#and feels responsible for all the times oliver has died

[bwobgames]

just have a question about the character: what does Angel like about Beboo

Yes! Ive been waiting for this opportunity! ive spent a good time doing screenshots to answer this

All this story is seen through Beebo's eyes. He's your guy, the character you play as in videogame speaking terms, so we dont really know much about Ángels point of view

So here it is, a long rant on how that wet cat of a man has fallen in love with the detective boy

The thing about their relationship is that its always about to start, but they never actually start. They are also trapped in the timeloop relationship-wise, never being able to actually get into the actual relationship

But!! Unlike Beebo who has repeatedly fallen for this man 4 times in a row, Ángel gradually gets more and more into the guy as he knows more about him in each loop

So, starting the night, my man here doesn't know much about relationships. He's more of a kiss and leave kinda guy.

He goes expecting the hunger games irl but turns outs its just a boring museum.

Then he sees a pretty guy, and you know, habits die hard. He sees pretty, he wants to keep it for himself.

So he's like "hey, getting with a guy, that's a better use of my time.

Surely this wont end up in feelings or anything crazy haha"

He knows the guy more, and what does he find:

He's a very direct guy! Mans wants information for his investigation and hes going to get it!

One of the things Ángel says that he fails in relationships is communication

So he really likes that this guy will just straight up be like "give me my information. Also are you into men"

He likes a guy whos direct in what he wants in himself and others, and is not afraid to say it

He also likes that they have similar beliefs! Specifically in law

They both hate cops and he's a guy that can recognize flaws in the legal system, yeah! He could go take some beers with this guy!

But! To really test if this guy is friend and possible bf material he needs the Vivi approval (tm)

He passed the Vivi approval as she did not actively tried to bite him. Hooray

And here's the kicker, this guy is smart! Really smart!

He's impressed by that! Admires it, even. He's charmed by beebos autistic swag and love for puzzles. He would like to play Professor Layton with this guy.

So why not? Why not try something more with this pretty boy.

Why not a bit of hand holding

And then! The guy completely surprises him by going

Sadly, Ángel is an absolute videogame nerd, and he's completely charmed by this

Shared interests are important for him, and he loves games!

I tried making that a bit more obvious in the whole "whos your favorite detective/criminal" and him only answering with game characters

Do note that he says "like" and not "love". He's just starting to know this guy.

And he likes what he's starting!

If only he didn't die.

Second round

So here, he's a bit lost.

He was ready to start something, but this guy doesn't remember? Also did he just go back in time? What??

He's completely lost

And then the guy does this

Unknowingly, Oliver gives him stability. Now, he's not as lost. And! He can still try things out with this guy! Time might be fucked but he has Oliver with him again, even though he doesn't remember, he still wants to be there for him

And!! This is something Ángel really likes! Oliver is insecure about how much work he puts in a relationship, but he's actually putting a lot of work into this! He's actively pushing forward to have a future together

And Ángel likes that too! He likes that they are both putting the work into making things work, they both want to try it out!

And really, a big selling point in getting with someone is that the someone does, indeed, want to get with you too

Then he dies again

Round three!!!

Id say round three is when he officially is in too deep.

He said he tried to be in a stable relationship with a guy because he was funny

Well guess what

This guy is also funny!! Get fucked!!

But here he really gets to see Beebos more assertive side

This is the only man who has actually caught him in the middle of a heist

And he didn't even have to! He just wanted and did!

That's a challenge. This man would make things more exciting, seeing as he actually could give him a run for his money

Look at this self-assured bastard. Oh Ángel would love to run around roofs with him on his tail, trying to catch him, exciting!!

This whole round, he just has a great time! They talk about interests, joke around, bully kids, explore the house, all-around fun👍

But here's the thing that absolutely kills him: even now, where they are rivals of the sort, he still cares.

And that's the final nail in the coffin.

Even when Oliver was actively, painfully dying, he tried his best to comfort Ángel, and promised to save him.

Because even though he's the guy that keeps dying, seeing Ángel be sad is somehow worse

Round four

Here, they are detective partners, and Beebos' caring side really shows!

He wants to help Ángel, wants to comfort him, and listen to his issues

He offers to show him around town! His own grandma's chickens! Because he wants to see him happy!

He even promises he won't die this time and then actually survives! The absolute mad lad!

This kills the man.

What do you mean this smart, caring, funny, interesting, cool guy likes me? And wants to have a future with me just as much as I want to have a future with him?

It's all about the want to start something new, to have someone by your side and walk the same path

Which, yknow, can sound a little boring, but as a person who is getting deep into adulthood, yeah no this is it. This is the goal

And he cant wait to get out of this timeloop, to finally see the sun rise and welcome a new day, with him.

Bonus round

You know the moment Ángel hears about beebo fighting until the very end in the other house and against Eugene even with all the odds against him is gonna wake up something in that man. Love me a guy who refuses to go down without a fight

[moonstruckme]

can i request a reader who can’t admit she’s upset with one the marauders (or all)? like refuses to cry…only if you’re comfortable of course. thank you :)

Thank you for requesting gorgeous!

modern au

Sirius Black x fem!reader ♡ 1.3k words

The smell of smoke coming from the kitchen is the first sign that Sirius has tipped over from resentment into remorse. 

“Jesus,” you open the front door on your way into the kitchen, eyes watering, “what are you doing?” 

“I was trying to make rice,” he says, fanning desperately over your pressure cooker, “but I think I’ve fucked it.” 

“Do you think so?” Any other day you’d both grin at the harmless snark, but now Sirius’ expression pinches and you think your own must look the same, your tone more biting than you meant for it to be. “It’s fine, it’ll be fine once it airs out. Help me with the windows?” 

Sirius acts like it’s a competition, opening three windows before you’ve finished two and looking at you like he’s expecting a pat on the head for it. You try to give him a smile, and his expression clouds over. 

“Sorry,” he says, voice not quite cool but oddly remote, “the idea was to surprise you with dinner, and I’ve broken your rice thingy instead.” 

“It’s not broken,” you reassure him. “I’m sure it’ll be fine once I clean it out. Why were you trying to make dinner?” 

Sirius grimaces. It’s a full body motion, his eyebrows hooking in the middle while the muscles in his forearms shift uncomfortably and his shoulders migrate upward. “Sort of a shitty attempt at an olive branch, I guess.” 

Some of the smoke has cleared, and you brave the kitchen. “I don’t need an olive branch,” you say. “If you say we’re good, we’re good.” 

“Don’t do that.” He follows you into the kitchen. “I can tell you’re upset, just because—” Sirius hisses when you take the bowl out of the pressure cooker, transferring it swiftly to the sink “—fuck, baby, don’t burn yourself. Let me take care of that later.” 

“I’d rather handle it now,” you say, turning on the faucet. “I’m just letting it soak anyway.” 

“I’m trying to handle this.” Sturdy hands wrap around your shoulders, turning you to face your boyfriend. He looks at you steadily. “Don’t pretend you’re not angry with me, because I know that you are.” 

A spark of annoyance tingles up your spine as you shrug, reaching behind you to turn off the faucet. “I’m not.” 

“Can you stop trying to make me feel like an idiot? I know you. You’ve been all stiff since last night.” 

“You were angry last night. Not me.” 

“Yeah, well it seems to have caught on.” 

You turn away from him and back towards the sink, swishing your hand in the cold water of the bowl to dislodge the charred rice sticking to the bottom. You don’t know where Sirius gets off, acting like you’re holding a grudge when he’s the one who shouted at you last night. Your phone had died while you were out with friends. That was all that had happened. You didn’t think anything of it, because Sirius, the only person who would really worry about not being able to reach you, knew you were out and that you’d be home late. 

But when you had gotten home, he’d been furious. Gone on and on about how he’d been trying to get a response from you all night, and how dangerous it was to get drunk when you couldn’t call anyone (nevermind that you’d been with your friends), and how freaked out he’d been. He wouldn’t listen to you. He’d only wanted to yell and rage, and make you sit in your heels on the couch while he did it. He’d even seemed like he might be tearing up a couple of times. And you hated to think of him being scared for you, but since when was it your responsibility to answer every time he called? He knew you were with your friends. You hadn’t asked him to check in on you. 

He’d gone to bed still fuming and you’d stayed on the couch rather than try to sleep in a hostile bed. Now, inexplicably, his tune seems to have changed. 

“So,” Sirius sighs, “this is you not mad, huh?” 

“Yup.” You scrub at the bowl with your fingernails. 

“I just want a chance to apologize.” 

“You can if it’ll make you feel better, but I don’t need it.” 

“Why can’t you just admit it?” 

“Because I’m not the one who gets pissy about stupid things.” You dislodge a chunk of rice and your hand slips across the bowl, splashing water onto your shirt. “That’s you.” 

There’s a second of dense, oppressive silence. When Sirius breaches it, you can hear the smirk in his voice. “There’s my girl. Tell me about the stupid things I got pissy about, would you?”

“It’s nothing.” 

“No, it’s not. It wasn’t nothing to me, and clearly it wasn’t to you either. Go on, doll.” 

“I don’t want to argue with you.” 

“Sure you do.” 

“Why do you want to fight so bad?” 

“Because,” Sirius says, and you can hear him moving behind you, can all but see him leaning against the counter, the picture of insouciance, “I think you need to get it out of your system.” 

You scrub harder at the bowl. Blackened bits of rice float to the top of the water. “Like you do?” 

A pause. His voice softens. “It’s not always a good thing. I shouldn’t have shouted at you, last night.” Something in your chest tightens painfully at this new gentle tone. “I’m sorry. I let my temper get the better of me. I was just worried about you.” 

“I don’t think that’s my fault,” you say, managing to sound mostly normal. You dump out the contents of the bowl, filling it again with warmer water. “My phone was dead, and I was with my friends. I didn’t need you to worry about me.” 

“I just do, when I know you’ve all been drinking, and I can’t talk to you to know you’re okay…” Sirius takes in a breath, breaking your heart with how it sounds like he’s trying to steady himself. “But you’re right, okay? It wasn’t fair.” 

“I didn’t know I was coming home to be shouted at.” This time, your voice betrays you, a pitchiness that makes you go quiet fast. You hear Sirius move. 

“Sweetheart?” he asks softly. There’s a touch at your elbow. “I’m sorry, baby, please look at me.” 

You don’t want to, but you don’t want your embarrassment interpreted as ire. You take a quiet breath before pivoting from the sink. Sirius’ eyes are waiting, sad and fretful as they probe at yours. 

“I’m sorry,” he says again, impossibly quieter, and runs his fingers from your elbow up the back of your arm. “It wasn’t your fault, I wasn’t being fair. I shouldn’t have shouted at you.” 

You press your lips together, hard. His eyebrows hook up in the middle. 

“You can cry, sweet thing. It’s okay.” You shake your head mutely, blinking, and Sirius makes a terribly lovely cooing sound, snaking an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his chest. You hug him back as the first hot tear rolls down your cheek. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Your shoulders jump with a stilted, poorly repressed sob, his grip on you tightening. “It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’ve got you, baby. My temper tantrum really did a number on you, huh?” 

You laugh wetly. “Guess so,” you squeak. “Sorry.” 

“If you apologize for this, I may shout at you again,” he warns fondly. “You haven’t done anything wrong, lovely girl. Just let it out, if you need to.” 

You know that’s not easy for Sirius to say. Know he’s likely close to tears himself, from how agitated seeing other people cry makes him. You appreciate the offer. 

You fall into a silence less heavy than any that’s suffocated your home since last night, broken up only by the steady, quiet thumping of Sirius patting your back and the intermittent smooching sounds as he kisses your shoulder or your cheek or the side of your neck. You stand still in your smoky kitchen, wetting your boyfriend’s shoulder with tears and snot, and he lets you.

[earthtooz]

fluff, apologising and making up after a 'fight' kind of drabble bc i miss suna <3

suna rintarou shows up to your university on the third day of the silent treatment.

the sight is a surprise, to say the least. your pro-volleyball player boyfriend standing outside your faculty’s building with his hands in his pockets, blending in with baggy jeans, a hoodie, and a cap. he looks the part of a university student, but you could never be fooled, not when he's 6'3 with an equally admirable stature from exercising.

amongst the crowd of outflowing students, the dark-haired spots you, olive eyes widening upon seeing you. he pushes himself onto two feet before walking over to where you stay rooted, dodging the students who just came out of the same lecture.

“hi,” suna greets, stopping just a few feet away from you. the sight of his lopsided smile is enough to get your heart racing again. you've missed him so much.

regardless, you cross your arms to keep up an angry front, not wanting to give in to his charms just yet no matter how good he may he at using them. 

“what are you doing here?” you ask bluntly, betraying the butterflies in your stomach.

his expression doesn’t falter at your iciness. “not happy to see me?”

you are happy to see him, very much so, especially when he has taken the initiative of literally showing up at your campus and waiting for your classes to be over to see you. he must be tired from practice as well and you know too well that mondays were never kind to him. 

so the fact that suna came all this way for you makes you feel a little special. 

he’s even wearing some of that cologne that you really like and unless it’s for special occasions, you know that your boyfriend is never bothered enough to wear any fragrance. he is so sly that you could kiss him.

“not particularly, suna.” you say in response, lying through your teeth.

suna clutches his chest like he’s been shot, making a gasp of offence at your statement. “babe, after i came all the way to campus? i thought i’d never want to come back here but i made some exceptions for the love of my life and this is what i get in return?” 

“suck it up, i guess.”

“-and who on earth is suna? never heard of him. can’t believe you’ve already forgotten my name after three days, i’m losing sight of reality, babe hold me, i might faint.”

“whatever,” you chuckle a little at his antics, eyes softening with a certain fondness that suna doesn’t miss. his lips twitch upwards at the sight of it.

this is his chance to win you back. he throws his line in in hopes of catching you hook and sinker. 

“let’s go to dinner tonight,” he offers, recovering from his previously downed position, voice contrastingly soft and gentle to smoothen his proposal. 

“what, so you can stand me up again?” you quip, instantly slicing the atmosphere to turn tense as the line snaps in half.

suna’s grin falls, morphing into a guilty frown. “c’mon pretty, that’s mean. you know how sorry i am, i didn’t mean to forget about our plans.”

you huff, letting your arms fall back to your sides. “i know, i know, but you standing me up just stung. it was frustrating because i made time for us that i could have used to study with instead,” you confess. “you know how stressed i’ve been with finals.”

the athlete stuffs his hands into his pockets awkwardly. “but i’m trying to make up for it.” 

“i know and i appreciate it, but now’s not a good time. i’m sorry but i can’t go to dinner tonight or any time soon, i have a bunch of practice tests to do that i can’t keep putting off.”

“then can i come over?” asks suna, a hopeful lilt to his voice.

“and watch me study? do you really want that?”

“i just want to be with you, i can order us takeout or something- on me.”

“guess i’m just irresistible, huh?”

“duh, do you know how much i suffered during the weekend? missed you so much, practically died from boredom.”

“oh so i’m just another person for you to bother? is that how it is?” you ask, unable to contain your smile. 

the dark-haired scoffs. “c’mon babes, you know you’re better than that. you’re the only person i can bother.”

“oh fuck off,” you whack his shoulder teasingly. “also for your information, you’re not coming between me and my education.”

“ambitious people are a turn-on,” he mutters with a shrug before pulling you in to kiss your cheek.

“ew get off me, freak,” you joke whilst shoving him, not rough enough to actually create distance but suna still stands his ground from the force. his hand goes to hold your other cheek as he smothers you with over-exaggerated affection. 

you laugh in his hold, holding on to his wrists for balance. “suna!” you yelp when he pushes too much weight onto you, causing the two of you to stumble sideways. “actually get off me.”

“can’t. won’t. don’t want to. this is what you get for not responding to me all weekend- what does  a man need to do to get a text back from the love of his life?” 

“easy. be a man.” you step out of his grasp with a satisfied smirk, beginning to walk away from your boyfriend who stares at you with his mouth hung open in disbelief. inevitably, suna runs up to you.

and as he encases you with his arms in the middle of the empty gardens of your university faculty, you know that the two of you will be okay. even if suna is the bane of your existence, there is no one else for you like him. 

© EARTHTOOZ 2023, do not steal, translate, repost my fics and do not recommend my fics onto any other site.

[samthestrangerthingsfan]

Out of The Woods

pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

summary: A look back into our reader's past, and a run-in with one, too.

chapter warnings: slow burn,mentions of grief, parental loss, motherhood, swearing, alcohol(ism), child neglect, childhood trauma. Maggie fluff to fix it all <3

a/n: EEP EEP EEP, i know i know its a slooooow burn but we truly are just getting started. Enjoy!

chapter two: Tell Me A Lie || series masterlist

SEPTEMBER 17th, 1982

Freezer-burnt Egos sit three high on the olive green plate in front of you.

“Great.” Syrup hasn’t been purchased in weeks, so you slather each one with a smear of grape jelly. All served up with a side of tap water.

One bite in, and the sound of shattering glass startles the appetite out it you.

“Dad?!” You shout in a panic.

The sight that greets you on the living room is one that’s become familiar in the few months since your mom’s passing. Your father, slumped over in his beat up recliner, a shattered vodka bottle on the floor next to him.

“Shit…” you’re frantic as you rush to grab the broom and dustpan. It’s become a routine, clean up dad’s mess so that he doesn’t hurt himself when he wakes for his night shift at the Plant.

While it may be routine, it’s certainly not normal. No fourteen year old should be shopping for groceries, and doing laundry and writing checks to the electric company with a letter begging for them to give her a little more time with the lights on.

Every payday, you’d wait for Dad to pass out in his chair, and you’d take most of the cash from his wallet. It was just enough to get yourself food for the week and pay what you could. If he noticed the missing money, he never said anything, but you assumed he did notice that debt collectors had stopped calling so much.

“Bye, Dad.” You whispered. No response—then again, there never was.

The bag of glass was thrown into the trash on your walk to the garage. Hopping on your rusted out silver bike, you started the 2 mile ride to Hawkins High.

In truth, this has become the only slice of peace in your day. You could shut your damn brain off and just breathe. Not worry about the inevitable chaos that waited for you at home.

It was Friday, which means a meeting with the school counselor to see how you were doing since your mom died. June was…it was a time you’ve tried to block out. To suppress any memories or feeling from that awful day.

“Did you hear me, hon?” Ms. Kelly’s soft voice pulled you from your dissociation.

“What? Oh, mhm.”

She looked at you softly, tilting her head as a sign she absolutely did not believe you.

“Listen,” she pulls the file off her desk and turns it for you to see. “Your grades…they’re not at all reflective of your abilities. Your teachers think you’re brilliant, but the lack of effort on homework and tests is something of a concern.”

The pain of holding back tears began to prickle your throat. “I know, I’m—I’m trying. I’m studying as much as I can—“

“You’ve got such a bright future, just work a bit harder, hm?” Her smile was one of reassurance and confidence.

It’s not Mrs. Kelly’s fault. She didn’t know about what was happening at home, so she certainly didn’t know the impact of her advice.

“Work harder,” you whisper, venom coating your tongue. “Got it.”

The smile on your face is only there to keep the tears at bay. She excuses you to get back to next period, and you practically sprint from her office.

Where your legs take you, you’re not exactly sure. But the room is empty and dark and at this point you’ll take any refuge you can get.

So you sit and sob, heaving breaths and crying into your palm to muffle any sounds. How long you were there you have no idea, but it was long enough to hear the bell for end of the school day.

The door to the room opened, pouring in light from the hallway.

“Shit…you okay?”

His voice was so gentle and unsure. Backlit as the door closed, the shadow of his silhouette almost made him look like an angel.

Long shaggy hair, denim and chains and leather.

An angel--dressed like a devil.

You attempted to stand quickly, muttering a half-hearted apology, but you stumbled. Luckily for you, the stranger caught your elbow and waist.

“Whoa, hey just—here, sit for a sec, okay?” He guided you to the table across from where you’d sat, and ushered you towards one of the chairs.

“You’re not hurt are you?” His voice was so soft; a kindness you hadn’t heard in a long, long time.

You shook your head, “No, no. I’m fine.”

He laughed softly, “You sure about that?”

The tears in your eyes put holes in his chest.

“I’m Eddie,” he sat next to you on the table, “Who might you be?”

You whispered your name, and he smiled, then whispered it right back.

Eddie was gentle with you. He sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for your breathing to return to normal.

What you didn’t know was how he watched you. The way he recognized the pain in your eyes—a kind of sadness that only people who’ve experienced it can understand.

He knew a bad home life when he saw one, and It made him angry.

Angry that someone could look in your eyes and hurt you. That people could see how broken you were and take advantage of it. Worst of all? He was angry there was no one there to protect you.

As far as he was concerned, that changes today.

Eddie cleared his throat, and your eyes found him again. “Look at us,” he nudged your shoulder. “strangers a couple minutes ago, now we’re acquaintances. Who knows? Before we leave we might even be friends.”

A genuine and true laugh escaped you. It’d been so long since you’d heard your own laugh, the sound alone was foreign.

Though for Eddie, it was a sound that made his heart beat faster and face turn rosey, even under the gross fluorescent bulbs.

“I’d like to be your friend, I think.” You smile. Crinkles formed by his umber eyes as he mirrored your grin.

Your hand juts out, extended to him for the taking. “You’re not a serial killer, right?”

His warm grip finds yours, “Not to your knowledge.”

There’s a pain in your cheeks from smiling so hard. “That’s reassuring.”

Eddie jumped up, offering you his elbow. “Whaddya say, kid? Care to cause some chaos and debauchery with your new pal?”

It’d be easy to say no. To allow yourself to return to the shell you’ve built around yourself in order to protect your heart in a way no one else would.

But you didn’t hesitate. Linking arms with Eddie, his scent invaded you—nicotine and weed and…vanilla? Whatever the combination, you’re sure it was uniquely and perfectly him.

“Whatcha got in mind?”

Eddie could have said anything and you’re pretty sure you’d have agreed. “Oh, sweetheart. Just you wait.”

“Mama! Do we have any straw’bies?” Maggie asked from the kitchen.

The smell from the chemicals you’re cleaning the shower with make your head throb and the sweat on your brow itches you for the ten millionth time.

Deep breathes. Deep breathes.

“No, Mags. C’mon, get your shoes on. As soon as I’m done here we’re going to the store.” You throw the yellow gloves down into the sink, giving them a quick rinse.

The weekend has brought some seriously good progress. Friday you’d managed to get Maggie registered for school, and start cleaning out the house.

Boxes of old newspapers and tchotchkes your father had kept sat stagnant, collecting dust and taking up far too much space. None of it mattered to you, so you’d trashed it.

All of it.

Saturday was spent taking trips back and forth to the Goodwill, hoping and praying your little car would survive after all the driving she did. You’d bought a few cheap gallons of paint from Melvald’s, this house was your home now—Maggie’s home. It was time to wipe the slate clean and create a place the two of you could fill with love and laughter and memories

“Mom?” Maggie mumbled, mouth full of banana as she watches you slink into your jacket.

You grabbed your keys. “Yes, angel?”

“Can we get ice cream? Wouldn’t that be a fun way to ce-bre-late me going to big girl school tomorrow?”

I need to find a damn job.

You do some quick math, adding and subtracting based on what you had left in your savings, and what you’d set aside for bills.

You drop to your knees in front of your daughter, getting right down to her level to place a big kiss on her forehead. “Of course we can. Good idea, Maggie-moo.”

Her dimples were so deep from her big wide grin, you poked a finger in each of them.

“Moooom!” She laughed, swatting your hands away.

“Whaaaat? I just love you! Now c’mon, we gotta go get your asparagus.” You hold the door and Maggie jumps onto the porch.

“Ice cream!” She shouts, making a mad dash to the car.

You chuckle. “Right, right. Ice cream.”

The store is a mere 10 minutes drive from home. If you ask Maggie, she thinks 10 minutes is the perfect amount of time to throw an impromptu concert from the back seat—room for encore included.

The moment your hands grasp the shopping cart, Maggie’s arms are up. “Assuming the position, I see.” You smile proudly.

Scooping her up, you plop her right on her bottom into the cart. Maggie wiggled, gasping as the two of you strolled past the chip aisle. “Don’t forget! We have to get some snacks for school too!”

“Right,” you braked, and turned down it. “Let me guess, Doritos are the perfect school snack?”

Her eyes are wide, clearly overwhelmed at the selection the Pete’s Grocery has to offer. “Can we gets the cheese ones?”

“Sure thing, Sunshine.”

Shopping is entirely uneventful. It’s mainly you budgeting and planning on dinners for the week. Everything bought has to have more than one use or purpose, or you don’t get it. A few jars of pasta sauce, some spaghetti, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly. Chicken, canned corn, strawberries and bananas and a few boxes of mac n cheese. No the shopping spree Maggie thinks it is, but you’ll make it work.

“Alright kiddo, now the piece de resistance…the ice cream section!” You use your best announcer voice as you scoop her from the cart, and let her roam free.

She squeals. “Mom! There’s so many kinds!”

You watch her, taking in how the littlest things in this life make her the happiest you’ve ever seen her. You’re so engrossed in your daughter, you almost don’t hear it. The familiar tone that had engrained itself in your memory, the sarcastic “Sure, Robin.” that had been a staple in his vocabulary since High School.

Any calm feeling you’d had vanished, stomach churning inside you. “Mags,” you called in a hushed tone. “Maggie! C’mon, baby, just choose—“

The voices were an aisle away, and moving closer to you.

Maggie was in her own world, running back and forth to different doors in careful deliberation.

You could feel yourself start to tremble, calling her a bit louder this time. “Maggie-moo, please hurry—“

“Ho-ly shit.”

Of course Robin was the first to say something. She stood with her mouth agape, Steve perplexed next to her. When he’d followed her gaze, the two bags of chips he was holding fell to the floor.

He called your name like he was unsure. Questioning if the ghost in front of him was really his friend from all those years ago.

“Mommy! I founded the one I want!” Maggie screeched as she barreled toward you, clutching a box of Bomb Pops to her chest.

Your two old friends’ eyes went straight to your daughter.

Robin’s eyes were so wide, you thought they’d burst from her skull. “Mom?” She questioned.

Steve followed her up with, “No freakin’ way.”

Maggie chucked the pops in the cart, and stood by your side, your arms instinctively reaching for her. She must have followed your eyes, because soon, she too was in the middle of the staring contest the three of you had started.

She was quiet for a moment, studying them, and it wasn’t that long before she started giggling the tiniest bit. She covered her mouth, making herself laugh with whatever joke was rolling around in her little mind.

Maggie walked up to Steve as she laughed, and smiled her big toothy grin at him. “Hiya, Cheeseball!” She spoke through her giggles.

Robin’s laugh caught her so off guard she started coughing, and Steve was all smiles. “Excuse me? Who told you about my nickname?”

Maggie laughed, “My Mommy! She said your name is Steeb and you’re a real cheese ball!”

“Steve, Mags. Steve.” You were laughing, thankful for your daughter for saving you and for easing the tense moment you were seconds away from having to address.

“Nope, uh-uh. He’s Steeb now, from this day until his last.” She looked at you, get big smile taking up her face. Her eyes were soft, softer than they’d been moments ago. She looked back to Maggie, “And who’re you?”

Pride filled Maggie’s voice, “My name is Maggie and I’m six years old, but I’ll be seven soon! Mommy telled me birthday is Star Wars day.”

Robin’s brows pinched together, “Star Wars Day?”

“May the 4th.” You and Steve answered in unison.

The hazel-eyed boy looked at you, offering you a small smile.

Robin went back to talking to Maggie, asking her about Star Wars and her why she chose Bomb Pops. Steve walked over to stand next to you.

He plopped the chips in the top of your cart, and without any hesitation, pulled you in for a hug.

“God, I missed you.” He whispered into your hair.

You could feel the emotion squeezing your throat, “I missed you so much, Stevie.”

He held you a few more seconds, using Robin as a distraction. “Is…is she—“

You gripped him tighter, “Not here. Please not here, Steve.”

Steve Harrington was many things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. A bit of an airhead, and clueless sometimes, but not dumb. He’d seen it immediately, the resemblance between the two of you, and the one of Maggie and his other friend.

Steve let you go, looking over your face. “Does, um…does he know?”

With shame in your heart, you shook your head. “No, and I need to keep it the way.”

The for now went unsaid.

Steve nodded. “You haven’t ran into him yet then, I take it.”

“No,” you whispered. “I don’t even know what would happen if we did. Can’t think about it, not right now.”

Maggie approached the two of you, yanking Robin by her arm. “You were right, Mom! I do like this Robin lady.”

When the laughter died down, it was then Robin asked the question looming over the four of you.

“So, and pardon-my-french Little Miss M, but what the hell are you doing back in Hawkins?”

And with that, the floodgates opened.

You told them about what you’d been up to the last seven years, and what brought you back. Granted, you kept everything very Maggie-friendly—meaning most of your words were very PG friendly.

It was a weird feeling, admitting to all of the half-truths you told yourself, and how you had to push them out of your life. You wanted to tell them anything but the truth. To spare their feelings and the thought that you too could just as easily abandon the people who, at one point, were some of the most important people in your life.

"That's...that's heavy shit." Steve breathed.

You nodded, fully aware of the hanger-ticking-timebomb Maggie was becoming.

"We'll, uh...we'll catch up soon. Gotta get the grouch dinner."

"I am not a grouch." Maggie crossed her arms, and turned away.

"Of course you're not! You're just a girl who knows what she want." Robin high fived Maggie, and your heart melted.

You hugged them both one more time before loading Mags back in the cart, "Stop by anytime," You said with a smile. "You know where I live."

[ramblingthoughtsofayoungadult]

Headcanons: Jordan Li with Streamer!fem reader

A/N: This character has a chokehold on me just like they do everyone else. Also, I don't claim to own this character nor the gifs, I just had this idea for a scenario.

Notes: 1116 word count and some swearing.

You never thought that your stream you started out of boredom during high school would take off but by the time you got to GOD U, you were always on the Top Ten Streamer list on V-TV.

 Your content ranged from wholesome gaming, collabs with other creators, and commentary on popular videos or media. Emma, Marie, Luke, Cate, and Andre had all been featured at least once but your oldest friend, Jordan, was hesitant.

“I don’t want a bunch of weird strangers knowing who I am,” they muttered when you tried to convince them to join for the millionth time.

You pouted, “Jordan, that’s what the mods are for. Anyway, it’s a risk you’re going to have to take as a supe anyway, right?” They were reluctant to admit you were right and after bribing them with Olive Garden, grumpily sat next to you as you set up your stream the following night.

“Try to look a little more enthusiastic,” you teased as you adjusted your cameras to frame you and Jordan well.

“It’s hard when I’m still hungover,” they griped. Despite their mood, you couldn’t help but feel giddy as you clicked on the big green “start” button and sat down in your custom gaming chair.

“Hi everyone, welcome back! Today, I have a very special guest who taught me almost everything I know about gaming,” you chirped, pulling Jordan’s chair closer to your side. “This is Jordan.”

Almost immediately, your chat started going crazy. “Who’s the hot guy?” “That’s your friend???!!!” “I knew I should’ve tried harder to get into GOD U.”

Jordan’s eyes widened at the response, and they sat up a little straighter and waved. “Hi everyone and yes, I am Y/N’s friend, and I did teach her everything she knows about gaming.” You elbowed them in the side playfully. “Not true!” “Before me, she didn’t even know what T-posing was.”

You playfully smacked their arm and shook your head. “Shut up. Anyway, tonight I am wearing my cozy sweatshirt because it is spooky season and to celebrate, we will be playing Outlast and Jordan is here in case I faint from fear and emotional support.” Jordan snorted, “You’re playing Outlast when you couldn’t finish FNAF?”

The night was filled with screaming and panic from you while Jordan mostly laughed at your pain and tried to give directions.

“Go left! No, the other left!” They shouted. “I panicked!”

Throughout the gameplay, the chat was bombarding you both with comments and donations. “Cherrypickednightmare gifted 50 subs and said, ‘Please give Jordan their cut’,” Jordan read. “Thank you for the subs! What cut? This is my channel, Jordan is a guest. They are here as a friend,” you said without taking your eyes off the screen.

“I don’t think you did this well with anyone else on the channel, I think I should be compensated,” Jordan teased. “Your pay is my friendship and potentially more Olive Garden.”

With that statement, your subscribers sent more “gifts” and subs as you continued playing. “Mikeysleftfoot said, ‘For the Olive Garden fund,” Jordan chuckled. “Yes, chat, for only 9.99 a day, you can provide Jordan with a week’s worth of Olive Garden even though they only eat the breadsticks, but someone needs to order something so no one gets kicked out,” you teased in a fake serious voice.

Jordan seemed to have too much fun interacting with chat while you were avoiding being attacked by zombified asylum patients. “WHY DID I COME INTO THIS HOSPITAL ALONE WITHOUT A WEAPON? I’M A JOURNALIST AND NO ONE KNOWS I’M HERE!” you screamed while frantically trying to get your character to run away from the giant patient. “Y/N, Viledeeds87 wants to know how we met.”

“NOT NOW!” But you died in-game seconds later and huffed. “We met in kindergarten,” you stated. “No, preschool.” You burst out laughing, “My bad, I lumped the years together. We were on the playground, I got a splinter from the swing set, and Jordan walked me to the nurse’s office.” “I’ve been looking out for her clumsy ass since.”

After that night, your friendship with Jordan and Jordan themselves became a hot topic on your channel. “Someone said, ‘Why is Jordan so daddy?’ Relax, chat, or else I will not bring them back on the channel. Their head’s gonna get too big from your thirst,” you joked.  

Surprisingly, Jordan loved the attention, especially the reactions they could get out of you because of the attention.

“I should write up a contract to make sure I’m getting my proper royalties,” Jordan suggested mindlessly during a study session.  “You know I have a team of lawyers, right?” “Scared they’ll agree with me?”

But when your merch collection came out, Jordan was the first to model and post about it on social media. Their appearances on the channel were regular and fueled more engagement on your streams, which your management loved.

Your other friends offline couldn’t help but comment on it either, with Andre only being a little jealous of the attention Jordan got while Luke and Cate couldn’t be more supportive.

Emma and Marie proudly shipped you and Jordan. “You’re so cute together, I mean, it’s giving frenemies and will-they-won’t-they at the same time!” Emma insisted. “No way, there’s nothing there. Jordan’s my best friend and it makes sense that we would have decent chemistry.” “I may not be super experienced in this area but, they do not look at you like a friend, on stream and off,” Marie commented.

You thought your younger friends were nuts. If there was anything between you and Jordan, you would be the first to know. Sure, you occasionally got butterflies around them when they smiled in either form and you regularly bought things or sent them pictures of something that reminded you of them. But all best friends do that, right?

Then one night, when you should’ve been studying, you were scrolling on social media when you stumbled across fan compilation videos of you and Jordan. While a lot of them were funny, a few of them were on the shipping side.

For the first time, you saw how Jordan’s big brown eyes softened when you weren’t looking at them and how they were so quick to pull you in their lap when you tried to storm off in a rage-quit. Was this how they always acted around you?

As you raked your brain, you began to remember several moments where Jordan acted a little more than a friend to you but at the time, you brushed it off. Did this mean they liked you? Did this mean it was finally okay for you to admit how you feel?

[coal15]

My opinions on the whole multi-shipping Buddie and Tevan situation. But first, [steps up on soapbox and yells into bullhorn] HAVE NO BEEF WITH ANYONE WHO FEELS DIFFERENTLY THAN ME SO I'D REALLY APPRECIATE NOT GETTING ANY "YOUR OPINIONS ARE STUPID AND PROBABLY SO ARE YOU" COMMENTS IN MY REPLIES. **If any such comments do appear in my replies I would ask the rest of you to please simply ignore them. You won't change their minds so confrontation will do nothing but further poison the waters.

Ahem. Carrying on. Warning, this post is LONG. Like, practically a novella.

I'm still a multi-shipper at heart in the sense that I will always love my memories in the Buddie fandom and how vocally we showed our support over the last six years--yes there was a SUPER PROMINENT contingent among us who directly engaged with and verbally disemboweled every actress who played a li on a regular basis, (and who harassed Oliver to the point of him quitting twitter) but most of us had the sense to direct our ranting at the fictional character or writers/showrunner/network with varying degrees of anger or indignation. Now speaking just for myself, in my time as a Buddie fan I never commented on the physical appearance of any li, so seeing a lot of buddie-or-bust folks now referring to Lou as "ugly" "rectangle-faced" "gross looking," etc has been disappointing. I hope they represent the minority. So far it looks like they do.

On to my reasons for and/or role in shutting down non-Buddie romances: While I never took to engaging her personally, I voiced harsh criticism of GW over her "honorary latina" comment, likewise EG for her transphobia and non-apology apology ("I'm sorry if you felt offended). And while I wish bucktaylor had stayed besties (preferably bi besties since there was no reason Buck couldn't have his bi awakening with a woman), my issue with them dating was at first just a lack of romantic chemistry and the fact that Taylor never apologized for what she did to Bobby or even admitted it was wrong. But as the relationship dragged on I watched the life drain out of Buck. They were stagnant as a couple and the look on Buck's face when he said ily back to her was . . . laughably unromantic. The only growth his character got from that relationship was him being the one to end it. As for eddieana, on top of lacking chemistry they were just plain dull. The end.

Moving on to Buck's kiss w/Lucy: I actually like AK and was excited to hear about her coming to 9-1-1. She was fun af as Lexi on VD so I was looking forward to seeing her play a different character. Aaaaannnnnnd then KR immediately ruined her by making it abundantly clear that she was created for one sole purpose: to complicate a man's storyline and spark off a love triangle--and she did so in the most offensive way possible. It was appalling, negatively affected Buck's character, and thankfully KR's response to the intense backlash was to pivot so the love triangle never manifested. But the damage was already done. No one had any interest in watching them poke/flirt for the rest of the season. I was deeply offended by such a misogynistic use of a female character and it still boggles my mind that a woman created her.

Anyhow, all this was a long winded way of saying that my reasons for wanting those li gone went well beyond my investment in Buddie. Though I did strongly believe no romantic narrative for either of them could ever compete w/the Buckley-Diaz Family, at the end of the day those romantic arcs were ruined for me by writing mistakes, problematic actresses, and lack of chemistry (which is admittedly subjective and something we all approach with shipper goggles to some degree--if you think you 100% absolutely don't you're lying to yourself). I stand by a lot of the reasons Buddies were so opposed to those li being endgame. Yes, plenty of us took things waaaaaaay over the line re: direct personal attacks against actresses and/or non-buddie fans, but I think far more of us than not did argue in good faith and toward the right people. We just didn't stand out as much or get as much engagement because . . . well, toxic behavior is rewarded on sm with more clicks, shares, likes, quotes, etc. Attention seekers gonna seek.

As for why it's so hard to ship happily on sm: in my experience a handful of problematic or outright unhinged fans (on both sides) will go around stirring shit, provoking arguments, and soon the dog pile effect kicks in because everyone wants to defend their tribe. Arguments go in circles, spin off, get more and more petty, until most of "us" end up discussing amongst ourselves about how "they" are a bunch of [insert string of negative attributes here], which then in itself provokes a reaction from "them." Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually way too many of "us" are hissing and snarling at "them" more often than theorizing about or celebrating our ship . . . the thing we enjoy . . . and it's really hard to detach from that cycle, especially when things get personal. I recommend total non-acknowledgement, but even I struggle to hold that line when I read something I think is terrible. I'm making an effort these days to just keep scrolling thru my feed until I hit something happy, and if there's a negative comment somewhere in the thread to give it ZERO engagement of any kind. Not. Easy.

Which brings me to where I am today. During my time in the Buddie fandom I assumed that for most of us the actual queer rep mattered more than any one ship. Hell, if Taylor had been the one to wake Buck up to his bisexuality--and admitted what she did to Bobby was wrong--they might have grown on me as an endgame couple. I've accepted "meh" endgame couples before as long as everything else on a show stayed solid. I also thought that Buck could never, ever look at anyone with bigger hearteyes than the way he looked at Eddie, but . . .

. . . Enter Tommy. As soon as they kissed, and in their albeit limited screentime afterward (thanks a lot shortened season!) I learned a lesson: there are different kinds of hearteyes. In my opinion Buck looks at Eddie with complete adoration and love, yes. Total hearteyes. But the way he looks at Tommy is . . . "Oh, that's what Buck looks like when he's absolutely smitten, that's how he acts, that's what a romantic crush looks like on Buck. Wow." It wasn't better or worse than his hearteyes or vibe with Eddie, just conspicuously different. It re-framed the way I see the Buckley-Diaz Family as well, and the way I read their chemistry. As I mentioned earlier chemistry is subjective, and once I actually had something queer to compare with Buddie's chemistry, I stopped rooting for romantic Buddie. I wouldn't exactly be furious if they went canon since I did spend all those years rooting for them and it would still be a high profile queer storyline, but I would rather see the Buckley-Diaz Family and Tevan coexist. I think they can, and I think it would be beautiful.

So here's where I stand with my preference and opinions today:

Falling in love doesn't mean everyone else in your life gets demoted. Feelings aren't like pie. Maddie doesn't love Buck any less since she fell in love with Chimney. Athena didn't love her daughter any less when her son came along. There's not a finite amount of love and you're serving out pieces of it. You can love more than one person with all your heart. And that's how I feel about Buck and the Buckley-Diaz Family. He and Eddie are more than friends, different than brothers, they just . . . have their own dynamic. It's unique, special, and vital to both of their identities. And those facts will not be altered by either of them falling in love w/another person. If anything, the Buckley-Diaz Fam has become more special to me since I started rooting for a Tevan endgame.

Queer rep matters more to me than Buddie. Buck coming out as bi wasn't and shouldn't be seen as a step on the road to "winning" the ship I wanted for years. It is completely awesome progress for us whether they're endgame or not. Ditto for Tevan. Also, at the end of the day I ship Buck+Happiness and Eddie+Happiness, and right now Buck seems to be falling for Tommy. What happens with Eddie remains to be seen.

Looking at the whole picture, I will always love Buddie and kinda wish they'd gone canon in s4 or 5, but I think that moment has passed and I'm not mad or bitter about it. I adore the Buckley-Diaz Family, I adore Tevan, and I want to see them both thrive in s8. Now if you'll excuse me, my fingers have begun to bleed from all this typing.

[qveenpoppy]

onto episode 3:

so, if wolf misremembered the greenhouse thing, how can we be sure any of the memories we see via flashback are accurate? (i know that's not revealed till the end of the episode, but i just remembered it as the episode started)

muriel giving oliver advice on how to water the resurrection fern is our primary clue that his greenhouse memory is inaccurate (she also makes a little face when oliver refers to what he did, taking the plant into the shower with him (so it could receive water via mist), as "dad's tip", even though it's essentially what she'd just advised him to do (mist the plant))

am i better than the interns bc i know both who taylor swift and the three stooges are? (not that i ever really watched the three stooges, but i at least know of them and their names)

if van suffers from mirror-touch synesthesia, why did he experience a phantom seizure when emily had her real one? maybe i just misunderstand what that condition entails. i figured it was just when he touched someone that he'd feel what they do.

(nevermind, it's explained when wolf diagnoses him that it's not just through touch, but talking to - and, in that case, i guess being around - other people, where he'll feel what they feel. kinda explains the opening of the episode, where he walks in with headphones on to block out all the chaos and conflict of the people on the floor, so he wouldn't feel what they do.)

speaking of, this ties into something i noticed in the last two episodes but didn't comment on - i feel like jacob and van are very much opposites. not just in the fact that jacob's like this cocky jock type while van is more soft and sensitive. van has a lot of empathy for people, probably due to his synesthesia, while jacob kinda... doesn't. not that he has 0 empathy, he just doesn't seem to put himself in the patients' shoes all that easily, unlike van, who i guess does it a little too well. i'm not pointing this out to say one character is better than the other, but it might play into the love triangle with ericka. (also, kinda makes me wonder why jacob got into medicine at all. i know it's bc his football career ended, but why not go into another field? business? marketing? something where his occasional overconfidence would better benefit him?)

"not all memories are worth revisiting." hmm, guessing this is a reference to some messy things that happened with papa wolf? like maybe memories of him on his bad days? or how he died to begin with (assuming it wasn't actually on that camping trip)?

also laughed out loud at the campy little workout mix/"dustin from abs class" scene. god, do i live for wolfnichols shenanigans. they're so sillyyyyyy. my silly little doctor boys (who are actually old(er) men)

i think the first time i watched this episode, i figured noah (papa wolf) was lying on the couch due to a physical ailment. like he was genuinely sick from something, practically bedridden. but the show keeps implying his issues were psycho- or, probably, neurological, so was it more like a depressive episode? which was part of a bigger problem? i wanna know what was wrong with him so bad, i can't figure it out!

and also, again, if oliver shut that bad memory of his dad out, who can say what else he shut out, altered, or repressed in regards to his dad's struggles? like i said, did his dad actually die (or just disappear) on that camping trip? or did he die some other time, some other way, that oliver was aware of or bared witness to, but he blocked it from his memory bc it was too traumatic? does he have any actual responsibility for how his dad died?

[roguelov]

Picture this:

Dream with Reader who's very shy, skittish, reserved and oblivious. She's easily flustered, a girl of few words, nerdy and socially awkward to the point where it's painful, but she's good at her powers and her job, and that's all that matters to her. She's sent to his realm to help with the rebuilding of it by her organization. Few weeks of working alongside her, and he has fallen head over heels with her, and yet, she knows nothing. His attempts at flirting with her were met with either her getting flustered, retreating and quickly changing the topic or just plain obliviousness as she goes on her merry way with her work, unintentionally ignoring his advances and stonewalling him. And what do we know... Dream isn't the most patient of beings and at this point, he's tired of just feeling like he's trying to approach a skittish stray cat. What will he do? Decisions, decisions...

Oooo anon I’m intrigued! Like let’s say for plot reasons the reader is fae (or maybe a demon still debating) who is basically there to aid Dream but to be an olive branch between their realms and have a better relationship

You had been living in the Dreaming for quite some time now. Dare you say, it started to feel like home. The residents were kind, and the ruler wasn’t who you expected. Rumors always swirled around the Endless, and you had heard a few nasty ones about Dream in particular. However, since his recent imprisonment there was a change in him. Or at least his residents and people told you.

“How are you this evening, my honored guest?”

You peered over your shoulder to the king himself, Dream. “I am well, thank you.”

You continued your easy stride with maps of the Dreaming in your hands. Lucienne had requested them.

Dream walked beside you. “I am glad to hear.”

You simply hummed in response.

Dream stepped in front of you, blocking your path. You froze and your eyebrows furrowed together.

What a cute expression, he thought.

“My dear,” he stated. “I hope you are not lying to me. If there is anything I can do for you, you may simply ask.”

Your heart sang at his term of endearment. Yet, you buried such feelings. You shook your head, “I assure you I am content.”

“But, not happy?”

Content sat wrongly in his mind.

Your gaze dropped. “I am -“ you cleared your throat and clutched the maps closer to your chest - “I’m sorry, but I must -“

He gently tipped your chin up, forcing your eyes on him. Your words died on your tongue. His gaze was one of upmost intensity. A shudder ran through your body.

“Perhaps on your break,” he hummed, running his thumb across your chin, “you could join me possibly for some tea.”

“I - I would be honored but -“

He sighed unable to hide is disappointment, “And who else has your attention this evening?”

No one.

After delivering the maps to Lucienne, you would be done for the day. Surely, Dream had better things to do than entertain you.

“I am sure a king as yourself is quite busy,” you pointed out.

He leaned in closely. “Oh, sweet one, I can do what I please. Like you said, I am king and I wish to be in your company.”

His eyes flickered down to your lips. He did little to had his want for you. You swallowed nervously. You quickly yanked yourself away from him.

It’s not like that. Something was probably on my face.

“I will meet you then,” you answered with your eyes locked onto the floor.

“Look me in the eyes and answer me,” he said. “It’s little disrespectful to not address me properly.”

He didn’t care. He simply wanted to see your lovely face, to see your adorable expressions.

You winced internally. Of course. Glancing up, you cleared your throat and stated, “I will meet you for tea after my delivery.”

Dream smiled, almost predatory like. “Good, I will see you then.”

A heat spread all over your chest. Your eyes widened. You mumbled out a goodbye before rushing off the to library.

Dream continued to smile at you. Just one day at a time, he thought. He would have you soon enough. You would soon understand his desires for you, his sweet guest.

[nightingale2004]

The originals next gen: Jackson x Hayley version

Cassidy Mary Marshall Kenner

Faceclaim: Adelaide Kane

Cassidy is the firstborn daughter of Hayley Lebonair-Marshall and Jackson Kenner and the half-sister of Hope Mikaelson

Prefers to be called Cassy

She has her father's looks, but her mother's attitude

She was born a year after Hope

She is a born werewolf and future alpha of the crescent moon pack

Cassy has the crescent moon birthmark on her wrist

Her wolf form has pitch black fur

She is one of the best fighters in pack

Always feels awkward with the Mikaelson family due to feeling like the only thing they have in common is Hope

Klaus and Elijah have a lot of respect for Casy and her brother

After her dad died, she felt like she had to take on the responsibility of an alpha quickly despite Hayley's protests

Klaus brings members of his birth father's pack to the crescent moon pack

The Mikaelsons love Cassidy and will constantly remind her all the time that she is also Mikaelson just like them

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Aiden Oliver Marshall Kenner

Faceclaim: Jack Champion

Aiden is the second child of Hayley and Jackson

His wolf form has brown fur

Aiden is Cassy's adviser and Beta in the pack

Aiden loves his family despite it being complicated and has a lot of love for Hope

He is very afraid of Klaus and his siblings most of the time

Will protect his pack and sister with his life

After their parents died, Aiden and Cassidy were looked after by the Mikaelsons

Klaus continued to train them about being leaders to the crescent moon pack (with Elijah's help, of course)

Both Aiden and Cassy try to keep the peace on the werewolf side of New Orleans

He's not the greatest fighter, but he is very strategic and intelligent.... and is also the only person who can calm his sister

Is very sarcastic

Despite not being related to the Mikaelsons, he will protect and defend them

Both him and his sister go to the Salvatore boarding school and help out the cursed werewolves and born werewolves

[chaotic-kitty]

Last Legacy: Randomly Generated Scenarios

This has been sitting in my drafts folder for a very long time. Thought I'd just post it. Sorry if there are any mistakes.

MC: Good responses for being stabbed with a knife?

Felix: Rude.

Sage: That's fair.

Anisa: Not again.

Rime: Are you going to want this back?

MC: Good morning.

Felix: Good morning.

Sage: Good morning.

Anisa: You all sound like robots, try spicing it up a bit.

Rime: MORNING MOTHERFUCKERS

MC: That's it, we're gonna go out and find what we need!

Anisa: To the city?

MC: Yeah, no matter what!

Rime: Well- How exactly do you propose we do that, exactly?

MC: I…. I don't know!

Felix: Oh come off it, be serious!

MC: I am serious!

Felix: You're insane!

Sage: Why, if only we were all wiener dogs, our problems would be solved!

Everyone:

MC: What???

Sage: Or maybe it was a basset hound!

Felix, panicked: YOU'RE ALL INSANE!

MC: Nothing in life is free.

Felix: Love is free!

Sage: Adventure is free

Anisa: Knowledge is free

Rime: Everything is free if you take it without paying.

MC: We've been conducting an ongoing study to see what Sage will and will not eat.

Felix: Grass? Yes!

MC: Moss? Yes!!

Felix: Leaves? Ohh, yes!

MC: Shoelaces? Strange but true!

Felix: Worms? Sometimes!

MC: Rocks? Usually nah.

Felix: Twigs? Usually!

MC: Rime's cooking? Inconclusive!

Anisa: How did you…. test this?

MC: You just hand them stuff and say 'eat this' and if they eat it, they eat it.

Anisa: ... I don't know how to feel about this.

Rime: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT?

MC: Bye Felix! Bye Sage! Bye Anisa! Bye Rime! Bye Felix!

Sage: You said "bye Felix' twice.

MC: I like Felix.

MC: So uhhh.. My question is: my friend keeps on going into the pantry and grabbing handfuls of fettuccine. Uncooked.

Anisa: I would hope they're not grabbing handfuls of cooked fettuccine!

Rime: In your pantry!

MC: Yeah…. and eating them raw, and they keep calling them 'chips'… … How do I make them stop?

Anisa: Is your friend here?

MC, motioning to Felix: Yeah.

Anisa, to Felix: You're a monster! Words MEAN things! >: (

Sage: Does anybody remember- I haven't been to Olive Garden in many moons- but they DO have a like- fettuccine bottle that you can just- grab em out of and chew-

Sage: HOLD ON. WAS THIS A PRANK YOU GUYS PULLED ON ME WHEN WE WENT TO OLIVE GARDEN AS KIDS?!

Sage: NO, STOP. EVERYBODY SHUT UP. DO THEY GIVE YOU RAW FETTUCCINE TO CHEW ON IN THE LOBBY OF THE OLIVE GARDEN

Everyone else: No.

Sage, to Anisa and Rime: YOU FUCKIN BASTARDS

Anisa: YAAAAAAAAY!

Rime: THE PRESTIGE!

MC: I've done a lot of dumb stuff.

Felix: I witnessed the dumb stuff.

Rime: I recorded the dumb stuff.

Sage: I joined in on the dumb stuff.

Anisa: I TRIED TO STOP YOU FROM DOING THE DUMB STUFFIlI

MC: What does 'take out' mean?

Anisa: Food.

Felix: Dating

Rime: Murder

Sage: IT CAN MEAN ALL THREE IF YOU'RE NOT A COWARD.

MC: You're a loose cannon, Felix.

Felix: No, I'm not. I'm a cannon maybe, but a loose cannon? Is that what you think of me?

Sage: I think you play by your own rules.

Anisa: No way, they think rules were made to be broken.

MC: Those are all attributes of a loose cannon.

Felix: No, I'm just a reckless renegade. Rime is a loose cannon.

Rime: *smashes a chair*

MC: Imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the items you have lost throughout your life

Felix: Self-esteem, haven't seen you in years!

Sage: Oh wow, my childhood innocence! Thank you for finding this!

Anisa: I knew I lost that potential somewhere!

Rime: My moral code, is that you?

MC:

MC: I was just gonna show you this cool trunk my mother left me but do you guys need a hug?

MC: Time for plan G.

Felix: Don't you mean plan B?

MC: No, we tried plan B a long time ago. I had to skip over plan C due to technical difficulties.

Sage: What about plan D?

MC: Plan D was that desperate disguise attempt half an hour ago.

Anisa: What about plan E?

MC: I'm hoping not to use it. Rime dies in plan E.

Tulsi: I like plan E.

*The squad is over at MC's house*

Felix: Ohhhh, we each get our own oven?

MC:.. N-No.

MC, laughing: How many ovens do you think I have???

Felix, motioning to their kitchen: Three, I thought!

Sage: I see a-

MC, motioning to one device: This is a microwave.

Felix: Oh. well I-

MC: Hey wait wait, actually- hang on- *fiddles with the buttons on the microwave*

MC, amazed: Its got a bake setting!

Anisa: Ohoho, you learn something new every day!

Rime: Do we- Do we roshambo for who gets to pick first?

MC: Now I've just discovered I have more ovens than I thought, we don't have to roshambo nothin!

MC: I am someone who owns four ovens..

MC, louder and way too happy: I am someone…. who owns FOUR OVENS.

MC: I didn't know I was so rich with ovens..

Tulsi, pointing to another appliance: Also the toaster oven!

MC:

Felix: Ohhh, toasty boy! Four- Five ovens!

MC:

MC, fucking ECSTATIC: I AM SOMEONE WHO OWNS FIVE OVENS

(If you got that reference, you’re a legend)

MC: Well, aren't you all a rag-tag group of adventurers with unclear goals and good hearts! Oh, let me guess: you're out to save the world!

Felix: Well, actually, that sounds like a pretty fair assessment.

Sage: More or less, I guess..

Anisa: That sounds awesome! Let's do that!

Rime: I'm new here, but I am open to the concept.

Tulsi: I thought that's what we were doing, guys, come on!

*Everyone is standing around the broken coffee maker*

MC: So. Who broke it? I'm not mad, I just wanna know

Everyone:

Felix: ...I did. I broke it.

MC: No. No you didn't. Sage?

Sage: Don't look at me. Look at Anisa.

Anisa: What?! I didn't break it.

Sage: Huh, that's weird. How'd you even know it was broken?

Anisa: Because it's sitting right in front of us and it's broken.

Sage: Suspicious.

Anisa: No, it's not!

Rime: If it matters, probably not, but Tulsi was the last one to use it.

Tulsi: Liar! I don't even drink that crap!

Rime: Oh really? Then what were you doing by the coffee cart earlier?

Tulsi: I use the wooden stirrers to push back my cuticles. Everyone knows that, Rime!

Felix: Okay let's not fight. I broke it. Let me pay for it, MC

MC: No! Who broke it!?

Everyone:

Rime: MC... Sage's been awfully quiet.

Sage: rEALLY?!

*Everyone starts arguing*

MC, being interviewed: I broke it. I burned my hand so I punched it.

MC: I predict 10 minutes from now they'll be at each other's throats with warpaint on their faces and a pig head on a stick.

MC:

MC: Good. It was getting a little chummy around here.

*Squad reactions to being told 'I love you**

MC: Thanks fam!

Felix: oh no

Sage: *cries* I love you too

Anisa: Sounds fake but okay

Rime: *A flustered mess*

Tulsi: can i get a refund

MC: Dumbest scar stories, go!

Felix: I burned my tongue once drinking tea.

Sage: I dropped a hair dryer on my leg once and burned it.

Anisa: I have a piece of graphite in my leg for accidentally stabbing myself with a pencil in the first grade

Rime: I was taking a cup of noodles out of the microwave and spilled it on my hand and I got a really bad burn.

Tulsi:

Tulsi: I have emotional scars.

MC: Felix…… How do I begin to explain Rime?

Sage: Rime is flawless.

Anisa: I hear their hair's insured for $10,000

Felix: I hear they do car commercials… in Japan.

Tulsi: One time they punched me in the face... it was awesome.

MC: *Posts a super low-quality image to the group chat*

Felix: If I had a dollar for every pixel in this image, I'd have 15 cents

MC: If I had a dollar for every ounce of rage I felt in my body after I read this text, I would have enough money to buy a cannon to fire at you

Sage: Actually I did the math, Felix would have $225, not $0.15.

Felix: Fam I'm right here..

Anisa: If I had a dollar I would buy a can of soda :)

MC: while you're there could you buy me an apply juice please?

Anisa: Sorry I only have a dollar

MC: :(

Sage: Hey I just realized my friend is right, Felix would have $22,500 because it's a dollar for every pixel, not a cent

Anisa: If I had $22,500 I would buy a can of soda and an apply juice

Sage: You can buy anything you want with $22,500

Rime: Yeah and they want soda and apply juice

Sage: Apply juice to what

Tulsi: Directly to the forehead

Felix: Great chat everyone

MC: Rules are made to be broken.

Felix: They were made to be followed. Nothing is made to be broken.

Sage: Uh, piñatas.

Anisa: Glow sticks.

Rime: Karate boards.

Tulsi: Spaghetti when you have a small pot.

MC: Rules.

Felix:

MC: Everytime I hear someone talking about updog, I'm torn between not wanting to fall for it and wanting to help them complete their joke.

Felix: Okay, but what is updog?

Sage: Updog is a long sausage in a bun, often served with ketchup, mustard, onions, and/or relish,

Anisa: Not, that's a hot dog. An updog is when a new version or patch of an application is released.

Rime: No, that's an update. You're thinking of the fourth largest city in Sweden.

Tulsi: Surely, that's Uppsala, where's updog is the giant spider in Harry Potter.

MC: That's Aragog. Updog is a symbol conventionally used for an arbitrarily small number in analysis proofs.

Anisa: You're thinking of epsilon. Updog is an upward-moving air current.

Sage: No, that's an updraft. An updog is the modern version of a henway.

Felix: What's a henway??

MC: Oh, about five pounds.

MC: We need to distract these guys

Felix: Leave it to me

Felix: Centaurs have six limbs and are therefore insects. Discuss.

Sage, Anisa, and Rime: *Immediately begin arguing*

Tulsi, watching in horror: Oh this. I don't like this. I don't like this at all.

MC, walking into their house: Hello, people who do not live here.

Felix: Hey.

Sage: Hi.

Anisa: Hello.

Rime: Hey!

MC: I gave you the key to my place for emergencies only!

Tulsi: We were out of Doritos.

MC: Hewwo.

Felix: Hihiiiiii!

Tulsi: Greetings, Humans

Rime: Three kinds of people

Anisa: I want pudding.

MC: Four kinds of people.

Sage: WHAT'S UP FUCKERS?

Rime: Five kinds of people.

MC: If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it's venomous.

Felix: What if it bites me and it dies!?

Sage: Then you're poisonous. Jesus Christ, Felix, learn to listen.

Anisa: What if it bites itself and I die?

Rime: That's voodoo.

Tulsi: What if it bites me and someone else dies?

Felix: That's correlation, not causation.

Anisa: What if we bite each other, and neither of us die?

Rime: That's kinky.

MC: Oh my God.

MC: Just be yourself.

Felix: 'Be myself'? MC, I have one day to win Sage over. How long did it take before you guys started liking me?

Anisa: Couple weeks.

Rime: Six months.

Tulsi: Jury's still out.

Felix: See, MC?

Felix: 'Be myself'. What kind of garbage advice is that?

Sage: Why are MC and Felix sitting with their backs to each other?

Anisa: They had a fight.

Sage: Then why are they holding hands?

Anisa: They get sad when they fight.

MC: You lying, cheating, piece of shit!

Felix: Oh yeah? You're the idiot who thinks you can get away with everything you do. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

MC: I'm leaving you, and I'M TAKING SAGE WITH ME

Anisa, picking up the monopoly board: I think we're gonna stop playing now.

MC: You know those things will kill you, right?

Felix, pouring another glass of whiskey: That's the point.

Sage, smoking a cigarette: We're trying to speed up the process.

Anisa: *Nods while eating raw cookie dough*

Saaros: If I die, my funeral is going to be the biggest party ever and you're all invited

Anisa: If?

MC: Great, the only party I've ever been invited to and they might not even die.

Saaros: Dandelions symbolize everything I want to be in life

Anisa: Fluffy and dead with a gust of wind?

Saaros: Unapologetic. Hard to kill. Feral, filled with sunlight, bright, beautiful in a way that the conventional and controlling hate but cannot ever fully destroy. Stubborn. Happy. Bastardous. Friends with bees. Highly disapproving of lawns. Full of wishes that will be carried far after I die.

MC: edible

Saaros: Do you ever want to talk about your emotions, Anisa?

Anisa: ... No.

MC: I do!

Saaros: I know, MC.

MC: I'm sad!

Saaros: I know, MC.

Saaros: I'm kind of crushing on someone, but I'm worried about telling you who it is, because you're not going to like it

Anisa: Just rip the bandage off.

Saaros: It's MC

Anisa: Put the bandage back on.

Saaros, in a high voice, holding barbie: hey ken! I was thinking about going back to school and starting a career!

Anisa, in a deep voice, holding ken: nonsense, barbie. you're staying home and having my kids

MC: what the fuck are you guys doing?

Saaros: playing systemic oppression.

Saaros: So, what, now I'm just supposed to do anything that Anisa does? I mean, what if they jumped off a cliff?

MC: If Anisa were to jump off a cliff, they would've done their due diligence regarding the height of the cliff, the depth of the water, and the angle of entry, so yes. If you see Anisa jump off a cliff, by all means, jump off a cliff.

Saaros: You jump off a cliff!

MC: Gladly. Provided Anisa did first.

Saaros: In your opinion, what's the height of stupidity?

Anisa: *turning to MC* How tall are you?

*Saaros and Anisa sitting in jail together*

Anisa: So who should we call?

Saaros: I'd call MC, but I feel safer in jail.

Saaros: In my defense, I was left unsupervised.

Anisa: Wasn't MC with you?

MC: In my defense, I was also left unsupervised.

Saaros: Naturally, we are on the cutting edge of technology.

Anisa, amazed: Wow.

MC, to Anisa: Well what does that mean?

Anisa: I don't know.

Anisa, to Saaros: What does that mean?

Saaros: There are seven chairs and ten kids. What do you do?

Anisa: Have everyone stand.

MC: Bring three more chairs!

Sage: The most important ones can sit down.

Felix: Kill three.

Saaros: We need more help. Maybe I should call my friends

Anisa: ... Your what?

Saaros: My friends.

MC: Are they saying "friends"?

Sage: I think they're being sarcastic.

Felix: No, no, no, this is delirium, they've cracked from being awake all night. Hey, Saaros! All of your friends are in this room.

Saaros: I have other friends! You asked me to make new friends, I made new friends! It was a task. I complete

tasks.

Saaros: You kidnapped Anisa? That's illegal!

MC: But Saaros, what's more illegal? Briefly inconveniencing Anisa, or destroying our dreams?

Saaros: Kidnapping Anisa, MC!!!

Sage: Saaros, listen, whatever I may think of you right now- these guys are counting on you to inspire them!

Saaros: What, to kidnap people?!?!

Sage: To work toqether!

Saaros: TO KIDNAP PEOPLE?!?!?!?!

Felix: Saaros, we all agreed a celebrity is a not a people.

Tulsi: Look. I may not be a saint, but it's not like I've killed anybody. I'm not an arsonist. I've never found a wallet outside of an IHOP and thought about returning it but saw the owner lived out of state so just took the cash and dropped the wallet back on the ground.

Sage: Okay, that's really specific, and that makes me think that you definitely did do that.

Tulsi: Hey Sage can I get a sip of your water?

Sage: It's not water.

Tulsi: Vodka, I like your style!

Sage: It's vinegar.

Tulsi: Wh-Wha-

Sage: It's vinegar, COWARD.

Tulsi: I slept for almost 12 hours but I might still be tired so lets go for 12 more just incase.

Sage: Tulsi, that's a coma.

Tulsi: Sounds festive.

Tulsi: You kill people for money?!

Sage: I can explain!

Tulsi: And all this time I've been doing it for free like a chump!

Tulsi: Do you think you'd actually notice if someone didn't cast a shadow? Or if their limbs were just slightly too long? Or if they had just a little too many teeth? like how many times have you passed Something on the street and you just didn't Notice It?

Sage: Stay woke monsterfuckers ur love is out there!!!!!

Tulsi: Yknow what? Not my point at all in any way whatsoever, but I'm glad I could be an inspiration.

Tulsi: Treat spiders the way you want to be treated.

Sage: Killed without hesitation.

Tulsi: No.

Tulsi: That's one of my biggest fears. Like, if I ever woke up as a donut.

Sage: You would eat yourself?

Tulsi: I wouldn't even question it.

Felix, tending to Rime's wounds: How would you rate your pain?

Rime: Zero stars. Would NOT recommend.

Felix: Hey, it's your turn to wash dishes

Rime: I'LL WASH THE WALLS RED WITH YOUR BLOOD

Felix: 'Kay, but before that, wash the dishes, also use soap this time?

Felix: This is a mistake

Rime, enthusiastically: A mistake we're going to laugh about one day!

Felix: But not today

Rime, still enthusiastic: Oh, no. Today's going to be a mess.

Felix: Is something burning?

Rime: Just my love for you.

Felix: Rime, the toaster is on fire.

Felix: Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm doing. Everything is going to be fine!

Rime: How can you still say that?

Felix: Because sometimes, when things get tough, denial is all we have.

Felix: What the fuck is wrong with you?!

Rime: Wow, you could start with a 'good morning'.

Felix: Good morning. What the fuck is wrong with you?!

Felix: Must be hard not being able to laugh

Rime: I do have a sense of humor you know

Felix: I've never heard you laugh before

Rime: I've never heard you say anything funny

Felix: So that's my plan.

Rime: Are you alright with constructive criticism? I don't want to sound mean.

Felix: No, go ahead, I want to hear it.

Rime: It fucking sucks.

Felix: That's not constructive criticism.

Felix: Is letting someone win at chess sapiosexual bottoming

Rime: Does anyone in this godforsaken group ever think before they speak

Rime: Okay. I get it. You've had a really hard time lately, you're stressed out, seven people died-

Felix: Twelve, actually.

Rime: Not the point. Look, they're dead now and really whose fault is that?

Felix: Yours!

Rime: That's right: no one's.

Felix: You saved me. I owe you my life.

Rime: No thanks. I've seen it and I'm not very impressed.

Felix, struggling to keep upright in their 1 inch heels: Yeah, I-I don't really think heels are for me

Rime, pointing at them and walking flawlessly in sparkly golden 6 inch heels: WEAK.

Felix: God, give me patience.

Rime: I think you mean 'give me strength'.

Felix: If God gave me strength, you'd be dead.

Felix: Rime, stop! This isn't you, you've gone mad with power!

Rime: Well of course I have.

Rime: Have you ever tried going mad without power?

Rime: It's boring.

[athousandmorningss]

& there's love pouring out of my eyes.

{I wrote this letter for my friend, and I'm sharing it here, too. It's probably full of misused words, too many comas, lengthy sentences, etc}.

Sunday, November 24. 6:40 PM

Dearest Y,

This letter has seen numerous starts & stops. Mostly, stops. You ask of/about my writing (of books or for your magazine). While these utterances encourage toothy smiles on my end, I can’t quite get beyond myself to sit down and write. I’d ask my poet/sister/friend some time ago if she still wrote poetry and attended open mics. No, she’d said. “I’m too old,” she’d offered as an explanation. Ah, yeah: that thing. That thing which encourages a dull ache in my left hip when I put too many miles under my feet, that thing that tugs at the heavy weight of my tits until they inch lower, then lower still. That thing which encourages a specific and reoccurring experience marked as weariness, which my other friend explains as “Crys is a cynic.” In her collection of essays titled What If This Were Enough? (which you would like, btw) Heather Havrilesky writes briefly about a term the Japanese use, mono no aware, “which translates literally as “the pathos of things,” but means more broadly, “a melancholic awareness of the transience of existence” (p.81). The common visual by way of an explanation, I think, is that of the existence of cherry blossoms: their blooming is brief, and as the petals fall, we are made more aware of this reality. It is their briefness of being which enflames this feeling of mono no aware: that they exist, and then they do not. Beautiful and brief all at once: we ache and bear witness.

-

The other evening, I attended a poetry reading that featured New Mexico’s Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp. The event seemed a direct response to a lack I’d recently voiced to my lover: that I missed attending poetry readings and pubic talks that often occurred on campus. This was a Zoom call, though: the black, faceless boxes and lack of physical proximity of bodies and voices seemed (and was) a dreadful way to host a reading. But oh, it was so lovely to listen to the Lauren’s voice rise and fall as she read, the smoothness of her voice buttery and soft as she recited to us. She noted that she had, early on and into the remainder of her life thus far, rejected the use of a journal or diary and preferred instead to keep memories in poetic form instead. I inquired about this, and her response was that after her mother had died, poetry allowed her to “write horrible poems, but I was grieving and manipulating the words. Poetry was a container for my experience.” Later, she described it as a practice of paying attention and a practice of patience. Later still, she reminded us that we can write as a way to figure something out and— this struck me— as a way to please yourself via the process of playing with writing. Later still, she recalled asking her students to describe an experience or observation with a greater richness: the sky is blue? Blue like what? Blue like what?

It was all a retort, in a way, to my cynicism; to the mono no aware I feel; to my increasing agedness which encourages me to consider, and believe, that nothing matters. That we are untethered; that nothing is permanent; that this lack of permanence renders most things inconsequential. I am grappling with and living within this feeling of flatness; of emptiness; of banality which has begun to touch all and everything in my life. It makes me resistant to the process of writing: because I can’t see any meaning for it, other than a place to store my own self-obsession.

-

My marriage & subsequent divorce & first year spent alone during the holidays, during which I had to put down my beloved cat Oliver (my best friend since my early twenties) who was dying of cancer, made me feel wild and wide-eyed in my grief. I felt crazed. Like I was walking around in grey. Everything had this fuzzy, distant, far away feeling. It was the same feeling I’d had when my father died, and then my mother: this realization that what you had can never be again; that your life has fundamentally shifted; that the experience will be a reference point for all of your other experiences until you die. It was deep grief. It was a portal.

-

I’m sitting now on my lover’s bed. I walked the short distance from my apartment to his, removed my boots and pants and bra and fed his cat while he is out of town. His cat, Abbey, paces slowly to the kitchen and then joins me atop the soft comforter. She is an unusual cat. When I come to visit I find her laying in the center of the hard living room floor. She often rejects the couch; the bed; the chairs and chooses instead to nap in-between my lover’s stove and kitchen wares. Sometimes she sleeps on the bathroom closet floor. I once brought over a soft blanket for her to lay on in there, which she rejected with a stubborn swiftness. She sits near me but never on me, such that when she recently placed her paws gently in my lap, I gasped in surprise. When she lets me rub the expanse of her inky black tummy, the curls of her fur soft and slightly matted, it feels like a great honor. To be trusted in that way. She comes to me when I call her now: responding quickly to the click of my tongue and my encouragement: “come on, Abbey.” To be trusted like that.

I live my life in extremes, and so after the divorce I did a year of celibacy. Felt sick at the idea of touching and being touched. Then, I engaged in a non-monogamous triste with two men at once: one, a boyfriend; the other, a lover. They knew of each other. We all grappled together with what it meant and how it could look and how we felt. I am in my lover’s bed now and, after several months with said boyfriend, left him a few weeks ago. We kept skirting around our differences but it became clear that he would want to move in together. And, because I can’t see beyond my own cynicism; because the idea of cohabitation both bores me and scares me; because I don’t want to do anything I’ve already done; because I’m probably fucked a bit in the head by the ex-husband (who, coincidently, still contacts me via rejected phone calls/emails/ letters every other month or so), I couldn’t suspend my disbelief long enough to give it a go. He was lovely enough (a bit of dehumanizing here is required in order to fully move on. If I linger too long on the memory of him always bringing the soft grey blanket to the bed and making it for me before we went to sleep together; or consider the way he used to bring me coffee and plant my forehead with kisses; or think of the way his father used to laugh loud and sweetly when I’d say “hi dad!”; or how his cat used to lay heavy on my chest and purr in my face when all lay together in rest, I will be rendered immobile, I will be stuck in and with memories, and so I dehumanize and reject them as a way to make it easier), but it felt that he was making me his world, that I was a placeholder for his own experiences, that there was a lack of self-actualization there, that I was filling a role as someone he could take care of.

And so here I am now, pantless and braless and caring for my lover’s cat, in bed with my pile of books, having snuck one of his cold lattes from the fridge. I don’t know what we are doing: we skirt and skirt and skirt around our affections for each other until I finally named it as love. We both went home and pulled up the dictionary to offer us definitions for what we feel, as if looking for evidence for our affections: an alignment of the world’s definition with our own. I told him once that it felt like, when I met him, a kind of “oh, there you are” sort of feeling, an experience of familiarity, like oh, there you are; you’re one of my people. there you are. There you are. We walk a lot; he bought us the same book so that we can read it in tandem and compare notes; he is a dear friend and a comrade in adventure, thinking, talking, lovemaking. But I don’t want to build my world around him. Because that would ruin it. I can’t see beyond my own cynicism enough to even imagine it…

-

But I can’t give in, entirely, to this feeling (which I am not articulating well enough here). Perhaps it is a sort of mid-life crisis. No, here’s what it is: I am rejecting many of the institutions that I have been told my entire life will prop me up and give my life meaning and some semblance of structure and maybe, a touch of happiness. Marriage/motherhood/normative partnerships/an emphasis on work as my singular identity/religion/family structure as stabilizing center (this has largely been removed from me as a possibility by force, not by choice). This is at once freeing as it is terrifying: it necessitates constructing my own meaning-making that goes beyond living in the ways that I am supposed to, and I grapple frequently with a feeling that if I don’t have these things, what do I have? What is the structure and shape of my life…what propels me forward…what gives it meaning? Where do I find an identity in light of all this abjection? There. that’s it. That’s what I mean.

But anyways. I can’t give in, entirely, to this feeling. It exists in tandem with a kind of giddiness, an excitability, that feels more present in my life than it ever has before. Yvet, I learned how to do archery! I tried non-monogamy! I’ve been going to these once monthly full moon ceremony sessions, where two and a half hours of breathwork makes me wiggle on the mat with such delight I can’t contain myself, and Deb notices and gives me a drum so that I can bang the feeling out! Every time I see the full moon it’s like it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it! I tutor this woman from Cuba and though there are some marked differences there between us, she feels like a sister; a friend: last week she read poetry in the sun with me and asked me what certain words mean and we laughed together, so loud. I’ve made friends with another older woman in the building. We go for coffee and she tells me stories about how she believes in reincarnation and that her friend was once told that he was a Frenchman with gastric problems in his past life: the specificity of this made me laugh with such pleasure. I scoop her some vegetarian chili into Tupperware and a few days later she leaves the Tupperware at my door, sticky note attached: thank you! <3. I met another woman through a meetup group that is also navigating a divorce and we meet a few times a month to adventure (tomorrow we’ll go thrifting and do a long walk by the river, this weekend we may visit her cabin). Dude. I know this older guy because we walk the same trail at night, and we’ve become so familiar with each other our conversations end in hugs now: he tells me he ain’t seen me on a bike in a while and when I lament the expensive one I’m eyeing at the local shop, he tells me to stop by, he’ll give me his, he never uses it. I’m still teaching, and have been in contact with the dean of the English department here, asking/reminding/asserting heyyyy I can probably cover some comp. classes for you. The paperwork got processed on Friday and I’ll start teaching it in the Spring. I’m scared. I’m still going to try. I wrote the other day that “can I do this? let’s find out!” is a fine mantra, because it is.

And today, when I walked the short distance from my apartment to my lover’s, I noted a mole working its little figure in and out of the dirt, creating a sizeable hole to burrow itself inside, its little nose poking out as it did its work. And there, on the power line, the birds were gathering along it: pairs of two covering the length of it.

Havrilesky writes, “my father’s wallet reminds me that nothing lasts. Just when you’re starting to get comfortable, you disappear. And maybe only one or two of your things will seem important to someone else when you’re gone.

That’s sad, but it’s also a reason to wake up to the enormity of the moment, to the unbelievable gift of being alive, right now. You don’t need more than this. all of heaven is within you” (p.81).

When I arrive at my lover’s house, I strip my clothes off and pat his cat and crawl under the delicious softness of his comforter. I imagine we’ll meet again in a few days, and maybe we’ll lay together underneath it, he’ll pull it up to his chin. We’ll look at each other, quietly, with such tenderness, then reach for each other, our mouths meeting, slowly and finally.

It won’t always be like this. That is the gift.

[harmonyckrs]

Give Me Back My Wife, Grim Reaper - Part 5

General Buzz: So your brother has gone missing and you're trying to get a Resurrect-O-Nomitron to bring back your wife, correct?

Harper: Yes. That's why I decided to delve into the world of psychics.

General Buzz: I see. I wish you luck. I've lost my wife too, so I understand how it feels. Can you do me a favor and resurrect her too?

Harper: Sure. Do you mind telling me how she died?

General Buzz: Like Vidcund, she was murdered. I know who did it, but I need concrete proof before I'm allowed to do anything about it.

Harper: Who?

General Buzz: Olive Specter, the weird hag with the "tombstone collection."

Harper: Oh, Pascal told me about her too!

General Buzz: I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who was responsible for Vidcund's death. How about you go investigate her later? She goes easier on people like you.

Harper: People like me?

General Buzz: She's got a thing for guys with dark clothes and glasses. You seem like her exact type...go to her house and tell me what you find.

As I approached the Specter manor, the gates to her house opened for me as if they were waiting for my arrival. When I stepped in, a cold brush of air swept past me as I laid my eyes on a tall woman with dark skin and silver hair, modestly dressed in a black gown.

She was beautiful. Still not as beautiful as Celeste, but close.

Olive: I've foreseen your arrival, Harper. It's about time you've showed your face. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

Harper: You know who I am?

Olive: Of course I do. You and Erin are not the only ones in town with magical powers. You're here because that nasty General wants you to investigate my tombstones, correct?

Harper: Wow, you're really good at this.

Olive: Thank you, dear. But I assure I will let you do no such thing. All of these deaths were the results of accidents, and he has no proof of any murder.

As she spoke, letting me inside, I could hear the howling of ghosts around me, jolted silhouettes wandering through the house and collapsing on the ground.

Harper: Alright, then. Sorry about this, I guess.

Olive: No worries. Would you like some tea?

Ghosts: DO NOT DRINK THE TEA...DO NOT DRINK THE TEA...

Harper: I'm not thirsty.

Olive: Are you sure? It's special tea imported straight from Takemizu Village. Drinking it gives you psychic visions...well, for us magical folk.

Harper: (I guess it wouldn't hurt to drink some, then.) Oh, sure!

---

Aktu: I'm sorry! But you can't stay here with me, or she'll get you too!

Vladimir: I can protect myself, Aktu! Why can't you trust me?

Aktu: I just don't want you to get hurt, Vidcund! Especially since you have two babies to look after now!

Vincenzo: No! We made a promise to stick with each other! You can't just throw that away! Where would I even go, huh? My family hates me!

Aktu: I'll send you to my world. Find Sita or Sana! They'll be able to help you. I'll come back for you if I live!

Valentino: Aktu, we're supposed to be a team!

Aktu: Goodbye. If anything happens to me, I...I love you.

Vaugn: AKTU!

As I woke up from my trance, I found myself resting on a firm yet comfortable bed alongside gray brick walls and black tile floors.

Pascal: Are you okay, Harper?

Harper: Aktu's in danger, and your brother is alive! I saw them! They were in some field!...Where's Olive? I need more of her psychic tea!

Pascal: That was not psychic tea! You were drugged and just happened to have a psychic vision! Had I not gotten you out in time you would've been dead!

Harper: Oh...thank you. I guess I owe you one.

Pascal: No, it's fine. Did you have any other visions about Vidcund or Aktu?

Harper: Well, there was one, but I'm not sure if you'll like it.

Since Pascal saved my life, I figured it'd be a good idea to tell him about the visions Erin and I had about Lazlo, Crystal and Aktu. Unfortunately he did not seem to take this well.

Lazlo: Hey, man! I'm home!...oh, Harper! What's up, my dude?

Pascal: Lazlo. Why didn't you tell me about Aktu?

Lazlo: What?...ah, shit. It was supposed to be a secret! Harper, why'd you snitch?

Harper: Because Aktu's my brother and I've been looking for him for the past five years.

Lazlo: ...Oh fuck.

Pascal: So? I think you've got something important to tell us.

Lazlo: ...Fine.

[soughtserenity-a]

Future Diaries verse,

I realized I needed to write all this down for me but this is all the info for the current version of the legacies / tvd muses I write when it's set in the present day. I usually go backward cause it's easier and fun with everyone being messy but

Hayley

Is an alpha wolf

She was killed by Roman and his mother

She did not become a hybrid after giving birth to Hope ( bc I don't want it ) she just came very close to dying and her blood healed her slowly along with her natural accelerated healing.

Oliver Kenner, Luna Kenner, and Hope Mikaelson are her children I'll probably pick up Luna later and fit her in.

She's resurrected by Hope when she turns 18 and completes her transformation.

She has a hard time gripping things like time because of her mortality compared to Klaus who's lived a long time. She has a hard time looking sometimes because of how much has changed.

She doesn't blame her for trusting Roman she's done a lot of trusting the wrong person in her life

She's married to Jackson in every verse and they lead their small pack together before their deaths then the responsibility falls onto hope but after her resurrection, she does try to help.

When she comes back that's the first place she goes after being with hope and where she stays.

They take in lost and abandoned wolves and give them a home and that means their little space has grown and changed sense then but she's here for it.

Elena

Elena never wanted to become a vampire but when she did she tried to deal with the changes but it felt like it changed so much of her that she battled with a lot of self-hate which showed in how she lashed out against people and tried to appear more confident and embrace her strength but it's a front like Damon's. Every day was agony and the passionate love affairs and what have you dulled the ache but it never went away.

She's getting the same treatment as Hayley and Klaus. That magic brought them all back. Damon's human and so is she.

She immediately gets to her normal life trying to make up lost time

She becomes a writer, her specialty of course being fantasy and romance but along with that she'd like to become an English teacher and find other writers and push them toward their dreams.

Depending on the thread and person she is happily married to Damon and he is as insufferable as he is doting and kind to her and stefan.

Klaus

I'm not sure how everyone will feel about this but absorbing all that dark magic and then killing himself took something from him. When he comes back he is just a werewolf. The white oak stake burned that part of him away but some things still remain:

he is still immortal to some degree as long as he doesn't suffer so fatal an injury he dies he can live forever.

His blood still heals vampire bites

Out of all natural wolves, this Mf is big as hell and very powerful because of the years effect that would make him stronger but not unkillable

He can fully transform now and looks like this ( ain't he cute ) and the stories have now gone from Klaus the immortal tribrid to the great oak wolf which he likes and the sentiment has moved from terror to protection though most ( rightfully so ) are skeptical because he's still a selfish bastard and will protect his kind, his pack and his family FIRST.

Love that I get to do stuff like this since the power diff is now fucking ridiculous thanks to Hope and Landon. Anyways that's it for now ~

[schrijverr]

Tomorrow Will Be Different 13

Chapter 13 out of 26

Instead of managing to meet up later, Oliver has to keep running with Akio. The only way to keep them safe is to go public with Oliver being alive, leaving him back home in charge of Akio, while Tatsu and Maseo are still in the wind

In this chapter, Moira tries to get through to her son, only to realize her son isn't the boy he used to be anymore.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: Moira and Robert's parenting

~~~

Chapter 13: Parental Understanding

Moira watches her son as he boils hot water on the stove, instead of using their kettle. She stays silent as he takes out some leaves, expertly making traditional tea instead of throwing a bag in a mug and calling it a day. The skill is a reminder that her son has changed so much. Some days she barely recognizes him.

Oliver also doesn’t say a word throughout the process. He’s aware of his mom studying him, but he doesn’t want to engage yet, allowing the ritual of making tea like Tatsu showed him to give them a breather to calm down.

He sets the mugs down in front of them, taking a place across from her. He levels her a serious look and she misses the natural brightness and mischief that used to be there.

“You think I’m making a mistake,” he says, the statement more a question.

“I do,” she agrees. “You’ve just come home after three years of being presumed dead. I understand that it is an adjustment for you, but it’s like you aren’t trying to get back to your life at all. Instead you put all your energy into a child that isn’t yours.”

“Who cares if he’s mine or not,” Oliver scoffs. “He’s my friend. He’s like my little brother. I want to take care of him. I’ve been entrusted with his well being by his parents, I find that a huge honor and I take that responsibility seriously. I thought you would be proud of me for growing up, becoming mature.”

Moira’s heart aches, because he’s not wrong. She always hoped he would grow out of the irresponsibility that was only charming because of his youth.

But then he died and he never would and Moira found herself missing the times she had to bail him out of trouble. She would have done anything to be called with the news that her son had got himself in trouble and needed her to smooth it over.

To have him be alive is amazing and she still finds herself breathless when she sees him, but he is so serious now, so responsible. And she finds herself missing that irresponsibility once more, because back then he needed her. Back then he hadn’t gone through all sorts of horrors that made him feel so far away. She wishes he’d be irresponsible again, because that meant he’d been safe the entire time he was gone.

However, she knows wishing that is useless. The bits that have been shared with them are enough to know he wasn’t safe and she can’t imagine that final year being any better, if he refuses to even speak about it. She just has to get used to this Oliver.

“I am proud,” is what she finally says. “I only want you to think of yourself as well. You keep hovering around him, that’s no way to be a guardian. You need space for yourself.”

“What, like you always made space for yourself?” Oliver bites and Moira doesn’t understand the harshness in his voice.

“Yes.”

“When I was growing up, you let me get away with anything. Same as you’re doing now with Thea, I had to convince her not to skip school to go to the theme park with us. We could’ve done with a little less space and a little more parenting.”

“She listened to you?” Moira asks, surprise as evident in her voice as she feels it. Her relationship with her daughter has been strained since the death of Robert and Oliver.

Oliver scoffs: “Yeah, she listened. She would listen to you too, if you gave her attention and actually cared to listen to her. She’s more mature than you think, the only reason she’s acting out, is because you only acknowledge she exists when she’s in trouble. So, I’m sorry if I’m not taking parenting advice from you.”

It’s the first time Oliver has referred to himself as parental, instead of a brother or guardian, but neither take note in the heat of the moment. Oliver is too caught up in his anger, while Moira is working through his words and his venom.

She has never liked judgment. She has lived her whole life in such a way as to never invite it, looking away when Robert cheated and keeping her head high in the face of rumors, never letting a crack in her appearance. So she immediately balks at Oliver’s words.

“Watch your tone, young man. It wasn’t easy here either. I had just lost both my husband and my son, I needed to grieve. Without you here, a distance grew between us.”

“She lost her father and her brother. She was grieving too,” Oliver snipes back pointedly. “And don’t blame your lack of oversight on me. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’m not responsible for you and Thea growing apart.”

Moira stares at him, searching for words.

“Now,” he gets up from the table, tea untouched, “if all you wanted to do is judge how I don’t copy your flawed methods in regards to Akio, this conversation is over. I don’t need to listen to this.”

He starts to walk away and Moira panics. She doesn’t want a rift to grow between her and Oliver as well. She was always closer to him. He talked to her. She misses that. She misses her beautiful boy, who has become a stranger.

“Wait.”

Oliver stops and slowly turns to look at her, his eyes cold and unrecognizable. “What?”

“I don’t want us to fight,” she tells him honestly.

“Then why do you keep bringing up things you know upset me?”

The pain in his eyes takes her breath away and she searches for words, until they come to her: “I do it, because I love you, Oliver. And I am worried about you. Worried that you’re so responsible for Akio that you don’t think of yourself.”

Oliver cringes and gives her a guilty look. “I know, mom,” he says, almost sounding like her boy again. “I’m trying to pick everything back up, but it takes time. I can’t dive into my old life, I’m not that person anymore.”

He walks back to the table and sits down, taking a sip of his tea. Moira watches him in silence, feeling there is more and not wanting to break this fragile moment of peace.

Indeed, once Oliver has taken his sip, he puts the mug down, letting it warm his hands as he says: “Taking care of Akio is easy. Not because being responsible for a whole other person is easy, god knows I feared for his life more than my own at points. It’s nerve wracking to have someone be dependent on you.”

She watches him blow out a deep breath and run a hand through his hair, a part of her aches for him, knowing the feeling all too well. She lives every day in fear of what else Malcom might take from her, what he might do to Thea.

“But it’s easy, because he knows me,” Oliver continues, leaving Moira confused for a second. “He doesn’t know who I used to be. He’s never met Ollie, never knew the boy on the cover of all the gossip rags. When I met him, I was already me. And he’s so young and bright. Innocent. I don’t have to justify who I am to him.”

Moira feels a deep hurt in her heart at that, the pain he must feel. She is missing her son, but he’s here. He’s right here and he feels how she misses someone who isn’t. He knows that she looks at him and doesn’t recognize him. She just never realized how much that must hurt him too.

“So I know I’ve been putting in more time with him, but I have been trying with people here. Akio has actually been helping. He’s a great buffer filling the silences and seeing him alive and well makes me calm enough to actually hang out with someone. You just have to trust that I am trying to pick up my life, I’m just not picking up my old life.”

“And you’re truly okay if this new life includes Akio for the next few years?” Moira asks him.

“Yes, I am.”

He sounds sure, but Moira isn’t sure he knows what it means to be responsible for a child in the long term. What it means to be a parent. Because despite what he says, he will be Akio’s parent if that happens. A single parent at that.

“I need you to think about this, Oliver,” she presses. “It’ll mean you have to find him a good school, let him go there and worry every day. If there is trouble, you need to drop everything and run. There will be parent-teacher conferences that you’ll have to attend. If you want to go out at night, you’ll have to arrange a sitter, nothing spontaneous anymore. And if you want to date, you have to take Akio into account. No more short flings, no more girls that aren’t serious about becoming a step-parent. Have you thought about that all?”

Oliver is silent and for a moment Moira thinks she has finally gotten through to him. Then he replies, voice firm. “I have.”

“What?” Moira can’t help the surprise.

“I’ve thought about it,” Oliver confirms. “I already worry about him every day, I’ll learn to live with the new worries. We’ve gotten better about being separated. And I’m willing to drop everything for him, to plan everything ahead and not date unless it’s serious. I’m not really a short flings kind of person anymore anyway.”

“You really care about him.” Moira doesn’t know why it has only just hit her. All this time, she has been so convinced that Oliver was doing this out of some sort of obligation that she never even entertained the thought that he cares enough for Akio to be willing to completely turn his life around and give up everything that used to bring him such joy.

“Yeah, I do,” Oliver says and she can see in his eyes that he means every word.

Immediately a new worry pops up in her and she asks: “What will you do when his parents are found? You said they’d do anything to get him back. How will you let him go? Are you prepared for that hurt if you throw yourself into this completely?”

“It’s already going to hurt,” Oliver shrugs, as if his heartbreak is an expected side effect and he doesn’t care that it might break him.

“Oliver…”

“What? It is. I’ve been involved in keeping Akio alive and well for a year, mom. I didn’t meet him the day before we escaped. He was the best thing that last year. We kept him away from it all the best we could, preserved his innocence. Having that bit of happiness kept all of us going. We were doing it all for him. Even if Tatsu and Maseo are found tomorrow, having to say goodbye will hurt. It doesn’t matter how much I throw myself into this. The only difference is that if I do, Akio gets to have a good childhood. That’s the most important.”

Moira wonders if she should tell him his child survived, that Samantha didn’t miscarry. She can see how good of a dad he’ll be and she wants to preserve that selflessly happy part of him. It’s a thought she keeps in the back of her mind, in case Akio’s parents are found. Nothing certain, but a card to play should he be incapable of handling it.

As those thoughts run through her mind, she drinks her tea as across from her Oliver does the same. The two of them sitting in a lull of silence.

He will always be her beautiful boy, her son, her child. However, he looks so grown now. His muscles have filled out further and his eyes have lost that child like shine. He talked about how they preserved Akio’s innocence and she wishes someone would have done the same for him.

However, it’s not even his eyes that are the most different. It’s the way he moves.

She observes him as he drinks his tea, much like she has watched him make it. His movements are fluid and controlled, the cup never making a sound when he puts it back down on the table. It’s a stark contrast to the loose-limbed boy she knew, who sprawled everywhere and whose presence was always known by the noise he made.

Oliver also used to be more touchy back then. She remembers how he would lay his head on her lap, letting her run her fingers through his hair. Now she can’t remember anyone but Akio being touched by him since the hugs he got when he just returned. He said he isn’t a short fling kind of person anymore, she wonders how far that goes. How skittish he now is, though he hides it behind gruffness and machismo.

Moira hasn’t gotten any details about what he told the agents that interviewed him in Hong Kong. She has as much details as the press and that irks her as much as it worries her.

She is used to being able to buy what she wants and she wants to know what happened with her son, but everyone has been tight lipped. It worries her how tight lipped they are. How bad it might be that he doesn’t want it shared with her.

The people she asked tell her it’s because the information is part of an ongoing investigation, but she knows that has never been an issue before. It must be because of Oliver. She can still recall how vehemently he refused her prodding to go to a doctor here. He knows those doctors tell her everything.

“Do you understand now? Are we on the same page?” Oliver’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she looks up at him.

It must be clear in her expression that she’d been elsewhere, but Oliver doesn’t look annoyed. She is thrilled to see he sends her a soft smile. She treasures the smiles he gives now, they’re so much fewer and farther in between than they used to be.

“Are you going to keep pushing me about Akio or do you get it now?” Oliver clarifies.

“I understand it now,” she answers, because she does. She still worries, of course. And she won’t trust the intentions of this Tatsu and Maseo Yamashiro until she has met them, but she is willing to let Oliver parent Akio for now.

“Thank you,” Oliver says and he sounds so genuine about it.

Her judgment must have truly hurt him if he is that thankful for her acceptance. Moira can’t help but feel slightly guilty about that. She has only ever wanted what is best for her children. They might not agree with everything she does, but she has done it all for them. She sends him a rueful smile to show that regret. “Of course, my beautiful boy.”

The two enjoy their tea in silence for a bit, both savoring the quiet moment together that is reminiscent to the ones they used to have, yet different. A new way of picking up an old habit with the two new versions of them.

That moment is interrupted by Oliver’s phone ringing.

Oliver sighs slightly, but goes to take the phone out of his pocket anyway. He frowns when he sees who’s calling and picks up: “Something wrong, Dig?”

Moira is confused when it’s the bodyguard, that confusion grows when she hears Dig reply: “Just talked to my ex-wife. She ran into an old friend today.”

At that Oliver perks up, sending her a short glance, before getting up and leaving the room. The last whisper of conversation Moira hears: “When can you get here?”

She wants to follow after him, find out what is so interesting about an old friend of his bodyguard’s ex-wife. However, their talk has left her exhausted and with much to think about. Besides, she has just gotten a fragment of her relationship with her son back, she does not want to immediately ruin it. Oliver is home and out of trouble, she can worry about figuring this out later.

~~

A/N:

I love Moira, honestly I do, she isn't a great person, but she is so interesting and I loved getting into her head, I hope I did her right :D

[contrasting-realities]

Old Glitchtale AU

During 2021 and 2022 I had an AU for glitchtale that was pretty much a side story of season 2. I actually still like this AU even though it's extremely old by my standards, but here we go.

Jamie

An aspiring investigator who loves solving mysteries but can also be very nosy, to the detriment of others at times. She dreams of solving a major cold case and tries to discover the secrets of her city. Eventually gains an ability similar to Ronan but with the power to create electricity between her bullets. She also has incredible intuition and can see things others would overlook.

Oliver Ward (Puppeteer persona only appears on photos/video)

A very shy and timid boy who hates direct confrontation. Carries a rabbit doll with him at all times for emotional support. Oliver is quiet and comes from a lower class background, which taught him responsibility and the value of saving at a young age.

Justine (God this is so old)

A mysterious girl who lives in the woods, she seems to have a goal of some kind and is driven by a strong sense of justice and vengeance for some kind of purpose...

These three are the protagonists, with Jamie being the main character. Jamie is a student at Toriel's school and she is struggling with her magic. Like, she can't summon any weapon to save her life. Due to this she is thrown into the 'magical special needs class' which she isn't happy about, especially since her best friend is dual traited (Integrity/Perseverance) and is gifted at magic. But that's not all, Jamie dreams of being a private investigator when she grows up and is eager to investigate and solve mysteries around the city. So, when she gets dumped into this special class and gets bored, she notices that one of the other students, that being Oliver, seems to be traitless, which confused her because why would a traitless kid sign up for a school for magic?

So Jamie tried to find out the key to this mystery, by stalking Oliver around school and asking others about him. This understandably freaks Oliver out and he tries avoiding Jamie but that doesn't work. After a bit, Jamie vents to her friend about the lack of progress on this 'mystery' since no one has ever seen Oliver's soul or his magic, her friend is annoyed and suggests that she should just ask Oliver what his deal is and Jamie thinks that's a great idea.

Cut to her cornering Oliver in a dark alleyway at lunch and pressuring him like some kind of police investigation, this causes him to have a mental breakdown and Jamie gets her answer. He wasn't traitless, Oliver is one of the few survivors of a trait inversion and his mental breakdown causes a magic outburst of FEAR strings and puppetry. Jamie runs and starts asking how a bravery soul could be brown before Chara arrives and helps protect the kids. Chara chastises Jamie for effectively stalking and bullying her classmate just so that she can get answers, and also explains what an inverted soul is and because of this outburst, Oliver might die from strain on his already damaged soul.

Jamie feels very guilty and tries to help Chara fight these strings despite not having magic before something strange happens. She is attacked by Oliver's magic but is suddenly able to generate electricity after the attack through some kind of trait mutation. She uses this to help Chara and get to Oliver, she apologizes but he can't hear her and she gets tied up by the strings and is forced to fight Chara. While in this state she sees several of Oliver's memories, which detail the severe bullying he went through since he was young by a kid who hated that his parents tried to pamper them despite their poverty, it eventually grew bad enough (physical and emotional abuse, the dots on his hands are burn scars) that he lost his trait and then suffered a soul inversion that caused him to go nuts and kill his bullies, before he nearly died in the hospital later on. Jamie manages to make it to his inner self who understandably wants nothing to do with her but she manages to get him to listen and she apologizes for causing him so much harm, as she didn't know anything about his past.

(Oliver never attempted to defend himself from his bullies because he had a serious imbalance in his soul between the physical and mental aspects, he had effectively no physical bravery which is the opposite of Agate.)

This ends the rampage and both Oliver and Jamie are in tears afterwards, school is closed and everyone goes home. Jamie and Oliver don't meet up until the next day where things are very awkward between them before the teacher addresses yesterday's incident and explains exactly what is up with Oliver before moving on with her lesson. Jamie is ostracized at school after this but Oliver stays by her because he doesn't want what happened to him to happen to her, as that one kid who tormented him spread lies to get everyone else to hate him. Jamie asks him why and Oliver explains this to her, but she is clearly suffering from immense guilt after yesterday.

Oliver winds up going to the doctor after school because of yesterdays incident and the topic shifts to the cost of said appointment since Jamie deduced that his family must not have that much money. Jamie is worried but Oliver brushes her off and says that it's fine, because his parents are taking over loans to cover his medical care. This doesn't calm her and she winds up running to her best friend for help, since her family is loaded, and tells her about Oliver's financial issues. Her friend is not happy to see Jamie after what she did and blows up at her for nearly killing someone, but she does wind up getting her parents to pay for or reimburse Oliver's parents since it's for him but she still isn't happy with Jamie.

Jamie winds up hanging out with Oliver after school since nobody else wants to be around her and she cautiously shows him some of the mysteries she's been investigating. They wind up having fun, as long as it wasn't invading anyone else's privacy or causing harm, and they continue to do so for a while. They bond for about a week before shit really goes down.

They decide to investigate the woods around Mnt. Ebbot due to rumors of the area being haunted by spirits, and while this is a bit uncomfortable, they reason that said ghosts probably weren't the monster kind since they had integrated into human society and that these ghosts were humans who had regrets on Earth... what they find is something else entirely.

They run into Justine for the first time who warns them about going any further, when Jamie asks if she's a ghost she refuses to answer and leaves after Jamie argues with her about everything being fine. Beyond her is... something else entirely, a place that claims to be a famous boarding school in the mountains but from what Jamie and Oliver can see is some kind of cult run by monsters that exploits and abuses human children. Both are shocked by this but decide to run before they get caught.

Justine goes after Jamie late at night, she breaks into her window and tells her to run, not from her, but from those who ran the summer camp because they surely noticed her by now. Jamie says that she's crazy before a magic bullet comes flying at them before Justine stops said bullet with her magic. Jamie runs while Justine fights the monsters attacking her, but several also go after Jamie when she leaves the front door but she knocks them out with her magic and her dad's taser. A few attempt to enter her house but are quickly killed by Justine.

Jamie realizes that Oliver would also be targeted like this and goes to warn him. She somehow makes it to his family's trailer and forces her way inside once his mom opens the door. She wakes up Oliver and screams that they are being targeted but he is confused and only asks her what she's talking about. Jamie explains before Justine is thrown through the wall alongside a strange pink blob monster, she runs back out and fires magic at two more monsters and a few humans. Oliver, Jamie and his mom and dad choose to flee after this.

For a while they stay near government buildings, particularly the AMD office before Justine shows up and claims that it's safe for them to go home because she 'sent a message to them'. They do so and the next day at school a certain pink girl arrives for the first time...

So this is where it overlaps with the Bete Noire incident, Oliver and Jamie run from the city and try to use the chaos as a cover to find more about and stop this cult pretending to be a boarding school. Justine is revealed to be a Bete Noire similar to Betty, but whom was created by a former student to destroy not only the school but the organization running it which turned out to be the monster Illuminati which controlled humanity since the ancient war.

Jamie, Oliver, and Justine manage to lure out this organization's leaders during the chaos of the Bete incident and manage to beat them eventually exposing them to the public. This causes a massive shift as Betty decides that the escaped monsters are none of her concern but that this organization was the real threat. She joins Jamie's group with heavy resistance and most of the glitchtale cast slowly turns around to fight these people. A few more truths come out like how this organization was experimenting on humans (Jamie's reaction to inverted magic is the same as some humans reacting to monster magic but it can happen several time with her) and that they basically have Betty's motives, that monsters will cause war if humans don't control/eradicate them, but in reverse.

[rewriting-thearrowverse]

It said I finished writing this one on May 2, 2023

𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝟏 𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝟑: 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑮𝒖𝒏𝒎𝒂𝒏 (𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝟏)

*Oliver's Voiceover*

To my family, I am the son and brother who returned home after 5 years on a deserted island. To the rest of the city, I am someone else, I am something else. Which is why they'll never know. I've targeted an elite brand of criminal. A corrupt, dangerous cancer.

Cancers like James Holder. A man who has put defective smoke detectors in low income homes in the glades. There's been many fires and funerals. Cancers can be treated. All it takes is the right instrument.

Holder is standing on the rooftop near his pool as he talks on the phone. "Other than the bill from my legal team, I feel pretty good."

"And now that the lawsuit has been settled, I can focus on Unidac Industries."

"Okay, I'll see you in the office tomorrow."

He drops the phone on a pool chair and looks out at the skyline, until an arrow goes through his bottle of wine.

"I have armed security inside." Says James.

"All I have to do is call out."

"Go ahead. They can't hear you." The hood says as he drops their guns in front of him.

"What the hell do you want?"

"How many people died in those fires?" The hood asks

After no response, he yells "How many?!"

"The courts say you don't owe your victims. I disagree."

"James Holder."

"You-" he is cut of as a red dot appears on his chest and James Holder is shot into his pool through the white bathrobe.

The Hood shoots an arrow at the sniper. Who then returns with 4 more shots, one of them hitting him in the shoulder.

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Back in his lair, Oliver is taking the bullet out and stitching up his wound.

*Oliver's Voiceover*

He crosses James Holder off the list.

It's no surprise someone as corrupt as James Holder has more than one enemy

Oliver notices something wrong as he feels off.

He looks at the gauze and bandages

The bullet. Poison.

*Flashback*

Oliver wakes up in a cave next to the hooded man.

"Who are you, and why did you shoot me?" He asks

The man responds as he removes his hood "Bǎohù nǐ" (to protect you)

The man gives him herbs and drink. As Oliver takes the drink, the man pulls the arrow out of his shoulder, causing him to scream.

Oliver wakes back up in the lair, as the computer beeps he realizes the time. "Dammit"

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Oliver walks into the living room. To see the cops around his family. "What happened? Is Thea okay?"

"Her and her friends broke into a store to try on some dresses. Lit up the breathalyzer like a Christmas tree." Diggle answers.

"And you?"

"You mean when I said I had to go to the bathroom at dinner and never came back?" Oliver says

"Guess from now on I'll be watching you pee."

Walter sees the cops out. "Thank you for everything, Gentlemen. I'll show you out."

Moira sighs as she talks to Thea. "Last time it was public intoxication. Now it's breaking and entering. How we're moving up in the criminal world."

"When you pay off the store owner, you should check out their killer outfits."

Exasperated, she says "Thea, get ready for school."

"I think I'm gonna take a sick day." Thea says

"Fine. Get some sleep."

As Thea walks away she looks at Oliver "You look like crap."

Oliver walks over to Moira in disbelief "You're letting her play hooky?"

"When she gets like this, it's better to give her space."

"She's testing you."

"Who'd she pick that up from?" Moira retorts

"You know mom.. Giving us space is the opposite of what we need. You guys would've let me get away with murder.. What I needed was parenting.. And I see that now." He says before walking away.

At the crime scene the cops are recovering evidence.

"No, it doesn't make sense." Says Lance

"Come on. Wealthy dirtbag. Red meat for the hood. Besides we found arrows on the scene." Says Hilton

"Except, the cause of death was a bullet in the chest. The Hood doesn't use firearms."

"Probably finally figured out there's easier ways to kill people."

"He's a whack job, like you said." Says Hilton

Back in his lair he samples his blood for the poison.

*Oliver's Voiceover*

The bullets were laced with Curare. A rare, deadly poison. And the M.O of Deadshot.. A hired assassin, killing all over the globe for money.

I was going to give James Holder a chance. But he never did. He has no code, no morals and no honor. This makes him more dangerous than anyone on my list.

In fact it puts him right at the top.

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Oliver walks in the upper level with Tommy and Diggle. "So what do you think? This would make a good spot for a nightclub right?"

"Pretty cool. But I wouldn't recommend calling it Queens for...obvious reasons."

Oliver chuckled lightly and points across saying "Private office."

"For the private one on one meetings I'm sure, and the occasional two on one..." Tommy says

"Do you really want to do this... Considering you have no experience in running... Well anything?"

"We could scope out the competition.. Max Fuller's new club, poison is opening downtown."

"Max Fuller?" Oliver asks in disbelief

"Yeah."

"Tommy. I slept with his wife." Oliver sighs

"Before the wedding."

"It was the rehearsal dinner."

"Come on, that was years ago. Besides, who stays mad at a castaway?"

Oliver looks at him totally unconvinced.

'Hey, sorry. I gotta go." Says Tommy.

"It's all good."

Oliver turned to Diggle and asked "What do you think?"

"Well sir, I'm here to provide security, not commentary." He says

"Come on, speak freely."

"Well this is the glades right?" He starts

"All your rich white friends wouldn't come here on a bet."

"I'm Oliver Queen, people would stand in line for hours, if I opened a club."

"And no one living in the glades would see a penny of those cover charges." Diggle retorts

"We can make it successful, gentrify the neighborhood."

"And I was wondering when we'd get to that. The rich white knight coming in to save the disfortunate. And all by himself."

"Wow." Oliver chuckles

"You don't think very much of me, do you?"

"No sir, I actually have a high regard for how perceptive you are."

*Oliver's Voiceover*

The Nightclub will stand as the Alibi of where Oliver Queen spends his nights.

-----------------------

Back at CNRI Laurel is looking at articles on Oliver and staring hard at his picture when Johanna speaks "Hey do you have the Jergens Depos?"

"Yeah, they're somewhere around here." Laurel responds as she quickly closes the screen out."

"What are you doing?" Johanna asks

"Nothing.."

"I literally just caught you trolling for articles on the ex that cheated on you with your sister."

"Jo!" Laurel yells

"Look, okay.. You're stuck in the past. The only physical relationship you've had since Oliver, was his best friend."

"You need to move on."

"I appreciate your concern, but I have a lot to do. "

"No no no. We're gonna go dancing, take some shots, dance with me we don't know and stay out way too late."

"Pretty sure that's how my parents met."

Johanna looks at her and sighs "yeah. You're going out tonight. Maybe you'll find a date and a better sense of humor while you're at it."

Laurel rolls her eyes.

Thea is getting ready for school as Moira walks into the room. "You need to come home after school."

"I can't. Margot and I are going to the mall." Says Thea

"Tell her you're gonna have to cancel, you're grounded for 2 weeks." Says Moira

"I've never been grounded." Thea scoffs

"You've also never committed larceny."

"Why start caring now, after 5 years?" Thea asks

"I always have." Moira retorts

"But paying off store owners to keep your record clean.. Clearly this isn't working."

"So you're gonna teach me?" Thea scoffs

Thea thinks a moment "It's Oliver right? His judgemental hypocrisy is finally reaching you too."

"No, I don't need him to tell me how to parent you."

"You'll be home by 4." Moira reaffirms.

"What are you gonna do? Call the cops on me. Tell them I say hi." Thea says smugly as she walks off.

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Oliver walks into the Glades wearing a baseball hat. He walks to the side of the building where the shooting took place and starts taking mental notes, using photographic memory he places where each of the bullets would have landed.

He pulls a bullet out of the wall.

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Back in the Police station the ballistics come back on the murder.

"Based on the size of the wound.. He was shot twice by 7.6 millimeter rounds from about 100 yards away." Said Hilton

"So your theory is not only the hood switches to firearms, but now he's an expert sniper." Says Quentin sarcastically (Laurel had to learn the sass from someone..)

"We also found traces of curare in Holder's bloodstream."

"So he switches from arrows to poison sniper bullets? I'm not buying it."

"We still found arrows on the scene."

Quentin begins to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna get my own evidence."

-----------------------

Back in his lair Oliver investigates the bullet

*Oliver's Voiceover*

7.62 millimeter rounds. Money trail leads back to the Bratva. Finally some good luck.

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Quentin reinvestigates the crime scene before the scene changes to Oliver walking into an auto body shop.

"Я ищу Алексея Леонова" Oliver says as he walks in (I'm looking for Alexi Leonov)

"Здесь нет никого с таким именем" (there is no one here by that name)

"не здесь. но ваш подвал под" (Not here, but your basement underneath)

The mechanic comes with a gun pointed at Oliver, who then tightens his grip on the man's arm, causing him to drop the gun.

"я Братва. Я хочу видеть Алексея Леонов" (I'm Bratva, I want to see Alexi Leonov.) Oliver says as he shows the tattoo on his body.

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They three men walk down to the Garage.

"Pleased to meet you. We meant no disrespect to a captain, particularly an American one." Says Alexi Leonov

"Now, how may I be of assistance?"

"Looking for a hired gun, one used by the organization before. His calling card is a 7.6 millimeter round laced with curare." Oliver says

"I don't know this man."

"But you can find who does."

"First we drink to each other's health. Then I find your mystery man." Says Alexi

"That is, after I confirm you really are Bratva captain."

"If this is false, I will have my mechanic find and kill you and your family."

Back in the Queen living room a new report is on the TV. "Carl Rasmussen was found shot dead this evening, leaving behind 2 children and a wife."

"The cops haven't commented on whether there is a connection between him and the murder of James Holder."

It cuts to Walter with the cops in the living room. "Carl was a titan."

"A titan who was looking into buying out unidac industries, as yourself."

"I don't think I like where this is going." Moira mutters

"The point is, the list of buyers is thinning out." Says Quentin

"What exactly are you implying here, detective?" Moira asks

"Only that your husband is also looking into buying, but the competition seems to be dropping like flies."

"I'm sure this has nothing to do with how you feel about my family." Moira retorts.

Quentin scoffs.

"The buying is through an auction with many possible buyers. So if I was the killer, I'd have a whole lot of killing to do by tomorrow." Walter responds

"We're just checking in with the buyers, telling them to keep safe is all." Says Hilton

"And I'm just Overwhelmed of Mr. Lance's concern for our safety."

"Thank you gentleman, but Mr. Diggle, our security consultant is making sure everything is taken care of." Says Walter.

At Max Fuller's club, Oliver and Tommy enter. "Ha ha. This is gonna be killer." Tommy says

"If Max sees me here, I agree." Oliver responds

"If you're gonna run a business, you need to take some risks." Tommy says

Diggle is behind the line as the bouncer says "I don't see your name on the list."

"Mr Queen." He calls out

Oliver walks back and points at him saying "I have never seen this man in my life."

"Ever." He says as he walks away from Diggle's dumbfounded expression.

They can hear dancing as they see Laurel.

"Doesn't you going out to have fun violate some kind of law on a stone tablet?" Tommy says

"That's cute, Tommy." She says Sarcastically

"And I see you're up to your usual hunting patterns.

"Just trying to see what passes for fun around here now. After 5 years." Oliver say

"Well... I'm sure you'll find it just hasn't been the same without you."

Thea runs up to Oliver clearly drunk saying "I'm so wasted right now!"

Laurel sighs, knowing all too well and Tommy looks away.

Laurel remembered Sara just like this. She knew it hurt to see siblings on a Path of self destruction. She just hoped Oliver's return could somehow help Thea. Even if it is 5 years late.

"I thought you were grounded." He says

"Yeah..I am. Thanks for that by the way." She says with a hint of a glare.

"You're going home. You're done." He says

"What are you gonna do? Tell mom?" She asks

"Thea! Don't you see you're hanging with the wrong people?!" He asks

"You're one to talk. Take a look at your best friend." Thea starts

"Thea maybe you shouldn't-" Tommy is interrupted by Thea

"Tommy I think your bff has a right to know."

Laurel sighs.

"Let's go." He says firmly

"They never told you they were screwing while you were gone, huh?" Thea says

"Oliver-"

"It's okay." Oliver says as he grabs Thea's arm

"We're done for the night."

"Hands off me! You're not my father." She says

"And you're barely my brother." She says walking off