#i genuinely have no idea if I will ever get to own a horse again which. doesnt help my mood right now.

[sweater-equestrian]

expanding on my tags. it sounds like by the end of summer Romeo will be moving back in with his previous owners. I will be allowed to visit him, but considering he will live at private property and not a public barn, that will be limited and I will no longer be his primary caretaker (or likely even secondary). I also will not be getting another horse after Romeo leaves as thats outside my means right now.

In addition to that bad news, Roxy has also been sold and will be leaving for good in april. Now, Roxy is not and has never been my horse, but she is a horse I'm very fond of at our barn and who I really enjoyed working with, so it'll be sad to see her go.

[appocalipse]

that guy ⊹ steve harrington

summary: After he's been to yet another failed date with yet another random pretty girl, Steve Harrington, your best friend, stops by at the diner your family owns for a late-night chat, same as he'd done a thousand times before. Steve is totally unaware of how much he's hurting you with his endless parade of dates, because after all — the two of you are only friends and nothing more, right? It's not like you have any secret feelings for him… | 2.6k words

── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

The moment Steve steps through the glass doors of the diner, you wonder, for about the millionth time that month alone, what is it that you've done so wrong to deserve this kind of punishment.

It's Friday night, and on Friday nights, Steve Harrington goes on dates. It's just like clockwork, really: he meets a pretty girl, thinks she's the one, takes her out on a date, realizes quickly enough that she isn't quite what he was looking for, then comes here after having dropped her back home to sulk with you, in the diner that your family runs, still clad in the outfit he'd chosen especially for his failed date.

To be honest, he never looks sad, per se — more like disappointed. Frustrated, maybe.

You watch as he weaves around tables occupied by laughing friends, past booths filled with couples sharing desserts, then slides into a seat in front of you at the bar. Steve sits down with an exhausted sigh, ruffling up his hair before shooting you a tired smile.

"Hi."

You don't look up from where you're polishing the counter. "Bad date again?"

"Not even close. She talked about horses non-stop."

A quiet laugh slips past your lips despite yourself, and finally, you tear your gaze off the dark wooden surface of the counter to look up at him; he's got this pleased little smile on his face, the corners of his eyes crinkled ever so slightly in the way they always do whenever he succeeds at making you laugh, even if just a little.

How are you supposed to keep acting like nothing's wrong when he looks at you like that?

You clear your throat awkwardly and make yourself busy stacking clean glasses next to the coffee machine.

"So...not the one, I take it?"

Steve leans forward against the counter and props his head up with his hand, sighing deeply.

"I'm starting to think she won't ever show up," he says quietly, running his other hand through his hair. You chance another glance at him and note how genuinely worried he looks. It breaks your heart almost as much as it annoys you. "What is it that's wrong with me, huh? I just don't get it."

"Nothing is wrong with you."

"You don't need to be nice to me. We've been friends since forever, remember?"

The word 'friends' makes you wince a little bit inside, but you hide the reaction behind a neutral frown. "Do you think there's something wrong with me? Because I haven't found the one yet either, you know."

Steve's expression softens as he looks at you, and once again you feel that horrible twinge in your stomach that you wish would just stop already.

"It's different. I mean—you're not actively trying to find someone." He reaches out to pull one of the half-melted mints out from the glass bowl on the counter and pops it into his mouth with a shrug. "I go out looking for her and she just doesn't come. If she even exists, that is."

"She does."

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I wouldn't hold my breath. God, why am I such an idiot, y'know?" Steve slumps over the counter with a groan, burying his face into his crossed arms. "My love life is a trainwreck."

"At least you have one."

He glances up at you curiously and lifts an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it. Do you want some pie?"

You're not about to tell him what you've only admitted to yourself mere months ago — that you're actually hopelessly, madly, stupidly in love with him, and that you have been ever since the two of you were just dumb kids racing around your parents' diner.

What makes it even worse is that you had no idea your feelings went that deep until Steve started going on these dates of his again. Before then, everything was normal — you met up every weekend and binged on candy, watched bad movies on your couch, drove around town together blasting The Clash on his BMW's speakers...it was good.

Until it wasn't.

"Wait, c'mon, you can't just leave me hanging like that," Steve presses. He shifts a little on his stool to better face you, then gestures at you with his hands. "You've clearly got something you wanna say, so, like—hit me. Lay it on me."

"Nothing. I'm just saying...at least you're trying, you know," you say carefully, measuring each word before speaking them. "And at least you're the one doing the rejecting. Could be worse."

Steve's eyebrows rise high up on his forehead and he looks at you incredulously. "Whoa, wait—are you trying to tell me you've been rejected?"

You busy yourself by filling two tall glasses with soda, then slide one to his side of the counter and keep the other for yourself. "Uh...kind of, yeah. But it's fine."

"But who the hell would even do that?" he blurts out. There's anger in his voice all of a sudden, a defensive fire in his eyes that makes you feel as if someone has punched you in the gut. "To you? You're like, the nicest person on the planet, and super pretty to boot. That's just—that's crazy!"

Your heart gives a violent little jump in your chest. He thinks you're pretty. Steve Harrington thinks you're pretty.

Pretty as a friend, you correct yourself immediately, and sigh as you sip your drink. Of course, it's nothing more than that — just meaningless words spoken in a moment of unthinking kindness.

"Seriously, who?" he presses on. "Give me a name. I'll fight him."

"You mean like you fought Jonathan Byers?" you smile behind your glass, looking at him from over its rim.

Steve looks embarrassed at the memory and drops his gaze for a second or two before meeting your eyes again with a playful little smile of his own. "Different situation, okay, but that's not the point. So? Who's the guy?"

"You...don't know him," you hedge.

"It's Hawkins. I know the stray cats here by name."

"Fine, well, even if you did know him, it doesn't matter. He didn't reject me, exactly...not really."

Steve frowns a little. "Okay, you're gonna have to start making sense now. This is hurting my head."

The funny thing is, he actually looks confused, as if he can't possibly fathom the idea of someone rejecting you. It's sweet, really — way too sweet for your liking, especially when you know fully well he doesn't see you in the way you'd want him to.

You lower your gaze to avoid his and instead focus on drawing random shapes on the counter with your index finger, where tiny droplets of condensation from your glass have pooled up on the dark wood. "I mean, I never really told him how I felt. Not directly. It just…never happened."

"Oh. Well, then how do you even know if he feels the same way?" he asks you, looking rather doubtful.

You steal another glance at him and almost regret it instantly. His eyes are trained on your face, patient and attentive like you're the only thing worth watching in the world. It makes you feel horribly small and selfish and guilty, because after all, what right do you have to want him when he so clearly wants someone else?

You feel like you could cry. You might, if you don't distract yourself with something fast enough.

"I just know. Do you want some pie? I'll go get you some pie."

Without waiting for a response, you rush off to the kitchen even though there's plenty of pies sitting on the display counter at the bar, and you make a beeline straight for the back exit.

The alley behind the diner is blissfully empty as usual, just a lonely dumpster and a handful of sad-looking shrubs and weeds peeking out from under the concrete.

No, you aren't going to cry.

This is stupid.

You press your back against the rough brick wall of the diner and breathe in deep the warm night air, then exhale slowly as you count to ten in your head.

When the door opens behind you and the diner's familiar chatter and clatter of cutlery spill into the alley, you wince, mentally cursing yourself for being so goddamn weak. You should have known better.

You don't have to look up to know that it's him.

"Are you hiding from me?" Steve's voice comes, quiet and curious and maybe just a little bit hurt, even.

"I got...suddenly nauseous," you explain weakly, still refusing to look up and meet his eyes.

There's a long stretch of silence, and you feel Steve move closer to you until he's leaning against the wall by your side. You finally look up and find him smiling, this gentle, amused little thing that makes your traitorous heart skip a beat.

"You look just fine to me."

You stare up at the sky, head against the wall. "I thought I was gonna throw up."

He's still watching you, you can tell; you're keenly aware of his eyes on you, so much so that your skin prickles at the attention. "No, you didn't."

"No, I didn't," you admit with a sigh, and turn your head to finally look at him. He's got this little half-smile on his lips, the very same one you fell for years ago, and you curse yourself silently for never learning how to let him go. Really let him go.

"Hey. Listen. You don't have to tell me, okay?" Steve says gently, pushing himself off the wall to step closer to you. He brings his hand up to your face and tucks a loose lock of hair behind your ear, letting his fingertips linger on the edge of your jaw for the briefest of moments, just long enough for you to wonder whether he knows what he's doing to you.

You don't dare to move. You're afraid of breaking whatever spell has seemingly come over him.

"I should've never asked. That was selfish."

"Forget it," you say.

He's standing close now, close enough that you have to tilt your chin up to be able to look up at him properly. There's a strange kind of tension in his eyes, something dark and unsure and tentative, and his gaze darts down to your lips just the slightest bit.

You're fairly sure you're just seeing what you want to see, your foolish heart playing tricks on you. But you panic nonetheless, feeling a sudden, irrational fear that if he moves any closer, he'll realize the truth — that you're a liar and a coward, that you've been harboring these feelings of yours for him for years.

"I should—I should go. Back inside," you mutter, pointing vaguely at the door with your thumb. "In there."

"Sure, yeah. Okay. In there," he echoes, not making a single move to leave. "Not out here."

"Yup. Exactly. In there."

"So you said."

"Yep."

The wall of the diner is digging into your spine uncomfortably, and your mouth is dry, and your knees feel weak, and your stomach is doing somersaults, and the longer he stares at you with those eyes of his the more you feel like you're burning from the inside out and—

He's not moving. All he does is look at you, really look at you, as if it's the first time he's really looked, as if he's seeing something that wasn't there before.

"Okay, so—"

You try to push past him towards the door, but Steve grabs your arm, making you stop dead in your tracks. He lets go as soon as you look up at him, lifting his hand in front of him in an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," he says. He swallows hard and rubs his palm on the front of his jeans, a nervous little habit you think he's always had. He runs his hand through his hair, mussing up the carefully gelled strands, and it's probably the first time you've ever seen him look so flustered.

He laughs nervously and gestures at the ground with his hands as he speaks. "Look, this is just—this is just crazy, okay, but I think I, uh, maybe sort of realized something."

You blink at him, not quite certain you're hearing him correctly.

"Realized what?" you ask, the words barely more than a whisper.

Steve clears his throat and nods at you, seemingly pleased that you've finally spoken. "Yeah, well, this is stupid, but you know how you're always telling me to listen to my gut?"

"You're not making a whole lot of sense right now, Steve."

"Just bear with me for a sec, okay? This is like, totally new to me." He holds his palms up, and you notice his hands are shaking a little. "I just need a minute, alright?"

He breathes in deep and exhales slowly, then shoots you an apologetic look.

"Sorry, this is just...really weird," he confesses. "Weirdly real."

"You're freaking me out," you tell him, but Steve only smiles at you.

"Maybe I should just show you. Because, I mean, what if I'm wrong? That'd be terrible, obviously."

"Steve."

"Yeah, I know, but hear me out, okay?" he says quickly, and takes another step closer. You stand your ground this time, if only because you don't trust yourself to actually move without your legs giving out. "So, look. Here's the thing. You're, like—you're one of the most important people in my life. You've been there for me when nobody else was, and I...you mean a lot to me."

"Steve—"

"Shut up, you're ruining the moment."

He takes another step forward until he's crowding you against the wall, hand coming to rest next to your head on the brick. He's close, so close that you can smell the scent of his cologne and shampoo and laundry detergent, and if you were to lean in even the slightest bit, your faces would bump.

Steve is a little out of breath, his lips parted ever so slightly. And he's still looking at you with that strange, searching expression of his.

"Is this okay?" he whispers.

"I don't—what?"

Your voice catches in your throat. There's no room for doubt in his eyes now, not even the tiniest, slightest sliver of uncertainty left.

"This," Steve murmurs.

He tilts his head to the side a little and leans in until you're sure your noses are touching, and you feel your eyes slip closed in anticipation.

"Is this okay?" he repeats in a whisper. "Please tell me I'm not crazy."

"I think I am."

His lips brush yours. It feels like an accident, doesn't last long enough to be anything but a dream. You can still taste the faint, sweet trace of sugar and mint on your tongue when he pulls away, though.

"Just to be clear," Steve whispers, his fingers brushing lightly over the skin of your neck, tracing invisible lines that make you shiver, "am I the guy from earlier? The one you like?"

You don't have it in you to deny it anymore.

"Yes. It's you."

A wide grin breaks out across his face, and suddenly he's everywhere; he cups your face in his hands, pressing eager, fervent kisses along the line of your jaw, trailing hot and open-mouthed down the side of your neck.

You giggle helplessly, grabbing Steve by his collar to pull him away from you and up to your eye level. He's breathing just as heavily as you are, his hair messy and his eyes bright.

"How do you do this to me, huh?" he pants, kissing your forehead, the tip of your nose, the corner of your mouth. "You just—you just completely knock me out."

A pleasant little thrill rushes up your spine at that.

"Oh yeah?"

"Completely."

You kiss him this time.

[wobblesthecowgirl]

Hii! I literally love your page so much! If you don’t mind, could you write an Arthur x Fem reader fluff?

So I was thinking, Arthur and the reader are close friends and she has feelings for him, like I mean she is HEAD OVER HEELS for him! But she thinks that he likes Mary-Beth or something and somehow he finds out about her feelings towards him and how she thinks he likes Mary-Beth and he confronts her and is like “I don’t like her I like you” and they kiss or something idk I JUST NEED HIM SO BAD RN😭

I Only Want You.

Arthur Morgan x Femreader

I apologise for the long delay! But thank you so much for your patience and request! I hope you enjoy it! And thank you so much for the love! <3

⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆

“Why not write him a letter?”

Y/n was sitting on a log with Abigail under the sun, looking out to the beautiful scenery before them on the edge of the cliff. They were discussing Arthur, a common topic between the two, and Abigail was trying to convince her friend to finally confess.

“A letter?” She tilted her head.

Abigail nodded, “Yes! I mean, you love to write, and you’re too much of a baby to speak to him about your feelings. I think a letter is perfect. You can leave it for him without seeing his face.” 

Y/n thought about it and agreed it wasn’t a bad idea at all. She could sneak into Arthur’s tent with a letter telling him everything she’s always wanted to say, and wait for a response. So, she smiled and hugged her friend tightly, before standing up quickly and making her way to her own tent to begin writing. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

This was harder than she thought. She assumed being able to sit and think carefully about what she wanted to say would be easy, but it just filled her head with more doubts. Before she could start her fourth draft, she heard a ton of horses outside and quickly hid the crumpled up pieces of paper. Most of the men were robbing a wagon and had just come back; from the cheers and laughs, she could only assume it went well. She got up from her chair and peeked her head out of her tent and almost screamed in surprise. Arthur stood right outside her tent.

“Oh! Mr Morgan, you scared me!” She laughed it off, a hand to her chest as he chuckled with her.

“I apologise, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I just wanted to tell you how the robbin’ went.”

“I assume it went well, given the smile on your face.” Y/n smiled as she looked around to the other men already cracking bottles of beer. The pair went quiet and the woman wanted to burst into a confession then and there. The sun was setting and it casted a orange glow to his face. His hat caused a small shadow over his eyes and his smile was small and earnest. The little wrinkles around his eyes and mouth only made him more attractive, and his moustache had been recently trimmed. 

“Well, I best get back inside now. I’m a very busy lady.” She excused herself. He smiled a little wider and watched her close the tent, almost disappointed with their short exchange. 

After their conversation, Y/n got back to her desk and this time, the words began to spill out onto the page with ease:

Dear Arthur,

Firstly, I must apologise. I am too much of a coward to face you, so I’ve resorted to writing this letter.

The truth is, I have fallen head over heels for you. You may not agree with me, but you are a good and genuine man. You’ve helped me in more ways than you could ever imagine. The day you rescued me from my burning horse from the O’Driscolls, I thought my life was over. But, to my surprise, it was the start of an even better life. I truly can’t thank you enough.

I don’t expect you to reciprocate these feelings, and that is ok. I wouldn’t want to ruin this friendship we have formed.

Yours, Y/n.

She kept re-reading it over and over again while a million what ifs ran through her head. What if he’s put off by the letter? What if he has someone already? What if he laughs at her? 

She shook her head. She had written it now, all she had to do was plant it in his tent and hide, wallow away in bed while her anxiety ate her up. She folded it and wrote his name on it before peeking her head out the tent again and tip-toeing to his tent. When she saw he wasn’t inside, she snuck in and placed the letter on his bedside table. 

Y/n felt satisfied with herself, until she saw a letter on his desk with the name ‘Mary Linton’. Her stomach dropped. Who was this Mary? Was she a lover? A relative? Feeling sick, she rushed out the tent, leaving her letter behind.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

“You alright there, Y/n?” Tilly asked her while she zoned out. It was now night-time, and her mind was eating her up all evening. The women were sat around the fire doing what they do best: gossiping. Of course, Grimshaw or Molly hadn’t joined them, but that was always the case. 

“Hmm? Sorry, yeah I’m good.” She brushed it off, taking a big swing of whiskey. The rest of her friends spared glances at one another. Karen piped up while also taking a swig of her own whiskey, “Yeah, I ain't buying that. You’ve been sulking all evening.” 

Y/n sighed and began biting her nails out of habit, wondering if asking them about Arthur was a smart idea. But she couldn’t keep letting the question eat away at her.

“Do any of you know who Mary Linton is?”

Mary-Beth looked surprised at the question, “Mary? You don’t know?”

Her stomach dropped again. 

“No I don’t.” 

Tilly shook her head, already feeling bad for her friend. Everyone but Arthur knew that Y/n had feelings for the older man, it was a miracle the man himself hadn’t figured it out. Tilly sighed, “She used to be his woman. About ten years ago now, but her daddy didn’t like him so it didn't work out. I keep telling him to let it go.” 

There it was. Her what ifs became reality. She couldn’t hide her disappointment and took another swig of the whiskey. And another. Then another one. 

“Slow down girl! You’ll end badly!” Tilly tried to grab the bottle out her hand but she moved it out of her reach. By now, Y/n vision was hazy and her head felt light. The smell of whiskey was strong on her breath but she felt a little more relaxed at least. 

“It’s obvious Arthur likes you back.” Mary-Beth tried to help her feel better, but all she did in response was roll her eyes.

“Oh please. Don’t get my hopes up.” She pouted as she finished the whiskey off. All the women were getting up and getting ready for bed but she decided to sit by the fire a little longer. Karen patted her back, “Please just take it easy. Get some rest soon.” And with that, she was left alone. She just stared into the fire, her mind restless, when she heard a twig snap. She snapped her head back and saw the root of her problems. He looked confused at her state. 

“Y/n? What are you still doing at this hour?” 

“Nothing.” She frowned, facing away from him, kicking a stone away despite being sat on the log. Arthur sat down next to her, his knee inches away from hers. 

“You smell of whiskey, doll. You been drinking too much to handle?” His voice was laced with concern, which only infuriated her more. Why care for her when he already had a woman he cared for? 

“Why do you care?” She sounded harsher than she meant to. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was her patience running thin. Maybe it was her disappointment. Either way, her response still shocked him. 

“Why wouldn't I?” He asked, and her heart kept sinking lower and lower. They fell silent, and Y/n heard him reach into his pockets and took out the letter. Her eyes widened as she tried to snatch it out his hands but he raised his arm higher. 

“Just leave it Arthur!” She shouted, still trying to grab it as he kept his arm in the air, a firm hand on her shoulder to push her lightly. 

“Why are you behaving like this? I just want to talk about it.” He tried to calm her down as she stopped prying at him. 

“I know about Mary.” She stated which caused his eyes to widen slightly. He glanced at the letter before folding it and putting it back in his pocket. 

“The women gossiping again?” He chuckled a little dry, so she only hummed in response. Their gossips were never wrong though, she thought to herself. 

“That's history, love. She was only writing to me to help her brother,  but I don't like her like I used to.” Arthur grabbed her chin much to her alarm, and gently turned her to face him, before brushing a strand of hair in her face out the way. 

That damn smile. 

“I love you too. I ain't need a silly little letter, you could've told me and I would've swept you up in a heartbeat.” 

It's like time stopped. The alcohol must've gotten to her head. She must've blacked out. Died even, and seen the pearly gates. 

But when he leaned forward, and softly kissed her, she felt more awake than ever. He pulled away before she could even react, and his face was bright red. 

“Was that a bad kiss? It looks like it was.” He coughed awkwardly. 

“No…no not at all. I'm just in shock. I didn't think you actually liked me.” 

He laughed light before leaning closer again, a hand on the back of her head, “I don't like you, sweetheart. I love you.” 

This time she kissed back, harder. Months of pent up tension between the two was finally being released. It was surprising the two didn't go mad.  

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

They spent the rest of the night sitting next to the fire, holding hands, and Y/n rested her head on his chest as he held her close. His tumb traced her knuckles as she listened to his heartbeat. She felt protected, safe, warm, and comfortable. She could happily stay like that forever.

Unknown to the pair, the women of the camp were watching from a distance, with giant grins on their faces.

[angstyandromanticwriting]

Regina George X Fem!Reader Angsty, Cute, and Fluffy Prompt [Sneak-Peek]

• Takes place after the occurrence of the film [2024 ver. with Reneé Rapp]

• Some mild changes made to some elements of the story

• The prompt will be dropping in its entirety on Saturday + There will be more!

• This is another new idea, but does not impact the other ideas I am already writing for!

!TW: Being stuck in a toxic relationship, insult(s), mention of previously being kidnapped, implied suffering from PTSD + Depression + Separation Anxiety + Anxiety in general, mention of previously being abused + injury detail - If I’ve missed any, please let me know ❤️!

Birds’ Eye View/Heart’s Desire

“Are you done, or-?” You inquired, raising your eyebrows, after Regina threw another line of insults at you; you’d told her to rant, seeing she needed it, but…

“No,” she answered, without hesitation, even though she appeared a little exasperated, wincing, before she looked away from you, and sighed heavily, knowing she shouldn’t get you involved with all that was currently frustrating her following her recent arguments with her boyfriend, Shane Olman, especially when you didn’t even know him, and hadn’t ever talked to him, only a recent student at Northshore High School, managing to take on Senior Year after you’d been expelled from your last school. “Yes,” she added, barely audibly, and you would appear surprised, not expecting such an answer from her as you tilted your head partially, a pained as well as skeptical expression on your face; you didn’t want her to feel as if she couldn’t talk to you about all that was burdening her the way you feared she did, hoping against hope - however - at the same time, that she had instead managed to clear her mind a little, until she crumpled, and looked up at you again with a hurt look on her face before she said ‘no’, her voice softer than you’d ever heard it before. “N-No, I’m not, I-.. I’m-..” She shrugged, before awkwardly bowing her head, and you would nod gravely, smiling sadly over at her, before you timidly inched closer to her to gently squeeze her shoulder, prompting her to express relief, her heart skipping a beat, before she glanced up at you again, and felt strong enough to continue just by having her gaze lock with your own in the best way possible. “I hate you,” she spat, her gaze never leaving your’s, whilst you couldn’t help, but smirk in her direction, amused though you knew you shouldn’t be, but it didn’t stop your heart from aching as you wondered who had hurt her the way you could tell that they had, before she’d come back to your Uncle’s ranch with you. “Y-You stink, and I hope an air conditioner falls on you,” she added sharply, clearly through gritted teeth, whilst you appeared taken aback - of all things you thought she might say, that was one of the least you’d been expecting to hear, but it still made you have to fight back a giggle regardless of how it had shocked you, at first, “okay.” She drew in another shallow breath, before releasing it through her nose like you’d told her to, just to try and calm her down when she’d almost broken one of the mucking up shovels you and her had been using to tidy up the horses’ stalls here. “Okay, I - I think I’m-.. I think I’m done, now,” she stated, and you would almost feel disappointed, though at the same time of course you were relieved to know that she seemed at least somewhat relieved, now that she’d slung out yet another insult in your direction, though she wasn’t directing anything of what she meant toward you; she couldn’t.

The thought startled her, just for a moment, as she winced again, and forced a smile in your direction, trying to hide that such a small thing had flustered her the way nothing else ever had before.

“That’s good,” you stated, and she would hesitate, before nodding, and smiling softly over at you, this time the smile was genuine; it was hard not to allow the corners of her lips to curve upward whenever she was around you, “that’s always good - so-.. are you ready to talk about it, now?”

She would appear taken aback by your question, her smile faltering a little, before she awkwardly cleared her throat, and nodded slowly, though you could tell she was reluctant to discuss what had been happening between her and Shane recently.

“I guess,” she answered, and you would smile warmly back at her, glad that she felt able to talk about such things with you - it even made you feel a little warm and fuzzy inside, like a sense of pride was washing over you in response to your hope that she seemed to trust you, just as much as you trusted her, and somehow had ever since you’d first met her that day; the day she’d first been sent here by her mother to distract her, and take her mind off of the tense situation between her and Shane, before you’d even started at Northshore High. “But - if we’re gonna talk about it,” she began again, and you would tense up for a moment, wondering what she might be about to say, next; you were always terrified that maybe something bad would happen - that maybe she would up, and abandon you, though you couldn’t imagine why. You always put such dread up to how you’d been kidnapped, and abused the way you and, a few years ago now; you were quite young when it happened, and the nights you’d spent screaming and crying had never left your mind, especially not at night, where your nightmares were at their most vivid moments. For a moment, you remembered your kidnapper coming in to kick at your side for how you’d tried to call your home, after successfully sneaking out of his basement, but that wasn’t the worst of the punishment; he spent every night after that breaking each and every one of your fingers, and he would have moved onto your wrist, or toes, if the police didn’t locate you when they did. You winced at the memory, but you wouldn’t let her see the pain in your eyes as you bowed your head, before she could lock eyes with you again, making her heart sink a little as soon as she realised she wouldn’t be able to lock eyes with you again, if you didn’t lift your head the way you had, before, trying to act as if you were distracted by the next pile of dung you were shovelling up at your feet. “Can we do it whilst we’re mucking up, l-like we are, now?” You appeared taken aback again by her request, forgetting your previous thought as you looked up at her again, forgetting how to breathe for a moment whilst she silently admired your eyes without even realising that she was, trying to tell herself that it was just because it made sense to make eye contact right now, rather than glance down at your lips, or just down at the ground when you were both in the middle of a conversation the way that you were, or had been, now.

You appeared skeptical again, once you’d recomposed yourself, and could finally breathe again, as soon as you remembered how your lungs were supposed to work, ever since you’d been born a few years ago, now.

“I don’t know,” you answered warily, prompting her heart to sink, and eyes to darken a little; it made something ache within her for a reason unbeknownst to her to see that you still didn’t seem to trust her with the shovel, but she guessed she understood after she’d been wielding it the way she had earlier, wanting to either break it or smack someone over the head with it whilst she’d been thinking about her and Shane’s recent argument. It was seeing the hurt on her face - even if it were only there for a moment - that made your heart cave in, as you - without hesitation - took up her shovel, before holding it out to her, and forgetting how to breathe all over again as you waited for her to take it from you. “Here, of - of course we can,” you reassured her gently, a little breathlessly, but you tried to hide that you couldn’t breathe as you tried not to watch her hand as it inched closer to your own, before she accepted the shovel from you, and couldn’t help, but allow the pinky finger of her left hand to brush against the back of your own, prompting your heart to stutter, and you to tense up again as a makeshift spurt of electricity seemed to run down your arm - something you’d never felt before. You wondered if she felt it too, noticing the dazed expression on her face, making your cheeks heat up as you hastily looked away from her again, though you longed to keep your eyes focused on her, and only her, despite your not knowing why you’d even had such a reaction to her skin touching your own the way it had, for a split second.

“Thank you,” she replied, once she’d been able to find her voice again as she smiled timidly down at the ground beneath her, “that was-.. really brave of you, considering.”

You lifted your eyebrows again as you glanced over at her, confused by her praise, but still you couldn’t keep the smile from your face as your eyes glinted a little over at her, prompting her heart to skip a beat again as soon as she felt your eyes upon her, encouraging her more than enough to glance up at you again, her eyes not hesitating to lock with your own as you both faltered in place for a moment, staring over at each other as if nobody else existed anymore, besides you two, right here, right now.

It took her more strength than it ever had before to stay stood where she was, seeing herself in another universe inching closer to you, whilst she lifted her right hand up to your left cheek, only making her heart begin to pound a little as you warily glanced over at her, your heart skipping a beat, almost as if you were picturing the same thing as she was, hardly breathing, just like she was, stood before you, before her eyes darkened, and she awkwardly cleared her throat again to break herself from her previous daze, as well as you from your own as you silently cursed yourself, before digging up at the muck again to try and clear your head somehow, only to fail miserably as soon as you felt her hand upon your shoulder.

“Reg-” You spluttered out, before you even knew her name was slipping from your lips, but before you could continue, she pressed on, determined to show you that she meant everything she told you, whilst she knew you silently doubted some things about yourself, though you’d not even told her her about what had happened to you, when you were younger, and felt more hopeless than you ever had before.

“I meant it,” she cooed, gently squeezing your shoulder as you timidly glanced up at her, wishing you could breathe normally again, whilst at the same time you were terrified of losing the way she made you feel, whenever she was with you the way she was, now, “you’re the bravest girl I know.”

You tried not to shudder, your eyes threatening to fill with tears as a lump began to form within your throat, only making it harder for you to not break down in front of her as you forced a shaky smile in her direction, before bowing your head again as soon as small tears began to form within your eyes.

“Bravest, huh?” You mused, and she nodded hastily, not hesitating at all because she meant every word, and knew she always would. Being hit by a bus the way she had last year had made her feel different; more grateful, of everything, as well as everyone, around her - for a split second, whilst she was unconscious, she swore her life had flashed before her eyes, and it made her feel guilty for almost everything she’d ever done - well, everything, until now.

“You - mean a heck of a lot to me,” she expressed, and you would appear taken aback again, your heart skipping a beat, before you glanced up at her again, and wondered why your heart felt as if it were being squeezed even though at the same time it felt as if it were currently soaring with every word she shared with you, and you’d reacted in similar ways ever since you’d first met her, and began to feel alive whenever she was with you the way that she was, now, “you always have, e-ever since I-.. y’know, got to actually know you, and talk to you, and that’ll never change, I promise - you know that, right?”

“I know,” you reassured her, your voice briefly trembling, prompting her heart to squeeze alongside your own as she frowned, and carefully eased you into a hug whilst you melted into her embrace, and wouldn’t hesitate to return it as you buried your face into her left shoulder, feeling safer than you ever had before as you subconsciously drowned within her sweet scent in the best way possible.

“Good,” she returned gently, “I’m glad.” You both fell quiet for a moment as you tried to recompose yourselves, before she held you at arms length blissfully, her eyes glinting alongside your own. “So,” she chimed, and you couldn’t help, but giggle softly whilst you carefully brushed away any remaining tears, “should we continue mucking, or-?”

You smiled warmly at her, before nodding, and taking up your shovel again, as if she hadn’t had you almost breaking down completely within her arms a brief moment ago.

“I’d love to,” you replied, brighter than she’d ever heard you before, prompting her heart to jump alongside your own as she smiled sheepishly back at you, evidently glad to see that you were happy again, now that she’d admitted to you that you were more than what you thought you were to her, before, “as long as you’re still up to talking about whatever you wanna talk about, as we go?”

She tensed up again, remembering Shane, and the fight he and her had had, earlier today, and for a moment you regretted more than anything bringing up the situation, until she smiled reassuringly over at you again, and nodded, before taking your free hand within her own to soothe you even more, indirectly making your heart pound faster than it ever had before as you tried not to glance down at her fingers intertwined with your own, whilst also silently praying that she couldn’t hear what was currently going on within your chest.

“Always,” she answered, and you would express relief, your expression softening, before you glanced down at the ground again, your cheeks heating up even more than they ever had before, “but before that - where should we start?”

~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed it, and are looking forward to the dropping of the full version! ❤️

[babyaiker]

I can feel the art block slowly seeping into my veins (so many ideas, pen so heavy) so I’m feeling rambley

Here’s me ranting about my specific Kieran Duffy Roman Empire

Kieran has not known a day of peace in his life, and you can tell I think about that a lot due to how tried and scraggly I always draw him. Bro hasn’t ever had something to call his own, just absolutely zero stability of any kind

Whether through his own decision, or more often then not due to something out of his control, he’s had to leave and find a new home. Parents died, kicked out of his job, joined then left the military, ran with a gang that then all died, forced to join the O’Driscolls, kidnapped by the Van Der Lindes. My boy is a fuckin survivor Jesus. The only stability he knows is that he knows wherever he goes, there’ll probably be horses.

This isn’t some kinda groundbreaking thesis tho, as he literally says this to the camera with his line “and all I know is folks all seem to die… and… I still love horses”

The thing that I tend to think about the most is the desperation he exhibits. He is desperate for safety and the tiniest sense of community, that he stays with the Van Der Linde gang. He doesn’t run during Paying A Social Call, he chooses to save Arthur’s life. He then immediately gets on their asses and insists they let him join now. (The amount of missed characterization in that quest alone warrants its own post)

And even after this point, when running from the gang is no longer an option, as the O’Driscolls will probably kill him if he strays too far, he’s still a surprisingly proactive member of the gang. He’s seen being friendly and polite whenever someone gives him the chance to be, and there’s dialogue from him talking about how joining the gang was the best thing he ever did. He is attacked and berated every day, but you can tell that compared to the rest of his life, this is the best he’s ever had it. He’s genuinely trying to always make the best of it, and it’s so fuckin sad

Despite having everything stripped away from him time and time again, he still doesn’t quit. He is so in need of community and family that he’s more than willing to deal with the abuse the gang throws at him, as he’s more than adamant on showing them he’s not the man they think he is. And I think that’s why I love him so much :)👍

“Thank you mister Morgan… for sparing me like that… I’ll work hard. I am not a bad feller… you’ll soon warm to me’

“Just see that I do”

“Oh you will!”

[horseforeplay]

So I’m very autistic about music and I loved how succession made Kendall’s music taste have so much character and be so accurate to who he is and who he thinks he is, which made me start thinking about the other siblings listening to music. I just cannot imagine it. I can’t imagine Roman putting on his little AirPod and opening up a Spotify playlist or putting on posters in his room for a certain thing. The idea of shiv being into drill and grime is extremely funny to me. I think connor tells Alexa to put on slow old Spanish ballads blasting (at an appropriate volume) through every floor of his desert house and Willa wears noise cancelling headphones constantly. I just can’t decide if Roman has an obscenely normal man music taste (like what plays in gyms) or if he actually cares about music. And then I listened to horse foreplay again and I need to make a playlist for it so basically: what do you think Roman would listen to?

incredible message. oh man. for one, connor genuinely seems like a music lover because that’s in line with his situation being the only sibling to genuinely enjoy the spoils of wealth and just stuff generally. he also has that fleetwood mac line at tom’s bachelor party, and famously karaokes a fucking leonard cohen song. love him.

kendall’s music taste is central to his character, we all know what ken’s taste is (or at least i think we do, i have seen some very funny “ken listens to this” mixes. they should resemble the intern-curated obama end-of-year picks LOL). shiv i have no idea about, but i wouldn’t be surprised if she had some appreciation for whatever dad liked if dad ever bothered to point something out. i don’t think she listens to florence + the machine though be serious you guys just see a girl with red hair…………….

my personal read on roman’s whole Deal is that he has the least “life of his own” of the siblings. even his reputation / the rumors about him (that he’s a playboy who loves coke) are the least accurate to his actual behavior and preferences (esp when contrasted with ken’s public takedowns which hurt his feelings precisely Because they’re often true). it’s difficult for me to imagine roman having strong personal taste in….. pretty much anything, even when he sees his choices symbolically (“i want steak” speech in america decides). in the end, roman is most interested in cultivating an image of himself that is going to be the most protective of his true desire for authenticity and connection, but we know that he has no idea what to do with himself when he is confronted with an opportunity to actually “express himself”.

all this to say, it is very difficult for me to imagine roman sincerely enjoying music/art without a level of detachment, irony, or jokey judgement. if he likes certain sounds, i couldn’t see him singing along like kendall in the backseat. maybe a handful of songs are nostalgic for him, maybe some post-hardcore (…. fugazi….. honestly……) or even MAYBE some britpop or eurodance from the european half of his childhood. he wouldn’t allow himself true sentimentality with it though. he certainly knows all of the lyrics to a few songs bc he’s very In the World, esp culturally impactful songs, but he just seems like a guy who fucking hates bohemian raphsody. he knows who the pinball wizard is but i can viscerally feel his frown at hearing the baba o’reilly opener in a shop. he simply would never admit to loving a band, let alone buy a t-shirt! (i think i get a little annoyed generally with assumptions about roman that cast him as even a little bit twee just because he’s silly. look at how he actually dresses. this man would not paint his nails or have a charm on his phone. you’re thinking of kieran culkin!)

anyway this is my fav horse foreplay fanmix by @gotouda just bc it’s bursting with songs that are simply About Romtom. full of stuff me a young millennial gay person listens to so i play it a lot lol. there’s also an unsettled/upsetting undercurrent to some of these choices that matches the tone of the fic PRECISELY!!!! i have no idea how someone would go about building a mix based on romtom AND character taste just bc it is nigh impossible for me to picture roman roy listening to a song BECAUSE it reminds him of tom.

tom on the other hand…………….. that’s elton john, that’s ABBA, that’s broadway original cast recording, that’s george michael, that’s adele. ok

[amberjazmyn]

deja vu🫶

pairing : mick schumacher x older sister schumacher!fem reader

summary : leona schumacher, older sister of f1 driver mick schumacher was a paramedic in the military. three years later, she decides to retire and surprise her younger brother giving him a sense of deja vu.

warnings : military homecoming, younger brother x mick, happy tears, a flashback or two, a swear word or two

a/n : as you should know by now, military homecomings are some of my favourite topics to write fanfic about as well as to read. and i decided for my first ever schumacher one-shot, i'll have this one as my first one cause it's not too sad and has majority fluff.

𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙤| leona's pov 

i watched with anxiety as my family screamed at one another after i had revealed to them my deployment date for the german military as a military paramedic. of which i had enlisted myself into last year not realising i would get deployed to leave so soon, i didn't really think at all the importance of telling my mum, siblings gina and mick and their partners, iain and laila so, i just didn't. that was though until i was forced to tell them when gina, my sister, had walked in on my phone call accidentally. the phone call that i had taken on speaker phone with my chief officer as he told me i was being deployed within a couple of weeks. gina wasn't mad nor was she disappointed, she was actually oppositely, quite proud of me and was the one that was encouraging me that it was probably time i told them. because if i left it until the day of my deployment, i wouldn't be forgiven for a long time or possibly ever. so, i didn't take that chance and i told them. yet, it was me telling them that started this whole screaming match which i was now in the middle of and being forced to listen to. that was until gina couldn't handle it anymore and screamed for everyone to shut up.

"--EVERYONE SHUT UP--" it scared me, genuinely, how loud gina was as she screamed as everyone immediately shut up and silence filled the room before i decided to speak up quickly

"--seriously guys, why are we yelling and arguing over something that i chose to do because it's something i enjoy? whilst it may seem like it, i wasn't forced into this profession, this was something i voluntarily put my hand up to do because i love it. i love this job in the same way that gina loves horse riding and mick loves being like dad and fast cars. i didn't think this is how healthy families are supposed to react when they get told that their daughter and sister gets the opportunity in pursuing their dream after working incredibly hard for it. come on now guys, this isn't how we celebrate. we don't yell at each other. i thought we were nicer and better than this..." at first, i was so confident until i wasn't, trailing off as gina pouted and spoke up

"...leona's right guys. the way you all have just reacted to this news is disgusting. okay, fair, being told that the middle child is being deployed away is terrifying, i get it. but don't you think she's already thought about that, having sleepless nights worrying after she enlisted herself if she really did make the right choice or if she just signed away her own death certificate? you guys should feel guilty because you clearly have no idea how hard it was for leona to just simply tell you guys that she had enlisted into the military as a paramedic. let alone tell you guys she's being deployed in less than two weeks..." gina trailed off as my family fell silent again, all of them shaking their heads to gina's statement making me smile, my head facing the floor

mick then spoke up, "...i'm sorry leona. i...i shouldn't have started the fight and i also should have tried to end it. just...hearing that my older sister would be going away to help people in a war completely terrified me and i didn't know how else to react other than to get mad. i guess it's because you've always had to look after me so, being told that you can't do that anymore and having to know that's now my job kind of scared me because looking after me and keeping me safe has always been your job. my reaction shouldn't have been anger, of course, i'm allowed to be upset but, i shouldn't have extended it or put it on you when it's already a hard time for you. we shouldn't have made this job of telling us harder than it already was..." mick trailed off as i smiled, quickly accepting my brother's apology

it was because i knew exactly why he got mad and i understood his reaction more than anyone else's since i've always been michk's protector since day one. and i knew out of all of my family, mick would be the most emotional about this entire situation.

"...thank you for apologising mick, i forgive you but, next time, could you please be a little bit more helpful in standing up for me rather than waiting for gina to do it..." i trailed off as mick smiled and nodded his head

"...of course, leona!" accepting that he was in the wrong and taking it like an adult whereas, the rest of my family, however not so much

after the whole ordeal of my family arguing over my decision to join the german military, i had to tell the rest of mick's f1 grid and, let's just say, they didn't react great either in the sense of being upset and devastated and horrified but they were way less mad then my family originally were. and whilst they were upset, devastated and horrified, they did not scream at me nor did they try to sway my already made decision because i told them it was finalised and that i'd been enlisted since last year, my deployment date only recently being released. 

however, the one thing they did do was force me to reassure them that i would be fine and that i would come home safe and sound and only then would they not be mad...seriously though, unlike my family (minus mum, gina and mick) they weren't mad at me. they were proud of me as well but were obviously still terrified of the thought of me being a military paramedic. but, we all had a group hug and i reassured them (and myself, obvi) that nothing wrong would happen and i promised them that no matter what happens, i'd be okay and i'd come home safely. 

🏵️

it was finally the day that i'd spend countless nights laying awake and crying silently over, my deployment date. and i wasn't ready, i was mortified and i think that was pretty easy to tell by just one look. i smiled tearfully as i watched mick try to convince the rest of our family that i'd be okay since it was now literally hours before i'd be deployed and it seemed like they needed way more reassurance than i thought they'd need. i could tell though that mick especially was trying to stay strong like he always did in these situations like my military deployment has but it was obvious that this had shaken mick a little more than anything else has, including our dad's accident and that was the most earth-shattering thing ever to happen in our family. so, i just knew i needed to get mick's attention and keep an eye on him whilst gina and mum dealt with the rest of the family. getting mick's attention was pretty easy since he wasn't paying too much attention to the second cousin of ours that he was conversing with and walked over to me. 

it was obvious he was getting emotional so, i moved us back inside whilst everyone else stayed outside and i spoke up, "...what's going on micky?" i question softly, leaning my head on his shoulder as his breath became heavier, his chest tightening 

"i...i'm so scared for you, leona..." mick tearfully trailed off as he tried to catch his breath and i sighed softly as i tried to lean even closer to him 

"...guess what...so am i..." i sighed as mick's head shot up, i don't think it ever dawned on mick just how scared i was over my own deployment  

"...seriously? you're scared?" mick sniffled as i giggled softly and nodded my head, lifiting it off his shoulder 

"oh, absolutely, mick. how can i not be scared? this isn't the monaco grand prix and watching you race 233 mph *giggles*. this is me going into an unknown country in the middle east and seeing the most unimaginable things for god knows how long and treating injuries that i've never encountered before this deployment. in fact, this is the most scared i've ever been in my life but, at the same time, i've never been more cetain about anything in my entire life..." i trailed off as i heard sniffles next to me as my heart shattered, mick had started to cry

and seeing and hearing my younger brother cry next to me broke my heart into teeny tiny little pieces. immediately, i pulled him in for a hug, hugging him as tightly as i possibly could as he cried and cried and cried. my heart continued to break because the only thing i could do was hug him as tightly as was humanely possible and even then, that could only do so much. and that still wasn't enough for me. 

🏵️

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 | leona's pov 

three years ago, i decided to leave my family and friends for an unknown country in the middle east to be a military paramedic with the german military. and now, three years later, i'm home after an honourable discharge all because i knew i couldn't be with the military for my whole life. and also because my perspective had changed. when i first joined, i thought i wanted to do this for the rest of my life but, i was young and most certainly naive. currently, i was in the netherlands for the dutch grand prix in the paddock where my brother mick and the rest of the f1 grid were hanging around before the race.

the only thing suggesting that i was a returning soldier was my military cap with my last name schumacher on it resting on my head whilst i wore one of laila's white blouses, my black leather jeans and a pair of white high heels - it was operation surprise mick and i was bubbling over with excitement. i was also absolutely terrified since i had no idea on how mick would react since i would be surprising him either before or after the race where all other drivers and media would see it.

so, after surprising the rest of my family, i gave toto wolff, the team principal of mercedes, the rundown of my surprise and after approving it, he gave me the lowdown on at what point i'd surprise mick. so, then, i simply waited for mick to finish his race but catch him just before he'd reach david coulthard for a post-race interview which is when i'd be surprising mick with my homecoming.

i had just walked over to the parc ferme's slip stream where mick would be parking his car since he had just missed out on getting the podium and just stood in front of him. waiting for him to step out of the car. holding myself from laughing since mick was so oblivious whilst all the other drivers and fans cheering around us had noticed what was going on. all of us that had now gathered to watch this surprise just waiting for mick to react. thankfully, no one needed to intervene to get mick to take notice because he just happened to look up from his car after taking off his helmet, dropping it to the floor as he ran over to me. a giggle tumbled out of my mouth as he stopped running, crashing into me as my arms squeezed him tightly as he started to cry.

i laughed in hysterics mixed with excitement as we both held each other tight and didn't let go. i had dreamt of the moment i'd come home and surprise my entire family but, i think surprising mick was always what excited me the most. and, in the greater scheme of things, i am so glad this was the reaction i got out of mick. because, no one could ever successfully surprise mick. he always knew what was about to happen which meant we just gave up on surprising him. and truthfully, it's a reaction i'm never going to forget because it was the sweetest moment in the world alongside the cheers and screams from the other drivers and the crowd around us which made it even more special. 

in tearful laughter, mick spoke up, "what the fuck are you doing here, leona?" mick's voice went up an ocatave as he giggled, wiping away his tears as i laughed with him, my right hand supporting the back of his head 

"oh, you know...i just decided to fulfil the promise i made to my baby brother, the usual," i smiled as mick's face contorted as more tears streamed down his cheeks as he pulled me back into his embrace as he sobbed

letting out a soft 'aw', i looked over at the other drivers and team principals but specifically max, esteban, lewis and toto whilst hugging mick.

once he had composed himself again, he uttered, "haven't heard that sentence in a little while," he giggled tearfully as my head flew back as i started to laugh as well 

"why else do you think i wanted to say it?" i chuckled as we finally broke out of our hug so i could reunite with the other drivers whilst the fans kept on screaming and cheering from their stands around the circut 

i watched closely as mick got his composure and breath back whilst i embraced max, esteban, lewis and toto, giggling softly in pure pride that my plan actually worked and that nothing that could have gone wrong went wrong. picking up his helmet, mick walked straight back over to me before deciding to bring me with him to his post-race interview with david coulthard.

"...for those who have just joined us for post-race interviews here at the dutch grand prix here in the netherlands, we have just witnessed the very sweet homecoming between the reserve mercedes driver, mick schumacher and his older sister leona schumacher. the latter who has just returned after being a military paramedic with the german military for three years. and here they come right now, mick and leona, welcome, it's lovely to see you both together after such an amazing grand prix!" david introduces as mick and i smile at david as the two of us nod our heads

"thanks david, it was a wonderful race, so many intense moments and then, this is what i get surprised with afterwards!" mick giggles as he gestures over at me as i giggle

"yes, we all saw that moment and it was a very sweet moment as well. so, leona, moving on to you, what made you decide to have such a public homecoming when it is very well known to everyone how private you guys are as a family?" david questions as i smile before responding

"good question, david. umm, i had actually been home for maybe a week before today, hence the reason why i don't look like i've only just returned home. but, i surprised the rest of my family in private before travelling here to the netherlands. so, gina, mum, dad, the extended family were all surprised way before today but with the exceptions of gina and mick's partners. so iain and laila had no idea until today that i was home from deployment because i specially asked gina if she could keep it a secret from those guys as well as mick," i giggled as mick stayed close to me, worried that if he was to even look away from me i would disappear

"before we get to how well you did in this race mick, since you did do an amazing job, i do want to talk about the surprise and mick's reaction because it was just so sweet!" david cuts himself off as the two of us smile, a small laugh leaving our mouths and nod our heads simutaneously

"so, mick, what went through your mind when you looked up from getting out of your car only to then to be faced by your older sister. the older sister you hadn't seen for three years?" david asks as mick just shakes his head and giggles

"honestly, i think i'm still trying to figure that out, david! maybe ask me in five business days and i'll give you an answer then *laughter*! but, in all seriousness, it didn't feel real. like, i thought i was going insane because for me, for some reason, there was no way in my mind that my older sister would just be discharged after only three years. like, i genuinely thought she was going to be enlisted for much longer but, i am so glad that that isn't what happened and that she's home," mick smiled as he wrapped his arms around me even tighter as i giggled softly, loving the hugs i was getting

"yeah, for sure, mick. and, leona, moving on to you, how did it feel coming from your perspective when you finally came into contact with mick after three years?" david questioned as i smiled and thought about it for a moment

"honestly, similar to mick, it felt quite surreal to finally be back home and be near a racetrack again after three long years of being nowhere near a racetrack. and, i mean, this surprise wasn't even that extravagant, the only special thing about it was that i decided to do it during a grand prix that he was racing at *giggles*-"

"-i mean, you could have surprised me anywhere, leona and i still would've had the exact same reaction!" mick interrupts which causes everyone to 'aw' once again as i smile and hug my brother

"aw, that was very sweet of you to say mick! but, as i was saying, the reason why i decided to do it at a grand prix was because i simply was getting impatient *giggles*. gina had actually wanted me to wait until after this race cause obviously, this is the last race before summer break and, she wanted to me surprise him during summer break in switzerland cause that's usually where we hide out during our holidays *giggles*. but i was like to gina, there is absolutely no way i can wait that long now that i'm back in europe, i have tickets to the dutch grand prix and i'm not wasting them so, she agreed and said she all of a sudden couldn't wait until summer break either to surprise mick *giggles*. so, yeah, that's how we got to this moment right here and me surprising mick," i giggled as i nodded my head at david who smiled and nodded his head in return

"since you did decide to do it during today's race, what precautions did you have to take? like, i assume you definitely had to let toto know and make him aware of everything?" david questioned as i nodded my head and giggled

"of course! and yeah, i told toto via message that i was back in europe and that i was wanting to surprise mick during the dutch grand prix since obviously, the last german grand prix was in 2019, three years before mick joined the grid so, the only other race i thought would be special enough would be the dutch grand prix. and, toto's reaction when i messaged him was quite funny. like, he seriously thought i was joking like, he was so shocked since the last time i had messaged him was just before i landed in the middle east three years ago *giggles*. so, at first it did scare him a little, i think he thought i had been hacked. but, when he saw me walk into the paddock and over to the mercedes garage, i think he finally realised i was serious and that reunion was a sweet one as well," i smiled as david nodded his head as mick just stayed silent, just happy still that his sister was truly next to him

"that's insane. poor toto though, thinking you had been hacked when you had messaged him. i did manage to catch your reunions with a couple other drivers, max verstappen, esteban ocon and lewis hamilton just to name a few. how was it seeing those guys again after three years?" david asked, feeling bad that he still hadn't asked mick about the race but mick didn't care whatsoever nor did he mention it either

"yeah, sorry toto! i promise i'll verify it's me next time i message you *giggles*. but, umm, yeah, seeing max, esteban and lewis was incredible! you know, lewis because mercedes and that's who's been taking care of mick so, it was great having a little catch up with lewis. max because obviously we grew up together the two families so seeing him so grown up now is insane *giggles* and of course esteban because he and mick did karting together so, yeah. it was very lovely seeing them again and i'll also say hey to the other drivers as well since i haven't forgotten anyone so, yeah," i smiled as david smiled back

that was when david finally talked about the race which kind of made mick a little sad since he loved hearing and talking about his older sister. but thankfully we didn't talk about the race for too long before returning back to talking about me and what i had plans to do now that i was no longer with the german military. they then asked me and mick what we said during the surprise. revealing that i had told mick the reason why i was back was due to a pinky promise i had made to mick three years ago that i would eventually come home safely.

after all the interviews had concluded and leona had seen the other drivers, it was home time or hotel time for those who weren't from the netherlands. the schumacher's staying with the verstappen's just like old times and just spent time together since it had been three years since leona had done that with her family and the verstappen's.

🏵️

laughter was bouncing off the walls of the verstappen household as a movie played on the television. it was ten minutes to midnight and with no race on the next day, there was no worry about whether or not we'd wake up in time or the fear we'd be late. all of us just bundled on the couch in relief that i was back. whilst not at home entirely in the netherlands but still i was with my family. i know i was relieved as truthfully, i don't think i'd ever be ablel to return to the military again after the things i had to witness and the injuries i had to treat. but, also the injuries that my team and i weren't able to treat in time. the number of patients i lost throughout those three years deployed was heartbreaking. but, the worst thing of all were the funeral services we had to attend when there was a respite from the fighting and violence of the war. so, to just be back in europe safely in the netherlands with mick, gina, mum and the verstappens was the most comforting feeling in the entire world right now. and it was the only thing i needed right now.

i didn't need to be anywhere else but with my family. and for the first time since being deployed, i welcomed it with open arms and a warm heart.

liked by mickschumacher, lailahasanovic, maxverstappen1, sophiekumpen, estebanocon and 45,67k others

leonaschumacher decided to come back to instagram now that i'm back from deployment since three years away was far too long🤍

view all comments

mickschumacher never been happier to see you leona! i missed you more than my words and tears could express 🤍

leonaschumacher mickschumacher i've never been happier to see you micky! your words and tears expressed everything it ever could have expressed! 

lailahasanovic i will never be able to forget the look on mick's face when he looked up after getting out of his car which i don't even think he acknowledged. so glad you're home leona 🤍

leonaschumacher lailahasanovic i won't forget it either! it was the sweetest reaction i've ever seen! i'm just as glad to be home 🤍

maxverstappen1 i hope no one videoed it due to my reaction but at the same token, i hope someone did because i just want to watch mick's reaction on repeat for the next 12-17 business days thank you 

leonaschumacher maxverstappen1 i've never supported a comment like this one 

sophiekumpen i'm so grateful for this post, leona! so glad you're back home in one piece

leonaschumacher sophiekumpen aw, thank you sophie! and i'm certain mum and dad agree with you!

estebanocon if anyone saw me cry when leona walked over to mick, no they didn't 

leonaschumacher estebanocon so now, on instagram you'll admit that you did cry? bloody hell estie! 

mickschumifan9 i've been non-stop SOBBING since i watched that video of you surprising mick after the race! you can tell he needed that hug and surprise and i'm glad he finally got it! 

leonaschumacher mickschumifan9 aw, you seem like such a sweetheart! i'm glad you loved the video! and yeah, it became very obvious at how much mick needed the hug and for me to be home <3

lewishamilton welcome home, leona! roscoe says he misses you and loves you a lot

leonaschumacher lewishamilton thanks lewis! sending you and roscoe lots of love!

schumachermick welcome home leona, thank you for protecting your country! we're all so happy you got home safe and that you're back posting! these photos of you, mick and laila are so sweet! may i ask who took the photo of you?

leonaschumacher schumachermick oh, thank you so much! i'm happy and grateful as well! and it was maxverstappen1 that you can thank for the photo of me! if you look further down on my account, you'll notice that max has taken the majority of the photos of me that i've posted 😉

liked by leonaschumacher, lailahasanovic, maxverstappen1, estebanocon, ginaschumacher and 87,97k others

mickschumacher my small big sister is home three years later and this is what we get up to straight after the f1 grid breaks for summer break!

p.s : leonaschumacher, even though i tease you a lot, please never leave for that long ever again or i'm gonna cry more, thanks!

view all comments

leonaschumacher thank you micky! i appreciate your love for me even if it means teasing me due to our height difference.

mickschumacher leonaschumacher love you more, leona!

lailahasanovic the difference in posts between siblings is hilarious 

mickshucmacher lailahasanovic thank you my love, i'm glad you noticed

maxverstappen1 how very sweet of you, mick, i'm in tears lol 

mickschumacher maxverstappen oh bugger off max😂

estebanocon i agree mick, leona is not allowed to leave the country for at least three years 

mickschumacher estebanocon i'm very glad you are in support of my cause here cause i don't think anyone else is!

ginaschumacher is that leona on max's shoulders for chicken? oof, i knew they'd finally tell each other that they're in love!

mickschumacher ginaschumacher no, she's on my shoulders you little nasty! however, the round after the one from the photo, leona was on max's shoulders and they won.

schumilove having the blessing to say that i was at the dutch grand prix and got to watch leona surprise you mick is probably going to be my best-ever bragging right 😂 but in all seriousness, it was the sweetest thing in the world to see you react like that to your sister's homecoming 

mickschumacher schumilove thank you for saying that, having leona home is truly the best thing for sure! and if you have any footage from the surprise, please send it through, we've love to see it!

sophiekumpen this is so sweet mick! watching you react to leona surprising you after the race will always be the best thing to ever happen during a grand prix! 

mickschumacher sophiekumpen thank you sophie! and everyone's been saying that and now i really want to watch the footage back!

f1lover this post is so sweet mick! we are all just as relieved to see leona home safely and it feels us with pride that she's going to staying home now 

mickschumacher f1lover thank you! and i'm glad you guys are just as relieved as my family is to see leona home safe!

fin

this was so much fun to rewrite since i think this is the second time i've rewritten this. similar to the danny ric one-shot, i really didn't give a solid timeline other than the fact that leona had been away for three years. and that maybe, just maybe, there was a little something something between her and mr max verstappen. meaning they'd be of similar ages meaning she's not that much older than mick lol. but, ignore that little loophole if you so choose to or don't if you don't want to lol.

©⠀amberjazmyn's original work. do not translate or steal any of my fics. 2024

[tommyxgrace-always]

Ppl say that to my disrespects grace because he called Campbell to tell him he's about to fuck grace, and that's the only reason why he wanted to fuck her, to brag about bedding her. Can u provide an analysis on this please. Why did Tommy really do it if not to brag about fucking grace.

Excellent topic dear anonymous!

I was thinking about this scene the other day and how haters and May/ Lizzie shippers love to use it to justify their “version” of the story.

The show has always been sincere in portraying Tommy’s feelings for Grace quite clearly throughout the course of the series. There are numerous dialogues and events before and after that scene that prove the truth about his feelings.

💕 since s1 we know he was genuinely in love with her and did not stop loving her even after finding her true identity.

💕In the beginning of s2, we are specifically shown a private conversation between Polly and Tommy where Polly brings up Grace. Now Polly is one of the few persons who knows Tommy, especially the sensitive side he keeps hidden from everyone. She acknowledged he loves her in s1 and we see her bring Grace up again. It reiterates the fact that she has been closely observing Tommy for the past 2 yrs and she knows who he is missing the whole time.

💕 Haters can deny everything they want but one thing that is very well established on the show is that Tommy’s love for horses is pure. He hates people in general and uses them but he is too sensitive when it comes to horses. So for him, naming his first ever racehorse which he actually bought had great emotional significance. He would not name the horse just for the sake of it or to spite a man he doesn’t see worthy of respect. He named the horse from a pure place in his heart. I think he really wanted to honour the horse’s beauty and grace. Plus he wanted to name it after the only woman who brought beauty and grace in his life! Maybe he added Grace’s secret to make it a bit more mysterious and apt as horse’s name!! In the scene he appears to give it a moment’s thought before saying the name outloud as if it is not a big deal. But c’mon who is he kidding!! He must have thought of the name night after night. May was right in front of him and he keeps the emotions on his face as neutral as possible to not give away his true feelings.

💕 As per the show’s timeline, buying a racehorse is something Tommy always wanted to do. Campbell came unannounced and involved him in a political plan. Tommy already mocked him and embarrassed him in the hospital, he even mentioned about Grace shooting Campbell. So he didn’t have to buy a horse and name it after Grace to mock him again. It serves no purpose.

💕Also Tommy had no idea Grace would be coming back to England. Remember he even burnt her letter. He bought and named the horse way before he found out she was here. If Grace never came back and Campbell had found out that Tommy owns a horse named after her, it would make Tommy look like a fool. A love sick fool who is still not over her while she is married to another man!!

💕The whole time May was chasing and showing interest in Tommy. They even spend the night together and when Tommy comes back, he goes straight to the phone and calls Grace. Again reiterating he has feelings for her. Simultaneously Campbell’s plan is revealed and it has nothing to do with racehorses or derby. The place of assassination is a house. It is again established that Tommy’s ambition of buying a racehorse and being involved in Campbell’s plan are separate from each other and there is no connection.

💕 The real issue starts when Campbell decides to screw up Tommy personally. He seems determined to do Campbell’s dirty work and get out of the business. But when arthur and Michael are arrested and his business gets attacked he gets pissed because Campbell crosses the line and makes it personal. In the mean time, Grace calls him. Now the important thing here is, he was anyways trying to reconnect with her before shit happens. So her calling back was a deeply emotional moment. It is something he wanted but just came at the wrong time. They have their reunion. We see how they are still in love with each other and he confesses “I haven’t spent a day without thinking about you”, a callback to the conversation he had with Polly back in ep1 of s2. So the feelings were always there and nothing had changed.

💕 Had Campbell not made it personal, I do not think Tommy had any plans to tell him about his letters or his meeting with Grace. But since he attacked Tommy and cornered him, he hit back exactly where it hurts! Grace! And letting him know how she still chooses him!!

In summary, Tommy loved Grace and horses more than anything in the world. If he named the horse after Grace, it was from the most genuine place in his heart. We see him choose Grace over May in a heart beat. Look at the way Tommy looks at Grace, the way he touches her or kisses her. He thinks that he might die at the end of the plan. And the only thing he wanted to cherish was their time together. Even in the finale, he stands at his grave and there is only one person in the world he thinks of!! DO NOT LET DELUSIONAL SHIPPERS MAKE YOU DOUBT THAT!!

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

Hello! I like your TF2 headcannons alot, what kind of song's do you think they would listen to? I have no idea if this has been asked or if there are canon answers, but I'd really like your take on it if ever! <33

What's Songs Do The TF2 Mercs Like?

————————————————————

LOVE THIS. Thank you for your ask! This hasn't been requested yet, so I'm so excited to write it. I'm not sure if there's canon music taste and favorite songs either, but we can just ignore the Canon lmao. Also, mutual appreciation! Thanks for being a mutual 💖

————————————————————

Also, it's totally not based on songs I've listened to or like, not at all. Completely unbiased. I'm going to give their top 3 favorite songs and why those are the top 3! I hope you like this, and I didn't go too far of the original ask 😭

————————————————————

Demo -

1. Escape (The Piña Colada Song) Rupert Holmes. They find it funny in an endearing way. He likes the idea of love fading only to reconnect. (Does he choose to ignore the fact that they were both trying to cheat)

2. First - Cold World Kids. The second he heard this song, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He just thinks about every relationship he's lost and how unfairly he must have treated people and just ugh.

3. Problems - Mother Mother. He feels like a disgrace to people he cares about and people he loves. He listens to this music to make himself feel worse, but don't worry the other mercs always try and turn him to cheerful music when he's like that, but sometimes he genuinely likes Problems and First just from a liking music perspective.

————————————————————

Engie -

1. 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton. Engie is the number one Dolly Parton fan. He's head of the fan club. Speak ill of her, and you'll never speak again. He can also just relate so well with a girl boss, because he is a girl boss.

2. Black Betty - Ram Jam. He loves uptempo songs to work to. He finds he works faster with them. I just think he thinks this song is so great for work.

3. Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) - Big & Rich. This man. I wanted to be a cowboy so badly growing up! Let's him feel like a cowboy and just a fun song that he really likes playing. (For a while, he didn't know what the implications were. It was super fun when the other mercs caught him singing it and then having the meaning explained to him.)

————————————————————

Heavy -

1. You're My Best Friend - Queen. He wants to be everyone's friend so bad! He wants someone to listen to this song and think of him. He just wants to be a good friend above all else. (He is! He just doesn't think so.)

2. Count On Me - Bruno Mars. Much like above, he wants to be a friend. He wants to be seen as dependable and caring. Scared he doesn't come off that way!

3. I'm Still Standing - Elton John. Resilient fighting, man! This is his hype song. It especially helps him after a bad match. It helps him remember that he does a lot to help carry the team and he shouldn't be so hard on himself.

————————————————————

Medic -

1. Body - Mother Mother.

I never really touched on this in my previous headcanons but I think Medic also has some body dysmorphia. It's just not as bad as spys. I also think this man has vivid intrusive thoughts. I feel like this song for him is most of the things he thinks about put into words he doesn't have.

2. Are You Satisfied - MARINA. This. Man. Has. Never. Felt. Good. Enough. He's always set his own expectations of what he should be so high that he can never do anything but fall short. He also feels a lot of pressure from the other mercs and is always scared of disappointing them. He loves to hear someone else sing of the feelings he has.

3. The Dismemberment Song - Blue Kid. I had to throw this in. It was either of this or The Red Means I Love You. He loves both. He thinks their really good inspiration songs to go into surgery humming. Be afraid if this man comes at you while this tune is playing.

————————————————————

Scout -

1. Get It Up -Mindless Self Indulgence. I don't know why but this song just feels like Scout is singing it. Like I genuinely think that he fucking wrote this song 😭 Likes the beat and the way the singer sounds more than the lyrics themselves.

2. Everywhere I Go - Hollywood Undead. See above. No, but genuinely he loves this song. Gives him such confidence for no reason. Makes him feel so cool. I do think he hasnt done anything like this. Yeah, he drinks,but he's never acted like the song. He just lives vicariously through it. Likes the lyrics more than the song in this case.

3. Without Me - Eminem. He wanted to be Eminem so bad! He wanted to be that controversial white boy who could rap. I think all of his favorite songs are just any white man's favorite song ever. He actually does good rapping the song without lyrics. You'd think it be embarrassing but it's actually not, somehow.

————————————————————

Sniper -

1. Read Between The Lines - Tom Cardy. Come on, how is he not supposed to love this song. It fits him so perfectly. I definitely feel like he loves this song because he always feels like people should know how to understand him even though he isn't giving them anything to work with.

2. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet. He likes the beat and tempo of this song more than anything. He also likes the entire vibe of the song if that makes sense. He can also imagine "being the man in the back," an imaginary scenario king if you will.

3. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen. Took all my restraint not to make every song a Queen song. Had to keep reminding myself I could make a post for that on its own lmao. No one can convince me that this song doesn't play in his head when he gets a good kill. One time, just for fun, he tried to sync with the claps and was super successful.

————————————————————

Spy -

1. Money, Money, Money - ABBA. I know this man is like probably 50 or something and has a son and whatever, but sometimes I forget that and think he's a 30 year old classy woman from the 1920s. So, in my mind, he likes ABBA. Likes Money, Money, Money though because he likes the idea of a rags to riches heist plot (that's what I imagine when I hear this song anyway)

2. Royals- Lorde. This man wants to be royalty so bad. He tries to be so classy and dignified, which is funny because you'd think he'd want to be as mundane as possible, but that's neither here nor there. I definitely feel like this song just makes him feel fancy.

3. Vous Le Voulez - ABBA. Yes, I did hc Spy as having two ABBA songs in his top three. No, I will not apologize. This man has definitely killed this song. And! He also dance fought to this song. (Think that one scene in Jumanji, the one with the Rock.)

————————————————————

Soilder -

1. Party in The U.S.A - Miley Cyrus. I mean, can you really blame me for adding this one? I already added it to shitpost canon!

2. Cherry Pie - Warrant. Dad song! This is such a dad song, just like he's such a dad! This man just reminds me of any middle-aged white dad who grills and drinks beer. And I get that so much when I hear this song. So I'd think he'd like a dad song:)

3. Dragula- Rob Zombie. THIS MAN CAN YELL. He loves to sing (scream?) this song! It's a good song to start with, and the fact that he can have a fun time yelling and singing makes him happy!

————————————————————

Pyro -

1. drop pop candy - reol, giga. I have this headcanon I never touched on for some reason. Pyro knows every human language that exists. So they love listening to music in other languages!They actually really like how sweet the music sounds in contrast to the actual lyrics.

2. My Axe - Insane Clown Posse. PYRO. IS. A. JUGGALO. 100%! You can't convince me that they haven't painted their mask to look like juggalo fave paint. Definitely would play this song in their head during a match. They just replace axe with fire or something similar.

3. Buttercup - Jack Stauber. They like most of Jack Staubers' music! They really like the different soft sounds and low tone music.

————————————————————

Okay. I'm posting this hoping everything works! I've had to start this over 5 times and I am exhausted 😭

I loved this prompt, but I swear to god I got such back writers block halfway through just finding the songs they'd like. I'm really sorry if this turned out to be bad. I'm going to go sleep for the years.

————————————————————

Soldier headcanons tomorrow!

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 8: I DRIVE MY DOG INTO A TREE

"Perseus!" Alex yelped in a truly dangerous tone of voice, Annabeth felt the need to reach for her dagger she didn't have. "What do you do to Mrs. O'Leary?!"

"I swear it's an accident!" Percy looked genuinely stung if he'd hurt her, so much so Alex immediately became gruntled over his outburst.

"Okay, well, head like hers, I'm sure it hurt the tree more," Alex said for both of them.

"I bet she becomes the branch manager of the whole forest," Will snickered.

Alex grinned in delight and tried to continue the mayhem, while Percy groaned at the pun.

"Maybe she even takes it along as a toy, you still owe Cerberus a game of fetch, what if-"

Sweat broke out on Percy's brow, he took a sharp, painful breath and trembled in his seat as his mind flashed with broken, disjointed images of the Underworld, his dog leaping into shadows-

Alex nor anyone protested as Jason started to read, his voice level and ignoring the stirring water starting to pull along them. Annabeth was rubbing gentle circles into the back of his hand until he finally came back.

... saw me first...pretty good trick since she's the size of a garbage truck.

Magnus's stomach still pitched like someone had shoved him down a flight of stairs at the idea of her being real. Of perhaps having to see this monstrosity of a wolf-like shaped creature sometime in his future if he ever wanted to visit camp and eat actual food not out of a garbage can again. She would just, be there, roaming around, ready to pounce on people from the shadows.

Everybody around him burst out laughing in obvious affection for the description and he tried to manage a smile along. He knew she was a sweet girl who would just lick him to death in theory, but he still worried they'd all laugh themselves stupid at him when he had a heart attack upon actually seeing her.

... huge paw on my chest and an oversize Brillopad tongue licking my face.

Thalia plugged up her nose and waved her hand around. "Thank the gods that smell came out." She'd been around plenty of her own wolves to know that breath reeked like the dead things they ate tried to crawl back out.

"Thank the gods my skin resists that kind of torture," Percy chuckled, it had felt probably a lot like what he put those flesh-eating horses through. A painful powerwash from hell.

... pretty much drenched in dog drool.

"Note to self, Percy's powers do not work on dog drool," Jason nodded to himself.

"I already knew that from his own drool," Annabeth smirked, resisting the urge to reach over and rub his chin with just the pad of her thumb to make him blush like a new species of deep-sea fish.

She was rewarded for her restraint by getting to see him just sighing and giving her a friendly, aggravated smile for the teasing, which was just as nice.

...By the way, Mrs. O'Leary is the world's only friendly hellhound.

"And I thank Daedalus every day for that," Alex chuckled, still remiss he couldn't ask him exactly how that had worked out. Maybe he could get Nico to take him down to the Underworld one day.

...Beckendorf took care of her when I was gone... been her best friend.

"He really was great about taking in everything I needed him to," Percy said, thinking of Tyson and all his Annabeth woes mixed in. He hated how his smile already felt forced and tired, how he could sense somewhere not too deep this feeling would increase as time went on. He could traverse as deep into the ocean as he'd like, but that feeling could stay buried where it was as far as he was concerned.

...made me sad all over again... threw the shield more because Mrs. O'Leary insisted.

"He has a problem saying no to girls who know what they want," Alex muttered with a smirk that terrified Percy even if he hadn't heard him.

Magnus just shook his head slowly in defeat he was not going to be able to stop Alex from mocking his cousin or Percy about this anytime in the future.

Soon she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—

"Good thing my earbuds are just as resistant as the rest of me," Percy said as he rubbed at the faint crackling noise that had reverberated for a few seconds.

...didn't think it was funny when she went in the arena...caused slip-and-slide accidents.

There was an unfortunate combination of spluttering and laughter in the room from that visual, helped nothing by Annabeth reluctantly adding to the noise, "Clarisse threatened to make that the new initiation ceremony if we didn't make some kind of schedule for her. She volunteered for at least half though."

"Clarisse is going to ride that dog into battle and Kronos is just going to make a run for it," Alex nodded with confidence.

"If only," Magnus grinned along because it would be nice if life was that easy.

... Even dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.

"Dragons?" Magnus's hands flailed uselessly, and they were pretty sure he wasn't just trying to sign distress. "As in more than one? Wasn't the metal one enough!"

Annabeth felt awful she couldn't deny that, that the casual part of her day was clearly affecting him. "Well, there are different types, and we have-"

Will succinctly cut her off, knowing from experience that wasn't going to end any better. "Pay attention Magnus, they don't go near the enormous hellhound, so Percy won't meet one this time."

Magnus looked at him like he'd decided to start chewing on his feet, obviously declaring that didn't make this better, but the others were trying to suppress looks of amusement and failing poorly. Annabeth still tried to catch his eye, she didn't want him to go back to the surface and run off to never speak to her like was clearly half on his mind after just this tid bit...but then he just sighed and waved Jason to keep going.

Hopefully he had that Chase resilience in him, the kind she'd always grudgingly admired about her dad. The kind of laser focus that wouldn't stop him from doing anything, like giving an afternoon with her a try away from this crazy world he'd been thrown into.

... in a clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial.

"Sounds like a place that needs a good hellhound," Jason grumbled. Those old goats probably didn't just chill in there eating grapes and waiting to ruin the hopes and dreams of the next satyr, but it was a nice idea for a moment for Mrs. O'Leary to come in and put the fear of an actual leader into them.

... the thrones had lost all their leaves. That's not what surprised me.

"Is she attracted to the smell of death?" Magnus frowned at the sudden idea her very footsteps might be causing this effect. She was called a hellhound, and he knew Nico could do that, maybe creatures of the Underworld could too.

"No more than other animals," Nico shrugged, reminding Magnus unpleasantly of the amount of times he'd seen cats nibbling on something a little too big to be a dead dog and just nodding to get through that memory.

In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio I'd ever seen:

"Including you guys dads?" Magnus asked, it hurt his brain a bit to imagine all three side by side as different as they were.

"Including Annabeth, Percy, and Grover saving the world," Jason shrugged, the idea still felt like an odd flashing light in the back of his brain of a trio who shouldn't exist if he thought about them all too long.

"That time Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso all stood there watching Percy be an idiot," Alex smirked.

"Alex, that hasn't happened," Percy scowled at him continuing to try and make his life worse.

"I know, but I really want it to," he chuckled.

Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

"Somehow Percy's reality once again beats whatever we come up with," Jason looked mildly impressed indeed at this chaotic trio.

"Nico's back!" Will cheered.

"I will shove you in a vortex if you don't knock that off," Nico sighed.

"Do I get to pick the vortex?" Will asked mildly.

Nico considered him for a moment. "Sure."

"Fair deal!" Will beamed.

...He was only twelve, but he looked much older and sadder.

"Comes with the territory," Nico said promptly before any pitiful looks could come his way.

"Nico over here trying to be a minor god already," Jason rolled his eyes.

"King of the Ghosts wasn't good enough for him," Alex joined in. "Nooo, he needed to get the whole aesthetic down now of being God of the Ghosts."

"I didn't marry Melinoe," Nico rolled his eyes, "and even if I did, it doesn't work like that, we wouldn't share a domain."

Alex looked very much to argue his pointless point, but Jason decided not to let that escalate like the smart kid he was.

...he'd probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.

"Somehow the most accurate observation Percy has ever made," Thalia nodded in surprise. "Including all the ones he made about Annabeth."

"And what do I get for finally being the one to deduce why Nico's such a restless spirit?" Percy chuckled.

Nico looked at him, unimpressed. "Nico not kicking your ass for that stupid conclusion I do what I do for a dog."

"True, bad form on my part," Percy nodded. "You don't even bring her actual treats. Poor form man."

... "Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!"

"I wasn't out there to get her attention, but I would have been happy to," Will offered, but his tone was just a shade shy of being sarcastic for that old goat calling that 'his forest,' like she didn't have just as much a right to be in there.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a saint," Percy snorted, considering he had a pretty good feeling he did jack-all to call his dog off such a pompous old sot.

..."Sorry, Leneus," I said. "That's your name, right?"

"The fact that you remembered which is which," Annabeth said, clearly impressed.

"Frankly a miracle," Magnus nodded in surprise. "I don't remember any of their names, exactly how many times has he even spoken?"

"Once, if I recall right," Jason frowned.

"Once while being rude to Grover, it was more than enough," Percy scowled.

...His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car.

"Satyr bumper cars," Alex nodded, clearly already plotting a world tournament from those three words. "I see sponsorships and a lot of eating chairs in the future, not to mention the fights that would break out during the championships game."

"Jason can't organize them into a Pan searching machine anymore so Alex will turn them into the next WWE," Percy sighed. "Yeah, sure, can't go anywhere else."

...Don't tell me you've forgotten a member of the Council so quickly.

"The Council that did absolutely nothing for literal centuries while Pan was about a dozen feet underground in a maze where your best disgraced Satyr found him?" Thalia snorted.

"The same Council that did nothing but take away licenses and ruin kid's dreams?" Percy said deadpan. "That Council?"

"Nah, he must be talking about another one," Annabeth nodded with all the nonchalance one could have.

... She was pretty in a dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress and her elfish face,

Annabeth tried very hard, and failed miserably, to suppress a snort of amusement. At least now she knew to never put on a purple gossamer dress and worry about highlighting any elvish features she had.

... He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus—"

"She must be desperate to have come to him for help," Alex sounded more kind than disparaging, but still managed a little bit of both.

"Percy ran out of punch cards for saving his ass, someone banned him this time I guess," Magnus scratched awkwardly at his neck.

Annabeth gave the book a cold, dead kind of stare that freaked Percy out. She knew exactly how Juniper was feeling, she'd just got done living through it.

Percy sighed and sunk heavily into his seat. It's not like he wouldn't have gone looking for Grover...if he had the faintest clue where to start. It had given him an inkling of an idea how his best friend must have felt all those years, longing to be the one to find Pan but with no path that led to more questions. He was alive, it was just a feeling, that's all he'd had to go on.

"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor."

Thalia winced. "Man, it's a good thing you've got Nico there, he's got practice digging graves."

"If I didn't smash him to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I wouldn't now," Percy mock quoted Heaphetus of all gods at a time like this. The pang in his heart didn't lead to much imagination why.

...Nico looked like he was trying to not crack up. "I'll walk the dog," he volunteered.

"I do notice Percy was making zero effort to control his wonderful pooch," Jason grinned.

"Why would I? She was doing such a good job speaking for me," Percy rolled his eyes.

..."You tried to vote him into exile, Chiron and Dionysus stopped you."

"Percy, with the important distinction for this chapter!" Will grinned.

"And boy was it deserved," Percy tried his hardest to smooth out his scowl to prevent drowning the east coast because of this annoying satyr.

"Bah! They are honorary Council members. It wasn't a proper vote."

"I cannot believe he actually said that out loud," Alex looked mildly impressed at this gumption.

"Let's see that defiance last when the first thing Mr. D does when he comes back is turn him into poke'," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I'll tell Dionysus you said that."

"I never took you for a tattle-tale," Nico picked absently at his nails as he studied Percy in curiosity for that. He tried to keep his tone light, used a silly childish way to put it to make sure Percy knew Nico wasn't over here judging him...he wanted to stay on Percy's good side considering he didn't expect great results for what was fixing to happen.

"I hate bullies," Percy reminded, his voice remaining stiff no matter how much he didn't want it to. "If I can't put them in their place, someone can."

...Grover's a liar and good riddance. We're better off without him."

Percy's anger was swelling, his lips twitching into a true scowl. Grover had been out there risking his life for years while this fat lump sat around, and even now, he was more useless than the kids behind him in camp arguing about who was right!

"Where is Juniper's tanning stick? I need it to make a reappearance," Annabeth demanded in outrage for anyone talking about Grover like this.

...Looks like your Council hasn't been meeting lately."

It was an interesting observation nobody knew what to do with. Will would love to know more about this, but considering the council was now gone, he'd just have to hope Grover had an answer next time he came around.

..."They're just taking some time off to think. It's been a very unsettling year."

"Wow, I haven't seen that kind of head in the sand view since I watched the last presidential debate," Annabeth frowned. She had Percy's hand held tight in both of her own to stop him reaching for that pen again, the results being his fingers twitching like spiders in her grasp and it was seriously making her sick to her stomach even as she didn't let go.

"How long you think it takes that kind of thing to kick in for adults?" Percy asked, his voice as all over the place as his hand as he struggled to get a smile back for her. "I don't expect to live long enough for it to, but I'd like a reference for when the stupid takes over."

She really wanted to let go of his hand and slap him. A part of her recognized that's exactly what he expected to happen too. Instead she snipped, "idiots choose to be that way, stop trying to jump in early."

He grinned, a real one, and bobbed his head before turning back to the book, the shaking finally starting to slow.

...I've heard nothing. Perhaps he's dead." Juniper choked back a sob.

If Percy's temper didn't snap, somebody's was going to, Annabeth winced. It was a comforting feeling, to be surrounded by so many people who would absolutely not just stand there and let a tree-nymph choke on a sob without doing something about it, but at the same time, she didn't particularly want to know what Oceanus would do about it at this moment if any of them did.

... I didn't push him hard, but he was top-heavy...ran away with his belly jiggling.

Annabeth felt a flurry of heartbeats so strong she almost pushed Percy back away so he wouldn't panic at her having a heart attack. She'd seen him fight every monster and walk away with a cloud of dust as if it were nothing, but something of Percy standing up to someone who really was no threat to him, basically one step up from a mortal was something new. Putting him in the world and seeing him be a hero anywhere.

"Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"

"Not from the people who matter," Percy said in a scary calm voice. He knew all about not being accepted, and he'd never let Grover feel that way as long as he was around.

... "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved.

"I wish she'd come to me sooner," Percy sighed. He didn't really know Juniper that well, they hadn't all hung out together because it felt major league awkward double-date territory that neither he nor Annabeth ever wanted to acknowledge, and when it was just him and them he felt like an awkward third wheel even when they didn't do it on purpose holding hands while walking along camp.

He liked Juniper enough, he just never seemed to have time anymore to get to know her better while at camp. Maybe that could change, he glanced hopefully at Annabeth, holding his hand with a look of concentration on the book. When all of this was over, maybe they could go on that double date.

Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make an enemy of him."

Percy watched as they all threw their heads back and laughed with his own grin. Some of them probably thought it was as ridiculous as he did, calling Leneus an enemy when he had bigger gods to deal with, and the rest of them were probably just laughing at even the notion Percy could walk away from that without a new enemy.

"What's he going to do?" Alex managed to get his breath first. "Put you in air jail with that apple floating spell?"

"You think Zeus would consider that punishment enough he wouldn't smite me?" Percy sighed.

"Your luck would never be that good," Thalia scoffed.

"No problem," I said. "I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs."

"Exactly what we were saying, glad we're all on the same page," Jason chuckled.

"You'd be terrible at this whole reading thing if we weren't," Percy smirked.

Jason considered ripping every page once he finished it and stuffing it in Percy's available piehole. Only for a brief moment.

... Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well."

"Mom always said my specialty was shaking all the ingredients together," Percy said with pride.

Annabeth smiled at the idea of Percy sitting on the counter at six years old, grinning as he handed his mother a perfectly blended together bowl with a tell-tell bit of chocolate on his lips.

..."Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?"

"Yes Percy, because Nico has always gone out of his way to say hi to Grover's girlfriend," Thalia shook her head at him.

"Better than saying get lost?" Percy offered.

"No," Will frowned.

"Have you tried having a conversation with him that isn't about the end of the world?" Magnus hinted.

Percy thought about it for a moment. "No, actually."

"First he'd have to get past his inability to hold a conversation," Annabeth smirked, Nico even snickering along to her bewilderment, but it was a nice expression to see on his face for a change.

... kind of, dropped in the middle of them." "He scared us to death!" Juniper said.

"Not literally," Nico insisted to nobody, trying to refrain from blushing again.

"Best get used to hearing that stupid phrase now Nico," Will rolled his eyes.

... she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. "Anything at all?"

Nico's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open."

"It is surely now his top priority case," Alex tried to nod as if this were a matter of the highest order.

"He is going to flee and never return if that girl doesn't stop touching him," Magnus said in understanding.

Nico just barely resisted the want to pull his jacket over his head to hide his continued blush. Gods beyond, he'd never even talked to a girl this long before dealing with Juniper and it had been every layer of awkward it was possible to be as he struggled to keep eye contact and having her so close. Percy had been right there and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling, so of course he'd just been getting beamed with a little bit of everything at once in joy- someone was asking for his help- confusion- girl? touching?! nothing...?

He sighed as he rested his head against Will's arm for a few extra moments. He wished he'd been friends with him at the time, but it was whatever now.

... There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us."

"Nothing has ever been simple in your life, why would you lie to her like that?" Thalia frowned.

"Same reason I lied in that council meeting," Percy frowned. Sometimes people just needed to hear the lie even if they didn't believe it to get through another day.

...I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!"...disappointed, she lumbered off to find another target,

"Awww," Jason couldn't help but laugh as he pictured her head hanging down with sorrow. "I can only imagine how hard it is for her to pee out there without constantly having nymphs shoo her away."

"She gets by peeing on the grass most days," Percy assured.

leaving Nico and me alone.

"Have I mentioned how good that dog's timing is?" Alex asked.

"Can I revoke my agreement?" Percy sighed.

"No," Will and Alex told him this time.

Nico smiled because he knew Percy was kidding around. He hoped Percy was kidding around. Was it just him or was the water getting a little colder in here as Percy kept studying him? Crap, what if it was just him and Percy figured out how to just trap him in a block of ice?

Well, he'd be taking Will's arm with him.

... They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off.

"That was adorable," Alex instantly decided.

Nico grinned at him, ruffled his brow in concentration for a moment, and then several bits of skeleton began creeping out of the floor. In moments, a skeletal fish was swimming around them, gave a happy twirl once through Alex's massive hair, and then darted out the giant hole in the door.

Alex laughed in delight and Magnus didn't even scream while the others moved on as if this were an everyday occurrence.

"You've gotten so much better with your powers than even just a few months ago," Will said admiringly. He wished he could do something half as useful.

"Practice makes progress," Nico happily quoted back with a pleased smile. How was it possible he still got a warm flush every time Will met his eyes like that?

... never get used to this kid spending more time talking with the dead than the living.

Nico sighed. He'd never get used to the fact that Percy would see him as a forever kid when he'd probably traveled as much as Percy by now!

"We all have our own hobbies Percy," Alex rolled his eyes. Percy would probably think some of the people he hung out with on the streets were weirder than the gods.

"Yeah, I know," Percy promised. He really was trying not to glance awkwardly at Nico as much anymore, but moments like this where Nico didn't even deny the claim still kind of reinforced the idea Percy wasn't sure they'd ever really get along as friends.

... He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't."

"Beckendorf is just as wise in death as he was in life," Jason nodded solemnly.

"He will be missed," Percy murmured.

... Said he's waiting for someone. Not sure what he meant, but he seems okay with death."

Annabeth's hand tightened painfully around Percy's, it was the only thing to stop her falling to the floor. She'd spent the worst hours of her life wondering if she'd finally find Percy down in Elysium and how she'd ever move on from that place no matter what he told her.

... "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighborhood."

"Doing what?"

"I assume you don't use the entrance at DOA much?" Thalia looked around at him in surprise, and suspicion. Exactly how long had he known about this other Camp?

"I came out of the Underworld in that general area," Nico said, but he managed to say it like such an evasive kid as he darted his eyes away then back it was almost like he wasn't even trying to hide the fact he was hiding something.

Thalia narrowed her eyes but let it be, for now, assuming it was in Percy's best interest.

Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Following a lead on, you know, my family."

All Will seemed to hear was how uncomfortable this was making Nico, and he muttered something gently to him. Thalia really hoped Will didn't see Nico as just an innocent kid being put on the spot though, he could be as devious as his father, he'd already proven that with how many secrets he held so well.

... After Bianca died and left Nico alone, he'd been obsessed with finding answers.

Jason read that line with a little too much intensity. Percy nearly had his whole life pieced back together and here Jason sat, with somehow more questions than ever with his stinking sister in the room and no clear memories of his own!

"Why on earth did you just mentally recap all that?" Annabeth chuckled into the ever-growing awkward silence.

"Don't look at me," Percy sighed. "These books are nuts. I don't have to actually remind myself once a day of everyone's backstory."

"Well that's a relief," Annabeth grinned with a tease. "Sometimes I worry about your ability to remember anything past where all the good snacks are hidden."

"I remembered you, didn't I?" Percy said casually.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes, and it occurred to Thalia she hadn't yet told her sister that the first thing Percy asked when they were thrown in here was where Annabeth was, if Thalia knew her. Percy had known her before he'd even had his own mother's name given back to him. It truly was a sickeningly sweet thing how badly he loved her, so much so even Artimes might begrudgingly admire Annabeth's stance to never give him up.

..."What's the lead?"

Nico chewed his lip. "That's not important right now. You know why I'm here."

"I think I'd rather talk about you right now," Percy groaned, trying not to shield his gut from impact of what could be coming. He didn't imagine the end of that story would go better than Nico's but he was all for avoiding it anyways. "What's up with these leads, how can I help?"

Nico gave him an impressed look. He knew full well Percy was either joking now, or just trying to change the subject off his curse. He couldn't really blame him, what kind of living hell it must be to have the answer living in the same skull that refused to let you hear it without it hurting? But that didn't mean he wanted his own problems on display either. It would go worse.

...show up occasionally and press me for an answer, but I kept putting him off.

Jason winced a little more with each word he'd said in that paragraph. It had been obvious from the start Nico and Percy weren't the closest, too much bad blood from the moment Percy had come back without his sister, but whatever this plan was Jason had faith it was a good one. That Nico only had Percy's best interests to help after everything that happened in the Labyrinth.

He couldn't help but wonder if anyone else had been suggesting this plan if Percy already would have done it.

... Most of the Titans are unleashed and on their side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

Annabeth bit at her lip and went back and forth pointlessly over how good an argument that was. This had already been done, her input at the time could have changed the course of history if she'd tried to caution Percy against this even agreeing extreme had likely saved them all, but it didn't make her feel better she hadn't been consulted by Percy with this.

...This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke."

Percy wondered how long Nico had known. He'd never told Nico anything, like Luke's fall from the side of a mountain, or the way he seemed to glow with power on the Princess Andromeda, which meant Nico must have come to his own conclusions over time. From spying on Luke and Kronos? From ghosts?

Then, how long had it taken him to find out the process, to be confident enough to share with Percy this mad plan? He was way too confident in all this when a year ago he'd been fooled by Minos for Percy to really have faith in this plan.

...I wondered how Nico had heard the prophecy. Probably from some ghost.

"Why do you always assume it's ghosts?" Nico sighed. "I know gods too." In this case his dad had told him, one of his many comments about how Nico had a lot to live up to let him put the pieces together.

...Nico had a strange, hungry light in his eyes. "You can become invincible."

He was always so strong and powerful, from the moment Nico had met him he'd sensed something in Percy he'd thought for so long he could live up to and be a part of.

He knew now that had been childish, wishful thinking. He couldn't 'sense' Percy was also a child of the Big Three, and they were virtually nothing alike.

He was still sure it had all been worth it, even if Percy never fully trusted him again because of the price. They were all alive, Will's home was intact and, you know, the planet too.

"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without—"

"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!"

"Temper, temper," Magnus frowned. He wasn't actually afraid of the guy, but he obviously had some anger that ran deep that was best not coming out on Percy, the guy who could fling Nico across the state by accident if provoked.

Nico didn't answer. Not to laugh, not to blush, not even to look embarrassed or angry now. He was just growing a little bit more pale every page and clutching his sword a little tighter.

Oh. Well that wasn't going to go great.

...I hadn't seen his temper flare like that in a long time. "You sure you're okay?"

Will's leg jiggled around, jostling Nico and generally disrupting his moody silence. He knew Will wanted to ask, wanted to help, but even now after all this he was still pretty sure Will wasn't going to just let slide what he'd done to Percy.

...my sister gave her life to protect you. Honor that. Do everything to defeat Kronos."

A part of Nico had honestly meant that. Bianca had wanted to do good in the world, he had vague memories of her cooking and smiling, offering the spoon to everyone who passed to share. She'd joined the Hunters not just to get away from him but to find a cause for herself.

The other part of him was starting to sweat and nearly gave the game up with trying not to wince at pulling such a card, doing anything to get what he wanted out of this deal even if it had been for a good reason.

I didn't like the idea. Then I thought about Annabeth calling me a coward, and I got angry.

Annabeth sighed, her hand slipping out of his so she could run it through her hair. Oh yes, what a great contribution to saving the world! Making the hero impulsively angry at you!

Percy watched her, his hand feeling empty, his chest feeling cold. What if that had been the last thing she said to him? He didn't want her to be more sorry about the enormous guilt of the last words they'd said to each other over being alive.

..."All right," I decided. His cold creepy smile made me sorry I'd agreed.

That had quite literally been the best thing Percy had ever said to him. No possible hidden meanings, no begrudging talking to him. Percy had just agreed with his idea! And he was supposed to learn more about his past from this! It had probably been one of the happiest moments of his life before Will kissed him.

And Percy had called his smile creepy. Yeah, he scolded his brain. Really the guy you should keep crushing on!

His brain didn't respond.

...retrace Luke's steps. We need to know more about his past, his childhood."

"You don't, know how he did it?" Jason asked in concern, Nico had been apparently bugging Percy about this for months and didn't know all the steps?

Nico hesitated answering, and then lowered his voice so only he could hear, "it was important to replicate the steps Luke did, just to be sure. Trust me."

Jason nodded like that was that, and Nico savored that feeling while he had it. That old joke about tying him up and throwing him in the bathroom might still come to pass when they all found out what he'd actually done to Percy.

Alex and Magnus looked on, jealous they didn't get to hear the answer, while the other three exchanged weary looks like Nico was planning world domination and trying to leave them out.

..."I've already tracked down his mother. She lives in Connecticut."

Of course Luke had a mother, Magnus nodded to the tiny pit in his stomach without surprise. Hearing that he'd grown up on the streets, he knew quite well not to just assume the mother was dead. No, the question was, what had been the breaking point to drive Luke away? Had she been an over-controlling, gaslighting nightmare? Had she just not cared and probably not noticed for weeks? Abuse? Some mental problem she couldn't control but the kid couldn't be around anymore? He'd heard it all and more.

... I'd never thought about Luke's mortal parent. I'd met his dad, but his mom...

A lump formed in Percy's throat. He somehow instantly knew he didn't want this memory to continue. That he'd rather go hunt down Annabeth and have her call him a coward a dozen more times. Luke's mother...April? No, but the memory was tantalizingly close to the surface, and clinging to stay where it was.

... made me wonder what was wrong with her. What kind of horrible person could she be?

Annabeth and Thalia glanced at each other and quickly away. Annabeth had been too young to really understand at the time, and they hadn't talked about it after they left. She wasn't looking forward to hearing what her young mind hadn't been able to grasp about what felt wrong about that place, like there was a monster lurking in every stacked Tupperware container.

Thalia was just, tired of this. Annabeth got Percy back, that was the goal going into this. Now that it had been fulfilled, she wanted to stuff this book in a blender and move on. She wanted to hear about Jason's life, she wanted to get out of this stinking underwater prison! Instead she was stuck here in memory lane, her back aching from sitting so much, her heart slowly dripping into a puddle at being force-fed every word of Luke's life a second time.

...He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods.

"Your dog can shadow travel!" Alex gasped in excitement.

"News to me," Percy said with an uneasy smile in place. Apparently he wasn't going to be very good at directions and Alex might just throttle him if he ran her into too many trees before figuring out which one would make them disappear into a black void of possibly no return.

Nico managed it easily enough though, and he trusted his dog to not get them lost. More like a dozen pit stops on the way to sniff everything.

He hoped nobody would be looking for him any time soon.

...Mrs. O'Leary was certainly big enough. I climbed onto her back and held her collar.

Percy was used to riding Blackjack by now, the way his legs spread uncomfortably over the massive body and riding on a heartbeat with attached lungs, their circulatory system driving them to powerful feats even his half-blood legs couldn't dream of. How warm she was just like his horse, feeling every twitch of her body along her spine as she shifted her weight beneath him, being so high off the ground he felt like he could touch the sky and not get struck by lightning for it.

Percy's heart started thudding, but he recognized it as excitement for once in this crazy mess as he sat forward in his seat. Annabeth was still sitting smushed up in hers, arms crossed and clearly not looking forward to a word of this, but he couldn't help the crazy grin splitting his face at what was going to come next.

... creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door."

Percy remembered Thalia saying something similar trying to explain why demigods had such crazy dreams. It didn't make much more sense coming out of Nico's mouth.

He glanced at Annabeth, wishing she'd volunteer how to explain this, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't get the answer any better. He just liked watching her mouth move more.

... Tell her Westport, the home of May Castellan." "You're not coming?"

The idea of climbing up there had been like molten lava pouring into Nico's body. His vision had doubled painfully of what could be worse. Climbing behind Percy, trying to put his hands on his waist- trying to climb in front of Percy and his arms-

Nope. Just. Better to go his own way. As usual.

...Just before we hit, we passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon.

Magnus sighed as Jason looked up and around and he was up next. Of course he'd get one where he'd spend the entire chapter empathizing with the psychopath who continued to ruin Annabeth and Peryc's life. He would have much rather passed this on and spent the time watching Alex make faces, which was a lot harder to do with the book up his nose.

He shook his head and got up though. Every kid deserved to have their story told, and Luke wasn't here to do it. They knew Luke's side, the guy who claimed the gods didn't care and he would rather watch the world burn than try like Percy did.

Time to see who had a hand in putting that mindset there.

[spadilled]

get to know the author behind the blog hehehe

BASICS.

name: nev/nejvamin/nevward/nevington/whatever u want really age: 24 whole years old pronouns: they/he/she in that order of preference gfhjghjf years of writing: uhhhh since i was in primary school really so like. 18? years? oh god... that sounds like so many years wth

REFLECTION.

why did you pick up writing? i hate to say it but it was when i read the warrior cats books for the first time. i started writing my own bits and pieces surrounding my own warrior cats literally in bed at midnight in a tiny little like a6 notepad i'd been given for a birthday or something when i was six years old and it just snowballed from there. i found a warrior cats forum to rp on when i had my own pc and then i found my way to deviantART and all of the many rp groups on there! then it was tumblr and discord and the rest is history! i've been on tumblr for a While now (either unfortunately or fortunately depending on what way you look at it) and i've since had a Lot of thoughts about trying to write my own novel but i'm still debating on that with myself lmao do you have any writing routines? honestly? none at all. it all depends on whether i have the energy or thought process to get any words down. it's a lot harder at the moment with balancing my job and a horse but i'm hoping to get back into the swing of it sooner or later when my hours drop back down at work again! the most i do is i slap a playlist (or my current brainrot song) on and i pick threads at random depending on which ones i can think of a first sentence to reply with. what's your favorite part about writing? exploring characters and their actions. i really found my stride when i started writing more introspective responses to people. the idea of being able to get into a character's head and know what they're thinking (or not thinking) about is just something that i honestly can't get enough of. another thing though is the creation of a scene as a whole? i tend to 'see' the pieces i'm writing as movie scenes i'm directing, rather than a piece of writing. it makes life hard sometimes but it's just so fun to get to put what i'm seeing down on paper

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR WRITING.

i. oh jeez.... my dialogue? i like to think that the dialogue i use fits my character's voice as well as physically possible? i have pages and pages of dialogue written out for my ocs and otherwise as a fun writing exercise so i'd like to think i'm pretty good at it by now and changing it to suit what muse i'm writing. speech habits are a fascination of mine so i'd like to think that shows through in my writing ii. i try to match my style to whoever i'm writing with? if my writing partner uses more flowery language then i try to match them and vice versa. it's a good exercise for me specifically because i tend to fall into some repetitive habits so i do my best to avoid that iii. bruh this is so hard actually. i'd like to think that i'm quite good at describing emotions? i try to make them as visceral and physical as possible and i think it adds another layer to my characterisation when you can read about how they feel their grief or their joy

A QUESTION FOR THE NEXT PERSON.

what was the first character you ever picked up to start rping? why did you gravitate to them? qr/ow bra/n/wen. i always find myself drawn towards the characters that show their affection in different ways - the tough outer shell and the soft heart. qrow was and is still fascinating to me because he's been through so much in his life and he refuses to let it get in the way of how he treats his nieces and their friends. yeah, he's rough around the edges and comes across as gruff and rude but he genuinely and completely cares about the smiles on his kids faces and that's something i just can't get enough of in a muse. i love cracking open a character and exploring who they are beneath what they show the people around them QUESTION: what keeps you coming back to tumblr rp? what do you enjoy about writing with strangers/friends on the internet?

tagged by: @forbelobog THANK UUU tagging: @finalism, @reasoncore, @vulpesly, @wingspiked. @dreamweaved, @deathsmaidens, @dreamweaved, uhhh idk who has and who hasn't done this im sowwy lmao just steal it if u want to and say i tagged you!!

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

(GFL) Springfield, WA2000, and Task Force DEFY's S/O making them breakfast

Looks like it's time for a T-DOLL FUN FACT!

T-DFF 1: Despite being 100% androids, T-Dolls are perfectly able to consume food and retain all their senses for tasting, able to develop preferences.

Springfield's metaphorical heart warms the moment she smells coffee as she gets up from her bed.

(Springfield) "Aw, S/O! You didn't have to, I could've just...No, no, I'm not complaining. Just pleasantly surprised~."

Springfield enjoys this pampering as she sits upright.

As much as she would like this every morning, the fact this was rare made her cherish S/O and these moments all the more.

Especially considering the fact she didn't eat, and S/O knows this.

It makes this moment all the more loving to her.

She now makes sure to return the favor by brewing a cup of coffee for them at the café.

(WA2000) "H-Huh...?! I don't eat, dummkopf! Why did you...?"

She quickly trails off as she sighs, slightly blushing.

(WA2000) "S-Sorry. I didn't mean that..Um, thank you."

She shyly takes a bite of her food, her lips growing into a smile.

The fact S/O took the time to wake up and cook for her was something they should be appreciated for.

Since she didn't even need to eat, it showed her just how much S/O loved her.

After finishing, she gives S/O a passionate kiss.

(WA2000) "Thank you. Next time, make some for yourself, okay?"

After that breakfast, she goes back to her usual tsundere self, but blushes anytime she remembers this morning.

(RPK-16) "Oh? Surely you haven't forgotten T-Dolls don't eat?"

16 eats it with appreciation anyway. Even if it was a little waste of time for them to cook this.

She's never really had this type of affection shown to her.

All the more reason she got into this relationship, was the excitement it created.

If she was going to have mornings like these, it certainly wasn't going to get stale anytime soon.

(RPK-16) "Thank you for the meal, S/O."

(AK-12) "What's this I smell, S/O?"

12 teases S/O by making them spoonfeed her, she wants to enjoy bed and breakfast proper.

(AK-12) "Not that I don't enjoy a bit of pampering, but you know we don't need to eat, right?...Hm, oh well, I'm not complaining.~"

She doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth, instead gladly accepting their love.

Truth be told, she was genuinely taken off guard. She wasn't expecting to be woken up to breakfast.

Ever.

It was moments like these that she fell in love with S/O all over again, but they wouldn't get to know that.

That was a bit too sappy for her.

But she makes sure to pay them back with some gifts of her own.

(AK-15) "W...What is this?"

15 is completely speechless as she realizes what's in S/O's hands.

At first she thinks they're eating breakfast in her room, until she realizes that was meant for her.

(AK-15) "We don't...I mean, I don't need to-..."

She looks at the food, then back to them before cracking a smile.

(AK-15) "Sorry. I shouldn't be trying to make a fuss over a gift. Thank you, S/O."

She eats the breakfast, but only if they sit next to her and enjoy it. They need it more than her, anyway.

Uncharacteristically, the smile on her face stays the entire time they eat together.

15 didn't really understand what love was still, but she figured after this morning, she got a good idea of how it felt.

94 tilts her head in confusion when she sees S/O with a tray of food.

(AN-94) "Why haven't you eaten yet?...It's...for me...? But I do not require food....True, I can still taste but-...Ah, thank you."

94 is still confused, but grateful.

With a soft smile, she eats the food given to her.

She goes stiff when S/O has a napkin and gently brushes her mouth, her hand reaching for theirs.

(AN-94) "...Thank you, S/O."

94 maintains eye contact for just a few moments before going back to eating.

She's still not sure why they got her food, but it wasn't a moment she'd be forgetting anytime soon.

[solavelyan]

Just under 27 hours left until 10 years of waiting is over.

I never did get around to doing everything I wanted to do before the next game came out, but none of that stuff is going anywhere. It's just been a really long, weird, often very bad decade.

I've been lucky in this lead up that nothing I've seen in the promo, content-wise, has given me much concern if it didn't excite me. I'm going in with as open of a mind as I can manage and withholding critical judgment until I can see the full picture for myself - admittedly, with a bias toward the benefit of the doubt. The devs who have been on and off of this project in the last decade care about telling a good story as much as I do about hearing one, and the love and care on display from the people who made this thing - even the ones actively fucked over by corpo shit - softens my opinion of some of the more controversial writing choices. They were in the weeds and I wasn't, and I'm more than willing to head them out.

I keep coming up with Rook concepts, feeling settled in them for a few days, and then talking myself out of them and changing my mind. I genuinely have no idea what I'm going to do first - but I'm sure whatever it is will be fun, and I'm excited for it.

Most importantly, I'm going to make more effort to stay off social media. I've tried being on less the last few days and it's been... to mixed results, for somewhat IRL reasons that don't matter here so I won't write them down. My worst fandom trait is that I don't enjoy Disk Horse, but when I see something I'm confused or appalled by, I go digging and then suddenly I know more than I wanted, feel obligated to have a reaction (even if it's internal), and then have to give myself a little talking-to anytime I feel the pull of "should I do X or Y in my game? People on (website) say that Y is fucked up or annoying because...". I know this is a habit of mine, and it is some level of mental "work" to get back to a more reasonable stance of "who gives a fuck, it's fake people, shut up and just do what you want, don't take the opinion of strangers you discovered just in time to disagree with them to heart."

I think some of the emotional weirdness is that the world has changed so much, but fandom is still itself. It's having the same drama and discourse and excitement and bullshit and joy as it ever has. I was here for the DA2 and Inquisition releases, and Veilguard's promo really has in some ways felt like being in 2014 again, for better or worse.

I'm sure I'll functionally disappear for a while for this one, just like I did with DAI. And I'm almost as horribly depressed as I was when DA2 launched and I played it in a 3-day fugue state. We'll see how it goes.

But the biggest thing I'm trying to avoid here is how I felt a couple weeks after BG3. I made the mistake of being on twitter more last year, and that's where all the worst bullshit lives these days (which it then leaks all over the place). It took about 2 weeks for the warm and fuzzies to wear off and for people to start feeling comfortable mocking and bullying random strangers who were doing nothing to anyone for the crime of making "boring" Tavs, or to start breaking off into factions based on favorite love interests and then being real big assholes about it. And it only went downhill after that. It ended up being that going into the general tags meant it was just a countdown before I saw really bitch-ass posts about how people pick (race of my character) and or romance (companion I romanced) are annoying and stupid and ruining fandom and so "boring" that reposting their screenshots for mockery is an acceptable pastime. It wasn't bigotry or anything - although the rampant and aggressive biphobia certainly was, that also sucked - but it quickly soured a lot of my experience, as someone who mostly minds my own business just vibing with my OCs and stuff with my little 4-note posts. I felt like I was constantly catching strays for having the gall to not have developed an "I thought X was cool but realized after a week it was bad and dumb" mentality, as so often crops up when the honeymoon cools and people kind of start to rot in fandom and care way too fucking much about what other people are doing because they're done actually engaging with the material directly.

Unfortunately, I think that shit is inevitable, and I just... don't want to see it. I don't want to fall in love with Companion Y or enjoy Plot Point X, only to check my socials and find people calling anyone who shares my opinion a stupid asshole who's ruining everything for other people just by existing, or basically a bigot for not digitally fucking their favorite or playing a character they find interesting. DA fandom has always been this way, and it sucks ass.

Honestly, I think that's why I'm so open to being charmed by the new game: because my apprehension isn't the game, it's fandom fucking bullshit. I'll always be happy to see more people enjoying things, but I've been here through some ugly shit and DA flavored fandom drama is almost always stupid horrible nonsense, and I'm not looking forward to that shit ramping up.

So I'm doing my very best to cocoon, only talk directly to my friends, and just enjoy this thing I've been waiting for for a decade without giving in to my impulse to care too much about everything all the time. I'll probably post pictures of my Rook or something, but I don't want to be ~around~ until I've finished at least my first playthrough.

The tl;dr of this is that I'm very very excited for the game itself and am ready to be impressed. Gimme the good heartbreak, Weekes.

[shiftyyyy]

Howdy, two things for this ask. Number one, adore your art. Kinda feels like a proper HD remaster of the Sprunki sprites with the strong edge shading, all around shape of the bodies, the arms are well input, and you translated the expressions damn near perfectly. Dead Tunner's face looks like he's actually dead or heavily disoriented, and not like he's mildly confused. Keep it up, and if I could, I'd commission you.

Second is some epic facts about my version of Tunner.

He's a full blown cowboy, and the strongest of the group. Because he has many guns, and he can shoot them with damn near perfect accuracy.

He's the reason why Mr. Sun (A major antagonist) is dead. Sun killed the cattle at his ranch, Tunner stayed up to see who did, Mr. Sun came again, tried killing Tunner, Tunner showed Mr. Sun his 2nd amendment rights, and now Mr. Sun is dead.

1: OH MY GOD THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I LOOKED AT MY PHONE WHEN I GOT THIS ASK OGMGMGMYMYMY,!?!!!2? THSIS IS ONE OF THE BEST COMPLIMENTS I COULD EVER GET THIS IS GENUINELY SO SO SO SWEET OF YOU TO SAY IM GIGGLING AND KICKING MY FEET OVER THIS ASK I ADORE THE WAY YOU DESCRIBED IT OMG?? YPU REALLY MADE YOUR COMPLIMENT SEEM REALLY GENUINE ANS I CANT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR IT AAGGHRHHH IM IN A PUDDLE OF TEARS WITH HAPPINESS IM SO OVERJOYED BECAUSE OF THIS !! HEHEHEH THAT WAS MY FIRST TIME DRAWING TUNNER IM GLAD TO KNOW THAT I REPRESENTED THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS WELL!!! AND I CANT BELIEVE U SEE THE ART AS OFFICIAL RENDERS TOO! THE FACT U SAID YOU WOULD PAY FOR ART BY ME MAKES ME SMILE SOSOSOSOS MUCHHH <:-) !! I REALLY DONT THINK I HAVE ENOUGH TALENT TO DO COMMISSIONS HONESTLY I JUST MAKE STUFF FOR FREE!! I DO HAVE A PAYPAL BUT I NEVER USE IT BECAUSE I WANNA BE ABLE TO DRAW FOR EVERYONE MONEY OR NOT!! THANK YOU AGAIN YOU DONT KNOW HOW MUCH THAT MOTIVATES ME!!! THIS IS ON MY MIND 24/7 NOW, YALL ARE GENUINELY THE SWEETEST LITTLE CREATURES </3 IM SMILING SO MUCH OVER THIS IM THINKING ABOUT THIS 24/7 NOW AAHDRHEJFHRHWHHRHERH 1!1!1!1!1!1 YOUR GUYS COMPLIMENTS STAY INDENTED IN MY BRAIN ANS LIVE RENT FREE IN MY MIND YOU ALL MAKE ME SO HAPPYYYYU

2: OH MY GOD OH MY GOD TUNNER RANTING!??1!1!2 IM SO DOWN IM HIS BIGGEST FAN EVEBRBRG HEHEEHHEHEHE DUDE UR VERSION OF TUNNER IS GENUINELY SO COOL??? I ACTUALLY AGREE WITH ALOT OF YOUR HCS I FW THEM SO HARD! HE DEF IS A COWBOY NO DOUBT, AND I CAN ALSO SEE HIM BEING THE STRONGEST OF THEM ALL!! HE PROLLY IS SUPER GOOD WITH GUNS HIS AIM WOULD TOTALLY BE CRAZY GOOD! I ALWAYS SAW HIM OWNING SOME KIND OF HORSE TOO BUT I WOMT RAMBLE TOO MUCH ON HOW I SEE HIM SINCE I WANT PEOPLE TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR IDEA BECAUSE ITS SO FRICKIN COOL AND AWESOME!! ESPECIALLY CUZ OF HOW YOU SEE TUNNER BEING THE REASON MR. SUN IS DEAD OGMRJEHFJEKFK?? I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT THATS SOSOSOSO COOL DUDE JAW DROPPED UR SO CREATIVE!! RIP MR. SUN THO LOLOLOLO XD MESS WITH TUNNER, GET THOSE GUNS!! GOD YOUR HEADCANNONS ARE SO COOL ID BE OPEN TO HEAR ANY MORE OF THEM U COME UP WITH AWESOME IDEAS LIKE HONESTLY THEYRE VERY VERY COOL!! TYSM FOR RANTING ABOUT TUNNER I LOVE TO HEAR PPLZ HCS ABOUT HIM I LOVE HIM TO BITS KEEP UP UR AWESOME WORK TOO DUDE UR AWESOME THANK YOU FOR THE ASK! :-))))

[annabawritersdream]

For the Headcanons Game

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

OC: Imrolas

Thank you for the ask!

So...quirks/hobbies headcanon and Imrolas.

I have to say that, at the moment, I don't have too much going for him and he's not extremely well-characterized either. I only know that he's Aragorn's helper and serves him the way Beregil (another one of my Gondorian OCs) serves Faramir. He's essentially the guy that does all the work and rarely gets recognized. He's very loyal and, contrarily to many courtiers, genuinely respects Aragorn. I daresay he's in awe of him, even. Aragorn chastises him more than he actually deserves, but Imrolas doesn't really care and is honored to a part of the king's household. I'll try to remember all the information I'm typing here so that I can actually include it in the story. So, back to your ask.

Quirks and hobbies.

I imagine Imrolas to be very geeky. He is a nerd. He enjoys playing cards but he's not very good at it and actually lost quite a bit of money to some people he believed he would beat. He's very confident in his abilities but you could also call him reckless and it would pretty much be the truth (also, Aragorn does not know about the money and the bets he took part in and I really hope no one tells him so, please, don't rat him out. He's a very good person, he's just not a realist and lives in his own world most of the time. The real question here is how he got to be the High King's personal assistant, but I fear it is something I will have to figure out for myself sooner than later). While he admittedly sucks at playing cards, he is, however, excellent at chess and checkers. He plays the recorder and loves a good book whenever he has some spare time. He also collects rocks and likes plants, though he has no idea how basic gardening works. He originally wanted to be a musician and would love to learn how to play the fiddle and the harp since everybody keeps telling him the recorder is an instrument for kids. He truly loves the sound of the fiddle, which is why I suppose is into the songs of Rohan. His parents are both from Gondor, but he spent his early years in Meduseld as an old aunt sent him there while his parents recovered from an unspecified illness. He also had a Rohirrim girlfriend/love interest—she was more of a childhood crush, actually—and vowed to learn to learn to play fiddle (or the viola or any other similar instrument) in the hopes of actually getting her to fall in love with him. Ah, sweet Imrolas. Of course he never told anyone about this. The funny thing is, he doesn't even remember what her name was because his memory kind of sucks. Poor Imrolas pt. 2

He actually probably convinced himself he doesn't remember her because she rejected him and poor guy was madly in love with her and couldn't handle the pain. Poor Imrolas pt. 3

I suppose he's also the kind of guy to take up poetry (and probably fail miserably at it). As far as quirks go, he has a habit of chewing his nails to the bone and wears a handkerchief around his neck because...he likes it? He doesn't follow fashion trends, that's for sure. He doesn't really care about fashion, I feel like. I suppose he's kind of hyperactive in a sense that he cannot keep still for more than five seconds and he also happens to be an extremely nervous individual. He often talks too much (a bit like Wyn), but he's learned to shut up since he entered Aragorn's service. You kind of have to shut up if the king is talking to you, I suppose. I would say he's an overgrown Hobbit in a way. He doesn't smoke though. He hates it. And something tells me he's a vegetarian.

He loves buttered potatoes and could have them at any time. (Sam will definitely give him a couple recipes from old cookbooks of his. They'll probably bond over potatoes and cooking if they ever meet). Also, he doesn't like riding horses (that's probably one of the many reasons why his Rohirrim girl rejected him. Again, poor thing)

That's it for now, I think.

Thank you again for the ask!

[ladyaster]

Hi! Long time no discussing the greenbeans here and I am trying to provide this ship with more regular food but the current art I'm doing of them is taking a while (haven't been doing it as regularly due to college taking priority) so here's some Lyn x Rath headcanons in the meantime:

One of their favorite shared pastimes is just gazing at the sky together. No matter the time of day, whether it's watching the clouds or the stars, they love to sit down and stare at the sky, sometimes making small talk, reveling in each others' presence and marveling at how vast and prismatic the sky can be. Neither really draw (at most Lyn's had some painting lessons in Caelin but she never got enough practice), but they wish they could to just capture all the skies they've seen, blue, silver, orange and red streaked in rose and gold, dark violet flecked with jewels, but the best skies they'll always have etched in their memories forever.

They also spend a lot of time together taking care of the horse, and after being shown enough kindness by her between being pet or her helping brush it or sneaking it an apple, the horse really likes Lyn a lot and perks up whenever she walks by. Once it was clear Lyn got along that well with his horse, Rath realized she was the one.

Lyn helped Rath learn to like rain and snow again after he spent so long dreading it due to living out in the wilderness for so long. Snow especially: when they were getting closer to the Black Fang's hideout and were camping out on in the snowy mountainside, she taught him how to have a snowball fight and while she had the early lead on him, he learned fast. There was no definite winner by the end but they both just had so much fun, and upon mutually collapsing side by side in the snow, for the first time she saw him actually truly smile (he's had light attempts at smiles that lasted about a second that were mostly for reassurance in the past, but emphasis on "attempts"). That was her own moment of going all "Oh shoot, I love this man."

Snow might be more special for them but they do like getting caught in the rain and running as fast as they can through the puddles and the downpour to get to shelter, or especially the feeling of cuddling up for warmth under the blankets while it's absolutely pouring outside and listening to the rain bounce off the roof and the walls.

Rath can listen to Lyn talk about her life in the Lorca tribe all day. At first it's because he can't remember what it's like to live with your tribe and he wants to culturally reconnect in any way he can, but he also knows how important her tribe was to her. He knows better than most what can happen if you're never able to talk with someone about your pain, and besides that, it's genuinely fascinating what she's able to teach him between customs and stories and everything in between. He also loves seeing how enthusiastic she can get about her culture, and her lengthy talks are equal parts bittersweet and heartwarming.

Post-game when they get married Lyn does feel sad that she's considered legally of the Kutolah in spite of being Lorca at heart, but Rath insists that he's legally a part of the Lorca, too, and with their union, as long as there's a Kutolah, there will always be a Lorca.

Sue basically acts as the solidifying factor of this idea as she's raised to understand both of her parents' cultures. They celebrate holidays of both Lorca and Kutolah cultures in the household and if they have the same holiday that's on a different date depending on the tribe, they celebrate it twice.

Speaking of Sue they absolutely dote on her like crazy. They never want any of the hardship that happened to either of them to ever happen to her so they constantly let her know how much they love her, either by telling her multiple times every day, teaching her to fight so she can survive the "rising of the dark star" Athos foretold, or wanting to learn more about her own interests. They're super proud of her deep connection with the spirits of nature and how, yeah, they're raising her well but she's also just genuinely a sweet, gentle person. This house is never short on hugs.

When he and Lyn found out they were going to be parents, Rath made a little plush fawn for their future child (even if it took him a few attempts to make something that, a. resembled a deer, and b. didn't fall apart after a week since prior he only really sewed for clothing maintenance), and Sue used to carry it everywhere with her when she was little. It's now really beat up but even during FE6's canon she still keeps it with her after Dayan's able to give it back to her in the Sacae Route. Similarly, Lyn started getting into whittling around the time the plush was made to stay preoccupied until Sue was born and she could go back to swordplay again, but she genuinely ended up enjoying the hobby so she kept at it after the fact and got pretty good at it over the years, so Sue has some of her mother's salvaged wooden figurines in her bag with the old fawn, too.

Even if Lyn starts out very iffy about Dayan, Dayan really respects Lyn and very much approves of her and his son being together. He's heard a bit about the whole Lundgren business in passing and after being told about the fight against Nergal admires her as a war hero. Not to mention she's normally a very warm person and can see how happy she makes Rath while he's still more withdrawn. (also headcanoning that Rath's mom is still alive until Zephiel's attack happens and she is sassy and as such likes that Lyn has a lot of fire in her and won't take sass lying down and will dish it right back if she needs to)

I CAN KEEP GOING