#i got really good at math and programming and my twin got really good at art and design

[branmuffins22]

Allegedly, because the first time they really bonded was in Latissa, located in the Titan's armpit.

Honestly though, I kinda hate that name.

Obscure fictional geographic references aside, there's also no good reason why whoever coined it decided to go with "twins", besides the obvious familial connotation. As a twin myself (and one who knows several other multiplets), I'd say their relationship isn't even all that twin-like, though it is very sibling-y (i also have non-twin siblings).

The main thing that really makes twins different from regular siblings is their parallel upbringing. We grow up with a peer constantly (not consistently, CONSTANTLY) at our side, able to keep us company and potentially cover any shortcomings. We're quite often a package deal, and so we tend to be kinda poorly-rounded as individuals.

Luz and Hunter, however, grew up relatively alone, and aren't implied to spend any time together outside of crises until s3e1. Their dynamic is also weirdly hierarchical, despite being placed on nearly-even footing for most of season 2, what with Hunter being above the law and Luz being outside it. When they aren't busy being menaces to eachother, Luz is taking charge and playing protector for Hunter nearly every time we see them together.

While they've got all the banter and fighting and reluctant ride-or-die attitude of siblings, they lack the crucial equality and connectedness of supposed "twins".

Hey. Why do people call them pittwins

[samwilsonshandsandass]

I Think I'm Seeing Triple

Pairing: Sam Wilson x Sam Wilson x Sam Wilson x reader x Bucky Barnes x Bucky Barnes x Bucky Barnes Summary: You just want to get settled in in your hotel room for a weekend conference, when your room is also given to two other attendees of the conference. And then something happens no one can explain and four surprise guests are also in the room Warnings: Smut, oral (f and m receiving), spanking, choking Word count: 3240 A/N: @keanureevesisbae were suffering together because of a post with four pictures each of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan and then I had a thought and got some inspiration.

You went up to your hotel room after the first getting to know each other event at the weekend conference you had to go to. You hadn’t even put your shoes near the door when it opened and in came two other attendees. You knew who they were, had seen them all over the newspapers and also columns. Sam Wilson aka Cap and Bucky Barnes aka… he wasn’t the Winter Soldier anymore and you didn’t know if he wanted to claim that title to morph it into something good or if he was called something else. So, Bucky Barnes.

Before you could ask them what they did in your room, and how they got a key card when it was clearly booked, and before they stopped their bickering about who was the blanket hog, there were two flashes of golden light and from each flash tumbled a pair of men identical to the pair of men who just walked into your room. Just their clothing separated them from each other.

“Who are you?”

Sam Wilson asked and looked at someone who seemed to be his friend. Although that friend had entered the room beside him.

“I’m Bucky” The one spoken to, said.

“No, I’m Bucky!” A third version of the man said.

“And you?” The one who seemed to be the actual Sam, wanted to know.

“Sam.”

“Who am I then?”

“My less attractive twin?”

“Ha-ha.”

“So, There’s three Sams. And three Buckys. That’s not weirder than other things we were confronted with. And you are?” The Bucky who had entered the room with the first Sam questioned and looked at you.

“Y/N” You answered slowly. “And why are all of you in my hotel room?”

“We’re here because the person at the reception told us this room was available. We’re last minute additions to this weekend conference” That was one of the Buckys. He gestured to himself and one of the Sams.

“O- kay. And you four?” You looked at the seemingly identical versions of the Sam and Bucky who were supposed to be here.

“There was a flash, everything went cold and now we’re here” The third Bucky replied.

“We had something similar happening” The Sam in the middle said.

“Alright. Okay. Cool. I’ll just be blunt and say I wouldn’t have been opposed to one Sam and Bucky being in the same room for an entire weekend” You mumbled after you looked shortly to the heavens.

“You do know we’re supposed to actually attend meetings and workshops and networking events, don’t you?” The Bucky you dubbed “Bucky number one” asked you.

“Stickler for principles…” Sam number one grinned. “I know you. You’d do anything to get out of at least the networking events.”

“Of course I would! Still doesn’t change the fact networking just means getting drunk and fucking someone just for the sake of fucking someone. I’m not for that. And I can’t get drunk.”

You saw the other two Bucky’s nod in agreement.

“So, that’s the defining trait of the different Bucky’s” Sam number two smiled.

“As if you like what comes out of these events” Bucky (you couldn’t say which) grinned back.

“No, I’d cook for someone first. Be a gentleman.”

“See. And I’d take her dancing.”

You cleared your throat.

“I still don’t understand all this” You stated.

“Me neither” Bucky number three. “Maybe we could each explain the basics of yourselves.”

“Good idea. So. In this universe, my universe, you” You sat back on the bed and pointed at Sam number one, “were a para rescue and then used what you learned during that time to save the world. And you” You looked down at Bucky number one who was laying on your belly, “were a P.O.W. during World War II and then basically got turned into a human weapon and got frozen to keep your body the way they needed it to be. You were found and then, a year later in probably the technologically most advanced country on earth you finally got freed for good from it all and now use your skills for good as well. With him as your partner.” You pointed at Sam number one again.

“Wait. You had a second World War? We only had one. You know, the one from 1914 to 1918?” Bucky number two asked. “What happened in your universe?”

“The Germans thought the cure for their humiliation in Versailles could only be coped with by committing genocide and reaching for world domination.” Bucky number one explained. “And my best friend got quite big and muscle-y because of that. Why didn’t the Germans do in your universe what they did in mine?”

“Some Germans had their heads on straight. Fought back when the political landscape of 1920s Germany was close to morphing into street terror and they succeeded. They stayed a democratic country and that was that.”

“My Steve got all the muscles as well.” Bucky number three smiled. Then it fell from his face. “We actually served together, after he changed like that. When the Germans and their allies were defeated, Steve went on to train new recruits back home and I went to Korea.”

“So, you aged normally. How come you’re here now with a body like back then? And why are you also looking like that, when there even wasn’t a second world war and in theory you should’ve lived a long live and, no offence, be long underground?” You wondered and looked between Bucky number two and three.

Bucky number two snorted. “I know what you mean. After school, I actually got a scholarship, one of the few back then, for Teachers College, which is a part of Columbia University. I became a Math and Physics teacher. After some years, the university offered a few places in an experimental study about nitrogen and cryogenesis.”

“And I suspect you accepted one?” Sam number three asked.

“Yep. Wanted to see what progress the future made in science and to have the body and age and mind to enjoy it all fully.”

“That takes being a nerd to a whole new level. I thought the Bucky I know was flexing!” Sam number one exclaimed.

“Just because I could read the Hobbit when it came out and you couldn’t?” Bucky number one shot back.

“You read that, too?” Bucky number two and three exclaimed.

“No matter the universe, they’re nerds” Sam number two mumbled.

“And you two? What happened with you in your universes?” You looked at Sam number two and three.

“My and Sarah’s parents died quite a few years ago. My nephews were little, and yet, I thought I’d help my family more if I went off to the air force. Sarah wouldn’t have that and then the community got wind of my plans and they kept me there” Sam number two smiled. “I took over more of the workload to keep our fishing business afloat so Sarah could focus more on the kids when they were really little. When they got bigger, we shared the workload more equally and still do that now. Haven’t regretted not moving away one day.”

“I also didn’t move away. Well, not entirely to Washington, after our parents died. I worked my ass off to get into an undergraduate program for social work and now I’m working as a counselor for families in tight spots in St. Bernard” Sam number three told.

“Okay. This is quite much, but I can work with that. Or at least understand more. Want to know something about me?” You looked around at the six men around you.

“Isn’t that confusing for you?” Bucky wanted to know.

“On every level, yes. So, I’ll just concentrate on the fact there’s six handsome and hot guys and just one of me.”

“That’s certainly something” Sam smiled.

“Yeah” You laughed quietly and took his hand.

You felt him stroke the back of your hand and move towards you. With a half smile and half lidded eyes, he pecked your lips. He moved back slowly. You cradled his head in your hand and pulled him in again, scratching his head all the while and earning a moan. You moved your lips against Sam’s, sucking his tongue into your mouth. He chuckled against your lips and moved back again. This time just enough to be able to bite your lips and then move his tongue against your lips again.

When he allowed you to breathe, another Sam asked: “You gonna hog her all for yourself or let us have a piece, too?”

“As if I’d deny myself the joy and pleasure of all of you…” You simpered.

“Well then” He pulled you up to stand and walked you to the middle of the big, fluffy rug in front of the bed.

Sam stood in front of you. With a faint smile, he unbuttoned button for button on the top of your dress. At the same time Bucky knelt behind you and let his hands wander from your ankles to the hem of your panties. He pulled them down slowly, until they caught on the hem of your stockings. Bucky pulled them down as well and put them on the ever growing pile of clothes near the foot of the bed.

“Would you look at this body!” Came from the direction of the bed, where the other two Buckys sat when the Sam before you let your dress fall from your body.

“God” That drawn out moan came from the loveseat with two Sams on it.

You smiled and opened your eyes, looking around to see the four men naked and teasingly stroke their cocks.

“C’mere baby” Sam purred.

The two men who had just undressed you went over to the bed. You stood in front of the loveseat.

“And where am I sitting?”

“Laying” Sam smiled and pulled you down.

Your torso laid across the legs of the Sam sitting left and your thighs across the Sam on the right. You wiggled your ass jokingly until you felt a gentle spank on the right cheek.

“We’ll be the ones to make you move, baby. You just relax and take it” Bucky said from the bed. You had no idea which one.

“Although that doesn’t mean we’ll be soft” Another Bucky said. You could hear the smile in his voice.

“I don’t think she wants us to be soft. Well, maybe a little?” The Sam who had your torso laying on his legs, questioned.

You looked up at him and opened your mouth to answer but before you could, he slipped two fingers into it. His other hand wandered to the nape of your neck. He started massaging it, and with a guttural moan, you spread your legs.

The Sam with your legs on his thighs now kneaded your butt, lulling you into a sense of security and comfort.

Then came the first spank. Pretty light, on the left butt cheek. You squeaked in surprise.

Before you could say anything, he landed a slightly harder spank on the right one. You whimpered.

The third spank was even harder, on the left cheek again.

The fourth spank made your ass cheek jiggle and yourself moan.

Sam continued in that tempo and alternated the cheeks with every other spank. The other Sam moved his fingers in and out of your mouth at a different pace, not giving you a chance to get used to just one rhythm.

From the couch pants and moans could be heard. Sam didn’t let you move your head, squeezing instead of massaging your neck each time you wanted to look in the direction of the bed.

“No looking, baby. You just feel and hear.”

You nodded as best as you could and felt a visceral need in your core. You tried to alleviate it, humping the side of Sam’s thigh.

“You need something more, baby?”

You mumbled around the other Sam’s fingers.

“I’d say that’s a yes” The Bucky in the middle of the bed grinned.

“C’mere baby.” Both Sam’s helped you up and got you in front of the bed.

You looked up at Bucky and he petted your cheek.

“Ready?”

You nodded and knelt in front of Bucky and another Bucky pushed your head down to make you take everything until you gagged. They both gave you short periods of reprieve when one of them pulled a little back until they made you gag again. With each gagging noise you made, you felt yourself getting wetter.

Suddenly you felt the tip of a cock between your ass cheeks. With a sigh, a sigh as if he came home, the man behind you penetrated you slowly, making you feel every inch. Bucky pushed you down quickly. The pace made your eyes water and a tear fall but that didn’t keep you from recognizing that beautiful brown skin in the corner of your left eye.

“We’re so good, we make you cry?” Sam grinned, showing his canines.

You nodded once when you heard a growl above you. Suddenly your mouth was empty and not a second later long ropes of cum hit your face.

You opened your eyes just in time to see Sam’s hand rubbing your clit as he pulled your back close to his chest. You felt the warmth of his chest and his accelerated heartbeat at your back. He bent forward to caress your neck. Sam kissed your neck and bit every spot he had just caressed. You bucked against him, trying to get him moving deeper into you. You felt him smile against your neck where he had just sucked. He pressed his index and middle finger to your clit. He tapped it and with two further movements, you felt him squeeze your neck and with a long whine you came.

You wrapped your hands around Sam’s left wrist and that did it for him. You felt him spurt into your core and your legs trembled a little with the aftershocks.

“God…” He moaned into your neck and kissed it.

“J- just me” You mumbled in a haze with a grin.

You heard several chuckles from the bed. Someone pulled you slowly up and put you on the bed. Several people stroked your body and kissed you softly. You, in turn, caressed Sam’s face and could almost hear him purr under your touch.

When you felt like you were in the here and now again, you laid on back on the bed, the head in the lap of one Bucky with one Sam kissing the life out of you. He had his hand wrapped around your throat and squeezed now and then. You were moaning and whimpering continuously but you didn’t know why exactly. Maybe it was because Bucky massaged your head. Maybe it was because Sam choked and kissed you so beautifully.

And maybe it was because what happened between your legs. Looking down your body, spread out like a feast, you saw one brown haired head. Two strains had escaped the low bun and stuck to his face with his spit and your slick. Next to Bucky, there was Sam. This was the Sam with longer curls. Perfect to rake your fingers through and pull him even closer to you.

Both of them licked, nibbled and sucked on your private parts and on the tighter rim a little below. Occasionally they bumped heads and shoulders, chuckling each time. Each chuckle sent vibrations through you and made you pull their hair. Every time you did that, they moaned. Even more vibrations went to your clit. A vicious cycle.

Until they stopped everything.

Although you wanted to form words of protest, nothing articulated came out of your mouth.

You saw the two grinning at each other and they rammed three fingers each in you. Three in your pussy and three in your ass. You could only moan and your back arched up.

Bucky attacked your g spot right away and Sam hammered into your ass. With the contrast of that to the kissing of the other Sam and the head massage by the other Bucky, you couldn’t focus on anything, just letting it happen. Out of the blue, you sensed something warm and wet and occasionally sharp on your nipples and your neck. You could only guess that was because of the other two.

With one more come hither motion of Bucky, you screamed into Sam’s mouth and came. You felt your walls spasm and spasm and spasm. Yet, Bucky didn’t stop. Each time your pussy let up, there was another come hither motion and Sam hadn’t stopped fingering your ass once.

Sam and Bucky bit your nipples until they were swollen and the Sam who still had his hand around your neck, squeezed.

Your body, that hadn’t ceased moving since your scream, spasmed as a whole and then everything went black.

---

As you came to again, one pair of Sam and Bucky were grinning up at you and two pairs were grinning down at you.

“There she is again” Bucky smiled.

“I take it you’re satisfied?” Another Bucky asked you cockily.

You nodded, panting.

You were maneuvered until you laid on a mountain of pillows. From that position you could see all six men gripping their erections. Your body was sweaty, spit from six men clung to it, your face was painted with the cum from one of the Bucky’s and between your legs there was a mess of the cum of one of the Sam’s and yours. Still, you wanted more. And you knew how to get it.

You made grabby hands, decidedly close to the men’s cocks. They grinned and moved closer to you.

“Please?” You made puppy dog eyes at them.

“How can you say no to this very beautiful and very naughty girl?” One of the Sam’s mumbled to himself.

“You don’t, never!” Bucky answered and started jerking faster.

You licked your lips and sat up a bit. You didn’t want to miss one second of this show. Their hands went over their cocks, faster and faster until the six faces contorted in pleasure and you saw your belly and breasts be painted by their cum. It was accompanied by several growls and whimpers.

You smiled tiredly, when the six collapsed around you. You pulled them closer, reveling in their warmth.

“Gimme some minutes, doll” Bucky whispered into your ear.

After some time, he went and got several warm wet washcloths. He and another Bucky cleaned you up softly. Only after that, did the men clean up themselves. You turned on your side, tired and sated. Sam pulled you into his chest, Bucky molded himself to your back and put his legs over yours. The other four cuddled up to you three in the middle, making you a tangle of seven people in the middle.

“Does one of you know when the first meeting of tomorrow starts?” You yawned.

“At nine” The Bucky of this universe mumbled.”

“The cyborg strikes again” A mix of a yawn and smile was audible in his voice. “Do we have to attend that?”

“I think so.”

“Ugh. And what about the four not from here?” Sam wriggled his arm free and hugged one Bucky and one Sam to his back.

“No idea” The Sam hugged by Sam shook his head.

“Let’s sleep for now. We can worry about that tomorrow” The Bucky between the two Sam’s said.

[1234-angelika]

Teacher, Teacher

an: this is the final post of the week and the first installment in the Happily Ever After series for Matt. I'm excited to share with y'all, this has been in the works for a while. Hope you enjoy!

words:1.2 k warnings:Divorce, custody battle,

summary: "The best things in life are unexpected-because there were no expectations." -Eli Khamarov

masterpost|taglist|have an idea

At 18, you thought that you wanted to practice law. So, you went ahead and started on that journey.

You got your bachelor's degree in English with a minor in psychology. After that, you went on to write the LSAT and scored 170. With that impressive score, you applied to multiple programs and decided on the path of getting your J.D. at Columbia Law School in New York with a focus on family law. It took you three years, and then you moved to Virginia. You applied to a prep class before taking the bar, and that's where you met Kristy. Although you were taking different paths, you became fast friends, keeping in contact throughout the years. You passed the bar on your first try. It was a lot of work, but to you, it was worth it.

After a few years of working in family law, you saw a really rough case. It was a custody dispute. The case had started off pretty straightforward and then spiralled at an impeccable speed. After that case, you decided to take a break. You resigned and went back to school instead of getting your Certified Childcare Professional credential. And then you opened up a day-care in your neighbourhood where childcare was scarce. It didn't take long for business to pick up and for you to be busy all the time. You had two co-workers who were a tremendous help with the workload and genuinely good people.

Being a day-care teacher was such a rewarding job, shaping your minds to wonder and question everything, but man, was it exhausting.

To start your day, you slept in past your alarm. Way past, like 40 minutes, your busy week must have caught up to you. You had called your co-workers as soon as you woke up to apologize for being late and to tell them that they would have to start the day without you. You hopped in the shower and got ready for the day, not even grabbing a snack before rushing out the door. You headed to the nearest drive-through for a hot coffee and something to eat. The drive-through line was long, which didn't help your stress about the fact you were late. The only thing that made the lousy morning a little bit better was the fact it was Friday.

The sunshine provided the opportunity for a lot of outdoor exploration and independent play. We spent the morning doing math and science—which was really nature exploration—before going back in for a snack. After snack time, we went back outside for art which was drawing with chalk and water-colour painting. After lunch, we focused primarily on the idea of independent play.

For having such an abrupt start to your day, the rest of your workday seemed to pass quite slowly. By 4, almost all children had been picked up, your co-workers had left—all the children except the Simmons kids. From what you understood—from the small amount Kristy had told you—reminding you of your previous career. She and her husband were going through a divorce with an ugly custody battle happening. To add to that, apparently, their dad worked an insane job with unpredictable hours.

Today was the first day he was supposed to pick them up since the split. Kristy had warned you that he probably wouldn't be on time. So, you had prepared. You had snacks and drinks and a movie playing on the screen. You were working away at the paperwork, and the boys were playing on the carpet while Beauty and the Beast was streaming on the screen. By the time that movie had finished, you finished all the paperwork you had to do, and the boys became tired of playing on the floor, deciding to just focus on the movie instead.

Standing up, you said, "Alright, before we watch another movie, let's clean up our toys."

They were pretty quick in getting up and cleaning up their toys. When all the toys were put away, markers were cleaned up, and paper neatly stacked where it was supposed to be, you got ready for the next movie. Bean bag chairs were brought to the carpet while the boys grabbed some snacks and juice boxes.

"Get comfy!" You said with a smile as the boys ran to the bean bags. Each picking their favourite colour. "Now, what movie are we watching now?"

"Up!" David said, and you looked at Jake before putting it on. He nodded so, you went ahead with the movie.

About halfway into the movie, you heard a multitude of footsteps coming down the hallway, accompanied by voices. As quiet as possible so as not to disturb the boys, you got up from your bean bag and walked to the door to see what the noise was. If it was an intruder, you wanted to at least try and protect the kids. When you got to the door, you swung it open. There stood a tall, model-like man with his hand raised, ready to knock on the door. Beside him, two darling little girls who were absolutely adorable and very obviously twins.

"Hello, can I help you sir?" You asked the man, using your body to block the doorway as best you could.

"I'm Matthew Simmons—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the two boys ran into his legs shouting;

"Daddy!"

You nodded to yourself in understanding. Once each of the boys latched onto a leg, he continued, "—and I'm here to pick up my sons."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N Y/L/N, their school teacher."

You lead him into the room.

"So Y/N, is there anything I need to do before I can take the boys home?"

"Matthew—"

"Please call me Matt,"

"—Matt, I need you to sign the sheet on my desk and the book by the door and then you can go."

Matt went over to your desk, signed the paper and, walked back over to the door and signed the book. Then he walked into the cubby area, kids trailing behind. You walked over and helped him pack his sons' things, he packed Jake's bag, and you packed David's. After the boys had put on their coats and outside shoes, you handed David his backpack. He swung it on, and Jake did the same.

As they walked out, Matt stopped in the doorway. Turning to look at you, he said;

"Bye Miss Y/L/N. See you Monday." And with a wink, he turned and walked away.

You stared after him, and then, you understood why Kristy never introduced you to her soon-to-be ex-husband. That dazzling smile and flirtatious demeanour were heart-stopping.

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 11 - Student Council President Sakura / Graduation Chapter

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Youtube playlist for your reading accompaniment

They held a run-through of the graduation ceremony on the last day of class and technically the last day of the trio’s high school life. Unlike their first general assembly, Uchiha Sasuke was to deliver the graduation speech but not without great sulking from Haruno Sakura who landed a close second despite ranking first in their final exams.

And obviously, not without Sasuke trying to give up his speech privileges by campaigning instead for Sakura.

In the end, all three of them were granted speech slots – one for Sasuke as valedictorian, Sakura as student representative, and Naruto as the school’s first national MVP. It was this debacle that led the three of them to brainstorm in an empty AVR after the dry run.

“Done!” Sakura yelled like the diligent student she was. “Let me look at yours!”

Sasuke presented her a blank paper while saying, “It’s all prepared in my head”, and Naruto showed her his baseball doodles.

“Oh God, you’re all so hopeless.”

Then the electricity suddenly got cut off in the AVR. Sakura expected the boys to screech in surprise and cling to each other, but she only heard silence in the dark. She jumped in her seat when the doors opened with a loud bang, a confetti splash, and the lights coming back to life.

Sasuke and Naruto were still in front of her, holding two bouquets of irises and yellow roses. Behind them were the old and new student council members with other students holding a large banner saying Thank you, Student Council President Sakura!

She started to leave her seat to come to them, but they gestured for her to stay on her seat. In front of the room, the large monitor beeped and showed a compilation of videos.

Sukehiro Aoi, an alumni and currently an intern in an animation studio. “Hello, Ms. Pres. You once asked the body to submit a publication material for an event of the student council, and I sent mine through a dummy email with no expectations of winning. I wasn’t comfortable with the public seeing my art. I was afraid of the unsolicited remarks so sending it anonymously gave me some relief. You chose it however, and you knew how big a credit was to an artist. I was really scared when you were able to hunt me down just by my watermark, but my name in the info blast caught the attention of a school board member and referred me to this animation studio. It was the littlest thing, but you handed me my dream.”

Watanabe Kota was a year below them. He has a small frame, round thick glasses, and battled with face acne. “Ms. Pres! People never had much confidence in my physical appearance, so I don’t know what you saw in me when you asked me to take over the school radio. But here we are – we’re airing daily and we even produce documentaries and radio programs. Thank you for seeing what I didn’t.”

Ito Amanaya, a typical jock in the football team, muscular and came across as intimidating, but he had the gentlest cadence. “I was bullied by the same group that bullied your dynamic duo. When you ran them off, you also saved my life. Thank you, Haruno.”

Kimura Shinze, a classmate in third year, beautiful, popular, and the captain of the cheering squad. “Hope you’re having a great day, Ms. Pres. Remember that time when the class was guessing who were our crushes and I blurted out that it was a girl, you told me thank you for telling us. That was…a big deal to me. Thank you for that gesture.”

Himurata Aoi, president of the koto club. “Sakura, I know you had many people come up and confessed to you so when I did try, I was glad that you didn’t give me a bullshit reason like you’re not into girls. You turned me down because you have someone you already love. I am thankful for your honesty.”

The biology teacher, Takahashi Kande. “Student council, thank you for your mental health program. As a single father to twins, I don’t have the luxury of time to sit in a couch and sort out my issues. To be able to do that in my workplace during breaks is a heaven-sent gift. You saved me and my family. Thank you.”

Many more messages came on, from a classmate she lent spare change to, from a staff she helped clean, from countless students who she wasn’t aware she gave kindness to.

“Why….” She asked breathlessly.

“You’ve been beating yourself lately. We thought you needed some reminding,” Sasuke muttered, under his breath, the bouquet still in his hands. “You left some pretty big footprints, Ms. Pres.

“You might not have noticed,” Naruto jested. “But this is always innate and natural to you, isn’t it?”

“Why did you bother so much?” She was reduced to tears.

“It was Naruto’s idea.”

“Huh? You did all the compiling though!”

“Shut up, it was me,” yelled the current president.

“Thank you, everyone.”

--------------------------------

It was a weekend, but Sasuke requested Sakura and Naruto to meet him at the school gates. He only gave the time and place, and he knew well enough that they would be there – no questions asked.

They stood there, minutes earlier than planned, a first but nothing more unusual than homebody Sasuke asking them to go out on a weekend. Sakura wore an oversized rust shirt over a pair of muted cotton blue trousers tied with a brown leather belt and tan fisherman sandals, her long hair kept in one single braid at the back. Naruto probably expected a fancy lunch with his outfit – black silky long sleeves over gray pants and black loafers.

Sasuke, high on impulsive decisions, wore bright colors, a complete departure from his usual neutrals; mustard vest over a deep violet polo, baggy pants, off white converse, and a white fanny pack. “Well, we’re mostly dressed for comfort, except for that idiot beside you.”

“What do you mean dressed for comfort? I borrowed these loafers from my vice-captain and my feet aren’t used to them,” Naruto whined. “Besides, aren’t you taking us out to a five-star meal, Mr. Valedictorian?”

“Wow, what a way to show off.” Sakura pursed her lips in annoyance. “Don’t worry Naruto, I got your next café order.”

“Ah no. It was just something we heard from the grape vine.” Naruto scratched his head and carefully glanced at Sasuke. “Grumpy got his trust fund today.”

In bated breaths, they waited for him to respond with a scowl or a retort, but he just nodded. “Come on, we’ll miss the train.”

They traveled for three stations and disembarked on the fourth, Sasuke sandwiched in between the two, his shoulders pillows again to their heads and yet such burdens were light as cotton. The surfacing emotions since last week were taking hold of him, but he needed to pull through somehow because breaking down while commuting was one thing he did not really see doing.

“Word just got in. The house was turned over this morning,” Itachi told him over the phone.

“Impeccable timing when I’m also moving abroad next week.” Sasuke pulled out his Bleachers vinyl and anticipated another lonesome lull for the night.

“Do you miss the cream puffs?”

“Nothing comes close.”

“Hmm. I’ll pay for the rental fee of your car.”

In Itachi’s defense, while he was an afficionado of escapism, he also knew how to read between the lines. “Watch me get a Mercedes-Benz.”

“I have a good driving playlist.” This only meant math rock, and Sasuke wanted something to scream his lungs too.

“Don’t need one.”

“Treat your friends to dinner, okay? Gotta go.”

“We’re walking?!” Naruto almost limped out of the train. Sasuke took one look at his heels and saw that they were bruised red. He took off his converse and socks and gave them to him.

Sakura whipped out a small first-aid kit and covered the rash on Naruto’s heels. “Hey don’t look at me like that. Brought it just in case we’re going on a day survival tour. A camping would be nice too.”

“Did you scrub your feet, idiot?”

“You think so low of me grumpy. Of course – last week!”

With Naruto now comfortable, the three resumed walking on the unfamiliar residential area. Sasuke gestured for them to enter a bamboo forest on the far side of the main road. Hidden in the shadows of the clumped stalks were a small opening, the growth hampered and ground rid of grasses and weeds; many people have also chosen this shortcut, walked through the forest, did a little nature bathing, and emerged behind the bakery, still there, still standing, still operating.

Sasuke tapped on the large glass window cum counter on the front and bought three sets of cream puffs.

“Oh, it’s you,” the old baker greeted. “You brought your friends over? You always buy one set.”

Sasuke offered her a smile, briefly glancing to his periphery where Sakura was fussing with Naruto’s feet, and nodded as he accepted the paper bag. “It’s on the house, kid.”

“You brought us to stalk someone’s house?” Sakura dug in one paper bag, bit the puff in one bite, and with full mouth, she sighed. “This is heaven.”

“It’s our old family house, before the accident that is.” Sasuke also took out one puff and munched on it, ruminating on the sight before him, a two-story house with an imposing façade, his mom’s climbing hydrangea gone and cut by the new owners, beds of roses and daisies already withered, but the wisteria tree on the vacant lot beside continued to grow and shade what he supposed were the children’s rooms. It was in his third bite that he saw the tomato fruits he planted, alive and full with harvest. “Do you think my parents know?”

Naruto slid an arm across his shoulder and grinned sheepishly. “Then they would be happy ghosts or maybe they would voluntarily move away to give the new owners the opportunity to make it a happy a home like yours.

“What part are you gonna miss?” Sakura asked, halfway through her set of puffs.

“The sight of the wisteria before I sleep and after I wake up, and the sunlight in my parents’ room. My dad liked to make these suncatchers for my mom. The play of light was a good morning greeting, she said.”

“What’s your funniest memory?” Naruto sat on the grass, uncaring for the stains that would taint his good pair of pants.

“It was probably Christmas when I was seven, and Itachi had this big idea to bake a cake, but he swapped the sugar for the salt and we were wondering why it wouldn’t make a custard. Our parents still ate it, saying it was a very salty version of dark chocolate cake.”

“It was a good home,” Sakura patted the space between her and Naruto and Sasuke sat down cross-legged too, dipping his hand on the paper bag with the last cream puff.

“It was a good home,” Sasuke agreed as he bit into the last vestige of his family memory. He was suckling the powdered sugar off his fingers when he realized he was already crying, and the two were downright sobbing on his either side.

Such an embarrassing sight to see; he wondered what would the new owners feel if they looked out their windows this instant and saw three teenagers breaking down on the road across. It was honestly stupid and laughable to a point, considering how funny it was for grief to become lighter when someone else cried with him.

Naruto was sniffling so much that he had to offer his handkerchief to him. “I forgot to tell you guys. Hinata confessed to me during the cultural festival.”

“Oh my god. What did you say?” Sakura took a tissue out of her bag and dabbed her eyes. She flashed an apologetic look to Sasuke who already offered his hanky to Naruto’s fluids.

“Ah, what else? I had to reject her.” Naruto sneezed on Sasuke’s handkerchief again. “I told her I was in love with someone else.” He slyly glanced at his raven-haired friend and pursed his lips which Sakura quickly caught.

“Who is it?”

“Sasuke also likes someone.”

“Shut your mouth, blondie. Point is already moot. Besides, we’ve already been rejected.”

“Who are these people and why don’t I know them?” Sakura genuinely looked offended. “I could have vetted them!”

“Exactly why it was fortunate you didn’t meet them,” Sasuke said as an excuse though he pegged Sakura for not being that naïve. She, thankfully, let it go and gathered their trash. She dropped the bomb as she was brushing the grass blades from her trousers. “My parents are divorcing. Such a travesty not to have them show up on graduation day, and I thought I did a great job.”

The two, ever so sure, held onto her hands in case she was trembling again.

“Let’s get that five-star dinner,” Sasuke suggested, “and we need to rent a Mercedes-Benz.”

--------------------------------

Graduation Day

“Let’s welcome to the stage, class valedictorian, Uchiha Sasuke.” Kakashi was the officiating faculty today so she expected difficulty going through the event, but for some reason, he slipped into her mental back burner, no longer taking up room in her active consciousness. That was a good step, she smiled to herself. Her smile became wider as Sasuke got up the stage.

His fans club’s cheers were heard outside the auditorium, and the graduating class chuckled at the quick interruption. He cleared his throat and started his piece.

“Please get it on record that I was coerced to do this speech. Then again, I also had a hand on the turn of events that led me here today, in front of you. And it’s a little too on the nose, but I came to high school with a clear set of goals – have high grades and lead an uninteresting life. I accomplished the first one rather easily, and it’s a good metric for the future that’s upon us right now. Good grades land us good colleges. Good colleges land us good jobs. Good jobs land us good life.

But it’s not the sole benchmark as I have learned lately. You see, my second goal really missed the mark. Good life can also mean good friends, fun experiences, a caring environment, a complete family. If you ticked off each one, then that’s very notable. You have the four-leaf clover, and it’s a rare blessing. I only ticked off three, but that goes without any regret. If you only have one silver lining in your high school memory, then that makes us all the more human. And if there’s none, there is still is still a whole stretch of possibilities we can discover to find one. Thank you for your kind attention.”

Sakura was pretty sure she heard several sniffles across the student body. “The bastard delivered a good speech,” she muttered to herself.

“We would like to welcome our first national MVP, Uzumaki Naruto.”

Outside, the school band played the cheering anthem for his last national games. The cheerleaders also did a routine in tribute to him. That made him well up when he got to the podium.

“Wait oh my god, I’m tearing up so much.”

Sasuke grunted loudly and went back the stage to hand him a handkerchief which Naruto quickly used to wipe his snot.

“Thanks Sasuke. How can Kakashi-sensei let me follow after that rousing speech, and before Sakura too. It’s kinda evil.”

Laughter broke out.

“Well, this one’s a bare minimum. I didn’t have any goals or expectations, unlike genius grumpy over there. I just wanted to live my life like an ordinary boy. Someone said that how you spend your day is how you live your life so I did just that – ate ramen, slept in class because I am a growing kid, and played each arcade game until I won them. I also believe in serendipitous – thanks Sakura for this word, for the spelling and meaning – serendipitous coincidences. I just pitched and batted for former captain Haru one afternoon and now we landed in the national finals. I had loneliness for a friend, but now I’ve got all of you. And you know what else, the magic of working together. We wouldn’t have stepped foot in the nationals if it weren’t for your collective help. When we work towards a common goal, that also gives us common happiness, right? It’s infectious, a bouncing energy that gets thrown around and still makes it one piece. So wherever you will be after this, believe it!”

When Kakashi called her name next, she thought she was deaf, the noise around her collapsed in muted decibels. It took a minute before her fellow classmates shook her and motioned for her to quickly come up the stairs. Her silver-haired teacher looked so concerned in the shadows, but for what it was worth, she was civil and calm enough (at least in the matters concerning him) to nod at him in quiet exchange of assurance.

It was because she saw both of her parents at the side with a bouquet of roses. She struggled with the paper she brought with her although she had it memorized in her head; she even went through it flawlessly for three times last night. Tears blurred the words and the mere shock of the sight of their togetherness disabled her mental function to string coherent thoughts. She also started hyperventilating, her breaths coming faster than what her lungs could pump.

Then she felt Kakashi’s hand on her shoulder, a steady presence, and it reeled her back to reality. He tapped the mic and the feedback echoed. “Ah, Ms. Haruno had some technical issues. Again, let’s welcome former student council president, Sakura.”

Sasuke and Naruto in the front were almost standing, but she flashed them a smile as if to say she was okay now. “Hello, good day to our honorable guests and graduates. I think it’s safe to say that Sasuke and Naruto provided really good words of advice. So I have nothing more to offer, but to share my gratitude. Everyone was saying the student council did a good job in its programs, but it was actually the lot of you who made this possible – from your activity suggestions to participation and feedback. After all, you were the makers of your memories.

Earlier last week, my councilmates and friends reminded me how small actions go a long way – a smile, a wave across the hallway, a short exchange of good morning and see you soon, and I thought, aren’t we all just an accumulation of these small, little things? As such, it was what you think your insignificant moments were that pushed us to deliver you the best. It was the passing comment, the top-of-your-head tips, the interlude stories we hear during lunch breaks that allowed us to give you grand gestures and memories we hoped were worth keeping. And if we could start to use that perspective as well in our lives then maybe the uncertainties of a future wouldn’t be so heavy on us. We will face tomorrow with a lightness in being.

In behalf of the student council, thank you for allowing us to serve you.”

She bowed at a level where her torso was almost aligned at her hips, and she was confused with the lack of reaction. Sakura sighed, mulling over the deficiencies in her speech, but she straightened her back to a sight of a standing ovation and a thundering applause.

Then, she let her tears fall.

--------------------------------

“Why would you let Kakashi-sensei take the pic?” Sakura hissed at them.

“Just this one time, Sakura!” Naruto grinned.

“Sakura, you’re out of the frame,” Kakashi remarked. “Okay good. Say cheese.”

In spite of her recent heartbreak with him, she permitted herself to bask in fleeting cordiality. “Cheese.”

“Grumpyyyyyy.”

“Idiot blondie.”

Kakashi took three more shots and handed the camera to the trio. He almost turned away when Sakura caught his sleeve.

“Just one more,” she said. “With you.”

Sakura shifted to the front, almost kneeling with the camera angled for a selfie, her two friends beside her looking equally annoyed as the other, and Kakashi behind them, his hands on either head, smiling with his deceptively charming beauty mark.

It was the last picture of their high school life.

--------------------------------

The three were rushing through the airport crowd fifteen minutes before the immigration closes gates.

“Here!” Sakura slid a folder on the large pocket on Sasuke’s bag. “It includes your passport, your flight details, your valid IDs, your itinerary, and letters from us! Don’t forget our Friday video calls!”

“I can’t see. These tears are bullies,” Naruto said through tears. He was continuously wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“And If I don’t get on my flight because you made us eat ramen for one last time and the orders took too long, I’m gonna have you cursed by a witch and a shaman!” Sasuke growled. The guards were starting to close the gates when a sobbing Naruto sprinted and basically tackled the guards on the floor.

“Sasuke come on, hurry up!”

“Drink your vitamins! And if you miss cream puffs, I’ll teach you how to make them.” Sakura was trying hard to keep pace with Sasuke’s brisk walking, but she ended up breathless anyway.

The three of them finally reached the immigration entrance, and Naruto was profusely apologizing to the guards for the interruption. Sasuke showed his documents, wheezing as they looked at it. They gave him a thumbs up and opened the gates.

The two were already slumped at the floor, waving without words, and exhausted from the clock race. Sasuke was almost through when he remembered something he forgot. He muttered a quick sorry, ran through the opening, and hugged his two friends.

“I’ll miss you.”

[dammitolly]

Four: "New Home"

tw: swearing

I met Peter Parker while I was sitting outside of the Avengers conference room, trying my best to tell myself they shouted this much over anything.

"Wow," a youthful voice said, one that sounded like it had just deepened from the later stages of puberty. "I don't think I've ever heard them yell like that."

Great.

I turned and saw a broad-shouldered, kind-looking young man. He looked like prince-fucking-charming straight from a Disney film. He gave me a warm smile, "I'm Peter."

I nodded, "Howie."

He stared at me blankly, as if word of my existence hadn't gotten to him yet. He looked me up and down, "Are you here for someone?"

"Tony Stark. Heard of him?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh," he chuckled at my tone, embarrassed, "I've had an internship with him for the last couple of years," he explained. He seemed to withdraw at the question as if he was hiding something.

"I don't know if I could willingly spend time with him," I admitted.

Peter shrugged, "He's not all bad once you get to know him. He's a tough nut to crack."

At this point, he was a better child to Tony than I was. Running straight to his defense like that.

I sighed, not quite sure where to go with the conversation. But from the way Peter was sitting, his back slouched and legs spread, I could tell that he wasn't planning on going anywhere.

It was in this silence that I began to actually look at Peter. Below his eye was a bruise, and his knuckles were red like they'd been healing from throwing a good punch.

I wondered if he got into a lot of fights at school. He looked like a clean-cut suburban kid, definitely not one that would get into fights for fun.

I raised an eyebrow while I gave him a once-over. I met his gaze, "What did you say the Stark internship was about again?"

He stammered, "Just um-uh- sci-science stuff. Yeah."

"Science stuff?" I inquired, "What science stuff?"

Peter's face got red. I could tell he was scrambling for answers to my questions. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck, "It's pretty complicated, hard to explain."

I raised an eyebrow, ready to get defensive. He was only about 2 years older than me, and I was in the STEM program. So what the fuck was so complicated about what he was learning?

But, before I could throw a snarky comment in his face, my father's face poked through the doorway. A flash of surprise went across his face when he saw Peter.

"Hey Pete," he chirped. "I see you've met Howie."

"We were just discussing his internship with you," I told Tony.

He raised an eyebrow, "What did you tell her, Peter?" His tone was a warning. As if there was a hidden meaning behind what he asked.

“He was just telling me all about your super-secret science stuff,” I turned my back to Peter. “Letting me know how complicated it all is.”

Tony sighed and shook his head at Peter. He pointed to the door, “They want you both in there.”

“Who’s in there?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Tony said.

Peter and I both stepped into the large office, passing Tony on the way in as he held the door open. His neck looked splotchy as if he were anxious and irritated. Somebody must have gotten on his nerves.

At the end of the large circular table sat Nick Fury, Captain America, and a dark-haired woman who I’d never seen before.

“Howie, this is May, Peter’s aunt.” Tony gestured to the woman next to Steve. I smiled and waved at her. She nodded towards me.

“Take a seat, Miss Stark,” Mr. Fury said with authority. I wanted to cower under his gaze.

Peter's eyebrows shot up in shock. He glanced back and forth between Tony and I as if he was trying to look for similarities between us.

“This is pretty intense," Peter muttered from behind me. I rolled my eyes at his inner monologue.

"We've just been discussing what we're going to do with you," Steve said as Tony sat down next to May.

I scoffed, "I didn't realize I was such a hassle. My apologies."

"Wow," Steve turned to Tony, "She really is your kid."

Tony's reaction was the complete opposite. He beamed with pride, a sore thumb amongst every on else's frowns.

"Over the last hour or so we've been working out a living situation for you. One that keeps you out of the limelight and gives you space to finish high school." Steve explained.

May sighed, "We've come to the conclusion that it would be best if you went to Midtown High with Peter, just to give you a good start."

"You'll also be living with them for a few months," Steve said reluctantly.

"What?!" I exclaimed, standing from my seat. I looked at Tony, "You said I'd be staying with you."

"Kid-"

"My name is Howie."

Tony sighed, "Howie, we want to wait until all this buzz goes away. You can come to stay with me when the paparazzi won't follow you around where ever you go."

"We also thought it would be in your best interest to be staying with someone on the team," Nick added. "Someone who is capable of protecting you if need be."

I rolled my eyes, "He's a teenager."

"Who he is is Spiderman himself," my father said.

I'm sure the look that I gave Peter was the same one he gave me 10 minutes ago: complete and total shock.

"Well," I said, crossing my arms, "I guess we all have our secrets, don't we?"

"Yes, we do," Mr. Fury crossed placed a paper and pen on the table, "An NDA. We need to make sure nobody finds out your location or Spiderman's true identity. This is just a formality."

The large packet was pushed across the table, sliding into place before me. I signed immediately, not bothering to read it. I knew what an NDA was, I didn't need specifics. It was obvious what was being asked of me.

Stay out of the way, don't cause trouble, don't tell anyone anything. It was simple enough.

I sighed and put my head in my hands, taking deep breaths. I tuned out the sound of May walking me through sleeping arrangements and tried to think through the fact that I would be living with complete strangers.

I didn't even like Peter, now I had to live with him?

"Shit."

My room at Peter's apartment was like a closet with pale yellow walls, the room suffocated me. There was a twin bed, a desk, a small closet, and one window that lead out to a fire escape.

"Home sweet home," Peter said as he set my bags down by the bed. "There's a bathroom at the end of the hall, and I'm right across from you. Aunt May's room is on the other side of the apartment if you need her."

I nodded shakily, "Okay, thanks."

Peter went to leave but stopped in my doorway, wearing plait pajama pants and a shirt that had a bad math joke on it.

"Howie, don't be nervous for tomorrow," He gave me that stupid charming smile again, "Mr. Fury made sure we'd have all the same classes together."

I laughed, “Who’d he have to threaten to sort that out?”

“Just about everyone that works in the front office,” Peter replied with a smile. We fell into silence for a moment, Peter watching me as I hung clothes in the closet.

"The more I look at you, the more I see him," Peter said from behind me.

I didn't know if I wanted to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"I've seen pictures of Tony Stark my entire life," I said with a bitter laugh, "He's literally followed me for my entire life, and I never noticed any similarities. Part of me feels stupid for not seeing it sooner."

"You couldn't have known," he fiddled with the zipper of my bag. "He even had Nick Fury in the dark. Don't feel stupid for not seeing what wasn't there."

May appeared behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, “You can still see him if you'd like. You can spend weekends at the Avengers Tower with Peter when he goes. We don't want to take you away from him, that was never the point of this arrangement.”

I smiled nervously, "I'm not sure how I'll feel about that until I've met the rest of the team if that makes sense."

May nodded gently and nodded, "Well, I'm not sure about you two but I'm ready for bed."

Peter agreed and went to leave my room, not without saying goodnight though.

I stayed up late researching the school I would be attending from tomorrow until I finished high school. My new normal. Being Tony Stark's daughter, and attending Midtown High with Spiderman himself.

[gizkasparadise]

cdrama rec/review: le coup de foudre

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: le coup de foudre / love at first sight / i don’t like this world, i only like you Episodes: 35 w/ a special Genres: then & now, slice of life, high school to adult life, romance, reunion/getting back together, working with the ex Spoilers in the Rec: for set-up/light ones for character backgrounds If You Like, You’ll Like: the reply series, sad-looking dogs that are loved very much, because this is my first life (VERY similar male lead), sibling love, my sunshine but if people were nicer and had significantly better hair, multiple couples that are all a lot of fun

Rank: 10/10

PREMISE

flashback to 6-8 years ago (because the OP here can’t remember lol): it’s desk selection day in qiao yi’s classroom! a very dramatic moment for all high schoolers, qia yi has to select who she sits next to. because she’s at the bottom of the class ranking, she gets last pick, which essentially narrows down her choices to that creepy kid who writes love poetry to every female student in the class and yan mo, the scary genius student who has placed 1st in their class since...forever.

taking a gamble, qiao yi goes with yan mo. yan mo eventually agrees to tutoring qiao yi outside of class and they become friends. then...friends? if you know what i mean. it’s very sweet and cute. only problem is that yan mo is both a genius and from a Family of Means, and so is already planning on attending cambridge (yeah, fucking cambridge) after graduation. not wanting to separate, yan mo asks qiao yi to come with him and she agrees to study hard so she can get accepted to a university in the UK, too.

but then, well, bad shit happened. 

qiao yi ended up staying in their home town, yan mo left for cambridge, and we got two v heartbroken teenagers on our hands.

4 years later, yan mo returns after studying in the uk, and by chance they end up bumping into each other. angry because qiao yi hurt him, yan mo puts up an ALOOF AND COLD AND I DONT CARE AT ALL front that she sadly buys. but after he leaves for the big city to pursue a business opportunity, qiao yi harnesses some amazing big dick energy to go after him, in a sort of inverse DONT LET HER GET ON THAT PLANE! move. very abba. 

the plot bounces between their (and their friends’) high school years, their lives as reunited adults, and their future lives as married folks. i love it very, very much.

MAIN CHARACTERS

zhao qiao yi

as a high schooler, qiao yi was a quiet girl with low self-esteem, who consistently ranked at the bottom of her class and was always attempting to retreat into her school tracksuit like a turtle. despite this, qiao yi has some solid friends and is always kind if somewhat shy or uncomfortable in certain situations. as a adult, qiao yi works as a television producer and is clearly more confident. 

she buys truly awful graphic t-shirts as thank you gifts that one feels obligated to wear. falls for scams easily. will help you fold 1000 paper stars for your boyfriend even if she hates your boyfriend because she’s ride or die like that. look at how cute she is no one is allowed to be mean to someone as cute as this.

yan mo / “frank”

if you liked se hee in because this is my first life, you’re in luck because here is a 10% angrier version. at first, yan mo seems cold, aloof, snobbish, pretentious, arrogant...

okay, but he’s ALSO got a lot of feelings and will help people out. well, at the start of the show, he’ll help two people out. but that expands to like 10. so, progress! in high school, he falls for qiao yi in the typical Cannot Spit It Out fashion, buying her sentimental cans of coke, PUTTING IN ONE EARBUD SO SHE CAN LISTEN TO THE BEATLES WITH HIM, feeling Weird about her tying his tie, and single-handedly ruining a for-profit afterschool tutoring business in about 30 seconds, because they weren’t teaching qiao yi anything, and he knew he could do it better. tbh he completely fucking destroys a lot of things and people in under a minute. #ruthless

he’s very protective of qiao yi and rather than explain it, here is a clip from the special episode where yan mo confronts another student who left a love confession meant for qiao yi in his desk by mistake (subtitles have to be selected under settings, but it’s subbed in english):

zhao guan chao

zhao qiao yi’s twin brother, who has always placed 2nd in their classes after yan mo. despite his high grades, he comes off as a laidback teen heartthrob and has a reputation for being a flake and a playboy. BUT he’s legit a chill dude and clearly popular for a reason--he gets along with (almost) everyone. he loves his sister and is extremely protective of her, especially since she’s so shy and has low self-esteem for Reasons That Will Be Explained in the Tragic Backstory. he’s such a good brother. the best brother. also looks out for qiao yi’s best friend, wu yi. understands the value of shoes.

hao wu yi

qiao yi’s best friend, and another classmate of The Crew. i say this with so, so much love, but she’s got a lot of chaotic dumbass energy. struggling along the bottom ranks with qiao yi during high school. she has the worst taste in men as a teenager, falling for the guy who literally bullied her in like. ep 2. thankfully she’s got qiao yi and guanchao.

the trio are close, and that doesn’t change as they grow up. wu yi ends up becoming a novelist who writes pop and steamy romance novels and has a significant teenage girl fanbase. it’s amazing. 

fei da chuan

my boy. another classmate, he, qiao yi, and wu yi make up the official Dumbass Trio of their high school class and have adorable adventures + solidarity in it. he’s also yan mo’s uncle. somehow. because rich people families are wild. while he’s got a place to live, he more often than not crashes at yan mo’s, who Does Not Like It. but da chuan does not notice or care. 

abrasive but 100% sincere about everything and toward everyone. people will think he’s an asshole or a gangster but then he’s secretly feeding abandoned kittens in the corner or something. as an adult, has the best business casual outfits. serves as a big brother figure to a lot of people, but qiao yi in particular. cannot, cannot fucking do math.

SUPPORTING

“alicia” / cheng youmei. an old family friend of yan mo’s who is very posh and rich and dignified. studied abroad with him at cambridge, and is cold toward qiao yi after arriving back in china. cosplays B)

teacher gao. everyone’s high school teacher who later owns a bar that seems to be there only for dispensing advice. seriously. there is no way this bar is economically sound as the only customers you ever see are gao’s students coming in one at a time for Wisdom and you never see them pay for anything. also the bar has no fucking roof and is directly above traintracks. i have hang-ups about this bar

lin shu. yan mo’s mother. very sweet and pretty and a ballernia turned program director. is almost never home but clearly loves her son. du chaun’s sister. somehow.

zhao suyin. qiao yi and guan chao’s mother. one of her kinks is roleplaying condor heroes characters? okay okay okay

tian weimin. qiao yi and guan chao’s stepfather who works as police officer. best dad award. he’s so sweet and corny and peak dad humor. he loves them kids & they love him back

grandpa. yan mo’s dog in high school. a very old basset hound with sad eyes:

dollar or d. i cant tell you anything about him, other than he used to be a stray and yan mo says he’s ugly, which, rude.

DRAWBACKS

plot...hm. there’s SOME plot, but this is about characters + romance + friendship + family. if you’re looking for scheming mothers-in-law or tragic car accidents or secret destinies this isn’t the one for you. similar in vibe to Reply 1988 (they even watch the show in the show :’D / make references to it)

OKAY SO every plot summary i’ve seen says that yan mo is in a relationship with someone else when he gets back to china. no he is not. i say this because it was a huge turn off for me/initially put me off watching the series. he is definitely a one-and-only type. there’s no cheating in this show. lmao, hell, neither of the mains are even interested in anyone else but each other

i liked du chuan and his love interest a lot, but they definitely didn’t get as much screen time as the others

while it’s clear qiao yi + yan mo are the mains, another couple gets a lot of screen time as well. this might be a skip if you don’t like multiple couples/secondary relationships in a show

i surprisingly enjoyed the high school storyline a lot more than the adult one? which is super weird for me, but idk i was sad when it was over because it was so cute.

some...weird technical decisions. every once in a while, the camera will have like a nostalgia filter and then it disappears and then the edges get a bit blurry and idk it feels very film school 101 to show that what’s on screen is a ~memory. the soundtrack/music is sometimes also too loud--to the point where it can drown out the actors (particularly janice wu in the high school arc, since qiao yi is soft-spoken)

REASONS TO WATCH

the lead actors (janice wu + zhang yujian) are legit two of my favorites and they have great/easy chemistry. all the actors are amazing. everyone’s loveable

SIBLING GOALS the zhao twins are amazing and they’re both each other’s biggest fans. gaunchao had some really heartwarming brother moments

i love love lmao. this spoke to a lot of my favorite dynamics: exes reunited/having to work together, childhood sweethearts reuniting as adults, “gangster” and princess, childhood friends turned lovers, bickering couples, cold man who actually has a lot of feelings, lots of people being overprotective, idk. everything was just great. 0 complaints on any of the ships.

i genuinely liked every character other than that one piece of shit poppa zhao. even alicia, who’s put into the stereotypical rich bitch role, was actually really fun and subverted a lot of expectations for this trope

it’s just. real cute y’all. probably my favorite cdrama and definitely in my top 10 (maybe 5?) dramas overall.

FINAL THOUGHTS

i love them ;;

[ghoestys]

i’m literally pulling this out of my ass so if there are errors and stuff doesnt make sense then please myob and pretend like u understand what im saying im trying to do this before i get caught not doing hw he comes at 6 n its 5:43 rn 

statistics

full name: suzy nora yoon nickname(s): su, suz (pronounced like snooze without the n)  age: twenty three date of birth: tba! hometown: tba! gender: cis female religion: athiest sexuality: bisexual hair colour: black/dark brown eye colour: brown height: 5'5″ tattoos: tba! piercings: tba!

prompt + blackmail

a member of the yale's elite, they're twenty-three and a senior undergrad student majoring in aviation engineering. they are as gregarious as they are aimless.

TW DRUGS!  1. to pay for yale's very expensive tuitition, suzy sells weed that's both fake and real, depending on who is buying and if she likes them. she's not a good seller, though, so this hasn't been the best form of income for her. 2. got accepted into the aviation engineering program, but suzy can't complete her homework without the help of drugs to keep her mind focused and creative enough to understand the problems

about 

family/upbringing/childhood/wtvr

so! literally pulling this out of my ass and making things up as i go! suzy was born in a family with her parents (mom & dad), her older sister, and her older brother. the family was strictly middle class and her parents and siblings were very hardworking. her siblings were good at what they did and they excelled in their academics because they tried hard and all that stuff!

growing up, suzy followed her siblings and her parents and was basically a gifted child from the very start. elementary and middle school was not hard for her and she was in all the advanced and gifted programs. the family was calm and there wasn’t anything drastic that removed the peace or caused any disruption at all. like. they were just chillin. 

i think suzy had an average relationship with her parents. they were still asian, so like... it’s as good as it was going to get. she was somewhat close to her siblings, but seeing as they were 5/8 years older than her, the age gap wasn’t that welcoming to the baby of the family. she was kinda just.. having fun on her own being smart n shit. 

anyways! high school! where all gifted kids literally come to die! due to her shit from elem & middle school, she was offered a full ride scholarship to some prestigious school and as asian parents, they were NOT going to reject that free ride to a school that would help ensure suzy’s success in the future. she went from being one of the smartest kids to being another burnt out gift child and high school was fucking ROUGH! 

bitch really had a fucking crisis and burned the fuck out. her not being the smartest bitch anymore literally killed everything in her and she just stopped being that. she met people and what do u know! got into the wrong crowd where drugs and alcohol was everyones bff! 

she got into that pretty heavily by sophomore year i would say. she was just. yea. 

i mean. she was burnt out  but her grades were still fine if u saw them. studying isnt hard for suzy and shes pretty smart, but she wasn’t at the very top of her class anymore and thats what killed her. instead of having straight a’s, suzy was getting b’s and a few c’s. in a family where anything other than an a was acceptable it really just killed suzy some more 

anyways! drugs and alcohol! made her feel good so she did it. she found that weed was the best thing as well as some tranquilizers/anything that relaxed her essentially. she just liked the feeling of floating n not caring or feeling any pressure like. she wanted to b in her own world n shit. 

college/the elites

after graduating high school, she didnt apply to college right away because honestly? drugs and alcohol and a bitch didnt care by her senior year. her grades were not the best and while she couldve gotten into college, she literally had no interest for college and her parents at this point baiscally disowned her so like? who the fuck is gonna pay for her college??

her work ethic is the worst bc shes so careless like. bitch had a shift from 1-7pm and showed up at 5 because she literally didnt feel bothered enough to show up.

anyways a year or so after graduating high school (idk the math rn) she got really high off something and just. did a whole ass application to yale bc she decided to apply for the shits n giggles. wrote a fake letter of recommendation, wrote killer essay and personal reflection shit or wtvr, and even submitted the application with an attached document of her outlining an entire airplane that wouldve been fully functional except for a few tweaks n shit that was needed

she some how got in from that (this is fake this would probs not b real <3 teehee) and bc she was now accepted and going to yale (she accepted high aha a theme for her), she had to think about how to fund for this shit so she decided to get into drug dealing!

which is honestly. not going good like a bitch again has poor work ethics so her as a drug dealer is so.... she literally got into it bc of euphoria bc it looked easy but doing it... is not easy at all but its her only form of funding so she’s doing it. kinda. loosely. please fire her. 

idk where to put this but. suzy is kinda like that girl from the queens gambit where she feels like she needs drugs to function so like she ditches class but she’ll do all her assignments nicely bc she thinks the drugs give her superpowers to b smart n at the top of her academic class again

when shes under the influence of anything she feels like she can function more or like her life is just... better when shes not sober and ull rarely really see her sober like shes usually just on something 

idk where the post is rn bc im too lazy to look for it bc i jsut got a text that he was coming now but!!! its the tweet where a guy was drunk n drew up an entire blue print of an airplane and that is literally fucking suzy i swear to god 

when shes high she’s like the smartest bitch around (shes smart without drugs but doesnt believe that) and can build airplanes n blueprints n solve maths n wtvrs

suzy is truly an asian stem bitch and the sciences and math is where she excels the most!!!! probs won awards n competitions for math and science but doesnt really acknowledge that much becase like... its just not something shes focused on

got into the elites by just making a blueprint of a plane from scratch infront of the twins like. legit just went infront of them, started making the blueprint from scratch to finish n gave it to  them saying here is a blueprint for a new private plane u guys can build for urselves 

personality 

personality wise she is very friendly n goofy n chill n chaotic 

literally a dumbass n honestly really annoying just ask orion 

shes just a stoner having fun doing her life n not really caring about anything like. how she made it to senior year who the fuck knows i really  dont honestly

i think the main way to describe her is bimbo like thats it 

not really into sharing her life and is more of a listener than a talker when it comes to conversations that are genuinely deep and personal. she will not talk to u about her problems and insecurities seriously (maybe she’ll do it in a self deprecating way) unless she trusts u w her life. otherwsie she will keep it to herself n prays that her stoner part will make people believe shes just chillin w no problems

when it comes to conversations about  nonsense n fake deep shit like what is air then suzy will not shut the fuck up like if u wanna talk to someone about nonsense then suzy is truly ur bitch like. a bitch can fucking talk 

doesnt mind being alone bc she has fun on her own but she prefers company more bc she likes having fun and having someone to accompany wtvr she does. whether its for smoking/drinking or hanging out but also just for like... going to class if she chooses to attend and doing everyday errands like groceries or wtvr. she doesnt really do groceries tho bc she just steals orions fodo but when she does choose to go she likes having people with her :) 

she doesnt have a passion for anything bc she doesnt dream of labor but the closest thing about b making airplanes or helicopters like. blueprints  come easy to her n she enjoys making them bc she feels like shes actually capable of something bc shes aware that making them isnt something everyone can do 

u can treat her like a dumbass n she wont call u on it even tho shes kinda smart bc she feels like shes a dumbass

most likely has bad self esteem and feels like a failure but uses drugs n alcohol to ignore that feeling :) 

probs the least judgemental person ull ever meet bc she really doesnt care about what u do like. she hears the secrets getting outted n she doesnt care there r high chances that she’ll still look at u the same way

[toothpastecanyon]

Noie’s Trip

After four long, uneventful years, highschool was finally over. Noie was going to make sure her and her brother had a better time in college together - she just had to make sure he picked the right one.

This piece was for the 2020 Transcendence AU Zine! There are many other awesome artists and writers who participated; go check out the full PDF here!

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

It had been a year since nothing happened. Noie was seventeen years old, and life was coming up fast. She couldn’t wait to be done with high school, couldn’t wait to get out of here…

    It had been a year since nothing happened, and Noie had taken her brother on a road trip to tour around one of the state universities. It was a bit of a drive through lonely desert roads, and Noie had the whole weekend set up - she’d booked a motel for a night, filled up her gas tank, queued up all the music and audiobooks they could possibly need… it was gonna be great.

“Isn’t it… a little far from home, Noie?”

“Yeah! I mean, it’s not out of state, but it’s still pretty far out! No one’s gonna bother us out here.”

“But SASU’s so much closer.”

“Oh, you… wanna stay closer to them?”

“Yeah! And I’ve been looking it up, SASU has a great paranormal maths program…”

    It had been a year since nothing happened, and this road trip was going to go great. Dipper was going to be impressed. They stopped at a gas station, and continued south, into the darkness.

    “What does that light mean?”

    “Oh… oh, shoot, we got a flat tire.”

    “What?! We’re in the middle of nowhere, how are we-”

    “Don’t panic! I’ll just change the tire. Gimme one second, bro bro!”

    It had been a year since nothing happened, and Noie stared at the slashes in her tires. She watched a plain truck pull over in front of them, and felt her blood run cold.

    It had been a year since absolutely nothing happened. Noie was a normal teenager with a normal brother, touring universities like any normal person would do. She’d never been involved in any demonic stuff in her life.

    So why was she now being bound and gagged and dragged into the desert by cultists? Why were they asking her brother about some kind of demon fight in a convenience store? What was going on?

    “Tell us how you banished the Dreambender! Tell us now, or else!”

    Noie felt the knife’s edge press into her skin, and she could only gulp.

    She had no idea what they were talking about. Oh god, they were going to kill her, weren’t they? And they were going to kill Dipper.

    Oh god.

    Oh, god.

______________________________________________________________

    Dipper’s head pounded. His heart raced. He could hardly even concentrate on the cultist interrogating him; his eyes only fixed on the circle being drawn before them. The magic coming off it… stars, his brain felt like it was coming out of his ears. 

    “How did your sister do it? How did she bind our Lord? Tell us!”

    “Lord?” Dipper squinted to the side, where he could make out a blobby figure. “Noie? A-are you-”

    “Do not speak to her!” The slap barely registered in his mind; Noie’s gasp did. “Just tell us how she banished Alcor, and we won’t kill you. We need only one sacrifice tonight. Tell us what happened at the convenience store, and it won’t be you.”

    Alcor. That name rang strangely in Dipper’s head. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the circle still seemed to draw his gaze. His head was killing him… and the shouting wasn’t helping.

“He doesn’t know anything! Don’t hurt him!”

    “Be quiet-”

    “But we didn’t do anything! You think I know how to banish a demon? I’ve never seen one in my life!”

    “You lie! I saw you after the convenience store exploded - you and that vampire banished him!”

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

    “I saw you banish him from the world, from our circles! He hasn’t answered our summons in years! I know he yearns for freedom; it was clearly his wish that I witnessed what I did, his wish that I find you and set him free! Now tell me how you did it!”

    Noie said nothing - if Dipper could think, he’d assume she was stunned into silence.

But he couldn’t think. He couldn’t even try. The circle… his eyes were closed, but the lines burned themselves into his retinas regardless. He watched as the Twin Star was traced in the centre, and grit his teeth as the pressure in his head swelled to an unbearable pain. His whole body felt like it was going to burst out of his skin.

He wasn’t just being torn apart, he was being pulled.

Towards the circle.

                The circle.

                    The circle…

    “Dipper!”

    Dipper barely felt the hands that were lifting and dragging him. He was feeling other things; feeling little rips form in the fabric of his mind, feeling strange tidbits of information trickle in like fire on his brain.

    “This is your last chance, girl. Tell us how you banished him, or we’ll send his soul to the Dreambender!”

All of a sudden he knew that that cultist’s name was Rodney Smith. He worked at a car dealership, and none of his employees liked him. He had a warrant out for his arrest - a contempt of court charge for that DUI hearing he skipped.

“No! Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him, I’ll do anything! Dipper!”

He knew Naomi Faybelle Argenta desperately wanted them to go to the same college, even as it was becoming clear they had different needs. She’d booked this whole trip for him, even though she’d already made up her mind. She only queued up his favourite tunes for the ride over, because she knew he didn’t really like her louder music.

He knew how many times she’d cry in her life. He knew she was going to get dementia like her grandmother. He knew the day she was going to die.

He knew. He knew. He knew heknewheknewheknewheknewohgodstop stopithurtsheknewhe-

He knew there was blood on the circle. His blood… on his circle.

The bubble of his mind popped then, and suddenly Alcor knew exactly what was going on. He let out a rumbling groan, and then stretched out his wings. It felt good to throw off that meatsack, to let magic crackle over his form.

    “M-my lord! You’re here! You’re back!” 

Them. He cracked a golden eye open to see the humans who had destroyed his human body. They were approaching - nervously? Reverently? Some were nervous. The one in front was revenant, its hands extended out like it wanted to touch Alcor.

“I can’t believe it! I freed you! I freed you, my lord!” The human laughed maniacally. “I followed all your signs, and now, now you’re here to reward me!”

Alcor growled as it approached, making it stop short of the circle. Still, there was an earnestness to this one’s aura; he could have fun with this.

“A̸̲̹̠̞̥̱̪h̹̪̱̹̼,̷͎̲̘͈̣ͅ ̼̹͙̗̙͓͔s҉͈̝̫̲o̸̭̘ ̜̥̖͇y͏̙̥̝o̮͖͈̦u̮̹̺̻͔̝͞ͅ ̨̹̝̪̩w̞̣̭̣̻̳͠o̦̥̫̥̻ṵl͇d̷̘͕̺̻ ̜̪̺̖��l̫̥̞͕̟̭͡ͅi̦̻̗k̢̮̫e̤͎̘̱̥͉ ̧͉̙̤̰̤̩a͢ ̼͙̤͔f̮͓ì̯t̲͔̭ṯi͜n͎̦̝̮̝̫͞g̼̯͇͢ ͈̘̩̻r̞͇͠e̶͓̞̱̻ͅẉa̭͇̦͚̙r̥̯͉̬̼d̖͈͍̣͇.” Alcor stepped out of the chalk lines, his smile going wide and jagged. “Ș̴̻t҉̙e̘̙̯̫̥͕p̳͚͖̺̥ ̢̭ͅfo̴rw̢̠̰̦̻̜̞a̮̲ͅr̛̺̰̺̜̰ͅd͙̰͎͙ͅ,̖ͅ ͔̩̬͈t̳̪͇̼͙̮̘͜h̝̣͍͎ęn̜͈̠̯͍̲͙,͈͝ ̤̣̣a̧͍̙͍͎͙͉͈n̙͖̺̞͎̙̺͠d̯͇̟͔̮̹ ͎͈͇r̵̜̻̭e͙̭̺ͅc͔̭̱̰̣͔e̯̝͖͡i̬̝͍͟v̥̜̤͍e̟̳̺̘͕̯̕ ̩̭͇̬w̢̻͖̻̜h̪͈̺̭͍̣a̪̠t͚ ͠i̸͔̪͇̬s̪͔ ̠̯͇̖̲o̙̕ẃ̺̟͎̗̻͔e̟͈̭͉͉̲d̴̲͍̮̯͎͙ ͔̯̜͉̬̪̕ͅt̻ͅo̗ ̥̖͝y͔̞̮͍o͚͔̫̪̙u͔̙͖̝.”

The human stepped forward with a wild shine in its eyes. Alcor looked it up and down. Then he chuckled, unhinged his jaw, and went for the throat.

The screams from the other cultists tasted as sweet as the blood bubbling into his mouth. He stopped a moment to savour it, and then he chewed down further, biting through bone and sinew and a soundless scream to get to… The soul.

Alcor gave a full-body shudder as his teeth scraped it; stars, it had been too long since he’d eaten something so delicious. He dug his claws into the body’s shoulders, clamped his teeth around the soul, and ripped it out.

It tasted like wonderful pain. Alcor gulped it down in seconds, then set his eyes on the other cultists running into the desert. There was no moon tonight, but none of them escaped his gaze. None of them would escape him.

With a dark chuckle, he rose up from the ground, letting shadows descend onto the land, letting the blue fire dancing across his fingertips burn hot on the fear in the air, and-

He felt it.

Just above his ankle.

A silver knife - the same one that had slit his meatsack’s throat - was embedded in his form. The enchantments stung a bit, and he looked down, confused, to see who dared challenge the Dreambender… and ohh shit, ohhh no-

“You killed him!”  His own Mizar stared him down with murder in her eyes. Her hands, shaking and still tied with rope she’d cut, were grabbing at his shirt, dragging him down. “I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you!”

Alcor felt his stomach drop. He reached out a hand. “Mizar-”

“I’m gonna kill you!” 

Mizar wrenched down; in his shock, he only watched as she tackled him to the ground and stabbed him in the chest. He felt it go in and out, then in and out again and then he caught her arms.

“You can’t hurt me, Mizar.”

“I don’t care!” She tried to wiggle free of his grip. “Let me go!”

“Mizar-”

“Just let me go! Just let me go!”

Alcor watched her struggle against him for another moment, the pit in his stomach deepening as he remembered the person this soul had formed around. He watched Noie give one final tug, then sniff and gasp and choke and dissolve into a moaning sob over her hands.

The knife fell onto the dirt, and when Alcor let go, she sank down to lay beside it. He stood, and stared at the black despair of her aura…

And the red blood on his hands. Blood was everywhere; blood was all over his front, and blood was crusting around his mouth, and blood was leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. And where there was no blood? There was void, and there was teeth, and there was not a hint of the Dipper Argenta that Noie wanted to see.

He looked like a demon, devouring a cultist’s soul over a circle of candles… he looked like a monster.

The thought caught in his throat, and his hand went to where she’d stabbed him. He hesitated, there, for a moment, and the only sound to be heard was the buzz of crickets and the broken sobbing of his sister.

Then Alcor swallowed his thoughts. Right now, Noie needed her brother back. She didn’t need a monster. She didn’t need him.

So with an arm that trembled, he raised his fingers and set about bringing everything back to normal.

Snap.

______________________________________________________________

“Nearly - ugh - done with the tire, bro!” Noie beamed at her brother as she tightened the lugnuts. “This oughtta be enough to get us into town! I’ll look up tire places once we’ve got service again - don’t you worry about anything!”

Dipper Argenta could’ve lied to himself and pretended the strain in her smile was only from changing the tire, but Alcor knew better. He tried to smile back, tried not to see the panic simmering in her aura.

“And we’ll still make it to the motel before check-in time! This is still gonna be the best trip ever!”

“I’m sure it will be, Noie.”

“You better believe it! And in the morning, we’ll get up, and - and apparently there’s this really good tea shop in town, we’ll check that out and then go look around! It’ll be amazing!”

“I’m sure it will be, Noie.” Dipper looked out into the darkness, and sighed. “I’m sure… I’m sure it will be.”

“Dipper? You, uh… okay?”

He looked back to her, and smiled. “I’m okay. Everything’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Yeah, just…” Dipper rubbed his neck. “Once we get into town, I need to go to the bathroom, or something. I need to clear my head.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” She stood up. “Is it a magic headache?”

“Yeah… let’s go with that. I just need a few minutes, though. Then I’ll be fine.” He looked down at his shoes. “Then everything will be back to normal, and… we’ll have fun.”

Dipper stood there for a moment in silence. Then, he felt an arm come and wrap around him. Noie smiled at him, and patted his shoulder.

“Alright.” She motioned to the car. “Well, the tire’s changed, so we better get a move on, huh?”

“Yeah. You’re right. No point in hanging around.”

Noie gave him a squeeze, and then with a laugh she pulled him towards the car. She started the engine, and the audiobook they’d been listening to started talking once again. Dipper tried for a smile at that, but it didn’t stick.

Things felt almost normal as they got back on the road... but he already knew the ending.

[imagineofallkindsxxx]

Eternal Flame- Part 6/?

No Need to be a Show Off

Summary: 'You never know whats in a persons heart until you truly know them' - Belle French, Once Upon a Time

Singing. Thats all what Alexandra Gilbert has cared about since she was young and all she would care about until she met him.

With Alexandra fighting vampires, werewolves and all between she may do a thing she vowed never to do, fall in love.

And to think it all started with a walk in the woods...

Needless to say history was a tad awkward after Rebekah made an appearance. I mean Elena and Bonnie were glaring at Rebekah throughout the entire period, not to mention the presence of Stefan, me giving James a kick and quietly reprimanding every time he attempts to stare at Rebekah like the creep he is. Nevertheless, I continued to listen to Mr Saltzman or Ric as he insists on me calling him. He is kind and has been looking after me and my siblings after the passing of Jenna and I respect and care for him.

After fifty minutes of being taught about Native Americans and wondering why I decided to take AP history for a subject when its genuinely the most mind numbing subjects, the bell finally rang which was the indication to pack up before going to the next class.

"Your homework for tomorrow is to read pages 14-20" Mr Saltzman said, at least its just reading knowing other teachers it’ll be full on essays. I sighed along with most of the class before going to our next class. James is in English while I'm in Chem, shame would love to see James and Mr Jones in the same room after yesterdays prank. I bid James goodbye before splitting up, I saw my twin up ahead and ran up as quick as I could in these shoes.

"Elena, care to tell me what the hell is going on? Why's Stefan here and not eating some sorority girl?" Confused at how my sisters boyfriend has chosen to spend his time at school. Her doe eyes look at me nudging me into the side of the corridor hoping less people will hear her.

"Its Klaus" I look at her to elaborate on it "He's told Stefan to watch his ‘new asset' so he’s here acting like he’s some control freak bodyguard" rolling her eyes 

"Dick" I said plainly starting to walk with her

"Who? Klaus or Stefan?"

"Do I have to pick?" She laughed before stopping in front of her biology classroom

"This is me, talk later?" she questioned making me give her a strained smile. Honestly sometimes when alone we can get along its just when everyone else is there to complicate the matters. When I say everyone else I really just mean the Salvatore brothers.

I head along two more classes before hitting my chemistry class, looking around the class to see who would be the best person to be partners with for the year. That’s the one good thing about Jones is that he doesn’t believe in seating plans because 'its your fault if you fail." I searched the class then saw a shade of familiar blonde hair in a French plait with an empty seat, I race towards the blonde.

"Ashleigh Jackson." I said grinning at my best girl friend making her look up from the notebook she was most likely doodling on.

"Alexandra Gilbert" she exclaimed before giving me a hug before the teacher came into class. "I haven’t seen you for ever! How have you been?"

"I've been good, I've just been so busy, remember that program I decided to enter? Took up most of my time." I told her referring to the programme which helped children with hearing impairments with learning to play instruments or singing. "What about you though? How's Dylan?" I asked about her dick of a boyfriend but with the shift in her demeanour makes me wish I didn't.

"Me and Dylan broke up a few weeks ago." I looked at her in sympathy feeling horrible about asking but makes me pull my arm around her shoulder knowing that although I thought he was a terrible person Ash still loved him.

"Well... I guess this calls for a girl night. Popcorn. Cringey rom coms. Vodka." This made her laugh a little giving me a smile but before she could say anything Mr. Jones walked in to class.

"Welcome to AP chemistry. This is going to be a difficult and long lesson for not just you but me also." he starts off with making me roll my eyes at the asshole of  teacher we are going to be forced to listen to for the rest of the year "Can any one tell me what empirical formula is?" Knowing what it is I wrote it down on my notebook while Ash put her hand up slowly.

"Miss Jackson"

"Is it the simplest ratio of molecules making up a compound?"

"Are you asking or telling me miss Jackson?"

"I'm telling you" she said with confidence.

"What is Coulombs Law?" He asked moving on from Ash, no one dared to put their hand up, to end this torture I put my hand up .

"Miss Gilbert?"

"Coulombs Law is the amount of energy that an electron has depends on its distance from the nucleus of an atom. It has the formula e=k(q1*q20)/r." I told him in the most confident manner.

"Correct. There’s no need to be a show off Miss Gilbert" He replied making me go scarlet learning that its more torturous answering his questions rather than the silence that issues when he asks one.

This continued for the next 10 minutes, the class answering questions then getting berated by the man supposedly supporting us.

Once he finished with his power trip he handed out work sheet. I looked over it and saw it was a five double paged work sheet. Making me wonder if this man should be a teacher at all.

"This is a worksheet so I can see your knowledge and capabilities. If you are below 70% correct you will be dropped from this class. You will get today and tomorrow to finish. You may begin. In complete silence." 70% is this guy mental? He hasn’t even began teaching and already judging us, pathetic. But we all done as he said and began the lengthy work sheet until the bell rang. He then took the work sheets back in while all of us rushed out of the class after packing up our stuff.

Once outside me and Ash began to talk once again.

"God I hate him." I said "'No need to be a show off'" I  mimicked his annoyingly monotone voice making Ash laugh.

"'Are you asking or telling me Miss Jackson?' I don't know am I asking or telling you to go and slam your head against the lockers?" she said rolling her eyes making her grin when I gave a huge laugh.

"Ashleigh Jackson" I 'reprimanded'

"What? Makes a change from being you." God I love this girl she makes me forget the while Stefan/Klaus/Original/Dopelganger thing for a while.

"I have to get to class, talk at lunch so we can organise that girls night?" I questioned leaving her seeing her nod with a smile.

I walked into math and saw a hero haired vampire sitting in the middle of the class where I used to sit last year. I sat down next to him looking straight ahead.

"I think your in the wrong class, Elena is in French." I told him in a 'could care less that a hungry, ripper, free of humanity vampire is sitting next t me in my math class' tone but with my voice higher pitch and heart rate increasing I doubt he bought it.

"You see I would agree with you if I didn’t compel Kyle- you know Kyle, right? Anyway to look after her while I watch over you." He informed me of the compulsion of a class mate and borderline stalker tendencies.

"Me? Why?" I questioned doubting he’ll answer.

"Dunno, all I know is Klaus told me to look after 'The Gilbert twins' I didn't question it, don't really care to be honest" Making me roll my eyes. Klaus told him to watch over me? Why? I'm not a walking blood bank for his hybrids like Elena or his newly undaggered and potentially dangerous little sister, so why? Before I could attempt to question him albeit doubting I’d get any answers the teacher came in and started to give us a recap of what we would have done just before the start of summer. Mr Gold was always a decent teacher.

I tried to listen and take notes but it was difficult putting the question of Klaus interesting to the side and focusing on algebra. Before I knew it the bell rang. I stood up and got my stiff before rushing towards the door but got pulled back by the youngest Salvatore.

"What’s the rush Little Gilbert? You need to relax, be like me! That is what you told Elena earlier right?" he sarcastically questioned making me glare and get in his face.

"Yeah right after I told her to dump your ass and be like you 'don't care about anything'." Pulling my arm out of his grip and walking past the classes not missing Ric looking over worriedly giving me a look but I just nodded that I’m fine.

I walked into the class next to Rics my second favourite class. AP American Government and Politics. Its a big jump from music but its just something I get also helps to stop being treated like a child at functions when your able to talk about political situations, knowing more than the person your talking to.

I sat in the middle of the class not knowing any of the people in the class due to me being the only person in both supernatural and human groups whose remotely interested in politics well that was until a blonde original surprisingly walked into the class looking around to find a seat before sitting to at the front of the class unaware of my presence.

In front of me and the rest of the classes desks were a piece of paper listed 'Curricular Requirements' with the syllabus on it, while all of us were reading it another blonde came into the class however this was expected as it was Miss Gold and what the students have gathered is the cousin to my math teacher.

"Hello class, its lovely to see you all after the long break but I hope your ready to learn. For all those new faces let me introduce myself. I'm Miss Gold and I'm going to be your Advance Placement Government and Politics teacher. To start off I have given you all the syllabus and curriculum requirements for this year. I am going to start from the top down so be ready to learn about the foundations of American democracy." she told us writing on the board before turning to the class with a reassuring smile "now before I begin I just want to tell you all that there are no silly or stupid questions in this class and if you don't understand something let me know. Also, if any of you need anything or need to talk my door is always open." She told us, god she is basically the opposite of Mr Jones. So refreshing. 

"Right we are going to do a recap from last year. What is the different structures of local, state and federal governments?" Waiting a minute to pick someone "Courtney" Courtney gave a swift and correct answer to the question Miss Gold asked.

"What is one of the founding principles that guided the establishment of the United States Government?" she looked around the sea of hands brief her eyes connected with Rebekah’s "I'm sorry I don’t know your name, miss..."

"Rebekah Mikaelson"

"Well Rebekah you may answer" she knew exactly what to say due to the fact how she probably knew the founding fathers and the principles they decided to use.

After the little quiz she decided to tell the class an overview of what the school year entails in a more detailed manner yet her soothing vice managed to calm the classes anxiety of the seemingly difficult year ahead. Although I was listening and taking notes my mind was still on how Stefan was told to 'watch over the Gilbert twins'. It was confusing how I had to be 'looked after' by a blood thirsty vampire for a reason the he isn’t aware of. Wonderful.

All I know now is that its lunch and that means music studio I go. Just as I was about to leave the cafeteria after picking up some lunch I saw Rebekah sitting their surprisingly alone. I would expect her to be swarmed by people but she was just alone looking down at her 'lunch'. I looked around before walking over to the blonde where she looked up at me.

"Hey, are you waiting on anyone?" I asked kindly as possible

"No. why?" Having a suspicious look on her face after hearing my friends talk about her in an unpleasant way and most likel not very subtly.

"Well I was just wondering if you wanted to come and sit with my friends?" I offered wondering if it was a good idea or not, my sister would kill me but honestly I can empathise with Rebekah, I was her in first day freshman year before I headed to music and met the three most important boys in my life- including Jeremy at this moment- and had a group that would last forever.

Rebekah smiled at me before nodding taking up my offer. I told her to follow me walking out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the music studio Mr Curtis lets us use at lunch and after school.

I heard the boys before I saw them meaning Rebekah probably heard them way back.

"-insane?! That is the worst song to pick!" I heard Sam yell, I stopped in my tracks making Rebekah stop and gave me a look of confusion.

"I'm mentally preparing myself to deal with an arguing group of men like children" this made Rebekah laugh a little bit

"No 'Gives You Hell' is a way better option than 'So Am I'!" Mark yelled

"There’s no way in hell am playing that song when-" I walked in at that moment partially regretting bringing Rebekah along to see this mess of a class.

"Thank God voice of reason is here!" He yelled up to the sky "What’s the best: 'Gives You Hell', 'So Am I' or 'Monster'?" I looked at them confused

"I thought we agreed on 'Mr Brightside' then 'Don't Speak' during the summer?" They all started at me for a few seconds taking in what I just said before remembering the conversation in the park where we picked the first two songs to sing when we perform at the Grille.

"Oh yeah."

"Forgot about that"

"Who's this?" Mark asked confused why their was a blonde in the room

"This is Rebekah. She's new and alone so I invited her to practice." I off handedly said

"Oh your in history with us!" James yelled

"Indoor voices Jamie" Sam reprimanded him making James throw a  drum stick hitting him on the head making us laugh.

"Sorry about them. They’re literally children." I apologized for their behaviour watching them fight over the thrown drumstick while me and Rebekah ate our lunch.

"I grew up with five brothers, I'm used to it." Making me laugh. Five brothers. I only know about Klaus and Elijah. I dread to think there three more Klaus's come out of the woodwork.

"Are you boys done yet?" I asked over the nose giving them a look "We have a guest" making them look down like I was their mother giving them a row.

"He started it" Mark pointed to James.

"You litt-"

"Enough!" I point to Mark "Guitar" then Sam “Bass" and finally James "Drums. Now." Making them grumble before getting their instruments. "You don't mind us playing do you?" I ask Rebekah, she shook her head.

"Not at all, just wondering what type of music you play" she smiled sitting down on a chair we use occasionally. I stood on the stage before we began to play. Over and over again.

"...Cause I'm Mr Brightside" I finished.

"That was really good. You all have a gift. Especially you Alexandra"

"oooooh Alexandra" James said in a tone making Rebekah look confused as I attempted to hit him over the head

"She hates being called Alexandra" Sam filled in as I continued to try and hit him with his own drum stick. I composed myself before turning towards my new friend?

"Please call me Andie. Or Alex. Up to you really, just not Alexandra"

"As long as you call my Bex" she mirrored the smile on my face.

The bell rang before we had a chance to practice again only thing was that I had music and then a free. So just down the hall.

"What class are you going to?" she asked me, hoping her newly made friend was in the same class as her.

"Music. You?" getting my stuff together to walk down two class rooms.

"Math" I gave her a small smile.

"We'll be here until half four if you want to come along?"

"Thank you for the offer Andie but I'm trying out for cheer."

"Another blonde intelligent cheerleader, with any luck you’ll replace Jackson" I heard Sam say while walking past us making me hit him on back of the head "Nice to meet you Bex"

"Was a pleasure Bekah" Mark told her with a smile while walking by but James had to take it further by giving her a piece of paper.

"Call me Bex, love to get to know you more" giving her a wink

"Don't be a creep. Leave the poor girl be" giving him a glare then a push.

"In all serious here is my number" I gave her my number to put in her new phone "Text if you need anything" she gave me a grateful smile almost as if she was shocked at the kindness given to her by someone. "Enjoy math"

"I will she laughed as we split ways."

As we head into music where we saw Mr Curtis.

"Ah wonderful the whole band is here" making me smile at him. After the class filled he started to teach as it was a double everyone got bored except 'the teachers pet’s as everyone called us but we took it as a compliment. Just cause they don't understand the art of music like we do doesn’t mean they have to be a dick about it.

He told us to split into four and discuss a piece of music which would resonate with what he was talking about so we spoke about Mozart’s Requiem and how it relates to the music notes that we had to discuss.

Honestly the entire class went like that as Mr Curtis let us do anything for the second period as long as it had to do with playing or discussing music in some sort of fashion. This was usually the time we discussed original songs and what we would sing next week at the Grille. Today we were writing our last verse of our original song we are hoping to perform one day.

"Well what’s going on in this group?" Mr Curtis asked looking over our piece of paper "Original song?" we nodded bashfully.

"We have the bass and drum beat, most of the lyrics and just have to do the guitar solo." I told him which he smiled at seeing our appreciation and enthusiasm about music and making it, you can see it in his eyes that he has faith in us.

"Good luck. I better be the first one to hear it." he told us.

After half hour of that the bell rang insinuating that it was class over luckily for me it’s my last class of the day. The other three not so much.

"I hate you so fucking much.” Mark said the three boys jealous of how my last period was a free.

"Tough luck Mark, enjoy history" making him glare the boys leaving me. I decided to go to the bleachers and study a bit for the rest of the Chem test tomorrow.

"Alex!" I heard looking around I saw a cheerleader trying to get my attention seeing it was Caroline. I grabbed my stuff and stalked towards Caroline wondering what was wrong. I give her a look asking her to explain why she shouted my name.

"Were you hanging out with Rebekah today?!" she asked although she seemed to already know the answer.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why? She's an evil slutty Original."

"Caroline!" I exclaimed "She's not a slut or evil she’s a lonely girl wanting the high school experience. give her a break." I walked away to the far away end of the bleachers not wanting to hear anymore 'warnings' about Rebekah. I studied well tried to anyway my mind still angry at how Caroline and the rest of the group only see black and white. they have to know there is a grey part. After studying for a good 20 minutes I felt someone sit next to me. I looked over to see the ‘evil slut’ herself.

“I take it from you not being in class you have a ‘free’? I believe that is what they are called?” I smiled a bit thinking about the lack of knowledge Rebekah has on 21st century slang.

“Yeah, it’s called a free. I come up here to study, its quiet and relaxing. What’s your excuse?”

“I’m going to try out for cheer. I better go. Something tells me I do not want to keep Caroline Forbes waiting.” I gave a laugh at the way she spoke out the baby vampire she could probably kill in a millisecond. "That was sarcasm by the way" I shake my head and chuckle a little.

“I’ll see you later. Good luck.” The bell rang two or three minutes after she left however, I waited a bit for students to leave or head to practice before heading back in to practice some more when. I walked by the girls trying out and shouted

“Good luck girls” walking back into school music room to practice with the boys. Hopefully it will be productive?

*************************************************

I'm missing the bonfire for this. One of the best parties of the year I mean Ash helped organize it and I’m missing it because of an annoying humanity-less vampire is running around town.

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. then when he's distracted..." Elena began to explain the plan as a whole with Alaric finishing.

"I’ll shoot him"

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon suggested annoyingly.

"Yes great idea Damon. Lets get the witch to bail you and your brother out the hundredth time." I sarcastically replied thinking that they rely too much on the magic that Bonnie holds and it always end up with her hurt. Does he care? Absolutely not he’s Damon Salvatore after all. He glares at me intensely as I matched his expression.

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this. I don't trust Stefan won't hurt her. Caroline are you covered?" my sister agreed making Damon remove his eyes from me and land on my sisters. Caroline answered my sisters question.

"Yes! I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"We're forgetting a key player here. Rebekah?" this making me roll my eyes "Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow." It would be Damon who made this remark I mean after all he’s perfect.

"Which is why it’s your job to keep her away" Elena tells Damon him having the easiest roll in this plan.

"How?!? She's an Original. Last time I checked, we're out of daggers." he complained, shocker.

"So preoccupy her with your charm" Elena told him, I’m not entirely sure if it was a joke or not.

"Might have better luck finding the dagger."

"What charm?" me and Ric both answered

"Are you ever not going to be mad at me for a day?" Damon asked both of us

"Doubtful"

"Unlikely"

Then right at that moment the newest hybrid came in late looking around like everything was just fine.

"Sorry I'm late. What's going on?" He asked the group.

"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while." Elena told him which to be fair was a good idea but Tyler didn’t think so.

"You can't do that to Stefan" He said looking confused and borderline angry at the group.

"Why not?" Caroline asked her hybrid boyfriend wondering what was with the new attitude.

"Ty he’s out of his mind he needs our help aka the vervain"

"Trust me Tyler, it's in his best interest" Me and Elena tried to convince him to help.

"But its not in Klaus's" He defended making me cock my head.

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler. You know, why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion" Caroline questioned her boyfriends behaviour. Slave? Could that mean?

"Uh-oh" I heard looking up it was Damon who was looking at Tyler suspiciously, I looked at the Salvatore and said

"He isn't?" narrowing my eyes as he made a look like 'looks like it Hun'

"What?" Ric questioned both the Gilbert and Salvatore being on the same page for once which was terrifying itself.

"Klaus made me who I am Caroline. I owe him everything." Tyler said once again defending Klaus

"Oh boy"

"He is"

"Okay can we cool it with the commentary, please." giving both of us a look.

"What's going on?" Elena questions wanting to be in the know of Tylers 'condition' but  before anything else can be said Damon grabs a vervain dart from Rics desk with no one else noticing.

"I'm just going to go." He tried to escape and probably go to tell his master so  as he starts to walk towards the door Damon vampire runs towards the young hybrids and injects him with the vervain dart making Tyler collapse.

"What are you doing?!?" Caroline exclaimed both shocked and angry.

"He's been sired." Damon vaguely explained the condition of the Lockwood.

"What?" Ric asks wanting clarification of what that means.

"Sired, he feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him" I explained briefly.

"Loyal how?" Elena wanted more information on how Tyler is going to act.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master." I began with Damon finishing

"Its really rare. maybe not so much in hybrids"

"How do I fix him?" Caroline asks us, I smile sympathetically.

"Get a new boyfriend" Making eveyone in the room act in some sort of negative way towards him.

When we begin to set the plan into motion Damon grabs a hold of my arm.

"I swear the next Salvatore to grab me is going to get a pencil to the eye." he let go after I said that.

"How did you know about the sire bond?" I cocked my head furrowing my eyebrows

"I don't know."

I walked into the bonfire seeing Ash socialising, I gave her a little smile and wave before going over to Sam.

"I'm bored" he told me when I reached him "entertain me".

"I'm not a circus act Sam."

"You look like one" I gave him a look making him smile.

"I'm going somewhere I won’t be verbally abused."

"Where? You don't have any other friends" I narrowed my eyes grabbing his drink and downing it before shoving it back in his hand.

I walked over to the beer tap and got my own drink before settling my eyes on the annoying vampire and the blonde original. I have no idea how but he is actually managing to somehow charm Rebekah? Such an unusual concept. But just as I was about to stop stalking them and see if Ash is free it started to get interesting with Rebekah standing up speaking with Damon also standing before Rebekah stabs Damon in the stomach with a sit causing him to sit back down. The scene playing in front of me makes me laugh a little.

I walk around trying to find someone to socialise with and saw Sam, James and Mark sitting around.

"I'm bored as hell" Mark started

"No 'Hello Andie. How have you been?'" I said sarcastically

"I don’t particularly care though."

"Charming"

"Do you want to leave" James asked

"I've not drunk anything. Parents would kill me. I can drive?" all four of us agreed that leaving the party would be much more beneficial to our mental health.

"I'm telling you I reckon I have a chance with that Rebekah" James said making all of us laugh

"And I reckon your dr-" I started before stopping by falling over seeing blurry images of my friends making out bits and pieces. The back of my head throbbing I saw Sam and James running to get help at least that’s what I think they were doing.

My eyes were fluttering shut, I’m feeling really tired but I got slapped.

"No, don't you dare all asleep you still owe me ten bucks for that cinema ticket I paid for. You are not dying. You hear me!" I tried to keep my eyes open but they just closed. This is it I’m going to die. I felt Mark doing CPR while yelling something then all of a sudden I felt some metallic tasting liquid go down my throat making me open my eyes fully trying to pull away from the wrist of Damon Salvatore.

"Thank you" I muttered in begrudged gratitude.

"What!?" was the next think I heard.

"You were dead and now your..."

"I'm so confused what just happened?"

"Are they on vervain?" I heard Damon whisper in my ear while helping me up. I shook my head.

He walked over to the three if them

"You saw nothing. you four were bored at the party and decided to leave early. Alex didn’t fall, I didn’t feed her my blood, the four of you just left." he compelled making me look away from the three of them, feeling bad for taking away their memories.

"Hey Damon, what are you doing here?" James asked dubiously knowing my dislike for the vampire.

"I'm going to take Alex home to her sister. Lets go Alex" he pulled me away I stopped him and looked at my friends.

“I'll see you in homeroom tomorrow.” With a smile watching them walk away after saying goodbye.

He sped me to the Salvatore boarding house. The last time I was here I nearly died lets hope its not a repeat. I saw Elena and she looked smoky? And had a burn on her cheek?

"I've got cream for that burn mark. come with me" he beckons my sister to follow making me look at them curiously.

I sat on the couch closing my eyes not wanting to go anywhere near Damon’s room especially with Elena in it. I heard a noise, opening my eyes and looked up to see Ric.

"Where’s Elena?"

I pointed upstairs closing my eyes again before saying Damons room. After a few seconds Ric appeared with Elena.

"C'mon Alex time to go."

Three of us left the boarding house in a car that I didn't know making me question who owns this vehicle. Ric saw my confusion at the new car.

"My car got blown up." Not exactly the best explanation but the best they had so far

"Quite an eventful party"

*************************************************

A/N: This was huge but I thought I'd split it into two parts, the episode and the Rebekah/Ashleigh/band part.

Next chapter is the dynamic between Alex and Caroline which will be updated tomorrow

Also anything to do with the chemistry and/or politics classes came off the internet so if it's incorrect sorry.

Hope you enjoyed reading.

Any British slang, spelling or grammar problems let me know.

Please comment any positive or negative feedback

Thanks for reading Lovelies xxx

[mauserfrau]

Eyeshine, Part 1 - Bordertober

HEY KIDS WHO WANTS TO SEE THE TWINS ON THEIR SHIP HEADED TO PANDORA.

IT’S REALLY TINY.

AND THEY’RE HAVING ENGINE TROUBLE.

...or are they?

Lots of Tyreen eating and some other general nastiness from her.  Appreciably Claustrophobic.  

The jump brought them to a space so empty it didn’t even seem black.  No— darkness rested between other stars, far off and distant.  Here was a clear nothingness, out of reach of the rest of the universe.  

Tyreen drifted at his shoulder.  He could feel her fuming.

Neither of them had made much sound since they’d stopped.  The lights were low, the gravity still off and wherever they were now, it seemed like there hadn’t been a sound there since the galaxy formed.  A word from either of them would disturb this.

Besides, this wasn’t Pandora.  This wasn’t even the Pandoran system.  Or any system.  This was nothing.

“Stars move, you know,” Troy said, fumbling the silence apart.

“It’s only been like twenty years,” insisted Tyreen.  “They can’t move that fast.  We should at least be able to see it!”

He gestured a spiral with his hand.  Did she even care that the star cluster where Nekrotafeyo had grown spun opposite this one, that they were blue-shifting verses each other and that had choked the navigation system?  He decided to summarize.  “I think the computer’s a little off and umm...”

“Umm what?”

“I might have overcompensated for stellar drift since I ended up doing it manually.”

“Troy!” She made his name sound like she’d broken something.  He half-expected a slap.

“Look.” He forced calm into his voice and turned to face her as he spoke.  

She was livid, her whole body tense and her hair standing on end.  

“We can’t run out of power.  We jumped just fine.  We have water.  We have food.  We have a working toilet.”

“And where are we!”

“I’m gonna run an extrapolation and figure that out while the jump drive resets.”

“Can’t you math it in your head?”

“Um.” Sighing, Troy turned back to the view screen, focusing first on the blank reach where their ship rested, then letting his vision float to the stars.  The blackness lived between them, but in some strands there was no between, only points of light thick enough to make mist out of each other.  “I kinda don’t think so.”

Tyreen groaned and swam off towards the bed.

*

Tyreen moved better in zero g than he did.  Troy was always twisting around to his left to push, pull, founder.  Still, he hated to turn the gravity back on.  There was something about watching her float above the bed with the covers billowing around her.  She seemed so right like that, singular and and easy and in this case put out.  

Her Coeus reader was flickering lately.  She ended up groaning and setting it loose to float through the cabin where Troy caught it.

She also said— “Hey, turn the heavy back on.  I gotta piss.” 

“Alright.  On three.  Three.” Troy threw the switch.  His back crunched as weight returned to his spine through the seat at the command console.  His sister landed with a thump.  Their foodstores yelped and howled and shed feather-forms along the floor.  Tyreen caught herself with a huff and pulled herself into the water closet, giving the cage of spindly hexlings a sour look before she shut the door.  One of them shrieked after her.  Troy shushed it and went back to the console.

The keys pressed easier with weight back in his body.  He pulled up the extrapolation program.  Another likely set of coordinates failed a final round of testing and ticked away.  The system was working to match the spectrographic information of visible stars to known clusters as far as he could tell.  Color seemed such a tenuous way to determine place, but that might have been the emptiness intruding on his thoughts more than anything rational.  Besides, he kept thinking he had somehow spied the white supergiant that held Pandora out among all the other points of light.

Troy was tempted to ask his sister to try.  She was the siren.  She might be able to do it if she listened across all the dark matter between them and that place.

She was still in the water closet.  

Troy let the extrapolator run in the background and idly tabbed into the superstructure of the ship’s hard drive.  It had been made to be piloted by someone with little skill, all of the command icons in welcoming jelly style art with three to four clicks needed to access any functions more complicated than the gravity or the sublight engine speed.  He’d picked the interface up fast enough, but modifying the OS to accept a jump drive had been more hours of frustrated keystrokes than any actual handiwork.  

Every system responded in good order.  He’d done the same check once they’d cleared Nekrotafeyo’s gravity well and before the jump.  The only difference was thousands of light years to nowhere and the bottom falling out of his stomach halfway there, not more than a heartbeat.  

He even dug into the audio system.  If Tyreen asked, he wanted to be able to tell her literally everything was fine.

A handful of loose example recordings bothered the top folder.  Troy thought about moving them, but the system considered their poor placement de rigeur and complained when he tried.

Tempted to try, he clicked down the list, which was when he realized: one of them had a different date than the others.

He leaned over a speaker and hit play, curious what had been loaded on this particular sound test file.  Since that was probably it.

Instead, he heard Dad say, “Well, if it isn’t my favorite little minx.  Yeah, that’s a good girl.  Let me see those eyes shine.  I love it when you...”

He slammed stop.

There was somebody else on the file too.  They were laughing that bubbly way he knew happened, but he barely remembered as something he’d experienced in his own life.

Troy stared at the file.  He breathed again.

A thump sounded behind him and Tyreen came tripping out of the water closet, pants around her ankles and her underwear yanked up in her fist.  “What the hell was that?”

“Ah, system check.  Since we’re here, you know.”

She growled and she sat down right where she was and in the puddle of her pants.  “Warn me next time.”

“Your intuition didn’t tip you off?”

Those words didn’t even merit an answer.  She closed her eyes and turned her back to him.

The ship was so small he only would have had to lean out of the chair and he could have had his hand on her.  She wasn’t in the mood though, not about that, not about anything to do with Dad and definitely not about playing siren anytime before they made planetfall.

And well, then she wouldn’t be playing anymore, would she?

*

Maybe that fact had settled funny someplace in her stomach.  Troy just knew that after a while she stole her Coeus back and stood in the corner, smacking the screen.  The extrapolation program ticked off another hundred coordinates that didn’t suit, approaching 50% complete at a crawl.

Tyreen peered over his shoulder, but said nothing about the progress bar.

It looked like half of their chances for finding themselves had been spent.  Troy thought it was more of a best match situation.

He wondered what he would do if he was wrong.

The jump drive ticked down to usable quiescence.  Tyreen swore and started to get back into bed.  Instead she kicked her pants off and stretched out belly-down on the floor which was chalky with the bookmarks of the night they’d left.

It had only been two days.  He thought.  The active time on the sublight engine monitor was somewhat misleading.  Startup had taken so long, but he’d been fumbling all over himself, movements thick with the shock of what he was about to do.

What Tyreen said they were doing.

Like, she just… dragged him.  Now?

Now there his sister lay, looking like she’d melted into the ground.

“What’re you staring at?” she muttered without looking up from the well of her arms.

“Mm.  Nothing,” Troy murmured.  “I was thinking about when we were kids.  That game we’d play about not getting off the bed back when we only had the one and...” Well, he thought about that a lot, even though it hadn’t been bothering his mind in that moment.

Tyreen sat up, still hunched over.  Her Coeus rattled in her grasp.  Eventually, she tipped it into one of the charging slots.  “I’m eating now.  You want in?”

“Sure.”

Food was something to do anyway.  Troy hauled himself out of the chair and got himself into the cupboard after some of the stale rye bread they’d taken from the stores back at the homestead.  He checked it for mold and then also took a plum.

Tyreen picked over the cages with a tongs.  Did she want manta eggs? A hexling or two? A flush of air coral and sprat? One one of the lonesome baby Djira mewing in their own slime?

She took two eggs.  

The two of them hunched together on a sheet of tanned air algae.  Troy’s plum was sour, but he sucked the pit clean while Tyreen stared at him.  As he reached for the bread, Tyreen shoved one of the eggs at him.  “Open it for me.”

Troy sighed.  Speaking of games from when they were children— Tyreen could have eaten the egg regardless, but he’d gotten awfully good at spinning the tops off with his knife and one hand.  He smiled and he did this for her now, placing the egg on a spare sack so that his sister’s leavings would spread through the ship, get into the Instruments.  

The egg squished as she pressed her fingers inside.  It turned to dust and glass.  “Hmm.  That was fresher than I thought.”

“Good.  Want me to do the other one too?”

“Sure.”

So, he sliced again.  He was going to have to wash his hand before he finished his own super as much as the second egg leaked.

This time, his sister stared at her dirty knees.  “Are you sure you didn’t fuck everything up?”

“If I did,” Troy said softly.  “Then we’ll deal wi-...”

Tyreen sucked the other egg down, sloppy now, sand leaking between her toes.  She grabbed the piece of rye and stuck it in Troy’s mouth before burrowing into the bed and covering her head with the pillow.  

Troy chewed thoughtfully and then moved to clean up.  The baby Djira chortled in their cages as though night had fallen.  Well, it was that time by the engine clock.  

*

[feralnumberfive]

I expect no one to read this at all. It’s more of a way to get some feelings off of my chest. This is a look into my personal life and what I went through in 2020. I cried quite a bit while writing this, haha.

My farewell letter to 2020:

To you 2020, the year that shook the world. You’re certainly one to go down in the record books. You changed my life as you did to everyone. To you, the month of March. I had hit the lowest part in my life since the shock of my parent's divorce 11 years ago. My beloved cat had died in October of 2019, a few days short of our one year anniversary of fostering him, which soon turned into us adopting him. It was sudden and unexpected. I still can remember clear as day that horrid call I got from my sister from the vet. “Hey, we need you to come up here. It’s kidney failure.” As she spoke through her tears, I instantly began to cry. I had felt sad for months after that. 

In December of 2019, the adoptive dad of one of my closest friends committed suicide. She was torn apart, having had three people she knew died earlier that year. I stood by her side and watched her cry. We colored together in the counseling room, making small talk and doing anything I could to comfort her. 

From late February into March, another one of my closest friends revealed to me a traumatic experience she went through. She had been raped by a classmate of mine, one who I considered to be good acquaintances. She was a grade younger than me, and was practically completely dependent on me and my friend, as she was too scared to tell her parents. She eventually completely relied on my friend as I became shoved out of the problem. Her story and the amount of support required from her, which she never gave back to me throughout our friendship, made me realize at that moment I had hit rock bottom. I was tired and so sick of it all. This sentence that I'm about to say is one I've never admitted to anyone: I didn't want to be around anymore, or at least alive. I needed somewhere to escape. I didn't want to commit suicide due to expectations I held upon myself. I was also too scared to commit suicide. 

I finally admitted I needed help, which was scary for me to do. In March of you, 2020, I was diagnosed with situational depression. I was soon put on an anti-depressant. It felt good to put a name on it, but little did I know I would pay the price for my relief. Preparing to go off to college, I needed to get a First Class Medical Certificate in order to apply to the flight program at the colloege I wanted to go to. I went and got my FAA Medical Certificate done, ticking off the boxes on my journey to fulfill my life long dream of becoming a pilot. 

Spring Break came and after watching schools around me close, it was announced that we wouldn't be returning until mid April, and then the end of April, then until May. I quickly realized it wasn't possible to return and that unbeknownst to me I had already spent the last days of my Senior year at school in March. A frantic question was suddenly formed amongst my classmates and soon the world: Will the class of 2020 graduate? I, being burnt out, didn't care what would happen to me or my class. We soon became a laughing stock and a sight to pity around the world. Class of 2020, Corona Class, The Class that would be telling this story to their kids. It didn't matter to me. As I held up the “Class of 2020″ shirt my uncle got me with the zeros as tp rolls, I sighed. I just wanted to graduate without getting laughed at. Spoiler Alert: That didn't happen. 

Around this time I ended my friendship with the girl who I cherished but didn't cherish me back. I still to this day can’t exactly understand why I did that. I blocked her and left without saying goodbye. That wasn’t the right thing to do at all. She had been raped and needed support, but here I was leaving her. She always needed and wanted my support but never gave it back. It was always “Aw you have a problem? Here, let’s try this minimal effort plan to help you. That didn’t work? Oh well, let’s get back to me.” This is no excuse at all for my actions of cutting her off. I really still don’t know why I did this. I had hung out with her everyday in the summer of 2019. Here I was, easily letting her go. Jackie, I’m so sorry. I hope you are doing well and get into ISU to follow your dreams of being an engineer. 

In May I received news that still hurts and effects me to this day. I had been denied my Medical Certificate. It wasn't due to me being on an antidepressant, is was due to the fact that I was depressed. This was soul crushing news, but there was still a chance I could reapply for the Medical Certificate if I jumped through multiple hoops. May also provided the announcement that my safe haven in Oshkosh, Wisconsin wouldn't be happening this year. It was definitely understandable due to the virus, but still very saddening to me. It’s really the only thing I look forward to each year, but I understood and agreed on why it was canceled for 2020.

In June I got the news that a beloved teacher of my family and I passed away due to a heart attack and complications of Addison’s Disease. She was the best math teacher I had ever had, and the best in my High School. Math is my worst subject, but she never made me feel stupid like the other math teachers. She always made sure I understood what I was doing. Sometimes when she didn’t feel like having class she would have a free day. She would gossip with my classmates and tell us stories of her youth. Sometimes though she would give us free days due to having intense migraines that sometimes hospitalized her due to her disease. It wasn’t fun to see her like that. 

In June she was hospitalized where even her husband and two kids weren’t allowed in to see her. The only person allowed into her before she died was her twin brother. The family decided to have a public funeral, with tons of people in the community and school district socially distancing and wearing masks to pay their respect. I began to cry as I listened to her husband tell everyone that he wasn't ready and was so scared to be a single parent. Their children were both under ten, and were now motherless. Mrs. Johnson it was so hard saying goodbye to you. I loved you so much, and I still do. You gave my friend who had lost her dad food and comfort. You did so much not only for my family and I, but for everyone in the community and school district. I miss you so much. 

Hot days came with hazy skies. Everyday I checked the wildfire smoke map as I watched the sun turn bright pink as the sun became a blazing red when the sun went down. For weeks our sky looked hazy. Some days looked cloudy, but it was actually smoke. As someone who lives the Midwest, this was quite surprising. 

In August I experienced something that will forever be remembered by me and everyone who lives in my state. A Derecho tore through and ravaged my hometown and the state that I dearly love. We watched through the window as trees snapped in half and branches and leaves whirled around everywhere. We watched through the window as water roared down the road, appearing as if a stream had started right next to us. We watched in fear as shingles were torn off and large items were blown through our yard. As the electricity flickered out, we wondered if we would be crushed by either tree that were on two sides of our house. Wet leaves were torn apart and slammed into our window, where they stayed there for a month afterwards. They looked like confetti, torn into thousands of tiny pieces. 

To the branches and trees I still see today in the neighboring towns and cities, broken reminders of the damage done. To you, the metal grain bins that still sit out in the flattened cornfields. Our once tall and proud cornfields that are a proud symbol of my state were now flattened to the ground, completely parallel to the rich farming soil that it stood in. Painting the countryside in flat waves of green with splotches of silver from grain bins and white from barns and houses damaged. Our proud stalks became damaged goods that costed us billions. To the buildings that still show their battle scars from months ago, the houses with the tarps on their roofs and the old wooden barns that couldn't handle the 140 mph. To you, Donald J, Trump, the President of the United States who was supposed to tour Cedar Rapids to exam the damage that still lies there today. You stayed in the airport and immediately left after getting your business done. You didn't care about us, you were there to do business and leave to start your campaigning.

My small town was able to clean up within a month or so, but even still TODAY the bigger cities are littered with damage. There are tree trunks and branches scattered along roads. Thousands of houses still have tarps on their houses and siding missing. 

In August my grandma was also diagnosed with Dementia. I've watched her deteriorate over the past few months. Every time we call she forgets that I’m not in school. Sometimes she forgets my name. When we tell her we’re on our way to visit outside her window, she forgets within 10 minutes. Grandma, I hope you never forget that I love you.

In September I finally met with a therapist. I am so thankful to be working with her. After months of my family getting angry and upset at me for being scared to go to the store, my therapist diagnosed me with Social Anxiety. I was so relieved to be diagnosed with it and to be working out the issues I have with my therapist. We work together weekly to help me become a better and more comfortable version of myself. 

Over the summer months the health of my already diseased cat took a steep decline. She was my cat, and I felt powerless as I slowly watched her die. She could no longer stay inside due to her having constant accidents. As we made our plan to take her to the vet to give her a peaceful death, I received a heartbreaking call from my mother on a cold September night. My little Jill had passed away in her sleep on our porch. I came over to say goodbye to my baby as I pet her cold fur one last time. I love you my little Jilly Bean and I miss you everyday. I miss and love you so so so much. 

September also brought the news that a precious B-25 had a crash landing. It always hurts to hear about a Warbird crashing or getting damaged. I was happy to hear though that they were going to fix it back to airworthiness.

In October I had to make a difficult decision with the FAA. Do I try to visit four different doctors for phycological examinations in order to complete my Medical Certificate or do I wait to get off my medicine and start feeling better on my own? I opted for the second part due to the decline of visiting all of those doctors coming up in November. We had been given that option early in the year, but Covid prevented us from traveling out of state to see those doctors. I sent a letter to the FAA to let them know what I was doing. I received a letter about a month ago that stated that I still needed to visit those doctors or something like that. I honestly didn’t look through it that well because it’s just such a pain in the butt.

Another thing about you 2020 is that you provided me with he opportunity to meet amazing people. I began to watch The Umbrella Academy in September, but I decided to make my account on October 1st. I’ve met tons of funny and talented people on here. The show itself had provided me tons of comfort. It has given me the courage to start writing fanfiction for it along with starting back up on drawing fanart

The end of 2020 has slowed down for me. One of my aviation heroes died this year, Mr. Chuck Yeager. It was heartbreaking for me to hear that. One of the worst days for me was ironically on my birthday in December. I felt really bitter and down and just wanted to sit in my room, but I didn’t. I don’t like celebrating my birthday anymore. As I get older it feels less and less special and in turn I feel sad about it. Another reason why is that I don’t like having a fuss made about it. I don’t like the attention from it haha. It’s okay though because even though this year I felt upset I eventually felt a bit happier as it turned to night. 

This year I witnessed history being made. Let me be clear that history is made every year, but this year was very eventful. I witnessed innocent black lives being slaughtered by the very people who are sworn to protect everyone. It’s so disappointing and soul crushing to see all of this. I don’t know if I’ve made it clear on here, but I strongly stand with the BLM movement. I may not understand what they haven been going through for decades, but I stand with them to make things right. Black Lives Matter, not All Lives. All Lives only matter when it’s actually true and Black Lives are included. If you saw a house on fire in an entire block of houses, you wouldn’t say “All Houses Matter!” No they don’t, that house on fire matters. Black Lives Fucking Matter, and All Cops Are Bastards.

To you, the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyday in elementary school I proudly held my right hand over my heart as I stared up at Old Glory and recited you. This year helped me realize that “With liberty and justice for all.” is total bullshit. The only thing I truly appreciate about my country now is the scenery and nature it provides. 

To you 2020, as I finish writing this letter on December 31st. You’ve made me cry a lot, including right now. You’ve deeply effected my life and brought me lots of sorrow. Despite all of this, I don't feel upset about you. Yes, you gave me some events that will always haunt me but that’s okay. 2020 even though you’ve hurt me, you’ve also shaped me. Yes, you also made my lose faith in my country and humanity, but I can only hope for the best. You’ve pushed me to become a better version of myself. 

So to you 2020, you’ve been a hell of a year. I’ve hated and loved you, but mostly hated you. I went through some shit, but others have gone through worse this year. To those of you who have had a very hard time this year, I love you. I sincerely hope things get better for you. Friend or stranger, you can always rely on me as someone to talk to, to rant or vent to, and to cry to. This year was excruciating, but don’t give up. It has ended and a new year has begun. Sure 2021 may also be bad and we’re all exhausted from 2020, but let’s fight till the end. 

[truthisgoldenau]

IT'S PRIDE MONTH

for a moment there I accidentally had Pierce's photo under Marian's name oop

Time to officially confirm some AU canon LGBT stuff! Each character is their own pride flag but I'll add in other stuff that's canon in universe plus some bonus stuff at the bottom.

First up is Freddy Fazbear Jr! Gay all the way.

He's definitely the "move I'm gay" type

Was honestly super freaked out to tell his dad but went with the bold approach of bringing home his first boyfriend and blatantly announcing their relationship as such as a challenge and was honestly surprised his dad wasn't bothered by it

He was around 13 at the time and so the twins and Fred were still in touch with Maddie's parents and brother. All three were incredibly supportive (and still would be)

He absolutely had a crush on Bonnie Burnette even though he had never talked to him. Since the twins and Bonnie went to the same high school he knew of Bonnie, thought he was a dreamboat, but because Bonnie was somehow in with the popular kids (it was the money 100%) Freddy didn't even bother

Frankie Fazbear! My ace son! (The ears are wrong blame the app lol)

Honestly doesn't even know he's ace until much later

He's had crushes before but he's never been in a relationship (part of it is the attempt to communicate since he's mute sort of stops him)

He wasn't even sure it was worth mentioning to his dad so Fred never knew

This boy can hold so much love in his heart but he's not a very physical person that's all

Fred Fazbear Sr! YES. HE'S BI.

Only Maddie even knew he was bi. That he knew of. Some people probably figured it out with his over the top always on personality.

Fred was constantly sure that Pierce picked up on it particularly after the Christmas mistletoe fiasco but if Pierce gave a shit he never said anything.

Frankly it was amazing that more people didn't pick up on it. He was over the top about everything until a point.

While he didn't overreact to his son very blatantly announcing he had a boyfriend, he was very proud of him. It was a very Fazbear family way to come out. Even though he got so distant, he was always proud of his boys.

Bonnie Burnette! Also bi!

Being constantly surrounded by the popular crowd and always being the sort of stand out with purple hair and stupid purple bunny ears didn't do much to make Bonnie feel like he could even tell anyone he was bi.

Really the only reason he was even in the popular crowd was he was rich.

It made him less of a target for bullies at least cause the jocks wouldn't stand for anyone messing with him.

Knew Frankie from math class and honestly wished he could have talked to the quiet kid with bear ears as an alternative to the entirety of the popular group

Sort of in the background of the AU story very quietly develops a crush on Freddy and then thinks "oh God I like the troublemaker NO"

Chandler Cicily! Lesbian!

Would absolutely describe her sexuality as "girls"

She's starting to discover it during the AU (even if it's not a topic that comes up but that's why there's this post about stuff lmao).

She's the baby of the group since she's 16 when the story starts and relationships aren't important to her yet

But the crew still support her when later she's like "maybe I just wanna bake things for a cute girl and let her put flowers in my hair is that too much to ask" (Marian always chimes in with "mood")

Marian Mengele! An absolute bi icon!

Listen, her one goal in life may be to find her lost childhood friend, but that doesn't mean she's solely interested in this one Irish redhead

That said she's definitely only dated redheads

She's not afraid to be open about her orientation. It doesn't bother her. She's seen as weird already what can it hurt.

That said she falls for Finn so goddamn fast when she finds him that she questions herself and then is like "no wait I'm definitely not straight"

She's very upfront with Finn about it. There's no reason to hide this from him (or anyone) and if they're a thing she wants him to know.

Finn being the wonderful human being still loves her and it doesn't bother him. Why should it? He's just happy to be with someone who loves him.

Chetana might be Chandler's fake big sister but Marian is like fake mama when it comes to Chandler finally coming out.

God bless Finn for being the kind of person to sit and let Marian braid his hair with flowers because that's one of Marian's favorite things to do when her partner has longer hair and Finn's never really bothered with keeping his hair short THESE TWO ARE ICONIC I love them

Pierce Graves! A shitty pansexual icon

First off he absolutely knew that Fred wasn't 100% straight he had no idea how it wasn't immediately obvious to everyone

That said Pierce literally did not give a shit who knew about his sexuality

As shitty as his whole personality was he could turn on the charm easily

His parents definitely knew but he was already a punk ass rebellious teen at the time so they have him the "be careful, don't get anyone pregnant" talk and worried from afar. If it bothered them, Pierce never knew because they made sure that he could still count on them (even though at the time Pierce didn't really talk to them much about anything)

Fred absolutely knew though I mean they were good friends

He's not a romantic. He's never really had a meaningful relationship because he's not that type of person. To be honest, there's a piece of him that saw relationships that worked and wondered how that would feel but he knew that wasn't for him. He figured that out way early on when he asked his granddad why he didn't have a grandma and Mortimer Graves didn't sugarcoat the answer. "She wasn't happy with me. I gave her the choice. She could stay and be miserable with my lack of a decent personality even though I was already struggling to not be such an ass or she could go and find someone who actually made her happy. She chose happiness, and while it sucks that she drifted out of my life and your dad's, she's better off."

Pierce could frankly always tell that he was more like his granddad and as much as he sometimes wanted to know if he could even out up with a meaningful relationship, he avoided it. Better to not hurt anyone and wonder than to become the catalyst for someone else to overcome, right?

Fritz Smith! Gay!

The shy bumbling mechanic of the early 90s Freddy's ? Gay? It's more likely than you think

He was still far in the closet in the 90s He was young, living at home still because he had just gotten out of school, and while his parents weren't super conservative, he also didn't know how they'd take it

Found a friend in the day guard Mike Schmidt early on. Mike was looking for a roommate since his last one had moved out and Fritz jumped at the chance

They are like totally boyfriends by the time they cameo in the story though

Mike Schmidt! Another gay icon!

Mostly invited Fritz to live at his apartment because he felt bad that this poor shy mechanic was getting constantly harangued about the animatronics having problems

Was glad to let Fritz complain about it and even cry it was very stressful but Fritz needed the money

Mike liked him. It would be hard not to really. Fritz was a sweetheart.

Mike didn't ask him out till much later though he wasn't quite sure that Fritz was gay and didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Luckily it didn't and as it turns out they worked well in a relationship.

Fritz's parents had to take some time to get used to it when finally Fritz got the nerve to tell them but as soon as they did there was no end of support from them

Mike's parents were the opposite which was mainly why he already lived by himself but oh well he got a cute boyfriend and cool parents-in-law later it was kind of a win

Daniel Hartford-Dunn! Gay!

Presenting Maddie's older brother!

outside universe fact, he's loosely based in my actual cousin who lives in California with his husband.

He's 7 years older than Maddie was. Despite that, they were still close. Maddie's parents wanted more kids but struggled to get the two they had.

He's an accountant for a corporation and his boyfriend (and later his husband) is a pilot.

Last time he saw his nephews in person was at Maddie's funeral. He misses them terribly but over the years less and less contact came from his brother in law

Sometime in 2006 though he ends up getting a call from his nephews and there's this great reunion.

He's just. This chill older guy. Who loves his family. And doesn't care what people think.

Since I can't put anymore photos, here's the bonus content!

-as mentioned last night Dr. Phillip Guy is on the ace spectrum. I don't have anymore details about that at the moment unfortunately.

-Charlie Emily is a lesbian. The Emily twins were born in 1980. They haven't appeared in the AU yet even as cameos but they exist. Considering in AU canon the Emily family is alive and well in Hurricane, Utah without an Afton to be found, Charlie's dating her childhood friend Jessica at around the time the AU events are happening.

-Sammy Emily is trans and bi. Both Henry and his wife (who I know I at one point named but don't remember what it is anymore) love their two daughters to pieces.

That said I'll make a post at a later point introducing the Emily family because so far I've only officially given the design for Henry and not the rest.

In line with canon, Spring Bonnie/Springtrap can be counted as gay.

While Fred kept the shows at the diner pretty simple and straightforward, there was definitely this subtle underlying idea that Spring Bonnie and Fredbear were a content gay couple although if asked it was easy to present them as friends. At least, that was during '81-'82

However!

Fred also had Henry help him program in a special one time only song called Springtime for his and Maddie's anniversary in 1983, which was of course a love song. Fred always thought of that as being mostly for his wife, and partially as a turning point thematically for the two characters.

Henry was on board with this. They still kept it subtle, but there were clear moments where it was pretty much certain that the only way to interpret Spring Bonnie and Fredbear was as a couple. It was either so subtle that no one was bothered or Spring Bonnie's chosen voice was so ambiguously non-binary that no one thought it was odd.

Fred had plans for it to become more "canon" but never got to implement them since Spring Bonnie got damaged before he could.

Springtrap, being sentient and able to later interpret his emotions, is very confused about how he as a machine was meant to feel about this character he knew but the more sentient he becomes the more aware he is that he misses Fredbear and that he loved him. It's the cause of a lot of internal conflict for him. But he can be counted in the category of LGBT characters in the AU.

Happy pride month ya'll! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[fire-the-headcanons]

The rest of the students all scowled, eyes screwed shut, except for Qrow. Professor Mikado was frowning at him, and as Summer watched, he pulled a loose bullet from his sleeve and tossed it gently in his face. Aura sparks flickered red as it bounced off his defenses and clattered to the floor. "Mr. Taupe, you will find the exercise more effective if you attempt it."

"Why would I want to lower my shields if you're gonna throw things at me?"

Summer snorted, aura flying back out into place as she tried not to laugh, and she wasn't the only one.

Follow the Beacon Summer—Missing Piece

[Link to Masterpost]

[TW for blood and injury. @ranger-lcat yelled at me that it was gross, anyway.  Summary at the bottom as usual.]

"It's really not bad…" Summer said.

"Sure."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

You don't seem fine. How could someone be so… present in a fight, and so determined to be invisible the rest of the time? Our team is so disjointed. If I'm supposed to be the leader, does that mean it's my fault?

It had been a rocky first month of school. At least Raven had been less hostile than during initiation, but mostly the twins were just quiet. It was hard to be friends with people who only ever wanted to talk about schoolwork…

…though Summer had to admit the obvious advantages to having study partners who had grown up outside a Kingdom. Actually outside a kingdom, not on a sheltered island where Signal's staff and students outnumbered the locals three to one. 

Camping, tracking, identifying Grimm… anything even tangentially related to outdoor survival, they were masters. Luckily for them, Summer and Tai were fairly good with math and history. What team STRQ lacked in camaraderie they made up for in study group efficacy.

And Qrow worked harder than anyone in every subject—but he refused to work on his Semblance. He wouldn't go to the classes, wouldn't try meditating or aura focusing, and whenever she tried to bring it up he'd interrupt her with a question about history. 

Which was how Summer ended up heading to the gym on the last Thursday of September with a very sullen friend finally in tow. She couldn't understand it, she'd been dreaming of unlocking her own gift since forever.

The door squealed open, and the gym's occupants paused in their conversations. Professor Mikado broke into a smile. "Mr Taupe, welcome."

"Uh...thanks."

The other students went back to their conversation as he approached them both. "There's no need to feel nervous. This is not a remedial class, it's more of a guided meditation group," he reiterated what he'd said to everyone else during the first session.

Qrow frowned. "Then… why is it mandatory?"

"Several combat schools have found it beneficial to have regular support groups for students that are having trouble with their Semblances. Ozpin extended the program to Beacon."

"Oh."

He chuckled at Qrow's defeated expression. "Don't worry, it's only mandatory the first year. Please, give it a chance—you'll find some good friends here."

Qrow nodded, and the professor turned to address everyone. "Welcome back. Today we'll be trying a meditation style that originated in Vacuo, though it was long before the actual Kingdom was founded." He took a seat on one of the mats, legs crossed with arms resting comfortably on them. Everyone else quickly followed. "Begin with slow breaths—breathe in as you count slowly to four… hold it, and count to seven… release as you count to eight. In… hold… out…"

They'd done the breathing exercises every week, but the professor was probably trying to get Qrow on the same page.

"Now, focus on your aura. Feel it swirling, ebbing and flowing with each breath. Draw it all into your core, as if gravity were weighing it down."

Summer's shields faded as their fuel retreated toward her heart. It didn't feel anything like gravity, it felt like trying to stuff a plushie while sitting inside it. Wisps of cotton, springing back into place as soon as she removed her focus.

It was a powerful and a vulnerable feeling, having so much energy packed in around her heart but having no defenses. Almost unsettling, in a way. Finally, with something like a secure grip on all the little cotton strands, she risked looking around.

The rest of the students all scowled, eyes screwed shut, except for Qrow. Professor Mikado was frowning at him, and as Summer watched, he pulled a loose bullet from his sleeve and tossed it gently in his face. Aura sparks flickered red as it bounced off his defenses and clattered to the floor. "Mr. Taupe, you will find the exercise more effective if you attempt it."

"Why would I want to lower my shields if you're gonna throw things at me?"

Summer snorted, aura flying back out into place as she tried not to laugh, and she wasn't the only one.

The professor chuckled as well. "Begin by relaxing, then. That's what the slow breathing is intended for."

Focus. Summer shook herself mentally. The exercise works a lot better if you attempt it. Okay… drawn in like a well of gravity…

Minutes passed, probably. From the occasional frustrated noises of the other students, they were having a harder time with it. She'd always had easy mastery of her aura, which made her lack of Semblance even more—

BANGhissssss

Something slammed into her right side, throwing her down and pinning her with face pressed against the mat.

"Get back from it!" Professor Mikado shouted. Summer pushed against the floor with all her panic-enhanced might just as an arm hooked around her stomach and dragged her back. Off balance, they tumbled back to the ground, but she was free at last.

Shards of Dust and glass littered the floor, still sparking and smoking. One of the overhead lights had exploded.

"Are you hurt?!" Qrow demanded, grabbing her shoulder. 

Dazed, she slowly tore her gaze away from the smoldering pile of rubble. "I'm fine…" He stared at her with terrified eyes, glass in his hair and dusting his clothes. "Are you?!"

"Your shields—"

He cut off at a groan of pain from the other side of the debris. Arylide sat with her hands pressed to her head, blood welling between her fingers and running down her arms. Professor Mikado was already standing over her, examining the wound.

"It's not as bad as it seems." He spared a glance at the rest of the class. "Who else is hurt?"

"I… uh…" Brick was clutching a spot just above his elbow, looking slightly nauseated. "There's some in my arm. My aura, uh… h-healed over it…"

"All right, class dismissed. Let's get the two of you to the hospital." He turned back to Arylide. "May I carry you?"

Her voice shook with pain. "Yes, please." 

Summer stared, disbelieving, as they vanished through the doors. Of all the times for the light to break, five people were sitting underneath it with their auras down. She glanced at Qrow with a shaky laugh. "Well. That was an interesting first class. It's usually a lot qui—what's wrong?"

He swallowed hard, but his nauseated expression stayed unrelieved. "I'm fine."

"Did you get cut?" 

"No." He brushed at clothes, aura crackling against the sharp edges of glass. "Taking our shields down is a bad idea."

"Well, we have to sleep sometimes, right?"

His hand stilled, tangled in his hair and still glittering red. It almost matched his eyes. "You can't keep your shields up when you're asleep?"

Summer's mouth fell open. "You can?! That takes years—decades!—of training! How did you learn so quickly?"

"I dunno," he said defensively, "I guess it's because Raven and I would camp out in the woods so much on hunting trips. We just sort of...figured it out."

"Ooh, maybe I should try that!" 

"Don't." His voice soured. "People die. A lot."

Oh. That train of thought seemed to bother him, so she scrambled for something positive. "We're lucky nobody got Dust in a cut." 

"...Yeah. Lucky."

Next Chapter: Qrow—Doomed to Repeat It

Summary:

Summer reflects on the first month at Beacon. Raven's been less prickly than expected, but Qrow's also been quieter than during initiation. STRQ is a study group powerhouse—Summer and Tai are decent at math and history, and the twins are excellent at anything to do with surviving in the wild—but don't talk about much besides schoolwork, and Summer is frustrated by her team's lack of cohesion, blaming herself a bit as their leader.

Qrow has been refusing to do anything to try to unlock his Semblance and changes the subject any time it's brought up. It's the last class of the month, though, so he HAS to go to this one. Professor Mikado leads the five students through meditation and calls out Qrow for pretending to follow along. As soon as Qrow attempts the exercise in earnest, an overhead light explodes, raining glass on them while their shields are compromised. Qrow (who definitely was not expecting something like this to happen) tackles Summer and shields her, but two of the other students are hurt.

Summer and Qrow are talking as they leave, and she is surprised to hear that he and Raven are capable of maintaining their defenses in their sleep, something that can take decades to learn.

[fredseibertdotcom]

“When in doubt, count!” 

My mentor Dale Pon didn’t get much public recognition for his smart, strategic and successful creative work in media promotion. I’m posting about a few projects I was lucky to work on with him.

Scott Webb sent along this advertising campaign Dale Pon created on the cusp of the 1979/80 era of WNBC Radio in New York City. Bob Pittman, Scott, and I recount our view of it below, and I’ll update as more come in from other colleagues. 

There have been countless lessons I learned from Dale Pon about promotion and marketing, but the one that has stuck with me most is...

“When in doubt, count!”

Sounds pretty boring and I thought Dale was a creative guy. Count, like “4 out of 5 dentists recommend Crest”? Really, that’s a good solution?

But Dale’s point of view was the numbers can always point you to a creative solution that can work if you use them as a jumping off point. Basically, as you’re trying to figure out a pitch, a unique selling proposition for a campaign, if you get stuck, look at the numbers. It’s an idea that so pervasive that our mutual co-worker Bob Pittman has even started a podcast on the principal called “Math & Magic.”

To me, this maxim was often how to do a lot with a little, but it didn’t become super clear to me how “counting” could lead to anything useful until I saw it in amazing action back at the beginning of our relationship in the late 1970s.

Fred Seibert:  In 1977, Dale Pon had hired me at WHN in New York City, moved me to Los Angeles and back again. He’d successfully and ____ promoted WHN into the 2nd most listened to country music station in American –remember this station was in New York, home to Frank Sinatra, not Johnny Cash– and I was his lackey,

In early 1979  Dale abandoned me. He went to a New York radio competitor, telling me that not only could I run the WHN promotion department –a job for which I had virtually no experience other than my short stint with him. (“Hey, you produced a jazz record that got a Grammy nomination, you can be good at this too.” Really?) He’d been whisked away by WNBC, a relative ratings laggard, home to Imus in the Morning, run by veteran Bob Sherman and upstart program director Bob Pittman. Sherman’s public goal? “Beat WABC!, which had been New York's #1 station for decades.”

“Oh, I need you to help me produce the TV campaign. If WHN finds out and fires you, I’ll bring you over.” 

Oh great.

Next thing I know Dale’s whipped out the latest New York Arbitron radio ratings books and hands one to me. “Go to every demographic page and circle WNBC. Let’s see what’s what.”

A half hour later I said, “You’re fucked. At best they’re #14 in the prime demos.”

“Here!” he points, “They’re #2!!” It was something like Adult men 35-49. 

I was confused. The group that advertisers wanted was Adults 18-49, maybe on a stretch Adults 25-49. What the hell?!

“We’ll note the demo in the mouse type at the bottom. No one will notice!”

No one will notice?!

Within an hour Dale had sketched out the pitch. A take off on a successful Avis Car Rental campaign.

“We’re #2, we want to be #1! WNBC Radio 66!” 

Before I knew it, Dale had WNBC putting out a call to it’s listeners to send in  Polaroids of any twins who listened for a potential casting in commercials.

Huh, twins? “We’re #2.” Twins. OK, he’s got a creative idea. 

Soon enough, he had me coming to an audio studio after work to moonlight the soundtracks for the campaigns. (WHN never caught on, and I stayed until I want to MTV Networks.)

“Twice as many winnas!*** Twice as many prizes!! Twice as many chances to win!!!” 

And you know? The damned thing worked like crazy. When in doubt, count. Indeed. 

***Remember, we were in New Yawk City. You know, that accent.

Bob Pittman: “...being bold; getting attention; and dominating the airwaves…” 

In addition to my time working with Dale Pon when he created ‘I Want My MTV’ for us in the very early days of MTV and when he helped me relaunch Six Flags Theme Parks, Dale was a lifelong friend and was my partner in building WNBC Radio in the late 70s.

We had completely rebuilt the programming and brought Don Imus back to WNBC from Cleveland, and Dale used the Imus return to help build the huge cume for the radio station and lead WNBC to its eventual position as number one.  WNBC went from an old, staid, second-rate New York radio station to the number one radio station through building the right  programming; Don Imus was the anchor and nighttime disc jockey Alan Beebe’s introduction of ‘WNNNNNBC’ gave the station its unique hooks. Dale took those  – and the rest is history.

Dale taught us all about having a clear and valued claim; being bold; getting attention; and dominating the airwaves with frequency.  Although he may not have won awards for his creativity, it worked time and time again and those of us who adopted his philosophies had that same kind of success in other businesses at other times.  But make no mistake about it – it was Dale’s influence that got us there.

Scott Webb: “...creativity was about problem solving and winning...” 

I got an internship working for Dale Pon two days a week at WNBC Radio during last 3 months of my senior year at Sarah Lawrence College. There were 3 other interns and mostly we made sure that content winners got their prizes and that all the promotions were administered properly. 

There were A LOT of contests and giveaways. 

I had never worked at a radio station before and I just assumed this level of promotion fervor was standard operating procedure. The station was based on the 2nd floor of 30 Rock and at the time it seemed glamorous. I was in line with David Letterman at the cafeteria and Saturday Night Life was rehearsing on the 8th floor and Tom Snyder was in the office down the hall. 

Dale’s office was the dead center of the office when you walked in the door. He ran the team like it was a barroom in the middle of a battlefield. He was loud and always barking out orders. It was stressful and fun. On the last day of our internship we were given T-Shirts that read “I survived Dale Pon”. I, for one, was afraid to put it on - for fear of what his reaction might be - but also because I didn’t want it to end. 

A few weeks later, after he abruptly fired one of his managers he hired me on the spot to join his battalion, er I mean, team. We went to work on the TV advertising campaign that would take WNBC from #2 to #1 in the NYC market. 

We put a call out for twins and cast dozens of twins to kiss Imus. Shooting that campaign was the first production I had ever been part of and it was fast and furious and Dale took me to almost every meeting and along the way from storyboarding with the cinematographer to instructing the animator to directing sound and even buying the air time. 

I didn’t know it but I was getting a master class in creative strategy that was all about winning. It was not just fun – it was a mission to transform what had been a shitty, demoralized loser of radio station to being totally made over into an unstoppable #1 radio station. 

When the dust settled WABC, formerly #1 gave up completely and changed their format from music to News and Talk. An outcome that blew me away at the time. I thought Dale would be happy at the utter defeat he delivered to his competitor but he hated that they never took the bait to respond to his challenge. He wanted a worthy adversary but he never got it. They ran. 

It was the most stressful and wonderful time of my life and it was impossible to not be fascinated by everything Dale did. He was a great teacher and often just told me to sit close to him and just watch everything he did. He taught me how to see and how to think and to understand that creativity was about problem solving and winning. Thank you Dale.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #13: To Tend the Flame

Prompt: wax | Master Post | On AO3

Notes: Spoilers for Shadowbringers MSQ and spoilers for the Binding Coils of Bahamut side story.

She first noticed it during the battle at Laxan Loft, but it’s not until they reach Il Mheg that Synnove really paid attention to the new aether curling and weaving amongst her own.

Oddly enough, it’s not the Lightwarden’s. That had felt ice-sharp and rotten-soft at the same time, white to the point of pain and not singing but screeching of broken glass and denied, raging hunger. No, that aether sat in the core of herself, sulking and bitter, but otherwise not influencing her spells.

No, this aether was…warm. Fiery, but the welcome flame of a campfire in the night, or the hearth of a well-loved home. She outright dismissed it as Ifrit’s aether leaking from Ivar; that was too distinctive and too familiar. This new aether was familiar, too, and the way it intertwined among her own, yet remains separate, reminded her of a primal’s lingering touch, so clearly at some point she had come into contact with it.

There was a niggle of an idea at the back of her mind. The hypothesis was set; now to observe.

First: the Dreadwyrm’s aether coalesced much faster. Previously, she had needed to trance at least twice to build up sufficient reserves to (grudgingly) indulge Ivar and use him as the core to summon Demi-Bahamut to the field. Now she only needed to trance just the once. Ivar, at least, was delighted by this change, her bloodthirsty, rage-filled boy.

(And at least she’d stopped having panic attacks every time she’d needed to activate that array.)

Second: the new, strange aether reached peak coalescence only after she had finished coalescing Dreadwyrm aether, and then dissipating it with a summon of Demi-Bahamut. In fact, she couldn’t even tap into Dreadwyrm aether again until she’d tranced with the new aether.

Third: while trancing with the new aether, it affected two of her spells. Outburst was a relatively new creation that the aetherochemistry department had only recently finalized; Synnove had offered to field test it shortly before she and the others had been whisked away to the First. That spell fluctuating due to an unexpected outside influence was unusual, considering how rigorously the Guild tested and developed their arrays, but not impossible. Ruin III, however, was an old standby, a tried and true blast of pure, unaspected power reserved for the most talented members of the Guild that had been in circulation for years. The only arrays more stable were the ones for the rest of the Ruin series and the standard carbuncle summons they gave to the baby arcanists (who weren’t insane overachievers like herself who had to write her own from scratch).

And it wasn’t just subtle effects. No, both Ruin III and Outburst were unaspected; arcanists liked working without the interference of specific elemental affinities, or alternatively with an equal amount of each kind so that they all canceled one another out, it made the math behave. (There was a bloody good reason she’d run into the wall on her artificial aether infusion project: working with elementally aspected aether was essentially working with literal fucking chaos and sometimes it was fun, but sometimes it just sucked.) This new surge of primal aether turned her respectable, unaspected spells into roiling balls of fire and pitch.

Ivar, of course, loved it. Heron and Alakhai, who also preferred to fight in the melee, not so much.

Fourth: the aether sang, as it always did. It reminded her very strongly of the Dreadwyrm aether’s dirge-like ballad, but this aether’s song was slower, more solemn. Wordless crooning matched with the resonant tones of an Ishgardian pipe organ. It was a funeral hymn: no rage, only deep, boundless sorrow, and a bottomless well of love.

Observations complete, she compared the data sets the night they vanquished Titania, absently rubbing her chest every so often as she did. The carbuncles curled up around her in various stages of patience—Galette in her usual spot around her neck, Tyr loafed next to her, Ivar sprawled in her lap and reaching up to either bat at his sister’s tails or his brother’s ears—as she set up the portable readout device she’d thankfully packed back on the Source. Synnove flipped open her grimoire sitting on the ground next to her on the opposite side of Tyr, paging through until she got to the first page of the arrays for Ivar’s passive sensor programming.

Humming quietly, she took the channeling stylus from her mouth, and placed the tip on the activation sigil. The array lit up, and so did the readout device, pulsing out a hologram that scrolled through the most recent aether readings. Synnove squinted as she skimmed the data, scratching Tyr’s neck until the big carbuncle turned into a happy puddle of brass purrs.

Then she called up data from nearly four years ago.

“Synnove?”

She looked up, only a little startled, to meet Alisaie’s worried gaze.

“Is everything all right?” said Alisaie.

Synnove looked back at the data, gnawing on her lower lip as the implications of the data sunk in. She let out a slow breath and said, “Don’t know yet. Fetch your brother, please, the both of you need to see this.”

Alisaie, Twelve bless her, didn’t hesitate, just turned and hurried off to find Alphinaud. She returned with her twin in a handful of minutes to the spot out in the fields surrounding Lydha Lran that Synnove had settled in to review her notes. By the time they reached her, Synnove had pulled up both data sets onto the viewer at once. She gestured, and the siblings both sat in front of her.

“So,” said Synnove, setting down her channeling stylus carefully to ensure the tip still touched the activation sigil of the array, “I’ve noticed a peculiar bit of aether mixing with my own recently and no, it’s not the Lightwarden’s.”

Alphinaud and Alisaie’s looks of alarms quickly subsided, in favor of concern and interest as Synnove outlined for them the changes she noted. Then she pointed to the readout device.

“The display on the left is the recent data Ivar’s passive sensors have recorded,” she said. “I’m sure Galette and Tyr’s would read the same, but since Ivar is the only one installed with the Dreadwyrm Protocols, he has the most complete set.”

Alphinaud scratched Tyr behind the ears, as the big carbuncle had crawled forward for pettings during Synnove’s explanation. “And I note that it’s exactly the same as the display on the right,” he said.

Synnove hummed agreement, rhythmically running her hand down Ivar’s back from his head to the base of his tails

Alisaie sat with her arms crossed, just staring at the displayed data. Finally, she said, “The data from the right is from the Binding Coils, isn’t it?”

“It is,” said Synnove, quiet and serious.

“That’s,” and Alisaie swallowed, “that’s Phoenix’s aether.”

“I believe so.”

Alphinaud didn’t look as rattled as his twin, but Synnove had known him long enough to spot the tension around his mouth and eyes. “Why now?” he said. “You’ve been using the Dreadwyrm Protocols for a number of years by now, so why has Phoenix’s aether remained dormant for so long?”

“My best guess,” said Synnove, “is because we’re here on the First. Eorzea is upfront about the fact that Dalamud’s fall and Bahamut’s rampage unquestionably fucked up the continent both on a physical and metaphysical level. The rest of our home star claims suddenly only having a single moon in the sky after the second one blew up a few miles directly above the surface had no effect on their magicks and aether, but we can all three agree that they’re probably trying to save face to a bunch of foreigners how mucked up things got for them, because that is a load of chocobo shite.”

Alphinaud coughed, smothering a smile, as Alisaie momentarily forgot her distress and snickered loudly.

“Bahamut’s aether didn’t just insinuate itself into everyone at Carteneau,” continued Synnove, continuing to pet Ivar and reaching up with her other hand to scratch behind Galette’s ears. Both carbuncles purred happily. “And it didn’t just insinuate itself into everyone in Eorzea, though I’ll grant that Eorzeans have the highest concentrations. No, Bahamut’s aether is everywhere on the Source; it’s permeated every rock and tree and beastkin and Spoken.

“It’s always been too easy to coalesce Dreadwyrm aether; when I’ve run through my own aetheric reserves, I can still use the Protocols without much fuss. If I was only ever using the aether comingled with my own, I should run out, but I don’t. Thus, I have to be unconsciously drawing upon the Dreadwyrm aether all around me.”

“But here on the First,” said Alphinaud, thoughtful, “Bahamut’s aether only exists in you and us Scions. I have noticed you still have had no issues using the Protocols, so we can assume you are able to draw on the Dreadwyrm aether within us and the others.”

Synnove inclined her head to him. “Just so.”

“So, with a finite amount of Dreadwyrm aether,” said Alisaie, “Phoenix’s aether is finally detectable, and even able to exert influence and become usable with the dissipation of Bahamut’s. And with how quickly and how strong it coalesces, it needs to be dissipated in turn before repeating the cycle.”

“That is my theory for what’s occurring,” said Synnove. “And, of course, I’ve noticed it steadily growing stronger and more stable since this began. No doubt it’ll continue to do so, although at the moment I couldn’t tell why.”

The twins shared a long, silent look. Alphinaud raised a single eyebrow. Alisaie nodded.

They turned back to her, their expressions serious, but the gleam of excitement was in their eyes. Synnove recognized it and grinned; bless their nerdy hearts, her darling little sibs.

“What would you like to do with this, Synnove?” said Alphinaud.

“And how can we help?” said Alisaie.

“Well,” drawled Synnove, “we’ll need to build some arrays to control how Phoenix’s aether warps my spells when I’m trancing with it. And then, I believe, we should prepare for the day when his aether has grown strong enough that Phoenix will fly the skies of the First as he once did at Carteneau to vanquish Bahamut, with all the prayers of Eorzea to guide him. If you two are all right with that?”

The twins dove forward to embrace her; Galette squwaked unhappily at being jostled, but they ignored her. Synnove returned their hugs, smiling, and tucked them in under her arms. Tyr immediately came over to flop across all three of their laps.

“You’re the only one I’d trust with it,” Alisaie said.

“We couldn’t think of anyone better suited,” added Alphinaud.

“Thank you,” Synnove said, as heartfelt and honored as she could. “Now then, my fellow nerds, let’s get to it!”

[kingsofeverything]

life update of sorts

starting in jan i’m taking the last prereq i need for the masters program i’m going into in june. if things go the way they’re supposed to, i’ll have my masters (of arts in teaching - secondary mathematics) in 2021. because math teachers are in such high demand here, i’ll most likely have a job ie my own classroom teaching job the next month. this time in 2 years i’ll be 2+ months into teaching in a high school lollllllll craziness. 

but this spring is going to be wild. i still have the twins at home and am still going to be homeschooling them until next august. the class i’m taking spring 2020 is m/w/f for about an hour, so i’ve got family members who are willing (like jumped at the chance!) to watch the twins for me while i’m in class. my schedule will be nuts though. up at ass o’clock in the morning w my kids, drop the twins off, go to class, pick the twins up, go home, do school with them, lunch, regular house work stuff (and like make dinner and shit like that blah), do my homework (weekends, maybe?), and so on. then school starts full time for me in june. it’s a super quick masters program that squeezes everything into less than 14 months.

all of that said, i still plan to mod big bang like forever lol but i won’t be doing any other fests. i’m sure my writing will suffer big time. i haven’t worked (like a job outside the house) in more than 7 years. i haven’t been in school since 2004 and even then i was taking one physics class the spring of that year. so like........ my life is about to completely change. 

leading up to january, i’m going to be reviewing higher math because idk what i know anymore lol. i started going over calc1 stuff online and it came back rather quickly, so hopefully it’ll be like riding a bike, but with a calculator or something. 

on top of all of this we are waiting for the NEW contractor to give us the estimate for the house. and then we’ll enter litigation with the people who fucked up our house. idk what that will entail, but i guarantee it wont be easy and that we’ll be out of our house for probably weeks at a time once repairs begin. but who knows when that will be. 

alllllllll of this doesn’t mention a thing about my big kids. my oldest is doing really well. my 2nd spawn is doing ok. they are in therapy and are really liking their therapist, but the lead up to them going was like food issues to start (like hiding food, sneaking food, etc) but then boom they came out as pan and nb and then boom there has been self harm talk which all of that has improved greatly since starting therapy, but handling that as a parent has been really difficult. i’m lucky that they know that i love them and that they trust me and feel like they can tell me when they’re having a bad brain day (i don’t feel good in my head today mom) or when they’re feeling like hurting themselves. with all of that they’re very sensitive to the world around them and the general plight of the human race and everything and as much as i sometimes feel so helpless and hopeless about that stuff, i hate that my kid feels that way. but we are getting better. and like sharp stuff is in a locked box. we’re doing what we can. and yes i did talk to them about talking about this on my blog before i did it. anyway.

love y’all, but please understand if you don’t see me around as much. i’m probably doing math lol or writing or drawing or idk parenting lol but i’m still here and still (always) a larrie