#and putting all the blame back on bev

[specific-dreamer]

mmmm thinking about the socs not being able to move on from bob’s death because that’s the first time their actions have had consequences and bob subsequently not being able to move on in death so he’s tethered to tulsa still. bob not knowing what else to do with his afterlife so he follows his friends.

he watches bev and brill who somehow are still tough skinned and thriving. he follows brill to his grave sometimes and listens as brill talks to him and pours one out for him. on the rare occasion bev goes to visit his grave he listens to her call him a stupid idiot through sobs and he longs to comfort her

he watches marcia and his heart aches for her when she starts pulling away from trip because he knows how much they liked each other. he use to think they were a (better) version of him and cherry

he watches chet who goes looking for more fights a lot more often. he watches chet a lot if only because he sees himself a lot in him and he’s scared chet is going to join him real soon.

he watches melvin and sergei a lot too. he hardly knew them but they were the same age as ponyboy curtis and kinda just wants to make sure no one goes after them like he did the curtis kid

most of all, he watches cherry. they broke up and that was probably the scariest moment in his life, including when he got stabbed. not doing right by cherry is probably his biggest regret. he regrets bringing the liquor to the drive in that night, he regrets even going to the nightly double drive in period.

but he watches cherry go through the motions after he died. he watches their friends blame cherry for his death wishing he could say something because it was never cherrys fault. he was blindsided by rage and liquor that night but there wasn’t a single part of bob that blamed cherry. because the thing is he knew he was being irrational, he knew it was absurd to get angry at cherry for talking to a little kid but bobs always been jealous when it came to cherry and he’s always been quick to fly off the handle even when he’s sober. so no, his getting angry and going after those kids and getting himself killed was never cherrys fault and it pissed him off when everyone accused cherry.

(i got besides myself cough cough)

bob watches cherry and how she goes through the motions. he watches her through herself back into her school and volunteer work. he watches her when she goes in her backyard to watch the sun rise every morning. he watches her take away their beach boys albums and put them in a shelf in her closet.

most importantly he watches cherry when she finally learns to let go of him. he watches in real time as cherry stops blaming herself and allows herself to start dating other people again. and he’s not real fond of the guy, dr pepper or something he doesn’t really care, but if the guy makes cherry happy (and he does, he hasn’t seen cherry smile so bright and for so long since way before he died) then he’s alright with a cherry dating a greaser of all things- sorry, of all people.

[after-the-ellipsis]

How do you think TGSOE! Hannibal would react to Will somehow dying either by a killer or by suicide? I don’t know which one Hannibal would hate more. What do you think he would do, and do you think he might kill himself? I am super sorry if this is a dark or inappropriate question

You were born with something beautiful, and to subject that beauty to willful destruction is a crime against nature, a crime against God, and even I can’t forgive that. The thought of you putting all that potential to waste, knowingly, spitefully; I can’t bear it. It gives me very good cause to hate you, Will. Be warned.

A partial answer to your question from the man himself! I say 'partial' for two reasons, 1) because Hannibal's letter is full of lies wrong versions of the truth and 2) the future Hannibal describes, what he sees as Will's self-destructive commitment to living a conventional life, isn't quite the same as Will dying by suicide or by someone else's hand. But for Hannibal these outcomes are no different. In the event that Will kills himself, Hannibal would see that as Will destroying himself to spite Hannibal, and if Will is killed by someone else, Hannibal would blame Will for that too, for in Hannibal's mind Will is a superior being, and the only way a lesser man can destroy a superior being is if the superior being allows it to happen.

I think Hannibal would hate Will's suicide more than he'd hate Will's murder, because at least if a third party were involved Hannibal could fixate on divine retribution. Without an easy target, Hannibal would be forced to pass the blame to everyone even nebulously connected with Will's death: Jack, Bev, Barney, Jo from the boatyard, etc etc. I don't know if he would kill all these people necessarily, but he'd absolutely obsess over them, churn them up, torment them. Hannibal loves passing blame, but refuses to pass it to himself, so the very last thing he would do is kill himself out of despair or to punish himself for Will's loss. Or so he tells himself, anyway.

Because, circling back to my number one above, the letter is a lie the wrong version of the truth. Hannibal writes the letter because he is terrified of losing Will, so terrified that he has preemptively convinced himself that he has already lost him! His threat ("Be warned." snort) is a raggedy-ass piece of provocation, and we see the vulnerability peeking out.

Not to mention the hypocrisy! Hannibal is preaching against self-mutilation when he's the one who has just torn one of his own memories to pieces. What Hannibal does in his memory palace is self abuse! And he suffers from its effects even as he worries about Will doing the same.

TGSOE!Hannibal is more capable of punishing himself than he thinks, but he approaches self-punishment creatively, through Rube Goldbergian means. So while I can't see him killing himself over Will, I can absolutely see him undergoing a brand of spiritual metamorphosis, a death-and-rebirth, emerging from the chrysalis as someone new, someone capable of living in the world without Will.

((mandatory disclaimer that the fic is still on hiatus))

[kaysters247]

Deadly Inferno {A Patrick Hockstetter Fic}

Part 6 - Summer of Terror

Word Count: 1415

Warning: Mature

Little red splotches made from candle wax littered my exposed stomach, indicating how deep we'd gotten into our summer sex fling. I didn't know how long he'd fixate on me to be exact. But I honestly didn't want it to end. Most nights were mixed with Patrick, Patrick, and more Patrick, sneaking into my window when no one was up or could hear. I was lost in the madness of what was going on between us, knowing it was nothing more than lust, submission on my part and complete control for Patrick. I was his toy. He made that clear. And he didn't want it any other way. Since he heard Vic and i's conversation, things have been different. Vic doesn't stay around me alone anymore. And it felt weird. He was my best friend. But as long as Bev was around or the guys, he'd stay. I knew it was Patrick. But the fuck if I was going to defy him now.

"I'm leaving for work Leslie. Behave today. I don't want anymore reports." I rolled my eyes with a sigh from my dads words, the week also consisting of slaving away in this house doing his bidding. Cooking, cleaning, beatings. One that even Henry took a beating for so I wouldn't have to. Odd honestly for him. He blamed himself for not watching me and took the beating. He crumbled when it came to dad. I hated watching it. No matter how much of a shit head Henry is, I love him. He's my brother.

"Alright!" I brushed my teeth, noting the dark mark left on my neck from Patrick's little biting expedition. The burn marks had become second nature to me, also leaving marks from my cigs still to ease the discomfort of life in this hellhole. I knew what Patrick did to me wasn't normal. But I craved it. I loved it. It turned me on so badly that once it was started, I became this animal, feeding into Patrick's mayhem.

"Leslie! Leslie! Down here!" I slowly put my tooth brush back after finishing upon hearing my name in an echo, my eyes darting from one spot to the next in the little bathroom Henry and I have littered with clutter over the years.

"Hello....?" The voice had come from within the shower, startling me to no end. What the fuck.....? I crept my way over, throwing the curtain back, only to be greeted with a red balloon that read in white letters:

I

🤍

Derry

"You can float to Leslie! And when you're down here, you can feel all the pain you want...." My eyes widened in fear from the now expanding balloon, before it burst with my terrified screams littering the now blood soaked bathroom, parts of the walls and myself entirely coated. Children's laughter echoed within the drain of the shower, leaving me completely motionless. I didn't dream that! I know I didn't.

"Why the hell are you scre...." But Henry stopped dead in his tracks, his words halted from the sight of blood. He saw it to!

"I....I... I don't know what the fuck just happened. I was.... I was brushing my teeth. And I heard a voice....." His eyes surveyed the room entirely, seeing the now popped balloon on the ground and picking it up, reading the letters.

"It's nothing. Just..... don't answer. Don't follow. Ever." And then he bolted without another word, the slam of his door the only thing heard in the house. It was a warning. But from what exactly?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{At The Kissing Bridge}

"Come on Les.... No one's watching." Patrick had me backed up against the very carved up bridge, our initials never going into the worn wood because how weird would that be? Patrick is libel to burn me alive for that.

"You know Hockstetter, I don't fuck just anywhere. I have standards." He simply cackled at me in such a way, my heart seemed to stop all together. Patrick was the kind of guy to do it anywhere he pleases. He didn't care if someone happened by us in the middle of it. He'd keep going with a smirk of satisfaction.

"Where do you think you're going fatty?" I jumped a little from the sudden sound of Henry's voice, seeing him, Belch and Vic now holding a very scared Ben Hanscom against the bridge further down from us. Ben is such a sweet kid. We've had almost every class together this past school year. And Henry has been targeting him like crazy.

"I got him. He won't move. Trust me." Belch wasn't usually so aggressive. But when Henry told him to be, he would. All I could see was pure red. Ben was a friend. And I wouldn't go for it.

"Don't Princess. Or I could just burn you right now so you can't move like I'm going to do to him....." He finally dragged me away, roughly may I add towards them, his zippo now in his hands. He was determined to join the fun. And I was going to be apart of it whether I liked it or not.

"Henry! Stop!" Patrick slung me up against the bridge so harshly I almost lost breath, seeing Henry taking his knife to Ben's stomach.

"I will carve my whole name into this cottage cheese! Now shut up Les!" I kicked at his hand without thinking, sending his knife flying into the air, just as Ben kicked him right in the stomach and flipped over the bridge, practically flying down the hill.

"What the fuck Les?!" Henry practically shoved me to the ground in pure rage, sending Vic and Belch down to look for Ben. And his knife. Dad would be so furious if he lost it.

"Sucks to be you Hen." He swiftly kicked me as if he had no care in the world, igniting a scream from my mouth. But I wasn't crying any tears of pain. I was simply angry. Angry at how far gone Henry truly was at this point.

"Shut your mouth Les before he kills you." Patrick's warning came as a surprise, no back talking, no words of his own to add like he's going to kill me for him. He just lifted me off the ground the minute Henry went down the hill to look himself.

"I'm not going to spend summer like this. Watching him torture innocent kids Pat." I ran past Patrick to a path I know all too well to reach the barrens, knowing that's where Ben would likely end up.

"Don't go looking for trouble princess. You'll regret it....." I slowed my pace once Patrick's hand came down on my arm, dragging him along with me to find Ben. I knew he was enjoying this as usual. He just wanted to hurt something.

"Or what? You gonna trap me in your pencil box full of dead flies?" The words escaped my lips before I could even think. But I didn't have long before he shoved me up against the nearest tree, his hands firmly on my waist to keep me from moving, his long legs trapping mine as best as he could. His eyes searched mine with a little creepy smirk on his lips, one I've only seen when he's really thinking dark thoughts. The worst kind.

"Tempting. More like my fridge if you keep talking to me like that." His hands slowly left my waist and started to wander around my body, sending shivers straight down my spine in anticipation of what was to come. I was actually frightened for the first time since knowing Patrick.

"You know princess, I used to stalk your brother. But we all got older. My interest changed when you grew....." His hands tightened on my breasts, toying with my nipples that started to harden through my bra. I couldn't take my eyes off his, barley taking in what he had said. He suddenly placed his hand around my neck, tightening his grip to his usual sexual way, his smile never wavering.

"Patrick...." He roughly kissed me, the longest kiss he'd ever given me since we started all this. It felt..... different. But I didn't read into it much. That would be deadly. All I knew, was this town had its secrets. Adults were oblivious to them. Or just pretended to be anyway. Something was happening. And it's only going to get worse. But all i could focus on, was Patrick.

[cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien]

Solar Opposites: Solar Monsters (by @avaveevo)

Ch. 12

Later that night, Beverly and her gang snuck in the ship as they began stealing stuff.

Beverly: whispering Okay guys. This is it. Tomorrow night, we’re ending this once and for all.

Shelby: whispering Pfft. Yeah. Right.

Tyler: whispering But Bev, this doesn’t feel right. The man acted like a lunatic. He might be hiding something.

Beverly: whispering No he isn’t. This man is gonna help put an end to Korey and his violently protective husband once for all. Now come on.

Unknown to them, Beverly unknowing drop something for her bag, it was a taser from FBI. The next day, Terry went up to the ship to get something, only for him to see the ship a mess.

Terry: What the fuck?

As he looks around, Terry gasp in horror upon seeing the stuff that Korvo worked so hard on gone. Korvo comes up and gasp.

Korvo: Holy shit! Where’s the stuff I invented from the laboratory.

A few seconds later, the police came to the Solars later, where Human Korvo and Human Terry told the officer what happened.

Human Terry: Come on. You have to do something. My husband worked so hard on this stuff. That won him the award.

Police Officer: Sorry sir, but we have no confirms who did this. Plus there is no evidence on who took it. So, I’m sorry. I don’t think there is anything we can do.

Human Terry: Oh. So they can just break into our house, trash the place and you don’t even care?!

Police Officer: Watch the attitude! I haven’t forgot about the Giant Funbucket!

The police then left as Human Korvo and Human Terry look at each other. Then, Human Terry sees the taser as he picks it up and gasp. He then recognize it and grows very enraged. Later, Terry flips the table in fury upon seeing everything in the ship gone.

Terry: That bitch! Dammit! How she could've done this!

Principal Cooke: What is it, Terry?

AISHA: Terry, calm down.

Terry: sighs I’m sorry guys. But, I’m afraid we’ll gonna have to move to another planet.

Korvo: But, Terry. This is our home, we can't leave this place for nothing.

Terry: You don't understand it, Korvo. David has been manipulating Beverly and now she has stolen your designs. Your inventions related to monster, the scanner, everything!

All: WHAT?!

Montez: That lying bitch!

Yumyulack: That explains how they have got your technology!

Nova: You mean she...

Principal Cooke: Did that all along? We're in trouble! We gotta leave! We have to find a place to hide!

Kevin: We can't. Beverly framed you, Cooke! They’re gonna put you on an electric chair, to force you to look for us!

Terry: This… this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have never attacked that poor child.

Jesse: Aww, Terry...

Principal Cooke: Maybe it's his fault that he attacked that child.

Korvo: Principal!

Principal Cooke: shrugs What? He’s to blame.

Korvo: I know, but Terry didn't know! It was an accident!

Cherie: What we can do? We must leave and get ourselves and our children in a safe place.

Korvo: Don’t worry, I have a plan! Everyone, pack your things! We’re leaving in four hours!

All: Right!

As soon the rest of the gang left, the children look worriedly at their dads, who comforts them and gives them a reassuring smile, which made Yumyulack, Jesse, Sonya and Pupa smile at them back. Meanwhile, Darcy was drawing a picture until, she sees Beverly and her gang going down a hole.

Darcy: Hmm?

Jamie: Darcy, what is it?

Darcy: Okay. Jaime, let’s go down there and confront these assholes once and for all.

Jamie smiles. Later, the couple sees the door and opens it when the hole is in. The two heads down there as they got out some flashlights and turn them. Darcy and Jamie look around the cave as they see footprints.

Jamie: Okay, that must be theirs. Let’s just follow to where they lead.

Darcy: Olay got it.

The couple then follows the footprints as they quietly sees Beverly heading up, only for Shelby to almost see them. Quickly, Darcy and Jaime hid behind a rock as they quietly peek.

Jaime: Holy shit. They have lost their minds.

Darcy: Let’s not panic. We just need to get to Terry and Korvo before-

Suddenly, Jamie feels a shot on his leg as he cries out in pain and then looks down and sees a needle with a blood drop on it. Jaime and Darcy grow terrified at this moment. Then, they turn to see Beverly and her gang looking at them.

Beverly: So, you trying to stop us. Huh? Nice try! Shelby, take care of them.

Shelby: With pleasure. Come on Nat.

Nat: On it!

Shelby and May got out monster viles and then they injected them into themselves.

Darcy: No no no no! Wait! Don’t do this! No!

Shelby and Nat starts screaming as they began to transform. Jaime starts breathing in and out as Darcy helps him lay down.

Darcy: Just lay down honey, I’m sure we’ll-

Just then, Shelby has turn into an alpha hellhound and Nat has transformed into a mutant lizard as they roar. Darcy gasp in horror as she tries to reach for a gun, only for her to see Jaimie’s skin turning light pale as he grew vampire bangs and starts growing bigger and muscular.

Darcy: Sweetheart?

Jaimie roars as his clothe stone to shreds back his muscle grow except for his pants, his half of his body develop blood vessels, his ears turns into vampire ears, his voice deepens and his eyes starts glowing red. He even develop bat claws on his finger nails.

Darcy: Oh my God. Jaimie! You’re a v-va-

Now a Mutant Vampire, Jaimie lets out a roar as Darcy starts to blush by her husband’s monster form as she slowly backs away. Mutant Vampire Jaime then pummel on Mutant Lizard Nat as the two monsters started fighting. Mutant Vampire Jaimie tries to bite down on Nat but Mutant Lizard Nat punches him away. Mutant Vampire Jaimie then grabs a beam and swings at Mutant Lizard Nat as he gets hit by the wall. Just before Mutabt Vampire Jaime could finish him off, Hellhound Shelby pummels on him, much to Darcy’s horror as she suddenly feels a headache.

Darcy: Ugh! What’s wrong with me?!

As Darcy kept groaning, her eyes suddenly turns into a hound’s yellow hunting eyes. Back with Mutant Vampire Jamie, he tries to get Hellhound Shelby away from biting him and clawing, when suddenly, another Hellhound, who is a female Mutant, appears and pummels on Shelby as she screams in pain. The Beta hellhound started to attack Hellhound Shelby as she tries to fight back, but instead got knocked out unconscious thanks to the Hellhound throwing her to a wall. Jamie then turns back to normal as he falls to his knees. The Beta Hellhound then approaches Jamie as she licks off a bleeding scar from his back from Nat. She then licks his face as Jamie grows shock.

Jamie: What the?

Suddenly, the Beta Hellhound lies down as she starts shrinking down to her real form who turns out be none other than… Darcy!

Jamie: Darcy?

Darcy falls down on the floor as Jamie approaches her and wraps a towel around her as she looks up to him lovingly.

Darcy: Hey honey.

Jamie: What happened to you? How did you transform?

Darcy: It must’ve been the bite one of the hellhounds gave me. It turn me into a hellhound.

Jamie: What?! Oh my God, we better get you to the others.

Darcy: Okay.

Jamie picks Darcy bridal style as she smiles at her husband. Back with the Solars, they got all of their luggage inside the bus along with everyone else’s. Human Korvo shuts down the back door as the gang heads on the bus, except Darcy and Jamie are not here.

Ms. Perez: Wait, where’s Jamie and Darcy?

Mia: They’ll meet up with us at the motel. We just have to make sure no follows us…

Suddenly, Human Terry hears beeping.

Human Terry: What the fuck?

Human Korvo: What is it? What’s wrong?

Human Terry heads outside and gets out a trench. He then sees tracking device form the engine as he takes it off and destroys it with his feet.

Human Korvo: Holy shit! Did Beverly sent that?!

Human Terry: Yes! So, she can locate where we are.

Montez: We have to move now!

Human Terry heads back inside the bus as he sits down with Human Jesse.

Human Terry: Okay! We’re all good now!

Human Korvo: Well, thank our Shlorpian Gods. Come on, guys! Let’s get the fuck out of here before they find us!

Human Korvo starts the engine and the bus takes off as a road trip begins. But then, Human Korvo revived a notification from Tik Tok which shows a video of Human Terry getting harassed by Brett before getting thrown in the water. Enraged and disgusted, Human Korvo stops by Brett’s house.

Human Korvo: Sorry guys. Hang on a second.

Human Korvo leaves the bus as he furiously and heads towards the house.

Principal Cooke: Where are you going? You can’t leave me here! We’re out almost out of town! Without my IZod!

Human Korvo opens the door and heads upstairs with Brett’s mother seeing him.

Brett’s Mother: Korey! What a surprise!

Human Korvo: Hi Mrs. V!

Human Korvo heads towards Brett’s room and opens the door, furiously which shows Brett listening to music until he sees Human Korvo and takes off his headphone.

Brett: Hey-

In fury, Human Korvo, with a powerful leg swing, kicks Brett to the wall as he leaves and shuts the door behind him.

Brett: MOM!

Human Korvo then heads downstairs with Brett’s Mom handing out cookies in tins.

Mom: Here! Take my cookies sweetie.

Human Korvo: Thank you ma’am!

Brett: offscreen MOM!

Human Korvo heads back in the bus he starts it scuba and the bus drives off. The others look at Human Korvo ins shock and surprise while Human Terry can’t help but blush lovingly.

Human Yumyulack: Damn dad, who taught you those lessons?

Human Korvo: Try handling a long line back on Shlorp and see what happens!

Human Korvo then speeds the bus ahead as it heads toward the other side of town. Later, Beverly tries to get track down Human Korvo and his family, only to see the tracking device on the ground destroyed as she growls!

Beverly: No! Grrr! That fucking bitch! Don’t worry David, we’ll catch them in no time soon.

Later, Alice arrived at the hospital where she sees Brandy recovering her head wound. Then, Nova and Sherbet arrives and sees Alice as they smile.

Nova: Hey. How’s your boss doing?

Alice: I’m sure she’s doing well.

Nurse: Alice, your boss Brandy would like to see you.

Alice: Okay.

Alice, Sherbet and Nova heads in while Janice arrives and follows them suite. They head in the room where Brandy is as she smiles at Alice.

Brandi: I’m so glad you’re okay turning towards Nova Thank you for taking care of Alice while I was recover from the hospital. She’s lucky to have people like you.

Nova: You’re welcome Mrs. Brandy

Brandy: Alice, I’m afraid I have to let you go. Apparently this whole thing has prove too much for you.

Alice: What? But Mrs. Brandy-

Brandy: You did nothing. But, you have a much better place and I think Nova would love to have you as her maid.

Sherbet: gasp in joy

Nova: Really? You mean it?! Thanks.

Alice: Thank you Brandy! I would love that… I’ll see you again someday…

The four ladies then left the hospital as Alice smiles at her new people and they all head outside. She then sees the Solars and the gang waiting for her.

Alice: You guys? What happened here?!

Later, at the motel, the gang have each assigned rooms while Human Terry looks up the stars and sighs. Then, he heads back upstairs. Meanwhile in their assigned room, Sonya starts drinking a big apple juice bottle while Jesse starts playing with Pupa.

Jesse: Pattycake! Pattycake! Bakers man! Bake me a cake as fast…. sees Sonya drinking the bottle… uh Sonya, why are you drinking a huge bottle of apple juice and acting like acting like you have a G-rated drinking problem?

Sonya: drunkingly I feel like the world is burning up around me! falls down asleep

Korvo: Yeesh. Too much cider.

Yumyulack: I know, right? drinks a huge bottle of Mountain Dew

Korvo: Uh…?

Just then, Human Terry opens the door while closing it and turns back into his Shlorpian self while he looks at the kids.

Terry: Okay guys, let’s not panic. Beverly can no longer track us, because I destroyed the tracking device. So, what the worst that could happened?!

The scene then cuts to Miss Frankie putting on makeup, until she notice something in her teeth. She lifts her lips open and gasp. She saw her a gang on her upper teeth part and then noticed the outside of her face and cheek bones is turning different shades of blue and purple. She then feels a headache as she groans in pain.

Miss Frankie: Wh-what’s happening to me?!

Then, Wolverine claws pop out of her palms as she screams in horror once they smashed a mirror.

Miss Frankie: screams in horror

Later, the scene cuts Cherie playing with Pezlie until she sees boot camp below as she gasp.

Cherie: What the? Montez, be right back!

Montez: offscreen Got it honey.

Seconds later, Cherie and Pezlie sneaks into the camp while overhearing Beverly, Rina and Tyler discussing their new plans as she peaks through the curtains.

Cherie: whispering What the fuck are they up to?

Beverly: Okay, let’s go over this again. Tomorrow at sunset, that fucking loser principal will be put on the chair. There, after David turns himself in, he can break him.

Rina: What does that have do we anything?

Tyler: Yeah?

Beverly: After he comes in, David will try to break him and he finally be forced to tell him where those two monster aliens are, and we’ll get rid of them. Permanently.

Tyler: Oh. Right on.

Cherie gasp and Pezlie whimpers as they try to sneak away, until Tyler grabs Pezlie away from Cherie as she gasp.

Cherie: Pezlie! Hang on Mommy’s coming for you

Cherie then sees Beverly about to inject something into Pezlie which made her gasp, but she runs up and takes the needle shot herself as she screams in pain.

Cherie: groaning What’s happening to me?!

Pezile is scared. Cherry Red Spikes then pop out of Cherie’s arms and back and legs as she starts growing bigger and muscular, as her clothes rip apart. Pezlie then stops being scared and began giggling as she grows amazed her mother’s transformation. Cherie’s hair then grows longer as her voice deepens and she roars while Pezlie starts giggling and cheering for her mama.

Pezlie: Mama! Mama!

Cherie calms down when seeing Pezlie. Goliath Cherie smiles as Pezlie comes up happily cooing and hug her.

Beverly: Stop her!

Goliath Cherie then kicks the three members as she leaps up and heads back to the motel without any looking like, like a stealth ninja as she smiles at Pezlie. She heads back to her motel room where Montez sees her and yelps a little before recognizing her and blushing.

Montez: Wow. Cherie you look so hot in that form.

Cherie chuckles. Then the scene cuts to Principal Cooke arriving back into his motel room.

Principal Cooke: Honey, I’m back and-

He then only sees Miss Frankie gone and her clothes on the floor. They were even torn to shreds. He then sees a makeup item and looks closely at it.

Principal Cooke: What in the?

Suddenly, her heard a loud metal clingy sound.

Principal Cooke: Honey? Is that you?

Suddenly, Principal Cookr looks up and sees a pair of glowing orange pair of looking down on him with a blue and purple long tongue trying to lick him as he back away slowly.

Principal Cooke: Who are you?

Principal Cooke then grabs the lamp to shine a light and as puts the lamp up high, it turns out to be a Mutant Miss Frankie!

Principal Cooke: Oh shit! Honey?

Miss Frankie roars as she lands on the floor and approaches Principal Cooke.

Principal Cooke: Oh my god…. You have never looked more beautiful!

Hearing this, Mutant Miss Frankie stops and blushes as Principal Cooke kiss her on the forehead as she whimpers.

Principal Cooke: Hey. It’s okay baby. I have an idea but we are gonna need our friends’ help on this. Because, if Beverly wants me to turn in, they we have something in mind that turn her, her Fuck Thugs and David in once and for all!

Mutant Miss Frankie smiles. Then, the scene cuts to the hotel room where the Solars are in. After putting on their sleep clothes, they are now watching the news.

Terry: Oh boy. This is not good. What have they done?!

The then news then plays about the past monster attacks as it shows a video of Principal Cooke getting unfairly fired, because of Beverly framing him.

Korvo: Shit!

Yumyulack: Oh boy. So it’s true. Principal Cooke did get framed by Beverly!

Jesse: She's gonna pay!

Sonya: I hope she doesn’t find us soon

Terry: Don’t worry, she won’t! We just need to come up with a plan before….

Suddenly, Terry sees something through his Mundane vision, swirling around like a wind as he grows amazed and curious.

Terry: What in the...?

Korvo: Terry?

Terry: Korvo, I think I’m seeing another Mundane spirit!

Korvo: What?! You are?! How?

Terry: Through my vision! I just don’t know where it’s heading towards-

Yumyulack: Then figure it out!

Sonya: Yumyulack!

Yumyulack: Sorry geez. crosses his arms

As Terry sees the Mundane spirit flying, it chose its eyes and inside of mouth color pink and it flies towards the Solars as it shines as the Solars, except for Jesse who is asleep, shield their eyes as it heads towards his unlikely host… Jesse!

Terry: JESSE!

As the spirit heads into Jesse as it shines a light throughout the whole room, then scene then cuts to Jesse, who gasp and finds herself in a midnight pink void as she starts to grow alarmed. Jesse looks around and grows amazed by the void.

Jesse: What is this place?

Suddenly, Jesse sees something shining ahead as she heads over there. She approaches a tree and it turns blossom into a swirling dark shades of pink light and then into another Mundane Spirit, but it doesn’t speak.

Jesse: Whoa.

Jesse approaches the spirit slowly as she slowly soothed the spirit’s face and suddenly, a sees a vision of her past when she saw Mundane Terry keeping her safe when Jesse was a baby, which made Jesse smile as she shed a single tear and wipes it away.

Jesse: Terry...

Jesse then sees the vision as it shows Mundane Terry turning back to his normal Terry self on the day the Shlorpians pushed him to far and the monster attack as he approaches Baby Jesse and comforts her when she was still crying, which made Jesse smile and hug the vision, while her tears turn midnight pink. The vision fades away as Jesse looks up at the Mundane Spirit and she smiles but wonders about something.

Jesse: I’m not gonna regret this… am I?

The Mundane Spirit smiles. The spirit then puts its hand on Jesse’s right hand and then they slowly walk around as Jesse began to dance around as a music box music plays in the background. The spirit then slowly flies up while Jesse holds its hand and then she finally see the light Terry was telling her about as she smiles. She then did a soft nose kiss with the spirit as it merges with her permanently and the whole void shines as it fades to light. The scene then heads back to reality as Jesse slowly floats down Terry caught her softly.

Terry: Jesse! Are you okay?!

Jesse wakes up slowly as she hugs Terry, much to his surprise.

Jesse: Thank you, dad.

Terry: Dad?

Jesse: I mean Terry.

Terry cries tears of happiness as he hugs Jesse once Korvo enters.

Korvo: Sweetheart?

Terry: Korvo...she called me "dad".

Jesse: Well, you are not gonna believe it but I-

Suddenly, Jesse’s vision goes midnight pink as she gasp and starts breathing in and out while holding her head.

Terry: Jesse! No no no! Hold on!

Terry takes Jesse outside while holding her as Korvo watch.

Korvo: Well, at least you two have manage to master those….

Yumyulack: offscreen Korvo? What's wrong?

Korvo then turns and see Yumyulack, who was awake, Sonya and Pupa sleeping and cuddling with each other. Korvo then smiles, sighs while rolling his eyes and approaches them quietly.

Korvo: I love you both so much...

Korvo smiles and kiss Yumyulack, Sonya and Pupa on the foreheads as they head back to bed and puts the kids’ each specific blankets as he smiled. Then, the scene cuts to Terry making it outside as he lightly puts Jesse down.

Korvo: What happened?

Terry: Korvo, can you please keep an eye on the rest of the three while I calm down Jesse.

Korvo smiles.

Korvo: Of course darling

Korvo heads back to the room as Terry looks down at Jesse having a panic attack.

Terry: It's gonna be okay, Jesse...

Jesse’s eyes starts flashing midnight pink as she starts snarling but Terry gasp and hugs her.

Terry: Sssh. Sssh. It's okay.

Jesse then cries into Terry’s chest as she grows scared over what happened a second ago.

Jesse: tearfully; quietly I'm sorry, daddy.

Terry then continue to sooth her as Jesse kept crying as he pulls her close while feeling her father’s love all over again the first time in 13 years ever since she was a baby. Jesse then starts choke sobbing as Terry smiles and wipes away the tears from his daughter’s eyes.

Terry: Oh. My poor little Jesse… you must be so scared… pulls Jesse into a loving hug

Jesse: Yeah, I am.

Terry: Hey. It’s okay. I was scared too. But then, I got better. I’m sure you will too…

Jesse: But what if I lose myself?

Terry: Because… I see you Jesse… all me and your father see in my eyes is a brave sweet kind hearted teenage girl, who is a good sister, a brave young woman who take care of a bunch of tiny people, an independent teenager and a wonderful daughter, who always out the people she loves before herself, because she’s got a big heart and a kind soul that helps keeps this family together. No matter what, because she is one of the bravest people that I have ever known ever since the day she was sprouted…

Jesse then begin to overwhelmed as she sniffles but Terry smiles and wipes away her as he kiss her on the forehead.

Jesse: weeping But what if I’m not the girl anymore… once I transformed for the first time…

Terry: I'll still know you're in there...

Jesse: Why? How do you know that I’ll still be in here…?

Terry: Because… you’re my daughter… and I’ll always be with you… no matter what…

Jesse: Aw...

Jesse then hugs Terry as he smiles and hug her back.

Jesse: whispering I love you daddy…

Terry: I love you too...

The Father and daughter aliens kept hugging. Then, a few seconds later, Terry tucks Jesse to bed with her siblings as he kiss her on the forehead and Korvo smiles at him.

Korvo: You're a good dad.

Terry: So are you.

Korvo blushes but then smiles. He then looks down with a worried look while Terry walks up to him.

Korvo: sighs I just hope we’re not too late tomorrow.

Terry: We won’t because Korvo, tomorrow! We’re ending this nightmare. Together. As a family.

Korvo surprises Terry with a kiss, which made blush and smitten.

Terry: Wow! What was that kiss for?

Korvo: For being there for me, darling...

Terry: smiling as he soothes Korvo’s face up and down with his left hand softly And I always will be…

Korvo and Terry smiled and the two alien husbands Makeout with French kisses while collapsing in their hotel bed and starts having sex. The next morning, Korvo wakes up only to see Terry gone and a note on Terry’s pillow as he gasp. He picks up the note and it says, “We have Terald! Turn Yourselves in or Else!”

Korvo: Oh no Terry!

Yumyulack: waking up Huh?

Jesse: What?!

Pupa: Terry?

Sonya: Wh-what’s happening?!

Later, after everyone had breakfast and got dressed, the Solar Opposites meet up with their friends as they start discussing the plan.

Nova: You sure they have Terry?

Korvo: Hell yeah they do! But, we need to think of something quick before they something horrible to him.

Principal Cooke: Um, I have a solution!

Korvo: Really? What is it?! Principal Cooke whispers it in his ear Really? You’re willing to do this? Well, if that’s the plan to beat, that actually might be able to help us. Some of you guys sneak in while the kids, Nova, Sherbet, Cherie, Montez and I go look for Terry.

All: Right!

Korvo: Solars, minus Terry, move out!

A few hours later, Beverly is discussing her plan to Python.

Sam Python: Sorry, but I don’t think your friend here is gonna help us.

Beverly: Oh shut up! I met him and he had been very helpful. He has done the Ritchie things by sending those monster attacks on other people, and we’re getting rid of Korey once and for all. Also, I don’t think your stupid government is gonna-

Suddenly, she gasp because David came in first when Principal Cooke was supposed to come in first.

Beverly: Shit!

Sam Python: What now?!

Beverly: That was not the plan?! That stupid-ass Principal is supposed to be here first! Where the fuck is he?!

Later, Principal Cooke and Mutant Miss Frankie have just finished having sex as Principal Cooke puts on his clothes and get ready.

Mutant Miss Frankie: Good luck. kisses Principal Cooke

Principal Cooke: Thanks honey

Then, Principal Cooke willing come sun with bravery in his face as he gave David a death stare and sits down. Meanwhile, Jaime and Darcy then arrived and sees Korvo with the kids, Cherie, Nova and Montez and Pezlie and Sherbet as they meet up with them.

Jaime: Guys! What the fuck is happening now?!

Darcy: What is it?!

Korvo: It's Terry. He's...

Korvo starts crying.

Jesse: Terry’s in trouble! We have to get there before-

Suddenly, Nova gets hit by DNA dart on her leg as she cries out in pain and kneels on her feet and takes out the dart. She then started to feel bunny as she suddenly starts turning furry with Cupid’s blush fur and she starts growing bigger and muscular with her rabbit ears popping out of her head as she moans.

Korvo: Huh? NOVA!

Sherbet: Mom!

Cherie: What’s happening to you?!

Nova: I don't know but...I feel gooooood...

Nova’s clothes get ripped into pieces, she develops fangs and rabbit teeth, her eyes starts glowing purple, her feet becomes human size-rabbit feet and a tail pops out as she roars.

Korvo: HOLY SHIT!

Sherbet: Damn mom! You look very tough, even for a rabbit!

Wererabbit Nova then leaps up and destroys the lock as she growls. Sherbet then pay her on the back to calm her down as she smiles at her daughter.

Wererabbit Nova: Hey, sweetie.

Sherbet: You did great mom. kisses her on the forehead as Nova turns back, with her clothes back on

Korvo: What the hell happened?

Nova: I don’t know. But I am guessing Beverly might be onto us now! We have to hurry and find Terry before he gets hurt! Or worse…

Korvo: Killed...

Jesse: Oh shit! Come on guys, let’s go save our dad!

Everyone except Korvo who is looking like he's having a panic attack: YEAH!

Korvo: Holy shit! That scared me!

The scene then heads back to the base where Principal Cooke is giving David a death stare as he began to confront him. Mia, Alice, Randall, Miss Frankie, Kevin and Ms. Perez sneaks in quietly while hiding so no one can see them.

Randall: The coast is clear! Come on!

Ms. Perez: Ooh. Let’s watch. Principal Cooke is ready to talk to David!

Principal Cooke: Hello most wanted. I should have known you were manipulating Beverly into destroying us.

David: Yeah? I should have killed your friends.

Principal Cooke: You wish you had. You saw Korey last night of the award ceremony. Didn’t you?! You heard about his work. And you got crazy jealous. That is why you snuck in the laboratory last night. To get close to him. And when that didn’t work, you made a deal with Beverly, who hates him the most.

David: Her own enemy.

Principal Cooke: Then, you started going after the people he loves, including his family!

David: It's alright. Go ahead and scream. Go ahead and scream. Scream. Screaming will do you good.

Principal Cooke: HOW DARE YOU?!

David: Oh, is that so? Well, I've got news for you. I didn't come here to see you. I came here to see my new destiny. My real destiny. The one inside of Beverly. Beverly is nothing but a superficial shell, a husk of flimsy consciousness ready to be torn off at a moments notice. So, I roped her in like a dumbass fool. Beverly gasp in shock

Beverly: What?! No!

Principal Cooke: You can think what you like. I don't care, just go!

David: Now, Principal, listen to me. I've found a cure... for me. My cells can transform, too. Absorb enormous amounts of energy, but unlike you, they're unstable, I need that beast’s strength. I gave him life, now he must give it back to me! Only a million times more radiant, more powerful!

Principal Cooke: Oh Stop! You’re fucking crazy and you know it!

David: Stop what? STOP WHAT! Think about all those men out there, in their uniforms! Barking and swallowing orders! Inflicting their petty rule over the entire globe! Think of all the harm they've done! To you, to me! To humanity! And know this, that we can make them, and their flags and their anthems and their governments disappear! In a flash, me and those fucking alien beasts!

Principal Cooke: They’d fucking rather not!

David: Oh, that's your answer and indeed that stupid Mundane shall die and be reborn a hero! Under my control! Of the kind that walked the Earth long before the pale religions of civilization infected humanity's soul!

Principal Cooke: No Terry is not a monster! He’s a good person and loving father and great husband to Korey, and you and Beverly know it you evil psycho!

David : stops and shortly mocks Principal in a calm manner Stop your bawling, you weak little speck of human trash. gets up from his chair, yelling I'll go! You just watch me go!

Sam Python: Hit it.

One of the soldiers hit the electric chairs, but Beverly refusing to believe this, runs out of the base and heads to Mundane Terry.

Kevin: Holy shit! Turn it off!

Suddenly, Principal Cooke starts to feel something as he suddenly grows fur and begins to grow bigger and muscular.

Miss Frankie: What’s wrong with my boyfriend?!

Mia: Holy shit!

The electric hits David as he finally transforms into his new monstrous form, a chimera! The whole lights go out through our town as everyone starts to panic, except for the Solar Opposites gang. Principal Cooke then grows sharp teeth and his finger nails became claws and his whole clothes get torn into shreds. Suddenly, Principal Cooke roars as he has finally transformed into a Werehog and grabs onto Chimera David as he flies off and the others transforms into their monster forms and follows them through the base. There, Chimera David crashes near the lake as Werehog Cooke growls.

Werehog Cooke: GET AWAY FROM ME!!!

Mutant Frankie lands and is surprised to her boyfriend a Werehog while Werewolf Perez, Mutant Octopus Mia, Werelizard Alice, Werefox Kevin, Weredragon Randall and Medusa Alice meets up with her

Mutant Frankie: Honey?!

Werehog Cooke: So....how do I look?

Mutant Frankie: You look hot honey! And gasp and sees Chimera David Behind you!

Chimera David smirks but to his horror, he didn’t absorbed Werehog Cooke’s powers as he still stay a chimera. Mutant Frankie then uses her Wolverine claws to attack David but he flies before she could catch him.

Mutant Frankie: Damn it!

Chimera David then flies to town as the other monsters watch

Weredragon Randall: Aw shit! We gotta hurry and tell Korvo!

Suddenly, they see Mundane Terry, in a glass cage, his hands and feet tied up and a muzzle on his face as he wakes up and gasp.

All: Terry?!

Mundane Terry: Get me outta here!

Werelizard Janice: On it! punches a hole which breaks the glass and frees Terry as he turns back into his normal Shlorpian self

Terry: Thanks guys, but what happened here?! How did I get here?!

Mutant Frankie: You got captured by David!

Medusa Alice: Long story, but we have to get you outta here! Let’s get back to your husband, kids and the others!

Terry: What?! That fuck! That’s it! Come on, guys! Let’s go catch with the others

Terry then grabs the keys and gets in the bus as he drives and his fellow monsters follow him.

[calyxthenerd]

i wanna stay with you until we’re grey and old

“I’m scared Stan…” Richie let out, the way his hands trembled as he tried to fix his tie made that sentiment clear, so his best friend jumped in to do it, while questioned where did that fear come from

“It’s just, what if he doesn’t want to do it anymore? What if he decides I’m too much work, and he just goes back to the comfort of the same kind of ‘love’ he’s had his whole life?” He ranted

“Richie Tozier, can you even hear what you’re saying??” Stan waves his hands around, very irritated at his best friend’s stupidity “do you realize how idiotic that sounds?! Eddie escaped that life, and it was you he turned to to provide him with love and support while he healed from it, you guys have been in love since we were greasy, annoying children, your love survived 27 of hardly remembering each other, dozens of near death experiences, you think one measly show of commitment is going to scare him away??!”

“Geez, save some of that for your best man speech” Richie clapped his friend in the back and went to put on his suit jacket “Is it time?”

“Let’s get you married, Tozier”

—————————————————————

After the small ceremony in the decrepit Derry church, with only the seven there, they grabbed some alcohol from the small licor store, and went to the quarry to get drunk together

“Hey, shitheads!” Bev called out, to which all her friends turned, from the various spots they were swimming in

“Yes, darling?” Richie grinned at the happy looked on her face

“Do you guys want to do some last minute vandalism before we leave this place for good?” she hollered, to which everyone cheered, and left the water

Twenty minutes later they found themselves at the abandoned house that (almost) ruined their lives, with maces, bats, hammers and other objects who could be used for destruction, most notable being Eddie, who had grabbed a deodorant and a lighter from the pharmacy that haunted his childhood and built a makeshift flamethrower, yelling as he burned through piles of plywood, after that they piled into the limo that would take them to the airport in the nearest major city, where they would take a plane to California and start the rest of their lives

—————————————————————

Even though they lived in a pretty liberal area, it was still hard as a collective of seven people, with only one woman, and three children, of which only one had any discernible parentage, Mike struggled with not being able to be out alone with Penny or Charlie, only Sasha, but he’s had the police called on him one too many times, and it always came to his mind, that at least if he was a woman, people would think he was the nanny, it wasn’t the best, but at least they would leave him and his kids alone, now every time he went out with the kids, he had to take one of the others, usually Eddie, who’s doe eyes could persuade anyone

And they lived pretty good lives out there, near the ocean, that they never knew as kids, scrambling through parenting when they could count in one hand the number of positive experiences they had with their own parents, but they had fun

Like the time Richie had to be held back from punching out some guys who were catcalling Bev

Or when they all went to get L tattooed over the place they slashed themselves during their blood pack in their youth

Or when they got hammered and accidentally went back to the wrong house, getting caught skinny dipping in someone else’s pool

Or when they took the kids to the amusement park, and ended the day in the ER because Eddie learned first hand the dangers of hot dog stands

And you can’t forget the time they stayed up for 72 hours straight because some parent from the kids’ school, who hated their guts, got Penny a karaoke machine, and the kids took turns waking up in the middle of the night to belt out “Never Gonna Give You Up” (they all blame Richie for teaching them about rickrolling)

Looking back at those memories in their old age, made them be glad for the less than great circumstances that brought them together, and as each of them passed on, the last words out of their mouths were “Thank you, Demon Clown” which did scare the live-in nurses that their kids insisted on hiring, but Bev and Richie pestered the others until they agreed that those would be their shared last words, and so they were, cementing the love they had for the life that they shared

[leviathanlazarus]

Reaching for Stardust - Part VIII

Read Looking For Space here // Playlists here // Read on wattpad

Word Count: ~3200

Warnings: none:)

A/N: I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I love love stories...especially this one <3

---

When we got back home, I was dying to talk to Bev and the boys. First, I consulted Bev, who went through a series of facial expressions so profound I faltered here and there throughout the entire retelling of the vacation. I could see the anger there when I told her about Josh’s secret and how he revealed it and her being upset on my behalf was validating. I hadn’t been out of bounds for merely being caught off guard and upset myself about what he’d kept from me. But then the same recognition, relief and forgiveness I had felt was shown on Bev’s face and I didn’t have to worry about her judgment, though I had worried about that quite a bit prior to seeing her. I’d worried that she’d take things to a drastic level. Thankfully, she didn’t and I was able to walk away from the conversation feeling an enormous amount of love from her that melted into the enormous amount of love I felt from Josh.

The boys weren’t coming back from their little Midwest tour for another week so I had to settle for a Facetime call with Jake, the one I was most anxious to discuss things with. I settled onto the couch, eagerly awaiting for him to pick up–when he did, I couldn’t help but grin wildly, the excitement of merely seeing his face enough to override my nerves. 

“Hey, you,” Jake greeted in that kind, husky voice that had a natural soothing quality. He squinted, inspecting me through the little screen. “You don’t look that tan.”

I scoffed and looked down at my arm. “I got some color, Jake, jeez. Blame the phone camera for not being able to see my glow.”

Josh tilted his head one way, then the other, still looking at me hard. “Glowing from something else besides the sun?”

“No, I’m not pregnant,” I told him with a roll of my eyes. “And we’re also not engaged yet–technically–if that’s what you’re after.”

“Seriously? I thought he was gonna pop the question during this trip.” Jake sighed. “I mean, come on. You two should already be married.”

“Um, well, I agree,” I began, crossing my legs and beginning to fiddle with a stray thread on one of my socks. No doubt Jake knew I was the one who’d put the barrier up between Josh and I and marriage and I didn’t feel like getting into that then. “But he did bring something else up during the trip. I was wondering if he’d talked to you about it beforehand, actually.”

“What?”

“He had a job interview at a college in Savannah. He thought about us moving there.”

Jake’s brow furrowed and I couldn’t tell if he was just perplexed or a little upset or both. “Really?” was all he said, and then I knew he was feeling hurt. Not the same as the hurt I’d felt–different. Perhaps even deeper. Josh absolutely never kept secrets from Jake throughout their entire lives.

“Yeah. It took me by surprise too,” I told him. “I’m also surprised he didn’t mention it to you. It’s not like Josh to be able to keep his mouth shut for like, anything.”

Jake chuckled softly, then his face fell into a frown again. “I know. That’s very strange. I suppose I’m glad he didn’t tell me and not you but–”

I sighed. “Yeah. I know.”

“He really didn’t tell you anything?”

I shook my head. “No. Nothing until we were right outside the university. It scared the hell out of me, Jake,” I confessed. It was always so easy to talk openly with him–I was grateful for that, for how much our friendship had grown over the years. “Suddenly he drops this bomb and I couldn’t make sense of it all right then and there. We talked more, obviously, and it’s not even like he’s dead-set on moving there but–” 

There was a gentle look of deep understanding in Jake’s eyes. “But he thought about it. A lot, apparently.” 

“Exactly. I don’t want to live there, honestly. Maybe somewhere else someday. But I’m not ready to leave here yet.”

“That’s completely fair. I don’t know if I feel great about the idea of my own twin being that far from me either.”

I smiled a little. “Also fair. You should talk to him, too. I think he’s got a lot to say to you that he’s been holding back.”

Jake sighed. “I don’t want Josh to hold anything back from me.”

“I honestly don’t believe any of this secret keeping was on purpose. It’s just not in his nature.” I wanted to explain more to Jake but knew those were Josh’s words I’d be speaking. He was the one who needed to bring his twin up to speed on all he’d been thinking and feeling. “So, suffice to say, I don’t think we’re moving anywhere new.”

“That’s good. I’m all for change, but I don’t think I can handle another big one right now.”

“Me either. Except for getting married and buying a house, hopefully.”

Jake smiled. “Hopefully? It’s happening.”

I leaned back, stretching and holding the phone up with one outstretched arm. “Should we all just start a commune? Y’know, buy a big piece of land, all live together because we’re painfully codependent, all of that good stuff.”

“That sounds very Josh-like,” Jake said with a laugh. He looked more relaxed then, though I could clearly see the signs of exhaustion on his face. His undereyes looked darker and his entire face held a kind of sleepiness; I questioned it and he gave a slightly reassuring smile. “Touring is a lot. What we do now is different from how it was before–a few shows here and there in town, a few in Detroit. It’s definitely a bit tiring, but we do really love it.”

“Good. We knew you guys would blow up.” I sat up again, resting my elbow on my knee. “We just miss you. What are we gonna do when you guys are gone for like, a year?”

“There’s breaks. We’ll see each other.”

I loved hearing the assuredness of Jake knowing they’d grow more and more into their success; still, it always felt like a lot to process. “I’m not omitting Josh and I being roadies from the realm of possibilities,” I told him. “This codependency is a killer.”

Jake laughed again. “It’s just love. That’s all it is.”

– 

After Josh came home, we talked from beginning to end–again–through his thought process about the job and the move. He talked as if they still held potential for a little while, but when he brought up how he and Jake had actually talked as well between classes, the dismissal of the two things came to light. He didn’t want to move states away and I believed him when he said it–he didn’t even need to reassure me. I could hear it in his voice and see it in his face, this kind of relief that I was sure came from not only finally revealing it all to me in Savannah but also, finally, talking things through with his brother. The bond he had with Jake, as well as with Sam and Danny, always came first in my mind even if Josh didn’t see it that way and I was fine with that. Jake and Danny were processors and held wisdom in their minds even when they weren’t quite ready to share it; Sam, on the other hand, reacted to things quickly and didn’t shy away from the full expression of his feelings. All of them held their own advantages when it came to communication and hard decisions, influential in their own rights. 

“There’s so much to think about,” Josh mused. We were sitting on the balcony, watching the sun begin to set; I was studying the way the light hit the leaves, pondering what our next move would be–quite literally–until Josh turned to me and took my hand. “What are you thinking about right now?” 

“I’m thinking about how much change might be too much change,” I told him, looking into his eyes. “Maybe trying to buy a house right now isn’t the best thing. There could be other things to focus on. And maybe we could move to Detroit sometime in the future.”

He smiled. “Other things to focus on–like a wedding?”

I smiled back. “Yeah. Like a wedding.” 

Once again I found myself mapping the trajectory of our life and all the future choices I could think of in my head; the slight squeeze of Josh’s hand around mine made me slow down. “Maybe we don't have to plan every little thing,” I said, mostly directing that at myself. I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. “I miss being more spontaneous. Being an adult sucks.”

Josh chuckled, jostling me a bit. “Only sometimes. Besides, we were adults when we met.”

“Kind of. Also kind of silly kids.”

“We’re still that way. We always will be.” Josh bounced up to his feet and took both my hands, pulling me up with him. “Let’s go have dinner on the beach. That’s spontaneous, no?”

It was warm but the air was cooling and would certainly be chilly soon, even more so once we were on the water; the thought of the strong breeze against our skin as the low waves rolled to shore propelled my emphatic “yes.” So we scraped together some sandwiches, chips, a tupperware container of fruit and the six-pack that had been hanging out in the fridge for a little too long. The sun was lower as Josh drove, a half-dome of golden-orange on the horizon as we headed west toward the lake and, by the time we parked the car, a cool, calm dusk was in full force. 

Josh led the way down the rocky, sandy bank, through the tight cove of trees and to an entirely empty part of the beach. The sun was far to our left, merely a sliver over the water, and the deepening of the blue sky melted with the calm water, immersing us in a whole world of blue. Josh had returned to that quiet state that unnerved me, but he didn’t look nervous–he looked like someone who was holding in a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I questioned as we settled down on a blanket. I popped open two beers, handed one to Josh, and prodded the container of fruit open. 

“Nothing,” he said, but then he began laughing wildly like I’D said something hilarious. 

“Not another secret?” I pressed, actually joking. 

“No. No secret,” Josh said with a wave of his hand. He nestled right against my side and took a drink, looking ahead at the water. “We’ll have a better view of the stars here.”

I looked up, past the wispy layer of grey clouds and into the darker part of the dusk where a few stars had begun to shine through. Josh’s weight on me, the darkness and the soothing sound of the water were lulling me into a daze and I knew I could have easily, literally fallen asleep had it not been for Josh abruptly shooting forward to grab his backpack again. It felt like the time he was going to propose–I expected a ring to be pulled from that backpack pocket, but he only took out a pack of cigarettes. 

“Really?” I asked teasingly.

He put one between his lips. “Yes, really.” After he lit it, he passed the pack to me but I waved it away.

“We’ll share,” I told him, and Josh handed it to me after he exhaled. The whispers of smoke spun into the air and away while I took a drag; I felt nervous then, my expectations unmet but the knowledge of the upcoming proposal happening sometime, somewhere remained. I did wish many times that I hadn’t been so resistant to marriage. Josh had been ready sooner than I had, but I knew in my heart it hadn’t been much sooner. Sometimes I felt like I’d made him waste all that time with me–why should he have stuck around for someone unwilling to make the ultimate commitment? What had I been so resistant to anyway?

After we ate and drank some more beer, we walked along the shore, barefoot through the cold water. Josh held my hand and we looked for constellations and lone stars and planets–I spotted Arcturus, bright and white, and the Big Dipper above while Josh excitedly pointed out Virgo.

“It’s really incredible,” he said while we paused, both of our heads tilted back to look in wonder at the infinity that lay above us. “All of that–all those stars, planets, galaxies and we’re all here on Earth. There has to be other life out there. I don’t know why anyone says otherwise.”

“Sometimes it feels scary,” I admitted. “Not that there’s other life out there, but just how big all of this is. I don’t think we’re insignificant though.”

“We can’t be. And everything can’t be random.”

I squeezed his hand. “Definitely not. The universe knew what it was doing when it brought you into my life.”

“It did.” I watched Josh bring his gaze down to the water, turning to look past me. “Check out that boat–they’re way far out.”

I turned to look at it and I was a little mystified at how small the distant light on it was, how far away whoever was commandeering the ship was from us; I couldn’t hear the motor, only the sound of the waves and then Josh clearing his throat. When I turned back to him, he’d disappeared from my eyeline–no, he was down on both of his knees and looking up at me.

“Josh–” I began to say but I didn’t know what to say next. My heart sped up suddenly, racing hard in my chest and into my ears, and a wave of dizziness came over me so fiercely that I placed one hand on his shoulder to steady myself.

He smiled. “I’m so very glad I can still make you swoon, darling.” In his hands he held a small black box, so shiny it looked like it was carved from obsidian itself. “I want to do that for the rest of our lives.” Even in the dark I could see the glimmer of his eyes and the flush spread across his cheeks, his own nerves alive as much as mine were, I was sure. “You are absolutely everything to me and I want to go everywhere and do everything with you forever.” Josh took a breath and laughed a little before his slightly shaking hands–the sight of which made my heart swell with so much adoration I felt dizzy all over again–opened the box. I glanced down at the ring but it was a blur; I was too focused on his beautiful face and watching his lips create the next string of words: “I’ve wanted us to be bound together for eternity for so long now, love. Will you marry me?”

I dropped to my knees in front of him, threading my fingers through his hair, pulling him in to kiss. It was just my instinct then–to kiss him with all the love I had in my body, to hold him close enough that he knew I’d never let him go, not caring that the water was cold and soaking my pants. All I could feel was him. Josh hummed against my mouth and I pulled back to finally verbalize my answer: “Of course, Josh. I love you so much.” I kept my hands on the back of his neck but looked down to really see the ring and, when I did, all I could say then was, ���Oh my god.” 

It was gorgeous and I was speechless as I looked at it. The moonlight cast its glow on the white gold band and the teardrop diamond that was surrounded by tiny blue gems–all of it was perfectly suited to me. I kept gawking and Josh chuckled, then took it out of the box and took my hand, sliding it onto my ring finger as he quietly said, “I hope I got the right size.”

He did. He nailed it. I lifted my hand and gazed at the beauty of it some more, still trying to find the words to express all the gratitude and even surprise. Sure, I’d known the proposal would happen. But maybe nothing ever prepares you for the feelings that come along with it regardless, and from the adoration and the gratitude came a swell of feelings I couldn’t name, but it was all so overwhelming that I started crying.

“Oh, no, sweetheart,” Josh cooed, wrapping me in his arms as I brought my hands to my face, weeping into them and shuddering against his body. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I whimpered, getting the ring wet with my own tears as I tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming. “I’m so happy, Josh. I just–I’m so sorry–sorry it took so long.” 

Josh rubbed my back. “Don’t be sorry. Please don’t be sorry. I’m not sorry about it.” 

When the tears slowed, I hugged him back, resting my wet cheek on his shoulder. “You’re not?” 

He giggled. “No! We’re together and we always have been. That’s what matters.”

I lifted my hand to look at the ring again. “This is too much. It’s too beautiful.”

“It’s just right. It’s just for you. Do you like it?” 

“I love it. It’s perfect.” 

“By the way,” Josh said, then turned to kiss my forehead. “It’s a lab-grown diamond. No blood spilled for that one.”

I sniffled. That was so him. “That’s good. Thank you. For all of it.” 

Josh gently guided both of us back up to our feet. He held my hands, looking down at the impossibly gorgeous ring he’d placed on my finger. “You really like it?”

I watched the diamond sparkle–literally–in the moonlight and the tiny sapphires glow like the water before us. “I love it so much. You could’ve gotten me a twist tie for all I care but, Jesus Christ, Josh–this is stunning.”

He smiled. “I thought for a long time about what it would look like. It reminds me a little bit of the pendant you got me for our first anniversary. That may have influenced my decision making a little, too.”

“You know how much I love when we match,” I told him, taking away my right hand to wipe a few leftover tears away. My heart still felt so full and there was so much inside me I wanted to say, but eloquence didn’t feel possible then. Instead of trying to speak further, I kissed him again.

The lingering kiss over, Josh nuzzled into my neck. “I love you, mama. I’m so happy you said yes.”

I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes as his curls brushed against my skin with the same gentleness as the breeze. “There’s no universe in which I’d say no.” 

---

Tagging: @kissingthegoat @jjwasneverhere @clairesjointshurt @bizzielisteningtogreta @colorstreammind

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[reddie-ao3feed]

to live for the hope of it all

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/XkrdqCw by eddiekaspbrakirlsblog Richie brings it up first. Casually over dinner. He’s back from tour and so naturally Eddie thought it would be a nice gesture to make dinner, well if you consider putting garlic bread in an oven and making a pasta dish making dinner, but it’s the thought that counts. Besides Eddie knows that Richie eats like shit when he’s on tour even though he really has no excuse to because he has enough money to eat at any restaurant in the area that he’s in and he’s pretty sure most of the hotels, if not all, have food included in the price. But again it’s the gesture that really counts. They’re talking and eating, making eachother laugh and have almost gone through an entire bottle of wine, which is what Richie would blame his words on. When Richie says: “Everyone’s having kids now, Bev’s pregnant, Bills already got a kid and Patty’s pregnant. It’s fucking crazy.” OR the final instalment of the beach house series Words: 2970, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 7 of it’s a cruel summer with you Fandoms: IT - Stephen King, IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT (1990) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, Reddie children Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier Additional Tags: Parent Reddie, FINAL BEACH HOUSE INSTALLMENT, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak Needs A Hug, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Married Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, they are parents, Implied Sexual Content, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, she fucked eddie up, Gay Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, Good Parents Maggie & Wentworth Tozier read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/XkrdqCw

[cobra-creampuff]

gold rush: Richie/Eddie + meeting during the 27 years (3/3 3/4 oops)

Summary: Eddie “meets” Richie at a bar while they’re both out of town for work, and immediately decides right now is the perfect time to have his midlife crisis.

"Okay, alright," Ben placates when the laughter goes long, gesturing for everyone to settle down, only half genuine. "How 'bout you, Eddie? You married?" "Uh, no," Eddie mumbles, emerging reluctantly from his one-handed cocoon. He debates for a moment, feeling sick. But he has to make sure Richie gets the full picture, now that he has to have any of it. "Engaged. Or I was a year ago, anyway." Richie goes still and silent next to him, his hands freezing where they had been using his chopsticks to whack out a shitty little drumline on the cloth-covered table. "What happened?" Ben asks softly, sympathetically. Eddie's throat hurts; the truth hurts. He coughs it away as best he can. "I moved," he says. "For- uh. For work." Like Pretty fucking Woman. Richie fumbles putting down his chopsticks, tucks his hands under the table. Eddie watches him do it through his peripheral vision. "Sorry to hear that, Eds," Mike murmurs across the now quiet table. Eddie tenses up to hold back a flinch at the nickname. Richie came up with that nickname. Twice. He hasn't used it since they got here. "So, anyway!" Richie says instead, cutting through the atmosphere like a fucking anvil, like he always did as a kid. He brings his hands back up to gesture wildly. "Ben! Where's the rest of you?" "I- Yeah, I guess I lost a few pounds," Ben says, chuckling awkwardly. Eddie, Bill, and Mike all make noises of agreement - Eddie maybe a little more enthusiastically than required, latching onto the change of subject eagerly. "You're hot!" Richie gushes. Eddie can't help but look Ben over, almost as if directed to do so by Richie's words. His eyes sweep up and down Ben's body like a compass needle sweeping around to point North. He admires, for a moment, Ben's somewhat dainty wrists, his bulging shoulders, his thick thighs under the table. The tightness of his fucking cowboy jeans, too, makes for a prettier picture in between them than a looser fit would provide. But then Richie goes on. "You're gorgeous, man! You're like if every Brazilian soccer player was rolled into one person." He pauses there, and sitting so close at hand, Eddie can hear him take a shaking breath, hyping himself up. Braced, he finishes, "Do you like men? Asking for a friend." Suddenly, Eddie isn't so enthused with this topic anymore. There's easy laughter from everyone else, and then a pause when what Richie's said sinks in. Then laughter again, to Richie's palpable relief. "That would be so weird," Bill says, making a face. "What?" Richie demands. "Only you're allowed to date fellow Losers?" "Leader privileges," Bill says with a smirk and a nod. "Okay, gross," Richie condemns, ruining it by laughing halfway through. He turns back to Ben and adds, "Apparently the friend I'm asking for is Bill. Would you date Bill, Ben? Would you let Bill touch your rock hard washboard abs, Ben?" "Oh my God," says Ben, hiding his glowing face behind his beer. "Leave him alone, you're embarrassing him," Bev reprimands, sounding like she's never meant anything less in her life. Eddie can't really blame her - Ben's blush is as adorable as it's ever been, now with the added visual benefits of a strong jaw and a handsomely trimmed goatee. However, he would personally strongly prefer if Richie did leave Ben alone. "What dat ass do? For Bill, I mean." Richie is relentless, though he's honestly looking more at Bill than Ben at this point. Bill, who is choking he's laughing so hard, face so red he's putting Ben's alluring blush to shame - exclusively in terms of shade. While Ben makes for a bashful Prince Charming, Bill looks like a baking tomato that is about to explode in the oven. "Jesus, somebody save me," Ben pleads. "Where the hell is Stanley?"

Read More -> Or start at the beginning.

[biblioflyer]

Jumbled thoughts about Picard s3e1

The short version without spoilers? I liked it. I'm not surprised I like it. That just means Picard is 3 for 3 in really solid first episodes. This is a show that's always been good at sprinting but can it finish the marathon without being winded and slightly confusing?

Spoiler free commentary:

They're getting the band back together!

Riker & Picard's dynamic is arguably more solid than it ever was in TNG. There's a genuine warmth and congeniality to it that rarely got explored in TNG.

Raffi's character growth from seasons 1 & 2 is preserved and expanded on. Narratively the character also seems to be playing a role that is a better fit for her personality and talents.

The mystery to unravel doesn't seem like its going to be as arcane and at risk of requiring a convoluted resolution.

Yay starship porn! But also....ehhhhhh starship porn. (I don't love one of the new designs for extremely arbitrary and very nerdy reasons. Your mileage is free to vary without my judgment and I'm hoping I'll warm up to it.)

Spoilers after the jump.

This is where the spoilers start.

Bev kicks ass?

I find it to be a rather interesting choice to make one of the main characters to be a key element in the central mystery. Making it Beverly of all people just adds another interesting twist. At first I was put off by her lethal efficiency in dealing with the boarders but I really appreciated how Riker pointed out how out of character this was for her when he was examining the aftermath.

Casual XB-ism

I'm uncomfortable with Captain Shaw's casual prejudice towards Seven of Nine. A certain amount of anti-Borg sentiment would be understandable in a less utopian setting and while its not entirely out of character for people in the Federation to hold prejudices, those prejudices are generally the direct result of some sort of trauma. Which is not great, but its not entirely realistic to expect people to be entirely free of bitterness over horrible experiences and it is better, relatively speaking, than simply being prejudiced because of a bunch of ancient conspiracy theories and undeserved smugness over one's culture or genetic lineage. Although it is still not objectively good, just better than more irrational forms of prejudice.

To throw out a few examples of what I'm talking about, Kirk hated Klingons because on multiple times he was a firsthand witness to Klingon atrocities and a Klingon murdered his son because he was Kirk's son - pointedly though, he was able to realize by the end of the Khitomer affair that his prejudice may be something he may never get over but it was also something that could get a lot of people killed if people like him were the only ones directing Federation policy. O'Brien hated Cardassians because of his traumatic experiences during the Cardassian war. Sisko was hostile to Picard at first because his wife died at Wolf 359. Notably he also was able to recognize that he was being unfair in blaming Picard for the crimes of Locutus.

By contrast, Admiral Satie hated Romulans in a more general sense and was willing to ruin people's lives trying to root out spies.

All of those Admirals who are hidebound obstacles for the crew to rebel against, and sometimes are villains outright, must come from somewhere. So it does seem like somehow Captain Shaws slip through the cracks, in spite of Starfleet's best intentions, and wind up becoming symbols of authority that is too remote and out of touch to be of use.

That having been said, there is an opportunity here that I hope will be seized to give Shaw a legitimate reason to be standoffish with Picard and to dislike former Borg. Maybe he was part of the flotilla that fought the Borg in First Contact. Heck, maybe he was a fresh Ensign that Picard forgot who was on the Enterprise during the events of First Contact and witnessed Picard's spiral into Captain Ahab territory. Maybe he lost a parent at Wolf 359.

I just hope that he's not prejudicial because of generalized dislike of the Borg, because that's one of my arbitrary lines where I think it is possible that humanity could reform itself: to let go of arbitrary, generalized prejudice and collective punishment of liberated individuals for the crimes of a hegemonic collective.

Shaw didn't do everything wrong.

Okay I have to admit it was hilarious and just plain good world building for someone to behave like they're part of a command structure with defined responsibilities and reporting structures, and not running off to showboat based on the whims of two people who absolutely no authority or standing, besides their status as heroes.

Raffi is where she should be.

One of the issues I plan to address with a rewatch is the generalized sense among many fans that Raffi should not have been cleared for duty after Season One based on how she behaved in Season Two. That may or may not be unfair, depending on just how effectively you think you can stress test someone who already knows most of Starfleet's tricks for psychologically screening people for their mental fitness to serve.

Season three addresses this by having Raffi serve in Starfleet Intelligence as a field operative with what seems to be a wide reservation to work inside of it. This seems to be a much more appropriate place for her based on her personality and skills. Also I am entertaining the possibility that her handler is not who we all probably think it is and that the comment about Raffi being a warrior is a Red Herring. It would be interesting to see it wind up being Moriarty of all beings, newly emancipated after the lifting of the Synth ban and free to roam wherever the processing power exists to support him, and unable to resist a good mystery.

Arbitrary gripes

The mystery son trope. Don't get me wrong, I'm curious about his parentage and conception. I'm sure we're meant to assume he's Picard's (somehow) but I think it would be neat if he were actually Jack Crusher's son and Bev just decided to have another child with her late husband using preserved DNA and somehow managed to keep it secret from the rest of the crew. Maybe his growth was artificially accelerated?

Machine gun phasers. Why? No, its rhetorical. I know why, not having a suppressive fire option for energy weapons means that everyone and their uncle would be using bullets instead like it was The Expanse, but a part of me loves the moderately kinder, somewhat gentler Old West style exchange of fire one shot at a time.

[itslenagain]

[ Part 1 / Part 12 ]

PART 13

Back in the small apartment in Wilson, Kimberly sits in the living room, gazing out the window at moon-kissed mountaintops, knees tucked under her chin. She remembers sitting on the beach in November, the crashing of waves, the crackling of seaside bonfires, salty mist tickling her skin. She sighs. Outside, a deer stands, staring directly at her. She watches as it approaches the glass of the window. Then, in a blink, it vanishes. Kimberly shakes her head. Maybe she imagined it.

Hera lies awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. She is normally very sure of herself. Now? She lifts her hand up and looks at her ring. Its delicate gems glimmer in the soft moonlight. She puts her arm down across her body. She waits, patiently. Kimberly will come to bed eventually.

She will, right?

(Several hours earlier...)

Bev chews on the end of a pen, furiously scribbling notes in between chomps. "Divorce gets ugly, okay? And we are setting a whole brand new precedence here. Like, literally divorcing across dimensions? With immortal beings?" She crosses something out, then writes in something else. "We really need to be prepared for literally anything. What does he have on you that could hurt your image?" Kimberly looks at Bev, confused. Hera hesitates. Bev sighs and rubs her hands over her face. "Listen, we already have our work cut out for us on establishing a case here. I don't even know if a judge will take it. But, on the chance that one does, Hera wants this public. The media is going to be involved, the court of public opinion is going to be a factor here. Men who are desperate say and do crazy shit, and we are dealing with an especially difficult one. He's going to slander her in any way he can, and I need to know so we can get ahead of it all." Bev looks seriously at Hera. "You need to tell me everything. There can be no secrets. I need to know it all." She looks at Kimberly. "And I need to know that you're in this. You will inevitably be involved. They will tear you apart too, and if I don't know, I can't help."

"...I've been trying so hard to escape who I've been," Hera says. Bev has never seen her so vulnerable. "He has plenty to slander me with. I was violent and jealous. I attacked his mistresses, his children. I neglected my own children. I put my son-in-law through a hell worse than Hades. I harassed women Zeus showed interest in. I blamed everyone but him for his transgressions," Hera looks at Bev. "It would take me centuries to tell you all the horrible things I've done."

Bev furiously scribbles. Her pen snaps in her hand, covering it in black ink. "Fuck. Okay.... I mean, I know some of this is in the mythology, so people will know at least some parts of your history." She grabs another pen. "...You were subject to abuse, and your actions were a reaction to that abuse. That's how we spin it. I'm still going to need more details from you. How about you start writing out a list?" She tosses a pen and notebook to Hera. "As much as you can think of, anything he could weaponize."

Kimberly looks at her feet. "You really think it's going to get that sensational?"

"He tried to kidnap Hera off of a plane and Hera sent him to literal hell. Of course it's sensational. Divorce brings out the worst in people, and we are dealing with an all-powerful God who has proven he will do just about anything to bring Hera home." Bev takes a sip of her coffee. It's cold. She crosses to put it in the microwave.

Kimberly looks at Hera, who is already jotting points in her notebook. She watches the steady hand, the curve of the letters. "I didn't know it would be so intense."

Hera looks at her, a soft smile on her lips. "Don't worry, my love. It will all be okay." Kimberly looks at her feet.

Bev sits back down. "Kimberly, Jo- well, my firm does intensive background checks on all potential clients, so I know you haven't had any major legal troubles or anything scandalous online. This does not necessarily mean you're in the clear."

Kimberly feels the room getting smaller. "...Bev, can we talk more tomorrow? I'm... just feeling really tired lately. I'm sorry."

Hera turns to Kimberly with a concerned look. Kimberly does not look back. Bev sucks in a breath between her teeth as an awkward tension fills the air.

"Are you okay?" Hera asks on the drive back.

Kimberly keeps her eyes on the road. The lump in her throat is suffocating her. "This is a lot more intense than I expected." Her eyes water. She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't know what I was in for."

Hera puts a hand on Kimberly's shoulder. "I know this is a lot for you. It's all going to be okay-"

"You keep saying that, and I don't understand. How are you not fucking terrified right now?!" Hera is surprised. "This is serious. This is scary. Both our lives are about to be under a microscope and it seems like you're just ready to let it happen. I don't know if I'm ready for that, okay?! You haven't even asked me how I feel about this!" She pulls the car to the shoulder. Her chest is tight. She tries to breathe. Hera puts a hand on her shoulder. She knocks it off. "You haven't even asked me," she repeats, sobbing in between, "if I am okay with my life being made a spectacle of. I didn't know this would happen when we started dating." Kimberly tries to steady her breathing. "And then I find it all out and we just started running, no time to talk, or to think. I knew it would be hard but I didn't think it would be like this."

Hera sits beside Kimberly, shocked. Her chest hurts. She hasn't felt this way in a long time. "I... I don't know what to say," she says. "I thought you wanted this, too."

Kimberly looks up at her. "I wanted a partner. I wanted us to be a team together. Sometimes it felt like that, but lately it just feels like things are happening and you're just making decisions for me that I didn't even know needed to be made." She wraps her arms around her chest and breathes. She hugs tight, as though if she loosened her grip, her body would fall to pieces.

She looks at Hera. She literally glows in the sunlight. Kimberly feels like her dreams have been stabbed, knife twisting in her gut. She says the words and it hits both of them like a bullet to the heart.

"Maybe we moved too fast."

(Reno...)

"Hello, I'm calling for Joanne Faraday, I'm her lawyer."

"No, I have not spoken to her since the arrest. I'm out of state at the moment and need to speak with her."

"She has a right to counsel no matter what she has been accused of. If you do not put my client on the phone, I will take action against your department!"

"Transferred?! Where is she being held?"

"Well, you'd better find out where she is!"

"So let me get this straight. You lost a prisoner. Don't know where she went or when she left. Great. Just you wait until this gets out. If my client has been harmed in any way, we will sue."

Bev slams the phone down on the receiver. She pulls out her cellphone and dials Joanne's number. Voicemail. She tries a second time, just in case. No answer.

She looks up flights to Cheyenne.

(Olympus...)

"...I think it's working. There is some clear conflict between them right now."

"Excellent work, my child." Zeus offers a glass of wine to Artemis. "I still think it would be easier to just kill the mortal," he says, stifling a laugh.

"No, father. If you want her to come home, you need to trick her into thinking she's coming back by her own choice. Hera is a petulant creature who needs to feel in control. I can't wait to watch how she reacts to all of her new mortal playthings betraying her." Artemis smiles and sips on the wine.

Zeus looks at Artemis with fondness. "Artemis, if this plan of yours works, you'll forever be at my right hand, a God amongst Gods, a leader of leaders!" His expression turns serious. "Do not let me down."

"It's child's play, father. Mortals are easily manipulated."

"It's not the mortals you should be wary of," Zeus says slowly. "Hera is far more dangerous than you know."

[ Next ]

You are a divorce lawyer, the best in your field. You have just received word that you will representing the Greek goddess Hera in her divorce from Zeus.

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: September 2023

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of September 2023 to make sure that they are never forgotten.  

When there is speculation that Russell Brand might be at the centre of a Dispatches expose into a comedian with a track record of sexual assault, the worst thing Russell Brand could have done is release a video a few hours ahead of the episode where he makes it obvious he is the likely subject, especially when that video not only contains an obvious edit where he uses the word "consensual" plus his defence being that he has the support of both Andrew Tate and billionaire manchild Elon Musk

...so, of course, billionaire manchild Elon Musk agrees with Brand's nonsensical blathering being "proof" of a conspiracy against QAnon and antivax fucktards and not, say, Brand's history of extremely dodgy behaviour getting exposed for all to see which has nothing to do with political stances and more to do with Brand being a rapey piece of shit

...while failed nepo baby Lawrence Fox also decided to stick his oar in trying to make out that people should speak up when rapey antivax whackjobs' history of being rapey pieces of shit catches up to him, which mainly makes it look like Lozza skimmed the copy and thought it said racist and not rapist which is why he had to come rushing to Brand's defence, while Bev Turner went as far as to say that he would always be welcome on GB News if he wasn't busy raping women

...and then along came Frances Weetman to side with Brand, apparently forgetting Gender Critical bellends are supposed to be protecting women and children and not, say, publicly siding with somebody who raped women and groomed 16-year olds

Of course Gillian Keegan would prefer you think her rant after being asked questions about the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete scandal as if it wasn't entirely performative, rather than remember that earlier this year she asked if it was possible to keep a lid on it for two years so it would be somebody else's problem

...but the amount of Tory leaders the scandal covers is quite astounding, starting with David Cameron dropping plans to address the issue as far back as 2010 after Michael Gove urged him to drop the plans Gordon Brown put in place, then Theresa May ignored the issue when it crossed her desk in 2017, to the surprise of absolutely nobody proven liar Boris Johnson handwaved it away as some piddling detail while his chancellor Rishi Sunak cut education funding, so basically the only Tory leader since 2010 who can't be blamed is Liz Truss as she wasn't there long enough for the issue to be brought to her attention

...although Rishi Sunak didn't help himself by insisting that 95% of schools are safe...which means that 1 in 20 aren't, or the best part of 500,000 schoolchildren are at risk of the roof collapsing on their heads, or smartarses on Tumblr pointing out that his defence was him asking "But other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

...and then it emerge that Gillian Keegan signed off on £1m of the schools rebuilding budget going to a firm where her husband is a non-executive director

Billionaire manchild Elon Musk decided that the reason why Twitter's ad revenue has nosedived has absolutely nothing to do with the tsunami of racism, homophobia and everything else that Matt Walsh does for click and is, in fact, entirely the fault of the Anti Defamation League...or to put it another way, he's blaming Jews for all his problems. Again

...once again billionaire manchild Elon Musk demonstrated that he doesn't like the fact that he had to follow through with his pledge to donate Starlink drones to Ukraine, with him interfering with Starlink to disable the drones and allow Russian missiles at Ukrainian cities, meaning he now has blood on his hands. Concerning

...and of course billionaire manchild Elon Musk could only respond to that scab Bill Maher saying he'd revive his show without writers to get around strike rules by begging Maher to stream his show on Twitter in the hope that advertisers would pay attention to him

...and then billionaire manchild Elon Musk met with Benjamin Netanyahu (because Elon's not a raging antisemite, regardless of the things he tweets and likes with his Twitter account which are antisemitic dogwhistles) and floated the idea that all Twitter users would have to pay to use the platform, which is no doubt also the fault of the Anti Defamation League and/or the Soros Organization

...soon afterwards we saw billionaire manchild Elon Musk begging Taylor Swift to stream her music or concerts videos on Twitter, because begging people to get some eyes on the dying platform which he is killing one moronic decision at a time doesn't look pathetic at all

...which was followed by billionaire manchild Elon Musk crying about how noted rapist Russell Brand posted a video trying not to directly deny the numerous allegations about him on Rumble, when he could have posted that video on Twitter instead

...shortly followed by billionaire manchild Elon Musk casually tweeting that he'd sacked Twitter's election integrity team, sounding uncannily like Kari Lake while throwing that little nugget of information out there

Fascist pitbull Suella Braverman says that being gay is not a reason to claim asylum in the UK, apparently forgetting the 11 countries where homosexuality is punishable with death meaning that, yes, being gay is a very fucking good reason to seek asylum if the other option is your execution

Ultra-relatable nice guy Rishi Sunak showed just how nice and relatable he is when he scrapped the Tories' Net Zero plans on a whim in the vain hope that would somehow get a few more votes from people afflicted with ULEZ Derangement Syndrome

Bloodsucking parasite Tim Gurner forgot that the one thing you should never do during a panel discussion is suggest that unemployment raise from 40% to 50% in order to make the workforce more productive, because that's the sort of thing you should say in private so people merely suspect you're a mercenary cunt instead of knowing that you are

Unifying force Keir Starmer showed just how different he is from the Tories, especially in the face of Suella Braverman sounding utterly demented about migrants, by suggesting that he would classify migrant children in the same category as terror suspects

...this was before unifying force Keir Starmer showed just how much he values free and open discourse within his version of the Labour party by outright banning all mention of rejoining the EU or mention of the two-child cap during the Labour conference, with threats of expulsion against anybody who spoke the against party line...you know, like Starmer did at the 2018 Labour party conference

...while the Youtube channel of Keir Starmer's Labour Party has expunged the videos of every one of Jeremy Corbyn's conference speeches as Labour leader, yet for some reason the hard centre extremist have not spoken of "Stalinist Purges"

Why is Liz Truss being given the oxygen of publicity on the one year anniversary of her crashing the economy, especially as she is using that oxygen to say people should not be allowed to say she crashed the economy? Own it or shut the fuck up

The link between stochastic terrorist Chaya Raichik and bomb threats being sent to schools or libraries which she screeches about online is now being investigated by USA Today - and the best that Raicik can come up with in response to one of their journalists asking for a comment is to do the "Hur hur, you have pronouns in your bio" bit as an excuse to avoid taking responsibility

Jumped-up gameshow judge Alan Sugar had yet another one of his genius business ideas, in this case trying to claim non-UK residency in order to try and dodge a tax bill of £186m - only to be told that, as a member of the House of Lords, he literally can't do that. So, naturally, because the Streisand Effect is a foreign concept to him he's threatening to sue his advisors, because apparently you can't be on The Apprentice without being a crook...

The bar for being a weird creep was taken to new heights by the combined efforts of Sam Pepper and Ice Poseidon when they picked up a random bloke off the street, paid for an escort, and then told them to fondle for their Kick livestream with one of Kick's co-founders sat in the room giggling at the whole thing - even when neither the bloke or the escort were allowed leave when they were obviously uncomfortable with being streamed uncomfortably fondling for a couple of creepy weirdos

The higher-ups at Unity appear to have graduated from the Elon Musk School of Businessing, what with their sudden decision to demand an install fee for anyone using their engine be they AAA studios or a gave dev working out of their bedroom on a game for years would suddenly be tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket at certain thresholds of installation - which Unity also decided to backdate. Funnily enough, devs left and right have said they will stop using Unity going forward if they stick to this idiotic plan

The worst thing about HeelvsBabyface losing his shit on stream about Starfield allowing players to choose their character's pronouns in the character creator is that he's convinced himself that he didn't look like a brain damaged camel's testicle ranting and raving about something which genuinely doesn't affect the game in the slightest and can be easily ignored - unlike his history of casual transphobia which was brought up after his complete meltdown, which suggests that his rant was more pre-planned than he would like to admit

It might be a better look for Penny Mordaunt if she didn't try to claim that Wales introducing a 20mph speed limit in built-up areas was a vision of what life under Labour would be like, what with Portsmouth having a 20mph speed limit in built-up areas. That's Portsmouth, where Penny Mordaunt is a sitting MP

Failed nepo baby Lawrence Fox is having yet another normal one, what with him tweeting how black Britons should "fuck off back to Jamaica" - but remember, don't call him a racist, there's nothing racist about the things he says, does or tweets...

...soon afterwards failed nepo baby Lawrence Fox unwittingly gave credence to my joke about him from the Russell Brand block at the top of this word salad when he tweeted "rapist is the new racist" - which is an interesting take given the amount of casually racist things he says and tweets...

...and then failed nepo baby Lawrence Fox had the brilliant idea of appearing on GB News where he devoted a lot of time and effort into saying how he wouldn't shag Ava Santina, all while noted danger to his co-workers Dan Wooton was giggling along - which promptly saw GB News suspend him, which was great timing as it was also announced he owed £36,000 of damages to people he falsely accused of being paedophiles on Twitter

...which was soon followed by fake vicar Calvin Robinson acting as if him speaking out in favour of Fox was him taking some principled stand - and he was promptly suspended by GB News for being an attention-seeking knobhead who probably should have noticed that, when the Daily Mail finally had an excuse for sacking Dan Wootton for his part in the whole affair without having to wait for the "Martin Branning" investigation to wrap up, no, it is about as good an idea to publicly side with Fox as it is to use a photo of the Natural History Museum on your fake church's website

Utterly bizarre decision by Napoli to post a TikTik mocking Victor Osimhen after he missed a penalty, considering Osimhen is their own player - which was soon followed by the utterly revolting decision to post a TikTok which racially abused Osimhen, which led to Osimhen threatening legal action against the club

Good of Grant Schapps to show how suited to the role of Defence Secretary that he is by now knowing the difference between the Royal Navy and the RAF

The Last Night of the Proms really got Harvey Proctor worked up, frothing at the mouth about people waving Council of Europe flags and demanding an investigation into them so they could be named and punished, which is an interesting suggestion considering an investigation into Proctor could produce some interesting results, and a few days later Richard Tice decided it was his turn to harrumph at people expressing their free speech by waving flags and how that should not be allowed, because irony is apparently something women do with the laundry

So when Sneako is confronted with children regurgitating his misogynistic and transphobic talking points word-for-word, whose fault did he say it was? That's right, the rainbow flags in classrooms forcing an agenda as the media emasculates people and not, say, some fuckwit emulating the Andrew Tate grift to children who then repeat his talking points word-to-word to him in public

Nominative determinism debunker James Cleverley picked an interesting defence of Susan Hall and her track record of sharing Twitter content from Katie Hopkins as well as tweets praising Enoch Powell: starting with "She is like many of us in the Tory party" and not realising what that would suggest

Not a good look by the Canadian Parliament to give a standing ovation to a Ukrainian who fought against the Russians during WWII, considering the minor detail that Ukrainians fighting against the Russians during WWII meant they were fighting alongside members of the Waffen SS

Totally normal from Scott Adams to suddenly blurt out that he is not feeling suicidal, because he's that far gone he thinks the CIA have the Dilbert guy at the top of their kill list for...something

It's only fitting that Lauren Boebert was kicked out of a performance of the Beetlejuice musical for *deep breath* blowing vape in the face of a pregnant woman who was sat behind her and offering to make it up to her by buying her a cocktail, and the reason she was blowing huge clouds of vape was trying to distract from giving the man she was with a handjob in a crowded theatre, which really makes her "Don't you know who I am?" hissy fit when getting escorted out that much more ridiculous, because if she left quietly the details might not have come out

Remarkable foresight by Easther and Vernie Bennett in torpedoing Eternal's 30th anniversary reunion tour by refusing to play at any LGBT festivals unless the organisers denounced the trans community, considering Eternal have a sizeable LGBT following (although quite why the Daily Express singled out Louise Redknapp for abuse for pulling the plug on the tour as if Kelle Bryan, who also pulled the plug after the Bennetts decided to be TERFs, doesn't exist does say a lot about how that paper operates...)

For some reason Jordan Peterson is ranting and raving at various Sesame Street characters, which is definitely a normal thing which a normal adult man would do

According to Liverpool supporters the reason they lost 2-1 to Tottenham wasn't because they conceded two goals to Tottenham's one, having had two players sent off for reckless fouls during the match, but actually because the referees for that match were at a tournament in Abu Dhabi a few days before which obviously means that Sheikh Mansour was there to give them all bribes to cost them that upcoming weekend's match in order to prevent the biggest rivals to Manchester City from posing a threat to their title challenge. That would be the "biggest rivals" who finished fifth in the 2022-3 season, while this tournament was sponsored by Emirates and has nothing to do with Sheikh Mansour or the City Football Group, so only the most deranged of Liverpool fan (or equally deranged Arsenal fans who also scream "FIX!!!") would believe such drivel - such drivel which has the undertone of "They all look the same to me!" to it, at that...

And finally we have registered sex offender Donald Trump not only buying a Glock in obvious breach of his bail conditions, but insisting on being filmed buying a Glock and posing for photos after buying a Glock, all because he's such a stable genius

[wcrpbubble]

@nebulaties “ you’ve been so quiet. what’s on your mind? ”   - Picard to bev

it'd be easier to say what's not on her mind, which is a rather short list. not that she has the energy to recite even that list, afraid it will only add to the throbbing headache at the back of her head that feels like it might turn into a migraine at any moment. another borg encounter (they're getting too frequent and too dangerous) had done significant damage to the ship while she and jean-luc had led the away team again, and as a result, she'd seen an endless parade of injured crewman once they'd returned to the enterprise. thankfully they hadn't lost anyone, but some of the away team had been touch and go after one of her neural dampeners had failed. a fact which also weighs heavily on her mind, that failure itself that her plan hadn't worked. it had for a while, but the borg are adapting faster now and beverly has yet to find a dampener that is permanent. each encounter only gives the machines more time to adapt and each time it gets harder and harder to shut them down.

it's only now she's finally sitting that she can feel the ache in her body as a whole, despite recent dermal regeneration to several serious cuts and bruises sustained during their away mission - not unlike the ones she'd healed on jean-luc as well. her skin still crawls however, as if she can feel nanites on her skin threatening to assimilate her at any moment. it'll be another long night of little sleep, she imagines. the nights after encountering the borg are always the roughest. usually for him.

she rubs a hand at her temple and laments not for the first time that she's drinking chamomile and ginger tea instead of wine. and realizes she still hasn't answered jean-luc. beverly shifts to pull her legs beneath her on the sofa of his quarters; she still needs to change out of her frankly ruined uniform, but she can't be bothered with the effort of changing into pajamas just yet. she needs the barrier the uniform affords.

"sorry." she apologizes, curling her fingers around her mug with some hope of letting the warmth imbibe her hands. "i hadn't realized - i just . . . letting the day settle, i suppose." she finally settles on as an answer, as vague and diplomatic as she can make it. still bothered by her own failings - they could have died and frankly that pill never gets any easier to swallow. she is so, so tired of the borg, but damn if she isn't ready to ensure their eradication once and for all for a whole myriad of reasons. namely one rather small reason that, frankly, beverly is still trying to process in her mind to some degree of understanding so she can decide how to proceed. if to proceed. she's been ruminating on it since she'd caught a glimmer of it on a tricorder reading while she'd been healing her own injuries from the mission and now is truly the first time she's been able to afford it room enough in her mind to consider rationally.

truth is, she hasn't felt well lately. with all the run-ins with the borg, the endless nights she's spent hunched over a lab desk or a bio bed in an attempt to find answers to removing or blocking borg dna - it'd been easy to blame her fatigue and headaches and lack of appetite. she hasn't exactly been treating herself to the best standards, too singularly focused on finding ways to get the borg out of the sol system before it turns into an all out war again - and it very well still might, if things don't change and soon. beverly doesn't put much faith in fate or destiny or anything of the sort, but it doesn't mean she doesn't absolutely loathe it when said fate tends to throw the biggest wrench imaginable into her plans. their plans. sometimes beverly forgets that these days she is not a singular entity, that her relationship with jean-luc ensures she doesn't make decisions quite on her own anymore in regards to many things.

which is why, perhaps, she decides to rip this band-aid off here and now before she loses courage or the borg drop out of trans warp and attack the enterprise out of sheer coincidence.

"---jean-luc, i'm pregnant."

[sparrowsfall]

Does John feel no remorse over killing Joe, who was trying to recover, or is that Bev talking?

I get why the knee-jerk reaction is to blame Bev because she’s quite consistently seen hovering over John’s shoulder and encouraging his bat-shittery from the get-go. And in this case it’s no different - first thing she does is tell him that this was Right and Just to do because it’s God moving through him etc. etc. Sentiments which she then further re-iterates to Wade and Sturge in John’s defense. And it’s no secret that she thinks Joe Collie is a blemish in the community and outright hates his guts. So of course, she hardly cares that he’s dead and immediately gets to work on body disposal and rationalizing it to herself and others. Bev definitely re-iterated that John shouldn’t feel any guilt.

THAT BEING SAID --- This lack of remorse re: Joe’s murder and subsequent consumption was, in my opinion, primarily John’s own lack of remorse, and NOT a case of Bev putting words into his mouth. I say this for a number of reasons, many of which have to do with how John acts and talks about this before Bev even starts in on him with it:

i. first off, we’ve seen John show SOME amount of restraint re: his hunger as a vampire. 

In ‘Lamentations’, it’s shown that he’s in the middle of a hunger fit right before he leaves for the night to deliver daily mass to Millie, and struggling just after as well (right before Joe comes to visit). Earlier, Beverly also comes into his room to check in on him when he is, as he says, “starving”, and still refrains from attacking her. And even outside of John himself, we KNOW that this hunger is something that CAN be controlled with some willpower-- Riley, Annie, Ed, Ali, and Millie, despite starving, never DARE to take another life to remedy it. And looking back on the series, it makes sense why John was able to show restraint around these people. John repeats to himself a lot that when he feeds it’s because he’s “moved to act” but, at least subconsciously, I think John knows that he needs and wants certain people alive and wouldn’t actively butcher them. Millie and Sarah because he loves them, and Bev because he needs her as an ally for this all to work.

John, on some level, is also aware that this hunger and the carnage it brings is, in itself, a terrible thing. He even DESCRIBES it as ‘horrible’ during the Good Friday Mass in ‘Gospel’ ( “what is otherwise horrible is only good because of where it’s headed” ).

ii. John’s actions in the immediate aftermath of Joe’s death do not strike me as the actions of a man wrestling with a lot of guilt.

when Bev first finds him in the rectory, covered in blood on the floor, John looks more shocked than anything. He keeps staring wide-eyed at Joe’s body, as if he’s in disbelief that he was actually capable of killing a man. But when Bev approaches him, he doesn’t apologize, he just starts scrambling for excuses and continues to do so without Bev really prompting him to ( “ I don’t know what happened... Something came over me �� etc. ). He’s not really.... remorseful? He’s more so trying to explain it away.

Then, of course, Bev outright asks him if he feels any guilt to which he quite readily responds “no, not at all”. He thinks about it for a moment, granted. But not for long.

And during the pinnacle meeting with Riley in ‘Gospel’, when Riley is calling him what he is ( "Murderer.” ), John does not express ANY sort of guilt or even seems to WANT to think about what he’s done. Instead, he immediately deflects ( “A murderer, maybe. So was Moses. Paul, my namesake... I’m hardly unique in this room, either, am I? I mean, you’ve killed someone.” ). He even mentions that he prayed on the fact that he felt no guilt, Bev just cemented those feelings by showing him some scripture from Hebrews later on.

iii. John and Bev are BOTH very talented at manipulation, and twisting their faith to justify their actions and agendas, together as well as separately. It’s just that John’s ability to willfully bend the meaning of Biblical literature to justify himself, and rid himself of any guilt for his misdeeds, is often overlooked.

Throughout the events of Midnight Mass, John and Bev’s dynamic never registered to me as one in which there was a clear manipulator and the other an obviously innocent party. There’s definitely an argument for Bev being the primary manipulator in the dynamic while Pruitt is old and suffering dementia - that’s a given. But once John returns young and healthy again with a sound(ish) mind, that shifts into an alliance in which these are both equally manipulative people who tend to bounce off one another. They try to manipulate each other really, and while to a degree I think John can see through Bev using him, he knows he needs her on his side to reach his end goal and plays along. 

I think the reason that Bev gets a lot of John’s actions pinned back on her is that she’s much more outward about her manipulation. She actively throws the scraps of weight she has around to benefit her. John, by contrast, keeps his agendas hidden, and as opposed to threats and intimidation, takes the route of getting others to trust him before pulling the proverbial rug out from under them. Hell, he even hides his true motivation from Bev, as he’s been bread-crumbing her with only pieces of the truth so that she does not know his ultimate goal is to have a second chance at life as Millie’s partner and Sarah’s father. 

It should also be mentioned that while John and Bev have separate motivations (John wants to be a savior for his island community, primarily for his lover and their daughter ; Bev wants power and affirmation that she’s much more holy and righteous than anyone else on Crockett), the end goal for both of them IS to give their parish community this “miracle”. John just wants to share with everyone, while Bev ultimately wants to use this as an excuse to play Judge and Jury. To play as God. 

At the end of the day, John also has WAY more power when it comes to influencing the church community and interpreting scripture as a male priest than Bev ever will. Roman Catholic power dynamics are highly patriarchal in nature and what John says is ultimately what goes. He’s been a priest long enough to know this, to know that now that he can think more clearly he’s not “under her thumb” anymore. He can put an end to a lot of her shit any time he wants, but he doesn’t. Because he needs her to do what she does best for this all to work.

And while Bev definitely likes to twist a lot of things and recite a lot of scripture to justify both John and herself, well.... she didn’t haul an “angel” back to Crockett from Damascus and start feeding everybody its blood without their knowledge in the first place. That was wholly his doing, as was declaring the creature as “God’s messenger” in the first place. 

iv. finally, and this may be an unpopular and more sinister interpretation, but on some level.... i personally think that John killing Joe is due in part to a reaction of their conversation. Even as a possibly subconscious motivation, I think John meant to kill him for it. 

When Joe first arrives at the rectory, John’s body language is guarded. He’s crossing his arms, pressing himself into the opposite side of the room, genuinely looks like he doesn’t want to go near him in fear of hurting him. This changes once Joe sees the old newspaper clipping on the wall, and mentions how much Father Paul resembles Pruitt ( “you could be his son... you know that was a rumor when I was a kid, that the old man wasn’t exactly celibate” ). 

Now in Joe’s defense here, he hardly strikes me as the type to have an interest in town gossip (at least, not beyond whatever shit Bev is pulling) and he likely doesn’t judge anyone else or care deeply about anyone’s business beyond surface observation, just as he says. But here’s the thing. John has no way of knowing that for sure. Despite living on the island for almost all of Joe Collie's life, he and John are essentially strangers. Joe has never stepped foot in St. Patrick’s before the day of the first AA meeting he attends. It’s most likely that beyond names, Joe and John know nothing about each other.

Dolly, Wade, Sturge and Bev were all there to witness John’s death and rapid resurrection and know who he really is at this point as well.  But the key difference here is that he knows them. Knows that they will heed his guidance and directions as their longtime priest, meaning that when they promise to keep the truth to themselves, he trusts that they will. And in Sturge’s case, he is at least visibly intimidated enough by Bev to do just about anything she says.

Joe is an entirely different case. He has not been a part of the parish for decades. At this point, there’s only the very beginnings of trust formed between them. Father Paul/ John is in the process of helping him, and Joe is visibly grateful for that kindness, but certainly not enough to the point where Joe would cater to the priest’s every wish. He doesn’t have the lifetime of Catholic guilt and indoctrination to back that kind of behavior up. So how can John trust Joe to not run his mouth? Because if Joe does by chance, then this could create a significant obstacle that prevents John from spreading this so-called miracle to his community. Yeah, Joe’s first conclusion likely wouldn’t be “Father Paul is actually John Pruitt and he’s a vampire now!”. But a scandal about Pruitt having a kid (when at this point, the island doesn’t know the truth about Sarah Gunning’s father) could put his leadership and intentions under way more scrutiny than what is comfortable, as well as these “miracles” he’s been performing. A lot of the otherwise stupid shit that John pulls only works because of Crockett’s blind trust in their priest and the faith that he has their best interests at heart. They never question him. He doesn’t want them to start.

It is AFTER this observation of Joe’s that John’s disposition visibly shifts. This is when he decides to get close to him. This is when he approaches him and encourages an embrace. THIS is when he smiles and tells Joe how proud he is of him, how he knows that hunger and how “hard it is to fight against it”. I picked up on this as a hint - Maybe John’s been fighting it this whole time they’ve been in the room together. Maybe this is the excuse he needed to stop fighting and give in. And it seemed to me that he’s using Joe’s trust in him as a confidant, in this moment, to create a false sense of security and validation so that he’s more compliant.

And I would like to point out that John knows, by this point, that his blood should be able to heal and resurrect someone. When Joe is bleeding out on the floor, he mutters half-hearted apologies, weak “are you alrights” in a manner that almost feels like it’s to save face, but he does not offer Joe the ‘gift’ of new life. He simply feeds, and lets him ultimately die as a sacrifice for “the greater good”. 

So... No. At least during the murder/ consumption itself, and in the immediate aftermath, I don’t think John is wrestling with a lot of guilt about it to begin with. Once he sees where his plan as a whole has led them all then likely yes, I think that remorse and regret for what he did to Joe (and damn near everyone else) finally hits him. I’ll give John one thing, and that’s his ability to eventually clearly see that what he’s done is awful. But by that point, it’s far too late to change the course.

[quinnick]

The Losers Club Plays Monopoly (Mike Hanlon is blamed for ensuing disaster)

The Losers only played Monopoly one time. One time was all it took for it to get banned.

Poor poor Mike suggested they play it and has since had all the blame put on him for the disaster. Mike just thought it would be fun.

It started off well enough with everyone getting used to the rules

The first sign of trouble was when Richie kept buying everything he landed on despite the fact that it never made sense

Eddie had an actual plan that has to get thrown out because Richie just took two of the red tiles that shit head

Stan is 100% winning because he actually knows how to play monopoly around Richie’s stupid choices

meanwhile in the corner, Bill is still trying to get out of jail and he has been in there since round 3 

Mike is the person who is making a mini city with his house pieces while he waits for his turn which takes a while because Eddie argues with Richie every turn

Bev is secretly stealing 100s from the bank whenever people aren’t looking

Ben is suppose to be in charge of the bank since he isn’t playing but he is too distracted trying to keep the board from getting flipped

Richie has now acquired every rail road square because Bev has been slipping him 5s from the bank

And some how Eddie is actually technically beating Richie but for some reason is still mad about the rail roads

Mike and Stan have started a silent staring contest as they both have realized they are tied for first

Bill has been freed from jail

Bill was immediately sent back to jail. he is resorting to trying to bribe people into letting him go

Eddie finally lands on one of Richie's tiles and is forced to pay him 20 dollars and this resorts in a fist fight

Stan is the one to flip the board though because Mike buys the property he wanted

Ben throws away the game and swears to destroy every copy of it

[rcedge]

There is eternal chaos in the Sertori family. Two sisters - Cleo and Kim are still arguing. Some reasons are trivial, but Cleo is very nervous when she discovers that someone has broken her MP3 player. She suspects her younger sister. She tells her that. Kim declares that she can also start doing his washing, because although she pays her, she does not want to do it any longer. He splashes it with water. Fortunately, Cleo quickly runs to her room and only then turns into a mermaid. Kim announces a strike. Cleo tells Kim not to talk to her anymore. Soon their cousin Angela is coming, whose parents are just going through rough times. So Don and Bev ask their daughters to be in agreement at this time. Angela gives the girls compliments from the very entrance to their house. It seems to be nice, but it is only appearances. He talks to Kim and tells her that she is very sorry for her, because Cleo seems to be conceited. She uses Kim to carry her suitcases. In turn, Cleo tries to talk about Kim. They talk about the fact that Kim is very childish. Cleo also succumbs to her and unconsciously ministers, hanging her things in his closet and lending his own sleeping room. Kim refuses to give her cousin the inclusion of her music CD on TV because she is watching an important school documentary that was about to end. Angela, bored when she doesn't look, steals her book. Kim accuses Cleo of it. She gets a warning from her dad. It is supposed to take both girls to interesting places, because their cousin can't be in front of the television forever. Cleo and Lewis take them to the water park. Lewis does her homework in the water slide with the girls. After some time he comes home. Cleo and Mitch show them pelicans. Angela is lost. Both are looking for her. After all, Cleo can't find Kim either. Cleo notifies the police and returns home. She meets Kim there and a bird in the bathroom! Rikki, Lewis and Emma come to the rescue. They put the rig in the carton, and Cleo blames Kim for that. She brings the pelican back to the park, but Mitch notices it and accuses her of having taken it. It turns out, however, that he is not from this park, and Cleo is praised for the help she gave the bird. Meanwhile, her friends find Angela swimming on a boogie board. She wants to have servants again and asks the girls for a towel, but they don't give in to her. At home, it turns out that it was her cousin who took a pelican from another park and brought her home for a swim, and Cleo and Kim quarrel and get into trouble. Cleo invents her punishment - cleans pelicans' droppings in the water park. Kim is apologized by her sister for unfounded suspicions and buys her first MP3. It is blue. Kim, however, wants to replace her, because this color likes the least. The girls are starting to argue again.

[marvelslut16]

Prank gone wrong

Prompt number: 19 “I can’t do this anymore”

Fandom: It

Paring: Richie Tozier x reader (aged up to 17 or 18)

Rating: T

Word count: 2.6k (this was supposed to be short!)

Warnings: Swearing. Bullying. Mentions of domestic abuse/domestic violence- nothing graphic. asshole Richie. Angst but ends fluffy

A/N: Oof I’ve been gone for ages, I’m sorry guys. But here’s day one of fictober, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up and this will motivate me to write regularly again. I’m not sure if I love this one or not. I liked the idea when I started and then it took some turns and this is what I ended up with while writing between zoom classes, so sorry if it sucks. I added the second gif cause it’s closer to the age in the story. 

It all started as a stupid prank, a way to get back at Greta for years and years of torture, you never thought it would end in you losing a friend. Just over three months ago Richie agreed to Bev’s plan, take Greta out on a few dates and then publicly humiliate her- give her a taste of her own medicine. But to everyone's surprise, it lasted way longer than a few dates and there was no end in sight. Worst of all it seemed that Richie was actually falling for her- he would defend her any chance he got and even started ditching the losers to spend time with her and her friends. 

It was no surprise to you that Greta fell for Richie, he’s funny, sweet, and he’s aged well. His head has grown into his coke bottle glasses, he still wears hawian shirts but now he has a leather jacket over them constantly- a leather jacket that the two of you picked out together. There is no better than one Richie Tozier, and your feelings are getting harder and harder to deny. Your crush on the trashmouth developed back in middle school- the summer Pennywise reigned terror, but through the years your crush turned into something stronger- by senior year you knew you loved him. Halfway into said school year every loser, besides Richie of course, knew of your feelings for him. The pitied glances they would send your way were almost suffocating. 

Richie is late to lunch yet again, probably making out with Greta in the hallway, so each of you are using this time to talk about the personal hell her and her friends have created for each of you today. You go last, quickly giving them a rundown of your encounter with her in the bathroom, where she threatened you to stay away from ‘her Richie’ and that you would live to regret it if you didn’t. She even ripped one of your textbooks out of your hands, dropping it into the disgusting toilet water- calling you a worthless slut on her way out. 

“Greta is such a bitch!” you complain to your friends, mindlessly pushing around the mush they call lunch at Derry high with the cheap plastic spork they provide. 

“I’d prefer if you didn’t talk about my girlfriend that way,” Richie’s voice is calm and even- lacking the normal excitement and joking lilt to it. Your eyes widen in horror at him having heard you, then they narrow at how genuine his defense of her is. 

“Richie, c’mon, let it go,” Eddie pleads, glancing between your shocked and hurt face and Richie’s angry one. 

“No Eddie, I’m so sick of (Y/N) talking shit about my girlfriend!” you whip around in your seat and look at him in shock. 

“Richie what the hell?” you rise out of your seat so he won’t look down on you literally and figuratively anymore. He cocks his eyebrow, head dropping to the side as he crosses his arms and lets out a huff of annoyance. “Ya know what? I can’t do this anymore!”

“Do what anymore?” Richie doesn’t drop the cocky attitude, making the next words out of your mouth slightly less painful. 

“Be your friend,” there’s a collective gasp from your friends. Richie’s face morphs into shock and sadness for a split second before hardening and sending you another glare. “Not when you’re dating her. She’s changing you Richie!” 

“Greta was right about you, you are a bitch,” your breath catches in your throat and you fight the tears that well up in your eyes. Richie’s glare is unflinching as you stare him in the eye, a tell-tale sign that he doesn’t regret a single word that he said. The murmuring from the table behind you stops the moment the words leave his mouth, they all stare at their friend in shock. 

“Fine, then you’ll never have to deal with this bitch again,” you spin around and grab your backpack and lunch tray. “Fuck you Richard Tozier!” you dump your tray of mush into the trach on your way out of the cafeteria nad away from that stupid boy you somehow fell for. 

“What did you just do?” Stan is the first one to regain the use of his voice, he’s glaring at Richie as the boy takes your recently vacated seat. 

“I’m sick of her attitude towards Greta,” he tries to defend, shocked when all of his friends level him with matching glares. 

“W-wh-what h-ha-ha-happen-ned to th-he pr-pr-prank-k?” Bill’s recently improved stuttering growing worse as he grows anxious at the turn of events between his friends. 

“Greta isn’t the bad one here, we’ve been rude to her all of these years!” Richie once again tries to effectively defend his girlfriend.

“She wrote loser on my cast!” Eddie practically screeches before he goes into an anxiety attack, beleving it’s an asthma attack he takes two puffs from his inhaler.

“Her and her friends dumped wet garbage on me,” Bev adds, quieter than Eddie. 

“That was in middle school,” Richie rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat. 

“I thought you were in love with (Y/N) before the whole prank, that you did it to get over her,” Eddie says slowly this time, having calmed down from moments prior. 

“Greta helped me realize I never loved (Y/N), I was doing what was expected after years of friendship,” the losers stare at him- open mouthed and gaping at Richie’s stupidity. 

“She attacked (Y/N) in the bathroom this morning,” Mike tries to reason with his brainwashed friend. 

“No, (Y/N) was lying to you guys. She attacked Greta earlier, not the other way around. She screamed at Greta to break up with me or she’d regret it, and then dumped her books in the toilet and called her slut.”

“Greta did that to (Y/N), you dumbass!” Bev grows increasingly angry, at Richie and herself for coming up with the stupid prank. “I was in there with her, Greta’s convinced (Y/N)’s in love with you so she wants to rip you apart. Do you honestly believe (Y/N) would do something like that?”

“Shit!” Richie slams his fists on the table, causing most of the cafeteria to turn and looking at him briefly before going back to their individual tasks. Everything Greta had blamed on you in the past three months comes rushing back and he realizes that they’re all out of character but in character for Greta. Somewhere along the way he convinced himself that Greta was telling the truth so he had a reason to stop being in love with his best friend- he was too scared to tell you because you’re the only person that could actually hurt him. 

“(Y/N) (L/N) to the principal's office immediately,” the voiceover the intercom cracks showing the age of the ancient system. 

“Richie?” Stan isn’t sure he wants to know the truth as he asks the question. 

“I told Greta to tell the principal,” his voice is oddly quiet and broken, definitely out of character for the jokester trashmouth. 

“You fucking idiot!” Bev seethes, staring Richie down. They’re the only two that know the truth about your father. 

--

You quickly get up from your place in the library and walk down the empty halls to get to the principal's office. Once you arrive the secretary gives you a dirty look, causing you to sink back and the pit of anxiety in your gut to grow. Greta sends you a triumphant smirk before going back to fake sobbing as she walks out of the principal's office and past you. 

You feel like you're going to vomit as you walk into the principal's office behind him, the look on his face says you’ll get after school detention for at least a week! Whatever lies Greta told about you are clearly being believed by him and the secretary. 

“You’re a good student Miss. (L/N), so why have you been harassing Miss. Keene?” he crosses his arms over his chest, they rest lightly on top of his bulging gut. 

“I haven’t-” you try to defend, but he puts up a hand to stop you. 

“She alleges it’s because you have feelings for her boyfriend Mr. Tozier and you’re upset that she chose her over you.”

“That’s not true-” his glare cuts you off this time. 

“Today alone you threw her books in the toilet, threatened her for being with Richie, and called her a slut,” the words today alone stand out to you, how many lies did she tell? 

“She did that to me! Not the other way around!” you try desperately for him to believe you. 

“Then why didn’t you come to me?” he raises a brow much like Richie did in the  cafeteria, Greta has both of them wrapped around her finger and against you. 

“Because no ones ever done anything! She’s been torturing me since we were in grade school and she’s never got in trouble! A freshman came to you last week saying Greta was bullying her and you didn’t do anything!”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to suspend you for the rest of the week.” he says firmly, no room for negotiation or pleading. 

“That’s four days!” you cry out incredulously.

“Do you want to make it longer?” when you don’t respond he continues talking. “Your father is on his way, go get your books from your locker and leave school property.” 

You hear someone call your name from down the hall as you grab all of your textbooks from your locker, trying to shove all five thick books into your bag. You ignore the voice up until it’s right next to you and you realize it’s Richie trying to plead for forgiveness. 

“Lose my number, and while you’re at it forget my name. Stay the fuck away from me Tozier!” Your outburst grabs the attention of the other students walking to their next class, everyone shocked by the inseparable duo of Tozier and (L/N) fighting. You slam your locker shut with a loud bang, heading for the door and away from him calling your name.

--

Monday comes agonizingly slowly, but when it does you're sitting with Bev in the bathroom during third period, both of you telling your teachers you don’t feel good. 

“How bad was it?” she flicks her lighter and lights her cigarette, standing next to the window so she can blow the smoke outside. 

“Worse than it's ever been,” you feel ghost pains on your back from where your dad's leather belt met your flesh for the past six days. “Since Richie didn’t sneak in to help clean them this time I think I may have an infection.”

“He broke up with Greta,” Bev changes the subject, she knows you only trust Richie enough to see the damage your father inflicts, so she doesn’t bother to ask to check on it.” 

“Good for him,” you stare down at the gross linoleum tile under your beat up Chuck Taylor’s. Richie had promised to take you away from your father the moment you two graduated, he’d been promising it for years, even while he was with Greta, but now you aren’t holding out hope for the promise. 

“He’s been miserable without you,” the bell signaling the end of the period saves you from formulating an answer. Bev quickly flushes her cigarette butt and the two of you head to the cafeteria, you’re a little worried about sitting with the losers after your fight with Richie. Bev grabs your hand and gently pulls you to the table when she notices your hesitance. You catch up with the rest of the losers, minus Richie who isn’t in the lunchroom which you’re oddly sad about, finding out about tests and break ups you missed while you were suspended. The loud ear splitting sound of feedback causes the entire cafeteria to cover their ears and look to the microphone stand in the front of the room. Richie is standing in the front holding the microphone, cringing slightly at the loud sound. No lunch ladies run to grab the microphone from him, meaning he got permission to do whatever it is he’s about to do. His wild curls bounce as he nervously shifts from foot to foot as he looks around the cafeteria until he locks eyes with you. You can’t look away from him so you miss the smiles the losers give each other and the high five Bev and Ben share. 

“(Y/N) I don’t know what I could ever say to you to get you to forgive me, I can never forgive myself for hurting you,” he talks into the microphone, everyone looking between the two of you, but neither of you seem to notice anyone but each other. “I know I embarrassed you, so maybe if I embarrass myself in front of everyone you’ll forgive me a little bit. (Y/N), I never meant to hurt you, I only agreed to the prank because I wanted to forget you. No- fuck that doesn’t sound right.

“I’ve been in love with you since middle school and I knew you could never love me too, even when Ed’s told me you did I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to forget my feelings for you because I never wanted to hurt you, so I agreed to the prank. But I hurt you anyway because I let Greta get in my head, so I even failed the damn prank. But I love you so fucking much (Y/N) and I’m sick of running from these damn feelings. All I want to do is take you away from this hellhole after we graduate, and go to NYU together like we’ve planned since Freshman year. I love you (Y/N) (L/N), and I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing to you about how shitty I was if you give me a second chance.” 

Your body stands up on autopilot, and you don’t realize you’re walking towards him until your face to face. Lifting your hand you gently push a curl that fell in front of his eye away and tuck it behind his ear, he leans his head into your hand as a lunch lady comes and takes the microphone out his hand grinning largely at teen love. You struggle to find words, so you wrap both your hands around the lapels of his leather jacket and pull him into a kiss. It isn’t your first kiss, Bill had dared you two to kiss sophomore year in a game of truth or dare in the barrens, but this kiss is different. These aren't two kids afraid of the adult feelings that were overcoming them, these are two almost adults finally giving into the most powerful and amazing feeling in existence. Richie makes sure to keep his hands away from your back, he’ll clean out your cuts later, instead he tangles his fingers into your hair pulling you in deeper. Before the kiss can go too far you pull back giggling as Richie follows your face trying to kiss you again. 

“I love you too,” you rest your forehead on his, turning your giggling face into a mock serious one. “But you’re on thin ice mister.” 

“I love you more,” he caresses your cheek and you grin happily, laughing at his antics when he starts speaking again. “Than I love Eddie’s mom.” the entire cafeteria is whooping and hollering at your kiss, but non louder than your losers. Well, everyone except Greta, who lets out a high pitched huff and storms out of the cafeteria. 

“I think the prank ended up working out,” you giggle, lightly nipping at Richie’s thumb as it grazes over your lower lip.

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