#but also the more i read this event the more its just the dumbest excuse on the planet

[dokutah-exe]

lappland: you cant escape the underworld alone. you should ask for help in some way

texas: built different

[7er1ch0]

What if MC was the artist for the TSL graphic novel

So I got a bit to go before the new genshin update, so to kill time I'm going to write the most self indulgent obey shit that has been on my mind for the past few days.

*it's exactly what it sounds like

*I’m not sure if it was brought up at one point of TSL having a graphic novel, but a bunch of popular books and franchises eventually get a graphic novel made of it, so it's not unlikely

*Anyway, starting off, You and Simeon knew each other before the events of the game.  

*Agreeing to illustrate books, demand to talk to the author to take even more thorough notes than whatever the original books were going to give them.

*Whether or not Simeon realizes that his book is prophetic, and that Mc is technically Henery, it doesn't really matter.  He agrees to meet up, talk shop about the characters, what kinda designs would be wanted/backgrounds/expressions/body language ect ect.  

*This leads to Simeon describing the brothers in very different ways.  Some will be entirely appearance, some will be certain mannerisms, different interests, and whatnot.  

*They stay in touch during the illustrating process and well past that cause its Mc and that otome protagonist powers are strong.

*Anyways, times pass, and you get yanked into he- The Devildom.

*Slowly starts recognizing the brothers, and small things fall into place cause Simeon you ain’t slick.

*Also

*Diavolo - “Allow me to introduce you, Mc.  This is-”

*Mc- “SIMEON! YOU FUCKING NERD” *Simeon - “Mc, it's been too long”

*Diavolo - “wait-”

*Anyway onto the good shit

*Levi

*”The second lord attempted to steal the lord of corruption’s platypus, which could lay golden eggs”

*They hear Solomon say that once, don't even wait for Levi to finish.  

*”i know you’re just repeating Solomon to get on my good side”

*Lore dumps how the Lord of Corruption not only got the platypus but why it could lay golden eggs.

*access into Levi’s room achieved (kinda)

*Levi’s being his good ol’ self, saying how just because you know a ‘bit’ about TSL doesn't make us friends or anything even close.  And just because you tricked the dumbest of us into a pact (HEY!) doesn't mean you should even think about coming after me.

*It keeps going like that for a while.  And then it turns back around to TSL and how they probably just read that off the fan wiki and aren't a real fan.

*Excuse me

*This just became the battle of the nerds which poor Solomon and Mammon are stuck in the crosshairs of.

*It finally escalates to You challenging him to a TSL trivia battle

*no goating needed this time, Levi’s accepts immediately 

*”Mc, why are we going to Simeon”

*”I just need his permission Mammon, then I will destroy his faith in friendship, brotherhood, and the goodwill of man.”

*The competition was brutal

*and at the very end

*”Wh…what…?...NO!  THAT’S INSANE…THE LORD OF MASKS WOULDN'T DO THAT TO THE LORD OF SHADOWS!”

*What You had presented was a section of the unreleased 9th edition rough draft of TSL.

*Victory felt oh so sweet

*Until Levi tried to commit murder.

*But, you win, another pact mark under the belt and another story to tell the grandkids

*next morning

*”So, how did you get the script?  Was it leaked or something, it can't be I would have heard about it…”

*”Levi, you have the graphic novels of TSL don't you, of course you do.  Do me a favor and go get it”

*Shortly after leaving the table there is a scream and a loud thud coming from upstairs. 

[ssa-jennifer-prentiss]

And When I’m Holding You the World Makes Sense

i finallyyyy got to writing some more jemily! this one is based on the song “My Side of the Fence” by Dan + Shay (it very much so reminds me of something Emily would sing to JJ)!

this one is also dedicated to my love, @the-bipsycho. thanks for pushing me to write something and hyping me up! i love youuu!

pairing: jj/emily

words: 2386

tw: alcohol mention

read on ao3

-----

These fancy things in magazines

Diamond rings and beauty queens

But nothing seems to sparkle like you do

These fine cigars and caviar

Expensive cars and movie stars

But everything I need is in this room

Oh, and I've seen the lights from New York to Vegas

And I've tasted wine from Venice to Paris

And I've seen the sights

Nothing comparin' to you

-----

Emily stood in her day old sweats staring into her closet. The team had arrived home late yesterday afternoon from a very tough case. They never worked a “good” case, but some were harder to leave behind than others. This one in particular involved missing children and not every family had received the happy handing they hoped for.

Seeing the toll it took on his team, Hotch allowed them to go home as soon they landed and told them he didn’t want to see them until the following Wednesday. It had been Friday afternoon when they arrived home and Emily wanted nothing more than to spend the next few days cuddled up with her girlfriend, snacks, and the dumbest TV show they could find.

Emily’s plans of a few peaceful days were ruined when her and JJ arrived back at their apartment that evening. When Emily was in the kitchen grabbing a bottle of wine for her and JJ, she caught a glimpse of the calendar hanging on the fridge. She had completely forgot her mother’s gala was that weekend.

Their Saturday morning was spent arguing as Emily attempted to use every excuse she could possibly come up with to convince JJ into not attending the event. JJ knew well that if they didn’t attend, Emily would never hear the end of it from the Ambassador. Emily was aware that would be far more painful than a few hours out with her beautiful girlfriend.

The closet in front of Emily was filled mostly with work clothes, both hers and JJ’s, but at this point it was near impossible to distinguish between the two. Towards one end, there hung a few of their nicer outfits. Tucked behind JJ’s skirts from her liaison days were a few dresses Emily kept on hand for occasions such as these.

She carefully looked through her options, taking each one of them in. Emily was not the kind of girl who enjoyed dressing up. She hated it even more at times like this. She spent far too many evenings and weekends getting all dolled up, so she could help improve her mother’s image.

Eventually she settled on a shorter red dress that she surprisingly enjoyed the fit of. It dipped lower in the front and showed off her figure perfectly. She also knew how much JJ loved her in red, it was her color. She slipped into the dress, zipping it before making her way to the bathroom to do her hair.

She decided on only curling the ends in an attempt to keep it simple. Her dark, nearly black hair looked sharp against the vibrant shade of red both her dress and lipstick possessed. She was just finishing fixing up her makeup when she heard faint footsteps come up behind her.

“So, what do you think?” Emily turned to see JJ standing in the doorway, her hands out to the side and a huge smile on her face. She had on a tight blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly. The spaghetti strap dress showed off her toned arms and shoulders. JJ looked at her girlfriend and giggled as Emily gawked at her. “Quit drooling Em, and tell me what you think!”

“I think,” Emily stepped closer and slipped her arms around the blonde’s waist, “we might not make it to the party after all.” She pressed a firm kiss to her girlfriend’s lips.

“Nice try,” JJ murmured between kisses, “we’re going.” She pulled away from a now pouting Emily to step farther in the bathroom. She quickly finished up her makeup before walking back into the bedroom to meet Emily. The two slipped on their heels and jackets then made their way to the car.

-----

So I ain't looking over fences trying to find a better view

My search for all that ended when I first laid eyes on you

And the grass is always greener

'Cause the sun shines when you smile

And when I'm holding you the world makes sense

On my side of the fence

-----

JJ decided to drive the 40 minutes to the gala’s venue, leaving Emily to relax in the passenger’s seat. However, Emily didn’t seem to be relaxing much. JJ could see her fidgeting with her hands in her lap. She was picking at her fingers like she did when she was nervous or stressed. Seeing this, JJ reached over and took one of Emily’s hands in her own. Intertwining their fingers and squeezing tightly, JJ smiled at Emily.

“What’s on your mind, Em?” she squeezed her hand again, pulling Emily’s attention to her.

“I just really hate these events, Jen,” she leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes. “I hate having to put on a show. This isn’t who I am at all. I hate the dresses. I hate the snobby rich colleagues of my mother. I hate the looks everyone always gives us. I hate that I’m not the perfect daughter of an ambassador that I’m supposed to be.”

“Woah, woah, woah baby. First of all, who you are is perfect. You shouldn’t have to be some certain way or meet some outrageous expectations to be seen as valued in your mother’s eyes. The fact that she only sees you at events like this is truly her loss,” she glanced over at Emily, giving her a sincere smile.

“And second, I don’t give a fuck about what all those people think of us,” she held Emily’s hand tighter. “I love you. I want to spend tonight with my beautiful girlfriend, dancing and drinking and having the best time we can. I promise you, if it gets too much, say the word and we are out of there okay?”

“Okay.”

“What’s the word?”

“Blackbird,” she smiled for the first time since they entered the car. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” JJ said as she pulled into a parking spot outside the venue. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

-----

If I ever win the lottery

It wouldn't mean a lot to me, 'cause I already got you to hold my hand

And if a genie gave me a million wishes

I'd spend them all on all your kisses

And save just one to stay right where I am

-----

The two women exited their car and made their way inside the building. With each step forward, Emily’s grip on JJ’s hand tightened.

“Hey,” JJ glanced over at Emily, catching her eye, “Just focus on me. We get to spend all night together. Just you, me, champagne, and the dance floor.”

Emily nodded as they reached the entrance. She pulled the door open for JJ, allowing the blonde to step in ahead of her before taking her hand again. Per typical Ambassador Prentiss fashion, the venue was vast, expensive, and filled to the brim with high class people Emily wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

JJ tugged her hand, pulling her towards a small, empty table in the back corner of the room. A kind young waiter made his way to their table, and offered them two glasses of champagne. Emily felt for the boy, knowing she would never want to be one of the people who caught the unfortunate shift at work and would have to cater an event for Elizabeth Prentiss. The pressure that comes with being associated with her mother in any way, was not something she would wish on anyone.

The room was covered in simplistic, yet clearly expensive decorations. Both the added decor and the structures built in were far too fancy for Emily. Every bit of the gala reminded her of growing up in large extravagant houses that never truly felt like home. She may have had more money than she could ever want or need, but she learned early on that it wasn’t going to make her happy. Even if she could have whatever she wanted.

Besides, Emily had the best thing she could ever ask for sitting beside her, and money couldn’t buy a Jennifer Jareau. JJ didn’t love Emily for her money. Their favorite date nights included sweats, cuddles, cheap wine, and Chinese take out. They didn’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy their time together. Emily wasn’t truly sure if her girlfriend was completely aware of just how much money she really had.

JJ could practically hear the thoughts running through the brunette’s head. She knew how much Emily hated her mother’s events, but she also knew Emily hated extra conflict with her mother more. If they wouldn’t have made an appearance, Emily was sure to receive angry and persistent phone calls from the Ambassador in the weeks to come.

Wanting to give Emily a break from her mind, she reached over and gently placed a hand on her girlfriend’s thigh. Emily jumped slightly as the contact broke through to her. Her face softened as she turned to look at JJ, giving her a small smile. JJ turned the hand on her leg palm up, asking for the older woman to take it.

“May I have this dance?” JJ smiled and rose from her seat. A genuine smile made its way to Emily’s face as she took JJ’s hand and allowed her to lead her to the dance floor.

-----

So I ain't looking over fences trying to find a better view

My search for all that ended when I first laid eyes on you

And the grass is always greener

'Cause the sun shines when you smile

And when I'm holding you the world makes sense

On my side of the fence

-----

They approached the dance floor where only a few other couples were at the moment. Soft, slow music was being played over the speakers. The chatter in the room was rather quiet, allowing the two women to focus solely on each other.

Emily slid her right arm around the blonde, while JJ put her left around Emily’s waist and pulled their bodies as close as she could. JJ laid her head against Emily’s chest, breathing in the perfume that was so distinctly Emily. She took her free hand and tangled her fingers with the brunette’s. She let her eyes close as she listened to the steady beat of her girlfriend’s heart beneath her.

They stood swaying back and forth in silence for a while, enjoying the closeness and comfort of the moment. After a few songs, JJ felt Emily press a soft kiss to her forehead. She smiled and snuggled impossibly further into Emily. Another moment passed and the silence was broken by two words:

“Marry me?”

It took Emily a moment to realize she had said the words out loud. It occurred to her that she had when she felt JJ tense and freeze in her arms. She felt the blonde lift her head from its place on her chest. Tear filled cerulean eyes met her equally teary brown ones. Emily was worried she had ruined everything, said those words far too soon, but before she managed to form any real words JJ spoke.

“Are you serious?” JJ tried to keep the smile off her face and the tears from falling before she was sure Emily meant it, but she failed miserably.

“Of course I’m serious!” Tears made their way down Emily’s cheeks as well. “God JJ! This is not how I wanted to ask you. Hell, I don’t even have a ring!”

“Baby…” she reached up to wipe the tears from Emily’s cheek, “I don’t need a ring or some fancy proposal. All I need is you.”

“My love, you are the best thing to ever happen to me. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. You make me so fucking happy, and I fall even more in love with you every single day.”

“Say it,” JJ smiled. “Ask me again.”

“Jennifer Jaraeu, will you marry me?”

“Yea,” her voice was filled with emotion. “Emily Prentiss, I want to be your wife.”

-----

You're the rain on the roof in the summer

You're the leaves in the fall changing color

You're the whisper I hear in the thunder

On my side of the fence

You're the reason my heart is beating faster

You're the tears falling down from the laughter

You're the only one I'm after

-----

Emily leaned forward to kiss JJ. Both women had tears streaming down their faces. JJ could barely keep the smile off her face as she tried to pour every bit of her emotions into their kiss. After a few moments, their need for air caused them to pull apart.

“I love you so much,” JJ whispered as she leaned her forehead against Emily’s.

“I love you, fiancée,” Emily spoke just as softly as JJ had. “Shall we head home?”

“I believe we shall,” she giggled, slipping her hand into the brunette’s again. “Fiancée has a nice ring to it.”

“It does!” Emily beamed. “And I know you said you don’t need one, but you’re getting a ring.”

“Seriously Em, you are enough.”

“Hey! We’ve got to show all those cops who think it’s okay to flirt with you that you are officially off the market. We’ll make them so jealous.”

“Oh shush! They never stood a chance against you,” she placed another kiss to Emily’s lips. “All yours forever, baby.”

“Good,” she kissed JJ once more before moving to get into her side of the car. “Now let’s get home, fiancée.”

-----

So I ain't looking over fences trying to find a better view

My search for all that ended when I first laid eyes on you

And the grass is always greener

'Cause the sun shines when you smile

And when I'm holding you the world makes sense

Baby, when I'm holding you the world makes sense

On my side of the fence

You know it does, baby

On my side of the fence

-----

thanks for reading! please let me know what you think!

[justpeachii]

Pairing: Sugawara Koushi x Female Reader 

Summary: After getting bored with your love life, you download one of those silly dating apps. However, things don’t go as planned, leaving you crying in your best friends arms.

Genre: College AU (Juniors), angst, comfort, platonic, mutual pining but both are dumb, kind of a cliche ending but :’)

Warnings: profanity and that is all.

Word Count: 3.2 K

Author’s Note: hello! This is my first fic here on the good ole tumblr and i hope you enjoy it! This was very much (sadly) based off of real life events and really just something i wanted to write to get my feelings out. i do suggest listening to the little playlist below while reading because not only were they what i listened to while writing, but also what got me through it (along with some great friends). Also uh… i didn’t expect this to be this long hehe YIKES. Anyways, enjoy! (also i’m SORRY TENDO he got the short end of the stick 😭 i’ll make it up i swear)

also tagging the lovely @noya-sannnn​ !! who inspired me to write this!!

Playlist

blame game (acoustic) by mxmtoon

Grow As We Go by Ben Platt

dream of you (acoustic) by mxmtoon

did it to myself by orla gartland 

ready now by dodie 

Comfort Crowd by Conan Gray

Late nights were always the worst. Between the endless torrent of thoughts or the overwhelming amount of homework, sleep was a luxury you could hardly afford. Afterall, juggling not only 18 credit hours of classes, a part-time job, and work projects for your major was not the norm, but for you, it was. 

Not only was sleep something you often overlooked, but love was as well. That is until one night you decided to download one of those silly dating apps on one of those late nights. After choosing a few of your best selfies and creating a fun little bio, you got to swiping.

Left. Left. Left. Pause. Scroll profile. Left. Pause. Scroll profile. Pause. Right.

It’s a Match!

After a moment of hesitation, you closed out of the message prompt, continuing to swipe and scroll before feeling the weight of sleep upon your eyelids. 

It had been two months since matching with Tendo Satori. Two months full of laughter, late nights at each other’s apartments, and confessions of love. Or at least what you thought was love. What started as a spark had grown to the size of a wildfire, burning inside your chest. A newfound love so strong it made your heart ascend to the highest of places.

However, what goes up must come down. 

While you would like to believe it was sudden, all the warning signs were there. Him growing distant, opening texts but not responding, cancelling plans last minute; the list goes on. The one thing that was sudden was the text you received before class.

Of course this would happen to you fifteen minutes before a two hour lecture. The last thing you would want to see: a paragraph of half-assed excuses followed up by “i just don’t think im ready for a relationship”.

You wanted to scream, throw your phone against the concrete, cause a scene, but you didn’t. As the tears began to flow, you scrolled on your phone for your most trusted friend, pressing on the call button next to their name. 

Ring. Ring. Ring.

“Y/n? Don’t you have class soon? What’s going on?”

At this point, you were holding back sobs, voice coming out in a quiet whisper as you held the phone to your ear with a shaking hand.

“Suga… I have class in a few, but I- he-” you couldn’t bring yourself to say the words. What would you tell him after all? While you and Tendo had never put a label on it, it still felt like a break-up. 

“He? Y/n, are you okay?” There was a faint rustle on his end of the line, the sound of him putting his shoes on. “Can you take a few breaths for me? Take your time, I’m here when you’re ready to talk.” 

Doing as he said, you took a few snot-filled breaths before managing to get the tears to stop falling. While you did so, you found a spot outside the lecture hall, sitting beneath a tree and leaning your head against its trunk, letting your eyes close. 

“He ended it. Tendo… He texted me saying all this stuff of how he was sorry for pushing me away and that he wasn’t ready for a relationship.” You said in a firm voice. It was as if you were willing yourself to be strong for his sake, not wanting to worry him more than he was. 

There was a pause from Sugawara as he processed what you had just said. When he spoke, his tone was bitter, one you rarely heard.  

“That piece of shit. Over a text! He didn’t have the decency to call you or, hell, even set up a dinner or something!” He gave a sigh followed by a beat of silence. “I’m so sorry, Y/n… I know it is probably the dumbest question to ask, but are you okay?”

“Not really, but I have to be since I have class in,” you glanced at your watch, groaning, “six minutes. I don’t really want to go, I just want to go home, curl up in my blanket, and cry.”

While your heart was breaking over some boy you had known for a couple of months, Sugawara Koushi’s was breaking for you. Not only was he your closest friend since you transferred to the same university, he was also head-over-heels for you. When you mentioned to him the dates, he feigned happiness for your sake, supporting you through all of it. Now, hearing you in shambles on the other end of the phone made him want to run to you, pull you into an embrace, and give you the world.

Sadly, he couldn’t do what he wished. He knew your professor had a strict attendance policy, which meant that you would have to sit in class for two hours with a broken heart. Two hours for him to prepare as much of the world as he could. 

“I know this is one of the last things you want to hear right now, Y/n, but I know it will get better. If your professor didn’t have such a stick up his butt you would be able to skip without a problem.” As your friend spoke, the tears began to fall once more, your free hand coming up to swipe them away. 

“I know it won’t be for another two hours, but after your class, do you want to come over and we can have a movie night? We don’t have to talk about anything, just watch Tangled or Your Name.”

It took you a minute to find your voice once more, the ball of despair tight in your throat, leaving you to silently nod. Then you find your voice.

“I’d like that, Suga… I’d love it, in fact. I just… I don’t want to be alone tonight, but I also don’t want to bother you and I know-”

“You know you’re never a bother. Trust me, Y/n. After class, come over to my place. You can have my bed and I’ll take the couch.” His voice cut you off from finishing your thought, leaving your lips parted with an apology, a breath falling out in its place.

For the first time in the past nine minutes, you smiled. It wasn’t much, but Sugawara could hear it in your voice from the other side as you whispered, “Okay. Thank you, Suga. I love you, you know?” 

“I love you, too.” His own face was graced with a smile, though behind it he held all his emotions. How he wished to hear those words uttered in a non-platonic way. “Now get to class before you’re late! I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

While you were busy in class, both from note taking, group discussions, and trying your best to not break down any minute, Sugawara was busy in his own way. As soon as the phone call ended, he was out the door, making his way to the nearest convenience store, buying the essentials for healing a broken heart. Four pints of ice cream, a mix of his favorite flavors and yours, a couple bags of chips, some candy, and even a new stuffed teddy bear later, he was checking out, checking his phone constantly for the time, in case he had spent more time than he thought.

With his bags in hand, he made his way back to his apartment, getting everything set up for the movie night. While it wasn’t going to be a joyous occasion, he wanted it to have a happier atmosphere than what the topic of discussion would be. He placed the bags of chips and candy on the coffee table, the teddy bear placed between them; ice cream in the freezer for future consumption. Once the snacks were in place, he began to gather the softest blankets, grabbing your favorite along the way. 

Every time you would come over, no matter the temperature outside, he would find you curled up in it. One finals week while the two of you were cramming for an exam the next morning, he found you dozed off at the coffee table, the same fuzzy grey blanket wrapped around your shoulders. He even took a picture of you, asleep with your cheek in hand, other hand slack from writing notes that had since been abandoned. You still didn’t know about the picture to this day, but it was one he cherished. 

Time seemed to pass quickly as he finished getting everything together, not realizing the time until you knocked at his door. Answering it within seconds, he gave you a gentle smile, opening his arms for a hug he knew you desperately needed. That was all it took for the dam to break once more. As your arms wrapped around him, the tears fell in steady streams onto his t-shirt. 

His hands rubbed soothing circles on your back as he slowly shuffled backwards, pulling you two past the threshold, allowing him to close the door behind you. One hand rested on the back of your head, holding you close to his chest, the other in the middle of your back. The two of you stood there for what seemed like hours before you lifted your head, eyes red and puffy. Sugawara’s hand moved from the back of your head to hold your face, wiping away any remaining tears.

“Sorry for soaking your shirt.” you said with a small laugh, as you finally met his gaze. Warm, brown eyes full of nothing but comfort and safety met yours. There was a soft smile on his lips, while it was kind, it held a hint of sadness. 

“Don’t worry, I like my shirts soggy.” He said with a chuckle of his own. After making sure your face was dry of any tears, he nodded towards the living room. “Now come on, I have a little surprise for you!” 

After slipping your shoes off, you followed him into the living room, spotting the assortment of treats, along with the teddy bear. You swore you were done crying, but a few tears found their way out once more, but this time for a different reason. As you made your way to the coffee table, Sugawara disappeared to the kitchen, grabbing two pints of ice cream and spoons. When he reappeared, you were already curled up on the couch, blanket wrapped around your shoulders, bear in your lap, and a few tears rolling down your face.

“You really didn’t have to do all of this, Suga. A movie and talking would have been just fine,” you said as he sat down next to you handing off your chosen flavor and spoon. He scoffed at your remark, gesturing with his spoon.

“And just fine isn’t good enough! No one deserves to be broken up with through a text. Especially you, Y/n. Why, the next time I see him, he better watch his back.” He said, his glare pointed off to the side.

“There will be no fighting him, okay? Physical or verbally. What happened is… What happened. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming when I could have if I just looked.” You said, opening up the pint and taking a spoonful. With a small huff, he copied your motions, a beat of silence falling between the two of you. 

The lull in conversation lasted for a little while as neither knew what to say. You didn’t want to speak anymore on what had happened, but it was eating away at you. Sugawara could tell it was, so finally he spoke, clearing his throat before doing so.

“I’ll listen,” he said, his gaze meeting yours. The look you gave him was almost that of a puppy that had been scolded. Hurt. Sad. “When you’re ready, I’ll listen. You can tell me everything, okay?”

The two of you sat in silence for a minute more before he decided to put on a movie, filling the void. By the halfway point, the two of you had finished your pints, the cartons since abandoned on the coffee table. The other snacks are left untouched. Finally, you turn towards him and take a deep breath.

“I’m ready now.”

Those three words were all it took for him to pause the movie and shift to face you. For the next two hours, you spilled your emotions to him, both the highs and lows of the two month endeavor. At some point, he had pulled you into his arms and between his legs, his back against the arm of the couch with you on his chest. Your tears soaked his shirt once more as his hands ran up and down your back. Soon, you found yourself asleep in his embrace, exhausted from emotions.

Sugawara looked down at your finally peaceful face, cheeks stained from tears. Carefully, he placed a kiss on the crown of your head, closing his eyes as he silently prayed he would never see you like this again. 

After that night, you and Sugawara started to spend more time together. Not only for study nights, but weekly movie watch nights, daily lunch meet-ups, and impromptu ice cream runs. 

The three months leading up to finals left your old feelings to return, but somehow stronger. While you had gotten over Tendo rather quickly (and likewise with him. Not a week after your “break up” he was in a relationship with someone else) you didn’t want to admit your feelings for your best friend. At least that was the plan until a particularly late night study session that had you banging your head against a textbook that lay on the coffee table. 

“You know you can’t actually cram the information into your memory, right?” Sugawara said with a chuckle. You groaned in response, wadding up a piece of paper and throwing it at him. He batted it away swiftly, leaning on his elbows.

“I know that, but what I don’t know is how I’m expected to memorize all of these algorithms in order to pass!” You whined, giving up as you flopped onto your back, tugging the blanket that was around your shoulders closer. From his spot across the table, Sugawara continued to type away on his laptop, stifling a yawn. 

Laying there, you looked up at the ceiling, thinking back over the past few months. Your mind wandered back to that one terrible day and the lengths that Sugawara had gone through to make sure you were alright. It brought a smile to your face as you closed your eyes, giving a soft sigh. This caught the grey-haired boy’s attention, looking away from his work to see you with the dumbest grin on your face. He couldn’t help his own from pulling at his lips.

“What are you thinking about over there? Doesn’t seem like it’s math by the smile on your face.” 

“You.”

Caught off guard, he blinked a few times before responding. You, however, hadn’t realized what you had said just yet. While it wasn’t wrong, it was very bold.

“Me? What about me?” He asked, his curiosity overpowering his nerves for the time being.

“How you surprised me that one night. Ice cream, snacks, a teddy bear… Your smile, how much you always seem to make me laugh, you good of a hugger you are… How much I think I love you.” As you listed things off, you grew quieter and quieter, your voice a whisper by the end. 

Sugawara’s heart felt like it had just gotten done running sprints after losing a match back in high school. He felt his cheeks flush as he shifted to better look over the table at you. Never had you said you loved him outside of a friendly manner and here you were, on his living room floor confessing your love for him. 

“You think… You love me, Y/n?” The breath that he had been holding exhaled in a sigh afterwards, only to be replaced with another as he waited for you to respond. 

It was then that you realized what you had said. Immediately, you felt your cheeks flush as you sat up with wide eyes, abandoning the blanket on the floor. Looking like a deer in the headlights, you searched his face for a sign of anything. What you found were cheeks as red as your own, a hint of excitement behind his eyes, and a semi-confused look plastered on his face. You felt it was as good a time as any to get it off the table. Taking a deep breath, you nodded.

“I do, Suga. And I have since the first semester of sophomore year and I never told you because I didn’t think you felt the same way or that things would get a little awkward between the two of us. I tried to just push the feelings away or ignore them, hoping they would go away, but they didn’t and I was too dumb to say anything.”

In the silence that followed, you prepared yourself for the worst. However, the worst didn’t come. Instead, a small string of laughter fell from his lips as the corners of his eyes crinkled, a bright smile lighting up his face. 

“Then we are both dumb, Y/n! I did all of those things for you that night because not only are you my best friend, but I truly do love you. It hurt seeing you like that and I knew I couldn’t tell you how I felt because it wasn’t right.” 

Letting out a sigh of relief, you moved back to the coffee table, placing your elbows on it before laying your hands flat on the surface. Soon, his hands found yours, thumb brushing against the back of your hands. With a small laugh, you gave a small shrug.

With a breathy laugh, you responded, “Even so, why didn’t either of us say something sooner! Then we would have avoided all of that to begin with.” 

Sugawara just shook his head, giving your hands a tight squeeze. “True, but that was the past. Where we are now is where we were meant to be. Like I told you, it got better.”

“It did, and it was all because of you.” Turning your hands over in his, you gave them a gentle squeeze, to which he returned.

“I love you, Y/n”

“I love you, too, Suga.”

[minaim-blog]

Moon Stroke in Xadia - 1 - The First Mistake of Many

Forward for the Caring

When and where this fanfiction takes place is largely unimportant as the purpose of this work is merely to have Callum and Rayla interact as a couple while facing troubles in Xadia from both Elves and Humans. Zym is not present and I’ve changed the ages of Callum and Rayla to be slightly older; they’re around eighteen or so. One could say this takes place after the events of Season 3 or in an alternate universe. Human and Elf relationships are frowned upon in this setting compared to how they are in The Dragon Prince as hinted by the show. “Artemia” is my own name for the Moon-Shadow Elf Territory. Thank you for reading and enjoy.

“Callum, hurry up will you.” Rayla whined, “You’ve been getting ready for an hour, they’ll close up town before we can make it.” She sat on the root of a large tree and used one of her knives to carve into its trunk while Callum worked around the corner out of sight. The two of them had ventured through the wilderness of Xadia for some time together for a ‘vacation’ as they called it. Their journey had multiple reasons: the two of them wanted an opportunity to tell the people of the world that Zym, the prince of the dragons, had been returned to his mother and that a new era of peace was at hand for humans and elves alike. They found out very early on in their journey that they had no need to be messengers, as the news of the dragon prince spread to all corners of the elf and human lands as if by the wings of dragons. Callum also wanted an opportunity to venture through Xadia and learn about the six primal sources first hand, and Rayla wanted a chance to learn about human customs, since it seemed that humans and elves would be getting to know each other better in their newfound peace. They agreed to be each other’s guide, Rayla to Callum in the land of elves, and Callum to Rayla in the land of humans. Secretly between them, they both wanted an excuse to spend some time together with just the two of them in their newfound relationship.

Their journey had brought them far from the nest of the dragon queen to Artemia, the land of the Moon-Shadow elves, where Callum hoped to learn about the moon arcanum and Rayla hoped to reconnect with her home as best she could. They chanced upon a small Moon-Shadow Elf village in their journey and knew they risked a chance of Callum being discovered as a human if the two of them went in. They were both exhausted of the wilderness and  decided to take the risk, as they hoped to get some finer comforts that were unavailable to them over the past few weeks. They agreed that he would have to disguise himself if they were going into the village, but the two of them had very different opinions on what was considered ‘good enough’ for a disguise. Callum called back to her behind the tree, “Hey I’ve only been at this for like twenty minutes at most, and I want it to be convincing this time. Do you want a repeat of Caldera?”

“We’re not going to have a repeat of Caldera.” She retorted annoyed, “I’m clearly Elven, just stick close to me and don’t draw attention to yourself.”

“Yeah but it’s pretty hard not to draw attention to yourself when everyone else has horns and only four fingers.” Callum showed his hand from around the tree to Rayla and wiggled his five fingers to her.

“So wear the cloak and gloves you have and stay quiet.” Rayla shooed him and then crossed her arms as she sat on the root, “Honestly it’s a lot easier than you’re making it out to be.”

“I know it’ll be easy.” He said reassuringly as he worked, “We’ve done this before. But those other times have taught me that all it takes is for someone to notice something off about us at a glance before they do or say something. So I’m just trying to make it take a little more than just a glance to notice something’s wrong. We’re in Moon-Shadow Elf territory-”

“Artemia.” Rayla said irritated with her arms still crossed. She lost count how many times she had corrected him on it.

“Yeah, Are-Tre-Maya.” He butchered, “So I think we better bring our ‘A’ game.” There was another pause as he worked, then he continued, “I mean, we’re dealing with elves who do nothing but sneak and lie. So you tell me, how careful should we be?”

“Sneak and lie!?” Rayla jumped off her root and yelled to him in shock, “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“Uh…” He moaned back to her and tried to find his words but Rayla found hers first,

“No, please. Don’t bother.” She began mockingly and crossed her arms leaning on the tree, “I know exactly what you mean.” She pouted before she continued, “‘Oh no! We’re in mean-moon-assassin-land now!’” She said exaggerated and placed her hands to the side of her face, “‘And me poor little lass still thinks they’re not blood thirsty killers!’” Her exaggerated tone subsided and she sat back on her root as she continued a bit hurt, “Not everyone here was raised an assassin like me. And we’re certainly not killers and liars!” She shouted to him then continued softer as she stared at the root, “Honestly I thought you knew better by now.”

Rayla couldn’t see Callum, but she knew he must have been fidgeting as he said nervously, “Yeah I-I know. I know you’re not sneaking monsters. That was a bad choice of words on my part…” There was a brief silence as Callum collected his thoughts, and then said, “It’s that-well all the magic I’ve seen in the moon arcanum is really focused on making illusions and how we perceive the world around us. So I thought just maybe Moon-Shadow elves would be a bit harder to fool than others…Sorry.”

Callum ended his apology quietly and Rayla could sense the regret in his voice, but even though she knew he did not mean to insult her she still felt hurt. She started playing with her knife and said slightly miffed, “Yeah well…maybe word your thoughts a bit better next time.”

There was silence between the two after she finished, which Rayla didn’t like as it reminded her too much of their fights. It was rare that the two of them fought over anything, and when they did she thought it was always about the dumbest of things: What direction should they go in and who got them lost? Who’s being risky, or stubborn, or just dumb? Who should be up front and who should support in a fight? Should they or should they not be open to people about their relationship? After their fights they always separated themselves from each other to sit in silence when it was over. She always felt horrible when they did this, even while she was brooding. She always wanted to go back over to him to hug and make up, but her pride usually wouldn’t let her. She assumed Callum’s pride wouldn’t let him either or if it wasn’t pride, which she wasn’t sure how much he had, she thought it was hesitation he had on approaching her. When she thought about how he responded to her and how quiet he was she was worried that he hesitated now in speaking to her. She started fidgeting as she thought about whether she shouldn’t have spoken so coldly to him, or if she should speak up and tell him everything was fine between the two of them, or if she should just wait it out so he could finish his disguise finally and then he would see that she didn’t have a problem with him at all. As she thought about this she realized she was now the one hesitating, which Runaan would have hit her for if she was training with him. “Never hesitate. Hesitation is death.” He would say to her, and while she didn’t think her hesitation now would led to her or Callum’s death, she still found herself anxious about the two of them. In the middle of her thoughts she heard the soft sound of wood whittling, so he was merely focused and not upset. Relieved, she said playfully to him “I hear you, don’t you go dulling out my knife for your silly costume.”

“Hey I heard you scrapping on the tree trunk the whole time I worked, so don’t accuse me of anything. Plus you could probably cut through stone with these things. What are you working on over there anyway?”

“Uh…” Rayla said as she looked down on the root where she carved out a heart surrounding hers and Callum’s initials. “It’s a surprise for you after you show me your disguise.”

“Okay. I shouldn’t be much longer anyhow.” He said absent mindedly to her.

She stabbed her knife violently into the trunk and looked down at her carving. She hadn’t thought about what she was doing initially and only noticed that she was making what looked like a heart halfway through. She normally wasn’t one for ‘mushy couple stuff’ as she would have called this, but when she saw the opportunity she didn’t shy from it. She wrote her own initial in the decorative Elvish script that Ethari had taught her when she was little. She was going to write Callum’s in similar fashion, but remembered him teaching her the basics of the human script. She decided that for what they were to each other it would be more appropriate for her to write his in the human script. When she looked down onto it now, and even while she was writing it, she thought Callum’s initial didn’t match him at all. She thought the human script for ‘C’ was too simple and didn’t illustrate how smart and capable she knew he was. Compared to her own initial which she thought was far too decorative and elaborate for her and didn’t speak to who she was as a person. Not that she didn’t think she was capable, she knew very well that she was. But she felt that the ornateness of the script betrayed her as someone who was more creative and smarter than she really was. To this end she thought that the script used for hers and Callum’s initial should have been switched, but she was fine with waiting for another opportunity, rather than correcting it now. She was interrupted from this thought by Callum who said excitedly,

“Alright I think I’m ready. Get ready to meet elf Callum!”

“It’s about time. Why’d you hide yourself from me anyway?”

“Well I wanted it to be a surprise. How often do I get to be the one who wows you?” He said as he stepped around the tree and Rayla almost gasped when she saw him. He had gathered supplies on their trip through Xadia to assist in making a more believable disguise when the opportunity arose and was secretly hoping to impress her. This was why he didn’t let her see him until his disguise was finished, as he thought that when she saw it done it would be more impressive. He had managed to make markings around his eyes that looked similar to hers, he also applied a blush to his face that gave his skin a tone similar to Moon-Shadow elves, and hidden under his hair where two wooden horns wrapped to his head by a string. He went up to Rayla and grabbed her hands before he said giddy, “I used those blue-berries we found the other day for my tattoos, and the mist-flower’s pollen for my skin, and my horns are just wood attached to a leather band under my hair. What do you think pretty good huh?” Callum said in a rush and he raised her hands in excitement, which Rayla saw beam in his eyes as she looked at him. She didn’t think she could have told him his disguise was bad if it was.

“It looks really good Callum.” She said unsure of what else to say. It was definitely another leg up from just a pair of gloves and a hood, but there were plenty of signs that gave it away as a costume. As she looked over his disguise a wicked idea came over her and she smiled wryly. “But it’s not perfect. Moon-Shadow hair ranges from snow white to grey silver and very rarely black, but never brown.” She pointed to his hair as she said this and Callum closed his eyes while rubbing the back of his head and smiled. She grabbed onto his face which caused him to open his eyes, “You did a good job getting the skin tone right. It helps that the mist-flowers are used for blush but it’s not coming off unless you scrub very hard, and it’ll itch like you wouldn’t believe.” At her comment he already felt his face grow itchy, but he wasn’t sure if it was the pollen or in his mind. She continued and went over his markings meticulously,, “And the markings on our faces are largely symbolic. It’s not crazy to think we might have the same but that might put up a few friendly questions for whoever meets us.” She brought her own face close to his before she continued and said, “And I’ve never seen another Moon-Shadow elf with green eyes like yours.” Callum blushed as their eyes meet.

“Well I guess I’ll just have to wear my hood and gloves like you said.” He said dreamily as he brought his left hand to her face and stared back into hers.

“Yeah. And about that.” Rayla said hesitantly before she grabbed Callum’s left hand. She then twisted around and brought him to his knees as she pinned his hand to the root on top of her carving. “Your extra fingers are the biggest problem with your disguise. So they’re going to have to go.”

She said this as she brandished her knife in her hand. She remembered when she was younger that one of the other assassins did what they called ‘four finger fillet’ on her as a hazing ritual and hoped to do something similar to Callum as a joke. He even had spread his fingers over the root to make it easy on her. She tried it once or twice on herself before but she had cut her fingers by accident, so she went slowly on him to be sure she wouldn’t hurt him.

“Let’s see…” She said curiously as she started to stab the knife between his fingers. She was going slowly as a precaution but still wanted to worry him a bit. So she was forceful in her strikes to keep up the illusion.

“Uh…Rayla?” Callum said as he tried to reach for her with his free hand. After he did Rayla lifted up her leg and pinned his free arm to his side.

She stopped stabbing in between his fingers and tapped each of his deliberately with the flat of her knife as she said, “Your pink-o’s the most obvious choice, but that’s just going to leave you with an extra bit of flesh on the side of your hand, so that’s not going to look convincing. Your index can’t go for the same reason. And you’re going to need your ring finger eventually.” She paused for a moment without realizing what she said and turned to Callum on the ground as she smiled wryly to him again, “You just won’t be able to be rude to your other human friends anymore. But hey, that’s the price we pay for a convincing disguise for you.”

Callum tried to smile back up to Rayla, but he was nervous as he spoke, “You’re not really going to cut off one of my fingers…Are you?”

Rayla looked at him dead in the eye and said, “Try me.” She then threw her knife in between the gaps of his fingers which caused him to scream, “Rayla! My hand!”

“Lighten up will you? I was just joke-” She began to say when she looked down and saw human blood pool at Callum’s hand and her knife cut through his middle finger. In a panic she shouted his name as she let go of him and pulled the knife out of his finger. “Callum? Are you alright? I was just-” She began to say as she grabbed his hand but Callum only pulled it away and hugged it to his chest as he swore under his breath. She tried again to speak to him and stuttered as she said concerned, “You’re alright aren’t you?”

He yelled at her, “No, I’m not alright! You fucking cut me!” He looked at her with anger and tears in his eyes from the pain. Then he looked down and cradled his hand in pain. She was dazed by what just occurred and unsure of what to do. She had seen Callum angry before but never like this, and she still processed what happened. She stepped back unconsciously from him and looked down at her hands and saw his blood on them as she thought to herself,

“I cut off his finger… I cut off his finger!” She must have said this out loud, or Callum knew what she was thinking because he said,

“You didn’t cut off my finger! It’s just cut really bad and you maybe hit the bone. I don’t know.” He swore to himself again, “Just get me something.”

Rayla snapped out of her shock and immediately went to their supplies and began rummaging for the bandages they kept, but in her stress she forgot where they put them. “Bandages, bandages, bandages…Ah! Where’d we put them?” She said to herself as she made a mess of their supplies.

“They’re in my bag with my sketch book.” Callum called out to her, “They should be right next to it.” He swore yet again as he hugged his hand.

Rayla went to his bag and dumped out everything and picked up the bandages that fell out and ran over to Callum. She knelt down with him and pulled his hand away and started to wrap the bandages around his entire hand.

“Callum? Callum I’m so sorry.” She said to him quickly, trying not to cry, “I was just trying to play a joke and impress you with that dumb game the assassins taught me when I was little. I didn’t mean to cut you, you know I’d never hurt you, please I’m sorry.” When she finished he spoke tensely in a manner that suggested he tried to subdue his emotions,

“It’s fine Rayla.”

“No it’s not! I almost cut your finger off!” She said as she grabbed onto his hand and pulled it tightly towards her.

“Well could you maybe just bandage my finger and not my whole hand!?” He said in anger from the pain she caused by grabbing his hand tightly. She was shocked again by his outburst and paused for a moment to look at him. After he saw her reaction he winced slightly and relaxed his grimace. The two of them looked down and saw his left hand completely wrapped in bandages. “I mean no one will notice I have five fingers now but…” He tried to make a joke but it didn’t lift Rayla’s mood. Still tense she unwrapped the bandages from his hand and looked at his middle finger. She couldn’t tell if she cut to his bone like he said as there was dried blood all over it and the wound was still bleeding.

“We have to wash this.” She said with little emotion as she collected herself and ran off to their supplies. Callum protested and said they didn’t have anything to wash it with when she took out a water sack they had for drinking water and brought it over. “Rayla we need that.” He said, knowing they were running low on water.

“We’re right by a town, we can get more.” She said angry, and tried to hide her concern. She poured the water over his cut and wiped it with the bandages harshly which earned a slight wince from Callum as he asked her to be careful. She told him to not a be a baby as she continued to wipe it a bit less strongly. When she was done with the water sack she threw it away and examined his finger. It still bleed so she wrapped the bandages around his finger tightly and tied it off. Even once she was finished Rayla couldn’t stop looking at his hand and would not look at him. After a moment he asked if she was okay and she lifted up her head and said in a hoarse voice,

“Am I okay? Callum I-I’m sorry…” She brought her hand to her hair and began fidgeting with it as she talked, “I wasn’t thinking - and I’m so stupid! I don’t know how I can ever make it up to-” She wiped away the few tears she couldn’t stop herself from shedding as she spoke but was interrupted before she could finish by a kiss from Callum. They closed their eyes and kissed each other for a moment until he pulled away from her and shared hug. She asked almost crying, “You’re not mad?”

Callum breathed in sharply before he said, “I’m fine.” He paused for a moment and said, “But that was dumb. That was really dumb.”

She began to cry again and said uncontrollably, “I know, I know. That was dumb and stupid and I don’t know what I was thinking.”

He shushed her and said gently, “I’ll be fine.” They were silent for a moment as they hugged, and Rayla choked back tears as she did. He continued, “It could always be worse, you could have got me in the heart. Even though you kind of already did.” Callum said in an attempt to be charming.

She almost cried out as she said, “Don’t even think about that! It’s bad enough that I hurt you, but I don’t even want to think about…” She couldn’t finish, and placed a hand over her mouth. A vison of her throwing her knife into his heart flashed through her mind that she couldn’t stop from thinking of.

Callum felt her horror and hugged her tighter as he tried to calm her, “Hey don’t worry. I’m fine, I’m fine. Really.” Then they were silent again and rocked back and forth as they hugged. After a moment Callum said, “I like your carving by the way.”

“Oh my gosh, that.” Rayla said, some tension left her voice and was replaced by embarrassment.

“What? I thought it was cute.” He said jokingly.

“It’s stupid. I don’t even know why I made it. And now your blood’s all over it.”

“Well at least the heart part is more accurate now.” Callum statement earned a slight groan from Rayla, and he took some comfort that she returned a little bit to normal. After another moment he continued with a little hesitation and asked, “Do you really think I think of you as, ‘my little lass?’” He felt the need to ask her as he could never think of her as anything close to a ‘little lass.’ She was a strong, capable, and dependable warrior. Above all else, she was brave and kind. He felt that if either of them had to be called a ‘little lass’ or little anything, it should be him.

“I mean…” He felt her take one of her arms off of him as she fixed her hair before she continued, “We’ve kind of been together for a while now, so… I’d hope so.”

He paused for a moment before he said, still unsure of himself, “Do you…want me to call you ‘my little lass?’”

           She exhaled her breathe sharply in a small laugh as she said, “I mean if you did, I wouldn’t mind.” Callum thought he could be very dense when it came to social ques, but even he couldn’t miss that. She wanted him to try a pet name for her, he wasn’t sure if he liked it yet but he wouldn’t definitely try it. At least when the best moment for it to be used arrived. There was another brief pause before he changed the subject and said gently,

“We should probably hurry up and head into town before everyone turns in for the night.”

Rayla pulled herself away to look at him and said concerned, “I’ll go into town myself, you should just stay here and rest.”

“But I worked so hard on my disguise, I don’t want to let it go to waste.”

“Your disguise isn’t so good with your blood all over it.” Rayla said as she and Callum looked down to where he hugged his hand to his body. It had a patch of dried blood on his clothes. “That’s going to make too many questions if somebody sees that.”

He got up and went towards their supplies, “I’ll change into another shirt then, and you should probably clean my blood off yourself too.”

She looked down at herself as she knelt on the ground and saw she still had his dried blood on her hands and a small amount on her clothes. She disconcertingly wiped her hands over the grass and tried to remove it. Then she saw the water sack she threw away some feet from her. She grabbed it and squeezed it over her chest to try and get the last remaining drops of water out to clean her shirt.

Callum saw her do this frantically as he went through their ruined camp for his clothes. Then he asked unsurely, “Don’t you have another shirt somewhere?” He remembered seeing her wear another shirt once or twice during their vacation, but she didn’t bring as many sets of clothes as he did. More often she would only wear her assassin armor and it would stink of her body odor if she didn’t bathe too often. But that did not always bother him, more often he would enjoy her scent for reasons that he was still unsure of. She said frantically to him as she tried to wipe herself clean,

“Not of my armor, and there’s no way I’m changing out of this.” She threw the water sack away towards him and said unsatisfied, “I’ll just have to wear something over it.” As she got up she tapped her head in realization, “I’ll wear my cloak too. That’ll probably be better since we’ll match. Callum where are you going?” She asked concerned as she saw him with a new shirt and his cloak in hand as he started to leave the campsite.

“I’m just going to change into a new shirt. I shouldn’t be more than a second, then we can go.”

As he went out of sight Rayla went over to their supplies to grab her cloak. She groaned slightly as she saw the state she put their camp into with all their stuff strewn out over the place. She decided that the mess could wait until they got back to clean up and sorted through it to find her cloak and what little money they had left. They only had seven coins and she was worried their expenses would be too strained. They didn’t start out with much money when their journey began, as they thought they wouldn’t run into too many opportunities to use it. They originally had thirty pieces, but after paying a familiar friend for passage over the Midnight Desert to Artemia and a few other mishaps they were down to their current sum. She hoped it would be enough to buy medicine, but it might not be enough for some food. At the very least she could forage for food or they would be go hungry for a little while. She put her concerns aside for the moment and found her cloak. Then she draped it over her shoulders and fastened it to cover the upper part of her chest and pulled her hood over her head. Since Callum would have to wear his hood over his head the whole time she thought it would be best if they matched as closely as possible. When she was done she heard him say behind her that he was ready and asked if she was ready as well. She turned around and saw him in a new shirt with his cloak on, his wooden horns made points at the top of his hood, and his scarf was lose around his neck under it. She went up to him and fixed his scarf tightly around him as she said, “The only thing we’re going into town for is some medicine for your hand.”

Callum’s stomach growled, “How about some food too?” He said in response.

Rayla’s stomach growled as well, after which she said, “Yeah. Some real food would be nice.”

____________________________________________________________

There was little daylight left as the sky turned to dim twilight when the two of them made it to the village. It was a relatively small settlement, but it had a few other buildings besides homes where the two of them hoped to find services of some kind. When they spotted it earlier Rayla had scoped it out from a distance but never entered it. She recognized the area as being nearby the main highway but knew the road leading from the village was out of the way to anyone traveling on it. While she had never been to this village before its distance from the border and small size gave it no reason to possess a concealing spell, so they would have no issue entering it. The two of them huddled together out of sight behind a tree up the road from the entrance as they spoke.

“How good of a look did you get when we passed by this place earlier?” Callum said to her as he hugged his hood to his face.

“Pretty good.” She said cheerily, “It’s small but not too far off the main road. I’m sure they must have a few shops or even an inn to get something.”

“Yeah but any guards or people we have to worry about?” He said in a hoarse whisper.

“It’s a village Callum.” She said plainly not bothering to whisper, “But yeah, they might have a night watch setup or maybe even some official guards. But nothing we need to worry about.”

“Nothing for you to worry about sure. But I’m in a no-go territory for humans.”

“Where’s that confidence from earlier?” She said playfully to him, “Isn’t that what the disguise’s for?”

“It is but I don’t want us thrown out, or worse.” He said still whispering between in his teeth.

“We’re not going to get thrown out. Just let me do the talking, and keep you head down. Now come on, I’m starving!” She said as she grabbed his left hand and started to run up the road towards the town. He called out her name and she felt some resistance from his hand. She remembered his injury and lightened up on it as she slowed down to jog. As they got closer to the town Callum could make out two individuals under a lamp by the side of a building. They sat down at a table where they focused intently on a game they were playing. He assumed it was some form of chess from the shape of the pieces, but he was unsure if elves shared the same rules as humans, or even if the game was similar. As they went up the road the person facing towards them got the attention of the other at the table, then he got up and grabbed a lantern as he went to the road to meet them.

“Woah!” He said warily as he shined the dim lamp towards the two of them. He said businesslike in a thick Moon-Shadow accent, “State your name and business.”

Rayla raised her hood so they could better see her face and said cheerfully as she went up to him, “My name’s Rayla, and me and my friend are just looking for a bite to eat.”

He moved the lamp towards the two of them and brought it closer to Callum. It was a foggy yellow, and seemed to be lite by a type of fire-fly as the light danced and faded in and out within it. Callum could see the man was young but older than him and Rayla by a number of years at least. His face was clean shaven, and he appeared physically fit and strong. He had a single marking of a vertical line that went from just above his brow down to his cheekbone over his right eye, and that was the only marking Callum could see of his. The man said somewhat suspiciously as he examined them, “Where are you and your friend from, Miss?”

“I’m from a small village by the Silvergrove.” She said as she relaxingly crossed her arms, “You’ve probably never heard of it. And he’s from up north.” She gestured to Callum, who waved meekly to him with a forced smile. He had on gloves to hide his fifth finger, but he was very conscious of the bandages on his finger that gave a very pronounced bulged to it.

“Does your friend have a name?” The man said without missing a beat.

“His name’s Callum.” She said, still cheery.

“Is he mute too?” He said somewhat annoyed.

“Hi, it’s me. I’m Callum.” He said quietly and waved his hand awkwardly to him.

Rayla leaned towards the man and whispered teasingly, “He’s a bit shy.”

“Aye.” The man said skeptically, “And just what are you two doing here?”

The man spoke in a confused tone, which puzzled Rayla. She replied growing confused as well, “Um…Looking for food. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“No, not that. I mean what brought you here, of all places?”

“O! We’re on vacation!” She said cheerfully.

“Vacation?” He repeated dubiously as he turned his head to the side at her.

“Yeah, a vacation!” Rayla smiled as she went back next to Callum and grabbed his hand. She continued, “We didn’t come looking for this town. The two of us just wanted to get out and see the world, and that brought us here!”

The guard stood and examined the two of them, and for a moment neither of them spoke. Finally he asked, “How long have you two been on this, ‘vacation?’”

Rayla turned to Callum and said more to herself than to him, “A while now. It feels like forever.”

Callum massaged the back of his neck with his free hand as he said, “It’s been a few weeks at least since the Storm Spi….ire.” He spoke without thinking initially and the name of the Dragon Queen’s domain slipped out. He was unsure what exact story Rayla wanted to give them, but he felt that place put a damper on whatever she was going for.

The guard’s skepticism returned tenfold as he asked, “You’ve been to the Storm Spire?”

“Oh yeah!” Rayla said quickly, trying to cover the mess Callum made, “That was the point, of course! Go out and see the world and all that, and now we’re here!” She ended with a small forced chuckle.

The man looked them over once again with renewed interest. He noted their weather stained cloaks, and that they carried almost nothing with them apart from a small bag and an empty water sack. He asked with some concern, “Do you have much money?”

Rayla admitted, “No, not really. We got enough for some food and the basics.” She added reassuringly in case the guard wouldn’t let them into town without some money. She continued bombastically, “But really we’ve just been roughing it. Get that real adventurous experience. Worked pretty good so far, mostly anyway.” She said the last part lowly to herself as she turned away and remembered the recent injury she gave Callum. He turned towards her and forced a small laugh and smile.

The man turned away from them awkwardly towards his counterpart who had sat quietly at their game the entire time. The other guard only shrugged. The one they had been dealing with turned back to them and said honestly, “Fair enough. We don’t get too many travelers aside from lost ones anyway.” He coughed slightly and continued, “Apart from our regular traders that is.” He turned away from them and pointed up the road as he said, “Most of the shops should be closed now but the inn’s open. Follow the main road straight ahead till you get to the center. You’ll see some stalls and the few shops we have there. And you can’t miss the inn to far from it. It’s the biggest building there, should see some lights and hear the noise of it.” He turned back to them, “I don’t think we’re lucky enough to get any music tonight, except maybe Jubal if she’s in the mood for it.” He looked them over once more before he thought something over and said, “If you’re just looking for a bite, speak to the inn keeper and tell them Farkas sent you. He owes me favor.”

Rayla dashed away and towed Callum along as she said cheerfully to them, “We will, thank you! And enjoy your game!” The two of them waved to the guards and they waved back as Farkas said,

“Enjoy your time in Loruthven!”

They made their way towards the center of town, and while Rayla focused on the path ahead Callum took the time to examine the village as they went through it. Multiple homes dotted the area. The buildings incorporated trees and mimicked nature where they could but many of them were no bigger than small hovels built into or around the trees. The trees there were far less dense than the forest that surrounded it, so he was able to see the sky in between the canopy as they marched through it. Besides the homes there were sparce boulders and small stone structures with runes carved into them along the path, but many of them looked to be forgotten to the wayside. He found the architecture and general feel of the town similar to Rayla’s home, but he thought Loruthven lacked much of the grandeur of the Silvergrove. Not to say he thought the town looked dull. While he thought that the town was rather quaint, Moon-Shadow towns were still very new to him, so any and all matters of it peaked his interest. The path they followed was dirt with a few stones lade into it and it was worn down from continuous use by the townsfolk. Besides the elves in the town, he saw small animals scuttling around in between the buildings. Some of them he recognized as ones Moon-Shadow elves kept as pets, and he likened them to cats or dogs, but their behaviors were only vaguely close to them, if at all. One of them was like a racoon with similar body size and appendages, but the face of it was cat like, and it possessed a deep azure coat. His past experience with them said they were playful animals, but very territorial and pack oriented. One of them swiped at a lantern to get the insects within it, and had to be shooed away by someone. The lanterns they passed were lite by glowing insects like the guard’s and hummed in a deep yellow. There were only a few lanterns in the town, and all the ones they passed by were hung from other people’s homes, so much of the path was becoming dim in the oncoming night.

He had been told by Rayla that Moon-Shadow elf communities were very closely knit. According to her if one member of the community was suffering hardships all of the others would pitch in to help them, and any refusal to do so would be greatly looked down upon. After they got out of sight of the guards Rayla pulled her hood back down to match Callum, so as to make him less conspicuous by comparison. The town was close to empty and they only saw a few people as they made their way. The ones they passed by looked at them in surprise and Callum felt some nervousness at their stares. Rayla handled every brief interaction they had with a wave, cheery demeanor, and occasional “hello” or other small remark. She always made a small tug at him whenever they passed by someone, which did not help the sharp pain in his finger, but he kept quiet about it. The townsfolk only paid them a brief glance at every interaction; no doubt they were only surprised when they saw a new face in town and carried on their way. Callum thought that either his disguise was working, or that everyone was too preoccupied with getting home for the night to notice them. He felt relatively secure, whatever the reason was, so he said to her in a low voice while he admired the town, “This is really nice. Are all Moon-Shadow towns like this?”

Rayla slowed down slightly and went next to him as she said, “For the most part, yeah. But this one’s really small. But I guess we are in the middle of nowhere, so it’s expected.”

“What are all these ruins from?” He said as he pointed to one of the stones.

She paused in their march as she took notice of one of them for the first time and said disinterested, “Oh, couldn’t tell you.” She continued to walk and tow him along as she said, “Good old Runaan never gave me much of an education aside from fighting. And Ethari probably told me about them at one point but it never really stuck. That’s more egghead stuff you’d be into.” She said teasingly to him and then playfully elbowed him in the side before she continued, “Good work mentioning the Storm Spire back there by the way.”

“Sorry.” He grunted as he massaged it, “Guess we’re not mentioning the Dragon Queen then?”

She looked around briefly before she said, “Preferably no. Let’s just be an innocent young couple out and about.” She hissed out her next words in a low tone, “I’m definitely not a wanted woman but I don’t think a ‘deserting assassin’ would be welcome here.”

“You really think someone would recognize you for that?”

She thought on his question before she replied thoughtfully, “Maybe, I don’t really know. The Silvergrove’s a big deal around here and word travels fast. There aren’t wanted posters of me or anything, but a young girl trained as an assassin? Only so many people could fit that.” They passed by another person just as she finished speaking, and was worried that they could have heard something. She ended abruptly when she saw them and made a forced smile as they exchanged glances. Her and Callum waved to them awkwardly but the individual paid them little attention and walked past them without trouble.

She let out a sigh of relief but had nothing else to say. Callum said quietly, “But didn’t we save the Dragon Prince? I know the whole warrior-assassin thing is important but doesn’t that count for anything?”

She thought over what he said for a moment before she said reluctantly, “Kind of, but it’s complicated. Even the Dragon Queen’s blessing only goes so far.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He said as he ruminated over his own interactions with the Dragon Queen before they left for their vacation. He agreed with Rayla but he still felt disappointed that no one here could know what she did for the world. He said dishearten, “So that’s it then? We’re just going to lay low?”

“Preferably, yes.” She said flatly before she turned to him and whispered jokingly, “We kind of need to with a human anyway.”

“Are we still going to the tavern then?” He asked curiously.

“Might as well if we can get a meal.” She said lightening up a bit before she turned to him, “Free food is free food. Just let me do the talking like how I did with that guard and we’ll be all set.”

“And was that offer a normal thing that guard did? Meaning for elves?”

“That ‘favor’ thing? Yeah I guess, compared to humans anyway.” Rayla said after she reflected on it briefly, “I think mostly it’s that he feels bad for us, since we’ve been on the road for a while. And he probably think we’re one of those lost travelers he mentioned.” She said the last part as a joke to him.

“Aren’t we though?” He said teasing her.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to see all Artemia had to offer?” She said returning his tone.

“Yes, but I think it would be good if we knew where we were going half the time.”

“Oh, but getting lost is half the fun when we don’t have anywhere to be.” She laughed lightly before she continued, “Plus I know most of the general lay of the land here, I’m never really lost.”

“Yeah.” Callum said flatly as a thought came to his mind. He didn’t want to discuss that again and possibly start another fight so he changed the subject, “How much money do we have anyway?”

“Enough, I think.” She said as she tried to be sure of herself and squeezed his hand tighter, “Somebody should have a salve or something at a stall somewhere and we can get water at the inn.” She turned to him before she continued, “How’s your finger?”

“It’s okay. You’re kind of squeezing it tight.” He squeaked out entreatingly.

At his comment Rayla let go of his hand suddenly and quietly apologized. She rubbed the back of her neck and after a moment crossed her arms and said, “Even if we can’t find anything I could always make something myself. I learned a thing or two from Runaan and Ethari. We’ll be fine.” She said the last statement more to herself than to him, and hes knew it. He rubbed his own neck before he said,

“You know, my other hand is fine.” He waved his right hand to her. “We can hold our other ones if you want.” She gladly agreed without saying a word and readjusted herself on the path as she grabbed his right with her left. Callum loved how their fingers seamlessly interlocked with each other’s whenever they held hands. He was unable to interlock with hers completely because of the gloves, but he still loved to hold hers regardless.

She pecked him on the cheek before she said coyly, “A little different, grabbing each other’s offhand. Isn’t it?”

He replied facetiously in an instant, “If by offhand you mean that almost came off hand, then yeah. Different.”

She let out an annoyed sighed, then leaned her head on him and mumbled, “Don’t push your luck.” And he replied with a laugh.

They walked for a few more minutes until they came to the center of town. It was a small ruin and encircled around it were a few shops that all appeared to be closed for the day. Straight ahead underneath an archway of the ruin Callum saw the largest building of the entire town, presumably the tavern. Out from it shinned lights from lanterns and warm fires, and in the silence of the night the two of them could hear the bustle in it from where they stood if they tried to listen. Before they went to it they wanted to spy out the center more closely in case one of the shops was still open. He thought all the shops would have been rather lacking in the day time. Most of them were only small stalls which were big enough for only a few trays of whatever goods they could sell. He assumed they must have been for produce or an open air market. Besides the stalls he saw a sign for what he believed to be a butcher and a smith, but no sign for a doctor. Just as he was about to finish his search, Rayla called for his attention. She pointed to a woman who swept underneath a stall to the far side of the market. She suggested that they should go over and speak to her for information and then they approached her.

“Let me do the talking.” She said to him before they reached her, and Callum made no response of refusal. The woman’s stall was close up for the night as she swept, and the only thing out were empty shelves and a half full sack on the ground. They approached a small distance from her and only said something when the woman looked up and realized they were there. Rayla waved her free hand and said politely, “Hi. Sorry to bother you, but my friend and me were looking for something specific. Could you help us?”

The woman was old enough to be their grandmother but not ancient. She had similar markings to Rayla’s, was a little plump, and shined with a kind radiance as she spoke to them. “Of course. What do you two sweethearts need?”

Rayla let go of Callum’s hand and approached the woman as she rubbed the back of her neck again. She said embarrassed as she stumbled through her words, “I uh, accidentally…My friend got this really bad cut.” She settled on and continued, “I don’t know if you have something for it, or know someplace would go for it. Cause I’m worried it’s too bad to just leave as it is.”

“Well of course.” She said kindly, “I don’t have much for that myself but I could try to help. Could I see your friend’s cut?” She said as she looked past her towards Callum. Her and Callum’s eyes meet for a moment but he was unable to meet her gaze for long. He looked down and away from her as he clutched his left hand with his right.

“That’s…going to be kind of difficult.” Rayla dragged out.

“Oh, and why’s that?” The woman said curiously. She did not see anything wrong with the way Rayla spoke or Callum acted.

“Well uh, you see…” She stumbled out, as she tried to buy time to think of an excuse. The woman replied with affirmative as she did. Then an idea came to her and she leaned closer to the woman as she said, “The cut’s on his uh – rear.” She whispered the last word sharply to her for emphasis.

“Oh.” Was all the woman said as she processed what she heard. After a moment her eyes went wide in surprise and she responded with a deep, “Oh!” and continued concerned, “Well that will make things a bit harder. How did your friend get cut there?”

“It’s a long story. And kind of embarrassing.” Rayla said as she blushed slightly. She blushed at the concept of her lie, but she was thankful it made it more convincing.

“Oh yes. Of course, of course. No need to worry about it.” The woman said consolingly, “My dear husband got a similar injury after he fell on some tools doing house work. The poor man was sore sitting down for almost a month, even with the medicine the doctor gave him.”

“You have something then?” Rayla said hopefully, “We don’t have much money, but I could trade you something for it.”

The woman laughed softly, “Oh no. That well over a few years ago. But the same doctor’s still here.” She pointed past the center up another road and said, “Follow that path till you get out of town, and a short ways up you’ll see his home. A great big tower taking up a whole tree. You can’t miss it.” She focused back on her sweeping after she finished. Rayla went to grab Callum’s hand and say goodbye to her when she said, “How long will you two be in town for?”

They stopped in their tracks and Rayla turned around to say, “Not too long. We might go to the tavern after we see the doctor but we’re just passing through.”

“Well I was just thinking, you might have better luck finding him in there than his home.” She motioned to the tavern, “He’s usually out wandering about town this time of night. And before you go, you look like you could need some of this.” She bent down to her sack and pulled two fruits out of it. “These were left over from today and they’re too ripe to keep any longer, but I’m sure you could use them. No need to pay me.”

She went up to them and put one in each of their hands. Rayla was overjoyed at her generosity. She was worried that they wouldn’t be able to afford to feed themselves and take care of Callum’s injury. But by the generosity of the guard and the old woman she was sure they would be well taken care of tonight. She thanked her profusely and Callum shared another glance with the woman as he thanked her and walked away with Rayla. The woman waved them goodbye and after they were out of ear shot of her Callum leaned into Rayla and said jokingly, “My rear? Really?”

She laughed lightly at his comment and said, “I had to think of some reason why we couldn’t just show her your cut. Least now we have a story to tell the doctor.”

“Are we going to his house then?” He said as he took a bite of the fruit.

“Well she said we’d have better luck finding him at the inn, and we still have that favor to cash in. So let’s try our luck there first.” She said optimistically and tugged Callum along as they went around the ruin. He was glad he convinced her to hold his offhand, as he imagined he would have felt pain in it as he was tugged along. As they made their way around the ruin Callum took the opportunity to study it more closely. It was a series of menhirs and dolmen that encircled another ring of similar structure, and at its center was a slightly raised mound. Callum thought it appeared to have been a theater, or temple, or some other place of importance like the Moon Nexus, but it was discarded like the stones throughout the town. He admired the ruins as they walked around it and paused for a moment as he tried to find a symbol he recognized or another way to tell what purpose it held. Rayla tugged him along as he stopped and told him not to hold them up. He went along with her at her pushing and was unable to find anything, its significance lost to him. He accepted that it would only remain a curiosity for the brief time they were there and continued with her towards the inn.

The inn was no means big by his standards. It was about the size of a large house and the main hall of the winter lodge could have probably held the entire building. A large tree grew out of its center and vines overtook one outside portion. Its panels were silver-grey in color like the other buildings in the town, and part of the building seemed to lean to the side. They entered it and were greeted by dim lighting and the murmuring of different conversations throughout it. There was a large fire that roared in the back, and few lanterns hung from the ceiling which gave the inn a dim lighting throughout it. It was relatively packed, and everyone was busy socializing at their tables and the bar about one thing or another. Only a few spots were open, and they saw even fewer places were the two of them could settle inconspicuously. But no one gave them a glance or noticed them as they entered, so they thought they would be able to enjoy a meal without issue.

Rayla spied an empty table in the corner and pointed it to Callum as she said, “There’s an empty spot over there. Go sit down and I’ll grab us some food.” She pecked him on the cheek as they parted and she went over to the bar to order something for them. The elves of Xadia never produced alcohol of any kind, so Callum would have been greatly confused by its lack of it. It was similar to bars in the lands of humans only in that it was the area where someone would go if they wanted to be sociable with others. She approached it, and saw the bar was operated by a man. He looked older than Farkas, Rayla thought he looked around middle age or perhaps older. He was slightly top heavy with large, fat hands and he had a thick, dark-silvery grey beard. He let out a hearty laugh that could easily be heard among the bustle of the inn as he conversed with another patron, and he had a smile that wrapped around from one ear to the other. And at each end of his mouth were crescent markings that curled around it. She waited for him to stop laughing before she said politely, “Um, hello. I don’t mean to bother you, but me and my-”

She was interrupted before she could finish by the man who sad loudly in a gruff voice, “What? Can you speak up lass?”

She continued louder, “My friend and I were looking for some food, and we were sent here by Farkas. He said something about helping you return a favor.”

“He did. Did he?” The man said dubiously as his smile disappeared and he brought a hand to finger his beard, “And how’s the favor being returned?”

“A meal for me and my friend. Of… whatever you think the favor is worth.” She would have said ‘of course’ but decided against it, since she did not know what ‘favor’ Farkas had done for the man.

The man scuffed at Rayla’s response and looked her up and down before he gestured to her and asked annoyed, “Any reason why you’re dressed all cloak and dagger? And where’s your friend, is he invisible?”

She raised her hood up so he could better see her face and apologized to him, “Sorry, we’ve just been traveling. Force of habit. And he should be right over there.” She turned around and pointed towards the table she told Callum to sit at. He was hunched over in a chair in the corner and watched her as she spoke to the man. He waved meekly to her and she returned the wave.

She turned back to the man and his expression was unchanged. He continued annoyed, “And why isn’t he up here with you?”

“He’s a bit shy.” She used the same excuse from earlier, but the man didn’t seem anymore satisfied by it. He scoffed again before he called out,

“Jubal? Jubal!” Rayla heard a word of affirmation and turned to see a woman who must have worked at the inn. She was jostled from a conversation she had with another patron, and turned to attention at the call from the man. She was older than Rayla, and she thought she must have been close to Farkas’ age. She had white hair in a bun, was a bit plump, and clutched a pan nervously as she looked towards them. Rayla thought her markings were very intricate and beautiful, she had numerous ones which highlighted her facial features, but over her left eye was a marking similar to Farkas’. The man continued, “Go to the kitchen and grab a meal for this girl and her friend.” Jubal agreed without a word and went off towards a back room of the inn. After she disappeared the man said, “That’ll be four silver pieces.”

She questioned with some concern, “What about Farkas’ favor?”

“That is with his favor.” The man said bluntly, “Normally it’s four per meal, but I’m only charging you for one. Food isn’t cheap around her lass.”

She agreed with the man’s reasoning, and begrudgingly produced the money for him. After he accepted it she took out her water sack and said, “Will you charge to fill this with water?”

“For that, no.” He said and took it from her and went to fill it. While he was gone she took a moment to examine the inn’s patrons more closely. There was a good mix of people there, most of them were around Farkas’ age or a bit older, and she only saw a few people around her age. She was reminded of her own home as she looked around and saw how happy everyone was and thought she would have liked to spend a few days there just to get a sense of normalcy back. She knew that with Callum it was out of the question, they could only hang around and be so close to other people without someone realizing he was a human. She didn’t begrudge Callum for this, she only wished things could have been different. After a moment the man returned with her water sack. He handed it to her and asked, “Is that lad you’re with your sweetheart or something lass?”

“Him? Yeah, I’d like to think so.” She replied fondly as she looked over her shoulder towards him.

“Well make sure he grows a spine. Will you?” The man said gruffly.

After she heard him the smile she had on her face faded away. She replaced it with a scowl as she turned around to him and said tersely, “Aye. I could do that.” She crossed her arms as she finished. And as she looked at the man she thought Callum had a bigger spine than he could ever have.

The man only coughed at the silence that followed to break the awkwardness and said, “Your food will be out in a moment. Jubal will bring it right over.” He waived her away and went back to his other patrons. She replied with a thanks she didn’t mean, and as she walked over to Callum she thought about a dozen nasty words she would have called the man if she didn’t want to be inconspicuous. She stomped over to the table, Callum fiddled his fingers and didn’t notice her until she was at the table. When he saw how upset she looked he asked concerned,

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” She said as she sat down next to him and grabbed his wrist before she kissed him lightly on the lips. She whispered sharply into his ear, “That man’s an asshole.”

He looked past her towards the bar where the man was and laughed lightly as he said, “You didn’t hurt him at all, that’s pretty good.”

“I don’t want us kicked out.” She said annoyed, “The most I would have done is say a nasty word or two, but I still want to lay low.”

“Was the favor worth anything?”

She said frustrated, “Not much by the way he acted. Back home I’d pay a coin for a meal; two if I wanted Moon-Berry surprise. But he would have charged us four coins each if it weren’t for the favor.”

“Yikes.” He said alarmed by the differences. “Why’s that?”

“Couldn’t tell you.” She said flatly as she slouched over the table. “He just said something about food being expensive around here.”

Callum reflected on what she said for a moment before he said, “I guess it kind of makes sense. We are in the middle of nowhere. I don’t really know how the economy works here but back home the farther I’d go out from a city the more expensive things would get. Stuff’s just easier to get there.”

She sighed and said, “Whatever the reason is he’s still a jerk.”

Callum patted her back and said soothingly, “Well, let’s just hope the food is good.” After he finished he looked up and saw a woman approach them with plates in hand. He sat up strait and Rayla sat up after she saw her too.

She placed the dishes on the table in front of them along with a drink and said to them, “Here you are. Must be a nice change of pace after being out in the wilderness. Let me know if you need anything else.”

She turned to leave but Rayla stopped her and asked, “Actually we could use one more thing. Jubal right?” The woman turned to her and replied with affirmation. Rayla continued, “We were looking for the doctor earlier and someone said he likes to hang out here sometimes. Is he here tonight?”

“The doctor?” Jubal said questioningly, “No. Haven’t seen him at all today. You need him for something?”

“Yes, but we know where his house is. We can always find him later.”

“You sure? If it’s important I could have someone fetch him.” She looked over both of them as she finished, and took a longer glance at Callum than was usual. He was unsettled by the odd glance she gave him and turned away from her uncomfortably.

Rayla grabbed her attention quickly and said reassuringly, “Thanks, but it’s nothing to worry about. Just some medicine we could use, but it can wait till we’re done eating.”

Jubal was slightly off put by Rayla’s demeanor but ignored it and said resignedly “Alright. If you say so. Just call me if you need anything.” Rayla thanked her again and she went away from them without another word.

The two of them were silent for a moment until she was out of earshot. Then Callum cleared his throat and said quietly, “Now I know how you felt when we had to sneak you around back home.”

She laughed lightly at his comment and said, “Hey, I think things are going pretty good.”

“Yeah but it’s still nerve racking.” He picked up a wooden spoon and poked at his food while he said, “I’ll have to make better disguise next time we do this. Not sure how to get the hair color right though.”

“Your hair’s going to be the least of your problems until we can do something about your accent. If you want others to think you’re a Moon-Shadow elf anyway.”

“I could always do my earth elf impression.” He smiled to her.

She spitted out a small laugh she couldn’t stop and said, “No way. If an Earth-Blood heard you they’d kill you on sight just for that.” They both shared a laughed and then she continued, “Let’s just enjoy the food for now and then we’ll see if we can find the doctor.” She picked up her own spoon and began to eat without another word, and Callum did likewise.

The dishes and utensils provided to them were entirely wooden, including the cups which only had water in them. On his plate was a small assortment of various foods. Most of it consisted of mixed vegetables he didn’t recognize, they were lightly seasoned but a salty taste permeated in all of them. They were various colors and sizes, and he thought they were cooked enough to be mushy. Besides the vegetables were sparse amounts of meat which tasted gamey, with a fruit based dressing drizzled over it. Rayla told him that while Moon-Shadow elves were not vegetarian most of their diet consisted of plants, with sparse meat thrown in. Besides the vegetables was a sort of rice-like grain which was snow-white with a coarse texture, and it tasted overbearingly sea-salty. It didn’t taste bad but he was unprepared for how salty it was, and reeled after he tasted it. After Rayla saw his reaction she said, “The white stuff is sea-rice from down south. I never really cared for it myself but Ethari could never get enough of it. Same for the rest of what’s here, it would have been a real treat for him.” She ended warmly as she thought of her uncle back home and continued to eat.

Callum took another spoon full of the rice and examined it carefully. Before he ate it he said, “You said it’s from down south. How south we talking, Sea-Elf south?”

She replied annoyed while she ate, “Yes Callum. Sea-rice comes from Sea-Elves. If it wasn’t completely obvious.”

He didn’t respond to her immediately, even though he didn’t like the tone she gave him since everything was still foreign to him. He thought over the implications of why a Sea-Elf dish was present in Moon-Shadow elf inn, then he asked her, “Just how far south did you take us?”

She paused eating when she heard his question, then her own realization came to her. She looked down at her plate and realized that it wouldn’t make sense for a small town inn to have a sea-elf dish unless it was readily available. Especially considering how the owner stated food was expensive there. She said slightly surprised, “Huh. Pretty far I guess. Oh well, no biggie. I wasn’t planning on taking you towards them but we can get directions after we leave. The Earth-Blood elves aren’t too far of a trip around them. Then you can meet your relatives.” She ended playfully and continued to eat. Callum was annoyed that she didn’t seem to care how directionless their journey was, especially since he thought she had gotten them lost a few times. He was about to ask how she managed to take him and Zym all the way to the Storm Spire without getting lost when he noticed someone approach their table from the bar.

He was tall, thin, had a darker complexion, and wore more decorative, but not gaudy, Moon-Shadow garments than the rest of town. He had silver hair in a bun with a silver needle through it, and the rest hanged down to his shoulders. He looked young but his eyes held a deep understanding that threatened to consume whoever looked into them. Over his face was a marking in the sharp of an open triangle or a mountain. It apexed on the bridge of his nose and the two lines went down his face and ended just below his lips. Rayla felt his presence or noticed Callum as he looked at him, and the two of them saw him as he made it to their table. “Hello.” He said in a deep, gentle voice, and it put them at ease, “My name’s Aubrey, they said you were looking for me.”

Rayla was slightly confused and said, “Uh, no. Least not for you specifically. Are you the doctor?” Aubrey said that he was, and after a brief pause he looked them over and politely asked if he could take a seat with them. She said that he could; he thanked her and grabbed a nearby chair and sat down across the table from them. After he sat down he folded his hands over the table and said very courteous,

“Now, and no rush since I know you’re still eating, but how could I help?”

Rayla was pleasantly surprised, she was still upset after her bad interaction with the barman and thought Aubrey was charmingly polite. In a way his kindness reminded her of Ethari. She gestured to Callum and said, “He got this really bad cut, and we were wondering if you might have some medicine so it doesn’t get infected or anything. We’d show you it but the cut’s on his, uh, rear.” She fiddle with her hands nervously as she said the last part to him. She was glad she came up with the lie earlier but it still seemed awkward for her.

“I see.” Was all he said before he looked over to Callum and examined him. He said somewhat humorously to them, “You’re sitting rather comfortably for someone with a bad cut on their rear-end.”

Rayla chimed in quickly and said, “Well of course! Callum’s tough!” She then punched Callum on the side of the arm which caused him to let out a small moan of pain. He rubbed the side of his arm and said entreatingly,

“Ow! Rayla…?”

She apologized to him and then heard a small laugh from Aubrey. He said gently as he laughed, “Yes, very tough I can see.” He breathed deeply before he continued, “Well, I don’t have anything here but after you’re done eating you’re more than welcome to come to my home. I’m sure I’ll have something for you there. Is that alright?” Rayla said that it would be. He stood up immediately after she was done and said, “Excellent. I’ll be at the bar and leave you two alone. No need to rush, I’ll be ready whenever you are.” Rayla thanked him cheerfully, and then they saw him walk back to the bar and sit down. They watched him there for a moment before Callum said warily,

“He’s…interesting.”

Rayla said, “Really? I think he’s nice.” She took another bite of her meal as she asked, “You don’t like him?”

“No. But, do you think he suspects anything?” He said cautiously as he turned to her.

“I think the only thing he suspects is that you don’t have a cut on your rear-end.” She said jokingly in between her chewing, “Besides that, so long as he has what we need and he doesn’t ask too many questions he’s fine by me.”

Callum continued to eat his own food as well and didn’t say anything further. He thought the doctor seemed peculiar in a way he wasn’t used to or could completely describe. But he decided not to share his reservations with her, as he was worried he could have possibly offended her. He was unsure if it was merely Moon-Shadow manners and customs he was unused to or if Aubrey was odd in general. He also felt the man had an aura about him that he wasn’t familiar with, and the mage within him felt that was reason enough for suspicion. He looked up from his dinner towards the bar where he sat and studied him for a moment. Aubrey spoke to the other patrons at the bar, but none of them seemed to have any misgivings with him as they socialized. They talked for a moment and then he must have said a joke, as everyone at the bar roared into laughter that could be heard over the general noise of the inn. Callum felt satisfied with his observations and somewhat guilty at his suspicion and went back to his meal. “What that is, is you being judgmental Callum” He thought to himself as he ate. He decided he should have no more concern with him than Rayla or any other member of the town did. He figured if there was a problem they could handle themselves.

Almost as soon as that thought entered his mind Rayla said decidedly without looking up from her meal, “I want you to go back to the camp and rest while I go with him.”

Callum was shocked by what sounded like an order from her and turned to her as he replied, “What? Why?”

She stopped eating and said coolly, “You don’t need to go if all we’re doing is getting some medicine. He’s not going to look at your finger and it’ll just be safer for you to skip out.”  

“If it’s safer-!” He began to say loudly but then checked himself after he remembered where he was. He looked around timidly and saw no one noticed, then he continued, “If it’s safer for me not to go why are you going with him by yourself?”

Rayla only stared at him before she brushed the side of his hood up and hissed out, “Hello, Mr. tree-for-horns. Do you want him asking questions?”

“He’s not going to ask anything we can’t answer.” He said firmly.

She asked harshly, “What’s with your confidence all of a sudden?”

“It’s not all of a sudden.” He said defensively as he folded his arms, “What’s with you wanting to ditch me all of a sudden?”

She felt caught by his accusation and said, “I’m not ditching you, I’m keeping you safe.” Part of this was a lie. She did have a small concern that Aubrey could discover he was a human, but for the most part she was sure his disguise was good enough to fool him so long as she did most of the talking. The main reason why she wanted him to go back and let her deal with the doctor herself is because she was sure they didn’t have enough money to afford medicine. She planned on offering to do work for him as compensation, or at the very worst steal it, but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Whatever she had to do she didn’t want Callum to know about it. She didn’t want him to feel that he was a burden on them, and because she was responsible for his injury she had to make it right.

Callum did not realize this and only thought her concern was their ability to hide. He said cautiously as he whispered sharply through his teeth, “Safe? From what?” He wondered if Rayla felt similar suspicion to Aubrey as he did. While he decided to disregard his suspicions a moment ago he would be more than fine with renewing them if she felt the same way.

“From him finding out you’re…you know.” She said annoyed and gestured to him as she spoke. They had argued in hoarse whispers but she still felt hesitant to mention everything in case someone could hear.

He disregarded her concern and said, “He’s not going to.” She didn’t say anything in response but he saw her fold her arms and look disapprovingly at him. He reassured her, “He’s not. Like you said all we’re doing is getting some medicine. All we have to do is walk with him, maybe make some light conversation, buy it at his home, and leave.”

She disregarded him and let out a small groan before she brought her hands to her head and said frustrated, “You’re just adding another thing that can go wrong again Callum.”

He was annoyed that she decided to bring up a similar point she made when they argued not too long ago. Previously they had been in a fight with wild animals and Rayla told him to hang back while she handled them. She was almost injured at one point in the fight but Callum prevented it when he placed himself in between the animal and her and used the ‘Aspiro’ spell at the last moment. She appreciated the help later but at the time she was upset he didn’t listen to her, which Callum took as her blaming him. She told him that because she was the more experienced fighter he should listen to her in a fight and that since she was stronger he should be in the back where he could support her with his spells. He agreed that she was the more experienced fighter and that he should listen to her advice, but he felt he was more than capable of handling himself and that they should fight together. She told him that he would get in her way and that having him up front would only add another thing that could go wrong. By the end of their fight he gave into her, much to his disappointment, even though he enjoyed their cuddle afterwards. Ultimately he understood her reasoning for her battle tactics and wanting him to go back to the camp, but he wasn’t going to leave her simply because he didn’t want to. He remembered another point she made about when it was time to stick together, so he brought it up now, “You always tell me to stick close when it’s time to hide. But now when we’re hiding in plain sight you want me to leave? What if I’m caught without you? I won’t really be safer then.”

She gawked before she pointed and tried to start, “That’s – that’s very different!”

“How is it different?” He asked quickly to throw her off.

She tried to find her words but nothing came, she was so angry he used her own point against her. After a second she said, “Hiding in a ditch together is one thing, but trying to keep someone from finding out you’re human is another!” She was angry enough to be incautious in her words but she still spoke in a hoarse whisper. Callum replied,

“How is it? If I’m caught without you I’m dead. Better to just stick close and whatever happens at least we’re together.” She tried to interject in the second he paused but he continued before she could and said decisively, “Whatever it is you’re saying it doesn’t matter. I’m coming. That’s it.”

She paused for a moment at his final statement and leaned back in her seat before she tapped her hands on the table a few times in the silence. An annoyed look came over her face when she realized she couldn’t say anything to make him go back to the camp. She looked to him and he gave her a smug look, then she raised her hands up in defeat and said exasperated, “Fine. Fine. You want to come along, that’s fine. Just keep your mouth shut and it’s fine.”

She ended looking away from him and crossed her arms again. Callum felt that he had won their argument but was worried she would hold this against him later even if nothing went wrong. He still didn’t want her to go alone so he said nothing further and went back to eating his meal. She did likewise and they finished in silence. Afterwards they got up from their table and went to the bar for Aubrey as he made conversation with the other patrons. Almost as soon as they stood up he finished his drink in a large sip and walked over to meet them half way. When he reached them he asked how their meal was, and Rayla responded half-heartedly that it was good. He was satisfied with their response and said very little besides an exchange of pleasantries to them. Before he left he said his good byes to the bar, “Goodnight Conry, don’t let the others string you out too much.”

The man Rayla interacted with earlier responded in between serving his patrons, “Goodnight Aubrey. Careful not to let those two out of your sight. They’re little assassins you know.” He let out a roaring laugh as he ended. Callum and Rayla felt a bit uneasy at his comment, and she let out a nervous chuckle after she heard it. Aubrey jokingly agreed that he would keep an eye on them and waved Conry goodbye before he left the tavern with them.

The outside air was a stark change to the warm, stuffy, atmosphere of the tavern. Callum and Rayla were happy they had their cloaks. The air had cooled and they wrapped their cloaks close around them where before they wore them loosely in the tavern. Night had completely taken over the village while they ate. Besides the dim yellow light of the few lanterns in the village, and sparse fireflies, the surrounding area was illuminated by the light of the moon. Rayla looked up at the sky past the clearing of the town center and spied it, but she would have been able to tell how brilliant it was even if she was blind. It was in waxing gibbous, but still a bit more than a week away from full. Unfortunately for her and Callum she still wasn’t sure how to describe her connection to it. When she t0ried to explain how it felt to gain powers from it she said it felt exhilarating, but as natural as breathing. She also said that trying to explain it to him was like trying to explain an emotion. She focused on the moon for a moment too long and Callum and Aubrey pulled her away so they could continue to his house. She came out of her daze and followed them. She still wanted Callum to wait at the camp, and she had one more trick up her sleeve. Once they were a small distance from the inn Rayla went up to Aubrey and asked,

“Aubrey, could I ask your personal opinion as a doctor?” He was slightly surprised by her question but replied that she could and she continued, “If my friend’s injured don’t you think it’s best he goes back to the camp and rests while I get him some medicine?”

Aubrey stopped walking and turned to examine both of them. After he did he pointed to Callum and said, “If your friend wants to go back and rest, he can since he doesn’t want me to examine him. But if he feels able to he’s more than welcome to come. My personal opinion is that he should if he wants to.” He turned around to the path ahead and raised his hand up before he said positively, “Besides, I have a feeling both of you would love to see my home.”

At his response she let out a small sigh and resigned. She hoped Aubrey would have agreed with her argument and that she could have persuaded Callum to hang back, but she thought all in all it could be worse. She went to grab Callum’s hand so they could hold each other’s as they walked but he resisted and would not give it to her. She was confused but thought she must have grabbed his injured hand by mistake. She went to his other side and reached for that one but he resisted again and folded his arms over his chest in a humph. She understood his hint, but was very surprised by his actions and thought he was extremely petty. She folded her own arms and huffed next to him as they walked. Aubrey noticed this as they walked behind him and he let out a small chuckle that both of them heard. He turned around to them as they walked and asked Callum teasingly, “I take it your injury was the result of a ‘lover’s quarrel.’ Correct?” Both of them were shocked by his question and Rayla let out a mortified “No.” Callum asked how he got that idea and Aubrey responded light-heartedly, “Nowhere. Nowhere at all.” And he chuckled to himself again as they walked.

They continued for a few moments in silence, which left Callum alone to his thoughts. He was unable to read Rayla’s mind but he could tell easily that she was unhappy with him. Yet he was uncertain whether she was more upset that he refused to go back to camp, or that he wouldn’t hold her hand. He understood her worries, especially since he had them as well, but he believed her demands were completely unjustified. No one in town had discovered or at most even suspected he was human. The only hairy interaction they had was with the guard, and that was only because he brought up the Storm Spire. What angered him the most was that she attempted to use Aubrey against him. He thought that even if Aubrey told him to rest at the camp he would have refused and came with them as he said he would have. But Rayla’s attempt to go behind him, even in this small way, was incredibly egregious to him. While he was very upset he thought perhaps his actions were petty as well. He thought she only wanted to keep him safe, so he questioned whether he was right to distant himself from her when she had good intentions. He also desired to hold her hand, which he felt was a stronger push to forgive her. He wondered whether he could be too soft or easily persuade by Rayla because of how much he cared for her, and worried that was a bad thing both for himself and them as a couple. Before he could think deeper on the matter he was interrupted in his thoughts by Aubrey who said idly,

“We don’t usually see too many travelers visit here. Where do you two hail from?”

Rayla looked away from them off into the distance and responded gently but still peeved, “I’m from around the Silver Groove and he’s from up north.”

Aubrey turned around as he walked and said curiously, “How much farther north? A bit more past the Silver Groove or out of Artemia?”

Rayla turned to him and said annoyed, “Why are you asking?”

He turned away from them unoffended and shrugged before he said, “Just making conversation.” They walked for a for more seconds before he asked, “How long have you two known each other?”

“Rayla and I meet a few months ago.” Callum said, “We’ve really just been traveling since then, because we wanted to see the world and all.” He picked up the lie she told the guard from earlier. He found it easy to tell since it was all true, it just excluded details other wouldn’t understand.

He saw Aubrey scratch his chin from behind as he said, “That’s right, the two of you saw the Storm Spire didn’t you?”

Callum felt a pit fall into his stomach after he heard that. Rayla turned her head quickly to him and asked dubiously, “Where’d you hear that?”

He responded without emotion, “I was out of town on a walk and ran into Farkas after you left him. I like to keep tabs on the village, since I’m responsible for their wellbeing. And he told me about how you two had apparently been all across Xadia to the Storm Spire.” He turned around and smiled to them before he said, “That must have been quite the trip.”

Callum stuttered as he said, “Uh…yeah it was really a trip.”

Before he could say anything further Aubrey said enthusiastically, “I’ll say. The closest way to it is a three week march in either direction around the Midnight Desert. How was that journey?”

He stuttered for a second as he thought of a response but Rayla said kindly, “It’s a really long story.”

Undeterred, Aubrey continued, “I’m sure it must be, but I’d love to hear it. Did you two go by the North or South route?”

She responded very curtly, “Like I said. It’s a really long story, and I don’t want to be rude but we’re really just tired from traveling for so long. Otherwise we’d tell you all about it.”

Aubrey apologized and said sympathetically as turned to the path, “Of course, my apology. If you’ve been traveling for as long as you say you must worn out. You choose the perfect place to rest, Loruthven might not have much to see but it’s very calm.” He turned to face them again and asked, “Do you think you’ll be staying long?”

Rayla drew out her response as she thought about it herself, “Uh…We’re not sure actually. We’re camped not too far from here, but we’ll probably just rest a day or two before we move on.”

“Strange.” He said more to himself than them, “I don’t know how you two could be so tired you can’t speak but ready to leave in little more than a day.” He paused for a moment for them to respond, but neither of them said anything besides a contemplative moan. He turned back to the path and disregarded them with a wave of his hand as he said, “But as young as you are I can’t imagine you want to be still for any longer than you have to. I was the exact same way when I was your age. There was always something else to see. Speaking of which, we’re here!” He ended as he extended his arms ahead in exclamation.

They made their way through the forest outside of town into another opening where Aubrey’s house was. His home occupied a fair amount of land, a small iron and stone wall encircled his property and bore similar designs and runes to that of the stones found within the town. The gateway was open and when they passed through it they saw a beautiful garden that took up a vast majority of the grounds. They were bewildered by the beauty of it, and looked around themselves as they struggled to take in everything at once. Callum saw menhirs and dolmen dotted around the garden like statues, but they were very well kept unlike the ones in town and all of the runes engraved into them were legible. Rayla grabbed his attention as she pointed out the numerous trees, hedges, plants, and colorful flowers of the garden. He took in the beauty as it was brought to his attention, but he was drawn to a very special tree in the garden. It seemed to beckon him to it by an empowering radiance, that appeared to be more than a simple chance encounter. When his eyes saw it he grabbed Rayla’s hand and called her to look at it and her breathe was taken away when she saw it. Off on one side of the garden, placed in an area of honor was a beautiful tree that wasn’t the largest in the garden but it was easily the most distinguishable. It appeared similar to an elder tree and bore fruit that looked similar to elderberries, but the tree itself exuded a silvery luminescence in the moonlight and its berries appeared to have dim stars glowing within them. As they looked at it they were filled with a calming radiance that neither of them were sure how to describe.

Aubrey approached them as they were captivated by it and said gently, “You have a keen eye Callum.” They were struck from their daze and both to turned to look at him as he spoke, “This is a very rare tree that was once common in Loruthven and long ago in all of Artemia. Its true name is lost to time, but it’s more commonly known as a ‘Moon Tree.’”

“Moon Tree.” Callum said the name to himself. He felt the name did not capture its magnificence but he pondered on its meaning all the same. “It’s close to the Moon Arcanum?” He asked.

“Yes, more so than others. But its significance could be said another day. Are you a scholar of the arcanum.”

“No, not really.” He replied quickly, but gently. “It’s just beautiful is all, and I get where the name comes from.”

“Indeed.” Aubrey said as he looked and admire it himself. He ended his gaze and turned to them before he said, “I happy to see you made up quickly.” He gestured to their hands, which they had held unconsciously the entire time. They both looked down and after they realized it they were a bit flustered. Part of them felt they had not been angry with each other long enough to make up yet, such was the unspoken game they played, but they did not stop holding hands. They were happy to enjoy the garden together, and even if they could not say it to each other, they knew what each of them were upset over was not worth it. Aubrey spoke again and said, “But we’re getting side tracked, I should have what you need in my home. This way please.” As he said this he made a straight line towards a large tree in the center of the garden.

Rayla and Callum were very impressed by the extravagancy of his home compared to the rest of the village, but they had only taken notice of the gardens and failed to notice his house. As the old woman said his house was a large tower that took up the entirety of a large oak tree. The tree itself appeared to be ancient but very healthy despite the tower built into it. From the outside they could see windows, doors, and balconies built into and outside of the tree, and it appeared to contain many floors within which lead to the top until no further additions could be seen behind the foliage. They approached the front door which was light purple in color with silver knobs and hinges. They marveled at it for a moment before Aubrey produced a key. He went inside and they tried to followed him but before they could he closed the door behind him without a word. They were puzzled that he left them outside without any mention and Rayla turned to Callum as she asked, “He did say, ‘This way please’ right?”

“Yeah. I thought he did.” Callum said confused.

“Maybe he’s getting the medicine inside to bring out to us.” Rayla said, and Callum agreed with her. They waited outside for a moment but Aubrey did not appear. Rayla knocked on the door and after a second they were surprised to see it open it a crack.

Aubrey poked his head out and said, “Yes? Is something the matter?” He seemed to be as confused as they were.

“Uh…no. I don’t think so.” Rayla began to say slowly, “But… could we please come inside?”

At her request Aubrey brow’s picked up in surprise, and he opened the door wide to them as he said apologetically, “Yes. Yes absolutely. Please come right in.” Rayla and Callum both looked at each other before they went in and shrugged. They were unsure what to make of the situation but assumed it was a simple slip of the mind on his part. They entered his home and were greeted by a wave of warmth that was almost overbearing compared to the night air. It wasn’t stuffy but it smelled like an old home, with furniture and walls from ages past. The inside was dimmer than outdoors since the entranceway possessed few windows to allow light in, and a few unlit glass lamps hung from the walls. Aubrey closed the door behind them gently and ushered them to a side room. When they entered it they realized the heat emanated from that part of the house. It was a side parlor that was dimly lit by a calm, orange glow from a fireplace in the wall. They could make out green seats arranged in a sitting area close to the fire with a matching rug on the floor, and cabinets lined the walls along with old paintings and other artwork. Once they entered the room Aubrey turned to them and said upset with himself,

“Please forgive my rudeness. I live out here on my own and always close the door behind me out of habit. When you didn’t follow me I just assumed you were admiring the workmanship of the house and I began putting my things away before you knocked on the door.” He rubbed his hands over his face exhausted before he said apologetically, “I should have invited you inside. My sincerest apology.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Rayla said as she removed her hood from her face. The warmth of the room made it unbearable to have it on, and she felt bad for Callum since he wouldn’t have the luxury to remove his.

When she removed it Aubrey grew a worried look on his face and approached her as he stuck a hand out towards her. His facial expression and gesture gave her anxiety and she unconsciously steeped away from him as Callum began to step between them. Aubrey asked in a concerned voiced that soothed both of them, “Rayla, did you cut yourself too?” He presented part of her hair forward that was covered in dried blood.

Her eyes went wide and she remembered all of Callum’s blood she got on herself when she injured him. She thought she must have touched her hair before she wiped her hands clean but she couldn’t remember. She pulled her hair back and said nervously as she fiddle it, “Oh no. That must be from Callum after I tried helping him. Must have gotten it all over myself without realizing.” She made a small forced laugh, as Aubrey brought his hand that touched her hair to his face. He seemed to smell his fingers and then a shocked expression came over his face which concerned both Rayla and Callum. Then after an instant Aubrey’s expression changed to disgust and he let out a violent coughing fit as he said in between coughs,

“Excuse me…I must have touched something foul earlier…just… a moment and I’ll get your medicine…” He excused himself from the parlor as he coughed and left the two of them alone. Even after his cough faded away into the house they only stood in the parlor, dazed by what happened. A second later Callum looked to Rayla, who looked off towards the direction Aubrey went, and brought his face to her hair and breathed it in. His sudden gesture snapped her out of her daze and she pushed him away as she said embarrassed,

“What are you doing?”

He stuttered for a moment as he said very warmly, “I mean…I didn’t think it smelled bad.”

Rayla blushed and walked away from him towards the couches as she said, “I know it doesn’t. It’s probably your blood and whatever else is mixed with it that he couldn’t stand.” She sat down and crossed her arms.

Callum sat down at her right and said teasingly, “Uh, probably not. More than likely I’m just used to your pungent musk by now. When was the last time you took a bath by the way?” He stuck his head towards her obnoxiously as he ended.

She pushed him away lightly and said annoyed, “More often than you, I bet.”

He was unable to keep out a small chuckle as he said, “No, I’m pretty sure I bathe more than you. By a lot actually. I think even Ezran bathes more than you, and he hates baths. He told me once that when he’s King he’d outlaw them. But frankly I’ve always enjoyed them, even the outdoor ones. That’s why I’ve been so keen on finding a nice little waterfall or stream for us to clean our stuff in every so often. You really should use the next one we find. Or change into another set of clothes every once in a while. ” She replied with affirmation  in between each of his statements but he went on until she almost yelled out,

“Alright I get it!” He reeled back at her response and they looked at one another for a moment. He was slightly taken aback by her outburst and he could see she was angry, but it only hid her embarrassment. Silence returned and she continued, “I’m a pig and stink like one too. No need to rub it in.” She brought up her knees and hugged them as she stared into the fire. Which consumed her fascination as Callum spoke,

“I didn’t say that. Just that maybe you could clean up in river every once in a while.” She rolled her eyes at him but he continued, “And I didn’t say I don’t like how you smell. And honestly…” He blushed as he continued embarrassed, “Honestly if anything I kind of like it.” He said in a rush.

“You what?” She turned to him in surprise but he could not look at her. He continued and grew more embarrassed as he went on,

“I mean…” He struggled to put the thoughts he’s had into words, “You’re…really athletic.” He turned to her quickly and smiled sheepishly as he occasionally dropped her gaze, “And I guess, whenever you fight, or work, or push yourself. – I mean – You get really sweaty.” He swallowed, “And just seeing you like that and then knowing what you smell like when you’re like that. It…it does something for me.” They shared look with each other after he finished. But he couldn’t even look at her for more than a second before he turned away embarrassed. He felt his cheeks get warmer and looked into the fire and thought it would feel cool compared to his face.

Rayla didn’t say anything for a moment. She brushed part of her hair behind her ear and turned to him as she said embarrassed, “You like when I’m sweaty and gross?”

He turned to her to speak but only opened and closed his mouth as he tried to decide and find his words. Eventually all he said was a definitive and sudden, “Yes.” A shocked look came over Rayla after he said it and he had to look away from her. He thought she wouldn’t understand what he meant, and wondered if he even understood himself. He worried that she would think he’s weird or gross, and thought that was exactly what she believed now.

As he felt this way she grabbed his left hand softly, and he turned to her after she did. She looked uncomfortable and said as she looked in his direction but towards the floor, “I don’t mind if you do. In fact I…kind of like it.” She looked him in the eye as she finished but only for a moment, and Callum saw her blush.

“You do?” He exhaled more than spoke as relief entered him.

“Yeah.” She drew out slowly and then tried to be wryly, but she was still embarrassed as she continued, “And if you want, maybe we can…get closer, next time I am.” She tried to look at him in the eye again, but she couldn’t.

“Yeah.” He said breathlessly. She turned to him after he did and he continued, “I’d like that.” They looked at each other for a moment as they both blushed and smiled like idiots. Nothing else was said between them, and then without realizing it they inched their faces towards each other. They closed their eyes when they were about to touch and kissed each other gently. It was a small but passionate kiss when they started, but it quickly grew more intimate and involved. Neither of them was the sole initiator, as was typical when they kissed, but they both found themselves wanting more of the other. Callum reached up with his good hand towards her hair. He let it fall in between his fingers and then went up to her ear and around to the back of her head and pulled her closer for the kiss. Rayla liked to be handsy whenever they kissed in private. She was conscious that they were in someone’s home but she reached up under his scarf and groped his neck and collar bone with her right hand. He let out a small shiver, as was typical whenever she did something like that, but they did not slow. They stayed like this for a second until Rayla grabbed his left hand and squeezed it tight unconsciously. The pain he felt in his hand caused him to retreat from their kiss for a second but he did not say anything. Rayla noticed this and softly asked concerned,

“What’s wrong?” She squeezed his hand tighter, as the moment made her forget his injury.

Callum winced and said, “Nothing. But maybe…” He gestured to his hand and Rayla instinctively retracked herself from it as if it was fire. She scrunched her face up in anger and lowly called herself stupid under her breath. He tried to reassure her and said her name as he began to reach for her again. He didn’t want to stop, he just wanted her to be gentle with his injury. Before he could get much further he was interrupted by Aubrey who said,

“Pardon me.” When they heard his voice they both looked towards him and saw that he stood in the middle of the room a few feet in front of them before the fire. They did not notice when entered the room, and while they both were very much occupied they felt that he almost appeared suddenly before them. He continued, “I don’t mean to interrupt but I should have something for your friend.” He put out his hand which held a small vial with a grey substance within it. They began to get up from the couch and he continued, “I understand that because of the nature of your injury you’d prefer me not to see it, but this should help with the healing and pain of it if you apply it daily.”

“That’s great.” Rayla said relieved and went up to him, “How much for it?”

“Fifteen silver pieces.” He said plainly.

When she heard the price she felt her heart dropped into her stomach. She understood from the tavern keeper that prices where more expensive there, but she thought it must have been five times more expensive than what she would have bought back home if she had a cut. She began to say desperately, “We-we got three pieces now. But I’m sure we can figure something out, can’t we?” She began to walk closer to him as she spoke and Callum followed her and said her name gently.

Aubrey dismissed their worries and said, “Yes, of course we can. I do need of a few household chores done actually. Ingredient shopping, delivery, cleaning, firewood chopping.” He turned to the fire at his last comment and admired it as he said, “The fires seem to be dying now, speaking of which.”

Rayla said, “Yeah, it must be getting late. I’ll give you what money we have and be here first thing in the morning.” She held out her hand but Aubrey pulled the vial away and said softly,

“There’s no need to leave now.”

She continued anxious, “Well, not to worry you but our camp is a good walk away, and we kind of need this. So if we could just uh, grab it and go-” She made another step towards him but Aubrey held up his hand and said,

“No. Like I said there’s no need to leave. You two are more than welcome to spend the night.” Neither Callum or Rayla said anything but they both let out a prolong, “uh” at his offer. Aubrey dismissed their refusal and gestured them to the hallway and asked them to follow him, which they hesitantly agreed to. He guided them through the halls of his home as he said, “I have a guest room with a bed for each of you. It’s where my niece and nephew stay when they visit but they haven’t been here in a while.”

Rayla said, “That’s really kind Aubrey but we couldn’t possible put you through the trouble.”

He again dismissed their worries, “Oh no, no trouble at all. I absolutely love the company.”

She tried to dissuade him as she was sure they would have trouble keeping the lie and said, “Sure and we appreciate it, but me and Callum really like our privacy.”

He said confidently, “And privacy you shall have. Right this way.”

It was a short walk from the parlor to the room he spoke of. It was on the second floor up a narrow winding stair case down the hall to a small door at one corner of the house. He opened it to a small dark room. He stepped inside and tapped at two small glass lanterns at either wall, and they lit up by fireflies that danced within. There were two small beds at each side of the wall with enough space between them for two people to stand snuggly together. The bed on the left had a cyan blue blanket, and the right was red. Both of the blankets looked faded from use, but the beds were neat and still looked very comfortable. High at the back wall was a small window that let in moon-light, and at the foot of the beds were two small pine drawers. Their smell permeated the room. After they got a look of the room Aubrey stepped out and said, “This’ll be your room for as long as you stay here. There’s a chamber pot down the hall, and I only ask you clean up after yourselves if you use it.”

They both thought the room looked cozy and would have loved to spend the night after traveling through the wilderness for the past weeks. But they were hesitant that Aubrey could’ve discovered them. Rayla said, “This is really nice, but we can’t stay.”

“Well why not?” It was a simple question, but she was hard press to give an answer to it. Callum was the one to answer and said,

“We can’t just leave our camp. What if someone takes our stuff?”

Rayla thanked him in her head for the cover, but Aubrey was undeterred and said kindly, “Your camp will be just fine if left alone for one night. We have so few travelers here, and even fewer thieves.” They had an odd but pleasant feeling as he said this, and by the way he looked at them so warmly. They felt very much at ease as he continued, “You can work off your debt while you live here. And I know you want to keep your injury private, but at least if you stay here I can get an idea of how my treatment is working. Plus, I think you two have earned one night in a warm bed.” Rayla looked at Callum under his hood for a moment but neither of them spoke as they thought over his offer. Aubrey said to the silence, “And of course you’re more than welcome to join me for breakfast tomorrow. I make a delicious Moon-berry surprise.”

At Moon-berry surprise Rayla was heartbroken. It was so long since she last had one, but she couldn’t make Callum spend the night while hiding. She was about to regrettably refuse his offer when Callum said, “I’ll probably skip on breakfast. It sounds nice but I’ll just try to rest my rear if that’s alright?”

“Of course, no problem at all.” Aubrey said and presented the vial to him, “Dab your finger into it and only apply the ointment that comes out sticking to it. Do that every day until it runs out or your cut heals. Do you understand?” Callum replied that he did and Aubrey turned to Rayla and continued, “I realize you’re short on money so I’ll let you keep what you have. You’ll just have to do a bit more work for me in return. You could even stay and work for me for extra money after you repaid your debt if you want.” He paused for a moment before he added, “I ask that you please don’t explore my home until I show you around more tomorrow, but do you need anything else?”

Rayla replied dazed, “I - no. Nothing at all.” She turned to Callum and said, “You’ll be fine staying here?”

Callum said, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

Aubrey interjected, “Considering your friend’s injury I’d think you’ll be more than fine staying here for bit. Anything else at all before goodnight?”

           They replied that there wasn’t, so he wished them goodnight. He told them the lamps would dim themselves if left alone and went to his quarters. They entered their room and closed the door behind them, and Rayla sat down on the Cyan bed to examine it. It felt somewhat stiff but a far cry from sleeping in the wilderness. She tapped at the bed before she turned to Callum and said, “You don’t mind?”

Callum removed his hood and wiped his brow as he said, “Sleeping in a bed? No. It’ll be annoying to spend the day locked in here without my sketch book, but I’ll manage.”

He sat down at her left, and she leaned on him as she said, “I can always grab it for you if you want.”

“No, better that you just do whatever work he has in mind so we can leave before tomorrow ends.” He grabbed her hand and said sweetly, “Do you want to share a bed?”

She smiled wryly and leaned into his face before she said, “Nope. I’m good.” She got up from the bed and went over to the other with a small bounce.

“What, but why?”

“Oh, cause I’m still just a little bit mad at you.” She said teasingly and began to remove her cloak.

He let out a small moan, “Aw, but why? This’ll be nice, and we’re safe here.”

“I know we are.” She removed her armor and revealed her undershirt. Her armor still had dried blood on it from earlier. She wrapped her cloak around it and stowed it inside the drawer. She said still teasing, “But now I have to make sure he doesn’t bother you too much while I do all the heavy lifting tomorrow.” She turned to him smiled and said not angry at all, “So I’m still a little mad.”

He folded his arms and said grumpy, “I’m still mad you cut me but I thought we made up?” She let out a small wince she thought he didn’t notice. He continued, “It’s fine now. We got medicine and I’m sure it’ll heal up in no time.” He paused as he waited for a response from her but she didn’t say anything. He said, “Is there another reason you don’t want to?”

She relaxed and went to kneel on the floor in front of him. She said tired, “No, not really. I’m just not in the mood right now. Okay?” He replied that he understood. She touched his face and said, “Tomorrow when we’re back on the road we’ll cuddle all night. Deal?”

“Deal.” He said, and the two of them leaned in to kiss each other. After they parted she told him to apply the ointment before bed. He said he would and pulled off the cork of the vial; he was greeted with a harsh acidic smell. He removed his gloves and bandages to get at his cut. When he did he felt minor pain as the bandages exited his wound, and subdued a small grunt from the pain and dipped his finger into the solution. He felt a sharp discomfort in his finger after he did, but from his experiences with medicine it was expected. She helped him reapply the bandages just as the light of the lanterns faded. Then she got up and went to her bed and said goodnight to him, and he returned the sentiment. He removed his horns, cloak, scarf, and shirt and placed them on the drawer before he settled into his bed. He was happy that the blush from the mist-flowers would last until he took a bath, but he already felt itchy like Rayla said he would. Despite his itchiness and pain in his finger he relaxed into sleep and a deep peace came over him that he had not known since before he was out in the wilderness.

He dreamed lucidly but it only carried him to a small room like the one he slept in. He dreamed he was alone in bed and was shackled to it by an unbearable fatigue and could not leave it if his life depended on it. He tried to look to his side for Rayla but he could not see beyond his bed. Then a shadow of a silhouette of a person appeared before his bed. He felt its presence was close to the aura of the moon and thought it was her but, that it was distorted and shadowed. She drew closer but it she seemed a hundred miles away even so close as she was. She leaned down to him and kissed him lightly on the lips, he tried for more but she retreated as she leaned over him. He thought he saw he smile before she kissed his lips once, and then began to kiss down his face until it reached his neck just above his collar bone where she touched him earlier. The kisses started light but grew until they reached his neck, where she almost consumed him. At the climax he felt all of her weight on him and a fatigue worse than before, but immense pleasure he had never known before. He felt consumed by her and desired it, he tried to reach around her and embrace her but he was too weak to even do that. Eventually his dreamed faded into a black void, full of neither rest nor peace. Until he awoke the next day.

______________________________________________________________

Post Commentary

           (Small update at end of chapter) I shall disappear now that this chapter is posted. I’ll update either this story or ‘Date Night’ whenever I see fit, and expect these comments to be deleted upon an update or in preparation. If you have further questions contact me here or on my Tumblr. Peace for now.

[danwhobrowses]

America, We Need to Talk

For some reason in these past years the concept of ‘Reason’ and ‘Sense’ has departed your country, I’ve hissed, I’ve simmered, I’ve hit my head against the wall hoping that in the end IN THE END the collective mass of the American People will open their eyes, stop making excuses and realise that for 4 years, America has not become ‘Great Again’ I’ve resisted the urge to unload many a time, but news that Donald Trump is to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize is just too much, because this is literal horseshit. For some part it feels like they’re only trying it just so Republicans can force a rhetoric as if Trump did a better job than Obama - who won in 2009 for easing religious tensions, preventing Nuclear Weapons distribution and profiting, working towards fixing climate change and assisting with the UN - as people die of COVID, cities burn and violence against peaceful protests continue to ravage your country.

I have to say that again, Ravage, because I feel as though some people are blind to the matter at hand. Donald Trump will say something and his cult of followers will believe it, when someone disagrees and presents evidence it’s deemed irrelevant or forged, if a Democrat says something on the contrary they need a full powerpoint presentation to prove it, somehow this mentality has poisoned the American society when the louder people will say something in confidence only for the rest of the world to read and think it’s one of the dumbest shit they’ve ever read. This isn’t just coming from a Brit, this is coming from family in Chicago, a co-worker who moved out of America and worked in the army, Italians, Greeks and someone who was in Hong Kong during the riots. The people who believe in Democracy, Majority Vote, Free Healthcare, Fair Wage, Equal Rights AND international peace that doesn’t look towards World War Fucking Three look at your country in shame because the state of your leadership and how it’s been allowed to continue with ridiculously boneheaded and stubborn reluctance to see the truth. So let’s start with the boiling point shall we, a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination? Have you learned anything from the last year? Or has the far-right got the prize so by the balls that this nomination is used as a cheap add-on to coincidentally peacock the Trump administration in its build to an election. The nomination to Trump has been cited to be in favour of the following things; Israel-UAE relations (aka ‘Saving the Middle East), Serbia-Kosovo deal (aka ‘Saving the ‘Middle East’’), Inter-Korea relations and likely the support of Jerusalem and Hong Kong, and in face value that may sway the common person who knows nothing about these deals. But a simple amount of research cuts most of these at the legs. Let’s talk Serbia and Kosovo, since it’ll directly involve Israel, relations were tense but they have not been at war, they are peacefully not talking to each other. The media will have you think that Peace has been brokered by Trump only in this but in reality Serbia still refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence, the tensions are still there you can just travel there now. This is an agreement that’s been build up since the economic and trade agreement in 2013. If that year isn’t surprising you that is 3 years before Trump was elected, when Barrack Obama was in office - Republican Public Enemy Hillary Clinton was at the forefront of that when she was Secretary of State. So no, Trump hasn’t saved the Middle East by this deal, mainly because Kosovo and Serbia are in Europe, they have been part of the EU for quite some time and the deal is already jeopardized since Serbia won’t build an embassy in Jerusalem if Israel recognize Kosovo as independent - which was part of the original deal. Also for all the Republicans’ use of ‘fear by Communism’ to slander their opponents they sure love to rub shoulders with countries also rubbing shoulders with Russia and China. So this segues into Israel-UAE, the Arab Nations have mainly been reluctant to recognize Israel as independent. On the 13th August a deal was struck called the Abraham agreement establishing Diplomatic Relations. Except, this was in the making since 2012 and only delayed to help progress Israeli-Palestine conflicts (which Trump’s actions with Israel led to Palestine cutting ties with the administration and his ‘Peace Plan’ falling apart 3 years after announcing it). UAE and Israel had been in conversation before Trump was signed in, but only made headway when the FDD - already funded by the UAE - took over. For 3 years USA did little for the relations, UAE and Israel doing it themselves, it’s only now do the US mediate a peace agreement, which meant that Trump didn’t really do much in terms of convincing both sides, he just made sure things didn’t get out of hand - which was never close to happening since there is little tensions. It was Kushner who requested the meeting and Mossad also had a huge part in it. Also I want to add that the US are only buddied with these two out of fear of Iran - you know, that country that Trump almost goaded into war in January after bombings and the death Assassination of General Soleimani who helped the US in the wake of 9/11 track and hunt down the Taliban, as well as fighting ISIS, how peaceful was that? The Middle East is still in Civil and Proxy Wars, no saving has been done there, the US just were there for Israel and UAE to confess that they’re friends. Which leads me to Korea. The Olympics helped more than Trump did, a shared effort where both countries had to travel and accommodate each other. Tensions may’ve eased in 2016 but they were far from resolved and in 2020 not much is better. Korea still antagonize one another and the North still antagonizes the US, any ‘peace’ the Trump Administration will claim to towards Korea faded quickly. And finally, Hong Kong, the US may be supportive and rightly so but this is again fear of Communism, it should’ve happened sooner but the US was hoping for that big and meaty trade deal with China. And this isn’t months I’m talking about it’s years, the proposal first took place after the Umbrella Movement...in 2014, it was annually brought up in Congress but postponed until the Senate decided to. And after Trump signed it he said he might veto it in favour of the China trade deal

“We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I'm also standing with President Xi: he's a friend of mine." - Donald Trump, November 2019

So really, this Nobel Peace Prize is the product and efforts of other people that set events in motion that Trump was there just to sign his name on. Meanwhile, in the country he is President of, the COVID Death toll has officially risen to 190 Thousand. 20% of COVID deaths are in the United States. Tear Gas/Pepper Spray - which is a recognized chemical weapon not allowed to be used in warfare - is used by Trump Supporters along with paintballs to attack peaceful protesters and Trump calls that peaceful because ‘Paint is not bullets’ - as someone who has been hit with Paintballs from safe range, they will hurt like a bitch and if you don’t wear protective gear they can do enough harm to crack and sometimes even break bone, the asthmatic co-worker I aforementioned that was in Hong Kong also notes that Tear Gas is awful, it may not kill you but it is far from peaceful. In the same breath Trump refuses to condemn a 16 year old carrying an AR and shooting someone in the head. He has also refused to condemn Epstein’s financier Ghislaine Maxwell and ‘hopes that she’s well’...the sex trafficker, but when you mention late Civil Rights leader John Lewis and his words are ‘can’t say one way or the other...he didn’t come to my inauguration’. This is your leader. The embodiment of the standards the country upholds itself to, it baffles me and many many others that the American People Chose a racist, bigoted, misogynistic, careless, self-important, naive, power-mad, severally-bankrupted, reality tv personality man-child, who is also intending to use US Taxpayers money to cover lawsuit fees against him alongside all his other golf trips. The man literally said that no other president has done more for Black People than he has, this is while he profusely condemned Kaepernick taking a knee to protest Police Brutality against Blacks and POC only for years later the world support it as BLM protests still happen because action has not been taken. We’ll also see what happens on the 14th regarding the Felony Hearing of the officers in Buffalo who pushed over Gugino and gave him a brain injury which he is still rehabilitating from after Trump tried to sell him as an Antifa member. Just in case you’re unaware, antifa stands for anti-fascist but Trump will paint that again in ‘Fear of Communism’. If you actually look up this stuff, the web of Trump’s lies unravel, and yet people just forget about. The man is a pro at gaslighting I’ll give him that, I mean leaking e-mails that condemned Clinton right at election time was some cutthroat stuff, but a man who needs to rely on preying on xenophobia, paranoia, fear, racism and invests mainly on smear tactics and dismantling, is not someone who can lead a country to prosperity, the amount of leeway this man gets from his supporters just hurts my head. So let me ask you America, truly, what is it that you want? Because it can’t be this, can it? Protests, Riots, people refusing to wear a simple face mask to limit the spread of a deadly virus because they think it’s a fake thing that the entire world decided to get in on with WHO just to spite Trump? Teenagers carrying guns? Refugees refused asylum and kept in cages? Do you want to keep spending your savings just to go to the doctors? or do you think that ‘Patriotism’ is blindly defending your country’s flaws and clinging to archaic and outdated thinking because centuries ago your country prospered in it? I’ll tell it to you straight: America is not the greatest country in the world, it hasn’t been for a long time. I don’t know what your history books tell you; that Native Americans were fine with slaughter, that the US won WW2 with the military might they always had, that Vietnam was a moral victory, but the present day should tell you that your country is a mess, and the man who has been at the helm for 4 years will not fix it in another 4. There’s only so much of Obama’s policies he can plagiarize as his own; he has left the UN, left the Paris Agreement for cleaner air and energy and all his original campaign members have been arrested, an alarming amount of people associated with him are facing criminal charges - is that not a red flag? Don’t let your thoughts that as a patriot you have to support your country no matter what, true patriotism is not just the love of your country but the hope and strive to better it because you can love it but accept that it has flaws. I mean even I’ll admit that the UK has a lot of its own shit to deal with, doesn’t mean I hate where I live I just know it can be better. If this were anyone else, hell if this were a Democrat the Republican party would be booking them a flight to the other side of the world with the stuff Trump has done and let to continue on with afterwards, through him you went from the United States to an Absolute State and the rest of the world wonder if this will either lead to World War 3 or a Second American Civil War You don’t have to like Joe Biden, but he clearly looks like the lesser of the two evils here, and at least in 4 years time America under him won’t be on fire. If you still don’t like him someone new could be elected after, but right now you are on a downward spiral and need someone who can put you back into a stable place, that man is not Donald Trump. The man who wants to intercept mail-in voting and outcry its ‘risk’ of tampering when he himself voted by mail is not a truthful leader, the man who tried to cancel the World Health Organization when they simply asked to not call COVID a racist name that incited xenophobia after decrying cancel culture is not a moral leader, and the man who said that COVID would peter out and suggested injecting disinfectant into the lungs to combat it only to now suddenly buy out all the experimental treatment so that they can try and engineer a cure in time for the election campaign, is not a wise leader. All the stuff you see in these coming months is just an attempt to win your vote, for the most part it’ll be Trump stamping his name on something other people worked on for years and claiming that he did all the work. So make sure you actually check the truth of these things, research and fact-check yourself with valid, neutral sources. Take off the blinders, take a breath and actually see the full picture. And please, as well as not letting this man have the Nobel Peace Prize Don’t give this guy have a Second Term

[where-dreamers-go]

“Top Ten” Kylo Ren x Earthling! Reader

(Anon asked: “I loved your post about Kylo Ren and the reader being from Earth! Do you think you could do one with the same idea of the reader being from Earth and is dating Kylo? She gets him to react to the top 10 dumbest tweets because they’re just so funny and it makes it even funnier when you know that there is a lot of people out there that are really that stupid. (Mostamazingtop10 is the channel on YouTube)”

Warnings: Dumb tweet mentions and reference to their content.

Word Count: 1,751 )

Being Supreme Leader of The First Order had its advantages. One such advantage being that he made his own schedule. A second such advantage was that Kylo Ren had no one who would ridicule him nor tell him to spend less time with his partner.

For you, living in amongst The First Order was definitely something you never saw coming. Honestly as someone from Earth you only expected so much in terms of being involved with events other than those of your homeworld. Space travel was one thing you were still trying to mentally grasp even after a year of knowing and dating the Kylo Ren.

Despite a schedule that could be changed on a whim, you found yourself having quiet time with your boyfriend. No creepy helmet, no barking general, and no training. It was the perfect alone time.

“Feeling better today?” You asked as you joined Kylo on the dark-colored couch.

“Always better with you.”

You shook your head at his smirk.

Over the past couple of days Kylo had been feeling a tad under the weather not that the medical droids diagnosed him with anything besides fatigue. Thankfully, you were someone he’d listen to, especially when it came to taking care of himself.

You had a way of putting your foot down and speaking logically.

“How about we get our minds off of business for a while and entertain ourselves,” you suggested.

“That sounds very agreeable.”

“YouTube it is!”

“You—what?”

“Videos online,” you reached over for his Datapad.

“Earth thing, right.”

“How….about…oh. Top tens. Umm….how about dumbest tweets?”

Kylo ran a hand over his face.

“Out of everything we could be doing with now you want to watch a holovid about idiots?” Kylo looked at you strangely if then with an amount of judgement.

“Well first I have to remember how to find all of the,” you tapped away at the Datapad, “Earth based sites. They run differently…”

Kylo draped an arm behind you on the couch.

“There we go.”

Once finding the right links the rest of your search was easy.

“Over fifty videos?”

“We’re not going to watch them all. Chill.” You patted his leg in reassurance. “I mean, it’s funny to a point until you realize it’s real. They’re people who just…don’t get it or something. It’s really sad if you just think about it. Disappointing and slightly-worried sad because how have they gotten this far?”

You pressed for the very first video to play.

Kylo sat quietly, seemingly giving the video a chance.

How long would that last exactly? If it did.

The video started as a countdown from ten. Added that it really did start off pretty foolish. In a pay-attention-to-what-the-sentence-actually-was sort of way.

Obviously the first person did know what the phrase ‘I’d rather kill myself’ actually meant.

You could feel Kylo’s eyes as they peered over at you.

“They don’t realize what they’re saying…usually that’s an excuse.”

“Or they have no idea at all,” Kylo said.

The following tweet included the idea of the Earth having a birthday. Or rather someone thinking that the planet was only 2,014 years old.

“I forgot that Earth still has their own—.”

“Shh!”

His only comment and response afterwards being an exaggerated exhale through his nose.

“Earthlings are stubborn to keep things how they like them.”

“Is that why there’s a group that prohibits the idea of space travel even while a cargo ship supplies them with food?”

You shrugged.

Number eight of dumbest tweets came in the form of not knowing the answer meanwhile the answer was in their question. Also known as: when someone doesn’t realize that the name most people refer to a president by is their last name.

“Wow,” your shoulders shook with laughter. “How’s American History class going for you?”

“This is old.”

“I know. Shh.”

He flicked your shoulder.

You bopped his knee.

You were messing with your boyfriend, but also messing with how it wasn’t entirely the person’s fault for not knowing the last name of a president. Names were almost used as nicknames in some cases.

“Couldn’t they have searched it on the Holonet? Were they that lazy?”

“Shh.”

Tweet number seven on the list had a lead up that was already having Kylo cringing.

A tweet that included someone believing something online without thinking about the real life, common sense, science. Against what the person tweeting had read, a microwave that heats up food or drinks was not ever going to charge the battery of a phone.

“No. No, no….they—they did,” he groaned.

“Good lesson though.” You suggested. You couldn’t even imagine what information they lost on their SD card let alone the condition of the microwave.

“And if it wasn’t? What if after all of that, they still believe it?”

You shrugged as it started the next tweet soon after explaining the why it obviously didn’t work.

A tweeted question appeared about whether the amount of months a woman was pregnant doubled or not if she had twins. That was definitely different. Not to mention odd.

“Only child?”

“Probably,” you said.

“Did poorly in health lessons?”

“More likely.”

“That would be an extremely long time. They should have thought about their question longer. Would have taken them eighteen months.” He chuckled.

“Have you thought about it?”

He didn’t say a word.

Number five on the countdown had a person who had no idea that apples also had a variety of green.

“Does she live on a desert planet?”

You elbowed him lightly.

“It’s food. A common one, right?”

You nodded.

When the host mentioned about the colors of bananas and oranges to tell the person who tweeted, you both started snickering.

“Wanna send Hux some oranges?”

“Too expensive. Earth is too close to wild space.”

“Could you do it for my birthday?”

Your snickering continued a little longer as the next tweet involved someone who, though excited, did not know whether they’d be an aunt or an uncle.

“I’m guessing their parents are both the only child.”

“Yeah,” Kylo leaned closer to you. “This one isn’t so bad. The heating up a phone was pretty ridiculous. It went against knowledge of two machines.”

“True, but here they somehow managed to think that the baby’s gender, no matter how that works out, determines whether they are an aunt or uncle. I have a lot of questions about this. Did someone tell them something? Did they mishear or—?”

“It’s the next one. Last three.”

You could actually hear the amusement in his voice. That was a happy change. Also an almost rare one.

Well the third in the list was definitely something. It was a mixture of ignorance, poor grammar, and a bit of rudeness. Long story short, they believed that the Earth was flat. They firmly believed it.

Pausing the video, Kylo waited for you to face him before he made a ‘you serious?’ expression.

“It’s not my fault that even with space travel people on Earth thought or still think that the planet’s flat.”

“How do they not believe what’s…what they are living on?”

“I don’t know. I guess they don’t look out onto the curved horizon or a lunar eclipse.”

He threw his head back and slumped in his seat.

Again you patted his thigh, but this time in an effort to comfort him from others’….lack of knowledge.

“Oh, no,” you watched tweet number two as the video panned down on a tweet that included pictures. “It’s literally the same name and face. Read the credits, sweetie.”

“What’s a bel air?”

Whipping your head in his direction, you had a realization.

“You’ve never watched it.”

“Is…is it a show?”

“Yes. That’s next on your learning-from-Earth to-do list. I was wondering why you weren’t giving much of a reaction.”

“It’s still stupid.”

“Language.”

The number one dumbest tweet appeared on screen. The finale of the video. Yet it only took the image of someone’s debit card to raise a response from Kylo.

Loud groaning from your boyfriend drowned out the audio from the video.

“She literally was giving away all of the information they should have told her to keep to herself. What did she think was going to happen? Is no one telling her? No sense. She deserved that one.”

“Maybe somewhere and somehow she figured it out.” You said.

“Doubt it.”

“Give the earthlings a chance.”

“There’s only one earthling worth chances.”

You smiled to yourself despite everything.

Once you thought that the tweet’s story was at a close, it wasn’t. You both heard the continuation of the tweet.

“She did the same thing again? Seriously? Did she not learn anything from people using her card? Is it going to take her ten times to figure it out?”

“Chill, babe. Chill. You don’t have to deal with it.”

By then the video was wrapping up nicely and advertising more videos.

“There. It’s over.”

“I can only take so much stupidity.”

“You’ll be okay,” you leaned down to kiss his forehead. “And be nice.”

“And just so we’re clear, I think it’s safer for you never to return to your home planet for the sake of your intelligence.”

“It’s not all that bad. There are a lot of intelligent people from Earth.”

He rose a dark eyebrow at you.

“Don’t give me that attitude, mister.” You poked his nose.

An unseen action pulled the Datapad from your grasp.

It did not surprise you nor did it baffle you. Your boyfriend was a Force user. Common knowledge.

Kylo set the Datapad aside as he refocused on you.

“You took those tweets very well.”

He eyed you suspiciously.

“Want the truth?”

He nodded.

“I’ve heard worse while still on Earth.”

“My earlier statement is now an order. You’re not traveling back. I will give you more duties here. Have you deal with Hux.”

“Please, no.”

There was his familiar chuckle, only seen and heard by you, as he proved that he was slightly teasing. He respected and valued you; he wasn’t about to ruin your day by forcing you to spend time with Hux or not pick where you could go.

“So…,” you leaned closer to play with his dark hair. “Wanna watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air?”

“I think I’ve watched enough holovids today.”

Your boyfriend, the Supreme Leader, had other ideas in mind to spend his time with you in company.

~~~

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful. coffee

Best wishes and happy reading.)

[bastardnev]

Broken (But Not Beyond Repair)

yknow i spent a whole lot of time referring to this as “the valentine’s fic” but meanwhile valentine’s day is mentioned like Once during this whole story. Nevertheless !

tagging: @sailor-slam-dunk @residentjoth @riveliciousx @lambchopviking @storyranger @nerdbrose (lemme kno if u wanna be added to my tag list !!)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment, Professional Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Mustafa Ali/Pac | Adrian Neville Characters: Mustafa Ali, Pac | Adrian Neville Additional Tags: Valentine's Day, sorta but not really, its more mentioned than anything else tbh, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, i guess, Making Up, au where nev still lives in orlando and also has a big fucking dog, mustafa worries a lot, Implied Sexual Content Series: Part 2 of Jess Has Too Many Fics In Her Notes Summary: By all means, Mustafa shouldn't have even been thinking about Neville anymore. It had been over two years since he left WWE, and they were both at completely different points in their careers. It was pointless to dwell on the past or give any real thought to what could have been — all that mattered anymore was what the future held, and it looked like their respective paths were headed in opposite directions.

And yet, despite all of this, there Mustafa was. Seated in his rental car, in the parking lot of some cheap motel he had planned to spend the night at. Neville's number dialed on his phone.

(link to ao3)

By all means, Mustafa shouldn't have even been thinking about Neville anymore. It had been over two years since he left WWE, and they were both at completely different points in their careers. It was pointless to dwell on the past or give any real thought to what could have been — all that mattered anymore was what the future held, and it looked like their respective paths were headed in opposite directions.

And yet, despite all of this, there Mustafa was. Seated in his rental car, in the parking lot of some cheap motel he had planned to spend the night at. Neville's number dialed on his phone.

Mustafa stared down at the screen, squinting against the bright light. The rain rhythmically tapping against the roof of the car left him in almost a trance-like state as he debated whether or not to hit the "call" button. This wasn't the first time he found himself in this position — he was tempted to get in touch with Neville just about every time he and the rest of the WWE crew passed through Orlando during live event tours. He would usually only get as far as his contacts list, however, and he was never actually able to bring himself to make that move. Once he learned that the latest show would see him in the area again, he assumed that things would play out as they normally did, with him backing out at the last second and pretending like he had zero interest in seeing Neville.

But that didn't happen. This time, the urge to get in contact was so strong , far more than it ever had been. To the point where Mustafa was in the car and fully prepared to drive right over to Neville’s house. He had no idea what exactly it was, but he had arrived in town with an almost overwhelming feeling to just bite the bullet and do it. A sense that he needed to stop putting off something that was killing him not to do. He wasn't even sure where it came from, but it was certainly there — a feeling that he needed to reach out, to call, to talk to Neville again after so long of little to no contact.

To possibly rekindle a relationship that had meant so much to him.

To put it bluntly, Mustafa and Neville's relationship was, at its core, supposed to be just sex. Nothing more than that. "No strings attached", they always insisted. Once a week ( maybe twice, if they were feeling up to it), they would meet up in a hotel room to fool around, to blow off steam after a show. After Raw, after 205 — they weren't picky. Whenever they were both in the same place and could meet up, they spent the night together. It was nothing more than that, at least at first.

But then, it... changed. It had been gradual — Mustafa hadn't even noticed it right away — but the times they shared started to become something else. Before all they had done was meet up, do what they had to do, and then go their separate ways before anyone knew what they were doing. They did their best to make sure that no one even had a suspicion that there was anything going on between the two of them, hence why Mustafa would always go back to his hotel room after they finished. Whoever he was rooming with normally didn't ask too many questions so long as he was back from his "late night walk" ( horrible excuse, but it worked) at a reasonable time.

Then Mustafa started to actually stay the night with Neville. The first time he had simply been too tired and lazy to leave. The second time had followed a very similar format, only Neville didn't put up as much of a fight. Every time it happened thereafter, Neville cared less and less, and before either of them knew it it had become an established part of their routine, their desire not to clue anyone in on their secret be damned.

And then came the invites to each other's houses. It had started as a way to save money whenever tapings were in Chicago or Orlando, but before long they had becomed planned affairs, with one spending anywhere from a day to a whole weekend at the other's home. They acted like this was so they could hook up easier (and more frequently), but the fact was that those nights were... fun . More fun than they thought they would be. It wasn't just sex anymore — they were cooking together, and buying way too many snacks together, and eating those same snacks as they binged the dumbest fucking movies together. (Stupid Movie Fridays, they'd taken to calling them, though they weren't opposed to other days of the week being devoted to corny films.)

They were... getting closer. Close enough that Mustafa wasn't sure if they should be labeled as acquaintances, or as friends, or as... something even more than that.

Whatever the hell they were, it all came to a screeching halt in October of 2017, when Neville left the company and didn’t look back.

Mustafa still texted him after everything happened, but it was clear that things weren't how they used to be. Neville was distracted, so caught up in the drama of requesting his release that he didn't seem to have time to talk with him anymore. It wasn't like Mustafa didn't understand — though he'd never been through the process himself, he could only imagine how stressful it must be, especially given the specifics of Neville's situation. Not to mention that his own career picked up notably only a few short months later, and he hadn't done much better on the consistent communication front. This was far from being a one-sided issue.

What had gotten to Mustafa the most, though, was how abrupt it all was. How one moment the two of them were talking, and laughing, and genuinely enjoying one another's company more than they ever thought they would, only for all of it to suddenly stop. How they used to text each other the most ridiculous and pointless shit, only for their messaging to slowly taper off until it ceased altogether.

As of that moment, in February of 2020, contact between them was nonexistent. Like they were total strangers.

Mustafa wanted so badly to change that.

His thumb was hovering precariously over the "call" button. It was such a simple thing to do, but he was still having so much trouble with it. If he did that, then Neville would pick up, and then two of them would be talking again for the first time in years. He would get what he wanted. It was so easy, so doable .

Even so, he was hesitant. There was no guarantee that Neville would pick up to begin with. It was possible that he would see who was calling him and immediately reject the call, or let it ring and ring until Mustafa eventually gave up and left him alone. Worse yet, he might have deleted Mustafa's number, and he would hit him with a dreaded "Who is this?" the moment he answered. Each of those situations sent a chill down his spine, and it made him want to turn off his phone and forget about this plan like he always did.

But Mustafa couldn't let those worst-case scenarios get to him. Not anymore. He needed to do it, and he needed to do it right then and there. Otherwise, it would likely never happen.

With that, he made the call.

Bringing the phone up to his ear, Mustafa chewed on his lower lip. He listened to the rings, first one, then two. His heart was pounding in his chest by the time the fifth ring rolled around. A little voice was yelling at him from the back of his mind, telling him that he'd made a huge mistake and should just hang up the phone already. It was clear that Neville didn't want to talk to him — if he did, he would've picked up. It was only a matter of time before he got sent to voicemail and was forced to either hang up or leave some embarrassing message for Neville to delete—

"Ali?"

"Oh—" Mustafa's whole body tensed at the sound of Neville's voice coming from the receiver. He'd actually picked up — shit, shit, shit . He scrambled for something to say, anything . "...Hiya."

Real smooth, dumbass . "Hello..." Neville responded tentatively. God , it had been way too long since Mustafa last heard him. He probably would have enjoyed the moment more if he didn't just make a complete fool out of himself.

"What, ah...” Just say something! “What're you up to?"

"I'm... at home." Neville still sounded wary. Mustafa couldn’t exactly blame him.

"You had a match this week, right?" Mustafa remembered seeing tweets about it on his timeline. Reading that Neville had won had put him in quite the good mood for the rest of the night.

"I did."

"Good for you." Mustafa nodded. “Makin’ moves.”

Then, the line fell silent, and Mustafa had no choice but to come to terms with the fact that he did not plan this well — or at all, really. All those nights of internal arguments and wondering about how a potential phone call between him and Neville would play out ultimately failed him. He had no idea what to say next, or how to get to the point without making himself look like an even bigger idiot.

Fortunately for him, Neville was the one who eventually broke the silence. "Ali, what's going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I— Are you kidding? You just called me out of absolutely nowhere. Why?"

“...Oh, that.” What else would he be talking about?!

“Yeah, that .” The tone left Neville’s voice and, quieter, he added, “Is everything alright?"

Mustafa swallowed. There, that was his opening. "Everything's fine, it's just..." He paused. "I... WWE's in Orlando this weekend.”

Neville was silent for a beat. "...Is that so?"

"Mhm. I just got to my motel a little while ago. Haven't even gotten out of the car yet, though, because of this rain." Taking a deep breath through his nose, he said, "I... was thinking about you. Wanted to know how things were."

“I see...” The line went quiet again, the only sound being that of Neville’s breathing and the rain, which seemed to have only gotten worse in the time they were talking. Mustafa was dreading eventually having to get out of the car.

“I-I know it’s sudden,” Mustafa explained, an attempt to save himself from this awkward situation. “And that you probably didn’t expect to hear from me.”

“I definitely didn’t.”

“Yeah... But I just wanted to check up on you. Make sure things were good.”

“They’re... They’re fine, thank you.” After a beat, “And you?”

“Same here.” Mustafa looked out the raindrop-speckled window. “I’m tired as hell, but... Still, it’s all good.”

This conversation needed to end. It was going nowhere, and Mustafa knew this. Hearing from Neville again was great, but all he was doing was embarrassing himself. Clearing his throat, he said, “Well... I guess I should be going. Still gotta get my room.”

“You haven’t even got one yet?” Neville asked. “What do you plan on doing if there isn’t one available?”

“I’ve slept in enough cars during my career to be okay with it. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t remember ever saying I was worried.”

Mustafa snorted. “You haven’t changed a bit, you know that?”

“At least I’m consistent.”

“That, you are...” Mustafa licked his lips. “I’ll... talk to you later, maybe, okay?”

“Alright...”

Mustafa sighed softly. Here’s to hoping I’ll actually have the balls to call him again after this. He thought to himself as he brought the phone away from his ear. Considering how long it had taken him to initiate this five minute chat, it would probably take him an eternity to do it all a second time.

He was just about to hang up when he heard Neville say, “Wait!”

The phone was back to Mustafa’s ear in a flash. “Yes?”

Neville seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he asked, "If it’s not too far from your motel, do you... want to come over for a bit? Just until this storm lets up."

Mustafa’s eyes widened. “U-Uh...” He stammered, very much caught off guard. He had wanted to go to Neville’s house earlier, but he didn’t expect him to straight up invite him , completely unprovoked.

“If it’s too much trouble, then don’t worry about it,” Neville backtracked. “I know the weather is messy—“

“No it’s not,” Mustafa cut him off. “I mean, yes, it is, but I can still drive in it."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't. You know I'm a good driver."

"I know you're a slow driver."

"Close enough. I’ll... I’ll be over in a little bit.”

He heard Neville breathe out (in relief?) “Alright. You, uh, still know the way?”

“Yeah, I do.” Mustafa could never forget.

~

The one benefit to the rain being so heavy was that the roads were mostly clear. The few cars that were out at that hour were driven by people getting home late from work and lovesick idiots like Mustafa. He had to be careful, of course, since an accident was the absolute last thing he wanted at that moment (and always, really), but he maintained a decent speed as he went down familiar streets and made familiar turns, ones that he hadn't made in ages. All so that he could see Neville in-person again.

What would the two of them even do ? That question was bouncing around inside of Mustafa’s head the whole time he was driving. He... highly doubted that they would hook up, given the amount of time they had been apart. It was unlikely that they would so easily fall back into their old pattern. Chances were they would spend more time catching up (or sitting in uncomfortable silence) than anything else. He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that — happy? Disappointed? An odd combination of both?

No matter how he might have felt, it was definitely happening. And before Mustafa knew it, he was pulling up to the front of Neville’s home, parking in what had been his usual spot only two years ago.

Mustafa shut the car off. Staring up at the house, he realized that it was no different than it had been the last time he visited. Very... ordinary. There weren’t any decorations up, despite Valentine's Day being just around the corner. He wasn’t quite sure what he expected, really — Neville had never been all that into decorating. Thought it was all a scam and a waste of time, even though it made his home stick out like a sore thumb during the holidays. Just as he’d said on the phone during their chat, he was as consistent as ever. The familiarity was... comforting.

Bracing himself for the weather, Mustafa stepped out into the rain, taking a moment to lock the car before hustling up to the front porch. His heart was thumping as he climbed up the steps. Come on, you can do this, don’t chicken out now. All the worst-case scenarios were starting to creep their way back into his mind, telling him that this visit was pointless. That they were far too different now, and getting together again even for a little while would only make things worse somehow. Mustafa stared intently down the doorbell, as if it were challenging him with its faint glow, and he pressed it before he could talk himself out of it. Screw that pessimism — he was already there. If talking to each other was bad, then running away when he was expected was even worse.

And, truthfully, leaving unnoticed at that point was impossible. The door was opened only a moment after he'd rung the bell, like Neville had been standing there waiting for him on the other side, and just like that Mustafa was once again faced with the man who he’d spent countless nights with only a few years ago. A soft, shy smile spread across Mustafa’s face. “...Hey, Nev.”

“Hi...” Neville’s expression mirrored his — his smile was still stunning. “It’s... certainly been awhile, hasn't it?”

“Sure has.” Mustafa’s hands were shoved deep in his pockets. Too long. Mustafa wasn't sure if he should say this last thought aloud or not.

“Well, don’t just stand there — it’s pouring.” Neville stepped aside. The rumble of thunder off in the distance did an equally good job of reminding Mustafa of the bad weather, and he nodded, making sure to wipe his feet as best as he could on the mat before he walked inside. "Just put your shoes with the rest of mine."

"Got it." Some of Neville's shoes were lined up against the opposite wall, surprisingly neat. This alone made it clear that Neville had managed to do (or, scrambled to do) some last minute cleaning before he showed up. They were usually a mess, one that Mustafa teased him about almost every visit. He couldn't say anything this time, however, and instead he went about slipping his own pair off.

Then, a large black shape came charging at him from the end of the hallway.

“Winston!!” Mustafa grinned, and he crouched down, scratching the bullmastiff on his head once he stopped in front of him. The dog responded by licking his face, and Mustafa laughed. “I missed you!”

“Looks like he missed you, too,” Neville mused from behind him, and Mustafa heard him close the door.

“It’s been way too long, boy-o!” Another rub to the head. Winston's tail was like a propeller, wagging rapidly. A paw came to rest on Mustafa's arm, and he faltered a little. "Hey, don't knock me over now."

"I don't mean to interrupt this tender reunion, but can I get you something to drink? Water, maybe?"

Mustafa looked up to Neville, Winston licking his hands now in an attempt to regain his attention. "That'd be good, thanks."

Neville gave him a nod and made his way towards the kitchen. Winston turned and followed him right away, which caused Mustafa's eyebrows to raise. "Wait, where're you goin'? I thought you wanted me to pet you!"

"He sees me going to the kitchen, he follows," Neville yelled back. "Seems to think me being in here automatically means he'll get a treat."

"Doesn't it?"

A pause. "...Well, yeah, but..." Neville trailed off, and Mustafa couldn't help but chuckle and roll his eyes. Who could've guessed the "Bastard" would be such a pushover?

Now alone in the hallway, Mustafa took a quick look around, noting some of the pictures on the wall. He wanted to say it was an evenly distributed assortment of photos, shots of family and the dog alike, but it was clear that there were just a few more of Winston than anything else. Neville's love for him seemed to have grown tenfold in the time he and Mustafa had been apart. Mustafa couldn't help but wish that he had a pet of his own. Winston had filled that role for awhile, but... well, it was hard for him to actually bond with an animal when he wasn't even speaking to its owner.

Mustafa decided to head into the living room then, and he sat down on the couch, shifting in the plush seat as he waited for Neville (and Winston, hopefully) to come back. The rain was still pattering away against the window, and Mustafa silently hoped that it would let up before the end of the night. Having to go back out into such a downpour and drive all the way to his motel — the same one he still didn't have a room at, now that he thought about it — would not be fun. The more he put it off, the more likely it seemed he would be spending that damp night in the backseat of his rental...

Mustafa shook his head and tried to get rid of the thought. He would worry about that later, after he did... whatever it was that he planned on doing with Neville. He still hadn't figured that out.

Sitting there and looking around the room, it was all so... familiar to Mustafa, just as so many other things were. Everything that had happened since he arrived at the house had been apart of his and Neville's routine — the old one, from before everything changed. It was all the same, from Winston greeting him at the front door to the drink offer. There was even some Netflix movie paused on the TV. Mustafa admittedly didn't recognize the name of it, but if he knew Neville half as well as he thought he did, it had to be tacky. Stupid Movie Night lived on, even though they hadn't actually gotten together to have one in years.

Mustafa missed this. All of this.

"Here you are," Neville at last returned to the room, handing Mustafa his glass.

"Thanks." Mustafa took it from him. Winston strolled in behind Neville, and Mustafa watched as he followed him closely, sniffing his lap after he sat down at the opposite end of the couch.

"I have nothing more for you, why are you looking at me like that?" Neville gave the dog a scratch behind the ear. "You've already gotten loads of treats tonight, take it easy."

"I see he's just as much of a mooch as he was before."

" Oh yeah. Actually, he might have gotten worse, if that's possible." Winston jumped up on the couch and settled himself as best as he could between Mustafa and Neville, the latter going right back to patting him on the head. "He's my boy, though. Wouldn't trade him for the world."

And then, without warning, it was quiet again.

The room that had just a moment ago been filled with their voices was now filled only with the sound of the rain. Mustafa licked his lips, and he stared at Neville, whose gaze was trained on Winston. When he looked to Mustafa, their eyes met, and Mustafa gave him an awkward smile (which was probably more like a grimace) before turning his attention to the paused movie on the screen. His nerves were beginning to make a comeback, just in time for he and Neville to have the first face-to-face conversation they'd had in a long time. He cursed his luck and, once again, his past self for not properly thinking through his plan for getting back in touch with Neville — he'd gotten as far as "call him and hope for the best" and left it at that.

Neville was the one that invited him over. He wouldn't have done that if there wasn't even a tiny part of him that wanted to see him, to talk to him. Even so, Mustafa was still hesitant, worried that he might slip up and say something that would do the opposite of saving their relationship. But he needed to take a chance. He'd told himself when he was standing on the porch that it was far too late to back out, and it was especially too late now that he was sitting on Neville's damn couch. Taking a slow sip of his water, Mustafa cleared his throat, and he made the first move. "Uh... So, things have been good with you?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth did Mustafa realize he'd asked him almost the exact same question on the phone earlier. However, Neville didn't seem to notice (or maybe he just didn't care). "They have." His hand was on Winston's back now, fingers slowly trailing over his fur. "Busy, but good."

"Weren't you wrestling on that cruise awhile ago?" At Neville's nod, "Damn, that must've been cool."

"It was... something, I'll say that much. Never thought I'd see myself wrestling in the middle of the ocean."

"Isn't there, like, no phone service on cruise ships, though? How did you even survive?"

"All the questions you could ask me about that trip, and you ask me about the wi-fi? I don't live entirely on social media like you do."

"Yeah, yeah..." Mustafa was tempted to take out his phone and begin scrolling through Twiter just to mess with Neville, but he decided against it. That would come later, once he was sure about where their relationship was at. "Either way, I'm really glad you've been able to find so much success."

Neville snorted. "Me too. And how about yourself? What've you been up to?"

"Things are..." Mustafa pursed his lips as he tried to come up with the right words. "They're okay. A little slow, but definitely not bad."

"Is that the polite version of 'I've been almost exclusively in dark matches for the last month'?"

He grinned sheepishly. "So, you know about that..."

"I haven't actually sat down and watched WWE programming in full in ages, but I still try to watch your stuff whenever I can. Once you stopped showing up, I kinda figured you were— ah, how do you put it? 'Stealing the show before the show'?"

"Hey, don't use my words against me like that!"

"Don't use them all the time, then! Seriously, you post the same thing after every dark match. Usually with a shirtless pic attached."

"Ooh, so you know about those , too?" Mustafa waggled his eyebrows. "You like 'em?"

Neville gave no response to this, though the hint of pink on his cheeks told Mustafa everything he needed to know. Cute .

Putting his glass down on the coffee table, Mustafa decided to follow Neville's example, and he also started to stroke Winston's back, the dog himself already sleeping. Mustafa had never known an animal that fell asleep so quickly until he met Winston. He nodded towards the TV. "I see you're watching a movie."

Neville looked to the screen. "Oh, yeah, that's right..." Had he forgotten all about it?

"Is it dumb?"

"Absolutely. You know I never watch anything good by choice."

"I knew it. So, what, is it a horror film?"

"It is, and it is atrocious , even by my standards. Sooner or later I'm gonna come across one that's actually decent, and I'm not gonna know how to handle it."

Mustafa chuckled. "There's no shortage of bad horror films, so I'd say your odds of finding a good one are pretty slim."

"Thankfully. It's, um..." Neville stopped suddenly, and Mustafa's brows furrowed.

"What?"

"It's... nothing, don't worry about it."

A statement sure to make a worrier like Mustafa worry every time he heard it. "Are you sure? You can tell me."

"Eh, you'll just laugh..."

"I will not." Mustafa's tone was gentle, yet firm. "I promise."

Neville blinked at him, then back at the screen. Mustafa couldn't even begin to imagine what it was that he was so hesitant to tell him. Of course, if Neville insisted that he didn't want to talk about it, then Mustafa would back off, but... Still, he didn't want Neville to think that he couldn't trust him not to make fun of him. Not if he wanted them to be back together for good.

Fortunately, Mustafa's prying seemed to be enought convince Neville. A moment later, they locked eyes again, and Neville quietly admitted, "Well... These movies just aren't the same when you're watching them alone. Sometimes I miss having someone to make fun of them with."

Oh. Mustafa's lips parted, his hand coming to a halt on Winston's back. This sudden stoppage caused Neville's hand to bump into his — ever so slightly, their fingers were touching. He expected Neville to flinch back, but he didn't, and his gaze was just as steady as it had been before. Mustafa couldn't bring himself to look away. Was this... an admission that he wanted he two of them to get back together...? Was that the sign that Mustafa had been looking for? He swallowed. "Um... Neville—"

BANG!

A sudden crash of thunder startled all three of them. The lights flickered, and a second later they went out, plunging the room into complete darkness. The loud noise prompted the now-wide awake Winston to leap off of the couch and bolt out into the hallway. "Winston, no!" Mustafa called after him.

"Christ, not again..." Neville griped. "Now is not the time for this..."

"No kidding..." Mother Nature sure had interesting timing.

The flashlight from Neville's phone was then turned on. Neville squinted at the screen. "Damn thing's gonna die if I keep the light on all night..." He muttered. He then stood. "I'll be right back, gotta go grab some candles."

"Can you check on Winston?" Mustafa pleaded to Neville's silhouette, which was already moving out of the room. "Make sure he's okay?"

"He's probably just in the kitchen — that's his hub whenever the power goes out." The little bit of light that had been in the living room faded away as Neville went down the hallway. "Yep, he's here. Hidin' out behind the island."

Mustafa breathed a sigh of relief. Winston was still scared, but at least he wasn't hurt. That was what mattered. "Good. You think he'll come back in with us?"

"Probably not." Neville's voice was fainter now — he must have gone into another room, possibly his bedroom. Mustafa was disappointed to hear this, but he had to have faith that Neville was wrong. He was sure Winston would rejoin them at some point before Mustafa needed to leave (he couldn't leave without properly saying goodbye, after all).

It was only when Neville re-entered the room holding two scented candles and a box of matches that Mustafa remembered the significance of those items.

The candles. How could he have forgotten about the damn candles ? He watched as Neville placed them down on the coffee table and went about lighting them, his brows furrowed as he moved the match from one wick to the next. That look of (almost unnecessary) concentration was such a familiar sight to Mustafa, one that he'd grown to like quite a bit during their time together, but also one that he had not seen for far too long. Now that he was looking at it again, he was transported to a different time, back when he'd first been invited to Neville's house. It very likely wasn't the same candles, but some of very similar scents and colors had been lit when he'd arrived. He teased Neville at first — he never thought he was a Mood Lighting kind of guy — but it turned out that he was just into candles. There was at least one in most of the rooms in the house. They had been a trademark of sorts for Neville.

Mustafa had lost sight of that fact after their separation. And now, on this gloomy, rainy night, he was once again being reminded of something that he'd missed terribly.

"There..." Neville's voice interrupted Mustafa's reminiscing, and he sat back down on the couch — notably closer than he had before, Mustafa realized. "That should be good enough."

Mustafa stared at the small, dancing flames. "Y...Yeah, it's fine," he replied.

"Something bothering you?" Shit. Mustafa had made his mood just a little too obvious.

"No, not really," he fibbed.

"Are you sure?" Then, "Am I... Am I sitting to close to you, or...?"

"No!" Mustafa quickly assured. "No, that's not it. It's..." He considered lying again, but after pushing Neville into talking a few moments ago he felt he had no right to keep any secrets from him — not to mention that Neville might get the wrong idea again. It was best to tell the truth. "These candles remind me a lot of the times we used to hang out. You had them lit all the time."

Neville followed his gaze, also becoming entranced by the fire. "Ah... Yes, that's right. The cinnamon one was your favorite, wasn't it?"

"It was."

"I wish I still had one, but it burnt out a long time ago. I didn't think to buy another one, to be honest."

Because Neville associated that scent with him. That had to be the reason. Neville had no reason to get a candle of someone's favorite scent if that "someone" wasn't even around to appreciate it. "I..."

"Hmm?"

"I..." Mustafa swallowed. "I miss you. A lot."

Neville didn't say anything to that. Mustafa continued, "I miss seeing you backstage, and talking to you regularly, and watching you wrestle, and just... being with you. Those nights we spent together were so fun , and I looked forward to them. I loved watching dumbass movies with you, and eating way too many sweets, and... everything else. But all of it— it just stopped . Out of nowhere. And I really, really wish that it didn't.

"I... I know you and I are both busy these days in our own ways. And I know that maintaining a relationship with our packed schedules is gonna be tough. But... I'm willing to give it a try, if you are. You obviously don't have to do anything you don't want to do, and I'm more than okay with you deciding that this isn't something that you're interested in, but I wanted to at the very least let you know how I feel."

Satisfied with his rambling, Mustafa took a deep breath, leaning back into the couch. He folded his hands in his lap and waited anxiously for Neville to reply — if he ever did. He was still staring at the candles, his expression unreadable. Maybe Mustafa's sudden confession was a lot to take in at once. Especially since it came out of seemingly nowhere, and was prompted by candles of all things. Is he... okay?

But then, faintly, Neville at last said something. "...I'm the one that fucked everything up."

"What...?"

"I'm the one that stopped texting you. I should've done more to keep in touch with you."

"But it's not like I ever tried to start a conversation," Mustafa argued. "I stopped, too. I'm just as responsible for what happened. You can't only blame yourself."

"I know, but..." Neville chewed his lower lip. "But I care about you. I never stopped caring about you, not even when I was sorting out my contract. And I should've done a better job at showing it. Instead, I just..." He shrugged. "I just let our relationship die."

Mustafa debated it for a moment, but ultimately he decided to take a chance, and he reached over and took hold of Neville's hand. For the second time that evening, Neville did not shy away from the contact. "It doesn't have to stay dead if you don't want it to. We can... try again."

"I want to," Neville admitted. "But like you said, it's not going to be easy. We're always traveling, and we're on completely different work schedules, and..."

"We can make it work," Mustafa cut him off. "It'll take some getting used to, but I think we can do it."

"But what if everything happens all over again? What if... What if something comes up and we just stop talking again?"

"Do you want that to happen?"

"No, absolutely not."

"Then let's try our hardest not to let it happen. We don't have to text every single day or anything, but if we both try to send each other something every now and again, things could work out just fine."

Neville swallowed. "...You're really serious about this?"

"I am," Mustafa said, clearly. "I wasn't lying before when I said that I missed you, and everything that came along with you. I wanna give us one more chance, see where things go. And if you want to, then... I say we go for it. What do we got to lose?"

Neville, whose eyes had been glued to the flames, turned his head to meet Mustafa's gaze. The soft, orange glow from the candles illuminated his face. The light gave him a haunting, mesmerizing appearance. One that Mustafa couldn't look away from even if he'd wanted to.

He looked... amazing.

Mustafa couldn't help himself from slowly leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips.

It was soft at first. Mustafa wanted to provide Neville with ample time to pull away. It wasn't until he felt Neville gently reciprocating the kiss that he deepened it, a hand moving up to cup Neville's cheek. Mustafa's lips parted, and Neville's tongue slid into his mouth. The intimacy was almost dizzying. This was what he'd been waiting for. After all that debating about whether or not to make that phone call, this was what he'd wanted. What he'd missed so badly.

It had been over two years since their last kiss. Somehow, this one was the best of all.

If only Winston hadn't decided that that was when he'd choose to return to the living room.

All the two of them heard was another rumble of thunder and the sound of nails frantically clicking on the floor before the dog leapt onto the couch, where Neville had been sitting earlier. "Oh my God—" Neville gasped, putting a hand on his chest. "What the hell, Winston?!"

Surprised as he was, Mustafa couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, he came back! That's good, right?"

"Would've been good any other time..." Neville moped, but Mustafa putting an arm around his shoulders prompted him to smile, and a moment later he moved in for a second kiss. Just as good as the first one.

"...Hey," Neville breathed out against his lips. Between kisses, he continued, "Did you... ever end up getting a motel room...?"

Mustafa froze, eyes wide. In the excitement of being back together with Neville, he'd forgotten about the other date he'd be having that evening — the one with the backseat of his rental. "Uh..." He grinned sheepishly. "No, I did not."

Neville smirked. Mustafa's heart rate ticked up just a bit. "Would you like to stay with me tonight? We still have some... catching up to do, you know."

Mustafa's expression mirrored his. Suddenly, his sleeping in the backseat seemed a hell of a lot less likely. "You're right..."

"Is that a 'yes', then?"

"It is. But , I left my bags in the trunk. With my pajamas in them."

This statement caused Neville to chuckle, and he kissed Mustafa again, tugging on his lower lip with his teeth when he pulled back. "Hmm, Mustafa..."

"What?"

"I wasn't anticipating either one of us sleeping with clothes on tonight..."

[thicctransboi]

Newspaper (Sam and Grizz)

Prompt by @bystudying @alliesrules

Monday, 3pm, One week before the Homecoming Game

Grizz was stood in front of his locker, gathering his books and supplies and loading them into his backpack. He made sure to grab his copy of "The Count of Monte Cristo" before heading to BookClub. His locker was sat directly across from the school newspaper's workroom, which is why he found himself every Monday lingering by his locker for 15 minutes before BookClub started. Not because he had a fascination with newspaper, but because of a particular student that was part of the school newspaper: Sam Eliot was a junior, about 5'8, and had auburn ginger hair. His eyes were so blue, they almost appeared translucent, and freckles scattered amongst his chiseled features. Sam was popular, but not in a prep sort of way. Sam was popular and well known for two reasons; He was deaf, and he also just so happened to be gay. West Ham's sole out and proud homosexual, who was part of the school newspaper, a ginger, and deaf. Basically, he was a target for attention. Negative attention.

But not from Grizz; Grizz had been pinning after the younger boy ever since his 7th grade year when he first laid eyes on him. He found the young man fascinating, not just because of his disability, which he had proved didn't enable him in any way, but because of his vibe. Sam Eliot had this magnetic pull to him, something about the ginger kid pulled Grizz in and made him want to learn more about him. But, he couldn't. If he were to befriend Sam, people would talk. They would assume. And Grizz wasn't sure if he was ready for people to assume the truth about him; he was gay. He worked hard to hide it; star athlete, in both football and hockey, dedicated bookworm and stoner, and had made sure to regularly date girls. None of which he had ever lusted after nor cared for in a romantic way. But oh, how he longed to get to know Sam, to have some excuse to talk to him. He had considered joining the newspaper, but he had chickened out last minute in fear of making an ass of himself in front of his crush.

Becca Gelb, Sam's best and only friend, and Sam had shown up to one Bookclub meeting, but never came to another one. Grizz had been so excited that first meeting, and horribly disappointed when they didn't return.

Checking the time on his phone, Grizz made his way to BookClub.

*

Becca and Sam sat side by side in their newspaper club meeting, Becca interpreting their next assignment to Sam:

The homecoming game was Friday, and the teacher was assigning roles. Sam was in charge of interviews, Becca in charge of photos. It made sense on Becca's part, she also did photos for the yearbook. But, Sam conducting interviews? With asshole, dimwitted, football players? Sam could speak, he often had to. But that didn't mean he wasn't insecure about his speech. He was often made fun of for it. But, Becca reassured him that she would help.

Becca began conducting a list of all of the football players, and assigning both of them players to interview. Becca had the majority, while Sam had Luke, Jason, Clark, and Gareth Visser, aka "Grizz".

"You picked him on purpose!" Sam signed to Becca, pointing at Grizz's name.

They had often resulted to signing and not speaking when talking to each other for privacy.

"Maybe I did, he's one of the few with a brain. Plus, he's totally your type. I want to see you turn red."

Sam waved a hand of dismissal at his friend, "He is not my 'type'. I don't have a 'type'. Even if I did, it wouldn't be him. Besides, why Clark? He's one of the dumbest of the bunch."

Becca laughed, "Yes but he's one of the nicer ones. I gave you the ones who I thought wouldn't give you any trouble. Grizz, definitely won't, especially considering he always checks you out."

Sam's eyes went wide, "What are you talking about?"

Becca rolled her eyes at her friends obliviousness, "He's always staring at you, either from across the hall by his locker right there," she pointed out of the hallway to where Grizz's locker was, "Or in the hallways, at school events. He's totally crushing on you. Which, of all the football players to have the hots for you, he's definitely the best one. Not only Is he hot, but he's actually super smart. He's on in NHS, leader of the book club, and attends every school play and musical. I have AP English with him, he's a total nerd. So, exactly your type."

Sam waved her away, "Whatever, you're delusional. lets come up with some interview questions."

***

Friday Night, Homecoming Game, West Ham's Football stadium.

"WEST HAM WINS! Gareth 'Grizz" Visser scores the winning touchdown!"

The stadium was alive with cheers, screams, and applause of joy and celebration at the sight and announcement of West Ham winning the homecoming game. Students faces painted in red and gold face paint, school flags wrapped around peoples shoulders, confetti flying through the air in flakes of red and gold; it basically looked like school spirit had thrown up all over them. But, Sam and Becca ignored the commotion, easier said for Sam, and they made their way through the crowd, down the bleacher steps, and towards the field to conduct their interviews.

Becca turned her nose up at the sight of the sweat soaked air head jocks all body slamming each other, some pouring gatorades over each other's heads, and Luke and Clark had Grizz on their shoulders; Sam couldn't take his eyes off of him in that moment, his long brown hair sticking up in every direction, some of it sticking to his face from sweat. His fist pumping in the air, and sweat pouring down his face, dripping down his angular jaw, and disappearing into his football jersey... Sam was snapped out of his thoughts by Becca roughly elbowing him.

"Snap out of it, you're drooling." Becca signed, a smirk on her face.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Come on, lets get started."

The interviews seemed to go on forever. They had to interview every player, even the ones who didn't make it onto the field. Most of them Becca took the reins, asking their questions while Sam held the voice recorder on her phone for her. Then snapping a picture of them at the end. Player after player, dumber and dumber, and the two were almost happy to finally get to the star players; Luke, Clarke, Jason, and Grizz. Sam suddenly felt anxious about having to speak, but Becca gave him a reassuring smile as she tugged him towards Clark.

Clark was nice enough, but it was obvious his head was full of rocks. Sam had resulted to writing down his simple answers, while Becca interpreted for him what Clark was saying. He didn't take Becca's note to speak slowly. His adrenaline was pumping too fast to do so.

Jason, who looked like a model out of Baywatch, was just as dumb as Clark it seemed, but he always spoke slowly, probably due to pot, so it helped Sam to understand what he was saying better.

Luke, on the other hand, was always kind. His girlfriend, Helena, at his side. While they both were a bit stuck up, they both still had a kindness to them that gave Sam some comfort. Helena bragged on Luke's behalf, unsurprisingly to Becca or Sam, and Becca snapped a picture of the couple before they departed to celebrate.

"Hey, I have to head out soon, mom wants me home. Will you be okay with me snapping a picture of Grizz first then you doing the interview yourself?" Becca asked Sam.

Sam suddenly felt sick to his stomach with nerves, "But I'll have to speak!" He hadn't had to speak once that night, Becca had done it for him.

She gave him a squeeze on his shoulder, "You'll do fine. I've talked to Grizz before, he's nice. Come on, he's over there."

Sam followed Becca as they approached Grizz; he was sat alone now on a bench, drinking water. His jersey and gear tossed aside, clad in only a pair of tights and a tank top. He was soaked in sweat, and Sam felt his mouth water. But he also couldn't help but wonder, why was he alone?

"Hey Grizz, We're from the newspaper. Well, the yearbook too. Mind if I take a picture and Sam here conducts a short interview?" Becca asks Grizz, signing along with her words for Sam to be able to understand.

Grizz perked up suddenly, glancing at Sam. He looked handsome tonight, Grizz thought. A pair of well fitted blue jeans, that hugged his slender legs perfectly. A red t-shirt, and a brown bomber jacket. His ginger hair slicked back slightly, and his eyes caught the fluorescent bright lights of the stadium beautifully.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah that's fine." Grizz stammered out, standing up to have his photo taken.

Becca crouched slightly to capture one picture, and stepped back to get the next. Grizz giving a large faux smile each time.

Becca checked her camera before placing it back in its case. "Perfect! I've gotta fly, but Sam here will be interviewing you for the paper." she turned to Grizz, "Speak slowly and with diction so he can read your lips, and be nice. You've been warned." She then turned to Sam and signed, "Don't nut too soon." Before departing.

Sam felt himself go red, but shook the feeling away as he approached Grizz, siting next to him on the bench. The football players were a few yards away, but were still yelling and whooping loudly, fans and students surrounded them, creating even more noise. It made Grizz's head hurt.

"Why are you not celebrating with them?" Sam asked, signing with his words.

"What?" Grizz asked, unable to hear him over the noise.

Sam sighed, suddenly feeling embarrassed, "Sorry, I don't speak very well. I asked why you weren't celebrating with the rest of the team." Sam spoke, forcing more air into his words to make them louder. Making sure to annunciate with his lips and tongue.

Grizz suddenly felt embarrassed himself, realizing he had insulted Sam unintentionally. "No, no you speak fine!" Grizz reassured, speaking slowly, "It's just really loud over here. To answer your question, I often get really overwhelmed after games, I don't like to involve myself in crowds if I can avoid it."

Sam took in his words, his heart being warmed by Grizz's comment on his speech. His compliment.

Grizz was a nervous wreck, finally talking to the boy he had been pinning after for years.

"We could go somewhere less loud if that will help you." Sam suggested.

Grizz gave a nervous glance towards his teammates. But they were all caught up in their own world.

"Okay."

[patriotsnet]

What Republicans Are Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-republicans-are-running-for-president/

What Republicans Are Running For President

How Mitt Romney Could Wind Up Running The United States 6 Years After Losing The Presidential Election

If, as expected, Mitt Romney wins his race for a Senate seat from Utah he may become the most powerful man in the United States Senate. As many of us remember, Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, ran for president in 2012 and lost to Barack Obama. It wasn’t one of those totally humiliating losses—the map did not turn blue—but we assumed Mitt Romney would fade into history.

Well, maybe not.

Here’s how. Just a few months ago, conventional wisdom was that while the Democrats had a good chance of taking control of the House of Representatives, the Senate was out of reach. In 2018 there will be at least 35 Senate seats up—of which 26 are held by Democrats. Democrats need a net gain of 2 seats to take control of the Senate. In an ordinary year this would be tough for two reasons. One is that incumbents usually win, and secondly, 10 of those Democratic senators represent states that went for Trump in 2016—so a somewhat popular president might be able to use his clout to win a Senate seat back from the Democrats. But this is no ordinary year as poll after poll and special election after special election indicate a “blue wave” for Democrats.

EKamarckrecent pollspolling aheadpolling close

Us Election 2024: Who Are The Likely Republican Candidates To Run For President Against Joe Biden

Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump and Ted Cruz are among the rumoured candidates to become Donald Trump’s successor

The 2020 presidential race has only just finished, but the Republican candidates for 2024 are already preparing themselves for their shot at the White House.

We take a look at who may be looking to get themselves in to the race.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen O’Dea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

“Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation.” Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, “the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row,” he said.

Thoughts On New Poll: Most Republicans Want Trump To Run For President In 2024

John Fletcher Jrsays:

May 29, 2021 at 11:48 am

There may not be an American Presidential Office to run for when Joe Biden is done. I still believe Joe Biden is a Counterfeit President. One thing is certain, Barack Hussein Obama is happy that Joe Biden now reigns as worst American President. America get yourself ready for HYPERINFLATION, it’s coming.

May 29, 2021 at 3:43 pm

I have hats of Trump that read ” make America Great Again”, Trump 2020?,and “KEEP AMERICA GREAT”,I also have flags of him ” TRUMP ON THE TANK”, “TRUMP 2020, NO MORE BULLSHIT”. and I just got a new one,“TRUMP 2024” and then I have a MASK that reads, “TRUMP 2024 and has 2 AMERICAN FLAGS .So I really hope he runs, otherwise all of this means nothing ! TRUMP 2024 and TRUE FIGHTING REPUBLICANSIN 2022 !! NO RINOS NEEDED ! STAND UP OR SHUT UP !

May 29, 2021 at 5:19 pm

IT is more than if he runs or not. YOU are sending a message that you stand for freedoms and still support that hard work he did while still in office. Trump stands for AMERICA FIRST and that is also part of your message to the leftists.You are sending a great message no matter what he decides….You know as well as I do that he is all about what is best for the AMERICA and All Americans….SO IF he supports someone else to run then we know that person is worthy of what we all need as AMERICANS.Don;t loose hope and wear your attire with pride knowing there are many others still hoping for another win.

Yes we want Donald Trunp be our presidentin 2024.

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

A new report by Politico cites multiple unnamed Republican lawmakers – even those who publicly praise Trump – who say that they REALLY don’t want Donald Trump running for President again in 2024. They would much rather see Trump working “behind the scenes” to help shore up support for the Party as a whole, and they insist that the Party is stronger now than it was five years ago. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript:

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Recently, Politico interviewed several Republican lawmakers, who of course all chose to remain nameless. But Politico says that these were Trump supporting lawmakers, still are Trump supporting lawmakers, by the way. And each one of them said that they do not want Donald Trump to be the Republican party’s nominee in 2024. In fact, they don’t want Trump to run for president ever again. I’ll read a couple quotes from some of these lawmakers here. Here’s what one of them said, he’s one of the best presidents we’ve had in terms of policies. But having said that if it were up to me, I would never have Trump on any ballot ever again, because it’s such a distraction. I would love for him to play a behind the scenes role and not be on the ballot. Another one said, I’d like to see a fresh face. I think we have a lot of them.

Eight Republican 2024 Candidates Speak In Texas Next Week But Not Trump

Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, April 30 – A Republican Party event in Texas next week will hear from eight potential candidates for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, without former President Donald Trump, a source involved in the planning said on Friday.

The May 7 event at a hotel in Austin is being co-hosted by U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to thank donors who helped fund a voter registration drive and get-out-the-vote efforts in the state.

High-profile Republican politicians who are considering whether to seek the party’s nomination in 2024 are expected to speak to the crowd of about 200 donors.

They include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and U.S. senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Rick Scott, the source said.

The event comes as Republicans wrestle with whether to try to move past Trump in the next election cycle or fall in line behind him. Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that he was “100%” considering another run after losing in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump was not invited to Texas, the source said. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was invited but was unable to attend, the source said.

Many Republican insiders doubt Trump will follow through on his musings about running for president in 2024, leaving a void that other party leaders will seek to fill.

Fact Check: Trump Did Not Call Republicans The Dumbest Group Of Voters

5 Min Read

An old quote falsely attributed to Donald Trump has recently resurfaced online. The viral meme alleges Trump told People magazine in 1998 that Republicans are “the dumbest group of voters in the country”. This is false.

While the quote has been debunked several times since it apparently surfaced in 2015, users have recently been resharing it on social media. Examples can be seen here , here , here , here

The meme reads: “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific. – Donald Trump, People Magazine, 1998”

Snopes first wrote about the false quote here in October 2015 . Since then, the quote has been debunked multiple times .

People magazine has confirmed in the past that its archive has no register of this alleged exchange.

“People looked into this exhaustively when it first surfaced back in Oct. . We combed through every Trump story in our archive. We couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote–and no interview at all in 1998.”, a magazine spokesperson told Factcheck.org that year .

In December 1987, People published a profile on Donald Trump titled “Too Darn Rich”. The article quoted him saying he was too busy to run for president .

The Long Race For The 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination Begins

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — In the past week alone, Nikki Haley regaled activists in Iowa, Mike Pence courted donors in California and Donald Trump returned to the rally stage, teasing a third campaign for the White House.

The midterms are more than a year away, and there are 1,225 days until the next presidential election. But Republicans eyeing a White House run are wasting no time in jockeying for a strong position in what could emerge as an extremely crowded field of contenders.

The politicking will only intensify in the coming weeks, particularly in Iowa, home to the nation’s leadoff presidential caucuses and a state where conservative evangelicals play a significant role in steering the direction of the GOP. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is slated to visit on Tuesday, and others, including Pence, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to appear in July.

The flurry of activity is a sign that there is no clear frontrunner to lead the GOP if Trump opts against a 2024 campaign.

“It definitely feels early, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a bad idea based on the situation,” said Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist. “The party has changed, the voters are changing and I think the process has changed. And I think many of the candidates have realized that.”

“We won the election twice,” he said. “And it’s possible we’ll have to win it a third time.”

As for Trump?

Are You Ready For Republican Tim Scott To Run For President In 2024

The Senate’s lone Black Republican member, Tim Scott, is opening eyes and creating conversation about his 2024 political prospects.According to Fox News, Scott has brought in $14.4 million in campaign fundraising, after posting $9.6 million during April-June. The total amount in his campaign coffers has led many to believe that Scott is eying higher office than just the U.S. Senate.Scott has kept his name ringing in the political arena during his tenure in the Senate, especially after delivering a GOP response to President Biden’s primetime address to a joint session of Congress earlier this year. Scott has also led his party in negotiations with congressional Democrats on a major police reform bill.

While Scott has downplayed the hype surrounding his political aspirations, people on the Hill and talking heads on camera are noting that he could possibly be a 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

“Tim Scott is a force,” Jim Merrill, a New Hampshire-based Republican consultant said to Fox News. “His strong numbers reflect how he has inspired activists and business leaders alike, good for both his reelection next year and for a potential presidential campaign in 2024.”

Fear of a Black Landowner

With Scott previously downplaying the notion of running for president and his recent declaration that he won’t run for Senate after 2022, Black America will just have to see if Tim Scott will lean-in to the dollars raised to bankroll a potential campaign for the White House.

Reaction

New Poll: Most Republicans Want Trump To Run For President In 2024

A new Quinnipiac University national poll released this week revealed that two-thirds of Republicans want former President Donald Trump to run for president in 2024.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,316 U.S. adults nationwide from May 18-24. The poll’s margin of error was +/- 2.7 percentage points.

Three key Republican findings of the survey included:

66% of Republicans want to see Trump run in 2024

66% of Republicans do not think Biden’s victory was legitimate

85% of Republicans want candidates that mostly agree with Trump

“The numbers fly in the face of any predictions that Donald Trump’s political future is in decline. By a substantial majority, Republicans: believe the election was stolen from him, want Trump to run again, and , if they can’t vote for Trump, prefer someone who agrees with him,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

Malloy is right. The poll reveals what many American already know — Trump still serves as a top conservative leader.

But is Trump still up for another run? And if he does, can he win?

The first question looks like a yes. Trump recently told radio host Dan Bongino people will be very happy with his answer. However, Trump has also previously said he would not announce whether he is running until after the 2022 midterm elections.

The more important question is can he win? If two-thirds of Republicans already support Trump, how many more will be required, especially in key battleground states, to reach the needed electoral votes?

Native American Voting Rights Are Under Attack In Republican

Paul Blumenthal

After turning out to vote in record numbers in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Native Americans are now one of the biggest targets of Republican-backed voter suppression efforts in states where their votes mattered the most.

Republicans in states with significant Native populations like Arizona, Kansas, Montana and more have enacted new laws that limit voter access in ways that disproportionately impact Native voters. Imposing strict time limits on correcting a mail-in ballot, prohibiting third-party ballot collection, implementing strict voter identification requirements and making it harder to pay for election resources all negatively impact Native Americans in these states, largely due to specific circumstances on reservations where many of them live.

“The laws the state legislatures are passing are lethal to every Native American living in those states,” said OJ Semans, the founder of the Native voting rights group Four Directions and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Such legislation, he said, “is going to knock us back 10 years” after “what we’ve been working through for the last 18 to 20 years to get more and more Native Americans to participate in elections.” 

It wasn’t until 1962 when New Mexico’s laws blocking Native voting fell. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also provided important protections for Native voting rights.

Trumps Role As Republican Party Leader Is Becoming Stronger

This weekend’s CPAC straw poll results showed that Trump’s popularity — along with DeSantis’ — in the Republican Party has grown in the last six months, according to Forbes.

In February, only 55% of attendees of a similar CPAC event in Orlando, Florida, said they wanted Trump to lead the ticket in 2024, Forbes reported.

If Trump stayed in political retirement, or at least stayed off the presidential primary ballot in 2024, DeSantis lead the poll with 43% attending Republicans choosing him in February’s hypothetical presidential primary.

Related

Inside the newsroom: Words matter, including the hateful ‘Murder the media’

When Presidential Primaries Started They Weren’t Decisive

Woodrow Wilson.

The Progressive Era at the beginning of the 20th century saw a backlash against local party machines and their bosses dominating American politics. This backlash was especially pronounced in Western states, where reformers implemented ideas like legislating via ballot initiative at the polls.

Progressive reformers also invented the presidential primary. In 1910, Oregon became the first to use a popular election to pick its delegates for national conventions, with the delegates pledged to support specific candidates.

But these primaries lacked the efficacy and decisiveness of those we have today, in part because most states didn’t have them and in part because the ultimate nomination decision was still made via a multi-ballot process at a national convention.

In 1912, ex-President Theodore Roosevelt decided to challenge his successor William Howard Taft for the GOP nomination. He crushed Taft in the primaries, carrying nine of the 12 states that held primaries, while Robert La Follette won two and Taft just one.

But that still left 36 other states, which mostly sent pro-Taft delegates to the convention, securing him the nomination. And that led Roosevelt to bolt the party and launch an independent bid for the general election.

But while McAdoo didn’t have enough support to win, he did have enough to block the party bosses’ favorite, New York Gov. Al Smith, a Catholic.

Why Donald Trump Is Republicans’ Worst Nightmare In 2024

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Earlier this week, amid a rambling attack on the validity of the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump said this: “Interesting that today a poll came out indicating I’m far in the lead for the Republican Presidential Primary and the General Election in 2024.”

this on Trump’s future political ambitions from Politico“Trump is confiding in allies that he intends to run again in 2024 with one contingency: that he still has a good bill of health, according to two sources close to the former president. That means Trump is going to hang over the Republican Party despite its attempts to rebrand during his exile and its blockade of a Trump-centric investigation into January’s insurrection.”new Quinnipiac University national pollhis growing legal and financial entanglementsAs CNN reported on Wednesday night“Manhattan prosecutors pursuing a criminal case against former President Donald Trump, his company and its executives have told at least one witness to prepare for grand jury testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter — a signal that the lengthy investigation is moving into an advanced stage.”

The Contenders Who Competed To Run Against Donald Trump

Tom MurseTom Murse

Within weeks of Donald Trump taking the oath of office as the nation’s 45th president, challengers began lining up to see who would attempt to unseat him in the 2020 presidential election. The controversial president faced early challenges from within his own party, but by and large, the focus remained on the candidates put forth by the opposing Democratic Party.

During one of the most crowded primary seasons in recent memory, several high-profile Democrats, including multiple sitting senators and rising stars in the party, competed for the party’s nomination. Ultimately, it was former vice president Joe Biden who won the party’s nomination. He selected Senator Kamala Harris, another primary candidate, as his running mate, and the ticket won the 2020 general election with 51.3% of the vote and 306 electoral votes to 46.9% and 232 electoral votes for the incumbent Trump/Pence ticket.

Here’s a look at the Democrats, and even members of Trump’s own Republican Party, who ran campaigns looking to unseat the controversial commander-in-chief.

Democratic Challengers

February 7, 2020

Former Us Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley

Haley, 49, stands out in the potential pool of 2024 Republican candidates by her resume. She has experience as an executive as the former governor of South Carolina and foreign policy experience from her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley was a member of the Republican Party’s 2010 tea party class. A former South Carolina state representative, her long shot gubernatorial campaign saw its fortunes improve after she was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Haley rocketed from fourth to first just days after the endorsement, and she went on to clinch the nomination and become her state’s first female and first Indian-American governor.

As governor, she signed a bill removing the Confederate flag from the state Capitol following the white supremacist attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston. She left office in 2017 to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Quinnipiac poll found she was at one point the most popular member of Trump’s foreign policy team.

“I think that she’s done a pretty masterful job in filling out her resume,” said Robert Oldendick, a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of South Carolina’s department of political science.

Haley criticized Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, saying she was “disgusted” by his conduct. Oldendick said he thought her “pretty pointed criticism of the president will potentially cause some problems.”

Republican Candidates Running For The Us 2020 Election

Bill Weld was married twice and has five children.

Weld ran for vice-president as a Libertarian on the Gary Johnson ticket in the 2016 presidential election.

As a conservative, Weld is strongly pro-choice on abortion issues.

The presidential race is on and the candidates are being whittled down to the very few. Who is running on the Republican side? Current President Donald Trump is going for re-election, and the only candidate now challenging him for election as president of the US this coming November 3rd, 2020 is Bill Weld, a former Massachusetts governor.

The 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate Wild Cards

The first Democratic debate back in 2019 had 20 — TWENTY! — candidates, so don’t be surprised if the Republican field is just as large or larger. We could have some more governors or representatives run, or even other nontraditional candidates, like a Trump family member, a Fox News host or a celebrity, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s said he’s “seriously considering” a run. Stranger things have happened.

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Pennsylvania Republicans have been battling with Gov. Tom Wolf since he unseated incumbent Tom Corbett in 2014. Many of them are eager to take Wolf’s place, but there is no clear frontrunner this early in the race. Several Republicans have already announced their bid, and a few others have hinted or shown interest in joining what is expected to be a crowded primary. Thus far, it’s hard to find a Republican candidate without some sort of ties to former President Donald Trump. 

With a heated race to fill U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s seat next year, the GOP will have to be strategic about what candidates it wants to back for the Senate and for governor. Potential candidates will also have to weigh their options and decide where they fit best and can compete.

There are plenty of names that could be added to this list in the coming months, but here is our second iteration of potential Republican candidates for 2022. A couple of candidates have been added since the last edition.

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Gale was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for governor back in February. An avid Trump supporter, he has criticized the Pennsylvania GOP and pledged to be a conservative populist. He’s also caught attention for and saying Trump’s presidency was sabotaged. 

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

Dr. Nche Zama

Charlie Gerow

John Ventre

For These Republicans 2024 Is Just Around The Corner

Mike Pence. Mike Pompeo. Rick Scott. They share big ambitions, but one name hovers above them all …

President Biden told reporters last month that his “plan is to run for re-election,” despite already being the oldest person to have won a presidential election. So, for now at least, the question of who will lead the Democratic ticket in 2024 has been put to rest.

On the Republican side, however, certainty is in short supply. It’s beyond early to be talking about the next presidential election — but that’s only if you aren’t planning to run. Some Republican candidates have already made trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, and others are laying plans to go, in what often represents the first step in building out a campaign operation in those early-voting states.

And on Wednesday, in a conspicuously forward-looking move, former Vice President Mike Pence announced the formation of a new political organization, Advancing American Freedom, whose advisory board is stacked high with former Trump administration officials and allies. The news came on the same day Simon & Schuster announced that it would publish Pence’s autobiography as part of a two-book deal.

The G.O.P. is badly fractured, trying to hold together a dominant base of those loyal to former President Donald Trump and a stubborn minority of pro-decorum, anti-Trump conservatives. Anyone looking to grab the Republican mantle will have to find some way of satisfying both camps — and maybe even expanding upon them.

Rivera Another Candidate Who Is Trying A Second Time

Another candidate making her second Senate attempt is Natalie Lynn Rivera. A social services coordinator from Sicklerville, Rivera ran as an independent under the slogan “For the People” in 2018, garnering about 0.6% of the vote.

Rivera, 44, said she wants to give typical New Jersey residents a voice in Congress. On her Facebook campaign site she calls herself a conservative. Among her priorities are restoring Second Amendment rights that she says are “under seige” in the state and outlawing abortion.

What sets her apart from the other candidates, she said, is that she “will be a servant to the people … I think I am authentic and will serve from the heart to put their best interests at the forefront.”

Another candidate running a shoestring campaign is Eugene Tom Anagnos, a retired middle school teacher who taught in Newark and Elizabeth schools. A Greek immigrant who now lives in East Hanover, Anagnos is an Army veteran who holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Indiana University.

General Election Candidates On Five Or More Ballots

In addition to Biden, Hawkins, Jorgensen, and Trump, the following candidates have qualified to appear on five or more ballots:

Roque De La Fuente   Gloria La Riva   Jade Simmons   Jesse Ventura/Cynthia McKinney   Sheila Tittle   Kyle Kenley Kopitke   Ricki Sue King/Dayna Chandler  

Incumbents are bolded and underlined The results have been certified.

Total votes: 158,379,904

0 states have not been called.

Here Are The Republicans To Keep An Eye On For 2024

Bradley Devlin

Republicans are paying extra attention to a number of Republican governors, senators, and former officials that might consider making a run for president in 2024.

The contenders come from various contingents of right-leaning thought, and will be fighting to capture parts of former President Donald Trump’s base. Whichever Republican hopeful prevails will not only become the Republican Party’s nominee, but also help determine the ideological trajectory of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era.

Vice President Mike Pence

It’s not uncommon for vice presidents to follow up their stint as second-in-command with a run for president. Former President John Adams, the nation’s second president, was America’s first vice president under President George Washington. More recently, President Joe Biden became the 46th president four years after he ended his eight-year tenure as former President Barack Obama’s vice president.

Vice President Mike Pence might decide to do the same, but Pence’s relationship with Trump seems to be severely tarnished after Pence did not contest the certification of the Electoral College results, as reported by The Hill.

Senator Ted Cruz

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz could run for president again come 2024 after he defended his senate seat in 2018 from Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. Cruz’s bid for the presidency in 2016 ended in failure as Trump captured the Republican Party’s nomination.

Senator Josh Hawley

Governor Ron DeSantis

Poll Results Are Fake Unless Theyre Good Trump Says

During his speech at the Dallas convention Sunday night, Trump said he only would have believed the results of CPAC’s straw poll if they were his favor, Business Insider reported.

“Now, if it’s bad, I just say it’s fake,” the former president told the crowd, reported Insider. “If it’s good, I say that’s the most accurate poll, perhaps ever.”

In the past, Trump has decried similar things he doesn’t like as false, like referring to unfavorable media coverage as “fake news.”

Early Nomination Contests Didn’t Involve Primaries

Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

Intraparty disputes over who should be nominated for the presidency are as old as the republic itself. But the modern system of determining nominees through a series of state primary elections is essentially an innovation of the 1970s. Before that, parties deployed a wide range of methods.

The Democratic-Republicans, the dominant political party of the early 19th century, used to select candidates via a vote of the party’s members in Congress.That method let it control the White House for 20 years, and lasted until the rivalry between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson made the party splinter into the Democrats and the Whigs in the aftermath of the 1824 election.

Back in 1836, in the early days of Whig versus Democrat competition, the Whig Party even tried nominating several candidates simultaneously in their bid to block Martin Van Buren from succeeding Jackson in the White House.

In most Northern states, William Henry Harrison appeared on the general election ballot, while Hugh White got the nod in most Southern ones. And Massachusetts Whigs went with Daniel Webster , while Willie Magnum was nominated in South Carolina.

But it did not work. Van Buren won the election, and in subsequent contests the Whigs emulated the Democrats, picking a single nominee at a broad national convention with representatives from all states.

[hellyeahheroes]

Secret Empire: Top Ten DUMBEST Moments

As far as events go, Secret Empire is probably one of the worst. And considering both Civil Wars, Ultimatum, Amazons’ Attack and Countdown are events, that bar has been set pretty low. So as it finally comes to an end, seven months too late, let us showcase some of the worst decisions made during the creation of this story. They made it into such colossal trainwreck.

Honorable Mention: Dress Like a Nazi To Work Day

Out of all moronic decisions in this event, this was the one that irks me the most because it slipped into real life. Marvel tried to get their retailers to not only dress in Hydra shirts the day the book premieres but also dress their entire store in Hydra symbols. At least one store owner told them they hire LGBTQ and Jewish people and will be dropping Marvel. Hard to blame that person. Who in their right mind tells people selling his product to dress like a Nazi?! And don’t tell me the old “Hydra isn't Nazis” crap. First of all, even if they’re not, they’re still a fascist death cult that had absolutely no moral qualms about working with the Nazis during World War II, copying from their style and being effectively taken over by remnants of Nazi Germany multiple times. At this point, it’s splitting hair. And two, Marvel, you had Steve Rogers say Hail Hydrand a whole year before. Since then you were constantly trying to tell people Hydra isn’t a Nazi organization and NOBODY BOUGHT IT! At this point, you should have looked at the “Hydra Takeover” idea and realize it might backfire. That this wasn’t recalled but went through only proves that Marvel’s head is so deep up its very ass they no longer see the reality.

Number Ten: Captain America Walking Out Of Himself and Standing Nearby

It is undeniable that Marvel did horrible damage to Captain America in this story, basically twisting the guy into everything he wasn’t. I was honestly afraid how, if ever, they manage to fix the character. But I was not expecting them to pull out the good, old-fashioned chickening out by having an identical copy of the character before he was ruined appear to take over. While seeing real Captain America beat the shit out of Captain Nazi is really cathartic, one cannot forget it came to be through rather...ridiculous means.

Number Nine: Tony Stark

Okay, this one is simple. Tony Stark is in this story. Despite being in a coma. Tony Stark holographic A.I. from Brian Bendis’ Invincible Iron Man is filling in for him. Only here he parades around in Tony’s old armor all the time without anyone commenting on it, recalibrated his personality to be constantly drunk and at one point Steve Rogers tries to decapitate him, a hologram, talking some technobabble about how Hydra made it possible for Tony to die this way.

He’s just Tony Stark. He is Tony Stark because Spencer had scenes requiring Tony Stark to be there and instead of killing his darlings like a good writer, he just wrote clearly human Tony Stark and threw some half-assed explanations and lampshades. It’s silly and makes every scene with him impossible to take seriously.

Number Eight: All the Fucking Quislings!

This one is bad. And I mean, just simply bad. Okay, it’s multiple problems, not a singular one. But it makes my very insides turn at the thought. Nick Spencer asked how can he threw some moral ambiguity IN AN EVENT ABOUT HEROES FIGHTING LITERALLY NAZIS and the best idea he had was to have some random heroes join Hydra. I’m not talking here about those who were brainwashed, like Wanda and Vision, although that is a conversation to also be had by their fans about how often this treatment occurs. Although I wonder - if they are too powerful to let them roam freely, why even HAVE them in this event? It’s not like every superhero was there, currently, heroic Victor Von Doom could probably break Hydra at day one and he was nowhere to be seen.

No, the real problem is with the fact they made some heroes join Hydra willingly. Sometimes they tried to throw flimsy reasons in. Punisher joined to get his family back...even though in previous stories he refused the same offer from less evil people. I feel it’s kinda funny they did this with Frank, considering the man who more or less defined him, Chuck Dixon, has thrown in with real-life Nazis like Milo Yiannopolus. Meanwhile, Deadpool and Thor just go along with letting Nazis rule the States because....Steve Rogers said so and Steve Rogers is always right. That’s just a plain stupidity and total lack of compassion on their side. I’m sure don’t feel like buying any book starring them ever now.

But the worst one is, by far, the Hulk. Who also comes back to life for this event, only to smash for Hydra and immediately die.But that is not the worst part. The worst part is how they build up to it. By having Hydra Steve give Bruce Banner long speech over how Avengers and everyone mistreated him over the years and with Hydra he will finally be accepted for who he is. And Banner calls him a Nazi and tells to go fuck himself. And it is a very powerful moment, Bruce Banner symbolizes everyone disfranchised by the society being offered hand by Nazis and heroically rejecting it... Nah, turns out Rogers was talking to Hulk who felt like changing his catchphrase to Sig Heil. I don’t think Spencer even realized what message he sent by this one moment. He basically said that everyone who has been screwed over by the system secretly agrees with the Nazis, but are “too PC” or “too weak” to say it out loud. It’s stupid AND extremely insulting, two for the price of one.

Number Seven: BARF!

How to properly seed a classic Chekov’s Gunman and yet STILL make him feel like a Deus Ex Machina? Make him ridiculously fucking stupid, that’s how!

Enter Barf, a random Inhuman with the power to vomit up things he needs. He shows up in the first issue, is absent through the entire story only to reappear in Captain America #25 and vomit out a fragment of Cosmic Cube. Because why let people work for their victory and earn their happy ending when you can just have all their efforts blow in their faces and just have means of victory handled to them on a silver platter in the most blatant way possible! If Nick Spencer knew he’s going to write himself into a corner, couldn’t he simply change the plot to avoid it instead of setting up something so stupid?

Number Six: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Miles

After Civil War II we were left with a vision of the future where Miles Morales kills Captain America. Once Secret Empire rolled around and we saw Rogers go full Alt-Right on the country, many were hoping this will actually happen. And Miles, with a handful of friends, does join Black Widow in her efforts to off Captain Nazi. And she spends most of the series training them to be more like her....then talking how she doesn’t actually want them to be more like her and how her generation screwed things up....then taking them on the assassination day anyway only to lock Miles up to kill Rogers herself and when that fails, give up her life trying to stop their fight. Which, in the classic refrigerator fashion, pushes Miles hard enough to actually do this. Only to be given one of the most hollow, lazy-written speeches about how killing is wrong. It hits all the old, tired notes. “Heroes should be better than villains”. “If you kill him, you will be just like him!” (a reminder that “you” in this situation is a Black-Latino and “him” is A FUCKING NAZI FOR CHRIST”S SAKE...). “Natasha wouldn’t want this for you.” (she showed it in the strangest way).... It’s especially bad when you have a character who has a backstory of being trained to kill but rejecting those ways, like Nadia Van Dyne, delivering this speech. Despite her background and personality none of this sounds like her words. It reads like she was going through a checklist of tired cliches.

This is why I came to hate this Aesop that superheroes shouldn’t kill. Because nine times out of ten this isn’t done to actually be a piece of a character driven narrative. It’s done to give a bunch of excuses to let villain live when he deserves to die.

Also, that entire plot point dragged since the previous event, in the end, amounted to BUG FUCKING NOTHING!

Number Five: Who Cares About the Civilians, Right?

So okay, the day is saved, villains are defeated, Captain Nazi got his ass kicked by Steve Rogers and Kobik, a sentient cosmic cube, undoes all this damage. EXCEPT FOR FUCKING VEGAS, WHICH HYDRA LEVELED AND LEFT NOT SURVIVORS! Seriously, I don’t care about the explanations given. Someone should have asked her to do it. And no, some “leave it as a reminder” excuse doesn’t work, Kobik is mentally three years old, she isn’t some wise all-powerful being like Odin or the Stranger from whom we could buy this shit. This is pretty much done only so that Nick Spencer can claim he kept his promise to not undo everything by the cosmic cube. He didn’t undo EVERYTHING, that counts, right? It makes all the heroes look like morons and assholes. Even Z Fighters in Dragon Ball have enough decency to ask the dragon to resurrect all dead civilians when they undo everything after every arc. Marvel heroes, for all the “lessons” this even taught them, couldn’t be assed to do even that.

Number Four: Ultron the Centrist

I’ll be honest with you, Pymltron wearing “Kiss the Overlord” apron, forcing Avengers and Hydra to sit and roasting all of them was one of the best parts of the event. But then it also comes off as paying lip service to the “both sides are as bad” mentality that we saw being used by people of today to desperately try to equate alt-right and those opposing them in real life. It’s pretty much justifying this approach in this story and it doesn’t matter one saying that is a fusion of mentally unstable man and a genocidal robot - he never gets challenged on this position because, for all his talk otherwise on twitter, Nick Spencer apparently cannot think of a compelling argument against it. I guess he secretly agrees with him...

And it doesn’t help that while Ultron ends up aiding the good guys, he does say it’s because Hydra became too strong and might pose a threat to him. Sending a message that any outside powers that show support to those opposing Nazis, in reality, wants America’s destruction...

Number Three: Nazi Pandering

Do I really need to explain this one? The entire event does nothing but bends over to kiss Hydra, and by the extension, Nazi ass at every possible opportunity. They beat up all superheroes because the plot says so, while the narrator goes on and on about how NAZI STRONK! We’re told they were supposed to win the World War II and that Allies “cheated” by rewriting reality...but for some reason let the Holocaust in?! Their rule is shown as being the strongest, which is water to the mill of real-life Nazis as their philosophy is based on “might makes right” and they beat up pretty much everyone, even Wakanda. Every victory heroes have against them must be immediately undermined by giving Nazis another win for consolidation. And while the heroes win at the end, this comes after several issues portraying them as absolutely pathetic losers who didn’t really earn their happy ending but it was handed to them by a random inhuman and Deus Ex Machina device. Which brings us to the next point...

Number Two: Cosmic Cubes

All the dumb shit going in this event can be tracked back to Cosmic Cube, be it as Kobik or the shards. She causes Crazy Steve to emerge, launching this story. And she fixes this mess at the end. Shards of Cosmic Cube serve as a distraction to put both good and bad guys on a wild goose chase because Spencer couldn’t think of any actually interesting plotline for this event. All dumb shit evil Steve pulls out can be explained by them. When it’s time for heroes to win, Barf vomits out a shard. And It undermines everything. A story that entirely revolves around this crap doesn’t have any time to actually show things it’s talking about. Maybe instead of running after Dragon Balls, more time should be developed to show how lack of trust and resentments between the good guys gets in the way? You know, something the narration keeps talking on and on and on but never is reflected in the book? Or show more of them acting like an actual resistance would? Worse, thanks to them heroes no longer win because they’re heroic but because they’ve been handed the I Win Button. Any easy win of the villains can be explained by them holding the Fuck You That’s Why Button. Making you wonder why even care if everybody wins only by writer’s fiat?

Number One: Bown Down To the Gary Stu

Most of the problems in this entire story can really boil down to just this. Steve Rogers is a gary stu. He wins because Nick Spencer wants to show how cool and badass he is. His plans always go without a hitch and he never has to adapt or improvise, under him, Hydra wrecks everyone's shit, even if he loses he still wins and in the end, the only man allowed to beat him is...another Steve Rogers. All other problems in the story can be traced back to Spencer’s desperate need to make him look strong. And believe me, he tried soo damn hard. Up to have him go full Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Four Madara Uchicha with Cosmic Cube Dojustsu on everyone’s ass at the finale. I don’t think we’d see a guy being shoved down our throats so hard if Roman Reigns joined Ultramarines! This is where the book truly falls. Nick Spencer could not let go of his fanboyism over the character and it twisted everything he supposedly wanted to say into a parody of itself, often sending the exact opposite message to accommodate the need to make evil Steve Rogers look good.

So, these are ten dumbest moments in the series. As far as events go, this was one of the worst. It looks like it might have ruined Nick Spencer’s career at Marvel and maybe in general, and will probably make it very hard to look at certain characters for years to come. The only good thing you could say is that it finally ended.

Fuck this book.

- Admin

[indygotcha]

who in your opinion is the coolest mc ever?

IDK how to answer this truthfully, TBQH. This question landed right on my face during me suddenly feeling dissociated with my interests out of nowhere yesterday.

I more or less dunno if I can entirely distill myself to talking about who’s best among best when it comes to certain things and stuff. It seems like I can take everyone for who they are, and the ones I would love the most are the ones I might want to relate to the most, or have certain special connection.Like right now, your question brought reminded me that lately I haven’t bothered watching BNHA at all, and have had very.. “indifferent” feelings to it over these times despite having read all the chapters and everything

I think it has had to do with the time I had watched the 1st season and had overall on-going history with dissociating on liking fictional characters or relating to them and stuff. When I got into the series first time, I think it was because of its amazing shonen spirit that felt like simple, yet very reconstructed. I had been pretty depressed during that time and was already in middle of struggling through graduating high school. 

Thanks to my hard efforts though, I managed to get through and graduate with quite a bang. Quite amazing times too, especially since BNHA was still on-going and I had a blast watching it. You can read more about it here.

But again, what did happen? I think it’s an awful mix of me again having to start to thinking I’m nothing in a fandom if I can’t make myself well-known there in some way, or something. I guess because I tried to draw a BNHA OC due them becoming a trend, but then none batted an eye as much as I though they would despite me working hard on it, and it had me lose interest due war flashbacks on being rejected/ignored in some previous fandoms I was part in, and went on to go try writing some fanfictions in order to build a following. Even worse if something happens to become hated even when I liked it: Because TBQH, it’s hard for me to hate something to the point of bandwagoning on it out of spite -  I always believe they can be made better without changing the character outright most of the time.

This has been like this for the whole time now since being back in this fandom, and lately it had me lose interest on keeping up watching the newest episodes. I instead decided to follow my curiosity and watch something less intensive and prone for me to think I need to make myself “alive” here in this fandom.

Which um, leads to what I think is what reflects my feeling on this question: Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya A.K.A “Jesus-kun”

Most standard response on this would be “why would I even wanna a bat an eye on this dude, he’s nothing well-written, he’s clearly a stupid wish-fulfilment character, etc. Hell, why am I checking out what’s considered “the worst anime” of all time, at least in mainstream presence?

Perhaps the starting point was that I knew there was already better anime out there I can kick back into if it really is trash, and well, I have nothing to lose if I watch this incase I wanna go back to good stuff again. Might as well gain knowledge on how mainstream anime works today. TBQH, I had also had some subtle feelings of being tired of watching high quality stuff and wanting to kick back a bit. 

So something odd happened during certain moments in the show. I… had moments of “feels” for more emotional scenes and stuff.

I was, frankly, appalled. Because for longest time, I had been thinking that the overall reception to something is the truth. So there was no way this show would have me in feels. In fact, it should had been complete opposite because there’s clearly plot holes, deus ex machinas, etc.

In fact, I wondered what had me keep going watching this show, and I soon realized why: because the show wasn’t actually as bad as peeps made it to be.And frankly, the “wish-fulfillment” or other things that would feel unrealistic in some ways, felt actually more beautiful due their imperfection:  because they forced me to feel them instead of trying to dissect intellectually in order to allow myself feel them in a legit fashion (A.K.A every frigging argument on Tumblr other site ever).  

Like yeah, this is definitely a dumbest excuse for a family ever

But I again, feel like that the imperfection on how this family got together anyway, being stranded together by the circumstances that the world they got trapped and how they can be so sweet with each other makes it actually something I wanna find one day due coming from a rather broken family myself. It’s all in the feelings that this stupidly imperfect yet so cuddly and badass gave to me. 

Then come videos like this which dissect how it all is so illogical for it all to happen it is that frankly, I lose the sight of getting to it because “it’s unrealistc” and “stupid” and that feeling gets broken:

They keep piling on and on which frankly has me lose the sight of the feelings that these kind of things gives to me, from my own ground and personal past experiences + desires. And thus, I rather try to cover up my thoughts via intellectual reasonings among other things in order to stay on top instead of being forgotten.

And that’s how it’s been for most of my life, I had treated things I used to enjoy as something I need to analyze and find so objectively good that there’s no way I can be looked down upon for liking it because I was made fun of or treated like shit for just liking them for my own reasons (usually more emotional than intellectual).

But that’s not how it goes when you try to enjoy these things. It’s not about how objectively good they are - it’s about what they made you feel. The surprising part is… there usually is a reason. And it has something to do with yourself deep within. IMO, those reasonings are more purer and perhaps larger than life, compared to whatever objective reasons there are to say when something is good, reasonably explained, or other things to be allowed to be felt validly about.

So why Mr.”Jesus”-kun? 

Well, because… at first he and the series reminds me of the appealing things in anime. The keyword is on “appeal”. 

Like, you see a dude who gets some kickass moves or abilities, who seems like, liked overall by many folk and yadda yadda. Your usual mess and stuff. But overtime on always just analyzing these things instead of just taking them in, I kinda felt like a kid again wanting to be all those things that makes for a cool person even if they might appear to be some dumbass wish-fulfillment char. But it’s the feelings that matter - since in the end, they springboard you right away from there. Like, don’t think of how he got there. Think of the first impressions you had on some characters upon seeing them be awesome enough to hype you when you flicked a channel on randomly running these anime.

Now I would have dropped this whole series at once due harem shenanigans that were so brought in about as one of the series’ most notable “infamies”, yet frankly enough, there was no such stuff enough to make Certain Magical Index look a genuinely romantic series. It just kept on whatever plots it had, even if it had some controversial stuff going for it (like the whole cousin incest-shit, but they actually resolved it in pretty “okay”, dare I say, tasteful manner compared to your other animes with much heavier focus on such topic and never bring it up again ever since.)

I thought it’d be there, but since the show wasn’t apparently harem jazz and tried to tell story arcs as they came anyway, I decided to chug along since I had gone enough deep  -  yet later on in the 2nd season, Mr.Jesus-kun goes through some hard events and through that he went on to make an act of being a fucking DECENT PERSON  pretty damn admirable and heartwarming - something I always took for granted even if I do that a lot of the time. In fact, I think he’s quite a heroic guy for a “boring” person. 

Like, he goes to kick rapists’ asses even if you might say they rip that stuff of from better anime and it’s used for pointless drama. 

And if that wasn’t enough, he goes all the way to help a girl he bonded throughout the arc she’s featured with her severe PTSD to see a very positive flipside to the incident that led her to get one, which leads to one of the most satisfying endings for an arc I’ve seen in anime for a long while:

I think what took me most aback was how Jesus-kun himself felt so strongly about giving her opportunity such resolve, which is frankly admirable thing. 

In the arc, he had to deal with similar feelings due certain incidents in SAO that had him also kill folk before, much like this gal Shino above. He found resolve through as well after talking it out with his personal doctor:

Like, say what the fucking ever you want about this overly dumb MC, but this guy deep inside is a decent person throughout and tries to go all by helping others beyond virtual reality jazz that he’s given so much flack about. No fucking rocket science why girls fall for him. :P  Not that the anime is like the spinoff-games which has the harem mess people laud the series so much as for some reason.

For that, he’s been “coolest” MC for these past 3 days (and gets to join in ranks with others I know in similar being). And from what I heard about this series, it seems to keep on getting better, if only for the fact that the author (Reki Kawahara) appears to not be some stuck-up man and tries to address problems with his writing as series goes on, even to the point of rebooting the whole series for a new series of light novels. On that end, most peeps lauded anime as worse than original LNs, so I guess it means I can go fill in the blanks for these chars in them incase I get curious, and build my vision of them even further.

In short, I have a lot of MCs I consider cool.  Why settle on one only?

And now here comes the unfollows

[ssnakey-b]

My first fanfic

Right, I haven’t had my Tumblr account for a long time, I don’t have many followers (a whopping three and all of them are porn spambots) so I don’t know how many people will read this, I’m kind of banking on the tags working their magic.

Anyway, as the title of this entry suggests, I have written and published my first fanfic. If you look at the stuff I’ve been reblogging, it probably won’t shock you that it’s FF8-related.

It’s a one-shot, slightly under 3200 words and I’m pretty happy with it so I really hope people enjoy it. I have already posted it to a bunch of places and I decided to let it a little before posting it here.

It is set during the train ride after the group escapes TImber, Squall has a lot on his mind and hopes to clear the fog by chatting with Quistis over a game of Triple Triad. You can find it on:

Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12295279/1/Open-Hand

Archive Of Our Own: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9107866

DeviantArt (where I also post drawings): http://neije.deviantart.com/art/Open-Hand-FF8-654941757

And if for whatever reason you can’t or don’t want to read it on any of those, you can read it below under the “read more” thingie. If you enjoy it, please please please share it with other people, comment / review it and do not be afraid to give me tips or criticism to help me improve and I really would like to get more into writing. Don’t worry, I’m not the type to think someone is being patronizing for offering advice.

Anyway, to anyone reading this, enjoy!

“This train is now leaving Timber Railroad Station”. As the little chime played and the train rumbled off, Squall finally started to calm down a bit. They were safe. Well, not in immediate danger anyway, which was a step up. Still, he could feel how tense the atmosphere was. Zell was quiet, a change of attitude Squall would normally welcome, but he knew it showed how exhausted and distressed he was. Linoa took a deep breath while petting Angelo, trying to calm her nerves and Selphie was pacing anxiously. Only Quistis seemed to be keeping her composure. The experience from previous missions, Squall guessed.

Squall thought he had to say something. He wasn't much for conversation; even he could see how awkward he could be in social situations but as the designated leader of the squad, he felt it was his duty to try and keep the team's spirits up. And if he was completely honest with himself, he was starting to have a growing respect for them after everything they'd been through and seeing them soldier on with no hesitation. Mustering all of his inner strength, he reached deep inside his mind and said:

“We can do this.”

It's the thought that counts, Squall told himself, hoping that showing effort to speak up would be enough on its own to cheer everyone up. Unfortunately, it was diminished somewhat by Selphie cutting him off and loudly asking to be allowed in the next car. Squall remembered how enthusiastic she'd been about visiting the train  they took to get to Timber and figured there was no reason not to agree, especially if it could help her unwind and so he used his ticket to grant her access.

“Awesome! Thanks a lot, chief!”

Squall nearly winced at that. “Chief”! This had better not become a habit. It was so ridiculous. He had no more field experience than her or Zell. There was no good reason for him to be the team leader.

Quistis, however, seemed more amused by the remark than he was and after a small chuckle, she turned to Linoa:

“I really hope the Owls are going to be okay. They're the ones we have to thank for finding us a way out of there.”

“Don't worry about them, they've been through worse!” Linoa replied. “I know we look like a clueless ragtag group of misfits and... I guess we are... but we're very resourceful and we can always rely on other resistance groups”.

“That's good to know,” said Quistis with a nod. “I'd like to at least get Zone something as thanks, though”.

“Well, he does like dirty magazines,” Linoa answered coyly.

“I'll keep that in mind, then,” said Quistis after another chuckle. “Well, there's quite a way to go, better make ourselves comfortable. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the SeeD cabin.” As the door to the next car slid open, Quistis gave Squall a playful look.

“Oh and, thanks for opening the door, chief!”

Squall rubbed his eyes, knowing that it was probably too late to escape the moniker now. He tried to relax, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He saw how down Zell looked and briefly considered having a word with him, but he remembered his previous attempt to brighten the mood and decided that it would only make things worse.

Instead, he started to mull over the events of the day. Everything since this morning had been insane. He had just woken up when he, Selphie and Zell were assigned their first mission despite only graduating the previous day, without a single veteran SeeD to oversee them. The decision was so rushed that Cid couldn't even give him a full briefing, only giving him the slightest info on where to go and who their client would be. It was painfully obvious that this whole thing had been thrown together at the last minute.

Then they got embroiled in a plot to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the bloodthirsty dictator of Galbadia, fought a zombie doppleganger instead, discovered that Cid wrote a contract so vague that for all Squall knew, he, Zell and Selphie may well be stuck with this assignment for the rest of their lives and now they were on the run from the Galbadian government.

Squall was  dragged out of his thoughts as he felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He looked in Linoa's direction, only for her to suddenly look away, unconvincingly pretending she was looking at a map of the railway system. There was still a bit of tension between them as their opposite philosophies coupled with their strong and stubborn personalities had recently had explosive results. He went back to his introspection.

On top of everything else, Seifer decided to do the dumbest thing in his life and try to capture Deling himself, only to then leave with the sorceress, so they couldn't know if he was even still alive. Zell spilled the beans about them being SeeDs, Quistis suddenly showed up, the Forrest Owls' HQ was destroyed...

So many things had happened in such a short amount of time. Too many to think about. He couldn't focus on any of them, couldn't make an informed decision and he hated that. He needed a distraction, something that would help him take things one at a time, reboot his brain. Quistis. The one person that could get more than two words in a row out of him and the one person he might possibly admit to considering a friend. He had to talk to her about something. Anything. And it just so happened he had something to tell her.

He slowly made his way towards the SeeD cabin, once again feeling Linoa's gaze as he walked by her. In the corridor, he saw Selphie looking out the window much like during their previous trip. “Hi, Squall!” she chirped as she noticed him enter. He ignored her, not wanting to give any conversation the potential to start, and walked inside the cabin. “Gee, a real ray of sunshine, this guy,” Selphie thought as she went back to contemplating the landscape.

As the door closed behind him, Squall already felt a little bit better from the sudden quiet. Quistis looked up from a months-old magazine she'd been reading. SeeDs didn't travel by train that frequently, so agencies were in no rush to steadily supply the cabins with fresh literature, not to mention that with Deling's tight grasp on the media, obtaining up-to-date information was not an easy task. Squall thought that Quistis must have been a special kind of bored to pass the time reading articles she'd probably read a long time ago back in Balamb. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to think of something to say. Much to his relief, Quistis broke the silence:

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

As stellar as the conversation was, Squall felt he had to add something. “Do you wanna... play cards or something?”.

Quistis was pleasantly surprised by the offer, although it was true that Triple Triad was the only kind of social activity Squall seemed to happily partake in. And she could tell it wasn't out of competitiveness either because he sucked at it, at least by her standards. Poor Squall had no clue about her secret.

“Sure,” she said with a smile, tossing the magazine to the side and pulling out a game board. Triple Triad was massively popular among among military groups, including the SeeD, so each cabin was fitted with a foldable board and even a deck of cards, although Quistis and Squall never left the Garden without their own.

“I dare hope the people of Timber haven't corrupted you yet and you still play using Balambian rules, the way Hyne intended?” said Quistis with a smile, setting up the board next to her on the couch.

“Hm,” was Squall's reply as he sat down to face her. Quistis took a gil form her purse.

“Heads or tails?” she asked.

“Tails,” answered Squall. Quistis flipped the coin, caught it and placed it on the back of her hand. “Tails, you go first”.

Unsurprisingly, Quistis' hand was much better than Squall's. On the rare occasions he actually managed to win a good card, he usually lost it to her almost immediately. Then again, his mind really wasn't into the game, as evidenced when he placed his first card with one of the weakest numbers completely exposed. If Quistis didn't know any better, she might have thought he was luring her into a trap.

She laid down her own card and placed a token of her colour on Squall's, signifying a capture. Squall placed his next card almost immediately and in an equally dumb move. This wasn't right. Squall usually at least tried to play decently and talked a little while playing. In fact, Quistis had a sneaking suspicion that the main reason he played Triple Triad at all was so he had an excuse to chat with people without having to admit that he enjoyed it, the horror. On top of that, she could feel him look at her from behind his hand and hide behind his cards when she looked back.

“Come on, Squall, just spit it out.”

“What?”

“You clearly have something on your mind and you're being even more quiet than usual. It's super awkward.”

Squall stayed silent for a short time, considering how to start saying what he had to say, or even whether to say anything at all. But then again, why did he go out of his way to go meet her if he wasn't going to say anything?

“It's just... I... I'm sorry.”

Quistis looked at him in confusion. It was unusual for Squall to apologize for anything, and it seemed even more surprising considering she didn't remember him offending her in any way. Not recently at least.

“For what?” she asked.

“For the way I treated you last night.” He paused for a second, realizing what he said and finding it incredible that it was only last night. Actually, it was this morning, come to think of it. “It... it sucked”. Quistis felt a bit relieved. She was surprised he even still thought about it.

“It's alright, don't worry about it” she said with a reassuring smile. “My behaviour wasn't exactly the best either, trying to cry on one of my students' shoulder on the night of his graduation”.

“The thing is, I always want to be direct and frank. I hate it when people sugarcoat things and weigh it down with pointless courtesies... but I also want to be fair. And I wasn't. I was just being a dick. Don't get me wrong, I haven't changed my mind about what I said, but I should have put it better. I guess what I'm trying to say is... it's pointless to regret what could have been. We can't do anything about that. We can only do something about what is, so if you can't be an instructor, then be the best SeeD you can.”

Quistis was now looking at him with wide eyes. It was very rare for Squall to open up like this. It was becoming obvious to her that the weight of this first mission was heavy for him. She had to admit it was a difficult one, especially for a rookie.

“Look... it's okay, really. It didn't make me mad at you. I'm surprised it bothered you so much.” She wanted to try to lighten things up a bit. “And besides... I figured you were just in a bad mood because a cute girl had just made you lose your cool and forced you to admit that there are some things that even you find fun.”

Squall grimaced. Partly because of the teasing and partly because he couldn't deny there was some truth to it. He was often taken off guard by how well Quistis seemed to understand him.

“And now she owns ya!” she added, staring right at him with a cocky smile. Evidently she was aware of the terms of their contract.

“Until Timber is independent, yeah” Squall clarified.

“Which might as well be forever.”

“Don't remind me,” said Squall with a sigh.

“Oh come on!”

“What?”

“Don't even pretend you're upset that you have to stay around her!”

“What?” Squall was growing increasingly annoyed.

“You like her! It's obvious!”

“What are you talking about?” Squall asked, planting his face firmly into his hand.

“Sorry Squall, but you're really not nearly as subtle as you think you're being. The way you look at her, the way you act around her, the way you talk to her... you're a completely different person than with anyone else!”

Squall looked at her with complete incredulity. “The way I talk to her?! So I get into shouting matches with her and what you get from that is that I'm into her?”

“Well honestly... yeah.”

Squall was at a loss for words. “I don't even want to imagine how you must think I feel about Seifer, then.”

Quistis burst out laughing. Squall wasn't one to joke around but when he did, he could come up with some genuinely funny ones. And considering how things went the last time they saw Seifer, she could use some levity.

“Ha... but seriously, Squall. Your reaction to Seifer actually illustrates what I mean perfectly. When Seifer, or Zell, or me, or anyone annoys you, you try to get them off your back as quickly as possible so you can go sulk by yourself.”

Squall looked away. Once again, it would be difficult for him to deny that her analysis was perfectly accurate. Quistis continued.

“Point is, you always try to end it as quickly as possible. Even with Seifer, you only ever got into fights with him if he didn't leave you any other option. But with Linoa... with her you actually get mad. And you stick around to give her a piece of your mind. You try to convince her to see things your way and you get angry when she doesn't. Do you realize what this means, Squall?”

He let out a big sigh.

“No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me.”

“It means you CARE! And THAT is the big difference. I don't think I've ever seen you care what other people think before. You don't share your feelings with anyone except maybe me, and even then not often and I have to drag it out of you. But with her, you go out of your way to let her know what you think. You take it personally! And it frustrates you when she disagrees with you because you wish she'd see things your way.”

Squall shook his head in response.

“Well, Quistis, if the SeeD thing doesn't work for you either, you'd make a great psychologist.”

Quistis didn't let his attitude slow her down. It was obvious to her that he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince her:

“Think about it! If you didn't like her, then why would you get so mad? You always act like everything is strictly business. You never show any reaction to people from the Garden disagreeing with you. You never get involved, so why would a client's opinions affect you so much? Why would you care about anything that doesn't pertain to the mission? If it were anyone else, you'd just roll your eyes and shut your brain off until they gave you orders.”

Squall was getting irritated.

“Look... I don't know if I really look at her differently from anyone else. Maybe. I'll admit she's pretty. Big deal. I'm not blind. But,” he sighed. “what drives me insane about her is that there are so many people whining about how 'someone' should do 'something' but not a single one of them is willing to be that someone. Even among the resistance, most groups are activists in name only, and here there finally was one that was willing to pick up the slack and they're a bunch of unreliable incompetents bumbling around with no preparation, no backup plan and just no... no sense of reality. THAT is why I'm so frustrated. Her cause is noble but she has no idea what she's doing.”

Squall did give Linoa credit for being the one to get things going, although he wasn't going to do so out loud; no point in giving Quistis more ammo. Zone was supposedly the leader of the Forrest Owls but it was obvious that Linoa was the one who actually ran everything. As much as she could baffle him, he did respect her for that. If only her naiveté didn't hold back her determination.

“So basically,” Quistis went on, “it's like I said. You do care about her and you take it personally that she doesn't give herself the means to achieve her goals”.

“Whatever.”

There was a pause. Squall seemed to be even less focused on the game as it went on, barely even looking at his cards before dropping them. Quistis leaned back to rest against the couch.

“Honestly, I can see why you like her.” she said with a more serious expression. Squall desperately tried to ignore her and considered leaving the room altogether. “She'd be perfect for you. She'd bring you a bit of passion, something to put your skills as a SeeD to good use. And you'd bring her the focus she needs to reach her dreams.”

She chuckled again. “If you two joined forces, I think the Galbadian dictatorship would fall by tomorrow!”

“You're taking your fantasies for realities, Quistis.” said Squall. “You barely know anything about her. Hell, I barely know anything about her and she's my client.”

“I know enough.”

“Tsk, you're hopeless. Anyway, you win, pick your cards so I can leave.” replied Squall, as if he hadn't been the one to initiate the conversation.

“Nah, you can keep them,” was Quistis' response.

“Huh? But you won!”

“Your head wasn't in the game. I'll take your cards when you lose properly. I'm guessing your mind was too preoccupied by that cute girl you totally don't care about.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” said Squall while picking up his cards. “I'm going back outside. I think we're nearly there.” He hoped that was true.

“Okay.” Before Squall left the room, she added “I'm totally telling her you said she's pretty, by the way!”

Giving Quistis a death glare over his shoulder, he left without a word, knowing full well that he'd only dig himself deeper.

“Hi again, Squall!” said Selphie as he passed. Squall still didn't reply. He wasn't ignoring her this time, he just didn't hear her. Quistis had realized things about him before he did so many times before, and he wondered if that was the case here.

[eggheadsguidetorunning]

The Worse Movies I saw in 2018 Part I

I prefer to do this list a little late to get some of the worst movies that came out in December a chance for me to see and hate them, at least that is the excuse I’m using.

10. Ready Player One

               So, I am cheating a bit here because I mainly hated the book, but the movie wasn’t any good either. I guess the best way to compare the two is by comparing the amount of pandering they do. The movie multiplies the amount pandering by ten but then you divide it by a hundred because it has a bigger audience because of this the pandering is more bearable in the movie then it is in the book.

Another good way to show the differences is to show the differences is through well the actual changes from book to movie. One of the biggest changes are the challenges. The first challenge in the book is to make it through the tomb of horrors, which the main character does by himself at level 1. Then to beat the lich at the end of the tomb in a game of arcade Joust. The movie isn’t better but instead of basing the challenge in the movie around sucking the dick of nerd culture the first challenge is just well dumb. In the movie the main character needs to drive backwards to win a race. Now consider that video games have people who test them for a living to make sure these games work there is a huge group of people who the first thing they do when they play a game is see if they can go backwards just to test the game. By the way in the movie it took someone seven years to solve this puzzle too.

               It may be silly to contain a movie on my top 10 worst movies I saw simply because the book was bad but screw it this is my list, and Ready Player One the movie is mediocre in comparison to the shitty book but it’s still a bad movie.

9. Jurassic World Lost Kingdom

               Originally, I wasn’t planning on putting this movie on the list since it’s easy to pick on movie that is designed to be a corporate sell out. Then realized there would be a bunch of movies I would have to remove from this list on that philosophy, so decide this movie deserves a spot here. Spielberg should be laughing at the fact that someone managed to make a Jurassic Park movie worse than Lost World. A Jurassic Park movie in which the good guys justify letting loose a bunch of ferocious dinosaurs on society because the dinosaurs have a right to live too. Just forget the fact that they will massacre a huge number of people who also have the right to live. How do we know the dino’s have a right to live? Well because the girl who is a genetic clone sees herself in them because the dinosaurs are also clones. Like they aren’t trying to even hide that the reason why they can’t kill the dinosaurs is because they need to make sequels.

               The bad guys are super irredeemably stupid and of course they then die in humiliating ways, and I can’t honestly believe that some of them don’t see their death coming. In what must be the dumbest black-market auction idea ever the bad guys have a bunch of villainous people come over to their mansion in which the murderous dinosaurs are stored to be sold to these people. Like hey guys come over to my mansion full of killer dinosaurs we will a party while we sell them to you. I think if they thought about it there was a safer way to do this sale of killer dinosaurs. I don’t know maybe they could have done it all online like most black-market sales do?

And who still thinks the Weyland Yutani idea of owning the most highly evolved killing machine, that is uncontrollable, is smart idea and while I’m at it who thinks Umbrella Corp ideas are any good as well. Well I invite you to go dumber than them. See, while these two evil corporations that constantly make or try to control evil and super strong next phase of evolution kill everything virus, aliens, or monster then try to make these things into weapons and somehow don’t see how this could bite them in the ass. They are at least super corporation and using that structure of a giant corporation to contain their abominations. In Jurassic Park Fallen Kingdom a dude decides to make a super raptor in his mansion and sell it. This ends badly and nobody in the audience will ever be surprised by this ending badly even the kids know this is a bad idea. Don’t watch this movie you have already seen this movie done better.

8. Death Wish (2018)

               Bruce Willis is the only good part about this movie, but of course he isn’t the only part of the movie and he isn’t even always great in it. This was may be the most confusing movie I saw this year not because it was a hard plot to follow but because I don’t know why this movie exist or what it was trying to accomplish. Why did they decide to remake Death Wish? Was there supposed to be some sort of political statement was there not supposed to be political commentary? Was this supposed to be high drama or high action movie? What was the point of this movie why does it exist, I just don’t understand! It felt like the director was unsure of his own wok, but at the same time he seemed overly confidant in his poor choices in making this movie.

When you remake a movie that was beloved in its time you should be trying to improve the original concept or give it a different outlook. This movie is just a worse version of Death Wish and doesn’t really do anything interesting. In fact, I wonder why this movie had to be a Death Wish remake or even have the same title as Death Wish. I would enjoy this movie more if it was Die Hard 6 or something instead. That would be so much easier to justify and maybe even make it easier for it to be more fun and stupid. As it stands this movie was a boring mess. I really don’t have much more to say than that.

7.Truth or Dare

                I actually love this movie which is why it isn’t higher on the list. There is nothing scary about this scary movie and the attempts they make to scare you are only made funnier by their horrible filter Instagram face effects. I really want to know who saw that effect and said yeah that’s creepy make a movie about it. I want that person to make more “horror” movies.

               What’ better than the horrible effects is when this movie write itself into a corner and then tries to somehow miraculously get out of it without any though on how this miracle comprise the movie. Like how a character will be dared to kill the main character because I don’t know, no reasons given, so for the main character live some side character jumps, or stumbles, in front of the gun and gets shot instead. Then because character with a gun failed to shoot the main character she instantly gets possessed and kills herself.

Yes, she gets possessed you read that right. What, I failed to mention is that the reason any of this happens is because a demon possessed a game of truth or dare and will force people to play. Don’t play you die fail the dare or don’t tell the truth and you die. To make matters worse some genius thought the game would be more fun if there were moments when you were forced to take a dare, so now sometimes someone has to choose dare instead of truth.

To make matters worse (or from my personal view better) near the end of the movie they are about to exercise the demon, and someone choose to take a dare and then refuse to do the dare. This should mean game is over since now the demon has to kill this person and let the exorcism be completed. Thus, say the rules the demon has followed. What happens, and spoilers by the way, is the demon possess the guy who didn’t take the dare and leaps the person needed for the exorcism and then kills the mcguffin character and finally kills the person who refused the dare, thus the demon breaks his own rules. Now consider the scenario above in which a person is dared to kill the main character and fails so the demon takes over and kills the person failed the dare. Now the question is raised if the demon wanted to kill the main character then why should the demon have not just shot the main character then the person who failed the dare? There was nothing stopping the demon from doing this. In conclusion, this a really poorly written movie and its only number seven because it is a funny poorly written movie.

6. Clover Field Paradox

               I feel everyone forgot about this movie because of Bright, but I didn’t forget, and I didn’t watch Bright. So, let’s have a movie with an almost cosmic horror-set up but then do nothing with this build-up of humanity seeking for knowledge that we shouldn’t have. Then let’s have a Hadron Collider make a tear in dimensions to release a bunch of nightmarish monsters that we never get to see until the very end of the movie. Don’t worry though, to make things interesting we will have the crew just jump to a different reality through the tear, but instead of going somewhere interesting we have them simply go to an almost completely similar reality except they failed to get the Hadron Collider to work. We could have them go literally anywhere else the possibilities are endless, but no. At one point though the movie even seems to try to do something cool by doing some crazy Event Horizon shit. By having the ship seem to be attacking the crew but instead of focusing on this the movie just kind of forgets about this. Also, there is no reason for the ship attacking and killing the crew.

The main villain, in fact, ends up being a crew member from the alternate dimension not an alien or cool monster just some lady with a gun she arguably shouldn’t have. This is because this movie isn’t about cool sci-fi monster but is about a poor political subtext on the doom of humanity if we cannot work together to get a better fuel resource and we end up running out of gas. That subtext is the main conflict for the whole movie. Why are we up in space? Because gas. Why did the alternative dimension team fail? Because wars over gas. Why are there monster in Cloverfield? Because Hadron Collider.

The balls of this movie to have such freedom to do such an interesting thing with dimension hopping in space and monsters from another dimension, yet what they decide to do is the most boring thing they could have done with this set up. When they decide to through in a tie in to the Cloverfield monsters at the end of the movie and using one line at the beginning of the movie to justify this it becomes obvious that this movie is just lazy. Welcome to this list Cloverfield Paradox. Hopefully, you ended this Cloverfield movie franchise thing, so we don’t get something worse from Cloverfield later.

5.The Darkest Minds

               Hahahahahahahahahahahah. This movie is great. It’s the ultimate young adult (YA) cash grab movie of the year. It even has a sorting system like Harry Potter, but that sorting system is allegory for racism and involves mutant kids in concentration camps. You know all the things YA novels need… right? These mutant kids are like x-men mutants, but more boring because they all kind of have the same powers. One group of kids is super smart, another use electricity and a third group control’s the world. References to Harry Potter and Star Wars are also used to help the audience know that the directors/characters are hip to current pop culture. As well as there being a forced romantic relationship between a girl whose only personality trait is that she lacks self-esteem and a guy who is kind of, but not really, edgy. Fuck, this movie even has a shopping montage in it.

               We need go back a bit and tackle one of the dumber points. I earlier mentioned how you would get a house assigning thing applied to you but instead of a sorting hat this sorting method gives you a color and is supposed to be allegory to racism, thus it being a color. To explain how this system works you would be assigned a color based on your super power so if you were super smart you would be green for example. They would then sort you in the not concentration camp (but its totally a concentration camp) by your color. Allegory is ham fisted here but it at least works. Once you get outside the concentration camp everyone will call you a green or ask what your color is, and you will answer that it is green. Now this could be allegory for how racial discrimination can come to define others, and how labels that are given never truly go away. Unfortunately, that’s not how the movie handles it. The movie seems to look at it like kids would say I’m a green just like they would say I’m a Ravenclaw, I’m a member of district 9, I’m part of the Athena’s house, or I’m whatever Divergent was. So, this allegory for racism is also supposed to be like house sorting in the positive pop culture connotation. Which is idiotic because those two things don’t really mesh, and it feels like the movie wants to have its cake and eat it too.

Then again this could also be commentary on how schools label the gifted and thus limit them, but it runs it the same problem of the kids labeling themselves and embrace the labels even when they have the freedom not to.

               Not to mention all the hammy acting plot lines that disappear or go nowhere. The fact that a 17-year-old girl kills a woman in a horrifying fashion but that is fine because the woman who was killed was evil. There is also a final fight that is so over the top stupid it bounces back to being kind of cool.

Despite this being a bad movie I suggest watching it with a lot of friends and a lot of alcohol.

[shawnjacksonsbs]

The balancing of my simplistic complexities.     1-28-18

If I say the word balance, I imagine that most people think of equal amounts of weight on either side of scale with equal amounts of pressure on each side. For me, I picture someone walking a tight rope. In the beginning; lots of ups, downs, sways, and maybe even several falls. With years of practice someone may actually be able to walk from one sky scraper to another or across the Grand Canyon. I’ve seen it done.

So, we decided to start watching the Sons of Anarchy, mainly because the cousin and my son haven’t seen it before, at least not from the beginning. I have, but it is definitely one worth watching again. It’s a great show. As we binge watched the first season in just a few days, I started catching quotes I wanted to use, and thought of so many ways to twist it into something I could make an entry from, then it hit me.

I vaguely remembered writing an entry once before relating to some of the show. It felt like it would have been early on, so I looked. Needless to say, it took me a while to scroll back that far, but I found it, and I read it. If you’d like to read it, you can follow this link ( https://shawnjacksonsbs.tumblr.com/ ) and type this title in to the search header, “How I feel I relate to Jackson Teller and shit!!    2/22/2014”. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s been about two years since I wrote it. I have heard more than once that the spells come in two-year periods.

Anyways, I had planned on opening with one these quotes, and then twisting a narrative, to something that fits some part of my past; “Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals.” - Emma Goldman

“We all had our problems with authority, but none of us were sociopaths. We came to realize that when you move your life off the social grid you give up the safety that society provides.” - John Teller S.O.A.

But have since decided not to go that route, exactly. Most of the old lifestyle was just that, old bullshit, but all of the pieces of my past, and my past experiences are what make up the whole me. I am afraid that my moral compass will never point to true North. It probably points more west by northwest nowadays, but that’s a far cry better than the south by southeast direction it used to point towards.

I’m as close as I’m ever going to get. As free as I am today, I still miss some of it, sometimes. Different times from my past that I call the good memories. Some of which would still be looked at in disgust from people who never lived that way. I also carry a lot of baggage with me from things I’ve done that I’ll never be able to share in here, or to anyone. And as I’ve said a million times before, the good memories will never outweigh the bad or outweigh the positives I’ve gained since.

The longing still hits me from time to time though. I’ve been on every rung of the verbally ladder, from the top of a crew calling shots to the bottom of the pyramid, breaking into abandoned houses stealing wire and spending all night stripping it, so the next morning we could be at the Recycler when they opened to get just enough money to score just enough dope to get through the day. I even miss some of those times, or the memory of them. If that makes sense. Some of the dumbest, most ignorant events from my past can put a smile on my face when I think about them. For all of you who just don’t get it, that’s all right. That part makes me fucked up, not you. My brain isn’t wired exactly like normal people.

I’ll never be able to clear away all of it, as much as I wish I could, but at least I can be grateful that my firm hold on this side of life doesn’t have anything to do with just one piece of my past, but instead it’s the sum total of it altogether. I’m never going to be, fully, like most people. We may never see eye to eye on every issue, but we do and will continue to have some commonalities. For those of you, like me, that feel like they don’t fit completely with this side, or the other, there is good news. We don’t have to. The only side we have to align with, is our minds with our hearts, our true hearts. Failing to fit in with the norm isn’t failing for real, its gaining ground really. You are closer than you think when you realize this.

Good and bad and right and wrong aren’t always in sync. When you can do something bad, and it feel good, you know it’s time for an alignment, if you can stop feeling the good long enough to realize you need it. It’s a huge difference. Although most of us actually know what right and wrong is or means, it rarely waivers, but our moral compasses can definitely change direction a lot throughout our lives, for any number of reasons.

I’m fortunate that I have this outlet. Wearing my heart on my sleeve for all the world to see the kind of man I say I am, and it means living up to all the things that you read. My journey, in this journal form, keeps me planted in accountability. The reminiscing of exaggerated, old, grandiose memories can get me caught up quick if I am not careful though. Luckily, in the course of the last few days, I went from missing some of the life to being completely sickened by the fact that I can still be drawn to it, or the memory of it.

Sometimes my writing can be nonsense, and sometimes it’s to relate to others. Sometimes it’s to unclog my head, but every single time, it’s for clarity (for me). It’s better than meditation. It is my weekly alignment. Sometimes, actually, most times it’s aimed to be well intentioned truths, at least as I see them. Sometimes they are more vague than others, but all for good reason. Writing this blog has saved my life and keeps my peace of mind. It’s a bonus if it touches someone else, anyone else. Sometimes it’s just my opinion, which, as I read the other day is really “the lowest form of human knowledge; it requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge, according to George Eliot, is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world.”

I also heard once, that “the self-loathing becomes a little more tolerable with service to others”. I suppose it comes in varying degrees at certain levels per individual. Just like my confusion as I go from writing about “brotherhood and loyalty” to “The company we keep”, and from being fond of memories to having them disgust me at the same time, but because of what I did and why, compared to how I choose to live now. It can probably be difficult to understand, but trust me, sometimes it’s even difficult for me.

Staying up until almost midnight on Wed because as I laid in bed, I’d get a partial paragraph in “note” form in my head, so I would type it in my phone real quick, then I’d close my phone, then something else would hit, I’d open it up, type another note, etc. I am usually in bed and asleep by 10pm. That’s what this blog means to me. It has changed a lot since I started writing it, but still going in the same direction. More forward progress makes for a different Shawn, a constantly ever-changing Shawn, whose writing should be ever-changing too, to reflect that. No one needs to worry, unless I stop writing entirely. That’s when you should send help. lol

With all this in my head, I have also talked to the attorney we plan to hire to help my son (the one out here and the one is living right now), and its going to be a long, hard, and a very extensive road for us to get through, but I know we will get through it. I have also heard some vague rumors, from a few other people about this and just makes me sick that we didn’t get him out here fast enough. One way or another we will work it out.

On a more positive note, someone I know through my work that I respect, pulled me to the side the other day. He told me that he was fixing to buy another property and was kicking around the idea of turning his other one into a multi-room clean and sober living house, or maybe a transitional housing for people getting out. He said if it works out, he would need someone to oversee it, from the inside. Like living there with them. Still going to work and just making sure things stay in order in the evenings etc. He offered it to me. That made me feel pretty good. Trust like that is pretty rare these days, especially when offered to me. Rent free and working in the service of others. If I wasn’t moving back home, I wouldn’t hesitate to accept an opportunity like that. Its definitely been on my mind a lot since we talked.

I suppose that’ll do for this week. I sincerely hope you all had a great week, and that the next one is better. Please remember to keep sharing the love and the laughter with the world around you. It could brighten someone’s day, maybe even their life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have plans with my son. Going to try and make the most out of what time we have, and I may even get to video chat some family back home this evening and see my granddaughter.

Until tomorrow;

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” - E.F. Schumacher

[the-record-columns]

March 15, 2017: Columns

Notes on “The Snowstorm”

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

What with all the talk about the Great March Storm of 2017, which (at least so far) seems to have mercifully missed us, I am reminded of the winter of 1960 when it snowed for several Wednesdays in a row. We missed so much school that year we were actually glad when the schools opened back up. Then, of course, I am reminded that Millers Creek still gets more snow than anywhere else in the continental United States, including the brutal dusting this past Sunday morning. However, I have it on good authority that the roads were plowed in time for the folks at Arbor Grove Methodist to make it in.

Many times in this space I have chided Millers Creek resident and editor of The Record, Jerry Lankford, about making it to work during snowstorms. While I have accused him of operating on the “eight flakes to the acre” theory of not being willing to leave the warmth of his house on Kite Road, truth is he has never been stopped from getting to work. With that being said, many others have used the weather as an excuse over and over.

In the old days of the Central Telephone Company, many of those line guys would say “If the first snowflake hits me, that's God's fault. If the second flake hits me, it's my own sorry fault.” This theory was also easily adaptable for rain as well. But my all time favorite is the fact that through the years I have employed many women in various jobs, and, most of them seem to be married to the dumbest men on the fact r e of the earth. However, when the aforementioned eight flakes to the acre begins to fall, all of a sudden these men become crack meterologists, and the absolute authority in their lives, and I would hear the oft repeated refrain of' “Tony called. He says it's bad out there. I've got to go home--now. I've to do what Tony says.” Bear in mind that on any other subject these guys were said to be as dumb as a bag of cut hair.

But, it was when I was at a bank the other day, and the subject of weather, snow, and bank closings came up that I was reminded of the bank very few folks remember or maybe have never even heard of—the “Bank of Elbert.” Back in the 1970s, when I had the easiest job of my life, selling radio advertising for my friend and mentor Paul Cashion, that I had my first experiences with working for a living and how the weather could affect it. During my childhood, I had heard my daddy the preacher say he had seen enough snow to last him a lifetime (especially after the winter of 1960), and on other occasions as well. Of course, as a kid, I would reply that I would never say something silly like that—snow was pure fun, and that was the way it would always be. Not.

I have often said that I have eaten enough crow to spit feathers for a week, and this one is on the list. Snow was fun—that is, until you slip and slide into work to find that most of your customers didn't even open up that day, and that you, as a commissioned salesperson, all of a sudden wasn't making a dime. Even on those snow days when I was first getting my feet wet in business, so to speak, there was one constant I could always count on, the Spainhour's department store. In those days, the store was ran by Mr. Lincoln (Linc) Spainhour, and it was open every day it was supposed to be. And yes, that included snow. He may not have wanted much advertising on those snowy days, but he was there and ready to serve any hardy souls who ventured out. On days like that, Mr. Spainhour had more time to talk and visit and anytime spent with him was educational in one way or another. I was visiting with Mr. Lincoln in his office on the mezzanine on one of those slow snowy days when his bookkeeper Maggie stuck her head in and told him the banks were closing because of the weather and might not be open the next day as well.

“Not to worry,” he replied, Elbert will stay open. This was my first knowledge of what was loosely referred to as the “Bank of Elbert,” because it seemed as though every business in Downtown North Wilkesboro knew that Elbert Rhoades at his bookstore on Ninth Street kept enough cash and rolled coin to keep them operating—bank or no bank—regardless of the weather. And he wouldn't leave early.

Mr. Spainhour went on to say what a good fiend Elbert Rhoades had been to him and so many others in the area through the years. One of his comments was that “...if Elbert is your friend, he is your friend rain or shine.”

And, I suppose, snow.

Make Your Move

By LAURA WELBORN

I am not sure how my genetic make-up or environmental "up brining" plays into my inability to leave things.  Sometimes I think it is being raised Catholic where everyone has a tendency to stick it out through all situations or maybe I am just hardwired to give it my all even though it is time to move on.  When I read this from Home devotionals.com it made perfect sense to me and I hope it gives me a better perspective on recognizing when a door is closing and being open to new beginnings.

"Make Your Move By Dan Johnson  I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. -2 Corinthians 6:2

The Bible tells us there is a time for everything and that includes change

Many know the dissatisfaction that comes from overstaying our welcome at work, in a geographic location, or in a particular assignment in life. There is a time to come and a time to go. There is a time to dig in, lay down roots, and stake our claim. But the opportunities that arise in life are presented to us in the context of our age, ability, in the moment. We have to decide if they come to us in the fullness of time. Open doors can close and the regret of missed opportunities can sting as much as hasty actions. There comes a time to give in to growth, stretch our wings and fly. But how do we know when it's time to make a change?

"There's wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Good friends have the right to tell us the truth and may just have the grace to break the news to us gently.

Finally, we need to have a sense that our good gifts and talents are going to be used when we take on a new task. Stewardship demands that our lives line up with our abilities. And it's more fun that way.

Life is short, at best. We have a shelf life. While we're still fresh, we're called to live each day to the fullest with the knowledge we have. We can enjoy the satisfaction that comes when our day-to-day routines are still challenging, providing room for growth, and making us wish for one more day to do what we love."

The other day I was getting a routine eye exam and I started chattering about my greatest fear was developing Macular Degeneration like my Grandmother.  After going on and on about my fear, the Optometrist quietly told me that indeed I did have intermediate stage Macular Degeneration.  I have now made a promise not to obsess over things as they just may happen.  But on that note I have come to terms with living each day with a renewed vigor and appreciating that today I can see.  If my sight does become compromised then I will just find new ways to "see", and my greatest fear will just become an adjustment.  I will find new open doors and not worry so much about the doors closing behind me.

I should have known something was up when my dog, Powder, was sleeping on his favorite toy (ladybug pillow) with the eyes chewed out- it must have been a sign….

Laura Welborn,

Mediator

contact her at

laurawelborn1@gmail.com

    A liberal degree in anti-Semitism 

on America’s campuses

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

Anti-Semitic incidents are exploding across America, with more than 100 recent bomb threats to JCCs, overturned gravestones at Jewish cemeteries, and other troubling incidents. This "unprecedented and inconceivable escalation of anti-Semitic acts in the United States … is "chillingly reminiscent of the pogroms in Eastern Europe and … the Nazi rise to power," warned World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder.

The wave also pervades college campuses around the nation under the guise of protecting "oppressed" Palestinians from "colonial" Israel. In a survey of 50 U.S. universities, more than half the students reported observing or experiencing anti-Semitism from peers or staff. BDS-boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses, academics, and cultural events-often accompanies these incidents; though proponents claim to eschew racism, its real purpose is to delegitimize Israel.

But anti-Semitism and BDS are the tip of a formidable iceberg-the radical Left's agenda is to undermine Israel and erode the democratic foundations of America, Israel's ally. Its targeting of top U.S. colleges is designed to politically groom the next generation of leaders. The political Left was already orchestrating attacks against American academia when author David Horowitz chronicled in 2009 how the Left was insinuating its "radical agenda into … collegiate institutions … and even secondary schools." To defend our freedoms, democracy and the future of our children, we must recognize and heed this battle cry.

In earlier generations, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Islamic aggression evoked sympathy for Israel. But today's millennials are influenced not only by liberal professors and administrators, but also by being deliberately targeted by pro-terrorism student organizations that push the right progressive buttons by portraying Palestinians as the trodden-upon underdogs and Israel as a repressive Apartheid state "occupying" Palestinian land. In this intellectually clouded environment, millennials-those born after 1980-fail to analyze and assess facts, and blindly adopt the Palestinian platform in allegiance to a vague human-rights agenda favoring victims, underdogs and the oppressed.

Progressive student groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine systematically establish chapters across U.S. campuses where they aggressively market their message, joining forces with groups like Black Lives Matter and LGBQs to leverage their influence. Their methods are propaganda, graffiti, vandalism, harassment, intimidation and violent disruption tactics against Jews, pro-Israel individuals, student groups and events.

What makes the millennials so vulnerable to exploitation? They have no memory of the Holocaust or the 1967 war started by Arab states intent on destroying Israel. Although a majority (54 percent) of Americans support Israel, several polls report that millennial support for Israel is weakening as their enthusiasm for the Palestinian cause grows.

The erosion of the U.S. Anglo-European demographic base sheds some light, said historian Alex Joffe in The Times of Israel. Its biblically inspired religious tolerance and acceptance of Jews influenced America's institutions and values. But a 1965 immigration-quota change enacted to attract skilled labor was later replaced by amnesties that retroactively legalized millions of illegal immigrants who were indifferent to American values. These two policy shifts resulted in a new generation of ethnically and religiously diverse millennials.

Although conservative professors are hiding their views for fear of losing tenure, they may lose much more if they remain silent. Silence is also fueling Islam's influence over the minds of our youth. There has never been a greater need for Christians and those who love democracy to speak up on behalf of Israel. It's time for parents to withdraw support and tuition from universities that permit anti-Semitic acts; for academic leaders to discipline student organizations that foster hate; for students to report professors who politicize students, and to support pro-Israel student groups. Consider speaking to your congressional representatives and appealing to President Trump not to dismantle the State Department's envoy for combating anti-Semitism.

Mark G. Yudof, former president of the University of California system, said, "I don't want to see BDS become stronger because 20 years from now, these students will be judges, heads of Congress…We have to respond now to maintain the historical relationship with Israel."

Earl Cox is an international broadcaster and journalist who has served in senior level positions with four US presidents. Due to his outspoken support for Israel, he has been recognized by Prime Minister Netanyahu as a Goodwill Ambassador from Israel to the Jewish and Christian communities around the world and named the Voice of Israel to America by Israel's former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Mr. Cox resides in Charleston SC and in Jerusalem.

   Morning Eggs and a Celebration

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

So, there I sat in my booth at Cagney’s in Wilkesboro for a Saturday morning country breakfast of bacon, soft scrambled eggs with biscuit and gravy.

While I enjoy the flavors, I think the memories of growing up in a family that celebrated many of life’s specials moments around a table: set with savory country cooking is even more cherished than the food itself.

While I didn’t think of it at the time, those moments had a profound influence on my life. I’m sure those early days of celebrating life contributed greatly to the fact that I enjoy bringing people together for special occasions.

The idea of not offering food and beverage to guest seems to be an assault on the idea of civilized Southern Hospitality.

I don’t think it needs to be a lot, but it needs to taste and look good. I understand that taste and looks are subjective, but a good effort goes a long way.  

I’m certain it’s not just a southern thing, but I do think that we southern folks have a great knack for it and the stylistic way we do it sets us apart from others.

In the adjoining booth was a gathering of three who were celebrating the birthday of Buretta Faw, she was joined with her good friend Rita Aguilar and Buretta’s granddaughter, Lexis Wyatt.

While I was not part of their party, I could not help but to notice the happy moment. Buretta was presented with a variety of gifts, the first gift was jewelry that featured a sea shell, to which she displayed an expressive smile and said, “I see a trip to the beach coming up.”

The next gift also featured a sea shell to which with even more excitement she expressed her certainty that a trip to the beach would be in the not too distant future. With this comment, there is no doubt that Buretta loves trips to the beach.

Midway through my breakfast I noticed that the last gift was being presented.

It was a larger box that contained a custom bag that was printed with pictures of what must have been friends and family. As she looked over her gift her beaming smile was joined with tender tears.

While I did not know any of the celebrating people in the booth next to me. I felt the moment.

I extended a birthday wish and took a picture just like I was part of their group.

We do a lot things over the course of our lives. As Americans, we spend billions a year on the things we surround ourselves with.

As the years pass and as the interviews and stories keep adding up. I’m noticing more and more about what truly seems to be important in life for most people. It’s not about having a lot of the stuff.

For the most part, it’s the people in our lives, the good memories, the being together and the images of those we care for that makes our face leak.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its 8th year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte viewing market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturdays at 12 noon.  For more on the show visit  www.lifeinthecarolinas.com, You can email Carl White at Carl@lifeinthecarolinas.com.

Copyright 2017 Carl White