#and a bad relationship with his own dad and the same sense of humor as his youngest daughter

[tothebestofmyabilities]

What's your all-time favorite Bob's Burgers episode? Like this is YOUR episode? (You can list multiple if you want!)

Oooh my all time all time favorite is Carpe Museum! Its the first episode featuring regular sized rudy who's one of my favorite characters now and i love how that friendship with louise started and its such a sweet bob and louise episode as well.

Its also the first time the show explores the dynamic between gene and zeke which of course gave birth to my life long love affair with genezeke, their personalities mesh so well and the silly nicknames/pet names on zekes part??? I live for that.

Its my sisters favorite episode too and bc the belchers are eerily similar to my own family its always been something my family watches and enjoys and loves together so it makes me happy that me and my sister have the same favorite episode and that fact only makes me love the episode even more.

Plus cute boblin and isn't that the first henry haber episode too? Lots of good stuff.

Close seconds include in no particular order of importance:

Gene it on (cheerleader gene lives rent free in my heart i like to think he still does it just off screen)

The runway club (breakfast club episode? The little bits of school staff lore? Especially mr branca? The cotton candy festival which i desperately want an episode about? Iconic)

Poops! I didn't do it again (when i say the belchers are eerily similar to my family this is one episode id point too and i will not elaborate)

Work hard or die trying girl (im a theater kid at heart)

[north-noire]

My Michael Afton throughout the years! ft. his own little doodles. I'll try to be brief about the timeline and how my Michael was without saying too much since it'll be explored in the Hidden Hands AU fic's chapters anyway so I won't say all the details. Feel free to read if you guys like! I have a lot to say about him.

1983 (FNAF 4) - Michael was 12 or 13-ish when the Bite happened. Very reckless yet adventurous kid. Didn't really hate Evan (William, as much as he had a soft spot for Evan, still loved Michael all the same), just had really bad friends and influence (his friends were mostly bullies) - and didn't really like that he's being told to parent a little brother he had no idea how to take care of. It didn't help that Evan tended to be a tattle-tail sometimes about the trouble he was getting into. Michael also, deep down, got scared of what the bullies would do to him if he dared stand up for his brother or spoke out against them, so he ends up going along with what they did for his own sake. After the Bite, Michael was still deeply guilty about what he did to Evan, and it haunts him every night, knowing he had no good excuse but irresponsibility for what he did to his brother, because after all, it wasn't like William wasn't giving him enough attention. Michael just knew that he deserved anything unfortunate coming to him, but is genuinely surprised that his father kept telling him he loved him all the same. From this point on, he becomes easily troubled, tends to stay close to his dad. Makes sure he follows the rules and doesn't do trouble. Just wants to do a complete personality shift, and is deeply ashamed of who he was before. 1985 (Charlie's death, Fredbear's Family Diner shuts down) - Michael was 15 here. Over the years, he slowly isolated himself from most of the people in his life since he gets worried about his past scars coming back to haunt him. Mostly a recluse and reserved. He's not handling things well after Charlie's death and a family divorce - not to mention the non-existent social life he had. Just prefers to be left alone, but he's nice if you get to know him. Doesn't really have a good relationship with Elizabeth, but is actually pretty close with William. Feels extremely guilty and hates himself/blames himself for Charlie's death. He gets paranoid easily, as he thinks whoever took Charlie is now after him, but his father tells him to not worry too much about it. 1987 (FNAF 2) - (17) Slowly having a good relationship with Elizabeth. Starts to get into stuff like the supernatural and becomes superstitious to a degree over the years. In public, he's mostly polite and nice, but his actual personality shows through whenever he's with his father or Elizabeth - he's sarcastic, and has quite a dark sense of humor, can be a bit of a rebel, he's just more subtle about it. A bit of an over-thinker - he gets lost in his imagination/head easily. Has a (surprisingly) good relationship with his dad, as he's not really afraid to be himself around him - sometimes gifts him funny things or something he knows his dad would love/would use (he gifts William a rabbit's foot - for good luck, he says). He also helped William build the Fun-Times with blueprints and other technicalities (He's not really aware of the questionable features they had, unfortunately). He couldn't really come with his father and Elizabeth on Circus Baby's Pizza World opening due to things he had to catch up with his home-schooling, he had been skipping classes to work on the Fun-Times, but he really wanted to graduate highschool with a bang, so he's giving everything his all, here. Then Elizabeth suddenly goes missing all of a sudden, and, well... I would say more, but my fic sort of takes a canon-divergence route around FNAF 2/SL-FNAF 1 so that would spoil half of the stuff I've been working/writing about! Reference-sheet wise, I just wanted to show how he progresses from a rebellious, happy and adventurous kid into a more reclused, anxious and soft-spoken adult. Sorry for the long post! I've just been wanting to talk about him for some time now. There's a looot more that I've left out but yeah that's because there will be more in the fic!

[diremoone]

Occupational Hazard | Pedro Pascal.

Note(s): Comedian! Reader, Large but Legal Age Gap (MC is 30+), Female Reader, mentions of assault and injury, Pedro and MC are engaged 💍 (also, more often than not, when you ask for no salt on the fries at a fast food place (where I’m at anyway), the fries are always hot and fresh), wrote this in a span of, like, two days so it’s not proofread! enjoy!

Summary: Being a successful comedian, you’ve made all sorts of jokes, especially ones at your own expense. But not everyone has the same sense of humor, and Pedro finds out how dangerous some of these people who find your jokes “offensive” are.

****

Pedro hadn’t expected your text message so late. He had just gotten home an hour prior, tired and exhausted. But after his shower, he heard the ding of the two minute reminder on his phone. He plucks his phone from the charge and reads: Would you be available right now? To pick me up? Had an incident tonight.

He’s dressed and out the door not even five minutes later, wet hair slicked back away from his face so his glasses wouldn’t get wet.

It unfortunately takes him thirty minutes to get to the comedy club where you were scheduled to have an event, much much longer than he wanted. But when he arrives, he’s ushered in by the guards that already know him and the fact you and him are in a relationship.

A female guard in plain clothes is waiting for him the moment he steps through the doors, more than likely the one who informed the ones outside you had sent for him and to let Pedro through.

A couple of twists and turns down some hallways and he’s at the stage where you do your work.

He grimaces to himself, and his heart fills with worry and concern.

Not even five seconds upon entering the room did your eyes lock onto his form, his presence something you’ve always noticed immediately regardless of his quiet he was — always seemed to know when he walked into a room, your soul practically locked onto his own.

When the doctor pulls away, finishing her job, Pedro sees the damage done: a full black eye that would be shut for several days and a split lip, with a nose almost broken with a dot of dried blood at your nostril. You’d probably have to go to the hospital in a day or two to have that checked out to make sure it healed properly.

Everyone pulls away from you like opposing magnets, leaving the room to give you both some privacy. He’s glad. He also doesn’t want them to see him pissed off, because he was almost fucking livid.

He pulls a chair from where the crowd sits and places it in front of you. You give him a smile through the pain, and he wants to kiss you so bad but your lip is split damn it—

“Hey,” you whisper.

“Hey yourself,” he whispers back, trying to smile back and not be angry. One hand is laced between the fingers of your left hand that has that pretty diamond engagement ring on it, his other cupping your cheek on the side that doesn’t have a black eye and rubbing your skin fondly. “What happened, baby?”

You shrugged. “Not everyone has the same kind of humor.”

Pedro raises his brows. “Meaning?”

You inhale heavily, releasing an equally heavy exhale.

“A guy got pissed at a deadbeat dad joke I made,” you said. “I guess he fit the criteria, knew it, and got pissed. Felt called out, I guess.”

His eyes go wide with shock. “You serious?”

“Yeah,” you admit. You run your thumb over the skin of his hand and continue, “I think I’m gonna cancel my next three shows.”

Pedro’s against it the second the words leave your mouth. “You can’t be serious?”

“I am.” You give him a face, one he recognizes easily: you’re not going to budge, and there’s no point in him arguing. “I think he universe might be telling me to take a break.”

He nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, you’ve been going as hard as me lately. I’m starting to think this line of work is more dangerous than what I do.”

You slap his shoulder in a light and childish manner. “Oh, shut up. You do a lot more taxing work than I do.”

“But you’ve done a lot more shows than you have in the last, what, year?” Pedro argues this time. “That’s a fucking lot. Not even I’m sure I could handle that much moving around the states so fast.”

You jab back, “That’s why I pack lightly, baby.”

He laughs. “Har har. Got me there…” Pedro leans forward and presses a kiss to the side of your temple. “I love you, mi princesa.”

You giggle, warmth flooding to your cheeks at Pedro’s affection and soft declaration of love for you.

You almost get to say it back, but he grins cheekily because he already knows and proceeds to ask, “Want some McDonald’s?”

You stand to your feet immediately. “I want two twenty piece McNuggers, two fries without salt, and a big-ass Sprite.”

“You eat too damn much.” Pedro snorts, smiling ear-to-ear. “And you and your no-salt on the fries, I swear.”

“It’s better that way!” you reply, mock offended. “And you get them fresh, too! That salt isn’t any good for high blood pressure anyway.”

“Whatever you say,” he remarks. “So, McDonald’s in the car, go home, shower, and cuddle with a movie on until we fall asleep?”

You love him — absolutely and positively love him. This man knows how to make your bad days better like the back of his hand.

“Sounds perfect.”

You’re so glad to have him. You’re the luckiest woman in the world, no doubt, to call such a perfect man yours.

[edoro]

dunmeshi spoilers below the cut, just thinking some thoughts about Thistle post-canon

i've seen more than one post about the idea of him getting back into the role of jester/musician for Laios's court, and while it's cute, the more i think about it the more i feel like... i don't think that he'd want to and i honestly don't think that he should

Thistle was, in many ways, objectified and used by the Melinis, and i think understanding that is important to understanding his character

from the very beginning, Freinag wanted an elven servant to make himself look more impressive. his advisors didn't want him falling under the sway of an adult, so they found a child who could be made safe and harmless and raised to be loyal to the court rather than having pre-existing loyalties, and they said, "here, having him as your jester will be impressive on its own."

Thistle was brought - most likely literally bought, and if not still given to the king as a gift - to the court to be a living status symbol. first and foremost, he was something exotic and cool that the king could show off. he was a conversation piece, a belonging, a pet. he was Freinag's son the same way my cat is my son; i don't doubt there was genuine affection there, but Thistle wasn't a person in that relationship.

being a jester is part of that objectification. it's another thing that made him safe and harmless. he's not a scheming elf or a potential threat, he's just a silly little guy wearing curly shoes and playing the lute. there's nothing to worry about, because he has no status or influence, he's just here to entertain.

and i don't know how much Thistle... liked that. he was deeply loyal to Freinag and Delgal and wanted badly to be useful and earn their regard, especially Delgal's. he definitely did seem to see Delgal as a little brother who he needed to protect and take care of, even when Delgal was a grown man. but did he actually enjoy being an object of entertainment?

it's hard to tell because he's spent 1000 years having holes eaten in his brain until his personality is incredibly warped from what it originally was, but one thing about Thistle is that i don't get the impression he likes to be laughed at or not taken seriously. that one bit during the dragon fight in his house, where he says he'll let Laios choose which dragon kills him and then gets mad when Laios says, "really?" - to me, that reads as if he thinks Laios is being sarcastic, and it pisses him off.

during that battle in the dungeon, when he has Delgal gather the residents of the castle and surrounding area and then sics monsters on their enemies, then heals that kid's dead dad and realizes everyone is staring at him, he seems nervous, suddenly aware of what he's just done and that the people seem fearful of him - it doesn't come across like someone who's comfortable being the center of attention, and it implies some very fascinating things about just how aware Thistle is of how suspicious the people around him are of elves in general, which in turn could imply some fascinating things about how he sees his role as jester and his own relationship with being Safe And Harmless -

but i digress a bit. the point is, we get a couple of indications that he's touchy about his own dignity, doesn't like being laughed at, and isn't necessarily comfortable in front of a crowd. we also know from extras (and just kind of his overall demeanor throughout the story) that he has no sense of humor and is terrible at jokes. all of this combines to, frankly, paint a picture of someone who isn't well-suited to being a jester at all

it's one thing to be fun and entertaining as a kid. he wanted to fit in, he wanted love, he wanted to be cared for, and he doesn't stop wanting those things as he gets older, but his sense of dignity and understanding of his position change and develop. being a pet curiosity as a child might not be so bad, but as a teenager? as an adolescent growing towards adulthood?

the Melinis used Thistle. Freinag used him as a status symbol and entertainment. Delgal used him as a confidante and magician and tried to make Thistle solve his fears and problems for him. Thistle destroyed himself trying to do what Delgal begged him to do.

so given all of that, i don't think that Thistle becoming a jester or entertainer for Laios would suit him well. it would just be trading one position of objectification for another. i think the best post-canon outcome for him would be to find a way to exist where he's not being used by anyone and he can explore and develop his own identity outside of the comfort and utility he brings to others.

[ephemerensis]

Oatmeal Raisin // Jason Todd x GN! Reader

lil fluff piece. platonic! but any kind of relationship can be implied. jason has a lil craving for cookies that you help him out with. tim is allergic to peanuts which idk if that’s canon or not but…

—

As far as you were concerned Jason didn’t like you, not really. He got along with you civilly, certainly. But in all your years of friendship with one Timothy Jackson Drake, you hardly spoke. So you never really got to know Jason the way you got to know the others. At least not at first.

It was difficult to get to know any of them actually. Especially before you were let in on the whole Batman thing, and even after. It was hard for them to open up. And that was fine, because you understood that. And they were trying and you could appreciate that.

Naturally, Dick was the easiest to like and it got even easier when you found out that he was your beloved Nightwing. You were in love with Nightwing; owned all the memorabilia, had postcards of him plastered on your wall, knew his patrol routes as well as a civilian could so that you might just catch a glimpse of your favorite masked crusader. When you learned that you knew him? Dick became the sole recipient of your constant doting and gushing about how cool he looked on TV and what the latest magazine had to say on his relationships, his impacts on Bludhaven and so forth. You both shared a sense of humor, corny dad jokes and all.

Damian was trickier. You weren’t exactly good with children, which was bad enough, but he acted so maturely for his age it was hard for you to not feel intimidated. But as you fell for Titus, he yielded himself slightly. And when you learned that he could be swayed by the promise of a bedtime story (Jane Austen of course), so long as it was offered without condescension, it’d sealed the deal.

You bonded with Stephanie and Cass over disorganizing Tim’s meticulously arranged utility belt and hiding away all his suit capes around the manor. You argued with Babs over which stage of the hero’s journey Bruce was at in his developmental arc. You didn’t galavant the streets with them in search for crime, nor did you share tragic secrets in hushed solemn tones. Being a friend was enough.

Until eventually, you clicked with everyone over time. Everyone but Jason.

That’s not to say you didn’t like him. You admired him in your own way. He was pretty cool. He never missed a shot in training and if you were lucky enough to catch him in a talkative mood he’d teach you about the vital points to aim for or how to break off the safety switch on a gun so it wouldn’t interfere with your performance and throw you off (not a true story, just a hypothetical.) “Essential street smarts.” That was the extent of your interaction.

Until one night, you found him knocking on your window.

How he got your address was another story, probably the same way Tim knew your credit card number or how Cass found your Netflix password, but regardless he was at your window tapping away. You opened it, letting him in.

“Hey… If you’re looking Tim or something, he’s not here.

Jason clambered through the window, taking his hood off and setting it on your kitchen countertop on the way.

“Timberly? No no, I’m not here for that loser. He keeps talking about how much you like baking though, is it true?”

His back was to you as he tugged the gloves off his hands to run his hands under the water from your faucet. He sure knew how to make himself feel at home.

“Yes. Yeah. I do. Why?” Your brows knit in visible confusion as he turned off the water, wiping his hands on the towel you hung off the oven handle.

“You know how to make oatmeal raisin cookies?”

“I’m sorry? Oatmeal raisin?”

“Yeah. You know how to make them or not?” Turning around, the muscular man crossed his arms, looking down at you from across the room almost condescendingly, like it was a challenge.

“...you know what? I do know how to make oatmeal raisin cookies. Go run and buy raisins, I’ll start on the batter.”

Sure enough, within ten minutes Jason came swinging back through your window with a jumbo bag of raisins. After nagging him for walking through your living room with his boots on and making a quip about how he’d never finish that many raisins, you invited him to the kitchen.

He was a terrible cook. You didn’t know how he succeeded in mistaking flour for sugar, but he managed. After scrapping the first batter he added four extra eggs to and halfway through the second, you kicked him out and took over completely.

“No, I insist. Let me do it, it’s okay. Just sit over there and read a book or twiddle your thumbs or something, please.”

A half hour later, your kitchen was soiled but they were baking. Closing the oven with a satisfied huff, you looked over to Jason as you straightened yourself up.

Jason was watching you. But not in the critical way he fixed his gaze on passerby’s on the street or the hard gaze he’d set on his targets; just watching you. Calloused hands tossed a bullet cartridge between them as his feet swung to and fro from your barstool chair. He looked so boyish, it was almost cute.

“They’ll be done in twelve. Why oatmeal raisin? I’m not judging or anything but I make a mean chocolate chip that blows raisins out of the water.”

A tap sounded as he placed the cartridge down on the marble counter with a shrug.

“S’what my mom used to make.”

Slinking over to the adjacent chair, you took off the oven mitts to rest your face in your palms, looking at him expectantly to continue.

“What? We’re telling stories now?”

“I mean, you almost never talk to me and then you swing in asking for the least popular cookie type to date— I think a story time might be in order.”

“You’re keeping your mouth shut short stack, no one hears any of this.”

Huffing a giggle, you motioned zipping your mouth and flicking away the invisible key as he rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t exactly grow up rich. We’d have oatmeal every other day, mostly because that’s what she could scrape together. Fucking twat I was, couldn’t stand it. Threw a tantrum couple times ‘bout how tired I was of it. So she made oatmeal raisin cookies.”

His gaze was on his hands as he spoke but his eyes seemed to see anything but.

“I don’t want to get into all the details but, no matter how she treated me or raised me, she was still my mother. Afforded me this much kindness. Sometimes I almost miss her. So. Oatmeal raisin cookies.”

Wide eyes watched him, at a loss for words as your mind ran to process a response.

Breaking free from the recesses of his mind, he turned to look at you as he continued.

“Alfred usually makes them, but he’s out of town on business so… just thought I’d swing by I guess.”

The beep of the oven took you out of the trance.

Blinking, you stood. Clapping your hands together and reaching for the oven mitts.

“Well! I don’t know how good hers were, but mine are pretty hard to beat.”

Pulling the tray out of the oven, you let them cool a moment as you sought out a plate. Transferring them over, you slid it in his direction with a smug smile.

“Yeah, nothing beats Alfred’s, bud.”

He brought one to his nose, taking an obnoxiously loud whiff, cocking an eyebrow almost animatedly.

“6/10, more cinnamon could’ve been in order.”

“It’s not my fault you dropped like half my jar in the first batch!”

“Don’t yell at your food critic. Three point deduction.”

You scoffed, crossing your arms, “my apologies, my liege.”

Without missing a beat, he’d managed to shove the entire cookie in his mouth in one bite with the same cocky arrogance he’d held before. Mid chew, he stopped, looking at you in bewilderment before reaching for another one.

“What the fuck did you put in this?”

You burst out grinning, “Love, rainbows, and cyanide, it’s a secret recipe.”

If he heard you, he didn’t acknowledge it; scarfing down another with hesitation. Not that you minded. His usually stoic, suave, aura paled in the way his face lit up.

Between the two of you (mostly him), three tray fulls evaporated in the span of half an hour.

Packing up the last few batches you’d prepped and insisting he take the raisins home, you handed him a bag to see him off with.

“These got any nuts by any chance?”

“I used peanut butter, yes.”

“Thank you for your service, I will be passing on some to Tim.”

You snorted, “You’re not killing my best friend.”

With his hood back on, bag in hand, he clambered halfway out your window before turning his head back towards you.

“...can I come back for these? When Alfred’s busy that is.”

It caught you off guard.

“Yeah. No yeah, absolutely! Whenever you want. I’ll keep my window unlocked.”

“Not in this city you’re not.”

—

if you guys read the Last Cup of Coffee fic sgdjdd this was a deleted segment because i wanted to focus more on Tim 😭😭 recycling content at its finest tbh

[eclipsethemagic]

2.

Summary: Y/N get to know a little bit more about the kim brothers, some good and some bad, but seokjin just can't figure out why he can't get you out of his head.

Paring: Kim Seokjin x f!reader

Genre: Fluff, Smut, Drama, Humor

Warning: none unless you want to count talking about death.

☆Playlist ☆Masterlist ☆ Prev ☆Next

Y/n lets out a small smile when Namjoon and Seokjin leave the bookstore. Y/n lets out a big sigh takes her tan apron off and hangs it up. She walks over to the door flips over the open sign and does it, locking the door y/n goes upstairs and into her own home. Smelling like warm cookies y/n sits down on her couch and lays her head down. Namjoon was very funny and sweet to the mute girl. Even though she couldn't hear so could always tell that he could flirt with her by the way he touched her, his brother was the same way but a lot different.

The way y/n could see it she knew the two brothers were related, she also knew the two brothers had something different about them. What Namjoon had told her, his mother died in a fire so the only one who could take care of them was their dad. What Namjoon also told her was that they had a younger sister but she was no longer here in the world. Y/n did let out a few tears when she saw Namjoon let out his heart when he talked about his family.

The next morning was a lot harder than Seokjin would have liked. First, Namjoon had a hangover which didn't make sense to his brother but he later found out that Namjoon was drinking with Jackson. Jackson Wang was Namjoon's best friend and a famous rapper, he was in a group called Got7 in Korea. With a roll of his eyes, Seokjin walks out of the house with his hands in his coat. The cold air hit him bitterly making him shiver. Seokjin gets in the car and turns on the hot air, driving down the street Seokjin's phone rings. Looking at the caller ID he answers it but soon regrets it when he hears a very happy voice.

"Jinnie hyung! What are you doing!?" Jung Hoseok yells happily through the phone. Seokjin smiles and then laughs when he hears his second best friend tell him to shut up.

"I'm not doing anything Hobi, why are so energized this morning? It's 9:30." Jin answers.

"Um, not sure? Just am, hey how did the bookstore thing go?" Hoseok asks and Jin turns a corner and shrugs before answering.

"At first I didn't want to go but.. the lady there she's.. um." Seokjin blushes, and he blushes brightly making Hobi yell in happiness.

"You have a crush hyung!? What's her name? Is she pretty!?" He asks and Jin shrugs again and then turns another corner.

"It's just.. she is but I'm not ready to start another relationship.. not after my last one," Jin answers slowly and parks his car at a cafe.

"But hyung.. that was high school you are 23 give it a chance huh?" Hobi answers truly and Jin sighs.

"Maybe alright? I gonna go." With that, he hangs up the phone and gets out of the car.

[homebody-nobody]

this is me asking about your theories about mike and anna's teen pregnancy 👀👀

OKAY SO

Through watching season three, we know that Mike and Anna are having their fifteenth anniversary party. We ALSO know that Kie is obviously over fifteen. (this could also be interpreted as the *restaurant's* 15th anniversary, but I think it's a wedding anniversary, specifically on Vibes and Vibes Alone.) With these two pieces of information, we can infer that Kiara Carrera was born *GASP* out of wedlock. We can also BACK UP this inference with a line from season two, when Kiara says 'you're afraid I'll sleep with a pogue and end up pregnant, just like you did.' (we are hoping against hope that this is not foreshadowing. Please, Pates, for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY do not ALSO throw teen pregnancy into this mess. I digress.)

All of this information taken together points us thusly -- Kie was an unplanned pregnancy. We also know that Mike and Anna are significantly younger than Big John and the Heywards, although we have some allusion to the fact that Luke knew Anna back in the day. (Don't get me started on my Maybank Family Meta. It's *detailed*)

In order to dive into my theory that Kie was a teen pregnancy and it influenced Mike and Anna's 'success,' we need to examine Mike's (minimal) relationship with JJ, and JJ's storyline in season three. A lot of JJ's arc in season three (and in the other seasons overall) involve a decent amount of self-deprecating humor and some supposed-to-be-funny lines that just make you Really Fucking Sad. We see the culmination of this with Mike's line 'he's just like his father' and JJ stealing Mike's money clip. (Which like, I get that it was bad and it was a symbol and shit but like. Mike deserved it.) Kiara, naturally, is furious with him for 'giving them a reason.'

Essentially, JJ is a character that was born with a nasty reputation (thanks Luke). In past seasons and ESPECIALLY in this one, we understand that JJ *believes* everything said about him. He *believes* he's a bad influence/a loser/a bad kid/and just like his dad. (heartbreaking.) Part of the very heart of all the jiara development in season three involves Kie being FURIOUS that JJ would believe all that shit, both on his behalf, and AT HIM for believing it. When he says 'I'm sorry' in 3x09, he's apologizing for stealing the money clip, but he's also apologizing for believing what Mike (and everyone else) says about him, and apologizing for letting that be the reason he was convinced they shouldn't be together.

Now, bear with me. Because I believe that Mike hates JJ with such a fury because he used to BE JJ. Except, in Mike's case, his relationship with a girl from the other side of the island only ENFORCED that belief, rather than undermining it. Mike believes that he had to work hard to get out of the cut, and resents JJ for not doing the same work -- Mike truly believes that he was once a no-good dirty-rotten petty thief, and thus believes that JJ is, too. Except, in his eyes, he 'did the work' to get out, and JJ is, well. not doing that.

This is where the teen pregnancy loops back in. Mike and Anna own a restaurant. To start a restaurant, you need investors. If it was the Cut Community that pulled together behind them to support their dream, Mike would undoubtedly retain an ENORMOUS sense of loyalty to that community, and STILL be shitting on Figure Eight to this day. But, he's not. Why, you ask? Probably because Anna's Parents were the initial investors for the Wreck. If Mike got Anna pregnant and Anna's family Had Feelings about it, Mike would have had to PROVE that he intended to provide for Anna and Kie. What better way than to start a business. Anna's parents probably invested in it in order to preserve their relationship with their daughter and parent the best way rich people know how -- by throwing money at the problem.

Thus, Mike believes that the only way out of the Cut is by bowing and scraping to those on Figure Eight, treating them with 'respect' and 'earning' their approval (money). We also have bits and pieces of Anna telling Kie that she wants Kie to have the opportunities she had, and that they had to 'work hard' to get into the island club, maintain their reputation, etc. This evidence supports the idea of Anna being a disgraced kook, and, combined with Kie's comment about 'getting pregnant with a pogue,' gives us a pretty solid reason why Anna and Mike wouldn't be automatically accepted by Figure Eight and the rest of 'Good Society.'

The 'teen' part is mostly based on the anniversary party vs. Kie's age, but is enforced by the fact that Mike and Anna are TERRIFIED of Kie running around with 'those boys' at her age -- probably because Anna did the same thing, and ended up pregnant and at the mercy of her own parents. It's also looped in by them being afraid that she's 'throwing away her future.' Projection much, babes? Anna 'threw away' her future when she got pregnant at Kie's age, and explains her absolute desperation to keep her daughter from doing the thing.

That's about as coherent as I can make it lol so I hope it makes sense!!

[jeonjxjynx]

hello! nice to meet you all! i'm j and i'm here to bring you jeon jisoo aks jynx. ! a 24 year old new-ish starlet who's trying her hand at this industry again and slightly re-worked muse

below! you'll find more about jisoo and as well as some rough plot ideas!

her mother and father divorced when she was 10 years old, her mother is an actress and her father is a korean-american music producer. they met bc he moved to korea to work on an upcoming group

she lived in gwangju until she was 5 but often visits her grandparents, her satoori has stayed due to this and she's proud of it.

her parents did one of those baby tv shows so she was in the public eye at a young age.

from age 9 - 12 in a few popular drama's. mainly at the pushing off her parents. so when the divorce came, it was messy (mainly on her dad's side) and very public. finally, the cord was cut and her father went back to america. they've only talked on the phone a few times, he sends money and gifts but they don't have a relationship.

her mom threw herself into work and was barely around, deeming sienna old enough to fend for herself.

her mom never really wanted kids so jisoo was able to be a wild child for a bit (still is sorta)

she faded from the spotlight and developed her interest more, jisoo always liked attention so becoming an idol was her new goal. in trying out her skills, she was a good performer and leaned well into rap and dance but she doesn't consider herself a horrible vocalist.

she was 15 when she joined the company, after calming down her ways a bit

she joined a company and there were red flags but her debut came fast! due to lack of funds, they had to build the group themselves really and the company banked on her former fame. her training period had only been six months

honestly, the group didn't do horrible but there were long breaks between comebacks and then it came out the company was a front for money laundering.

they disbanded when she was 17, so a good two year run

wild child bloomed then, more partying, drinking and smoking. at one point she had dreams but now she was aimless, doing what she could to get attention with no goals.

this was channeled into making her own music but it's not something she shared, she still enjoyed busking and dancing and hanging out in the 'underground' scene but it amounted to nothing

the adults around her didn't care and those that would, jisoo was good at putting up a front

she's an out-going girl, maybe a little desperate to be liked at times. she doesn't manage her anger well in that it she bottles it up until it explodes on the right or wrong perso

she was 19 when she finally moved to japan to be with her father and his new family and it just did not go well at all, jisoo didn't change, she was burden to him and by the time she was 21, she was back in seoul

she re-connected with a past friend and/or her cousin and joined as a trainee

she's happy to debut but doesn't really like the concept but who can be picky right?

i have plans in the future for an attitude scandal / past bullying thing

not that she was a bully but she would give as good as she got and even more. revenge doesn't need to be served cold as long as it's served.

she's good to those she likes and vile to those she hates.

a girl who teeters the edge and could easily slip into 'mean' girl mode

her sense of humor is a little dark, morbid

a soft grunge girl who loves one piece and the sims, horror moves, thrillers but can also wallow in self-induce misery if you catch her on the right day.

is very worried about her age and debuting as an older idol and the years wasted

ideas

she speaks perfect english & korean and isn't bad a japanese so if someone needs help in either

muses who act? i don't think it's her arc maybe but she doesn't mind helping people read lines

someone who's fans of her parents

someone who's seen her act in dramas and wonder if it's the same little girl or who someone who does know & realizes it's her

she's rich and she doesn't mind showing it so muses who either vibe with that or don't? resentment over shopping trips maybe? or someone who's irked because she chooses expensive places and offers to pay and they think it's pity?

someone she's had beef with in high school?

someone she stood up for in high school?

pls give me this idea. someone (or friend) fucked with her in high school and in response, she stole their man. she's never been sorry.

rivals

one great love, would've been when she was 18-19 and dated for a year, they broke up with her. could've been a player or even jisso was too intense as a girl friend (extreme opposite of her parents loveless marriage) and they couldn't take it

OR

a boy who was a player, played with her and then broke up with her by dating someone new...they meet again and he doesn't realize it's her

or both

i could also see her being cold in a relationship and that being a killer one as well

a boy she ghosted and some other small quick relationships that ended

muses that she partied with

a good bestie and a good circle of friends

a best friend who got her back into wanting to train

her cousin, her aunt did try to step in and sometimes jisoo would do well but ya'll went to school together and she easily slipped into mean girl mode in return for status, leaving your muse in the cold! do they reconnect or is it forever broken?

if you've seen something you like, let me know or like this post! can't wait to plot with you all!

[cainthewicked]

( MICHAEL YERGER, CIS MAN, HE/HIM ) CAIN RIGAL the TWENTY SEVEN year old is used to DISLIKE CHRIS. cain is said to remind people of working out to forget the pain, keeping your friends close and everyone else at arms distance, doing whatever is necessary to save a friend. they are known to be SOCIALLY AWKWARD and RIDE OR DIE.

basic information.

name: Cain Rigal . nickname(s): none that i can think of, but feel free to suggest ! birth date: April 19th . zodiac: aries . age: 27 . gender, pronouns: cis man, he/him . orientation: bisexual . relationship: single . family: tba, dad was never in the picture and absent lawyer mom . children: none . pets: a golden retriever named Hozier . faceclaim: Michael Yerger . hair colour: brown . eye colour: green . hair: wavy, well maintained. he also has a beard, which used to be bigger during the hockey seasons, but it's way shorter now . height: 6'3" (1.92m) .

classified content / secret.

Everybody that watched the match between the New York Giants versus the Florida Pirates saw Cain being escorted out of the ice. The rink was silent, you didn't need words to understand what kind of injury that was: a career ending one. He never quite got over it, so he did the only thing it made sense in his head: go back to his hometown. What people don't know is that he always knew his hockey days were coming to an end. Cain was hiding an injury for years, taking painkillers to hide the pain and pushing himself way more than he should. He could have taken a season off to treat the injury, but he was scared that if people knew about it, things wouldn't be the same anymore and he would be treated as an injured player forever. Thus, he decided to go down in one huge blaze of glory. Like Icarus falling from the skies, it's all or nothing.

personality.

Back in high school, he used to be a co-captain for the hockey team and was also part of the Gay-Straight Alliance, and is currently listed as one of the few openly bisexual NHL former players. Cain has a pretty active lifestyle, now replacing hockey with hiking in the woods and camping. His favorite time of the day is the night, especially if it's a full moon. If you only pay attention to his looks, you probably won't notice, but the dude is painfully socially awkward -- not exactly a combo people would expect from jocks, if they were gonna follow the status quo. He might look confident, but I guarantee you: nobody out there hates Cain more than himself. Which is horribly sad. The dude has countless self-esteem issues, so he does the next most logical thing: act arrogant, obviously. It's not as bad as it used to be when he was younger, since Cain now has hours of media training under his belt and can sport a likeable persona more often. Overall, he has a pretty dry and sarcastic sense of humor, opting to diffuse tense situations with jokes. Considering his role as a left-winger, Cain performs well under pressure and has a very analytical mindset. Sometimes, way too analytical. He's dead sure that people still dislike him, which might be true or not, depending on your muse. He has few close friends and struggles with asking for help, so he would rather chop off his own leg rather than putting himself out there.

relationship with chris.

Cain is claiming the wanted connection "A MEMBER OF THE CLASS OF 2014 WHO DISLIKED CHRIS". Their relationship consisted of bickering and some friendly fire at times, but nothing serious. Cain's mother was friends with the Wilder family and she always compared Cain to Chris. "Why can't you be more like him?", "You should study more", and "All you ever think about is hockey, what if that doesn't work out?". This made it impossible for Cain to have a good relationship with his mother and Chris, since she obviously seemed to prefer him to her own son.

[bonesandthebees]

[“You also don’t have to worry about that sort of thing too much given your status.” / “But you do?” Tomys asked, raising an eyebrow. / Fighting to keep his face neutral, Wilbur shrugged.] despite his childishness, there’s still potential in Tomys. He reads between the lines perfectly here. And Wilbur is trying so hard to pretend that it’s not a big deal rather than his biggest fear in life.

[Legally, I hold no title. So yes, I do have to be more careful with the impression I leave on others.”] Every chapter there is at least one line that makes me feel so bad for Wilbur (there’s a lot in general, but a few jump out), this is one of them. It describes him perfectly, always aware of what others need to think of him. Always keeping his cards close to his chest.

And Tomys picks up that it must be stressful but then does the exact opposite and just speaks his mind and calls it prissy in the same breath, which pisses Wilbur off, because he’s so close to getting it yet he’s not taking it seriously. (Also I love rose!Wilbur having and subsequently losing his/a temper.)

And the jab about Tomys height again shows the potential for a good relationship. They could have that joking relationship Tomys wants at some point, he’s just jumping the gun a bit and missing several layers of context to get Why Wilbur will not be that friends or informal with him (yet). (It’s Ranboo’s presence and the knowledge that this can and will get back to his father and Phil might be anger about it.)

It’s also interesting to see Wilbur bounce between formal and etiquette and his actual feelings or losing his temper around Tomys, it’s like he can’t quite stop his true nature form shining through, in a way Tomys brings out the childishness Wilbur never really got to have, but then he can’t fully sink into it because he still has a goal/mission to achieve and even when no one else is there, other people’s expectations of him are still holding him back form every full relaxing.

Side note: all the servants dipping their heads at Wilbur as he walks past, clearly aware of his status and giving him the respect while Wilbur himself barely notices because he’s too caught up in his own head, you could summarise his entire chapter with this once interaction + maybe the following one with Phil (though the first interaction in chapter 1 also says a LOT).

[Like the night before, the guard barely spared him a second glance before letting him inside.] This could be taken 2 ways. 1. What’s actually happing, aka the guards can all easily recognise Wilbur and let him in without second thought because he’s the Consuls son and of course he’s allowed inside. 2. Aka how Wilbur might take it, they barely look at him and he’s barely worth their attention.

(4/?)

-🎄

exactly there IS potential there!! even though tommy doesn't understand what's going on, he does read between the lines. being kept ignorant of the reality of your situation doesn't make you an idiot, it just means you need someone to tell you what's going on.

:) wilbur always has to be the one holding the cards because without them the only thing giving him power is his father's position

I love rose!wilbur because he tries so hard to be as smart and controlled as his father is but he's a petty little shit with an easy to stoke temper. little does he know his dad used to be the same way when he was wilbur's age. had to get it from somewhere after all.

yeah again they could definitely have a great friendship. the two of them are very similar in a lot of ways. but there's a lot of context that's keeping wilbur from letting himself get too familiar with tommy and playing into his sense of humor. the problem is, like you said, being around tommy brings out the childishness wilbur never got to fully embrace when he was tommy's age. ironically, if he did give into that childish urge to insult tommy, it would probably make tommy like him more.

god yeah he's so caught up in his own head and doesn't even realize that, yeah dumbass, the servants and guards DO know who you are and respect you

[nessie665]

helloo for the fanfic questions id love to hear about #20 for home and #29!!💕💕

20. If you wrote a prequel to [Home], what would it involve?

omg, when I rebloged that post I thought to myself ''I'm gonna keep my answers simple and short, bc that's why people don't talk to me, I never shut up'' but keep it short for that gem of a question? I could NEVER. First of all, thank you so much for your ask <3

My mind immediately went to Christine. Her growth as to become the person she was in the series. That would imply writing about her father's death, her relationship with her foster parents, the loss of them, her working her way up to be able to go to Paris, her discovering her talent, her first relationships with women. All that could be a very meaningful story to tell.

BUT, I'm a messy bitch, so I would instead choose to write about Erika's childhood and teenage years, and her relationship with her family

Erika's relationship with her paternal family was always a big factor in the way I wrote her in that series, and i just never brought it up! I never did, I had all this trauma and lore stuck in my head and I never did anything with it.

In Home's canon, Erika was brought up as Gerald's ''goddaughter'' after her mother's death, but anybody in the Carrière family with 2 brain cells could put 2 plus 2 together and knew she was his daughter. So, even if she couldn't be recognized as such, she was raised as a granddaughter more

Of course, that did stir a lot of controversy. Her grandfather DESPISED her. He hated the image she gave to the family, he was repulsed by Erika's face and just disgusted by her unique behaviors and health problems, not to mention her ethnicity -I have always written Erika as being wasian-. However, he was quite intrigued by Erika's intelligence, so he tolerated her presence as a child. But as she grew older, he would get more and more aggressive with those behaviors.

Those opinions influenced her older aunts and uncles, who then passed that same dislike to their children

Her grandmother (who is actually still alive up to the Home events, remember Gerald was basically a teenage dad, so he is not that old) is a whole liege on her own. A better grandmother than a mother, gives zero fucks and has no chill. She, NEVER stuttered choosing between her granddaughter and her husband, she didn't even think about it

She adored Erika. Not only because of her intelligence, and talent, but of her grace, passion, and creativity; her dark sense of humor and sensitive character, and dotted on her. Fiercely protective of Erika, and presented a blatant favoritism for her, (both bc genuine love and connection, and to compensate for her asshole children) which eventually became a factor in her poor relationship with the rest of the family, and later, to their own.

But moving on, after her grandfather died, the whole family began turning on each other, and Erika was just the easiest to point with a finger. After all, her being a child born out-of-wedlock was a big tension point at the time, and the fact that her very existence seemed to cause countless conflicts in her grandparents' marriage.

Not all of them were bad, but she did eventually cut contact with all of them, by getting out of the county as a teenager, and returning way too scarred to ever initiate contact again. I feel Erika has a very forgiven heart, mostly because of her desire to being loved, so she may forgive them one day.

She still has contact with her grandma, tho sporadically, and she has no idea Erika is in the same country as her, Erika would love to see her again one day. She likes to think her grandmother would love Christine, but knows she would side eye her once she learned she was an actress first.

So yeah, that's my choice, I would do a speed run through 30 something years of Carrière family drama.

[sincerelyjxyy]

Gold Rush - Eight

Invisible String - Gold Rush

Chapter Eight - Palms Pressed Together

Song Of The Chapter - Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus

✧ friendship is the most underrated relationship in our lives. it remains the one relation not bound by law, blood, or money - but an unspoken agreement of love. — hanya yanagihara, relying on friendship in a world made for couples ✧

Summary: The pogues have to deal with the consequences of getting themselves involved with supposed square groupers. But what happens when John B's theory about is dad is proven to be true, and Big John sends them on an adventure unlike any other?

Word Count - 11.1k

Gold Rush Masterlist

AFTER BEING NEARLY KILLED BY THE COMPASS HUNTERS, THE POGUES CRAMMED INTO THE TWINKE AND LEFT THE CHATEAU. John B had urged their departure as soon as he was certain the men wouldn't be returning. It was obvious that a plethora of ideas were running through his head, as he tried to make sense why his dad would engrave Redfield into a compass.

Josie, however, was more focused on recovering from their near-death experience. As the group made their way to wherever-the-hell John B had concocted and offered their own theories on the compass, she kept relatively silent.

She sat sideways on the back bench, next to Pope and across from JJ, knees pulled up as she jotted her thoughts down in her journal. Taylor played lightly on the radio, courtesy of the duo up front. Josie knew Kie had fought for it for her sake, and John B abnormally relented without argument.

As if it wasn't bad enough she'd lost her most prized possession, but she also had to deal with conflicting feelings about her boyfriend's absent-minded confession of love. Then, she had to witness a woman get beaten by a couple of scary men. And then, those same men threatened her and her friends' lives for the second time within twenty-four hours.

They also caused the death of her favorite rooster. So, Josie felt more than entitled to a moment of mental solitude in the backseat.

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B inquired. "A family heirloom. I mean, what better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

The brunette sounded sure of himself as he rattled his thoughts off to his friends. Josie couldn't help but feel a bit bad. Everyone dealt with grief in their own way, and John B had always been skeptical about admitting that Big John had really died at sea.

How far would her friend's subconscious push him to deal with his grief that way?

"Yeah. It's possible," Kie agreed from the passenger seat. However, she sounded like she was trying to reassure John B more than she actually believed his father was trying to contact him.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, y'know, deal with your sad feels," Pope added for argument's sake as he fiddled with the compass.

John B shook his head and sternly used the boy's name to voice his disagreement. Kie glanced back at Pope and shook her head to scold him.

He shrunk back in surrender, making Josie humorously scoff and eye the eldest pogue in amusement. "Did you really just say feels unironically?"

"Bro, y'know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it," JJ stated as he shrugged.

Josie groaned in disgust and scrunched her face at him, shaking her head to silently demand he never say something like that again. His honesty was not appreciated.

"I'm not concocting, okay?" Denial and insistence bled through John B's voice as he spoke up. "My dad's trying to give me a message." He turned his eyes to scan them all with confidence, but everyone remained firm with their own doubts.

Josie's lips pursed sympathetically as she turned her gaze to the back of his head. The revelation of his father's survival would mean the world to him—she knew that.

"If it helps you believe, John B," Kie started softly, but John B frustratedly interrupted her.

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out."

"It's okay to trip, bro-" JJ added, causing John B to turn and assertively cut him off.

"Look, my dad is missing, okay?" He turned back around. "Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the closest person to you vanish, and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning, wondering."

Josie thought about JJ just vanishing out of thin air. Never hearing from him again, and no one having any real answers. She thought about never hearing his laugh again, never seeing his bright blue eyes and laughing at his stupid attempts at jokes. Her heart broke at the mere thought.

Her best friend, gone forever.

"It's been almost a year," Kiara reminded softly as she stared at John B.

It was wild, the amount of time that had passed. Nine months ago, life had been completely different. Josie and Kie weren't even around to comfort their friend when his dad disappeared.

The reminder caused guilt to slowly build its home in Josie's chest, and she had to physically shake the feeling away before it became too much.

"Hey, he could've been kidnapped," JJ offered. "That's definitely a possibility." He looked over at Josie for her support, and, despite being unsure, she shrugged and hummed in agreement. She wanted to believe that Big John was alive and trying to reach out to his son for help, but it felt so far-fetched that she felt silly for holding onto hope.

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere. Or in a European lab getting tortured," Pope added. Narrowing her eyes at him, Josie set her journal on her bent thigh to reach out and smack the back of his head. His backwards cap fell forward onto his face, satisfying Josie.

"Absolutely. Uh...or Atlantis." JJ nodded toward Josie. "Or Libertalia. Probably found all that gold that Avery dude hid."

It was doubtful that Big John had been able to locate the lost colony. There was so much more research and digging that needed to be done to even get close to the treasure. And Josie was confident that she knew things about the treasure that only a couple of people alive knew. None of those people included John B's father.

Avery's treasure was a legend for a reason.

"JJ," Kie reproached, glancing at him weirdly before turning back to John B. "Look, what do you think the message is?"

"Redfield," John B answered easily. As he did, they passed a sign that displayed the exact name he'd mentioned. "Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place."

"Did you just say lighthouse?" Josie questioned cautiously as she looked up from stuffing her journal into her backpack. Kiara winced, staring back at her best friend in pity.

It wasn't lost on any of them that the last thing Josie would want to do after witnessing abuse, watching her favorite rooster die, and almost dying herself, was climb to the top of a tall structure. In fact, Josie could think of almost nothing worse. It was dreadful. Horrific.

She gave out a simple huff and harshly zipped up her bag, glaring daggers into the back of John B's head. JJ tried to make her smile by poking the skin of her thigh, but she bushed him off and crossed her arms.

Shortly after, the Twinkie came to a halt in front of the fence that surrounded the lighthouse. All five of them clambered out of the van, and Josie's eyes drifted upward to follow the height of the building.

She had to stop herself from throwing up at the mere sight. The thought of her and her friends climbing up it had already made her feel dizzy.

"Right, here's what's gonna happen." John B turned to address both JJ and Josie. "You're both gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"

"Wait...why me?" JJ asked as he pointed to himself.

"Because you're not coming," Pope answered obviously. Josie glanced at him, unimpressed, but remained silent as the boys conversed.

"Why?"

"Look, JJ, there are independent and there are dependent variables. And you're an independent variable. We don't know what you're gonna do!" JJ frustratedly argued with Pope as he spoke, yelling at him to shut up.

The girls watched on, impatient with the boys' inability to do anything without fussing about it. Josie was sure they were going to start calling each other names, when John B interrupted the argument.

"Just listen to me for a second, just listen. Jose isn't going up, so JJ, you're staying down. Pope, you stand lookout with them. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great," Kie agreed. She turned to squeeze Josie's shoulder in parting.

Josie returned the gesture to her arm, glancing back up at the circular building. "Love you. Please be careful."

Kiara sent her a reassuring smile and nodded, before turning to hop over the fence. John B stared at JJ as the blond continued to defiantly look at him. Josie groaned and grabbed his shoulder, tugging him backward by his shirt.

"You're lucky this one's my favorite." JJ shook his head and threw his thumb over his shoulder toward Josie, glaring at John B with no real malice. John B dismissively waved his hand and parted to follow Kie.

Josie chuckled at the small pouty attitude JJ sported as their friends left. She mockingly pouted her bottom lip out at him and let out a teasing hmph, laughing when he shoved her shoulder. She reached a hand up to ruffle the hair atop his head, which led to a smacking contest between them.

"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum."

Josie snapped and pointed her finger at Pope in agreement. The brainy duo shared a smile, before her attention was drawn to amusedly watch as JJ began to play keepy-uppy with a pinecone.

"Alright, would you just shut up already?"

Josie rolled her eyes. "Oh c'mon, Sunny. You'd really rather be up there climbing all those stairs than down here keeping lookout with me?"

JJ shook his head, and he looked up at her as if she'd just said the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. "No. I think you and me should go up there and make the others keep lookout."

Josie laughed, her eyes following the path of the pinecone as he kicked it back and forth between his feet. "First off, this is literally John B's thing, so we wouldn't go up there without him. Second, there's no way I'd ever climb up that thing. Not even with you."

He stopped to offendedly stare at her, and he let out a huff when she raised her brows at him. He knew he couldn't argue the point further, so he resigned to doing his keep-uppies.

He mumbled something under his breath about Josie going up there if it was Max, and she ran her tongue over her lips in annoyance. She really wanted to work on the pogues' relationships with Max. It was clear which one would be the hardest to establish if JJ stuck to his stubborn dislike of her boyfriend.

Which really sucked, because he was the person she was closest to.

Without warning, he kicked the pinecone in the air toward her. She struggled as she lifted her leg and tried to catch it like she'd seen him do. It was an absolute fail, as she stumbled on one foot and missed the object.

JJ laughed and observed Josie as she tried to balance, before she completely fell and just barely caught herself. She narrowed her eyes up at him in a failed attempt to scold him. She blew out a breath as she stood and dusted herself off, while he grabbed another pinecone from the ground.

"D'you want me to teach you?" He chuckled through his question.

Josie went to agree, when the bag on her back started ringing. She held up her pointer finger and brought her bag around to dig in it and find her phone.

When she caught sight of the caller ID, she winced and sheepishly glanced up at her companion.

He scoffed, already aware of the meaning behind her expression, and tilted his head down to break their eye contact. In an effort to appear nonchalant, he focused on kicking the pinecone up and ignored her as she hesitantly turned away.

A part of her urged to let it ring through, just so that she could avoid the frown set on JJ's features. But the incessant bussing in her palm reminded her that doing so wouldn't be fair to herself or Max. JJ's hatred of kooks couldn't affect her relationship.

So, with a sigh and one last glance at her friends, she made her way around a tree before she answered. "Hello?"

"Well, hello, beautiful. For a second there, I thought you weren't gonna answer." Max's greeting was full of enthusiasm and fondness. It was as if he hadn't completely ditched her that morning after dropping the L bomb out of nowhere.

She briefly wondered if he'd even remembered that he'd done it.

"Oh, hey, baby. How was golf?" Josie tried her best to sound as polite as possible.

She completely missed the offended scoff JJ shot in Pope's direction. Pope shrugged, narrowing his eyes at the blond to inquire why it bothered him so much. "Dude, it's her boyfriend. Of course they're gonna say gross crap like that."

JJ shook Pope's statement off his shoulders, straining to listen in on his best friend's conversation.

"It was good; thank you. The boys and I went to Rafe's afterwards, just to catch up and stuff." Max let out a small chuckle as he reminisced on whatever must've happened at the Cameron house.

Josie went to ask about it, but refrained when she realized that she'd probably get annoyed at whatever he told her. She simply hummed and nodded even though he couldn't see her, throwing a few glances back over her shoulder to make sure the boys were dying or fighting.

"You know..." She could make out the teasing lilt of her boyfriend's tone. "Rafe couldn't help but ask about you a couple times today. I think he might have a crush on you." He tsked and grinned at the uninterested scoff that left Josie's lips. She crossed her left arm over her chest in defense.

It wasn't a secret to Max that Rafe and Josie had history, if one could even call it that. Rafe had been her first kiss when she was eleven and played a dumb game of seven minutes in heaven. That mistake had followed her to every corner of the island ever since, mainly in the form of said boy being an absolute jackass to try and gain her attention.

But one thing was very clear: Josie had never been interested in the Cameron boy.

"Trust me, he doesn't. No one buys into the whole 'kook versus pogue' thing more than him, except maybe Topper." Josie scrunched her face at the mention of her antithesis.

"Yeah, but you're a kook," Max pointed out with a humored sing-song. Josie scoffed but didn't refute him, because he was technically right. "But that's beside the point. You got any plans for the rest of the day?"

Josie felt a tinge of bitterness and irritation grow at his question. The audacity he had to have to ditch his girlfriend during a date, and then call her hours later and ask to hang out.

Yes, they were in a relationship, but why did he make it seem like she was disposable to him? Her plans didn't revolve around when he was free and when he felt like being together.

"I do, actually, yeah." Josie sighed and leaned against the tree. "I ended up calling Kie this morning to come and get me. And since I assumed you'd be with your friends the rest of the day, I told her I'd spend the day with her."

As a car door shut on the other line, a sarcastic laugh came from behind her. She glared back at JJ, suddenly aware that he was eavesdropping on her conversation. Pushing off from the tree, she walked further away and shot a middle finger back behind her.

"No, I get it; it's okay." The lack of argument on his end was appreciated by Josie, who was too tired to engage in a lovers-spat.

For the next few minutes, Max went on a rant about his golf round and how he'd absolutely demolished Topper and Kelce. Josie tried to pay attention; she truly did. But she couldn't help the uninterested hums that escaped her as he told her all about how he'd practically perfected his back swing.

It was when Max had finished boasting that he finally took a breath. He contently sigh as Josie picked at the skin of her middle finger with her thumb. She peeked behind her and smiled when she realized that Pope had joined JJ's pinecone game; only now they tossed it for JJ to catch in his shirt pocket.

"Well, I don't want to take up any more of your time; Kiara probably wants to kill me already. Just call me later, and we'll figure something out." She could hear the soft smile behind his voice and stopped herself from outwardly cooing.

"Will do. Talk to you later."

Once the couple bid their goodbyes, Josie stuffed her phone into her back pocket. She turned to trek back to the boys, who both unsuccessfully tried to act like they hadn't been intently listening in on her long conversation.

She rolled her eyes and crossed both arms over her chest. "Y'know, usually when someone walks away, that means that they want the conversation to be private, not public for nosy best friends to listen in on."

She raised her brows at Pope, who actively avoided her fierce gaze. Her eyes narrowed at the lack of a sarcastic comment from him, and her gaze turned curious as it swung between a tense JJ and an awkward Pope.

"What'd you mean when you said you ended up calling Kie?" JJ accused, lips pressed together as he bitterly stared at the pinecone he continued to kick between his feet. Josie shrugged and scuffed her shoe on the ground. It was annoying that he'd somehow turned the conversation into an opportunity to question her.

"Did you guys hang out? Is that why you were dressed so pretty this mornin'?"

The acidic tone of his voice caused Josie to glare at him. Her irritation passed from her boyfriend to her blond best friend, and she completely avoided the petty compliment he'd paid her.

She opened her mouth to spit out a remark but decided against it.

The last thing she wanted to do was admit to both boys that Max had ditched her. Because deny it as much as she might, it was embarrassing and wounding to her pride that her boyfriend could so easily do something like that.

Besides, she didn't feel like hearing the lecture concerning her choice of partner that JJ would no doubt give her.

He glanced up at her expectantly, but she only continued to stare back with her arms crossed. JJ opened his mouth to make another jest at her boyfriend, but he was stopped by the sound of sirens that blared from behind them.

Through the trees, the flashing red and blue lights slowly became easier to make out as they got closer.

"Oh, shit!"

The trio stumbled as they all scrambled toward the Twinkie. JJ hurriedly opened the passenger door for Josie, practically shoving her through it. Once she was in, she reached over to start the van as JJ slid over the hood and climbed into the driver's side.

They barely had time to register Pope shutting the sliding door before JJ peeled away and headed in the opposite direction of the approaching cop cars.

"Any bright ideas on what we do now?" Pope breathlessly asked from the backseat.

Josie turned to look at JJ, who shrugged. He stared at Josie as if she were the one who made the calls, and she sighed.

"Okay, guess we're going to JJ's."

☼

It wasn't long after they'd fled the scene that the trio were informed by John B and Kie that they'd been detained. It also wasn't long after that when Josie had received her own private text from Kiara. One that had Josie demanding JJ drive and drop her off at the Wreck.

pink parrot

When Josie was eleven and had her first kiss, the first and only person she'd wanted to tell was Kiara. But Petunia had been monitoring Josie's phone conversations, and, to an eleven-year-old, nothing was worse than having her mother find out that she'd kissed a boy. But she had no way to tell Kiara why she was so desperate to talk to her without spilling the beans.

So, the duo created a set of safe words for any case of emergency. Pink parrot was the one that stuck, loosely translating to: We need to talk asap; find me immediately.

After receiving said text and forcing JJ to drive her with no explanation, Josie all-but-sprinted through the doors of her workplace and raced up to the bar that Kiara sat behind. The brunette spackled the wall that had been damaged during Hurricane Agatha, but Josie couldn't care less about the cracks. She obviously had more pressing matters to attend to.

The redhead was noticeably out of breath as she reached her destination. She stood with her palms pressed to her knees as she bent down to catch her breath. After a few heaves, she looked up at Kiara with eyes wide and full of curiosity.

"What's up? What's going on? What's so dire?"

Kie shushed the frantically breathing Josie, who squeezed her eyes shut as she remained bent down. The older girl grabbed at her chest, letting out a groan as she inhaled more air. She fleetingly wondered if it was okay to be that out of shape for her age.

Kiara grabbed Josie by the elbow and pulled her up, leading her through the kitchen and into the walk-in freezer. The motion drew Josie away from her lack of oxygen and toward the uneasy look on her best friend's face. "Jesus, it must be serious if you're dragging me into Antarctica."

"If I tell you this, you have to promise you won't freak out," Kiara scolded.

Josie scoffed as she crossed her arms. She was almost never the kind to flip her lid; she was not a very angry person. "Please, I'm as cool as a cucumber."

Kiara stared at her skeptically. Josie watched the silent debate dance across her eyes, before she pushed herself across whatever mental threshold she stood behind.

"John B kissed me, at the lighthouse."

It was a ringing—a very loud, very prominent ringing—that sounded through Josie's ears. Like someone had banged a set of pots together right beside her head, and she was still recovering from the aftermath. Like someone had used her head as the clapper of a giant bell, and her head was still ringing with the noise of it. Her vision seemed to grow blurry; little black fuzzies surrounded the outer portion of her vision like a tunnel. She could feel bile make its way up her throat.

She stared at her friend in paralyzing shock.

"Jose? You okay?"

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't fucking believe it. There was no way. There was absolutely no actual way that it was true. Who the hell did John B think he was?

When Josie got her fucking hands on him.

"He...he kissed you? Like on the mouth?" Josie was flabbergasted. It was like someone had written P4L on a piece of paper, crumpled it up, and threw it into a fire. Her skin itched, and her stomach ached. Her body trembled, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the temperature or Kie's confession.

Two of the most important people in her life...kissing.

"Yes, Jo, on the mouth." Kiara almost sounded embarrassed. And while it wasn't obvious, Josie could read her best friend like a book. She could tell in the way Kie avoided her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek. Josie wondered if it was as mortifying for Kiara as it felt for herself.

The redhead really did feel like her best friends had just broken something sacrosanct. "Wow, I...I, uh, don't really know how to take that, if I'm completely honest."

Josie looked down at her shoes, scuffing the toe against the floor and picking at a fray on her shorts. She tried to find the right words—tried to keep herself from saying something that would offend or upset anyone.

But all her brain could focus on was the red tint the world seemed to fade into. She knew it was dramatic to feel that way, but she truly couldn't help it. Her tongue stung with a resentment so bitter that she held the urge to physically spit it out.

Why had she placed the rule on a pedestal if John B just got to choose to undermine its very principle?

"It's just...you know how I feel about No-"

"No Pogue-On-Pogue Mackin', I know. That's why I wasn't sure if I should tell you, but..." Kiara sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I could never keep something like this from you."

Josie nodded, understanding what she'd meant. While she was not at all fond of what had happened, she was grateful that Kiara trusted and loved her enough to seek comfort in telling her. They'd been best friends for seven years. It was natural for them to discuss things like that, however hard it may be.

Josie puffed out a breath, collecting her thoughts, and swallowed down the pride that clawed its way up her throat. "You're right, you're right. I'm not here to judge. I'm here to provide you with any support you may need." She held up her index finger. "However, I cannot say the same for John B. And as soon as I see him, I will poke his eyes out."

"I don't doubt it." Kiara laughed and grabbed the girl's hand affectionately, leading her out of the freezer and back into the main restaurant.

Josie made herself comfortable at the counter, pulling up a stray chair as Kiara went back to the cracks in the wall, and made her explain the whole ordeal in detail. Josie let her talk, providing moral support as Kiara vented every thought and opinion she'd had whenever she needed to. Eventually, Josie was given a drink and a bowl of fries to snack on as they conversed.

It was a few hours later when Pope strolled into the Wreck. Once he saw the girls together, he gave a nonchalant wave of his hand to beckon them to follow. "Come on, guys. John B says he has another plan, and guess who's getting roped into it."

Josie stared at him blankly, and she sipped on her lemonade straw unbothered. Kiara informed him that she wouldn't be tagging along with the rest of them.

"What? Why?"

Kiara shrugged and motioned to the wall, where she continued to spackle. Josie chuckled at the lame excuse, but she watched on with a smirk as Pope gave in. He clearly wasn't in a mood to argue with an annoyed Kie.

He turned to Josie, who shrugged as she leant into the counter she sat at. "Think I'm good right here."

Pope glanced back and forth between both girls, his confusion and frustration clear as he silently questioned why they wouldn't come. But they both remained silent, unsure if John B had spilled the beans and unwilling to cause any unnecessary stirs—yet.

The silence only made him more irritated at their complete shift in attitude since their earlier tirade. He huffed at the stubbornness of his girl friends as they continued to silently refute him. He marched out of the Wreck and mumbled something about taking back his statement from yesterday about needing the girls.

Not a minute later, their familiar brunette best friend strolled in, a nervous twinge to his voice. "Um...hey, uh, what-what're you guys doin'?"

Josie jumped up from her seat and immediately blocked his path toward Kie. "What does it look like?"

He looked down at her weirdly and stopped in his tracks. His gaze bounded back and forth from a preoccupied Kie to a glaring Josie, who narrowed her eyes up at him.

"Look, spackling can wait, guys. We're-we're about to make history."

"Are you concocting again?" Kie asked, walking past and away from the duo.

"Yes, yes, I'm concocting. I'm concocting more than I've ever concocted in my life." John B tried to follow her, but Josie sidestepped to block his path.

She smugly stared up at the very confused boy, before realization crossed his features. His eyes widened as he peeked over at Kie, frantically looking at both girls. "She told you?"

Josie scoffed at him in disbelief. "What, did you think she wouldn't?" She raised her brows as frustration simmered in his eyes. He looked quite nervous, to be fair, running his hands through his hair as his gaze continued darting between the girls.

Without another thought, Josie took her index and middle fingers and harshly jammed them at John B's face and directly into his eyes.

The boy grunted and leaned back as he raised his hand to rub his watery eyes. "What the hell was that for?"

"What do you think, dumbass?" Josie sent him a look that asked if he thought she was stupid. "You're lucky I didn't gauge them out, Oedipus."

He sighed and shut his eyes once again, before opening them to shoot another glance at Kie. She stood by a far table to watch the interaction. John B looked back down at his auburn-haired friend, who crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg, peering up at him expectantly.

"Look, RJ, I get that you're angry with me, I do, and you have every right to be. I was stupid, I know."

Josie's shoulders dropped, tongue pressed to her cheek. She tried not to let his apologetic tone and reddening eyes get the best of her. He'd broken the most sacred rule. The rule that was there to make sure nothing as trivial as crushes on each other would tear them apart.

He looked back at Kie and tried to pass Josie once again, only to be denied. The older girl motioned to imply that he could still speak to their friend, but from a distance.

"And I know that you're just being a good friend and not trying to enable me in my delusion, and that your dad doesn't want you to see me." He motioned his head toward the back, where Mike prepped food. "But please. You are my best friends, and I need you both right now."

Damn him. Damn him for knowing that the best friend card was Josie's weakness.

She sighed and uncrossed her arms, rocking her head side-to-side and weighing her options. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she contemplated relenting on her tantrum. Eventually, she moved to let John B approach Kie. Josie followed as he dragged Kie away from where she stood and toward the back door, huffing childishly when she realized her pouting was coming to an end.

"Look, I'm sorry about the kiss thing. That was super weird, and I feel awkward about it, and it's even more awkward now that Jo knows, but listen, I need you, and I'm begging. I'm begging you. I am begging you. And I just want to talk for-"

"Oh my god! Shut up!" Kie interrupted, and John B shook his head in stupor.

"What?"

"I get it," Kie firmly stated as she quickly glanced at the newly amused look on Josie's face. In the redhead's opinion, accepting John B's frantic apology was worth it in the long run. Her admiration for her friends would always outweigh any anger that boiled in her stomach.

Kie stepped up to place a kiss on John B's cheek, a sign of good faith to calm John B's racing heart. "Friends?"

He immediately nodded. "Friends. Yeah." The duo shared a pogue-shake, a relieved sigh leaving his lips. "Back in the friendzone."

Kie went to let her parents know she was leaving, and Josie turned to meet John B's anticipatory look. He raised his brows at her, sticking out his hand for her. "Wha'dya say, RJ?"

She approached him slowly, eye contact unbreakable as she pressed her pointer finger into his chest. "You really understand why I'm angry with you, right? It's not just some rule that has no meaning, okay? This-" She paused to motion between the two of them, before pointing out to where she assumed the Twinkie was parked and to where Kie disappeared.

"This is the most important thing in the world to me, and I'd never let anything tear it apart. Sure, now it's just a kiss, but what if it was more? What if you guys started dating and then it didn't work out? We'd never be the same, B. The pogues would never be the same."

Josie could feel the waterworks, and she inhaled to keep them from releasing. "I love you both too much for that shit to happen."

"I know. Trust me, I know." John B nodded in agreement, but the look in his eyes made it seem like he had so much more to add to Josie's statement. Like he knew something about her that she didn't.

Josie sighed and stuck her hand out, finally sharing a pogue-shake with the boy. They turned at the sound of Kie calling to follow her, and the younger girl smiled at her friends' reconciliation.

"Love you too, by the way." John B tugged her head back with a yank of her ponytail as they walked. Josie slapped at his hand, shoving his shoulder and causing him to stumble to his right.

Kie scoffed and rolled her eyes at their childish behavior as she made her way out the door. The duo followed behind her while they continued their playful shoving.

As John B pushed her out the door, she finally made eye contact with her favorite blond, who sat in the passenger seat of the Twinkie. His blue eyes shone with elation at her presence, but all she could focus on was how the setting sun perfectly complimented the oceanic color.

Their shared gaze was broken when Kie opened his door. "Out, you know the rule."

Once shotgun is called, it applies for the entire day—unless stated otherwise.

Josie smirked as he put on a dramatic show of rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out at Kiara. He climbed out of the van and watched as Josie shoved John B's shoulder. She shared a smirk with JJ when John B tripped down the last step because of it.

The brunette speedily recovered and retaliated, spinning to shove Josie's shoulder as she also reached the gravel ground. JJ raced to make sure she didn't stumble and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, hitting John B for her in return.

"What're we kickin' his ass for?" JJ inquired. He ignored the roll of John B's eyes as they made their way to the opened sliding door. He also refused to acknowledge the fake gag John B mimed as they did so.

"He's a dick." Josie shrugged, and she giggled at John B's audible offended scoff.

JJ laughed as he waited for her to enter the van first, before climbing in after her and shutting the door. He then climbed over the backseat and into the trunk area.

Josie grinned at him as she nestled onto the bench next to Pope and returned to her position from earlier that day. She leaned back against the side, right knee bent up as it leaned against the back of the seat. She let her head fall backward as her eyes shut for a well-earned rest.

As John B started driving, she could make out the sound of JJ clicking his lighter. Josie peered to her right to see JJ taking a hit from a newly lit blunt. Immediately, she poked her bottom lip out in a silent plea, smiling when the boy easily gave her the blunt to puff.

After passing it between them for a few minutes, he finally spoke up. "You mind if we just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down." He motioned toward Josie, who'd looked the most eased she'd been all day.

The weight of everything that day sat heavy on her shoulders, and all she longed for was a nice bath.

"We're just gonna lay low. Oh, did you want a hit of this?" JJ held the blunt out toward Pope. Josie breathed out a laugh.

"I keep the signal clear."

"Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative then-"

John B interrupted JJ's lecture. "Look, I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, alright? And pretty much wrong about everything else going on, but I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

Josie opened her eyes as she took the blunt from JJ's hand. She inhaled a hit and returned it, before moving to sit on the seat behind John B. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shared a knowing look with Kie.

There was a part of her that encouraged her to believe in what he was saying. It was the same part of her that believed that hidden treasures and maps to lost cities existed. The part of her that swore that there was a possibility that John B's ship-hunting father was sending last-ditch messages to his son.

"Then let's find out what it is."

After letting John B drive them around for a bit, they eventually found themselves at an old cemetery. One of the very few on Kildare.

Josie was instantly intrigued, the newly darkened sky adding a bit of eeriness to their adventure. They all piled out of the car, passing out flashlights or, in JJ's case, a headlamp. They then joined John B in his confident trek toward whatever they were looking for.

"Come on, hey. Hey, come on," John B anxiously commanded Kie behind him, desperate for his friends to follow without interruption.

"I'm coming. This place is scary." Kie walked closely behind him, followed by Pope, as JJ and Josie took up the rear of the group. Mainly because Josie didn't trust a high JJ not to trip over a gravestone and break his nose.

Josie squinted and pointed her flashlight at different headstones to read the names and dates, trying to place people at different time periods in history. World War II fighters, people who read Little Women when it was first published, women who could've been flappers, and people who marched in civil rights protests.

So many different lives lived, all in one space together.

"John B, what are we doing?" Kie questioned, flashlight moving around as she checked their surroundings.

"Okay, so, you know how you try to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?" John B asked, and Kiara agreed as Josie let out a hum of confirmation.

"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." John B led the group to a crypt, lifting his lantern to show the name carved at the top.

Redfield.

"It's a person."

"Voi-effing-la," JJ stated. He elbowed Josie and nodded in pride at his French, to which she rolled her eyes and shoved his elbow away with her own. She stepped up near John B, eyes scanning the concrete structure as she inspected it.

"See, my great-grandmother Olivia. Redfield, that was her maiden name."

Josie examined the crypt and tried to decipher what time period it was probably built in. "Did you guys know crypts used to mainly be under churches? Technically, this is a mausoleum, which gets its name from King Mausolus's tomb, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World."

"Still creepy." Kie smiled despite her claim, and Josie nodded. Creepy, but fascinating.

"Alright, help me with the door. Come on," John B instructed. Pope agreed and followed to help move the door out of its spot. "One, two, three." They both let out strained noises as they struggled to push, but the door refused to budge from its hold.

"Are you pushing?" Pope strained.

"Yeah, I'm pushing."

Josie nudged JJ toward the door, and he squeezed himself in between the boys to help. "Here, I got it." But the door stayed put.

"Come on, this door's like seven hundred pounds, man. It's not gonna budge," Pope grunted.

"We didn't come this far, to get this far, alright? We got this." JJ's encouragement and the boys' failure were interrupted by a loud hiss that emitted from the small opening of the crypt. Josie noticed the black head of a snake straightaway, and she jumped forward to rip JJ back by his shirt.

"Woah, woah, woah." Sounds of fright escaped everyone as they moved away from the newly grounded snake.

"That's a moccasin, alright?" JJ shuffled to follow the snake. Kie pulled at Josie's upper arm as the latter closely watched the blond. "Ye old Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass."

Josie couldn't believe it when JJ started barking at the snake. Instantly, the group offered harsh commands for him to shut up as he tried to intimidate the snake. Josie turned away in incredulity and rubbed her forehead, anxiously looking around to see if anyone could hear the noises he made.

"You're gonna wake the freakin' dead, man." Pope pushed at his shoulder, causing JJ to stop and look up at them, confused.

"Dude, they're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that, man." JJ turned to Josie, who shrugged in an exhausted response. John B went to examine the door again, but JJ pulled his shoulder to hold him back. "Wait, hold on, hold on. If there's one, there's probably dozens."

Despite Josie's title as resident scaredy-cat, if there was one thing she wasn't scared of, it was snakes. After living with the kind of person that Naomi was, she'd seen it all. Mice, snakes, lizards, cockroaches, spiders—the whole lot. So, while JJ's warning spooked Kie and Pope, Josie just rolled her eyes.

Kie grabbed Josie's hand, pulling her friend closer to her side as she flashed her light at the tomb. "Can you stop? You're scaring me, bro."

JJ proceeded to bark at the crypt, and Josie had to contain her laughter at how ridiculous he looked.

"Stop barking at the snake!" John B rebuked. It then caused a domino effect of arguments as the boys fought about whether or not it was smart for JJ to bark at snakes.

Josie dragged Kie toward the hole that the snake had slithered out of. After getting a good look at it, Kie quietly pointed out that it was a crack from where the boys had just barely been able to move the door. It was just big enough for one person to squeeze through, if they were short enough.

Josie tried to determine exactly how sober she had to be to climb through successfully.

"Look, we're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging," Pope stated. None of them paid any attention to the girls. "We should probably just go."

"One of us could probably get through," Josie offered. She and Kie flashed their lights up to the left of the door, where the hole opened a bit more.

"What? No, no, no, no. You think you-you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?"

Josie playfully glared at John B, coking a brow in question as he stuttered to backtrack on his statement. She pursed her lips and nodded teasingly, while JJ hit him on the shoulder for his indirect inference. She good-naturedly giggled at his embarrassment, and glanced back at her female best friend.

"I would, but I'm not gonna get through without breaking something. This one, however..." She trailed off and expectantly stared at Kie, who shrugged.

"Look, this is about your dad." Kie was firm in her statement, looking at John B. "And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth." There was a moment of understanding between the two of them, reaffirming that they all would do almost anything for each other. "I'll do it."

Josie nodded in agreement and sent John B a tight-lipped smile of encouragement. She motioned toward the twigs and vines. "Alright, get this out of her way."

She, Pope, and John B began pulling on them to clear the hole for Kiara to climb through. Unsurprisingly, the task was more difficult than one may have predicted because of the amount of time those vines had probably been growing there. The plants had a tight hold on the door, and the trio had a bit of a struggle to pull them aside.

"Jay, help her up."

They held them back as JJ leaned back against the stone with his fingers clasped in front of him. "I'm gonna boost you, alright. I've seen it in the movies several times." Josie laughed at the blond's assurance and gave Kie a supportive smile. "Ready?"

"Remind me what we're looking for," Kie wondered as she looked at John B for answers.

He nodded. "You'll know when you see it."

She then hesitantly turned to Josie, who nodded. Kie was easily one of the strongest people she knew; she could handle a little bit of grave climbing.

"Hold my flashlight." She passed the light to Josie, who happily stopped helping hold the twigs as she held one light in each hand.

Kie prepared to stand on JJ's hands, but Josie quickly stopped her with a hand to her arm. "Wait. I love you and don't die, but if you do die...can I have your board?" Kie scoffed, hiding her smile as she shook her head and gently shoved the girl away from her.

"Alright, so put your hands right there," JJ instructed her to grab his shoulders. Kie adjusted where her foot needed to be in his hold, and Josie cringed and prayed that he didn't drop her.

"Alright, on three. One-"

Without needing the countdown, Kie grunted and boosted herself up, shimmying into the hole. "Okay, never mind. Just forget about three."

As soon as Josie heard Kie's feet hit the ground, she stuck her hand in to pass the girl her flashlight. "Here you go. Be careful."

"I will," Kiara reassured.

Josie couldn't help but pull her middle finger to her mouth and chew on the short nail bed. The idea that Kiara might encounter multiple snakes at once, or something else entirely, caused the anxiety in Josie's chest to build slowly. Every possibly dangerous outcome ran through her head within a millisecond.

What if the building collapsed on her?

"You alive? You got, like, a-a heartbeat and everything?" John B asked, concern for their friend clear.

"So far."

Josie pressed herself to John B's side and closer to the hole to peek through and keep an eye on her friend. "Please don't actually die, Kie. I can't deal with these idiots without you." A nudge was given to her left shoulder, and she turned to see an offended JJ staring down at her.

She just shrugged, doubling down on her claim, and turned back to listen to her friend. "I'll try not to, but I need some more light."

"Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha," John B confirmed. Josie moved back slightly so he could pass the lantern into the crypt.

The silence that followed was deafening, and Josie's anxiety began to crawl up her throat when nothing was relayed from her friend. Her heart pounded in her ears, and her palms grew clammy against the rough stone of the door. She pushed against John B to peek in, where she saw Kiara staring at something. But she couldn't make out what it was.

"Kie, did you find anything?"

"Is there gold?" JJ quickly added. Josie gently smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand, eyes unwavering from Kiara.

"Oh my god."

"What, what? Kie, are you okay?" Josie scrambled to get a better look inside. She hoped that the lack of urgency in her friend's voice meant that she wasn't in any imminent danger.

Kie pulled what looked like an envelope from a crack in the wall. She passed it and the lantern out to John B and climbed out, with the help of JJ and Josie.

"That's not gold," Pope admonished disappointedly.

"Holy shit." John B astonishedly looked down at the writing on the envelope, For Bird written neatly on the front. Josie furrowed her brows as he looked around at all of them, confusion written across her features.

"This is from my dad."

Her confused frown quickly morphed into a stunned smile, and she was incredibly relieved that John B would finally get some type of answer to his mystery. But before any of them could celebrate or share their support, they were interrupted by the click of JJ's lighter and a warning from the boy.

"Code red, code red. Square groupers, square groupers." JJ immediately turned to push Josie along as he ushered everyone behind the stone building. "It's the guys that robbed your house." Once everyone had passed him, she grabbed his hand to pull him along with her.

"Turn off the lights, guys."

Josie quickly smacked her flashlight off, and everyone struggled to turn off their respective lights. Pope flicked the light on JJ's forehead off and scolded him, while the blond focused on putting his blunt out on the wall. John B fumbled to turn his lantern off as Kie scolded him.

Josie could make out the faint sound of a golf cart, which was quickly accompanied by the faint voices of whoever drove it. Kie tapped her arm, pointing toward where the voices sounded from. "Do you think it's them?"

She shrugged and tried to pull JJ back, a bit closer to her, as he peeked around the corner. "Homie's got a gun."

"Screw this," Kie stated through a shake of her head. She grabbed Josie's elbow and tugged her up as she bolted toward the cemetery gate.

Josie pulled JJ along by the hand, following after Kie and John B. Pope trailed closely somewhere behind them. It was only a matter of seconds before the leads were making their way over the surrounding wall.

"Okay, Jose, c'mon." She barely had time to think about the height predicament before she stuck her foot into JJ's clasped hands and let him boost her up over the stone.

Kie and John B were quick to assist her down, and JJ followed a millisecond after. "Go, go, go!"

They all went to sprint toward the Twinkie, when they realized Pope had gone over the gate and not the wall. And in the process, he'd gotten himself stuck in quite the predicament.

"Guys, guys! I'm stuck," Pope panicked. Josie ran over to help him down, followed by Kie, as she choked down her giggle. Her best friend's conundrum was surely something they were going to find hilarious in the future.

"Pope, come on, man!" JJ ushered before jokingly pulling the gun from the back of his pants. "Alright now, Pope, don't move, okay?" Josie didn't have time to reprimand him before John B roughly pushed his arm down, trying to grab the gun from him.

Josie and Kie urged Pope down as he viciously argued with the girls pulling him toward the ground. The sound of seams ripping could be heard, but Josie couldn't care less. The state of his shorts, or decency, was not more important than avoiding being shot at again.

"P, you just have to let the shorts die; it's not worth it! I'll buy you a new pair!" Josie and Kie gave one final tug to bring him down from the gate. That time he followed, but his shorts did not.

Josie cackled as they raced for the Twinkie, carelessly stumbling as she continued to laugh at an underwear-clad Pope. Through her smile, she feverishly apologized to him.

"Nice, c'mon, dude. It's a little Tootsie Roll," JJ jokingly poked fun at Pope. Josie shoved the back of his head as Kiara opened the back door for them to climb through.

The brunette girl climbed into the front seat, laughing and calling Pope stupid, as he ran with his hand cupped to cover his manhood. Pope clambered into the back, and Josie impishly slapped his butt as she climbed in behind him.

"Gun it! Gun it!" She scrambled forward to repeatedly hit John B's shoulder as JJ climbed through and shut the door behind him. The whole group couldn't help but heartily laugh as John B peeled away from both the cemetery and Pope's shorts hanging from the gate.

☼

Once they'd made it back to the Chateau, JJ had insisted that he was in need of nourishment. Pope had insisted on finding something to replace his shorts. And the others had insisted that they shut up and stop complaining.

Josie, Kie, and John B sat at his dining table as they stared down at the envelope. JJ made himself a sandwich as Pope went to throw on pants. Josie couldn't help but glance at John B every few moments, aware that there must've been a complex range of emotions racing through his head.

The desperation in his eyes was the clearest of them all.

JJ spread peanut butter on the bread he'd found in the back of John B's cabinet. Josie tried to keep herself from vomiting at the fact that it was definitely past the expiration date, choosing to let him deal with that consequence.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago," Pope criticized as he exited John B's bedroom, sporting a pair of sweatpants. He lifted a lantern and joined the others around the table.

"Yeah, I'll just pull off the bad parts," JJ answered nonchalantly. "Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."

Josie shuddered at the logistics of his argument, glancing over her shoulder at him. "JayJ," she called.

"Yup, yup, yup!" He raced to stand behind her chair, with the moldy sandwich and a Sprite in hand. "Hot damn! Let's do it!" He placed the soda down in front of Josie, and she fleetingly shot him a grateful smile.

John B tore off the seal of the envelope as JJ took a bite of his sandwich. Almost instantaneously, the boy behind her gagged and spat the food into his hand as Josie grimaced. Her eyes flickered between John B opening the package and JJ moving to throw away the part of the sandwich he'd spat out.

She silently begged for him to trash it, only to be disappointed when he instead chose to just peel at the mold.

John B unfolded the piece of paper he'd pulled out, laying it on the table to reveal it to the rest of them. It was a map of the coastal North Carolina region, but scribbled on it were markings where Kildare rested on the Outer Banks.

"Holy shit," John B graveled as he flattened the map.

"Well, X marks the spot." Pope leaned down to point at the obvious marking on the map. The group attentively watched as John B confirmed that the coordinates jotted down on it corresponded with the X.

"Maybe there's something else in there," Josie suggested. John B nodded, and he reached in to pull another object out of the envelope.

"What's that?" JJ asked once John B held the device, and Josie scoffed humorously as she looked up at him.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass," Kie answered. The offended look he gave their friend made the redhead laugh, and JJ gently swatted her shoulder in retaliation. She swatted back at him, briefly starting a swatting fight over her shoulder, before Kie reached out to smack both of their hands and effectively stop them.

They all waited with bated breath as John B hit play on the device.

"Dear Bird," Big John started, but was abruptly interrupted by JJ.

"Who's Bird?"

"That's what my dad called me," John B answered. Josie reached her hand out to rest on his forearm and gave him an encouraging squeeze. She nodded for him to continue the tape.

"I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out, wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand-new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less-than-optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant. If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side."

The recording ended, and a silence blanketed the group as John B let out an audible gulp. The energy in the room was heavy, and mere milliseconds ticked by as they sat in their disbelief. John B rose from his seat, gently removing Josie's hand from his arm, and turned to walk toward the kitchen.

But before he could get very far, he collapsed against the doorway with a sob.

It was instinctual for Josie to quickly rise from her seat and rush to her friend, wrapping her arms around him from the side. Her right hand rubbed up and down his back as he leaned into her. Tears dripped onto her arms, which caused her own to fall into his hair.

She hated seeing her friends cry.

"Holy shit, he did it! Big John, h-he found the Royal Merchant-" JJ's cheers were quickly shut down by Kie, who placed her palms on her head and annoyedly pointed at him in disbelief.

"Can you-can you please?"

"Yeah, sorry."

Josie continued to console John B as she whispered reassurance in his ear, but there wasn't much more she could do. Hearing his supposedly dead father's voice was obviously quite a lot for him, as it would be for most people, and Josie didn't know what to say to make something like that better.

So, all she could do was offer him comfort and remind him that he was loved and validated through his pain.

Kie slowly walked toward the duo and tucked herself into John B's other side. The both of them let him find solace in their embrace.

Josie leaned into the boy's shoulder to try and hide the tears that freely fell down her face. At some point, she reached around to squeeze Kie's hand on his back as she bit her lip, desperate to keep her own empathetic sadness from audibly spilling out.

She wasn't sure how long they stood there, comforting him. But sometime after, John B decided that he'd needed air.

The five of them all moved to settle on the dock as thunder rumbled in the distance. There was a grief that hung in the air after what was basically confirmation that Big John was dead, but there was also an anticipation from the implication of looking for the gold.

Josie watched as JJ skipped rocks and Kiara softly played her ukulele. The girls shared a spot sat atop the side of the dock, and Josie used the younger girl's shoulder as a pillow as she rested her head against it. The plucks of the familiar strings lulled Josie into a sense of security, and she would occasionally chime in to hum along with the melody.

"How much was it again?" JJ asked as he tossed another rock into the marsh water.

"Four hundred mill," Pope answered, and Josie shook her head in bewilderment. Sure, her family had money. But she couldn't even begin to imagine what that amount of money would even look like.

JJ sighed through pursed lips. "Alright, let's talk the split." He threw his last rock out, before turning to face the group directly. "Now, before we say 'evenly,' may I remind you that I am the only one who can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us." He held up the gun for emphasis. "Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

Josie rolled her eyes at the insinuation that he was some all-mighty protector.

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training," Pope pointed out disapprovingly.

"YouTube, bro. That's at least a five percent bump right there." JJ's claim caused Josie to snort out a chuckle. She moved to lean her forehead against Kie's shoulder, which shook with her own chuckle.

"You haven't-" Pope tried to argue, but to no avail.

"Any objections? Didn't think so."

Josie, Pope, and Kie all raised their hands at the boy's question, but they were promptly ignored by his refuting statement. "I didn't hear any, so..."

Kie rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore JJ as she turned to Pope. "What're you gonna do with your 80 mill, Pope?"

Josie chuckled and glanced over at Pope, intrigued. He thought about it for a moment, slightly nodding his head. "Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."

"What about you, Kie?" Josie gently asked. She raised her head from the girl's shoulder to nudge it with her own, earning the same movement back.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope smugly chimed in, making Kie chuckle and shrug.

"Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the pogues. Y'know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston." She paused to bask in the imagination. "Record it at Marley Studio, this one on backing vocals, Peter Tosh producing." Kie nudged Josie's shoulder as she mentioned her, but she rolled her eyes.

"Peter Tosh is dead-"

"Peter Tosh is dead. I know that, Pope. Sprit of Peter Tosh will never die." Kie lifted up her beer can at him for emphasis, and Josie smiled at the happiness radiating off of her female friend.

"Actually, I know what I'm gonna do," JJ butted in. His gaze moved to meet Josie's as he spoke. "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full kook."

"You're gonna go full kook?" Pope asked skeptically, earning a nod back from JJ.

"Yep. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish-"

"I'm never visiting." Kie chuckled at her friend's idea of luxury.

Josie tried to imagine what that would look like. JJ in those shorts and polos that everyone on that side of the island wore, hair slicked back so perfectly that not a strand was misplaced. He'd sport a constant smirk that implied he thought he was better than everyone else. He'd be accompanied by a set of golf clubs that probably cost more than his bike and wristwatches he could pay a house payment with.

He'd also have some platinum blonde woman that he met in Barbados, or somewhere like that, on his arm. She'd have a big ass rock on her finger, and they'd pop out a few bratty kids.

She loathed the thought of him like that.

"What about you, Jo?" Kie asked softly, gathering the girl's attention, as she sat the ukulele down on the wood beside them. Josie pursed her lips in thought.

There were so many things she could do with that kind of money. Obviously, she could fund her exploration of St. Dismas. Hell, she could probably buy the whole campus grounds and just hire people to search it. Or she could leave the Outer Banks to go treasure hunting off the coast of Africa and never turn back. Or she could follow Pope's steps and pay for college.

But, despite all of that, she was sure her answer was not the one any of her friends were expecting.

"I wanna help my dad go to rehab—get him off drugs. Pay for Naomi and my niece to go to college. And maybe get a dog, a really big one." Josie sighed with a soft smile and picked at the skin around her nails. She forced back the tears stemming from her complicated emotions.

"Buy a place of my own. So I never have to be around my mother ever again."

Kie sighed and stared at her friend sympathetically, moving to gently intertwine their fingers together. The brunette squeezed Josie's hand lovingly, and Josie squeezed back just as emotionally.

After everything she'd gone through with her dad, after dealing with the never-ending weight of her mother's expectations, and after fighting her own personal demons. After all of that, at the end of the day, she had her friends. Her pogues.

And that would always be enough.

"What're you gonna do, JB?" Pope asked the abnormally quiet boy, and the four of them turned to stare as they waited for his answer.

He stayed in his thoughts for a few moments, before he nodded and turned to smile at the rest of them. "To going full kook."

They all stood to toast their cans, laughter and smiles prominent. "To going full kook!"

⋄ ⋟⋆ june 20, 2020

as benevolence fell apart in between my fingertips, I was reminded in that moment of just how beautifully human we all were. as the cracks in his heart broke evermore with the songs of his missing piece, I was reminded that even those that shone in the light had a dark shadow threatening to swallow them whole. and as our laughter danced through the night sky afterwards, I took the opportunity to look at my friends when I was met with a graceful thought. that the idea of being loved relentlessly, for a split moment, no longer seemed impossible. it was there. in the delicate grip of palms pressed together and gazes sharing a sense of overwhelming serenity, there was irreplaceable love. and there I sat, grasping that love and holding it with my hands unscathed.

- josephine grey ⋄ ⋟⋆

[bugeyedfreaks]

Gonna try as be as concise with this post as I can, since I’m sure you guys know by now that I… can talk way too much about the PPG. 🤣 I had heard about the Powerpuff Girls live action leaked script, but I never took the time to read it for myself. People sent me screencaps of different sections and gave me a summary of what happened, but from all of that, I thought it didn’t sound very good, so I didn’t want to assault my senses with the full thing. A few days ago, the PDF of the script popped up on Tumblr for me as a recommended post, so I thought I should take a deep breath and finally take the plunge.

I’m surprised to report that after FINALLY reading it… I didn’t entirely hate it. Is the writing bad? Yes. Are there way too many pop culture jokes? Yes. Do they make the mistake of giving all the girls ice powers when it’s pretty established canon that Blossom’s the only one with that? YES, and that’s really aggravating. You get glimmers that the writers have seen the show, and kind of get the characters, but only to a certain point that borders on superficial.

However, there’re a lot of cool ideas in the script. I kept reading it thinking, “Ohhh, that’s a cool idea, but I wish they did it [insert different way here].” I even went, “Awww!” at a couple points. Yes. I was weirded out. I liked some of the character interpretations (I’m like 75% on board with Blossom’s character, liked Buttercup and Bubbles’ sisterly chemistry, strangely love the weird take of crazy stardom obsessed Bubbles 😂 and her relationship with the Prof, among many other things!), but I was super thrown off by the pointless (and honestly, unfunny and baffling) “adult” humor and pop culture jokes. Those made NO sense. Like Craig McCracken has said in the past, you don’t mix the girls in with whatever’s like hot or trendy, they’re supposed to be evergreen. Despite this type of humor sucking, it makes me sad to hear that the network interpreted the fans’ response as hating any humor, and are changing it to go into a “serious” direction. I think all it needs is some good original humor not so dependent on references to things (maybe even a healthy dose of puns). PPG usually has a good mix of serious fighting and goofy hijinks, and you could totally do that with a live action series. The characters are fun and funny and it would be fun to keep them that way, just… creatively!

There’s also some OOCness that’s just unforgivable. Of course, you need these characters to have flaws that they’ll overcome throughout the run of the show, but some of the additions were weird, like they didn’t track for who some of the characters are at their core. There was one that I thought was interesting but had lousy execution, and that was the Professor being a greedy stage dad kind of character. It made me sad, but the idea of our usually sweet Professor being secretly evil or doing some shady things on the side WAS kind of intriguing. If they were gonna do that, I would have made it a slow build up to like a season finale, like, “…wait, the good dad licensed his kids out of the money instead of for the good of the town?! Evil all along?!” or something like that. Maybe he was forced into it and went against his own moral code. Could it even have been an avenue to introduce Him? Was he puppeteering the Prof all along?! I dunno. But the way they wrote the Prof how they did just made it seem like they had no clue what they were doing, or who his character is even at a basic level.

I think a lot of the ideas presented (childhood stardom, the struggles of adulthood, privacy, the real world repercussions of fighting, mental health, etc.) are really super intriguing, and my mind is like REELING with a lot of potential that seems wasted and lost. The girls have established personality flaws that they could really build off more from (Blossom with perfectionism and pride, Buttercup with anger and jealousy, Bubbles with sensitivity and naïveté) and in a more meaningful way. Same with the villains, like… some of them are more complex than a casual viewer would think, and it would be cool to see that complexity fleshed out even more.

One thing I would really want them to do is to try to, like… distance the show as much as possible from the original canon cartoon. PPGZ is a good example of successfully creating a PPG-esque show for a specific market and demographic that keeps the spirit of the original show and the general designs while making it CLEAR that it’s its own thing. After what happened with PPG 2016, it might have made fans skittish that this live-action show is meant to somehow “fix” things, or continue the cartoon’s official storyline. It shouldn’t. This needs to be, like, more clearly an alternate universe. Don’t even have the cartoon in it as a gag (I’d say the least I’d put in are the cartoon designs of the girls as like… in-world merch mascots or something, and even then I’m hesitant). If you look at this show as a separate entity that’s only based off the original characters, it might feel a little more palatable. …maybe. 😆

Anyway, I could write SO much more, but that’s… my general take on it. Not great, but not as much of a dumpster fire as I was expecting. I dunno if I’m confident that they’ve been making any meaningful changes to the script. Realistically, at the end of the day, they’re probably viewing it as a way to push merch and make money rather than setting out to do a live action PPG series justice. That’s okay. It is what it is. If they DO want to make it good though, I think at the very least it just needs more thought put into it and to be scrubbed clean of all those garbage pop culture jokes. We’ll see what happens though, but I did at least detect some potential hiding in there. Now if it builds on the potential… that remains to be seen. 🙃

[samspenandsword]

Hi Sam!!! Congrats on 300 followers; it’s so deserved! Figured I would send myself in for a ship request cause I’m curious about what you would say. For Star Wars related things; my favorite planet is Naboo, I’ve just always been obsessed with it (and Padme was my favorite character as a kid.) my favorite of the movies is Empire Strikes Back, but Revenge of the Sith is a close second. For real life stuff; I’m an introverted extravert: I’m very shy and in my own shell but wish I could get out more. Love reading and playing video games, also love to cook in my free time. In partners, trust and loyalty are super important to me but I also love a good sense of humour

Iris!! Thank you so much for celebrating with me, it really means a lot. I hope February has been treating you well!

Sam's Pen and Sword 300 Follower Celebration (Closed)

Warnings: Slightly suggestive and ever-so-slight bits of horniness, because I can't resist. (Minors gtfo)

Iris' Follower Celebration Request

Ship request 👄

Okay my friend, I thought about for a good while, but eventually I couldn't shake the idea of you and Commander Cody as a couple. The two things you mentioned as being most important in a relationship and partner? Trust and loyalty. Cody also values both those things more than nearly anything. Not to mention his sense of humor, which is the oddest combination of blatant dad jokes and dry wit. I think what is perfect about Cody as a partner for you is his recognition of balance. He's the type of partner who is willing and able to encourage you to come out and try new things. To put yourself out there. To focus more on yourself and him rather than the improbable awkward social situations you'd find yourself in. But he'll also know that encouragement and pushing you out of your comfort zone are not the same thing. He'll be incredibly conscious not to push you too far, and soon becomes able to recognize when you're more in the mood for a night in rather than dinner at a restaurant followed by a bar. And he's the same way! There are days where he'd love to go to brunch with you! Says "yes please" to mimosas and (space) English muffins and fancy frittatas. And there are also days where he just wants to come home. Be in his own space. Maybe curl under a blanket with you as you two watch a holoseries (that inevitably devolves into making out bc who would resist Cody). I don't see Cody becoming a huge gamer, but I see him becoming invested in both the simplest, most classic (think Space Mario Kart) games and the ones with mindblowing worldbuilding (think Skyrim and Mass Effect). And though I'm not sure the two of you would have the same taste in books, you love the afternoons where Cody whisks you away to your favorite bookshop with a cafe next door, and the two of you can spend hours browsing around and he absolutely spoils you (Victory!AU where Bail Organa becomes Chancellor and the clones finally get citizenship and rights and pay as well as monetary compensation for three years of service and trauma; Palpatine died in a mysterious accident that Fox swears he has no knowledge of).

Your lips were puckered with consideration, staring down at the pair of books in your hands. In one — a soft, smutty sapphic romance, full of yearning and shitty jokes and soft flirting and bad decisions. In the other — a classic. A book you already had on your shelf three times over, each different editions with introductions or notes or illustrations or covers. You did not need another. ... But it was one of your favorites, so you did need another. It came with a special box and had one of those fancy ribbon bookmarks and gold foil-rimmed pages and you wanted it! "Struggling?" "Fuck off." Ahh, yes. Your love language. Affection sprinkled between the swear words and sarcasm. Cody chuckled, and you settled into his touch as he came behind you, seaming his chest to your back and snaking a hand around your waist. His palm settled flush to your middle, big and strong, with just enough pressure to make your stomach explode with flutters. He knew what he was doing too, asshole, your thoughts said as he kissed the back of your head, not quite chastely enough for public. "Need help deciding?" You hesitated, then grumbled, "yes." Cody chuckled once more, hand smoothing across your middle as he stepped to be beside you. He never let go of you, squeezing your waist lightly. "Tell me about that one." You told him about the new book, the sapphic romance. Describing it to him and how it sounded really soft and appealing. Cody hummed lightly at the appropriate moments, hand occasionally smoothing down from your waist to your hip, to squeeze idly, then stroke back up again. You tried your best not to squirm. This long into your relationship, you reasoned that you shouldn't still be reacting to Cody's touch like a horny teenager or repressed noble lord. But it was Cody. And you simply could not get enough of him. And he definitely knew what he was doing. You managed to finish telling him about the book, and he would've looked thoughtful if not for the casual, flippant humor in his eyes. "Get both." "Cody!" He smiled a little, amused. You always reacted that way. "Fine. You buy one, I'll buy the other, and you can pretend to be surprised when I present it to you after dinner tonight." Your lip twitched. How many times had he pulled that now? You'd lost count. But regardless, you never failed to agree to it. Because you knew how much Cody loved to spoil you. Now that he had the means to do so, of course. Cody was just unfailingly generous and loved to take care of you. And it never failed to warm you inside. So that night found the both of you home, both of your new books tucked onto the shelf in the bedroom along with his own picks. None of them got read that night, the both of you busy with each other instead.

[nazumichi]

silly headcanons for marie?

being silly is everything to me <33

not extremely close with her wildebeest and hyena allies from episode 1. more of an occasional inventing of a friendship whenever she needs a helping hand (for every “yoo-hoo!! fancy seeing the two of you!” they find her even more insufferable).

i like to think she’s very competitive. underneath a cool and unbothered front, i think she likes to get under people’s skin and have the upper hand constantly, even if it’s very obviously a Bad idea. she’s especially competitive with rose and kusakabe. it’s mostly one-sided with rose, who tries to ignore her taunting in favor of giving shirou the benefit of the doubt. with kusakabe though…. i like to think that marie used to work with flip, and she and kusakabe despised each other because of the hierarchy of the family and also they’re both annoying.

woman in stem and all that, i like the idea of her having an actual interest/large amount of knowledge in sciences instead of just looking the part outfit-wise. a little bit of everything concerning the different fields, specifically technological science and the occasional medical science (very necessary).

likes the occasional pun and even the mortifying knock-knock joke. her sense of humor is more sharp and cutting, but i think if pingua were to play his cards right, he could get a laugh out of a bird-based word-play pun. (in the same way, pingua’s sense of humor is the aforementioned word-play puns and is light overall, but marie can get a chortle from a well-timed death threat).

secretly very passionate about baseball. i’m telling you, that talk about baseball being life and death was NOT all about betting. the inherent comedy to me of michiru locking eyes with marie in the stands, and marie stares at her for a solid minute before clambering over beastmen to make an escape. “for your information, tanuki, i was here to make a profit. you think too highly of yourself. no that foam finger is not mine.”

doesn’t like kids much — she thinks they’re loud and lacking in comprehension of The Deal. but i feel like she’s good with them, maybe unintentionally (maybe it’s the eldest sibling of her). she’s very clearly scamming jackie for every little thing but she’s very simply the “funny lady with the water filters.”

DOES get along well with kuro. it’s a different situation from her initial relationship with michiru, of “yeah i’m dating your dad. and this does have to be awkward, this is going to be your nightmare.” it’s more kuro flying to sit on her shoulder, her calling it a pretty bird and spoiling it with food, to shirou’s irritation (“you’re spoiling it, stop.” “have you no heart? starving your own pet, how selfish.”)

[ariana-cruz]

Character Chart

Mentions: @mayrarcjas, @lylasalazar, @izzyemmysanti, @matiasanti, @carmenmartincz, @sawyerdecker, @reina-santiago

Character’s full name: Ariana Cruz

Reason or meaning of name: 🤷‍♀️

Character’s nickname: Aria, Riri

Reason for nickname: She prefers Aria, only her family call her Ariana.

Birth date: 3rd August, 1992

Zodiac: Leo

Physical appearance

Age: 30

Weight: 55kg

Height: 5' 5"

Body build: Slim

Eye color: Brown

Glasses or contacts: Neither

Distinguishing marks: 🌙 moon shape birth mark on her left hip

Hair color: Brown

Hairstyle: Long

Overall attractiveness: Goddess level lbr

Usual fashion of dress: Black attire, likes leather

Jewelry or accessories: Three tier Ruby drop down necklace is her favourite, it was a gift from Matias and she still wears it often

Personality

Good personality traits: Self aware, helpful, loyal

Bad personality traits: Impulsive, vicious, cunning

Mood character is most often in: Neutral

Sense of humor: Dry, dark

Character’s greatest joy in life: Making a business out of what she loves

Character’s greatest fear: Losing her Nonna

Why? Because she's been the one supportive constant and still is her emotional sounding board

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil? If something happened to the people she loves most

Character is most at ease when: She's meditating, or chilling with a drink in a hot bath

Enraged when: People are rude or entitled

Priorities: Family, friends, her cat, her business

Life philosophy: There is no happiness if the things we believe in are different than the things we do

If granted one wish, it would be: To teleport

Why? Because when it's raining and cold she doesn't have to sit through a long flight to go chill on a beach somewhere warm

Character’s soft spot: Cats, bunnies

Greatest strength: Knowing her power

Greatest vulnerability or weakness: Her love for her family

Biggest regret: In a way it's leaving her Tonopah life behind for a year to go home, everything feels different now she's back and she doesn't know if she really approves

Biggest accomplishment: Her business

Minor accomplishment: Not committing murder on a daily basis

Character’s darkest secret: Probably the things she knows about LB that she'll never repeat (obviously)

Present

Current location: Tonopah

Currently living with: By herself

Pets: Her cat, Nox

Occupation: Owns Hex Appeal

Finances: Bossin' it 💅

Family

Mother: Maria

Relationship with her: Not terrible but they're never been close like a mother and daughter should be

Father: Step dad & bio dad

Relationship with him: Step, same as mom, bio, distant but pleasant

Siblings: Izzy

Relationship with them: Close ❤️

Favorites

Color: Black, red

Least favorite color: Orange

Music: Bit of everything

Food: Most things spicy

Literature: Murder mystery

Form of entertainment: Nights out

Expressions: Bitch face

Mode of transportation: Car

Habits

Hobbies: Tarot, Crystals, Witchery, Dancing

Plays a musical instrument? Piano, a little guitar

Plays a sport? In her heels? No

How he/she would spend a rainy day: By the window with a book and glass of wine

Smokes: Weed, on occasion

Drinks: Rum and cherry cola

Other drugs: No

Nervous tics: Fiddling with her rings

Traits

Optimist or pessimist? Both

Introvert or extrovert? Both

Daredevil or cautious? Daredevil

Logical or emotional? Both

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Methodical and neat

Prefers working or relaxing? Relaxing, but her work doesn't feel like a job

Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Confident

Animal lover? Yes

Self-perception

How he/she feels about himself/herself: She knows she's worth it 🤌

One word the character would use to describe self: Powerful

What does the character consider his/her best personality trait? Her drive to achieve

What does the character consider his/her worst personality trait? Her impulsive anger

What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic? Her whole body tbh

What does the character consider his/her worst physical characteristic? None

How does the character think others perceive him/her: Mean bitch, scary witch 🧙‍♀️

What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: Nothing

Relationships with others

Opinion of other people in general: She's an excellent judge of character so you can act like a sweetheart all you want but if you're a cunt underneath, she can tell

Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others? Never

Person character most hates: Ignorant close minded people

Best friend(s): Reina, Sawyer, Izzy, Mayra, Lyla, Carmen

Person character goes to for advice: See above

Person character feels responsible for or takes care of: Izzy, even though she's older and can hold her own. Her sweet soul is something Aria worries about

Person character feels shy or awkward around: Nobody pls she's above everyone

Person character openly admires: Strong women in general