#and this reminds me of how my aunt tried to wake me back when i was visiting in november

[gracexthoughts]

headstrong

warnings; none really, fluffy, mostly unedited  summary; okay so i combined these two requests (kind of and i may still write another intrusion like fic another time) because King!Dad!Jace immediately infiltrated my mind and would not let go once I saw these  a/n; again, thank you all for the requests, i love them all and am excited to work on them but here is a little short drabble bc i couldn't not write this immediately 

“What?” the Princess Luceara exclaims, her dark violet eyes darting between her mother and father. 

“You are of age, Lucy,” the girl's mother sighs, adjusting in her seat; the weight of her growing stomach causing discomfort. “You must have known this an inevitability.” 

“You told me I could choose!” The princess fires back. Kingsguards had intercepted her on her way to the Dragonpit so she stands in her riding clothes, her light gray hair woven back into braids that hang around her shoulder. Her hair is darker than that of the typical Targaryen, but like her father, her dragon blood proves true as she rides her dragon and argues and commands with the fire of her house in her voice. 

“You may and will. All I’m saying is it's high time we begin the search,” Jacaerys states, watching his daughter. Fathers aren’t meant to have favorites but he adores his eldest, his darling girl, his only daughter. The day she came into the world was one of the most terrifying and beautiful of his life and he adores the woman she is becoming, even though she aggravates him so. 

“You’re a year elder than I was when I met your father,” the Queen says, glancing up at her husband who rests his hand on the back of her chair. 

“You were fortunate. Aunt Baela and Aunt Rhaena were fortunate! Most are not! And yet you are intent to sell me off!” Lucaera cries indignantly. 

“We are not,” Jacaerys yells loudly before stopping himself and lowering his voice, “selling you off. You must marry to secure your reign. It is a fact, irregardless of your gender. My mother did the same, if you recall your histories.” 

The princess’ eyebrow raises as she coldly stares down her father, her gaze defiant and hard. She watches as her father’s face transforms from the soft, if disgruntled, image of her father to the vision of the King. She grits her teeth, knowing this is a battle she will lose, today or in a moon, or a year but she will lose. The inevitability of her fate consumes her hot like dragon breath, choking her and wrapping around like chains. Her hard gaze falters but, ever headstrong, she turns on her heel, her gray curls and blood red coat swaying in her wake as she storms from the King’s chambers. 

Jacaerys sighs, leaning down on the table at the center of the room. The weight of rule weighs heavy on his shoulders but in truth, it's his familial duties he worries of most. Even decades past the Dance of Dragons and in the safety of the Red Keep, his memories haunt him. Every draw of a sword reminds him of battle. Every labor his wife endures sends him into a panic, memories of his mother’s cries echoing through the halls as she birthed his sister still ringing in his ears. He is only pulled from the depths of his memories by his wife’s touch on his shoulder as she comes to stand at his side. 

“She learned that look from you,” Jacaerys states, pushing up off the table to turn to his Queen. 

“She will come around, just as I did,” she says placatingly, reaching up to cup his cheek. 

“It took nearly a year, if I recall correctly. And that was after we met,” the king reminds her, remembering all too well how she shunned him when they first met at seven and ten years of age. She’d give him the same look his daughter leveled at him just moments ago whenever he tried to chip away at her defenses. 

“Well then you better summon suitors to court or send her off on a tour soon,” the queen laughs lightly, brushing a stray curl from his forehead. She sucks in a sharp breath suddenly, her hand rubbing at her bump. 

“How is the little dragon?” Jacaerys asks, his warm hands moving to rest on his wife, wishing he could take her pain from her and bear it himself. 

“Kicking like a goat,” the Queen laughs feebly, leaning into her husband's embrace. “The maesters now believe it's a girl.” 

“So I’m to have another daughter to rain seven hells on my will?” He jests, his amber eyes gazing upon his beloved queen. 

“You speak as if you did not do the same to your mother, and she to her father, and so on,” the queen laughs. “It is the way of eldests and one day, she will have her own child who will refuse to marry and run off to ride on dragonback at the slightest inconvenience.” Jacaerys laughs, a true hearty laugh that is music to his wife’s ears. He shakes his head and pulls him into her, cupping her face as their lips intertwine, their worries momentarily forgotten.

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Not A Verstappen: Lights Out {7}

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x fem!driver!reader x Lando Norris Summary: A short skip over the winter break and into 2024 season.. Warnings: 18+ only, fluffies WC: 2k F1 Masterlist NAV: Sibling Rivalry One || Two || Three NAV: Gridlocked One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine NAV: A New World One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten NAV: Lights Out One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || 6.5 || Seven || SMAU || Eight

Christmas Eve 2023 - French Alps The air was still when you woke to a fresh dumping of snow on the mountain. The window provided a picture of tranquillity and the embers in the fire gave a peaceful glow to the dark wood walls. Charles had disappeared at dawn for a morning ski with Arthur and you squinted against the white glare to try and find them on the mountainside. 

You probably could have gone back to sleep if it wasn’t for the door crashing open and the sudden weight of a child on your legs. Penelope crawled up to the headboard with a squeal and jumped into your arms as Max just reached the bedroom door. 

“P, watch out for auntie’s tummy,” Max reminded. She now had to watch out for yours and Aunt Vicky’s tummy, since your sister had announced her pregnancy a few weeks ago. “Sorry, she slept the whole flight so she’s full of energy. I tried to get her to play with Luka but she wanted you.”

“That’s okay,” you said as she burrowed under the blankets and put her cold feet on Lando’s back. “Are you excited for Christmas?”

Penelope nodded eagerly while Lando slowly woke and you were grateful he was wearing a hideous pair of santa-themed pyjama pants. With even more children around for Christmas this year, everyone had taken to wearing pyjamas. It was good for moments like these, but bad for quick access when you were spooning in the night.

“Papa let me open some presents early!”

Max disappeared out of the room with a wave, heading back to his suite with Kelly down the hall. The small mountain retreat had been completely rented out for another combined family holiday and at the rate the Norris’, Leclerc’s and Verstappen’s were procreating, an entire resort would be needed to host you all next year. Your bet was on Max and Lorenzo becoming fathers next. 

“How exciting! And what did you get?”

Penelope held out her arm to show a mermaid inspired charm bracelet. “That’s beautiful!”

“It’s got Ariel!” she exclaimed, pointing to a red haired mermaid as she bounced excitedly. 

“Is that an earthquake?” Lando asked as he scooped the little girl up into a hug. “No, it’s little P. Why are you waking your favourite uncle up so early?”

“You’re not my favourite,” she said with a fit of giggles.

Lando hung his head and shook it with fake sadness. “Kids are brutal.”

“Kids are honest,” you corrected before kissing his pout away.

“Gross,” P said as she screwed up her face and started to climb off the bed to find ‘Maxie’. She did a sudden u-turn and scrambled across the bed to gently touch your stomach before leaning closer and whispering, “Bye-bye, baby. Love you.”

She was gone again, this time the door swinging shut as she left with no farewell for you or Lando. He let out a little chuckle as he pushed you back into the pillows and drifted down the bed, taking the blankets with him. 

“Hello, baby,” he murmured softly to the bump. At just more than half way along your bump could no longer be mistaken for overindulgence or bloating. “You are looking lovely and round this morning.”

“Wow, you really know how to sweet talk a lady,” you chuckled as you combed your fingers through his hair.

“Shh, I’m having a conversation with my daughter, no eavesdropping,” he warned with a smirk before brushing your shirt up and pressing a kiss to your skin before continuing his conversation. The moustache and shaped beard he was slowly but surely growing thicker tickled with each whispered word, the movement of his lips dragging the coarse hairs over your sensitive skin until goosebumps prickled. 

“I can’t wait to meet you,” he said with a smile as the door creaked open and Charles walked in with wind-kissed cheeks. “I just want to hurry up and hold you.”

“Patience, mon cher,” Charles said with a grin, depositing the second layer of cashmere he had worn under his ski jacket on the coat hook. “It’s only four more months.”

Lando groaned at the reminder before shifting on the bed to make space for Charles. 

“Anything you want to add this morning?” you asked. 

You reached for the hem of the shirt, ready to pull it down if it was a no when a knock had you freeze. No, it wasn’t a knock. The thud hadn’t come from outside, but inside. You dropped the shirt and stared at the jut of your hip, right where the skin went soft as it stretched up to your ribs. That soft tissue bulged ever so slightly as you felt the strange sensation of pressure and it drew a gasp that shocked your boyfriends.

“What? What is it?” Lando asked, his voice thick with concern. 

“Give me your hand,” you ordered, already reaching for one of each as you placed them on the spot. “Shhh, just shhh.”

You felt it again and Charles exhaled a shaky breath that ended in a joyous laugh before grabbing Lando’s hand and shifting it slightly. 

“Wha-”

“Shh,” you urged as Charles pressed a finger to his lips. The silence grew and everyone held their breath, waiting.

The air wooshed from Lando with an exclamation, “No fucking way!” His eyes grew wide and he stared at his palm as if the imprint of his daughter’s foot was permanently held on his skin. “Holy shit! She…she…kicked.” 

Charles wrapped an arm around Lando as their shimmering eyes met yours. Pure happiness saturated the room, spilling out into the hall as the door opened and Oliver appeared a little worried. “Everything okay? I thought I heard Lando screeching.”

“Everything’s perfect,” Lando grinned, ignoring the joke he had heard since hitting puberty. 

“She just started kicking,” Charles explained with an equally bright grin, while you danced your fingers along your side, trying to tickle her foot. 

“Core memory unlocked, huh?” Oliver laughed at his brother’s eagerness, remembering the first kicks with his own daughters. “Breakfast is ready when you are.”

“Thanks, we’ll be there soon,” Charles said as Oliver closed the door again.

“Do we have to?” Lando asked as he curled back down and stared at your stomach intently. “I could watch this all day.”

“You can stay but I am hungry, and she is now shy,” you teased as you pulled your shirt back into place and climbed out of bed. With a groan he followed you to the walk-in wardrobe, just like you knew he would. 

“Is the powder good?” Lando asked Charles while they changed into some casual day clothes perfect for the warm interior of the retreat.

“It’s perfect,” Charles all but moaned, it was hard to believe they were talking about snow but both of them loved to ski. “Arthur wants to head back out after lunch.”

Lando looked at you and you waved a hand. “Sheesh, babe, I’m not your keeper. You can go if you want.” 

Lando hated being away the most, not that Charles enjoyed it, but there wasn’t the same level of separation anxiety that Lando had. “I don’t want to leave you here on your own.”

“On my own?” you laughed and slipped your feet into some simple flats before heading to the door. As soon as it opened the cacophony of everyone congregating in the great room down the hall spilled into your room. “I couldn’t be on my own if I tried.”

yourusername

liked by pierregasly, maxvertappen1, maxfewtrell and 1,382,589 others yourusername This kid scored the gene pool the lottery. Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Round One - Bahrain 2024 Fuel fumes drifted up from the pitlane to the balcony you stood upon as the start of the season's first race grew closer. It was strange to look down the entire length of billboards and see no new faces among the driver line up. Fernando still filled the garage beside Lance, but you held no resentment for your replacement. He was making the most out of an opportunity and it almost gave you hope that even after leaving Formula 1, maybe - just maybe - there was a way to get back in. 

Next year would be interesting with so many contracts up for renewal. It was a chance to see new faces on the grid, or perhaps some old faces returning if rumours were to be believed. You wouldn’t mind seeing Sebastian make a return. For the moment, everyone was still too busy talking about Lewis and his move to Ferrari to give much thought to the other shocks that might come with the disruption. The open seat at Mercedes was going to be sought after by every driver stuck in a midfield car. 

“You look deep in thought.”

You broke away from staring at the starting lights to accept a cup of herbal tea from your mother. “Just thinking about how the grid will look next year.”

“Gotta get through this one first,” she reminded. “Speaking of…it’s going to be hard having a newborn at home with those two away so much.”

“I know,” you sighed, resting your arms on the balcony rail as you blew the steam from the mug. The wall calendar at home was already marked with the first half of the season, all the nights Lando and Charles would be away circled in red ink. It had been collectively agreed that flying with a newborn wasn’t a great idea so you would only attend the races you could drive to until she was at least three months old. “This year’s calendar is fucking intense.”

“I want you to know you can call me day or night, sweetie, and I’ll be on the next plane.” She reached for your chin and turned you to face her as your throat clogged with emotion. “I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to do on your own, you saw it firsthand.”

“You’ve got your own life, I don’t want you to drop it all for me.”

She laughed softly and wrapped you in a careful hug. “You’re my daughter, you are my life, my granddaughter is too.”

“Thank you,” you sniffled and wiped your eyes, seeing the cameras in the pitlane pointed your way. “Gah, you made me cry. Now I’ll be on fucking Drive to Survive. I can already see the subtitles ‘Y/N crying as the season starts without her’. Wankers.”

Your mother narrowed her eyes at the camera and flipped them off, making you choke on a laugh. “So much maturity for a grandmother.”

“Yeah well I have been wanting to do that for a while, and I figure I can’t get you fired since you’re unemployed.”

You shared a grin and thought maybe you had more in common than you realised. You thought your fight came from Jos but now you saw a flash of it in her protectiveness and your chest warmed.

“I’m not unemployed, I’m a Lady of Leisure.” You laughed at the roll of her eyes before adding. “I might even get a Birkin for a push present to complete the initiation.”

“What the hell is a push present?”

“It’s a present a new mother gets for destroying her vagina pushing a baby out.”

It was her turn to choke on a laugh. “That’s a thing?”

“Apparently so.” 

“Does the baby not count as a gift?”

“Hmm, maybe you should go ask them?” you said as you jutted your head to the plethora of influencers walking around the grid taking selfies with everyone. She wrinkled her nose at the idea, quite content to stay out of the fray like you.

“No, thank you. Oh, there they are.”

You scanned the crowd and saw Max, Charles, and Lando walking out to the grid together, their heads huddled close as they tried to hear each other over the crowd. They made a beeline to the strips of red carpet and Max stood between the other two as they took their places for the national anthem.

“Looks like the podium lineup to me,” your mother whispered.

You chewed your lip and hoped the data from testing was as promising as it looked for McLaren and Ferrari. But you could never tell quite how much of it was real with the strategies and sandbagging. “I hope so, my boy’s need a good start this year.”

Click here for the next part.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for snapping at my aunt?

TW: pet death.

So I (F20) had a sweet little cat, he was my best friend, helped calm my panic attacks by sitting on my lap, he was the best. He played every day, he ran, he jumped, he looked like a very healthy cat. He was only 6 years old when one day he suddenly got very sick and all the vets were closed. I tried calling at their emergency numbers but none of the vets picked up and I don't have a car I could drive to another vet. My cat died after being in pain for hours. I cried like I've never cried before. I felt heartbreak on a physical level. The next day, the vet who performed the autopsy on him said that my cat couldn't be saved because he had something from birth that allowed him to look, move and act like a healthy cat but essentially, he would get sick one day and die and there was nothing any of us could've done to save his life. That helped me feel a little less guilty but it still was so traumatic knowing that he had been in pain until the end, even when I kept trying to comfort him. I wish I could've had the chance to put him down and watch him go peacefully.

Fast forward 5 months later and my aunt (F50) gets a cat. A very nice cat, and I am happy for her. My aunt knows I am still healing from losing my cat in such a traumatic way. My aunt loves everything her cat does and starts asking me if my cat did that as well. She starts doing this constantly, whatever she sees her cat doing, she asks me about mine. Whenever we bring up her cat in public, she talks about what she does and asks me about mine again and again and again and again. When we were in public, a couple of times I've had to excuse myself and rush to the bathroom because I was trying to hold back my tears. I don't know how the f**k she does not notice anything about my reaction, especially since she always brags about how empathetic she is.

One day I couldn't take it anymore and when she asked "did your cat also do this?" I snapped, I cut her off and yelled at her "no, my cat no longer does anything anymore because he suffered a slow painful death that I had to witness and I wish you would stop reminding me all the time that he is gone because I already know, I already wake up and he's not curled up next to me, all I can think of at home is that he's not there so stop fucking reminding me while I'm outdoors". I was really, really angry and hurt. I shouldn't have snapped at her but I miss my cat so much sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy.

WIBTA?

What are these acronyms?

[v3nusxsky]

Hey

A playonic lesso where r goes to her crying in the middle of the night? X

🦖

Mama

*Authors note~ Agere eat your heart out. A friendly reminder that everyone is welcome here for this content, only my nsfw is 18 + unless stated otherwise. And a thank you to all those who have been supporting me, love you guys*

Note~~~ waiting for the day I get a little lesso cg r request ngllll

Trigger warnings~ nightmares of past trauma, child abuse, sexual abuse from an older teen, alcoholic parents? Neglect?

Prompt~see ask^^^^

Being a Never was well known for being strong. Not just physically but you have to be emotionally guarded and stronger than your opponents. At least that is what Leonora Lesso says. Yet your Dean immediately recognised you weren't like the other students. Not only are you a reader, but you seem to act like a scared child when faced with your peers. She thought a trip to the doom room could toughen you up. But what she didn't know is, the doom room felt like home to you, a familiar cold distant environment where you only had yourself to trust and care for. Upon leaving you just stood, bowed your head at the woman and left a without a word or anything else.

That was what caused her to take a more sudden interest in you, hoping to build a relationship with you in order to find out what is causing such an off behaviour for a never student. Of course you found this suspicious, an adult had never truly paid attention to you, let alone notice anything off in your behaviour. What was even stranger is she didn't try to touch you, as soon as you made it know you weren't okay with it, she made sure your wishes were respected inside and outside the classroom.

Sure it took her months to finally build that relationship with you but to her it was worth everything and for you, it meant everything and more. For the first time in your life you finally felt safe to show some weakness and vulnerability with another. It was freeing of a sort, but you knew deep down she didn't know the whole story, one day you'd tell her but only when you were sure she could be trusted. Leonora allowing you to do things your own pace showed you that, and that's why you told her bits in drips and drabs. To test the waters with the woman.

Nightmares have been a reoccurring situation for you, all your life you've been on edge and hyper vigilant, even in your sleep. And your sure if your parents were actually sober maybe they would've noticed and told you it's just an overactive imagination. But they were never sober, early on you had to learn to cook clean and dress yourself as well as care for a house that honestly they were never in. If they remembered sometimes your aunt would babysit you. But even then, it was a rarity and not one you loved at all.

You'd tried to tell them what she did, but they only got madder at you and made sure you'd be extra sore in the morning, to teach you about telling lies. But only it wasn't lies, they were just to drunk to care or notice that. Despite your aunts special time being all you knew, you knew it was wrong, and now you were safe the memories haunted your slumber.

On this particular night, you couldn't wake up, it was like being thrown back in the past where everything felt so real again. You would cry scream and fight your way through, desperately looking for an escape from the way her hands pinned you down or continued to hurt you in unimaginable and unspeakable ways. It wasn't fair. You were only 3, absolutely no chance of overpowering her, only this time it was like you were an outsider looking in on it.

When you finally got out of the horrid nightmare, your throat was horse from screaming and crying, body tangled in the sheets, littered with scratched and hits from your own hands and hot salty tears steadily streaming down your cheeks. The first thing you noticed was you needed air, it felt like you were drowning. The second thing you noticed was how everything looked overwhelming and massive to you. The third was that you were alone, and that meant she could find you again, and that wasn't something you or your little headspace wanted, so you went blindly searching for someone safe.

You'd lost count how many times you'd tripped over your own feet or even just air due to your shaking limbs. Everything seemed to move and blur as you desperately wanted to find safety, to subconsciously find her. The longer you stumbled along the halls the more upset you became, these damn nightmares causing such an emotional toll on your being that you couldn't help the rapid decrease in headspace.

You managed to finally find the door with the shiny on it, you knew it was hers. Only her door had the shiny golden rectangle on, you didn't even bother to knock but rather just walked on in. You didn't even noticed how much your arrival startled the dean, all you noticed was her. Safe now. If you were in your normal headspace you would reprimanded yourself for such an action, yet you weren't so you tried to run into her arms before stumbling and accidentally banging your head on her desk. "Mama" you whimpered through your tears and opened and closes your fists at the woman. It was a clear direct signal for touch, one she wasn't expecting to see.

"It's okay my little dove, shall mama get you coldies for your head?" She murmured before scooping you into her arms. Safe now. You were safe and that was all you could think about. Leonora didn't need a reply, the bruise already forming on your head told her the answer, so grabbing a cold pack she kept for her knee, she sat you on her lap and whispered reassurance and comfort, exactly like a mother would do while you soaked in her embrace. "Mama safe now" you murmured into her shoulder causing her to miss it slightly. "Safe from who my darling?" It was meant with care but you immediately went stiff and replied "mean lady."

As much as the dean could she tried to rack her brains for what you meant but she knew nothing. It was like trying to find some string in a yarn ball. Impossible. But soon enough your little state started to remember your nightmare and confide in your mama. That was the night she promised to keep you safe, taking on a mother role in your life and would never allow anyone to ever hurt you ever again. That was her promise as she settled you back to sleep. And a promise is something she wouldn't ever break.

Word count~ 1162

[orionchildofhades]

steddie swapping soulmate au part 5

part 1 |[...]| part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | Ao3

---

when he wakes once more, Eddie is back in his body.

he knows because he is not hurting. and thats something.

he shift in his bed, enjoying the lack of aches and thinking over the previous day.

now that his mind is not as hazy, he tries to put the informations he learned in order. he wants to keep everything in, and make sure he understands his soulmate.

for a second he lets himself dream of waking up in his soulmates bed once more. but with his soulmate. with this person, his person, by his side. and it's stupid because they are fifteen, and Eddie is sixteen and they probably won't meet until much later when they both, hopefully, would have moved out.

he frowns. he didn't learn much though.

they can't see well, and they have a big bed in a big room in what is probably a big house.

and that's it.

I mean, they're also sick but that's only temporary, he adds, unless it's not? maybe they have, like, some disease?

he panicks for a second, not sure to be able to just leave their soulmate alone at home while suffering, everyday at every hour, without even company

he breath a little, reminding himself that both of them will be fine and that there is pretty much nothing he can do at the moment.

but it's okay. it's alright because he knows he has a soulmate know and he can carefully plan their wedding while acting cool and collected on the outside.

all thoughts are cut off when Wayne barges into his room, in very un-Wayne fashion.

"Patricia?" Eddie asks, trying to come back to earth from his little daydream

"What? No, son, why didn't you tell me you swapped? I just read over Patricia's note!"

"Patricia met my soulmate?" he jumped out of bed and almost fell over the pile of book that was not there the previous day. or the day before that perhaps.

"Yeah, and barely said nothing about them! she wrote, and I quote, 'it seems to me that Eddie has a very nice soulmate and I hope I'll can spend the day with them sometime again soon'" Wayne said before looking up from the paper he held in one hand.

Eddie on the other hand was walking to his own desk where he looked for a couple of books, which were now in the pile by his bed, before coming back and checking more titles. he could swear the last one was at the bottom of his laundry basket last time he checked. which had been a while, admittedly.

"I think Patricia and my soulmate cleaned my room..." he told Wayne with big eyes, full of both wonder, and terror.

seeing how clean and peaceful his other half's room had been, he couldn't muster the will to wonder about what his soulmate thought of him and the mess - organised mess!- of his bedroom.

with something akin to pity and understanding behind his eyes, Wayne nodded once, "that's tough kid, but at least they made cookies?" he said with a shrug before leaving the room

it's only once Eddie got back in his room, done with mopping about being shamed in his own space, and his belly filled with the delicious cookies Patricia had baked, that he saw the small note on his bedside table.

he was thinking over the fact that his soulmate had cooked him something, relishing in the addition of the sweet taste of cinnamon in the usual recipe, before he made a go for the furniture and took with careful hands, almost worshipping, the tiny piece of paper.

sorry you had to go through my flu, I didn't touch under your bed (that's personal), I enjoyed spending the day with your aunt(?), until next time ;)

Eddie lets a squeal escape his lips before falling, swooning really, on his bed, clutching the thin layer of matter witholding so many of his emotions.

he couldn't wait to meet them, he only whishes he had a name to put on them

[sunnyie-eve]

1 | I'm A What

Series: Little Things

Paring: Mattheo Riddle x OFC Potter!

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Might be a few mistakes

| MASTERLIST |

"Good evening professor Dumbledore." McGonagall transforms back into herself from being a cat. "Are the rumors true, Albus?" She asks him as they walk side by side under the dark sky.

"I'm afraid so, professor. The good and the bad." He tells her.

"And the twins?" She asks.

"Hagrid is bringing them." Dumbledore lets her know.

"Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" She asks being cautious.

"Ah, professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life." He says as they hear him coming. Hagrid tells Dumbledore there was no trouble bringing them here and that they fell asleep on the way. Dumbledore takes Harry while McGonagall takes Hazel.

"Albus, do you really think it's safe, leaving them with theses people? I've watched them all day they're the worst sort of muggles imaginable. They really are..." She tries to explain looking at Hazel in her arms.

"The only family they have." Dumbledore finishes her sentence.

"They will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know their name." She reminds him.

"Exactly. They're far better off growing up away from all of that. Until they are ready... Each has their own thing they have to be ready for in the future." He set Harry down on the doorstep then takes Hazel setting her down carefully too.

Hagrid starts to sniffle worried about the babies so Dumbledore calms him down saying it's not really goodbye. Before the three of them leave, Dumbledore places the letter for the Dursley's on the babies. "Good luck Harry and Hazel Potter." He tells them before leaving.

-

"Go wake up you're brother now. We have a busy day today." My Aunt Petunia slaps my hand as I was cleaning the mess she made in the kitchen.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." I leave the room going to knock on Harry's door. "Harry it's time to get up." I knock on his door. "Harry, you know not to take too long." I unlocked his door then walk back to the kitchen. "He's up." I let her know.

"Did I tell or ask you to speak, no." She gives me a disguising look.

I had a feeling out of Harry and me she hated me the most. I say and think this because she's expressed in the past how much I remind her of my mother. As Harry cooks breakfast I make the coffee for Uncle Vernon.

"Hurry up! Bring my coffee girl." He tells Harry and me.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." We both tell him.

As I pour the coffee then take it to him, Dudley starts to whine about having less presents than last year. Aunt Petunia tries to calm him down by saying while we're out they'll buy him two more presents. Harry and I share at look as if we knew what the other was saying.

After breakfast we are told to go get dressed for the day so we go to our rooms to get dressed. Just like Harry my room was basically a closet too but just not under the stairs. Luckily I had a little bit more room to move around unlike Harry though. As we walk to the car Uncle Vernon stops us telling us he wants no funny business while we're out.

At the zoo Harry and I enjoyed being out of the house and getting to see things instead of staring at the boring walls of our so called rooms. At the moment Dursley was done with the snake since he wasn't moving so he walks way leaving us.

"Sorry about him. He doesn't understand what it's like. Lying there day after day. Watching people press their ugly faces in on you." Harry tells the snake making me laugh because he was right but I stop when I see the snake wink at him.

"Can he hear you?" I ask Harry shocked.

"Can you?" Harry asks and the snake nods its head. Harry continues to talk to the snake and I look around confused till Dudley shoves Harry out of the way making him take me down with him.

I watch Harry glare at him before the glass disappears making Dudley fall into the exhibit and the snake slither out scaring everyone. I watch Dudley try to get out but the glass was back up making Harry and I giggle. We stop as soon as Uncle Vernon walks up to us glaring after us.

Once back home he let it out on Harry while he shouts at me to go to my room. "What happened." He swings the closet door open.

"I don't know. It was there then wasn't there it was again." I tell him the truth.

"What like magic?" He glares at me.

I knew if I said yes he would yell at me, "There's no such thing as magic." I tell him but don't actually believe that.

"Good girl." He slams the door.

The next day I walk downstairs and see Harry holding the mail. "What are you looking at?" I ask walking up to him.

"It's a letter for me. You have one too." He shows me.

"Letters for us?" I ask confused as he hands me mine before going to give the rest of the mail to Uncle Vernon.

"Dad, look Harry's got a letter." Dudley snatches Harry's letter.

Both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia share a look then take mine from me too. For days we weren't allowed to get the post so we just stayed in our rooms unless we were needed. On Sunday Uncle Vernon was happy that there was no post on Sundays. As he rants I look out the windows to see a lot of owls outside so Harry looks too. Suddenly the house start to shake and letters just fly in from the fireplace. Harry and I rush to get a letter but Uncle Vernon wouldn't let us.

We all end up on a little rock island with a small house. Harry and I get to sleep on the hard floor and I watch as he draws a happy birthday cake in the dirty on the floor.

"Make a wish Harry." I tell him.

"Make a wish Hazel." Harry smiles at me so we both blow the dirt candles.

Right after that there was a huge bang in the door startling us. Harry grabs my hand pulling me to se could hide together.

"Sorry about that." We hear a man say. "Mind, I haven't seen you since you was a baby, Harry. But you're a bit more along than I would've expected, particularly round in the middle. Where's your sister?" I peek to see a very tall man.

"I-I'm not Harry." Dudley tells him.

"I-I am." Harry sets out pulling me out with him.

"Oh, well, of course you are. And of course Hazel. Got something for you both. Fraid I might have sat on it at some point, but I imagine it'll taste fine just the same. Ahh, baked it myself, words and all, heh." Harry takes the box opening it to show a birthday cake with our names.

"Thank you." We tell him.

"It's not every day your young man and woman turns 11 now is it, eh?" He tells us then sits down and makes fire come out of his umbrella.

"Excuse me, but... who are you?" I ask the man.

"Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Of course, you'll know all about Hogwarts." He explains to us.

"Sorry, no." Harry tells him.

"No? Blimey, Harry, Hazel, didn't you both ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?" He asks us.

"Learned what?" We ask confused.

"You're a wizard Harry and you're a witch Hazel." Hagrid tells us.

"I'm a what?" We both say together.

"A wizard and a witch, and a thumpin good un, I'd wager, once you train up a little." He tells us.

"No. You've made a mistake. I mean... I... can't be a-a wizard. An-and Hazel can't be a witch. I mean, we're just... Harry and Hazel. Just Harry and Hazel." Harry tells him.

"Well, just Harry and Hazel, did either of you ever make anything happen, when you were angry or scared?" He tells us so we just look at each other, The glass for you at the zoo.

Hagrid gives us our letters to open and read do we do. "They will not be going, I tell you! We swore when we took them in, we would put a stop to all this rubbish." Uncle Vernon comes over to us.

"You knew?" Harry and me look at him.

"You knew all along, and you never told us?" Harry looks at Aunt Petunia.

"Of course we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was... a freak! And then she met that Potter, and then she had you both and I knew you both would be the same, just as strange, just as... abnormal. And then, If you please, she went and got herself blown up, and we got landed with you both." She explains to us.

"Blown up! You told us our park died in a car crash!" I shout at her.

"A car crash! A car crash killed Lily and James Potter?" Hagrid shouts at them as Dudley takes our cake. "Oh? And I suppose a great Muggle like yourself is gonna stop them, are you?" Hagrid tells Uncle Vernon.

"Muggle?" Harry and I look at him.

"Non-magic folk. These two have had their name down ever since they were born! They're going to the finest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the world, and they'll be under the finest headmaster that Hogwarts has ever seen... Albus Dumbledore." Hagrid lets them have it.

Uncle Vernon still doesn't agree and insults Dumbledore making Hagrid mad because giving Dudley a tail making Harry and me happy. We end up leaving with Hagrid happily.

-

"All students must be equipped with... One standard size 2 pewter cauldron and my bring, if they desire, either an owl, a cat, or a toad." Harry reads the list as the three of us walk around London.

"Can we find all this in London?" I look up at Hagrid.

"If you know where to go." He tells us so we just follow him.

We end up entering a pub that Hagrid was known in. "No thanks Tom. I'm on official Hogwarts business. Just helping young Harry and Hazel here buy their school supplies." Hagrid places his hands in our shoulder.

"Bless my soul. It's Harry and Hazel Potter." The entire place goes dead silent to look at us.

"Welcome back Mr. Potter. Welcome back." A man shakes Harry's hand.

"Doris a Rockford, Miss Potter. I can't believe I'm meeting you at last." A woman shakes my hand.

"Harry and Hazel P-Potter. C-can't tell you how pleased I am to meet you both." Another man comes up to us.

"Hello, Professor. I didn't see you there. Harry, Hazel, this is Professor Quirrell. He'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts." Hagrid tells us so we say it's nice to meet him.

We finish making our way through the room to a brick wall outside. Harry asks how do all those people know us but Hagrid said he's not the one who should tell us. We end up at Diagon Alley and Hagrid points out where we will be getting our supplies. Harry and I look around amazed by everything.

"But, Hagrid, how are we to pay for all this? We haven't any money." Harry tells him so he points at the bank.

Once inside Hagrid was a little secretive with one of the goblins, after saying we need to withdraw some money.

"What is he being secretive about?"Harry asks me.

"I don't know."

We follow going on a ride thing to the vault for our money. Inside there was a lot of money left for Harry and I. Once getting done we go to the secret vault so Hagrid could get something.

After getting all of our supplies for school a wand was the last thing we needed.

"Hello?" I call out.

"I wonder when I'd be seeing you, Mr. and Miss Potter." An older man gets off a latter looking for wands for us.

"Laurel Wood with dragon heartstrings core." The man hands me the wand it was a perfect match.

Unlike me Harry has a trouble time finding the right on me until the man tells him you know who had one just like his. Once we were done for the day we eat. Harry brings up that the he who should not be named is the one who killed our parents.

"First and understand this, cause it's very important- not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago, there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was V-... Voldemort. It was dark times. Dark times. Voldemort started to gather some followers, brought them over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. You're parents fought against him... But nobody lived once be decided to kill 'em. Nobody, not one. Except you, Harry." Hagrid explains.

"What about me? I'm still alive." I ask.

"That's the thing Hazel. You did die but came back. No one knows how that is possible." He tells me.

"So Harry survived through the curse but I didn't but then did?" I ask confused and he nods his head before letting us know that no one knows if Voldemort is actually dead.

[oh-surprise-its-me]

Mmh...let's make our favorite dummy definitely dehydrated, shall we Mac? 😗

(... I actually understand how he could forget to drink. I mean, the tea bottle is staring at me, I'm considering putting a angry face on it tho...cause it's staring really angrily)

Ah I completely understand how the dummy gets dehydrated… my aunt gently yelled at me last summer for that…

But here we go!

In Ron’s defense he was drinking things. Just not water. He’s on his third cup of coffee of the day. Really all he’s had the past week and a half is coffee.

He’ll drink the glass of water at dinner but otherwise? Nope. He’s running on straight caffeine.

Ron has been outside all day. He helped Chris fix the one part of the fence so the horses couldn’t leave. Helped Tom plant the trees he bought last weekend. Pushed Jake on the swings until Jake thought he was going to flip over and ran inside for a ball.

He feels tipsy. Not drunk tipsy. But like he’s going to pass out tipsy. Jake comes running back out of the house, behind him the four dogs follow. Chris likes to say it’s a dog for each of them. Ron knows it’s just the everlasting need to have animals around.

Jake skids to a stop in front of Ron. The ten year old has been on a energy trip all week. They can barely keep up. Especially with their deployment looming over their heads. They leave in three weeks.

Ron knows Jake doesn’t hate them for it but god. When they have to leave him and Chris at the airport it’s like something inside of him dies.

“Pa? Did you hear what I said?”

Ron blinks at him. He hadn’t. When did it start getting dark out.

Fuck.

It’s not dark.

That’s his vision going.

“Chickie I’m going to be fine but go get your dads right now.” Ron collapses forward and catches himself on the deck.

Jake stares at him for a second before taking off.

He knows that tone. That’s the I’m being so serious right now one. He sprints off towards the barn where dad was working. Tata is probably with him. “Dad! Tata! Pa passed out!!”

Chris and Tom come running out of the barn before Jake can even get there. They sprint by him. Ron’s dog is licking his face when they reach him.

“Baby?” “Hey come on wake up Sunny.”

Jake is standing to the side. “Do I need to call uncle David and Lucas?”

Chris looks up at their kid. “No baby. He’s fine. Probably just dehydrated.” Tom slaps Ron’s face.

That gets a reaction.

Ron gasps awake. He tries to sit up but Chris shoves his shoulder back down. “Stop it. Lay there. Let everything come back.”

Jake looks like he’s trying to not cry. He’s holding the smallest dog. A chihuahua mix he found in the yard last summer. “Pa? Are you okay?”

Ron sits up again. Chris makes a noise of annoyance but allows it knowing that Ron will do anything to make sure Jake is okay. “Fine chickie. Just forgot to drink water all week.”

Tom stares at him. Ron can practically feel holes being burned into his head. “All week?”

“Pa you ain’t supposed to do that. That’s a terrible idea. It’s how you get hurt!”

Tom snaps his fingers at Jake, “baby you know ain’t isn’t proper grammar.”

Chris points a in Jake’s direction. “What the ten year old with more sense then you said.”

“Come on dummy. Let’s go inside and put you on the couch. You’re gonna drink so much water.”

Tom pulls Jake under his arm. “Common kiddo. That means Batman and reminding your pa to drink for you.”

Jake let’s out a whoop. He likes being able to tell people what to do. Chris likes to say he got that from Tom.

-

In bed that night Ron looks a lot better. Less pale then he was earlier in the day. They didn’t realize it but apparently he was really not okay. Tom is curled up on top of him. Chris is laying behind Ron so he has a way to sit up.

There’s a water bottle on the nightstand that they keep passing over to him.

“Jesus Christ okay enough are you two trying to drown me?”

Chris pinches his shoulder, “you’re not allowed to complain. You passed out.”

Tom tilts his head up to look into Ron’s eyes. “I will ask Lucas for an IV don’t think I won’t.” Ron sighs. He pets a hand over Tom’s head. “Oh Tommy I know you would.”

There’s a beat where they just listen to each other breathing.

“I am sorry though. Really didn’t mean to scare anyone. Thought I was fine.”

There’s a sigh from Chris this time. “It’s fine you know it just be more careful.”

Tom pinches Ron’s nipple. He gets a hiss in response, “if you do this on the carrier I will end you.”

“Love you too baby.”

“I love you too you fucking idiot.”

“I’m not going to call either of you names and I’m just gonna say I love you both.”

[ceru-at-hogwarts]

The First Christmas

[Some Drabble about Ominis' first Christmas at Feldcroft]

"Ominis, Sebastian and I... we've talked to Uncle Solomon, and he agrees. Do you want to come over to our place this Christmas? Then we can all go for Christmas shopping at Hogsmade and you can help me bake christmas cookies. Because that dolt of Sebastian always eat all the dough and not helping at all! I need help! Please?"

*

"You never had a Christmas Tree before? How so? Oooh I know, we'll put a big one in the living room!"

*

"Here, hang your stocking here. They say a good old gentlewizard will come and fill it with wonders during the night. You can put yours beside mine. Sebastian's smelly."

*

"See? He remembers you. Your stockings' filled. Why don't we undo the tree now and eat all the good things hanging on it for breakfast?"

*

"Those apples hanging on the trees are lovely! They are red and round, and they smell so delicious. Also, there are lots of candies, red and white, they'll melt in your mouth. Here, take one. You've never tasted them right?"

*

"Merry Christmas, Ominis. Sebastian will only complain of your snoring beside him but it was his snore I heard even from my room! Don't let him make you believe otherwise! I recognize my twin's snore, I had to listen to it for YEARS! And oh, that quill's from us both."

*

"And that wand handle is from Uncle Solomon. He said he had to do something this morning but he got that for you! It's the same he got us last year. So now the three of us have the same wand handle. Isn't it nice?"

*

"Sebastian! Why don't we show Ominis our sledge? It's still big enough for the three of us to ride on it, no?"

*

"You're funny Ominis, you're the only person who ever loves standing in the garden when the snow was falling. Everyone else just want to cuddle inside, watching it inside out."

*

"Oh… I didn't know. You must miss your aunt a lot a lot. I'm sorry... Oh look, Sebastian's telling us to come with him. We can all stand there and feel the snow falling. The world's all under a thick blanket of snow, everything's silent outside, isn't it? Hey, had you ever tried to stick your tongue out and tried to taste it?"

*

"Ha! Last person back in the house made the hot mint chocolate! Race you all!"

*

"Look, there's a bowtruckle among the holly! We'd better let it alone. Let's walk to the other side of the hill, where there are winterberries. Have you ever tried it? No? It's the best thing ever!"

"Open your mouth…"

"Ha! I know you'll like it. Oh wait, Sebastian leave us some! Don't you dare eating them all by yourself you troll!"

*

"Here Ominis, you can't go out without a scarf. Your lips had became blue yesterday and you'll catch a cold otherwise. Oh stop fidgetting! It's just a scarf. NOW YOU TOO SEBASTIAN. Oh…Boys… Wait for me, both of you!"

"I told you so. Now you'll stay in bed with Pepper Up potions and I'll get to eat the rest of the candies by myself. Ha!"

"It's alright, it's just a bad dream. You're quite ill so it's normal to get bad dreams. That's why you should have listened to me. I told you so! Reminds me of kicking Sebastian on the shin once both of you are back on your feet. Boys…"

"We're here, mate, just sleep, I'll wake you up if you get bad dreams again all right? Hey don't push that duvet away, your shivering all night won't do, I value my beauty sleep."

*

"Well I hope the three of you had a nice Christmas holiday here. I'm glad to have you around, you're welcome anytime here. Now try not to get too much in trouble, all of you. Have a nice term!"

[pixiedust111]

Rapunzel into the Multiverse! (Part 4)

(continued)

"Is it possible that I'm trapped in an alternate universe now?"

"But HOW is that possible?"

"Where's this universe's Rapunzel then?"

"I don't need to return to Corona."

"I need to return to my universe!"

Thoughts were scampering inside Rapunzel's head.

"But why didn't Eugene come to save me? Haven't we ever met in this universe? No. We did. Gothel wasn't surprised when I asked about him."

"Did Max fail to rescue him?"

"Did they already hang him like Gothel said?"

"Oh dear!"

"I need to find a vehicle, immediately," Rapunzel said to Gothel, worried.

Gothel didn't say anything in reply, since it was more of a soliloquy than a question or a proposal.

Rapunzel sped up her walking; there could be something to ride near the vicinity.

"You forgot my refreshment," Gothel reminded.

"Shut up!" Rapunzel shouted. "There's no time."

After walking for a few minutes, Rapunzel discovered a small store.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" Rapunzel knocked on the shutter.

"Hello!"

"Who is this freak in the middle of the night?"

The shutter shifted.

A middle-aged man peeked out of the store.

"I'm really sorry for waking you up, but it's a very serious problem. I was wondering if I could find any vehicle here to go home?"

"No LADY goes home at this hour," the shop owner said with disgust.

"I'm traveling with my mother... to visit my aunt," Rapunzel tried to convince, suppressing her rising anger.

"She got really sick. We just received the news tonight, and there's no other choice. Please, could you help us?"

"No", the man shut down his store.

"You know, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the house until morning," Gothel grinned with disdain.

"Hey! Over here!"

Gothel looked back as Rapunzel was waving at something.

A horse carriage!

"Will you go to Corona castle?" Rapunzel screamed as the carriage approached.

"No, sorry, I'm heading back home."

"I'll pay 30 gold coins if you take us there now." Rapunzel offered.

The coachman raised his eyebrow.

"You have gold coins?"

"Not yet, but I'll pay when I reach the castle."

"Listen, I need to sleep after a day of grinding. There's no time for listening to a drunk."

"What? I'm not a drunk; I'm the princess of Corona."

"The princess was stolen."

"I was, that's why I need to get there right now."

"You're claiming that you're the lost princess?"

"If you don't believe me, just look at me; look at the resemblance. You must have seen the missing poster for the lost princess, right?"

The man examined her closely; that must be her. And how much was the reward again?

"Get into the carriage."

"Thank you!" Rapunzel almost jumped into the carriage with Gothel.

"Rapunzel, wait, they'll kill me if they find out it was I who stole you," Gothel whispered anxiously.

"Don't worry, I won't tell them."

The coachman galloped the carriage.

Rapunzel leaped out of the carriage as soon as they reached the castle gate, followed by Gothel and the carriage runner.

Guards stopped them at the entrance.

"Please, let me in. I'm the lost princess, Rapunzel."

"Yes, she is," the coachman insisted.

"You believe that some stranger in the middle of the night claimed herself to be the lost princess, and we're supposed to believe it? Is it that easy?" the guard declared.

"Don't I look like the princess? Bring my parents; they will surely recognize me."

"Sorry, I can't bother their sleep, but... I can call the captain. Wait here."

Rapunzel waited patiently.

The captain of the guard arrived, followed by a girl. Rapunzel knew her. She was Cassandra. Rapunzel noticed Gothel immediately trying to hide her face with her cape, but it was hard as her hands were cuffed.

But Cass didn't recognize any of them.

"You are saying you are the lost princess? Do you have any proof?" the captain asked.

"Dad, it might be her. Look at the resemblance. Same green, large eyes, long blonde hair, although it's crazy long; well, that's weird!" Cassandra told her dad.

"Shall I call the king and the queen?" the captain asked his daughter.

"I think you should. I can see a possibility here," Cassandra replied.

"Alright. I'm going to tell Nigel. Meanwhile Cass— you and Stan, bring them inside with heavy guard."

"Thank you so much for your kind consideration," Rapunzel expressed her gratitude.

"And, why are this lady's hands cuffed?"

"Oh, she's a bit, you know... peculiar," Rapunzel said, pointing to her head.

"But don't worry, she's... she is my maid; I think she will be fine."

The captain frowned.

"You heard me, you're in charge." The captain left after giving a reminder to Cassandra and Stan.

"Why is your hair so long?" Cassandra asked Rapunzel.

"My mother drank some magical extract of the sundrop flower, and I've acquired its magic now," Rapunzel replied.

"I saw in the painting that the baby had long, blonde hair," Cassandra said.

"And where've you been all this time?" Cass asked with the curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

"I've been locked up in a tower, never found a way out."

"But who'd locked you up in a tower? And where's that tower?"

Before answering Cass's question, Rapunzel saw her parents running towards them. They stopped just after seeing her.

The queen moved forward in shaky steps, stopping right in front of her. The queen touched her face. Rapunzel smiled. The queen hugged her immediately, holding her so tight as if someone would take her away again if she let go.

Rapunzel looked at her father. The king seemed a bit embarrassed for not hugging her earlier. He joined the group hug after smiling.

They all sat together as if they could not stand on their feet anymore with this heavy weight of endearment.

Tears filled all their eyes, even the captain and Cass wiped their eyes.

"Ahem, I brought her," the coachman claimed.

"May I now leave with the reward, your majesty?" He asked the king.

"What reward? You didn't even want to bring me here. You didn't even believe me!" Rapunzel said.

"But then I did and brought you here."

"Yeah, I'll pay you your 30 gold coins."

"But, a reward was declared for anyone who'd bring you."

"Okay, okay, you'll have your reward. Tonight is the greatest night of my entire life! The entire kingdom will rejoice tomorrow. Nigel, declare it right now."

"As you wish, your majesty," Nigel left.

The queen hugged her again; she didn't want to let go of her baby.

Rapunzel raised her head abruptly as she remembered something suddenly.

"Where's Eugene?"

To be continued

[tetsunabouquet]

Heir To The Lands Chapter 38

Masterpost Grateful For What We Have

Tessa showed Tavi and Ty the spot where she had put an extra litterbox, so Irene and Shadowcat could still do their thing once it was nighttime as Tessa was very strict on the house being locked tight when everyone was asleep. "If you want, I can clean the litterbox every morning Mrs. Grey, Shadowcat is very skittish and has never left the New Academy building, which is one of the reasons Headmaster Garroway allowed him to stay in the first place. I'm used to cleaning a litterbox as soon as I wake up." Tavi informed her, and Tessa smiled at the girl. "Thank you, I suppose I will not interfere with your routine then." Tessa couldn't help but be reminded of Christopher Lightwood as she gazed at the two and couldn't help but wonder if he had been autistic too. It would explain a lot. "Your cat did disappear like a shadow. " Ty said, trying to break the ice between him and one of Dru's friends. "He does. He hates strangers. My mom always used to say Shadowcat was as autistic as I am." Tavi explained, her voice sounding sad. Ty looked at her and vaguely recalled something. "Your mother was one of the casualties of Livvy's Watch, wasn't she?" Tavi's lip trembled as she nodded. "And everyone else remained in Idris. They couldn't stand to be parted from the Boomkikker heirlooms and they didn't cared enough about my mom to hate the Cohort. My father had been planning to divorce her anyways." She tried to push back the tears stinging in her eyes and Tessa felt so sorry for the young girl, having been abandoned by her family like that. So many Shadowhunter families preferred to stick to their pride rather then their children, and Tessa had always found it to be one of the most disappointing aspects of the old Clave. "Have you been staying with the Grünlichts?" Tessa inquired, and the girl nodded. "For the weekends, I did. Before going to the New Academy I would stay at the Zwolle Institute during the weeks. As you might be aware, the Boomkikkers are the first and eldest Dutch Shadowhunting family. We've been carrying so many Institute duties for centuries and now that everyone is gone I am the only one who has the knowledge of things like the digital banking my aunt Els set up through a werewolf working at the Rabobank now that digital money transfers have taken over the game. No matter how often I try to teach the head of the Institute about computers, they just keep making huge errors. I might be absent on occasion as I'm still on digital administration tasks." Ty was met with a rude awakening. He and Livvy had been great with computers and he liked to think they had been a talented team. He hadn't realized others with a similar skillset as himself had already been recruited by the adults in charge to take on heavy responsibilities regarding the digital era. She sounded like Julian had once upon a time, and Ty couldn't help but feel awkward as someone who had been lucky enough to have a loving family that allowed him to pursue his dreams with his skillset rather then making him bear responsbilities around the Institute with them. Ty didn't really knew what to say so he left Tavi and Tessa to converse a bit more.

Ty laid down together with Kit on his bed, thinking things over. "You look like you have something on your mind. Do you wish to share your thoughts with me?" Kit asked, his blue eyes looking into his grey ones. "I was just thinking, how lucky I am to have my family. They always let me be whoever they wanted me to be, Julian's been so great to me. It didn't really occur to me how others like myself can be treated when they're less fortunate." Kit figured he must be talking about about Dru's autistic friend. "A good family is hard to find. Trust me, it took me 15 years until I got one." Ty looked at the ceiling. "Were you lonely?" "Sometimes, I was." Kit admitted. "I'm sorry that we can't hold our first date soon, with everything going on." Ty said, feeling bad to deprive Kit of love that he so deeply deserved. "It's okay. Honestly, I never would have thought anyone would love me enough to fight for me the way you have or my foster parents do. I'm grateful that you saved me." Kit confessed as he carefully laid his head on top of Ty's chest, and the raven haired boy smoothed back his blonde locks with nothing but tenderness.

[la-cocotte-de-paris]

Why is half of this film my life now

There's just something about watching your favourite comfort movie in bed ♡

[phosphophy11ite]

Neon Genesis Evangelion Ep 4 "Hedgehog's Dilemma" -> Review/analysis ^_^

this episode is also on my list of favorites from the series! the epsiode opens with misato waking up, and then going to shinji's room (who now has a more permanent sign on his door reading 'shinji's room'). she tells him to get up and get ready for school, and it's revealed that he hasn't been in class for five days. when she receives no answer, misato opens to door to find shinji gone, only leaving a note and his nerv card. misato seems disappointed, but she understands how terrifying pilot the eva must be.

a bit later, toji and kensuke visit shinji. it's obvious that toji feels very guilty for hitting shinji and getting in the way of his fight with shamshel. kensuke doesn't seem to feel this remorse. but they both are worried about shinji, and ask misato where he's been. i really like the relationship between toji, kensuke, and shinji, especially as it develops into real friendship. it's really one of the only healthy (enough) relationships in the series. misato is surprised by their visit, and tells them that shinji is busy training at nerv.

next, shinji is shown sitting on a train with a duffle bag. he sits with his head down and earbuds in, and many people are shown getting on and off the train, suggesting he's been riding for a while. shinji is quite literally running away from his problems here, and i can't say i blame him. shinji is really caught in a pickle: stay at nerv and do something he hates (not even for the greater good), something that is pretty terrifying and stressful, or return to his old life with his aunt and uncle, who, despite having raised him for 10 years, have not made any attempt to contact shinji. it seems that when shinji runs away this time, he is not going back to his family, but just avoiding his problems. he understands this flight is temporary, and he will have to make a real decision about where he is going to stay.

shinji gets off the train and walks around the city a bit before going into a movie theater. the theater is mostly empty, and guess what the movie's about? the second impact! the south pole, explosions, tragedy, and other second impact adjacent things are mentioned in the movie, which i thought was a cool little detail i didn't notice. shinji stares with what i think is disgust at a couple making out during the movie, and while he does that, these lines play:

the doctor is a character who insists on staying at what is likely the site of the second impact, and the speaker tells him to live. he must bear witness too... the movie is cut off, we never hear what he's referring to. i really liked this little detail too, as it hints to the overarching theme of the series. dying is easy, running away is easy, and escapism is easy. but you must live on, to bear witness to---- something. something important, and you don't know what it is yet, but you will know one day. and if you want to know one day, you must stay alive.

i'm getting sidetracked but the movie quote reminds of me of much later in the series (i believe it's in the last two episodes, it could even be in eoe i'm not sure) when rei asks asuka why she's alive. asuka responds with "maybe i'm living because i'm trying to figure that out.."

after the movie, shinji is seen wandering around the city around dusk. suddenly, his vision becomes blurry and he starts to hear discombobulated and contorted noises that sound like the angel warning alarms and wails. shinji is taken aback by these sounds, and tries to block them with his hands. it doesn't work, so he breaks out into a sprint, running away from the noise. this scene represents shinji's thoughts of reality and the decision he is going to have to make regarding the eva coming back to him. but he chooses to ignore these thoughts, and runs away again.

the next day, shinji takes the bus far away from the city and walks around. he's seen walking through fields of sunflowers, and at one point sits on the edge of a cliff. i don't know if shinji's contemplating suicide here. he's mentioned not caring about dying, but whenever he's put in a life-or-death situation so far, he fights his hardest to live. but either way, shinji obviously doesn't end up killing himself and walks away from the cliff.

the next scene is flashback to right after shinji defeated shamshel and ignored misato's orders. misato's a bit angry with him, though she seems more relieved that the angel was defeated. she tells him that from now on he should always follow her orders, and shinji responds with simple 'yes ma'am's. this pisses misato off, and she tells him he better give more reaction than that if he wants to continue piloting the eva. continuing to use the evangelion this apathetically will lead to his death, though shinji tells misato he's not very concerned with that. this angers misato as well. she tells him that his body is not his anymore and that there are people who would suffer if he died.

despite them butting heads, misato admits that shinji's better off not piloting the eva to ritsuko when he runs away. she sympathizes with shinji, though she sees it as her job to take care of him and make him defend humanity.

in the next scene, shinji comes across kensuke playing soldier. war is just a fantasy to him, but it's a cruel reality to shinji. kensuke sees shinji and invites him over to his camp, where shinji asks if he's practicing guerilla warfare. kensuke admits that it's all just a game to him. he then tells shinji that he's lucky he gets top pilot the eva, and he'd do anything to get a chance like that. kensuke is jealous of shinji's life because he doesn't understand what it's like.

shinji tells kensuke that his mother would be worried if he piloted the eva. kensuke laughs and says he doesn't have a mother... just like shinji.

shinji sleeps at kensuke's camp, and in the morning he's picked up by nerv officials and returned to misato. shinji leaves with them without a fight, signaling he understands he must return to reality and make a decision. once reunited with misato, he asks if she's going to punish him, and she says no. shinji responds with this:

he was hoping from some reaction from his father, and this is also a dig at misato. she tells him he needs to make a decision: will he stay at nerv, or go?

the next scene shows ritsuko and gendo discussing rewiring unit 1 for rei, which confirms that shinji has decided to leave. rei is in terrible condition, and while it's hard to really tell someone's expression when they're animated, ritsuko looks worried for her. it's revealed later in the series that ritsuko detests rei, but she's got some moral conflict surrounding the eva pilots.

in the next scene, shinji's getting ready to board the train and leave tokyo 3 when toji and kensuke approach them. he asks how they knew he would be here, and they tell him they've had to say goodbye to many classmates here, and that soon they'll all have to leave because shinji's abandoning his post. they don't mean to make him feel guilty, as they tell him they understand his decision. as he's leaving, shinji tells toji and kensuke that he's a weak coward, shinji feels quite guilty for refusing to pilot the eva.

the trains comes. and at the same time, misato speeds into the parking lot. she wants to say her final goodbye to shinji, but when she sees the train, she thinks it's too late. but when the train leaves the station, it's revealed shinji is standing there: at the very last moment, he decided to stay.

misato and shinji stare at each other from across the tracks for a while without speaking. announcements are made, cicadas drone, and there's a pop song playing in the background but no dialogue. scenes like this are frequent though nge, and i really like them. they depend on the mood/atmosphere to tell what's needed. shinji and misato do not break their gaze until shinji says "i'm home." and misato responds with "welcome back."

[thisisalwaysmorethanoneknows]

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

Chapter 3

Word count: 1031

Summary: A dragonet, Ray, tries to be more important that whom they are and gets way in over their head. They get involved with everything from pirates and evil queens, to buried secrets lost to the sands of time.

Will she get out of the storm and finally live a normal life, or will the world of dragons crush her?

________________

"Ray," Goblin signed, "you said something was up. I think we should talk about it. Please?"

"Fine…" Ray signed, "it's just. So I tried to help Queen Newt by finding her dragonets. Then she blew up at me when I brought them to her so I had to bring my parents to her. Then she practically forced them to have me live with her. And now tomorrow I have to leave the Sea Kingdom and live with Queen Newt."

"Wow, that's a lot. I'm glad she got you away from your parents - I really didn't like them - but it's sad to hear you'll leave us," Goblin signed, "maybe this will be an opportunity for you though. Most dragons know very little about the MudWings."

"Only you could see the positives," Ray signed.

"You can see the positives too, you just have to try," Goblin signed, "now it's getting late, you should meet back up with Queen Newt."

"Yeah yeah," Ray signed, they swam up and gave Goblin a parting hug before swimming out and back to the Pavillon. They didn't want to see Goblin's final words to them.

·

··

·

It was the morning of the next day. Ray had slept in the Visitor's Pavilion. They felt cold, the wind blowing in chilling their now dry scales. They could still hear one of the MudWing princes snoring (how did it not wake them all? It was so loud). They had barely slept, they couldn't keep their eyes open.

Queen Newt was already awake, although she was only half awake. The MudWing queen had yet to notice Ray was awake. Queen Newt was paying more attention to her own dragonets.

Ray gave a loud yawn and got up, stretching. They couldn't get more sleep today, they'd just have to live with that. It seemed they had to accept a lot of bad stuff lately.

"Morning Tadpole, how did you sleep?" Queen Newt said, voice dripping with sleep, "ah who am I kidding, you definitely didn't."

"Why did you start calling me Tadpole?" Ray asked, "it's not my name."

"Habit, my Aunt always called dragonets tadpoles, and I guess I picked it up," Queen Newt explained. They yawned before speaking again, "Urg I should get the other Tadpoles up."

Ray just watched, tired, as Queen Newt got her dragonets up. They all acted pretty differently from the hyperactive Caimen to the very groggy (worse than Queen Newt) Gharrial. It would be funny if Ray wasn't just as tired as Gharrial.

"Urg Mother, remind me why that SeaWing dragonet is with us," Gharial said.

"I have my own motives, you don't question my actions," Queen Newt said, "now come on everyone. We have to get home."

"Doesn't that mean the SeaWing goes-" Gharial was interrupted by Queen Newt's growl.

"Do not speak like this Gharial, you will treat Ray as you would your siblings," Queen Newt stated, "I mean, it'd be pretty embarrassing if Ray went on the next diplomatic mission and you didn't."

"What?!" Gharial yelled.

"Yeah, you'd better listen to Mother," Alligator said, with a smirk.

"Shut it Alli," Gharial snapped.

"Enough. We do need to get going. Olm can't be left in charge forever," Queen Newt said, "come on Tadpoles, we fly south."

And so the first time in Ray's life, they left the Sea Kingdom.

·

··

·

Ray landed with MudWing royalty in the Mud Kingdom. Her talons were in the mud… Ray missed sand already. They would probably never be clean again…

"Welcome to the MudWing kingdom, Ray," Queen Newt said, "your new home."

"Pfft, until she realizes it's pointless," Crocodile whispered, they proceeded to be elbowed in the stomach by Alligator.

"My new home…" Ray echoed.

"Yep! Home! So nice to be back!" Caiman said, sprinting into the mud.

"Caiman, watch it, I do not want mud tracked into our dorm," Gharrial hissed.

Ray just watched the four siblings interact. They all acted like how siblings in Ray's stories acted. A family.

Family was only ever a concept other dragons got. Ray only had her parents and they barely counted. Ray paused for a moment, then shook their head, they couldn't hope for another family. Family wasn’t something Ray could have, blood or not.

“Queen Newt!” a random MudWing said, running up to the group and snapping Ray out of their funk, “you’re back, how did everything go?

“It went well,” Queen Newt said, tone even, regal. They were talking to a citizen, not a friend, “how well did my sister handle the kingdom?”

“She managed it well. Nothing out of the ordinary,” the other MudWing said, then they looked over at Ray, as if just noticing the SeaWing, “your majesty, who is the SeaWing? They don’t look like Queen Shore’s family.”

“That is currently not your business,” Queen Newt said, before adding, “you are dismissed.”

“Of course your majesty,” the MudWing said before running off.

"So SeaWing!" Caiman said, catching Ray off guard.

"Ray," they corrected, "and uhh… what is it?"

“How do you like our kingdom? Isn’t it great?” the dragonet asked.

“It’s uhh, muddy?” Ray said, trying to avoid being rude.

“No sh-crap, why do you think it’s called the MUD Kingdom?” Gharial said, her smirk apparent.

“Watch it Gharial,” Queen Newt hissed, earning a huff from Gharial.

“Actually, Mom, can I show Ray our dorm?” Caiman asked.

“Not yet, I want to show Ray around the castle and explain etiquette,” Queen Newt said, “maybe after, if it is not too late, then you may.”

“Alright Mom,” Caiman said, looking down.

“Now come along Ray, we have plenty to discuss,” Queen Newt said, “you other dragonets can run along.”

“Yes Mom!” Caiman said, running off, his siblings in tow.

“Now Ray, based on your parents, I am going to assume you know nothing about how to act around royalty,” Queen Newt stated.

“... No I don’t, I never really interacted with royalty,” Ray said.

“Alright, so starter, if someone higher than your rank speaks, wait for them to give you permission to speak before you speak,” Queen Newt said.

And so, Ray got to learn about the castle and royal etiquette…

[lavendershadow]

If you were going to kill yourself, how would you do it?”she asked.

I turned onto my stomach, sorted through the jewelry. I tried on a gold bangle. It wouldn’t fit over my hand. I thought of my suicides, the way I would run my death through my fingers like jet beads.

“I wouldn’t.”

She laced an Indian silver necklace onto her flat stomach, strands of hairlike tubes making metal into a fluid like mercury.

“Well, say you wanted to.”

“It ’s against my religion.”

Sweat trickled down between mybreasts, pooled in my navel.

“What religion is that?”

“I’m a survivalist.”

She wouldn’t allow that. I wasn’t playing.

It was against the rules. “Just say you did. Say you were very old and had a horri-ble incurable cancer.”

“I’d get lots of Demerol and wait it out.” I was not going to discuss suicide with Claire. It was on my mother’s list of antisocial acts.

I wasn’t going to tell her the surest way, the bone cancer boy’s plan, injecting an air bubble into your vein and move through your blood like a pearl. I was sure her aunt Priscilla used that once or twice on the battlefield when the morphine ran out. Then there was a load of cyanide at the back of the tongue, the way they did it to cats.

It was very fast. When you committed suicide, you didn’t want something slow. Some-one could walk in, someone could save you.

Claire clasped her hand to one knee, rocked a little, up and down her spine. “You know how I’d do it?”

She was pulling me down that road and I wasn’t going to go there.

“Let ’s go to the beach, okay? It’s so hot, it’s making uscrazy.”

She didn’t even hear me. Her eyes looked dreamy, like someone in love.

“I’d gas myself. That ’s the way. They say it ’s just like going to sleep.” She reminded me of a woman lying down in snow. Just lying down for a little while, she was so tired. She ’d been walking so long, she just wanted to rest, and it wasn’t as cold as she thought. She was so sleepy. It was the surrender she wanted. To stop fighting the storm and the enveloping night, to lie down in whiteness and sleep.

I understood. I used to dream that I was skindiving down a coral wall. Euphoria set in as the nitrogen built up in my bloodstream, and the only direction was down into darkness and forgetting

.I had to wake her up. Slap her face, march her around, feedher black coffee.

I told her about the Japanese sailor adrift for four days when he killed himself. “They found him twenty minutes later. He was still warm.

”We heard the hum of someone running a lawn mower down the street. The sweetness of jasmine took the rest of the air.

She sighed, filling out ribs sharp as the blades of the mower. “But how long can a person float, looking at an empty horizon? How long do you drift before you call it quits?”

What answer could I give her?

I’d been doing it for years.

She was my life raft, my turtle. I lay down, put my head on her shoulder. She smelled of sweat and L’Air du Temps, but now dusty blue, as if her melancholy had stained the perfume.

“Anything can happen,” I said

White Oleander-Janet Fitch

[pcrfectcrime]

carmen had tried real hard to give herself the space from daxton. and although she was trying, she could feel herself reeling back into them. it was hard not to considering what the other had gone through. hearing they had been arrested didn't really surprise her, not even the part where they had almost lost their life. carmen had seen it before or at least close to it and that was the sudden wake up call carmen needed to leave their relationship because she couldn't be there if daxton was close to their last breath. what did surprise her was the picture they still had and kept in their wallet. seeing it had made her heart skip a beat. it reminded her of the good times. they were happy and in love. nothing mattered then. then they had showed her the sobriety chip and that is when carmen knew that daxton was taking it seriously. she took the chip from them and held it in her hands; turning it around to view it. " wow..." was all she could say. she was shocked and amazed at daxton for taking the steps that she had tried to make them take. " i can't believe you did this. im so proud of you, dax." she looked over at them with a small smile. " i also can't believe you kept that for all those years." she nodded over at the polaroid in their hands. seeing their tics once again, carm placed a hand on their's and gave it a squeeze. it felt like the first time they were completely being transparent with her. she was already familiar with how distant they were with the twins when they came out however even before then, their parents was much more dismissive with daxton than they were with ashton. almost like it was a natural thing, carmen leaned against daxton and rested her head onto their shoulder. " it's okay to hate them." she said. " what they did to you and ashton is something i can't get over and neither can my parents. they're supposed to be there for you no matter what. they're pieces of shit and i will stand by that." carmen bit softly on her bottom lip, and shook her head. " the last time i spoke to them about you. i told them we broke up and we don't talk. i guess they had assumed you had left town. ashton and svea are over sometimes. my parents invite them over for family dinner because you know, both of you will always be family." that was true. her parents treated the twins like their own and had wished they could have taken them in when they got kicked out. instead, they had a family friend, who carmen considered an aunt, take the twins in so they were able to be under a roof, get fed, and stay within the community so they could continue their schooling and also still have carmen be in close vicinity to them. she lifted her head up to look at them with a smile. " i would love to. only if you let me give you things to take with you for when you leave town. just enough to last for a couple of weeks. clothes, food. anything."

throughout daxton's spiral, the one thing that never faltered was the amount of love they had for carmen. they never went out of their way to hurt her by any means but the daxton she had known and loved was trapped inside a person they couldn't control, tearing their relationship apart. daxton never blamed her for ending the relationship although it didn't make it hurt any less. it stung to hear her refer to them as the past, carmen was still very much their present and future when it came to love. "i guess they were." they were glad ashton got to experience the feeling they had and knew their twin wasn't stupid enough to throw it away. daxton's mind lingered on the way carmen had worded what she had said. had she given up on them altogether? they weren't sure if they wanted the answer knowing the engagement ring they'd bought years ago was still in their possession, the one thing of great value they hadn't sold for money.

daxton knew all too well just how much carmen had tried to help them. the person that loved her more than anything wanted to take it, get the help they needed to be her person again but it was out muscled by the need to subdue all the pain and emotions caused by their childhood, their parents and their career going up in flames. "i didn't tell you the whole truth before. i was arrested, locked up and she bailed me out. i was at rock bottom, one step away from being in a casket. she asked me about the people that loved me and i told her about you. i showed her this-" reaching into their pocket they pulled the worn polaroid picture of the two of them and handed it to carmen. it was obvious how in love they looked, how genuinely happy they were with their beaming smiles as they looked at each other, dax's arms wrapped around the woman's waist, pulling her into them. they'd been visiting ashton and went to the beach, just after they'd won their first pro competition. daxton carried it on their person at all times. "my direction to getting better was always led by you, even if you weren't in my life, even if you didn't know." they pulled out their sobriety chip and handed it to her. "it has to work, i don't want to be that person again. helga, that's her name and she calls to make sure i go to my meetings and to talk about the issues that had put me on that path."

there was nothing daxton hated more than talking about themselves and found it hard accepting genuine compliments, something they never received as a child. "i work out a lot, it helps clear my mind." their hands found the rings again as they fidgeted, "she said i should get tested for behavioural disorders, it might explain why everything was much more difficult for me when i was a kid. she also said if my parents had paid more attention it could have been caught earlier on." which that fact only poured salt in the wound. daxton had never been the most literate person and their reading capabilities weren't great either, something that as an adult, they were embarrassed about. being this open with carmen made them miss her all that much more. they should have come home to her straight away but they couldn't find it in them to face her. "i just get so angry that they stood by and let this happen to me, i was just an innocent kid, carmen. i needed them and they didn't care but hey, as long as they look good in everyone else's eyes, right?" daxton's heart hurt, for years they'd bottled up and suppressed their feelings and their journey to sobriety had forced them to deal with them "and they tossed ash and i out like we were just fucking garbage, they were probably glad that i was off their hands. i hate them. i actually hate them."

it was hard to believe that their parents even had the audacity to speak with carmen knowing just how involved she had been with daxton. of course the woman was far to polite to simply ignore them, it was one of the things dax admired about her. it was no surprise that they asked about ashton but they couldn't help but feel disappointed that they never asked about them, "they don't ask about me?" they found themselves glad that carmen's parents never told them about ashton's life, as they definitely weren't entitled to it. dax couldn't find it in them to disagree with the offer, instead nodding. the last time they had seen carmen's father he had told them to pull their head in, for their own good and the sake of his daughter. "lunch, yeah, okay." they looked over at her, offering a small smile, "do you think maybe, you would come to a meeting with me? not now obviously but maybe tomorrow night?"

[amarantine-amirite]

The Memory Fire

Today is December 3, a day I've been looking forward to. I'm wearing a loose-fitting light purple satin sleeveless high-necked a-line halter dress with this long pearl thing around my waist that looks like a chain. But I'm at the civil services office.

It was nighttime, and it was snowing and raining at the same time. The lobby of the civil services had faded mint green walls, dark gray carpet, and that white tile that looks like it's got sprinkles made of dead bugs on it. It kind of reminded me of the lobby of the special education school I went to between the ages of five and seven.

Mom was angry at me. I have no recollection of what I did wrong. "Why are we here?" I asked.

Mom threw up her hands, "I don't know what to do anymore."

"But I'm still going to prom, right?" I asked. I was told that was where we were going. Besides, Mom seemed excited to take me there. I don't understand why she's so angry all of a sudden.

"No," Mom shouted, "you are not!"

"You told me we were going there!" I said. I felt like she had hurt my feelings.

"I only said that to get you in the car!" she barked back. She did karate chops with her hand.

"So I made this dress in art class for nothing?" I said.

Mom didn't seem to care. "What a waste," she shook her head and huffed, "What a waste of effort." She then got up and went back to the car, leaving me alone.

I didn't know what was going to happen next. It made me anxious, and that made me struggle to sit still. I walked up and down the lobby. The receptionist told me to cut it out. I sat still for about two minutes and then I was back to running around. Again, the receptionist told me to cut it the hell out. I couldn't verbalize that I was anxious because I didn't know what was happening.

No matter how hard I try, I can't sit still. I have the urge to run in a straight line. I want to know what's back there, down that hall. I ran past the creamy white walls and tall ceilings that looked like popcorn. I stood in front of dark, wooden doors with gold handles. Each door had a number on it: 1,2,3,4. I tried to open them and discovered that all were locked.

Door 4 has loads of dead computers and broken furniture in front of it. I can feel something on the other side beckoning me to open it. What if Door 4 isn't locked?

I pushed away the crap. I turned the handle. Door 4 opened. Success!

I wasn't ready for what was behind the door.

I walked into a dark room that had the religious trappings of an Eastern Orthodox church hall. The only light in the room came from the candles. It gave the iconography and clerical people this creepy, ghostlike glow. And yes, I am aware that comparing somebody's funeral to the haunted ballroom in The Shining is not an appropriate thing to say. I tried to think of a better description, but nothing came up.

I heard people talking. Nobody other than the interpreter spoke English. I couldn't figure out why someone would have a funeral at night, but I immediately realized that it was probably the cheapest time slot the family could afford.

I sat down on the couch at the back of the room and fell asleep. Someone poked me about an hour later. "Margaret, wake up, this concerns you," they said.

I woke up and saw someone start talking. At first,I thought she was either Alex's mother or aunt. When she started to speak, I realized who she was. She was a substitute teacher we had in math class. The story she told jogged my memory of what I did wrong.

Everything began to come together.

My mistake happened during the second week of school. Our first-period math teacher was away, so the substitute on duty set aside a work period in the computer lab so we could set up and learn how to use SAS. I accidentally clicked on a spammy ad banner. A pop-up box opened. The pop-up said, "Conglaburations!!! You have won very large amounts of monies in the Royal Nigerian lottery! Pleez to enter ur name, adress, date of birth, and social details for claim prize".

I looked to get rid of the pop-up, but I couldn't. No minimize, no close, no chance for escape. It wouldn't go away unless I entered PII of some sort. In a pinch, I made up an alias: Aleksandra Kondratyuk, a combination of both names of the guy who laid the theoretical groundwork that ultimately took Man to the moon. All the information I entered was fake.

However; there was one problem with my brilliant plan. I had no idea the fake name I used to fend off a spam pop-up was real until tonight. And it freaked me out.

A clearer picture of the consequences of my actions emerged once the event progressed. The person speaking told everyone that roughly a week after we did the SAS setup in math class, criminals targeted the super mailbox in the apartment building where Alex lived. The thieves even acquired copies of the master keys, enabling them to steal mail whenever they please. They even managed to apply for a driver's license in Alex's name and rack up a bunch of moving violations.

The thieves used a master key, so there was none of the telltale damage on the front of the unit hinting that someone popped it open. The only clue that there was a breach came ten days later when the building manager left a handwritten note telling residents they would have to pick up their mail nearly 20 miles away between the hours of 11 AM to 2 PM Eastern time. Anyone using the super box received no notification if they received any mail, or when (or even if) their regular mail delivery would resume.

Once delivery to the building's super box resumed, Alex had a giant fine for running a red light waiting for her. Initially, the fine was about $70, but it snowballed to nearly $2500! She eventually got the money to pay the fine, but she had to go to see a loan shark to get it.

Alex soon became too scared to check the mail again. It got to a point where she couldn't even walk past the super box without feeling violently ill. She was worried that there would be another fine. She was so afraid of the mail, she completely forgot to pay back the loan shark. It had been a while since Alex said she was going to pay the loan shark, but she never did.

At some point, Alex's parents sat her down and told her that fines in the mail get more expensive the longer they go without being paid. She can't go on being afraid of the mail forever. She would have to bite the bullet and check the mail.

One morning, she did exactly that. Except it wasn't a fine. It was an envelope that explodes when you open it. The blast killed her.

I still have a lot of unanswered questions. Why did we need to go to the civil service office? Why did nobody tell me I had crossed a line when there was still time to fix things, such as when people began stealing from the mailbox in Alex's building? It's the job of parents and teachers to tell kids when they cross the line and to do it without getting angry.

I see people glaring at me. Their facial expressions say to me that this will cost me. A guy wearing an Adidas tracksuit glares at me and does a throat-slitting gesture. What the hell happens next?