#especially on zach love to see that he can feel emotions on ice

[leahthedreamer]

Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha (CAN) Rhythm Dance- Michael Jackson Medley || Skate America 2023

[zachariah-frost]

[cis man he/him] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [ZACHARIAH FROST]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [JHARREL JEROME]. You must be the [TWENTY SEVEN] year old [BARTENDER AT FIRE AND ICE/FREELANCE GRAPHIC ARTIST]. Word is you’re [DILIGENT] but can also be a bit [HOT HEADED] and your favorite song is [FLOAT ON BY MODEST MOUSE]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [FISHERS COVE]. I’m sure you’ll love it!

@aurorabayaesthetic

Full Name: Zachariah André Frost Nickname(s): Z, Zach, Frost, Frosty Age: 27 Birthday: April 18th, 1997 Astrological Sign: Aries/Taurus Cusp Place of Birth: Aurora Bay, California Parents: Charles and Eleanor Frost (47 & 45) (deceased) Siblings: Ingrid Frost (16), Ezekiel “Zeke” Frost (12), Aliana Frost (6), Amelia Frost (6) Children: N/A Pets: Watson (8 year old mixed breed cat) *Relationships: see wanted connections

Scars: One across the back of his neck from a fight Tattoos: His parents and sibling’s birth dates over his heart Other Physical Distinctions: Slight dimples on his cheeks Sexual Orientation & Gender: Heterosexual and Heteroromantic ;; Cisman Occupation: Bartender at Fire and Ice/ Freelance Graphic Artist/Day Laborer out of town *subject to change as roles are taken

tw: death, grief, cancer mention, drug use, abuse of alcohol, car accident

○ on an april afternoon in 1997 at the aurora bay hospital, zachariah andré frost was born to two parents who hadn't expected to become parents so soon. charles frost and eleanor dupreé were two promising architecture students, in their fourth and third year of undergrad respectfully. however, when the speedbump that was zach came, they vowed to not let it get in the way of their goals. they somehow made it work while raising their young son.

○ for over ten years, it was only zach and his parents. they went on to both finish their degrees and go on to open their own architecture firm, one that propelled them into a household name around aurora bay. zach felt a little left behind as they continued their ascent into success, but he at least had his maternal grandparents to watch over him and take the majority of child-rearing duties.

○ being raised mainly by his maternal grandparents (who had immigrated from haiti years ago), zach is both fluent in french and english. he's also known to make a mean griot every christmas.

○ from a young age, zach could be found scribbling and drawing on everything (much to his parent's chagrin). he would always be trying to copy either characters from the endless cartoons his grandmother would let him watch when he spent the day or the faces of the men he would see on coffee runs with his grandfather. art has always been the subject he excelled at, no matter the age.

○ his parents got married when he was seven, having him as their ring bearer. like most seven-year-olds, zach didn't give a singular shit.

○ at eight, zach's grandfather passed away after a short six-month battle with pancreatic cancer. the young boy took it very hard, even going mute for a few months afterward. this event would mark the beginning of his downward spiral.

○ a few months shy of his eleventh birthday, his parents welcomed his first little sister ingrid into their family. zach wasn't pleased with being an older sibling (especially since he resented his parents for not being there during his formative years). but, he did have a developed sense of emotional intelligence enough to not resent ingrid. he just never perceived her.

○ in the years following, the frost family welcomed ezekiel (better known as zeke) and then the twins aliana and amelia after. zach continued to feel nothing towards his siblings as they came: he was just too old once they came along.

○ the true catalyst of his mental downfall was the summer of his fourteenth year: his grandmother (the woman that, for all intents and purposes, raised him) passed away. he was distraught, in disbelief, and pissed at losing the one person who he thought even gave a shit about him. she was the one to show up to his PTA meetings. she was the one to take him to the museum to see local black artists succeeding in an industry he longed to be in. she was the one who comforted him but also gave him all the tough love. and now she was just gone. the afternoon of her funeral was the first time he ran away.

○ his teen years were filled with him rebelling: drinking, smoking, running away, hanging out with the 'wrong crowd' (according to his parents), the whole nine yards. alcohol, in particular, became his crutch. he was drinking to excess almost every day. he's not proud of how he acted or treated people during this time. he is still apologizing to this day.

○ he still somehow managed to get his BA in graphic design. yes, graphic design is his passion.

○ this behavior went on for years and only got more extreme as he aged. zach has dabbled in the world of drugs and gotten in trouble with the law. he even spent a few nights in jail. he hates to talk about it, especially considering what happened two years ago.

○ the night of august 24th, 2022: zach was high, per usual. when a police officer tracked him down at his parent's house (a place he didn't find himself often but hey, they paid well for 'babysitting' (and hadn't caught on to him using while on the job)), he was fully expecting to be busted on more drug charges. but no, the officer didn't seem to notice. how could he when he had the news he did: zach's parents had been killed in a limo accident. he felt numb. what was he supposed to feel? his head was swimming with thoughts. but there was no time to unpack his emotions when he realized that there was no other family to turn to. and there were four other siblings he had to break the news to.

○ under threat of foster home separation, zach agreed to take custody of all four of his siblings. he not only had to bond with them as a brother, but now as their pseudo father.

○ the night of his parent's death was the last night he used any harder drugs. he forced himself to quit cold turkey (something he couldn't have gotten through without his friends). he will still drink (tries his hardest not to over do it) and smokes weed quite often.

○ now, though he can still be impulsive and can slip every so often, he is trying to be a better person. key word being trying. he has surprised himself by being quite a competent caretaker (though he is still worried he's going to fundamentally fuck up these kids) and is working his ass off to continue to support them and make sure their lives are safe and secure.

Wanted Connections

the best friends ;; his partner in crime, the ying to his yang. the pair or more that are typically attached by the hip, consult each other, and couldn’t live without one another.

the bromance ;; platonic male love at its best. they might as well be attached by a bro hug.

the ex partier ;; the sound of too loud music and the taste of warm, cheap beer are the defining characteristics of this friendship. these two may have given each other recognition out on the street, but as soon as the word ‘party’ was involved, these two were together. the best of friendships always start smashed. has it survived past the beer bottles?

the one? ;; these two flirt so much, they might as well just get it over with and date. however, many steps have to be taken to get there. are they willing to make those steps?

the big ex ;; these two seemed to be so in love. …or not. maybe they ended on a good note, maybe it went down in flames. all that’s known for certain is that they went from the cutest couple to barely speaking.

the ex drunken love ;; bar hopping was the playing ground of drunken hookups and these two are no different. every party or even just a friday night, these two tended to find each other. could this develop into more now that zach is out of that scene?

[justhockeythings-blog1]

You look really good in my jersey

A/N: Let me know what you guys think of this one! I have a specific part that is my fave, bonus points to anyone who can guess it!

Request: Prompt : “You look really good in my Jersey ” with Morgan Rielly

You and Morgan had been friends for years, inseparable from the second you moved into the house next door to him. Many people over the years had assumed that you two were dating, starting as young as middle school. You had always shaken your head and laughed it off, ignoring the way that Morgan looked at you momentarily before agreeing with you.

Now, after nearly twenty years of friendship, you still had those rumors. Whether it was from your friends, his friends, your parents. It seemed like the two of you couldn’t do anything together without someone making a comment that you two should be dating or assuming that you already were. 

To be honest, you had realized that the feelings you had for Morgan extended beyond that of friendship when you were back in high school. You should’ve seen it coming, you had noticed the shift in your feelings, the way your stomach would flutter when he smiled at you. Your cheeks heated up more often when he said something kind. You two went to a dance together your senior year and you were convinced that you would pass out from fighting off those feelings.

You couldn’t have those feelings. This was Morgan, your best friend, practically your brother. Those were the same words you had repeated to so many people over the years and now you were struggling to convince yourself. 

Then college came, you went to your university and Morgan went off to make his star career come true. It had been easy to avoid those feelings when you weren’t seeing him every day, at least not in person. You two still kept up regular contact, between facetime, phone calls, and texts, it was almost like you weren’t hundreds of miles apart. 

When he was drafted, you were watching. When you graduated, he was there. He had been your date to your best friend’s wedding, you had been his to many events for the Leafs. It only made sense, after your years of friendship, that you found a job in Toronto and be by your best friend again. 

“So when are you finally going to come to one of my games?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow at you as you lounged in your bed, his face smiling at you from the phone in your hand. He was on a roadtrip in Montreal and still found time to call you, making those butterflies erupt in your stomach again. 

“What makes you think I want to come to your game?” You teased, to be honest this was the first time in a long time you hadn’t been able to go to a game. Throughout your friendship you had made it a point to go to every single game you could, especially in high school when your emotions were high. 

Now though, it seemed like your job and his hockey schedule never lined up to where you could go to a game in person. You were slammed recently, up to your ears in meetings, reports, and a big presentation coming up. You wanted to be at the games, you wanted to be at them all but you just hadn’t found the time.

“Ouch, I take back my invitation.” He laughed, placing his hand over his heart as if pained by your statement. 

You smiled a little, biting your lip as you eyed the box at the end of your bed. You had finally bit the bullet and purchased his jersey, your heart jumping when you had laid out the bright blue jersey on your bed and saw ‘Rielly’ sprawled out across the back of it. Now you just had to find a game to wear it to. 

“Once I’m caught up on work, I’ll try and make a game, I’m sorry Morgs.” You offered, using your childhood nickname for him. One you knew would soften him up no matter what. 

“That’s not fair.” He commented with a smile, in reference to your nickname usage. The nickname only you could use and the one that made his stomach flip every time you said it. 

“Of course it is. You love me for it.” You teased and Morgan had to pause at that. It was one of the many reasons that he loved you but before he could say anything another yawn left your lips. “I’m sorry Morgs, I gotta get to bed, I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

As you both hung up, miles apart from one another, you both fell asleep thinking about the other. 

A week after your phone call you had finally gotten caught up on your work, your presentation had been approved by your boss, and you had taken a long weekend just for the occasion. Which meant it was finally time to go see your boy play live, in person. 

You had arranged to sit with some of the other girls, wanting to see them as much as you wanted to see Morgan play. It felt like your whole social life had taken a toll because of your job. You caught sight of your reflection as you made your way to your seat, smiling to yourself. You hoped Morgan would like your surprise, you hadn’t told him that you were coming tonight or that you had bought his jersey. 

“He’s going to love it you know.” You turned your head, pulling your eyes away from the ice for the first time since the game started to look at Zach’s wife.

“What?” You asked, playing dumb though you knew exactly what she was refrring to. The girls had been a part of promoting a relationship between you and Morgan before, this was only going to perpetuate it.

“I know you might not see it, but you two are madly in love with one another.” 

You felt the heat rise to your cheeks, turning your eyes back to the ice as the third period began. Thankfully, she let the conversation end there, turning it back to hockey quickly but the seed had been planted. You had always assumed that Morgan only saw you as friends, as a sister even. 

You accepted the fact that you were forever going to be in the friendzone, but one comment that you had heard a thousand times, sent your mind reeling tonight. You felt yourself losing concentration on the game as your mind went deeper into the idea that Morgan could be in love with you. You began to analyze every little thing that could have pointed to that outcome. The way he put his hand on your lower back at an event, how he would shift closer to your side when out at a bar full of creepy men, or how any time you fell asleep at his place he would cover you up and let you stay as long as you wanted. You had always assumed that was just him being a good friend, now though you wondered if it could have meant more. You were pulled from your thoughts by the final buzzer. A Leafs win would hopefully distract you from your thoughts about the boy you were about to see. 

You joined the girls outside of the locker room, knowing that the guys would have media but there had been talk of a group going out for a late dinner after the game. If you knew Morgan, you would probably end up along with the group and you were okay with that. 

You smiled as you saw him coming out, watching as he faltered in his steps when he realized what you had on. It made your stomach flip, it wasn’t like you had never worn a jersey or something of his before, but this time felt very different.

“Hey.” You broke the ice, moving to meet him where he stood and hugging him. “You did great tonight, nice goal.” 

You felt his arms wrap back around you, hugging you tightly as though the two of you hadn’t seen each other earlier in the week for lunch. He pulled away, smiling down as he took in your appearance once more.

“You look really good in my jersey.” He commented, his eyes raking over the jersey one more time, which inevitably brought a blush to your cheeks. 

“Glad you think so, it’s a little expensive for me not to.” You chuckled, shrugging your shoulders under the weight of his hands as they held you.

“You know what would make you look even better in it?” He asked, seeming to have a newfound air of confidence around him. You assumed it was from the win, little did you know that it was actually from the fact that seeing you in his jersey had finally given him the push to make a move.

“If we were sitting at a restaurant eating? I don’t know about you but I am starving and the other guys already left.”  You laughed and Morgan chuckled a little, shaking his head, he had to do this now before he lost his nerve.

“If you were my girlfriend wearing my jersey.” He commented, leaving you stunned as you stared up at him.

Your silence was making him nervous, maybe he had misinterpreted the signs. He was mentally cursing his teammates for giving him the push to ask you out finally, but seeing you in his jersey made him realize that he didn’t want to risk seeing you in anyone else’s. 

“You know what, just forget I said anything. Let’s go get food.” He rescinded, letting his hands fall from your shoulders, his cheeks a bright red. His stomach dropping at the idea that he may have just ruined his longest friendship on a whim.

“No, wait!” You grabbed his hand, stopping him from moving. “Ask me again.” 

He furrowed his eyebrows confused by your demand, “What do you mean?”

“Ask me again.” You insisted. “I don’t want to have to tell people that I stood there like a fish out of water when you asked me to be your girlfriend.”

He laughed at that, a genuine laugh, one that was filled with relief and joy at what your statement insinuated.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asked again, staring into your eyes to make sure you were serious about this.

“Yes.” You smiled widely, nodding. “Now can we get food?”

[tabloidtoc]

Us, May 3

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Pregnant Meghan Markle: My Baby, My Way

Page 2: Red Carpet -- rufflemania -- Hollywood style stars are tier-ing it up in this flattering design with feminine flair -- Tracee Ellis Ross, Kaitlyn Dever, Margot Robbie, Logan Browning, Nicola Coughlan

Page 3: Lizzo, Maude Apatow, Lucy Boynton, Jessica Alba, Lily Collins

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Anya Taylor-Joy vs. Isla Fisher vs. Regina King in Stuart Weitzman Nudist sandal

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Shonda Rhimes on the intense backlash she received over Rege-Jean Page's exit from Bridgerton, Kelly Ripa on her most embarrassing interview, Luke Bryan on his mother LeClaire's Instagram fame, Blake Shelton on The Voice's new coach Ariana Grande, Reese Witherspoon joking about wearing bottoms that aren't sweatpants

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: A Final Farewell to Prince Philip, his four children Prince Charles and Princess Anne and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were among the loved ones who participated in the emotional ceremony, feuding brothers Prince Harry and Prince William (and his wife Duchess Kate) put their differences aside after the intimate service, due to Covid-19 protocols the grieving Queen Elizabeth stayed socially distant from the other 29 people who attended the funeral for her husband of 73 years

Page 11: ACM Awards 2021 -- Maren Morris teamed up with her husband Ryan Hurd and won Female Artist of the Year, Thomas Rhett won Male Artist of the Year, Carrie Underwood took the stage

Page 12: Hot Pics -- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore an orange coat during a visit to NYC, John Stamos plays a coach on the TV show Big Shot, Zach Braff goofed around on the set of Cheaper by the Dozen in L.A.

Page 13: Eva Longoria on her trampoline while aboard a yacht in Miami, Howie Mandel arrived to the set of America's Got Talent dressed as a bug in Pasadena

Page 14: Jon Hamm and his rescue dog Splash strolled around the neighborhood in L.A., Heidi Klum in all white in Pasadena, Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry take a stroll in L.A.

Page 15: Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes held hands after dinner at Il Segreto in L.A., Patrick Dempsey shot a scene for his show Devils in Rome

Page 16: Rachel Brosnahan in a blue dress and carrying a clear umbrella on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in NYC, Lin-Manuel Miranda at the opening of a vaccination center for Broadway workers in Times Square, Trisha Yearwood feeds one of her rescue pups

Page 18: Gen Z Has Spoken -- these celebs are making the young kids proud -- Baggy Jeans -- Hailey Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid

Page 19: Middle Parts -- Busy Philipps, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, baguette bags -- Dua Lipa, Elsa Hosk, Irina Shayk, Kendall Jenner

Page 20: Seeing Double -- stars bear a striking resemblance to their famous counterparts -- Elizabeth Banks and Chelsea Handler, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Nina Dobrev, Betty Gilpin and Jodie Comer

Page 21: Rob Lowe and Ian Somerhalder, Jaime Pressly and Margot Robbie, Isla Fisher and Amy Adams, Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran, Kyle Richards and Kacey Musgraves

Page 22: Clueless Crew -- stars are totally buggin' over Cher Horowitz's style in yellow plaid -- Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, Katie Holmes was rollin' with her homie beau Emilio Vitolo Jr. in NYC, Vanessa Hudgens, Dianna Agron

Page 23: Gabrielle Union

Page 24: Stars They're Not Like Us -- Jay Leno took one of his vintage automobiles out for a spin in L.A., Chrissy Teigen and John Legend took a selfie with a fan while grocery shopping in Beverly Hills, Kylie Jenner has custom vending machines

Page 25: Carrie Underwood in her massive walk-in closet, Denzel Washington signs autographs for fans in NYC, Megan Thee Stallion on a private plane, Drake and his bodyguard in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Stars They're Just Like Us -- Sarah Jessica Parker catches a yellow cab after working at her shoe store in NYC, Brad Paisley picked up five pizzas to go in Montecito

Page 27: Kelly Osbourne handed out goods at a drive-thru food distribution event at the Islamic Center of Southern California, HGTV's Egypt Sherrod transformed her closet into a meditation space in Atlanta, in between filming Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T take a selfie

Page 28: Hollywood Dads -- Scott Porter on parenting his two kids McCoy and Clover

Page 29: Jonathan Tucker on life with twins Hayes and India, parenthood is a lot tougher than Jovi Dufren imagined, Maksim Chmerkovskiy can't wait to show son Shai his work

Page 30: Love Lives -- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are showing no signs of slowing down -- the pair enjoyed a night out in L.A. hotspot Delilah where they were holding hands and laughing and they're not hiding the fact that they're dating but they just don't want people in their business -- they're a good match and are each other's best friend

Page 31: Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber may look like the picture-perfect couple, but Justin admits that their first year of marriage wasn't what he expected, saying it was really tough and there was just a lack of trust and he blamed the strain on his own personal struggles and said before he didn't have someone to love or someone to pour into but now, more than two years after exchanging vows with Hailey, he has that

* Kacey Musgraves' romance with Dr. Gerald Onuoha is giving her butterflies -- the pair are so happy they found each other and while Kacey, who split from her husband Ruston Kelly last summer, is trying not to get too ahead of herself, her connection to the Nashville-based doc is off the charts and it's got the potential to go a very long way

* Today's Savannah Guthrie is thankful to have husband Michael Feldman in her life, especially given the demands of her early morning work schedule

Page 32: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are getting serious -- all the details on their whirlwind romance

Page 33: Adapting to parenthood has been a breeze for Emma Stone and she's soaking in all the precious moments of being a mom for the first time -- she and husband Dave McCary welcomed their baby daughter in March and Emma is super protective and a very hands-on mom and Dave is also hands-on and helps with their daughter -- thanks to the little one, Emma's marriage with the comedian has also gotten stronger and having a baby has brought them closer in a way they never expected -- Emma is looking forward to getting back to work; she's taken this time off to embrace motherhood and her number one priority is to raise a healthy baby so that's what she's focused on right now

* Britney Spears is setting the record straight -- despite her ongoing conservatorship battle with her dad, Jamie Spears, she is doing totally fine, assuring fans that she's extremely happy and she has a beautiful home, beautiful children and she's taking a break right now because she's enjoying herself -- although the legal drama with her father is heating up, Britney is staying strong and she has this wonderful ability to see the positive even when the odds are against her

* Keeping Up With Us -- production for the Downton Abbey sequel is underway, Mossimo Giannulli is a free man, Chrissy Teigen returned to Twitter 23 days after announcing that she was leaving the platform, Vanessa Bryant remembered her late husband Kobe Bryant on what would have been their 20th wedding anniversary, Helen McCrory lost her battle with cancer at age 52 according to her husband Damian Lewis

Page 34: A Day in My Life -- Whitney Port

Page 35: Colton Underwood is ready to live his truth -- during an interview on Good Morning America, the former Bachelor came out as gay, saying he's run from himself for a long time and he came to terms with his sexuality earlier this year and he's the happiest and healthiest he's ever been -- now that he feels like he can finally breathe, Colton is excited for his next chapter, which fans will get to see on an upcoming reality show with Olympian Gus Kenworthy -- a huge weight has been lifted off of Colton's shoulders and he is looking forward to being his authentic self

Page 36: Moms Tell All -- Happy Mother's Day! From milestones and manners to rules and nanny-bans, celebs and insiders talk about raising kids in Hollywood

Page 37: Bindi Irwin says life at home with her daughter Grace Warrior has been positively blissful and her family with dad Chandler Powell is so full of love, adding that the newborn has already met some of the wildlife at the Australia Zoo where Bindi and Chandler live and work and of course she's seen some crocs and really lit up when she saw them -- while the Aussie conservationist is sad Grace won't get to meet her late dad Steve Irwin, Bindi's brother Robert Irwin and mom Terri Irwin have been by her side constantly and Robert is obsessed with Grace and has been helping out so much and her mom has been the biggest guiding light and she's already taught Bindi so much about being a mother, both in how she raised her and by showing her things day by day and Terri is quite the baby whisperer and she's so great a calming Grace down when she's crying -- first-time father Chandler is also a natural with Grace and he's been the most supportive and involved dad and together, he and Bindi make such a great team -- for now, Bindi, who stars with Chandler in Crikey! It's a Baby!, is hoping Grace will follow in her animal-activist footsteps, saying having three generations of strong women working as conservationists is a dream come true

* Jennifer Garner said teaching your kids is a lifelong job, and certainly values are something you have to show them -- Jennifer, who shares kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck, is staying true to her word and has led by example when it comes to things like kindness and patience and she won't let anyone in the house to judge or speak ill of people, and she enforces the same wholesome, traditional values that she was raised with and the kids have been taught to be loving, hardworking and fair -- Jennifer has always taken a kids-come-first approach to parenting, and it shows as they bake together, enjoy movie nights, read books and have very active lives and it's a very healthy, happy household filled with laughter and love

Page 38: Gwen Stefani has her hands full with her sons Kingston, Zuma and Apollo with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, but she wouldn't want it any other way -- Gwen's a tomboy, so having three boys wasn't daunting for her at all, plus she has fiance Blake Shelton by her side to pitch in with parenting duties and Gwen and the boys have a blast at Blake's ranch in Oklahoma where they enjoy riding their ATVs, and they play baseball and football -- it's not all fun and games, though because Gwen is big on boundaries and manners and she doesn't want to raise Hollywood brats and it's important to her that her sons be gentlemen

* Meghan Markle's pregnancy with Archie was no walk in the park, as she revealed during her bombshell TV interview with husband Prince Harry, the couple had concerns over whether or not the royal family would provide security for their son and claimed there were conversations about his skin color -- but this time around, as Meghan and Harry gear up for baby No. 2 at home in L.A., she's doing everything her way, without the royals and Meghan and Harry feel blessed that they're able to raise their daughter in the U.S. and can live by their own rules and make the decisions they feel are best for their children; having independence is the most important thing for Meghan and she's got free rein to be exactly the kind of mom she wants to be -- her parenting style is really like most mothers out there, and she's been craving pasta and doing yoga two times a day as her due date nears and she keeps a lot of art supplies out to foster creativity and healthy snacks around and she's a devoted mom and wants the best for her kids

Page 39: Kate Hudson has a lot on her plate, so the mom of three, who shares son Ryder with former husband Chris Robinson and son Bingham with ex Matt Bellamy and daughter Rani with boyfriend Danny Fujikawa, knows when to put her foot down as things can get a little overwhelming at times for Kate, but when she says no, it absolutely means no, and the kids respect her very much because of that

* Gigi Hadid, who shares daughter Khai with boyfriend Zayn Malik, wants to spend every waking moment with her precious little girl -- Gigi could easily afford to employ a team of nannies but chooses not to and she prefers to do everything herself and besides, she can't bear to be away from Khai for more than a few hours

* Candace Cameron Bure's three grown kids are flying the coop, but she's still super involved in their lives, despite slowly becoming an empty nester -- the mom of Natasha, Lev, and Maksim with former hockey player Valeri Bure says it's been a very transitional time and she's been trying to help them make decisions they feel good about and it's challenging, but they're figuring it out

Page 40: Oh, Baby! Meghan Markle's due date is just around the corner, and here are all the details

* Bump Brigade -- Halsey, Gal Gadot, Shawn Johnson East

Page 42: 10 Years of the Cambridges -- a look back at Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton's solid marriage for their anniversary

Page 44: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez: What Really Happened -- cheating and lies? The truth behind J.Lo's split from fiance A-Rod

Page 45: Friendliest Exes -- these former couples managed to stay close after going their separate ways -- Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz

Page 48: Gifts for Mother's Day

Page 54: Entertainment -- Ben Barnes on Shadow and Bone

Page 58: Fashion Police -- the most daring Oscars looks -- Bjork, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlize Theron

Page 59: Rachel Weisz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga

Page 60: 25 Things You Don't Know About Me -- Julia Michaels

[scarofthewind]

Bughuul x Reader || Part (V)

A/N: Hello, I am so sorry that I forgot about this series, but here is the last part! It is very long and I also loved looking deeper into the deity himself! Very interesting!!! This will contain NSFW and content made for 18+. Enjoy!

It was very cold when you woke up; as cold as it would get for someone who was dead. You could hear a small chatter next to you and you turned your head to see Milo and Ashley talking to one another. Your eyes caught Ashely’s and she smiled. 

“You’re awake!” She smiled and darted over to the bed you were laying on, grabbing your hand in hers. “Milo go-”

“On it.” He said with a sarcastic salute. “Welcome to the other side, (Y/N).” He bowed and left the room without another word. 

You looked back to Ashley who was already talking your ear off; you lifted your arms trying to push yourself up but she urged you not to. “He’ll be here soon, so just stay put okay?” 

“My brother?”

“He’s out collecting with a few others. Bughuul chose him this time; said that I needed to stay by your side in case you woke up.” She beamed. 

With a nod, you opened your mouth but closed it when the bedroom doors opened wide and Ashley disappeared. The cold air that used to be hard to breathe in when he was around was light and warm almost when he entered. The doors closed behind him and a few candles lit up around the room. You examined it then, it was much nicer than you expected. The high ceilings with black walls and black furniture made it look vast and empty. The white marble floors and white silk sheets added a brighter perspective to the room. 

“I didn’t think the dead sleep.” You said, allowing him to help you sit up. 

“We usually don’t, we just have rooms to keep ourselves busy.” He responded. There was no static or negative feedback in your head- everything was smooth. “How are you feeling?” He asked, gently stroking your face. 

“I feel light. Like I don’t weigh a thing. I am cold though.” You felt a shiver run up your spine as you spoke. 

Bughuul chuckled, “That goes away after a couple of days.” He moved to sit in the chair next to the bed, the window behind him giving you a glimpse of a red aura as the curtains moved. “You must have questions?”

“Where exactly are we? Why is it so fancy in here? What does this mean? What are we?” You spat out all at once. You stared at Bughuul as he tilted his head at you. 

“Is that it?” He asked. 

“Can I have kids?” You blushed at your question, watching as Bughuul loosened his tie. 

“I am going to answer these for you the best I can, in order. We are in my realm of hell. I have my own territory of sorts. It means that your soul, or what you are now, is all that you are, there is no more human you because it does not exist anymore.” He cleared his throat and continued, “What we are is up to you. I am something very complicated for the human mind to understand and therefore you may leave if you would like. If you choose to then you can wander hell until you find someone else you’d rather be with.”

You nodded, looking down at your hands as they shook, “Yes you can have kids. However, they are not like those of a living creatures. They grow faster and die slower once they hit their prime.”

“When you say that you are something complicated...what do you mean?” You looked at him and found that his expressions seemed a bit tightened. “I want to know everything about you before we finish this and I am bound to you for eternity.”

With a nod, Bughuul ran a hand through his hair and shrugged off his black coat, throwing it over the side of the chair. He sighed, “I am a pagan Babylonian deity that has been around hundreds of years. As I have stated, I posses this realm of my own- a certain hell of you will, no one can enter or leave without my permission.” He stood, walking over to the window and pulling back the curtains a bit, the sky was grey like a storm was about to hit. You had a feeling that it looked like this all the time. “I have a brother, whom I no longer see nor talk to. He stays in his place and I stay in mine.”

“What happened between you and your brother?” You asked. Bughuul stiffened in his spot and he let the curtains fall back to their place.

“He, in a fit of rage, shut my mouth with ash.” The air for a second grew cold enough for you to shiver. “Permanently.” You focused on your hands again, taking in everything you’d learned.

“I’m sure you’ll think of other things later.” Bughuul said aloud and you nodded. He turned to face you and you met his gaze. “Do not fear. I don’t intend to bed you just yet.” You blushed and he chuckled as he left the room to let you think things through.

*

You were awoken by the feeling of your hair being played with. Opening your eyes, you blinked away the darkness to find Ashley sitting next to you. “You fell asleep again.” She said as you sat up.

“We don’t eat do we?” You asked and Ashely shook her head. “That’s a shame because ice cream sounds good.” You smiles and she did too.

“Can I tell you something?” She asked you, becoming serious. You frowned but nodded and she took in a deep breath, “I really want you to become my mom, or as close to one as you can be.”

“Ashley, I already think of you as my family. Especially now.” You smiled at her and she brightened, throwing her arms around you and pressing her cheek to yours. 

You looked over when you heard a voice clear their throat and saw Milo and your brother. “Want to check the place out?” Milo asked and you nodded, letting go of Ashley and climbing out of bed. That’s when you realized you were wearing a white silk night down that went just past your knees. “You look fine. We’re all dead anyways, we don’t necessarily look our best.” Milo commented and you gave him a look but let them lead you out of the room. 

Ashely practically dragged you to her room as soon as you set foot into the hallway. The amount of drawings that covered the walls made your heart swell. Some were beautiful- then there were others that weren’t. Those you looked away from. “When he doesn't need me for collecting I like to draw.” She smiled at you, showing you a notebook full of her art. 

“It’s beautiful.” You replied and she smiled, going back to work on one of her wall pieces. 

“C’mon, I’ll show you the rest.” Milo said from behind you and you turned to walk out of Ashely’s room. 

The hallway was cold and dark, but comforting. “How are you feeling? I see you haven’t signed the contract just yet.” Milo joked, referring to your white nightgown, the sign of the pure yet to be tainted by evil. “The others were quicker. Guess you like to take your time, huh?”

You froze and you felt your stomach drop. “Others?” Milo stopped walking and looked at you, wide-eyed. “Oh, right.” Of course you knew you couldn’t have been the first one. Bughuul had been around for many years, why would you be the first. “What happened to them?”

“They broke their pact with me.” Bughuul’s voice was loud in your head and you turned around in the hall to face him. Milo was gone.

“Meaning?”

“I made them cease to exist.” He stood before you, with his hands at his sides.

“Like Zach?” You asked and he nodded.

“But worry not, I have a feeling that you wouldn’t try to leave.” He tilted his head for a moment, looking at you better and you nodded. He hummed to himself in confirmation and held a hand out, “Come. We must prepare for the final task.” 

You slipped your hand in his and let him guide you back to the bedroom. The double door opened as you approached them and you entered, Bughuul following. “I will have you bathe. By the time you are done, dinner will be ready.”

“Dinner? I thought we couldn’t eat.” Bughuul chuckled. 

“Not human food.” He said and you felt a chill run down your spine. His hands pushed you towards the bathroom where a beautiful tub sat waiting. “When you’re done, come to the dining room. I’ll have Milo accompany you.” You nodded and watched him leave before removing your clothes and stepping into the warm water. 

*

Dinner was souls. Literal human souls. They were glowing orbs that ranged in different colors depending on what the person was like. You received a white, near blinding one and Bughuul’s was black. It was complicated to eat at first but you managed. 

Your nerves were all over the place the walk back to the bedroom. Fingers playing with the sides of your clean nightgown, the same white silk as before. “You would be calmer if you trusted me.”

“I do trust you.” You said, entering the bedroom and seeing the candles that were lit everywhere. “It’s just been a while.” The door shut behind you and you could feel his presence take over your senses. His hands fell on your shoulders and they turned you around to face him. There, they cupped you’re face, making you look at him.

“I will take care of you. I won’t do anything you don’t like or want.” His voice was soothing and calm as he moved the hair from your face. As if in a trance, you raised a hand to his face, tracing the spot where his mouth would be. “It upsets you?”

You didn’t know how to respond. You wished you could feel his lips on yours and your body, but you couldn’t bring yourself to say it. Blinking, you realized he had pressed you against the bed, letting you fall back against the soft sheets.

“You’re going to be in a world of pleasure, my dear.” His voice deepened and you shivered. Taking his jacket off and slipping his tie over his head, he moved to hover over you. His hands touched your legs, pulling you closer and pushing your nightgown up. Taking in a deep breath, he slowly moved the nightgown above your bellybutton, his vision going to the underwear that adorned your body. His fingers traced circles on the inside of your thighs, moving closer until he pressed the pads of them to your clit.

A million emotions exploded in your head; everything suddenly became hot. The air, his skin touching yours. How the rest of his clothes and yours came off was a blur and you weren’t sure what was even happening anymore. He was touching you so gently you thought you were melting. His fingers toyed with your pussy, stroking the entrance lightly and then sliding a finger inside you. A soft moan escaped your lips as he caressed your body, sliding his finger in and out of you.

“You don’t have to be so gentle.” You commented, his cock twitching at the sound of your voice.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” He warned, pausing his actions of near body worship.

“You won’t.” You assured him, pulling his face closer to yours and bending your legs for him to move between them. “I want this more than anything.” You breathed feeling his finger retract from your cunt.

“Good to know you feel the same.” He chuckled, pressing his forehead against yours and taking your hands in his. He felt the tip of his cock brush against your clit and you nearly cried out. He was amused at your reaction as he slid himself into you.

He didn’t move a muscle as he let you get used to the feeling; he was larger than anything you’d had before. He propped himself up and brushed some hair from your face. “Are you okay, (Y/N)?”

You nodded, kissing over the spot where his mouth would be. “Keep going.” You told him, hearing him let out a growl before he moved.

Your hands were in his hair, his were finding new places to squeeze. He lifted your thighs and pulled them around his waist before his fingers moved to fondle your breasts. “You’re beautiful.” He commented, watching your face as you had your first orgasm of the night. “So beautiful.” He grunted as he sped up the pace.

The fire that was lit between you was hot and burned with such a heat you thought you’d faint. It felt like forever before you nearly tapped out, having come at least four times. “Bear with me, my love.” Bughuul commented, feeling himself grow closer to the edge.

“I can’t...anymore...” You panted, your thighs shaking violently as he continued to thrust into you. You felt his hands grab your leg, lifting it up and over his shoulder. The sound of skin slapping against skin and your loud moans set him off. He came deep inside you with his mouth pressed against yours. Your legs cramped for a moment and you whined in pain as he pulled out.

He left soothing touches on your legs to try to ease their quivering. He picked you up and slid you under the covers, he’d wash them tomorrow. “How are you feeling?” He asked watching as you wiped the pleasure tears from your eyes.

“Sore.” You commented, turning on your side to face him. “It’s sealed? Our bond is complete?” You asked, moving some hair from his face.

“Indeed it is.” He pulled you closer and let you drift off in his arms. You were finally his at last and both of you couldn’t be happier.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback on last week’s double update!  I’d love to hear how you’re enjoying it and any canon questions you may have even though it’s very early into the story still!

September 13th, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was absolutely fucking bricking it.  

These were the things she knew as an absolute certainty: William Nylander – she had learned his full name – was a Toronto Maple Leaf.  She had hooked up with him in June one week after her graduation from university.  He’d gone back to Sweden for the summer to be with his family.  Now he was back in Toronto because he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  And now, she worked as the executive assistant to the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

She had no clue how she got herself into this situation, no clue what she was going to do in this situation, and no clue how she was going to get out of this situation.

She was going to have to see him practically every fucking day.

Aberdeen knew she couldn’t let this get the best of her, her mind, or her emotions.  She was brought on board to do a job, and she was going to do that job to the best of her abilities.  No bullshit, no problem.  William wasn’t going to stand in her way of doing well and doing her job for Mr. Shanahan.  Regardless of how blue his eyes were.  Regardless of how blonde his hair was.  Regardless of how cute he looked.  Regardless of how hot he looked in a suit.  Regardless of how every time she looked at him, she began to remember how his hands felt on her hips and how his lips felts on her bare skin…

No.  Stop it.

By the end of the week, she’d met the entire team – Mr. Shanahan had ushered her into the locker room to introduce her to everyone and she waved shyly at all of them before they gave her polite nods and waves of their own.  She wondered if any of them recognized her from when she accidentally walked in on all of them topless and in their underwear.  They probably did.  Nobody recovered from something like that.  Throughout the week, many of them saw her in the hallways and came up to introduce themselves personally.  She thought that was nice.  Sometimes, she’d see William hanging out in the background, waiting for his teammate, but staring directly at her.  

Now came her first trip, one that she found out about on Wednesday – she was going to St. John’s, Newfoundland.  She was lucky Kasha was one of her best friends and agreed to watch and feed Minerva because she’d be gone for six days.  Leaving on Friday, coming back late Wednesday night, after the exhibition game in Ottawa.  It would be interesting, that’s for sure.  She’d never been to Newfoundland.

Lou drove her and Mr. Shanahan to Pearson Airport (Kyle Dubas had to stay back to negotiate a contract and sign someone, but he’d be there eventually too), where she was led to a private hangar.  Most of the team was already there, and a bunch of people Aberdeen didn’t recognize.  She noticed William in the crowd already staring at her as she walked in, a beanie lazily placed on top of his head.  He was sitting beside Kasperi, who was trying to show William something on his phone.  She tried to look away, but couldn’t.

“That’s media,” Brendan told her, finally breaking her concentration.  “They travel with us on road trips.”

“But this is only the start of training camp…” Aberdeen said, not quite understanding why they were already here if the season hadn’t even started yet.

Brendan chuckled from beside her.  “You’ve got a lot to learn about the sports media in Toronto…especially for the Leafs,” he commented.  

“Sorry,” she apologized for no good reason.

“That’s okay.  You’ve got a lot of time to learn.”

When everybody began to board, she began to gather all of the things she’d taken out of her bag while they waited.  She almost jumped out of her skin when somebody behind her asked, “Do you need help carrying your bag?”

She spun around and saw William behind her, watching her as she stuffed everything into her bag.  “No,” she said, turning back around because she couldn’t look at him.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“There’s an entire team of big burley hockey players ready to help.”

“No thank you,” she said again, zipping it up and walking away.  

On the private jet, she learned about the seating hierarchy.  The team got the back of the plane; media and other team personnel at the front.  She learned that the seats were giant, only two to a row, and she got her own row – a window seat right behind Mr. Shanahan.  She learned about the impeccable catering on board and the menu provided for them.  She learned that everybody was more relaxed on the charter flight – even the team, as they let loose and began to play cards, loosening their ties and taking off their suit jackets.  

She learned that every time she stood up or looked behind her, William was almost always already looking at her.  

***

September 14th, 2019

Practices were not usually watched by the general public, but because NHL hockey came to Newfoundland so rarely, tickets were sold to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs practice.  The arena was full, and before the boys stepped out onto the ice, Aberdeen had to coordinate Mr. Shanahan completing some media interviews for local news stations before they were able to retire from that and actually watch the practice.  They sat together, looking out onto the rink as Aberdeen had her iPad in her lap to co-ordinate a few more media interviews after the practice was done.  

“Sir, can I ask you a question?” she asked.  

“Brendan,” her corrected her.  She still felt uncomfortable about calling him that, so she wasn’t going to.  “Shoot.”

“The drill they’re doing right now.  What’s it called?”

Brendan looked at her briefly, smiling slightly.  “It’s to practice backchecking.”

She nodded her head.  “What’s a backcheck?” she asked, feeling stupid.  All of these terms were like a foreign language to her.  She didn’t know how people spoke using these words in coherent sentences.

“Backchecking is when the other team has the puck, and we need to rush back to the defensive zone to stop their attack,” Brendan explained.

“So…it’s trying to stop the other team from scoring.”

Brendan smiled again, wider this time.  “You’re learning.”

“I figured I should learn about the sport I’m going to be surrounded by,” she shrugged her shoulders.  “So that must mean the forecheck is attacking…trying to score.”

“Exactly.”

“Who are our best goal scorers?”

Brendan considered her question.  He knew he could answer it in many different ways.  “Well, if we’re talking about pure numbers, John Tavares – last season he scored forty-seven goals.  Anything above fifty is, like, at the super-elite level.  But then there’s Auston Matthews – he’s probably the most elite pure goal-scorer in the league, save for Connor McDavid.  Thirty-seven goals last season.  Mitchy scored twenty-six.  And then there’s the other guys – Kasperi, Andreas, and Zach all scored twenty last season.  Morgan Rielly, our best defenseman – he even scored twenty last season.  He was a monster.  Didn’t get nominated for the Norris, stupidly, but a monster nonetheless.  And William Nylander – elite goal scorer too.  His numbers last year don’t reflect that because he only played a half a season, but he’s as elite as the rest of them.”

At the mention of William’s name, Aberdeen shifted uncomfortably.  She tried not to pay attention to anything he said about William because it would just lead her to the memories, and then she’d be done for.  “So we’re a good team,” she inferred from what Brendan was telling her.  

Brendan chuckled this time.  “You could say that.”

When the practice was over, she organized for Mr. Shanahan to do more media.  Everybody was eating him up.  He gave great soundbites, talked about the hockey scene in Newfoundland, and about the Leafs practice.  He, of course, picked up on things during practice Aberdeen didn’t even notice.  The reporters ate it up like they couldn’t get enough.  And when Mr. Shanahan was finished, they waited somewhat impatiently for the players.  

Hockey clearly meant a lot to everyone around her.  It was what drove them, what sustained them, and what they were passionate about beyond everything else.  She had to make sure she kept up with their intensity, or else she felt like everything that the success of her in her job depended on may crumble.

***

When the day was done, the team, management, and media retreated back to the hotel.  It was around 6pm, and there were a lot of people in the lobby, figuring out their next steps.  As Aberdeen walked through the doors with Mr. Shanahan, she saw everybody congregating in their groups.  Some of the players had already changed out of their workout gear and into casual clothes, obviously ready to go out for a bite to eat.  She hoped that the hotel had room service, because she knew exactly what she’d be doing for the rest of the night.

“Aberdeen, do you have plans tonight?” Brendan asked suddenly, taking his phone out of his pocket.

“No sir.  Just room service for dinner and—”

“Oh, Aberdeen!” he cut her off, his tone almost scolding.  “You’re twenty-one years old and you’re in St. John’s.  You can’t stay in and order room service.”

Easy for him to say.  “Well—”

“Do you want to come to dinner with me and some of the hockey ops guys?” he asked politely.  She knew he was just doing this to be exactly that – polite.  There was no way he would want to hang out with his executive assistant outside of work hours.  

“I’m fine.  It’s okay—”

“Hey Brendan,” they suddenly heard a voice.  They turned their heads to see Jason Spezza approaching them.  He was dressed much better than most of the other guys, and Aberdeen attributed that to the fact that he was older.  “We were wondering if we could take Aberdeen out to dinner to show her around St. John’s.”

She looked behind Jason to see Kasperi, John, Morgan, and William.  Her eyes bulged out of her head.  “Oh, thank you for the offer, but it’s okay—”

“What a great idea!” Brendan exclaimed at the same time, turning at her and smiling.  “You got out of dinner with us old bozos!”

“No no no—”

“Have fun!” Brendan said as he began walking away, joining another group of men and slapping one of them on the back.

Aberdeen looked up at Jason.  Her cheeks flushed red with anxiety at the prospect of spending hours with them.  “You need to calm down,” Jason told her.  “We’re just guys.”

“You’re the Toronto Maple Leafs,” she stressed, trying not to meet William’s eye.

“So?” he shrugged his shoulders.  “We’re just trying to be nice, Aberdeen.  I don’t want to see you all alone when everyone else on the team is going to be out having fun.”

“Why not?”

Jason shrugged his shoulders.  “Because you’re part of the team now.”

Aberdeen considered the words coming out of Jason’s mouth.  It hadn’t even been a week since her first day, since she walked in on everyone in their underwear, and already she was “part of the team” and invited to go out to dinners with them.  She didn’t understand.  Why were they being so nice?  She was a nobody – to them, to the organization, to the world.  She was only a personal assistant.  “But—”

“Aberdeen, the more the argue this, the more you’re going to have to hear my voice telling you to come,” Jason said.  “Are you really going to make me beg?”

His damn puppy dog eyes were the only, and she means the only reason she gave in.

***

Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen joined the group before they left to walk along Water Street, eventually choosing a fresh seafood restaurant to have dinner in (because why go to St. John’s and not get fresh caught seafood?).  Aberdeen walked alongside Jason making small talk with him, with Auston, Fred, Morgan, and John ahead of them and William and Kasperi behind them.  Once they were seated at the restaurant, she found herself sandwiched between Jason and Morgan.  William was right across from her.  

“So where are you from, Aberdeen?” John asked as everyone finished giving their order to the waiter.  

“I was born and raised in Toronto.  Etobicoke, actually,” she said.  “Royal York and Bloor.  But south of Bloor – not the Kingsway.  Nobody can afford to live in the Kingsway.  Well – you guys can,” she rambled, finally stopping to take a sip of her water.

“Any siblings?” Morgan asked.

“My older sister Siena is 23.  She’s at the University of Ottawa for law school.  Then there’s the baby Camden.  He just turned eleven this summer.”

“That’s quite the spread,” Kasperi commented.  She could see William side-eye him, not appreciating the comment.  It was a fair comment, but Aberdeen hated when people made it.  Yes, there was a huge gap between them.  So what?  Lots of families had huge gaps between siblings.  Hers was not unique.  

“He was definitely an oops baby, if that’s what you mean,” she deadpanned, looking right at him.

“Oh no no no – I didn’t mean it like that at all—” he tried to cover himself.

“Dude, there’s ten years between Daniella and I,” William quipped.

“Yeah but there’s three other kids in between you guys—”

“Will you two just be quiet?  God you’re like Tweedledee and Tweedledum,” Morgan said.  “Ignore them, Aberdeen.  What do your parents do?”

“My mom is an elementary school teacher and my dad is a mailman with Canada Post.”

“And who’s your favourite Toronto Maple Leaf?” William asked, taking his own sip from his drink.  The way he was looking at her would make any girl’s head spin, and it made Aberdeen’s spin for a split second before she remembered that she was at a table full of men who happened to be his teammates and who would most definitely notice any suspicious behaviour on her part.  

“Not any of you,” she said in a playful tone, causing the whole table to ooh and aww and clutch their hearts.  

“Really?  Even when we’re buying you dinner?” William continued.

“You’re going to need to do more than that,” she smiled.

“You mean buy you a drink?  You like vodka-based stuff?”

Aberdeen’s face dropped.  Vodka was the main alcohol in all the cucumber mules she drank when she met him at King Taps.  Drinking all those cucumber mules was the reason she let all her inhibitions go and brought him back to her place to sleep with him.  Well that, and his personality.  And his eyes.  And his hair.  And his body.  And his – snap out of it!  “I’m more of a gin girl myself,” she said, bringing her class of water to her lips again.

“Could have fooled me,” he quipped.

Morgan brought the conversation back to hockey – why they were all there.  The boys let her in on a few traditions and the etiquette around the arena, especially on game days.  When she asked about all the media on the trip and why they were they everybody let out a collective groan and explained to her how hounding the media was in Toronto.  When the food came the talk died down a bit but John began explaining to her the rivalries, the divisions, the conferences, who the Leafs liked and didn’t like, teams to watch out for as well as teams with friends on them.  Their good friend Tyler Ennis, who just played on the Leafs last year was now in Ottawa, and they’d be seeing him at the season opener.  Aberdeen wished she had a notebook where she could write this all down.  Jason explained how excited he was for the season opener – how he got some tickets for his extended family and friends to see him play.  Auston explained how his parents would be flying in from Arizona.  It was all very nice to hear.

Jason ended up paying for her meal even though she fought him on it.  When they decided to leave, the owner of the restaurant came out to shake hands with all of them and asked for a picture.  They obliged, and the owner was over the moon.  He said he was going to blow up the picture, frame it, and put it right at the entrance.  That’s when Aberdeen understood how hockey crazed some people could be.  

Instead of going directly back to the hotel, Morgan persuaded everyone to take a walk down by the harbour.  He used the map on his phone to guide them, and Aberdeen would unintentionally hold the group up by taking pictures of all the old and colourful buildings.  She couldn’t help it – if traveling was going to be a perk of the job, then she was going to enjoy it as much as possible.  

The harbour was beautiful, even though it was dark, and she made a mental note to come back if she had any free time when it was light out.  She also wanted to climb Signal Hill.  She took out her phone and clutched it in her hands shyly, looking at the guys talking amongst one another.  “Um…can someone take a picture of me?”

Jason, of course, was the only one who heard her.  “Give me your phone,” he extended his hand, and she gave it to him as she went to pose along the guardrail.  He took a few photos, and even turned on the flash.  All the guys watched on, and Aberdeen felt a bit awkward.  Apparently, Jason sensed it.  “Can we make it look like she has friends?” he announced to the guys, causing them all to laugh.  “Jesus fuck, guys.  Go pose with her.”

They all surrounded her, throwing their arms over each other.  Auston draped his arm over her shoulder.  Fred’s extended all the way to her shoulders too, despite being a two people away from her.

William’s was the only arm around her waist.  

***

September 17th, 2019

“You could have said I was your favourite the other night,” a voice Aberdeen could only place as William’s said as she was looking down at her iPad.  Everybody was in Mile One Stadium for the game, and the arena was already full with eager fans.  

She didn’t even know how he found her.  Wasn’t he supposed to be getting ready?  How did he have the time to bother her and be a menace?  “But you’re not my favourite.”

“Ouch, Aberdeen,” he put his hand over his heart like the rest of the guys had done that night at dinner.  

“Well you’re not,” she reiterated.

“Then let me rephrase the question,” he started, “You could have said I was fucking awesome.”

Aberdeen’s face dropped again.  Yet again, those were the words she had used after they’d finished having sex.  She blurted them out, but he agreed.  God, to think that it stroked his ego for months and he still remembered months after the fact.  “What are you trying to do here?” she asked him.

“When we met in June you kept talking and talking and I let you because I love the sound of your voice,” he said.  Her heart stopped beating momentarily.  She was hyperaware of the present tense use of ‘love’ and not ‘loved’ in his sentence.  “I’m just trying to talk to you.”

She shook any thought about that night or about “I love hearing you talk” out of her head as she got up.  This was all a game to William – that much she figured.  Why else would he find her?  Why else would he repeat her words back at her and taunt her with them?  Why else would he offer to buy her a drink in front of six of his teammates?  She didn’t know if he was telling the truth, if he was just taunting her, or…God, what if he wanted to hook up again?  Was he really that kind of guy that he was doing all this again to somehow seduce her?  A fun little romp with the office girl so he could show off to all his buddies?  Regardless of what it was, Aberdeen knew this was dangerous, extremely dangerous.  It was a game she wasn’t willing to play when so much was on the line for her personally and professionally.  

“Well, don’t,” she huffed, staring at him.  “This isn’t a game and I’m not a pawn.  I’m here to work and do a good job.  I’m most definitely not here to keep you entertained,” she said, walking away from him.  

***

September 18th, 2019

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost both exhibition games to Ottawa, but it didn’t really matter because they were just that – exhibition games.  Mr. Shanahan was still peeved that they lost, but he took it in stride.  When their charter plane finally landed in Toronto at around 11:45 at night on Wednesday, Aberdeen was ready for bed.  All she wanted to do was cuddle Minerva and sleep for twelve hours.  She was especially excited to have the day off tomorrow.  She could at least do laundry.  

When they were free to get her luggage, the tag-team of Tyson Barrie and Jason Spezza made sure they got her bag for her.  Mr. Shanahan had already left – he was the first one off the flight – because his son was picking him up, and he didn’t want him waiting and getting a ticket.  

“Aberdeen, do you have a ride?  Is somebody picking you up?” John asked, extending the handle on his luggage.  From behind him, she noticed William lurking and waiting for her answer.

“Nah, I’m good.  I’m just hopping on the UP,” she waved him off.  She would have to ask an airport employee where to get the UP Express.

“What?  No way,” John shook his head.

“No no no,” said William from behind him, shaking his head.

“No no no,” said Travis who was standing by her, shaking his head.

“No no no,” said Tyson who was also standing by her, shaking his head.

“No,” John repeated.  You would think she said she was going to walk the entire way home instead of take public transit.  “You live downtown, right?  That’s what you said at dinner?” he asked, but didn’t even wait for her to respond.  “Who’s going downtown and can drop off Aberdeen?” John asked loudly so everyone could hear.

“It’s fine, it’s really fine—” she tried to intervene.

“Bee’s coming to pick me up – we can drop Aberdeen off no problem,” Morgan offered.  

“I’ve got Saylor picking me up,” Kasperi offered.

“Morgan will do it,” John said quickly.  

Aberdeen looked over at Morgan.  “You really don’t have to—”

“Nonsense,” he extended the handle on his luggage.  “Follow me.”

He led her out of the private hangar towards a black Honda Civic.  Aberdeen watched as a girl got out of the car.  She was unconventionally pretty, with beautiful long hair.  She wore comfy looking oversized cardigan and plain black tights.  She only assumed this was Morgan’s girlfriend.  When they got close, Morgan kissed her.  “I volunteered to drive Aberdeen home,” he said, nodding back towards her.

Bee looked at her.  “Great!  Hop in.  Just put your luggage in the backseat – I don’t mind,” she said, turning and getting into the passenger’s seat.  Morgan opened the trunk to put his bigger suitcase in before returning to the driver’s seat.  Aberdeen had a grip on her luggage.  

“So what position do you have with the Leafs, Aberdeen?” Bee asked from the passenger’s seat, even shifting so she was actually able to look at her.

“I’m Brendan Shanahan’s personal assistant.”

“Oh, that’s so cool!” Bee smiled.  “Brendan’s awesome.  But I’m sure you’re realizing that.  God, I bet a million people would kill for your job.”

Aberdeen shrugged her shoulders.  “I guess.  I didn’t really uh, you know, watch hockey before this.”

“I didn’t either, until I met Morgan,” Bee said.  “Don’t worry.  It has its way of sucking you in.  There’s a certain magic to the game that you can’t get away from.  You just have to make sure you keep your head above water.”

“Right.”

“Where do you live, Aberdeen?” Morgan asked, looking at her through the rear-view mirror.  

“Oh!  I’m on Nelson Street.  It’s near University and Adelaide.”

Bee punched the address Aberdeen gave into her phone.  “You let us know whenever you need a ride back into the city from the airport, okay?  You’re not that far from us.”

“Um, thank you,” she said as she felt Morgan put the car into drive.

“No problem at all, Aberdeen.  Love your name by the way.”

They made small talk throughout the ride, and thankfully, because it was so late, the roads were clear.  In just less than twenty minutes, Aberdeen was home.  She thanked Morgan and Bee profusely before leaving.  Bee watched her go in as Morgan texted on his phone.

“Who are you texting at this hour of the night?” she asked.

“Willy,” he said absent-mindedly.  “Wants to make sure we got home okay.”

Bee furrowed her brows.  “He’s never texted us about that before.”

Morgan shrugged.  “Whatever.”

[chilling-seavey]

Anything But Mine (d.s.) - Chapter Thirty-One

A/N what do you think Daniel should do?

Thursday, August 20th, 2020

Summer was coming to an end and the new school year was approaching quickly. Even in the dwindling last days of August, the weather was hot and sunny, making a perfect opportunity for a beach trip. Of course, it was Aidan’s idea, filling backpacks with coolers and bags of chips at some time before noon. His housemates woke to find him almost ready to leave and he ushered them upstairs to get themselves dressed and ready.

Callum had convinced Florence to join them; the concept of Callum and Aidan back to conversing still almost foreign to her. But, she would do anything for her brother and his happiness, so she got her daughters dressed and out the door with too many bags on her arm. Florence was surprisingly happy to hear that both Grayson and Emilio wanted to join their group to the beach for the day. Things had been sort of awkward since the meeting with the doctor three weeks prior but they still tried to assure her – and themselves – that were still allowed to be friendly despite the circumstances.

They were to all meet at the boys’ house by the university first, making sure they had enough supplies to last the day and were all accounted for. Clementine was beaming, bouncing on her toes with excitement in the living room, running around her mother’s legs. Callum had greeted Aidan with a quick hug, the action making Florence smirk to herself. It still felt so normal.

The boys had started to come back downstairs, dressed in their swim trunks, t-shirts, sunglasses, and flip flops, towels draped over their shoulders. Corbyn approached the newly arrived group first, taking the newborn from the stroller and held her close, cooing a little ‘good morning’ to her.

It wasn’t long until the front door opened, and Cayleigh was walking in, dressed in a bikini and oversized t-shirt, her long brown hair tied back with a scrunchie. She greeted everyone loudly, before she pressed a kiss to Daniel’s smiling face. Florence didn’t even bother herself with looking at them, her heart still aching with the fact that Daniel wasn’t speaking to her.

“If we’re all here, let’s go!” Aidan clapped his hands once, making his way to the door.

Loaded with coolers, canned beer, a few pop cans, and enough chips to survive a zombie apocalypse, the group made their way to the city bus. Their group was excessively large, especially with Florence and the stroller and Daniel with his guitar, and strangers offered them rude glances throughout their trek to the lake.

Since it was a Thursday, the beach wasn’t too busy, allowing them excess space to set up, laying out a bunch of blankets and an umbrella. Florence set up Penelope in the shade of the umbrella, both her girls layered in sunscreen. Clementine was eager to get in the water, trying to squirm away from her mother trying to apply sunscreen to her cheeks.

“Come on, baby orange!” Jack beamed, taking her hand and running with her towards the lake, Clementine’s little coral flouncy bathing suit rippling as she ran messily across the sand.

“Always have a hand on her, Jack!” Florence shouted after them.

Most of the group had gone to the water right away, the pile of the boys’ shirts and their shoes sitting on the large towel beside Florence as she sat with the newborn and watched. It was too early post-partum to go swimming, so she was stuck on dry land all day. She didn’t mind, she always loved to spend one on one time with baby Penelope. And watching Clementine have fun.

Between Grayson and Jack, Clementine was having the time of her life, splashing happily in a foot of water, the grown men needing to sit on the bottom to be comfortable to play with her. Grayson earned himself a splash in the face by the toddler, making her shriek with laughter.

Most of the group was deep in the water, Zach dumping a pail of water on Cayleigh’s head who screamed and tripped over Emilio, the two of them falling messily with a huge splash. Callum and Aidan were farther down, their close proximity and clear enjoyment making Florence smile warmly. It was a reality she didn’t know she missed.

In her thoughts, she didn’t notice Jonah walking up the beach until he sat down next to her.

“What are you doing?” Florence chuckled.

“Keeping you company.” He shrugged, draping a damp arm around her clothed shoulder.

“You like the boring squad better or something?” Florence teased, pushing him away from her.

“Definitely.” Jonah nodded, unzipping one of the backpacks and pulled out a cooler. They fell into a momentary silence. “How about Callum and Aidan?” Jonah finally spoke, taking a long sip from his drink.

“Finally. That’s all I can say.” Florence shook her head through a smile. “I know they’re still figuring things out but…finally.”

“I’m really happy for them.” Jonah agreed, propping one hand behind him on the towel. Florence glanced over at him, a gentle smile plastered on her face. It made her happy to see her brother so supported. It was a vast difference from high school, and it was so refreshing.

“How about you?” Jonah asked, returning her stare. “Are you happy?”

Florence’s smile didn’t falter but she turned to her left where Penelope was asleep on the towel under the shade of the large umbrella. She looked back to Jonah. “I’m fine.”

“Just fine?” Jonah questioned.

“Oh, my God!” Cayleigh shrieked, running up the beach towards them. “I need a drink!” she fell onto the towel with a huff, yanking over a backpack to pull a drink from. Most of their group followed after her.

Florence looked back to Jonah and pulled a tight smile, hoping it was believable. “Perfectly fine.”

The day went by quickly; most of the drinks and snacks disappearing by dinner time. Clementine was having the time of her life and crashed in her mother’s lap in the shade around 3pm. Florence busied herself with a novel, finishing it by the time the pizza was ordered. The group were sat in a circle around the multiple open boxes of pizza, Daniel playing his guitar lazily with Cayleigh curled up next to him. Clementine had claimed a spot between Zach and Jack across the circle, blabbering on to them excitedly, her energy resorted after her hour-long nap. Emilio had claimed the recently awoken newborn, talking to her quietly as she stared up at him from his arms. Of course, Cayleigh was the loudest, going on about the day with a can of beer in hand, and Daniel was absolutely beaming at her, hanging onto every word she said. Now the boys themselves were getting tired of hearing her talk so much.

“What are we going to do for dessert?” Florence finally jumped in when Cayleigh took a second to breathe. She couldn’t help but notice how Daniel’s smile fell into an expressionless stare the moment she opened her mouth. He acted like that question was an insult to his entire family. Florence couldn’t hold back her confused and disgusted glare.

Clementine yelled out for ice cream, oblivious to the awkwardness that had started to grow amongst the group.

“I can take you for some ice cream.” Daniel offered a gentle smile to the toddler, acting as if Florence wasn’t even there. But that wasn’t new.

Clementine merely sat silent and stared back, her eyes flicking between him and Cayleigh who was still wrapped up in his arms. Clementine looked up to Jack who sat beside her and then to Zach who was on her other side, both waiting for her answer. Her response was simple, her little hands wiggling into their hands, whispering a barely audible, “No thank you” to Daniel.

Jack kept his composure the best he could as he got to his feet, but Zach couldn’t hold in his laughter, trying to smother it with his free hand as the toddler led the two of them down the beach towards the ice cream shop. Daniel was left in a state of surprise. Since when did Clementine not want to be with him?

The remainder of the group erupted into fits of laughter, Daniel, Cayleigh, and Florence being the only ones not laughing.

“Bro, you just got rejected!” Corbyn said. “Brutal!”

“What did I do?” Daniel frowned.

“I don’t know but you got beat by Zach.” Aidan snorted. Laughter rose again. Florence couldn’t help but crack a smile herself, the absolute ruthlessness of her daughter making her day.

“She hasn’t gone near me all day and she hardly looks at me now.” Daniel mumbled sadly.

Florence couldn’t hold back her eye roll at how familiar that sounded to her. The hypocrisy was unmatched.

But even still, the evening progressed, Daniel playing a few songs on his guitar as the sun set. It was the perfect summer weather and the light breeze kept the humidity bearable. Florence found herself distracted, though, her mood falling fast and all she wanted to do was go home. Maybe it was the tiring day or the stress on her mind or the fact that Daniel was still avoiding her like the plague but still found it in his heart to sing the song Clementine, the song that meant way too much to her and had way too many memories attached to it. Whatever it was, Florence could feel herself start to tear up. Emilio noticed her change from beside her and he set a hand on her thigh, leaning in to quietly ask if she was okay. The gentle shake of her head was enough and he slowly got to his feet and helped her up.

“Where are you going?” Jonah asked quietly.

“Home.” Florence whispered, her voice shaking as she tried to keep her emotions calm. Grayson stood up and joined them who had Clementine asleep in his arms. The toddler still had chocolate ice cream smeared across her face and down her shirt.

Daniel still played on, not even looking up, reaching the chorus of the old folk song that he used to sing to Clementine when she was a baby. The song that was her namesake.

Callum got up as well, as if preparing to leave with her, but Florence sopped him. “Stay here with Aidan.”

“I…I don’t have to. I can come home with you.” Callum mumbled.

“Stay. Please.” Florence assured him, giving him a gentle nudge back to Aidan who was watching them with concern etched in his features. Callum simply nodded and sat back down. The boys and Cayleigh said their goodbyes, all except for Daniel who’s consistent singing was much quieter but still going. He was focussed on the sand, his fingers plucking away at the strings of his guitar, filling the warm air with pitch perfect notes. Florence took one last look at him before they headed off.

Grayson was the only one who had driven to the beach and he carried sleeping Clementine across the sand towards the parking lot, Florence and Emilio following behind him with the stroller and their bags. They were silent as the sleeping children were buckled in and Emilio squished between them to give Florence the passenger seat. She tried to keep her mind busy as Grayson drove towards the highway, staring out the window as the city lights zoomed past. Daniel’s gentle voice played in her mind, thinking back to the first few weeks of being a new mom when Matt would be out partying and Daniel would come over with his guitar to help get the baby to sleep. It brought her back to late nights in the last month of pregnancy, how every time she couldn’t sleep or was worried about the future, Daniel would be there with her, singing softly to relax her. The song Clementine. Her daughter’s namesake, and as such, the song that at one time pushed the two best friends closer than ever. She simply felt so alone.

The small sob that fell from her trembling lips surprised her and Florence pressed a hand to her mouth to quiet herself down. Emilio leaned forward and set a comforting hand on her arm, glancing at Grayson’s concerned expression through the rear-view mirror.

“It’s okay.” Emilio whispered, running his thumb in little circles over he exposed skin.

Florence simply shook her head, holding her face in her hands as she cried.

“What’s going on, Flora?” Grayson asked quietly, his right hand falling to her thigh.

“That song.” Florence sniffled. “He…He fucking sang it on purpose. That was my song.”

“Clementine?” Emilio questioned. 

Florence nodded, wiping her cheeks with the side of her hand. “He knows how much that song means to me and what it holds and he just…he just had to sing that.”

“I don’t think he did it on purpose.” Grayson said slowly, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

“If he can’t even look at me, then he can’t sing my daughter’s song. My song.” Florence pressed a finger against her chest to make her point. 

“I’m sorry.” Emilio breathed, his heart aching at constantly seeing how much she was going through in so many aspects of her life.

“Things were looking better between us. I don’t know what I did wrong.” Florence cried.

Grayson and Emilio glanced at each other again and sighed quietly almost in unison. They knew since the truth came to the surface that Daniel would find a way to screw everything up.

[the-depressed-shiny-buneary]

Pokemon Next Gen (Competition Kids): Marionette “Mary” Poplar

Marionette or Mary as she prefers to be called is the daughter of Bede and Klara. As a little girl, a lot of people often compared her to a doll given how she looked cute and how she loved Fairy-type Pokemon they also thought that it was cute how she wanted to train Poison-type Pokemon as well as Fairy-types, thinking that she was trying to decide between which type her parents mastered in. Like her father, Mary can be prideful but she’s very mellow as oppose to when Bede started out as a trainer and like her mom, Mary likes to perform and got an interest in doing something from show business but she didn’t know what until she found out about the new battle facility that combined Pokemon Contests, Pokemon Showcases, and the Battle Chateau so she traveled to Kalos to give it a try and ended up meeting Riley, Zach, Coast, and Acorn. With them, by her side, she managed to sign up for the facility and ended up enjoying it as she got to both perform and battle at the same time, she also enjoyed the thought of dressing up for each battle she had, even if she had to dress up like a denizen at first she still enjoys it a lot. Unlike her mother, she focuses on training her Pokemon and doesn’t like being doted on. While she does enjoy being called cute, she doesn’t want to hear it all the time, she also has an interest in being a pop singer like her mom but she’s too shy to sing in front of a crowd, but she will like to do it when she gets more out of her shell.

Her main colors are pink and purple. From pink, Mary is feminine and at times affectionate to those she’s close to. It also represents a part of her passionate side and her sensitive side, as well as her sweet side and her innocence. At times she can be immature and very girly, but she’s still a calm and compassionate girl who will always help her friends. From purple, she’s imaginative and sometimes arrogant but she’s also selfless. It represents how she wants to be her own person, she doesn’t want to be a gym leader like her father and while she does admire her mom for being a pop singer, she wants to try her own thing before she actually goes through with being a pop singer. Purple often helps Mary get inspired and it gives her a lot of empathy and it helps her stay control in her emotions. Both colors also represent the two types she uses, pink being Fairy-types and purple being Poison-types.

Her Pokemon:

Spritzee- Mary had received her Spritzee as a gift when she was ten years old and the two of them have been best friends ever since. Spritizee is a friendly Pokemon, she loves to meet new people and new Pokemon and she has a fondness for letting her trainer smell any of the scents she creates and she’ll happily flutter around Mary to spread it around her. Despite her small size and the fact that she’s still unevolved, Spritzee is a capable battler and is great for contest-like battles, she’s also one of Mary’s stronger Pokemon due to how well she was trained since both of them were young. Spritzee also has no problem with unleashing a foul-smelling scent to anyone who makes her angry and she will laugh to herself as she watches her victim cringe in disgust. She doesn’t fear Poison-type Pokemon and has no problem dealing with them due to training against her teammates over the years.

Caught in a Love Ball.

Ability is Healer.

Moves are Sweet Kiss, Fairy Wind, Draining Kiss, Sweet Scent, Attract, Psychic, Trick Room, Aromatherapy, Moonblast, and Gyro Ball.

Dustox- Mary caught Dustox back when she was a Wurmple, she was hoping that her Wurmple would evolve into Dustox as she thought that Dustox looks cuter than Beautifly. She was ecstatic when her Wurmple had evolved into Cascoon and was even happier when she finally got her Dustox. Dustox is a proud Pokemon, she also loves to have her time in the spotlight. Dustox works hard to make herself look as appealing as possible due to how she knows that most people think Beautifly is more appealing than a Dustox, she also has a personal vendetta against Beautifly and will always try her best to one-up any Beautifly she faces against or sees and she will become deeply upset if she looses against a Beautifly, thinking that people are right but then she’ll snap out of it and will train harder against any other Beautifly. 

Caught in a Luxury Ball.

Ability is Shield Dust.

Moves are Silver Wind, Quiver Dance, Ominous Wind, String Shot, Moonlight, Psychic, Sludge Bomb, Poison Sting, Bug Buzz, and Sunny Day. 

Galarian Weezing- Mary had gotten her Galarian Weezing back when he was a Koffing, she had evolved him before her journey to Kalos so he evolved into his Galarian form. Weezing is loyal and kind Pokemon, he also doesn’t seem to care if someone looks at him strangely since he knows that regional variants are something not many people have seen before. Like Spritzee, he will use his gas on someone should they insult Mary in any way. While he doesn’t understand much about contests or performances, he does his best with Pokemon battles and he tries his hardest to make his battles look appealing instead of just making it a straight-up brawl.

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Levitate.

Moves are Double Hit, Strange Steam, Sludge Bomb, Toxic, Venoshock, Dazzling Gleam, Flamethrower, Play Rough, Sludge Wave, and Dark Pulse.

Galarian Slowbro- Mary caught her Galarian Slowbro back when he was a Slowpoke, after a while of training him she had let him evolve thanks to giving him a Galarica Cuff. Slowbro was a rather tense Pokemon, especially when he feels Shellder biting on his arm, he’ll end up flailing around and will sometimes attack whatever was close to him. After a lot of training, he calmed down and no longer is so tense when he’s in battle and it’s thanks to his quick reflexes that he’s able to make dance-like movements when he’s battling. When not in battle, Slowbro is laid back and he often zones out or just relaxes. He still trains hard so he doesn’t end up getting rusty.

Caught in a Luxury Ball.

Ability is Own Tempo.

Moves are Shell Side Arm, Psychic, Ice Punch, Trick Room, Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb, Future Sight, Shadow Ball, Drain Punch, and Belly Drum.

Wigglytuff- Mary caught Wigglytuff when she was a Jigglypuff and around the same time she had caught Clefairy. When she and Clefairy had heard of these competitions that Mary was going to take part in, both of them were happy to agree to compete and was ready for whatever Mary needed them for. The two of them evolved when Mary managed to get a Moon Stone for both of them. As a Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff loved to dance more than sing as she felt she wasn’t that great at singing anyway so she spent more of her training dancing with Clefairy showing her how to dance while she showed Clefairy how to sing. After evolving, Wigglytuff still expressed a love for dancing and kept up her dancing skills to make sure she could still dance with her new body. Despite not having an interest in singing, she still likes to sing with Clefable so long as they’re together as both of them are mates. They’re ideal for being together during double battles as they work perfectly together.

Caught in a Love Ball.

Ability is Cute Charm.

Moves are Charm, Hyper Voice, Play Rough, Draining Kiss, Psychic, Wish, Helping Hand, Thunderbolt, Wake-Up Slap, and Double-Edge.

Clefable- Mary caught Clefable when he was a Clefairy and around the same time she had caught Jigglypuff. When he and Jigglypuff had heard of these competitions that Mary was going to take part in, both of them were happy to agree to compete and was ready for whatever Mary needed them for. The two of them evolved when Mary managed to get a Moon Stone for both of them. As a Clefairy, Clefable likes to sing more than dance as he felt like he wasn’t that great at dancing anyway so he spent more of his training singing with Jigglypuff showing him how to sing while he showed Jigglypuff how to dance. After evolving, Clefable still expressed a love for singing and kept up his singing training to make sure he could still sing with his new body. Despite not having an interest in dancing, he still likes to dance with Wigglytuff so long as they’re together as both of them are mates. They’re ideal for being together during double battles as they work perfectly together. He often gets jealous if Wigglytuff’s Cute Charm ability activates on a male Pokemon.

Caught in a Love Ball.

Ability is Magic Guard.

Moves are Sing, Life Dew, Metronome, Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, Focus Blast, Sweet Kiss, Meteor Beam, Retaliate, and Cosmic Power.

[lostinthewinterwood]

AU Exchange 2020

Hey friend!

Looks like this letter’ll be going out on time, for once in my life.  This one’s very long; there’ll be a list of fandoms after the general info so you can hop around and not get bogged down in the details that don’t matter for what you’re going to be writing.

Treats in any medium are welcome, my other exchange letters are here, and at the bottom there’ll be tags for each fandom I’ve requested, if you want to see whether I’ve requested them before and what I’ve said about them.  Good luck, have fun, and thanks for writing for me!

 General DNW non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm*; graphic depictions of suicide; smut; gore; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg; graphic eye trauma; graphic and/or permanent hand trauma; issuefic; unrequested identity headcanons; a focus on unrequested romantic relationships**. *I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated. **canonical levels of canonical ships are perfectly fine; background non-canon ships that I haven’t dnw’d are okay too (unless otherwise specified—see below for fandom-specific notes).

  General Likes

– I really like plotty fics

– Secret identity and disguise shenanigans, the more layers to them and more absurdity the better.

– Crossdressing for whatever reason and gender disguises, also for whatever reason.

– A focus on family and/or friendship, especially characters realizing they’re not nearly as alone as they think they are, and just generally characters who like each other and enjoy spending time together

– Found family; families of choice

– Character studies

– Worldbuilding

- explorations of how whatever AU you pick to write affects the characters and/or plot, and the ways in which it doesn’t

  Other General Notes:

If there’s an AU I’d especially like to see on its own, without any other AU in combination with it, I’ll mention it—outside of that, feel free to combine the AUs as you see fit.

All the times that the Dragon Rider au is one I asked for, I’ve framed it in my prompts as a sports story thing—while that would definitely be great, don’t feel pressured to make it be like that; it’s just where my prompting muse is at right now, so if you want to take it in another direction go right ahead.

  Fandoms in Order of Appearance:

Hanging Out with a Gamer Girl

Harry Potter

Mother of Learning (x2)

Day Break Illusion (x2)

  Hanging Out with a Gamer Girl (Manga)  

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Terazaki Kaoru (HOwaGG)

·        Ousaka Nanami (HOwaGG)

·        Group: Terazaki Kaoru & Ousaka Shouko (HOwaGG)

·        Group: Terazaki Kaoru & Ousaka Nanami (HOwaGG)

 Fandom-specific dnw: sexualization of Kaoru’s crossdressing, romance between Kaoru and Nanami beyond light shiptease à la canon (unless the AU chosen is a romantic fairytale, in which case go right ahead), full justification of Kaoru’s fears re: Nanami’s dad, heavy gender dysphoria.

 Overall I love these kids and their friendship, and I also love how much Shouko feels like a mom to Kaoru even though he isn’t hers, even though he’s keeping secrets from her—he doesn’t seem to have that much parental support overall.

Whatever AU you pick, I’d appreciate that being preserved.

  ·        ALL: Character was Stolen by Fairies as a Baby

·        All: East of the Sun and West of the Moon Fusion

·        All: Fairytale Fusion

·        ALL: Fantasy/Magic Royalty and Palace Intrigue AU

·        ALL: Magic is a part of everyday life

·        ALL: Magical Girl Fusion

·        ALL: Magical Realism

·        ALL: Regency-Inspired Fantasy AU

 For this set of tags, I’d love to see something that fuses the AU elements to canon, or replaces canon elements with them—maybe instead of gamers, the kids are magical girls!  Or maybe there’s just magical elements wound seamlessly into their lives, or they instead live in a fairytale world, or…

Basically, this is my more generic magic!au set.

  ·        ALL: Characters met as children

·        ALL: Deaf Canon Characters

·        ALL: Disabled Canon Characters

·        ALL: Mute Canon Characters

·        HOwaGG: trans girl Terazaki Kaoru

 These are the generally mundane AUs—if one or both of the kids is disabled in some way, how does that affect them?  If they’ve known each other longer than they have in canon, or used to know each other—how does that affect them?  If Kaoru is a trans girl, is that something that she knows before their canon meeting, and maybe that’s a point at which she’s already begun transitioning?  Or does the crossdressing give her a revelation?

  ·        ALL: Daemon AU

·        ALL: Daemons in Canon Divergent AU

 I like daemon!aus a lot, though I’m not very good at writing them myself—if this world has daemons, what are the kids’?  Are they fully settled yet, or not quite?  Most people have daemons opposite to their sex—is it obvious that Kaoru’s daemon is female, and if so, does that pique Shouko’s interest?  Does his daemon get him recognized by people who know Kaoru-the-boy even when he’s out looking like a girl?

  ·        ALL: Dragon Rider AU

·        All: Figure skating AU

 Sports aus!  One mundane, one distinctly less so… what’s it like, if they’re dragon riders? Is it a whole other world, or just our world +dragons?  If it’s figure skating, what kind of skating do they do?  Singles?  Pairs? Ice dance?  Are they just casual about it or competitive?

  ·        ALL: Platonic Soulmate AU

·        ALL: Soulmates - Soulmate Mark Appears At First Touch

·        ALL: Soulmates Share Scars

 These are probably my three favorite kinds of soulmate AUs—run with them!  Tell me about the kids and their dynamic and the world they inhabit, with soulmates thrown into the mix!

     Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling   

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Percy Weasley (HP - JKR)

 Fandom-specific dnw: non-canon ships.

 I’ve phrased this so broadly because it’s generally better safe than sorry on these things—essentially what I especially don’t want is non-canon ships between people on opposite sides of the war, e.g. drarry, harry/Voldemort, etc. If you want to toss in background, idk, Pansy/Daphne or something, or relationships between various Ministry people, that I don’t mind.

 ·        ALL: Underground Resistance

·        HP: Percy Weasley is a spy for the Order of the Phoenix during the war

·        ALL: Character Is a Secretly a Spy for the Other Side

 There’s really one thing I want here—spy!Percy!  He spends so much of the war in the Ministry, surrounded by Death Eaters and their accomplices and enablers, to all appearances the black sheep of the Weasley family and not much of a threat.  Now, this could be genuine… but it could also be him playing them; I want to see a world where he, at some point—maybe after he chooses to stay with the ministry instead of his family, maybe before—decides to be a spy for the Order et al.

What are the risks?  What can he accomplish?  Can he help people beyond simply passing out information, perhaps with seemingly-inconsequential little acts?

     Mother of Learning - nobody103   

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Kirielle Kazinski (Mother of Learning)

 request-specific dnw: physical parental abuse within the Kazinski family, significant exaggeration of canonical emotional neglect/abuse/general family dysfunction, romantic and/or sexual Zach/Zorian.

 ·        All: Character has a secret identity

·        All: Identity Porn

·        ALL: Possessed by time travelling future self

·        MoL: Kirielle as a Branded One

 I’m fascinated by the idea of Kirielle somehow getting wrapped up in the time loop—what’s it like to live years and years of your life while your body stays nine?  What does she do, what does she learn?  Are Zach and Zorian still Branded Ones, or is she taking one or both of their places?

If you go with this, I’d rather not have her gate!soul erased—either let her escape, or don’t go far enough to need to address it, please.

The identity bits here are mostly leaning on the idea that, with her only being nine, Kiri would need some kind of identity obfuscation to do half of what Zach and Zorian do in canon, so…

  ·        ALL: Daemon AU

·        ALL: Daemons in Canon Divergent AU

 Nothing particularly profound here—but! Daemons! How does this affect things? Is Kiri happier with someone to talk to who isn’t her siblings or parents or village children that her parents mightn’t approve of?  I’d imagine her daemon hasn’t settled yet—what forms does it like?

  ·        All: Changeling AU

·        ALL: Fairy Tale AU

·        All: Fairytale Fusion

·        All: Historical Fantasy AU

·        ALL: Magical Realism

·        ALL: Nature Magic

 The setting and/or mood change AUs—give me Kirielle-the-faerie child, or Kiri in a fairytale, or shift the setting more historical and into our world, or change the nature of the magic—the canonical magic system is fairly hard as magic systems go, which works well for the story as it is, but I also really like softer magics.  What about a world where there’s simply small everyday magics present, or where Kiri has an affinity for green growing things quite beyond the natural?

  ·        ALL: Deaf Canon Characters

 How does Kiri’s life change, if she’s born deaf or becomes deaf?  How does her role as Cikan Kazinski’s only daughter change?  Does Eldemar have a Deaf community?

This could play into her desire to go to Cyoria, too—I wouldn’t expect Cirin to have much in the way of resources or community, but maybe Cyoria does; maybe that’s why she wants so badly to go.

  ·        ALL: Finding Peace/An End to the War

·        ALL: Legal Drama

·        ALL: Magical environment/species conservation scientist au

·        ALL: Magical horticulturists

 This set is more likely future!fic than anything else—Kirielle’s growing up into a country on the brink of war; what’s she going to do when she gets older?  Maybe she’ll be involved in that, or with the law—or maybe she goes to school and learns to be a mage, and then goes on to a career as a conservationist or horticulturist.

    Mother of Learning - nobody103   

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Zorian Kazinski (Mother of Learning)

·        Zach Noveda (Mother of Learning)

 request-specific dnw: physical parental abuse within the Kazinski family, significant exaggeration of canonical emotional neglect/abuse/general family dysfunction, romantic and/or sexual Zach/Zorian (unless in a romantic fairytale au).

 ·        All: Changeling AU

·        All: Fairytale Fusion

·        ALL: Fantasy/Magic Royalty and Palace Intrigue AU

·        ALL: High Fantasy AU

·        All: Historical Fantasy AU

·        ALL: Magical Realism

·        ALL: Nature Magic

 Again, setting and/or mood changes—turn one or both of these two into a changeling child, or push them into a different setting, or change their world to feel a little more magical than it does in canon.

  ·        All: Character has a secret identity

·        ALL: Deaf Canon Characters

·        ALL: Legal Drama

·        ALL: Magical environment/species conservation scientist au

·        ALL: Magical horticulturists

·        ALL: Role Swap AU

 This set is a combination of probably-post-canon things and things that could slide into the canon timeline—what if one or both of them went to more effort to construct a second identity, either in the loop or out of it, for anyone’s benefit?  What if one or both of them was deaf—if you go here, it’d be interesting if you combined it with deaf!Kirielle too.  A role swap—what if Zorian got there earlier and the angels didn’t think him unworthy, and Zach wound up his tagalong instead?

And the other three are basically what-ifs for the post-canon world—there’s Zach’s court case to be dealt with, and these two are both skilled enough to do basically whatever they want to, if it’s to do with magic.  Why not become a conservationist or horticulturist?

  ·        ALL: Daemons in Canon Divergent AU

·        All: Figure skating AU

·        ALL: Regency AU

·        All: Robin Hood Fusion

·        ALL: Spies & Secret Agents

·        ALL: University AU

 This is a whole grab bag of different AUs—they’re all fairly self-explanatory I think, though I will say that you shouldn’t feel pressured to keep the overtly mundane-seeming AUs mundane, if you don’t want too—I’d like the mundane versions of course!  But there’s plenty of interesting things you could explore with, e.g., magic!figure skating, so.  Go wild.

  ·        All: Tam Lin Fusion

 In a weird way, MoL already has its characters in the roles they need to be in for a Tam Lin fusion, though the structure is of course very different–what is Zach if not a sacrifice against Panaxeth’s release? What is Zorian if not the one who fights nigh-impossible odds to save him from that fate?  I’d love to see a fic that goes into this.

    幻影ヲ駆ケル太陽 il sole penetra le illusioni | Day Break Illusion   

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Tsukuyomi Luna (Day Break Illusion)

·        Taiyou Akari (Day Break Illusion)

·        Shirokane Ginka (Day Break Illusion)

·        Hoshikawa Seira (Day Break Illusion)

·        Group: Tsukuyomi Luna & Tsukuyomi Serena (Day Break Illusion)

·        Group: Hoshikawa Seira & Shirokane Ginka & Taiyou Akari & Tsukuyomi Luna

 fandom-specific dnw: heavy gender dysphoria.

 ·        All: a character is transgender (binary)

·        ALL: Alternate First Meetings

·        All: Character has a secret identity

·        ALL: Deaf Canon Characters

·        ALL: Disabled Canon Characters

·        ALL: Street Rats

 This is basically the AUs of mundane level things; the broad strokes of canon are perfectly compliant with any of these, or at least they could be. What changes, if you go for any of the AUs listed above? What stays the same?

  ·        All: Changeling AU

·        ALL: Character was Stolen by Fairies as a Baby

·        ALL: Daemon AU

·        All: Fairytale Fusion

·        ALL: Fantasy/Magic Royalty and Palace Intrigue AU

·        ALL: Magical Realism

·        ALL: Regency-Inspired Fantasy AU

·        All: with the right postage you can send letters anywhere anywhen

 Different flavors of fantasy—for the changelings, is the character we know from canon the stolen child, or their faerie replacement?  Are their daemons affected by them fighting the daemonia; what happens to a daemon when the human is consumed by a daemonia?  How do their powers and battles work in a world that’s more overtly magical? For the last—who/where/when would they send letters to?  Would Akari send one back in time to Fuyuna, Luna to her sister, Seira to her friend? Forward to their future selves? How does this affect the timeline; do you have to be careful, lest you irrevocably change things, or are future-letters already set and immutable?  Is this common or rare—what’s the price to send a letter through time?

  ·        ALL: Character Journeys To The Underworld to Rescue Their Dead Friend

·        All: Journey to the Underworld to Resurrect Loved One

 Who are they rescuing?  How are they going about the rescue?  Are they bringing back Fuyuna?  Seira’s friend?  Luna’s sister, if it turns out she’s dead not just vanished some other way?  Ginka herself, if we suppose that she died in the annihilation rather than going to battle elsewhere?

If a Daemonia’s victim is resurrected, does everyone remember them again? Either way, what are the consequences of bringing back a person who’d been erased?

  ·        ALL: Dragon Rider AU

·        ALL: Fencing AU

·        All: Figure skating AU

 Sports aus!  Two mundane, one not.  I’d love to see the kids in some kind of competitive something—are they teammates? Competitors? Is Sefiro Fiore a sports organization in this world, or are they both athletes and tarot users?

  ·        DBI: Daemonia hosts aren't erased from the timeline when killed

 So, one of the generally convenient things in this world—even if it’s not a particularly nice thing—is that none of the characters ever have to deal with the fallout of the deaths they cause; the daemonia’s victims are erased.  Ret-gone, if you will.  But what if they weren’t?  What would the effect of that be; how would that change things?

    幻影ヲ駆ケル太陽 il sole penetra le illusioni | Day Break Illusion   

·        Fanfiction (Medium)

·        Group: Hanayume & Lymro & Mama Nagataki & Taiyou Akari (Day Break Illusion)

·        Group: Hanayume & Lymro & Mama Nagataki (Day Break Illusion)

 fandom-specific dnw: heavy gender dysphoria.

 ·        All: a character is transgender (binary)

·        ALL: Deaf Canon Characters

·        ALL: Disabled Canon Characters

·        ALL: Found Family

 So, again, this is the more mundane aus—add these in!! tell me how they affect things, or how they don’t affect them!

Found family is… kinda canon? But there isn’t really much focus on that aspect in canon so I’d love some more here.

  ·        All: Changeling AU

·        ALL: Character was Stolen by Fairies as a Baby

·        All: Fairytale Fusion

·        ALL: Fantasy/Magic Royalty and Palace Intrigue AU

·        All: Historical Fantasy AU

·        ALL: Magic is a part of everyday life

·        ALL: Magical Realism

·        ALL: Regency AU (no homophobia)

·        ALL: Regency-Inspired Fantasy AU

·        All: with the right postage you can send letters anywhere anywhen

 And these are the magic and/or setting AUs!  How do these elements change their lives; what stays the same regardless?

See my previous set of Day Break Illusion requests for my thoughts on the letters tag.

  ·        ALL: Daemon AU

·        ALL: Daemons in Canon Divergent AU

 Just—daemons!  What are theirs?  For Hanayume—what gender is her daemon?  I’m sorry I’m running out of things to say at this point…

  ·        ALL: Dragon Rider AU

·        ALL: Fencing AU

·        All: Figure skating AU

 So, in canon, Hanayume, Lymro, and Mama Nagataki are kind of Akari’s fortune-teller aunts/mentors; if we change it so that Akari’s thing is fencing or figure skating or dragon-riding, why not bring her aunts along for the ride as her mentors in that sport, or, if we’re not including Akari—competitors themselves, perhaps, or maybe generally teachers?

   If you made it all the way down here—first of all, wow, this letter was way too long so good on you for making it—second of all—thank you again for writing for me!! Good luck!!

[film-clown]

Holy shit. So I’ve just watched 13 Reasons Why, season 3.

I know I cry at pretty much everything but god fucking damn, this show hit. It hit in every way possible and it is absolutely their best season. They talked about such important issues in the real world such as ICE and abortion rights, and they carried the sexual assault storyline better than ever. I think, almost every plot line was done very, very well. I’m gonna discuss everything from the show, so spoiler alert if you haven’t watched it.

First and foremost, I’d like everyone to give a huge standing ovation for Devin Druid’s performance this season. I cannot even BEGIN to express the way each and every one of his scenes moved me. They obviously continued the story of his assault by Monty, and they did it damn well. This storyline also very well showed that a person can move on, heal, and better themselves from mistakes they make. Tyler changed, with the help of amazing friends and a support system. I loved it, truly. I’ve seen many comments about how this was the show’s way of making viewers feel bad for a school shooter, and honestly? I’m not going to look at it that way. Second chances are how the world runs, but I’ll get into that later.

Now speaking of Monty... LOOOOOOOOOOOLL

Alright so.. I kinda saw this coming? 💀💀

I mean, kinda. But not really. I feel like as much as people would call Monty’s plotline this season toxic, due to the internalised homophobia, I’m going to choose to look at this as something people genuinely go through.

As a male jock, in high school, it’s a HUGE joke to be gay. Unfortunately, slurs are always thrown around, and even if you aren’t homophobic, the energy that jocks give out about the LGBT+ community will surely make you into that. So honestly? The demonstration of how Monty felt throughout the season when it came to his sexuality was accurate.

Now this little bit is gonna be my soft side talking - don’t attack me for it. The scene in the last episode where Monty finally goes up to the guy from Hillcrest and isn’t a dick to him, I can’t describe how that made me feel. And when Monty’s dad later came to visit him in prison, and spit on his face because he figured out he was gay? That shit made me sad. If you’re gonna spit on his face, do it because of what he did to Tyler. Not because he’s gay. Fuck.

In conclusion, I think Monty had some potential. Some. I don’t think he deserved to die though, and he certainly did not deserve to be blamed for Bryce’s death just because he’s dead.

Jock culture is so toxic. It was strongly established this season with both this plotline and the assault one (gonna get to that later) and I hope the world watches this show and takes some action. I don’t give a fuck what you’ve done in your life, nobody deserves to not love, or be loved.

I really feel bad for Monty to have grown up in such a toxic environment, with a piece of shit homophobic dad and that jock culture. The scene where Winston says, “You can be whoever you want to be” and Monty says “No.. I can’t.” Yeah I’m sorry but that scene broke me.

PSA: Monty’s still a dick. This is just my lil gay self talking.

Also, Timothy Granaderos and Deaken Bluman are so sexy. Thank you for listening.

Now fuck. GOD DAMMIT YO. Tony Padilla’s storyline fucked me up.

As much as I cried half the time, I’m so glad the writers brought up the misuse and abuse of ICE towards POCs in America. It broke my heart into so many pieces when viewers found out that his family had been deported and/or held in detention centres. It is so not fair. And to think that there’s countless families in our real world who are suffering through this shit. :(

I love Tony and Caleb so much. Imagine finding somebody who loves you THAT much. I’m glad that after showing a toxic gay “relationship” (Monty and Winston) they showed something as beautiful as this. Definitely one of the best parts of this season.

Speaking of relationships... wow.

I loved them. Like truly. First of all; the SEXIEST couple I’ve ever seen in any series. Also I think my emotional connection with them is cause they literally came back to each other...

...and they stayed together. Through everything that happened this season, they stuck together (for the most part, lol) and I loved that. The love triangle of Alex, Jessica, and Justin was weird though.

I also really, really loved Jessica’s journey on loving her body again. And treating herself right. It’s good that they brought up female masturbation in this season too, the stigma really needed to be broken. I’m so proud of her 🥺.

Okay and, wow. Justin’s reveal on being a survivor.. my god. One thing that’s really good about this show is, it highlights that men can also be sexually assaulted, or raped. And, that does not make you any less of a man. Society needs that reminder.

Also. I love Justin so much. So so much. But I’ll make a separate post for my man.

The brotherly relation between Justin, Clay, and Zach. My favourite thing to come out of this season. I’m so glad that the realest people in this show found a brother in one another.

The adventure of Justin settling into Clay’s family was a heartwarming thing to watch, as well.

This scene made me cry SO much. Clay coming back from hearing about what happened to Tony’s family, to tell his parents he loves them and making sure he’s thankful that he has them. I love this family so fucking much. It was a true wake up call for me too. I went and sat with my mum after watching this. Even if your relation with your parent(s) is rocky, please never take their place in your life for granted.

Alright. The best fucking scene from this ENTIRE show. All 3 seasons. This scene was: it.

You can watch Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

I cried start to finish on this one. Viewers also find out that Justin is a survivor, and I.. wow. Fuck. I literally have no words for everything to do with this.

This scene is so important for everyone to watch. It’s important for survivors to watch this to know that they’re not alone. You are never alone. And to those who haven’t been a victim of assault, please stand by those who have. Please support them, fight for them. The justice system is cruel to survivors, and unity within society is what can get us through another day. It can make things better.

Honestly I suck with words. Go watch the scene and hear what Jessica says.

Alright, now it’s time for the most controversial topic of 13 Reasons Why; Bryce Walker.

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the show is shitty for trying to sympathise and make viewers feel bad for Bryce - and I’d like to agree to disagree. Bryce is awful, the fact that he raped so many girls and did such horrible things to so many different people will neither be forgotten, nor forgiven. But I’m gonna choose to look at his plotline in the most positive ways possible.

You cannot forgive a rapist, or an abuser. They aren’t mistakes, they’re somebody’s actions that were intentionally done. But you can choose to let the person learn from it. You can choose to let the person grow, do better. I believe that everyone, no matter who, deserves a second chance. Not a single person in this world is perfect and if people weren’t given second chances, this society would be lifeless. I will choose to believe that Bryce was doing better. I saw a post that said something along the lines of, “It took the loss of his girlfriend, friends, and social status for him to realise that what he did was fucked up.” And I agree. Of course it took that for him to realise. Nobody realises what they’ve truly done until they, themselves, face the consequences for it.

The writers truly did an amazing job on portraying Bryce’s storyline. As problematic as it is, it’s reality, and as Thanos once said, “Reality is often disappointing.” Like, do you know how good you have to be at your job to make viewers FEEL BAD for a rapist? We all knew how horrible Bryce is, yet some of the scenes with him and his mum brought me to tears. I’d also like to give a whole round of applause to Justin Prentice because, wow. That man is damn talented. He did an amazing job this season. Don’t ever forget to separate the actor from their character!

One of the things that really stuck with me from this season is when Ms Baker was brought in for questioning. She said, “Did you know that this department has put more investigative efforts into solving the murder of a convicted rapist, than it ever did for any of his former victims?” And WOW. Did she lie? Did she really fucking lie?? No she didn’t.

Going back to what I said earlier, the justice system is cruel to victims. The way they investigated Bryce’s death vs how they treated Hannah’s case is how things are in real life. It’s really upsetting.

Also, the way they portrayed feminism/the SO club was DISGUSTING. I wish they had done better with that, rather than to carry on the annoying and disrespectful feminist stereotype. Protesting at Bryce’s funeral was so disrespectful.

By the way, wasn’t that Audrey from Scream? LOL

The last topic I wanted to discuss is Ani, but she annoyed me so much that I refuse to put in effort to talk about her. She’s absolutely disgusting for having sex with her friend’s rapist, as well as sticking her nose in business that had nothing to do with her. As Justin once said, “Fuck off, Ani.”

In conclusion,

This show is, and always will remain controversial and problematic. And a lot of people will choose to view it in the most skeptical way possible, rather than to see the points it makes. I definitely agree that this show hasn’t always been the best at portraying certain things - especially in season 1 - but they’re doing better now. This is high school culture (not the part where students are investigating a murder instead of doing homework). This is how the justice system treats rapists vs their victims. These are the struggles of survivors.

AS USUAL, THE SOUNDTRACK SLAPS. Go listen to it, please and thank you. This one is my personal favourite!!

Also, I’m always open to discussing/debating the things I talked about in this post. :)

[zaraquinn]

They’ll Definitely Understand

Eugene Lee Yang - “You smiled and all I could think of for a moment was, ‘oh shit.’”

Word Count: 1,735

Eugene Lee Yang x Reader (The Try Guys)

Prompt Post: (#34)

Requested: By Me again welp

A/N: I recently have a huge crush on Eugene Lee Yang from the Try Guys so I had to write this before I exploded or something. Also female reader POV for this one.

Y/N - Your Name

——

——

Walking from the canteen with a cup full of grapes you plopped one in your mouth as you returned to the film room. You were helping with The Try Guys and their new video, Ashly asking for extra help to film. Entering the film room the boys were chatting from the other side of the room, taking a break and sipping coffee. Ashly walked up to you tiredly. “Hey Ash, I got some snacks for us. Reenergize us for the meantime.” You said offering her the fruit in the styrofoam cup. “Thank God you’re here Y/N. I really don’t know what I’d do without your help.” She said opening her mouth as Y/N plopped a grape in her mouth. “Here, I’m going to get more food from the canteen. You can go ahead and shoot the next scene with the guys. I’ll be back.” Ashly said with a smile as she carefully handed her camera to you; carefully handing it and putting the safety strap around your neck.

You nodded in agreement as you held the camera in one hand and making sure the camera on the tripod didn’t go in sleep mode during the duration of the break. This video involved The Try Guys with filming, as well as a photo shoot and major editing, that you had the opportunity to help with a big chunk.

As you got the camera to wake up again, you were met with a smiling Eugene. You crooked an eyebrow at him as he stood straight to meet your eyes. “Good one.” You said with a chuckle as you looked down at the camera in your hand and took it off sleep mode. Eugene, walking around the tripod and settling behind you, over-watching what you were doing from behind. His chin gently laying on top of your head. Your short figure feeling engulfed with Eugene’s tall one. A smile crept onto your face, gently letting the camera hang from the strap around your neck. “The view from up there good?” You joked. You felt Eugene laugh as he put his hands on your shoulders. “Definitely. You should try it sometime.” He continued the joke as you shook your head and spun around to face him.

You and Eugene had been dating for almost a month now, and haven’t told any of your friends at work. Both of you agreed that it wasn’t time to reveal it yet, so both of you had to keep it on low for a while. And you had to admit, it was extremely hard to hide when you had the urge to kiss Eugene’s pretty little face when he was doing something adorable or look at him like he’s your everything every time he made you laugh. Especially when hanging around friends and co-workers. Although, you had to admit that sneaking out of plans just to stay at his place seemed reasonable. Almost every day, your friends at Buzzfeed have been making plans with you in it, and it did push you into a pit of guilt when you would always blow them off. You convinced yourself that once everyone knows, it’ll all be forgiven; at least you hoped.

Quickly opening your apartment door, Eugene’s hands fell to your waist, and his lips settled on your neck from behind. His actions slowing you down from removing your key from the key lock to open your door. “Come on,” you said breathlessly as you held onto Eugene’s wrist and lead him in. He quickly shut your door and locked it, as you then wrapped your arms around his neck; greeting him back with a kiss. Returning the kiss, the two of you spun so that he was pinning you against your door and his hands wandered freely at the hem of your skirt. His lips attacking your neck and collarbone, leaving marks everywhere. You softly moaned as you felt his hands settle on your ass. “Jump.” Was all he said and you followed suit—legs wrapped around his waist. “I hope Quinta and Ashly aren’t mad, that I blew them off once, again.” You said between breaths as you let Eugene leave marks on your body, and your legs tightening around him. “They’ll definitely understand, once we show them these marks.” He said quickly and continued. You gave a little chuckle at the thought. ‘I hope.’ You mentally told yourself. Suddenly you felt Eugene harden underneath his jeans and heat pooling down between your legs. You bit your bottom lip as you kissed Eugene on the lips again, letting your hands reach down at his leather belt. He broke the kiss and laid his forehead on yours. You smiled and innocently looked at him. “I love you Y/N.” He said softly. A bright smile painted your face. “I love you too Eugene.” You said as he carried you to your bedroom.

‘They’ll definitely understand.’ A small wave of guilt settled in your stomach from the memory and words from Eugene last night. “You doing anything tonight? I heard that Netflix added the new season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” he said. “I totally would, but, I gotta edit two videos and release them tomorrow morning.” You said with a puppy-dog pout. “We will though, don’t worry.” You said in a hushed whisper and winked at him. Eugene’s face lit up like a child on Christmas. “Oh shit.” You said to yourself, and Eugene catching it. “What?” He curiously asked. His innocent face makes you want to kiss him. “Just, You smiled and all I could think of for a moment was, ‘oh shit.’” You said softly in a loving tone, keeping it to a minimal. Eugene’s cheeks looked blushed as he lightly punched you in the arm as he returned to the rest of the guys.

“God, can’t you guys just tell everyone you’re dating already?” Ashly asked as she suddenly put a hand on your shoulder. You suddenly got startled and quickly whipped your head around to face her. “What?” You said, trying to act innocent and confused. “You and Eugene,” she trailed off and nudged you. “I’m not dating Eugene.” You gave Ashly your best attempt at acting before she gave you a ‘nice-try-Raphael’ look. “Okay, so what? We’re just not ready to tell anyone yet.” You said quietly to her and pulled her off to the side. “So when are you guys going to tell everyone then? I mean, it’s clearly obvious both of you are dating.” She said with a laugh as she lightly munched on a cookie from the canteen. “What do you mean ‘obvious’? I’m doing a pretty good job at keeping it on the down low. Same with Eugene.” You tried to tell Ashly, but she shook her head in disappointment. “Oh, sweet innocent Y/N, I wish you could see it through everyone else’s eyes.” She gave a chuckle as you crooked an eyebrow in honest confusion. Ashly gave you a soft pat on the shoulder as she returned to the tripod.

Eugene coming back to you, shoving his pockets in his dress pants. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” He asked politely. You gave a nod as you followed him outside the filming room. You both stopped at an empty hallway and leaned on the wall. You also had something to talk to him about and you opened your mouth to start. “I think we should tell everyone about us.” You both said in unison. Blinking, you both let out a chuckle at the moment. Great minds think alike. “Who told you?” You asked. “The guys. You?” He asked. “Ashly.” Both of you gave nods, then settling on telling everyone; walking back to the filming room.

As both you and Eugene entered the room Eugene got everyone’s attention. “Everyone, random news announcement, but,” he trailed off, taking a glance at you. You gave a smile and a slight nod as he continued. “Y/N and I are dating.” He revealed (finally) and let his hand hold yours. Both fingers intertwining. “Finally!” Ned yelled in relief, with a smile on his face. “It was so obvious!” Keith yelled out too, giving Ned a high-five. “Yeah, I totally ship you guys,” Zach said excitedly as he gave small claps. Ashly quickly ran out the door to drag Andrew in. “What are you doing?” He asked as she dragged Andrew in with her hand on his wrist. “Winning.” She said. “Say it again,” Ashly asked. Both you and Eugene looked at each other and shrugged. “Y/N and I are dating.” Eugene said simply. “Finally!” A bunch of people yelled in unison. You and Eugene were startled as Steven, Freddie, Kelsey, Ryan, Shane and Sara appeared at the door. “Right?” The three other Try guys said happily behind both you and Eugene. “And that means, Ned and I win Andrew. Hand over the money.” Ashly said as Ned quickly ran over to Ashly, giving her a high-five. “But wait, everyone else bet on this right?” Andrew said to all the people at the door. Ashly looked confused as everyone confessed their bets. Sara, Shane, Steven and Andrew bet that you were going to be the first one to announce it, and Ryan, Freddie, Kelsey, Ashly and Ned bet that Eugene was going to announce it—but Ashly and Andrew had the original bet before they dragged seven more people in it.

“What?” You asked awkwardly as they all exchanged their money to the winning team. “Wait!” Yelled Zach from behind. “When did you start dating?” He asked eagerly. “A little over a month ago.” You answered with a smile. Eugene letting your hand go and making it’s way to your waist. You felt his strong hand gripping your waist gently. “Damn it.” Keith then sighed and took out his wallet, handing Zach $50. “Thank you sir.” He said happily. “You guys are really cute by the way.” Freddie said breaking the awkward ice. Everyone murmured in agreement. “Yeah, I thought Eugene didn’t have feelings and emotions.” Kelsey said with a laugh. “Then call this emotion.” Eugene said as he lifted and spun you and gave you a kiss. Your arms quickly made it’s way around his neck as you passionately kissed him. Both of you departed the kiss with a smile as everyone clapped and happily yelled in unison. ‘They’ll definitely understand’. You thought back at Eugene’s words. He was right after all.

~~~~

A/N: I finally made a masterlist! If you wanna go check it out, link is here!

~~~~

Masterlist

[icedanceupstarts]

2019 4CC Recap

In which nothing went as expected and your exhausted mods got a jolt of energy. The tech panel giveth and the tech panel taketh away. 

Before we get into the dramas of the top teams, we'd like to give a couple shout outs to some of the teams that wound up in the bottom half. China's dance program is really picking up, with not only fan favorites Wang/Liu, but also their teammates Chen/Sun and Ning/Wang making huge strides over just this season. You can see the inexperience of both, but Chen/Sun scored extremely well, and Ning/Wang show a lot of potential as well, with her in particular giving good face.

We also want to tip our hats to Andrew Dodds and his ridiculous schedule, competing all four days of 4CC and setting all new personal bests in both singles and dance. Kerry/Dodds have progressed a lot in what is just their second season together, and we hope they continue to work hard in the future. You can see the newness in the transitions in and out of lifts, or how they don't yet have an automatic feel for where the other is on the ice, but you can see the potential. As ice dance lovers first and foremost, selfishly we sort of hope Andrew decides to focus on dance, but regardless he should feel very proud of what he accomplished here, and of course Chantelle should as well.

Komatsubara/Koleto are doing well for themselves as Japan's top dance team, with lovely chemistry and a strong sense of partnering. They'll want to improve on their tech to achieve new personal bests at their worlds debut at home but they’ve shown great progress this season. Their free dance in particular, taking us from sighing over Love Story’s warhorse status in skating to oh but a beautiful program!

In the battle of US #3 and Canadian #3, Hawayek/Baker came out on top, but it was close, and the Canadanes will have the opportunity for a rematch at worlds.

Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen had a good international(and 4CC of course!) debut as Canadians, particularly in the rhythm dance where we thought they could have stood to place fifth by a hair. This program is such a good match for them and their skating, sleek and elegant and showing off their great chemistry. They have a fantastic lift entry to the twizzles and still end up so close together it would be frightening if they weren't so in control. They had some bobbles in their flamenco free dance, and honestly we think we preferred the original incarnation, but it was still a good performance. They have fantastic detail and maturity in their skating, great expression, and skirt action galore. She slipped on the otherwise excellent choreographic slide, and in general it wasn't perfect, but they should feel very good about their reception by the judges.

Reigning 4CC champions Hawayek/Baker had little hope of even medaling, much less defending their title, but they had two strong performances and personal best scores. They'll really want to strengthen their technical performance for worlds, particularly in the rhythm dance. They have great projection and emotion in their skating which contributes to their high PCS, but it's going to be a tight fight for the top ten at worlds and they can't afford to give up points if they want to continue to make their mark. Since moving to Gadbois they've noticeably improved their twizzles, and they have more power to their skating, which enhances the maturity they had already spent the last quad in the senior ranks cultivating. It's clear from the scoring here that the judges like them and their programs, and if they can hit their levels in the final competition of the season, they can go a long way.

Gilles/Poirier beat Weaver/Poje in the free dance for the second competition in a row, but the rhythm dance had them behind(also for the second competition in a row) even if they hadn't received that lift deduction in the free. They're getting closer though, and they should be especially happy with their 2nd place PCS in the FD. They had their best tango performance of the season here while maintaining their usual distinctive flair. Even when they're being fairly normal, everything they do feels unique. They have such beautiful shaping and interesting, complex transitions in their programs, and they really tell a story. Never more true than in their Vincent FD, drawing on all their strengths as a team and building on so many daring and innovative programs in their repertoire.

Weaver/Poje's rhythm dance might be slightly too soft for our personal tastes, but it's undeniable that it's perfect for them. They have a mature, romantic connection, and one of the best integrated patterns of the field. They might have even beaten Chock/Bates in that segment had it not been for a bobble on the twizzles. Their twizzles have long been a bit of an issue for them, easily their weakest element, and lag behind the rest of the field. Even so, they're difficult and well placed to the music in both programs. They'll want to earn a little more GOE in the elements of their emotional free dance, as Gilles/Poirier beat them in TES while having a lower base value. But this is one of their best free dances, drawing out every bit of emotion and ending on three strong choreo elements, so it will be interesting to see how things stack up next month at Worlds.

Chock/Bates continued their comeback trail with first a fantastic rhythm dance with both great tech(highest of the event!)  and performance. We really enjoy this tango on them, and they absolutely nail this style. With tons of expression and detailed choreography, they keep your attention all the way through their ending, eye catching rotational lift. We'll admit to some, ah, slight skepticism when it was announced in the fall that they would be skating an Elvis free dance, but they just keeping getting better with each performance. Their performance was engaging and confident, and this is just a really nice program. The choreography is full of great moments, including little details like Evan booping her nose, and who can forget those lifts? Even as remarkably well-trained as they are for missing ten months, there's still room to grow in the weeks before worlds. They could use a little more speed in the final minute, and to smooth out the transitions of their stunning choreographic lift. If they can tighten up those details while continuing to deliver compelling performances like the ones they had this weekend, they have every chance of earning their third world medal in Saitama.

Chock/Bates’ serpentine lift was initially mistakenly entered into the system as just a curve lift, causing your mods some mini heart attacks as their TES hovered at a dangerously low 63 before jumping up seven points. The release of that dramatic tension turned out to be foreshadowing as the exact opposite thing happened to their rivals Hubbell/Donohue. When watching live we vaguely noticed that their now infamous stationary lift needed a passport, but we were worn out after a long week of competition and assumed that it was fine. Turns out it was very much Not Fine! Even the lift aside, they seemed tight and had some bobbles, and their free dance in general is just not suited to them. Their quality of skating is as high as it's always been, but the program is not constructed in a way that best shows off their power, flow, or edges, and it may be a matter of personal taste, but Kissing You kind of drags on into an eternal saccharine dirge. We were genuinely surprised when we checked the timestamps and discovered that Kissing You really only lasts half the program, where we would have guessed closer to three quarters. It's kind of a sad, deflating balloon of a second half and just doesn't go anywhere. Their rhythm dance is better for them, but they had more struggles on the levels of their step sequences there than they did in the free dance.

We've seen some conspiracy theories regarding Hubbell/Donohue's calls here(a number of them involving Jonathan Guerreiro's mother for reasons that have not been adequately explained to us?) but not only were their calls fair, if anything they were kind. We've gone over that first lift, and the tech panel would have been within their rights to call it as a combination Stationary B + Rotational B lift, which would have murdered their score dead. And they received a rare level 4 on the midline step sequence for the first time this season, and while that was understandably overshadowed by the uh, rest of the protocol, that's a great achievement and one they should feel proud of. A bigger concern for us is their spin levels. They got a level 2 call at GPF, and have at competitions in the past, such as Nationals last season. It looks to us like they tend to rush their positions and are a little sloppy getting in and out of them, so they're falling just short of the needed rotations. Zach's camel position in particular looks a little iffy to us, and his lack of stability there could be what's costing them. Even if they had gotten their lift levels, that spin would have had them in second place, so it's not a mistake they can afford to make again at Worlds, where the scores will be tight through a good portion of the top ten. As unpleasant as this no doubt was for them, they have every opportunity to fix these errors, skate lights out at Worlds, and earn their second world medal. While our personal opinions of their programs are lukewarm at best, and we don't think are showing off their skills to the best effect, they still are fantastic skaters who will have a fire lit under them after this disappointing result.

[askdawnandvern]

A Lamb Among Wolves

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Girls Night: The Art of Romance

"When did you know?" She asked.

"Hmm?" Dawn replied.

"When did you know you loved him?" The diminutive fox added. "That he was the one?"

A warm smile crept across Dawn's muzzle as she thought back to early days when she first met Vernon. Despite all the terror, and danger that the "Zootopia's Last Night" case sent rippling through her already troubled life, it had all been worth it to have been lucky enough to reconnect with the wolf. And even now, looking back on those early days in their relationship filled the ewe with renewed warmth and love for her soulmate.

"Well, I would be lying If I said it was the moment we met." Dawn said with a chuckle. " Despite having shelves filled with books filled with all sorts of tawdry romances, with couples knowing as soon as they laid eyes on one another that they belonged together, I don't believe it works like that in real life." The ewe shook her head dismissively. " Well at least, not in my case."

Dawn shifted up Vanna's bed slightly, the large tigress moving over a bit to allow the lamb to lean her back against the head of the bed. The ewe leaned back slightly, placing her hooves on her chest as she continued to recall the day Vernon and she had first reunited.

"I should mention first, that Vernon and I did know each other briefly as kids." Dawn said.

"Really?" Qali chirped.

"Aw...puppyhood love huh?" Malcolm cooed.

Dawn giggled. "Unfortunately no, although I certainly wish things had gone that way." The ewe flashed a warm smile. "Perhaps if we had actually had the time, maybe something like that could have happened. But we didn't get to know each other long enough."

Qali frowned sharply, the little fox's ears flattening out in dismay. "Why?" The vixen asked, concern in her voice.

Dawn frowned as she remembered the miserable day when her Father had ended her friendship with Vernon. The drunken ram nearly tearing her arm off in an effort to rip away the 'offending' friendship bracelet she had made while berating her in the process. The day that had left her with a dislocated shoulder, a blackened eye, and the death of the only friendship she ever had.

"M-my Father put an end to things." Dawn sighed sadly. " He was..." Dawn closed her eyes, the memories of that day causing a dull ache to ripple through the areas her Father had hurt all those years ago. "A very cruel mammal."

Ada let out a low growl, and as Dawn turned her attention to the large canid she could see her expression was a mixture of disgust and ire.

"I get ya." Ada growled. Clearly the hyeness had picked up on Dawn's subtle implications. "He's dead now right? Because a dat Night Howla ting?"

Dawn nodded affirmatively, her response seeming to ease Ada's attitude as a smug grin returned to her face.

"Good ting." Ada snorted. "Oddawise I'd love to pay him a visit and teach him how it feels to be at anuddah mammal's mercy."

Dawn felt a paw on her shoulder and turned to find Vanna now looking down at her with sympathetic eyes.

"I'm sorry Dawn." Vanna said sadly. "No mammal should have to go through that kind of thing."

Dawn placed her hoof on Vanna's paw, rubbing it affectionately as she offered the cat a small smile. " Thank you..." The ewe turned her smile to the rest of the girls. "All of you, but I'm okay now." Dawn rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, mostly okay. But there's little left to be said about my Father, and I'd rather not dwell on it any more than I have to." Dawn gingerly removed Vanna's paw from her shoulder, smiling widely at the rest of the Hunter girls. "This story is about love, not my lousy childhood."

Slowly but surely, Dawn's smile seemed to infect the others, pulling the atmosphere back to the previous warmth it had held before.

"When I first met Vernon..." Dawn chuckled, shaking her head. "I mean again. I didn't know how to feel." The ewe adjusted her glasses. "We didn't recognize each at first, it was only after working together for a while that we sort of rediscovered our friendship." Dawn placed her hooves on her hips, tilting her head toward Vanna slightly as she eyed the looming tigress. "So imagine me, this little runt of a ewe who just got out of jail. Predator enemy number one. And my new boss introduces me to the biggest wolf I've ever seen and tells me we'll be working together!" Dawn laughed. "I was terrified!"

"I hear that." Qali said with a smirk. "The first time I met Trenny was a real trip.  A six foot four wall of ice that made the primal part of my brain scream 'run away'!" The diminutive fox giggled. "But the rational part of my brain was like, 'Hello handsome.'!"

Ada chuckled. "Yeah, and you didn't even have dat whole anti-pred criminal past to add to it." Ada quirked an eyebrow at the ewe. "I can't even begin to imagine what was runnin' through your head dere Fluff Butt."

Dawn shook her head as she chuckled. " Pretty much everything you could expect. Fears of being eaten, or being made an example of, or the gods know what." Dawn sighed. "I mean it was silly, but the place I was in at the time, any terrible thing seemed possible."

Dawn smirked. "But Vernon, he was a gentlemam' through and through. If he held anything against me at the time, he certainly didn't show it."

"That sounds like a Hunter for ya." Malcolm interjected.

"Except for maybe Dori." Qali huffed.

Dawn winced at the mention of the large white wolf, but did her best to keep the memories of her conversation buried by pressing on through her story.

"He even went so far as to help me to get some semblance of a life together. When the bank, or the grocer had refused to deal with me, Vernon stepped in and made sure they stopped discriminating against me." Dawn let out an affectionate sigh. "And this was before we even found out we were friends growing up. He just did it out of the goodness of his heart. Because he was willing to give me a chance."

"Which is more than the city sounds like it was willing to offer." Vanna added, earning a nod from Dawn.

"I don't fault the mammals in Zootopia for feeling the way they did, but how could I even start to try to turn over a new leaf if no one was willing to give me the opportunity?" Dawn asked.

"So what happened when you two figured out who you guys were!?" Qali jumped in, the fox now laying across the bed with her head on her paws. Qali was trained on Dawn, her eyes focus on her own as she eyed the ewe expectantly.

Dawn offered a wide grin in response to the eager fox. "Oh, we were ecstatic, especially Vernon." The ewe flicked a hoof lazily. "He was keen on making up for lost time, and making our shifts as fun as possible." Dawn sighed dreamily, her eyelids fluttering softly as she recalled the warm memories of the silly fun the pair had on their many night shifts at the Bug Burga. "And it was during that time I started to feel...things..."

"Tings huh?" Ada cooed, quirking her eyebrows playfully at the ewe.

"I wouldn't say it was love just yet." Dawn held up a hoof to the snarky hyena. " After all, the lamb in me couldn't conceive attraction to a predator, especially a wolf." Dawn chuckled, shaking her head dismissively. "I mean, I had never even dated outside my species. I had only ever been in relationships with rams, and anything beyond that was alien to me."

"I can sort of understand that." Vanna said, scratching the back of her head idly. " It was strange for me to....figure out I was attracted to Zach." Vanna paused, rolling her eyes slightly as she chewed on her lip. "I mean, accepting that I was."

Dawn nodded. "I think I was really able to start to grasp it when Vernon and I were forced to move in together."

"Wait, you two moved in togeddah?" Ada asked. "Why?"

"Well, my apartment burned down." Dawn said somberly.

Each of the Hunter girls flashed the ewe a puzzled and concerned look, but Dawn simply rolled her eyes, dismissively flicking a hoof. "It's a long story, but with nowhere else to stay, Vernon was dead set on me living with him."

"And then the sparks started flyin'?" Malcolm asked, a warm and silly smile crawling up his muzzle.

Dawn giggled, shifting back against her pillow as she found herself recalling some of the things that had happened during their 'friendly co-habitation', most notably Vernon helping her shear, and accidentally walking in on her in the bathroom.

"You could say that." Dawn said, with a knowing grin. "But honestly, by then I was struggling with my growing feelings for Vernon. I couldn't tell if it was just because he had been kind to me and I latched on to him, or if it was something about his smell, or because I hadn't lived so close to a male in years." Dawn chuckled. "I was looking for any way to rationalize it, to chase it away as silly infatuation."

"But obviously it wasn't." Vanna said with a knowing grin of her own.

Dawn let out an amorous sigh. "It took my therapist to kind of drive it home for me, but it was true. I had fallen head over hooves for a wolf."

"Aww..." Qali cooed. "That so sweet!"

"So whendya tellum?" Ada grinned.

Dawn grimaced slightly. Realizing she was in love with the wolf hadn't been as wonderful as it should have been at the outset. She struggled with the complex problems and emotions that such a love could carry with it, especially considering her place in Zootopia at the time. In that way, her love for the wolf was an agony the ewe simply couldn't endure living under, for the safety of each of them.

"I...didn't..." Dawn muttered sadly.

"What!" Qali yelped, frowning sharply. The fox pressed her paws against the mattress, leaning her body closer to the ewe. "Why!?"

Dawn shook her head. "I just..." Dawn placed a hoof to her head. "With who I was, and what Vernon wanted to be, I couldn't take a chance at ruining his life like that." Dawn sighed. "I didn't want to hurt him because I selfishly expected him to love me."

Dawn leaned back, staring up at the ceiling as she rested her hooves on her chest.

"I gave serious consideration to moving out." Dawn murmured.

The room remained quiet for a moment, the Hunter girls falling deaf at how heavy the ewe's story had grown. It was clear the girls were unsure of what to say, at least at first. But eventually, Ada broke the deafening silence.

"Butcha didn't, did ya?" Ada asked.

Dawn sat back up, propping up the pillow before leaning against it again.

"Before I could, things went kind of crazy..." Dawn said. "I trust most of you heard about that story. About the wine bottling plant, and my Father's attempt to destroy the city. And then after that...well..." Dawn winced, recalling her stay in the hospital, her brush with death at the hooves of the night howler toxin. It would have been a fitting end for someone like her. At least that's what she had thought at the time. "I was out of it for a while."

"I remember reading about it." Vanna added, scratching her head awkwardly. " You were the only survivor out of the mammals that were exposed."

Dawn nodded slightly. "Myself and Doug, not that it mattered."

"So what happened next?" Qali asked, now using her paws to sort of bounce in place.

Dawn smiled warmly as she recalled the moment Vernon had first told her how he felt. At a time where the wolf was unsure if she could even hear him. Somewhere through the dreamlike haze of the coma and lingering night howler effects, the wolf's words had managed to reach her, and spurred her back to the waking world.

"A lot of what happened was...fuzzy." Dawn said. "I'm not well versed in about how a coma will affect a mammal in most cases. But for me...I was vaguely aware Vernon was near me." Dawn sighed. "I could hear him sometimes, and I always sort of felt him."

A wide, warm grin crawled across Dawn's muzzle as she readied to tell the girls what she had heard. "And somewhere through the fog hanging over my brain, I heard Vernon tell me he loved me. That he always had."

That managed to earn a collective 'aww' from the Hunter girls, Ada excluded. Qali was practically in awe, the fox beaming in response to Vernon's declaration.

"That's soo adorable!" Qali squeed. "He loved you just as much the whole time!"

Dawn giggled at the enthusiastic fox.

"Y-yes well, keep in mind he didn't know I heard him." Dawn said, regaining some of her composure. "So when I actually woke up, Vernon didn't exactly repeat himself."

"Pft...ain't dat like a guy." Ada scoffed. "What is it about tellin' a goil ya love 'em dat scares 'em to death?"

Dawn giggled, raising a hoof to Ada again. "Well don't worry, I didn't plan on letting it go." Dawn grinned widely. "I just needed to wait for the right moment."

"So when was the right moment?" Vanna asked.

Dawn adjusted her glasses slightly. "When we got home of course. When it was just the two of us." Dawn smirked. "I told him that I heard what he said, and I needed to hear it again." Dawn let out an amorous sigh, holding her hoof against her heart as a heat welled deep inside her chest. "And that's when he told me how much he truly loved me, and that I was the one."

Another series of 'awws' rippled through the group, with Ada even contributing this time. Malcolm dabbed the corner of his eye as he began to waft a paw toward his face.

"Shoot, I'm wellin' up here..." The chubby wolf sniffled.

Dawn was smiling broadly now, but more at the thought of Vernon than the story. Of that moment in her life, and how it felt. The fire inside her chest practically stung with love for the large wolf, and in that instant she wished he had been in the room, just so the ewe could plant a kiss on his muzzle. Vernon would never know how much his love had truly saved her life in so many ways, but when it came to moments like this it only strengthened the ewe's resolve to do her best to show him every day.

"And I finally got to tell him the same." Dawn sighed.

"And then you kissed right!?" Qali added with a gleeful grin.

"Dey probably did more den dat." Ada chuckled, flashing the ewe a grin.

Dawn placed her hooves over her muzzle as a harsh blush began to form. The heat that had been in her chest was now flushing to her face in full force.

"Y-you aren't wrong..." Dawn trailed off.

With that, the other girls, as well as Malcolm, burst into giggling, Dawn joining just moments later. The girls seemed to spend a good while giggling before they managed to compose themselves, Dawn being one of the first to manage to catch her breath despite herself. Turning her attention to Ada, the ewe arched an eyebrow curiously at the hyeness.

"What about you Ada?" Dawn asked. "I'm kind of curious as to your relationship with Yuri."

"Yeah, it's a curious one all right." Qali said through giggles as the fox tried to regain her composure.

"Oh yeah?" Ada snickered. "What's so curious about it?"

Dawn winced slightly, biting her lip as she tried to figure out exactly how to phrase her response without accidentally offending the hyena. After a few moments with no success, the ewe found herself looking up to Vanna with pleading eyes. The large tigress briefly quirked an eyebrow before seeming to get the ewe's message.

"I think she wants to know what you see in Yuri." Vanna said bluntly.

"Yeah." Malcolm added. "I mean that boy sure is...a erm..." The wolf mumbled, playing with his paws nervously. "I mean he's a pill."

"I was just wondering..." Dawn said, continuing to wince. "When did you figure out you loved him?"

"Do you even love that jerk?" Qali added, the fox had returned to leaning on her paws as her attention now fixed on the large canid.

Dawn grimaced sharply in response to Qali's bluntness, worrying for a moment that Ada would take to arming pillows like Vanna had before. But the hyeness simply cackled in the trademark fashion of her species before trailing off into a wistful sigh.

Ada turned her attention to the group, her expression surprisingly gentle and warm in spite of her usual personality.

"I know Yuri's a jerk." Ada said with a chuckle. "But he can be a sweet fella when it comes down to it."

"On what planet?" Malcolm laughed.

Ada closed her eyes, shaking her head as another laugh escaped her throat. "He's just really insecure, and more worried about what everyone tinks of him den he wants to admit." Ada smiled. "I guess I'm de only one who really gets to see dat dough."

"I'd say so..." Vanna replied.

With that, Ada leaned back onto her pillow, placing her paws behind her head as she stared at the ceiling above.

"Me and Yuri, we both got pretty demandin' jobs." Ada said, raising a paw. "Yuri's runnin' detective woik, on call almost twenty-four seven. And me, I'm a noise at da hospital workin' night shifts."

"You're a nurse?" Dawn asked.

Ada chuckled. "I work mostly in da morgue, figurin' out what killed mammals. Sometimes I woik Emergency, but I prefer da morgue." The hyena turned her head to Dawn, flashing the ewe a playful grin. "Dey don't complain' about my jokes."

Dawn placed her hooves over her muzzle as she let out a giggle, to which Ada replied with a wide, over dramatic open mouth smile as if inviting the other girls to laugh at her joke. Sadly, there were no other takers, and with that the canid continued her tale.

"Yuri and I had been togedduh for..." Ada tapped a claw to her muzzle as she tried to pin down a date. With a nod, the hyena continued. "It was about a year, yeah, one year exactly actually."

Ada smirked. "I remember because it was our anniversary, or raddah, it was supposed'ta be."

Dawn frowned. "Oh, what happened?" Consider Yuri's general demeanor, the ewe found herself already assuming that the wolf and hyena had gotten into a fight.

"What happened?" Ada repeated, arching an eyebrow at the ewe briefly before turning her attention back to the ceiling. Ada let out a long, tired sigh. "Woik happened."

Ada dragged a paw over her face, allowing it to rest on her chin before she continued.

"Lotta crimes at da time. O course dat meant Yuri's phone was ringin' off da hook at all howers of da day." Ada placed her arms behind her head. "And as fa me? Well da hospital was going trew a really bad period, where we was horribly undastaffed." Ada rolled her eyes. "So dat meant old 'good goil' Ada was runnin' extra howers and back to back shifts."

"Oh." Dawn said, frowning.

"I just remembah bein' so tiyad..." Ada groaned. "I swear sometimes I just wanted ta crawl up onto one of da body slabs and have someone roll it inta da wall so I could get some real shuteye." Ada smirked." I don't tink da neighbors wouldda complained, but my boss sure would have." Ada grinned, winking at the ewe and earning another giggle.

"And Yuri was busy too?" Qali asked.

"And grumpy" Ada chuckled. "Da both of us was. We was too tired to even argue!" Ada leaned up, facing the rest of the girls. "We'd just get home, say hi, and go ta bed, if we was that lucky."

"Ugh, that sounds rough." Malcolm winced, the wolf seemingly disgusted at the prospect of being pushed that hard. It was something Dawn was at least familiar with, having spent many late nights prepping work that Lionheart would always take credit for. Sufficed to say it was not something she missed, and she could certainly relate to Ada's predicament.

"We was supposed tah do a dinner ting." Ada raised her paw. "Fancy restaurant in Seaodder, evening at da top of da Space Needle havin' drinks. Da woiks." Ada shook her head. "We had reservations."

"And I take it you had to cancel?" Dawn asked sadly.

Ada sighed. "We sat down, had a talk about it."  Ada raised an arm before letting it flop back to her side. "Wit our howers bein' what dey were, we knew it wasn't happenin'. So we decided to move it a few months. Till our schedules cleared up." The hyeness placed her paws on her chest. "It was sad, but we accepted it."

The room was quiet for a moment, the awkward somber silence from before returning to once again hang over the room. Dawn wanted to say something, but found herself unsure exactly what to say. Much like her own story, Ada's had taken a disappointing dip, and the mood in the room had shifted to reflect it.

"Geeze, I thought this was supposed to be a romantic story." Qali muttered with a yawn. "You're starting to bum me out Chuckles."

Ada let out a hyena cackle, leaning her head on her paw as she turned toward the group.

"I'm gettin' dere squit. Stop gettin' ahead of everybody!" Ada laughed.

Qali winced, her ears flattening as she looked around at the others in embarrassment.

"Sorry..." She whined, returning to her prone position on the bed. Ada simply rolled her eyes before continuing.

"So, as I was sayin'. We agreed to put off da anniversary for a while." Ada sighed. "And I was fine wit dat." Ada raised her paws. "After all, it's justa day."

Ada turned around, laying on her stomach as she stretched out across the center of her bed, allowing her to now fully face the others.

"So fast foward to da night right? Yuri's out on a case, and I'm at da hospital." Ada wiped her eyes with her paw. "I was on the bad end of a back to back twelve hower shift, wit only about two howers total snooze time, and I was feelin' it bad."

Ada shook her head sharply. "I felt like my guys on da gurneys did, only at least dey got to lay down." Ada cackled, drawing a few stray giggles from the other girls. "And I needed a cawfee bad."

The hyeness' normally jovial expression shifted to a scowl as she rested her head on both of her paws. "Unfortunately da hospital cawfee tastes like a weasel piss, and is about as eneagetic as a sloth."

Vanna arched an eyebrow curiously. "How do you know what weasel piss tastes like?" The tigress asked.

Ada shook her head. "Kit Kat, I woik at a hospital. At one point or anuddah a tiyud noise or doctor is gonna accidentally take a sip of a specimin." The hyeness grinned widely. "Sadly I didn't notice I was drinkin' Mr. Weasletto's sample till dere was only a toid of it left. I really tought it was da cawfee!"

Dawn found herself chuckling slightly despite her disgust. She hoped that the hyena was simply making another lousy joke, if not for her sake then for Ada's own.

"Anyway, so I'm practically fallin' asleep in da Emergency Room when finally, by da grace of da gods, I get my break." Ada sighed. "toity minutes of not doin' anyting neva sounded so sweet, I tells ya." The hyeness grinned widely. "So I skulk off to da morgue to just sit in silence and try to keep myself up with some dumb phone games."

"Anything good?" Qali asked?

Ada shrugged. "Day're phone game, of course not!" Ada chuckled. "Mostly crosswoids and dose numbah puzzles. Da stuff you don't have to keep payin' to play."

"You do crosswords?" Dawn asked, flashing the hyeness a surprised glance. The ewe couldn't help herself. Despite not wanting to make assumptions about Ada, the canid didn't seem the type that was particularly wordy.

Ada shook her head slightly, her grin widening as she regarded the ewe. "Hey, just because I'm a street goil don't mean I don't enjoy eduactin' myself!" Ada raised her paw, flicking it outward as she rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know I didn't get to bein' a noise by sittin' on my paws all day. I hustled!" Ada let out a barking laugh.

"Or the standards for medically trained mammals in the Seaodder area are really, really low?" Vanna said with a smirk.

"Shh!" The sudden exclamation had come from Qali. The little fox was now standing on her tippy toes, reaching a paw to Vanna's lips as she stared at her with a deadly serious stare. "I want to know what happened!" Qali said, raising her eyebrows as she gazed into the tigress' eyes. Vanna stared back at the diminutive fox in surprise.

Ada let out another barking laugh. "Geeze Snowball, youse I really into dis stuff huh?" Ada shook her head dismissively, rolling her eyes as she leaned back against her pillow. The hyeness placed her paws behind her head again, her gaze lazily returning to the ceiling.

"I'm nearly asleep sittin' up, when someone knocks at da morge door." Ada said, arching an eyebrow in the groups direction. "Obviously dats not sometin' that usually happens in da hospital, so naturally my curiosity is peaked."

The hyeness slowly rose up before shifting into a prone position, a smirk on her face as she struck a stalking pose on her bed.

"So I creep over to da double doors, and who do I find?"

"Yuri? Was it Yuri?" Qali chirped. "It was him right?"

Ada rolled her eyes as she slipped back into a seated position, crossing her legs on the mattress.

"A 'course it was Yuri frost fa brains!" Ada chuckled. "Uddarwise why would I be tellin' dis story!?"

Dawn watched as Vanna gave the tiny fox a soft but playful nudge, pressing her head down slightly with one of her massive paws. Qali was quick to pull away, swatting at the cat as she giggled.

"So dere's my favorite little mook, standin' in the hall with two extra large pipin' hot cawfees from Snarlbucks. One of dem brewed to da nines wit all my favorite mix-ins." Ada's eyes took on a dreamlike glimmer as she stared off. "Dat night, it smelled like heaven itself." The hyena let out an amorous sigh as she clasped her paws together. "Toins out, my little mookie lined up his break wit mine so he could spend it wit me, and he brought me my favorite cawfee cause he knew I needed it."

Ada leaned back on the bed, allowing her head to lean on her shoulder as she flashed Dawn a warm grin. "He drove halfway across town just to spend like ten minutes wit me, and make sure I had da energy to keep goin'." Ada sighed. "I can still remember just sittin' dere, and Yuri's got his arm around me. We was just talkin' and drinkin' our cawffees, and makin' sure we was both alright."

Ada turned to face the group, laying horizontal across her bed as she rested her head on her paws.

"It was sumtin' so small, so paltry ya know?" Ada chuckled. "And it was probably da least romantic place in da world." The hyeness let out a warm, contented sigh. "But damn it, It made my day. Heck it made my year." The hyena offered a wide, toothy grin. "And dat's when I knew, I loved dat mook."

"Wow." Malcolm said, the heavyset wolf matching Ada's pose with a dreamy look of his own crawling across his muzzle. "I gotta say, I'm really surprised."

"That Yuri showed he cared for someone other than himself?" Vanna smirked.

Malcolm let out a hearty laugh, nodding slowly through the chuckling as he placed a paw to his muzzle.

"Aw c'mon, I'm openin' up here!" Ada barked, wafting a paw at the pair dismissively. "Whatddya tink I made it up to make him look good!? I ain't dat nice!" Ada chuckled. "If he's bein' an ass, I ain't gonna cover for him!"

Qali rolled her eyes, a bemused smirk plastered on her muzzle. "Uh-huh." The fox cooed sarcastically.

"Look, you want confirmation? You ask Yuri's partnuh!" Ada snickered. "Dat poor stag had to wait in da car while Yuri took his break wit me. Let alone da fact dat dey had to drive twenty minutes outta duh way to get to duh hospital, which dat prissy buck was none to happy about." Ada grinned. "He always brings it up every time I see him!"

"Oh that's convenient." Qali grinned, lolling her head back and forth on her paws as she continued to tease Ada. " We're never even going to meet that guy, so how are we supposed to confirm it?"

Ada scoffed. "Jeeze, what's wit da toid degree!?"

Qali began giggling, rolling slightly in her seat in amusement.

"I-I'm just teasin'" Qali stuttered through her giggling. "It's very romantic, honest!"

"Well, I thought it was lovely Ada." Dawn added, trying to sound as sincere as possible. As much as she believed Ada, the ewe still found it hard to picture the wolf doing such a thoughtful, albeit simple gesture. Then again, she really didn't know much about the wolf to begin with other than what Vernon and the others had said about him, and her limited interaction with him at breakfast. Ada certainly was in a unique position to see a side of the dark furred wolf that no one else could, much in the way Dawn was when it came to Vernon. But picturing the seemingly cold wolf being anything close to affectionate was practically as mind-bending as catching him kiss the hyeness on the muzzle earlier that day.

Ada lowered her eyebrows, letting out an irritable grumble. "Alright den Squoit, why dontchu tell us your story so I can poke holes in dat!"

Qali jumped up almost instantly, standing on Vanna's bed as she clasped her paws together. Her eyes shone with a glee and enthusiasm that was almost scary to Dawn, as if the fox were ready to simply burst through the ceiling at the prospect of being invited to tell her tale.

"Gladly!" Qali chirped happily, grinning widely as she quickly laid back down on Vanna's bed. The fox once again leaned herself on Vanna's leg, laying her head on her arms as her eyes flicked from mammal to mammal. Qali brought a paw to her muzzle, chewing on her claws idly as she began.

"So, I should mention first that my sisters and I, well we help our parents run a Yule tree farm." Qali raised an eyebrow in Dawn's direction. "Did I mention that before?"

Dawn gave a slight nod. "I've heard you mention it a few times." Dawn tapped her chin with a hoof. "Well, at least about climbing trees anyway."

Qali nodded briskly. "Well, that's what my sisters and I do, more or less." Qali's tail idly flipped from side to side as she continued to speak. "We plant 'em, trim 'em, and sell them just in time for the Yule Season. And we do a pretty good job!" Qali leaned up on Vanna's leg, placing a paw to her chest as she puffed it out proudly. "Mammals come from all over The Burrows to Fox's Glen to get their holiday trees from Pelagere Farms!"

Qali raised and lowered her eyebrows playfully. "And not to brag, but when it comes to tree trimming, I'm the best out of my sisters!" Qali leaned forward, placing a paw by her muzzle as she leaned toward Dawn and Vanna. "And don't let them tell you otherwise, they know it's the truth." Qali whispered before letting out another giggle.

Vanna and Dawn traded glances for a moment before the large tigress simply rolled her eyes, causing Dawn to let out a giggle of her own as Qali settled back into her position on Vanna's leg. Qali let out a soft sigh as she leaned her head on a free paw.

"Anyway, So I first met Trenny around the time of the Carrot Days Festival." The diminutive fox rolled her eyes slightly, waving a paw idly. "It's sort of like the Harvest Festival around the burrows. More of a rabbit thing I think."

Dawn nodded affirmatively. "Yes, I've heard of it." The ewe found herself thinking of her dear friend Judy, the rabbit now on her own holiday vacation with similar goals of introducing her family to Nick as her new mate. The only difference being was that the family already knew Nick fairly well. The fox had long since earned a place among the Hopps as the mammal who kept Judy's dream afloat, and was there to save her life. Dawn frowned slightly as she imagined the announcement of Judy and Nick being an item would probably go over with significantly less friction than Vernon and herself.

"A friend of mine is actually out there right now with her mate enjoying the festival." Dawn scratched her chin as she realized she hadn't heard back from Judy since the train terminal two days earlier, making a mental note to check in on her later in the evening. "I really should see how they're doing. I hope it's going better than things are here." Dawn said with a dull chuckle.

"Aw c'mon, don't be like dat sis." Ada reached over, giving Dawn's arm a playful poke with a claw. "Rememba da old sayin', it could always be woise!" Ada offered a reassuring smirk.

"Besides, you have us on your side." Vanna placed a paw on Dawn's shoulder, squeezing slightly.

"Although your friend bein' a rabbit probably mean she's got way more sisters." Malcolm said with a laugh, drawing a giggle out of Dawn.

"Over one hundred actually." Dawn shook her head dismissively. "I've heard family weddings are a real mess."

"Hey!" Qali chirped, drawing the groups attention back to her. The tiny fox was pouting slightly as she glared back at the group. "I'm trying to tell a story."

Ada chuckled loudly. "Alright Pipsqueak, sorry." The large hyeness waved a paw in the fox's direction. "Go on, go on, dere was a fair and den...?"

Qali let out a soft huff before flopping back down on Vanna's leg, drawing a grumble from the tigress. Qali leaned a paw against her cheek as she took a slow, deep breath.

"Well, see..." Qali trailed off, rolling her eyes as she seemed to be recalling the memory from the depths of what Dawn could only assume was an extremely active and scatterbrained mind. "We had been having a problem with someone stealing trees from the property at night." The fox quickly drawing a paw horizontally in front of her, making a 'chop' motion. "Loppin' them down and sneaking them out without so much as a footprint left behind." Qali raised a paw and shrugged.

"So my Pop called the Troopers out to investigate, because he was pretty sure the culprit wasn't a local." Qali said.

"Why did he tink dat?" Ada asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Our family is the only ones out in Fox's Glen who are experts when it comes to cutting trees, and whoever was stealin' them was a pro cutter." Qali held out her paws. "It turned out it was these two Lion Brothers from Tsavo farms a few towns over, one of our competitors." Qali rolled her eyes lazily. "But that's not the point of the story, the point is that when the trooper came out, that's when I first met Trenny."

Dawn scrunched her muzzle up in confusion. "Wait, I thought Trenton didn't become a Trooper until very recently." The ewe scratched her chin. "At least that's what Vernon had told me."

Qali gave a brisk nod. "Yeah, he was still studying at the time." The fox raised a paw. "But while he was in school, he participated in a few ride-alongs." Qali wiggled her paw back and forth. "You know, where a friend or officer in training can ride with a cop to see what it is like to be on duty?"

Dawn nodded, she had heard of Nick and Judy participating in a few during their years in the precinct. Most of the ride-alongs she had heard about featured Judy's siblings, most of them very young and eager to see how 'cool' being a cop was only to be disappointed by a series of very slow afternoons. Although she had heard that Nick had taken his own Mother on one. Apparently, the older vixen wouldn't take no for an answer when the opportunity arose to see her son in action on his first legitimate job.

"Anywho, that's where we met." Qali mused, letting out an affectionate sigh as she rested her head in her paws. "I can still remember when I first laid eyes on that tall drink of water." Qali's eyes seemed to shimmer. "His gleaming white fur shining in the sun as he stepped out of the car, and those piercing baby blue eyes of his. Mhh-Mhh!" The fox clasped her paws together, letting out a squee as she fawned over the mental image of her mate. "I knew I had to get to know him right away, I needed that wolf in my life!"

Dawn raised an eyebrow curiously. "So, you fell in love the moment you first saw him?"

Qali giggled, shaking her head with a terse no. "Oh no, no, no." Qali grinned mischievously. "I just wanted to take a bite out of his tight little butt at that point."

Dawn felt a harsh blush creep onto her muzzle, and she quickly clasped her hooves over her face to cover it up. Glancing up at Vanna, the tigress seemed to be holding together better than she was. Her face remained mostly expressionless, however, the ewe could see the hint of red just below the surface of her fur.

Qali's giggling trailed off into another soft, pleasant sigh as she eased her head back into her paws. "No, that was around Yule when I figured out we were going to be more than just a 'fling'."

Qali cocked her ears, raising her head off her paw and allowing it to bob lightly as she kept her attention on the other girls.

"You see, my sister Matsa was overseas at the time. She was staying with our Grandmother while taking classes over at the 'PranchSchool of Fine Arts' or whatever..." Qali rolled her eyes, waving her paw more dismissively than before. "So we were a little understaffed." Qali rested her head back against her paw, raising her eyebrows before flicking her fingers with her other paw. "Not that that was a problem between me, Pop and Auniq, we could tackle the field easy."

Qali rolled her eyes slightly as she winced. "We would have been cutting it close to the season, but we could have just made it."

"Could?" Dawn asked, picking up on the arctic fox's uncertainty in her phrasing. Qali grimaced sharply, her ears sagging flat against her head as she let out a sigh.

"We had about a week left to finish the last of the trees in the field..." The fox trailed off as her frown deepened. "When Dad threw his back out."

The group let out a collective hiss of mock pain, Dawn gritting her teeth as she tried to imagine just what such a condition might feel like. Vanna had already begun to rub her own back as if she were afflicted with memories of a back injury of her own.

"Poor Dad." Qali sighed. "He could barely even get out of bed, he was practically crippled from the strain."

"Youch." Ada said, the hyeness bearing a tight grimace of her own. "What didja do?"

"Well, Dad couldn't help us anymore at that point." Qali raised a paw. "The local doc said he was going to be recovering for at least a month and a half." Qali leaned her head back into her paws as she idly kicked her legs. "So needless to say he wasn't going to be helping us trim or sell trees for the rest of the season. And without him, there was no way we were going to have the field prepared in time."

"And I take it that's where Trenton came in?" Malcolm asked. The chubby wolf was now laying on his stomach, his attention fixed on the small white fox as she gave a brisk and enthusiastic nod.

"Once Trenny heard we needed help, he was eager to volunteer himself to fill in for Pa." Qali flashed the girls a wide grin. " His school was close by, so it wasn't a long trip for him to make when it came to helping out. It was just a matter of finding time around his classes to help with the trimming." Qali placed a paw over her muzzle as she began to giggle. "He was so hard to train, especially with how little time we had." Qali rolled over, leaning her head back as she stared at the group from upside down. "The first tree I set him up to work on unsupervised, he ended up chopping it down to a stump!" Qali kicked her legs as another giggle fit came on. The little fox rolling slightly from side to side as she clasped her paws over her muzzle.

"How da heck did he manage dat?" Ada raised an eyebrow as she leaned on her side, eyeing the fox curiously.

"H-he just kept t-taking too much off one side, and then t-tried to even it out on the other only to do it again." Qali stuttered between giggling.

"Just kept makin' it worse huh?" Malcolm chuckled.

"He was so upset with himself over it." Qali's giggling trailed off into a soft, relieved sigh "It was the cutest thing. Poor guy was trying his hardest out there."

"So I take it he eventually improved?" Dawn asked.

"Eder dat, or he ended up payin' for da ruined trees." Ada said with a chuckle.

"He eventually got the hang of it." Qali smirked as she returned to her position lounging on Vanna's thigh. The fox now leaning her face against her paw. "Before I knew it he was trimming trees like a pro. He was almost as good as me by the end of it." Qali raised her eyebrows playfully. " Well, almost."

"Alright, alright we get it." Ada chuckled. "Youse are super good at cuttin' trees. Now can you get to da point?" The hyena crossed her arms.

Qali let out another giggle, raising a paw up toward the hyena defensively. "Okay, okay. Calm down Chuckles." Qali shook her head dismissively. "You were the one who asked in the first place."

Ada sneered slightly at the diminutive fox. "Only because you were-!" Ada shook her head, letting out a derisive snort. "Just get on wit it already!"

Qali placed her other paw on the side of her face, now leaning on both of her paws as she faced the group. "Alright, so it was the last day before the farm was supposed to open right?"

Dawn nodded for the fox to continue. Out of the corner of her eye, she could she Vanna had more or less done the same.

"Between Trenny, my sis, and me we had been working to the point of passing out." Qali said, taking a moment to blow the drooping coif of fur out of her eye. "But we were cutting it so close we really had to hit it hard. We still had one field to go and it was about two hours until sundown."

"You couldn't cut them after sunset?" Dawn asked.

Qali decisively shook her head no. "Despite a fox's keen sense of night vision, the change in lighting tends to lead to us making more mistakes." Qali shrugged. "And on top of that we were all exhausted by that point. Even I could have ended up trimming a stump like Trenny under those conditions." The fox said with a giggle.

"So I'm practically fallin' asleep standing up by the time were half-way through the field." The vixens head dipped slightly as she began to pantomime just how exhausted she had been. "The last thing I remembered was Trenny askin' me if I was feeling okay, and then pomf!" The vixen slapped a balled paw into the other.

"Pomf?" Dawn asked, slightly confused by what the diminutive fox was implying with her strange turn of phrase.

"I must have konked out." Qali shook her head. "I was so tired I just passed out in the field."

Ada let out a hyena-like cackle. "Whadda youse a narcoleptic? You got some of dat goat gene in yas?"

Qali let out another giggle. "No, no, I'm no fainting goat!" The fox replied, covering her muzzle with a paw.  "I was just so tired I couldn't help it. Heck, we all were."

"So you passed out? What happened next?" Dawn asked, leaning in slightly as her interest peaked.

"Next thing I knew, I woke up back in the house." Qali shrugged. "I was on the living room couch, wrapped up tightly in a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa sitting on the coffee table in front of me." Qali brushed her hair free of her eye, only for it to slip right back into place. "It was night by then."

"Wait so, how did ya'll get back?" Malcolm asked.

"And where did the cocoa come from?" Dawn added, quirking an eyebrow curiously.

"Well..."Qali trailed off slightly, a warm smile crawling across her muzzle. "That's when I heard my sis let out a laugh." Qali's head lolled lazily on the balls of her paws. "She was sittin' on the armchair across from me, wrapped up in a blanket of her own. She thought I was never gonna wake up with how out of it I was." Qali gestured a paw lazily toward the other girls. "So the first thing I asked her is 'what happened?'"

"And what did happen?" Vanna asked.

Qali chuckled. "She pointed a paw next to me, and when I looked up I saw Trenny." Qali let out a warm and pleasant sigh as she leaned more onto her paws. "The poor lug was passed out, his muzzle pointed up to the ceiling as he was just snorin' away, and one of his arms was draped around me and I hadn't even noticed." Qali smiled widely. "Turns out, when I passed out Trenny hoisted me over his shoulder and finished my trees before taking me back to the house." Qali's arms slipped out from beneath her head, bringing her face against Vanna's leg as she let out another, more romantic sigh. "He took the time to wrap me up in my favorite blanket, and make me some nice hot cocoa before finally passing out himself."

The diminutive fox stretched her arms out, her tail lazily flopping from side to side as she let out a pleased grunt. "Looking up at his big goofy muzzle as I sipped the cocoa he made for me, I just knew." Qali sighed warmly. "Even if we had only been together for about two months, I knew I was in love with the big guy." Qali chuckled. "I was ensnared by that handsome Snowdrift, and I knew I was going to be in it for the long haul, even if he wasn't sure of it yet."

"Aww..." That had come from Malcolm. The chubby wolf had clasped his paws together, leaning them against his was as he cooed warmly. "Ain't that just the sweetest thang."

"Yes, that was a lovely story." Dawn added as she adjusted her glasses. "It's also nice to know I'm not the only one here who fell in love with their mate so quickly."

Qali practically beamed at Dawn's words, giving the ewe a playful swat on the arm as she giggled. "Clearly we know good fellas when we see them, eh Puffy?"

"Ugh, Puffy?" Ada scoffed. "That sounds like da symptom of an illness, we can't use dat one."

Qali frowned, her ears sagging as she eyed Dawn apologetically. "Oh geez, you're right. I wasn't thinking." Qali sighed.

Dawn chuckled, giving the vixen a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's all right Qali. No offense taken."

"Y'know..." That had come from Malcolm. The large, chubby red wolf rose to his feet, making his way toward Vanna's bed. With a brief waiving of his paws, he gestured for Qali to move before joining the rest of the group on Vanna's bed. Leaning on his stomach, the russet wolf leaned a paw against his cheek. "Your story kinda reminds of my own." Malcolm smirked. "The day I realized I loved my lil' Xavey somethin' fierce."

Qali let out another giggle, before sweeping a broad paw toward the rest of the group in a grand gesture. "Well then, by all means." Qali smirked. "The floor is open."

Malcolm let out a comfortable sigh, smacking his lips together appreciatively before drifting lazily into his own tale.

"Welp, ya'll probably know I run a diner out in San Francisgoat." Malcolm said with a nod. "Ain't the fanciest place in the world, but it's popular enough."

"I remember you mentioned a diner." Dawn said, tapping a hoof to her chin.

Malcolm flashed the ewe a smug smirk. "You might also remember how I told ya'll that Xavey can't cook worth a damn." The russet wolf chuckled heartily. "In fact, that's more or less how we met."

Malcolm let out a pleasant hum as he rolled to his side, idly scratching his stomach with a free paw as he leaned his head against the other. "Not bein' able to cook meant Xavey was forced to dine out every day, from breakfast to dinner." Malcolm smiled warmly. "And one day he finally stumbled on my humble little establishment, and welp...he never left!" Malcolm said with a laugh.

Malcolm gave Qali a playful nudge with his elbow." He came fer the food, and stayed fer the 'excellent service'" The wolf bobbed his eyebrows suggestively, drawing a fit of giggling from the tiny fox.

"But in all honesty, once he started coming to my place, he never ate anywhere else." Malcolm rolled his eyes slightly, letting out a dreamy sigh as he tapped his fingers against his muzzle. "And seein' that handsome hunk every day just made me pine fer him more and more."

"Did you ask him out?" Dawn asked.

"Eventually." Malcolm winced, drawing a paw behind his head as he looked away from the ewe. "It took me a while to sorta...muster the courage to ask him if he was interested." The red wolf bobbed his head back and forth slightly. "I mean, I wasn't even sure he...played fer my team so to speak."

"Really?" Ada grinned smugly. "You couldn't figure out dat prissy wolf was inta boys?" The hyeness let out a laugh. "Rut me, he's da only mammal I know who puts a napkin on his lap before a meal!"

"Polite and sophisticated fellas do that too." Malcolm chided, waving a finger lamely at the hyeness. "'Sides, San Fran is fulla business mammals with cleanliness issues Darlin', they ain't all gay."

"Dat's not what I hoid." Ada retorted, her grin widening as she eyed the wolf. At that point, Malcolm let out a scoff.

"Anywho..." The wolf rolled his eyes as he tried to change the subject. "Eventually I did ask him out, and he said yes much to my delight!" Malcolm's lids hung low, a grin crawling across his muzzle. "As long as I was cookin' that is." The wolf sniggered.

"Sounds like he was already in love with you by then." Dawn said with a giggle. "Or at the very least, your food."

Malcolm nodded, joining the ewe with a hearty chuckle of his own. "Ain't a clean win, but I was happy to take it just to get into that handsome hunk of wolf's life." The red wolf said with a wink. "And once I had my in, he fell just as much in love with me as he did with my culinary skill!"

"But that begs the question..." Vanna asked, drawing the attention to the large tigress. Her eyebrow raised slightly as she eyed the chubby wolf inquisitively. "When did you fall in love with him?"

Malcolm let out a warm sigh as he rolled back onto his stomach, resting his head on his paws as he returned his gaze to the group at large.

"I'd say it was about..." The wolf trailed off, tapping a claw to his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe eight months in?" The wolf nodded briskly. "Yep, about eight months. We were still livin' separately then, that's how I know." The wolf continued to nod.

"I had gotten sick with a terrible flu." The wolf furrowed his brow, letting out a slightly annoyed huff." Sneezin', hackin' and coughin', the whole messy thang." Malcolm waved a paw dismissively as he prattled off the symptoms. "It knocked me right off my feet, ran me through the damn wringer."

"Oh my." Dawn uttered, placing a hoof to her muzzle. "That sounds awful."

"Darn right." Macolm replied, balling a paw into a fist and swinging it slightly in emphasis. "Worst two weeks of my life I'd reckon."

"That must have really hurt your business." Dawn added. "Not being able to work for two weeks."

Malcolm shook his head softly. "Thankfully the diner is big enough that I got more than enough staff around to cover fer me." The wolf shrugged. "O'course when customers see the head chef ain't workin', it certainly doesn't do all that well for sales." Malcolm rolled his eyes slightly, offering a playful smirk to the group. "Let's just say 'Malcolm's Eats' ain't nothin' without Malcolm." The wolf chuckled as he pointed a thumb at himself.

"Alright, enough boastin' Buddabuns." Ada snickered. "Dere was a point to dis story, rememba?"

Malcolm smirked, shaking his head in amusement."  Fine, fine..." The red wolf chuckled quietly.

" So the point bein' I was real, real sick." The husky canine continued. "And Xavey, well, naturally he was frettin' somethin' feirce." Malcolm grinned widely. "When I told him about how lousy I was feelin' over the phone he rushed over right after work with two suitcases full of his clothes and a buncha cold remedies from the pharmacy." Malcolm leaned his chin on a paw as his smile grew deeper, and the wolf let out a warm sigh. "He was tellin' me how he wasn't leavin' until I was fit as a fiddle again. And until then he'd be waitin' on me paw and foot." Malcolm began to laugh heartily. "He was going to be 'Mr. Super Boyfriend'!" The wolf puffed his chest up proudly as he aped Xavier's general posture. "I won't stand to let you want for anything while I'm taking care of you!'" The wolf laughed as he slipped back into his natural drawling tone. " That's what my Fluffybuns said."

"Aww..." Qali cooed, the fox now facing Malcolm. The arctic fox was sitting upright, her legs folded neatly as she pressed her paws against her muscle.

"And he was true to his word." Malcolm paused, biting his lip as his muzzle began to twist into a wince. "Well, that was until he tried to make me some old-fashioned chicken soup."

"Chicken huh?" Ada raised an eyebrow curiously. " I thought Francisgoat was too...progressive to let ya cook wit what most prey see as pets?"

Malcolm leaned a paw against his hip, furrowing his brow. "It ain't illegal, just frowned upon among city folk." The wolf grinned. " And my restaurant is one of the few places that offer fresh fowl, so there ain't no shortage of stock at the Hackett house."

Dawn suppressed the slight feeling of nausea at the sheer notion of chickens being used as a source of meat. Like Ada had noted, most prey had come to see them as pets, as well as a steady supply for eggs when it came to the basic building blocks of most recipes. And despite the fact that most urban predators had long since worked fowl out of their diet aside from the eggs they laid, rural preds still commonly ate chicken and various other types of birds. From what Vernon had told her during their time together, his family rarely used chickens other than as a source of eggs for his Mother's pies. But occasionally they prepared a chicken or turkey for a family get together or holiday, and the wolf would seek out a restaurant that served chicken to get a fix from time to time. Although the wolf never brought any back to their shared apartment. It was something Dawn had come to accept when it came to the cultural gap between their respective species, but no matter how much time had past her repulsion at the thought of chicken being consumed never seemed to grow any weaker. It was much the same as how Vernon would often recoil when the ewe offered him a bite of one of her Turf Tart breakfast pastries.

"So he wouldn't cook for you then?" Dawn asked, trying to move away from her internal cultural distaste.

Malcolm let out a loud chuckle, giving his knee a slap. "Wouldn't?" Malcolm shook his head sharply. "The problem was he wouldn't stop cookin'!"

Dawn muzzle twisted in confusion, but only for a moment as she recalled something Malcolm had mentioned earlier. The playful yet disparaging nickname the red wolf had dubbed his mate in response to his pitiful attempts at cooking.

"The Anti-crust?" Dawn murmured softly.

Malcolm let out a hearty laugh as he gave the ewe an affirmative nod. "The Anti-crust struck again and again as pot after pot of soup was burned off, er' boiled to tastelessness, or just burstin' into flame!" Malcolm placed a paw over his muzzle as he tried to stifle his laughter.

Vanna quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Soup doesn't burst into flame."

Malcolm gave another hearty chuckle. "It does when someone mistakes a bottle of my wine with cooking oil." The russet wolf snickered.

"O-one batch he, he even forgot to pluck the feathers outta the damn bird!" The wolf sputtered. "I-It looked like someone was given' a moltin' bird a hot bath by the end of it!"

By now Ada was cackling along with the wolf, seemingly tickled pink over Xavier's terrible cooking disasters. Her hyena laugh nearly drowning out Malcolm's own.

"H-Hell..." Malcolm continued to laugh. "The f-first batch Xavey put the noodles in after he was done cookin'!" Malcolm's muzzle had grown red as the wolf continued to wheeze out his story. "Th-thought they were supposed to just soften as soon as they hit broth!"

By now the other girls had joined in laughing with the hysterical wolf, all of them aside from Dawn who's own laughter was weak and timid by comparison. She was merely trying to laugh along, despite not being able to share in something she assumed was more of a predator problem when it came to cooking.

"By the gods, when I crunched down on the first spoonful I nearly threw up on the spot!" The wolf shuddered slightly as his laughter began to trail off.

"Ahhh...." Malcolm sighed, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye as the other girl's laughter began to fade. "It was the saddest thing ya'll could ever see. Not a single batch was fit to eat."

"Musta been a lot of wasted boid." Ada said with a chuckle.

Malcolm gave a soft, affirming nod. "I can't tell ya'll how much he had to dump down the drain." The red wolf gave a mournful sigh. " And each failed batch just broke Xavey up more and more."

"He was upset huh?" Vanna asked.

Malcolm shook his head. "He was tryin' to hide it, but I could tell every mess up was eatin' at him somethin' awful." The wolf frowned. "I tried to get him to stop, to try to calm him down and tell him it wasn't that important. But with him flyin' in and out of the room constantly, and me bein' bedridden and all, my pleas were fallen on deaf ears." Malcolm shook his head sadly.

"So what did you do?" Qali asked, her tail swishing idly as she listened to the wolf intently.

"At some point I lost track of all the batches he made, what with bein' in and out of sleepin and all." Malcolm scratched his chin idly. "But I remember the last batch he made was real slimy and luke-warm. And when I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it poor Xavey just completely broke down." Malcolm's sullen frown seemed to deepen as he recalled the memory.

"He just slumped down against the bed, graspin' on one of my paws and cryin' up a storm." The red wolf continued. "Sayin' he 'was the worst boyfriend ever' and how 'what kind of mammal can't take care of their mate when they're sick' and all."  Malcolm sighed. "He was a blubberin' mess, so unlike his usually composed and stoic self. All because he couldn't cook me a dang meal. He was that upset over it."

At that point a warm smile crawled across Malcolm's muzzle, the russet wolf's eyes twinkling slightly with the gleam of burgeoning tears.

"He wanted nuthin' more than to just take care of me. And not bein' able to cook was like he was failin' at that." The wolf let out an amorous sigh. " And it was something he just wasn't willin' to accept. He had to do right by me in his mind, even if he burned down the kitchen in the process."

"And that's when you knew?" Vanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

The wolf gave an affirmative nod.

"I grabbed my Fluffybuns by the collar, and gave him a smooch on the cheek." Malcolm said, leaning his head on his paw with a goofy grin on his face. "And then I looked him right in the eyes and said, 'Darlin' you ain't me, and I ain't askin' you to be!' " The wolf chuckled. "'I like you fer bein' you, and just havin' you here is helpin' me feel better Xavey.'" Malcolm continued. "So sit yer butt down, curl up and watch some movies with me, and we can just order in some damn soup!" Malcolm laughed.

Dawn smiled as the other girls laughed along with the husky wolf. Despite the smattering of humor in the wolf's retelling, the story really tugged at Dawn's heartstrings. The ewe found herself slightly envious in that moment, only because the last time she had been seriously ill was during her time in prison. Even though she had Polaraski to help her through it, and a cell all to herself, it was still a nightmare to suffer so in a place like that with no mate of her own to truly care for her. She wished she had been with Vernon back then. Of course, she also wished she hadn't been in prison either. But even so, it was all in the past now. And now that her devoted Puppy was by her side, she imagined she'd never have to suffer through another flu without him to dote over her as Xavier had with Malcolm.

A sudden, light nudge drew the ewe from her quiet self-reflection. And the ewe looked up to find Vanna smirking down at her. It was clear the tigress had noted the ewe's lack of laughter, and was playfully checking to see if she was alright. The ewe responded with a giggle as she nudged the large tigress back. It didn't do much to move the stone wall that was the massive tigress, but it was enough to draw a wider grin from the feline.

"That was a lovely story Malcolm." Dawn said, adjusting her glasses slightly as she returned her focus to the chubby wolf. "I trust Xavier listened to you?"

Malcolm smirked. "He smiled, then sat his butt right down and snuggled up to me. And that's how we spent pretty much the rest of my recovery." The wolf shrugged. "I mean, he did have to go to work o'course, but he always came home with a heapin' bag of soup from the local Pandese place and some new movie rentals." Malcolm let out a pleasant sigh. "Despite feelin' like death, it was probably the most fun I've ever had in mah life."

"At least he listened." Vanna chuckled. "With Zach, getting him to sit down and actually hear me can be a chore sometimes." Vanna rolled her eyes. "Especially when we were first partnered up."

"Doesn't help dat you ain't big on talkin' in da foist place Kit Kat!" Ada said with a laugh.

Vanna furrowed her brow at the hyeness, shaking her head dismissively. Dawn however, was immediately drawn in, tugging slightly at the tigress' pajama shirt to get her attention.

"Speaking of..." Dawn trailed off slightly. "You are the only one who hasn't shared their story." Dawn rolled her eyes slightly, trying to hide her excitement at the prospect of learning more about the enigmatic tigress' love life. "I have to admit, I'm dying to know exactly when you figured out that you loved Zach."

Vanna chuckled quietly, glancing around briefly at the rest of the group. Out of the corner of Dawn's eye, she could see the others leaning in expectantly, clearly as eager as she was to hear the tale. Even Ada seemed rather curious, her usual smug expression now one of heightened interest.

Vanna crossed her arms, leaning back against her pillow as she appraised the group around her. The large tigress smirked.

"Our relationship was more of a slow burn to be honest." Vanna glanced at Dawn, giving the ewe a slight nod. " Sort of like with you and Vernon Dawn, I said as much earlier."

"I remember." Dawn affirmed with a nod, still eagerly focused on the tigress as she began her tale.

"I had never thought about dating outside of my species before." Vanna continued. "And when I got brought on to the North Meadowland's Police Department, my first impression of Zach certainly didn't do anything to feed into that sort of mindset."

"It was bad den?" Ada asked.

Vanna sighed, shaking her head dismissively. "I had transferred to the Meadowlands seeking a more quiet life, something to help me soften up and develop less of a..." Vanna winced slightly, her voice growing quiet. "Intimidating personality."

"Woiked like a charm." Ada said snarkily, earning a giggle from Qali and a soft huff from the large tigress.

"So when I found out I was essentially going to be playing babysitter to what I assumed was a dumb wolf who's Father had gotten him his position at the station, I was...less than ecstatic." Vanna frowned. "And needless to say, Zach was far from pleased with the arrangement himself." Vanna chuckled. "And he was certainly more vocal about it than I was."

Dawn was quiet as the term 'babysitter' left Vanna's lips, the tigress inadvertently touching on what Dorian had mentioned earlier in his screed aimed at the ewe. Zach's near-death experience, and Vanna's subsequent forced partnership caused by the painful echo of the ewe's actions. She wondered for a moment if the feline knew exactly what had happened before she arrived. Surely by now she and Zach had discussed it, and yet Vanna hadn't brought it up in her earlier talks with Dawn about what drove her away from Zootopia. Perhaps she didn't see the connection to Dawn like Zach hadn't before Dorian had talked to him. Or perhaps she had made her decision on it already when she had chosen to embrace the ewe as her sister. Even so, Dawn knew she couldn't bring it up now lest she be forced to reveal her private talk with Dorian, and his hate-filled words. Dawn could feel her stomach turn slightly, and the ewe did her best to shake the thoughts away.

"Don't tell me he was chewin' you out?" Malcolm asked.

Vanna bobbed her head slightly. "Mostly snarky comments, I imagine most of his complaints were saved for the privacy of the Hunter Ranch post shift." Vanna winced slightly. "I had heard as much from Dorian after the fact."

"So youse two hated each udder's guts den?" Ada chuckled. "Not da best way to start a relationship."

Vanna chuckled a deep, thrumming laugh. "I wouldn't say we hated each other, but we certainly weren't friends." Vanna rolled her eyes. "Zach saw me as what I thought I was, a babysitter who would only get in the way of his police work. And I saw him as a spoiled, nepotistic hire who told terrible jokes and made stupid calls."

"Ouch." Qali said with a pout. "That's blunt."

"Dat's Vanna." Ada said with a grin.

"Naturally it took us a while of working together to grow to understand each other. For me to see the good cop in Zach, to see in him what had earned him his place on the force regardless of Papa Hunter's position." Vanna scratched the back of her head awkwardly. " And for Zach to start chipping away at my inflexible attitude and cold personality."

"You sure he really did?" Ada asked with a grin. "Cause I can't reall-"

Vanna held up a paw in the hyeness' direction to stop her.

"Do you want me to open up or not?" Vanna scoffed. "Because you aren't helping."

Dawn glanced at Ada just in time to see a small pillow slap against her head, causing her to flinch.

"SHHH!" Qali hissed, scowling slightly at the dazed hyena. "I want to hear this!"

Ada sneered, grabbing the small pillow that struck her and hucking it back toward the diminutive fox missing her by inches.

"Alright, geez Snowball!" Ada growled. "Chill out!"

"Are you done?" Vanna asked, sweeping her gaze across the group. Dawn watched as the other Hunter girls gave a meek affirmative nod before joining in with her own.

"By about six months in we were friends more or less..." Vanna said, a warm smirk crossing her muzzle. "And coming up on a year I was starting to...well...feel things." Vanna raised a paw to her mouth, biting down gently on a finger as she looked away from the group. "Confusing, romantic feelings."

Dawn smiled knowingly, remembering her own burgeoning feelings for Vernon and the struggle to make sense of them. It seemed more than any of the other sisters, that Vanna and she had more or less been through the same experience when it came to confronting their feelings.

"Of course, I had no idea if Zach felt anything like that for me." Vanna sighed. " I mean, we were officers of the law, supposed to be married to the job above all else. Wanting that sort of relationship would have been highly unprofessional."

Vanna chuckled, shaking her head softly. "And I was supposed to be the professional one." The tigress mumbled.

"I don't tink dere's any rule about datin' your co-woikers and bein a cop." Ada shrugged. "Least dats how it is at Yuri's precinct."

"Well there was in Zootopia." Vanna sighed, placing a paw to her head. "And aside from that, I was an entirely different species. I wasn't some petite she-wolf that could bury herself in his chest and snuggle. I was nearly two feet taller than he was."

"Wait..." Dawn paused. "O-officers can't date each other in Zootopia?"

Vanna simply shook her head 'no'.

Dawn bit her lip slightly as she thought back to Judy and Nick, worrying for a moment if they were aware such a rule was in place.

"So how did you find out he felt the same?" Qali piped up, pulling Dawn away from her thoughts. "Did you have to drag it out of him?" The fox bounced on her paws slightly as she awaited Vanna's response. The large tigress simply chuckled, looking away from the group as she let out a wistful sigh.

"When I was growing up, some of my favorite memories of life back in San Furnando was spending lazy Summer evening catching fireflies in the park." Vanna smiled, a nostalgic twinkle shining behind her eyes as she stared off and away. It was as if the tigress was looking at a scene the others could't see, a warm memory playing before her eyes as she continued. "I would catch them in jars, and watch them flicker in the dark of my bedroom until I drifted off to sleep."

Vanna let out a pleasant chuffing. "Come the morning, I would release them just to catch a fresh bunch the next night. I found them so fascinating and wonderful." The tigress cooed. Unlike her usual flat and stoic tone, Vanna's voice had become filled with warmth. It had a soothing sweetness to it that dawn had yet to hear the tigress speak in, and until now, wasn't sure she could even produce.

"My room was filled with firefly related trinkets and pictures during most of my teenage years. They were in essence, my favorite insect in the whole world, and they still are."

"Well that sounds lovely." Malcolm said. "But if you'll beg my pardon, what does that have to do with knowin' Zach loved you back?"

Vanna smiled warmly, letting out an affectionate sigh.

"At some point I had mentioned as much to Zach during one of our patrols." Vanna said, placing a paw to her lip. "It was just idle conversation, something I said and forgot about for the longest time. I didn't even remember mentioning it to him when..." Vanna trailed off.

"When what?" Dawn asked eagerly, her focus now unflinchingly trained on the wistful tigress.

"It was the end of our shift." Vanna spoke, her voice remaining as smooth as velvet. "We were supposed to head back to the station and clock out for the day, it was our usual routine." Vanna shrugged. "It was usually boring, uneventful, and practically second nature to us by then."

Vanna's eyes developed that familiar nostalgic twinkle again as she stared off toward the bedroom ceiling.

"But that warm August night, Zach said he had to make a pit stop before we clocked out." Vanna sighed. "It was unusual, yes. But it didn't strike me as something to be suspicious about."

"So what was the pit stop for?" Qali asked, her ears perking up as she leaned closer to the tigress.

Vanna's chuffing returned as the tigress ran a paw over her throat.

"I-I started to get curious when he seemed to be taking us out to the middle of nowhere." Vanna raised an eyebrow. "I mean, the both of us knew the roads around the Meadowlands by this point, so at a certain point I became acutely aware that we were on a dead-end road that lead nowhere."

"Ah, I see!" Ada piped up. "Takin' you somewhere secluded so he could put the moves on ya!" The hyeness cackled. "What a nautty boy!"

"Please, Vanna could break that boy in half if he tried to pull anythin' uncouth." Malcolm chuckled. "Unless she was hopin' he would." Malcolm raised an eyebrow suggestively at the tigress, causing Vanna to develop a fierce blush in response.

"H-he was a gentlemam'!" Vanna stuttered slightly as she clasped her paws to her muzzle in an effort to hide her blush. "Just like you'd expect from a Hunter."

"So then, what did he do?" Dawn asked curiously.

The thrum of Vanna's unusual chuffing grew louder as the tigress' smile widened. "We had pulled up to this wide, empty meadow when Zach stopped the car and turned off the ignition." Vanna said. " I was going to finally ask him what this was all about when he shut the headlights down and I finally saw them."

"Saw what!?" Qali chirped, the fox now standing on the bed, clasping her paws at Vanna's shirt excitedly.

"Fireflies..." Vanna said wistfully. "Thousands and thousands of them."

Qali squee'd in delight, rolling back onto the bed as she released her grip on Vanna's PJ's. "No!" Qali barked.

Vanna nodded softly." The meadow was full of them." Vanna sighed. " And not only that, but they were floating in the air all around the car." The tigress placed a paw over her muzzle, seemingly trying to hide her ever-widening grin from the rest of the girls. "It was as if were surrounded by a sea of flickering candles, dancing in the evening sky."

The large tigress glanced down at the rest of the girls, flashing them a sheepish grin. "He remembered everything, every little detail of the stories I had told him about my childhood, about the fireflies I had become so enamored with growing up." Vanna cooed. "It was why he had went out of his way to pick that meadow as his backdrop when he finally confessed his feelings for me. Because he wanted me to know how much I had come to mean to him, and that he wanted to see if I shared his feelings." Vanna smiled. "If I had grown to feel the same way about him, if I could love a wolf."

"Aww...." Qali cooed sweetly. The fox had returned to laying on her stomach, leaning her head on her paws as she stared up at Vanna in admiration.

"How did you react?" Malcolm asked, his invested interest causing him to lean closer. "How's ya'll tell him?"

Vanna placed her paws on her muzzle, blushing bashfully as she looked away from the sea of focused eyes now fixated on her.

"I-I..." Vanna murmured. "I wrapped my arms around him, and pulled him into a really hard kiss."

Vanna covered her eyes despite her widening smile as the collective laughter and giggling of the Hunter girls filled the room. Even Dawn found herself giddy with laughter at just how adorable Vanna's silent confession had been. No matter how many times Dawn's mind repeated the words the tigress had said, the ewe still found it hard to picture the large feline being so passionate and emotional. Yet watching her now, seemingly starting to swoon as she recalled her treasured romantic memories, it was almost as if the ewe was staring at an entirely different mammal. One she had just barely caught a glimpse of the night before during their karaoke session. A strangely soft, mushy big cat with the heart of a smitten young girl. A tigress without claws, without teeth, her defenses drawn back by thoughts of the one she loved. The one mammal who saw her for who she truly was, just as Vernon had seen the ewe.

"I take it he liked that..." Malcolm wheezed between laughs.

Vanna nodded briskly. "He certainly was eager to return my kiss with equal fervor."

"And did you guys...?" Qali trailed off, her eyebrows bouncing up and down suggestively.

Crimson returned to Vanna's muzzle as her paw returned to her lips in a poor attempt at covering her nervous smile.

"N-No!" Vanna protested. "I-It took us a while to work up to that." The tigress bit at her claws slightly. "W-we wanted to take it slow, to make sure we knew it was right."

"But you already knew it was, didn't you?" Dawn asked, a knowing grin crossing her muzzle. Vanna kept her paw over her mouth, and simply extended her left paw out to the ewe. As the open face of her pad came into Dawn's line of sight, the ewe immediately noticed the crimson contrast of the strange half moon marking against the pinkish flesh. It was one the lamb recognized from her studies in regards to Norwulves, and their history regarding tithing rights. The modern seal of the sacred mating contract, one half of the whole, the other she was certain Zach carried on his opposite paw.

"In that moment, that kiss, I knew he was the one." Vanna sighed pleasantly. "Waiting was more of...a formality I guess. To feel out how Ma and Pa felt about us, to try not to scare them."

By now Qali, Ada, and Malcolm had all leaned in around Dawn, all of them staring at the tigress' exposed palm in awe. Qali was quick to grasp at her large paw, clutching it tightly as she stared up at the feline.

"I-Is this?" Qali asked, seemingly too awe-stricken to finish her sentence.

Vanna nodded softly in response, her wide smile practically beaming.

"The ceremony was in August, in the same meadow that Zach and I had confessed to one another how we felt. Surrounded by the fireflies that had sealed our fates just years before." Vanna let out a nostalgic and wistful breath. "I will always remember that evening as one of the happiest of my entire life."

"I rememba." Ada chuckled softly. "You was shakin' like a leaf when they had to do dat tattoo." The hyeness grinned. " I remember bein' shocked such a big kitty was so afraid of a little needle."

Vanna scoffed. "I'd never gotten a tattoo of any kind before. It's not exactly something those of us with fur tend to do."

"You looked great dough." Ada offered a warm smile. "You was glowin' sis."

Vanna's blush returned, the tigress placing her free paw over her muzzle.

"T-thanks." Vanna sputtered, clearly embarrassed at the surprise compliment.

"Make me wish Yuri would Alpha up and ask me already." Ada said with a sigh. "He's kept me waitin' long enough."

That earned a deep chuckle from Malcolm. "Good luck Darlin'."

"I hope he does." Vanna said softly, her eyes shimmering as she turned her attention to the hyeness. "I may not be a fan of my Brother-in-law, but I want you to be as happy as I was when I got this mark."

With that, Vanna turned her attention back to the group at large. "And that goes for all of my sisters." The large feline offered the group a warm smile.

Dawn felt another nudge, looking up from Vanna's palm to find her staring back down at her. Vanna flashed her teeth. " Especially you Dawn."

"Hey, why her?" Qali pouted.

"Because she's my favorite." Vanna asserted bluntly.

"Woah, woah now we ain't supposta' have favorites!" Ada chuckled.

"That's when it comes to your own kits!" Malcolm laughed. "It don't extend to general family members.

"I thought you was suppos'ta be Miss Professional!" Ada whined. "You can't just drop a bombshell on us like dat!"

"Well I did, so deal with it." Vanna retorted, the large tigress sticking her tongue out in the direction of the hyeness playfully.

As the other girls devolved into bickering Dawn turned her attention back to the mark on Vanna's paw. Despite the sweet sentiment behind the tigress' words, Dawn could feel the knot in her stomach begin twisting as she continued to stare into the crimson mark on Vanna's palm. She didn't know, she couldn't. That despite the tigress' hope and well wishes, Dorian had firmly established himself as the blockade between the ewe and a legitimate mark of her own. That as long as he drew breath, the ewe would never be able to proudly wear such a symbol that represented her place in the Hunter pack. Because simply, she had no place among them. Despite Vernon's love for her, and vice versa, Dorian would see to it that the family would be fractured for her past transgressions. Dawn could feel tears begin to well behind her glasses as Dorian's painful tirade began to replay in her mind.

'No, I can't.' Dawn thought, forcing a fake smile to her muzzle as she fought the tears away. She had to keep up the facade, she had to hold out. It was just two more days, and then she would cross that bridge with Vernon in the privacy of their own home. She was not about to cause an all-out war among the Hunters over Dorian's declaration.

"T-thank you." Dawn managed to stammer out, her voice only wavering slightly as the others around her and Vanna continued to argue around them.

The tigress offered a warm smile, placing the marked paw on the ewe's shoulder.

"No need to thank me, we're sisters." Vanna said.

Despite the overwhelming pain now burning inside, Dawn smiled through it.

[princezukohere]

Girlfriend from back home

This is a special imagine/preference as a thank you for getting me to 400! Remember my requests are open and you can send in questions or anything or if you want to jump into my dms then go ahead because I'm all ears!

2k words

Being a girlfriend of one of the boys and living back at home.

Jonah: Minnesota to California 1993 miles 

Stillwater may have been a small town but it was always bright with friendly people, especially when Jonah was there but after he left for L.A everything felt different, for you at least. You didn't have anyone to do a bi-weekly movie date with or twice a month ice cream date let alone walks in Minnesota's chilly weather but that didn't stop you from facetiming when you both had a free moment or even cute little visits every once in awhile. People always told you long distance wasn't a good idea, 'He's a pop star now...he could get any girl he wants.' 'Think of the people he probably brings home every other week' but Jonah wasn't like that, of course here and there he had regular teen boy wants and needs but he would never think to go and ruin what you guys had just to fulfill them. 

"Just remember once you graduate you can visit whenever you want," Jonah told you as he laid in bed on face time. It was currently 10 pm for him and midnight for you but when you asked him to face time that was his only concern.

"I know but it just feels like forever." You told him, you would be lying if you said you weren't crying before the call because of how much you missed him but you didn't want him to feel bad.

"I know but it's not...two more months and then it's a summer with me and the boys, plus your dream college is in California...you could go there and then we'd get to see each other all the time!" He added in an excited voice as he gave you a small smile. "It's Sunday for me but Monday for you...you have school in a few hours, get some sleep so you can pass all your tests or the quiz or whatever they give you." He added.

"Okay, I love you Jonah." You mumbled as you looked at the screen.

"I love you too," he told you before letting you end the call. Jonah rolled over on his back letting out an air of breath. "How do you and Christina do it?" He spoke getting Corbyn's attention.

"It's hard but we just do...I'd hate to not be with her and I hope she feels the same way so we put on our battle armor and just do it."

Daniel: Oregon to California 670 miles

Daniel was one of those guys that girls looked over, everyone wanted the bad boy that was super attractive, well Daniel was the nice guy who was gorgeous and you couldn't ask for better. Daniel had been back to visit his family and you as it was your guys one year anniversary a few days ago.

"Do you have to get on the plane tomorrow? It's like a ten-hour drive, we could road trip back to L.A." You asked looking up. Daniel gave you a smile keeping his arms securely around you. 

"I wouldn't let you drive me because you'd have to drive ten hours back by yourself, plus I'm not going to L.A. I'm meeting the boys in Florida." He mumbled, his eyes closed and head back on your pillow.

"Oh yeah, excited to see the Miami girls?" You asked with a slight roll of your eyes knowing the answer he'd give you.

"Most definitely, just don't tell my girlfriend I said that." He said with a slight smirk as he opened his eyes to look at you.

"Oh shut up." You rolled off of him getting off the bed, "I hate that you've been here for four days yet it's felt like an hour and you're leaving soon."

"Well then let's go make the most of it, that way you won't miss me too much when I leave, we can go to the music store where we met and I caused you to knock over a case of CDs with my amazing looks."

Don't get cocky now...you scared me, let's not get it twisted." You told him, "But sounds good, let's go before they close!" You shouted as you ran to go get your shoes.

Jack: Pennsylvania to California 2731 miles

"Maybe because Valentine's day is coming and I would love to have you here because my friends want to go on a group date and I can't go on a group date by myself." You told Jack over the phone.

"What if I can't even fly out there?" Jack asked as he shuffled around his room, he had gone upstairs to answer your call as Logan was downstairs with the boys and he knew that would mean chaos everywhere he went.

"Then you'd be the worst boyfriend ever, come on Jack, keep up!" You said in a joking tone, "No but on a real note if you can't I understand." You added after a moment.

"I will do everything in my power to get there so I can see you on Valentine's Day," Jack said finally making you smile. Now it didn't take much for Jack to tell everyone that you really wanted to see him for valentines day and for them all to agree. So after getting consent with David, he had a flight booked, though he would on stay one day he knew that it was enough to please you and that's all that mattered to him.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" He shouted over the phone, he was currently in your living room though he hadn't told you that.

"Isn't it six in the morning in L.A?" You asked as you finally sat up in bed getting ready to start your day.

"Nope, it's currently nine in Pennsylvania time and I'm kind of bored just sitting in your living room." He mumbled as the call ended. It took you a moment to come downstairs but you did, and he didn't think he'd ever see you run that fast. "I've missed you too." He told you as you pushed him a bit.

"A heads up would have been nice."

Corbyn: Virginia to California 2648 miles

The distance was something you and Corbyn had grown to understand, you both focused on your career paths along with making time for each other. One thing Corbyn really wanted was to graduate that way he could be in the same room with you when you both accepted your diploma like you both had wanted. Though he was in a band and had a hectic schedule he stayed on track which is something that you both wanted for him, you never pushed too hard knowing that if Corbyn wanted it as badly as he said he did then he'd finish. 

"I don't think I'm going to pass on time." He had told you in a quiet voice, you were confused until you finally realized what he meant.

"No, Corbyn...what happened you were so focused and you told me you were almost done...how would not be able to pass on time?" You asked him as you put everything down. School ended for three weeks and everything was done for you, now it was finals and you had been studying like crazy.

"The band was kicking off and I thought if I told you I was finishing everything on time then I would actually do it but I didn't and now I see how much work I have a head of me and with us about to start the something different tour soon I don't think it'll happen." He explained you were silent for a moment trying to think of what to say next without hurting either of you.

"I wish you had been honest with me...I understand that this band is what you want and you're loving it and they love it and your fans love it...but I thought our number one rule was, to be honest with each other. You're so far away and honesty and trust is all we're supposed to have. If you lie about something as small as finishing an assignment how am I supposed to know if I can trust you Corbyn?" You asked this time he was the silent one. "I need to study, can we talk later?" You added.

"Yeah, I just have one more thing to say." He started, "I've already finished my exams last week and I already passed! I just needed to milk it out a bit." He yelled. You let out a sigh of relief.

"Corbyn! Don't do that, I was really upset! I hated the idea of you lying to me, or the idea that I wouldn't get to see you accept your diploma!" 

"I'm sorry! But hey, I fly out the day of you last final so I get to see you for a week before we get to walk across a stage." 

Zach: Texas to California 1405 miles

You and Zach were young, to be dating or as your mom and dad said to be boyfriend and girlfriend because you two hadn't gone on proper dates, at fourteen and now to be sixteen you had come a long way. You missed him a lot actually and thought you were good at hiding it, it was killing you. You weren't normally the jealous type but to be sixteen and be dating Zach Herron who now everyone wanted was a little nerve racking. Though he told you that you never had to worry sometimes you still did, you couldn't help but think of all of the girls his age in California that was gorgeous or perfect for him, but then again you thought of Zach, the kid you knew before the fame and the kid you still knew. He was honest and he was sweet and if he really wanted someone else he would have told you because that's how his mom raised him.

"Are you ready to see Zach!" Reese yelled as you helped her make cupcakes. she said she wanted to do something special for the boys as they were always so nice to her when they were around. 

"I am, are you ready to see Zach?" You asked as you helped her set the timer, she nodded her head as she opened the dishwasher. 

"Mom said we need to rinse them and then we can put them in here." SHe said moving her hair out of her face. Cleaning wasn't the hard part, it was decorating as you tried to explain to Reese that it needed to cool off first.

"Reese, They're ready are-" You had started but you had been cut off with her screaming Daniels name. You quickly got up making your way to the door to see the five boys piling in. It was like a wave of emotion hit you as you let his family get a moment with him before finally making your way over to wrap him in your arms.

"I missed you so much." He said, you wanted to reply but it felt as if it was a dream like you'd wake up and everything would disappear, he'd be back in L.A far away from you.

"Is that what love looks like?" Jack jokingly asked as the boys watched you guys continue your reunion. Zach who opened his eyes to look at his band nodded. 

"Especially if it's with her." He spoke, you had met the boys before but you felt rude for not speaking to them, you gave each one a hug before making your way back to Zach.

"Thanks for keeping him in check." You spoke making them crack a smile.Though you missed him, he was having the time of his life and that was a journey you were willing to risk because life with Zach was a lot better with a life without him.

[jukeboxgraduate]

Celebrating David Bowie, New York Edition, Terminal 5, January 10, 2017

This was a lovely evening, to be sure, brought on by the camaraderie of the musicians and the enthusiasm of the audience. This wasn’t the kind of crowd that went to the Dorf benefits last year, that owned CHANGES ONE and wanted to see the Mumfords, these were the people who cheered wildly every time Gail Ann Dorsey came to the mic.

The beautiful moments were utterly stunning, enthralling, evocative, memorable. Gail standing onstage, barefoot as always, in this simple black frock, a mourning gown, singing “Young Americans” with the Harlem Gospel Choir will go down as one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. She had so much joy and sadness and pride in getting it right, every time the choir kicked in, it was astounding. Hearing Earl Slick play the intro to “Stay” again, and probably for the last time in my life, was unexpectedly emotional, and compelling. Adrian Belew was an utter delight - I was right in front of him, and he laughed and sang with us all night. Watching his hands play those riffs on “Fame” and “Fashion” and “DJ” -- it was like catechism, you know? These are my holy books.

Living Color brought the motherfucking house down. Just burned the place DOWN. They came out for “Suffragette City” which had both Doug Wimbish AND Gail Ann Dorsey on bass, and then the supplemental musicians cleared the stage for “I’m Afraid of Americans” which was heart-stopping, especially that night as Obama said goodbye in Chicago as this was happening. They owned the song like they wrote it. They should record and release it immediately. Angelo Moore (from Fishbone) was also on fire, stunning costume and makeup changes, and one of the few singers unafraid to own the songs-- “Ashes to Ashes’ and later, “Moonage Daydream”--and the stage and transform the performance while still keeping it very very Bowie.

Out of the non-name folks, a gentleman named Brett Hool had been on backing acoustic all night before coming out to sing this unexpectedly countrified version of “Ziggy Stardust.” Like, imagine if Gram Parsons had sung “Ziggy Stardust.” It was bold and heartfelt and the crowd ate it up, deservedly so.

In that revolving pool of musicians, you always KNEW when the drummer had switched to either Sterling Campbell or Zach Alford, and much of my joy in the evening was listening to and watching them play, and watching their interactions with other musicians -- Zach and Earl Slick playing off each other during “Diamond Dogs” was utterly priceless. But it was a fucking drum clinic up there, as the two switched out with a third and with each other. They are just so, so, so very good.

I love Bernard Fowler and he did a great job but he did that thing at the end of songs that I blame his time with the Stones on, that inability to end a song crisply. “Rebel Rebel” has an end. End it. Don’t extend it with another two minutes of “Rebel Rebel.” The same thing went for many of the other guest vocalists. We are not here for your interpretations or your ad libs. This is not that night.

There was a huge band - there were strings. There were horns. There were alternate horns. All the guest singers sang backup and then alternate musicians would run out to sing backup. Sterling Campbell kept running out to play cowbell. The main saxophone player, whose name I did not catch, was phenomenal, the right mixture of soul and feel. I felt bad for the electronic keyboard player, who missed the opening riffs to “Sound and Vision” only to have Mr. Adrian Belew whirl around disapprovingly. It’s a tough gig. Step it up. But mostly, the band was rehearsed and we could hear all the parts and they all loved being there. Everyone stood sidestage, singing along all night.

I bought the ticket not knowing who the guests were because I trusted Mike Garson and everyone else involved to not let us down. And trust me, from a musical perspective, everyone did their best and played their hearts out and there were a lot of moving parts and everyone was prepared and clearly rehearsed. But for New York City, I think we deserved better guests than Sting’s son (who I didn’t even know existed, much less had a singing career, before tonight), and "Mr. Hudson” who thought we were there to see him, but managed to bungle the “Marks & Sparks” line in “Dudes” to an extent that I stood there going, He literally does not understand the line. He doesn’t know what it is so he threw something else in there. I thought ‘Heroes’ was too bright and cheery, and I thought the general setlist could have been more diverse for a crowd of people who came considerable distances and who knew every word of every song -- Mike introduced everything with “You might know this,” and after a while, I mumbled, “Mike, we know ALL OF IT, come on.” I mean, I do not need to hear another version of “Man Who Sold The World” ever again.

To be fair, Jon Sumner acquitted himself reasonably well on “Under Pressure,” which I didn’t expect, and was so happy to hear, but that was mostly due to the strength of Catherine Russell, there on percussion, and came out for this one number. That said, all I could think were the missed possibilities with a more worthy partner. He just didn’t have the depth or the emotion or the vocal prowess and it almost was unfair to give that to him, there was no way he’d meet anyone’s expectations on this one. It’s tough.

I bought the tickets to this show, at Terminal 5, at the second VIP level, without knowing any special guest or what VIP was going to get me. I hate Terminal 5 -- a colleague today noted it was “the worst place to see music possibly in america” and that’s not incorrect -- but for this show, and because of the VIP tickets, I thought I’d make an exception. It was only bearable because I was alone and I know how to deal with entering a venue and getting a spot. I showed up at 5:30pm and ended up well on the rail. Other people floundered about, trying to figure out if they were entitled to balcony access or not (not that the balcony at T5 is a great vantage point but it does give you more leaning potential). I will not ever do this again. (Seriously, fuck this venue where the security cannot correctly handle entry of a crowd of old people. Why is entering every concert there disorganized to the extent it feels like it’s the first time they’ve ever had a live music event there? Why is the security at every other Bowery Presents venue the polar opposite??)

For the diehards, you have no choice, you need to go to see Gail and Adrian and Mike and Earl and everyone else, they will give you the moments you need, the rest is just icing on the cake, not what you came for. Go if you can, but don’t fret if you can’t.  He’s still gone and will be gone forever and nothing will be seeing David Bowie ever again. xo