#and now i want to go garage sale hunting

[paranormaljones]

mutuals i would go garage sale hunting with

[tuttle-4077]

Can I rant for a second? Just a little rant?

I'm staying with my in-laws for the weekend. My kiddos got to trick-or-treat with their granddad which was nice for them (they usually go with their other grandpa, 'Papa'). Today and tomorrow I'm hunting with my FIL while MIL watches the kids which is also super nice.

BUT! my FIL is toxically generous. I'm not sure that's actually a thing but it kind of feels like it should be a thing. What I mean is he'll snag some sort of deal (clearance, garage sale) and then he'll say, "I got this. Want it?"

"No thanks, I don't need it," I'll say (or my husband, or my dad, or whomever he's talking to).

"What, you're not even going to try it on?" (the thing today was a toque).

"No I don't need it. I've got a hat. I'll be good."

"Come on, try it on."

"No, really."

"You'll look so good in it!"

"Seriously, I'm good."

"Well, it's there if you need it."

"👍"

Oi, it's exhausting!

And, oi. My MIL cannot cook. I mean, she can. Everyone can cook. And it's edible. But it's... not good. She browns her hamburger in the microwave which means little to no seasoning. And it's game meat so it needs seasoning. And it ends up with big chunks. And she doesn't even add seasoning to her sauce either. Maybe some salt. (When I first got him, I had to teach my husband that food was supposed to have flavour. He's quite the cook now.) I'm glad I came back to the house and there was food ready but... I guess I'm spoiled.

But the other thing is food safety. I'm fanatical about food safety (took foods in school and worked in restaurants through my teens and 20s). I never know how long food has been sitting out before I get to eat it. Has it been sitting in the stove (element off) for an hour? Longer? How long were these leftovers sitting out before you got around to putting them in the fridge? How old are these leftovers you're offering me? I put the food away tonight after I had a bowl because if I didn't, it would still be on the stove until she put it away before she went to bed. And it's not a big deal for me to put the food away-- I know where the Tupperware is-- but if I didn't then, like I said, it would still be out and she would still expect me to eat it tomorrow.

And then there's just all the stuff at their house. You can barely walk through the basement it's so full. And the upstairs is cluttered, but liveable. So every time we visit I get overwhelmed because one day I know I'm the one who's going to have to go through most of it because I'm the only one who's unemployed and has the time. Oi, yoi, yoi. I get a little overwhelmed by all of it.

And my MIL is the most knowledgeable mom there is because she's always giving me advice. And it's. Just. So... Nice of her... Soooo great. The best. When she gives advice it's not a suggestion it's a "You should" kind of thing. Because it worked for her and her kids. It'll work for everyone. She dispenses this advice to anyone she meets with children even if she only met them five minutes ago. So generous with her advice.

Okay. I'm a whiner. Sorry. And I lapsed into sarcasm. Had to scream this out into the void though.

[empressofthesunwriter]

Cosmic Phantoms

What do you get if you put a sassy Half-Ghost, a bubbly Magical Ghostly Girl, a strongwilled Goth and a skirt-chasing Tech-Nerd together?

Well, the greatest Ghost Hunting Team on Earth!

Join Danny, Julia, Sam and Tucker on their crazy adventures.

Puberty is a joke against the forces they are up to!

Attack of the Killer Garage Sale

After a long school day, our favourite quartet hit up their favourite fast food joint.

Nasty Burger.

The girls were sitting on one side of the booth and the boys on the other.

Julia was chewing her Nasty Burger with extra bacon, as she listened to what Sam had to say.

"So, Saturday night plans. I say we hit the amusement park. I hear the new roller coaster has a free fall that'll take three years off your life expectancy."

"No way.", disagreed Tucker. "It costs forty bucks just to get in there, not to mention food and stuff."

"I'm more worried about taking three years of your life, I am already half-death and don't want to be deather...", said Julia, eating now fries.

"Hey, if you're tapped out, I could lend you the cash.", offered Sam to Tucker.

Tucker shook his head.

"Lend" means "repay," and "repay" is out of my reach. Right, Danny?"

He notices how his best friend isn't even turned to them staring off somewhere.

"Danny? Hello?!"

Curious the other three follow Danny's line of sight.

It's Dash handing out party invitations to his friends, who cheer.

Dash then hands an invite to Paulina and winks at her.

"Great. It's the hottest party of the whole school year, and Paulina's going, and I'm not, again.", signs Danny dramatically.

"I don't understand what you see in her.", deadpan Sam at him.

"My guess is this.", says Julia, waving her hands so around that it forms the curvy figure of a woman. "At least for me, I still would tap that."

"Get your head out of the gutter, Julie!", scolds Sam, drilling a pointer finger in her friend's side, which makes the red-haired girl giggle.

Danny looks annoyed at them.

"Haha, very funny Julie."

"I'm not joking- Autsch, Sam this hurts now!"

"Paulina is only, like, perfectly flawless."

The quartet looks at how the Latina girl orders a Mighty Meaty Cheesy Melt, only to ask for less meat and get a Mighty Mini Meaty Cheesy Melt.

"You're right. She's a goddess.", scoffs Sam sarcastically.

"And we are unworthy peasants!", jokes Julia, raising her cup of Nasty Cola into the air.

"Why don't we get invited to the really cool parties?", wonders Tucker. "We've got style, charm, good looks. At least I do, anyway."

"Dream on. On the social circuit, we're as invisible as Danny and Julie in their ghost modes.", reminds Sam. "Not that it'll matter five years from now, but we have each other, right?"

Suddenly Dash slaps the invitation for his party in Danny's Face.

"Here! Your sister made me invite you."

Sam and Tucker smile hopefully at Dash, while Julia just looks bored.

This doesn't seem to bother Dash since he hands the red-haired girl an invitation.

"For you, Julia."

Confused the girl holds the invitation in her hand asking: "Why?"

"Cause you are hot, duh.", explains Dash, like it is obvious. "Just you two, Fenton. Show up, shut it, go home, and nobody gets hurt. I will see you Saturday, hottie."

Dash winks at Julia, who makes a grossed-out face, and leaves their table.

Meanwhile, Danny couldn't be happier about his invitation, smiling brightly.

A random girl greets them.

Kwan walks up to their table.

"What's up, Fenton and Heinrich?", he yells and raises his arms in the air. "Party!"

He leaves them, as Paulina walks by and waves.

"See you Saturday, Danny, and Julia."

"I'm...I'm invited!", gasp Danny in disbelief, hugging the invitation card. "I've arrived!"

"Swell. Send us a postcard from Popularity-ville.", grumbles Sam.

"I will!"

With that, Danny runs out of the Nasty Burger.

Expectantly Tucker and Sam look at Julia, who just deadpans.

"What?"

"You aren't going to leave us hanging too?", wonders Tucker.

"No, I don't need popularity, especially only because of my looks. And that Dash finds me hot makes me throw up a little in my mouth, eww!"

"I wish Danny would think the same.", signs Sam and gives Julia a little smile. "And I totally agree with the throwing up part, the thought alone makes me sick."

The three remaining friends chuckle at this.

(*)

As they walk to school Danny's three best friends look at him worried.

He seems formally high since he got the invitation to the party.

"Seriously, Danny. Ever since you got that invitation, you're all about the "In" crowd.", tells Tucker straight.

This makes Danny only chuckle.

"Come on, Tuck. That's ridiculous."

He then stops, which makes the others stop too, and pumps a fist in the air.

"Kwan! Looking good!"

The boy in question turns away from Valerie to greet Danny back.

"Fentonmeister! Woo hoo!"

"This is getting ridiculous.", states Julia.

Danny was way over his head.

"They're right, Danny. It's like--"

Sam gets interrupted by Dash who calls for Danny. The boy races up to him.

"--we're not even here."

Julia pats Sam's shoulder as they listen to what Dash wants from Danny. Apparently, there is a dress code and Danny needs to wear these sweats or he will get hurt.

After Dash and his posy walk away, the three rejoin Danny.

"Oh, man. This must cost a fortune! Where am I going to get the money by Saturday?", wonders Danny desparte.

This makes Sam sign.

Is she really going to offer this?

"You know, I almost hate to offer--"

Again the black-haired girl gets interrupted, this time by Paulina, who calls for Danny.

"You wanna hear my new CD? It's really crunk!"

Confused Danny asks Tucker if crunk is good, to which Tucker replies it's Paulina.

So it's good.

Faster than Sonic Danny sits with Paulina on her blanket to listen to the CD.

"Okay, this is getting really annoying.", states Sam.

Julia nods.

"If I ever act that way, you guys are free to hit me."

(*)

Saturday afternoon we find Danny and his friends doing a garage sale, so he can raise the money to buy the cool sweats.

Well, Danny and the girls sell the old Fenton stuff, Tucker enjoys the sun on his skin on a beach chair.

Sam walks up and hands Danny some money.

"Just sold a toaster. You know, I'm surprised your dad's letting you sell off all his stuff.", says Sam, holding a remote up. "He's such a pack rat."

Julia joins them, handing Danny cash too.

"I sold some weird-looking thingy, I said it was for cooking. Are you sure this was a good idea? Isn't some of this stuff for ghost hunting?"

"Yeah, well, he's been planning on getting rid of this junk for a long time. He won't even miss it, I hope.", tells Danny. "And these things are so broke they can't hurt even a fly, so no worries."

"I'm pleased with the turnout today. We're doing a really brisk business.", says Tucker, opening up a sun reflector to tan with.

Frowing Danny counts the money they earned.

"I'm still twenty bucks short of what I need for those sweats."

"You're still welcome to hang with us tonight. Mega-movie marathon at my place.", offers Sam with a small smile, while Tucker and Julia stand beside her.

"Your place? Wow. Besides Julie, you never invited us to your place before."

"That's because we're usually fighting ghosts with you guys. I figured it's time--"

Again for like the 1000 times this week Sam gets interrupted because Dash calls for Danny and he leaves them in a flash.

"--for you to totally ignore me for about the billionth time this week."

The three look at how Danny sells Dash some computer software before their friend celebrates that he has now enough money to buy the cool clothes.

He races back to them.

"You guys don't mind cleaning up for me, do you? Great! See ya!"

And with that, Danny is gone.

The girls have twin frowns on their faces and cross their arms.

"So now we're his clean-up crew, too?", they choruse together.

They look over to where Tucker is standing, but he's running off as well, waving back at them.

"See you tonight, girls!"

This makes them frown harder before Julia signs.

"Come on, let's clean this up and then before Tucker comes tonight, we will have a Spa afternoon in your Spa at home."

"You really love the Spa, huh, Julie."

"Ya bet, honey!"

So the girls quickly clean up the garage sale and enjoy a royal spa afternoon together, before it's evening.

Exactly at the time they agreed on Tucker knocks on the Manson's door.

Sam opens him, while she is on the phone: "Right. That's three medium, one pepperoni, one frutti di mare and one veggie. Put it on my tab."

"Hey, Tuck.", greets Julia.

"Hey, Julie, so you really didn't go to the party, huh?"

"Nope!"

Meanwhile, Sam ended the call and closed the door.

"Hey, Tucker."

"I hope they hustle. I'm starved.", tells Tucker the girls.

Not a second later the doorbell rings and Sam opens it.

"Here's your pizza, Sam.", says the Pizza Delivery Boy.

"Thanks, Nate.", smiles Sam at him, takes the three pizzas and hands him some money.

"Ten bucks? Thanks, Sam!"

Nate walks away and Sam closes the door behind him.

"You tipped the guy a ten-spot?", points Tucker out in disbelieve.

Julia and Sam share a secret look.

"Whoops. Sorry. I thought it was a one.", answer Sam and both girls walk past Tucker. "Come on. We're watching movies downstairs."

As Tucker reaches the bottom of the stairs, where he is left in awe of Sam's home theatre, which includes a giant movie screen, three lounge seats, a popcorn machine, and a soda fountain.

"This is your downstairs?!", shouts Tucker shocked.

He can't help but notice how Julia seems completely comfortable here. She already sits down on a lounge chair, while Sam puts the pizza on the snack bar.

"What? Too much?", asks Sam Tucker.

"Uh-huh."

"I know, I should have told you and Danny this a long time ago, but my family's kind of...filthy rich. Weird, huh?"

"She is Richie Rich in real life, only a girl and goth.", adds Julia from her comfy lounge chair.

"Whoa! Time-out!", begs Tucker and drops his backpack. "Sam you're loaded? And Julie knows this? Since when?!"

"My great-granddad Izzy was an inventor. He invented that machine that twirls cellophane around deli toothpicks. And Julie knows since the school dance that I am rich, remember we got ready together here.", explains Sam.

"You're the deli toothpick cellophane-twirling heiress? No way!", gasp Tucker and sits down in another lounge chair.

"Look, if this is too much for you, we can do something else."

"Are you kidding?!"

Thus starts Tucker asking Sam 1000 questions about being rich, while Julia looks amused.

"Tucker, are we watching movies or not?"

"Okay, okay. Just a few more questions. Could you buy a plane?"

"Yep."

"A yacht?"

"Yep."

"Um...a bowling alley?"

"Nope."

Sam presses a button on a remote and the movie screen wall slides out of view to reveal a four-lane bowling alley.

"There's no place to put a second one."

Ida, Sam's adorable grandmother, rides out on a motorized scooter onto the bowling alley and bowls, getting a strike.

"Yippee!", the old lady pumps a fist. "Bubbe's hot tonight!"

The movie screen wall closes back over the bowling alley.

Still in disbelief, Tucker sniffs the air.

"That's weird because you don't smell stinking rich."

"You can smell that?", asks Julia not believing it, while Sam signs and sits down on the last free lounge chair.

"Will you stop it?", turns Sam to Tucker. "That's the whole reason I didn't tell anybody, besides Julie. She took it with more grace."

"Well, my family is not as loaded as hers but we can't complain.", explains Julia at the question look Tucker sends her.

"But I don't get it. With all this money, Sam and with your looks, Julie why do you girls hang out with me and Danny? If you flash a little of that bling bling, you'd be Miss Popularity and Julie, as your friend, could be the new Queen B!"

"I don't need popularity, Tucker, especially not if I have to buy it."

"And I said already this week I don't want to be popular just because of my looks."

"You girls should tell that to Danny. Can you believe people actually spent good money on that old junk from his parents' shed?"

"Well, I did snag this really cool remote for three bucks. And he did give Dash a pretty good deal on the computer stuff.", points Sam out, as she holds the bought remote up.

Finally, all is settled and the three start to eat their pizzas and watch their first movie of the movie marathon.

An old Karate classic.

They are way into the movie, when suddenly the screen pauses on one man kicking another in the face, then skips back and plays the kick repeatedly.

"Tucker, if you want to watch a part over again, could you please tell us first?", says Sam for her and Julia.

"Me? You're the one messing with the remote."

"No, I don't."

They turn to Julia, who shakes her head.

"Me neither."

The remote glows and floats up from the table between them in midair.

"I'm not schooled in the ways of the rich, but do all your remotes do that?", wondered Tucker.

Sam disagrees. "No. Well, my toaster does, but it's from Denmark. That stuff Danny was selling must have been contaminated with ghost stuff!"

"See, I said it was dangerous to sell this stuff!", shouts Julia triumphantly.

It's only short-lived as the remote shoots a zap of green lightning at the popcorn machine, which breaks and blasts popcorn everywhere, and another one at the sods fountain, which turns on and sprays soda all over the room.

The girls and Tucker duck out of the way, and the remote phases up through the ceiling.

Julia doesn't waste time and transforms into Julie Cosmos.

Together with Tucker and Sam, they run/fly out of the house and see a steady stream of electronics and appliances flying in one direction.

"Looks bad. Probably a job for Julie Cosmos and her partner Danny Phantom.", grins Tucker.

Sam smirks.

"Probably. And if I wasn't so mad at him, I'd probably care that it's going to interrupt his big jock party. Shall we?"

"We shall hold on tight guys!"

Cosmos wraps each arm around the waist of her friends and starts to fly in the direction the electronics go.

As it turns out all the electronics have been flying to Dash's house.

Cosmos gently places Sam and Tucker back on the ground and checks her Fenton Thermos.

"Well, I am ready!"

"Good thing you carry it with you always.", praises Tucker. "Danny should take an example on you."

"Everything is gravitating here to Dash's house. Looks like whatever fun Danny's having will be coming to an end soon.", points Sam out.

It would be a lie if the three don't find pleasure in it.

They are still salty at Danny for ditching them.

Speaking of Danny, he comes flying as Phantom past them, slamming into the side of a building.

"Hi, Sam. Hi, Julie. Hi, Tuck. Glad you could make it.", says Phantom dazed.

He falls to the ground, unconscious, and Sam, Cosmos and Tucker turn back around to see a giant robot emerge from the alleyway.

"I am Technus, master of technology and destroyer of worlds! Behold my awesome electronic fury! ", yells the robot aka ghost Technus and bends forward. " Who's your daddy?"

"Eww, Daddy Kink, yunk!", mumbles Cosmos disgusted.

Phantom regains consciousness and sees Technus.

He flies up and punches him, but Technus doesn't budge.

Then Phantom continually tries hitting him, until Technus brings a hand up and knocks him to the ground.

His three friends stare down at him.

"Guys? Help!", begs Phantom, as he flies back up only to get knocked down by Technus again.

Still pissed Cosmos, Sam and Tucker cross their arms and turn their backs on Phantom.

"Come on, guys! Guys, come on, seriously! I'm sorry I chose to hang with the popular kids over you guys. It was stupid and shallow and I'll never do it again!"

This is what the three wanted to hear and turn back to Phantom as he, again, gets smacked to the ground.

"What ya need, partner?", asks Cosmos.

"He's running an old version of Portals XL.", explains Danny.

"That piece of vaporware? It's the worst software ever.", says Sam surprised.

"Danny, Julie keep him busy.", tells Tucker them. "I think I know how you can beat him."

"That, I can do. Shall we, Julie?"

Cosmos nods and both fly up to Technus.

"Get back, you hunk of my dad's junk!", calls Phantom after him.

"Could mere junk do this?", gives Technus a rhetorical question.

A remote and a robotic finger emerge from the dryer in his chest.

The finger presses a button on the remote, and Phantom changes into a cowboy and Cosmos into a cowgirl.

The button is pressed again, and both change into female models.

The button is pressed once more, and he changes into Spock and she into Captain Kirk from Star Trek.

Annoyed Phantom gets the remote.

"Give me that!"

He returns them to normal, only to get grabbed by Technus's claw and slammed into a wall.

"Tucker, any time!", the Halfa's shout together.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!"

Turns out Tucker has problems hacking into Technus, but Sam has the solution for it. She calls a delivery girl who gives them the newest version of Portal XL, while poor Phantom and Cosmos get smacked repeatedly against the wall.

"Uh, excuse me.", calls Sam up to Technus, who stops and turns to her. "I'm Sam. I don't believe I caught your name. Perhaps you should scream it really loud and shout out your motive."

Incredible he really does it.

"Hello. I am Technus! Manipulator of machines! Lord of all gadgetry! Wizard of integrated circuitry!"

"Go on.", encourages Sam, while she bends down and picks up the ends of two power cords. "Isn't there more you'd like to tell me?"

The Goth plugs the two cords in together.

"Oh, yes! I am also master-", Technus starts to glitch. "of all..."

He fades out.

"What's happening?", asks Phantom, while Cosmos blinks in surprise.

What happened is a cord trailed down from the back of Technus's head, which Sam plugged into a cord leading into Tucker's PDA, which reads, "SHUTDOWN."

"Portals XL is happening. Everybody knows that every new version of Portals XL has a gigantic hole in its security system.", explains Tucker smugly.

"What?! No!", cries Technus, as he continues to glitch, and the claw holding the Halfa's release them.

Phantom flies up and grabs the end of the claw.

"Process this!"

He shoves the claw into Technus's front disk drive, which electrocutes his battle suit and causes "ERROR" to blink on his screen.

"Wait! That doesn't go there!", screams Technus.

The suit sparks and shuts down, hunching forward.

"Now it's my turn!", grins Cosmos and opens her Fenton Thermos. "Bye-bye Mister Technus!"

The Fenton Thermos sucks Technus out of the battle suit and Cosmos closes the cap when he is inside it.

The battle suit shakes and falls apart into a heap of electronics on the ground.

"Nice going, Tuck.", praises Sam.

The Halfa's join them on the ground.

"Don't thank me. Thank lousy software.", says Tucker grinning.

(*)

On Monday morning our quartet walks together to their first hour.

"So, what's the damage from this weekend? Did you get in trouble for taking your folks' stuff?", asks Tucker Danny.

"Not really. I hauled it all back to the shed yesterday while they were out. My dad's checking every piece for government surveillance devices."

"Sounds like you got off pretty easily.", notes Sam.

"Well, I do have to return those stupid sweats so I can refund everybody's money.", signs Danny and stops, which makes the others stop too. "And I still feel terrible about the way I treated you guys. Of all people, I should know how it feels to be invisible."

Sam leans on a locker and asks: "So would you say you've learned a lesson from all this?"

Danny looks over at Dash, who opens up his locker.

A pile of teddy bears from his closet fall out onto the ground.

"Fenton!", yells Dash.

"Yep. That one person's trash is another person's revenge."

"Good one, Danny!", praises Julia.

The quartet laughs together, happy to have each other back again how it's supposed to be.

[pbandjesse]

I am feeling a bit nauseous this evening. I am frustrated how uncomfortable I keep getting once the sun goes down. Last night sucked. I wasn't as wildly itchy and my ribs didn't hurt when I moved. But I couldn't sleep at all. I could not get comfortable and I was up every hour or so. James woke up when I woke up at one point and they said I seemed very distressed and I was. I was very distressed.

I would try to rest even if it wasn't for long. At 9 I did get up. But I was just not having fun.

I washed my face and got dressed. I didn't love my outfit but it was whatever. I didn't really care.

My plan was to go to trader Joe's to get more of the chai concentrate. And I would go to the goodwill and then to the mall. Mostly for walking around purpose. It was surprisingly cold outside. And I thought the walking would be nice.

I was surprised how bruised I am. They would get worse thought the day. Thankfully they don't really hurt, they just look alarming.

I bundled up and went out into the world. I went to trader Joe's first. It was busy but not as bad as last time. I got some fruit leather and my chai and some chocolate covered marshmallows. I wasn't there long.

I was thinking about going into the mall there but it's not like a true mall. Towson Mall is just down the street so I would go there after goodwill.

I was enjoying my podcasts today. I listened to 3 episodes. Walking around goodwill I was just learning about history and looking at stuff. It was nice. I found a small Longchamp for $5 that I am very pleased about. And I found a made well dress that is a little big on me but was to cute to pass up.

I drove down the street to the mall. I had not considered how busy it would be for the Saturday before Christmas. The parking garage was tough but I got to a high enough floor that I got a reasonable spot.

And I really had a nice time walking around the mall. I got a piece of pizza. I people watched. I went in a bunch of stores. I was still on the hunt for that last gift for James. I am frustrated that I couldn't just find nice plain sweaters. They all had quarter zips or graphics. It was wildly frustrating. But I would finally find a reasonable option and it was on sale. I don't know why that was so difficult but that is my husband shopping done.

I would start going home after that. It was hard getting out of the parking garage but whatever. The drive home wasn't to bad. Though when I got to our street the two big round "cones" from the construction on the corner had blown into the middle of the main road. So once I parked I walked down the street and collected them and stuffed them behind a pole so they won't blow away again.

I spent a few minutes cleaning out the car. Bringing some stuff inside and getting all the trash out. It was very blustery outside. Very cold. I was glad I turned the heat on before I left the house.

It was nice and cozy in here. Sweetp was looking really cute. He wanted to go outside though so I let him run around the backyard for a few minutes. But it was cold and he was easy to convince to come back inside.

I put things away. Wrapped James's gift. And decided I should take a shower.

I was feeling kind of icky. I washed my hair and put on cozy clothes. I would clean up my cuticles and pain my nails with glitter just making them look nice.

I spent a lot of time just resting. Hanging out with sweetp. Packed a little overnight bag for visiting my parents for Christmas. I would eat some snacks. And organized the pantry. I was having a mostly nice day. It was the best I've felt this week.

James would come home and I was happy to see them. They made us pasta for dinner. I came downstairs to hang out with them. I spilled the ravioli on my chest. Frustrating. But it was fine and not the end of the world.

Now we are just hanging out. I really really hope I can sleep easier tonight. I hope you all have a good night's rest. And a nice day tomorrow. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[innytoes]

3 Sentence prompts: Willexie + Thrift Shopping!

Just because they were kind of famous now, didn't mean Reggie wanted to give up on his favourite hobby. Listen, he'd gotten his most iconic outfit from the thrift store. Okay, it had been pretty much his only outfit for a while. But it had clearly worked, because Sunset Curve was topping the charts now and everyone thought he was really cool.

Another bonus to having one iconic outfit was he could just ditch the leather jacket and flannel for the day and be basically incognito. Not that a lot of old people at estate sales knew who he was, but he'd been recognised at a bunch of garage sales and it just felt wrong to try and haggle with someone who really just wanted his autograph.

"Tell me again why you dragged me out of bed at five in the morning to drive down to Pasadena to look at... old junk?" Alex whined, sipping on the giant coffee Reggie had gotten him along the way. He was dressed in one of Reggie's flannels, which honestly was kind of a little treat in and of itself. Reggie himself had stolen one of Bobby's shirts and Alex' denim jacket.

"Because it's fun?" Reggie asked. Alex did not look convinced. "Because we can get cool stuff for the house?" he tried again.

"We can get cool stuff for the house at literally every store we want now," Alex pointed out. Which was true, they had Money now. Of course their co-dependent asses still went and bought a house together like they always said they would. It was just... slightly closer to a mansion than the shitty apartments they'd been thinking of when they were seventeen and broke. "Luke and Bobby spent a couple of grand on a new sound system."

"It's not about the money," Reggie pouted. "It's about the thrill of the chase. It's about treasure hunting! It's about finding unique pieces nobody else has!"

Alex stared at him, unamused, obnoxiously slurping his coffee.

"Fine, you're here because you love me and because I need your big sexy muscles to help lift stuff into the truck if we find anything." He was hoping to find a cool coffee table, or a desk, and they could still use a nice dresser.

"Fine," Alex said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "But if I find something cute, you're doing the haggling for me."

"Deal."

The morning went pretty well. They found some cool lamps, and a couple of nice hardcover science fiction books Reggie thought would look very mature and adult on their shelf. Reggie managed to haggle down on a really mature looking desk that would look great in their 'We're Real Adults Now' house, and Alex did use his sexy muscles to help get it onto the truck.

After a quick early lunch in town, they went to the next estate sale. They agreed to split up, since it was later in the day and they needed to be fast before all the good stuff was snapped up.

Except when Reggie rounded the corner, he saw Alex wasn't looking for a nice dresser or pretty trinkets. Alex was talking to a very hot, very cool guy in a crop top.

Reggie narrowed his eyes, going over. Alex beamed. "Hey babe!"

"Why are you flirting with the enemy?" Reggie hissed.

Alex groaned. "Not this again."

"Hey, Reggie," Willie beamed. "Great job on nabbing that desk at the Gilmore estate, I had my eye on that too. But you got here a little late. Do you want to see the heirloom patchwork blanket I scored? And I found this really cool dresser I'm going to paint..."

Reggie squinted at their rival, annoyed. He wanted a cool dresser. And the patchwork blanket folded over his arm looked really nice.

"I'm sure it will look really cool," he said, trying to keep the sulk out of his voice. He gave Alex another glare.

Alex just stared at him. "Maybe I was distracting Willie so you could be the first to notice those vintage comic books in the corner," he said, and Reggie gasped, running off and rifling through the box before Willie could get there.

"Aw man, low blow, Hotdog!" Willie complained.

"Yeah, I'm evil like that," Alex deadpanned, rolling his eyes at the two of them.

In the end, Reggie came away with some Spiderman and Hawkeye comics that were still missing from his collection, and a cute little side table they could paint a pretty pink for Alex. As they were finishing up and loading everything in the truck at the end of the day, Willie moseyed back over.

"Howdy," he said, tipping a cowboy hat Reggie had completely missed. He felt a stab of jealousy, not just for missing it but also because Willie looked unfairly hot like that. Then, Willie plopped the hat on Reggie's head. "We still on for dinner?"

"The burger place?" Reggie asked, leaning over to press a kiss to Willie's cheek.

Alex popped out of the truck. "Oh so now it's okay to flirt?" he asked, grumpy.

"Of course it is, Alex, it's four thirty," Reggie said, propping the cowboy hat on Alex' head. He did not look as sexy as Willie had, but he did look kind of cute. They should go on a horseback riding date, all three of them, sometime soon. He'd bring it up over dinner.

"Yeah, Hotdog, we're only mortal thrifting enemies between six and four," Willie agreed.

"You two are so weird," Alex complained, but he still climbed down to sit in the bed of the truck to receive kisses from both his boyfriends. And over dinner, he smiled indulgently as his two thrift-nerdy boyfriends compared notes and showed off pictures of the treasures they'd found.

[kindestegg]

Platinum Bones Week: Day 6!!! WE ARE ALMOST THERE!! AAAAAAAH!!

This one is "Reconciliation"! Following the teenage King and Collector series, Collector's looking after some school kids who came over for a field trip at the Archives, but they have some... awkward questions. I'll admit, this one's pretty short and sweet, I've been running outta gas over here!

"And here..." Collector tapped the display glass case lightly. "Is a remnant of Emperor Belos' portal door, prior only to the current one we have today!"

The children had their eyes dutifully following wherever he pointed, and gave a cry of awe while staring at the broken off archway with a wing-like design.

"He kept this hidden from pretty much all of the Isles, however eye witnesses and engineers who worked on the portal have given detail on its creation and development." Collector paced around a bit, then put a hand to their chest. "One of such being yours truly."

"My daddy told me you were friends with him!" One of the demons, a little spider girl, raised a hand.

"Uh, yeah, but-" Collector tried to explain himself, but was cut off again.

"No, no, they exploded him!" A many horned goat demon corrected.

"Ah, that's true!" Collector nodded.

"Yeah but they took over the Isles and made a big mess anyway, that's what my big sister said!" The spider girl continued.

"And I'm very sorry for that." They put their hands on their knees and leaned over slightly, eyes shut and giving a little smile, trying to seem passive.  "But on the plus side, I'm here to teach everyone about what you missed out on now, and everything's okay!"

"My mom says you're a monster." A third child, a witchling with puffy hair covering their eyes chimed in.

"... where is your teacher?" Collector wondered aloud as he stared at the group of children brought in for a field trip at the Archives.

"Collector!" King broke the ice by running into the room calling for him. "Hey buddy! You willing to trade a non duplicate rare plush for something you might want?"

Collector immediately beamed, and turned to King. "Depends. What is it?"

"Feast your eyes on this!" King raised up a a small toy donkey, one that had bright pastel colors, rainbow hair and an ornate saddle even. "An authentic 1985 Fancy Prancer Rose Bouquet!"

"Whaaat!!!" Collector yelled, eyes sparkling, pigtails flying in the air as they rushed to look at the toy King had presented. "She's so beautiful! How did you get her?!"

"Luz actually found her at a garage sale. Family didn't know what they had." King shrugged. "Y'know she's more of a Tiny Biomes person so she thought of giving it to you."

"And your first thought was to instead use it to get a rare trade out of me." Collector put their hands on their hips, shaking their head, though their grin showed some sportsmanship. "I'd be mad if I didn't find it so cute when you show your bad boy side."

King held Rose Bouquet close to his chest. "You're still trading me though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, you big dummy." Collector playfully hit him on his shoulder.

"Hey. I'm sorry, but, you're King, right?" One of the kids finally broke the stunned silence they had all fallen into, going up to the titan's tail and tugging it lightly.

"Hm?" The titan hummed, turning to the child. "Yes I am, what's up?"

"You're the last titan." The child looked up at him with awe. "And a hero! What's it like?"

"Oh, well, it's uh... interesting?" King wasn't sure how to answer, awkwardly giving a smile. "Those two things are uh, well they feel pretty different."

"Hey, aren't you two supposed to hate each other?" The spider girl asked, pointing to both King and Collector.

The two teenagers eyed each other for a second.

"Heh, that's funny you say that, King is my best friend." Collector spoke with an awkward brsak in his voice.

"But collectors hunted titans! You can say that all you want but I bet he only says he likes you because he's scared of you!" The goat demon stomped their hoof.

"Ah, uhm." Collector averted his gaze, tugging on his pigtail slightly, looking pretty uncomfortable. "Well, it's not... like that, I mean, if he didn't want to, I mean, I wouldn't force him..."

King let out a scoff and abruptly put his arm around Collector, pulling him close. "Well that's where you're wrong, because I do want to be Colly's best friend."

Collector didn't say anything, but looked up at him and gave him a little smile.

"And besides." King turned his snout up with pride. "You forget how strong titans are! There's a reason titans went toe to toe with collectors! Our magic is so strong we can cancel out their magic, and my dad was responsible for imprisoning Collector once!"

That got all the kids to gasp in awe again.

"Ohhhh, I get it! So if he tries anything you can totally fight back!" The spider girl made a motion of punching the air.

"Mmmyeah, but I'd rather not, I trust Colly to behave." King smiled slightly and tucked his snout under Collector's chin affectionately, giving a nuzzle.

Collector held his horns in response and gave a mischievous grin. "Yeah but what if I wanna play fight?"

King grinned and growled playfully, tail wagging. "Right here? You better have reinforced those display cases!"

"Hey, what about our tour?" One of the kids protested, reminding the two they were still there.

"You still wanna take care of those kids?" King asked Collector. "Where'd their teacher go anyway?"

"Maybe we can look for them together!" Collector held King's paws. "I know they're a bit blunt, but I know what it's like to be a kid who annoys others."

"Yeah, me too." King looked down and gave an awkward little smile.

"Hey, we're still right here!" The goat kid called.

Collector gave a little laugh. "Alright, alright, let's go find your teacher."

They offered their hands to each be held by a kid and walked on, the others also following them.

[neerdokells]

In With the Old, Part 1

Notice: While this specific entry is clean, it is the introduction to a story that will include mature themes, such as transformation, sex, femdom, and gender fuckery.

It started with an antiquing trip.

My wife, Linda, had accepted a new job which required us to relocate, but the pay was great; so much, in fact, that we could afford a house in the new town and get by just fine regardless of how long it took me to find work. With all the extra room we now had, we needed furniture and decorations to make it a home. So we were on one of those antique trails on the weekend, a dozen or so shops in one area with a map and a crowd drifting back and forth along the path. The truck was slowly filling up.

It was at our fifth shop that I spotted a bin of cast iron cookware. It looked to be in rough shape, but I didn't mind, since I didn't really need it for cooking. There was a bare wall in the kitchen where some skillets would look great, cleaned up a bit and hanging, so I asked about them. It turned out to be a lot sale; I was either buying the entire bin, or none of it. I wasn't sure I needed quite that much, but I definitely wanted some, so I sprung for it without checking the contents in greater detail. Linda and I agreed we could figure out what to do with any extra pieces later.

My job hunt had yet to yield results, and my primary contribution to the household had been the housework and unpacking. It was a couple months of sorting through our stuff and finding homes for it, between things we bought and things we had packed, before I got around to the cookware. Each piece had a significant amount of grime and rust on it, so I hadn't bothered until I knew I had time to deal with them properly. The bin had been left in the garage for when I was ready for it, so I set up an electrolysis basin next to it and began prepping the cast iron to go into the bath. As I dug through and prepped pieces, I dug out an antique teapot. It looked ancient, and fragile. Porcelain, at a guess. How it survived in the bin was anyone's guess. But it wasn't rusted, obviously, so I sat down with a rag and some cleaner to get the surface grime off.

When the teapot began to shake and emit smoke, I jumped back and dropped it. Not only did it not break, but it continued to shake and smoke until the mist gathered into a single area and solidified into a man! He was a bit taller than me, probably just over six feet as opposed to my 5'10”, but considerably more muscular. He had a long beard, short hair, and bronze skin.

“Thank you for releasing me, mortal!” his voice boomed, shaking the tools on my garage shelves. “For finding and releasing me, I will grant you three wishes!”

“What are you, a genie?” I asked.

“I…yes, I'm a genie. I thought that would be clear.”

“Right, it's just, I was under the impression genies weren't real, is all. So I wasn't anticipating, you know,” I waved my hand to indicate his whole body, “all of this.”

“We are a rare phenomenon, usually only one is released in a century! You are fortunate, indeed, Master!”

“Right, yeah, I mean. I've heard the stories, though.”

“Our works are the stuff of legends, surely you've heard wondrous tales!”

“I mean, yeah, that, but also. So, the thing is, wishes are kinda…sketchy, aren't they?”

“Sketchy?”

“Like, isn't there usually some kind of catch?”

“I assure you, we djinn deliver exactly what our masters wish!”

“Okay, you know what, I'm not doing this. For my first wish, I want you to be completely honest, fair, and accurate with me whenever I ask you a question from this moment forward, without counting questions as wishes.”

“That is…very pointed.”

“Mhm. And?”

“And your wish is granted, of course,” he said, slumping down to sit on an overturned bucket.

“Thank you. Is it true that wishes often turn out to be a significant hassle or problem for the person who made the wish?”

“Well, yes. It is.”

“Why? What do you get out of that?”

“I don't get anything out of it. It is not an act of malice.”

“Then what is it?”

“Balance.” He explained to me that, as personified magical energy arising from the flow of the world, genies are bound to the balance of all things. Their magic must always have a reaction; and since most wishes introduce chaos into the system, the system responds by enforcing some form of order on it. “The problem isn't that I seek to punish them for their wishes, it's that, when you ask to suddenly upend the entire economy of a continent, there must be a lot of order imposed on how that happens, to ensure the world does not tip too far into chaos.”

I thought for a little bit about his words, before finally asking, “Can you see the shifts in this balance ahead of time?”

“Yes.”

“And it's transactional?”

“How do you mean?”

“If I asked you what would need to happen for a certain wish to be granted, could we tinker with the wording and the cost until we get a wish where the balanced cost is known and acceptable to me?”

“I've never tried that, but I suppose it's possible.”

“Hot damn!” I cried, clapping and jumping to my feet. “Sounds like we have some work to do! But first, I need to get past you there. I haven't finished cleaning those skillets.”

“That is a task well within my capabilities.”

“I'm not wasting wishes on dishes, man. Speaking of. A teapot?”

“You can choose what my vessel looks like while it is in your care. The last master chose a teapot. Less obvious, he said.”

“That checks out, I guess. What's your name, anyway?”

“Yakov.”

“Pleased to meet you. I'm Bryce.”

*****

By fhe time Linda got home, Yakov had returned to his teapot. I didn't really know how to explain the situation to her, and she was eager to tell me about the progress she'd made on her project at work, so we talked about that. She informed me that her job wanted her to take a business trip the following week, and she felt it was a great opportunity. I figured, by the time she got back, I'd probably have this genie situation sorted out. Or, at least, know how to tell her without sounding crazy or freaking her out.

The rest of the week, Yakov and I hammered out details while I did housework. I would ask how he would grant a certain wish, like immortality or riches, and he would tell me. We'd talk about why that consequence, specifically, had come up, and use that discussion to explore ways the wish could be augmented. I wrote the terms of the wish down once I felt it was as good as it was going to get.

After I dropped Linda off at the airport on Sunday evening, I fired up a spreadsheet to lay out everything we'd established so far. I could set most of the housework aside for a few days, I figured, since no one but me and the genie were going to see it, anyway.

“What about freeing you?” I asked over lunch on Monday. “Is that a thing that happens?”

“No.”

“Can it?”

“Yes,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning on the fridge, “but it is complicated. I would have to cease to be a genie.”

“And become what?”

“A mortal human. I would still have incredible magic, but it would fade, and I would become a perfectly normal human being within about three decades.” He stood bolt upright after that, staring into space.

“Yakov? You good?”

“I…I didn't know any of that.”

“So the wish for you to be accurate means you'll answer questions correctly, even if you didn't know the answer before I asked?”

“It would appear that way.”

“Hey, wait! This is the first real chance we've had to test this! What are the Powerball numbers for the next drawing?”

He rattled off a set of numbers, and I wrote them down. After lunch, I went out and bought a ticket with those numbers, as a test to see if he was really bound to tell the truth to all my questions. When the ticket won, I was finally convinced everything he was saying was true.

*****

I made arrangements with an accountant to handle the money that would come in from the ticket, once Linda and I worked out what it would mean for us. She was excited, of course, but concerned about taxes and blowing it all, so she intended to keep working until she knew it would all pan out. By Friday, Yakov and I were looking at a full list of refined wishes.

“You can't do all of them, you know,” he warned.

“No, I know.” He had explained already that, if I tried to find a loophole by making one wish be that he would do everything on the list, it would backfire. The magic had a way of knowing when you were trying to cheat it; apparently, working out an acceptable balance wasn't considered cheating, but rather a respectable attempt to play by the rules. He told me he'd never encountered anyone trying that approach before. “But you said this fae one would grant me access to a bunch of magic of my own?”

“Balance-free magic, at that.” I had asked about gaining magic I could just use after I ran out of wishes, and we had worked out that the best way to balance consequences for that was if I stopped being human. After some back and forth, we settled on the fae; while he didn't believe they were real, they were believed to be entities of chaos. This meant that their magic was not inherently offset by enforced order, which made it much more flexible. Becoming something inhuman seemed a very fierce consequence for the power, but he assured me it could be a form that would include shapeshifting, so I could spend some time appearing human if I chose. He could not, however, guarantee what my fae form would look like.

I could have the magic to make life for me and Linda whatever we wanted, and the money to pay for whatever I didn't need to use the magic on. It almost felt like too much, but that's the point of wishes, right? Try to make the best of them?

In the end, I felt that was the best bang for my buck. The other wish would be to free Yakov. I had been concerned about giving him mortality, but he waxed poetic for about an hour about how a few decades of life, real, free life, with a concrete ending was better than an eternity of being enslaved or waiting to be enslaved. I suppose he had a point. But if I freed him as my second wish, I wouldn't get a third, as he wouldn't be a genie anymore. And if I got my magic as my second wish, I wouldn't be able to free him as my third, since genies only serve humans.

The plan was complicated, but we felt good about it. The second wish would be to free him, but it would have a trigger: it would be set to get fulfilled as soon as my third wish was fulfilled. We worked late into the night refining the wording, and then it was time.

I made my wishes, using the exact wording we had worked out, and then I was blinded by a flash.

[cutearose]

36, 40, 42!!!!!!!!!

eeee thank you pal!

36. what’s the most you’ve reread a book? 

oh gosh I adore rereading so I feel like this is going to be really hard to answer!!!! oh no!!!!

I’ve only been tracking on goodreads since I think 2014, so some of my older/childhood books wont have as many rereads as I know they should, BUT goodreads does let me sort my read shelf by how many times I’ve read books, and its telling me there are three books that I have read five times each since I started tracking!!

the first is actually one of the books I thought of when I saw this question - my school library had a copy and it became a favourite of mine (so there are definitely many more reads from back in school, since I graduated in 2012..!) and I actually now own two copies of it! the book is Whispers Through the Pines by Lynne Wilding!

the other two books with five reads are Runemarks by Joanne Harris (another fave from the school library!) and Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (one of if not the first lesbian book I ever read!)

I feel like I also would have a lot of rereads on both a little princess, and the mortal instruments series - they’re both showing up as four reads each, though I know there’s more that are untracked. 

40. do you own any “rare” or “collector” books?

oooooh! I dont really think I do, actually? I have a couple of self-published books from cons and markets that are limited print runs, if they count? I also have a copy of lano and woodley’s book that originally only had a very small print run and therefore was resold at high prices online and I felt lucky to have found it in an op-shop, but I think they reprinted it for their reunion show and now mine is far less rare 😂

42. do you buy new or secondhand books? 

both!! 

I grew up mostly getting books from op-shops or garage sales, which I am always gonna love doing - its like a treasure hunt!! once I had an income of my own I did start buying myself new books, which is where most of my current collection came from, but since starting to pay for rent and bills I havent been able to afford new books often. nowadays I will occasionally splurge on a new book that I love, or save up to buy nice copies of my faves, but since joining the library I try not to buy new books if I havent already read them before. I have an ever-growing ‘want to own’ shelf on my goodreads that I send out in the holiday season as a wishlist but also use as a shopping list when I’m opshopping or at a book sale!

[clover-46]

Omg I got a continuation thought from sexy next door neighbors!! I don't even care if its cliches I'm living for it.

David:

Angel being new the neighborhood and everyone keep stalking about that one house at the end of the street that has the nicest lushes grass they've ever seen in their life. And a really nice garden and they're a bit jealous but it's whatever.

Angel just going back and forth from the moving and truck and their house, carrying boxes and unpacking as they go. And one of the times they leave their house, they see David mowing his lawn and they're just staring, because they didn't expect there to be some kind of Adonis in this suburban neighborhood wtf.

And like a klutz (same), they're too busy staring at this absolute treasure of a man that they're dropping the box in their hand.

David who hears the mugs inside shatter from where he's standing (werewolf hearing lets go) and lifts his head in concern, because where did that come from and he just sees Angel staring down at the box like it's the spawn of satan.

David going over to see if they're alright and now Angel is just flat out staring at his chest. No shame whatsoever. And he's not really sure how to react since at least the rest of the neighborhood is subtle when checking him out.

"My eyes are up here." He finally just pushes out and they blink before saying "Yup. I know" and grabbing the box, bringing it back inside. And now David can't stop thinking about this absolutely weird stranger. He can respect the boldness though.

Asher:

Baabe returning back to their childhood home to spend the week with their family. They haven't been back home for some years so it's nice to revisit their old haunts and feel the nostalgia. (They egged their old high school too. It was worth it.)

The neighborhood having a block party and sectioning off the street as they set up tables and chairs and all sorts of stuff. Kids are running around and Baabe is just trying to help put the plates down on the buffet table.

Asher bringing out a tub of water guns and challenging every. single. kid. to a water fight. Baabe getting splashed in the back and whirling around to see who dared, only to be greeted by a man with the most serotonin inducing grin they've seen in their entire life.

"Oh sorry. My aim was off." (He's actually covering for the kid that shot Baabe but ran off before he could be caught.) Baabe just staring before holding out their hand. Asher thinks they want to shake his, so he puts his hand in their own while introducing himself.

"No. Give me a gun." They say, shaking off his hand. Asher gives them one.

Baabe has now recruited all the neighborhood children and Asher is hiding in a bush while they hunt for him. This new stranger is really hot when they're determined though, so he's not upset.

Milo:

Milo was holding one of his famous garage sales (he stole some of Asher's stuff to sell. None of it is his own. Christian's stuff is also in there.) He goes inside his house to get some water because it's really hot out. When he comes back out this complete stranger is holding Aggro and asking him how much his cat is.

Uhm, excuse him the audacity?

"He's not for sale, what the fuck?"

"Pretty sure he likes me better."

Aggro is just purring in Sweetheart's arms and not helping the situation. They just keep arguing over it for the next five to ten minutes.

"Okay. Compromise. I'll pay you child support and I get to hang out with him on the weekends, Mr. Greer."

He doesn't know where this stranger came from, but now Aggro has six cat trees and somehow he's growing catnip in his garden?? He doesn't remember planting it. (Sweetheart came in the middle of the night and planted it.)

-🙊

more sexy next door neighbors?? rubs hands together like a fly

BEST MEETING HANDS DOWN. and im soooo angel 😭

LMAOOOOOOO BAAABE

sweetheart is such a weirdo but that’s why we love them (in reality this would make me avoid them but milo’s braver than me)

@messenger-of-stupidity

[artfoncorner]

2022 was a bad year

Well, saying the year was “bad” is an understatement. How bad was it?

In January, one of my friends’ Discord accounts was taken over by some jerk pretending to offer me a game demo to try. Now, some hackers are pretty obvious to spot but this bastard used social engineering to get what he wants…my account. Sure enough, I was fooled and unable to log back into my account. My contacts started blocking me as my account was compromised. The hacker gained access to my PayPal and debit card, buying things with the ill-gotten money. Luckily, my bank’s anti-fraud bureau caught onto some purchases that bounced so I was able to get my money back and have my debit card disabled. I also changed passwords on my PayPal account, enabled 2FA on many of my apps and sites (including Discord), and did a clean reinstallation of the software to ensure that the token logger (fake game) wouldn’t snatch up whatever information I put in.

February through May were uneventful for the most part, but I did celebrate my birthday at Mac’s Pizza Shack (they have such good fried chicken) and I got back to work on Chapter 9 of Rage-chan. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a webcomic I worked on back in the day and I used to have a dedicated Tumblr blog for it. I’ll upload those old pages in the near future, I swear! Oh, and on Memorial Day weekend I was tasked with watching after my brother’s dog on his farm while he left town. It was pretty nice to out of the city and into the quaint countryside, and his dog behaved quite well too.

June was a bad month because of several minor things going wrong on a consistent basis, and July was the result of an unstable internet connection as a result of our modem getting wrecked by a storm and a poor setup. August was one of the higher points as I scored a brief tenure at the technical college’s bookstore and went on a trip near the Mississippi River. Sadly, as it was a temp job, I was only needed there for about two weeks. While that job gave me some financial cushion, it wasn’t enough and I struggled to find work afterwards. The job hunt continued with fruitless interviews and countless rejections. I was so distraught that I gave up on the job search for a little while.

What also didn’t help was that during August, our town house (the upper part where my mom and I lived) went up for sale. It was purchased in September where we’d hear about what the new landlord planned on doing with the property. It resulted in our eviction and a whole month of hauling, packing and cleaning. Where’d we end up? My sister’s cramped apartment.

The move was completed in late October and since there’s no room for me in the house, I’m stuck in a garage. The only means of income I have are commissions, and while I’ve continued with the job hunt, it hasn’t gotten any easier. Even though December heralded the completion of OC on Parade 3, I was discouraged because it barely gained much traction compared to the works of others. How disappointing is it that a project you spent months on while dealing with various life factors didn’t even amount to some sketch a fetish artist only took about 20 minutes to complete?

So that was 2022, arguably one of the worst years of my life. While 2021 started out okay until it went downhill in the latter half of the year, I came in hoping that 2022 would fare better. I went into the year as a bright eyed idealist and left a broken, jaded and bitter curmudgeon.

My goals for 2023 are to find a decent job and get a new place to myself, moving out of this dumpy garage to gain some self-respect. I’ll also be posting art more often to try and get myself out of these negative ruts.

Have a good New Year’s Eve and hoping for the best in 2023!

[obsidiancreates]

An Honest Talk

(Got to the episode where Valerie gets the ghost hunting stuff. I just want her to be happy and not Filled With Vengeful Rage so, here's this.)

Jazz sees the whole thing.

Really, Valerie isn't even good at hiding it. As soon as that Ghost Hunter shows up at that school game, Jazz figures it out. Not just because her voice is the same, but because of the insults she shouts while hanging in that basketball hoop. Sure, Jazz is in a higher grade, but she's heard that A-Lister group plenty of times in the hallways and after school.

They're real jerks. But not murderous jerks.

So she decides to do something about it. No-one attacks her baby brother. ... Well, except other ghosts. But Jazz can't always help with those.

This? No problem.

"Hey, Valerie."

Valerie jolts, yelping and almost dropping what is clearly some kind of ghost-detecting device. "Who are- ugh, aren't you Fenton's sister? What do you want?"

"To talk to you," Jazz says in her most empathetic voice. "I noticed you're having kind of a rough time."

"Why do you care?"

"Because my brother does." Cares about not being pummeled, at least. But Jazz is sure Danny hopes the best for his schoolmate, even with the attacks.

Valerie huffs. "Great, pity from the loser kids."

"Come on, it won't hurt to talk about it?"

"Talk about what? That some ghost kid and his dog ruined my life? That we're broke, and all my friends hate me for it? yeah, talking will fix everything."

Jazz sits down on a bench, and pats the seat next to her. Valerie looks away.

But then... she sighs. And sits. "I keep thinking about that five hundred dollar shirt I ruined. Maybe if e hadn't bought that, or I hadn't worn it to school, we'd be a little better off right now."

"It's not your fault."

Valerie grits her teeth. "Yeah. It's that ghost kid's."

"Ghost kid?"

"... You believe in ghosts, right? Because of your parents?"

Jazz nods. "Plus, that thing during the school game,, Kind of hard to deny."

"Heh. Yeah. ... That dog broke into the place my dad was working for. he was showing off what he did for their security, and none of it stopped the dog or the kid. And then they showed up again at the garage sale and wrecked our moving van, and the dog stole my lunch after all my friends rejected me!"

Valerie wipes her eyes, scowling. "It's not fair!"

Jazz hands her a tissue. "It's not, not at all."

"I wanna destroy that kid," Valerie growls. "Like he destroyed me."

"... Valerie... how old is he?"

"About my age, I think."

"And he's a ghost."

"Yeah. And?"

"So... how do you think a ghost kid comes to be?"

Valerie doesn't reply. But after a moment, her eyes widen a little. "Oh... no, no, but... but he's a kid. He can't be any older than me."

"Yeah," Jazz says softly. "So something horrible must have happened to him already."

Valerie looks at the device in her hands. "... But... he still ruined my life." She sounds a bit unsure now.

"Maybe he didn't mean to. I mean... imagine one day you wake up and everything is... different. Suddenly you've got no gravity, and-and no-one can see you sometimes and you're this weird thing-"

God, how scared was Danny when it happened? She's pretty sure by now that it was The Accident that did it, she can't think of anything else that explains it. What was it like for him, waking up as something different?

"It would be tough," Jazz finishes, looking at Valerie.

Valerie still won't meet her eyes, looking at the beeping device. "Then why is he following me around?"

"... Well... does he show up first, or the dog?"

Valerie thinks for a long moment. "... The dog. It's always the dog."

"So maybe he's trying to catch it."

"... I mean, I guess that could be it. But he's been fighting me!"

"And you've been fighting him."

"But-! ... Aw, geez..." Valerie deflates. "What do I do now, then? I can't... I can't keep attacking some kid who... we've barely lived, I can't just make it so that he's barely lived twice."

Jazz stands up and offers her hand. "How about we try talking to him?"

Valerie looks at her. "For real?" She's skeptical.

Jazz nods. "For real. Maybe we can clear some things up."

Valerie turns away again. And then, with a hefty sigh...

Takes Jazz's hand.

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

"Cujo?" Danny calls out. "Cujo! We need to get you back to the Ghost Zone, buddy! Come on, where is he?"

Someone clears their throat behind him, and he yelps as he shoots up in the air.

He turns around, and sees possibly the worst thing he could see right now.

His sister, and his hunter.

"Hello, Ghost Boy!" Jazz calls out.

"Um... hi." Danny waves, still looking startled.

Jazz nudges Valerie, and Valerie huffs. "Hi," she says shortly. Jazz smile at her, though.

"I'm here to mediate a talk between you two," Jazz says, walking closer (and somewhat pulling Valerie along behind her). "I figured there might be more to this story than we all three think."

"Um, you're not- I mean, I'm a ghost, you're just... casual about this?"

Jazz nods. "My parents are well-versed with ghosts, this is nothing."

A straight-up lie. Jazz hadn't even believed in ghosts until she peeled Spectra. But maybe it's to save face for Valerie? Or maybe Jazz recognizes him as the ghost from that day.

"Anyway," Jazz says, "Valerie here has something to say."

Valerie, arms cross and back hunched angrily, glares at Danny. "Who are you, and why are you out to get me?"

Danny floats back down to the ground, standing on it now. "I'm, um... Phantom-"

Valerie gives him a disbelieving look.

"Uh, Ghost Names are uh, different! It's this whole thing. And, I'm not out to get you, I swear. It's all been terrible coincidences."

Valerie scoffs.

"Val, we're here to listen," Jazz reminds gently. "Let him explain his side of things, and then you can explain yours, and we'll come to a solution. Trust me, I read a book about this."

Danny doesn't doubt it. "I don't own that dog, I found him wandering around outside. I thought he was cute at first, and then he turned into the big dog that keeps haunting you."

"And why's he doing that?" she snips.

"I don't know yet." Danny rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I'm trying to send him back to the Ghost Zone, but he keeps coming back out! I'm starting to think it's some cliche 'unfinished business' thing. But until I can figure it out I don't know how to get rid of him. All I can do is try to minimize the damage."

"Doing a great job." Valerie rolls her eyes. "Ruining my father's business, ruining our garage sale, ruining my lunch!"

"I swear, I was trying to help! He's really, really hard to get under control! He's like five times my size!"

"And you can't grow bigger and handle it that way?" Valerie retorts.

"No! I'm only a few months into this, I-"

He cuts himself off at the look on Valerie's face. "What?"

"A few months? ... So... so I could've known you?" Horrified, is the best word for her expression.

Danny shrinks, holding his bicep and hunching a little. "Um, nevermind. I just mean I'm not super powerful."

"No, no, we're going back. Did I know you? Is this a revenge thing?"

"What? No! I already told you, I'm trying to help prevent things from getting worse! And... no. I'm a loser kid, and you're popular."

"... Was," Valerie says quietly. "... All my friends ditched me when I lost my money."

"That's awful."

Valerie nods. "I don't know why I thought they liked me for more than money, looking back. But it still hurts. Being a lonely loser is the worst."

"Tell me about it," Danny mutters. "I mean, I have friends, but sometimes some stuff just makes you feel alone no matter what."

He thinks he sees Jazz tear up at that, but he's not sure. He's distracted by Valerie letting out a sob.

"I don't have anything left," she says, voice quavering. "I don't have the popularity, I don't have money, I don't have the grades..."

"... So you turned to revenge?" Jazz's voice is soft.

Valerie sobs again, and Jazz gives her some comforting slow pats on the back. She looks at Danny, nodding at Valerie.

Danny gets the hint. "You... you could, um, make something, more?"

Valerie gives a somewhat bitter teary chuckle. "What is that supposed to mean, huh? I'm already hunting ghosts. It's... something."

"... You could try to make new friends."

"Oh sure, that's easy. I'm a social pariah."

"So am I. But even just one or two friends helps a lot."

"You got a lot of ghost buddies?"

"... Humans, actually. An if I can make friends with some high school kids as a loser and a ghost, you can make friends too. You just might have to lower your social radar a bit."

Valerie rubs her arm. "... You're really not out to get me, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I want to protect people, not hurt them."

"... I'm sorry I shot those missiles at you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep the dog contained."

"... I'm sorry you're a ghost so young."

Danny snuffles a little. "... Thanks." Sometimes he is, too.

Valerie looks at her hand, and then holds it out to him. "Truce? I won't mess with you. I can't promise the same about that dog if it keeps showing up, but I won't mess with you."

Danny sighs. "So you're keeping the weapons."

"Oh, you know I am. Even if I'm not hunting you, now that I know about ghosts I want to be prepared."

"I guess I understand that." Danny shakes her hand. "Truce."

Jazz grins. "See? Just needed a real, meaningful talk!"

Valerie laughs a little, wiping her eyes again. "Yeah, I guess. But... now what? Who do I blame for this?"

"Probably the boss who decided that Ghosts Suddenly Existing was your father's fault," Danny says.

Valerie's eyes harden. "Yeah. Yeah, I can go with that."

"But," Danny and Jazz say at once. They look at each other, and Jazz let's Danny speak.

"But," Danny says again, "Maybe focus on making some more friends, first. One thing about us losers, is we don't ditch someone just for money reasons."

"... I'll give it a shot." Valerie smiles a little at Danny. "With better aim than the ones I took at you."

Danny chuckles a bit.

They both wave goodbye, Jazz and Valerie leaving Danny to continue his search.

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

"Hi."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all look up. Valerie is standing nervously with her brown paper bag of lunch. Tucker brightens up, and Sam gives a little, slightly suspicious, wave.

Danny scoots over. "Wanna sit with us?"

Valerie looks over at the A-Lister table. They're all staring, smirking, whispering.

Mocking.

She looks back at the 'losers'.

They're looking at her with... openness.

"Yeah. Sure."

She sits down, and gets out her lunch. For a minute, she just listens to them talk while she unpacks the sandwich.

"Hey, is that peanut butter and honey?" Sam asks. Valerie nods.

Sam holds up a thick roast beef sandwich. "My parents are trying to get me to eat meat again, but I'm staying vegetarian. Want to trade?"

Valerie blinks. "Uh... sure?"

They swap sandwiches. Valerie looks at the sandwich, mentally trying to figure out the carbs and calories and fat content-

She looks around the table. No-one else is analyzing their food. Or, judging hers.

She takes a bite. It's pretty good.

This... is pretty good.

She smiles, and laughs a little at a joke Danny makes.

Yeah. This is pretty good.

[collecting-stories]

Inventory - Daryl Dixon

Request: you can write anything tbh! just something small and sweet, if you don’t mind :) (daryl anon)

A/N: This is honestly just random established relationship fluff or something.

The Walking Dead Masterlist

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

You weren’t entirely sure that you liked Alexandria. It felt like someone had captured the old world in a time capsule and you were viewing all the things that you had forgotten about. Shower pressure and hot water and actual running water weren’t things that you took for granted and you’d practically cried in the bathroom when the toilet flushed but all the other parts felt uncomfortable. Like clothing that didn’t fit you anymore. You weren’t Daryl, waiting with his hand on a gun for the moment everything went to shit, but you certainly weren’t about to done a cardigan and act like a soccer mom getting ready for a bake sale either. You would let Carol handle the assimilating and gossip. Or at least the former, the latter, you couldn’t escape.  

“I wouldn’t’ve pegged him as your type.” Olivia mentioned, hellbent on making inventory a gossip session.  

“What?” You looked away from the open garage door to where Olivia was stacking cans of corn and writing down their number in her composition book.  

“Daryl. I noticed you watch him a lot...is that like, you guys got a thing going on or you just looking?” She asked.  

You paused in your rearranging of cans to look back out the garage door again. Daryl was across the street talking to Aaron and Michonne and you tried to formulate an answer that made sense for Olivia and for you. She hadn’t technically asked if you were ‘together’ (that ominous word that felt so weighty when you said it to yourself) but she was definitely asking for a definition. Were you more than friends, absolutely. That wasn’t even something you needed to think about. You certainly weren’t sharing beds with your friends the way you did with Daryl. But he’d never given any definition to your togetherness and somehow, even defining it felt like such an archaic thing. Another piece of the old world pulled from the time capsule.  

“I mean...” you shrugged, “both I guess?” There was a thing, for lack of a more concrete term, but you also liked looking at him a whole lot. You’d been enjoying looking at him for a while now and sometimes on the road you’d thought, if something happened, who would you look for in a crowd. It wasn’t just that you liked the view, it was that feeling of something that anchored you into the moment, made your head a little less dizzy, made all this more bearable.  

“I guess he’s not bad looking.” Olivia laughed a little, her cheeks reddening at the thought and you wanted to agree. He most certainly was not bad looking. And you had told him so plenty of times, in the privacy of your own room. “He doesn’t seem very...” she paused, looking over at you as if she had caught herself speaking out of turn.  

Small talk and social etiquettes felt like something you’d left behind too, far too used to being direct with people. It almost felt odd for her to be so unforthcoming.  

“Friendly?” You asked. She didn’t need to say it for you to know what she was thinking. It seemed to be a consensus throughout Alexandria. The community had differing opinions about all of you but the one thing they all agreed on was Daryl’s lack of acceptable behavior. He wasn’t particularly friendly with any of them (aside from Aaron maybe) and he acted more like a caged animal than someone who was grateful for shelter and protection.  

“Uh, yeah.” Olivia nodded, pink cheeks staining darker, “I mean, I’m sure he talks to you, of course...it’s just, I’ve never found him to be particularly...warm.”  

Warm, you felt like the word echoed in your mind once she said it. You’d never really spent too much time thinking about the way you would describe Daryl, he was just, himself, and that was it. You didn’t linger on what he was, what you expected him to be. Even if you didn’t ever think of yourselves as ‘together’ you knew exactly what you were.  

You thought about offering up a defense for him, explaining that he was warm. He was being wrapped in a blanket on a cold night or feeling the sun on your shoulders in the early morning. It wasn’t something you considered often, that you felt like you needed to name, but you knew it right away. The words came on the tip of your tongue, like you’d been waiting to think them. But you didn’t get the chance.  

Daryl came up the driveway while you were staring at him and the softest of smiles graced your features as you watched him, giving a small wave. Maybe you wouldn’t have thought about it if you hadn’t been talking to Olivia but, as Daryl held your gaze the whole up the drive, you were reminded of when you might’ve categorised his behaviour as more shy than reserved. Now it felt like he held back because he chose to, deciding what parts of himself other people got to see. When you’d first known him it was more a defense mechanism than an ordinary occurrence, and he’d never been comfortable meeting your eye.  

“Did you come to help with inventory?” You teased, already hearing the grumbled response in your mind before he said it.  

“Just passing by,” he replied, glancing over to the far corner where Olivia was still sitting, notebook open in her lap. “Morning.”

You wondered if she was scrutinising the interaction. Trying to see for herself what you saw in Daryl, as if that was possible.  

“I’ll go check to make sure we’ve got all the dry foods from upstairs.” Olivia announced, standing from her spot and bumping her chair back against the sorting table. It rattled but nothing fell over and she went so quickly out of the room she looked like she was power-walking.  

“What’s a matter with her?” Daryl asked, taking your water bottle from the ground by your chair and unscrewing the cap so he could drink some.  

“She was asking about you, weren’t your ears burning?” You joked.  

He glanced down at you, unamused, before finally taking the bait, “why’s she asking?”  

“Said I stare at you all the time.”  

“So quit staring.” He capped the water bottle and set it back in its place before fiddling with different cans on the shelves, pulling them off and reading the labels.  

“Easier said then done,” you replied, grabbing your notebook off the shelf in front of you, “besides, I don’t wanna forget what you look like.”  

“Why? You going somewhere?”  

You scrunched your nose at his words and shook your head, “no, but you are right…saw you talking to Aaron.”

“Think ya watch me just ta spy on what I’m doing.”  

“I’m right though, you two are headed out?” You asked.  

“Don’t make it something it ain’t…I’ll be back in a few days time.”  

Daryl was good at coming back when he left, you knew it from experience. He’d come back when he’d left with Merle, he’d come back when he’d left to find Beth, when he went off on his own to hunt he always came back. As sure as you were that he would leave, you were just as sure he would find his way back again. It wasn’t something you had to think about or reassure yourself of but sometimes it was easier to give in to that worst case scenario that sat in the back of your mind.  

“I know,” you said it like you were promising him, “but that’s a few days without seeing you…who am I supposed to look for?”  

Daryl set down the can of beets he was looking at and walked the short distance back to you. His hand wrapped around the end of your ponytail and he gave a gentle tug, guiding your head all the way back so you were looking straight up at him. You thought it was probably a good thing Olivia wasn’t here, she’d seemed scandalised enough at his presence in the room, you could imagine all the things she’s knock over if she saw him now, one hand holding your ponytail and the other on your neck as he leaned down and kissed you.  

It was a softer kiss than the hold implied and you considered the juxtaposition of Daryl’s softness and roughness your favorite thing about him. It’d taken a while, to see the soft bits, but now you saw them all the time. How he kissed you so comfortably, like he’d always been doing it. His tongue brushing your bottom lip almost teasingly but he pulled away before you could do more, standing back up straight and dropping his hands. He gripped the back of your folding chair and you leaned against his hand, feeling them press into the skin between your shoulder blades, bare from your tank top. You kept your head tilted back, a little more comfortably though.  

“When do you leave?” You asked, half expecting him to tell you he was headed to the gate now. Your brain still felt a little dizzy from the kiss but that was a normal occurrence.  

“Tomorrow morning.” He replied, letting go of the chair to run his knuckles along your spine. “Shouldn’t be longer than a day or two.”  

There was a quieter bumping noise and a soft curse as Olivia peeked back into the doorway, a few boxes of pasta haphazardly held in her arms. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”  

“It’s alright,” you replied but truthfully you were just being nice. Because Daryl had already retracted his hand you felt goosebumps on your skin in his absence, as if your body was trying to chase the sensation of him.  

“Ya need help?” He asked, motioning to the boxes as she dropped them onto the sorting table.  

“Would you mind? I’ve got another laundry basket full of them to bring down here and I dropped like five on the staircase.” She explained, following after him to point them out.  

Daryl disappeared through the door, Olivia right behind him, and you went back to organising the latter half of the alphabetically arranged cans. Olivia tended to be more loose-lipped than her other Alexandria counterparts and you couldn’t help imagining her asking him questions, trying to dig out some part of a person under the cold exterior he’d given off while he was here. Searching for the warmth she thought was lacking. They weren’t gone long, Olivia’s chipper voice carrying down the stairs.  

Daryl came through first, laundry basket piled high and the slightest hint of a glare as his eyes met yours, as if you’d somehow put him up to the task of helping.  

“You can set them on the sorting table,” Olivia instructed, “I’ll go through them once I’m finished the canned goods.”  

Setting them down, Daryl just nodded in agreement. You stopped from saying you’d see him tonight, in case that information was somehow on a need to know basis. But he was obviously being less purposefully withdrawn than you’d thought because he took another sip from your water bottle before telling you the exact thing you’d been too reserved to say.  

“I’ll see ya tonight,” he promised, putting your water bottle back and giving your ponytail a playful tug before leaving back down the driveway.  

You watched after him until he turned the corner and was out of eyesight.  

“I can see why you like him so much…” Olivia finally said, getting your attention as you looked back at her.  

“What?” You asked, wondering if he’d said something to her that changed her mind.  

Her cheeks tinged pink again and she looked down at her notebook, “I wasn’t trying to spy or anything…just, you know, wanted to bring those boxes in.”  

You nodded, prompting her to continue.

“I saw him kissing you…” she let out an airy sigh, “I’d be staring at somebody all day if they kissed me like that.”  

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Doctor Y/n - Ortho Fellowship - 3 - Grey's Anatomy x Fem!Reader

"How do you feel about it?" You asked, bringing over a mug of fruit juice to Teddy as she sat on your couch.

"Feel about?"

"Pregnancy. You keep talking about Hunt and how you feel about him because it takes two to devil's tango, but how do you feel?" You asked, carefully sitting on the coffee table, nursing your mug of fruit juice in your hands.

"I-" Teddy cut herself off as she spotted the mug you'd given her.

"Joey found that at a garage sale and bought it when I wasn't looking... do you want mine? We can swap?" You asked, gesturing to the mugs.

Whilst your mug had a rainbow and said 'sounds gay I'm in', Teddy's mug had vegetable puns on it, like 'my heart beets for you'.

"Trust me, that is one of the more appropriate mugs Joey would find... anyway, how do you feel about it?" You asked, sipping your juice as Teddy shook her head at the idea of swapping mugs.

"I'm going to have to tell him..." Teddy stated, sipping her juice as you hummed.

"Yeah, he's the biological father, but biology doesn't make a parent... despite the fact Hunt's good with Leo. Plus, you can co-parent and not be together romantically. My parents... honestly, I don't really remember them... unless it's in my nightmares. I think you deserve the best, Teddy, and so does your baby." You shrugged, pausing as your phone beeped, giving Teddy time to think over what you said.

"I'm going to tell you something I haven't really told anyone but Joey... okay? My parents, they weren't good people. They had me for the facade that they were a loving family, but they ditched me on the side of the road when I was too much trouble to care for any longer. Plus, they kept ditching me at school or at the library anyway... sorry, I am talking way too much." You realised, downing the rest of the fruit juice so you'd stop talking.

"You seem to have turned out fine though." Teddy admitted, leaving you to laugh.

"I have family, just none connected by blood."

"I should go talk to Owen." Teddy announced, leaving you to nod in understanding.

"Yeah, I have to go to work, it was nice talking to you Teddy, despite my oversharing." You nervously smiled, grabbing your bag to head to the hospital as Teddy stood up and put her coat on.

"No, no, it's fine, it was nice to get a fresh perspective on everything, honestly." Teddy admitted as the two of you left your apartment.

///

The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead wasn't something you were used to seeing around the hospital. But you knew it was a celebration of the dead, leaving you to sit doing research for your project you were working on with Callie. But your mind was elsewhere, as Link and Jo discovered when they found you staring into space at the printer.

"Braces? You okay?" Jo's hand on your shoulder had you jumping, slipping on one of the papers on the floor that had fallen from the printer. You landed on your ass with a thump, wincing as Jo and Link pulled you up.

"You were really in your head then, weren't you?" Link realised, leaving you to avoid Jo's gaze and his.

"Day of the Dead got me thinking about Dani." You admitted, fiddling with your lab coat sleeve.

"Dani?" Link murmured, leaving you to sigh.

"My girlfriend, we were seventeen when she died, she just dropped dead in the middle of cheerleading at a game. Saw her drop from the bleachers." You sadly chuckled, squatting down to pick up the papers from the floor.

"That's rough, Y/n. But, she'd be proud of how far you've come." Link stated, his hand resting on your shoulder when you stood up again.

///

"We'll do it all. Everything, on our own. We don't need, anything, or anyone. If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lay with me and just forget the world?" You strummed your guitar, sat in your apartment alone.

Jo was with Alex, Link and Meredith.

Arizona and Callie had called and asked how you were doing.

You'd even seen an instagram post of Leah at her cardio program in whatever state she was in now.

A shiver ran down your spine as you looked behind you, feeling like Dani was smirking at your for a moment, from whatever happens after death.

You only turned around again when your phone buzzed, revealing a message from Teddy.

Teddy: Please tell me you're not going to New York on your day off again

Y/n: Not this time, but I have a video meeting with Callie at 8:30 tomorrow morning

Y/n: have to talk to her before lunch

Teddy: You got the short end of the stick with the time difference

Y/n: yep, but I prefer Seattle to New York. Seattle smells better.

///

"Thought I'd find you here."

Teddy's voice broke your concentration, the lacrosse ball missing the net as you jumped, turning around to spot her on the other side field, behind you.

"Ready for the incoming storm? Saw it on the news this morning." You asked, grimacing as a gust of wind hit you in the face.

"Yeah, we should really head to Grey Sloan before they advise everyone to stay off the roads." Teddy admitted, watching as you hurriedly tidied up the lacrosse balls.

"Are we friends? Or am I just a fresh perspective who has way too many granola bars on hand?" You enquired as you slipped into the passenger seat.

"Well, the granola bars are handy for cravings." Teddy chuckled, smiling as you rolled your eyes.

"It's just a windstorm, right? No flooding rains, thunder and lightning?" You asked, watching as the wind began to pick up on the way into the hospital.

"Yeah, it's just a windstorm, why?" Teddy replied, glancing at you as she saw your frown.

"I lost a friend during a storm when I was an intern. She was a really great friend." You vaguely replied, staring out of the window as the trees took a beating from the wind.

///

"Hey, Altman... and S/n? Am I going to like the reason that you're here?" Maggie asked, leaving you to remember you were in your lacrosse jersey and shorts.

"Well, I couldn't sit in my hotel room all day; I found Y/n practicing on the lacrosse field in the wind, so I brought her. And you're going to be inundated with patients." Teddy stated before Owen appeared with Leo and Amelia.

"I'm going to go put on some scrubs... my legs are cold." You stated, hurrying away before Owen could glare at you.

///

"Joey, where the hell are you? Please tell me you're not driving in a windstorm, I barely got to the hospital." You quickly left Jo a message as you arrived at the fellows lounge, making a beeline to the bathroom to change into scrubs.

///

"How about we make this our second honeymoon?" Jo suggested, leaving Alex to pause.

"With no food?"

"We have jam and bread, and beer, and expired mac and cheese... Braces did the food shopping and cooking, I will admit." Jo explained, finding the expired box of mac and cheese before raising her hands up in surrender.

"It's fine, because we have a gas stove." Jo stated as the electricity went out, frowning as the stove didn't work.

"Oh... yeah, if I was at Braces' apartment, there would be so many leftovers..." Jo reminisced, leaving Alex to frown.

"When's the last time we cooked?"

///

"Bailey?"

"Oh, Altman, glad you're here, cardio consult in trauma 1." Bailey stated, pointing at trauma one.

"Oh, I was just about to ask you for privileges, but now I don't need to." Teddy replied, reaching for a pair of gloves.

"You live here now?" Bailey asked, spotting you exiting the elevator.

"S/n, patient bed 6, glass in a leg."

"On it!" You replied, grabbing a pair of gloves before smiling at Teddy as you walked past her.

///

"S/n, we could use an extra hand in the OR, removing a very large decorative candy cane. I know it's not very ortho, but do you want in?" Jackson enquired as he spotted you downing your bottle of water.

"Sure, but we're barely into November?" You remarked as you scrubbed in with Avery, pausing as Teddy and Owen walked in to scrub.

"S/n." Owen gave you a side glance, leaving you to withhold rolling your eyes as you finished scrubbing.

"Hunt."

///

"Okay, ready? Here we go." Owen announced as the curve of the candy cane was removed, allowing it to be removed from the bottom.

"Alright, keep going. There's no injury to the jugular so far." Jackson stated whilst you stood on the other side, trying to ignore how Owen was on your left.

"Are you even pulling on it?" Teddy asked, meeting your eyes as you tried not to snort.

"Listen, slow and steady. I don't want him to bleed out."

"We're buying him some time away from his wife, we might be doing him a favour." Jackson joked, leaving you to grimace.

"Let's just not have him under too long." You added, feeling Teddy glance at you before you turned to watch Owen pulling out the candy cane pole.

"So, did something happen? Something bad?" Owen began, leaving Teddy to immediately dismiss him with a "not now."

"Carotid's intact."

"Listen, if you're sick or something, you should just-"

"Owen."

"Hunt, I think some conversations should happen when you don't have an entire OR's staff of hospital rumour mill listening in." You warned, giving Owen a pleading look as he met your eyes.

"Does she know? You told her and not me-"

"Oh my god, Owen! Can we just focus on the surgery?" Teddy requested, glancing at you but you had gone silent.

///

"Okay... Okay." Owen muttered as the whole candy cane pole was removed from the patient's torso.

"Grazed the liver, missed the colon. I don't see any damage to the spleen." Owen announced as you looked over the patient's ribs.

"Well, the cane passed anterior to the pericardium. There's only a small hole in the diaphragm and it missed the heart completely." Teddy discovered as she checked over the patient's heart.

"Yeah. And the bowel only has some serosal tears." Owen realised whilst you revealed that the patient's bones were intact due to the angle that the cane went through his body.

"Yeah, I can't believe it, he's completely unscathed." Teddy exclaimed, looking up at Owen as you glanced at Jackson, with his comment about being disappointed.

"Owen?"

Your lip was clamped between your teeth as you realised what was happening.

"I'm pregnant. With your baby. I'm sorry I waited so long."

"Doctor Altman, they're asking for you in the ER. Another cardiac case. Doctor S/n, they're asking for you too, Doctor Lincoln needs more hands as Doctor Kim is missing." A nurse announced, leaving you to nod and walk out, not reacting as you heard Teddy's footsteps behind you.

///

"Altman! S/n, you too, the license plate is in the shoulder!" Bailey shouted, calling you and Teddy over.

"Get him to CT." Bailey stated, leaving you to nod as Teddy verbally replied.

"I'd ask if you were okay but I feel like now is not the time." You admitted as you and Teddy headed up to CT with the patient and a maintenance guy who was helping too.

///

"Going in, careful!" Teddy stated as you helped her pull the patient bed into the lift.

"Hey, hey, hey! Teddy, we need to-"

"Owen, we're heading back into the OR-"

"I got this, S/n-"

"I need Y/n in there." Teddy immediately stated as you were about to get out.

"Teddy-"

You were quick to get out your phone and check your messages, trying not to eavesdrop and Teddy and Owen began to talk.

"Hey! I have been looking for you everywhere! Hey, you!" Amelia waved at you as you glanced up from your phone.

"Anyway, I had to see you, and tell you that, um, whoah... um, that I want to apply to be Betty's official foster mom, which might mean that Betty and I have to move out for a while for bureaucratic or whatever, but, um, I love her. You know? Like, we love her, right? What? Did something happen? Y/n?" Amelia turned to you, but you just grimaced.

"What is it?"

"Amelia, I need to, we need to-" Owen was cut off as the elevator stopped, the power going out and drenching the four of you and the patient into darkness.

The only light in the lift coming from your phone screen as it lit up your face.

"Well, that's just great." You grumbled, before the emergency lighting kicked in.

The four of you exchanged glances in the darkness, wondering what was going to happen next.

///

Tags: @nnightskiess @emskisworld @multifandomlesbianic

[spnsisterimagines]

Mario Kart

Summary - Y/N decides to engage her brothers and Castiel into Mario Kart, not realizing what she was getting herself into.

Pairings - Dean Winchester x Sister!Reader, Sam Winchester x Sister!Reader, Jack Kline x Platonic!Winchester!Reader, Castiel x Winchester!Reader

Word Count - 1,911 words

"Let's get it!" Y/N squeals, claiming her spot on the middle of the couch. She was practically bouncing up and down, waiting impatiently for everyone to join her. The Dean Cave had brightened considerably since she had added a few redecorations. While Dean initially denied her, she had forced him to allow her to put up LED lights, several polaroids from her camera(they were mostly of herself smiling widely at the camera while Sam and Dean looked mildly annoyed with fake smiles. There was also a real funny one where Sam was unconscious on a hunt and Y/N decided to pose beside him), as well as posters from their favorite bands. Not to mention the added dock to the TV stand to hold her Nintendo Switch that Sam had bought her for her previous birthday. 

She supposed he regretted it now, since she was forcing him to play a game he'd never even heard of.

He entered the room first, holding a big bowl of popcorn and a soda. Dean followed close behind, Little Debbie packages hanging from his mouth since his arms were occupied with pillows from their bedrooms and a pack of beers for himself. Jack was the only one to come empty handed. He happily took the spot beside Y/N, waving merrily as Castiel also appeared with two sodas(both of them for Beth because he was just so considerate), taking the spot on her other side.

"I'll give this an hour before we switch to movie night, Y/N," Dean warned as he occupied his armchair, which was to the left of the couch. She had discovered this old thing at a garage sale. It had been a rather stressful day because Dean had refused to strap it to Baby and they had to hound what little friends they had for a truck. Since most of their friends were dead, Y/N had hot wired one outside of a bar and returned it before the drunk redneck inside could notice it had even left. She was sure the dent in the bed was there before they put the couch on it. Sam had not been happy about that.

Sam took his own armchair, which was to the right of the couch. 

"What is it, again?" he asked curiously. 

"Is the only thing in the media you've ever heard Facebook? You've seriously never heard of Mario Kart?" Y/N asked, happily accepting one of the sodas from Castiel. "Dad really did a number on us. I was introduced to this through Charlie." She got up to grab the number of controllers necessary for four. Jack was eager to try the game, but he was always open to trying new things, something Y/N could appreciate.

After connecting them to the Switch, she handed them out to her brothers along with Jack before returning to her spot on the couch between the angel and nephilim. 

"If I remember correctly from what you've told me, it's a racing game, right?" Castiel asked.

"Exactly, except with a few quirks to make it interesting. Like, um...I could throw a shell and hit one of them and vice versa. Or a banana peel. I'll give them a trial run before we actually get into it. Are you sure you don't want to try it, Cas?"

Castiel shook his head. "I have seen how you play with Charlie, and I don't want to be on the receiving end of your anger. And I rather like watching you in your element."

Y/N smiled, blushing, before playfully pushing him. 

"I need to get drunk to stomach this," Dean said, offended as he popped one of the beers open and took a gulp. "Keep the PDA to a minimum guys, you've got a kid next to you. Alright, what buttons do I push to hit Sam?"

"What the hell?" Sam scoffed. 

"What?"

"We haven't even started and you're gunnin' for me?"

"Uh, yeah!" 

"Alright, alright! First we gotta pick our player," Y/N mediated, pressing the buttons to get them to the screen full of Mario players. "I already got mine." She moved her icon until it landed on Wendy, before selecting her. "Obviously the best character, hands down."

The three boys maneuvered their icons over different characters, for some reason taking it a little too seriously on who they would choose. Sam selected his first. 

"Luigi?" Dean scoffed.

"You got a problem?" Sam asked. 

"No, but...why Luigi?"

"Who cares, I just chose him."

"You have to have a reason, man." Dean shook his head, before selecting his own. 

"Why'd you choose Bowser, then?"

"Because he's a badass. And he'd beat the holy hell out of Luigi if the games lost their PG rating," Dean shrugged.

Jack hummed thoughtfully, still scrolling. "I choose him!" 

He selected Toad. 

"Why him, Jack?" she asked. 

"I like his hat."

Y/N snorted, but it was a valid enough answer. Once everyone was ready, she selected the settings for the game and then decided to use the time to explain to them how the controls worked and anything else they were curious about. After a few trial races, they were ready for the real thing. Castiel was sitting patiently, his hands on his lap. 

"You assholes are going down," Dean declared, bringing his remote closer to him. 

"So much for being appropriate in front of the kid," Y/N sneered, but she was just as ready.

She set the game to go through ten races with a random select for the roads. 

And with that, they were off.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Dean yelled, nearly jumping to his feet. His first empty beer bottle slide across the floor from his rapid movement. "I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH IT! I DIDN'T GO NEAR THE GODDAMN PEEL!"

"That might've been mine," Sam stated, smugly. "But Bowser also takes up half the road, so avoiding it was probably impossible anyway."

Dean squinted. "You callin' me fat, Sammy?"

Sam shrugged. "Luigi's doing just fine."

Y/N hid her smile as she hit her own item, snatching that smile right from Sam's face.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, incredulous, the red shell sending Luigi off the edge of the map. 

"You got in my way!" Y/N sang. 

It only seemed to get worse from there. What was supposed to be an hour of playing turned into four with the bowl of popcorn thrown across the room at Dean when he had decided to hit Sam three times with three separate shells before snagging first place and doing a lewd dance as a way to declare his victory. Y/N's hair had bristled up, becoming bushier almost as though it were alive. Her right eye was twitching, and her hands were cramping by now. 

Jack, however, was having a good time. He has gotten last place the entire time, but he was still having fun, and that's what truly mattered.

Castiel, on the other hand, seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack, not knowing whose side he should take because all three Winchester siblings were completely out of their minds, including Y/N.

Finally, it was the last race. Everyone's nerves were shot. Sam's hair seemed even more raggedy than Y/N's, and his shirt was stained with soda because Dean decided to take vengeance by chucking his pillow at him when Sam was taking a big gulp. They had to pause the game for several minutes while Sam fought for his life coughing and wheezing because the soda went down the wrong pipe.

"I'm afraid I must at least attempt to deter you guys from participating in another race. There aren't any weapons in the Dean Cave, but I'm sure you three will find a way to kill each other," Castiel said, worried. "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically. "I'm having fun!"

"I will let it be known if I lose, someone is dying tonight. I will call Billie to fix it, but someone has to die tonight if I lose," Y/N threatened. 

"Good luck with that, I'm kicking all of your asses, and you can kiss mine when it crosses the finish line," Dean said.

"I don't even care if I win, as long as you guys lose. And I'll make sure it happens." Sam jeered. 

With that, the race began. Aside from Jack and Castiel, everyone was bloodthirsty. Surely no matter who won, someone was gonna be pissed off. Castiel was making a mental note to grab Jack as soon as possible and escort him out of the room while the siblings brawled. 

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Y/N shouted, jumping to her feet. "WHO DID IT! WHO DID IT?"

"I did!" Sam happily announced, moving to and fro with the turn of his controller, as though he were in the game himself. 

"I'm gonna get you, Sam," Y/N snarled, pressing hard on the buttons, trying her best to catch up to her brother, collecting any items she came across, but none of them were good enough, so she kept using them without thinking until she heard Dean curse and also jump to his feet. 

"THAT WAS ME, JACKASS!" he yelled, completely distraught. "I didn't even do anything this time!"

"You probably deserved it anyway!" Sam shrugged, continuing to maneuver through the AIs to get to the front. 

By that time, Dean and Y/N had caught up, and with all they had, they used their items to completely screw each other over up until every kart had passed them. In the end, they were the bottom three with Sam first, Y/N second, and Dean in dead last. And for a moment there after, nobody said anything. They were completely beside themselves in utter shock at what just occurred. 

"What just happened?" Y/N asked, deflating considerably. 

"We lost..." Sam mumbled. 

"Screw you guys, I lost overall!" Dean scoffed.

"I won!" Jack suddenly cheered, leaping to his feet and jumping up and down. "I won!"

"You what?" Y/N asked, shocked as her eyes trailed to the top. Sure enough, Toad was in first place. "You're kidding!"

"I can't believe I won!" Jack said, smiling as he high-fived a proud Castiel.

"I want a rematch," Dean commanded, sitting back down and retrieving his controller. 

"Yeah, me, too!" Sam agreed. 

"I'm down!" Y/N eagerly agreed, about to grab hers when Castiel snatched it. He went around the room, taking up all the controllers.

"Given that it's five in the morning, and just a couple moments ago you three were ready to quite literally rip each other's throats out, I'm going to recommend everyone get up and get to bed instead," he instructed curtly. "I think we should postpone a future night of games indefinitely, at least for a little while until you three can learn to control yourselves."

"What-but-you can't-" Y/N sputtered.

"Quite literally, I can shut off whatever is necessary so you can never play the game again with just a snap of my fingers," Castiel warned. "Shower and get some sleep. Jody already told us she needed to discuss something at noon tomorrow, and it would be rude if we were tardy. C'mon, let's go!"

With a grumble, everyone got up and cleaned their mess, ignoring each other vehemently as they walked out. Except for Jack; he was practically skipping. 

There was another good thing about tonight that he knew about. He was the one that triggered the lightning item that really stumped the three siblings and put them at the bottom three.

[doublebill]

Suptober 2021 - Day 1: Harvest

Dean smiles to himself as Castiel pulls another spindly carrot out of the ground and beams up at him with pride.

It had been too late in the year to plant anything worthwhile when they first moved into the small dilapidated house, but Dean had cleared the whole yard, buying in vast amounts of compost and digging the whole place up for Cas to plant whatever he wanted the following spring. Considering all of the time, and effort, and hundreds of dollars they'd ploughed into the garden, Cas had managed to harvest about $10 worth of usable vegetables.

Despite this, it was all worth it. Dean would do the exact same thing every year for the rest of his life if it meant that Cas would look that happy, pulling underformed root vegetables out of the ground.

"Maybe we could make a stew." Cas said, nodding to the half a dozen long, pencil-thin carrots he cradled in his arms as he headed back up the new wooden steps into the house.

He placed them in the sink to wash off the dirt and Dean wrapped himself around his angel's back.

"Yeah, Cas. Stew would be great. If you want to go and wash up, I'll get started."

Castiel turned in his arms and gave him a gentle kiss before he headed to the bathroom to wash the sweat and grime from his body. Angel he may be, but they both knew that Cas' mojo was waning, he didn't waste it on things like wishing himself clean anymore. There was something nice and homey about that, it made this feel more real, like they were real people. Dean had spent decades not fitting in with society, being on the fringe and now he had a normal little life. He worked at the hardware store in town, Cas volunteered at an animal shelter a few days a week, and spent the rest of his time, pottering around the little house and garden.

Dean sighed at the carrots and turned on the faucet to rinse away the earth and gathered the other (store bought) vegetables to make the stew.

He remembered a story of a man who offered to show a poor family how to make soup from a stone in return for shelter and food for the night. Cas' carrots reminded him a little of that. He chopped the carrots, along with onions, and potatoes, and half a dozen other types of vegetable, putting them in a pan over a low heat and went to work on making some bread.

The house was getting there. He did pretty much all of the renovations himself, getting tools and materials at cost through his job was helpful. It was slow work, but it was making a space that reflected them. It had soft couches and a good TV, bookshelves, houseplants, Cas had even bought Dean an acoustic guitar from a thrift store in Kansas City for last Christmas. It was a far cry from the giant, austere, concrete bunker, but what it lacked in space and hunting resources, it made up in heart and comfort. There was a spare room, and a pull out couch so there was room for Sam and Eileen to stay when they came by for dinner every couple of weeks. There was an old Nintendo system that Dean had picked up for a steal in a garage sale for when Jack dropped in.

Dean was kneading the dough when Cas walked back into the kitchen, wearing soft pajamas, his damp hair sticking up wildly. He walked over to the stove and gave the stew an appreciative sniff. Dean plopped the dough in a large bowl and covered it with a towel to let it rise. After rinsing his hands, he pulled Cas with him into the living room to slump onto the couch. He ran his fingers gently through Cas' hair as he lay back against Dean's chest.

"Maybe we could get chickens. Then we could get eggs all year round. Maybe we could trade some with our neighbours as I don't seem to be terribly good at growing them."

"Eggs?"

Cas snorted "Vegetables. I am fully aware that this wasn't the bountiful harvest I was expecting when we planted them."

"We're both new at this, it'll get better." Dean pressed a soft kiss to the top of Cas' head.

And it did.

With the end of the great cosmic Winchester saga, Dean had been worried that normal life just wouldn't be able to satisfy him but he couldn't have been more wrong. He made friends, regular meet-at-the-bar-for-a-couple-of-beers friends. They went to barbecues and became well-known in their community for being a kind and friendly (if slightly odd) couple. He had his friends, he had his family, and he had his Cas.

That winter, he made a point of learning a Skynrd song on the guitar. On Christmas Eve, by the light of the fire, he serenaded Cas with Simple Man. At the end, he put the guitar aside, knelt down in front of Cas, and asked him to marry him. 

With tears of joy in his eyes, Cas said yes.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34184017