#at least in mine where kids have like 17 other subjects i can see why they'd to the bare minimum for 3rd language
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With the language speaking poll, it varies from country (and state/county in the US)
In my area you're required 2 years of a language course
Most kids take it but do the bare minimum or just don't remember it. Usually you grow up knowing that language/being taught it young. Sometimes we learn jt in school and remember enough to keep taking to learn and remember. We usually offer use it or lose it languages, which most kids don't use it and then they lose it and then no one speaks other languages
Huh! That makes sense, actually, i feel like 2 years is not nearly enough to retain enough knowledge, and not even enough to learn a lot. I think when i started studying italian in 4th grade, we didn't even get to subjunctives by the time i was 8th grade, and subjunctives are a surprisingly common form. At least to the way I speak. And even among those who took the elective third language, i know a lot of folks who don't remember a thing about it, i'm assuming because even four years of a once-per-week class isn't enough for retention.
Well, it's sad, at least to me who is linguistically inclined. Quot linguas calles tot homines vales is something i take personally lololol but right! I guess it's the sort of inertion that happens to speakers of a lingua franca, there's no "need" to learn a foreign language, so even those who are talented for languages might never find out :/
Well, I hope thanks to globalisation, at least those who like foreign languages can find ways to learn even outside of formal schooling :>
#i think you'll notice easily that i'm a bit in love with foreign languages and really defend languages as a subject in school with my life#i once saw (a native eng speaker) call foreign language subjects joke classes and useless and i felt like maiming lmao#but i feel like i totally understand what you mean#it's one thing with english - it's a mandatory 2nd language from 1st to 12th grade in my country#which means that it's standardised and you're always learning more and more and more and thanks to media#you're bound to retain it. i even had it in preschool !#and a related digression but it also depends on the age you give students a foreign language - the older we get the harder it is to learn#a language. not impossible but just more difficult. i think a huge part of the reason why i'm fluent is because of the fact that i started#learning when i was 4 years old. the third language is an elective in most 4th-8th grade classes and kids get to choose#between italian and german usually (a friend of mine took french tho) and despite the fact that they're languages we do get exposed to#but i tell you most kids i know don't remember anything. depending on the high school you either get a mandatory 3rd language or a#mandatory 3rd and 4th. again italian and/or german. but those tortured souls in classic gymnasiums had latin and ancient greek </3#even from my hs class i don't know many folks who remember much italian. it's dependant on the kid's will to learn when there's not as much#time or focus on the class bc yknow. we took the same classes yet i'm quite comfortable majoring in a language my friends can barely#introduce themselves in. such is life. i'd love languages to be more focused on especially in these times of globalisation but well#i guess it'll just always be harder to implement a focus on anything non-english#bc it's considered one of the only useful language there's the inertion in anglo countries#and the unwillingness to bother in non-anglo countries#at least in mine where kids have like 17 other subjects i can see why they'd to the bare minimum for 3rd language#even i - linguistically inclined as i am - passed on the opportunity to take french in hs because i just had enough on my plate#asks
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TMAGP EP 17 REACTION (SPOILERS)
CELIA GIRL WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND WAKING UP ON VEHICULAR ROADWAYS
So she woke up in Oxford that's what I'm hearing. Does girlie go dimension hopping in her sleep but wake up in random places bc of it???
The way Celia said "absolutely" just gave me butterflies also Sam MOVE Alice is right you're like a baby foal now let me show you have to rizz up a milf-
Celia girl what is GOING ON
MAGNUS STATEMENT???? HEY HEY NOW WHAT THE FUCK. WHO HAS THE FILES WITH ALL THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE EXPERIMENTED PEOPLE. I DONT HAVE IT BUT MAYBE WE COULD MATCH THE SUBJECT NUMBER TO A NAME
it is kinda concerning to me that after Celia talks to Sam that we get a MAGNUS statement
BIG SOFT LOOKING GUY WHO STUMBLED OVER EVERY WORD???? BOOKISH LOOKING GUY WITH SERIOUS MILES???? WAIT NO WHAT THE FUCK WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS. JONMARTIN???? IS THAT YOU????
Going away for a while???? Lonely-coded lmao and also me-coded
Magnus Institute Outreach Centre??? What the fuck??? They're like. Pretending to be a help center or like. A real institute???
Harcourt House? Sounds like a rich manor or something. A friend of Lady Mowbray's perhaps?
THE OTHER MYSELF???? IM SORRY WHAT THE FUCK NOW????
Meeting a successful version of yourself GONE WRONG
Oh my God wait WAIT IS THIS GUY'S OTHER VERSION FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE??? IS THAT WHY DETAILS ARENT LINING UP FOR THEM????
Holy shit. Holy shit what the fuck. What the FUCK. Oh my God. So this is. This guy is literally just a fucked up person. Like. Dear God.
Oh my God it's his dad. Okay well. If the dad was a shitty person...I mean I don't condone it but I can see why that might have happened?
"Your world and mine are pretty similar" What does that mean????
This kind of reminds me of the statement in TMA season 4 where that woman keeps killing people because she's a good person and donates to charity and can make a difference and deserves to live. I wonder if this was the way she thought in the beginning. Although, she was killing innocent people. This guy killed a sadistic murderer.
OH MY GOD CELIA DEFINITELY REPLACED THIS UNIVERSE CELIA. HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. OKAY I DONT KNOW IF SHE KILLED HER BUT SHE DID SOMETHING TO REPLACE THIS WORLD'S CELIA.
This...Kinda also parallel's Not Sasha replacing Sasha and no one knowing it. It's just that Celia isn't actively trying to harm people. At least she seems to feel guilty for replacing this universe Celia??
JMJ ERROR AGAIN?? but I thought we just found our in universe jmart as well.
Gwen's a tech girlie???? Also Dyhard shippers are being fed this ep lol
Ethernet PROTOCOLS??? Lmao I'm kidding I'm kidding
OH DYHARD SHIPPERS ARE REALLY BEING FED HUH MY GOD SKDHAOJFDB
I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO SAY. SO WE MIGHT HAVE AN IN UNIVERSE JONMARTIN. AND THEN CELIA MAY HAVE MURDERED THE IN UNIVERSE VERSION OF HERSELF TO REPLACE HER. GIRL WHAT THE FUCK. I really hope she didn't murder her but maybe it's like...possession? Body sharing???
Also I realized that the possible jonmartin sighting is from another universe not the one that we're in. But that's so funny to me because in SOME universe, Jon had to go to COURT MANDATED THERAPY
So from what I understand, this guy is from a third universe, not the TMA or TMAGP universe, and he managed to stumble into the TMAGP universe. I'm saying this bc I hope that in some other universe, jonmartin have a chance.
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So Long Version 2 Chapter 3
Word Count: 3.6k
A/N: A little bit of a shorter one this time. This is the first thing I wrote for this story. Here's the day Jenna turned 16. Enjoy!
Series Masterlist
Ages 16 and 17 June 25, 1996
I woke up, not exactly expecting to feel different, but maybe hoping. Today I would find out who my soulmate was. At least, I’d get a first name. Even though I knew it was stupid to get my hopes up, I couldn’t help but secretly want it to be Dean’s name. I was also nervous. Did I really want to know? If it wasn’t Dean, how would I deal with the disappointment? But if it was Dean, how could I possibly approach a subject like that? And even then, it wouldn’t mean it was Dean Winchester I was meant to be with. There were other Deans in the world. And wouldn’t he have said something by now if my name was tattooed on him somewhere?
Taking a deep breath, I looked over all of the skin currently exposed by my pajamas. Nothing on my arms or legs from the knees down. I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 9:30. I couldn’t believe I’d slept that long, that my dad had let me!
I jumped out of bed, grabbing my towel and clothes for the day, heading straight for the shower. I’d made one friend in this small Louisiana town, a very outgoing girl I’d bumped into while getting groceries with Sam and Dean. She’d been excited to meet someone new, saying all of her friends were on vacation for the summer, and she and I were supposed to meet up soon to spend the day together.
I started the shower to let the temperature adjust and then started the process of removing my clothes, checking each inch of revealed skin for a name. Nothing yet, then. Supposedly, the name showed up around the time of day you were born. I had no idea what time that was, so I would let Alyssa distract me for the day and check again tonight.
When I came out of the bathroom wearing shorts and a t-shirt with my hair in a ponytail to combat some of the summer heat, my dad, Ben, was just closing the door, chocolate chip muffins, my favorite breakfast food, in his hand.
“Happy birthday,” he smiled. “How does it feel to be 16?” He asked this question every year, but this was the big year, and it held a little more weight behind it.
“It feels… pretty much the same as every other year I guess,” I told him honestly. Other than my nerves being slightly on edge with the upcoming soulmate reveal, it felt like any other day. “What are you still doing here? I thought you and John would’ve left by now.”
“That was the original plan, but I couldn’t leave without seeing my daughter on her birthday. I wanted to have the chance to eat breakfast together. The case can wait a couple hours,” he told me, sitting down at the table.
“Where are those two shadows of yours?” He teased as I took a seat across from him and grabbed a muffin. I knew he wouldn’t ask about my tattoo. He didn’t like people prying into his life and he didn’t pry into mine. He knew I’d tell him if I wanted to.
“I have no idea,” I replied as I peeled the wrapper off my muffin. “I haven’t seen either of them, but I just got up. Thanks for letting me sleep in by the way.”
“I figured one day can’t hurt. But don’t think you can go slacking off. It’s back to morning runs and training after this,” he said before taking a bite of his own muffin. “I still don’t understand why those boys aren’t here. You three make such a big deal out of each other’s birthdays, I half expected them to break down the door,” he mused.
“Maybe they forgot. And we don’t make ‘such a big deal’. One present and a movie night isn’t too much to ask. Besides, it’s mostly Sam. Dean always made a big deal about his birthdays growing up and so Sam learned to do the same for us,” I told him.
“Yeah but a bunch of kids scrounging up enough money to get those presents for each other is a big deal,” he said with a fond smile. Taking the last bite of his muffin, he stood and grabbed something off of the counter. “Speaking of presents,” he said as he handed it to me.
“Dad, you didn’t have to,” I told him as I grabbed it.
“I know I didn’t, but it’s not every day your baby girl turns 16. It’s not much, but I thought you would enjoy it,” he replied a little awkwardly.
I grinned and wrapped my arms around him, Backstreet Boys CD clutched in my hand. I had found them on accident really. It was all Alyssa’s fault. I generally enjoyed the same music as Dean, but she had showed me one of their songs and I couldn’t get it out of my head. Dad had heard me humming it one day which led to an embarrassing confession.
“Don’t tell Dean,” I pleaded, knowing the endless teasing and likely judgment I would be on the receiving end of if he found out. “Oh, I wouldn’t dare,” Dad laughed, pulling away from the hug.
“I should probably go find him though,” I said, glancing at the clock. “I’m supposed to meet Alyssa soon and he said he’d drive me.”
“Have fun!” I heard him shout as I left our motel room. I saw the Impala parked by the room next door, so I knew he was here at least. Since Dean has legally been able to drive, John gave it to Dean and the two of them take either my dad’s truck or the one John had purchased after gifting Dean the Impala. As I raised my hand to knock, the door flew open.
“Oh!” John said, startled. “I was just going to tell your dad we need to get going. I’m glad you’re up.” Then he was in the motel room I’d just abandoned, not waiting for my response.
“Hi to you too.” I mumbled under my breath as I walked through the door John had left open to see Dean sprawled out on the couch. He turned to me when I closed the door and grinned.
“Hey, there’s the birthday girl!” He exclaimed, prompting Sam to run out of the bathroom, dressed and looking fresh from the shower, toothbrush in his mouth.
“Jenna! You’re here! I wanted to go to your room a while ago, but Dean told me to let you sleep. Were you sleeping?” Before I could answer him, he rushed on. “He told me you’re going to spend the day with your friend, but we’re still going to have our movie night, right? We have to have our movie night. It’s our tradition!”
“Breathe, Sam." I chuckled. “Of course we’re having movie night. It wouldn’t be a birthday without it. Now how about you go finish brushing your teeth before you start drooling on the floor.” Content with my answer, he hurried back to the bathroom, hand cupped under his chin where toothpaste bubbles were trying to drip down.
“So,” Dean drawled, getting up off the couch. “The big 16. How’s it feel?” He walked over to stand next to me and, not for the first time, I was struck with how effortlessly gorgeous he was. His hair was tousled and still slightly damp from the shower he must have taken this morning. He wore his usual jeans, t-shirt, flannel, and boots, the amulet Sam had given him hanging around his neck, but somehow, he was the most attractive guy I had ever seen. I knew it wasn’t a biased opinion, every girl in every school always drooled after him.
“I assume it feels the same as you felt a year ago.” I replied once my brain started functioning again. “You still good to take me to meet Alyssa?” I asked.
“Sweetheart, have I ever bailed on you?” He asked, mock offended.
“Well…” I trailed off, remembering the handful of times Sam and I had been left to fend for ourselves while he was off with a girl. When I saw him looking at me expectantly, I sighed. “Not when it really counted, no.” I relented.
“Did you ask her yet?” Sam questioned, reappearing from the bathroom and heading for Dean. Dean sighed and looked at me. “Is it ok with you if Sam comes with to drop you off? I don’t know why he’s even asking. I know you don’t care, but he wouldn’t leave me alone about it this morning.”
“That’s not true!” Sam denied. “He told me I could come if you said yes, and I know you usually don’t care, but since you’re 16 today I thought you might want to talk.” He stated matter-of-factly.
“Talk about what?” I asked, brow wrinkled in confusion. There’s not much Dean and I didn’t talk about in front of the kid. I don’t know why he thought there was suddenly a need for privacy or what being 16 had to do with it. “About-” he started, but then cut himself off. “I don’t know.” He continued, head down and shuffling his feet. “Just… being 16?”
I looked to Dean, hoping for some kind of explanation, but he just shrugged his shoulders, although he seemed a little annoyed. I wasn’t in the mood to press the issue though.
“Ok…. Well I don’t have any super-secret conversations that need to be had with your brother, so if you want to come along, that’s fine.” I assured Sam.
“Good! When are we leaving?” He asked excitedly.
“If Dean’s ready, then right now would be good.” I replied, looking to Dean. He answered by shrugging on his leather jacket, plucking the keys off the table and holding the door open for me.
With everyone piled in the car, Dean started toward the mall where I was supposed to meet Alyssa. It was a typical car ride, Sam chattering away in the back, and Dean humming along to Led Zeppelin. I told Dean where to park. Alyssa wasn’t there yet, but I was content to sit and wait with the boys.
“I thought we might have to wait until tonight to give this to you, but I’m glad we don’t have to.” Sam said excitedly, pulling a box out of his jacket pocket. “It was my idea to get this kind of present for you, but Dean helped me pick it out.” He looked to his brother with a proud smile before handing the box to me.
I was a little nervous to open it. Sam was so excited that I really wanted to like whatever it was. Although he’d never say anything, I could tell Dean was a little nervous too by the way he tensed his shoulders and bit his lip. I carefully opened the box and gasped.
Inside was a bracelet made from ribbons of silk. It was twisted around so that it looked like four different strands. The top and bottom of each ribbon was an olive green while the middle was mulberry. One of the ribbons wrapped through a gold button that was used to adjust the size. I couldn’t believe something so beautiful was for me.
“I love it!” I told them as I took it out of the box to place on my left wrist. I noticed Dean’s quiet, relieved exhale and turned to hug him. “Thank you.” I whispered. He wrapped his arms around me before mumbling a quiet “You’re welcome,” into my hair.
“And thank you too!” I said, pulling away from Dean to face a fidgety, giddy looking Sam in the back. He flung his upper body over the seat to get a hug of his own. “You’re gonna have a pretty hard time topping this one.” I informed him as I sat back. Sam just grinned.
“My friend at the last school had a bracelet that she wore all the time and I asked her if that was a good idea for a 16th birthday present for you,” he explained. “She said if you like jewelry it was a good idea, and I know you like Dean's amulet, so I told him about my idea and he said we’d keep an eye out for anything you might like. There was a lot of stuff I thought you would like, but Dean kept saying they weren’t right.” I glanced at Dean and saw a slight blush gracing his freckled cheeks.
“He liked that one as soon as he saw it. I didn’t know why you’d like it any better than any of the ones I pointed out, but I know you guys know each other really well so I just told him to make sure you knew getting a bracelet was my idea,” he finished, slightly out of breath.
Before I could say anything to assure Sam I appreciated his efforts and relieve Dean of his embarrassment, there was a knock on my window. Startled, I jumped a little before facing the window where Alyssa stood waiting. Turning to look at the boys, I thanked them again for the amazing present and then opened the door to get out of the car and say hi to her. As I was closing the door, I heard Dean say my name.
“Just a second.” I said to Alyssa before opening the door again and sticking my head in. “What’s up?” I asked.
“I was just wondering when and where I should be picking you up,” he replied. “Oh, right. I didn’t even think about that.” I said, turning to Alyssa to figure out the details. “Clearly.” He teased. I looked back at him, sarcastic comment at the ready, but I saw the twinkle in his eye and knew he was just joking. I shushed him and closed the door, turning to once again face Alyssa.
“I can drive you back, it’s no problem,” she assured me.
“Are you sure? Dean doesn’t have anything else he needs to be doing, and I know he likes to do it anyway. He’s a bit protective like that. The first time we dropped Sam off at a friend’s I thought he was going to sit outside the house the whole time.” I told her, smiling at the memory.
“It’s really no problem. I don’t have any definite plans for the day so I wouldn’t know what to tell him anyway,” she said.
“Ok…” I trailed off, giving her one last chance to change her mind. She gave me a look, clearly stating that she wouldn’t so I passed the information on to Dean.
“You don’t even have a guess about when you’ll be done?” He asked. I knew he liked to have a timeline so if someone wasn’t back when they were expected he would know something was wrong. If he didn’t have any schedule to follow, he’d spend the whole time worrying, unsure if something had happened or we just weren’t done yet.
“Well I have to be back in time for movie night,” I reminded him with a wink in Sam’s direction, “so I won’t be gone any later than… say 8:30? That should give us time to watch a couple of movies before Sam passes out.”
“Yeah, ok.” Dean relented, slightly less on edge. “Have fun,” he smiled. I closed the door and watched them drive off.
“Are you ready to do some shopping?” Alyssa asked with a grin.
~~~~~
“You have to have a swimsuit!” Alyssa insisted as we walked by racks of them at Kohl’s.
“Not if you never go swimming, you don’t.” I countered.
“But what if you do go swimming? What are you going to wear then?” She argued.
“I don’t know. I’m sure if the opportunity came up, I’d just go buy one.” I told her.
“Then why not buy one now?” She asked.
“Because,” I sighed. “We move around a lot. We’re not exactly hitting up five-star hotels with pools or renting homes that have one. I think the last time I went swimming was when I was 12 and the house we were renting had a pond.”
“Ok, well I have a pool, it’s the middle of summer in Louisiana, and I might invite you over to swim sometime. Besides, I’m buying so you can’t really argue that much.” She said, flipping her strawberry blonde hair as she turned and pulled me towards the swimwear.
“That’s a nice bracelet,” she commented, looking at my wrist where I was half-heartedly searching through a rack of one-piece swimsuits.
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Sam and Dean gave it to me for my birthday.”
“It’s pretty. I didn’t think boys were any good at finding decent jewelry.” She said as she moved on to the next rack. She didn’t like the one-pieces anyway and had only been humoring me, ironic since I was only humoring her about the swimsuits in general.
“I swear Dean has some sort of sixth sense for what people will like. Well,” I corrected, “not people. But me and Sam.”
“This one! You have to try this one!” Alyssa said excitedly, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked to where she was holding a white and blue two-piece. “I know you didn’t want a two-piece, but this isn’t a bikini. It doesn’t show much more than a one-piece would.” Seeing my hesitation, she continued. “Just try it on. If you hate it, we’ll put it back.”
“Yes!” She cheered, seeing my resignation. She handed the suit to me and led the way to the changing rooms.
It was definitely a nice-looking suit, I’d give her that much. The top piece was thick enough all the way through that there was no danger of anything showing. It had a clasp in the back and three strings to tie around my neck, two white and one robin’s egg blue. The bottom piece started like a normal bikini bottom, but thicker. Above the hips it cut in to cover only the front of my torso, leaving my back and sides exposed, and went up to the bottom of my ribs. There were three strings encircling my back, keeping the material up. It was decorated with flowers in shades of blue, and as much as I liked it – although I’d never admit it to Alyssa – I didn’t think I would be comfortable wearing it in public.
“Are you ready yet?” I heard her ask through the door.
“Kind of. I have it on, but I don’t know if I want to come out,” I admitted.
“Come on, you can’t look that bad,” she said.
“It’s not that.” I told her. “I’m just not comfortable showing this much skin. I live in jeans, you know. The only reason I’m wearing shorts is because I might actually die from this heat.”
“Just come out. No one’s going to see you. I promise there’s no one else around,” she encouraged.
I sighed before opening the door and peering my head around. I was met with an unimpressed look. “Alright, I’m coming.” I relented. I stepped out of the changing stall and was greeted with a wolf whistle from Alyssa. “Cut it out!” I blushed.
“Why? You look great!” she exclaimed. “As much as I like that bracelet, it really doesn’t match the-” she cut off.
“What?” I asked nervously.
“Umm… did you find your tattoo yet?”
I was a little shocked. It was an awfully personal question to be asking someone you’d only known for a couple of weeks. “No. Why?” I asked a little defensively. She nodded toward my left side where my hand was hanging by my hip. I impulsively lifted it to my face, scanning for the name.
“Not your hand," she said.
I slowly looked down to my left side just above my hip where, just as she said, I could see the top of thick black letters peeking over the swimsuit.
~~~~~
“Alright, what’s wrong?” Dean asked, pausing the movie. We were halfway through our second movie of the night, Mission Impossible, and while I was enjoying it, I couldn’t seem to sit still. I was sat between the two boys, Dean’s arm resting on the back of the couch behind my head, our usual seating situation on movie nights. Sam was slouched over, starting to drift off. He could never seem to stay awake for more than one movie.
“What? Nothing’s wrong. Why do you think something’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Well, you haven’t sat still for more than five minutes at a time and I can see the wheels spinning in your head. You know you can talk to me about anything right?” He sounded genuinely concerned.
“I know,” I sighed.
“Nothing happened, right? You’ve seemed a little off since you got back.” He pushed, not for the information he knew I wasn’t ready to give, but for assurance that I was alright.
“I’m fine,” I told him honestly. “It’s just… I found my tattoo while we were trying on clothes. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, figure out how I feel,” I confessed.
“Oh.” Was his only response. I could tell he wanted to press for more information, but he stayed quiet.
~~~~~
“I can’t look at it. I don’t want to know what it says. What do I do?” I asked. My breath was coming faster and I was starting to panic.
“Hey. Hey! Jenna! Look at me. Deep breath.” Alyssa calmly instructed, demonstrating and breathing with me until my breathing was back to normal. “You’re going to have to see it sometime. It’s unavoidable. Right now, it doesn’t change anything. It just gives you a name. You can do whatever you want with that name once you have it. It doesn’t decide anything for you.”
I knew she was right and steeled myself to look at it, Alyssa waiting patiently. Carefully, I pushed the swimsuit strap down just enough to reveal the name underneath.
DEAN
Chapter 4
#supernatural#fanfiction#dean winchester#sam winchester#original female character#original characters#soulmates#soulmate au#dean winchester x ofc#dean winchester x soulmate!ofc#so long v2
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Another chapter of LK! Also I started making a comic for this, on a suggestion from a friend, so hopefully I'll be getting the first few pages of that out as well.
Linked Keys - Chapter 3
Wild was abruptly awoken in the middle of the night by a nightmare. He tended to have a lot of those. It had gotten better recently, at least to the point where he got the occasional good night's sleep, but there were still many nights where bad dreams kept him awake. Usually, they were the same thing: memories resurfacing of how he failed his friends during the Calamity. He couldn't remember most of the first 17 years of his life, yet the one thing he couldn't forget was the death and destruction that came in the wake of Calamity Ganon's rising.
"You okay?" Wild heard Warriors ask, seeing him sitting up, breathing heavily as he tried to remind himself that it had been just a dream.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah I'm... I'm fine." Wild told him.
"You sure?" Warriors asked.
"If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine." Wild argued. Warriors was taken aback by Wild's snappy response, but backed off.
"Hey, why don't you let me take over for ya. Get some sleep. I'm already awake anyway, I can keep watch." Wild stood up and approached the spot where Warriors was standing. Warriors shrugged,
"Sure, why not? I could use a little shut-eye." The two knights switched places, Wild began pacing around the camp, and Warriors went to sleep by the fire.
The fire was nearly out, and a slight chill ran through the air, but Wild didn't mind. He was familiar with this. If he stared at the surrounding landscape, the field on one side of the path, the trees where the group was camped, and the river running nearby... He could almost pretend he was back home. But seeing the other "Links" all asleep around the fire kind of ruined the illusion. Wild never thought of himself as the type to be homesick, but he was lying to himself if he thought he didn't wish he was at least back in familiar territory.
Someone put their hand on his shoulder suddenly, making him jump. Wild turned around sharply only to find Twilight standing there behind him.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." The ranch hand apologized, "Couldn't sleep?"
"Nope." Wild sighed.
"Bad dreams?" Twilight asked. Wild didn't respond.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But I know you, pup. And you're not the only one who has some weird dreams." Twilight laughed nervously.
"So... The wolf. That was you the whole time?" Wild asked. Twilight nodded.
"Not quite sure how I ended up in your Hyrule, but when I saw you, I just felt like I needed to help you."
"I would have been fine on my own, you know." Wild said defensively, before adding quietly, "Though I did appreciate the company..."
"You were capable enough to handle yourself in battle for sure, even if your methods were sometimes... Questionable. But you seemed lonely too. And it just didn't feel right to leave you all alone without a memory to your name. Especially when a friend of mine kind of went through the same thing a while back." Twilight said. Wild could tell the conversation was turning to a touchy subject, so he decided to change the topic.
"That ability you have, turning into a wolf... I've never seen that before. How did you get that?" He asked.
"That's kind of a long story. But basically, it happened whenever I entered the Twilight realm. That's, I guess, where the nickname 'Twilight' comes from. The kid must have known about that whole ordeal. But eventually I gained control over my transformations, and I've been able to use that to my advantage ever since. Being a wolf comes with its perks: I can sniff out just about anything, and admittedly my howling sounds much better than my singing. But usually I like to stick to this form."
"Huh. Cool. Honestly I just thought it was something you had and I was getting a little jealous that I didn't have anything like that." Wild laughed.
"You probably do, actually. You just haven't seen it because you've never seen the Twilight Realm. Time and I both had wolf forms."
"You knew Time, too?!" Wild asked.
"Well, at least I think it was him. It's kind of like with Future and the rest of us, I only knew him as sort of a ghost. But yeah, he sometimes appeared to me as a golden wolf."
"Just outta curiosity, exactly how many other 'Links' have you met? Because so far, aside from Future at least, you seem to have met the most—"
"Hold that thought. Did you hear that?" Twilight interrupted. Wild tried to listen. He did in fact hear some kind of strange noise, like bones clattering together. The all-too-familiar sound of some kind of skeleton monster approaching.
"Monsters." He said. Twilight nodded.
"Probably more of those controlled by the sorcerer. Nihrie, I think the rabbit called him?"
"Well we can't just sit around and wait for an ambush. If they show up, they could hurt the others before we can take them out."
"Exactly. We need to find them before they get here. I'll scout around. You keep watch here just in case." Twilight said, reaching for some object hanging around his neck before morphing into the black wolf with white markings that Wild knew as his companion. The wolf walked away, nose in the air as he sniffed for any sign of monsters. Wild kept watch as he was asked, making sure nothing could get the jump on him or the others while Twilight was gone.
About a minute later, he heard Twilight let out a howl, indicating that he had found a monster. Wild followed the sound until he spotted his wolf friend, and the pair of skeleton monsters he was facing. Wild had seen stal monsters before; they always came out at night back home, especially during the Calamity when Ganon's power was greatest, powering up the monsters. But he'd never seen any that looked like human skeletons. Regardless, they had swords and shields, they looked ready for a fight, and they had the glowing green mark on their foreheads like the other monsters. Taking on two unfamiliar enemies was a challenge, but nothing Wild couldn't handle. In fact, this would probably be easy for the Hylian Champion, especially with Wolfie on his side.
"I'll take this one out first. Can you distract the other one so they don't gang up on me? Not saying I can't handle two at once, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to." Wild asked. The wolf nodded and turned his attention to the one on the right, while Wild moved towards the left.
He and the skeleton circled each other for a minute, shields out. They seemed to move like any old soldier wielding a sword and shield, from Wild's observation. They'd keep their guard up until just after they strike, leaving an opening for Wild to strike back. It only took about two hits— one to the body and one to the head, like the stal monsters Wild was familiar with— before the monster dissolved into a pile of bones and dark energy. Wild turned his attention to the second one, but Wolfie had apparently taken that one down himself already.
"Heh. Thanks." He chuckled. Twilight morphed back into his Hylian form.
"You didn't think I was just going to be a distraction, were you? I'm not the type to just bait the enemy while someone else beats them. You know this." Twilight said.
"Yeah, I figured. Still appreciate it though. By the way, what were those things?"
"Stalfos. You've never seen one before? That surprises me, since you seem to have a lot of weird enemies in your Hyrule already."
"I guess not. I mean there are definitely stal monsters, but they're all the skeletons of bokoblins, moblins, lizalfos, and sometimes hinoxes. Nothing that looked even remotely human like that."
"Huh. Interesting. Well, now you've seen one. They're tough the first time you see one, but eventually they just become annoying."
"Isn't that just every monster, honestly?" Wild laughed. Twilight let out a small chuckle,
"You're not wrong." He shrugged, "Come on, let's head back. Gotta make sure the camp is still okay. We've been so focused on those two stalfos, that something else could have got the others and we never would have known." Wild nodded in agreement, and the two made their way back to camp. Luckily, the area was still safe and the other Links were all sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the battle that had just gone down between the wolf, the wild child, and the two stalfos.
The two spent the rest of the night on guard together. Things were peaceful for the most part, save for a couple of Keese and a single, very lost bokoblin, so Wild and Twilight had a lot of time to discuss their adventures and where they overlapped. They laughed about all the stupid stuff Wild did while under Twilight's "supervision", and how he has not changed in the slightest.
Twilight still seemed hesitant to talk about anything relating to Wild's missing memories, but Wild didn't really want to talk about that either. It frustrated him that he couldn't remember much from his childhood, but there wasn't much anyone else could do at this point. Just like the nightmares. Wild finally opening up to other people helped sometimes, but it seemed it was still something he would have to deal with, and get over, on his own. Thanks to Twilight, though, Wild had completely forgotten about the nightmare he'd had, and wasn't left alone with his own thoughts.
Eventually a light pink glow appeared on the horizon. The sky began to lighten up as the sun rose to end the long night. Time was the first to wake up; living on the ranch his wife's family owned, he was woken up by the cuccos enough that early mornings just became part of his internal sleep schedule... Not to mention their young son always waking up at odd hours.
"Morning, Time." Twilight waved. Time waved back, half asleep. He looked around, confused, knowing someone was missing from the group.
"Wild went to get some food to cook for breakfast." Twilight explained.
"Ah. That boy really seems to like cooking, doesn't he?"
"Oh, he loves food. He's pretty good at cooking, too, though sometimes getting ingredients can be a little..." Twilight started to say before a scream cut through the air, followed by the squawking of what sounded like a lot of angry birds. Wild was sprinting towards camp with an armful of eggs, chased by a large flock of birds.
"This may have been a bad idea!!!" He cried out.
"Yeah. That." Twilight finished.
"Oh, for Hylia's sake..." Time sighed.
Minutes later, the camp was filled with the smell of bird meat and eggs being cooked. Several of the other Links had woken up by this point and heard about the bird fiasco. Despite the delicious food that was made from the last-minute addition of the bird meat, all seemed to be in favor of not letting Wild go off unsupervised again.
It took a while to get Future to wake up, as the kid could evidently sleep through just about anything, but eventually he joined the rest just in time for the last serving of food before the group all packed up their things and got ready to set out on the trail of the sorcerer Nihrie.
"I feel like we should head back into town and see if anyone knows more about him. That was the last place any of us ran into him, so someone must have seen him." Warriors suggested.
"Yeah, why don't we start there? We can stock up on supplies too. I'm almost out of potions, and with a bigger group, I feel like we might need more healing items..." Hyrule agreed.
"I can get some better ingredients, too. That way we won't have to only rely on what we can find in the wild." Wild agreed.
"I'll go with you to make sure you stay out of trouble." Time nodded.
"Wait, you're really not letting me go by myself?! I thought you were joking!" Wild complained.
"Nope. You cannot be trusted on your own." Time shook his head.
"If it makes you feel any better, Wind and my brothers are all just as bad." Vio whispered to Wild.
"I am not!" Wind started to argue.
"We are not!" Green, Red, and Blue shouted at the same time.
"You guys just don't think I can be left alone because I'm the youngest!" Wind continued.
"No, we don't think you can be left alone because you tried to eat a bug yesterday after Blue dared you to." Legend said. Wind looked like he wanted to argue, but said nothing.
"That's what I thought. Come on, let's go. We need to figure out where this guy went if we have any hope of catching up." Warriors said.
"And getting me back to normal, right?!" Legend asked.
"I dunno... You're kinda cute as a bunny. You're all pink and fluffy!" Wind teased.
"Kid, I swear I will kick your butt if you make fun of me again." Legend threatened.
"Guys, please. Enough!" Time interrupted.
"Right. Legend, make yourself useful and either watch over one of the two troublemakers, or go talk to some people and try to find out where Nihrie went." Warriors ordered.
"Nobody's gonna want to talk to a rabbit!" Legend argued.
"Then go with Wind, and let the rest of us do the talking."
"Fine!" Legend grumbled.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Wild grumbled.
"Yeah, well someone lured an angry flock of birds to camp this morning, which woke most of the others up." Time replied.
"Touché." Wild grumbled. The two of them made their way towards the center of town, while the rest branched off in various other directions.
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❄️twst oc: allen snowhill ❄️
IT'S HIM. ANNA-KUN IS HERE.
tbh i really wanted to make an oc based on anna because younger me found anna extremely relatable (i still do actually) and i guess you could call her "a comfort character" of mine? not only because HAHA SHE'S CUTE AND QUIRKY but like, because of some other character traits. omg what if i kin her
i will add more info about him in the future!
name: allen snowhill (アレン ・ スノーヒル) (i chose "allen" as his first name simply because of it being kind of similar to "anna" and his last name is just a combination of words "snow" and "hill")
age: 17 y/o
gender: male
species: human
birth date: june 25
zodiac sign: cancer
height: 190 cm (i know he doesn't look that tall but trust me, he IS tall. he's 10 cm taller than merrill. i'm sorry, merrill)
hair color: i. i actually don't know how to describe his hair color, it looks more pink because of overlay, but i originally wanted it to be more brown? color name websites tell me that his hair is rose gold, so.. i guess that's it?
eye color: light blue
homeland: shaftlands (same homeland as vance!)
family: father and mother, he's an only child.
school: royal sword academy
dorm: i am once again asking for at least some kind of rsa lore
school year: second
occupation: student
club: literature club (oh, you thought that it's "just vance"? NO IT'S JUST ALLEN)
best subject: music
dominant hand: left
favorite food: chocolate chip cookies
least favorite food: anything too salty
hobby: theater (especially musicals) (WE GOT ANOTHER THEATER KID), taking care of animals
talent: writing fanfiction (what if he has a wattpad acc. what would you call wattpad in twst world)
unique magic: "the next right step" thanks to his unique magic, allen can easily walk somewhere where he just.. isn't supposed to walk. he can walk through locked doors, walk on walls and ceiling, walk through fire, WALK ON WATER, you name it. however, he has a time limit and he can use his magic only for a certain period of time before he overblots.
dislikes: people that are "too logical"
personality: allen is a cheerful and energetic boy, who is always smiling. he's very sociable and talkative and he's always glad to meet new people and make new friends. he's also very romantic, dreaming about meeting his true love and he gets crushes very easily. in fact, he has a crush on merrill and he sneaks into nrc just to see him! it's not really true love, just a "celebrity crush", though allen likes to think otherwise. allen is adorable and he's a genuinely nice boy, but.. there are times when he gets kinda scary and intense. allen truly doesn't know when he's doing something wrong, for example, he can steal someone's stuff and go "oh, i didn't know i wasn't supposed to do that!" most people think he's just pretending and he isn't actually that dumb. allen is also ready to go very far to get his crush to notice him. and by "very far" i mean "VERY far". he tends to get just a little bit obsessive over people who he has a crush on and he gets jealous easily. great, we have avery as a tsundere boy and allen as a yandere boy however, he stops once his crush tells him that it's making them uncomfortable. also allen may be a little clumsy and awkward around his crush, but he's just!! so happy to see them!!
notable relationships:
allen mentioned once that he had a very close friend when he was younger, but their friendship had to end. allen claims that he doesn't regret ending that friendship, but you can see sadness in his eyes when he says it.
allen has a huge crush on merrill and idolizes him and is often seen wandering around nrc just to see merrill. merrill, however, finds allen annoying and also dangerous, because the boy knows his true identity and that merrill's secret acc belongs to him.
fun facts:
allen has some white in his hair, just like anna. when people ask why his hair is like that, he jokes about his forehead being kissed by a troll when he was a child, but it's obvious that he just doesn't want to talk about it.
his unique magic's name is a reference to anna's song from frozen 2, "the next right thing" and him also being able to go through locked doors is a reference to "love is an open door".
anna desperately wished to be loved and allen is the same, but his obsessive tendencies are basically "an exaggerated version" of that.
allen is always happy to be around people and wants to make more friends because he was very lonely and isolated in his childhood.
he actually wishes to be shorter because he thinks that his height is too intimidating and he wants to be seen as more approachable and cute.
ironically, even though he's based on a character from frozen, he was born in summer.
allen gets cold very easily and that's why he is almost always seen wearing sweaters, even in summer. this is a reference to anna being turned into an ice statue in the end of the first frozen movie.
allen is surprisingly strong physically and he can easily punch someone REALLY hard. if it wasn't for music, p.e. would be his best subject.
his voice lines:
if you choose to hold his hand: "w-what? you want us to hold hands? i-i'm so happy!"
level up:
"to think that you'd decide to help me.. thank you, i really mean it."
"i'm stronger now! i'll protect you from anyone who wants to hurt you! you can count on me!"
"thank you so much.. i can't wait to use my new powers! i promise i won't disappoint you!"
level up max:
"thank you so much for spending time with me and making me feel loved and cared for. ah, i- i'm not crying!.."
episode level up:
"have i told you that i loved you today? oh, i did? haha, i'll say it one more time then! i love, love, love, LOVE you! please don't leave me, okay?"
limit break:
"huh? you love me THIS much? what should i do.. i might kiss you right this second if you keep acting this way."
groovy:
"i look so pretty now! but you think that i'm always pretty, right? right? aww, thank you so much!"
lesson lines (before lesson):
"i'm okay with going to any class as long as you are with me!~"
"i think i won't be able to focus on my studies if you're around.. but whatever, i don't care that much about them anyway!"
"did you know that music is my best subject? hehe, i might play something for you one day!"
lesson start:
"ah, it's that time already? let's go, darling!"
lesson end:
"oh well, at least i got to spend time with you!"
battle start:
"okay, so i just need to win, right? no problem, love, i'll do that for you!"
battle win:
"now i just need to.. huh? i don't have to kill them?"
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decided i’ll occupy myself with translating a polish SCP tale today so here you go :]
here is the original one (keep in mind i’m only translating this, it’s not my own tale)
Second Chance
That day i came to work a bit ealier than usual. I got myself a cup of coffee from a drinks machine and shambled in the direction of my office, where I would check my list of tasks. I sat down in an uncomfortable chair and started up my computer. After a while the screen lit up and the device started to load the operating system. In the meantime i tried to cool down my drink. I took a sip. Hm, still hot. I put the cup down and entered my password. A few boxes with information about today’s schedule showed up on the screen, including one talking about an experiment i was supposed be in charge of. Today is probably going to be pretty peaceful.
I couldn’t be more mistaken. Everything happened so fast. First the alarms blared, next came a warning about an approaching XK class scenario. There was nothing to think about, I knew what i needed to do. I was very lucky to be chosen to supervise SCP-RP-825. My mind was already set when the site started to fall apart. Before anybody could stop me i bursted into the containment cell.
-C’mere, we’re getting out of here. I warned them about this.-I said, grasping the object.
-Stop where you stand! Put the object down immediately!-I heard a harsh voice coming from behind the door. I need to be quick, they could start shooting any moment. I started up the device and set a random value and lightly waved at my would-be killers. A few of tchem got into the cell and fired, but the bullets hit wall and didn’t do me any harm. A mere few seconds later the site was blown off the face of earth. There was something enormous and destructive coming, luckily, it was none of my conern anymore. I was already outside of this reality. From what i knew from studying SCP-RP-825, during the journey, it’s users were thrown into a void-like space in between dimesions. I wasn’t any different. Everything around me went quiet, it was dark too. I was expecting this, but my body still shivered nervously. It’s pretty funny how darkness affects us.
Interestingly, while in the void, the user can see themselves perfectly. Almost as if they’re emitting light. Unfortunately, I never found out why it happens. I shook my head and sighted quietly. Even in a horrbile situation like this i never stop speculating. According to the clock situated on my left wrist I was here for about two minutes so far. I was starting to get a little concerned that I’m going to be stuck here forever, but soon my vision started to catch first glimpses of color. I exhaled and focused on making out the objects forming around me.
-I hope this world isn’t full of huge lizards or some other bullshit.-I mumbled, looking down at the SCP I was holding.- I would need to get out really qui…-Before i could finish my sentence, the device „cracked” and the display shut off.-…fuck.
A moment after the swear left my mouth, i heard a quiet „chk” of a rifle. I heard a voice behind me
-Who are you? Got your ID?- The command was loud and clear. I raised my arms slowly and looked around. I was in a room strangely similar to a canteen located in Site 17. I glanced over the walls and suprised faces of the witnesses of my sudden appearance until I saw a familiar logo on a labcoat of one of the men.
-Are you fucking kidding me…-I let go off SCP-RP-825. It shattered upon contact with the sterile, shiny floor.
-I swear I’m not a member of the Chaos Insurgency!- I raised my voice slightly, I grew more desperate after realising, that if i won’t convince at least this one person I’m not a threat, I won’t be alive for much longer.
-And I would like to believe you, but you don’t have any evidence to back up your statements, that’s the problem.-The man sat in front of me took a sip from a mug decorated with „Best researcher in the world”. He was wearing a labcoat similar to mine. I raised my eyebrow.
-You look like our scientists. I hope you make less mistakes than us, though.-The other guy leaned in, resting his chin on his hands, before speaking up.
-Listen, this sounds too improbable. If I wasn’t at the canteen, the guards would kill you without a second thought after hearing a story like this. Honestyly, I should send you to be terminated, but I don’t think that would help solve the situation. -He sighted.-Start over, but try to be less..chaotic this time. It’s your last chance.-I nodded, trying to collect my thoughts.
-So…my name is Krzysztof Rasiewicz and I’m a scientist working at one of the branches of the SCP Foundation, the one located in the Republic of Poland.
-Located in Poland?
-Why would one country have two, separate branches? Is this how things work in your dimension.
-No. A Polish branch is a Polish branch. Wait a second…The Republic of Poland exists in your reality? You mean Poland and Lithuania connected with a personal union?
-I mean..it existed.-I murmured.-The whole dimension is probably doomed, but I won’t be able to find out for sure. SCP-RP-825 was destroyed. As to The Republic of Poland, it was Lithuania, Hungary and Poland connected together. I wouldn’t call it a supercountry, but Russia and the USA had to keep us in mind.
-Hold up, let’s say i believe you.-He scratched his nose.-If you really were an employee of the SCP Foundation, you should remember at least some of the objects they had contained. Would you list some? And besides that, what was your clearance level?-I leaned back in the chair and took my ID out of one of my pockets. I placed it on the desk. I gestured towards it, inviting the other man to take a look. He did take a good, long look at it. -Doctor Krzysztof Rasiewicz, clearance level four, Site 17…it looks legitimate. What about the objects? I hesitated for a moment, but I realized i have pretty much nothing left to lose. I started to describe the first SCP tak came into my mind. The longer I was talking, the more suprised the other researcher looked.
-…we discovered that if one person wore both of the bracelets and clapped, something totally different would happen. If there’s only one user, telepathy is impossible, it’s logical. So, if one person wears both object A and object B, SCP-RP-145 teleports them to a long room with numbered lockers…
-Stop!-The man cut me off slamming his palm on the table.-The thing you’re describing takes subjects to the exact same place as one of our objects. We checked all of the lockers, only one of them is empty. The Chaos Insurgency probably has none of those artifacts. It’s a serious situation, so we’ll do this: if you’re not lying, you can help us avoid doing the same mistakes, that the colleaugues from your dimension did. I’ll inform the higher-ups. I’ll also apply a submission and the Polish O5 Council will sort things out by voting. For now, we’ll keep you in a cell, just to be safe. Any questions?-I realized there’s nothing more I can do so I just slowly shook my head. -Alright, see you around. Hopefully.
POLISH BRANCH OF THE SCP FOUNDATION
DR. KRZYSZTOF RASIEWICZ
LEVEL 1 SECURITY CLEARANCE
STATION 10
This is the text I saw on my new ID. The Polish Foundation branch employed me, despite many negative votes. Apparently, one vote saved me from termination. One. Is it true? I have no idea.
But I know I won’t repeat any mistakes from the past.
#SORRY ABOUT POSTING THIS SHIT HERE#i'm not making a fucking account#long post#scp#also lol english is not my first language and i'm aware i probably made some mistakes#but i hope it's still readable and enjoyable#scp foundation#you can bid on when i get embarrassed and take this down <3
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Hiii💕💕 could you do New Year’s Eve kiss with Tom ? 💕💕 Im desperately in need of fluff right now and I’m ObSeSsEd with your writing 💕
Thank you!
New Years Eve
Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader
Masterlist
8:47
You arrived to the party a little late and greeted all your old friends. It was your first time in LA and you hadn’t seen them since you moved to New York to become an author.
“Y/n, I want you to meet my friend.” Your old school friend pulled you by the hand into his living room.
“Well look at that.” Tom Holland stood in front of you in a cranberry button down and tight black pants. You weren’t sure if the arrogant smirk we wore was a part of the outfit. “We match.” He smirked as he looked you up and down in your short cranberry dress. You rolled your eyes and gave him a once over as well.
“Of all the colors you could’ve shown up in, you pick cranberry? Come on. You did that on purpose.” You accused and Tom shrugged as he took a sip of his drink.
“Oh, have you two met?” Your friend asked upon witnessing your banter.
“We went to school each other growing up.” Tom told him.
“So you’re friends?” Your friend asked.
“I don’t remember Tom having any friends.” You said innocently, igniting the devilish flame behind Toms eyes.
“We used to get in trouble for fighting In class. Y/n didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. I’m assuming you’ve learned since then?” Tom dished it right back to you and you narrowed your eyes.
“Can’t say I have.” You shrugged.
“Okay. I’m gonna go.” Your friend said awkwardly. “Enjoy the party!”
Tom stepped closer to you, backing you against a wall and giving you another unapologetic once over. You scoffed and took his drink from his hand, sipping whatever he had in his cup before handing it back to him.
“That’s a nice dress, love. Where’s the rest of it?” He asked as he drank from right where your lipstick stain was on his red solo cup. You knew what you were doing, but so did he.
“Funny. I’m pretty sure button up shirts are meant to be buttoned all the way up.” You pointed to the three he had undone, exposing quite a lot of chest.
“I like it like this. Keeps me cool.” Tom told you and he began to twirl a strand of your hair around his finger, something he used to do as a kid.
“You’ve never been cool, Tommy.” You taunted and he let out a chuckle.
“No one calls me that anymore.” He said as he stared into your eyes.
“Maybe someone should.” You shrugged and took his cup again.
He looked at you insanely for a moment. You folded your arms and stared back. You could smell his cologne from how close you were and saw sweat glistening on his chest.
He cracked first.
“I’ve missed you.” He broke into a smile and scooped you up into a hug. You wrapped your arms around his neck and lifted your legs off the floor.
“Missed you too, Tommy.” You said into his ear. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah.” He said, a little sadly as he set you down. “Sorry about that. My career took off and I didn’t keep in touch with everyone I would’ve liked too.”
“You kept Harrison around.” You commented. You were a little hurt you hadn’t heard from him after moving. You didn’t always get along, but you thought you’d at least stay in touch.
“Harrison’s my best mate.” Tom gave you his excuse. “And I always thought you didn’t like me.” He said as he stared into his cup.
“I liked you. I just hope it’s still you in there. Hollywood hasn’t changed you too much, has it?” You smiled, changing the subject to a happier one.
“No. Gave me more confidence and I’m bald now, but I’m still me.” Tom promised you. His smile hadn’t changed, and you appreciated that.
“You sure?” You teased.
“Positive. I’m still better at you at maths and still don’t know how to write in cursive.” Tom sighed dramatically and looked away.
“And just when I thought you were perfect.” You said sarcastically.
“Come here.” Tom pulled you into another hug, this one lingering for a longer time. He didn’t pick you up this time, just held you against his body and swayed a little. You squeezed him tightly, having missed your old friend.
“All right. That’s all the affection you’re getting from me tonight.” You said as you fixed your hair and adjusted your dress.
“I don’t know about that, pretty girl.” Tom helped in fixing your hair. “Don’t you know what happens at midnight?”
“What happens at midnight?” You asked curiously.
Tom smirked before leaning in and placing a kiss on your cheek, dangerously close to your mouth.
“You’ll see. See you then.” He said before leaving you alone with your cheek burning.
10:17
“Oops.” You sighed as your scrunchie hit the floor. You were about to pick it up when someone beat you to it.
“I’ll be taking that, darling. It think it looks a little better on my wrist anyway.” Tom smirked as he slid your scrunchie onto his wrist. He had seemingly come out of nowhere, but had been keeping an eye on you since you parted. He had planned on giving you some space, but after seeing a boy talk to you for nearly an hour, he decided you’d had enough space.
“You’re gonna start a rumor but doing that. It matches my dress. Everyone’s gonna know it’s mine.” You warned him, thankful he had come back for you. You had been getting unwanted attention from a boy you didn’t know.
Tom stepped closer to you so he was speaking directly into your ear. You shivered as his minty breath hit your face.
“That’s the point, love.” He whispered in your ear.
“You want people to know it’s mine?” You asked as he backed away a little, but not fully. He didn’t look the way you remembered. He’d gotten his chin mole taken off and had fully grown into his features, especially his ears. You smiled shyly at how attractive your old friend had become.
“No.” Tom said as he snapped the scrunchie against his wrist. “I want people to know you’re mine.”
You didn’t say anything, just nodded in understanding from being too stunned to speak. Tom smirked at your reaction and took a step back.
“See you at midnight.” He winked and waltzed out of the room.
11:04
“Here, allow me.” A blonde haired boy began to pour your drink for you and you smiled politely. You didn’t need him, or ask him to do it. You didn’t even know the boy. He handed you your drink and you thanked him.
“No need to thank me. I’m Andy. And you are?” He asked. He seemed a little tipsy and you glanced at the kitchen door, not wanting to entertain this stranger.
“Y/n.” You told him and looked to the side for someone to save you from the conversation.
“How come I haven’t seen you around before?” He asked, stepping a little too close for your liking.
“I’m not from LA. I’m from New York.” You answered and he tucked your hair behind your ear. You shrugged away from his touch in the nicest way you could.
“Sorry. Your hair was covering your pretty face.” Andy slurred.
“Sorry, could you just give me some room?” You said and tried to back away from him but he moved in when you did.
“I don’t think I want to.” He smiled and stepped closer, thinking you were playing around. You were about to tell him to back off again when you felt an arm around your waist as your back hit something firm.
“She said give her some room.” Tom said sternly and Andy took a step back.
“Sorry, Tom. I didn’t realize she was with you.” Andy said and left the kitchen. You turned around just in time for Tom to take the drink from your hand.
“Give me that. Never drink anything you didn’t pour.” Tom said as he dumped your drink down the sink. You nodded and gave him a grateful smile and he handed you a new cup. He didn’t warm up to your smile and still looked angry. You poured some Sprite into a cup and took a sip.
“Thanks for that.” You said sheepishly, placing a hand on his arm that you hoped would calm him down.
“I hate that guy. He’s only here because this is his cousins party. If he comes near you again, tell me.” Tom told you and you agreed.
“Are you okay?” You asked and he let out a sigh.
“Don’t worry about me. Are you okay?” He asked and you realized you weren’t. It was getting hot in the house and you were getting uncomfortable.
“I’m fine. I’m just gonna get some air.” You told him and left the room.
11:42
“Oh? What do we have here? Enjoying the view, darling? I know I am.” Tom said without ever taking his eyes off you. You had been getting some air on the balcony when he joined you.
“I was until you got here. Don’t you have a missing bike to return or a dog to find?” You teased him before turning your attention back to the city lights.
“So you’ve seen my movies.” Tom smiled proudly. “That’s all pretend, sweetheart. But I can assure you, the abs are real.” He joked and you let out a loud groan.
“I think I like you better with the American accent.” You retorted with a roll of your eyes. He stood next to you on the balcony, elbows touching as you watched the cars below.
“That’s not a problem for me. I’m very flexible.” Tom answered in an American accent.
“I’m teasing.” You pushed him slightly with your right hand. He caught your hand when it hit his chest and held it there, against his heartbeat. You looked at him expectingly as he rubbed his thumb back and forth on your hand.
“I really am flexible. I can fly to New York from California anytime I want. And I can fly other people as well.” He said softly and you knew what he was implying.
“I’ve always hated long distance.” You said, keeping your eyes ahead.
“They have authors in California, don’t they?” Tom asked with hopeful eyes.
You nodded as he turned to you and took your hands.
“Then why don’t you stay?” He asked as you finally met his eyes. They pleaded with you but you couldn’t quiet give in.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I’d fit in in California.” You answered and heard Tom sigh.
“Darling, I’m asking you to stay.” He said again and you saw something you’d never seen before in his eyes. “Please.” He whispered.
“I haven’t seen you in five years since you left for Hollywood. No calls, no texts, no letters. Now you want me to move to California for you? How am I supposed to feel about that Tom?” You asked as you felt yourself get emotional. He had left you behind and it stung. Tom looked down at your intertwined hands and shook his head.
“You changed your name.” He mumbled.
“What?” You didn’t hear it.
“You got a new phone when you moved to New York. I spent five years trying to find out where in New York you’d moved to but you never posted about it online. I had my entire mangenmet team trying to figure out your new number, your address, your job, anything that might help me contact you, but no one could find you. It was like Y/n L/n didn’t exist. Then I find out from Harrison you’re a published author going by Y/n Dutch and you’re gonna be at a New Year’s Eve party tonight.” Tom explained and you realized he was right. He took a step closer to you and gave you an apologetic smile. “I did try to find you. I promise I did. You just weren’t you anymore. Why’d you change your name anyway?”
“The name Y/n L/n was already taken.” You told him.
“But why Dutch?” He wondered. You smiled a little.
“Dutch.” You pointed to yourself. “Holland.” You pointed to him shyly.
“It was an homage to me?” He asked with hope.
“I never disliked you as a kid. It was the opposite. I had the biggest crush on you but I didn’t know how to tell you, so I teased you and argued with you everyday. You know how people say there’s a fine line between love and hate? Well…” You trailed off.
“You loved me.” Tom realized and you nodded. In the distance, you heard the people inside starting to countdown.
“5…”
“For what I knew love to be as a kid.” You confirmed.
“4…”
“Kids? That was five years ago.” Tom reminded you and you blushed.
“3…”
“A lot can change in five years. I’m afraid we’re different people.” You said.
“2…”
“No matter who I am or who I’ve become, I’m always gonna love you.” Tom promised.
“1…”
“You don’t know me anymore.” You whispered.
“Happy New Year!”
“I know a good place to start.” Tom said before cupping your face and pulling you into a kiss. Fireworks shot into the sky as the world rang in the new year. You were feeling your own fireworks on the balcony.
“This is what happens at midnight.” He smiled against your lips before kissing you again.
Tag List 🏷
@maybemona @sunrise-shawn @foreverxholland @writing-for-hours-on-end @lavender-writer @captainmandeestudent17 @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @theolwebshooter @autumnlyholland @andreasworlsboring101 @guksmyfav @waiting-to-be-myself @letsloveimagines @ho-ho-holland @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @m19friend @justcallmehitgirl @iamanerdot @averyfosterthoughts @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @celestial-skylines
#tom holland x reader#tom holland x you#tom holland x y/n#tom holland fluff#tom holland fanfiction#tom holland jealous#tom holland angst#peter parker x you#spiderman#peter parker fluff
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Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Restrospective: The Raider of the Copper Hill! “You Got Rich Son”
Hello all you happy people! And welcome back to my retrospective of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck! It’s been far too long, almost three months since we last checked in with Scrooge and frankly I feel i’ve been spacing these entries out too much for this one and for the retrospectives that aren’t paid for in general. So expect at least one McDuck adventure a month till I finish, possibly two when I can swing it like this month.
Now i’m done beating myself up, when we last left off a younger more naive, more optimistic and less experienced Scooge took up a career as a cowboy for Cattle Baron, gained his first sidekick in the form of his Horse Hortense, and took out some cattle thieves with the help of Teddy Fucking Roosevelt.
This chapter marks the end of the story’s first act. The first act is about a younger and far nicer Scrooge: still onrey and still a cheapskate, but still a good kid and far more outwardly friendly and welcoming, a far cry from the bitter untrusting man we come to know. This chapter is one of the reasons why, as Scrooge learns a hard lesson about wealth and success, the sacrifices one needs to make for family and about sticking your hand in a lightbulb while it’s plugged in. So join me under the cut as Scrooge meets another valuable mentor, one of his greatest enemies, and about 50 feet of barbed wire.
We begin with the end of Scrooge’s time as a ranch hand and cowpunch. With homesteaders moving in and dividing up the land, Murdo simply dosen’t have the space for cattle baroning anymore and has to let Scrooge go and head back to texas. We do get a great bit of Scrooge wrapped in barbed wire, having gone to cut some down so Murdo could move the herd out.
So with his Job done and parting on good terms with his old boss, Scrooge sets up his own homestead on some land near the Anaconda Silver Mine, trying to make it as a prospector, starting on the path that would eventually lead him to riches.. in about a decade and a half.
So Scrooge bemoans his rotten luck over Dinner with a stranger, Marcus Daly owner of said mine... who just.. randomly sat down to have dinner with a 17 year old.
Marcus belays his own woes: While Scrooge has failed at what he tried to do, having gotten into both steamboating and cattle punching too late to go anywhere with either, Daly has a silver mine that’s full of copper: decent amoutns of it but still not what his investors wanted.
Both however find their fortunes reverse in an instant in the weirdest way possible. The light goes out at their table and Scrooge tries to adjust it only to electcute himself. To his shock...
He finds out it’s running on electricty, which is starting to become widespread.. and requires vast amounts of copper wiring. Scrooge is back in the game but finds trouble getting equipment as the local seller naturally is a jackass who jacks up the price. Scrooge instead sells the gold teeth his dad gave him to the nearest gentleman after talking him into it. . And i’ts not even the weirdest transaction i’ve seen this week.
For the record those weird things are the guy on the left’s skinflakes, his power is to make naked golems of himself out of his dandruff and skin flakes and what have you, while the guy on the right is paying for a mutant with a star for a head. So yeah a scottish cowboy selling his ancestor’s dentures to pay for mining gear is refelshingly tame after all of this.
So we get the comic equivleant of a montage as Scrooge starts his work at prospecting, making a portable homesteader shack as a miner owns any land he lives on, and moving around to try and find it, but he runs into a problem: with his last two careers he had mentors to help him learn what to do: Pothole taught him riverboating and Murdo helped him learn to ride the trails. Here he has no one and while you can self teach a lot of things prospecting isn’t one of them.
He end sup finding one though as a rich gentleman asking about the mine happens to wander by: Howard D. Rockerduck. If that names sounds familiar it should as he’s indeed the father of exactly who your thinking of and we meet a young 10 or so year old john who asks him to stop dealing with a grubby workman. We also find out whose responsible for him turning out ot be such a piece of work as his mother’s response to his father telling him “I used to be a grubby workman is well... word’s cant’ do this amount of classist bulslhit justice.
Seriously his unnamed wife is so odious it hurts. And how the fuck did an honest, kind man like Howard end up with this bitch? It’ sbaffled me every time i’ve read this: did he marry for money? is he a gold digger? go down gold dig get down? Is she just THAT good in bed? Did he just make a horrible mistake one night? Did she lie to him about who she was? Was she replaced by a skrull? I have questions no duck comic has properly explained.. and if they have please tell me. Also it does tickle me we’re getting a bit with a duck named howard though sadly he wears a top hat instead of a nice little bowler. And if you don’t know who howard the duck is.. shame on you. And if you’ve seen the movie.. my deepest sympathies.
While Howard laments wanting to horsewhip his son, this was a century ago with change mind you standards were different and also John sucks. Howard crticizes Scrooge’s techqniue after introducing himself, and Scrooge and him get into a bit of a tizzy, with Howard offering to teach him for two cents.. but the hostility quickly desolves hours later as Scrooge realizes Howard was right and he’d been doing things completely wrong and the thrill of hard honest work again has washed away any ego driven competiviness.
I”ll get more into Howard in a second but he does eventually strike copper, and while the vein is full it’s also thin. But Howard has one final trick and takes Scroogey for an ore test. I tried to find more on this but just found a lot of ways to do it yourself and what not. I”m now really intrigued how they did this and found the content of minerals. I know it’s a dull subject but i’m curious how they did it with the technology of the time. Did they just use acids like I found? If so how’d they get them? I do say this is one of the great qualities of Rosa’s works: he makes you want to learn more about history. I looked up more about TR after the last chapter and now I want to know how the hell metallurgy worked in the late 1800′s.
We then get an intresting interacton as Scrooge.. warmly greets the townsfolk and vice versa.. yes the same Scrooge who as an adult would be introduced proclaming...
Is warm, optimistic and wholeheartedly belieives...
As you can probably tell by Howard’s reaction and what Scrooge becomes.. this story’s all about shattering that notion and is the first of two to shatter the poor kid’s trust in people and make him into the bitter old sod we know.
The sample comes back 55% positive... which leaves Howard rushing to get Scrooge to a court house. As it turns out there’s an old, very real for the time, mining law called the Law of Apex: whoever owns the land closest to where an ore vein is on the surface owns the whole thing... so legally Scrogoe owns the ENTIRE ANACONDA COPPER MINE, which at this point as detailed in the time skip has gone from struggling to utterly thriving and sucessful. Whoever owns the land at the time the Judge rules it gets the mine.. and Scrooge’s friends, who seconds ago were concerned about him being dragged into court.. are now all scrambling to take his fortune, something Howard dosen’t seem at all suprised about.
But while this may be a kinder, more naive Scrooge McDuck, it’s still SCROOGE MCDUCK. His response is to cut a nearbye power wire and swing it tarzan style over to hortense and ride her back ahead of the mob... with the electric wire slapping her rear and causing her to go extra fast.. and also quit. So Scrooge stands alone but manages to take out some of the ruffians with his shack while John and the Judge rush to the site. As for Scrooge well... you want to see what a McDuck family beserker rage against an ENTIRE angry mob of opportunistic assholes look like?
And this isn’t even the most badass thing Scrooge will do this series. Or even in the next few issues. That’s how awesome this series is: fighting an angry mob SOLO with simply his pure rage and whatever he can grab and throw. And he WINS. He’s exausted and passes out, falling out of the sky on his final opponent.. but he took out what was at the LEAST 50 men, and ONLY passed out because one of them threw dynamite in his out house.. and even THAT didn’t kill him or put him out, simply casuing him to land on said dynamite throwing idiot and wins.
We find out Rockerduck actually was one of the mine’s owners but helped Scrooge anyway: he has more than enough money and all it’s going to do in the end is go to a greedy brat. Marcus Daly shows up and while he’ll get the law overturned eventually, he still has to shut down while that happens and finds the right officials to bribe. And this is the 1800s... you gotta go by train to do your bribes. You can’t just do that shit over email and hidden bank accounts. Daly offers him 10,000.. but given what Scrooge could earn even before he got his mine back, Scrooge turns it down.
However this victory is bittersweet as Scrooge warmly greets his friends.. only for one to cuss him out and the other to tell him to get loss. We then get one of my faviorite exchanges in this story.
This whole Panel is a masterwork. The sheer INNOCENCE on Scrooge’s face, almost looking like Donald, desperately wondering what he did, when as Howard points out.. he did nothing wrong. He simply got successful and they resent him for it.
This has been a hard paragraph for me to write as I want to tread carefully. People do have good reasons to scorn the rich or celebrtiies sometimes. Some rich people or those in the media are genuinely terrible. Jeff Bezos, Tucker Carlson, Mel Gibson, Louie CK, Joss Whedon and even someone as low on the totem pole as Doug Walker is odious. And of course we all can think of one odious example of rich bastard i’d rather not think of, especially when thinking of John D Rockerduck and what he’l lbecome as an adult that i’m not giving a pleasure of the name drop but came to mind.
But even for good people becoming succesful puts up a barrier between you and other people: Fans of yours will admire you or write fanfic or what have about you without even knowing you, i’ve been on that side, and some people will hate you just because without valid reason, especially in this day and age. Success breeds resentment and even people you trusted and loved can sometimes turn on you. It’s the double eged sword of achieving your dreams: You get what you wanted but you often loose what you had.
And it was no diffrent two centuries ago, with Scrooge’s friends only being friendly as long as it suited them, turning on him first to steal his chance at glory and then to scorn him for daring to achieve it. Some people.. are only there for you as long as your not above them. And sometimes you can be happy. Look at Tom Hanks, who has a lovely family and a long and storied career. Or Linkara, a youtuber who has been at this for over a decade, has tons of fans, a loving wife with her own succesful channel, and just recently got contacted by his childhood heroes. You CAN be happy and successful.. it’s just very hard to make it that far.
One of the central points of life and times is that’s often not the case: You can get what you want but it comes at a cost. And it’s how you pay that price that will determine how happy you are. Another central point intertwined with it is it’s not the journey but the destination, and i’ts how Scrooge takes that journey that ultimately leads him where he ends up good and bad. And we get an all to telling all too foreboding hint in how he takes everyone he knew for at least a year turning on him overnight.
When faced with his first real loss on this Journey that wasn’t material.. he dosen’t care. He has his money and riches and that’s enough. And as we’ll see that attitude will cost him greatly. Howard is irate for a moment, hoping he wasn’t wrong in trusting Scrooge.. and indeed, for now, turns out to have placed his faith in the right person as Scrooge gets a telegram: his family needs him. And while he could stay, turn his back on them, and earn MILLIONS.. he tells Howard to tell the owner he’s taking the deal. For now when given the choice between his family and his fortune, SCrooge will choose them. Sadly.. that won’t hold true forever.
With this being the end of his time in the story, as he has a still insufferable John buy him a horsewhip for horrific but darkly funny reasons, as John brags about how rich his father is not realizing he’s buying his own whupping tool, i’d like to touch on Howard D Rockerduck and how amazing he is. Rosa managed to pack a throughly interesting, throughly engaging character into only 8 pages. While Rockerduck DID show up earlier in of ducks dimes and destinys, he wasn’t really fleshed out or named and only showed up for one page so still 9 pages total.
But in those we see a kind and noble man whose easily what Scrooge COULD have been, kind, noble, generous, hardworking and willing to give up money to help people. He’s a good man.. but even he’s seen the sacrifice Money brings. He’s clearly lost friends, lost a sense of peace, and married the wrong Woman, whose poisoned his children into a spoiled brat who will only grown into an even more spoield adult in both continuities.. if raised quite a bit earlier in the 2017 cartoon as he was made scrooge’s contemporary there rather than a child, but semeantics. Point is Howard hismelf isn’t wholly satisfied with his success.. and that’s what he and Scrooge will forever have in common, with Scrooge, likely as a result of meeting the Rockerducks, fearing an indadiquate inheritor and someone squandering what he worked hard for. Though his reasons for not taking up a wife as we’ll see eventually, if outside the main 12 part story but I intend to cover the subchapters in their own time, aren’t entirely motivated by avoiding goldigging but a broken hard and his own stubborness.
For now though we bid Howard and america adue. Scrooge however for once ends an occupation with less bitterness. Unlike his last two ventures where he made it out with only enough to get to the next one here he made it out ahead: he now has a decent suit, likely bought for him by Howard given he hasn’t cashed the check yet, I know this as it’s a major plot point for next time, 10,000 dollars.. and experince. He may of not gotten all the money he was due on this venture, but he learned more valuable skills and he feels with a land like america, the next opportunity to earn some dough is just waiting for him to get back. And as the chapter ends he muses that maybe the country could use a symbol of this countries boundless opportunity...
Final Thoughts for the Raider of the Copper Hill:
This chapter is one of my favorites. It’s nicely paced, something Rosa himself admits was often a struggle as he had to cover years at a time, has a wonderful new mentor for Scrooge, and sets up a lot of the tragedy to come in the last act beautifully. It’s a nice closer for our first act, showing Scrooge has come out of his first trip to america wiser, more experinced and more hopeful, but at heart still the same kind and noble kid he left Glasgow as. The next act is about the change of that boy into a man, how he will finally find his fortune after some more adventures.. and how the last viestges of his kindess and optimisim towards others die at the hands of a certain fake scotish gentleman.
Next Life And Times: As is tradition for this series act openers, Scrooge returns home.. and just in time to get his castle back, fight a duel and go to heaven and back. So an average McDuck tuesday then.
If you liked this review follow for more. And if you liked it a lot join my patreon so I can keep making these and hit my stretch goals. Even at just the 2 dollar level you get access to my discord and your pick of shorts whenever I do a series of them and with Goofy and Donald’s birthdays being the next ones to be celebrated you can’t pick a better time. patreon.com/popculturebuffet See you at the next rainbow.
#ducktales#the life and times of scrooge mcduck#the raider of the copper hill#scrooge mcduck#john d rockerduck#howard d rockerduck#howards bitch of a wife#mining#prospecting
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Frat Boy Pt. 21
part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7 (1), part 7 (2), part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13 , part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19 , part 20
HI LOVIES. Please enjoy a Friday update on the Frat Boy universe. This one is a bit of a breather after the TUMULTUOUS ANGST of the last chappie. Shorter than my usual, but it’s all the chapter needed. Tons more y/n and Harry interaction on the way in the next! Have a safe and happy day loves xx
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Things I want:
Live a life that helps others
Financial freedom
Experience a great love
Visit the the Pincio Gardens in Italy
To have more dreams and fewer nightmares
Doodle more
Acquire a first edition book, either because an old friendly man who owns an antique bookshop decides to give it to me in a bonding moment, or because I have accomplished #2 and I am celebrating being a Boss Bitch
To be happy
Please note: not necessarily in that order
It was taped above my desk, waiting for me to bring it in to the next session. I hesitated to write number 6. It was a dream I hardly entertained after committing my scholarly life to pursue medicine. I used to love to doodle. All the time. Since elementary school. I doodled so much my mom dedicated a wall in the house to my illustrations. She hung a sign above it that affectionately said “Y/N’s Doodles.” Seriously, you couldn’t get me to stop. Even if it was gross sappy sketches of my crush Billy who I would NEVER show on the playground at recess.
My doodling stopped how these things normally do. Because life grew busier than anything else, and the sketchpad and easel my dad had bought for me at a garage sale became ignored, collecting dust in the corner of my room. At some point, it’d become a year since I’d drawn anything, and then it was two, and three, and by this point I’d realized I was the one who’d need to create her own stability in life and medicine was the more logical fit. It wasn’t that I didn’t see the value in drawing anymore, I just had other things take up my time. It became a comfort just knowing I used to draw. Paul had paved his way, and now I was on my way to do the same. At least with medicine, my soul felt fed. It was almost comfort enough.
“oH WE GOT A ROGUE ONE.”
A flying toenail hit my eye.
“WHAT THE-” I flailed my arms, as though there were a thousand more coming. Renny’s mouth opened in shock, her guilty body hunched over her bent leg. Clippers in hand.
“Sorry!!” Renny burst up laughing.
“oH MY GOSH CAN YOU DO THAT OVER A TRASH CAN OR SOMETHING?!”
“IT HAD A MIND OF ITS OWN!!” she screamed back.
I blinked rapidly, my left eye watering up and spilling painless tears. “Well I’m going to have conjunctivitis at the studio later. Or I’ll be stumbling in blind.” I wiped it away.
I heard another clip and she put up her hands with another giggle.
“All done. And you won’t stumble, I’m going to be there.” Renny extended her leg, her perfectly trimmed foot nearly touching the ceiling.
“You’re just going to solicit Zayn to be his next subject.”
“Maybe,” her grin grew devious. “But also because I want to see if he captured the angelic beauty and complex nymph nuances of my best friend.”
I put a hand to my chest, still aching from uncertainty. “Honored.”
“Want to watch another episode until it’s time to go?”
This whole lazy morning had been an OC Housewives bingefest. She’d seen it on my homepage and had a complete spazz, twitching whilst proclaiming but i’ve been trying to get you to watch this show for YEARS!! When she saw the old season I was on, though, she didn’t have to question why her pestering had miraculously worked. She didn’t mention him aloud besides giving me a pointed look. And so, we watched it, even though I wasn’t really in the mood to see anything about Harry right now. It’d hurt more than I thought to walk away from him last night, and to see how sad he looked when I did.
After last night, he hadn’t posted anything to social media. He’d called, twice, but I knew he was drunk, or worse, and I was tired, and whatever he would say he could tell me in the morning. Even though I knew he wouldn’t.
And he didn’t.
And therein lay the problem.
It hurt to see his family on my little box of a computer screen, weird to see his life and get glimpses of his childhood. I felt like a hacker spying on home videos. But then I reminded myself that thousands of people had already done the same. At this point, it was just… morbid curiosity.
“Nah, I don’t know if I can handle any more of that right now. Dr. Rhinecuff is going to yell at me if I don’t return these scanned copies to him by Monday.”
“Ew, he smells like meat.”
“RENNY!!”
“I’m just saying. That one time I went with you it smelled like pastrami in his office. He has a PhD, but isn’t with-it enough to buy air freshener.”
“He likes pastrami sandwiches, let him live.”
She scrolled on her phone, not bothering to respond, and my gaze turned to the window.
“Hey Renny?”
“Hm.”
A bird flew close to the glass, halting just before it hit it, then zooming off in the opposite direction. “What’d you do when your parents were fighting?”
“Ummm…” I knew the question registered in her mind when she stopped scrolling, suddenly concerned. “Are your parents okay?”
“Yeah. I mean, kind of.” I glossed over it, not caring to get into the bitter details. “I was just curious.”
“Uhh..” She plucked at the soft cotton of her cotton candy pajamas that were fraying at the knees. “I lost my virginity to Zach,” she half-laughed.
“Zach? Neighbor boy Zach?”
Renny nodded. She always sounded a little sad when she talked about him. Zach was the hot college boy who shared a backyard fence with Renny, the girl who may or may not have used her kitchen stool to peak over and see him workout on the grass every summer he came home. I’d known they’d slept together. I just didn’t think he was her first.
“I just tried to be out of the house as much as I could,” she said. “Found my true love Mary J.”
“Oh.”
“It was shitty, but I’m glad I got it over with.”
“The divorce or your virginity.”
“Both,” she chortled. “Why what’s up? Are you sad or something? I have a j in my drawer.”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Mostly I was just wondering what it must be like to feel so sexually liberated. In my house sex wasn’t talked about. At all. The inevitable sex scene in every other movie would result in my dad blaring out “WHAT KIND OF MOVIE IS THIS!” in an attempt to make it less awwkard, but having it backfire and only make it horrendously more awkward. I wasn’t saving my virginity for anyone in particular, but after all those romance novels, I wanted it to be… something. I wanted to feel something towards the person where it would justify something I’ve kept to myself for so long. I wanted it to be intense. I wanted it to be like the books. Like a Frank Sinatra song that swept up your heart and transported you back to a time of gentlemen and cigars and women in long evening gowns with fur coats and martinis.
“I wish I could just get it over with,” I confessed. One half of me screamed YOU’RE IN YOUR TWENTIES HAVE ALL THE SEX while the other half said YOU’VE WAITED THIS LONG DAMN IT HOLD OUT A LITTLE LONGER. I didn’t know which part of me was compromising more.
Renny leaned in, quick. “Would you do it with Harry?”
Like the flip of a switch, I remembered the sensuous heat of his body against mine, wrapping me up and pressing me against him where we just fit. And I couldn’t imagine how much better it’d feel to be even more connected to him.
“Maybeeee…?”
But then there was last night.
I cringed. No matter how with me he’d seemed… he couldn’t have been present after mixing whatever the hell he took and a handle of alcohol. Did I really want someone like that? Someone who could only give a shell of themselves?
“No, I wouldn’t. Or- ugh, I don’t know. I don’t know if it could ever mean as much to him.”
Renny nodded. “I mean, don’t let him pressure you, obviously. If he does, I’ll kick his baby maker smack into his prostate. Prostate. See, anatomy. You taught me that.”
“Haha, no, he’s not like that.” My brows stitched. I was confused why he wasn’t more like that, actually. We’d known each other for several months now and he hadn’t even put a finger in me. When I thought about it, it actually frustrated me. Don’t pressure me to do anything, but I wanted to be pushed to do something. I was never the bold one in areas like this.
Not that I should be so willing to do anything with him anymore anyways. Something shifted in me when I’d seen him last night. It wasn’t a shift I could easily describe, but it’d set me a foot apart from my heart. A bit of me was shocked that it had happened so suddenly.
But this shift was new, and my heart still wanted what it wanted. I knew that if I watched any more OC Housewives with Harry’s toddler curls and surfer tan, I’d be sucked right back into speculating about what our future kids could look like. And if I saw him?
You were right, Harry. You are fucked.
I cringed again. That was harsh. That was very very harsh.
I didn’t know if I’d have the courage to apologize. What if my pheromones went berserk and magnetized me to his side??
Renny was right.
I needed therapy.
The clippers were tossed back on my desk.
“Thanks,” she said. “Have you started on your DG Double P yet?”
DG Double P = Renny Speak for DG Pretty Please.
I groaned. “No. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, honestly. I have to-”
“NO!!! Don’t tell me. We’re not supposed to tell each other.” Her hand extended in panic.
“Fine. I can keep a secret.”
I was getting a little too good at that lately.
She moved onto her belly, splaying her arms out in a dramatic fashion, face squished against the comforter. “Isn’t it just killing you inside.” She was dead serious.
“Yeah, more than you know.”
And I was serious, too.
--------------------------------------
I wasn’t expecting people to dress up as much as they did. Donned in my only pair of yoga pants and a chunky white sweater, I walked arm-in-arm with Renny past girls in cocktail dresses and guys in button-downs.
Something that sounded like a baby’s cry filled my ears, but it was gone as soon as we walked through the doors to the on-campus gallery. .
“Woah did you hear that?”
Renny nodded, tossing her head back. “There’s a baby somewhere.”
It reminded me of the bodiless screams in my nightmare. In my chunky sweater, I shivered undetectably.
The on-campus gallery rotated exhibits throughout the year, but this time, student sculptures were on pedestals, nightmarish portraits hung on the walls, and red and orange tapestries swooped down and across the ceiling in a cirque-du-soleil moment as if to secure us beneath fire. Some students had separate booths, but other pieces of work trailed seamlessly into the next.
A tree made from photographs and newspaper took up the center of the space. Zayn had been so adamant about his muse having life, I wondered if that was the focus of this exhibit - to capture natural life. But I suppose all art did.
“It’s the circle of life exhibit,” Renny stated, as if reading my thoughts.
“How’d you know that?”
She held up a pamphlet she must’ve grabbed from the entrance.
I quickly scanned the room, hoping to find Zayn quickly so I could skip out just as quick.
Several of my professors were here, including Dr. Rhinecuff. When he saw me, I raised my hand, but he raised his cup of red wine awkwardly and looked away.
My hand wavered.
Odd.
Zayn was standing by the tree, speaking with an older woman. Her skin was a rich brown, short hair hidden beneath a chic scarf. The man beside her looked around the same age with graying facial hair, a pocket hanky, and beaded bracelets. Art professors.
I caught his gaze, and he gestured me over.
“Y/N, these are my instructors. David and Ebony.”
Their eyes lit up in recognition. “He did you a great justice,” David said, gray moustache twitching with the words.
Ebony beamed. “Oh yes, a piece was already sold. He’s going to be the next big wig before he graduates,” she gushed. “Zayn, I’m sure you’ll be splitting the profits with the heart of the piece.”
She gestured to me and his smile widened, but my stomach sank faster.
“I didn’t know these pieces were going to be sold.”
Ebony sensed my concern. The wine in her glass swirled. “We thought allowing the pieces to be shown and auctioned was a good way to replicate what many of them should be doing once they graduate. The whole department gets involved, and these kids put in a lot of work, and the reputation of starving artists isn’t something we want to buy into here.”
I nodded. “I mean, that’s great. That’s… really amazing.”
Zayn couldn’t meet my eyes. He knew. He could sense my hesitance, too.
“Now he can finally afford a nice dinner to take you out!” David proclaimed.
We were all quiet for a minute. “You know, for a thank you dinner,” David covered up. Zayn’s brows scrunched and he shook his head a bit, not knowing where David’s comment came from.
“Do you do this regularly?” Ebony asked, steering the conversation away from an awkward moment.
My ears pricked up when I realized she was looking at me. “Excuse me?”
“Well I was just thinking…” a light laugh lifted as if her idea would be outrageous. “Would you mind sitting in for one of my classes on Monday? Our model had a sudden death-”
“My God,” David proclaimed.
Ebony waved her hand. “-in his family. I haven’t called to replace him yet.”
It quieted as they looked at me, waiting for a response. “Oh, I don’t… I don’t usually do this. At all. It was a chance thing.”
“Luck be the artist.” David raised his glass.
Ebony followed suit, looking at my empty hand. “You just going to let her stand there without a drink?”
“Yeah, Zayn. What kind of treatment is this?” I teased.
He did a slight bow. “Apologies. We’ll walk to drinks, immediately.” He pulled us away, leading us further into the showroom as his head dipped low to my ear. “Renny just passed us to meet Felix and them. They’re through here.”
We stepped under an archway that led into a darker-lit room, but his hand stopped me beneath the nook. “Did yeh notice anything?”
Yeah. I was noticing how close we were in this archway. He saw my eyes start to squint in thought and he turned me around to face the room we’d just left.
“Look closer.”
My eyes roamed the crowd, trying to find some sort of person, or pattern he could be referring to. With a brief seize of my heart, I expected to see somebody from the gang.
“Look at the artwork, Y/N.” His breath warmed my skin.
The paintings all seemed to be bright, though sticking to red, orange, blacks, and grays. Wait, forget a pallette pattern. The next painting had blue and purple, too. One sculpture looked like a writhing ghost, twisting and reaching for something above. Or maybe it was an unearthed tree root. Despite all the bold colors, there was something off-putting about how bright they all were. It wasn’t a soothing brightness. It was almost violent. The orange and red writhing tapestries warped the ceiling into something hot.
“Is it hell?” I chortled, but quickly quieted. I expected him to take offense, but his hand went lightly around my waist with a small smile.
“Could be. See-” his arm extended out to scan the perimeter “-all this art is supposed to represent death, but challenge the notion of it through color.”
“How so?”
“Yeh know it’s usually your blacks, and your grays, s’depressing shit. But we’re born from death. Before life, there was nothing, but something. It’s bold and necessary and there, and no one really knows whatever comes before. Or after.” He looked at the room, taking a sip of wine. I watched as he swallowed, and I imagined the wine running down. “What is death but an uncertain existence.” He said the thought almost happily, looking at me with a slight smirk. “Could be anythin’.”
He took a deep breath, letting his hand touch the top of the archway. It was then that I noticed it wasn’t just plain drywall. A collage of photographs ran all along the inside.
He wasn’t as tall as Harry, but his hand still reached the top, scuffing across a picture of an African landscape taped over a toddler eating fruity pebbles.
“They’re pictures. Everyone donated one,” he said.
A strand of words were painted over the collage, running from one end of the archway to the other, and I tilted my head back to read it. “Things... that…. make... m..e …...feel alive.”
“Everyone was able to design their space in order to control, to some extent, how their art was perceived. Everyone was a part of the transition space.”
“Very nice,” I noted, slightly put-off. I hadn’t been expecting this art show to be so… professional. “Zayn, this is amazing. Like, really, truly, professional-grade stuff is happening. The presentation, the pieces, everything.”
His smile grew wider, putting cool hands over my eyes. I flinched, but let him.
I felt him come closer.
“Listen now,” he urged.
I listened, but I wasn’t sure for what. There was the familiar busy rumble of people mingling, parents visiting their kids, and professors droning on about the talent of their students. But it was chatter. I couldn’t make out one conversation over another. I shrugged up against his other hand that was atop my shoulder.
“Sometimes you need to change where you’re planted to understand.”
I hoped he could see my cross expression because I couldn’t tell if he was bullshitting me right now. It’d been a day. It’d been a night. And I wasn’t in the mood for more philosophical ramblings - especially about death. “I don’t know what you mean,” I sighed.
“Meaning I have to move you closer to the speakers.” He let out a breathy laugh. “Jus’ keep your eyes closed, okay?”
I nodded. His hand moved, tilting my head to its side. Eyes still closed, I became self-conscious imagining people trying to move past me, and here I was, planted, eyes closed in the middle of the archway. My cheeks heated. It was unnerving knowing people could see me when I couldn’t see them. And anyway, I must’ve looked ridiculous.
“What do you hear?” he urged.
“I hear a lot of people talking,” I griped.
But right when I was about to open my eyes-
I heard a familiar chirping through the chatter.
“Birds?” I opened my eyes.
“Observance can be taught, sometimes.” Zayn leant back, looking mighty proud of himself.
“Why are there birds?”
“We’re entering life,” he smiled, backing into the space. I tipped my wine back, several long gulps lightening my step as I followed him. Immediately, I noticed much more natural, earthier tones. For being a room of life, it was surprisingly darker than the prior room.
Renny, Felix, and Andre were huddled in the center where a makeshift wall-on-wheels covered in vines divided the room in half.
My eyes widened, trying to adjust to the dimness. “It’s a lot darker in here.”
“All intentional. They decided to play with light in here. People usually think of life being bright ‘n that, but it’s also when we experience varying degrees of darkness. There’s a balance to things and the trouble is finding it.” Understanding laced his voice as his dark eyes bore into mine, almost completely black. One look from Zayn and I was reminded of all the weight I’d been carrying. I fidgeted, uncomfortable seeing myself in his eyes.
“Y/N, get over here!” Renny called. My shoulders visibly relaxed. My saving grace. “You didn’t tell me you did this,” she said lowly as soon as I got close enough, shocked excitement barely contained. Her giddy smile gave it away though. “Miss sexy secret keeper over here.”
“What do you mean?”
She playfully poked my sides, but Andre and Felix avoided my gaze. Something wasn’t right. And it stirred my stomach, my body already knowing, somehow.
I turned in slow motion, the charcoal drawings in my peripherals stopping me in place. Framed amidst the vines, my face was etched onto paper, scrunching and twisting in various expressions. But my body was attached and twisting, too. And it was bare, bent over, spread out, laying down… My eyes scanned over them a dozen times in a second.
I was naked.
In all of them.
One was titled “21st Century Love.” In this one, I faced the viewer, but looked past them, sorrowful eyes, brows furrowed, breasts I’d never shown on full display. A hickey or two on my neck. A painful sting gripped my chest. I looked sad. I looked so sad.
Tunnel vision, a blurred Renny rushed down to the floor, and a distant part of me registered something wet splatter on my feet.
The wine had dropped.
I’d dropped it.
I was trapped in a shell. My body was numb.
“Babes, you okay?” Renny asked, her voice somewhere far away. Somewhere outside the shell, her voice drowned in the busy rumbling, with the birds, with the watchers. People were watching me now. I was being watched. “Felix, grab some towels!” she barked.
I looked horrified, towards Zayn, but changed my mind just as fast. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t even breathe.
He didn’t know me at all. He could stare at me for a thousand sessions and paint every crevice, sunspot, blemish, and mole and still not see me. How was an artist this blind? How could he not know that this was the last thing I could ever want? How could he picture me so… intimately?
The paintings seemed to swirl into one before bouncing back out into their separate exposees.
Because that’s what it was.
An exposure.
A stranger could pay to have me in their home.
The floor spun, vision spotting.
My lungs tightened, tearing me away from Renny, from Felix, from Andre. From Zayn, the artist who painted a confused girl so unashamed. So honestly. Savagely and Unabashedly.
“I didn’t want this.”
And it was when I was halfway out the door that I realized the voice had come from me, a mantra pushing my shell all the way home.
part 22
#fratboy! harry#fratboy!harry#harry styles imagine#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles fanfic#zayn blurb#harry styles one shot#zayn preference#zayn one shot#zayn imagine#harry styles#one direction#1direction#one direction imagine#one direction one shot#one direction preferences#harry styles preference#harry styles blurb#zayn fluff#zayn malik one shot#harry styles fluff#onedirection#zayn malik#zayn#niall horan#smut#fluff#harry imagine#harry one shot#harry blurb
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Get me out of here - places to go when canon is complicated
It’s Day 3, time to celebrate those stories that I turn to when I can’t deal with canon, or when I don’t have the emotional energy to untangle all the emotions I have for what’s going on in canon. Alternative universes, the safe harbor for us. Below are a mix of rewrites of canon, remixes of canon, or out right not even set in Roswell- to fill every type distance you want from canon- from near to far.
The first story I’m reccing is a long one,- so pardon the very long review below.
my love is a life taker by @jocarthage (267,600) So one day, Jessi popped into discord to share a dream she had about timetravel and being able to save yourself in the past basically, particularly Alex getting to give his baby-self a hug, and we all went, “holy shit that’s a cool fic idea please write it!” and really reality sucks right now with quarantine and whatnot, so what better thing to do than follow a WIP? I can’t tell you how badly I needed to something to look forward to as I was staring down a milestone birthday with all my plans in tatters, and this story filled the void.
Okay- now about the actual story itself, the world building about time travel in this is incredible but easy to absorb. Jessi dumps you straight into the action in chapter 1 with Alex, at 28, assassinating an Iraqi intelligence agent in 2009 that averts a bomb that was planned on US forces. You learn so much about both the story-universe and Alex here- one, that even dressed in mask and killing someone, Alex is kind and uses morphine as an overdose and has arranged for his victim’s family to be compensated, you learn that time agents can only visit places they themselves have visited during that time, and Jesse Manes had dragged his son, who was ‘time aware’ to every place of war and ruin on the planet before he was 18 and that, Alex’s victim, even as he’s dying, recognizes what a shit childhood Alex had but that Alex doesn’t.
The next part is where Alex’s time crystal malfunctions, instead of returning him to 2018, it takes him to 1998 where an 8 year old Michael is getting beaten by his foster dad and Alex, out of his time line mysteriously, visible to only Michael, saves him, but only temporarily. We all know with abusers, until you’re out of the house, it’s just a matter of time before the next beating. However, with one act, Alex at 28 starts putting into action (even though he doesn’t recognize it at the time) the steps to save his own life as he works to save Michael from his childhood. Each mission, each jump through time, Alex meets Michael, always a year apart and only for 1000 seconds, or almost 17 minutes. Jessi takes you through some of the darkest points of US foreign policy, only as Alex takes control of his life, he also starts to change the missions, and change the world. The details of places, people, food, etc are authentic from the author’s experience, if you don’t click on the links at the end of the chapters and disappear down google-rabbit holes about the events in history, well- you’re made of stronger stuff than I am. There are lots of heavy subjects discussed, but there’s always care and honesty behind the intent. The way Michael grows, the way Alex grows, and of course the journey to the present time when they could be together? It’s like pining on steroids but it’s so wonderful. I wish I could pull out one thing that I loved in particular in this story- but it’s impossible, only to say that I love that I could disappear completely within the confines of ‘my love is a life taker’ knowing that I would be kept safe by the author, that goodness prevails.
when I’m oceans away by @neapeaikea (28,000) this is a post-2008 shed canon-divergent AU where Alex Manes, after the best/worst night of his life bolts from Roswell and leaves Michael behind. 10 years later, on the hunt for a child conceived at Caulfield, Michael walks into a youth home in California and finds Alex. A few things, I love that this author writes an Alex who didn’t join the Air Force but still lost a leg, I don’t really enjoy disability erasure in modern AUs (I’m better at looking past that in historical or sci fi aus) . It’s pretty clear after five minutes that the connection between the two men is still there and strong despite anger, secrets and guilt. The teasing and flirting between them is great but so is the acceptance of baring their vulnerabilities. I loved the care they take with each other, and the tie in to an alien child is just so perfect.
Crucibles (series) @ninswhimsy (9,000)- I’m cheating and naming both here, but obviously nin had her finger on the pulse of fandom, by writing crusade-set queer stories before The Old Guard ever boomed into a fandom from the movie. I was lucky enough to trade DMs over the ideas of holiness and the body, and how Alex would have treated himself, certain of his doomed soul, and how Michael would have responded in turn. It’s no secret I love everything Nin writes, but this series stuck in my mind. I will be drifting off to sleep, and think about Alex walking through the ancient city of Aleppo, ready to be done with his burden and Michael there with soft palms and scented oil, and boom! I reach for my kindle to re-read it.
no regrets if we walk this new road by @andrea-lyn (97,000) This author has written so many amazing AUs, some quite far away from canon events like her Mummy AU or her Avengers AU, but I have to say, I have a very soft-spot for this rewrite of season 1 for a lot of reasons. I mean, it’s 2020, so my appetite for Cop!Max is definitely at an all-time low, so the idea of exchanging his job with Kyle’s was extremely appealing. At least Kyle is a POC holding the badge, not a white man like our canon. Anyway, politics aside, this story is special to me for the scorching good Isobel/Kyle relationship that develops, the way Isobel sharpens herself into a lawyer (not an event planner) and how Michael rounds his own edges off in turn by becoming a teacher (and being secretly married). Each deviation from canon made complete sense once you alter the way Rosa’s death affects the pod squad, and how they covered it up ripples out toward Liz, Kyle, etc.
Layer on layer, down on down by @dotsayers (9,440) I love sci-fi tropes, especially time-loops, but they are incredibly hard to write (I know, I abandoned mine a while ago) so this story stands out because of just how well done the execution is and also the angst. Michael in a time loop about Caulfield, like how great/agonizing is that? The plot is so good, how it ties into Caulfield and why it happens in the first place, like wow. The care, and the hurt, and the fatigue that Michael has in this story, oh you just want to wrap him in a blanket. There’s a tiny throwaway line about how one of the first things Michael learned to do in foster care was to make himself heavy and unmovable- and you instantly picture kid!Michael not wanting to be removed from a house - like my heart broke! The structure of the story, with the background of his just how much he loves Alex but how badly it hurts to see him die, really makes this study of 1x12 special. Along with all the angst, there’s tiny gallows humor lines, so am I weird, that I laughed through a couple of these scenes even as Michael kept dying?
Petty pace by @aewriting (11,600) Aewriting has a couple of stellar AUs, so trying to pick just one was difficult, but I rather feel this story is sadly underappreciated it (mind the tags). It was a remix of @iwontbeyourmedicine ‘s fantastic ‘Freaky Friday’, where the humans and aliens swap roles. Alex in the role of Michael basically was something I had never pictured until Ly wrote that story, and now feel utterly changed by it, especially with this backstory- the idea of Jesse Manes bringing a foster child home? Incredibly well done because there’s an off the charts level of menace in this story. The way Jesse watches Alex, who at first mistakes it for how a pedophile might size up a victim, but then catches on quickly that it’s so much worse in a lot of ways. And Alex is such a loner in the beginning, even as he reconnects with his pod siblings Liz and Maria, he’s still planning on keeping his head down and leaving Roswell far behind. Like freedom is literally the only thing he can conceive of for himself, no real dreams outside of that until Michael slips under his defenses. I probably could have saved this story for angst day- because the second half of the story, if you don’t sob while you read it, then I dunno. It’s helpful to read Ly’s story right afterward as a reminder that things do get better for Alex ten years later. In a lot of ways this story is sadder than canon (though there’s no murder of Rosa/4th alien), I’m comforted that at least Alex has Liz in the aftermath, alike in heartache in a way that Michael didn’t have because of the pact he and Max made about Isobel in canon.
Unexpected tidings by @bestillmyslashyheart (24,800) Another rewrite of canon, that explores a couple of very interesting questions, like what would it look like if Michael never made it back to Roswell as a kid but met Alex by chance in 2008? Imagine the cornerstone of the Lost Decade love affair revolving around the mundane questions of a long distance relationship that wasn’t built on the pain of the shed or Rosa’s death? Marlo writes an amazing take on this, that is both real and deep with the normal couple problems, before introducing that spanner in the works of oh yeah, aliens are real. With Michael on the east coast, and Alex finishing off his service in Roswell, Project Shepherd still entangles Alex with Liz bringing him in on the secret in hopes that with his hacker skills he can track down the third alien child that Max and Iz remember so they can warn him. As interesting as the current plot was, I found myself absolutely revitted the slow piecemeal reveals that Marlo doled out about Alex and Michael’s relationship over time. (I also while rereading this recently got very nostaglic for season 1 Alex who didn’t trust Jesse as far as he could toss him.)
Don’t Punish Me For What I Feel by @winged-fool (3,600) Tarsus IV AU - another wonderful author with a catalog of great AUs, both sci-fi and dark, and honestly it was difficult to narrow it down to one. This story, well in 2009 I was a hard core Trek movie fan, so when I saw a trek-fusion story appear, I knew I would love it just on that basis. The thing is, this gave me Michael as the Captain, a surprisingly rare role for these space fusions, even though genius level repeat offender Jim Kirk and genius level repeat offender Michael Guerin seems pretty married in my mind as a connection. As a Tarsus-like story, all the tags are well earned by the story that Alex finally shares with Michael. It hit on so many levels, the hurt/comfort level for sure, but also to have a story where Michael is this stalwart protector of Alex was really nice to find.
this isn’t the ‘holiday best friends championship’ by @usbournejez (6,090) alright to leave this on a lighter note, my final AU rec is this masterpiece by Kieran that was part of Malex Secret Santa gift fics- and what a gift it was to all of us! The way she writes established Malex is first-rate, because she always includes their canon-levels of snark/sharpness but it’s never directed at each other and that’s something I love. Here we have Alex, where we learn in just a few short lines, is a huge control freak but has the extremely big emotional handicap, and that’s his love/fondness/deserve to caretake Michael. Emotional cactus Alex who is soft for Michael? Love it. There are small drops of angsty backstory peppered in this, but really that just fuels just how sweet and wonderful the main theme of the story- which is Alex might hate the whole world at large, he loves, protects and worships Michael (and vice versa). As someone who can bake cookies, but that’s about it, I was still enthralled with the baking details and this story has never failed to encourage me to eat dessert before dinner basically.
#rnmcreate2020#malex fic#roswell new mexico#malex fic rec#malex#MALEX FEELS#michael guerin#alex manes#fandom positivity#worship our great authors in this fandom#can we pretend it's Wednesday?#a day late and a dollar short#working on today's now!
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Survey #401
“my love is just waiting to turn your tears to roses”
Do you typically do your makeup the same each time? Or do you like to change it up often? IF I wear makeup, it's essentially always the same. Who is the last person you were in a room with just the two of you? What were you doing? Yesterday with Mom. We were trying to find the best deal on Eco Earth, a substrate we're getting for Venus. What was the last really good book you read, and what was it about? If we're talking REALLY good book, then The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. In short summary, it's a dystopian future novel where women are now basically just objects used only for repopulation, even having their names stripped from them. They follow very strict rules as society has returned to horrible misogyny. As a woman, the "oh my god, this is possible" aspect of it is terrifying, and it causes such a sense of disgust and urge to ensure women rights always continue to be fought for. Do you feel safe in your country? For the most part, I'd say. I guess. There are places I'd feel safer, though. How many meals do you eat a day? Three. Have you ever performed a solo dance in front of a crowd? No, but I was supposed to my senior year in high school; the seniors at my dance studio were always welcome to do a solo in celebration. Mine was a modern dance to "Coma White" by Marilyn Manson, wanting to tell a story about depression and how being medicated could feel, but I eventually decided like halfway through learning the choreography that I was just too nervous to do a solo. Have you ever sung a solo? No. When you go to McDonalds, what drink do you usually get? Coke. Have you ever had to call and complain about a product you bought? No. Do you own a designer purse? Definitely not. I'm not wasting that much money on something like that. What’s the weirdest rumor you’ve ever heard about yourself? Apparently, Jason and I had a baby in high school even though I was obviously never pregnant. To my knowledge, it was started by his ex. Who is now a good friend of mine lmaooo. Life is funny. What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon growing up? Pokemon, of course. Would you ever have an affair? Nope. Would you ever have a one night stand? Nope. Where you present at any major historical events (e.g. 9/11)? No. What are your opinions on marijuana legalization? Legalize it, but treat it similarly to alcohol in that driving under the influence is illegal and punishable, and I believe you should be of a certain age. How about abortion? I am pro-choice. I was pro-life most of my own life, but now I am very firm about a mother being able to choose if she wants to endure a pregnancy or not. Like, that is a MASSIVE life event that almost inevitably changes - and sometimes traumatizes - people. I do believe a fetus is its own body and not part of the mother's, but rather in the mother's, but the belief that a woman decides what she wants in her body is her choice, too. I'm not very fond of people treating abortion as a simple, regular form of birth control, like it's nothing but an "lol whoops," but I still believe it is ultimately her decision, and she should always be free of judgment for doing what is best for her. Do you wear skirts or dresses more often? Neither. I wouldn't dare wear a skirt more so, though. What do you think about tipping at restaurants? There should always be an expected minimum, imo, unless the person was truly, sincerely, genuinely fucking awful. Waiters do not have an easy job, fight me about it, and they're just trying to survive while putting on a happy, jovial face, all the while dealing with hungry people who can be such assholes. I believe the actual tip should relate to actual service, but again, give them something. Would you ever get back together with any of your exes? One, absolutely. The other would take a shitload of consideration and proper communication on his part. Do you have a preferred coffee brand? No, because I don't like coffee. Do you usually befriend your coworkers, or do you prefer to keep work separate from your personal life? IF I had a job, I'd like to build a friendship with those I have to engage with almost every day. What is something you frequently forget? Dates, ages, names, what I was about to do five seconds before I forgot... Pretty much everything. My memory is frightfully poor. Is there any drama currently going on with your family? No. When you take a nap, do you nap in bed or on the couch? In my bed. Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you? Both; my parents split when I was somewhere around 17, though, but I'd say there wasn't much more "raising" to do at that age. Have you ever stolen anything? If so, why? No. Have you ever plagiarized someone else's work? Hell no. What's your most-used mode of transportation? My mom's car. Have you ever taught someone else a useful skill? Not to my recollection. Does seeing everyone else's 'perfect lives' posted on social media ever bring you down or affect how you feel about yourself? It actually does, honestly. Not ALWAYS, but if I'm being honest, it does most of the time. I've contemplated deleting Facebook for that reason, but with is also comes things that make me happy, and I think I'd feel even more isolated without it. What is your favorite Hostess/Little Debbie snack? This is SO impossible for me to answer. I loooove Hostess and Little Debbie treats. I want to say honeybuns, but I also love those chocolate cupcakes with the white swirls on top, as well as Twinkies. Very few exist that I don't like. Do you/your family buy loafs from the bakery or bagged on the shelf? We just buy bagged bread. What’s the best news you’ve gotten lately? My APAP mask is definitively WORKING!!!!! :') Mom got an app that connects to the machine via Bluetooth that monitors the effectiveness of the mask, evaluating many factors of your sleep, and it's detecting a definite decrease in disruptive behaviors or something like that. It is so, SO encouraging to know that. ^And, the worst? Hm. Oh, probably some news on something serious a good friend is going through, but I don't feel it's my right to disclose what. It's just a very worrying and potentially dangerous issue that I wish I could help her with. Would you rather receive (or give) flowers, chocolates or jewelry? I'd appreciate any, but my fat ass is drawn to the chocolate, ha ha. What *I* would give would vary depending on what the person liked. How do you feel about coconut? Smells lovely, but is otherwise gross. ^ Ever cracked one open? No, but omg I've always wanted to, haha. What’s the best thing about being your gender? I guess the fact it's more "normal" and "accepted" to show our emotions. Fuck that generalization, though. I don't give a shit what your gender is, you experiencing emotions is NORMAL and welcomed to be expressed. ^ And the worst thing? The ability to be raped and impregnated by it. Do you do your part to save the earth? I don't do nearly enough. :/ We recycle, but that's about it. Well, none of us DARE to litter either, but I still don't feel like it's as much as the earth deserves from its denizens. Who do you think should have their portrait on a bill? I don't know or care. Why did you last feel exhausted? Yesterday was my niece's birthday, and I spent essentially ALL day playing with her and her brother. I have a very limited battery when it comes to kids, and I was running on empty for hours. My anxiety was SO high and I really needed a break from them, but they're too young to really understand that Aunt Britt can only socially run for so long before I'm completely burnt out, and TRUST ME, I was there for sure. I didn't want them to think they did something wrong, you know? I just had to keep going. I slept like a baby last night though for sure, haha. Have you ever used emotional blackmail to get your own way? Wow, no. Has anybody ever used emotional blackmail on you? No. Who did you last worry about and why? Sara for health reasons. Are you currently looking for a new place to live? Not actively, but Mom and I definitely want to move. We feel very out-of-place here in the suburbs. Which would you prefer as a view; mountains or the sea? Mountains. Do you have a mouse for your laptop? (Assuming you have a laptop) Yes. I canNOT play games with a trackpad. Do you apologize a lot? Extremely excessively. When you get married what do you think you’ll put most of your focus and money into? Do you mean like, for the wedding? In that case, probably the venue. Being a photography buff, I want a place I think is really pretty to have pictures taken. What’s something you complain about frequently? My legs hurting, my weight, and being hot. Do you have anything planned for the summer? Nope, and that's fine with me. I'd rather stay inside away from the heat. Who usually makes dinner in your household? My ma. Do you have a blog? Just on Tumblr. Does anyone in your family snore loudly? My mother does because of gerd, and at least when my father still lived with us, he snored super loud, too. Do you want to fix anything with anyone? Yeah, a few people. What shows do you watch? Right now, only Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty. Whenever The Edge of Sleep comes out, I will 110% be watching that, too, because Mark is a key actor in it. :') Plus the concept seems super cool. Have you ever broken someone’s heart? I don't know. Who was the last person you had a conversation with on the phone? Me mum. Does the song you’re currently listening to remind you of anyone specific? No, given it has like... one lyric, haha. Do you own any TV show soundtracks? No. Last thing you did that made you feel like an adult? I mean I guess sign myself in at the doctor's. What’s your favorite picture of your mom? Dad? Oh my god, there's a candid one I got of Mom laughing when she was posing as my subject for a photography assignment, and I cherish it with ALL my heart. I want to share it with essentially the whole world, but yeah, I'm not gonna put my mom's picture here. As for my dad, I like this one I took of us at Red Lobster for his birthday a year or two back. Last TV show series you finished? Fullmetal Alchemist with Sara. Favorite flavor of cream cheese? Regular. What US state would you like to visit? Alaska. Last meal you made yourself? I put a chicken pesto thing in the microwave earlier for dinner.
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Study tips/school advice
1- Once you get your syllabi put all of the due dates in your calendar
2- Make an assignment sheet for each class that you can look at throughout the year
3- Make a full assignment sheet with all due dates from all of your classes (organized by date)
4- Don’t be afraid to email your professors if you have a question that you can’t answer on your own
5- Be sure to send thank you emails to your professor when they help you with something
6- Don’t be afraid to go to your professor’s office hours. They exist for a reason (if you are not available during the professor’s office hours email them to find a time when you are both free)
7- Check your email! Seriously just do it! Check at least once a day! (but preferably more!)
8- If you don’t understand something do your best to get a good understanding of it as (if you have the same bad luck as I do) the one thing you don’t understand will most likely show up on the test. Don’t just hope it won’t show up on the test!
9- Don’t cram before an exam! Schedule your time so that you can relax/rest the night before the test (I will admit I normally take a glance over my notes the morning of the exam, but this is used as a refresher not an attempt for last-minute learning.
10- I see a lot of people suggest that you read through the whole exam before answering any questions. I would not recommend this as most exams are timed. Instead, I would suggest going through the exam in order skipping questions you don’t know to come back to later. (this way you can maximize the number of questions you get to that you do know the answer to without wasting time)
11- Over prepare for every test!
12- Take a mental note of how prepared you feel before a test/exam and the grade you make on said test/exam. The goal is to be able to have a pretty good guess as to what you will make on the test/exam based on how prepared you feel.
13- Use a final grade calculator (or this one) to see what you have to make on a final exam to get the grade you want (this is helpful to know what classes you will need to study more for)
14- Don’t skip class unless you absolutely have too. Showing up is half the battle.
15- On the first few days of each class wear layers because you never know how hot/cold each class will be. Take note of the temperature in each class and plan accordingly as the class goes on.
16- Show up to class a few minutes early (don’t bother showing up very early as the class before yours will probably still be in session, but you also don’t want to accidentally be late)
17- In class sit where is best for you (this will take some trial and error) I personally prefer to sit 2-3 rows back against the wall)
18- Write the date at the top of each of your papers (notes and handouts) this will make it easier to know what to study when your professor says the exam will cover everything from date A to date B.
19- Take class notes in your own words. If you can’t write it in your own words than you don’t understand it.
20- Learn and use abbreviations [here is @studyquirks post about it] and make your own for words you write often
21- read ahead in the textbooks so you will have a basic understanding when your professors bring a topic up.
22- Start studying from day one (even if it feels like there isn’t enough to go over)
23- Have specific goals for each study session.
24- Know your learning style and use it to your advantage
25- Find out what time of day you study best (for me this is first thing in the morning and around 3-6pm)
26- Don’t skip studying a section/subject just because you don’t find it interesting. Give each subject the time it deserves.
27- Get dressed to study (there is something about having shoes on that makes me feel productive)
28- This is a link to my main study method
29- Recall is the most important aspect of studying (as it is what you will have to do for a test)
30- Study what you are weakest on most but don’t neglect stuff that you already know. Review everything at least once.
31- Make the term memorable to YOU (for example I can remember what quid-pro-quo means because I have a trump voice in my head say “quid-pro-quo I’d like a favor though”)
32- Quizlet doesn’t work for me. The act of making physical flashcards helps me learn
33- Don’t make flashcards for things you already know
34- If you need a quick basic understanding of something to google the topic followed by “for kids” (example moon phases for kids)
35- If you get distracted while studying write down the distraction and promise yourself, you will deal with it during a break/ when you are done studying.
36- STOP MULTITASKING! Seriously you will get stuff done quicker if you give each task your full attention.
37- Studying is not a competition. (I see people on Tumblr/Instagram almost bragging about how long they study for, sometimes claiming 9+ hours, a day. This is not realistic!) remember quality over quantity.
38- Do the homework even if it isn’t graded. It will help you.
39- Make new deadlines for projects to make sure the projects get done on time (I usually set the new due take 3-7 days before the actual due date)
40- Start long term assignments within 3 days of it being assigned
41- Do all of your assignments (I often see people say it’s okay to skip a few assignments) in my opinion it is better to turn in a rushed/half-assed assignment than to have a 0 in the grade book.
42- When writing an opinion piece, you don’t have to write about your opinion (although you will probably enjoy writing about your own opinion more.)
43- If you plan on studying at the library find the least populated area (for my school this is the second floor)
44- Try and avoid the school’s library during exam season as it tends to get busy (instead try other places on campus, the public library, or a coffee shop)
45- Page flags/tabs/sticky notes are useful. Use them.
46- I prefer to use highlighters to underline rather than highlight the normal way. (the normal way makes it harder to reread as your eye is drawn to the highlighted portion)
47- Don’t over highlight (instead highlight small sections/words and expand on it in your own words in the margins/ on sticky notes)
48- When reading write summaries on sticky notes (keep these summaries concise and to the point)
59- When reading to take notes (such as from as a textbook) skim the section before doing a deep read (where you highlight/annotate) as it is difficult to know if a sentence is important without context.
50- When doing required readings for classes take detailed notes and summaries the reading in your own words both to help you understand the reading and so you can look back at the summaries when you need a refresher (like before an exam)
51- If you know you will be asked to write about the reading keep a list of quotes (with page numbers) and a description of why the quote is important/relevant
52- If you are reading a whole book, make sure to make summaries for each chapter and keep track of plot points (for when you are making an overall summary of the book/reading.
53- In short summarize! Summarize! Summarize!
54- ALL NIGHTERS ARE A WASTE OF TIME! Try and avoid them at all costs. Plan your time effectively and you won’t have to pull all-nighters.
55- Use a website like google drive or one drive to keep all of the assignments you are currently working on, so you don’t have to worry about carrying around a flash drive.
56- Give yourself a day off once a week where you don’t work on anything school-related (for me this is Sunday)
57- Use alarms to remind you to do things/ get you to do things (I use silent alarms on my watch to remind me when to leave so I can make it to my next class etc)
58- Study groups don’t work for me and I have found that they are a waste of my time.
59- Keep a list of all the places to study around campus for when the library is closed/busy
60- The Pomodoro method doesn’t work on me. I focus too much on how much time is left and not enough on my studies
61- Try a social media break
62- Mind maps don’t work for me. I find it much more effective to use a linear progression of thoughts
63- Don’t feel like you have to join clubs if you don’t want to.
64- Give yourself incentives (ex if I make a B+ or higher on this paper I will plan a movie night with friends, although don’t disregard pleasure if you don’t do well on a test/paper)
65- Clean your desk/study area every time you are done using it
66- Follow the two-minute rule, if it can be done in two minutes do it right then (don’t follow this while studying just write down a list of everything that needs to be done and do them once your study session is over)
67- Don’t rely on motivation. Rely on discipline. Be a parent to yourself.
68- Eat breakfast if you can (I know eating early upsets some people’s stomach) and always pack a snack in case you don’t have time for lunch
69- Try to carry as little as possible in your bag (if you can’t avoid carrying multiple textbooks try carrying one/some textbooks in your arms to help distribute the weight)
70- Keep a water bottle, chargers for all of your electronics, all the pens/highlighters, and study materials you will needs in your study area (so you won’t be tempted to get up and walk away from your studies)
71- Keep just one folder in your bag for all of the handouts you are given throughout the day. Organize these papers by class/topic/chapter when you get home
72- Clean out your bag often (I clean out mine every day)
73- Remember the best tips are the ones that work for you!!!!
#studyblr#study#study tips#college#University#studyblr community#uni#100 days of productivity#study notes#lanblr#bookblr#studygram#advice#school#high school#100dop#study blog#productivity#bullet journal#studying#student#studyspo#new studyblr#study aesthetic#study motivation#pretty notes#notes#digital note taking#dark academia#light academia
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Tagged by @captain-teddy-reese
50 Questions: OC Interview
1. What’s your name?
“Howdy. I’m Patricia Marlow.”
2. Give us your full name
“...Ah fine! My middle name’s Winifred... Patricia...Winifred...Marlow.
3. Do you have a nickname? If yes, what is it and how did you come to have it?
“I’ve been called shorter of my names: Pat, Patsy, Patty Cake (don’t bother askin’ why.) But folks way out south west know me as “Peckin’ Pat Marlow. I shot my town’s sheriff the day after...his obstruction of justice. Gave him that kiss he wanted afterwards. And it became a habit with anyone I killed as leader of the Marlow Marauders.”
4. What species are you? (Human, werewolf, etc? Or are you an alien?)
“Last I checked...I’m still human.”
5. Where were you born?
“I was born in a town the south west of texas. It was famous for its large lake and gold mine a few miles out. Just make sure you have ginseng and special vegetation for the snakes and lizards...I wouldn’t head there if I were you. Hasn’t rained for 13 years.”
6. I see. And that would make your age...?
“That would make me...36 years old.”
7. Okay, now...are you a good guy, or a bad guy?
“What I’ve done doesn’t make me a saint, but it don’t mean I have bad morals.”
Part II: Tell Us More About Yourself...
8. How would you describe your personality?
“Back before I was soft, sweet and kind..had to be for the kids, but I still held myself firm for the adults as well. When the town reared it’s ugly head...I became a different person; ruthless, vengeful, hard hearted, didn’t take shit from no person when it came to me and my gang. It take no responsibility for indirect harm because they didn’t handle circumstances better! I was willing to do whatever it takes to get vengeance not with death, but with nothin’ for ‘em left! But I couldn’t my gang be taken with me in my final moments.
But after that last score, when I suddenly found myself alive and rescued. I began to mellow out...I still had my temper and was satisfied with what I’ve accomplished, but I became more aware of how the world was changing. So I just wander the lands to keep an eye on this changing world and hope it’s for the better.”
9. Would you say you're someone who can handle pressure?
“I’ve had moments where I was frustrated...but I’ve managed to maintain my composure around misbehaving kids and disrespectful adults.”
10. Do you like to read?
“Well, yeah. What kind of teacher doesn’t like to read?”
11. Favourite Colour
“I’ve grown fond of the colour black.”
12. Do you get along with others?
“Just because I get along with people doesn’t mean I like them. I do so to get the job done, and if they don’t cross me I choose them to stick close and see how things turn out.”
13. Do you have any enemies?
“Many could call me their enemy, but the one I call my nemesis won’t bother me anymore...”
14. How about friends?
“I became friends with my gang through the trust and teamwork we had for over 13 years. I’m sure they’re all fine and free. I have met other folks but I can’t call them friends just yet.”
15. Are you patient?
“I can be...When your a teacher you have to be patient to know more about situations.”
Part lll: Hypothetically...
16. Suppose that you could become any creature you know of. What would you pick, and why?
“I’ll say a cougar. They’re just as vicious, independent, dexterous, with some self indulgence. They can still purr, y’know?”
17. One of your enemies in question 13 just complimented you. Response?
“Which one? If it’s Gill then he’s complimenting me with sarcasm and rage since he’s still not found the loot. His generation’s gonna be diggin’ for years and won’t be the ones to find it.”
18. One of your friends in Question 14 just insulted you. Response?
“I prefer their insults as criticism. But at least their words won’t mean they betray me straight away.”
19. If you could change anything about yourself...
“I can’t see me changin’ anytime soon...but I guess I gotta find somethin’ else to do without second guessin’.”
20. About your home...
“It ain’t like a manor, but It had enough space for my parents and my things...But it was so damn expensive thanks to Gill’s daddy...it got burnt down by an angry mob, along with my school, Miles’s stand and his donkey, Sally-Ann...
Part IV: Now We Get Personal
21. What're your parents like?
“They were geniuses compared to the other folk in town. Both of em met in the city where they got their degree. I don’t think their families approved though, as I haven’t heard a thing about my grandparents. But they were good people using their money to buy two properties, for my home and school.
But I can’t give em that. Their last wish was to make sure I improved the head on my soldiers before they slowly died together from Diphtheria...I didn’t know they passed until Miles came to check on me.”
22. Do you have any siblings?
“None. I was an only child, thank goodness. If I had a younger baby sister, Gill would target her more than me...”
23. What's your occupation?
“I used to be a teacher in my hometown. Since I was the only women with the knowledge thanks to my parents education, I took up the role. Taught both kids and adults to read and write.”
24. I see, that's a good job to have. Do you like it?
“I enjoyed my job when it came to the kids. Nothin made me feel better than givin’ them somewhere to be while adults did their own thing, though I wished I could have give them more subjects, but reading and writing was more tolerable to teach than the other things that adults couldn’t make sense of. As for the adults...I won’t lie there are some worse than the children. Way worse.”
25. Are you seeing/dating anyone?
“No...”
26. Married/Engaged/Other?
“I wished for that with someone once.”
27. If yes, how did you meet?
“...I met Miles Wiley when I first came to town after my parents moved. He was a vegetable farmer with a donkey he claimed was over a century old from the vegetables he ate. Many folks who can’t afford the doctor’s fee often came to him for tonics, ointments, all sorts of ailments that were reliable, especially for the gold miners who came for the juice as repellent for the lizards. Before me he was the only stranger in that town...He made me welcome even after I took over the town’s teacher and helped repair my school, only askin’ for the spiced apricots I made.
But the town found out how close we really was from our first...and last kiss. He only wanted to fix me after being broken down for so long...We tried to escape by boat, but of course Gill had his ferry and me and Miles weren’t much of a shot...He wasn’t even armed but he shot him...he shot him even as I held him.
28. Tell us your biggest secret.
“Aside from people thinkin’ I’m dead? Everyone knew about me and Miles so I got no big secret to hide.”
29. Your worst fear? You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to.
“After what the Sheriff did, I fear being put into that situation again where I was taken advantage of right under others noses...Then there’s being in the middle of a ring of fire.”
30. Favorite food?
“I may had made spiced apricots once upon a time but it ain’t my favourite food. I don’t have it as much as I like to...but I do miss that Pecan pie.”
30. Favorite drink?
“Spiced Island Moonshine. I just discovered this recipe and it tastes like the goods of home and warm escape. I could kiss Marcel for makin’ this but... then I’d have have to kill him.”
31. Tell us one thing you're the most proud of.
“I would have said getting revenge on Gill for killing Miles was the best thing that happened...But I never imagined letting the group go free after our last score would take that. Some graduation, huh?”
32. Something embarrassing? You don't have to answer this one, either.
“Whatever is embarrassing is what happens when I’m drunk...”
33. If you didn't answer Questions 29 and/or 33, tell me why.
“I may have mellowed out from my recovery, but I have my damn pride still.”
34. Is that a good reason?
“Just take it as you will...”
Part V: Closing
35. Are you satisfied with your life?
“I felt like my life was nearly wasted than satisfied. I loved Miles but I wasted my life in that town. I remembered my gang more fondly than the town. But I’m still young to do somethin’.”
36. Anything you feel like you have to do? It can be something long-term, like a bucket list, or something you need to do right now.
“Well my vengeance has been achieved and leading a gang is something to tick off. I’m gonna start looking for things as Patricia Marlow and not Peckin’ Pat.”
37. Any hobbies?
“I have developed a thing for watching shows in the theatre, and I used to play the banjo to sing songs with kids. I’m sure I haven’t gone too rusty.”
38. Quick, you get one wish! What did you just wish for? It's alright, you can tell me...
“I wish Miles was alive....That’s the one thing I can’t have back.”
39. How would you describe that wish? Good? Bad? Selfish? Selfless? Other?
“I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us...Folk wouldn’t have approved of us, but...we’d be more free if we got out together.”
40. Have you been honest with these questions?
“That I have...Now that you know me it’s all about what u gonna do?”
41. Your personal quote?
“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
42. Do you like change?
“It’s what I fought for when things didn’t change enough...”
43. What's your most valued possession?
“Since they burned Miles’s body, I wasn’t left with much to remember him. It was a good thing I found his hat after I left town, but I haven’t taken it out of my satchel since.”
44. Anything else you feel like sharing?
“Not right now, I ain’t.”
50. Last question!...yup, that's it! How do you feel?
“Like a few pounds has been lifted off my shoulders. Or it might just be one of my firearms...Haha! Don’t worry, I just gotta reload.”
#red dead redemption 2#red dead online#red dead oc#rdr2 oc#red dead roleplay#red dead rp#oc questions#patricia marlow#peckin’ pat marlow#arthur morgan#dutch van der linde#oc interview
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What’s a Batman story you wish someone else would write for you instead of writing yourself??
Gotta tell you, I got super excited when I got this ask, because there are so many things!! That I would love to see happen!! That I’ll never get around to writing!! So uh, strap in because this is gonna be a big ol’ list :) I’m gonna organize these so that it starts with gen ideas and then switches to darker ones (otherwise, really in no particular order). Also, because it’s me, many of these are Dick-centric.
1. First up is a Batfam Hogwarts AU, but with the specifications that Dick is a Slytherin, Jason is a Ravenclaw, Tim is a Slytherin, and Damian is a Hufflepuff. Skalidra actually made an amazing post about this that I agree with so fucking much, and I want a fic that does this justice.
2. Batbros are actually blood bros. I know there are a couple of these already out there, but not the way I picture it in my head, so here you go: Bruce knows about Dick while the kid is growing up, visits the circus any time it’s in town, takes Dick out for ice cream & shit like that, but Dick thinks this is just some family friend his parents like him hanging out with. It’s not until Mary and John fall that Dick learns the truth about his parents. For Tim – Janet never really wanted a kid, so when she and Bruce sleep together (up to you to figure out why) and got pregnant, she was like “okay brucie as soon as this pops out you can keep it” which, once Tim was born, Bruce did. Jason can go so many ways, so up to you!
3. Transgender Dick!! Yes, these are already out there. Yes, I want so many more! Give me the struggle of coming to the realization while amongst Gotham’s high society. Give me extra supportive Bruce or a Bruce that just can’t wrap his head around the concept and absolutely fails to be in any way a good parent of a trans kid. Or take the extra step and give me a non-binary Dick!!! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one of those, and as an enby individual, I really would love to.
4. Jason as a teacher. Do whatever the fuck you want with that, but I want to see Jason teaching literature. Still in the superhero world, no alternate world where Batman isn’t a thing. I want a Jason who’s been Robin and died and come back and been Red Hood and is a teacher.
5. I had a dream about Dick being a clone, and then an idea popped up behind it: In the Young Justice cartoon world, the Light makes another clone of Superman. But this time, the human DNA they used to stabilize the Kryptonian part isn’t Lex Luthor’s DNA, but Batman’s! That Superman-Batman clone is Dick. While Conner gets rescued by the YJ team, Dick (or whatever title CADMUS gave him, like how Conner was just called “The Superboy”) isn’t found, and is trained to fight against the team of young heroes as the Light’s weapon. Dick gets captured eventually and Bruce&Clark find out about their clone baby. Throw in some Superbat if you feel like it, or just Two Bros And A Baby. Either way, I would kill for this.
6. Ok you know how at one point or another Damian, Jason, and Cass were all members of the League of Assassins? Well, what if there was overlap? I want the three of them working for the League and knowing each other. I don’t know if this even works out at all but I just think this would be kinda cool, especially if it includes Bruce finding out about Damian or about Jason being alive and gaining a daughter along the way.
7. While we’re on the subject of League of Assassins, all four of the boys work for the League!! Do with this what you will, I merely present the concept to you.
8. Secret Agents. Just…just give me them as spies. Pls.
9. Dead Robins Club that ACTUALLY INCLUDES DICK BECAUSE Y’KNOW HE DIED. It’s a pet peeve of mine, when people write these kind of fics and include Tim and Steph (neither of which actually died) but not Dick, even though he did die for at least a couple minutes. Please stop ignoring Dick’s trauma guys, I beg of you. There’s one amazing fic between Jason, Damian, and Dick, and I want so many more of stuff like that.
10. Greeks/Roman Gods AU where Dick is the God of Death and king of the Underworld instead of the springtime god. There’s a really great jaydick fic out there that has this, but it’s abandoned, and I rally really want more of a Dick like this.
11. AU in which Bruce is the youngest member of the Justice League, and is still the badass leader he is in canon. No one in the League knows the truth, but it’s not like Bruce ever said I’m in my 20s or older, he just. Never mentioned he just graduated high school and is working on his accelerated bachelor’s degree.
12. A fic that addresses the fact that Dick has, in canon, been buried alive. I might one day write this, but I have a lot of projects that I do know I’m going to write, so this is wayyyyyyyyyyyy down the line, long enough that I’d be very happy to see someone write it instead. Bonus points if it’s a fic about Dick and Jason, and the fact that Dick killed Joker also comes up.
13. Tamaranean!Dick. And I actually have a whole word/plot for something like this that I’m never gonna write so if you wanna do this hmu I have THOUGHTS
Ok boys and girls and enbys we’re about to hit the dark shit so turn back if you don’t want to have to read it. You’ve been warned.
14. Ancient Rome AU in which Bruce is a senator and owns his robins as slaves (gladiator-wise and otherwise) who try to earn their freedom but Bruce likes using them too much (both for himself and in gaining control over others, like sending one of them to seduce somebody to gain leverage or steal something or what have you) and so he keeps changing what will gain them their freedom.
15. Auction fic where Dick is drugged and kidnapped and auctioned off to a bunch of villains. Yes, fics like this exist. Yes, I would like Many More.
16. Brusladick where Bruce has some Bad Thoughts about Dick but can’t bring himself to act on them, but he wouldn’t mind letting someone else do it, and who better than Slade Wilson, who absolutely wants to fuck Dick. So Bruce sets up a camera in the room and gets off to all the hard shit being done to Dick, but Slade breaks their agreement a little and tells Dick that Bruce is watching.
17. In an ABO universe, Dick is an omega. The world is pretty modern overall, of course there will always be some level of sexism but it’s not a large issue. But there’s this far-right terroristic-type group that thinks omegas are just good for ding as they’re told and being bred and have made it their mission to “fix” omegas who think they deserve equal rights, and they get ahold of Dick, sending a video to Bruce saying they’re return Dick when he’s better. For some reason Bruce and Co can’t find Dick for a long time, and by the time they do Dick’s severely traumatized and been conditioned into obedience and submission towards alphas.
18. In the Young Justice cartoon world, while Kaldur is undercover in season 2, an interaction with Deathstroke reveals something horrible about Nightwing’s past, and Kaldur has to act like hearing these graphic, awful things about his friend. After it’s all over, he goes to Dick and mentions Deathstroke saying something and Dick kind of shuts down and says like “How many people heard what he said?” There is a twitter thread between me and a friend on this very subject if you need inspiration ;)
19. Something based on this amazing art
20. Bruce is hella abusive. Dick lets himself be Bruce’s outlet so he won’t hurt the others. This, of course, comes to light. Yes, shit like this exists. But I pose you a question – is there ever too many? And has it been done by you yet?
21. Brainwashing. Just, give me brainwashing. Turned against your family, used and mocked by your enemy, kneeling “willingly” at your enemy’s feet. Bonus points for all kinds of abuse.
Well, that’s my list!! Go off and do great things for me! Thanks for the ask!!
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hi bae <3 reading that last ask i’m realizing i have no grammar? lmao
glad university is funnnn, when you said linguistics i was like 🤨 but then i googled it and it does sound interesting lmao
the too much free time part though... :( its like you expected to be thrown in and like WOO BUSY and WOO purpose (purpose may be going too far lol) but i totally get what you’re saying. ESPECIALLY when you expect to be busier and you’re not it’s like :/ ok. (& girlllll it’s fine to complain, it’s how ur feeling)
and bc of covid you have eVEN LESS STUFF TO DO, which sucks. the social part may help? even just a little bit, but maybe having some socialization.. it could be somewhat uplifting? idk gsjshsj
where i live the vaccine is for 16 and up right now but for the younger kids (12-15) it hasn’t been ✨FDA approved✨ yet so my brother is still waiting for his 🤠
okay really quick, how does drivers license work there? here you learn to drive at 16 and you can like actually drive (sometimes even alone in the car) by 17... (also burneks?)
YAYYYY GIRLLL i remember you telling me about how you haven’t seen your family in England in such a long time 🥺🥺🥺 i really hope you get to see them soon!!!! and that covid eases up so you can see them frequently again 🥺🥺🤍
i’m gonna tattoo that to my forehead “not being friends with your parents is unhealthy” EXACTLY!! the people saying that stuff are usually not close to their parents so 👀
i’ve been really busy (unfortunately imo lol) with my dance recital coming up and this singing group (which i don’t like at all) and my final tests bc of school i’m EEK but it’s a good eek i think? maybe? idk lolll, i can’t wait for everything to be over though so i can CHILL. after school however i have a missions trip in north carolina? don’t quote me on that, but yeah 🥰 i’m really excited about it bc i’ll be without my family (like on my own :)) and it’s this whole thing and i’ll get to know people and i’m gonna buy a new bathing suit that makes me look gooooood cuz i’m tryna cop a boyfriend while i’m there HAHAHAH but besides that... more acting and singing camps probably? most likely a summer job.. i don’t have any plans reallyyy set in stone but ya know (ACTUAL i do have a few things planned. but those are things i don’t want to do. so i will be ignoring them <3)
that was a long ass paragraph- but PLEASE UR RESPONSE WAS FINEEE & i love you 💓💓💖💞💘💓💞💕 literally watch me buy a ticket to germany rn
- lovely anon (or catherine? i feel that lovely anon is iconic now tho so. kinda like how i call you aria in my head not your real name lol ALSO I PROMISE IM GONNA RESPOND TO THAT REALLY SOON, it’s just really busy rn) <3
what’s wrong with tumblr i just saw this a minute ago 🥲🥲🥲🥲 they don’t want to see us together ✋🏼 but fuck them 💘
Whaksk wait wdym by you have no grammar? 😭😭hejsjs
Honestly I’m so surprised that I’m enjoying linguistics but i think since i speak english and german i’ve just always been interested in language and esp english since it’s just my second language so i was forced to learn more about the language than just words and grammar, because it’s such a big part of me and also i didn’t always have a british accent so i kind of had to... develop a british accent, and it was natural but also kind of wasn’t??? Anyway why was this one sentence like 17 lines i’m sorry
YES OMG EXACTLY and obviously i’m missing out on the whole uni experience i mean I’m introverted anyway but i don’t mind going to a party every now and then? but i haven’t talked to a single person from my uni (except in class when we had to analyse a poem or something— okay technically some of my friends go to the same uni as me but they’re all studying other stuff)
But yeah I’ll definitely try to meet my friends more often 🥺 but we all have really different schedules rn so it’s really hard to find days where we both/all are free and not too tired and yeahssjsksj but i mean.... i can pay 50% of your ticket to germany? and then we can hang out? 🥰
I think everyone over 18 can get their vaccine from Monday on so I’ll try to call (okay, my mum will call sisjsh) and see if i can get an appointment. but i think everything will be super full because previously only people over... 50?or 60? or people with like illnesses could get it and now everyone over 18 can get it??? Like that’s a lot of people who can suddenly get the vaccine sksjjs but at the same time they’re getting quicker with it (i think today over 1 million people got the vaccine???? Like i know the US probably gets wayyy more people done so idk if that sounds like nothing to you but obviously Germany is much smaller so to me that sounds like a lot???) and also one of my father’s friend’s wife (djdkdj) works at a hospital or something? And she said she’ll ask if I can get it done there so yeah 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Isksmsjjs it took me so long to figure out what burneks was, i googled it (very weird results?) and then i realised i made a typo.... yeah no idea what i was trying to say lol
So in Germany (as far as I’m aware) you can start at 17 and you can’t have your test before you’re 17 years and 6 months old (idk why) and then you’re not allowed to drive alone until you’re 18 and then you still have two years on probation(is that what it’s called?) and you’re not allowed to drink a single sip of alcohol before you’re 21 (and drive) (cause in germany you’re allowed to drink when you’re 14 (if your parents are with you and allow it), then when you’re 16 you can buy beer and wine, and when you’re 18 you can buy everything. But you’re not allowed to drink and drive (even if it’s just 0.01 promille) until you’re 21)
(Okay I just googled and I don’t think you say pro mille/per mille in english sksjsjs but like the percent (or something...) of alcohol you have in your blood (idk biology sorry) (not that you asked about drinking and driving anyway? 😭 but there you go lmaoo)
Also idk if that’s just a UK thing or you also have it in the US? But all of my relatives from England keep asking me how often I’m driving with my parents (for practice)... and in Germany that’s.... not allowed? Like in england you can get these L (Learner) plates that you can stick on the back of your car and then you can drive anytime with your parents, but in germany you can only drive with your driving instructor during a paid for and legally organised driving lesson so. Kksskaj
Yess, the good thing now is that i can go to england anytime? Because Uni is all online anyway so it’s not like i have to wait until the holidays to see my family, i really hope i’ll see them soon🥺 it was my nana’s bday today and my grandad’s a few weeks ago so i’m painting two pictures for them tomorrow and sending them as a (late) gift next week 😌 (i’ll do like an impressionist ✨field of flowers✨ (that sounds awful sksjsjsj for reference i’ll look something like this: (it’s not mine i just found it on the internet while i was looking for some inspiration
for my nana, and something with a waterfall for my grandad) (looking at it now i don’t even think that’s impressionism? Idfk i had art as my subject for my a levels (like one of my final exams) and i actually got an A 👀 but it was mainly architecture and i don’t even remember that so
Ahhh I hope it’s a good eek!! Sksjj hopefully you’ll be done with everything soon and i already know you’re gonna do really good in all of your tests😌 but still: good luck ❤️❤️❤️
Idk if it’s actually cool? But North Carolina sounds so cool to me (but honestly you could have said any state and i’d think it’s cool sksksskm) And girl I still think it’s so amazing that you just sing and dance and act and omg ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
(I’m imagining us in a montage (?) like they always have in films while we’re shopping to get you a hot bathing suit😌😌 and then they always come home with like 6 shopping bags in the movies—)
This is gonna sound so dumb because who tf wants to work? But I’ve always wanted a summer job 🥲 like nothing too exhausting obviously but i’ve never earned any money by myself? I haven’t had a single job in my life (not that I’m that old and like only one of my friends has worked in her life like we’re young sksjsj) and yeah i think it would be really cool to have a summer job and earn some money 😌 but during the summer holidays (they’re only 6 weeks in germany) we’d always go to england for at least two weeks and then we’d drive to bosnia to see my dad’s family for a few days and then to croatia and then to Bosnia again sksksksms so i never had time for a summer job (obviously i’m aware that it’s a fucking privilege that i’ve never had to work and that i get to go to multiple countries during the holidays but yeah)
WHY DO I TALK SO MUCH AUSSKKSSM
Like I said I’ll pay 50% of your ticket 😌 i’ll be here stuck at home anyway, just let me know when you’re coming so i can come pick you up😌 (this emoji djskksks— but i mean it fits so i’ll use it as often as i can 😌)
Lovely anon IS iconic 😌✨ but Catherine is more than okay too🥰 so just say whatever you prefer ❤️
(And omg you never have to apologise for responding to my long ass, full-of-mistakes responses late sksjs take your time (i mean i wouldn’t be mad if you just didn’t respond to some of them i talk too much anyway <3333)
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What would I say if I reached out to you?
I don’t, because I’m scared that it will cause you undue distress or it will crush me into a million pieces again if you react with hostility. And I think waiting for you to see the message and answer it (or not answer it) would give me a stroke tbh. But if I did, what would I say? Would I keep it short and to the point?
“Dear (redacted), please don’t feel pressured to respond to this message if you don’t want to. I don’t want to cause you distress and if hearing from me is upsetting, you don’t need to reply. If you don’t answer I won’t reach out again. I just wanted to say that I think of you often. I wish that we were at peace with each other and that we could simply live on the social media edges of each other’s lives. I hope you love the life you have now. I hope you’re able to remember most of our memories fondly. Be well.”
Or would I tell her everything in one, huge message?
“Hey, it’s me. Don’t feel pressured to respond if you don’t want to. If you don’t answer I won’t reach out again.
I wanted you to know that I think about you often. And I’ve thought a lot about talking to you, but I haven’t up til now because I didn’t want to cause undue pain or distress. I did unblock you on everything just in case you ever wanted to talk to me, though.
I want you to know that I am still so sorry for what I did. I shouldn’t have told Austin. There’s no excuse I can give that ever would make it okay. You know it was never my intention to out you to your father or to school though, and I never wanted to harm you. I was overcome with emotion at the time because I was concerned for your soul because you were becoming wiccan. And Austin saw me crying and he and James and I took a walk, and it came out as one of the reasons I was worried.
I only say all of that as an explanation but not an excuse. I’m older, and less of an idiot, and have more self control. We were both subject to a certain level of religious indoctrination and intolerance and that heavily influenced my actions, of course. But I wasn’t a kid, I was 17 and I shouldn’t have said anything that wasn’t mine to say. Regardless of the beliefs pumped into me from school (and other influences, of course.) Again, just an explanation of my actions but not an excuse. I wish that James had talked to me first before he told you what I did so I could have told you myself instead. I wonder if that would have changed anything, though.
But it took me a long time to realize that that event was just the final nail in the coffin of our friendship, I think. There were a lot of things that I didn’t even remember had happened until we weren’t friends anymore.
You kissed me. New Year’s Eve. Did you have a crush on me? Or did you just kiss me to kiss a woman? You had me and Julianne watch porn with you, on your porch when we were kids. I saw a woman put a lightbulb in her vagina. Your physical boundaries with me were odd, and I never realized it because I loved you and didn’t think anything negative of you. You had me spoon you, when you were cold. Was that platonic?
Towards the end of our friendship (the last year or so) I always got the vibe that you thought I was stupid, or at least not as intelligent as you. I remember confronting you about it once on the phone, and you apologizing and saying it was “a part of you that you didn’t like.” The funny thing is, I actually can’t remember a single instance of you talking down to me. But I remember talking to you about those instances on the phone, so I know they happened. This is how I found out that my brain represses memories that make me upset. That’s why I didn’t talk to you about most of these things; I forgot that they happened. I literally forgot that you kissed me. You were my first kiss, technically.
The things that happened after we split caused me to basically want to kill myself 24/7. You dating Austin when you knew that I loved him. I thought you did it to spite me. Did you really like him? I cried in the school bathroom for hours when he asked you to prom with cooked he had decorated himself.
I also saw the text your mom sent you, on the bus ride to kings island for our senior trip. The one where she told you to ditch me at the trip with a laughing emoji. That really broke my heart. Your mom was like family to me. Did you tell her the truth of what happened? Did her opinion of me change so intensely because of the truth or did you tell her something else?
Talking to your dad in the parking lot before our senior prom. He called me Miss Claire, as he always did, said long time no see, and asked me about my new car. I told him I bought it for 400 dollars from a friend, and he was shook and said that’s what he paid for his first car back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Did you tell him we weren’t friends anymore? Did he know?
Honestly, I feel a little bit like you experimented on me from childhood into our teens as you were discovering your sexuality. But I did it to you too in a completely different way. You gave me a sexuality crisis for a long time, haha. So it’s a little unnerving because I had completely forgotten it but I can hardly blame you. But as we got older it just felt like you didn’t like me as much anymore or saw me as an equal.
My life is better now. I went to a lot of therapy and stopped wanting to die. I went to college, dropped out of college, and enrolled in cosmetology school. I made new friends and resparked old ones. Honestly the best thing that came out of our relationship exploding was that I reconnected with two of my best friends from grant county and I see them often now. Courtney comes to spend the night at least 3x a month, except when she goes home for the summer. I joined several dnd groups. I met what I’m pretty sure is the love of my life and we’ve been together for almost two years now, and he’s proposing to me on our 2 year anniversary. Copy cat died in august of 2020. I got two kittens named Winter and Tobi Tangerine. I also fixed my relationship with James too, though we’re not as close as we used to be. I got older. I got less stupid. I tried to make less regrets and keep my mouth shut more. I stopped getting involved in other people’s shit and it’s benefitted me greatly.
Speaking of getting involved in other people’s shit, I did kind of lose my mind after we imploded and I did a lot of stuff to people and poked my nose where it didn’t belong. I anonymously texted Maci’s dad to tell him she regularly drove over 90 in a 55 with her feet on the dash and that I was worried for her safety. She found out because I had to ask trace for his dads number and he ratted me out and she was rightfully pissed at me for being a nosy jackass. She also told me and Becca about how bad she wanted to punch Kelsey in the face, so I told Kelsey she said that and they were both mad at me. I don’t think I would have done this stuff normally but I wasn’t in a good frame of mind and thought I was helping when I really was just ruining the friendships I had left. I figured that out later in therapy tho.
I hope you’re doing well at college. I look at you and your moms Facebook page maybe 2x a year or so, and just think about everything all over again. I saw you got a boyfriend a while ago, and I wish I could have heard you excitedly tell me about it. I wish that if our friendship did end, it would have ended peacefully with us just texting each other less and less until we simply coexisted peacefully on the edges of each’s others lives, occasionally liking each other’s Facebook post. Rather than going out in an explosion of bad decisions and bad feelings.
I hope you’re well. I hope you love the life you have now. I hope you’re at peace with who you are. I hope you’ve forgiven me. It’s ok if you haven’t. I just hope you have.”
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