#but how is it a new bill if I had the exact same amount on a payment plan at that start of the month

[raeathnos]

.

[sagi-tori-ous]

INVASION OF PRIVACY

It was roughly 10 at night when Poppy stumbled into her shabby apartment. The sky was pitch black — winter was approaching so daylight seemed to lessen — and a chill swirled in with the wind that seemed to pick up a bit since Poppy had first departed.

She had gone out with a few friends who didn't know how to keep time the best and always somehow got alcohol to be the main hydration system for them — despite its dehydrating qualities. Poppy wasn't drunk but even the small amount of liquor in her body set it ablaze.

Poppy threw her jacket off and keys somewhere she'd curse herself for forgetting later and staggered into her quaint kitchen, she grabbed one of her glass cups and filled it up with tap water that was probably flooded with tons of metals and chemicals that a person's body shouldn't be filled with — but who was going to stop her.

She trailed her hands absentmindedly up and down her body, grasping at the side of her neck lightly before trailing that very same hand just over her breasts and keeping it flat on her stomach.

She guzzled the water down with small droplets escaping, wandering down her chin and almost making it to her neck before she wiped it off.

It wasn't until she finished her glass of water did she hear the light murmur of her tv playing in her conjoined living room.

“Fuck.” she cursed, making her way there but the blare of her phone stopped her, she dug her hand into the back pocket of jeans pulling it out and answering without looking at the caller id.

“Yelloo!” she slightly slurred into the phone, less from intoxication and more from the fact that her energy bar was draining fast at this point.

“Hello my ass!” it was Poppy's friend on the other end, her tone was scornful. “ You said you would call first thing when you got home!”

Poppy rolled her eyes,“Calm down.” She started walking back to the TV to turn it off, not wanting to run her bill up even more “ I literally just got here, I didn't do anything besides get a drink of water mom.” she was thankful for their concern and was going to for sure call them but she wanted to get settled before anything.

Poppy stood in front of the television, a Male news anchor gazed back at her —she turned the appliance off — just barely catching the headline which said something about ‘aliens’, which made poppy scrunch her face up and shake her head. The news seemed to lose its meaning more and more everyday.

Her friend was still lecturing her through the phone but Poppy's mind just trailed, “ Okay okay, I get it Mel, I love you, I'll talk to you tomorrow, goodbye.” she rushed and hung up the phone, not letting ‘Mel’ get another word in.

She let out an agitated sigh.

Poppy shut off the minimal lights that she had turned on when she returned and traversed her way towards her bedroom. Relaxation to the highest degree was the only thing on her mind.

She grasped at the light switch and scrolled through the many colors her LED lights had and stopped on the purple color, giving her room that tranquil lavender hue that she loved. It was relaxing yet sensual, somehow — it described how Poppy was feeling in the moment.

Poppy glided over towards her dresser, going into the exact drawer that held her vibrator — it was pink, it wasn't extremely long (about 6 inches) and it obviously vibrated — it got the job done and that's all that mattered, especially now.

“Hey buddy!” she cood at it, getting even more excited at the thought of her pussy dripping all over it while she fucked herself through as many orgasm as she could.

She threw it onto her queen sized mattress and started undressing, she already unknowingly took her shoes off somewhere near the door — she peeled her snug high waisted dark wash jeans off, leaving her standing only in her subtle yellow thong that contrasted beautifully on her bronze skin.

Next was the random cropped sweater she threw on just before leaving the house, under it was a matching bralette to the thong. The sheer imagery of herself turned her on more.

Poppy loved herself, some could say in a cocky way — but wasn't that the best. She knew her body like the back of her hand, as she should, and loved pleasing herself. She loved figuring something out with her body that nobody else could. The thrill was like none else.

She slid on top of her fluffy comforter, making sure her body was positioned in the most comfortable way — she also aligned herself so she could be facing the mirror that adorned her wall.

Poppy spread her legs and pushed them towards her chest, she could just make out her figure in the mirror due to the purple lights. It added a different layer of scenery, a sight Poppy loved.

Her left hand grasped at her left breast, she kneaded it through the thin cloth. Twisting her nipple between her fingers, a small whimper left her mouth. A small pool slowly seeped through her panties, making the fabric turn a bit sheer, outlining her pussy lips.

She moved the bralette down to let her nipples free, the clothing article still grasped the cusps of her breasts — the air hit the buds making them harden all the more. The same hand came back up and dipped into her mouth, she wet the fingers enough before bringing them back down and circling the erect nipple.

Her hips had a mind of their own, moving to cause some kind of friction. She was needy.

Poppy grabbed at the vibrator with her free hand — she instantly turned it on and delicately placed it over her clothed pussy.

“Oh.” she moaned, her back faintly arching. Applying much needed pressure, the vibrator slid between her restricted folds, brushing against her pulsing clit. The action caused a bit of a tremor in her legs.

“Fuck” tucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she kept a steady teasing pace, every now and then she would skim over her clit. The pace she was going was torturous.

Poppy eventually laid the toy down — although she didn't turn it off, it laid there while it lowly buzzed — she discarded the last pieces of clothing off her body with all speed. She needed to see every inch of her body, she needed to see all of her awaiting chest and the purple light to glisten off her pussy in all its entirety. She needed the full visual.

She disregarded the clothes and with no hesitation dipped two of her fingers into her slick folds. Poppy wanted, no needed a taste of her essence, she tucked those fingers into her mouth and moaned at the taste, she swirled her tongue around the digits before releasing them with a pop. A little saliva dripped down her body but she rubbed the rest right back onto her pussy, creating an — if even possible — wetter mess.

It didn't take long for the vibrator to be right back into her good grasp.

Poppy drug the toy from her clit to her leaky entrance and then back to her clit, she repeated this process two more times before dipping the head in. Throwing her head back, “Shit!” she hissed. She didn't dare to push it in all the way, she lived for the build up.

The way her stomach clenched and legs seemed to have a mind of their own, toes curling and pleasurable sounds getting caught in her throat. It was an euphoric feeling.

A — what she thought — was a familiar sound coming through the walls. She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore her ignorant neighbors, this wasn't the first time that they've had a problem with controlling the volumes in their abode. It didn't help that the sound that had interrupted was loud and shook the walls a bit.

“Fuckers probably dropped something heavy.” Poppy seethed but nestled into her bed, pushing the vibrator in more and more. She'd be damned if she didn't get her orgasm tonight.

“Oh fuck~” she let out when it hit a certain point, if she curved it up just a tad more she was sure she could brush up against her g-spot.

‘BOOM!’ The building shook again, faint screams were heard and to anyone in their right state of mind — they would've known that those screams were not full of anger or passion but of fear, jumbles of genuine panic.

Maybe it was the few drinks she had earlier, maybe it was the orgasmic haze she was building to that clouded her better judgment — that made her think that the world was just trying to make sure she didn't reach her most high. “Please, shut the fuck up! Please!”

Poppy screamed. Her chest heaved and skin warmed with irritation, she was pissed. The buildup was gone and anger replaced it. She was so heated that she didn't notice the eerie silence … or the thunderous footsteps that sliced through it.

When she did notice the silence though, it was too late.

The same queen size bed she resided in slid forward, the wall behind it breaking with such force that it caused the piece of furniture to move like it weighed near to nothing — debris flew all over the room and a dusty cloud disturbed her vision, she wasn't able to make out anything but knew from the bottom of her heart she wasn't alone anymore. Poppy's chest heaved with a total different type of emotion, terror.

She was scared.

Her body shook but not with pleasure, not with urgency — well not with that specific urgency but the urgency to live. She knew she wanted to get out of this situation alive, she didn't know how she was going to go about that. Especially when she laid eyes on her guest. The smoke screen dispersed.

Through the mirror that still was across from her, just closer in space, she saw something. Something so tall that it bent down slightly to fully come into the makeshift door it made. Its face was covered with a mask and it had locs on its head, adorned with gold ringlets and other tribal jewelry. Its body was covered in armor and it held a spear in its hand, not like a wooden or traditional spear.

This spear looked Mechanical, it looked as if it wasn't just a spear and even if it was, Poppy didn't want to be on the bad end of it.

You could barely make out its beady eyes from the mask but it was close enough to Poppy to where she could see the light shine off the black orbs.

.”Please don't kill me.” a cry slipped from her lips, tears coming down wetting them in the process “ please, i'll do anything, please don't kill me.” she pleaded, her eyes conveying her vulnerability. It didn't matter that she and whatever stormed into her bedroom didn't remotely share any similar DNA, and the fact it most likely didn't understand a word she was saying.

She was going to beg. She was going to appease whatever sympathetic — if it even had one — bone it had in its body.

The tears continued to flow and her mind started to wander. She thought about how quickly her life had become in danger, she thought about her friend and how she so easily brushed her off. She thought about how rudely she said goodbye, not knowing how those words would literally be the last words shared between them.

The thoughts made her cry harder — the steps it took so casually towards her, made her go into hysterics.

Poppys' back was pressed against the headboard as if it could shield her, she wouldn't dare turn around and become so close within range, cutting off the mere moments of life she had left. She gazed into the mirror and watched it come closer with no worry. Why would it worry though? It knew where the superiority lied.

It was behind her, the only thing that separated them was the splintering wood of what was left of the headboard. Poppy watched it through her tears.

She watched as it gazed down at her like she was a foreign specimen, as its left appendage came and caressed her head — not as if to soothe her but to make an observation as of what she was. This didn't console her, not one bit.

She felt its rough armored covered hand trail its way down her body, tracing over her neck and coming down her chest — it grazed her nipple causing her breath to hitch. A familiar tingle making an appearance at inappropriate timing, Poppy just blamed it on how the human body worked, this is how the body functioned.

It didn't stop its journey. Only when it made its way down to the soppy mess between Poppy’s thighs did it momentarily halt. Detouring if you will.

Poppys clit throbbed as she watched through the mirror, fear entwined with need — a treacherous combination.

The rough hand came in contact with her folds, swiping through and collecting her present arousal. The action was so fast and powerful that a jolt shot through Poppy and she couldn't help the small whimper she had let out.

Tears falling sporadically now, but the full fledged sobbing stopped. She wanted to live but if she were to die, how could she save a life that wasn't hers any longer?

She was miniscule compared to this thing, even slightly bent and playing with her essence it still cast many shadows on her, staying heads above her.

She wasn't paying attention to what it had been studying as she had been studying it. So when it slid a thick, long digit into her soaking folds it had caught her by surprise — her hands shooting up to hold its armored arm and hips jutting forward to meet the calculative thrusts it gave.

“ mhm” she moaned out and rolled her hips at the sensation, her stomach clenching for numerous reasons. Its finger moved around inside, giving her the same fullness as the toy that was inside her mere moments ago.

It curled up, hitting her g-spot, “oh fuck” she cursed, her hips starting to run away on their own but the finger was never far behind and without mere moments to spare she orgasmed all over its fingers.

Her body twitching from the fresh release and her mind not really focusing on the important things. In a way she was almost relaxed.

Till her body flew forward half a foot, she was now on her stomach and face mere inches away from the same mirror that's been the only witness to tonight's ventures. It had smoothly landed on her bed, somehow without making much noise and crouched behind her. She took notice of its strong hind legs.

Poppy's mind went to the news anchor she had silenced, she thought about the headline — Alien. She mentally scoffed, of all things an alien would become the first honest thing anyone has reported in such a long time and yet because of the same deception they casted into homes, Poppy couldn't take the news seriously. She couldn't shield her life.

The alien grasped at the sheathing that adorned its abdomen and nether region, it clicked around before the armor popped off with an almost undetectable hiss.

The covering slid off its chiseled body and Poppy could not help the strangled gasp that left her — when her eyes made contact with its outwardly cock. She didn't know why it astonished her as much, seeing as its stature was much larger than hers.

Its skin was a pale-ish yellow color, and she couldn't help to compare its structure to that of a humans, the way that the muscles were accentuated became vaguely familiar. From its chest, to its abs, the only thing she could honestly differentiate — its bulbous penis — the shape was similar but the size was scary, to say the least.

The otherworldly creature grasped at her hips and tugged her lower half towards it, its cock stood at gruesome attention — its arousal crystal clear. Poppy grasped at her bed covering, she couldn't believe that something like this was happening. How much she wanted it was the craziest part.

She had yet to say a word besides her begging fit earlier and pleasurable sounds from when it had finger fucked her — she was too embarrassed to say anything, she would rather wallow in her shame and its cum quietly. Well as quietly as she could be.

Snatching her from her pitiful thoughts — it dragged its pulsing pre cum dripping head across her wet slit, mixing both of their juices together to create the best lubricant. It let out a hum of approval, the first sound it had made tonight and dare she say, Poppy loved it. How deep and guttural it was made Poppy's stomach clench in the best way.

The alien dipped the head of its hungry cock into her awaiting opening, “oh fuck” Poppy's head lolled forward into the mattress, her mouth was agape and eyes closed as it slid its length inside her. She knew that it wouldn't be able to fit entirely and the thought saddened her, she wanted it all.

When it got in as much as it could it started to move in and out of her wetness, barely giving her time to adjust. Its movements were not humane, yet still calculative. It didn't look down at her with care but as if it were a Predator and she was its prey.

She could feel every groove, bump and vein as it plunged into her — her pussy clenching around it like a glove.

Poppy was so confident in her ability to know her body that it wreaked havoc on her that every time that it pushed into her awaiting pussy it touched her g spot, every time — but yet, she could just merely brush against it.

She couldn't even form coherent words as her second, more powerful orgasm washed over her. Her pussy tightened over its length — which made it growl louder — and creamed all over the resilient alien. It never let up, never gave her a break.

Her body lay limp as she took everything it gave to her, even when it decided to push more of its length inside her battered womb. She could feel her stomach expand everytime it pushed forward, she could only tiredly lay her hand over her stomach as it fucked her into oblivion.

“ Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! “ Each orgasm was more powerful than the last, each one did more and more of the impossible.

With a loud rumble, it grabbed her hips so tightly that she knew they were bruised and the skin most likely scratched and raw — ropes and ropes of cum were dumped into her. It's like they were shooting straight at her g spot, her legs shook fiercely and her pussy squirted — not only her juices but the cum that stained her walls gushed out as well.

Black spots painted her vision, her chest heaving at a worrisome rate.

She knew somewhere in her mind that it knew that she was spent — but this wasn't about her.

Its right arm came around her waist to hoist up her pliable body, it grabbed at her legs so that they sat on its muscular thighs — giving a much better access point.

Poppy was basically sitting on the alien's lap with its cock still stuffed inside, still hard and throbbing as if it didn't just fill her to the brim.

She just leaned back and shivered once her back made contact with some cold metal — her eyes barely able to stay open — she could just about make out their figures in the mirror, she could see the mixtures of cum dripping from where their bodies met. She could see how puffy her pussy was and how glossy its cock was as it maneuvered in and out of her.

Saliva slid out of her mouth and down her chin as the all too familiar feeling started to build back up within her. She knew this one would be the one to make her succumb to darkness and maybe even death, at least it was pleasurable.

She whimpered and whined, her legs planting on its steel thighs as she tried to run away from the feeling — she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

Poppy knew she lost, she knew when its arms circled around her — locking her in — and started pistoning inside her, it seemed as if its cock only knew to hit her g spot. She cried, tears sliding down her face as her pussy leaked and vision became blurry, breathing didn't come naturally and because of that she became lightheaded.

Sobs racked her body as she came, her hands grasping at the arms holding her. Her stomach cramping from her multiple orgasms and the appendage that has now claimed it as its own.

Not once did the Predator stop. It didn't stop when her legs slipped from their settled position. It didn't stop when her hands stopped squeezing its arms. It didn't stop when her head lolled to the right and eyes closed.

It just held her close to its conscious body and let her pussy envelope him with the warm welcome to its new home.

Dedications: @deunmiu-dessie

Banner/Divider: @cafekitsune @pwixi

[bardic-inspirjaytion]

A non-exhaustive list of things to check before you adopt a cat or dog:

What initial vet care will your new friend need, and what will it cost? A good vet will be happy to give you quotes and a timeline for checkups, vaccines, deworming, spay/neuter, and any other care you can anticipate your buddy needing in their first six months. A lot of shelters and vets will waive the initial exam and vaccine fees, but you can't assume that will be the case with yours.

How will you afford this veterinary care for them?

What is the monthly cost of good-quality pet insurance in your area, and how will you adjust your budget to include that?

If reliable pet insurance is not available to you, or you don't feel confident navigating it, I need you to look up the average costs of an emergency vet visit in your area and do a gut check. Are you able to cover that cost when your animal gets injured or sick?

Note: I'm not saying IF, I'm saying WHEN. This is a fact of life - pets get into things, get hurt, develop illnesses, and need to see the vet! You CAN'T assume "it won't happen to me." Eventually, it's a near-certainty that it will.

It sucks so bad that it costs money to give our friends medical care. It really, really does! In an ideal world, money wouldn't be a factor at all.

However, the world we live in isn't an ideal one.

A key part of responsible pet stewardship is making sure you've taken the time to realistically sit down and crunch the numbers BEFORE you bring home that adorable new puppy or kitten.

You'll be making a promise to this animal that you're going to look after them, and this is part of it. And we need to be comfortable realistically talking about that!

And for what it's worth: I went into significant debt to pay for it when my perfectly healthy four year-old cat had several nasty urinary obstructions in a row - he racked up thousands of dollars of vet bills in a single week. I don't regret doing that to save him, not for a heartbeat, but I do regret not having prepared better.

I cannot overstate the difference between how stressed I was in THAT situation, and how stressed I was when the same (now insured) cat had a small tumor removed a couple years later. I knew the exact amount that surgery was going to cost me with insurance, so I could focus on what mattered most in that situation: taking care of my friend.

Learn from my mistakes, and run those tough numbers with yourself BEFORE you're looking at treatment options in a potentially life-or-death situation. Especially if you live somewhere where health care for humans is covered, it can be such a nasty shock how much those vet visits actually can cost, and you owe it to your fluffy friend to be prepared.

[faeriemarie]

introducing my lifa app!!

so if you don't know what the lifa app is... here is my extremely confusing explanation. if you can't understand it, i don't blame you

the basics of my app:

The app is for pc, phone, ipad, and other electronic devices (or on paper in drs without smartphones)

It will automatically appear and it can not be deleted. I know everything there is to know about Lifa and I control the app with absolute ease.

If someone were to go on a device where the Lifa app is on, they wouldn’t be able to see it or tap on it at all. Only I can see it or use it and it is 100% real and 100% effective

The lifa app doesn’t take up ANY storage

Lifa knows exactly what I mean because it is connected to my subconscious mind. It knows what I mean exactly, and all intrusive thoughts are ignored

The lifa app doesn’t need wifi

I can do ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING with Lifa, no restrictions, and nobody ever suspects that I’m using it

Nothing I search or watch on my lifa app is traceable by anyone but me (not even cell or wifi companies)

There are ZERO CONSEQUENCES to using Lifa and what decisions I make. Nothing goes wrong, everything happens how I expect it to, excluding the intrusive thoughts which are always ignored

No one is ever suspicious of the things I manifest and it’s like I’ve always had them (clothes, food, talents, etc. has always been there)

okay now for the features!!

lifa closet

Any item of clothing I choose from the catalog, script, or import a picture of will be sent to my closet, suitcase, or wherever I want

reality shifting

I can set a time and pick a reality to shift to. I will then shift during that exact time

reality check

I can check which reality I am in with the click of a button

scripter

I can script and write anything. Inserted images are HD, and PNG images remain transparent. I can insert infinite images and change the font’s color and style itself (same features as notes/notion/google docs but neater)

desired scenario

I can specifically script to describe my desired scenario. I can set the time and date to when the scenario happens. The scenario is exactly like how I want and even 1 trillion times better

manifestor

I can insert a picture or describe what I want to manifest. I can also manifest people by typing their name and Lifa will automatically recognize who they are. I can set the time and date to when you want that thing to manifest, and it will happen 100%.

skill increaser

Choose any skill I desire to have (I can also insert it by typing “cooking”). I can choose to master any skill and it will show up immediately. I can search any skill and increase on a scale of 1-100% mastery

motherlode (sims reference lol)

I can deliver/spawn money of any currency in my chosen form. (gift cards, bank acc, cash, etc.) I can choose from coins to bills. There is no limit amount of money or times to deliver it. I can deliver it how much and how many times I want. The money is 100% legal and valid, and passes all money detectors. The money has valid and legal coding, as if it had been made in factories. It still remains perfectly legal. I can choose to spawn the money in my purse, bottom of backpack, pockets, amazon, wallet, etc. The money spawns in 5 seconds. I can deliver/spawn as much money as I desire, there is no limit (even 50 million is 100% possible). There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa credit card

The Lifa credit card has an infinite amount of money and can never go in debt. There is an infinite amount of money in all international currencies. The card is universal and 100% valid and legal. It can be used in any ATM and online store/game (could be recognized as any official credit card like eg. visa or ae). The money has no money or usage limit, and it can be used for anything, anytime. In ATM machines it appears that the card only has 1000€/$, but in the Lifa app it will be ∞ €/$. If the card gets lost, it will automatically disappear. The same happens if the card breaks, and Lifa will spawn a new card with the same exact info.  It will come inside a little gift box (that matches the app’s color scheme I desire) wherever I want. The card’s number and code (and other infos) are up to me or the universe but it's always 100% valid. The card lasts forever. There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa bank account

The bank account feature is connected to the credit card feature. It’s almost like a normal bank acc. I can see all mytransactions. The amount of money never changes because it stays 100% infinite. I can change my money’s currency. I can also take money out of the card in my desired currency. I can customize the card’s design and I can spawn more cards. I can easily create more bank accounts too, they will all have infinite money. There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa paypal/venmo/cashapp/etc.

It is 100% legal anywhere. It is exactly like the real paypal, but my Lifa bank account/card is registered. I can use it in all purchases that require paypal. I can login on the real paypal website with the Lifa paypal acc. When I first use the app I get to create a Lifa paypal account. The balance shows 1000€ / $ / £ but the money amount is infinite. There is 0% risk of money inflation

food delivery

If I insert a picture of a food item or search the catalog, Lifa will recognize. When I confirm, it will be sent to my ideal location. (i can pick the location). The food will be 100% fresh and new

boredom cure

Instantly provides me with inspiration to do something that is productive and beneficial to my overall well-being

create-a-person

I can design a person’s hair, body, face, etc., script their personality and choose their traits. It is set up like scripting and has different templates I can use. I can change skin tone, skin type, undertone, hair color, hair texture, eye color, etc. I can insert any pictures and they’ll be exactly how I want. When I insert a script of the person’s personality and behaviour, Lifa will recognize it. I can also script traits and the person’s backstory. I have to fill in each’s birth info (name, age, birthday, sign, blood type, etc) to my desire.  I can also choose the relationship between the people when I’m done creating them. Then I confirm and once I shift to my dr it will all be exactly like how I wanted and even 1 trillion times better. If I’m feeling lazy, I can select to let the universe fill in the gaps, and the universe will fill them like I wanted and even better

lifa messenger

I can text with anyone in the universe that I want. It feels completely real and all conversations are remembered. It’s like having online bestie because the people I text always get along with me, always respond, and actually care about me. We can also call and video chat. I am not actually communicating with someone from my reality and instead with the universe since everyone is part of the universe. It works exactly how I want it to

natal chart

I can select which life/reality’s natal chart I want to see. Lifa offers a personalized detailed description of my chart and personality. The chart is 100% accurate. I can also select to look at anyone’s natal chart. Lifa will show a list of everyone I know. It is divided in 5 categories (friends, family, acquaintances, classmates/coworkers, celebrities). The natal chart can also show compatibility

grade changer

Automatically makes me have good grades and changed all my past grades to A. My wrong test answers morph into correct test answers

ask-me-anything

I can ask anything and get the complete and 100% right answer. The questions can vary from asking where my lost tennis shoes are to what’s the answer to number 4 on my math homework. There is no limit to what can be asked and the answer given is always exactly what I need

feature adder

I can visualize and script more features and add them to Lifa with the feature adder. Lifa will add these features in 1 second and they will be 100% effective. Lifa also knows exactly what I mean, even if I script something wrong, so there are no surprises

lifaflix

A streaming site where I can watch shows that only exist in my dr (most of the time used for fame drs so i can see all the great acting projects i have been a part of). I can also watch my drs like tv shows.

lifatube

A video site set up like YouTube where I can watch anything from my dr. Things like fan edits, compilations of dr moments, my dr tiktoks, youtube videos made by my dr self and more. I can also watch memories/anything that happens from either a 3rd person point of view or 1st person

lifa socials

My lifa app has social media accounts from all my different realities that i can flip through, post from, dm with people from those realities, and go live (i can post anything i want on these social media sites and i’m immune to anything bad happening like leaking nudes, screenshots, hacking, or any other cybercrimes/bad things). My wr self even has their own account

[gingiesworld]

Family is Forever

Chapter Ten

Wanda Maximoff x GN! Reader

Warnings: Angst. Fluff

Taglist: @fxckmiup @ginnsbaker @gb12d @angrywhisperslove @louxbloom @casquinhaa @natashamaximoff-69 @wizardofstories @canvascoloredin @wandanats-goodgirl @forthelesbians @the-ox-fan20 @marvelogic

18+ MINORS DNI

Wanda sat with the stick in her hands, looking over the two lines, willing for the other to disappear. Both Y/N and Wanda are still seniors in college and they are beyond unprepared to be parents.

"What's wrong?" Nat questioned as she entered the room, drying her hair.

"I'm pregnant." Wanda whispered, fear evident in her eyes. "And I'm scared."

"It will be fine Wanda." Nat tried to reassure her. "Y/N will be there with you, every step of the way."

"How do you know that!" Wanda asked her. "We never really discussed about kids, or marriage even."

"Do you love them?" Nat questioned her as Wanda stopped pacing.

"With everything I am." Wanda told her. "They are the one person who I see my future with."

"And I know they feel the exact same way Wanda." Nat told her tenderly. "I have seen the way they look at you. The amount of love they have in their heart just for you." She wrapped her arms around her best friend. "And I know you will be ok. Y/N will never leave you and I am sure they will be happy about this."

Wanda hoped that Nat was right, but she never expected Y/N to get out a pad and a calculator, muttering estimations of bills and other things.

"Y/N?" Wanda tried as Y/N rubbed their brow, the crinkles on their forehead as they soon looked up at her.

"I don't." They spoke as Wanda approached them. "I guess I can leave college and get a job. Put you on my health insurance."

"I'm still on my parents." Wanda stated as Y/N shook their head no.

"The hospital bills are going to be a lot Wanda, I still have my inheritance and trust fund to help pay for a better premium." They told her as she moved to sit on their lap, their hands instantly wrapping around her. "I don't want your parents to spend all of their money on these appointments and then the baby will also go on the premium when it's born." They looked up at Wanda as she gazed at them. "We will be fine Wanda, the first year or so may be a little rocky but we will get through it."

"We will." Wanda whispered. "And we will finish college. We have a few months left and the baby won't be due until around Halloween."

"We will be fine." They kissed her tenderly before gazing in her green irises. "Marry me."

"What?" Wanda laughed which soon died down as she noticed their serious expression. "You can't be serious?"

"I am serious." They told her. "I want to be able to call you my wife, besides you are the mother of my baby. So marry me."

"Y/N." Wanda whispered as her eyes stung with unshed tears.

"I love you Wanda, I am so in love with you and I know I want this. Us." They rambled. "I know this isn't exactly the most orthodox proposal but I know I want this. I want all of this." Y/N soon pushed her gently from their lap, Wanda watched as they looked through the small box in their closet. "This was my mom's ring. My dad proposed to her with it and I always admired it. I know this may not be the one you want but it will be a place holder until I can get you a new one."

"This one is perfect Y/N." Wanda beamed as Y/N took her left hand. "I will cherish it for the rest of our lives."

Wanda sat beside Y/N, it had been a couple of days and they still hadn't woke. Wanda played with her wedding and the engagement ring as her eyes never left them.

"You know your dad was furious when you told us about the pregnancy." Iryna told Wanda as she handed her daughter a coffee. "He wanted to kill them for getting his baby pregnant."

"I knew it." Wanda told her. "He seemed like his head was going to explode but you kept him at bay."

"Well, we were in the same situation when we were having you and your brother." Iryna told her. "I guess he never wanted to see you go through the struggles we did but Y/N made sure you were all set."

"They did." Wanda whispered as she wiped her eyes. "I just, I guess I lost sight of all of the sacrifices they made for our little family."

"They did." Iryna nodded. "Even when they came to us, they wanted our help in opening other accounts, transferring a majority of their inheritance to an account for you."

"What? I thought they were paying for the life insurance with that." Wanda questioned as Iryna nodded.

"But they got a few salary raises over the years and they wanted to buy the house for you and the boys. They wanted to give you an opportunity to follow your dream." She told her. "They were going to tell you on your birthday but everything blew out of proportion with the divorce and everything."

"I don't want a divorce." Wanda whispered as she glanced back at Y/N. "I don't want them to live in a different apartment. I just don't want to be apart from them any longer than we have."

"That's ok." She smiled. "When they wake, tell them. Tell them everything."

"I will." Wanda nodded as she rested her head on her mom's shoulder.

"The twins have been badgering your dad and Pietro about seeing Y/N." Iryna told her.

"I'm sorry I never told them." Wanda whispered as Iryna shook her head. "I just didn't want to leave them. I didn't want something to happen while I am not here."

"It's ok." She reassured her. "Pietro and your dad were there for them."

"Maybe tomorrow they can come for a while." Wanda confirmed. "It may be nice for them to hear the boys voices."

"It will." Iryna nodded in agreement. The next day rolled around, the twins had barely slept after recieving the news of their O'pa.

Pietro led them into the room, where Wanda remained as she waited for them to wake up. As soon as Billy saw them in the bed, the wires and machines attached to them.

"Hey, they're going to be ok." Pietro reassured him. "They're just sleeping while their body heals."

"Come on." Wanda held her arms open for him, Billy moved reluctantly before sitting on Wanda's lap. Hugging her tightly as they reluctantly looked at Y/N.

"I never wanted them to get hurt." Billy whispered as Wanda kissed his head.

"No one wanted this Billy." Wanda spoke softly. "But unfortunate circumstances happen and they are in the best place." Wanda told the twins. "Maybe tell them about what they have missed, what you have done in school."

Tommy was the one who started to talk about everything and anything as Wanda watched him with a smirk on her face. Billy sat with his head in Wanda's neck as he listened to him.

"Please wake up." Tommy whispered as he noticed he wasn't getting any form of reaction from him. "We can't lose you. We need you here." Wanda gestured for her brother to take them.

"Let's go and get a McDonalds." He told the two who only nodded as Wanda mouthed a thank you. "Do you want me to send you something here?" He asked her as the twins grabbed their coats.

"I'm fine, thank you." She told him softly before she kissed the twins heads before Pietro pulled her in for a tight embrace, kissing her temple.

"They will wake up." He told her firmly. "Y/N would never truly leave you." Wanda smiled as he led the twins out of the room. Sighing as she sat in the seat she had claimed as her own. Taking their hand as she looked up at their face.

"Tommy is right." She whispered as a tear escaped. "We need you to wake up. I need you to wake up Y/N. I want to see that goofy smile on your face. I just." She sighed as she kept her eyes on them, watching for any sign. "I love you Y/N and I am so fucking stupid." She rested her head on the bed beside them as she let her tears fall,

"I love you." They spoke hoarsely. "More than you will ever know."

"Y/N?" Wanda's head snapped up to see Y/N staring back into her eyes. "Oh my god." She gasped as she caressed their face. "I need a doctor." She whispered as she pressed the emergency button. The doctor soon racing inside to do their checks before leaving the two alone. "I'm so happy right now." She whispered as she ran her hand through their hair.

"I'm sorry." They whispered as Wanda looked at them confused. "I was trying to get there and everything just happened so fast."

"It's ok." Wanda told them. "You're alive and that is all that matters." She kissed their lips tenderly, lightly cupping their cheek as she pulled away. "I don't want us to be apart. Not anymore."

"I never wanted to be apart from you or the boys." They confessed. "I hated it. Being in that apartment, I just couldn't sleep or eat knowing that the one person who was my whole future was no longer mine."

"I will always be yours Y/N." She whispered as she smiled tenderly. "Always."

[pleasantspark]

I don’t care if it’s for your AU or rewrite, removing racial coding from a character is still wrong. Emily is stated to be Black coded in her audition sheet

https://64.media.tumblr.com/8a83eb4452e774949855ca3db49709d8/774ab433c55bf7a0-23/s2048x3072/b01ce012568499f8288b3d51d84a5631363f785c.jpg

Other artists that have redesigns of Sera and Emily include and make their Black features more pronounced, you removing her racial coding does come off as whitewashing

You’re better off creating a whole brand new character instead of using Emily :/

Someone else literally did the exact same idea. Plus, reminder. Her Redesign is nearly identical to her old design. I don't see the issue at all? I literally removed race from the equation because it's not important for an Angel to MENTION Race. This was to avoid the issue to begin with.

Also.

Her hair is slightlythe same, minus the extra stuff. It's not all about color theory. In fact. Let me show you what I look like. There is Lightskinned black people. Not all black people are black.

Semi face reveal? I'm not dark fucking skinned, and your issue is because I made someone slightly lightskinned? I am sorry but what the fuck kind of shit that is. If anything her redesigns skintone is somewhat nearly as light as mine.

If I am better off creating something else then fine. Fine, let me fix the drawing.

I didn't mean to start discourse for this exact reason, I didn't want race to be coorelated with creations that don't depict the proper race, if I was better off making my own characters I would have.

"But Orion your OC in your PFP is-"

Yes, because I made it myself. I literally am working with ANGELS. Angels that can theoretically change anything about them. I'm simply racist for making a character slightly whiter? Well guess I ain't black either. Because I ain't black enough.

Imagine telling someone they are RACIST because they went sligtly off the color spectrum for a character they wanted to not assign any race to, now imagine the person is lighter and black.

How does that make them feel? Makes me feel like I ain't black enough. You heard it folks, apparently there's a certain tone that fits the bill of being black.

No disrespect anon, but like, I literally seen others that remove black coded characters to avoid this type of allegations. But like, literally me being racist for lightening up something? That's a far stretch. None of y'all this pissed off at blackwashing so I don't know why you don't also do this amount of anger.

Yes, whitewashing is bad. But I wasn't intentionally doing it, because I am simply removing code so I won't cause any future mistakes. I sincerely apologize if I come across that.

But this is fantasy, I am simply removing something that I find to be difficult to do, if I see it's gonna be an issue in the future for me, then I should BE ABLE to, I literally told you in the post itself that it's literally not that deep, and that Angels shouldn't have assigned races. But no, we have another Rose Quartz situation.

Instead of slightly skinny rose.

It's a fucking slightly pale Emily (Lucina.)

There, you had it fixed. Guess I gotta tan out myself because apparently light skinned AA are also not "black enough" I shouldn't be told what counts as racism and what doesn't when I already question my own skin.

Sorry for doing this ig.

[rewritingcanon]

victoire weasley headcannons NOW pleaseee

YAS THE ONLY GIRL EVER!!!!

looks almost the exact same as her mum and has her mum’s personality (with a little bit of bill fused into her)

she has the oldest daughter mentality where she always needs to be StressedTM over something. even when she has nothing going on in life she will create an issue to be worried over. when she was younger this was hard for her to emotionally handle but she has gotten better at pretending she is sane over the years

this also led her to do med school. idk healer vic is something so personal for me. idk what exactly she’d be doing but i know it would be in the big buck areas. a dermatologist or a optometrist or a surgeon or something. she’s smart as hell.

very particular about presenting a good image for her family. she was the oldest weasley in the new generation and so she knew she had to present herself in a certain way, and she never thought she minded until she was suddenly 18 and having an identity crisis

furthermore, the rita skeeter incident with her and teddy nearly killed her. shes been through some traumatic shit but that was crossing the line

gets into so many fights with dominique because both of them are polar opposites and are jealous of each other for completely different reasons. dominique wishes she can fit into the mould like victoire so easily does, victoire wishes she could be as free and uncaring as dominique is. both don’t understand each other

HOWEVER victoire and dominique are the ultimate soulmates. it doesn’t matter how much they fight, they’re very close. dominique rants to her and sends her memes victoire can’t understand and victoire will still pay for dom’s meals when theyre out bcuz it doesn’t matter how old dominique is, she is still her little sister. and victoire retains every last piece of dom’s friendship group drama, and stalks them all on social media silently judging the shit out of them

no seriously victoire and dominique are The Siblings like the most important relationship in each others lives i could write essays on my hcs for their dynamic. ask me about headcanons for them specifically and i will go into LOTS of detail

anyways. victoire loves journalling in sparkly ink from wizard smiggle. is the type to write “heart diseases” in glittery pink aesthetic cursive.

she absolutely rocked the 2010s. probably had a minecraft streaming channel with teddy.

i have also made a huge amount of tedoire headcanons here so i will keep this post relatively free of them hehe

every song MARINA ever sings is about victoire tbh

she’s a ravenclaw to me, which made her a little insecure because everyone sort of assumed weasley = gryffindor, so she had to change her brand a little bit and establish herself as a delacour so people would lay off her. it helps that shes as insanely pretty as her mother

sucks ass at quidditch but no one will ever know because she graciously avoided flying at all costs (she can do enough to pass the compulsory flying classes but that is IT)

loves legally blond the movie

cosplays as annabeth chase for every fucking halloween party because she literally only has one costume and refuses to buy more

bisexual but she didnt know until she started dating teddy and liked them just as much when they would metamorph into a girl. then she started connecting all the dots… that one traumatising breakup with that friend who ditched her for their bf…. how all her fav songs are wlw songs… why she likes gina gershon from bound so much…

dressed like gwen stacy in the amazing spiderman movies. long socks. polished black high heels with straps. brown woollen vests and cream coloured shirts with frills. pink lip gloss. ALWAYS in headband season. very fem academia.

very outwardly polite and nice to other people but always retains a sense of distance. she wants to be close to people but she doesn’t know how to build those connections— she’s very scared of being hurt or betrayed so she sticks with people she’s already known before her walls went up.

used to be a little dictator when her, dom, and louis played games around shell cottage. she would make all the rules and be very strict about following it all. dom and louis were useless at games without her, because they couldnt make rules where there were stakes and it wasn’t fun without them. yknow, older sibling shenanigans.

pretended to be supportive but cried for three hours silently in her dorm when both dom and louis and ALL OF HER COUSINS were sorted into NOT ravenclaw

always mained princess peach in mario bros games and would get genuinely pissed when someone took her instead

reads booktok books… sorry… shes a STEM girlie…

secretly has a big appetite towards meat.. definitely not inherited from her dad… definitely not haha (she went vegetarian for nine months to try and stop herself and it literally almost killed her she was hangry all the time)

can speak french fluently and better than her siblings can

has like five beauxbatons penpals excluding the maternal cousins

this isn’t even all of them but i will leave her here for now. i LOVE VICTOIRE so so so much dawg..

[bunburyist-darcy]

Cards that Draw Cards

Ponderings on card draw in card games...

Drawing cards is one of the most fun things about playing tcgs. The anticipation of topdecking the exact card you need, or perhaps seeing your favourite card - most players can empathize with the excitement of believing in the "heart of the cards" for their next draw to determine the game.

Having recently looked into how the Pokemon tcg works, I was shocked to find that unlike the other tcgs of the big three, Yugioh and MTG, Pokemon tcg has tremendous amounts of card draw as a normal part of the game. This got me thinking as to how these different game systems allow and limit card draw.

A simple place to start I think would be with Yugioh, since it's lack of a conventional resource system means card draw can be evaluated more in a vacuum. Take "Pot of Greed" for example, which simply reads "Draw 2 cards." In the context of Yugioh, there is no cost to play this card, no limit on how many you can play per turn, no restrictions as to what deck it can go into, and few ways to prevent a player from resolving this card (e.g. negates or counterspells). Thus pretty much any deck can and will play as many copies as allowed since each "Pot of Greed" effectively reduces your deck size by two, increasing consistency at little to no cost. Makes sense to see that it was limited to 1 copy per deck very early in the life of the game and banned completely within a few years, where it has stayed to this day.

If "Pot of Greed" only drew 1 card, it would probably still be played just for the consistency boost. However by drawing 2 it provides free card advantage as well. A number of variations on "Pot of Greed" have been released over the years, all with various restrictions and costs, however the original card remains a benchmark for card draw effects in Yugioh.

Now going to MtG, which has a resource system to put a price on any effect, however trivial or powerful. One of the famed "Power Nine" is "Ancestral Recall", which says "Target player draws three cards." and costs 1 blue mana. In the context of MtG, 1 mana is the smallest unit of cost in the game, and there is no limit to how many you can play per turn. Again any deck can play this, though you do need to find a source of blue mana, which does come with some deckbuilding considerations. Although this card's effect can be prevented with a counterspell, all counterspell variants require the opponent to pay at least as much mana in cost (or otherwise comparable cost), making it an even trade at worst. Once again, a card that allows for significant card advantage at little cost proves to be powerful and ubiquitous to the point of being banned in all but the most powerful formats.

MtG has since released countless card draw spells, with the modern design converging upon an average of 1.5 mana per card. (e.g. "Divination" 3 mana draw 2). This would be considered "fair" and likely not efficient enough for most competitive play. The presence of the mana resource system allows for much easier balancing of card power levels.

Now looking towards Pokemon tcg. When I first started looking at pokemon cards, I saw "Bill" from base set, which read "Draw 2 cards." and figured it must be broken, like my experience from ygo and mtg would have suggested. Oh how wrong I was... That same set had the first version of "Professor's Research", reading "Discard your hand, then draw 7 cards.", which is significantly more value as one can easily imagine playing the useful cards out of your hand and then tossing the rest for a handful of new cards. In the context of Pokemon tcg, there is no cost to play the card, again no deckbuilding limitation, and no reactive way to prevent its effect. Yet the card and near identical variants are printed often and is perfectly legal in most pokemon formats with 4 copies allowed per deck.

How then does pokemon prevent you from drawing your whole deck on turn one and breaking the game? Well, I then learned that "Professor's Research" and similar card draw effects largely reside on "Supporter" cards, which are limited to 1 per turn. Other types of cards which are not limited, such as Items, rarely draw cards. Pokemon that draw cards exist, and can increase the number of cards you see per turn even more. However, Pokemon tcg limits how much you can do with the cards you do draw, as there is a limit to 1 energy per turn, 6 pokemon on the field, evolution mechanics, etc. The relative absence of alternative win-cons or instant-win combos in Pokémon also makes drawing specific combinations of cards less of a end-goal. (To my knowledge things like Exodia or Tron don’t exist in Pokémon.) Finally, the card draw supporters also compete for that 1 per turn slot with other useful supporter effects such as "Boss's Orders" and thus the game does not proceed at a breakneck pace due to card drawing alone.

On the whole, it is interesting to see how all of the big three produced some of their most powerful card draw spells in the early years of the respective games. Yet although for Yugioh and MtG, that meant setting a bar limiting future design of card draw effects, Pokemon maintained that same high amount of card draw throughout its years of design without, as far as I know, creating significant impact upon its game flow.

Thus concludes my ramblings on card drawing in the big three tcgs. Hopefully you find the similarities and differences in card drawing mechanics as intriguing as I do, and thanks for reading.

[bit-club]

my notes on week three! :p

something fun about stephen king books that that sometimes they’re technically kind of first person. in the very first chapter the narrator tells us:

and then throughout the book we get instances like the beginning of chapter six:

like this feels like narration to me, rather than prose, especially given the collection of newspapers following it, like someone had organized and filed them that way. presumably, mike hanlon is the narrator in these sections, but if that’s true he’s also detailing things he couldn’t have known (the exact details of georgie and eddie corcoran’s deaths). it’s just an interesting thing to me that sometimes a narrator will mention themselves when it’s never explicit who that narrator is. of course it’s could just be king himself, telling us the story (happens in a lot of his other books, like under the dome), but i like to think this one is mike hanlon, especially since it tends to happen in his chapters.

anyways, onto chapter four! i love the newspapers, the day to day lives of the other people in derry, the interviews, the characterization of the corcoran family from just these clippings. the stepfather is especially interesting to me— at this point in the story we know that pennywise and the town are feeding on each other malevolently, that pennywise’s presence does have a negative effect on the mentality of the citizens, but eddie and dorsey’s father doesn’t come off as someone inexplicably violent and having otherworldly influences…. he’s the guy on your local news. he’s the father everyone knows beats his kids. the matter gets brought to the attention of teachers, principals, nothing happens. is this otherworldly influence like mike hanlon suspects? probably, given the wild amount of death and missing children in derry compared to other towns (thank you mike hanlon’s random assistant)…. but is this really out of the ordinary? do you not know at least a few people exactly like eddie corcoran’s stepfather, shown in the news or whispered about locally? what’s scary about this book to me is that pennywise isn’t just feeding on these people, he’s a literal manifestation of the violence and apathy of small town life. it’s a very interesting idea to me especially that this manifestation can take any form but in the end all it wants to do it eat you whole.

anyways, another thing i enjoyed about chapter six was this final section which once again emphasizes the horror of reality and imagination:

and because it’s easier to mention now, i’ll compare this to a section from eddie kaspbrak’s persoective in chapter seven:

the willingness to believe that this thing is real kept eddie kaspbrak alive while eddie corcoran died looking for the costume zipper.

up next we get mike hanlon! i absolutely love the relationship he has with his parents, especially his father who he really looks up to. i like that the reason mike stays in derry, while the others all end up leaving, is because his family has (literal) roots in derry. will hanlon’s farm is important, it’s the culmination of years of hardship for will and jessica. i also like how much his father is invested in derry and its history, and passes that on to his son by way of sending mike on little field trips. one of the parts that popped out to me was this section where they visit the courthouse:

and if you guys remember from chapter two this was the same chair mike wanted to put in the history of derry museum (tragically vetoed). still, i like that the lesson was obviously not lost on mike, and the memory stayed with him into adulthood.

chapter seven!

love eddie driving through boston, it really is like that guys. i also like how the memories are slowly coming back, how eddie feels like they’re ‘poisoning’ him (kinda like how ben feels like his are eating him alive), nearly wishing that he could blame it on some sickness.

this chapter mostly focuses on building up the beginning of the friendships between ben, bill, eddie, stan, and richie, which is really fun. i also liked eddie thinking about how building the dam is a form of power, an idea that will come up again! an especially fun theme, as kids are often without power or agency and are forced to create their own.

this chapter also ends on bill, ben, and eddie sharing their experiences with pennywise, with richie outwardly disbelieving ben and eddie but unwilling to do the same to bill.

[sapphire-weapon]

Honestly, I don't think Capcom would dare to remake RE6. The game has a lot of flaws, and the over-the-top Fast and Furious action style isn't even the worst of them.

The story in general is a fucking shitty mess, the villains are a joke, specifically Simmons and his stupid obsession with Ada and his ridiculous transformations (who the hell thought a fly and a dinosaur were good ideas?). Not to mention that Jake and Helena must be among the most forgettable characters in the main saga; to this day no one can explain how Wesker had a son, or what was the point of making so much hype for a character we'd never hear from again despite being the son of the most important RE villain.

RE6 is still the mockery of the fandom, people still make videos making fun of how ridiculous and bad the game is, and I don't blame them. That's why RE7 was so abysmally different, because Capcom listened to the fans and they understood that RE6 is simply NOT what the fandom wanted. A remake of RE6 would also imply that Capcom has to redo the story of the game that almost killed their most important franchise. It's not just about polishing some flaws that the original story had or changing some events/scenes (as happened with RE2R and RE4R), it's about changing like 80% of the game to make it good. And I swear, if they make a totally original game no soul on this earth is going to complain, because the only good things people remember about RE6 is: hand-to-hand combat, Leon's perfect ass and Piers and his dynamic with Chris.

to this day no one can explain how Wesker had a son

i mean i can.

he put his penis inside of a woman's vagina and ejaculated while she was ovulating and used no birth control.

it's not that complicated rly.

but overall, what you don't seem to understand, anon, is that RE6 is one of the best-selling resident evil games ever released.

ever.

it has about the same amount of sales as every version of OG RE4 that was ever released combined.

they would be fucking stupid not to remake it. like, just absolutely smooth-brained drooling idiot in a dunce cap stupid to not remake that game.

and the way that it got there is because RE4 was a cultural phenomenon, which then turned RE5 into the best-selling RE game up to that point because it was billed as "RE4 you can play with your friends" -- and then when RE5 was released to financial, critical, and fan success, that reputation and that hype pulled in so many sales for RE6.

capcom can absolutely repeat that success and rake in shittons of money, now that they have managed to replicate RE4make being a cultural phenomenon that's pulled a brand new audience into resident evil, just like OG did. they would be so stupid to not keep that success rolling the exact same way they did with OG.

capcom is a business, and a business exists to make money.

we are getting an RE6make. as far as i'm concerned, this is not up for debate. they need to release another leon game in the remake timeline within the next five years to fully capitalize on RE4make's success -- regardless of how well RE5make does -- and RE6 is the only option, because it is the last numbered title he's been in. (and before you go: what about that operation javier game that just got hinted at -- that would be a spinoff, and that's not the same thing.)

capcom used to say that an RE2make would never happen. they were terrified to remake RE2. and they were right to be.

they were also terrified to remake RE4. and they were definitely right to be.

but i don't think they're scared anymore. they're going to look at RE6make as an opportunity, not a roadblock. RE6make is their opportunity to do it right this time and have that game bolster their reputation instead of tank it while raking in shittons and shittons of money.

[terresdebrume]

The old fashioned try

Fandom: Band of Brothers Rating: Teen & up Warning: None Pairing: Bill Guarnere/Babe Heffron Length: 2 260 words.

Summary: Bill and Babe have a regular Thursday night meetup. It's the highlight of Bill's week, except when Babe sits at the table with the stress levels of a deer being hunted for sports.

Note: The other day @gamebird prompted me to write about my favorite character being under tremendous amounts of stress. This isn't quite that, but it's still only here because of the prompt, so thanks for that :) Hopefully, I'll manage to clean it up and edit it enough to crosspost to AO3 before the 31st, but if not it'll be my first fic of 2024 I guess x) Also, this is part of the same modern AU as the story centered on Ruth Liebgott, but you don't really need to have read that to read this.

There’s something wrong with Babe. Bill clocks it before he even sets a crutch in the diner. His first clue? It’s seven pm on the dot, the exact hour they’ve agreed to meet, and not only is Babe right there, he’s got a mostly-empty beer bottle right in front of him. Which means he’s not just on time: he was early. Bill frowns. Babe has many, many qualities in life, but God knows punctuality is not on the fucking list. So what the hell brought him in so soon? 

Frowning harder, Bill steps away from the window. He makes his way to the front of the diner, swearing when his right crutch catches on an old chewing gum, but he doesn’t let it distract him for more than a moment. He’s got to figure out what the hell is going on with Babe. He’s sitting at their usual table, at least, but he’s barely paying attention to Doris and her jokes. Bill shoulders the door open without paying it the slightest bit of attention: at the table, Babe’s knee is bouncing so hard it’s threatening to shake the table. Babe’s hair is a mess, too, like he’s been running his hands through it. His usual pale face has gone pasty white, and his finger taps at the tabletop like he’s trying to use morse code.

What the fuck is wrong with him?

Bill maneuvers around some dicks hanging out between tables instead of sitting the fuck down, and feels his frown deepen when Babe fucking stands up as he notices him. Stands up—what the fuck is this, a business meal? Come the fuck on. Bill smiles anyway, because it’s Babe and their Thursday dinner is the fucking highlight of his week. Doesn’t mean he turns his eyes off. Or his brain for that matter.  Babe’s palm is sweaty when he grips Bill’s hand. His hug jerky. Babe’s nervous, but what the fuck about is the question?

“How you doing?” Babe asks, a light frown hovering over his brow.

Bill answers, of course, and the conversation proceeds almost like it’s any other Thursday night…except Babe doesn’t fucking relax. He’s jittery and distracted, and the more Bill sees it the more tense he feels himself get in response. He can’t tell what it’s about, is the fucking thing. It’s not a new partner, for sure, or Babe would have spilled the beans already. Ditto: the return of the Doc. Babe and Gene parted on amicable terms last year, if Babe were back with the guy he wouldn’t need to be cautious about announcing it. So, Bill concludes as they discuss his and Babe’s weeks, this isn’t about Babe’s love life.

It’s not about family news, either. Bill had his Ma on the phone this morning, and his ma talks to Anne Heffron every Wednesday during book club. She’d have shared any important news. So, no sick Heffron, no sudden death, nothing like that. Besides, news like that would make Babe look sad, not like he’s about to vibrate off the goddamn couch! And yet the attitude just…persists. Babe jitters as he recounts a frankly uneventful week of essays and uninspiring classes. He taps his finger against the table, his glass, his plate, as he listens to Bill’s anecdotes from the VA. He runs his hands through his hair no less than four times—four times! —while they trade news about their group of friends.

It goes on past their opening beers, past the arrival and clearing of Babe’s red gravy pasta and Bill’s tomato pie, and past the moment Doris comes back to see if they want any dessert. And all the while Bill feels his heart speed up, feels the prickle of sweat under his armpits, the hair standing up at the back of his neck. It starts in a slow simmer, the heat of it rising, and rising, and rising steadily, until Bill snaps.

“Alright, spit it out, Babe.”

Babe’s eyes widen in doe-like surprise, and Bill would chuckle at the sight if he weren’t too busy panicking. It’s not good news, it’s not a death in the family, it’s probably not about Babe’s job—but’s enough to make him look like he’s preparing to be lined up against a wall or something, and not knowing the what’s what is giving Bill the worst fucking case of the jitters.

“Spit what out?” Babe retorts, looking even more caught out.

Bill kicks him under the table.

“What the fuck?” Babe hisses, switching from cornered to annoyed in less than a second. “What was that for?”

“Don’t give me that ‘spit what out’ bullshit,” Bill hisses right back, glaring into Babe’s eyes, “You’re shaking so much I could sit a gal on your leg and charge her for the joy ride, what the fuck is going on?”

“Nothing,” Babe says, and Bill kicks him again. “Ow! Fuck you!”

“Just fucking tell me what’s going on,” Bill demands, feeling his patience unravel at high speed. “You in trouble or something? Do I need to help you hide a body?”

“What? No!” Babe says, switching track again, from annoyance to clear indignation. “Of course you don’t need to help me hide a body! Jesus Christ!”

“Then what the fuck is it?”

Bill knows he’s flailing as he asks, hears the faint lisp creeping back into his voice, and could maybe be embarrassed about it, but isn’t. This is freaking Babe, okay? They’ve known each other since they were in diapers! Bill was there for Babe’s first communion, for his first girlfriend, his first heartbreak. He let Babe crash in his bedroom after he came out to his parents and they didn’t take it so good, the two of them watching vines under Bill’s blanket while his Ma went and gave Anne Heffron a stern talking-to about acceptance. Hell, Bill was right there for all of Babe’s story with Gene Roe, from their meeting in college to their amicable break up last year.

What the fuck could Babe be afraid to tell him of all fucking people? Babe can be nervous around his parents, or his brothers, or anybody else all he wants, that shit just happens, but around Bill? Unless—

“Did I do something?” Bill asks after a bit, his frown coming back full force.

“No!” Babe replies immediately. “No, you didn’t do nothing! It’s me, I’m just.”

Babe cuts himself off, and if Bill still had two legs he’d be fucking standing on them because what the fuck else, then? If it’s not something he did or said or—what the fuck is it? But Bill doesn’t have two legs, and getting to your feet on crutches is too slow to look suitably dramatic. And even if he did want to go for it anyway, he wouldn’t have the time to do it because Babe comes to some kind of conclusion in his head: with an explosive sigh, he swipes a hand through his hair and says:

“I’ve been thinking.”

“Careful with that, I hear it’s dangerous,” Bill says automatically.

It makes Babe snort, which brings a smile to Bill’s face. It’s nice, making Babe laugh. Or smile. It’s the best part of spending time with the guy, really. Not that now is the greatest time to indulge in the pastime, but still. At least it makes the tension in Babe’s shoulders loosen.

“Speak for yourself, oldhead,” he says, yelping when Bill swats at him.

Doris comes by with their ice creams and a wink for Babe, which he receives with the perennial embarrassment of one who had a very obvious childhood crush that didn’t go unnoticed. Bill waits for Doris to leave before he makes a kissy face at Babe, which has the unexpected effect of making flush like he’s just spent a hot day at the beach without sunscreen. Normally, the only thing the joke does is make him roll his eyes, and Babe feels himself pout in confusion.

“I’ve been thinking,” Babe repeats, still flushed, his eyes down on the table.

Then he clears his throat and looks back up at Bill with his chin raised, like he’s expecting some kind of argument. Bill has no such thing planned unless Babe doesn’t fucking say what’s on his mind right the fuck now, and he’s about to say as much when Babe finally manages:

“I think we should date.”

What?

“What?”

“I think we should date,” Babe repeats.

Oh good. For a second there, Bill thought he’d heard wrong. Which, to be fair, he doesn’t think he can be blamed for: he didn’t exactly come here expecting his best friend to ask him out! Not that it’s. It’s not. Uh. Bill blinks.

“Why?”

“Because I want to,” Babe says, his tone matter of fact despite the violent red of his ears.

That’s a compelling argument right there. A surprise, really, because Babe’s never really shown any leaning in that direction, but Bill is doing some mental math of his own and he’s not exactly finding any flaws with Babe’s reasoning on that one.

“Because I thought I was lying to my Ma when I told her I wasn’t interested in meeting anyone new, but now I don’t think I was.”

That’s…. Not to be mean to mama Heffron or anything! God knows she and her husband came a long way since Babe was sixteen and stressing out about being thrown out so bad he’d let Bill’s older siblings kick their ass in Overwatch. But the simple truth is that her main criterion for introducing anyone to her son is ‘are they a good Catholic’ which, really. Babe’s best friend is Bill. She should know better. So, yeah, it would have made sense for Babe to just say things to get her off his back.

The fact that he wasn’t—that he’s truly content with his life as is, with Bill as the main fixture of his social circle? Dating or not, that’s one hell of a flattering thing, really, and Bill feels his chest warm up from the inside out at the revelation. His mouth curves into a smile on its own accord. He’s not really interested in stopping it.

“And,” Babe adds after a beat, finger tapping away at the tabletop again, “because I think—I hope. I hope we can stay friends, even if it doesn’t work out.”

“Of course we will,” Bill retorts, indignation pushing out the warm affection from earlier. “The fuck kind of—I fucking told you, Babe. You and me, it’s for life, alright? We’ll still be shooting the shit in the nursing home, you’ll see.”

Babe grins, all traces of apprehension leaving his face, and Bill relaxes in response. ‘I hope we can stay friends’ what kind of fucking—of course they’ll stay friends. The only question left is whether they’ll be fucking married or happy exes by then! Sure, Bill didn’t exactly give it any thought before, but he is now. Giving it some thoughts. He’s giving it the thought that probably most things aren’t gonna change, really. They’ll still be thick as thieves and they’ll still be best friends, and depending on how this thing goes they’ll just add sex and living together and a dog in the mix. And frankly, out of the list, there’s two Bill would be okay to have with Babe even if they don’t make it romantically, so.

“Okay,” he says after a brief moment of silence.

This time, it’s Babe's turn to blink at him.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Bill confirms, grinning in the sharp way that makes Babe chuckle all on its own sometimes. “You’ve convinced me.”

“How romantic,” Babe mocks, rolling his eyes.

He’s grinning back, though, and the flush has moved from his ears to his cheeks—it looks good on him. It’s always looked good on him, the blush and the fucking twinkles in his eyes, and the grin that’s been pulling Bill’s eyes to his mouth for months, really, now that he thinks about it. And he hasn’t thought about it before, not consciously, but as it turns out it’s one of those things Bill knew without knowing he knew them. Like when Babe came out to him all those years ago: Bill hadn’t known but he wasn’t surprised, just like Babe hadn’t known about him but hadn’t been surprised either.

Hell, even Babe’s fucking banter—it’s new but it isn’t. Because alongside the abrupt thrill of a new step, something beautiful and exciting beginning, there’s also the familiarity and the comfort of Babe, and everything they already share. And so it’s with the same challenging grin as ever that Bill retorts:

“You want romantic? How about I walk you back right now and we see how we feel about kissing goodbye?”

Babe doesn’t even pretend to consider it, just straight up rolls his eyes:

“Fine. But next time, I want flowers.”

And it’s funny ‘cause see, here they are: haven’t even made a proper date out of the evening yet, and they’re already planning the second one. But what the hell, it’s Babe: date or not, if he wants flowers he’ll get flowers. So they leave their half melted ice creams on the table along with enough money for the bill and a generous tip, and they walk the two and a half blocks to Babe’s parents’ place. Bill bitches about his crutches the entire time, and Babe tells him he should stop being a baby and get a goddamn knee scooter already, and when they get to their destination they do try out kissing goodbye.

They like it alright.

[aikoiya]

LoZ: OoT - Sheik Isn't Trans

Someone questioned if Sheik isn't trans then why not just dress as a female Sheikah & went on to talk about how female Sheikah are as valued as males & are a matriarchal culture & I can't help but feel like this individual missed the entire point of Zelda being in hiding.

Namely, the fact that she was in hiding.

Thing is, Ganondorf was on the hunt for a princess. Ergo, a female. If she dressed as a female Sheikah, he'd have been much more likely to figure it out earlier, especially considering that Sheik was also blond.

As for Sheik's eye color, I believe that it's implied in the game that the red coloring is a result of training the Mind's Eye. So, as a Sheikah, it'd be easy to realize that red wasn't Sheik's original eye color & add to that the hair color, then being a girl outwardly would've made who Sheik was absolutely obvious. Pathetically so.

Add to that the fact that she later chose to present as female. And if she were trans, then why put herself through dysphoria just to prove a point?

Not only that, when she does it, she doesn't say "I was Princess Zelda," but "It is I, the Princess of Hyrule; Zelda."

Not in the past tense, but rather the present. Meaning that she identifies with being the princess of Hyrule whose name is Zelda.

She then goes on to call Sheik "a disguise." Meaning, a facade. Fake. Not real. Then, says herself that she saw it as necessary to hide from Ganondorf.

Like, she literally says it herself that Sheik wasn't real.

And if you say that she was "just saying that" or "he was pretending for the sake of the plot" or whatever, then how do you know what Zelda was thinking!?

Are you able to interface with code or something??

Sheik also wasn't even remotely hesitant to turn into Zelda at all, so how can you know that Sheik is trans??

Like, just admit that it's just your headcanon & stop presenting it as canon!

Though, I will say that the fact that it worked tells us that Hyrule, if not just the Gerudo & the Kokiri, has similar biases to us. At least back then.

Like, Ganondorf says himself that she managed to avoid his pursuits for 7 years! Ergo, her plan worked! It didn't even occur to him that Sheik could be Zelda because he just assumed, "Oh, he's a dude. Can't be Zelda."

However, I can almost guarantee that if she'd presented as female from the start, then much like in Wind Waker (who, btw, the Ganondorf there is the same Ganondorf as in Ocarina of Time), it would've likely crossed his mind early on that Sheik could be Zelda & would've investigated her from the jump! Which would've ended with the Triforce of Wisdom in his hands early!

There's also the fact that upon returning to being Zelda, her mannerisms instantly became much more feminine. Meaning that either this was her preferred state & it was natural to her, or she was putting on a show.

Not only that, but it has been confirmed by Bill Trinen. Shigeru Miyamoto's official translator, who's been part of the company since Ocarina of Time!!

And, you know what his exact quote was?

"The definitive answer is that Sheik is a woman... simply Zelda in a different outfit."

Dude's been translating the games since OoT & is frequently in contact with the man himself, in which times he's expected to translate for him. I'd think that Bill might have some idea of what he was talking about.

So, there ya go. Confirmed. Sheik is Zelda & Zelda is a woman. You can still hc her as trans. Just don't present it as canon when it isn't, okay? That's called lying.

Furthermore, I'm just gonna put it out there that the entire reason that turning into Sheik worked was because it was unexpected.

Meaning that a woman dressing as a man wasn't considered normal back then.

It's just... not feasible.

Especially when you consider the fact that she would have to go back to being Zelda afterwards. We don't know if any of OoT Zelda's family survived, so she naturally will have had an extensive amount of pressure put on her to be the new queen, get married, & have kids. Because if she didn't, there'd be no future Zeldas, period. It would be her solemn duty as princess to have heirs.

And, I understand, being trans doesn't necessarily mean that she'd experience dysphoria as a result of getting pregnant & having children, but at the same time, it also doesn't necessarily mean that she won't. And another thing; who in a fantasy world at least partially based on medieval Europe, specifically medieval Germany & Arthurian England, would marry a transman for any other reason than to seize power?

If Hyrule's rate of straight to non-straight is anything like what it is, even today, then only about 10-25% of Hyrule's residents could've possibly been in any way okay with this. And that's being generous! Then, the likelihood of her finding someone who she could live a satisfying married life with, would've been very low.

So, if you're gonna make Sheik trans, then do it properly you cowards & make him effing miserable! He'll feel totally isolated because the likelihood of meeting anyone else like him is almost nill. Make him deathly afraid of being found out. Explore the actual consequences of being trans in a society where you're more likely to be killed for it if anyone knew than be accepted. Or have him continue to present as Princess Zelda to fulfill his duty, but miss being Sheik deep in his bones.

Like, don't get me wrong. Hc what you want, just don't say that it's canon when it clearly isn't. Not for something so big.

And if you're gonna make OoT Zelda trans, then go all the way & don't even think about sugarcoating it because it's a disservice!

LoZ General Masterlist

[graendoll]

Proof that I am socially inept, or a dick or something:

Once upon a time like a year ago or so, I dunno the exact timeframe, a cat showed up at my house. He was young and LOVED my older tabby. They play and groom eachother and generally have a fabulous time on their play dates.

Anyway, this new cat is a local neighborhood cat - had a collar and my direct neighbors recognized him as belonging to a family up the street. At one point he lost the collar, but like...I knew his family of people were nearby.

Anyway, fast forward a year and this cat spends a fair amount of time at our house. He sleeps in our solarium and gets along with our feral barn cat who lives outside, and generally we have accepted him into our cat family. But at no point did I consider that we'd stolen the cat? Because he is an outdoor cat and like...I don't know the neighbors he belongs to, so I assumed he was splitting time between us. I have had this happen with my cats in the past. It's a consequence of the cat distribution algorithm and I just roll with it.

This weekend, however, I noticed the cat had a tail injury - I was worried it was broken and he was in a lot of pain. To repeat, I don't know his other family at all. So I called some vets because at one point the woman who he belongs to told me he had a vet (she saw him in our yard one day and picked him up and took him home...he was back the next morning - literally the only interaction I've had with her was her coming by, saying "thats my cat, hes had all his shots" and picking him up). ANYWAY, I was hoping if I could find his vet, we could take him in because a LOT of vets here dont see new patients. So I mentioned when I called the only weekend vet that was open that he wasn't mine and was told they wouldn't treat him without his owners permission.

This is long. Sorry.

Anyway, I asked our direct neighbors for the contact information for the cat's other family in the hopes I could get him to the vet. So I texted the cats other humans and explained he'd been injured and asked if he had a vet.....and that is where I apparently lost the ability to predict human behavior.

See, I assumed the other family was like...on the same page about the status of the cat. That he was theirs but also hung with us like half the time. Like split custody, if you will.

I was mistaken. Because this guy shows up at my house at like 8:30pm, demands the cat, invites himself in, picks up the injured cat, who is hissing at him, and says "if you want the cat just keep it". I'm like...completely speechless and awkwardly try to explain it was never my intent to steal the cat. He says "then don't feed him" and I try to explain we leave food out for ferals, but he cuts me off and says "this is the only cat we've ever had who ditched us" and then proceeds to leave with said cat and drive away.

I mean...I realize I'm not blameless here. Did I feed the cat? Yes. Did I let him in my house? Yes. Did I actively attempt to steal their cat? No? I don't even know what cat theft would look like? They're cats. They're not like dogs. They are aloof and sometimes pick new owners and occaisionally come back after being gone for six months.

But I WAS trying to get him looked at by a vet. I wasn't trying to get out of paying for his care or being like "welp, we've fed and housed him four days out of seven for a year but he's technically yours so you should pay for his vet care." I just wanted to help the cat and since I was overly honest with the vets about not being his owner this seemed like a good path forward....

Anyway, these strangers who I have never before met except through cat drama have the cat in their possession. I offered to pay for vet bills, but got no response. And now I'm worried they'll like...hold the cat hostage or something? I dunno.

I cannot begin to explain how many times I have had cats elect to move without informing me. I mean if I don't want to abide by cat distribution rules, I don't let my cat outside.

This probably makes me look like a class A dick, but that's all part of my inability to person. 🤷‍♀️. /rant off

[paigelts05]

'Miss' Mina + Dunn [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Miss-Mina-Dunn-FNAF-Renegade-AU-897222089

Published: Nov 7, 2021

I know my design of 'Miss' from The Twisted Ones is way different to how she appears in the graphic novels. This is because my design of Mina predates the graphic novels. She was designed around being a woman in her late twenties who would have been mistaken for Charlie. And Dunn is just Dunn. If you're wondering why they're in the same drawing, then welcome to the Renegade AU. Miss Mina used to work as a security guard at Freddy's, and after she was fired alongside anyone else from the other locations whose initials were MS and worked there for that exact week, she took up various job positions, including but not limited to being an office clerk, office gardener (keeping the plants around the office from dying), and the like. The reason for her going between different job positions was neither promotion or termination; it was the fact that she handed in her two weeks notice to move elsewhere. Because something was following her. She had always had a knack for detecting and communicating with the dead, which made her a medium - which in recent years, knowledge of ghosts had made being a medium less of a job and more like a crappy birthmark or scar - but talking with the dead doesn't pay the bills so she prefers office work. This ability to detect the dead also told her that whatever was hunting her was not a ghost. Glimpses out of the corner of her eye, people and robots were stalking her and she had to stay on the move. She then moved to Utah, where something caught up with her, but not the thing that was looking for *her*, oddly enough. This is where a new player entered the arena: a wandering ghost of a young man who had died to an infamous fursuited killer. Seeing that she was bleeding out, he posessed her in order to at least try and help her. As Mina was recovering in hospital, this ghost found himself unable to depossess the woman and that they were now bound to eachother. He introduced himself as the deceased officer Dunn, and she introduced herself as the job hopping medium Mina. Well, now the posessed medium Mina, as the scars on her ankles were an unnatural blue now, thier tone proportional to Dunn's 'presence'. The blue was new to her, and she decided that between working a 9-5 in an office, she'd also try and solve the question of why the crescent moon scars are sometimes blue, why a fellow possessed medium only had his blood scar nine years after becoming posessed, and if the lesbian/bi solidarity between her and Dunn can make her less oblivious to the fact that her and Phina have been dating for way longer than she thinks they have been. Two idiots sharing one braincell. Host: 'Miss' Mina Schmidt Alias: The peripatetic Job: office clerk [usually] Ghost: Officer Dunn Boon: can survive inhuman amounts of blood loss Colour: light blue Mina uses a tarot deck to signal to Dunn what to do, them both knowing what the cards mean without any practice; it just came naturally. However, using a tarot deck means that whatever they do is randomised, meaning that they may have to rely on luck more often than they like. She frequently uses makeup to cover up the scars on her face and collarbone area due to being an office clerk most of the time and her not wanting these scars to scare anyone.

[riahlynn101]

Whumptober 2024: Day Four - "You're Still Alive in My Head."

Trigger warnings: Implied/reference murder and kidnapping

Fandom: FNAF Movie

Word count: 1,522

--

After his brother’s murderer was killed, Mike found himself happier. The weight of failing Garrett was still there, ever-present due to his own part in his little brother being taken. But it was easier to interact with people. To hold down jobs. 

Vanessa remained in the hospital, thankfully now awake, but still traumatized by what went down at Freddy’s. She didn’t want Mike visiting her yet, at least not without Abby. Whenever she looked at him there was guilt clear as day in her eyes. He wished she didn’t look at him like that. He already got plenty of that from the adults growing up. That pity. 

And he knows it’s because she feels responsible for Garrett’s death, but Mike couldn’t blame her for that even if he tried. She had been a kid, not much older or younger than Mike himself, when Garrett went missing. 

But he refuses to push her, not wanting the precarious situation they’ve created to change. At least, through his sister’s over-enthusiastic attitude and obliviousness towards his and Vanessa’s awkwardness, they can interact like they used to. 

Mike shut the door of his sister’s bedroom. Abby is more willing to listen, but getting her to obey her bedtime was not happening anytime soon. It took stories upon stories to get her to acquiesce to sleep. 

He went to his own room. His new job, a paid intern position at a local construction company, worked him like a dog. But he didn’t mind, especially when the pay, even as an intern, was leagues better than anything he made as a security guard. 

He curled up in his bed. The Welcome to Nebraska sign had long been thrown out, crumpled and torn. He didn’t need it anymore. 

The one annoying thing about giving up his usual nighttime ritual of sleep medication, white noise, and staring up at the same poster for seven years straight, was trying to actually fall asleep. No matter how tired he was, trying to sleep felt like pulling teeth. His mind simply refused to shut off. 

But he did.

Eventually. 

Mike opens his eyes again to see the familiar forest he’s become well-acquainted with. The campground looked surprisingly empty, considering what he usually sees here. Or who ….

He wheels around, hoping the ghost kids that harassed him last time haven’t returned. The last thing he needs is another trip to the hospital. He’s still paying off the last bill, and no amount of empathizing with their plight would ever make Mike okay with being stabbed or slashed at. 

But when he turns around, they aren’t standing there. 

Mike wants to throw up. His stomach twists into a knot. 

Because standing in front of him, looking the exact same he did that day is….

“Garrett?” The words feel funny coming from his mouth. He feels disconnected from his body. 

“Mike!” His little brother cheers. He smiles big, showing off all his teeth. “You’re here!”

Mike can’t force himself to speak further. He looks around. This has to be a set-up, right? In all his years of having the same nightmare, his brother never spoke directly to him. And he partly blamed his own waning memories of Garrett for that. 

“What….what is this?” He asks. “What am I doing here?”

Garrett spins around, walking away from Mike. “I missed you,” he said. “Come play with me.”

It takes Mike a full minute to realize Garrett wants him to follow. He hurries after his brother, not wanting this moment to go to waste. This still doesn’t feel right, but he would be damned if he ruined this. 

The forest grows denser as they walk, and Mike has to push between bunches of pine tree bristles to find where his brother went. They stop in the middle of a clearing, encircled by trees.

Mike smiles fondly. He remembers this place, albeit extremely vaguely. Squeezing his eyes shut, he can almost visualize finding this place with Garrett a few days before he….

They stayed in here all day. At one point, they fell asleep and woke up just after sundown. Their parents hadn’t been happy with them. Mike smiles at the bittersweet memory. They almost cut their camping trip short.

He frowns. 

“Mike,” Garrett starts, voice echoing from behind him. Mike whirls around. “Do you miss me?” There’s something wrong with the way he emphasizes that. All the alarm bells have long since started going off in Mike’s head. But acting on the perceived urgency of the situation would mean running away or hurting his brother in some way, and he can’t force himself to do that. 

“Yes,” Mike mutters, tone softer. Exactly like the one he uses with Abby when she’s scared of something. He bends down a little. One advantage of barely growing height-wise between twelve and now is that it’s one less thing that hasn’t changed (for either of them). “Of course I do.”

Garrett walks a wide circle around Mike, looking him up and down. His face is impassive, unreadable to an unfamiliar degree. Even that one ghost kid, the blond one that kidnapped his sister, didn’t look so blank and non expressive. The fact that this is his brother, who used to be so full of enthusiasm and excitement, worries Mike more. 

Though, Mike supposes, if he were kidnapped, murdered, and maybe (hopefully not) trapped somewhere for over a decade, he too would be a mess (well, more of a mess). 

He stops in front of Mike. “No you don’t. You stopped trying to find me.”

“I-”

“You stopped looking for me.”

Mike stammers, “I-I…no. I didn’t know-”

“You gave up on me,” Garrett insists. “Abandoned me.”

Years worth of frustration and resentment at the situation boiled in his chest. Mike grits his teeth. “No. No. No! I didn’t! I wouldn’t.”

“Liar!” His brother shouted, sounding every bit as helpless as Mike felt. And isn’t that great? Here he was, almost a decade-and-a-half older, a full adult, and he still couldn’t deal with this. 

His eyes burn with tears. Mike swallows down the lump in his throat. He can’t cry right now. Crying always made him feel weak, and crying in front of his brother won’t make him feel any better (it won’t. It can’t. He won’t allow it). 

“I…didn’t,” he says, voice cracking. He feels weak and feverish. He feels exactly like he did the moment he had to race back to their campsite to tell mom and dad what happened. Uncomprehending of anyone or anything besides the image of his brother’s confused face watching him from the back of the car. Legs shaking, barely holding him up.

He always tried really, really hard not to cry in front of people, but he remembers crying a lot that day and a lot of the days following. His mom and dad were stuck in their own grief, so he forgives them for not being there for him. But for at least a year following Garrett’s kidnapping, all Mike could do was cry until he couldn’t anymore. 

“Why? Why did you forget about me?” 

Mike couldn’t bring himself to look at Garrett. He already knows his brother’s looking at him, expecting a reaction. Maybe they’re alike in that small way, needing outside validation from someone that has a hard time showing it. 

Mike chokes back a sob. He doesn’t want to be here anymore. He left this all behind when he escaped Freddy’s. Being here hurts too much.  

“I’m…sorry. I never wanted to. I didn’t want to leave you behind, but I couldn’t stay in the past.” Both for his own sanity, for Abby’s sake, and because for the first time in years, he got a taste of closure and just wanted to rest.  “I wanted to keep you with me.”

“You stopped visiting me,” his brother says in an accusatory voice. Like Mike consciously chose to leave the one good part of his never-ending nightmare behind. 

He still can’t bring himself to look at Garrett. 

“I didn’t want to be here. Not after….” he trails off. While revisiting the same place every night was painful, after so many years this place became a comfort to him. But then it turned against him. His mom…and his dad….and Garrett…

He finally looks at him. “You…you let them hurt me,” he realizes. “You didn’t try to stop them from taking Abby.”

Something flashes in Garrett’s eyes. Mike might call it guilt or regret, but it’s gone before he can really place it.

“I had to,” Garrett says. “You know that.” He grabs Mike’s arm. The suddenness of the action and the lingering memory of being attacked by feral ghost children startles him enough to pull away.

Mike instantly feels bad, but his brother has already pulled away. 

The scenery around them starts to blur - a surefire sign Mike is about to wake up. Before he can stop himself, he hurries to find the right words to comfort his brother. 

“You’re still alive in my head. I think about you all the time, and I never stopped missing-”

Mike wakes up in his bed, drenched in cold sweat.

[aroacephotographer]

Pseudo-story time about college.

A word of warning: This story has mention of financial strong-holding and emotional manipulation.

This post sponsored by: Pangs of Guilt (a punk band name I just made up)

I was forced to graduate college.

My mom was the second person in my family to attend college. Then the first to graduate with a full degree. Then the first to obtain a Master's. By the time I entered high school, she was celebrating her PhD in Public Health Nursing.

Fantastic, right? Until you hear about the enormous pressure she put on me to basically do the same thing.

She allowed me to pursue a more artistic route in college. It was something I was apparently passionate about. But the thing was, I didn't really start exploring my interests fully until the end of high school. I just wasn't paying enough attention until then. And when I paid attention, I noticed that I struggled in school.

So I told my super-smart mom. And she told me I was fine, normal, and there was nothing wrong with me.

I told her back, "But I struggle all the time. I think I have ADHD or something." That was the only word I could think of. But she took it as me saying there was something WRONG with me.

For someone so smart, she ignored a lot of facts about me. Like how I was coming out of the closet (she raised me to be alloromantic and straight because it was the only thing she knew); or how tests gave me enormous amounts of anxiety even if the concepts were "simple."

Autism was a four letter word. I could never bring this or certain other topics up, because she knew better than me. So it's no wonder I beat myself up for feeling "stupid" so much. After all, I only have a Bachelor of Arts degree.

So during my last couple of years in college, I started breaking down. I just couldn't handle the pressure anymore. Four classes was too much. I compared myself to people who were basically taking 7 like in high school. My focus was all over the place and the pressure to graduate, much less in 4 years, had become too much. So I told her.

Her response was to point out that my older cousin had dropped out of college 10 years earlier, so I couldn't do the same. She said this with anger in her voice. After all, she'd been paying the bills and supporting me... financially. But hadn't supported me emotionally. So she told me I had to finish college. Period. There was no choice but to do it.

In so many words, my own mother told me to suck it up and get the fuck over it.

There's not an exact ending to this. Just that I went along and tried my best to do exactly as she told me. Every subsequent realization I made about myself was another form of rejection because it didn't fit her view of me. And she was someone who cared what other people thought about her and the kid she raised.

The "ending," if I can try and claim one, is that I've been picking up pieces ever since. I've realized I'm autistic, ADHD, I'm part of the queer community. And probably the biggest thing, I'm slowly figuring out the things I hyperfixate on vs the things I want to get paid to do (words I didn't have in 2008 when I graduated high school). I'm finally working on things like my extreme anxiety, being patient with myself as I learn new things like coding, and parenting myself.

I always worry if I meet someone with a kid of their own, and they needlessly push ideals onto a child. I wonder what kind of anxiety they'll have to work through. I wish I could point this out succinctly to some parents that you're raising another human being, and to not push everything onto them. They may have neurodivergence that makes it difficult to see your perspective. That if you care too much about what everyone else thinks of your family, then you're doing it wrong.

If you stuck with me, thanks for reading. This is something that I've been working on for a long time. I feel behind in many ways. But I'm working on it and there's plenty of time to figure shit out. And I hope this helps someone out, in whatever way it can.