#how did my sister and i get all the cool genes

[scentofpines]

my brother is visiting us again and i'm soooo fucking doneeee he is so annoying omg

[norrisainz33]

Best in Show || CS55 & CL16

☆ summary: charles’ sister is headed to the olympics and she’s ready to bring things to the next level with her fwb carlos

☆ pairing: carlos sainz & olympic!leclerc!reader

☆ f/c & warnings: none; slightly suggestive & terribly translated french

☆ requested: yes!! thanks for your request 🤍

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

scuderiaferrari has posted a video

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user3: i don’t understand how all of the leclerc’s are so perfect and talented

user1: the leclerc brothers are so 🤤

user2: princess of monaco about to eat up the competition at the olympics

user8: wait that’s insane only 6 athletes? the uk sent 327… y/n must be really good

user2: she is!! she’s been to the show jumping world cup AND she won the jumping international in monte carlo (both huge accomplishments especially at her age)

user4: their genes are strong and full of sporting talent huh

user24: they should’ve gotten carlos in on this interview. he loves talking about y/n

user18: no fr he very clearly has a crush on her

ynleclerc has made a post

liked by charlesleclerc, scuderiaferrari, visitmonaco, carlossainz55, oscarpiastri, and 879,001 others

ynleclerc: did someone say ,, olympics? get ready to watch your favorite duo (me and [horse’s name]) take on paris 😉

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user6: HI Y/N (louder than everyone else)

user7: she’s so unserious i love her

charlesleclerc: and why did you have to post the last photo

ynleclerc: because i love it frère [brother]

arthurleclerc: why didn’t i make the olympics announcement post

ynleclerc: bc you refused to put on the glasses bebe

user11: the royal family of monaco is so beautiful

juliaanalvarez: looking forward to seeing you in paris

ynleclerc: you better cheer me on julián

user88: ik carlos is shaking in his boots. he’s got competition it seems

user99: no y/n anyone but a soccer player

carlossainz55: congratulations on making it to the olympics y/n 😍

ynleclerc: thanks carly 🤭

user22: CARLY DNSKSJF

user18: i ship y/n and carlos so hard

use r23: day 124 of wondering why they aren’t together

ynleclerc has made a post

liked by alexandrasaintmleux, charlesleclerc, yourbff, landonorris, francisca.cgomes, and 534,230 others

ynleclerc: don’t worry everyone - the party has arrived in paris and we already made it through the first round 🇲🇨

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user12: oh thank goodness (i wasn’t worried)! congratulations on an incredible first round

user13: what do i have to do to be that horse

landonorris: when are you gonna let me take a ride on ya?

charlesleclerc: mate that’s my sister

landonorris: i was talking abt the horse

ynleclerc: i hate you landonorris

landonorris: no you don’t ma cherry

ynleclerc: CHÉRIE

landonorris: 😘😘

user29: lando is so real for this

user24: impatiently waiting for carlos to get here

alexandrasaintmleux: the prettiest girl in all of paris. i am so proud of you 🤍

ynleclerc: please get your beautiful self here quicker 😫

carlossainz55: paris is looking real good these days 😍

ynleclerc: you should come find out just how good it looks 😏

user23: whoa get a room

arthurleclerc: please stop flirting

texts between you and carlos

ynleclerc has added to their story

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user77: my god you’re gorgeous

user99: now who … sent you those flowers ms y/n? was it charles? was it julian? was it carlos? i won’t spill the beans if u tell me i promise

user34: i’m rooting for you y/n!! you and [horses name] are going to crush it

landonorris: i know i didn’t send you flowers… so who did?

ynleclerc: wait… you didn’t send these?

landonorris: y/n/n don’t play with me. was it him?

ynleclerc: yes 🤭

landonorris: I KNEW IT. so you guys together or?

landonorris: DONT LEAVE ME ON READ TF

charlesleclerc: y/n/n - i only sent you the white ones… who are the others from?

ynleclerc: my adoring fans!

charlesleclerc: arrête! [stop it] we both know that is not the case

charlesleclerc: just tell me who they are from. i’ll be cool about it

ynleclerc: no you won��t charlie 🤍

arthurleclerc: charles sent me - tell me who those are from

ynleclerc: no! hope that helps bebe 😘

arthurleclerc: are they from a certain spanish driver or an argentinian footballer?

alexandrasaintmleux: your brothers are insufferable sometimes…. but don’t worry i didn’t tell them who sent those gorgeous flowers 😍🤭

ynleclerc: my girl 😘

user87: wagering a bet that those flowers are from carlos

ynleclerc has made a post

liked by carlossainz55, scuderiaferrari, landonorris, danielricciardo, yourbff, and 876,456 others

ynleclerc: obviously not the result i was hoping for. we tapped the last bar on the last jump as we were about to set the fastest time. i’m gutted but at the same time i am immensely proud of everything [horse’s name] and i have accomplished. we are bringing home monaco’s only medal from the entire olympic games and for that i am elated. i think i prefer silver anyway 🥈🤍

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user67: being the reason monaco is getting a medal is still an insane serve

user87: my favorite horse girl

landonorris: a medal is a medal - proud of you punk

ynleclerc: thank you bobby

juliaanalvarez: congratulations on a hard won medal!

ynleclerc: merci julian! glad we got to catch up 🤍

user57: back!! back i said 🤺

carlossainz55: y/n/n you gave it everything you had out there and you have so much to be proud of. i am in awe of you

ynleclerc: carlos 🥹

user55: this is so sweet i’m gonna throw up

user23: day 145 of wondering why they aren’t together

arthurleclerc: good job or whatever sis

ynleclerc: thanks loser

carmenmundt: you are an absolute inspiration! congratulations on following your dreams and making them come true 🤍

ynleclerc: i love you so much carmen

charlesleclerc has made a post

liked by ynleclerc, carlossainz55, pierregasly, scuderiaferrari, visitmonaco, landonorris and 987,654 others

charlesleclerc: we made it to paris in time to see y/n in the final event. ma petite sœur je suis si fière de toi. je suis pour toujours et à jamais ton plus grand soutien. [my little sister, i am so proud of you. i am forever and always your biggest supporter]

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scuderiaferrari: congrats y/n on a hard fought silver! we are so proud of you

user16: wake up ! hottest photo dump of the summer just dropped 😭😫😍

user37: wow arthur is eating charles up in the 4th slide

ynleclerc: merci charlie. je t'aime jusqu'à la lune et retour. merci d'être là [thank you charlie. I love you to the moon and back. thank you for being there]

charlesleclerc: je t'aime y/n/n. i wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.

ynleclerc: btw who even invited pierre?

pierregasly: why can’t i turn up and support my favorite leclerc?

ynleclerc: i’m your favorite?

pierregasly: no , not even close

francisca.cgomes: i’m sorry y/n! he simply insisted upon tagging along 🙄

ynleclerc: i’ll let it slide because i got to see you my love 😍

user34: so special that they were all able to make it to paris

alexandrasaintmleux: my favorite girl in the whole world is an olympic medalist! monaco and all of us are so proud 🤍

ynleclerc: don’t make me cry 🥹

user76: monegasque royal family is my roman empire

ynlecerc has posted to their story

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user55: I KNOW THATS MY MAN CARLOS

user87: you ain’t slick id recognize that hand and arm anywhere. that is mr carlos sainz jr

francisca.cgomes: your brother resorted to calling me to see if i knew who was in this post 🙄

ynleclerc: of course he did…. he’ll find out soon enough 🤭

charlesleclerc: anything you want to tell me? looks a lot like a teammate of mine

ynleclerc: nothing i want to tell you charlie :)

carlossainz55: had a wonderful evening with you mi amor. let’s do it again.. and again and again and again.

ynleclerc: i had an amazing time. i’m already looking forward to our next date!! you may as well just come back to my flat now idk why you even left in the first place

carlossainz55: didn’t want to come across too clingy

ynleclerc: good thing i like clingy! get back here 😏

carlossainz55: yes ma’am

user27: begging to know how much charles and arthur are stressing over this story

ynleclerc has made a post

liked by scuderiaferrari, yourbff, carlossainz55, carmenmundt, landonorris, visitmonaco, and 789,465 others

ynleclerc: yes, you all guessed it! he’s mine 😘

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user13: someone check on the user who has been counting the days since they started flirting

user23: i’ve been summoned!! all i can say is thank god

landonorris: it’s about time

arthurleclerc: i called it

user99: old money carlos is perfect for our equestrian goddess

charlesleclerc: so this is how i find out?

ynleclerc: you did say you were one of my fans so… yes?

charlesleclerc: you are on my last nerve

carmenmundt: adorable 😍

carlossainz55: my gorgeous girl 😘

ynleclerc: my man my man my man

francisca.cgomes: time for a double date 🤍

pierregasly: charles says i’m not allowed

ynleclerc: who said you were invited pierre?

user47: vibes in the ferrari garage in zandvoort are gonna be wild

user98: carlosy/n truthers our time has come

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

a/n: another installment of olympic reader wahooo! slowly but surely making my way through my requests. liked and reblogs are always appreciated

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

© norrisainz33 || please do not rewrite, translate, or copy any of my works posted here on to any other platform

[girlgenius1111]

hallmarks of sisterhood

putellas!reader. r mediates a fight between her sisters. they don't realize they're tearing her apart in the process. at least, not until they ruin an important night for her. can they make it up to her? fluff & angst.

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Being significantly younger than your sisters, you were the true baby of the family, and were treated as such. You were already a pretty sensitive person, and the overprotective tendencies of the entire family only increased this. You were quite different from both your sisters. Alba was an extrovert, always talking, always laughing, never thinking too hard about anything. Alexia was quieter in public, but always loud at home in an attempt to match Alba’s energy. The competitive gene only seemed to skip you, and you hated conflict. Any type of it. You didn’t like yelling, you didn’t like arguments, and you couldn’t stand when people were mad at you. 

It made sense then, that you’d always been the mitigator between your sisters. They were always fighting growing up, and it took a very small you to break up the fights that the teenage versions of them would get into, often shoving your small body in between theirs and singing a song so loudly they had no choice but to stop arguing. If the singing didn’t work, then you’d cry, and that always worked. 

As you got older, your role changed slightly. You were still the mitigator, but more because you were logical and smart and both of them could normally trust you to be objective. You didn’t really enjoy it, but you hated it more when they weren’t speaking to each other, so you did what you could to resolve their fights easily. 

All of this considered, you were not surprised to catch yourself in an argument between them yet again. This one wasn’t super similar to the others, though, in that it was much more emotionally charged. Both Alexia and Alba seemed angrier at each other than normal, and you didn’t know why. Still, you tried to fix it, as best you could. 

-------

“I cannot believe you, Alba.” Alexia sighed, shaking her head at her other sister. 

“Don’t try to guilt trip me, Ale, this isn’t my fault. I told you before there was a chance I’d have to go to this conference.” Alba shot back.

“You don’t have to go, you are choosing to go. So you can hook up with that coworker you're seeing.” 

Alba flushed red with anger. 

“Let’s calm down, guys,” you began, shifting uncomfortably in your seat in the corner of the sectional. Neither girl paid you any mind. 

“I am going for work, Alexia, I wouldn’t sleep with anyone at a work conference.”

“Oh, yes of course, you’re so above that. You are notorious for not hooking up with people in inappropriate situations Alba, how could I forget. It was only 4 of my teammates you slept with? And how many of my other friends?” 

“You are such a-”

“Stop.” You cut in. “Alexia, that was mean. Alba, she’s just disappointed because she was looking forward to spending time with everyone.” You cut in, trying to cool the rising temperature of the room. 

“No, I am disappointed because we made a commitment to do this for Mami and now she’s backing out. Like always.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Alba scoffed. 

“The last trip to Ibiza. Mother’s day last year. My 25th birthday,” Alexia began to list, counting the events off on her fingers rather condescending. 

“Guys, please calm down.” You attempted. 

“Will you ever get over me missing your 25th birthday? Or are you going to have it engraved on your tombstone? ‘My sister missed my birthday once and I never shut up about it.’” Alba yelled, getting to her feet and walking closer to where Alexia was sitting at the kitchen counter. 

When Alexia rose to meet her, you stood nervously, too, moving a bit closer. “Why don’t we all stay seated?” You tried. 

Both of them continued to ignore you, as if you weren’t even there. “That is not the point, Alba.” 

“No, Ale, the point is that only your career is important. Everyone has to drop everything for football, but what I do doesn’t matter, and I have to bend over backwards to make things work with your insane schedule. The world doesn’t revolve around you, Alexia.”

“Oh my god, Alba. You are such a bitch.” Alexia sighed, rolling her eyes in a way she knew would make the younger girl furious.  

“You are the bitch, Alexia. A selfish, bossy, mean bitch,” Alba yelled, crossing her arms and taking a step closer to the older girl. 

“Alba, I swear to god,” Alexia threw back, the volume of her voice making you flinch. You stepped in between them, forcing them to both back up a bit. 

“Please stop shouting.” You pleaded, looking between them. Both of them turned to you, annoyed.

“Go somewhere else if it’s bothering you, pequeña! Adults argue. Grow up.” Alexia yelled, sending a glare your way. You stopped back, blinking away tears, looking incredibly hurt. Alexia sighed. “Sorry, nena, I didn’t mean-” 

It was too late, though, you were pushing past her towards the door of her house. “No, whatever. I’ll go. Solve your argument by yourselves for once.” You snapped. 

“Nice job, Ale, you made the el bebe cry.” Alba said mockingly. 

“Shut your mouth, Alba. Pequeña, come back,” Alexia called, but the door was already slamming shut behind you. 

You wiped at your eyes furiously, getting into your car. You’d always hated how sensitive you were, how anyone raising their voice at you made you cry. You couldn’t argue, couldn’t disagree without dissolving into tears. Normally, angry tears. You’d always been like this, and your sisters often made fun of it, but were aware of the fact that you hated yelling, and tried to avoid doing so. Even when they were fighting with each other. Today got too out of control, though, both of them taking this specific issue very seriously. 

They’d have to figure it out themselves, this time. You were done with this. They knew how you felt about conflict, and yet they always put you in the middle. It was exhausting and hurtful being caught in between them. They were adults, they could solve this argument. 

You and Eli didn’t live far from Alexia, and you reached home before you were really ready to. You needed to erase all evidence of your tears from your face before heading inside, because Eli could not know about this. You and your sisters did not tell on each other, for one thing. For another, there was a possibility the trip in question could be rescheduled and you didn’t want to ruin the surprise. 

You checked your face in the mirror, took a deep breath, denied Alexia’s phone call, and headed inside, prepared to pretend that nothing was wrong. 

------

You got past your mother with very few questions asked, as she was distracted reading over Alexia’s new Nike contracts. Your sister still had Eli read all her contracts, a habit you and Alba teased her about often. 

Eli did come knocking, though, only a few hours later, while you were in your room getting some homework done. “Nena?” She called from the hallway, not hearing a response to her knock. 

Still, you didn’t say anything, so she pushed the door open, only to find you asleep at your desk, your head resting on a pile of photographs, your computer opened up to photoshop. A black and white photo of your sister at training was pulled up, and Eli quickly averted her eyes, knowing very well she wasn’t supposed to see this particular assignment until you were done.

“Mija,” Eli said, covering her eyes as she heard you stir. “Go to bed, it’s late, and you are exhausted.” 

“Do not look, Mami!” You cried, sitting up completely and quickly flipping everything over and shutting your computer. 

“I’m not!” Eli replied, laughing at how secretive you were about these photos. 

“Okay, everything is away.” You said, standing to give your mother a hug before getting into bed. She squeezed you tight, as she always did, kissing your cheek before letting go. 

“Goodnight,” she said, giving you a kind smile. 

“Goodnight mami,” you replied, knowing she was smiling because she knew you were about to get back on your computer as soon as she left the room. 

“Oh, do you know why your sister’s are fighting? I texted the groupchat with them, and they both replied to me separately.” Eli asked with an eye roll, quite used to your sisters’ antics. 

“Something dumb, probably.” You said with an unconvincing laugh. Your mother gave you a weird look, like she didn't believe you, but didn’t push it. 

As soon as she was out of the room, you were, in fact, back on your computer, finishing up the final touches on a photo of Alexia. You were really too excited to be preoccupied with your sisters at the moment. You were in school studying photography, and after a recent exhibition at your school, a gallery in Barcelona had reached out and asked you to shoot a series for them to display. They’d given you full creative control, which was an insane amount of trust to put into a 20 year old, and you were determined not to mess it up. 

If that meant staying up late making sure every photo was perfect in the next couple days, so be it. You were proud of this work, and that wasn’t really a common feeling for you. You’d grown up in the shadow of your two sisters. Alexia was the best female footballer in the world, and Alba was… Alba. Everyone loved her. Nothing you ever did seemed to really make anyone pay attention, except for your Mami. Eli had always been careful to celebrate your and Alba’s accomplishments, like she celebrated Alexia’s, even if they weren’t of the same magnitude. Your sisters were a bit better than the rest of your family and friends, paying attention to what you did, but it always felt a bit like your mother was making them do so. 

This was your chance to do something impressive of your own. Something that everyone could understand, everyone could be impressed by. It was an opportunity you were not about to waste. You didn’t realize the potential that other people had, though, to ruin it for you. 

------

The next few days were busy. When you weren’t working on your photos, making sure they were perfectly edited and printed properly, you were worrying about what people would think about them. Or you were trying to pick the perfect outfit for Saturday evening, the opening of the gallery. There wasn’t a ton of time for you to respond to Alexia’s repetitive apologies, or to Alba’s pleading for you to be on her side. It was annoying, really, that during such an important and stressful week, they couldn’t leave you out of their argument. 

You finally had enough on Friday, pulling up the groupchat with both of them in it, and sending a rather harsh message. It wasn’t like you to be harsh and snap at them, and you were hoping they would get the message that they’d upset you, and you wanted to be left out of this. 

If one of you texts me one more time about this idiotic fight, I am going to tell Mami that it was you two who dented her car, not the neighbor backing into it. I am so tired of being pulled into the middle of this. Both of you apologize to each other for being mean, and get over it. 

You hoped that would be the end of it. When your phone buzzed a few minutes later, though, you knew that had been a naive hope. 

Alexia had responded first. 

It should not be hard to pick a side when I am right, nena.

Alba responded after that. 

You always let Alexia get away with things you’d yell at me about. You can both apologize to me when you are ready.

You weren’t really sure how Alba had decided that you’d sided with Alexia, but you certainly were not going to be apologizing to her anytime soon. You left them both on read, figuring they’d make up before the gallery opening tomorrow night.

-------

You were up pretty much the entire night before the gallery. This time, not because anything needed to get done, but because you were nervous. You were thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong. By the time morning rolled around, you slept for maybe a couple hours, and created a decisive list of every bad thing that could happen today. 

You actually hadn’t thought of everything, but you wouldn’t know that until later. 

You’d passed out just as the sun had started to rise, and Eli came in to wake you up only a few hours later. 

“Nena, despierta,” she said softly, setting down a mug of coffee on your nightstand and shaking your shoulder. 

You bolted upright in bed, and looked around frantically, startling your mother. “Am I late?!” You gasped, moving to get out of your bed as fast as possible. 

“No, no, you aren’t late. It is only 11. Relax, mija, everything is okay.” Eli soothed, gently pushing you back down onto the bed. 

You let out a relieved sigh, rubbing at your face with your hands. “Sorry.” 

“Did you sleep at all?” Eli asked with a disapproving look. 

“Not much. I tried, I swear, I just couldn’t turn my brain off.” 

Your mother patted your cheek reassuringly. “You’re almost done, nena. It’s all going to go perfectly.” 

You nodded, trying to believe her words. You just had this weird, nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong. There wasn’t time to focus  on this feeling, though, no matter how much you wanted to. There was simply too much to be done. Accepting the hug your mother offered, you got up, ready to prepare yourself for the long day ahead.

-------

You didn’t really think anything of it when you didn’t see either of your sisters right away. You were busy greeting other people, family and friends. Some of Alexia’s teammates had made it, and you spent some time taking in the awestruck expression on Mapi’s face when she saw the singular photo of her included. 

That was the best part of the whole thing, you decided. Getting to see everyone’s reactions to seeing themselves up on the wall. 

The theme was people you loved, in their happy place. The project was joyful and fun, radiating happiness. Looking at the photos made you smile, and you were glad to see that everyone seemed to have the same reaction as they took their time looking at each image. 

You had Mapi giggling at something Ingrid had said, a candid taken after a Barça game. Ingrid was smiling back at her, like making her girlfriend laugh was the only thing she wanted to do for the rest of her life. 

You had your Mami, sitting in the stands of one of Alexia’s games, looking on with pride all over her face. You had her pinching Alba’s cheek, a fond smile on her face as your sister said something that was, no doubt, ridiculous. 

You had your aunts and your uncles around the dinner table, all laughing hysterically. 

You had your friends at the beach, all lounging and staring out into the ocean, looking peaceful. 

You had your best friend sitting in the driver's seat of her car, singing along passionately to her favorite song. 

More than anyone else, though, you had your sisters. 

Alexia preparing to take a penalty, determined. Celebrating with her teammates after a goal. Cheekily blowing a kiss to Olga in the stands. Smiling proudly at Vicki after an impressive goal. Proudly wearing the captain’s armband in front of a completely sold out stadium. Leaned against Olga on the couch after a movie night, out cold. She was completely peaceful, with Olga looking down at her adoringly. 

You had Alba at the school where she taught. Candids of her face, when one of her students got the answer right, or made her laugh. With her dog, holding him up at the aquarium, eye level with one of the dolphins. You had her watching Alexia play, too, a grin on her face that you were sure she was unaware of. Your favorite of Alba was a photo you’d taken in your Mami’s kitchen, while she’d been baking. Alba was sneaking a taste of the cake batter, and you’d captured her mid-wink, giving the camera a smile while Eli’s back was turned to her. 

They hadn’t seen any of these photos; you’d almost gone crazy not showing them, and not giving in to them when they begged to see.

 You’d finally managed to break away from a crowd of your friends, having a moment to yourself, when you realized that you still hadn’t seen your sisters yet. Ale’s teammates were here. Some of Alba’s friends were here. The whole family was here. You checked your watch, a frown on your face, seeing that they were both already over a half hour late, which was unlike both of them. It was only when you saw Olga looking up at one of the photos she was pictured in, all by herself, that you really got a sinking feeling in your stomach. She was talking to Irene when you walked over and interrupted, gently pulling Olga away from the conversation. 

“Where is Ale? Is she coming late?” You asked, confused by the sad look on Olga’s face. 

“No, nena, I’m sorry. She didn’t want to see Alba, so she decided not to come. I tried to convince her to, but she didn’t listen.” Olga said delicately. You looked like you’d been hit across the face, honestly, and Olga wanted nothing more than to march home and drag Alexia over here, but she knew better to try to convince the blonde to do something she had decided she wouldn’t. “She said she texted you?” 

You pulled your phone out, taking a deep breath when you saw almost identical texts from both of your sisters. 

Can’t make it tonight. I’ll come see it another time. Good luck! 

Sorry, hermanita, I can’t come tonight. Love you.

You had been so excited for them to see their pictures. There was a little note up on the wall, too, a statement thanking everyone for coming. In it, you mentioned being excited to allow your sisters to finally see the photos, as they’d been begging to for a while now. And they hadn’t come. 

A wave of embarrassment washed over you, your cheeks flushing red. You were angry, too, but you blinked your tears back, looking up at Olga and trying to look more put together than you felt. 

“No Alba either.” You said, your voice cracking slightly. 

“Oh, nena, I am so sorry.” Olga whispered, pulling you into a tight hug. It was too soft, and too comforting. You pulled away rapidly, shaking your head. 

“It’s fine. I don’t care.” You said, cutting the brunette off before she could say anything else. “I have to go talk to someone, thank you for coming, Olga.” 

You rushed away from your sister’s girlfriend, focusing on taking deep breaths. You couldn’t be sad, not right now. So many people had come here to celebrate you and your work, and you weren’t going to ruin it. You could be upset later. It was almost excruciating, pretending that you weren’t upset that your sisters hadn't come, but you managed it. You kept up a pretty good façade for the rest of the evening, even when you saw Olga speaking in hushed voices to Irene and Mapi, even when everyone kept asking where Ale and Alba were. You held it together. Because you, unlike them, could pretend that nothing was wrong for the sake of others. 

-------

Your mother knew you better than anyone. You should have been thrilled, ecstatic. Everything had gone so well. Your photos had been a hit, the owners of the gallery had been thrilled. She realized neither of her other daughters had shown up, but she assumed they had talked that through with you. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with you, but when you declined going out with some of your friends as the night came to an end, Eli knew something wasn’t right. 

She had every intention of letting you come to her, but you weren’t talking. As everyone began to file out of the gallery, saying their final goodbyes, Eli overheard you tell your friends you were going to go home because you were tired. You didn't say a single word to her aside from telling her that you’d see her at home, before you practically fled the building, heading for your car. She didn’t couldn’t imagine what was wrong, never expecting her daughters to have done what they did. Eli didn’t even think of them being a possible reason as to why you were upset. Mapi pulled her aside, though, before she could go after you, an infuriated look on her face. 

“Do you know what your daughters have done?” She asked quietly. 

Eli frowned. “No. What have they done?” 

Mapi shook her head. “They both bailed on tonight over text to pequeña. They are in some stupid fight that they’ve put her in the middle of, and they didn’t want to see each other, so they didn’t come.” 

Suddenly, Eli was quite furious at her eldest daughters. There would be hell to pay, she’d make sure of it. How could they be so selfish, and ruin your night like this? You’d been almost beside yourself for weeks about this night, and she knew the people you wanted to impress most were your sisters. And they hadn’t come. Before she yelled at them, though, she needed to go home to you, because she was very sure that you weren’t okay. Your odd behavior made sense, now, and Eli’s heart ached at the thought of you driving all by yourself while you were so upset. 

“I will deal with them.” Eli said quietly. “Thank you for telling me, María, and for coming. It meant a lot to her.” 

Mapi smiled sympathetically. “Of course. Let me know if you need help kicking some Putellas ass.” 

Eli chuckled. “I will.” 

She set off to her car after that, ignoring Alexia’s numerous phone calls. Likely, Olga had arrived home and laid into her for not coming, and Alexia was looking to be let off the hook from her Mami that she hadn’t messed up that badly. Eli wouldn’t be doing that. 

-------

You didn’t make it far into the house. In your new dress, one that was reminiscent of the dress Alexia had worn to win her first balon d’or, you’d collapsed onto the couch, harsh sobs ripping their way out of your chest. You cried until your makeup ran and your chest hurt. Until your Mami arrived home, rushing through the door, her heart breaking when she saw the state you were in. Eli was by your side instantly, pulling you into her arms. It was rare that a hug from your mother didn’t make you feel better, but this was the case today. You weren’t really sure that anything would help, but you still buried yourself into your Mami’s arms, wishing more than anything that she could fix this for you. 

“They didn’t come, Mami,” you sobbed. 

“I know, mija, I am so sorry.” 

“Am I not more important than their stupid fight?” You asked, looking up at your mother with a devastated expression on your face. “I was so excited for them to see, I just wanted them to be proud of me.” 

Eli felt anger fill her at a level she’d never quite felt before. “I am proud of you, cariño, so proud of you. It’s all going to be okay, I promise. Everything is going to be fine.” She soothed, running her hand through your hair, shushing you softly. Her fury would have to wait, until you stopped crying. Eli would always put you first when you needed it, even if your sisters didn’t. 

-------

It was late by the time you’d stopped crying and headed up to bed. With a soft goodnight to your Mami, you’d slumped upstairs, barely changing into your pajamas before you collapsed into your bed, absolutely exhausted. Being disappointed was tiring, apparently. And you were more disappointed than you’d ever been in your life. 

Downstairs, Eli waited until she heard your door shut before she pulled her phone out, returning one of the 15 missed calls from her eldest daughter. Alexia picked up quickly, her voice dripping with guilt.

“Mami, I-”

“No. Do not try to explain yourself. You and Alba have done a terrible thing, Alexia. I am not sure how you will make it up to your sister, but you will. You will figure out how to fix it, you will apologize, you will mean it.” 

“Sí, Mami.” Alexia said, her voice small like when she used to get scolded for kicking the football in the house or holding the tv remote high out of her sisters’ reach. 

“I am so disappointed, Alexia. In you and Alba both.”

“I know, Mami.” Alexia replied, blinking hard to fight off her tears. “I’ll fix it, Al and I will fix it.” 

“You will. Goodnight, Alexia. I love you.” Eli was furious, but she’d always say it, always make sure her daughters knew how loved they were. 

“I love you too Mami,” the blonde choked out, feeling worse about this than she’d ever felt about anything in her entire life. 

Eli called Alba next, who was significantly more clueless about the situation. Neither had known the other wasn’t going, but it was beyond your mother how either of her daughters could have underestimated how important to you this night was. Alba was in tears, like Alexia, by the end of the call, also promising her mother she’d fix it. 

Eli knew the level of guilt Alexia and Alba must have been feeling at the moment, considering how protective they were of you. They never wanted you to be hurt, but you were. And they were the reason why. As she checked on you, ensuring you were asleep, she knew that her older daughters would go to the ends of the earth to make this up to you. 

--------

Alba was sitting on her couch, willing herself to be the bigger person and pick up the phone to call Alexia, when she heard a knock at the door. The brunette knew who was there before she pulled it open, not flinching when her older sister was standing on her front porch. 

Alexia had a drink carrier in one hand, and two bags in the other, giving Alba an unreadable look. “Can I come in?” 

Alba nodded, stepping aside to let her sister in. The blonde headed for the living room, setting the coffees down, and grabbing hers out of the holder. Alba grabbed the other, noting that it was her favorite coffee, and her favorite breakfast pastry, from her favorite bakery. A bakery Alexia didn’t particularly like, but had clearly stopped at just for Alba. 

It was a peace offering. One that Alba took, grabbing the coffee and the pastry, sitting on the couch next to her sister in a much less tense silence. They made up in the way only sister’s could, with no words necessary for either of them to know that the other was sorry for what had been said. 

“We fucked up.” Alexia said after a minute, glancing at her sister. 

“We really did.” Alba replied. 

“We have to fix it.” Alexia declared. 

“We really do.” Alba agreed. 

“Are you going to keep agreeing with me, or are you going to come up with a solution here?” 

“As the one who started the fight that led to us letting our sister down, I think it should be you who solves the problem, Alexia.” Alba retorted, a smirk on her face. 

Her sister shook her head, shoving the brunette’s shoulder lightly. “You are supposed to be the smart one, hermana. Get thinking.” 

“New car?” 

“New house?”

“Can we buy her a country?”

They broke into laughter, the tension completely gone from the room, before they really got brainstorming. They were a good team when they weren’t fighting, and it wasn’t long before they’d come up with something that they hoped would make up for their horrible behavior. 

-------

The minute you saw Alexia’s car pull into the driveway from your spot on the couch, you were standing up, prepared to flee the room. You’d known this would happen at some point today, but you weren’t ready to see them. You felt so humiliated and so neglected, you were sure that seeing them would have you in tears, and you didn’t really want to show that emotion in front of them. Not now, not when they were the reason you were so upset. 

You knew how important family was to your mother, though, and you knew that if she told you to stay and talk to them, you would. Looking at her cautiously, you took in the wary expression on her face. 

“Do you want to hear them out, mija?” Eli asked gently. 

“No. I don’t want to see them right now. Please don’t make me.” You begged. 

“I won’t make you do anything. Go upstairs, I’ll tell you when they’re gone.” Eli sighed, and with her permission, you practically sprinted up the stairs to your room, closing and locking the door behind you. 

Your older sisters walked through the doors to the house like they were afraid of what awaited them inside, and it seems that they should have been. Eli stood from her chair, walking over to them, looking unimpressed at the large present in Alexia’s hands. 

“Hola Mami,” Alba greeted softly. They both wanted to make this up to you, of course, but they also hated when their mother was mad at them. 

“I do not think that buying her a present is going to fix this.” Eli said pointedly. Alexia and Alba exchanged nervous glances, relaxing slightly when Eli allowed them further into the house. “What is it?” 

“It’s the new camera. The brand new canon model that she wanted, with all the extra lenses and storage and stuff.” Alexia said, feeling less and less confident about how she and Alba had chosen to go about this. 

“And you think that is enough?” Eli asked bluntly. 

“It’s a start.” Alba said, a bit defensively. “We know we messed up, Mami, and we missed the opening night but we can go see it today. Are you not being a little dramatic about this?” 

Alexia shot her younger sister a look, knowing exactly how hurt you were, because Olga had returned home from the gallery and told her. 

“You did not see her last night. When she realized you weren’t coming? She completely shut down. She talked to everyone she needed to, but I did not see her smile the rest of the night. She rushed out of the building just as the evening ended, and by the time I got home, she was sitting on the couch, sobbing. It was supposed to be her night, and you ruined it.” Eli snapped. 

Alexia and Alba both looked appropriately ashamed, their heads dropping, gazes pointed at the floor in an almost identical fashion. They felt guilty, obviously, but Eli wasn’t quite sure they understood that it wasn’t just about them missing your event. It was so much more than that. 

“She asked me why she is not more important to both of you than an argument. I do not want to spoil the gallery, but I do not think you understand how embarrassing it was for her to have countless photos of you two up on the wall, when you did not even come.” 

Both her daughters’ heads snapped up at this. “Of us?” Alba asked. “The project was of us?” 

“It was about her loved ones. You two were featured more than anyone else. She was so excited to see your reactions to the photos.” Eli continued, only making them feel worse. 

“Please, Mami, I cannot hear anymore.” Alexia said softly, her heart aching at the thought of how upset you must be at the moment. Every detail that her mother added made it worse. She wasn’t sure she’d ever done anything like this to you before, and the thought that you might not forgive her was filling her with anxiety. 

“No, you will hear all of it.” Eli said, shaking her head. “She said to me, ‘I was so excited for them to see, I just wanted them to be proud of me.’” 

“We are proud of her, she has to know that.” Alba cut in desperately. Her mother just shook her head. 

“She does not. Nothing she ever does feels very important to either of you, because it is always something you have done before. This was something that was her own, and she just wanted to share it with you. Everything your sister does is so that you two will be proud of her, and pay attention to her.” 

At this, Alexia stood up from the couch, walking over to the window and putting her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with silent cries, and neither her mother or her sister were very surprised at the emotional outburst. Alexia was always emotional when it came to you; she remembered the day you’d been born, every milestone in your life. You were your very tough sister’s soft spot. 

“Do you think we can fix it?” Alba asked quietly, terrified of her mother’s answer. 

With a deep sigh, Eli nodded her head. Alexia turned around hopefully, hanging on to Eli’s every word. “Your baby sister has always been more forgiving than both of you. She is hurt, but she will forgive you. She loves you both too much not to.” 

Every word Eli said felt like a bullet to the chest to both of your sisters, something your mother was well aware of. She wasn’t going to sugar coat this. It was silent in the room for several minutes, every member of the family lost in thought. Alexia looked furious with herself, Alba looked like she was close to tears, and Eli just looked disappointed. She’d always trusted your sisters to take care of you when she couldn’t, but she wasn’t so sure she had that confidence in them anymore. 

“I have an idea.” Alexia said finally, looking between her mother and her sister hesitantly. They both agreed to what she proposed, though, and it wasn’t long before Eli had pulled out some paper and pens for her daughters. They both sat on the floor around the coffee table and got writing. It was reminiscent of when they’d do their homework in the same spot years ago, sitting on the floor so they could play with you while they finished their assignments. 

Now, though, you were painfully absent from the scene in front of your mother, and Eli could only hope that this would work. 

-------

Alexia and Alba agreed that only one of them would go upstairs, give you the two pieces of paper, and let you be for the evening. Alexia was desperate to see you, while Alba wasn’t sure she could do so without crying, and she didn’t particularly want to put that on you at the moment. You hated seeing your sisters upset, and she didn’t want to inadvertently guilt you into forgiving her before you were ready. So, Alexia made her way upstairs, agreeing to Eli’s warnings to leave you alone if you wouldn’t let her in. 

Her knock on your door was uncharacteristically gentle, and her voice was almost shaky as she announced herself. 

“Nena? Can I come in for a minute?” 

Taking a deep breath, you opened the door, feeling rather satisfied to see the guilt all over her face. 

Alexia stepped into the room, looking so nervous and so unlike herself. She was fidgeting with two pieces of paper in her hands, barely able to bring herself to look you in the eye. “I am so sorry, hermanita. More sorry than I can put into words.” She didn't seem to know what else to say, and you rolled your eyes. 

“Do you think that is enough?” You asked. 

Alexia shook her head rapidly. “No, I know it isn’t. Alba and I are going to fix this, nena, I promise. Whatever we have to do, whatever it takes. We will make this up to you. There is nothing more important to us than you.” 

Your eldest sister could tell you didn’t believe her, the way you looked away from her was a dead giveaway. 

“I know you are upset, and that is okay. I just… can I give you a hug, nena? You can still be mad at me and everything. I’d just really like an hermanita hug.” Alexia said vulnerably, tears clouding her vision. She had underestimated how painful it would be to see you so upset with her, but her chest truly ached as she took in the betrayal and disappointment on your face. A few tears fell from her eyes, and it was this bit of emotion that had you nodding your head, stepping forward as Alexia wrapped her arms around you almost painfully tight. 

It made you feel better, even though it probably shouldn’t have. Your sister’s hugs always felt warm and safe, and today was no exception. Even though she’d hurt you. It was still Alexia, and she was a hard person to stay mad at. Still, you pulled away before you wanted to, and the blonde cleared her throat, holding out the pieces of paper for you. 

“From me and Alba. We will be downstairs, if you want to talk.” Your sister opened and closed her mouth a few times, before shaking her head, mustering a weak smile, and leaving the room. She shut the door behind her, something she never did, always insisting on leaving it open just to bother you. 

You opened your sisters’ letters, not quite sure what you would be reading. You weren’t quite angry anymore, just sad. You were never one to hold a grudge, but you weren’t sure how they were going to be able to make this stop hurting. 

You underestimate, however, how well your sisters knew you, and combined with the information they had from Eli, they knew just what to say. You read both the letters a few times, tears streaming down your face for what felt like the 12th time that day. This time, though, they were good tears. 

Both letters were similar, but very… specific to each of your sisters. 

Alexia’s was practically a bullet pointed list, in her messy, big handwriting. There was a mark on the page that looked suspiciously like a teardrop, and Alexia talked about her emotions in the letter the way she always did in real life; saying as little as possible, while still somehow saying a whole lot. 

Alba’s was a real letter, paragraph after paragraph of neat writing, beautifully articulating what she wanted to say to you. It was always a bit surprising to remember how perceptive Alba was. She was a forgetful person, but not when it came to the things that mattered. This was clear in the letter, as she listed small details out that you hadn’t thought she’d noticed. 

Both of the letters were an apology. An apology, and a deep dive into how proud of you Alexia and Alba were. They apologized for not making it clear, before going back to when you were a baby, and they watched you walk for the first time. Through the years, they had overlapping and different memories of things you’d done that made them swell with pride. There were things you remembered, and things you didn’t, but they made you feel special all the same. Alexia and Alba did pay attention, that much was clear. Even if they weren’t always the best at showing it, they paid attention to you. 

It did more than a verbal apology could have ever done. It was something tangible, kind, warm and loving. It made you feel loved, and seen. It made you feel like you mattered. You weren’t Alexia, and you weren’t Alba, but you were you, and they felt that to be something much more special. 

You tried to hold out a bit longer, you really did, but you were putting the letters down and rushing downstairs before you could really stop yourself. 

You passed the kitchen on the way to the living room, where your Mami was preparing dinner, a small, relieved smile on her face. Wishing you had something funny and unbothered to say, you walked into the room, seeing your sisters sitting on the couch, looking pathetically distraught. 

“Hola.” You said softly, feeling indescribably happy when both of their faces lit up at the sight of you, and you quickly crossed the room, wedging yourself in between them. They made room for you, as they always did, allowing you to fit easily into your spot squished with Alexia on one side, and Alba on the other. 

They each wrapped an arm around you, and both tried to pull you in opposite directions. It was ironic, the way they used you to play a silly game of tug of war. This time, however, they stopped pulling when they realized neither of them would win. Instead, they both wrapped you into a very awkward and suffocating hug, arms wrapped around you from seemingly every direction. 

“I love you, nena.” Alexia whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of your head. 

Alba did the same to your cheek. “I am so sorry, hermanita, and I love you so much,” she whispered. 

“I know.” You said softly. “I forgive you.”  

And if it had been either of them in your position, it would have taken a lot more. You were the forgiving sister, though, and you’d really just needed proof that your sisters thought that you were as important as you felt them to be. 

When Eli came in the room a few minutes later, it was to see the three of you in a rather familiar position; you in the middle, each of your sisters holding on to as much of you as they could, completely content. They’d always like to hold you like that, starting when you were a baby. Alexia would carefully put you on the couch in between them, and put a movie on. They would take turns telling you all the important details your brain was far too small to comprehend, but you didn’t squirm, and you didn’t fuss. You would stay plopped right in between them, one of each of their fingers gripped tight in your hands. 

It was a lot different now, because you were all bigger. It looked like an uncomfortable pile of limbs on the couch, but Eli knew you were all as comfortable as you’d ever get. 

-------

Neither of your sisters seemed very willing to let you out of their sight anytime soon, which you were sure would grow annoying very fast. For now, though, you enjoyed the attention, especially when Alexia pushed the wrapped box that had been sitting on the table into your hands. 

And, you’d already forgiven them before you’d seen the camera they’d bought you, one that you’d been desperately wanting for a while. If you hadn’t forgiven them, though, you would have now. You could be bought, and your sisters were well aware of it. As was your Mami. She rolled her eyes as you stared in awe at the camera, as Alexia and Alba looked on proudly, sharing a discreet fist bump. Personally, Eli thought you’d let them off kind of easy, but she shouldn’t have underestimated you. You were a youngest child, and you knew how to get what you wanted. 

“Can we go see your photos after dinner?” Alba asked, not even getting a glance from you, your attention completely zeroed in on the camera in your hands. 

“Nope.” You replied. Alexia and Alba looked uneasily at each other, and then at their Mami for guidance, before you spoke again. “Alexia, you are going to clean my room. And Alba, you are going to make me those cookies I like. We can go see the gallery tomorrow.” 

Your face was smug, and your mother stifled a laugh as your sisters looked disgruntled at each other. Begrudgingly, though, they both nodded. 

“Anything for the princess.” Alexia mumbled, and Alba snickered quietly. 

“What was that?” You asked, turning your attention to your sisters. They looked at you in defiance, smirks on both of their faces, not willing to let you completely walk all over them, even if they deserved it. 

“You heard me.” Alexia teased. “The baby princess always gets her way.” 

“Really, Ale?” You asked calmly, before turning to Eli, your new camera briefly forgotten on the table in front of you. “Mami, do you have any plans in two weekends? I was thinking we could take a trip just the two of-” 

Alexia cut you off by rather aggressively throwing herself at you, covering your mouth with her hand. “NO HERMANITA!” The blonde shouted. “Oh, gross, nena, really?” She groaned, pulling her hand away when you licked it. You smiled triumphantly, managing to push away from her a bit. 

“You are not a princess, nena. Just a little baby.” Alba chimed in, reaching over from her chair to pinch your cheek in one hand. “Now keep quiet before you ruin the surprise and give Ale a stroke.” 

Your mother shook her head, taking pity on her eldest daughter, who looked prepared to explode at the thought of the surprise being ruined. “Do you think I do not know you were planning a trip for the four of us, Alexia? Honey, you asked me several times if I was free that weekend, and reminded me not to make any plans then either. You also asked me for hotel recommendations, and pretended it was for you and Olga. You are a bad liar, mija. I have known for weeks.” Eli laughed. 

Alexia frowned, shoving you and Alba both away from her as you both collapsed into giggles, despite the fact that this was entirely her fault, and you and Alba were blameless. She knew there was teasing coming her way, but the smile on your face was well worth it. Order had been restored, and both of your sisters had made promises to themselves, and to each other, to not let their arguments hurt you anymore. You were just happy to have them both there, at home. All four of you together, how it was supposed to be. 

-------

it will really always be funny to me that my sister and i do not say the words "i'm sorry" to each other. like we'd both rather die than apologize. she could hit me with her car and i wouldn't want her to apologize because... ew. anyway sometimes having a sister is cool and sometimes its not but i love mine.

everyone applaud me for not splitting this into two parts. seriously i am astounded at myself right now.

hope you all like it :) give me all your thoughts.

[shadowqueenjude]

Lucien x Nesta friendship drabble

Nesta introduces Lucien to her chosen family! @sonics-atelier I wrote it :)) Nesta surveyed the Autumn Court male coolly. She could see the similarities between his face and Eris’s. Her sister had not overstated his cruel beauty. Since she was now married to his brother, and he was in turn mated to Elain…she supposed she would have to get to know him now. That didn’t mean she was going to make it easy on him. She let pure dismissal freeze over her stare as she looked him over. Lucien Vanserra did not balk from her stare. A ghost of a smirk flitted across his face as she continued to stare him down. “Are you admiring my metal eye, or just contemplating killing me, Nesta Archeron?” Nesta couldn’t help the small smile that spread over her face. There were few who could tolerate her spiciness. Cassian had been unable to; he had loved her spiciness, sure, but only when it was directed at others. Not him. But both Lucien and Eris loved it. It must be those Autumn court genes.

“I was just wondering…” She gestured to that eye. “I forgot who made that for you. Or did you make it yourself?”

Lucien laughed. “By the Cauldron, no. I have a very dear friend in the Dawn Court who specializes in this sort of thing. She herself has a metal arm, you know.” Nesta straightened. “What is her name?”

Lucien’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just for a friend,” Nesta said evasively. Lucien snorted. “You’re going to have to give me more than that horseshit if you want me to reveal her name.”

“What’s the big deal?” Nesta snapped.

“I don’t know you,” Lucien said simply. “I’d like to know why you want to know. You’re married to a brother I haven’t had a proper relationship with in centuries and possess incredible powers in the Dread Trove and that death magic you got going. Forgive me for being cautious.”

Nesta sighed. She wanted to argue further, but he wasn’t exactly wrong. “Fine. One of my friends, Emerie, is an Illyrian. The Illyrians have a barbaric practice of cutting their women’s wings. So… I was wondering if this friend of yours could possibly make her metal wings.”

Lucien gaped. “Are you fucking kidding me? How is such a practice still occurring after all this time? Hasn’t that stupid Inner Circle done anything about it?”

“Apparently not,” Nesta said. “But about the wings…”

“This seems within her ballpark. Why don’t I take all of you to see her? Nuan will be able to judge better than me.”

Nesta nodded. “Let me talk to Gwyn and Emerie and get back to you.”

Later that day, Gwyn and Emerie arrived in tow with Nesta. “Do you really think she’ll be able to make the wings?” Gwyn asked. Her teal eyes were as large as saucers and filled with hope. Emerie was taut as a bowstring by her side, not daring to voice the hopes in her mind. Lucien only smiled gently at Gwyn. “Nuan hasn’t failed yet.” As if in emphasis, Lucien’s metal eye whirred to focus more fully on Gwyn. Emerie jumped away, cussing, but Gwyn grinned. “That is so cool.”

Lucien smirked. “It gave me the ability to see things that nobody else can see. So, in a way, losing my eye was a blessing.”

“How did you lose it?” Nesta asked.

Lucien turned to her. “You probably know that Prythian was ruled by that tyrant Amarantha for fifty years.” Nesta nodded. “Well, I told her to go back to the shit-hole she crawled out of. So, she clawed out my eye.” Emerie’s jaw dropped, and Gwyn murmured noises in awe. Nesta raised her brows, impressed against her will. “That’s exceptionally brave of you.”

Lucien shrugged. “I don’t respond well to threats or tyrants.” Flame sizzled in his brown eye. Nesta smiled. “Neither do I.” Lucien laughed. “I figured as much when you made a death promise to the King of Hybern.”

Nesta smiled at Lucien. She didn’t know him well, but she had already decided she liked the male.

“I’m not sure I can winnow all three of you,” Lucien said. “You should probably bring my brother, Nesta.” Nesta nodded and came to get him.

Lucien was left alone in the room with Emerie and Gwyn. “Who cut off your wings?” Lucien asked. Ok, maybe not the best icebreaker, but they’d asked about his eye so it was only fair. Emerie grimaced. “My father.”

Lucien swore, low and vicious. “Asshole father. I can relate.”

Emerie scoffed. “Wonder what it’s like to have decent parents?”

“Beats me,” Lucien said. He turned to Gwyn. “Do you know?”

Gwyn shrugged. “I barely remember mine.”

“That’s a step up from being traumatized by them, I suppose,” Lucien said, and the three of them laughed.  Nesta returned to the room with her husband in tow. “Lucien, can you take Gwyn and Emerie?” “Yes,” Lucien said. He avoided speaking to his brother. “Hold on tight, my ladies,” Lucien said softly to Nesta’s friends. Gwyn was positively beaming at him, and Emerie was little better. Nesta wasn’t sure if she should be glad the two of them were so comfortable in another male’s presence, or irritated that they’d fallen for the Vanserra charm so quickly. Not like she could talk, though. Eris had a shit-eating grin on his face as Nesta faced him. “Looks like my brother might just steal your friends away from you.” “That would only make me as friendless as you, Eris.”

Eris chuckled. “Why do I need friends when I have you, Nesta Archeron?”

Nesta blushed as Eris winnowed them away.

The dawn court was exquisite. The colors in the sky were so soft and comforting, like honey. It wasn’t quite as beautiful as the Autumn Court, but it had its own charm. It was a little chilly, and Lucien was about to offer Nesta his cloak when Eris beat him to the punch. He shrugged, offering his cloak to Gwyn instead, who gladly took it. He led the way to the metal workshop he had frequented countless times to hang out with his good friend. Nuan squealed in delight when she saw him, running over to hug him. “Lulu! I missed you!!”

Nesta turned to Lucien incredulously. “Lulu?”

Lucien rolled his eyes. “She earned the right to call me that after she made my eye.”

Nesta and Eris wore identical smirks on their faces, and Lucien was about to roast the shit out of them when Nuan spoke again. “Are we here for the Illyrian?”

Emerie stiffened ever so slightly. “I stopped being Illyrian the moment my father cut my wings. I am a Valkyrie.”

“As you say,” Nuan said.

“Yes, Nuan. We were wondering if you would be able to make prosthetic wings for her.”

Nuan inspected the shredded wings. “This has been cut highly unevenly,” Nuan said. “I may have to cut a little bit more off to make it more even. Under a faerie drug, of course, so she wouldn’t feel anything.”

Nesta said, “Emerie? Are you ok with that?”

Emerie was staring at Nuan. “If I let you do that, would you be able to make wings for me? Would I be able to fly again?”

“You would need to relearn how to fly, of course, but yes, I can perfectly make usable wings for you.” Silent tears poured down Emerie’s face, and Nesta and Gwyn moved to embrace her. Lucien’s heart strained at the camaraderie, the easy acceptance and understanding. Something he had had himself, once upon a time. He shut down the thought.

“How much would it cost?”

“Seventy faerie bits, but for my favorite customer, I’ll give you a 15-bit discount,” Nuan said, swatting his arm playfully. Lucien grinned. “You honor me, my lady. And how long will it take to make?”

Nuan thought. “I was actually halfway into a wing project, which I think I can perfectly mold to fit her wingspan. Overall, probably a day?”

Lucien turned to his companions. “Are you all fine with staying?”

Nesta arched a brow at Lucien. “And do you have a place where we can stay?”

Lucien gasped in mock horror. “Of course I do! What sort of male do you take me for, Lady Death?”

“Certainly one with a death wish, foxy.”

“I’m perfectly happy to stay if everybody else is,” Eris said. “It’s not like I had anything specific going on today.”

“Same,” Emerie said. Gwyn nodded in agreement. “Then come with me, everyone.” “Are you ready?” Nuan asked Emerie. The jagged edges of her ruined wings had been evened out so that Nuan could attach her new microfiber wings. “They’re not quite bat wings,” Nuan admitted. “They’re closer to Peregryn wings, but that just means they’re softer and more flexible. And more colorful, if you’d like.”

Emerie’s eyes widened. “You mean I can make them whatever color I want?” “Of course.” Emerie grinned at her companions. “How cool would it be if I had purple wings?”

“It would match your friendship bracelet,” Nesta said.

Lucien snorted. “You guys have friendship bracelets? And you were making fun of my friend’s nickname for me.” Nesta grinned at Lucien. “Yes we have friendship bracelets, and we are not ashamed, foxy.”

Lucien shrugged. “If you say so.”

Later, Nuan carefully approached Emerie with the purple wings. “Hold still,” she commanded. The wings were very complicated, with many interlocking pieces, but finally Nuan got them on.

“Flap,” she ordered. Emerie obeyed and was stunned to feel the wings obey her. Nesta and Gwyn were squealing in the background, Eris’s hand squeezing Nesta’s tightly. Emerie sobbed over and over again, thanking Nuan for the gift, and Nuan hugged her. “It’s no better than you deserve, Emerie.”

Later, when Emerie, Gwyn, and Eris had all left, Nesta and Lucien were left alone together.

“You’re not bad, for a Fae male,” Nesta said. Lucien laughed and shook his head. “A glowing recommendation. I’m going to tape that to my wall. Nesta Archeron said, and I quote, ‘you’re not bad.’” Nesta smiled. “You must be very well-connected, if you know a tinkerer like Nuan.”

Lucien shrugged. “As the youngest of seven sons, I wasn’t particularly needed or wanted. Perhaps it was a good thing. I was able to study for longer than my father allowed my brothers before shoving them out the door to rule over some territory within our lands, and I could train for as long as I liked, since no one believed I’d be dumb enough to kill my way up the long list of heirs. And when I grew bored with studying and fighting … I learned what I could of the land from its people. Learned about the people, too.” “That sounds far more High Lord-like than people like Beron or Rhysand ever will be.”

Lucien let Nesta see all the power simmering in his veins. “That’s why my brothers tried their very best to break and kill me.” Nesta smiled. “Perhaps you could take over the Spring Court from Tamlin. Or rule over Hybern. There’s a power gap there, isn’t there?”

Lucien nodded. “I don’t know you very well, but I can’t think of anyone more suited to rule,” Nesta said. Frank. Honest. “You’re not so bad yourself, Nesta Archeron.” They may not be friends just yet, but there was a budding relationship there. It hadn’t taken long for both to grow to respect the other immensely.

[ryejifics]

Best friend's sister

Type: fluff

Chaeryeong x reader

A/n: this story is song inspired! If you want the full experience I'd reccomend listening to best friend's brother off the show victorious!

"I don't know what im thinking! How could I possibly be in love with Yeji's sister?! But.. is it wrong if I see her this weekend?" You think to yourself. "A girl group singer.. and she's 5'6". I just can't get her out of my mind!" You think back to the day you went over to Yeji's for the first time.

Flashback:

You were completely starstruck when Yeji opened the door. Behind her was the prettiest girl you've ever seen. Lee Chaeryeong. "Should I give her a smile? Should I get up and leave?" You didn't know what to think. "Y/n??" Yeji was waving her hand trying to get your attention. "Are you coming in or?" She giggled when she noticed Chaeryeong behind her. Whispering an "Ohh." "That's my sister Chaeryeong, she's pretty cool, I guess." Chaeryeong waved at you and smiled. You thought you were going to pass out at that moment. Snapping out of it, you quickly waved back and introduced yourself. Your mind must have hated you because you blurted out, "god, you're really pretty." She giggled at this, and you went up to Yeji's room. "What was that y/n?!" You look shocked at her and say,"Nothing! I just got shocked, that's all. You never told me your sibling was that pretty." "Yeah yeah she got the good genes. Now shut up and help me get this project done!" She playfully slapped your arm, and you guys got started. The whole time, you could only think about her cute sibling downstairs. An hour in, you heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" Yeji seemed annoyed. When Chaeryeong walked in, your heart started racing again. "I brought you guys some fruits." Chaeryeong winked at you and subtly put her number in your jacket pocket. "Y/n? Chaeryeong asked us a question." "W-what? Oh, sorry, what did you ask?" Chaeryeong couldn't help but giggle. She also thought you were cute. So shy around her. "I asked how the project was going." She sat down and ate the fruits with you two. "Oh, it's going good. It's kind of hard, though. I can't seem to cut this box right." You tried to calm down, but Chaeryeong only got up and offered to help. She grabbed the box cutter and leaned over you to help. Yeji noticed how you panicked and tried not to think much of it. "Just a typical shy, y/n. She would never like my sister, right?" Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. After she cut the box, you guys wrapped up for the night. You didn't want to leave. How could you when Chaeryeong was here? "Bye Yeji, bye Chaeryeong!" You grabbed your things and left. Before you left, Chaeryeong met you at the door. "Before you go.. I just wanna say you're welcome over anytime." She winked and watched you blush as you said thank you and ran off.

End of flashback.

You became pretty close with her since that day. When you realized she left her phone number in your pocket, you texted her. Ever since then, you've texted every day. You checked your phone to see that she asked if you wanted to hangout and that she had something to tell you. Was she about to confess?? You quickly responded with yes and started getting ready.

An hour or so later, you show up to her house. Funny enough, Yeji answered the door. "I didn't know you were coming over today? Did you leave something here?" She looked around confused. "No, uhm actually Chaeryeong invited me over." She looked more confused than ever. "Chaeryeong? As in my sister? But why?" Chaeryeong walked in at the right time. "Oh, I wanted to hang out with her Yeji, sorry about that. Are you ready y/n?" She smiled at Yeji, and off you guys went. As you got in her car, she decided it was time to make a move. "Y/n, can I see your hand, please?" She smiled and waited for you to put your hand out. As you did, she interlocked your fingers with hers. "Oops." She giggled and held your hand the whole way there. You were a blushing mess at this point. Did she actually like you back?

You finally got to where she was taking you. She took you to the amusement park. She knew how much you loved those. Especially the games and food. So she immediately paid for the tickets and brought you to the game area. "Which one first?" You looked around and laid eyes on the cutest plush you've ever seen. It was your favorite animal, and it was meant for you as it was also your favorite color. You gasped and ran to it. "Chaeryeong! I need it, look at it. It just screams my name!" She couldn't help but smile at how excited you were about it. "I'm gonna get it and name it Mr. (the animal of your choice). She paid the nice worker and got to playing the game. "Don't worry, I'll get it for you. Anything for the pretty girl." You blushed at the name. Did she call me pretty? 20 dollars and 3 tries later, she finally won the stuffed animal for you. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" You exclaimed and quickly gave her a peck on the cheek. She turned a bright red as you walked over to the roller coaster. You two got in line, and she pulled out her phone. "Can we take a picture? Sorry, you just look so pretty under the sun like this." "Aw Chaeryeong, of course we can. Thank you." You posed for the picture, and next thing you knew, it was your turn. The thing is, you didn't realize how high it was, and you got a bit scared. The worker helped you two in, and you anxiously waited for the ride to start. You closed your eyes and tried to ignore how high it actually went. "Y/n? It's okay." She took your hand in hers and gently rubbed the side of it with her thumb. After the ride, you went on a few others. It was starting to become sundown, so you decided to get some food. You both got in line and looked at the menu. "Hmm, I'm gonna get a hot dog. How about you, Chaer?" She replied with,"I'm gonna go for the nachos!" She giggled as her stomach growled. "I'm a bit hungry." You guys ordered and sat down. "You know.. I actually really enjoyed my time with you, y/n." Chaeryeong said shyly. "I enjoyed my time with you too." You smiled as the waiter brought your food. "Can I ask you something?" She fidgeted with the box in her pocket. "Of course, what's up?" "Well.. I've liked you for a while now. Ever since I first saw you when you worked on the project with my sister. You've always been really pretty to me, so I took my chance. I enjoy being around you, and I'd love it if maybe.." She pulled out the box with a necklace in it. It had a cute little heart on it. "You'd like to be my girlfriend?" You stared at her in shock. "Really? Me?" You smiled hard. "No y/n the rock, yes you!" She giggled, and you quickly nodded, yes. She put the necklace on you and took a picture to post to her Instagram. She posted it with the caption. "And she's finally mine ❤️." After you ate, she took you home, and before she left, she hugged you. "Are you sure you're all mine now?" She smiled from ear to ear. "Yes, silly, I'm all yours." From then on, you could call Lee Chaeryeong your girlfriend and Yeji? She loved that you two were happy together. You had her blessing. Chaeryeong spent all her days happy that you were by her side. You spent all the days you could happy with her. Your best friends sister really was the one for you.

[oym-a-wii-deleted-you-au]

So how's your version on Nathan and Will?

(Sorry I couldn’t understand whether you meant the blog’s AU or the admin’s lore, plus I’ve yet to make a design for OyM!Nathan, so imma just assume the OG for this one)

Forgive me for my awful grammar, I’m not that good at English-

About Nathan:

•Basic infos, he’s 17, about Kyle’s age— just a month or two older than him.

•Of Brazilian descent but has Chilean blood in him.

•Full name is Nathaniel Frederick Bernadez.

•Has undiagnosed ADHD.

•He has an older sister Lucille (basically Luna from OnC but she’s more normal about CJ than her canon counterpart). They both fan about On Command together.

•Transgender FtM and biromantic with a preferable lean for guys. (Pronouns He/they/dusk)

•Was scared of EteleD shitless, so much that he basically cut ties with Kyle for taking it for a prank, and told everyone on school about it, which lead to them getting bullied for 9 years straight.

Kyle forgives him for it but they’ve made it clear they don’t want anything to do with him for the timebeing. The closest they get to interact is just small talk and hello’s.

Kyle did promise he’d open up to him in the future, he is just not ready to see him as of current.

•Has a crush on Will but is kinda scared to ask him out because of his own insecurities and also since Will’s already seeing someone else at the moment.

•Keeps a heart-shaped locket at all times on himself— a gift from his grandmother, before she passed.

The locket contains a photo of her holding a newborn Nathan, with Kyle’s mom beside them. That’s how he and Kyle knew each other since their birth.

•He is the man that drinks milk before cereal and then eats the cereal dry /j

•Has that friendship-rivalry-thing with Sam as a joke because they used to hate each other in the past, but now are getting along pretty well.

•Basically the cool dad of the group. Also he’s the second tallest after Dan.

About Will:

•He’s 16— only 25 days younger than Sam.

•Of Belgian origin.

•Has three siblings and a cousin— basically the same people Rudolph (OyM) is related to

•Has never been close with their parents for unknown reasons, which means he and his younger sister was practically raised by their 2 older siblings in their absence.

•Their real name is actually Rudolph Forgers, but for confidentiality reasons had to psuedofy himself, so he currently goes by William Roberts.

•Currently figuring out their gender identity but knows they’re omnisexual. (Pronouns they/ey/he/she/rex)

•Does have a big crush on Nathan, but is scared they’d get rejected so they instead tone themselves and pretend he’s crushing on Cooper.

•He used to be jealous of Sam since Middle School because she was better than him in almost everything, and even had a loving mom. It never went beyond taunting and small shoving, though.

They’ve since sorted themselves out and are cool buddies.

•Looks abrasive and brash, but is a sweetheart who’d give their life to protect anybody dear to him.

•Only a tad bit shorter than Dan and Nathan, but taller than Sam, Cooper and and Kyle combined.

•Small fact: They’ve got little fangs. It’s a birth gene.

•No kidding, this dude looks like he’d kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll.

Wait fuck that’s the same thing as the other point help-

[improveordie]

so im remaking an old picture of mine i did when i was 17. i wanted to see how i would remake this concept at my current level starting with re interpreting the concept. red veil, golden head dress, backlit and holding roses. a saint/holy vibe and a teal background. the row below are my very first sketches in left to right order, figuring out the basics of mood and light and pose.

the image above is the original painting and i was super proud of it and you know i had a right to be, its still a nice piture and i gave it my all at the time. in the new version i move on to fleshing things out and playing with the silhouette a bit. sort of regretting not putting more movement into the piece, maybe next iteration i will think of that from the start.

it was when i reached this point that my too much gene kicked in and i started adding in a whole bunch of stuff to "up" the image. i think at this point i had been staring at it for so long i was getting bored with it and feeling a need to "punch it up"

while i do like alot of these versions the initial feeling of a cold and silent sort of "death saint" or pinhead-y feeling i wanted was lost and i was starting to move into a sisters of battle/40 k territory. which is also cool! but not what i was aiming for. so...i flipped through my progress shots (always save out jpgs of versions thoughout your progress) until i found one i still liked so 8 steps backwards it was. on the left is the version where i stopped and realised i had lost the cake under the icing and the right is what i moved back too and refined instead of adding.

refining and poishing up in areas of focus. experimented with different ways of enhancing the image, per great feedback but finally decided to only do minimal things to not crowd the image. final image here

[jw-horror-stories]

Oh, boy, let me think of some good stories. I was fortunate enough that my family never tried to pressure baptism on me (My grandfather did, but only once). I never got baptized because of this.

I also lucked out in that I don't have any creepy old man stories, or anything else of that nature.

I DO have trauma from they way they use the world 'homosexual'.

Once, when my sister was like, 5? She made a board game all by herself, using paper. It was called 'Run Away from the Demons and Go to Jesus.' There were some awesome stick figure demons. Jeezy Boy, however, did not make it into the picture.

My parents had a good sense of humor about it, though.

I vividly remember reading a Watchtower article discussing a man who had a 'homosexual lifestyle' before coming into 'the truth'. He prayed to God and it went away tho!!! Prommy!!!!

(I feel so bad for him and I hope he realizes he doesn't have to do that.)

If I get anymore crazy stories, I'll let you know (I'm a minor and am stilled being brought every Sunday).

As soon as I sent that last ask I remembered a story! I had to listen to a talk given by a brother who clearly did NOT research evolution outside of the JW publications. He said (all in his talk about EVOLUTION): - There is NO evidence for evolution. None. Not even a bit. Not a single piece. Nada. - The sun will never run out of (quote) "fuel". (I don't remember how this tied in at all. Chances are it didn't.) - If bees died there would NO POLLINATORS. AT ALL. No more bees; no more anything!!!! (He literally said that without bees no flowers would ever be pollinated. Man has not seen a butterfly. Tragic.) - AI stands for AUTOMATED INFORMATION. (He did mean actual AI, he used this talking point as a 'gotchya' because humans cannot come close to creating a brain. Therefore: God.) - Evolution is being taught EXACTLY THE SAME as it was 60 years ago. (Tell me you've never looked into it without telling me you've never look into it.) The only difference is when HE was a kid it was a THEORY but now it's taught as a FACT. (No???) - Things NEVER crash in space because GOD is guiding them! (???? Man said this DURING a meteor shower btw) - Ants are NOT STRONG. (What. What are you talking about.) In the same line as the previous note he DID say elephants are strong. This is evidence of god's POWER. (I nearly had to leave the room. Elephants are evidence of god's power but ANTS are not???) This was all in one 45 minute talk. He bounced from point to point so much that it was too hard to follow and he just said straight-up untrue things half the time. If it wasn't so infuriating, it would have been funny.

Hoo boi, lots to unpack here, so let me just get everything done in one ultimate post.

The first part about the homosexuality, all I can say is that more likely than not the article you mentioned was most likely fictitious, or at least greatly embellished (probably involved a slightly girly man, or a slightly boyish woman, all that GNC shit they don't like).

And now, that 45 minute indoctrination session talk you heard.

There is NO evidence for evolution - yeah we were always at war with Eurasia. Okay, not quite that level of Orwell, but it's still bad. And also laughably stupid.

The sun will never run out of (quote) "fuel". - all part of a large over-arching narrative of "god has god powers so sun is forever and so is humans"

If bees died there would NO POLLINATORS - nevermind the butterflies for a moment, if such a cataclysmic mass extinction of bees did happen, flowers that do not need pollination would overtake the gene pool, and oh look, evolution. Those that survive the new conditions would take over. Funny that.

AI stands for AUTOMATED INFORMATION - I keep reading AI as "Accuracy International". Hey, if he can put in irrelevant nonsense then so can I. Only difference is I'm not pulling any bullshit here. Look them up, pretty cool, but autistic infodumping will have to wait.

Evolution is being taught EXACTLY THE SAME as it was 60 years ago - You can tell roughly how old this speaker was. Hey gramps, your information is pretty outdated, have you finally switched over to Windows 98 yet?

Things NEVER crash in space because GOD is guiding them! - Oh okay, so his knowledge of magnetic fields would imply that he's yet to discover the automobile. Or that it costs more than $5 a day for a good living wage. Does he even know about the Printing Press?

Ants are NOT STRONG - ok boomer

ngl it was actually kinda fun to respond to those talking points, just because of how utterly absurd it all is. I find that laughing at it rather than trying to understand the reasoning is ultimately better for one's mental health.

-Mod Degurechaff, needs more shit to respond to

[strawberryblondebutch]

pls talk abt kirby ur interpretation of her is my favourite thing ever (sorry for not having a very specific blorbo question)

Oh man, I have a bunch of headcanons.

Only child with the kind of educated parents that treated a child like a tiny roommate. She was pretty much expected to get a graduate degree even as a toddler. Between her parents and the fact her house was the only one on its hill, she spent most of her time having to entertain herself and never really learned how to talk to other kids until she got to school and had to

In a similar vein to the "children are just small adults," her media content was regulated not based on how age appropriate was but based on if her parents personally liked it. Collateral? Sure, that's appropriate for a 10-year-old. It was nominated for two Oscars! It's art! Caillou? That kid's annoying. Absolutely not

She got very into alternative music around middle school. Juturna was the album that did it for her. She never self-identified as emo because she never dressed like them, but her actual taste? Very emo

Bought a shitty entry-level guitar because of the bands she was into, but gave up on it. Then she went back to it post-2011 attacks because her physical therapist suggested it would help with the muscle and motor control she had lost. She doesn't consider herself good at it but she's fine, it's just that her only two settings are "I am God" or "I suck at this"

Not only does she have the baseball gene, she is an incredibly obnoxious Los Angeles Dodgers fan. All the guys she hated were Giants fans, so she decided to like the Dodgers to spite them and then accidentally pack bonded with the team (literally foaming at the mouth to talk about Dodgers Fan Kirby because it fits her so well)

Worked very hard to curate her image as a teenager as someone much more cool and aloof than she was. She kind of always knew that Jill and Olivia (especially Olivia) were lifting her social status, and without them, she'd be on Robbie's tier of popularity

Parents pressured her into joining a lot of different clubs or activities, both because they would look good on college applications and because they worried that she was wasting her life hanging out with her friends. She found a way to get out of all of them -- she actually liked a couple of the things they made her try, but it was about the principle of the thing, y'know?

Her apartment is a weird combination of r/malelivingspaces and a pack rat den. On the one hand, she goes very spartan with regards to knickknacks, dishware, and other household decor. On the other, she hoards physical media -- books, DVDs, CDs, comic books.

Trauma manifests as hyperindependence. Not only were it the people closest to her who ended up hurting her, but she had to go through her recovery pretty much alone, so alone is what's safe and familiar. Seeing the Carpenter sisters and the Meeks-Martin twins actually rely on each other is... weird. (In this way she's actually much more like Gale than either of them will admit; it's a big part of why they're always at each other's throats)

[robo-writing]

whilst cid is a confirmed girl dad what type of dad do we think the other lads are, i have some ideas and i’m curious to how others think:

-clive: born to also be a girl dad but he has one son then 2 daughters with said son somehow inheriting even more protective big brother genes. his daughters probably think he’s super cool as a shield and try to become some of rosaria’s first female shields. the son probably ends up being more the scholar type by chance, the “i told you so” older brother.

-joshua: truly versatile but i think the universe would end up giving him a single boy that has all of his Bratty Younger Brother genes but More. it’s payback tenfold for the years jote and clive had to endure of him refusing to stay in bed whilst sick and having to attempt to father an even more stubborn version of himself. i also think he should have a kid that LOVES carrots like they eat it by the shovel-full

-dion: boy dad through and through. raises like 3 completely chivalrous fairy tail prince sons and has one 4th son who is such a rogue and trouble maker than he balances out his 3 brother’s personalities by himself. they’re also his biggest supporters, think he’s the coolest dragon to ever exist. probably would end up with one of them succeeding harpocrates and another being very artistic.

-barnabas: either no kids or a single child but he doesn’t act different based on the kids sex/gender. possibly adopted? most likely to adopt, i think he values an innate sense of discipline for the kid’s self benefit. but he seems like the type of king that raises a queen so well that waloed is also historically called a queendom during her reign. as long as he can teach them swordsmanship he’s chill

-hugo: bald and childless <3 he would only have kids with benne but she’s not fucking doing that, she knows medieval childbirth statistics.

gav: like 9 kids. like so many. he probably also adopts half the hideaway’s kids. they all develop his accent even if they’re adopted and it’s like hearing a warbling nest of birds. probably the most chill dad ever like they all say their secrets with such security he’s like in on all the gossip of their generation. he just comes back to the hideaway with a new kid calling him dad

Oh my god anon you’re so right for most of these, you basically did my job so lemme just add a couple ideas to compliment yours

Clive- absolutely a girl dad, and his one son becomes extremely protective of them just like he was to Joshua. He’s also the voice of reason between the three because his girls also inherited his sense of bravery, and they tend to get into antics a lot. Very active and energetic while big bro is more calm and collected (except when his sisters are in trouble, and it’s there we see that famous rosfield anger)

Joshua- a singular boy that makes his father’s life much more difficult than it needs to be (I wonder where he inherited that from.) He’s also very energetic, and is more than likely the mastermind of whatever scheme he and his two cousins get into. Too curious for his own good, just like his father, and absorbs knowledge like a sponge even if the methods used to obtain that knowledge are a bit orthodox. Keep an eye on him at all times, and if you hear silence from him, he’s definitely doing something.

Dion- literal Disney princes, the pinnacle of chivalry and honor, it’s as if you plucked them from a fairytale. He saw the man his father grew up to be and wanted them to be better, and have a better childhood than he did. Even when his fourth turns out to be a bit of a rebel you can still see that Lesage honor shining through and through, albeit in his own special way. While his first three sons might stop a bully by talking him down the fourth would sooner shut him up by breaking his jaw, for example. (He was harassing a poor student, he couldn’t just stand by!)

Surprisingly enough his fourth son is incredibly smart, top marks in all his classes effortlessly, if only he could get a rein on that temper.

Barnabas- he’s most likely to adopt, but he would love that child no less than his own flesh and blood. Firm but fair, he’d raise them to be strong, and to never take anything from anyone, ever. At the same time he enjoys that his child does not have that same bloodlust in their eyes that he did when he was their age. He doesn’t say his emotions outwardly, but rather expresses them with quality time, such as training or bringing them to royal meetings.

Hugo- childless lmao, even if he wasn’t obsessed with benedikta his ego wouldn’t allow him to take just one woman as his bride, and I highly doubt he’d be a good father. If he did have a child they’d be more likely to run away once they’re a teenager

Gav- oh sweet Gav, his nickname is the daycare with how many children he raises on a daily basis. Half of them aren’t even his, and does it really matter? He loves having a big family, it’s more entertaining that way.

[comfort-questing]

secondborn (p1)

so yeah that last post reminded me of my old friends... the genetically-engineered assassin kids? writing's a little janky but might as well post some of the story I guess. not like it's going anywhere else.

if you're reading this and you remember me from my Short Story class in college, uh, hi.

--

...Sandy had been expecting another terrified crewmember, ready for some kind of heroic last stand. Before the door slid fully back, he’d tensed himself for a leap, wings half-unfolded. But there was only one person in the room, and she didn’t seem to be about to make a heroic last stand.

The first thing he saw were her hands, open and empty, held out in front of her.

The second thing he saw was that her hands were silvery gray, and the long braid fallen forward  over her shoulder was pale tawny blonde, and behind her spread a dark shadow-fold of wings.

Sandy froze.

“You shouldn’t shoot me,” the girl said.

“I don’t want to. I don’t like shooting people,” said Sandy. His mouth was dry, the shiver of surprise down his spine not wearing off yet. “But you’re going to have to put your hands up and come with me.” The words came out of his mouth a little shaky—the Master would have scolded him—but let the Master suddenly step into a room and see his mirror self staring back at him, and how calm would he be?

The girl did not move—just watched him, cool and intent. Did she even have a weapon? She wore light armor, almost civilian clothes—Azrac’s uniform, black pants and dark blue shirt, scratched-up dark gray armor vest. It had all been made for someone larger, the shirt cuffs turned up at her wrists, bootlaces double- and triple-knotted.

“You shouldn’t shoot me,” said the girl again. “Could you put the gun down?”

Sandy needed to say something. He’d taken prisoners before, but they had always fought him or at least run—never just stood there, watching. And none of them had looked like him, either.

What he’d meant to say was the regulation stuff, about prisoner and your spacehawk is under control of the Black Nebula, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was, “Why shouldn’t I shoot you?”

The girl let her hands fall to her sides. “Because I’m your sister,” she said.

Sandy snapped his mouth shut. “I don’t have a sister,” he said. “I’m a gen-pro. Genetic project.” But then she would have to know that. She was one, too. Maybe someone had got hold of a copy of the S39 genome, like the gene-stitchers sometimes did—but the Master never sold his creations—

“You do—you have me, and you have a mom too, her name’s Lilya.” The girl’s words tumbled over each other, as if she were frightened, but she didn’t look frightened. “We’re twins, me and you. Mom had me with her right after we were born, but you were sick, and so they’d taken you somewhere else. So when Mom’s friends rescued her and me, too, we couldn’t get you. We’ve been looking for you. You must be my brother.” She laughed, a small panicked sound in her throat, hardly louder than the air circulation. Sandy could see the tense muscles in her face now. “We can’t be anything else, can we? Look at us. It’s not like there’s another explanation—“

He was looking, and for a moment he didn’t know what to do with the fluttering uncertainty in him. Then the memory voices returned—Stop thinking. I do that part—you fight—and training took charge again.

“Surrender to the power of the Black Nebula,” Sandy said. “Resistance will bring consequences. We hold the spacehawk.”

The girl shook her head. “I’m not surrendering to anything. Don’t you understand?” Her voice was pleading. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Sandy almost laughed at that. Regular people would say that, the older ones always told him. But this girl, this gen-pro like him. What did she think she was—free or something? “You work for Azrac because they bought you,” he said. “I work for the Black Nebula because the Master made me. It’s the same, isn’t it?”

“No,” the girl said. “I don’t work for Azrac because they bought me. I work for Azrac because they’ve been an independent planet for two hundred Star-Years and I want to help them stay that way.”

“You live there, then?”

The girl shook her head.

“Then why are you fighting for them?”

“Because it’s right.” The girl’s chin went up a touch, and her voice wasn’t scared anymore. “Mom always said you and I were made to be weapons. But Mom said that we could choose to be our own weapons, too.”

You and I. Somehow the way she said that made Sandy’s skin crawl a little, but in a good way. “I don’t believe you,” he said, though he didn’t know if he did or not. In a minute Skia was going to ping his earpiece and he would have to explain, or else go downstairs again. He furled his wings behind him and stepped forward, gun at the ready. He didn’t want to shoot her, but—

“I’m going now,” said the girl. “But I’ll be back.”

Sandy sprang for her, but between the movement and the landing, the lights went out. In the blackness he felt a wing slide across his face; then it was gone. His eyes adjusted in time to catch a flurry of movement at the ceiling. Downstairs, he heard the others shouting.

When the lights returned, bright and real, the girl was nowhere in sight

His earpiece buzzed as he stood there, gawking around like an idiot, unsure what had just happened.

“Sandy!” Skia’s voice inside his ear. “Lights just flicked down here. Is the top deck clear? Get down here. Sandy, come in, blast you.”

The mic at the corner of his mouth was sticky against his dry tongue. “Here.”

“Well, sheesh. Is the top deck clear? This spacehawk’s to be left for the fleet behind us. We’re done now.”

Sandy swallowed hard, thought of black wings, a mirror of himself staring into his eyes and saying words he still didn’t know what to make of.

“The top deck’s clear,” he said. “I’m coming down.”

[feveredreams]

fixing season two

so warrior nun season two, huh?

preface: i love this show to pieces and this is a critique/edit made out of love for the characters, do not get me wrong!!

my biggest complaints: 

Mary’s death + Lilith’s “corruption” arc. I refuse to believe that the sisters would simply forget about Lilith like that, and the way the writers glossed over Mary’s death? Nope. Bad. Mary’s death should have been the driving factor in this entire season.

anticlimactic Tarask killing of Adriel. The whole season is about how the OCS can take him down, and suddenly the Tarasks just deal with the problem? What a letdown of tension.

Michael dying for absolutely no reason. What was the point of you? Perhaps this drives home how mortal humans are just pawns for divine beings, but it felt so utterly pointless to create this character and plan and have it all be useless. Let’s fix that.

very long post under the cut!

All right, let's go. The first few episodes focus on Michael and the Samaritans; Lilith also discovers that Mary did not survive and that she's changing even further. These are the keys to fixing this season: Lilith and the Samaritans.

E1-2: Ava blows their cover in Switzerland and they're summoned back to the OCS, but Michael manages to find them as they're leaving. He says that one of the founding ideals of the Samaritans revolves around Ava herself–the falling angel with a halo at her back, their last hope (gives more weight to the graffiti we see near the end, too). It's a legend, a tale spread of the angel with the halo fighting the imposter angel at the Vatican. If the OCS is gathering, then surely they need Samaritan help? Meanwhile, they learn that Mary is dead and instead of just ignoring what that means for everybody, they reach out to Lilith and they mourn together because that's what they deserve at the very least! Then, the OCS and the Samaritans team up and go after the Crown.

E3-4: Things still go to shit in the museum, Vincent grabs Ava and the crown, and there's still a cool fight scene in a church. Lilith gets further injured in the fight and begins to transform even further; they reach out to Jillian for help. At first she refuses, then Michael reveals his secret and there's a reunion. This way, instead of being driven by her desire to find Michael, Jillian actually helps Lilith and she doesn't go to the dark side. Plus, we get more science-y stuff and more Michael/Jillian happy times. They deserve some happy times :'(

E5: They regroup at the Salvius manor. Mother Superion and Yasmine go to the conclave while Jillian, Lilith, and Michael work together to figure out what's going on with her. Why does Reya not want her in that realm? What does Michael know that could be helpful in this case? They find out she's some kind of chimera, a combination of both human and tarask (or angel/demon?) genes, a being of both the mortal realm and the divine realm. There's emotional scenes where Lilith loses her temper at becoming a monster and the sisters reassure her and reaffirm their care for each other. They also reminisce about Mary; Ava comes up with a pledge to destroy Adriel for her. "For Mary," they all agree.

E6: The conclave fuckery still happens. Lilith stays behind with Jillian because her wings are coming in and it hurts like a bitch. They also send her back into the divine realm and learn more about this "holy war" that's about to happen, so that there's more foreshadowing rather than a brief mention in the last episode. They get everybody back and then come up with the canon plan: sneak into the live broadcast, have the pope denounce Adriel (assuming that they get the information to him somehow, despite him being in a birdcage at the Vatican), crown Adriel, box him up and ship him one-way back to the divine realm. We also add a fun Samaritan twist: they're going to stage demonstrations and riots at other cross locations across Europe to disrupt the prayer energy that he's getting from his other followers. After all, we see them building a cross in Switzerland–surely destroying only the one cross at the cathedral wouldn't be enough? So we get the Samaritans to take care of the others, and get a cool cross-continent montage, too. It still doesn't go well, though, because the plague-hacking doesn't work, Vincent steals the Crown, and the Arc gets stolen, Mother Superion mortally wounded in the process.

E7: controversial idea time: instead of Ava saving Mother Superion (damn I do love that scene, but consider this instead), Lilith does. She cauterizes the wound with hellfire, preventing Mother Superion from bleeding out–then when Ava gets back, she uses the healing power of the Halo to fully heal her. Combined, they're unstoppable! Also, Lilith needs a morale boost. She's not made only for killing, she can save people, too!

Even though the first attack didn't work, many crosses across the continent did get destroyed. So Adriel organizes a mass prayer event the next day, to regenerate the energy he needs to power the Arc. Ava finds Vincent and gets the Crown back. She puts it on and finally agrees with Michael to execute the bomb plan without telling anyone. She does, however, have a revealing conversation with Lilith where she asks Lilith to protect the others (specifically Bea) if Ava dies. Lilith goes 👀 but agrees. Camila and Yasmine, trapped inside the cathedral, continue causing havoc and they come up with canon plan two: destroy the cross, destroy the arc, ta-da, we win!

E8: Of course things don't go to plan, but we still get dramatic Avatrice kiss and goodbye. Lilith is the one to tell Beatrice where she's gone and why. Ava and Michael get fucked up (but Michael doesn't die ASAP) by Adriel but sort of hold their own until Adriel opens the Arc and nabs the Crown back. Beatrice fights her way through a dozen men to the best soundtrack ever and exchanges half-hearted blows with Lilith, who refuses to let her follow Ava into trouble because "I promised to protect you, Bea. I'm not going to break that promise." But who can say no to a tearful Beatrice? Not me, certainly not Lilith, who finally huffs, "Fine. But I'm coming with you."

Meanwhile Ava realizes mid-battle that the semantics of "Adriel can't be killed by anything of this realm" applies to Lilith as well, and she doesn't blow up Michael for no reason. Reya still gets pulled through the portal, but Camila (iconique) blasts the most annoying TikTok songs into Adriel's head, forcing him to drop the crown. Lilith and Bea arrive just in time. There's a complex phasing/teleportation battle in which Ava and Lilith exchange the Crown to keep it from Adriel's hands, Michael running interference the entire time.

Adriel spots Bea and goes for her, seeing that this is Ava's weakness–Ava blows out the Halo to prevent him from hurting her, rendering Ava helpless. Adriel has her by the throat and monologues briefly about his success and how "You can't stop me, Warrior Nun. You're just one useless, vulnerable human." Just as he's about to rip the Halo out, Ava grins weakly and says, "But I'm not alone." (or something to that effect, add more Ava snark). Lilith teleports the Crown into her hand and she places it on Adriel's head, rendering him powerless. As he collapses to the ground, Lilith looks up at Reya, who gives a slight nod.

Claws extended, grief and anger burning in her eyes, Lilith screams "For Mary!" and decapitates Adriel.

Yet Ava, Lilith, and Michael are all grievously wounded, and Tarasks called by Ava's last Halo blast have them surrounded. Reya tells them that they have a choice: remain, and die, or join her in her realm for a time and live. There is a tearful goodbye between Bea and Ava, and Ava promises to return. Beatrice is left alone at the Arc, with only words and promises to keep her company.

*roll credits*

Thoughts?? I still dislike all the back-and-forth to the cathedral in the last few episodes, but I didn't want to wholly redo the whole ending. Let me know if I missed anything (I probably did) and what you liked and disliked about the canon episodes. I wrote this because I did not have the time nor energy to write a full fix-it fic, but wanted to share these ideas. finally: Warrior Nun season 3 when????

[tinker-tanner]

Tag Nine People You'd Like to Know Better

Favourite colour: intense, vivid green. I don't know how to describe it properly, but if you imagine the glow of radioactive waste in a cartoon, that's about it. Purple, orange, red, and black also suit me well.

Favourite flavour(s): My palate is unfortunately rather unsophisticated thanks to having almost zero sense of smell until age 27 (thank you estrogen for my life), so my sense of taste hasn't historically had a lot of room for variation. That said, there is nothing in this world quite like top-notch cheesy garlic bread.

Favourite music: indie rock writ broadly. This ranges from folky stuff like The Mountain Goats to metal-adjacent prog like Polyphia to the vast soundscapes of Sigur Rós. Also enjoy quite a bit of rap, electronic music, and folk.

Favourite movie: Attack the Block, always and forever. It's the perfect mix of horror, teenage shenanigans, comedy, and genuine emotion. This is also John Boyega's first starring role. I genuinely cannot believe he pulled off this kind of leading man energy as a teenager: watching this movie in 2012 lets me sincerely say I was into him before it was cool.

Favourite book: Two-way tie for first. Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe might be the smartest book I've ever read. Not that it makes the reader feel smart - I have rarely felt dumber than when I'm trying to understand what Severian is leaving out of a story - but that there's so much going on and every reread enhances how much you can extract from it. The Sisters of Dorley by Alyson Greaves helped give me the courage to finally acknowledge I was a woman and is also just a stupendous psychological drama filled with women who have so, so many things wrong with them. Honorary mention to The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is still up there but no longer quite in the top spot.

Favourite series: Revolutionary Girl Utena. I did not know TV could ever be this good. I do not expect any TV show to astound me this much again. Watching Utena, I could feel my brain physically reshape itself. The show is unexpectedly blunt about rape and child abuse considering it's shojo, so watch out for that, but if you can handle it, watch this show.

Last song: "Sun Bleached Flies" by Ethel Cain. The perfect song for a certain mood when you need to reckon with not being Christian anymore. The first time I heard her sing "God loves you, but not enough to save you" was like a revelation.

Last series: Afraid I don't watch enough TV to remember this.

Last movie: The Boy and the Heron. Miyazaki near the peak of his powers, which I never expected to see again. The big screen added a lot to this one. Even by the usual high standards Ghibli sets, it's incredibly gorgeous.

Currently reading: Beowulf (as translated by Maria Dahvana Headley). I'm a sucker for Old English literature. Took two courses on Old English in undergrad and they were some of my favourites of the degree until the person who taught me turned out to be profoundly racist. Headley's take is bizarre and therefore compelling to me: I'm always interested in seeing how weird someone can get with the source material.

Currently watching: Nothing. I weeded and organised my bookshelves for the first time in the 2020s and am taking advantage of this to read my TBR list at a ferocious pace.

Currently working on: Nothing in particular. I'm not all that creatively inclined and what little writing projects I did have were pushed aside by all the real-life nonsense I'm juggling. Tarot reading has been a joy to learn, though; attempting to interpret real-world events through knotty tangles of symbolism is exactly the sort of thing my brain likes. Shoutout to The Tarot Restless by Winslow Dumaine, which dared to ask "What if I made up my own Dark Souls cosmology and put it in a deck of cards?"

Tagged by @tobermoriansass, which I find terribly considerate given how hard it is to drag him away from his elves these days. Tagging @sophibeans @stackslip @licoricefern @deadciv @catgirltoes @loki-zen and whoever else would like to join in!

[tsuki-sennin]

We've survived the highs and lows of Jyama Ball, but we're only a little bit closer to discovering who the Desaster is. If they go undiscovered to the final round, they win the game outright and get their ideal world. And with the mysterious executives, Keiwa, Neon, and Ace's respective sponsors, Archimedel, and Buffa all making their moves, something tells me the real game is only beginning.

...more importantly than any of that though, where the Hell are we headed now?! Why are there BOMBS everywhere? What do the Jyamato even have to gain from these constant invasions other than food and conquest?

All these questions and more... probably not answered today, but like, important to keep in mind.

Spoilers, I guess...

-Neooooon!

-Neon, baby, if you're the impostor I'm gonna cry.

-Good morning Chirami.

-Oh okay, we're supposed to become fan favorite. I see.

-Well, from what I've seen from the fandom as of yesterday, a number of folks have taken very kindly to Sae-san (rightfully so), so if this were the real world she'd probably win this. Doubly so if she's the Desaster.

-Oh shit! Sara-neesan!

-...oh, she's... she's fine, seemingly.

-Can't cut a pineapple smh.

-Bomb Pineapple!

-Ohhhh, we're dead.

-Jyamato Express!

-Fruit!

-Bombs!

-Fruit Bombs!

-Ooooooh, even more Jyamato ciphers.

-I imagine a lot of folks are hard at work.

-Blowing up an entire city block.

-I see Creepy Garden Daddy Archimedel's very proud of his little Freedom Clubbers.

-Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes!

-Damn, Takahashi's Steam list must be wilding.

-Secret Mission Clear!

-For you, fox man!

-Awwww, spider phone cute :)

-First Blood!

-The Gun!

-Magnum!

-It's back!

-Ringo?

-There's just something so funny to me about how minimal the Jyamato Pawn costumes are. Head, limbs, uniform, that's all you need.

-"OHHHHHH MY SISTER'S GETTING BOMBED"

-"Oh hey little bro, I got tied up. Can you do me a solid and get the kitchen knife?"

-Sae-san's very cool and collected under pressure. Can see why she was picked for this.

-Oh hey, Mrs. Kurama~! I'm still pissed you slapped my homegirl Neon, just so you're aware.

-"Neon's a big girl, she can handle herself. She'd never be able to achieve her dreams"

-Ohhhh, Papa Naoto. You're extremely sus.

-"Time to go to work. See you around."

-I see Mama Kurama's not an entirely heartless lunatic.

-You tell her, girl!

-I'm gonna be honest, I'd be proud of Neon if she were the Desaster.

-There's the Buffa Core ID.

-No doubt there's gonna be a lot of Zombie DNA in that mutant.

-Oh?

-Oh, hello.

-Sponsor-sama!

-So, she's got big plans for ol' Michinaga.

-Beroba...

-Ohhhhh, he's got an infection.

-"You wanna beat the shit outta all them dirty Kamen Riders, huh~? How about you let me pay for everything, no strings attached!"

-A proper sadist, this one!

-Takahashi's giving us a lot of interesting female characters this go around.

-Well, Beroba-san. You're obviously a cold-blooded murderer, you've got a killer fashion sense, your first appearance is accompanied by scary organ music, you're friends with Papa Archie, you got jelly beans...

-Yeah, you're totally trustworthy. I hear you're played by an idol?

-Sae-san... you care a hell of a lot about your family, huh?

-Oooooh, Okinawan.

-Keeping yourself in peak condition for your family. I happen to know a dude in a bathhouse who'd be very impressed with you, Sae-san.

-Neon...

-Who threw that bomb?

-"Did somebody say BOMB~!?"

-Gotta save Onee-sama!

-Ohhhh, sunset is fast approaching.

-I'm surprised we haven't seen lemons yet.

-At least, I don't think so, the picture quality I have ain't the best.

-Michinaga!

-Jurapira!

-Buffato!

-Oooooh, he's pissed!

-"Fuck the bull! Go get pineapples for our Hawaiian barbecue!"

-Can't get in!

-Ooooooh, Zombie Tycoon!

-Damn, Keiwa's playing hard!

-Red Wire.

-HOLY SHIT BUFFA DODGED POINT BLANK

-Goddamn, these stunts are sick every time I see 'em.

-OHHHHH MY DUDE JEAN GOT A GUN

-Okay I checked, it seems it's Gene, okay.

-Hello, Beroba-chan. Guess the dweebs are fighting.

-"I'm betting all my money on that buffalo guy."

-...seems that Gene's okay with this.

-OH GOD NEE-SAMA

-Red wire!

-Nut up man, do it!

-We did it!

-No more pineapple for ever.

-Sibling banter

-Oh man, it's dark out.

-Seems Michi's in no shape to kill anyone today.

-Compass!

-Snacc

-Well, gotta keep the sponsors happy.

-Oh, the producer's coming in.

-...wonder if this is a metaphor of some kind.

-Ah yep! Sae-san was the sussiest baka all along!

-Lone wolf Lopo played nice for so long.

-Oooooh, that's a Glare retool. ...I suppose Gazer's our new "coming in hot and spicy".

-I wonder if we're gonna see a new DGP higher-up come kick ass every new arc?

-...fuck, what if we have to beat up Mama Mitsume? I don't think poor Ace can handle it.

-Shit seems to be getting real now.

[the-anxiety-academy]

The Incident

What happened the day of Fiona Fischoeder's 'incident'.

Tw: Guns, Blood, Violence, Near-death Experience and mentions of Attempted Murder (no one actually tries to murder anyone else it's just mentioned)

Warning, it does get a bit sad and depressing in the middle

_____

It was late at night and Fiona Fischoeder and the Belcher children sat in Tina's room dressed in their pajamas. Despite his insistent worries, Felix had allowed his daughter to have a sleepover at the Belcher residence.

The four children were scattered across the room doing their own thing, Tina was finishing up writing her 'friend fiction' at her desk while Gene sat on the floor next to her playing with his keyboard. The only one not occupied was Louise, who looked around the room in boredom.

Louise's eyes surveyed the area looking for something that peaked her interest when her eyes landed on Fiona.

The bunny-eared girl stood up from where she was sat propped against the wall and approached her friend.

Fiona was sat on Tina's bed scrolling through her phone wearing nothing other than a band tank top and a pair of pajama shorts leaving the skin of her legs on show. On her right thigh sat a large circular scar.

Louise stood next to the bed looking at the angry, red mark with awe. Looking up from her phone, Fiona looked at her smaller friend. "What?" She asked.

Louise continued her staring as she opened her mouth to speak, "Is that scar from a gun?!" she yelled in excitement. She looked up at Fiona who looked back confused "uuh, yeah?".

"OH MY GOD!" Louse yelled, "How did you get it?!" The racket alerted Tina and Gene, who looked up in curiosity. "Um, it was an accident?" The blonde girl responds, in an almost passive tone, as if having been shot with a gun was normal.

The other two rushed over to Fiona, "You were shot?!" "So cool". All three kids were now squished together on the bed all trying to get a look at the scar. Louise started prodding at it with her finger feeling the raised, odd skin. "Ew it's so gross, I LOVE IT!".

Gene tried pushing through, "move over it's my turn!" his sister pushed back with just as much force, "No! She's my best friend I should be the one to feel it!".

Fiona watched the Belchers prod and poke at her leg with confusion. "Um, how about none of you touch it?"

"Aw, come on!" Louise whined, "At least tell us how you got it!"

Fiona shrugged her shoulders "It's not that interesting.". The three kids groaned, "You were shot! How is that not interesting?!"

The blonde rolls her eyes and sighs "Fine." The Belchers all sat back on the bed readying themselves for the story in excitement.

"Okay, soo....

--------

16 August, Fionas 10th Birthday

Fiona was walking out of Fischoeder Manor to go back home to the treehouse where she and her father lived. Just hours before she had her 10th birthday party with all of her friends and family.

As she was about to step out the backdoor a voice called out to her, "Fiona come here for a moment". Fiona looked at the voice and saw her Uncle sitting on his chair.

The girl closed the door and headed over to him, "Yeah, Uncle Cal?". Calvin leaned over to reach in his pocket as he beckoned his niece forward. "I've got another present for you."

Fiona beamed at Calvin, "Really?!". She stood in front of him waiting in excitement for her gift. "Yes. You see it's your tenth birthday today and on my own tenth birthday my father, your grandfather, gave me this."

Mr. Fischoeder pulled out a handgun from his pocket, it was quite an old model but it was still usable, Fiona didn't know exactly what make but she was sure it was powerful just by looking at it.

The girl was confused as to why her uncle was giving her a gun, "Um why are you giving me this?" She asked.

Calvin reached forward to give her the pistol, which she took apprehensively, "Well it's like I told you, when I was your age my father gave me my very first gun and I thought I would continue the tradition with you considering I have no child of my own."

Fiona observed the gun curiously before looking back up to Fischoeder, "Go on give it a go." He encouraged her. She looked around the room when she locked eyes on a picture of her old relative, Baxter. With a pull of the trigger, the glass smashed as the bullet shot through it and lodged itself into the wall.

Calvin let out a loud, hearty laugh as he looked at the now broken photo frame, "Oh, oh that was good. Always hated that bastard." He chortled.

Fiona felt a swell of pride at her uncle's praise. "I'm going to show dad." She ran towards the door. "No, no I wouldn't do that." Her uncle calls from behind her.

She turns around "why not?". Calvin got up from his chair, "Well your father's quite overprotective and if he finds out I've given you a gun he might not take it so well." Fiona looks down in disappointment.

"But don't worry you can show your friends, just don't get too trigger happy or do, I really don't care." He takes a sip from his glass before shooing Fiona off.

--------

24 August, 8 days after Fiona's birthday

A week and a day had gone by since her birthday, since she had gotten the gun, she kept it stuffed in the waistband of her jeans, she wasn't entirely sure if that's where it's supposed to be kept but she saw her uncle do it and trusted his judgment.

She took the gun everywhere with her, she knew she shouldn't but, she even took it to school. She knew if anyone found out she'd be in big trouble but Fiona really didn't care. The blonde had an air of entitlement and that didn't stop at deadly weapons.

Fiona was on her way home from school walking down the road to her house when she heard a ruckus behind her. She turned her head around to see the source when she realised.

Walking on the other side of the street was Liddia Parker, the most pretentious girl in school in Fiona's opinion, following behind her was her posse of followers, all laughing and chatting amongst themselves.

Fiona rolled her eyes as she continued down the sidewalk. A sudden call of her name made her snap her head back to the group. The tall brunette was calling her name while the other girls giggled, "Would you look at that? Fishys here." The others laughed at the comically unfunny joke.

Liddia's parents live by the Fischoeders and didn't Fiona know it. Liddia seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with almost everything the girl did. Fiona assumed it was jealousy, while her parents were rich and lived on Fischoeder's Street they weren't nearly as rich as the Fischoeders themselves.

The posse walked across the road towards Fiona making rude and enticing comments. Once they got to her, Liddia started pushing Fiona on the chest and, in retaliation, Fiona pushed back. She might be on the shorter side but Fiona was quite strong so the push resulted in the brunette falling into her friends.

This only made Liddia mad as charged at Fiona full force, luckily the blonde managed to catch her before she was knocked to the ground. The two wrestled each other, Fiona winning, when Liddia slammed her knee into Fiona's side. A loud bang went off when the knee made contact.

Fiona continued her onslaught against Liddia, who froze in front of her. The young Fischoeder didn't realise what was going on until she saw the looks on the girl's faces and felt a warm liquid run down her leg.

She looked down at her leg and saw the blood pooling onto her jeans and the realisation and pain suddenly hit. Fiona watched in horror at the blood too shocked to even scream in pain.

The girls who heard the bang and saw the blood ran screaming, Liddia took a moment longer as she stared at Fiona before bucking it.

Fiona fell to the floor from the rapid blood loss, she lie on her stomach in pain as she cried. Her mind ran with so many thoughts as she processed what was going on. Death was coming she knew it but she couldn't do anything about it and that's what scared her the most.

The pain was too much and there was a lot of blood pooling from her wound and her vision was going. She was sure she was going to die and it was confirmed for her when she saw a white figure hurtling toward her.

Fiona excepted her fate, closing her eyes. That was until she felt a shake on her shoulder and a muffled voice talk down to her. She opened her eyes and the white figure was standing next to her trying to look into her eyes.

"Fiona" the muffled voice called, another shake to her shoulder. She was turned on her back and she felt the pistol being removed from her waistband. The lowering sun hurt her eyes as she looked at the sky.

It wasn't until a purple figure showed up that Fiona realised she wasn't dead and the figure in front of her wasn't some sort of being taking her away but her Uncle and her Father.

A wave of relief washed over the blonde as she realised she was saved. She heard the purple figure, her father, yelling and screaming above her. He bent down to be closer to his daughter, he touched her face trying to wake her up.

Loud sirens sounded in the distance and soon the bright lights came too, lighting up the street as the neighbors start coming out to see what was going on. She heard their whispers of fright and concern briefly before being lifted and loaded into the ambulance. The last thing she felt was medics cutting away at her jeans to get to her wound and gentle stokes to her head from what she can assume was her father.

-----

Beeping. That's all Fiona could hear as she lay down. Slowly opening her eyes, blinking rapidly at the bright light, Fiona sat up. The top of her body ached a bit but not nearly as much as her lower half specifically her right thigh.

She looked down in curiosity as she pulled down her blanket and pushed away her gown. A white bandage, slightly stained from the access bleeding, was tightly wrapped around her leg. It went from the top of her thigh all the way down almost to her knee.

Fiona reached down to touch it but retreated when the pain shot through her.

"Don't touch it." Fiona jumped at the sudden voice, she snapped her head to the voice. Sat on the guest chair was her Uncle who look tired, he was leaning back looking at her blankly.

"What time is it?" She croaked, taken aback by how horrible her voice sounded. Without so much as looking down, he replied, "ten thirty." This shocked the younger Fischoeder, she had left school at three, had she really been out seven hours?

"Care to explain?" Calvin asked expectedly, Fiona sighed as she glanced next to her uncle where her father sat sleeping on the other chair.

"Stupid Liddia Parker started a fight and she may or may not have.... set off my gun" Fiona looked away as Calvin sighed. "Coulda been worse" he retorted.

"What did you guys tell them?" Fiona asks curiously, "I told them what I knew, you were on the floor bleeding out and I found you after you didn't come home."

"Did you tell them about the gun?" She nervously asked, looking back down at her wound. "No, of course not. I'm not stupid, you know."

There was a silence between the two before Calvin spoke once more, "No, I just told them you were walking home and you were attacked. It's true, isn't it? You were attacked by the Parker girl?". Fiona pondered and supposed it was true she was sort of attacked, not with a gun but still.

"The police want a statement from you." Fiona looks up, "Yeah, I guess. I'll just tell them I was walking home and it just happened. And if any of those assholes try and say it was my gun I'll just blame them.".

Mr. Fischoeder chuckled, "Definitely a Fischoeder." Fiona smiled back at him. Their discussion was broken when Felix woke up, "Fee-Fee!" He yelled before hurtling towards her wrapping her in a tight hug, "Oh, Princess, I thought you were gone." He cried as she tucks herself closer to him, soaking up the much needed warmth.

She had been discharged from the hospital soon afterward, the police never found the mysterious shooter and the town was very wiry after the "attack". Felix, himself, thought it was an assassination attempt, that someone was trying to kill Fiona to end the Fischoeders.

The only ones to know the truth of those events are Calvin and Fiona, and both promised to take the secret to the grave.

--------

"Well, that was until now that I've told you guys."

Fiona finished the story with a bored look on her face. The Belchers looked in shock, they didn't exactly know what they were expecting but it wasn't that.

"That was FRIGGIN AWESOME!!" Louise yells "You almost died!!"

Gene and Tina also joined in, talking about how scary and awesome her story was. In the midst of their conversation, Linda called from the other room, "Kids! Go to bed!".

The Belchers all sigh and groan as they listen to their mother and tuck themselves into their sleeping bags. Louise looks to Fiona who was tucked up in her own sleeping bag next to her, "will you tell us more stories tomorrow?".

Fiona nods unsurely, "Um, yeah, okay sure." Before turning away.

"Yes!"

[baka-monarch]

Y'know what's a little funny but probably shouldn't be?

Okay so growing up my stepmom was obsessed with our health- not in the like normal motherly way though, no, she liked to tell me and my siblings about how we were constantly overweight (and how I was disgustingly ugly) and how that was bad

So every year she went online and would find these crazy diets, just look at the results, how to do, then force everyone in the house to follow the diet- no research on body types or how it might affect someone or anything like that- and it was crazy because all of us had different body types- my dad and stepmom obviously were very different, then me and my sister shared no genes whatsoever (I shared no genetics with my stepmom and she always compared my body to her's) and my brother was a mesh of the two parents

None of our bodies were the same, we all needed very different types of diets to stay healthy

Anyways

My stepmom focused on me the most with making me eat healthy because I have a little bit of a gut (so did my brother but he looked like my dad so I guess she considered it fine, and so did my sister but she worked out and stuff so it was less than me) but my gut has always been just part of my body type- I know that because of what my mom looks like and what my dad looks like

Anyways anyways anyways

So my stepmom decides that red meat and dark greens and vegetables are all bad for me. I have to eat white meat and light colored vegetables (which I hate btw)- and one time for a full 6 months she made me and everyone in the house go on a no red meat diet where she cut red meat completely out of the house and forced us to eat none of it

Okay

Cool

I was too young to do anything and would get grounded whenever I ate too slowly so I just pushed through and ate whatever was on my plate

Fast forward and I'm 18, I move out of my stepmom's house and into my mom's house (for reasons that don't have anything to do with my diet)

I'm not a kid anymore so I don't qualify for the child doctor the insurance had been paying for so my mom sets me up with a doctor for adults

Cool

I tell the doctor about my need for anxiety medicine and she decides to do some lab tests to check and see if I need any other medication- again cool, I let her take my blood and run the lab tests

Now here comes the funny part

The results come back and I have an iron deficiency (possibly anemic) and a vitamin D deficiency but otherwise I'm very healthy

So basically

That's everything my stepmom wanted to cut out of my diet for "my health" (of course the vitamin D is probably my fault for staying in doors all the time)

Basically basically basically

I was probably the healthiest person in that house and she fucked over my iron and other things that point to anemia (I don't remember what they were specifically but yeah- foods she wanted me to not eat because I was "fat") because she decided to force me to go onto diets that she did barely any research for and now I have dangerously low levels of iron because of it

I literally love red meat and dark green vegetables (I actually like vegetables more than fruits) and growing up I kept getting yelled at and grounded for eating it because it was "unhealthy"

Yeah in certain amounts, but I still needed it and now I have proof that I did need to eat it

Idk I find it a tad bit funny I probably shouldn't and I'm probably being dumb, I could even be completely wrong idk