#and i was legit the only one on the highway

[permanentreverie]

i just got pulled over i want to fucking cry

[obsessivestar]

'What If It's All A RomCom?' - a Ted Nivison x Reader.

{{-Story Description: You're a youtuber with a fairly decent following deciding to help your good friend Tanner with a minor film project, with you set as the leading lady. When the actor for the male lead is a no show, Ted takes up the role himself. One problem: This short film's a Rom Com, and you just met the guy.-}}

//18+, Def gonna be some smut. Reader is implied to be afab, under 5'5 and has specifically named friends, all who have no real connection to Ted.

This story will be in multiple chapters. Also gonna post this on Wattpad and Ao3 (when I figure them out LMAO) under the same username: ObsessiveStarla. Hope you enjoy :^)

Also idk how to do all the fancy Tumblr border stuff so sorry if it's all messy :^(((//

Word count: 2.3k

Chapter 1: No Show, No Movie.

I'm keeping my eye on the road, occasionally glancing at the GPS to make sure I can guide my buddy Tanner as he drives. We had quite an early morning to get to L.A., having been on the road for the last 2 hours to get to this airbnb we'll be staying at. Tanner's nearing the end of film school, so he's getting all his classmates and anyone else that's available and interested to help him with his big final project: A legit short film, filmed, written and directed by him. Having some experience with being on camera myself, he elected to make me part of the main cast. I don't mind at all, if it'll help him out. Even if it's a romantic comedy. I'll kiss some dude, get him that 100%. I'm excited for this.

"Has Conner messaged me at all?" Tanner asks, breaking the last 20 minutes of silence. I quit out of my daydream to check Tanner's messages. Other members of the crew have updated them on their location, including a name I don't recognize, but Conner hasn't responded at all.

"Nope. Mostly everyone else is nearly there though." I responded, lightly shrugging my shoulders. A humorous but knowing smirk creeps along the edges of my lips. "Think he slept in?" "I fucking hope not." Tanner huffs, his tone suggesting he's half-joking. "He is literally /the/ male lead. He's like one of the people I need there the most today."

I put the GPS back up on the screen and lay back against the passenger seat, slightly raising a brow to myself. What would happen if he's late, or doesn't show up at all? Could we even get a replacement in time? We only booked this place for the next couple weeks.

As we get off the highway and get even closer to our destination, I see a notification pop up on Tanner's phone, it's the name I don't recognize. Ted. He's not in our friend group and I don't recall Tanner mentioning him from class.

"Is Ted a new guy?" I ask, turning my head to Tanner. "Oh, no, he's like...a friend of a friend." Tanner pauses before reiterating "He's going to be the editor. He's a youtuber, like you; he went to film school as well."

"Oh. He's like the only name I didn't recognize."

"Yeah, he's a cool guy, no worries, he'll probably be there with me to help with the, yknow, directing too."

There's room for a response, but I don't continue the conversation. We don't have a lot of money to put into this, so that airBnb is also where we'll be filming everything. Most of the film crew and extra actors got their own accommodations elsewhere, but some of us will be staying /at that/ location itself. Wonder if that includes the editor? It'd be weird to share a house with a dude I didn't know, but if Tanner trusts him, I will as well. "I know where to go from here, let everyone know we'll be there soon."

I take Tanner's phone and let everyone know we're close by, including Ted, before setting the phone aside. Tanner pulls into what I thought was a street at first, only to notice its the driveway of the airbnb. Wild how we can't afford multiple sets and hotels, but can afford this villa-like estate for nearly a month. Hey, whatever works, right?

Tanner parks by the many other vehicles and grabs his phone before we both hop out. I can't help but look up at how tall the building is. It looks like one of those frat houses an influencer would own, like if you told me this was owned by fuckin' 'disney channel flow' Team 10, I would 100% believe you.

Tanner and I are greeted by most of the cast and crew as we approach the front door of the house, giving the appropriate hugs and handshakes as we head inside. That's when I spotted a tall man in a dark green sweater fixing up some professional looking cameras, dark hair slicked up to add to his already impressive height, with circular glasses to match the relaxed vibe I'm getting from him. To be fair, he only stands out so much to me because I don't recognize him. This must be Ted.

He looks up from his camera when he spots Tanner and I greeting the other crew members. I casually glance away to one of the pictures on the wall to avoid giving the impression I was staring. I have a habit of fixing my eyes onto people without realizing it.

"Traffic?" Is the first word I hear out of Ted's mouth, directed at Tanner. I don't really know what I was expecting to hear come out of this man, but it certainly wasn't a voice like that. It's strong, deep, almost fake sounding, like he's already playing a character, but no, that's just him.

"Dude, we passed by, like, 3 accidents" Tanner shakes his head slightly, putting his hands on his hips. "And Conner hasn't even gotten back to me, It's been an interesting morning."

As they have their conversation, my thoughts turn to a more curious nature as I contemplate what this guy actually does as a youtuber. If he went to film school as well, does he make long video essays? Commentary, like me?

"This is (Y/N), mine and Joe's friend." My thoughts are cut by the sound of my name, realizing Tanner was introducing me to Ted. Makes sense. We don't know each other. "She's gonna be the female lead."

"Ahhh okay, nice to finally meet you. I'm Ted." Ted personally greets me with a gentle handshake and a winning complexion. I return the handshake with a shy smile. "'Finally'?" I repeat to him, raising a slight brow.

"Yeah! Joe's told me about you, 'said you'd be shorter"

A sudden chuckle escapes me. Joe's my best friend and is part of the wardrobe team, of course he'd say something like that. "He's a dick.." I kid, shaking my head to myself. "You, on the other hand, are a fuckin' giant."

"Oh I know. I have to fuckin' duck down to get into any room upstairs. Tallhood ain't what its cut out to be" We both get a laugh out before Ted returns to setting up the cameras. I notice Tanner checking his phone again, visibly both anxious and frustrated.

"Man." Tanner speaks, seemingly thinking aloud. "Still nothing." "Isn't he the other lead?" Ted speaks as he moves to adjust the stand of one of the lights, glancing up through his round glasses. "I figured he'd be here first."

"He should've been here first." Tanner huffs, masking his clear frustration with a chuckle. "I-I don't know what I'm gonna do if he just doesn't show." "What would we have to do?" I tilt my head at Tanner, feeling a little anxious myself.

"I have no idea, honestly" Tanner responds, shaking his head. "At best, we'd have to find someone to take his place within the next, like, couple days. At worst, I'd have to cancel this whole thing."

I frown, trying to think of some helpful alternative in my head, but nothing comes up. I'd hate for everyone to have to go home, and getting the money back for the airbnb would be a hassle. We all pitched in for this place. As much as I've joked about it, it's pretty nice. 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, half the place is a giant living room and there's even more outside. I'd hate to leave without getting to sleep in one of those giant beds. All I can do is hope for the best, I guess.

About an hour passes. At this point, everyone except Conner has shown up on set and most of us that will be on camera are fitted and ready. We had already read through the entire script together over Discord prior to getting here, so all we need to do is just start filming.

I'm refreshing my memory with the script when I hear a notification ping from Tanner's phone. It takes him less than a second to pick it up and look at the message, pausing to read it. I see his expression go from relief to uneasy, his thumbs tapping on his phone's keyboard louder than usual as he responds before setting his phone down and taking a deep breath.

"Conner can't make it."

Silence fills the room for a moment as everyone looks up from their tasks. I approach Tanner, script still on hand.

"What? What does he mean he can't make it?" I asked, honestly shocked with what I was hearing. "So, yknow how he's just...not been responding since we left?" Tanner asks, looking understandably annoyed.

"Yeah?"

"Apparently he ate some bad food last night and has been throwing up since 4am. We left at 5."

The only thing I can do is run my fingers through my hair in frustration. Dude probably ordered bad chicken or something. Of course. "So our main dude, THE male leading role or whatever, has food poisoning." I say that as a statement, but I'm honestly just so confused, I don't want to believe it. "What do we do now? Could we hire someone else in time?" "Even if we could, we wouldn't have time to get the chemistry built up between you two." Tanner shrugs. "There'd be no way of knowing if it'll work out."

"I'll do it."

Tanner and I turn our heads to Ted, who's joined in on the conversation shortly after assembling the last light. My first instinct is to let out a sigh of relief, but I steel myself, trying to really process what he's offering.

"You? You wanna be the male lead?" Tanner points at Ted, rather surprised he'd offer. Ted seemed to laugh at the expression on Tanner's face "What's that fuckin' look for? You think I can't be romantic, Tanner?" "No--" Tanner cackles, putting his palms up defensively as he laughed. "That's not it! I just-- you haven't read the script, and, yknow..." Tanner pauses, shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head in my direction. "You two just met, you'll have to, yknow--"

"'Yknow? Yknow?' I KNOW, Tanner. I. know." Ted begins to mock Tanner in a friendly manner while pointing at himself, his strong voice easily overpowering Tanner's timid tone. "I've been doin' this since you were in little baby diapers, alright? I can read the script, I can kiss the pretty lady, I got this!"

I suddenly feel a whole lot warmer, resisting the urge to put a hand to my cheek. I mean, I have blush on already, but now I'm definitely blushing. I'll have to kiss this guy?

I mean.

That ain't a bad thing.

That's a nice lookin' dude. I'd be blind not to see it.

But I did just meet him.

"I mean...." Tanner seems to be at a loss for words, glancing in my direction once more. I realize I've been one of the main talking pieces of this conversation, yet I haven't spoken a word. "Ah--I.." I stammer out what was meant to be a coherent response, realizing I'm a bit more sheepish about this than I thought I'd be. He called me pretty. I...don't know what to do with that. I can handle a compliment, sure, but this was...

"Hey, sorry, I don't wanna step over any lines..." Ted's smile faded after my lack of a response, resting his hands behind his back. "Oh no! I-I wouldn't mind it at all." I finally managed to speak up. I swear, I felt like a bashful damsel in those old transatlantic-accent films. "I mean, like, better this than sending everyone packing early, right?"

"Real flattering." Ted responded with a renewed smile and a chuckle, getting another sheepish blush from me. "Whatever works for everyone, I'm down for it."

Based on Tanner's knowing expression, I can tell he gathered something of use from whatever that exchange was. "I mean..." Tanner repeats again, as if to remind us he's also there with filler words before taking in a sharp breath of realization, or maybe it was one of acceptance, I couldn't tell. Either way, he had an idea. "OK, how about this: most of the crew didn't get breakfast on the way up here and we're all gettin' pretty hungry, we could use some caffeine. How about you two head back out and get everyone something from Dunkin' or wherever? Get talkin', see if it works."

"You setting us up on a breakfast run, or a date?" I collect myself fast enough to make a joke, actually getting a decent chuckle out of Ted. Part of me couldn't believe I had even made that joke aloud, I was also kind of genuinely asking. "I am testing the chemistry." Tanner clarified slowly with a half smile. "And I...don't want to do it myself."

Ted and I look at each other, giving me a brief moment to realize Ted's eyes are brown. Don't know why I've chosen to collect that information now. Just another observation I've made for the day.

...Man, I'm hungry.

"Alright, but I'm not driving your car." I agree with a shrug. "No need, I got my Tacoma." Ted responds, making a clicking noise with his mouth and gesturing me to follow him outside.

"You...have your city in Washington?" I ask genuinely, getting another laugh out of him, not intentionally this time. "Toyota Tacoma. My truck." He corrects me, guiding me to an old dark green pick-up truck. "I've had this baby since high school. Graduated with it."

"Ahh, your high school sweetheart. Lovely. Happy to meet her."

"Fuck off" Ted jokingly scoffs, hopping into the drivers seat. I have this big grin on my face as I get into the passenger side. He's giving me this...oddly comforting vibe. I can talk and joke with this guy so naturally, like I've known him for longer than an hour.

Somehow, I get the feeling we'll get along just fine, even if I'll end up having to kiss him once or twice this month....

....That's got me thinking, how many times am I kissing this guy again?

__________________________________

|| Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 (smut) || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10 (smut) || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12 || Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 (smut) || Chapter 15 ||

[stusbunker]

Spotless: Measure

Chapter Two

Featuring: Dean Winchester/Reader

Word Count: 1866

Warnings, etc: Mutual pining, band dynamics past and current, buried feelings, mild drug use, unbeta'd

Series Masterlist

Divider courtesy of @cafekitsune

Dean pocketed his keys and grabbed his coffee off the roof of the impala. Sam was already halfway to the studio entrance sipping on his green smoothie and all together being the energetic morning person that he annoyingly was. They had been at it until after midnight, but were back before their usual ten o’clock start time. Dean knew it’d be another grueling day, but at least he was just working out the final few songs and not screaming himself hoarse in the box again. Yet.

Dean followed Sam inside Trust No One Studios, a rundown building off the highway that wouldn’t look like much if the owner wasn’t a paranoid security stickler. The parking lot and the entrances were all covered by cameras. They fobbed their way into the main entrance and nodded at the day guard, Ronald, who waved them through the metal detectors. He was a fan, but had kept a lid on it since Sam had snapped on him during their third album.

“Thanks, Ronnie,” Dean muttered, voice still raw. 

“Good luck in there,” Ronald replied, but only to Dean.

Sam rolled his eyes and huffed off down the hall towards the basement steps. Dean trailed after his brother and bandmate to the largest recording room Frank had to offer. The Leviathan Level held two studios, but they were going deeper, to the bottom level, dubbed Purgatory, and its nearly grade-school-auditorium’s worth of space.

They meet another guard at the bottom of the steps, but just flashed their lanyards at him to continue on toward Ash’s domain.

Ash had been engineering their sound since the beginning. In fact, Dean wasn’t sure he had any other legit sources of income besides whatever residuals he earned off their soon-to-be five albums. But he wasn’t about to ask him either. Ash was a weird dude, wicked smart, but weird.

The control room still smelled vaguely of pot when they entered, but no one cared. Sam walked straight through to the door to the main part of the studio to start his warm ups. Dean dropped into one of the chairs at the dials and finished his coffee. He knuckled one eye as he watched the clock on the wall, wondering who would be the next to arrive. He didn’t want to call Lee and wake his ass up to get back to it, but he would if the rest of the band weren’t ready to play by ten.

As he toyed with the lip of his gas station coffee cup lid, Dean’s phone buzzed with an incoming text to one of the many group chats the band had. The name ‘Trouble’ was Dean’s hint that it was actually work talk.

>>>Don’t forget to take pictures! Or I’ll come down there and get them myself.

Which was a blatant bluff on your part and Dean knew it. Frank and Ronnie both gave you the creeps. Plus, you liked to hear the finished product in its entirety, which he kind of loved about you.

<<<Not it

Dean replied before anyone else and repocketed his phone unwilling to figure out just who would be getting the candids for your next social media blitz. He had too much to worry about as it was. He pulled out his notebook he kept in his back pocket with song ideas. The bridge to ‘Pushing Through’ was giving him problems and he wanted to rework the lyrics a bit.

This had been a hard album, both in getting the band to come together and make it happen and how much he was pouring into each song. Without Cas, Dean’s whole process was off and instead of asking the new kid or, hell, even Sam for help, he decided he needed to write most of it single handedly. Call it penance or a martyr complex, Dean had made his bed and he was going to lie in it.

Late night phone calls and hours on the road

My worst mistake wasn’t fightin’

It was having all this guilt that never showed

When you said I was getting frightenin’

I just pushed through

Late night phone calls and hours on the road

My worst mistake wasn’t fightin’

It was holding back this love I never told

Then I see your eyes filled with lightin’

You pushed me through (strike through)

You pulled me through

Dean didn’t realize Kevin had come in until he heard the keyboard join in on Sam’s scales. He looked back at what he’d adjusted and hummed to himself. This wasn’t a song he’d have written even two years ago. It was a fuckin’ love song for one and it put the spotlight on the last year and a half of his mistakes. He almost didn’t want to ruin it by putting it out there for the world to see. But they needed twelve and it was the closest to finished he had. 

For the band and this deadline, Dean could be brave.

Pamela strolled in and slumped against Dean’s shoulders, somewhere between a hug and using him as a pillow. He chuckled and patted her head as he flipped to the next song on his list. 

“Where’s your husband?” Dean asked off-handedly, knowing Lee couldn’t be far.

“Ex-husband,” Pamela grumbled.

“Sure.” Dean honestly couldn’t keep track anymore. Pam and Lee had been married to each other at least twice and shared one kid, two houses and three dogs between them.

“He’s dropping Gibson off at his mom’s, nanny needed a day off,” Pamela explained and Dean could feel the glare she was giving him.

“Well, isn’t that nice of you.” Dean gave her a fake smile.

“I know. A thoughtful employer— in this economy?” Pamela snarked and picked up Dean's coffee, frustrated when she found it empty. “Ugh! Okay, well, I’m gonna go stretch— maybe I can talk that brother of yours into some yoga before we get going.”

“You are such a creeper.”

“Sammy’s a big boy, Dean.”

“I don’t want to know.”

Pamela shook her head and slinked off to join Kevin and Sam. 

“Take some pictures— cuz I aint!”

Pamela glanced back at Dean and winked while pressing an imaginary shutter button. Dean stood suddenly and chased her into the live room until she squealed and hid behind Sam. Her tiny frame dwarfed behind Sam’s, Dean relented, smiling genuinely for the first time that day.

Dean grabbed his acoustic and strummed, pacing around as he muttered his amended lyrics under his breath. Lee and Bobby made it in just after ten. Luckily, Sam and Pam already had enough of their bending competition, which kept Lee from getting pissy about it. Just as Dean and Lee were going over the chord progressions on ‘Rupture’, Ash strolled into the control room and started hooting into the intercom that it’s time to roll.

“Fucking finally,” Dean grunted and ducked out of his strap. They did things as they came, but bass and drums always were put down first, so he, Lee and Kevin hung back until they were needed.

“Alright, ya idjits. Show me what ya got,” Bobby ordered from his seat beside Ash.

So they did.

Lunch showed up just after two. And, naturally, Dean devoured his sub as quickly as he could, which was when Pamela decided to remember to take pictures for their socials. 

Dean rolled his eyes and licked his lips, chewing as the lettuce and mayo collected at the corners. If his hands weren’t full, she would have gotten the bird, but priorities, you know?

“Gross,” Sam replied, laughing.

“Don’t worry, grumpy, I’ll get your good side too,” Pamela teased.

“I’m sure you will,” Sam muttered and cracked open his bottle of water.

Lee balled up his napkin and threw it across the table at Kevin who apparently had been still snapping pictures. “Save it for the session, newbie,” he grunted.

Dean glanced across the room to where Ash and Bobby were talking, both more serious than the last few hours justified. He met Bobby’s eye and held it, knowing he’d find out sooner or later what had the old man extra bristled. 

They finished their food and relaxed for another few minutes; they had a good handle on the tracks they were working out. But that still meant hours more until they were tight and Ash had everything he wanted. Even then, Dean made them do more takes, just to be sure. He was a perfectionist, like his father before him, and Phantom Traveler had gotten to where they were with that driving force leading the way.

Sam was the one to rein Dean in. “Look, man, that was it. We had it three rounds ago. I’m beat.”

“Ash?” Dean called back into the control room, not willing to be outvoted without certainty.

“It’s all gravy on my end, Dean-o.”

“Pam?” Dean asked his drummer and part-time mindreader.

“Kevin and Sam can clear out, I think we can hit that intro harder.”

Dean looked at Lee, who sighed, because he knew Pam was right and Dean was just letting her be the bad guy.

“Alright, from the top!” Dean called out and Pamela quickly counted them in.

Sam and Kevin stayed to listen, sipping water and slumped into any free space they could find behind their gear. Sam was stuck, Dean was always his ride. But the kid could duck out whenever he wanted. The fact that Kevin stayed solidified Dean’s faith that he was going to work out. Without Cas, it had been weird. Well, first it was awful, but now that they were here, back making music, what they did best, it was an adjustment. 

But Kevin had stepped up and Dean couldn’t deny he was grateful.

No one could fill Cas’ place in the band. But the kid had good hands and on top of that he sang, filling out their harmonies with a higher range. Something Cas never did. So, yeah, it was still weird. But if Dean had learned anything living in California, it was that weird didn’t mean bad.

They tackled the intro until Dean was sick of it. And Lee and Pam both were giving him the stink eye. One final check in with Bobby and Ash and Dean released them for the night.

“Alright, I don’t want to see your faces until Monday at ten,” Bobby explained. “Take the weekend off. Be stupid, but save your voices and your fingers.”

“Awww, he really does care,” Dean snarked, throwing a ball cap over his sweat-damp hair.

Bobby glared. “You’re no good to me sounding like my great aunt Ethel, jackass.”

Kevin laughed and everyone held their breath, impressed and surprised by him openly mocking Dean. But Lee couldn’t hold it in and started laughing too. And by the time Ash and Sam were in on it, Dean was crossing his arms and murdering them all with a look. Pam slinked her arm over his shoulders and patted his back condescendingly.

“I hate you all,” Dean muttered. Eventually he dropped the dramatics before looking over at Sam. “Let’s get outta here already.”

“Yeah, already,” Sam agreed, shaking his head and following Dean back out to the parking lot.

Tagging: @deans-spinster-witch @mrswhozeewhatsis @cosicas-cuquis @fics-pics-andotherthings-i-like @suckitands33 @ladysparkles78 @deans-baby-momma @stoneyggirl2 @sassy-pelican

Chapter Three: Rest

[rangertessadarling]

"ranger's apprentice is a kids series"

oh ok, meanwhile

Will's drug addiction

Halt's traumatic childhood

Horace's bullies quite literally almost murdering him

The fucking creepy Kalkara things

Pretty much every violent fight scene

Sir Karen quite literally mind-controlling Alyss and attempting to seduce her

Will graphically almost dying in the desert from dehydration

Halt almost dying in b9

Horace using a literal torture method to get an answer out of the Genovesan (bro just casually poisoned him and made him run around to make it spread faster through his bloodstream like can someone say iconic)

The way Will's parents were basically both murdered

Will's speech for Horace and Cassandra's wedding. (it's just not suitable for any person of any age)

The graphically portrayed animal abuse

Alyss' death. Which was actually pretty gruesome, she died in pretty much the most tragic way someone could die. A fire so intense her body was never even recovered? which is um kind of traumatizing imo

Will's 'vigilante shit-- revenge' era, and his depression being handled very very poorly by his friends and family (literally made me angry reading those chapters for the first time)

Maddie quite literally getting drunk. at 15 years old. ma’am.

Dimon and Maddie's hookup

many, many, many, deaths. like many on-screen deaths. like one day I’m gonna go through the books and make a kill count. there’s legit a lot of death. (i am actually going to make a kill count now)

Rangers, in general, are pretty brutal people tbh. The way they handle a lot of situations is just kinda like "Eh strip them down to their underwear. dehumanize them, they deserve it." and ummm sure it's "funny" and I think that's what Flanagan was going for, but it's a littleee edgy on a moral level like calm down, they tried to rob you, but calm down

On that note, Gilan legitimately thinking of hanging some highway robbers and only being stopped because of the lack of trees around him. truly an icon.

[mystic-writings]

remember the nights | chapter one — new beginnings

WORD COUNT — 2,403

WARNINGS — none

NOTES — i'm legit sobbing i can't believe this series is already 2 years old

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

This morning was the last one you’d spend in your childhood home. After 17 years of memories, you were saying goodbye to the place you were overjoyed to call home. It wasn’t bad — that was something you were sure of — but it was upsetting. This place is where you came home after being born, where you spent birthdays and holidays and had almost all of your firsts in. You learned to walk here, to talk, to read. It was here that you decided you wanted to be a ballerina, only to decide you wanted to be a teacher just a week later. It’s where your mom lived, where you lived. And now, for a very good reason, you were giving it up. 

Your father was trading away his two-bedroom, floor to ceiling windowed, eleventh floor condo for a lovely blue suburban just a few hours away. No more big city, no more 10 hour shifts at the office. Finally, your dad was getting married.

His fiance, Maggie, was the most wonderful woman you’d ever met, and damn near perfect for him. Her sons, who look nearly identical to her, were the most well-mannered teenage boys you’d met. Thomas, her eldest, was the same age as you — give or take a few months — and one of your closest friends. 

Chuck was her youngest, and was turning 13 early next year. He was shy, but once he had warmed up to you, he became the funniest kid you’d ever talked to. He shared all of his interests with you, even if you didn’t know what he was talking about half of the time. 

Over the past three years, you’d had plenty of time to get used to Maggie and her sons, seeing as they’d spent every other weekend here in the city for the past year or so, so it wasn’t as though you were completely uprooting your life. You’d already seen them as family, and have for a while. Every time they came to town, you and Thomas would make the most of things, wandering the city for things to do or look at or buy until well after sundown, while Chuck normally spent his time with Maggie and your dad. 

You had no reason to be sad, and you weren’t. It was just nostalgia, rooted deep within your chest, of the few vital memories you had left of your mother that had all taken place in this condo. 

“I know this is hard for you, honey,” your father said as you carried your last box of items through the living room. 

“I’ll be okay dad, don’t worry.” You assured him with a childlike smile. “This is a good thing for us, you know? And I’ll have Thomas and Teresa to help me out, so I won’t be completely lonely and friendless.” 

Your father nodded, his lips pressed together tightly as he rested a hand on your shoulder. Whether he was comforting you or trying to comfort himself, you didn’t know. Still, he took the box from your arms and walked out the front door, leaving you to take one last look around the place that had once been your home before walking out yourself, closing the door and leaving that part of your life behind. 

Though the drive took nearly three hours, it felt like half an hour. Most of your time in the passenger seat of your father’s sleek black Camaro was spent messaging your best friends about how much you already missed them, and replying to other school friends to thank them for their well-wishes and promises to meet up soon, even though you knew it would never follow through. 

Traffic-jammed highways quickly turned into two-lane blacktop, surrounded by farmland and forest, which then faded into cookie-cutter homes and family-owned stores. It would be quite an adjustment compared to bodegas, high rises and packed streets, but you knew you had no choice. 

You’d been in this town quite a few times before, and the route to your new home was quite familiar, seeing as some weekends it would be you and your father making the trip instead of Maggie and her family. A left turn on the main road, right after the only cafe in town, then a right turn, then another left. 

Maggie’s house was tucked into the right corner of the cul-de-sac, and it still looked as charmingly beautiful as ever. With dark, gray-blue siding, a lovely white painted front porch capped with a shingled awning, and deep red brick supporting the foundation, it was like it was built straight out of a fairytale. The garage extension jutted out of the house, and its wall marked one end of the porch, while the other was supported by a bay window that looked into the kitchen. To the very left, a white-painted fence and gate led into the backyard that, while you couldn’t tell from the front, was fairly large, and decorated entirely by a beautiful garden, wicker furniture, and a light gray brick fire pit. 

The second the car was in park, you were hopping out of the vehicle, ready to pull your bags from the trunk and bring them to your new room. It had been the office/storage room for Thomas and Chuck, but Maggie cleared it out as soon as they told you that they were engaged. There was a room downstairs near Chuck’s that wasn’t being used, but it was isolated and therefore would be your father and Maggie’s shared office so that he can work entirely from home. 

In her last FaceTime a few days ago, Maggie showed you the room, already filled with the furniture you’d sent from New York weeks prior. One window inside faced the front of the house, and the other faced the side yard and part of the neighbors backyard. 

You pulled your duffle bag from the trunk just as the moving van that had been following you from the city parked on the street. Thomas and Maggie had stepped outside to help bring boxes in, and you greeted them both with short hugs and a wide smile before asking where Chuck was. 

“He’s inside,” Thomas rolled his eyes. “Been hiding in his room all day.” 

There wasn’t much heavy lifting to be done, since your bed, desk, dresser, and nightstand table had already been moved in, and the boxes contained mostly clothes, personal items, and whatever technology your dad needed to be brought with him. The rest was sold or given away, considering Maggie had a house full of stuff on her own. 

By mid-afternoon, boxes covered the floor and most other surfaces in your room, and you were elbow deep in a box of hangers and whatever clothing wouldn’t fit into your bags when Thomas poked his head in the door. 

“Having fun?” You could hear his mischievous smile in his words as he stepped inside. 

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t know. Does untangling a mess of hangers and tank tops sound like fun to you?”

“Nope,” Thomas winced, crossing the room and dropping onto your bare mattress. “Glad you’re here, though.” 

“Me too,” you said, “I think.” 

Thomas lifted his head to look at you. “You think?”

“Well, I only know you and Teresa, and I’ve never had to deal with living someplace where everything closes at 7pm.”

“Everything does not close at 7pm,” he scoffed. “The diner doesn’t close until 10pm, and the convenience store closes at 8.”

“Oh, wow, a whole extra hour for the convenience store,” you mocked the boy, who scoffed once more at you. “My point is, I have a lot to get used to, and it’s not exactly like I can say  I don’t like it here and everything goes back to the way it was.” 

Thomas sat up. “You’ll be fine, I swear. You’ve got me and Teresa, plus you’ll be meeting our friends in a few days.”

You only nodded, working through the mess of clothes and hangers as Thomas fell silent for a few moments, typing on his phone for a bit. 

“Do you wanna do something with me and Teresa?” He asked as you began putting the hangers into your closet. 

You immediately perked up at the mention of Teresa. “Of course I would. I haven’t seen her in months,” you said, “Why? What does she want to do?”

“We’ll probably take you to the cafe, or go to hers for a movie night,” Thomas said. “There’s not much to do around here.” 

“That’s fine,” you shrugged, “I’ll be fine with whatever, you know that.”

Thomas made a quick noise of acknowledgement and returned to typing on his phone, before getting up and walking past you toward the door. “Alright, well she’s down. I’ll come get you in like a few hours, maybe.”

“Oh-” you started, looking at Thomas as he left the room. “Okay, then,”

You continued to untangle and pack away your clothes, mind wandering to almost any thought that crossed your mind. Shortly after Thomas’ departure, though, a knock sounded at your bedroom door before opening. In the doorway stood Chuck, silently observing the room now that you had begun to move into it. 

“Chuckie!” It was his least favorite nickname by far, especially when Thomas used it on him, but you couldn’t help yourself. To you, he’d always be 9 years old, hiding behind his mother’s leg in your condo’s living room. 

You stopped what you were doing as he stepped into the room, meeting you by the bed to greet you with a wordless hug. He ended up helping you out with the hangers, talking adamantly with you about how his friends were spending the night next weekend to watch  Star Wars with him, and how now he and your dad could do more stuff together since he wouldn’t have to wait for the weekends to see him anymore. 

After the box full of hangers was organized and put away, Chuck left and took the broken down box with him. You opened the one you’d put all of your knick knacks and other items in, beginning to organize them around the room when you pulled out your favorite mug, wrapped delicately in layers of bubble wrap and newspaper. 

You decided to take it down to the kitchen immediately, peeling the layers from it as you headed back downstairs. It was a gift from your grandmother, a white mug with a black handle, a silhouette of a ballerina painted onto one side. She gave it to you when you were nine, a tribute to your mother, who used to be a ballerina herself. 

You found a space for it on the bottom shelf of the cupboard of mugs, smiling gently at it. Somehow, this was what cemented the fact that you were in a new home. That you’d gone through a positive change for once. For the most part, the life you used to live was long gone, and you had much more to look forward to, despite how terrified you were.

The next couple of hours included you dressing your bed in its sheets and pillows and blankets, plus rearranging and re-organizing things in your room. It was a little small, sure, but you didn’t mind, as everything fit perfectly. Now, all you were doing was waiting for Thomas to get you to bring you to Teresa’s house.

When he finally did, the sun was beginning to set and Maggie was helping your dad organize his DVDs in the entertainment center under the TV. They muttered quick goodbyes as you headed out the door, hopping into Thomas’ old truck and heading to Teresa’s house. 

You arrived at the familiar white-siding home in no time, and you already had Teresa in your line of sight before you had closed the door to the truck. You both ran for one another, crashing into one another in an excited, bone-crushing hug in the walkway to her front porch. 

“Jeez, why don’t you greet me like that, babe?” Thomas said, casually walking up the pathway. 

Teresa pulled back a bit, glaring over your shoulder. “Because I see you every day, Thomas. I haven’t seen N/n since June.”

“That shouldn’t matter,” Thomas muttered under his breath, obviously defeated as a pout formed on his face. 

You and Teresa laughed before the brunette girl spoke up, grabbing your hand. “Come on, I’ve got everything set up inside. Movies, snacks, and I ordered pizza from the takeout place across town. I wanna hear everything I’ve missed out on since I saw you last.” 

Thomas trailed behind you as Teresa led you inside her home, despite knowing you’d been there quite often over the years. 

You spent over four hours at Teresa’s house. By the time you were pulling back into the driveway, the entire town had gone quiet, lights turned out as everyone wound down for the night or were already asleep. 

The first hour of your time was spent catching Teresa up on anything interesting that had happened in New York, then she and Thomas did the same for you. They also took the time to explain the school and how things worked in a small town as best as they could, but you quickly decided you’d just learn as things went on. You managed to watch two movies, devouring whatever food Teresa had set out for the three of you relatively quickly. 

Once you stepped inside, it was quite clear that everyone else in the house was already asleep. You and Thomas managed to sneak upstairs without waking anyone, bidding one another a quick ‘goodnight’ before heading to your own rooms. 

Soon after, you found yourself in an oversized fundraiser shirt your dad got from a work trip to Arizona years ago, laying in bed as your eyes scanned and took in every inch of your room. Thinking over every detail, about how different it felt, how this new space held every aspect of you and your life up until this moment. And as you thought, you felt your heart grow and swell within your chest, getting lighter and lighter. 

This town, these people, had yet to prove themselves to you, to show you if you belonged or not, and you were eager to see it all, to experience everything it had to offer. All you had to do was give it a chance.

series masterlist: @heliads @ghostofscarley @badbatch-simp24 @virginia-peters @third-broparcelicito @lamolaine (open!)

[paracosmicparadox]

So, I'm falling back into the FFXV kick, and I have decided that I disapprove of how little complex character development Square Enix has given the guys?? Like where is the emotional depth beyond surface-level cutscene angst?? So I took matters into my own hands and have compiled a handy little list of headcanons / expanded canons that I think make sense.

Noctis: Has clinical insomnia and frequent lucid dreams (sorta a given, but bear w me bear w me)

Feels the weight of having to take so much on from such a young age much, much more than he lets on

Loves to argue

Would've been happier if he and Luna stayed as childhood best-buds rather than betrothed fiancés (controversial, ik, but it just didn't seem like he cared that much for her romantically to me?? Like he obviously cared about her, but it seemed like a really strong penpal vibe rather than a "We're-gonna-get-married-and-be-the-next-hotshot-couple" vibe. If you disagree, coolio, I'm not gonna debate w you on this one)

Has a natural sadness to his eyes regardless of what he's feeling

Went through an anime phase (possibly still in his anime phase, idk)

Social anxiety for the win

Severe RBF

Prefers tea over coffee (black tea is best---particularly lavender earl grey)

Can play the cello (practicing tho?? Don't know her)

Writes the most beautiful poetry when The Motivation™ strikes him (usually when he's home sick and half-delirious)

Prompto: Has ADHD and clinical anxiety, but is undiagnosed and doesn't take any meds for either of them.

Is legit like SO SMART, but can never focus, so not many people take any notice

Wears contact lenses (he had glasses as a child and I refuse to believe he had some high-tech corrective surgery to eliminate the need for them when lenses are cheaper and less risky)

Doesn't drink caffeine because it makes him jittery

Doesn't drive the Regalia when the guys are around because having other people in the car distracts him from the road. Also he tends to drive like a speed demon, which worries Ignis to no end.

Sunburns insanely easily

Could legit become a hitman if he wanted to with the amount of gun-knowledge he has. It doesn't matter what firearm you put in this boy's hand---pistol, SMG, sniper, rocket launcher, you name it. He can and will hit the target every single time.

Addicted to adrenaline

Pansexual

Has a lot of self-loathing (we see a bit of this in Ep. Prompto) and talks with an online therapist about it via text whenever his lows hit him. He's making great progress in learning how to heal and how to accept himself for who he is beyond the mask he wears for others

Ignis: More than a little bit of a control freak, and works very hard not to be too overbearing or critical about his friends' misgivings

Hypochondriac

Wants to protect everyone all the time and mentally kicks himself when he doesn't get there fast enough

Is SO PROUD of Noctis's journey and felt a stronger hatred towards Ardyn than anyone else in the group for what he forced Noct to go through (he stayed up at night sick to his stomach with hollow rage and baked nonstop to take his mind off of it)

Can verbally obliterate a man, but only rarely chooses to do so bc he's classy like that

After losing his eyes, he notices so much more beauty in the world than he used to (the sound of rain on the Regalia's roof, the specific gait of each of his friends, the smell of salt on the wind in Galdin Quay, the flawless feel of one specific silk tie he has in his repertoire, etc)

His internal compass is never wrong

Regularly takes antacids for his stomach

Has the straightest teeth you've ever seen

Demiromantic

Gladio: Hates being wrong: it's his way or the highway

Actually so much smarter than the musclehead jock front he puts up

A little vain and easily jealous (this man has a Jealous Face like no other)

Thunderstorms are his favorite; his ideal place to be is at a campsite, during a storm, with a well-worn book and a mug of Irish coffee in hand

Would throw himself in front of a bus for any one of his friends

Would beat up kids for the folks he cared about in middle school and spent the time he wasn't training to be a Crownsguard sitting in detention with the most unrepentant, smug, and-I'd-do-it-again look scrawled across his face

Can make a better smoothie than anyone (except maybe Iggy)

Spotify junkie

Had a dinosaur phase as a kid and can still name random facts about them whenever the opportunity presents itself

Avid technology-hater and only has a phone to make calls and join the others in playing King's Knight since they begged him so profoundly (he's sure the thing's going to be his downfall)

Gets most of Prompto's pop culture references

[foryouthegays]

fun fact I live in the city where they shoot the one piece live action in South Africa and I have driven past the set a few times and you can see the Going Merry sitting by the side of the highway overed in tarp, looking kinda sorry for itself ig?? Its in a shitty part of town sorta, so there's litter everywhere but oh well. Anyway you are my only one piece mutual so I legit think of you when I drive past. The only thing I can really say is that the boat DOES look pretty cool irl but it seems a lot smaller in person. The other pirate ships on the set are much more impressive. It's a cool thing to see though, a bunch of pirate ships parked in grass in the middle of nowhere. I wish I could take a picture and send it to you, but since it is on the side of a literal freeway, I couldn't really do it without endangering my life. so yeah.

thats so wild hello???? man ive never thought about what they do w props and sets after filming thats incredible

[odinsblog]

Hoo boy 😮‍💨

So this morning I saw a girl get out of this car at a gas station

And I was completely speechless

Hot car, even hotter girl 🔥

The way the door just glided up and she stepped out was like a superhero entrance in a movie. I was like, “Hm. So this is what people in movies must feel like when Supergirl or Wonder Woman just casually lands in front of them all of a sudden”

And as much as I was trying not to stare, I know I couldn’t stop looking (at her and the car)—and I legit wanted to know what kind of car it was (don’t know why I didn’t notice the emblem), and I almost asked her, but it was 3am in the morning and there was just a few guys and myself around, and I didn’t wanna make her uncomfortable or anything

So there was an older trucker at one of the pumps near her, and I saw him saying something to her, and she laughed and after a few minutes she got back into her supercar and sped off. No, she literally disappeared in a blink. She must’ve floored it because she was gone all the way down the highway 💨

The only way I now know what the car was is because I asked the trucker, and he said, “That’s The One,” and I was like, “Hell yeah she is, but what about the car?”

And I was today years old when I learned that Mercedes has a $2 million dollar supercar called The AMG ONE

*sigh*

She was really really pretty

[cto10121]

Midnight Sun Part 2!!! Possibly my favorite section; I could not put it down, especially the rescue part. I did have Des Notes, though:

“It wasn’t really a difficult ask.” Nope, no way a vampire from 1901 would say this 2020s slang in 2006. Don’t slip up, Meyer!!! Or get better editors!!!

Alice introducing herself to Edward by hugging him and calling him brother and Edward going like “Yep, legit” will never not be great

Edward lying in bed and nearly giving Bella a heart attack with his sluttishness is almost worse in his POV, omg. How the fuck does that happen

Edward reading Tooth and Claw just because Bella recommended it. Remind me again why some people don’t like Edward?

Wait—Edward describes Bella’s scent as “lavender” or “freesia.” One of Bella’s favorite scents is lavender, as well as clean laundry. And she blushed when she looked at Edward, clearly thinking about his scent. Could Edward’s scent actually…be similar to Bella’s? Is that why her scent affects him so powerfully? Holy shit.

Edward “It was enlightening and alluring to watch her in her element” (Bella *eating Cheerios*) 🤝 Romeo “See how she leans her cheek upon her hand” (Juliet: *leaning her cheek on her hand*)

“Bella had gone to the other room to calm her mother. And then the vision had overtaken Alice.” Nice way to cover up that little plot hole, very enterprising

“The image of myself astride the sleek black motorcycle was so appealing that for a second I ignored her” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣🤣🤣 It’s giving Terminator. Love it. Also, what a great parallel to Bella’s motorcycle adventures

Very ambivalent about the highway scene. Otoh, it’s interesting and clever and detailed how the Cullens worked together. Otoh, it’s over the top at places! Like why did they flip the car into upcoming traffic????? Why did they even have to switch cars to begin with????? Meyer really should avoid full-length action scenes (I did like the Victoria fight in Eclipse, though)

Ngl, the James hunt is probably better than in Twilight, if just because Edward is at the front of the action. Still amazing how James slipped away from them

“Bella’s blood was the opposite of pain. It erased every burn I’d ever suffered. And it was so much more than just the absence of pain. It was satisfaction, it was bliss. I felt suffused with a strange kind of joy—a joy of the body alone. I was healed and alive, every nerve ending thrumming with contentment.” The Metaphor(tm) has now become literal.

Book Edward *drinking Bella’s blood*: ✨Bliss ✨🥰 >>>>>> Movie Edward: *gnaws on Bella’s arm like a chicken wing*

“The chuckle that bubbled up from my chest surprised me. I had her blood on her tongue. It was probably tinting the edges of my irises red even now. It was drying into my clothes and dyeing my skin. But she could still make me laugh”

Jasper looks so dangerous to other vampires that James just…accepts his fate. Like welp, guess I’ll die. Iconic

“Why am I towing that ridiculous truck?” Okay, the Cullens hating Bella’s truck is officially a gag.

“For a moment, I imagined Renée as a vampire. Would her thoughts shout audibly at everyone, inescapable?” Nice foreshadowing/Easter egg for Renesmee. So there is a meaning and rationale behind the name other than Bella’s corniness.

That section where Edward watches James’ video and is so overcome with rage and despair and then starts to pray for the strength to leave Bella…that passage was so well-written I was nearly crying

Re: Edward’s decision to leave Bella, It is genius on Meyer’s part (or, well, just practical) to make the obstacles internal instead of external. Edward needs to deal with the consequences of leaving Bella and learn from his mistakes

Finished and in sum: This was great and only gets better in the re-reading. There is a lot of whinging and whining over certain aspects, mostly by anti fans, but those didn’t really bother me. Most lines were taken out of context, as they always do, and spun into something questionable; in context they were fine. Then there are those who say it is better and better-written than Twilight, but I disagree. Twilight was much better structured and less superfluous in detail than Midnight Sun, which could get bogged down in minute-to-minute summary. That said, Midnight Sun does have the advantage that all the dynamic change and development are on Edward’s side than Bella’s, as in a proper Beauty and the Beast telling. But Bella’s story does have power and is arguably more subversive than Edward’s. I think the two complement ultimately each other—the subtext of Twilight is the text of Midnight Sun, and vice versa. Reading both gets you a more complete picture…which the TV show would undoubtedly fuck up in some way if they decide to use parts of Midnight Sun. Le sigh.

[partyinthemysterymachine]

i think everyone who either follows me, interacted with me, or seen me in passing knows by now that i have a very, very exuberant personality, LOL. i'm very vocal about how much i love my work, and my ideas, and my big brain, and my big brain puns. i have a lot of confidence and a lot of pride for my art, and (obviously) GOOMT. and i think for some that might come off as conceit; which, on some basis of its definition, is somewhat true.

because the definition of conceit is "excessive pride in oneself; vain" and, like. chinhands. on one hand, yeah, that sounds about right, doesn't it? but on the other hand, i'd have to disagree. i understand that how i assert my confidence can look something like conceit sometimes (and also that confidence can look like conceit in, or to many people just in general), and i of course understand that i am proud, because i'm allowed to be and i SHOULD be, therefore i am.

but i disagree with "conceit" because of its connotations. "conceited people" are known to be holier-than-thou types, put themselves on plateaus, "my way or the highway", "me me me me me i'm the best and only me" attitudes, etc.. and i really don't want to be seen that way, because i'm not that person.

i'll always say that "fake it 'til you make it" is a legit tactic because i can speak for it personally, lol. i think it's fair to say that especially in the beginning i did go through a very conceited phase, and i think that's normal. it takes a little while to get used to, so experimentation and conceit i think is just a part of the process - so long as you come out of it.

but at this point in my life i like to think i have long since passed that phase of conceit. to be very honest, a lot of what i say in tags or otherwise that allude to me/an idea of mine being "better than everyone else" should be taken as jokes. at the end of the day i do not consider my ideas to be better than everyone else's. my ideas are big brained and HUGE meated, but they are also not all i care about; nor, are they also my ultimate favorites.

that's right: u heard me. there are other ideas out there that actually top my charts. because i have seen so many different headcanons and ideas out there that i would die for. that are SO stupid-huge-meat-brained that i'm literally on my knees begging to know more about please let me pack a bucket of sand from ur sandbox please i'm begging i want to play so bad. i've fallen in love with SO MANY interpretations and AUs and development of ideas and stuff that's faithful to canon and stuff that's canon-divergent and it just. i'm eating it all with my bare hands, smearing it on my face and lying face down in a shallow kiddie pool filled with shaving cream, idk.

the world is a playground and fandom is a jungle gym. i really love seeing people create and interact and i love having so many wonderful headcanons and ideas and discussions and art and fics to look at. i LOVE watching new people come in, or some creators poking their heads in every now and then, LOVE to see the silliness and the more serious works and meeting new people about a new AU. i LOVE it.

we're all equals here, babey; and i see headcanon sharing and i see people being inspired by others and it just feels good, man. sharing and vibing on ideas are good, it blooms discussions and MORE fun. i really really do love seeing people being inspired by one another, it absolutely bursts my brain.

i want to see you create. i want to see you grow, i fucking LOVE to watch creators develop and improve in real time, it literally fills me to the brim with heart emojis. and i hope that everyone knows that i am truly, truly genuine every. single. time. i leave tags and am hype for your work. i am LEGITIMATELY HYPE BABEEEYYY and i want you so, so badly to know that. because you deserve it.

i just want to have fun and i want others to have fun, and i just want to see people build themselves up and really push through all those personal hangups and kneejerk reactions to slap a "sorry my art is bad" "lol i hate this it sucks" disclaimer on their work and just do. not. do it.

have your conceited phase instead. blow yourself up to epic proportions of big-headedness, that's just how it works sometimes; but remember to allow yourself to come down. i've had my own moments of pig-headedness, and i've had my moments of, "ummm excuse me, sweaty, but--" and those are things that will just crop up now and then. no one is perfect. overcoming those instances is important. it's possible to be humbled and grounded and still have a massive amount of pride in yourself, and i like to think that's how i am, because that's how i try to be.

the art of confidence and self-love, and recognizing self-worth is a hard, hard uphill battle that involves many trips and falls and sitting on the slope bawling your eyes out for a minute or ten hours and then patching yourself up and getting back on the trail with a smoothie. this shit ain't easy, and brains are mean.

yes, of course you are allowed to feel upset and down on yourself, and frustrated about not putting out the work you really wanted to, or at a quality you felt you could, or "should" achieve every single time. of course you should vent. but how you act on a public platform does affect how others perceive you and your work, and it's extremely important to understand how you openly act towards your art or yourself also affects your own perceptions of self.

and i guess that's a part of the reason why i do it. i've lived too long being sad and upset and fearful. i want to create and i want to share, and by god you're going to hear about it LOL, because i have worked too hard to clamor over hurdles and let myself get trampled on and cried alone on the bleachers to NOT be loud and proud and genuinely happy with not only MYSELF and MY progress, but OTHERS' work and progress.

i am competing with no one. i'm not here to compete. i do not want to compete. i am not better than anyone else, and we are all equals. i am explicitly here to have fun, and to watch, and want others to have fun - even when it doesn't ever involve me. at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that i'm in love with how and what people create, just as much, and if not more than how much i'm in love with how and what i create. i want us all to love ourselves and our work and to succeed, whatever that mean to the individual person. that's it.

and considering the friends i've made, the people i talk to even if it's only every now and then, and getting to be a part of a weirdass little fandom that creates so imaginatively and beautifully, and that i get asks in my inbox that i SWEAR i'll around to someday (nervous laughing), that my list of mutuals steadily continues to grow, and all the while i've been growing as a person, as an artist and a writer, and developing this blessed and silly and painfully heartwrenching and based and hahaha >:3c!!!!!!!!!!! ur all in danger glacial slowburn behemoth of a fic that is GOOMT.. yeah, i guess it's safe to say i'm succeeding, LOL.

thanks for sticking it out and reading to the end if you have. i love u, and i love that you've decided to join me on my adventures in however way, and i'm glad to know you. i hope u continue to grow and create and i hope that when you create, you will share with us so i can throw myself on the floor kicking screaming crying throwing up heart emojis and catapulting myself into the sun. because that's like. my favorite pastime, honestly.

anywhoo. back to the GRIIIIINNNDD babey, CHEERS KISS KISS ILU ALL 🥺🥺🥺💖💖💖🙏❤️🥚❤️🥚✨🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚

[fixfoxnox]

It’s been a while since we’ve had sito headcanons!!! Have there been any additions to the world building of sito since the last time???

There have been a couple of things! Or at least more things that I can kinda comfortably mention lol:

So we officially have Price being in love with Nikolai now, however they aren't together (yet) they just pine and literally everyone around them knows

Price no longer got his hat from Alex in universe, instead he got it from Nikolai which we will learn more about in the NikPrice one-shot (still working on it, its gonna be so long 😭)

You guys get some stuff on Price's sister now that I've officially started building her (thank you therapist is laswell's wife anon)

Her name is Josephine Laswell (Price), she took Laswell's last name while they were married.

She's an on base therapist who typically does short term sessions with people, and usually they are sessions that the soldiers specifically sign up for, not ones they are forced into

However, Price knows that a lot of times therapists will just sign through the papers for the military members far too quickly, and he wanted to make sure Roach was okay so he asked his sister to take him on as a patient since he knew she would actually fully make sure he was okay before sending him back into the field.

She only goes by her first name on base, it was a request from both Price and Laswell who didn't want her getting caught up in their work if something happened. Because of that her name tags only ever say "Dr. Jo" or "Dr. Josephine"

Price calls her Josie as a nickname and Laswell calls her Pheenie as a nickname

Soap definitely doesn't tell his family when he brings Ghost and Roach home with him for the first time

Like he talks to his family at least once a week on a big family video call, and straight up sometimes Ghost and Roach will just be chilling in the background so they assume that Soap has told his family

Then they go home with him and meet them for the first time and Soap's mom is like "John why didn't you tell us you had boyfriends!!!"

Then its just a big jumble of Scottish words as the entire family start like jumping on Soap who is returning with just as much energy

Then suddenly it just stops and Mama MacTavish is like "anyways, you two both come inside its so nice to meet you, here let me give you a hug"

Also Roach definitely thinks he is the youngest out of their trio until Soap finally admits (gets caught) about lying about his age and Roach finds out that he and Soap are actually the same age and he legit gets so excited about it just because now when Soap tries to pull the "older and wiser" card he gets to throw it back in his face

Was thinking about Roach's first life again and particularly his childhood and thought I'd give some more on that plus a fun behind the scenes

When Roach thinks about that memory from when he was a child of his dad throwing him into the river, he remembers the location. A long dirt Roach through the woods leading to a little river with a bridge and highway above it

Fun facts, I actually used a place that my family used to go when I was younger as inspiration for the place. So the place where Roach got thrown into the river is technically real and exists in Arkansas lmao

I think Roach, in his first life, because he spend so much time trying to get out of his house to get away from his parents spent a lot of time in the woods around his house

Spending time in the woods meant getting use to all sorts of critters/creatures as well as getting good at spotting things like snakes so that he could avoid him

That being said he was definitely the type of southern kid/teen who would go outside for like five minutes then come back up to the house with a snake in one hand and a possum in the other lmao

He's never mentioned that he really isn't afraid of any animals to the 141 before

Jackson knows because he definitely watched Roach pick up enough random ass snakes/rats/whatever else during their time on Griggs squad. Point is, Roach has no fear

The 141 discover this bit by bit

They're tracking through the woods toward one of their objectives and suddenly Roach rushes forward and grabs Price, pulling him to a stop

The whole team are confused/lowkey annoyed until Roach steps forward and picks up the snake that Price was about to step on

A rat ends up running into the break room on base. Gaz freaks tf out and refuses to get off of the couch. Roach walks in and within like two minutes is carrying the rat outside in his hands

Just little things like this that the 141 eventually have to get used to because it's just part of Roach's charm lmao

Roach's first kiss in his first life was with the son of his church's homophobic ass preacher. They would sneak away from after church activities and into the woods to "hang out" which for two repressed teenage gays really just meant making out

Roach genuinely thought he was going to marry that guy and their relationship lasted until Roach decided he was going to leave. He asked him to leave with him

He said no because he was too afraid to tell his parents yet. Roach never held it against him, but their relationship ended and Roach never saw him again after he left

The same boy did exist in his new life, but Roach stayed clear of him because of Simon/the mental age difference

Currently, both Ghost and Price have both had glimpses of their first life through dreams

I've mentioned Jackson having struggles with sudden loud noises and flashes of light due to his first life, but I think he also has issues with planes/aircrafts because of the memory of the crash

Jackson is also a southern boy, thinking from like Louisiana. He can kinda turn his accent on and off, but most of the time it onlycomes out when he's passionate/in the middle of sex. He can also speak Louisiana French

Honestly my idea of what Jackson looks like changes every two seconds he's like a chameleon so he has like no in universe appearance yet dkfnfn

His sense of style however? Stylish man to say the least

Like somehow always looks put together, even in sweatpants and a tee shirt. It kinda pisses Gaz off sometimes, but most of the time he's just like "God damn my boyfriend is hot."

Headcanon that Gaz loves spicy foods and assumes that Jackson can't take any spice so he puts some in his food at one point to prank him

He's terrible surprised when Jackson just eats the food with no issue. Jackson has to be like "babe I've literally grown up eating Cajun food have you never had Cajun food" and then he makes Gaz something with a lot of spice and Gaz is the one who ends up not able to handle it sjfbjfndjdj

Cajun! Jackson my beloved

[eomcheong-keun-megi]

ayo since youve been to seoul, can u recommend anywhere to visit? i went last year and im going again in a few months but besides myeongdong and the typical touristy places i didnt have time to go anywhere else

yooooh so in 2023 I was working twice in Seoul -

one time as a sound tech for a artist friend of mine who had their solo exhibit in Gyeongbokgung in the north of the city

and half a year later as a sound artist with a artist collective exhibiting and performing in Munjeong-dong in the southern outskirts of Seoul.

I entirely fuck with nature and tried to visit as many gardens, public parks, botanical gardens and mountain parks as I could. You cannot go wrong with any of those.

Aside from that I was really interested in art and artistic crafts - thanks to some korean friends who sent me instagram accounts of local galleries and events.

I was lucky to find some places showing sound and experimental art in Euljiro-Dong. This is a place that is RAPIDLY changing. The district is special because of its huge spectrum of artistic and technical manual craftsmanship. In the 6 months between my two visits an entire street block had been demolished and replaced by high rise buildings. The city changes crazy fast!

I also LOVE the Cheonggyecheon River stream - the ancient former city border used to have a multileveled highway constructed above it but since 20 years now flows over 10 km trough Seouls City center as a renatured river ecosystem.

Following the stream is a super lovely way to explore the city and also pass the famous textile and fabric district of Dongdaemun.

If you are interested in anything fashion or textile related, this is the place to be and you could honestly get lost in the universe of one of the building complexes.

I experienced the Itaewon district as one of the most diverse places I have ever been to - where else in the world can u find a central mosque down the street of the so called "homohill" of the gay- and transbars, the Nigerian community next to the Vietnamese Community and an elementary school in the middle of the most vibrant night life full of neon crosses and kebab stores in the HEART of Seoul.

I also recommend trying out any Jjimjilbang / Sauna you can find if you can go with a local. It is the most chill experience when someone first shows u around and then u can basically add 5 years to your life.

The Hongdae 24 H Sauna(the one skz filmed at) is actually super accessible to foreigners and a good place if its your first time at a jjimjilbang.

Every time I went to Korea I came back healthier and I am chronically ill - the saunas and nutrition was just on point and affordable.

Lastly, I recommend the Seoul National Museum. It's free entry and you legit can spend an ENTIRE DAY in that spaceship of a building. Many amazing topics and exhibits so explore also just a fun place. There r some stray cats living in the park in front of the complex and I recommend them too.

skz is actually not super represented in public. only by chance I saw a skz hilfiger ad billboard in Itaewon and a Lotte Duty Free ad at an airport. I saw way more bts, nct and many girl groups represented in public.

I did go up to Namsan Tower because I am insufferable and wanted to check out how gay it would be to kidnap your best bro up there for surprise dinner and take photos with a giant heart statue on a platform that is entirely dedicated for couples and has a specific proposal spot. yea.

It's getting long, so anyway, I recommend following your special interest and hanging out with people who live there.

have fun and eat a lot of good food!

[pbandjesse]

It felt like a whole week. There was many many parts of today. But it was a good day.

I wish I had gotten more sleep. But I have a 4 day weekend starting tomorrow so I am hoping to catch up on some rest.

Some of the problem was that I was woke up at 5:55 by the smoke alarm going off. It was scary!!! James was running around trying to turn it off. And letting me know that it wasn't a fire, it wasn't even smoke! They were just baking and for some reason it set off and was really scary. But they got it handled and I fell back asleep for an hour.

When I woke up I wasn't amazing but I was trying to not be sad. I was looking forward to the day. Things would be okay. Even if my soda didn't taste right.

But then I got to the car and we had almost no gas. I forgot to tell James we needed more and I was going to have to fill my own tank. I hate hate hate pumping gas. About halfway to work though the light came on and I had to get off the highway to deal with that.

And it didn't go through best but it wasn't the worst. I went to Royal farms and the real issue of the screen was broken and I got confused with my credit card. So I ended up just going to a different pump and then it was fine. Though I wasn't sure when it was done. But it was fine and I filled the tank and went to camp.

I would only beat Sarah and Elizabeth by a couple minutes. And once they were here I would get the gator and ropes key and went to set up.

I was about half way done by Nick asked me to come down to bring them the key so they could set up the rock wall. Can do. I drove down there quickly and picked them up. I would get briefly stuck behind Mannie's car. But grabbed Nick and Sarah and dropped them off before going back to the office to get Dachelle and Elizabeth and brought them home to ground elements. Elizabeth was teasing me for driving so fast but we got home there in record time!!

I finished setting up and gave them the keys to the gator and walked down to the office. I had my breakfast and chilled for a bit but soon we were all going to the lodge to pick up our group.

This is a school that comes twice a year. They bring us their freshmen right at the begining of the school year, and then their seniors right at the end of the school year. So they come to us at the beginning and at the end. And it is just such a cute way to do this. And I always love working with them.

And I like to think I make low ropes fun. I go over safety rules. I explain how to do each element. And then I would let them explore and try and it was just so much fun.

There was so silliness. Two boys just being a lot. Pushing each other and being silly. Spotters letting their friends fall. Thankfully no one was very hurt but one girl got her entire leg scrapped. Ouch ouch ouch. My favorite was when one group got very very into my saying "Paws not claws" and were legit screaming it and screaming "spotters on!!!!" And being so dramatic in their poses. But it was honestly the best case scenario because they were having fun and I was having fun.

Since they were doing great we all finished ho pretty quickly and we were able to go over to the horses. Which everyone loved. I had filled my fanny pack with peppermints to entice the horses. And that worked really well. Many of the horses had fly masks on today but they were all still sweet and cute and the teens were really having fun petting them and feeding them and I wish I was better about knowing which horse was who but I try!! I am just so bad at it for some reason. Something I will keep working on.

The day was laid out funny though. I had a group. Then an hour off. Where I would go and work on research for horse programs. Then a group. Then a three hour break. Where the teens had lunch and then swimming. I would eat my lunch, hung out with Chloe and we discussed the horse camp schedule and then I went to lay in my hammock for an hour. It was great. I missed my hammock.

Finally I had my last group. And it was full of laughing. And when we went to hang out with the horses even Obie the mini came out and we fed them lots of peppermints and it was great.

But it was time for them to leave me. I directed the teacher to take them back to the lodge. Where their parents were waiting to surprise them to have a dinner to celebrate them finishing highschool. I congratulated them and wished them luck in their future adventures, academic or otherwise. And said goodbye and thank you for hanging out with me.

I stayed behind the take down low ropes. I saw that Brayden was over with Dachelle and Mannie at flying squirrel so I called on the walkie to trade him about not being helpful (he is incredibly helpful) and ask him to come help me out ropes away. Mostly I wanted him to move the ladder and he did and we chatted about camp and things we are looking forward to. His help made clean up go very quick and I was able to head down to the office.

I grabbed my stuff, said goodbye to Heather and Alexi, changed into flipflops, and went home.

Traffic was fine until I was 2 miles from home. Which added 10 minutes to my drive! Horrible. I just wanted to go home. But I would get back. And was so happy to see James. They were getting all the bread and salad they had made for Charlotte ready. I would take a moment to collect some of the snails from the frog tank. Then went and collected Charlotte's birthday gift. (Not related to the snails.) And then went to take a shower and get changed.

Once I was ready we would go to the Fulwilers. And it was a really nice evening. We had Mac and cheese and Caeser salad and nice bread. And for dessert we had strawberry shortcake cake. And while the food was good the company was better. Charlotte told us about her upcoming trip to Portugal and gave me some great ideas for research and places to look for me and mom for Scotland. I talked about that trip and the planning for that. And it was fun talking about our students and their funny idiosyncrasies. Like her one student who exclusively speaks in old person slang. "This place is full of floosies" ECT ECT.

I was getting tired though. And after dinner and gifts (we gave Anne and Tucker the wooden tongs from the Nile gift shop, and Charlotte got a smoore making kit and the crocodile I got from the art market in Uganda), we headed home. I would talk to Callie a bit but we decided we would try and catch up more this weekend. Possibly at the farmers market.

When we got back here I felt a little peopled out. And needed to be alone on the couch for a while. But eventually James would join me again. I had opened the back door for Sweetp to run around. A bird was teasing him. But everyone was safe. And once the sun went down James brought Sweetp inside, and we closed the door for the evening.

I went upstairs to wash my hair. And hang out in the ac. I am getting really tired now. Very ready to sleep.

I am looking forward to tomorrow. I have a plan to go to the re-store, then to Home Depot. I may see Celia. And in the evening me and James are going to Sam and Paul's civil ceremony dinner. Because they are getting married three different times minimum.

I hope you all sleep good tonight. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[ageless-aislynn]

From @mrtobenamedlater

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog! ☀️

How about 3 random Halo facts about me? 😎👍

There are so many characters that I know woefully almost nothing about ( and who several of my fellow Halo friends write about). If they come from the books, Halo 5 or Infinite, chances are that I'm seriously winging it on who they are. A couple of times I've had to look them up to see who is a canon character and who's an OC. On the plus side if you're a writer for any of them, you're obviously great at it because I can't tell the difference between your OCs and canon characters, lol! Good work, keep going! 😎👍

2. I'm legit not kidding that this is one of my proudest moments:

I have a bit of a tremor in my hands, sometimes worse than others, so I really didn't know if I'd be able to play well enough to even finish the first game on Easy. (I ought to record it sometime just so y'all can see what I mean as my reticle is BouNcINg aLL OvEr thE plAcE on a bad day while I'm trying to aim, lol.) But I figured out strategies based off of Youtube tutorials that helped me to mitigate it as much as possible, helped me figure out my strengths as a player and then sometimes I just devoted a lot of time to grinding it out, trying to get through. Halo 2's Regret boss battle took me about 2 weeks to get through on Legendary. Halo 3 ODST's Coastal Highway was almost a month. Learning how to get on the rooftops to avoid the Jackal snipers on Halo 2's Outskirts is a MUST, lol! (And they'll still sometimes snipe you from, like, the other side of town! 😧😜) Mastering grenade jumps made me so happy and I adore learning ways to break out of bounds!

3. I do love every Halo game in the MCC but the only one I routinely play from start to finish without skipping any missions is Reach. There's just something about it that makes it such a joy to me, I can't even explain it. Though it's not a joy if you're trying to do the Legendary speedrun achievement. I still haven't gotten even close to getting my total time under 3 hours. 😔

From just under 8 hours to under 6, so at least I'm getting better, though! (And look at Heroic, I took its Fastest Clear Time from over 11 HOURS 😱to under 3, so that made me happy!) So, hopefully one day! 🤞😣🤞

Bonus Halo fact: I really adore these games. They came into my life at a time when I desperately needed something to distract me, something I could learn, was ABLE to learn, something that lets you be creative, to challenge yourself, to play it easy, to play it hard. I will always be thankful to the MCC for that. I hope to one day be able to play 5 (currently is not available for the PC) and Infinite (borked up my previous computer, yikes) but even if I can't, the 6 beautiful games of the MCC will hopefully be with me for the rest of my life.🤗🤗🤗💖

[dannythedog]

I'm reading all the posts people have been making about pit being sold out already, and about how stressful it is to get good spots/good seats these days and I'm absolutely flabbergasted. This is absolutely insane to me that these funky little men are so famous now. Dude, I've been here since 2017. 2017. I was obsessed with them the second I discovered Highway Tune. I don't think you understand how annoying it was to have to read and re-read the one GVF fanfic over and over because no one was writing fics about them at the time. There was no merch variety, fanart was scarce. Even around 2020-2021, there was only one tiktok account dedicated to them. And now they're playing at MSG?????

No I cannot believe how much has happened in a year and a half. I bought pit tickets to strange horizons a few weeks before the show and didn’t pay a fuck ton and managed to get barricade. I couldn’t even get one pit ticket today. Like they’re getting legit famous now and it’s insane

[madame-mongoose]

Taco Bell is legit midnight munchers Monnie I would know I am one 😭😭

Everyone can go to a DIFFERENT TACO BELL the one on the highway by my work is for ME ONLY