#andy gets to choose which side

[czhybrid]

Crab

[mysticheathenn]

What Don't You See Coming?

Hi, Hexlings!

This pick-a-card reading is all about what kind of abundance (more friends, money, better love, etc) or warnings you don't see coming.

This is a general reading, remember to take what resonates and leave what does not. This reading does not supplement your need to seek professional help.

Take your time when choosing your pile. Ask yourself the question and choose the picture that you can’t stop looking at. Listen to your intuition.

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Pile l:

Tarot: 10 of Cups, 7 of Cups, 9 of Cups, The Awakening, The High Priestess.

Okay coming in hot pile l which is also the song that played as I gazed at your cards by Andy Mineo. Pile one what you don't see coming is emotional fulfillment and a spiritual awakening. This awakening is you seeing the many possibilities in your life and how abundant your life truly is. You may have been going through a hard time for a while now and wonder when will things get better and soon, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. For some of you, this could be a spiritual awakening. You are becoming more aware of your most authentic self. Maybe you have been trying to figure out who you are, and what aesthetic you fall under if you are into that (goth, emo, soft girl, that girl, cottagecore, etc etc. For others you you may have been working on a project that you have been feeling a lot of doubts about or maybe haven't seen any feedback on what you have been working on this could be gaining clients, getting more YouTube followers, etc soon your time to shine is coming. I can't say when but keep pushing you are almost there. I know you want to give up and you are tired but keep on pushing you are almost there at the finish line. I see you are very close..how close imagine running a marathon and you see the finish line and the many people crowded around it. That my friend is how close you are to the finish line. Don't lose hope. Lastly, those who have been doubting your intuition stop. Nothing is wrong with your intuition. Now is more than the right time to lean more into it and let it guide you on your current path, I'm hearing you may feel stuck and this is the reason why. You aren't letting your intuition guide you. Your intuition is another way your guides speak to you. Listen to it and stop being hard-headed.

Pile ll:

Tarot: The Chariot, 3 of Cups, Ace of Pentacles, Queen of Swords, The Priestess.

Travel. Friendship, Financial Growth. This pile I believe some of you may be tarot readers just starting out with your own tarot blog, YouTube channel, etc, and wondering if this is the path for you. Keep going you are on the right path just have patience with yourself and you will see growth in no time. Slow and steady always wins the race love, you will get to where you want to be in making this a part of your career or even a side gig if that's what you want to make of this. IF not tarot this is more so of my creatives who are trying to put themselves out there on the internet. Now for the rest of you what you don't see coming is if not travel more directions but I am seeing travel and maybe even moving houses if you want to relocate. But overall you are moving in some shape or form whether physically or figuratively, you are moving. Just as a few people from pile one you may feel lost and need guidance in what you should be doing in this period of your life. Maybe you just hit a new milestone (30 yrs old, 25 yrs old, or even 21 yrs old, etc) and you are wondering what is it that you want out of this next decade that will make you into a better person. Listen to what guidance is downloaded to you and follow it no matter how strange or out of your routine it maybe now is not the time to question your reality. Also for a few of you who have fallen off from your spiritual practice, your guides are calling you to start back and tap into them so they can give you more guidance. You are letting your current stress and struggles lead you and it's not down the path you should be going on. Overall pile ll, you are heading into financial abundance and movement. Some of you are also meeting your soul tribe, but it's only a very select few of you as that message took the back seat to everything.

Pile lll:

Tarot: 7 of Swords, The Hanged Man, 2 of Swords, 3 of Cups (reversed), and Queen of Cups (reversed)

Stillness and Decisions. Overall, Stillness is what you don't see coming pile lll. This may not be what you want to hear but during this time you are being called to make some decisions in your life. Some of you are dealing with people specifically friends or family members who are not good for your well being and you are making a difficult decision on whether you should cut them off. Some of you are waiting to see if 2+2 is equaling four (meaning you are waiting to see if your intuition is right) while others of you are just not wanting to pull the plug because you won't have anyone to call a friend or family but who needs to have friends or family like the ones you may possibly be dealing with. For others of you, this stillness is all about catering to your feminine energy and healing. Make better decisions based on what you want to nurture and bring into your life. Some of you may operate in your masculine energy and are having a hard time trying to balance your feminine energy because your environment around you keeps forcing you to be the leader, coach, alpha, etc when all you want to do is lay back and let someone else take the reigns for a bit and if not that at least relax. Take a spa trip, and not have to worry about the building burning down at work or in other peoples life for just a small moment. You may be the person that everyone goes to for advice and you are starting to feel the emotional toll it is taking on you because not many people are replenishing you or even checking in to make sure you are okay. It's time to cut the cord whether temporarily until you make sure you are okay or permanently. The saying, not my circus, not my monkey popped into my head. Meaning it's not your business or your drama to carry, release it.

Pile lV:

Tarot: 5 of Swords, The Magician, 9 of Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles, 8 of Pentacles, 4 of Cups

I want you to start saying affirmations in the morning pile lv. Start with I am a powerful manifestor. Everything I manifest or pray for I receive. I have everything I need and more. I never lack in any part of my life. I want you to keep saying them until they feel true and you are embodying this energy because that is exactly what you don't see coming or who you are as a person. Some of you may believe in the Law of Assumption, Lucky Girl Syndrom, the Law of Attraction, The Void, etc, either way, I want you to keep persisting and know that what you want wants you. Everything that you desire is chasing you down to give you the life that you want and deserve but you are too focused on the 3D for validation. You are too focused on what I want isn't here, I don't have this yet, I don't have that yet and you need to stop....take a deep breath and hit restart. You are never lacking pile lV and I say this from a perspective of gratitude. Practicing that writing down everything that you are grateful for that you already have will bring in more of what you want. For others of you, You may work in a field or job that is competitive and feel that you are being overlooked and everyone is getting raises and promotions but you, your time to shine is coming just hang in there but back to those who practice spirituality, etc. Financial abundance, luxury, and even recognition I am hearing for some of you is on the way but you have to have faith, and keep pushing through the doubt, keep persisting through the 3D of not seeing what you don't already have because in another reality you already have what you are attracting (not chasing, attracting). You wouldn't have these desires if they weren't meant for you to achieve this lifetime pile lV. You've got this. You are powerful. You can have any and everything you want. Practice your gratitude and affirmations. A few blogs I recommend are @jordynbreeloa777 , @alilarew23 , and @serial777killers

Thank you for liking and reblogging my readings. I always appreciate you guys on here and on Patreon.

Stay Safe and Be Blessed

[youthereader]

Andy bends you over his desk.

pairing: andy barber (defending jacob) x assistant fem!reader

summary: 1.9k words. andy reprimands you for wearing an inappropriate skirt at work.

rating: e; smut, barebacking, semi-public sex, some praise kink, boss-employee relationship, spanking

a/n: not the usual here but this idea got the best of me.

You consider your working relationship with Andy to be a friendly one. You talk about the weather, some sports, a restaurant opening in town. It’s light and fun and it’s probably the best job you’ve ever had, being his assistant.

Because of this, you care a lot about him on a deeper level, too, and it probably crosses into unprofessionalism, but it doesn’t hurt anyone since nobody knows you’re harboring a huge crush on him. And it makes sense! He’s so handsome, and so smart without being condescending, something you’re not used to. Your Hinge dates are downright depressing at times because you keep comparing everyone of them to your boss. You think to yourself, why can’t they be more like Andy?

It's only natural to daydream about him taking you out instead of those disappointing guys, and it’s harmless fun. There was the one time he caught you looking at him when you sat by his side in a meeting, your pen poised to take notes, and he winked at you. It made you feel all warm and giggly, your cheeks flushing as you pressed your lips together to smother your mirth.

You start buying new clothes, justifying them as work purchases, knowing you’re picking things you hope Andy will appreciate. The most daring is a short leather skirt with a slit that comes up mid-thigh, and you specifically choose to wear it on a day you know Andy plans to dedicate to being in the office, his paperwork having got away from him. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to grab his attention, and then you’ll open your app at the end of the day to find someone more realistic, more tangible, and then ride the high of confidence into the weekend. It’s a win-win situation.

You rise from your desk as he walks in, greeting him with coffee, and his eyes drop immediately to your legs when he picks up his Styrofoam cup. He blinks twice, his response delayed.

“Good morning.”

He glances at his watch, muttering a curse word before he departs. It’s not what you hoped for, but it’s not nothing, either. You get back to your computer and answer the phone. Andy doesn’t leave for a couple hours and when he reappears, he’s on his cell phone, distracted, barely looking at you.

Maybe he’s not a leg guy? Maybe he just doesn’t think you’re cute?

You try not to feel let down by this, plodding along, until he comes back a bit before noon, your eyes meeting as he passes through.

“Any messages?”

“Yes,” you reply, retrieving your notepad. “I told them you’d call them back. Also, your dentist keeps playing phone tag-”

He lets out a huff of a laugh, shaking his head. “Uh, yeah. Please call Dr. Fisher back and apologize to her. I’m sure she’ll have a lot to say when I finally see her.”

“Plaque not top of your priorities?” you tease, sinking back into your chair, swivelling in it to face your monitor once more.

You catch his eyes following your movements, and you’re suddenly far more aware of your skin. You pick up the phone receiver.

“Just call her back, please,” he says, not matching your tone.

He sounds almost impatient with you, which has never happened before. You nod, going quiet. You do as you’re told, and the receptionist sighs on the other end of the line, rescheduling for you yet again.

“There’s a cancellation fee.”

“Yes, he is aware,” you reply. “And he sends his apologies.”

“Tell him it’s not good enough.”

You won’t do any such thing; he’d fire you for sticking your nose in his business like that. Frankly, it’s not up to anyone to pass judgement on Andy, knowing what he’d been through in the past few years. If his working life took over everything for him to cope with all the rest, that makes a lot of sense to you.

“Uh-huh.”

When you hang up, you sigh, glancing at the calendar. He doesn’t have many spaces for anything other than meetings. You hope he has some time for himself, even if it’s just a couple hours a day. You remind yourself it’s outside of your control, and more importantly, not relevant to you.

The phone rings and you glance at the digital display, seeing it’s Andy. You pick up.

“Yes?”

“I need to speak to you before you go to lunch.”

“Sure,” you reply, and you hang up, stomach suddenly full of knots.

With how he snapped at you earlier, you mind goes straight to the worst possible outcome – dismissal. It seems a little extreme, but he’s never been so… mean to you. But maybe you’re being paranoid, or maybe… maybe you’re being sensitive, and he didn’t snap at all. Still, he wasn’t warm as he usually was when he saw you. You thought he liked having you as his assistant.

You walk over to his door, wiping your sweaty hands on your skirt before opening it and slipping inside. Your head turned to shut it, you hear him say:

“Please lock that.”

You oblige, and then glance over to his desk, seeing him resting on the edge of it, arms crossed. His jaw tenses, his eyes falling to your skirt.

“What did you need, sir?” you ask, placing your hands behind your back.

“We’ve got an issue,” he says.

You swallow. “Oh? What’s happened?”

Sometimes a client is pricklier than others. Or something high profile comes through the firm and you have to be aware of press sniffing around. You don’t expect what comes out of Andy’s mouth next.

“It’s your skirt.”

“Oh, God,” you say, and you flush. “Yeah… it’s a little much. I’m sorry—”

He puts up a hand, but you keep going.

“I can go home and change, now, on my break. I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head. “No, that won’t do.”

Your heart sinks. He’s going to fire you over your outfit? That has to be discrimination. You gape.

“Andy…”

He pushes off his desk and you freeze. Andy strides right up to you and takes hold of your chin between his thumb and forefinger, eyes boring into yours.

“You think you can wear something like that and there not be any consequences? I can practically see up your skirt.”

You can’t speak. Your heart hammers, her whole face and neck burning with shame.

He moves forward, hips on yours and you stumble backwards, his other hand grabbing your hip to steady you. Underneath the fear and humiliation, you know he’s getting you wet by touching you like this, as if he’s entitled to do so.

His thigh fits between your knees and he searches your face, eyes narrowing.

“Well? What have you got to say for yourself? You got my attention. Is that what you wanted?”

“I…” You gape some more, useless. “I-I did want that. I wanted you to look at me. But it’s not appropriate, I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s really not.”

He kisses you, hard, open-mouthed and hungry. You gasp, his tongue pressing into your mouth to tangle with yours. Your hands grip his shirt sleeves and you close your eyes, kissing him back, riding the wave. He still holds your face, but by your jaw, his lips moving down to kiss your neck, his short beard grazing your skin.

“Andy…”

You moan his name and he chuckles, pressing his hard-on against your thigh. He’s huge. You’d bet your life on that. His hands rove your body, squeezing your tits, your hips, your ass… you whimper as he sucks at your skin, grinding against you.

“Come here.”

You obey, tugged along to the desk. He pushes you in front of him, bending you at the waist.

“Jesus Christ,” he whispers, and you look over your shoulder at him, watching as he stares at your ass in the leather skirt.

He pushes it up, hand coming down with a sharp slap to your right ass cheek. Of course, you couldn’t just wear any underwear with this skirt – your thong is all that covers you there, and he grabs it, tugging it tight.

“Fuck…”

“Andy,” you say, and he looks at you, chest giving a heave.

“Can’t wander around in that tiny black skirt and then act surprised when I want to fuck you-”

You bite your lip, canting your hips at his words, your ass lifting. He spanks you again, and you hope no-one hears that, the two slaps, or your bitten off moans.

He glances down. “Spread your legs. Fuck… you’re so wet.”

He undoes his belt, then his fly, taking out his cock. He tugs on himself as you anticipate the stretch of him. You nod, and he chuckles, shaking his head.

“You’re so cute when you’re needy.”

He takes hold of you by the neck, angling you for a filthy kiss, his other hand petting your behind, before slipping down between your cheeks to glide through your wetness. You moan into his mouth, his fingers spreading your arousal around, teasing your clit for a steady minute, and you’re whimpering for him.

“Did you wear this just for me?” he whispers, and you nod. He rocks his cock up against you. “Does that mean this is all mine now?”

He means your cunt. He plays with your clit, dips his fingers into you, riling you up. These are the consequences he was talking about.

“Yeah,” you breathe. “It’s all yours.”

He fills you and you both gasp. He holds your shoulder, letting you fall forward onto his desk, rocking back and forth in shallow thrusts. The stretch makes you tremble, slick with want. Your nails scratch at the heavy wood when he picks up speed, hips hitting your ass, your thong stretched to the side.

You don’t know how much you can take, your feet lifting out of your shoes so you stand on tiptoes as he drives into you. All you can feel is how he stretches you to perfection, your mouth drooling from pleasure.

“Oh, fuck…”

Your thong snaps as his hands take hold of your hips, and he utterly wrecks you, skin slapping together as the world slips away. How are you meant to walk after this? Hang on – how are you meant to look Andy in the eye after this?

“Andy, Andy, Andy…”

You’re so close, you just need that little something, and you tense up, trying to muffle your moans in your arms… then you feel him find your clit again and rub, and you think you might burst into tears.

Your orgasm slams into you and your vision whitens, clenching around him as he fucks you through it.

“Good girl, that’s what I wanted,” he pants. “That’s what I wanted to feel.”

You feel something wet down your thighs and you realize you’ve squirted a little at the same time Andy does, and he huffs, close to the edge.

“Jesus, where have you been hiding?”

“Nowhere, I was at my desk,” you slur, and he laughs, breathless.

“You’re like a dream,” he praises, and then goes still, emptying into you. “So… fucking… cute.”

He sighs, hands coming up to pull you back, your next kisses more tender but still messy, the room reeking of sex now. You think of the carpets, the possible stains.

He keeps kissing you, stroking your cheek with his sweaty hand.

“After we clean up, do you wanna get some lunch together?” he whispers, and you nod, smiling lazily.

“I think we’re way past that, sir.”

His eyes sparkle with an unexpected fondness, before he kisses you again.

Thank you for reading! Let me know if you liked it. ❤️

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#18: The Broken Bliss (1.03)

gif cred: @riickgrimes

“Bye” ended up being a fitting title for episode 3, both to complete the “Years Gone Bye” thing in homage to the TWD pilot "Days Gone Bye" and also because there were several shocking goodbyes in this episode. Including in this teaser where Rick is forced to kiss his hopes of escaping with Michonne goodbye 😢...

I really enjoy the ride of ep 3 and can now find the humor in things from this episode, but y’all, I wasn't as lighthearted when I first watched. I was so sad for both Michonne and Rick as they had to navigate both the elation and the complications that had come with finding each other again.

Like seeing the way crippling fear was fogging Rick’s perspective and the way Michonne was starting to feel like she’s gonna have to figure out how to bring her family back together all by herself. It was a lot. 🥺 But it was all very interesting. Also, even in an episode where Rick and Michonne spend a large chunk of it in a marital fight, I love that their love for each other is still extremely blatant. 

So first, in the episode one recap that played before episode 2 they start with Okafor talking about how As are sent away and killed and I know they included that because the Civic Republic has now just brought in the most A person that could ever A - Dana Bethune aka Michonne Grimes.

Then, the episode opens with a flashback from years ago as we see a line of consignees' shoes and then we know it’s Rick when we see his signature boots that are hanging on by a thread. That man is loyal to the core, even to his boots. 😋

gif cred: @perryabbott

The CRM says, “This is gonna be your home someday soon” but you know Rick knows this place will never be home.

He walks and takes in the place, turning around to observe some windmills and buildings. This shows how he's an A unlike the other consignees because he's assessing this place rather than just going along with things.

As he turns and walks alone past different booths, I remember just thinking how he would so much rather be walking hand in hand with Michonne and Judith right now. Or, if this wasn’t a place you can’t leave, he’d want to be enjoying this little farmers market cuteness with them. 

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

As he walks he hears Jadis ask for a napkin and he turns to her and it’s clear of all the familiar faces he could have been stuck with in the CRM Jadis is not one he’d ever choose.

She’s all smirking as she greets him and is just casually talking about the fries and I was so annoyed to see Jadis acting like she didn’t full-on pluck Rick away from his wife and daughter seemingly for good. Also, Jadis wasting those fries is added to the long list of why she's trifling. 😑 

Rick hesitantly walks with Jadis and she starts to explain how her Heapsters group from s7 would give lost souls who needed saving to the CRM and also they’d give people who are threats to the CRM in exchange for supplies. Jadis says she waited for Rick’s orientation so they could talk which I’m sure he prefers she didn’t lol.

She shares that the CRM keeps asking her what they should ask Rick and she hopes Rick will say he’s looking for someone to follow…but uh he already found someone with a sword to follow years ago at the prison. 😌

Jadis tries to be chummy with Rick saying he can talk to her because the CRM can’t surveil them here and Rick gets straight to addressing the audacity of the matter when he reminds Jadis, “You brought me somewhere I can’t leave.”

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

The way Rick says that first line, you know he feels this is the worst punishment keeping him away from his family. He does not view this as being saved but being trapped. 

(Side note: whatever that rebar recovery process was like for Rick leading up to this point treated him very kindly because they had him looking especially fine in this scene, just saying.😊 Also, for the longest time Season 8 Rick held the title of Rick's finest era to me, but Rick's TOWL era holds the title now without question 👌🏽)

Jadis says she could have chosen to let him die on the riverbed or told the CRM he was a threat. She notes how the CRM doesn’t take chances but she did because she owed him. At least she knows that much. 😒

Rick asks why she’s not also working consignment and idk why Jadis is all smirky but she is and Rick knows she doesn’t have to work consignment because she trafficked him. And they wonder why she’ll never be redeemable in my eyes. Like she basically sold Rick to this place as almost a currency to upgrade her life. Trash in all the ways. 😤🗑

gif cred: @clonecaptains

So Rick has one of those quick pissed smiles and walks away from Jadis but she follows after him to tell him that she’s enlisting in this place and she’s gonna sign up and move up the ranks because she believes in the CRM and its 500-year plan “to recreate the world as it was, better than it was.”

And while the way CRM folk buy into the 500-year plan definitely was giving cult vibes I can at the very least empathize with how they all might feel excited about the idea of the world potentially regaining normalcy after years of an apocalypse. However, their means of regaining normalcy through mass killings is atrocious.

Rick looks like he’s barely listening as Jadis tries to sell why this place is so great and why it’s the future. She says joining this place’s mission to change the world seems like a perfectly fine way to spend a life. But like girl, that may be the case if you didn't have a family and were community-less…but Rick has a whole wife and kid(s) at home and there’s no other way he’d rather spend his life than with them.

Jadis says, “The people that we left behind - their children’s children will have a world.” Can we start first with Rick even meeting his child RJ before people start recruiting him to a life of servitude for the children’s children?? And “people we left behind” is annoyingly phrased as if among those people isn’t Rick’s wife and daughter and as if he willingly left them behind. 😑

gif cred: @perryabbott

I love that Rick gets fed up and stops to look right at her with his steely eyes as he tells her point blank “I’m going home.” Now that was some signature Rick Grimes and I love it. 👏🏽

It makes me happy to see how absolutely determined he was to make it back home and also sad knowing that it would be so much harder than he could have ever expected at this moment.

But also I’m glad that he wanted to make this so clear to Jadis who really seemed to think Rick would just be cool with building some all-new life here. She tried it to capacity but I’d expect nothing less from her. 😪

Jadis knows Rick is serious and that she should back off when she just tells him, “Follow your bliss, Rick. But I did save your life. That is what happened” She really stays ticking me off with each thing she says and does and we haven’t even cut to the present yet where she pisses me off on another level. 🙃

Rick looks at her pissed too as he walks away from her because yes she kept him from dying that day of the bridge explosion but her actions ultimately led to Rick having to endure a far more painful death - the death where you’re still alive but a shell of who you once were, filled only with the ache from being torn from your loved ones. 

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

As Rick walks away, Jadis has to put the cherry on top of the tried-it sundae and tell Rick, “You’re welcome.” 🙄

There is a moment when Rick hears this and sorta tilts his head like he’s gonna turn around and say something back. And knowing how willingly petty Rick can be toward Jadis I’m sure he had something real slick and insulting to say. But he smartly decides not to cause a scene as he keeps walking forward.

They also have Rick stop for a moment as he seems to see something ahead and I’d like to think it’s the portraiture booth. After that frustrating encounter with Jadis, I know he could use a palette cleanser so I bet he went straight to that artist Benjiro for his first much-needed images of Michonne and Judith. 👌🏽

Then we cut to hours ago in the present as Rick knocks on Pearl’s door. (See how he actually knocks rather than barging in like some others 🙂) Pearl opens the door and she's been understandably crying over the death of their longtime leader Okafor and Rick is completely unconcerned about that at this moment lol.

While Pearl’s broken up and worried about if Rick’s okay after surviving a traumatic helicopter crash and attack, Rick is like...

Truly Rick's energy is like 'that crash stuff is all old news and there's something far more important on the agenda.'

He immediately and urgently gets into the Dana conversation telling Pearl, “Just listen to me. There’s a woman who saved me.” And I of course love the wording of that because it’s true in every way that Michonne saved and saves him. Also, if I were Pearl I’d be like so now when someone saves you you give them credit for it? 🙃

gif cred: @coolpartytimefan

Rick doesn’t look at Pearl as he speaks at first because I know he knows his face could give him away and reveal just how important this all is to him. He says this heroic mystery woman is in designation intake right now and then he does look right at Pearl to tell the truth that, “She’s an A.”

Then with too much passion in his eyes, Rick says, “And I don’t want them to send her away.” I was like now Rick, yes Michonne is supposed to be putting on an act in the CRM but you are too sir and for as long as Pearl has known you I don’t think she’s ever seen this much light and urgency behind your eyes about anything.

Like before this, Rick was the man who seemed like he didn’t give a damn about anything involving the CRM, and now all of a sudden he's fully activated over this new consignee. 🤭 This was one of the many moments where I was just looking at Rick like babe, change the plan cuz this 'undercover lovers' thing ain’t gonna work. 

Pearl says Rick doesn’t know for sure if this new girl is an A but he knows Michonne is an A more than he knows his own name lol. And I love how even despite years apart he still knows Michonne is an A++.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Rick maintains his urgency saying, “I’m making a call. But if I argue for her they’ll think I’m emotional, indebted.” Which again I know Rick is thinking 'And the CRM would be right in assessing that because I owe that woman everything.'

Then he passionately says, “You gotta make sure she stays.” And that was not an ask, that was an order Rick made because this is something he‘s gonna make sure happens at all costs.

Pearl looks at Rick and squints for a moment finally picking up on the fact that this man in front of her is a different and far more impassioned Grimes than she’s ever seen before as she asks, “Why?” validly wondering why it’s so important to Rick that this new lady stays in this city of thousands.

And the way Rick lays it on thick with the lie as he tries to say with conviction, “For Okafor. Because that’s what this has all been about.” He’s really trying to sell it. 🤭 And I feel bad because Rick thinks he can turn to Pearl as a fellow A but again I’m convinced Pearl is more of a B with a decent enough poker face to try and pretend she's an A, and so she’s not exactly cut from the same cloth as Rick and his wife.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Pearl says, “He’s dead” and again Rick tries to get into his persuasive acting bag as he passionately says, “No he’s not. Because we’re here.” I love seeing him willing to say and do anything to ensure Michonne is protected. Also, it hit me that Rick is using Okafor to help his case in getting Pearl to protect Michonne - the very woman who had a hand in Okafor dying. Rick really said bump Okafor and everyone else when it comes to my wife. 💯

Pearl asks, “Are you here, Rick?” And I was like baby, Rick has never been more here because this is the Rick Grimes I know and love, fighting like hell to protect his family. 👌🏽 But then she clarifies what she means by asking, “Are you a part of this?” Rick looks at her and says, “I understand now. I told him just before.” And he’s able to look her in the eye saying that because it is true that Rick told Okafor he was in just before his wife showed up.

And then Rick looks down when he says, “You were right” because that’s the lie part of it. Pearl asks who brings Michonne/Dana along and Rick says she should because the CRM and Okafor trust her more than him. Pearl is still unsure so Rick says, “Look it took me a long time. You helped me. I’m here. She should be too.”

While I absolutely loved seeing the passion here from Rick I unfortunately cannot give him an A letter grade for his performance as Man Who Is Not Madly In Love With The New Consignee lol. 😋

Like Rick had more energy in his behavior and urgency in his eyes than ever so he’s lucky Pearl didn’t pick up on it since she was still reeling from the Okafor loss and everything else going on. Otherwise, I just know she would've been closing her door like...

So while I thought he was being obvious, Rick did do a good enough job to convince Pearl to go along with his plan and stick her neck out for Michonne. So my baby Rick still gets at least a passing grade for his role as Man Who Is Not Madly In Love With The New Consignee. 😌👏🏽

Rick returns to his apartment and we pick up where we left off from the end of episode 2. Jadis knows Rick well enough to know the way he’s looking at her in this apartment means he's got murder on his mind as she says, “You’re thinking about killing me.”

And then she receives a signature Rick Grimes threat as he says with all the certainty in the world, “I will. But not today.” 👌🏽 And Jadis, girl...

I just know Rick feels like Jadis is overdue to be taken out for playing in his face for years. And if now she at all thinks she's going to mess with Michonne - that makes her death sentence signed sealed and delivered in Rick's book. 

Rick tells her, “It’s funny. I see it. I feel it. Throwing away everything you made happen for yourself. Because you needed to get in the middle of something you have nothing to do with.” I love him saying this. Jadis has tried to throw herself in the mix of Richonne for years and I love that Rick is like 'bowl-cut, you do not need to factor into this equation at all.' And if she doesn’t stay in her lane he’s going to end her and everything she’s worked towards 

Jadis self-centered behind begs to differ saying, “I have everything to do with it. Our fates are bound. You, Michonne, Me.” And y’all, I just happened to pause the scene for a sec and it was on Rick’s face and the way he is looking at Jadis…truly if looks could kill Jadis would be a goner in that very moment. 😬 As Okafor learned, an adversary having Michonne’s name in their mouth is going to get Rick heated like no other.

Jadis explains that if Rick and Michonne were the first two people to ever leave then the CRM would never stop looking for them ever and since Jadis would know where they were she’d be the one to have to destroy ASZ. And again as Rick listens to this he’s so viscerally pissed off and I 1000% get it.

Jadis says she’d have to kill everyone to make sure their arrangement was never discovered and again this woman always acts in self-interest. Rick scowls as he tells her the gospel truth, “This was your mess. This is you. This is you.”

This is all Jadis's doing so she really needed to stop acting like there’s anyone else to blame. Jadis is approaching this as if Rick went out of his way to complicate things by coming to the CRM as an A when she’s the one who roped him into her lies.

It’s hard because as Rick says this you can tell he’s thinking about how so much of his pain and problems trace back to trifling Jadis, like since season 7. 😪

Jadis is still so smug as she tells Rick, “In the event of my untimely demise, I just put a little file among my possessions telling them everything they need to know about you and all the people that you love. And I imagine that a CRM reclamation team would have everybody that you love dead within hours of that file's receipt”

Okay, first of all - Jadis, you beast. 😠 But it is fitting that Jadis has factored in a plan based on Rick taking her out because at least she knows how likely it is that he’ll kill her.

Second of all, this woman is just so cruel. Like she knows Rick has people he loves, not just community members or travel companions but like family family and she’s still so callous and cold when threatening him and them.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Three; similar to the scene in ep 1 between Okafor and Rick when Rick realizes he really can’t risk going home anymore, this moment with Jadis is another one of those gut punches as he again realizes that he can’t break free with Michonne like he initially really hoped.

Like I truly think before this moment he did think he and Michonne would find a way out together but now he’s right back to feeling convinced that the CRM can’t be beaten and that he’s stuck here forever, which is why we see his mission change from getting them both out of here to just getting Michonne out of here. All that psychological warfare came right back to keep Rick in chains in this scene. 😢

As Jadis talks you can see it - you can see the hope Rick had of escaping with Michonne drain out. Before he was looking at Jadis angry and upset but upon hearing that their escape will get Michonne and their family killed he starts that labored breathing we’ll see much of the next episode, which is a clear indicator of his fear and panic.

Jadis says, “Because you and her leaving with the knowledge of that city and this force? You know that can’t be had.” I can’t believe Jadis is making me miss the days when she spoke in short broken sentences. Like plz...

It’s so hard seeing Rick look so distraught while he paces and gets sincerely emotional as the realization hits him that he might’ve just trapped his wife here along with him.

The way he walks toward the door then stops, it feels like he wants to sprint out of there and get to Michonne ASAP to wrap her in bubble wrap and shield her from everyone. Plus he needs the calmness Michonne provides back as he’s starting to unravel.

Then my heart always melts hearing Rick say with so much sincerity and emotion, “She doesn’t belong here.”

Again, this further cements that this has now become strictly a save-Michonne mission to him because he’s not making a case for the both of them, just her.

And the way he says it is just so extremely caring and protective. Like he is truly talking about his baby and feels utterly awful that Michonne is here because of him. 🥺

gif cred: @riickgrimes

It’s also sad that he only says Michonne doesn’t belong here because the CRM has convinced Rick that he is owned by them. And it’s like he’s accepting that harsh reality but still mustering the strength to at least argue that Michonne should not be stuck with the CRM like him. 

And then y’all, the line that’ll be having me want to swing every time is when Jadis responds to Rick’s heartfelt declaration about his wife not belonging here by saying in her best Karen voice, “Then she shouldn’t have come here.”

Like how much more patronizing and heartless can she be toward both Rick and Michonne. That line is gonna get me heated every time. 😑

Jadis says, “But that was her choice.” And you know hearing that hits Rick hard because he knows that it was not Michonne's choice but his that she’d come to the Civic Republic. Like Rick is already a man who feels so responsible for things and so you know he just feels responsible on another level for bringing her here knowing Michonne trusted to follow his lead. 

Jadis then asks Rick, “So what’s your choice?” And the way Rick looks at her I can literally hear the thought in his head - my wife is my choice. And while it will cause some issues, we do see him choose his wife in his actions that follow.

gif cred: @clonecaptains

Also what is with this CRM and all their dang choices that aren’t choices. 🙄 Like they’re obsessed with referring to things as choices when they are choices people basically have to make at gunpoint.

Rick is quietly seething as Jadis asks, “Will you tell me that you will not try to leave again? If you try with her everyone back home dies.” I do like how at least Jadis knows Michonne being here means Rick definitely got some newfound hope of breaking out of this place after giving up on the idea for a year or so. She knows Michonne would give Rick a renewed sense of strength and motivation that could lead to the two actually successfully escaping. 

And then Rick just breaks my heart yet again as he so emotionally and earnestly asks,“Why? why?” And I have the same question. As well as wanting to ask Jadis...

I was watching this scene just thinking after everything Rick's done for this selfish woman, WHY can’t she just leave him alone? If anything, had they let Rick go home, I think at least for a while he really would have left the CRM alone.

But the CRM done messed up keeping Rick here so long that now his baddie A wife had to show up because Michonne is the one who would be of the mindset they have to teach the CRM a lesson and expose this 'last light of the world'.

Jadis answers that she’s doing all this because of the CRM’s value of “Security and secrecy above all.” And Rick reacts like 'oh brother, not this damn CRM motto again.' Or maybe that was a direct quote from my mind lol.

Jadis again as self-centered as ever says she will not jeopardize everything she’s made happen for herself. She says, “I won’t wait for them to find you and they will find you- and it’ll all blow back on me.” Again, Jadis...

Rick tries to reason with Jadis asking if there’s a deal to be made and if she can clean it up. Hearing that I was like - nawt us still having storylines of making deals with Jadis in 2024. 🙃 Like we needed to stop making deals with Jadis in 2017. The woman is a snake point-blank and so any deal with her is truly pointless.

Jadis says there’s no deal and then she notes that Michonne is “very very lucky” because the CRM suspects that she’s an A but still let her in because Pearl stepped up. Lol, I’m not at all surprised they got the sense that Dana was an A. I thought Michonne actually gave a decent B performance during the vetting process but still, she radiates A energy as other consignees will soon note.

Jadis asks if Rick was behind Pearl advocating for Michonne and when he’s silent Jadis is like “Wow. You pulled that off.” And then she again tries it to capacity when she tells Rick, “So have your life together here.” Wth, Jadis?? 😠 I know she knows good and well Rick and Michonne have a daughter at home so just how ridiculous can she be suggesting they should just leave Judith behind and build a life here. I’d say dpmo but...

Then Jadis has more CRM propaganda to spew as she says, “We’re the last light of the world.” But me personally, I give that description to the Grimes family. 👌🏽

Jadis then stands up and gets in Rick's personal space as she again asks, “What’s your choice?” Rick is teary-eyed as he knows his choice is made. If it comes down to having Michonne with him stuck here or getting her out safe and back to Judith - He’s choosing his wife and daughter every time.

As he looks down defeated Jadis says, “You know I don’t need to hear it.” And it’s interesting because this scene really does a good job of depicting the massive shift in Rick from when he entered the apartment to when Jadis leaves.

At the end of ep 2 when Jadis was in Rick’s face he was lethally staring her down but now when she’s in his face he hangs his head down, beaten down by her threats toward his family. 😢

Rick then says, “You didn’t threaten me or the people I love before when I told you I was gonna get away.” And I’ll say this, Pollyanna very much understood the assignment knowing how infuriating Jadis was meant to be because she again uses a tone that makes me irate as she just smugly tells Rick, “That’s cuz I knew you couldn’t.”

gif cred: @likeafantasy

Honestly, I see why Rick cherishes so much that Michonne believes in him because unfortunately, so many others underestimate him.

However, without his family by his side, Rick was in fact sadly made to feel like he couldn’t fend off the CRM’s oppression forever. 

gif cred: @likeafantasy

Rick asks, “What changed?” and Jadis turns around, sounding oddly enough like she’s a fellow Richonne stan, as she says, “You two together? You can do anything.”

gif cred: @likeafantasy

It’s at least fitting that Jadis knows Rick and Michonne were going to try to be the first two to escape this place and that if anyone could pull it off they could. From the moment she met Richonne in season 7 she saw firsthand that they could do anything together.

And while dialogue-wise I think there perhaps could have been a way to say Richonne can do anything without saying it as on-the-nose, I don’t mind hearing it because it’s an utterly true statement. And I do like hearing this belief in Richonne’s abilities together even if it had to come from the most trifling of mouths.

gif cred: @likeafantasy

I so badly wanted Rick to see that Jadis saying this is her basically admitting she’s scared of him and his wife together. But Rick is understandably scared that any of his next moves could get the woman he loves most harmed and so this moment with Jadis instead effectively deflates his hope of escaping with Michonne. Now Rick is determined simply to get Michonne out of here alive. 

Rick watches the door as Jadis exits and you can see in his face that there’s so much running through his mind. As much as he wants to believe that he and Michonne can do anything he’s also not willing to risk losing Michonne in the process of trying to escape together.

So by the end of this teaser - TOWL's lengthiest teaser, I believe - we know that this whole get-home thing just got a lot messier and a lot harder.

Going home is still the mission but thanks to the evil snake that is Jadis, the “together” part of “going home together” has now changed.

gif cred: @likeafantasy

I called this post The Broken Bliss because Rick felt more hopeful than ever that this would be the time he finally broke out since now his wife is here, but then Jadis shattered the bliss he was trying to follow. 😞 And now when Rick thinks about his wife being here it strictly overwhelms him with fear. 

So with this teaser, we saw a very pivotal development for Rick, and next it was time for us to check in on Michonne. And now, y'all know Michonne has always been a true source of peace for Rick...but that Ms. Dana Bethune on the other hand - she's about to have this man stressing. 😅👌🏽

[saltydogsmut]

You know, there could be an argument that Ashley a deeply closeted comp-het lesbian. Aro/ace if you prefer.

Because in spite of her obsession with Andrew, we never see her even think about or acknowledge other men. Even though she's upset when they don't find her particularly attractive, she doesn't seem to understand what sex drive is attached to. Only realising that Andrew would be a deterrent to the guards when he mentions it. And not recognising the murders and threats would quash Andrew's when dealing with the lady I the apartment.

Ashley may not understand the feeling of attraction and love, which is why you get to choose how she defines her own feelings. Her jokes about sex and loving Andrew too much are just that, jokes. She doesn't get the intense feelings everyone else does about the topic as she has no stake in either.

Her understanding of sexuality/people is from r-rated films and maybe some of the theoretical porn books Andrew has stashed away somewhere. (So far as I know, you can't find any, but maybe they're the parents' books, who knows.) . When she's trying to appeal to Andrew it's all about her labour and not anything of a sexual nature, it's always Andrew who initiates the more dubious physical side to their relationship, fingers in her belt loops, crawling into her bed at night, etc. This is why she thinks it's Andrew whose actions are more suggestive than her own. She even admits that in the questionable/love ending, she doesn't particularly care to pursue it. It's just a way to keep him around.

And yet, she always has feirce reactions to women. Why does she call all other women vile temptresses‐ aside from indoctrination from movies/her mom? It could be because she herself has a strong attraction to women. She tries to get confirmation from Andrew about her feelings, asking if he thinks nina is pretty, because she thought nina was pretty. Nina stopped being her friend as soon as Ashley found out she had feelings for her brother- not just because of the risk to Andy spending less time with her and the potential of them never being friends to begin with and only a means to an end- but potentially because Ashley had a crush on her and felt rejected.

The same could be said for Julia, who Ashley sends insulting and vulgar phonecalls to, showing her confusion of where the lines should be by saying "you think you're better because you can fuck him and I can't?!" But clearly according to one ending she can. Or at least, partway. We understand something sexual happened, but its possible they didn't have vaginal intercourse. Ashley might not be able to get physically aroused while thinking about men, making her assertions about women even more stark. If women can arouse even her, then surely no man could ever resist their charms. Not even Andrew.

After all, Ashley can place herself in the romance spot between the other girl bunnies, but her budding feelings can never blossom. Only Andrew gets to experience thd blooms of romance.

Anyway. This bitch gay. YEET.

[idiot-cheesehead-archenemy]

Fancy Meeting You Here

Word count: 4629

Warnings: implied parental abuse

Prompt: Danny sneaks into a fancy party that happens to be attended by one Vlad Masters

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

The evening had been going pretty well. 

Danny had noticed the mansion while flying in the area a few days ago. He'd come back tonight to see what he could lift - nothing that would be badly missed, of course, maybe some food and cash - and had been pleasantly surprised to find a lawn party in progress. Parties always had the best food, and though he knew he was risking getting caught, he also knew that he was capable of pretending to be a rich socialite for at least a few minutes when necessary. That should get him far enough. 

He flew back to the city, taking an appropriately sized suit from a store he knew - it would be returned by the time they opened in the morning - and again to the mansion to scope out the scene.

The lawn itself was not massive, a rectangle about the size of a football field. Still, it gave the few hundred guests plenty of space to mill about without getting in each other’s way. The mansion was probably half a football field in total area, spread across several irregularly shaped wings. Danny didn’t see many people inside; it seemed the guests only went in to use the restrooms. The building made up one edge of the lawn, another edge ran along the parking area and driveway, and the other two butted against the thick forest that covered most of this region. The entire property was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, no doubt lined with cameras, but Danny had barely given that a thought as he flew invisibly overhead. 

He did note the black-clothed security guards walking the perimeter and roving through the sparse crowd. They might be an issue, but there were so many people here that it would take some time before they noticed him. Enough time to grab a few handfuls of hors d'oeuvres, at least.

After walking casually out of a restroom, Danny made a beeline for one of the food tables, smiling and nodding at people as he passed. He found an assortment of tiny sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables. All of it had been artfully arranged at some point, but the effect was less impressive after about half the food was gone. 

He picked through the sandwiches, finding various nut butters and thinly-sliced meats with strong scents that didn’t quite appeal to him. He did grab a couple of carrot sticks, though; he had to be the adult and remind himself to eat healthy, now that there was no one else doing it for him. 

The next food table was more interesting - a mixture of cooked and raw fish and other seafoods, with a rainbow of toppings and side dishes that reminded Danny, probably intentionally, of a coral reef. This table, too, was at least half-empty, but there was plenty left to choose from. 

“I’d pass on the caviar,” said an older woman on the other side of the table. Danny had not been reaching for the caviar, but he pulled his hand back and gave her a grateful look. “Far too salty,” she continued. “But that bluefin -” she nodded toward a plate of pink cubes coated in black sesame seeds - “is perfection.” 

“I appreciate the advice, thank you.” 

“Waters, Kindra,” she said, as if Danny had been asking for her name. He wasn’t quite sure which name was supposed to be first. “And you are?”

“Andy Benson.” It was his preferred alias; something close enough to his real name that he would turn his head automatically when he heard it. 

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Andy.”

“Likewise.” 

“May I ask whom you’re here with?”

“Oh, he’s …” Danny looked around, as if surprised that his responsible adult wasn’t right next to him. “Actually, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, still turned away. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, though, with the whole party being in a single open space. Maybe he should go back inside and turn invisible so he could continue browsing the food without risking any more awkward conversations. 

He got about halfway back to the house before feeling a tap on one shoulder.

A broad man wearing all black and an obvious earpiece stood behind him. His shirt didn’t actually say “security” in a bold white font, but it may as well have.

Well, crap. Danny probably should have given them more credit. He quickly scanned the crowd, wondering what had given him away. Maybe his age; he didn't see any other teenagers in the immediate vicinity.

Turning fully to face the guard, Danny channelled his inner rich asshole. “Do you need something?” he sneered.

“What’s your name?” The security guard’s tone suggested that he had already decided Danny wasn’t supposed to be here, but protocol didn’t allow him to drag the teen away just yet. 

“Benson, first name Andrew. I’m on the list.” Danny crossed his arms impatiently.

“Andrew Benson,” the guard said into his earpiece. After a few moments of silence, he said, “You sure the Hell aren’t.” 

“Oh, that’s ridiculous. Who is in charge of this list? I want their first and last name. And for that matter -” 

“There you are!”

Danny and the security guard both turned toward the voice. A tall man with long silver hair was striding purposefully in their direction.

“Mr. Masters?” The security guard sounded slightly cowed, now that he was faced with an actual rich asshole. “You know this boy?”

“I was just telling them,” Danny started quickly, hoping he’d read the man’s intentions correctly, “they said there’s no Andrew Benson on the list, and I was just saying -” The man, Mr. Masters, held up a hand to silence him. 

“What’s this about Andrew not being on the guest list? He’s my plus-one.”

The guard spoke into his earpiece again, looking apologetic. “Does Masters have a plus-one?” After another few moments he said, “I’m sorry sir, you don’t have a plus-one listed. And, if I may be so bold -” Mr. Master’s glare suggested that the guard did not, in fact, have his permission to be so bold, but he continued regardless, “- I checked everyone in personally. I don’t remember seeing this young man with you, or at all.” 

“That’s ridiculous. Are you implying that I not only failed to inform Mr. Marra about my guest, but also somehow lost track of said guest before we even got through the gates?”

“I don’t mean to imply anything, sir, I’m just -”

“Just doing your job, I’m sure. Well, then, how about you run and tell your boss that you think a teenager got past your security team, and I can tell him that you were harassing one of his guests, and then he can decide which story he likes better and what to do about it. Does that sound reasonable?” 

The guard looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t back down. Danny had to respect that, even if it was inconvenient for him. “I will have to make a report, Mr. Masters.”

“Please do. If more accurate reports had been kept in the first place, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. In the meantime, however, I’d ask that you leave myself and young Andrew to enjoy the party in peace, hm?” 

The security guard looked to Danny, then Mr. Masters, and finally nodded. “Of course sir; I apologise for the disruption.”

Before walking away, he threw one last narrow-eyed look at Danny, leaving no doubt in Danny’s mind that, whatever this random rich guy had to say about it, security would be keeping a close eye on him from now on. Annoying, but not a disaster. He’d gotten away clean from worse situations than this. 

Running through possible escape scenarios, Danny allowed Mr. Masters to lead him to the edge of the treeline. A handful of people followed the duo with their eyes, no doubt having been eavesdropping on their encounter with security. 

“I trust you understand what just happened,” Mr. Masters said when they stopped, his voice low but stern. “I’ve vouched for you, which means, from this point forward, your actions reflect on me. Behave yourself, or you will regret it. Is that clear?”

Danny wondered if this guy was a dad. If so, he felt bad for his kids. 

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes or do a mock-salute, Danny simply said “Yes, sir.” He figured someone like this probably wouldn’t accept being called much less than “sir” by the likes of him, and now probably wasn’t the best moment to offend him. Later, maybe … 

“Good.” He straightened his already-straight, perfectly-pressed suit and scanned the crowd. Idly, almost as if to himself, he asked, “What do you enjoy?”

“... I’m sorry?” 

“Enjoy,” he repeated, eyes still on the other guests. “What interests you? Art, mathematics, technology, … video games, I don’t know.” When Danny still didn’t answer after a few seconds, he added, “These sorts of events are about networking as much as anything; everyone will expect me to introduce you to people, especially people who work in fields you may be interested in. I’m trying to figure out who you can talk to without making an ass of yourself.” 

“Oh. Uhm …” He could lie, but why bother? It wasn’t like his desire to be an astronaut was some kind of identifying characteristic. And anyway, it would be a lot easier to keep up his cover if he wasn’t also trying to improvise his way through conversations about subjects he didn’t know anything about. 

Of course, it would be even easier to just say he had to go to the bathroom and then disappear … But he’d barely even tasted the food, and it could be fun to talk to people who worked in astronautics, assuming anyone here actually did. 

“Space travel, and astrophysics, that kind of thing.” 

Mr. Masters looked at him then, maybe trying to figure out if he was lying, or maybe just surprised by the answer. His expression was hard to read.

Danny suddenly wondered whether the expensive suit he was wearing was expensive enough, or maybe too expensive. Could rich people tell how much a suit cost just by looking at it? Did Mr. Masters suspect that it was stolen? Come to think of it, why hadn’t he asked any questions? And, for that matter, why hadn’t Danny?

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful … sir. But why are you covering for me at all?” 

Mr. Masters’ gaze had returned to the people milling about the yard - some of whom, Danny noted, were still throwing occasional glances their way. He didn’t turn or otherwise acknowledge Danny’s question, though Danny didn’t doubt he’d heard. He spoke after a moment, still looking away. That seemed to be a habit of his.

“Our host’s name is Edward Marra. He owns the parent company of many of the big names in cobalt mining and processing. This party is to celebrate his recent acquisition of what was previously his biggest rival company in the Asian market. I’ll point him out when I see him. You won’t really be expected to know who anyone else is, but you will be expected to act duly impressed whenever they mention what they do, and to remember names. Can you handle that?”

Acting impressed, probably. Remembering names, probably not. 

“Sure.” 

“Good. And do wipe the cream cheese off your sleeve.” 

Danny frowned as he inspected both sleeves. There was a tiny bit of something white on one of the hems; it must have been from when he was reaching across the table of tiny sandwiches. Danny wiped it off with his finger and then tasted it, confirming that it was, in fact, cream cheese. How had Mr. Masters known that? 

The man was already walking away, and Danny hurried to catch up. 

No one did work in astronautics, it turned out, but Danny met several people who’s companies had contracts with NASA, and others who simply had a personal interest in space exploration. One woman who couldn’t have been older than thirty spoke with passion about the need to create human-livable environments off-planet, before Earth itself became inhospitable. A man who couldn’t have been older than twenty-five spoke with passion about the vast potential for resource-extraction in asteroids. 

Mr. Masters always introduced Danny as Andrew Benson, the son of some old college friends of his. Danny always corrected this with a polite “my friends call me Andy.” 

It took what felt like an hour at least, and probably more than fifty introductions, for Danny to learn that Mr. Masters’ first name was Vlad. Though he always addressed people by first name, it seemed few were willing to be so informal in return. Was he much richer than most of the people here then? Or more powerful in some other way? A politician, maybe?

Vlad Masters. It sounded vaguely familiar. Then again, Danny had heard so many names in the last hour that they were all starting to sound alike. 

Vlad had just exchanged a few pleasantries with a husband-and-wife duo of scientists - two of the few people in attendance who seemed to have gotten rich off their own work, rather than collecting salaries as executives of profitable companies - when something caught his eye. “Ah, there’s Edward. I wondered where he’d gotten to. If you’ll excuse us …” 

Danny was glad for the distraction. Though the two scientists bore no physical resemblance to his parents, they reminded him of them in spirit, and it was not a welcome reminder. 

Following Vlad, he tried to remember if he was supposed to know who ‘Edward’ was. Oh, right - the host. He worked in … mining? Diamond mining? No, that wasn’t it. And what was his last name? 

The man they were approaching was distinctly middle-aged, but wearing it well. His shortish hair was a mix of blond and grey, and his face bore deep laugh lines. He noticed the pair coming and grinned, throwing his arms out by way of greeting. Danny wondered if he was a hugger. 

“Vlad Masters,” he called while they were still several yards away. His voice was loud, projected like an actor’s, and seemed to fill the space despite them being outside. “They told me you were around here somewhere.” When they were close enough, Edward reached out both hands to shake Vlad’s enthusiastically. 

“Edward,” Vlad said with a warm smile, “a pleasure as always. And may I be the, oh, three-hundredth, I’m sure, to congratulate you on your masterful acquisition.” 

Edward grinned, somehow, even wider. “It means more coming from you than from the other three hundred combined.” Was that because Vlad was a good friend? Danny wondered, or because he was so much more successful than all the others? He kicked himself again for not asking more questions while they had some privacy. Who was this stranger he was following? 

Then Edward looked down at Danny and shook his hand with just as much energy. His grip was firm but not hard, and his smile seemed genuine - but you could never be sure with these types. 

“And this is our ghost, I presume.”

Danny froze.

He couldn't have guessed, could he? Would he be smiling like that if he had? Would he have taken Danny's hand so carelessly if he thought Danny was a dangerous monster? Surely not. Probably, this man didn't even believe in ghosts. Most people didn't.

But some people did.

Unpleasant memories prickled at the back of Danny's neck, and he worked to keep his attention in the present moment. 

“Edward, this is Andrew Benson, the son of some old college friends. Andrew, this is our gracious host, Edward Marra.”

“My friends call me Andy,” Danny recited, not quite managing the smile and friendly laugh that were supposed to accompany the line. 

“Andy,” Edward said warmly, like they really were friends. Danny did not think about his parents. “There's no need to be nervous; you're not in trouble. I'm just fascinated that no one seems to remember you coming in, or even have any record of your RSVP. And yet, here you are. Like you've appeared out of thin air.”

“Like a ghost.” Danny managed a small smile at that. Of course he'd meant it metaphorically. Danny dropped his shoulders and noted, pleasantly surprised, that his hands weren’t clenched into fists. He was fine. 

“Spooky, isn't it?”

“But no real harm done, in the end,” Vlad added, possibly as a way to get away from the topic. Would Vlad face any consequences if someone found out he was covering for a party crasher? A few whispers and odd looks, maybe. Danny doubted someone like him had much experience with real consequences.

“No, heaven's no, of course not.” Edward waved a hand dismissively. “The important thing is that you're here now and enjoying the party.”

“Very much so, sir.” 

“Then I've done my job. So tell me, Andy, what is it you want to do after school?”

“I want to be an astronaut.”

“An astronaut!” Again, Edward’s voice boomed out, probably audible even at the far end of the yard. “Well, there's a lofty goal, eh?” It took Danny a second to realise Edward was making a pun, so his laugh was late. Edward seemed to take no notice of this as he continued without missing a beat. “Shoot for the moon, that's what I always say. It's rare for someone to take that advice so literally.” He laughed at his own joke, and his laughter boomed too. Maybe this was why the party was held outside.

Despite himself, Danny was put at ease by Edward's joyful demeanour. It reminded him - no. It was just nice to talk to someone so unreservedly happy. 

“To be completely honest, sir," Danny said with a wry smile, "I think the moon is a bit played out. I'm actually aiming for the stars.”

Edward boomed out another laugh, as Danny had expected he would. 

“I think you’ve got a little disrupter on your hands, Vlad.” Edward winked conspiratorially at Danny. “That’s a compliment.” 

Danny wasn’t quite sure what to say next, so he was relieved when Vlad took the attention off him again. Vlad and Edward made small talk about stock prices or something for a few minutes before Vlad pulled a “I don’t want to take up too much of your time” to end the conversation.  

“Of course, of course, I have plenty more hands to shake. You two enjoy the rest of your evening. But keep an eye on this one, eh?” Edward gestured to Danny. “You never know when he might disappear again.” 

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Though Vlad said this with a laugh, Danny sensed a conviction behind the words. It sounded a little like walking into a room and then hearing the door lock behind you.

This time when they walked away, Vlad didn’t lead Danny to yet another group of people, but instead was heading toward a nearly-empty food table with no one around it. 

“He seemed pleasant,” Danny volunteered, keeping his tone light. He'd just ask to go to the restroom now. Vlad couldn't exactly say no to that, could he?

Vlad responded, predictably, without looking at him. “He would destroy you and everyone you’ve ever loved to save himself a penny.” He said it casually, like this fact was as interesting as the man’s birthday or shoe size. “And, just in case it wasn't clear, he absolutely knows you aren’t supposed to be here.”

What Danny heard was, ‘I am currently the only thing standing between you and the man you’ve slighted who has no qualms with murder.’

Though it sounded like a figure of speech, Danny suspected the description of Edward's character was more or less accurate. Danny remembered one of Sam’s rants about the diamond industry, and then reminded himself not to think about Sam. The point was, if Edward Marra ran a diamond mine or something close to that, he probably had, indeed, sacrificed lives for his fortune. 

Was Vlad threatening him, then? Implying that, if Danny didn’t behave as he wished, he’d turn him over to Edward? Or suggesting that Danny owed him something now, since he had stepped in and put himself at risk to protect Danny?

Except, of course, Vlad didn’t seem remotely concerned for himself. All evidence suggested that, whatever Edward Marra might be capable of, Vlad Masters had nothing to fear from him. 

“Who are you?”

Vlad finally turned toward Danny, wearing a hurt expression. “You mean you haven’t heard of me? Vlad Masters? Owner of Mastersoft?” 

Danny couldn’t keep the dawning realisation off his face, though he schooled his expression as soon as he saw Vlad’s satisfied smile. 

Vlad wasn’t just a rich guy. He wasn't even just a billionaire. He was one of the richest people in the world.

“What are you doing here?” Danny wasn’t exactly knowledgeable about the financial elite, but he didn’t think anyone else at this party was a multi-billionaire. 

“Networking, as I said.” 

“Why would you need to network?” 

“Everyone needs to network,” Vlad said with a solemnity that suggested either a deeply-held belief or a very dry joke. 

“Right,” Danny muttered. “Well … Thank you for helping me tonight. I think I’m pretty much partied-out, so I’ll probably just hit the restroom and then take off.” 

Vlad nodded. “Indeed, I think I’ve had about all the small talk I can handle for the month. Shall we peruse the dessert table before we go?”

Vlad turned so they were side-by-side and simultaneously reached a hand behind Danny's back, like he was going to physically push him in his intended direction. Danny stepped away and turned so he was facing Vlad again. Unfazed, Vlad smoothly moved his hands behind his own back, striking a pose that should have seemed silly but looked natural for him.

“I didn’t mean that you had to leave just because I am,” Danny clarified. 

“What, am I to stay and mingle without you? What would people say? ‘Where’s that charming young man that was with you earlier? Lost track of him again, have you?’ I’d have no answer.” 

No, Danny supposed that would be kind of a bad look. Not that that was his problem. “Okay. I’ll go to the restroom while you say your goodbyes, then we’ll meet at the gate.”

“So you can disappear on me? I think not.”

Well, he wasn't stupid; Danny had to give him that.

“Where would I go? There are security guards and a huge fence.”

“Just as there were when you came in.”

Danny huffed, slightly frustrated with himself. It would have been simpler to leave as soon as security had clocked him. 

 “Fine. We walk out together, then go our own ways. If you think I’m getting in a car with you, you’re nuttier than a can of snakes.” Vlad raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask. 

“It will be a bit difficult to explain why I’m getting into the car without you.”

“I leave it to your vastly superior intellect to think of something.” 

Vlad inclined his head, allowing that. 

They did, in fact, hit the dessert table before they left. It was hard for Danny to limit himself to one plate, but without a more stable container, and knowing he’d be flying soon, he didn’t have much choice. He did, however, stack and interlock as much as he possibly could, grateful that the plates were sturdy ceramic instead of paper. He didn’t expect anyone to stop him from walking out with one of the plates - though he certainly wasn’t supposed to, he was also with Vlad Masters - and no one did. 

When Vlad’s driver arrived in a twelve-foot long limo, Vlad explained that he’d decided to enjoy the night air for a little bit longer, telling the driver to wait a mile or so up the road. 

“Very good sir,” the driver said, like he was trying to sound like every stereotypical butler in every movie, except that his accent was less British and more New Jersey. Vlad didn't acknowledge the random teenager beside him, and the driver followed suit. 

“I see you went with one of your more modest limos,” Danny deadpanned as they started down the long driveway. 

“Naturally, I didn't want to upstage the host.” 

They walked along the side of the road that bordered the Marra property, marked by the tall fence that ran as far as Danny could see from his current vantage. The other side of the road was the edge of the forest. Danny only needed to go a few yards in to be confident he was hidden, and then he’d be free to go ghost and fly back to his temporary home. 

“You know,” Vlad began, interrupting Danny considering whether to split off now or wait until Vlad and his driver were gone, “I’m not actually planning to kidnap you. If there’s somewhere you’d like a ride to …” 

“Thanks, but no thanks. I found my way here; I can find my way back.”

“And how did you find your way here? You obviously didn't drive. We’re really not within walking distance of anything, or even reasonable cycling distance." 

Shoot, had he given away too much? No, Vlad would have been wondering that anyway; at worst Danny had called attention to what was already a suspicious detail. And anyway, there were plenty of non-ghost-related possibilities. 

He shrugged. “I have my ways.” 

Vlad smiled slightly and nodded, probably having expected a response like that. Why would Danny answer honestly, after all? Most likely, Vlad had only asked to let Danny know that he was suspicious. Maybe it was another subtle threat, implying that he was curious about Danny and would be looking for answers. Or maybe Danny was being paranoid. Or maybe one of the most powerful people in the world - someone who could probably get some security camera footage and access to a police database if he really wanted to - had taken an undue interest in Danny, and Danny should get as far away from him as he could as soon as possible. 

“I’m going to leave now,” Danny said, not seeing much point in tact. “I’m going to cross the street and walk into the forest and you’re not going to see me again after that.”

“Watch out for wolves,” was all Vlad said in reply. So Danny crossed the street, glancing behind him constantly. Vlad never broke his stride and showed no sign of even remembering that Danny was there. 

What had the past hour and a half been to him? A brief distraction from the monotony of yet another boring “party”? A good deed for a clearly troubled youth? Or the beginnings of a puzzle he intended to solve? 

A few times in his life, Danny had been truly lost, with no idea how to even begin searching for familiar territory. When it happened, he never felt himself becoming lost; he firmly believed that the way back was clear, until he tried to take it. Then he would realise that he had, in fact, been going the wrong way for hours. 

Danny had a sense like that now - looking back on the evening, trying to figure out exactly where he had turned right when he should have turned left. Should he have run from the security guard? Should he have just stayed invisible from the start? At what point had this outcome become inevitable?

Granted, Vlad had given no real sign that he cared one way or another where Danny had come from or where he was going. Maybe there really was nothing to worry about. Still, as he watched Vlad Masters stroll casually away, Danny couldn't shake the feeling that he hadn't seen the last of him.  

[bornagainmurdock]

anniversary // matt murdock

Matt and you had met years ago at your favorite bar. It was simple and easy; he sat next to you at the bar, ordered you your next drink and you spoke until they kicked you out. You met the next night, and then the next night, over and over until he finally and officially asked you to dinner.

On your second year anniversary, Matt decided to suprise you, taking you to the bar you first met at.

He gave you little warning, telling you a time to be ready by and the general vibe. When the time came, Matt was standing outside of your apartment door, waiting as patiently as he could for the night of your life.

"Follow me." He said smugly.

He walked you in a strange pattern around the borough, attempting to throw you off your game to truly make it a suprise.

"Matt, where are we going?"

"I thought you were leading me around!" He joked. You shoved him a bit with a laugh.

When you circled the block twice more, he finally led you into the bar, pulling a chair out at the bar for you to sit.

"What can I get for you?" The bartender was the same one who served you the first time. She knew both of you incredibly well.

"Our usuals Andy." Matt smiled.

"You got it." The bartender disappeared to the back, returning with a bottle of fancy champagne with you and Matt's name on it and your anniversary date.

"Matt, this is ridiculous." Andy brought out two chilled glasses and poured you both drinks.

"But it is cute, right?" Matt was bubbly and excited.

"Very cute. Ridiculous, but cute."

"Cheers to us. To two years with my angel." Matt passed a glass to you and took his own, tapping them together.

"Cheers!" You repeated.

"Okay Andy, can we get our actual usuals now?"

"You got it Matt." She returned quickly with the drinks, "On the house."

You thanked her and took a sip.

"And this is only the beginning." Matt chuckled taking sips of his drink, already starting to feel it.

"Where to next?" You asked finishing the glass.

"Option one, we go to a show. Option two, we go to my bedroom." Matt took a long chug of his drink, smirking into the glass.

"Hmmm, which one should I choose?" You jokingly tapped your chin.

"I'm thinking the latter, but it's up to you."

"We could just go to the bathroom real quick."

"You drive me crazy." He said being tugged from his chair by you, beelining to the bathroom on the other side of the bar.

[lokh]

Im gonna need your like, whole musical rec list, bc literally every song you have posted has not flopped once, give me your faves i need to eat them

OUGHHH YOUVE UNLOCKED THE BEAST ARGSHHFHJDF....

in the interest of making this both easily accessible but not stretching the dashboard, im embedding bandcamp links when i can, otherwise linking to youtube when unavailable

in no particular order, inclusion based mostly on what im still actively into LMAO but also just things you should give a go at least once:

list of artist recommendations

zeal and ardor: described as a mix of african-american spirituals and black metal. try devil is fine, you aint coming back, wake of a nation or church burns

bloodywood: indian folk metal, literally nobody is doing it like them. recently featured in monkey man (2024), try chakh le, yaad or dana dan

stromae: if youve never heard any of his songs WHAT ARE YOU DOING..... incredible lyricist, described as a blend of hip hop/electronic. papaoutai made the rounds on tumblr a while back, but you should also try santé and l'enfer

alamat: pinoy pop. a youtube commenter described them as sounding like 2nd gen kpop which probably also explains why i took a shine to them LMAO, notable for the amount of filipino culture on display and the diversity thereof (singing in different languages, themes). first heard them thru kasmala either here or on twitter lmao, try aswang or maharani

andy bull: alt-pop. a lot of poppy and upbeat songs with a melancholic undertone imo. an australian artist, try it's all connected or keep on running

cosmo sheldrake: electronic, wikipedia also lists him as folktronica and baroque pop. you may have heard the song come along on an apple ad - hes known for sampling sounds from nature. pliocene for example features sounds from endangered ecosystems.

if you like cosmo sheldrake, you might like hidden orchestra (electronica, ambient). also making use of field recordings, i really love the archipelago mixtape but its a hard sell at about an hour lmao. if you like the following song then i implore you to give it a go

son lux: experimental, you may have heard from them in the entire soundtrack for everything everywhere all at once (!!!!!). try dangerous, dream state (brighter night) or live another life.

ammar 808: electronic/world fusion, also behind bargou 08 (folk rock you should also listen to). i just cant get ain essouda out of my head, but i also love geeta duniki

miyavi: j-rock, used to be a visual kei artist. these days he might be known more for anime openings like flashback (kokkoku) or other side (id:invaded), or for work like snakes in arcane (or actually inspiring and voicing a character in it), but ive always been partial to his early work like sukkyanen myv or ashita, genki ni naare

songs/albums

'threads' album by now, now (indie rock).

'dream to make believe' or 'what to do when you are dead' by armor for sleep (rock, emo). here's the truth about heaven from the latter album

i already posted about it but denzel curry's 13lood 1n + 13lood out mixx (rap, trap) is extremely good

the guilty gear soundtracks and im so serious im not fucking joking. different kinds of rock and metal and all sorts of influences put in, a genuine labor of love. xrd and earlier games are mainly instrumental with some vocal tracks (try give me a break or big blast sonic), while strive pretty much always includes vocals (of course i need to rec rock parade, but also try requiem. its genuinely hard for me to pick and choose lmao)

not an album and not an artist

coke studio pakistan and coke studio bangla knocking it out of the fucking park, im particularly a fan of harkalay and kotha koiyo na. you could try the other coke studios too (tamil, india, etc)

triple j like a version is when the radio station triple j brings in artists and has them do a cover of a song (artists choice). i liked denzel curry's cover of bulls on parade and flume's shooting stars (video for this one is incredible, man had a vision you just have to stick it out), but you get a lot of interesting interpretations like the wombats' running up that hill, gordi's in the end or, infamously. the wiggles' elephant

ive DEFINITELY missed out some, but thats what my music tag is for LMAO i hope someone discovers something they like here!!!!

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Review of Dragon Age the Veilguard

First off, right off the bat, I’m putting out there I am foremost a story person. Give me a good story and I’m happy. Then it’s graphics, gameplay (by which I mean do I think it is very replayable), then combat.

So positives first for me:

Story: I love the story. It’s a little cliche and a bit silly but it’s so much fun. Besides it’s not like Dragon Age has ever not been a bit cliche. Secret bastard son of the king saving his homeland. Frosty witch with a secret sensitive side. Assassin who wants out. These were in the FIRST game. I very much enjoyed it and the lore we were given. I actually went ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ out loud multiple times and had a blast through the whole thing. I actually dropped my controller in shock during the final battles because of several moments.

I’ve seen complaints about the writing being ‘MCU’ but honestly I just recently replayed the first three, and this is the same to me. It’s actually better to me then Inquisition which I found so boring. No really, Inquisition was the weakest to me character and writing wise. It felt so flat but Veilguard brings back the spark that Origins and DA2 had. This sort of ‘we need to get people together and save the world despite the odds’ spark.

Characters: I love every single one of them and am already starting more playthroughs so I can ROMANCE THEM ALL. Some may not be your cup of tea but honestly a lot of the hate I notice tends to be the weird feminist ‘you have to be serious’ tone, the ‘I don’t like anything cheery’ type, transphobes or racists. The actual critical takes I find tend to veer on the usual bullshit of the writers in general. (Such as Taash apparently having to choose between two cultures and how their gender is handled. Which fair. I love their gender storyline but it isn’t the greatest story)

The characters are very dynamic and fun to get to know. I didn’t care about Harding in Inquisition but I love her here. It’s just so much fun.

Character Creator: This is honestly the best one I’ve seen yet. I know everyone loved BG3 and how they do it but Veilguard BLOWS it out of the water. Just so many options and things to do.

Plus as a side note you can choose to be nonbinary or trans and it has an affect. It is so cool. I loved my Rook talking about their gender.

Combat: Oh man this is weird for me but I love this combat. Let’s be real- tactical stuff in the past games were clunky and off. A lot of Origin purists say DAO was the best but who ACTUALLY used half the stuff? Like traps? Maybe a fair few but the majority didn’t. The whole series so far had been button mashing for me. Here? Nope! It’s a lot more complex for me and makes me actually think. I love it.

Puzzles: One person I saw said they were to simple. My response is that the early ones were but they sure ain’t later on. Took me forty minutes to figure out one. It’s awesome.

Gameplay: FUN! Just everything about it is so nice and I love it. It’s not annoying to do, it’s simple once you get used to it and honestly I like how the missions are set up. I do think it is very replayable as a whole.

The Ending: I FUCKING LOVE THE ENDING IT IS SO DAMN COOL. I dropped my controller during it, I gasped, I cheered (totally guessed one plot twist but DAMN did not expect the very end) and HOLY SHIT it was SO GOOD.

Now the negatives.

Story: There’s a lot of sanitization of the Crows. The Crows are canonly assassins who buy a lot of their recruits and brutally train them to become Crows. It is not nice unless maybe your family are Crows and you’re treated nicely. Even then, Lucanis canonly was beaten by his grandmother during training and other things.

Also, I did not like how my Rook Laidir suddenly talked about being a galley slave. It was confusing as that was never brought up before. If they’d included it in the description it would have been better. So I’m headcanoning something different for Andy Laidir. I think this is just an over sight, but it is off putting for me that it’s suddenly said once then vanishes.

There's also a few things with how story progression goes. It feels a bit to fast in some moments, and to slow in others. I think that they had to many ideas, but I'll talk about that in the factions section.

Characters: While I love their story line I think Taash could have done better if there was less ‘choose between being Rivaini or Qunari’. Like having a disconnect from your culture is understandable but I felt it was to… ‘you must conform or reject’. That’s not how it goes.

As well the discussion of gender was fairly Western specific which isn’t true across all cultures. It would have been interesting to explore it more and with Taash also wondering about the Qunari version of gender as why they don’t feel right.

I’m also semi kinda upset with how Davrin kept getting the same ‘intro’ scene to his quests a bit. Just him carving something. It was recycled to me and compared to the others… kinda felt off.

Also, while I love him, Lucanis' romance isn't my favourite. It's very slow burn and while nice, I felt that it was to much of a slow burn in the end, where it's just them kissing and a few words of love. I haven't been spoiled about the others too much, but he feels very lacklustre. But it might just be me there. I will defend it saying it isn't bad, but for me? Not my cup of tea.

I'm also disapointed with Isabela's cameo. While YES WE SEE HER, I do romance her with Hawke often and I can't believe any of my Hawkes who did (and lived) are't with her causing chaos. Plus for fuck sakes she gets some generic outfit but Morrigan gets a super special one? Really?

Combat: While I love it, I think they made the dragons to OP. It’s really hard to get close and fight them. Of course I am not a combat person so it may just be I’m bad at it. I do think some of the 'being shoved backward' moments could have been done better as well.

Gameplay: Okay so… I think the choice to have Varric narrate things wasn’t ‘bad’ but they really went to spoiler filled in some. Like dude, don’t SAY that?!? I don’t get to eagerly wait in suspense now, I know what’s going on. That’s not fun. Boo!

Also the animations for opening chests was annoying.

Factions: I feel this is another kinda let down. I truly believe the only four that mattered were Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, Crows and Grey Wardens. Plus I felt again a lot of this is sanitized. The Crows are not a good organization. Sure they basically are the Antivan military but they’re assassins who buy their recruits half the time. Lords of Fortune are pirates and treasure hunters. They're not 'good' people.

This really ties into my thoughts on progression: we could have done away with the Lords and the Mourn Watch to focus only on the four factions and it would have been amazing. Probably would have had better pacing for the plot to. While it was so cool to see these places, in the end it would haven't taken away from the main plot by just not having them be around.

However- despite my negatives, and despite my issues?

This game is a solid 8.7/10. It was truly 9.5/10 for most of the game, but by the end, I did find that I was a bit dissatisfied with some things. However, the game is genuinely amazing. It's a call back to the original 'rag-tag bunch of losers go and save the day' and has elements of Mass Effect 2 I adore.

Solid game, if you loved Origins, DA2 and even some elements of Inquisition, go for it. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it sure as hell is mine.

[ashleyleygraves]

So, I want to quickly theorize about this deal.

Andy accidentally summoned a demon which I have a lot of questions about, but not for this post. What really intrigues me is the accidental deal Andy made.

What we've seen from demons so far is that they are summoned from the middle of the circle. However, why can't Andy see it? Maybe the demon is choosing not to be seen. So, we flash forward and

Andy wakes up having been in the in-between realm. However, from the clip we were shown it seems that Andrew has no memory of what happened. We don't know why, and again, that's a discussion for another day. But what DO we know about this deal? Well, demons only accept a deal if they get something out of it, so what vegetables could Andy eat that would make the demon happy? Well, we got this answer already!

Yup, and since not all deals come right away, Andy just needed to grow up and eat this demon's vegetables.

But, again, another question: how do we know that deals don't happen immediately? Well, that question was already answered

The demon has still yet to fulfill Ashley's deal after a week and a half. We still only know the demon as "the friend upstairs", "the demon", and "???" Meaning that deals could take a while for either or both sides to follow through on their deal. (However, this does mean that Decay Andrew has broken his deal with the demon for refusing to eat Mr and Mrs Graves while Burial Andrew is following through on the deal)

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

What a year

—

Written for @fictober-event with the prompt No. 3: “it’s been a long time.” (This is my first entry). And @flashfictionfridayofficial with the prompt #FFF274 Empty House. Thank you so much for these prompts.

I’ve been reading the “Crows of Remembrance” on the side that I felt so inspired to write this out of the blue. This is an alternate universe, but there are a few spoilers ahead. I would suggest that please tread carefully if you are going to read this. (Dedicated to Andy @clouds-of-peach for her eagle eyes!)

—

Fandom: Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose its Master

Characters: Yukiya (Kitayama), Miya/Himemiya, and a mysterious guest

Word count: 787

—

AS SOON as the child was asleep, Yukiya Kitayama prepared a provisory altar next to the living room. He burnt the incense sticks, put a worn-out but sturdy ivory hair clip next to the lily-white vases with chrysanthemums in them. He gently rocked the bell so as not disturb Miya upstairs and recited the Sutras.

At the tail-end of his prayers, one could hear a pair of shuffling black leather shoes whose owner was taking his seat on the nearby couch.

“It is nice to be remembered, isn’t it?” Said the voice, cool and gentle at the same time.

Yukiya chuckled. He closed his eyes and after saying his prayers, lowered the incense sticks and placed them on their burners.

When done with the rituals, Yukiya then joined his guest. He began to study the face he once knew.

Compared to the man before him, his shoes and the girl’s were at the genkan keeping the tradition and for hygienic reasons. Besides, tatami mats covered the ground floors in an otherwise empty house.

“You are here,” Yukiya let out an exhale he was keeping for so long.

“Yes, I am. How are you, Yukiya? How’s Himemiya? It has been a long time. Aren’t you happy seeing an old friend?” He laughed. It was a rarity seeing that face laugh. Once Yukiya’s heart tugged when it first happened especially after seeing the owner’s face with dimples on the cheeks. He was still beautiful, so feminine that the skin was flawless like a freshly blossomed flower, the long, black hair remained silkier than ever that that it took Yukiya’s breath away.

“So far, we are all right. We are coping,” Yukiya then quickly bent down his head as tears threatened to fall. He would love to take him into his arms but could not.

“What’s stopping you then?” He read Yukiya’s thoughts. He furrowed his brow, worried about seeing the younger man in front of him like this.

He immediately reached for Yukiya then stroked his face. His faint perfume, a whiff of musky-sweetish wisteria blooms, overwhelmed the other man. It made Yukiya feel heady. Memories of them together came back. A smell of home. The next thing he knew he was cradling him like a baby. Yukiya began to cry earnestly, his right hand searched for the guest’s collar, which turned wet from all his tears, and hanged on to it like there was no tomorrow.

“You need to come back to us. Everyone misses you. We need you, Yukiya. The situation in Yamauchi is getting worse every day,” the gentle voice whispered to him while he kissed the top of his head, his ears, and cheeks alternately. “Most of all, Himemiya’s mother misses her so much. Her heart aches for a year now. I hate to see the empress that way. She does not deserve it.”

Yukiya nodded. It was an order that he could not refuse.

“Your Majesty, please forgive me…”

He was not being selfish when he asked the girl to join him, to escape from the country he served aimlessly, but the thought of starting his life, their lives, anew, that was what prompted him to leave that place when half of his life he had dedicated to only one man, who was holding him right now.

They stayed like that for an hour and a half when he heard dainty footsteps came down from the second floor.

“Yuki-san?”

“Himemiya? Did I wake you up?”

The girl shook her head. When she looked at him again, her eyes turned bigger, a concern on her face.

“Yuki-san? Your eyes are so red. I thought I heard you talking to someone.”

“No, uhm…” Yukiya wanted to lie, but he had always been honest to the girl ever since taking over the responsibility of being his parent in the outside world. He still remembered the day when he said goodbye and she quickly ran up to him incognito at the Suzaku Gate, hugged him, not wanting to let go.

“We have to say goodbye to your friends in school and mine too,” Yukiya told her as he gently stroked her back.

“I miss my mother,” Himemiya blurted out then let out a muffled cry.

“It is time to go back, Himemiya. It is time to see her again,” Yukiya’s arms enveloped the girl. Both searching for comfort.

“Thank you,” mouthed the guest standing in the alcove, a smile on his lips.

Yukiya raised his right hand gesturing him to join them. He took the invitation. Spreading his purple chiton, he held Yukiya and Himemiya tighter. His face, at ease.

A gentle warm breeze surrounded the two replacing the vanishing guest and Yukiya cried even more.

(Illustration: Naoyuki Nakajima)

~ fin ~

[biteofcherry]

Sleepover prompt!!!

It’s late at night and you’re finishing next day prep at your new bakery. You’re all by yourself because you’re still operating lean for now, but you don’t mind so much because baking, and your business, is your happy place.

You’re so in the zone that you don’t even realize you’re no longer alone.

“Such a concentrated little worker bee,” a low voice teases from the doorway of the kitchen.

You startle, squeak even, your eyes going wide and your heart freezing in your chest as you realize who it is standing mere yards away from you.

One of the most dangerous mobsters in the city. A criminal. And you’re pretty sure a straight up killer.

“You’re in my territory now, sweetheart,” he informs you, sauntering closer. “And that comes at a price.”

He doesn’t stop advancing on you until he has you pinned against the counter behind you, trembling hard as you blink back tears.

“So,” he smirks at you, big hand resting on your hip and fingers searching until he can feel the bare skin just beneath your shirt. “Let’s negotiate.”

—

SO! Which mob!babe would you prefer for this ::ahem:: shakedown?

OR

You come to my little baking hoedom and attack me like that? Siri, you and the mobsters you send after me know too much about my weakness for being overpowered and a little bit scared 😒😜

Curtis, I don't think he'd make it a one time deal, or even a regular once a month thing. He's an all consuming type. Burning the world and ruling it type. So he's going to own me, whether I give in willingly or if I struggle. He's gonna make sure I'm aware he owns every inch of my body. I wouldn't put it past him to mark me in some visible way, that's more than just a hickey. And perhaps that's even scarier than a one time rough fuck in an empty bakery.

Andy's more calculating to just want to wet his dick in a newcomer. It's not a welcome to the neighborhood fuck, or not even a I own you fuck. Not yet, no. Andy's making it a test, checks my responses and how plaint I can become in his hands, to later decide on my fate. He'd make it a torture - draw it out all night and leave me at dawn all ruined and spent. He'd say he'll consider my stipulations and return to me later in the week. I sure will be thinking about him all week, shamefully longing for his brand of ruin.

Now Ransom is a playful prick, who probably is in for it to scratch and itch and rub his own ego. He wants that fuck for the sake of good sex, with a side bonus of having the upper hand over me. Oh, he'd make it so filthy and so good, with a slice of degradation that makes me whimper and only spurs Ransom on. I bet he'd leave me a mess and joke about definitely returning for the goodies.

I'm going to be honest here, I'm choosing between two mobsters here. Sorry, Ransom, you can get a free biscotti cupcake for consolation 😜 It's between Curtis and Andy, each of them a different type of intense. And I'm kinda scared of both.

I may be signing my soul and pussy to the devil, but...

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Jeff Buckley: Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk) (Columbia)

Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1998

FANS OF Grace might find this album tough going. For one thing, it's hard to divorce the circumstances of its existence from the music – some of which is very beautiful, yet you know it wouldn't sound this way if Jeff Buckley had lived. In other words, you're listening to this record because he died.

Secondly, there are several moments that seem too private, things we probably shouldn't be hearing. At these times you might experience the same uneasy fascination you'd get from illicitly reading someone's diary. You might also find yourself distracted by questions like, "Who chose this running order?", "Why are there two versions of two songs with nothing much to choose between them?" or "Was this song finished?"

We'll never know if Jeff Buckley wanted anybody to hear the ugly clutter of ‘Haven't You Heard’, we can be certain he had more in mind for the complex ‘Murder Suicide Meteor Slave’ than the detuned, trebly mush it is here and we can only wonder at how its lovely Beatle-ish interlude would have turned out. Did he lay down the home-made cover of ‘Back In New York City’ (a Genesis song from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) with a view to putting it on record or simply for his own amusement, something to get the creative juices flowing? Is there any real value in hearing tracks as nascent as ‘Demon John’ or ‘Your Flesh Is So Nice’ – barely written songs, with arrangements just hinted at by slapdash guitars and extemporised melodies you know he'd have nailed later or abandoned completely? Is it right to include performances where his singing is unfocused, lazy or tired? Or those where the band are just feeling their way?

As I understand it, from talking to his management shortly after his death, Jeff Buckley's unreleased legacy runs thus: the remainder of the Live At Sin-E recordings; radio sessions and solo spots such as those on the French ‘Live At The Bataclan’ EP (which he hated); one outtake from Grace, ‘Forget Her’ (removed to make room for ‘So Real’); the "live in the studio" solo sets recorded during the making of Grace; a series of 24-track live recordings with the full band (some of these, like the extended version of Alex Chilton's ‘Kanga-Roo’, have appeared on B-sides and promo discs); the sessions recorded with Tom Verlaine in Memphis a few months before his death; a few tracks recorded in New York soon afterwards; and a large number of 4-track demos Buckley cut in the last weeks of his life.

After he drowned, the inevitable question of what to do with this material had to be faced. Manager Dave Lory spent days going through the tapes found in Jeff's house. He had to listen to everything, no matter what it said on the box, as Jeff had a habit of cutting demos on whatever came to hand. Sure enough, he found one new song halfway through side two of an old Michael Bolton promo cassette.

He then met up with Steve Berkowitz (Jeff's A&R man) and Andy Wallace (the producer of Grace), to make a definitive inventory of all the extant recordings and dub the demos onto digital masters. These were three of the men who knew Jeff's working methods best and they argued every day about what might be done with this stuff, which songs Jeff would have been happy with, how best to release the material or, indeed, if any of it should come out at all.

Just as they were finishing this process, they were 'fired' by Jeff's mother, Mary Guibert, who'd inherited her son's estate and assumed the responsibility of compiling an album with another Columbia A&R executive, Don DeVito, (who'd not worked extensively with Buckley while he was alive). They asked Buckley's friend, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, to "sit in Jeff's seat". Andy Wallace was rehired to complete his mixes of the Verlaine sessions which make up Disc 1 of this collection.

When Buckley completed those tracks he told Lory that he "couldn't find his soul" in them. He was aware there was a lot of work still to do before he could cut a worthy follow-up to Grace, so he temporarily dismissed his band and retreated to his rented house in Memphis to revise the songs and write new ones. (Some of these, ‘Mood Swing Whiskey’, ‘Sky Blue Skin’, ‘Don't Listen To Anyone But Me’, ‘Woke Up In A Strange Place’ and ‘Let's Bomb The Moonlight’ remain in the can.) Disc 2 features seven of those demos, retakes of two of the songs on Disc 1, some CD-ROM material (which was not available for review) and a stray radio recording from 1992 of the country standard ‘Satisfied Mind’ ("I went with a satisfied mind"), clearly chosen as a pointed closer.

Diametrically opposed to it, Disc 1's opener, ‘The Sky Is A Landfill’, is a bleak, relentless torrent of anger. As "evil blacks the sky" Buckley advises that we "Don't suck the milk of flaccid Bill K Public's empty promise to the people". "This way of life is so devised to snuff out the mind that moves," he continues, moved to send a mail bomb to "Mr Strong Arm", who is "useless like the cops at the scene of a crime" Although impressive, it's a curious track to open with, throwing a grim shadow over what follows. It takes a few listens, then, but gradually Sketches' pearls begin to shine through.

‘Vancouver’ kicks off with a Byrdsian riff and a beautiful double-tracked falsetto, spinning into a dizzy song driven by piano, fuzz bass and crashing guitars. ‘Nightmares By The Sea’ is great, too. After an intro reminiscent of Nirvana's ‘Come As You Are’, it turns into a churning pop song – and check the lyrics: "Stay with me under these waves tonight/Be free for once in your life tonight! Bluebeard's young and handsome/So new to your bedroom floor/You know damn well where you're gone." Likewise, the a cappella ‘You And I’ (again, a song whose melody was not fully developed) starts with the line "Oh, the calm below that poisoned river wild". It can't be too long before someone ekes out a morbid dissertation concerning the water imagery in these songs.

However, it's the second track that will be this collection's calling card. ‘Everybody Here Wants You’ draws from the same divine well as ‘Lover, You Should've Come Over’ on Grace. It's a lump-in-the-throat soul ballad which sways like Smokey Robinson's ‘Cruisin'’ or Chic's ‘At Last I Am Free’. Jeff sings it in a tender falsetto with a hint of jealous ire shading the delicious, pleading chorus – "Everybody here wants you! Everybody here thinks he needs you/I'll be waiting right here just to show you our love will blow it all away" – as the bass tumbles along lyrically. Awkward middle-four aside, it's an instant classic. And it serves to make the lesser tracks here an even greater source of sadness, simultaneously reminding us that this wonderful voice has sung its last.

There's a lot of fine material still unheard and we must hope its trustees are careful with it. One thing's sure: a definitive selection will never exist, except in our heads and, one day perhaps, on our personal 'Ultimate Jeff' compilations.

At best, Sketches has much the same function and effect as The Beatles Anthology collections. It's a document of a great musical mind cranking into gear, a series of clues to what might have been. If you were hoping for a record to equal Grace, well, you'll be disappointed. But be assured that Jeff Buckley's sketches overshadow most artists' completed works.

[dc418writes]

Before It’s Too Late

✨Pairing: Andy Barberxblack!reader

Summary🪄: Andy gets a special visitor to help remind him what’s important

⚠️: a good amount of angst in this one, allusion to divorce, couple bad language words, ends in fluff tho (bcus I’m soft and it’s the holidays☺️)

A/N🎙️: hey guys! Hope you like this idea I had based on a Christmas Carol. Also this is an au where Laurie and Jacob don’t exist

*Disclaimer!: although collage was made by me, I DO NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP of pictures used as they were all found on Pinterest

Looking down at his watch, the ticking face reads 11:01 pm as Andy locks the door behind him and the security system later beeps from its activation. The bottoms of his dress shoes tap along the wooden floor stepping further into the dimly lit home unsurprised to find it quiet and seemingly empty.

It’s a greeting he’d grown accustomed to these last few months having worked constant late nights that sometimes ran into early mornings.

“Left a plate for you in the fridge if you’re hungry. Hope you had a good day ~Love, Y/N” The note read resting in front of his usual seat at the head of the table; sending a pang of guilt to his heart. If he had a choice of course he’d want to be home with his family being able to eat and laugh together.

But as the District Attorney, his work was never really done until the case was closed, which could take months to years. Plus this job made it possible to provide for his family, the most important thing to him.

Slowly climbing the stairs to avoid its loud creaks, he first stops at his daughter’s door gently pushing it open to check on her as he always did when arriving home late. Finding her bed made and untouched only means she’s next to you in their bedroom; more than likely on his side to “protect” you from any monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed.

“Daddy don’t worry, I watch over mama,” Marlow would state confidently whenever he’d call saying how he wouldn’t be home until late that night. Each time his lips would curl into a soft smile at how thoughtful she was already before thanking her for taking such good care of you.

The light from the tv flickers along the room with the screen still playing some animated movie. Both you and Marlow fast asleep as you snuggled close with arms wrapped around each other. Her little Starry Night flashlight on the bedside table making him quietly chuckle as he steps closer to place a kiss on her curly head then yours.

“You’re home,” you tiredly whisper beginning to stir with barely open lids.

“Yea, I see you two had a sleepover.”

You turn to gaze at your baby with a sleepy giggle, “She tried waiting up for you, but didn’t make it 30 minutes. Let me put her to bed-,”

“No you two stay. I still have work to do.”

“Andy it’s nearly-,” you carefully shift to look at your phone, “one in the morning and you’re still doing work? Just save it for later and come to bed.”

“Honey this is a big case. The more I work the sooner we’ll get done.”

That was a lie. If that did happen, you knew he’d only find something else that needed to be done. Or more evidence would somehow be found that either added to, or discredited, his argument thus leading to more work.

“Andy, you’ve been working on this case non-stop for over a year. If that really were the case, I’m sure you’d be done by now,” you sigh.

“Y/N-,”

“I’ll see you in the morning. Unless you leave before we get up. Again.” He doesn’t get the chance to say anything more as you turn your back to him; choosing instead to face your still baby girl peacefully resting all this time.

Sighing, he places a final kiss to the back of your head with a quiet, “Goodnight,” before he’s quietly leaving again to return downstairs to his office. And you’re left alone for yet another night, silently crying yourself to sleep worried about the future for you and your husband.

-

With a low groan, Andy lifts his head from the desk combing his fingers through his unruly hair. A yawn slipping past his lips as he tries to stretch the kinks and cramps from his back. He had every intention of coming to bed, but he’d found a hole in the plaintiff’s argument that’d surely help them come one step closer to a possible close.

That hot streak led to three more hours of typing before he finally crashed while reading over his work. Uncomfortably so as he rubs at the knot sitting at the base of his neck.

There’s a giggle outside his door followed by little Marlow popping her head of wild curls in with a wide smile on her lips. The room brightening with her cheery entrance as usual. “Hi daddy!”

“Morning busy bee,” he smiles opening his arms so she’d join him in his chair. Her small arms linking around his neck to kiss his cheek as he holds her close. “Good job looking after everything last night.”

“Monsters stayed away. I had my flashlight.”

“Morning Andy,” you softly smile entering with his favorite mug. “Marlie made you coffee.”

“Thank you sweetheart. Daddy really needed this after the night he had.”

“Later, we make cookies for my play. Right daddy?”

“Wait, tonight? I thought that was this weekend?”

“Nope, tonight. I reminded you yesterday on your lunch,” you sigh sitting on the edge of his desk with arms crossed in front of you. You already knew where this conversation was going from the remorse in his cerulean eyes.

“Sweetheart I’m so sorry, but I’m not gonna be able to make it. I’ll be downtown.”

“But…you promised.”

“I know I did-,”

“You never break promises daddy!,” she pouts with big brown eyes glossy from incoming tears.

“Well sometimes-,”

“You lied!”

“Marlow enough, alright?! I have to work, there’s nothing I can do to change that. Mama will be there to record it and I’ll watch it with you later,” he sternly replies further upsetting the five-year-old. She quickly wiggles out of his grasp and down to the floor now reaching out for you and your comfort.

“Y/N don’t. I’m not in the mood for I told you so.”

“You can’t even give us one day Andy? One?!” For the sake of your daughter, you try to keep your voice calm when everything in you was currently ready to erupt.

“Whadaya want me to do honey, hm? Quit?,” he asks tossing aside some folder filled with papers. “Fine. I’ll quit and everything I’ve worked for; this house, our comfortable life where neither of you want for anything, that’ll disappear too.”

“We want you! Your daughter wants her father as more than a glimpse she’s lucky to see everyday, and I want my husband back.” Frustrated tears burn your eyes before rolling down your cheeks as you gently rock your daughter hiding her face in your neck. “If all we really cared about was the material stuff, we wouldn’t be having this conversation for the millionth time.”

Guilt eats away at him once more silently watching the both of you leave his office. He desperately missed his girls too. Coming home to his energetic baby girl excited to tell him about her day or play dress up. Your vanilla and caramel scent latching to his nostrils anytime he’d steal a kiss from your soft lips. Lying next to you with his arms wrapped tightly around your waist as if you’d easily vanish if he let go.

But this job required a lot of his time. It was something he and you knew from the beginning, even when he was still just a practicing lawyer in that small law firm. What could he really do about it?

“Honey,” he calls rising from his chair to follow your trail. “Honey wai-,”

Stepping in the hall, the once warm and furnished home is now dark and somber. The walls bare of the framed pictures you’d taken over the years and air cool from the draft circulating through the empty abode. His thick brows furrow as he hurries through the house once his, opening all doors in a frenzy trying to find his family. “Y/N?! Marlie?!”

“They’re gone Andrew,” a voice booms from overhead causing the attorney to twist about while looking towards the ceiling.

“W-Who said that? Where’s my family?!”

“Relax they’re fine. Honestly much better now you’re not there.”

“I’m only givin’ you one more chance. Show yourself and bring my girls back now!”

“Well, I can’t really do either of those seeing as I’m a ghost and need to teach you a lesson before I send you back.”

“A ghost..,” Andy repeats full of amusement with hands on his hips. “Mhm right. Marlow Anais Barber no more games alright? You got me, now come out with mama.”

“Andy I’m telling you, they’re not here. You’re about to lose your family and I’m here to help.”

“How when I can’t even see you? And what are you? My guardian angel or something?”

“No, and with that attitude I’m glad I’m not,” the voice replies making him glare at the ceiling. “They’re only called for life or death situations. I’m just your standard spirit guide.”

“This is clearly a stress dream,” he mumbles to himself beginning to pace the floor. “I haven’t slept well for pretty much the whole year and now it’s getting to me. Yea that’s it.”

“Alright I see you’re just set on being difficult, so let’s begin.” Mouth set with his reply, the words immediately escape him being whisked through what felt like a tornado. Wind taking his breath as he tried to scream until his feet were back on the ground.

“What..t-the hell..was that?!,” he asks clutching his chest trying to regain his normal breathing and heart rate.

“Us traveling through time. Now hush and pay attention.” It finally registers that he’s outside his home partially decorated with Christmas lights and figurines. The ladder securely placed against the house as past him stapled the string of lights just above the gutters.

“This was years ago. Our first time decorating the house,” Andy softly smiles watching his former self carefully climb the ladder to stand on the roof instead. “Y/N said I was overdoing it, but I wanted everything to be perfect for-,”

“Let’s go check on daddy yea?,” he hears past you say to a then one-year-old Marlow tightly bundled in your arms as you walk out the front door. “Andrew Stephen Barber? Please tell me you’re still alive.”

“I am honey,” he chuckles pausing to look down at you. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

“Accidents happen. Did you know the holidays are the busiest time of year for hospitals?”

“I did not.”

“Well they are. So please be careful and refrain from making me a widowed, single mother anytime soon.”

“I promise you I’ll make it back inside, just like I promised my busy bee she’d have her own, personal Christmas Wonderland. Yes I did,” he coos down at the giggling, wide eyed little girl. “And daddy always keeps his promises.”

“Aww,” the spirit states from overhead. “What happened to you Andrew?”

“What do you mean? I’m still that guy.”

“Rigghhtt. And who was on the roof this year? And last year?”

“Alright, I’ve been busy,” he admits scratching the back of his neck. “This is a huge case that’s taken longer than expected so I haven’t had time like back then. That Christmas was during a…kinda dead period. Before my DA campaign. Then my ultimate acceptance. Things won’t always be like they are now though.”

“Yea, long as you get your priorities straight.”

He scoffs, “My priorities are straight.”

The winds of the tornado gather and build again, causing Andy to tense and brace for how his body would be tossed from here to there. It’s much smoother this time though, and he feels like he’s simply floating in the clouds before being gently placed on a carpeted floor.

“Hey, I uh think I’m getting used to-wait…could you have done that the first time?!”

“…you really need to relax before you give yourself an aneurysm Andrew.”

Rolling his eyes, he turns recognizing some pieces of furniture in the condo. His infamous chair he’s had since before he was married. That floor lamp he bought thinking it added sophistication to his place, but really didn’t look right with anything he had.

This wasn’t his old apartment though. He could tell from the pictures of Marlow on the bookcase and the impressive flatscreen mounted on his wall.

“Where are we?”

“The future. Since your priorities are so straight.”

A knock on the front door nearly has him moving to answer, if not for the startling shout of “coming!,” from the older man making his way down the hall.

Disheveled gray hair on his head and throughout his beard, he had to be in his mid to late 50s. Maybe early 60s even. He looked good for his age though, still able to move around well with arms and legs that still showed some of the strength from his youth. But the energy around him conveyed sadness. Flickers of loneliness and pain in the dull neutrals and silence throughout the modern residence.

“It..it’s me,” he whispers in shock sitting in the nearby barstool as he watches his older self finally open the door with you waiting on the other side. You still looked the same, just as beautiful as the day you first met and seeming to have only aged a couple years compared to him. Your eyes weren’t as bright though. No longer filled with that happiness usually there whenever you’d look at him.

“Andy,” you politely nod. “I um honestly didn’t expect you to be home.”

“Thought I’d take Christmas off for once.”

“I’ve been working Christmas all those years?,” he wonders to himself.

“Maybe even spend some time with busy bee,” he lightly chortles ushering you in before locking the door.

“She’s actually staying with her friends in LA this year. Last time we talked, she mentioned possibly making it for New Years, but knowing her she’ll probably just hang out there. Get some more work done with her internship.”

“Oh..r-right. Good for her,” he painfully smiles moving towards the kitchen.

“Plus you know holidays haven’t really been her thing since we-,”

“Yea I know. Not like I made things any better after either, always missing pick ups or our scheduled days together.”

“Yep..A1 priorities.” The spirit’s sarcastic tone doesn’t phase Andy, being more focused on the conversation in front of him.

“What’s that?,” he asks taking a break from making his PB&J to point the butterknife towards the bag in your hands.

“Oh, your Christmas present from me, Marlow, and Curtis.”

“Curtis? Who’s Curtis?”

“Dreamy blue eyes. Body of an Adonis. Bit rough around the edges but so incredibly sweet and caring-,”

“That’s not answering my question alleged spirit guide.”

“How’s he doing? Well both of you..y-you guys I mean,” he stutters going back to his sandwich.

“Good. He surprised me with a fire pit in the backyard and tickets to Fiji,” you softly smile.

“Hm,” he nods thoughtfully taking a bite.

“She always talked about wanting a fire pit in the back. Right off to the side far enough back that Marlie would have enough room to play without the risk of her getting hurt.”

“If only you were the one to get it for her,” the spirit tsk’s.

“Sure those tickets are to Fiji and not Fuji?”

“Andy don’t.”

“I’m just looking out for you,” he replies briefly holding up his hands. “Didn’t know a handyman’s salary allowed for exotic trips.”

“It does when he has his own business, and has had said business for a few years now. I swear it’s like you’re always trying to find something on him.”

“Because I barely know him! One minute it’s just you and Marlow, next thing I know you’re getting married and he’s moving in!”

“I tried to get you to meet him multiple times! But it was always the same, ‘I’m working.’ ‘Can’t I’m in a meeting.’ ‘Out of town with a witness.’ You just never wanted to meet him and, don’t pretend like it’s anything else.”

“Excuse me for not trusting some random guy to play father with my child!”

“Maybe he wouldn’t have to if you stepped up!,” you shout surely loud enough his neighbors would hear.

Andy himself felt that hit to his gut. Or maybe it was some joint reaction between him and his future self.

Sighing, you quickly wipe under your eyes catching any tears before they had a chance to fall. “Andy I didn’t come here to argue. It’s the holidays and-,”

“No I’m sorry. You’re right..I was a shit husband and turned into a shit father who only thought about the next case,” he humorlessly chuckles. “No wonder Marlow buries herself in work. Seems to not want anything to do with her family. She learned from her old man.”

“Why are you showing me this?,” Andy asks with a quick sniff; wiping away his own set of tears. He didn’t know when he started crying, but it seemed as if they’d never stop falling. “I’d never do that to them.”

“You’re already doing it Andrew. The late nights at the office and broken promises. If you continue down that path, this is your future.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Good, then fix it.”

-

Opening his eyes, he’s surrounded by the darkness of his home office making him breathe a sigh of relief as he sits upright on his couch. Your voice instructing Marlow to be careful when removing the cookies only causes his smile to widen, nearly slipping as he rushes towards the kitchen to see his favorite girls.

“Daddy!,” Marlow waves with her free hand. Her giggles and shrieks filling the two-story home as he picks her up to cover her face in kisses. “Beard tickles daddy!”

“I thought you were at work? You’ve been in the office this whole time?”

His only answer is to press his lips to yours with all the passion and love he’s neglected from you. Gently nipping at your bottom lip before going in for round two, you have to clutch his shirt to keep from buckling.

Marlow silently giggles occasionally peeking through her fingers covering her eyes.

“Y/N I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he sniffs pressing his forehead to yours. “For putting my job before our family. For treating both of you the way I did. I swear I’ll be better just please don’t give up on me.”

“I appreciate that Andy, but are you okay? You sound kinda mad baby.” His eyes sparkling and skin having a joyous glow, you hadn’t seen your husband like this in a long while.

“I’m good honey. So good,” he smiles pecking your lips once more. “And I’m home the rest of the month. No more case or late nights, it’s only you two.”

“You’re coming to the play daddy?!,” his daughter excitedly bounces in his arm.

“Yep! And tomorrow we gotta go pick out mama’s Christmas present,” he winks at you.

“Andy wait, can you do that? I mean of course we want you home, but-,”

“I’ll email Phillips and the rest of the team to let them know I need a break. They’ll be fine, plus the interns are there.”

“What if it’s not?”

“Then tough. It’s almost Christmas and I need to be with my family.”

You can only lovingly gaze at Andy as he talks more to Marlow about what all they can do during his break. The little girl growing more excited with every idea he suggests and you silently thankful for your Christmas miracle.

“What’s got you like this?,” you ask tightening your hold around his waist. Your chin propped on his firm chest with a giddy smile on your lips.

“A very needed wake up call,” he smiles pecking your nose before moving to the top of his baby girl’s head.

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[havin-fun-imagining-twd]

"fondness" LOL

When -- directly after Scary as a sleepy kitten. We're back to season 2, slowpokes. We had taken a brief trip to pre-season 9 for Still beating

Is there a picture of baby Carl at the end as a prize? -- yes, just as Dale describes it to you!

What -- Andrea and Dale thought you and Daryl were a thing? Lol. But like why are you so defensive about it? While also being defensive about the mangy hick, oh, this is confusing...

Perspective -- 2nd person (you)

Pronouns - nada

Who -- You, Andrea, Papa Dale, and Glenn. Daryl's sleeping, he's concussed and fell down a ridge twice with a bolt hole in him, he needs his rest.

How long is this one? -- shorter, about 10 minutes!

TWs -- a few cusses, and reference to Carol's spousal abuse

Reading assignments -- How's your head? Part 2, then souls stripped bare if you want more emotional context, as well as Invisible tugging strings Part 1 but especially -> Part 2 , then Spell your last name, please. , He hasn't been himself, and Scary as a sleepy kitten.

All that for reading assignments?? -- reading is healthy, y'all :P

Choose your fighter: The Full + Official Masterlist vs Chronological Slowpoke Chapters Only (reading them in publishing order as opposed to chronological order is recommended)

have fun and happy reading!

“Ah, the culprit behind Andrea’s little conclusion. How are you?”

Dale finishes matching a pair of socks as he responds with a quiet chuckle, “Just fine, I hope. I see now that the conclusion caused some…offense?”

“Don’t be silly, Mr. H, you meant nothin’ by it,” you play off, and start to help his sort through the pile of clean, dry socks.

“‘Meant nothing by it’ implying there was some offense taken.”

You tuck in your lip, and meant to return eye contact, but you’re still feeling strange about the whole mix-up. With the simple words, “nazi-bike,” you tell him what you consider a fair reason to have taken some offense.

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

20 minutes ago

“Y/N, I didn’t realize,” Andrea says, slowly walking beside you.

“Realize what?”

“You two.”

“Me, too? What’d I do?” Is she talking about how you’ve got the medical wrap on your upper arm, maybe? “Do you mean this?” you question, looking down at your shoulder.

She peers at you, head tilted to the side.

“You and Daryl,” she softly clarifies. “It was Dale who wondered first, after you had to excuse yourself.”

Me and Daryl? “What’d we do?” Perhaps she's referring to the search today? Andrea isn’t one to not speak her mind, you wonder why she’s not being more succinct. She doesn't know about you having shot that guy. Dale has an idea, but he's tight-lipped about it.

“So, you and he…?” she trails off.

?

So, you start to fill her in about the search. “Before Daryl found the doll, we’d—”

—OH WAIT, now you get it!

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

Once you figured it out, your hands were raised in innocence and you kept your voice lowwww. “Ain’t nothing romantic happened between us two.”

And you weren’t fully sure why you were going into defensive mode so hard, either, but there you went. “C’mon, Andy, there’s a fuckin’ nazi symbol on his drug dealing, motorcycle gang bike,” you’d grit, doing your best to play if cool regardless of how weirdly defensive you’d gotten.

Forcing a smile to cover up for that fact that you licked your teeth in annoyance, you finished up, “He’s my friend, but that right there would be a deal breaker off the bat for aught else. And besides, back at the quarry, we noticed he didn’t seem into people.”

“I’m not entirely sold on that. Maybe, it’s simply that he’s shy and careful and not a pig like his brother was.”

Andrea then had peered at you as if she could see something you couldn’t, which disturbed and annoyed and for some reason thrilled you even more.

You thought about it, and supposed that he did seem to blush that time Amy was headlighting after the first rainstorm at the camp. A squall had come out of nowhere. Last time she ever wore that shirt without a tank top underneath.

Anyway, Daryl had immediately turned his head away, in fact, as opposed to (Merle, obviously, but also) even Glenn, who’d frozen when he’d seen. Amy didn’t know who’d been gaping, but you’d been on the hunt for anyone objectifying your new friend, so had been darting your eyes around like a cat getting ready to pounce, and took inventory of every glance.

That Daryl turned his head so readily was the main reason you’d felt safe enough to ask if him if he’d teach you how to hunt, in all honesty…

“It was his brother’s bike, not his,” Andrea next stated, very like the way older siblings will talk down to younger ones. “Merle was the head, and the dealer. Would you want to be held accountable for what your brother does, his choices?”

That simple reminder made your bow your head, and you could hear your pulse begin to thrum in your ears. You wouldn’t want to be held to Shane’s choices and actions. You still couldn’t (can’t) wrap your head around the fact that he’d just flirted with Lori. And kept flirting after she’d clearly been alarmed by it.

“Something Merle once said made it sound like Daryl wasn’t a big part of the gang,” Andy went on.

However, you got even more defensive at what you were taking as insistence of Dale and Andrea’s little conclusion. “And? He still rode or, or at least hung with them. He still wears the cut sometimes.” 'Sometimes' meaning that spate of a few days when he was particularly sad about Merle...

“‘Cut?’” she repeated, then remembered, “Oh, I remember learning that from Sons of Anarchy, it’s the um, that’s the Boy Scout vest that bikers wear, right?”

Ha. You were cracking up despite yourself, that was funny. Boy Scout vest.

“As for the bike,” Andrea added mildly, “painting over that symbol isn’t on his radar. I mean, routine hygiene isn’t on his radar.”

Nope, you weren’t defensive at all. “…So he’s grimy and desensitized to a nazi symbol. It’s a match.”

With a tut very-like what your eldest sister would make, she stated, “I didn’t remember what the symbol on the bike stood for at first, and I'm a civil rights lawyer. I thought they were stylized lightning bolts.” You heard her breathe deeply as she rested her arms on the livestock fence. “The symbol, the one on Merle’s bike, what’s it mean again?”

“Shoots-stah-full.” You’re bad at pronouncing it and were feeling embarrassed, so spoke it shyly. “SS is easier to say.”

“They were the secret police?” she checked.

“The secret police was the gestapo, the SS were another sort of special branch. Über-jarheads, I guess.”

“See? I only really remembered the swastika as being a nazi symbol, until you and Dale were talking about the symbol on the bike. It’s not unreasonable to think some things in Daryl’s education were forgotten or missed, too.”

That was the point in the conversation when the private knowledge of him having gotten lost for 9 days, as a young child, and without anyone looking for him, slapped you in the metaphorical face. The vivid, awful, and oh-so-fresh memory of seeing his scarred back punched you in the metaphorical gut.

Why did you react so strongly to her assumption in the first place? It’s not a big deal. You’d have probably assumed the same. Like, for goodness sake, you were the one who couldn’t keep the pet names for him from going on parade little over an hour ago. You'd cupped his cheek and kissed his forehead in relief that he was alive!

Either way, there was a (…sane?) inner battle in your head between being offended at Andrea and Dale’s conclusion versus being offended at your own negative reaction to it.

Bitch, he tossed the ‘hard stuff’ this morning, obviously he isn’t a user.

Still ran with the dealers, still was complacent and complicit with it all. And think about how cruelly he insulted you earlier today, how scary he was? You were expecting it to turn into his backhand. It’s something that was plainly done to him, you think he’s unlearned that yet? No, because you remembered how he grabbed you by your arm and dragged you back at the house until you cussed him out.

But then he apologized. Then, when you needed help, he carried you gently and made sure it wasn’t hurting you. You saw how careful he was being, and he isn’t good with touch.

Then he stole Mr. Greene’s horse instead of just asking like a normal person.

He also gave Carol that flower and told her the story to go with it, and meant it.

Before drinking about four beers last night and was hardly buzzed from it.

He carried, buried, and mourned that family of strangers with you today, he’s not some selfish deadbeat, Y/N!

Well, he chain smokes and drives a nazi bike!

And still almost died today three times to give the group—to give Carol—concrete proof that her baby girl’s been near.

Fine! Explain away the r-a-c-i-s-m.

That mangy hick saved Glenn’s life, he saved T-Dog’s life twice. He gave Jacqui extra root beer when she said she loved it, helped the Morales kids learn to throw a punch (and a kick). Y/N, he’s clearly doing some kind of weeding of the bad stuff in him and letting good things take their place, idiot, are you stu—

“Y/N. It wasn’t an attack on you, or a judgment. Amy told me how,” Andy paused to think of a good verb, “discerning you are when it comes to things like that. How strong your boundaries are. And how hesitant you’ve been to enter into a relationship for those reasons.”

She was diplomatic and tactful, you were grateful. You’d have just said ‘old-fashioned, kinda scared, comparatively prudish.’ Lol.

Crossing her arms as she walked, she then drove home, “Maybe I would have trusted your decision, if there was a ‘you two.’”

A slightly stammered “Okay,” was the best you could do right in terms of responding. Let’s be real, sentences aren’t your strong suit on a good day, never mind today.

Andrea stuck her hands into her belt loops and she ambled alongside the fence. You followed, looking out at the cows. One of them had twin calves.

“You gave him the benefit of the doubt before any of us,” she reminded you. “Are you backtracking?”

Your voice cracked when you tried to insist, “I ain’t backtracking on that, it’s j-just been a long day.”

“It’s been something else,” Andrea softly agreed. Her pace slowed a little and she placed her hand on your back as she continued toward the nearest cow field. “I saw Carol washing your stuff. Where’d the bloodstains come from?”

You shrugged. “My stitches ripped.” Ohh damn it, you said it out loud. “Wait, Andy, don’t—please don’t let Shane find out,” came out of your mouth in such a desperate tone of voice that you couldn’t not see a red flag.

“Oh, I won’t.” Andrea’s lips pursed, and she put a hand on her hip. “He’s been acting up.”

One word for it. You closed your eyes, and mumbled, “Thank you. He has been.”

“It doesn’t seem like you to hide stuff from him.”

Hide stuff? “No, it’s the…” After inwardly tugging the halyard to get that red flag down, you give up. Let it fly; you were hiding stuff from your brother, plain fact. Still are. For now, at least.

Andrea said nothing more about it. Again, you were grateful. You also felt stupid.

You stood there in silence for a few minutes, listening to the breeze, the mooing, the birds chirping, the cicadas buzzing.

Once the sun was halfway set, she lead the way back.

“At any rate, back to what we were discussing,” she relaxed her position and gave you something of a teasing smirk. “T-Dog is convinced Daryl’s a good guy, too, so what does that tell you?”

“That Teddy’s a saint,” you answered quietly, mouth twisting into an embarrassed grin. You may or may not sometimes remind her of what a catch you think T-Dog is combined with the fact that he’s single and in her age range. “Andy, where was all this goin’?”

“I have no idea, at first I thought I was being supportive,” she chuckled. “I guess: Daryl is proving to be a different man than we thought. And I’d say you know that better than anyone here.” She inhaled, then made a slight groan. “And, well, I did just shoot him, so maybe I’m biased.”

You held back a giggle. “So you’re tryin’ to set Daryl up to make amends?”

“Mmhm,” she sassed back. “Guess I’ll need a more willing victim.”

“Understood, let’s find Carol, she's half in love with him after today.”

“Perfect, let's get her. She’s probably hanging laundry,” was her initial sarcastic agreement. After a few steps in silence, she grew serious. “Carol needs to learn her worth before we can let a man near near her again. Especially one like Daryl.”

The first half of her statement sent you in for a hug. But the second sentence in her statement put you right back on defense and simultaneous offense. What came out of your mouth as you sought clarification, however, was unproductive. “Seriously?”

Per usual, Andrea remained unruffled. She held a hand up. “Based on what I know, your bar is high enough to do pull-ups on. Now, you’d help hoist someone up to your bar—and would kick off anyone who tried to lower it.” She gave you a pointed look. “Carol’s bar wasn’t only low, Y/N, it was taken down and used to beat her.”

The mental image struck right in the gut.

Blindly, you followed her past the grove of trees where Otis’ cairn lay, so offered a quick blessing in your head for him.

She turned back to look at you. “Do you understand where I was coming from, Y/N?”

You had to swallow some of the emotion down first. “I think so.”

“You and him, I’d be fine with, because your bar is set high and firm. It would imply good things about Daryl.”

After a sniff, you thanked her, that was a very generous compliment. And unfortunately, unable to not be a weirdo, you mumbled this dumb comment: “I can’t be hoistin’ nobody up until my darn shoulder is healed.”

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

Now

“The motorcycle was Merle’s,” Dale lightly defends. Same response as Andrea, but with more of an understanding tone of voice. He was raised Jewish and lost family during the Holocaust, you know that.

Still, why didn't he react with more gusto, then? You hum and end up matching a sock somewhat aggressively. Which is not a sentence you’d ever have imagined thinking.

“Y/N, you can’t fault the man for accepting his dead brother's gas-friendly, easily repairable and reliable mode-of-transport that can go places bigger vehicles cannot. Him being able to go ahead and scope out the roads has been a boon. The emotional connection to the bike in itself would be understandable.”

“Yes, sir.”

He sighs. “My first thought was one of…how to describe it, uh, it was an...” he considers for a moment. “I suppose the best word is ‘confidence’ in Daryl’s character, if you had taken a shine to him.”

“‘Taken a shine to him?’”

“You know, a fondness for each other.”

“A 'fondness?'”

“Though I suppose the camaraderie that you two have is a commendation for him in itself,” he went on, eyeing you with something of an exasperated look. Good humored, though.

You scratch your nose. “I think we all have some kind of camaraderie or, y’know, a ‘shine’ with him after today.” It would be impossible not to. “To be fair, I couldn’t stop callin’ him pet names earlier. There’ve been a lot of up and downs we’ve gone through together the past few days, I’m not lookin’ too deep into it.” And you were merely so relieved that he was alive after getting grazed by that bullet, which is why you pressed your forehead to his and gave it a kiss.

“And he was injured, a circumstance which tends to encourage terms of endearment,” he kindly agreed. “Nothing wrong with that, kiddo. And there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that he’s not so bad.”

Nodding, Dale points his finger after matching another sock. “For me, what solidified it was when he found out that T-Dog had the blood infection.” He pressed his thumb and pointer finger together. “The man immediately gave us those antibiotics, as well as some painkillers.”

The recollection of that blessed relief trickled from your belly down to your toes and fingertips. And hearing that it had been done ‘immediately’ sent a tightness to your throat. You swallowed.

“However, it was before that, at the quarry, when I really started to trust that the, uh,” he raised his brows, then grinned briefly. “That the ‘first impression’ wasn’t accurate in several ways. One, I imagine you will remember, it was a few days prior to the supply run to the city. The last supply run, as it were.”

You nod. You’d been barred from going due to an uptick in getting migraines the previous two-ish weeks. Must’ve been the barometric pressure or something.

“Daryl had been looking for you, found fresh tracks close to the campsite, if I recall.”

Just then, Glenn walks over with his mouth full of something—oh snap, he’s got a container of honey wheat pretzels. Yay!

He plunks it in the middle of you and Dale and begins to help with the sock-sorting and laundry folding.

Like a starving Dickensian orphan, you zero in on the pretzels and quickly stuff a few too many into your mouth. Glenn finds this very funny, cracks up, and now you’re trying not to snarf as you desperately try to chew and swallow.

“I gave half my supper away,” you do your best to enunciate as you crunch.

“Glad you’re doing better after passing out earlier.”

You press a finger to your lips and subtly shake your head, just in case your brother would somehow overhear it.

“Anyway,” Dale gets back to it, with a handful of the pretzels for his own, “after I explained to him that you were indisposed, he seemed irked, wandered off. Some time later, however, he came back to me with a sports drink in his hand, asking if you’d left your tent yet. It seems that he intended the beverage to go to you.”

The memory kicks in and, mid-motion and mid-chew, you stop reaching to grab the mate to the sock in your hand. Another sensation spreads through your belly, a nice but nervous one. Your eyes flit up at Dale, who paused to take a drink from his water bottle.

“I hadn’t seen you or Amy leave your tent at that point, so let him know,” he narrated, capping his bottle again. “Except, on his way back to his and Merle’s spot, he slowed and crouched to look under the truck. Then, he held out the bottle.” Dale next makes a chuckle that probably qualifies as a ‘guffaw,’ it’s a proper old man belly-laugh. “And to my quite vocal alarm, a skinny, pale little arm popped out from underneath and took it!”

The name “Gollum?” is the unfortunately first thing that enters into your head and, yes, you say it out loud…but it’s cool, because Glenn happens to say at the same time, “Like Sméagol.”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“Look who’s talking, dork,” he pokes right back.

“My mind went to the two children hiding behind the Ghost of Christmas Present’s cloak, personally,” Dale muses, then continues the story. “Daryl wandered off on his way after that, but, naturally, I hopped down from the RV to see who on earth was under there." He lifts a shoulder. "I bend down to see who but our young Carl! The boy had already drunk half the bottle, said he felt much better for having done so. It seems he’d felt sick before and crawled under the truck to escape from the sun.”

Daryl gave your Carl a gatorade, too, and said not a word about it.

Good Moses, just when you thought you’d tamped down any notion of irrational affectionate feelings toward that mangy hick...

“With that, little Luis came dragging Miranda over with a cup of water—Miranda had been watching the boys while Lori was out foraging for mushrooms, Eliza must have been with Sophia and Carol.” Another sip from his water bottle. “Mmm. Those mushrooms were a treat,” he said mainly to himself. "Y/N, he found you later and gave you the beverage before you washed up, if I'm not mistaken? He came by with another bottle, I directed him to the quarry lake after seeing you head down with a wash bucket."

You nod. Was it obvious that you flushed when he told you the story?

Because you feel flushed, and that’s with the cool breeze outside this evening. You fold a shirt. Some undies. Match another pair of socks…then you figure you should say something, you’ve been too quiet and Dale is looking at you expectantly. “C-Carl does have a way of, uh, slippin’ out of sight.”

“Like a hobbit.”

“Just like a hobbit, Glenn, the boy coulda burgled us blind.”

Your friend remains mock-serious. “He still might.”

“He’s a tricksy one.” And with that, you take more pretzels. Maybe if you feed the butterflies in there, they’ll get tired and nap. Or, if you stuff enough into your belly, there won’t be enough room for them to fly.

“Hey, saw Shane’s setting up his own tent,” your friend mentions.

“Mm. Privacy will be nice.” You kept your face and voice nonchalant, except for maybe searching a little too intently for the matching sock that was plainly in front of yo—owww, you reached too far with your bad arm.

When you found out from Lori last night about the new baby and who the biological father potentially might could be, it’d felt like the seed of dread that had taken root in you however many months back, regarding Shane, had blossomed.

Now, after you caught him flirting with a very unreceptive and visibly shaken Lori, it feels like the plant shot up and was now pushing against your insides. It’s a wonder the irrational butterflies in your stomach even have room.

“That sound good, Y/N?”

“Huh?”

Glenn nudges you with the side of his foot. “Can you join?”

“Join what?”

“I told you, head was in the clouds,” Dale commented, kindly razzing you.

“Jimmy and I are playing board games later, we want you to come. Beth will be there, too. And maybe Maggie? I-I don’t know…” His cheeks turn purple-red. “Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds real good. On the porch?”

“Yup.”

“Cool. I’ll be right in the house tonight, anyhow.”

“No way?”

“Way. Daryl needs overnight supervision, I think Carol might will be helping, too?”

Dale looks up from his lap. “Oh, did he enjoy the spam and eggs that she made for him?”

“Not sure, he was asleep last I knew.”

“Ah, that’s right, yes,” he remembered. “Well, maybe in that case she’ll have the pleasure of watching him eat and enjoy. I tell you, it smelled heavenly. She was very intent on making something special for him.”

The first half of what you said was totally innocuous, if maybe on the wishy-washy side.“Who could blame her? After today, she’s probably half in love with the guy.”

But then you followed it up with, “Who isn’t?” and you knew right then that you’d misspoken.

Dale’s made a point to keep his eyebrows level, as if that would help him hide his surprise and suppressed grin better.

But Glenn was under no such pretense, and your best friend dead-ass coughed his mouthful of pretzel.

“Dude—” you go to say.

He held up his hands after getting the pretzel bits off them. “I didn’t say anything.”

You held up yours, too. “I was bein’ objective.”

“Okay, Amy,” he said regarding your choice of word. Amy liked the word ‘objective.’

“Calling me that’s a compliment.”

“We are all objectively in love with Daryl?” he repeated. “Isn’t that a little…wait. Dude, are you saying you—”

“—It was hyperbole.”

“But you’re not, like, do you like him?”

“Now, Glenn,” Dale starts.

That surge of both self-defense that people would think you’d be into a grating racist or that one would be into you collided and was catalyzed with protectiveness against the poor man. That wonderful sumbitch has been on a solid redemption arc, let anybody try to deny it. “Define ‘like.’”

“Like like.”

“Bless your heart, no!” What is with people today? “However, I want you to think back over how he was when we done first met that mangy hick, to today, in terms of his behavior. Try and make like he ain’t grown. Don’t you love a good redemption arc?”

Glenn considered it. “Fair.”

The awful thought that Glenn might not believe you and might think less of you only worsens the mosh pit that is your stomach right now. “I’m gonna, um, g-go grab some of my stuff, bring it inside.”

“Wait, bumpkin, I wasn’t trying to, like—I meant it more as, um,” he can’t seem to get the wording right.

You’re making it worse, man. “Dude, it’s cool, you didn’t mean nothing by it.”

“But like—”

“—Glenn, I’ma start chargin’ a quarter for you using too many ‘likes’ per sentence.”

“Perfect, I’ll charge you for talking too hillbilly.”

Eh. You reckon admit you’ve been speaking a lot more twangy now than you had been at the quarry camp. There’d just been so many new people, you’d toned it down. Maybe being around more folk people who talk like you is why you’ve let it fly. “It’s a deal.”

“Good — you owe a quarter for saying ‘when we done first met’ Daryl,” he races to say.

“And you owe me one for how many likes you done sprinkled durin’ this here conversat—shoot! Did that count?”

“Yup.”

Dale, entertained by the looks of it, cuts in, “See, this is why I’ve been thinking that you two had a fondness for each other.”

“Aw, hear that, buttface?” you giggle, folding the last undershirt from the pile.

“Fondness.” He makes an exaggerated curious face and strokes what would be there if he had a mustache.

“You two expect me to believe there wasn’t fondness between you two?” Dale remarks with a bit of a tut thrown in.

“There still is, it’s just different now,” you insist. And immediately hop into gear to (gently) bust your friend’s balls. “Especially now that Glenny-boy here’s got his eye on a certain mystery lady.”

He’s right there with you. “And now that Y/N’s apparently hopelessly in love with Daryl.”

“There’s such fondness,” you barely manage to say without laughing, as much as it makes your newly stitched abdomen ache.

Dale sighs and throws back a gulp of his water as if it were something stronger. “Glenn, just tread lightly with the certain mystery lady, is all I ask. And Y/N, kiddo,” he looks at you. And winks? “I trust you completely with Daryl.”

“What?” Glenn protests, to which you just slap your leg and snicker “Ha!”

“If between you, there ever was a…” Dale pauses long enough for you to see the twinkle in his eye. “Fondness.”

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

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

And here's the picture from Dale's memory

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[krirebr]

I’m sending this out of pure spite since you killed Andy TWICE 😤

FUCK MARRY KILL (I guess cause she’s gotta follow the rules, guys they’re her rules she made them)

ADA Andy Barber, or canon Andy. After losing his son and leaving his wife, he finds you in the place he’d least expect. He decides to make the most of his second chance since they don’t come around very often, and is doting, loyal and fiercely protective.

SugarDaddy!Andy Barber, he takes care of all of your needs, and asks very little in return. He’s always lifting you up, and taking you to new and exciting places.

CEO!Andy Barber, as his PA you have had to learn this man inside and out. He rules his company with an iron fist, but only you get to see the soft side of him. He’ll often buy you something when you least expect it and is always aware of what’s going on in your life. One night after a few drinks you and the boss cross all the professional lines, and you both find out how much you mean to each other.

Also one of these characters is dark but I’m not telling you which until you respond

Chelsea! I can't think of a better denouement for my whole Krismas Party week than this rage-fueled FMK from you. 🤣 I've been saving it for just this moment. Alright, let's do this.

I'm fucking Sugar Daddy!Andy. Of course, I am. That's like the whole point of him. That and buying me shiny things. 😘

Ok, I actually had kind of a hard time choosing between these last two.

Ok, ok! I've stared at this long enough. I'm just going off instinct now! I'm marrying CEO!Andy! Who can resist the whole "only soft for me" thing?? And iron fists are hot. Yeah, I'm into him! Let's lock it down! Put a ring on it!

Alright, so that means I'm killing DA!Andy. No hard feelings, canon!Andy. Someone had to go.

Alright, Chelsea! Let me have it! Did I marry the dark one????? I'll be so disappointed if I killed him. 😂