#and surprisingly its only Marty crying

[pecanwriter]

Pro tip: sobbing in the Silence Train Carriage is TECHNICALLY not forbidden

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 26th October

Okay, this was bound to happen at some point, but that doesn't make it any less hilarious. And honestly, this is one of those songs that only works if you've been following the charts like I have. Seriously, I don't think I'd "get" this one at all, if I'd listened to it, say, a year ago. Which just goes to show, some songs just need to be listened to in context.

Let's Think About Living - Bob Luman (6)

We start with a thumping rockabilly beat, strumming guitars, cooing backing singers, a bit of twang. It's already gearing up to be a banger. And then, the opening lines, deliciously meta: In every other song that I've heard lately / Some fellow gets shot / And his baby and his best friend both die with him / As likely as not. You heard that right. This is a song about the preponderance of teenage tragedy songs and/or murder ballads! Which is an eminently skewer-able trend, when you think about it, beause yeah, this fixation on songs about people dying is weird, right?

And Bob goes further, calling out the general melodrama of a lot of our angstier teenage rock starts, with lines about how in half of the other songs / Some can't crying or ready to die / We've lost most all of our happy people / And I'm wondering why. Things have just got too morbid for Bob, and he goes on to call out Marty Robbins by name, for murder ballads like El Paso, but also Patti Page for songs like One of Us Will Weep Tonight and the Everlys for songs like Cathy's Clown, where they sing about how they might just die of a broken heart. This is clearly ridiculous, Bob thinks, pointing out how if we keep on a-losin' our singers like that / I'll be the only one you can buy. A dire state of affairs, to be sure.

And then, the song's crowning glory, a big old repeated chorus to finish off, that just repeats itself to the end of the song, as Bob encourages his fellow artists, let's think about livin' / Let's think about lovin' / Let's think about the whoopin' and the hoppin' / And the boppin' and the lovey-lovey-dovin'. Which is both a gleefully joyful and surprisingly life-affirming conclusion to come to, and also a really fun, slightly silly set of words to string together. Seriously, try singing along and not smiling a little bit, right? What's the antidote to all these miserable songs? I suspect it could look at little bit like this very song. A refreshing palate cleanser/mood re-set.

This is, strictly speaking, a novelty song, except, like a few of the "novelty" songs recently, I think it's got a solid enough emotional core to stand on its own as just a good, solid song. It doesn't hurt that Bob sounds like he's taking things seriously, and the rest of the song, musically, is also just solidly good, quality-wise. The backing singers don't go for comedy voices, the drummer and the guitar players are giving the song their all, and Bob turns in a performance that's also 100% committed - the lyrics may be lighthearted, but nobody's treating the song as something silly or throwaway. Which, I've said before and will say again, is the absolute best way to make a novelty song. No notes.

I really enjoyed this track! Hot off the heels of cheesy nonsense like Tell Laura I Love Her, you can absolutely see why people went for it. And like I said, the whole thing's earnest and positive enough to exude a real charm. I was charmed, at least. Good stuff.

Favourite song of the deliberately anti-tragic bunch: Let's Think About Living

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Reggie//i can't let you go now that i got it

Request: your last reggie mantle imagine was soooooo cute it was.... BIG FAV i'm still grinning! could you please do one where reader and reggie have been best friends their whole lives? she's super protective and sweet to him and like? she's been in love for years but has been hiding it well?? she gets him to come away with her to college because 'screw this town' and they live together? but eventually she starts going on dates and it makes him realize he's in love with her too?? mutual love confession

hey! so before you go any further trigger warning mentions of abuse, specifically around reggie and his dad. it’s not in detail but it is mentioned a few times so don’t read if that upsets you. the last thing i want you to be is sad. i hope you all have a good day anyway, whether you’re reading this or not! (title is from Børns ‘electric love’)

- For 18 years 

- Reggie Mantle has been the only constant in your life 

- Even when you were babies he was there 

- Your mom’s sat beside each other in baby class, cooing and awing over each other’s kids

- All while 6 month old you stole 6 month old Reggie’s toy

- And then he cried so hard he vomited on not only himself but you as well 

- Which then made you cry even louder 

- And then your mom’s were asked to leave 

- So instead

- It became a weekly thing for your mom to take you to The Mantle’s 

- While her and Mrs Mantle gossiped and drank tea 

- You and Reggie would hit each other with various stuffed toys. 

- As you got older 

- The weekly visits turned into daily ones 

- Especially when you moved three houses away from him

- You and Reggie started to see each other more than your own parents did

- Your mom still went over once a week

- But when she arrived you were always usually there

- Either stood in the kitchen getting a snack 

- Or lying on Reggie’s bed watching an awful movie he just ‘had to show you’ 

- They usually involved a hybrid of two animals

- Sometimes mythical, sometimes not 

- But in all of them they were usually taking over the world

- They also always had the same four actors in

- But despite how much you protested 

- ‘reggie? are you being serious? we watched this one last time.’ 

- ‘no, we watched molemaid last time. this is medusamaid. they’re completely different’ 

- ‘oh, sorry. my mistake’

- You actually secretly loved them 

- Because they made him happy

- You would watch in awe as he laughed at stupid jokes 

- And how his eyes would always light up at a particularly gruesome part, no matter how badly CGI’d it was

- You also listened to the countless of theories as to how ‘hurrik9’ is clearly the prequel to ‘hellhounds’ because ‘they’ve got the same main character! it doesn’t matter if they’re not played by the same person. y/n, they’ve got the same name.’ 

- You also listened to him complain about the inconsistencies between ‘werewombats 1’ and ‘werewombats 2’

- ‘no matter how much the director stands by the decision to make them turn on each other, despite the first film clearly stating that that’s the last thing they’d do.’ 

- But the thing you loved the most about it 

- Was that he was only ever this way with you

- You’d been sworn to secrecy when you walked in on him watching ‘dinocano vs uniquake’ 

- And you promised never to tell anyone about his secret passion

- Or the fact that he had a stack of notebooks filled with plots and mini scripts for his own films. 

- Reggie may have gotten popular

- But to you, he’s still the same Reggie you’ve always known.

- Whose scared of clowns but won’t admit it

- And cried when watching Edward Scissorhands but if anybody asks it was you

- And who hates hot chocolate, but its the only thing he’ll drink when he’s sick 

- He also only eats pink marshmallows in months ending in R

- And white ones every other month 

- But in December he has both...because its Christmas.

- Yeah, you and Reggie are best friends 

- Always have been, always will

- But it doesn’t stop you from wanting more.

- It doesn’t stop the longing looks when you think no one is watching 

- Or the lingering touches whenever he hugs you

- It doesn’t stop your heartbeat picking up whenever he walks into a room

- Or how you forget how to breathe whenever he looks at you

- You look forward to everyday, even if you have a pop quiz or homework you only remembered the night before

- Because he’s going to be there to make you smile

- Even if he isn’t doing it on purpose 

- You look forward to the countless of texts he sends

- No matter how weird or ridiculous 

- Like when he text you at half three in the morning to ask if birds were real because somebody told him they weren’t.

- You then got a text straight afterwards telling you that it would be great idea for a plot

- And you still answer every single one

- No matter how stupid they are 

- It’s really a wonder how you get any sleep with your phone being on loud all the time

- But it’s worth it

- Especially when you get texts like 

- ‘he’s done it again’ 

- Reggie’s relationship with his father complicated to say the least

- You remember when you were younger they used to be best friends 

- Reggie idolized him 

- And you’d have conversations in Reggie’s tree house, about how much he wanted to be just like his dad when he grew up

- But when he did grow up

- And started to develop a personality that didn’t just revolve around football 

- Reggie no longer wanted to be just like his dad 

- He wanted to be the furthest thing from him

- The first time it happened 

- Reggie tried his hardest to hide it from you 

- And for the first time in 8 years 

- You went two days without seeing each other 

- On the third day though 

- You’d had enough 

- So you went round to see him 

- But when you asked his mom if he was in 

- She lied and told you he had just gone out 

- Even though you could clearly see him trying and failing to hide on the stairs

- So you did what any normal friend would do 

- You climbed through his bedroom window 

- With about as much grace and steal as you could muster 

- Which surprisingly, wasn’t a lot

- And you gave him the fright of his life 

- ‘what the hell are you doing here?’ 

- ‘you’re avoiding me’ 

- ‘i’m not. i’ve just been...busy’ 

- ‘doing what? fighting?’ 

- ‘what?’

- ‘your eye’ 

- ‘oh yeah...that’ 

- That was when you knew something was wrong 

- You’ve known Reggie your entire laugh 

- And you know the three things he’ll always boast about 

- Girls, football and fighting 

- ‘what happened?’ 

- When he told you 

- You couldn’t believe what he was saying 

- You wanted to find Marty Mantle and give him a black eye...see how he likes it 

- But Reggie begged you not to do or say anything 

- ‘it’ll only make it worse’ 

- ‘but its wrong. he should be locked up’

- ‘who’s going to believe me?’ 

- ‘me’ 

- ‘see...it was only one time anyway’ 

- So you agreed, reluctantly 

- And you so wanted to believe it

- But then a few weeks later he turned up to school with a bust lip

- A month after that another bruise around his eye that he tried to hide behind sunglasses 

- And by the time graduation rolled around 

- Both of you had lost count of the sunglasses and excuses 

- For three years he’d been trapped in a house with a father who thought hitting was the same as love 

- And a mother who pretended it didn’t happen 

- But now college was round the corner and that meant a chance for both of you

- Or at least thats what you thought

- ‘you didn’t get in?’ 

- ‘i didn’t get in.’ 

- ‘to any of them?’ 

- ‘nope’

- ‘reggi-’

- ‘it’s fine. my dad has always wanted me to work for him. i guess this will make him happy. even if i am the cleaner’ 

- ‘reg-’ 

- ‘please go’

- That summer was the longest one of your life 

- It was even longer that the time Reggie had to get his appendix out and so you couldn’t hang out for a 3 weeks.

- For two and a half months 

- You heard nothing from Reggie 

- You text, called, DM’d and even E-mailed

- But you got nothing 

- You went round at all times of the day to try and talk to him

- And every time Mrs Mantle answered and told you he was either out or busy

- Doing homework was her favourite excuse

- And Reggie has only ever done homework when you were doing the majority of it 

- You even tried climbing in through his window again 

- But he locked it 

- So you watched every morning as he dragged himself into his dad’s car

- Wearing a stiff suit and a miserable expression 

- No matter how hard you tried to get to him before the left 

- How fast you ran or how early you got to his house

- They were always long gone before you managed to get anywhere close to him

- You missed the midnight texts about nothing 

- You missed his stupid jokes 

- You missed watching an entire room light up whenever he walked in

- You missed the way he made you feel, even if he was unaware of it 

- You even missed watching his god-awful movies 

- You just missed him 

- And when he missed your leaving party 

- That was the final straw

- At 7am the next morning 

- You shoved the last of your boxes in the back of your car 

- Said goodbye to your parents 

- And drove away

- Three houses down the street 

- Making sure your parents had gone back inside before stopping 

- You sat outside for a few minutes 

- Trying to think of what to do or say 

- You knew his mom would answer the door

- And that you’d get the same excuses 

- You also knew from the past few experiences that his window would still be locked 

- So you threw rocks at his bedroom window in the hopes that when he’d check to see what it was, he’d leave it unlocked 

- And he did! 

- You watched from behind a bush as he hung his head out the window to look around

- His brow furrowed and hair messy

- Clearly he’d just woke up

- You couldn’t help the smile twitching at your lips 

- You’d missed that face 

- Climbing the window was a lot harder than it used to be 

- Mr Mantle had taken the ladders away 

- Another reason as to why he sucked

- But you managed eventually 

- And you almost died only twice 

- Which is good 

- It’s better than three 

- You landed on the carpet with a loud thud that made him jump half way across the room

- ‘y/n. what the hell are you doing here?’

- ‘it’s moving day. and i must say i’m very disappointed at the lack of preparation on your part. have you even started packing yet?’

- ‘it’s not funny y/n’

- ‘i know. do you see me laughing?’

- ‘i’m being serious y/n. just leave’ 

- ‘no’ 

- ‘what?’

- ‘the last time you told me to leave, i listened and i didn’t see you for two months, so no’ 

- ‘what about college’ 

- ‘what about it?’ 

- ‘it starts in three days’ 

- ‘i know. and if we stand here any longer we’re going to miss it. so get packed and lets go. it’s a nine hour drive and i’m not doing all of that alone’ 

- ‘you know i can’t go’ 

- ‘says who?’ 

- ‘my dad, every single college i applied for and me’ 

- ‘listen to me reggie. you are my best friend, you have been since we were babies. there’s not a part of my life you haven’t been in. do you really think that would stop at college?’ 

- ‘we didn’t spend the summer together’ 

- ‘and it was the worst summer of my life’ 

- ‘same...but that might have been because i was spending 12 hours a day in an office’ 

- ‘rude. but i’ll take it!’ 

- ‘i did miss you though. it was weird not seeing your face everyday’ 

- That makes your cheeks heat up and you have to force the flutter in your chest to go away

- ‘it always cheers me up’ 

- There it goes again and you want to claw at your chest until it’s no longer there 

- Hope is a terrible thing to have when you’ve been in love with your best friend for your entire life

- ‘you always cheer me up’ 

- Oh dear...

- ‘i love you...a-as a friend. this summer has been the longest and most depressing for both of us. i don’t want to live the rest of my life like that. i need you reggie. so please pack your bags, say screw you to your dad and to this town and lets go’ 

- ‘what about money? where am i going to live?’ 

- ‘we’ll figure that out on the way there. just hurry up’ 

- And he did 

- You and Reggie threw the majority of his belongings into any bag you could find

- He took all the money he’d been saving out of the poorly disguised fake plant

- And wrote a nice little note for his parents 

- You also may have added a few choice words to it 

- But what Reggie doesn’t know won’t hurt him 

- And the two of you climbed into your car and never looked back

- The 9 hour car ride was the most fun you’ve ever had 

- It was like you were trying to fit the entire summer you’d lost into those few hours 

- It was filled with off key singing 

- And stories of your summer 

- His favourite being about Archie being tricked into going skinny dipping by himself

- You laughed loudly like nothing had happened 

- And cried silently because everything had 

- Thankfully when you arrived on campus, it was already night 

- So you managed to sneak Reggie into your room

- And when you nervously told your roommate 

- She just grinned at you

- ‘it’s fine, my boyfriend will probably be staying over a lot too’ 

- ‘oh, he’s not my boyfriend’ 

- ‘we’re not together’ 

- ‘...okay’ 

- She said with a knowing smile and you and Reggie shared a look

- And a year filled with adventures started

- Reggie got a job as a bartender with a little help from Veronica 

- And you started your classes 

- But nothing is ever easy 

- At least not when it involves you or Reggie 

- It turns out hiding a whole human is a lot more difficult that you anticipated. 

- It involves Reggie squeezing into your closet 

- And a whole team of people to get him to and from the showers 

- But it was also difficult for another reason

- Because it was easy to hide your feelings from him when you lived in separate house 

- But now you’re sharing a room

- And a bed 

- And every time he would wrap his arms around you 

- And pull in for a half asleep cuddle 

- You’d forget how to breathe 

- You’ve never been more excited to wake up

- Because he’d be all messy hair and parted lips with just a little bit of drool coming out of them that it would be cute instead of gross 

- And when he said good morning in the same deep, tired voice 

- You wanted to live in that feeling forever 

- But then 2nd year rolled around and everything changed 

- It all started when you moved into your own apartment 

- You knew you had to but there was a part of you that hoped you could keep everything the same 

- You found a tiny, two bedroom flat that you could both just about afford 

- Reggie was so happy to have his own room

- ‘i won’t have to sleep next to you and your freezing cold feet anymore’ 

- ‘i’ll just sneak into your bed when your fast asleep and put them on you then instead’ 

- ‘i thought we were supposed to be friends’ 

- It took a few weeks to get used to an empty bed 

- But eventually you started to sleep properly 

- And it was quite nice to have your own space again

- It meant you could study without having to listen to ‘nighthawk nightmare’ 

- Honestly, you don’t really know what the plot of that one is 

- But you’ve still seen it 7 times 

- You may be in love with him but it doesn’t mean he can’t be annoying sometimes 

- And you were happy with going back to admiring from afar

- Your heart can’t get broken that way

- In fact a small part of you thought he felt the same way 

- That one glimmer of hope you felt a year ago

- Came back all of sudden 

- And soon 

- You became aware of the lingering touches 

- And the gifts he’d buy you just because 

- He also asked what you wanted to watch for your movie night 

- And he’s never, ever done that unless you were sad or sick

- And even then, when you broke your arm a few years ago, he chose the film

- The way he looked at you suddenly felt different 

- You would feel him staring, but when you would check he would always be scrolling through his phone 

- And you’re sure the was a little bit of flirtiness in his tone whenever he spoke to you 

- But just because you think you can’t be burnt if you stand far enough away from the fire 

- Doesn’t mean that the sparks can’t jump out and get you anyway 

- Because all of sudden Reggie started bringing girls home 

- And every time you saw a t-shirt that wasn’t yours on the sofa 

- Or a pair of shoes discarded by the door

- You felt yourself die a little

- After a few weeks of this 

- Something in you snapped

- You’d spent the majority of your life pining after some boy who saw you as nothing more than a friend 

- And sometimes a small part of you thought as just an escape route

- So you moped for a few weeks before deciding it was finally time to move on

- Reggie would only ever see you as a friend 

- And that’s fine 

- The only way to move on, is to move on. 

- So you waited for the right guy to move on with 

- And there were a few 

- But none of them were right 

- Until you met Daniel 

- Sweet Daniel with curly brown hair and dimples

- Who studied history 

- And spent his days sitting in the coffee shop on campus

- For a few weeks the two of you spent your short interactions stealing glances and exchanging shy smiles 

- That evolved to small talk with flirty undertones

- Until finally he asked you out 

- And you said yes 

- And you kept saying yes to each date afterwards 

- They were fun too

- He’d take you to museum's and on picnics and at night he’d pick you up and you’d go star gazing 

- He would make you laugh when he’d tell you a joke 

- And make you blush when he’s whisper in your ear while staring up at the sky 

- But he wasn’t him

- And that killed you

- It doesn’t matter how many time he takes you to watch some unknown indie film thats supposed to be the greatest thing ever made

- It has nothing on standing outside the only cinema in town that’s showing ‘sharkcano vs tigerana’ in the freezing cold with Reggie wearing an absolutely ridiculous costumes that Reggie threw together last minute and somehow roped you into wearing too.

- But what hurt even more was watching how Reggie acted around you when you and Daniel started dating 

- He looked hurt whenever he saw the two of you together 

- And you would watch him roll his eyes whenever you mentioned him 

- Until eventually he would just avoid you all together 

- Do you know how hard it is to avoid someone when you’re living in the same 2 bedroom flat that barely gives two foot to yourself? 

- It’s hard 

- But Reggie finds a way 

- Eventually you’re more roommates than friends 

- And you really don’t know how much more you can take 

- You feel like you’re about to break 

- And Daniel can see that too

- So on Friday night he invites you to go drinking with him and his friends instead of staying in and moping 

- ‘bye, i’m going out’ 

- ‘wait’ 

- The speed of which he runs from his room and into the living room where your stood, startles you to say the least 

- ‘what?’

- ‘don’t go out with him.’ 

- ‘why not? what ever george has told you about is a lie. george does that. he once told a bunch of people that you streaked in an old people’s home and almost killed his grandmother’ 

- ‘because he isn’t me’ 

- You’ve dreamt of those words 

- Built them up in your head for years 

- But in all of your daydreams, there’s never been a scenario like this one 

- Not one where you’re about to leave to go on a date with another guy 

- ‘reggie? what are you talking about?’ 

- You need to make sure he’s saying what you think he’s saying 

- Because you can feel yourself hoping again

- And you know if he doesn’t mean what you want him to

- You don’t think you’ll be able to recover

- ‘i love you y/n. you’re my best friend, you always have been, you always will be and i love you.’ 

- ‘reg-’ 

- ‘please tell me you feel the same way’ 

- ‘i-’ 

- In your head you had a full oscar worthy speech planned out just in case this ever happened 

- But now you’re here in the moment. 

- You have no idea what to say

- ‘it doesn’t matter. just leave’ 

- ‘no’ 

- ‘what?’ 

- ‘do you really think i’m going to walk away from you after that? when have i ever walked away from you?’ 

- ‘i-no’

- ‘i love you too by the way. if you care’ 

- ‘shut up...wait really?’ 

- ‘yes i do. i’ve loved you for as long as i can remember so are you going to just stand there or are you going to kiss me?’ 

- ‘i’m definitely going to kiss you’ 

- ‘good’ 

- And he does 

- He’s standing in front of you before you can catch your breath

- His hands reach up to cup your cheeks 

- His lips part as he stares down at you 

- And you’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he’s looking at you

- Like you’re everything good and light in the universe 

- And like he’s also been waiting just as long for this moment 

- Maybe he has 

- Maybe he’s been waiting all his life for this 

- He just didn’t know 

- You feel whatever breath you had left leave your lungs

- His lips are soft against yours, but he gets his point across 

- And you’ve never been happier 

- All the heartache and tears 

- The laughter and stupid jokes 

- The 3am texts 

- The constant worrying 

- The early mornings and late nights 

- The damage to limbs from trying to fit in tiny closets

- And the scrapes on your ankles and bruising on your legs from crawling through his bedroom window 

- They’re all worth it

- ‘are you still going on your date?’ 

- ‘what do you think?’ 

- ‘good. because they’ve just released werewombats 3’

[ollieofthebeholder]

leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic

Tumblr tag || Also on AO3

Chapter 44: Tim

Tim can pinpoint the exact moment he knows he’s screwed. Later, when he takes the time to think about it, he’ll be able to trace the progress of things and see all the signs, from his fear for them to his instinctive desire to reach out for them when he’s scared to the quiet comfort he feels when they’re together. He’ll remember that weird knot of jealousy he felt the very first morning when he saw the Primes cuddling and realize that it wasn’t a general I-wish-I-had-someone-to-love-me thing, it was specific to who was involved. He’ll figure out that he’s been quietly in love with Martin probably since the moment he saw him trying to apologize and look contrite with an armful of spaniel doing its level best to lick his face off with its tail going like a windmill, and that if there’s a moment he can point to later and say is the one where he completely fell for Jon it’s probably the soft look on his face as he tucked a quilt around Martin’s sleeping form.

But that’s all going to be in retrospect. The moment he knows comes a lot later and is a lot easier to detect.

After an exceptionally extended lunch that only ends when the afternoon crowd starts shuffling in, they part, Melanie with a promise to come by the Archives on Monday, Georgie with an offer to stop by and tell her story after she’s put her next episode of “What the Ghost?” to bed, Sasha with a cryptic reference to some sort of appointment and a promise to see them later. They discover what she means later that night when the doorbell rings and Tim opens it to find her and the Primes on their doorstep. Neither of them seem surprised to learn that Elias is forcing Jon on his grand tour, but they don’t seem pleased about it either. Jon Prime warns Jon, over and over again, to be careful. Tim would almost expect Jon to get exasperated, but he doesn’t. They actually have a pretty pleasant evening; Jon Prime cooks for them while they take turns telling him about dealing with Elias. He does seem pleased to hear Jon has reconnected with Georgie, and he and Martin Prime make the others laugh by sharing stories of dealing with their Melanie and Georgie. They pull out some board games after dinner, and while they all agree that with at minimum three people at the table who can literally access the sum total of human knowledge at a whim, Trivial Pursuit is right out, Monopoly is fair game.

Charlie comes over Saturday while his grandmother hosts one of her bridge nights. He’s extremely distressed to learn that Jon is going away again already, to the point that he throws himself into Jon’s arms and starts to cry. It takes all three of them the better part of an hour to get him calmed down, and it ends with Charlie curled on Jon’s lap, the two of them sandwiched between Martin and Tim. Tim looks at Charlie’s tear-streaked face and the heartsick look in Jon’s eyes and the tender concern in Martin’s, and he tightens his arms around them and tucks his chin over Jon’s head and hopes.

It rains pretty much all day on Sunday. Martin makes breakfast and brings it into the bedroom on a tray, and they sit close together and eat quietly and don’t talk about what’s bothering them. Finally, in desperation, Tim reaches under the nightstand on his side of the bed and fishes out a book he’s been meaning to read for years. He wraps his arm around Jon and manages to get a hand on Martin’s shoulder; Martin, evidently taking the hint, scoots closer and does the same, and Tim begins reading out loud. It transpires that the book is one of Martin’s childhood favorites, but Jon’s never read it before and is both delighted at the novelty and enraptured by the story. They spend the whole day curled up together, rain lashing at the windows, underneath the apple-leaf quilt Tim’s grandmother made him, heads touching as they take turns reading aloud. It’s a stolen moment of peace in a world gone crazy and Tim tucks it away in his memory to cherish later when he needs it.

He wakes up in the middle of the night and rolls onto his side, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. The first thing he’s able to make out is Martin, doing the exact same thing he is—just watching. Jon, curled into a knot between them, is still asleep, but from the twisted, pained look on his face, it’s not an easy slumber.

Tim meets Martin’s eyes over Jon’s head and reads there the same worries and fears he has himself. Jon’s nightmares are bad. They’ve known that from the beginning, when Martin was recovering from the worms and they were all camping out in Tim’s living room, and they’ve only grown worse as time goes on. The screaming terrors from reliving what he went through with Orsinov have stopped…for now…but Tim knows in his heart of hearts that what’s making it easier these days is him and Martin bracketing Jon and doing their best to physically shield Jon from the Eye. There’s no real stopping it, but they can at least help.

But now Jon is going to Beijing, and God knows where after that, and he’s going alone. They won’t be able to help him with the nightmares if he’s not there to protect. And that’s besides the fact that Tim knows they’re both trying not to consider the possibility of some other monster trying to take Jon away from them when they’re not there to protect him. It doesn’t even have to be a supernatural one. As easy as it is to blame every horrible thing that happens on one of the Fears, there are ordinary people that are perfectly capable of being horrible on their own, and it would be just Jon’s luck to be caught up in something at random and get hurt, or worse. And they won’t be there to help. Again.

“I guess we could just…go with him,” Tim says, keeping his voice low. “Whether Elias wants us to or not.”

Martin shakes his head slowly. “I still don’t have a passport. And…I don’t think we can leave Sasha alone in the Archives. You can go, maybe.”

“I’m not leaving you behind.” Tim sighs and gently tucks a strand of hair back from Jon’s forehead. His skin is damp and clammy. “It’s a mess. He might be safer away from the Archives than we are, but…I worry, you know?”

“I know. I do, too.” Martin closes his eyes for a moment. “We just got him back. And we’ve got months to the Unknowing.”

Tim hesitates. He’s been thinking about that. “I don’t know that we do, actually. I—I don’t think it’s time-sensitive. I mean, I don’t think they have to wait for a certain time or anything. I think they just have to be…ready.”

“How will we know when they’re ready?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.” Tim stares down at Jon’s face. “I can’t decide if I’m afraid they’ll be ready before he gets back—”

“Or hoping,” Martin completes. “Because if the Unknowing happens while he’s overseas…at least he won’t be caught up in it. At least they’ll leave him alone.” He’s quiet for a moment. “At least it’s one thing we can protect him from.”

“God. I just…want to wrap him in bubble wrap and a blanket and fight off the world with a stick. Or at least keep him right here with us. I wish we could just stay here and let the world sort itself out for a change. Why do we have to be the ones doing all this?”

Martin reaches over and brushes Tim’s cheek with his fingertips, ever so lightly. “Anything worth having is worth fighting for,” he says softly.

Tim reaches across Jon’s sleeping form and pulls Martin closer, but he doesn’t say anything further.

The alarm goes off not long after; Jon is taking an early-morning flight by virtue of it being the cheapest available option, and he’s got to be there close to three hours early to check in. It’s too early for any of them to be properly hungry, but Martin makes tea while Jon takes a shower and Tim…sits around feeling useless.

As if sensing that, Martin glances over his shoulder at Tim. “Does he have any statements with him?”

“Oh, God, yeah, let me check.” Tim heads over to where Jon’s bag is. It’s a simple messenger bag he’s probably had since university, if not longer, frayed in spots and festooned with patches and pins. Jon never brought this to the Institute, instead using a professional faux-leather laptop bag, which isn’t surprising; it’d be pretty hard for him to sell the “serious academic” persona if he’s walking around advertising that he listens to Sinner’s Gin.

He opens the bag and looks through it. Jon’s packed a couple changes of clothes, some toiletries, a couple of paperback books, and of course the tape recorder, his personal one. But no statements.

Quietly, Tim goes over to the end table and opens the drawer. Inside are two tapes and a slim folder. He takes a deep breath and relaxes his hold on his powers, bracing for the colors to pop up. It’s surprisingly easier to filter out the Eye and see the beneath colors than usual—whatever’s in the folder glows orange around the edges but green in the middle, and one of the tapes just seems to have indigo stripes through the green rather than them  being layered on top of each other. Like the Eye isn’t hiding the truth from him anymore, like it’s letting him really See.

He files that information away to deal with after he’s got some caffeine in him and nudges the Stranger tape out of the way; it’s probably the one he and Martin listened to, so it’s no good, it’s already been used. The other one is pure, blinding green—an Eye statement that Gertrude recorded, which is unusual. Tim seals off his ability and reaches for the tape. It takes him three tries to pick it up without dropping it��his hands are shaking, he guesses because he’s upset about Jon leaving—but he finally carries it and the folder over to tuck them into Jon’s bag, then seal it up again.

“He didn’t,” he tells Martin, heading back into the kitchen. Martin sighs and hands him a cup of tea. “But you never took back the ones you brought home after that whole thing with the Not-Diana, so I put them in his bag.”

“God, I can’t believe I forgot about that,” Martin murmurs. “Still, it’s been a hell of a week.”

Tim pauses, cup halfway to his lips. “God, how has it only been a week?”

Jon comes into the kitchen, hair still damp from the shower; it’s down to about his collar now and takes a while to dry. Martin silently hands him a cup of tea, too. None of them speak while they drink. It’s as if these last few minutes at home are too precious, or too heavy, for words. At last, though, Jon glances at the kitchen clock and swallows hard. “Time to go.”

Pure devastation flashes through Martin’s eyes, but he simply nods and takes the cups from him and Tim to put them in the sink. Tim worries at his lip as he studies Jon. “You’ve got everything? Passport, wallet, phone?”

A faint smile tugs at Jon’s lips briefly. He reaches into his pockets and produces the requisite items—a burgundy passport in near-pristine condition, a black billfold that’s seen better days, and the new phone they picked up for him Saturday morning that he’s gone to a lot of trouble to set up. “Charger’s in my bag.”

“Okay. Okay.” Tim takes a deep breath. “I guess that’s it, then.”

They take Tim’s car, not because Jon minds them driving his car but because Tim’s has a column shift and a bench seat in the front, which means Jon can sit between Tim and Martin for the journey. Traffic isn’t too bad this early in the morning, at least not until they get closer to the airport, but Jon is apparently far from the only person traveling today, so there’s a bit of a snarl before Tim is able to navigate up to Terminal Three.

He hesitates at an intersection and looks at Jon. “Do you want me to drop the two of you off at the door or—”

“No. There’s time,” Jon says softly. “You can park first. Then you’ll both know where it is.”

There’s more to that than what Jon is saying, but Tim doesn’t question it. Instead he finds a space in the short-term lot for Terminal Three, and if it’s one of the farthest spots from the terminal doors, well, there might not be a lot of people here dropping off or picking up at this time of day, but who knows what the situation will be by the time they go to leave? Jon slides out of the car and doesn’t take Tim’s arm or Martin’s, but they walk close enough together that it doesn’t really matter.

The doors open up into an enormous space. Martin, who’s clearly never flown before, looks around him with wide eyes, and Jon shrinks back slightly. Tim gently ushers them to one side of the door, where there are a couple of benches, and heads off to the departure boards to make sure they’re in the right terminal. Once he’s located Jon’s flight on the boards (on time, unsurprising for an early-morning flight), he makes his way back to where he left them. Jon has edged closer to Martin and Martin has an arm wrapped around Jon’s shoulders, and both of them look both terrified and heartsick. Tim looks at them, unobserved for the moment, and he’s struck by the urge to drag them both home, shut the door of their bedroom, draw the curtains, and stay there until the Unknowing collapses on its own. As badly as he wants revenge, as much as he wants to hit back at the thing that murdered his brother, he’ll give that up in a heartbeat if it’s the only way to keep Jon and Martin safe.

The penny drops then, bounces off just the right pegs, lands squarely in the right cup and oh.

Tim stands stock-still for a moment, stunned by the swift and sudden revelation. In retrospect, he doesn’t know why it surprises him so much; it’s not like he hasn’t known he’s polyamorous since he was fifteen, and God knows he’s wanted to kiss both of them more times than he can count. But, somehow, he’s been convincing himself they’re just friends, as close as brothers maybe, but nothing more than that. And, well, maybe they are. It’s more than that on Tim’s end, though.

He’s in love with Jon and Martin both, and he doesn’t know what he’ll do if he loses either of them. And Jon’s about to go haring off across the world alone, and Martin keeps accidentally coming to the attention of things that want to hurt or kill him, and oh, God, Tim is so incredibly screwed.

He shakes himself out of the stupor. He can deal with this later. Or never, as the case may be, but he promises himself he’ll deal with it later and heads over to the other two. Jon sees him and pulls, with obvious effort, away from Martin. “Is this the right terminal, or—?”

“No, you’re good. Your check-in counter is down this way.” Tim indicates the large sign for the airline Jon will be flying on the first leg of his journey—he’ll apparently be changing planes in Copenhagen.

They stay at Jon’s side all the way up to the check-in counter, where he provides his identification and credit card to the rather stiff old man behind the counter, who keeps sneering at the three of them in a way that makes Tim very much want to hit him. The man asks rather more questions than Tim is used to, even for an international flight, and he’s about to step in and explode when the man finally, finally hands Jon his boarding pass and moves on to the next person waiting.

“How did he manage to make ‘have a good trip’ sound like a curse?” Jon says under his breath as they turn towards the security checkpoint.

Martin snorts. “It’s like ‘may you live in interesting times.’”

“I’ll pass. After this, I would like my times to be as un-interesting and quiet as possible, thank you.” Jon smiles, but it melts away almost instantly.

There’s virtually no wait at the security checkpoint, Tim notices, or at least not compared to how it would be later in the day. Jon will be able to breeze through it in a matter of minutes. And according to the signs posted everywhere in huge letters, Tim and Martin won’t be able to accompany him. Martin stares at one of the signs boldly declaring TICKETED PASSENGERS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT for a long minute. His face is implacable, but Tim knows what’s behind it, because he’s feeling it too.

Jon looks at the queue, and the security gates, and the signs telling him to remove his shoes and have his ticket and passport ready. He turns to face Tim and Martin, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, then suddenly gives a small, choked sob and lunges forward, clutching them both by the front of their shirts and burying his face in the narrow dip where their shoulders touch.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he whispers.

Tim wraps one arm around Jon and the other around Martin; Martin does the same, and the three of them cling to one another tightly. He can feel Jon trembling and hear Martin’s breath hitching in his chest and he almost dares to let himself hope, but he pushes the thought out of his mind. He can’t let himself think that, not now, or he’ll drive himself crazy with wanting and fear. And if he’s wrong, if they don’t…it’s better to assume they don’t and possibly be surprised later than believe they do and almost certainly be crushed.

There’s soft music coming from somewhere, a gentle and soothing melody in a choked and broken voice, and it takes Tim a second to realize that it’s Martin, singing quietly so that just Tim and Jon can hear him. It’s a plaintive melody and the lyrics are a little melancholy, but the line when I return united we will be does at least warm Tim’s chest, just a little.

Jon gives a deep, shuddering breath and pulls back, almost reluctantly. “I—I’d best—I shouldn’t miss the flight.”

“We’ll wait,” Tim says, his voice unexpectedly hoarse. “Until—until you’re through.”

Jon nods. “I’ll let you know when I get to the gate, and when I board.”

“And when you land,” Martin insists. “I don’t care what time it is.”

“I will. I promise. I—” Jon swallows hard, looking from Tim to Martin and back, then steps forward and hugs Martin tightly. Martin hugs him back, and they murmur something to one another before Jon eases back, turns, and hugs Tim just as fiercely.

Tim hugs him back. He’s still too thin, feels too frail, somehow. He’s barely recovered from the hell Orsinov put him through and now they’re sending him off on his own, and Tim wants to keep him here, but he knows he can’t.

“Please look after him,” he whispers in Tim’s ear.

“I will,” Tim promises. “You be careful, you hear me?”

“I hear you. And I’ll be as careful as I can. I promise.” Jon squeezes him briefly, then slowly, almost reluctantly, lets go. He takes a deep breath, slips out of his shoes, and heads over to join the queue.

He doesn’t say goodbye. Tim’s strangely relieved by that.

True to their promise, Tim and Martin stay where they are, side by side, watching as Jon inches ever closer to the metal detectors and security checkpoint. When Jon places bag and shoes in a bin to go on the conveyor belt, Martin reaches over without looking and grabs Tim’s hand. Tim grips his tightly in return, and they only…watch.

They can barely see him on the other side of the security gate, but for a brief moment, Tim sees Jon hesitate and look over his shoulder. Tim waves, Martin does too, and Jon raises his hand in farewell before slowly turning and walking away.

Martin lets go of Tim’s hand, but before Tim has time to regret its absence, he puts his arm around Tim’s shoulders and pull him closer. Tim slides his arm around Martin’s waist. They don’t need to say anything; they just turn and walk away.

People mostly ignore them, although one or two give them inscrutable looks. Tim doesn’t know if they think they’re a couple and disapprove or think they’re mourning something or what, but he decides he doesn’t care as long as they leave him alone. They make their way slowly back to Tim’s car, but don’t get in; Tim leans against the back of it, and Martin joins him, arms folded as they look up at the still-black sky.

“What song was that?” Tim finally asks. “That you were—before he left.”

Martin rubs a hand over his face. “It’s called ‘The Leaving of Liverpool.’ I think. It’s—it’s the song my dad always sang the night before he left, when he was putting me to bed.” He doesn’t say anything for a moment, then adds softly, “I fell asleep.”

“What?” Tim turns to look at Martin, frowning.

“The night he—we had this whole routine at bedtime when he was about to leave for the fishing run, and one of them was him singing that song to me. I sang along on the chorus, once I learned it, which didn’t take long.” Martin isn’t looking at Tim, his eyes still on the sky, but Tim can see the glint of tears in them. “Normally I’d settle down and close my eyes after he left, but that last time…I was tired. I don’t remember why, but I fell asleep before he got to the last verse, so I wasn’t awake for the whole song.” He turns to look at Tim. “And then he never came back. I thought it was my fault. I thought—it’s stupid, I know it’s stupid, but at first I thought it was like a-a magic charm or something, and I broke the ritual and that’s why he didn’t come back. I thought something had happened to him and—”

“Oh, Martin.” Tim reaches over and pulls Martin into a tight hug. Martin hugs him back, and Tim can feel the tears spilling over. “It’s not your fault. And—and Jon’s going to be okay. He will. He’ll be back soon.”

“I know,” Martin says softly. “It’s just…”

Tim doesn’t need Martin to finish. “I know.”

They don’t go anywhere. They probably should, probably don’t need to sit in the parking lot, but they do. They lean against Tim’s car and watch the stars, occasionally punctuated by the lights of planes taking off or landing. Jon texts them both to let them know he’s through customs, and then that he’s at his gate. Still they don’t leave, and still they don’t speak.

Finally, finally, the text comes to both of their phones. [Just took my seat on the plane. Have to turn my phone off now. Will text you when I arrive.]

Martin’s hands shake as he sends the reply. Tim waits for it to pop up on his own phone. [Have a safe flight.]

Jon’s next text comes almost at the same instant; he must have been typing it to send while Martin was trying to reply himself. Three simple words. Their meaning can’t be clearer. Still, Tim has to stare at them for a long moment.

[Miss you already.]

Slowly, Tim raises his head to look at Martin and finds Martin staring back with a look that’s probably identical to the one on Tim’s face. He’s pale, his eyes red-rimmed, but he’s not crying. They’re probably both past tears at this point. It’s just fear and longing and the ache of missing a part of themselves.

Tim fishes out his keys and holds them up; Martin nods, and they both climb into the car. When Tim turns the ignition on, the entire dashboard flashes for a moment—there’s a short in the electrical system somewhere; he’s been meaning to get it looked at, but he doesn’t drive much these days and this doesn’t happen every time, just occasionally—and the radio kicks on of its own volition. A reedy American tenor belts out the last line of the first verse. Already I’m so lonesome I could die…

Tim scowls at the radio. “It should be illegal to play this song within ten miles of a major airport.”

Martin gives a soft, slightly broken laugh. “Breakfast?”

“I don’t know that I can eat, but we can give it a shot.”

“Yeah, but…” Martin gives Tim a sideways look. “I promised I’d look after you.”

Tim grins and tries, once again, to kill the sudden flare of hope in his chest. “Same.”

“God, he’s such a worrywart.” Martin holds up a hand. “I know, I know, pot, kettle, et cetera. Want to call Sasha and see if she’s up?”

“No, I don’t want to die today.” Tim puts the car in gear and backs out of the space. “Come on. There have to be a few places open this early that won’t be too expensive for us to not eat at.”

Martin reaches over and puts his hand over Tim’s, not squeezing or holding, just resting it there. Tim slips his thumb over the back of Martin’s hand and rubs it gently, feeling it catch against the very, very slight roughness of Martin’s skin. The scars from the worms have faded as much as they ever will, mere pale circles against his skin, but there’s one on his right pinkie finger where the worm very nearly went all the way through, and there’s an ever-so-faint ridging there that Tim keeps rubbing at, over and over, as if he can erase the hurt and the marks from Martin’s skin.

It’s not until they get to the café that it occurs to Tim that what they’ve just done is exactly what the Primes did in those early days when they were still trying to conceal their relationship. It seems too dangerous to consider the ramifications of that, though, so Tim settles for sliding into the same side of the booth as Martin and leaning against his shoulder, needing some of his strength and warmth and softness.

Martin lets him.

[from-the-clouds]

Hold Out - Marty Byrde x Reader

Masterlist

Summary: Reader has worked for Marty since the Byrde's first moved to the Ozarks, and finds him vulnerable and alone after a fight with Wendy.

Words: 1.8k

A/N: I warned ya’ll I’d write something for this show!! im currently obsessed, so please enjoy this. i have felt badly for marty since season 1, and feel like he just needs a love interest who's soft and gentle with him??? i have a whole world planned around these two if you'd like to see more. i know this is a very niche fandom but if you like this at all, please let me know! it was fun to write.

**********

She wasn’t sure what time it was when she stumbled into the clearing. Well past sundown, but not quite midnight. Her arms and legs stung where she’d been scratched by thorns and branches faltering through the forest. It’d been hours since she’d last heard from him. Each call that went unanswered made her more and more frantic. It was unlike him.

After searching all over town, all the spots she’d usually find him when he was hard to track down, she’d come up with nothing. And she had her phone pressed to her ear with Wendy’s number dialed in before she thought of one last place she hadn’t checked.

Gravel spit from the back of her tires as Y/N turned too quickly off the road and parked her car, throwing open the door and nearly sprinting through the woods to the small meadow.

She’d been going here since she was a little kid. It was her own little park she’d stumbled upon one day ambling around town. Very few locals knew about it, let alone any tourists. Tall grass and wildflowers nipped at her knees along with the mosquitoes, and stars glittered against the black abyss above, the moonlight reflecting off the lake. And despite the late hour, she could see everything, including Marty, standing with his back to her, toes over the edge of a rock that hung over the lake at least a hundred feet below.

Her heart lurched. “Marty,” Y/N said his name before she could stop herself, concerned for a moment she might startle him into the unthinkable. But when he didn’t so much as glance over his shoulder in response, she wondered if he’d even heard her.

Treading forward lightly, she paused a foot or two behind him, carefully reaching out. “Hey,” she said, fingers clasping around his wrist, above his expensive watch. He didn’t take the hint, didn’t budge, didn’t look at her, eyes still on the lake. It rippled placidly, lapping against the jagged rocks below them, but he was looking beyond its tranquil appearance, the emptiness beneath the surface that could swallow him whole, like he wanted it to.

Despite the chill of the evening, he was still dressed for work, in a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, the moon reflecting off his dress shoes. She stepped a little closer to the edge alongside him, just to see his profile.

A slight tug on his wrist prompted him to step backwards, and she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Marty’s chest began heaving, like he just realized where he was standing, his eyes shifting towards her like he finally noticed she was there.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked without thinking, and it was a stupid question, she knew.

He didn’t answer, and she didn’t expect him to. In the dark, she guided him away from the ledge, one hand between his shoulders. Marty tripped over himself, eyes red-rimmed and glazed over. He’d been drinking, or crying. Or maybe both.

He didn’t lose his cool. Even though it seemed they were always getting the short end of the stick, always scrambling to clean up a mess, ten steps behind where they should be. Despite this, he was always a force. Steady. But not now.

Of course she didn’t like being out of the loop. And he did a good job of communicating with her. So whatever this was, whatever could have caused this, she’d almost rather be ignorant to.

“How’d you find me?” was all he asked, and despite the distress on his face his voice was characteristically even. There was an old rotting picnic table they sat down at, with her next to him, looking over the lake, out at the pitch dark sky and the glimmering lights in the distance of a few boats still on the water.

“It took some time,” she said. “I looked everywhere.”

“You should be in bed,” he said flatly.

“Well I’m not,” she chewed on her lower lip, taking a deep breath, her chest catching on the ache in her heart.

“Did you need something?” he asked, his voice had the same frost she saw in the air when she exhaled, and she felt it clutch around her chest, her words coming out choked and stuttered.

“I- I didn’t want….the things I said the last time we talked...to be the last thing I ever said to you...”

“They wouldn’t have been,” he said, although not so convincingly. He still refused to look at her, his eyes never leaving the horizon.

“Are you sure?” she asked, feeling a bit more emboldened.  “Look, you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, or what you’re doing here. But I’m not stupid.”

He didn’t answer her, just leaned forward, elbow to his knee as he rubbed his temple between his thumb and forefinger. She could see clouds rolling in, the wind picking up. It was supposed to storm, and she didn’t want either of them to get caught up in bad weather.

“How’d you get here?” she asked. “I didn’t see your car on my way in.”

“I walked,” he said flatly. They were miles away from anything, let alone his house.

“Let me give you a ride home,” she said. All she wanted to do was help him. He’d helped her before, so many times, probably when he didn’t want to. So she knew she had to do this for him. She wanted to. Even if she couldn’t give him what he really needed.

“I can’t go home right now,” he muttered into his hand.

“Then stay at my place,” she said softly, she felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. She hated herself for feeling the way she did about him. Marty was a criminal. He’d made her one, too. But she was stuck on him, for some inexplicable reason. The only man who’d ever truly seen her. And right now, he looked so broken.

Surprisingly, he didn’t argue.

By the time they got to the car, she could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance, and the rain had started to come down.

The ride home went quickly. She was wet and shivering. Neither of them uttered a word and she was partly thankful for it, though with each moment of silence she felt more and more desperate to know what was wrong.

Marty had the decency to pull off his shoes at her front door, sitting on the couch in her living room while she put on some hot water for tea and changed into dry clothes. When she returned to her living room with the mug, towels and a blanket, she found him staring blankly ahead, one elbow resting on the edge of the couch.

He started when she pressed the mug into his free hand, and she frowned as she sat down next to him.

“Are you staying up with me?” he asked, turning to her as she tucked her legs underneath her on the middle cushion.

“If you want me to,” she said, leaning against the back of the couch.

Marty didn’t answer, he took a sip of his tea and then grimaced, abandoning it on the side table next to him. That meant yes. In his never ending quest to remain unreadable, she’d figured out a few things in the years she’d known him.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” she prompted.

“I got into an argument with Wendy,” he said flatly.

In the time it’d taken her to drive him here, he seemed to have pulled himself together enough to be back on the defense, much more collected than before. “That’s all?” she asked, skeptical.

He shrugged. “You know everything else there is to know.”

And most of what he’d been through was enough to make anyone crack.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. She knew things between him and Wendy had always been tense, but she always assumed it was just because of work. They didn’t seem to really love each other, but it was none of her business. It was probably better not to press.

“I’ve only ever wanted to get us out of this mess,” he said, shaking his head. “And she….well we both...have only gotten in deeper.”

“I know,” she said softly. Marty buried his head in his hands, hunching forward. Tentatively, she reached out, placing her hand at the base of his neck, then slowly working her thumb against the knots she could feel rippling underneath the skin of his shoulders. Marty exhaled, lifted his head up from his hands to look at her, finally.

His normally steely blues were rimmed red and glassy. Whether he’d been crying or not, the strain was evident on his face, somewhere between the dark circles that hung beneath his eyes and his sunken cheeks. Tense was an understatement, and the constant pressure the past few years had taken their toll. It’d been awhile since she’d been this close to him, and she could see the gray in his hair, sprouting up around his ears and along his hairline, the stubble on his jaw.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked, near pleading, desperate to provide some sort of solace. She never felt the need to fill empty space with words, but she was scared for him. But at the same time, she felt she couldn’t be enough to comfort him.

He answered her with a sad smile. His hand rose to clasp her own, still resting at his shoulder. Gooseflesh rose on her arm as she was drawn closer, and if this were any other man, she’d expect him to kiss her.

Y/N reached out, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close. It was impulsive, and she expected him to jolt away, at first. He was warm, his shirt still damp from the rain. His arms wrapped around her torso, she felt his steady breath on her neck, his head tucked under her chin.

“This is enough,” he whispered.

The rain came down steadily outside, thunder rumbling above, and she closed her eyes. She’d stay this way as long as he needed her. It was a long time, then, she only realized, when his breathing became light and even and she, too, drifted off.

When she woke up the next day, alone on her couch with a blanket draped carefully over her, she knew what to expect from Marty. He’d carry on like it never happened. Like she hadn’t let her lips brush over his temple, like he hadn’t whispered ‘thank you’ before he fell asleep in her arms. And she thought maybe it would be better off for her to believe it’d all been a dream.

[chikkou]

late to the discussion but what do you think about buzzo?

im definitely not as passionate about him as other characters in the series, but i find him pretty interesting... its fascinating the way he scapegoats brad for his own guilt about what happened to lisa, and then after brad mutates, has to come to terms with the fact that brad was not the monster he built him up to be in his head, and that he basically drove him to joy addiction and his untimely death for no reason

buzzo was at his peak power in the painful, and while its cool to see, i actually find it better as a build up to his downfall. he had most of olathe under his thumb, he was living this out this life of twisted hedonism with no one to stop him, and its not until he encounters brad after a long while of not seeing him that the whole thing starts to unravel. note his initial reaction when brad first encounters him in the painful - after doing his creepy drug dealer schtick, once he actually sees who hes talking to, the whole persona drops for a moment and he simply states, “oh... its you.” brad doesnt recognize buzzo, but buzzo recognizes HIM, and i think the sight of him brought back memories that buzzo wanted to leave behind him, thus why he began the game of torturing brad with impossible decisions (party member or all your stuff, party member or your limbs, etc). 

but that cant last forever. as much as buzzo wants to blame brad, deep down he KNOWS brad was not the one at fault for lisas death. he fights against that though, and keeps torturing brad until it kills him - but that isnt justice. it doesnt bring lisa back, or make up for the sins done to her, and he isnt even targeting the right person. he seems to have realized that in the joyful - hes miserable pretty much the entire game, and doesnt smile at all anymore (whereas in the painful, that big smile was his default sprite). he sleeps with brad beside his bed because brad is the last living tie he has to lisa, and torturing him had been the only way he could still feel connected to her before that. i think realizing that is what makes him change his mind about olathe and yado, and leads to him getting himself killed to stop yado. 

i definitely was a much bigger fan of buzzo in the joyful, because while he is formidable and threatening in the painful, in the joyful we get to see his entire web unwinding and the truth spilling out. he never really grew up properly. he was so wrapped up in that trauma, he never learned how to cope or move on, and it corrupted him from the inside out. he blames himself so much, he projected all that onto brad because he had to blame anyone else, and brad was a convenient sponge. but its himself that he really hates. this is most easily seen when he mutates in front of buddy and barely attacks her during the battle; he spends most of the fight crying, calling out for lisa, and biting himself to kill himself faster. 

speaking of buddy, its also interesting to note that he has zero interest in her, in ANY capacity - the only times he interacts with her were specifically designed to torment brad. he forces brad to choose between cutting off her nipple or killing all of his party members, and has one of his men hit her with a club in order to force brad to consume several joy pills. but he doesnt want her, and surprisingly, he is actually one of the less cruel characters to her. he is still cruel, of course, but i would put him pretty far down the list - he doesnt come anywhere near mr angoneli, who scars her face and wounds her eye, or yado, who killed her mother and abandoned her to use her as a pawn in whatever game he was playing with olathe. even brad technically does worse, since apart from making her kill at least two innocent men, he also kicks her so hard she flies across a room, and then beats her so badly she visibly begins bleeding while she is trying to protect marty. 

but he has no qualm with her. he actually helps her in the joyful, and more than once - he saves her from brad after he mutates (its unclear if brad would have seriously harmed her, but as there is a battle encounter between the two of them before buzzo steps in, its possible he could have), explicitly tells his joy boys not to touch her when she enters their hideout, and later saves her again from sweetheart, taking mortal damage in the process. i definitely think her resemblance to lisa is a big part of why, but more than that, i think buzzo at this point has become genuinely regretful - he knows he has done wrong, and a lot of it, but he cant just walk back all the things hes done. he helps buddy in such a way that it doesnt seem cognizant at first; after all, if hed wanted to harm her, he could have easily done so right at the start. buddy was alone and trapped between both buzzo and brad. but that was never his goal; his motivation, like brads, is almost exclusively centered around lisa, but when he has finally slain the last person who had any direct connection to her, he realizes that it is much, much too late. 

at the end of the day i guess what i find most interesting about buzzo is the parallels between him and brad, and his little “relationship” with buddy. brad and buzzo deal with near-identical guilt, as the only two people who knew what lisa was going through but didnt (or couldnt) stop it - but while brad internalizes that pain and primarily focuses on dulling the pain with drugs and alcohol, buzzo externalizes it and makes all those around him suffer instead. its heavily implied that his trauma from mutilating lisas face and practicing amputation on those animals gave buzzo some kind of amputation fetish, since many of his joy boys are missing one arm, and if buddy talks to them with her joy mask on, one of them will compliment her for having both arms, suggesting that buzzo does this somewhat regularly. he doesnt know what to do with those feelings, so he makes everyone in his life suffer as he is suffering, something that brad does unintentionally. theres just SO much to get into with him that its really hard to narrow it all down LMAO

[theseaeaglelives]

Round 10

THE SEA EAGLE

MAKING RUGBY LEAGUE OK AGAIN!!!

Round 10

Manly Sea Eagles      50

Defeated 

Brisbane Broncos      6

In previous years the suggestion to take a Manly home game to Lang Park to take on the Bronco’s would have been frowned upon by the Sea Eagle. As it has always been, home ground advantage can be the difference between a win and a loss and the rub of the green with marginal refereeing decisions have traditionally favoured the home team.

That said, Manly’s recent diabolical record at Graveyard Lottoland (formerly known as Fortress Brookvale) combined with their record at any other alternative playing venue, suggest that any move away from the graveyard can only be a good thing and in this Round 10 magic round fixture this was again further proof positive.

Manly set the tone early in this game and from the opening bell dominated a Bronco’s outfit that is a far cry from the halcyon days when the likes of Langer, Lockyer, Webckie, Tallis etc. (and then coach Bennett) generally ran roughshod over whoever had the misfortune to venue onto Lang Park.

Despite having all the play in the early stanza, Manly could not crack the initial spirited Bronco defence. Finally, after 15 minutes the Bronco’s cracked when speedster Jason Saab found clear space to put none other than Tommy Turbo in under the posts. The Turbo-Saab combination is providing to be a potent attacking weapon with the speed of these two proving very hard for opposing teams to deal with on the right edge. They say speed kills and its hard to argue with this when either of these to have ball in hand with clear space.

Manly then suffered a set back when returning (to the nest) playmaker Kieran Foran was forced from the field with what was suggested to be a broken hand. This injury continues the wretched run of injuries to Foran since initially leaving Manly in 2012 and casts fresh doubt as to whether they do indeed go any better when they return to the nest. The jury is still out on that one.

In Foran’s absence it was Marty Tapou who surprisingly (and accidently) took the role of provider, when a he supplied a deft offload to improving backrower, Sean Keppie to cross untouched. Sean Keppie’s fine form continued in this game and his emergence along with the likes of Tof Sipley, Tan Paseka, Haumole Olakau’atu and of course Josh Schuster provide Manly with much needed backrow depth. This has been something that has been sorely missed in recent years, and now gives Manly a platform to become a contender again hopefully sooner rather than later.

Prior to this year Manly have relied on journeyman back rowers, the ilk of Joel Thompson, Curtis Sironen, Jack Gosiewski etc. and with respect while these guys never shirked the task at hand, premiership success was never a realistic prospect with them leading the way.

Manly extended their lead when some fine lead up work by the usual suspects (Cherry Baby and Turbo) put Saab over in the corner, a try duly converted by the accurate Rueben Garrick. It was noted in a previous report that Young Garrick’s goal kicking has improved markedly in recent weeks, a phenomenon which may also be linked to the Tommy Turbo effect?

Against the run of play the Bronco’s hit back on the stroke of half time when Jermaine Osako forced past some pretty average defence, reducing Manly’s lead to 20-6 at the break.

Any chance of a Bronco comeback was quickly extinguished when a high-flying Jason Saab leapt over the pack to reclaim a bomb and plant a four pointer (also converted by Garrick). Not only is Saab blindingly quick but at well over 190 cm is deadly under the high ball, something Manly are now able to exploit.

From then on it was a deadest rout as Manly ran roughshod over the hapless Broncos. In saying that Manly were the beneficiaries of a couple of pretty soft sin-bins which at one point resulted in the Bronco’s fielding only 11 players. Notwithstanding this could not hide how bad the Bronco’s have become and tries to Jake Trbojovic, Lachlan Croker, Tommy Turbo (again), and Josh Schuster (all converted) saw Manly run out 50-6 winners, their largest winning margin against the once mighty Brisbane based outfit. In fact, the score line could have been much worse as Manly had at least 3 tries disallowed (rightly) when unable to ground the ball in goal when tries looked certain.

Manly had plenty of good performers in this one, in fact all contributed in some way to the victory. That said the Sea Eagle would like to single out Morgan Harper for special mention. In the absence of Dylan Walker (which the Sea Eagle hopes will be extended – personal opinion only) Young Harper has made a home for himself in the centres. Not only is he mistake free, defensively solid but he has a striking resemblance to a younger version of this man -----

The last month has shown that Manly can rightfully claim to be a Top 8 side, but next week we will get a true gauge of the extent of the Manly improvement and where they rank when they travel to Bankwest to take on the despised Eels.  

 It’s Just Not Netball

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-14/ricky-stuart-apologises-over-netball-comment/100139934

This one did not escape the Sea Eagle’s eagle eye as Raider’s coach Ricky “Sticky” Stuart has found himself in hot water again. It seems Coach Stuart regularly finds himself on the wrong side of poorly thought-out comments, usually aimed at referees and usually when his team is getting beaten. And this time, perhaps to deflect attention from his coaching deficiencies (personal opinion) Stuart has taken aim at netball.

One particular quote from the article to the effect of "That frustrates you as a coach, because you get annoyed when you're not winning”.

Based on Coach Stuart’s coaching record he must be a very frustrated man indeed.

Apart from his debut year as coach at the Roosters when he inherited the usual salary cap rorting array of stars and won the GF, it’s been all down hill for Coach Stuart ever since. Teams he has coached featuring towards the bottom end of the ladder, 2006-14th, 2007- 12th, 2009 – 15th, 2010 – 14th, 2013 – Spoon, 2014 – 15th and this spiral looks to be continuing this year with the Raiders struggling and persistent rumours of discontent between the playing group and coach.

Perhaps it’s now time for Coach Stuart to do us all a favour, abandon the NRL and pursue another challenge…… Netball!!

At this juncture it may also be worth revisiting a few of the old Sea Eagle Reports - for those interested, check these.

https://www.theseaeagle.com/page/113

or

https://www.theseaeagle.com/page/92

 THE SEA EAGLE

[prvntcessa]

✺ yip

effervescent giggles filled the air as russian mafia royalty mischa dostoyevsky buried her face further into the collar bone of unnamed boozy blonde no.26227, trailing chaste kisses down her tanned slender neck and whispering raspy kiskas into her hair as the club raged around them in all its intoxicated, sweat laden glory.

mischa had only been here for a couple weeks and she was already an indispensable fixture of new orlean’s night life. there were two reasons for this. the first was simply because she was her. mischa was electric; she was charming, vibrant and mysterious which made her as irresistible and intoxicating as the poisons and elixirs that sat in big bottles behind the bar.

the second reason was blood money – d r u g money – that ran through the veins of the n.o. clubs. the bratva provided the drugs and the club sold them under the table. tables mischa frequently got drunk and danced on top of.

nibbling on the tip of her ear with a naughty hand slowly inching up her thigh, the criminal was halfway through another pretty dirty word when a sloppy, sleazy voice boomed above the already blasting music.

“come on, i know you want it. don’t make this difficult, baby. you’re either coming home with me or you’re not going anywhere, bitch.”

the ravenette lifted her countenance from where it was obscured betwixt golden locks and immediately found herself fixated on the chaotic car crash commotion that was unfolding to her right. the booming voice, not surprisingly came from this sweaty, shit stain man, hovering over a girl he was two, no three times the size of, trapping her shaking body in place, his beer breath and spit misting over her delicate fac – mischa’s eyes went wide.

MARTY’S FACE. no, no, NO, this shit was not about to fly. not HER marty, in HER club, not on HER watch. so pushing some hair out of her eyes, the mafia princess winked and patted the woman’s thigh in a way that said she’d be right back before dusting off her pants and going off to WAR.

a woman on a mission, with her drink in hand and louboutins clicking, mischa rounded the corner and elbowed her way into the man, getting her drink all over him, his surprise and disgust creating just a big enough opening for mischa to grab marty and move her behind her.

she expected her oscar in the mail.

“SESTRA, sestra! oh my god, little, i have been looking for you all night, thank god.” the older girl cooed, planting a kiss on marty’s temple and ruffling her hair before her expression darkened into rage. 

“you should be ashamed. she’s SEVENTEEN.” mischa lied, but it was worth it to see how scared he got. very scared indeed. the man’s face crumbled. he was as pale and feverish as death as he spat little timid “i didn’t know”s, “she looked older” and “it was an honest mistake”, before backing away slowly, trying to escape.

rookie mistake.

“not so fast, piggy.” the mob boss smashed her heel into the foot, probably crushing bone in the process judging by the way he yelled bloody murder. unfazed by his excruciating pain, mischa grabbed him by the greasy collar of his shirt and yanked him forward with unbridled aggression, the stench of his fear and beer breath burning in her nose.

“now, you listen, pig boy, and you listen good.” with her free hand, she whipped out what looked like an ordinary lipstick until her thumb popped the cap and revealed a small knife that she held under his CHIN.

 “go home and PRAY that you will never see my face again because it will be the LAST one you ever see. if you so much as breathe or EXIST in the direction of my beautiful blini, i will GUT you like the worthless fish you are and feed you to the sharks. and alexei loves the taste of men who sexually harrass women in clubs. it’s his favorite food. 

– MINE TOO.”

mischa barred her teeth, lifted her shoe and dropped his sweat-drenched shirt … or were those tears? good. “now, go. cry wee wee wee all the way home, piggy. QUICKLY. before i change my mind.” and he must have been an olympic gold medalist in track the way he bolted out of that building. with a smirk mischa put her faux lipstick away and wiped the pathetic man sweat, tears and spit off her face before turning to marty, stern and high strung.

“MALISHKA, how many times have i told you not to go out without me?! it is d a n g e r o u s out here at night!!! especially somewhere like HERE with men like THAT!” she scolded out of fear that something could have happened to the younger girl. but seeing how upset marty was, mischa’s expression immediately softened and her voice was quiet, kind, gentle. a very rare occurrence. 

obsessively, mischa began to check under her arms, her legs and her shoulder before putting a hand on her cheek. “did he do anything to you, little? are you hurt?! i’ll kill him. i should have k i l l e d that mudak bastard. oh, tiny, you scared me … you scared me so bad, don’t ever do that again.” mischa said, fear and relief breaking in her voice before pulling her into a hug, holding her probably too tight.

after she collected herself, mischa offered the girl a small smile. “hey, do you like frozen yogurt, sestra? hm? lets go get frozen yogurt you will feel better, i promise. if i flirt with boy at the counter we can get it for free. О Боже, you must be so tired. here. hop on, sestra. let’s get out of here.”

and so mischa bent over, ready to piggyback marty out of the club, regardless of how it looked because friends came and went, but sisters?

sisters were forever.

[glenncoco4]

Talk to me

A/N: Shoutout to @mashmaiden for being my sounding board. You da best! (Ch.7)

Lightly tapping on her front door, he rocks on his feet back and forth, feeling a bit nervous. He goes to knock again, but when his fist is just about to hit the door, it’s slowly pulled open. The site before him, taking his breath away. 

Her face is red, tears pooling in her eyes as more run down her cheeks. 

He quickly hurries towards her, cupping her cheek, wiping the tears away. “Kens, baby, what’s wrong?” The sad and somewhat sorrowful look that graces her face making his nervous state earlier long forgotten. 

She shakes her head, not sure how to get the words out. Mandy had finally convinced her that she needed to tell her boyfriend, but she never really thought about what she was gonna say. 

Bringing his other hand up, he holds her face in place so that she’ll look at him. “Look at me.” He finally gets her attention and she slowly raises her eyes, locking with his. “What’s wrong?”

The look that fills his eyes can only be described as worry. “I’m sorry, Marty.”

“What are you talking about?”

She knows she needs to tell him. Taking a deep breath, her voice cracks as she tells him what’s for sure gonna make him run. “I-I’m pregnant.”

His eyes widen at the news, a million thoughts running through his head. “Are-are you sure?”

Slightly nodding her head. “Pretty sure. I’m three weeks late and that’s unusual for me.” 

“Have you taken a test?”

“Yeah, I just haven’t had the nerve to look.”

Taking her hand, he guides her to the bathroom where the test is laying out on the vanity. They both walk over and look, their eyes being met with a positive sign. 

“So a baby.”

“A baby.” A flood of tears start pouring out of her eyes, when her suspicions are confirmed. “I-I’m so sorry.” She begins to shake, gasping for breath. 

He grabs her by the waist, pulling her against him, pressing his lips to hers. “I love you, Kens Marie Blye.”

Slightly out of breath from crying and their kiss, she’s a bit shocked by his reaction. “You-you aren’t mad?”

“Mad? Kensi, how could I possibly be mad? Surprised, sure. Shocked, perhaps. Over the moon completely and totally excited? You bet your beautiful ass, sweetheart.” He shakes his head at all the emotions running through his mind. 

The surprised yet joyfulness that fills his eyes tells her that his words are truly genuine. “But what about school?” 

“Hey.” He places his finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look into her eyes, wanting her to see the sincerity held in his. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do. More than anyone.”

Letting out a sigh of contentment at her words, his heart swells even more when he sees the truth and honesty behind her words reflected in her eyes. “Then trust me when I say that we can do this. You and me. Together. It may be hard some days. We may want to rip each others hair out. You will most definitely want to hit me a few times when I’m being an idiot. But I’m your idiot.” He places a kiss to her forehead. “And I will do anything and everything for you and this baby. Our baby.”

She’d just gotten out of her Psych class when she gets an overwhelming sense of gratefulness as she looks at the table in the corner and sees that full mop of blonde hair. She was so afraid that she had pushed him away. And yet he’s surprisingly drawn closer to her even more so now that she’s finally told him. 

Walking up to him, she smiles when he brings his lips to hers. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He grabs his bag from the table, and takes ahold of her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth. “How are you feeling?”

“As good as anyone can be in this type of situation.” 

He gives her a soft smile, as they start to walk out of the building, hand in hand. “That’s good.”

They’re walking along to her next class, when she finally works up the nerve to tell him. “So I have an appointment today at 4.” She knows he said that he would do anything for her and the baby, but that uncertainty that rears its ugly head at times, makes itself known.

“Okay, I have a class, but I can get one of my buddies to take notes for me.” He’s not caught off guard in the slightest and something tells him that she thought he would be.

“You don’t have to do that.” 

He gives her a playful smirk, trying to ease the tension that is clearly running throughout her body. “Yeah, I do or I won’t really know what’s going on next class.”

Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head, smiling. “I mean you don’t have to go with me.” 

“Of course I do.” He stops in his tracks, turning to look at her. “I meant what I said last night, Kens.” Softly rubbing his thumb across her cheek. “I’ll do anything for you and this baby.”

Well that was definitely not what they were expecting. They had gone into the doctors office ready for her to confirm what they already knew, but once again life had other plans.

They walk out of the office towards his truck, finger intertwined. “I really thought.”

Throwing his arm around her shoulder, he pulls her in, placing a kiss to the top of her head. “I know. Me too.”

“I guess it’s for the best though.”

“Yeah, it probably is.” Once they reach the truck, he stops, taking both her hands in his, dream filled look in his eyes. “I gotta be honest though. I was really looking forward to a little sassy brunette running around.”

She loves how excited he was about this. Clearly she had nothing to worry about when she thought that she was carrying his child. The thought of telling him in the future and not being filled with uneasiness, makes her smile. “One day.”

“One day.” Echoing her words, while the images of her and their daughter sitting in the rocking chair, while her mother sings soft lullabies to her, makes him very excited for the future that he hopes and prays they might have one day. 

Seeing his dreamy filled gaze, she leans into kiss him, knowing that he’s probably having similar thoughts to hers. “I love you.”

“I love you too. So much.” He places another kiss to her lips, showing her just how much.

It had been the best birthday he ever had. His girl showered him with love and fish tacos. She took him to the beach for dinner and a stroll along the waters edge. He’d never felt anything like this in his life. A few days ago when he was afraid that he was losing her had been the worst time of his life. Those few short days that he hadn’t seen or heard from her had been quite literally hell on Earth for him. But once she told him that she thought that she was pregnant he understood why she was so distant and drawn away from him. It wasn’t because of him but because of what it would mean for her.

She would be the one that would have to juggle going to school, writing papers, showing up to class all the while pregnant and all the things that come with it. Of course he would’ve helped her all that he could, but the part of her that’s still worried about being left and left alone with a child at that was one of the main thoughts running through her head. 

With all that in the past now he can’t help but smile and think about what their future might hold as they lay in the bed of his truck, looking up at the stars. “What do think they’ll be like?”

She’s brought out of her trance when his voice fills her ears. Tilting her head up to look at him, brow furrowed. “What do I think who will be like?”

“Our kids.” 

“I don’t know. When I thought I was pregnant, I imagined a boy.”

“A boy. Obviously because he’s gonna have a little sister to protect.”

“Obviously.” She smiles, thinking about what his personality would be like. “He would have shaggy blonde hair just like his daddy.”

“And the stubbornness and appetite of his mother.” He winces as she twists his nipple.

She ignores his wince and thinks about their daughter. “Our daughter would have long brown hair, with beautiful blue eyes.” 

He nods, agreeing with the images that fills both of their minds. “With my sense of humor and your sassiness.” 

She smiles, placing a kiss on his chest. “Yeah, that sounds really good.”

“Okay, so what’s the plan.”

“Plan?”

“We gotta have a plan, right?” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

She likes where this is going. “Well, first we both need to graduate.”

“Then get married.” 

A bit taken back by his words, she knows they’ve kinda already talked about it, but him actually saying the words out loud takes the breath out of her. “Ye-yeah, then get married.”

“Then you’ll be going to Georgia for NCIS.”

“And once I’m placed with an office, I think we could start thinking about kids.” 

He places a kiss on her temple. “Sounds wonderful.”

“Sounds like a dream.”

Pulling her in closer, he lets out a content sigh. “Well in the wise words of one Walt Disney, ‘All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.’” 

They share a smile, knowing that with each other they have enough courage to last a lifetime. A beautiful dream filled lifetime. 

[haleyface]

TASK 009 →

Haley’s been tested for ADHD three times, but every time, it was felt she didn’t have it. 

She loves succulents and has them all over her bedroom. Of course she names them; the one on her nightstand right now is Marty McFlyTrap

She’s seen the third season of Digimon at least eight times. She could write an entire dissertation on its emotional impact and implications of childhood trauma, if only she had that kind of patience and knew what a dissertation is.

Her favorite Studio Ghibli movie (and movie in general) is Howl’s Moving Castle.

Her sun sign is in Virgo, her rising is in Capricorn, and her moon is in Cancer. (Born 09.17.95 @ 4:37pm)

Haley is surprisingly organized. The only thing that’s really a mess is her though content, but her actual living space is very neat and somewhat minimalistic. She doesn’t do well if she’s surrounded by clutter.

She loves things with her name written on them.

She makes sure people know it’s Haley. Not Hailey, not Hayley, not Haileigh. Haley.

Her favorite dessert is strawberry shortcakes.

She thought she had a cat once. The first day she moved into her apartment right after moving to New York, there was a cute fat orange cat roaming around her apartment. She assumed it was a house warming gift and the cat came and went through her fire escape as it pleased for months. It wasn’t until she was getting ready to move out that she learned it was actually the landlady’s cat who frequently snuck out. She also learned the cat was named Tater Tot, which sort of fit since Haley had taken to calling him Hashbrown.

Because she’s a gymnast and mostly competed with people who were averaging at 5’0” for years, Haley is super insecure about her height.

She’s a Connect Four champion.

Jemma convinced Haley she was adopted for a solid two weeks when they were kids.

When she found out Fruits Basket was being rebooted, she cried.

Haley was almost arrested when she was 17 because some local kids had started a fight club behind the local Walgreen’s. The cops came to break it up and haul all of them off to jail. All Haley wanted was to buy some skittles at 11pm, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only reason they didn’t arrest her was because she started crying.

She cries a lot.

Like…. a lot.

She sleeps with socks on.

She’s very bad at remembering her keys, so she had a bunch of spares made and keeps one in her purse, her wallet, her gym bag, and at Jemma’s apartment. She has not told Jemma that she has a spare key at Jemma’s apartment. Coincidentally, since moving out of her sister’s place months ago, she’s never lost that apartment key.

She went as Cinderella for Halloween five years in a row.

She doesn’t believe that Denmark is a country.

Haley doesn’t understand Snapchat.

[survivingacademia]

Weekend summary

August 10th

We had the opportunity to sleep until 8 this morning, but Marti and I were so used to getting up early that we both were up by 7. We have a planned trip to Ribe today, and everyone is very excited.

Breakfast was high-spirited. The kitchen staff had prepared a table with sandwich ingredients (buns, knekkebrød, salami, butter, salad, and so on), so we could all take a sandwich for lunch. Marti and I sat next to an American woman, Jodi, who is a writer, and this breakfast turned into one of my most pleasant memories so far.

The bus ride to Ribe was exciting as well, with Henning taking the mic every 5 minutes or so to tell us something about a church or a small village. The town itself was very beautiful. It’s Denmark’s oldest city, and its paved roads reminded me of home. We took a walk along the quay, through the small roads in the centre, past the Grammar school and to Ribe Cathedral, the oldest in Scandinavia. It was extremely beautiful. I have a thing about Catholic and Protestant Churches, somehow they make me feel more at home than Orthodox ones.

After that we split into small groups, and Marti and I rushed into the nearest bookstore. Marti bought a book, and we stopped at a few other shops on our way to the Art Museum. Unfortunately, the entrance fee was a bit too high, so we decided to take a longer stroll instead. We saw the old City Hall (there was a wedding), one of the mills, the Viking Museum, the Railway station and Ribe’s very own Flying Tiger.

Going back to the bus we stumbled upon Ellie, a student from the UK, and we had a cup of coffee and some Danish pastries with her. She is really into the Middle Ages, and she’s currently researching childbirth and witchcraft.

Henning decided it would be a good idea to take us to Kammerslusen, right next to the North sea, and we were able to stand just next to the water. Those Jylland winds would totally blow us away tho!

The afternoon included a lecture on Danish vocabulary with Robert.

Also, Marti and I figured out how laundry works and even got a box of laundry detergent on sale.

 August 11th

Sunday. Free day. Breakfast starts at 9, but I am hungry already at 7.

Everybody seems to be sleeping today, there are barely 10 people at the dining hall. Marti and I made a sandwich for later and chatted with Jodie again. She was lovely, as usual.

We decided to go to Odense today, and we actually bought tickets from the DSB app yesterday. We have to leave at about 9:50, walk about 3 km to Vejen, and then take a train. And can I just say, Danish trains, oh my God. So much leg room! They’re quiet, you know where you are because they constantly tell you, there are quiet cars if you want to sleep. Also, wi-fi.

We crossed Lillebælt on our way, and I couldn’t help but feel as if I am in San Francisco and I am crossing Golden Gate Bridge. For 2 shorts minutes, you are only surrounded by water. The sun was shining, and the view was so magical, I could cry of happiness.

However, our first hour in Odense was quite rainy. We couldn’t really take a walk in the King’s Garden because of the heavy rain, so we headed straight towards Andersen’s museum. Fortunately, the city was not that big, so we managed to navigate quite easily. The museum was lovely, very interactive. They had a lot of first editions, different passports Andersen owned, copies of books he made for his friends. There was also a wall dedicated to copies of his stories in 140 different languages, even in Bulgarian!

Quick lunch, then Andersen’s childhood house and his later home. A lovely cappuccino and a spandauer at Wendorff bakery. Lots of going around, my Health app is on 12 km today. Finally, a quick walk around King’s Garden.

I grabbed a very overpriced orange juice from a 7-Eleven just before we boarded the train. The way home seemed endless, maybe because we were both so tired. Dinner was surprisingly good – we sat with Kosta, the Serbian boy, and a German girl, and we discussed our days and Danish food. Henning showed up and encouraged us to try some rødgrød med fløde, basically jam and milk.

It was film night tonight! We watched Brødre, and Robert and Christian had took care of the popcorn and salt sticks. We might need therapy after this film tho.

[bastiodonz]

Can any of your OCs cook? Where are they on the spectrum from “I’ve been cooking since I could walk and I’ve never made a bad dish” to “last tuesday I tried to make a microwave lasagna and my house burned down.”

oh wow ill kill for u hmmmmm

might have to limit these to just. major characters. bc yeah as i said before i have,,, a lot,,,,,, of ocs kasgjsadj ;w; so ill probs go thru this in order by works 

(list under the cut!)

osas;

merope Definitely cooks. he makes the food he serves at his bar himself and he kinda had to learn after [redacted]. since merope can cook, he occasionally has bodil help him cook so she Also can cook. not as good at merope can, but its more than nothing.

iovita probably also helped people cook. namely his moms. he goes on to pick up on cooking later on (stress baking?) so he can also cook!! hes p good!!! daresay a lot better than merope bc the place where iovita is from has A LOT more variety in food than meelat does

sorin can maybe make a mean olive oil on bread. but thats Maybe It. hes really interested in cooking (mainly bc he couldnt rly cook fullblown meals in ruresi) so i can see him watching iovita cook?? just kinda lurking. iovita might drag sorin into helping him cook. wow thats a rly good and soft idea i came up w just now good job me.

aludra and conan just dump things into a pot and pray to the gods. aludra set her family kitchen on fire once trying to make rice. conan tries to get sorin help but sorin also doesnt know how to cook. they make the most bland food in history bc sorin still gets overwhelmed by spices and conan doesnt measure anything. he dumps in a whole cup of milk when the recipe asked for a quarter of a cup. its terrible. bodil iovita and merope are crying. iovita eats it anyway out of pity. he wants to be supportive of sorin.

red eyes (tag is yesterday it rained (today the sky fell));

literally calanthe is the only one out of the three of them who can cook. she picked it up sometime thru the series id think. saga probably pitched the idea to her as an alternative to smoking. bc i mean, cooking is technically a thing that cal herself can control? so. saga is so proud of cal despite the fact that saga herself cant cook.

seven literally existed to fill in a background role. he cant cook. BUT i can see after canon him asking calanthe to teach him, once he realizes he can be More than what he was created to do. god did ur ask make cooking a significant thing for red eyes? i think u did. omg

contact (tag is longness of semper);

burumu is the houses’ designated cook. he can actually make consistently good food. ivy can KINDA cook but its rly a toss of the coin with her. its either ok or its terrible. theres no inbetween. nebula can make mac and cheese. thats it.

blake can live off of those weird dried compressed ration things they sell in those sports stores. they cant cook. they CAN cut things p well though. but thats rly the extent of what theyre able to do i think.

landry throws whatever they can get their hands on into a blender and chugs that shit. they dont fear any god.

saccha is. odd. bc he can only bake. thats rly it. he ALSO stress bakes. which is to say, hes stressed a lot. hes good at baking though! but like if you asked him to make idk soup or something he gets so nervous that he freezes over the entire thing and you can Tell that it was just reheated in the microwave but you just give him a really tightlipped smile and nod.

reynold can make some food but like. not a lot. its mostly just like rly easy to make things that take rly fast like grilled cheese or ramen. hes doing his best.

molly cant cook for the sake that she would let landry chill with her in the kitchen and landry would yell for molly to turn up the heat and against all common sense (which no one in this godforsaken source) molly WOULD. they burn down an entire building. alex cant get too angry bc honestly if they were in the same position as molly, they would also listen to landry.

mx lux (tag is put out your beating heart);

surprisingly, all three of the main group can cook. anja can cook bc she wanted to be able to cook for maria so she SPEEDRAN cooking lessons. now she can cook. then sol was like :O holy shit u can cook can u cook for me??? and anja was like ‘no’ so she forced them to learn how to cook for themself. marty also knows how to cook bc he cooks for himself?? so.

nike and faustus cant be trusted to cook. for the point that nikes wings are Big so either he cant fit in the kitchen if its too small or he accidentally catches his wings on fire. faustus goes and is like “well if im gonna cook then i should try to figure out if i can Cheat The System by familiarizing myself to the cooking things” but then faustus zones out and just ends up sitting in the oven for like 3 hours. then faustus doesnt even end up cooking.

my warriors ocs are cats. they cant cook.

also im still not finished with the class for season 37. so i have no clue if they can cook for not. 

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Season Six, Episode Twenty: The Wolves Of War

Last one! ;_;

I had a lot of thoughts on this one.

This is the second of two episodes that were longer than the usual forty minutes.

I don't usually comment on the recap, but Lydia says Ethan and Derek, but the screen shows Derek and Jackson. Oops?

Oh good, some bad matting for the finale. At least we're consistent.

Hey, it's the Deadly Class kid. Benjamin Wadsworth?

Well, doesn't all this look familiar.

Vague Allison reference so she's present in the finale in some form :)

"How does it end?" - :(

Meanwhile, picking up where we left off...

"You didn't think you were doing this without me, did you?" "Without us!" - Best entrance, welcome back guys.

I love that Stiles took the time to go get Roscoe for himself.

Yeah, you better all run!

Twisting the knife with Deuc. But at least he got a proper send-off.

The Guest Starring roll for this episode is Very Long. Almost everyone's here again.

"Cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war..." - Chilling.

Gerard, you enormous cunt. I've held off on saying it, but he really is.

Eichen House, getting in on the finale action after all.

Time to split the party, that always ends well.

Gerard really has no idea what he's unleashed, or what's coming for him.

No Deaton for the finale? He was only in like one episode in this arc I think, probably too busy on Walking Dead.

Stiles and Derek are doing a "The Man Who Killed Batman" thing, with the different perspectives on the same experience.

Eleventh hour I love yous are the best. Mason and Corey are so cute.

MELISSA MCCALL IS BEST MOM.

They're all surprisingly capable without you actually, Stiles.

Kind of fitting for everything to end at the high school. Plus it's one of their four sets, so y'know.

There's our first Anuk-Ite victim of the night, RIP Peter (for now).

Oh, this guard with Jackson was the idiot with the rifle in Eichen House.

"I can't drive sports cars any more. There's no room for my tail." - Iconique.

My first thought here was that they'd do a Medusa and make the Anuk-Ite look at itself.

Stiles, don't ruin Lydia and Jackson's reunion! He's actually a bit of a tit this episode tbh.

"I thought you'd never figure it out!" - Well that's certainly one way of coming out to your friends.

Gabe's gun is HUGE, that thing looks like it fires grenades.

Theo, comin' in clutch.

Monroe, you are also an enormous cunt.

Invisible boyfriends!

Liam and Theo in the Hellevator once again.

Melissa and Nolan (!) with the save!

Oh burny Wolf's Bane bullet time. At least Monroe only had the one.

Parrish-cicle Mark II.

Noah gets his BAMF moment, well deserved.

"What are you, like 60?" - Oh you idiots are cruisin' for a bruisin'.

Malia's down. Lydia's vision is coming true.

Jackson, defeated by love.

I think the only time we actually hear the Anuk-Ite's real voice is when it was talking to Gerard a few episodes ago.

Dad team-up, team-up of the dads.

Oh hey Jennifer. It's a shame Braeden didn't come back, or even get a mention. Presumably she and Derek broke up at some point, she's obviously not Eli's mom.

Derek, undone by temptation and/or stupidity, delete as appropriate.

Mutually assured destruction for the two Evil Argents.

Void Stiles being Scott's greatest fear, his best friend being corrupted by evil, is kind of fitting actually.

And here's the Nogitsune.

Oh, there's a proper Allison reference. Considering he was the only villain who actually killed a main character (and it stuck), him being part of the finale is neat too.

Scott doing the Wonder Woman bit. What a fucking hero.

Monroe sacrificing her own soldiers, just like Gerard taught her.

Oh we're doing the Villain Greatest Hits - there's a Berserker, an Oni, a Dread Doctor. Marti Matulis is pulling overtime.

Say it Gerard, say it! One last time! MOUNTAIN AAAAASSHHHH!

Little Stiles spark to save the day.

Oh hi Coach! I know he's a recovering alcoholic, but honestly he deserves a drink after what he's been through.

I do want to feel bad for Gabe. But I do also feel like he was kind of a fucker even before the Anuk-Ite and Monroe got their claws into him, unlike Nolan who was just scared.

Raeken's Redemption :)

There's actually a villain from every season in this episode when you about it. Peter, Chris, Kate, Gerard, Jackson, Deucalion, Jennifer, Stiles, Theo, and Monroe. I think we're just missing a Ghost Rider, unless they were in the fight scene and I missed them while I was taking notes.

Au revoir, Gerard. I hope it fucking hurt.

Hellhound Used Heat Haze! It's super effective!

"You lost!" - Liam forgot to add "you absolute fucking bitch" to that, but it's an MTV show so I guess he couldn't.

I guess this is why they had to pair Scott with someone, so they could do this whole power-of-love bit to repair his eyeballs.

Although we did know he was fine, since he had eyes in the framing sequence.

"I am a great coach." - What a dickhead, I love him a lot.

Oh, there's Deaton, they used some stock footage from earlier this season.

Chris + Melissa confirmed <3

That entire little montage is so good, tbh.

"They're my friends. My pack." - I am going to CRY.

"You're not a monster. You're a werewolf. Like me." - Okay, NOW I'm going to cry. I forgot we ended on that, fuck sake ;_;

What a finale. Wraps up all the loose ends, while leaving the show open for a revival (or a movie ;) ). Everyone gets time to shine, and some screen time to themselves, plus Scott gets to be the True Alpha Of My Heart all over the place. My only complaint really is that the Anuk-Ite gets captured a little too easy, but the fight scene beforehand makes up for it.

I'm glad I rewatched this tbh. It's reminded me just why it's one of my favourite shows.

[cbwalive]

CBWA BOGOTA

CBWA MATCH EVENT: CBWA Time To Pay

Pay Pay-per-view Date: Sunday, November 29, 2020

Location: Bogota, Colombia

Brought to you by Greg Gagne Chevrolet

CBWA BATTLE ROYALE

Kick off starts off with the entrance of the participants in the battle royal, coming out first is the returning @BogataBam next is @bogota_mizanin followed by @BogataMj coming out to a huge audio pop, next is @gator_zz who is determined to win the match, next up is @GarthWLane to a bigger pop than Marty, next up is @BrianKWithers followed by @LlpMachete next is @MulletOfMorton and finally @PNNewsJR everybody is in the ring when the lights go out, a flame pyro goes off and MY GOD ITS @SHOCKMASTUH comes through the entrance walk way and trips over wires and knocks himself out, stunned about what just happens the rest of the guys are wondering what to do, the bell rings and here we go, automatically the Miz and Brian double team poor Garth to which he makes a comeback and beats both of them out of the corner, there is a stare down between Gordy and ZZ which is interrupted by a double drop kick by Marty and Mullet, it looks like a new version of the RNR express as they high five each other only for Mullet to surprise Marty and throw him out, Gordy eliminates PNNews when Gordy hits him with a Mongolian Spike, the Miz and Brian double team Gordy and eliminate him when Gordy was distracted by Garth jerking off in the corner, the Miz is eliminated when Garth ejaculated in his eye and thrown over the top by ZZ, after the Miz gets a towel to wipe off Garth’s juice he helps Brian to eliminate Garth laughing at poor Garth and Garth leaves angry and crying, it’s down to ZZ, Machete, Mullet and Brian, ZZ and Machete compare knives, ZZ then shocks Machete and uses a Gator Claw and cuts Machete’s arm gushing blood everywhere, ZZ tuen throws Machete over the top rope, it’s down to Brian, ZZ and Mullet, Mullet offers Brian to team up and he’ll get him some rats, Brian agrees and turns on Mullet and he and ZZ double team Mullet and eliminate him, it’s now down to ZZ and Brian, back and forth action, Brian has ZZ almost eliminated when ZZ uses son sort of gator bait, the smell is so awful, Brian starts puking and is eliminated by ZZ, ZZ is celebrating but out of nowhere the Shockmaster makes it in the ring to which he trips over the ropes and is tied up now, ZZ easily eliminates The ShockMaster.

WINNER and getting the final spot in the 5 way ladder match @gator_zz

—

CBWA WOMENS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

It is now time for Time to Pay, we start the show with the woman’s championship, 30 min Iron Woman match, Alexa comes out to a creepy new entrance, next the Woman’s champion @BogotaTJLee looking very confident, the bell rings and we are off, both women collar elbow tie up, AJ with the advantage arm drags Alexa and skips around the ring, collar and elbow tie up again and this time Alexa with the arm drag and then she skips around the ring, both woman then skip around the ring and into a see saw and Alexa throws AJ over the top ropes, the action is outside the ring and Alexa shoots AJ into the ring post, AJ screams in pain and is holding her shoulder, Alexa then focuses on the shoulder many attempted submission but the champ will not give up, we go 15 mins in and still no pins, the first pin fall comes at the 18 min mark when Alexa shoots AJ into the corner and is met with a boot and a quick cover by the champion with the ref not looking AJ puts her feet in the ropes 1,2,3, the first fall goes to AJ, Alexa upset charges after the champion in the corner moves and Alexa rams her shoulder in the post, the red steps in and puts up the X it looks like Alexa shoulder is dislocated AJ goes and checks and Alexa pops up small cradle and pins AJ 1,2,3 Alexa gets up celebrating with her shoulder dangling and pops it back in place, we are tied with with two mins left when all the sudden the lights go off and the Fiends music comes on, AJ looking around with 30 seconds left is met with a sister Abigail by Alexa for the 1,2,3, 10 seconds left and AJ is still out as Alexa skips around the ring, time is up bell rings and your new CBWA Woman’s champion @sisterabigail32

WINNER: SISTER ABIGAIL

——

We go to the backstage interview where @kennethressie is interviewing @gator_zz with a very noticeable Herpie on his lip, anyway Kenny ask ZZ how he feels going into the Ladder, ZZ makes it loud and clear, he is here for one thing and one thing only and that’s to leave the CBWA South American Champion so he can finally get the recognition he deserves and has a message for the new head of Creative and told him that he hopes that he watches his match

—

COLOMBIAN DRAGON VS ZOMBIE ROBERT BLAKE

Next match up is @HippieFH vs @BogotaBlake this is a quick one as @HippieFH kicks @BogotaBlake head off, but Zombie is still moving, @HippieFH then grabs Zombie Blake’s head puts it back on his body then lock in the yes lock, @HippieFH stretches back and Zombie Blake’s head comes off again and the referee calls the bell and awards the match due to TKO to @HippieFH, very strong outing for him as he looks in the camera and dedicated that match to his late dog that recently passed away and says he will be watching the Championship match very closely

—-

We go backstage and we see @KingBogota trying to make his way in he is cut off by security and is told by the orders of John Schneider he is banned from the arena, @KingBogota starts laughing and says “Ok John you wanna play hard ball I’m game” and leaves

—-

CBWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH CITY HALL VS FOOT VON ERICH AND THE FIEND

Next match is for the CBWA Tag Team championship, the challengers City Hall make their way to the ring, the champs are next when @FootVonErich comes down the aisle with a brand new beautiful robe that says Foot on the back made of Diamonds, lights go off and we see the appearance of the Fiend @BrayWya29193609 who has his belt around his neck, Bubba and Z man look intimidated by the Fiend’s presence, bell rings and Foot and Z man start it of with a pose down for the virtual ladies in the audience, sounds like more ladies cheered for Foot more than Z Man, Collar and elbow tie up Foot arm drags Z man followed by a drop kick, Bubba comes in and gets a drop kick of his own, both Z man and Bubba go outside, Foot celebrating in the ring, City Hall coming up with some strategy on the outside, Z man comes in and tags in Bubba, Bubba points at The Fiend and says I won’t him, Foot points at the Fiend and tags him in, Bubba doesn’t seem intimidating at all, Bubba goes in after the Fiend, Fiend ducks and laughs and waves at Bubba, Bubba charges Fiend moves and does his creepy backward stance, Bubba instantly stops scared and tags on the Z man, Z man still obviously upset the ladies cheered more for Foot goes to the turnbuckle and poses again and is met by a Fiend close line as he comes down, lots of tag in and out surprisingly by Foot and Fiend, they are working great as a team, Foot gets in a bit of trouble when he is double teamed in the corner by City Hall, Bubba is working on the back of Foot, it’s not looking good for the champs and City Hall is dominating now, the finish shows Foot hot tagging in The Fiend and he goes to town on Z Man and Bubba, Fiend sends Z man into the ropes and hits him with a pop up mandiable claw, I have never seen that, Bubba tries to come in and stop it but is met by an Iron Claw by Foot, both men’s shoulders are down and red counts 1,2,3, winners and still CBWA Tag Champions The Foot and The Fiend, these two are a well oiled machine

WINNERS: FIEND AND FOOT VON ERICH

—-

We go backstage and Kenny is interviewing The Miz to which The Miz cuts off Kenny and ask if the mic is disinfected from Kenny’s Herpie, The Miz goes on a tyrant on how he is being disrespected in the CBWA and how his match against @TheEyeOfFalk is a joke and this company is a joke because he is an A list Hollywood star and you put him in a match with a D list star, the Miz promises to make a statement against @TheEyeOfFalk and tells Garth that he isn’t done with him either

—-

CBWA SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 5 MAN LADDER MATCH 

We go to the ring where the ladders are set up all around the ring, it’s time for the ladder match for the CBWA South American Championship which is held above the ring, first man out is ZZ followed by @IAPT38 next is @dkg46342 and the return of @HotstuffINT007 the champ is making his way to the ring and is bumped by the CBWA Champion @FrankConverseMO who wishes him good luck and @GOLDBERGEN1 replies back with a you too champ, a brief stare down and Goldberg walks to the ring, all 5 participants look up at the title then Goldberg out of nowhere spears @dkg46342 and @HotstuffINT007 @IAPT38 goes to the outside and grabs a ladder, brings it in and automatically speared, unbelievable Goldberg can’t be stopped, wait ZZ from behind hits Goldberg with a swamp stick knocking out the champion, ZZ grabs the ladder and starts climbing, Hot stuff climbs the turnbuckle and drop kicks ZZ off the ladder, all participants are out, the ladder is still set up in the middle of the ring, @dkg46342 slowly gets up and starts climbing on one end and @IAPT38 climbing the other both men meet at the top and start fighting, ZZ then gets up and pushes the ladder and both men go crashing to the outside, Hot stuff then nails ZZ with the ladder, Goldberg is up and angry closeline Hot Stuff, picks AJ up in an over press and brings it into a spear, sets up another spear on @dkg46342 ZZ is on the ladder climbing for the belt Goldberg comes up from the other side punches ZZ and wait what is this?! Not a Jackhammer from the top of the ladder, OMG!!!! both men go through the ring!!!! A holy s**t chant starts virtually all 5 men are out, the corner of the ring is caved in from 2 guys going through it, wait there is movement from the bottom of the ring, it’s Goldberg!!! My god he is super human, grabs the ladder starts climbing and look my goodness ZZ is coming out of the ring as well and starts climbing the other side again, Goldberg is almost there and stretches out and grabs the South American title as ZZ almost gets him, Goldberg falls off the ladder, WINNER and still CBWA South American Champion @GOLDBERGEN1 after the match the ladders are clear and ZZ is looking at Goldberg and the title he almost won, Goldberg shakes his head and said you are a tough sob anytime you want a shot at this you got it and shakes ZZ’s hand, big time respect

WINNER: GOLDBERG

—-

NOW AVAILABLE in the CBWA SHOP!

We go backstage and we see @FootVonErich talking with his old pal @GarthWLane what could that be about? We are now backstage with Kenny and @TheEyeOfGibson Kenny ask where he has been before this match? Gibson replies, first off Kenny you really got to get that Herpie looked at, my whereabouts the past couple of weeks is nobody’s business but my own, but if you must know, I went to Siberia for two weeks to get intensive training getting ready for my match, then for the past week and a half I’ve been doing my good deed and passing out Turkey’s to the less fortunate, but you wouldn’t report that Kenny because that’s “boring” this match between myself and John Schneider is a match nobody will forget, it’s a loser leaves town, bogota hobo street fight, I can’t lose, I have too much riding on this, if I lose, I lose everything, my talk show, my merch money, my drug connection, my house that I won when I beat Michael Jordan in a game of PIG, btw it was a clean sweep PIG to zero, I have a lot riding on this match so I’ve been laser focused and believe me this will not be for the weaken heart I’m ready to bleed and so is my opponent, it will be a fight and the better man will come out on top

—-

THE MIZ VS THE EYE OF FALK

Next match is @bogota_mizanin vs @TheEyeOfFalk The Miz comes out first and walks directly to the ring, no entrance no pyro no posing, straight to the ring and tells Peter Falk to come on get out here, @TheEyeOfFalk comes out and takes his time trying to shake people’s hands but doesn’t realize it’s tv screens and those people are not physically here, The Miz then has enough of this and grabs a steel chair and wallops Falk in the head busting him wide open, Peter Falk is bleeding profusely, The Miz is not stopping , he continues to pummel Falk referees come down to try to stop The Miz and check on Peter Falk, his raincoat is covered in blood, The Miz is telling the referee to ring the bell and start counting to which the referee does, then the Miz goes outside to grab Peter Falk and roll him in the ring and hits him with a Skull Crushing Finale, yelling at Peter Falk saying who’s the joke now, covers Peter for the 1,2,3, after the match The Miz hand is raised and he hits a bloody Peter Falk with another Skull Crushing Finale and The Miz just walks off, again no posing, different looking Miz

WINNER: THE MIZ

——-

We go backstage and Kenny is interviewing our new Head Of Creative John Schneider, Kenny ask how he’s feeling going into his Hobo Street fight with @TheEyeOfGibson John Schneider says first off whoever let you in this building with that Herpie on your lip is going to get fired and if you have infected anybody with your herp you will be fined and suspended, now let’s talk about this match, you know like I said weeks ago, I’ve been a fan of the CBWA for a long time, I would get the feed from my Hollywood house and watch it every time, I got a call out of the blue from @FootVonErich wanting to recruit me in Robert Gibson’s Resistance group, I was thrilled I loved The Resistance but you know once I was in I didn’t like how Robert was running it, treating everybody like crap, wanting to kill @GarthWLane because he’s different, was going to kill his right hand man @FootVonErich so I did what I had to do and take them away from that situation and I guess Robert didn’t like that and we have been at war since, well it ends tonight, one man must go, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us and after tonight the terror of one Robert Gibson will finally come to an end, Kenny then ask why he banned @KingBogota from the arena, to which John said, are you kidding? Do you want the show to lose viewership? And walks off

—-

GARTH W LANE VS BRIAN K WITHERS

Next match is @GarthWLane vs @BrianKWithers Garth comes out to an amazing virtual pop, he has become one of the most popular competitors in the CBWA, next is @BrianKWithers to a Star Wars theme music that takes 15 minutes long, finally he makes it to the ring, by this time Garth has ejaculated twice on the ring mat, bell rings and @BrianKWithers slips on Garth’s juice and Garth goes for the pin 2 1/2 he almost caught him off guard, wait what is this, The Miz is out here with the same chair that now has Peter Falks blood on it, Garth sees this and is jumped from behind by Brian which leads to the Miz entering the ring and my god he hits Garth in the head with the chair, referee calls for the bell, Winner by DQ @GarthWLane but the assault continues and poor Garth is getting a beat down, wait what is this, it’s @FootVonErich for the save, he chases off The Miz and Brian, to which the two celebrated on the stage, is this a new alliance? Foot tries to help Garth up who sees his blood and runs to the back in anger looking for the Miz and Brian

WINNER BY DQ: GARTH W LANE

——

CBWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH BOLTSY VS FRANK CONVERSE AMSTERDAM

It’s World Championship match time, we take a look split screen shot of the two competitors, we go to the ring where Michael Buffet, yes Buffet, CBWA couldn’t afford Buffer, and says let’s get ready to stumble, the challenger is out first, looking amazing shape this could finally be @BoltsyAmsterdam time he looks ready, next comes the Champ and my goodness he is looking rough, but somewhat ready, he’s asking for some money from the referee, what has happened to our world champion, bell rings and Boltsy attacks, this has been frustration for years of neglect from his dad, Boltsy hurricarana Frank out side, Boltsy gets a table sets it up, puts Frank on the table, my god Boltsy is going to the top rope and my god a 450 splash through the table and Frank, Frank is out of it, Boltsy picks up his father and rolls him in the ring, looking for finish, this is his time, what he has been waiting for a long time, here he goes and oh no Frank hits him with a spinebuster my god that was brutal, Frank is shaking it off and is roid raging, he picks up Boltsy by one hand and throws him in the turnbuckle followed by numerous shoulder blocks, Boltsy now bleeding from the mouth collapsed, Frank points at a lifeless Boltsy saying look at my pathetic son, he goes to pick up Boltsy and wait Boltsy with a small package, 1,2, 2 1/2, that was close, we almost had a new champion, Boltsy gives Frank the bring it sign Frank can not believe he is still in this match he picks his son over his shoulder and slams him in the ring, another victory for our champion but no Boltsy kicks out again, what heart by the challenger, Frank picks him up again and bam a big F5, cover 1,2,3 Winner and still CBWA champion @FrankConverseMO after the bell @GOLDBERGEN1 music hits, he comes down and shows off his title and @FrankConverseMO shows off his title are we seeing the making of a super bout?

WINNER: FRANK CONVERSE

----

HOBO STREET FIGHT - LOSER LEAVES TOWN 

THE EYE OF GIBSON VS JOHN SCHNEIDER

It’s main event time, first to the ring is John Schneider with a live band singing good ol boy, the band looks like they just woke up and obviously didn’t do rehearsal but what can you do we are in a pandemic, next The Eye Of Gibson comes out with none other than Steve Perry from Journey singing don’t stop believing, what an amazing Peformance by Steve Perry.

Both men are in street clothes, John is wearing blue jeans and boots while Roberto is dressed in sweats and tennis shoes that have been worn out the soles are no longer there, the bell rings and we are under way in the Bogota Hobo street fight loser leaves town match, the stage area looks like a back alley trash cans are everywhere a couple of them are fire pits, pieces of glass and rocks are in the ring, it looks like a hobo town, Roberto goes in for the collar and elbow tie up but tricks John and gives him a knee to the balls, John Schneider goes down, Roberto feels right at home takes a couple of rock pebbles and throws them at John, one hits John in the throat and looks to be injured, Robert stops the ref and says I got this he’s obviously thirsty, grabs a colt 45 and pours it down John’s throat, John tries a little comeback but is met by a drop kick, Roberto goes for some sand and backfires as John pushes it up in Robertos face, John then chops Roberto and punches Gibson into one of the fire barrels my god Roberto Gibson is on fire, paramedics come in with fire extinguisher and put out the fire, they check on Roberto and John pushes them away, grabs Roberto and now John has a piece of glass from a broken bottle and my god he is digging it in Robertos forehead and Gibson is now bleeding everywhere and I mean everywhere, it’s like a faucet turned on, blood is everywhere, John goes for the cover and miraculously Gibson kicks out, John goes back for the piece of glass but wait Gibson is getting something out of sweats, what’s this? 

He has an open salt packet from Hoot Robinson restaurant and bam throws it in John Schneider faces, Schneider can’t and now Gibson grabs a pizza cutter and good god he just sliced John Schneider’s forehead and now Schneider is bleeding profusely, this is an all out blood bath, now Gibson takes Schneider and hits him with a safety cone and drop kicks him into a domino’s table, this could be it for Schneider, but Gibson doesn’t go for a cover, he takes a swig of whiskey and forgot the amount of blood he is losing and passes out, now both men are down, Schneider finally comes to and is crawling back to the ring in a crimson mask but not to far behind him is Roberto Gibson, Schneider gets in the ring and tells Gibson to get in the ring, Gibson makes it in and both men exhausted and in a bloody mess exchange blows, Robert goes dirty again and try’s to knife John Schneider but is met by a belt buckle to the ear, Gibson is down John gets up and what is this? Schneider is wrapping his boot in glass and now tells Gibson to get up and my god he just super kicked Roberto Gibson in the face, glass everywhere Gibson is down, cover 1.......2......3 Winner of the Bogota Hobo Street Fight John Schneider and Roberto Gibson is out of here, Schneider’s hand is raised he looks down at his bloody opponent and helps him up and offers a hand, it looks like Gibson is actually going to shake his hand but no he flips him off and leaves Schneider starts celebrating but what is this? It’s @KingBogota with Rico, Bobby Flashly Little Virgil and is that? 

That is that Junky John Cena, Kenny directs them to the ring when it’s a complete beat down on John Schneider, here comes the Foot and the Fiend, but they are cut off by Rico and Little Virgil, Roberto Gibson keeps looking back to the ring, wait a minute here he comes and he’s helping John Schneider what the hell are we seeing here? Gibson and Schneider on the same team? Kenny calls off his goons and they leave with Kenny saying this far from over Hollywood Hillbilly, Schneider Foot and the Fiend are looking at Gibson and Schneider extends his hand again and this time Gibson shakes his hand and they celebrate together, Schneider and Foot and The fiend leave the ring for Gibson for his send off to which the audio audience starts chanting Eye of Gibson 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 Eye of Gibson 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 and the show cuts off with Roberto Gibson leaving saying thank you.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 65: Onion Friend

“Good things the kids are keeping themselves busy.”

It’s been exactly fifty episodes since Onion Trade, and it’ll be another forty-five until Onion Gang. Awfulness of the latter episode aside, this seems like pretty good pacing for a character as beautifully bizarre as Onion to get the spotlight. 

Steven is largely kept out of the Gems' story throughout the Week of Sardonyx, and that’s never made more explicit than in his romp with Onion. Amethyst’s voice during dinner is drowned out by Steven’s fascination and revulsion with Beach City’s weirdest weirdo, and the episode revolves around Steven putting up with him for Amethyst’s sake. We don’t even see Pearl or Garnet, but we don’t have to: Onion Trade is all about Steven’s separation from the grown-up’s table.

Let’s start with his story before we get into the meat of the Week of Sardonyx implications. His main function, as per usual when he’s paired with Onion, is to serve as the straight man. In true sequel fashion, Onion’s absurd creepiness from Onion Trade gets ramped up: right off the bat he’s hiding in Steven’s cupboard to steal his food (as the latter narrates his own actions to nobody, because this is a silly episode from the start). Even if we learn he didn’t paint them, it’s honestly not even surprising to find portraits of Amethyst in his garage, because it’s hard to be surprised by anything he does.

After a relatively tame dinner scene—Onion is probably too old to be messing with his food, even if his age is hard to pin down, but this is still normal kid behavior to an extent—we reach the nightmare that is his room. We still get a nice blend of regular weird and creepy weird, aided by Zach Callison’s fantastic portrayal of bewilderment. He’s just so confused about Onion bounding on his bed instead of a trampoline, and even if this is hardly the strangest thing about this environment, I love that Steven’s still upset by it.

But like Charlie Brown with the football, Steven keeps up hope. He somehow sees no reason to be suspicious about Onion’s mouse or video tape, which makes their inevitable twists hilarious and super gross. So of course, when he finally decides enough is enough (featuring Callison’s best-ever use of the word “okay”), Onion decides to perform his first unambiguously kind action. Does he do it just to subvert Steven’s expectations? Or does he also consider sharing his snake and birth video “kind”? Even if he could talk beyond Callison mumbling, I doubt we’d ever know. But throwing a wrench into his actions by giving him a moment of true friendship is a great way to keep Onion unpredictable.  

While it lacks the narrative oomph of Garnet being revealed as a fusion in Jailbreak, this episode gives a similar sense of satisfaction as all the implications about Clan Onion are confirmed. At first, the only hint that he and Sour Cream are related is the pun we get when combining their names, but more clues start piling up as we start to get a sense of their family. We know the unnamed fisherman who speaks gibberish is Onion’s dad from Onion Trade. We learn in Joy Ride that Sour Cream’s stepdad is a fisherman who speaks gibberish. We meet Vidalia (a type of onion) with Marty (who looks an awful lot like Sour Cream) suspiciously leaving Greg’s van in Story for Steven’s flashback. With this knowledge, we can shape an image of a family featuring Vidalia and the fisherman as parents and Sour Cream and Onion as half-siblings, but it’s never stated outright until Onion Friend. It’s not really a twist, as all the information (save the fisherman’s name, which we learn here is Yellowtail) was already there, but it still allows for that gleeful “I knew it!” moment.

Vidalia is the fifth mother we’ve met on Steven Universe, but only the second we’ve seen interact with her child-aged child (Nanefua’s kid is a grown man, Rose is only accessible by videotape, and Barb was on the job). Vidalia is the polar opposite of Dr. Maheswaran: a chill artist with free range kids and a shotgun in the house. We don’t even know her last name, just as we don’t know Dr. Maheswaran’s first name (although Ian Jones-Quartey says it’s Priyanka). They both love their kids, but where one expresses it through strict control, the other does so with wild freedom.

While neither style is strictly superior—compare and contrast Onion and Connie on your own time—I’m thrilled that the show’s desire to portray different types of mothers extends beyond the Crystal Gems. “Moms are people too” is a refreshing stance to take in a medium where mothers are often the portrayed as the most grounded (read: boring) member of the family.

One thing I find fascinating is that both of these mothers are voiced by women who have worked extensively behind the scenes in animation beyond voice acting. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (who also played Major Motoko in Ghost in the Shell) is a veteran anime voice director, starting with a bang with the legendary English dub of Cowboy Bebop. And Jackie Buscarino (who also played Pacifica Northwest in Gravity Falls) worked her way from production assistant on shows like Spongebob Squarepants and Dexter’s Laboratory to full producer on shows like…well, like Steven Universe.

There’s nothing wrong with actors who are just actors, but even if it’s just a coincidence, I love that some part of the casting crew went for known industry multitaskers to play family matriarchs. Because yeah, no disrespect to Yellowtail and Doug, but Vidalia and Dr. Maheswaran are obviously running their respective houses.

(If Buscarino wasn’t so great at portraying Vidalia, I would’ve killed to have Wendy Hoopes in the role, because I’m pretty sure Vidalia is who Jane Lane grows up to be.)

As important as it is to see Vidalia as a mom, this episode is also about seeing parents as people outside of that context, which is why Onion and Steven are shooed out for Amethyst and Vidalia to talk. There’s a risk in making an episode about Amethyst talking about her troubles that features only a moment of eavesdropping, but this is another benefit of the Week of Sardonyx’s structure. We know why Amethyst is upset. We hear just enough to know how she’s dealing with it, and how valuable Vidalia’s friendship is. And we know how freaked out Steven is by Onion, making his quiet decision to return to his room surprisingly touching. Surprising not because it’s in any way out of character for him, but because this is otherwise a really goofy episode.

Subtlety is also used to shed a new light on Amethyst’s backstory. She’s always been the Gem most interested in humans (outside of Rose), attracted to human things like food and stuff and pop culture. She uses human slang and wrestles with humans and has that sisterly bond with Steven that makes the two feel like close peers instead of a parent and child. While we know she was fascinated with Greg and hung out with him alone, it’s awesome to see more of how he indirectly affected her forays into the human world.

There’s no indication from the two seconds we get of Vidalia in Story for Steven that she and Amethyst would be best buds, but they’re both punky and rebellious and we see so much of how they would’ve gotten along in their photo montage. Vidalia styles Amethyst’s hair to look like Rose’s. Amethyst morphs into Marty so they can make fun of him. It’s kind of amazing how quickly we’re able to accept that these two utterly nonintersecting characters have a history that informs Amethyst’s behavior to this day.

We sadly don’t see much of these two hanging out after this, but we don’t see Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire wrestling between Tiger Millionaire and Tiger Philanthropist either, and are led to believe they’ve been regularly fighting the entire time. In that sense, I’ll just assume these two are getting into all sorts of trouble when Steven’s not around. Slippers included.

Future Vision!

This is our first look at Sour Cream’s weird backstory with the Crystal Gems, as Amethyst remembers hanging out with him as a baby. We’ll see more in Greg the Babysitter, but Sour Cream has a unexpectedly major role in Steven’s existence and it’s cool to see that referenced so early.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Despite the angst behind the scenes, Onion Friend is at its core a comedy showcase. It’s a little too forgettable compared to more well-rounded outings, and not quite funny enough to sit with the bigger comedies, but I’m still a big fan. 

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

Chille Tid

Keeping It Together

On the Run

Warp Tour

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

The Test

Future Vision

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

No Thanks!

     4. Horror Club      3. Fusion Cuisine      2. House Guest      1. Island Adventure

[ahopkins1965]

Toggle navigation

Search

Browse

The Bible Toggle Dropdown

Search The Bible

Find it!

Who Wrote Revelation?

Bible / Bible Study / Topical Studies / Who Wrote Revelation?

Clarence L. Haynes Jr. | Contributing Writer

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Share Tweet Save

Revelation is the final chapter. It’s the book that closes out the Bible, the one book in the Bible that many people are afraid to read. I guess the many symbols and images can be overwhelming and somewhat scary. Ultimately when you understand the true meaning of the book – when you know whose side you are on – that fear will turn to joy and expectation.

The goal today is not to give you a deep dive into the entire book, even though I will give you a brief synopsis. Today we want to look a little bit closer and learn more about the person who wrote Revelation. You will find the identity of the writer in Revelation 1:4. That person was John.

Who Was John?

In the New Testament, you just can’t say John wrote the book because there were a few important people named John in that time. The author of Revelation is the apostle John, or as he called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. John is the author of five books in the New Testament:

- The Gospel of John (this is where he identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved)

- 1 John

- 2 John

- 3 John

- Revelation

John was one of the twelve disciples, but he was also part of the “inner circle” along with Peter and James. They had the privilege of experiencing things with Jesus that the other disciples didn’t. One of the greatest of these happened when they were with Jesus on the mountain and saw his transfiguration. You can read about it in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9.

Interesting enough, even though John was an eyewitness to this event he chose not to write about it in his own gospel. Some scholars suggest that the influence of this event is not captured in one instance in John’s gospel account. They say it is a recurring theme that flows throughout his entire book. Nevertheless, this “inner circle” apostle is the same John who wrote Revelation.

Where Did John Write Revelation?

The book of Revelation was written around AD 95. Prior to him writing the book, there was a time of tremendous persecution in the church. At this time, the ruling Roman emperor was Domitian. John was persecuted because he was fulfilling his mission, preaching the gospel and making disciples. As part of his persecution, he was exiled to the island of Patmos. He refers to this in the first chapter of Revelation:

“I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).

Patmos was a small penal colony to which John was banished. I guess this was the emperor’s method of trying to shut him down and silence him. What’s interesting to note is that in this place of exile and banishment, God gave him this great revelation. It is just a reminder that your circumstances don’t limit God from using you or revealing truth to you. God is greater than your circumstances.

How Did John See the Things Written in Revelation?

Early in chapter 1 of the book we discover the way John wrote the book. Surprisingly, it came by revelation (I guess naming the book wasn’t very difficult). Here is how it happened in John’s words:

“On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: ‘Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea” (Revelation 1:10-11).

John was caught up in the Spirit and he was instructed to write all the things he saw. He was creating a written record of the things God was about to reveal to him. I often wonder with many of the things he saw, how much his mind must have been blown. Unbeknownst to him, he was writing about things that would happen thousands of years into the future. What an incredible challenge.

Imagine if you lived in the 1930’s and you had to describe at that time the internet, smartphones or even drones. What language would you use to describe that? What point of reference or imagery would you use to describe this flying spider looking thing. This was part of John’s challenge, describing things thousands of years into the future with language and references of the first century AD. Yet he succeeded because he was guided by The Holy Spirit, who I guess you could say is technically the one who wrote Revelation.

How Can We Trust That John's Visions Are Reliable?

What’s very interesting about this book is that John has an encounter with Jesus again in the first chapter. Remember John had a very unique perspective of Jesus. He saw him in his natural form as a human; he also saw him transfigured and in all his glory. Let’s look at this encounter:

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. ‘Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (Revelation 1:12-19).

I believe that when John saw this vision of Jesus, his mind went back to that mountaintop experience. I believe the combination of being caught up in the spirit and this encounter with Jesus gave John the confidence to write, and more importantly gives us the confidence to believe what he wrote.

What Is the Message of Revelation?

The message of Revelation is a simple one with a lot of challenging symbolism. The message is about what is to come. John is writing in two spaces: what was happening then and what would happen in the future. The book gives a picture of what will happen as we close the doors on human history as we know it and we look forward with anticipation to Jesus’ second coming.

John describes in detail a period of tribulation that will come upon the earth, that will be unmatched when compared to any other time in human history. He gives us insight into the events that will take place leading up to the very moment when Jesus again returns as he promised he would do. What John also describes is what happens after that, and then ultimately the judgement of Satan and all who choose not to follow Christ.

Finally, he ends with the beauty of heaven and the wonderful things God has in store for those who love him. If there is one message that Revelation emphasizes I believe it’s found in chapter 22:

“The angel said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.’ ‘Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll” (Revelation 22:6-7).

Jesus is coming soon. In light of this truth, the question that remains, that only you can answer, is how will you live your life?

Knowing who wrote Revelation, the apostle John, knowing the message of Revelation that Jesus is coming soon, ask yourself now: What’s next? I mentioned earlier that the book of Revelation can be scary, depending on whose side you are on. If you are on Jesus’ side, here is good news – you win. This is a story that truly ends well for those in Christ. You have nothing to fear. God has nothing but the best planned for those who love him. When he comes that will be a glorious day. I pray that we would all labor for the cause of Christ until he comes. It will be worth it all in the end.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Design Pics 

Clarence L. Haynes Jr. is a rising speaker, teacher, author and co-founder of The Bible Study Club. He has spent more than 30 years serving the body of Christ in various capacities and has just released his first book, The Pursuit of Purpose. If you have ever struggled trying to find God’s will, this book will help you discover the different ways God leads you into his perfect will. To learn more about his ministry please visit clarencehaynes.com.

Promoted Stories

Ads by Revcontent

Drink This, See Your Belly Fat Melt Insanely Throughout The Day

Usa Healthy News

30 Second "Miracle Stretch" Leaves Chiropractors Baffled! (Watch)

WeeklyPenny

Signs of Lung Cancer (May Leave You Surprised)

Cancer | Sponsored Links

Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Body Fat Melt Like Crazy

Healthier Living Club

How Dogs Cry for Help: 3 Warning Signs Your Dogs is Crying for Help

Dr. Marty

Early Signs of Bipolar Disorder May Surprise You

Bipolar | Sponsored Links

Lung Cancer Signs & Symptoms

Lung Cancer | Sponsored Links

Play 1 Minute And See Why Everyone Is Obsessed With This App In 2020

PlayPlayGo

Around The Web

Ads by Revcontent

Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Body Fat Melt Like Crazy

Healthier Living Club

30 Second "Miracle Stretch" Leaves Chiropractors Baffled! (Watch)

WeeklyPenny

12x Better Than Solar Panels? Prepper's Invention Takes Country by Storm!

Easy Power Plan

Your Daily Verse - 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Inspirations

Drink This, See Your Belly Fat Melt Insanely Throughout The Day

Usa Healthy News

Load More

You may also like

A Little Reminder From God - Girlfriends in God - May 3, 2019

Zephaniah 3:17

Pray Like Everything Depends on God - Encouragement for Today - October 31, 2014

Ads by Revcontent

Ohio: Best 5 Options If You're Drowning In Debt

Comparisons.org

Featured Verse Topics

Healing Bible Verses

Worry and Anxiety Bible Verses

Prayer Bible Verses

Bible Verses for Overcoming Grief

Comforting Bible Verses

Bible Verses About Protection

God's Promises - Verses in the Bible

Bible Verses For Faith in Hard Times

Encouraging Bible Verses

Hope Bible Verses

Friendship Bible Verses

Forgiveness Bible Verses

Strength Bible Verses

Love Bible Verses

Inspirational Bible Verses

About Online Bible Sitemap Link to Us Advertise with Us Feedback

Proud member of Salem Media Group.

Copyright © 2020, Bible Study Tools. All rights reserved. Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated.

Do Not Sell My Info (CA only)