#fruitless plum

[bruciemilf]

AU where Deadpool and Wolverine is the same except Wade gets a hold of Akihiro somehow. They’d have such a ‘cringe mother who thinks her kid is the best thing in the world/daughter who’s so cool it’s painful and finds her embarrassing but lovable ‘

“You’re like catnip to Wolverines, sugar plum.”

“Have you tried jiggling your keys at him?”

“No time for your entertaining sassy remarks, princess! Come on. Mommy’s gonna get you a daddy.”

Wade isn’t wrong about the catnip thing. Every single Logan they come across gets attached to Aki INSTANTLY. Your honor, that’s his first born. True teenage daughter fashion he just rolls his eyes (and kills)

Worst! Wolverine doesn’t want to hear about it. No way. He’s not gonna tag along to yet another fruitless attempt of saving the world just for it to be in danger again— is that Aki?

“Is that my fucking kid?”

“Uh, OUR kid, honey sweetheart pie—“

“WADE.”

“I’m sorry! I’m the one who dragged him around and suffered his tantrums all the way here, Doctor Deadbeat. I’m not the step dad, I’m the dad who stepped up. “

“I’m going to choke you with your own fucking pubic hair.”

“Aw. Is your lack of creativity bothering you, queen?”

Aki just looks into the camera like he’s in the office.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Valentine's Day 💘

Can I get something from Hades?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Zagreus is right next to him, so close that their arms brush as they walk, but Thanatos has never felt further from him.

"Try this!" he says, beaming as he reaches up and plucks something that looks like plum but is more red than purple from a tree hanging heavy with fruit, it's branches so long that he doesn't even have to step off the road to grab it.

Megaera snatches it from his hand, looking it over suspiciously. People give them a wide berth as they walk through Zagreus's city, but people wave and bow and shout greetings as they pass.

Even in Elysium, there's not this much joy. People are happy here. It's not endless fighting and torment and a fruitless search for glory. It's people living in ease and comfort, creating and lounging and laughing.

Megaera bites into the fruit much the same as she'd bitten into Zagreus and frowns. "This doesn't have power like the ones on the surface do."

"Why would it need to? The ones one the surface are to keep people alive and strong and to help them make it through winter. Down here they're just tasty," He takes the fruit back and bites into himself before holding it out to Thanatos. "Eurydice manages the gardens and fields down here, more or less. We grow normal stuff too, that's just not as fun for me."

Thanatos bites into the fruit, places his teeth over the indents Zagreus's left behind. It's more tart, like a cherry, but with the bite of something like citrus. It's also not without power, but it's more like a pom or a bracing cup of coffee than the boons of his surface fruits.

"And what do the others do?" Megaera asks, licking the juice off her lips.

He gestures around them. "Sisyphus does most of the city planning, although sometimes people just build stuff they want, which is fine, but if it interferes with his, I don't know, organization, I end up having to move it to some place he deems suitable. Patroclus sort of just does whatever, you know?" He frowns. "People come to him with stuff, because I'm not around a ton, and he's pretty good at keeping the other two from going too overboard when I'm not around. He's like a mayor."

"What about Achilles?" Thanatos asks.

Zagreus grimaces. "Patroclus's husband is Patroclus's decision. I have the diamonds to buy out his contract, and it's not like there's any concern about him staying in Elysium now - he's one of mine. Eurydice loves Orpheus, I think, but she's still pretty pissed at him, but he's welcome too. Sisyphus will probably ban him from the lyre if he tries to play mopey music though."

Megaera says what Thanatos doesn't want to say. Can't bring himself to say. "What about us?"

Zagreus pauses, the sun that can't be the sun warming his skin and brightening his eyes. "What about - what do you mean? You work for my father. I know that."

"So you have no work for us to do?" she challenges, stepping closer so she can snarl into Zagreus's face.

He spreads his hands, like he's helpless, like that's something he can be when he wields the power of a god of the pantheon even without a throne. "It's not really - I don't tell people what to do, none of this was really planned. Even Eliana kind of just - people just do things and I let them, really."

"And will you?" Thanatos asks, desperate and lonely and longing and trying not to show and of it. "Let us?"

Zagreus stills, shooting him a lopsided smile that almost makes him feel like everything isn't crumbling from underneath him. "If that's what you want."

When it comes to Zagreus, all Thanatos does is want.

[climatecalling]

“The city doesn’t like fruit trees,” Marisa Prefer, a self-described “street-tree steward,” said recently, looking up at a plumless plum tree in Brooklyn. Prefer is part of an anonymous collective known as the Guerrilla Grafters, which hopes to change the city’s canopy. Their mission: “We aim to turn city streets into food forests, and unravel capitalist civilization one branch at a time.” Flash back to the springtime, when Prefer, who is nonbinary and wore double-kneed work pants and mud-caked trail runners, brandished a pair of pruning shears at a plum tree. They said, “What if everyone had an apple tree in front of their house instead of having to go buy apples at the store?” Prefer snipped a low branch, then used black electrical tape to graft a gnarly twig of rosy-gage scionwood in its place. (Scionwood is a twig cutting used to propagate trees.) In a few years, the twig might grow into a branch drooping with plums. ... Prefer went on, “ ‘Guerrilla’ is not just a chic term we use. It’s supposed to be a little bit secret.” There haven’t been any arrests, they said, but, technically, grafting on city property is illegal.

[goggles-mcgee]

With the poison apple au i wanted to ask whats the evil queen and good king’s reaction when Raven tells them she’s pregnant?

I thought you could input it in a short story or so but of course you don’t have to if it’s to much<3

Raven nervously ran her hands over her dress and couldn't help the way they stopped briefly over her stomach. Dexter had long since tried to get his wife to calm down but knew it was fruitless, so he kept himself busy by making sure everything was in place for their lunch with Raven's parents. Raven, of course, would have helped her husband, but he was adamant that she sit and rest. So with nothing else to do but fret Raven looked over the table to make sure everything was in place and perfect. She wanted this lunch to be memorable and special.

"My Heart, the table is perfect. I myself looked it over, as did the maids." Dexter chuckled before he took his seat next to her and held her hands in his. "I know you're nervous but I promise you, your parents are going to be thrilled."

"What if they think it's too soon? My reign has barely begun, and there's so much to do! What if they think we're not ready? Are we ready?" Raven rambled but was cut off by a sweet kiss from Dexter.

"Raven, My Darling, breathe." Dexter said with a soft laugh. "Who's to say this is too soon? This could very well be written in the pages*. Besides, I don't think this is too soon. We had been talking about starting the next chapter of our Happily-Ever-After."

"You-You're right. I'm sorry, My King."

"There is nothing to be sorry for, My Dear. As to the question if we are ready.... Well, I'd like to think so. We bought all the books, we have Maddy sending us some paint for the nursery, Cedar is sending us a crib, and so on. We are as ready as can be."

Raven's answering smile was full of love. She was completely smitten with her husband. It's not as if she ever forgot that, but she was always pleasantly surprised that she could fall more in love with Dexter day by day. He always gave her reasons to fall further. She didn't know how she got so lucky, but she would do everything in her power to let him know just how much he meant to her.

"There's my daughter and my favorite son-in-law!" Raven's mother's voice crooned. It never failed to make her smile now when she heard it. Her mother had come a long way since her release. Gone was the animal bones and dramatic headdresses, though her love for darker palettes stayed the same, as did her love of more edgier clothing. She made it work, though, and now everyone could see her long, gorgeous platinum blonde hair, though she did add some purple and black highlights.

"I'm your only son-in-law, Mom." Dexter laughed as he got up from his spot and offered his arm to her mother and guided her to the table with her father following.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you're not our favorite." Her father said as he pulled out a chair for his ex-wife. Dexter chuckled in response, but Raven knew it was his nervous one. Well, at least she wasn't the only nervous one.

It was like their normal weekly lunches, and that helped ease Raven's nerves. Lunch was wonderful and light, which helped with Raven's morning sickness. Lunch finished fast, though, and the nerves popped back up like an ugly hex.

"Mother?"

"Yes My Dearest?"

"Does Cook still make those baby jumpers out of enchanted yarn?" It was Raven's way of hinting before outright saying her news. She knew Cook made them rarely now that her two boys were older. She still made them jumpers but out of different yarn. The enchanted yarn she used when the boys were infants made sure it kept the babies warm and were oh so spelltacularly soft.

"It's been a while, she had made some for a Baker and his wife. Their little one has grown so much since then!"

"Is one of your friends having a baby, My Baby Bird?" Her father asked as he helped himself to another helping of plum pudding. It was always his favorite.

"Well..." She began with a soft chuckle.

"Funny, you should ask." Dexter blabbed out nervously.

The speed at which her mother turned to look at both her daughter and her husband surely had to break some kind of record. "Excuse me?"

"Dexter and I," Raven said with a smile as she placed a hand on her stomach, "we're gonna have a baby!"

"I'm going to be a grandma!?" The words would have worried Raven if she hadn't seen the wide smile her mother wore and a look of utter excitement.

"I'm going to be a grandpa?" Her father asked, his voice thick with tears. It made Raven's eyes fill with tears immediately as she nodded.

"We're going to be grandparents!" Her mother and father exclaimed at the same time to each other before they hugged and laughed and cried and it was a bit funny because that's how Raven and Dexter basically reacted when they found out.

As question after question was thrown at her and Dex, she simply smiled and reached for her husband's hand who didn't hesitate to lace their fingers together and bring her hand up for a kiss.

How could things be so wonderful?

[wintermelonbear]

Just Another Picture to Burn

Summary: Just a cute little friendship between Jon, Damian, and Marinette. Can be read platonically or with some romantic inclination. Just two friends who want the best for each other and will celebrate each other’s milestones 

Sidenote: I haven’t written anything in years, but dragged my butt to write this for the MGI civil war so proceed with caution.

Sharp green eyes open up to the world moments before the buzz of a phone alarm signals the need to get up. Out of an abundance of caution stemming from his tumultuous upbringing the young teen scans the room for any signs of an intruder, most days this is a fruitless endeavor, but Damian could never find himself to drop this habit. He notes an envelope on his desk and reaches for the compressed bo staff under his pillow. As he approached the desk the only sound that could be heard was the light creak of the manor’s floorboards and low mumblings coming from the kitchen. A sigh of relief breaks this silence as Damian recognizes the gentle script sprawled across the front of the pale pink envelope spelling out “To Dami”. 

Cautiously he flips the envelope checking for signs of tampering. While the sentiment is nice, the choice to send a handwritten letter rather than a text was out of left field from his companion. He notes with a slight grin that she had used the wax seal he gifted her after the defeat of Hawkmoth. Sliding a batarang out from the underside of his desk he slices open the top of the envelope to reveal a piece of thick cardstock. At this Damian’s brow moves into a sharp arch, what could have been so important, yet so minimal that she had to portal over to his place in the middle of the night. Pulling out a piece of pristine white paper, he reads, "You, me & Jon. 7 pm CET. I already checked with your dad, so no excuses. Love, Mari”

Picking up his phone –the latest from Wayne Tech– he taps out a message to his top contact, “Spotted Menace”. A bright blue message populates the screen reading out, “An invite? To what exactly?” For emphasis, he adds in a raised eyebrow emoji then after some contemplation adds in a thinking emoji. Following that text, he quickly snaps a picture of the note to Marinette to confirm he received her letter before preparing for the day. 

Before leaving his room he picks up the envelope again, this time to admire her handiwork instead of ascertaining its threat level. Turning to the back of the envelope his chest puffs out a bit as he dons a victorious smile he takes in his handiwork. She had used the wax seal stamp he had gifted her on her 16th birthday. He hand-carved the image of a ladybug resting on a branch of plum blossoms, to signify her new beginning as a hero by choice and not by necessity after the defeat of Hawkmoth.

As Damian slipped into the driver’s seat of his sleek sedan he mused that 12-year-old Damian would be utterly baffled by the person he is today –apart from being the stronger member of the new generation of heroes, that has always been a given (Somewhere Jon is rolling his eyes). Honestly, when Damian first met Marinette he found her pathetic. She was just a worthless little girl who was gifted powers beyond her capability to wield, and he never hid his disdain for her. Thus, to young pre-teen Marinette the youngest Robin was just a massive dickhead who had no feelings apart from his superiority complex. He was an embodiment of torment; the worst parts of Felix and Chloe combined. Not to say that Damian is perfect now, but at the time he lacked the perspective he gained from his travels to and return from Lazarus Island. Now he has spent more time learning from others’ experiences, has gone through his first heartbreak after Flatline decided that time spent with him was distracting her from her personal goals, and all of that has taught him to care and have some level of empathy. He may not be like Marinette and Jon, ready to do what is right solely because they blindly believe in the goodness of others, but he understands that even if he may not find value in someone, that does not mean their life is worthless. 

The first time Robin acknowledged that despite Ladybug’s lack of technical combat skills, she had plenty of other skills that other heroes would be envious of, Nightwing attempted to give him a “bear hug” and Superboy nearly fell from the sky. What Robin to this day doesn’t know about that night is that his comm was connected to Ladybug’s and the reason she fell off the roof was not the attacker’s sharp jab to her ribs, but rather the shock of Robin giving her any form of praise. From then on Marinette decided maybe Robin was capable of growing a heart, and while it may have started as one-sided conversations with her rambling on about herself and basic topics of conversation – how’s the weather in the Gotham? It’s been warm in Paris! Did you see the new Mecha Strike game launch? What’s your favorite dessert? –  eventually, Damian started warming up to her. 

By the time the youngest Wayne snaps out of his reverie, the bell has rung signaling the dismissal of his second-period and the start of the school’s 20-minute break. Fishing through his pockets, and quickly unlocking his phone he finds several missed messages from Marinette, Jon, and their group chat “Talk Shit Get Hit”. After skimming through their private messages, Damian bites the bullet and opens up “Talk Shit Get Hit” to begin tackling the growing number of messages. Scrolling to the top of the chain of unread messages he sends Jon spamming the chat with unintelligible keyboard smashes followed by “MARI HOW DID YOU GET US OUT OF LIZZIE-SITTING DUTIES???”, Damian swears that the capslock on Jon’s keyboards must be worn down with his overusage. He reacts to the message with a set of eye emojis because there are very few people Diana trusts with her fussy toddler and he knows for a fact that she’s in the midst of an investigation into a rapidly expanding crime syndicate. As he scrolls further he is dismayed to find out Marinette cashed in this free day in exchange for a date night babysitting gig in addition to normal babysitting duties. Damian loves Lizzie like a younger sister and of course, wants her to be in the care of someone befitting of her status. Still, he has been yelled at one too many times for taking her on patrol with him, and sometimes bringing a 3-foot-tall sidekick with a tutu (courtesy of Marinette) kills his intimidation factor. Once he makes it past a wall of crying emojis and gifs of betrayal from Jon, the chat goes back to its normal contents, filled with reels shared between Jon and Mari, and complaints about their teachers. Jon eventually asks Marinette what she has planned for tonight that is worth the extra babysitting duties, but Marinette declines to answer and instead tells him to be patient.

After school Damian carefully considers his outfit but sticks with his classic black turtleneck and a pair of khakis, Marinette will call him boring but what does she know? She used to have a crush on a guy who exclusively wore a striped shirt with an open button-up and bright orange Converses. Once they became comfortable with one another Marinette made it VERY well-known that while she wished his civilian wear had more diversity and color, she found his original Robin suit to be a “crime against fashion and most people’s eyeballs”. Stating that only traffic lights would appreciate sharing a color palette with him. Damian argued that it’s tradition, while Marinette replied with “It’s fugly and you know it. Y o u! ditched the design in the first place”. Rolling his eyes, he heads to the window and yells out “Jon! I am ready!” and with a flash of blue and red Jon shows up at his window clad in a red hoodie and blue jeans. The Super family really needs to consider their civilian “disguises”. 

Swooping Damian up into his arm Jon bolts out the window and into the sky towards Paris until they reach a familiar flowered rooftop. After two taps to the trap door beneath them, the door abruptly gave way and Damian was met with a loud POP and confetti raining down onto him. Quickly Marinette busted out the door cake in hand and in unison started singing with Jon. While it was not a rare occurrence for Marinette to provide them with sweets at her residence, what was on the cake was the strange part. It was a picture of one of his earlier Robin outfits? One that after many earfuls from Marinette knew to be her least favorite, why would she put it on a cake?? 

“Happy outfit death to you! Happy outfit death to you! You no longer look like a traffic light! Happy outfit death to you!” Out of seemingly thin air, Marinette pulled out a lighter and lit the top layer on fire revealing a picture of his new outfit underneath. “You do not know how relieved I am that I do not have to be with someone whose color palette matches a kindergarten classroom rug, and not a cute one”.

Damian with a puzzled expression questions her, “Is this something to be celebrated? Besides that I changed outfits months ago”. Marinette looked at him mouth agape. “Close your mouth you will catch flies at this rate”.

Almost as if rehearsed Jon and Marinette reply in unison “What are you my maman/ma”?

After clearing her throat Marinette went to explain, “There are plenty of things to celebrate for your outfit change! You’re finding out the type of Robin you’re going to be, and I personally believe that is a worthy cause for celebration. Besides, after Monarch’s downfall, I was really struggling to figure out what to do myself. My whole world felt like it splintered into pieces, but you and Jon were there to help me figure things out when the consequences of my actions™ struck. I want you to feel empowered too, even if you don’t need it the same way I did”. With a smile Marinette brought out some forks, “Now let’s dig in”! If it made him uncomfortable how quickly his friends stabbed his frosting face with their forks, he didn’t let it show.

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e5 rewatch notes

Ah, "Pop" - it's so weird to have one of the least-satisfying episodes of television you've ever watched be sandwiched in the middle of one of the most satisfying television series you've ever seen.

"But the viewer uneasiness, the juxtaposition, that's the point of the episode!" cry future Storer/Calo** in unison, tearing at their shirt collars and throwing themselves prostrate in the middle of their 7th podcast interview moderated entirely by men "in the spirit of John Hughes, we wanted to convey....."

** For the record, I respect/love them for creating my 2nd favorite TV show of all time, they just grind my gears with the offensive stance on these narrative choices that were, in fact, very bad.

It was an over-reach, an unenjoyable viewing experience for most people outside a specific segment of uncritical (mostly white) men and the women who placate them.

Alright, preamble over - let's dig in!

We open with Tina getting a crash-course in Syd's vision. I bet this woman has never been exposed to breaking food down in the abstract - "earth, air, fire, water" , nor the overwhelming prep of the daikon and the fennel - but her just being like "this is a lot for a tasting menu" and then reassuring her with "it's okay ma, I got you!" - she has my full heart.

Tina's intuition on the food is good, though - it is, in fact, too busy. Sydney is still learning how to be a mentor, and she negates that Tina's background isn't automatically going to make her know what a play on an XO sauce is, or even how to identify a panzanella.

Remember Carmy explaining Japanese plum wine to Marcus? That's how you do it. Sydney still has a learning curve to go through, but Tina will weather it gangbusters.

Sydney - "It's a lot, it's a lot...I'm seeing that its a lot"

I see that iterative recipe development between Carmy + Syd fell into oblivion three weeks earlier when he blew her off, and she's suffering greatly.

Carmy is trying to get the 7 seconds down to 5 between stations when Cicero comes in, and Cicero sees it as a fruitless exercise after Natalie points out that he's been at it for over an hour. I can almost see the flash in Carmy's eyes where we're back 5 years ago, his family seeing him and his work as weird and irrelevant. This was probably the first blow of the day that led him to flake out completely.

I'm including all of Cicero's dialogue here, because I didn't realize it was so weighted on my first pass through the show:

"I'm a little concerned that we're taking our eyes off the ball here, and I want to be hyper-clear - if I ain't seeing no progress, I don't want to keep pissing money away. I'm calling this out now, because we are - How far from open, Sug? - Six weeks! And I somehow anticipate that the coming six weeks, there will be more pissin'.

The thing is, I like to control the pissing to the best of my ability....your schedule is kinked. You're doing whatever the fuck you're doing here. Thundernuts is out there making sandwiches for his entire family? I mean, look, as much as I look forward to selling this place - and trust me, I do look forward to it - I think it's just in all of our best interests if we have a maximally efficient place of business. I really would like to tell you a story of complete and utter failure...."

Syd interrupts.

Holy shit - this is the second time he's tried to tell his Gonzalez/Bartman story. I can't believe I missed this, TWICE (s2e1).

Instead, he tells it to Carmy on opening night - and I think by then Cicero has seen the writing on the wall and knows that Carmy is the only person who really needs to hear it - this is a big CP.

The scenes that follow just reinforce Ciceros current narrative - it's too casual for essentially being a House of Usher - everyone is interrupting, Fak's pal/contractor wandering in eating a sandwich the electrician made him, the drywall falling, Timmy's "no worries, it's still billable hours" crack. Mobster uncle or not, the man has already spent $550k just to witness this.

Tina telling Ebra that it's weird she hasn't spoken to him in a few days, and can't recount the last time that happened - it's amazing that with all the talk of platonic relationships this season, no one is pulling this one out of their hats in comparison *smirks*

But again (like Sugar faux-charming Cicero moments earlier). women be managing men's emotions along with their own lengthy lists of challenges, as the men retreat wounded and overwhelmed.

Cut to Syd perfectly laying out dining wares for Carmy while Fak blathers about 'Can't Hardly Wait' being "the greatest High School Song ever written" while his contractor friend sits idle....

"That's $55 a plate for that silence" - "Okay, then we can use the shitty ones" - Carmy is being so frigging childish and dismissive, right after he called Sugar "fucking disgusting" for being cutesy with Cicero to de-escalate him, but both women are doing what needs to be done - not what they WANT to be doing.

This is when Carmy completely checks out to call Claire for the ridiculous errand run to Winnetka. In my memory, I felt like "oh, he wanted to see her and he took the first opening to bail", but watching this episode now, he feels defeated and infantalized, and so he runs to a guaranteed source of flattery/unchallenging comfort. I don't think it was initially his M.O for the workday, just "later".

He exits with "Um....chaos menu. I dunno? I'll get back to you?" after we already watched Syd suffer on it until the wee hours - he's off to provide himself with amusement and enjoyment, so he can take care of Syd others- he just wants to give the menu to her straight-up (as he thinks this will please her), and this is his way of apologizing for bailing.

The same goes for his non-thank-you to Natalie as he's leaving. "You're not doing this because I'm pregnant, are you?" - No, he's doing it to provide himself with amusement or enjoyment so he can be better for you - enjoy working the entire day at the restaurant pregnant, though! If it makes you feel better, he appreciates you.

"Total Control" by Motels is playing as Carmy and Claire drive to the suburbs - I included the link to the lyrics, because it was an....interesting choice.

I really tried to analyze their conversation during their first foray into the car, but my raw scribbled notes look like this:

"It's perfect timing, I had all this extra adrenaline after resetting this guys Tibia" - screaming

"Whoa" (but not really impressed/getting it) "Does that shit really fire you up?" - oh my god

"It really fucking fires me up. Plus, I love driving. I'm a horrible driver, but I love the risk." - oh my fucking god

I can't do it. I'm sorry.

I'll only note that the chemistry during the envelope drop is non-existent. I think it was supposed to be scripted as a funny/awkward scene, but it just came off as two actors standing in a mail room - before this moment, I never perceived JAW as a guy who's just acting in this show, and it's jarring.

Why the hell didn't FX exert more pressure to get the chemistry read they asked for?

Sydney and Natalie's sit-down is just them acknowledging that they're managing the feelings and work of all the men that orbit The Bear, on top of the extensive labor demands they already have. Richie's interjections due to lack of purpose, Fak's inexperience with managing contractors, Carmy being checked-out and incapable of participating in things that don't rely on his existing ADHD skill-set.

One of these women is a bit green and needs support, the other is pregnant and overwhelmed, and all the men are mad or threatened by them for one trite reason or another - if season 3 isn't an overt celebration of female competence and resilince, I'm out.

"The menu is fucked - and I need Carmy, but he is....being Carmy, somewhere."

"At least he's hanging out with Claire, that seems moderately healthy, right?" - Sugar delivers this as not good, not bad, just completely ambivalent - a far cry from the Fishes discourse.

And Sydney's eyes fire up with the intensity of hell behind a smile and the "who's Claire?" - Ayo is such an amazing actress, that was a nice palate cleanser after the letter drop.

OK, we're back in the car - again, I couldn't extract much from the vapor, but here are some rough-hewn observations:

Claire saying "We've hung out so much, but we've never actually talked" - add it to the list of "telling, not showing".

I wonder if Molly Gordon is truly a great actress and intended to look at Carmy like that while he was talking about drawing pants (intense psychoanalysis eyes) or if she was attempting to look dreamily at him and just failed the assignment.

It's becoming a bit more clear to me that there's a weird brother-oedipal thing going on with Claire when Carmy talks about how she had so many friends, as Mikey did.

"Speaking of dead brothers, do you want to go to a party?"

Ignoring the totallykookycoolgirl line, I don't believe Carmy wanted/needed the tension to break there, he actually wanted to talk. The 'hmmmm' he lets escape is discomfort on multiple levels.

The party scene - "Pretty in Pink" by the Psychedelic Furs plays as they enter a house filled with 35-year-old fraternity dudes.

For those who maybe missed this, John Hughes also wrote "The Breakfast Club", wherein Molly Ringwald's character was named Claire. They just beat us over the head with this regression repeatedly, and I resent it. I came here for a high-caliber show, and I feel like I'm watching Zach Braff disassociate in a Scrubs dream sequence or some shit.

At least KJ (a 38 years old man with meth face) says that Carmy was in wrestling with him back in high school - maybe this will tamp down the "why is a chef so ripped" debate.

Even when Claire is comforting her friend (which is played by Mitra Jouhari, Molly/Ayo's friend in real life), the delivery is so wooden and sterile and not how adult women console one another in crisis.

Maybe it was the fact that she was forced to maintain the whispery voice through it for consistency in Carmy's presence, but even that seems out of sorts - imagine Syd, Tina, Sugar, anyone consoling a friend in a similar situation - and she uses that consolation to further her agenda with Carmy by dropping that no one has ever made her dinner before (at age 30???)

"Am I stupid?" "No, no....he's the one who sucks".

Wait, these are the lines of a very adult woman who has friends who are doctors getting over a 5-year-breakup? This script is stupid.

Jeremy Allen White is such a serious actor, I'd kill to hear his earnest drunk take on this.

"He's so nice. Why don't I ever meet anyone who's nice?"

*sighs deeply* - Again, y'all are 30.

Tina taking a shot and then getting up to sing "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender. I'd love to know if this song has a massive place of significance in Tina's life, but I choose to see it as her being a ballast of support for whoever needs her. Her heart is completely open - no notes.

Hold the phone - they chose "Here Comes The Night" to play as Claire is staring back at Carmy and comforting her friend leading up to the fireworks scene?

Here are the lyrics - Van Morrison/Them is great, but I wonder why they picked this song? Feel free to slap the Syd goggles off me, but this literally just chased Tina's ballad about being there when someone breaks your heart.

KJ saying "busted for having fun, busted for having fun!" as the cops are hauling him away. Loga....I mean, Carmy, was looking for "fun" in his life - I feel like this scene summarizes that pretty succinctly. He's not a man searching for fun, he's a man searching for meaning....and now he's going to conflate the fact that he's completely touch-starved with this type of fun, because the man is emotionally illiterate.

The one lyric from Strange Currencies (when they're driving to the restaurant) that they chose to flare prominently is "where were you when I kissed you" - at least they're driving home the message that these two aren't on the same wavelength.

Carmy walking into the Richie-fight-shitshow and being more concerned about the optics Claire receives when it's obvious that his whole staff has just been through a hellfire of a day, ugh. At least his acting chops are back on display in this scene.

Ahhhh, Claire's sourpuss face as soon as Sydney blurts out "I'm sorry you're here" - it almost makes this episode worth it. Almost.

For the record, I side with everyone who's stated that her introduction to the crowd was exclusively to draw Syd's attention to her.

The same goes for Richie's "Interesting." - if we based everything on what Fishes was trying to sell us, he would have thrown Carmy an arm-punch or something. It's more bemusement, not pride, in Carmy for "bagging Claire". Compare that with the "ooooooooohhhh" when Syd and Carmy are fighting - there's way more tension/acknowledgement of their dynamic.

Ugh - even Richie is like "Cousin, who's going to watch the copper?" as Carmy kicks everyone out. Even if they're ham-fisted about it (as Richie definitely is), everyone is concerned about something to do with the restaurant/their labor except for Carmy, who curtly dismisses them all with fake gratitude.

I won't talk much about Syd's exit, because it's already been discussed to death - yes, he's confused she's leaving. Yes, the only time he can look her in the eye is while Claire is distracted. Yes, he see's she's pissed and it's making him die a little inside.

I will offer a trite story, though:

When I was a young pup, I had a co-worker who had a massive crush on my friend - and the affection was mutual, but unacknowledged due to lack of experience.

He (being a traumatized, ill-equipped man-child) immediately sought out a less challenging girlfriend who even looked like a close approximation of my friend and excitedly brought this new girlfriend to a party I was throwing because he REALLY hoped that my friend would love her. She obviously didn't love her, he came to me confused/upset, and after I explained things slowly and carefully, he dumped the girlfriend a few days later. He dated my friend weeks after (and for transparencies sake, it ended terribly).

Where I'm going with this is that I think somewhere in the recesses of Carmy's damaged mind, he REALLY needed Syd's approval of him being with Claire since he was caught red-handed. He imagined her staying, asking leading questions or chaperoning the situation, or giving him a knowing smile or a "thata boy" - whatever. Even though he told everyone to leave. It's bizarre.

The Fak thing is so cloying - someone mentioned today about the Berzatto clan of fools wanting to live vicariously through Carmy and Claire, and they are 100% correct.

Finally, 30-year-olds don't kiss like this.

This whole thing was as unsatisfying to write as it was to watch. Hopefully, I caught something of use - thanks for sticking with me through this!

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond!: Rivals' Madness Song List

DISCLAIMER: This is just the general structure of the concept, and will NOT be becoming a mod under any circumstances.

(Unless mentioned otherwise in the list, Benjamin is the playable character in a stated song. Anything in italics is a song idea original to this concept, and anything different to the originals will be linked.)

Prologue (Old Timeline)

Pico (Middle Area)

Why Not Die (IHY Luigi)

Forbidden Star (Wario Apparition)

Seven Coins (GB)

Caution (MX)

Death Cipher (Victim #1)

Role in the Play (Comedy and Tragedy)

Failure (Pico alone) (Only available after beating Fruitless Stand)

Boyfriend (Top Area)

Fruitless Stand (Rotten Smoothie cover) (Ultra M and GX)

Existence Deal (Non-Existent)

Minus World (Bottom Area)

Minus (??? vs. Pico)

Story Mode

Tutorial

2Torial (Sonic the Hedgehog) (from Sonic Legacy/RodentRap)

Lazy Day (Grace vs. Benjamin)

Week 1: Mushroom Kingdom

It's-A Me (Super Horror Mario)

Starman Slaughter (Super Horror Mario, John Dick, Super Horror Peach and Yoshi.exe)

Week 2: Devil's Wasteland

Marble Heights (Flicky vs. Benjamin) (from Blood Moon)

Crimson Eyes (Sonic.exe/Xenophanes vs. Benjamin) (from Sonic.exe Redux)

??? (Xenophanes vs. Grace)

Overworld Zone

(All map asset credits go to Askywalker from The Spriters' Resource)

All bold entries are the area's climax boss encounter. For the Sonic side, you only need to beat 3 foes tops in each area to reach the climax boss.

Cosmic Awareness (KiloByte) (secret anti-cheat boss)

Mario World 1 - Irregularity Isle (Mario Memes and Parodies)

So Cool (Chris Pratt)

Lower Route

Mr. Alopecia (Mark)

SORETRO (Retro Mario)

Upper Route

Nourishing Blood (Grand Dad)

MARIO SING AND GAME RYTHM 9 (Somari vs. Pikafriend)

End Path

0-Star Run (Speedrunner Mario and the Speed Demon) (from FNF: Antiverse - VS Mario)

Secret Levels

Irregular Fighters (Somari vs. Grand Dad) (clear the Toad House)

??? (Water Daniel) (clear the Toad House)

Mario World 2 - Woodland of Lies (Mostly Legacy Creepypastas)

Main Levels

A Former Conclusion

Alone (Beta Luigi)

Terrors in the Woods

Oh God No (IHY Luigi vs. IHY Mario)

Retaliation (IHY Luigi vs. IHY Mario) (at the same point as OGN)

I Hate You (IHY Luigi)

Repentance (Music Box Mario/Alice vs. Music Box Luigi) (from SMB: Refunked)

Last Course (Turmoil vs. Galoombafriend)

Victims of Pain

Your Hell ("Luigi" vs. Mario) (Mario World pre-remake)

Victimised (Endgame/Inferno's Victim #1) (from MMNM)

...Again?

Dark Forest (Coronation Day Peach / Forest Demon)

Secret Levels

Move Dem Fingers (Scripulous Fingore) (clear the Toad House)

Apples of Sin (_____ vs. Peach, Yoshi and Luigi) (Super World post-remake) (move off the bridge leading to Dark Forest)

Mario World 3 - Content Cosmos (YouTube Plumbers)

Main Songs

Left Route (Marios / dudes who are pricks)

Bad Bay (Super Bad Mario) / Ever-Complaining (Mad Mad Mario)

Bloopers (SMG4 Mario) (unlocks Ssenmodnar Square upon completion) / Building Bricks (Engineer)

Day Out (Day Out Mario vs. Boyfriend and Day Out Luigi) / Burger (Mario's Restaurant Luigi vs. MR Mario)

Right Route (Marios who are murderous)

Dictator (Secret History Mario)

Rampage (Berserk Mario) (from FNF: Antiverse - VS Mario)

Race Traitors (Racist Mario)

The Last Path

No Hope (Devil Mario)

Secret Songs

Top Secret (Laser Suit Mario) (Mario Mix) (clear the Toad House)

Mario World 3.3 - Lovely Levels (optional; Level UP)

Main Songs

Entry Island

Summer-mation (Level UP)

Maze Mayhem (Pac-Man)

Basics (Baldi) (from Baldi's Basics in Funkin')

Arc Welding Island

Mario's Singing Challenge (Level UP Mario)

Friendly Heir (Princess Plum) (Bottom Path)

Vindicta (Mariocraft Magikoopa vs. Benjamin and Wolfie) (Middle Path)

Tumultuary (The Goomba Revolution) (Top Path)

Final Island

Nothing...? (Level UP Luigi / God Mode Luigi)

Planum Descendit (Level DOWN vs. Benjamin, Level UP, Wolfie and Princess Plum)

Secret Songs

Zombified (The Zombies vs. Benjamin, Mario and Toadette) (Move toward the lava pit)

Mario World 3.6 - Ssenmodnar Square (optional; SMG4)

N64 Castle Entrance

Spaghetti Humper (SMG4 Mario Rematch)

Paintings of Plight

Chomp's Out (The Chain Chomp vs. SMG4 and Mario)

Spaghettiria Bite (The FNaF Animatronics vs. Mario)

Fridge Milk (Jeeves vs. Mario, Luigi and Toad)

Trio's Trips (Mario vs. SMG4 vs. Toad) (encapsulates the three main "Trip" videos)

Two Funkin' Friends (X vs. FM)

Splatted Sunset (Meggy vs. Benjamin)

Running (Tari vs. Belle)

Saikosis (Saiko and Kaizo vs. Benjamin)

Arcs of Agony

Rejection Rampage (Waluigi vs. Benjamin, SMG4, Mario and Tari)

Anime Destiny (Meggy (inkling/human) vs. Desti (inkling/angel) vs. Francis)

Creative Control (Mr. Puzzles vs. Benjamin and the SMG4 Gang)

Genesis of Zero (Zero vs. Benjamin and the SMG4 Gang)

Final Revolution (Niles/Zero vs. Benjamin, SMG0 and Melony)

Mario World 4 - Classified Castle (SM64 CLASSIFIED)

Promotion (Promo Mario / Stanley)

Abandoned (Classified Luigi) (Left Side)

Finished Role (Classified Yoshi) (Right Side)

The End (Costume)

Play Pretend (Promo Luigi vs. Promo Mario vs. Benjamin / Stanley vs. Jim)

Mario World 5 - Ravaged Road (other SM64 content)

Normal Songs

Apparition (The Wario Apparition)

West Path (SimpleFlips ROM Hacking Competition Entries)

Watching (The Toad Circle from "Regular Pasta")

This Way (Eyeless Peach from "Please Come to the Castle")

Loneliness (King Bob-Omb from "The Picture of Bob-Omb Battlefield)

East Path (other foes and legends)

Near-Impact (Rashay from "SM64: Last Impact")

Better Off (M from "sm64.z64") (from FNF Classified)

Thalassophobia (L Is Real Luigi)

EVERY COPY OF SUPER MARIO 64 IS PERSONALISED

Your Copy (Personalised Mario) (from FNF: Classified)

Focused on Fun (Wario Apparition Rematch) (from SMB: Refunked) (Secret Climax Boss)

Secret Songs

Revolution (128 Marios) (from Super Funkin' Galaxy) (Clear the Toad House in Classified Castle and go bang in the middle of the level)

Mario World 6 - Hellish Heights (Modern-Day Mario Horrors)

Normal Songs

Golden Land (GB)

West Path (Multi-Console Zone)

Blinked (Dais-eye) (from MMNM)

No Party (DJ Hallyboo)

Paranoia (Mr. Virtual)

East Path (NES/SNES Horrors Zone)

Verdant (Ink Bowser vs. Mario and Peach)

Relictus (Sophie (Left Behind) vs. Tankman)

Overdue (Mr. L vs. Pico and THE FORGIVEN)

North Path (The Power Star Archives; all from Petrifying Plumbers)

Version Control (Buggy Mario)

Overthrown (Peach_AI vs. Luigi_AI)

Lost Innocence Zone

Power Down (MX vs. Benjamin)

Demise (MX vs. Benjamin and Pico)

Final Reality (MX vs. Lucas)

Secret Songs

Systemized (X.nes vs. Pico) (move before the transition after Overdue)

Pasta Partners (Mr. L and X.nes vs. Pico) (beat Systemized)

Annihilation (Nekoamon) (beat Hellish Heights)

Unbeatable (The Commercial Gang) (beat the game)

Sonic Zone 1 - Dangerous Depths (Sonic CD secrets and official SEGA characters)

Secrets of Sonic CD

Endless (Majin Sonic) (Focus ability from Undying Phoenix is unlocked after this song)

Gotta Go (Batman Sonic)

Kickin' It (MC Sonic)

Alternate Hedgehogs

Waterfall (Ashura vs. Tails)

Chaos (Fleetway Super Sonic)

Phantasm (Fleetway Super Sonic vs. Fleetway Sonic)

Penumbra (Terios vs. Benjamin and Sonic)

Schoolhouse (Schoolhouse Sonic) (from Vs. Speed.GIF)

Revival (Extra Life vs. Fleetway Tails)

Peek-a-Boo (Possessed Amy Rose)

Bigger Threats

Barrel'd (The Annoying Barrel vs. Sonic and Tails) (from Vs. Sonic.EXE - Megadrive Mix)

Syndrome (Surge the Tenrec)

Cast into Doubt (Mimic the Octopus)

Memphis (Mephiles the Dark)

Who will ever feel the sunshine?

Sunshine (Tails Doll)

Soulless (Soulless DX version) (Slasher Tails Doll)

Sonic Zone 2 - Nostalgic Necropolis (Classic EXEs/Sonic Creepypastas)

Retro Pastas Zone

Time Attack (Sonic/Sonic.exe (Ordinary Sonic)) (from RERUN)

Freedom (The SONIC (Chinelin) entities vs. Sonic and Benjamin)

Inside the Walls (Sally Anderson vs. Grace)

Acceptance (Cyber/Genocide City Robotnik)

Last Chance (Zalgo (Sonic2.exe Trilogy) vs. Sonic and Tails)

Bitter Ending (Robotnik vs. Sonic (Sonic 2 Friendship) (This song has two endings depending on the miss count)

Deferment (Blue Pendrive Sonic vs. Skid and Pump) (intended for Legacy)

Retro Killers Zone

God's Will (Bratwurst Sonic.exe)

My New Plaything (Woody.exe / Respiro) (from Toys' Madness Friday)

Nightmare Beginning (Exetior) (from FNF.EXE Trilogy)

God Killer (Exeller (SoH)) (from FNF SoH Round 2)

Phantom Annihilation (Phaton and Talrareth (Shifted Reality))

Retribution (Exruby/Moiraio (The Destiny EXE) vs. Sonic and Benjamin)

EMPTY_ROOM Zone

Petrified (2017 X vs. "Cream")

Assurance (2017 X vs. Benjamin)

Toetality (2017 X vs. "Tails")

Sonic Zone 3 - Safety Savestate (Non-Hostile Characters)

A Zone That Is Fun

Milk (Sunky)

Cereal (Sunky and Silly)

Unusual Rivals

Substantial (X-Terion)

Funni (Sonk vs. Skid and Pump)

REROY (Reroy) (from RERUN)

A Raw Jam (Sonic.RAW)

Friendly Beings

Specialities (Roze)

Quiz'd n' Questioned (Monty the Monitor)

Hedge (Hog)

Warrior (Exester (The Glitch Chaos))

Cutting Room Floor (Unused (Nominal Dingus)) (from Blood Deal)

Make Haste (Hasty)

Sonic Zone 4 - Wacky Whirlwind (New Millennium+ Oddballs and Villains)

Memes and Classics

Personel (Coldsteel)

Too Fest (Sanic) (Executable Entourage version)

Shockwave (XS Sonic) (from Soulless DX: Milk & Cereal DLC)

Sonic Kills You And You Die (Google Maps Sonic.exe) (from RERUN)

Silly Parodies

I AM SEGA (Sonic vs. Tails (Sonic Shorts))

Odd Happenings (Oddshow Sonic)

Chilli Dogs (TerminalMontage Sonic / Chillidogs)

Adaptational Monsters

Twisted (Secret History Tails vs. Benjamin and SH!Sonic) (from RERUN)

Amnesia (Lost Memory Sonic)

Lost Hero (Miles vs. Sonic) (Where Was My Hero...?)

Unleashed (Nazo)

Strange Twists

Post-Mortem (NES Eggman vs. NES Sonic vs. Vinesauce Joel) (from RERUN UST)

Benjamin's Dilemma (BoomBusterBB Sonic.exe)

Sonic Zone 4.3 - Analog Alpine (Analog Horrors and non-EXE terrors)

Love Crafts Zone

Round-A-Bout (Needlem0use Sarah)

Twin Flames (S0NIC (Speedduo64) vs. Tom)

Lost Cartridge Zone (@jordangaming101)

Initiation (Goldman)

Ardenti Memorias (Sonath)

Ultima Spe (James/Metal Sonic)

The Grieving Zone

Uh Oh! (Demogri)

Haze (Griatos)

Sonic Zone 4.6 - Legacy Lake (other retro EXEs)

Bloodthirst (Exegod)

Illusion Fusion (Exrath)

Tarlike Screams (Corrupt)

Glitched Trap (Puroto)

(to be expanded)

Sonic Zone 5 - Bloody Base (Modern Terrors)

Normal Threats Zone

Melting (Melthog)

Fatality (Fatal Error)

No Peace (Crimtake)

Spreading Assimilation (The Shifter vs. Darnell) (from SØNIC (UNL))

Below the Depths (Sink)

2sday (Requital vs. Pico) (from Soulless DX: Goalpost DLC)

Impulse (NULL) (from Funkin' is (not) an Option: VS NULL)

Other Threats Zone

Stranger Danger (Stranger vs. Skid and Pump)

Hell Reaper (Outbreak Malware Threat vs. Martha Mearest)

Chromatic (Chromophobiac vs. Senpai)

Intermission (Villains X vs. Nene)

Other non-EXEs Zone

Third Party (Piracy Sonic)

Evergreen (End/Returnal/Green Mountain Sonics)

The False Altar

Blackened Sky (Faker / Black Sun) (Faker/Eclipse)

Deathrun (Eclipse)

Sonic Zone 6 - Harrowing "Home" (SonicPC / Soulless Sonic) (all songs from Lord X Wrath except "Vessel")

The Prelude

Vessel (Lord X vs. Alan)

Castle Exterior

Cycles (Lord X)

Broken (Lord X and Alice)

Torment (Lord X)

Desires v2 (Yokubo, the Guardian of Temptation)

Castle Interior

Gatekeepers (Lord X and the Guardians)

Fate (Lord X and Illusion Grace and Pico)

Trichael (Lord X)

Guardian Arena (bonus area following Lord X's defeat)

Devotion (Kito, Guardian of Prayer)

Resentful (Gekido, Guardian of Anger)

Desperation (Zetsubo, Guardian of Despair)

Joyous (Kofuku, Guardian of Happiness)

Haunting (Kyofu, Guardian of Fear)

Revulsion (Ken’o, Guardian of Disgust)

Sonic Zone 6.5 - Creation Citadel (pre-Sonic.exe horror takes)

Glitcher ("Cyborg" Sonic)

Dark Chains (Darkness Sonic / "2007 X")

Ichor Pilot (Sonic.HTF / "2009 X")

Ego Brawler (Haunted SSBB Sonic)

Countdown (Blue Pendrive Sonic (rematch) vs. Gonzalo)

Ill-Willed (Zodick the Hellhog)

The Grand Finale

Act I: Goalpost in Sight

Ashes to Ashes (Xenophanes vs. Pico)

Like Old Times (?????.??? and Tails Doll vs. Benjamin) (from FNF.EXE Trilogy)

Multi Rounds (SonicClone, MD-X, GenesiX, Corrupthog and FileName0X vs. Grace)

The "Final" Battle

All-Stars (Ultra M, Omega, LG, W4R, Y0SH, WA7X and TO4 vs. Benjamin, Grace and Pico)

fakebaby/RealAdult (No More Innocence vs. Daniel Dearest)

Act II: A Second Chance

(The songs here can be played in any order leading to the Final Egg; however, you MUST beat Blind Love and Facing Yourself at the bare minimum to get inside.)

Station Square

Carnage (King_Ruthless vs. Benjamin and Pico)

Vista (Chaotix vs. Benjamin and Pico) (from Illegal Instruction)

Deception (Requital (Rematch) vs. Benjamin and Pico)

Burning (Genesγs vs. Benjamin)

Mystic Ruins

Gamebreaker (DX vs. Pico) (from Breaker Bundle)

Recalcitrant (PDS!Curse vs. Benjamin)

Sinful Prayer (Hyper-Accurate vs. Benjamin and Pico) (from RERUN)

Lost World Pyramid (the only mandatory area pre-Final Egg)

Enemy Within (The Corruption vs. Benjamin)

Blind Love (Girl vs. Benjamin)

Facing Yourself/Silly Billy (Lookalike vs. Benjamin) (beat Blind Love to access)

Final Egg (you can skip straight here if you wish to after finishing Facing Yourself)

Farming Viper (Caffrin the Gamer Girl vs. Pico and Benjamin)

YOU NEED TO LEAVE

Her World (Luther vs. Benjamin vs. Sarah)

Act III: Benjamin WILL Pass

A Path to Deicide

Tetrabrachial (SL4SH vs. Fatal Error)

Placation (Requital vs. SL4SH and Fatal Error)

Apochronal (Majin Sonic vs. SL4SH and Fatal Error)

The Crystalline Deicide

Omnipresent (Tails Doll, Soul Tails, Exruby/Moiraio, Soul Knuckles, Xenophanes, Soul Eggman, Lord X and Eclipse vs. Benjamin and Pico)

Endgame (Xenophanes, EYX, Devil Tails Doll, Fearful X and Metal.exe vs. Benjamin and Pico (and Grace))

Deicide (Xenophanes and the souls vs. SL4SH, Fatal Error, Requital and Majin Sonic)

Deal... or No MORE Deals?

Cataclysm (Super Horror Mario, Lumpy Touch Mario and Infection Mario vs. Benjamin)

Lost Wonder (Ultra M/Victim #1/Madeline, Comedy, Tragedy and Dolor Luigi vs. Benjamin, Pico, Grace, Caffrin, Skid, Pump, Martha Mearest, Tankman, Darnell and Nene ft. IHY Mario and Beta Luigi)

Act IV: The Final Round

Facetious (Wacky vs. SL4SH, Fatal Error and Majin Sonic)

Tua Vera Fata (Xenophanes, IHY Luigi, Scorched and Emperor M vs. Madeline, IHY Mario, Hog and Boyfriend)

Triple Appear V2 (MX, Lord X and Mr. L vs. Benjamin, Grace and Pico)

Final Escape (Xenophanes vs. Benjamin, Madeline and the restored victims)

[descendent-of-the-sixth-heaven]

Mama, it's fruitless scolding them. I have done that plenty of time but they are stubborn. That's why I decided to eat from their stash as much as I can so the food can be split. 😇 That's why nii-chan should share more of his candy with me, right?

I… fine, you can eat a small portion of the candy in my stash.

Kenshin: cherry, you already have access to all my pickled plums stash, why do you need his sweets?

[perlen-gold]

A m!Hawke x Fenris Story (finished) ~ WARNING ~

This might not be an easy read. This is not a comfortable story. Neither a sweet one.

This is rough. This is vivid.  This is raw.

But if you're brave enough to dare the leap and reach into the darkness, it might be worth the plunge...

Fenris stood on the wind-gushed ledge of the roof, balancing his legs, the toes of his right foot dangling over the edge. The roof  poured into a steep slant that bent his left knee in a nigh square angel.

The storm that had ravaged the sky all day had wiped its vault clean like a freshly watered riverbed, all mists and grays gone with its furious and ferocious cries but for a few straggling lithe-luminous wisps.  Behind them the horizon gleamed with pale plum and fig purple at the cusp, the day’s rim aglow with a last fierce brim of bright gold as of peaches and grapefruits melting to spill out of a gilded urn.

Slowly, his heart dripping in a steady rhythm borne on his breath, Fenris leant forward. When he looked down the estate’s walls, his eyes could trail the alleyway winding up to the front gate.

Fenris had once been a swift climber, sure-footed, his bare feet seeking crooks, and crevices finding his scraping fingers in secreted hollows. In his mind was no remembrance of attaining this skill – nevertheless, part of him remembered it all the same, in the long hours of aquiver waiting, in the fruitless days waning in Hightown’s labyrinth of grays. High, auburn-tasting branches. A barefooted whiff of mahogany. Beneath his skin, a savor of cedar.

There were no trees worth practicing in Hightown. Around Kirkwall and her dorsal zigzag pattern of serrated shores and haphazard cliffs  there were no trees to speak of, really. Fenris did not enjoy pervading the forest near the abandoned Dalish camp either. There, too, he found the woods and its trees inadequate – splinter-twiggy and evergreenish, with needle-clinging roots, puny, mere shrubbery only half alive in comparison to the giants he once had climbed.

Vast crowns. Massive boughs the size of a grown man’s body. Long, wide-fingered leaves in all imaginable shades of green, dripping with moisture and water beads pouring golden sunlight into the shades above slinking roots like mossy-soft mountains behind which a Qunari Karasaad could hide his horns as well as approach.

So, here, Fenris crested Hightown. Her walls were smoothly built, each stone set well-nigh perfectly onto the other. It was magic that had once merged them sans the fallible fingers of an enslaved hand which had trembled placing them beforehand.  Fenris’ own hands could feel it as soon as he attempted to start climbing them. But they were old now, these walls. In his skin, the aquamarine blue hummed quietly with both the magic and sweat within them. It was hard work, at first. His elbows, knees and shoulders still sighed with these first attempts.

On the fifth day, a voice coiled up to him.

He did not know how she had found out he was back. Perhaps rumors grew rampant about him still, and faster still than he would have favored. Perhaps, she had simply talked with Aveline or met Donnic.

One morning, a small crown of flowers, daisies, snow-dabbed, had been placed outside the estate’s outer gate. He had stepped on it, then, after a startled glance, picked them slowly from his feet’s skin, blossom for blossom. When he came back at midday there was another coronal of daisies the next day, the flowers twinkling slightly misshapen, blooming exactly where the first had been. Fenris ignored this one, too. Upon his return in the evening on the third day he had found no daisies but the end of a woolen, dandelion yellow yarn. Meanderingly, it sidled away into the dark.

Overshadowed brumal houses and umbrageous faces.

Fenris still disliked the Alienage cowering between Kirkwall’s more important vitals, in spite of the endless times he had wrought through it in the years past. He had not been exactly sure, after striding over ash-old bones, dark-stained rubble on splattered cobble stones, the scars of a city nearly crumbling under the echo of its last war, how or why his bare feet had sought out their way to its steep stairs.

And yet, here Fenris had found himself on the upmost stair, looking down.

Sun-spilling lights illuminated the dusky twilight clustering in the corners like whirring fireflies a blackened wheat field at night.

Fenris could move along with shades and shadows if he wished, shed his conspicuous appearance as a snake its skin, almost entirely, and this was how he watched the elves move about down in the alienage.

Towering in the center like a scarlet-painted sentinel was the broad-chested oak tree. As truly fond of trees Fenris was he favored them reigning  and breathing out forests instead of rising surrounded by shabby  dwellings. Constantly stretching high, sky-high, empyrean-high for freedom.

The mighty oak tree was encircled by the elves of the Alienage in their dilapidated clothes and innumerable candles in a circle around it they were placing. A gold-glimmering modicum of stars come alive below the cloud-strung sky. The elves, humming softly to themselves. A rippling pond of wavering lights. Old and young, elders and children.

Warily, Fenris watched them and quietly wondered to himself, about such wastefulness when wax and light could come short so easily, these days.

When he stepped out of the pooling darkness less gazes flew at him than he usually expected to. Small twigs and rubble girded creakingly under his naked feet as he walked past them. To Fenris, there was less debris here than that which he had climbed over in the rest of the city. The lights, however, brightened the waking night in a great arch around him.

Inside, he found Merrill situating one single beeswax-yellow candle right in the center of her ragged pine table. He could smell the nigh-forgotten scent of it lingering in her small room.

The table was strewn with a carpet of flowers, dried and fresh alike, in a mosaic of creamy lilies, daffodil suns, violet azures and poppy sunsets.  Fenris halted, paused over her threshold.

Then, Merrill looked around. Eyes widening.

She almost winced, supplanted by a little squeal of surprise.

He said, “I am intruding. I will leave again.”

Keep reading on AO3

[fruit-salad-ship]

Pirate AU, captain Plum getting so angry at Peach, so stupidly furious, maybe she withheld information, maybe she did somethign dangerous and stupid, maybe she chased a ghost and endangered the crew, or just...was so dimissive to her own existence it just finally got to her, maybe she'd spent too long drowning her sorrows and being useless. Whatever caused it, Plum starts to throw her weight around as a leader. Kicks her second in command her sword, Peach doesnt even carry it most days, whats the point? She wont die if she's caught without it. So she sees it being presented, eyeing the captain from where she sits.

"Pick it up." Plums dead serious, Peach ignores her, she says it again, louder, angrier. the second time was not a request at all, so with a sluggish stagger peach gets up, picks her sword up, it is not in the best condition, she'd fix that but cant be bothered. It doesnt matter to her one way or another.

She instinctivley blocks an incoming attack, Plum is so mad, venting her anger at this woman through practice, or...maybe this isnt practice? She's attacking with real intent, perhaps a good fight would knock some sense into Peach. The woman seems only half heartedly bothering to defend, she doesnt fight back in any way, slowly being backed up to a mast, ducking to not get hit in the side, plums blade dinking off the wooden trunk.

This goes on for a while, with each lazy movement Plum becomes more furious, how is she putting so little effort into this and coming out unscathed? It dawns on her that if Peach was to fight back, would she have the clear advantage she thought she originally posessed? Plum thought she was the more refined and skilled fighter but...this womans wasting her potential.

Peach grows bored of the back and forth, instead of dodging, taking the hit. People tended to stop attacking soon after that. In a real fight she'd fake her death and get up after a minute of pretending to get back and protect whoever needs it. Plum however knows this tactic, she cant fake her death, the sword in her shoulder hurts, shes immortal, not immune to pain, grabbign it by the blade and pushing it back out of her, an act that unsettles plum, seeing the womans hand cut as she didnt struggle to remove her sword. No slowing, no time to think, plum takes another quick move to land another hit.

Theyre nose to nose, blade through this womans torso, poking out the other side. Of course Peach cries out from the sting of it, gutteral response, but it subsides, she can ignore it and focus on the captain, glaring up at her with such rage in her eyes.

"You done?" a raised eyebrow and calm demeanour from the old pirate. "Fight back." Plum wanted to see what was lurking on this ship, what she'd hired, irritated still from earlier. "You dont want that, just let me go back to my drink." Peach eyed the bottle stood on a barrel not too far away, just wanting a peaceful watch on deck. "No. You need to care. You need to do more than defend, I need a second in command who'll activley try to live, to survive, not just be a walking pin cushion and hope to die every time you take a hit."

This was stupid, the slight twist of the blade in peach's gut a threat, Plum felt guilt, she shoudlnt have been doing this, knew it hurt her, but would never kill. The irrittion that this idiot, this woman who could do so much, would just simply choose to do nothing instead got to her however.

"I'm not fighting you."

"Why not?!" Plums sword slid out and she took another agile swing, slicing through the womans shoulder, she didn teven try to move away from it.

"Because theres no point. You'll lose, all the skill in the world wont end me, its a fruitless task." And truth be told, Peach wouldnt raise a blade to her, couldnt even, unsure why, just...couldnt bare to fight her properly, fully aware of the horrors she'd enacted on foe in the past, no friend deserves that.

"So you only act when its too late? Only do something when youve already lost." At such close proximity Plum was able to glare at her, and for a brief moment, Peach felt something she'd not had in her for a while. Rage. Not more than four days prior to this she'd mentioned the past, her wife, the way she got revenge for what happened. It felt like...Plum was calling her out for that. For not doing enough then, as if what happened was her fault. While to some degree she agreed, the fact that someone would think she'd not fight tooth and nail to protect what she loved sunk in, a second or two ticking by as the fury started to collect.

Some small fragment of her old self started to surface, instead of pulling her body off the blade, taking one hand and shoving her opponent hard, sword going with her, freeing Peach and giving them a meters grace, space to adjust.

For the first time, Plum felt a little fear because of this woman, watching her straighten up, stop slouching, hold her sword properly, but more than anything, it was her eyes, they looked dark and menacing now, not tired or dismissive like before.

"I need to see that you dont let disaster hit before you do something. The crew need a second in command who cares wether they live or die. I need you to show me you have any real fight in you left, because right now, you look like youve given up." Peach was drunk, her shirt now had some holes in it, a small amount of blood on her person, wounds already healing up, sticthing back together, realising she'd not instilled any faith in anyone here since arriving.

"Fine. Have it your way." That deep seated anger started to rattle around in her, for the first time during this exchange, taking a step forward instead of simply defending. Plum did all she could to stop what happened next. The swing of that chipped old blade was so heavy it broke through her defence, staggering her back quickly, Peach's pace refusing to faulter, closing the gap steadily, as if fully in control, it was daunting, she didnt flinch to block the striked plum threw, eyes set ahead. "This is what you wanted right?" another solid hit had to be dodged, not blocked, there was no way Plum could handle another stagger like that. Their fight was brief. within five hits, the old and in places rusted weapon wrapped itself in such a way around the captains pristeen rapier, a moment where peach flinged the sword across the deck, clattering as she took one strike to threaten.

Plum felt a sting on her cheek, a thin line of red starting to appear, such a controlled strike that it only scratched her, looking up to see the looming threat standing close. "Dont you dare think that I wouldnt act before its too late. Thats...not what happened before."

It was suddenly apparent how this woman gained such a reputation, not once since she'd joined the ship had Plum seen it, never seen her do more than the bare minimum. The sword was sheathed, and Peach turned, grabbing the bottle she'd been forced to leave, leading her way off up the other end of the ship to be alone.

At least the captain knew now just what she was working with, and it frightened her a little.

[tinyshe]

Garden Report & Frugal Living 24.06.08

Some of you may have caught the post about Bronte dying (Monday June 3). She had a semi impacted crop (small stiff fruitless plum leaf with grass wrapped around it) which was sour crop issue and since I was down myself, I didn't catch it. It was noted that she wasn't feeling good which wasn't a big concern with the cold & wet one day, hot & dry the next day. The kids were letting the hens out and putting them up at night. We tried to save her but she was too far gone -- she died while we were trying to rescue (her comb had already turned purple and she was drooling which I could see from the back door). I will put a couple of video links at the end of this entry for those that are interested.

It is rather interesting watching the two remaining hens. They are working over their concerns about being without big bossy butt Bronte. They are now bonding as BFFs instead of Rossetti always pecking/charging at Alcott trying to keep a hierarchy. They go everywhere together and if separated it is very temporary with little clucks and songs of concern and encouragement. It took Bronte to die for them to realize that they 'need' and care for each other in their now very small flock. I see them now cuddling during there rest and at night.

Coming back from treatment we did stop and got two hog panels. We will be arching those. Once is for the roses (Joseph's Coat and a white ramble) because I can't get the ramble completely back up the camilla (it came down in a wind storm) and didn't get Joseph pruned back and was not wanting to put holes in the house to keep it upward. This was a quick easy solution to make a rose arch with the stock panel (rebar to anchor the panels in place). The second is for the clematis that is all over the writer's camp and carriage house roofs. Once the nestlings fledged, we can remove all that tangle of magnolia, Jerusalem Rose and clementas to expose the roof again (hoping still to get the settlement money before EOS and new roof).

With all the late rain there is an explosion/ boost to foliage. I can see a jungle again transforming what was my garden into a green lair from my bedroom window. It is taking on a wildness that the birds are delighting in.

So before I close this post, here are those videos:

[pegasusknightsonly]

i know pointing at any part of engages writing and saying "hey that doesnt make any fucking sense" is as fruitless as the plum tree in my garden every other year but . what the fuck does this mean. what is this supposed to mean. its well established that there were three living humans in the mirror world and two of them are in this shot and one is buried under a tonne of rubble. what the fuck does this mean. "every nation's lost its rulers" WHAT DO YOU THINK A RULER IS, ENGAGE? WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY DO?

fe has been eating its own tail for a while but engage is utterly thoughtless about everything and i dont see any value in trying to excuse it. the best engage can come up with is "well rulers are good and powerful because they have power and thats good :-) and um there are rulers even if there arent people for them to rule over because power is" uh , let me check the text here , oh right engage says whole heartedly that power is something you have if you were literally born special and there's no other way to achieve it. Some People Are Just Better Than You. hierarchies are literally embedded in your blood. vile fascist shit

engage doesnt really have a single interpersonal dynamic that makes sense because it is so dedicated to stripping them of all context and meaning so even something like diamant and ivy where all the domino pieces are there lined up for them to have conflict they can overcome goes nowhere and becomes nothing. what makes a good leader in fe engage? i have no fucking clue beyond being Born Special. theres not even a cursory attempt to give alear any kind of tactical insight or competency, everyone they meet just falls over backwards to do whatever they say because clear was born so special and is simply too amazing and you have to pay £50 for this. awesome

[buttonpoetry]

“If you knew her you knew about the dream, the one where her fruitless body wished for the plum-skinned boy and then the boy walked through her front door.”

Don’t miss this poem from Donte Collins

Get Donte’s book, Autopsy.

[lifechanyuan]

The Seventh Level: Flowering plants

Flowering plants refer to all those flowering but infertile plants including some flowering but fruitless trees and herbs. Flowering plants possess very high spirituality; they are almost imitations of flowering plants in the Ten-thousand-year World. In addition to decorating nature, the main function of flowering plants is to serve the sages and celestials by reminding and enlightening those people with high spirituality not to forget the existence of the Deity Celestial Being World and to advance to the Ten-thousand-year World.

1.The highest level of flowering plants are peonies.

2.The second level of flowers include Chinese herbaceous peonies, Chinese flowering crabapples, lotuses, daffodils, wintersweets, sweet-scented osmanthus, plums blossom, lunar September chrysanthemums, magnolia denudata, azaleas, orchids, and epiphyllums.

3. The middle level flowers include roses, cloves, clivia minata, spring orchids, Chinese hibiscuses, Albizia julibrissin, Indian Kalimeres herbs, jasmines, winter jasmines, laurels, tulips, chrysanthemums, cacti, Echinopsis tubiflorum, and the like.

4. The lowest level of flowers are poplar blossoms, reed catkins, rattan flowers, day lilies, and water caltrop flowers.

 The Eighth Level: Livestock

Livestock are under human control and protection and serve the needs of humankind directly. Although they are not as free as wild animals, their risk of danger to their survival is lower than the others. If wild animals were to be compared to "illiterate people", then domestic ones would be like disciplined high school students or university students trained by civilization. Wild animals only know how to obtain, whereas domestic animals only know how to dedicate.

The Ninth Level: Wildlife on Land and Aquatic life in the Sea

The Tenth Level: Trees

The Eleventh Level: Insects

The Twelfth Level: Herbs and Crops

1. Glossy ganodermas are the most superior level of herbs. 

2. Asparagus ferns and bracketplants are high level of herbs.

3. Crops and vegetables are middle level herbs.

4. Plain grass is at the lowest level.

The Thirteenth Level: Microorganisms and Fungi

The Fourteenth Level: Demons and Monsters in Hell

The Fifteenth Level: LIFE in Frozen Layer

The Sixteenth Level: LIFE in Inflamed Layer

The levels of LIFE have been divided into the above categories mainly according to their levels of spirituality of LIFE. The higher their levels of LIFE are, the higher their levels of freedom, living standards, and quality of LIFE will be, and vice versa.

That is to say, gods do not want to become Celestial Beings or Buddhas, Celestial Beings and Buddhas do not want to become humans, humans do not want to become birds, birds do not want to become flowers, flowers do not want to become domestic animals, domestic animals do not want to become wild or aquarium animals, and wild animals do not want to become trees or crops, and so on and so forth.

For humankind, the direction of the advancement of LIFE should aim toward higher spaces of LIFE. Ignorant persons should advance toward laity, laity should advance toward mortals, mortals should advance toward sages, sages should advance toward Human Celestial Beings, and Human Celestial Being should advance toward Land Celestial Beings, Deity Celestial Beings, Super Celestial Beings, and Buddhas.

The path of LIFE is very clear. From the perspective of space, people in the human world should strive for the Thousand-year World, Human Celestial Beings there should strive for the Ten-thousand-year World, Land Celestial Beings there should aim toward the free Deity Celestial Beings, and Deity Celestial Beings who wander worldwide all day long should strive toward becoming Super Celestial Beings in Elysium World, which is the top level of LIFE. It is impossible for human beings to become gods, and needless to say, there is no possibility of becoming the unique Greatest Creator.

Everything is clear and simple when seen from this perspective.

[mortuarycommunism]

The US, even in its most eco-friendly and Go-Green regions, is neither bikeable nor forageable.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, and there are some bike paths and greenways, but they’re typically surrounded by roads and fences and construction developments, piled up with litter. Portland, Oregon (not where I live) is considered the most dangerous city in the US for bicyclists because of how much the bike paths intersect with street traffic and car-focused city design.

There are forageable pockets of natural land, but these are typically well-kept secrets that established hobby-foragers don’t want other people to know about, for fear of over-harvesting. Most trees in cities are sterile and fruitless, and even when they’re not, it’s a crime to take from them. Those are the city’s plums, they say, and the right to let them drop and break open and rot to syrup is ours and ours alone. Workers spray wild blackberries with rat poison, paid by the state to prevent the homeless from feeding themselves. They cull edible mushrooms or take them for themselves, and in their place leave only what will make you sick.

We’re getting closer to autumn and when I bike to work I see more and more seemingly abandoned bikes parked on the side of the road, but then I notice a man and a child who’s still wearing their school bag working together to pick apples, or a man still wearing his high visibility work clothes who’s putting raspberries in a wrinkled plastic bag, or an old woman who’s gingerly collecting mushrooms and putting them straight into the basket on her bike because she brought nothing else.

All of these people clearly didn’t plan to go foraging but just happened to spot something on their commute, and it made me wonder what people do in countries that doesn’t have much of a bike culture. Like, I get why Norwegians don’t bike as much as Danes. Taking a stroll in most towns is plenty of work with those mountains (seriously, if you ever wanted proof that fat doesn’t mean out of shape, watch fat Norwegians walk up and down those inner-city mountainsides like it’s nothing)

So my question is just, if you like to forage but don’t bike which means you can’t just stop when you spot something yummy in the bushes, what do you do exactly? Do you make a trip of it and drive to a forest? Because here that’s considered hardcore foraging for nature nerds here, even though most people do casual foraging. Or is foraging mostly done when you go for a walk and randomly spot a berry bush? Because a lot of my casual foraging is done when I walk my dogs.

[messers-moony]

Nothing Left | R.B

Paring: Regulus Black X Wife!Gryffindor!Reader

Summary: Everything crashes within seconds and Sirius doesn’t know where to go. 

Everything went downhill so fucking fast. How was that even possible? Everything was perfectly fine a year ago, but it seems that within that year, everything had collapsed onto the helpless boy. It was like being beneath a crumbling concrete tower that fell with no warning. Like being slapped in the face unexpectedly. Like getting doused in freezing water on a Sunday morning. 

In retrospect, it sucked. 

Sirius Black would know first hand. His entire life had been a screw-up from the beginning. It started with his parents, who - at the start - loved him. But when he turned out to be the child they never wanted all that love had vanished. They tortured him, broke him piece by piece, they built up trauma that took years for him to express to his friends. It wasn’t until third year when they heard him crying alone in his four-poster bed and asked what was wrong. He could remember the comforting embrace James Potter had given him. 

Nevertheless, it never ended there. The summer going into his sixth year, Sirius decided it was enough after too many Cruciatus Curses and body binding curses; enough was enough. His hands were trembling after enduring just ten minutes of the torture curse, and it was a struggle, but he packed everything he could. His heart broke at inevitably leaving his little brother behind. He could only hope that Regulus would understand. 

It took a Knight Bus trip to the Potter residence in Godric’s Hollow. The sky could’ve resembled how Sirius felt. Back at Grimmauld Place Twelve, the sky was always cloudy and rainy. Godric’s Hollow allowed the sun to shine past the fluffy clouds, but tonight was different. The sky was dark and thick, black clouds covered the stars. Rain poured from them, and it pittered on the stone roads. Sirius was instantly drenched when he stepped off the Knight Bus. 

Hesitantly he made his way to the door, where he knocked softly. The house was two stories and was a relatively big family home - not bigger than Grimmauld Place - but an average family home. The house was a mixture of grey, dark purples, and brown. It reminded Sirius of Remus’ patched jumpers. Sirius could hear movement from behind the plum door, and it opened to reveal a familiar face. James Potter with his messy hair, hazel eyes, and long limbs. James was muscular, but he was also tall, not Remus tall but taller than Sirius. 

James didn’t speak and ushered him inside. The following morning at breakfast, Euphemia - Mrs. Potter - had given Sirius the excellent news of his new forever home. The Potters would never forget the way Sirius lit up and how a smile had taken over his face. Sirius didn’t remember being this happy except for when Regulus was born. 

But his forever home was not forever. 

In seventh year, James’ parents had died, and nobody had comforted Sirius except one person who attempted. James had Lily, and that was enough for him. Perhaps it was selfish to think that James should be comforting him. It was definitely selfish. Sirius was doing really good at hiding how he felt until he crumbled behind a tapestry near the dungeons. 

Sirius didn’t know if it was good or bad luck that Regulus - his prefect Slytherin brother - had found him behind that tapestry. Regulus had pulled back the fabric slowly with his wand lit. His face had softened at his older brother sobbing with his knees to his chest. Regulus allowed his wand light to extinguish before sitting in front of him in the same position, allowing their socks to touch at the tips. 

They sat there for a couple of minutes before Regulus moved closer, albeit hesitantly to sit beside Sirius. Regulus had his back against the concrete, and Sirius curled up onto him while the younger Black brother rubbed his older brother's back. Sirius cried harder and harder. It took an hour before he subdued to sniffles and whimpers, but Regulus took it as his time to speak. 

“I know they meant a lot to you,” Regulus stated, still rubbing his older brothers back, “And I don’t blame you for grieving them.”

Sirius sniffled, “I ought to be grateful for them, really.” Regulus released a sound that sounded like a chuckle, but it was so foreign to Sirius he couldn’t tell, “They kept you safe. Kept you away from mother and father. They gave you a home where you could finally be you.”

“And no matter how mad I want to be at them for taking you away from me,” Regulus admitted, “I just can’t be because they gave you everything you wanted, and I’ve never seen you happier in my life.”

Regulus didn’t stop talking, “You know… I- I found my own James Potter.”

Sirius looked up at Regulus with flushed cheeks, but his facial expression was baffled, and Regulus presented him with a small smile, “Okay, maybe she isn’t my ‘James Potter’ per se because I don’t see her as a sister but rather she’s my girlfriend.”

“What’s- What’s her name?” Sirius croaked; his throat was so raw from crying. 

“Y/n L/n.”

“A- A Gryffindor?”

Regulus made that sound again, “Yeah. A stupidly brave one too. Even worse.”

Sirius smiled, “I know her.”

“Don’t tell me she was one of your conquests.” Regulus grimaced, and Sirius chuckled, snuggling back into Regulus’ chest, “No, she wasn’t. It turns out she has the hots for the other Black brother.”

Regulus smiled, and they allowed the silence of the castle to consume them. It was dark in the corridor on the other side of the tapestry, and Regulus could see the faint moonlight peaking out. He could also imagine the stars glittering beautifully in the midnight sky. He could see the star Sirius shining brighter than ever, and he just wanted his brother to feel the same. 

“I plan to marry her.” Regulus said before he could stop the words from falling from his mouth.

“What happens then?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mother and father will never approve.”

Regulus scoffed, “I’m done with their bullshit and have been for quite a while.”

Sirius met his brother's eyes again, “I left right after you. It turns out there is no more heir to the Black family name.”

The older Black brother smiled brightly and tightened his grip on his younger brother. Regulus couldn’t remember feeling this warm since they were little boys running around the backyard. Sirius was practically on top of him, and that was okay. For now, everything seemed okay again. Maybe Euphemia and Fleamont were gone, but even in their deaths, they managed to benefit Sirius’ life. 

Now it all seemed fruitless. 

Only a couple of months later, Sirius and Regulus had gotten into a huge kerfuffle. It ended with screaming, raw throats, tears, and flushed cheeks. Sirius could remember how Regulus playfully mocked his and Remus’ relationship. He didn’t know exactly what happened, just that he was pouncing for his little brother, and Remus was holding him back. Sirius had yelled some very awful things that he couldn’t take back. 

She hadn’t done anything. She didn’t even know that an argument had happened. Y/n had been reading in the common room when the book was flung out of her hand, and she was pushed against the stone wall of the Gryffindor Tower. Y/n met eyes with stormy grey ones, not unlike her lovers, but these weren’t her lovers. These were his elder brother's eyes, and he had lifted her off the floor against the wall until James had pulled Sirius off her. 

Y/n hit the floor with a thud and repeatedly coughed, hands on her throat. James had stormed into the boy's dormitory with Sirius with him. She didn’t even understand what was happening not until she met up with Regulus in the prefect dorm, and he saw the marks on her neck. Sirius had taken it too far, and Regulus was furious. They were no longer on speaking terms. 

Now Sirius had someone entirely different to grieve. 

Sirius had felt like his heart hit the floor when he was forced to move out of James’ house with Lily due to Harry being born. Remus had moved away to take care of his sick mother and asked for privacy. The funds that had previously been in Sirius’ account had been squandered, and now he was paying the price. 

He had absolutely nowhere to go. Truthfully, there was one place he could go, but he didn’t think he’d ever be accepted there. He had said unforgivable things, but James had given him enough confidence that it would be okay. Reluctantly, Sirius Black took the Knight Bus to the suburbs in London. The community felt so modern and new. It was different then Godric’s Hollow which had been around for so many years that it began to weather and erode. 

The deja vu was hitting him like a brick. Their house was a mixture of grey, black, white, and maybe blue - Sirius couldn’t tell in the darkness if it was white or pale blue. Perhaps he’d find out tomorrow if he was even welcomed inside. Sighing and shivering, Sirius knocked on the door. He could hear little squeals of delight that sounded much like a child. He also heard talking, but he froze when the door opened. 

Regulus Black, at the age of twenty-two, looked good. His hair was to his jaw, and it was wavy at the ends, whereas Sirius’ was much more straight. His eyes had turned silver over the years. His cheeks looked much fuller, and he looked a lot better. Regulus was no longer looked underweight, but he was still slim and skinny. Black family genes, Sirius supposed. Sirius couldn’t meet his brother's eyes. 

“What do you want, Sirius.” 

His name falling from Regulus’ mouth instead of a nickname hurt more than he expected, “I had nowhere else to go…”

Regulus scoffed, “James finally kick you out, eh?”

“Yeah, he did.” Sirius sounded so distant, “Perhaps it was about time, and here I am, at your doorstep.”

“Come on, Sirius.” Regulus motioned for him to come in, and Sirius did. 

The house was much cozier inside. The floors were dark wood, almost black. The living room - on Sirius’ left - was a darker turquoise color with grey furniture. The dining room - on Sirius’ right - was a light grey. The furniture was a marble table, white wood chairs with cushions, and a beautiful light fixture. Regulus led him to the kitchen, which was straight ahead in the hallway. 

It was a beautiful mint green color with black and white furniture. The appliances were primarily black and the furniture primarily white, but regardless, it was beautiful. They had another table in the kitchen that was a grey wood instead of the shiny marble in the dining room but nevertheless screamed elegance. Sirius sat at one of the barstools at the L of the counter. Regulus slid him a cup of tea. 

“Your house is beautiful.” Sirius complimented, and Regulus placed the cup back into the saucer, “Thank you. My wife picked everything out for the most part. I either built it or painted it.” Regulus smiled. 

“Your wife?”

Regulus hummed, “Y/n Black. Ring any bells?”

Sirius swallowed, “Yeah.”

They both took a sip of tea, “I have two kids too. Both boys.”

“Two?!“ Sirius nearly spat out the liquid he had just taken a sip of. 

“Twins. Fraternal, thankfully.”

He placed the cup down, “What’re their names?“

“Perseus Regulus Black and Leo Alphard Black.”

“Perseus and Leo, huh?“

Regulus blushed, “It wasn’t my idea. It was Y/n’s.”

“I like them,” Regulus looked up at him, “The names. I’m sure they fit them too.”

“Thanks.”

It wasn’t long until footsteps began to echo coming down the steps. Y/n had grown up too. Her face was sharper and her curves more defined. If Sirius was honest, she didn’t look like she had kids at all. To be fair, he wasn’t really staring at Y/n but more so his brother. Regulus had a starstruck expression as his wife walked towards him. He had a dopey smile on his face and stars in his eyes. Regulus really loved her, and Sirius could tell, hell, anyone could. 

Y/n stopped in her tracks at seeing Sirius, “What’s he doing here?” 

Regulus placed an arm around her waist, “He came looking for a place to stay. While I was waiting for you, I decided to catch up with him for a little.”

Sirius looked guilty, “Ultimately, I’m leaving this decision up to you.” 

Y/n sighed and looked at both brothers. She thought of what he did back at Hogwarts. She thought of how Regulus had cried and ached for his brother, wishing for their relationship to be back the way it was. She thought of her two children who always asked about their Uncle Sirius, who was never around. 

“Sirius,” Y/n began, and Sirius held his breath, “Where will you go if I were to say no?”

Sirius looked at his lap, “The streets.”

He couldn’t hear the footsteps that approached him until soft hands lifted his head where he met soft e/c eyes, “I’m willing to look past everything that happened at Hogwarts for the sake of my children. They deserve their uncle. But I need you to show me that I can trust you and that you won’t cause trouble.”

“I’ll do anything.” Sirius complied, and Regulus smirked, “Don’t say that. She’ll have you remodel something.”

“You’re an asshole.” Y/n whirled, and Regulus continued to smirk, “I told you to use magic, and you said we should do it the Muggle way.”

He shrugged, “We got good memories out of doing it the Muggle way.”

“If getting paint all over me counts as good memories, then sure.”

“It does.” Regulus smiled, “Your face was priceless.”

“Dickhead.” She muttered. 

Sirius grinned, “Well, Sirius. If Y/n lets you stay, then you’re welcome here. What I did back at Hogwarts was uncalled for, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mocked you and Remus.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is.” Regulus countered solemnly, “Had I not done that; then we could’ve had a better relationship. For that, I’m sorry.”

Sirius stood up and hugged Regulus tight, “New beginnings?”

“New beginnings.” Regulus smiled. 

Regulus led Sirius up the wooden stairs up to the second story. It seemed to have had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, one in the master bedroom, one in the hallway, not including the one downstairs. On the end of the left side was a door leading to the master bedroom. On the right end was a cabinet and two doors across from one another. Then in the middle of the back was a door leading to another bedroom which Regulus had opened. 

The bedroom was spotless and beautiful. It was painted a grey with purple undertone with a queen-sized bed. Most of the furniture was white, and the bedding was black. Sirius had brought his trunk to its normal size and placed it at the end of the bed. Regulus smiled as Sirius looked around. 

“This is yours for as long as you want it.” Regulus stated softly snd Sirius had tears in his eyes, “Thank you.”

Sirius hugged his brother again, “I really mean it, thank you.”

“I love you, Sirius.” Regulus confessed, “You’ll always be my brother. The one who held me during thunderstorms. The one who sewed up my teddy bear when it had gotten ripped. The one who took the blame so I wouldn’t get punished.”

Sirius was gripping the back of his shirt tightly, “That stuff doesn’t just go away.”

They parted, and Regulus smiled, “Get some sleep. I’m sure you’d like to see the boys tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d like to meet my nephews.” Sirius admitted smiling brightly. 

“Get some sleep, Siri.” 

“You too, Reggie.”