#carson fucking with people is something we need more of

[sga-owns-my-soul]

Carson has bagpipes but he hates them and accuses anyone who asks him to play of "looking for a reason to tease him" (buddy why did you PACK them then???)

oh my god incredible. rodney asks him about it one time, and carson gets kinda quiet and says some heartfelt story about how they were the only thing his dad left him and how they remind him of home and rodney feels so bad for bringing it up until he notices the faintest hint of a smile and he's like are u fucking serious and carson just HOWLS with laughter. he's like "yeah no i just brought it to fuck with people"

[henry7931]

Great Shift; We Didn’t Choose These Bodies…

Trevor:

I’m officially 2 months into the Great Shift and I’m about to go insane! You see before all of this craziness went down— I was a 18 year old scrawny gay boy who lived across the street. The body that seems to be now mine forever belonged to 47 year old Jason Dixon. He’s a handsome guy, works in construction, and has one son named Carson.

Now Carson, is someone I’ve known since I was young. He’s a couple years older than me and I hate to say it but he was kinda my sexual awakening. He was on the swim team and I remember seeing him in a speedo— something about it just woke me up. And now all of this time later I still get weak to the knees when I see him.

Now the hard part about all of this is that our community has chosen as a whole to “pretend” and live our lives in public as the body we are in.

Which can be hard given people have swapped with different genders, ages… it gets kinda weird. But when I’m out in public, I’m Jason. No one causes me Trevor anymore, well accept for Ben.

Ben is a guy who lived a couple blocks down from me, I really didn’t know Ben prior to the Great Shift. He was a middle aged gay guy who lived alone. And now he’s inside of Carson’s body.

We both now live under a house together that never belonged to us and are forced to pretend to be ‘father and son’ in public.

At home both of us have just really enjoyed each other’s company. We’re both gay and openly talk about guys, what we like about them, music, all kinds of stuff. The house is kind of our safe space to be ourselves.

Except him and I have one huge issue— we both are very attracted to each other’s bodies. Ben confessed to me one time while we were sitting on the couch together drinking a bottle of wine that Jason’s body is like the man of his dreams.

And I get it, Mr. Dixon is a good looking guy. I enjoy having his big muscled hairy body on a daily basis. Especially since he has a gigantic cock and a pair of sexy feet.

I guess they’re something he passed down to Carson because I can’t stop looking at them! I already had a foot fetish before this mess and I have to watch Ben strut around in his body… he never wears socks or a shirt or pants for that matter!

So what do I do in response? Well, I turned it up a notch. Not only did I strip down to less but I stopped wearing underwear around the house. I’ll free ball so he can see my sexy daddy junk flopping around as I walk. And boy did I get his attention!

He can’t take his eyes off of it!

That lead to the back and forth mirror selfies… both of sending more and more risky photos of each other.

And then came Ben placing Carson’s big smelly feet on my lap… I know he knows I have a thing for feet! He looks over at me with a very cheeky ton and says, “my feet are killing me! Could you rub them?”

And of course I said yes, I rubbed his feet for 15 minutes until I knew I couldn’t take anymore!

I hightailed it to the bathroom, locked the door, and wanked one out. I knew in that moment, I was done with games. I need to address this.

So that night, we sat on the couch after dinner watching a movie. I wrap my arm around him and he freezes up.

“Sorry need to stretch out a bit, I say to him.”

He acknowledges my excuse and leans his on me.

I start rubbing up and down his forearm softly wondering if he’s going to do something about it.

He says nothing… a few moments later, Ben puts his feet on mine and starts rubbing his toes back and forth.

I lift my head up and look at him. I kiss him on the cheek. He looks taken aback by it.

“Trev, you know we can’t.”

“And why the fuck not?”

“Because we are technically father and son…”

“That’s such a BS excuse, you flirt with me for weeks now. You and I aren’t related. Now these bodies might be but who the hell has to know?”

“Yeah but what if we get caught?”

“We won’t… now just relax.”

I grab his junk and lets out a yelp noise.

“You’ve toyed with me for too long Ben. You and I are going to explore every inch of each other starting tonight. You’re gonna come sleep in daddy‘s bed for now on do you understand?”

“Fuck…”

I pulled his pants down and fully expose him. I see his beautiful cock, really for the first time. It’s so hard and already leaking. I’ve bend my head down and gingerly lick become off of his head. I knew that been like to be dominated. We both shared our fantasies with each other. He’s always wanted some handsome hairy bearded muscular daddy to boss him around. And that’s what I’m gonna do.

“ Do you understand daddy‘s orders?,” I say to him. he knows his head. I grabbed his dick and play with the head of his cock, running my thumb back-and-forth on it.

“ I said did you understand daddy’s orders? I need to hear you.”

“Yes—“

“ yes what?”

“Yes daddy!”

“ good now let’s head to bed, daddy needs you to use that pretty mouth of yours on his massive cock.”

I pull off my shorts and out comes Jason’s massive dick that I know he’s been fantasizing for a long time now.

“ Trevor, this is so fucking hot. Thank you for doing this. I’ve been wanting the touch that body for so long. I wanna suck your cock so bad. I wanna feel up and down that hairy chest. I wanna smell those big manly feet. I want you to cuddle at night. God I’m so happy this is finally happening. Deep down since this whole swap thing happened it’s all I’ve ever wanted. Not only are you in the body of my dreams, but I really like you.”

“ fuck Ben! Way to kill the mood with that last part, I really fucking like you too. How about we just stick to role-playing and worry about our emotions later. Daddy’s worrying as fuck lol.” 

“ shit you wanna get really crazy what about if you’re sexy ass son talk to you tonight?”

“ that’s hot as shit you know I’m a bottom!”

“ yeah but you’re gonna have to tell me every now and then especially with that massive dick of yours.” 

“ well then I want a foot job. You know I like feet and you know what I like those feet. Which by the way, you’re such a dick for making rub them for like 30 minutes the other day. I literally had to run to the bathroom and jerk one out.”

“ ha ha I literally I knew it!”

“So you ready?”

“Yep!!”

[saintsir4n]

EXPLOSION

BRIAN was trying to help Letty. When everyone found out, it didn't go down well. Dom thought it was a lie at first and it ended up in a fight that Carson had to stop. Their feud was cut short when they had to get shit done. Braga kept gunning for them. Dom got shot, well grazed but that didn't stop Mia and Keelie from fussing over him. Carson grilled him and ranted about wearing a bulletproof vest but he was in too much pain to listen.

The days were getting more dangerous.

Carson fought one of Braga's men alongside Brian who was almost taken out and it terrified her. First Dom and now Brian could've been next. Every time she tried thinking about anything else she was reminded of what happened to Jesse.

Fuck.

She walked past the garage filled with the guys. They saw the worry on her face but she ignored them all.

Keelie begrudgingly let Brian follow her into the kitchen.

"You okay?" he asked, seeing her lean against the counter, staring out the window.

She sighed, turning around to face him, "You can't seem to stay away can you?"

"I wanted to check on you," he explained, readjusting his hoodie.

"So you and Dom made up?" she deflected.

A smile briefly graced his face, "I guess."

"Like some married couple," she muttered, fumbling with her hands.

"You did always say we had a bromance," he said, coming closer.

She hummed, "Got that right."

"You get a lotta things right."

She frowned, "No, no I didn't." I was wrong about you. That went without saying.

"You didn't answer my question," he pressed, worried about her.

"Why do you care if I'm okay?" Her face scrunched up, "It's been years Brian."

"Yeah, it has. But I haven't stopped caring. when you left town I was a mess. In Miami, I begged Suki to tell me where you were, just to see if you were okay," he now towered over her, caging her in against the counter like he did all those years ago. Brian knew what he was doing and she couldn't help but let it happen. "I haven't stopped caring about you because I haven't stopped loving you."

Tears pooled in her brown pools, "Don't say that."

His hands reached to cup her cheeks, "You love me too. I know you're still in love with me, and If you weren't, you would've let me take that bullet today. You didn't. You saved me when one of Braga's men tried taking me out." He could've died today. They both could've died today. Every second counted, every moment mattered. And he couldn't allow her to slip through his fingers like she did before. He needed her. "Just when I thought I couldn't love you anymore, Sonny."

"I told you what I'd do if you called me that," she mumbled, leaning into his touch.

"Want me to go and get my badge?" She couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think it's in the middle of some Ocean. I don't know."

"Really?" She asked quietly, heart beating out of her chest as their fronts pressed against each other.

"Should've seen me throw that thing like some pitcher for the mets," he kept joking.

Carson tried hiding her smile, but he could see straight through her.

"You've aged, you know that, right?" It was her turn to joke, but they both knew she was being serious.

His hair was shorter than ever. A few lines creased his forehead. But to her, he still looked fine as hell. After all, he was 30.

"Yeah, you haven't," he smiled, shocked that she still looked the same after 5 years.

"Obviously," She paused, "Your eyes have stayed the same. Still beady and shit."

"Beady?" he grinned, rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks, "I thought you said I was a pretty boy."

"Maybe."

"Maybe, huh?" he was leaning in, closer and closer. "We're pretty people."

"We are."

"Especially you," he whispered, tipping her head up, so their lips almost touched.

"You got that right," she murmured, "but there's something you need to know," he nodded, trailing his hands over her arms and down to the hem of her shirt. "You know that present you got me, the ornament thing? I dashed it out the window when I left LA."

Her confession didn't stop him from pulling off his hoodie.

"I'll get you another one," he promised, kicking the door shut and dragging a chair under the handle.

She gasped when returned to her and his lips peppered over her neck, “You’ll get me another one?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re gonna get me more?” She panted, letting him lift up her shirt.

“And more,” he nodded, pulling his shirt over his head, “and more and more.”

Her arms finally snaked around his shoulder, pulling him into a feverish kiss that both of them had been waiting for, yearning for. Years of love, hatred and wanting poured between them. It was hot and sloppy and they didn't stop. They couldn't stop.

Clothes dropped to the floor, and shoes were kicked to the side before he picked her up and set her on the counter, grinding against her.

"Fuck," she moaned when his fingers moved to pleasure her, nipping at her thighs and pushing aside her thong. She whimpered at his touch. He didn't care for silencing her. He wanted to hear more. She shifted forwards at the feeling of him pinching her clit. "God, don't stop."

"Wasn't planning on it," His eyes hooded when her back arched, letting a finger slip through her core. His pace sped up, drawing more delicious noises from her lips. "Look at me," his demand forced her fluttering eyes open, "That's it, look at me," he added another finger, basking in the arousal dripping between her thighs.

"More," she pleaded.

"More?" His mocked, pulling his hand away. Whining, she pouted with glossy eyes. "You'll get what you want, baby."

The pet name swelled her heart.

But the sight of him pulling down his boxers and feeling of him unclipping her bra made her spread her shaky legs.

Brian couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Look at me like that, and I'll have the whole house hearing us."

"It's too late for that, Sonny," he chuckled, pulling her in for another kiss, moaning against her lips when she reached for his dick and lined him up against her, "You don't know what you do to me." With one deep thrust, she whimpered, and he grunted against her. "You're so beautiful. Fuck I love you," Words spewed out of his mouth before he could think. "So tight," he didn't pick up the pace, he was slow and passionate.

Her nails dug into his back as his head dropped into the crook of her neck, sucking and nipping against her skin.

His hands hooked around her thighs and angled her up, making his movements deeper. He couldn't stop, her moans fuelled him.

"Baby," he rasped, voice thick and breathy, it managed to turn her on even more, "You're close," he could feel it. "Let go," his thrusts were getting sloppier.

A minute passed and the pair were a panting mess, Brian had spilt into her without regret. Cresent-shaped marks dotted around his back and bruises scattered over her chest and neck.

"Claiming your territory huh?" she jested, to which he laughed at. "I love you," she admitted for the first time, taking him by surprise. "I'm still in love with you."

Their lips met once again in a gentle kiss.

"I love you," he repeated over and over again.

And just when he was about to clean her up, the door rattled, but the chair prevented whoever was in the other side from opening it.

"If I see a white ass or pale cheek when I get in, someone is getting shot," they heard Keelie scream, making them both laugh.

a/n:

sometimes when i write smut i cringe myself out but tell me your thoughts on sonny and brian making up.

[lordgolden]

Imagine if when fitz&nighteyes were crossing the rainwild river ON FOOT some boat saw them and were like Hey what The fuck. and picked 'em up out of concern (insane behaviour I wouldn't that's a cryptid) , fitz could easily convince them nighteyes is a dog I dont think cursed shore people ever saw a real wolf

then fitz ends up in trehaug for a while or something and there's a chance of him meeting carson(who canonically has an excellent gaydar and is a relatively good mentor) and maybe becoming normal about gay people before tawny man trilogy<3

I think timeline wise it is years before the events of liveships so no chance of amber and paragon meeting him there though :/ nighteyes would hate it there probably so they wouldn't stay long (maybe on the way back they have to take a ship to bingtown first because of the exclusive trading agreements? Probably no direct ships to the 6d)

anon i'm absolutely picking up what you're putting down I need to experience this AU we need more farseer/liveship crossover!!!!!!

[seancamerons]

What are some of your favorite headcanons about Sean?

dude you have no idea, so if you don't know, when i love a character I make up entire elaborate backstories and the rest under the cut/read more.😊

first we got -

sean is 1 of 3 brothers. when his veparents were hs seniors they had 9 months later a baby boy, his name was carson. they shortly married at their local church strong armed by family. so that's the oldest. they were estranged for a long time. he'd been incarcerated since he was 18, for drugs and petty theft but he went away bc his friend hit a guy drunk driving and was charged with 3rd degree vehicular manslaughter or something like bad, like a 6 year thing, the person died etc so he was in jail most of sean's forminative years. he screwed up and he paid for it and sean was without being bullied by his older brother and such. tracker was also but they don't like talk at all. at least sean and carson had good times even when he was terrorizing him and tracker. tracker never let it happen he'd protect sean from carson's moods, unpredictable and violence. im not sure how this story came about but it only deepened when i started getting into shows in the teen drama variety and remembering things from the show contextual clues and whatever. so three bros, jail, hardworker and all drop outs - but sean was supposed to be the boy to finally graduate and make everyone proud and get out of wasaga. that were his goals. he had all that but the graduation and instead enlisted but idk how that all went. i assume good. i can see it going a few was. i think sean is alive and doing well. he works, till works out still handsome maybe has facial hair.

so more specificly - sean is the baby of his family. the bonus child, sad. totally a whoops, but still loved and maybe even coddled more the parents know they've been neglectful but he's loved and considered and has friends doing good, but maybe not as than perhaps the oldest carson who was when they were teens themselves and didn't know what they were doing, tracker who came later who at first were fine but their addictions to alcohol at home started later and sean bore the brunt and saw their parents at their absolute worse. totally a shitshow. by then carson was fucked up and incarcerated, his parents still doted as he was their oldest son and they kind of were young and should've never been that out of control but he got a rough hand and i kind of base that like how ryan atwood from the oc had this brother who was in jail the reason he even was in newport in so many ways but by then ryan had changed and trey i assume - similar to carson. this makes tracker the older, a bit wiser, less in trouble, family duty kind of good guy who tries his best but maybe is also cursed with the cameron destructo genes but also made it a good life for himself, helps his young brother after his brush with violence and such and put him out of harms way, at his mom's request to him. i don't think this was selfish NOW WE CHILDFREE WE CAN DRINK ALL THE TIME. no i don't think they wanted to drink, i think their body craved it so bad they NEEDED to drink but they ost the 'fun' of being buzzed or blitzed and rather needed it to stop feeling pain and numb, self medicate even if it's bad for them and the reason for 90 percent of their misfortunates like it or not. realistic, bleak and fucking dark. i also set some of my stories up to where they're adults dealing with this stuff because like it or not this fandom has a lot of adults and im sure they don't want a fluff fest where people are all honky dorey. i hate perfect people, so all my girls and guys are flawed but some people are super good people but live and exist in bad times or bad situations like 90 percent of people out here like it or not.

so for example in the story (backtrack) carson plays more of a active role in from his start, he wants to do better and change like trey atwood did after everything with getting released but then he started bad habits and hanging out with that girl and coming onto Marissa who just wanted to be nice and help him out, but he actually commits to it and finds happiness and becomes close with sean over a time. as kids he was tormenting him and calling him what he assumed a mistake and it explains how sean is because he's very mean to himself. he bullies himself or makes himself feel bad when good things are happening. anway carson based on sean. tracker is named after the father but like leave it to beaver - baby sean couldn't say scott but loved calling him tracker because of his tractor pajamas or his love of vechiles and his name kind of stuck. even now it's tracker, scott is their dad. tracker is tracker, sean's middle name in his backstory had been hope. so sean hope, i assume his mother watched soaps and watched ryan's hope or something (it used to be on soapnet i swear its related!) it's older than old but it's an older show about a young Irish family who settled in the Americas but in the present so they've got these thick Irish accent and they own a pub or at least someone does when they immigrated and all congretate and drama ensued.

i just wanted to sidebar this and say i did watch a lot of soaps as a kid, perhaps that's why i love making up stories. i used to do with my barbies too. when my mom would watch court tv for like OJ Simpson i'd be playing with my dolls and creating plots for them like it was days of our lives or all my children in my barbie dream house. i was kind of made to do that stuff. even with the grusome details and gory things i heard or didn't 'get', it was weird juxtaposition of adult shit and adult shit i assume is romantic adult shit. this is no different.

i watched days and all my children (my mom preferred amc)

i also used to watch springer and maury in the summer or when i was ill! so like the drama is still seared there, i mean with mary from paterinity or bad kids BootCamp kind of episodes, there was the maury drama stuff. also the weird competition reality shows like rock of love and flavor of love or the reformed ladies of both of these shows would be on the charm school and such and then Megan wanted a billionaire and got a murderer and the whole shebang fell apart. now vh1 plays trash. I'm obsessed with the 1980s thanks to that channel i love times like that you know, when i wasn't alive but would've loved to live at that time/place.

okay end rant.

so that's just one big large explanation. in short i can go on forever. is shared a lot of headcanons but that's one. ask if you want to hear some more. this is a bit weird bc i shouldn't think this deeply about the fictional but hey.

okay fine, you caught me in a good mood, and i think you're awesome - one more headcanon for sean:

the tattoo is real. jay's too.

i love platonic as well as romantic friendships or love between close friends, but in a strictly platonic way and of course romance in every sense but the point is, you can be soulmates in a friend kind of way. i believe that's true for jalex. they were best friends i think. the show establishes them as young kids, in love or affectionate, but also had history for a long time and maybe there's a lot we do not know about their lives pre show or after. do they talk? 100 percent.

so jay and sean got tatted. sean has a lot of friends in wasaga (in degrassi he has none) so when he first came back to degrassi and had all these friends, one big bad bully tyler (the guy who got him back over to) and of course you knew what comes next.

one of sean's friends is like a tat apprentiece. she's new and she wanted to ink a friend. sean trusts her judgment and he agreed, jay and him had a "if you do it, I'll do it" when asked what they wanted they were told, "Make sure you love it and have no regrets because it's perminant." by this time in his life this is between season 4 and season 6 a lot had happened but over that time sean had realized he cares about emma way more than a friend and she had like it or not moved on but at this time he had no idea about that. jay was instrumental but didn't tell at that time. he'd visit him and give him the low down. so the friend who is an artist apprentice who needs to practice took it, and she's still got to get used to skin as opposed to lettering and details so it looks mighty rough. but they both said out loud from their room one guy was on one side, and the other guy was in the other chair.

"emma" sean quietly answers. "spelled e m m a"

"alex" jay announced. "self explanitory."

sean's friend her name is sabrina, often called brina or bree asks them as she's working on the lettering and they're sitting tight in the office. jay actually doesn't tease sean about emma or getting inked. by this time ellie hadn't been a blip on the radar, but emma had been on his mind. she was the first face he saw as she drove away, and the first face he wanted to see if and when he comes back to town.

they talk abiout the girls in their lives. by this point jay had alex had been split up and he more than anything wanted to be like before, before when they were everything to each other. he didn't want to forget her. he didn't want to not be her friend, and he fucked up their relationship and this was his way of memorializing their relationship.

for emma she was close to his heart, hence the chest as the location of this tattoo and he truthfully feels like connected even if they're apart.

long story short, the tats were a secret. emma unless they bumped uglies probably never found out about the tat, unless they had the kind of secs where he wasn't shirtless but it's sean cameron of fucking course she's gonna have no shirt in that (sorry just a headcanon) i mean there was a reason he was often at home dressed like in wifebeaters or shirtless playing sports with the guys) im sure at home he dresses in as little as he can so shorts/tank top no hodies unless its cold and he works out frequently in his non heated/non ac or hot apt. im sure air is expensive fans are expensive and water is expensive so he's living in the now for sure but once he returned back to 'get the diploma;, he justified setting his eyes and heart onto emma. i do believe he had goals, but he truly more than anything missed emma.

say what you will but his heart is often found in the right place. he might have flaws, but he is deep down a wonderful guy with a sad life. six was a disservice to him and his legacy for being a little bit mushy in the inside heart of gold, hero complex but also a great guy to have in your corner. that's him.

so when he said (paraphrasing this) he didn't want to come back for all the things he'd said, what he really wanted was love from her. he loved her and he also hurt her. sometimes he hurt the people he loved, or who loved him, and felt bad later because in the heart of the moment with his words he burned all those bridges. such as when he stole from Simpson. i don't know if emma was ever proven right to her face, she sounds like assuming without knowing but assuming that something was said. he says to her, he pretty much came back to be around her again.

i do believe the scene in the basement in the 2nd part of "here comes your man" clearly he wanted to confess a little bit about that but she kind of set the boundary she can't care about it because

1. she's got peter/he needs her even if they'd had a lot of build up and yet she can't be her real self.

2. manny clearly has something against sean over peter (what even was that?) i wouldn't be nice to him either tbh.

3. i don't think she doesn't care, it's that it's hard for her to imagine that because she'd been burned in the past not just by him, but his departure, or indirectly through hurled insults and other things throughout her life experience/lived experience attending degrassi!

4. a secret option idk combination of 2/5

5. all the above!

either way this kind of breaks sean's heart (teeny bit) and she begs him to turn himself in, or suggests this is the only way but that was a sad thing. he got hauled off and shit and peter got what? slap on the wrist - why did the writers love him? he sucks. peter got away with too much.

the worst thing sean did wouldn't equate peter's worse - like what he did to manny? inexcusable. what a bad guy. why was manny defending him, and i don't wanna hear the obvious, "oh he stood by your side during your eating disorder!"

no, i aint buying they're doing the sexy shit either. so seeing sean, who i believe she was attracted to him beyond looks but they sure didn't make it a issue because he had the package - handsome and such, but also messing up a bit bc the street races were illegal and what they were doing was no question illegal and morally grey.

also why tf jay sabotogue sean like that and tell him to run? when is any vechiular thing warrant them to idk. but he did and stuff and we all know it was nothing. either he didn't know that running from the scene as his friend told him to do bc that there is a hit and run OR jay wanted to cause sean grief for some weird reason or things just went down and he panicked and didn't want sean to go to jail, and thought it'd be better if he ran but still. so i gave you a bunch of things to sort through.

💐💌ty for the message!

[fandomscraziness22]

red columbine (anxiety) — “can you hold my hand? please?” for caleb/adam!

ok, this isn't really the prompt but i don't care because i wanted to do it! (it's heavily based on a scene from Lockwood and Co which everyone should watch!)

red columbine (anxiety) — “can you hold my hand? please?”

“I know I really should have expected that being back together would bring more weirdness to my life, but I really underestimated just how much,” Adam muses as Oliver looks over his notes one more time, and Mark hovers behind him making some sort of snide comment that Adam’s sure is less than helpful.  

Caleb gives him a half smirk from his chair, reaching out to pat Adam’s back affectionately. “I know, but to be fair, neither of us asked for this one.”

Adam sighs, knowing it’s true. Oliver and Mark had reached out asking for Caleb’s help with a magical ring that seemed to have an Atypical’s spirit trapped inside it. Yeah, Adam hadn’t believed it either, but his boyfriend couldn’t say no to Mark, and Mark was working with Oliver to discover dangerous Atypical artifacts, and so here they were, hoping that Caleb could use his empath powers to connect to whatever spirit or Atypical power lay within. 

“Okay, I think we’re ready,” Oliver says, turning back to the boys and clapping his hands once. “Any last questions, Carson?”

Caleb rolls his eyes. “No, Oliver, I know what I’m doing.”

Adam kisses Caleb quickly before promising, “We’ll be right over here if anything goes wrong.”

“It better fucking not,” Mark says under his breath.

Adam moves a little ways away to stand by Mark and Oliver, who has his notebook out. “Be careful,” he adds. 

Caleb nods before closing his eyes and focusing his attention to the ring in his hand. At least, that’s what Adam assumes he’s doing. As the only non-Atypical in the room, he’s a bit freaked at not being able to help in any sort of power-related way, but Caleb had assured him that Adam would be the one he needed if he got lost in his head.

Adam may not have any abilities, but he knows his boyfriend, so he can tell the moment Caleb makes contact with the spirit in the ring. His eyebrows crease, in concentration, then his face relaxes, eyes still closed. 

“There’s music,” Caleb says softly. “Orchestral of some kind. Laughing. People…dancing?”

“How can you tell?” Adam asks, confused. Caleb’s an empath, not a psychic or dreamwalker. He shouldn’t be able to tell anything about the spirit except for its feelings. That’s what they had assumed, anyways.

Oliver makes a note on his paper. “Interesting. That spirit is stronger than I anticipated, if it’s imparting its power into Caleb.”

“What the fuck does that mean, Oliver?” 

“Calm down, Mark, he’s fine.”

Adam watches his boyfriend carefully, but there’s no big change yet. He’s simply relaxed and listening to whatever other side he can sense.

“There’s…happiness, but it’s bittersweet,” Caleb says. “There’s a hard edge to it, like she can tell it won’t last.”

“She?” Adam asks. “Who? What’s going on?”

Caleb shakes his head, his face tightening. “Now she’s annoyed. He wasn’t being truthful, that night. It’s…”

And then Caleb’s eyes open, but they aren’t his eyes, not really. There’s something far away in them, like he’s still watching the spirit’s life.

That shouldn’t be possible. “Caleb?” Adam calls, but his boyfriend doesn’t even look in his direction.

The empath stands suddenly, fingers still clenched around the ring. “Listen, I said I loved you.” His voice is pleading, and Caleb takes a few steps forward towards Adam.

“What?” Adam steps forward to meet Caleb, wary of it all.

“Caleb, what’s happening?” Oliver prods. 

Caleb doesn’t respond to Oliver, but instead puts a hand to Adam’s cheek, caressing it. “I love you. That doesn’t stop because I went to dinner with them.”

Adam’s terrified now, because this shouldn’t be happening. Caleb isn’t supposed to get—what is this, a possession? He shouldn’t be controlled by this spirit.

“Oliver, we need to pull him out,” Adam says. He holds Caleb’s hand against his cheek, but it’s hard to see his boyfriend not looking like himself. He’s not really there, not really Caleb in that moment.

Oliver shakes his head. “Just a few more minutes, I think he’s almost got it.”

“Oliver,” Mark warns, but he’s shushed by the alchemist next to him. 

“Don’t be jealous,” Caleb says. “I promise I—Let me go!”

Suddenly he’s grabbing Adam’s arms, twitching. “Stop, stop! Let me go! Don’t!” Adam struggles to hold on to him, and his heart squeezes in fear. 

“Caleb? It’s okay, I’m here,” Adam tries to comfort him, but Caleb doesn’t hear him.

“No, don’t—” And now Caleb is grasping at his throat, chest heaving. “Can’t…breathe.”

“Oliver!” Adam shouts to the adult behind him. “This is too much, how do we get him out?”

“Grab his hand, please, or something like that. Something to tether him back to the present. Maybe your normal non-Atypical feelings will penetrate through that cloud of Atypical emotions.” Oliver doesn't sound concerned, which Adam is definitely annoyed by but can’t focus on right now.

He pulls one of Caleb’s hands away from his throat and clenches it tightly. “Hey, Caleb, come back to me.”

Caleb gasps again. “No, please,” he whimpers. “Can’t breathe, let me breathe, please!” 

He’s wheezing, and Adam thinks for a moment that his boyfriend is about to die from a fucking Atypical spirit trapped inside a magic ring. What the fuck is his life?

“Mark! Oliver! Help, it’s not working,” Adam yells. “Caleb, listen to me. You’re okay, please be okay, just cut the connection with the ring.” He’s panicking now, because his boyfriend is choking on a memory or whatever and Adam is helpless to do anything about it.

Light floods the room. Adam looks over to see Mark has drawn the curtains aside, and the sunshine is streaming into the possessed empath. Caleb gives one more groan before his eyes roll back into his head and he goes limp, falling into Adam. He tries to steady Caleb but Adam isn’t as strong as his boyfriend, and the two of them collapse in a heap on the floor.

“Caleb?” Adam whispers, patting his cheek and hoping against hope that he’s okay. “Caleb?” he tries again.

Caleb’s eyes open, and he winces. “Fuck, my head is killing me.”

Adam sighs in relief and hauls Caleb up and into a hug. “Oh, thank god,” he breathes. “I thought for a second—”

“I’m okay,” Caleb promises. “She was just way more powerful than I thought.”

“Who?” Oliver asks, coming to stand close to them. “You never said anyone’s name. And Mark, how did you know that would work?” He sounds begrudgingly impressed.

Mark shrugs. “I saw it in a movie once. Figured if we’re dealing with ghosts, maybe some of the stories are true.”

“My life is so weird,” Adam whispers, and the affirming laugh from Caleb is enough for him to finally calm down and listen to Caleb explain what he found from the spirit trapped in the ring. 

send me a flower prompt! (yes I'm still doing this!)

[nothingbegetsnothing]

Executives don't get to hide from transparency. Shareholders are entitled to know how much wealth these vultures are extracting from their investments.

https://investors.companyname.com is your first friend.

https://www.sec.gov/search-filings is your second.

Look for forms 8-K and 10-K; executive compensation is declared a few other places too like proxy statements but those are harder to interpret.

---

But put the guns and pitchforks down for a moment. This is a curious list, being all white people. Almost like this is a witch hunt in the form of a guided safari. Look at these evil white people. Seethe. Hate them. They're white. They're evil. They have obscene amounts of money. And you don't even have to go looking for answers yourselves; here's a simple meme to make things easy. Hate specifically these people.

Whatever you do, don't look further upstream. Don't ask why insulin costs $1000 a month despite the patent for it being owned by the University of Toronto, with the inventor having donated it to them specifically so Big Pharma couldn't hold the patent hostage and so generics could be produced affordably:

On 23 January 1923, Banting, Collip and Best were awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the method used to make it. They all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each. Banting famously said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He wanted everyone who needed it to have access to it.

So, something donated to a public university for near-free somehow managed to become priced beyond affordability for the uninsured. What the fuck? How did this happen? Not because of Brian Thompson. Fuck that guy, but he's the pawn shop owner that happened to be in possession of your bike when you stormed in with a gun-- he's the most-recent person to have it, not the guy who stole it from you.

It starts with the pharmaceutical companies (hell, we can go much further than that too). But the problem here is, were you to do a lineup of the pharmaceutical CEOs, it starts to look more like the invitation list to a Bar Mitzvah. That becomes uncomfortably conspicuous for those that prefer the masses not notice what they're up to, so we get meme lists like this to redirect the enmity of vigilantes against--specifically--white people (ourselves, in Mangiano's case).

As insurers go Carson tops the list for compensation at $23.5M, but ALL of the top 10 pharma execs make much more than that. See for yourself:

Thompson was a bad guy, but he wasn't THE Bad Guy.

The self-appointed "healers of the world" are openly colluding to pull a Shkreli on every life-saving drug anybody depends on, literally holding your life hostage, taking home way more in compensation than these insurance CEOs for their scheming (remember when patents were never allowed to expire because they would pivot to XR versions? I miss those days), and deflecting costs of their wealth extraction onto these same insurers through grossly-inflated prices for drugs that by rights should cost virtually nothing with scale and be produced in abundance.

All of this drama over insulin, specifically, has to do with repeal of the law requiring pharmaceutical companies to justify why they need to raise prices to Medicaid administrators, who set a sort of sane baseline for costs. Now that they aren't accountable to anyone anymore, they gouge the prices on everything you can't live without and forward the bill to the Evil Insurers, who either raise your premiums...or start denying your claims. Lose-lose for you, but through the magic of "economic theory" it's somehow record profits year over year for Big Pharma.

It doesn't end there either. Bought an Epi-pen lately? How many pharmacies did you have to shop your Adderall prescription around to in the last few years? I know anti-seizure medications were also "shorted." The only thing every drug experiencing shortages have in common is that they were unprofitable. If you just push the stop button on the assembly line a few times a day, output fails to keep up with demand and you can now rationalize price gouging when the public gets pissed.

I don't know if HRT is affected yet but with all this chicanery going on all you tranz better prepare for the inevitable rug pull yourselves, when all of a sudden you're unable to buy your own maintenance meds because of "shortages" and the price is gouged beyond affordability because enough of you can't live without it. Apparently Mangiano said something non-inclusive at some point and now he's not the people's hero? Get over yourselves. For all the squawking about trans genocide, this is how your entire tribe could actually be wiped out-- overnight, through subterfuge, in one single extinction event, with no shots being fired or administered. You could easily become a mass casualty of market manipulation.

We're in this together. But they want us angry at a handful of random white executives for a reason. Don't take the bait. Sniff around it and follow the trail of those that set it.

[agonywrites]

Zade

I have always been a gentleman.

A good boy. A rule-follower. Is that even a word?

But deep down I always craved chaos and mayhem. No matter what I do, my desire for ruining things becomes palpable and hard to shake off the more I try to satisfy it. I’m like a druggie in a constant need to find a high better than the last.

So I stay away from things that I want to ruin, people too.

Especially people, particularly her.

She’s a monster and she thinks I don’t know her true nature, but I do. She follows me around and watches me when she thinks no one is looking. No one is looking that much is true, but I am. And I know all about her games.

Her games are intriguing, she is intriguing, like a puzzle I can’t quite figure out. And I’m good with puzzles damn it. So why do I feel like I can never understand what goes through her morally black head.

My phone rings and I raise a brow at the caller id. My dear brother in law, or soon to be for that matter.

“Seb, how can I help” My amicable tone is at odds with the frown on my face. Sebastian Carson never called me before, and I’ve been engaged to his sister for a month now.

We barely even spoke.

“Where is my sister?” His voice is an annoying mix between deep and throaty if I ever heard one and he sounds clearly upset.

“I wouldn’t know since I’m on a business trip.” I say casually.

“She’s been missing for two days now and people figured she’d be with you,” he sounds much more alarmed than when he first spoke.

“She isn’t” I’m much more invested now.

“And how are you so calm about it. She’s missing, someone kidnapped her or something. Did someone kidnap her?” he almost yells in my ear.

“I wouldn’t know since I didn’t kidnap her” I’m struggling with the urge to hang up. I shouldn’t. I frown again.

“We have to find her, she’s probably in danger!” Now, he yelled.

“Calm down Sebastian, the first step is to-“ Well, fuck. I wouldn’t know what the first step is. “Let’s inform the authorities.”

“We can’t, dad has an election this would be bad publicity” I roll my eyes. Au contraire, this could be the perfect publicity to win people’s sympathy and get them to vote for him.

I didn’t say that since I figured it’d be too insensitive, instead I said: “You’re right, we should take matters into our own hands then”

I looked around my room in hopes of some magical solution to dawn on me. As I’m about to suggest something, Sebastian beats me to it. “How about we hire a private detective”

“Of course, that would be perfect. I can get Clara my secretary to look up some of the best detectives in the country” I suggest. Although it was halfhearted, I couldn’t care less about finding the best detective let alone finding his annoying sister.

“We don’t have much time, I’ll take care of it” And he hangs up. I glare at the ceiling, hanging up on me like that wasn’t the smartest move, but then again Sebastian Carson was never a smart man.

As I close my eyes to relieve some of the tension in my shoulders, the image of a woman starts forming and suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

It feels like getting slapped by an angry teacher. Leila Carson, my fiancée, couldn’t have just disappeared from the face of the earth out of nowhere for no reason.

Well, well, well. It seems my little hunter has yet again been out for blood. And this time Leila was her prey.

[eddathegreat]

The Chill (by Scott Carson) Review

The Chill is absolutely top-notch as a ghost story. There is a focus on the marriage of the natural, the human, and the supernatural, all found in water. The mounting tension is great. This book will fill you with the desire to raise funds for infrastructure. The character work is all around pretty damn good too, supporting a solid story.

However, by the climax, there were some very noticeable holes in the themes and I felt like it kind of staggered to an end. It also does the standard horror sin of showing too much of the metaphorical monster and diminishing the mystique. This doesn't ruin the book, but it does leave me feeling that this a merely good book that has trapped a great book somewhere inside.

I give it a solid B.

(Spoilers past the cut)

The central character is Gillian, and one of the first things we learn about her is that she is a mixed-race cop. Race keeps coming up as a topic throughout the story, especially surrounding Gillian, and how her white side of the family was real fucked up and that lineage still has a hold of her. In the climax, it is what she learned in Queens and her connection to a diverse culture that saves her, letting her resist the compulsion of the ghosts of her family to be enslaved to their cause. The problem is that we never actually got anything about what her life was like in Queens before that, so it's very forced and frankly kind of an ass-pull, and her black father ends up being almost inconsequential to the plot and her own journey. There was some connecting tissue there, but it didn't stick the landing like it needed to. Also frustrating is the fact that the actual work of preventing catastrophe is done by some basically random white guy she roped in, and despite all the focus on the police and racism there is never any confrontation of how those two things are actually kind of connected.

Mick also ended up being a kind of disappointing character, for all the work initially done developing him he never really went anywhere and was just kind of a puppet for Galesburg by the end. This isn't big, but he felt very autism-coded at the beginning and I really liked him.

That said, the actual brunt of the theming is more about the generalized past, and how people will mythologize it for twisted ends, and that the story does admittedly nail pretty thoroughly. The past is something used to chain people, and make them engulf others and their stories for the sake of a mythology dangerously removed from the concerns of real and living people, with lethal consequences.

And as a ghost story, it takes the idea of vengeful spirits and runs with it, with its themes serving to explore the idea very well. A haunting is shitty for the ghosts and the people they hurt, and the haunting is doing no kind of good for anyone. The whole thing is just fucked up and tragic.

[perfectionts-virgo]

CARSON ROBINSON

I know it's been a minute since I talked to y'all but, too busy with school & work... but tonight Vanessa and couple people she invited to come with her to the "D9" Block Out Party... here I am finished getting dressed. Hearing my door being knocked on.

"Bro it's Vanessa" Rome said closing the door

Vanessa and Rome gave each other a hug, he walked his way back to his room..

"Hey boo you look cute" said giving me a smile

"Thanks you look cute also" I replied she gave me goofy face while posing poking her butt out..

"You know I try" she said while giggling

We was about walk out the door til I seen Rome walk out look irritated

"What happened" I asked looking at him taking a sit on the couch

"Everybody flake on me" he said touching his curls

"Why not come with us ?" She asked

"Huh ?" He said looking up from his phone looking confused

"Why not" I said looking at Vanessa "it's better staying in the house"

"I don't see the problem" she said we turned to look back at him "they not going serve you anything to drink"

"Oh okay" I replied nodding "even better"

"All he need is $10 to get in" she said looking at me

"I'm good" he said getting walking towards us "I'm ready

"You need to take that jacket off tho" she said opening the door

"Why ?" He asked

"Because it's going to be hot asf" she answered

We walked out the door, locking door behind myself.. walking down the stairs to Vanessa car opening the passenger side door taking a seat putting on the seatbelt.. driving down the street seeing a line forming outside.. Vanessa found a parking spot. Pulled in taking the taking out of the engine looking at herself at the mirror touching up her lipgloss, we got out the car, making our way the line, seeing some girls gossiping and groups of guys trying to holier at girls, this really put my element.

"This really my first college party" Rome said shaking his head

"Believe it cousin" Vanessa replied with a chuckle til a female said her name

Making all three of us there the way we heard name, it was two girls and guy walking up to us.

"Hey girl" she said to the girl giving the group a hug"Guys... I want y'all to meet my new friend"

"Hey my name Carson and this my little brother" I said with shy wave

"Name Rome" he replied with a head nod

"Hey my name is nisi" the girl said with a smile

"I'm Ciara" another girl said with her blue locs style with a crispy retwist & bob style

"Name Alex" the boy said with a fade but died blonde

"Nice meeting y'all" they said union giving us smiles

The line start to move, we finally in the front of the line.

"For the girls $5 & for the boys $10" a guy said

Vanessa and the girls handing him their five dollars, and me,Rome,Alex handed him ten dollars making our way in the place hearing Barks and girls saying high pitched... they in a line doing something called a "stroll" I made sure me & Rome is out their way because they will fight you if mess their line up.

"Girls y'all Remember what last year" Alex said making looked back at nisi confused

"Oh it went crazy" she replied nodding "we talking about the Twitter thread about it"

I just nod my head, looking around till I seen the man of the hour "Maxwell" with his boys plus more behind them.. enjoying myself seeing everybody dancing and drinking socializing...

"Girl I hoped they don't pick my ass up" nisi said looking at us with goofy face being made

Making us laugh, making Rome shake his head.

"I don't mind tho" Alex joked making us laugh more "I'm joking because my fat ass fucked the dance floor up by one fall"

We shaking our heads, till we heard OTB Fastline "Dawg Azz (Remix)... I heard barking group of buff, Cubby, tall guys of all shades start braking and doing their stroll having all the girls screaming fanning themselves then out of nowhere the Dj played Joi "Lick" then all hell broke lose..

Then a buff guy and tall basketball player build guy picked Ciara & nisi up continue their stroll all the girls screaming...

"You see that big bro ?" He asked me

"Yeah I'm loss for words" I answered while seeing one frat guy stop in front of Vanessa but he really want to stand in front of Alex having his tongue shaking his head..

"Ooh Vanessa !!" Alex said record her

"Im going to the bathroom" Rome said making me nod my head seeing him walked off

I made my way to the bar waiting for a waitress. Till I bumped into hard chest I looked up it was Maxwell he just looked down at me with a sly smirk on his face.

"You the new guy my grandma was talking to the block party" he asked waving the waitress

"Yeah... that's me" I answered making us chuckle

"Well I'm Maxwell" he said giving a hand shake

"Nice to meet maxwell... my name Carson" i replied shaking his hand

I was too busy looking at his features even his whitey whites... till I heard screaming we turned around seeing a brawl broke out in the middle of the dance floor meet guys some girl fighting each other.. it was starting getting crazy I felt a large hand grabbing my wrist pulling out the party..

We made it outside I turned to face Maxwell, I texted everybody, they saying they are okay... I felt a ton of bricks off my shoulders, then look back up from my phone back to Maxwell.

"Everybody okay ?" He asked looking at me

"Yeah they okay" I replied I'm all shy and giddy

"That's good" he said making his way to his BMW

"You could wait in my car if you want to" he said I just nod walking to the passenger side opening the door

Closed the door, he just sit back rolling up his blunt.. with music playing softly in the background.

"You sit back I'm not going to hurt you" he said with deep Baltimore accent

I just sat back, he put blunt on his lips lightning it up... smoke everywhere I'm just looking at him even more, he different kind of fine, skin looking all clear & Smooth, I was to busy looking at how fine he is he was sizing me up.

"I know I'm fine" I cut him off before he said some corny shit

"You doing to much... corny" I said playfully rolled my eyes

"Stop staring then" he replied chuckling while licking his lip

I was to busy staring at his lips... he gave me a smirk

"Stop staring at me or it's going to a problem" he said smirking

"Or what ?" I replied being smart

He got closer, biting his bottom lip staring at my soul.. moving closer our nose almost touch

"Say that again ?" His voice got even deeper looking so sexy

I'm fighting not to whimper out loud

Before I could say anything my phone start to ring he pulled away... I mentally rolled my eyes, checked my phone to see Vanessa saying ready to go.

"I got but thanks for your company" I said open the door

"Your welcome see around new boy" he said sounded so sexy

I blushed sly biting my lip

"Don't bite that lip" he said licking his lip

"Or what ?" I asked smartly

"All I'm about to say don't do in front of me" he replied looking at me up and down

"I'm grown... I'm going to do what I want have a good night" I said closing the door before he say another thing making my way to Vanessa car..

Tonight was fun besides the brawl... I really enjoy the college life

[handelplayssims]

It’s a new day! And we have a person who works as a doctor in this family! So today we follow Omar into work! And just before he was set to go off for it as well, it’s near 8AM and if Harrison was just a little bit slower, would have just missed him.

Right, our promotion task this time is to perform surgery on three patients and we got one already. That’s not something I can press for so let’s just take care of our patients as usual.

WOW! Rude! So Sally Sigworth is an alien and I knew ahead of time that this kid would be marked up and alerted as such, so I decided to treat her first and see if we’d get this result. I mean, come on! You’re a vampire Omar! Can’t judge a kid too harshly! Hmm, but looking at the compelling diagnosis, we got two options here. Both of which, Sweaty Shivers and Llama Flu, have fevers, the animation I keep seeing Sally do. I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and go for Sweaty Shivers… and hooray! It was correct! Yay for me!

Next we’re going to attempt to treat Judith Ward, famed superstar she is! We did manage to find her illness just in time for work to wrap up. It was a non-surgical related one so I wasn’t going to stay overtime for it. But hey! Good day at work!

Right then! We got some thirsty vampires as we return home! So I have Harrison go for the plasma fruit salad that’s in the fridge, Omar continues his drinking from medicial bags, like he did at work, and Selena invites over a neighbor. She invites over Santiago! ...oh huh. I didn’t realize she too has the guilty drinker drawback as a vampire. Huh. Welp! Anyway, it’s New Skill Day so we’re having Omar pop down to the computer to write a little, as he’s on the cusp of getting skill level 2 as a writer. Onto Harrison and his next task is to get a promotion with his fabulously wealthy aspiration. Hmm. Well, there’s no work task as he’s just a retail worker. And maxed out into taking the calls at that! His Charisma skill is at level 7, so I’m not particularly enthused about working on that. How about working on acting? That might be fun! Selena needs to meet up with someone for her aspiration...and Emile wants to be inspired to draw some pictures so let’s sort those two out. We found Sally, newly cured, walking along the street! That’ll do for an introduction.

Let’s see...why is the next stage on childhood social stage always the “make a bff” one? That takes so much effort! Hmm. Wait a moment. Her sister could count! It’s those two versus their weird family, after all! Let’s see. Omar and Harrison are getting thirsty again, the drawbacks of not satiating thirst upon the blood of normal sims. After Emille finishes off her drawing, we’ll take Omar out for a drink. We’ll even bring this Sim along that he keeps wanting to talk to! At least he’s friendly with him!

Oh hey! It’s even Guys Night at the local bar! Neat! First we’ll have a Plasma Jane then! And then we’ll chat! ...oh no! The guy that I keep getting whims to chat with just decided to leave! Rude!

...you try to have a private -ahem- moment with someone flirting with you and a whole gang decides to join ya. Very rude. ...too many people kept trying to intrude so FUCK IT! I’m not going to have a perfectly private moment. Fuck me, I suppose, Sims are far too social for their own good. Or perhaps...aha! Reset object debug stopped a dude in their tracks. And the conversation but eh. ...oh hey! Random dude turned out to have some very nice plasma! Good to know! Local whim is to dance at the bar, so let’s dance then! Though this tune of the blues more strikes me as not dancing music so much. Ah well! Also I keep a counter of how many young adults vampires drink. If they drink 5 or so in a row, they’ll regain young adulthood! Anyway, to a place where elders hang out instead! To the lounge! Might be more Carson’s speed!

And we got bills again. 918 dollars of them. Hmm. Man does being vampires in small lot with the frugal trait help, or what? Anyway, our whim is to go and befriend Carson Allen, so that’s what we’ll do! Also evidently, the barkeep is also a vampire! Let’s say hello! And befriend her! We need to make friends with the local vampires! ….why is Oasis Springs the vampire hub? Why did that happen in my file? Anyway, we’re just going to chat with Marisa and then head home. ...she says, ordering another drink to top of Omar’s thirst. I just remembered that he has those drawbacks that make him extra thirsty. Joyous! Lets return home and make time for-

Neighborhood Watch!

Emilie Prado in the Prado household has died. Emilie got on the bad side of a rabbit.

Noooo! Another uni student I enjoyed seeing around! Man I gotta get back to university at some point.

[readsofawe]

During the Days of Awe, I read 10 books, covering 21 out of the 25 bingo squares and netting me 7 bingos! Here they all are, in the order I read them:

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon [out of your comfort zone, science fiction, blue cover]

A Moon for Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben [picture book]

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz [science fiction, LGBT rep]

The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer [contemporary, about forgiveness, audiobook]

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes [short story, fantasy, non-Holocaust historical, LGBT rep, fall colors]

The Deep by Rivers Solomon [novella, Jewish author of color, LGBT rep] (other editions have blue covers but the one I own doesn't)

It's a Whole Spiel ed. Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman [YA, short stories, blue cover, about renewal, LGBT rep, frum rep, contemporary, fantasy]

A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine [MG/children's, non-holocaust historical, arguably also frum rep]

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler [YA, LGBT Rep, contemporary]

We are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker [science fiction, LGBT rep, audiobook]

+ the Torah portions for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur [translation, Torah/Haftora]

+ the poem "How Divine is Forgiving" by Marge Piercy [poetry]

I read a lot, and even for me, that's a staggering amount of reading! My brain feels. A little microwaved (although tbh that could be the fasting). I also took and posted photographs every day, engaged with other people on three different social media platforms, got retweeted by authors I really admire (Dahlia Adler! Sasha Lamb!), gave a lot of people an opportunity to self promo, and more people a reason to think about Jewish books.

I had an absolute blast. I'm 100% doing this again next year.

More thoughts below the cut!

As I read, a few themes kept recurring. None of them are in all of books, but all are in at least a few:

Math and Science: Biochemists, mathematical geniuses, chess prodigies, girls who count to keep calm, quiz bowl champs—these pages are full of analytical minds trying to fit their worlds into quantitative spaces. The narratives values intelligence, but also, intelligence isn't always enough to save the characters.

Activism: These protagonists march for gun control, pirate drugs to circumvent Big Pharma, run for office, negotiate with royalty, spill stories to the press. Even the protagonist of The Yiddish Policeman's Union, who considers himself deliberately apolitical, is swept up in his world's politics. So many of the narratives are explicit in their politics. It's not implied or made metaphor, but direct.

Diaspora: In every historical story I read, the Jews repeat to themselves and each other, we are safe here, with the narrative signposting that um, no they're not. It's in the science fiction as well. The characters are waiting for the rug to be pulled. Home is never something that lasts forever.

Family Drama: Many of these stories have familial relationships at the forefront, and they're often pretty rough. Parents and children consistently fail to understand one another. Spouses lie and fight and divorce. Siblings undermine each other. And yet almost none of the stories have families who are estranged from one another. All of these families keep trying and trying.

Anxiety: Jewish writers need to fucking chill (myself 100% included). These characters are scared of talking to girls, scared of talking to boys, scared of being honest with their feelings. They're certain that the people around them are hostile (and to be fair, sometimes they're right), they struggle to talk in groups, they compulsively check on their loved ones. Just a stressed group of people.

Joy: Especially in darkness, joy. Music and dancing are common. So is sex. Lots of these books are comedies—the ones with the direst subject matter have the lightest tones.

If you put these things all together—intellectualism, activism, rootlessness, family, anxiety, joy—plus the thing implied by the existence of Jewish books—art—you get about as good a summary of the Jewish Experience as is possible. Or maybe just the Human Experience.

I wonder if these themes will persist in my reading next year, or if I'll find other commonalties among those books. I'm excited to find out!

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

Words: 3,823 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: Alexandria Warnings: Language, violence, mentions of suicide, gore, sexuality, fear and anxiety, disturbing imagery, typical TWD stuff A/N: This is part of a series! Find the previous parts on the Masterlist! Summary: Y/N heads outside of the walls for a distraction after the distressing day before. She returns in the evening to learn some concerning news.

Your name: submit What is this?

You woke early from fitful sleep plagued with the same old nightmares. It was still dark out and you knew no more sleep would come, so you decided to be productive again. Meat was always scarce, and after the news of Denise the day before, you needed a distraction. Not to mention having to relive old traumas… After quickly dressing, you stepped out on the porch into the cool morning air. Normally you would have asked Daryl if he wanted to join you, but the house across the street was still dark and you hoped that, for once, he was getting some sleep. Though with the events of the previous day, you really doubted it.

You grabbed your bow and headed for the gates. Sasha was on duty and she pulled it open for you with a kind but sad smile as you went out.

You spent all day outside the walls, engrossed in hunting, and it was after dark when you returned, hauling the rabbits with you over your shoulder. Tobin, a longtime Alexandria resident was on gate duty and you thanked him with a nod as you came in. He seemed particularly stoic but you attributed it to the prior day’s events. Denise was beloved by most of the people in town, especially since she had taken over after Pete’s demise… You made your way toward Aaron’s house and saw that the garage light was on and the door was open. You went in, expecting to find Daryl there tinkering on his bike, but the garage was empty and Daryl’s bike was distinctly missing. He must have parked it outside his place. You knocked on the door into the house and Eric answered it with Judith in his arms. You greeted them both with a smile but Eric’s face was grave and he was white as a sheet.

You throat tightened and your stomach dropped when you registered his expression. “What’s the matter?”

He gulped and stepped back to let you inside. “Have you been out all day?” he asked you.

“Yeah. Since before the sun was up,” you said, gesturing to the rabbits over your shoulder. Your heart started racing. “Eric—what’s going on?”

He shook his head and opened him mouth to speak but no sound came out. Turning on his heel he walked further inside and set Judith down on a blanket on the floor before he faced you again. “It’s—It’s bad,” he said seriously. “Carol left.”

Your brow contracted. “Left? What do you mean she left? Why? For how long?” Your thoughts immediately turned to Daryl. He and Carol were very close. You were sure he was worried, angry. He’d probably try to go after her.

“She left a note. I—I don’t think she’s coming back,” Eric said softly.

You paused for a moment. “Did Daryl go after her?”

“Rick and Morgan did. Daryl was already gone when they headed out.”

You stomach lurched and your head spun. “Gone—Gone where?”

Eric just stared at you.

Your breathing was speeding up. “Gone where?”

He averted his eyes and shrugged. “Best guess is back to where… it happened. To try and track them.”

You felt like you had been punched. “No. No, no, no,” you murmured, more to yourself than to Eric. “I—no. He can’t.” You tried to heave in a breath but your lungs felt tight. “I need to sit down,” you gasped, practically collapsing into a nearby chair as your knees felt like they were giving out.

“Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita went after him this morning,” he said quickly. Your eyes shot up to his face.

“Okay…” You waited expectantly for more details.

“But—they left early and none of them are back yet.” He looked mortified that he had to be the one to unload all this information on you.

You hung your head into your hands. “Oh my God. No… Fuck! Shit!” You stood up abruptly, the brace of rabbits forgotten and paced the length of the kitchen. “Okay. Okay. So, I’ll get some of the others and—and we’ll go look for them. Right? I’ll go find them and we’ll bring them back,” you said, more to yourself than Eric.

He winced, his expression regretful, anxious. “There’s… there’s something else.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Isn’t that enough?!”

He grimaced. “Rick came back after he and Morgan went out. They think Carol had a run in with some of the Saviors not too far from here. Morgan stayed out to follow her trail. They think she might be hurt but they don’t know. But when Rick came back—Maggie is sick. Very sick.”

“Sick how?”

“She—she thinks something with the baby. She was in a lot of pain… Rick loaded everyone up to get her to Dr. Carson at The Hilltop.”

You mind was whirring. “Okay. Okay…” You sat there, trying to process all this, wringing your hands. “Goddammit!” you said, taking your head in your hands again. “What the hell?!” You looked up at Eric desperately. “Who all went to Hilltop?”

“Pretty much everyone. Aaron went. And they took Eugene to get treated too since he was awake. I volunteered to stay here and watch Judith.”

You stood up and paced the length of the room. “Goddammit, what the hell is Daryl thinking!? I told him! I told him not to—” You broke off, gritting your teeth. Your hands clenched into fists. You turned over your conversation with Daryl the night before. You realized he had never said he wouldn’t go after The Saviors who had killed Denise. You now realized he’d been very specific about which words he spoke.

Eric shrugged vaguely. “I know. But—he’s…”

You sighed and shut your eyes, pinched the bridge of your nose hard in an attempt to ground yourself with something. “I know.” You looked back at Eric desperately again. “What do we do?”

He shrugged, at a loss for words now. “I think there’s only one thing we can do.”

Your jaw clenched. “Wait.”

_ _ _ _ _ _

And you waited. And you waited. And you waited. You weren’t good at waiting, even in the best of times. You refused to sleep. You refused to eat. You stood watch at the top of the gate and stared into the darkness which became dawn which became mid-morning. Still there was no sign of anyone. Everything was too quiet. You felt more and more nauseous by the minute, your stomach turning with anxiety.

Finally, a vehicle came into view in the distance. You raised the scope of your rifle to your eye. The RV. It was the RV. You continued to watch as it approached and you could see that it was Rick driving. You finally lowered the scope and the nauseous feeling in your stomach changed to a hard pit.

He stopped at the gate and raised a hand to signal that it was alright to open the gate. You climbed down and yanked it open, letting him drive through. The back of the RV had barely cleared the gate when he shut off the engine. You rushed to await whatever was to come, but you had a feeling like pins and needles prickling up your spine and a heavy weight on your chest. It was hard to draw air.

The door opened and people began to step out. But their faces… they weren’t themselves anymore. They were changed.

You knew that look; that wide-eyed, hundred-yard stare, the terror in their eyes. You had seen it on yourself, on your brother, on many others after they tangled with Negan. You knew what it meant. And there seemed to be a lot of people missing. Your people missing. You forced in a breath and just watched as they stepped out. Who was there and who was missing? Rick came around from the other side, and if possible, he looked worse than all of them.

“Rick…” you said, rushing over. He hardly seemed to hear you. “Rick!” You grasped his shoulders and his blue eyes, frantic and wide landed on your face.

“Judith?” he rasped, in a fog.

“She’s fine. She’s with Eric. Rick,” your voice broke off. You glanced at everyone who was pouring out of the RV, trying to take attendance.

“You were right,” he said, nodding almost imperceptibly. Tears were welling up in his eyes. “You were right. You were…” he trailed off.

Your eyes landed on Michonne and Rosita as they stepped out of the RV. “Daryl?” you demanded. You squeezed Rick’s shoulders to bring him back to you. “Daryl?!?” you urged.

He looked away down at his boots. His answer came in a whisper you almost couldn’t hear. He couldn’t look at you while he said it. “They have him.”

The breath was ripped from your lungs and your hands slipped from Rick’s shoulders. You staggered backwards, reeling. Suddenly Carl was there and he grasped your arm firmly. When you took in his expression, you were amazed that he looked better than anyone else. Of course he did. He’d grown up in this screwed up world during his formative years—he’d been at the prison when it fell, he’d had to put down his own mother… You, on the other hand, were spinning.

“He’ll be okay,” Carl said. “Daryl’s strong. He’ll fight.”

You shook your head. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Suddenly Aaron was beside you. You’d never seen him look worse. He was as white as a sheet and shaking. His eyes were wide, red, and puffy.

“Oh my God,” you launched yourself at him, grabbing him into a tight hug and unable to stop the tears from pouring down your face. “Oh my God.” He hugged you back weakly. You pulled back and looked at him, clasping his face in your hands. “You’re okay. You’re okay,” you said, doing your best to reassure him.

“I’m sorry,” he said weakly, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey! Stop it. Stop. Everything—everything is going to be f—fine,” you said, pulling yourself back together while he was going to pieces. “You’re okay. Eric is okay.” You released your hold on your dear friend and nodded. “Go see Eric. Go home.” Aaron gave you another fearful and concerned look but you simply wiped the tear streaks from your cheeks and nodded. “I’m fine. Go home.”

You spun around again to look at the rest of the ragged group and started mentally going through the list of people who had gone out. “Maggie?!” you demanded suddenly.

“She’s at Hilltop,” Carl said. “Sasha stayed there, too.”

Your brow drew down low over your eyes. Something about that statement struck you as odd. “And Glenn?”

Now Carl looked away, and you could see light glistening in his eyes.

“No. No… Oh my God. No.” You put a hand out and had to lean on the RV, at risk of collapsing from the lightheadedness that flooded your brain.

Carl looked at you with a mixture of devastated and angry tears in his eyes. Your hand flew to cover your mouth and tears broke loose and streamed down your face again. You again glanced at the people wandering away toward Rick’s house. Michonne. Eugene. Rosita. Your eyes shot back to Carl, a sense of apprehension almost overwhelming you. “A—Abraham?”

Again, Carl shook his head.

He turned away from you, leaving you spinning, and grasped his dad’s arm. “Dad. Come on. Let’s go see Judith.”

You felt like you were going to be sick.

_ _ _ _ _ _

“I’ll go.”

Rick stared at you. “I—I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You aren’t asking,” you countered.

“I’ll go myself. I—”

“You’ve got kids. You’ve got a baby. Hell, you’ve got a whole town to look after now, Sheriff Grimes. And you need to get ready because they are coming. They’ll expect you to be here. You’re the leader. Just—I’ll go.” Rick watched the muscle in your jaw twitch. “You know I have to go.”

Rick heaved a sigh. He knew you’d go regardless of whether or not he wanted you to. He knew you did have to go. This was you and this was Daryl. “How?” he asked you. “How are you gonna get him back?”

“Don’t worry about that. That’s my job. I know more about Negan and that place than anyone. I will get him out. I promise you. I will get Daryl out.”

Rick let out a long slow exhale, with an edge to it like a growl. “I don’t suppose I have any real choice in the matter anyway,” he said.

“You don’t.”

Rick sighed again, rubbing a hand over the heavy stubble on his face.

“Rick, listen to me. They are going to come and the first thing they are going to do is take all your weapons and all your ammo. That inventory Olivia keeps of the armory? Burn it. And take some of the guns and ammo, just enough so they won’t suspect anything, and hide them outside the walls. Outside. If you hide them in here, they will find them. And when they do, someone else will die.”

Rick gulped and nodded. He felt like an icy hand had seized his heart in his chest. “Alright.”

“And there’s one more thing… Negan and his assholes—they cannot know that we are connected. Do you understand? You need to make sure that no one ever mentions me, okay? Like I don’t exist.”

Rick gave you a questioning look but nodded.

You gulped at the constriction in your throat. “I’ll tell you everything at some point but right now I need to go. I don’t want Daryl there a minute longer than he has to be. You understand everything?”

Rick nodded gravely. “Yeah. I’ve got it.” He hesitated. “Be careful.”

“I will.” You turned on your heel and went home to prepare.

_ _ _ _ _ _

You were concealed in the woods outside the nearest Savior outpost. It had taken you far longer to get there than you had hoped and you’d had to go pretty dark to find it… You killed more Saviors, but not all of them. Some you had kept alive for a little while, until they had given up their information on the location of the satellite outposts and lookouts. You glanced down at your jeans and t-shirt. They were filthy but still a bit too well kept. You wiped the walker blood on the blade of your knife on your shirt and then took the edge of it to your clothes, placing a rip here and poking a hole there. You looked at your arms. They were scratched and bruised from fighting your way through the woods, through walkers, through soldiers of The Saviors to get here. Good. You wanted it to look like you were having a shit time. You heaved in one last breath; your heart pounded. You were terrified, but the thought of Daryl being held by them sent an urgent shot of fearlessness through you. It had already been too long. You didn’t allow yourself to run through the what ifs… You gritted your teeth and stepped out of the woods, approaching the front of the outpost with your hands up.

The two guards in front saw you immediately. “Freeze! Don’t move!” Automatic weapons pointed at you.

You obeyed. They approached.

“Holy shit,” one of the men said as they got closer. He exchanged a look with the other.

“Son of a bitch,” the second man said matter-of-factly. “You gave us quite the run around, little lady. Negan had whole crews out looking for you.”

Your chest was heaving with nervous breaths. “I—I know. I made a mistake,” you muttered. You didn’t have to try to sound scared. You were. There was a quiver in your voice, but you knew it would work to your advantage. You wanted them to see you as helpless, scared.

“A big one,” the first man agreed. “Search her,” he said, nodding to his associate. He trained his gun on the center of your chest.

The second man frisked you, lingering a little too long with his hands on your body. He removed your knife from the sheath at your hip and clicked his tongue. “Damn. Too bad we can’t have some fun with her first,” he said, hungry eyes wandering over your body and back up to your face.

Revulsion twisted your stomach.

“Too bad,” the other agreed. “But you know what Negan said. She goes straight to him. What do you want? Why are you here?” he pressed.

“I—I want to come back,” you said quietly. “I can’t stay out here…”

This drew chuckles from them. “Negan was right,” one said to the other. “He called it.” He pressed the muzzle of his gun into your back. “Walk slow. Toward the building.”

“I’ll call it in. Damn, is he gonna be surprised. Might even throw us a bonus for bringing her in.” He raised his radio to his lips. “This is Rich at satellite outpost Beta-2. Repeat, this is Rich at outpost Beta-2. Anyone copy?” There was a brief burst of static before another voice responded through the speaker.

“I copy Rich. This is D at Sanctuary. What do you need? Over.”

“We’ve recovered a wanted individual who fled Sanctuary. How would you like us to proceed? Please advise. Over.”

There was another pause. The other man grabbed your wrists roughly and zip-tied them together behind your back, cruelly tight.

“Who do you have?” came the voice again.

“We’ve got Y/N.” He said it with relish and his eyes flew to your face again, a small smirk on his face.

The pause this time was even longer and your stomach turned. What if this wasn’t going to play out as you thought it would? What if he just decided to kill you? Then Daryl may never get out… Finally, the voice responded again. “Negan wants her brought here to Sanctuary immediately. Secure her and get her here now.”

It was done. You were going back.

You were thrown roughly into the back seat of a truck and once you were in, they zip-tied your ankles together too. The whole ride, the man in the passenger seat stared at you while he spun your knife with the point stuck down into the center console. Your heart never slowed from its sprinting in your chest.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, you saw the familiar building coming into view and the truck stopped at the double doors. The man in the passenger seat cut the zip-tie around your ankles and soon you were roughly pulled out of the back of the truck by the elbow. You were pushed toward the double doors and forced inside. The sounds, the smell of the place brought memories flooding back to you and you began to feel lightheaded as you were herded up the stairs. You were met at the top by two of Negan’s apparent lieutenants, Simon and Dwight.

Simon was glaring at you and his nostrils flared. “Well, looky what the cat dragged in, Dwight.” He let out a low whistle. “What can I do for you, Y/N? Oh, and may I just say that you look like shit.”

You gulped at the lump in your throat. “I want to talk to Negan,” you said quietly. You glanced at Dwight beside Simon and that’s when you noticed that most of the left side of his face and ear were horrifically scarred—burned. When you had been at Sanctuary, Dwight and his wife and her sister were workers with you and your brother. You had gathered from what Daryl said that Dwight had escaped and ended up going back. Now he had moved up to being one of Negan’s right-hand men.

You let out a gasp as Simon backhanded you across the face hard. You tasted blood from a split in your bottom lip. “Of course, you want to see the big man,” he growled, stepping right up into your face. “You’ll see him when we say you can see him.” Simon grabbed you roughly by the elbow and dismissed the two men who had brought you in from the outpost. “Let me escort you to your accommodations, Y/N. I reckon you’ll find them familiar.” Soon you were in front of a metal door with a ‘#1’ painted on it; the cell you’d been held in when you’d first been brought to The Sanctuary with your group. Simon’s grip on your arm was like a vice. He smirked as he yanked the door open and shoved you inside, into the blackness. “Enjoy,” he snarked. “I’ll be sure to have fresh towels and the room service menu sent right up.”

“Simon—” you started, but you were cut off when he slammed the heavy door in your face, leaving you now in complete darkness.

Fuck. Was this what Negan had said to do with you? You had a hunch it wasn’t… Simon was a prick. He was volatile. You were willing to bet that he had taken it on himself to teach you a little lesson before taking you to see Negan. The zip ties on your wrists were cutting into you and it was nearly impossible to get comfortable with your arms pinned behind your back the way they were. You shifted your position on the floor and tried to alleviate some of the pressure.

You had no idea how long you sat there in the darkness, but it was at least several hours before you heard voices and boot steps on the other side of the door. You pressed your back into the wall and managed to stagger up to your feet. When the door cracked open, the light coming in even from just the dim overhead lights in the hall seemed blinding and you winced. At first all you could see were silhouettes in front of you.

But as they came into focus and your eyes adjusted you saw that it was Simon and Dwight, this time followed by the man himself, Negan… complete with leather jacket and his signature baseball bat slung over his shoulder.

[coffeecakefanfics]

A moments glance | B.B x Fem!Reader

Requests are open!!!!!

Summary: Bucky misses the feeling of human connection, both emotional and physical, so does Y/N. After a particularly brutal mission the two can deny their want any longer 

Warnings:  Language, angst? SMUT! (probably badly written but oh well)  This fic is a lot longer than I wanted but it’s worth it I promise.

Missions are normally pretty easy.  Luckily it was the dream team that got stuck on this mission together.  Sam, Bucky, and Y/n stood around a base layout, making a plan as to how to get this mission to sail smoothly. It was a simple job, repo a plane that had been stolen and return it to the owners, aka the fucking US Military. 

“So Y/n has pilot knowledge so if we can get through the fence and to it she can fly it back here to base, easy,” Sam explained the plan to the soldiers. 

“Sam and Bucky will go with me as my second hands and eyes, be my body guards,” Y/n nodded and looked up. “This is an easy job so it shouldn’t take long, maybe a couple hours, but stay on standby in case force is needed,” the woman stood straight and tapped her fingers on the table.  The crew split into the groups, taking their places.  Sam sat in the drivers seat of the car while Y/n sat in the front and Bucky was stuck in the back. 

“We’re here, everyone ready?” Sam asked and threw the car in park.

“Are we ever ready?” Bucky snarked and stepped out.  The three were greeted by a fence with barbed wire across the top. 

“Can we break it down?” Bucky looked between the two.

“That my dear would be destruction of property, a charge none of us can afford right now,” She huffed and opened the backseat, pulling the floor mat out. 

“What the hell are you doing with that?” Sam looked at the girl as if she was crazy.

“Throwing the mat over the wire?” she furrowed her brow and tossed the mat over the fence and scaled it. 

“Coming? or am I leaving you two dummies for the birds?” she smirked. 

“Ha ha very funny,” Sam snarked back. 

“This guy,” she smiled playfully at Bucky, who in return smiled back, a small one, but a smile. 

“There she is, look at this beauty,” Y/n motioned to the plane.  The three climbed in, starting the engine. 

“Bucky once we’re in the air I want you to contact the air force and tell them their plane is on it’s way,” she spoke calmly as she started down the runway. She was setting up controls when Bucky’s voice broke their silence. 

“Uh guys? I think we got company,” a black SUV sped down the runway, stopping before two guys stepped out wielding guns. 

“Pull up!” Sam yelled the girl.

“I’m trying,” she yelled back, the plane getting closer before finally taking off. The firing followed them up into the air. 

“Looks like we’re clear,” Y/n took a breath.

“There’s probably a reason they didn’t want us taking the plane,” Bucky commented.

“If I had to guess, drugs, I mean the air force tests flights so much that nobody bats an eye, especially at fort carson,” the woman nodded. “Sam can you check all of the compartments?” she looked back at him. 

“Yeah, of course,” he tipped his head and began opening the compartments lining the walls, bags of cocaine spilled out of an overhead bin.

“Oh shit, that’s thousands of dollars worth of hard drugs right there,” she peered back at the mess.

“yeah no shit, what do we do?” 

“Get on the comms and alert them of what’s happening”

“on it” 

The blaring sound took over their voices. 

“What the hell is going on?” Bucky asked

“We’re losing altitude, buckle in for a crash landing”

“I’m sorry what?!”

“Do it!” she barked “Sam jump and get to the base, let them know what happened, go now!” she was barking orders at them.  

“I’ll hurry back” Sam called and jumped, catching wind just in time.

“So what are we just going to die?”

“No, not if I can help it. But we are going to have to drop into the mountains, so hold on to something,” she gave him a sympathetic look.  The plane crashed down into the mountain, losing the wings in the process.  The two climbed out, seemingly unharmed. 

“So what are we just going to sit here and wait?” Bucky looked at the girl.

“I’m afraid so, we can’t risk moving, they won’t find us,” she huffed and slumped against an aspen tree.

“Great,” Bucky huffed and sat across from her, against a fallen pine log.  The two sat in silence for a few minutes, the ringing in their ears taking over. 

“Have you ever been this far west?” Y/n asked. Bucky peeked up at her. Sighing he tossed a rock to his left. 

“No, at least, not that I can recall,” he looked back at the dirt. 

“It’s pretty, Pikes peak is worth the view, if you ever get to go,” she cleared her throat, awkwardness settling in. 

“You been?”

“Yeah, I uh, I grew up here, in springs, that’s why I knew about the fort carson stuff.  They always test fly and they take kids for rides sometimes.  also teach kids how to pilot when they reach a certain age,” she trailed off. 

“Military brat?” 

“Yeah” 

“I never knew that,” he looked at her, really looked at her.  He noticed how she sat with her knees up, but her shoulders slumped.  Her she chewed on the inside of her lip.

“I never really told anyone,” she shrugged,”You know we have worked on the same team for I don’t know how many years and yet I feel like I hardly know you,” she remarked. Bucky swallowed the lump in his throat. 

“I don’t really open up to people, it’s not something I do,” it was his turn to chew on his lip.

“I get it, you up walls, try and protect yourself. . .”she trailed off, a soft rustling in the brush caught her attention. She held her finger to her lips and slowly stood, Bucky following her move.  The two crouched and ducked behind some bush.

“They couldn’t have gotten far, move,” a mans voice barked. Y/n looked at Bucky with wide eyes.  Bucky scanned the are before nodding to a path, they crept their way over, carful not to make too much noise. One they had gotten far enough away they stood straight and starting sprinting.  

“The guys that hijacked the plane?” She asked.

“That’s my guess,” he shrugged. 

“Bucky I need to stop,” she panted, trying to catch her breath.

“We’re probably far enough away,” he slowed to a stop.  

“I’m sorry,” she took a ragged breath

“It’s fine, not all of us are, what do you like to say? built different,” he cracked a smile.  Y/n smiled back at him before they broke off into laughter.

“You remembered that dumb saying?”

“I try to remember them all, I’m trying to make my place in this world, and if that means learning the lingo then I guess I have to”

“Must be hard,” she stood next to him, “trying to get used to this”

“you have no ide-” a gunshot and a scream of pain cut him off. His eyes shot in the direction of the shot before landing on the girl, crumpled on the forest floor. 

“Shit” he scooped her up and started sprinting west. 

“Shit shit shit, hey doll, if you can hear me keep  your eyes open you hear,” he peeked down at her. She was clutching her stomach.

“Tell me something, tell me about, tell me about your house of a kid,” he scrambled to find anything to talk about.  

“yellow,” she breathed,” it was yellow” He caught sight of a cave and ducked into it. 

“keep going”

“It had, two floors and an attic, the uh, the upstairs had a balcony,” she took deep breaths.  Bucky pulled out a knife and cut the bottom of his shirt, putting pressure on his wound. 

“Bucky?” she looked at him as close as she could

“yeah?”

“What was your favorite part about the forties?”

He laughed. “The stupid dive bars, going dancing,” he thought for a second.

“Were you any good?” Y/n teased.

“Oh please, look at me, I was the best,” he said, jokingly cocky. The silence took over.  The only sound was a ragged breath every now and then.  Y/n Held her phone up. 

“Nothing,” she felt tears well up in her eyes.

“Bucky?” She got his attention.

“yeah Y/n? what’s up?”

“If i’m going to die today, can I at least get to know you before I go?” she asked

“Listen to me, and you listen to me good, you ain’t dying today got it?” he spoke sharply, but with concern laced and weaved in his voice. 

“In my jacket is a pack of matched, I saw some twigs and pinecones at the opening of the cave, grab them, make a fire, please, i’m freezing,” she pleaded.  Bucky didn’t say anything as he obliged.  The small fire illuminated the walls, but was small enough that they wouldn’t be spotted.  Bucky sat across from Y/n, he watched as she scanned the walls. 

“Mica,” she spoke plainly. 

“Yeah, ton of the shit too,” he kind of huffed, looking around.

“They used to make windows out of it, for cars and shit, also dry wall, but most importantly it used for stuff like spark plugs,and electronic components like compasses during world war 2 ” she stated, half heartedly. Bucky looked at the girl shocked.

“Yeah, thats- how’d you know that?”

“Grandpa fought in the war, told me all kinds of stories before he passed, also taught me about minerals and stuff before he passed too, he and dad used to take me camping, they’d teach me how to hunt, farm, fish, find and purify water, which berries and shrooms are good to eat, case I ever got lost,” she laughed and winced at the pain.  “I miss them,” she sighed.

“Those are good skills to have,” Bucky smiled at her. He went silent.  It had been a few hours, no sign of anyone.  He looked at Y/n, she didn’t look great, she was pale, she was growing tired. He didn’t want her to be miserable, or to die not knowing him. 

“My name is James Buchanan Barnes, I was born March 10th 1917, I have a younger sister named Rebecca, we called her Becca,” He spoke up.  Y/n looked at him with a smile and nodded him on to continue, “I’ve always wanted a cat, and if I could have kids i’d want a daughter, I’d name her Scarlett,” he stammers on. The young woman listens attentively.  Her breathing became slower, more strained. 

“no no no, don’t fucking die on me,” he jumped over to her, clutching her wound. “Please, I barley know you, I want to know more,” he pleaded.  She smiled at him and held her blood soaked hand to his cheek. 

“thank you,” she husked before her eyes rolled back. 

“No!” he yelled.

“Bucky?!” Sam, it was Sam, and the air force.  Bucky was pulled away as they loaded Y/n onto the chopper and raced her back to base.  Hot tears slipped down his face as the world seemed to slow down.  His connection, the one person he started to open up to was ripped from his arms, just as the walls came tumbling down. 

He sat pacing the hospital room, her body laid limp in the bed, unmoving, just as it had for the past two days.  The nurses tried to get him to go home, but after the third shift change and his protests to stay after visiting hours they gave up.  He stared out the window, looking to the mountains, they were still capped with snow.  He remembers her saying she was freezing, he recognizes that feeling now.  Cold, unmoving, dead.

“Hey champ,” a hoarse voice spoke in the room. He spun on his heels, Her eyes were opened, still droopy from the pain killer, but opened. 

“Thank god you’re okay,” he yanked a chair beside her and clutched her hand.

“I should’ve believed you,” she cracked a smile, Bucky felt his eyes well. Why? He still barely knew her. 

“My name is Y/n L/n I was born (your birthday), I have no siblings, I have always wanted a dog and if I had a kid i’d want a little boy named Matthew,” she squeezed his hand slightly.

“Good morning,” another womans voice broke the room with a knock. “I’m your nurse for this morning, my name is Sarah Good, yes like the book the crucible and i’ll take care of you till 7 tonight,” she smiled at the two brightly. “Todays agenda, always will be on the board, we want to get you to be able to be in a sitting position, and we want to start PT, or physicsl therapy if we can, We’re going to try and get you a real lunch today, and if we’re lucky you can get off those iv’s by tomorrow”

The last week was rough, But Bucky sat beside her through it all, they talked about life, about death, the world, every little thing they could think of.  When she was released it was Bucky who escorted her back across the country to home.  Sam met them at her apartment for diner and a toast to a job not so smooth for the dream team, now stronger that all three had a bond.  Sam had left about an hour ago, Bucky insisted on staying to help clean up. 

“Bucky, really this is too much to ask, it’s fine,”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s the least I can do”

“It’s late, do you want to stay? I mean I can take the couch and you can take my bed it-”

“I’m not taking your bed doll, I’ll take the couch if you really want me to stay but it’s not a problem for me to go home,” he smiled at her and set the last plate in the dish washer. 

“I kind of got used to you staying around,” she blushed. “We can watch a movie?” she offered.

“Sounds great”

They weren’t paying attention to the movie, well at least they pretended to,  Each watched the other out of the corner of their eyes. It was Y/n who made the first move, leaning her head on his shoulder, Bucky tucked his arm around the woman, inching her closer.  She felt her face get hot, she peered up at him to find him looking back, they ripped their eyes apart and both went flush. 

“Bucky-

Y/n I-” they spoke at the same time, letting out a laugh. 

“Go first,” he insisted. 

“No, it’s fine,” she stammered. 

“Y/n I- I really like you, I’m glad I let down my walls for you,” he swallowed the lump in his throat.  She felt her breath hitch. 

“I was going to say the same thing,” she spoke, barely above a whisper.  It hadn’t occurred to the couple just how close they were to each other.  Y/n felt Bucky’s breath dance across her face. 

“Can I. . . can I kiss you?” he breathed out.  She sim-ply nodded and met his lips, soft and delicate at first before he set his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her in.  Her  lips were intoxicating, he could get drunk on her. She let a moan slip as he pulled her into his lap gently. He felt his eyes roll at the sound. She ground into his lap, letting the feeling of his growing bulge tease her. She laced her fingers in his short hair, gently tugging where she could, causing a groan and for him to buck his hip to meet hers.  Y/n pulled back panting, trying to catch her breath before moving her lips to meet his neck.

“Y/n doll, I uh- it’s been a while,” he panted and fought the moans that threatened to leave his throat.

“It’s okay, let me take care of you?” she caught his eyes.  Her face was pure, innocent, but her words were laced with lust. He nodded and let his hands grip her hips.  She tugged his shirt off of his body, decorating his chest with kisses, working and inching her way to his hips.  She looked up at him, he was a mess, head laid back, breathing ragged.  She carefully undid his pants and slid them down his legs.  catching the skin above his hip bones she left a small purple mark on either side, claiming him as hers.  He had looked down at her now, catching her eyes.  She licked her lips before taking him into her mouth, The moan he let rip from vocal cords was ungodly. 

“Fuck, doll I -” he let his eyes meet hers, still laced with innocence, before groaning and throwing his head back.  He let his air out in puffs as she worked him over.  Her touch was delicate and sweet, he forgot how nice it felt, to be taken care of, to be treated with kindness. She let her fingers slip to cup his balls, gently playing with them as she let her pretty mouth suck his cock. The sight was straight out of a wet dream, 

“I’m gonna cum if you don’t stop,” he pleaded, grabbing her hair with his flesh hand, clutching the couch with the metal one.  The small breaths he let out only encouraged him further, she picked up her pace, daring him to cum down her throat.  A string of fucks and his hips tensing, and slowly relaxing followed soon after.  She caught his eyes, swallowing what he gave her and grinning at him.

“Holy-”

“Yeah,” she smiled. 

“Let me return the favor baby,” he pulled her back into his lap.

[steveyoungjokes]

Scotus Review

Here's a list of SCOTUS' terrible recent decisions, many of which you probably hadn't heard about: -Rivas-Villegas: SCOTUS reversed the lower court to give a cop qualified immunity for using excessive force; (courts love to give cops every possible out) -Tahlequah v. Bond: SCOTUS reversed the lower court to give a cop qualified immunity for killing a man; (like the previous one, this may be somewhat justified, but it is not in the public interest for cops to have qualified immunity!) -Shoop v. Twyford: SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief; (a death row inmate can't get neurological testing to help challenge a death sentence, you know because we only punish instead of trying to figure out what happened) -Brown v. Davenport: SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief; (it doesn't matter if you were shackled in court, as if that wouldn't affect the outcome) -Shinn v. Ramirez: SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief; (the supreme court doesn't care if there is exonerating evidence, you don't get to use it in your appeal!) -Zubaydah: SCOTUS allowed the Govt to withhold information about torture on CIA black sites; (heaven forbid the world find out about CIA black sites that the world already knows about. Disgusting); -Vaello-Madero: SCOTUS denied Social Security benefits to residents of Puerto Rico; (in case you thought that PR was something other than just a colony of ours!) -Cummings: SCOTUS disallowed recovery for emotional-distress damages in civil rights lawsuits; (anti-discrimination laws are gutted because people discriminated against can't sue for emotional distress caused by the illegal discrimination) -Patel: SCOTUS stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to review fact issues in immigration proceedings; (oh, you messed up on a drivers license application? No do-overs whatsoever! You know, because filling out a form incorrectly means you can't live here!) -Biden v. Missouri: SCOTUS blocked a federal vaccine mandate; (we live in a hell world full of morons) -Garland v. Gonzalez: SCOTUS denied long-detained immigrants' access to a bond hearing, and specifically limits immigrant's ability to use class-action to sue the gov't (it's now easier to keep our concentration camps full) -Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez: SCOTUS denied long-detained immigrants' access to a bond hearing; (gov't can keep people in border concentration camps without even a bail hearing) -FEC v. Ted Cruz: SCOTUS struck down campaign finance restrictions to enable Ted Cruz to pay himself back for loans he made to his own campaign; (awesome) -Egbert v. Boule: SCOTUS further limited a person's ability to sue federal officers (Bivens actions); (Ahhh yes, what we needed, more power for cops) -Vega v. Tekah: SCOTUS weakened enforcement of Miranda rights; (a good first step to removing any rights is removing the requirement that you be reminded of those rights) -Carson v. Makin: SCOTUS undermined the Establishment Clause, forcing states to fund private religious schools; (no more separation of church and state, the churches get it all, babyyyyy!) -Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist.: SCOTUS undermined the Establishment Clause, allowing football coach to have public/publicized Christian prayers at football games; (your coach can make you pray!) -Denezpi: SCOTUS recognized tribal sovereignty just enough to allow a Native American defendant to be prosecuted twice for the same crime (no double jeopardy), (instead of our constantly-fucked-over Native American population getting a measure of sovereignty like they are supposed to, under the Constitution, they get double fucked) -Castro-Huerta: SCOTUS undermined tribal sovereignty by making tribal land "part of state" and allowing state to exercise jurisdiction on tribal land; (more of the above, absolutely wild) -Bruen: SCOTUS struck down NY's 100yo restriction on concealed carry to expand 2A and limit gun restrictions; (everyone join your local "well-regulated militia"....) -U.S. v. Texas: SCOTUS allowed Texas's "bounty hunter" antiabortion law to go into effect; (I'm sure there's no way that private enforcement of an issue such as abortion (when just about anything counts as an abortion) will backfire) -Dobbs: SCOTUS overruled Roe & Casey, eliminating the federal right to abortion and enabling severe (life-threatening) restrictions on abortion to go into effect; (unreal, but not unexpected) -West Virginia v. EPA: SCOTUS undermined the EPA's ability to regulate emissions and fight global warming (the thing that they were made to deal with) (aaaaand boom goes the dynamite)

[izzysarchivedblogs]

The way to Clint's mind, heart, and soul was to engage his capability for fantasy. Give into his romanticism, to the inner child that needed to run away and escape; that sought to be special and have grand adventure. IMAGINING WHAT HE AND TONY COULD BE LIKE AS TEENAGERS (in love; like he was now). His eyes glances over to Brandy, who seems to be people watching and waving at the waiter every time he walked near.

With her still entertained, he's goes back to playing out this fantasy with Tony. ❝ Stuffed animals, little prizes from the games. We use to have these bracelet ring things you could get from our psychic, uh, if she predicted you were a compatible couple. I'd bring you one. ❞ IT'S ONE OF THE MOST SCAMMIEST THINGS AT CARSON'S. Yet he's telling Tony that as a teenager he'd be absolutely smitten with him, bringing him gifts that promised a longevity to their hypothetical relationship.

HUNG THE STARS ⸻ Fuck, if Clint Barton wasn't a man who wanted to do that for his partner. He smiles, ❝ Any night I'd wear your costumes, I'd be lucky and manage the the quadruple arrow split. ❞ He couldn't always do it, especially back than but the idea that Tony would bring him the luck to do it every time, really wow the show. Clint always had to make a split decision to change to the three arrow routine so he didn't embarrass himself in front of a crowd on the spot.

❝ I'd find us all the coolest places in town, where ever we traveled to. ❞

THE FANTASY WAS NICE ❝ ⸻ I like where we are right now. ❞ Reality right now, at least for the day, was pretty good. Happy to be in this moment at least, in comparison to the fantasy.

⸻ YOU MISS EVERY SHOT YOU DON'T TAKE. He did say that, and sure plenty of other people have heard him say it. Would probably use that exact phrasing, but something from Tony and the look in eyes, those pretty blue eyes and oh there goes that filter ❝ I lo- like the look in your eyes, like sapphires in the sky. ❞ WELL, AT LEAST HE DIDN'T SAY THE OTHR THING.

The look in Tony's eyes was trust and BELIEF IN HIM. ❝ UH, yeah, I'm just gonna do it. ❞ By the end of the week, he hopes to have at least gotten into the process of talking to a few more people about making amends and apologizing. Getting them back in his life, repairing friendship.

Clint's lips part as Tony offers a piece of cake on a his fork, taking the bite slower than he would normally and he's liking the use of the word date. ❝ Y'know I don't think I've been on a date since. . . you'll be my first in too many years to count. ❞ One night stands, flings, and slip-ups with his exs did not count.

❝ Baby dates at the zoo, picnics in the park ❞ ⸺ FAMILY FANTASY GO WILD. ❝ I think Brandy would like those, and I think she's getting board of the restaurant. ❞ They'd have to stop touching each other for a bit, but thy should go befor Brandy gets fussy.

Tony was really loving this little fantasy world. Tony was creative at his core. It was what made him the engineer he was. Yes, he had to be good at the math and the science, but that wasn't enough to be an industry leader. Yes, he had needed the science and the ability to weld to build that suit in the cave, but if he hadn't been creative, he'd never have thought of the suit in the first place.

What Tony had never had was the freedom to just imagine silly scenarios for no reason other than the fun of it. Even in his downtime he thought about math. Yet here Clint was, drawing out additions to his little story about what their life would have been like if they'd met as teens.

It was having a side effect of making Tony feel a little like a teen. At the very least he was starting to wish they were already home so that they could make out.

Because they weren't he leaned in and pressed a series of kisses to Clint's lips. Three in medium succession in the middle and then one that lingered just over the scar on his lip. "Oh yeah?" he asked. "What kind of gifts? Little stuffed animals from the sideshow?" He ran his finger along Clint's jaw and down his neck. "You'd have my whole heart, Clint. I'd look at you like you hung the stars. Maybe I'd design your costumes for you. The way I used to. And I'd make sure I'd give you lots of kisses for luck back stage before you went on to perform."

He nodded as he listened about Kate, the smile on his face nothing but genuine. He was really happy that Clint was working things out with Kate. He wished Clint would have called everyone else too. But if he was planning on doing that with Kate, Tony would trust him to do it.

"That'll be good. I know you're scared to do it, but what's that thing you say? You miss every shot you don't that?"

Tony cut a piece of the cake off and held it up to Clint. "This is the first date with the baby," Tony agreed. "And I guess also my mom. It was the date where I brought my boyfriend to meet my mom. And baby. We can do more baby dates if you want. The zoo. The park. We can go to Disney World."