#i think i’m finally starting to meet me though. and that’s pretty awesome

[clowningcrows]

when noah kahan said, “i’m terrified that i might never have met me”……….. yeah

[milfjuulpod]

Guidance, Ch III

A/N: hiii sorry this took so long, all the chapters are posted on my AO3, same username. hopefully the next update will be better, i’m not too proud of this one :,(

previous chapters are on AO3 and my master list, here

You and Melissa had agreed on meeting after school for coffee on Thursday, giving you each time to prepare some work. One of her students was showing signs of dyslexia, and after a one-on-one meeting with the student, the redhead decided to take action. Via email, she gave you some information to get started and make an IEP for her. It was quite early in the year, and with it being your first year doing this job, you were quite nervous. Nonetheless, you put your best foot forward and got to work nearly immediately. 

Of course, your habit of drowning yourself in work caught the attention of others. A knock at your door pulled you away from the research in front of you. “Hey you! I feel like you’ve been here for weeks and we’ve barely bonded,” Janine announced herself, entering the room. The younger teacher was sweet, and even though her overzealous personality could be a bit much, you knew it was coming from a good heart. 

“Sorry, Janine. I get wrapped up in work pretty easily. How’s your Tuesday going? Kids treating you right?” You asked, minimizing the tabs on your computer. 

“Oh my students are great, right now we’re working on fractions and it’s actually going good!” She said enthusiastically. “I’m glad to hear, can I help you with anything?” You continued. 

“Uh, yeah! Jacob and I are going out for trivia on Thursday, you should totally join us! I heard you went to a great university and we would love to spend some time together after school. Have you met Jacob? He’s so sweet you’ll love him, you know actually-” You cut off Janine before she could start one of her infamous rants, which you heard lots about and we’re lucky to avoid until this point. 

“Actually, I can’t Thursday. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to get to know you guys but, I’m actually meeting with Ms. Schemmenti to help one of her students out.”

Janine’s face dropped, and just as quick as it did, she returned to her peppy demeanor. It reminded you of what she previously said about Melissa, and you silently wondered if there was any truth to it. “Oh, no worries. I’m sure we’ll figure something out soon,” Seemingly wanting to avoid more rejection, Janine gathered her things. “Wait, Friday is our half day, right? Maybe we could go grab lunch or something after school? Make up for me missing trivia?” You offered, not wanting to make her feel bad. 

It seemed like you made the right choice, as Janine immediately bounced back. “That would be awesome! I’ll tell Jacob right now, see you around!” 

-

The rest of the week passed by rather quickly, filled with new paperwork and projects that you continued to work on. Thursday came before you knew it, and with the final bell, the plans you had put most of your attention to were gathered, on their way with you to meet Melissa for coffee. 

Opus was gorgeous inside, filled with neutral colors and artwork from the team and local artists. Plants covered the walls and even decorated some tables. It was nice, you were happy to meet the redhead in a place like this. Upon seeing her, you felt your breath catch and couldn’t take your eyes away. Sure, it was right after school so she was wearing the same pink sweater and tight jeans, but something about seeing her more relaxed, outside of the school walls, it made your heart beat a little bit faster. 

“Hey hon, thanks for meeting with me after school. I brought some stuff to brainstorm with…” She trailed off, picking a table for the two of you and immediately covering it with papers and binders. Janine’s voice rang in your head again, and you began to feel insecure about where you stood with Melissa. Maybe even stupid, for thinking she would find a friend in you. 

“That’s fine, I’m gonna grab our coffees, macchiato?” You asked, but Melissa was quick to turn down the offer. “Absolutely not, you buy me coffee all the time. It’s my turn,” she walked past you, gently pushing you to the side with a hand on your back. Just as quickly as you remembered the infamous words about the older teacher, you forgot them. 

The rest of the afternoon was that way. One moment, completely entranced by the woman across the table from you, unable to pull your attention away. The next, avoiding eye contact and feeling uncomfortable and used. Something told you Melissa noticed your switch in behaviors almost every time, the way she would mimic your actions. It was impossible to read her. Maybe she wanted it that way, maybe you just couldn’t read her. 

After a couple of hours of this back and forth, the two of you decided to call it. “Thank you, again, for helping me. It means a lot,” Melissa said outside of the cafe, wind blowing her hair ever so slightly. “Oh…It’s no problem, I’ll see you tomorrow,” You smiled and turned to take your leave, anxiety bubbling at the surface, until a hand grabbed your wrist to face its owner yet again. “Hey, what’s goin’ on with you today? Usually you’re more…I don’t know…upbeat and engaged. Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry. I just…I mentioned to Janine the lunch you shared with me earlier and she said something that made me a little nervous,” You answered. As much as you didn’t want to tell the truth, you figured lying would be even worse. Instead of replying, Melissa motioned for you to continue. “She said she hoped you weren’t buttering me up for something and why else would you be nice to me?” 

Wrong choice. Melissa’s eyes widened and you could see all the rage she had in her expression. “Oh, so I can’t be nice to the newbie for one day? I gotta get somethin’ out of it? And you believed her…This whole time? Whole time you’ve been buying me coffee and offering to help, what are you trying to get out of it?” She yelled, and didn’t give you any time to retaliate as she got in her car and left you on the steps. 

Defeated, you stood alone for a moment, trying to collect your thoughts. You felt like an idiot, again. For believing what Janine said, and for treating Melissa poorly. You threw your work into the passenger seat of the car and drove to trivia. 

-

“Oh my god! I thought you weren’t coming? Weren’t you going to meet Melissa today?” Janine nearly yelled as she ran from her booth of friends up to you. “Yeah…I did. It didn’t go too well actually so I wanted to come here and at least have a good night. I hope that’s okay?” 

“Of course it is, here come sit with all of us.” Janine led you back to the booth with Jacob and Gregory, happy to be in the company of new friends. “Alright, trivia doesn’t start for another thirty minutes, what happened?” Janine asked, which was followed by Jacob interrogating you as well, and Gregory listening attentively. You explained the entire afternoon to the three of them, hoping to at least get it out of your system. All three of them had something different to say, but you took Gregory’s advice to heart. 

“Listen, Melissa’s a bit tough on the outside, but she always means well. Just apologize to her for reacting that way and, with time, I’m sure things will be fine.”

Thankfully, trivia started shortly after the advice dump you received, and you were happy to be done talking about it. Hopefully tomorrow morning, with a macchiato and an apology, you could make it up to Melissa. 

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 15: PAINFUL RE:BAKE - Episode 1: Picaresque, Again

Ali Baba: “Alright, let’s go, we’re setting off on our search for the legendary phantom Oasis!”

[Applause]

-

Tenma: Thank you very much!

Yuki: Thank you very much.

Muku: Thank you very much!!

Misumi: Thanks, everyone~!!

Kazunari: Thanks for watching~!

Kumon: Thanks~!!

[Applause]

Banri: …

Banri: (... Man, you guys really are awesome.)

Banri: (Us Autumn Troupe are up next.)

-

Banri: …

Izumi: There you are, Banri-kun.

Izumi: Good work on the final day. You did a lot as the assistant director.

Banri: You too, Director-chan.

Izumi: Following the Spring Troupe, a lot happened with the Summer Troupe too…

Banri: And thanks to that, putting a schedule together was crazy work.

Izumi: Just as you gained more experience by working as an assistant director, the Summer Troupe also gained experience in their own ways. And because of that, they were able to take on those “challenges”.

Banri: If all this had happened during the debut performance, they wouldn’t have made it in time.  All of ‘em took on challenges and successfully returned with more experience under their belts.

Izumi: And next is the Autumn Troupe’s turn.

Banri: Yeah.

Banri: … Whenever I do work as an assistant director, I get a rough idea of what the first day of performances is gonna look like.

Banri: But, both Spring and Summer… Their performances kept me on my toes in ways the rehearsals hadn’t, from their first days to the last.

Banri: They leveled up a bunch for the Fleur Award.

Banri: Though standin’ on MANKAI Theater’s stage might also have something to do with it…

Banri: They’ve all grown beyond recognition as actors, and gave meaning to performin’ a continuation of their debut shows.

Izumi: Right… I think these sequels have been more meaningful to the members than I expected them to be.

Banri: Seeing the Summer Troupe, who are usually as chummy as puppies, “challenge” themselves towards their different dreams was also inspirin’.

Banri: Muku and Kumon gritted their teeth through that ruthless workshop, too.

Izumi: Is it lighting a fire in you, Banri-kun? From their Leader to their very last member, the Autumn Troupe is made up of people that hate losing, isn’t it?

Banri: Yeah. We’ll make sure to improve so we don’t lose to Spring and Summer. I’m sure they’re all thinkin’ the same thing too.

Izumi: Right.

Tsuzuru: Ugh, I’m thankful for Arisugawa-san’s praises for my scripts, but I could do without his drunk crying…

Banri: Heya.

Izumi: Come in.

Tsuzuru: Are you having a directors’ meeting?

Banri: Pretty much.

Tsuzuru: Good timing, I was lookin’ for you two. I’ve finished the script for the Autumn Troupe’s sequel–

Izumi: Already!?

Banri: Ain’t this the fastest you’ve ever been?

Tsuzuru: It’d already been decided we’d be doing a sequel to Picaresque, so I’ve been planning it for some time now…

Tsuzuru: And no one had any requests other than keeping the action fast-paced, so gettin’ the job done was pretty smooth sailing.

Tsuzuru: You all said the most in-character thing for Picaresque’s cast would be to live life as they please, so…

Banri: Still, this is too quick. We’ve got a bunch of time till performances start.

Tsuzuru: I wanted to get to Picaresque’s continuation as soon as possible, too.

Tsuzuru: I was curious myself about what everyone from the debut performance would be up to.

Izumi: A lot happened in the debut performance, after all.

Tsuzuru: Back then, I was allowed to watch the Autumn Troupe’s rehearsals right after they formed, and came up with the script based on that.

Izumi: Right.

Tsuzuru: You told me to give not only Banri, who was decided as the leader, but also Juza, a big role and it turned into a buddy play…

Izumi: I also told you that putting Juza-kun, who was most passionate about theater, on center stage might trigger a change.

Tsuzuru: And when it was all said and done… Juza’s growth lit a burning passion in everyone in the Autumn Troupe

Tsuzuru: I was affected by how much you believe in your actors, and how you place your trust in them, and realized, as a scriptwriter, how significant it is to entrust their roles to the actors themselves.

Banri: Damn, all that was going on behind my back?

Banri: When we started out, Hyodo was pretty much an amateur. Havin’ him carry all that responsibility… You guys are insane.

Banri: Geez, Director-chan, you’re so…

Tsuzuru: … But that’s what you’d expect of her.

Banri: Yeah. That’s just who she is.

Izumi: Back then, this troupe had nothing but the members who had just joined. No achievements, or anything else like that…

Izumi: That’s why all I could do was put my faith in you guys. And you’ve come this far, so all’s well that ends well!

Izumi: I don’t think my way of doing things has changed any.

Izumi: First thing I do is watch over the actors. What kind of feelings do they put in their practice sessions and performances?

Izumi: I believe doing everything I can to understand them is the most important thing.

Banri: That hits the nail on its head. I seriously don’t think I’ll ever have you beat in this complete faith you’ve got goin’ on.

Tsuzuru: Making Banri admit defeat’s a real feat.

Izumi: I feel like this just gave me bragging rights.

Banri: ‘lright, you’ll keep a real close eye on us Autumn Troupe too, won’t cha?

Izumi: Of course we will.

Tsuzuru: Leave it to us.

Banri: Yeah.

Banri: (... “Picaresque Returns”.)

Banri: (Back then, I felt a thrill I had never felt before in my life.  And now, just like in the debut performance… I get to live in Picaresque’s world.)

Banri: (I’ll give the scripts to everyone tomorrow. We’ve still got a bunch of time left, so I’ll set up a practice schedule, and…)

previous episode (act 14) | masterpost | next episode

[sophaeros]

love your blog, if possible could I get an Albert and Jules lore dump? I read your other post but I am hungry for more context (and sources)

omg hii glad u like it here !! 😋 umm ok i can try to do like a rough little timeline w notable moments maybe? whatever comes to mind lol

in err 1991 i believe when julian was 13 he got sent to that one swiss boarding school to curb his alcoholism (did not work clearly) and a while later 11 year-old albert also arrived. julian stayed for two years and albert stayed for six months. julian had this to say about their meeting SNIFFLES. theyre never beating the soulmate allegations i fear

How did you become friends at first? Julian: Two of us arrived in a private school in Switzerland. I felt I had nothing in common with the others. They were so different from people I knew in New York, they were obsessed by clothes Haut Couture. I missed New York so much, it’s really a part of my soul. Meeting Albert was a relief. At last, someone with whom I could talk. There was immediately something, a feeling of complementarity. We talked a lot of music, of our band plans. We gave ourselves 2 years to create a band or to bury this dream. After 2 years, we gave ourselves 2 more years, (laugh).

— the strokes for les inrockuptibles, march 2002 (x)

after albert moved back to la he and julian lost touch until 1998 when albert moved to new york at 18 to go to film school and find himself or whatever. and of course they have the most red string of fate ass second meeting oh my god it makes my stomach hurt. I COULD LITERALLY SEE HIM FROM MY WINDOW. why arent they in a stupid hallmark movie romcom COME ON

“When I first came to New York,” marvels Hammond, resplendent in red and black winklepickers, “the way things happened to me, it was like there was someone… doing it. I moved into my apartment, it was directly across the street from where Julian worked. Like, what are the odds? I could literally see him from my window.”

— albert hammond jr for q magazine, april 2002 (x)

and so albert becomes the final member of the band, completing the set ❤️ (the talk, 2013)

Albert, did you have to try out to be in The Strokes? Yeah. I remember when I met everyone. I met Julian first, then Nikolai, got really drunk one night, and then I went to go try out, even though Julian told me later that in his mind I was already in the band. How come? I was an okay player, I could play chords and stuff, but I looked awesome. (Laughs) I just looked like there was only one thing I could do: be in a band.

albert and julian lived together for seven years from 1998 to 2005 when julian got married, they had two apartments together and the first one is the most well known, it's the dumbbell shaped one. idk about the layout of the second unforch

ehhh scrubbing ahead a bit. julian wasn't there for albert's intervention in 2009 because he was on his solo tour

but happily in 2013 we get albert releasing his comeback ep through julian's label cult records (and then he leaves cult records in 2015. c'est la vie.) (nme september 2013)

“I’d been talking to Julian about wanting to release something on his label since he started it,” Hammond Jr explains. “He was like, ‘Let’s put out a song’. So I went, ‘Alright, I’ll start working with Gus [Oberg] and maybe after we do a few songs there’ll be one that’s fun in there.’ I sent him the first, ‘Cooker Ship’, and he was floored. I got an email back with a million ‘yes’-es on it!”

speaking of which. i've posted this before but SIGHHHH (the talk 2013) that song is for his fucking then-gf justyna. (well, most likely. i dont think hes ever outright stated who he wrote it for but the mv is pretty domestic (for the most part......) and theres a bit where theyre kinda dancing in the living room which is one of the things albert told an interviewer he and justyna did a lot ��� vice june 2015 but of course i suppose you never know)

Kind of like The Strokes’ song “You Only Live Once”… Julian wrote that. I’m in the band, but I still take his lyrics like a fan would. You always relate lyrics to yourself, and I even do that with him even though he is one of my friends and we lived together when he was writing it. God knows what they were truly about. But it came full circle when he was over listening to “St. Justice” from my new solo EP. It was really cute, he was like, “Is this lyric about me?” And I was like, “…no, man.” It really wasn’t, but it was a good circle because I’ve felt that way about so many of his lyrics. When we got in the band, Julian had such a vision, he was just a strong writer, so the first three records are all his.

and then there's. whatever the fuck is up with one way trigger. i'll make a post about that swear

ending this post here i think bc otherwise i'm never gonna post this SORRY. i'll try to think of more but the tragedy of julian/albert is that it's actually really hard to find fuel for them. unlike milex where they're apparently physically incapable of not being all over and waxing poetic about each other. but then what you Do get is kinda crazy. such is life

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

When a woman is written to be a “strong female character” instead of a person.

So. I want to discuss one of my favorite characters from Helluva Boss. And I’m really sad to say that, despite her being my favorite character, she’s… well. She’s a woman in Helluva Boss. So. As much as I like her, I have a lot of problems with the way she’s written.

This is the same issue I have with a LOT of women characters, but for now I want to talk about Millie.

(review continues below cut)

I really love Millie, and was excited to see her character growth. I thought Millie’s establishing characteristics—that she’s very happy-go-lucky and that she is good at and enjoys fighting—were a nice start to her character

As the show went on, I was hoping to learn more about Millie—her flaws, her insecurities, her other strengths and blind-spots.

But. It’s been 15 episodes now, and Millie’s whole character still revolves around her relationship with Moxxie. To the point that in the episode where the main cast goes back to Millie’s home to meet her family, the plot focuses entirely on Moxxie’s relationship to her family.

The big climax of that episode even has her put out of the main conflict by getting hurt so that Moxxie gets to be the one to help Blitzø. There are exceptions to this, like in Exes and Ohs, but the main conflict of that story still revolves around Moxxie.

I also REALLY have to talk about Unhappy Campers.

While I’m sure there are people who believe we got to see and learn more about her in Unhappy Campers, having a woman character just be really good and really awesome at everything suddenly doesn’t really tell me about her. It just gives the impression that the writers didn’t know how to develop her or give her depth so they just made her “strong” by making her great at everything and having everybody love her to compensate for her lack of character.

(As a side-note, it really bothers me that, during the episode that is mostly focused on how cool and great Millie is, everyone thinks she’s a boy. Like. She can’t even be awesome and admired as a girl. In-universe, she has to be viewed as male to receive admiration.)

In that same episode, I was pretty shocked when Millie says this:

Because prior to this, Millie had never behaved in ANY way that gave me an impression whatsoever that she felt unimportant or under-valued. She had never done or said anything that implied she dealt with with any feelings of inadequacy.

This scene would have had so much more of an impact if we had gotten to have any more insight into Millie and to WHY she felt that way or why she believes she’s unimportant (I mean…aside from the way the writers treat her…if I was written as a prop for my husband I’d feel unimportant too. But I’m talking more about in-universe feelings and reasons)

But because Millie is so under-developed, when I watched this scene I felt nothing. I was just really surprised and didn’t know why she was saying that or where those feelings were coming from.

Those two basic characteristics that I mentioned before, that Millie is pretty happy go lucky and cheerful, and that she’s violent and good at fighting, is still all we know about her. Well. That and her character is basically a support beam for Moxxie.

She is often pushed to the sidelines of the story so the plot can focus more on Moxxie’s feelings and character. One thing I actually DO really like about Unhappy Campers is that, while Millie’s talking about not feeling important is very much out of left field, it at least leads to her calling Moxxie out for his shitty behavior and a total lack of support towards her in the way that she supports him.

It’s just very frustrating because, much like a lot of the writing in Helluva Boss, she HAS potential to be an interesting and complex character. We’ll most likely never get to see that version of Millie though, because the focus of the story is now on re-writing Stolas to not have any character flaws.

As a final thought, you can have a male lead show with male lead characters that doesn’t diminish it’s female ones.

(Once again, I’m not talking about this to shit talk or aggravate anyone. If you disagree with me that’s okay. These are my opinions, and I’ll never claim that my opinions are objectively right)

[love-overdrive]

Ordinary Miss Yazawa Pt. 1

Summary: The house for sale next door to the Higashikata's was quickly bought by someone. Josuke wonders who it could possibly be before he finally gets to meet his new neighbor, a young woman named Mary Yazawa. However, Tomoko can't help but think something doesn't add up with this new arrival.

Relationship: Platonic! Tomoko and Josuke Higashikata x OC (gen- no romance)

Rating: SFW

Word Count: ~3.5k

Notes: Nothing I think needs to be warned about. Mostly bantering between Tomoko and Josuke (I love them dearly). No spoilers for Part 4.

A/n: Aaaaa my first fic with my oc <3 please enjoy! More information on my OCs can be found on my pinned posts. Concrit is always appreciated and welcome, too.

You can read this on my AO3 here!

(Please feel free to let me know if you'd like to be tagged whenever I post a new work!)

“Huh? Someone bought that house already?” Koichi pointed to the ‘for sale’ sign that had a big ‘SOLD’ sticker slapped over it. “I thought they only put it out a few days ago.” 

“Who’s that desperate to come here?” Okuyasu commented, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” Josuke sighed. “Mom said that no one even came by to look inside.” 

“Damn, real desperate.” 

“Why would you buy a house without looking inside it?” Koichi pondered. “What if you don’t even like the inside? Isn’t that kind of a waste?” 

“How should I know?” Josuke shrugged. “I mean… at the end of the day, it’s just a house, right? You just go home and sit there. It’s not like these houses are bad or anything.” 

“But what if you wanted a big one!” Okuyasu shouted. “I know I want a huge living room in mine. Something awesome for parties.” 

Koichi tapped his chin. “Well, if we’re talking about what we want in houses… maybe many rooms. One for a library to put all my manga, a guest room for my family if they want to stop by, and rooms if you want to start a family.” 

“I would want a huge fridge,” Josuke added. 

“The fridge isn’t part of the house, dude! You buy that!” 

“What? No way, when we moved in our house, the fridge was there!” 

“That’s because your grandpa had bought it…” Koichi grimaced at the two. Josuke pouted for a moment at Koichi’s correction before waving his hand. 

“Well, that’s not the point! It’s still kinda weird to buy a house without looking at it!” 

“Who do you think bought it?” Okuyasu’s eyes widened. “What if it’s secretly a celebrity?” 

“Why would a celebrity come to live here?” 

“Damn,” Okuyasu deflated. “You’re right, you’re right.” 

“It’s probably just a family.” Koichi stated. “Probably couldn’t afford the prices in places like Tokyo and so they would come here to pay a cheaper rent or mortgage.” 

“How do you know so much about houses in Tokyo?” Josuke raised a brow. Koichi bashfully smiled and chuckled. 

“I saw it on the news yesterday. Apparently prices have been going crazy over there.” 

“Whoever bought this house probably has no clue what’s been going on here, though. I kinda feel bad,” Josuke commented. “I’m sure we’ll meet them soon. I just hope they’re not totally annoying or something.” 

Scratch that thought. It was not even 8 am on a Saturday and already the moving trucks next door had bothered Josuke. He sandwiched his head in between his pillow and huffed. Who the hell moves in so early?! 

Already cranky from being woken up, he glanced to his mirror and noticed his hair was a mess. What a great way to the start the day. He opened the window and was about to give his new neighbor a piece of his mind when he saw a young woman twirling her hair while the movers unloaded the truck. 

“Wait, careful with those ones, please,” she pointed at a box with the word ‘fragile’ on them. “Those were like, pretty expensive.” 

“Yes ma’am!” The men nodded, making her grin widely. 

“Thanks~, you guys are so sweet,” she replied, continuing to watch them. “Uh, put that box by the kitchen, and that one by the window.” 

Josuke raised a brow as he watched the scene. His new neighbor was definitely not what he expected them to be. 

He didn’t realize he was staring until the woman called out to him and waved. 

“Yoo-hoo!” She cheerfully yelled from below. “Hello! I’m your new neighbor!” 

He was taken aback by her peppy attitude- seriously, it was 8 am on a Saturday- but waved back awkwardly. “N-nice to meet you.” 

“Sorry for all the noise, I hope I didn’t disturb you!” 

“It’s alright, not like I was sleeping or anything,” he lied, feeling guilty at the thought of unleashing his previous anger at her. Josuke had to wonder how she was up this early. Was anyone else ever- 

“Josuke, who the hell are you talking to right now?” Tomoko snapped from the hallway. “What did I tell you about hogging the phone?” 

Right. How could he forget? 

“I’m not on the phone, mom,” he tiredly replied. Tomoko swung open the door without a second thought, only to find her son indeed was not on the phone, but still in his tanktop and pajama pants and leaning out the window. 

“Then what are you…?” She shook her head and strode over to the window, looking to see a slightly confused but smiling young woman. “O-oh! You must be our new neighbor. Welcome!” 

The woman chuckled and nodded. “Thank you. I’m happy to be here. If it’s not too much, I have some gifts for you all. Can I drop by soon to introduce myself properly?” 

Tomoko nodded quickly. “Of course, yes, you can. Stay for some tea, too!” 

“I’d love that! I have to finish with this, but give me about… um… like… three hours and I’ll be over,” the woman replied, waving one last time before turning around and ordering the men to drop off another set of boxes in a specific place. 

“I love her shoes,” Tomoko mumbled to herself as she closed the window. 

“I didn’t think it would just be some woman. I thought it would be a family,” Josuke rubbed the back of his neck and yawned. 

“I didn’t expect that, either,” Tomoko casually replied. “That being said, what the hell were you thinking!” 

Josuke’s eyes widened at his mother’s harsh tone. “What? What did I do?” 

“What did you do? You just introduced yourself to our new neighbor in your pajamas! Do you know how bad that makes us look? We have to make a good impression, not make her think we’re a bunch of slobs or something!” 

Tomoko frantically paced around Josuke’s room. 

“It’s not that big a deal. It’s just our neighbor. Not like she’ll die if she sees me like this,” Josuke sighed, knowing his mother’s rant would continue. 

“I can’t believe this. I knew she’d be here today, but I was trying to plan a welcome visit and everything, and now it’s all ruined! Now she thinks my son is a delinquent who just sits in his pajamas all day and that we’re a bunch of bums!” 

“I really doubt she thinks-” 

“No, no, no. Fix yourself up, now. I want you to put on your best clothes and make the best impression you can.” 

“But it’s so early and I’m tired! She won’t even be here for another few hours and it takes me less than five minutes to get ready!” 

“No. You will not be sleeping right now, you will be cleaning yourself up and- oh, for the love of god- clean up your room, will you?” Tomoko gagged as she stepped on a pile of Josuke’s dirty clothes. 

“She’s not coming in my room!” 

“What if she asks to see it, hm? You’re just gonna let her walk in and see how messy your room is?” 

“Why would she be in my room in the first place?” Josuke retorted exasperatedly. “She’s coming to have tea, not a house tour!” 

“That doesn’t matter! What if she wants a house tour? You don’t say no to your guests! Now clean up, that’s final!” Tomoko pointed at Josuke, leaving no room for any disagreement. Josuke rolled his eyes as Tomoko slammed the door shut behind her, leaving a grumbling and exhausted Josuke. 

Well… she won’t know if I sleep for another fifteen minutes, right? 

All too quickly, a fifteen minute power nap became an almost three hour long sleep. He only woke up due to hearing the door knocking, and that’s when all the panic set in. 

“Josuke, she’s here!” Tomoko called from downstairs. 

Shit! He thought as he tumbled out of bed and threw off his pajamas. “C-coming! Give me a sec!” 

Knowing his mother would get on his case about his clothes, he rummaged through his closet for anything nice he had that wasn’t a huge, wrinkled mess. He settled, for some reason, on his school uniform and threw it on haphazardly, nearly tripping over himself as he went to grab his comb from his mirror. 

He already knew he was taking too long, and he could hear his mother’s threatening tone when she called his name again, despite Tomoko trying to hide it under a veneer of saccharine sweetness. Josuke barely managed to get himself ready before he almost fell down the stairs to greet their new neighbor. 

“Well, you know teenagers, always doing their own thing-” Tomoko said to the woman, not realizing (or, more likely, not caring) that Josuke was in earshot. Tomoko placed a cup of tea for both her and the woman, who graciously thanked her. 

“I don’t mind, really. It’s good that they’re taking a moment to like, explore and stuff,” the woman mused. Up close, Josuke could get a better look at the woman. She had dark brown hair that went to her shoulder, but curled upwards at the ends of it. She wasn’t as pale as Tomoko, and her face was covered in freckles and beauty marks. Large, gold hoop earrings dangled from her lobes while her eyes had on some eyeliner and blue eyeshadow, which coincidentally, matched the baby blue sweater she wore. 

Josuke cleared his throat awkwardly so his mother could introduce him. Tomoko turned to him with a smile before her face fell. She shot him a death glare when she noticed how slovenly his appearance looked- a warning for what was to come after their guest had left. 

“Miss Yazawa, this is my son, Josuke. Josuke, this is Miss Yazawa.” 

Josuke bowed politely. “Nice to see you again.” 

“It’s nice to see you, too. But, you know, I’m not at work and I’m still pretty young, so you can just call me Mary,” Mary casually stated. Tomoko shook her head to Josuke, telling him not to do so. ���And since you’re both here now, I hope it’s alright for me to give you my gift?” 

Mary pulled out a pink box wrapped with a golden, glittery bow. Josuke leaned over curiously, wondering what was inside. 

“Thank you, you didn’t have to give us something this big,” Tomoko said as she took the box. “I’ll just set it aside and-” 

“Oh no, feel free to open it! I think it’ll go great with the tea!” Mary giggled. 

Tomoko undid the bow and opened the box, gasping alongside Josuke as they saw many tarts, macarons, and other desserts they couldn’t even name within it. 

“W-wait a minute, this can’t be,” Tomoko quickly said as she examined the cover she just removed. “Is this really from that French bakery? Patisserie Chic? That one?” 

Mary nodded. “Yeah. I heard it was good. Have you tried it before?” She asked, fiddling with her cup. Both of them shook their head. Patisserie Chic was hailed as the bakery in Morioh, but it was, frankly, very expensive. As a teacher and single mom, Tomoko just didn’t have the funds to splurge that much on a slice of cake or a cookie. 

Especially not a whole box of them…

“No, we haven’t.” 

“Well, then that means it’s the perfect time to try them!” Mary grinned, clasping her hands together. 

All of them took a pastry and took a bit. Josuke and Tomoko gasped at the taste and covered their mouths. 

“Mmm! This is amazing!” Tomoko said, not caring she was talking with her mouth full. 

“Mhm! Sho good!” Josuke agreed, chomping down on the sweet. 

“I guess they were right,” Mary hummed, taking a small, ladylike bite of her pastry. She didn’t react much to the taste, but neither Tomoko or Josuke were paying attention. 

After indulging in her sweet, Tomoko wiped her mouth and looked at Mary. “So, Miss Yazawa, what made you move all the way to Morioh?” 

“Oh, it wasn’t a big deal or anything,” Mary responded. “I wanted to experience more things, so I took a position at the bank as their receptionist.” 

Tomoko raised a brow. “You moved from…” 

“Shibuya,” Mary answered. 

“Shibuya,” Tomoko repeated. Explains the makeup. “You moved from Shibuya… to here? For a receptionist job?” 

“Yes,” Mary nodded casually. Josuke tried to imagine what that would feel like, but he couldn’t think of anything. He loved Morioh, would live here forever, no questions asked- but moving here from Shibuya? That seemed a bit crazy. 

“I heard the housing prices and mortgages are high over there,” Josuke commented, trying to keep the conversation going. He’d thank Koichi later for that. Tomoko shot him a confused look, wondering why the hell her son, who was always too busy playing video games and could never clean his room, was suddenly discussing mortgages. 

“Yeah, they are. Morioh looks like a nice change of pace. I do like the quieter towns, too. And everyone’s been pretty friendly so far.” 

“It’s a very nice town, even if it’s smaller than what you’re probably used to,” Tomoko replied. “I hope I’m not coming off as too rude or anything, but are you living with anyone? A fiance or a husband? I didn’t see anyone else with you right now.” 

“Oh, no, I live alone. Again, I just moved for work and stuff,” Mary answered, not at all offended by the question. Josuke briefly wondered if all Shibuya women were like her. He did like that she was a bit more casual than some of the ladies here. 

“You are? I didn’t expect that. You look very young. I’m surprised you aren’t with someone,” Tomoko gasped, starting to feel her previous holdups wear down. Even though she was stern at times, she still was a young woman, too, and she hadn’t talked to another woman her age in a while like this. 

“I just haven’t found the right guy, you know?” Mary explained. “Like, I’m usually pretty busy with my job, so sometimes I just don’t have the time to really meet guys. My supervisor once said I should try a small town guy once in a while, instead of the big city ones.” 

“They’re pretty rough, aren’t they?” Tomoko replied. Mary nodded in agreement. 

“Right? Some of them are so pushy and don’t even listen when I talk,” Mary sighed. “All they do is talk about finances or the stock market or something, like, can we just talk about anything else?” 

“And don’t they always complain about you working, too?” 

“They do!” 

Josuke cleared his throat as the two women got caught up in their conversation, making them both silently return to their previous positions. 

“Well, in any case, this is a pretty nice place to settle down in. I don’t think you’ll have many complaints here,” Tomoko said casually. 

Josuke, wanting to be involved after sitting around boredly, looked at Mary. “So, Mar- Miss Yazawa, how old are you, anyways?” 

“Josuke!” Tomoko hissed, glaring at him. Mary giggled again and waved it off. 

“20,” she answered. 

“W-wait, 20?” Tomoko and Josuke said at the same time. 

“Yeah. Is there like… something wrong?” Mary cocked her head to the side. 

“No, I just… I didn’t think you’d be that young,” Tomoko responded, the surprise evident on her face. She mumbled a, “you could be my daughter at that age…”

“Woah, you moved out and everything by yourself at 20?” Josuke’s eyes sparkled, seemingly impressed with the fact she could do all that. 

“Mhm. It’s nothing crazy. I know lots of people who do the same.” 

Before Josuke could talk more, the phone began ringing. 

“Josuke, answer the phone, will you?” Tomoko asked. Josuke looked at the house phone attached to the wall and raised a brow. 

“It’s not ringing,” he replied, seeing as there was no light flashing on it. 

“No, that’s me, sorry,” Mary chuckled. “Is it alright if I take this call over there?” 

Tomoko was about to nod before her and Josuke gasped again at seeing Mary pull out a large, thick cellphone. They huddled together as Mary walked to the living room to answer. 

“Is that a-” 

“No way-” the two whispered to each other. 

“How the hell can she afford a cellphone?” 

“It’s the newest Nokia, too. I heard you can use it all around the world!” Josuke said with wide eyes. 

“Are receptionists really paid that much?” Tomoko asked. “Maybe I should consider a career switch.” 

“It’s not fair, how can she get a cellphone at 20, but I can’t?” Josuke whined. 

“I don’t even have a cellphone! Why would I get you one?” 

“Because… pleeease?” Josuke gave Tomoko his best puppy dog eyes before she shook her head. 

“No way. You don’t need a cellphone to waste more time on. You’re already slacking on your chores and schoolwork.” 

“Come on, I promise, I’ll do all my chores if I get one!” 

“No.” 

Josuke rolled his eyes and slumped against the seat. “One day, I’m gonna get one. And when I move out, I will not be yelled at about my room.” 

“You have to actually go to college and get a job for that,” Tomoko teased. 

“I will! You’ll see!” 

The two bickered a bit longer before Mary came back, Nokia in hand. Mary, true to her youthful age, had decorated her phone with some rhinestones and two pink phone charms. Josuke wondered once more if women in Shibuya did this sort of thing. They must be loaded. Or bored.

“Sorry about that, my supervisor was calling.” 

“Is everything alright?” 

“Yeah, just some things are gonna need to be done sooner than expected. But, not a huge deal. I’ll just pull an all-nighter or something,” Mary shrugged. 

“Ugh, never mind about me getting a job,” Josuke joked. 

“Aw, work isn’t so bad. It’s kinda fun!” Mary replied, a wide grin on her face. 

Josuke lost track of the time until Mary had left, citing her need to begin unpacking and organizing her house. Once she was gone, Tomoko folded her arms and stared quizzically at the door. 

“Something up, mom?” Josuke asked, wondering why she was just standing by their door. 

“I just can’t put my finger on it, honestly.” 

“Put your finger on what?”

“Obviously, I mean Miss Yazawa.” 

“What about her?” 

“I don’t normally like to gossip about others but something’s a bit strange about her, don’t you think?” 

Josuke shook his head. “Nah.” 

“What do you mean, ‘nah’?” Tomoko deadpanned. 

“Was there something weird about her?” Josuke scratched his cheek. 

“I mean, the fact that she lived in Shibuya and then decided to move here for a receptionist job, her being only 20, having a new cellphone- none of that was off to you?” 

“Is it supposed to be off to me?” 

“Well, yeah, it’s not really…” Tomoko paused, scrunching her nose at what she was tryna say. “Oh god… am I getting old?” 

“What?” Josuke shouted, confused where his mother would get that idea from. “What does this gotta do with anything?” 

“I think I’m getting too old. I know I look younger than my age-” 

“So humble.” 

“Quiet. But, jeez, she’s only 20! Are younger women these days working that hard and doing that much?” 

“I guess?” Josuke replied, not knowing much about women. “Maybe it’s what the women do in Shibuya.” 

“It’s gotta be that. I heard they got some crazy stuff going on there,” Tomoko commented, fanning herself. “And I guess you would need to work extra hard to afford that place.” 

“So then, it’s just cuz she’s from Shibuya.” 

Tomoko let out a breath, before nodding. “Yeah. Shibuya. Must be a Shibuya thing.” 

“So that settles it then?” Tomoko hummed back. “And you’re not worried about being old?” 

Tomoko tried to remain serious, but her lips twitched upwards as she let out a short laugh. “No. I’m good. I guess even the way I did things when I was her age was unconventional, too.” She rubbed the back of her neck. 

Josuke knew what she was referring to and pursed his lips. “Maybe. But I wouldn’t have you any other way.” 

“And I wouldn’t have you any other way, either. Mmm… maybe just a cleaner room but that can be worked on.” 

“Whatever,” Josuke laughed. 

“But, really, you should go clean your room. And if you have time one day, you should go stop by her house and help.” 

“Why?” 

“It’s just a good thing to do. She’s all by herself and she probably needs help moving things around.” 

“Yeah, I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll call Koichi and Okuyasu over, too, since they wanted to know who it was.” 

Tomoko smiled, a proud look on her face. Josuke gave a questioning expression back. “Why’re you smiling like that?” 

“Nothing,” Tomoko shook her head before sighing wistfully. “I guess I just realized that you’re really becoming a man.” 

Josuke’s face softened alongside his mother’s. Well, he wasn’t really all that eager to do so, but maybe helping Miss Yazawa wouldn’t be so bad if this is how his mom would react. 

[light-end-dragon]

Chapter 5

Well-built Man: …Well, this dish….

Unkempt Man: Hey…

Cain: Oh, that! Yeah that does seem pretty good-I wanna try it too. Oh, but first…Akira! Come here!

I was taken aback by the sudden call of my name by Cain, who was waving me over to the space between him and Bradley. I hurried over, dragging a chair to sit with them.

Leader-like Man: ….This weak-lookin’ guy part of your crew too?

Unkempt Man: Ahaha-what a dumb mug. Hey look, your kind’s here! We got one of ‘em too.

Young Man: ….

Akira: Um…..

Cain: Hey, no need to be mean. His name’s Akira. ….Oh, I don’t think we gave our names, did we?

Bradley: Now that you say that, yeah, don’ think we did. Name’s Bradley.

Akira: Like he said, I’m Akira. I’m very sorry for interrupting you.

Cain: And I’m Cain; Nice to meet ya.

I saw Cain give a sideways glance to the men, having used their real names to introduce themselves. 

And it seemed he was wise to; upon hearing “Cain”, the men pulled back with a start. Only the young man looked up at us like he’d been struck.

Leader-like Man: ….That’s the name of the General of the Order right now.

Unkempt Man: You mean former General. I heard they ain’t anymore. You guys’re travellers. D’ya know if the General Cain really did resign from his post?

Bradley: Man, we ain’t been within spittin’ distance of the royal capital for years now; we don’t know shit.

Bradley: It’s just a coincidence this guy’s got the same name. Stop jumpin’ at shadows, will ya? 

Leader-like Man: …Well, you’re probably right. I haven’t heard anyone talkin’ about the General comin’ to some backwater place like this. 

Unkempt Man: Ha, I bet he’d be too busy chasin’ skirts all over the royal capital. Wanna bet he’s a player? Got a whole line of them royal ladies. 

Well-built Man: Ahaha, yeah, I bet he’s real busy on the “night watch”. If that’s what it’s like, I’ll bet 10 years from now we’ll all be ‘geniuses with the sword.’

Men: Gyahahaha! 

Cain: ……

Akira: (....How dare they….At least Cain doesn’t seem phased...)

Though he seemed well-enough himself, my own mood grew worse.

I gulped down the rest of my juice in one go; I wasn’t thirsty, but I was afraid if I had any left in the cup, I would’ve dumped it all over these men.

When I lowered my empty drink, the young man with long bangs caught my attention.

Akira: (He’s staring a bit too hard at Cain…..And he’s looking a little bit in the wrong place. Like Cain does as well before he touches us….)

Cain: So how long have you guys been around here, then?

Leader-like Man: Uh, couple months. I think we passed by this place before when we were travellin’, right?

Bradley: Oh, really….then I wonder if you know more about this one rumor I heard. The one 10 years ago, where a kid went missin’....

Young Man: …..!

(Sound of something spilling.)

Young Man: Ah..!

Unkempt Man: You idiot-did you just spill your drink?! You better not have gotten any on my shoes!!

Well-Built Man: God, what a moron. You can’t even drink a single glass without ruinin’ it!

Young Man: I’m-I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry….

Cain: Hey, hey, his hand slipped. It happens to everyone. I’m just glad the glass didn’t break.

Cain: Bartender, can we get your best drink for these four? Thanks.

Cain raised a hand to the counter to signal the bartender. A short while later, he took the bottle of wine he received, dividing it into 4 glasses, handing them in turn to the gang. 

The final glass he gave them was to the young man who had spilled the drink in the first place.

Cain: Here, this one’s for you. ….You know, you don’t hafta answer if you don’t wanna, but I’m thinking your eyesight isn’t all that great? 

Young Man: Y…yes���.The t-truth is, I can’t really see well at all….

Cain: Huh, really? Just from watchin’ you at the table, I don’t think most people would be able to tell. You’re pretty awesome. 

Cain: Just reach your arm out a little bit…right here. Yeah, right there’s the glass, I think you’ll be able to get the picture once you touch it.

Young Man: Th…thank you….

After taking the glass, the young man hung his head.

But then, with a sudden blink-he raised his head, his expression like that of a cornered animal.

Young Man: U-um…that rumor you mentioned a bit ago. I know what you’re talking about.

Cain: Huh?

Men: …!

Young Man: I-I mean, it’s not just me. If something like that happens in this area, everyone knows about it. It’s famous enough e-even the Order of knights investigated. 

Young Man: People went missing 10 years ago, in that forest ahead of the old town’s walls.

Young Man: Two boys.

Akira: (Wait, what? But we only heard of one missing person…)

Bradley + Cain: …..

Well-built Man: Hey. You….

Young Man: I-I mean…i-it’s a rumor right? So they were probably eaten by some beast in the forest. That happens in those parts a lot….

Leader-like Man: -It’s late. We’re going back.

(Sound of a chair scraping on the floor.)

Suddenly, the men all stood up from their chairs.

(Sound of fabric rustling.)

One of them grabbed the young man’s arm, yanking him forcefully with him. Within the sound of him being so violently dragged, I swore I could hear his breathing spasm.

Cain still had a friendly look on his face, like he was trying to pacify them. 

Cain: Hey, it’s fine, it’s fine; I think we’re all good with staying up late. I wanna hear more about that, it seemed interesting….

Leader-like Man: No. We’re leaving. See ya.

Still dragging the young man along, the whole gang then left the bar without another word.

-----------------------------:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･------------------------------

(Sound of a breeze blowing by.)

Arthur: There were actually two missing people..?

Faust: That’s strange…that doesn’t match up with what we found at all.

Dawn. We met up with Faust and Arthur as agreed, exchanging what we knew.

Faust: We followed traces of that spirit to the forest, and there, we found a set of old, small remains. It’s most likely they are the source of this spirit’s grief, so we held a funeral for them.

Arthur: …There was a rotten sheath nearby. So it seems we were correct; the true form of this lingering spirit is the boy who wished to become a knight.

Cain: …I see…

Faust: But the remains we cremated definitely belonged to a single person. There were not enough bones for two people. 

Akira: Then, the rumor of a boy going missing was true? That young man was mistaken? 

Akira: But ‘one person going missing’ is on a whole other scale than ‘two people’. I don’t think that would be an easy thing to mistake…right?

Cain: No, it wouldn’t be; that’s the problem. He clearly said two people when he spoke about it….

Bradley: Those guys definitely know somethin’. 

Bradley: Like the Sage said, you don’t mistake those sortsa details. That means he said “two people’ on purpose.

Cain: Looking at his companions response, he might’ve been hinting at something that would be real inconvenient for them. 

Cain: The mystery of how many people went missing versus how many remains isn’t addin’ up, so….I need to talk to that kid further.

Faust: Understandable. When are you going to go, then?

Bradley + Cain: Tonight.

The two spoke in complete unison. 

Cain’s eyes opened wider at first, before he smiled and gave Bradley a hearty slap on the back.

Cain: Well, would ya look at that. We are gettin’ along. 

Bradley: Yer the one who said we couldn’t yesterday.

Cain: Okay, then lemme rephrase: sometimes we can’t, but when we can, we do.

[takeshitakyuuto]

Trigun Book Club reading update volume 2 part one AKA volume 1 part two

Wellllll apparently the volumes I procured are quite a few chapters shorter than the English translations (I have three Trigun volumes instead of two), so I’ve got a few more chapters to read before this section of the book club ends. I’ll be back on track once we hit Maximum though! It’s actually probably a good thing this happened, though, or else these posts would’ve been just too long.

Ch 8. Yay Meryl! So that’s why that grunt said わ

“Vash the Stampede-san” is absolutely hilarious to me

That one panel with Vash facing away from the viewer standing in rubble and the sun like a halo around his head is so beautiful

Ch 9. There’s some really interesting imagery in this chapter... Are they creating life in that boiler room?

This “angel” is kinda giving me NGE vibes. I like how I’m seeing so much of other pretentious famous anime within Trigun

Okay this angel thing is awesome

兄弟？ oh biiiiitch

How does this angel fit into the train/sand steam though? Was it just a vessel to hold and transport the angel or was the angel powering it in some way?

Neon coming to the rescue was unexpected, but I like his reasoning for it as well. What an upstanding criminal

I love the way music, and especially simple song, is incorporated into this chapter! Music is such a marker of humanity to me and it seems like it’s being used here to show the love that Rem had for humanity. Vash’s love for humanity (that we as the reader see) seems to come more in the form of physical help

That chapter was packed! If it wasn’t obvious by the amount of notes I wrote, this chapter has been my favorite so far :3 I also really liked Kaito’s involvement in this whole arc. I don’t actually expect him to ever show up again but I always love when we get a little help from the common folk, especially a younger character like Kaito. And honestly, I think this chapter sold me the rest of the way on this series.

Ch 10.　Starting off the chapter with my favorite girls? Win!

Lol hiring out Vash just so he can have some babysitters

Ch 11. A mystery in the picture... Perhaps these old people are more than what meets the eye?

Alright that mystery was solved real fast

This is my son, I hope for him to grow up to be a kind and great man. His name is Badwick. What? No, it doesn’t mean anything at all!

10/10 mustache right there

It’s probably just because I don’t usually read action series, but the action seems to move super fast. We’re all caught up on moving these parents out of the way of Bad Guy #547 and then there’s an explosion? Which is more car people

omfg Jii-san is strapped to the high heavens

Also obsessed with barrel Vash

Ch 12. Meryl is really out here being the number one badass

Final thoughts: It’s a little odd writing my final thoughts here because I’ve got one more chapter before my volume two is finished! But that chapter will be in next week’s reading update. I really liked this last arc and the themes of family that it brought with it. There wasn’t a whole lot of Vash but we all know just how much I love Milly and Meryl, so who’s disappointed? Not me. I like the character development we’re getting before the “real” plot kicks in, but overall it felt like just that- character development with minimal actual effect on the series. I’m looking forward to the meat of the series, and especially dealing with the things we’ve seen in previous chapters so far, like more backstory with Rem and hopefully more on that Angel thing. I’m also pretty stoked for more world building, as it’s a space western but right now there isn’t a whole lot of the space part of it. We’ve seen great technical advancements and those alien horse things that were in the background near the beginning but that’s about it for any space age type stuff. Another thing I’ve been wondering about is the “plants.” I’ve been taking it to mean factory type plants but I don’t yet know if I’m correct or not. I assume we’ll get more on them in the future, as they’re brought up pretty frequently, and I really want to know what they are and why they’re so important (it’s gotta be more than just “factories = good for economy” right??).

[disregardcanon]

okay, so a brief history of my headcanon for rava and kendall’s relationship

 i think that kendall and rava probably met at harvard. while he and stewy WERE partying pretty hardcore, i think that hero-complex kendall was also trying (and mainly failing) to do some social justice work and in a very hardcore “i hate my dad” phase. rava, who was from a moderately wealthy family and studying to be an attorney, saw him and was kinda entranced by how passionate he was.

they wrote articles together for the harvard lampoon that were some biting and sometimes insightful social commentary. kendall, at the time, was very against working for waystar and they spent a lot of time spitballing with stewy about what they could do. stewy was very profit minded so he ended up noping out of the project before he and ken had even graduated.

she and kendall got married right after graduation from undergrad half because they were very in love and half because they wanted to upset their respective families. rava continues grad school and kendall flails his way through a few different corporate jobs, trying to pitch ideas that seemed ethical but weren’t really practical and then getting into fights with people about not understanding his “vision”. that ended with him being fired from each when business bosses received confirmation that logan roy wouldn’t come for their heads if they fired his son.

when it became clear that employment elsewhere... wasn’t really going to work out for him, kendall sunk deeper and deeper into addiction as rava had her back turned with her last semester of law school and studying for the bar.

he makes a habit of using big, showy gestures of affection whenever she’s getting too frustrated by his behavior. it works well for a while.

halfway through rava’s semester of studying for the bar, kendall had an incident bad enough that she had to cart him off to rehab and it set her back a semester before she could take the bar. (which she did pass! yay!)  after he got back from rehab, they decided that he’d take his dad up on the offer of a job at waystar to “get him back on his feet”, and they started turning their attentions towards having kids instead.

kendall’s new big project, immediately, became kids. they decided that they like BOTH the options of adoption and having their own bio kids, so they started trying for bio kids a lot, but also doing research on good ways to adopt kids.

kendall did about half of that, with jess helping him stay focused and actually doing most of it. with his white savior complex, a transracial adoptee from india was a pretty obvious choice. a few months after sophie’s adoption was finalized they got sophie and kendall, for a while, put all his efforts into being The Best Dad TM.

it’s great while it lasts, but the increase in kendall’s time off work with waystar led to some pretty harsh criticism from his dad including “what have you got a wife for, anyway, if you’re doing all the raising? mister mom gotta go home and take care of the baby? pa-fucking-thetic” so he tries to focus more on work, which stresses him out, and he’s pulled between wanting to be an awesome dad and make rava happy but also Oh God My Dad Thinks I’m a Loser and i want to stick it to him but also make him proud of me, and it leads to a lot of him not doing anything that makes him happy or proud and just slipping back into alcohol.

this period does result in them getting a consistent nanny instead of babysitters, though, so at least the kids are a bit better cared for.

the slope leads down for a few years until it’s at the point where he can’t get off the couch for sophie’s 2nd grade meet the author day and rava makes him try seeing a therapist. again. it gets worse instead of better as he’s pulled between work, dad, and his wife and kids. logan keeps trying to pressure rava into leaving her job as a civil rights attorney just as he keeps trying to fold shiv into the company, and it causes some additional tension. and this, of course, is on top of kendall now being groomed as logan’s successor.

add in: iverson’s autism diagnosis and kendall absolutely refusing to confront what it means both for iverson AND himself, and he starts slipping back into the hard stuff. he’s erratic and impossible to be around and rava finds bits of coke on iverson’s ipad, which is when she tells kendall he has to move out.

if he can get himself cleaned up and show her that he’s ready to move back in with them, then she’ll let him. (spoiler alert: he never does this, even though he tries)

[msunitedstatesjames]

 I just finished season 2 of Shadow and Bone. What a wild ride of confusion, rage, and elation, guys.

Here’s my thoughts, but first, some disclaimers. If you haven’t watched the show and read the books, major spoilers follow, so beware. Also, though I had some major problems with this season, I did enjoy it overall, so remember that as you read. And if you absolutely loved this season more than anything, that’s cool too. All opinions are welcome here.

Most of this will be about the Crows because they’re the main reason I watch.

Here’s what I loved:

1. Just like last season, the casting and character work on this show was great. For some reason, I wasn’t immediatly sold on Nikolai’s character, but then I loved him to pieces shortly, which I guess is how it’s supposed to be anyway. Also, Wylan was perfect. Double also, I appreciate that this show continues to make Mal actually likeable, which was not always the case in the books. 

2. The visual effects were really cool. We’ve all seen a lot of different shows where characters have elemental magic, and rarely have I seen it look good in live action. But some of those scenes with the amplified grisha at the end made me think, “This is how a person wielding a whirlpool and/or ice shards might actually look if it could happen in the real world.”

3. The David/Genya dynamic was amazing. They were cute in the books, but I think TV David comes across even better. But it’s been years since I read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, so I could just be misremembering there. (Also, pretty much every romantic dynamic has you invested in this show.)

4. The moment at the end when Kaz and Inej see each other safe for the first time after the big battle, and then Jesper runs over and hugs her, while Kaz just has to look away in disappointement with himself. (Also, the final Kaz/Inej scene was very well done.) I always thought these two were the strongest characters in a group of very strong characters in the Crows books, and the show does their characters a lot of justice, even if I’m often left wanting a little more.

5. The dynamic between the Crows is really starting to get to book level, and I love it. 

Things I didn’t love (these range anywhere along the scale of mild disappointment to pointless rage)

1. The Crows just showing up and destroying the amplified grisha at the end. I mean, other than the grenade they threw, those grisha had plenty of time to counter their attacks. They definitely had time to stop that powder from flying into their faces. They could clearly hear Kaz be like, “Wylan, now!” As much as I love the Crows, that scene was a little ridiculous. The Crows can cause some major destruction in the books, but usually when they do they have some more advanced technology and some shadows on their side at least. 

2. When I realized that the Kaz-Pekka Rollins confrontation was going to happen in episode four of an eight episode season, I just about lost it. In the books, that moment is the culmination of two books worth of character development and plotting. And the fact that Inej was the only Crow who wasn’t there to see it just drove me crazy. That’s such a great moment between them in the books, when Inej finally thinks Kaz has lost himself to his revenge, after two books of telling him he’s not a monster, and then Kaz is just like, “Nah, I was just messing with him.” Like, what a relief that was in the books. (Also, I don’t really like that Pekka Rollins is still out there being his usual self, even though he’s locked up. In the books he’s not dead either, but by the end of the story he’s pretty much been scared witless and driven away. Hopefully he and Kaz don’t meet up again in the show because it wouldn’t feel very meaningful at this point.)

3. The Inej-Mogen conflict. It’s clearly filling in for the Inej-Dunyasha conflict in Crooked Kingdom, but it lacks the dynamic that made it so interesting in the books. Dunyasha as a Lantsov pretender (or not) was awesome. Dunyasha really being almost like a foil for Inej was awesome. It also brought in the interesting concept of Dunyasha being Inej’s “shadow,” or the result of all the sins she’s had to commit to survive. Which also brought up the idea of Kaz and Pekka as shadows of one another, and we got to have that great moment where Inej really forces Kaz to think about what he plans for the future, and how he plans to be different (if really at all) from someone like Pekka Rollins if he comes out on top. Also, one of my favorite passages in Crooked Kingdom is Inej’s “we learn to wring magic from the ordinary” moment, about how maybe Dunyasha is some lost princess, while Inej is just a regular girl who’s been forced to deal with the brutal side of the world, but that Inej will fight to get what she deserves anyway. It’s so powerful, and I don’t really think they could have worked it into a TV show anyway, but it still felt like a loss. (Also, as cool as it was to see Inej wielding a legendary magical sword later in the season, it kind of makes that “wring magic from the ordinary” passage from the book ring a little hollow.)

4. The best Kaz/Inej moment in Crooked Kingdom (in my opinion) was attempted, but they couldn’t do as much with it in the show as they did in the books, simply because they weren’t there yet with the story/characters. I think they really should have put off the Kaz trying to help Inej with her first aid scene for later. It was still effective in the show and I liked what we did get. But there’s so much good dialogue and character work there in the books, other than just the romantic tension, and most of it is so wound up with Crooked Kingdom’s plot that it would be hard to transplant elsewhere, but maybe they’ll try. But this was one of the biggest issues I had with this season overall. They tried to hit on so many of the important story and character beats from Crooked Kingdom, but they could never make them hit quite as hard as they do in the books because of the constraints of time/plot decisions.

5. I was sad that we didn’t get to see Matthias join the Crows yet. 

Things I’m still hoping to see, even though they kind of already adapted Croooked Kingdom:

1. The Jesper-Kaz feud. “Who’s Jordie?” Love it. Also, I’m sure we’ll learn more about Jesper’s background, and I’m looking forward to seeing that play out somehow.

2. Kaz in a murderdous rage over Inej’s safety. I want to see this man throw another man off a light house. Judge me all you want.

[managician]

Thanks again for answering all my questions! I have some more for Sontails, my own this time instead of from a list. Take your time if you need to with your exams, I don't mind! :)

"Who wakes up early and who sleeps in?"

"Which trait does each find the most endearing about the other?"

"What does each do/say that almost always makes the other flustered and blush?"

"How often did they share a bed before they started dating?"

"How often does Sonic brush Tails' tails, if ever?"

And finally, not necessarily a Sontails question, but very much related:

"How did Amy inevitably find out about Sonic and Tails' relationship, and how long did it take her after to get over her feelings for Sonic?"

Thanks to you for sending more of these lovely questions in! I’ve been having lots of fun with them.

I’m almost done with exams, thankfully, so thank you for your patience as well! I hope I managed to entertain you with my answers x)

“Who wakes up early and who sleeps in?”

I think both would be early birds, though if someone was to sleep in, it’d be Tails. I can totally see him staying up late working on (x) project and then waking up late a result, whereas Sonic tries to keep a regular schedule, for the most part.

But outside of that scenario, the two of them look the type to rise and shine pretty early, since we know they are quite the active people.

Unless it’s one of those rare days where they feel like lazying around for a bit, probably. In which case they just stay in bed together till one of them (Sonic) gets hungry and gives them an excuse to go grab a bite for breakfast, haha.

“Which trait does each find the most endearing about the other?”

Tails loves how caring and cool Sonic acts with everyone! His genuinely good personality and will to help out any friend in need is one of the things that would make him fall for the hedgehog in the first place, I’m sure.

I know their Adventure/Sonic X era origin story got retconned by now, since it’s been made so that Sonic saved him from bullies and Tails decided to tag along with him (instead of Tails just one-sidedly following him because he thought he looked epic). But tbh both versions really highlight to me the fact that Tails is just blown away by Sonic as a whole, which is super sweet.

For that reason, I like to imagine that Sonic’s kindness remains his favourite trait throughout the years. Not only is he a hero with outstanding strength, he’s the best person Tails ever got to meet -- how perfect is that? 

On Sonic’s side, he adores how sweet and loyal Tails is while still having a strong sense of justice. The amount of things this little fox has done for his sake —fly him over all sorts of dangerous waters and cliffs, plan to break into prison to rescue him, get into fights, etc.— will never fail to amaze him. 

I feel people sometimes forget Sonic used to be a completely solo fighter before meeting him, so Tails being willing to stick through thick and thin as long as they’re together would mean the world to him. They both get attached so fast and it only grows stronger with time :’)

“What does each do/say that almost always makes the other flustered and blush?”

Sonic just needs to bring up how awesome and perfect his partner is for him to get all embarrassed. Pretty easy stuff.

It’s like... a bit crazy for Tails to have Sonic acknowledge that there’s things only he can do/can do much better than him, The Hero (tm), y’know? Tails is not used to hearing people think so highly of him, and to have the one he admires say it without a hint of hesitation will never fail to fluster him.

Tails is not really one to pamper him with verbal affection like that, but he’s got it even easier. He just needs to wrap his tails around him and snuggle up to him without warning and BAM, Sonic is also a blushy mess in 100% of cases. 

He’s always felt to me like someone that would offer casual affection better than receive it (which is tied to my headcanon of Tails usually waiting for him to start any affectionate gestures), so just have the love of his life give him the warmest hug ever and I guarantee he’ll be at least a little embarrassed.

In general, it’s not super hard for either of them to blush, though! They’re one of those mushy couples that will always make the other feel a bit weak on the knees, methinks.

“How often did they share a bed before they started dating?”

Very rarely, if at all, I'd say.

This came up in one brief line in my Sonic/Nine fic, but I don't see Sonic as much of a bed person. The only place I recall seeing him sleeping on (in the games) is a couch! And he has a pretty nomad lifestyle, so beds just... Don't seem like they'd get along with him very much.

I think the only times they would have slept together before they dated would be if they were, say, in the middle of travelling together and needed to sleep outside for the night. So they'd snuggle close to avoid getting cold, since Tails' namesakes do a really good job of keeping their body warmth.

...That'd be more like sharing the floor or a tent than sharing a bed, now that I think about it. Oops. XD 

Yeah, I just don't see them bed sharing all that much, at least not with sleeping purposes. Cuddles in bed are always A+ okay for both of them, though! And Sonic's a lot more willing to try to sleep next to Tails after they start dating, if it's something that would make his boyfriend happy.

“How often does Sonic brush Tails’ tails, if ever?”

He definitely does, although it’s hard to pinpoint how often, or if it's even a 'regular' thing between them. Hmmm...

Something like once a month sounds good in my head. That way it's a bit of a special occurrence, but they get to look forward to it.

It's kind of a relaxing routine for them both. Sonic loves Tails' tails and treats them with care, and Tails likes having someone else take care of them, especially when that someone else looks like he's really enjoying himself while brushing his fur.

(As mentioned in the ask, the last question is not strictly a sontails one so I’m putting it under a read more, just in case somebody checking their dash/the ship tag wouldn’t want to read it.)

“How did Amy inevitably find out about Sonic and Tails' relationship, and how long did it take her to get over her feelings for Sonic?”

Funny that you asked this! It's a very interesting question and you're gonna get me to talk a bit about my view on modern sonamy, something I don't really do often, so buckle up.

Now, this might be partly because Amy reminds me of a friend I had, but I tend to see her as someone who's chasing the 'high' of having a crush rather than a serious, down-to-earth relationship.

"I miss the good old days. Hangin' out with my hero, Sonic... Chasing bad guys... And blowing them away - ha ha!" This is one of her first quotes in SA1, and I found it interesting that she emphasised how both chasing after Sonic and beating up robots made her life feel thrilling and fulfilling.

It's like she's one of those people that just wants to be in love as part of her life experience, if that makes sense. She didn't wait to fall for anyone naturally; Sonic showed up one day in Little Planet, saved her and she went "that guy, that's the one for me.”

And she loves Sonic dearly for who he is. He’s her hero. Finding him was a fated meeting that signaled the start of a new chapter in her story.

However, I genuinely think she’d love to see her two friends together and happy, too. 

The way I like to imagine it, she finds out about it before Sonic and Tails have actually shared that they’re an “item” now with the gang. In a very casual way -- just something like her going to Tails’ workshop looking for Sonic, walking in on the two of them sleeping on the couch with their hands intertwined, and having that little oh realisation moment that Sonic wants to be with someone else.

Obviously, she'd struggle with knowing that all her honest, good-hearted efforts to catch his attention would've never done the trick. How long has she been playing an impossible game? She'd be kinda mad at both Sonic and Tails for not telling her about their feelings for each other sooner, as it would've saved them all some trouble.

Though you can't help but sympathise that they wouldn't want to share the news yet, since being strictly 'best buds' has been their whole brand for like... Forever. It's a delicate situation on both ends.

Thankfully, Amy is someone that lives life head-on almost as much as Sonic himself does, so I want to think she'd try to be supportive of them and gradually get over her heartbreak after some months. No point in dwelling on something that's already settled, right?

All she can do is be a good friend and, this time, try to find someone that's right for her. Who knows? She might end up finding the ideal partner to bring fun into her life again :)

[ithinkabouttzu]

Hi!!! Is it possible to get a BoB ship???

I’m 5’3 with a hourglass build but I’m always a little self conscious about my chest bc it seems to draw a lot of attention, sometimes unwanted. Other than that, I’m pretty confident though most would say I’m pretty quiet unless I’m totally warmed up to someone. I tend to be very stubborn and sometimes say mean things when I’m angry, but I always try to keep a cool head as much as I can. I have auburn hair and really dark eyes. Freckles and dimples that everyone seems to love when they notice. It usually surprises people bc I have really bad resting bitch face 😭. Some people I know have gone so long without realizing I have dimples tbh.

I love to read!!! Like totally obsessed. I also know way too much about dogs but I love all animals in general. Id say baking, running, and gardening are like my top hobbies but I also love a glass of wine and a good tv show tbh. I for some reason have a knack for drawing in either very unhinged guys or very calm guys. Idk why there’s never been some middle ground there but 🤷‍♀️. Idk if any of this even helps but I love your ships! If you can’t get to this one, it’s totally fine! Thank you!

Thanks for your request lovely! Sorry this took so long to get to! life has been busy but i'm glad to finally put this out :))) of topic but from your description you sound gorgeous! Hope you enjoy <33

I ship you with......

Joe Liebgott!

Song recommendation:

I think you two would compliment one another so nicely.

You want unhinged? Here’s your guy, he’s the perfect mix of sweet and psycho. An awesome boyfriend and chaotic in the best way, but if someone crosses you wrong he’s coming at them full force.

When he first meets you, he would swear that you were the girl for him, he genuinely thinks you are the prettiest human being he's ever met, he'll do anything to have you.

Let's say you're a nurse and you two meet in some small pub before D-day. He would be staring at you all night, just waiting to make a move on you. He wants to approach you but then all of a sudden he gets really shy?

And he never gets this way when it comes to women , so he's not really sure what to do. Just say hello? Ask you to dance?

He finally decides on the latter, making his way to you quickly before he can regret it. And when finally gets to you, he's blank. It's like he's forgotten everything he was going to say to you when he looked into your eyes (sounds corny ik but just bear with me) it’s also so cute but the first thing he would notice about you is your dimples 🥺

You guys would have a ball, dancing and talking all night with one another, by the time the night ended, he would be completely smitten with you and try to see you anytime he could, and even during the war he would write you tons of little love letters that would make you smile

He thinks you’re jaw-dropping beautiful, he can’t help but think about you in such a sweet way, while he was gone, he would spend any down time that he had thinking of you or writing you letters. All of the guys would tease him about it for sure 😭

And don’t even get me started on how cute some of the letters would be, he’d write them in his best handwriting and write out the sweetest things ever (he would turn into shakespeare fr)

When he finally comes back from the war and you two settle down together, the first thing he gets for you is a sweet little dog. (if you want one) He knows how much you love them and would do anything to make you smile

Speaking of making you smile, this man would be so attentive to you when it comes to your interests and such. If you wanted, he would buy you plenty of books and he would always ask you about the book you’re reading, or if you want to run with him he would go along with you for sure!

I know for a fact that he would LOVE your baking, I mean this guy looks forward to your famous brownies and cookies. For his birthday his ask for you would be lots of your homemade treats for him.

He would hate for you ever to be self conscious about any part of your body, he would remind you over and over again how beautiful you were to him, and if anyone tried making you feel uncomfortable he would make sure to kiss their ass.

He would love to watch a nice movie with you over a nice glass of wine, it’s probably one of his favorite times with you honestly. Just you and him relaxing with one another after a long day.

Both of you can tend to be a bit stubborn sometimes but it’s really only because you guys want the best in y’all’s relationship, even if he does (very rarely) get snappy with you he’ll make sure to buy you flowers and some treats to say sorry

I know for a fact that he would be so attractive to your confidence, just the way you walk and the way you carry yourself makes him want to praise the ground you walk on.

Also, he lowkey finds it attractive when you get mad at him or you show him that resting bitch face. Like whenever you get heated about something you love and you’re trying to prove a point all he can do is look at you with love 😭

Overall he’d be such a great bf. He’s so sweet and supportive of you and just know that he would ALWAYS be in your corner no matter what 💞

Thank you for your request!! I hope you enjoy again lovely!!! 💝💝

[countessofravenclaw]

A very Bizarre fic about Nina living at Castillo house

The tittle pretty much sums it up. Don't as me how or why. This i not supposed to be taken seriously. That being said, ENJOY!!! This was the origonal working title, but I couldn't change it in the end of the day, it fits too well with the vibe. Again, don't take his seriously, please, I was just having fun with an idea I couldn't get out of my head. So few thing to be aware of: 1. Germangie has never existed. 2. This exists in a time vacuum somewhere between Soy Luna Season 2 eps. 5 and 10. Dedicated to @calyxthenerd for the original idea

“Nina! Good that you’re finally home,” Ana closed her laptop when Nina walked into her mother’s house. 

“Great that it’s great that I’m home?” Nina raised her eyebrow at her mother. She wasn't usually this enthusiastic about her coming home. “I was at Roller like always.”

“Come on, sit with me,” Ana tapped the table. Was she nervous? Nina had zero idea why her mother would be nervous. 

“Okay…” Nina said skeptically as she sat down, “Mom, why are you acting all nervous?”

“Well, there is something I have been meaning to talk to you about,” Ana started speaking. “You remember when I went on that date last spring?”

“Yes…” Nina was feeling even more skeptical now, “You never told me anything about it. Have you been on more dates?”

“Actually yes,” Ana nodded, “We have been seeing each other for a while now.”

Her mother had actually been on multiple dates? With one man? The thought alone was astonishing Nina. “Okay… Well, that’s great… So, how long has this been going on for, and why are you telling me now?” 

“Well, that is because…”

*

“I didn’t even know something went beyond that one date. I had honestly forgotten about it,” Nina told Luna as they were walking down Blake's hallway. “Now, it has apparently been going on this whole time.”

“Wait, your mom has a boyfriend?” Luna bounced forward. “That is awesome! Or is it not?”

“No, not like that,” Nina shook her head, “I’m happy that she’s happy. I have never been against anything. Mom and Dad are over, the more distance between them the better. But they want us to meet. I just wasn’t expecting that.” 

“You weren’t expecting what?” Gastón came across them in the hallways, and instantly kissed Nina on her cheek. “I noticed your call in the morning but didn’t have time to call you back. What was it about?”

“Uhm, I’ll see you at class,” Luna said and turned to walk around the corner leaving them alone. 

“Something wrong?” Gastón looked at her after Luna had gone. 

“No, nothing is wrong,” Nina started as he grabbed her hand, “but things surely are happening.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Well,” Nina breathed, “Mom told me last night that what I knew as a “one date” has actually been a full-blown relationship these past months, and now they want us to have dinner together so we can all meet. Apparently, he also has a daughter.” 

“That is a lot of information.” Gastón looked at her. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know how I am feeling,” Nina shook her head, “It’s a lot and coming out of nowhere. Should have expected it at this point. One thing my parents know is how to make my life a mess.”

“Hey, come here,” Gastón wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned her head on his chest. “So, when is this dinner happening?”

“Today…” Nina mumbled. 

“So, it’s really happening fast?”

“Yes.” 

“Sooooo, you want me to come and gate crash?” 

“I don’t think that’s gonna work,” Nina laughed nervously, “Thanks though. I just—I don’t know anything about this man or his daughter. Mom didn’t give me much detail and you know how I get…”

“I do,” Gastón smiled at her, “But also, I know how amazing you are. You have nothing to be nervous about.”

“You’re biased,” Nina rolled her eyes. 

“Maybe a little bit,” Gastón kissed her quickly. “For a good reason. Call me when it’s all over.”

*

“We’re here.” Ana noted as she parked the car on the street. “Are you excited?” 

“That's one word for it,” Nina nodded while looking ahead, “You could have told me sooner, about all of this.”

“Well, you always complain how I’m not spontaneous,” Ana shook her head, “I am learning. Come on, we don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Sure,” Nina nodded again. How else was she supposed to react to any of this? 

They walked in front of a big, white, modern house. It reminded her a lot of Gastón’s house. 

As her mother was ringing the doorbell, Nina discreetly opened her phone and checked the last text Gastón had sent her. She smiled at his reassuring words. 

“Welcome!” The door was opened up by a tall man with dark short hair. “Come in, come in.”

Nina followed her mother inside, kind of hoping that the man had not noticed her. 

“Nina,” She was snapped out of her thoughts by her mother grabbing her shoulder, “This is German Castillo. German, my daughter Nina.” 

“Great to meet you,” The man, German, handed his hand to Nina and she shook it. “We have heard so much about you.”

“We?” Oh right. This guy had a daughter as well. Nina really had a hard time keeping up.

“Sorry, sorry I am late,” A girl with light brown hair walked down the stairs in the living room. She looked about three, four years older than Nina. “I had to finish the chord progression.”

“I told you this was important.” 

“Well, I’m here now.” 

“So, this is my daughter Violetta,” German gestured to the girl. “I‘ve told you about Ana and this is her daughter Nina.” 

“Hi!” Violetta smiled, “Nice to meet you—”

“Mr. German!!!” Suddenly a loud voice came from the kitchen as a woman walked out of it flailing her arms around, “This is a disaster! The cloths—”

“Olga…” German groaned, “We have guests. You remember Ana? This is her daughter.”

“Well…” The woman turned around like lightning, “Aren’t you an adorable thing.” 

*

“So, you go to Blake Sount College?” German asked Nina as they were sitting at the dinner table. She still wasn’t that sure how this was actually going, but it was going. Everyone was pleasant and it wasn’t that awkward. “How do you like the school?”

“It’s great,” She answered, “The teachers are great.” 

“I have always appreciated that school,” German continued, “I wanted Violetta to go there, but…”

“But I decided to be scandalous and go to music school,” Violetta rolled her eyes from the other side of the table. “I mean, he is being really supportive of my career—”

Her phone started ringing suddenly. 

“I’m sorry,” She looked at the screen, “I have to take this. It’s Leon.”

“But Violetta!” The German apparently tried to protest, “Leon can wait. It can’t be important! You don’t need to talk to him 24 hours a day.”

But it apparently wasn’t working as Violetta got up from the table. 

“Leon, Leon and always Leon.” German seemed to mumble to himself. 

Nina’s phone also dinged suddenly. “Mom, Luna sent me a message I need to answer. Can I?”

“Yeah, of course,” Ana nodded. “Luna is her best friend—” She explained to German after Nina had gone. “—like I told you, Nina used to struggle socially, but she has really come out of her shell in the past year. Luna has had a huge influence.” 

“That’s great to hear,” German responded. “Having friends of her age is always great.”

Violetta returned to the table. 

“What did Leon want?” German asked. 

“Relax Dad,” Violetta rolled her eyes, “he called me to tell me that they were boarding and taking off soon.” She looked at Ana. “Leon is my boyfriend. He and his band have been filming in Columbia.” 

“Luna was giving me a lowdown about a step combinations,” Nina returned to the table. 

“It’s okay,” Violetta smiled, “We were just talking about how Dad doesn’t approve of my boyfriend.”

“I do approve!” German protested. 

“You just otherwise almost choked when I told you about him?” 

“You were a child back then!”

“And you still treat me like one now—” Violetta mumbled something but got interrupted by a door opening.

“I’m back!” A girl about Violetta’s age—maybe a year older or something—with blonde hair walked in. “Oh, you’re still doing this?”

“This is—” German got up from the table, “—Ludmila. She’s…”

“I’m the daughter of his ex-wife.” Ludmila interrupted, “She’s a psychopath and in the mental hospital.”

“Okay,” German laughed awkwardly, “Pricilla is getting the help she needs. During the annulment it was deemed best that Ludmila stayed here… So, that’s a very good segway to the topic at hand.” 

“What topic?” 

“Well, as it has been months now, and for us, the natural next step in the relationship is moving into together.” 

“What?”

*

“Moving in? Moving in! I literally heard about this few days ago, and now we’re moving!” Nina was sure she was making a rail on the floor she was pacing. “Why am I ever expecting to see what is coming anymore?”

“Nina,” Gastón, who had been leaning on a bookcase while Nina had been going off, grabbed her hand to make her stop pacing. “Look at me for a moment. Take a deep breath.”

“Okay…” Nina breathed in and breathed out, “This just isn’t something I thought was going to be happening. At the same time, the fact that Mom didn’t tell me about this at all, maybe it was because it really is serious… I should have known.”

“No one could have seen this coming,” Gastón brushed a lock of hair behind Nina’s ear, “Don’t beat yourself up about that. This is a super big whiplash, move like that from your home.”

“That’s the thing,” Nina shook her head, “It’s not that. I’ve been between two houses my whole life, never truly been allowed to settle in one place. I don’t have a childhood home. The place where I was born, I couldn’t even tell you where it even was and any memories I might have had, are not good. I don’t have a problem moving. The house we live in now with Mom, we’ve only been there for maybe three years. I guess it's just how unexpected this is.” 

“So, you do think you could handle it?” Gastón asked.

“I guess so,” Nina shrugged, “You know how much I over think. In the end, it’s not that bad… Maybe it could work. The man was nice enough and his daughter was really nice. I want Mom to be happy.”

“Maybe it will go well?” Gastón suggested. 

“Maybe,” Nina smiled nervously.

“So, where is the place you’re moving to?” Gastón asked next. 

“Esc. 666 Bajada Antonia 1 Puerta 237, Cornellá de Llobregat, And 20899.” Nina read off her phone. 

“Seriously?” Gastón suddenly questioned. 

“Yes?” Nina looked at him confused, “What is it?”

“That’s like two blocks away from mine,” Gastón looked at Nina. 

“Really?” Nina looked at the address again, “But yours is Puerta 736 Lugar Benjamín 56.”

“And if you take a left from there and then another left and finally a right, you’re at Bajada.” Gastón explained, “It’s not even a kilometer, like only 500 meters or so. I always walked that way when in middle school since Hoja was up north.” 

“Well, that will make this better at least,” Nina let herself smile and wrapped her arms around Gastón’s neck. 

“I’ll be right there if and when you need me.” He said after kissing her. “By the way, you never told me the guy’s name. Since you’re moving in there, I think it’s pretty appropriate that I know too.”

“Yeah, of course,” Nina nodded, “He’s this quite successful engineer, apparently has this whole company. German Castillo.”

“German Castillo?” Gastón's face suddenly turned shocked to say the least. 

“Yes,” Nina looked at him concerned, “What’s wrong?”

“Uhm, so…” Gastón ran his hand behind his neck for a moment, “There is nothing wrong…just uh, we have lived there a long time and Mom and Dad obviously know him. I think they have been invited to bunch of parties held there and stuff. To put it bluntly, they don’t like him and think he’s weird.”

“Why don’t they like him?” Nina questioned. She couldn’t say that she knew German Castillo well. Isla and Marco had excellent judgment.

“I honestly don’t even know,” Gastón shook his head, “It’s just some stuff I’ve overheard. They’ve never said it and… now I am actually doubting myself. It might not even be the case. I should have never said anything. Your mom probably knows what she’s doing.”

“Not everyone survives her...” Nina laughed slightly.

***

“German!” German Castillo had been peacefully drinking tea that Olga had just made him in the kitchen and reflecting on his finally pleasant life, when that peace was rudely interrupted. 

“Is what Vilu told me true?” Now he was faced by his unpleasant as a surprise and apparently furious sister-in-law. 

“Depends on what she has told you,” German responded, annoyed. “I am more wondering why I ever gave you the key.” 

“German Castillo! When are you going to stop collecting women!” Angie almost shouted. 

“Oh, so that’s what Violetta told you?” German started to realize. “I don’t think I owe you an explanation.” 

“This is not about who owes who what?” Angie rolled her eyes. “I am worried, about Violetta, about you too, as your friend. May I remind you of your track record.?”

“You really don’t…” German tried to protest but Angie didn’t appear to be hearing. 

“Woman who went psychotic after you jilted her on the altar, a con-artist who you almost also married—German, Esmeralda just got convicted, it hasn’t even been a year—and a psychopath, who almost killed Violetta, her own daughter and me, and that’s the one who you actually married.”

“I am very well aware of all of that,” German sighed, “but you can rest assure, I’ve gotten it this time.”

“Are you sure about that?” Angie still didn’t look convinced. “Again, Esmeralda is in jail, Pricilla in the closed ward and Jade could have easily been too… You know, the common denominator is YOU. Who even is this woman who you are planning to move in here?” 

“If you would let me explain,” German continued exasperated, “Funny you brought Esmeralda’s trial up. Ana is a lawyer…”

“No,” Angie shook her head, “That redhead? You seriously decided to take out the only woman in your legal team? Who helped in putting away your con-artist ex-fiancée.” 

“I invited her for coffee,” German started defending himself, “She did an excellent job and… we got along splendidly. You haven’t even met her, properly.”

“I am not doubting her,” Angie sighed, “I am doubting you.” 

“Well, you aren’t getting an opinion. Her and her daughter will move here on Sunday.”

“Daughter?” Angie asked again, “So, you’re collecting stepdaughters as well? You remember how that went the last time?”

“You do realize that Ludmila thrived here. Your point doesn’t really stand. And you haven’t met her either.” German shook his head, “She’s a lovely girl. She goes to the best school in the city, Blake South College. She’s smart, studious, creative and extremely well mannered. It is amazing, there will be no trouble, boys, chaos, anything. It’s delightful.”

“I can imagine,” Angie still didn’t look convinced. 

“You are going to love them…and what are you doing here anyway?” German finished. 

“To get Vilu,” Angie stated, “She’s coming with me to the ultrasound, since Pablo is stuck at work, unfortunately. We won’t be able to find out the baby's gender this time around due to it.”

“We won’t?” Violetta’s voice rang as she walked to the kitchen. “Awww, I was looking forward to it.” 

“I know, but we can’t find out without the father being present,” Angie ran a hand on her stomach, “We’ll go again in two weeks, and you can come then as well. How about we stop at the mall to get a few things for the nursery.?” 

“Oh yes!” Vilu perked up, “I saw this cute teddy bear on Pinterest the other day. Perfect for my baby cousin, be it a girl or boy.” 

“It is a good thing that baby blue nursery works either way,” Angie smiled.

“OH, then if we're going shopping I wanna stop by Bartolomea,” Vilu continued, “I wanna get more things for decorating the room for Nina.”

“Oh yes, I was just talking with your father about that,” Angie commented.

“I thought that since Dad is forcing a move down her throat, the least I could do was to make her room look nice,” Violetta smiled, “I asked her what she wants, but she didn’t have much ideas.” 

“You've been talking to her?” German questioned. 

“I asked her number when they were here,” Violetta shrugged, “What, was I not supposed to? Of course, I was supposed to, that’s what great stepsisters do, and I have been proven to be an amazing one. Ludmila is gonna help me decorate once she gets back from the class she is teaching at the Studio.” 

“Well, you have fun then.” German nodded. “It is great that you’re helping out.”

“We will,” Vilu smiled back as she and Angie started walking through the door, “I’m gonna be using your credit card!” 

***

“The room is nice,” Nina said as she stacked the last box on top of the other one. She went to grab her phone from the bed and showed a brief panorama of the room on a video call. “Violetta has been pretty much bombing me with interior decoration questions the whole week.”

“Well, she did a good job,” Gastón responded as Nina sat back down on the bed. From what the phone screen showed he was sitting on his own bed in his room. “I told you everything was going to turn out fine.”

“I guess so…” Nina sighed.

“So, your first class is at 8, right?” Gastón changed the subject, surprisingly to school. 

“You know my schedule better than I probably do myself,” Nina noted. “But, yes, Ms. Fernandez’s Monday 8 am English class.” 

“Good, I’ll pick you up at 7:30.” 

“Wait…”

“I am not taking any buts anymore,” Gastón grinned on the other side of the screen, “Before you haven’t wanted me to do a round trip because “you’re in a completely different direction”. Well, that excuse isn’t working anymore, so I am driving you to school. We’re not actually having this conversation. Tomorrow, 8:30.”

“I’ll be ready,” Nina smiled. Seriously, the fact that Gastón lived so close now, felt so great. 

“You can’t blame me for wanting to see you as the first thing in the morning.” 

“No, of course not. I haven’t thought of it that way. It will make the morning much better.” 

“I mean that is only if—” Gastón started saying with a mischievous smile growing on his face. 

“If what?”

“Depends on how you feel about sneaking out in the middle of the night.”

“Wouldn’t you get in trouble for that too?” Nina laughed slightly while blushing. 

“Depends, Mom and Dad won’t know if they aren’t even here… they are going somewhere for the weekend, as always. Business in Brazil or something.” Someone yelled for Gastón in the background, “But not at the moment… I need to go. See you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Nina responded. The call disconnected actually just in time as the door of her new room opened and her mother walked in. 

“You got everything in order here?” Ana asked.

“Yep,” Nina nodded when she put the phone down. 

“Good,” Ana nodded, “I was actually thinking, Blake is actually quite far—”

“I got that covered already,” Nina responded, “Gastón’s driving me. He lives close by.”

“He does?” Ana questioned.

“Few blocks away.”

“That should not be surprising, given Isla’s immaculate taste. I have always liked this area.” Ana remarked, “Are you fine otherwise? This has happened quite fast.”

“Mom, I’m fine,” Nina sighed, “I want you to be happy.” 

“Good to hear that.”

“Did you ever actually talk to Dad about this?” Nina asked next. Mom had said that he knew about this. 

“I told him how it is. Informed him that we were moving. There is nothing to talk about.” Ana responded. “You’re not changing schools, and this is actually closer to his apartment than before. Nothing breaking the custody agreement.”

Nina rolled her eyes internally when the custody agreement got mentioned. It was surprising that her parents didn't need an actual court order. Thankfully, she’d be 18 in about nine months and the “custody agreements” and everything else to do with co-parenting would never be brought up again. 

***

“Thank you, Olga,” German sipped his cup of tea behind his daily newspaper. 

“Morning Dad,” Violetta walked to the table. “Ludmila said that she’s sleeping in, so we won’t be seeing her in the morning.” 

“Morning,” he nodded, “What are you doing today?”

“Well, the meeting with my label got canceled so we’re gonna go and meet up with Fran and Diego. Fran wants to show me a few of the house listings they are looking into.” 

“We?” German raised his eyebrows, “As in…is Leon coming with you?”

“Yes,” Vilu stated nonchalantly, “But that’s like in the afternoon. I’ll try to finish some sheet music in the morning.”

“Why didn’t you start with Leon going as well?”

“Because that's not the most relevant information,” Vilu looked at him annoyed.

“How is it not relevant?”

“How is it?” Vilu rolled her eyes, “Dad, I am an adult…”

“Morning,” Nina had walked down the stairs, while pulling on some sort of a navy blazer. 

“Morning. Is that Blake's uniform?” German greeted her with enthusiasm that made Violetta raise her eyebrow. 

“Yes,” Nina responded, also seeming just a tad confused. 

“Well, it looks very stylish,” German continued, “don’t you agree Vilu?”

“Well, I am not that into plaid…” Violetta wasn’t sure what Dad was trying to make her say. She knew why he was so curious about Blake, but surely, he knew that she was too old to start attending now. 

“No one is into plaid,” Nina shook her head, “I don’t really know that much about style, but one of my friends could go on a rant about how ugly the uniforms are.”

“I think they are elegantly classic, and extremely appropriate,” German remarked. “So, what classes do you have today?”

“English, math and history,” Nina recounted. 

“Uuu, I loved math in school,” German continued, “What are you doing?”

“We’re starting calculus,” Nina started saying. “It has been fine, our teacher is pretty good.”

“Well, if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.” Vilu wasn’t sure if she wanted to cringe or facepalm on Dad’s enthusiasm. Just because Nina went to Blake, it probably didn’t mean that there was only studying in her life. But that was what Dad obviously was harping on to impress his new stepdaughter. 

“Because we all love to hear what sort of math you all did in the 80s,” Vilu piped up, before turning to Nina, “You don’t need to humor him, just to make him feel better.”

“I’m just trying to help.” German raised his hand up in surrender when the doorbell rung suddenly. 

“Olga probably is busy, so I’ll get it.” German got up from the table and walked to the door. 

“Hello.” Behind the door stood a boy in his teens, who looked vaguely familiar to German but he wasn’t sure why. He was sure he hadn’t met this boy before. He remembered all the boys who had come to his house. This one was looking at him quite curiously. 

“Uh, Hello?” German decided to respond. He realized quite quickly that the boy was wearing a Blake Uniform too. “What… Can I help you? Are you in the wrong place?”

“I don’t think so,” The boy’s accent was also kind of familiar. “I’m looking for Nina.” 

“I’m ready!” Nina showed up at the door, clearly knowing the boy. “Well, bye German, Violetta! I’ll see you after school.” 

“Did Nina already go?” Ana arrived downstairs while holding her laptop. 

“Yes…” German scratched his head after they had gone. He could have sworn he had seen the boy put some hair behind Nina’s ear as he was closing the door… “She just left with her friend.”

“No, her friend didn’t pick her up,” Ana shook her head. 

“Well, that’s what happened,” German insisted, confused. “I was there.” 

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant,” Ana said while sitting down at the table. “Gastón is Nina’s boyfriend. She’ll be getting a ride from him, from this point on. His family lives close by.” 

“A boyfriend?” German looked astonished for a moment, “That was her boyfriend?”

“Dad, take deep breaths…” Violetta started saying, clearly quite amused.

“No, I am okay,” German tried to play it cool and sat back down, “I am just surprised. I didn’t know. You never mentioned it. Is it a new thing?”

“Not really,” Ana was still just scrolling something on her laptop, “They’ve been together since the start of last summer. I am not actually sure how long they have known each other, though, since they were friends before. He’s a senior at Blake so they met there.”

“A senior?” German questioned, “Wasn’t Nina a junior?”

“Yes? What does that have to do with anything?” 

“So, he's older than her? And now they’re in a car, alone, together?”

“I am not understanding where you are going with this?” Ana looked suspicious.

“These sorts of things are hard for Dad, you have to forgive him,” Violetta said as slowly as she could.

***

“I was looking forward to some peaceful life with a wonderful woman and her daughter, but first thing I find out in the morning is that she has a boyfriend. Why does everyone have a boyfriend?”

“German, we were supposed to look over this offer from Australia,” Ramallo sighed. 

“I could swear I have heard that accent before,” German didn’t appear to be listening. 

“Well, what sort of an accent?” Ramallo gave up. 

“Only thing I can think of is the Cordoban, but that can’t be right…”

“Well, the only Cordobans around here are the Peridas.” Ramallo suggested. 

“They don’t have a child,” German protested.

“Actually,” Ramallo corrected, “About 12 years ago, when I worked with Marco, he and Isla did have a 5-year-old son. I don’t think they talk about him much.” 

“Ramallo, can I speak with Dad for a moment?” Violetta walked into the room. 

“Sure,” Ramallo nodded and got up.

“Fancy to catch you alone,” Vilu grinned and took the chair Ramallo had left vacant. 

“You literally banished Ramallo away from here,” German noted, “So what is up?”

“I’d like to talk about your performance this morning.” 

“What performance?”

“Dad,” Violetta tilted her head in disapproval, “I get that you're quite becoming fond of your new stepdaughter. She’s smart, likes studying and reading, she’s everything I was not.” 

“Oh no…” German tried to protest. 

“I am not blaming you for that, I know that you love me for who I am. You don’t want me to change,” Violeta continued, “But don’t treat her as a do over, because you will make the same mistakes again. You already started.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You didn’t notice the choking that was happening after the “boyfriend” got mentioned?” Vilu raised her eyebrow. “Dad, let's be real here.”

“I was surprised,” German tried to protest again, “She’s young.” 

“Older than I was when I met Leon,” Vilu stated simply, “But we all know how you reacted to that. Nina’s not your daughter, she has her own Dad who is alive, and her boyfriend was here before you too. I am saying this because I love you, and really don’t want you to blow it.”

“I am not going to blow it, as you say.”

“I’m not gonna let you,” Violetta crossed her arms, “I know how you are.”

***

“It feels like you have more books when they’re in a box, opposed to when they’re on a shelf,” Gastón remarked as Nina handed him another book from the box. 

“I am not even sure how I fit everything in these boxes,” Nina shook her head, “But those were the last ones.” 

“Good,” Gaston nodded and walked over to the bookcase. 

“Remember…”

“...put them in alphabetical order,” Gastón completed Nina’s sentence before she was able to fully even start. “I know how to organize books. If you want to micromanage, grow 20 centimeters.”

“I’m not micromanaging,” Nina laughed as Gastón put the last books on the top shelf of the bookcase, where she never could have reached herself. 

She leaned on her elbow on one of the piles of boxes… Which ended up being an extremely bad idea as the top box was not completely on top of the lower one and empty, so her weight made it tilt and fall, which made her lose her balance. 

Arms went around her waist as Gastón caught her before she fell. 

“How? You were on the other side of the room.” Nina said as he pulled her back up, still holding onto her waist tightly. She placed her hand on his upper arms. 

“What?” He smirked, “You think I don't have a sixth sense for catching you in my arms, when that’s where I prefer, you’d be at all times?”

Nina took a shaky breath. How did he manage to make that smirk so attractive? Who was she kidding, everything he did was extremely attractive…

She got completely lost in his eyes and there was only one thing she was able to think of. 

She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him into a kiss, which he responded immediately. 

Nina had always known that Gastón had much more experience in kissing than she did, not that she cared nor even wanted to know with whom. Even if she had no one to compare it to, it had become quite clear all the way from the start of their relationship that he was extremely good at kissing. Something that she didn’t mind at all, and it was actually making her so much more confident. 

As they started getting more heated, Nina pulled on Gastón’s neck, insinuating that they should move toward where they could continue this in a more comfortable position. She laced her fingers into his hair, when she noticed him turning stiffer in his movements. 

“What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?”

“Look, I absolutely adore you,” Gastón was looking at her quite seriously. “But I really don’t want to risk getting caught doing anything over here. Wouldn’t exactly be the best impression, especially on your stepdad. Your Dad is one in the million chill, not everyone’s gonna be like that.” 

“I guess—”

It turned out that Gastón had been right to be cautious as the door to the room suddenly opened. 

“German?” Nina responded as the door revealed her new stepfather. 

“I just wanted to see if you needed help with something, like the boxes.” 

“We got it covered,” Nina responded gesturing to the moving boxes, “They’re actually empty.” 

“Well, weren't you efficient…” German seemed to think what to say next.

“Gastón helped me.” 

“Oh yes, your…boyfriend,” German hadn’t appeared to notice Gastón before now, and was now furrowing his brow. 

“Yes, I’m her boyfriend,” Gastón placed his hand on Nina’s shoulder. “Great to meet you.” 

“You got to school okay? Drove safe?”

“Yes,” Nina nodded, “He knows the way. I mean I can’t even drive myself.”

“Under-aged drivers cause 50 % of the most road accidents.” 

“It was actually only 10 %.” 

“I do have to ask, because you look extremely familiar, but I am sure we haven’t met?” German looked at Gastón again, “My secretary thought you might be the son of his former colleague…”

“Well, was his name Marco Perida? Because people always say I look like my dad,” Gastón shrugged. 

“So, you are a Perida?”

“Have you looked at the time?” Gastón suddenly asked Nina. 

“Oh, were gonna be late soon.” Nina checked her clock ring, “Luna’s gonna blow a casket.”

“Wait, where are you going?” German asked as Nina grabbed Gastón’s hand and they walk edout of the door. 

“To Roller. Our roller-skating team trains there.” Nina said quickly. “I… don’t actually know the way though.” 

“It’s in a walking distance,” Gastón responded, “I’ll show the way. It was nice to meet you Sir… or whatever you would prefer.”

“Mr. Castillo is fine,” German responded. After Nina and Gastón had gone he muttered to himself. “Roller Skating?”

“Well, that went well,” Gastón remarked as they were walking down the stairs, “It would have been a different story if he had come in five minutes earlier.”

As they walked in the living room, they heard singing accompanied by someone playing the piano. 

“Las estrellas no se leer Y la luna no bajaré No soy el cielo, ni el sol Tan solo soy Pero hay cosas que si sé Ven aquí y te mostraré En tu ojos puedo ver Lo puedes lograr, prueba imaginar…”

“Oh, Nina!” It had been Violetta singing with some guy who had been playing the piano. The music stopped as they came downstairs. “This is my boyfriend Leon. Leon, this is my new stepsister, Nina. Daughter of Dad’s new girlfriend and they live here now. And that is her boyfriend…but I didn’t catch your name this morning.” 

“Gastón.” Gastón nodded. 

“We didn’t mean to interrupt,” Nina started saying. 

“You didn’t,” Vilu waved away, “We were just vocalizing a little bit.”

“The song was beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Violetta leaned her head on Leon's shoulder, “First song we ever wrote together. Either of you do any music?”

“Gastón plays the piano,” Nina said before he was able to open his mouth. 

“I actually don't,” He protested. “I took a few lessons while being like ten, twelve, cause Mom and Dad do… it’s kind of this workaholic’s destresser for them. Nina’s the artistic one. Her lyricism cannot be matched, even if I am biased.” 

“You write lyrics?”

“I write in general,” Nina blushed, “He’s over selling, but I have done some lyrical stuff.”

“You’ll have to show me some time,” Violetta started getting excited. “I could work it to a song…”

“Maybe someday,” Nina looked at her ring again, “We really need to get going.”

“Oh, before you go,” Violetta started speaking, “Has Dad been okay?”

“He’s fine. What do you mean?”

“Just making sure,” Violetta nodded, “If he starts acting weirdly, like dressing up or selling apples out of a cart, tell me.” 

“Okay…”

“Vilu, he surely wouldn’t ever do that again.” Leon laughed slightly. 

“It’s my father… You can never know.”

***

“Wow…” Luna exclaimed as she walked in with Nina, “This place is fancy.”

“You live in a mansion,” Nina noted. 

“Yeah, but it’s not like I own it,” Luna shook her head, “And Ambar lives there. This is your home.” 

“I guess so,” Nina nodded. “But I don’t own this either. We just kind of live here.” 

“Still a fancy house,” Luna twirled around for a moment, “It’s must be fun—”

She suddenly slammed into someone. That someone was German Castillo. “Who are you?”

“I’m Luna sir, Mister…” Luna started babbling, “I’m sorry about slamming into you, but I wasn’t looking ahead of me, because my head is often on the moon… Get it? Moon, because I am Luna…”

“Luna…” Nina signaled that she would shut up. “This is German Castillo, Mom’s boyfriend. My best friend Luna.” 

“Uhm, nice to meet you,” German looked like he had been attacked by a flock of birds. 

“Nice to meet you too,” Luna continued, “Great house you got here. I honestly quite like big houses, or I’ve been in those a lot, Mom and Dad work in them… that’s we why came here from Mexico, even if I didn’t want to, but then I found roller…”  

“Well, uh, I am busy, so it was nice to meet you…Lina.” German practically ran to his office. When he sat down, he had to scratch his head. Ana’s daughter had seemed practically perfect in every way, but there was a boyfriend and a best friend, you could not make heads or tails of her. Not to mention roller skating out of all of the world’s arbitrary sports. 

This was confusing.

***

“Gastón, come here for a sec?” Gastón was just about to walk into the kitchen when his parents called him into the living room. 

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you say last week that Nina was moving?” Isla closed her laptop screen. 

“Oh, yeah, I did.” Gastón nodded. “Ana has a new boyfriend.” 

“Well, that’s great. How’s she taking it?”

“She’s fine,” Gaston nodded. 

“Where did she move?” Marco had also put the tablet he had been reading away. 

“666 Bajada Antonia 1 Puerta 237,” Gastón responded, “It’s close, which is great. She’s finally letting me drive her to school. I did tell you this.” 

“Isn’t that—?” 

“I…”

“Spill it.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Gastón sighed, “But yeah… It’s the Castillo house.” 

“Ana’s dating German Castillo?!” Gastón saw his parents share an alarmed glance.

“I know what you think of him, but please don’t make a thing of it…”

“Who said we were going to?” Isla shook her head, “I was gonna call Ana anyway, just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Invite them for dinner,” Marco suggested as Isla pulled her phone out. 

“Good idea.”

Gastón blew some air out of his mouth. Now he had done it— Note to self, never tell his parents anything ever again.

{}

Soo... again, THIS IS NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!! This seriously has zero plot, besides some cutesy Gastina. I know that the end sets up for some more of this, but as of now, I am not planning on continuing this. But I can always be convinced otherwise...

[oneandonlyval]

Visiting Sheena: Non-stop smiles, laughs, acid trip, a wonderful group of welcoming women, and camping in the beautiful outdoors!

I flew up to visit Sheena in Oregon! Finally got some camping/outdoor time in and it was awesome. Having the means to take a last-minute trip and enjoy the excitement of plane travel again has given me the bug again. For so long I felt stuck, in more ways than one, and the trip up to see Sheena and meet all of her incredible circle of women friends was the perfect welcome back into what I hope will be even more trips to come.

Adelle dropped me off at the airport, and I was flying out of San Diego before noon. The airport situation was easy, except I got tired of not having a bag on wheels QUICK! I had to take my bigger duffel bag since I was taking more of my camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc.)

On the plane, I was seated next to this older, gray-haired woman, and she was as sweet as can be. She was also a VAL! She lives in Salem, OR, so she was just visiting San Diego and I can’t remember who she was visiting but I recall her saying how much she loved Chula Vista. She also kept telling me that I was going to do all the greatest things in life that I wanted and that I should make the most of life. It was sweet to hear that encouragement, I assured her I’d do my best to do all the things I wanted to do in my young life while I was still able to, and that I’d continue to be diligent about wearing my earplugs in loud settings! Haha.

I landed in Oregon around 2 and Sheena picked me up.

From there we went straight to the grocery store, Fred Meyer, to pick up my contributions of food for the group share. We stopped for McDonald’s before making the drive out. Yummm. The drive out to our campsite at Lake Timothy in the Mt Hood area wasn’t bad at all, about 2 hours only. Goes without saying but it was just stunning up there. Plush and green!

Sheena caught me up on what’s been going on with her. She had actually just broken up with her boyfriend Steve the day before 💔 Sucks.

I’m so inspired by her though. Her level of self-work, emotional maturity, and comfort with navigating conflict is incredible. I’m sure having a therapist has helped a ton. I really need to seriously think about getting on the therapist train. I only ever hear great things.

Anyway. When we arrived at our campground, we settled into our campsite, a nice big corner spot right next to the bathrooms! Also, the campground was not even a month old yet, so the bathrooms actually smelled good, and the floors were clean, UNHEARD of. It was great. We set up our tents, unloaded, had the music going, and waited for her friends to start arriving.

Pictured above is the group of us. In order from left to right are Annabelle, Rebecca, Monica, Me, Liz, Patty, and Sheena. The dog pictured is Stacey, Rebecca’s dog, and somewhere on the ground not seen is Liz’s dog, Frida, as in Frida Khalo.

I felt immediately comfortable around each and every one of her friends. Everyone was so genuine, kind, funny, smart, and just had such depth to them. She has really cultivated a strong circle. I would like to expand my circle of trusted friends into something that resembles what she has.

The level of openness. It was nice to be able to reconnect with Sheena again in this way. She is my favorite person to enjoy the outdoors with and I owe a lot of the trips I have experienced in my life to her, for coordinating and making them happen. I miss that so much.

After this trip, I am definitely looking forward to taking more trips up to see her and doing more in that area.

On Saturday, we all did acid! 🙈 Sheena and I did a full tab, and the other girls all did a half tab, except Liz, who did a half of a half, haha! The trip was amazing, I couldn’t stop smiling, and I always laugh a ton when I trip with Sheena. She gets the giggles like no one else I’ve seen, it’s pretty hilarious.

We spent that day walking the trails around the lake, hung our hammocks up, and just enjoyed the views and each other’s company.

There was only one moment for about 40 minutes where my trip got so intense that I felt like I was moving in slow motion, and seeing everything move in slow motion.

The photos Sheena took somehow got warped and they just so happened to perfectly reflect what I was seeing there for a while.

It was really HOT too which I don’t do well in the heat while tripping, so that was giving me some anxious feelings.

Also on Saturday, thick smoke from some fires elsewhere in the state or neighboring states rolled in and thoroughly ruined our view of Mt. Hood. It was also pretty smelly! Owell! That’s the PNW for you.

While still tripping, we all took the walk back to our campsite to regroup, try to eat, drink, and then head down to the lake to chill, and put our toes in the water. I stayed ashore and let my trip fizzle out, while all the girls except Annabelle took their floats out onto the water. That’s when I saw this adventure cat!!

So cute!

After our dusk time at the lake, we all went back to camp to transition into the night. Liz brought a game that included a bunch of cards that had different prompts of various depths geared toward getting to know one another. That was such a cool thing to bring to a camping trip. I would love to do that again. I need to ask Sheena to get that deck info for me so I can have that on hand. We all spent the rest of the night chatting, munching, and listening to music before it got too cold to stay up any longer (campfire ban for obvious reasons).

All in all, I enjoyed the trip so much and although it went by in the blink of an eye, we made the most of it and I can’t wait for the next one!

View of Mt. Hood on Friday night, before the smoke rolled in on Saturday.

Side quest!

[thewordworrier]

I Mean This - I’m Okay

Word Count: 6k and change. Notes: ~ Title from: I’m Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance [obviously] ~ Yup, Shelly’s still Tour Manager. That’s her job! ~ This is my second Reader attempt. This one was a little easier! ~ Still not an easy thing to write, these definitely come out slower than other stuff I write, so please, continue to be a bit gentle with me. ~ I’m pretty sure this is gender neutral, and reasonably vague on age, but you can assume that Reader is old enough to maybe travel alone? I don’t think it really matters too much there. ~ I’m not sure if I’ll put this one on AO3 either.

- - - - - 

Setting: The Black Parade Tour - possibly before ProRev - I think. Your day was dragging, and nothing overly interesting had happened. This was normal. Everything was normal. Until you started to make your way home that is. As soon as you found yourself a seat on the bus home, you pulled your phone out of your pocket. The amount of notifications on the screen made you nearly drop it. You never had that many notifications; what on earth was going on? You spent a few minutes combing through the mentions, you managed to finally get to your inbox, where there was at least one new message waiting for you. Before you had the chance to investigate it though, your bus reached your stop and you had to finish making your way home. After a quick stop at the nearby grocery store for something quick for dinner and, because the day had been a bit sucky, a little sweet treat for yourself. And maybe a savoury one too. It had been A Day. After changing into something comfier, you decided to sit and relax for a little bit before starting some dinner. You settled on your couch with a drink and your savoury snack before pulling out your phone to finally check your social media inboxes. What you saw actually made you drop your phone in your lap. Thank god for your habit of always sitting with a pillow or blanket on your legs, because that meant that you didn’t have to move much to scoop the device up again. There was a message in your inbox from the official My Chemical Romance account. “What the…?” You muttered, tapping the message to open it. Hi there! We’re reaching out to you to let you know that you won the last competition - we’d like to upgrade your concert ticket to the meet and greet package! “Holy balls!” If you could reply to this message with the best way to contact you; an email address would be good to start with, we can go from there and we can make sure you have all the details you’re going to need! You were pretty sure that you had never replied to a message so quickly in your life. You replied with a quick; Oh my god, really? That’s amazing! Thank you so much! before sending across your email address as well. Once that message was sent, you put your phone on the arm of the couch before sinking into your spot, staring at the tv but not really taking anything in. Not too long later, your phone sounded loudly with a notification, making you jump before you groped for it, seeing that you had a reply. Awesome, thank you. I’ll gather the information and email you back; I’ll message you on here once the email’s been sent so you know to look out for it. Congratulations again! Truthfully, you were a little floored. You didn’t even really remember entering the competition, but you guessed that you had? The message was coming from the official band account after all? You didn’t think that it had been hacked so this can’t have been a hoax… It probably wasn’t from the band themselves - they all had their own social media; they probably had someone who ran that account for them. Of course. There was no way you were actually conversing with the guys themselves. Just as you’d thought that, something made you frown, and you double checked the messages from the account. Yeah, they’d switched from using “we” to “I” - as you expected, someone else was running the account. You weren’t surprised - the guys were busy after all. They were true to their word - not too long later, maybe half an hour at most, your phone pinged with a social media direct message alert. Hey, just letting you know that I sent that email across. You can either shoot me a message here to let me know it arrived or just reply to it. A quick swipe and tap later, and you were looking at the email in question. You shifted in your spot on your couch to sit up a bit better so you could concentrate on reading it properly.The email started with a simple introduction of; “Hi, I’m Shelly Sketcher, and I work with MyChem, and that includes maintaining the main band social media accounts, so it was me that you were talking to via DMs.” You were familiar with that name, quite a few people in the online fanspaces that you frequented were too. She’d been working with the band for long enough now, and the guys would frequently sing her praises during interviews. The online fanspaces seemed to like her - she did her best to get the band more time with their fans, or to get the gifts from the fans to the band, and most people appreciated that. Of course there were always one or two who didn’t but… That was to be expected. You just hoped that she didn’t have to see some of the utterly vile and nasty stuff that you had seen about her. Or, if she had seen it, you hoped it didn’t get her down too badly. You emailed her back, and sent her a direct message on the band’s social media to let her know that you’d received her email and sent a reply. She said to let her know if you had any questions - either via email or a direct message; she’d reply to either as soon as she could - she’d have notifications on as the whole thing was a little bit time sensitive. After sending her one more message, thanking her and letting her know that you’d let her know if you had any more questions, you sat on your couch, staring at the first message in your social media inbox. Truthfully, you were still in a little bit of a state of shock. It had taken you a bit of effort to get the ticket you had managed to get, and you had been incredibly grateful to finally get your hands on the one you did, even if it had been one of the cheaper ones. But now you were being bumped up to the freakin’ meet and greet package? Unbelievable. You spent the time between getting the messages and the date of your show, in a little bit of a daze, to be honest. You just couldn’t believe it. You were going to meet your favourite band. Nothing felt like it could touch you during that time; not even events during your everyday life that normally would have ruined your day, or at the very least your mood, had much of an effect on you. You were going to meet your favourite band. Like, what? What did you do to get so lucky? How? How was this your life? You just couldn’t make it up. ~ ~ ~ You arrived at the venue early, like it had been suggested, although you would’ve done that anyway. Nervously, you approached one of the venue’s staff. You knew that they were working the gig because they were wearing an MCR t-shirt, and they had a lanyard. They looked the part. She greeted you with a friendly smile and listened as you explained what you were there for. When you mentioned that you were a competition winner her expression brightened and she beckoned you to follow her. She led you through another set of doors before you had to go through the security procedure of having your bag checked. Once that was done, she gently pulled you aside and let you sit down. “I just need to make a quick call, okay? I’ll be right back.” She waited for you to nod before taking a phone out of her pocket and moving down the corridor a little. You were starting to feel a little anxious, like maybe you’d done something wrong? But you’d followed the email’s instructions… It was probably fine, it was probably just nerves. You were (hopefully!) about to meet your favourite band after all. The sound of heels on the flooring made you look up from your phone a little while later. The member of staff had returned, with a familiar looking, well dressed blonde in tow. They got close enough before the staff member said something to the other woman and got a nod in reply before heading off. The blonde turned back to you and smiled, holding out her hand when she got close enough. “Hi! I’m Shelly and I work with MyChem. You must be the competition winner I’ve been messaging?.” You felt your shoulders untense a little - she was who you thought she was and that meant that this whole thing was legit and not some elaborate prank. You hesitated for a second before taking her hand and shaking it, introducing yourself. “I’m so pleased to meet you, and that you got here okay,” Shelly said with a bright smile. “Pleased to meet you too,” you managed with a smile in return. “You do an excellent job and the fan base is very lucky to have you look out for the guys, and us, the way that you do.” She beamed and went a pale shade of pink. “I… Ah, that’s very nice for you to say, but I’m just doing my job.” “Yeah, but!” You protested. “Not every band has an assistant manager like you; I’ve been to other bands’ concerts and there’s never anyone running around to gather things from the fans like you do.” Shelly shook her head slightly, clearly not really believing you. “You’re very sweet.” “It’s true though.” “Mm, maybe,” she cleared her throat quietly and hummed for a moment as she pulled out her phone. She tapped at it before reading something and sliding the device back into her pocket. “Okay, right! So, the first thing is grabbing you some merch! Have you had the chance to see the merch stand yet?” “I…” You had actually forgotten that part of the upgrade included some free merch. “No, I haven’t. I was a little nervous about getting here and making sure that people knew that I was here.” Shelly nodded sympathetically. “I get that, I still get a bit nervous about being late or getting lost.” “You do?” “Sure I do,” she smiled and gestured for you to follow her. “Then again, I have to be very careful, as if I mess up with times, I could make the whole band late. But I’m like that in my personal life too, not just for my job.” “Oh,” you followed her to the merch stand, a little amused and amazed at how quickly and easily she moved through the building and through the manned doors. Then again, she was with the band; that was the ultimate VIP pass. You stayed close to her as you arrived at the merch stand, but you stood aside a little as she conversed with the people manning it. As to be expected, she was polite and everyone was really friendly with each other, but that was to be expected when the tour had been going this long. You were pretty certain that it was the same merch team. “Okay,” she turned back to you before gesturing to the stand. “Pick your poison.” You hesitated, wanting to ask a question but not quite sure how to. Luckily, she found the words for you. “Whatever you like, no real limit but try not to go too insane.” She grinned at you. “Insane would be like, one of everything.” “I, ah, wouldn’t do that, really…” “Some people might try it,” Shelly shrugged gently before pulling out her phone to give you some time. You took a few minutes to cast your eyes over the selection before picking out a couple of things - a shirt with the dates on it was the main thing you wanted, but you picked a couple of other, little things too. Once the guy behind the stand handed those over to you, you decided to use the money you’d set aside specifically for merch to actually purchase a few extra things. “Miss Shelly,” the merch girl called. “They wanna buy things too.” Shelly looked up from her phone before taking a few steps forward to stand next to you. “What did you pick as part of the upgrade?” You hesitated before opening the bag to show her, watching her nod and smile. “Hey, good choices.” “I don’t mind spending money,” you reasoned. “I have been saving for this since I got my ticket. I never expected to win the upgrade and I forgot that the upgrade included merch, so I’m really not against spending money.” “And, if I may,” the blonde continued. “What are you interested in purchasing?” You hesitated before pointing out a couple of extra things you liked before watching her out of the corner of your eye. She looked between the items before nodding. “Okay, but you’re getting a discount. We take care of our VIPs.” “I… I can’t ask you to do that,” you tried to protest as she gathered together the things you wanted to buy. “You’re not asking,” she double checked the size labels before giving the things to you. “Are these right?” You checked too. “Yes, thank you, but I -” “You’re getting a discount,” she said, her voice taking on a sing-song tone as she smiled. “And there’s nothing you can do about that.” You tried once more to protest, but she wasn’t having any of it, and neither were the merch staff, so you sighed and accepted your fate. Once that was all taken care of, you followed the blonde back through the doors, thanking her profusely along the way. “Honestly,” she said after using your name to interrupt you. “It’s really not a big deal. You didn’t try to take advantage, and I admire that.” “I… Oh. Um… Thank you?” “Don’t mention it.” She led you down another corridor before speaking again. “Did you bring anything for the guys to sign?” “Er actually, yeah, I did.” “That’s great; they’ll be more than happy to do that,” she stopped outside a door, and before knocking, she turned to look at you. “You okay?” You shook your head. “No, I’m a little bit nervous.” “Hey,” she said, turning her whole body to face you. “It’s alright, I promise! They’re not that scary! They’re really just a bunch of nerds!” This made you laugh and honestly, it did help a little bit. “And I say that with the most love possible,” she giggled as you laughed. “But they really are.” You grinned at her before exhaling deeply. “I know you’re right. But I’m still a little nervous.” Shelly nodded. “I know you are, I get it. Meeting them is a big deal to a lot of people. And that’s okay, they understand.” You exhaled again and she smiled gently at you. She was waiting patiently but you didn’t feel rushed at all; she just didn’t have that air to her. “I think…” You started carefully. “I think I’m ready.” “Awesome.” You watched her move to knock on the door; her knock was almost tuneful, and you were willing to bet that her knock stood out against any others. She waited a second before opening the door enough to stick her head around it. She must’ve said something and gotten a reply because you heard her laugh before she opened the door properly before turning to you and gesturing for you to follow her. She closed the door behind the pair of you before clearing her throat to get the attention of the band. Holy balls, you thought, this is actually happening. You listened to her introduce you to them, which you were grateful for because you had suddenly lost your voice. “I don’t think I need to tell you their names,” Shelly said with a slight grin as each member shook your hand. “Thi- Think,” you swallowed as your voice came out as a bit of a squeak. “Think we’re good on that one.” Frank laughed and Shelly gestured for you to sit down  as the guys did. Once everyone had settled, Shelly trotted around the room while the band asked you questions - how far you’d travelled to get there, how your trip was, had you seen them before; questions like that. You managed to answer them well enough, still feeling a little bit nervous but starting to feel a bit more relaxed. There was a pause in conversation as Shelly came back over to put some markers, Sharpies, on the table. You noticed that Gerard watched her a bit more closely when she returned, smiling and speaking softly to her when she was near enough. She smiled at him before clearing her throat softly. “Hey,” she said to them. “You guys wanna sign some stuff?” “Sure thing,” Mikey reached for one of the markers before the others copied him. “I like seeing what fans bring for us to sign, to be honest,” Frank added. At these words you pulled your bag onto your lap to go through it. “Um, hang on a minute…” Eventually you pulled out your item of choice as well as a small notebook, both of which you passed to the blonde who had moved to stand by you. “It sounds strange, but can you each maybe sign a page in here as well, please?” “Of course,” Gerard gently took both items from Shelly when she passed them to him before uncapping the pen and holding the lid in between his teeth, passing the first item around after he’d signed it. “I’m sure you’ve got your reasons.” “Is it something arty?” Ray asked, looking from where Mikey was signing one of the two items over to you. “A lot of our fans are very artistic.” “There’s a lot of talent in the fanbase,” Shelly agreed. “I… Um, kinda.” “If you ever share it online,” Shelly lightly slapped Frank around the back of the head for a reason you didn’t catch. “You’ll have to share it with us. I’m sure whatever you’re planning will turn out great.” “I hope it does, maybe I will share it,” you nodded once, taking the items from her as she handed them back over. “Thank you so much.” “You’re more than welcome,” Frank grinned over at you. You felt like you might be blushing so you focused on putting your things back in your bag until Ray started asking you a little more about yourself; what you did for work, what your hobbies were. Normally, talking about yourself made you feel awkward, but he (and the rest of the band) seemed so genuinely interested that you found yourself not really minding. When they ran out of questions and you’d run out of steam, a few minutes of silence followed before Shelly cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “How about we get some pictures?” She said before turning to you. “I can take them on your phone, if you like? Or I can take them with my phone and send them to you via social media?” You hesitated. “Either is honestly fine,” Shelly continued. “I promise.” “Ah, um…” You pulled your phone out of your pocket before unlocking it and, after a second, shyly handed it over to her. The blonde smiled and took it, checking it over. “Go over with me how to use it really quickly?” You obliged, and when you were close enough to her, Shelly whispered to you. “Don’t worry, you’re doing great.” “I am? I’m not awkward?” She shook her head and took a test photo of the pair of you before she showed you. “How’s that?” “Great, actually. That’s a great shot.” “You can delete that later if you want,” she gestured for you to go and post with the guys. “I won’t be offended. If you share these online, make sure you tag the accounts and we’ll reshare them too. If you’re okay with that.” You nodded to her and she took some photos of you with the band, letting you see them to make sure that you were happy. “If you’re not happy, I am more than willing to take more,” she said quietly to you. “I just want you to have a good experience, and bad photos are not a good keepsake.” “I don’t want to put the guys through -” “They won’t mind,” she grinned at you. “I won’t let them. Don’t worry.” “You…” You shook your head at her. “You’re too sweet.” “That’s part of my job honey. I’m like a liaison between the fans and the band as well as an assistant to,” she waved towards the guys. “The Lords over there.” The slightly posh accent she added made you laugh and she shooed you over to take a few more pictures. When that was over and everyone had settled back down, you put your bag back across your body - it was like a security thing. “You… Look like you want to say something else?” Mikey piped up. “Um… I…” You swallowed, hesitating. Well, he wasn’t wrong but… You were pretty sure that they’d heard everything you wanted to say before, and would probably hear it all over again. And again. But you knew that you’d regret it immensely if you didn’t say it. “I… Um…” You swallowed and clutched the cross-body strap of your bag, glancing down at your lap. “It’s okay,” Gerard said gently from opposite you.”Take a moment.” You felt like you’d rehearsed this about a thousand times - exactly what you’d say if you ever met them, but now you were actually here, your tongue was tied up in knots. The cushion next to you on the couch moved and you looked up to see their blonde assistant sitting beside you, placing a cup of water in front of you. She smiled softly. “Sorry,” you stammered. “I just…” “It’s okay,” she repeated softly. “Really. Hey, ignore them for a second -” “Hey!” Frank said. “Shut up Frank,” Ray rolled his eyes, throwing a balled up piece of paper at the short guitarist. Shelly eyed them, shook her head before turning her attention back to you, taking your hand. It was only when she squeezed it gently that you realised that you were shaking. “Talk to me. Tell me what it means to you.” You noticed that her nails were neatly French manicured using a shade of pink polish that reminded you very much of cotton candy. And you only picked up on this because you were quite focused on the way she was holding your hand; the gentle squeezing was really calming actually. “I… Okay.” You noticed her smile before taking a small breath, giving yourself time to try and get the words straight in your head. Once you were… Happy enough you nodded slightly and started talking. You managed to talk about how much the music meant to you, how beautiful you thought the lyrics were, how masterful the guitar and base notes were and how harmonious everything sounded together; how obvious it was that the other three were such masters of their instruments. You managed to get out much you loved all three albums, all for different reasons; the rawness of Bullets, the emotion of Revenge and the creativity of Parade. This made Gerard smile brightly; he always loved it when other people recognised just how amazing the rest of the band were at playing their parts. You took a breath, and a sip of the water that you’d been given before managing to talk about how strong you thought they were because they’d all battled their own demons and come out the other side, and just how inspiring that was - not just to you but to so many other people. As well as it being especially inspiring for the fact that they always seemed to want to fight for the underdog; that they wanted to give a voice to those who felt like they didn’t have one. Including yourself - you had your own struggles that their music had helped you through; it made you feel less alone. You managed to speak without stuttering and that made you think that maybe Shelly had been right - it had been much easier to talk to her (or maybe that should be at her…) than to talk to the band themselves. Even though you knew they were listening, it had been much easier to focus your attention on someone other than them. “You’re alright now?” Gerard asked when you took a moment to breathe. “You mentioned your own struggles? Are you okay now?” You nodded. “Much better, I’m doing pretty good, actually. There’s obviously still a few bad days, but coping with them is easier.” Gerard nodded and smiled a little. “Good.” “I know you’ve probably heard all of that before,” you said quietly, managing to look over at them. “But -” “We never get tired of it,” Ray said gently with a shake of his head. “It’s kinda amazing how many people feel the same way about our music.” “And about us,” Mikey added. “It’s incredible that four nerdy guys from New Jersey have had such an effect - a positive one, on so many people.” “You have done since the first record,” you said. “And I think you will until you call it quits.” “And even then,” Shelly added. “As long as your music is available, you’ll keep being that inspiring to anyone who listens to you.” “Yeah!” You nodded enthusiastically at the blonde’s words. “Exactly that.” Frank almost giggled and Gerard cleared his throat softly before speaking. “Ray’s right, we don’t get tired of hearing it. I think sometimes we still can’t believe that people feel that way about us,” he looked at the others for confirmation, getting nods in response. “I keep telling them that they really need to get used to it,” Shelly shrugged once with a smile. “But they don’t listen to me.” “Well, they should, because you’re absolutely right.” Shelly looked at the band and gestured to you. “See?” The guys laughed and that made you smile. “But thank you,” you managed. “For letting me get that out, even if it’s not the first time you’ve heard it.” “It would be rude not to let you speak,” Frank said with a small nod. “We appreciate the fans, we appreciate you, for appreciating us.” You nodded slowly and it was as if a lightbulb flickered on above your head. You turned your attention to the blonde still sitting next to you, which seemed to surprise her as she tilted her head. “I just wanna say again,” you started quietly. “We appreciate you, too. So many of us do, for what you do for them,” you gestured to the guys a little. “For what you do for us as fans, for the running around you do to get our stuff to them, for interacting with us, for everything.” Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Gerard lean forward, his forearms on his legs, as he focused his attention on the woman next to you. This made you remember that there had been some rumours rumbling around about there being a relationship between the two of them, but there hadn’t been anything officially said by anyone from the band, or from either of the pair directly. Their behaviour in front of you didn’t sway the arguments either way, really. It wasn’t really anyone’s business, you thought, but it was something the online fanspaces debated every so often. (Privately, your opinion was that they might be cute together.) Shelly, meanwhile, was looking at you with a very… Soft but surprised expression on her face. When she started to speak, her voice broke a tiny bit - she had to stop and clear her throat before trying again. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “That means a lot to me. Because I do work very hard, I do try and get you guys the most time with them.” “We’re nothing without our fans,” Ray added. You noticed the others nod. “We’re also not much without her,” Frank nodded to Shelly with a grin. “I mean, she’s the reason we eat and she’s why we’re on time and all of that.” “Behind every herd of cats is a woman rolling her eyes while she attempts to wrangle them to get them to behave,” Shelly muttered. You laughed. “You do an excellent job.” She smiled brightly. “Thank you.” “See? Mikey said with a small grin. “Not just us that say so.” “Shush you.” You joined the guys with a quiet chuckle before Gerard cleared his throat. “So, what’s your favourite song? We like to shout out one to our VIPs if we can.” A part of you had expected this question, and you really had truly thought about it. It was a difficult one to answer. “Um, that’s tricky. I feel like every time I think about it, I have a different answer, um…” “Way to put them on the spot,” Shelly rolled her eyes a little but she was smiling so it was clear that she wasn’t mad or anything. “Give them a minute.” You smiled at her gratefully before continuing to answer Gerard’s question, also managing to give them all a reason without waxing lyrical for too long. The band listened intently, nodding a little. “Well,” you said, after taking a moment. “It’s either that one or Disenchanted, really.” Mikey fist-pumped and the others groaned playfully. “See?” He said. “I told you it was a good idea to put it on the album!” Frank rolled his eyes and Gerard shook his head. “I’m not the only one who thinks so!” You added hastily. “No, you’re not,” Shelly added. “It’s a fan favourite, and one of mine too.” “Because you’re a woman of good taste, clearly.” Shelly grinned at you. “Thank you.” You chatted with the band for a little bit longer before it was time for them to start getting ready for the show, so you said goodbye, getting hugs as well, much to your delight, before Shelly led you out of the room. “You alright?” She asked gently as you both made your way down the corridor. You exhaled loudly and nodded. “Y- yeah, I think so.” “It might not sink in for a little bit,” she said with a nod. “And when it does, it’ll be a really inappropriate time.” “That sounds about right.” She laughed quietly. “Right, I think maybe you’re in the higher tier, closer to the stage area with the others who paid for those tickets but not the VIP thing, let me check…” You watched her pull her phone out to double check the details. “Mm hm, you are, which is good as your bag and everything will be safe there too, but if you weren’t I would’ve figured something out about keeping your things safe…” “That’s very sweet of you.” Shelly just smiled and took you to get a drink first - not that she let you pay for either of them, because she made you get a bottle of water alongside the other drink of your choice. Then she led you to where you’d be watching the show from. There were a few people there already, which surprised you, but it was actually a bit later than you thought it was. One of the other fans there called Shelly’s name before making their way over to her. They chatted quietly for a moment before the fan handed Shelly something; they must’ve been asking her to pass it onto the band, which Shelly obviously agreed to do before the fan smiled, got a hug from the blonde and went back to their spot. Shelly turned back to you and shook her head slightly. “Sorry about that, are you all good?” “Yeah, I get it, you’re still working after all,” you nodded. “I’m good, thank you so much for everything.” Shelly brushed it off a little. “Oh, psh, you’ve been a delight! I’ll be about during the show, I always am, so if you need anything, there’ll be a security guard nearby - get his attention and he’ll get me. Don’t be afraid to do that, the security is here to help, and so am I.” You nodded and offered her a hug, which she accepted. “Thank you, again,” you said to her as she hugged you back. “So, so very much.” “You are so welcome,” she squeezed you gently before taking a step back. “I have to get back to the boys. Have a great time during the show, in case you don’t need me for anything. And please, let me know that you get home okay?” “Oh, sure I can do that,” you nodded, touched at her concern. “Message the main band account,” Shelly said. “I’ll get that.” “Okay, I’ll do that, promise.” “Good, I’m glad,” she checked her phone again and winced. “Okay, I really gotta get back to the guys. Have a great time, remember that security is here to help, okay?” “Yes ma’am,” you mock-saluted and grinned as she narrowed her eyes at you a little - but she was smiling so she wasn’t mad. “Thank you, so much, again.” “You’re so welcome,” Shelly smiled at you and waved to another fan further down the section before going to grab something from them. She waved to you and headed off in the other direction to return to the dressing rooms. Naturally, the support act was amazing - but that wasn’t really much of a surprise as MyChem’s support acts always seemed to pair well with the main band themselves. Then the main event happened; the lights went down, the curtain at the back dropped to reveal the staging and… Boom. The cheers were almost deafening as the guys came on stage and only got louder as the first notes played. Much like Gerard had, not promised per se but had said, you got a bit of a shout out for your favourite song. And he stopped just before Disenchanted to make a comment about “well, we’ve been told by almost everyone else that putting this next one on the album was a good idea. Everyone say thank you Mikey Way.” And the crowd echoed back; “Thank you Mikey!” MyChem were incredible obviously. They always were. And major props to the lighting techs, who properly spotlighted each of the guys at the best times; Ray during the opening of Disenchanted for example, Frank during his best solos (you swore he winked at you during one of those and you’d put good money on the fact that you probably blushed). The show must’ve gone relatively smoothly because you didn’t see the Tour Manager come down to help out with anything, until the encore started. That’s when she appeared down in front of that first barrier. She stopped to check in with you, squeezing your hand before heading down the line to check in with the security guards. The encore finished, the band took a bow and Gerard told the crowd to get home safe before they left the stage, the lights coming on not long later. You decided to wait a few minutes to let some of the people behind you head out first before heading outside yourself. When you got home, you sent the band’s official account a quick message, like you promised and then decided to upload some photos from the evening; just one or two for now. One of you and the whole band, the slightly silly selfie you’d taken with Shelly and one or two you’d taken while the band were performing. You tapped your chin for a moment before typing out a caption, making sure to tag any appropriate accounts; Best night of my life! Massive thank you to not only the guys but also Shelly for taking care of me and giving me this amazing opportunity. I'll never be the same after tonight and I am very much okay with that  - I promise!

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hello Quil! 

Happy Nano! This is actually my second year doing Nanowrimo, and I started last year because I saw you talking about it, so thank you for that! I was able to write some more this year for Nano than I had last time, and even though I have a long way to go in terms of word count goals I’m pretty happy with my progress! I’ve spent a lot of time writing down my character and plot notes since I always forget to record my ideas, but I’m going to try writing out some shorter scenes today.

Speaking of writing, I saw you finished the wings AU today, which is awesome! Kudos to you! Funnily enough, when I was writing you this ask I was going to wish you good luck and wordsmithery with that, but then I checked on your tumblr to see you were already a step ahead of me! I haven’t actually read most of the wings au yet (still on my very long to-be-read list), but when I do I’ll try to let you know what I think!

Also speaking of reading, I think I’ve finally gotten out of my reading slump that I’ve been in for a while and now I’m reading the book Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min. It’s a really pretty and queer book about music and community and expression and overall it’s a great read! I’d definitely recommend it, although I’m guessing you already have a lot of books to read too. 

But yeah! And happy thanksgiving! I don’t know if you’re going to do any fun family or food stuff but I hope you enjoy your holiday! I’ll be enjoying mine too.

- Amethyst

~

Hey Amethyst! I’ve been late to answering asks, but Happy Nano! I hope you enjoyed your second year and were happy with what you accomplished! And that your planning/scenes went well. I’m definitely guilty of forgetting to write things down, too, which is so annoying sometimes (*cough* wings au *cough*). 

And yes, I finished the wings au!! Which is incredibly surreal; I don’t think I’ve truly processed that, because it happened during Nano, so as soon as I finished writing/editing/posting I was just like right I still have to keep writing to meet the word goal, so I breezed right past it. But WOW. 366 THOUSAND words. 366,049. That’s the length of the Brothers Karamazov, which is over 800 pages. and it was like 3/4 years in the making. I can’t believe I keep forgetting I did that. Anyway, I always love hearing people’s thoughts about the au so if you ever read it (no pressure to, of course), please do share!

And woo! I’m working to get out of a reading slump myself right now, actually. I really want to read To Shape a Dragon’s Breath (i’m partway through), but I’ve had so much going on with finals and nano and the wings au that it’s been like banging my head against a wall. Which is rude, because I can tell the book’s very good and deserves better. So I’m resetting my brain with a quick, easy tgl reread :). And yes, you’re right, I do have a lot of books to read, but what’s one more in the grand scheme of things! I’ll add it to my list <3

I don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving, but I did go to my partner’s parents’ place for the afternoon since they were having a get together. I did get overstimulated and go quiet, but eh. It was fine. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and that if you celebrate anything this time of year that you enjoy that too

I’ve actually got practically all of my Nano writing still just sitting in my google docs, so once i’m done with my gifts for exchanges I’m eager to get those polished to post :)