#anyways. time to search for all achievements! bye-bye

[rosy-eyedsweetpea]

Just played “In Stars and Time” and, well, I hadn’t sobbed like this in years! Only OMORI got me sobbing like this four years ago, and now, it’s ISAT’s time to shine in my hyperfixation list.

I won’t stop thinking about this game for years to come. This game will influence everything I do, the way I think, the way I act, even my morals; I can already see it because it has happened before!

Siffrin is just like me, to a concerning degree (if you take out the fantasy elements.) Act 5 made me sob in a way not even being at the hospital again can. I woke up my Mom with my sobbing, for stars’ sake!

Anyways, please, play it or watch a gameplay about it!!! It’s great!!!

[strawberrykake]

compassion never fails

notes: requested, dancer!reader doesn’t get into competition team, hq boyfriends comfort, angst, comfort, fluff,

warnings: none

oikawa, iwaizumi, bokuto, hinata || dancer!reader

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Oikawa ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳

as someone who never saw himself to nationals, he understands the frustration of working hard yet losing anyways

so when you start crying on his shoulder, he can't help but feel sympathetic, getting emotional himself

"this isn't the end [y/n].." he says, holding you close.

will do everything in his power to uplift your mood

"cmon, let's go get some frozen yogurt, yeah? My treat." he’d offer. “Celebrate all of your hard work. I know you did.”

you take his hand, making him happily chirp

he pulls out his earbuds connected to his phone, handing you one side to listen along to the music

as you both walked, hand in hand to the fro-yo shop nearby, he’d hum along to the music

sometimes lifting the hand holding yours to give a kiss on the back of your palm

and muttering i love you’s into your skin

little moments like these reminds you that at the end of the day, you’ll always return to him: your best achievement of all

you bet he feels the same way about you

just like how you find comfort in him, he finds comfort in you

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Iwaizumi ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳

he's astoUNDed bc you? are incredible at dancing, how is it even possible...

"it must suck...FOR THEM" bc he genuinely thinks they missed out on your talent

when he notices you getting all sad and mopey

he pulls you in a strong embrace

“let’s cuddle?” he requests, kissing the top of ur head

you nod, making the volleyball ace move you towards the couch

as you both hold onto each other’s embrace, relishing the calm silence your bf speaks up, making you open your eyes

“you know you’re incredible right?” He says, a dark pink shade forming on his cheeks at the sudden compliment towards you.

when you shrug, muttering an “I don’t know about that”, the shyness in his eyes are gone

now his solemn gaze is aimed towards you

“i’m serious,” he holds your chin up, making you turn back to him. “You’re absolutely amazing. I see the way you work hard, the way you’re always striving to be at your best. I wish I could even have half of the determination you possess.”

he kisses your (now pink) nose and heated cheeks. “I’m just lucky enough to date you.”

you remain silent, processing his words.

at this point, he could just call you his lil tomato based on how red you get when you’re around him

He finds it cute, pinching your cheeks.

“What? cat got your tongue?” he chuckles.

“Th-thanks, Haji,” you whisper.

“Always here for you. You know that.”

“I love you,” you say, before pulling him close to kiss him.

He chuckles, reciprocating your words under his breath as he presses his lips on yours

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Bokuto ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳

you were always there during his emotional moments

don’t think for a sec that he wouldn’t be there for yours either

he’s being extra caring and soft during these times with you

when you told him about your loss in joining the competitive dance team, he first shouted a loud: “What?!” making birds around him flock

you shush him, smiling at the odd stares (of fukurodani vb teammates lol) going your way

“Oh, sorry.” He makes a quick apology, lowering his voice. “Well, are you alright?”

His eyes search yours, looking for his answer.

“Honestly…?” you give a sad smile, shaking your head ‘no’.

He inhales deeply.

“Ok.” Is all he says, taking your hand and turning to his team.

“We’re going, guys! Bye-bye!” Your bf waves to them, running away with you.

“Babe, where are we going?” you ask, trying to catch up to his long strides.

“The arcade,” he says, walking over to his bike.

Arcade??

“S-suddenly?” you ask as he sits, patting the seat behind him for you to hop on.

“Hmm..” he pauses his thoughts, loosening his uniforms’ tie. “Yes.” He turns around and waits for you to get on the bike.

oh, what the heck.

and with that, you both take a ride to the arcade, your arms wrapping his waist, snuggling him as he talks about his day with you.

Bokuto has a way of clearing your mind from the mess that goes on in your life, he’s like the light at the end of a dark tunnel

It shows during times like this

And when he lets you win the first few games just to see you make the smug look on your face that he misses

—he ends up trying to win,,,yet you kept beating him—

you laugh as you watch him try to get the premium item from the claw machine for the sixth time

“Babe, if you’re not having fun, we could go,” you pat his back, as he presses his face against the glass box.

He stops mid-game to face you. “Are you having fun?” His expression changes.

“Oh,” surprised by his abrupt change in demeanor, you look down, blushing. “Yeah.”

He smiles, chuckling. “Then, thats all that matters!”

“But that’s because I’m with you, Ko,” you say sheepishly. “I always have fun when I’m with you.”

You’ve never seen Bokuto blush so much.

“A-alright then! Let’s get out of here,” he takes your hand, face still hot , making you giggle.

You spend the rest of the day with him, just having the time of your lives glad to have each other.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Hinata ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳

“you didn’t make it in?” he asks with a saddened look when you tell him about not getting into the competitive dance team.

bc all of your dreams are his too

it only crushes his heart more to see your disheartening gaze

“Sorry, this is so uncool,” you say, wiping tears away, embarrassed by your crying

“Despite everything, you still manage to be the most coolest person I know,” he wipes your tears away, moving close to you.

Once again Hinata goes on and on, babbling abt how he admires you

All without realizing the flustered mess you are because it’s just in his nature to unabashedly spit compliments,admiring another’s strengths, and praising them

If it were someone else, you would’ve thought they were just saying it to make you feel better

But knowing Hinata, he’s super expressive with his thoughts

You’d be able to know when he’s lying because he’s easy to read, like a book

That’s what makes you so flustered as he went on and on about your skillset

His eyes would wonder off into the distance, bringing up the cool moves you’d do, as if visualizing it in his head as he smiles, amazed

“Y-you’re just really, cool!” he stutters in his sentence when he realizes he’s been chatting for so long.

His eyes shift back to yours and he notices your crimson face, tears pricking

“Th-thank you, Shoyo,” you sniff. “I think you’re really awesome, too.”

He smiles, pulling you in a hug.

“Don’t you worry, [y/n]. I believe you can get through this,” the redhead murmurs into your shoulder as he places a kiss on it.

“You always do.”

His words make your heart skip a bit.

He pulls back to give you a huge grin, dimples appearing under his eyes.

You lean up to kiss them, making him giggle.

He’s the literal sunshine on your cloudy days.

[cinnamon-roll-seth]

Not Good For You || JJ Maybank

Your disapproving father gets into JJ’s head and leads him to believe that he isn’t good enough for you. JJ, believing your father’s words, tries to end things but you’re not giving up without a fight.

You watch in disbelief as a handcuffed JJ gets shoved into the back of the police truck. Kiara stands next to you, equally as shocked, while Pope stands across from the two of you, next to his dad. The three of you watch helplessly as Shoupe gets in the truck and drives away.

Pope starts anxiously walking around grabbing at his hat and then suddenly takes it off and chucks it at the ground, “Shit!” He yells before storming off.

“Pope? Pope!” His dad calls before running after him.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,” You mutter over and over, digging your hands in your hair, “Why the fuck did he do that?! He knew damn well it wasn’t him who sank that stupid boat!”

“Because it’s JJ,” Kiara replies, “Of course he’d take the blame for Pope, he’s selfless like that. He’s always protecting his friends.”

You sigh, “Well sometimes I hate him for it. God he’s probably freaking out right now.”

“Hey, I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s tough.” Kie assures you softly and you nod.

“I sure hope so. Hey I should probably get home, it’s only a matter of time before my dad finds out and if I’m not close by he’ll have a fit.” She nods, knowing how your dad is, and the two of you say your goodbyes before you get into you car and drive the short way back to Figure Eight.

The thing about being a kook and dating a pogue is that everybody judges you. They all think that you’re making a mistake by dating JJ and that someday he’ll end up pulling you into whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into. It’s part of the reason why, although you live the kook lifestyle, you still prefer to hang out with the pogues. You’re kind of like a half kook/half pogue.

Your father, however, is probably the most angry about it. He would disapprove of anybody who isn’t rich, pogue or not, and the fact that JJ is always causing mischief makes it worse. He keeps tabs on your relationship, and JJ in general, like a hawk.

You cringe as you pull into the long driveway and sure enough your father is already standing on the front steps, arms crossed over his chest, “Where the hell have you been?”

“Oh, I’ve just been hanging out with Kiara,” You reply nonchalantly.

“Hanging out with Kiara? Don’t lie to me, I know you were with that dirty delinquent boyfriend of yours.”

“Don’t change the subject,” He warns angrily, “I heard he got arrested?! What the hell did he do this time?!”

“It’s none of your business Dad. Stay out of it.”

“I want you to stay away from that boy. I’ve said it a million times before and you don’t listen but I’m serious this time Y/N. End things with him.”

“Or what? What are you gonna do dad? Lock me in the house like a princess in a tower? You know what, I’m done talking about this right now.” You angrily walk over to the driver’s side of your car before climbing in and slamming the door.

“Where do you think you’re going? Y/N, I swear to god if you start that car you’re grounded.” You ignore him and start the car before speeding away from the house, drowning out your father’s angry screaming.

As you pull into The Wreck’s parking lot for the second time that day you run a hand through your hair and sigh, “Fuck.”

“Hey what are you doing back? I thought you had to get home to Dadzilla?” Kie asks as you walk into the restraunt.

“Yeah well he decided he was going to yell at me as soon as I got there and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.” You shrug and sit down at the bar. She nods in understanding but doesn’t say anything else.

“Yeah?” She asks, not looking up from her cleaning.

“Could I maybe stay with you for a few days? Just until all this shit with JJ is sorted out. If I go home my dad is gonna be all up my ass about it.”

“Of course Y/N, you know you’re always welcome at my house.” You smile, silently thanking her, and patiently wait until she’s done cleaning before you both head back to her house.

{The Next Night}

“Just so you know, if you weren’t going to be there I definitely wouldn’t be going to this stupid party.” You tell Kiara as the two of you stare at yourselves in her mirror.

“Oh I know. If it wasn’t for my mom making me I wouldn’t be going to this stupid party either,” She laughs as her mom pops her head into the room.

“You girls almost ready?”

“Yeah we’ll be down in a minute,” Kiara replies and her Mom nods before leaving once more.

Kie sighs and turns to you, “You ready for this?”

You shrug, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

When you get there the place is already crawling with kooks and the two of you are quick to split from her family and go find Pope. Although he’s not a kook so he isn’t actually a part of the club his dad always caters and Pope usually tags along to help.

You keep a close eye on the crowd, ready to split if you see your father. Finally you spot Pope standing off to the side with his Dad and rush over to greet him.

After a while of watching and making fun of the kooks you turn towards Pope, “Hey, have you heard from JJ?”

“No, you guys?” He asks and you and Kie shake your heads.

“No. He’ll be alright though, he has the survival instincts of a cockroach.” Kie answers.

He sighs, “It’s all my fault.”

“No it’s not Pope, you didn’t do anything wrong.” You assure him.

“Topper almost killed you, remember?” He doesn’t respond as the Camerons’ arrival steals everyone’s attention.

As the night goes on and it begins to get dark the three of you continue to stand aside watching the kooks dance and laugh and live their lives. You continue to keep an eye out for your father, thankfully the closest thing you get to spotting him is catching a five second glimpse of your little brother dancing with some little girl from his second grade class.

At some point you excuse myself to go to the bathroom and push through the crowd into the club.

Unbeknownst to you JJ is outside searching for Sarah after a short run-in with Pope. Finding Sarah and giving her John B’s note was at the top of his list but after that his main focus was going to be finding you. He finally spots Sarah when a hand roughly wraps around his arm and drags him away from the chaos.

“Dude what the hell?!” He yells as he’s dragged away to a little nook in the porch, away from the crowd. The assailant releases the death grip they have on JJ’s upper arm and practically throws the boy forward in front of them.

He stumbles a little before regaining his balance and turning to see Y/N’s dad standing in front of him looking quite angry.

“Oh hey Mr. Y/L/N. What, did you want to do a little future son-in-law and father-in-law bonding? You could’ve just asked, no need to be so rough.” He says sarcastically.

“Cut the shit kid. Look, I don’t like you, you’re dirty and rotten and you’re not good for my daughter. Now I’ve told her to end it but clearly she has other ideas so I’m going to tell you instead. You need to end things between the two of you and move on, and after that stay a far distance away.” Your father spits in a warning tone.

“And what will you do if I don’t?” JJ questions tauntingly, “I mean, my apologies sir, but that’s not going to happen. I love your daughter and I’ll never leave her.”

“You know, despite hanging around you and your delinquent friends, who probably have no hopes or goals for the future and will probably be stuck on The Cut barely scraping by to survive for the rest of your lives, she has aspirations. She wants to go somewhere in life, do things with her life. Things that you, a poor boy from the bad side of the island, who’s always getting into trouble, aren’t capable of doing. Now maybe being with you isn’t affecting her right now but someday soon you will get into trouble that is so deep that you will drag my daughter down with you and everything she wants for her future, everything she’s worked towards and done to achieve her goals, will be thrown out the window.” JJ stays silent, playing your father’s words over in his head as the older man continues, “Don’t ruin her life. End it before she pays the price for your mistakes.” And with that he turns and walks away.

“Yeah, um, no. I stayed at Kiara’s, I’m gonna be sleeping there for a few days.” You answer, tugging at your dress.

“Honey please. Come home with us later, your father and I were worried about you. He told me about your little argument and about you storming off. That wasn’t very respectful Y/N, I thought we taught you better than that.” You laugh in disbelief, shaking your head at her words.

“Did he forget to tell you how he practically threatened me to break up with JJ? How he was the one who started the whole thing in the first place? Of course not and it’s not like you would care anyway because you don’t like JJ either.”

“When did I ever say that? JJ is a nice kid he just...” She trails off and you scoff.

“Y/N, please.” She pleads and you turn around and wave.

“Bye Mom, I’ll see you in a few days when you two decide to stop judging somebody based on their social status and the amount of money they have in their bank account. Oh wait, that’ll never happen.” You reply angrily before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

You go outside, scanning to crowd to try and find Kiara, whom you finally spot standing a little ways further down the deck.

“Hey, you alright?” She asks, seeing your annoyed face.

“Yeah, just ran into my mom in the bathroom. It’s fine, she was just being a bitch about the fight with my dad. Blaming it on me like always.” You shrug, turning towards the crowd until the door opens behind you and a familiar voice comes out of it.

You turn around, eyes widening as you watch JJ get pulled outside by the security guard, “Look man I can walk myself! I got legs. Can you see that, brother?”

He struggles against the guard, not even noticing Kie and yourself as he gets pulled past. He grabs a glass from an older man on the way, downing the alcohol inside of it. You cringe as he’s pulled through the crowd, causing a scene and turning all eyes towards him, including those of your father who still hasn’t spotted you.

“Let go of him!” Kiara yells and her parents rush to shush her as all the attention is on the two of you now, “You can’t just boot him!”

You and JJ lock eyes for a moment and you smile but he doesn’t return it and looks away instead. You frown, wondering how long he’s been out of jail and why he hadn’t contacted any of you sooner, and why he reacted that way when he saw you.

“I invited him here! I’m a member of this club!” Kie continues, shrugging off her parents who are desperately trying to get her to shut up.

JJ finally pushes off the guard and apologizes sarcastically before turning towards us, “Hey, mandatory power hour at Rixon’s, Kie, Y/N. Pope, you as well. Rixon’s Cove, lets go.”

Kiara ignores her parents protests and the two of you bolt after JJ and John B as they run away from the party, Pope in tow. The five of you don’t stop running until you’ve reached your destination. You try to talk to JJ but he pretends not to hear you and instead works with John B to start a fire so you sit on a log next to Kie instead.

When the fire is started you smile and pat the seat next to you, hoping he’ll sit there but he sits next to John B and you try to ignore the hurt you feel after. He hasn’t said one word to me, did I do something wrong?

You’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t even pay attention to the conversation until Kie nudges you slightly and leans in to whisper, “You okay?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah.” You answer, looking towards John B who’s standing in front of the group going on about the Royal Merchant and his findings about the gold.

At one point you and JJ lock eyes again but he looks away once again.

“All we need it an original survey map of the property and we’ve found the gold.” John B exclaims excitedly and you watch as JJ walks over and throws his arms around him.

You angrily stand up and stomp away from the fire, sick of JJ’s attitude towards you tonight. You don’t know what you did but you’re not going to sit around and let him act like you’re not even there.

“Y/N? Where are you going?” Kie calls but you ignore her, continuing to walk until you get to the beach and find a nice large rock to sit on, staring up at the moonlight. A few moments later you hear footsteps and feel somebody sit next to you but you don’t look over, you already know who it is.

“Can we talk?” He asks and you hum in response, not paying any attention until he asks again more insistently.

“Oh so you’ve finally decided to acknowledge my presence after ignoring me all night?” You don’t know what you expected him to say but what comes out of his mouth next is far from it.

“I don’t think we should be together anymore,” He replies softly. Your heartbeat quickens as you stare back at him with wide eyes.

“JJ, why would you say that?”

“I’m not good for you Y/N. You’re beautiful and rich and you have your whole life ahead of you. I’m just some poor troublemaker who isn’t going to make it anywhere in life. You’re so much better than me. You deserve better than me. I can’t believe it took me this long to see that.”

“That’s not true JJ. It doesn’t matter where you come from, you CAN make it places in life if you believe you can. I don’t want anybody else, I don’t care who they are or what they think they can give me. I only want you.”

“You’re a kook and I’m a pogue. We aren’t meant to be together. We were bound to crash and burn at some point so we may as well get it over with. It’s best that we move on and date people from our own sides of the island.” He refuses to look at you now, staring out into the ocean as you shake your head profusely.

“It doesn’t work that way JJ and you know it. We can’t just move on and love somebody else just because you and I come from different worlds. Romeo and Juliet, remember?” You cry, referring to the nicknames Kie and the boys used to call you two when you first started dating. Tears began to stream steadily down your cheeks.

“Romeo and Juliet both died Y/N!” He yells, raising his voice for the first time, “They were stupid enough to love each other even though they knew they shouldn’t and they ended up dead and if we stay together the same thing will happen to us, except it’ll be the death of everything you could accomplish in your life and I’ll be the one pulling the trigger. Eventually I’ll end up pulling you down to my level and all of your hopes and dreams will die and you’ll be no better than me, a stupid, useless pogue with no purpose.”

“Don’t say that about yourself. You’re so much more than that to me. You’re my best friend JJ, the love of my life. I don’t want to live a life without you.”

The boy doesn’t say anything for a moment as your father’s words from this evening play over in his head. Don’t ruin her life. She’d be better off without you. End it before she pays the price for your mistakes. Finally he sighs, “Well you don’t really have a choice.”

“What do you mean? JJ please, I don’t want to loose you.” You pleaded softly as tears rolled down your cheeks.

Seeing you in this much pain physically broke JJ as he felt his heart break. He always vowed never to hurt you but now here he was doing the very thing he promised not to do. But he couldn’t ruin you, pushing you away now would save you from more pain later.

He could tell that you weren’t giving up without a push and with that thought in mind he opened his mouth and let the biggest lie he’s ever told fall from his lips, “You already have.”

“JJ,” You whispered helplessly as you watched the boy you love so much stand up and turn towards you.

“It’s true. I’ve been falling out of love for weeks but you were too stupidly in love with me to notice.”

“You don’t mean that.” You shook your head as more tears fell, “You’re just saying that to push me away.”

“No, I’m not. You’re so clingy, always up my ass, it’s exhausting. I’ve been mustering up the courage to end things but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, you know? I didn’t want to tell you because I knew it would complicate things and make things awkward between everyone. I didn’t want it to get bad and make the others have to choose between us. I mean of course they’d choose me because I’m a pogue just like them but I didn’t want it to come to that point because I knew you’d have no friends then. You know I feel kind of bad for you actually. You’re so rich and privileged but yet none of the other rich kids like you so you resorted to being friends with pogues because you’re so pathetic that you can’t handle being alone.” With every word that came out of his mouth his heart broke more and more. Seeing the hurt on your face made him want to die. He opened his mouth to keep going but you stood up and held out your hand for him to stop.

“There’s no need to say anything else JJ, you made your point loud and clear.” Your voice was so quiet and broken that he could barely hear what you said, “I’m gonna go. Tell the others I’m sorry.”

As you turn and walk away JJ has to physically fight to urge to run to you and scoop you up into his arms and tell you that everything he’d just said was a lie. He wanted to apologize for all the vile things he’d just said and tell you how much he loves you but he didn’t.

As soon as you disappeared into the woods tears started to freely down his cheeks at a rate that they never had before as he angrily tugged at his hair, “Fuck!”

Thirty minutes later you stared up at the large house in front of you, debating about whether to go in. Tears stained your cheeks and you had to refrain from letting more loose as you replayed JJ’s harsh words in your head. You sighed and opened the large door, closing it behind you.

“Y/N? Is that you?” Your mother’s voice rang out as she appeared from the study.

“Where have you been?” Your father asked from behind her, “Off with your boyfriend again huh?”

“Dad I really don’t want to talk about it,” I reply softly, emotionally drained already, “I’m going up to bed. And he’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

Neither one of your parents responded as they watched you climb the elegant staircase towards your room.

PART TWO

Can y’all believe that JJ is so hot that he brought me out of Tumblr retirement? 🥵 for real though, it’s literally been years since I’ve posted a fanfic on this app but after watching Outer Banks and falling in love with this blonde idiot I was inspired. I literally spent like three days working on this too so I hope y’all like it lmao

[secret-engima]

School is currently planning to murder me through deadlines and like a respectable human being I decide to ignore it and go on tumblr. Would you mind sharing some non-angsty headcanons since I mostly see angsty ones now?

Ouch, sorry about the deadlines. *winces* and yeah I’ve been on an angst run but I can do non-angsty! Here lemme just break out a chapter 3 plot twist.

*inhales*

-So here Sondor is, wandering around Anima looking for his puppies, and this is after he saved Summer and possibly after he’s encountered Oobleck (definitely after weirding out Huntsman and civilians in general) when he hears sounds of Child Distress™ and, like any reasonable sentient Grimm who adores puppies, goes into Murder Mode™.

-One angry slaughtering of normal Grimm later and he is surprised because hello. He knows these pups! These aren’t “his” pups, because they died in the war before he got to really know them, but he recognizes their scent and he knows that Oscar Pup adored these two. Yes. It’s- oh what were their names. He can’t remember.

-He shall call them Flower Pup and Hammer Pup and by the moons they just disappeared where’d they go. Pups??? PUPS?????

-Oh wait he can smell them. He doesn’t have conventional eyes and his “sight” is reliant on Aura and sensing negativity (because fun fact I only learned/realized the other day was that unlike most Grimm SONDOR DOESN’T HAVE EYES), but he can still smell them and hear them pattering away. Pups get back here he needs to adopt you and take you back to Oscar Pup because that will make Oscar Pup happy.

-After reclaiming his pups and dealing with the requisite crying, escape attempts, wiggling, and ferocious but fruitless attempts to fight him off, Sondor is happily trekking through the wilderness again in his more bipedal mode, a child tucked in the crook of each arm.

-Nora and Ren, recent orphans and new best friends, are understandably having a ... very weird and stressful day. Not only are the orphans trying to get to another village on their own, but they were attacked by Grimm while Ren was tired and then they were saved BY a Grimm that attacked other Grimm, and when Ren mustered enough energy to use his Semblance one more time the Grimm got angrier and then FOUND them again somehow and now won’t let them go. And ... isn’t hurting them. Or killing them?

-Also this Grimm can talk.

-Nora adapts more quickly to this new information, particularly after the Grimm gets them food with his weirdly long, stretchy, “can pluck fruit out of high trees from the ground” arms. Ren takes longer, for obvious reasons, but escape attempts prove fruitless and this Grimma actually hasn’t harmed them and being scared all the time is exhausting so eventually Ren just achieves a childish sort of Zen about being kidnapped and doted on by a giant monster that talks.

-Sondor is pleased. His new pups are easily trained. Now he shall enforce the Laws of Bedtime. Even if it’s inconvenient to no longer be able to search for Oscar Pup day AND night.

-This is probably relatively close to Sondor figuring out that Oscar and the others must be on Sanus rather than Anima, so soon enough Nora and Ren get to fly to Sanus on Grimm Back but after he arrives in Sanus there is still some traveling to do and pups to train and also Huntsman to freak out because now not only is he an oddly calm, strange looking Grimm but he has TWO ACTUAL CHILDREN riding on his back like a glorified horse. CHILDREN ARE YOU OKAY?

-Nora, waving cheerfully as Sondor leaves any huntsman in the dust: HI BYE NICE SEEING YOU WOO-HOO!

-So anyway yes, Sondor brings Ren and Nora to Oscar when he finally finds them, which means our beloved ninja child and hammer-happy castle queen are going to be raised by one Roman Torchwick and his pack of time-travelers. The chaos is gonna be *real*. And hilarious. And fluffy. And also angsty but we aren’t here for that right now.

-Picture these two going to Beacon down the line (because they so will), and they are so excited, and Oscar has probably been a Mystery Wizard over the years enough that as soon as Nora sees Pyrrha she’s like HIIII NEW TEAMMATE IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU AT LONG LAST! :DDDD

-Ren: Nora no. We don’t know for *sure* who our teammates will be.

-Nora, holding a bemused Pyrrha by the shoulders: BUT LOOK AT HER. SHE’S PRETTY AND SWEET AND RED HAIRED. SHE’S PERFECT.

-Pyrrha: Um. Nice to meet you?

-On a side note Ren and Nora are low-key absolutely terrifying in this verse because they, despite being orphans and never touching a combat school, have had the most thorough combat training ever. Because no way is Roman (and Team MEOWN) letting these two go “legal” while unprepared. They can be Huntsmen if they really want, but they WILL know how to take down enemies human or grimm with nothing but paper cuts and toothpicks, let alone their weapons that are made of the finest metals he could steal for them.

-Ren and Nora getting to participate in the Emerald City circus as kids! It’s so much fun for them, they love it.

[fakeloveaskblog]

(Hi, me again. I’ve never played FNAF because I’m terrible with jump scares so I’ll take your word for my introduction being like Freddy Fazbear. I just say that because I have no idea how to start an ask so I use the same phrase every time, I’m glad it isn’t annoying. Anyway onto the ask.)

Hi Remus, the lawnmower ghost has returned. I have some ideas for presents you could give to Janus. The best gifts usually fall into one of two categories. Something that requires you to put thought into it, such as a book you know they have been wanting to get or something that requires time and effort, usually something homemade, like a drawing.

Alternatively one thing I often ask for in gifts (because I am the hardest person on the planet being in the void to buy gifts for.) is an experience, such as going to the park and buying ice cream or having lunch at a restaurant or watching a movie. In my personal opinion this is a good alternative if you are struggling to come up with a meaningful idea for a gift because experiences are often remembered more clearly than gifts unless the gift is particularly memorable, hence my previous statement about gifts that have a lot of thought or time and effort put into them.

I haven’t given many actual suggestions because I’m terrible at coming up with gift ideas but hopefully this did somewhat help, I wish you the best of luck in you search for the perfect gift (Disclaimer, the gift does not actually have to be perfect and attempting to achieve perfection is an unrealistic goal that will cause large amounts of stress.)

And have a fun fact. Did you know that It takes the death of 27,000 trees daily to make toilet paper for humans. That wasn’t such a fun fact in hindsight so I’ll try again. Did you know that horned lizards squirt blood from their eyes as a defense mechanism. There much better, have a nice day and remember to drink water and that you are worthy of love. Bye.

Remus had gotten a little excited and taken out one of the canvases that had been standing in the corner collecting dust for months now. He'd splatted the fake blood onto it. Tried different shades of it. It looked a bit like a very red very contorted very bloody shower right now.

"Hi lawnmover ghost! I'm creating! I'm like a demented god! I'm making a spooky shower since all showers are spooky! Very scary! You could trip and break your bones!! While NAKed!!"

He splashed some more color while listening to you. He'd gotten it all over his clothes.

"Wow I didn't know ghosts were also experts on gift giving. Very interesting. I still don't think anything made by me could even count as a gift. It would be like getting coal. I can't even get anyone to hire me for an art job....ehhh not that I've tried"

He wow-ed at you being in the void. He thought it was so cool he got the urge to use one of the canvases to paint a void.

"Oh I dunno about gifting an experience" He fiddled with his bloody shirt "I mean Jannie and I have already hung out at a bunch of different places. Maybe the gift would just feel like another annoying tuseday to him???.....I would enjoy going to hang out with Jannie as a gift...ugh that's so dorky of me"

He tapped his finger against his chin while wrinkling his forehead. He pouted a little just to himself. He dunked his head against the armseat of the couch behind him while letting out an annoyed groan.

You started to go on about the fun facts. Remus sighed and looked all sad to pity himself, even though he had been the one to make it so he was giving Janus a gift.

When you mentioned the lizard fact Remus' eyes suddenly went wide as he looked at you.

"It does WHAT!? That's so cool!!! I wanna fight people off by squirting blood from my face as well!!! OHOHOH! This is why reptiles really are the best animals!! They are so FUCKED UP!! I LOVE IT! I feel extreme kinship with these strange beasts!! I understand them! They understand me! This is why reptiles and Remy are actually the same! They understand me the same amount!!"

He jumped up on his feet and ran in place while flapping his arms around. He was about an inch away from stomping his drying painting to death

"I HAVE TO BUY A LIZARD!" Remus ran to grab his sister's second wallet (marked for him) he skid to a sudden stop "WAIT- You said water!" He ran to the kitchen and threw his head under the tap and gulped half a liter in before running to the wallet again. He'd forgotten he still had fake blood all over his clothes as he ran out of the apartment.

--

Half an hour later he ran back into the apartment with a 60 inch long snake around his shoulders.

"I BOUGHT A SNAKE INSTEAD!" He patted the snake on it's head "Her name is Carl!"

He sat Carl down on the couch and let it slither away to explore the apartment.

"I was gonna buy a lizard but then I remembered what Rowan tells me. I gotta think about M. E. D. S. before making drastic choices. Y'know my Mood/mental health. My Energy. My Dissociation/delusions. And my Spoons. And I dunno if I have enough energy to take care of a lizard full time. I can't take care of a child!!! Even if the child is scaled!! I'm not even 23 yet!! So I bought Carl- oh shit where's Carl"

Carl was trying to swallow an entire lamp. Remus picked her up and carried her back to the couch. He nuzzled his nose into her cold scales.

"So I bought Carl! For Janus!! I hope they will like her! They can rename her if they want to I guess. I hope it won't be like I'm throwing it onto them. I know they've been wanting a snake for a while. OHOHO maybe I could become the snake babysitter if Jannie ever goes on a trip or something"

Remus sunk further down into the couch. Carl wrapped around him as he let out a longing sigh. He fiddled with his thumbs and stared at the paint on the flesh decorations drying.

"Guess I'll just wait until the gathering and see if he likes it....just gotta wait....just a day or so..........wow waiting is horrible. Right Carl?"

Carl didn't respond because Carl was a snake.

[puckyess]

Love Her Like I Didn’t | Owen Lindmark

See if you can pick out which paragraph @penaltbox wrote! & In case y’all didn’t know, I hate angst.

** FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED **

Words: 1.9k

Owen leaned against his headboard with his head tilted up, staring at the ceiling. He wondered how he had gotten to this point and whether or not it was the right move to do what he was about to do. He switched apps to look at the photo once more, sucking in a breath just like he had the first time he’d seen the picture of you with your bright smile and his arms wrapped around your shoulders from behind. Sure, he’d assumed you’d move on from him eventually, to some douchebag guy who he could hate, but he’d never expected it to be with his teammate. He closed his eyes and tried to level his breathing out, feeling like he’d been sucker punched. It was a Friday night, they had a bye week, he should be out with the boys and not wallowing. And yet here he was, feeling like he had the first day of the breakup, if he could even call it that. Technically you two had never officially been together.

Shay was a good teammate and all, but Owen wasn’t sold on you not being with himself. Shay didn’t know you like he did. He’d buy you food and expect you to eat it, not knowing that you were picky as hell, but you also wouldn’t want to make him feel bad so you’d force yourself to eat it anyway. He wouldn’t appreciate the way you mumble, he’d just tell you to speak up instead. He wouldn’t think the baseline between your neck and face is beautiful the way Owen always did. Shay sees the many knots in your hair and thinks ‘my god she’s a mess’ whereas O would say ‘my god she’s perfect’. He’ll notice that you wear the same 5 tshirts and sweats and chirp you for it but Owen always loved it, especially when they were his. He should have told you it more often, too. Owen hates the thought of Shay getting to put his lips where O first let his own drift and explore across your soft skin. He doesn’t like that he won’t get to hear you singing all around the apartment anymore or in the car, which he adored even when it was off key. He’ll miss the playlists you always made and hearing you rap all the songs from middle school. He won’t hear Morgan Wallen the same again after all those times you belted the lyrics every chance you could. He won’t get to see you at 8am all grumpy over being up that early or grinning over a stack of pancakes at brunch. Shay won’t know where your scars came from or why it is that you flinch when he’ll spread his hand out on your stomach. How long will it take him to notice that you smile even when you need to break down because you’re always so strong for everyone? Owen can tell with one glance these days. Is he going to wipe the corner of your mouth or your shirt every time you two go out to eat? You’re clumsy, that was no secret, but Owen always just helped with a soft, ‘it’s okay, baby; it happens’. Owen hates the thought that one day Shay could know you that well, or worse, better than he does. You were his girl, his person. He could go on and on about things he doesn’t want Shay to know, ways he doesn’t want Shay understanding the real you. Every thought that rolls through his mind is like a knife twisting in his heart.

He’d done this to himself though. He told you from the beginning that he hadn’t wanted anything serious & you were fine with that, never really expecting to tie down a college hockey player turned future NHL’er anyway. He’d repeated the phrase every time he felt himself getting butterflies. The first time was when he was having a conversation with the boys in the middle of the bar and he’d known you’d just arrived because he instantly felt warm. Turning around, his intuition would be right. He was drawn to you and your presence. He’d say it when he was around the boys playing video games and you’d be in between his legs and he’d lose track of the game, watching you. He’d repeat it when his eyes searched for you in the hall after every home game and when he made it a point to call or FaceTime you on the way home from every roadie, even the bad ones. No, especially on the bad ones. And he’d really repeat it when he couldn’t sleep because you weren’t there curled up next to him. He’d repeat it to his mom and brothers and cousins and anyone who would listen because if he said it enough times, then maybe he would believe it.

You could tell things were getting to be different, a little more than just friends. The looks he’d give you, the nights you’d spend in each other’s arms just talking, and the amount of time you would spend together. But you didn’t push for more and he was appreciative of that.

The final straw had been when he’d drunkenly almost told you he loved you after you forced him to go out with his team. A decision they had regretted when they spent their night consoling him for you not being there, only made better by FaceTiming you. They delivered him back to you in one very drunken piece and he’d almost let it slip past his lips after you had washed his face, claiming he’d thank you for it in the morning, and tucked him into bed. He got as far as “I lo-“ and even in his drunken state, he could see what it did to you. How hopeful you’d looked. He’d gotten too comfortable and leading you on wasn’t fair. He was leaving soon and you were going to go back to your life, to achieve all of your goals and forget about him. He was doing this for you, or at least that’s what he kept telling himself. Never mind the fact that he’d let himself for a split second think about what he was feeling and how real and terrifying it was. He couldn’t give you what you deserved and he knew that. So he closed out of the picture and reopened his notes app, hoping that he could give some words of advice to his teammate so that he could. He didn’t even know where to begin; you deserved the world and then some.

Shay, I’m writing this because I need you to give Y/N the very best and if you can benefit from my fuck up then so be it. She doesn’t deserve to be broken again and though I know she’s strong enough to pick herself back up, she shouldn’t have to. Please love her the way I never showed her.

Don’t make her pick the restaurant, it stresses her out because she doesn’t want to choose something that you won’t be happy with.

She’s not herself when she’s hangry. She doesn’t know what she wants to eat and she doesn’t mean whatever insult she throws your way. Just make a list of her favorite foods and offer them to her, even if it’s all the way across town. You’ll thank me later. 

Let her control the music. The songs she picks will often be a sign of what she’s feeling. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a whole new side of her.

Don’t make fun of her singing, she’ll never sing for you again

Family is important to her, make sure you earn her mother’s respect 

Don’t let her go to bed without washing her face, no matter how many times she tells you she’s tired or it’s fine. It’s not fine, she’ll thank you the next day. 

Compliment her all the time, even when she doesn’t accept them. She really needs to get better at that

Take her out of her comfort zone every once in a while. She loves to try new things but rarely does so on her own 

She loves to have her hair played with, especially when she’s stressed or can’t fall asleep

Don’t make her feel second to hockey. Ever. 

Don’t make the age gap a big deal, because it’s not. 

Defend her especially when she’s not around. Don’t you dare let anyone speak bad on her name. She doesn’t deserve that. 

Talk hockey with her, she loves that but doesn’t want to bother you with that in case you’re tired of it 

Don’t entertain any of the girls that slide in your DMs. Don’t even like the picture. You can let her know or even show her your DMs but don’t rub it in her face either. 

Trust her. There will be other guys that try to steal her. She’s a catch, but you can’t let that get to your head. She’s loyal to a fault. 

She’s going to doubt herself, that’s just how it is. You just have to do everything in your power to let her know you only want her. 

Really let her get to know you. All your hockey stories, why you got into hockey, what that guy on the ice was saying. Not the bullshit “it started at a really young age “stuff either. She won’t judge you. Open up to her.

Chirp her. She can handle it. 

Treat her right, I mean it. Don’t fuck this up. She’s the best thing that will ever happen to you. I mean that. 

Tell her you love her. Say it 100 times over and say it with purpose. Tell her the second that you realize you love her. Don’t make her wait for it like I did. Don’t make her ever question whether or not you love her like I did. Don’t be too proud to say it because she deserves to hear it and I was stupid enough to think it didn’t mean anything, that it wasn’t a big deal and I lost her. Maybe this should be #1 but I didn’t want you to fucking forget it.

Finishing his list, he took another deep, steadying breath & lightly chuckled to himself. This was it. He was really giving his teammate advice on how to keep his girl. He cursed himself. This wasn’t about him and you weren’t his girl anymore. You deserved more and if this is what his part was now, then to hell with his own happiness.

His thumb hit send as he shared the list with Shay. He threw his phone across the room, his hands running through his hair and pulling in frustration, a pained groan falling from his lips. Minutes later his phone was playing Whiskey Glasses, your ringtone and your picture flashing across his screen. He hadn’t heard from you since your ”breakup”, much to his disappointment. He flew across the room to retrieve the phone and immediately picked up.

“Hello?” He answered breathless, craving the sound of your voice.

“What the hell, Owen?! You can’t just...what am I supposed to…” your voice was raw and you were at a loss for words besides the burning question in your mind. Even though you were terrified of the answer, you forced the question past your lips.

“Did you— Do you mean it?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line and your breath hitched in your throat.

“Ohmygod”, he said in realization. Putting you on speaker he opened his notes app and looked at who he’d shared the list with.

Shared with one person: “Y/N”.

[twinkleallnight]

Marshmallow

(Part-12) Hope

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC, Drake x Hana

For previous chapters: catch up here

Prompt 1: This fic is my submission for this week’s #WackyDrabbles. The prompt is appears in bold.

Prompt 2: This is a submission for choicesweeklychallenge. The prompt appears in bold.

Word count : 1916

Tags: @ao719 @aloneautumn @bebepac @charlotteg234 @choicesficwriterscreations @choiceskatie @cordonia-gothqueen @cordonianroyalty @sfb123 @drakewalker04 @gardeningourmet @gkittylove99 @glaimtruelovealways @kat-tia801 @hopefulmoonobject @hopelessromanticmonie @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @idontknowwhysblog @islandcrow @jovialyouthmusic @jaxsmutsuo @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @mrswalkers-blog @mom2000aggie @no-one-u-know @ntoraplayschoices @princessleac1 @ritachacha @speedyoperarascalparty @shanzay44 @texaskitten30 @queenrileyrose @sanchita012 @theroyalheirshadowhunter @wackydrabbles @xpandabeardontcarex @yourmajesty09

I get behind the wheels while Max is yelling something from his SUV. My phone buzzes right at the same moment. I roll down the glass to listen to him, and receive the phone call with my other hand.

“Hello!” says the sharp voice over phone.

“Livy?”

“Happy birthday…” her sound is drowned against the shout out from Max, “Happy birthday grumpy guy!” Hana and Riley laugh out loudly.

I give him a glare and roll the glass up and focus back on the call.

“Umm… thank you.”

“I see you are busy with someone.” She says with a sarcastic tone. “Since when did you start partying? Seems you are a changed man.”

“Look who's talking!” I sneer back.

“What do you mean?”

“At least I don't keep secrets.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Anyways, I think I should leave you with your commoner friends to enjoy. Bye.”

And just like that she drops the call.

“What the hell!” I shout at my phone.

Why did she call? To wish me or to irritate me? Why does she spoil everything! Damn! I was so happy, for once, but she had to call up and mess it all. I rev up the engine and hit the road with a surge of anger. I drive down to the Applewood manor and decide to call it a day.

-----------

Morning comes with a fresh start. The court and nobles are all busy celebrating the Apple blossom festival with their king and queen while I keep myself occupied by the stables. I check the horses selected for next day’s event -the foxhunt, where a mountain trail is to be covered on horse’s back. I know as soon as they conclude the festival in orchards, the excited nobles will turn to stables to tend to their rides for tomorrow. I want to make myself scarce before that.

I am about to leave when Riley visits the stables with Bertrand. She is the first one to come, as she doesn’t have a horse of her own. Liam follows them.

After exchanging pleasantries, we get to business of choosing her ride.

“I love horse riding but I have no idea how to choose the horse.” Riley says perturbed.

Liam takes the opportunity before Bertrand can reply. “Why don’t you let me do it instead?”

“That will be great!” Riley claps excitedly.

They both start looking at the unclaimed horses, and Bertrand tags along. I observe the couple keenly. They are so relaxed in each other’s company. Liam forgets all his worries around her, and Riley is like a live wire in his presence, full of energy and enthusiasm. I love to see them together. I wish…!

They turn around and Riley jumps up. “Hey Walker, I am not just borrowing, I am buying a horse.!”

“Really?” I look at Bertrand wide eyed.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Bertrand says in an annoyed tone, looking between Liam and Riley.

“ Congratulations!” I try to distract Bertrand.

I help Riley by checking Belle, the horse she selected. While Bertrand starts discussing official things with Liam, Riley is enraptured in narrating the events that she experienced at the festival. “You should have been there. We had such a good time. I was in Olivia’s team.”

I am busy inspecting Belle but I stiffen on mention of Livy’s name. I curse myself for the reaction. I need to get over the differences between us. I promise myself to act better next time.

Riley continues, “ We made an apple pie and you won’t believe our team won. I think our winning streak was Hana’s specially crafted roses on the crust. I tell you, that girl has so much talent!” I can see Riley’s eyes trying to find some reaction from me but I simply nod in agreement.

I pat Belle and give my approval to Riley.. “Here, all good to go!” They wrap up the deal, and we all walk out.

There are other nobles who pay visit. The stable boys help them out. There is nothing major, where my services are required. So, I take a stroll around the lush gardens of the manor. I have my plans to sit near the lake, my favourite hideout since childhood. But when I walk down to the edge of the gardens, my eyes fall on the figure who has seized my special place already.

She is lost in her thoughts, her eyes staring far away into the horizon, where the sky is pink and the golden ball of sun is about to drown itself into the unknown lands. The ebbs in the water are shining with the ochre reflections. Her calm form is adding into the serenity of the landscape. I stand there absorbing the beauty of nature for some time before I walk towards her, as much discreetly as I can.

“Hana!” I call out softly. I don’t want to disturb the tranquillity surrounding her.

She turns to look at me. Our eyes meet and she beams, “Marshmallow!” She stifles a laugh. Her teasing brings a smile on my face.

I rub the back of my neck, beaming at her. She moves making space next to her and pats her hand guiding me to sit beside her. We both sit there quietly, listening to each other’s breath, till she leaves a sigh, and shakes her head, as if disagreeing with her own thoughts.

“What is it Hana?” I ask with concern.

“I don’t know what to do. Since my childhood, I have been trained to be part of the court. Each class, each lesson was meant to place me at a higher pedestal in front of the nobles. This continuous struggle to achieve something, fulfilling their expectations” she purses her lips, “it’s tiring. I want to live a carefree life, where I live for myself. Where it is okay to make mistakes. Where I can build up a small house and fill it up with my desires to make it a home.”

“That’s a beautiful wish. What is it that’s stopping you?”

“My parents want to see me married to some noble.” She lowers her eyelashes avoiding eye contact with me. “I know they anticipate of something I can’t live up to.”

“It’s your life Hana, your parents should not be the ones making decisions for you.”

She gets up, frustrated, and takes few steps towards the waters. “That’s the whole problem.” She says. “The culture from where I come is very different. Its closed environment with families dominated by parents. It’s hard for me to explain that even if they pressurize me to do things, I still love them. I don’t want to hurt them. I want them to understand my choices.”

I walk up to her, and clasp her shoulders to turn her to me. Her usually peaceful eyes seem to be deep into some storm, piercing into mine, searching for the shores. Yet, it doesn’t falter my mind, instead it seems to be encouraging me to make stronger resolutions. “Take baby steps. Break your desires into tiny goals and try achieving one at a time.”

Her mind is still out on a wild chase as she rests her soft little palms on me. Her touch acts like a pacifier for my pacing heart. Her lips quiver to pour out the questions her eyes have stored. “How will I answer them? What will I say if they ask?”

“We will cross the bridge when we reach there.” I reply. I see the storm in her eyes calming down as the soothing honey colour dances in them again. She closes the distance between us. Her head rests on my chest and our arms embrace each other.

My eyes take in the view at the horizon. The pink of the sky has changed to purple. The waters are dark and the twilight sparkles over the lake. The storm that left her eyes suddenly is hitting the waves of my mind. 'We will cross the bridge… I said to her. Why did I promise myself into it? What am I doing? I am letting myself fall into valley of flowers, except that these flowers are going to be roses, roses with thorns. I don’t know how many wounds they will create before the eternal bliss.

“Thank you for being there for me.” Her mellow tone creates another smooth wave, overpowering my self-destructive thoughts. ‘We WILL cross the bridge…' a voice inside me resonates.

We start walking back to the manor. “Ready for tomorrow’s hunt?” I ask her.

“Yes. It’s going to be fun. I can practice my dressage.”

“You have a training in horse-riding?” I stop in my tracks and turn to her, wide eyed.

“Yes. Why are you so shocked?” She says in a casual manner.

“You never cease to amaze me.” I shake my head and start walking again. “It’s definitely going to be fun tomorrow.”

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

We start early morning with the trail. There is a long line of nobles trotting on their horses across the countryside. Liam is up ahead with the king, while I am at the tail end of the group with Max. We are talking about the turn of events since our new york trip just before the social season.

“What made you take that instant decision of sponsoring Riley for the social season?” I ask Max.

“Have you ever seen Liam so happy? Have you observed the way he looks at her?”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same the other day.”

“It was this look, that made me take the decision.” He confirms as our eyes gaze at Riley riding beside Hana at a distance ahead of us.

I have another question in my mind, and ask,“What is wrong with Bertrand though?” I remember his annoyance at the stable a day ago. “He is so serious nowadays.”

“House Beaumont is juggling a bit with some financial matters and since father left, Bertrand has taken it up as his sole responsibility to keep up the name.” Max's expressions brighten up, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing much. Lord Maxwell is here for the rescue.” He strikes a knight pose riding his horse.

We laugh it out. Max makes sure to keep everything cool and under control, always. A quality, I admire.

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

“You are not the one to lose. What’s the secret?”

We have covered mountain trail, and reached the tiny village. Hana did not fail to impress with her horseback skills. But when the king announced the horseback race at the last leg for the suitors, Hana finished second.

Throughout the trail she has been either with Riley or Penelope or Kiara, and now finally I get a chance to talk to her. That is when I ask her.

“You noticed.” She smiles. “I would be sitting with the prince for the dinner had I won.”

“So?”

“So, who would have given our poor little marshmallow a company?” she pouts her lips.

I know I am grinning, ear to ear, with that comment. “Thank you Lady Hana for giving me the honour!”

We sit down for the feast. My friend’s all around me. Riley and Liam making me believe that there will be that one person in your life who will make a difference. Max, bringing the best out of worst and Hana, my new person, making me realise that not all is lost when there is still one thing that keeps us going – hope.

[justanotherwriter-fangirl]

Handle It (K. S.)

Words: around 2k words

Warnings: A little bit of hostage/kidnap situation, some blood and injuries but nothing serious.

A/N: Hello everyone! I’m so excited because I feel like I’m really back on track writing, also this is my first Kelly Severide one shot and I got so carried away that I really can’t believe I wrote so much, so I hope you really like it and enjoy it. As always, requests are open and if you have some feedback I’d really appreciate it <3

Gif obtained from Google. All credits to its owner.

Thanks for reading _______________________ Being a detective wasn´t always easy but you loved it, ever since Hank Voight received you on the Intelligence Unit you have been the happiest you could ever be with your career, it was a great honor.

Unfortunately, your boyfriend didn’t see it the same way, “it’s very dangerous” was Kelly’s favorite reason to constantly check up on you, at first it was nice, you even thought it was sweet but now it just made you want to roll your eyes, he was a fire fighter for god’s sake, it was as dangerous as your job but of course he wouldn’t accept it, in his eyes a fire was nothing compared to a bullet. 

You loved him, you really did, but he needed to stop with all the overprotectiveness, you were trained to do your job, you could handle it and by now his constant calls were starting to be a problem, interrupting you at the worst possible moments because he had the perfect timing to call you when you were interrogating a suspect or working an undercover case.

The situation overall was making you very tense, especially because you could feel the penetrating look of your boss every time your phone ringed.

It was Tuesday morning and your week was getting already very difficult, a girl had been kidnapped and you knew time was the most important thing in this type of cases, the abduction had been reported barely 8 hours ago but you needed to hurry and so far you didn’t have any clues about her whereabouts.

While you were going over some papers regarding her parent’s statements a theory crossed your mind, his dad, a very important Chicago’s business man, had been preparing the inauguration of a new building, unfortunately he had to delay it because he realized the head of the construction team had been robbing him and just to be safe he fired everyone involved, leaving hundreds of persons without a job. It had to be one of them, angry for loosing their job and ready to take revenge.7

“I have something” you said out loud from your desk while standing up “Mr. Jackson said last night that he was with his lawyer while the abduction was taking place, that he had been receiving some anonymous threats but he never said why, right?”

“That’s right, he said that being as successful as him wasn’t something you achieved without making some people unhappy” commented Adam, now all eyes on you.

“Exactly, but if that’s so he has been receiving threats for years and nothing had ever happened, what changed now? The people he made unhappy this time” you could see the engines starting to spin in the team’s heads, how could you have not thought about this before? “In the past, all his victims were people like him, businessmen who ended up being con for trusting him too much, but at the end of the day, this people could live with their lost because they were rich anyway and they all had fancy lawyers to make something about it, but now he fired a bunch of construction employees, people who really needed the job to sustain their families, one of them probably snapped so all we need to do is find who can lose the most because of this”

After that, all happened in a blur, the time was running out and you needed to find the kidnapper before things got worse. 

Couple hours later Jay had found a man whose daughter was sick and required a very expensive treatment, the money from the construction contract was going to be almost enough to cover most of it, for the size of the job, but after they all got fired, he hadn’t been able to find a job who could even come close to cover the medical expenses, the man was desperate and desperate people do desperate things.

You were on Jay’s car on the way to the suspect’s house when your phone started to ring, letting out a sigh you picked it up without even looking at the caller ID, you already knew who was.

“Hey babe, how are you?” said lovingly Kelly, even when it was seriously a bad moment his voice brought a smile to your face, Jay looked at you sideways from the driver side.

“Hi babe, everything’s fine but this is really not a good time, we’re on our way to catch our perp, call you later, okay? Bye, love you” you ended up before receiving an answer, you felt a little bad for being kinda rude but it needed to be done, it was a very important case, you couldn’t let yourself get distracted, the life of a little girl was on the line.

“Severide, huh?” mentioned Jay with a smirk on his face.

“Shut up, Halstead” you answer playfully while rolling your eyes “just drive.”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything” he said laughing a little bit, his eyes on the road ahead “I just think is kinda sweet he always worries about you”

“It is but he has this very rare talent that makes him call me when we are doing something important, it stresses me out every time it happens in front of Voight.”

“Have you talked with him?”

“With Voight? No way”

“No, not Voight, with Severide.”

“Oh, yes, multiple times and I insist that his job is as dangerous as mine but he just don’t see it, I really don’t know what else to do to prove him that I can handle myself on the job”

“Give him time, (Y/N), I guess is not easy to wrap your mind around the idea that the girl you love puts her life on the line everyday”

“I guess.. I just need him to believe in me as much as I believe in him” letting out another sigh you turn around to look out the window when you realize you’re almost at the suspect’s house. 

“Are you ready?”

“Always am” finished Jay while parking in front of the house.

The possibility of the girl being there was slight but maybe you could fine the man to interrogate him or any other clue that could lead to her location.

As the team was reaching the door you heard a scream coming from the inside, everyone pulling their guns out and rushing to the entrance of the house as Voight started to yell instructions.

“Upton, Ruzek, back door, Atwater and Burgess, I want you searching the second floor the moment we got in, Halstead, (Y/L/N), with me”

“Stop!” Yelled a rough voice from the inside once you were on the porch “One step more and I’ll set the house on fire!”

“Listen to me, Jenkins, don’t do anything stupid, we just came here to talk” yelled Voight.

“Liar! I know why you’re here and let me tell you, you won’t find anything here”

“If that’s right then let us in and we can talk about it calmly”

“No, I don’t believe you! I won’t tell you where she is until you assure me that Jackson’s going to pay for my little girl’s treatment”

“I can’t do that, Jenkins, you need to give us the girl first” Voight tried to negotiate.

“No, I won’t. It’s too late now” he finished, raising tension over the whole team, that couldn’t be good.

As you were about to take down the door to get in, you heard an explosion, dropping to the ground you started to see the big flames coming from the top floors of the house and the strong smell of gasoline hit you all.

“5021 to central, send the fire department to North Hamlin 1100, now!”

5 minutes later the sirens of the fire department could be heard and Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Battalion 25 and Ambo 61 arrived at the scene yelling orders and getting ready to turn off the fire.

You saw Kelly the moment he got out of the truck, his eyes landing on you making sure you were okay, you were about to run to him when a sudden movement caught your eye, behind Kelly and his team, Jenkins appeared all dirty, coughing and raising a gun.

Your instinct kicked in and with a quick movement you fired your gun straight to his shoulder. 

“Get down, get down!” You yelled as you saw him pushed trough the pain on his shoulder and started to shoot at the air while he tried to escape.

One look at your team and you all knew what to do, Burgess and Atwater started to check on the firefighters and putting them out of the reach of the bullets while the rest of you started chasing him, guns up and ready to taking him down. 

Couple blocks down and he was forced to stop, out of breath, on the back of an ally, he was losing blood and he was in no condition to get away running.

“This is it, Jenkins, tell us where the girl is and everything will be easier for you” you said, slowly approaching him ready to fire your gun one more time in case it was needed.

“You are surrounded so drop the weapon and just come with us” complemented Jay from your left.

“Come on, let’s get you to a hospital, cooperate with us and we’ll talk to the D.A.” 

He was tired, you could see it in his eyes, he just wasn’t made for this, desperation made him do it and quite honestly, you felt bad for him, he wasn’t a bad man, he just had made one bad decision.

“Okay, I’ll tell you where she is but you have to promise me that they’ll take care of my daughter’s treatment, once I see something signed by Jackson saying that he’ll be responsible for it, I’ll tell you where to find her” said dropping the gun to the ground and raising his good arm.

You grabbed the gun as evidence while Adam got him from behind, putting his arms behind him and taking him to ambulance 61, his rights being read.

When you all got back to his house, there was no more fire and everyone was putting their equipment away. 

You passed the evidence to Hailey, putting your own gun away and ran a hand through your hair before going straight to Kelly, it had been a long day full of emotions and you were getting so tired. 

One look into your eyes and he was already opening his arms for you, you buried your head in his chest, breathing slowly to try to calm down your quick heartbeats, adrenaline leaving you as fast as it had come.

“I’m sorry for being rude earlier, hanging up the phone to you and all that” you said, you voice sounding muffled.

“It’s okay, babe, sometimes I forget how badass you are and I’m sorry too. You are busy saving lives and all I do is interrupt you” his arms gripping you tighter, never wanting to let you go.

“No, it’s fine, really. I love you and I get it, I worry about you too” taking a step back you take your time to look at him, his gorgeous eyes hypnotizing you and bringing a smile to your face, you couldn’t believe the man in front of you was all yours, he was strong, handsome, kind and above all so brave, it made your heart skip a beat and your breathing got caught up in your throat.

“Ha! I’m sure not as much as I do but I see it now, you are fucking good at your job, what you just did was so brave and a little bit hot, if I may say” he added winking you an eye and making you laugh a little bit, even after several months of relationship he kept flirting with you.

“I told you I can handle it” you said, flashing him a cocky smirk before you reached up and wrapped your arms around his neck to brought him down to kiss him, no more words needed.

_______________________ Masterlist

[just-a-writer23]

 School for Squibs!

A/N: I was talking to one of my dearest friends Lyan and told her that I would love to write something for her. When it comes to a storyline she said “You know me well enough to know what I’m like and what I like”. The one thing she wants me to make official in it is that her character’s name is Lena. Lena’s love interest will be a mix of Harry Potter, Liam Payne and Piero Barone. This is a little bit of a challenge but I will do my best because I want to make her smile.

______________________________________________________________

Lena Du Pont had being in Hogwarts for five years at this point and was determined to work create a school of her own for squibs. Squibs are the kids of two magical parents that have no magical powers. Sadly, they are overlooked at by the wizarding community and judge; they said that they should live in the muggle world instead. In Du pont’s point of view everyone has a little bit of magic in them, even squibs, they just need a little bit of encouragement and special magical accommodations to bring it out. Therefore, she wanted to create those accommodations and bring out the potential that all of them have.

Even though she knew that many would judge her and not support her decisions; her bravery and determination were enough for her to keep on going. Her sister, Lainey Du Pont always said that even though Lena had the ambition of a Slytherin her bravery and determination were the main traits that she had. In fact, Lena always value bravery and determination the most which is why she was the embodiment of a true Gryffindor. Those personality traits were the factors that were going to allow her to achieve her goals in the future. Lai, was going to encourage and support her in every step of the way despite what others think; although Lena never cared about what others think. 

Throughout Lena’s last years at Hogwarts she created the plans and began to safe money to start creating the schools. This money was taken to her Gringotts vault in order to be safe which is why Lainey would take it there for her with Lena’s permission. In order to gather this money, Lena had started working at the three brooms sticks, honeydukes and zonkos during the weekends which is why she was hardly seen. As for her studies, she was doing an excellent job at getting O (Outstanding) and E (Exceeds Expectations). How? Well she became a night and book worm during the weeks in order to make a balance between work and her studies. 

At some point, McGonagall  got concerned about her due to the fact that she was barely resting. Lena trusted her professor and had told her about her plans which made Mcgonagall proud of her student. However, she had noticed that her precious student was not resting well and was worried that she was not taking good care of herself. Therefore, she gave her a time turner in order for her to be in time for her classes and jobs. This allowed Lena to accomplish her plans but took good care of herself which pleased her professor. 

After graduating from Hogwarts, Lena had began to search for the lands in which her school was going to be built. However, this was quite difficult for the fact that nobody wanted to help her find it. Not many agreed to the idea of having a school for squibs and told her that she was a disgrace for the wizarding community. In fact, the Ministry of Magic allowed her to continue her plans because they didn’t believe that she was going to be successful. Although things were not looking great for her plans, her determination kept her going. 

___________________________________________________________

Time went by and she kept looking for a piece of land in which her school could be built on. She began working at Ollivanders and had gotten quite good at selling wands to young wizards. One day at her lunch break, she decided to have a stroll in the alley after having something to eat. She entered the store “Madam Malkin’s Ropes for All Occasions” and a stranger bumped into her. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow and the man started apologizing while asking if she was okay. Subsequently, she said that she was fine and advice him to pay attention to where he’s going. He nodded nervously and said “Is it okay if I invited you for an ice cream at “Florean Fortescue’s ice cream parlour” for a proper apology. 

Lena rolled her eyes and smiled saying “It was just an accidental bump there is no need to be extremely apologetic”. Then she was going to walk towards the exit of the store and he said “Perhaps, its not a big deal but it would be lovely to get to know you”. At that moment, she looked at him with seriousness while crossing her arms and said “Although that’s very kind of you, I don’t believe that I can’t accept your offer because I have a job to get to. As I said before, it ain’t a big deal, it was nice to meet you...bye”. After saying that she left the store feeling rather annoyed by the stranger and head back to the store she worked at. 

When she entered the store she worked at, Lena was met by Henry Carter who was a guy that graduated a year before she did. He was a Slytherin that was known for being the best chaser in his quidditch team; he was rather a quite good looking man... he had brown hair short hair, hazel eyes that were behind his glasses, had facial hair, had fair skin and was tall enough. Although people expected him to brag about it, he was rather a very humble person and never did so. On their school days they were not close but acquaintances that were cordial to each other. Anyway, he greeted her and they started having a normal conversation; he was there to buy his younger brother’s wand with him. 

As she was helping looking for wands for his little brother to try out, he asked her about how the plans of building the school were coming along. Lena, looked at him and sigh as she gave the little boy a wand, then looked at him as she told him the current situation. Henry gave her  a sympathetic look and proceeded to to get in a deep thought process. Then he said “I believe that I can help you  with the land situation if you allow me to”. She raised an eyebrow at him and stare at him trying to figure out whether he was being sincere or not then said “How do you plan to do so?”; then gave his little brother another wand.

He looked at her smiling gently and said “There is a land that my family owns that has not being used for about ten years. My parents told me that I could use it to do with it as I pleased, in all honesty I have no plans to use it. So, I would be glad to give it to someone that needs it and that will do something significant with it”. Before Lena could say anything about it the place lighted up letting everyone know that the wand had chosen his little brother. She looked at the little boy with a bright smile and said “Congratulations, you officially are a wand owner young man, this wand has chosen you”, the little boy looked at her and thanked her. 

After congratulating the kid, she looked at Henry while raising an eyebrow saying “You are telling me that there is a land that your family used to own and gave to you but you don’t plan to use it yet are willing to give it to me? Just like that?”. She chuckled “If I were to say yes, would there be any prize that I have to pay? If so, then tell me what it will be and perhaps I will think about it”. He looked at her quite surprised and said “It seems that you hardly trust people and I do understand why. In order to get you to trust me I would personally take you to see the land and show you the property papers to see my honesty. There is no monetary prize that I am possibly desiring for this, however, I do have two prizes that I would like you to give me for it”. 

“Is that so? well, mind telling me what those prizes are in order to see whether or not I can meet them?” she asked rather intrigued to see what his answer would be. He smiled at her and said “The first thing would be to allow me to be a teacher in your school. Although my humble knowledge doesn’t have that much variety, there is a reasonable amount of it that I can teach the future students. Number two is for you to go on a date with me after the school opens, that way we can get to know each other little by little and then go on that date that could mean that it could go somewhere or could lead to a friendship”. 

Lena smirked at him and said “The first prize can be easily met, there are certain classes that I believe you will do a brilliant job. As for your second request, well, you’ll have to work hard to get me to agree with it. I will see if you can convince me to go on a date with you or not”. He smiled and said “Fair enough, then is a deal. I will come by tomorrow to pick you up and show you the land and the papers” She nodded at him and said “I get out a five tomorrow, I expect you to be here by that time”. He smiled and said that he was going to be there ten minutes before five. 

As time went by, Lena was finally able to build and promote her school with the help of Lainey and Henry; after taking Henry’s offer. There were plenty of squibs who were rather unsure whether or not to be a part of it. However, Lena, Lainey and Henry along with the rest of the faculty were able to reassure them that they were accepted as they were in this school. To say the least, the school was very successful and the Daily Prophet was only able to say wonderful things about it. This made Lena feel proud of herself and the work that she had put into fulfilling her dreams.

 When it comes to the date that Henry had mentioned to her nearly a year ago, Lena had studied him and his actions. After realizing that he was a sincere person she decided to finally accept it. Of course, he asked her to go on that date monthly and she would kindly say “Maybe...”, leaving him in suspense. When she finally said yes, the poor man thought that his hearing had gotten bad, asking her to repeat herself. Therefore, she walked closer to him and whispered in his ear “Yes, I will go on a date with you” leaving him speechless. 

Tag list: @bl597

[casualcatte]

RP Journal: 08/04/2020

Third Eye Sushi was an amazing venue, beautiful and welcoming, with staff that were attentive to every need. I was looking forward to the performance by Haurche-fe! And they were brilliant, of course. The best thing about it was the food, I had the best gyoza and yakisoba I’ve had while I’ve been in Kugane. And the plum wine was sweet and refreshing, my glass never running dry!

[ Courtesy Cut for Length! ]

While I was there, I spoke with an elezen woman named Loksia who seemed very kind and congenial. We spoke with a young courtesan who seemed particularly worn out by his clientele. I couldn’t help but tease a bit about it, suggesting foods for stamina, or that another sort of client might be needed. Gods, I think I might be hanging around Edgard too much.

Lorrendor arrived not long after, to say good-bye he said, but Loksia and I both insisted he at least sit a while with us and have a drink. Well, /they/ had a drink.  I ate, drank, and enjoyed the concert. Lorrendor didn’t seem to enjoy it much, though. I saw him glare at the stage more than once, as if the noise and music irritated him. Even people dancing near him seemed a bother. Again, we spoke of the hunt and its dismality with Loksia, the woman -- who was also a hunter -- volunteering to go along with us the next time we went. Lorrendor said it was up to me to decide.

Who am I to decide who he spends his time with?  I’m not his keeper or his secretary. If he wants to go on a hunt with Loksia, he can bloody well ask her himself!  Not that I mind her going at all, but I’m not about to ask a total stranger to entrust me with her life and fortune. She and Lorrendor seemed to have a previous friendship, so why shouldn’t he be the one to ask?  He finally did, inviting her on one of his underground cave-spelunking forays, to which she agreed. For a few minutes, it was like I didn’t even exist. Just a kid sitting at the grown-ups table. 

Lorrendor finally decided to ask me to join them, but at that point it just felt like an after-thought. I don’t know if there’s something going on between the two of them, but I certainly didn’t want in the middle of it. Loksia offered to go on a stag hunt in the Shroud with me sometime, just the two of us, “no men” she said, which made me laugh. Maybe it /would/ be a good idea to have a night free of masculine company. It seems like that’s all that I’ve been surrounded with lately. The conversation wore on until the concert ended and the restaurant began to close, so I paid our tab and took my leave. Lorrendor and I walked back to Kugane, while Loksia went in search of a friend. 

This was Lorrendor’s last night in Kugane, his things already at the Airship Landing, so he asked me to walk with him there. I didn’t see the harm.  As we went, he spoke of how much he’d miss me and how much he’d enjoyed his time in Kugane. I’m not altogether certain of that, given that he hadn’t seemed happy or content since the first night before Edgard had arrived. After that, he seemed moody and… emotional for the lack of a better word. Like everything either worried, scared, or irritated him. I tried a few times to get him to talk to me about what was bothering him, but he always insisted he was fine or just tired. 

The misery of the hunt only seemed to make it all that much worse. I somewhat feel bad for yelling at him about it, but his over-protectiveness is stifling. I don’t know that I can ever get him to treat me like a grown woman capable of doing things for herself and accepting the consequences of her actions. I’ve jokingly taken to calling him ‘Dad’ whenever he frets and fusses over me too much.

Which is why it surprised me that he got all misty eyed when we got to the Airship Landing. Like he was never going to see me again. Maybe he plans to go back to Ul’dah and forget all of this, no matter what he claims with his voice. I don’t know.  I’m not sure what to think.  He’s so mercurial.

I certainly didn’t know what to think when he kissed me.  Only on the cheek, mind, but it was still entirely out of left field. I tried to keep it in the perspective of a father or uncle kissing his daughter or niece good-bye. Something chaste and without intent. After all, he said he wasn’t interested in that sort of thing, so there’s certainly not anything more to it. Oschon’s Tattered Maps, I’m never telling Edgard about this. He’d read /far/ too much into it and I’d never hear the end.

No sooner than he kissed me though, he was gone.  Just like that. He didn’t even wait for me to react or say good-bye to him in return. He just left. What is it with people, me, and these really weird and uncomfortable good-byes?  Can’t I ever have one that’s just nice and congenial?

The one on the Airship Landing in Ul’dah with Edgard doesn’t count. He’d been a complete fool all night and he just didn’t want me leaving continuing to think he’s a fool. Purely self-interested in motive, like a lot of what he does. He did come to Kugane later to buy me dinner and make up for it, but I don’t think that quite counts either.

Speaking of Edgard, when I finally got back to the Bokairo he was half stumbling out.  I don’t know if he’d just fallen out of bed or if he’d just gotten that drunk the night before. Either way, he was thoroughly impressed with the dress I’d worn to the concert, which, I don’t really blame him. I thought I looked /damn good./  In typical style, he tried to make it out like I’d done it to impress him, but I cleared that misconception up by telling him about the concert.

As promised, I took him on the tour of Kugane, working backward from my route with Lorrendor since we started at the Bokairo. Pointing out the sights to him, he noted that for as much time as we spent together, he still knew nothing about me. I found it curious that he was interested.  I also found it curious that one of the questions he peppered in amongst “where are you from” and “what are your hobbies” was also “what do you look for in a man” -- no doubt intended as more fodder for him to pick on me with.

We only got to the halfway point before I needed a break. I’d eaten way too much at Third Eye and it was catching up with me.  So, I sat on the railing, the very same railing that Lorrendor had chastised me for getting on, for fear of me falling. Edgard did no such thing. He hopped right on up there with me. 

As we looked over the city, glittering like a pile of jewels, watching the moon rise… Edgard and I had a real and honest conversation. Or as close to honest as Edgard might ever get. I know there are still things he hides, still things he keeps to himself, but he still talked to me like I was a person for a change, instead of a pretty face he was intent on swooning. I told him about Tailfeather and growing up there, about my parents, and a little about my Hunt for the Saurotaun. 

Vengeance, he called it, though I suppose he’s not far wrong. Part of it is to avenge my parents, but another part of it is to finish what they started and to end the monstrosity’s reign of terror. I know there’s a part of me that should be afraid.  A part of me that should think this is a fool’s errand. It killed not only my parents, but the full Hunt party that had gone with them. What could I, a lone hunter, hope to achieve that they couldn’t? I can’t just put it aside, though, I can’t just forget about it and go on with my life. If I did that, it would be like I gave up on my parents and fed them to the beast myself. 

It’s not in me to abandon a hunt, no matter how difficult. I’ve overcome some pretty long odds before, so why not this?  The Saurotaun has had over fifteen years to get fat and complacent, or even dead.  I don’t even know if it’s alive at this point, but all the rumors I’ve heard lead me to believe it’s still out there.

Anyway, Edgard. He told me he’s going to Ishgard after we complete the hunt I promised him; he has oaths to fulfill that require him there. Naturally, I understand that he has to go. I’d do the same if the Hunt called me elsewhere. Still, with him gone and Lorrendor, Kugane will become a quiet place once again. However, he invited me -- after a fashion in his Edgard-y roundabout way -- to visit him there, which I could, given that I still have my cabin in Tailfeather. I’m not sure I’d want to give him the satisfaction. He’d just use it as another barb for how infatuated I am with him. 

Idiot. Why can’t he just let this be a nice friendship without trying to make it out to be something more?  Or is having me as a friend too much of a vulnerability for him that he has to keep it teetering on the edge of ‘we’re fine” and “I’ve had enough”?

Maybe next time, it’ll be his turn to answer some questions.

[wanderinglotus7]

The Legacy Continues

Well, I made it! I made it. There are three days left of 2020 until we roll into 2021. This year has been a game changer. Game changer doesn’t seen correct...life altering sounds better. My life drastically changed within the past month. Though these events threw me off my game, I recovered and bounced back even stronger. This speaks to my tremendous strength in the Lord & within myself. I continue to tell myself that the fortune teller I spoke with summer 2019 has been spot on y’all. August 2020 to now, adjust to my new life has been challenging, but I don’t regret my decision moving to Massachusetts. This decision is part of the life-course God has plan for me.

Yes, I miss my family. However, my experiences of attending Bridgewater College and traveling to Thailand has prepared me for this moment in my life. Because of covid I haven’t really been active in my new environment, but I try to take advantage of the opportunities I do have to explore my surroundings. Last week I took a nice walk and ended up exploring another part of Newton and almost ended up in the inner city of Boston (I think I walked about 8 miles in total). I took another walk into town and walked into HomeGoods on my way to Starbucks. Leaving and returning to Boston, I took the train and was able to get myself to and from the Logan airport. Small victories in my book! I am in no rush to try to experience everything all at once. I have around 4 to 5 years to embrace Boston as my new home. I already feel like it is anyway. This is my true testimony to see if I can really be responsible for myself. So far, I feel confident in achieving/excelling in this area of my life. My upbringing has prepared me, yet again, for the challenges of [young] adulthood. 

I am getting ahead of myself. I have to rewind a bit give y’all an update. December 18th was the last day of classes and finals week. I have successfully finished my first semester of grad school!!! YEAH ME!!!!! I’m telling you the hard work paid off. I did have my moments of doubt and feelings of not being good enough. I was overwhelmed. I felt like I was drowning trying to balance school, work, and my internship. On top of that, I am trying to balance a relationship along with working on my mental health. My mind & body is always on the go. No time for rest...actually there are moments of rest, but I chose not to rest instead. I have a bad habit of pushing through and bulldozing my way through my life. I don’t take the necessary time to be present and focus on what is in front of me. Sometimes, I get too focused on the future and forget to enjoy the present. I have been in this mode since mid October to the 18th. Midterms kicked me in the ass because that was around the same time I began working at chipotle. Even before Chipotle, I was falling behind on the readings and assignments for my classes. On the other hand, my internship with Amirah is not a stressor in my life because it is an experience that I am passionate about. I’m not bothered having to wake up early and end my days late when it comes to my internship because I am that committed. Being overwhelmed and stressed I passed all my midterms with good grades (all As and one B)! Then the unexpected happened...

October 29th at 11:18pm, I received a phone call from my mother informing me that my Grandmother Shirley unexpected passed away. I think they determined her cause of death was because of a heart attack. I’m not sure. Honestly, I don’t think I really want to know. I’m hoping she passed away peaceful. The news sent me into shock. I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I just had a conversation with that previous Thursday or Saturday, and the conversation went so well. She was so proud of me. She was excited for me to be home for Christmas and all these other things. It’s not the same, but at least we were able to say “I love you” before she passed. Who would’ve known that would be the last time I will ever speak to her again. And this had to happen around the holidays and around the same time that Laura Mae (my great grandmother passed away). In less than three weeks, I received a phone call and text early in the morning from my Grandma Louise and my dad telling me that my granddaddy unexpectedly passed away too. Two grandparents removed from my life at the snap of the finger.

With help from my family, I was able to fly to Virginia for both funeral services. This time I said my final good-byes unlike with Laura Mae. I didn’t want to live with that guilt. Everyone has been very compassionate, understanding, and accommodating to my situation and has given me time to grieve & heal especially regarding BC, Amirah, & Chipotle. I missed a few classes and had to receive a few extensions on a couple of assignments. I pulled through the best way I could manage in my emotional state. My emotional state didn’t get any better dealing with my relationship during this time. Some of my boyfriend’s recent decisions added more unnecessary stress in my life. I was already stressed about me introducing him to my entire family because the timeline got rushed and I wasn’t for sure if I wanted him around while I’m going through a mental & emotional meltdown. At the end of the day, he wanted to be there for me to provide his live and support and I wasn’t going to deny him of doing so. It would’ve been selfish of me to tell him “No”. Everything happens for a reason. Instead of spending maybe two weeks together, my boyfriend and I spent basically all of November together bouncing between Gloucester and Woodstock. It sucked that it had to be under sad circumstances.

Decisions, decisions, decisions that is where my mind was at. Only a few individuals gave me the needed space to focus & process my emotions. From all angles I was being pressured to make some permanent decisions in which my mind was not in the right mind frame to be thinking. I did reach out and have been receiving counseling services from the university which has been helpful. I am in the process of searching for a therapist outside of the university for long-term treatment. Though I tell myself sometimes I feel like quitting, I decided to remain a full time student, declared my concentration, and completed my field placement application for 2021-2022 academic year. I’m on tract to graduating Spring 2022. Being blessed again, I was able to receive extensions on two of my finals and on my field placement assignments. I passed all my finals! I received all As and one B+. I ended the semester with a 3.6 GPA. Not too shabby (lol). I know my grandparents are very proud of me.

I’m proud of myself! I didn’t surrender and take the easy way out. I turned 24 on the 7th which is another milestone in my life. I was shown much love that exceeded my expectations. I spent the Christmas alone, but I made the best out of my situation & was still able to connect with my loved ones. Since the 18th I devoted my downtime, and overall winter break taking better care of myself. The last week I was home, I noticed that I’ve been severely neglecting myself and it was heavily damaging my well-being. I’m growing in setting and maintaining my boundaries, learning to be present with emotions & resting, being okay with saying “no” and not feeling guilty about it. The most important lesson is not overworking myself in every aspect of my life. I am no good to myself or others if I am completely burnt out. 

I am praying that 2021 isn’t a continuation of this year. Yet, 2020 has not been all too horrible. I have been able to grow in so many ways that I am becoming a better individual. Most important, I’m continuing to learn how to be a better person for myself!

[imthederpyfox]

Rant About YouTube Copyright.

by imthederpyfox, Moments ago

Journals / Personal

I know nobody's here anymore, hi, nobody~

But I need to take a minute to rant about YouTube's copyright system for a moment.

I know it's come a long way in the past few years, content creators never used to be able to defend their work with copyright under YouTube guidelines, and it's great that they now can. However, there is also the problem that as content creators can fairly and justly claim others videos that include misused content off their own, creators will also claim videos just because they don't like them. AKA 'foodybeauty' and 'Amber-Lynn Reid', to name a few...

Along with this, we also have major companies who think they should copyright any video posted about one of their shows or films or games, or anything really.

Now I know, full re-uploads of these things are against copyright law, well done YouTube, would you like a gold star? Well, guess what, you don't get one. Because not only can they claim these full videos, they have also been going on binges, where as soon as ANY kind of content related to their products comes out, it becomes copyrighted before the content creator can even so much as blink or press save.

I'm talking about videos where you can barely see what the creator's watching, i.e - an UNLISTED video I just posted of a review/reaction to a Netflix show called Haunted.

Now, I have posted another reaction for Riverdale, and spent months trying to figure out the best action to take. Bare in mind, these videos are 'unedited' for my patrons, and the links are only available to my patrons. But guess what? I HAVE NO PATRONS! First of all, HOW do these big companies find an unlisted video? Are they my patrons? I mean that'd be nice, but no. They Aren't.

Second of all, why the fuck would you block an UNLISTED video, when so many people upload full copyrighted re-uploads of films and TV with no issue?

Third of all, how did you even know my video contained any of your program when it's not even named after the show AT ALL because I KNOW you'll copyright it immediately if the title has so much of a WHISPER of the show included.

Now, I will admit, I understand why my first video got copyright claimed - despite being unlisted, which I'm still annoyed about - because most of the screen was taken up by the episode of Riverdale, rather than my reaction. I get it, fine. So, I edit it, I make myself the main focus - ew, I know - and I lower the opacity of the original video, and I cut out any songs that go on for too long, and I make sure that 1/4 of the video isn't even FUCKING VISIBLE!

Safe to say, this is not a re-upload of the original content. This is an upload of a reaction to said content. My reaction, in which I am constantly talking throughout, constantly cutting in, constantly ruining this series for everyone that decides to give me money to watch, what a good YouTuber I am indeed.

So, because I couldn't let sleeping dogs lie when I earned my SECOND COPYRIGHT CLAIM ON THIS UNLISTED PATREON VIDEO! I decided to look more into the company trying to claim it. Was it Netflix? Nope. Was it a TV company? Well, sort of? A french company that distributes TV shows, or so it claims. See what I did there? Good right? No, ok, moving on. So upon my research I happened to come across multiple videos, saying that the company was a scam, that they were fake and shouldn't even be copyrighting things.

SO, what did I do? Well, just to make sure I checked which part of my video was still listed under their 'copyrighted content' thing, because if you check it'll tell you time stamps and give you the option to trim. So, there was about 5-6 minutes of my video that for some reason was still being claimed as copyrighted, so I went in, and edited little bits out, where there was no dialogue, no important things, and then I saved it, and waited for it to process, and then I went into that copyright claims and I said, ya know what? I'm not taking this shit, I worked hard for this video, I made sure to do everything I needed to do, and since these videos fall under fair use due to the cutting and editing and the fact you can't SEE 1/4 OF THE VIDEO, I sent a dispute.

Now I have to admit, I was nervous. If the company that copyright claimed my video didn't like the fact that I'd done that, they could CHOOSE TO COPYRIGHT STRIKE ME. Like, no review from YouTube, nothing like that. If this company didn't like that a tiny channel with only 57 subscribers put in a dispute against them, they might get pissed. They might not like the fact that someone's done that, and they might turn around and say to YouTube, FUCK this channel, bye bye, bitch.

So I was worried to say the least, but I have never been one to back away from bullying, and in this case, I class it as bullying.

I filled in all the relevant details, including a very in depth explanation as to why my video was counted under fair use, and how my channel is tiny, how I don't have any Patrons to see the video, how my video was unlisted, and heavily edited to make sure the copyright did not count against me, including the use of disclaimers in both the video and the description.

I was professional.

I was right.

And I won the dispute.

A day later I get an email telling me the company decided to release my video of all claims and it is now available for all none of my viewers to watch! How exciting, right?

Well, today I decided that I'd upload my second reaction that I'd recorded, I did the same as with the last one, having learned something. I lowered opacity, I covered any nudity, I cut off 1/4 of the video, I made it so the focus would be on my ugly ass mug instead of the TV show itself. And I spent hours trying to upload it for it to fail and me have to do it again.

And low and behold, after all my troubles, all my trials and tribulations, all my blood, sweat and tears and turmoil... I got copyright claimed once again.

Now, it's safe to say, I'm a little bit pissed, ya know?

My video - much like last time - hadn't even fully been uploaded, around the 97% mark, and boom, claim. So I took a deep breath, ya home boi is NOT happy, and I see where exactly it thinks my video is not covered under copyright law. And this is where I think these companies don't care if you are actually covered under the law or not, because it's always a random part of the video, it's always about a 5 minute chunk of the video regardless of what you do.

Which leads me to my next conclusion, in order for these companies to be finding these videos - especially with them being in the unlisted category (needing a specific link to be able to view), and the title not being related, and the video being edited to make sure it isn't eligible for a copyright claim, they MUST have a bot, or a program running that searches YouTube for clips of their content, regardless of how it's presented, or whether it's a review or not.

Which I have to say, is unfair. Especially in the case of the unlisted thing. I know, YouTube can't help it if these companies have bots and programs and code, they can't stop that from happening. But what they can stop? What they SHOULD stop? Is these companies being able to claim videos that aren't even eligible for it.

YouTube, man, you gotta work on this.

We were rooting for you! We were ALL rooting for you!

Anyway, seriously, YouTube really needs to find a way to make sure copyright is fair and just and not maintained by just programs and bots. YouTube, why not create a part of your company that reviews these claims, checks the videos, guarantees that the claims only go to those ACTUALLY abusing the copyright system? Instead of those of us who just want to make fun content for our viewers, who strive to just make good reaction videos? Because that's what they are, REACTION videos. Not re-uploads, not someone else's content.

'Great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil.'

Give a little back to the people that got you where you are today YouTube. None of these big companies had you raking in money to begin with, it was the little guys, the small content creators who now have millions of viewers, because they enjoy what they do. Well, most of 'em anyway...

Just think about your content creators, rather than appeasing the companies that give you a bit more money. I know they won't, because capitalism rules despite how shit it is.

Is it really a wonder that so many creators are turning to streaming through sites like Twitch.tv instead of uploading to YouTube? Even the other day, on a live stream I was doing myself, me and my friends talked about how much better streaming is, how you don't have to constantly be worried about making sure the video is friendly for 2 year olds. 2 YEAR OLDS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE WATCHING, OK?!

My goal has been to be a YouTuber since I was about 12. I'm now almost 22. That's just under 10 years of my life, where my goal, my one finish line, has been to become a YouTuber. But the more and more things like this happen, the more and more I want to listen to that voice in my head telling me to give it up and go to Twitch, become a streamer, not stress so much about copyright strikes and issues with monitisation, and having such UNREALISTIC goals in order to achieve being monitised and YouTube partner in the first place.

I have edited this video, the parts it told me to, I have made sure to cut out the music bits and make sure it's up to par with copyright based on where they claimed the video. But my issue with sending off this newest in what I assume will be a long line of copyright disputes, because someone, even as small a channel as mine, with my 57 subscribers and my 5 views a video (at a push), has to push back and say 'NO. THIS ISN'T OK.' and not let themselves be pushed around, my issue with this?

The company that claimed the video this time was Netflix itself. And we all know Netflix has money. And Netflix doesn't care if it shuts down a tiny little channel like mine. All my content? All my videos? All views and subs and likes I've somehow managed to accumulate? All gone. Like Thanos snapping his fucking fingers.

Regardless of what I do to make these videos fair use, big companies like this get the final say over them, and as far as they're concerned, us little creators who don't make YouTube money yet, but still hold onto that hope that, maybe, hopefully, one day we will be able to do it, we're the 50% they want to snap and get rid of.

And it'll stay that way for a long time, unless people actually stand up and talk about it. Heck, it'll probably end up staying that way even then, but at least we TRIED.

I have respect for Matpatt, I watched his video explaining the work he and other creators have done in bringing awareness to the higher ups in YouTube, using their platforms to help each other and millions of other creators, people who just want to make other people laugh or forget about their problems for a while, or just upload stupid, 2 minute clips because of inside jokes, or they find it funny, they enjoy doing it.

If we as humans have been taught anything recently during this quarantine, it's that a lot of our societal structures are flawed, some may even say broken. Big companies scam us, use us, and give nothing back in return. If peoples eyes aren't open now, when will they be?

This won't get views. This won't get likes or favourites or shared to other people because of some powerful message.

But maybe one day, someone from YouTube will be randomly scrolling through the internet, and find a random post on a crude fanart website amongst all the sonic and Mario at the Olympic fuck games art, and maybe they'll read it and take note.

But we all know that'll never happen.

So I'm gonna wait for the video to finish saving the changes I made to it, and I'm going to dispute the claim Netflix made against me. And I'm going to anxiously wait to see if I get to continue making content for another day, or whether I get taken down by the snap.

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

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambling.

I feel strongly about a lot of things, and my friends often tell me that I should post about them, because I have such an... Eloquent way or wording things. Well, I finally decided to, because I need to vent as much as the next asshole. They're right, I AM eloquent!

Seriously though, thank you for reading, I know nobody would have but hey, maybe you're one of the 3 views I get on my YouTube videos!

I am blessed.

With like 50,000 curses going on at once.

Such a time to be alive.

Stay safe, look out for each other, and I may do another rant at some point, because this was fun I guess.

-Exza~

[theshawnieboi]

Boss Baby | pt. 2

boss baby pt. 1

let me know what you think! x

It is now my fifth day at work, and so far so good...I guess.

“Good morning.” I greeted Shawn as I gave him his coffee.

“Good morning, Lexine.” He greeted back, quite cheerfully. “I want you to join me for that outside meeting, just for additional note taking when I miss something.” He said before entering his office.

I look at Nancy nervously and she just nods at me for reassurance that I can do this. “Just make sure you listen and take note of everything.” Nancy said before going back to work.

“Let’s go.” Shawn was suddenly in front of me without noticing and was sipping on his coffee.

I took all the necessities before standing up and nodding to Shawn. “Let’s go.” I grinned.

“So, there are going to be breaks in between this meeting. All I need for you to do really is just take down everything important then send them to me when the whole thing is done. This is a major deal so hope that everything goes well.” He said all in one breath as we got on the elevator and rode it down to the parking lot.

“Good morning, Mr. Mendes. Where to?” The company driver, who was waiting for us at the lot, asked.

“I’ll drive. You can take the rest of the day off.” Shawn nodded and took the keys from him.

“Thank you, sir. Drive safe.” He responded and went to the locker room for the staff.

“You know, you don’t have to be so awkward with me.” Shawn snickered.

“But you’re my boss. So, I think I have to?” I said, which ended up sounding more like a question.

“No, you don’t.” He argued, opening the door to the passenger side of the car and helped me get in.

Okay, Lexine. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“So,” Shawn mumbled as he got in the car and started it. “How is working for my company going so far?”

Besides the fact that I slept with my boss? “It’s all good.” I reply simply. “The environment is pretty good, and the people are amazing.”

“Including the boss?” He joked as we drove to the venue.

“Meh.” I shrugged.

He gasped exaggeratedly and clutched his heart feigning hurt. “Meh? How dare you.” He looked at me with this overly fake shocked face which got me giggling. Cute.

“I guess the boss is cool too.” I sigh like I’m being forced to say this.

“Okay, I’ll accept that.” Shawn just chuckled at me.

I feel like I can finally breathe comfortably now that we’ve had this kind of interaction.

“Anyway, we got to talk some business first.” He said seriously, finally going back to the boss man that he is.

I quickly took my phone to type in whatever he has to say about the deal that was going to happen.

“We need this author to publish his book through us. He’s actually had some books published, but it didn’t gain any recognition. This is where we come in.” Shawn stated, glancing at me. “In this meeting, I will be pitching to him and his team of creators how we’ll get him rich. Meaning, after the contract signing, there will be the editing process, then comes the actual publishing of the book, and then finally, marketing.” 

I was face-to-face with my phone as I try to type everything word per word. 

“You don’t have to type everything.”

“I might forget the stuff.” I scratched the back of my head like a little kid who was faced with complicated math problems.

“You don’t have to remember the stuff.” He chuckled.

“Sure?”

“Yes, this is just the basics of a publisher.” He smiled at me reassuringly.

“Okay, okay. So, all I have to do later is take note of what the other party is saying?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Don’t we have people who meet with authors like him?”

“We do, but I feel the need to do this on my own.” Shawn shrugged at me, answering my question.

After a few more minutes of driving, we finally arrive to the venue of this meeting. It was a coffee shop where they had conference rooms for meetings like these, and I could see that people were already sitting there. We were ushered upstairs by this waitress who couldn’t stop staring at Shawn. I know right, sis.

Anyway, as we got upstairs, there was a good-looking man, probably our age, sitting at the top of the table. There were also other people sitting on both his sides at the table.

The good-looking dude stood up and met Shawn halfway before shaking his hand. “Hey, I’m Tyler Ryle, and this is my team.” He said, pointing to the other people at the table.

“Good morning, I’m Shawn Mendes.” My boss greeted back, shaking his hand. “This is Lexine Knightly, she’s our scribe.” He let go of Tyler’s hand and put a hand on my shoulder, introducing me to everyone.

I put my hand up for a little wave before following Shawn to the other end of the table. He pulled my chair out for me, and waited for me to sit down before sitting opposite Tyler. What a gentleman, hmm.

I took my laptop out from the bag and set it up, and saw Shawn waiting for me. I nodded to him, telling him it was okay to start now.

“Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with SM Publishing.” Shawn said, starting off the meeting. He continued on to talk business and I was just watching him, quite amazed.

A little after two hours, two waitresses came and brought us coffee, a basket of muffins for snacks and small plates.

Shawn was still speaking when he reached over to get two plates and put muffins on each of them. “I’ve got all the best people to help work on everything before and after publishing your book.” He said, placing one plate in front of me and smiled at me before grabbing two cups of coffee and placed one also in front of me. 

“Thank you.” I smiled at him gratefully.

“What about us?” One person from Tyler’s team asked.

“There will not be any changes regarding your team, so basically what’s going to happen is that you and our team will work together for this book, and all future books of Tyler.” Shawn answered confidently to which Tyler nodded, looking like he liked the idea.

Shawn was looking at Tyler expectantly, and he just nodded again which got Shawn grinning like a little kid on Christmas. “Is that a yes?”

Tyler did not say anything, instead he pointed to the contract that Shawn was holding and got his pen. 

Shawn stood up and went to bring the contract to Tyler, and they both signed the contracts. After the contract signing, we stayed for a while to chitchat some more regarding the book.

It was now a little over noon, Shawn and I bid our goodbyes to everyone and went back to the car. 

“This calls for a celebration! Cancel the rest of my meetings today!” Shawn woo-ed in the car before starting it and driving towards somewhere.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes! So where do you want to eat?” He asked.

“Anywhere’s good for me.” I shrugged, scrolling through the company phone cancelling and rescheduling all of his meetings.

“Do you like Japanese?”

“Yeah.” I answer, my attention still on the phone.

After a little while we arrive at this cute little Japanese restaurant. He parked the car and got down first then went to the passenger side and opened the door for me.

“Oh, thank you.” I grabbed his waiting hand and got out of the car. “So, is this where you bring all your scribes?” I joked, looking around at the vicinity.

“Nope, just you.” He opened the door for me and winked as I passed him.

As we sat down and got our orders taken, Shawn was in a phone call for a few minutes and I was texting my best friend.

Anniebee sent you a message. Wru? R u available for lunch?

You sent a message to Anniebee. Im out w my boss

Anniebee sent you a message. OOOOOOH is this mr sexy boss mendes

You sent a message to Anniebee. Ure stupid bye

I put my phone back in my pocket and Shawn was done with his call and was just looking at me.

“Well, congratulations Mr. Mendes.” I grinned.

“Congratulations to us.” He put his glass of water up for a toast and I clinked my glass with his. “So, how’s life going for you?” He said, awkwardly starting a conversation.

“Life’s going good.” I nodded, thinking about what’s been going on lately. “Everything’s right where I want it to be. How about you?” I asked back, still with the awkwardness making him chuckle.

“I could actually say the same.” He sighed. “Did you know that a lot of other publishing firms are trying to get Tyler too?” My mouth opened to an inaudible ‘oh’ which he nodded to. “Yeah, so anyway, this is a huge achievement for us.”

“I’m amazed.” I blurted out.

“What? Why?” Shawn chuckled at my sudden outburst.

“Because, you know, you’re young and you’ve already got this whole company so successful.”

“Well, the company wasn’t mine to begin with so...” He trailed off. “My grandfather started this, then passed it on to my dad, and then my dad passed it on to me. You know, the typical dynasty type of thing.”

“Oh, okay.” I nodded in understanding. “But how old are you?”

“I’m turning 21 on August.”

“Holy shit, I’m a year older than you.” I stated in shock.

“Everybody in the company is older than me.” Shawn just shrugged nonchalantly, laughing softly.

The rest of lunch went by with just us talking about anything and everything from work to a little bit of our personal lives; and after paying for our meal, Shawn and I went back to the office to finish some leftover work for the day.

a filler but kind of a necessary filler bec these are the supporting facts about ceo!shawn

anw lmk what you guys think and apologies for sucking huhu still testing the waters out

taglist: @ashwarren32​ @ellascarlettangel​ @ilsolee​ @mx-and-mb​ @to-the-road​ @shawnmendes048​ @miclarodeluna

tell me if you wanna be on the taglist! and you can search and follow #boss baby shawn for updates hehe

boss baby pt. 3

[pandemicthestory]

13: ghosted

Emma wanders down a busy virtual street, barely able to keep her jaw from hitting the digital concrete.

She had been expecting a video game, something with pixels and glitches, but what was in front of her seems so much more real. It's almost disturbing.

Skyscrapers are tall, as she has known them to be in the real world. But here, they are round, and they aren’t perfectly straight--they are shaped like an off-balance layer cake. And the lights shine so much brighter. Holographic advertisements cover surfaces. Except, she notices that they’re not for Chipotle or cars, they’re news spots. 

“The death toll in the state of California rises to 12,000, a 200% spike since last week” 

She sees that holograms are delivering news from the real world. 

A car zooms way too close to her, and she jumps back--shaken from her stupor. Well, it looked like a car. However, it has no wheels. Emma smirks to herself at how Madison would react: “I’m already aware that the Camaro is a piece of shit, I don’t need these turbo spaceships to rub it in my face even more.”

Emma marvels at the size of the city and the people around her. Some of them are talking on devices like the one she was handed on the beach--though instead of holding it to their ears like cell phones, it’s at more of a distance from their faces and projecting holographic video. Some people are walking in groups, conversing in a very familiar way. Some people are staring straight ahead, alone, like Emma.

Where is Isabel in all of this? And where to even start looking?

Emma thinks to herself, if she has one of these devices, her sister must have one too. There’s gotta be a way to track her.

“Thanks for nothing, Mason.” Emma mutters to herself, trying to figure out the odd contraption in front of her. She went from being intrigued by this guy, to fascinated, to absolutely fucking pissed. After she finds her sister, she’s gonna find him too. And get some answers.

Emma sits down on a bench on the side of the road, reviewing her device. While very high-tech, it’s surprisingly straightforward. She finds an option to search for other players, typing “Isabel Bradford.” 

While exact coordinates aren’t provided, a green dot appears on a map of the city.

* * * 

Night sits at his desk, staring at his computer screen in front of him.

He’s trying to repress the feelings of guilt that are buried in the back of his mind. Sugar will be fine. He probably left right after Night did. And anyway, Night wouldn’t have left him if it wasn’t important. He’d be having a grand time cutting class even if he was in jail. Night keeps telling himself this.   

Night seems to be playing Universe without wearing a headset, merely with a 2-dimensional view of the game. This version looks older and simpler than the version that Isabel and Emma are playing on--most likely the original from the 80s. 

Night stares at a map in the game and sees the red dot representing Emma lingering not far from the beach. 

*ping*

He keeps forgetting to turn off external notifications, ugh. Oh. He’s just received an email from his teacher, and the beginning of the message is shown in the notification…

“Hello Night, checking in on your absence…” 

Teacher would be surprised that he wasn’t there. It’s not like him to miss class, or really to do anything unruly or “wrong.” Night is expected to come and go quietly, to be somewhat odd, but overall non-disruptive. Like a ghost. 

At some point, he couldn’t remember when exactly, his education had become arbitrary. He saw what was going on...building was all that mattered. All classes had been shifting their focus and slowly morphing into one industry. If you can’t code, you’ll get left behind. If you can’t contribute in one specific way, you’re disposable.

At the beginning of this school year, it had been announced that graduation from the Academy would be pushed forward one year. The board gave the reason that young people were spending too much time sitting in classrooms, gaining information they had no need for, when they could have the opportunity to “get started in life.” 

Some saw this as exciting, but Night knew what it really meant. There were whispers. This change was not for the benefit of the students. It was not so students could be free, it was so they could be put to work. 

Well, Night has no intention of falling in line with the others who mindlessly build. He craves other knowledge, other opportunities. And he believes that the right person can help him achieve this. Her. It’s time for a disruption. 

Night sees the red Emma dot begin to move on screen. She’s walking through the streets now, heading towards the school.

The blinking dot with his name on it stalls in place. He settles into his chair for the search. 

He’ll just have to meet her there.

* * *  

In Zoe’s bedroom, Julian sits in a chair on the opposite side of the room from her bed, where she and Gabriel are sitting. They are at least 6 feet apart, properly socially-distanced. 

Julian’s wearing a bandana that’s covering most of his face. Which is great for Zoe, who kinda despises the sight of it.

“She’s not answering any of my calls or texts. I want to know what’s going on.” Julian says to them, with his trademark entitled tone. 

“Well, there’s a reason for that…” Gabriel starts. But Zoe hushes him. 

“Gabe, we’re not telling him anything. Not unless it’s necessary to protect Emma, which it sounds like it isn’t. Julian, ever considered that she’s ignoring you because you cheated on her, broke her heart, and are generally kind of a scumbag?” Zoe’s temper is rising. 

Julian doesn’t like this. He laughs condescendingly. 

“What the hell is so funny? Wait why haven’t I kicked you out yet?”

“You think Emma’s hiding from me? You don’t know anything about what she’s hiding. Hate to break it to you, but you don’t know her like I do.” 

Zoe’s about to respond, but hesitates. This dude IS a pathological liar, but, why does he sound so convincing…

“You’re lying. As per usual.” Zoe’s smart, she knows that the best way to get a manipulator to spill his guts is through manipulation. She rolls her eyes, for effect. 

“Tell me what’s going on, or you’ll regret it.” 

“You don’t know shit, Julian. We don’t negotiate with terrorists. There’s the door. Buh-bye.”

Julian stands up out of rage. Right on cue. 

“Did she tell you where she’s going next week?” Julian spits out. Bingo. 

“Um, yes, obviously.” Zoe’s lying now, but her genuine curiosity is making it difficult. Meanwhile, Gabriel lies down on the bed and rests his head on a pillow--withdrawing from the conflict. 

“Yeah fucking right. And you know how I know you’re full of shit?” 

“Please, enlighten me.” 

“Because if you’re as good of a friend as you pretend to be, you would have tried to stop her by now. But you haven’t. And I don’t think it’s because you’re not some fucking psycho weird sisterhood obsessed, I think it’s because Emma didn’t trust you enough to tell you that she’s going to start a new life. With me. And far from you.” 

Zoe sits, stunned. Julian is a bona fide liar, so why was she even dignifying this with an iota of her energy? He’s the one who’s full of shit. Obviously. 

Unless. Well, there is that constant curiosity that lives quietly in the back of her mind. Emma had grown a bit different over the past few months. The four best friends knew everything about each other, to perhaps a sickening degree, but yet...there were so many hours of Emma’s time that weren’t accounted for. Not that she isn’t entitled to those hours. But Zoe does wonder. 

“I...um…” Zoe starts.

“She’s leaving. And if you think you have any chance of talking her out of it, you better help me find her. Otherwise, you might just never see her again.” 

“Her phone is broken. That’s why you haven’t heard from her.” Gabriel says softly. 

They both turn to look at him. 

“How do you know that?” Zoe asks.

He takes a few deep breaths. “Because I was with her when it happened. We broke into Best Buy because she needed gear...it was to help her sister somehow...Madison was there, she knows more than I do…” 

And that’s all he has to say. Julian has heard enough to head to his next destination. He briskly walks towards the door. 

“Hold on a second, what happened to working together?” Zoe asks. 

Julian sighs a fake sigh. 

“I think what’s best for Emma will be to have as clean a break as possible.” 

He leaves and shuts the door behind him. Zoe groans out loud, furious. How could she have listened to this monster??

But then again, there’s a part of her that needs to know if what he’s saying is true. She has so many questions… Why would Emma want to leave? Why couldn’t she be honest with her best friends? What happened to Isabel? And where is Emma now?

Zoe lies down next to Gabriel and wraps her arms around him. She thinks to herself about how there were so many bad guys out there, and she had somehow scored one of the few good ones. She feels blessed yet torn apart. 

“Zo, I feel like hell.” he says. 

Zoe realizes the heat of his body, and puts a hand to his forehead. Burning up. 

She can’t let her mind go there. 

“Don’t think about it Gabe. You haven’t seen anyone except me. Okay and Emma and Madison for five minutes, but you were totally safe, weren’t you?” she asks, starting to panic. 

He doesn’t respond. 

“Gabe?”

“Well yeah, the only thing I can think of is…Madison wasn’t wearing a mask.” 

* * * 

Emma keeps walking. The Isabel Bradford dot is getting closer and closer. 

She’s in such a state of disbelief that it will take a lot to shock her even further at this point. 

What will she say to her sister when she sees her? Hi, what the hell is going on? Why is your limp body chilling in our house? What are you doing here?

Isabel has been acting so weird lately. But then again, her family probably thinks the same about her. They’re probably wondering why this emo introvert is even more emo and introverted than usual. Or maybe they aren’t wondering at all. And it’s the lack of wondering that has driven her to run away with someone who may or may not love her.

Where is Julian now? The eternal question. Although one that has plagued her a bit less over the past couple of days. It’s legitimately insane how much has happened in that time. 

And what of Mason? 

Her blood began to boil. Emma has been massively fucked over by a guy before, and she feels that it’s unacceptable for this to become a pattern. Julian cheating and lying and manipulating...ok she can chock that up to a learning experience. Right? Ehhh. But if two guys play her in a row, well than she’s a bigger fool than she could have ever imagined. And she deserves what happens to her.

For a moment, Emma marvels at the fact that somewhere, she is in a closet on a pile of laundry. She can feel no trace of that reality, only absorb every hyper-realistic facet of what’s around her. She continues on these roads that only exist on a hard drive but feel solid under feet.  

Once Emma finds Isabel, who probably knows her way around this game, she’s going to force her to help her find Mason. Like a, “I saved your life, now you owe me one” type of situation. Hopefully Isabel will see it that way.

And soon, she’ll be able to ask her. 

According to the map on her device, she has arrived at the school. 

It’s quite tall--taller than any school she’s ever seen before. It looks more like the other buildings around it than a place where young people would typically go to learn. But this is a game, so, she’ll roll with it. 

But how to get inside..? Like is there even a door? Where’s the front? Hm. 

Emma rounds a corner, and realizes that this is definitely the front.  

Glassy, a giant arch over massive front doors, seemingly thousands of quotations inscribed on the reflective material. It’s somehow modern yet historic. It’s incredible, and Emma is utterly entranced.

“Emma?” 

Emma has a near heart attack. She is abruptly pulled from her stupor by a voice behind her, a smooth voice that says her name like it’s familiar. 

She turns around to see a boy around her age. Dark hair, slim, ghostly.

[dogbearinggifts]

Brothers in Arms, Part One

Umbrella Academy

Author’s note: This is Part One of the fifth installment of my Sheepdogs series. If this is the first time you’re seeing it on your dash, you can start with Part One, He Saw the Ghosts, a slight AU exploring what could have happened if a kinder vet had approached Klaus at the VFW. Dead Ringer, Tattoos with Better Stories, and Missing in Action follow the vets Klaus meets as they try to unravel the mystery surrounding his photograph hanging on their memorial wall. All installments are available on my AO3 account.

A quick warning: This installment features a character expressing homophobic attitudes typical of the era. 

1968

Humid air, heavy with rain, wrapped around Art’s skin as he sighted his target. 

Klaus never strayed too far, when he wandered, never went too near the edges of camp, but that didn’t make him easy to track down. For how high he could raise his voice and how loudly he could laugh, the guy could be quieter than Spurlock when he wanted to sneak around. 

Speak of the devil….

Art went over the story in his mind. His latest contribution to the Spurlock canon had brought laughter, sure, but most of those stories earned at least a chuckle. This one, though—this one had garnered a piece of advice, echoed and approved by every man who heard it: “You’ve gotta tell Klaus.” Being encouraged to share a joke with the rest of the group was one thing, but to hear your joke should be brought to the man who could make an entire tent laugh with a quip and a scowl? Well. There were greater achievements, higher honors, but none sent Art out in search of them. 

A few steps took him close enough to see Klaus wasn’t smiling. Nothing Art hadn’t seen before, but that just made him quicken his pace. The second he heard what Art had in store, that frown would disappear and he’d—

It was the finer nuances in the look Klaus wore that stopped him first. He’d seen Klaus upset before, of course, seen him distraught and nervous and plain old scared. He knew of no man who could make it through a war zone without having to fight through any of those things, and if one existed, Art wasn’t sure he’d like to meet him. 

But there was no gunfire nearby. There was only Dave, standing across and shaking his head as Klaus spoke. 

For a few seconds, Art could only watch. Klaus spoke at full tilt, hands upturned in a gesture resembling a plea, words inaudible from that distance. His lips moved too quickly for Art to read much of what he said, but any bozo could tell this was not the sort of conversation Klaus usually involved himself in. 

“That’s a sin, you know.” The warning came to mind with such speed and clarity that Art’s grandmother might as well have spoken directly in his ear. He could hear the rest of her lecture, too: Eavesdropping had no purpose aside from gathering information that was never yours to hear, and the only reason why one might want that information was to spread gossip, which was a big enough sin that Art’s grandmother had always pursed her lips and pointedly changed the subject whenever something resembling gossip entered her home or church. She might tell a white lie now and then, down one too many glasses of wine on occasion, but gossip was the one sin on which she never compromised. 

Art pressed his back against a nearby tree, trying to ignore that old pang of guilt. Even separated from notions of sin and damnation, even stripped of its connotations to old biddies quilting and shooting the shit, his grandmother’s disdain for gossip was far from baseless. Rumors never did anyone a bit of good, and he couldn’t recall a time when they didn’t do the opposite. 

But then, it was only gossip if you shared what you knew. 

Klaus was still speaking, words tumbling over each other in a rush too fast for Art to read. Dave shook his head, and Klaus spoke again, more briefly this time. 

Dave cupped a hand to Klaus’ cheek. Words followed, words so slow and clear Art would have needed to look away had he wanted to miss them. 

“I love you.” 

Klaus didn’t gasp. No confusion twisted his features, no apprehension made him take a step back. The statement was expected—and so was something else, something that didn’t follow even after a moment’s pause. “But?” 

Hurt and confusion, disbelief and heartbreak crossed Dave’s face, not warring for dominance so much as gathering into a force of their own, blending together and becoming something new. Without a word, Dave pulled Klaus into his arms. 

Neither spoke after that. 

“One tat doesn’t prove a thing.” 

“They share more than one tattoo,” Richard said. “You know that.” 

Art did know that. And a part of him wanted to be content with it, to take that fact and turn it into something resembling closure. “Look, Klaus—the Klaus I knew—he had ‘em on his hands, too. Hello on one, Good Bye on the other.” 

Richard and Jim traded glances, and Art knew what he’d hear before they spoke. “Our Klaus had those, too,” Jim said. 

There was no point in asking whether the locations matched; as best he could recall, the tattoos on their Klaus and the tattoos on the Klaus he’d served with were in the same places. Klaus, his Klaus, hadn’t been the only man to wear that Sky Soldiers tattoo—Art was living proof of that—but he knew of only one with an umbrella on his arm and pleasantries on his palms. 

“You said he looked like that picture.” 

“Just like it,” Jim said. 

“Like he’d stepped right out of the frame,” Richard added. 

Art drew a breath, but the small sip of oxygen did little to ease the dizziness threatening to tip him out of his chair and onto the floor. “So what are you saying? That they’re the same damn guy?” 

Again they traded glances. Art waited for one to speak, waited for some statement he could shoot down, but Jim looked at the table and Richard looked to the photo again. 

Art got to his feet so quickly the dizziness overtook him a moment, and he clutched the table for support. When his vision returned, he crossed to the photo and found Klaus in a second. 

“Fifty years.” He heard the scraping of chairs against the floor but didn’t turn from the photo. “It’s been fifty years since that photo, and you’re telling me he looks exactly the same?” 

“As best we can tell.” Richard’s words carried a sigh. “That picture’s not the clearest.” 

He hadn’t recanted what he’d said, but he hadn’t backed it up unequivocally, either. Art’s mind went frantically over the details he’d been given, the details he’d handed over, searching for any inconsistencies or alternate interpretations that might end this bizarre charade before he started to believe it himself. Yet all that came to mind were moments fifty years past. The time he’d heard Klaus humming to himself and recognized the tune, years later, in a Disney movie. The way he’d simply appeared one day, with no dog tags and no apparent memory of the training he would have received….

“You saw him crying over this picture?” 

Jim nodded, joining Art at the wall. Before Art could think of another question that might cut whatever Jim might say short, Jim pointed to the man beside Klaus, a man at the edge of the group. “Over this guy right here.” 

Dave.

“You sure?” 

“He was wearing Katz’s dog tags, too.” 

Another wash of dizziness threatened to take him, but this time Art steadied himself with a deeper breath. There was an explanation. There had to be. A logical, rational explanation. “Maybe—look, assholes pretend to be vets all the time. Maybe he just put more thought into it than most of ‘em do.” 

“Yeah, vets,” Jim said, leaning on the plural. “Not one vet in one picture.” 

“We didn’t even know that guy’s name until you came in.” He sensed, more than saw, Richard approach the wall. “And you can’t see his tattoos in the photo.” 

It was true, Art had known it was true, and yet hearing it made him want to whip out some fact that would bring the whole illusion crashing down in a second. He settled for pacing toward the nearest table and back again instead. “He tell you his surname?” 

“No.” 

“Did you ask?” 

“Didn’t get much chance,” Jim said. 

Bullshit. Art stopped short of saying it. He didn’t know if they’d had time to ask, how many chances they’d gotten or whether or not their conversations—if they’d happened at all—made such questions impolite and insensitive. Better not to assume. 

“Look.” Art wasn’t sure of exactly what he was about to say, but he plunged ahead, snatching up whatever words came to mind. “He went MIA fifty years ago. If he popped in here, there’s no way in hell he’d look just like that picture, unless time travel’s involved.” 

No derisive snorts followed those words. No chuckles, no rolled eyes, not so much as a smirk. It wasn’t until the silence settled over them, until Jim frowned thoughtfully at the photo and Richard opened his mouth as if to speak and shut it again, that Art realized he hadn’t simply expected them to scoff. 

He’d wanted them to. 

1968

Art’s instincts screamed for him to run for the first person he saw and spill everything. It would all tumble out in a flurry of words that might not swing anywhere near coherence, but it would be out and someone else would know, someone who could judge what to do with it better than he could. The secret would no longer be his; it would belong to whoever he found, and the decision would be in their hands. Knowledge would remain, but responsibility would not. 

It didn’t take him long to find someone, or for someone to find him. He wasn’t sure which and didn’t much care. He only knew George crossed his path, smile disappearing at the look Art couldn’t shake. 

“You okay, man? Look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

Seen a ghost. That was more than an idiom—or it was now, anyway, now that Klaus was a part of their unit. Art was free to respond with some generic brush-off, but a failure to follow up an invite like that with a Spurlock story would be a greater indicator that something was wrong than any sort of honest answer. 

Art knew what he had to say, knew what he had to share, but the words wouldn’t surface. He forced a smile instead. “Yeah, Spurlock’s out there, edge of camp. Took the biggest shit I’ve ever seen, wiped his ass on a baguette.” 

George sighed. “Shit sandwiches again?” 

“C’mon, you try cooking with those hooves.” 

George’s snort wasn’t quite a laugh—nowhere near one, in fact. After the resounding approval Art’s last joke had earned, this reaction stung less like disappointment and more like failure. Then again, he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to come up with a better quip even if he’d had more than two seconds to prepare. 

“You seen Dave?” 

For one awful second, Art was certain the truth had bloomed on his face. Heat rushed to his cheeks; he had to remind himself to draw a breath in and let it out. “I know when you’re lying,” Grandmother had said on more than one occasion. That she’d said it when his lies were all in her head and the truth was all he’d given her had eroded his faith in her ability to pluck out his falsehoods on sight, but that didn’t make others blind to them. 

The second passed, and George did not react. No narrowed eyes. No concern. No questions. 

“Nope. Haven’t seen him.” 

George sighed again and continued on his way. His chosen direction took him toward the pair, technically speaking, though they’d have the advantage of a few minutes’ lead. 

Art had time to call after and steer George in the right direction. He had time to think of a way to mask it, to make the truth covert enough to fit with his earlier lie. He could do it. He should do it. 

Instead, he watched in silence as George moved out of earshot and out of sight. 

“Klaus Hargreeves.” Jim’s emphasis was not lost on Art. “Means he’s Reginald’s son.” 

“If he’s the same guy.” 

“If he is,” Richard said slowly, as though mulling it over as he spoke, “then it might explain some things.” 

“Like what?” Art spent a second resisting the urge to pace before walking the length of the memorial wall and back again. It wasn’t near enough to clear his head—but then, he doubted a jog around the city block would manage that. “All that explains is how he got the same name as the Academy kid.” 

“You read his sister’s book.” 

It wasn’t a question. When first published, Did you read it? had been the question on everyone’s lips. The book was mentioned by name only at first; before the publication passed its first anniversary, inquiries as to whether or not a friend or acquaintance had read it had become common enough that most anyone listening understood that it meant Vanya Hargreeves’ autobiography. The question wasn't asked so much anymore. Asking was pointless when you knew the answer would be Yes. 

“Yeah. I read it.” Parts of it, at least. As he read, the sense of discomfort had progressed from nagging to grating, and the cause went beyond the psychological torture that had been Vanya Hargreeves’ childhood. Something about the way she included no contemporary quotes from her siblings, no insight from their adult selves that he could see, had left him with the sensation that he was peering into their lives through the lens of assumption and hearsay, seeing moments and hearing conversations that they would have kept to themselves. No matter how he tried to shake it, no matter how he told himself that she must have consulted her siblings before publication or that she could tell her own story without their input, he’d eventually set the book down, removed his bookmark, and returned it to the library. 

“So you know what he’d do to those kids.” 

A pit formed in his stomach, not unlike the one that had been his companion while reading Vanya’s autobiography. She hadn’t known all the details, hadn’t been privy to them—and that was just as well. The word experiments only belonged in talk about children when the conversation centered on the project you were helping them build for the school science fair. “I figured he hadn’t seen his dad in years.” 

“Could’ve lured him back,” Jim said. “Hunted him down, sprung it on him out of the blue.” 

If Vanya Hargreeves’ account was remotely accurate, than what Jim proposed was a possibility, albeit one that came with a laundry list of assumptions. That time travel was real. That it had happened. That it could happen again, that it could snatch anyone from their life in the present and drop them in the past, or the future, or some unholy combination of the two, if those old cliches about tearing holes in space and time had any validity. 

But more than anything, it assumed Klaus Hargreeves—the one he knew—was alive. 

1968

Maybe he’d jumped to conclusions. 

Art had only seen a hug, after all. A hug prefixed by a cupped cheek and a rather unambiguous phrase, if nothing more. The notion they were only friends crumbled beneath the sheer weight of what he’d witnessed, but he entertained it nonetheless. Best to be sure before he leaped to action. 

He could see Dave from where he stood, offering Lawrence a smile and a few words—inaudible from where he stood, but knowing Dave, they weren’t the sort to leave the other man angry or despairing for the next hour or so. Sure enough, Lawrence’s frown became a smile before Dave clapped him on the shoulder and turned away. 

Art didn’t know  a man who wasn’t Dave’s friend. Even those he didn’t see every day, even those he’d only met in passing, were treated to the same smiles and warmth. Give him half a minute and he’d pull you into a quick conversation about things back home, things you’d forgotten you’d mentioned; give him longer and he’d make the worst snafu look solvable. 

He’d heard of men like that, from the stories his Dad sometimes dusted off and brought out for company, but he’d never understood what it was to serve with one until Dave had walked right up, chatting away as if they’d known each other since first grade. Never appreciated it until Dave had found him after their first firefight, brushed some lingering dust and rubble away with a shaking hand, and asked if he was okay. Herman, weaving in and out of Dad’s time in France, had been a favorite character, one who brought a smile to teller and listener alike each time he entered the story. Art wasn’t certain he had the proper word to describe what Dave was and didn’t want to seek it out at the risk of sounding too sentimental. 

Klaus wandered over. If he wasn’t marching, he didn’t walk or run. He wandered and ambled. The sight of Charlie sent a smile to his lips, and whatever he said brought a laugh and a response in kind. Dad had served with men like that too, men who could find a joke nearly anywhere they looked, but none like Klaus. None who would begin a meandering story, drop it at the first distraction, and deliver the punchline hours later, all the funnier for having been delayed. None who could turn a simple question about the mail into a humorously suggestive one. It was a different sort of gift Klaus possessed, one that brought laughter to a war in the business of silencing it. 

The image of that embrace, that cupped cheek and those words, resurfaced in Art’s mind. 

A part of him found a certain amount of sense in it. The way they always seemed to be together, when excuses aligned. The little smile Dave wore when Klaus spoke, the smile he never brought out for anyone else. The way neither seemed bothered by a brush of the skin, a chance moment that brought their faces too close. 

Another part of him, a larger part, would have cheered their match, had one been a woman. 

He didn’t have to tell someone. Just them. Find Dave or Klaus alone—probably Dave, he knew Dave better—tell him what he’d seen and watch his reaction. He wouldn’t need a renunciation, or an apology, or anything of the like; he only needed to let Dave know the cat had put a paw out of the bag. Let him know he’d been spotted, let him know he was accountable to someone, and the problem would solve itself. 

The impromptu battle of wits between Klaus and Charlie ended with chuckles on both sides. Klaus looked off in the opposite direction, then back to Dave; he didn’t begin walking until Dave did and then he fell in step. Art didn’t try to read their lips, but their easy smiles had returned. Whatever had led to Klaus’ impassioned pleading earlier seemed to have been, for the moment, resolved. 

“I love you.” 

“But?” 

Art tried to keep the moment from resurfacing yet again, but it bubbled up for the umpteenth time. He’d heard of people who witnessed things like that, secrets that could destroy the one who held it and everyone around them. People who had come forward, who addressed what they saw and made sure help was received and all was put to rights. He’d heard the glowing terms with which they were described, of the humble quiet with which they received whatever accolades were due them. “It was nothing,” they tended to say, with a modesty betraying the warm glow of satisfaction from within. “I was just doing my part, that’s all.” 

When Art thought back to what he’d seen, when he made up his mind to do what needed done, he felt none of the steely resolve such responsibility was said to provide. He only felt sick. 

He shouldn’t have been watching in the first place. 

Dave, Klaus—they were his friends. Brothers, even. Spying on siblings might be a time-honored tradition in families fortunate and unfortunate enough to have more than one child, but there came a point when things left the realm of friendly teasing. He wasn’t sure exactly where that line might be, but he knew he’d crossed it.

Even so, what he’d seen couldn’t remain in the dark. They were his friends, and they needed help. He could bring it up with Dave, word the question to offer him as many loopholes and escape routes and possible, and then never address it again. Pretend he’d seen nothing and move on. 

Yet the moment he revealed what he’d seen, even to Dave and no one else with nobody around, he’d acknowledge that something had happened. Something had happened, he’d seen it happen, and all the trust he’d placed in Dave and the trust Dave had placed in him meant nothing next to the chance to lurk in hopes of seeing something worth pouncing on. 

Klaus came back around. No Dave, but that was just as well. He raised a hand in greeting, Klaus returned it, and they met in the middle.

“Hey.” Klaus drew out the word. “Somebody said you were looking for me for something?” 

He’d made a decision, loosely speaking, but it lacked the peace and surety of a resolution. It felt like cowardice, like surrender. 

But he still had a good joke to tell. That was something. 

Art cracked a smile. “You hear why Spurlock never goes up on mountains?” 

They said Klaus Hargreeves was alive. 

Alive and talking and knitting and here, in the city, looking near identical to his photographic double. 

It was impossible. Art knew he shouldn’t believe it until he saw it with his own eyes, yet here he was entertaining the possibility on the word of two men who had been unknown to him days before. 

Two men who had gone out of their way to find him because of the soldier in the photograph. 

Because of Klaus. 

A dozen half-formed questions swam through his mind, circled him and fell away before he could snatch them out of the air. None of the theories or possibilities quite fell into place, but Art thought he could spot where they might fit; there were holes, of course, but the picture remained, incomplete but comprehensible. 

Klaus. 

Alive. 

In the city. 

Art tried to wrap his head around it. For as long as he’d held out hope, for as long as he’d waited for news and excused Klaus’ continued absence and clung to stories of soldiers who’d gone missing and resurfaced decades later, now that he had what he’d sought, it kept slipping through his fingers. He tried to picture Klaus ambling into the same VFW bar in which he sat, tried to imagine him wandering down the streets, but his memory remained tied to the A Shau Valley. Try as he might, Art couldn’t separate Klaus from Vietnam. 

He had to see it for himself. 

A question at last burst through the flurry in his mind, and Art knew before he voiced it that it was the only one that mattered. 

“Where is he?” 

[hcwlinwclff]

 — wait , is that BJØRN ‘ BAEL ‘ WOLFF ? dean lockwood has been looking for them . you didn’t hear it from me but , apparently the SENIOR might know something about the whole omega chi & kappa tau situation . while they can be VOLATILE & IMPRUDENT , they’re far too RESILIENT & PASSIONATE to be involved , right ? those who know them say they’re reminded of BRUISED KNUCKLES, PERFECT SMILES BUT CROOKED GRINS, LOUD MUSIC COMING FROM A CLOSED OFF BASEMENT whenever they’re around .  honestly , the MUSIC PERFORMING & ADMINISTRATION major should try to keep their head down . after the events of last semester , lockwood is out for blood . did you know that BAEL is a member of KAPPA TAU GAMMA ? that might explain why their name is being brought up .

hello friends !! i am styx and i am finally here, hallelujah !! i auditioned and literally the second i sent in my account i was called, had to drop everything and get out until 2am so that was fun... not. ANYWAY, i am twenty-two, from the wonderful gmt+2 timezone, and pronouns are she+her, and i am genuinely thrilled to be here. i ramble an awful lot which i am sure you’ll soon notice, and i’d love to plot with any and all of you ( maybe give this a like if you’d like me to hit you up..? ). but that was it about me... for now, lmfao. here’s some information on my beloved son:

— statistics !!

name. bjørn wolff nickname. bael  age / dob. twenty-two, thirtieth of march zodiac. aries gender. cis-male pronouns. he / him / himself sexuality. bisexual archetype. the rebel temperament. choleric personality. enfp major. music performing & administration

— synopsis !!

          + born and raised in a small town in north dakota, bael’s life started, as one might call it, on a bit of a bumpy road. his parents had met by chance in the town he’d never warm up to call home. they fell in love in the blink of an eye, seemingly seamlessly got together, engaged, married and pregnant with a child — and within the same fracture of a minimal moment, everything was over again. his father, originally from norway, had disappeared overnight, leaving the new mother alone with her newborn child.           + heartbroken and yet still blind in her love and hope that he would return, bael was named ‘ bjørn ‘ after his father — a wonderful man, as she would later tell him. a kind soul, a successful business man, a great father and a wonderful husband who loved both of them dearly and would, she had no doubt, come back soon enough.            + however, ‘ soon ‘ stretched into years and bael grew old enough to understand that he may had a biological father, but he did not have a real one, not the kind the other children had, anyway, and truth be told? he was fine with it. he had never known his life to be different. with his mother giving him everything he could need and more, he had never felt like he was missing a piece. he was a happy child, sharing his toys with anyone and everyone, helping his neighbours by turning ‘ carrying groceries ‘ and ‘ sweeping the leaves ‘ into a game he was more than keen to win.          + DISEASE & DEATH TW. maybe it was the happiness which had turned him blind or the naivety of a young boy believing his mother to be indestructible, but he never noticed her coughing or the fatigue which would bring her to her knees — until the ambulance stood in front of their house, the blinking blue light illuminating the streets and he was dragged into their neighbours house while his mother was “ being taken care of, don’t even worry, darling !! she’ll be up in no time at all, again !! “. unfortunately, she wasn’t. they were able to give her a few more weeks, less than two months, but in the end he had to say his final good bye.           + in an age too young for him to truly understand or process, the loss of his mother was something bael did not know how to deal with. he was angry – at the doctors, at his neighbour, at his mother and mostly at himself – and suppressed sorrow was the result of it. where he had been the definition of ’ the good kid ’ mere weeks prior, he suddenly started acting up and unfortunately, he never really stopped — and the excuse of his mother having died only saved him for so long. END OF TW           + he was able to stay with a friend for a while as social services searched him a proper place to stay, and when they finally came they told him they would take him home. he was confused, to say the least, and irritated all the more as he read the name ‘ wolff ‘ on the doorbell of a house he had probably even walked by before — and then he was introduced to his father who was indeed a wonderful man, as his mother had always told him, a kind soul, a successful business man, a great father and a wonderful husband. the problem? he was it solely to the new family and not to bael.           + ABUSE TW. repeatedly suspended from school for all the fights he picked, the vandalism he caused and the chaos he created, he knows he was never more than just a struggle to his father, and to say it simply, his father never shied away from reminding him that he was. it was around that time that he settled for the nickname ‘ bael ‘ as he did not want to carry his father’s name any longer, and in the same period he decided he would leave the town the first chance he got. END OF TW           + it took a while until he had the money together, getting himself a car and leaving ( just like his father once had ) over the course of a night, deciding to leave everything and everyone behind — except emmett park, who joined him on the road trip to nyc. the place which was supposed to make both their lives better compared to the boring hellhole they’d grown up in.          + for bael, it was a bit of a struggle from there, playing music kept him afloat as he picked the pieces of his life together, trying to fix them, even if only momentarily, and working for something better; to achieve the vision of a bright future his mother had always planned for him. he attended a random college at first, going with whichever one would have him, and then he took a bold shot — hollingsworth. they accepted him after several conversations, because he is a smart one if he wants to be, because he has a musical talent which is undeniable and the trouble around him seemed to have died at least a little bit. he could become successful alumni and if he acted up? they could still kick him out.        + he joined the band around teddy lockwood as an outlet for all the struggles he has suppressed and of course, because music is his greatest passion, a place he finally finds a real home in again and where he knows how to voice his emotions without actually having to talk about them. in the band he plays the bass and taking inspiration from his major, he often voices his opinion concerning the administrating of the band. however, he can actually play several other instruments. 

— wanted plots !!

will be here !! it’s work in progress page so don’t mind all the “ tba “ ‘s.