#but apparently I was ‘sleeping all day’ according to my mom

[enigma-the-anomaly]

I hate when there is anger inside my body. I am very small and my feelings are very big :(

[sugaroto]

"Soon they'll tell us to not make noise cause the tourists are sleeping

They told us not to go on vacation during July and August so the tourists wouldn't be bothered

They told the residents of Santorini to not circulate in the streets and bother the tourists

They ask the residents of the islands to not use a lot of water so the tourists can have

Soon they'll tell us to not make noise cause the tourists are sleeping"

I am a resident of an island. For weeks during the afternoon the water would stop, my mom who works 12 hours a day would come home tired and couldn't have a shower, apparently they were filling up the pools.

My island is big enough, I've been to a smaller island which has a water problem and they had signs inside the hotel "do not use a lot of water, we have a problem". Now this advice only goes to locals? And the problem now exists in inlands that didn't have this kind of problem before?

According to the comments of the original post, they've already been telling people to not make noise cause the tourists are bothered

A comment wrote "Soon they'll tell us to move out of our houses so the tourists can come" which, already has been happening.

Rented houses becoming Airbnb or really fucking expensive

Doctors, teachers and students are getting kicked out of their homes so tourists can go in

We don't have doctors. People are dying.

We need to send sick persons to Athens or bigger islands with a helicopter

Some years ago, a lady died in the back of a truck. The ambulance was in a different place of the island attending some tourists. They put the woman in a truck, a dentist who was nearby tried to help with any medical knowledge he had, they put her in the truck and a police car made way in front of them while they ran to the hospital. They didn't make it in time

Tourists with the rental cars are all over the street going as slow as possible while a mother has to run behind them in traffic to get her kid in different kind of classes

[seeingivy]

sharing

ryomen sukuna x f!reader

**part of my best friend's older brother fic

previous part linked here

--

things change slightly in the weeks that follow. 

according to your mom, who called you very upset on a tuesday afternoon, your dad had apparently decided to stay in town until the end of the month – and on very strict orders from sukuna and possibly any shred of self-preservation that you had in you – you weren’t going to be going back until he was gone for good. 

messages from sammy were few and infrequent, except for whenever she got drunk – something she very clearly got from your mom. always the same message, deeply apologetic and regretful, and it somehow was very slowly melting whatever it was that happened at the funeral. 

or it was just one of those things. 

she was your sister – she was blunt, a little harsh at times, but well meaning. or at least trying to be. but she was still your sister and for some reason, you were just going to get over it, in the real way, without thinking twice. 

but you do realize that it was too naive to think that years of butting heads and stepping on each other’s toes wasn’t going to go away just because you had decided to be friends and sang kumbaya while buying lingerie. 

that much should have been obvious though, since sukuna and yuuji had done their version of that years prior, and yet still had the meltdown they did a few months ago. it was always one of those complicated things you figured – growing up in the same house, being competition, stuck in admiration or hatred. 

the family business, one that sukuna and yuuji both refused to ever be a part of, has fallen at the seams. and while sukuna has no intention of ever working there – much to satoru’s delight – he’s fixing the mess of the finances that were left behind for all of the employees and the stipends that he were going to help his mom. 

meaning he has to go back to town. the town that you refuse to return to for the time being. and he won’t let you accompany him.   

and it’s in the week that he disappears that you wonder if you’re starting to be too codependent. if it’s normal for you to miss someone this amount, to worry about him so much, to the point where he occupies your every thought. 

he tries to call when he can. sometimes they’re a few in between because you know that he’s spending time with his mom, that he doesn’t like being home, that whatever it all is – it’s stressful and he hates it. 

your mom sends you a picture of him once in a while. sometimes you stare at it for a little too long. 

“hi sweet girl. how are you?” 

his voice sounds tired over the phone, the smallest hint of a rasp tinged in with the strained tone. 

“i’m okay, ryo. how are you?” 

sukuna can feel his heart sink at the nickname. at the fact that you use nicknames, terms of endearment, and he hasn’t heard them in days. 

“good, good. are you getting ready for bed?” sukuna asks. 

“yeah.” 

there’s a quiet beat. maybe you should have been more descriptive than that. that was a little flat. 

“is that fucking gel cat strawberry in the spot next to you?” 

you smile. 

“it’s a jelly cat. and yes, it is.” 

“enjoy it while it lasts. i’m going to throw it out the window when i get back.” 

“you’re so rude.” 

he laughs over the line and you can’t help but sigh before immediately regretting it. 

you wonder if he sleeps well. or if he laughs often with the moms or if he’s just run in different directions trying to make sure they’re all okay. 

“oh don’t break my heart, now. you miss me, sweetheart?” he murmurs. 

you can tell by the tone in the voice that he’s trying to coddle you. you almost want to give in just to hear him sweet talk you down. 

“yeah. gets real scary here without you.” you joke

“is that right?” 

“not actually. but you know like right before you go to sleep and the house creaks? i panic for one second and then decide that i should send a prayer out to the universe so i don’t die before falling asleep.” 

“always one for the dramatics.” 

“i know. i’m sure it always creaks but i’ve always shared a room – either with sammy or with mai across the way who was always blasting music. and you snore, so i never even not–” 

“i don’t snore.” 

“yes, you do.” 

“no, i don’t.” 

“i will admit. while it does take me some time to fall asleep, i’ve never slept so soundly with you gone. it’s so serene.” 

you know for a fact that sukuna’s rolling his eyes on the other side of the line. 

“wow, sweetheart. i should just do you a favor and stay here longer then.” 

“every night i wake up in a panic without you! i’ll never sleep again!” you joke. 

sukuna laughs. 

“that sounds about right. but really…i…i’ll be back soon, okay? i don’t like being away for so long.” he murmurs quietly. 

you frown. 

“don’t feel bad. you know you have to be there.” 

“i don’t feel bad. well, maybe i do a little but i mainly just fucking miss you.” he mumbles. 

you smile. 

“sap.” 

you pause. 

“i miss you too, you know?” 

“i was waiting for that. give me a little more.” he responds. 

you smile. mainly at the fact that he expresses what he wants so openly. or that he misses it just as much as you do. 

“i miss you a lot. it feels so weird to sleep in our bed without you that i fall asleep on the fold out couch.” 

sukuna scoffs. 

“you mean you fall asleep watching tv and don’t move because i’m not there to pick you up?” 

“yeah, more like that.” 

sukuna laughs. 

“sleep in the guest.” 

“ew. it smells like yuuji and megumi’s cologne. and while they smell great, i don’t like smelling like them when i wake up.” 

“does our bed smell like me?” he asks. 

“yeah but i prefer the real thing so i sleep on the couch. i refuse to elaborate.” 

sukuna gets it. 

“i’ll be back soon, okay? i’m almost done and then…then i’m running back to you, alright?” he whispers. 

“okay. i do have something planned this weekend for your birthday, but don’t stress about it. it won’t be anything big.” 

sukuna pauses. 

he forgot that his birthday was coming around. 

he would be lying if he was saying that he wasn’t looking forward to it. he supposes that he was your opposite in that way. since no matter what it was, the circumstances good or bad, your birthday had been soured so bad that nothing could make it good – not even him. 

he didn’t blame you. or even take it personally.  

but he couldn’t relate. because he knew you – and it wasn’t arrogant of him to assume that you were going to go all out, no matter the circumstances. not only did you have a bad habit of leaving tabs or notes that were very clearly labeled gift ideas out in the open, but he knew that you would do something special for him, that he’d get to chart in all of the cherished memories that he had with you. 

it would be another sour patch of his that you’d sew right over, with careful and steady hands. but with every milestone that he thought of now, it was bittersweet. 

first birthday with you. first birthday without his dad – not that it really meant much in the first place. 

“no parties.” sukuna clarifies. 

“no, it’ll actually be just you and me. and i think you’ll like it, you–” 

“i’ll love it.” 

you smile. 

“i love you.” you state. 

he’s quiet on the other side of the line. 

“sukuna?” 

“i want to say it back but the moms are staring at me.” he mumbles quietly.

you smirk. 

“say it.” 

“no.” 

“you’re going to let me go to bed without an i love you?” 

“i’ll text it to you.” 

“ryomen sukuna. tell me you love me.” 

sukuna sighs. 

“i love you. call me if you can’t sleep, okay?” 

you can hear giggling in the background. and you’re sure he’s three different shades of pink. 

“i will.” 

--

not even an hour later, yuuji is standing on your doorstep – with a peachy smile and a bag slung over his shoulder. 

“yuuji? you–” 

“sleepover!” 

he walks past you and falls straight onto the couch, placing his bag next to him as he reaches for the remote. you quickly shut the door and take the spot next to him, watching as he starts shuffling through the movies, so cavalier about barging in so late and unannounced. 

“do you always show up to people’s apartment’s unprovoked with all your things?” 

yuuji smiles, reaching forward to flick your forehead. 

“no, just for you.” 

“figures.” 

you watch as he flits through all of the movies, nestling his head into your shoulder, as you return the gesture and lean your cheek against his. it takes two seconds for you to figure it out. 

“did he call you?” you ask. 

“he did. said some weird stuff about tables and carrying stuff. pretty sure he was just asking me to keep you company, which don’t mind if i do.” yuuji responds. 

you smile. of course. 

“i made one half joke about how i don’t like to sleep alone and he sent you running.” 

“isn’t that sweet? i can tell he’s been thinking about you a lot.” yuuji responds. 

you lean back, giving him a confused look. and you can tell by the look on his face that he knows exactly what you’re trying to get at, but pretends otherwise. 

“what? it’s sweet! he asked me to come take care of you.” yuuji clarifies. 

“since when do you find him sweet? no lecture about how he thinks i can’t handle things on my own?” 

yuuji scoffs, before pressing on the princess diaries. 

“you can’t take care of anything on your own.” 

“what a vote of confidence.” you deadpan

yuuji sighs, as you watch the movie start, and both sink deeper into the couch. a telltale sign that you realize both sukuna and yuuji have – one that you deeply appreciate – is that they’re always careful with their words. 

the opposite of sammy really, of your dad too. they won’t talk until they know whatever they’re going to say is something they mean. 

“you can take care of things on your own. but i like that being with him means that you don’t have to sometimes. for both of you.” yuuji states. 

you smile. 

“i like that too. it’s a nice change.” you respond. 

“i’m really sorry, y/n.” 

“i know.” 

yuuji swallows hard, reaching for the remote and pausing the movie before he turns to your side, your limbs now a tangled mess of being criss-crossed as he leans forward. 

“really. i’ve been so shit to you when this is all i’ve ever wanted for you.” 

“it’s okay. this…this stuff is really complicated for you and…” 

yuuji shakes his head, before looking down at your joined hands, fingers interlocked together. 

“this isn’t any excuse but…but…” 

yuuji sighs. 

“when sukuna came back, i thought he was really different. i mean, he was really different. i don’t know what you noticed, but he came back softer. he always gave me my space and let me come to him and we were working back through all of our stuff together.” yuuji starts. 

you’re not sure if you noticed a difference after he came back. he always seemed the same as always – a little withholding, like he was keeping you at arms distance. though, that seems to make more sense to you now. 

“but he’s still the brother i grew up with. there’s still things that i’m sensitive to, that…that i can’t get over.” 

you feel a pang in your chest. 

“i get that. you know…i kind of get that with sammy sometimes.” 

yuuji frowns. 

“yeah?” he whispers. 

you can feel the bitter contempt in your chest lingering. 

“i don’t know. i thought things were going well but…sometimes it’s just the same things as before. she’s just…always brushing me off. so harsh with her words. sometimes i think about the funeral and i’m glad sukuna’s not here just so i can lock myself in here and be alone.” 

you shake your head. 

“it’s like she’s picking at a scab. it’s the one thing i don’t want her to do and it’s the one thing that always happens. and she’s the only person who has that power in the first place, who…who gets to be that sore spot. and i know that it’s just how it is and it’s complicated but…” 

“but you can’t.” yuuji finishes. 

you shrug. 

“you were my scab.” yuuji states. 

you curl your nose in disgust, looking up to find the same expression mirrored on his face before you both laugh. 

“real cute.” 

“i mean…my thing with sukuna was that he was always better than me in every respect. that…that everything he did was perfect, that…that he was born normal and i wasn’t.” 

you cringe. 

“you are normal, you..” 

yuuji smiles. 

“i know i am. i just mean in my head, i always figured things were so easy for him. school was easy, sports were easy. he liked girls – he’d never have to sit there and debate if he was ever going to meet someone who liked him and when if he did, he wouldn’t have to give up his entire family for it.” 

yuuji pauses. 

“you were my best friend. you are my best friend. you’re my thing that’s always been easy. we don’t really fight, spending time with you never gets old, and…and really, you’re the only person i’ve known will always be around.” 

you smile. 

“it just felt like another thing he was going to be better at than me. and it’s selfish, but it was something i didn’t want to share. and i don’t expect you to get it, but…” 

you scoff. 

“don’t expect me to get it? you’re forgetting that i was the one who had to learn how to share you first. and maybe i didn’t say it out loud, but…i had some evil monologues for megumi that i was cooking up in my head.” 

yuuji laughs, almost like he’s relieved. 

“really?” 

“trust me. there was an entire basis behind the petty comments that i was making. i should have been more open with it but…but i don’t hate you for feeling that way. if anything, it makes me kind of happy, i guess. it did feel like you forgot all about me once you guys started dating, but…it’s nice to know you feel that way still. about me. even if it was annoying.” 

you pause. 

“you and i are special. and i can’t speak for you, but…sukuna’s never going to be what you are for me. i love him, but you…you’re not someone who could ever be replaced.” you affirm. 

yuuji smiles. 

“and megumi isn’t what you are for me either. he’s the love of my life. but you’re always going to be my soulmate.” 

you smile, rolling over the word in your head. soulmate – you and yuuji were soulmates. and he leans forward, placing his hands on your shoulder and squeezing. 

“now go on. tell me about him.” 

“what?” you ask. 

“i know you want to tell me about how happy you are. how it makes you feel. and i want to hear it. just refrain from talking about like how big his dick is or whatever and i’ll be fine.” 

you smile. 

“really? you mean it?” 

yuuji smiles back. 

“i’ve unfortunately heard the entire story of what that asshole was doing to you after the fact. it would make me really happy to hear how happy you are now.” 

you lean back on the couch and explain it all to him – french toast, bridgerton mugs (which he winces at when he remembers sammy broke them), emails, his coworkers, kisa, and everything in between. 

you don’t hear the apartment creak at night when you go to bed – instead it’s his labored breaths next to yours. 

--

sukuna makes it back early in the morning to find yuuji making breakfast in the kitchen and what he knows is you facedown still dead asleep in the mound of blankets on the couch. he gives yuuji a noncommittal wave before walking over to the couch and bending down at the side. 

sukuna can’t help but reach forward, brushing his back of his fingers against the softness of your cheek before tangling your hair away from your forehead. he can smell the remnants of the shampoo in your hair, your lips still a glossy pink from the balm you put on at night. 

“wake her up. give her a kiss.” yuuji whispers, now standing at his side. 

“are you crazy? she’s sleeping.” 

sukuna shakes his head, reaching forward to press a kiss to your hairline, before the two of them shuffle back to the kitchen. sukuna settles for a cup of coffee as he watches yuuji make the mix of french toast, the stillness hanging in the air between them. 

“dunno. if it were me and i went days without seeing megumi, i’d wake him up right away. why deprive myself of love and affection?” 

“you should deprive yourself more often. i’ve seen you two kiss far too many times. heard the words gumi bear way more than i’d like to.” 

yuuji snorts. 

“was she happy you came?” sukuna asks. 

“yeah. doubt she heard any of that creaking or anything she was telling you about since we were talking the entire time.” yuuji responds. 

it’s a small breath of relief – that sending yuuji was the right move – only to be coupled with guilt. 

sukuna hadn’t had time to check in on yuuji. 

“what did you talk about?” 

yuuji grins. 

“you.” 

yuuji looks over at him, grinning at him fully this time. 

“special edition bridgerton mugs? twilight themed emails? who knew you were so fucking corny? and that you watch bridgerton?” 

sukuna can feel his cheeks heat up, as he rolls his eyes. 

“she loves that shit. she made me watch it.” 

“no, she didn’t. she told me that you had watched it already and that your favorite season is the first one? not only are you a liar but you have god awful taste.” 

“let me guess. you like kate and anthony, like every other person on the fucking planet?” 

yuuji rolls his eyes. 

“everyone likes it for a reason. it’s perfect.” 

the two of them glare at each other, before giving up, and letting the same stillness take over. it’s not exactly uncomfortable, but there’s something lingering there – the two of them are stuck in their own heads about how they’re going to approach it, and more importantly, who is going to do it first. 

it’s yuuji. 

“the mugs thing is sweet. i’m sorry sammy broke them.” 

sukuna shrugs. 

“i’m bidding on ebay. no big deal.” 

yuuji notes that he responds to the second part of the statement and not the first. 

“i like that you do nice things for her. she really appreciates that you do.” yuuji repeats. 

 sukuna sighs. 

“did she say that?” 

yuuji smiles. 

“all that and more. she really loves you.” 

sukuna lets his eyes wander back to the couch, settling back into how foreign the apartment feels from being away for so long, and trying to let it all come back to him – how it was before he left things, how the two of you were. 

he’s scared he’ll do it wrong. 

“I’m really happy for you too. she’s exactly what you deserve.” yuuji states. 

it’s a weird sense of deja vu that sukuna gets – of the very first night. that loud bar, the mildew smell in the bathroom, and your tear streaked pink face. of the very first time that it occurred to him that there were people who had upset you, who had let you down, and that maybe he was the only person who was good enough for you – because he was the only one who intended to give you what you deserve. 

that he got to reap the goodness of the sweet love when he knew for a fact that he’d always be one to give it back to you, no matter how he was. that he was exactly what you deserved – maybe the only person who was because of how much he loved you. 

“what?” 

yuuji takes a beat. 

“were you expecting the opposite?” yuuji asks. 

“do you blame me?” 

yuuji shakes his head. 

“i am really happy for both of you. but i wouldn’t lie if i said i was more happy for you. i’ve known her a long time – and i’ve always wanted her to have someone who saw her for how special she is. and i always knew that it would happen, it was just a matter of time.” 

yuuji continues. 

“but i’m more happy for you. i had no idea that you had liked her for that long. i only now realize that the only person you could be that open with is her. and well…i don’t fucking know. shit sucked when we were kids. maybe for all of us, but for you the most. i know she loves hard. and i mean it, that’s what you deserve after everything.” 

there’s a lump in sukuna’s throat. he wants to tell yuuji everything – about why he left, about how him being around made it easy for him for a long time, how there was a time where he didn’t think he was going to live past twenty and now he’s reaching yet another birthday on the weekend. 

“i spent my entire life thinking i’d never get to be in love. and i’m not sure if that’s what you thought – but i know you weren’t ever thinking you’d get the girl of your dreams, and that on top of that, that it would be perfect. but really. it’s nothing more than what you deserve, sukuna.” 

but all he does is give him a nod. yuuji’s smart enough to parse what it means – that in the long rambling that he heard last night – he knows he has to learn how to read the silences, the quiet cues. 

“it means a lot to her that you came around.” sukuna starts. 

sukuna clears his throat. 

“and to me too.” he finishes. 

yuuji smiles. 

“and i suppose i should thank you. i always said she was like family to me, but it’ll be nice to tell people she’s actually my sister in the future.” yuuji responds, before squeezing his shoulder. 

sukuna smiles. 

“do you really let her call you ryomen?” yuuji asks. 

“yeah.” 

“thought you hated that name.” 

“i did.” 

there’s a reason that he went by sukuna. because every time that he slipped, he’d hear that godwful venomous voice, of his father telling him that he had given him such a special family name – and that sukuna had done nothing to deserve it. 

sukuna vividly remembers when he was a kid, when he used to beg everyone around him to call him sukuna, correcting them until they virtually forgot that his name was ryomen in the first pace. 

sukuna can feel the dryness in his throat, accompanied with a burning wetness in his eyes. yuuji makes no comment about it. 

“she just says it with so much love.” 

sukuna pauses, trying to will away that rising wave of emotion that was simmering in his chest, and put it away for the time being. 

“what did she get me for my birthday?” sukuna asks. 

yuuji nods. 

“she’s taking you on a weekend trip. a few cities over. she said there’s some cherry blossoms in season and that there’s a few museums that she wants you to see. figured it would be a nice rest for you given everything that’s been going on.” 

sukuna sighs, only because the wave comes back in full force. 

to be loved is to be known. 

clear cut proof that you had heard him loud and clear, when he had bared his soul to you. and not only that, but had known well enough that whatever was stewing in his head was getting dangerously close, maybe the closest it had been in years, to the edge – and that you had every intention to pull him back in the way he had pulled himself out in the first time. 

“is that good?” yuuji asks. 

“it’s perfect.” sukuna responds, before giving him one last nudge. 

sukuna decides that he won’t deprive himself. and instead leans forward, pressing his lips against yours – and pleasantly surprised when you smile right back at him in your sleep, his name honey on your lips, as he sinks into your arms. 

--

next part linked here

an: kind of filler again. sorry. apologies. also two more of this fic before it's done :O

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[authormars]

Demons and Sleeping

So, obviously we know demons sleep from various texts in the og game (I have no idea about NB, I literally just got OG a week ago. This was totally not prompted by a Mammon text I received)

But according to my canon (which is overly complicated because apparently I enjoy making life hard for my ADHD girlfriend who doesn't remember half the stuff I text her) not all demons have to sleep.

For example, Barbatos. Yes, he can sleep. Yes, he can get exhausted. But the hours of rest he has to get per week is close to 0 because of what kind of demon he is.

Sloth demons always need at least 12 hours a day, normally more like 16-17. Gluttony demons have a tendency more toward 9-11 hours a day. Lust demons can go without sleep for a day, but they generally average 8-10. Wrath demons don't need a whole lot, most only really needing maybe 6 hours a night (which is why I have the headcanon Satan spends half the night reading)

Envy demons don't really have a consensus, but most normally depression sleep for 7-9 hours. Greed demons are like lust where they can go a bit without sleeping, but generally need 7-8 hours. Pride demons, however, are fucking weird.

Pride demons can go without sleep for 3 days and be fine. Their general need for sleep per week is maybe 10 hours. Maybe 14. Which is why I have the headcanon Lucifer legitimately doesn't get tired the first night he pulls an all-nighter. The subsequent days after... Are a different story.

Royal demons are also weird. Due to the Royal Family (Diavolo's family) encompassing all sins, he doesn't really have a set need for sleep. Depending on how he's feeling, he could need 16 hours or he could need 4. Which obviously frustrates his pride demon boyfriend who's trying to do work and his time demon butler/mom who just wants to not deal with his shenanigans during the night

And not just sleeping hours. It's also how they sleep. Demons have to keep their human forms with magic, which is why lower demons don't have a human form. So when demons are asleep, they generally revert into a human-demon shape, not unlike their demon forms. They still look human, but their tails, wings, and/or horns will be out.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Please ask me things. I love Dialuci. Remember to drink water today <3

[inkblot22]

Can You Keep A Little Secret?

JFC this took me longer than usual I'm so sorry anon. I sort of explained it before, but I didn't exactly use your prompt, based on ineptitude on my part. After I finish reading Oshi no Ko, I might try again! Line divider by @/cafekitsune.

This fic is aimed towards sort of everyone, but the reader possesses afab features (they don't come into play until later, this chapter has no mention of them.) You'll understand what I mean by it being for everyone if you read the first paragraph or so. It has to do with suspending your belief/ employing your imagination.

TW for: lots of confusion, semi-shy reader, creep behavior, mention of death, mention of lobotomy/grippy sock jail, reincarnation. These warnings will get worse, and this takes place when all characters are 18+.

Waking up was never your favorite part of the day, but that feeling increases tenfold when you wake up in someone else’s body. You know for sure you didn’t look like this last week, and the name on your ID is similar to your own, but you don’t recognize the face in the mirror. Whoever you’re inhabiting has a few similar features to your own, but your skin was never this dewy, your eyes never so… hollow and strange. 

When you looked up your name, you found out that you, or your body, at least, had died in your sleep. When you looked up the name on that ID, you found out that you’re the child of some big business man and a prolific model, and you apparently dabble in acting. Your dad isn’t your dad, but he calls you every night to make sure you’re settling into your “new” apartment. Your mom isn’t your mom, but she has popped by once or twice to ask you how you’ve been and make you really good food. She mentioned last night that your acting instructor was worried, since you hadn’t attended your Thursday classes, and also that your agent has been trying to contact you. You didn’t know you had an agent.

When you called your agent, who was literally just titled “Agent” in your new phone, she sounded relieved then irritated, chiding you for living the high life too fast. She said you weren’t popular or loved enough to go on week-long benders, and then she mentioned that she had a job for you and she’d see you on Thursday. According to this phone that isn’t yours, Thursday was tomorrow. 

You made a night of getting prepared- slathering on the fancy face masks, trying on various outfits, scrolling through the pictures on the phone of your new body in the past, painting your really gorgeous nails- and then you went to sleep and woke up to a phone call from your new dad. 

“Hi, sweetheart!”

“Uh… hi, Dad…” You mumbled. You didn’t know him from Adam, but there was no point in being rude to him.

He pauses, and then he speaks slowly, “Did you hear from your agent, honey?”

“Yeah- yeah I did, uh, I have acting class in a little, and she said she has a job for me.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear it! You know you can always visit me if something is wrong, okay? Just call me or Devin and he’ll come get you as soon as possible.”

You don’t know who Devin is, but you don’t point it out, “Of course. Thank you, dad.”

There was another pause. This one stretches out for a while and then he mumbles, “Okay… love you, sweetpea.”

“Uh… love you too. I’ll call you when I get back home?”

“Sure thing. Bye bye.”

The call ends with a click and you hop in the shower, trying to scrub away the confusion. You pair the lotion with a body spray that makes you smell like a summer afternoon in an apple orchard, and then you dress yourself in a soft off the shoulder sweater dress with a pair of tights with little sequins and gems sewn onto the sheer black material. You pull your hair back, tied at the nape of your neck, and roll on some lip gloss. You grab your bag, which isn’t your bag, and stroll out, walking down the street to get to the talent agency.

The receptionist looks at you in some measure of shock and greets you kindly. You smile and wave. He looks even more confused as you clomp into the stairwell. Once you get to the third floor, mildly out of breath, you hurry to room 3-5 and silently slide into the back.

You’re not sure why you’re acting so covert, as the class hasn’t even started. A woman with dark hair strolls in and flinches when she sees you sitting there, your new name tumbling from her lips with confusion.

“Hello.” You hope that she’s the instructor, “How are you?”

She looks at you like you grew two heads and forces a smile, “Oh, I’m well, dear. Give me a moment to look outside.”

She clicks to the window in her heels and opens the blinds looking around wildly before she turns back to you.

“Well, nothing’s on fire and there’s a distinct lack of flying pigs, so I guess you’re finally serious about getting better at acting?” 

“Uh… I…?” You don’t know how to respond, “I didn’t realize I’d been late so often.”

“Late? Half the time you didn’t even show up. The only person worse than you is-”

The door behind you opens. You clench your hands to stop the shaking you just realized you were struggling with, and turn slightly in your seat to see a willowy young man, tousled lavender hair being haphazardly smoothed by his slender hands.

The instructor snorts, “Speak of the devil. Hello, Mr. Felmier.”

He smiles, but it’s a bit too calculated. When he speaks, his voice is soft, almost artificial, “Ah ha… Good morning, Angie.”

Angie, evidently, rolls her eyes and takes a seat at the front of the room, crossing her long legs, and tilts her head skeptically, “Sure. If a satellite doesn’t crash in this room and kill us all in the middle of class, I’ll be shocked.”

“Mr. Felmier” walks over and smiles at you. It seems even more strained than before, and keeps eye contact with you as he points to the chair next to you, his voice high and sweet, “Mind if I sit here?”

“Oh, of course not. I don’t own that chair, haha!” You joke. 

His face twitches, some micro expression that you’re just observant enough to notice, but not to see, and he takes a seat. Angie gets up and leaves and you look out the window. You can feel eyes on you, and when you turn to look at him, his face is impassive save for a slight narrowing of his eyes. You look down at yourself and pat your cheeks, suddenly nervous.

“Oh, no, is there something on me?” You ask.

He doesn’t immediately respond, his eyes blinking so fast that if he hadn’t done it twice you would have never seen the movement, and then he gives you that sweet, plastic smile, “Oh, no. Your makeup is different than usual. It looks nice. Pretty.”

“I- I’m only wearing lipgloss, so I guess that’s why. Thank you.”

He nods slowly, and tilts his head, still smiling as though he’s trained to do so, “After we’re done here, did you want to go get brunch together?”

You’re about to say no. You don’t remember him, because this is not your life you’re living, but if you did know him, you’d decline anyway. Something feels funny about him. You don’t really have to decline, though, since you have to go down to floor 2 and see your agent afterwards anyway, “Oh, uh, I’m so sorry. I have to do something after.”

“I can wait.”

“I don’t want to put you out. Maybe another time?”

His eyebrows pinch together ever so slightly and his smile doesn’t strain, but it feels wrong as he leans his elbow on the back of his chair to better face you, “Did you hear the news from Mirelle?”

“What news?” You don’t know who Mirelle is.

“Oh, you’re meeting with her afterwards, aren’t you?” He smooths the hair along your temple so it is slicked behind your ear, “Are you wearing that perfume I got you? You said you hated it.”

Okay, so whoevers body this was definitely knew this man, and now you don’t even know his full name. Judging from the way he’s speaking to you, you were friends at least. Your lashes flutter and you look away from him.

“I- I’m sorry. It smells very nice.” You don’t know how you’re supposed to be acting. The irony of waiting for an acting class while not knowing what your role here happens to be is not lost on you.

Felmier sits up like you insulted him and his voice is quiet, so quiet and tense that you don’t think you’re supposed to hear him, “Interesting.” 

You glance at him again, “What?”

“I didn’t say anything. You like that bagel place down the street, don’t you? After you see Mirelle, meet me in the lobby. I think we should have a chat.” Although he is smiling, his voice doesn’t leave any room for argument as he turns back to the front. 

You stand up, leaving your purse in your seat, and walk to the window, looking out of it for a moment until Angie strolls back in. She clicks her tongue and you walk back to your seat.

“It’s just you two? Now I’m really expecting a freak accident. Well, let’s get started.”

Acting class was… interesting. Since it was just the three of you, Angie had you read lines from a script and act out some kind of argument. She seemed pleased with your performance, but Felmier kept stumbling over his lines and making the wrong expression. He seemed tense by the time the two hour long session was over. You didn’t want to follow that thread, and besides, you had somewhere to be. You went down the stairs again and bumped into a woman with silver hair, who looked at you just as confused as everyone else had been, and smiled sweetly, genuinely.

“Hey, you. You’re a bit early.” She says.

“Uh, yeah. I guess so? I don’t know.” You guessed this was supposed to be Mirelle, your agent, maybe. 

“It’s a good change, babe. Why don’t you come into my office?” She doesn’t really ask, since she’s already leading you over.

She takes a seat behind her desk and you take a seat in front of her, and she taps away at her computer for a moment before she says something.

“You remember Epel? Epel Felmier?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“Oh? You ‘guess so��? Not that the two of you are constantly arguing, or anything.” She smirks, glancing away from her monitor to look at you, “Regardless, I’ve got something that will help with your little PR nightmare last month. What were you thinking?”

“Uh, I’m sorry.”

Her eyes narrow a fraction, but whatever she was thinking is ignored, “You and Epel are gonna be collaborating on an upcoming short film. Hopefully the two of you don’t get into another screaming match.”

“Um. Yeah. Hopefully.” All this new information and these new people are making your head spin. You don’t want to start panicking- you did enough of that last week- but you’re already exhausted. You wonder if there’s a back entrance to this building so you can just sneak out and don’t have to talk to Epel again. You don’t think you can mentally handle him talking to you over a cup of coffee.

Your agent, Mirelle, is looking at you expectantly, like she just said something. Your heart jumps into your throat, then sinks to your gut and you clear your throat quietly, shifting in your chair.

She laughs airily, “Oh, you didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”

You shake your head, and she laughs again.

“I just said that production starts Monday. Try not to do anything crazy. This project is monumentally important for your public image.”

“Okay. Sorry for causing so much trouble in the past.” You mutter, standing up.

She shrugs with a happy little grin, “Oh, you’re young. Maybe you’ll grow out of it.”

You just nod. How are you supposed to even respond to that? If you get mad, you’ll probably get hysterical, and if you get hysterical, that is a one way ticket to a stay in grippy sock jail or a lobotomy. Rich people are different, and even though you’re living in some rich person’s body, you did not live this life for longer than a week. 

You purposely walk to the other staircase. Most buildings have two for fire safety. Your eyes water as you pause on the stairs and you sigh before you start descending them. 

Just as you get to the exit, your hand on the door, you hear a voice behind you, “Hey.”

It scares you out of your skin. You jump and spin and squawk, only to meet the wicked smile of Epel. It doesn’t reach his round blue eyes. He tilts his head from side to side, slowly, as if appraising you, and then he starts walking towards you and you push back against the door, opening it ever so slightly. He stops his motion and looks a tad surprised.

Then his eyes narrow, “Come back in.”

His voice sounds different, rougher. You don’t really want to, but it’s hot outside and you figure from all the odd looks and reactions you’ve gotten, running would be too erratic for this poor person’s life you’ve taken over. 

When you close the door and remain leaned against it, Epel’s face relaxes. You didn’t even realize he was making any sort of tense expression. He glances at the spandrel, the area beneath the stairs, and sighs.

“You hit your head last week? That why you were missin’?” Yeah, he’s speaking entirely differently. He has a sort of charming country twang to his voice, an underlying roughness that makes him seem even more boyish than before.

“Huh?”

“‘Huh?’” He mocks, looking back at you. He looks like he might cry, but his eyes are angry, “That all you got to say? For years you’ve told me that I don’t mean shit, and now you’re actin’ like you don’t even know me.”

He is right. You don’t know him at all. Even though you’re still in the cool building, you begin to sweat. You don’t know what to say to this without going through the experiences you’ve had in the past week, so you decide you don’t have to, especially since it seems like he may get aggressive if you say the wrong thing.

You lean hard against the aptly named panic bar, turn on your heel once outside, and take off running. It dawns on you a little late that he might be following, or, seven forbid, that he knows where you live, so you take a different route as dictated by your GPS and call your new father as soon as you get in the building.

It’s the middle of the work day, so he obviously doesn’t pick up. You unlock the apartment door and pant breathlessly, leaving a hasty voicemail, “O-oh, great seven- ugh- okay, hi, Dad. I told you I’d call you when I get home, so that’s what I’m doing. Hope I didn’t disrupt a meeting or whatever. Call me back, bye.”

You flop face down on the bed and groan, rolling onto your back as the ringtone that you would never choose goes off. In bold white letters on the screen, it says “Bumpkin Boy” with no other indication of who it might be. You pick up.

The voice on the other end sounds heated, a quiet mocking lilt to it, “Bet you went home, huh?”

Your blood runs cold and your very ability to speak is ripped from your lips.

“S’okay. You don’t have to talk. I could pay you a little visit, see what it’s like to live like a nepo baby for a day, but I think…” He pauses, and when he next speaks you hear the smile in his voice, “I think I’ll just wait for Monday, since you owe me a coffee date, don’t you?”

He hangs up after that. You stand up and double-check that you’ve locked the door before you hide in your closet and try not to start hyperventilating. You can’t even beat yourself up for this one. These circumstances are entirely out of your control.

[hamliet]

what do you think of hamlet and juilet as characters? what is their purpose and role in the story?

Oh boy, two of my favorites! In case my usename wasn't a tell haha. Here's something I wrote in the past.

Apparently they both have "whiney teen" reputations now? They're both not. At all.  

Juliet is a teenage girl who has grown up in a war zone and comes alive with love. She, like Romeo, chooses to focus on love when they've only known bloodshed. Like, they are brave kids, not whiney cowards. 

I've written a lot on her; she's one of my favorite characters in all of literature. She's a deliberate deconstruction of the idealized woman of the literary day, the character who changes the most in the play, and her faithfulness and loyalty are stated over and over again, including in the play's closing lines, to be her defining characteristics. That she's reduced to a flighty, insecure needs-a-man, hysterical image is textually wrong. Juliet is That Girl. 

Also, unlike every other Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo and especially Juliet die as the best versions of themselves, not as a parody of what they started out as like, say, Othello or Hamlet...

Ah, Hamlet. I love him for how tragic his arc is--to go from someone who is trying his best in horrible circumstances to still be a good person and honor those he loves to being someone who has unwittingly helped destroy everyone he loves, and become the murderer he desperately didn't want to be.

Hamlet is a college-aged kid who comes back over break to find his dad is dead and his mom married his uncle. Idk about you but I think that'd give anyone a complex. Not to mention his source of comforts all turn on him (except Horatio); two of his school friends spy on him, and his girlfriend is ordered by her dad to play it cool instead of, you know, be there for him. He wouldn't have needed a ghost to end up in a mental health crisis contemplating "to be or not to be."

Despite it all, he still wants to slow down and think. He doesn't want to do the wrong thing. Problem is he delays too long--because he does not want to be a murderer--and when he does act, it's sloppy and he murders the father of the girl he loves by mistake.  

But lest you think I'm throwing anyone under the bus, I'm not... well, besides Claudius, Polonius who is a bad dad, and Rozencrantz and Guildenstern who were bad friends. Hamlet's mom and girlfriend though? 

Gertrude's decision to marry Claudius--while Shakespeare never gets into her interior world, there are a few possibilities and they mostly looks terrible and contradictory. The Ghost accuses Gertrude of adultery before his murder thanks to the hasty elopement, but never accuses her of murder and even tells Hamlet to "leave her to Heaven." If Gertrude really was cheating, then she willingly marries someone she has to know is a murderer (unless she's beyond dumb).

Or, let's think pragmatically according to the day. If Gertrude had not married Claudius instantly (most probably she seduced him), how long do we think she and Hamlet would stay alive? Because Hamlet's existence is a threat to Claudius's reign even by Denmark's elective monarchy of the day (plus he was abroad when the murder happens). By marrying Claudius Gertrude may be literally trying to save herself and her son--only issue is, no one sees it like that, and how to explain that to her son, who's been raised in a patriarchal society? 

Ophelia doesn't have much choice, either. Women's sexuality being considered "property" of a man is very much at play as a motif in the play, and given the implications (pretty strong, I'd say) that Hamlet and Ophelia were indeed sleeping together, their hands were pretty tied. Ophelia pulling back (essentially ghosting him, heh) confuses him especially when he's at his most vulnerable, and then he hits her where she's most vulnerable: all his insults to her are sexually charged, essentially accusing her of not being a virgin, when in reality she probably isn't because of him. And that's before he kills her father by mistake. Once Hamlet murders Polonius, Ophelia also has to deal with the fact that she's probably never getting married to anyone, ever. No wonder she also goes insane.

Hamlet laments that Denmark is all corrupted at the start of the play, and the royal court of Elsinore most of all. Which it is, and unfortunately he cannot escape this corruption.

[artiepoison]

Icorect PJO/HOO quotes from this website :https://perchance.org/incorrect-quote-generator

Thalia: You seem familiar, have I threatened you before?

--------

Nico: The only thing keeping me from running away and hiding from society for the rest of my life is spite. I could disappear forever, but there are some bitches whose downfalls I have yet to witness, and I wanna be around when that happens.

-------

Percy: So according to the cease and desist order I got, apparently you can’t ‘legally’ be a lawyer if your license is ‘cut out of a cereal box’.

--------

Percy: Pros and cons of dating me. Percy: Pros. You'll be the cute one. Percy: Cons. Holy shit, where do I begin-

------

Grover: Yum, thanks!

Kidnapper: *puts more tape over their mouth* I said stop eating it.

-------

Nico: My aesthetic is "would be suspected of witchcraft by small town citizens."

-------

Annabeth in TLT

Annabeth: *trying to buy a Father's Day card at Hallmark*

Annabeth: Excuse me, do you have any that just say "You are my dad?"

Associate: Well, I-

Annabeth: How about "You banged my mom?"

Associate: No...

Annabeth: You know what, I'll just get a blank one.

Annabeth: *writes* You are a father. This is a day. Here is a card.

--------

Leo: I'm a firm believer in "if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly."

------

Nico: You can't wake up if you never get to sleep.

-------

Piper, opening a Capri Sun: Guess I'll drink my sorrows away.

-------

Hazel: War is heck!

------

Jason: I have yet to encounter a problem where a sword didn't factor into the solution at least in some way.

------

Frank: Well, needless to say. Uh-oh Spaghetti-os.

-------

Will: Can we go to a haunted house?

Nico: What’s wrong with the one we live in?

Will: Wh-what?

Nico: Goodnight, Will.

-------

Percy: Shouldn't get stressed out, it's not good for the baby.

Annabeth: What baby?

Percy, crying a bit: Me.

--------

*The Squad is playing Chess*

Annabeth: *easily beats everyone because they know how to play*

Piper: *doesn’t know the rules, but wins anyway*

Leo: *doesn’t know the rules, and loses*

Jason: *knows the rules, but still loses to those who don’t*

Frank: Actually, you can’t do that, because I said so.

Percy: They named a board game after cheese?

--------

*when the Squad drops food*

Annabeth: Eh, oh well.

Piper: FIVE-SECOND RULE!

Nico: FUCK!

Jason: *just gets more food*

Percy: *drops to their knees and mourns the food*

Leo: *eats the food off the ground*

---------

Leo: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Hazel and Frank's convo?

Piper: Me. I'm in the laundry basket.

Percy: I'm in the washing machine.

Nico: I'm in the closet.

Jason: We accept you Nico. <3

Nico: No I'm literally in the closet.

Jason: Love is love. <3

--------

Frank: Are you trying to give me a frickin’ aneurysm?

Percy: Pretty sure we all are.

Hazel: I wasn't.

Leo: I was.

Jason: I was trying to stop them, for your consideration.

Nico: I just cause aneurysms naturally.

--------

Annabeth: Okay, I’m going to get the wedding cake.

Percy: Perfect, while you do that I’ll check on the ring bear.

Annabeth: ...

Annabeth: You mean ring bearER, right?

Percy: ...

Annabeth: Look me in the eyes and tell me you are not going to bring a dangerous wild animal to our wedding.

---------

Nico: I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine.

Will: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again.

Nico: O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns??

Will: Is it working?

-------

BONUS MAGNUS CHASE

Mallory: Nothing in life is free.

Sam: Love is free.

T.J: Knowledge is free.

Alex: Friendship is free.

Halfborn: Self-respect is free.

Magnus: Everything's free if you don't pay for it.

The Squad: ...

T.J: Magnus, that's illegal-

Alex: No, let them finish!

sooooooo yep. Hope you enjoyed

[doctorcanon]

I cant sleep so modern!linked universe hc time.

- Rusl buys Twilight a dna/ancestry thing for his 20th birthday.

- having been adopted into the Ordon family since the age of 15, the gift doesn't go over well at first.

-However after some deep conversations, Rusl explains that he promised Twilight birth parents that he'd do this if anything happened to them.

- Still Twilight procrastinates and after some cajoling from midna, finally does it a year later for his 21st birthday.

- at his party, a small family dinner at the Ordon home with Zelda, Illia and Midna in attendance, he lays the envelope on the table and says "before I open this, I want you all to know that what ever I find in here that you are all my family and I love you all."

- the first thing in the envelope is his genetic information, some basic stuff he already knows, some stuff he doesn't and somethings Zelda remarks he should see a doctor about. Apparently he's actually 65% Karariko as Renado predicted.

- the second thing is copies of his mother and father's Service Papers. Both served in the military; one as a murse and other as an officer. Both died of burns and smoke inhalation after rescuing several of their fellow tenants when the apartment above theirs caught fire.

- the third thing is a list of public records. His father was originally from Hateno and an only child save for a half brother who died a few years later. His mother, from kakariko, had two much younger siblings. Sheik and Link.

- while there are some records of a custody battle Shiek and Link were separated in the system after the death of their mother. There is an obituary written by Twilights mother with a picture of her and her three children. There's no further information about Link or Sheik.

- Until one last little page slips out, A wedding announcement from 10 years ago. Announcing the joyful union of Malon Lon and Link Kokiri. He's seen this before.

- in fact, Twilight sees this exact newspaper clipping framed in his old boss's office. He visits at least twice a month. He even jokes with him the it was the only proof the guy could actually smile.

- The Lon Lon Family owns their aptly named Lon Lon ranch but he reports to Malon's husband directly when it came to the horses. Especially Epona. He just saw the man last week, for crying out loud!

- He has an uncle. And he's already known the man for 5 years now. They thought it was just a funny coincidence that they had the same name.

- Illia says its fate. Zelda assures him that this can't be an accident. Midna presses his cell phone into his hands. Rusl tells him that its his decision and that they'll respect whatever that may be.

- He calls first, of course. He only works at the ranch on weekends these days anyway. It would be weird to just show up to his shift and just go "hey, do you know im your nephew?"

- he asks if Mr Kokiri would like to talk some time under the guise of needing some advice. Under all the grump and sarcasm, Kokiri really is a saint and easily says yes, asking if Twilight is okay since he sounds stressed.

- the next day, Twilight stumbles into his boss's office with all the papers in his hands.

- "if you need advice about school, you've come to the wrong place, kid."

"No...uh sir this ain't about school. Yet. But uh...do you recognize this picture?"

- he sets down the obituary with its photo of his mother, grandmother, Sheik and Link somewhere in Karariko. Kokiri studies it but otherwise seems clueless. "No, sorry, I dont."

- "Well according to these papers," Twilight sets them on the desk and spreads them out so he can see. "This is my mom. And this is you. Her brother. I think...I think you're my uncle."

[aita-blorbos]

Am I the a-hole for running away from home to avoid having to meet my relatives for Christmas?

I (12M) have never been able to smile naturally. I can force myself to with a bit of work, but it usually hurts a lot, so I'd rather not bother. Mom (40F) and Dad (38M) have always been understanding of that fact, as has my brother (12M), so normally it wouldn't be an issue. However, Mom comes from quite an esteemed family, which is accordingly very strict about our conduct. That I can't just plaster on a perfect, friendly face all the time, is a source of frustration for Mom's siblings, especially two of whom I will call Uncle G (42M) and Aunt K (45F).

The last time I saw them for Thanksgiving, G pulled me aside into the kitchen and threatened to carve my face up with the knives there if I didn't smile, because it was a celebration and we should be happy, and me not smiling brought down the mood. And then, when K caught me not smiling later (because I needed to rest my face), she threatened to pour boiling water on me so as to teach me a lesson about obeying elders.

I'm scared they'll actually go through with it for Christmas, because we were all supposed to stay in one big lodge together for a week, and I can't keep up a smile like that for such a long time. I never told Mom, Dad or my brother about it either, because according to our other uncle D (49M), who is the patriarch of the whole family and a super important politician so he's very wise, sibling relationships are really important. Telling Mom about it will make her argue with K and G, and maybe D as well, and it will ruin her relationship with all of them. And Dad and my brother would just tell Mom anyway.

So when I had just finished packing my bag, the night before we were to leave, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Everything I needed to survive the next few days was in the bag - my clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, water bottle, etc. I could just leave. I thought about Uncle G and Aunt K, and what they would do to me, and, in a moment of impulse, took my bag and left while everyone else was sleeping. I snuck onto a train and made my way to my best friend S's (11F) house. Her mother, Auntie C (older than Mom, F) let me stay at her house for as long as I needed, and offered to call CPS, but I told her not to because Mom's family is important enough that calling the cops on them would probably result in the caller getting arrested instead.

So, right now, I'm with S, we're both officially having our first sleepover (that could potentially last forever) and it's really fun! We had a movie night, and also got to play video games, and I even got to help them make traditional desserts for the solstice (which may or may not have devolved into S and I flinging flour at each other and having to clean the kitchen after that). I'm really thankful that I left and came here instead. But, my parents and brother have apparently been really worried - they even called Auntie C asking if she'd seen me, but I begged her not to tell them so she didn't. We haven't seen any missing child posters go up yet, though that's probably because my relatives don't want people knowing the family managed to lose a child and isn't quite so picture perfect.

I know I should be ashamed of myself for making my family panic so much, especially since I managed to overhear that my brother has been really depressed since I left, so much that he keeps refusing to eat. And I do feel guilty! But going back will just lead to me getting shuttled off to the lodge and getting punished even worse than before. It's selfish, but I don't want to go home. I'm happy here, I'm happy that I left, which is probably why I'm TA. It's been weighing on me, and while S insists I'm NTA, I think she's biased because spending time with friends is fun. So, if anyone out there might offer a more objective view of the situation - AITA?

UPDATE: Basically I still got found anyway, but Auntie C and a few other family friends convinced me to tell my parents about what happened last time. I did, and now Mom has cut all contact with her family. And also G and K are actually getting arrested! Good riddance - I just found out that they had been really harsh to my brother too, and he also didn't tell anyone for the same reason as me. I'm honestly starting to wonder if D's emphasis on siblings might have messed up our entire family a bit...

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for refusing to be my bestfriend's son's godmother?

CW : sexual assault

If there is one thing that is well-known in my school is that me and my bestfriend are two-peas-in-a-pod, sisters in everything but blood, twin flames, platonic soulmates. We had been friends since the start of middle school and we share a lot of similarities and interests. We really get along so well and I had always been happy and content just to have her beside me. I thought nothing would ever come between. That is, until he came into our lives in freshman year of high school.

Honestly, he wasn't that bad at first, he was actually amazing. Our duo became a trio and we had an amazing rest of our high school years. They were some of the best memories I have and to this day, in freshly out of university, it only brings me pain. Everything changed when my best friend noticed that this guy's attention to me was a little... too much to be considered platonic. And I admit that I had enjoyed the attention. She- my bestfriend- one day found out that this guy and I have started hooking up and she didn't like it. She never actually told me the reason why but I just remember her eye-ing us intensely whenever we sit next to each other. For some reason, she started copying me. My way of dressing, my mannerisms, flirting with the guy and all. I wasn't upset with that, not even jealous, I just teased her of being my fan. Then it happened.

Apparently, my bestfriend dressing and acting like me was something this guy took as a sign that she also wanted to hook up with him so he made a move. They slept together. She didn't consent to it. And to my utter shock, she blamed the guy AND ME. She said that since she was mimicking me in terms of fashion and mannerism, it was technically my fault that this guy forced her to sleep with him. I was so shock when this happened because I never told her nor forced her to mimic me. I never told the guy to force her because she resembled me at that moment. Yes, I was sad and angry of the guy because of what he did but I don't think it's fair to call me his accomplice! I never wanted that to happen to her of all people.

She stopped talking to me after that. Didn't let me explain, nothing. We reached sophomore year of university, she exchanged schools, blocked me in every social media account and according to our mutual friend, every time she suggests unblocking me and letting me explain my side, she would straight up say "Hell no!" and say that she didn't wanna talk to the person who aided the loss of her dignity. Through the last 2 years of my university, I held onto the hope that she'll talk to me again because I missed her and I really wanted my soul sister back.

Now here's the kicker.

She contacted me yesterday. Not for closure, no, for an invite to be her newborn son's godmother. I was ecstatic at first because that means she will start talking to me again, right? My joy ended when I found out that the boy's father WAS THE SAME GUY. Somewhere in the 2 years she kept on refusing to talk to me, she talked to this guy again, they got together, she got pregnant, and now they're also planning a wedding. Now I don't blame the kid, of course not, but what made me decline was how could she have talked and bonded to the person who DID steal her dignity yet refuse to talk to me WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT? Me, her bestfriend of so many years...

And now the news of me declining her invitation to be her son's godmother got out and people- our friends, her and his family, even my own mom!- are calling me cruel and cold-hearted for refusing the honor to be a child's godparent. They said that since my bestfriend was able to put what happened behind her then I should to as well. That she didn't contact me because she needed space ( she needed space from me and apparently not to the one that caused it, god- ). I don't know. In any other situation, I would've gladly be her son's godmother but the pain of that realization that she stayed away from me yet let that man near is still so fresh that I couldn't bring it to myself to be anywhere near or even have any connection to them...

Am I really the asshole for refusing?

What are these acronyms?

[aita-polls]

AITA?

My ex-fiancée said she would never make me choose her over my mother and family. Now she's married to someone else.

My ex (27f) and I (31M) met when she was in her bachelor's. I was a computer engineering graduate in my last year, and she was the cousin of one of my friends. She didn't like me in the beginning, and I admit I chased her. I went to every single one of my friend's family functions and I admit, I singled her out. I thought it would be romantic. My friend came from a progressive, happy family, and honestly, sometimes I was jealous how he never had to worry about money or being discriminated due to caste like how I was. My friend still doesn't know we dated. I came from a significantly poorer family, with excessively conservative parents. At 19 years old, my ex told me she only dated to marry. She would not start a relationship with me if I wouldn't marry her in the future.

I was in my early 20s didn't like her rules and became insecure. She wanted to wait for marriage. She was scared to even kiss me. She was too family-oriented and her father was planning to send her abroad for master's. I admit, I became controlling, even though she never hid her phone or anything from me. She wanted to tell her mother about us but I forbade it. She said she had to, otherwise we would end up doing long distance. I didn't want to. I ended up telling my mother. She immediately forbade me from continuing the relationship as my mother thought my ex would end up dominating me since she came from money, even though I had started my career already and she was still in college. I ended up introducing her to my mom, though she wasn't allowed to tell her family. I knew my mom would make comments, but I couldn't let her disrespect my mom. Tbh, my ex would tell me if my mom insulted her, and I would tell her if she couldn't handle her now, what would she do after marriage.

She ended things with me five years ago and moved to Scotland. Didn't contact me. I was too afraid to ask my friend about her in case she decided to tell him what happened. I have missed her every day since then and still miss her now. I resent my mom so much, but am still too scared to hurt my mother's feelings. I got engaged last year. Arranged marriage, and she has nothing on my ex. Bad in looks, no job, no intellect, and I can't even talk to her about books or movies, but my mom thinks she will make a good wife, so there's that. I know I deserve this.

Except, my friend is leaving for the UK in a few days because apparently, my ex eloped with a guy. Her parents were there, according to my friend who was telling us in the group chat. He was so happy, even though the guy she married is not from our community or Indian. I hate this. I couldn't sleep for over four nights and feel like the dead. I don't know what to do. She's married and I can't do anything. Some guy I have never even seen in my life is now her husband, and it's all over her social media. I hate how happy he makes her, something I didn't do. I hate my family and my background. I hate myself for letting her go.

[bogkeep]

like i Know it's "not normal" to be tired all the time but what can i do. existing is exhausting

my mother is once again Worried For Me because i've accidentally given her the impression that i don't have the energy to do things all the time, which is fair because i use the phrase "i don't have the time or energy to do that" a lot about things i wish i could do if the society we live in was structured a little bit differently. like, maybe it's just because i'm in community with a lot of neurodivergent/disabled/chronically ill people and it's just a given that Everyone has a limited amount of time and energy per day, and that it's Normal to structure your life as best as you can to make sure you get around to do the things you need/want to do and rest/recover as needed.

so it's like. there's things i would like to do but i have eight hours of school and i must run errands and i must cook food and i must have sleep. i don't have a car so i walk everywhere. i must feed my soul and i must relax. it's difficult to Add things to that mix unless it's a one-off. i thought my mom would Get It since she too is an adult and i've seen her nap after work more times than i could possibly count. so i don't know if there's some mismatch in communication or if there's something so deeply wrong with me i can't even see it.

like i'm sure SOMETHING is "wrong" - i've heard from multiple reliable sources it's not Good or Normal to "not know what it's like to feel fully awake". like i've never slept enough no matter how much i sleep - though i've always figured i maybe just don't sleep enough, or i sleep wrong or something (i actually took a sleep test once and apparently i sleep very well). or i figured it's just being autistic and obsessive compulsive that's just really, really exhausting. like if wearing clothes and accessories drain me of energy then no wonder, right? like to me this is just normal so i don't think about it too much.

something my mom has told me many times is that if you get into a routine of doing many things you get good at doing many things, and doing few things makes you tired. like how regularly doing exercise does, after a certain point, energize you instead of draining you. i've never gotten to that point, i think. to me it sounds as far away as the "once you drive enough it becomes automatic" statement. how much do you need to do to Get There? i have struggled to find a way to do Regular Exercise (i mean, i Walk Everywhere. according to my GP i am filling the quota for regular exercise by walking to school every day) that's like... sustainable for me? it's a bit like asking a poor person to save money but you kinda gotta spend money to live. like maybe that's the one thing that would help me feel awake and energized but how the fuck do i even get there when i don't have the time!

as for Doing Many Things - i do many things all the time! recently i kept doing so many things every day i neglected to give myself a rest day for two weeks and you know what happened? i had to go home from school on a wednesday because i was too woozy to do anything at all. i had to go home and crash because if i don't pick a rest day my body will do it for me. and this makes sense right!!!! body needs rest! i hadn't rested! i can't just willpower myself into ignoring the needs of the meat machine!!

like i don't know. my mom thought starting T would give me an energy boost and maybe it should have. maybe it did. but i've got so much going on and i'm so overwhelmed and anxious everything just cancels out!!!

like next you're gonna tell me it's not normal to constantly feel like i need to drink water

[coquelicoq]

17 69 21!

17. What’s a movie you saw recently that you liked?

babes (2024)! actually funny story a friend of mine texted me and another friend of ours asking if we wanted to go with her to see this comedy about two women going through the hilarious ordeal of pregnancy and labor, not knowing that the second friend is actually currently pregnant and hadn't told her yet. so she, the second friend, watched the trailer and then texted me separately like "no offense to friend #1 but there is absolutely no way i want to see this movie while going through my first pregnancy." so i went with friend #1 (neither of us have ever been pregnant) and we had a grand old time lol.

69. What are you looking forward to next week?

tbh i haven't thought much about next week yet. according to math it will be the fourth of july, so i'll have a day off in the middle of the week. mostly i will be done with my extended catsitting stint and so am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again 😩 the thing they don't tell you about adulthood (actually literally everyone told me about this i just didn't get it) is how attached you will become to your own pillow firmness and how much this will affect your quality of life when you have naught but other people's pillows on which to lay your poor little adult neck.

21. Last concert you attended?

i think it would have been one of my sister's shows, which i will not name to avoid doxxing myself. apparently she had another one the other day but i couldn't go :(( her shows are always such a fun time, they have a dedicated group of like teen/young adult fans who go absolutely wild for their shit and i like to see the youth have a good time. also just seeing how much she has grown as a person and an artist is really beautiful, and it's super special to me to be included in her life even though i am objectively her square older relative lmfaooo. but also i do just really like her music! so it's a great time all around, except when my mom is also there and keeps insisting on trying to have a conversation with me when we're standing next to the amp. girl if you make me take out my earplugs one more time...

[countessofravenclaw]

It's the Graduation Day... On Wheels!!!

We never got the see anyone from the Roler Crew graduate from Blake, not even Luna herself graduated. why? We may never know, but its a good thing we writers can do something about it.

FYI, today is the graduation day in the Finland and this is to celebrate that

“Morning Luna!” Monica greeted Luna as she walked down the stairs to the mansion’s kitchen. “You’re up early.”

“I couldn’t sleep, because I was thinking about Roda Fest.” Luna hopped down on the table and grabbed a croissant that was on the plate in front of her. “Is Tino here?”

“He is driving Senorita Ambar today,” Miguel told Luna as he walked into the kitchen, “He’s doing that the whole morning.”

“But how will I get to the school then?!” Luna jumped on her feet in a panic. 

“Luna, you don’t have school,” Monica turned away from the stove and looked at Luna. “Your last day was yesterday. Today is the graduation day, that’s why Senora Ambar went there.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant,” Luna continued, “I need to go to the graduation.”

“You aren’t graduating Luna.”

“I know that. We agreed with the team that we’d all go support Delfi, Jazmin, Gastón and… Matteo.” Luna explained, trying not to stumble on Matteo’s name. Whatever was happening between them, he deserved support on this day as well. “But if Tino is really gone, how will I get there then? I can’t let them down.”

“I can drive you there,” Miguel put his computer down, “But you could have told us sooner. You would have been able to catch the ride with Senorita.”

“Yeah…” Luna mumbled. Maybe it was better that she didn’t share a car with Ambar at the moment, “I forgot. I need to set an alarm on my phone or something. But why are we just standing around? Let’s go!!”

“Luna, are you planning to go like that?” Monica stopped Luna before she was able to dash out of the door, “The Graduation at Blake is a highly formal event.”

“Yeah, whats wrong with it?” Luna stared at her mom.

“You’re wearing pajamas.”

“Oh.” Luna looked down and stared at her pink pajama bottoms that had unicorns on them. Mom was right. “Right.”

“We’d come too, But Senora Sharon has assigned us lot of work today. It would have been great to see how the graduating works before next year.”

*

Where was the auditorium again? Luna had been studying at Blake for two years now, but she still got lost in the place. 

“Luna!” She turned around to see Nina waving to her from a front of some big wooden door. 

“Nina! Hey!” Luna dashed to her and hugged her, “I thought I was going to the wrong direction for a second.”

“You actually were,” Nina laughed, gesturing to the auditorium door, “Don’t you remember when we had that history presentation here?”

“Not really,” Luna shook her head. She honestly didn’t. Must have been dreaming of some skating choreo or something during it, because if Nina remembered it, it must have happened. “What happened to your glasses?

Nina was wearing pink and white summer dress with matching sandals and jewelry.

“I got contacts,” Nina explained, “Figured I might try them out. I told you about this.”

“You did?” Luna stared, “I apparently don’t remember anything on this morning. Aren’t we going in?” 

“Sure,” Nina nodded, and they walked through the doors. The auditorium was big… but there weren’t that many people in there yet, “But we are quite early. I was surprised to see you here.”

“I got my schedules mixed up,” Luna explained, “Where is everyone?”

“Like I said, we’re quite early,” Nina explained, “I came with Gastón, and they had to be an hour early. I am sure others will be arriving shortly.”

Nina was right, after maybe fifteen minutes the auditorium was so much more crowded. Soon enough Jim and Yam showed up and were already taking selfies that, according to them, were going to be sent to Ramiro with a greeting that they hoped that he didn’t fall over while walking on the stage. They also said something about ketchup and eggs that horrified Nina, but Luna didn’t get it.

“So where are we sitting?” Luna asked while eyeing the back rows of seats in the auditorium. “Simon texted me to reserve him a seat.”

“I’m not sure,” Nina turned towards Luna, “Anywhere is probably fine. Gastón’s parents reserved a seat for me at the front with them, so I should probably go over there now. See you after the ceremony.”

Almost as soon as Nina had disappeared, Simon appeared next to Luna with Nico and extremely sick looking Pedro.

“Hi guys!” Luna hugged Simon, “What’s with Pedro?” 

“Apparently this is the first time he’ll be meeting Delfi’s parents,” Simon whispered to Luna, “So he’s a bit nervous, because they are some sort of high-end doctors.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Actually, Luna barely knew anything about anyone’s parents, outside of Simon and Nina. “But don’t worry!” Luna turned to Pedro, “It’s gonna go awesome!”

“Where’s Nina?” Simon asked as they sat down. 

“Uhm, she went somewhere,” Luna scanned the crowd that had formed front of the stage, “There she is!”

“Who is she talking to?” Simon asked as he squinted his eyes while looking at the direction Luna pointed towards. 

“I don’t know…” Luna squinted in the same direction as well. Nina was with a couple, one that Luna had never seen, they were about her parents' age, maybe a little younger. The woman—who was really beautiful, Luna had to note—had her hand on Nina’s shoulder, “...those must be Gastón’s parents.”

That had to be it. When Luna looked again, she was sure of it. The man actually looked really much like Gastón, and biological children often looked like their parents… right? Simon looked like Diego a lot, with his hair coming from Carla like all Alvarez children. 

“Those are Gastón’s parents?” Simon raised an eyebrow, “Really fancy-looking people. Didn’t know he was rich.”

“Me neither,” Luna shook her head in response. It should have been obvious, but she still somehow unconsciously always ignored that most of their friends were probably quite rich. It just never came up in the casual conversation. 

Luna directed her eyes back to Nina and noticed that during the time she had been looking at Simon, two other people—another couple, Luna guessed—had appeared next to her and Gastón’s parents. A woman who was blonde and quite short, again about her parents age and a man who looked maybe little bit older. Something about the man looked familiar to Luna, she couldn’t put her finger on it… until she realized what it was. It was the hair, the small curls were almost identical to Matteo’s, minus the greys obviously. That was Matteo’s father, so the woman was Matteo’s mother. Luna realized that she had never heard Matteo mention his mom out loud…

But who else could it had been? Surely Gastón’s and Matteo’s parents knew each other. 

“So how does this work?” Simon leaned closer to Luna at the back row where they were sitting, as the headmaster, Mr. Ramirez walked onto the stage. “In mine we just got a piece of paper that I never read and went to the beach.”

“I don’t know,” Luna shook her head. She and Nina had looked up some graduation videos because Luna had been curious. Apparently, Blake was going to be quite different to what they had seen from American videos. No one was going to be wearing silly hats that looked like squares and weird ropes. Those had looked like that students were on their way to a costume party. “I guess we’ll just have to watch.”

“Welcome everyone to the graduation of the class of 2017 at Blake South College. This is our 53rd graduating class on our school's rich history where we hope to shape young minds for many years to come!”

Luna tried to stay alert as the headmaster talked… but it was so boring. Something, something, school’s rich history, blaa blaa blaa, alumnies accomplishments and something about expecting great things. She probably had dosed off for a second since, she jolted awake before falling off the seat. 

“Whats happening?”

“I have no idea,” Simon shook his head. “He just stopped talking about some sort of A-level score system… I don’t know.”

“So, without any longer of a speech…”

“That already was long.” Simon whispered, “How do you go to this school?”

“Well, I didn’t have an option.”

“Here are our 25 graduates of the class of 2017.”

“Only 25?” Simon turned toward Luna again, “Whos’ coming first? Is this in alphabetical order?”

“Probably…” Luna looked toward the stage. 

“Delfina Alzamenti.”

Yep, it seemed to be in alphabetical order. Luna and Simon watched Delfi walk to the stage wearing a pink dress and accepting a piece of paper from the headmaster. 

Luna found it very odd that no one was cheering. Shouldn’t they be cheering? Apparently not… Blake was boring.

“Matteo Balsano.” Matteo walked onto the stage after a few people had come after Delfi. “Honors in history and social studies.”

Luna kept looking at Matteo. He was wearing the same suit as in the Roller Jam. You’d think that Chico Fresa would have multiples… and maybe he did, but he had just decided to wear that one. That Roller Jam felt like ages ago now, another time, but things were better this way.

“Jazmin Carbajal.”

After Jazmin, there were at least seven people who Luna did not recognize. She had never been familiar with other students at Blake outside her team… She didn’t know why she never had.

“Gastón Perida. The second highest GPA of the graduating class, the Highest GPA of the Male student. Honors in physical and chemical science, advanced mathematics and literature.”

That was a lot of honors. Not that Luna really knew what “honors” actually were, but they sounded important. 

Ramiro came after Gastón. After that, bunch of people came that Luna didn’t recognize.

After someone called Samale, left the stage Luna perked up. If she had understood the order correctly, Ambar should be next.

At that moment Luna experienced a surge conflicting emotion. She had noticed that Senora Sharon was not here, so Ambar had no one to support her… and she had done lot of underhanded things… but everyone deserved some support. Right? 

Luna pulled her phone out of her bag and opened the camera… she could show this to her parents, since they couldn’t have come.

“Ambar Smith,” The headmaster announced her, and Ambar walked onto the stage. She was wearing a white dress with black detailing. “The highest GPA of the graduating class.”

As Luna recorded Ambar walking and accepting the paper, Luna got stuck wondering why she didn’t have any honors. The headmaster had said that she was the top student, wouldn’t Ambar have the most honors. Gastón had been the second to the top student and had had multiple honors… How did this work?

Luna glanced at Simon who wasn’t looking directly at the stage while Ambar was on there.

***

Nina clapped with everyone as the last student walked off the stage. Even with 25 students, the walking part had taken forever. She really had to admit that Blake had gone out of their way to make it as boring as possible. 

At least the most boring part was over now, at least according to the schedule that Gastón had told her about after the rehearsal on the previous day. 

“Now we have the honor to hear from one of our graduates.” Mr. Ramirez announced before leaving the stage once more as Gastón walked back up there. 

Nina suddenly felt herself becoming a little bit nervous. She had helped him with the speech and knew it inside out. 

“So, I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to let me talk?” Gastón started, “But here we are. You can’t stop me… not to scare teachers or anything.”

“Okay, now a serious topic. We all started here in 2014 and probably thought that we were never getting out. But through all the classes, final projects, that standardized test you made us do every year—I’ve seen students cry for less—getting reprimanded about lingering on the hallways, missing class if you were five minutes late and wearing those awfully uncomfortable uniforms, we still made it to this day. We’re free now, some like to say to fly, but I just personally like to keep my feet on the ground and walk towards my next goal. I guess you never forget where you came from.”

“Most of us were born in 1999, when the world was changing, and we were racing off to start the 21st century. World is pretty different now from when we were born, not that we remember the time before computers and electronic devices. Most of us will be out of college in the 2020s which hopefully will be the time for world peace helped by innovations, innovations that we are going to be part of creating.”

“I guess this is the time to thank you for everything. This school, which looks like a medieval castle from the outside, how this has not yet been used as a film set is beyond me, for providing a place for us to expand our minds. For all of our teachers for believing in us when we seemed like the most hopeless bunch in the world.”

“Four years here has taught us so much, not just about integrals or what happened during the first world war. We learned about life—” Gastón shifted his eyes to focus on Nina, looking her straight into her eyes, “—ways to find new meaning to it, what we can want from our future. I don’t mean just academics here. We’re all going into “real world” now, trying to be adults, but that doesn’t mean that we need to give up the things we love or the people who had been here along our journey this far. I know we are all going to miss the navy and emerald plaid.”

That last part, before the mention of plaid, was new. Gastón had added it in there. 

The headmaster said a view words after the applause and the audience was ushered out of the auditorium. 

The graduates started filing out of the door after about five minutes. Why they needed to wait, beyond anyone. 

Nina saw Gastón walk out of the door with Matteo, but they quickly separated as Matteo was dragged away by his parents. 

She tried to discreetly to step little bit further away from Isla and Marco so she could hang back and let them greet Gastón first. 

But Gastón seemed to have other plans, because he made his way directly to her and she was swept off her feet in an instance as he kissed her. 

“I’m proud of you,” Nina said after Gastón had put her back down. She was hyper aware that his parents were standing right next to them, and witnessed the whole thing, but she didn’t care about it right now. “You did it.”

“Did you like the speech?” Gastón asked as he brushed a lock of hair that had fallen on her face.

“You changed it.”

“Might have added some lats minute things. But how did it go?”

“You were amazing,” Nina ran her hands on his arms, “But, I should probably set you free because other people surely want your attention. I can’t claim you completely.”

“I mean you could if you wanted to.” Gastón briefly kissed her forehead before turning towards his parents. 

***

“You were great. Congratulations!” Luna hugged Ramiro who had joined, her, Simon, Pedro, Nico, Jim and Yam at the Blake’s Hall. 

“Yeah, you walked in a straight line,” Jim punched Ramiro on the arm, “Quite an accomplishment.”

“Hahh,” Ramiro snarked to her back, “You’re just jealous because you still have to go to school.”

“Either way,” Yam rolled her eyes, “We have ketchup and eggs on the ready.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“You’re right, we wouldn’t. Doesn’t mean we didn’t think about it.”

As Ramiro kept arguing with Jim and Yam, Luna noticed Ambar walking toward the hallway door.

“Ambar, wait!” On an impulse, Luna ran until she caught up to her, “Uhm, I wanted to say, congratulations. Senora Sharon must be proud of you.”

“Of course, she is,” a cool smile formed on Ambar’s face, “I have the highest GPA.”

“Mom and Dad wanted to come here but didn’t have time.”

“Okay,” Ambar stared at Luna, “I’m in a hurry.”

“Oh, I have this for you,” Luna started digging around in her bag. Last night she had cut these fabric flowers that she had intended to give to everyone as gifts.

“Thanks,” Ambar looked a bit confused, but took the flower and then without saying another word, walked out of the door.  

Nina, Gastón and Matteo had joined the group as Luna walked back up to the others. 

“You made this school sound much more exciting than it actually is,” Ramiro was saying to Gastón as Luna squeezed between Nina and Simon. “It really was a great speech.”

“Well, I had some help—” Gastón ran his hand on Nina’s arm, “—from the best writer I know.”

“Although,” Yam started speaking, “I would never say that I will ever miss the plaid.”

“Why did you give the speech anyway?” Jim questioned, “Isn’t that the top student’s job?”

“It is,” Gastón nodded, “But at this case, it would have been Ambar… and no one is forced to do it, surprisingly. So, if the top student doesn’t want to do it, it goes to the one with the second highest GPA.”

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Luna dragged Nina away from the group for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me that you know his parents?”

“What?” Nina looked confused for a second, before her expression changed, “Oh, you mean Alexander and Sofia?”

“You know their names? You never told me!”

“I don’t know them,” Nina laughed slightly, “They were just talking to Isla and Marco.”

“Who?”

“Gastón’s parents. Isla and Marco Perida.”

“Oh, right,” Luna tried to process everything, “But how do you know Matteo’s parents’ names then?”

“I’ve met them before,” Nina explained, “Briefly. We ran into them with Gastón, during last fall at some point at his. They were having coffee or something with Isla and Marco. I surely told you about that.”

“No, you didn’t tell me,” Luna shook her head, “I have a bad memory, but I surely would have remembered that.”

“I didn’t?” Nina furrowed her brow, “I can’t believe it. It was probably during that Perception mess with your past or when Gastón was applying to Oxford or something, so it slipped my mind.”

Sofia and Alexander Balsano? Luna thought to herself as they joined the others. 

“There you are,” Gastón wrapped his arm back around Nina, “We should get going.”

“Going where?” Luna questioned.

“Our parents are taking us to eat,” Gastón gestured to himself and Matteo, “Thrust me, it's going to be boring but what can you do.”

“I’ll call you later.” Nina said to Luna before they walked away.  

“Hey!” Luna turned around and instantly bumped into something… It was Matteo. “Watch where you are going.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Matteo smirked while Luna crossed her arms, “I saw that you gave Ambar a flower.”

“Uh, yeah, I did that,” Luna nodded, “She deserves support too.”

“Even after she destroyed the rink?” Matteo raised an eyebrow at Luna, “Where’s my flower?”

“Don’t get delusional, Chico Fresa.” Luna huffed. She did have a flower for Matteo as well, but if he kept acting this way, he didn’t deserve it. 

“Matteo, come on!” Gastón was yelling to Matteo from the door, “Your dad will throw a fit if we’re late.”

“Gotta go,” Matteo spun around, “See you at practice Chica Delivery.”

Luna watched Matteo join Gastón and Nina at the door, and they walked out. So was Nina going to have brunch with Matteo and his family, because Gastón and his family we’re going to be there as well? Luna felt a small sting of jealousy. If things had gone differently, she’d be joining them too… but her and Matteo were over, so she shouldn’t wallow in that. 

“Pedro!” Luna turned back to others, as Delfi appeared on Pedro’s side, “Here you are! Let’s go!”

“Go where?” Pedro asked, bit startled.

“My place.” Delfi tucked on Pedro’s arm, “The food is being delivered as we speak, and we got cake.”

“Oh.” Pedro’s eyes were very wide from surprise or fear, Luna couldn’t determine which one. Simon and Nico seemed to be enjoying the show. 

“I told you all of this yesterday,” Delfi rolled her eyes, “Let’s go.”

“How are we getting there?”

“By using our feet. My place is really close by.” Delfi scoffed and started dragging Pedro away.

“Good luck!” Simon yelled after him,

“Have fun with your in-laws!” Nico continued.

“Are you coming to Roller today?” Simon asked Luna after they had finished laughing. 

“Yeah, I just need to change.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Simon gestured to the neon yellow dress Luna was wearing.

***

“I can’t believe that you forgot,” Delfi dragged Pedro along the street, “I guess I should thank you for showing up as it is.”

“I didn’t forget,” Pedro defended himself, “I guess I am just nervous.”

“Nervous for what?” Delfi asked as she opened a gate to a very well-kept garden. “Come on. Everyone is waiting for us.”

“You’re finally here!” Woman with dark brown bob cut greeted Delfi and Pedro as they walked in. 

“Sorry about that,” Delfi threw her bag onto an armchair in the lobby. Pedro tried not to stare at the surroundings too much. The house wasn’t that modern, but still integrally designed and put together, and big, very big. The ceiling was so high. “Where’s Dad?”

“Right here,” a man with slightly greyish hair from around the corner. 

“So, Mom, Dad. This is Pedro, my boyfriend.” Delfi linked her arm with Pedro’s, “Pedro, these are my parents. Dr. Serena and Dr. Daniel Alzamenti.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Alzamenti… or was it Dr.? Pedro for sure didn’t know how to address them, so he just kept his mouth shut and shook Delfi’s father’s hand. 

“We have heard so much about you,” Delfi’s mother continued, “You worked over at that rink?”

“Yes… I work at Roller.” Pedro nodded. 

“He also skates,” Delfi piped up.

“I don’t really,” Pedro scratched behind his neck, “I am not very good at it.”

“Always good to know your limits,” Mrs. Alzamenti smiled, “I always tell Delfi, that she can skate as dangerously as she wants, as long as she doesn’t end up in the ER. I spent all my time there as it is, so I do not want to see her there.”

Pedro tried to hide the confusion from his face. He had fallen off the wagon, but Delfi’s mother continued.

“I’m the head of trauma at Swiss Medical. I see people who push their limits to the max every day, and it isn’t pretty.”

“Extreme sport injuries are spinal and brain injuries leading to permanent nerve damage almost 5.5 percent of the time.” Delfi’s father added.

“Dad, lest not talk statistics today,” Delfi rolled her eyes, and whispered to Pedro, “He’s a neurosurgeon… Do not mention scoliosis at his presence.”

“No way!” All the sudden a head of a fourteen-year-old boy popped up from the stairs, and he ran the stairs down with just couple of jumps, “The boyfriend was actually real?”

“I thought I told you that you had no right to comment on the subject,” Delfi took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, “Pedro, this is Aaron, my little brother.”

“Hi.” Pedro gave a wave to the boy.

“You aren’t boring right?” Aaron asked bluntly.

“And how about you go back to your videogame?” Delfi snarked. 

The door opened suddenly, and Jazmin walked in with a woman who had red hair, probably her mother. 

“I have pictures for the next ten years now,” The woman said to Delfi’s mother. “Samuel couldn’t get out of that work trip… his partners really just don’t understand fathers who actually love their children.”

“Meet Clarion Carbajal,” Delfi gestured towards the woman, “Jazmin’s mother. Clarion, this is Pedro, my boyfriend.”

“So, this is the boyfriend?” Pedro felt Clarion eye her thoroughly, “I thought Jazmin once told me that you were after that Perida boy.”

Pedro could definitely see where Jazmin got her bluntness from.

“That is very old, and ended up being a train wreck,” Delfi shook her head violently, “Let’s not talk about it.”

“The speech he gave was really good.”

“It was,” Delfi agreed, “co-written by his girlfriend. No one utter another word about it… Especially you Aaron!” She shouted towards the upstairs.

***

“You still have a year left?”

“Yeah, I do,” Nina answered the question Sofia had directed toward her. “I don’t have any concrete plans for after that, yet.”

“Well, you’re not in a rush,” Gastón ran his hand, which he had been resting on the back of her chair, on her arm, “But I know we can all look forward to what you say in your speech.”

“I’m not gonna give a speech.”

“Well, Gastón tell us, you’re going to Oxford after all?” Alexander started speaking. 

“I did go back and forth—” Gastón pulled his arm off the back of the chair, “—but in the end, why not? It’s going to be an experience.”

Nina felt him place his hand on her knee under the table and she went to lace her fingers with his.

“You have a major picked out?”

“Yeah, energy technology engineering, for start anyway,” Gastón explained, “Interchanging is apparently quite easy if you do it inside the faculty. Gonna try it out and see.”

“How are you going to fare when he goes?” Sofia asked Gastón’s parents. 

“I guess we’ll have to make do, somehow,” Marco started speaking, “We know that Gastón has all capabilities of making it there. Doesn’t mean that we won’t miss him.”

“You two were the ones who wanted me to go,” Gastón rolled his eyes, “So you don’t really get to complain here.”

“We’re your parents, we’re allowed certain double standards,” Isla looked at Gastón, “I’ll get to know how my mother felt when we dropped the bomb on her that we were moving to Buenos Aires. She had a heart attack.” She looked down on her phone for a second, “Oh, Mía and Elise, both sent you congratulations. I sent them couple of pictures.”

“Well, tell then thanks.”

“And your grandmother would really appreciate if you called her.”

“Sure, I’ll do that in the evening,” Gastón turned towards Matteo as the adults kept talking, “You know you could open your mouth once in a while too, so we wouldn’t be only talking about me here.”

“Oh noh, this has worked for me way too well this far,” Matteo leaned back on his chair, “I’m gonna keep this up till dessert if possible. I’m sorry but you are just way too interesting than me right now.”

“—there’s a lot of jobs in England…”

“I don’t think I want to work there full time,” Gastón piped up, “I’ll just go to school, and then come back.” Nina felt him squeeze her hand under the table. “There are a lot of companies here that I can work for.”

“If the cards are in your favor, you could end up working for Castillo.”’

“Sofia, don’t give him ideas.” Isla shook her head. 

“Isla, I never understand what your problem with him is?”

���You don’t live a block away from that house. With everything that was going on there. I still think we should have taken it more seriously when he got targeted for fraud. That man is strange, and I don’t just mean the number of weddings he has had in the past years.”

“What are they talking about?” Nina leaned over to Gastón.

“It’s a long story,” he whispered to her back, “One of our block neighbors… Mom and Dad always told me and Matteo not to get involved with anything happening there.”

“Castillo Corporation is a highly renowned company, all over the world.” Alexander noted, “We had heard about it before we ever moved here.”

“Obviously, that is true. He is an innovator,” Marco nodded, “There is no question about that, but there definitely are questions. There must be a reason why the daughter is a singer and doesn’t want anything to do with the company. If she doesn’t get involved soon, I won’t be surprised to see the company on the market in 30 years. I see that a lot, stock exchange, shares distributed in a too-wide margin, bankruptcy, and thousands of people unemployed. Even the biggest businesses can fall if ownership business if not taken care of when the founder is gone.”

“The daughter who ran away from that engagement party?” Sofia questioned. 

“We never should have gone to that,” Isla sighed, “Just like that celebration couple years later. I never understood was it a wedding or not.”

“That was Pricilla Ferro, right? Strange woman… Who was the woman with the engagement party then?”

“Jade LaFontaine, I never really knew her, she has been much more junior on the field, but I think she’s now married to Nicholas Cortes. The poor girl appears to have gotten some help. Then there was the whole Di Pietro fiasco that resulted in that fraud case.”

“What ever happened to her? They were about to be married.”

“She…”

“How much longer do we need to sit here?” Matteo hushed to Gastón. 

“You know it is always like this when they get together,” Gastón whispered back, “I stopped paying attention as soon as they started.”

***

Splat!

As soon as Ramiro had opened the door, splash of ketchup was thrown into his face. 

“Oh yes we would.” Jim and Yam were grinning at him while juggling eggs with their hands, “We would do this, and so much more.”

“Well, then I have no other choice but beg…” Ramiro started to back away—

—and pulled a bottle of ketchup from a table next to the door and started attacking Jim and Yam. “...that you run faster than you talk smack.”

{}

So, apparently, the ketchup and egg thing is an Argentinian tradition that @weirdthoughtsandideas brought to my attention Shout out to Sara for coming up with a couple of the ideas. On another note, I did not timeline-check this, so there could and probably is at least some continuity errors with the last eps in S2. So I can't exactly pinpoint, between what eps this is actually happening, but after the last time we see them at Blake.

[sketchbook-magic]

I woke up to something I never thought I'd ever get in trouble for. I woke up in my kitchen with a bottle of water in my hands and I was obviously very confused and asked my mom if I had slept walked and she started shrieking obscenities at me because apparently she had been trying to get me to drive while I was asleep because my dad needs to get his car out of the only repair shop in town because he ran out of gas the other day and my mom's mad at me because while she was trying to force my sleeping body to drive I kept going off to do other things and acting erratic. She knows for a fact that I do sleep walk and I do hallucinate if I'm woken up in the wrong way and so I asked her how she woke me up and she said my dad kept lightly slapping my foot. Clearly not enough to wake me. And I'm also on a very heavy antibiotic right now that makes me drowsy to the point I've only been awake for a collective 12 hours the past five days due to a UTI spreading to my kidneys so I'm sick, high, and sleep walking but it's somehow my fault that I didn't drive for the past hour and been driving my mom to insanity. Thank the gods I didn't drive and just chucked my keys halfway across the house while trying to convince my mom the government put something in my fish sticks! According to my parents they kept shoving my car keys into my hand for the past hour and kept trying to corral me to my car knowing fully well I wasn't well enough to drive but gods forbid they ask my sister to help them because they decided three years ago that all their shit is my sole responsibility as the dumb, ugly, and unsuccessful child. I honestly don't know what to say. Why did they think attempting to force me to drive while clearly asleep was a good idea and why is it my fault I was sleep walking?!

[joy-of-life88]

Lace & Leather [a Damian Priest story] 24 Breaking the news

Katja POV

"Okay...how do I look?" asked Damian as he came out of the bathroom in my apartment.

He must have been changing for the third time now. I don't think I've ever seen him so nervous and fidgety. Actually, I didn't think anything could faze this tall, cool man so quickly, but apparently meeting my parents was a big deal.

"You look great. You always do. And you looked great before, too. You have no reason to be nervous. I'm with you all the way, and if there's even one stupid, inappropriate comment from my mom, we're going home," I replied.

A few days have passed since our little crisis and the completely rushed marriage proposal. Fortunately, we had managed to talk about everything calmly so that nothing seemed to stand between us. We were doing well. I really thought I had messed things up between us, but Damian kept repeating that wasn't the case and that I had no reason to freak out. Even though I was really close to freaking out after Hunter's call.

"She's not going to be happy about our news. Especially not after what you said to her last time," he sighed as he sat down next to me on the bed.

We sat there as D took my hand while we watched Hazel lay on her blanket babbling to herself and kicking her arms and legs. I'm sure it wasn't long before she would roll over onto her tummy herself.

"I know, but this has nothing to do with her. And please don't forget that we don't mention that I was fired. That detail they don't necessarily need to know." I said as I looked up at him.

"But... Won't they find out about it anyway? Through social-media or something?" asked Damian.

"I don't think so. Neither of them use social-media. I'll tell them eventually, but definitely not today. What we have to tell them is enough for one day." I replied.

"True. And it sure won't help them like me one bit." he muttered.

"D, please.... it doesn't matter what they think. I don't need their approval. This is my life. And I have to do what's best for me. And as fate would have it, you are what I want. Family comes first. That's Hazel and you. I'm not going to live my whole life according to what my parents want. If I did that, I never would have started wrestling, we never would have met, and this little girl never would have been born." I explained to him as I snuggled up to him.

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

"Katja! Hello my darling! Damian... it's good to see you. And my little Hazel. How is our angel?" mom greeted us.

I could tell she was trying hard to be nice. Hopefully it stayed that way.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad. She's fine and so are we." I said as I stifled an eye roll.

"It's good to see you, Mr. and Mrs. Fay." replied Damian, who was holding Hazel, politely.

"Damian, I want to apologize. It was not my intention to behave so dismissively. I promise that I will try harder in the future. Katja has surely told you about our little argument. I am really embarrassed to have judged prematurely. I hope we can make a new beginning," Mom said.

I was really surprised that she took me seriously and apologized to Damian. Part of me had expected that she would not. Stubborn as she was, that had been a possibility. But maybe Dad had said something to her, too.

"I'd really appreciate that, Mrs. Fay," Damian said.

"Please call me Carla." she replied, holding out her hand to him. They shook hands as Dad now spoke up as well.

"Are you going to stand in the doorway all night? Come on in!" he said laughing.

"Damian, nice to meet you. I'm Jim." he added as we walked toward him.

"Likewise, sir." replied D, smiling.

I think that was the moment when his tension eased a little. We sat down at the table and talked. Again and again I saw Mom watching me and Damian and Hazel. And I could swear I saw her smiling softly. Even though she would probably never admit it.

The meal and the rest of the evening passed without any incidents. Hazel was sleeping peacefully in Damian's arms. But it was time to go home so she could sleep in her crib. However, I had not yet addressed the sensitive subject. I was afraid that it would destroy everything we had built up so far. But I had to tell them.

"Mom... Dad.... There's something else I need to tell you." I began hesitantly.

Damian put a hand on my leg for support. I put my hand on his and looked at him for a moment. It was now or never.

"What's wrong?" asked Dad.

"Well.... It's about what I'm going to do when I start working again. Hunter has offered me to work at the Performance Center as a trainer and make occasional appearances at NXT. This way I can take Hazel with me without having to travel with her all the time. However, that means I will be moving to Orlando," I explained to them.

"Orlando as in Florida?" Mom asked quietly.

"Yes. I know you don't like it when we're so far away, but that's a great offer. But we'll visit as often as we can and you can come to us." I replied.

"That's... a lot." said Mom in amazement.

"That's not all..." I continued.

"What else is there?" Dad wanted to know.

"Well we think it's best for Hazel and me to move in with Damian. We'll look for a house together in Orlando or surrounding areas. It will make it easier for us as a family." I said.

I looked over at my mom and saw her struggling with tears. Obviously, she didn't know what to say.

"Excuse me." she finally said as she got up from the table and went into the kitchen. I was already about to follow her when Dad said something.

"Give her a break, Kat. She needs time. I promise you she understands. We knew it would happen one day. Don't worry about us. But promise me you'll always call us and send us pictures of Hazel, okay?" replied Dad.