#but i feel like a dumb game of telephone

[quimichi]

I Read Your Twisted Wonderland 'When You Wake Him Up With Nonsense" and Wanted To Ask If We Can Get One With The Staff(With Staff!Reader) and RSA(With RSA!Reader)? 🥺

Feel Free To Ignore😭

Love You❤️ And Have a Great Day!

"=⌕ YOU WAKE HIM UP WITH NONSENSE / pt. 2

⌕ pt. 1 here

warnings: bad writing, as usual, some characters may seem ooc, I apologize, pet names, some might dislike those

summary: You wake him up in the middle of the night with some nonsense

characters: RSA, NRC Staff and Rollo x GN!Reader

word count: 1,995

a/n: some are shorter or longer, it's just that I find some characters hard to write or I write them like I view them :) I HOPE YOU ALSO HAVE A VEEEERY NICE DAY TOO!

Chenya

The sound of your voice draws his attention to you. His breath hitches as he tries to stay asleep. He does not respond, instead he remains still as a statue. It is as if he wants to hear every word you have to say. And he wants to keep sleeping.

"Chenya, Chenya, Chenya, Chenya...Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker." Your voice cuts through the quiet. Your words pull him out of a dream.

He opens his eyes, and he looks straight at you and whines. "Why you gotta pull my full naaaaame...jus' wanna sleeeep..." "Yesterday I saw a motorcycle on the sun kissing the curtains in a cow." He blinks, utterly baffled by your words. His brow furrows and he is at a complete loss with how to respond. Finally, he settles on a simple and tired, "Wha-?" "What I said." You are utterly illogical. It makes it nearly impossible for him to comprehend you.

Your mind is fascinating, weird. You're fucking dumb sometimes.

His lips twitch upwards. That's why he loves you.

"You make no sense, ya know." He signs hard, rubbing his eyes. "And ya woke me up for that bullshit...you gotta pay me back, you better."

Neige

The sound of your voice is so familiar, and the words hit him like a wave of cool air while he's asleep. His body shifts as he starts to respond in the depths of his sleep.

"Wha-" He starts to say, his words faltering on the cusp of waking. "Cutie are you...is everything okay?" he asks groggily, a bit of sleep still clinging to him. If he could blush in his slumber, he would have been scarlet in shame for how his words slurred and garbled on his tongue. He slowly sits up, looking more worried than ever.

"I just saw a chicken picking up McDonald's at the gas station for detention." The words catch him off-guard once more, and he stares at you with a small confused smile on his face. He tries to process what you've said, but finds it impossible without more explanation.

His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, and he tilts his head to the side, looking way to adorable for his own good. His confusion soon gives way to a brief chuckle, and he smiles widely and nods, still processing your words.

"That's such a nice story!...You should tell me the ending tomorrow though..." and with that he pulls you back against him and pets your head gently before both of you fall back asleep. He's still confused tho...

Rollo

He begins to stir, slowly waking to consciousness. His eyes dart around the room, his vision blurred and unfocused as he sits up. "Mmm, yes?" Rollo could never be mad if you woken him up for a reason, a good reason.

"I forgot to tell you that the telephone told me about the flying elephant with rainbow eyes and silver shoes." Rollo raises one eyebrow at first, thinking you're playing a trick on him. The joke is too outlandish to be real. Even this is to stupid for you.

But seeing that you're serious, he has no idea what to say. He is speechless. Oh...so you are that dumb huh? At this point the lord can't save him anymore.

"Is...that so?" he finally asks. "Yes!" Rollo stares at you incredulously as you continue. Every detail you describe is nonsensical and unrealistic. But his gaze remains firmly fixed on yours, and his thoughts are blank.

He struggles to understand why you woke him up. Is this a game? He is utterly puzzled. And his annoyance is starting to seep in. But the look in your eyes is magnetic, and it is difficult for him to hold his frustration. He sighs, "You...you are truly one of a kind, are you aware of that?" But Rollo can't help but smile at you, you just had to turn his life upside down, huh?

Crowley

He stirs slightly, his eyes blinking slowly open. He opens his mouth to speak, but then he realizes you are next to him and closes it again. His expression is soft and delicate, like your presence is a beacon of light in the darkness, and all he can focus on is you. You'd be surprised, moments of his adoration aren't that rare.

"What is it?" he asks with a slight yawn, his voice still soft and sleepy. "So like, I cooked us a clock with sprinkles of snow and the clock then when away with the pan because of their date at the baseball doctor." In spite of his tired mood, he bursts into laughter. A hearty, full-bellied laugh that only he would be so amused by such ridiculous, nonsensical statements.

"Ah, my love. It seems you have discovered the wonders of a dream," the headmaster chuckles, running his fingers curiously through your hair. For a moment he ponders about what other kinds of nonsense you would utter, if this is what your brain conjures just during your sleep.

He chuckles again in amusement. "Do go on," he encourages you, still looking through you with a light in his eyes. "Did the clock turn into a frog? Did the frog wear green boots and sing rock songs in kitchen utensils?" He's amused, but he also wants to know.

Crewel

As you call to him, you can see his eyelids twitch underneath. Your voice seems to permeate his dreams. There is no immediate answer as his eyes flutter in a way that seems to indicate that he's trying to force himself awake but still struggles to do so. He turns onto his back, his head tilting towards the sound of your voice. After a moment, he finally manages to open his eyes with a low groan. His hand reaches for his forehead and rubs it, as though he's suffered from a particularly intense headache. But once he sees you, he stops, his eyes brightening at the sight of your face.

All the weariness seems to leave him in an instance, yet not entirely. He manages a smile for you. "Puppy?..." "I just ate a singing pizza who told me the story of the bees and the snakes who danced underwater." "Ah..." Divus manages a confused hum. It takes him a moment as he seems to try and work it out in his head.

"They danced in...underwater?" He asks, voice soft. "Underwater...is a body of water...but...how does one..." he looks away from you as he attempts to picture the scenario. After a moment, he shakes his head, chuckling softly into his palm. "No matter. That is quite a tale, indeed my pup."

Divus draws you close and wraps his arms around you, burying his face into your shoulder and hugging you tightly. His breath is hot against your neck, his muscles tensing underneath.  "Sleep..." he mumbles softly, his voice seeming to get thicker as a low growl rumbles from his chest.

"Or does my pup want to keep being disobedient?"

Trein

(Solid grandpa issues ya'll have here)

It is almost as you say his name that his eyes blink quickly. They become wide and concerned. "Dearest?" he whispers with a hint of urgency in his voice. Though his expression turns gentle as he notices you aren't hurt or sick. His shoulders relax. "Yuu, have you not been feeling well?" Mozus asks, his voice a soothing melody. After a moment, he sits up. The bed creaks with the weight of his shifting body. Even Lucius wakes up from his slumber to tip tap his way over to your shared bed.

"Did you perhaps catch a cold? I could fetch some medicine if you would like." He doesn't want to see you in pain, not even for a moment. Oh, how caring he can be sometimes..."My hair turned purple because I washed it with dirt in the afternoon 13 years ago on a full red moon at midnight."

Silence hangs in the air as you speak. Mozus's expression remains concerned; worried. And then it turns into a frown. "Ah... You must've hit your head. Or else you wouldn't speak of such nonsense" he says. Though he tries to conceal it, a flicker of irritation flashes across his eyes. Your sudden statements seem to have sparked his annoyance.

"Or are you perhaps playing a childish prank on me at unholy hours?" he asks sharply, tone becoming stern. "If there is nothing else you require, I believe you've wasted enough of your time together." He tries to keep his voice neutral, but is obviously still slightly peeved at your game. "I-Im sorry..." His anger melts at your apology. His face melts back to a soft expression as he pulls you into his arms. His voice returns to its soothing tone as he presses his lips to yours.

When he pulls away, only seconds later, there's a content smile on to his lips. "Do not apologize," he says softly, voice quiet. Yet you feel a surge of pleasure run through your body. You feel almost as light as a feather once again. "I'm happy you're in best condition."

Vargas

Ashton jolts awake as he hears your voice, immediately rising into a defensive stance as he looks at you. Protectively he stands before the bed frantically looking around for potential danger with both his fists up, ready to punch whatever lurks in your shared bedroom.

"It's okay! Is there something wrong? Are you hurt?!" he asks anxiously but wild as he still holds his position. "Wha--no?!" He reacted so fast you couldn't keep up. "Oh...!" Asthon blinks a few times as he seems to calm himself. He lowers his fists, though now he seems completely at a loss for words. He stares at you blankly.

"That is good," he clears his throat, clearly embarrassed about the situation, "very good, yes " he offers a small smile, though you can sense him struggling to gather himself. "...so I woke up because the curtains were running away from a wild toaster." Ashton blinks a few times, processing this information. He seems to ponder it for a moment and then... bursts out into laughter.

It's a loud sound, like a true suburban father laugh. It's a sound of complete delight. Though, it doesn't take him too much effort to bring himself back. "Ah... yes," he says, "Wild toasters. They are very problematic." He lets himself sink into bed again, and like before, you're to slow to react. Because the moment his head hits the pillow, he's gone. Snoring the night away...

Sam

"Hm?" The mighty lord stirs in his sleep. He pulls the sheets tighter around him, his body twitching in his sleep. The sound of his name being uttered by you seems to have broken through his slumber. "Wake uuuup~!" "Hm?" Sam finally looks up at you, his eyes barely open. They seem to focus on you, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room before he finally smiles. "Impy...?" He speaks in the softest of whispers, his voice almost hoarse as though it had been a while. "Did my friends wakw you...or...was it my snoring?"

"My shampoo ran out cause the towel used it for their skincare routine." "Ah..." He sits up, his expression still weary from sleep. Before you can even tell him to stop, he's already risen from the bed. He's practically half-asleep as he waddles towards the shop and comes back with a bottle of shampoo in hand.

He doesn't question you or the strange request at all. "There you go," he holds up a bottle of shampoo. "Only the best for my little imp, and since its you...its on the house" he says, although he looks like he's in a trance he does smirk at you.

"Thank...you?" You question as you take the bottle from his hands. Before you know it he drops face first into bed, "But...if ya need anythin' else...get it yourself...alright?" he mumbles into the pillow.

[drdemonprince]

It wasn't the main topic of your most recent post on substack, so I'm sending this here. In passing you talk about left-leaning neurodivergent people on social media, and the guilt and fatigue that comes from the constant avalanche of causes and events being shared.

One thing that stands out to me is how much of what I see is people borrowing grief from the future. This is probably partially due to people wanting to show that they care about it. However I feel it's more than that, because underneath that there's something else. It feels very similar to the catastrophizing autistic people in particular can be prone to. You know, where you get so lost obsessing over a hypothetical possible outcome that you complete lose sight of all the things that have to happen for it to come to pass. Things that are often unlikely to begin with on their own, but combined even more so. And then this gets shared and fractally further catastrophized upon. All pulling grief from the future for things that may not even happen.

Seeing all that is so exhausting, as there's often little to no distinction between what's actually urgent in the here and now, and what's an emotional resonance cascade about what *might* happen (and any actual information to be able to judge it has been lost due to the game of Internet telephone, or was never there (ie. a twitter screengrab.) Sometimes disentangling that mess is possible, but it takes a lot of stress and energy, on top of the stress and energy seeing people upset about it in the first place.

My question is two-fold:

How do you (gently) tell people that what they're doing is counterproductive when just sharing anything without checking whether it's actually urgent, not misleading, not just spreading panic and needlessly borrowing grief from the future? Because with the exception of people you know *well* and even then, that feels like a fool's errand, even if you can avoid the toxic positivity vibes that people might get from you if you try.

Decide if social media is at all worth it. I personally don't follow "big" accounts, but even outside that it's all just so... the enjoyable and interesting parts where people talk about their stuff or share what they do or made feel like they're being snowed over by all the rest. I could quit it all, but that doesn't feel right. It's a tricky question because I feel the specter of the toxic positivity crowd sweeping anything difficult under the rug or disengaging to ~protect their mental~ looming over me. (Not to mention that all the IRL social events around me go through a dizzying array of social media sites, so complete disengagement isn't possible anyway.)

(Yes, I appreciate the irony of asking this on social media.) I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have on this.

Thanks for this all-too-relatable question, Anon! My thoughts:

How do you (gently) tell people that what they're doing is counterproductive when just sharing anything without checking whether it's actually urgent, not misleading, not just spreading panic and needlessly borrowing grief from the future? Because with the exception of people you know *well* and even then, that feels like a fool's errand, even if you can avoid the toxic positivity vibes that people might get from you if you try.

My answer is that you really don't. You can't convince someone to see the world your way or alter their behavior with your words. What you can do is take care of yourself and set an example with your behavior. By spending less time online digesting this bullshit, not involving yourself in petty,dissolve-on-your-tongue internet fights, not reacting when people send some dumb fuckshit to you, and surrounding yourself with more enriching sources of information and ways to connect, other people's online bullshit will bother you less, you'll see it less, and by virtue of contributing to it all less, you may slowly serve as a model for others who are looking to detach from it, too.

You can tell your close friends that you are spending less time online and trying to avoid alarmist bullshit, but not much good usually comes from engaging about it with anyone else. In fact, even posting a bad infographic in order to argue with it/disprove it only gives it more exposure, and some research on attitude change and persuasion finds that setting out to disprove a myth only leads to more people believing in it anyway. I did some laboratory studies on that back in the day. So I'd say it's usually better to just ignore/block/not read the BS.

2. (How do you) Decide if social media is at all worth it. I personally don't follow "big" accounts, but even outside that it's all just so… the enjoyable and interesting parts where people talk about their stuff or share what they do or made feel like they're being snowed over by all the rest. I could quit it all, but that doesn't feel right. It's a tricky question because I feel the specter of the toxic positivity crowd sweeping anything difficult under the rug or disengaging to ~protect their mental~ looming over me. (Not to mention that all the IRL social events around me go through a dizzying array of social media sites, so complete disengagement isn't possible anyway.)

I think my previous answer kind of alludes to the answer to this one. I find that I use social media less and less these days, because it does not help me professionally, socially, or emotionally very much at all. On the professional level, more social media usage does not translate to more readers or more interesting creative/collaborative opportunities. What does seem to pay off is speaking from true sincerity and passion, however often I am so moved, and then not engaging with bullshit in the aftermath of sharing it. So I post and ghost whenever I feel that I have something to say, never checking notifications/reactions/comments/etc for the most part.

Socially, social media use lately has been dismal for me. Seeing everyone's hot takes, bids for attention, trauma spirals, and petty fights makes me actively like humanity far less. And that's something I have already struggled with generally. I do not need to absorb every random person I've ever met's every random fleeting thought. It makes me socially anxious, far too worried about how people perceive me, and viciously judgement and hopeless myself. What social media IS useful for, socially, is finding events, as you've alluded to. So I do hop onto Instagram to check out my favorite party organizers, drag performers, mutual aid groups, trans beach day organizers, bars, etc to see what is going on. I don't do much beyond that these days.

Emotionally/psychologically, social media is stressful, alarmist, distracting, and occasionally informative and fun for me. Again your mileage may vary. My way of coping right now is to spend as little time on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook etc as possible, because very little of intellectual consequence happens there, and to selectively visit the specific tumblrs who put out posts that I like. I don't even scroll the feed. I have also replaced scrolling social media with reading Substacks and Medium articles and that has helped me a TON. I still get exposure to a wide array of humanity, including a lot of takes that I disagree with or find silly, but everything's a bit more measured and intentional and there's less fighting.

I do not know what will work for you, Anon, and I think for many of us this is an ongoing negotiation between competing needs. I consider saying fuck it and deleting everything pretty often. well, everything other than tumblr. I'm here to stay.

[otomeiromylife]

Yandere headcanons - Obey Me brothers

TW: general yandere/abusive/toxic behaviour, possessiveness, mild violence, control.

Lucifer

Uses school rules as an excuse to overly control you.

He’ll make up rules on the spot for just you to follow - it’s not like you can question him?

“This hallway is off limits, it’s best you go home lest you get into any more trouble”

“Your tie is tied incorrectly! Hmph, come here, just let me do it for you.”

“That food is prohibited on academy grounds, do I also need to escort you to the cafeteria?”

And if you ever break the rules… Lucifer ensures he is the only one allowed to punish you.

Be prepared for plenty of hours-long lectures telling you exactly how you need to behave, or else.

Will write bullet-point instructions on every step you need to take throughout the day - if you violate the schedule, be prepared to bow before him in his office, whilst he corrects you.

Always threatens to string you up, like his does Mammon, just to see the fear and uncertainty in your eyes. Though he knows he never will, not from the ceiling, at least.

Mammon

He isn’t the Avatar of Greed for no reason, this man is a collector.

He started off with things you wouldn’t notice, like discarded packaging, or class-notes.

He tried to only steal little things of yours, but sometimes the thrill is better when it’s something noticeable.

He would then steal clothing, like gloves, socks, and underwear.

“Mammon, have you seen my necklace?”

Of course he has, it’s stashed away in the back of his wardrobe, along with all your other shiniest objects.

But he’s not dumb enough to admit that to you, despite popular belief.

He hopes in the back of his mind, that you catch him. He wants you to see how desperate he is for parts of you.

Uses his ability to communicate with crows to watch over you. Crows are like pigeons in the Devildom, they line all the telephone wires, and gather in the busy streets.

Like inconspicuous spies, everywhere you go. This is why he doesn’t like to talk much about his ability, he doesn’t want you to be more cautious.

‘It’s just for their safety, right?’

Leviathan

Uses the ‘innocent wet puppy’ facade to guilt you into spending more time with him.

Over-exaggerates his shyness when it comes to you, the shy boy type always gets the girl in anime, right?

What do you mean you’d rather go shopping with Asmo than play games in his room for the eighth consecutive day?

“I get it… I’m just some disgusting, ugly, otaku…”

Before you know it, you’ve been completely isolated from everyone else. But it’s okay, because all you need is your best friend, right? It’s just you and him in this world.

“We’re the only ones that understand each other.”

Is actually quite confident with you behind his mask of bashfulness, but only because he’s planned out every interaction like a script, with a hundred different contingencies.

But when you’re in his room, just you and him, he has to lock the door, for his own reassurance.

He wouldn’t want any of his normie brothers to come and take you away! Your attention is for him only. And you’re not allowed to leave.

His eyes often linger on inappropriate places on your body - he won’t even notice until it’s pointed out to him. He’ll laugh it off, but he doesn’t care to correct his behaviour.

Thinks of himself as fulfilling the ‘loveable pervert’ anime trope, he doesn’t really understand that it’s not okay, because he sees everyone as anime tropes.

Why aren’t you laughing? Is it because you hate him?

Satan

Curses and spells are his favourite way to make you his own.

Sometimes you find yourself with a craving to see him, there are some hours where you cannot concentrate on anything else, only thoughts of him. That is, until you inevitably give in, seek out his bedroom.

He wants you to trust him, feel comfortable with him. Therefore, spells that make you more obedient and affectionate are certainly not off the table if you’re too distant.

And he can’t help but extend his spellwork to anyone else who may have their eye on you.

A classmate of yours getting too flirty? What a surprise, when they get struck by lightning on their way home.

Some other lesser demon offers to tutor you? It’s a shame they didn’t follow through with their offer, and just disappeared… (they were forever turned into a frog)

Human minds are so absorbent, why shouldn’t Satan ensure that all you know comes from himself?

So what if he slips in a few white lies, if it’s for your own good?

“You’re going to that café with some friends? I heard the owner has a prolific hatred of humans… why don’t you watch this TV drama with me, instead?”

Due to his connections all over the Devildom, he really does give the most romantic gifts. Anything you want, just for you, though maybe you should ask Solomon to cleanse it first.

And if you still resist after that, maybe he will show you why exactly he is called the Avatar of Wrath.

Asmodeus

He’s a designer, there’s no way he’s going to let you go out in those clothes. Everything you wear must be perfectly devised by him!

He will sculpt your image from head to toe, decking you out in all of his own designs, don’t even think about your own style.

“I’m a professional, darling, trust me.”

Your whole look, tailored by him, for him.

What’s more fun than teasing? A few pics on Devilgram of you together with a flirty caption is just called making the masses happy, keep them guessing!

As long as you’re around, all the tabloids are buzzing. The celebrity news sites go wild for paparazzi pics of you and him together - don’t mind how they knew your location - you’re in all the headlines as Asmo’s new sweetheart.

Pressure won’t stop building until you’re finally announcing your devotion to him. And when you do, it must be public of course, it’s always important to please the crowd.

Asmodeus has always been exceptional, so is it not appropriate to give him an exceptional amount of love?

Constant assurance he is superior to any other demon is a must. He must always be your #1 priority.

Will goad you into showing your affection for him in front of the other brothers. Are you not particularly comfortable with PDA? Don’t worry, he’ll show you just how fun it can be through lots of practise.

“I know you love me the most, right? Say it.”

Beelzebub

In the Devildom, it’s the strong that prevail. And thankfully for him, Beel has a lot of strength.

There’s not much room for other demons to get close to you, when there’s the demon he-man towering above you at all times.

He’s always keeping an eye out for your surroundings, he wants nothing more than to keep you safe, although he can go a little overboard sometimes…

In his determination to protect you, he practically assumes the role of your bodyguard. Not that you complain, the Devildom is dangerous after all, he’s just helping you, right?

He gives intimidating glares to any demons that so much as look at you. Silent threats and claims that you are his. Everyone knows that you are off-limits.

But when the occasional demon comes around, getting a little too aggressive, or touchy-feely with you, Beelzebub is not above using force.

Out of your sight, of course, some demons need to be taught a lesson through blood.

Only after they’re knocked out, bleeding on the floor will he jump in the shower, to wash all the ‘grime’ off, eager to return to you, your sweet guardian angel.

Belphegor

He’ll often steal you away from everyone else, some dark and cozy place where you needn’t worry, as long as you’re wrapped in his arms.

His loving arms, that through touch, have the power to alter your dreams into whatever he wants. Perhaps he’ll give you dreams of romantic picnics under the stars, perhaps he’ll give you dreams of the other demons wrapping their hands around your neck, squeezing your life away, only for you to be saved by Belphegor.

He can’t have you getting too trusting of the others demons, right? He needs to make up for all the time he missed whilst he was in the attic, with interest.

Sometimes he likes to dig his nails across your skin, just to feel your reaction. The little mewls you make and the way you push his hands away make his heart flutter, and his head grow even more dizzy and irrational.

Through great restraint his clawing will turn to light caresses and gentle pinches if you tell him to stop. Though that doesn’t mean he won’t start again next time.

After the first few bits of casual contact he won’t stop clinging to you. You’ll always have this drowsy demon clinging to your arm or resting on your shoulder.

He likes to nuzzle into you, stain his scent into you, warning any other demons close enough to smell you of Belphie’s presence.

He understands if after… the incident… you’re much more wary of him, but no worries, he knows just how to make this discomfort go away.

Since his twin is such a trusty protector, he use Beel to worm his way into your blind spot, sneaking behind until he can pounce around your shoulders and never let go.

Don’t think you can spend time with his twin without getting the full package. You trusted Beel, you felt safe around him, you shared your thoughts and secrets with him, but Belphegor knows all that you told him. He hopes the calming effect of Beel will soothe the anxious pressure in your heart whenever Belphie steps in the room behind him. There’s nothing they don’t share.

A/N: crossposted on ao3: girlfawkes

[rockybloo]

I randomly got hit with this specific ass Licorice AU near the beginning of this month where Sweetheart and Bitterbat are point blank a hero and villain with no prior history together but they wind up hooking up and having a super secret relationship but Sweetheart winds up pregnant and having Angie but Sweetheart and Bitterbat remain on separate sides of justice.

So Angie spends her weeks with Sweetheart and some weekends with Bitterbat with some variations.

She doesn't have any siblings in this AU as, while Sweetheart and Bitterbat don't hate each other and do have deep feelings, they have more restraint on their hearts and are trying to keep a status quo of sorts.

One of the city's best heroes having a child with one of the city's most dangerous and brutal villains is highly taboo and the peak scandal any tabloid would kill over so Angie's parents do their best to keep their emotions down and give her the best childhood they can while keeping appearances.

This leads to a lot of telephone games where Angie is dropped off at Sweetheart's house after Bitterbat time and she tells her that "Dad said you looked really pretty today" and Sweetheart peeks out the door and sees him in the shadows on a nearby rooftop with his eyes glowing in the darkness before he poofs in a cloud of violet smoke.

And Angie is released into the shadows of the night by Sweetheart where she is scooped up by Bitterbat and Angie has a little goodie bag of chocolate covered strawberries courtesy of Sweetheart with a little note attached for Bitterbat's eyes only.

I don't know if Sweetheart and Bitterbat are actually designated as archenemies in this AU (aka her and him being assigned together like in canon) because the concept of her being a hero separate from him and his villainy really scrubs the mind right. Like her just being a free agent of a hero and him picking on various heroes. It hits the spot extra good whenever Sweetheart is taking on some villains at a crime bust and Bitterbat is one of the villains involved so that makes them running into each other more spicy because there is no fake fighting in this AU. They obviously don't aim to kill but they are more serious even if they still flirt.

Angie does ask occasionally why the two don't just get together like normal parents but they keep coming up with excuses even though they both would love to be together.

But in the mean time, they have that "Divorced but not really as they are madly in love but in mild denile but they have a kid together and are on good terms and occasionally while Angie is at school or with her aunties or uncles, they still hook up and make out" energy.

I imagine this AU winds up going down the route of Angie being what fully brings Sweetheart and Bitterbat together and saying "Fuck the world, I love you" and that's when they finally live in a house all together.

But for now, Bitterbat watches from a distance and thinks about how the mother of his child is the most beautiful being he's ever seen as she eats some ice cream with Angie.

And, after making sure Angie is asleep in bed, Sweetheart tunes in to news reports of Bitterbat's reign of terror and gorey battles against heroes with a blush as she admires how handsome and strong the father of her child is while he is covered in the blood of his enemies.

And occasionally Angie texts Bitterbat where she and her mom are when they are out and about because she knows he'll drop everything just to be near them.

It's led to a couple "surprise drop ins" from him that Angie plays dumb about and Sweetheart still hasn't caught on that her child is setting her up with her future husband.

Angie takes a lot from her mother in terms of looks (save for her batwing ears) but her personality leans heavily toward her father's mischievous ways.

[summerlycoris]

Is It Really A Birthday Party If You Wake Up In A Hospital Bed?

Chapter 3- Hey, this could be the worst day of my life.

Previous chapter- tumblr link

AO3 link-

She could see her plushies panicking around her, trying to ask her questions. "What's your name? Can you squeeze my hands" And she tried to answer them. She told them she was okay, she just needed some more blankets. It must've been edging into winter- Mom had some spare blankets in the linen closet that she could go fetch.

But when she tried to get up, she just couldn't. The plushies- multiples of Roxy, of Chica, of Bonnie, of Circus Baby, even an old Rockstar Freddy she'd got off Gregory when she turned nine- were on top of her weighing her down. She couldn't move an inch. She tried to push them off, but even her arms were heavy. She could feel someone trying to push… a tube? Into her mouth- wait, what?- but it was just Roxy trying to shush her. "We need to be quiet, it could come back any minute."

________

They were on a picnic blanket, on a hillside under a tree. Roxy looked so much like her old self- and it was Cassie's birthday! It must have been, because there was carrot cake and carrot sandwiches and carrotdrop candy and carrot jelly and-

Wait, carrot jelly? Carrot sandwiches?

"Roxy, I like carrots- but not this much!"

"Yeah, I agree. It tastes better in small doses." She said, before passing her a piece of carrotdrop candy.

________

Then she was sitting just in front of Candy Cadet at the daycare. Sun was… where is he?

Anyway! Candy Cadet was gonna tell her a story! "Once upon a time…"

"She was found at the pizzaplex!? I… I was at work until 12am. Who would have taken her there?"

________

"Mom? Please come get me." She was standing at a public telephone just outside the pizzaplex. She'd gone there after school, hoping to catch a ride home with her dad. But he… didn't work there anymore. And mom didn't go there anymore. Nobody worked there anymore. There were newspapers covering up where the main entrance would've been. It was raining so hard- she was soaked through to the bone. She wanted to cry.

________

"Back at my old place, the pizzaplex there was… different" Gregory said. They were at the Fazpad. Gregory was drawing in a journal while talking to her. She was gonna be nine soon. He had just turned eleven, though you wouldn't be able to tell- he was about Cassie's height.

He and Aunt Miskovsky had just moved here. His Mom and her Mom were catching up nearby. Andy was trying to ask questions to his Mom about… well something dumb. Cassie guessed.

But none of that mattered, because she could really make a new friend. She just needed not to blow it. Gregory continued- "They had a Freddy themed disco, and a Bonnie themed bounce castle. It was really fun… Do they have those here too?"

"Umm, they have some cool attractions, but not those ones." She admitted. And saw his shoulders sink down. Is he homesick too? I was, when I first moved here… "But Fazerblast is super cool- it's a Freddy themed laser tag game! I'm sure you'll love it!" And there's Roxy Racers- it's a go-kart track based on Roxy. I've been on it before- it's the best!"

"Wait, Fazerblast, that sounds cool. Do you think our Mom's will let us play in it?" He said, putting down his pencil. He'd been sketching some strange mecha- Freddy, defending the city from mecha- Monty.

"We can ask- Dad got me a play pass when we moved here- it's still valid for a few months."

"I still have mine from home, I bet it could be used here…"

"Then let's go ask! I've got some money in my purse, in case we want any snacks."

They got permission, and ran off towards the Atrium, straight to Fazerblast.

________

Cassie sat down besides her dad, as he fiddled with an animatronic. Perks of having a technician for a dad- daddy daughter days were super cool! He was working on Chica, who stared at her with big, purple eyes. Gregory was on the floor nearby, drawing on some old construction paper. Aunt Miskovsky, a pale lady with wrinkles and dark black hair, watched over him from where she was fixing up Monty.

"Could you give this to Chica? I think she'll need it." Dad said, with a smile in his voice. So she did- lifting up the moldy cheese with one hand, while the other hand put Chica's voice box back in.

Gross gross gross-

________

She was at home, laying on her bed reading a magazine. She could hear Andy in the next bedroom listening to… something? It sounded more like beeping than music, honestly. But then, most of Andy's musical tastes were… experimental.

"Anddyyyy" She whined, and kicked at the wall next to the dining table. "I'm trying to study! Can you quit it?!"

Cassie could hear the guest room door open. Then she saw Andy in the archway, with her beaded braids and thick rimmed glasses, looking like she'd throw her cd player at Cassie's head. But instead, she asked. "Hey Cassie, did you want to hear a story?"

________

"...Roxy said 'But I've always wanted to be the best at racing. If I can't be first, does it even matter?' Foxy looked at her, then laughed. 'Of course it matters, Roxy- not everyone can be first! Most people don't even get second place! You should be proud of yourself. Now go up there and give their hand a shake!' " Mom read from a familiar book.

Cassie knew this story. It was from one of the first books released that had Roxy in it. Dad brought it for her years ago. And now mom was reading it to her. It was like she was six again.

________

Her Mom was mad. Cassie had gotten into trouble at school. She'd bitten Gregory because he'd been cheeky and pressed all the buttons in the elevator, trapping them inside. The principal didn't think ‘but he started it!’ Justified it and had called mom in for a discussion.

Mom walked out of the principal's office, and sat next to Cassie, holding her hand. "They think you got a bacterial infection in your blood first, then it became stepsister…"

"Mom? She's not my stepsister, she's my half sister? Of all people, you should know that…?" Cassie was really confused.

________

She was laying down in a casket. She looked down at herself. Wearing her old Roxy dress that she had to throw away when she was ten, holding hibiscus flowers in her hands clasped to her chest. Red, of course. They were such pretty flowers. There was someone saying the last rites nearby- no, her Mom, Dad, Andy, and the old priest from Salvador were saying it. And Gregory. And Aunt Miskovsky. But they weren't saying it right- wait no, it was in spanish? She laughed- well this was clearly a dream! I know for a fact Gregory can't speak a word of spanish! He'd always come to me for "help" with his homework, even though I know portuguese!

________

She was no longer in a casket. But instead a… hospital bed? Mom and Andy were sitting down next to her. Mom held her hand, stroking her dark-brown fingers across Cassie's right palm. It looked like they had been crying. Cassie squeezed her fingers around her Mom's, and Mom gave her a weary smile. She tried to speak. But still couldn't. Everything around her was so blurry. She could only see Mom, and Andy. Next to her, Cassie could feel something soft- her oldest Roxy plushie, from when she'd first been revealed. The prize of her collection. She wanted to grab it and drag it closer. But her left arm felt weird still. She could feel a cast on her forearm, and see a tube running into her upper arm. She just kept squeezing her Mom's fingers.

"Do you think they'll be weaning her off it soon?" Asked Andy.

"...She'll need to go to surgery first." Mom replied.

________

She was at their old house, in Salvador. It was so beautiful. With two floors, and wild, beautiful hibiscus growing outside. Red, of course. Cassie knocked on the door, and her dad opened it, a big smile on his sun-damaged, tanned face. "Oh, I knew you would find me." He said, as she flung herself at him for a hug.

"What happened to you?" She wanted to ask. But she didn't. He stared at her through the AR Bonnie mask.

________

He wasn't there. Not in the Superstar-Cade. Not at Bonnie Bowl. Not even waiting in line at that awful Roller Coaster.

And she'd been everywhere. She'd double checked and triple checked- looked everywhere for that Freddy hoodie.

She didn't want to think it-

But what else am I supposed to think?!

He'd abandoned her. Made off with her playpass while she was getting her stupid shoes. And now she couldn't find him anywhere.

She was left there, on the third floor balcony. Sitting down out of the way of everyone, near the exit to Bonnie Bowl. Those shoes still held in her hands.

Cassie was just a little girl, in a huge Pizzaplex. Nobody seemed to notice her. Even when her eyes started watering again.

She dropped the shoes to the side, so she could rub her eyes desperately. She didn't want to cry again.

(Maybe that's why he'd gotten sick of me.)

… Or maybe something had happened to him? Maybe he'd gotten lost looking for a bathroom? Maybe he'd seen Freddy and tried to follow him?

Maybe someone had taken him?

That thought sent a shiver up her spine. But nobody could do that, right? There's cameras everywhere- security staff wandering the building…

Someone would've noticed a kid getting spirited away, right?

(... They didn't in those video games.)

Now the self pity left her, to be replaced by dread. She might be the only thing between her new friend's life, and death.

(She wasn't even nine yet.)

She stood up, grabbed her shoes quickly, and looked around. Trying to figure out what to do.

Mom and Dad said, if I'm ever worried about something dangerous, to tell them immediately.

But if she did, Andy would punish her.

“If you go back to Mom or Dad without me, Cassie, I'll give you a haircut. Again. Understood?"

…

What if I'm overreacting?

…

What if I'm underreacting?!

She didn't know what to do.

Everyone entering or exiting Bonnie Bowl was so much taller than her. It was a common teen hangout, after all. It felt like all she could do was hold herself close, and try not to be swept away in the crowd.

Who could she ask for help? Roxy? Bonnie? She didn't know where they were…

Sun. I know where he is.

So she ran off through the crowd, with ‘excuse me’s, and ‘sorry!’s whenever she needed to push her way through a crowd. Down the escalators two steps at a time. She wish she was wearing her new shoes, instead of carrying them- they'd be better for running that her ratty old sandals.

It felt like it took forever to make her way over to the daycare, through the open doorway in Kids Cove. Sun would know what to do. Because he always did. Whenever she ran into an issue at the daycare, Sun would help fix it. Or Moon, both were so nice-

She got up to the slide, with its ‘slide into fun’ sign. There was a barricade in front of it, and a sign at the empty service desk.

The daycare is closed, for… she couldn't read that last word yet, it was too long.

Cassie panted from running so far, hands on her knees. Her mind whirred- she couldn't believe it.

I just need to yell. Even if it's closed, he'll still come out and help me, right?

So she did- “Sun? Moon? Hello? I need help- Can you come out please?”

But nobody came.

She bit her lip, and went to look over the railings, and through the netting.

There was no one there. The cheerful music of the daycare seemed designed to taunt her.

Nobody was gonna help her. She’d picked wrong.

She crumpled to the floor. A lost little girl, in a huge world.

There was the distant sound of a bunch of little feet, racing behind her back to the lobby. Cheering, and laughter that contrasted awfully with how she felt right now. It was like they were making fun of her.

Now she really did cry, loudly, as she threw her shoes at the service desk in frustration.

She couldn't do anything-

There were noises of heavy footsteps behind her, but she barely noticed over her wails.

“Good morning Cassie, you look a little lost today. Are you okay?” she started, and spun around while seated. Her dress getting caught around her feet. Bonnie had leaned down to her level. Besides him, stood Freddy. Had they been at a birthday party?

“I…” What should she say? “I… got seperated from my friend earlier. And now I can't find him anywhere- his name’s Gregory Miskovsky. He could be anywhere by now- Could you… please help me?” she sobbed out, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She tried standing up, but got tangled in her dress. She would’ve fallen over if Bonnie hadn’t caught her. He grabbed her under her arms, and set her upright.

Bonnie and Freddy looked at each other, then back to Cassie. “Of course we can help you. It will be our pleasure.” Said Freddy. He reached out a big hand to her, which she grabbed thankfully. Only being able to hold one of his fingers in her palm.

“Now Cassie, are those your shoes by the desk?” Bonnie asked. She nodded, and he went to retrieve them. “Make sure not to lose them- they are limited edition. You must have worked hard to save for them.”

She nodded again, thanking him. She didn't think they were important right now- but she had worked hard to save up for them.

“How about you come with me? I will take you to the stage- it is a good place to spot people from- while Bonnie and my friends go looking elsewhere for Gregory.” She nodded, then he led her away, back the way she came.

She could see Bonnie heading out, towards the lobby. And could feel the sensation of someone staring at her. But she was too focused and upset to turn around and find out who.

She wiped at her eyes with her free arm, trying not to get her tears on those shoes.

________

Cassie didn't like it when people stared at her. She didn't like it at school, she didn't like it at the shops. And she especially did not like it here. She was in a hospital? She couldn't move an inch. Her legs were propped up on… pillows? So it was hard to see over the blanket. Her left wrist had a tight bandage on it now. A man was staring at her. That tube was still in her throat. She could feel something in her nose, too. He just keeps staring.

She wanted to slap him. Throw some words at him that mom would skin her for using. But she couldn't move and she couldn't speak. How can an open room feel so claustrophobic anyway?

________

Now he was on the other side of the bed. Just great.

Bad news! The tube was still in her throat!

Worse news! This jerk is stealing my blood! She could see it coming away from her in tubes that fed into a strange box that was full of her blood. He was fiddling with the box. She tried to protest, but he was on the left side of the bed. When she went to hit him, she missed miserably. She tried to pull out the tube down her throat, to give him a piece of her mind-

________

Next thing she knew, she was watching an old movie with Gregory. Brazil- her favorite.

His Mom was busy- night shift. Cons of having a technician for a mom- they're not always home... So he was staying the night with them, as usual. It was the weekend, so Cassie had managed to convince her parents to let them stay up late and to have the family room to themselves! Perfect! Add some microwave popcorn, and a soft blanket to wrap around themselves, and it really was perfect. Her hand was intertwined with his, as they leaned into each other's shoulders.

Cassie was eleven. She was watching a dumb old dystopia flick right next to her best friend, and she wasn't scared of anything.

________

She went from being so happy, to feeling miserable so quickly that it was like she'd been slapped.

Cassie was alone. It was her twelfth birthday party. And nobody had bothered to show up. She could feel tears welling in her eyes as she slumped down near the bathrooms at the Glamrock Beauty Salon.

She'd invited some of her ‘friends’ from school. But I knew they only kept me around as a backup friend, someone to laugh at behind my back… just didn't want to admit it…

What really hurt was that Gregory hadn't turned up. Because she trusted him to be there. Because he'd said he would be. But the party had started an hour ago. He wasn't coming. Nobody was. She'd got all made-up for nothing.

Mom and Dad tried to keep her spirits up, until she excused herself to the restrooms so she could cry in peace.

She sat there, curled up for a while. Hoping Roxy would hear her and come back for her. Hoping no one would see her. Until she heard footsteps. She looked up- and there was Gregory! He was holding a tissue out to her, knelt beside her. "Sorry I'm late. You know I wouldn't miss it for the world."

(No, no, no, that's not how it went-)

She reached out to grab it, only to grab her Dad's worn old hand instead. She could see the veins through his knuckles.

He was kneeling beside her. "Hey, Cass? We just got a phone call off Jemima…"

She sniffled. "Aunt Miskovsky? Does she know where Gregory is?"

He just looked at her. Her heart sank. Something's really wrong.

"How about you come back with us? We'll have some carrot cake and… we'll talk there, okay?

(Not okay not okay not okay-)

________

She could feel Roxy threading her fingers through her hair again. She did it! She got Eclipse! She came back for me. Cassie opened her eyes, and saw Andy beside her instead, singing a little song in Portuguese under her breath. One of those nursery rhymes you'd sing for a little kid. But Cassie was thirteen now! I'm not a baby anymore, jeez!

…

As much as she hated to admit it though, it was comforting.

Andy kept running her dark-brown fingers through Cassie's hair. This time. This time, Cassie didn't miss, placing her hand on top of Andy's. Andy's eyes widened, then she asked- "You're really waking up this time?"

She tried to speak. She wasn't surprised to find out that stupid tube was still there. She squeezed Andy's hand instead.

"She's tolerating the awakening trial so far. If she keeps stable, we may be able to run a spontaneous breathing trial today. '' Said a man's voice. Cassie looked to her other side- and there was the blood thief! Writing some notes into a clipboard, and chatting quietly to a lady beside him.

I thought he was just a bad dream?!

Cassie could feel her eyes widen as she tried to get away. She couldn't sit up, or move her legs, so it didn't work. But she still tried. And Andy seemed to understand she was upset, because she started to try and sooth her "Hey, it's okay. Mom will be back soon- she just needed a coffee. She's coming back, Cassie, you're gonna be okay." She turned to the man. "She's so confused-looking. Is this normal?"

"Yes, it's normal to be confused after sedation." He looked up from his clipboard, straight at Cassie. Cassie couldn't help shivering. He must be a vampire or something. He's ashen enough for it- I bet he's hiding fangs too! He looked up at the monitors. "Maybe I remind her of someone? She's getting upset again- could you take over for a few?" The nurse nodded, and he stood up to leave.

Everything was so confusing for Cassie. Breathing trials? Awakening trials?! She'd been expecting to wake up in the tunnel, when Roxy brought Eclipse back-

Instead she was hooked up to some weird machines- the kinds you'd see in some medical drama on tv. She had the tube in her arm, what felt like a smaller tube up her nose, and the most annoying one down her throat. She could also feel some sticky things stuck to her chest- with more wires coming away from them through the neck of her gown. And there was a doctor-thingy (She… couldn’t remember the name?) Stuck around her left thumb. It was also attached to a wire, leading to the monitor. Her bed was tilted slightly, but straight. So that her feet were down, but her head was up. She could barely move- just being able to wiggle her fingers on her left hand at the moment. It felt like there was something around her right leg. And honestly? She felt sick. It'd be a miracle if she didn't throw up. She didn't want this weird vampire anywhere near her- thank goodness he was leaving! He went left, behind the curtains.

Andy reached over and grabbed the Roxy plush from the left side of the bed, and passed it to Cassie. She nearly forgot it was there. She clutched it to her chest for a bit and her breathing leveled off, until she heard a door open- and Mom was there, walking in from the right. Andy withdrew and stood back, as Mom rushed over to Cassie's side, filling the chair Andy had been in. She put her coffee down quickly, on a little side table, then grabbed Cassie's right hand and held it tight with both of her hands.

"Oh my goodness…my baby girl…" Mom choked out. Cassie's heart hurt, seeing her Mom cry. Because Mom never cried. Not even when…

She wanted to ask so many questions. Needed to know so much.

"Mom, don't overwhelm her. She's probably got a lot going through her head right now."

Her Mom nodded, and just kept clenching Cassie's hand, as Cassie slowly calmed down again taking deep breaths. Andy excused herself for a moment. "Just gonna grab something, be right back." And for a while, everything was still.

The nurse stopped standing and checking monitors, and sat down instead, looking at Cassie expectantly. "Good morning Cassiopeia, my name is Nurse Harris, and I'll be helping you today."

Cassie frowned. Don’t call me Cassiopeia- especially if you can't pronounce it right! But she couldn't say that yet. Mom stepped in, though- "She prefers to be called 'Cassie'."

The nurse let out a small laugh. "Well, that's good to know- Cassie, we're going to have to run a few little tests on you, okay? It shouldn't be hard- it's just to check whether you can stay awake, or if you need a little more sleep."

Cassie nodded slightly. She couldn’t move her head much, due to the tube.

The nurse quickly checked her clipboard. "I'd ask you to open your eyes, and to look at me, but you've already done that- you're ahead of the curve!" This is a little patronizing… Cassie thought. "Could I ask you to squeeze your Mom's hand? Big squeeze now."

Mom stopped clenching her hand so tightly, so that Cassie could grip it. And she did. She swore Mom stopped crying when she did. Nurse Harris made another mark on the clipboard, and rechecked the charts. "You're doing well, Cassie. We may be able to get you off the ventilator today. But we'll have to see if you can breathe without much help first. Would you like to give it a go? If you do, give Mom's hand a squeeze."

She did want to give it a go. So much. Anything to get that dumb tube out of my throat. She squeezed her Mom's hand super tight, letting go when she saw Mom wince.

She wished she could say sorry. She wished she could say a lot of things.

Like a knight in varsity-jacket-wearing armor, Andy returned. And she returned with a glittery purple notebook and pen. Holding it above her head like she'd just caught a huge fish, instead of a small book. "Ta-da- this'll make things easier!" She passed the notebook to Mom, and the pen to Cassie. "You can't use words right now- but your arms aren't painted on- use them to talk to us!"

"Andromeda, could you please behave? There are other patients resting nearby." Mom scolded.

Andy just shrugged, and sat down at the foot of Cassie's bed. "Well, they weren't bothering to be quiet last week..."

Mom just tutted, and opened up the journal, holding it out in front of Cassie. They were all on the same page, figuratively and literally.

It's kinda like writing on a whiteboard, but with more give, thought Cassie, as she tried writing on the page. "I'm Sorry."

"'I'm-' What? Cassie, you don't need to apologize. I'm just glad you're safe. It's whoever took you there that needs to apologize." Mom said, sweeping some loose hair away from Cassie's eyes. Cassie felt her eyes get watery, and tried to blink it away.

She asked for the book back by tapping it, and added a question below- "Where am I?"

While she was writing, Nurse Harris was changing some stuff about the throat tube. Disconnecting it in one place, and attaching a different piece. "Make sure to stay calm, and breathe, okay? It might feel a little weird at first."

Cassie nodded, then wrote another question on the page- "Where's Roxy?" She tapped the book to get Mom's attention. Mom started, then turned the book to read it.

"Cassie, you're at the children's hospital in St George. You've been here for about two weeks now… and Roxy?" Mom looked up at Cassie disappointedly. "Did you go to the Pizzaplex by yourself? For that robot?"

Cassie shook her head, as much as the tubes and cords allowed it. She felt strange, as her lungs had to work harder now. The nurse was right- it did feel weird. She gestured for the book back.

"No. Went to find Gregory. Roxy SAVED me." She wrote.

"... She saved you? Starbright, the firefighters and paramedics did. They got an anonymous tip that a young girl was trapped under the pizzaplex. They searched and searched, and found you."

"Though, Mom, they did find her with Wolfie and Flatface. If they hadn't been making such a ruckus, they could have missed her. Maybe she remembers that?" Andy chimed in.

Cassie frowned. Don't call them that! She wished she could yell at Andy.

Andy at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Fine- fine! Roxy and Sun. Don't look at me like that."

"...You went there for Gregory? But he's been missing for so long now. Did you see him anywhere?" Mom asked, eyes wide.

Cassie gestured for the book back, and had to think about how she'd answer this. She didn't want to lie, but the answer was… complicated. Too complicated for right now. So she wrote back "No."

The nurse kept looking at her, it was getting a little much, honestly. Cassie really didn't get all of this- sure, she broke some bones. But two weeks? Stuck asleep? It didn't make sense to her. Couldn't they have just put her in a few casts and sent her home?

"What happened to me? Why was I sleeping?" Then tapped the book again.

Mom read the page, and Andy read over her shoulder. "Oh, that's a long story, Cassie." Said Andy. And then Mom started explaining.

________

So, from what Mom could understand and explain, Cassie caught an infection during her misadventures. They didn't know when or how, only that she caught something. (I can guess a few places…) It got into her blood, probably through one of the many cuts and grazes she'd picked up falling out of vents, being forced through sewage, scrambling around the catwalks. So on, so on. And then her body decided to be a drama queen and majorly overreacted.

("So you know colds?" Andy remarked "They make you sneeze and cough and everything's awful? But it's not really the cold doing that- it's your body reacting to the cold. That's how sepsis is- except it can shut down your organs if it gets bad enough. Fun, huh?")

The rescuers found Cassie in the Atrium, being fussed over by "two robots" (Eclipse and Roxy- so they did find me!) But she hadn't been breathing right, and had been really loopy, giving them nonsense answers. (I can't remember any of that…) she wasn't really conscious, so they intubated her so she could breath, sedated her when she started to wake up, and brought her here. At first they hadn't realized she had sepsis- thinking this was due to her concussion. Her heart and lungs had started to give up before they realized what was going on.

She was asleep so long because her body needed to get better, and give her heart, and lungs a chance to heal. "They even had you on an ECMO machine for a while." Mom said. Cassie wanted to ask what that was, but didn't want to interrupt the story.

Because it wasn't over yet! She'd broken four bones between two legs, one bone in her wrist, and they needed to be managed. Once she was stable, she'd been sent in for surgery to fix the fractures, and for spinal fusion surgery.

This time, Cassie did need to interrupt the story. She gestured frantically for the book, then scrawled "spinal fusion?" Into it. Then she let Mom read it.

Mom and Andy looked at each other for a second, and Cassie started to worry. It couldn't have been that bad, right? My arm hurt worse…

But she wasn't silly. She knew she'd been lying to herself about it. And now she'd just have to deal with it. Even if the worry was now a pit weighing her heart down.

"Well… no one knows how you did it. But you got really hurt at the pizzaplex. They think you must've fallen… did you try to climb through the roof to get in?" Mom asked.

"Or did someone push you?" Asked Andy.

Cassie shook her head to both questions. How can I tell them what happened to me? They'll think I'm crazy…

Mom sighed, and continued. "You damaged your spine, around… L-1?" She looked to the nurse, who took over.

"You had a burst fracture at the first lumbar vertebrae and the twelfth thoracic vertebrae. This has done some damage to your spinal cord- but now you're awake, we can find out just how it'll impact you. It's not a complete break- so you may be able to feel your legs, or even move them again. We'll have to check if you're out of spinal shock first."

Cassie looked at her in confusion, luckily, the nurse explained quickly. "Spinal shock can happen when you first get injured- it makes you feel like you can't move- or can't feel anything- below the break. Did you feel like that after your accident?" Cassie nodded. The nurse nodded back. "It usually goes away a few days or a week after the injury. Spinal fusion is just how we fix your spinal column- by fusing the vertebrae to one another."

Cassie spent some time thinking about it. It was a lot to take in, and she didn't know how to feel about it. Worried? Sad? Angry? I mean- at least I'm alive… it could be worse… that wasn't a very reassuring thought. Would she have to use a wheelchair forever? What would that mean for her? Would people make fun of her for it? She didn't really do sports, so that was one less thing to worry about. But she had other things she wanted to do in life! One job that wasn't a pipe dream- that she really could be good at! She needed to know!

She gestured for the book back, scrawled her question, then let Mom and the nurse read it. The nurse struggled to keep a straight face, while Mom just sighed. Andy started reading over their shoulders.

"If I can't walk, can I still be a cosmetologist?"

Everything was still for a second, then Andy burst out laughing. Despite Mom asking her to shush angrily. Cassie felt a wave of embarrassment course down her back.

Shut up Andy! You just don't get it… whenever there's big time cosmetologists on tv- they're always walking around doing things. They're never stuck in a wheelchair! This was really frustrating her. And she hated how everyone was acting like she was silly. This is my future… It matters to me!

"Cassie, you dope- of course you can! The models are gonna be sitting down anyway, right?" Andy wheezed out.

Cassie glared at her, until the nurse stepped in verbally. "Even if you can't walk again- and we don't know that you won't be able to yet- there should be accommodations that can be made for you. Maybe you should ask your case manager about this, when you meet them?"

Cassie nodded. She really wanted to change the subject. She tested out her left hand. She couldn't feel any pain in her wrist anymore- but they had said she'd had surgery on it, so that made sense. Her fingers clenched around nothing, and she could slowly lift her arm

Perfect.

She got it out from the covers, and grabbed the book from Mom, who was telling off Andy. ("Cassie! Don't snatch- Andy, I'm not done with you….") She couldn't hold it for long- even a small book was too heavy for her- so she dropped it on the bed, just in front of her. The first page was pretty full, so she flipped the page. An empty canvas.

Turning the book sideways, she wrote in big letters "Can I please get the tube out please?" She looked at it for a second, then added some lines underneath for emphasis. And quickly drew some stars in the blank space, she didn't want it to look too pushy. Afterwards she handed it to the nurse with her right hand.

The nurse read it over. "It's been over two hours now, and you're feeling okay?" Cassie nodded. "Your breathing looks fine- but I'll need to talk to the respiratory therapist first, okay?" She got up, passed the book back to Cassie, and walked left past the curtains.

A few moments went past, and then she came back with Cassie's new best friend, Mr Vampire. Cassie clutched the notebook to her chest, then remembered- I can say things now, and wrote a message to him. Flipping around the book so he could read it.

And he did. " 'What did you do with my blood?'... What blood?"

Mom had now stopped arguing with Andy, and started paying attention to this. "Cassie, please don't be rude to the doctor."

I'm not being rude! I'm just asking… He's probably not a real doctor anyway.

She wrote another message, and showed it to him. "I saw you with that weird machine, taking my blood. What did you do with it?"

Did you drink it? You drank it, huh?

The nurse answered. "Oh, I think I understand- she was only mildly sedated for a bit, didn't she see you at the ECMO machine?" She said to the doctor.

He laughed lightly, then said to Cassie: "I didn't think you'd remember that." He explained what an ECMO machine did, then clarified- "Trust me- we made sure to put your blood back when we were done with it!" He smiled. He didn't have any fangs in his mouth.

Cassie let her shoulders relax. "And don't worry, Mrs Oliveira-Mathers, I've heard worse from other patients after coming out of sedation." He followed up, to Cassie's Mom.

Turning back to Cassie, he introduced himself, then started talking over how the extubation would go. (Including explaining what an ‘extubation’ was to Cassie.) Basically, they were going to take out the tube to replace it with a mask over her face. And if she could still breath well afterwards, they wouldn't have to put it back in. They used what looked like a little vacuum first (and said it was to help keep her airway clear), and tested to see if she could cough.

"It might feel uncomfortable. And you may have a sore throat afterwards. You'll need to take a deep breath, and then cough as it's removed, okay?" She nodded, and he started to remove the tube. She took a deep breath- and was glad, because it took a bit for the tube to start moving. It really did feel weird- too weird. Mom ran her fingers over Cassie's palm again, to help keep her calm. She shut her eyes and coughed a few times- honestly less because she'd been asked to, and more because her body was screaming at her to get it out.

And then it was out, and she gulped in some quick breaths before he secured the mask to her face and helped her settle back into the bed. All of it. The writing. Getting that tube out. Dealing with emotions. It was all so much.

Mom clenched her hand again, and asked "How do you feel?"

Cassie nearly went for the pen and book again, laying next to her. Until she remembered- she (hopefully) didn't need it anymore. It took a few tries, but she was able to squeak out " 'M okay." It came out in a whisper. Her throat felt sore and dry, like her voice didn't want to work yet. She coughed again. Her left hand found the Roxy plushie again, and pulled it close.

She took a few minutes just to breathe and calm down again. Then she said to the man " 'M sorry for tryna hit you. A few days go."

He smiled at her, then kept taking notes. "I hadn't even realized, don't worry about it, Cassie."

She nodded, then asked a question. "Can I gona sleep now please? 'M tired."

"That should be okay. We'll keep an eye on you, okay?" The nurse said.

Mom let go of her right hand and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "When you're less tired, we'll do something special." Which Cassie didn't really get- what kinds of special things could be done in an ICU?

Cassie closed her eyes, and pulled the plushie up over her eyes to keep the bright lights out. "G'night."

It didn't take long for her to have her first real sleep in a while. And this time, there were no weird dreams to confuse her.

________

When she woke, it was just after 6pm. She still had the nose tube in and the face mask on, and all the various cables and tubes that connected her to machines. But all in all, she was going okay. The respiratory therapist and the nurse were there, and told her she'd done well while she was sleeping- She'd been breathing okay, and it didn't look like she would need to be reintubated.

"Oh, good." Her voice was still croaky, and throat was still sore. But talking came a bit easier now, and they were able to give her some water.

("You can swallow around your nasogastric tube. So feel free to try eating and drinking. Remember to have small bites if you eat, and small portions in general. Small sips of liquid as well.")

She could really get a feel for where she was now- a hospital (duh), but in a little section of the PICU. There was a clock on the far wall that Cassie could read if she focused. There were curtains drawn to her sides, to give privacy to the other patients. But she could hear what sounded like a dad and their kid talking to her left.

She could also hear the muffled sounds of a tv. But she couldn't see it yet. Maybe she'd be able to later, if they moved the curtains? Besides her head, on both sides, were machines that were making little noises and beeps. The Roxy plushie had been moved down to her side while she slept.

Mom and Andy were not there. Something which made Cassie feel a little uneasy. "Where's Mom?" She asked the nurse.

"Your mother and sister went out a little earlier, they said that they needed to grab a few things. But they also said they'd be back soon." She thought for a bit. "They left some magazines and books under the chair, did you want something to read? Until they get back?"

Cassie nodded, and was given a magazine. It was hard to read it laying down, but she could hold it resting against her chest with both hands. The magazine was her copy of her favorite magazine- Girl Guide. She’d brought it just before… but she hadn’t had much of a chance to read it.

It, as always for the August edition, had a section for back-to-school outfit ideas. Which Cassie beelined towards. Also, there were puzzles throughout, some confessions, and movie previews.

She was slowly working through a crossword puzzle (well, more like stuck on a crossword puzzle) when a nearby door opened, with Mom and Andy coming over to her bed. They'd been away for a while- the clock read 7:30 now.

"Sorry for being late back. Traffic was awful." Andy said. She was holding two wrapped gifts in her arms. There was a foil balloon with ‘13’ written on it tied around her wrist. Cassie slunk back in embarrassment. Oh no…

Mom was holding a box, with a smaller box on top. She put the small box at the foot of Cassies bed, then gave the bigger box to the nurse and doctor. "Thank you for looking after her so well." From the look of the packaging, it was a box of carrot cake. They thanked her, and the nurse took it away from view. Then Mom grabbed the small box, and came around to sit next to Cassie again.

Cassie didn't want to be rude, or ungrateful. But it wasn't her birthday anymore, and she didn't understand why this was happening now. Or here.

It's a bad place for a party.

Andy tied the balloon to the foot of her bed, as Mom said "Happy birthday, Starbright." And leaned in to give her a hug.

Andy sat on the left side of the foot of her bed, next to the balloon, and passed one of the gifts to Mom. "It's a little late, but better late than never right?"

Before she went to the pizzaplex, Cassie hadn't bothered planning a party for her birthday. She'd just asked Mom if they could have dinner at home- maybe order a pizza in- and if Mom could take a night off work to spend with Cassie. To watch dumb old movies with her.

Mom had agreed to it, and if Cassie hadn't gone to the pizzaplex the evening prior… Well, she probably could've had a nice night, watching Blade Runner or something with Mom on the couch. Scoffing down popcorn and pizza. And, of course, some carrot cake.

"Oh! Should we sing 'Happy Birthday?'" Asked Andy, to break the silence.

Cassie shook her head. "Please don't." She whispered. Andy didn't start singing to mess with her, which Cassie appreciated.

The doctor said he'd leave for a little "To give you some privacy."

Mom ran her fingers through Cassie's hair. "I guess this is a bit… different than what you'd asked for." She looked so disappointed. Cassie felt guilty, seeing that face.

Cassie forced a smile to her face. "No, Mom… I was just surprised! This is great, thank you."

Mom's face lightened up a bit, and she gave Cassie another kiss on the forehead. "We'll start with gifts first, this one's for you." She handed Cassie a small box.

Cassie started ripping the paper off, but needed a bit of help with the more stuck down sections. She got it open, and it was a box for a phone. Not a smartphone- Mom didn't believe in giving kids too many gadgets. Oh yeah, wasn't Mom saying she'd give me a phone when I turned thirteen? Previously, she'd been relying on using the landline phone for calls. And sending messages to Gregory over the FazFans forum on her laptop for school. "Thank you, Mom. I forgot about this."

Mom grinned. "If you don't break it, I'll get you a smartphone when you're sixteen, okay?" Cassie nodded.

Afterwards, Andy handed Cassie her gift. It was wider, and skinny. Cassie wondered what it could be- she hadn't been expecting more than a phone call off Andy for her birthday, and a card in the mail.

She got it open, and it was a set of makeup. Including some nail polish, some blush, some lipstick, all in the coolest colors. "Thank you, Andy. This looks so cool."

"This isn't kiddy makeup Cassie- smudge proof- least that's what the sales lady said. So don't waste it!"

"I won't." She put it next to the phone box. Then Mom opened up the small cake box. Inside was a small piece of carrot cake. Just a little rectangle really. With two more pieces left in the box for Mom and Andy.

She grabbed her square while still laying down, as Mom and Andy said "Happy birthday" together. She thanked them again, took the mask off and took a small bite out of her piece. It tasted wrong, mixing with the residual flavor of the tube that had been in her mouth earlier.

Roxy's wrong- it's worse in small doses. She could feel her eyes getting watery.

Mom gave her another hug, and kept her pressed close, trying to console her. She could feel Andy move up the bed, and place a hand on her shoulder as Cassie sobbed weakly. Her thoughts ran in circles- Was it worse than last year's birthday party? Her birthday this year had already been a wash- being betrayed by her bestie was worse than him going missing last year had been- but this party. Did it even count? It didn't feel like it should. Any party where you're at a hospital shouldn't count.

With that, Cassie came to a resolution.

This year doesn't count. Next year… next year I'll do it right. I'll have a party, and have friends to invite, and have fun, and the carrot cake won't taste bad! She rubbed at her eyes, and clung to Mom.

All she'd have to do was make some new friends.

It shouldn't be too hard. Right?

~~~~~~~~

Author's note- yeah, I know St George doesn't have a children's hospital. In our universe. But in the fnaf universe… children seem to have an absolutely abysmal time and you would NEED a children's hospital near Hurricane, at least. (Really, you'd want a children's hospital anywhere a Freddy's location opened.)

Cassie's dreams are a mix of dreams, distorted memories, accurate memories, and delusions brought on by seeing or hearing things she can't understand while sedated. Most of the distorted memories are hopefully obvious enough.

Also, I needed to try and keep canon compliant with GGY. When introducing Gregory's past in this chapter. Which is harder than you would expect. Because GGY shouldn't be possible with the school system Washington county has (I checked)- they have intermediate school for grades 6-7, and middle school for grade 8-9. Gregory, Tony, and Ellis are in year 7. But pass a year 8 kid in the hallway. That shouldn't be possible. Or fictional!Hurricane just has a combined middle school. Or the story of steel wool era fnaf doesn't even take place in washington county, in which case my story is just. Immediately wrong on a fundamental scale. Oops!

My brain hurts. This franchise man... Oh well, I cannot control the hyperfixation. It controls the me.

[life-winners-liveblog]

Medley Time

The Extended Clocker family presents: The Crybaby Mix.

LimL!Cleo: 🎶Blood still stains when the sheets are washed🎶sex don't sleep when the lights are off🎶Kids are still depressed when you dress them up🎵and syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup🎵

...

LimL!Cleo: 🎶He's still dead when you're done with the bottle🎶Of course, it's a corpse that you keep in the cradle🎵Syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup🎵

*tone shift*

SL!Lizzie: 🎵Did my invitations disappear?🎵Why did I put my heart in every cursive letter?🎶Tell me why the hell no one is here?🎵Tell me what to do to make it all feel better🎵

DL!Scar: 🎶Maybe It's all a cruel joke on me🎵 whatever whatever🎵

SL!Lizzie: 🎶Just means there's way more cake for me🎵forever forever 🎶

LimL!Bdubs: 🎶1, 2 melatonin is coming for you🎵3,4 baby won't you lock the door?🎶5, 6 I'm done with this🎵 7, 8 it's getting late, so close your eyes, sleep for days🎶

LimL!Cleo: 🎶Blood still stains when the sheets are washed🎶sex don't sleep when the lights are off🎶Kids are still depressed when you dress them up🎵and syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup🎵

LimL!Bdubs: 🎵Can anybody hear me, am I hidden underground?🎶Can anybody hear me, am I talking to myself?🎵 Saying Tag you're it🎶Tag tag you're it🎵 Saying Tag you're it🎶Tag tag you're it🎵

...

LimL!Bdubs: 🎶Little bit of poison in me🎵I can taste your skin in my teeth🎶I love it when I hear you breathing 🎶I hope to god you're never leaving 🎵

DL!Scar: 🎵Round and round like an horse on a carousel🎵 Will I catch up to love? I can never tell🎶

DL!Grian: 🎶You're all on your own🎵And you lost all your friends🎶You told yourself that it's not you, it's them🎵You're one of a kind🎶And no one understands🎵But those cry baby tears keep coming back again🎶

DL!Scar: 🎶I'm peeling the skin off my face'🎵Cause I really hate being safe🎵The normals, they make me afraid🎶The crazies, they make me feel sane🎵

SL!Lizzie: 🎶I'm not a piece of cake for you to just discard🎵While you walk away with the frosting of my heart🎶

LimL!Scar: 🎵Can't take it anymore🎶 need to put you to bed 🎵sing you a lullaby where you die in the end.🎶

SL!Lizzie: 🎵You smell just like vanilla🎶🎵You taste like buttercream🎵You're filling up my senses with empty calories🎶

DL!Scar: 🎵You think you're smarter than me with all your bad poetry🎶Fuck all your ABC's, alphabet boy🎵

LimL!Bdubs: 🎵Oh Mrs. Potato Head tell me🎶Is it true that pain is beauty?🎶Does a new face come with a warranty?🎵Will a pretty face make it better?🎶

LimL!Cleo: 🎵Oh, teddy bear🎵you were my teddy bear🎶Everything was so sweet 🎶until you tried to kill me🎵

DL!Grian: 🎶D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵 D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵

LimL!Bdubs: 🎵You call me on the telephone, you feel so far away🎶You tell me to come over, there's some games you wanna play🎵 walkin' to your house, nobody's home🎶Just me and you and you and me alone🎶

LimL!Scar: 🎵You don't hear me when I say🎶"Mom, please wake up🎶Dad's with a slut🎵And your son is smoking cannabis🎵"No one never listens🎶 this wallpaper glistens🎶Don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen🎵

DL!Scar: 🎶I love everything you do🎶When you call me fucking dumb for the stupid shit I do🎵Wanna ride my bike with you🎶Fully undressed, no training wheels left for you🎵And I'll pull them off for you🎶

DL!Grian: 🎶D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵 D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵

SL!Lizzie: 🎵 It's my party and I'll cry if I want to🎶It's my party and I'll cry if I want to🎵

LimL!Bdubs: 🎶Think I just remembered something🎵I think I left the faucet running🎶Now my words are filling up the tub🎵Darling, you're just soaking in it🎶 but I know you'll get out the minute🎵You notice all your fingers pruning up🎶

DL!Grian: 🎶Tired, blue boy walks my way🎵Holding a girl's hand🎵That basic bitch leaves finally🎶Now I can take her man🎵

DL!Scar: 🎶I better wash my mouth out with soap.🎵

DL!Grian:🎵Someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours🎶But was he yours, if he wanted me so bad?🎵

SL!Lizzie: 🎵I feel it coming out my throat🎶Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap🎵God, I wish I never spoke🎵Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap🎶

DL!Scar: 🎶Pacify her🎵He She's getting on my nerves🎶You don't love her🎶Stop lying with those words 🎶Pacify her🎵She's getting on my nerves🎶You don't love her🎶Stop lying with those words🎵

LimL!Cleo: 🎵I feel it coming out my throat🎶Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap🎵God, I wish I never spoke🎵Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap🎶

DL!Grian: 🎶D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵 D🎶 O🎶 L🎶 L 🎶H🎶 O🎶 U🎶 S 🎶E🎶 I see things that nobody else sees🎵

[jeveuxlamort]

Warning, rambling about the death note musical below i am mostly go on about my views on the english lyrics of the 2015 demo, and comparing them to my view of the japanese lyrics, so if anything I say contradicts newer changes, please let me know (also probably should have a general idea of how the musical is structured compared to the original story I realized afterwards I did not mention a ton of context)

(incredibly unstructured thoughts below)

on one hand, I adore the death note musical.

on the other hand, I abhor the english lyrics (yes I know the english version what technically created first) and how Light is characterized in “where is the justice”.

I wish his true motivation, boredom, had stayed the main focus of his motives, if they really wanted to they could have him say flowery things to the class and then have his actual motivations be mentioned, but they make it out like he has issues with the system? which he never really did? he latched the idea of ridding the world of crime (and in his eyes, evil) after he realized the death note worked, but he wasn’t someone who was actively challenging it before he got the death note (and imo he wasn’t really challenging anything after he got it). I personally hate the reasoning of “oh the motivation is different to fit with America” like?? a bored kid who is very gifted academically obtains supernatural powers and uses it to punish people he claims to be evil, can and does still work?? if they didn’t think it would work with America as a setting just have the musical still be set in Japan?? like Phantom of the Opera or Les Mis are performed in other countries that arent France but are obviously french?

ALSO hurricane is just… straight into murder mode without anything else from Light? nothing about the lyrics make me go “yes, this is actually light talking and this is his thought process after discovering the death note works” he goes straight into “I will use this power to rid the world of evil” instead of the moral conflict he had that led him into that thought process? he literally couldn’t handle the idea that he killed two men so he went “well actually they deserved it and I am the only person who could use this the right way” (dumbed down significantly but you get the point) just PLEASE I AM BEGGING FOR A LITTLE NUANCE THAT IS IN THE ORIGINAL STORY (and is in the japanese lyrics btw)

and (imo) L is also?? kinda off??? the english lyrics for “the game begins” just has generic lines that come across like “hey everyone, just so you know, im the detective, and I detect things, with my brain” like nothing about how he views kira, no personality to how things are said, just generic detective speak

(I personally prefer the japanese lyrics, which seem to draw a lot from his musings about kira, where he ultimately decides kira has to be human and cannot be a supernatural force. it just gives so much more insight into his thoughts than just explaining how a detective works)

(edit: also ties into “the unshakable/unwavering truth” and his shock at the existence of shinigami but still believing kira is human and separate from them)

also, why are so many of his lyrics 3rd wall breaks? why is that a thing? the first time it was amusing? but he does it so often??

misa and rem are pretty good overall, my only gripes are that the lyrics don’t feel like lyrics that can only make sense in the context of death note, if that makes sense? like, if you know what going on the lyrics will fit, but if you heard the songs outside of any knowledge of death note they just sound like generic songs that could have been written for anyone? (not just misa and rem’s songs but a few others as well) there are a couple of lines in each song that are more specific to the context, but I just wish they were further intertwined with the story

(again, the japanese lyrics are great with this)

overall, the english demo lyrics feel like a game of telephone where a lot of overall details were kept but other details/ideas were just brushed over and they filled in the blanks with what they thought fit with the story and went “eh, close enough”

(i do have thoughts on the other songs but i mostly just wanted to talk about L and Light atm)

[kristailine]

Devils roll the dice

Angels roll their eyes

What doesn't kill me

Makes me want you more

I just published Cruel Summer (Part 2), the second part of Afterglow. This one-shot is aka a 3000+ word fic of Jun being colorblind from Kazuya's red flags. Honestly same tho lol. Inspired by the song Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift

A/N

"oHhhh, iT mAKeS zErO sEnsE tHaT juN fEll iN lOvE wItH kazoOyEr"

Well have you ever once considered that Kazuya was a hot aristocratic multi-millionaire who had a six pack and some biceps and not to mention oh what those hands can do (punch u haters!). If you're not gonna kneel down to that kinda man, then I think you're the problem sis.

Kidding aside AHHHHH okay another one of my fics that I truly enjoyed writing. This and Afterglow was such a breath of fresh air, because compared to all the ones I have written and published so far, these two are probably the least heavy with feelings. It's all just silly dumb love stuff and AHHH yeah just Kazujun being in their 20s ❤️

I also missed writing in Jun's POV, which makes this all the more fun to write. Would like to bring attention to the fact that telephones were in the norm much more than cellphones were during TK2 (I know there's theories TK2 was in 2012, but I'd like to stick with the original 1996 speculation), so pls if ure berating Jun for not calling Kazuya on her cellphone, it's because telephones ✨

This might be my last Taylor Swift song entry in the collection, and I might also not update the collection in the next 4 weeks since I will now be focusing on writing my Kazujun fic with proper chapters.

Anyway I hope this was a meaningful and fun read ❤️

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

13, for the Spotify wrapped promt

Thank you!!!! I am still taking prompts for this ask game: #13 is Neighborhood #1 (tunnels) by Arcade Fire:

And if my parents are crying / Then I'll dig a tunnel / From my window to yours / Yeah, a tunnel / From my window to yours

Her hands are shaking as she picks the phone up off the line. She knows the feel of the chipped plastic like the back of her hand, the way the chord slithers against her wrist as she tries to look down at the phone to dial. Her instincts are always wrong now – first to look and then to feel. Luckily, she pushes the familiar number in by rote and waits for the ringing to stop.

Max Mayfield (née Hargrove) thought things were supposed to get better once that née was penned in ink. But maybe that’s not really for when your step brother dies horribly and your step father can’t cope so he drives off into the sunset, thanks a lot, fuck you very much. Maybe it doesn’t count when the only living Mayfield left is in the living room slurring her words around the sounds of bottles breaking. 

The phone stops ringing; Max listens to the staticky buzzed breathing flowing through the line, up through telephone wires, bringing them together in real time. “Max?” El says happily. 

“Hey,” Max says, casually. Or, as casually as someone who’s crying and is pretending she’s not can be.

The line is quiet for a moment beyond El’s quiet breathing. “Are you okay?” she says, pausing after each word like she’s choosing them carefully.

“Totally,” Max says, rolling her eyes, like it’ll carry over the phone. She’s cool. She’s casual. She’s cool, casual Max Mayfield who isn’t standing blind in her kitchen while her mom isn’t drunk in the other room. 

As if to contradict her, there’s the sound of glass shattering on linoleum. Max’s shoulders hunch, and she sucks in a startled breath, waiting to see if the sounds will grow louder. Nothing else comes.

“I will come get you,” El says. 

Max sniffles, just once as she wipes her eyes and runny nose on the sleeve of her flannel. “Sure, totally,” she says. Calm. Casual. “We can have a girl’s day. I’ll paint your nails, and we’ll rate boys from my mom’s cosmo.”

El puffs air into the receiver, like she’s stifling her laugh. “Yes, I will describe what their faces look like.”

Max scoffs. “Who cares about their faces?”

This time, El laughs for real, the one where she snorts like a pig at the end. Max smiles, reaches up her hand to feel the shape of it as she listens to her best friend squeal.

“I will come now,” El says. Max imagines her, standing in her own kitchen the same way Max is, nodding like she’s on a secret mission with dire importance, eyebrows furrowed, face serious. Max does a lot of imagining nowadays. “It is time for a girl’s day.”

“What?” It’s muffled, far away from the receiver, and unmistakably Mike Wheeler’s squirrelly ass. “I thought we were hanging out!”

El scoffs, and Max feels a little curl of pride unfurl in how well she’d corrupted El in such a short amount of time. “There is more to life than dumb boys, Mike.”

“Hey!”

“I will be there soon, Max,” El says. “Dad will drive me.”

She hangs up, not even waiting for a reply. Max is still smiling, teeth and all. Even as her Mom mumbles incoherently in the next room. Even as she has to find her way out of the trailer by trailing her fingertips along the wall. Even then.

There’s nothing like a girl’s day. 

[laufire]

lately I've been... not exactly rethinking, but, adjusting? the way I think about "fanon".

I've made it no secret that I don't care much for it, in a general sense. whenever I'm truly invested in the canon source to the point where I actually read and even write fanfic, it's because there's something (often multiple things) about canon that managed to capture my attention. so I have little interest in versions of it that have passed through a game of telephone for years and feel unrecognisable to me.

when it comes to my own writing, ninety-nine times out of a hundred I like to work with canon. not necessarily adhering to it, but using its foundations as groundwork. my go-to ideas are usually: what if this one (1) event went a different way? how much would change? what would be the ripple effects and how far would they go? or, what if I focused on this trait of a character and took it to the extreme? or, what if we look at this plot point canon used but didn't explore, often because it wasn't the point of a larger story, and shifted the focus towards it? and so on.

but that's my approach and I don't intend to proselytise about it. however, when it comes to the much-maligned/mocked abstract "fanon", I do take issue with a few things. again, it's not about wanting stories that adhere to canon; canon is there and not going anywhere. fans have sometimes influenced canon sources to an extent, but it's always far less meaningful or ruinous than some people would have you believe. official adaptations have done far more damage to ongoing source materials (and influenced subsequent adaptations, who take inspiration from it even when it contradicts the source), and I try to stay blasé about those -emphasis on "try", if I'm honest.

my issues are largely about 1.) flanderization, and b.) lack of originality. the first, well. nobody likes to see characters/storylines they like (or even just enjoyed on an intellectual level) and see them reduced to a few basic, exaggerated traits, some of which don't even apply to them lol. the latter it's about my particular annoyance with the echo-chamber effect in certain fandoms; someone popular does something, it gets reproduced over and over, and it becomes ~fanon gospel. I've read fics that had interpretations of the characters (sometimes even my favourite characters!) that didn't match my own, yet they were well-written, didn't lack depth, and strived to do something different with them than what we usually see. I value all those three things, so I liked them.

this gets even more complicated in the dc comics fandom (and other canons built on collaborative writing, but dc comics is the most extreme example), because if we're being perfectly honest, canon often has those same issues, and worse ones. there are several events that used to be key to a character's journey that aren't considered canon anymore. or, at least, the canon status of said events is very much in the air, and there are even runs that imply they had to have happened but they happened differently, with little explanation about what those differences were. canon writers (maybe just some of them?) are also given room to cherry-pick things from various continuities, presumably as long as it doesn't contradict editorial's (sometimes seemingly arbitrary and/or dumb as fuck) stipulations, and at this point it's more productive to judge whatever changes they implement on their internal logic than on how well they coordinate with everything else. just as it is, IMO, perfectly understandable that fans of a character would dismiss a specific writer's interpretation; their choices don't occur in a vacuum, they do come to some things in bad faith, and some of them display their biases without shame (which I frankly prefer, but you know. you can both be frank about your preferences and write characters you dislike with some grace lol).

lastly, because this is something I've tried to word on other occasions... I get the impression that those of us who are, let's say, "canon-adjacent" in our fannish activities, are seen as possessing a holier-than-thou attitude. it's... maybe not unwarranted in some cases? I know I personally come across as pretentious and even arrogant lol. and I probably am, although I will say I do play it up for ~humorous reasons, especially if something has really annoyed me. but in this respect I can genuinely say that I don't approach this thinking "I am aligned with canon and therefore Superior, unlike those fanon-loving people who Don't Get It!!"

it comes from a place of genuinely loving canon. from looking at the universe it presents and appreciating both what was created to fill and the new possibilities it presents. from loving the characters and admiring their creation. from looking at all the pieces of the puzzle and a desire to play with them. and with dc comics in particular, vast and ever-expanding as that canon is, from a desire to know more about it.

yes, even I rag on it. that also come from a place of love. if I never shut up about some artwork it's just a sign that I care about it passionately xD

[spacecasewriter13]

When the Lights Go On Again by @spacecasewriter13

Fic Summary: It is May of 1946, over a year after his fall from the Hydra train and losing his left arm, and James "Bucky" Barnes is struggling to adjust. Working as an analyst at the New York City SSR branch, Bucky tries to put the war and all of its sorted memories behind him. However, try as he might he is plagued by thoughts of Magdalene "Maggie" Ramirez, a Women's Army Corps (WAC) Corporal he met in London and hasn't spoken to since before his fall in January of 1945. Little does he know that Maggie, in her struggle to put the war behind her, has moved to the city and looking for a job with the New York Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator. Now, by sheer dumb luck, they are reunited as they both fight come to terms with what they were to one another during the war, and work to figure out how to move forward in a world that was unprepared to deal with the consequences of war in the unsteady peace.

Chapter 26: As Time Goes By

Chapter summary: Bucky and Maggie realize they have a mutual friend. Then they realize what they want out of the future and how that might look in the current circumstances. Hopes are high and expectations low; they carve out a moment just to exist and enjoy one another’s company.

Excerpt:

The music was loud, and the club crowded, but she and the other girls were quiet as they sat at their usual table, glasses cupped in their hands, staring down into nothing. They didn’t feel much like talking.

‘Or perhaps it's just me.’ Maggie couldn’t help but think. She’d been out a week and a half, and now in light of all that had happened, there was an uneasy awkwardness. A silence so loud that none of them knew how to fill it. So they were here, sitting and drinking without so much as looking at one another.

Some of it was exhaustion, and some of it was grief, fear, and anxiety. This wasn’t something they could write home about, not without letting the side down, not without potentially leaking classified information, not without facing the reality that this wasn’t all fun and games anymore and hadn’t been for a long, long time. They’d all known that, but now the truth was undeniable.

‘To hell with all this. If I can’t sleep and I can’t forget, at the very least, I can get a little drunk to help me on my way. I’ll be able to sleep it off before my shift.’

Throwing back the rest of her drink, Maggie rose and glanced around at the faces looking up at her from the table. “Who wants another round? I’m buying.”

A few of them protested weakly, but all four of them eventually relented and gave her their drink orders. So leaving them with a cheery smile, she wove through the crowd to the bar and let her mind wander.

She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to go back to the barracks, slip into her bunk and read, but it wouldn’t really be her barracks or her bunk, and her books had all been destroyed when—.

No. She wouldn’t be able to relax there. But in the quiet, she’d be able to write to Tony, and Daniel, and Pai and Nelly and Ing, of course. It had been a few weeks since her last letter, and they would start to get worried if she didn’t at least send a short note asking about the family.

‘No doubt like James. I haven’t been to the cafe in almost a month, and he—.’

It was a stupid and girlish thought.

There was a war on, and with Operation Overlord and then the V2 bombings, no one anywhere in the European theater was going to have any opportunity to slip away for a quiet cup of coffee and a nice chat over breakfast. Wherever he was, she hoped he wasn’t worrying about her. He had his sister and mother to worry about getting home and keeping himself out of harm’s way. There was no need for him to distract himself worrying about her. She was just some dam—

“Corporal Ramirez?”

Maggie turned with such force she had to stifle a wince. “Sergeant Barnes?” She couldn’t believe it. He was here. Somehow she’d managed to conjure him here through sheer power of will.

To Continue Reading Please Visit Ao3

[stitchwraith-stingers]

8, 13, 20 🔥fop🔥

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about - ppl who havent watched the og show on its own / enterity talking abt how coswans marriage fell apart BECAUSE of timmy's secret wish

now again i have no problem w people talking about this if its their own interpretation or au, ive said many times that on its own i think if you do it well you can make a good angst fic, however what i want people to understand is that that take came from someones analysis, and while i do have small problems w it (the 'apartnership shows them being bad for eachother' section in perticular) its just generally not a bad thing however w alot of these analysis' ppl listen to it and it goes through a game of telephone, its what happened to chloe like even before i remember if ppl mentioned her name some guy in his 40s would run to the comments to make 4 posts about how much she sucks and half the time the ppl didnt watch the show itself

i also think its making people blur the line between their own interpretation and what the actual writing intent is "omg coswan got marriage counseling in anw after slowly falling out thats cute" a fun headcanon but people speak of it like it was fully intentional, from the pitchbible coswan were always ment to love eachother wholey, its just the fact that they brought in more writers who made more "i hate my wife" jokes and it went downhill from here, but also because the og fop didnt have its own connected storyline and character arcs, and i highly doubt they planned the 50 years wish in 2002, along with the fact that the ANW writers picking up the pieces and just going off their old writing if that makes sense

as a note on the last part i will admit that coswans relationship got slightlyyy better after season 5-7 ish, keyword being slightly, they dont make explicit "i hate my wife jokes' every 2 minutes and had some cute moments but its still there just much less unbearable

worst blorboficiation - poof WHATTTT WHO SAID THAT

the twink jokes were funny for the first week now its making me want to bash my head into the wall, im also not a fan of ppl molding him into a father for dev (i.e specifically calling him dad) because A) to me it just seems like ur reducing him to one character trait alone B) hes more of a "older brother who returned from collage" type of dude who just got his first job and it isnt going well

also perirep fans, the moment i peep in and i see fanart to me its basically that one yaoi base, close enough welcome back 2018

i want more ppl to take in account the amount of shit poof has been in the og show... YEAH hes a baby and wont remember anything and hes so lenient on da rules, HOWEVER have you considered that hes just trying not to loose his first job ever and when hes not doing godparenting hes being a mischevious little fuck (the cupcake gag, "I NEVER GAVE 2 WEEKS NOTICE!!!!!!!") and foop is also slightly soppy wet, make them daffy and bugs bunny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i could probably list 2 more

part of canon you found tedious or boring - TIMMYS DAD BEING EVERYWHEREEEEE, like i get it the writers found him funny and wanted to use him more but by the time season 10 rolled around he was in basically every single episode and theyve dumbed him down to the point where he was so stupid it got annoying

crocker while i didnt like him also being shoved in every episode atleast had more going on for him because of the whole fairy hunter thing (and i liked kevin... rip kevin) and i get that realistically they couldnt do anything w the other characters cuz the voice actors left iirc but i feel like with this guy the people went "um . what do we do" and threw everything at the wall, holy shit i want to smash this guys head in with a metal poll, timmy moms can stay though

(on a unrelated note cuz i didnt wanna make a seperate post: hot take but iirc i think timmys mom was actually a good mother on her own when dad wasnt around, she just got so into him she forgor ....... if that makes sense)

[nsfwhiphop]

(Rough Draft version of this letter) Incoming Text for @therealkarismakapoor :

Subject title: No Money for my family and guidelines to secure the wealth.

Dear Karisma Kapoor,

I want to make sure that you never give money to my family members, no money at all.

Once you secure the money from me, you will make me a promise to never give a dollar to my family because I'm fighting them and their corruption.

I'm your husband now and it is my request, I'm asking you to block my family members from any form of monetary benefits.

You have no idea what they have done to me, they disrespected me, they plotted against me, they made secret deals with my enemies and they think I will let them get away with it that easily.

I want to ask you to warn your entire Kapoor family that I made a request, and my request is block all my family members from all money.

I'm a man who wants revenge and you have the power to give me my revenge. Do you understand my message?

My family in Strasbourg have been persecuting me and working with my enemies, slandering my name behind my back and I have been silent and took it like a champ, I didn't say anything. I saw them disrespect me and I made a vow that once I win this chess game, they will not get a dollar from me.

My dear Karisma, this is not a joke, I'm being very serious. You will promise me that you will block all my family members. They will not get one dollar from me.

You need to understand that my family members went from poor people one day and suddenly having European billionaires in their telephones, all of a sudden they disrespect me, treat me like I'm the dumb guy, do you see where I'm going with this? They were disrespecting me in my home, treating me like I'm the dumbest man on earth and meanwhile they were honoring these corrupt billionaires in Europe.

Today, I will get my revenge. I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time, now I can finally say 'Checkmate"

From now on, you will work with Laetitia Casta, she is my French wife and you will also work with Marion Cotillard, she is my French sister.

I want to ask you to block this French woman, Melissa Theuriau, she is the most racist woman who has been disrespecting me and slandering my name all over the world, she will never see a dollar of my wealth.

Do you believe me if I told you that I never met Melissa Theuriau in my entire existence? I swear, I have never met this woman in my life but she took great pleasure in humiliating me and slandering my name all over the world.

Melissa Theuriau is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, she has spent money to corrupt all my family members and they started collecting information for her, they started disrespecting me in my home, saying I STINK! I swear, I kid you not, she said I STINK to people and I never even met her, can you explain what kind of behavior that is? It is called RACISM the worst kind of racism.

If you don't believe me, please ask my sister Marion Cotillard and she will confirm, this woman collects information from my household, she is in bed with so many corrupt men and women around the world and today is the day I get my revenge.

Melissa Theuriau should look at herself in the mirror, what does she see? A Ku Klux Klan member.

I'm asking you to block this woman from all our family conversations, she is an intruder, a racist spy who has her nose in our family business.

Melissa is a clown woman and her corruption ends today. I have been waiting for the day I will get my revenge and I will feel a lot better when this woman stops intruding into my family's private buisness.

Can you say someone stinks if you never met them? This is what I have been enduring for many years, a lot of white supremacist women have been persecuting me and spreading slanderous lies to humiliate me, this is what the Nazis did to the Jews back in the World War II, they used to slander humiliated debase the innocent Jews.

I'm a Muslim who has Jewish allies and I think she hates that about me.

I don't want to keep talking about this subject at all, this is the end of persecution and corruption.

Melissa Theuriau has to sell her pussy to pay the bills now. That woman will not get a dollar from me.

I know she will call everyone to save herself from humiliation but I'm her victim and I would never tell lies about her, she corrupted my entire family and because of her, they started disrespecting me in my home and that is why I have cut off my entire family from my inheritance, they will not get a dollar from me.

My family decided to listen to these racist billionaires, well, don't let me stop you, keep following them but don't expect to get access to my wealth. I will not give them a dollar.

I swear, I made a vow to block them until 2060, they will not get a dollar from me. They have to work and earn their own money.

I will show my family who is dumb and who is smart, they are the dumb people who chose to disrespect me and honor a racist Karen, Melissa is a Karen, anyone who defends her is a racist KKK member just like her.

I have respect for Jamel Debbouze but I can't stand his wife, Melissa is a horrible person, racist woman who should be sent to jail for all the crimes she committed against me. I have eye witnesses and so much proof, I can send her to jail. If she ever comes near me, I will call the Police on her, I'm not kidding, that woman is sick.

I don't want an apology, I don't want to talk to her, I just want to make sure she leaves me and my family alone, can she do that?

Do you see me with her family? NO.

Do you see me intruding in her family's life? NO.

Then why does she do things that she wouldn't accept from me?

Do you see where I'm going with this? Do I need to spell it out for you? Melissa is a female stalker.

How can you explain all the hate? How does she explain why she slandered my name but we never met? This woman is a stalker, do you need any more proof?

Jamel Debbouze should warn his wife to leave my family alone or I will talk with guns now? If he doesn't want to see me get out guns blazing, he should warn her to leave my family alone or I will literally murder her entire family. I don't joke around female spies, she is a female spy sent to hurt my family and I'm about to murder her, that is how we deal with female spies, we murder them.

I'm not kidding, you can ask any cop they will confirm, this woman is asking to get shot, she is basically asking for a bullet in her head. She thinks she will get away with her spying activities and no one will ever kill her. Jamel Debbouze should warn her, she will get shot now.

I don't censor my speech, I never censor my speech. I have Interpol and Europol agents with me as we speak and this woman will get shot if she doesn't leave my family alone.

Melissa Theuriau is a dimwit, a dumb person who got away with a lot of murder plots and she tried to ruin my life, she tried to spy on me for many years but today is the day she gets a last warning, either she stops or she gets shot.

You can call the French police, they will confirm, they will say she will get a bullet in her head if she continues to spy on my family. I will send my killers to murder this bitch.

The most dangerous cops in France are counting on me to win this chess game, do you think they will let this woman continue her disrespect? I will let you take a guess, this woman is playing with fire and someone should give her a warning to save her life.

I will promise to let her live if she leaves me and my family alone, tell her to stop spying on me, or we will be forced to use our guns.

I'm not a killer, I'm a spy and we don't let dumb women like Melissa Theuriau get away with espionage activities.

She is very lucky that I respect Jamel Debbouze, he is my friend but I swear, I will kill his dumb woman if she keeps plotting my ruin, I have enough of this bitch. She persecuted me for the past four years and she should know that I'm ready to pull out my guns now. Don't push me, Melissa, I swear I will shoot, connasse va.

Let's change the subject now.

I'm a political prisoner, do you know what this means? It means that I'm someone who lives like a hostage in NATO territory because I'm a revolutionary warrior like that.

I hate white supremacist corruption so much that I'm giving you all my wealth, I would rather see you with my immense wealth than these racist white supremacist fuckers, they will not get a dime from me. I hate them all.

Don't forget to tell your Kapoor family that they are my family now. We will seize power in Somalia and we will become wealthier than any royal family on earth. You have the proof now, am I right? You will get the Tech company and after that we will go to seize power in Somalia, we will have so much fun.

You have to tell the Kapoor family to adopt my French wife Laetitia Casta, she is my sweetheart and also Marion Cotillard is my French sister, these two women are my best friends in France.

Also, these two Jewish women are my sisters Natalie Portman and Gal Gadot, you can adopt them too.

I also want to explain to you that I'm your husband but I can't move outside of France for security reasons, I have to stay in France because I have good security team in France.

If I move outside of France, they will plot to kidnap me and kill me, you know I'm an alien, I have to stay in my hometown, if I move too much, the evil regime will plot to kill me or kidnap me.

That is why I have a French wife, Laetitia will look after me in France, Alsace and you will stay in India, don't come to NATO territory because they can plot against you too.

You can come visit me from time to time in Alsace, France but it is better that you stay back in India to protect the family business, that way they will never talk about you in the media, don't forget that their media is corrupt too.

I have two wives technically, one in France and one in India.

I can never land in an airport in India because of security reasons.

I'm safe in Alsace, France, I will stay in Alsace France.

That is why I encourage you to visit me in Alsace, France every few months and then you go back to India, it's safer that way.

You will have a very good friendship with Laetitia Casta, my French wife. She will be there for me when you are in India.

I will let you imagine the type of person you are married to, I'm a warrior and my entire life is a war. That is why you will stay in your country to handle the Kapoor family businesses and I will stay in Alsace to handle many different books and screenplays. I write, I'm an author and screenwriter. I write in French and English.

My dear Karisma, I encourage you to come to Alsace with Karuna Nundy, she will come collect the Intellectual property from me in Alsace, France and then you will go back to India and do your thing, it's a very simple process.

Karisma and Karuna Nundy will come with security guards from India, the French actress Marion Cotillard will be your host. She will make sure our meeting is held behind closed doors with no one to spy on us.

The meeting will be held in a Van that you will bring from India, you will bring a Van flown from India in a plane and once you land that Van will come to my home address and I will give you the Intellectual property.

Ajit Doval will make sure that Van has no listening devices and you will land in Strasbourg, Alsace and come to my home address.

I will explain everything you need in that Van and once you have secured this Intellectual property, you will go back on your merry way.

You know what to do now:

Step 1 - You ask Ajit Doval for a Van with no listening devices.

Step 2 - You ask Ajit Doval for a plane.

Step 3 - You land in Strasbourg, Entzheim Airport.

Step 4 - You visit my home, I get in the Van and give you the Intellectual property.

Step 5 - You go back home with 3.5 Trillion dollars.

Step 6 - The French government will do nothing because this how we win the French revolution. The Kapoor family protect my immense wealth in India.

Step 7 - Karisma Kapoor will do her best to stay alive because now that she has all this wealth, she will become a target like Queen Elizabeth, she has to stay in her palace and live like Royalty, they all live indoors. Queen Elizabeth never goes outside, she always stayed inside because outside enemies plotted her murder.

The Kapoor family will become the richest family in Asia.

If any white person tells you they own this wealth, ask them to prove it in a court of law. They never owned this wealth, this is my wealth and I can prove it in court.

Anybody from Europe or America who tries to convince you that they own this wealth, you must ask them for proof, tell them what wealth are you talking about? And if such wealth even exists, can you prove it?

Never forget that white people wish to seize my wealth but they can't because it is invisible, intangible assets are invisible.

I encourage you to call the cops and call lawyers if you see a white person telling you they own this wealth. You should call the police and show them the white people who claim this wealth is their property. They will be questioned by Indian police, they have to prove their own this wealth. I promise you they can never prove it because they don't own it.

Remember that I have a Jewish wife, her name is Gal Gadot and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a second Jewish wife, her name is Natalie Portman and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a South-African wife, her name is Charlize Theron and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a Puerto-rican wife, her name is Jennifer Lopez and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a Mexican wife, her name is Salma Hayek and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a Spanish wife, her name is Penelope Cruz and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have an African-American wife, her name is Beyoncé and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have an African-American wife, her name is Janet Jackson and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have a British wife, her name is Victoria Beckham and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have an Cuban-American wife, her name is Eva Mendes and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

Remember that I have an Dominican-American wife, her name is Zoé Saldana and she will go to war with any white person who claims that this wealth is their property.

These women are my spiritual wives, we never fuck but we care about each other, they are all married to good men and we all respect each other. They are my spiritual wives, it means no sex, just spiritually, we are married spiritually.

Now you see the many spiritual wives that I have in my life. There are many other spiritual wives that I have not mentioned.

I never have sex with these women but they all consider me as their spiritual husband, it means they count on my support to help them get access to wealth and that is why you are now their Godmother in India.

The end.

I will stay in Alsace, France and write books and screenplays for fun.

I hope my very long letter makes sense to you. My dear Karisma.

Also, If you can have children at 50 years old, I'm game, let me know if you still have some eggs to have babies with me.

I would love to have babies with you, you should visit your doctor in Mumbai and ask him if you still have some eggs left? If you can have babies let me know.

Okay, this chat was very long.

I wish you well, my dear Karisma.

Love you, have fun! Big hugs for you.

Your alien-husband,

Angelo.

[canyouplzjust]

DIE - before the game

Entry 1 of my DIE journal, transcribed:

End of July -

Gigi came over so we could work on our DIE characters together. Sam is running the game so obviously he was a part of the discussion process. He and I had talked initially about not creating personas, and playing as our real selves, but his final word on that idea was "No." Actually, his final word was "telephone" and because he said it in from of Gigi, that was enough to shut me up. It was so fun making parallel characters with her. We have so much in common, its easy for us to understand indescribable things about each other. Like a dumb snse of bravery and something to prove in the face of absolutely real dangers. Why weren't we afraid of the lives we chose to lead? Oh, because we wanted to die. Life meant nothing in our early 20's due to arrogance and depression and a lot of drugs and alcohol. However, it is a little magical to create 21 year old version of ourselves that aren't as awful as we were. Our imagined selves have compassion and self control, and my imagined self is somehow even sluttier than I was (transcribing self not thinking that's really true based on recently surfaced memories, but ok). Gigi's is decidedly less so. So, we made Personas intertwined with each other and let the ideas about the Paragons just float in the air We constructed artificial lies to tell the world (that we were kidnapped & Max was to blame) and we found the rift in our friendship couldn't be repaired. It was so interesting - sitting in that room, building a wall between us and feeling both loneliness and closeness at the same time. In the end we built two best friends and named them Daria and Jane. We took the same job at the same real life restaurant we both knew, it was on the Ave in Delray Beach in 2005 (Dada's). Its funny how close we came to meeting earlier in life - but I guess you meet people when you need them, and I'm very grateful to have a friend like Gigi now. That was the entry, punctuated poorly and by the following quote: "I can use it as a looking glass, not a mirror" - me, on what my character decisions mean about who I really am.

[just-absolutely-super]

Wedding crack

Roll: *grumble grumble*

Mega: Roll? Are you grumbling? That's so unlike you

Roll: I talked to Mayl about wedding dresses again, and showed her a picture of a princess wedding dress with puffy sleeves that would be perfect for her! And she said no thanks

Mega: but I thought you picked the perfect one?

Roll: that's what I said! But she told me; "no thank you Roll, that's way too much for me and I'm not really into puffy sleeves"

Mega: at least she was polite about it. Lan would just flip me off

Roll: but after all this time and effort I used to pick it out for her, and all I get is; no thanks. I want her to feel like a princess on her big day

Mega: well... Can't you still do a princess dress, just one without puffy sleeves.

Roll: ... You're right! There are plenty of princess dresses without puffy sleeves. But I need to make up something else in place of the sleeves

Mega: maybe a big bow on the back or bedazzle the whole dress?

Roll: maybe. I need to check the catalogue again. Thanks sweetie

Roll kisses Megaman's cheek and takes off.

Meanwhile

Mayl has maybe found what style of wedding dress she wants

Mayl: what do you think? Pretty, right?

Lan: it's totally your style. You would look gorgeous in it. Good thing you talked about Roll already about the dress

Mayl: I love Roll, but during all this wedding planning she seems to have forgotten my style on what I like in dresses. Puffy sleeves is not for me

Lan: hmm

Mayl: what?

Lan: nothing, I just have a bad feeling about this. Like they'll try to take over the dress or something again

Mayl: Roll, I know you want the perfect wedding dress, but come look at what I found here!

Roll: Let me see... Oh...it's not poofy

Mayl: No, while I like a ballgown type of dress, I think a style more a-line would be better to move around in, especially in the yard. The material would be cooler too since it'll be warm and Lan and I get married

Roll: I see what you mean... I do like it, though it's rather simple. You sure you don't want a lot of lace, or beads, or puff sleeves?

Mayl: Believe me, I'm sure. I like things that are simple but elegant. It suits me best don't you think?

Roll: Yes, you're right. I'm sorry Mayl, I've been so crazy about this. I just want the best for you and want you to look like the most beautiful bride when you get married. I always envisioned you like the perfect princess!

Mayl: I know you do, Roll. It means so much to me that you want the best for me, but please, let me choose what I want to wear. It's my big day after all and I want to wear the perfect dress to get married to the man I love

Roll: Of course! Haha, Lan won't know what hit him when he sees you in this!

Mayl: Oh he already saw it, so I know he'll definitely like what he sees *wink*

Roll: .......

Mayl: Huh? Roll? You went really quiet...

Roll: Lan...saw you in this dress?

Mayl: W-Well, not exactly. I showed him the dress, I haven't tried it on yet--

Roll: You allowed the GROOM to see his BRIDE'S DRESS?! Mayl, what were you thinking?! That's bad luck! You have to get a new dress now!

Mayl: What? No I don't! Roll, that's a stupid superstition brought on by people who arranged marriages centuries ago! And it didn't mean the dress, it was that the bride and groom couldn't see each other before the wedding. It's been screwed up by a dumb game of telephone! And besides, hardly anyone follows it in this day and age!

Roll: But Mayl! Think of your marriage! You're marrying Lan Hikari, you need all the good luck you can get!

Mayl: Because he's not here, I feel obligated to quote my future husband--"Wow, rude!"

[edelorion]

-- Wet and Miserable --

a dumb lil' story by edel partially based off of true things

So, you know how they say that being out too long in the cold or wearing wet clothes can give you a cold? Turns out, that's probably a lie adults made up so you wouldn't get hypothermia or so they could properly wash your clothes after you took 'em off or something. One or the other.

Well, guess who believed in that while she was young? Yoooours truly! I was a weird kid back then... still am, kinda - though not a kid anymore.

I really didn't like going to school. It was so long, a massive part of the day, doing subjects I honestly hate, being shit at the subjects I honestly love... and did I mention how long it was?! And-- by the time I got home, I had to do homework, then eat, leaving me with zero time to play games!.. because my dumb parents said I had to go to sleep at fucking 20:00. I never had any time for myself, and I never had friends, not even any "social reject friendships", so I couldn't make excuses like "I'm gonna play with friends!"... It sucked.

The only times I really had to myself, away from the gazes of my oppressive parents, were the times when I was sick. I got to watch cartoons and play flash games all day! I mean, it sucked being sick, but the silver lining was more like gold to me! Chickenpox was the best - I don't think we had a vaccine for it back then so I looked like shit for a whole week, and I somehow felt right as rain, so I could just... play games while at full mental capacity. Shame that it's one of those diseases you can only really get once... I would've loved to get it again way back when.

...Aaanyway, I'm straying from the point here. Thing is, I really liked being sick. Still do, honestly. So when my grandma first spun the old wives' tale about wet clothes making you sick... you KNOW I was gonna abuse it to the fullest extent.

Any time it rained when I was walking (or cycling) home from school, I took off my coat and hid around some corner to let the rain just... soak in. Parents didn't notice me having wet clothes as I went straight to my room all the time. Every night I peeked outside my door to see if my parents were asleep, and I snuck inside the bathroom and turned on the sink to soak my socks and whatnot. I really thought I was sticking it not only to the school, but also my parents.

But holy SHIT was I miserable in those wet clothes. It made it difficult to sleep, it was so cooooold, especially in the winter... but I kept hoping and hoping.

I never got sick from it. I kept wondering if I was doing something wrong, so one day I asked an online friend what I was doing wrong.

"you know they're lying to you right? wet clothes just make u cold lol"

...So the next day, I grabbed mom's makeup and made myself look pale and miserable and got moany and groany and said I was sick. Within 10 minutes she got on the telephone and called the school to say I'm staying home that day.

I still feel cheated though... all those nights wasted.