole cast got together to read through the script, so I got to sit in a room and watch Benedict and Martin Freeman work.”

Eight years later, Sharon and Benedict finally share the screen. “He hasn’t changed,” she says. “Back then he was very kind and very generous and he’s still lovely, and ridiculously talented.”

Rooney didn’t know much about Louis Wain before making the movie. “I think that goes for a lot of people,” she says.

“But although you might not know the name, you’d recognise his pictures of cats when you saw them – the style is so distinctive.”

Unsurprisingly, cats feature in the film, including a kitten called Mr Bumble who won Rooney’s heart.

“Up till then I’d got a funny thing with cats. I like them, but I was a bit nervous because our family once had a cat and she hated us,” says the former Two Doors Down star.

“Not just me, the whole family. We looked after her for seven years, and spoilt her quite a bit because we wanted her to like us but she wouldn’t even let me hold her.

“In the end we gave up and passed her on to a friend. The day after she left, my mum phoned her pal to see how the cat was doing, and she said, ‘She’s doing great, such a loving cat.’ Unbelievable! So for a long time I thought, ‘oh well, cats just don’t like us.’”

2021 has been a busy year for the actress, despite the pandemic. As well as Louis Wain, she scooped a supporting actress award for the short film Do No Harm, appeared alongside Keeley Hawes in ITV drama Finding Alice and is set to appear in the upcoming BBC thriller The Control Room.

“I feel like I’m in a really good place now, because I get to do these big films and telly jobs and then I get to do smaller comedies,” says Rooney.

“I love that my work is a completely mixed bag. I’ve just finished filming two jobs that were complete opposites. One of them was The Control Room, and the other one I can’t talk about yet – which is very annoying, because it would make this story a lot better.”

Rooney has been so busy working that she doesn’t have much time to relax in front of the TV: “If I’m away from home, in a strange place, I stick on something like Stepmom, Bridesmaids, or an Adam Sandler movie because I’ve seen them so often that if I fall asleep, it’s OK.

“At this time of year, I also love the Nativity films with Martin Freeman and David Tennant. Their song Dude, Where’s My Donkey is very catchy although when I was scrolling through Tiktok the other day, I saw some of the kids from the film and they are all grown up and six feet tall now.

“Now I understand what my gran used to say about doctors getting younger and younger!”

Despite globetrotting for work, Sharon has no plans to move away from the Dumbarton home she shares with her mum and dad.

“I keep saying to my mum, ‘you’re never, ever getting rid of me,’” she laughs. “I constantly get asked, “have you moved to London yet?” And the answer is that I don’t think I will ever move to London, because I don’t want to.

“When I started out, I had to travel up and down to London to meet people, and it was hard because I would be down to the last two or three for a part, then not get it. The train fare was about £90 each time.

“As an actor, it’s part of life, especially when you’re starting out and people don’t really know you. Now self-taping has become a lot more common, especially after the Covid pandemic began.”

Instead of auditioning actors in person, TV and film bosses now ask them to film themselves reading for a part. For Rooney, this has been a game changer, and has made her mum Libby into a star turn playing all the other characters in Sharon’s scenes.

“My mum loves taping with me, and she’s brought me luck on loads of jobs,” she chuckles.

“She’s my magic charm when I’m trying for a part, and I usually get a note afterwards saying, ‘your mum was very good!’”

[ghostly-shenanigans-in-progress]

BNHA X DP Crossover HCs

After the long wait and finals, here are my ideas for all the quirks/occupations and other concepts I devised for the DP characters in the BNHA universe. This was just for fun and for inspiration towards others interested in this crossover au in general. 

Tagging the people that were looking forward to this post based on the replies: @qoinq-qhost, @floralflowerpower, @tgfangirl4eva @goodfish-bowl, @whitehairglowinggreeneyedcrush and more. 

Anyways, happy reading, folks!

Mr. Lancer

Hero name: Mr. Scholastic

Quirk: Bookworm

Involves his iconic usage of literature titles & quotes for swears to become abilities corresponding to the novel’s contents/themes. Course, he is limited to only books he has read and can quote accurately. Additionally, his voice gets very raspy past two or three quotes as well.

Occupation: Homeroom Teacher for Class 1- A; He’s very dedicated to his new students and teaching the fundamentals of being a pro hero and more! Course, I don’t think his chamomile tea with a wedge of lemon is enough to help him relax from his students (*cough* Danny, Tucker and Poindexter) from their antics at times. 

Danny

Hero name: Phantom 

Quirk: Ghost core (Ok, @coffeecakecafe had the best name for this one gotta give credit here)

Able to do anything a ghost is perceived to do. Go through walls, disappear and fly. This is a one of a kind quirk as it was obtained from Danny’s old quirk being altered by a machine his parents made that would repurpose/alter an individual’s quirk based on their past family members' own metahuman genetics.

Danny is doing his best and trying to understand his new quirk without causing too much attention to himself while doing so but it seems like its been doing the opposite as of late. Thankfully, he won’t be doing it alone with all his classmates around to help him!

Sam

Hero Name: Black Dahlia 

Quirk: Overgrown 

Able to create any plant that she knows the biological makeup and content of in almost any environment. However, it is important for her to drink lots of nutrient rich water and take in enough sun if she plans to create larger versions of these plants.

Tucker

Hero name: Tech Master

Quirk: Tech Core

Located on his chest/heart area is a special energy core capable of powering electronics at a rate faster than anything made-man could ever hope to achieve. As a kid, Tucker would tinker away in his family’s garage on a suit that would harness his power to the fullest extent and lead a new era of support tech in the hero world.

Valerie

Hero name: Red Huntress

Quirk: Electromagnetism (Someone I’ve been trying to find their post on my blog had posted this idea and I fell in love with it ever since)

She’s like Static Shock but with a dash of magenta/ruby lasers she can create through focusing her electromagnetism through her finger tips. She is an expert with her quirk and has the best handle of her quirk than most of her peers. She is the most frequent visitor in the support equipment workshop next to Tucker, Poindexter and Danny. It’s how she built the hoverboard she has in the show that utilizes her electromagnetic abilities for both offensive and defensive maneuvers. (Also, I enjoy the idea that Bullet is Val’s uncle on her mom’s side and is her biggest supporter alongside her dad, Damien Gray).

Jazz 

Quirk: Serenity 

Helps calm individuals and give them a sense of safety/security when they’re around her in a 10 feet radius. Though, anyone out of range cannot be affected by her quirk and she needs to be conscious in order to use it.

She planned on becoming a pro hero but felt her powers were best suited for her dream profession as a psychologist. She has used her quirk a lot when Danny was overwhelmed with his studies prior to UA. Course, a phone call and sibling chat over the phone certainly does the job for Danny now when it comes to preparing material for exams. (Course, its up to you guys to decide)

Dash

Hero name: Rager

Quirk: Strength Magnification

Improves his physique and stamina by a large percentage for a set amount of time. Needs to be careful of how much/long he magnifies his body or else his body will become immensely sore. 

Kwan

Hero name: Rallier 

Quirk: Team Rally (50/50)

Able to duplicate himself 3-4 times while being able to power-up allies’ quirks or stamina with a rally chant to help the team. The more duplicates there are the rally effect multiplies/stacks on the individual but it can lead to dangerous outcomes for their quirk output. 

Kwan is the class representative for 1-A, he’s the best at the job and was more than thrilled to be the one leading his class in more ways than one.  

Paulina

Hero name: Enchantress

Quirk: Charm

If the opponent is flustered by her taunts or flirting, their vision will become altered and start seeing things that are not there. It works better on men than women and the opponent can snap out of it with enough willpower or if they’re not interested in her.

Star

Hero name: Ms. Meteorite

Quirk: Comet

Similar to Gran Torino’s Jet quirk except faster and she can create an explosive impact on where she lands. Similar to a meteorite landing on earth, she also learns to use this as a long distance move by punching fast enough as she descends to create wind pressure punches.

Poindexter

Hero name: Tex (like in Tex Avery; Danny gave him the idea!) 

Quirk: Slapstick

His appearance is black and white just like an old timey cartoon character as well as having the durability and cartoon powers of one. However, his quirk can only work as long as what he does with it is funny in the circumstance it’s used for. Sort of like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” rules in a sense. 

Sidney is part of Class 1-A just saying, I don’t care, this is Poindexter’s time to shine here to be the coolest/funniest person in the class. Also, Tucker’s most loyal friend/tester for new support items. 

Wes Weston

Hero name: Vigilance

Quirk: Deduction

He is able to deduct people’s identities to flaws/weak points for him to use against them and  exploit against problems. 

Class 1-B Representative and the most annoying/terrifying person that Danny has dealt with in his life. He was able to figure out that Danny’s quirk is not his own or more so that it's not natural and takes every opportunity to state this regardless if anyone is listening or not. 

Amber Mclain

Hero Name: Ember

Quirk: Fiery voice (50/50)

Her quirk uses the vibrations in her sining voice to conduct intense heat waves onto opponents or utilize to rumble the structures around here and even put out the flames from her quirk. Its like a combination of Present Mic and Endevours quirk but it leaves her with a strained or inflamed vocal cords with overuse. 

Third year student or an upcoming rock star that has certainly gain huge popularity after her song “Remember” was a nationwide hit amongst the younger generation. She’s striving to be the top hero while making her next hit to become the 1# song on the listings. 

Dani

Hero name: Phantwo (lol jk; unsure what her name would be)

Quirk: Poltergeist 

Similar to Danny’s quirk “Ghost”, except she has the additional ability to melt herself to a slimy puddle and use her ectoplasmic slime to trap or surprise opponents.

Clockwork

Hero Name: Clockwork

Quirk: Time Keeper

Clockwork’s quirk allows him to stop time for 5 to 15 minutes and be able to rewind it in the same amount of time. It can be one to multiple objects as long as he touches them in order to interact with them.

Principle of UA in this au. He’s quite a reserved man but still manages to visit and congregate with students throughout the school during lunch period. 

Flynn Fenton/Flynn Walker

Hero Name: The Green Knight

Quirk: Mineralization 

His quirk allows him to manipulate the minerals and inorganic materials in the atmosphere to create into crystalized constructs that are almost stronger than diamond. Luckily, the crystals have no value so he doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of his quirk. He does have to worry about his skin becoming dried out as a result of his quirk usage. 

Flynn is a third year student that loves to check up on his cousin, Danny, any chance he gets bc of the amount of work he does with his internships.

James Walker (or James W. Hausermann)

Hero name: Warden Wraith

Quirk: Plasma Apparatus

His quirk ionizes the electrolytes in the blood system into plasma. His entire body is composed of plasma giving him his skeletal appearance. He can create plasma chains, teleport from point A to B and more as long as he focuses and has enough energy at use. Course, he can have minor to severe dehydration and imbalance in his electrolyte levels from overuse. 

Occupation: CEO of an infrastructure security company/Provisional License Examiner just like Gang Orca.The ghost prison guards become his backup/helpers for the exam phases. (They’re just trained stuntmen with combat or military experience for the occasion).

Also, I like to think Walker has kids in this au who are in the Class 1-A group; they’re not hard to spot they take after their father with their skeletal complexion. 

Skulker

Villain name: Quirk Hunter

Quirk: Tracker

The moment Skulker makes eye contact with his target he will be able to hunt them down and find them anywhere no matter how good they are at covering their tracks. He can lock on to only one target, but he will be able to know their heart beat, quirk, be able to place a tracking/scent line that only he can see and will lead him to his target’s location. It lasts for over a day or a half.

Occupation: Skulker is known for capturing, info-detailing or “retiring” newcomer pros or specific quirk users for his clients that pay him handsomely for their targets, dead or alive. Thanks to Vlad, Danny was strictly intended to be captured alive by Skulker but sometimes he gets too thrilled by the hunt to not have a memento. Trust me, it's more of a dangerous 

Nicolai Technus 

Villain Name: Technus 

Quirk: Technopathy

A genius in his own right, even if he’s a little crazy, with the best ability possible for a man of science and innovation. As long as he knows the makeup and attributes of the machine, Technus is able to completely repurpose or change a machine’s qualities for offensive and defensive qualities. Whenever that be for a mech suit or hacking a high tech system for entry, he’s able to do it as long as he knows what it is and how it functions. An example is repurposing a slot machine into a submachine gun that shoots coins at the target. 

Vlad Masters

Name: Vlad Plasmius

Quirk: Vampire

Can do anything a vampire can supposedly do. However, he was able to manifest an additional aspect of this quirk which is the ability to copy any quirk users ability. Based on the type of blood he ingests decides the amount of time he can use the copied quirk for.

Occupation: CEO of his own hero firm, he is extremely selective with the interns he has that there is a major waitlist to be even consider for Masters Inc. Course, imagine the surprise Danny must of felt when he received an offer from Vlad right off the bat after the Sports festival. 

Bruce Guiles (Bullet)

Hero Name: Bullet 

Quirk: Sphyraena or Chimera Fish

Able to do anything a barracuda can do or the quirk is a 50/50 mutant quirk in which he has both the traits of a barracuda, Chimaeras and a touch of piranha from his parents being of one of these fish species hence Chimera. Bullet can do anything those fish can do overall but he can’t go too long without hydration from water. Water quality and its oxygen content also affect his abilities by a noticeable percentage but he still remains quite formidable as a quirk user.

Occupation: Captain of a coast guard team, he’s a strict military man with an amazing record of saving people from any disasters both on land and sea. Him and Walker are best buddies ever since they went to school together. 

Vortex

Hero Name: Vortex

Quirk: Storm Warning

Vortex can utilize any variation of a natural disaster depending on the environment he’s in. Hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, you name it he can create it for his use. However, despite his amazing control over his quirk it is still possible for him to create these disasters if he lost control or magnify another pre-existing one if he loses focus. 

Occupation: Storm-chaser/Forecaster; His control and knowledge in combating/predicting these natural disasters has led to him to be part of a storm chasing crew and they’re the best in helping disaster prevention teams evacuate citizens as a result.

Petra Eris

Hero name: Pandora

Quirk: Butterfly Effect

Can manipulate or prevent a chaotic event to happen if she was in proximity and present to prevent it to happen. Or even give a little chaos to the opponent to deal with during battle. 

One of the top ten heroes and most beloved heroes in the country. She is the best strategist in any team and has a way to predict any event before they happen given the necessity of it for her quirk to work in her favor. 

Johnny 

Vigilante name: Johnny 13

Quirk: Unlucky

Johnny manifests his bad luck into a shadow that will latch onto opponents and cause unfortunate events to occur more for that individual as a result. However, the shadow cannot exist in complete sunlight; it can only remain if there are already shadows in his general area or it’s nighttime and its effects are strongest at that time obviously.

Occupation: Johnny is the leader of a biker gang or de-facto leader of said biker gang who loves to raise hell and helping folks that need saving whenever he’s around or is up to the task. Kitty tags along with him to help him out of jams and bc she loves him. :3

Kitty

Vigilante name: Kitty

Quirk: Lovesick

Kitty sends a smooch towards her opponent which if it makes contact causes the individual to have nausea or become disoriented for around 10 minutes. It can also have a chance of lasting longer if the individual was sort of infatuated with her regardless of gender. 

Pariah Dark

Villain name: King Pariah

Quirk: Ultimate Adaptation 

Similar to all for one except with the unpredictability for both the user and opponents. Pariah can manifest any type of quirk needed to defeat anyone that stands in his way both one-on-one and in groups. Course, drawbacks are the learning curve to some of the quirks and that multiple adaptions he utilizes at once will destroy his cells in the process. 

Pariah is a former follower of all for one who had unique quirk that All for one augmented to help him succeed if both Shigaraki and Tomura failed in their own conquest for the world. But now Pariah has his own plans to succeed where they failed and become the leader who shapes a new world order with an iron fist. 

Frederick Kingsmen

Villain/vigilante name: Fright Knight

Quirk: Burning Energy Infusion

Able to form/infuse objects with his own burning energy life force that is capable of burning or slicing through any in his sight. The sweat he gives off is what provides the material needed to ignite his unnatural flames despite it causing his body to overheat still. 

Fright Knight is Pariah’s second-in-command with a loyalty to him as strong as his control over his power. Fright Knight has faced many pro-heros as he carried out the smaller phases of Pariah’s plans and most of them barely came close towards defeating or leaving as much as  scratch on the knight. 

Rodolfo Gonzalo  

Hero name: Wulf

Quirk: Werewolf + Portal creation (50/50?)

Can do anything a werewolf can supposedly do; somehow it allows him to create portals with his claws to locations he has marked with them or visited in the past. 

Wulf was abducted on by Pariah’s forces and sent into the Nomu labs for experimentation to force on another quirk and instill complete allegiance to their cause. Course, Wulf broke free as a result of that new additional quirk allowing him to escape their clutches and his previous one helping him survive the endeavor. However, he lost his memories in the process and could only remember his native language, Spanish, and his hero name Wulf. 

Overgrown

Villain/vigilante Name: Overgrown

Quirk: Plant Manipulation

Can manipulate any pre-existing plant matter or create new vegetation if water and soil is present for the process or he understand the biological makeup of the plant in question. 

Occupation: Pro-hero or eco-terrorist who is tired of humanity from abusing the environment from quirk battles to industries using the land for their own benefits and none others.

That’s all I have for now! I hope this was worth the wait, guys. As well as, inspire ideas for your takes with a DP x BNHA Crossover! 

[alonely-dreamer]

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 23 (Part 3)

Summary: Brooke and Eric have work to do.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 2688

Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6| Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 (Part 1) | Chapter 23 (Part 2)

Tags: @parabatai-winchester​

To say that Brooke and Sookie were having a hard time was an understatement. Sookie, after killing Debbie and having Pam turn Tara into a vampire, was judged and hated by all, and she had come back from work a wreck, and had dove into the cabinet were gran had always kept the alcohol. She turned on the stereo, and the loud music woke Brooklynne up.

She had spent the entire day in bed, and even though she kept waking up and kept having the worst lucid dreams, she stayed under the covers until way after sunset.

Not only the music was loud, but Brooke could hear her sister’s devastating thoughts. She had cast Bill away from her mind, she had enough humans judging her for her to worry about the traitorous bastard her vampire ex-boyfriend had turned out to be. She was so drunk she couldn’t hear Brooke think really, really, loudly that she wished she’d turn down the music a bit. Perhaps Sookie didn’t even know her sister was in her bedroom upstairs. She rarely were anymore.

Lafayette called. He had found Sookie’s car destroyed against a tree, and wanted to check on her. She was fine, apparently, she had jumped out of the car at the right time, and had even found it funny. She must be really drunk, Brooke thought.

She heard another train of thoughts approach the house, but his smell told her who he was before she could even hear anything. Sookie was waiting for another well deserved scolding from the werewolf but was surprised to hear Alcide had told Debbie’s parents some lie about how the Alpha from their pack had slept with her then killed her. Good. Because if Alcide had told the truth and Sookie had been sent to jail, not much would have been left of the werewolf after that night.

She tried to tune out the party that was going on downstairs, but it was either listening to Alcide and Sookie’s drunk thoughts about each other or thinking about her own issues. And she really didn’t want to think about Eric at the moment.

When Sookie and Alcide started to make out on their grandmother’s couch, she thought about leaving the house, not only to give them some privacy but also because she really didn’t want to hear any of it.

But then she heard his voice. Or rather, his thoughts. Bill was standing right there, outside of their house, watching the werewolf and the fairy take each other’s clothes off. A creep until the end. Brooklynne felt like fighting, and he had just given her a reason to beat his ass.

She sped out of her house, wearing nothing but a tight shirt and silk shorts and went straight to Bill whom she pushed away with supernatural strength. The King of Louisiana landed in the cemetery near the house.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as if he were still standing right in front of her.

It took a couple of seconds for him to get back on his feet and return to his spot.

“You know, I am still your King.”

“What are you gonna do?”

Bill sighed. “I get that you’re mad, but…”

“But nothing. Leave my sister alone.”

“I didn’t come here for Sookie.”

“What then?”

“I told him to meet us here,” Eric said as he appeared beside his King. “Granted, he could’ve picked a better spot.”

“Weren’t we supposed to go with Alcide?” she asked, remembering the plan. “He’s drunk now.”

“Clearly,” Eric mumbled.

“Let’s sober him up,” Bill said, and Brooke had no doubt he was more than happy to put a stop to the party.

***

Alcide took them to Doug, the employee that had found the hole in the parking lot. The werewolf had been smart not to ask about the obvious tension between the vampires while they drove in his van to the site.

Doug was a chubby man almost as tall as Alcide. His hair was longer, and so was his beard. He seemed shy and squeamish, and didn’t feel comfortable with whatever was happening. They had taken them to Russell’s former resting place where fresh cement had been poured to cover the hole. Brooklynne asked Doug to hold her hand and close his eyes and focus on that night, on what he saw. He had been glamoured by the vampire who had dug up Russell and it was harder for her to get any useful images from his mind.

“It’s a woman,” Brooke said. “She’s digging up Russell with her hands.”

Russell appeared like a bloody overgrown baby with no skin and the memory made Doug start to shake in fear.

“What the fuck is this?” he asks as if he were living it for the first time.

“Wait,” Brooke squeezed his hand harder as he tried to step away. “It’s Nora,” she breathed out.

“That’s not possible,” Eric said, trying to ignore Bill’s ‘I told you so’ look.

“She has the same necklace.”

“It could be any member of the Authority, then. Do you see Nora’s face?”

“No, just the necklace.”

“So we don’t know for certain it’s her,” Eric insisted. “It’s not Nora, it can’t be. She thought Russell was dead. She risked her life to free us.”

“Can I go now?” Doug asked.

But they were far from done.

The woman, whom according to Eric was not Nora, had Doug scoop Russell up like a baby and take him into an abandoned facility at the other end of town. That was their next destination.

In the van, Eric and Bill kept arguing about Nora while Brooklynne, helped by Doug’s blurry memory, led Alcide to Russell’s location.

“She’s a traitor and a liar, just like her brother,” Bill spat at the sheriff who showed fangs at the insult. Bill followed suit.

“Take that back,” Eric growled.

But the fight was cut short as Bill’s phone started ringing. Brooke couldn’t help but listen.

“Hello?”

“Hey, guys. It’s Molly. Remember me? Giving you a shout-out to let you know your countdown has started.”

“Our countdown?”

“Yeah, your iStakes are set to activate at dawn. Bummer, right?”

“There must be some kind of mistake.”

“No, I’m launching a test. Is your iStake glowing?”

Brooke took a look at the two vampires at the back of the van. Eric opened his jacket and a red light was coming from under his shirt, right where his heart was. iStake. It sounded stupid, but scary. That was what she had felt the previous night when he had held her against his chest. And that stupid but scary thing would kill Eric if they didn’t find Russell before the end of the night. She looked up at her maker with a heart and eyes full of worry. They wouldn’t have time after all. She wouldn’t have time to forgive him. And as he stared back at her, she saw in his eyes that it was okay. That he knew.

“Yeah, they’re glowing…”

“Cool. Means we’re good to go. Good luck. And if you don’t make it, it’s been rad serving you. Peace out.”

Brooklynne wanted to tear that Molly apart for the total indifference she showed at her maker’s True Death. But she had bigger problems. They all did.

Doug was reluctant to enter the building, but all Alcide wanted was for it to be over, so he dragged him in and started looking.

“Wolves have been here,” he sniffed.

“They come with Russell,” Bill said with a sigh, wondering which would kill him first, the iStake or a werewolf.

The building was an abandoned asylum. Brooklynne would find it ironic that Russell would hide here but she was too anxious to find it even remotely funny.

They dragged Doug, or rather Doug led them, through Brooke, down to the morgue, walking pass freshly severed hands and other dead bodies being eaten by rats.

“Well, at least we’re in the right place,” Eric said.

“The morgue,” Bill thought aloud as they walked pass the indications on the wall. “How convenient.”

Helped by a flashlight, Doug and Alcide followed the vampires into the darkness of the basement. Hearing, or perhaps sensing something Doug couldn’t, the vampires revealed their fangs as Alcide said:

“We’re being watched.”

Doug had reached his limits and let go of Brooklynne before he ran away. Knowing it was a bad idea to leave the human alone in this abandoned asylum where a three thousand year old psychopath was hiding, Alcide went after him. It was only when Doug started screaming that the three vampires followed him.

They found what seemed to be Russell’s pantry, where over a dozen humans were hanging from hooks like pigs in a butchery. A man started begging for his life, begging for them to take someone else, anyone else but him.

“Where do they take the prisoners?” Bill asked him.

“Down the hallway. There’s screaming and then there’s not!”

“What do we do with them?” Brooke asked.

“We’ll come back for them after we’re done with Russell,” Eric said before turning around and exiting the room, followed by the rest of his suicide squad.

Stakes in hands, they made their way to the end of the hallway where they found Russell lying on a hospital bed. He looked pale and sick, even coughed a few times. He looked almost human. Almost.

“Ah, miss Stackhouse. I see you’ve joined us,” he said with an eerie smile.

“We came here to finish what we started,” Eric told him as he approached.

“Well… give it your best shot.”

Russell’s smile grew bigger before Alcide, who was still standing in the hallway, behind Brooke, got jumped by a wolf.

“Eric!” Brooke shouted as a wolf launched itself at her maker.

She went to help him but was stopped by Russell who positioned himself between her and the Viking.

“Mmh, you’re just what the doctor ordered,” he smirked. “I’m sure becoming one of us just made your fairy blood even stronger.”

He trapped her against a wall and as he aimed for her throat she used her light to push him away. His back hit the wall at the other end of the hallway and he collapsed on the floor painfully.

“Yeah,” he cackled like a maniac as he sat up and leaned against the wall, “there is that aspect of you which I loathe.”

Eric killed the wolf that was after him then sped towards Russell. He crouched to get to his level then seized his face and made him look away from Brooklynne and directly at him.

“Look at me. I want to be the last thing you ever see,” he growled as he directed his stake towards his heart.

But before he had the chance to make a big mistake, Bill had his own stake aimed at Eric’s heart.

“He dies, we die. Most certainly. But if we take him back alive, maybe we don’t have to die.”

“Unlikely.”

“But not impossible.”

“Eric! Please,” Brooke begged. “He’s right!”

Eric snarled but eventually let go of his stake and put his fangs away. Russell used this short moment of weakness to pick up the disregarded weapon and attack the Viking. In less than a second, Eric was on his back, Russell on top of him, the sharp tip of the stake on his heart. Brooke moved fast and once again used her light to push Russell away from the man she loved.

It all happened really fast, and Brooke barely had time to register what was happening, as a group of heavily armed soldiers came in. Half of them had their guns pointed at Russell and the other half at her own heart.

“Freeze!”

Russell surrendered without protest, the red lights now aiming at his chest. One move and he’d be a pool of blood.

A tall, black man all dressed in black, from his shoes to his cap, joined them and stared at Brooklynne like she was the worst thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Eric quickly positioned himself between her and the man who was obviously the one giving orders here.

“What is this?” he asked with a strong accent.

“She’s mine,” Eric growled.

“Yours?”

“My progeny.”

There was no hiding anymore, no lying anymore. They had seen it. The light, the speed. It was useless to deny it, they were damned either way, and if they had to die tonight, they were at least going to be honest about it.

“What is she?”

… Well, half a truth was better than a complete lie…

“She’s a vampire.”

Russell chuckled.

“Lie,” the commander hissed.

“I turned her myself.”

“I suppose we will see what Guardian has to say about… this,” he said, looking around at the room where two dead werewolves were lying naked next to Bill. “Wolf and human are here,” he continued as Alcide appeared behind him, buttoning his jeans. “Why?”

“Doug led us here,” Bill started to explain. “Nothing that a little glamouring won’t take care of.”

“Do it,” the commander agreed before he exited the room.

After thoroughly glamouring Alcide, Eric made sure he got out safely and wasn’t stopped by any of the soldiers that the Chancellor had brought with him.

“He’s fine, he got in his van and is driving home,” Eric told Brooklynne as he saw the worried look in her eyes, though she didn’t worry about Alcide, she knew the werewolf would be okay.

Eric sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he cupped her cheeks with his hands. “This is what I wanted to keep you safe from.”

He placed a kiss on her forehead before bringing her to his chest. He rested his chin on her head as she hugged him back. Still, no word came out of her mouth.

***

Chancellor Akinjide seemed impressed, and though he wouldn’t let Brooklynne go, he had stopped looking at her with disgust but rather with curiosity.

“No one thought you two would actually be able to deliver Russell Edgington,” he told them as he led them out of the building and into a van. “Guardian will be extremely pleased.”

“Pleased enough to not execute us?” Eric asked as he sat next to Brooklynne.

“Only Lilith knows that.”

“As only she knows all,” Bill replied with a smirk.

The chancellor didn’t reply as he closed the doors of the van, trapping them inside the vehicle.

“Who’s Lilith?”

“Enough with this religious bullshit already,” Eric sighed. “Lilith can fucking blow me.”

“No, she certainly cannot!”

Bill chuckled.

“Lilith is like the God of vampires,” he explained.

“And why are you suddenly so into it?” Eric asked his King.

“I’m just covering my ass.”

“Are you telling me the Authority is a religious government?”

“It could be worse,” Eric said. “They could take the word of the Vampire Bible literally.”

“The what? The what?!”

“At least the sanguanista aren’t in charge…”

“Who…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eric told her as he took her hand in his. “I’ll explain on the way to New-Orleans.”

“New-O…” she stopped. “Are we�� are they… Are we going to die tonight?”

She caught his eyes and saw. They were most probably going to be executed tonight, and she would be questioned and experimented on and maybe they’ll use her blood to give the sun to all vampires… And everything he had done to keep her safe was crumbling down on him, breaking him apart as this voice inside of his head screamed at him that it was his fault and that he should have known better.

He wiped a tear off her cheek and took her chin between his fingers. He tried to give her his most sincere smile as he said: “I love you.” And he didn’t wait for her to say it back because hearing those words coming out of her mouth would kill him before dawn. So he kissed her forehead and rested his cheek on her head, hoping, praying to whatever God there was that he hadn’t just sentenced the woman he loved to death.

[bloodxbat]

MASSIVE RANT INCOMING

Ok so, I share quite a bit of my life on Tumblr here because it is my only escape to rant everything going on in my life so it doesn’t bottle up. I do this also because I am basically anonymous on here only a few of my mutuals know what I look like/who I am.

This week has been the most fucking infuriating week I've ever had. 

I’ve shared on here that my boyfriend recently had a stroke and is currently recovering, he also has a congenital heart condition which a metal valve was placed to stop him from dying basically.

At the start of our relationship I made it my mission to research and understand as much of his heart condition as I could so I would understand his needs and how his body works. I started a note on my phone with all of this information. Same goes for when he had the stroke I made it my mission to know everything I can about strokes in relation to him and his other conditions. 

I’m putting it out there that I struggle pretty severely with my mental health and as you might imagine taking aboard all of this stuff is pretty extreme and is making my overthinking so much worse than it already was. So I get upset pretty easily and have panic attacks a lot.

Well, on Wednesday I was at his house, his parents were in and he had a hospital appointment. I was having a panic attack and his dad called us down ‘’for a talk’’ despite us both being adults (his parents treat us like children) to which I was already upset and not in the mood for so I refused to go down. My bf went down without me and says that I was upset so I wouldn’t come down.

I HEAR HIS FUCKING PARENTS SAY 

“How can she STILL be upset, you had a stroke what a month ago she's no right or reason to be upset now. If she’s still getting upset maybe you should rethink her” 

EX FUCKING CUSE ME SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT I’M NOT ALLOWED TO BE UPSET OVER MY BF HAVING A STROKE BECAUSE IT WAS A FEW WEEKS AGO AND THAT I’M NOT ALLOWED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT HIS HEALTH HOW DARE YOU SAY I HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE UPSET I HAVE JUST WENT THROUGH SOMETHING THAT MOST TEENAGERS/PEOPLE IN GENERAL DONT HAVE TO GO THROUGH UNTIL THEYRE LIKE FUCKING 70 YEARS OLD

So I go down stairs raging and they start to insult me, 2 grown adults start to insult their sons adult girlfriend.

They said that I basically don’t care about his health and don’t want him to live to his next birthday. 

That’s really funny to me because I am the ONLY person that cares for him, I go down 40 miles away from my home to care for THEIR son, while they fuck off 2 hours away to their caravan for 5 days. 

I was the one that phoned the ambulance despite my bf telling me NOT TO

I am the one that reminds him to take all of his medications

I am the one who helps him do his physio

I am the one who writes down what and how much medicine he takes

I am the one that writes down what his blood viscosity is

I am the one that cleans THEIR house when he’s puffed out and done too much

I am the one that cooks not only mine and my boyfriends dinner but also his BROTHERS DINNER WHO IS THE SAME AGE AS ME

I am the one that sacrifices my own mental and physical health to go down to the arsehole of Scotland to do all this

I am the one that moves away from my ill Gran (who I also care for the only other 2 days I'm free) to look after THEIR son

They said that because my bf wanted to come up to my house for a break from his psychotic twisted parents that he needed his head checked and then went on to say that ‘’you’re not the only one that needs your head checked son’’ referring to me and my mother that have done nothing but support and help my boyfriend.

They then told me that if I had any respect or cared about my boyfriends health that I should consult his parents before doing anything with him

MY BOYFRIEND IS TWENTY FUCKING THREE YEARS OLD HE IS A GROWN ASS MAN I AM NOT CONSULTING HIS PARENTS LIKE WE’RE FUCKING CHILDREN 

Honestly I never liked his parents because of how they treated us and how they treated him in particular it is so fucked up but that just made me HATE the fuckers now I never use the word hate lightly but I genuinely HATE them now.

My bf apparently had a word with them and said how horrible they were to me and that I was already uncomfortable in that house but now they made me not want to go back. 

GUESS WHAT THEY SAID

‘’oh we didn’t mean the things we said she took it the wrong way we didn’t mean that’’

SO WHAT DID YOU NOT MEAN

when you said I didn’t care about my bf’s health conditions

when you said I needed my head checked

when you said I had to basically be a child and ask my 23 yro bf’s parents if we can go out and do things

when you said I was trying to kill him??

WHAT ONE DID YOU NOT MEAN OR WHAT ONE DID I TAKE THE WRONG WAY BECAUSE THESE SEEM PRETTY TRANSPARENT IN MEANING TO ME

anyways that's the rant over I'm honestly just really pissed off 

[hollywoodbabylondean]

@spnwomenweek DAY 5 - NEW SCHOOL

The sign that heralded "Singer Auto and Body" has been knocked down for a while. So have the remains of the old house that burned down something like ten or so years ago. Jody said the owner had no next of kin, he was an old friend of hers named Bobby. Claire thought it's funny, when she first moved here a lifetime ago, barely an adult, she was called "Bobby 2.0". Maybe it was the same guy. She wondered what he must've been like, living among all these cars and... A massive cache of weapons in a cellar that hadn't been destroyed. With a devil's trap and walls of iron coated in salt. A hunter.

Gran didn't have much of an estate, and with Amelia being missing for ten or so years without financial activity, Dad being missing, because Cas finally made his own fake ID instead of using Jimmy's, and whatever odd jobs Claire and Kaia worked between hunts (and a small loan from Jody)... She'd managed to scrounge up enough to get a house built.

It was Kaia's idea, really. For obvious reasons, she never had the stomach for hunting. She had to do enough to survive while she was gone. She deserved her own place. The Mills' place. Novaks? Winchesters? Hanscums? They were still workshopping their last name. Yes, they've been married for almost five years. Whatever. If you're a hunter, what's on paper is a lie. That's something she'd come to know for a long time. Reality is what's in the dark, what's on the centuries old rare books or weird chat rooms with no credibility, and most importantly, what's in your heart.

Claire Novak is 28 and she has a wife and a house. An accomplishment, for a gen z kid. They have a table full of phones, neatly labeled, FBI, CIA, USFWS, BLM, Texas Rangers, and, when she's feeling fancy and has to work up north, RCMP.

Kaia's the one who answers them. Not just for her, but in the manner of both sets of Claire's adoptive parents, they ran into some hunters along the way, too. A lot are older than her, but Claire's been hunting since she was 18 and running from demons since she was 12. There's a grudging respect for seniority among hunters. Especially when you're the ones with a laminator in the office where the blade of one of the most elite of Heaven's warriors hangs over their head. Along with a smug reminder that she was 18 when she earned it.

There's a kid a couple years younger than her. Ben Braeden. Total rookie, but good heart. Stupidest aliases ever, though. And, of course, she hears from the old crew every so often.

Claire and Kaia are still close with Jody and Donna. Of course they are. Claire even attempts to make dinner for them once in a while. Kaia is definitely the cook in the relationship after she confused the cayenne pepper for the paprika, though. And, well, they're old enough that the mantle of "protector of Sioux Falls" has definitely been passed to the Mills-Hanscum-Winchester-Novaks. Cas and Dean have also decided that since Jack is ten now (God, Claire's getting old), he's allowed to just run around the house when they need a weekend off and Sam and Eileen are off traveling to Europe to find more lore or whatever." Kaia once again asks if they can go to Europe. Claire once again asks if she's okay spending weeks at sea with her because there's no way in hell she's flying. And there's that look between Dean and Cas. Ugh, she really is turning into her parents. Jesse and Cesar are retired. In Mexico. Plus, she only really knows them via the even smaller network in the hunter network of young gay hunters. So, it's really a shock when they show up at their door with presents.

"Uh, I think you're a few months early for Christmas," Kaia laughs as she brings them inside.

"It's five years, isn't it?" Jesse asks his husband.

"Yeah, Claire. Your blog post says it's five years."

Claire raises an eyebrow. "Okay, now you have me curious. I haven't touched that thing in months."

Kaia swears under her breath and laughs. "Ugh, trust the guy with the obsession with cicada monsters to remember dates." Kaia leans up a little and pecks Claire's lips. "Since I got out."

"Oh." Claire and Kaia both try to forget about it, about losing two years of their relationship to Kaia's other self and her spear.

"Plus, we have about eight years of presents from nice old ladies in town to regift."

"Ugh, I hate you," Claire says lightly. "My baby brother is God, you know. He can and will turn you into chickens."

[forabeatofadrum]

Mendacious (28/31)

Notes: Home stretch, home stretch, home stretch! Updates are going to be a bit more sporadic, but we’re nearing the end! 

Reblogs on Tumblr help writers, but here’s another reminded that the formatting on AO3 for this fic is much nicer. Click the link, my friends:

AO3

–

CLAIRVOYANT

Kurt Hummel: I want to be your friend again. So badly. But I also know what I’m asking of you.

Kurt Hummel: I walk around with all this shame and guilt, yet I selfishly want us to become friends.

Kurt Hummel: You said that you’re fighting with yourself over this. So am I. I shouldn’t accept your forgiveness, but I want to.

Kurt Hummel: Look at me, dumping this on you at 3am. You’re probably asleep. I’m sorry. I just can’t sleep. I haven’t slept since you told me that you miss me.

Kurt Hummel: That, and I’ve had 5 cups of coffee. I’m not a smart man.

Kurt Hummel: But apparently coffee makes me delirious and it makes me word vomit and I will def regret sending you all of this in the morning, but that’s a problem for me in the morning.

Kurt Hummel: I miss our daily chats and the photos we sent each other and our talks about music.

Kurt Hummel: I wish we had gotten to know each other under different circumstances, but I fucked it all up.

Kurt Hummel: I don’t believe in higher powers. I’m not spiritual, or clairvoyant or religious in any way. But right now I wish I could just use a wand and make everything go away so that we can start anew.

Kurt’s in the middle of typing his next message when the screen changes. Blaine is calling him. They have each other’s numbers through glee. They’ve never used them before.

“Hello.”

“Blaine. It’s 3am.”

“I’m aware. My phone’s been blowing up with messages, so.”

“Sorry, I’ll let you sleep-”

“Kurt, chill, I called you. You didn’t wake me. I also have been losing sleep over all of this.”

“Oh.”

“And maybe we should talk, like this, not over Facebook. I didn’t expect it to be at 3am though, but it’s fitting after all these sleepless nights.”

“Blaine.”

“Sorry. Not funny. I know. I do hope that we can move on from this and that we can joke about this one day.”

“How can you say that? I did something despicable!”

“I know. I was there.”

“Blaine.”

“…”

“Blaine?”

“… Look, I told my gran what happened.”

“Does she hate me now?”

“She is mad at you, but since I forgive you, she’s trying as well. She does regret giving you the extra salted caramel chocolate bar.”

“I still can’t understand how you can forgive me-”

“Stop. Hey! I am already fighting myself over this. I don’t need your shit as well!”

“…”

“Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out, but I told you at the mall that I don’t need you to understand. All I know is that this is what’s good for me and I’d rather not have you question my life like that.”

“I wish I was that knowledgeable about myself.”

“Trust me. It’s new for me as well.”

“What do you want? With us, I mean.”

“…”

“That’s a long sigh.”

“We miss each other, yeah? We were great friends and I have forgiven you for the catfishing thing because I want to move on from that bad part in my life. Like how I moved on from my parents. But this time I don’t want sacrifice something that brought me joy.”

“You’re comparing me to your old clothes?”

“In a way. I lost something I loved when I tried to move on. I don’t want to do that again. But I’m also still angry. I told you, I’m fighting myself.”

“No, I get that. I want to be your friend again but I also hate myself for asking that of you. A part of me feels like I don’t deserve your friendship at all, but another part of me also wants to give myself some slack and move on. After all, you’ve forgiven me. It’s me who can’t forgive… me.”

“...”

“…”

“Maybe… Maybe we can try. To be friends, I mean. If you want to.”

“Yes!”

“…”

“Sorry, that was too much, wasn’t it?”

“No. I am also kind of excited about the idea. I shouldn’t be, but I am. Maybe I should just let myself feel. Same goes for you, I think. Tell our inner turmoil to shut up. We don’t owe each other shit, but yeah, we can try.”

“A second chance, but with honesty this time.”

“I’ve always been honest. At least on Facebook. To you, I mean.”

“I know.”

“But I get what you mean.”

“…”

“Also, even if I can’t fully trust you yet, I do trust Mercedes.”

“Wise.”

“She wouldn’t nudge us towards reconnection if it were a bad idea. I think she has our best interests in mind. I… I am really happy that her brother came home for the summer, got into chocolate making, and that we became friends over the summer.”

“I am too. If there’s one good thing that came out of this mess, then it’s that the two of you are friends now.”

“She would’ve helped me with my homework even if you hadn’t catfished me.”

“Hmm. True.”

“If there’s one good thing that came out of this mess, then it’s that the two of us met.”

“Blaine.”

“Okay, yeah. Sorry, God, I just- this is what I meant. I don’t want to fight myself right now, though. Let me just say that, even if I might regret it tomorrow.”

“For what it’s worth, I feel the same. I just wish we’d become friends under different circumstances. But maybe with this new start… Well, who knows where this ends.”

“Yeah. No promises. We try, that’s it.”

“…”

“That’s quite a yawn, Kurt. We should sleep. With this kind of resolved I might finally have a good night of sleep again.”

“Hah. Same.”

“Goodnight, Kurt.”

“Goodnight, Blaine.”

--

Things aren’t magically fixed, but it’s a start. Kurt and Blaine start to talk more at school and they hang out afterwards as well. The two of them go to the Lima Bean with Mercedes and Tina and it’s a lot of fun now that Kurt and Blaine no longer try to avoid talking to each other. They go thrift shopping for new clothes and after Kurt profusely apologised to Bubs for hurting Blaine, he’s welcome at Blaine’s home all the time.

Kurt used to have movie nights with Rachel and Mercedes, but Rachel’s been replaced. She still acts as if Kurt’s betrayed her and now that it’s obvious that Kurt and Blaine are becoming friendly, her grudge has worsened.

They get noticed outside of glee club too, but now Kurt and Blaine have each other’s backs in the hallways.

Kurt’s still fighting himself. One part absolutely adores having Blaine back in his life, but the other part has the guilt. Kurt really tries to let go of his guilt. Blaine basically insists on it. But they’re not the same. Blaine needs to move on from this. Kurt can’t and Blaine knows that. Guilt is not the best foundation for friendship. Or any kind of relationship. Kurt’s this close to breaking down.

Unexpectedly, Blaine’s the first one to break down.

They’re in Blaine’s room. There’s tension and suddenly, Blaine blurts out: “I can’t do this anymore!”

“What?”

Blaine keeps rambling. “I thought I could. I thought I just could get over myself and be friends with you, but every time I look at you…”

Kurt hangs his head. This is it. This is the moment all his efforts are going into vain. Blaine is going to tell him that he can’t stand looking at Kurt without feeling angry.

But then Blaine surprises him again.

“… every time I look at you, I am reminded that I am really in love with you.”

[confused-stars]

Dusk is Dawn, Day is Night (Up is Down, Left is Right) - aka cloudfam au

Chapter Two on Ao3

or right here, for your convenience! (also here’s my ko-fi!)

Tenko sat atop one of the biggest trash hills on Dagobah Beach and watched the twig of a teenager try to move a way too big piece of debris. It was... kind of funny to watch him struggle, heels digging deep into the sand. But on the other hand, Tenko knew the kid had really been trying for weeks. This beach could be cleared pretty quickly if Tenko just used his quirk, but Toshi had explicitly told him not to.

But also Toshi wasn't here right now.

Tenko began climbing down the trash pile, years of practice scaling unstable debris making his movements quick and confident. He landed in the sand and pulled off a glove as he approached Midoriya. "Hey, let me get that for you."

The kid jumped, having apparently not noticed him before, but he stepped away when Tenko reached out. "Um, I'm actually supposed to be doing this for t-training..." The piece of trash - part of an old armchair from what Tenko could surmise - crumbled into dust.

"What All Might doesn't know can't hurt him." He shrugged, tugging his glove back on before he stuffed both hands into the front pocket of his hoodie.

Big, green eyes were staring at him in awe. "You're Dust Cloud! I've seen so many videos of your work in rescue, you're amazing, you clearly put so much thought in the way you apply your quirk, there has to be so much physics at work trying to figure out how to only disintegrate parts of a fallen building and not hurting the hostages in the process. How does your quirk work? It needs all five fingers, right? And it's more of a mutation than an emitter because you can't turn it off? Kacchan is kind of like that because his sweat is always explosive, no matter what. Oh, do you control where the decay spreads and how far when it's a large area? Is it true that you once rescued Endeavor's whole family from a villain attack? Are you-" Tenko slapped a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Please stop." He was a lot. Toshi hadn't been lying about that.

"S-sorry!" Midoriya was flushed entirely red and Tenko had to fight back a smile. He'd always thought he wasn't great with kids, but his family had left him no choice but to learn.

"Just slow down a bit if you're actually expecting answers," he suggested mildly, "C'mon, water break. I've been watching you for a while, you need to hydrate."

Midoriya made a soft noise in the back of his throat. "... you've been watching me?"

Tenko shrugged. "All Might couldn't make it today so he asked me to drop by and make sure you don't overextend yourself," he explained.

Midoriya stared at him. "I didn't know you worked with All Might!"

Tenko headed over to where the kid had dropped his backpack, Midoriya trailing after him. "I don't work with him, technically. But he trusts me." He paused. "Enough to tell me how he's planning on giving you his quirk."

Midoriya seemed to short-circuit for a moment. Tenko couldn't blame him. There would probably be a lot of that in the future for the poor kid now that he was involved with Toshi. It was just secrets upon secrets with him. Tenko being one of them.

"Are you still with me?" Tenko asked at the distant look in Midoriya's eyes as he pulled a water bottle out of his backpack and took a few large gulps. When he was finished, the kid nodded. "I just didn't... he hasn't mentioned you. N-not that there was much time to... he's always so busy, so-"

"Slow. Down." Tenko was going to get a headache. Oh, Oboro and Hizashi would adore this boy. Shouta would, too, but he'd try to deny it. And Himiko would be thrilled. Maybe they'd end up in the same class together.

Midoriya swallowed. "S-sorry."

Tenko sighed. "I'm not offended he didn't mention me. Don't worry about that. There's a lot he'll need to fill you in on, and he'll do that on his own time." Like who else knew about One for All, for instance, because it would be important for Midoriya to know who to trust. And it would be important for him to not only be relying on Toshi. As much as Tenko loved his dad, he wasn't actually a great teacher, and in his urge to do everything right all the time, coupled with years of traumatic experiences, he often forgot to consider other perspectives.

“He’s mentioned that, yeah,” Midoriya murmured, “There’s a lot more to this quirk than just… a quirk, isn’t there?”

He was clever. Good. It wasn’t that Tenko didn’t trust Toshi’s judgement, but it was still good to make sure for himself. “There’s… a lot,” he confirmed. They’d have to talk through how and when to reveal which pieces of information. It wouldn’t be fair to let the kid run into things blind, but overwhelming him was also a risk.

This absolutely could not be left to Toshi entirely. Tenko wasn’t the best for it, either. Shouta might be, his deadpan way of delivering information was often comforting. Or Oboro, with his easy empathy. Midoriya seemed like he might need someone gentle to help him along.

“Listen, kid…” Tenko cringed at himself. He wasn’t even that much older than Midoriya, it didn’t feel natural. “There’s a lot of people in your corner here. I’ll talk to All Might, and we’ll figure out how to prepare you for all this. Cleaning trash can’t be all you do. He cares about muscle a bit too much, if you ask me.” Tenko, of course, was mostly lean muscle, too, but the way Toshi used One for All had always been so reliant on strength. It didn’t have to be, though, clearly, when looking at Tenko’s grandmother. And Midoriya needed to grow stronger, yes, but it was doubtful that his fighting style would end up anywhere close to All Might’s. Tenko reached out and awkwardly put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Being a hero is about backing each other up, yeah? We’ve got you.”

___

After dropping Midoriya off at home, Tenko wandered the streets, moving in the vague direction of his own apartment. Meeting the kid had been a lot to process. Tenko liked him. He seemed like he’d make a good hero. If he’d make a good Symbol of Peace remained to be seen.

There was no doubt that Midoriya couldn’t be the next All Might. He looked up to him, but he was nothing like him. Maybe that was a good thing. A new generation always promoted change, and while the country would eventually flounder without All Might standing strong to protect it, maybe Midoriya would find his very own way of taking up his mantle.

He certainly had a lot of thoughts in that broccoli-like head of his. Hopefully he’d be able to adjust to the quirk itself alright. Toshinori had his plans for that, but it was a bit of a point of contention between everyone who knew about One for All. Or everyone involved in this situation directly, anyway.

Toshi had refused to contact Gran Torino about it, which Tenko kind of understood, but he was willing to take the first step himself if the old hero’s expertise was needed. Nighteye was another person whose help they could probably use, especially considering that he had a lot in common with what Tenko already knew of Midoriya. If nothing else, they’d be able to strike up a great conversation about limited All Might figurines or something like that. But, once again, Nighteye wasn’t someone Toshi was willing to talk to.

Shouta, of course, insisted that he’d have to get over his personal issues if he wanted to help his successor along to the best of his ability, and Tenko agreed. He just also knew Toshi needed some more time to think things through. And it wasn’t like they were in that much of a hurry.

As long as All Might didn’t get into any big fights and stuck to his time limit, he should be able to uphold his status for another couple years, until Midoriya was finished with high school, at least. That should be doable.

The first thought Tenko had when the window of the store on the other side of the street shattered was ‘oh, please, don’t let this be a sign’.

He broke into a sprint without even a millisecond of hesitation, past the stunned civilians who were just now beginning to turn in the direction of the incident. The shattering of glass had been accompanied by a dull, deep sound, almost like a heavy bass turned up too loud. Tenko had felt it shake his body faintly, even being a little bit further away.

“Call an ambulance!” he shouted over his shoulder at the nearest bystander, who hastily began fumbling with her phone. Tenko left her to it.

He jumped over the broken glass and carefully pushed the door open. There was no screaming or yelling going on, at least, which meant this probably wasn’t a villain. Hopefully.

“Hello?” he called, “I’m a hero! Is anyone injured?”

“Back here!” came the answer, a little delayed, and followed by a cough.

Tenko rounded a shelf that seemed to have had all its contents blown out that were now scattered across the floor, but the shelf itself miraculously still standing – courtesy of construction with both earth quakes and quirks in mind, most likely. The first thing he found on the other side was an older man slumped on the floor and holding his bleeding head. The vest and nametag he was wearing told Tenko that he was staff, and the clear-eyed look of relief told him that the injury wasn’t life-threatening at the very least. There was no use freaking out about head-wounds more than necessary, they always bled a lot.

That wasn’t the main reason for concern, though, and as Tenko took in the scene, his heart sank.

In the middle of all the destruction stood a tiny girl, hands pressed to her ears and shaking her head rapidly as she sobbed. A woman was kneeling in front of her, though a little ways away, seeming hesitant to touch her.

Tenko would estimate the girl to be about four years old, which made her the perfect age for…” “Her quirk,” said the woman, looking up to Tenko with wide eyes, “She just… this is the first time…”

Tenko understood all too well. He reached for the emergency pager he kept in his pocket and pressed the button. If he was very lucky, Eraserhead would be the one to answer his call. But either one of the other two would be great, too, after all, they knew better than Tenko did how to deal with a scared child who couldn’t handle the destructive power of their quirk.

“What are your regular methods of calming her down?” he asked, very carefully moving around the child, not getting too close just in case, and keeping his hands up in a hopefully soothing position. He wished he had his hero costume. Right now, he just looked like some guy with an admittedly not too reassuring looking face, and his habit to wear black on black wasn’t helping. He did put on a small, soft smile though, when the girl’s eyes snapped to him, and while she didn’t stop crying – now interspersed with small hiccups – she also didn’t blow up again, which was Tenko’s main concern.

“I… I just try to take her away somewhere quiet…” the woman who was probably her mother said. She was cradling her arm to her chest, clearly trying not to let on that she was in pain, but Tenko had been trained to recognize that kind of thing.

“Alright, thank you. Are you okay with staying in her line of sight for now?” Getting civilians out of imminent danger was always the first thing that needed to be done, but mothers and children were something else entirely. Tenko didn’t trust that the girl wouldn’t panic even more if her mother left her alone.

“I… yes. Of course.” The woman nodded, face set with determination now.

Tenko glanced around the scene again and took a breath. There were several hero action figures strewn about, most of them broken in some way or another. Some of them were making the noises of messed up voice boxes, repeating the lines that had been recorded for them, or just beeping incessantly.

He pulled off one of his gloves and crouched down, still feeling the girl’s eyes on him as he began to pick up the loud figurines one by one, the cacophony of background noise slowly fading as his quirk worked.

The girl’s crying was subsiding, too. But as Tenko looked up at her, her eyes were glassy and she was trembling slightly. She was going into shock. But she was slowly lowering her hands away from her ears, and that was all Tenko needed.

“Hey,” he said very softly, “It’s okay. Your Mama’s okay, and I’m a hero. I’m here to help, see? I got rid of all the noise.”

The girl sniffled slightly, but nodded.

“Oh, sweetheart…” Her mother seemed to be struggling not to run and wrap her daughter in a hug, but Tenko was glad she wasn’t doing it right now. It had to be incredibly difficult to fight against her own instincts like that.

“I hurt you…” The little girl’s voice was numb, too calm, stating a fact as she stared down at her hands. “I did… I did a bad thing.”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’ll be fine, honey, this wasn’t your fault,” her mother reassured her quickly, speaking a little too fast, hasty in trying to reassure her daughter.

Tenko wasn’t sure that would help. “Would you like to come outside with me?” They would have to take the backdoor to avoid all the onlookers, the gawking crowd that would already be waiting outside. Anything that would set the child off right now would result in even more injuries. Or worse, if they were unlucky.

The girl glanced at his hand, but Tenko put his glove back on and smiled. “See, my quirk doesn’t do anything dangerous when I’m wearing these. We’ll find something like that for yours, too, okay?”

She nodded slowly and reached out a hand, towards him rather than her mother. That was good. She trusted him as a hero to take care of her, even at this age. Having hurt her mother, it made sense she wouldn’t want to touch her right now.

There would be a lot of counselling needed for her to recover from this. But the worst had been averted, and when the girl’s tiny hand slid into Tenko’s, he held fast.

Ten minutes later, Tenko was sipping the free coke the store owner had given to him as a courtesy and watching the ambulance drive away – on board: the little girl, her mother, and a mildly uncomfortable but ever-professional Eraserhead. He’d keep any further quirk accidents from happening, even though everything had calmed down considerably now.

“It’s weird how we’re the kind of people who just attract trouble wherever we go,” Oboro said beside him, leaning his elbow on a cloud, his eyes also fixed on the back of the ambulance. He’d been patrolling with Shouta, and so they’d both come to answer Tenko’s call. And even though Tenko had had everything under control, seeing him show up in his hero uniform had immediately put him at ease. That was what heroes were supposed to do.

“I’m just glad I have a hero license so I can actually do something about the trouble now,” Tenko said. He’d always itched to solve problems, maybe that was part of why he loved video games (and his actual, real life job) so much, and the time before he’d had his hero license had been hell. Growing up surrounded by heroes didn’t help, either. He’d wanted to join them on patrols at six years old already. That was around the time Nemuri had helped him design his first hero costume.

And the thing was, even when Tenko hadn’t been allowed to seek out trouble, trouble had still found its way to him. He wondered if other heroes were like that, too, just people who had been unlucky all their lives and wanted to fight back. Probably not. Tenko just had uniquely bad luck.

Oboro laughed next to him. “Remember the phase when you wanted to become an esports professional?”

Tenko elbowed him in the side. He did not need to be reminded of that. He’d just been an embarrassing teenager and mostly it had been his way of protesting how hard UA classes were. He hadn’t honestly considered it… had he?

“I could still do that,” he pointed out, “Or I could start streaming video games. I bet a ton of people would love to watch.” A lot of his fans appreciated how he’d sometimes start rambling about video games in interviews, after all. Apparently it made him ‘relatable’. Even though he doubted he actually was, once someone got to know him. His best friend was an ever-grumpy burn victim for a reason.

“You could,” Oboro agreed, “I’d be in. We could set you up at the agency and stream together.”

And just like that, Tenko didn’t like the idea anymore. It was really a miracle how fast that could happen. “You know what, I think I’ll stick to private gaming.”

Oboro gasped dramatically, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m wounded! You just don’t want to be seen with me on camera!”

Tenko rolled his eyes, trying hard not to smile. “We’re on camera together all the time. I just don’t want to be seen with you on camera where it seems like it was my choice.”

“How can you say that? About your favorite uncle?” Oboro pouted, clearly over exaggerating on purpose, and Tenko finally broke and laughed.

“Sorry to break it to you, but you’re just not cool anymore.”

Oboro crossed his arms, but then immediately lit up again. “So you used to think I was cool at some point?”

Tenko snorted. “Uh, obviously.”

He may have looked up to Shouta because he was badass, as a teenager, but Oboro would always receive a special kind of admiration from him. It was only fair. After all, who knew where Tenko would be without him?

[dreamingwithbts]

Demon (Boku No Hero) - Chapter 19

Warning: Swearing, Violence and Blood

Hawks made me and Tokoyami run all over the city while he freely flies over us. “Oh? I thought you guys from U.A. were better than this. Come on! We need to go faster!” Hawks says teasing us flying ahead of us. “I want to rip those wings from him.” I say tired and starting to sweat. “Hn.” Tokoyami agrees also tired and sweating more than me because of the sun. “Let’s go!” We heard Hawks scream. “JUST SHUP YOU DAMN BIRD!” I scream making Hawks laugh. “Feisty!” Hawks says. “You sounded liked Bakugo.” Tokoyami says to me. “Dammit.” I say sighting.

Tokoyami and I after a day of running through the city, catching some simple villains, we finally are on our rooms in the agency resting. “I can’t even get out of bed to eat, my body hurts.” I think sighting then I take my phone and firstly text Izuku.

Me:

Hey. How’s your internship going?

Broccoli Freckles:

Hey Aka-chan, for now is going weirdly. Gran Torino is kind of crazy, and I’m panicking! How is Hawks?

Me:

Ahahaha, you’re going to be fine Izu-kun. Hawks is awful! Hisalways teasing and making us run while he flies. He’s lucky his hot.

Broccoli Freckles:

Oh my god, Aka-chan. Don’t say things like that. I have to go, I still have training to do.

Me:

Okay, good luck. Text me if you need anything.

The conversation between me and Izuku ended quickly and the moment I put my phone on the bed and close my eyes I receive a call, and I’m shocked seeing who it was. “Hello? Bakugo?” I answer it. “I’M GOING TO KILL BEST JEANIST!” It’s the first thing I heard. “What did he do?” I ask him confused. “He knew I only choose him because he is the number four pro hero, and he only put an offer on me, so he can educate me on being an exemplary hero, he wants to change the way I am!” He says and I try not to laugh. “ARE YOU LAUGHING?!” He asks screaming again. “Of course not!” I say containing my laugh. “But is kind of funny.” I continue and I heard him scream. “What are you going to do?” I ask him. “I don’t know.” He says sighting, and we stay in silence for a few minutes. “How’s Hawks?” He asks me. “A IDIOT HOT BIRD!” I scream now me angry. “He made me and Tokoyami run all over the city while his sexy ass was flying above us like nothing.” I say angry. “Serves you right.” I heard Katsuki joking. “Oh, shut up!” I say angry, but smiling and we stay talking all night until we had to go to sleep.

Day two started, the day started normal, this time Hawks walked with us on the street explaining us actual very useful stuff. “I wonder how’s Katsuki doing.” I think after remembering our conversation last night, not knowing Katsuki and his hair were suffering on the hands of Best Jeanist.

Day three came quickly, and the three of us are getting closer actually, we started to get comfortable with Hawks and start teasing him too, well more me. “Cannibal! You’re chicken is here!” I say giving him his lunch. “Thank you!! And it’s not cannibalism!” He says. “That’s what a cannibal would say!” I say teasing him making us laugh and Tokoyami smile. It was already evening when Hawks let’s go rest earlier than normal, saying it was a gift from him. “Gift, right. He’s probably lazy and going to eat chicken all night.” I think entering my temporary bedroom, I look at my hero uniform that I was still wearing. “I have a bad feeling.” I think then suddenly a heard a notification on my phone. “Izuku sent a message.” I say out loud.

Broccoli Freckles:

HELP! HOSU CITY!

“Shit!” I cursed and without seconds thoughts I leave my room running. “I’m coming Izuku.” I think. I start running and teletransporting as fast as I could and when I arrived at an alley, I see Izuku frozen and Lida on the ground and a villain walking towards him. I teletransport next to Izuku and I use my red mist to stop the villain from walking. “Oh? Another one?” The villain says turning his head to see me. “Aka-chan! I mean Carmine!” Izuku screams next to me not moving. “I got you.” I say to the villain, but my mist wasn’t strong enough, and he got loose and turns to me, smiling sadistically. “Carmine, be careful! If he gets your blood, you get paralyzed!” Izuku screams when the villain came running towards me swinging his swords. “You’re next girl.” He says while I try to escape his blades. “Shit!” I say when I almost get caught. “Who is this guy?!” I scream. “That’s the villain Stain! The one who hurt my brother.” Lida screams. “No...” I whisper in shock, frozen in front of Stain. “AKA!” Izuku and Lida screams when Stain blade catches me, but I still got in time to move next to Izuku again. “Shit!” I say and move my arm to see blood. “What do we do now?” I say looking at Izuku who looks at me in shock. “How are you moving...?” He whispers making me confused. “Girl, who are you? And how are you still moving?” Stain asks me angry looking at me. “You remind me of someone.” He says. “Does he know?” I think scared then I see him turning towards Lida again. “Stop it...!” Izuku screams then suddenly a tunnel of fire appears attacking Stain, but Stain jumps back. “One after another... There are a lot of people getting in my way today.” He says. “Shoto!” I whisper seeing him.

Shoto starts battling with Stain while the others stays frozen because of Stain Quirk, while I stay frozen for another reason. “Todoroki, you can’t let this guy lick your blood!” Izuku starts explaining Stain Quirk to Shoto. “Aka-chan is the only one who wasn’t affected it by his Quirk.” Izuku says. “Aka. Aka!” I unfroze when hearing Shoto scream my name. “We need to fight him together.” Shoto says, and I nod and get beside him and look straight in Stain eyes. “Let’s do this.” I say, and red mist covers my body. “That mist...” Stain thinks.

Shoto and I start fighting with Stain while Izuku and Lida and the pro hero Native stay frozen on the ground. I fight Stain while Shoto and Lida talked about Lida brother, I notice that Stain is hurting Shoto more than me. “Shit, why isn’t he attacking me.” I think then try attacking Stain closer while Shoto attacks him in the distance then suddenly Stain is beside me on the air. “I’m not going to hurt you, my daughter.” He whispers on my ear while I froze again in shock. “He knows.” I think while he attacks Shoto. “Aka-chan!” I can hear Izuku scream from the distant, but I just couldn’t move. “What is wrong with her?” Lida asks but no one could answer, before I notice I was at the ground emotionless and Stain comes to be in front of me. “I’m going to take you with me.” He whispers while glaring at the others. “STAY AWAY FROM HER.” Izuku screams and I look up seeing him now unfrozen next to Shoto. “Izuku...” I whisper looking at him with no emotions. “Aka-cha...” Izuku says confused, in panic. “Did she got hit?” Shoto asks. “I don’t know.” Izuku responds. “I’m sorry guys....” I say, looking down, not being able to fight Stain, no matter how bad he is, he’s still my biological father. “We can’t count with Aka right now.” Shoto says making Izuku more in panic.

“How am I going to look at them after this? I am a daughter of a villain. I can’t even fight him and help my friends. How can I be a hero after this? I’m sorry for disappointing you Dad...Izuku....Katsuki...” I think hearing the battle happening in front of me. I look up hearing them doing the final blow on Stain. Eyes big, scared, I scream. “NO!” And vines of red mist goes towards Stain. “What?” Shoto asks while the three looks at Stain floating in red mist, unconscious, still impaled on the ice but not hitting any vital organs. “Aka...” Lida says watching me. “Aka-cha...what....” Izuku says too shocked. “You can’t kill him.” I say, my eyes on the ground, my hair covering my face, hands up supporting Stain. “Why?” Shoto asks me but I don’t answer. “He hurt my brother Aka! He’s a villain, he...” Lida screams. “SHUT UP!” I scream and everyone was in silence. “Just shut up, it’s over now.” I say then use the mist to put Stain on the ground, wish Shoto immediately ties him up with some rope he found, then without looking at anyone I got to Izuku and put him on my back. “You hurt your legs, right?” I ask him. “Aka-chan...” He whispers, appreciating my help. “I’m sorry Izu-kun.” I say to him. “What happen?” He asks me. “I’ll tell you later.” I say, and he nods, resting on my back then we walk in silence, Izuku and me in the front, while Shoto, Lida and Native stay behind pulling Stain, then all of us stop at the alley entrance. “Now, let’s quickly get him to the police....” Native starts saying only to be interrupted by a new voice. “Wha...? Why are you here?” The voice says, and I look to the front seeing a very small old hero looking at Izuku on my back. “Gran Torino!” Izuku says surprised. “That’s Gran Torino! Not what I imagine.” I think, in seconds he is in front of us his foot on Izuku head. “I thought I told you to stay seated on the bullet train!” He says. “Who’s that?” Shoto asks Izuku. “The hero I’m interning with, Grand Torino. But why?” Izuku explains. “I was told to come here all of a sudden. Well, I don’t really know what’s going on, but I’m glad you’re okay.” Grand Torino says looking also at me for a few seconds. “So, this is the girl All Might told me about. She really is protective of him.” Grand Torino thinks.

Suddenly a lot of heroes appear out of nowhere, shocked by seeing us and Stain captured, some try seeing our injuries, Izuku now good enough to stay up on the ground. I stay away of everyone, not confident enough to stay near them. Everything was calm until I hear something coming. “Villain!” I scream looking at the sky. “Get down!” Gran Torino screams then the flying villain captures Izuku. “IZUKU!” I scream making my mist go after him but the wind of the villains wings made it difficult. “Shit.” I say then suddenly the villain starts falling. “What the hell?” I say then suddenly someone passed by me fast. “I’m doing this for you.” The person whispers. “Stain...” I say shocked seeing him defeat the villain, killing him. “This is all...to create a more just society.” Stain says while everyone is shocked then I start walking towards him and Izuku that was on the ground next to Stain, nervous. “Girl what are you doing?” Some heroes ask scared. “Oi! Aka!” Shoto says, but I just walk slowly to them, Stain looking at me calmly and Izuku sweating scared. I go near them and stay in front of Stain looking him in his eyes. “Thank you.” I say, and he nods, I kneel and help Izuku up and slowly walk back to the others. “What...How?” Lida asks confused. “He let her take him.” Shoto says shocked. “Hm.” Grand Torino says. “Aka-chan...” Izuku whispers while I just smile at him.

Endeavor arrives and Stain mood changes, I could feel the blood thirst in the air. “He’s back again!” Some of the heroes scream seeing Stain smile sadistically. “You fake... I must make things right...Someone must be dyed in blood... I must take back what it means to be a hero! Come! Try and get me, you fakes!” Stain says. “Great, both me and I hate Endeavor.” I think. “The only ones I’ll let kill me it’s the true heroes... All Might! And her!” Stain screams pointing at me. “What....” I whisper feeling everyone eyes on me then Stain falls unconscious from the injuries of the fight with the others. “Shit.” I think tired.

Note:Hope you like it! New chapter every Friday!

Tag List: @holaaaf

[mhdiaries]

Monster Exchange Lorna McNessie Passport

5-30

So this is how ma day started: “Lorna McNessie, please report tae the Dead Master’s office.” Uh, oh. It’s usually nae good when you hear your name vibratin’ oot of a classroom speaker. As I left the room I could hear ma classmates giggling behind me; this nae bein’ the fiercst time I’d made the long walk tae the office. I was pretty sure this time it must be aboot me photo bombing the faculty fearbook picture. I just couldna help ma self; there they all were in their robes and finery, looking all stern and teacher-like, and there was that window behind them. I was drawn tae it like a werewolf tae a full moon, and even then I only stuck ma face in for one snap... or two... so I didna think it would cause a fuss. I stood outside the Dead Master’s door, drew a deep breath and got me, “Yes, I should have known better” apology ready. Then I knocked and stuck ma head in. “You wanted tae see me, sir?” He was on the phone and he waved me in and pointed tae a chair. I sat down while kept talkin’ tae the monster on the other end. “Ay, academically strong.” He just listened for a moment and then laughed himself tae tears. “Nae, nae, ‘twas something ye said struck me funny. I can assure you that self-confidence will nae be an issue with this one, Headmistress Bloodgood. Thank you for yer time, as well, and I’m sure we’ll speak again soon. Goodbye.” The Dead Master hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “That was Headless Headmistress Bloodgood from Monster High. She’s accepted you application for the monster exchange program.” I couldna believe it, which seemed tae be an opinion shared by the Dead Master. I asked if that was the reason he called me tae his office. He said, “Nae - ‘twas merely a happy accident. But since you’re here, I suppose I shouldna have tae tell you that you’ll be representing our school, and I’ll expect you tae be on your beast behaviour.” I told him that, of course, I would, and that I would make the school proud. “Very good. Now let’s have a little chat aboot the faculty fearbook photo, shall we?”

6-5

Ma parents are understandably cautious aboot me leaving the loch tae attend Monster High. I don’t blame them, though; it is in their nature tae be so. Sometimes they look at me like I’m an alien when I tell them aboot ma latest photo bomb adventure, and then they just roll their eyes and say, “Just like your Gran.” I take that as a compliment, sine ma Gran is the scaly coolest monster ever! I went tae see her today tae tell the news that I’d be going to Monster High, and I think she was even more excited than me. She has a whole album of ma pictures, at least the ones I could get copies of, and she loves the stories behind them. She’s feisty, funny, and is an amazing storyteller. She can even make the ones I’ve heard a hundred times seem as new and exciting as the first time. Her stories aboot being a young ghoul in the loch are so funny, they make ma fins hurt. But one of her best tales is aboot the time I took her aboot on a photo bomb expedition. There is this bird that lives around the loch called the Three-Eyed Dusky Dragon Owl. They’re as rare as slug hair, and you mostly hear them rather than see them, but every so often a pair will build a nest some place near tae a road, and then monster bird watchers flock in... hehe... by the busload. Now it just so happened that the nest was at the bottom of a very steep cliff and on a branch that hung aboot over the water. I suggested tae Gran that we swim under water and pop our heads aboot as soon as the first birdwatchers started snapping photos, but Gran said, “Where’s the fun in that?” She didn’t want tae be in ONE picture, she wanted tae photo bomb them ALL. That’s why there is now a framed magazine cover over her mantel from the monster world’s most famous nature magazine. It features a nesting pair of Three-Eyed Dusky Dragon Owls, and two pieces of driftwood floating in the water behind them. If you look close enough you can almost see the driftwood giggling. 

6-15

I’ve been getting tons of messages from different ghouls at Monster High saying they are looking forward tae meeting me. Then tonight I got tae video chat wit Howleen and Twyla. Howleen was super bouncy, and Twyla seemed shy but funny. It seemed like they had as many questions for me as I had for them. I was especially curious tae know if Headless Headmistress Bloodgood had a sense of humor or nae. Howleen got an odd look on her face, then started tae say something, but didn’t. Twyla actually laughed oot loud. “That depends,” said Twyla, “on whether or not her office gets filled with packing peanuts on a day when she’s giving foreign digniscaries a tour of the school.” I started laughing and asked Howleen if she got into trouble for the prank. “I had to come in on Saturday, and she made me clean them up by hand one peanut at a time. It took all day.” I said it sounded like she was no fun a’tall. “Wait,” said Twyla giggling, “you have to hear what happened next.” Howleen leaned back, and with a smirk on her face said, “When I got to school on Monday and opened my locker, I got buried in a flood of packaging peanuts.” At this point Twyla fell off the chair she was sitting on, and I could hear her cracking up on the floor. “It wasn’t that funny, Twyla,” huffed Howleen. “Yes. It. Was.”   “Okay, Lorna, we’re going to go, now. Twyla has apparently lost her mind, and we’re going to need to try to find it.” I think I’m going to like Monster High, and with friends like these it’s nice to think I won’t have tae be swimming down stream like a lost salmon when I get there.

6-30

Got another surprise call tonight from a ghoul named Marisol Coxi. She’s a bigfoot from Monster Picchu, and she’s going to be at Monster High at the same time I am. She told me that Headless Headmistress Bloodgood gave her my number and said that we should get acquainted. Marisol is a bit larger than unlife, and I had tae turn down the volume when she was speaking tae me. At fiercst I was a bit taken aback, but her energy is so infectious, I couldne help but like her. We checked our schedules, and we’ll be arriving around the same time, so it’ll be nice tae have another new ghoul tae hang aboot with. I’m also hoping she’ll give me some pointers on how she does her nails. They were fabulous.

7-1

Mum and Gran made a monster dinner tonight and invited the whole family for ma going away party. All ma brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and cousins were there tae celebrate. The table was full of ma favorite foods. There was Cullen Skink, Eyemouth pales, Kippers, tatties and herring, rollmops, smoked salmon, rumbledethumps, black puddings, and the grandest haggis you’ve ever set your eyes on. Then Mum brought aboot coffin berry scones, and of course the best shortbread in Rotland. Then the pipes and drums came oot, and we played and danced intae the wee hours. We even took a family photo, and for once it was a picture I didna have tae sneak intae.

7-5

Had ma last swim aboot the loch this morning, and it was pure magic. I love ma home, and even though I’m excited aboot going on the exchange tae Monster High, there’s nae danger that that I’ll ever want tae live any place else. I also saw a boatload of normies casting aboot for a chance tae take a photo of the “mysterious” creature that lives in the loch. All the grown folk were on one side of the boat with their cameras, and there was a bonnie wee lass on the opposite, just starin’ down intae the loch. So I swam up, stuck my head oot of the water and waved tae her. She smiled and waved back, and then I was gone. I imagine she’ll still be tellin’ that story when she’s a gran herself. 

[callmearcturus]

I’m back.

I’m trying to figure out how to even talk about the emotion I’m feeling.

(Covid Talk under the cut)

A year ago, for my gran’s 76th birthday, we went to the Gulf Coast and saw a murder mystery trainride show, and went to an upscale shopping mall to walk around and do some very selective shopping, and explored a nice city.

This year... we found the least covid-infested county in Florida in driving distance and got a hotel room there and just.............. got out of the absolute hellhole that is the South Florida Covid Hotspot for two days. Bc the hospitality crash happening right now, we were able to afford the kind of hotel room poor folks like us usually can’t dream of. It has FOUR ROOMS. It had a BALCONY. It had a soaker bathtub.

Which was nice, genuinely. But also... that was the extent of the birthday. We had a nice hotel room, space to move around and sit on the balcony, but also... no shows, no places to go, and all our meals were VERY socially distanced. Multiple times, I scoped out a place to ensure it had outdoor seating and wasn’t too crowded, and we left multiple places that didn’t meet our standards.

It’s funny because we were up in this new place... and seeing the locals not as bone-deep terrified was wild. Like, a week ago, I was in publix with grandma, and some fucking woman TOOK OFF HER MASK to talk on her phone while there were people around her! Elderly people! ONE OF THEM WAS IN A WHEELCHAIR!

I literally grabbed the shopping cart and my grandmother and removed us from the vicinity because...

I know all of us are scared of covid. But if you don’t live in a hotspot, then you don’t know the-- the exhaustion of the constant vigilance you have. You look at every person around you and you notice if they are masked and you notice what kind of mask they are wearing, is that a two-layer at least? Wait, did that person just cough? Fuck, that one has it under their fucking nose, give them a wide berth.

And being up in a place with, no joke, less than 5% of the cases of home and a dramatically lower positivity rate, and seeing people not scared for their lives, was like being a fucking space alien. For an astounding two days, I didn’t have that feeling.

(Or, that’s untrue. I was still scared, bc I don’t really know how to turn that off, but my family relaxed.)

That’s all we could give my grandmother on her 77th birthday. Just a nice dinner and a little less fear and a short escape from our small apartment.

On the drive back home, this deep, bone-deep desperate dread hit me as we reached our home area again. I had to wipe my face on my shirt bc I started crying, as the FEAR flooded back in. Back to the constant terror. Back to panicking at anyone starting to cough, back to hiding in our small apartment, trying to just remember to be kind to each other bc we’re all so fucking stressed, back to this.

The night before we left, Mum got a call from her job. Someone tested positive for covid. This person, who Mum only avoided contact with because we all had the privilege and cruel audacity to have a two-day vacation during a pandemic. 

I’m sitting here and trying to figure out the final pirouette of this post, the point I’m trying to make. I don’t know what it is. Except if you’re out there and if you’re in a similar situation, if you know this Fear that has made itself a member of my household, then I’m sorry, and I’m with you, and fuck this, fuck everything, it shouldn’t have to be like this. We shouldn’t have to live in fear of this thing. We shouldn’t have to carry the guilt for taking a breath from it.

Wait I think my final note for this post is: I hope hell exists solely so Ron DeSantis can burn there for all eternity. That’s it, that’s the finale.

[boogiewrites]

Mae Flowers Ch. 7

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Mae LeBlanc (OFC)

Summary: A modern, magical Alfie Solomons AU.  Mae works towards growing her powers and Alfie is there to explain every step. They begin learning more about each other and find a connection that neither truly expected.

Warnings/Tags: Language.Magic/Supernatural. Soul mates.Some domestic fluff, getting to know you stage. Talk of the unknown.

Click on my screenname then go to Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.)

The sun rose high enough to peek through her curtain. It wakes her by gently kissing her face. Mae greeted the new day with enthusiasm.

Alfie had given her the task of sprouting, growing, and blooming a plant with her powers. She had been a bit cocky, she supposes, after the meditation went so well. But using her own undisciplined powers to do work was entirely different from receiving a gift of knowledge from her light. With Alfie's strong influence, the visions were much stronger than she could’ve formed herself. He’d asked endless questions, just like she would do. But unlike her, he'd had years to find the answers.

She stood in the kitchen, glaring out the bay doors at the sprouted plant on the patio table. She sipped her coffee as the maker gurgled in the background. The house was quiet, save Percy's feet crunching in the litter box.

Alfie had set her a task, and she was days into trying to achieve it. He had vaguely explained that he had some spell work to do that he needed privacy to accomplish. After giggling at the way he pronounced privacy she nodded and he disappeared. He’d still been up every morning,  looking a little rough around the edges. She didn’t want to pry but she also thought she might want to know what was going on in her house.

It was almost 10, she’d taken her time and lazed around long enough. She'd showered and eaten while hoping he would appear. But he hadn’t. So her curiosity got the better of her.

She made her way to the wall that held the archway to her sunroom and the door to the guest bedroom. She stood with a furrowed brow and pressed lips. She felt like she might be behaving rudely. She quietly knocks, her hand hovering over the door for some minutes before she talked herself into it. A quiet knock, then a more confident one after no noise from the other side. She pressed her ear to the door and heard nothing, not knowing if she felt relieved or more worried.

“Alfie?” She asked with a crack to her morning voice, not yet warmed up. No response. She tried to focus, head to the door, and see if she could feel anything. She didn’t really know what she was doing though, they hadn’t gotten to that lesson yet.

With no answer she reluctantly reaches for the knob, hand once again waiting to take action. As she clicks it, it sounded like one of the loudest noises she’d ever heard. She makes a space big enough to peep her round face through.

“Alfie?” she spoke softly, voice barely above a whisper into the stillness of the room. She made her way in, turning to see him star fished on the bed. His hair was a mess, hands still covered in what looked like soot, and lips pooched out while he was clearly in a deep sleep.

There were jars sealed with wax all over the dresser, salt around them, and little labels attached with twine to each. She was most curious and began to move towards them before a sudden grunt and sniff catch her attention from the bed. Unknowingly she’d passed the threshold of protection Alfie had cast and it had woken him up from his much-needed rest.

“Mmph Mae? What ya- bloody hell what time is it?” His brow arches high, dad noises followed as he rolled over to reach for his phone. “Oh fuck I’ve slept in.” He mutters and begins the process of moving his tired and half awake limbs to sit up on the bed.

“It’s not a problem, I just didn’t know what you were doing in here. I knocked… by the way. I was worried about you.” She explains hesitantly.

“No need. Just restin' me eyes.”

“Mm hmm.” She hums.

“Don’t appreciate that sarcasm Mae.” He rubs his eyes but she sees the grin behind his soft dark gingery beard.

“I knocked… like I said, twice, and said your name and you just laid there so…”

“You callin' me a liar? Bold of ya.” He kept a deep gruff tone as he yawns and stretches, but she could tell he was joking somehow. She felt comfortable with him in the snippy exchanges.

“Well I ain’t callin' you a truther.” She shrugs and gives a huff of a laugh.

“You’re a funny little flower, Mae.” Her odd response makes him laugh that turns into a cough. They share a pleasant lingering smile before something catches Mae’s attention. A movement under the covers of the bed.

He feels it against his hand and shoots his eyes in the direction Maes wide ones are staring.

“What the-?” He grumbles and jerks back the covers, and much to Maes horror a huge snake is making its way from the bed to the floor and towards the open window. “Fuck me, that wasn’t a dream? Ya sneaky cunt! Get out, ya slag!” He shoves the snake off the bed with a heavy thump while Mae presses herself against the door with too many questions rapid firing in her head. “I was tired from the work and you come all the way out here-?” His hands wave and he stops as if he were interrupted as he pushed the snake out the window. “Work innit?” He snaps and opens the window wider. “Ya ain’t fuckin special love. That’s always been ya problem. If ya never learn you’re gonna be like that forever!” He sticks his face thru the window opening before slamming it shut.

He turned around all huffed and annoyed and now awake.

“Uh… friend of yours?” Mae asks with a broken nervous laugh.

“I’m sorry Mae. She snuck in, I didn’t invite her. She’s never been much for respecting people’s space.”

“Wuh… so it was a friend?” She asks with eyes still looking at the spot where the snake had slithered out even though Alfie is moving around the room now to put the sheets back on the bed in his pajamas, a very rumpled white t-shirt with a v cut and his always present smattering of amulet holding necklaces.

“Well… yes and no. Bit complicated.”

“Like Facebook ‘It’s Complicated or…?”

“Like what?” He stops to plop on the bed and gives her an intimidating stare that suggests she might be behaving like an idiot.

“Y’know the relationship options on Facebook?” She says with an obvious nod. “You do know what Facebook is right?”

“Of course I fuckin know what Facebook is ya cheeky bugger.” he says harshly but huffs a single hard laugh.

She grins at his response and continued on with a lazy lilt to the early afternoon conversation. Her hands moving casually as she talked like the dust that was visible in the sun through the guest, well, Alfie’s room window now. “People can put it’s complicated as a relationship status. Usually, a sign someone’s made some bad decisions at some point.”

“Yeah? Like, fuck a snake?”

She snorts and covers her mouth as she laughs with bright eyes. “I wasn’t gonna say it but-“

“Didn’t have to read ya mind to know that’s what you were thinkin’, mate.” He shakes his head and fussed with his hair for a moment.

“I’ve been told I have a very bad poker face.”

“Terrible.” He says obviously but she felt the warm tone in his voice as he stood and gave her a smile that wasn’t accusing. “But it’s also somethin' you can learn.”

“Another thing to add to the long list of things you’re going to teach me.”

“That it is.” He says with an affirmative nod. “It comes with controlling your emotions. You feel things so strongly because you are unpracticed but we’re workin' in it yeah?” He nods and pats her shoulder.

“We are. I don’t feel as bad as I usually do after a rough day like yesterday.”

“Very good. Since I slept in like a fuckin lazy sod have ya got around to ya studies today?” They both move and carry a conversation into the kitchen as he makes himself some tea.

“Not yet, was being slow because I didn’t want to start until you got up. But then-“ she motions towards the cracked guest room door.

“Ridiculous, innit?” the previous annoyance at his unexpected visitor comes back to show on his face. “Not even my house and she doesn’t know you, yeah? Just invites herself in. Like everything’s bloody normal.”

Mae blinks with curious but very polite eyes as he rests against the counter for a moment, huffing and displacing a fluff of hair hanging onto his forehead. “I’m glad you also don’t think it’s normal. I know things are gonna start changing now, but python booty calls were not something I was prepared to handle.” She pauses her thousand-yard stare shifts to him. Blinking her full lashes over brown, now golden in the noon sun, eyes. “Not to be rude or anything. Just… being honest.” She shrugs, making herself smaller. “Thought it would be best to be… y’know with… all this witchy stuff.”

“First off, not a booty call.” He dismisses with a swipe of an expressive finger. “Secondly, honesty is the best policy. Always…. Unless ya Gotta lie.” He gives a more sly and cheeky smile her way as he takes a sip of tea.

“Are you lying about the snake booty call?”

“Nah, mate.” He gruffs out casually, “Not that I didn’t before she found herself in her current form. A stone-cold bitch of a witch that one. Piss off the wrong witch and ya go 'bout bein a twat and then next thing ya know you’re cursed to take her so-called, and very dramatically said at the time I might add- “true form”. He pauses, his tight but expressive face once again hides behind the tea mug and the fluff of mustache over the rim. “Old flame 'n that. Long, long time ago now.”

“How long is long for you? Since you’re…?”

“I prefer the term immortal to old if that’s what’s ya askin'.”

“I wasn’t but thanks for clarifying.”

“Years before you were even swimmin' in ya gran dads bollocks.”

“That’s the grossest way I’ve ever heard that put. Creative but, still gross.”

“Didn’t mean to be crude at the table, love.” He gives a nod but the polite face has mischievous and playful eyes behind it.

She huffs out a quiet laugh. “Wasn't a complaint.”

“Good to see ya aren’t squeamish. A sense of humor will help ya out in this work. Also nice to know my other half isn’t a stick in the mud.”

“Oh, I’ve been called that before.” She adds quickly and he laughs.

“Eh, don’t seem too bad to me Mae.”

“Well we just started so just give me a bit and I’ll let ya down.”

“Bad attitude like that means one thing.”

“What?”

“You didn’t eat a good breakfast did you?”

“I had-“

“Yeah, those bloody breakfast bar- bullshit things.” He cuts her off. “Ya have to eat real food now, pet. So we’ll be late getting at it today but nothings gonna get accomplished by no human without bein' fueled properly.”

“I don’t usually cook a big breakfast.”

“And ya ain’t gonna start now. I got it.” It’s almost as if her thought of standing to help was nipped from her mind, swearing she might’ve felt a light push to stay in her seat by some invisible force.

"You're not fattening me up to eat me are you? You and that snake?” She asks with a subtle playful smile but accusing eyes.

He lets out a loud sudden amused sound at her suggestion. “Maybe I am. Gonna butter ya up and stuff you in the oven.” He gives her a wink and chuckles to himself at the delightful energy she was putting out today before he turned back to the counter.

She blinks rapidly and finds herself hiding a flush in her cheeks at the seemingly innocent gesture. She retreats back to her normal sitting posture clenching her teeth to fight the smile that would otherwise appear on her face. Being forced to reckon with a handsome man winking at her that she wasn’t repulsed by was something new and she didn’t want to look like a giggling school girl. She was far from being a schoolgirl by being in her thirties but he made that same old energy bubble up inside her.

She clears her throat and tries to gain control of her emotions before they sweep her away. Since he’d been around all sorts of things were becoming quickly overwhelming. Since Alfie's appearance in her life, she’d started having mood swings, vivid intense dreams, and some rather animalistic passing thoughts. Most of them with the focus being on her new roommate. And she wasn’t talking about the unusual amount of reptiles she’d seen the past few days. She could swear the birds chirped louder now. It was as if she was going through some psychic puberty. Every sense and emotion was turned up so drastically it was as if she could feel a static tingling at all times. It didn’t hurt, but it was something she was trying to get a grip on. She was trying to be optimistic but her first round of puberty was something she felt she’d failed miserably at.

Alfie could feel her energy shifting and remained quiet. He had been both confused and impressed with her attempts to control all this new energy herself. He didn’t know why she didn’t ask about it but knew she was a scrappy little thing, forgo the occasional breakdown. Which he thought she had earned.

“MROW?” Percy jolts up from his warm bed in the sunroom, his morning sun spot starting to shift. He trots into the kitchen, the shifting of energy from his master drawing him from the bed.

He was a welcome distraction for her and both the men in the room, both he and Alfie felt ease as soon as Percy was in Mae’s lap and focusing her attention.

“Good little lad you’ve got there,” Alfie says, looking over his shoulder at the cat purring and grooming its owner.

“When he wants to be he’s very sweet.” Mae let’s put a sigh and cuddles him closer, feeling the tension in her body dissipate as she rubbing her face into the fur of the large white fluffy boy with his pink toe beans and nose.

“You know… I have a Percy.”

“You have a cat?”

“No, love. Percy is your familiar. I have one right now as well.”

She blinks in thought for a moment. “My familiar?” She asks, directed at the cat who was staring up at her with bright green eyes.

“A companion. A kindred spirit. He’s a little soul that is meant to help yours.”

She stares into the cat's eyes. “He just showed up one day. Like he already lived here.”

“Because he was called to you. Your power must’ve been blossoming at the time.”

“So you’re my familiar huh? If you’re supposed to help, why do you sleep on my clean laundry?”

Alfie let out an amused chuckle.

“Mrrm.” Percy responds and flicks his tail.

“I’d like to know how sleeping all day is supposed to help me out.” Mae gives him a big smile and scratches his chest. “Sassy little butthead.”

He purrs in response and rubs against her chest.

“Is your familiar a cat?” Mae asks while fussing over the affectionate cat in her arms.

“Oh no. Charles is nothing of the sort. A cat wouldn’t suit me would it?”

“A big fluffy ginger cat might.”

“Offensive language.” Alfie protests and Mae chuckles to herself.

“What is he then?”

“I’ll have you meet him sometime soon. Best to let him introduce himself instead of me.”

“Is he an animal?”

“He is. Familiars tend to be.”

“Can they be other things?”

“Sometimes a human. But rarely. Some have been Fae. Some like to stay in specter form if their counterpart is gifted in communicating with that plane.”

“So like spirit guides?”

“Good comparison, yes.” Alfie nods as he continues moving about the kitchen. “There are many forms any single soul can take, you see..” he began an impromptu lecture which he had done on occasion for the sake of educating her.  He kept talking, as she found he had the tendency to do if the mood struck him.  For now, he stuck to lessons about her, the baby steps any born and raised witch would know without even realizing. He didn’t want the sweet thing to seem like she lacked common sense when it came time to mingle with others like them. So he tried to begin with what to do to be able to perform at your best.  He spoke of fuel and food, energy creation and destruction, and how it works with people like them. Or well, her, he was different from her biologically. But that was a lesson for another day.

—————————-

Alfie checks on Mae once again, a little lump sat in the grass in her back garden with those golden eyes focused on her task. He hadn’t really known how fast or slow the process would go, and the fact that she had made any progress at all made him happy for her. She sat with her hands pushed against her face, elbows on her knees as she sat with crossed legs in the grass in front of the plant. Her button nose was wrinkled, thick dark brows made her look more severe than usual. A stray loose curl would flop in the wind on occasion, but besides that, she was being very still. The fruit-bearing trees planted along the high fence line now had different symbols in new shiny paint. Mae had learned about protection and she was taking it very seriously. The glitter paint, her choice, sparkled in the light along with the various windchimes and suncatchers she had hanging all over the garden. You could always hear at least a small ting of metal against metal outside, it was something Alfie grew accustomed to quickly and found it rather pleasant now. All her new decor made space seem even more full of life with the rapid onset of spring. Not to mention Mae’s growing powers were causing the flora all around her home to begin to flourish early.

Alfie was writing labels, carefully packaging the spells he’d made to send out. He was enjoying a quiet afternoon. The weather was pleasant and the clink of chimes with the lazy breaths of wind outside was a calming melody. He was musing about how nice it was to finally feel some true calm for the first time in his afterlife. This is why the sudden shrill scream of Mae made him almost drop a spell jar in surprise. He would’ve never let his guard down enough to get caught off guard like that before he’d met Mae. He’d never stopped to consider if being with his other soul half might make him soft. But it was swept away from his cares when he saw the bundle of sunshine that was Mae. He could see the joyous yellow rays emanating from her small feminine form. Her hair bouncier and her cheeks flushed as she screamed his name in the middle of jumping up and down with excitement.

“Alfie! LOOK!” She squeals and stomps her feet, her hands with the chipped yellow polish point towards a now fully bloomed plant on the ground.

“WHAY!” He throws his arms up in celebration! “Mozel tov boobah!” He claps and approaches her. Much to his surprise she fillings herself towards him in an impactful hug. As soon as her delightfully soft cheek pressed bare against the fuzzy section of his chest his shirt allowed, their breaths caught in tandem. His hand on the back of her fluffy hair, one arm keeping her steady in her back. There was an ebb and flow that much resembled (to those gifted enough to see such a thing) an aftershock that shot through them on contact and was sent back into the world around them.

It felt almost as if she was in the middle of a giant speaker in the back of some fuck boy's car. Or those old 5ive gum commercials. The second feels drawn out and heavy as that pulse connects them and is loaded into their systems. something neither had felt in such a pure form before they felt a split moment of euphoria. A total lack of worry and anxiety, total zen.

They both exhale with synced breath and everything shifts back to its former self. Mae looks up at Alfie with an expression of what the hell was that and he blinks down at her and tells her that for the first time in a long time. He didn’t exactly have the answer.

Mae licks her lips and looks at his chest, her nose set above puckered lips showing the wheels turning behind her eyes. That were a very vivid -damn near glowing actually- golden. They were large and often wet and they reminded Alfie of a frog on occasion. Especially when she wore her little round glasses. He considers this a compliment as he is quite fond of frogs.

“That was..” she takes a deep breath and clears her throat, “...you know those little sand...zen gardens with the stick and you-?” She draws a swirl on his back where her hands stay.

“Yeah. With the wee Buddha’s?”

“I feel like what one of those is supposed to make you feel.”

“Felt much like I’d gone up and slapped the Buddha and he hit me arse back on my end.”

“Didn’t it feel… good? Though?” Her face shows her uncertainty as it always does.

“Ya bloody right it did.” He lets out a warm laugh that reassures her.

“What is..?” She hugs him again. The same grip as before but it doesn’t happen. She squeezes. Waits. Alfie looks around after her third attempt and considers intervening.

“‘Ere.” Alfie says. Moving her hand to mirror his, slightly outstretched towards each other. “Can you see that?” He asks quietly as if he might scare something away.

“I don’t… I feel something though. I think…”

“Trust your intuition, Mae. It’s where the answers are.”

She follows his advice, taking a deep breath and a slow exhale and clearing her mind and really looking at the space between their hands.

“Do you feel anything?” He asks after a moment, seeing her face shift.

“Yes.” A much more confident response.

“Good girl. What is it?”

“It’s..almost like electricity.”

He keeps quiet as he sees it differently. It fascinates him.

“Like the Ghostbusters ray guns.” She answers seriously then laughs. “Except it isn’t really a color exactly it’s, it’s sort of yellow.”

“I see yellow as well.” He nods.

“Now concentrate. Look at the… rays and what they feel like.”

“Oh! They’re happy.” She answers quickly and cheerfully.

“What happens when I-?” He asks and touches their fingertips together.

She smiles and laughs, “It's like you’re touching the surface of a lake.

“It’s a reflection.” He nods.  “Now watch.” He begins to move it away and it’s as if a string is being pulled, the flow is taffy and it becomes thinner the farther away he gets. Her power is less loud, less clear the farther he is.

“It’s reacting to you.”

“It’s us. Welcome to stage one of your awakening. You can now see energy.”

“Did this happen because of the flower?” her head tilts like a curious baby animal.

“Flower?”

“Oh! Shit! I forgot! The flower! Alfie look!” She grabs his wrist and proudly shows off the fully blossomed Lily.

“Brilliant work, love.” He touches it and it’s strong and very alive. “Look at this little lass. Gorgeous.” He pets the plants leaves affectionately. “Lovely innit.” He leans towards Mae. “Takes after her muva.” He teases.

“I don’t see anything around it.” She says waving her hand near it.

“You won’t see everything at once. Be grateful for that because you’d go as mad as the first mantis shrimp.” He snorts at his own joke.

“The what?” She asks and shakes her head. “Alfie stop talking about mudbugs and explain.”

“You’re growing Mae darling! It’s all very good. Don’t worry. If there was cause for worry I would tell you, yeah? You’re learning to wield your powers and activating new ones. Natural innit?”

“So this is just my power growing?” She asks referring to the wobbly bit of energy as she moved closer to his body.

“I believe it is our souls. They want to be close. The closer the more vivid it is, see?” He touches his nose to hers and shows the tiny jolt of electricity that appears where their skin touches.

“It’s like static electricity. But it doesn’t hurt.”

“Nah, love they’re happy. They want to be close, little monkeys. They haven’t seen each other for so long. They get a bit excited.” He chuckles and rubs her arms reassuringly. He left a warm and good feeling behind in his wake. “Your powers are growing. You’re doing so well. In fact, I believe you are much deserved a few celebratory festivities, love.” He speaks quietly as he remains close to her.

“Like donuts?” She asks with a perky inflection.

“Could be but I was thinkin' more you should get yourself done up. Celebrate yourself. We can go out and I suppose eat since that seems to be where your mind is.”

“Done up? Like go out and eat together? A date?” There’s a mild flash of horror in her eyes.

“If that term scares you so then no. I am simply your friend-“

“Soul mate” she corrects.

“...soul mate who believes you should do things to celebrate this growth. Hard work earns hard play and you Mae darling have been working your bum off. You deserve it. Stop selling yourself short.”

“You being able to read me is good and all but it also really gets on my nerves. You get too real too fast on me like I’m just supposed to be okay with you plainly saying my obvious shortcomings.”

“It’s called growth. It’s what we’re here for.”

“When am I going to make you start growing?”

“Already have.” He states fast.

“I have?”

“Course! I don’t know if you could tell but I have not historically been known to be a very… coddling man. I have been alone and seen and done violence with my darkness… but being around you, your soul, it makes me feel like I’m young again at times. Your...spunky little personality- which is a great relief I must add- paired with the positive attitude and earnest approach has made me address how I approach things.”

“You like my personality?” her eyes look a bit sad but more intrigued.

“That’s what you took from that?” He chuckles.

“It’s a really nice compliment.” She quickly feels tears burn in her eyes.

“Oh bless your cotton socks.” Alfie laughs and pulls her in for a hug. “You little bugger.” He rubs her back as she gives him a tentative hug back. “You are kind and honest and curious. The world needs more like you. Your emotions are a gift. I do not see them as the burden you do. Most humans go through life feeling so very little. Did you know? It is a blessing to feel so strongly.”

“You’re so nice.” She sniffles and he once again laughs and kisses her head. “C’mon love. Let’s have a cuppa and we’ll get dresed up eh?”

“And then we go get food.” She sniffles.

“Yes, darling Mae then when go get food.” He lets out a deep chesty laugh as he escorts her back towards the house.

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