#everyone say thank you aisha

[lovecolibri]

They are like CHILDREN on set! It's giving me LIFE to see them all having such a great time filming together like they used to. 😍😍😍

[chitrah]

everyone say thank you to aisha tyler for this 😩🙏🏻

[ariesqueencobra]

what we used to be | XVl

Pairing: Eli Moskowitz x Fem!Reader

Summary: Moon is throwing a party and the last person you expect to see there is there...

Warnings: dojo rivalry, swearing, underage drinking, bullying, injury

Word Count: 3k

A/N: I've been waiting for this chapter! One of my favorite Hawk moments so it was fun writing! Also a longer chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Thank you to those who already reblog and comment, I see you and I love you all for it!

I don't consent to this work being copied, translated or reposted.

Moon was throwing a party before the school year started. 

You walked into the party alongside your friends, but everyone stopped when you realized Cobra Kai was there. Your gaze landed briefly on Eli’s before you forced yourself to look away. 

You hadn’t seen him since the day at the restaurant. 

It pissed you off that it hurt seeing him. You missed him. 

Moving your gaze didn’t make you feel better when they landed on Aisha. You didn’t think breaking up with Eli meant throwing away the rest of Cobra Kai, but then again, you did join Miyagi-Do.

After she abruptly ended the phone call a couple of weeks ago, the tension was there as you stared at your ex-friend.

Thankfully, Moon appeared, cutting it.

“Glad you guys made it,” she grinned. “Kegs are out back, drinks are in the kitchen, and the vegan pigs in a blanket just got out of the oven,” she said. 

“You never said anything about inviting Cobra Kai,” Sam said, saying what you were all thinking.

“I figured with summer ending and school starting up, we could all stop fighting and be friends again,” she said hopefully.

“That’s wishful thinking,” Sam brushed off.

“Let’s all clear our chakras and have some fun!” Moon encouraged before she walked off.

You gazed at Demitri, hiking your shoulders up before you walked further into the house, needing to escape Eli. 

That’s how you found yourself talking with Moon. You were sitting on the other side of the room and Eli was on the couch. Even though his presence was magnetizing, your conversation with her was distracting enough.

“I swear I was a dewdrop, I was literally sitting on a blade of grass, the sun hitting on me,” she emphasized, gripping your arm. 

You were doubled over laughing at her recounting the dream she had. “I’m sorry, I’m just picturing your face on a dew drop like the Sun baby from Teletubbies,” you giggled, causing her to laugh along.

“That’s exactly how it went,” she giggled. 

In the process of you laughing, you glanced up, finding Eli talking to a girl. 

There he was, oozing with the confidence you fell in love with as he spoke to her. The bubble in your stomach unnerved you and you despised it. You weren’t supposed to be jealous but then again, you weren’t together anymore. It didn’t matter.

“Oh, great! My girlfriend’s here!” Moon beamed. “You’re gonna love her!” She tapped you on the arm before she walked over to the girl Eli was talking to. 

A breath of relief escaped you.

For the next hour or so, you spent the entire time chatting it up with Moon and her girlfriend, Piper. The couple was so cute and you enjoyed getting to talk to people outside of karate. Something that had been a while since you last did.

Unbestowent to you, Eli was watching you have the time of your life without him. 

You weren’t supposed to have moved on so easily. 

He held on to that hope that you were heartbroken, unable to let go of what you had. That’s what his mom told him after she had talked to your mom. What happened since then?

Keeping his gaze on you, he tried distractions. Whether it was a dance circle or talking with Assface, nothing was working. His eyes kept training on you.

You kept laughing, so much. What could be so captivating that you were so invested in conversing with Moon?

Eli hated it. 

He watched as Piper showed her ear piercings to you, your eyes tracing over the jewels and you began gesturing to your ear, most likely asking what kind of piercings would look good on you. 

He knew that’s what you asked because he knows you.

Then Demitri sat beside him. 

“Did you watch the new Doctor Who trailer?” He asked.

“I don’t watch nerd shit,” Eli grumbled, sipping from his cup, brushing his gaze away from his ex-best friend.

“Y’know Moffat isn’t the showrunner anymore,” Demitri continued to talk.

Eli paused. “Wait, really, since when? Is there a new doctor, what’s he like?” He grew interested, not realizing it had been a while since he’d watched his favorite shows.

“She’s badass,” Demitri smirked.

“She?” Eli grinned.

Your giggling drew his attention away and suddenly he was back to being Hawk.

“She’s moved on,” Demitri said, sighing, feeling bad for him but at the same time he was proud of you for doing so. “She’s made it obvious she doesn’t want to be with you anymore.”

“Defeat does not exist,” Eli ignored him.

“There’s that winning attitude that pushed her away in the first place,” he sighed. “Look at her, she’s grown, she’s happy, she found peace, maybe it’s time you found some too,” he patted him on the shoulder. 

“Oh yeah?” Eli smirked before he stood up, pouring his drink over Demitri’s head.

The partygoers gasped and you turned just in time to see it happen. 

“That’s what I thought, still a pussy,” he threw his empty cup at Demitri before walking off.

You caught his eyes for a moment, sending him a disappointed look before rushing off to check on Demitri. 

“Do you want to head out of here?” You asked, helping him pat dry his shirt. 

“I’m gonna get cleaned up in the bathroom,” he grumbled before walking off.

You blew out a breath, dumping the towels in the trash. You shook your head, shocked at what Eli did but could you say you were surprised? 

“I knew I was right when I said you chose Demitri over me,” Eli appeared at your side. “Now you joined Miyagi-Do?” 

“What’s it to you? We’re broken up,” you spat, wiping your hands.

“It means everything, you weren’t supposed to choose that pussy over me,” he furrowed his brows. 

“And you weren’t supposed to hurt me,” you sneered. “Guess we did things we weren’t supposed to do,” you swallowed. 

“I still stand by what I say, I would never hurt you,” he blocked your path.

“You hurt me every time you hurt Demitri,” you gritted. “What do you want Eli?” 

“You,” he answered, point blankly. “Come back where you belong, with me.” 

“Stop it,” you shook your head. “I’m better now, okay?” You crossed your arms over your chest.

His jaw clenched. “Being a traitor made you better?” 

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” you gritted, stalking close to him. “You were the one that decided being an asshole was better,” you jabbed a finger in his chest. “You put your ego over our relationship,” you spat. 

He was irritated. “And you chose that pussy over us, many times if you don’t recall,” he inhaled. 

“Seems like I made the right choice then,” you fumed, feeling proud in the way his eyes flashed with hurt. Serves him right. Keeping your gaze locked on his, you searched desperately for a sign of your Eli, but he was gone. “I don’t even recognize you anymore,” you shook your head, a sting forming in the back of your eyes.

You went upstairs, finding the bathroom but you were curious when you couldn’t find Demitri. Deciding it best to find him after you composed yourself, you found your way back downstairs just in time to see Demitri on stage, a mic in his hand.

“Excuse me,” he said, the mic sounding off some feedback. “I’d like to make a toast,” he sounded boisterous, a contrast from his state a few moments prior. “To Eli Moskowitz,” he raised his cup in the air.

You exhaled in worry as the room questioned who that was.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Demitri laughed. “Some of you know him as Hawk,” he said, gesturing to your ex. “But underneath that crazy clown cosplay and whatever type of Manic Panic he dumps his hair in, he’s still good old Eli. My Binary Brother,” he stated.

You gulped, glancing at Eli, finding him to be angry. 

“Well, he was my binary brother. Wanna know what he is now? A real zero,” he gestured. 

The room of people erupted in soft laughter.

“Alright that’s enough Demitri,” Eli gritted.

“Don’t let that angry red hairdo fool you. He’s a big softie,” Demitri mimicked. “We watched every Harry Potter movie together. And he cried like a big baby when Dobby died,” he elaborated, imitating sobbing.

You furrowed your brows, not recalling a memory of when that happened. 

“In the words of Eli’s hero, Steve Jobs, “I’ve got one more thing”,” Demitri continued. “Have any of you heard of sleep enuresis?” 

“Don’t,” Eli pleaded. 

Your heartbeat picked up, confusion filling you as you didn’t understand what your friend was talking about. 

“That’s the medical term of course. In the King’s English, it’s good old-fashioned bed-wetting,” Demitri said, the room erupting in laughter. “And Eli here is a pro,” he clicked his tongue, snapping at Eli. “My mom had a special air mattress for sleepovers, she called it “Eli’s waterbed”.”

Your heart dropped and you sent a worried glance at Eli, unaware of anything Demitri said. The room erupted in laughter and you wanted so much to stop it.

“Screw mercy. You’re a corpse!” Eli shoved his cup into Mitch, charging towards Demitri but Chris blocked him.

“You’re gonna have to go through me,” he said. 

“Stay out of it,” Mitch defended. 

“Hey, don’t touch him,” Robby entered.

“Or what?” Aisha taunted. 

“Guys, stop, we’re friends,” Moon stood between them.

The tension could be cut with a knife and you were about to go in and help but police sirens were heard, red and blue flashing through the windows. 

“Cops!” Someone shouted. 

Chaos ensued and you were quick to run towards Demitri but by the time you got to the stage, he was gone.

“Great,” you slapped your hands against your thighs before you booked it for an escape. You were running out of the house but through the mayhem, someone pushed you and you fell right on the lawn, pain spreading in your ankle. “Shit,” you hissed. 

“Y/N?” You heard Eli’s voice and before you could speak, he was already hoisting you up on your feet. 

You cried out in pain putting weight on your right foot, almost falling again if it wasn’t for him. 

“Woah, what the hell happened?” He asked before wrapping your arm around his neck, his arm wrapping around your waist as he helped you keep the weight off your ankle. 

“I was pushed,” you huffed, trying to book it out of there as fast as you could. 

“I parked a couple of blocks from here, I’ll drive you home,” he said now that you were a few houses down. 

“I can’t go home,” you sucked in a breath. “I left my keys in my jacket in Moon’s room and I can’t tell my dad I left them there because the cops showed up,” you hopped, keeping your bad foot in the air. 

“I’ll take the blame,” he said. 

“I wish, but my parents aren’t even there,” you stated. “They went on an anniversary getaway in Santa Barbra and won’t be home until the morning.” 

“I’ll take you to my place,” he said, making it to the car and opening the door for you, helping you inside. 

“Thanks, Eli,” you gulped, keeping your gaze ahead of you. 

The drive was silent but not awkward. 

“My dad’s working late and my mom is at her book club,” he said, unlocking the front door. 

You had your arm wrapped around his neck, limping into his house. You missed coming over, the smell of his home. That ache in your chest returned.

“Just one step at a time,” he encouraged as you hopped on each step, one hand on the railing and the other around him.

You relaxed when you made it to his bed. 

“I’ll be back,” he left you in his room, and you looked around, having not been here in a long time.

One thing you noticed was the posters of his favorite movies and video games were no longer up, replaced with different punk posters and bands. You didn’t care for the change, really, if he truly liked those things, it wasn’t a problem. 

When you noticed the photos of you and Demitri weren’t hung up anymore, your heart fell but you saw he still had your art hung up. 

The card you made for him after he got bit by the rabid dog, the hawk painting you gave him for your anniversary, and the other ones you’ve created over the years. 

“Here,” he came back into the room and sat on the bed, handing you a bag of ice. “You need to ice it before you compress it,” he explained.

“Thank you,” you took the bag from him, untying your shoe and carefully taking your sock off. “It’s swollen, right?”

He stared at the tender skin. “The ice should help, but I don’t see any bruising so I’m sure tomorrow you’ll feel better,” he reassured.

You nodded, silence consuming you again. 

He was sitting by your foot on the bed, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared forward. 

You studied him, outlining the curves of his profile. 

The arch of his nose, his long lashes, his lips, those blue eyes. 

Gulping, you turned away, your face becoming hot. “You still have my art on your wall,” you pointed out, wanting the silence to end.

He glanced at the wall, face softening. “I need to be reminded that we were good before,” he answered, slightly cold before glancing at you.

You sighed. “We were,” you chewed on your lip, shifting the ice pack on your ankle. 

“You still wear the bracelet I gave you,” he pointed, gaze on your wrist. 

You froze, glancing down at where he was looking, realizing for the first time that it was true. 

“I can’t come up with a good reason as to why,” you moved a piece of hair behind your ear. 

“Because your heart knows we belong together,” he said, staring at you.

“Eli,” you shook your head.

“No. We love each other, shouldn’t that be enough?” 

“No,” your voice cracked. “I wish it were but we’re so different now, I can’t date a bully after going through the hell that I watched you go through and what I did as well,” you glanced down.

“Kinda hypocritical to say that after what your friend did to me at the party,” his jaw ticked, turning away from you.

“That’s not fair. Should he have done it? No, but you attacked him, Eli,” you said. “Over a review,” you stated.

“Not this bullshit again,” he rolled his eyes, standing up.

“Okay, fine, I won’t talk about it,” you leaned back against his pillows, letting the ice pack rest on your ankle. “I didn’t know he’d do that,” you spoke up. “I didn’t know that happened,” your gaze softened at him.

“Yeah, now what? You think I’m a loser, don’t you?” He gulped.

“No,” you furrowed your brows. “The only thing that makes me think you’re a loser is being a bully,” you frowned, arms crossed over your chest. “And I know that’s not you.”

“This is me,” he defended. “And it sucks that the one person I care about the most can’t see that,” he spat before getting up and walking out of his room.

You called after him, feeling helpless as you were left on the bed, your ankle radiating with pain. You stayed there for what felt like forever but then Eli came back in, carrying a tray in his hands. 

“It’s been twenty minutes,” he said, setting the tray on the nightstand. 

Your gaze followed the tray and found two plates with a sandwich and some chips, two cups with some drink in it, a bottle of Ibuprofen, a wrap, and some type of topical gel. Your heart melted, from thinking he blew you off to knowing he got all this for you.

“You didn’t have to do this,” you gazed softly at him. 

“I care about you, Y/N. And I love you,” he glanced down at you, grabbing the wrap and topical gel. “I can do it if you can’t,” he handed you the gel. 

You smiled, thanking him as you took it. Taking the ice off, you wipe the water off before uncapping the gel and applying the anti-inflammatory gel on your skin. Instantly, you could feel the relief. When it came to the wrap, you were having trouble. 

“Here,” he took it from you, moving to sit at your feet.

“You don’t have to,” you declined but he placed your foot in his lap. 

“Let me help you,” he brushed you off.

You sighed as you watched him wrap your ankle. 

His touch was gentle and his movements soft. 

You couldn’t help the way your heart soared, seeing a side of Eli you missed so much. 

“Not too tight?” He asked and you shook your head. “You should eat before you take the pain medication,” he said, pulling you out of your thoughts.

You agreed, asking for help to the bathroom to wash your hands before you settled back on the bed. You watched a show while eating, something comforting in the domesticity before you grew tired.

“You don’t have to take the medication if you don’t want it,” he said, sitting next to you on the bed. 

You were resting against the headboard, your faces inches apart. “It hurts, so I do,” you passed him a grin. “Thank you, Eli,” you said, taking the medication.

“You’re welcome,” he took the bottle and glass from you. “I’m gonna sleep on the couch, but call if you need anything,” he looked at you.

You nodded, chewing on your lip.

“Eli?” You asked.

“Yeah?” He stopped from getting up, staring at you expectedly.

“I love you too,” you admitted. “Before, you said you love me and well, I wanted you-”

You couldn’t finish your sentence as his lips landed on yours. Your eyes flew closed and you sighed into the kiss, finding home again. 

His hand gently reached up to cup your face and for once, things felt like normal.

But the feeling was brief and you fell back to Earth.

“I can’t, Eli,” you licked your lips, pulling away.

He shook his head, hand still on you. “I never wanted to break up.”

“Neither did I,” you rested your forehead against him before you bid each other goodnight. 

[lemotmo]

They got an ask about Buck/Eddie being written like Hen/Chimney. Because of course 🙄

A. Good evening anon, my week has been pretty decent, thank you. I hope yours was as well. Buck/Eddie are not written or played remotely similarly to Hen/Chimney. Their dynamics are purposely different. I don't know if you belong to the group of viewers whose knowledge of the show only consists of 6 episodes from season 7, but based on your ask, I'm going to assume that you are. But even if your knowledge is relegated to season 7 exclusively you should still be able to see the difference. Hen and Chimney are your textbook besties for life. They support each other. They cry with and cheer for one another. And sometimes even share one braincell. But they have always been shown to have lives separate from one another and their friendship (that's part of the show history you're deliberately avoiding). I believe Chimney has had one scene with Denny (Hen and Karen's son) throughout the entirety of the show's run. Buck and Christopher's relationship is its own unit within the show. They have episodes and arcs devoted to the two of them (that pesky show history again, sorry). Buck is not written as his sudo uncle. He's not written as his dad's best friend who occasionally babysits. He is a coparent. Eddie and Buck had one episode, Eddie's first episode, and it wasn't even the full episode, where they weren't written as immediately living in the pocket of each other. The show made a point of developing Hen and Chimney outside of their friendship. The show has deliberately chosen not to do that with Buck and Eddie. It's a season after season writing choice. It's why Kenny, Aisha, and Tim can all easily use the word friendship to describe Hen/Chimney. It's also why Oliver, Ryan and Tim cannot use the word friendship to describe Buck and Eddie. It's why in interview after interview they all struggle to describe it. The word friendship does not feel right or remotely strong enough to describe their relationship. And they all know it (again, it's that lousy show history).

It's okay to say you don't want Eddie to be canonically queer because you know what that means for Tommy. That's okay. You're allowed to hate it solely for what it means to that character. We all hate something that is canon. I hate several canon things. I won't tell you all of them, but I will share one that seems minor to a lot of people, but fills me with rage. When the show had Buck tell Eddie that he thinks Natalia 'sees' him I wanted to burn the studio to the ground. Evan Buckley looked Eddie Diaz in the face and actually said out loud that someone he just met is the person who makes him feel seen (even typing the words out made my face hot). Eddie Diaz who knows Evan Buckley better than anyone else in the world had to listen to those words be said about someone else. I hate it. I hate it so much that any time anyone mentions that scene around me all my friends groan because they know I'm about to go on a rant. I don't pretend I hate it for any other reason except it made me upset on Eddie's behalf. That's it. To me it felt wrong, wildly out of place, especially considering Buck had known her all of 5 minutes, and I thought it was stupid. That's it. I don't try to convince everyone that my feelings towards that scene are about some greater morality point. I hate it because I hate it. And that's all that matters. I don't know who told you all that you're not allowed to not want Eddie to be canonically queer because you know they'll put him with Buck. That's the reason you don't want it. Say it. You can. No one will judge you for you saying that. People are judging you because you're pretending it's all this other greater good for television bullshit. It's not. It's not because television needs a straight/queer bestie combo, those are everywhere, including 911, hello Hen and Chimney. It's not because television needs a straight man who's not afraid of his emotions. It's not because putting them in a relationship would ruin one of the best platonic relationships on television. It's none of those things. It's because he would be with Buck. Period. Just own it. It's fine.

The only problem with admitting it means you're also admitting that once his arc with Buck is complete there is no purpose for Tommy. That's why you don't want to admit it. You guys have spent the entire hiatus letting people convince you that he's becoming an integral part of the show. That he's going to have storylines and episodes devoted to him and his past. He's not. Even if they keep him around as a boyfriend for a bit he will still just exist on the fringes of the show. He will never be important as a stand alone character. The show has given zero indication that he is anything more than a plot point. They just haven't. And maybe you all are correct, and Tim has spent the downtime thinking of ways to make him more permanent. But that is very unlikely. Everything we've seen so far, including the decision to release that deleted clip, seems to indicate he has a very particular story purpose, and once they've told that particular part of the story, his services will no longer be required. You can hate it. You have absolutely every right to hate it. It doesn't matter if I, or anyone else, ever understands why you hate it. You can hate it. But it won't make it less true. It will just be part of the canon that you hate. And that's okay.

Okay, I wouldn't know what to add to this to be honest. Every single thing that has been on my mind for some time now is right there, in the answer above. The only difference is that the OP managed to summarise all of it in a few paragraphs. It would probably have taken me hours and pages of text to say what they just said in their answer.

I just want to add on thing. It's true, we all have canon parts of the show that we hate. Mine is the lawsuit arc. I can't watch it anymore. I can't even read fics that deal with the lawsuit. That is how much I hate it. I hated how they made Buck sue the Fire Department and how they made him tell that lawyer all about his friends' private lives. I absolutely detest it, because it made me dislike Buck during that time. And I've always loved Buck, even season 1 Buck. I eventually got over it and forgave Buck around the same time Eddie did. I will always hate that arc, but I also realise that it happened and that it will forever be a part of Buck's character arc.

This will be part of the canon that I hate. And that's okay. It won't make me love the show any less, but it will always be there.

What are the canon parts of the show that you hate(d)?

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[deluweil]

Oh God yes, I am so for Tommy being gone just to have people stop being stupid about Eddie. Which is a pitty because at first I was intrigued by Tommy. Now i just want it to end.

And lol at your tags. I have blocked so many people lately, too. Not even stupid takes during TK era made me block so much. Some of them really take the cake now. All this hate towards Eddie is staggering. And to have the audacity to call eddieblr toxic (and yes, I have seen that and not only buddies are being called toxic these days).

HI there,

I have to say that I was intrigued and even excited for Tommy at first too, but there were a lot of things that just ruined it along the way, amongst them the last minute joiners and Eddie haters fans who just set out to make this place unbearable.

I wouldn't have minded Tommy so much if not for all the toxicity that brought with it and the poor writing and the money for specs from Lou.

Like wth dude, didn't anyone teach you to be correct, you can't justify Tommy's behavior in S2 and pass it as teasing. It's like punching someone in the face in rage or nearly break someone's ankle for attention and call it roughhousing. (not joking, I literally had an ask with someone justifying the white man railroading the POC for attention as roughhousing. - When Buck himself said he wasn't sure it wasn't done on purpose. like wtf?)

lol I live for those tags, everyone say their real thoughts and be funny in tags, it's so much fun.

I literally bonded with that block button, I haven't blocked so many ppl since early S4 and the porn bots attack lol

Ppl need to chill, everyone is entitled to their opinions but are not entitled to force it upon others.

Ship who you want but tag properly and don't be toxic about.

A lot of ppl read X's posts and come to rant about it here, Tumblr is not X, most of the ppl here are ppl who hate X's toxicity. I have deleted my account so many years ago.

We are here to have fun, so I say ship who you want, TAG PROPERLY, and leave us the hell alone.

Eddie/Ryan haters are all blocked so thankfully I don't see those, but if after everything they still hate on Eddie for something Ryan apologized several times for, learned from it and has bettered himself to the point that Aisha posted a thankful for Ryan story once and they have so many pictures together where she hugs him like he's one of the most precious ppl to ever live, than I have to call pure racism.

And that would explain the sudden admiration to the new white man on screen to be paired with the other white man who is by chance also the fan favorite.

Don't get it twisted, I love Oliver and Oliver loves Ryan and Eddie, but one has to wonder about the audience's choice of favorite even as they call against racism and for equality and with the same breath hate on a regular poc character.

I'm hoping this bizarre season ends on a good note, because otherwise S8 may be the last season.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

This morning, 15 minutes after the break in fighting was supposed to begin, Hamas fired two rocket barrages into southern Israel. This is what we mean when we say that Hamas has broken every ceasefire ever. The only reason why this didn't lead to the hostage deal falling apart, is because Israel chose to "contain" Hamas' violent rocket attack. But remember this when we explain why we can't accept Hamas' existence anymore.

Israel confirmed that the 13 hostages being released have arrived in Egypt, and there are already Israelis there, taking care of them. IDK when we'll get their names, and images of them safe back in Israel, but as you can imagine, everyone here is holding its breath for that. Still, their well being comes first, they're being taken to a hospital first, to see their families, and only then (and based on whatever they prefer) will there be anything more public. There will not be interviews, however, 'coz something they say might risk the other groups of hostages meant to be released in the upcoming days.

Hamas is also releasing some of the Thai nationals they've kidnapped (I heard 12 of the 23 taken hostage), which are being let go of unconditionally. Before anyone tries to make out this shows Hamas is humane, I'll just point out that Hamas terrorists murdered at least 33 Thais on Oct 7.

Some of my fave commentators recently on what's going on here since Hamas' massacre aren't Jewish, or even Israeli. Here's a few of their tweets:

Regarding the last one, I just wanna say that most Israelis will continue to trust most Arabs. That's just how we have always lived, despite the on going terror attacks. The day after Oct 7, I mentioned that I went to my hospital treatment. The guard there is an Arab guy. He carries a gun. I couldn't help but think about it. And then I did what I always do, I thanked him for his work (being a guard is difficult), and wished him a good day. He smiled big and wished me the same. He's lovely. What Hamas did on Oct 7 is not his fault. But the mistrust of survivors, and some of those who care about them, is also very human and understandable, as much as I'll continue to call on everyone not to generalize about Arabs, or any group.

Especially when some of Hamas' victims are themselves Arabs. Here's a young Israeli Muslim Bedouin woman, who has been speaking up on behalf of her friend, 17 years old Aisha al Ziadna, who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7.

A Sky News reporter was particularly shameful the other day. She tried to use Israel's willingness to release 3 convicted terrorist per just 1 innocent civilian hostage to vilify Israel. Here's the reply she got:

Just a reminder, once again, that when you listen to western media, which is supposed to be objective, these are often their info sources on this conflict:

Speaking of lack of objectivity, an Israeli newspaper found out that the International Criminal Court has appointed a Danish lawyer to investigate the Israel-Hamas war, and it's a man (I'm not sure I'm transcribing his name from Hebrew correctly, but it should be something like Andreas Laursen) who has worked in the past for a Palestinian "human rights organization" which has been outlawed in 2021 for having ties to terrorist organizations, who was involved in 2018 in trying to make the case that Israel had committed war crimes, who has lived in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and who is married to a Palestinian woman. This Israeli newspaper has contacted the ICC, asking why the person appointed to this investigation isn't someone who would at least appear to be unbiased. The answer was (I'm translating from the Hebrew article): "We maintain confidentiality about anything that pertains to specific subjects that are related to our employees. Every personal decision made by the head prosecutor fits the policy and relevant procedures that oversee the court's human resources matters."

Because there are still people denying the Hamas rapes:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by כאן חדשות (@kan_news)

I've spoken before about Liel, and how long it took to identify her body, but this tweet kind of broke me all over again.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU AISHA

[iloveamberfreeman]

DR INTRODUCTION !! 𝜗୧

⌒⌒ 𐙚 #1 DR INTRO (COBRA KAI)

finally did it y'all!!

ᝰ. BASIC -

Your average 18yr old girl who has no fighting experience whatsoever or is even remotely interested in Karate, yet she somehow hangs out at the Dojo. Based around the CK series on Netflix, set in LA.

ᝰ. WHO?

WHO ELSE DO YOU THINK THIS ABOUT????? me duh. Valentina or Val, whatever you the hell you wanna call me you can call me. The average student, not too smart not too stupid. You were to ask a classmate about me? They would say, 'Oh her? Yeah she talks too much.' What assholes.

I don't even do anything at the Dojo, I'm just there cuz it's funny watching everyone get mad or do something stupid. Literally, I do nothing. A few of my friends (Aisha, Devon, Miguel, Sam, Kenny and Sam) are/were in the dojo, so that's how I learned about the area and would stop by to chat with them. Yeahhhh then I just went for every practice to sit down and draw the scenery or just relax. Idgaf I could also just be ranting to some random guy sitting on the floor next to me. Johnny doesn't give two shits about me, I pay him about five dollars every time I come in. I mean I might as well pay him since I'm not paying any stupid Dojo fee thingy for being there.

"Don't you wanna join the Dojo since you spend all your time here?"

"No thank you, it's just funny looking at you guys get all worked up!!!"

NAME : Valentina

🇺🇲/🇮🇳

HEIGHT : 5;5 (possibly 5;5 and a half)

GENDER : female

PRONOUNS : she / her

BIRTHDAY : APRIL 5TH

SEXUALITY : bisexual (I love u pretty boys and girls)

VOICE CLAIM : Knifes Chau (Scott Pilgrim takes off)

GRADES : GPA 3.7

LIKES / INTERESTS

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Cooking (my mama taught me well gang)

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Editing (this is a dead giveaway)

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Talking (this is the reason I got moved tables in math)

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Shopping

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Eating ( food tastes ten times better here)

⊹౨ৎ ₊ being silly

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Making friends

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Playing video games

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Baggy outfits

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Music

DISLIKES

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Homework

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Drunk people

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Rude people in general

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Clothes that aren't comfortable

⊹౨ৎ ₊ Someone shouting at me ( just no ew )

FUN FACTS

Lover of Kendrick Lamar, Doja Cat, Mitski, Laufey, and Mean Girls Broadway soundtrack.

Used to work at Barnes and Nobles for a bit

Love language is physical affection and gifts

I have home ec and theatre as electives

Was in Spiderman Homecoming as a background chr.

Thats my intro >_<

FEEL FREE TO ADD ME UR DR!!!!

I ate this up

[meffez]

everyone say THANK YOU AISHA TYLER for directing piranha

[charmixpower]

I've always loved how committed Timmy was to finding Tecna and thinking about it sent me on a long path of thoughts and I landed on this: how do you think the specialists +Nabu would react if they thought their girlfriend was killed?

Not well!!! Thank you for the Ask :D

Sky: idk if Sky or Brandon would be able to sense Bloom and Stella like Timmy was able to do for Tecna so I'm just gonna assume no bc everyone below them can. I feel like he wouldn't believe it???? Bloom was killed? No she wasn't. Shut up. Like it's half denial and half "have you seen the bullshit magic she's capable of??" It would take Bloom's actual corpse to convince him she was actually dead or a REALLY convincing illusion he could touch. Then he's all fucking sad. Sky is a mom friend so he's going in between extreme sadness and trying to end the person who did this

Brandon: Anyone else except me and Jester notice how Brandon was the most calm at Nabu's funeral???? I feel like he'd have the least worse reaction, not in the sense that he's not upset but in the sense that he has the best handle on his emotions. Like he still gets VERY upset and wants revenge but he's not gonna fucking go berserk and cause problems like Helia and Riven would. He IS still going to try and stab whoever did that to Stella though, he's just going to be slightly smarter about it. I feel like he'd also try and get everyone else to be more careful, around the threat, not himself tho. My Brandon has magic but idk if he'd b able to sense Stella bc his Erakylon tutors wouldn't focus on stuff like that

Timmy: I won't type on this one long because well we know he can't be convinced Tecna's dead unless she's actually dead bc magic, but if he actually thought she was killed he wouldn't try to attack the thing that killed her, he'd try to retrieve and protect her body. Timmy is one of the few people who can keep a level head when upset, including Brandon, and is willing to let the magic people do the magic fighting and stay out of their way (Brandon is also smart enough to know he's not much of a help but is confident in his skills enough that he knows he CAN still help tho)

Riven: Timmy knows Tecna is alive bc it's sorta implied that he can kinda sense her magic?? Like he says he can still feel her, and I'm assuming that means her magic. Anyways you know how Riven could still sense Darcy in s2 after they broke up???? Riven couldn't be convinced Musa was dead unless she actually was dead. He can feel very a lot more strongly than Timmy can feel Tecna I imagine bc he could still sense Darcy's presence after they broke up, so it would be stupid hard to convince him she was dead. If you did somehow manage this he'd attempt to get revenge and then immediately collapse with depression since revenge was gotten. He doesn't handle things well in general, and that's like. The light of his life. His person. He'd literally stop functioning if she was dead

Helia: You'd think bc Helia actually has magic his ability to sense Flora would be stronger, but like it's not terrible but it would be as vague as Timmy's is in canon bc he never uses it. In my hcs it would be better bc he goes to CT and actually uses his magic more often, but he'd still be doing worse than like Nabu, who is a lot better at magic. Helia has a tendency to lash out when Flora is in danger so I think if he genuinely thought she was dead for any amount of time he would be going full war path until he realizes she's alive. When he does realize, bc it will take him a second, he immediately calms down and starts putting together a plan to help Flora

Nabu: he would not think Aisha was dead unless she was actually dead, same reasons as everyone else but his magic is stronger so he'd be the hardest to convince. But like, let's pretend he did actually think she was dead, I feel like he would go full Dungeon Meshi lesbians. He will go any length to revive her if she's dead, and bc she's not dead he's using magic to divine her location and go and get her. Nabu is very into writing spells and runes and arcane magic and there is nothing magical he wouldn't try to get Aisha back. Mans was already so dedicated to getting to know her, combine that with him being in love with her and there is nothing he wouldn't do

[lover-of-mine]

gg here

so this is going to be long

you and the people reading your blog need to understand something: the people shipping bt are mostly destiel, i don’t know how may of you have seen spn or ship destiel but this knowledge is important

when we got tommy kissing buck most people compared this to destiel, buck to dean and his bisexuality and the now diehard bt stans started comparing misha and lfjr saying how their characters even if supposed to be on the show just for a few episodes they were so loved by the fans that the screewriters decided to keep them and this really happened with misha/castiel but this character was added in a show where there wasn’t major ship (the only one was wincest but even you can understand how impossible was even the thought of canonizing a romantic relationship between two brothers) but mostly castiel was a brand new character while tommy has a past and not a very beautiful one so two different scenarios but that’s not all because they started comparing the parasocial relationship misha has with his fans with the one lfjr has with his stans

i don’t know how many of you were or are on twt since the start but pictures this:

we have lou this brand new actor for our little silly weewoo show he’s kissing ostark, thanks to tommy we have bi buck, people are celebrating, people want to see how this will play out but we still ship buddie we are just enjoying it (bree/kinarscoffee made a post saying how she was happy that tommy could help with buddie canon) then lfjr started interact with them: at the beginning he was shy and not so bold he was the one spilling the beans about tommy/eddie, he was the one telling how bt was a stepping stone for buddie and how tommy was aware that something was happening between buck and eddie (mind you at the time his cameos where 50$)

then he started seeing his fanbase grow, he started responding to hc, telling them if they liked his idea about the chin grab, talking about the sexy times between tommy and buck, he started telling sob stories about tommy, started sending videos on their discord about bt so they finally found the same thing they had with misha

they started contacting con organization to ask them to have lou because they wanted the m&g, the photo, cosplaying him, proposal in front of him dressed like buck and tommy (im not criticizing who wants to go to the con, i went to a spn one years ago but it’s not my thing so not a critique), being recognized by him (if you watch the video they post on tt you will see to how many con they went to see misha) and lfjr is the only one who could give them this kind of relationship because ostark, rg, aisha aren’t interested in cons especially ostark

then they started buying the famous LOUniform, a shirt he had in one of his pic, a limited edition just 500 pieces; they went to pride, to disneyword (making photo with disney characters and tagging lou)

they started interacting with his sister and she started interacting with them

they went so far to defend and protect him, they made video defending him, saying that he was just a baby (30yo) sharing funny memes and how everyone did it, they called queer ppl homophobe, called black and poc racist, they stomped on their beliefs for him

they got blocked by people, they got a bad reputation, they are hated and always treated like stupid, they aren’t acknowledged by ostark and now lfjr stopped being friends with them

so they payed a lot of money for him, they bought his shirt, they did so many things for him and now he is ignoring them so they are shocked how dare him act like this when they made him? when they did all of this for him? other are just chanting “his mental health his poverty mental health” like a justification for the fact that he isn’t playing with them anymore

Hello, love, when I tell you I read the word destiel and almost poured myself actual tea to sip while reading this, I'm not kidding, that first paragraph legit made me go "oh they're trying to emulate Misha" and then strapped in for a ride.

The thing is, I kinda get the Misha comparison, I was never in that deep in the supernatural fandom, but I did watch the show as it was airing until season 7 and adjacently followed for the rest of it, so the whole being brought in on a season after a strike, a shiny new love interest, someone else to try to interact with. But like you said, supernatural didn't have a established ship because you can't really make incest a thing, so Cas was a a breath of fresh air. And like, anything is more compelling than shipping literal incest. Cas brought in something the show didn't have. Tommy was never gonna be that, because we have Eddie and you can't really replace Eddie with Tommy. What happened with Misha is a once in a lifetime situation, you can't recreate that.

Also, I can't believe the cameos were 50$ when this madness started. But I do remember the initial interactions with him, the chin grab and stuff like. But damn, this was a ride from start to finish. But I feel like something clicked in my brain, they make sense to me now. I'm still speechless but...

[foundfam2754]

S17e7 live reactions!

spoilers...obviously

am i the only one who's always nervous before a new episode? i just might too invested in this show after all

i have avoided spoilers all day, let's do this thing

why hasn't this FBI director ever come back into the storyline? i feel like it means a big twist might come back in the season finale...

is this unsub connected to gold star???

oh my god his skin jfc

man you know the quiet unsubs are the scariest

WHAT THE FUCK HIS SKULL

this guy is just saying what he needs to isn't he to get out

holy crap okay what a start to this episode

i'm closing my eyes omg

how do you even build something like that in your apartment - WITHOUT getting hurt

OMG WHAT. THE. FUCK. holy crap aisha did you direct this to scare the bejeesus out of me THAT IS HIS ACTUAL SKULL

OH I JUST SAW FELICITY'S NAME COME UP - welcome, dr. jill gideon!!

damn damn damn PG's outfits this ep!! damn

where are tara and dave? and tyler? and everyone else lol

wait also is my favorite friendship group - penelope, her best friends, and her boyfriend

HAHA emily, poor tyler

ok I kinda love tyler the profiler

"flex" lol why did that sound so wrong coming out of paget's mouth

"mr. sensitive" lol buddy's getting hit left and right

i feel like....that's not a lot of files for 4 years

anyone getting "don't 'Emily' me" vibes

not sure you can say that dave - emily "died", and you were buried underground

lol "that's adorable!"

"i don't have asthma" "you will in a minute" lmao i love their friendship

that's an incredible shot omg (of them turned back from each other, holding hands in bed)

okay as a psych major, this whitepaper stuff is really intellectually interesting

OH THE STARE TO MR GREEN

"of course I am, but not with this" lol i love chaotic emily

"Garcia" ah so he's not so in love anymore is he

aww i never really connected with gideon, but I do miss him <3

EMILY YOU WERE FORBIDDEN

aww road trip!

ergh... smarmy lawyer

elias does love a good contingency

man sicarius is a good profiler

holy crap elias you are straight up horrifyingly evil

"polite. nonviolent" lol i love how funny this season is

YOU ARE NOT FRIENDS YOU LOVE HIM HE LOVES YOU PENELOPE YOU ARE KILLING ME

also don't tell me "it's why you and i are finally friends" ISN'T flirting

"thanks, friend!" "you're welcome, friend!" okay they are straight up flirting, listen to the tone, her facial expression, his facial expression, THEY ARE FLIRTING

also calm down kids, jj's right there

"how's hotch?" "what about derek morgan?" "spencer?" lol they're really honing in that our bois are gone :(

AW BB JASON IN THE CORNER IN THE PHOTO FRAME

oh there's a difference between fiancé and fianceé? i didn't think there was

"has a goatee he thinks makes him look very distinguished" lmao

oh my god he slept with her didn't he

HOW WERE GIDEON AND HE FRIENDS AFTER THAT

lol rossi was such a player

HAHA omg EMILY YOU ARE SO BAD. i love how chaotic she's being

why do i have a feeling emma may be a figment of his imagination?

sir, she's bleeding

damn luke's so hot as he's profiling

WHAT? Okay I did not see that coming

BRO I KNEW IT EMMA'S A FIGMENT

luke and the megaphone!! i repeat, luke and the megaphone!!

lol i just realized this show is always sending luke and jj into very dangerous situations

wait this ep is so good man, the plot's amazing and heartbreaking at the same time, we got garvez nuggets, em's hilarious, and aisha's directing is goddamn incredible

NO WAY, THERE'S ANOTHER KIT?

elias is such a good villain, damn

lawyer man, maybe listen to the scary man? don't open it?

and as jill walks in, we continue the trend in this show of david rossi's ex-girlfriends showing up years later to shock him (oh god they’re gonna get married, aren’t they)

tara and luke be like "who's this lady?"

OKAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR NEXT WEEK LFG

[calissarowan]

Winx Fairy Blog

So, I don’t know how many people have actually read the Winx Club Comic series, but I’d like to (very sarcastically) summarise a season seven comic that ‘finishes’ the Wizards of the Black Circle’s ‘arc’ in the comic series. Issue 145: ‘Winx Fairy Blog’. I’m gonna put in a keep reading link, since this is gonna be long.

So, the Winx all have blogs now, because they do everything the others do, and everyone’s blogs make sense, except Bloom’s where they’ve reverted her back to being an artist, since they realised you can’t have a blog about how to get everyone else’s screen time. And they’re being interviewed by a news reporter, who’s talking to them about their blogs about accessories and doodling rather than the numerous times they’ve saved the world. They’re in the Winx’s Gardenia apartment, because, unlike the show, the comics do remember this exists.

The reporter talks to the Winx, but mostly Bloom, who, despite not having been an artist for six seasons, is now so good at art that her drawing lessons make her the queen of the web, so even the web is now about Bloom. Great. They ask for a demonstration, so Bloom takes Tecna’s smartphone, starts painting it, comes out with something dreadful, tries to brush it off, before breaking the smartphone. Tecna’s mad for a second, then remembers Bloom’s the protagonist, so nobody’s allowed to say she’s done anything wrong, so she tries to fix the phone, but it’s apparently much harder than she thought, and all her technical knowledge has just vanished from her brain.

The other girls lose their talents: Musa can’t play music, Stella apparently recommended a bad outfit on her blog, Flora can’t feel a connection with nature, and Aisha…Aisha can’t stand. Her talent is apparently linked to movement and exercise, so when she loses it, she can’t freakin’ walk. Bloom can’t draw a smartphone, and Aisha can’t stand. Wow.

Musa says they’ve all lost the spark that makes them unique (not sure fashion advice or drawing made them unique; I’d say that honour goes to their personalities, but what do I know?), and Bloom says to remain calm and find out why.

Tecna uses her computer to find a techno-magic virus corrupting their blogs, because she apparently kept plot-convenient technical knowledge. Thank god the plot gods continue to smile on the Winx. The virus corrupted their blogs to steal their talents, so now Bloom is just going to have to live without her art skills, so presumably nothing changes from the last six seasons, and I guess Aisha can’t move now, but let’s be sure to worry about Bloom, because we’ve mentioned Aisha, so we’ve given her enough attention.

Then there’s…a random golem. Just walking down the street. Roaring. The news reporter tries to chase it for the story, gets roared at and Musa says to get out of there, and Bloom tells Flora to stop the golem with her vines, which she can’t, because she’s lost her connection with nature, because it’s been over a season since she got the inextinguishable power of the Dragon Flame, meaning she can’t lose her powers; this is season seven, we’re doing Butterflix. Bloomix has been relegated to the bin of irrelevance along with Roxy and continuity.

The golem tries to crush Aisha, and Aisha can’t move away, because this virus has taken all her energy, so it’s less like a talent-stealing spell, and more like a deadly curse, but Stella grabs her and pulls her aside and then we have to get back to Bloom, who says that without their talents, their magic has faded, because apparently the ability to wield the source of all life in the universe is directly tied to one’s ability to draw a horsie.

And then, the saviours of the universe, the legendary Winx that have faced witches and demons and monsters oh my! …Run away. Great.

Musa says the energy of the monster is familiar, like they’ve faced it before, Bloom says they need to remember how to defeat him, and that, having lost their talents, they can’t attack him individually, but maybe, if they transform into Butterflix, the power with nothing to do with the situation, they can defeat him together, and they overcome the problem by using the most generic, uniform transformation they’ve got, and, through a generic convergence, they defeat the golem with the power of conformity! Huzzah!

Bloom says they need to get their talents back, because she got confused and thought she was in World of Winx instead, and, thank God, Tecna says they only need wait a few seconds, because they’re too close to the end of the comic for any kind of creative solution, and they already did a convergence, so now the plot gods have decreed that the virus corrupting their blogs will disappear. Tecna, despite having lost all her technical knowledge, apparently carries a user manual for her tablet everywhere, because she’s using that just fine.

Flora asks if the golem was responsible for the virus, because it’s a typical random golem move, but Tecna says no, it was just a pawn controlled by someone else, like a big, yellow version of the Trix after season one, and she says it’s probably controlled by the same person who played that nasty trick on them. I mean, Aisha couldn’t walk, and you all almost died because of the spell, so less of a nasty trick and more an attempt to kill you all, but let’s keep things light and casual.

Bloom says they need to find out their identity as fast as possible, so they of course subsequently do nothing; maybe they go back to the loft and say ‘Hey, Google! Who corrupted our blogs?’ and when they do, and Google has no idea, they shrug and go, ‘Eh, well, we tried.’ They’re very busy making sure the return of their talents doesn’t compromise their delicate hivemind, so they haven’t got much time to launch an in-depth investigation.

Then, we cut to Solaria! The perfect random end to a random adventure! We go to the dungeons, where our world is rocked as we realise that past villains do actually still exist, and we see the Wizards of the Black Circle! Ogron is just casually summoning some random blue lightning or something, which the guards just…ignore, I guess. Maybe they think he got a flashlight.

Anyway, Ogron helpfully reveals that his techno-magic incantation only had a temporary effect (thanks for the exposition, Ogron. What would we do without you monologuing?), because apparently he has…techno-magic powers. Okay, well, you know what, he did send them into Tecna’s videogame in season four, so yeah, we can say this is canon. He says its temporary effect is a sign their magic energy has not yet fully returned, and thankfully nobody on Solaria thought to fit them with some magical dampeners or something, because these villains are from three seasons ago, so nobody cares; they gotta get ready for the Trix coming back for the ten-millionth time.

Gantlos says it’s a shame his golem was also defeated, because he can summon golems now, using a power he hasn’t used before for reasons known only to him, but I have reason to believe it’s that mysterious force known as ‘plot convenience’. Despite having been complaining about his own failings just seconds prior, Ogron tells Gantlos to never mind, and basically shut up about his golem, and Gantlos says they’ve tested their powers and now they know they can beat the Winx (are you crazy? They just obliterated your golem), before Ogron asks Anagan if he’s amassed enough energy to get them out, because apparently he was conserving his new magic while Ogron and Gantlos had a fighting the Winx blowout, and Anagan gets them out in that most magical of ways: ripping the door off its hinges. I thought Gantlos was the one with super strength, but I also thought he couldn’t summon golems, so I’ve got no idea what’s happening anymore.

Ogron says they’ll take their revenge on the Winx once and for all, because revenge has been their friend so far, and of course, they don’t. That, or Ogron takes such subtle revenge that nobody notices, which seems pointless, but he had a plan that was undone by kibble, so who knows what’s going on in his head?

They presumably get out of the dungeons, though I’d love to know what the guards are doing while they’re ripping doors off hinges. Also, guys, great security. Really top-notch! Maybe the guards do come, and the wizards realise they should have conserved their magic, rather than taking away Stella’s fashion sense, since now they’ve gotta fight guards, and the guards just cuff them and put them in a more secure cell. That’d explain why they didn’t show up again. They orchestrated the worst jailbreak ever.

Thanks to anyone still reading all the way down here! I hope you enjoyed my (very sarcastic) summary!

[ariesqueencobra]

what we used to be | Vll

Pairing: Eli Moskowitz x Fem!Reader

Summary: You're going to your first high school party, who would've thought there'd be so much drama?

Warnings: underage drinking, mild violence, flashbacks to bullying, bullying, references to kissing

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: Two chapters in a week?! Another short chapter but I do love this one! One of my favorite scenes to write so far!

Thank you to those who already reblog and comment, I see you and I love you all for it!

I don't consent to this work being copied, translated or reposted.

It was a nice day outside, and you and your friends decided to spend it at the park before the tournament tomorrow. 

While your nerves were at an all-time high, you tried to keep focus on the moment before you, knowing it’d be better to worry about it when the time came. You sat between Miguel and Aisha, Demitri sitting next to the former while Eli continued practicing with Bert behind you all.

Aisha was on her phone and the rest of you were listening to Miguel talk about seeing another guy have dinner with the LaRussos. Of course, out of all the explanations, he thinks he was Sam’s side piece.

“All right, so you saw her eating dinner with some chode,” Eli said before kicking Bert in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

You snickered at his words but quickly sent a reassuring glance at Miguel.

“It’s probably her brother or something.”

“No,” Miguel argued. “Brothers don’t look at their sisters like that.” 

“Depends on what part of the country you’re in,” Demitri said.

You laughed at that.

“I don’t want what happened to Sensei to happen to me,” Miguel exhaled.

“It’s not gonna happen if you don’t communicate that to Sam,” you pointed out. “Tell her how you feel, be honest, she’ll appreciate it in the long run,” you offered.

Miguel pressed his lips together in defeat, unsure if he wanted to go your route.

“Nah, go over and beat his ass so he doesn’t have the chance,” Eli countered, walking over and leaning against the bench between you and Miguel.

You sent him a look. 

“If someone was swinging in on my girl, that’s what I’d do,” he shrugged, sending you a wink.

You felt your cheeks heat up, ignoring what he said about beating up someone. Your mind was too focused on him calling you “his girl”. 

“Don’t listen to, Eli,” Demitri said.

“It’s Hawk.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Demitri rolled his eyes.

You furrowed your brows, turning your attention back to Miguel. “She’s given you no reason not to trust her,” you said.

“I guess you’re right,” Miguel exhaled.

You were glad you got through to him when Aisha shouted at her phone.

“That little bitch!”

You jumped at her voice but were interested in what happened.

“Look what she commented under my post,” she held her phone in front of you, finding that Yasmine commented something horrible under her video of breaking a board.

“We gotta do something,” Aisha gritted.

“How about we kidnap her and have my boy Rico tattoo “bitch” on her face,” Eli smirked.

You snickered, not hating the idea. Yasmine deserved something worse than “bitch” tattooed on her face after all the hell she put you through.

“Calm down, Hawk,” Demitri mocked.

“I hear how you’re saying it and I don’t like it,” Eli spat. 

You reached over your shoulder to squeeze his arm, calming him. Turning back to Aisha, you spoke, “She’s having a party?” You saw the Insta story.

“Not if we strike first,” she smirked.

You smiled, liking where this was heading.

A few moments later you found yourself at the convenience store. While everyone else was buying snacks, you were on the phone with your dad. 

“It’s just a small party at the Canyon, I’ll be home at a reasonable hour,” you explained.

“You said you were gonna be at the park this morning, what changed?” He asked.

You sighed. “Plans were made,” you shrugged. “It’s just gonna be me and a few kids hanging out. Eli and Demitri will be there,” you chewed on your lip, hoping the mention of their names would make him more inclined to agree.

It didn’t.

“I don’t want you going to that party, I know there’s going to be alcohol there,” he said. 

“No there won’t,” you said even though you knew there would be. “You and Mom said I could do whatever as I long as I let you know where I am and who I am with,” you reasoned.

You heard a commotion on the other side, knowing your mom was convincing him.

“Okay, fine, be home at 10 sharp, a minute late and you’re grounded,” he ordered.

You beamed before hanging up, just in time for your boyfriend to walk out with a case of beer in his hand and a bag in the other. 

“I got you your favorites,” Eli smirked, handing you the bag. 

You smiled, thanking him and letting him know your parents permitted you to go. 

“I can’t believe you managed to get beer, when did you even get the fake ID?” You asked, leaning into his side as he wrapped his arm around you.

“I got my ways, babe,” he smirked. “Let’s have fun tonight, yeah?” 

You agreed. 

~

You’ve never been to a party before. 

Jumping from your Friday movie nights with your best friends to attending a party in the Canyon where everyone from school was—the feeling was overwhelming but in the best way possible. 

“If you were told a year ago that you’d join a karate dojo, dye your hair blue, get a back tattoo, and be dating me, would you believe it?” You smiled, hand intertwined with Eli’s as you sat in front of the fire. 

“Nah,” he shook his head, a smile appearing on his face. “But I would be the happiest to know we’re dating,” he hummed, pulling you in close. 

“You’re cute,” you booped his nose. “I’m gonna get a drink,” you said before standing up, passing Demitri on the way.

You joined Aisha, smiling as you approached.

“You seemed busy a few minutes ago,” Aisha chuckled. “Came to hydrate?” She joked as you grabbed a water.

“Haha,” you joined in but your cheeks heated up when you realized she saw you and Eli making out before. 

“I’m curious, how did you handle the change from Eli to Hawk?” She asked. 

“He’s still Eli to me, just with a different appearance,” you shrugged. “Sure sometimes I would like to run my hands through his hair, now I can’t,” you averted your gaze. “But he’s happy, who am I to get in the way of that?” 

She hummed in agreement.

“It’s half past nine, should probably get you home before your dad gets mad,” Eli came up behind you, arm finding home around your shoulders.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” you smiled. 

About to say bye to Aisha, you were stopped by Moon walking up to you two. 

“Y/N, glad I found you,” she smiled. “I wanted to apologize,” she sincerely said. 

You raised a brow, glancing at Aisha who sent you a reassuring look. Your composure was stiff and all you could think of was her and Yasmine laughing as they dumped your vandalized sketchbook in the trash.

“For all of it, I hope we could be friends,” Moon added.

You furrowed your brows, not understanding where this was coming from. You took a step back, Eli making sure you were grounded and you searched his eyes, wondering if he was hearing the same thing.

“Oh, hey! Y/N!” Yasmine beamed when she spotted you. “We’ve been looking for you,” she walked towards you with Moon at her side, her arms behind her back.

“We wanted to give this back,” Moon said just as Yasmine held out a similar yellow book with lavenders painted on it. 

Your heart dropped and you froze. 

She wagged it in your face but you couldn’t move. 

Eli just stood beside you, his eyes trained on you, searching for any sign of expression.

“Oh, well, if you don’t want it, I guess it’s trash,” Yasmine shrugged, dumping it in the garbage next to you guys. “Later, slut,” she spat towards you.

The two began cackling like crazy, leaving you with tears welling in your eyes. 

Anger bubbled inside you as that moment replayed in your head. All those years of torment and all she had to say was “sorry”? With a reassuring look from Eli, you spoke. 

“I appreciate the apology, Moon, but I don’t accept it,” you frowned.

She was taken aback, even Aisha.

“I-,” she searched for words.

“You made my life miserable,” you stepped forward. “You destroyed my art and personal property, you slut-shamed me,” you narrowed your gaze, searching her face. “Your friends hurt my friends. One apology isn’t going to make it go all away.”

She paused before opening her mouth. “You’re right,” she admitted. “I’m sorry for thinking we could change things so quickly, but I do genuinely want to be friends,” she offered a smile.

You felt your composure fall and you let out a breath. You passed her a small smile. “Baby steps,” you hummed. 

“Hey!” A wisp of blonde hair filled your vision and you backed into Eli when you realized it was Yasmine.

She focused her attention on Aisha. 

“You think it’s funny crashing my party?”

“It’s not really your party ‘cause we were here first,” Aisha gritted. 

“Yeah, well I know you and your little karate gang think you’re cool, but we all remember who you really are,” she smirked, gazing over you.

You tasted bitter, frown deepening as you made eye contact with her.

“You’re just a fugly bitch and all your friends are freaks,” she spat, calling Moon over to leave. 

“No, I’m staying. I apologized to Aisha and Y/N, you should too,” she looked at her friend.

Obviously, Yasmine didn’t take that well, bumping shoulders with Aisha as she stalked off.

That wasn’t until Aisha called after her. 

You watched as your friend reached down her pants, pulling her underwear up and giving her a front wedgie. You doubled over in laughter, feeling proud of her. 

Your first highschool party was definitely one to remember.

[lemotmo]

Okay Ali didn't post any of the asks because apparently there were a lot of spirals. I just didn't want anyone to think I intentionally left the asks out but here is her response to the BTS season 7 video. I agree with all of this!

I'm not going to post any of the asks because people are having breakdowns in my box tonight. Most of the breakdowns are lighthearted and fun but the others are angry and mean so I'm not going to post any of them. Here are my thoughts on the video though.

We'll do the fun breakdown first because it was such a fun little video. Yay for an Anirudh sighting! I know it's from last season but I love Ravi so it made me happy to see a good bit of him in that video. Kenny is a treasure and we should all be so lucky to work with and know someone who just genuinely seems like pure joy to be around. Aisha and her spectacular smile. Ryan in those shades, 'hello fine sir' and Oliver with his little hippity hops can come at me with those tongs any day. I adore this cast 💗

Now for the other side, I'm going to first say that there were several cast members we didn't see. We didn't see Jennifer, Angela or Tracie so it's not like everyone was in the video. Secondly, and I am NOT going to be answering any rage asks that result from this part, he's not that kind of cast member. Period. There is no one sitting around combining through videos looking for frames of him to post. I'm not saying that in any kind of derogatory sense. He is a background character. They don't tend to get a lot of BTS focus. They weren't trolling you or him. He just honestly isn't at that level. I understand from all of the asks that he was clearly involved in a scene they used and you feel like he was deliberately cut out but he wasn't. Oliver was goofing off and Oliver was the one they would have always used from that scene. Lastly, we saw him in several BTS videos last season and he was never goofing off. He was either sitting alone or standing and waiting. We never saw him joking around in the BTS videos he appeared in. So I also don't think there's a ton of videos they have of him playing with the cast. Again, not saying that to be mean. We all saw the videos. He wasn't ever goofing off with them. I know people have posted videos of him goofing off on the SWAT set but that's an entirely different environment for him. He's more involved and has been around them more. It makes sense that he would be more demonstrably comfortable there. I understand that people allowed themselves to be talked into very particular expectations this off-season and people are becoming upset now that those expectations appear to have been off., at least so far. None of us have any guarantees about what's coming this season. Regardless of what anyone is telling you, none of us know anything for sure. I promise you no one has insider information. We're all just guessing based on what we've seen so far from last off-season up til now. The show is just under 5 weeks away. You're just going to have to wait. He was never going to be a main and he was never going to be a big focus. I'm sorry you believe you were promised otherwise. Again, I will not be responding to any of your angry posts. They're not helping anything. Allow people to enjoy what we are getting. It's not our fault you're not happy with the content. Try and take care of yourselves. None of this is worth the constant anger. It's a television show.

Thank you very much Nonny!

Okay, I got a ton of asks about that season 7 bts video they posted yesterday. All of them basically talked about the same topic of Lou not being in the video and what that could possibly mean. Some of you wanted to know Ali's opinion on this topic as well. I have, just like Ali, decided to not post every single ask about this topic separately, but to answer them all in one go here.

So, here it is! I agree with Ali on this.

There were a lot of actors we didn't see. We mostly saw the core 4 (Oliver, Ryan, Aisha and Kenny) and Anirudh, because they goof off the most. If you look at this season, we see the same thing. It's mostly the core 4 and some Peter in those bts videos and pictures so far.

I don't think we, as Buddie shippers, should pin all of our expectations on one video either. At the end of the day, none of us know the full details on what season 8 is going to bring us. Ali is right on that one.

But I will say this: from a Buddie point of view, I do think we have seen a ton of very promising signs at this point. The PR involving Ryan is insane at this moment and the upcoming Ryan interviews are definitely making me go: 👀👀👀👀. All of this reminds me so much of the intense Oliver promo we got right before season 7.

So, let's focus on that content and the fun bts the cast and crew are posting almost every two days now. Let's enjoy videos like the one talked about, for what it is: happy bts with the cast we love! Let's keep on speculating and analyzing. I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about once those Ryan interviews drop. 😋

It will keep up the positivity. God knows we need every single scrap of positivity in fandom these days. 😉

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[anglingforlevels]

Another Generic Slasher (Yandere Slasher x Reader)

Don't mind me, accidentally deleting this story and having to repost it. It was my first attempt at writing gore, so nothing too egregious in here.

CW: Graphic Death Scenes, Character Death, Violence (A Little Against Reader), Gore, Yandere, Swearing, Reader is referred to as “handsome” but not in reference to a gender, Dead Dove, Not Proofread

Minors DNI

Life was far away, and you hoped it wouldn’t catch up to you anytime soon. So, you thought, as you arrived at the summer getaway you and your friends had planned. When the car stopped, everyone jumped out and, perhaps inspired by their own anticipation, began unpacking without missing a beat.

“Ah, let me help you with that, Ms. Browning.” Jake said, already grabbing some of the boxes that Ms. Browning had brought with her.

“Why thank you, how reliable. What a good kid.” She hummed, pleased. Ms. Browning was the lady who owned the lovely house out in the wood that you and your friends had rented for vacation. She wore her red hair in a tight bun, and donned black, thick glasses.

“No problem. Ms. Browning.” Jake smiled. That sap was always offering to help people out, so he no doubt meant it. He had never minded a bit of hard work even on his days off. You, however, were happy to leave him to do the heavy lifting.

You had come here with three of your buddies to get away from the city and enjoy your time-off with some extra flair. Jake had suggested it back when you helped him dye the tips of his brown hair a lighter shade.

You had jumped at the idea, and begun calling up the others, so much that you had forgotten about the dye for a moment, leaving Jake’s tips white, which you had insisted contrasted well with his brown hair and dark skin (though he continued pouting, not entirely convinced).

Someone gently tapped your shoulder. Looking over a bespeckled, freckled visage greeted you, as she waited patiently for you to give the go-ahead to talk. “What up, Aisha?”

She hesitated for a moment. “…Is there anything I can help with?”

You had the feeling that wasn’t what she had been wanting to say, but didn’t want to push her, so instead, you simply nodded with a grin. “Yeah, for starters, you could bring your luggage inside?”

“Right. Of course.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, a little worried for her. Your attention was called elsewhere when Sara, the finale member of the group, yelled out, her voice echoing in the forest. “Jake let’s race to see who gets their box inside first. Loser has to make dinner tonight.”

Sara emerged from the hood of Ms. Browning’s car, with two boxes stacked in her arms. Which seemed impressive, had you not seen a pillow peeking through one of the boxes. The only disadvantage was the lack of visibility, but given Sara’s buzz cut versus Jake’s long bangs, it didn’t count for much.

“You wanna race in that long dress?” Jake asked dubiously.

“Scared?” Sara smiled that crooked smile she always did when she got competitive, and Jake rolled his eyes, despite eagerly getting in position. Those dorks.

“I’ll do the countdown.” You offered. “On now. 3. 2. 1.” You kept them waiting in suspense for a moment before shouting. “NOW!”

They both kicked off and… “I won.” Aisha’s voice rang out, and there she stood with a small box in the doorway, with a little smile on her lips.

“Whaaat?” Jake exclaimed. Sara shook her head in disapproval.

“Judge, I call foul. Aisha was already by the porch.”

“We never agreed to a starting line.” You pointed out, having seen Aisha moving toward the porch mischievously while you did your countdown.

“The judge and Aisha are clearly cooperating. Outrageous.” Then, Sara smiled a cat-like smile. “Then, we’ll just have to make sure the judge comes in last place, right Jake?”

“Huh.” You said, but by the time you processed the words, they had already taken off. “Hey now!” You ran after them, but predictably lost.

“Lookin’ forward to tonight’s meal.” Jake said, looking mighty satisfied with himself. You shook your fist at them playfully.

“The energy of youth really isn’t to be overestimated.” Ms. Browning laughed, entering the house with the last of her boxes.

“Youth? Tell that to my lower back, please.” You sighed, earning an eye roll from Jake who had been subjected to that specific complaint the most, as your go-to carrier.

“At my age, anyone under forty seems young.” Ms. Browning placed her box on the table and clapped her hands satisfied. “There, that was all of it. Again, thank you for helping me carry the boxes, that’s no trivial thing. It’s been years since I’ve rented this place out, so I thought I’d replace a couple of things.”

“It was no problem, Ms. Browning, you let us stove our stuff in the car too after all. And we’re just excited to vacation somewhere so beautiful.”

“That’s true. Beautiful places seems to make the spirit brighter, don’t they? It’s like I always say, trivial is as trivial does, and ugly things are trivial.”

…

Exchanging looks, none of you knew how to respond to that, to your luck, Ms. Browning simply continued on, allowing all of you to push past it as well.

You began zoning out of the conversation, your eyes idly looking at the interior. When your eyes flew past the open door, you thought your heart would stop for a moment. You could have sworn that, for just a second, you saw a man, an impossibly tall, large man. But after blinking, he was gone.

You relaxed, certain it had probably just been your mind playing tricks on you, and that it had merely been a tree.

Sara and Jake was busy discussing who had actually been the fastest runner between the two of them, so much so that most of Ms. Browning’s introduction to the place went on deaf ears, as she prattled on about the privacy and view. Something about how it was one out of only ten buildings in the entire forest.

As you looked over the place, your eyes drifted over a dresser there seemed a little too far from the wall. Something about it piqued your curiosity, though you weren’t sure what it was, but approaching it you were awarded for said curiosity with the discovery of uneven, barely eligible letters scratched into the wall.

“Trevel?” you read out loud. Jake, who was losing the argument against Sara, eagerly joined to see what you had found, none of you noticing the way Ms. Browning shifted uncomfortably.

“It’s a name, dear.”

“A name? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Well, that makes sense. It’s an ugly name, fit for ugly boys.” You were caught off guard by the harshness of her words. Then she smiled at you and Jake. “And trivial is as trivial does, and ugly boys are trivial. Something like that would be out-of-place with such handsome kids.”

You were distracted by a loud noise outside before you could reply. A look outside revealed the neatly stacked firewood having collapsed, and by the time you looked away, Ms. Browning had already moved on from the conversation.

Before leaving us to ourselves, Ms. Browning diligently gave us a run-down over where everything was, from the firewood outside by the woodchipper, which we were allowed to make use of for fires, to the rooms, even considerately telling how far away the nearest doctors, police, and firefighters were, most being quite far with the exception of a small, local police station, so small it couldn’t even be considered small-town cops but rather forest rangers.

With our ride gone, we began packing out and taking inventory, in case something was missing, and we’d need to call a taxi for shopping. By the time all the boxes had been sorted through for the most crucial stuff, it had begun to grow darker outside.

“Man, I’m starving.” Sara grumbled.

”We could tell by the fact you only unpacked the food.”

Sara playfully stuck her tongue out at you, but even with that rude display, you obediently began collecting ingredients. Jake looked over your shoulder.

“Yellow onions are better for stews.” He commented, as he threw one of the red onions from hand to hand.

“And the red one carries more whimsy.”  

“I can carry that whimsy to the pantry and get some yellow onions instead.”

That was promptly rejected. As he examined your other chosen vegetables, you got out a cutting board.

“Not gonna handle the meat first?” he asked.

You sighed. “What happened to ‘loser cooks’ that you forced me into?” you asked with a hand on your hip. Jake conceded and stepped back. The others had begun getting out the new plates that Ms. Browning had brought along.

“Remind me again, why exactly are you getting plates out already? We haven’t even begun the fire, I’m only at the prep-part?”

“Explain why you began the prep-work before the fire-“ they were interrupted by a loud crash. A plate had slipped out of Aisha’s hands, and now laid shattered on the floor. Aisha stood frozen, her eyes wide.

“I… I’ll clean it up..” She said, her tone sounding a little off.

“I think Ms. Browning mentioned that there’s a broom closet in the hallway.” Sara said, before Aisha even left, you got distracted by Jake crowding you again. By the third interjection (or advice, as he called), you put down the peeler you had used for the carrots.

“Ugh, Jake, you clearly want to do the cooking.” You said. Jake opened his mouth but seemed to think better of it and decided not to protest your words. You sighed. “You and Sara are way too competitive; you’ll even fight for a loss. I’ll go get some firewood for the fire; you get cooking duty.”

“Deal!”

You walked outside, hoping that the firewood wasn’t too damp, as you really didn’t want to cut new firewood, even if there was an axe available. These contemplations were lost as you found Aisha sitting on the porch.

“Trouble finding the broom?” You asked lightly, making Aisha jump a little, startled.

“Just needed a bit of fresh air.” She said, this time you took notice of her tone. She seemed downcast but you couldn’t quite place your finger on it. Not quite sad but definitely not happy either.

“Hey man,” you scratched your neck awkwardly. This stuff weren’t your strong suit. “don’t sweat the plate. We’ll just get Ms. Browning a new one.”

Aisha hummed in agreement, still looking at the sky. Your eyes flickered between her and the sky, trying to think of something more to say. “Uh, you know, I mistook a tree for a person, like some kind of horror movie. Which, well,” you trailed off. “What I’m trying to say, it’s more embarrassing than the plate-thing, so don’t worry about it.”

Aisha smiled at that. Whether it was your words or your clumsy attempt that made her smile, you weren’t sure. Aisha sighed, “Sometimes I wish it was a horror movie.”

She looked at you with a surprised expression, as if she hadn’t expected herself to say that either. “I don’t want to be in a horror movie, of course. Not actually. It’s just nice sometimes to imagine.”

“Escaping the jaws of death?”

Aisha was silent for a bit, as if contemplating whether to say her next words. “No. In the horror movie I meet my end. It’s not dragged out, maybe I’m one of the first ones to go. In either case, by the end of the movie, I’m dead, and when the credits are playing, they forget my name. But that’s just running away.” She looked at you and then at the ground. “I’m sorry, that’s a lot to hear.”

It was. You weren’t sure what to respond but you could see Aisha was suffering, you didn’t like seeing that at all. “You’re away from everything right now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. And I really want to enjoy this, I do. I really do. But I didn’t come here to enjoy myself, I came here to run away, somehow I can’t bring myself to relax at all. I’m sorry.”

…You scooted closer to her. “You’re out here talking with me though, that’s not running away.” Even being able to share something, however small, was still something. You thought for a moment, trying to find the right words:

“Listen, you’re… good.” You’re good? It didn’t get any clumsier than that. “Er, I guess that’s not really what you wanted to hear-“Aisha laughed, the sound comforted you.

“No, no. that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“Really? Uh,” Gotta keep up this momentum somehow. “Maybe we’ll go on a trip together again, next year. It’ll be like running away from running away. No, wait, that doesn’t make sense.”

“Pfft, you’re so bad at this.” Aisha laughed, this time her laugh felt a little more genuine and unrestrained. “How am I supposed to feel melancholic with that kind of cheering up? Let’s definitely go on a trip next year. And…Thanks for coming out here and talking with me.”

She stood up, and the air felt a little lighter around her.

“Well, I should get some firewood going.” You said, begrudgingly, and stood up as well. Only for the both of you to be distracted by rustling from the trees and bushes. You blinked. You were from the city, so you weren’t used to a place with wildlife, and while you could hear the sound of birds and insects nonstop as a reminder of their existence, other types of wildlife had been forgotten by you.

You felt as if something watched you from the trees, meaning the animal probably still was there. You crouched and held out your hands, in what you hoped was a disarming gesture.

“Hey,” you said gently, “Sorry did we frighten you? It’s okay, yeah?” Your hushed words seemed to cause a stop in the rustling before the animal decided to outright leave. Your attempts to soothe apparently left a lot to be desired.

You sighed, only to be faced with Aisha staring at you in disbelief. You looked at her questioning.

“Why are you trying to befriend a wild animal? You know there’s coyotes in some parts of the forest, right?” at that you just rolled your eyes.

“Not this part of the forest, else Ms. Browning wouldn’t be renting out a vacation home.”

“Seriously…” Aisha didn’t seem any less exasperated by you. “I’ll help gather the firework, since if a beast attacked you, you might try to talk to it.”

While you didn’t appreciate her claim, you did appreciate the company and additional helping hands, the broom long forgotten. Especially once you arrived at the scattered firewood. While a pain to fix back into a neat stack, it was a relief to feel how dry and crisp the wood was, as if newly cut.

This meant the axe leaning against the woodchipper, would need no use.

“Can you grab the basket?” Aisha asked after having selected the, in her opinion, finest firewood. You looked around but couldn’t find any. “Hm… Maybe we can carry it ourselves?”

At that, the both of you took one look at the firewood you had picked to last throughout the entire night and decided against it. “I’ll go grab something to carry with.” You volunteered.

You slipped inside, your presence going unnoticed by Jake who was too absorbed with cooking and Sara who was busy crying over newly cut onions. Basket, basket, basket… Satisfied you managed to find one in the living room, by the fireplace, which in hindsight felt a little obvious.

You looked out of the window, rolling your eyes playfully after spotting the way Aisha was sneakily rearranging your half of the pile. She had felt it wasn’t neat enough, while you had argued it would all be thrown into a basket either way.

A large figure emerged from the woods, and you froze. The impossibly tall frame, the one that had you convinced it had to have been a tree, there was no way you wouldn’t recognize that. The figure was huge, in every sense of the word, a bulking presence, enveloped by a long jacket.

He turned his head towards the window, and you duck, panicked. But you swore you had seen nothing but white for a moment. You barged into the kitchen once more, catching the attention of Jake and Sara, but any jokes about your explosive entrance died out when they saw your expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I saw a stranger outside.” You swallowed. “I have a bad feeling about this, he’s-“ Dangerous. You could feel it, if not feel it, you could certainly tell he was capable of being dangerous from his build alone.

“Where’s Aisha?” Sara asked concerned, seeing as she not only hadn’t returned earlier, but wasn’t with you. You confirmed her fears.

“Outside.” You heard a mumbled “fuck”. You wanted to panic and swear as well, but you needed to do something. “Alright, you two, call the police. And I’ll get Aisha back inside.”

“What about the guy?”

“I- he didn’t attack or anything. If I keep acting like I don’t know he’s there, Aisha might be able to get inside. I just have to act natural.” You hoped you sounded confident and reassuring, but even if you didn’t, there wasn’t many other plans being thrown around, so all of you nodded, before you returned to the main entrance.

You opened the door askew, so you could see out but couldn’t be seen.

You needed to call Aisha inside but found yourself hesitating. The words struggling to make it past the lump in your throat. He hadn’t done anything yet, so if you acted like before, then maybe he’d do nothing, it was your best shot at least. Even so, you hands grew clammy as you thought to keep your voice from shaking.

“Hey Aisha!” you called out, watching her from the creek of the door. You worried that if she could see your face, then she’d be able to see your fear, barely concealed. “Could you come help find the basket?”

“Did you check by the fireplace; it might have one?”

“Uh, yeah, I did.”

“Maybe there isn’t one, then? Just come out and we’ll carry i-“

“No! Um, I’m sure, yes. Ms. Browning mentioned a basket at some point,” you interrupted hastily. Worry crept up that you had let panic color your voice in a far too obvious way. You swallowed. “It’ll drive me crazy if I just give up, please, just a quick look?” You pleaded.

“Alright, if it’s that big of a deal to you.” Aisha shrugged. You held your breath as she approached, only able to breathe once she was inside, no looming figure following as far as you could see. She opened her mouth, but you didn’t even let her form words before you spoke.

“Aisha, there’s someone outside.”

Maybe there was more delicate ways to share this fact. Ways that didn’t make her bemused expression shatter like that. But you didn’t have time to navigate that kind of delicacy. Aisha furrowed her brows, tentatively glancing at the door.

She looked back at you, as if hoping to find a trace of insincerity or joking but faltered as she found nothing of the sorts. Neither of you said anything else as you locked the door and joined the others in the living-room.

They had finished their call already and was standing back-to-back. You assumed it was to avoid getting snuck up on, though they were left with two blind sides.

Any words one might have ushered, choked in the tension, and instead all of you stood together silently, anxiously.

None of you knew how long time went before the cop arrived, though it couldn’t have been long. Even so, each moment felt like an eternity, as frazzled nerves turned every sound of the forest into a foreboding sign.

So, at the sound of wheels, all of you hurried to the door. A cop car that looked like something from a period piece, revealed what must have been a lackluster budget at the tiny station. Out of the car, a middle-aged man stepped out, using his hand to move his long hair aside.

“Hey kiddos.” He greeted them as he approached, stopping a little past the firewood. His voice had a condescending tone to it. “I’m Mr. Davidsons, so y’all say you saw a perp?”

“Well, we saw – or, well, they saw – a strange man walking around here.” Aisha explained, stumbling over her words. At this Mr. Davidson lifted an eyebrow, glancing at you briefly.

“Did anyone else actually see someone? Or was it just this one there?” He laughed, it was a somewhat unpleasant sound, grating in the way only an adult’s dismissive tone could be, doubly so given all of you were adults.

“Sir, I’d be happy if it was just me being paranoid but…” Your eyes darted around nervously scanning the area. You wondered if the car alone might have scared him off. “I saw a man. He looked really big and strong.”

Those words didn’t seem to do much in the way of convincing. “You guys city folks? Out here in the country, especially this lively piece of forest, there’s plenty of critters. You probably just saw an ugly bear.” He snorted.

Sara looked about ready to school him but all of you froze when he appeared. This time he didn’t simple stand or walk aimlessly around, he was heading straight towards them, though you couldn’t see his face clearly from his red hair and hunched posture, you spotted glimpses of a white mask.

Mr. Davidson noticed the way all of your attention had shifted, and following your eyes, he faced the hulking mass making his way towards them all.

“Sir, this is the police, stay where you are.” Mr. Davidson said. He was much more serious now that he realized there was someone. He was on guard, his hand ready to draw out his gun, you noticed the way his hand shook, and felt any sense of security vanish, as you watched the pale, sweaty cop attempt to talk down to what felt like a monster of a man.

Similarly, he didn’t seem very convinced by Mr. Davidson either, as he only made a grunting sound and continued his slow gait forward, stray pieces of firewood being kicked out of the way. “Sir, I’m serious. If you continue moving, I’ll consider it contempt of a police officer.”

But he only got closer. Mr. Davidson held out his gun when the man was within arm-reach. A proximity that left your guts churning. However, the man did stop, a fact that made Mr. Davidson breathe a sigh of relief, as the man spread out his arms. Perhaps it was the way it made him look bigger and emphasized the sheer size of his arm muscles and shoulders, but you felt more threatened by it, though Mr. Davidson just nodded in approval at what he perceived as a sign of submission.

And then an axe nestled into Mr. Davidson’s neck.

Someone shrieked, a shrill and piercing sound. Then you realized it was yourself. The man grabbed the axe’s handle, but instead of nestling it free, he forced it to slice through the rest of Mr. Davidson’s neck, freeing the axe.

Mr. Davidson’s head thumped to the ground, rolling slightly.

You felt a pull on your arm, flinching until you realized it was Jake pulling you the last few steps toward the door, before shutting it close, and locking.

“Oh my god, oh my god-“Aisha was breathlessly chanting, intercut with small “what the hell”, unable to provide anything more poignant. Sara, who had been no worse for wear, straightened up at this. She took Aisha’s hand, and though nothing else was said, Aisha seemed to be reeled back to her senses, enough to break up the broken chant.

“We don’t have time to waste.” You said, fishing out your phone. Your hand shook so badly that it took a few tries to unlock. “Call the police?” you asked, which Sara scoffed at.

“Right, that turned out great last time.”

“They didn’t take us seriously last time, but now we got a dead cop on our hands. Who else are we gonna call, the fire department?”

“Please just make the call, before he gets in.” Aisha requested, anxiously looking around, Sara relented with a nod. You only got halfway through dialing the police’s number before it was interrupted by a call, which you accidentally accepted.

“Shoot.”

“Well, hello to you too.” Ms. Browning responded drily.

“Ah, Ms. Browning. Sorry, this isn’t a good time. Actually, could you call the cops?” The less time they had to stay in one place, the better.

“The cops?”

“Yeah, there’s some crazy freak out here, Ms. Browning. He killed a cop!” Jake said panicked. “It’s some huge dude with a mask.”

“After all this time. He’s still…” Ms. Browning didn’t sound surprised, only forlorn.

“What does that mean? Did you… know about him?” At this, Ms. Browning laughed joylessly.

“I left him here in the woods, decades ago. Anyone else would have died. Ah, but not little Trevel. Instead, he grew.” She was quiet for a beat before continuing pensively, her voice distant, “These woods are… Unusual. Things don’t grow right here. Why, my little Trevel was my height by the time he turned five.”

“Trevel?”

“I wasn’t ready for a baby, you see. That’s why… I figured the next year, when I prepared this place for renters, it would be over, no corpse left, no baby left. Just life back to normal. But it wasn’t. He was still here.

He’d stare. Just following dumbly along, staring at everything I did. I couldn’t stand those inquisitive eyes, I didn’t ask for any of that, you know?  When he was four, to avoid seeing those cursed eyes, I gave him a mask, told him never to take it off, and what would you know? Seems he grew up right along with the mask.”

“Grew up along the… Huh? Ms. Browning, we’re not following?”

“It couldn’t be taken off, as if it had grown into his face. I suppose it might have, what with his growth spurt and all.” Was all the clarification Ms. Browning gave, as she continued recounting, as if in a daze. “At first, I was… Startled. But you can get used to all manners of things, when the surprise settled, I was just relieved. The mask didn’t have a mouth, so, surely he’d starve to dead.” She lamented. “But no, oh no, not my little Trevel.” There was a bitter edge to her voice. “He was always a good-for-nothing kid, couldn’t even do something as trivial as die.”

Somehow, disgust was all you could feel for Ms. Browning.

“That’s… Horrible.” Aisha said quietly. All of you looked at each other for a moment. Evidently, Ms. Browning agreed to Aisha’s words, sighing deeply.

“So, it is. This was a mistake, returning here like this. I won’t make it again; this’ll be the last time this house is used.”

“You’ll call the cops, right Ms. Browning?”

“Some things are better kept hidden, kiddo. I’m truly sorry but… Goodbye.” And then she hung up. All of you stood in stunned silence for a bit. But you didn’t have time for stunned silence. You began dialing the police’s number again but stopped in your tracks at the sound of weight violently thrown at the door.

“Are you kidding me,” Sara whispered, “We wasted what little time we had on Ms. Browning?!”

As if to answer her question, you were blinded for a moment, as an axe nestled into the door. Then another hit. None of you waited till he was able to enter through the destroyed door, before running. You and Jake hid behind the dresser, while Sara, still holding Aisha’s hand, pulled them into the small pantry-room.

You looked once more at the clumsily written “Trevel” but didn’t have long to look at it before your focus was forced elsewhere, as Trevel himself emerged from the hall, with the sound of his axe dragging against the floor.

You held your breath, as thudding footsteps carried the guy through the room. Your close proximity allowed you to make out that the dirtied jacket enveloping his figure seemed to actually be multiple articles of clothing, sewn crudely together, or… Not sewn, that wasn’t quite right.

There were no stitches or strings to see, despite the clumsy, crude nature, rather, it looked as if the clothes had simply melted together. He turned around, allowing you a clear look at his face.

Or it would have, had his face been visible.

The white you had spotted earlier seemed to have been the mask, which covered his entire face. A white, round mask, decorated only by dirt. You couldn’t see where the mask ended, and his face began.

You felt your phone vibrate against your leg. Taking it out, carefully using your hand to cover the light of the screen, you saw a text from Sara.

Cop car still here. Sneak out.

Right, that’s right. It was still out there. You could drive away. You and Jake were close to the entrance, it was feasible that you’d be able to sneak out as long as Trevel didn’t turn around. The harder challenge was for Sara and Aisha, the pantry-room further into the room.

You shot a quick text back. Me and Jake will go when you reach the dresser.

Slowly, you saw Aisha and Sara emerge from the pantry. Carefully placing each step to avoid the creak of floorboards, trying to move whenever Trevel took another thundering step, to mask their own sounds. Trevel flipped the couch, and you flinched.

Sara and Aisha rounded a corner and reached the kitchen island, receiving a natural cover. Once they made it past the kitchen island, they’d almost be by the dresser. It would be doable to get away. Trevel turned around, and your heart sank as he got closer to the kitchen island.

You still had your phone in your hand, so you tossed it. When it hit the wall, it caught his attention, causing him to stop up and turn around. They just needed to wait, hopefully he’d walk towards the sound… Wait, what are they doing?

Sara tugged on Aisha’s hand, and they began sneaking away under Trevel’s inattentiveness, an arm reach away from him. Trevel lifted his foot, and you felt relief, he was going to investigate your bait. The relief was visible on Jake’s face as well, Sara had made it past the kitchen island, Aisha not far behind, and then…

A crass, clicking sound.

Aisha had stepped on the remains of a shattered plate.

A large hand shot out, grabbing Aisha’s face, forcing her glasses to shift awkwardly and press into her face. When he lifted his arm, you witnessed the way Aisha’s entire body were left to dangle helplessly in the air, forcibly separating her and Sara’s hands, and then… He tightened his grip.

The glasses bent and broke, glass and frames cutting into her skin, and her skin seemed to cave under his fingers, blood pooling around them as they sunk into flesh, white bones protruding through skin as if pushed away from their rightful spot.

Aisha’s whimpers and cries of pain were replaced by a painful gurgling as her nose caved into her mouth. After a while, her body stopped moving at all. And he simply let go of her, her limp body falling to the ground awkwardly.

It had all happened too fast for any of you to react, but the sound of her body hitting the floor brought you all to action, running as fast as you could. Though he pursued, it was a relief to know all of you were faster.

You swung the doors open once you reached the car, able to see Trevel’s silhouette move through the windows of the entrance. “What’s the hold up, Jake?”

At that question, Jake looked up at them. “There’s no key.”

What. If it wasn’t in the car, then that meant…

Instinctively all of you looked at Mr. Davidson’s headless corpse. And only a few meters behind, stood the hulking figure of Trevel, having reached the door.

“I’ll go get the keys.” Sara said, to which you and Jake shook your head furiously. “Please, back in the kitchen, I pulled Aisha too fast, and she… Let me do this, okay? I am the fastest, after all.” She said with a weak smile. You didn’t have the heart to point out the tears in her eyes.

Sara made a dash towards Mr. Davidson’s body, basically throwing herself at him. Trevel, similarly, made his way towards her. It was true that Sara was faster than him but that meant very little with such a small distance.

She fumbled through Mr. Davidson’s pockets, when he descended upon her. A sickening crunch as his foot crushed her ankle. Sara howled in pain. Then he moved further up, delivering a stomp to her back, pressing her against the corpse.

You could have sworn you saw the mushy flesh of Mr. Davidson give in, but maybe it was just your imagination adding to the wet, snapping sounds mixed with that same sickening crunch. Even so, she still desperately clawed at Mr. Davidson’s pockets.

You didn’t have time to react when he had gotten Aisha, but there was no way you’d just watch now.

You jumped out of the car, and though you didn’t look, you could hear the sound of Jake following along. Finding one of the larger wood pieces, you charged at him.

You swung the wood at him with all your might, but he barely seemed to notice, instead shoving you away like a pesky fly. You were flung to the side, and crashed into something hard and metallic, the sudden loud humming noises suggested it had been turned on.

You felt a sharp pain in your foot, having landed on it wrong, and struggled to stand up again, leaning against the machine, that turned out to be the woodchipper, for support.

Meanwhile, Sara had fished out the keys but with Trevel looming above her, reaching out, she didn’t wait for his next move. It wasn’t a meaningful act of defiance or defense, but an act of someone too close to the jaws of a predator to escape, but close enough to rip and tear. Sara flew towards Trevel, grabbing onto the edges of his mask.

Trying to tear the mask off. You didn’t know what had gone through Sara’s head as her fingers to the corner of face – and you assumed, the mask – you only knew that she gasped and let go as if on instinct. “But… It’s a mask?” she feebly whispered, confusion on her face.

Though Sara had lost her grip, there was no chance of falling as Trevel held onto her, drawing her closer. Sara struggled but was rendered immobile by the tight grip. Even from the sidelines, it was easy to see the way the grip tightened, to hear the sound of metal bending as Sara’s accessories caved under the pressure, the way her breathing grew ragged and wheezing, hear the sounds of bones and joints snapping.

You had managed to get up but was struggling to keep balance, that wasn’t the case for Jake who was ready to rush at them. Sara, through ragged, bloody breaths, yelled for him to stop, forcing her awkwardly bending arm to shoot out, throwing him the keys.

Jake looked between Sara, who had taken to wildly flailing, punching, clawing, till her fingers were left bloody, and you. He stood there for a second before, with a conflicted expression, running to you, Neither of you looked as Sara’s pained sounds turned to gurgles, or when she stopped making sounds altogether, instead Jake dragged you to the car.

” We’ve been outrunning that freak the entire night, so…” He swallowed and steadied his breath before continuing, trying to be strong, as if he wasn’t as shaken up as you were. “If we just make it to the car, everything will be okay. If we can outrun him on legs, then we can outrun him on wheels.”

Even as you heard Sara’s body being dropped, Jake didn’t let go of you, making sure you got into the car. He didn’t even circle around the car, simply crawled over you, and into the driver’s seat. He put in the keys. You could see Trevel’s bloodied mask, the remnant of Sara’s vomit.

The engine coughed. Jake hit his hand against the steering wheel. And then, the car started. You laughed, not out of joy but from the adrenaline pumped relief. The car moved backwards, Trevel’s charging figure growing smaller.

“Fuck yeah!” Jake hollered out. “An old, stubborn car but you got the job done, hah!”

None of you mentioned Sara. None of you could bear to. Not yet.

“Jake, we’re going to have to turn around.” You said, looking behind at the countless sturdy trees. It was a narrow, winding road. They wouldn’t be able to do it backwards. Jake cursed under his breath.

“It’s okay. I don’t need to drive all the way back to the house to have enough room, just a bit closer.” He said reassuringly, you weren’t sure who he was trying to reassure. The dull, warm pain in your foot only seemed to grow.

Jake drive forward but before the house even came back into view, from the shadow-covered bushes, a large figure emerged, only meters away. You weren’t sure if Jake intentionally rammed into him or weren’t able to stop the car in time, but the hood of the car hit the figure with a loud thud.

And he hadn’t budged. You could vaguely make out a huge dent in the now-still car, and the small, sad stutters the car made from the impact. The large figure reached behind his back, but his body remained completely still, fixated on them.

Jake’s hands were shivering; “Jesus chr-“

“No time for prayers.” You interrupted, shifting in your seat to grab the reverse gear and stump on the brake pedal, pain shooting up your leg, the car moved backwards in a sudden jolt. Trevel held up his axe. He lifted it into the air, and as the car began to move away, he swung it into the hood.

The car were making concerning wheezing noises but by now, Jake’s adrenaline had returned to spur him into action, and he forced the car to continue. To your shared horror, the car didn’t budge. The wheels spinning helplessly as the car was kept in place.

Then he pulled the axe closer, dragging the car closer with a screech. You and Jake didn’t even exchange glances as you both flung your respective car doors open, jumping out. Jake couldn’t make it over to you, without Trevel who stood in front of the car, making it to you, so you both ran on your own, even as your foot ached and bent oddly, a searing fire spreading.

But you noticed, Jake hadn’t run away from Trevel and the house, but towards the house. It was a long travel to make it to any actual road and it was getting very dark, was that why? But even so, Jake had a phone on him, still – unlike you.

You didn’t know why he hadn’t run that way, but you changed your own course, rushing to him. You couldn’t be separated now. Not after Aisha and Sara. Jake, disorientated from the crash, was losing his speed advantage, the distances between the two far too little for comfort, as Jake had reached the firewood pile.

You made eye contact with Jake, whose eyes widened. “What are you doing? Run away, I’m buying time!”

So that was why. He had just hoped you wouldn’t notice in time. But the moment of distraction meant Trevel, who was steadily becoming the fastest of the two, caught up to him. He grabbed onto him, and you half-expected him to crush him like he had Aisha and Sara, instead, he shoved Jake against the woodchipper.

As Jake’s arm and shoulder disappeared into the machine, his face twisted into a pained grimace, and a red mist of blood, minced meat, and viscera descended from the machine with splintered bone shards like macabre snowflakes. You didn’t even think as you continued running, you should have had half-the-mind to at least curse yourself out for wasting the sacred seconds he had sacrificed.

Yet all you could think was you needed to get him out. Only as his face were pressed against the machine, did you stop up. You felt your stomach churning as the metallic smell coated the air. Trevel seemed to spend a moment just looking at the shredded innards and minced remains of Jake.

Then he flexed his finger around his axe and turned towards you. So, you ran.

But you had gotten too close, so running in the opposite direction of him meant running towards the house. Going past the house would mean venturing further into the forest, further away from any civilization. You didn’t fancy your chances with coyotes, and you didn’t fancy your chances with Trevel.

Maybe that instinctive desire to escape to something civil made you run into the house to hide, you’d like to think it was a strategic choice, somehow. But you knew that wasn’t the case, you just sought the familiarity.

Inside the house, you dashed upstairs, worried he’d be able to break down a wall or window in any room downstairs. You could hear him by the time you closed the door, and for a second debated if it was best to be silent and hide, but then again, you didn’t have many hiding places in this room.

What you did have was a dresser. So, knowing how it would lead him upstairs, you desperately pushed the dresser in front of the door. Then the bed. Anything you could get hold of in the room was pushed in front of the door.

And then you scurried to the other end of the room, trying to ignore the fiery burn of your foot. You heard his approach but still jumped when the axe cut into the wooden door. Your breath grew ragged, as his masked face showed through the cracks.

You didn’t know what you had hoped for from this barricade. It wasn’t a surprise that filled you, when the furniture moved along as he shoved the door. Even so, the world seemed to blur out the second he stepped into the room, from ruined and moved furniture that now seemed more a barricade for you than him.

Your heartbeat rang out, thump thump. He was closing in with heavy footsteps. Thump, thud, thump, thud. Even with the mask, you felt his eyes on you. Thump, thud, thump, thud. You could see his fingers flex around the axe.

Grasping at straws, you shifted between staring at him and around you, for anything you could use. Behind him, a now ruined dresser stood. Its familiar look made you realize it was identical to the one downstair. “It’s an ugly name, fit for ugly boys.”

…It was worth a shot, right?

“My,” your voice were shaky, “What a handsome guy you are.”

Was that how she said it? He stopped dead in his tracks. He was so close; you could touch him if you reached out. The air felt crushing, under the weight of silence. Then, he crouched down. Your shivers stopped, frozen.

He leaned closer. His free hand on the floor to support his weight as he leaned closer. Your eyes flickered to the axe. He was still holding it.

“I,” your voice cracked but you forced yourself to continue, “I didn’t get a good look before. But, really, you are handsome. Big and strong.”

He was close. You could smell the lingering scent of sweat and pine. Hear the deep rumbling hum he made. Feel his warmth breath. From where it came, you weren’t sure.

God, what else? What else did Mr. Browning say?

Suddenly, a hand reached out and you flinched. He had let go of the axe. And yet, you had seen what he could do with his hands. Your breath were stuck in your throat, as you braced yourself. But his hand only lingered near your cheek.

Not quite touching, but close enough for you to feel the warmth of his fingertips. This… Was a good sign, right? He was hesitating, he didn’t do that with the others. He didn’t do that with Aisha. The anxiety buzzing didn’t ease, the gory memory playing relentlessly in your head.

In your mind you envisioned the way his hand could still decide to grab onto you harshly. So, gently with fingers that shook far too much, you touched his hand. His head made a sharp movement, causing you to flinch, but he didn’t stop you.

So, you lead his rugged, scarred hand closer to your cheek, closing the small gap. His fingers stiffly on your cheek, which was better than lingering above your face. Like playing dolls, you hoped positioning him into a less hostile position would have any effect.  

You looked at each other for a while in deafening silence. You were worried about losing the temporary fascination, the stiffness of his body warning you that you weren’t quite safe yet. What is it that worked so far? What does he want to hear?

…

“You’re good, Trevel. You’re good.”

For a moment, he didn’t respond or react. Then the touch seemed to melt, his finger brushing against your cheek. Not pleasant or even soft, but you could tell he was trying, or maybe he was just exploring? You didn’t dare to move, worried you’d set him off.

By the time his hand dropped down, light had begun to filter through the tree leaves, and exhaustion clinging to you. Trevel seemed placated, simply staring wordlessly at you.

Cautiously, you stood up. You could feel the way he followed your every movement. But it felt like a curious gaze, like a dog equally confused and curious about its owner’s actions. You weren’t sure if he’d be okay with you leaving, but if you could buy yourself some time, perhaps you’d be able to get to a road and hitchhike.

“I’ll just go fetch something, if that’s okay?” You asked carefully, taking a demonstrative step towards the door.

Swish

Past your head, the axe flew, nestling into the door. Before you even could look back at him, he grabbed your wrist and tugged you toward the floor, a little too harshly for your injured foot, where he returned to simply stare at you, growling whenever you moved too much.

Life was far away, and by god, you hoped it would someday catch up to you again.