#apparently she remembered that yesterday and mentioned it to her sister who told it my mother and they

[tamiisnthere]

Crossover Universe/Altami – Meet the Family

Summary: Altaïr arrived for his first visit, Tami introduced him to the TaE Family and gave him a tour of the ranch. Trigger Warnings: Only a few swears and before ending memories of a sad childhood, but it's more a bit of a silly and cheerful fanfic. Also too much yapping + bad English and some grammatical errors. 😅

So… This is my longest oneshot fanfic with 11,579 words! Holy moly! 😭 But I'll admit it won't be as good, since I use the same words and phrases a lot of times in there and a few things were a bit inspired from my life (not exactly btw). But I hope you don't mind and you will enjoy it. Even though I know it's going to flop, I'm stilly happy that is finally finished. 💕

Edit: Fanfic is in the process of editing since it has so many grammatical errors and phrases!

Enjoy! 💗

It was Saturday morning, Tami hadn't stopped thinking about Altaïr and their first kiss from yesterday. She couldn't wait for him to come visit her. She had a lovestruck smile on her face and was lost in her daydreams, ignoring her surroundings.

"Tami? Hello? Tami!" Emma's voice woke her up from her thoughts, sitting next to her on the right side of the dining table. Right now, the TaE Family was having breakfast and they were giving her a puzzled stare.

"Oh! Sorry! What happened?" Tami asked in a dazed tone. "You haven't touched your cereal yet," Tanisa echoed from her left. "Oh! Yeah! Right! I'm eating right now!" Tami nodded her head and started eating her breakfast, but thoughts of her new boyfriend still remained.

Talidea and Taino eyed each other concernedly. It had been six months since Tami had constantly mentioned Altaïr, yet they had never met him once. And yesterday it caught them by surprise when she said they started dating, which none of the family believed her.

"What should we tell her?" Talidea asked whisperingly to her husband, who was pondering as he ate. Then he swallowed and responded: "We have to confront her with it. It's the only way."

"But we're not going to hurt her like that?" Talidea feared. Taino sighed, "It's going to hurt her more if it doesn't get better. Try to get a word with her." "What?" raised her eyebrows. "You're her sister, come on…"

Talidea gained courage and asked her sister: "Hey, Tami?" Tami stopped eating for a moment and gazed at her Night Elf sister. "Yes, Dea?" she asked with a sweet smile. "Well..." Talidea began to speak nervously, trying not to hurt her, "You said yesterday that you started dating that Altaïr guy, right?"

"Yes! And he told me if he doesn't have a mission today, he'll come to visit!" Tami exclaimed excitedly. "And he's really real?" Talar joined the conversation. "Precisely! He's not quite the same exact Altaïr from the game or the legends, but he's still sweet!" Tami blushed, remembering her boyfriend.

Taino was about to say something, but Relante interrupted him, "Do you know where he came from?" "He is from the Island of Eagle, specifically from the town of Accipiteria. He and the other assassins arrived into Havaykia because the Templars attacked them and they had to seek refuge," Tami explained.

"Well, I heard about this attack almost three quarters of a year ago," Tarion chimed in, "But apparently those Templars told that they killed them all." "I wonder how they managed to escape if it's true that the assassins are here," Gavin commented. "Yeah, that had to be terrifying," Takuya added. "And he's supposedly rescued you several times, hasn't he?" Hoody Boy questioned curiously. "Yeah! He's my hero!" Tami sighed happily.

Talidea calmed down and smiled as the family and Tami had a nice chat. "You know what, dear?" Talidea whispered as she leaned toward him, "Maybe that Altaïr is real. After all, we live on a planet full of surprises!" Taino grabbed his nose bridge and sighed with disappointment.

"How is it odd that Altaïr is located in Gepardia?" Emma started talking, "Of all the places on this island and in this world, he chose to live here."

"Like, when I got into Thansuokria, I was in Azerwias at first," Maiev started to speak, "And then I sailed into Havaykia." "You sailed all the way up here since you found out I live here, mother," Elphina rolled her eyes and the rest of the family giggled.

"But you were glad we reunited in the end." "Just I still don't get how you figure out…" Elphina and Maiev were talking to each other, breaking away from the conversation about Tami's boyfriend.

"He can do parkour?" "Like a wallrun?" Northy and Southy questioned her. "Yes and yes! His movements are so delightful!" Tami answered cheerfully.

"And have you kissed yet?" Clara queried with a curious smile. "Yeah, Clara!" Tami chuckled, "We kissed yesterday and that's how we became partners! He's a true gentleman for an assassin!" "Awww!" cooed Clara, Tanisa and Relante like thrilled fangirls.

"Pffft! Are you serious?" Jarrod voiced gruffly, crossing his arms, "We're really gonna let some random assassin come to us just like this?" "And you're a former mercenary," added Cleanth, who was sitting next to him finishing his breakfast. "Nobody asked you!" Scout scowled at him and Purifier just chuckled derisively.

"Are you jealous, cousin?" Lennon smirked. "Absolutely not!" Jarrod declared proudly, but he leaned over to his cousin and whispered: "Maybe a little bit… And hopefully my package would arrive today."

Suddenly, the ranch doorbell rang. Everyone fell silent…

"He's here!" Tami beamed and rushed out of the house. "Wait! Isn't that my package!?" called Jarrod, but she no longer heard him. She was sprinting down the sidewalk at full speed. She passed between Cerato's and Microraptor's enclosures to the gate under the stone archway. She opened the gate door and saw…

"Good morning, I have a delivery for Mr. Fastrunner," the human deliveryman said, "Is he at home?" Tami's smile disappeared from her face and she sighed disappointedly. "Greetings. Yes, he's at home. I'll bring it to him." She took the package into her arms, thanked the deliveryman, and he happily left. Sorrowfully and slowly she was closing the gate, until-

"Safety and peace, Tami." She heard a familiar voice, put the package on the ground and turned behind. Altaïr was standing in front of her and smiled heartily at her, making her gasp. "Altaïr!" She leaped into his arms with pure joy and they embraced each other tightly.

"I missed you…" she whispered into his ear. He chuckled sweetly. "We actually saw each other last night, but honestly: I missed you, too." The two stared into each other's eyes passionately and after a moment they kissed on the lips.

"So, Tami? Did he really arrive?" "Or it was that-" Clara and Lennon gasped as they ran and stopped in surprise when they spotted them kissing. "Oh… My… Goodness…" Clara disbelieved her own eyes and covered her mouth. Lennon's jaw drooped from the shock. "It's going to throw Jarrod off," he commented.

After the kiss, Tami noticed them: "Clara! Lennon! Meet Altaïr, my boyfriend! And Altaïr, meet Clara and Lennon, my friends!" The Assassin glanced at the pair of Scouts and offered his hand for a handshake, "Safety and peace, both of you."

"Oh! Welcome to TaE Family's Ranch, sir!" Clara enthusiastically shook his hand, which bothered Lennon and he fake coughed from jealousy. "Oh! Sorry, darling!" Clara blushed and hugged her husband.

"You two are together? Aren't you two from two rival factions?" Altaïr asked confusedly. "We were once in rival factions against each other," Lennon answered frowning, still holding Clara close. "And once again, yes, Clara is my wife."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Altaïr placed his hand on Tami's waist and pressed her closer to him. "My eyes are fixed only on this magnificent miss," he smirked confidently at Tami and she timidly smiled at her boyfriend. Lennon was relieved, smiled and gave him a handshake: "All right then! Welcome to us!"

From behind the enclosure fence, Cerato appeared, growling and snarling at the stranger. Altaïr startled and stepped back: "What is that?" He questioned slightly frightened, but tried to hide it. "Oh, it's Cerato!" Clara replied, "She's our tame Ceratosaurus that we've been raising since she was a baby! Don't worry, she's friendly!" Clara grinned pridefully, while behind her Lennon trembled his hand in front of the neck and shook head saying no.

"Riiiiggghht…" nervously Altaïr smiled at them. "Okay, Clara and Lennon! Listen, Jarrod's package has already arrived, so you can bring it to him!" Tami spoke up, giving the box into Lennon's arms. "Ufff! Those must be his baseballs," Lennon groaned. "Come on, drahý! I'll introduce you to the others!" Tami delighted as they headed into the house, dragging Altaïr along.

Altaïr was amazed at what he was experiencing around him: the birds singing, the trumpeting of the hadrosaurs from the huge enclosure, and the smells of fresh crops from the garden and the flowers around them. "I didn't expect you to have a ranch so huge and alive," Altaïr said stunned, "It looks like paradise here, except for the trumpeting…"

"Thanks, and you can get used to the hadrosaur's trumpeting as long as you're not near them," Tami giggled, "Then I'll show you around here, but first you'll get to know my family!" He nodded and Tami opened the door of the house. "Guuuyyyysss~" The entire TaE Family looked at her and waited. "Meet… Altaïr!" Tami pulled Altaïr inside, and they all gasped in surprise, their jaws dropping.

"Safety and peace, TaE Family," Altaïr greeted them, bowing politely to them. "Oh my Elune! He's real!?" shouted Talidea in disbelief. "See? I wasn't lying to you at all!" Tami smiled. "I can't believe it…" Gavin held his breath and went to pass out, but Takuya stopped him.

"Oh, Tami! I'm glad you'd rather be with him…" Cleanth said, glancing mockingly at Jarrod, who was shocked that his ex-girlfriend had found a new boyfriend, "…than that imbecile standing next to me." "Go to hell, Cleanth!" Jarrod frowned. "Cleanth! Don't be mean to Jarrod!" Tami scolded him mischievously. "Mon Dieu! I was only joking!"

"Hold on, Tami..." Altaïr said, "Jarrod is your ex-boyfriend?" "Exactly!" Jarrod raised a finger at him angrily, "Listen to me, assassin! I'll give you one advice…"

The atmosphere choked with tension as Assassin and Scout gazed into each other's eyes with murderous stares. Everyone became anxious, and Tami prepared to step in so that her current boyfriend and ex-boyfriend wouldn't kill each other.

Jarrod finally opened his mouth: "Take good care of her and be a better partner than I was!" Altaïr didn't expect these words from him. "So you're not mad that I'm with Tami?" "Well, I do feel a little bit of jealousy, but we're still friends. So be good to her, please."

"Alright then. He just dumped the most beautiful lady in this entire world," Altaïr joked, wrapping his arm around Tami, making her blush with happiness. "But thank you for that, so I can be with her." His response made Cleanth and Hunters laugh and Jarrod grunted a bit in irritation.

"Sorry, Jarrod," Tami apologized to him. "But good for you. I'm really happy for you," Jarrod stated genuinely, which made Tami smile. "Hey, Jarrod!" Lennon walked in with Clara, "Your package has arrived!" "Oh! My baseballs!" Jarrod went to open his package, meanwhile a tall shadow loomed over Tami and Altaïr.

"Ishnu-alah, Altaïr. My name is Talar! Nice to meet you!" Altaïr stiffened. He was impressed by Talar's height, which was over 200 centimeters, easily towering over him. Talar excitedly offered him his large hand, which could perhaps kill with one blow into Altaïr's face. Altaïr eyed Tami insecurely, but soon got over it and they shared a handshake. "I'm pleased to meet you as well," Altaïr retorted.

Soon the rest of TaE Family approached him and gradually got introduced by handshaking. Altaïr didn't feel comfortable about it at first, as he was an introvert, constantly showing respect to her girlfriend's family. He noticed Hunters shaking hands with him, but decided not to deal with them for now. However, not everyone was happy to welcome him: Taino, Maiev and Elphina kept their distance from him. Even Emma looked unsure as she offered a handshake.

"All right, everybody," Taino started, "All of you know Altaïr now, but we've got a lot of work to do today, so get ready!" They all nodded to him and all prepared for their own duties. Only Altaïr, Tami and Talidea remained.

"Taino! Darling!" Dea called him cheerfully, "You haven't introduced to him yet! Come on!" Taino sighed and walked towards the three. "Elune-Adore, Altaïr," Taino greeted him politely, but kept his tone cold. "Peace be upon you, sir," Altaïr greeted him monotonously. They shook their hands anyway.

"You're supposed to be the leader of this ranch, as your wife said?" Altaïr asked. "Correct. Why do you ask?" Taino crossed his arms. "I suspect my presence makes you uncomfortable, but I want to assure you that my brotherhood has no ill plans or interest towards your ranch or your family. I've come to see my beloved Tami." The young assassin looked warmly at Tami, who smiled back.

"Hey, Dea? Taino? May I give Altaïr a tour of the entire ranch and the interior of the house, please?" Tami pleaded with big brown puppy dog eyes on them. "Of course, my dear sister!" Talidea agreed delightedly, "That sounds like an outstanding idea! Right, Taino?" Taino sighed in defeat once again, "You may, but please be careful. Some of our animals are not used to strangers."

"I noticed, sir…" Altaïr added, remembering Cerato uneasy. "Thanks!" Tami impatiently dragged her beloved outside, "Come on, Alty! I'll show you the aviaries first! See you later!" " Have fun, you two!" Talidea waved at them. Taino stared unsurely at the pair as they dashed out the door. "Love?" he addressed his wife. "Yes, darling?" "I don't know about you, but that assassin boy gives me a bad feeling."

"Oh, Taino, don't worry. You felt the same way when Tami started dating Jarrod," Talidea wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "True, but this is different. Since the Templars are in Gepardia, I fear they may endanger our family." "Listen, honey. If Tami's speaking the truth, that Altaïr is an incredible man, then we can trust them." "If you say so…"

Meanwhile, Tami was leading Altaïr towards the two aviaries, where the singing of some birds Altaïr had never heard before could be heard. The two entered one of them, where they found several trees whose leaves hid the little creatures chirping there.

"Tami, you called me Alty…" Altaïr crossed his arms playfully. "Oops! Sorry…" blushed Tami, shyly looking elsewhere, "I think it's cute." He just chuckled softly, placed his right palm on her cheek and gently caressed it with his thumb. "It's fine. I actually like this nickname from you. Only you can call me that." Tami smiled at him again and kissed his palm, which made Altaïr's face redden. Yet he smirked and then kissed her forehead, making her freeze.

Suddenly, a small Microraptor landed on Tami's right shoulder. Altaïr freaked out, "What is it?" he inquired. "Oh! Hi, Raven!" Tami greeted the little dinosaur and petted his head, "Alty, meet Raven, one of our Microraptors!" "One of yours?" Shortly, the other Microraptors and Archaeopteryxes flew over and sat on them as well. "Oh, hello!" Altaïr greeted them carefully, but smiled at the small feathered dinosaurs. "Those who have no wings on their legs are Archaeopteryxes," Tami said, giving them pellets, which some of them started to eat from her hand.

"The two genera didn't live together at the same time and place on Earth, but they can coexist here," she explained, "Plus, unlike our other animals, they're friendly towards strangers." "They are like birds," said Altaïr, trying to feed them. "Because birds are dinosaurs! Even though Microraptors and Archaeopteryxes are non-avian dinosaurs, yet they share with birds the same ancestors." "Don't say…" "You know, we have two separate aviaries because when it's mating season, sometimes we have to separate the males and females from each other." "May I ask why?" Altaïr asked intently.

"Because they would overpopulate here," Tami continued to explain, "Fortunately, the babies that hatch here, Elphina trains them to be feral and then releases them into the wild in the parts of Havaykia where they're native." "And why don't you release them here?" "Microraptors and Archaeopteryxes are not native to the Cheetah's Valley and additionally wouldn't survive in winter here. Actually these little guys were rescued from an illegal exotic breeder who neglected them. Unfortunately they can't return to the wild because they are attached to people." "Oh goodness… Good that you take care of them."

After the little theropods had eaten, they flew back into the branches of the trees in the aviary. "Oh, so all the dinosaurs were here with you," echoed Elphina, who was cleaning the aviary. "Hey, Elphi!" Tami greeted her. Altaïr just waved at her, Elphina frowned a little at him. "Tami, are you doing a tour of our ranch to your boyfriend right now?" the night elf asked, crossing her arms and softening her gaze.

"That's right!" Tami nodded her head, "And so far he likes it here! Right, Alty?" He nodded his head in agreement. "Alty, huh?" smirked Elphina, as her sister called him, "Do you like any animals?" He nodded his head in agreement. "Alty, huh?" Elphina smirked at what her sister called him, "Do you like any animals?" "I do, ma'am," the assassin answered, "I even own a female golden eagle-" "A golden eagle!?" Elphina gasped, her grumpiness was replaced with delight, "What's her name?" "Caukasa. When I used to live at the Island of Eagle, I found her injured, so I treated her," Altaïr narrated more confidently, "And when she recovered, I released her back into the wild, but Caukasa wouldn't stop following me, so I tamed her."

"Awww! You're a natural falconer! I have a female white falcon named Keeya! I'll admit I didn't have a good feeling about you at first since you're an assassin, but I guess I was wrong!" Elphina smiled. "I don't blame you for that. I understand," Altaïr said. Tami was glad that her oldest sister was starting to respect her boyfriend. "Great! Okay, Alty! Let's go to the veterinary now!" "The veterinary?" Tami grabbed Altaïr's hand again and headed out of the aviary with him. They said goodbye to Elphina and the little theropods. The pair made their way to the building, which was connected to a high fence of a huge enclosure. They went inside and saw several cages with injured and abandoned animals.

"Oh! Put on a mask for sure!" Tami instructed, handing it to him. "A mask?" Altaïr wondered, probably not knowing exactly what it was. Tami showed him how to put it on. "That way either we don't infect the animals here or we don't catch some nasty disease from them." "If you say so, habibti." He listened to her and put the mask over his mouth, but he didn't know how properly to adjust it.

"Put the strings behind your ears," Tami advised with a chuckle. "I know what I'm doing… Ah! See? I did it!" "Okay, congratulations." Altaïr rolled his eyes playfully at her comment. "It's only more difficult to breathe in." "You'll get used to it, drahý." Then they viewed the animals together. They had to be quiet to avoid stressing them. Some of the cages were covered with blankets, which made the little creatures calmer.

"So many of them are here," murmured Altaïr. "Yes, we're not just a ranch, we're also a rescue center," Tami answered lowly, "Injured, sick and abandoned animals come to us here, we treat them and then release them. True, we are supposed to leave it to nature, but most of the time these animals unfortunately get injured or lose their parents to poachers and illegal breeders or the natural elements. In addition, some species are so rare that we have to come to their aid."

"Are poachers the biggest problem in you country? If I'm not misremembering, I've heard that parts from exotic animals are worthless in Havaykia." "Yes, but they are at a high price outside of Havaykia, especially in Cross Island, the Mann Islands and parts of Azerwias." "Horrible…" "But fortunately, there are rangers patrolling all over the island and the other nearby smaller islands fighting them."

Suddenly the door from the surgery opened and out stepped Talidea holding a young male Thylacine, followed by Emma. They both put the medium sized marsupial into the cage and covered it with a blanket so it wouldn't get stressed.

"Well done, Emma!" Dea complimented her, "You're getting better with the medical inspection on the wild animals! I was a little worried Benjo was gonna bite you." "Thanks, sister! Since I need practice for my class-" She didn't finish her sentence when she saw the couple behind Talidea.

"Oh! Hi, Tami! And Altaïr…" "Hi, Emma! Hello again, Dea!" Tami greeted them happily. Altaïr just waved them back. "Oh, we're seeing each other once again," Talidea chuckled, while Emma stared at Altaïr uncertainly. "I'm showing Alty how you two work and Dea, you're so fast already being here."

"We started just a moment ago," the night elf said, "Emma and I checked out this Thylacine named Benjo who was the pet of some human lady. She couldn't take good care of him, so she brought him to us yesterday." "The problem is that Benjo is attached to people, which is not good," Emma joined in the conversation, "Luckily he's still young, so there will be a chance he'll be wild. And if he doesn't, that's okay! So at least he could be an ambassador of Marsupial Isle."

"You love to help animals, I see," Altaïr said. "Yeah, we're trying to help them to survive…" Emma crossed her arms. "Well… I rescued my eagle, Caukasa, but once I find a wounded or abandoned pigeon or dove, I'll take care of them and then release them." "Really?" Emma inquired in surprise, touched, Talidea raising an eyebrow as well.

"Awww, Alty! That's so sweet of you!" Tami was touched and embraced him warmly. "Oh, wow! I wasn't expecting this," Emma scratched the back of her neck, "I feel a little awkward. Now I can see why Tami adores you so much. After all, she keeps saying a lot of kind things about you. Hopefully you'll keep it up."

"I'll do my best," Altaïr nodded with a relaxed smile. "Tami, good for you, sis," Emma grinned at her, "I hope you two will have a wonderful relationship." "Thanks, Emma!" Tami dashed over to her and they hugged. "I hope you and Southy are doing well together too." "Indeed we are. I'll admit we're still working a bit on improving, but we're doing well."

Then Talidea coughed falsely, "I don't like to interrupt, but we need to continue, Emma. We have a lot of work to do today." "Roger that, Dea!" Emma saluted playfully, preparing for the next inspection. "Okay, we will go," Tami announced, grasping Altaïr's hand again.

"Hey, Tami! Try to show Altaïr through the lookout at Hadrosaur's Enclosure! I'm pretty sure he's never seen a truly giant dinosaur with his own eyes!" Talidea playfully pointed a finger at Altaïr, who rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Excellent idea, Dea!" Tami cheered, "Thank you! Bye!" "Bye, Tami and Altaïr!" Emma beamed at them already cheerfully. "See you at lunch! Have fun!" Talidea waved, and the couple walked out of the veterinary building while taking off their masks.

"It shows that your sisters have a lot to do when they have to nurse each animal," Altaïr voiced worriedly. "Oh, don't worry about them, dear," Tami flapped her hand, "We have volunteers and vet students visiting here. Besides, Emma is studying zoology in university, so she must have at least some basic practice when handling any wild animal. Anyway, let's go to that lookout tower!"

Tami excitedly dragged her boyfriend to the lookout tower, which was almost 10 meters high. "Tami! Slow down!" Altaïr shouted softly, "You don't have to drag me everywhere by the hand. I will always follow you." "Sorry, I just can't wait to show you all this," Tami smiled shyly. "I know damn well," he smirked.

The couple reached the top of the lookout tower and saw a huge pasture in front of them, where several animals of other dinosaur species were grazing. In the center of the enclosure was a circle of small forest, with three shelters around it, so that the animals could hide from the bad weather. The entire ranch was surrounded by a forest that blended the colors of the yellow-green savanna and the purple of the enchanted forest.

"Woah…" Altaïr held his breath, "I didn't expect you to have it this huge." "When you're taking care of large dinosaurs, you have to have a huge enclosure." They both leaned against the rail, shortly Altaïr snuggled closer to Tami, rested his head on her shoulder and kissed her on the red cheek. Then they watched the magnificence. The trumpeting from the hadrosaurs could be heard more than a kilometer away.

"I wonder: how do you sleep when those dinosaurs with crests are rumbling all the time?" Altaïr asked. "Well… Our house is soundproof," Tami explained, flipping a lock of hair behind her ear, "It's not quite perfect, but at least you can get some sleep. Also, my older sisters and brothers-in-law have been training them to trumpet more quietly. If there's a danger, they'll make so-called 'bad noise', which can damage your hearing. Fortunately, this rarely happens. They are safe here."

"Will you tell me what kind of dinosaurs you got there, huh?" he whispered against her ear, both passionately and curiously. "Alright, there they are…" she pointed her finger gradually, "Parasaurolophuses… Corythosaurs… Lambeosaurs… Tsintaosaurs… Olorotitans… The smaller ones over there are the Dryosaurs and the smallest ones we have are the Leaellynasauras, but they can only be seen here through binoculars."

Altaïr tried the binoculars and saw the prehistoric animals more clearly. "True, habibti. They look wonderful..." he was stunned. "All the hadrosaurs and dryosaurs are rescued here, and the Leaellynasaurs actually moved here naturally since they found refuge here," Tami said. "Oh, hold on, habibti! You have a lake over there?" "Yes! We call it Lily Lake! We like to go there to fish and swim!"

As Altaïr observed, his gaze locked on one large Parasaurolophus that had been separated from the herd. "Hey, Tami? Who's that lone dinosaur over there?" He pointed his finger at the enclosure that was connected to the veterinary building. "This is Monarch, or is he nicknamed The Bull," Tami spoke in a serious tone, "He came to us two months ago, supposedly he once belonged to the Queen." "Queen? And why he is here?" "Monarch has a bad temper and attacked almost anyone who moved. It was frightening to transfer him here. Elphina said such aggressive animals are usually put down, but Talidea hopes we can calm him down."

Tami glanced at the other hadrosaurs and continued: "You know, a lot of people underestimate herbivores, especially hadrosaurs. They think that they are harmless due to the lack of horns and spikes and are usually easy prey for predators."

"Tch, those people have probably never seen at least a horse in person," Altaïr frowned, "I saw with my own eyes how some fool beat his horse and the horse kicked him hard into the jaw. It was a nasty injury, and if I'm not mistaken, a few days later the man succumbed through infection." "Yikes…" "And I wouldn't mess with anything what your family has here." "Yeah… Okay, you wanna move on, drahý?" "Of course. Let's go."

They both went down from the lookout tower and continued on with the tour. "On our left there's this Recovering Enclosure," Tami talked, "'There we release animals, something like soft-releasing, to prove to us that they are capable of surviving in nature. There's nothing there now so let's move on."

As they walked, they met a warden guarding at a crossroad. Beside her sat a large dark nightsaber.

"Hi, Maiev!" Tami waved at her. "Greetings, Tami... and assassin," she greeted in a cold voice, but softened as she spoke to Tami. "I heard you're giving your boyfriend a tour here." "Exactly! So far, Altaïr is enjoying it here!" Altaïr nodded, except he felt unsafe with the big saber-toothed cat staring at him like prey and growling a bit. Yet he bowed slightly to the older night elf warden.

"Safety and peace, mistress…" "Shadowsong…" Maiev responded coldly, "I see you are carrying weapons constantly. Always alert, right?" "I need to be. If anything, my knives and blades will take care of it," Altaïr answered with pride, but still cautiously noticing that the warden was better armed than he was.

"Impressive," Maiev said while scratching her chin, "You also have a love for blades? Will you show them to me?" "With pleasure, ma'am." Altaïr drew his dagger first and Maiev curiously inspected it. "Hm… Pretty sharp. Most human daggers from Azeroth aren't quite as elegant as this one."

"Thank you. Here is one of my throwing knives," Altaïr picked up one from the sheath on his right shoulder, "They're also sharp, light and with one throw can kill instantly if it hits a critical place on the body."

Maiev nodded her head intrigued, "Nice, except I can throw multiple knives at once while turning," Maiev praised, holding over her armed chest. "Oh, very well then... And what do you say to this?" Altaïr's hidden blade popped out and he performed it in front of the warden.

"Now that's an interesting blade," Maiev was impressed, "I wonder why no Rogue from Azeroth thought of that. I like it. You know what, you have my respect. But always be aware…" Maiev warned him, but he gave her a respectful nod.

"We'd better go," Tami whispered to him and they were ready to move on. "And one more thing before you go," Maiev paused them, "Protect Tami if you really love her so much as she worships you that much." "Count on it, Mrs. Shadowsong." And the couple continued with the tour. "That assassin is our ally after all, Dawnmist," Maiev petted her nightsaber, "You don't have to growl at him anymore."

Tami and Altaïr headed towards Cerato's paddock. Once more they met Lennon and Clara, who were feeding Cerato with chunks of meat. "Hello, hello, you two! We are seeing again!" Lennon waved to them. "Are you enjoying here, Altaïr?" Clara asked him with toothy smile.

"It's going fine," he answered, placing his left hand on Tami's waist and gently pressing her against him. "Tami is an excellent guide." "Alty…" Tami blushed shyly.

"Ah! You two are as cute as Lennon and I were when we fell in love!" Clara pressed her cheeks slightly from fangirling. Cerato, behind the enclosure fence, noticed again at Altaïr, who had frozen out of her. She let out a throaty coo that sounded like the mixed noises of a crocodile and a cassowary. But it didn't sound like a sign of aggression, it was more like a greeting and then she went to drink from the trough.

"I'm not going to lie: I'm impressed that you were able to tame Ceratosaurus," Altaïr complimented the Scout couple. "Almost," Lennon reminded. "But see? At least Cerato tolerates you after all!" Clara gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, yeah..." nodded Altaïr his head, "Let's keep moving, habibti." "All righty, Alty!" Tami grinned, "See you later, Basecks!" They said goodbye to the Scouts and continued on with the tour.

They walked into a large garden that looked more like a wooden greenhouse. Various fruits and vegetables were grown here. "You grow all this for animals?" Altaïr began to speak. "Yeah and for us too. You know, it's cheaper when you grow your own food at home." "True, true..."

In front of them they saw the young night elves: Tarion, Tanisa, and Relante, who were now taking care of the garden. Tarion was the first to notice the newcomers.

"Hey, Tami! And greetings, Mr. Altaïr," the shy druid greeted them. "Hi, Tami! Ishnu-dal-dieb, Mr. Altaïr!" Tanisa and Relante simultaneously greeted them happily. "Hi, guys!" Tami waved, and they walked up to them. "Safety and peace to you three. You don't have to call me mister," Altaïr said, "My name is enough."

"We've heard a lot of good things about you from Tami," Relante said. "And of course we are fans too! We love your game!" Tanisa added. "What a game…?" wondered Altaïr, but immediately remembered, "Oh! You actually mean the one where I'm in the computer, right?" The two night elves nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"So, Tarion? How's the druidism going?" Tami asked him. "I'm working on it, auntie Tami," the young druid beamed, "It's not perfect, but my teacher praised me that I'm doing better than other druids at my age." "Will you show us some spell, please?" Tami begged him.

He gladly agreed, stood in front of one bush and began to cast a spell. Around his hands, shimmering green glows appeared to surround the bush and blueberries began to grow. "Oh… My… Allah…" Altaïr couldn't believe his eyes, "Now this is a sorcery!" "Thank you very much," Tarion bowed shyly.

Tanisa and Relante tried to taste the berries, nevertheless it was obvious by their faces that something was wrong. "Big bro, I hate to ruin your joy, but those blueberries aren't ripe yet," Tanisa told in disgust, spitting the berry out of her mouth.

"Aw man…" sighed Tarion disappointedly, "Nevertheless, my teacher said it was at least some progress." "Don't worry, cousin. You started druidism a year ago. Doesn't mean you'll immediately become the best," Relante reminded softly, "But you've got a lot of years to learn. After all, the best druids were probably thousands of years old when they conquered druidism."

"Thousands of years?" Altaïr was surprised. "Night elves used to be immortal in Azeroth, but then they sacrificed that to save the planet from the Burning Legion," Tami explained, "Even if they have become mortal, they can still live to be over a thousand years old."

"Hey! For giggles, guess how old Maiev is!" Tanisa challenged Altaïr. "Erm… 1550?" he guessed unsurely. "Over 10, 000 years!" Relante answered, "And she's also my grandmother!" The two night elf girls giggled. "Unbelievable..." Altaïr was stunned. "Actually, Maiev is the only one who is over a thousand years old," Tami added, "Taino, Talar and Elphina are over 300 years old and Talidea is 49 years old." "Exactly! Tarion is 20 years old. And Relante and I are the youngest here, 17!" Tanisa smiled.

"I hate to interrupt, but we promised my mom that we'd check the crops to see if there happened to be weeds growing in some of them so we could remove them," Relante said worriedly.

"Sure, cousin! Let's keep working!" Tanisa bounced with excitement, "The sooner we finish, the sooner your mom starts making lunch!" "Isn't it rather the slower you go, so Aunt Elphina starts cooking, little sis?" Tarion crooked his eyebrows, "And if I'm remember correctly, Cleanth and Jarrod are cooking now." "Whatever!" Tanisa laughed.

Tami and Altaïr decided to continue on with the tour. They said they would see them later and walked out of the garden. Nearby of them stood a smaller building made of wood. "That's where we have a warehouse," Tami spoke, "That's where we store stuff like crops, meat, and other food." "I get it," Altaïr rolled his eyes, "We can skip this one. I doubt there's anything interesting-"

Suddenly, they heard a screeching, but it wasn't dinosaur-like. Altaïr stepped in front of Tami, ready to defend his beloved. They spotted two Hunters running away from the warehouse and leaped on a high fence. They were being chased by two other Hunters, this time Southy and Northy. Tarion, Tanisa and Relante peeked out to see what was going on.

"Get out right now and don't you dare return!" Southy screamed furiously. "And you don't want us to call for backup!" Northy yelled. "Fuck you!" Hunter, in a light blue hoodie, cursed. "Let's go, little bro. Let's get out of here," growled the other Hunter with the torn dark blue hoodie, and they both jumped away.

"Assholes," Northy growled. "Is everything all right?" Maiev echoed, running over when she heard the screeching of the intruders. "Everything is all right!" Southy exclaimed. Maiev nodded and went back to her business. The three younger elves returned to work in the garden too.

In a moment the two brothers registered the couple. "Oh! Ey!" Southy greeted first. "Servus, Tami! And the famous Altaïr!" Northy cheered. Altaïr was still in a defensive stance. "Altaïr, don't worry. Southy and Northy are friends," Tami soothed him and waved at them back.

"That's true! The Great Assassin, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, is here among us! In Havaykia, in Gepardia, in TaE Family Ranch!" Southy rejoiced. "We're your fans too!" Northy delighted.

"Aren't you Hunters like those two you drove off? Apparently they are dangerous to the residents of Cheetah's Valley," Altaïr scowled. "We're Hunters-mutants, not Hunters-infected like the two idiots who tried to steal our supplies," Northy explained. "What's the difference?" "We were born this way. They used to be humans, then got infected with the Green Flu virus and became cannibalistic monsters," Southy added.

Altaïr was a bit horrified. A virus that deforms people? "And is that virus still around?" "Especially in Fouria, but don't worry, everyone in Havaykia is vaccinated against it and it hasn't spread any further," Northy said. "I actually got some kind of needle into my body when my brotherhood arrived in Gepardia," Altaïr stated.

"It's called an injection and it means you're safe," Tami comforted him. "One more question for you, Southy. Supposedly you're in a relationship with Emma, right?" Altaïr questioned him. "Ah, Emma! The best woman on the whole planet," sighed Southy happily putting his hand on his heart. His younger brother stuck out his tongue annoyedly but in a playful manner. "Actually, what about her? Is there something wrong with her?" he worried about his girlfriend.

"It's okay, Southy," Tami reassured him, "Just Altaïr can't believe that you and Emma are dating, but he has no problem with that, right?" she looked at her boyfriend, who nodded his head. "Okay, Hunters," she continued, "I still want to show Alty the rest of the ranch and inside the home."

"Of course!" "Have fun! And Altaïr, next time show us the parkour tricks." Altaïr nodded playfully at the brothers again. He started to like them, even though they are mutants. Surprisingly so far, he actually liked or at least tolerated every member of Tami's family. Yet in the brotherhood he felt repulsion at some. He felt like he was out of his character. Despite that, it was a good feeling…

"So now where are we going, love?" Altaïr looked at Tami with a warm smile. "Let's go to the stable! You'll see our dinosaurs closer!" "Closer?" Altaïr froze in fright and let himself be dragged by his beloved into the large stable.

Inside there was the chirping of house martins and swallows nesting high up on the stable walls. In front of them, Leaellynasauras roamed, pecking at the hay and seeds on the floor. The couple spotted four sleek theropod dinosaurs in a stall box, watching them with their large orange eyes.

"What are those?" Altaïr asked, pointing a finger at them. "These are Coelophysises, Triassic theropods," Tami answered, "They came to us five days ago. Someone dumped them on the streets in Gepardia and they were stealing food from restaurants. They're definitely domesticated since they're not scared of humans, and luckily they're friendly."

"If they're friendly, why leave them out and abandon them?" Altaïr frowned. "Some people adopt an exotic animal that flexes with them or due to their cuteness," Tami considered, "But when they grow up, there are complications. These people don't know exactly what to do, so they dump the animal somewhere and leave."

"Disgusting. I've seen in my time where so many people dump their dogs or cats and leave them to die… It makes me furious." "I absolutely hate these kind of people. Irresponsible morons… But these little guys were lucky they got to us. Hard to say what could have gone wrong for them if we hadn't arrived to their aid in time…"

"Hello there, lovebirds!" suddenly greeted Talar, who was currently using his pitchfork to put hay into the feeders for the herbivorous dinosaurs. With him were two other Hunters, Hoody Boy and Ryland, who waved to them.

"Hey, fellas!" Tami greeted back with a big grin, Altaïr only waved. "How are you?" Ryland asked amusedly, "Great! Altaïr really loves it here!" Tami replied cheerfully. " We love to hear this! You already seem to be one of us here, Altaïr!" Hoody Boy gloated, hugging Altaïr and Tami at the same time.

"Don't… Touch… Me…" growled Altaïr grimly. Hoody Boy stepped away from him to be safe, "Whoops, apologies for violating your personal space, man," he apologized with a nervous smile, "I'm just happy to meet someone new. You know, most people are rather run away from me or try to kill me."

Altaïr didn't expect this line from Hoody Boy. "Oh… I mean, there was nothing to apologize. I don't like when anyone touches me… Except for Tami, obviously." Altaïr softened his tone and caressed his beloved's cheek, "By the way, aren't you Southy and Northy's brother? You mostly look like Northy."

"Correct. We're triplets, I'm the youngest in fact. You've met them, huh?" Hoody Boy grinned mischievously, "We used to live in Infected's Refuge, specifically one pack of my kind, but I was a weakling to them, and was later banished for saving a human woman and her child from my packmate from killing them. My brothers missed me, so they followed me here."

"But at least our paths have been found!" Ryland smirked embracing Hoody and they both began to purr contentedly. "Those two are… together?" Altaïr murmured into Tami's ear. "Yes. I hope you're not judging them."

"Absolutely not! Good for them!" Tami hugged him with joy and he returned the hug. His face was all red under the hood, which made Talar and Hunter couple laugh. "You two are made for each other!" Talar chuckled, "By the way, Tami. Do you want to introduce Beaky and Kamari to Altaïr?" She got excited. "Oh, yes!" "Who are Beaky and Kamari?" Altaïr arched an eyebrow. "You'll see!"

Ryland went to open one stall box and out ran a cheetah that had stripes instead of dots. When he saw Tami, he started chirping joyously and rubbed up against her and purred. "Hey, big boy! Glad to see you!" Tami petted him. Altaïr had never seen a cheetah that close and watched it in astonishment. He wanted to pet him, except Kamari hissed at him and he pulled his hand away.

"Oh! Kamari doesn't get along much with strangers," Tami said, "But don't worry, drahý. Let him sniff your hand and then he'll be alright with you." Altaïr tried to put his hand in front of Kamari's muzzle and the cheetah sniffed him. Kamari calmed down and licked his fingers. "Hey, hello," Altaïr chuckled.

"Wow! He instantly likes you!" Hoody Boy marveled. "I've never seen a cheetah as a large house kitten. Right, big guy? Who is good boy?" Altaïr jested, scratching Kamari's cheeks, making him purr more.

"Okay, now meet Beaky!" Tami rejoiced and started calling her: "Beaaaakkkky~! Come here, girl~!" Suddenly, a Parasaurolophus with yellow coloring and black stripes down its body entered the stable. She was smaller than other individuals of her kind, probably she was still sub-adult. Altaïr got spooked and hid behind Tami's back. Kamari better ran away from the dinosaur, hopped onto the hay bale and watched them from a safe distance.

Tami, Talar and Hunter couple petted Beaky's head. "Don't worry, Altaïr!" Talar laughed, "Beaky is a herbivore! She won't eat you!" "But herbivores can be more aggressive than carnivores," Altaïr pointed out. "Yeah, but Beaky is really tame, drahý. She's actually our first dinosaur on the ranch! Come on, pet her!" Tami encouraged him. Altaïr carefully reached out and ran his hand over her head down to her beak. This time he didn't feel as confident as he did while petting Kamari, luckily Beaky let herself be petted and patiently stayed still.

"What do you say about Beaky, buddy?" Hoody Boy asked. "Isn't Beaky sweet?" Ryland chimed in. "Well… I'll get used to her," answered Altaïr. Then Beaky turned away and went back outside to her herd. "See, Alty? That wasn't that bad," she smiled at him and took his hand, "Now let's go to the workshop and finally to my house!" "Sounds good to me," Altaïr agreed. "Enjoy yourselves!" Hoody Boy wished them and the couple waved goodbye to Talar, the Hunter pair and the animals.

As the couple exited the stables, they met Takuya and Gavin ahead of them, carrying fishing rods and equipment. "Hey, Tami and Altaïr!" Takuya greeted them as the first. "Hey, guys! Wanna go fishing with us?" Gavin offered.

"What do you say, Altaïr?" Tami asked him. "We could, but I'd like to take a good look inside," the assassin answered, "Besides, I would want to get some rest. But first we'll go see the workshop."

"Okay! Taino went there a moment ago. He's our handyman! Maybe he'll craft something for you!" Takuya joked. Gavin rolled his eyes at his brother's comment, but immediately smiled at the couple, "Well, at least we hope you're enjoying your stay at our house, Altaïr!"

"Thank you," Altaïr politely thanked him. "Thanks, guys! Enjoy your fishing!" Tami wished them and they went on their separate ways. Tami and Altaïr opened the door of the workshop, where Taino was currently working on repairing a small cage.

He looked behind himself as he heard their arrival. "Hello, Tami," he smiled at his sister-in-law, "…and Altaïr…" soon his gaze went cold as he saw the assassin. "Hey, Taino!" Tami greeted him, "I wanted to show Alty our workshop. What are you doing?"

"I'm repairing this cage, since there was a Velociraptor in it recently that surprisingly managed to break through the door and broke the lock." "Try to add more locks next time," Altaïr advised. "I wasn't talking to you, young man," Taino crossed his arms.

Altaïr sensed that the older night elf had something against him, but he tried to be polite so as not to disappoint his beloved. "I only wanted to give you advice," the assassin crossed his arms as well. "I know what I'm doing, assassin…" "I can see it, night elf…" They looked into each other's eyes sternly and coldly. Although Taino was more than two meters tall, Altaïr wasn't intimidated by him, killing enemies taller than him.

Tension started to rise in the workshop… "Guys, guys! We don't need to argue, please!" Tami was trying to calm the situation down. "Listen, sir." Altaïr began to speak genuinely from the heart, "I know you're concerned that I'm an assassin and I seem threatening, but you need to trust me: I truly love Tami. I want to- I mean, I swear I'm going to protect her and make her the happiest woman in the world. I know you are worried that because of me the Templars will show up here and threaten you and your family and friends. Thankfully, my Brotherhood protects all innocent people and if the Templars would attack you, we will help."

Taino was surprised at his words. He realized that Altaïr actually almost resembled himself in his youth. "Alright, alright…" he eventually sighed, "You hit precisely what I was concerned about, but I don't think the TaE Family is defenseless. A bunch of us were fighters, we just want to live a peaceful life, but if those Templars were up to anything wicked, we'd fight back for our freedom and peace."

"That's the spirit!" Altaïr grinned, "I like that!" Taino snickered, "You know what? I was wrong about you, Altaïr. Maybe you're actually as legendarily amazing an assassin as Tami always told me about you. But keep your guard up… If you hurt her…" From Taino's hand, frosty snowflakes emerged, representing a frost spell, "…my wife and I will freeze you to the bone and crush you into teeny tiny pieces."

Altaïr froze and gulped from fear. "Taino! Don't threaten him!" Tami snapped at him. Taino laughed and patted her head, "I'm kidding, don't worry! I just hope he will take good care of you."

Altaïr took courage once more and smiled proudly, "You can count on me, sir!" Taino nodded, the two finally finding some respect between them. "Great, you're cool now! I'm so glad!" Tami enthused, "So, Taino, I'm going to go show Alty our house!"

"Okay! Have fun, kids!" Warmly saying their goodbyes, the couple walked out of the workshop and finally entered the large wooden house. Altaïr whistled from amazement, "I didn't expect you to have such a huge interior of the house as well."

"With 20 people living here, it has to be," Tami giggled. They were standing in a large hallway, they heard voices from the kitchen to their right. They went to where Cleanth and Jarrod were currently cooking lunch.

"Hey, guys!" Tami greeted them. "Bonjour, Tami and Altaïr!" Cleanth waved at them. "Oh, hi," Jarrod spoke up without looking up as he was focused on cooking. "We heard you had a tour of our ranch. Do you like it here, Altaïr?" Cleanth asked him smilingly.

"You have it almost like paradise here," Altaïr nodded, but wondered at Cleanth's appearance. "Cleanth, I notice that you are extremely pale. Pale as snow. Do you have some sort of skin disease?" Altaïr asked worriedly. "Ah! Don't worry, I'm not sick!" Cleanth laughed, "In fact I'm not a human, but a Purifier! I am from the Pure Kingdom, more specifically from the city of Secretairios."

"Purifier? Hmm... I've heard something about your kind, but apparently they never leave their island," Altaïr pointed out. "The only Purifiers who are outside the island are those who were banished due to the curse," Cleanth explained more seriously.

"What curse?" "The curse of the red eyes." "What? For this? This is ridiculous! What were they thinking!?" Altaïr boiled with fury. "It's just… The curse is meant for something completely different than eye color…" "Stop hiding and speak sense!" Cleanth held up his hands and kept his distance from Altaïr, who was being consoled by Tami's nuzzling on his arm.

"Chill, chill! I'll tell you right now! Jeez… I can transform into a dinosaur monster that can't control itself properly. Happy with the answer?" Altaïr lifted his eyebrows, " A dinosaur monster?" "Exactly." "And it's not because of-" Jarrod was about to say something, but Cleanth silenced him.

"Because of what?" Altaïr wondered. "You don't have to deal with it. After all, it was in the past," Cleanth smiled gloomily, "Tami, show him our house while Jarrod and I finish lunch. Afterwards, we'll call you."

"Okay, Cleanth. See you guys later!" Tami held Altaïr's hand and showed him around the house: the living room, the dining room, the bathrooms, the hobby room, and then they headed upstairs to the upper floor where the bedrooms were. On the way, Altaïr noticed a gecko climbing the wall. "Tami, there's some lizard over there," he pointed at the small reptile curiously.

"Ah, it's a Mediterranean house gecko. They live freely in our house," Tami muttered, "They catch insects and stabilize the spider population." "Oh, right. Now I remember I rarely saw similar lizards in my former universe." They watched the gecko for a moment and then moved into the hallway.

"Tami?" He stopped her. "Yes, drahý?" "You know what, we don't have to go into every room. I wouldn't want to stick my nose into the privacy of your family and friends. I'm most interested in how your room looks like." "Sure. Come on."

The couple headed for the end of the hallway. Tami opened the last door on the left and the two walked in. Tami's room was small. The bed with a couple of plushies was in the right hand corner of the room and next to it was a nightstand and a window. There was also a closet and dresser next to the door, a large shelf with figurines, video games and books about dinosaurs and animals, and a desk with a laptop, writing equipment and an office chair. Paintings of either cheetahs, dinosaurs, and pictures of her family from the old days were hung along the light green walls.

"Damn, girl, you live like this?" Altaïr smirked teasingly, "Better than my room." "You don't say," Tami chuckled, "By the way, do you want to take your weapons off? You don't have to wear them all the time." "True, habibti," Altaïr smiled sweetly, putting down his sword, dagger, knives and gloves. He even put his hood down.

"Where can I put these?" "You can put them on that dresser over there," she told him, and he put his weapons and gloves on it. He looked around the room. The first thing he noticed was the Assassin's Creed 1 video game on the shelf. "Is that me?" he asked in surprise, picking it up to take a closer look.

"Yes! That's that video game I mentioned to you a couple of times!" Tami cheerfully replied to him. "I look a little bit different there… Where are my freckles?" "That would be because you're a different Altaïr, like from an another universe." "That makes sense, but I don't look bad. What else have you got, sweetheart?"

Tami gasped in excitement as her boyfriend was fascinated over her collection of him. "Oh! I has a figurine of you, a book about you, posters, cards, fanarts! I even have a plushie of you!" She pointed out to him what all she had. "You really weren't lying about being my biggest fan," Altaïr joked. "Want to see how you look in the game?" Tami offered.

"Can you show it to me later, please, habibti? I'd like to chat with you further." Altaïr caressed her cheek again, lifting her chin up with his fingers. Tami blushed again at his tender gestures. They stared into each other's eyes, their faces getting closer together, they closed their eyes and finally kissed each other on the lips. The kiss was passionate and affectionate. Neither of them wanted to let go of the other. They were making out until they needed to breathe. They leaned their foreheads against each other's and continued to stare into each other's eyes affectionately.

"Do you want to sit on the bed?" Tami whispered into his ear. "Of course." They both sat on Tami's bed, slipped off their shoes and cuddled. "Even your bed is softer than mine in the hideout," Altaïr beamed. "Alty, you don't have to lie, please." Tami gently nudged him playfully with her shoulder.

"Why would I ever lie to you?" Altaïr scoffed, but became serious. "Tami? May I ask something personal about you?" "You're always allowed to ask me anything, drahý. What's on your mind?" She looked into his golden eyes. Altaïr found her brown eyes hypnotic, he couldn't help but smile warmly.

"Why are you being so hard on yourself? Like, you keep underestimating and blaming yourself." Tami's smile disappeared from her face and she looked elsewhere around the room. "Tami?" Altaïr addressed her worriedly. "It's a long story…" she responded evasively. "I don't mind, love. Feel free to shorten it if you can. I'll listen to you all day." Tami let out a heavy sigh and gave him another somber stare.

"Truth be told, drahý… My family and I are outsiders. People don't like us that much." "What? How? I don't understand why they don't like your family while you are helping animals!" "It's better today, but it used to be tougher…" "Why?"

Soon Tami started to tell her story: "You know, for instance, Taino and Talidea are not regular night elves. They are death knights, they used to serve under the Lich King's reign from Azeroth. Society sees death knights as undead heartless monsters that only bring death, but Taino and Dea are completely different. Because of their love, their bodies weren't rotting and they even managed to have Tarion and Tanisa together. But they just couldn't change the public's mind."

Altair kept listening intently and had no intention of stopping her. "Next Maiev didn't have a good reputation in the past," Tami continued, "Supposedly her other self did horrible things like killing innocent Highbornes, which our Maiev never actually committed. Elphina is her biological daughter, so people think she's just as bad as her mom, which is also not true. Talar also didn't avoid being rejected, as he is the husband of the warden's daughter and the younger brother of the death knight. Our Hunters: Southy, Northy, Hoody Boy and Ryland have never seen humans as prey. In fact, they felt more like humans, and because of that, their kind disowned them. That's why they have found a new home and 'pack' here. Cleanth was once a prince, but due to his eyes and a curse, his parents rejected him and he was raised by the cleaners. Years later, he was banished. Jarrod, Lennon and Clara never wanted to become mercenaries. They were forced to join. Their loved ones were murdered. Jarrod's father and ex-girlfriend were his abusers and manipulators. Clara's uncle murdered innocent civilians on orders from his enemies as well. Lennon and Clara fell in love with each other even though they were in opposing factions and had to escape for it. Jarrod ran away with them since they were the only true family for him. Later Cleanth met them and joined them despite him being a Purifier. Then they sailed together to Havaykia and since no one else would take them under their wing, they joined us where they found a new home. Far away from wars and violence... You see, we are actually a small community… A found family…"

"And you don't know what happened to your parents?" Altaïr whispered after a minute of silence. "I never knew them. The nannies found me outside the orphanage as an infant, alone…" Altaïr felt sorry for her and her family and friends. "This is not fair," he frowned, "And that apparently Havaykia is a place where discrimination is forbidden."

"Unfortunately that's not true for most places and people," Tami continued seriously, "My siblings, nephew and I had the hardest time in elementary school, because once upon a time when a night elf adopted a human child, they were both judged by society." "That makes no sense whatsoever! Why?" Altaïr argued furiously, but he calmed himself to avoid frightening Tami and let her keep talking.

"Because that's not how it used to be… Can you imagine when a night elf family adopts four human children…" "You were bullied by the other children," Altaïr finished her sentence. "Not only the children, but also the adults, especially the teachers," Tami added, "Almost nobody wanted to be friends with us, they only insulted and mocked us."

"Wait, you said almost nobody," Altaïr noted. Tami made a small sad smile, "Naya and the Palins siblings, Tilly and Ezekiel, befriended us since they found us fascinating." "And they weren't outcast by society for this, too?" "Yeah, but they didn't mind. We actually formed a little group, which was kind of against the whole world." "How did Relante and Tanisa handle it, since they're a couple younger than you?" "They were lucky to get into a good class in elementary. To be safe, we didn't meet them during school to keep their lives from falling apart because of us."

"But then why do you keep underestimating yourself?" Altaïr demanded, growing concerned, "Don't you remember exactly what happened?" Tami saddened once more, "I don't remember quite accurately. There were a lot of factors that brought my self-esteem down… But the worst I remember was in probably fifth grade in elementary, around the time I was ten or eleven. We had a grammar lesson, taught by a teacher who had something against me. Maybe for the fact that I wasn't the brightest student in her subject. We had to take a dictation test, in which I always got bad grades. I don't remember exactly why, but I told her that why should I do it, since I wasn't good at it and would probably never get better…"

Tami felt uncomfortable as she mentioned it, but continued: "The teacher got mad at me and told me I was a lost cause. That I don't know anything else and will never be able to adapt when I grow up…" In Tami's eyes, tears appeared, but she tried her best not to cry. Altaïr touched her hand and squeezed gently to comfort her.

"After this, I remained quiet and started to cry. I kept apologizing to her. After an hour, all my classmates made fun of me. Even though my siblings, nephew and friends were defending me, I never got over it. From then on, I preferred to be alone, avoiding anyone who wasn't from my family and friends. In my teenage years, I used to act rude and hostile, but after a while, I realized that it wasn't okay, it wasn't real me… That I was hurting my loved ones and myself in this way. Eventually I worked on myself and changed for the better, but I still prefer to take the blame on myself since I'm a lost cause…"

"No…" Altaïr shook his head and hugged her tightly. He was furious inside, but he kept it to himself. "That stupid woman should never say such things to any child. You're not a lost cause, Tami. You are a girl who wants to help others, explore nature, you can see beautiful things that no one else can see, and you are so much more than others think… I 'm really sorry what happened to you. After this incident, how did your family handle it?"

"Yes. I remember Elphina screaming after that teacher, how dare she say those awful words to a child. They were considering putting us in a different class or even a different school. But I was afraid that it would be the same everywhere, and besides, there is only one elementary school in Gepardia. I somehow made it through and got into high school. It was a hundred times better there, but my scars remained... And later after graduation I tried to go to university, but unfortunately I didn't finish the first semester because I was stressed for exams."

Altaïr consoled the sobbing Tami with an embrace and gently caressed her hair and back. "Truth be told, love," Altaïr cooed, "I realize how much the two of us have in common."

"What do you mean?" Tami wondered. "You know..." Altaïr started to tell his story this time, "I never knew my mother in person. She passed away shortly after I was born. My father often traveled on missions, we didn't spend a lot of time together. But whenever we had some time, he would tell me about his travels and adventures, and even tell me what my mother was like. He told me when I grew up, he would train me to become the best assassin and I would make the creed proud. Except at the age of eleven, my father sacrificed himself to the brotherhood and…" He paused and fell into sorrow as he thought of his late father.

"I know about this," Tami spoke in a quiet voice "It was written in the book about you. A man slit his throat in front of you and your best friend became your rival for not wanting to accept the truth you told…" "Correct. It was Abbas and his father…" Altaïr replied while nodding his head, "When you told me about what your teacher did to you, it reminded me of my master, Al Mualim. I remember as a boy I used to play with Malik and Kadar around his office and make a mess. My master wanted to punish me by beating me, but my father stopped him and took me away. He scolded me, but he knew I was just a little boy. Only after my father died, I rarely escaped Al Mualim's fists and slaps."

Tami covered her mouth in horror. Nothing about this was ever written in your book. "Oh my Elune… Altaïr… I'm truly, truly sorry…" Tami wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on his scar. "I didn't expect you to have it worse. No child would ever deserve to be beaten either." They cuddled in an embrace, lying down on the bed. Tami rested her head on Altaïr's chest and heard how his heart was pounding. She felt him gently caressing her curly hair and kissing her forehead.

"Alty?" Tami spoke up after several minutes. "Yes, habibti?" They locked eyes again. "I'm glad that I told you my story," Tami confessed to him with a shy smile, "And thank you for listening and understanding me. It's real relief." Altaïr returned a warm smile and cupped her face tenderly.

"I'm glad to help you, albi," he softly stated, "Actually, now I was wondering if I could give you something." Tami closed her eyes and waited for the surprise. Altaïr chuckled and pulled a gift from his pouch. "Open your eyes, habibti." She opened her eyes and saw a small stuffed dove in his hands. It was old and a little scruffy, but it was noticeable that it had been homemade. "Alty…" blushed Tami.

"This is a little dove my mother made for him before my birth and my father gave it to me," Altaïr smiled tenderly. Tami was surprised, "Alty, I… I can't take it," she shook her head, "We've been together for two days. This is the only thing you have left from your parents. Please keep it, drahý."

"Tami, habibti..." he addressed her affectionately, "We've known each other in person for half a year. Besides, you're the one person in this world my heart trusts the most." Altaïr placed the dove into her palms and cupped them lightly. "I'm just worried I'm going to break it or lose it," Tami whispered nervously. Altaïr kissed her on the lips to comfort his beloved. She returned his kiss and wrapped her arms around him. "I trust you to take good care of my parents' treasure, Tami. You don't need to worry. I won't be mad at you if anything happens to it since you're my the biggest treasure, alright?"

She nodded and snuggled into him. "Ľúbim ťa, Alty," she whispered to him in Slovak. "Was this in your native language?" Altaïr asked with a smirk. "Yeah. It means I love you." "Then... Ana bahebek kmaan, Tami," he whispered into her ear sweetly, gave her a peck on the cheek and they went back to nuzzling.

"Hey, Alty? Shall we go play Assassin's Creed 1?" Tami suggested after a while. "You can show me how you can play it." They both got off the bed, went over to the desk and Tami turned on her laptop. "Good, when it's switched on, I'll bring you a chair," Tami said, quickly leaving the room and returning a minute later with a chair, which she placed next to her office chair. They sat down and Tami turned on the game. Altaïr watched impassively as his girlfriend played the game of him.

The couple had a great time until Cleanth called them in for lunch and they were reunited with the whole family. Together they enjoyed the meal and the others got to know Altaïr even better. After lunch, Tami and Altaïr continued to play AC1 until the evening when Altaïr had to go. "Too bad you don't want to stay with us for the night," Tami sighed, but her smile never left.

"I would love to, but the duties of my brotherhood call," returned Altaïr, "But I will always visit you whenever I have time." "Really? That would be wonderful!" Tami embraced him, which made him chuckle. She escorted him to the gate and opened it.

Before that, Altaïr scooped her up in his arms and they kissed passionately on the lips. Then he caressed her cheek, "But if you want, you can come visit the bureau sometime and meet Malik," Altaïr whispered, "Or I'll take him with me next time here."

"Oh! I'd love to meet Malik one hundred percent!" Altaïr chuckled at her cheerful response, "Hey, Tami, listen…" he blushed and spoke softly while scratching his neck, "I'll be honest with you, at first I was unsure how your family would react towards me, but… Your family ended up being nice. I'm really glad you have people who have your back."

"Thanks. You're always welcome at the TaE Family's Ranch. Good night… habibti." Altaïr's pupils dilated as she addressed him in Arabic and he smiled even more genuinely. "Well, it's more properly 'habibi' to me as a man, you know?" Altaïr corrected her playfully.

"Oh, right," giggled Tami, "And 'láska moja' means my love in Slovak." "You know what, one more time, all right?" Tami nodded, holding gently in his arms.

"Good night, habibi…" Tami whispered sweetly as first. "Good night to you too... láska moja…" Altaïr cooed tenderly.

They eventually kissed each other passionately on the lips one last time for tonight and said goodbye, though they didn't want to separate. On the other hand, they know they will see each other again soon…

[eyitzme]

ᵖʳⁱⁿᶜᵉˢˢ'ˢ ᵒʳᵈᵉʳˢ ;; ᵈʳᵈᵗ ⁽ˣᵃⁿʳᵉⁱ⁾

Summary: Having personal guards is so annoying, but since Xander Matthews is the only one protecting her at night, Arei Nageishi can tolerate it. Warning: DRDT Spoilers (Arei's backstory) Word Count: 2,521 A/N: I meant to post this yesterday to celebrate the end of DRDT’s hiatus, but I got distracted by the actual episode. Anyway, let’s go, we’re going to find out Arei’s killer soon! Can’t wait to see if I’m right or not about my culprit theory, especially since the person I’m the most suspicious of is on, like, everyone else’s innocent list, but I might as well ride it out with that theory until the actual killer becomes clear (I think it’s Whit, by the way. I also thought David might be an accomplice, but that theory may or may not have been ruined with the new episode).

it’s my command!

Supposedly, rumours of the two eldest princesses of the kingdom being sent away for drastic misbehaviour was bad for the kingdom’s reputation. That was what Princess Arei Nageishi was told when her older twin sisters were sent off. As the king and queen, her father and mother were sending out word that they were being sent to stay with family to help understand the lives of others better. Nothing mentioning starting fires near rural villages, messing up trade routes so villagers couldn’t get as many necessities as they should, or any of the other things her sisters did for fun.

Obviously, Arei knew nothing about it. She was the innocent younger princess. Disliked by many, yes, but also the one who had done nothing wrong, in contrast to her cruel older sisters. In her parents’ eyes, she had to stay that way to preserve the royal family’s reputation. That made them come up with the idea that she needed personal guards.

Arei didn’t like it. She didn’t need anyone to watch over her for every hour of the day. She didn’t need multiple people doing that job every hour of the day. Fortunately, her nights were spent with only one guard outside her chambers, but having personal guards itself was so annoying. They probably had better things to do anyway, so if she didn’t want them here, they could go somewhere else! She didn’t even want to do anything destructive anyway! Not anymore, at least.

At least she could have her pick at who could be guarding her chambers at night. She couldn’t remember half of her personal guards’ names and could barely remember what all of them looked like, but she knew Xander Matthews. He would never snitch to anyone about anything she did as long as it wasn’t disruptive, unlike all the others who thought their job was to tell her parents the exact moment she went to the bathroom. That meant she could bother him for as much as she wanted!

Annoying people in the castle’s long hallways wasn’t fun, though. If either of her parents found her—or worse, if both of them did—she would get scolded for at least 10 minutes about how her sisters were disappointments to the family, and she couldn’t join them. It was ironic since they called her the disappointment of the family plenty of times before her sisters were sent off, but they apparently had to show love for at least one of their daughters to keep up the appearance of a loving royal family, even if that daughter was her.

Luckily, her chambers were private enough! The only people allowed coming into it were anyone there to clean, but they couldn’t stay around for long or else they would have to face her. Her parents never came into her bedchambers unless she gave them specific permission to, and she could count on one hand how many times she did that! Especially since there were no snitches to run to her parents, Arei could have Xander inside there with her all she wanted!

One of the things she liked most about guards were their swords that they wore all the time. They were so sharp but so light. Arei was sure she could be pretty good at dealing with swords if she tried. That was why she always asked Xander to hold his sword every night he came into her chambers. Today was the first time he actually let her.

Arei sliced the sword through the air, the sword’s blade looking bright even in the very dim lighting. Xander warned, sitting at her desk, “Careful not to hit anything. If you mark something, your parents might realize I come here, and they’ll reassign me at best.”

“I didn’t know you liked coming here,” Arei responded while she continued swinging his sword. He didn’t have to worry about her hitting anything. She spent, like, five minutes with it. She was basically be a knight now!

“You force me to come here,” he reminded.

“And you like it!” She swung the end of the sword to barely touch his neck. He didn’t flinch. Well, she would get him to flinch with her amazing swordsmanship skills one of these days. “Anyway, you shouldn’t have given me this.”

“I know,” he replied. “Now, you’ll hold today over my head and keep bothering me more to let you touch my sword.”

“I will,” she admitted, “but I’m a princess! Your princess. You’re meant to follow my orders!”

“The only orders I’m supposed to follow are your parents’, specifically the ones that keep you safe.” Xander moved the tip of his sword away from his neck. “I’m already failing at my job since I’m letting you do this.”

“It’s not unsafe if I don’t do anything that isn’t safe!”

“You just holding it would be unsafe in your parents’ eyes.”

“Then it’s good they’re not here!” Arei swung her sword at one of her bed’s four pillars. It grazed against the wood and left a thin line paler than the dark wood surrounding it.

They both went closer to inspect it. Xander ran his finger over it. She noticed they were long. “Someone is going to ask you why that mark is there.”

“I was feeling bored,” Arei suggested, “so I looked through my stuff. I flung one of my old earrings around, so it might’ve made that scratch.”

“You don’t wear earrings,” he reminded, pointing to her ears.

She covered her ears with her hands and found herself wondering if he preferred girls with earrings. “That doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of earrings from when everyone thought I would because every other girl who ever existed did. I can just say I was trying to throw them out.”

“You never throw anything out.”

“I do! You just never see me doing it.”

“You’re throwing your stuff out when it’s the other guards’ shifts?”

“I definitely do!” She just happened to not throw everything out. It wasn’t her fault she received a lot of gifts because she was a princess. Even the one no one liked could achieve that.

Xander sighed, his focus going back to the scratch. “Even though that story is unrealistic, it’s better than the real one... Give me my sword back.”

Arei reluctantly handed it over. Now what was she going to swing around her chambers? Her pillow?

Xander sheathed his sword. “It’s getting late, Your Majesty. You should start getting ready to go to sleep.”

“I am ready.” Every time before Xander came, Arei got ready for bed. She was already in her nightgown, and her hair was braided to prevent knots in the morning. To make sure no one knew about their secret meetings, she let all the lights be turned off, but she always lit a candle that was bright enough to see but small enough for no one outside the chambers to notice. In a way, it felt more intimate to her, and she liked that more than she thought.

“I meant ready to actually sleep.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that right now. Let’s talk more!”

“About what?” he asked, skepticism laced in his voice.

He should never worry about her ideas! They were always good and innocent! Like, her idea right now was, “Teach me how to sword fight!”

“No.”

“But why?” Just in case, Arei put on one of the many sad looks she had prepared. It was sad enough that it looked like she was genuinely disappointed but happy enough that it didn’t look like she was about to cry.

“Your parents won’t let me,” Xander answered.

“Teach me in secret. It can be our little thing!”

“Our ‘little thing’ is talking in your chambers when I’m supposed to be outside your door all night to make sure you’re safe.”

“We can have two little things!”

“I don’t have the time to be teaching you things.”

“Make time. I’ll clear up your schedule! I’ll order it to happen.”

“Please don’t do that.” His voice sounded a little more genuine. “I want to do everything I have to do.”

It was her turn to be skeptical now. “What do you have to do?”

Xander counted what he had to do on his fingers. “Being your guard is the obvious one. I also have to sleep since I’m meant to be awake all night. There are meetings between all of your guards in case something like a ball comes up. We need a plan to make sure you’re safe. There are also people I want to see too.”

The last part stuck out to her the most. “Which people?”

He shrugged, looking away. “Just people I know.”

“Who are...?”

“People I know. You don’t know any of them,” he added.

“You don’t tell me anything about your life,” she pointed out.

“You never asked. Besides, I’m here to protect you, so really, everything should be about you.”

Arei wasn’t sure what to think of these mysterious people he knew. She wasn’t stupid and was fully aware that he knew people outside of her life, but it was still weird to think about. She knew him as a fun-to-bother guard who was the best out of all the personal ones she had. They probably knew him as something different because of the time he spent with them. She didn’t like thinking about that.

“I think I’ll go to sleep now,” she declared with less enthusiasm than she liked to admit.

Xander blinked a few times before frowning. “Did I say something wrong? I’m so sorry if I did.”

“I’m disappointed that you’re not giving me my sword back,” she forced herself to say with the enthusiasm she lacked earlier.

He lost one eye before she met him. The one he had left was very expressive, and she liked to think the other one was too when it was still there. It looked brighter when he was panicking over saying the wrong thing, but it relaxed after she successfully played it off as a joke. She liked looking at his eye.

“It’s my sword,” he corrected, “and you’re not having it back after today.”

“All I did was get a little scratch on my bed that’s barely even noticeable! I deserve a sword!”

“If you are, you’re not getting one from me.”

“Why? Am I not good enough for you? Am I too weak as a princess for you?”

Usually, when she said stuff like that, Xander either got really defensive or was too tired of her to argue. Today, he laughed. She was caught more off guard than she would like to say. It wasn’t like she heard him laugh before, though. The other people he knew probably did tons of times.

“If you want to go to sleep,” Xander said when his laughter died down, “I’ll let you. Good night, Your Majesty.”

“Good night, Xander!” Arei smiled. Xander smiled back before he left her alone in her chambers. It felt quieter with him gone. Then again, it always did.

Arei decided to follow what she told Xander. She blew out the candle before getting under the covers. When her back hit the mattress, her mind thought back to the people Xander knew and liked to spend time with. He was right about her never asking about who he knew. She never thought about it before.

It wasn’t like she was too obsessed with herself to notice other people’s lives. Everyone in the kingdom, including and especially her parents, thought she was, and she always let them think that, but she wasn’t. She knew what was happening throughout the kingdom. She knew the struggles the people were facing better than probably everyone else in the royal family. They were always obsessed with what was happening and could happen to them. The minor problems such as inflation, the difficulty to get food to the villages outside the one closest to the castle, the low-paying incomes many made, and so much more were unnoticed by the others. She did. She couldn’t negotiate to make peace with a rival kingdom for the life of her, but she could maybe make laws to help the daily lives of the little people of the kingdom if she became queen due to her sisters now being seen as criminals to their parents.

Their problems were better to focus on than her own. Whenever she wanted to try to distract herself from her sisters’ recent bullying, the commoners’ problems were what she went to. Hearing about things they dealt with didn’t make her feel any better about her own, but it gave her something to think about. She could be a good person and help them, or she could be cruel and make their lives worse. Or, she could be just like the rest of her family and let them continue on with their lives and doing nothing to worsen it but also nothing to help them.

Xander was a commoner. She knew he was raised in the farthest village from the castle, right next to the boarder between their kingdom and the next. He worked his way to get to where he was now. The problems he had were definitely more interesting than her current ones, but he never shared them with her. She understood that she wasn’t the kindest to him, but even if she was, he probably wouldn’t. He was only meant to be her personal guard, not anything else. They were already crossing a line with their secret meetings, and he wouldn’t try to push it any further.

The other people he knew probably knew of his problems, though. He probably shared all the problems he had to them, and they listened or offered solutions. They knew him better than she did.

For a while, Arei read books when she was trying to escape her sisters’ torment. No one liked her, so it was the only way to entertain herself. There were multiple books where she saw a stereotype of a princess having no friends. She hated that she fell into that stereotype. There was no one in her life that she wanted to spend time with, and there was no one who wanted to spend time with her. Everything was out of pure obligation before Xander came in. He was the first person she wanted to be with, and he was the first person to want that with her. She didn’t know how to talk to him, but she knew she liked feeling seen, feeling comfortable, feeling like a person when she was around him. She liked knowing he enjoyed her company and wouldn’t try to leave because he didn’t want to be with her. It was almost amazing how good someone could feel around someone because of that.

Of course, there were other people Xander liked more than her. There had to be. She couldn’t imagine herself being his favourite person to be with, even though he was surely hers.

Thinking was too much work. Arei should definitely go to sleep.

Confession: Even though this was meant to be posted yesterday, I just finished it today. Whoops.

[chuckecheesekid9000]

Shermie and Vivi Pines (Mikey, Dipper, and Mabel's paternal grandparents)

Since the Quagmire Triplets (Duncan, Isadora, and Quigley), and other wise never appeared in live-action movie from 2004 titled "Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events", I'll ship Sherman "Shermie" Pines (@notllorstel's version) with Violet "Vivi" Baudelaire (2004 movie version), because in Omniverse Falls (a my version of minijen's universe falls), she will be Mikey, Dipper, and Mabel's paternal grandmother, where as in Universe Falls' 50th chapter titled "A Tale of Two Stans" where the baby is revealed to be Filbirck and Karen's grandson, That means Shermie is actually Stan and Ford's older brother, and the baby is his first kid, Bernhard Pines (The Pines Siblings' dad), But I felt like Stan was suppose to mention a sister-in-law to ford.

Vivi was suppose to be on Shmebulock's Pines conspiracy board with Shermie for Gravity Falls lost legends.

Here is every quote I came up for characters about Sherman and Violet for Omniverse Falls, and as you can see there isn’t much here….

"They're you're family, poindexter, Shermie and Vivi's three grandkids, The tall one in the white biker jacket with black streaks on the arm sleeves is the oldest of them, named Michael, or Mikey as he rather be called, besides him, the second and short one is his colorful little sister, named Mabel and with both of them is their sweaty brother, named Mason, or Dipper as he liked to be called as well. You can figure the rest." - Stan

“Apparently, Violet and Sherman Pines’ grandkids have been staying with Stanley for the summer (It's hard to believe that the parents, Felicity and Bernhard Pines would trust all three of these kids with Stanly; they clearly thought he was me).” - Ford

“Anyway, about your Grandpa Shermie. that guy was a total square, let me tell you! I mean, who wears a bow tie to a hospital? Did I ever tell you that I was there the day you two were born? I visited your mom, pop, and other relatives in the hospital. Still remember like it was yesterday. Mabel came first, socked the doctor in the jaw! My little fighter. Dipper’s face was blue. Umbilical cord must have wrapped around his neck or something. When I got a hold of you two, I didn’t want to let you go. Had to fight Grandpa Shermie just to keep you for another minute! now onto your Grandma Vivi. that chick was really something, Who else wears a pair of halfmoon glasses at home to look after your brother, Mikey here, when he was only 5 years old, while your mom, pop, Grandpa Shermie, and I were all at the hospital? Let me tell you this, Grandma Vivi told me that she use to teach him how to invent a machine called "A Rock-Retrieval Device", while looking after him, the reason why is because she wanted him to be an inventor like her, and inventing machines will be in his genes, someday." - Stan

[runespoor7]

yesterday on our Exalted/Dragon-blooded campaign, my WWX-inspired character Arkis:

- requested the right not to marry as the junior partner in his marriage from his House, a request that is okay-ish-ed provided he doesn't mind marrying a man (he doesn't really?)

- panicked and shut down the impending jealousy crisis of JC-inspired childhood friend Sennet who suddenly started disliking the female friend who's clearly started angling for a marriage alliance with my character. Arkis said mean things to Sennet and also took him to see the city and have tea outside the school to get his mind off *vague gestures* apparently Sennet's weird antagonistic crush on that girl and inability to deal with it. Arkis would be so surprised to learn it was a date.

- learned the girl he had a crush on last year is going to be betrothed! she's the childhood friend of another PC. it's illegal to marry off people's childhood friend without people's authorization. Arkis is fully on board with hating the dude btw. Also Arkis is considering writing to Sennet's sister explaining that she can't get Sennet engaged off bc so many reasons!!!

- but also learned that some ghastly organization is going around kidnapping young Dynasts with unorthodox Exaltations in order to perform horrific experiments on other kids, and Sennet's Exaltation-- totally normal, yeah, but he thinks it's not and other people might think so to. (bc Arkis claimed he could perform a secret spell to make sure Sennet Exalted, and Arkis was lucky enough that Sennet did Exalt. it made sense at the time okay! people die trying to force Exaltations!!!) So Arkis had to make him swear not to tell anyone, and thus learned that Sennet had told his sister.

So now Arkis has to live with the knowledge that bestie's sister knows he (Arkis) is a lying liar who lies. (or she too believes Arkis did do that, and that's so much worse that it doesn't bear considering.)(maybe Arkis is lucky and she didn't pay attention when Sennet was telling her! And now she doesn't remember. Yeah that would be ideal.)

- got weird dreams about Sennet and other PC's childhood bestie getting engaged and both Arkis and other PC being 🫤🫤🫤 about it

- did start rewriting the subconscious of the headmistress because she's way too cavalier with the life and death of non-Exalted students and that's offensive

- it kind of sucks that society puts so much emphasis on Exaltation, huh

Things to do next time:

- give Sennet the belt buckle with the tracking spell Arkis developed this semester. Maybe put it on him??? (not going to mention the tracking spell. of course. why would Arkis do that. what's important is that Sennet wears it all the time, so it needs to look nice and be practical.)

[dearfuturehusbandblog]

Let’s Talk About Yesterday…

Dear Future Husband,

So, something super weird happened yesterday.

I almost fainted. 

The thing is, it came out of nowhere. 

I had been at work for about an hour and a half, sitting at my desk, responding to messages. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my fingers, as I often do, but I suddenly had a sharp pain in my palm. 

Upon investigation, I had a brand new bruise on my palm, right along one of my vein lines. It was very dark, slightly raised, warm to the touch, and the area was reddened. 

I’ve had “phantom bruising” like this on my hand before, but in the past I’ve only ever seen it at the inner part of the knuckles and just assumed it was caused by hyperextension. 

It hasn’t been diagnosed (like most of my problems), but I meet a lot of the criteria for hyper flexibility, which comes along with vein issues, so these types of bruises wouldn’t normally surprise or bother me. 

But this time, along with this brand new bruise came a wave of severe dizziness. 

So, is this normal? 

No. 

But also, I kind of have a history of “fainting”.

I think I may have mentioned it previously in this blog, but my body doesn’t like trauma. ‘Sure,’ you may be thinking, ‘who’s does?’ but it’s different for me than it is for most people.

My first recollection of this happening was when I was in maybe middle school? My mom had mine and my sisters’ ears pierced when we were little, but the location had issues with sanitizing and they ended up closing not long after. My mom’s friend also brought her daughters and out of all the ears that were pierced in our party, only two made it through the infections and they weren’t on the same person. 

After that my mother decided that she would have our pediatrician do our ear piercings since her pediatrician did hers, but I guess that was more of a thing in the 60s than it was in the 00s and, while he had the supplies, our pediatrician didn’t know what he was doing and the piercing experience was a disaster. 

But. He got the needle through my ear, which I didn’t even really feel, and then my vision started going hazy, I felt like I had cotton in my ears, I got a rush of nausea, and super lightheaded. But I didn’t pass out. Just needed time to breathe, drink, and get my bearings.

So, that was the first time. 

The second time, I had to give blood for some blood tests to see if I was anemic. They were inconclusive. But when I gave blood - same result. My vision lost focus, everything got hazy, there was a ringing in my ears, and a rush of nausea. 

The third time was another blood test. Same thing. 

The fourth time was giving blood for Dor Yeshorim in high school. Same thing. One other girl had already fainted and that caused a whole todo, so when I sat down I asked the lady “what happens if I kind of know I might pass out?” and she said “oh. please don’t.” I told her I’d try my hardest, but while I was sitting there, my vision started going hazy and my friend standing next to me was like “omigod, you’re turning white” which is definitely a warning sign when you’re already the second palest person in the class and the other girl was a premie with a heart condition. 

The fifth time. Well, that’s the time I actually fainted. It was Shabbos or some yom tov and we had family friends over for the meal. I was cutting an avocado in the stupidest fashion possible, right in my hand. And the super sharp knife went right through the avocado and into my finger. I quickly made my way to the kitchen where I turned on the tap and stuck my finger under. MotherLivelyHeart was in the kitchen plating something and started berating me about... something. I don’t even remember anymore, but something related to serving dinner. And as I leaned over the sink and the world spun around me, I told her “I just need a minute.” 

And the next thing I knew, I was waking up on the floor asking what happened. 

We laugh about it now, because although I was out for almost a minute, I apparently fell very gracefully, didn’t make a sound, and continued to hold my hand above my heart. And although I have a small scar from that cut, the most painful part of the experience was that I was wearing one of those large claw hair clips and the back of my head hurt after fainting more than my finger did from being sliced open. 

I’ve since had various other experiences of lightheadedness, usually related to some kind of physical “trauma”. The most recent was back in January of this year. After a super long flight, I ended up with an external hemorrhoid, the first in my entire life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I tried various things to treat it, but most of what I read was that it would resolve itself somehow if I didn’t exacerbate it. And after about two weeks, I went to the bathroom one afternoon and when I was done and washing my hands, I got so nauseas and lightheaded that I went to my bed and laid down and I would say “fell asleep” for several hours, but came to realize later that the hemorrhoid had popped and I most likely fainted and just didn’t wake up until the trauma had passed. 

So this is a thing that happens to me. 

Super fun, I know. 

But most of those have been “big” things. Getting a random bruise on my hand that was smaller than the diameter of like a pencil eraser, seems like such a weirdly small thing to trigger this kind of response. 

Regardless, there I was, alone at the office, extremely nauseas, my head spinning, my ears full of proverbial cotton. I had the wherewithal to google “what to do if you feel faint” and the first suggestion was to lay down with your feet elevated. I stood up to try and find a place to lay down where I could elevate my feet, panicking I wouldn’t even be able to make it and would just collapse, but was so overcome with dizziness that I couldn’t even walk a straight line if I tried. I was basically holding onto the walls for support and eventually sat back down. 

The google search said, if you can’t lay down with your feet up, to put your head between your legs. There were also suggestions to drink some water, eat something, and do deep breathing. So I grabbed a water bottle and took a quick swig, and then leaned forward to put my head between my legs, hoping that I wouldn’t fall over. 

The stupid thing is, I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of becoming a vegetable. If death were a guarantee, I wouldn’t have really cared. But knowing that I could be incapacitated and nobody would even come looking for me for like a day, made it suck to be alone. 

I’ve also been having digestive issues since I took the diphenhydramine on Friday and don’t know if those two things are related, but leaning forward to alleviate the lightheadedness did put pressure on my abdomen, so that got worse. 

And there I was, sitting at my desk, head between my legs, my insides threatening to come out one way or another, just going ‘what the hell is happening!?’ and trying to deep breathe. 

It finally cleared enough for me to walk to the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror I could see perspiration on my face that I hadn’t even felt. 

And an hour after the event, the bruise on my hand had settled into looking like a regular bruise, no longer raised, warm, or as dark, and the redness also dissipated. It hardly even hurts to touch it now. It’s almost like nothing happened at all. 

My first thought was “blood clot?” so I googled that too, but there were no helpful results for what I was experiencing. 

And so, I’m baffled. 

Could have just been a one-off weird situation caused by sudden and immediate bruise due to the way I was stretching my fingers. 

Or it could be something more serious, but as my bank account made it down to $4 the other other day and I still don’t have healthcare... yeah, we’ll never know. 

So, if you wanna daven for me, please have in mind that if it’s my time to go I don’t suffer with this stupidity and just go quickly. mkaythanksbye

-LivelyHeart

[justcallmedust]

He stayed home from work yesterday, claiming not feeling well which was allegedly from overdosing on vitamins.

The whole thing seemed off. The day before he asked me several times to confirm what time I’d be working the next day and claimed he just couldn’t remember.. yea ok buddy. Then as he’s getting ready oh boo hoo he doesn’t feel well and has to stay home. I leave my car and take his truck so he can maybe squeeze in some driving time with our daughter who has not had enough practice.. but he was unable to do that.

Today he texts me at work about some guy named Tommy who he aupppsedly told me about, well his sister is a nurse and she said exactly what I said about why he didn’t feel well the day before and now he feels better hearing it from her. Some random stranger who just ‘happened to be driving by’ while he told his sad tale of not feeling well to some other random stranger who happens to live where he works.

I was not amused, and I’m not buying it either.

My day at work was horrible.. and I’m still carrying around the awfulness from the weekend.. getting locked out in the rain, yelled at for who knows what. Desperately trying to have a real conversation without him telling me I’m starting an argument or ‘you don’t know how to talk to people’ ‘I’ve been talking you for 20 years that you’re always the problem’. Anyhow, I’m extremely on edge and so very sad I’ve been crying involuntarily even at work.

I guess when I got home, after crying all the way - he could see that I was upset and says ‘what’s the problem NOW?’ And my response was wrong and he keeps telling me I’m mad at him.. which I did not say. Though I am mad that he was apparently unaware that our son had come home because he was ‘out in the garage and didn’t see him’ . This makes no sense to me and he got mad at that too but legit wtf were you doing that you didn’t notice your son came home? And the son inquestion seemed angry with his father.. maybe he saw him with someone else.

Also, someone reported my instagram and got it suspended? I don’t really use instagram much, I post things I make, my cats and funny video game glitches - my last post was over a month ago. I can only imagine someone my husband has gotten involved with is fucking with me.. so I mention this to him and he’s all.. that’s weird I would t know anything.. even tho he’s on that site regularly chatting with people.

So he just went off to bed completely ignoring me and as soon as he goes in there he gets a chat message from instagram. I got up to go talk to him and he’s fumbling with his phone. He states only that I am mad at him and that is why he’s not talking to me.. even tho I stated again that I wasn’t mad. He started to go onto his bullshit ‘now your gonna keep me up and Im the most important person on earth and blah blah. And I said ‘oh right, and walked out of the room and closed the door’. I’m sure he just went back to whoever he was talking to. I guess I’ve been discarded again.

I wish this didn’t hurt so much.

I wish I could get out of this.

I don’t want to live this fake life anymore.

But like why? Why couldn’t I just have my stupid instagram.. he claimed he didn’t even know I had an instagram account, but he was friends with me on it. He never even acknowledged me on there. I know it’s stupid but somehow that alone is so fuxking damaging so fuxkibg heartbreaking and I just want to know why I couldn’t just have it. I never violated anything on instagram. Why isn’t there a way out of this.. I can’t keep living with this I can’t. I don’t want to live in this world anymore. Please just let me go. Please can I just go . Please.

[rubywithin]

The Identity we seek 4

The bell rang for lunch I guess it's time to see the fate of my remaining money! There was a Burger Joint, a Sea Restaurant and a Chippy, (Annabelle) "How about the burger joint it is known as Flare's and um it's pretty tasty!". (Shuie) "Sure thing" I got us both a burger, chips and some drinks, I got a sprite while she had a cola! It was weird how she seemed a lot colder to me back at class but since we arrived her she was a bit friendlier. (Annabelle) "I know you have only been here a few days but are you getting used to this place?". I thought about my answer, (Shuie) "Honestly I been struggling to get used to the place I guess today has been my most calm day so far". We continued to eat....suddenly a woman approached us, (???) "I see you eating junk again" she glared at me mid sentence. And wish some nobody no less!", (Annabelle) "Whatever he is just a meal ticket" (???) "I can't believe you wasted his gullible-ness on this place and not the restaurant!".

The two of them walked off....ugh, (Shogo) "Oh hey Shuie what's up?" I told him what happened. "Oh don't let it get to you Annabelle just thinks she is better than everyone because of her model sister. Just sucks you had to meet her, although this bad attitude of hers has become a lot worse lately!". (Shuie) "How drastic is the change if I can ask?" this could be info that is useful for Kaito. (Shogo) "I would say she is a lot worse now with how she stomps on the dreams of those inspiring to be like her. However her behaviour became worse and worse over time!" that was all I needed to know! I decided to ask the Burger Joint guy if there were any jobs available, he told me not here but apparently a Hotdog stand was looking for some workers on Wednesday's! After launch I spent the rest of the day hearing every one gossiping about me. I wonder if she just used me for the attention ugh what a pain.

I sent a text to tell my uncle I would be late home and I sent Wodin one telling him I wanted to meet up with Kaito! After school we met a park near Annabelle's house, I told them about what Shogo mentioned to me. (Kaito) "Hmm does sound like the shadows are trying to draw out her worst behaviour". I looked at Wodin and he was definitely in the know, (Shuie) "Hey um Wodin have you been taking care of the shadows here?". He nodded, (Wodin) "However let's just say I am currently out of commission!" I am sure he will be able to give me more info in the future, (Shuie) "So do I just use the key like before?" I took it out. (Wodin) "There is a bit more too it....you need to envision the person in question's view on their domain. And who they view themselves as" I see so it's not straight forward however I do remember Shogo saying something to me. (Shuie) "Take me to the Queen's Studio....." I got that familiar feeling from before! (Shogo) "What the hell is happening" (Kaito) "GRRRRRR".

Ugh this is bad....Shogo could be in danger but how do I even go back? (Valmont) "Boy it is foolish to take on these tasks alone. Over time you must find allies" huh what was he doing here? suddenly I saw the yellow door. "Whenever you need our assistance we will be in this room and it will act as your way home!". He then walked inside of the room, Kaito was still barking at Shogo ugh what a mess. I took a deep breath, (Shuie) "Kaito it's fine he was the one who told me about the model...Shogo this um situation is complex!". (Shogo) "I see well if I can be any help I am here, to be honest I saw you vanish yesterday. And I wanted to know more". I told Shogo everything I knew...but what do I do from here...go hunt those shadows or something? We were outside of the studio so I guess the first thing we should do explore a bit.

[gjenevarants]

Panic Attack/Lost

2/23/24

I had a panic attack last night. I thought I lost my invisalign and my case. I thought I left them at the music hall (I left early because I was tired). Turns out they were in my car under the passenger seat. No idea how the fuck they ended up there. But I had a panic attack about it because I know how much this cost, how long it's taken to fix my TMJ (temporomandibular joint) issues... I'm not telling the full story but losing that would have fucked over the whole process.

I talked to dad yesterday. Over text not phone call. Apparently yesterday was national margarita day? He sent me a photo of the one he had. I also mentioned wanting to get completely plastered for my twenty first so that's something to look forward to. I also mentioned wanting to get together with former classmates over the summer. One person responded which I find funny.

I found out through a friend that one of my old classmates was asking about me because I hadn't talked to them in a while. I truly wanted to laugh. I'm thankful that I didn't because I know the laugh that would have come out would have been a broken sound of pain.

I tried reaching out to all of my old classmates for years. YEARS! I remember one time early senior year, our teachers had us go around and say things that were bothering us. I told them all that I was worried I was going to snap, that I was worried I wouldn't be able to last much longer. No one knew what I meant except one of the teachers and she only knew because she was my advisor. I was like back in ninth all over again, I wrote a song that was literally full of really obvious analogies about suicide. The friend I played it for, who I thought was my best friend at the time, was too distracted about overanalyzing Taylor Swift shit. That was probably one of the reasons I don't talk about things until I'm at the breaking point. I've tried to before and no one listens. I can't always be the one reaching out. People have my contact information, if they want to reach me they can text me. I've given up on being the one that texts first because when I do no one answers. I know when I'm not wanted. I never really fit in with my class. There were twelve of us and the girl that joined in eleventh grade fit in better than I ever had, and I'd been with the same people sense I was six.

There's only three people that really talk to me, and there's a scale in the regularity of their answers. The one who is basically my brother answers the most, followed by one of my old friends still in high school. They're a freshmen now. It's funny because I've been friends with their older sibling longer than I've been friends with them. That older sibling is the one who answers least on the list. They're the one who told me about the friend trying to contact me. I have another friend that I thought was reliable, they used to answer, but then they just stopped responding. I don't know if there was something I did wrong. I've stopped trying to talk to them. If they don't want to talk I won't push.

Another person I used to rely on was someone I used to say was basically my sister. She was the one I used to call my best friend. She was the one I played that song for. Back in December she called my brother and I and started talking to us, acting like it hadn't been months sense we last spoke, acting like the last time she had said a word to either of us hadn't been the week after graduation. She talked to us for a week after that call before she went silent again. I've given up on trying to talk to her as well.

My support pillars really are just crumbling around me. Everyone else is moving on with their lives and I'm just sitting here in the wreckage and rubble, not knowing what to do with myself. There's so much that I want to do, so many places I want to go and take friends to go see, but at the rate they're all leaving I'll be going alone.

I need to get a job. I need to get my wisdom teeth removed. I need to get my anxiety medication switched to something that actually fucking works. Going up from one to one and a half didn't do shit. I still can't believe that the psychiatrist who proscribed it thought I only had anxiety. "only has anxiety my ass!" I've been depressed on and off sense I was fourteen. FOURTEEN! And that fucker thought all I had was anxiety?!

I need to go to the eye doctor and ask about getting contacts. I don't wear my glasses because they just make me look more like mom, even with my hair cut the way it is. I'm not supposed to be driving without them and I can't wear my prescription sunglasses because the nose bridge broke.

There's so much I need to do and I don't even know if I'll be around to do it. I'm just lost all the time and I'm running out of places and people to go to.

[chimaeracabra]

For the last few days or so, I have been feeling a lot of relief because I started studying intently last Tuesday or Wednesday with the Inman study material they gave us at the end of the internship.

But I have also been feeling sad randomly and I'm not sure why...

Things are great with Nik. He found a new job and just got paid last week. It pays him significantly more than the other previous two nursing jobs, so Nik is really happy. I’m glad because I want them to be happy, and this is a complete turn around from about a month ago when he was more visibly depressed. So, I hope this new job keeps Nik happy, as well as what is going on with his mom. Yesterday, he texted me saying she was having trouble remembering the date.

Last Friday, my little sister, mom, and I went over to auntie Pat’s to have some donuts (my cousin’s ex and mom of his kids went somewhere at the end of the day for donuts, and they gave her the rest! It was A LOT of very fancy donuts, none likely vegan, but I lived a bit and had some apple cider donut and one that tasted like apple pie). It was a good time, baby cousins were there and cute as usual. Mom and aunt Pat were talking a lot about my grandmother. Her health is declining mentally. She has been calling each of her kids and saying things like her son won’t bring her car back (even though uncle Mickey had apparently told her he would fix something in it and bring it back the same day), she thinks people shine lights into her house, etc. Aunt Pat is worried about her being alone and potentially unsafe around strangers (some guy who claimed to live down the block on my nana’s street mentioned to my aunt that he always sees my nana sitting on her porch as early as 7:15am. Aunt said some other guy claiming to live on nana’s street offered to look at her grass for some reason, and she took this stranger into her back yard etc.)

Watching my aunt and mom talk, I realized that my grandmother is getting much worse, and my mom and aunts and uncle are probably really worried about her.

I wish my mom and sisters could meet someone who will treat them as well as Nik treats me. I know they all want love. I seriously feel I lucked out with Nik. Almost three years together, and I’ll still find myself tearing up and smiling at how amazing he is.

I just want everyone in my life to be happy. Some of my sadness comes from knowing that the people I love feel sad, or lonely, or wanting.

[orlissa]

Okay, so... oh my.

First of all, let me tell you that two factors got us to pay (a lot of money, actually) for these tickets:

The show promised to be Addams Family-esque (I mean, if you ordered your Addams Family from Wish)

A big name actor who is known for such roles as Tybalt in the musical version of R&J and Death in Elisabeth (big, big things here) was promised to play "Gomez." (He bailed--I mean got sick--five days before the performance.)

There was literally zero information out about what the show is going to be about. Just performer names and stuff they are taking music from, like it was a jukebox musical (oh, sweet summer child...).

Anyway, we still went there with high hopes. We were fools.

There was a "trailer" video for the show on Youtube--there was verey little resemblance between that and the actual performance (basically, we got Lightlark'd), probably because some nifty copyright laywer got to them and they had to quickly change around things. Like, in the original rep material "Wednesday" was called Jenna. By yesterday, she is already mentioned as Lucia. The costumes were clearly dumbed down and changed around to be less Addams-esque. Buttercup even said that she's willing to bet her life savings that this show looked completely different two weeks ago.

There were no dialogues, only pre-recorded narration by "Wednesday" (the character on stage was played by a dancer--she was good--who never spoke) in Hungarian and songs in English. Which is, like, bad, because it was never communicated that the singing would be in English and at least half of the audience didn't look like people who speak English. Not that it matters, because the songs were random, and had little to nothing to do with the story. Also, the sound was so bad that you could barely understand the actors anyway.

As for the story itself: so apparently "Wednesday" died ten years ago (her opening monologue was actually not bad, and it was basically the only bit where they nailed the Addams-vibes), but she is still around as a ghost. Her family gets together every year to remember her: mother, father, brother, brother's club singer girlfriend (who spends the whole show in the worst fitting corset you've ever seen), good witch and godmother Ivory (imagine if Glinda went with turquoise instead of powder blue--this will be important later), and bad witches Bella and Trix (Bella and Trix, got it??? They also looked like they stole their wigs from a Bellatrix cosplayer. And were dressed like they thrifted their costumes), who are... there. Apparently Bella is a school friend of "Gomez" and "Morticia" (who is named "Letisa" here, apparently, spelled like that) and is in love with "Gomez". As for who Trix is... Bella's sister? Daughter? Lover? I DON'T KNOW.

Anyway, the annual wake is different this year, because someone wants to kill "Morticia", but "only Wednesday can hurt her mother," so she is gonna stop them. This could actually turn into a decent murder mystery plot, only... nope.

In the very next scene we see Bella and Trix (and a bunch of random dancer--there are a bunch of random dancers everywhere, because basically they are the only ones who can properly do their job within this garbage) make some poison, then they pay the girlfriend to poison "Morticia." "Wednesday" intercepts the poison, then decides to inform the family about the murder attempt by communicating with Ivory the good witch. She does this by an interpretive dance with a shiny mushroom. Which might have been some garden ornament.

In he next scene Ivory gets the message and start singing... Defying Gravity. Even the bits that no-one can hold her down and that Oz should be afraid. I told you 1, the songs have little to nothing to do with the plot 2, Ivory looking like Glinda will be important. She writes down "Wednesday's" message and gives it to her brother, who then goes to the club to comfront the poisoning girlfriend during a medley of Bad Romance/Toxic/and some third song of the same caliber we forgot. It's as bad as it sounds.

From this point on the story makes about zero sense. "Wednesday" at one point mentions that her brother is messing up (or doing it right? I don't even remember) her plan. What plan? Dude, you don't even have a plah'. The girlfriend is at point imprisoned in the basement, then gets out sometime. We doubt it was shown. The scene was probably cut either because of copyright reasons or because the actors couldn't learn it. At one point "Wednesday" says that Ivory is thier secret weapon because she is such a powerful witch. Then Ivory comes in and starts singing... Into the Unknown. From Frozen II. (Probably because the actress was Elsa's singing voice in the dubbing). At another point the version of the IT clown which you ordered from Wish, complete with a party wig and a tartan cap, comes in. Why? I DON'T KNOW. Nothing makes sense anymore. There is a final showdown between the two sides with a very stylized fight to... I need a Hero. Both sides, while actively fighting, sing about needing a hero.

Also, since the "Gomez" actor was a literal last minute addition, basically none of his costumes fit (what did fit probably came from his own closet), he didn't know the steps (now when to bow at the end), and didn't even sing during the final scene, probably because he had no time to learn that song. Also, all the while during the show they projected some extra shitty AI-generated images on the black wall. I mean... it was bad.

Then, at the very end, when we thought that we were finally free, up came the producer (? I think it was the producer) on the stage and did the live action version of a four pages long acknowledgements at the end of a YA fantasy. He asked everyone who took some part in the porduction on stage. The director/choreographer did a little speech. The producer asked us, the audience to talk about what a great fun we had here and just, like promote the show.

Dude, you really don't want me to go around and tell people what a shotshow it was.

I probably saw the worst theater production of my life tonight with @buttercupadventures . Like... imagine two hours of secondhand embarassement and hiding you laughter, because it's *that* bad. We needed a bottle of wine and three hours of ranting and youtube vids to process it. More on it tomorrow.

[dummerjan]

panic mode activated upcoming social interaction at 5 pm i have known about for less than 24 hours less time to panic but less time to prepare as well the one comfort is that the other person initiated it she's the sister of a neighbour who just moved her last week and is studying german to prepare for uni so if we get along we could do tandem german/russian she's a year younger than me but already married with her husband still in russia so very different lifes but maybe we find some common interests

[fqolinlove]

જ⁀➴ Man On The Moon.

╰┈ BEWARE OF .. violence, swearing, bad writing, mention of vomiting and alcohol.

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

Y/N had been on her own for a little while after the attack at the mansion. She knew Luther had left to stay in his room and Allison went to go check on him. Vanya was at her apartment, Klaus and Five where somewhere so the last sibling to be with was Diego. She didn’t mind Diego’s company, so she made her way to follow him.

Which was why she ended up sitting on a staircase outside a house with her brother. Y/N didn’t need to ask who’s house it was because she knew it was Eudora’s, Diego’s lady friend, and also a cop. Y/N had heard about the woman a few times but never met her.. well, until now.

“What the hell?” Y/N turned her head at the voice and saw Eudora shut her door. “Who'd you piss off this time?” She asked, walking over to stand beside Diego’s laying figure.

He shrugs. “I gave it as good as I got.” She chuckles softly, looking over to Y/N for a short second.

“You didn't answer my question. And who’s that?”

Diego sat up. “Oh, yes. That’s my sister. Y/N.” He patted her head. Y/N lightly pushed her brothers hand off her head and waved to the cop, who waved back with a small smile. Eudora then hands Diego her coffee mug, who tales it with a sigh. “How's all that paperwork coming along?”

“It's a real page-turner.” She pauses. “I've got two guys in children's masks, rare bullet casings, a random fingerprint from a 1930s cold case, and I just learned that the tow truck driver from the doughnut shop didn't have any family.”

“The boy and girl.” Y/N tried not to show her wide eyes as Diego talked. I mean, her and Five where the ones that caused all the mishap at the doughnut shop and now a cop was talking about it right in front of her.

“Not his, apparently. The kid's our only possible witness and he's a complete mystery.” Not to me, Y/N thought. “Okay, what's going on?” 

“What?” Diego looked up at her. 

“You could have called me for an update. So why are you really here?”

“Nothin', I just, uh My mom.” He paused. Y/N’s ears perked up at the mention of her Mom. “She died last night.” The girls eyes widened for the second time, it was news to her that her Mom had died, when did it even happen? Did the masked people kill her?

“What!?” Both adults turned to face Y/N. Diego’s mouth was agape as he failed to mention this to her sooner and Eudora’s was sorrowful. To her, it looked like a 13-year old just lost both her parents.

“Shit. Diego, Y/N I'm so sorry.” The woman moved to sit next to Diego on the steps, who had his left arm wrapped around a still confused Y/N. “I remember how close you were. Is there anything I can--”

“I just-- I don't..” He stammered. “I don't know how to..”

“Is that what this is about? Hey. Hey.” Eudora put her hand on Diego’s arm for comfort. “Tell me what's going on. Who did this?” 

“Let's just say I didn't get a good look at their faces.” The masked people.

“You went after the guys in the masks, didn't you?”

“No, he didn't go after them. And one's a woman by the way, so don’t be sexist.” Y/N slightly joked.

Eudora looked from Y/N to Diego. “I specifically told you not to follow them.”

Y/N shook her head. “They came to our house, looking for our brother, and now they’re looking for me too.”

“They tried to kill my family.” Diego sniffed. 

“Why?”

“I don't know. He's been missing since yesterday. I need to find him.”

“Diego, you need to let me handle this. You're not equipped--”

Diego cut her off with a shake of his head. “Oh, you always loved tellin' me what I can and can't do. You know, maybe, for once, just try things my way.”

“I can't.” Eudora stood up and grabbed her purse.

“No wonder we didn't last.”

There was a pause before she spoke again “Yep.” She walked off the steps before turning back to the duo. “I'm sorry about your mom, Diego, Y/N. Really, I am.” And she walked away. Y/N watched as Diego stared off to where Eudora had just been before pulling him into a side hug.

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

  Diego and Y/N had went back home to scout out Luther. With the trio now ready to find Five, Y/N led them to the last place she saw the boy, his van. 

“This is it.” Y/N sighed as they got closer to it

“He's still here. This is Five's van.” Luther adds.

“Go. Go.” Diego rushes as they reach the van door. Luther tires to open the door but to no avail, it’s locked. Diego shakes his head before pulling out a knife and picking the lock. The door finally open and both boys try to go in at the same time.

“I'm One.” Says Luther, making his way in the passenger door where he once was what felt like days ago. Diego looked towards Y/N with a ‘are you seeing this?’ face, to which she responds with a eye roll.

Y/N and Diego make their way into the back of the van that is littered with Five’s belongings, but the doll is no where to be seen. They rummage through a few things before Number Two whistles. “I know where to find Five.” He holds up Vanya’s book that was full of math equations on the inside and a library stamp.

--

Now they were exactly at that location. Y/N had never been to a library before, sure she’s been to the one inside the Academy but never one outside it or this huge.

“Let's split up.” Luther says, earning an eye roll from his brother.

“Wow. Good thinking.” The two walk to the left and right, leaving Y/N in the middle. She sighed and started her searched. She found nothing on the first level of the building, only a few students studying, groups of people talking, couples and a few books she stopped to investigate. She continued her search until she met up with her brothers on the third floor.

“Anything?”

“No.” “Nope.”

The three sat in silence for a moment, Luther started to walk away before Diego sighed. “You wanna know why I left?”

Luther walks back over. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Why I left the Academy.”

“Yeah, 'cause you couldn't handle me being Number One.” As if.

“No.” Diego shook his head. “Because that's what you do when you're 17. You move out, become your own person, grow up.”

“I wouldn’t know that.” Y/N mumbled, feeling uncomfortable between the fighting men.

“Oh, yeah. You're a real grown-up.”

“At least I make my own decisions. You've never had to hold down a job. Pay bills. You ever even been with a girl?”

“I-” Luther clears his throat as Y/N holds back a smirk. “I don't know what you're talking about.” 

Diego chuckles. “Look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving that's okay. But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left. Maybe it's about why you stayed.”

Luther took a step closer. “I stayed because the world needed me. Y/N also stayed.”

Y/N leaned off the railing, coming to stand face to face with Luther. “You only stayed because you couldn't let go of the way things used to be. With the Academy. Dad. Hell, even Allison.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “The difference between you and I, Luther.. is that you had a choice.”

Diego moved to stand next to Y/N. “Dad's dead. Mom too, now. We're orphans again, dude. And things are never gonna go back to the way they used to be.” The two stared at each other for a moment.

“Do you ever stop talking?” The laughter of a woman was what caught Diego and Y/N’s attention. The two looked at each other before moving around the room to see what was causing such a crowd. When they rounded the corner, Five could be seen with an arm around the plastic doll, wine bottle in hand, and textbooks around him. The wall beside him had also had equations written on it.

“Is he, um?”

“Drunk as a skunk.”

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

“Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment.” Luther says from behind Diego and Y/N. He had taken the role of carrying drunk Five as he was quote on quote “the strongest.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Y/N scuffed out. There was no reason why she felt the need to be snappy, but since Luther had spoke about her wanting to stay at the Academy, something sparked inside her.

“My place is closer. No one will look for him there.” Five then belches and shifts his head up. Luther sighs.

“If you vomit on me..”

“You know what's funny?” Five leans back and look at the sky, a tight grip on his doll. “Aah! I'm going through puberty.” He scoffs. “Huh. Twice. It seems like Flower is too.” Y/N’s eyes widen slightly. Five hadn’t called her Flower in the longest time, even before his disappearance he left the name to Diego. “And I..” He chuckles. “I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye.” Five waves his hand in the air. “Poof, it's gone. What are you guys talkin' about?” 

Luther lets out a breath. “Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night.” 

“They came looking for you and now Y/N. So I need you to focus. What do they want?”

“Hazel and Cha-Cha.” Five slurred.

“Who?”

“You know, I hate code names.” Luther shook his head.

“Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course.” The boy smiled.

“The best of what, Five?” Y/N asked softly.

Five ignored her question. “You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink. She said it made me surly--”

“Hey!” Diego yelled, turning around to face Five, who hummed. “I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want? We just wanna protect you and Y/N.”

“Y/N? It’s Flower.”

Diego sighed. “Okay, yes. You and Flower.”

“Protect me. I don't need your protection, Diego. I can protect Flower and I. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? No. I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming.” Five turns his head the other way and vomits.  “Oh, Jesus Christ.” Y/N rests her palm on her forehead.

--

Five was now laid on Diego’s bed, sound asleep. The trio watches for a moment as he sleeps, his face curled into the pillow. 

“Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep.” Diego says.

“Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self.” They start to walk away but Y/N lingers for a moment.

“Yeah, I can't wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies.”

“All that stuff he was saying before.. what do you think he meant by that?” Diego heled his hand up as if saying ‘shh’. That’s when heard the loud footsteps approaching. Diego got out one of his many knifes, moving to stand agaisnt the wall by his door. As he opened the door, a male voice came.

“You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressin' charges.”

Diego drops his arm. “What do you want, Al?” A middle aged man walks into the room a little bit. 

“I ain't your secretary.”

“Yeah.”

“Some lady called for you, said she needs your help.” Diego asked who, to which the man, Al, said he didn’t know. “Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin'.”

“Patch?” Number two asked, “She needs my help.”

“She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun.”

“When?” He asked worriedly. 

“About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother.” Al shrugged.

Diego looked to Five. “Well, that didn't make sense.” The three looked at each other before all thinking of the only brother it could be.

“Klaus.” Diego than rushed out of the room with a slam of his door.

“Go. I'll wait here with..” Luther turns to see Y/N sitting on the edge of the bed and Five’s hand moving to hold Y/N’s in his sleep. He watched as the boy shuffled closer to the girls side, a small smile resting on Y/N’s face as she gripped onto his hand slowly.  Luther sighs “them.”

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

Taglist: @venomsvl @dani5216 @mysticwitchcraftco @wifeofcamillamacaulay @anastas2904 @luvl3yt @ev-ems @sacrificialstars @annitrice-does-things @that-nonbinary-ass

[iheardarumorthings]

Ask: Allison and Patrick have been fighting alot, mostly due to her wanting to see claire and him not letting her. So she shows up to the mansion all tired, but when everyone asks brushes them off, and so five takes it upon himself to pay patrick a little visit if you know what I mean, telling him to be nice to allison or else things might get difficult.

hi!! i kinda put a little spin on it, i hope that's ok!!

warnings: five being threatening, mentions of allison being upset, mentions child neglect

SUSPICIOUS

He bounced the little girl on his knee, savoring every laugh that bubbled from her lips, joy apparent.

He waited for his prey, for today he was the predator.

The killer.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy his niece while he had her. He remembered the first time they had encountered one another (which also happened to be the only time they had met): Allison had been allotted one weekend a month to see her little girl due to progress in her therapy and she had decided to bring Claire to see her aunt and uncles who were more than eager to meet the girl.

Five had stood off to the corner, but still peered around the towering bodies of his siblings to see the little girl he had given a life to, the one he wanted to give a life to the most.

Her curls were just like her mother’s. She looked just like Allison.

Beautiful.

Unfortunately the man with a cautious hand on his daughter’s shoulder, eyes surveying every inch of the room nearly ruined the joyous feeling. And he could sense how uncomfortable Claire was seeing her mother from a distance- her family from a distance while being held back.

So he cherished this moment with her, even as her favorite uncle, he didn’t get to see her.

He should be put on babysitting duty more often, especially because Patrick’s new girlfriend just happened to be sleeping while a six year old girl ran around on her own.

“I’m ho-” Patrick stopped in the doorway when he saw the boy bouncing his daughter on his knee.

“Hello, Patrick. I just thought I’d pop in to see my niece. After all, she needed some watching over. Your girlfriend is fast asleep all the way across the house.”

“Uncle Five,” she laughed, rolling her eyes playfully. “I don’t need watching over! I’m a big girl!”

“Of course you are,” Five agreed, nodding along. “Why don’t you grab that ladybug you told me so much about?”

The girl nodded obediently, scampering down the long hall to her bedroom.

Patrick stared down at the boy who was sitting on his couch as if it belonged to him. He had heard stories about what he had done. What awful, toe-curling crimes he had committed.

It didn’t matter if it was for his family or the world. It didn’t matter.

“Do you know what I saw yesterday, Patrick?”

He didn’t respond.

“I saw my sister crying just after she got off the phone with you. Now she’s been allotted at least one weekend a month, correct?”

He nodded shakily.

“That’s what I thought. And you aren’t holding up your end of the agreement?” Patrick didn’t respond. Five tsked, “And that brings us to now. I’m sure you’ve heard what I’ve… done?”

Patrick’s eyes widened.

“Ah,” Five said, eyebrows raising theatrically. “So I believe you understand what will happen if you don’t allow my sister to see her daughter?”

“Claire?” Patrick called, breaking eye contact with Five in submission. “Something’s come up- nothing bad, don’t worry. But you’re going to stay with your mom for a week, pack a bag!”

When Five walked in with a sleeping Claire on his hip, everyone had grown suspicious. Suspicious of the victory in his eyes, the cat-like grin playing on his lips.

But they were all nonetheless grateful to have their niece.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Wounded Love Pt. 2 (Lady Dimitrescu/F!Reader)

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T? Maybe? Almost the exact opposite of the first one. Language, minor violence Genre: Fluff, mainly, with admittedly a little bit of humor? I blame my lack of sleep. And my adhd. Warnings: Implied cannibalism adjacent activities because guess what honey, this is a fucked up family, what do you expect of me??? Sure, they have breakfast in this, there's cute stuff, but c'mon, they don't eat flowers and oatmeal! Notes: Doubt it needs to be said, but this is a sequel to the good ending of part one. Also Cass has one line in this that might be OOC, or seem oddly placed, but admittedly this chapter is also loosely based on a dream I had, and I couldn't not include the few direct quotations I remembered, and she seemed the most likely to say the line. And yes, there will be a part 3, because I am weak and also kind of maybe made this one less plot-moving than intended.

{Wounded Love: The re-woundening}

Every step ached more than the last, even with Alcina supporting you. She had wanted to carry you down the stairs, of course, but you had insisted that you would be fine. Now you were just determined not to complain out loud. One yelp or cry and you’d be scooped up in her arms, surely to be carried for the rest of the day. As much as you appreciated your girlfriend’s assistance, you hated feeling useless, and hated putting a burden on others. So here you were, one arm wrapped around Alcina’s waist, limping ever-so-slowly towards the dining room.

Further ahead (unburdened by your injury) the three Dimitrescu daughters talk among themselves, voices hushed as they too headed for breakfast. It was odd to see them all awake, and socializing, as there was usually at least one who came to meals late. You couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with your condition… or the circumstances that had caused it.

Less than eighteen hours had passed since your fight with a stray lycan, and tension had been high since. While you hadn’t yet spoken to the sisters, you had spoken to Alcina, who had briefly mentioned their concern for you. Whether they actually cared about you as a person or just cared because you are dating their mother is unclear. Based on how they had acted while treating your wounds, though, you were inclined to think that they were fond of you. And seeing as Alcina had already vowed to get revenge on your behalf… well, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her daughters intended to assist.

“Careful on the last step, dear,” Alcina says, positioned as to catch you if you fell. It takes a little willpower to resist the urge to hop down the rest of the way. As long as you landed on your uninjured leg, it wouldn’t even be that bad. Still, irritating your girlfriend first thing in the morning felt like a pretty stupid thing to do. Instead you just nodded, slowing down even more, and took visible care not to trip. “Good girl.”

Well, you certainly couldn’t say that being careful didn’t have its rewards.

“I have my moments,” you replied, blush rising to your cheeks. Suddenly your pain didn’t feel so bad (at least until you took another step and winced). “Damn, who woulda thought that cutting a chunk out of my leg would make it hurt more?” The leg in question throbbed in pain, as if to prove your point, protesting the weight you put on it. Changing the angle at which you stood helped some, allowing the lower half of the limb to bear more of the burden.

“Dearest…” Alcina starts to say, looking like she was going to readdress her desire to carry you. For a moment you try to avoid her gaze, but she moves in front of you, making sure that you could still hold onto her for support. “I know how you feel, how you want, desperately, to be independent. When I was first… granted this gift, it took a long time to adjust. There was so much I had to relearn how to do, so much that I suddenly needed done for me.” A pause, a deep breath. At last you look up at your girlfriend, warmth in your heart, reaching out to hold her hand. “You have time, my dear, and plenty of it. More than that… this will not last forever. The more you push yourself, the longer your recovery will take. Now, please, allow me to assist. You have already proven how strong you are.”

“Oh, you drive a hard bargain… but if you insist, who am I to decline? Or, well, who am I to decline twice in a row?” You answer, somewhat begrudgingly. It wasn’t much farther to the dining room, you figured, so it wouldn’t be much of a loss to accept help. Or at least that was what you told yourself. Even with Alcina’s encouragement it was so hard for you to accept her help. After all, you were the one that worked for her. Never mind the fact that she was somewhat responsible for your injury- really, you were actively avoiding thinking about that.

It’s much easier to forget once Alcina carefully picks you up. One arm goes under your legs, the other under your chest, lifting you without any effort. You might as well have been a kitten or a child’s toy. The movement does, however, shift your injured leg in such a way that it aches. At this point you can hardly move the limb at all without it hurting, and even the slightest friction against the bandage makes your eyes water.

Apparently someone would be delivering some painkillers later in the day. You assumed it would be The Duke (whose name is apparently not Doug, as you had thought), seeing as he knew some special way to get to and fro without risking the same fate that had befallen you. Which, of course, made you feel a lot better. Getting someone else hurt would weigh on your mind forever.

Regardless, you were safe now, as was your strange, bloody little family. Before long you would even be enjoying a pleasant meal together. Certainly that would help get your mind off of your wound? For now, though, you were met with an unexpected impasse. The sort of impasse that really, really should have been expected.

“Why… is the doorway… so small?” You asked, jokingly, as you stare into the mildly embarrassed face of your girlfriend. It’s already hard enough for her to crouch through the gap normally. When she’s carrying you? Impossible. “Can we ask Mother Miranda for bigger doors? She gave you eternal life and also three kids, she’s gotta be capable of making bigger doors. Put me down, I’ll go call her and-”

“That won’t be necessary, dear,” Alcina cuts you off, not fully appreciating this part of your humor. Or maybe she had already asked for bigger doors, only to be told no?... Okay, yeah, it was probably the first option. With a sigh she sets you down, as gently as she can manage. Ready and raring to go, you start to hobble forward, only to find all three of the daughters waiting for you, just beyond the door. They’re grinning as they watch you, and Bela extended her arm to offer her help. “What appears to be the matter?” Alcina asks from behind you. Accepting your fate and Bela’s arm, you let the sisters guide you to the table, Cassandra holding your other side, and Daniela pulls your chair out for you. Honestly it’s pretty adorable. Evidently your girlfriend agrees, from the way she smiles as she follows.

“Thank you,” you say, more out of reflex than genuine gratitude. Again, you weren’t thrilled about needing this assistance. If the girls notice they’re at least polite enough not to mention it. They simply move to their own seats at the large table, eager to dig in. It feels… strange, to be here, on this side of things. Stranger still to realize you’re the only one intending to eat actual food. There’s wine in your glass, but it’s a much fainter red than those you’ve previously served to your girlfriend. Thank goodness, you think, after how raw my throat was yesterday, I really don’t need to taste any more blood.

Once Lady Dimitrescu sits down, the meal formally begins, with several maidens appearing from the kitchen. Several seem relieved to see you, although surprised, and one even gave you a brief smile. The smile did not last, however. It wasn’t unexpected, considering the nature of her job, the pressures that it put upon her. No one smiled at mealtimes. Well, no maidens, that is. They simply moved around, wordlessly, faces blank, doing exactly as instructed. Only a few days ago you had been among them, fear keeping you in line. Was it wrong of you to care for Alcina, knowing what she was capable of doing to others? Knowing what she might have, in another life, done to you?

A maiden places a plate of warm food, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit, in front of you. For a moment your eyes meet, but she looks away instinctively. Your heart threatens to break.

“This looks wonderful, thank you for your hard work, all of you,” you speak up, glancing at each of the women working so hard. There’s more you want to say that dries in your throat; you are valued, you are deserving, someday I will join your ranks again.

“You don’t need to thank them, they’re just doing their jobs,” Cassandra chimes from the other side of the table. Hearing her say that damn near makes you drop your fork. It’s not an uncommon settlement, particularly among older generations and the rich, but one that irks you nonetheless.

“They’re doing my job. They are taking on extra work, for no pay, because I am injured. Why would I be so cruel as to ignore them? Have I not toiled alongside them enough to call them my kin?” You ask, struggling to keep your voice even. Next to you Alcina is slowly cutting into her meat, watching the scene unfold out of the corner of her eyes, perhaps considering when to step in. On the other end of the table, Bela looks increasingly uncomfortable, as if silently willing her sister into silence. None of the maidens have reacted to what you said, likely too afraid of Cassandra to even consider speaking.

“Ooooh, this is much more fun than our usual breakfasts,” Daniela says, stifling a giggle. “Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share? Preferably ones that aren’t about me.” At this, Alcina sets her utensils down, clearly intending to put an end to the discussion. Unfortunately for her, you were a bit… impulsive, especially considering the previous night’s activities had left your mind struggling to cope.

“Dead lycans smell terrible. Literally the worst thing I’ve ever smelled, easily, no question about it,” you answer, shrugging a little as you do. It’s such a simple thought that you almost don’t realize how the others at the table react. Until the clatter of silverware on the table catches your attention, that is. All three sisters are eying you with different expressions (Bela is confused, Cass is impressed, and Daniela looks shocked). But it’s Alcina’s wide-eyed stare that gets you to elaborate. “Should I have said ‘a dead lycan’? I only got one, so I guess I shouldn’t say they all smell bad. C’mon, though, they have to all smell bad, right?”

Suddenly Daniela shifts from shock to pure amusement, a fit of giggles overtaking her. You’re still confused, not sure what the matter was, so you just sip your wine and hope someone asks the right questions.

“You… killed the lycan that attacked you?” Bela finally says, after a few moments of her sister laughing, expression still incredulous. When you nod she sort of shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “May I ask how you managed that?”

“Oh, you know, I just meh meh-” you mime a stabbing motion with your fork- “until the stupid thing stopped moving. I had to use a tree branch as a weapon, but then it broke after a few whacks, which actually helped because then I had two stabbing implements to, you know, stab with. That’s right around when it got my leg, and it tried to bite me. Thankfully it wasn’t very smart, so when it leapt at me I just hyah-” this time an upwards strike- “right into its neck. That didn’t kill it, but it was enough to slow it down, which allowed me to stab the other half of the branch into its skull. Made this horrible, horrible sound as it died. Seeing as we are eating, I will not imitate the sound. Not that I could, now that I think about it…”

Once again there’s silence. Even Daniela has quieted now, and is watching you with rapt interest, likely hoping that you’re hiding another story up your sleeves.

“So… did you guys actually think that I managed to run away from the lycan? Or were you under the impression that it simply got bored of me and left?” You ask, casually returning to your breakfast afterwards. No one says anything, at first, taking in your words as best as they can. A few moments later both Daniela and Bela resume their meal, as nonchalant as one could be in the current situation. Alcina, however, rests a gentle hand on your shoulder, meeting your gaze with a loving look.

“You will never cease to amaze me, my dear. But let us ensure you never have to… smell, or see, one of those wretched things again, yes?” She says, softly squeezing you as she does. You can’t help but agree, and nod eagerly, mouth too full of hashbrowns to speak. Still, there’s been a shift in the atmosphere of the room. It’s not that the family didn’t respect you before, as far as you can tell, but they evidently hadn’t expected you to prove as capable as you had. It brings a sense of pride to the forefront of your mind, making you completely forget about your injury for the remainder of the meal.

Unable to stop yourself, you insist on helping the other maidens clean up, and Alcina eventually agrees to let you wash a few dishes- as long as you stay sitting the entire time. The last thing you hear before you shuffle off to the kitchen is the start of a conversation between Cassandra and her mother.

“You picked quite a feisty one, didn’t you?”

“That I did, that I did…”

[sorryjustafangirl]

it’s a love story

a/n:  this is my submission for the @doubleminor​’s #hockeychallengemusic ! im so so super late but i finally had the time to write this. the toronto six of the nwhl have this as their winning song and i loved watching them celebrate this season. and apparently all i can write is matty tkachuk but i felt he really fit this idea

Pairing: Matthew Tkachuk x reader

Work count: 2.2k+

warnings: mentions of the pandemic and one swear but other than that just fluff :)

disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and real person fiction if you don’t like that, please don’t read! also the gif isn’t mine! all credit to the fantastic gif-maker!

prompt: choose an official team/player goal song and make something using that goal song // found here 

He had wanted the proposal to be perfect. The moment he knew you were the one he wanted to marry, he asked your best friend for everything you had ever mentioned about a proposal. You were only going to get proposed to once, and he wanted to make sure it was perfect. 

Secluded, yet meaningful, place? Check. 

Get it on camera? Check. 

Cute outfit with nails done? Check. 

But a global pandemic was not in his plan. Not even close. 

When the season had got put on pause, his parents suggested he come back to St. Louis to spend time with them, since Brady was coming back too. He was hesitant to go considering you were still going into the office for an essential project, but you assured him that he should go spend time with his family. He didn't get to see them a lot, and you knew he missed them. When he packed, he made sure to take the little velvet box and shove it between his socks. He didn't want to risk you finding it while he was away. 

A couple weeks later, after many FaceTimes and virtual date nights, you finished your project and work gave you the all clear to work from home. A two week quarantine and one plane ride later, you had joined him in St. Louis. You were still working, but working from the Tkachuk's home and with your boyfriend was much better than working alone in your shared apartment. 

Since you had joined the family, Taryn had noticed her oldest brother was a little jumpier than usual. Before, he was more carefree, aside from the occasional moping, and he definitely wasn't making sure his bedroom door was closed whenever he went in there alone. But now? It seemed odd. He wasn't moping, but he had those moments when he seemed too sad for it just to be about the season.  

So after Matthew's third sigh and retreat to his room while you were working, she decided it was time for an intervention. She quietly followed him to his room, where he methodically closed it and made sure it clicked. 

***

It was the second time today Matthew had looked at the box today. He knew he was torturing himself, opening the box to look at the ring he had picked out. It wasn't too flashy, something just your style. He remembered the way his heart jumped when he saw it in the store. It instantly reminded him of you and he just knew it was the one. It was like he couldn't help himself, looking at the box another time.

You could’ve already been engaged by now. The two of you could’ve been looking at venues and dates and even if he said he never really cared about that stuff… he couldn’t help but long for those things, because it would mean it was real. The two of you would be getting married, and he’d get to be your husband. 

But instead of being engaged, he’d just have to stare at the ring and wish he could make this all go away so he could give you the proposal you’ve always wanted. He relived the time he knew you were the one, anything to remind him that you wouldn’t mind waiting until this pandemic was over to get engaged. 

It was a home game against the Senators. Nothing speculator, just a regular game that they unfortunately lost in OT. Because it was against the Sens, and because he scored the only goal of the game, Matt knew he’d be chosen for press. He was tired, and there was nothing he wanted more than to see his family who had made the trek out to Calgary to see the boys play. He left the dressing room with his tie a little crumpled from the rush to meet them. 

He turned the corner to see Taryn sitting on a bench, with Brady standing with his parents, probably cracking a joke based on the way his mom was playfully glaring at Brady while his dad laughed loudly. His mood picked up a little after the interview and the loss.

As he got closer, he realized that Taryn wasn’t sitting alone. You were sitting there, your head resting against her shoulder, your eyes slightly closed. He stopped in his tracks when he saw your work bag sitting in your lap and your suitcase beside you. Your flight was supposed to get in around 8 and he had insisted that you just meet him at home after the game. This work trip had been horrible, your co-worker throwing you under the bus in a meeting with executives on a project he didn’t work on. You deserved to be relaxing with a glass of wine in the sanctity of your shared apartment. But you were here, at his game, straight from the airport, laughing with his family despite your drooping eyes. He had never felt more loved than he did right there. 

A knock startled him from his thoughts. 

“Uhh... just a second!” He snapped the ring box shut and quickly stood up from the bed to shove it in his drawer. Taryn popped her head in to see him very suspiciously standing in front of his dresser.

“It’s just me, dork. What are you doing?” She entered his room, making herself comfy on his bed. He scoffed, and closed the door behind his sister. 

“I’m not doing anything. What are you doing?” He went back to standing by the dresser and Taryn rolled her eyes.

“That’s exactly it, you’re doing nothing. Normally, when we’re all home you’re like bouncing off the walls. Like I know this time it’s different but Y/n came too so I thought… I don’t know, you just seem off but Brady didn’t think so and I didn’t want to worry Mom… so like, what’s going on? Is everything okay? Are you and Y/n fighting?” 

His eyes bugged out and Taryn would have laughed if she wasn’t so serious. “What no! We’re fine! We’re fine, why-why would you say that?” 

“You’ve been quiet Matt. You’re never quiet, especially when Brady’s home with us.” He rolled his eyes and she huffed at her older brother. “You know it’s true! So... what’s going on?” He sighed and turned to find the box from the drawer. He looked down at the velvet in his hands as he sat on the edge of the bed. Taryn moved to be sitting beside him and gasped quietly. 

“Is that...?” 

“Yeah. I was going to...you know, before the world went to shit. I had it all planned out too. The weather was getting warmer and there’s this hiking trail we like in Banff, it’s only like an hour drive. There’s this perfect spot where I could prop my phone up so I could get it on camera, just like they wanted. But now... I don’t know what I’m going to do.” 

“Do you still want to, you know, propose?” 

“’Course I do. Honestly, I want nothing more. But, they deserve it to be perfect, you know? And like, I don’t know how I could surprise them here, because we’ve been chilling in the same sweatpants for the past week! Asking them to get dressed up would seem suspicious and I want it to be a surprise,”

“Could… could I help you? I might have an idea…” She grinned towards her brother, his eyes brightening at the idea of marrying you. 

***

“Y/N, do you want to do a TikTok with me?” She called to you from across the Tkachuk’s backyard. Taryn must’ve been feeling the quarantine because yesterday the two of you did your nails together, which prompted you to, for once, put on a pair of pants that weren’t Matty’s sweatpants and do your hair, so you had no problem setting down your book and hopping up from your seat to join her. She squealed and you laughed as you joined her. 

“It’s so easy! I promise! So, it’s to a remix of Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ and the only set in stone parts are that you actually kneel when she says ‘knelt to the ground’ and then the camera will start to pull away and then you just freestyle! We can do a couple practice ones before we film it for real, if you want?” 

“Yes, please, you have severely overestimated my dancing skills,” you laughed. Right at that moment, Matthew came out of the house with a Bud Light in his hand. He placed it on the edge of the firepit before walking over to you.

“What’s got you all cracked up?” He pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“Taryn thinks I’m a good enough dancer to film this TikTok on my first try,” He grinned at you. 

“A TikTok you say? Can I do it too? If you can do it surely it’s easy enough for me,” You gave him a playful eye roll and laughed. 

“How bored are you to want to film a TikTok?” 

“I want to spend time with my girlfriend, is that a crime?” He smirked and you cracked a smile.  

Taryn spoke up. “Hey no, this would be perfect! I need to move the camera away from you when you’re dancing anyways, and this way you won’t be alone. And you’ll get Matt’s dancing on camera for future blackmail!” You laughed at her comment and slugged him lightly in the arm. 

“Game on, we’ll see who's the better dancer after this,” He just laughed and then told you to tell what the heck he was doing for this dance. After a while, the two of you were ready to film. 

Taryn got behind her phone and started the music. You got into position and bumped Matthew’s hip before facing the camera. 

Is this in my head, I don’t know what to think. He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said

You knelt down and pretended to open a ring box, while Matthew pulled out the box he’d been hiding for six months. 

Marry me Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone

You started to dance as Taryn pulled the camera away from the both of you. Lost in the music, you didn’t seem to notice that Matthew was still on one knee, an adoring smile on his face. 

“Y/n,” 

I love you and that’s all I really know

You stopped dancing and glanced to your side. “Oh my god,” Your hands flew to cover your mouth as you saw Matt still on one knee, but with a black box in his hands. “Are you joking?”

“Not joking, baby, I promise.” He opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. It was classy, with just enough bling to catch your eye and go with the rest of your jewelry. Your eyes filled with tears as he started to speak. 

“Y/n, you are the best person I have ever met. I never thought someone would be willing to put up with me, not with my job and the media and how I play my game, but then I met you, and it’s like the whole world shifted. I have fallen more in love with you every day, even the past few days when we do the same thing every day. I love you so much, babe, and all I want is to keep being your person. I know my job means I’ll have to leave sometimes, but with me, with this, I promise you’ll never be alone. I want to be your husband and I want us to have little mini-us’s running around, well really mini-you’s but with my hair, because let’s face it, they aren’t escaping the curls,” You let out a teary laugh, and you could see his shoulder visibly relax a little. “When I look to my future, all I see is you. You are my future. And I know this isn’t perfect or even ideal but..”

“No, no, Matty, it’s perfect.” You whispered, your eyes full of tears. “It’s perfect because it’s with you.”

His grin widened if that was possible, and he looked down at the box in his hands before up to you. “If that’s the case, then Y/n, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?” 

“Yes! Yes, yes, of course,” You bent down to kiss him, leaving your tears on his cheek when you pulled away. He slipped the ring onto your finger and swept you into a bear hug. “Oh my gosh, we’re going to get married!”

“It’s you and me, baby, for the rest of our lives.” He tried to smirk, but it didn’t last long, a smile covering it as the euphoria overcame him. 

“Okay, okay, show me the ring!! Matthew didn’t tell me he was proposing!” Chantel came out in the backyard with a bright grin on her face. You couldn’t contain the smile on your face and the two of you admired the ring together. 

“I didn’t tell Dad either, don’t get offended,” Matthew said, coming over to meet the both of you. 

“Oh, you liar! You totally called me and asked me for advice.” Keith chimed in with a laugh. “Granted, you never told me you were going to do it today… but I’m happy for you kids.”

“I didn’t think he’d ever get the guts to propose, sorry for the wait Y/n,” Brady chirped, earning a whack from his mother. 

“I don’t mind, he’s worth the wait.” You looked to your fiancé, only to find him already looking at you, his blue eyes gleaming full of warmth. “So worth the wait.”

let me know what you think! thanks for reading!

[sconnie-doesnt-know]

So Wrong

Characters: Lee Bodecker, Reader, Jane Bodecker, assorted OCs, also gonna go ahead and say Lee is kinda soft/dark in this one

Word Count: 8000

Warnings: Infidelity, alcohol usage, smoking, somewhat dub-con sexual stuff, but not really

Summary: The Reader is a young single mother and widow new to the town of Meade. She gets drawn into a social circle that includes the Sheriff’s wife, while also being drawn to the Sheriff himself.

A/n: I truly don’t know where this came from or why I wrote it. I watched TDATT and suddenly this whole thing just popped into my head complete with a Patsy Cline soundtrack. There’s infidelity on Lee’s part, and his wife is terrible, and these are fictional characters so I am trying to not feel guilty for making that happen. 

There’s more to this story, probably extending into 1 or 2 more parts. I don’t know what to say for myself, I cannot pwp. Feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Not beta-read, so please let me know if there’s an error. 

Hope you enjoy!

Meade is as good a place as any to settle. Surrounded by wilderness and small towns, it’s quiet, far from anyplace and anyone you know. A welcome adventure and a place to dispose of your grief, finally - hopefully. 

You pull up on a quiet street and sit there just a moment to breathe, to look at the life you had that is settled in between the few boxes and suitcases of belongings, the folded up flag, and the little boy you buckled into the seat.

Through a tangled web of connections, you are able to rent a little upper duplex apartment from the widow in town. She claims she doesn’t mind a little noise as your son stomps up the stairs and gives you an open invitation to join her at church on Sundays.

It is six days into your new residence, the first Monday in town when the apparent welcoming committee shows up at your door. She wears a gentle smile on her face and presents you with a warm pie still wrapped in cloth.

“My name is Jane Bodecker, my husband’s the Sheriff. I wanted to introduce myself…”

You know the routine after moving around a few times already. You imagine the conspiring during the luncheon after church yesterday, the ladies munching on dry cookies and deciding who would be the first to talk to you.

You nod and smile, and accept the offering. 

“Some of us like to get together to play cards and socialize on Tuesdays, it would be nice to have you join us and let us get to know you.”

Of course she means that they are chomping at the bit to know why a single woman with no family ties has moved into town. You’re familiar with the ritual and know you need to go along if you want to make it work in this place.

You return her smile, “That would be so kind of you, as long as you don’t mind my son coming along.” You gesture to the little boy hiding in your skirts behind you.

“Of course he can. He can play with my boy, Robert. We will see you at two.” She leaves you with her address and directions over, telling you to look for the house with the red shutters.

Their house is in one of the newer, more developed parts, with some manufactured homes lining the street and looking boxy compared to the traditional farmhouses, but it's charming. The red shutters stand out, that’s for certain. It doesn’t take long to figure out that Jane is a proud host, head of the gossip chain, and is required to mention “My husband, the Sheriff” at least once per conversation.

You let the ladies ask their questions and nod politely as they give you the required chorus of condolences. You feel the shift when Jane steers the conversation to what they all want to know. “Now, I don’t mean to spread gossip, but some folks were wondering why you rented a place here instead of goin’ home to your family.”

Your shoulders stiffen, ‘so much for not putting me on the spot’ you think, but you still smile politely as you answer. “I have no other family. My daddy was gone when I was a girl and my momma dropped me off with an aunt and uncle when she was with husband number three and I don’t know where she is. They said it was the first thing she did that made a lick of sense,” you try to joke. “Well, they didn’t exactly approve of me and Jimmy, so when we married they told me not to go back.”

“And the boy’s other kin?”

“Ain’t no other kin. Jimmy’s family was small, they’re gone now.”

“Well, ain’t you a tragedy,” she says in a chirpy, high voice. 

Your face tightens and you stare at your lap, “We get by,” you weakly mutter. 

They all assure you that they have some nice gentlemen they can introduce to you, and go on about how fortunate you are they are pulling you into their group. You hear about faceless people and their minor transgressions, but get bored with it fairly quickly and use the time to look over the Bodecker home. It’s nice, a mixture of modest and a few state-of -the-art updates. There’s more dust than you expect, the sofa cushions look worn down, with only a few photos on display. The sheriff’s face shrouded in shadows in the one you can see, but you figure their son must take after him since he doesn’t have the pinched look his mother seems to naturally have.

You don’t even meet ‘her husband, the Sheriff’ until your third Tuesday afternoon of cards at their home. Jane herself is practically giving a campaign speech since the election so close. You never paid a lot of attention to local politics, and you try to give her your attention, but when she starts to ramble on it’s just too much. You happen to look to the side to avoid rolling your eyes and catch just when he strolls in, as if on cue with the uniform all perfectly in place. He scans the group of women until he stops on you, eyes lighting up with interest.

Your own breath catches in your throat at the sight of him as he removes his hat and looks you over.

“Well,” he drawls, “You must be the sweet new thing that’s got all the fellas in town rioting.”

You have to look down, lest the embarrassment make you combust.

“Now, Lee,” Jane scolds, “That’s no way to say hello. Come over here and introduce yourself properly.” She guides him over, and you almost say it with her when she recites, “This is my husband, the Sheriff.”

“Apologies, miss. I know you aren’t trying to get them all riled. Janey told me ‘bout your husband. War is Hell, shame to be losing boys like that.”

He holds his hand out to shake yours, his hold firm and warm and you are hesitant to let go.

“I appreciate that, thank you, Sheriff. Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” he nods, eyes flicking over you one more time. “What are your plans in this lovely town of ours?” 

“Oh. Well,” you freeze up for a moment, it’s the first time someone’s asked and you don’t have your answer prepared. “Well, I was thinking that I would get a job. We get by right now, but once my boy is in school, I would like something else to do.”

Jane jumps on your answer, “Let’s just see if we can’t find you a bachelor around here. Plenty of boys can use someone to take care of ‘em, but if you want a man who will be home on time, you stay away from any of the deputies. I can’t remember the last time Lee wasn’t busy with something or other from the county. I suppose that’s the life we’ve chosen though, isn’t it?”

Her voice sounds overly sweet, but you can sense the daggers in her words. It’s the way he reacts, shifting on his feet and rolling his jaw like he’s annoyed. Jane doesn’t even pay attention to anything but the cards in her hand. Some of the other ladies nod, but the sheriff just lowers his head before he pulls Jane to the side to talk to her quietly.

You track his movements, fascinated until you shake yourself out of it. It’s been years since you felt like that or even saw a man that caught your attention - not since Jimmy. It’s alarming, unnerving.

The wave of guilt that washes over you is more than you can handle. 

“Please excuse me, but we must be going.” You get up without waiting for any response and practically yank your son right out of the house as Jane calls after you that she will see you again soon.

You brush off the incident after having some time to think, convinced that it is just because you were caught off guard, and try to go on as normally as you can.

Your days end up filled with social calls, running errands or helping your landlady, and keeping your son busy. He asks to play with the Bodecker boy nearly every day, but you try your best to keep your distance when you can, especially when she starts trying to arrange dates for you even when you politely decline.

You look at the other ladies sometimes and wonder how many of them are just tolerating her the way you do. There’s just something grating about the way her voice goes especially nasally when she has something not-very-Christian to say, or the way she talks so openly and obscenely about the apparent whorehouse in town. She doesn’t even seem the least bit shameful when she begins to complain about her sister-in-law and the trouble she gets up to despite her brother being the sheriff.

Sheriff Bodecker, on the other hand, is a bit more friendly than you anticipated, expecting him to be cold or rude, but usually he’s the one pushing his wife to extend a coffee or supper invitation your way and making small talk when you are still around when he gets home from work or if he catches you around town. Your own mind suspects that it’s maybe just a sense of civic duty to know his neighbors, but it’s nice to have company nonetheless. 

Conversation with him comes easily. He talks with you about interesting news stories, about the boys, about some of the other towns, and even plans for the county. It’s interesting, not just debate on whether the new curtains chosen by someone or other are tacky. There are times you get lost talking with him and need to be corralled back in by Jane or Steven getting antsy.

The way he draws your eye is a mixture of curiosity and interest. It makes you notice when he’s driving the patrol car or when you see him around town. You catch how tired he seems at the end of the days, how he’s usually got a piece of candy to slip to kids when they come by and are brave enough to ask. You notice how he knows everyone in town and seems to have an eye on everything, checking in at the shops and breaking up the young men when they start to roughhouse.

In a place like this, Jane Bodecker is far from the only gossiper in town, so while she might not share much about herself or her husband, plenty of others do. Some of the things they say are just nitpicking and you try to drown it out. They’ve been decent to you since your arrival, but it’s hard to ignore the constant whispers of how power went right to their heads.

When the election is over and she gets the right to continue to say “My husband, the Sheriff” you start to really see what they say. She loses the facade of playing the good wife, but still hosts her weekly card meetings to keep up to date. Instead of just coffee and tea, she starts slipping sips of whiskey and gives her opinion a bit more freely than before, and often hurling insults anywhere they can land.

It’s painful to watch her put down everyone, but especially the sheriff when he gets in her way. When you catch him sending a frustrated look at her turned back or rolling his eyes at her complaints about the town and its people, you pretend not to notice and remember to keep a smile on. Her outbursts get more and more unhinged and brazen, and the defeat and exhaustion in his stance makes you ache. There’s a hurt you can’t vocalize without overstepping, but it eats at you, chips at your patience bit by bit.

When the sheriff pulls the cruiser over one day while you’re walking between stores to say hi and make some small talk, you’re pleased. He seems less worn down, it’s nice to see.

“Oh, Sheriff, you’ve got some good timing,” you reach into one of your shopping bags, pulling out a paper bag of hard candies you bought from the candy shop. “While doing the washing, I found a handful of wrappers. Turns out the boys were getting into your candy stash. Thought you might need a refill.”

You hand him the bag and the smile he gives you in return makes your chest tighten up and ache.

“Sweet things from a sweet thing, thank you darlin’.” 

You bit down on your lips, desperate to not react to his flirtatious words. “It’s nothin’, Sheriff.”

“Not to me.”

You start to sway from foot to foot, looking down at the sidewalk with a hum and trying to come up with something else to say. Silence hangs in the air for a moment before his radio crackles with a call from the station. You take the opportunity to make your exit.

“I’ll be seeing you, Sheriff.”

He shoots a glare at the radio, but looks back at you with what you could only describe as longing. “Sure will, Sweets.” Usually something like that would sound condescending, but from him it sounds endearing. He winks and pulls the car away, talking to the dispatcher while he drives.

‘Sweets...sweet thing...darlin’’ his voice repeats over and over in your head, fingers trembling and clumsy with the rush they give you and the way your heart races.

You get nearly sick when you recognize the feelings you’re having. It’s like it was when you were first with Jimmy. When you couldn’t even look him in the eyes because you felt too overwhelmed by your feelings for him. When you flushed and overheated when he got close and said pretty things. When you used to hold onto his hand and promise yourself that you would care for him every day and prove your love to him.

That’s when you realize you’re coveting another woman’s husband.

It’s Thursday, which means you need to head down to Main Street to visit the pharmacy for your landlady, Mrs. Martins, and gather some groceries for the week. You had made plans with Jane to let the boys play together while you took ran errands. You don’t have a good excuse to change the plan, but you can’t help but ask again, “You sure you don’t mind him being here?”

“Not at all,” she smiles, a bit wider and more manic than usual, “Now if that handsome Wilford boy happens to ask you for supper, don’t you worry about rushin’ back, ya hear?”

You laugh at her latest unsubtle attempt, “I will keep it in mind, thanks.” She and a few others had started to meddle, putting eligible bachelors in your path and setting up dates on your behalf. You do try. You talk to them, let them flirt, but none hold your interest. They’re boys - lanky and lean, still all reckless and rowdy. Not what you’re looking for, nothing like the solid, filled-out figure of a man, someone secure and stable and in a uniform. But that’s something to think about another day.

Wilford does indeed ask. 

You do not feel so inclined to take up the offer, especially when he pinches the round of your ass as he asks you to consider dessert before any supper. 

He has you pressed against the wall outside the hardware store, letting the sun blind you and bring tears to your eyes as the bricks snag the delicate threads of your dress.

He only backs away when a loud voice booms out, “There a problem here, son?”

He turns his head to find Lee pulled to the side of the road, window down and arm resting on the frame, his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed.

“No sir, Sheriff, just makin’ some supper plans, ain’t we?” Wilford looks back at you with a leer. Your hands press flat against the building and your knee twitches with the urge to jerk up and hurt him.

“I thought we were expecting you tonight, isn’t that right?” Lee asks you pointedly. 

Your attacker looks back at Lee, then to you, and you nod. Finally, you’re given some space. 

“I imagine you need to be moving along then?” Lee checks, waiting impatiently for Wilford to answer.

“Yessir.” He gives you a wicked grin and spins away to go back down the street. “Maybe another time when you’re free.”

You shake your head, eyes narrowed at his back as you glare.

Lee taps the side of the cruiser, “C’mere.”

You take a shaky breath and gather yourself with a nod before taking the few steps across the sidewalk. Leaning down you take a moment to look him over in his uniform, the badge gleaming in the sunshine and eyes clear blue as the sky.

“You alright, Sweets?” he asks, voice low and gentle. He’d taken to calling you that since the candy incident, always in that same tone - like it’s precious and important. The way it hits you right in the center of your chest hurts more than the physical damage done a moment ago. You know he isn’t asking if your heart is aching, or if you’re alright being lonely, or any of the ways you’re feeling it right now, but it strikes you in an unexpected way.

“I’m fine,” you smile tightly, “Thank you for checking.”

“These boys just don’t know how to handle themselves when they see a pretty lady.” Your cheeks ache as you try to keep from beaming at the off-hand comment. “Ya know, I’m getting ready to head on home, you need a ride that way? I’m guessing your boy is stirrin’ up some shit with mine?” He turns and scans the road and sidewalk around you, fidgeting a bit as he asks.

“I still have to make another stop and my car is at the end of the block, but thank you.” You stand up.

“Well, I mean it, you and Steven stay for supper tonight, I’ll square it with Jane.”

“You don’t hav’ta do that-”

“No worries, darlin’.” He winks, taps his fingers on the shell of the door by the painted logo and waits until you nod in agreement. “See you soon, then.” And with a nod he pulls off the curb.

You watch the cruiser drive away, then look up and down the street, but no one else is there. You finally manage to draw in a full breath, and rush to get to the cool air of the pharmacy to ease the flush burning you from the inside out.

You make it back to the Bodecker’s before the sheriff, glad to have a few moments to smooth things over with Jane since she clearly had not expected you to turn down the date she arranged for you.

“He wasn’t too much of a handful, was he? I told him before I left that he better mind you today.”

She waves you off, sitting back down at the table with her abandoned cigarette in the tray and a small glass of brown liquor.

“Well, the boys’ll sleep tonight, that’s for sure. They’ve been running circles round the whole damn house.” She ashes the cigarette before taking another puff and settling against the backrest of the chair.

You take a moment to look over the kitchen, a pot is just about to boil over so you make your way to it. “Can I help you out with anything? Give you a moment to freshen up ‘fore Lee gets home?” 

“I suppose that’s the least you can do.” Her cheeks draw in another puff and she hums, taking her glass with her as she goes to their bedroom.

The boys run inside, breathless and sweaty, both shouting while they tell you about a nest they found outside before you order them off to get washed up themselves. You look down the hall, waiting to see if Jane was on her way back or if she was expecting you to finish her cooking. Rather than let it burn, you do just that, taking care of the potatoes, adding a few seasonings as you go, and pulling out the meatloaf from the oven. 

The screen door squeaks and boots thud through the house when Lee enters and makes his way to the kitchen. You nervously look over your shoulder, catching him leaning against the door jamb, spinning his hat in his hand, a soft smile on his lips as he looks your way.

“This is a sight. If I didn’t know better I’d think I wandered into the wrong house.” 

You let out a bit of a nervous laugh, then look back down to the greens you were tending to, “I am so sorry, I kept your wife busy longer than I should’ve. She’ll be out in just a minute.” You go back to busying yourself with finishing up the meal.

“Not complainin’,” he mutters under his breath, but you still hear it and it makes your breath hitch. Jane could set you on edge with her snide remarks, so could Lee, but for completely different reasons - some that had been dormant for so long you didn’t know what to do. 

Just then Jane makes her grand reappearance, hair freshly combed and lips tinged with a touch of color; her cheeks look ruddy, but you can’t tell if it’s rouge or flush from the alcohol she’s been sipping.

“Don’t you go adding too much milk to my potatoes, nobody likes ‘em all runny. Here, let me,” she says and nudges you out of the way, “See you gotta mix in just a little bit right there.”

She overpours anyway, her hands moving unsteadily as she mashes the potatoes up, making them runny just like she warned you about. 

From behind you, you see Lee go to the table, picking up the liquor bottle and examining the contents, making marks with his fingers against the side of the bottle and shaking his head. He takes a swig himself and sets it back down.

He mumbles something about being sober, then walks down the hall to where Jane disappeared, stopping to say something to make the boys giggle on the way before they wrestle each other at the bathroom sink to wash up for supper. 

The meal starts off quiet, just the utensils scraping along the plates, but Jane being the gracious host, finally tries to perk it up with conversation.

“I know Wilford might be a little rough ‘round the edges for someone from a bigger town, but there are still several other young men I can introduce you to,” she offers, unprompted.

You choke a little before you recover and finish chewing your bite of food.

“You needn’t go through the trouble, Mrs. Bodecker. Really.” 

“It’s just, you’re so young to be widowed already and all alone. What kinda home will it be for the boy with no man around? And don’t you want more kids? I bet you just glow. Some of the ladies at my bible study wouldn’t mind setting you up.”

The idea makes you squirm. No, you aren’t dead inside, but there’s no way for you to get what - who you really want.

The sheriff speaks up then. “My old man took off on my ma, sister, and me. That’s just the way shit happens sometimes,” he says and you feel the dark cloud start to clear just a bit. You nod at him, acknowledging the little bit of affirmation.

“What was your husband like?” Jane presses, digging a little further into that painful wound. “Maybe that will help me out.”

Your Jimmy didn’t have much to give you, but he gave you all he could. He gave you the kind of love that made your cheeks hurt from smiling, and your stomach swoop with butterflies. Your eyes flick toward Lee and you think again about how alike they seem to you, handsome, intuitive, assertive, strong-willed. He catches your gaze and pauses his chewing for a brief second while he waits for your answer. 

“He was a good man, strong and fair. I’d like to think he and Mr. Bodecker would’ve gotten on quite well,” you finally say, smiling kindly at them both in turn.

Lee’s lips curl into a smile while he finishes chewing, then sits back with a stretch. “You’re makin’ me sound like an old man,” he whines, “Call me Lee when I’m not on duty.”

“Yes sir,” you automatically reply. “Lee.”

His smile grows. “Say, Janey? Why don’t you go get that jug of wine up for us?”

She nods and gets up.

“Wine?” you ask, surprised.

“It’s nothin’ special, someone up the road makes it. Tastes better than that church wine, but don’t burn like the shine some other folks are brewin’ up.”

Jane comes back with three glasses and pours generously for you all, her own motions increasingly sloppy from her afternoon drinking.

You sip at it, the taste a little tart, but not as acidic and thank them for their generosity.

“Jane, you do something different with the seasoning tonight?”

“No,” she answers, then goes right back to her chat with you, you think about speaking up, but she goes back to leading the conversation. “So, you still thinking about becoming a working gal?”

“Not right away, but yes.”

“Oh?” Lee asks, “Something at the diner? I think the grocery is hiring?”

“Nuh uh,” her voice takes on a nasty tone, “Nothing like that for her. She went to secretary school.” The lilt in her voice makes it clear that she doesn’t care for that little fact. “Can you believe that? School just to learn to file a paper or take a message.”

“There’s more to it than that,” you quietly defend.

“Jane, what the hell do you know? You haven’t worked a day in your life?” Lee asks.

Jane rolls her eyes, body slumping a bit in her chair. “Well, whatever you do, just make sure you don’t go working at the Tecumsah.” She snorts into her glass as she takes a sip. “That’s where Lee’s sister works. I told you ‘bout her before.” She gives you a look. “That place is a den of sin, if you know what I am gettin’ at.”

“You’re are gonna spoil my appetite talkin’ like that,” he says. He drops his fork and you startle, his glare at his wife making clear this is another sore subject. 

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing,” she mutters. “I’m gettin’ tired of mending the buttons on your clothes.”

Your jaw nearly drops. You wring your napkin on your lap and scramble for something to change the subject and break the tension, “Jane, there are such lovely flowers planted right by the library, is there a gardening club around here that you haven’t told me about?”

She’s bored by the topic, but it does enough to distract her and send her on a tangent. You nod and hum while you pick at your food. Occasionally you glance to Lee at the side and find him looking at you appreciatively.

You keep turning the conversation away from yourself, getting her to talk about anything you can as she keeps refilling and sipping down more of her wine. 

You use the next lull in conversation to make your exit.

“This has been lovely, and I am so thankful for everything today, but we really oughtta get back home. I need to make sure Mrs. Martins gets her items from the pharmacist and I need to try to fix the old projector she’s given me.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Lee asks, leaning forward.

“No idea,” you laugh. “I was hoping to puzzle it together.”

“I can take a look for you,” he offers.

“If you have a moment,” you turn to Jane, “And you don’t mind sparing him.”

She scoffs and waves her fingers, “Nah, take Robert with you.”

He grunts in response while the kids leap up, excited for more time together. You do what you can to clean up and ease the load for Jane, but she’s getting more irritable by the minute, so you shuffle to the door to leave.

You head to the driveway where your car’s parked, waiting for him outside while the boys chase each other around the cars. He steps out the door, swinging his key ring on his fingers, looking at ease without the uniform on, but still strutting with an air of authority. It makes your stomach swoop.

“The Martins place? What road is that on again?” he asks jarring you out of your staring.

“Just follow me, Sheriff. I mean - Lee,” You nod as you get into the driver’s seat, Steven climbing in on the other side.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He mutters it loud enough that you hear him. The tilted, teasing grin on his face as he climbs into his own car almost makes you certain it was his intention.

When you get out, there’s a lump in your throat and the air suddenly feels heavy. Thankfully, the short walk up your drive is quiet, the sheriff walking leisurely next to you and laughing at the boys as they race each other down the sidewalk. 

“I gotta go in the back way,” you swallow thickly as you tell him while you open up the gate, “There’s a private staircase for us there.”

He nods and follows. 

When you enter the small apartment, you’re grateful that you don’t have much to fuss over and that it is tidy by default.

“Why don’t you boys go play with the Lincoln Logs or race cars? Nothing too loud right now,” you suggest and push them off toward the small room Steven occupies. “I got the parts all together right here, but I think something is missing.” You point to the box with the projector parts and reels.

“No problem,” Lee’s voice is quiet in your small space. He takes out the parts and starts to fit things together, checking a few switches here and there after a couple of minutes before patting the top of it with a, “There you go.”

You smile widely, “That’s it? Really?”

“That’s it, Sweets,” he matches your smile.

You suddenly hate the idea of him leaving so quickly, so you look around for something else.

“Coffee?”

He nods. “It’s like you read my mind,” there’s a glint in his eye as he gives you a generous once-over.

You feel a flush and quickly turn away to the kitchen.

Your hands tremble as you fill the kettle with water and scoop grounds into the press.

The boys break into a fit of giggles and before you can call after them, you feel the warm presence of Lee shuffle up behind you. His boots scuff against the floor as he stops, then seconds later his arms cage you in from behind, his palms resting against the edge of the countertop.

His breaths are deep, his nose just tickling along the neckline of your dress and you feel your back stiffen at the rush.

“You’re so lovely Sweets,” he whispers.

Your breath shakes as you suck it in. “S-sheriff,” you swallow thickly, “Lee? What’re you doing?”

“You’re beautiful, y’know.”

You remain still, unable to whisper anything but his name again.

“I see the way you look at me,” he presses a kiss to your skin that’s so gentle and tender but nearly makes your knees buckle. “Like you want somethin’.”

“I’m not - I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you weakly deny.

One arm leaves the counter to wrap around your middle, pulling you even closer to him while he steps right up behind you, the whole front of him up against your back. The movement makes you gasp and arch just slightly. You’re unable to catch yourself from rolling your head back to lean against him fully and feeling him grunt.

“You don’t need to make any excuses. You want me, dontcha?” he talks with his lips pressed right against your neck, heavy breaths tickling at your hairline.

God, do you want him. The sudden feeling of a warm, masculine body against you is something you didn’t realize you missed so much. For years it’s just been you and your boy and focusing on the day to day, not thinking about the way a strong arm feels pulled around you with fingers just tickling at your sensitive skin - until suddenly that’s exactly what is happening. And how you’ve missed it, your muscles nearly seize up with tension as you try to fight how good it feels.

It’s like trying to drag yourself from a dream, slow and muted as you try to make sense of everything at once; a sharp clarity punches through hard and fast.

“Your wife,” you reach down to cover his hand with your own, ready to try to pry him off.

“That fucking pig? I don’t love her, I don’t want her. She don’t want me either.”

“Don’t say that. You can’t say that,” you tell him and start to pull away, squirming away but getting nowhere since he doesn’t budge an inch. He allows you to spin around between himself and the countertop. “Lee? What is this? What’re you doing?”

It’s a stupid question. You know what this is. You can remember moments like these with your late husband, but Lee is not your husband. You know his wife. You just spent the evening with her in their home.

He doesn’t answer. Instead his free hand starts to skim up along your side until his thumb catches at the curve at the bottom your breast, then slides up so that he can rub his thumb back and forth over your dress, teasing at your hardened nipple.

It makes you whimper and nearly fold in half with how sensitive you feel.

“I’ll make you feel so good,” he coos, his lips parted and eyes tracking the movement of his thumb.

You lift your arms to his shoulders, uncertain yet if you’re planning to push him away or pull him close when you hear the quick footsteps of the boys.

Lee steps back to give you some distance and your hands flutter mid-air as you try to compose yourself.

The boys start to whine over each other-

“Momma. Robert keeps knocking over my building.”

“No, he keeps takin’ the blocks I’m using.”

Some kind of clarity forms and you rush out a solution for them, “Why don’t you get out your TinkerToys and split it all up? Alright? Go back to the other room,” you nudge them away.

Problem solved, they run back to the room, leaving you standing in the kitchen, Lee lingering just feet away and the half-finished coffee press on the counter.

“Jane must be expecting you home by now.”

He grunts and shakes his head ruefully, “She’s probably passed out by now.”

“Oh,” you nod. You search for something, anything to excuse yourself and catch your breath, “I need to go to the bathroom. Excuse me a moment.”

You slip out of the kitchen and into the door just down the hall. Taking a moment to relieve yourself then press a cool rag to your cheeks. You’d nursed the glass of wine Jane had poured, so you knew deep down you weren’t tipsy, you were just overrun by the feelings the sheriff gave you. Once you get your first full breath in minutes, you feel better, calmer and more controlled. You look at yourself in the mirror and decide - you just need to send him on home.

You barely crack open the bathroom door when it’s pushed open wide, Lee wedging in when it’s wide enough and nearly slamming it shut behind him.

“Don’t hide from me, Sweets,” is all he says before he’s got one arm around your middle again, and the other holding the back of your neck while he presses his lips against yours. After gasping in surprise, you instinctively return the kiss - your tongue and lips tentative against his dominating mouth. 

It’s strange - all of it so strange after so long. It’s been years since your last kiss and you feel clumsy, out of practice, but he doesn’t hesitate one bit, doesn’t seem turned off by your uncoordinated motions and hands that can’t keep still over his middle and shoulders.

He takes in a deep breath, pausing for just a second to position himself better, then he’s back on you, and you feel ready for him this time. One hand resting on his chest while the other hooks up around his neck, your fingers stroking through the soft, short hairs at the back of his head. He turns the both of you, pressing you against the vanity sink.

“Lee,” you whimper when he wedges a leg between yours.

“Shh, shh, sshh. I got you.”

His kisses are relentless and make you light-headed, gasping for breaths every time he slightly lets up. His hands push and pull, struggling against your dress and your undergarments until he’s freed one breast and can drop his head to suckle at your hard peak.

Your mouth falls open in a silent cry, mind painfully aware of the children in the room nearby. You crack open an eye to make sure the door is still closed and try to focus on the sounds the kids are making, but his tongue and lips are too distracting. He pulls as much of your breast into his mouth as he can, greedily swirling his tongue all over the sensitive bud, and pulling away with a loud pop.

You slap at his shoulder while he just looks up at you with a shit-eating grin.

“Feels good, right?” He places his hand to cup your breast, thumb flicking at your nipple. “Let me have you, I’ll make you feel so good, my sweet girl. Please?”

His own eyes close as he ruts up against you, his hard length pressing against your hip and sending a tremor through your body, practically shaking your bones. You don’t move though, your hands stay frozen where you hold onto him, but he continues to lead and coax you along.

One wide hand holds you at the back of your neck, just holding you in place. His mouth moves across your cheeks and at the hinge of your jaw. He whispers quiet promises of satisfaction, telling you how lovely you are and confirming every word with a kiss. His other hand leaves your breast after one final and quick pinch and grabs at the bottom of your dress. The fabric bunching in his fist as he gathers it until he can feel your thigh.

Then he teases you with just the tips of his fingers, sliding right up and over til he meets where your thighs meet. It tickles, makes you shake a little, and then you’re sucking in a hard gasp when he keeps going until he pets and presses over your sex with the pads of his fingertips.

“So wet,” he says on an exhale, pressing right where you feel your excitement leaking. “You want me too. It’s alright.”

To prove his point, he presses harder, flattening his hand until he’s cupping you and making your body jerk between him and the sink. You bend your knees to open your thighs wider with the touch, and he groans and presses hard against you again, the heel of his palm putting pressure to your throbbing clit. You struggle to not hook your leg right over his hip to let him in.

“Lee,” you start to beg, “Please. Oh my god, please.”

It’s so overwhelming you start to sob, the tears already prick at the corners of your eyes. Just being touched, feeling the warmth of him, and the words - it’s all that you remembered being with a man to be and more. His hand keeps a rhythm against you, driving you higher. You hadn’t had a man’s touch in years, but suddenly you need Lee like you need air.

“Please,” you say again. Your body tingles with electricity that has nowhere to go.

“So pretty. You’re so pretty, baby. I’m gonna take care of ya. Am I what you need?”

“Yes,” tears start to roll down your cheeks. He pulls back slightly until he can slip his fingers underneath your panties, gliding right through your arousal. You feel two of his fingers slide into you, and you squeeze around them instantly.

“Fuck,” he grunts. Your wetness drips down his fingers into his palm. He presses the heel of it against you again, right against your sensitive clit this time. “Come on my fingers, sweetness.”

He fucks you with his hand, his thick, solid fingers caressing you while he sends jolts of pleasure through you with pressure on your sensitive button. You squirm to get away, but the hand still at the back of your neck tightens and holds you down, making you take it.

“It’s alright,” he whispers, “It’s alright.”

And that’s it. You freeze for a moment as the pleasure peaks and then you’re trembling as the shocks of it rush through you in a blaze. You can hear the wetness drowning his fingers as he keeps pumping them into you while you clench over him repeatedly and sob as quietly as you can, which must not be very quiet because he starts to shush you and slow the movement of his hand, gently attempting to calm you down.

“You’re okay, s’alright baby, just breathe, c’mon,” you hear him coach, but all you can focus on is the thumping beat of your heart as it races and trying to catch your breath between sniffles, the tears falling freely down your cheeks.

His hand slides out from your panties to grab you steady at your waist, the hand from your neck moves so he can use his thumb to wipe away your tears. He presses his forehead to yours and tells you to breathe with him.

You blink your eyes open, eyelashes glittering with wetness and you take a minute to focus. Once things are clear, you tilt your head back to look at him. His cheeks are flushed, lips wet and rosy, and his eyes - they nearly glow as he looks you over. It’s something to see - awe, tenderness, pride all in the twitches of his lips as his lips turn up with a smile.

“Sweets, will you touch me?” he asks. For such a big man, his voice is suddenly so small.

“Lee, I can’t-I haven’t…” you struggle to find the words.

“It’s alright, that’s alright,” he assures you, circling your wrist with his fingers still sticky from your arousal, and guiding them to the bulge in his trousers. You flinch, but don’t pull away, your arm tenses, but goes with the motion. He presses your palm against the solid length, pushing down to give him some relief. His hips press against you in return and once he’s sure you aren't going anywhere, he lets go of your wrist, then starts to undo the belt and button in quick movements. He tugs the waistband of his trousers and boxers down together, just to release his cock.

You feel the fabric move under your palm, but keep pressing against him, your hand sliding just slightly out of remembered instinct. When the fabric of his boxers slides away and you’re met with the heat of his cock, you gasp. Your hand wraps around him, fingers circling around his shaft to hold him and pulling a strangled moan from him.

“Shit-fuck,” he hisses. “Won’t be long.” He wraps his hand over yours, pulling your fist up and down over him while he pumps his hips into it. Precome drips down from the slit, easing the glide. 

His eyes close and he presses his temple to yours, his face pulls up in concentration, focusing on the pleasure, “You’re so soft, so sweet,” he rasps, “Want you so bad, want you all to myself.”

You can imagine it, if you’re ready to be totally honest, you have imagined it.

“Kiss me?” you whisper.

His lips meet yours roughly for a long press, then he tilts his head and licks at the seam of your lips, making you open up to him. His hand and yours start to speed up, he keeps guiding you up and down, just the slightest twist at the head with each stroke.

The kiss turns sloppy, more sharing air and pecks than anything as he spirals with the pleasure you’re helping to give him.

“You’re gonna -you’re gonna make me-” with a pained expression, he nudges you away, his hand stroking frantically as he leans over your sink until he starts to come, streaks hitting the porcelain as he chokes down groans. You watch his neck and face go red, trying not to watch, but you can’t help yourself and catch the way his cock twitches with his release, all swollen and red. You don’t think you could possibly blush more, but still fire burns underneath your skin.

When he finishes coming, he reaches for you again, pulling you into another hard kiss. “God, darlin’. Fuck,” he whispers while he attempts to catch his breath. “Fuck. Haven’t been tugged off like that since I was a deputy.” He chuckles, the laugh coming out in hard puffs of air.

You struggle to look at anything in the bathroom, eyes straying back to Lee, to his softening cock, to the come dripping slowly in the sink basin. Just then you hear the boys start to giggle and reality hits you again, making your chest seize up in panic.

“Oh, Lee. No,” you raise a hand to your mouth and quickly rush out the door, piecing your wardrobe back together as you walk back into the kitchen. You hear the water run in the bathroom and murmuring as Lee talks to himself.

Your movement must have distracted the boys because they manage to sound like a stampede heading toward you. You wipe at your nose and eyes as best you can before you turn to see what they want.

Both the boys pause, but it’s your son that speaks up, knowing how you look when you cry. “Momma, you alright?”

Lee exits the bathroom then, shirt tucked back in, belt and trousers back in place - only the flush from the neck up giving anything away. His eyes bore into you with heavy emotion that you are ashamed that you can read so well - concern, sympathy, desire. A mixture that you remind yourself you don’t deserve.

“Yeah, baby. I am. You know I get sad sometimes, I’ll be fine. Are you boys ready to say goodbye for tonight? I think it’s well past your bedtime.”

You grab Steven and fuss with his hair, with his messy shirt, and then turn him around and hold him against you like a tiny human shield. “Say thank you to the sheriff for fixing the projector and for letting Robert play.”

“Thank you, sir,” your son dutifully responds.

Lee can see what you’re doing and he’s not happy with it, his mouth going flat and shoulders heaving as you pressure him into leaving.

He just nods, then nudges at Robert’s shoulder, “Say thank you for indulging us.”

“Thank you,” Robert quietly says.

You send Steven down the hallway to get ready for bed, and then you follow behind as they step toward the door, Robert too tired from a full day of play to put up a fight. Lee opens the door to the back steps, telling Robert to be careful going down. When the boy starts down a few, Lee turns back to you.

Before you can react, he’s giving you another kiss, quick but meaningful. “We’re not done,” he whispers. 

“We are. Go home, Lee.”

He gives you a long look before stomping down the steps. “Til next time, Sweets.”

...