#i went through and picked all of these on december 29th. and i just now got up the energy to make it lskdjfslkdfs

[deafleppard]

made some things last year. these were my favorites :)

[defmaybe]

Pineapples

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5, December 29th, 2024

BABYMONSTER’s Kawai Ruka x Male Reader

4.3k words

Christmas Masterlist

A/N: First Ruka fic?

—

“Bitch.”

The answer to how she got into your dorm room remains a puzzling mystery. There’s a security guard outside that won’t allow women to access the men's dorm. Still, any question here is thrown out of the window, with her jerking you off from behind like this, sliding her dexterous hand up and down in a languid motion. You’re shifting and shifting in her embrace on your own bed.

You were sure that the door was locked before you went out of your room this morning—tightly shut. She must’ve lock-picked her way into here. She always has a hairpin with her. You aren’t denying that it looks gorgeous on her, hot even. You could spend the whole day just staring at her with her hair tied up into a bun, topped off with the hairpin piercing through the center of the bunch.

Sure, it’s a little degrading for you to submit to her like this every time you meet. She’ll call you a bitch, a slut, a whore, anything that she could think of that day. You’ll call her by her name, on the condition that you avert her gaze. Still, there’s something to be enjoyed in this power dynamic. 

It’s the thrill of submission.

She makes sure to swipe her thumb when her hand reaches the top of your cock. It’s for fun, she says. Of course, it’d be fun for her. You moan like a bitch every time she does that.

“You love having me jerking you off like this, don’t you?�� she asks, her voice venomous, yet so magnetic. God, why is she so attractive?

You can only nod with a whimper, so clouded in the pleasure her hand is giving you. Indeed, it didn’t start slow. She ordered you to sit on the bed, pants off, shirt on (she said that it’d be a bit too cold for you). Your top is going to get all creased, with her pressing up against your back like this, but you couldn’t care less. You love the way she’s reducing you into her toy like this. You feel pliant. You feel obedient. You feel–comfortable.

“And don’t you dare fucking other women with this cock. It’s mine, only mine, understand?”

You nod again. Your hands are all limp from the pleasure coursing through your body. You are unable to move your body by a single inch, with her limbs placed meticulously to lock you in your place like this. Though, it’s like you’d resist, anyway.

Now, back to the beginning. You’d argue that it’s nothing short of rote. You two went over a year from being just a familiar face in your class, always walking past each other without much notice, until a fateful night at the bar.

—

“Ah!” you two exclaimed simultaneously. It seemed that you just crashed into each other. Your drink spilled from your glasses. They weren’t shattered yet, thankfully. Although, it left wet spots on your clothes.

“Sorry!” you apologized, shouting to fight the music.

“It’s fine! I’m sorry too!” she shouted back. God, the music was so loud there.

“Ruka! Right?”

“Yeah!” Ruka responded with a smile, taking a sip of whatever was left in the glass. “And you are?”

You told her your name, also taking a sip of whatever is left in the glass. She seemed to be happy about it. You two finally knew each other after a year of silence.

“So, uh, I should go back to my table now. My friends are waiting,” said Ruka, tilting her head slightly away from you.

“Oh, yeah, I should go back too. See you around, I guess?”

“See you around!”

—

The night rolled on until the bar closed. You and your friends left the bar, preparing to go back to your dorms, but not without your eyes meeting Ruka just on the outside.

“Hey!” Ruka shouted. Her walking was funny, judging from how she carried herself towards you that night. She was definitely drunk, but so did you. You could barely walk straight.

“Hi,” you said. Her friends were looking at you two, murmuring something to one another.

“Sooo~ we’re having an after-party at my placeee. Wanna joinnn?” she asked, intoxicated. Her breath was full of alcohol.

“Uhhh–” you glanced around at your friends, who seemed to have no opinion on it.

“Up to you, man,” Soobin said, shrugging. “I can go with you. It’s Saturday tomorrow.”

—

“Seven minutes in heaven doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” Pharita said, tilting the empty beer bottle in her hand.

The eight of you were inside Ruka’s room, on the floor, preparing to watch the bottle spin. It was somewhat large for a dorm room. Her parents were probably rich. It was clean and tidy, no stray strands of hair could be seen.

“You’ve cleaned the bathroom, right?” Asa asked.

“Just this morning.”

—

“I don’t think I’ve ever got to properly know you,” Ruka said. Her voice was low. The guys are probably eavesdropping from the outside. “We just kinda–”

“I get it, yeah,” you cut her words off with a smile. Your posture was reserved. You remembered you were leaning against the door that day.

Ruka smiled, before asking, “You like women, right? I mean–I don’t wanna assume.” Her expression was full of anxiety—eyes on the floor, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was probably afraid to offend you.

“Yeah, yeah,” you answer, chuckling.

The tension was thick, too thick. Your smile faded. You two kept averting each other’s eyes. There was apprehension within the situation. You gulped and gulped, playing with the hem of your shirt.

Boldly, she grabbed onto your collar, pulling your face closer to her, before she latched her lips onto yours. Her tongue invaded your mouth without any caution, and that made you melt into her embrace. Her lips tasted like alcohol, with a hint of rose on her. You were faltering.

And she pulled back.

“Never knew your lips taste this good,” Ruka said, wiping the saliva off her lips. She looked hot doing so.

You said nothing, only swallowing hard. You could feel blood rushing to the lower part of your body. It was aching. Your hands were trembling, letting out endless whimpers. You didn’t pay attention to her eyes enough to notice that they were gleaming with desire.

“Ooh~” she uttered, voice below a whisper, pressing your body against the door even harder. Her hands started to be where it shouldn’t. Her alcohol-filled breath invaded your personal space. It was uncomfortable, yet–there was something else in it. “You’re one of those guys, don’t you?”

Another whimper escaped you. You were trying to look away from her, too shy to look her in the sharp eyes. You could see her biting her lip in the corner of your eyes, so ready to take over your body. Fuck, she was so attractive doing that.

“What if I.” She grabbed your chin with her left hand softly, heightening the tension in this bathroom. Her breath remained steady, so unfazed by the whole situation. She was good at that.

Her right hand found its way onto the tent on your pants, squeezing your crotch gently. You let out a whimper under her touch. She seemed satisfied with that. She seemed satisfied with your unwavering submission.

“What a good boy for me,” she uttered, grabbing onto your collar tightly. Her voice was nothing short of dangerous. “You fucking love this, don’t you? You love being a bitch boy.”

You weren’t too sure how to answer the question, but there was probably some truth in it. You were revelling in the way she used you. You loved the way she takes control. You loved how she kisses you like that—invading your mouth like it is her property (it’s her property).

“Answer me, bitch,” she hissed, pushing you up against the door. You were tiptoeing on the ground. Fuck, she was strong. “Or I’m going to fucking edge you until you moan like one.”

You’d be dead if the door wasn’t thick, either would that be heard by the guys or breaking the door with her force.

“I–I love b–being a bitch boy, R–Ruka,” you answered, shaken. Her cat-like eyes were so alluring. They pierced through your heart like a bullet. You were in awe of her beauty, and a bit scared of it.

She laughed mischievously, enjoying the power she had over you. Her adept fingers were still giving your bulge squeezes after squeezes. You whimpered with each touch.

“Should’ve known that you’re a submissive little slut,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes upwards. “Now, if you’d kindly follow my instructions~”

You let out a whimper, too clouded within the expectation of her pleasuring you. You were exploring the ways that she could give you the feeling of utter divinity. Hand? Mouth? Thighs? Pene–

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” Ruka started, hands playing with the hem of your pants. You sucked a sudden. Her soft fingers felt so good on your slutty waist. A soft, airy moan left your lips.

“We have–” she looked at her watch, trying to estimate how many minutes you got. You wish you could just press her mouth down on your cock and get this over with, but that wasn’t how it worked, not when she was in control like that “–four minutes left.”

You nodded in response. Full-on penetration was probably out of the window. There were still a few choices for you to ponder on.

“I’ll suck you off. I’ll make it clean. Don’t moan too loud.” Three orders—direct, quick—and as you were processing the information, Ruka pulled your pants down quickly. Your lower body was left just in boxers. Your erection became more prominent than before. A loud moan left your lips. Good thing she managed to close your mouth in time. The guys didn’t hear that.

“I said, ‘Don’t moan too loud’, bitch,” Ruka sneered. “Do you want me to fucking edge you, huh?”

You shook your head with a whimper. She seemed to be satisfied with the answer. She had to be; there’s barely four minutes left. She couldn’t afford any more time wasted berating you.

In a quick motion, she pulled your boxers down, kneeling before you. Your erection was freed from the fabric cage that held you. She didn’t waste any more time judging the size of it. Instead, she dove right into enveloping her mouth around your cock, eyes closed. You could barely contain your moans.

She let out a satisfied hum around your cock. She was happy with your taste. You had to use your hands to cage the whimpers coming out.

Her mouth felt so warm, so wet, so tight. She bobbed her head back and forth adeptly, using her hands to help ramp up the intense pleasure you were feeling. She even went a mile further and started to hollow her cheeks, creating a suction on your cock. You couldn’t help but use all of your inhibition to not let out the loudest moan of your life. Thankfully, it came out as a quiet mewling.

She definitely loved your cock. Hell, she probably got addicted to it. You could feel that she was using all of herself on your cock, sucking on it in such an enthusiastic nature. She finally opened her eyes, looking up to see her bitch boy writhing in the pleasure she was giving to him. She let out a giggle at you.

Three minutes left.

She upped her ante, trying to milk your cock before time ran out. Her movements quickened, yet still deliberate. Her hands rubbed on your cock faster and faster, coaxing suppressed moans out of your mouth. That felt great.

You fell in love with her cat-like eyes. They were so magnetic that night. They pulled you into another realm that was beyond your comprehension. It was a place full of her, and only her.

She then ran her fingers along your lips, feeling the chapped texture of you. As if you knew, you opened your mouth, letting her plunge her fingers into your wet cavern. Her hand reeked of the earlier alcohol—mostly beer. There was a hint of sweat on it. She was addictive. She was like a fucking drug.

“Nngnn.”

You were sure that you were going to remember that forever—getting sucked off by your classmate in her bathroom while drooling on her fingers at the same time. Her one hand was caressing your cock adeptly. Her friends were trying to eavesdrop on the other side, and you were doing your best not to moan like a slut she wanted you to be.

Two minutes left.

Satisfied, drunken hums left your lips. You were revelling in the way she used you like her little fucktoy like this—her mouth on your cock, her fingers in your mouth. The taste of alcohol lingering on her digits filled your mouth. You fucking loved it.

She definitely had talent in sucking a cock. It was as if she had practiced a lot (it was a few guys and her wide variety of toys, she later told you). She created this suction around your cock that made you whimper like a common whore. The guys would’ve heard that if it weren’t her fingers inside your mouth (she argued later that a strap would’ve also worked).

Her fingers invaded your mouth with an unmatched dexterity, sweeping the insides of your mouth ever so masterfully. Your teeth grazed against her fingers. Her head bobbed back and forth, creating an absolutely vulgar image in front of you.

“Fuck, your cock taste good,” she uttered, muffled by your length. Her features were utterly wrecked by your hard cock. You can see tears running down her face, painting streaks of black marks on her cheeks.

It was peculiar, from strangers to something close to a fuck buddy in the span of a few hours. Those conversations in class weren’t going to be the same. The image of her mouth around your cock is going to be imprinted inside your mind forever.

One minute left.

You were doing your absolute best to contain the whimper out of your lips. The feeling was just too heavenly. You clenched your hand into a fist. The all-too-familiar feeling built up in your loins. Your breathing grows frantic. You were going to cum inside of Kawai Ruka’s mouth, with her friends on the other side of the door!

“Hhgnn.”

“Cum, bitch,” she ordered, her words muffled by your hardness.

“I–I’m trying,” you reply, trying to keep your voice below a whisper.

She upped the act into another ante, blowing your cock at a pace quicker than ever. She really wanted you do cum, didn’t she? Her fingers snake onto the rim of your asshole, sending a special kind of shock through your body.

“Fuck!”

Her fingers circle around your tightness. It feels great, being caressed in the ass like this. It feels like you’re her object, and that’s the feeling you absolutely love. Your hips jerk forward into her mouth. She gags a little, but it doesn’t stop her from neither sucking your cock in full force, nor your peak. You’re going to cum inside of Kawai Ruka’s mouth!

And all you could see was white. Your entire body jerked with pure pleasure. Your cock shot ropes of cum into her filthy mouth. Bliss coursed through your bloodstream to your entire frame. You couldn’t even stand straight. You painted the insides of her mouth, not leaving any corner untouched.

You twitched inside her violently, enveloped in her warm, wet cavern. The spurts grew softer and softer, from frantic shots to drizzles. You tried to suppress your moans with her finger, sucking on them harshly.

And just as you thought she’d spit it out in her sink, she swallowed, expressionless. It was splendidly obscene—the way she just drank your cum so damn easily. You remember that you could only gulp at the vulgar sight.

She pulled off of your spent cock. “Need more pineapples,” she said, licking her lips and making a pop sound with her dirty mouth. She’s clean—no trace of your nectar inside her mouth. Fuck.

She stood up, as her eyes were still bored into yours. She was examining your after-blowjob expressions like a predator watching its prey.

“Twenty seconds left. Put your fucking pants on,” she hissed. “Wouldn’t want the guys to know, would you?”

Hastily, you put on your pants. It was sloppy. It was even stuck on your knees at one point. Fuck, why is this so hard? Thankfully, it finally followed your hands up to your slim waist. You frantically buckled your belt for the final touch-up.

She wipes off the black marks on her cheeks. She has probably done it a few times before, because her face looks so damn clean after that.

Time’s up.

Ruka opened the door to the outside, wiping her mouth with her cuffs. You turned around, frozen under the gaze of the people in front of the doorway, still unable to make sense of what had just happened in the bathroom.

You saw Soobin giving you a knowing smirk. The others also probably know what’s up, but at that point, you just couldn’t care less. You just opened a whole new door with the help of Kawai Ruka.

—

She plants her teeth on the back of your neck, making you jolt in response. It’s a playful bite, you can feel it. There’s a lot to be processed right now, still—her hand on your cock, her body pressing up on you, her hot breath brushing against your neck. It feels too good.

“Nasty little slut,” she whispers into your ear. You moan again at the degrading word. You love it. You love the way she takes control over you like this. “Too bad I didn’t bring my strap here, or I’d be fucking your mouth with it.”

You say nothing, only moan. The air thickens with lust and the smell of sex. Ruka quickens her motion from behind you. Your moans are getting louder and louder. She loves this; she told you once. She loves her men moaning like a whore.

“Yeah, moan like that, you pathetic little bitch,” she growls. The demeaning words only serve to push you further into bliss. She then takes a soft bite on your earlobe, making you jolt in response.

“What a sensitive slut,” she continues. She won’t stop calling you these names, will she? Not that you don’t want that, though.

The tension starts to coil inside your muscles. Your eyes flutter. Your breathing becomes rapid. Your toes curl. You’re going to cum in the hands of Kawai Ruka!

“Aww~ gonna cum already?” she coos, her tone mocking. Her hand jerks you off even faster. The swipes on top of your cock aren’t there anymore, but the sensation of her hand rubbing you rapidly is more than enough.

You can’t answer anything but grunting and groaning at her mastery. The warmth of her body on you is comforting, yet so wicked in its own way. It completely engulfs you, making you completely hers.

“Cum in my hand then, bitch. Make a goddamn mess like the slut you are,” she keeps the insults coming in waves. You’re more than happy to welcome that, being reduced to her nasty little slut like this.

“Nghnn.”

Your dam breaks, your cock shoots out spurts and spurts of cum in her hand. Some land on your shirt, some land on her legs. Hell, some even land on your pretty face. She keeps jerking you off through your high, coaxing as much cum as possible out of your cock.

Successive spurts grow softer, from shots to small dribbles. Your cock is still twitching violently in the grip of her hand. 

Eventually, your orgasm dies down. Droplets of cum rest on your cock idly. Trails of it can be seen running down, leaving viscous marks all over. 

Ruka then scoops the remnants of your cum on your cock before sucking her fingers lewdly. You swallow hard. You can’t quite get used to the image of her drinking your nectar yet. She closes her eyes while doing so. God, what a sight.

“That’s enough pineapples,” she says, sucking on her fingers enthusiastically. The obscene sounds of it ring in your ear. She’s enjoying your taste. 

“Want a taste?” She then offers her fingers to you, and you happily accept them. You suck on her fingers like a whore. You find out that you are really sweet today. That’s probably enough pineapples, as she said.

“I can buy you some more pineapples from my dorm if you want,” she says.

You nod, still sucking her fingers like a bitch, tasting the remnants of your own sweet flavor. You absolutely adore the way she’s using you like this, and you just wish you can stay like this forever. 

Suddenly, she pulls her finger out of your needy mouth, leaving the taste of yourself lingering—sweet, intense.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” she says with a giggle, before unlocking you from your restraint. You can finally move freely again, at the expense of her warm embrace. You let out a whimper in disappointment.

Ruka gets off of the bed. She gives you a hand, the messy one, with a smile. Your cum stains can still be seen on it. They haven’t dried off yet. You accept her hand before getting up from your bed.

“Thanks,” you say, before heading to your bathroom to clean yourself up.

—

The damage to you wasn’t that much, but you figure that maybe a shower is needed. It’s 10 p.m. already. You soak yourself in the warm water from the shower head above, cleaning the filth on you.

Suddenly, the door opens. It’s Ruka, all naked in the glory, hands on her waist. Her toned, muscular body is on full display. Her small breasts are sitting on her chest beautifully, so tantalizing to your touch. And her abs, god, her abs, it looks so attractive on her body.

“Can I join?” she asks, chuckling. You’re accepting her request, either way.

“Come on in.”

She then walks towards you. There’s seduction in the way she does it—the swaying of her hips, the finger bite, the languid pace, the sensuality. She’s looking straight into your eyes doing so. Your cock hardens again at the image of her.

Ruka lets out a laugh as she reaches you, catching you in her embrace. She feels warm, contradicting the insults (which you happily accepted) thrown at you. Her smile feels sincere under the warm water. She looks–gorgeous.

“So,” Ruka says, caressing your face. “I want to talk to you about something.”

You raise your eyebrow, intrigued by her words. “Uh huh?”

“I want to talk–” she lets the last words flow along with the running water. She goes silent for a while, trying to think of her next words. You nervously wait in anticipation “–about us.”

You do a double take, perplexed by the way this topic comes up like this. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” she continues, averting your eye contact. Both of you swallow hard, as she’s too apprehensive to say the next words.

“Wh–What about us?”

“I–” and she pauses. You wait, and you wait, and you wait. She keeps avoiding your eyes, hands still on your burning face. “–I want–more.”

“Oh.”

You guess it immediately. The concept of you two dating hasn’t been very far-fetched since that fateful night, but you’ve never thought she’d be the one to–

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and–I feel like–” she pauses again, looking elsewhere, trying to find comfort in the shampoo and body wash bottles around you, but she can’t let this go on forever. She has to say it “–I’ve fallen for you.”

Your eyes widen, unable to comprehend the words that were just coming out of her lips. You’ve never seen Ruka like this, so–raw, so–vulnerable. It’s so strange.

Still, you may have been feeling the same way about her. You know the way she smiles (she always closes her mouth when she does, as if she’s trying to suppress it). You know how she eats (she usually eats the vegetables in the dishes first). You know her favorite show (it’s Ally McBeal). You know, you know, you know.

“A–Are you okay with that, with–us?”

You open your mouth, but no words are coming out. It’s a difficult decision to make. You’re tying yourself to her if you say yes, but also–

You want to see that smile every day. You want to hear that laugh. You want to hear her call you a bitch. You want to go out and eat Neapolitan spaghetti with her. You want, you want, you want, you want.

You swallow hard, carefully choosing your next words. 

“I–”

She looks into your eyes expectantly. Her grip on your face grows tighter, but that can’t compare to the feeling building up inside your heart.

“I think I like you too, Ruka.”

And with that, she pulls you into a kiss, a fervent one. It’s one filled with unspoken desires. Tongues battling for dominance. Hands roaming over each other’s body frantically, afraid of losing each other. You grind your body on hers, trying to feel her as much as you can. The bathroom is filled with your moans and the sound of water, and you couldn't be happier.

“Mmmph, just like that,” she says, her hands traveling down to your ass, giving your cheeks firm squeezes. You jolt in response to her touch, as she giggles softly into the kiss.

She then pulls back from the sensual, fiery kiss to catch her breath. Both of you are panting under the flowing water, fulfilled. You see her smiling with joy, before she laughs, and you can’t help but to do that along with her.

“Bitch.”

—

[twostepstyless]

We're Matching

Fic Advent Calendar Day 6

Advent Calendar Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Author’s Note: Y/N makes Harry a Christmas craft gift every year, what will it be this year. If anyone wants to see the inspiration of the gift this is it here

Word Count: 1.5k

SFW

———

The tradition had started by accident really. They had spent Christmas Day separately, each with their own respective families and met back up in London on the 29th of December when Harry came to her flat so they could cook together and spend the night wrapped up in their little love bubble. It was when she opened the door to see him in his black woollen coat, one foot crossed over the other with the happiest grin on his face to be reunited with his girlfriend. It was at the exact moment she grabbed him by the lapels of that black coat and tugged him through the door of her flat, as he kicked it closed behind him and planted her lips on his, that she decided they weren’t spending another Christmas Day separately again. Coats were shed in that hallway, as well as shirts, shoes, and trousers as they stumbled to Y/N’s bedroom drunk on each other before they had even opened a bottle of wine. It was after, once they had split their meal together and they were sat on her couch that she remembered about her little extra gift for him. 

“Got you somethin’” she had uttered quietly before reaching into the drawer in the side table by her couch, pulling out a small little organza bag. 

“We already done our Christmas presents I thought,” he replied, looking disapproving as if she had gone out and purchased him another present. 

“Yeah, well yeah we did, this is just somethin’ extra, well not extra, I don’t know, it’s silly now that I think about it,” she shook her head toying with the satin drawstrings of the tiny bag.

“Hey,” he gripped her hands that were fidgeting out of nervousness, “can I see it?” he asked as he smiled brightly, as she nodded quickly, handing him the little bag made of crisp fabric. Harry undid the strings and tipped the contents into his hand.

It’s… um, so m’little cousin got this like, beading kit from Santa, or their parents I guess, and I was just playing around with them, and I made a few different bits. I don’t know it was quite fun, thought y’might like it, y’don’t have to wear it or anything, if you don’t even want it, s’fine, I can put it with the one I kept for myself,” Y/N rambled chewing on the edge of her thumb as Harry inspected the brightly coloured hand beaded necklace that was now in his hands. It had a mixture of clear, shiny beads as well as shimmery pastel-coloured ones as well as the word loved in black-lettered beads around the middle of the string of beads. Y/N watched nervously as Harry’s fingers went to the closure of the necklace, quickly undoing it before fastening it round his throat. 

“Of course, m’going to wear it,” Harry gave her a look that said he was confused why she was considering that he wouldn’t wear anything she got or made for him.

Things need to be done more than once for it to become a tradition, once is an accident. The next year was happenstance. Y/N had gone to a paint your own pottery place that you could bring your own bottle to. Her and a group of friends were there, and Y/N had drained a bottle of wine and was now on the pre-mixed cocktails her best friend had brought with her as she picked out a small plate to paint, covering it in wonky stars, moons, and other wobbly celestial bodies. Not really knowing what it was for but enjoying making it all the same. A few days later her friend had picked up their painted potteries and gave Y/N’s back to her at a Christmas party she was throwing in her flat. Y/N shuffled into bed with Harry that night, both still a bit pissed from the snowball cocktails they had been nursing that evening, and Y/N had something wrapped in tissue paper in her hands. 

“What y’got there, love?” Harry asked, placing a wet kiss to her cheek as she deposited the sloppily wrapped gift into Harry’s lap on top of the duvet cover. 

“Made y’something at that pottery painting place I went to last week,” she yawned as Harry pulled the little plate, covered in Y/N’s shaky drawings, glazed to a shiny finish. 

“Look at you, you little artist,” Harry tilted the plate to catch the light from the bedside lamps, able to see all the colours of the planets and stars she had painted better in the light. 

“Wouldn’t go that far,” she laughed. The plate now sat on Harry’s own bedside table in the home that they shared, and on top of that plate held his beaded necklace from the year before and all his other jewellery he wore on a daily basis. 

This year was year six of Y/N’s Christmas craft, and Harry looked forward to it every year now. Y/N no longer had to be slightly intoxicated or was no longer cripplingly shy when handing over her handmade gifts if anything they came with threats if he took the piss out of her activity for the year. Which he never would. Harry had received a tote bag the year Y/N got a sewing machine, the following year he was gifted a cute little acrylic painting of their new puppy, Vinnie and last year she had tried her hand at embroidery and stitched a little design on a t-shirt. Granted, the stitching was a bit loose so he had taken to handwash the garment when he wore it instead of throwing it in the washing machine in case it got damaged.  This year, Y/N had put the effort in big time. She had been working away on her little passion project for the last few months at least. 

“Okay, close your eyes and hold your hands out, but don’t take the piss or I’ll be so sad and upset and throw a strop until you feel really guilty about it, ‘kay?” Y/N rhymed off as she gave him a wrapped present. 

“Can I at least open my eyes to unwrap it, sweets?” Harry had one eye open to see her realise he would need them open to see what he was doing. 

“Ugh, I suppose so,” she groaned playfully, before sitting cross legged on the couch next to him, watching as he felt the squishy parcel and untie the bow that was tied around it. 

Placing the ribbon down next to him, “can I go for it?” he asked, hopefully.

“Mhm,” she bit her lip, as Harry tore off the wrappings to reveal a knitted something. Shaking it out, Harry’s jaw dropped as he took in this year’s creation. 

“Y’learned to bloody knit?” Harry’s eyes shot over to her in awe as he saw her nod with a giggle. “And y’made me a jumper?” Harry held the garment up to his chest by the shoulders, the body was a cream chunky knit with red cuffs, neckline, and waist with a green christmas tree knitted on the front with tufts of bright coloured yarn sticking out from the tree as decorations. 

“Uh-huh, like it was a kit to make the jumper, but suppose y’could say I can knit,” she laughed as Harry quickly shrugged out of the sweatshirt he was wearing before sitting up a bit to tug his hand-made one down over his head as carefully as he could so not to stretch it out. 

“Kit or not, y’learned to knit to make me a bloody jumper,” the arms were slightly too long and she was convinced she had made the left a bit longer than the right but Harry bunched the cuffs up around his wrists so the knit sleeves just sat baggy around his biceps. 

“Y’look cute,” she reached over to adjust the neckline for him.

“I feel cute, when did you even do this,” he mused looking down at himself, fingers gravitating to play with the tufts of yarn meant to represent tree ornaments. 

“Been working on it since the end of August I think, had it hidden away in the back of the spare bedroom closet so y’wouldn’t see it when you were home,” Y/N grinned. 

“M’girlfriend is sooo talented,” Harry beamed in pride as he leant over to kiss her deeply. 

“Hang on,” she murmured before breaking away and unfolding her legs as she stood up and went over to their cupboard in the hallway, “we’ve not got to the best part yet,” she called. 

Harry stood to his feet to follow her as she appeared back in front of him, wearing a very familiar jumper. 

“We’re matching?!” Harry exclaimed as Y/N stood, giggling, in front of him in a replicate jumper.

———

Advent Calendar Masterlist

Main Masterlist

[ratralsis]

Welp, that was miserable

My blog was terminated for a little over two weeks because I tripped some kind of spam auto-detection filter.

It was probably my AC blog, @megatownac, not this one, because I hadn’t posted on this one in over three weeks, and my most recent post was just a stupid joke about how I think it would be funny to see Mario as a cannibal.

A lot’s happened, though. I went to Las Vegas for AWS re:Invent 2022, a big expo for, well, AWS. That’s Amazon Web Services, because that scrappy little online bookstore now also owns and operates the world’s largest cloud service provider, which even the federal government uses. If ever there was a company that was too big to fail, I’d say that one qualifies.

It was alright. I’m glad I went. I got to check Vegas off of my bucket list, and it was on there, don’t think it wasn’t. I’ve gone there now, though, and I don’t feel like going again. It was huge and loud and bright and overwhelming, just like you’d imagine. For a mildly autistic dude like me, it was simply too much. I did zero drinking or gambling while I was in Vegas, but I did see David Copperfield perform live. That was fun.

I also got COVID during the trip and spent about a week recovering from both it and some other kind of disease, probably RSV. I say that I had two diseases at once because my dad, who picked me up from the airport, did not test positive for COVID but also went through a set of very similar symptoms as I did. Could be wrong. Could have just been COVID and he didn’t do the test correctly. Who knows.

My cat, Max, had surgery on December 15th that required sutures, and he managed to rip a couple of them out that night despite my putting a shirt on him specifically to stop him from doing that, which meant he had a hole in his side with exposed muscle underneath it that kept bleeding into the shirt. That was the case for about 14 hours or so, which is when I was able to get him to the vet again to replace the sutures with stitches which have held for the last three days. He also now wears a massive, pillow-like collar in addition to the shirt. He hates it. I feel sad for him. This will be the case until the 29th.

I’m still working on my book. I don’t have anything new to say about it.

That’s all the news. I’ve had this blog for over ten years, and it was deeply jarring and upsetting to have it taken away from me so quickly and suddenly like that. There was no warning or anything. It was just gone one day.

I’m afraid it may happen again. If it does, just remember that I’m Ratralsis everywhere I’ve thought of registering the name Ratralsis. Twitter, Hive, Mastodon, Twitch, Instagram, and who knows how many other places. I’m easy to find if you look for me.

Not that I expect anybody to look for me.

[aniseandspearmint]

I just- AUGH *screams*

WHY ARE PEOPLE FREAKING ALLERGIC TO TELLING YOU IF THERE'S A PROBLEM.

If no one SAYS anything, how can I fix it?

Manager at the ride booking company: "Oh, there's absolutely nothing you've done specifically to have your rides cancelled every time you make them no matter how many weeks in advance you book it! Really, it's absolutely just random chance the last six rides your mother desperately needed to go to the doctor were cancelled!"

and

"Were terribly sorry, but we've called all the local companies and no one can come get your mother. Maybe you can find a neighbor or a friend to take her?"

no lady, we can't. Even if she didn't need the ride RIGHT NOW, everyone I could possibly consider inconveniencing like that owns a truck. Which she can't get up into. Because she's in a WHEELCHAIR.

So Mom missed another doctors appointment. Even though I booked the ride FOUR WEEKS AGO. The next available appointment? December EFFING 29th.

Meanwhile I can barely get her to eat anything and she's not sleeping much, because one of her new medications is causing horrible nausea and the asshole doctor couldn't POSSIBLY do anything about that OVER the PHONE.

AND I AM SO ANGRY I CAN BARELY BREATHE—

because I found out it actually IS just us and it IS personal.

See, she's gotten rides from all the companies around here this year, one more than most. Enough that I actually have their dispatch number because it's easier to arrange a ride home with them rather than route it through the national booking company.

So after I got off the phone with the ride booking company, I thought about it for a few minutes while I tried to stop crying (all strong emotions make me cry, which sucks) and then I went through all my notebooks and found the one companies number.

When someone picked up, I politely explained that hey, my mother has gotten a lot of rides from y'all in the past, now suddenly the ride booking company is cancelled every ride and telling me they can't find an available van. I give her the time and day and explain I booked this last trip at the end of last month.

Dispatch Lady: Well that's weird, we certainly have the trucks and the time. What did you say your mother's name is, and your address?

*I give her both and hear keys click*

Dispatch Lady: Oh. Hmmm, is that the place with a brown ramp out front?

Me: Yes? We had it put in because no one would come and get her at all with just the stairs.

Dispatch Lady: We-ell, it looks like everyone here has asked not to be assigned to you because the ramp seems kind of shaky? And, well you might sue us if it collapses while we're getting her down or up it.

Me: ..... w h a t. *I take several deep breaths before I burst into angry frustrated tears again*

Me: why didn't anyone tell me!?!?? They don't have to get her up and down the ramp if they don't want to?????? I was happy to have the help but it wasn't necessary AT ALL???? You mean to tell me people have been denying MOTHER HEALTHCARE because they think we might sue THEM if OUR ramp falls down!?!???

The conversation went on for a bit along that vein, and I am still furious and BAFFLED at the lack of communication skills (because not a SINGLE driver said a WORD about any of this to me or my mother, EVER)

I have been told notes have been added to my file with this company and they know I'll handle getting mom in and out of the house from now on.

That doesn't negate the emotional bs from this, and the fact that my mother is sicker now for not having been able to make it to any of these necessary appointments.

Oh and apparently the manager from the ride dispatch company also lied her ass off to me because the company I contacted got no calls from them today about my mother's ride. So. Yeah. I hate that a lot.

All of this because of our ramp. And, look, yeah our ramp is a bit steep. We couldn't build it at a gentler angle without it going past our property line and no matter how nice our neighbor is on that side, we couldn't do that.

It's steep, but it's STURDY okay? My almost 200lbs butt has jumped up and down the length of it right after it was built. The guy we're buying the house from is 6'5, 300lbs, and HE'S jumped up and down on it! It's SOLID.

I just can't even—

From the conversations I had, I suspect this reasoning holds for ALL the local medical ride companies. They see mom's name and address on the request, and pass the buck. Thinking, if they think at all, that someone else will pick it up.

Except no one has been and now mom has to wait an entire month to go to her GP and maybe get her meds straightened out.

Aaaand now I'm crying again.

Why couldn't any of them just tell me?

[5am-the-foxing-hour]

The Adventures 2020

X-mas (December 24th) Gift giving

Year 2020’s Adventures

5 parter, each part posted on advent: 1st 29th November, 2nd 6th December, 3rd 13th December and 4th 20rd December and the last part on Christmas 24th of December

- - -

Characters: all of them, orange side being a cryptid again.

Words: 1591

Warnings: no warnings I believe.

- - -

General Fanfic Tag list: @ebony-wolf, @nashiraneko, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @rabbitsartcorner, @punsterterry,  @sleepyssnail,  @nightmaresides, @virgilswritings, @ninja-girl2846, @ninjago2020, @starryfirefliesbloggo, @garecc,  @sympatheticdeceit, @cookiethedevil, @askthesnake,  @all-bridges-will-burn, @tacohippy56900, @little-euro-girl, @aggressiveshipper, @imbasicallyshakespear, @slayerofspiders, @prinssess61, @underthesea73,  @suicidalcitrusfruit,  @sander-side-stuff, @franthehorsegir, @kingpridesanders, @multi-fandoms-posts

- - - 

The others were gathered in the living room, sitting around the christmas tree. All having one present before them.

  “Can’t we start now?” Roman whined.

  “No, we have to wait for Remus and Janus.” Logan said

  “Uuuuuuuuugh but they have no concept of time!” Roman groaned as he let himself fall back to the floor to lie down, arms crossed and pouting.

  “Now, now Roman.” Patton said as he patted Roman on the knee. “I’m sure they’re on their way.”

  “SNAKEY! GET OUT OF BED!” A voice suddenly shouted from upstairs, unmistakingly belonging to a certain duke

  “GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF ME!” Came another voice, just as loud and more hysterical clearly belonging to Janus, a screech followed.

It didn’t take long before Remus came thundering down the stairs holding a loudly cursing Janus, who was bundled up in a bright yellow fluffy blanket, in his arms.

  “We’re here!” Remus cheered as he unceremoniously dropped Janus down between Thomas and Patton. Janus hissed louder as he grabbed his blanket and glared at Remus with murder in his eyes.

  “Remus, I swear, you better keep your snacks hidden or I will change them for Healthy food!” Janus snarled.

  “NO! NOT MY SNACKS!” Remus cried holding his hands protectively before himself.

  “Everyone here now?” Thomas asked.

  “Is…?” Logan started turning to Janus.

  “No, he hid even harder from Remus so I doubt he will show face.” Janus grumbled into his hand that he was leaning his jaw against, as he made himself a bit more comfortable on the floor. 

  “Then yes, everyone is here.” Logan said and nodded at Thomas. Thomas smiled and sighed in relief, as Roman cheered and sat up, only to snort at the birds nest that was Janus’s hair.

  “No hat?”

  “No, because someone didn’t have time to let me finish preparing for the day.”

  “You were taking too long!” Remus nagged. Janus just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Virgil sighed, and Logan rolled his eyes before he clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

  “Since everyone is here now, why don’t we get this year's secret Santa started?” A chorus of agreements followed and soon the sides and Thomas waited as Janus summoned his hat after Roman sent him some puppy eyes to use it to draw the name on who was to hand over their present first.

   “Virgil.” Logan read from the piece of paper he had taken from the bowler hat. Virgil grimaced before he huffed

  “Well… better to get it over with… I had you Logan...” Virgil said as he summoned a package, wrapped in purple paper with white stars, he handed it over to the other side who took it in surprise.

  “Are we opening the gifts now or are we waiting til everyone got theirs?” Thomas asked.

  “It’s more fun to open them together.” Patton said with a smile.

Logan carefully placed the purple present down on the floor, before he picked up a present wrapped in dark blue paper.

  “I had you Janus.” Logan said as he handed the present over. Janus blinked before one arm appeared from the blankets and took the present, a small chuckle left him as he thought he had an idea on what it was Logan had given him.

  “Thank you.” Janus said as he put the present down. “Roman I had you.”

  “Oh… yay...” Roman said only to yelp when two of Janus’s arms suddenly appeared from the floor holding a big yellow box. Roman gaped as he took it, missing how Janus’s arms disappeared back into the floor. Roman floundered a bit before he put down the big box and took out a smaller red present. “I had you Thomas.” Roman said as he handed over the red present to Thomas, while Patton cooed at how small it was.

  “Aw it’s so small and cute~” Thomas chuckled at Patton’s comment before he took the gift, not really surprised that he could touch it. 

  “Did you and Janus work together on this one?”

  “Not at all, I totally didn’t make you forget ever buying that thing.” Janus said with a smile. while Roman chuckled and rubbed at his neck.

  “Well, I had you Patton.” Thomas said before he told Patton to hold his hands open and then concentrated, a rainbow coloured present plopped down on top of Patton’s palms and he squealed.

  “Oh I’m sure I’ll love this!” he said as he put it down and brought forth a baby blue present from behind his back and held it out to Remus. “I had you Remus. Here.”

  “Oh goodie!” Remus cackled as he took it only to blink when he felt that it was a soft present. He squeezed the paper a bit, a grin growing on his lips. “Here raccoon.” He said distractedly as one of his tentacles held out a badly wrapped gift painted green with acrylic paint to Virgil. Virgil took it with a startled yelp, grimacing when he felt how the paint was still wet.

  “Ugh.. thanks...”

  “LET*S OPEN THEM!” Remus and Roman called at the same time, causing Patton, Janus and Thomas to chuckle.

Getting a nod of approval it didn’t take long for Remus to tear into his present, to find a neon green knitted scarf, it didn’t look the best but he held it up and gaped, before he squealed and hugged it close, before happily wrapping it around his neck and bit into one end of it, chewing the chick wool. Patton chuckled at the sight before a loud gasp from Roman made them look over to find how Roman was taking out a huge stuffed lion, pale yellow with a bright red mane and green eyes and Roman’s logo on a necklace around the neck.

  “Where did you get this?!”

  “I uh… made it.” Janus said as he rubbed at his hands, gloves covering all the patches that took up his fingers from where he stabbed himself with the needle. Janus couldn’t help the blush that grew on his cheeks when Roman gave him the biggest most happy smile in years.

Patton opened his gift next, a happy sob leaving him when he saw the little stuffed frog, glittering blue in the light and a pair of big blue eyes, a pair of glasses and the cat hoodie around it’s throat.

  “It’s meee...” he sniffled.

  “Yeah, I know the first time was a bit of a bad moment, so I wanted to get you something to help you feel better about it. Logan and Roman helped me figure out how to make it.”

  “I love it.” Patton mumbled as he hugged the soft frog close.

The sound of tearing present paper was heard followed by a chuckle.

  “I knew it. Thank you Logan.” Janus said as he held a thick book in his hand. “I don’t suppose you want to go through it at a later date and discuss the content.”

  “I would lo- like that.” Logan said with a small smile.

  “So THAT’s where that lego set went” Thomas said, having opened his own present to find one of the several lego sets he bought before him. “Thanks guys.”

Logan opened his own present and blinked down at a space themed cup with a bundle of book marks filling it up, all holding different constellations on them.

  “I heard you grumble about running out of book marks last time you and the snake had your book talks, and you keep using your favourite cup so often it’s always in the dishwasher.” Virgil murmured “It’s not much but-”

  “Thank you Virgil.”

Virgil looked down at the sticky present Remus gave him, before he sighed and snapped his fingers to make the paint dry, before he unwrapped it, cursing every piece of tape he found. Before he found a bag full of stim toys, he picked up a fidget cube the same size as a rubik's cube, instantly pressing all the buttons. Remus caught sight of it and grinned.

 The evening found them all still in the living room, snuggled tight as they watched the Polar express, Logan’s request. In queue was the first Grinch movie, A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, and several other Christmas movies.

Thomas felt warm and content, tomorrow he would have the “real” celebration with his family, eating his fathers food and spending time with his mom. but for now, now he would bask in the calm that came, all the sides cuddled together. Somehow Logan had found his way into Janus’s blanket, hugging around the snake like side as the two leaned against Thomas’s side. Patton took up his other side, as Remus sat on the floor, purring as Patton played with his hair. Roman and Virgil sprawled on the remaining sides, Roman having the weighted lion lying on top of him acting as a weight blanket. while Virgil absently fiddled with the stim toys in the bag Remus gave him.

Thomas smiled, only to blink when a clementine was dropped on his lap, he picked it up looking around, no one else was around, Thomas turned it over to find how “Hi” had been carved out from the skin. as well as a smirking smiley. Thomas huffed and rolled his eyes.

  “He’ll show his face sometime...” Janus mumbled into his shoulder making Thomas glance at him, to see how Janus was looking at the clementine he was holding. “He’s just going to be a cryptid first.” A snort left Thomas and he chuckled, returning his attention to the TV

  “Yeah.”

[peanutbutterworm]

i love you

here we go!! here is my moreid secret santa fic! 

click here to read it on AO3

warnings: none, light angst at one point but it is mostly tooth rotting fluff

word count: 4196

summary: Penelope begs and begs Hotch until he finally lets her have a BAU secret santa party. There is a small problem for Dr. Spencer Reid however when he is set the task of giving a gift to his best friend and crush, Derek Morgan.

“Hotch please?” Penelope drew out the last vowel of the word, as if it would make him say yes.

“I told you, Garcia, it’s out of my hands for now. It sounds like a great idea, really, but I don’t think that Strauss nor the director would approve of it.”

“It doesn’t have to be a work thing! Just, as friends, as a family.”

“And I already told you, Garcia, as long as we’re using company time it is a ‘work thing’.”

“God why does everyone have to be so boring. It’s a bonding thing!” Penelope checked the date on her phone. “It’s November 29th, if we’re not allowed to do this I’m going on strike.”

“Mhm,” Hotch was already moving on to something else, and Penelope left in a huff. She ran into Spencer on the way back to her office.

“Hey Penelope,”

“Hi, Spencer.” She said curtly, storming past him.

“Woah, what’s going on today?” Spencer said, stopping her by grabbing her arm. Penelope sighed, realizing she wasn’t being her cheery self and someone was bound to notice, may as well be him.

“Walk with me, boy genius.” Penelope explained her current predicament on the way to her office, huffing and using her hands to talk the entire way.

“And I don’t get why Strauss won’t allow it! It’s a great team bonding activity, and we would have so much fun!” She finished explaining.

“Garcia, we have fun without ‘team bonding activities’, I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this.”

“Because, I’m tired of being ignored. I just want one of my suggestions to go through and I’m starting to think Strauss doesn’t like me.”

“I’m pretty sure Strauss doesn’t like any of us,” Spencer said, sipping his coffee from a company mug.

“Yeah I know,” Penelope put her head into her hands and sighed. “Why are they so against us having fun?”

“They think it ‘interferes with the job’” Spencer said, quoting a seminar they were forced to go to.

“Yeah, bullshit.” Penelope half scoffed into her hands, half laughed. “How is it going with Derek?” She asked, smirking up at Spencer. Spencer couldn’t help but turn a little red whenever she asked about him. He had told Penelope about his crush on her best friend in September, and even though it had been going on for much longer Spencer was reminded every day why he didn’t tell her sooner. However Spencer never missed a chance to talk to her about it. Even though Penelope was a huge gossip, she would never tell Derek something this important without asking Spencer for permission first. And anyways, it was nice to get stuff off his chest.

“Nothing has really happened, just still lying awake at night thinking about him instead of doing something productive with my chronic insomnia.”

“How can you be productive with chronic insomnia anyways?”

“I don’t know… do things?” Spencer giggled and then paused, recalling something. “Wait, I do recall, I saw him at the grocery store.”

“No way, you two shop at the same place?”

“Unfortunately. I was too awkward to say anything anyways, and I looked like a mess too.”

“I’m sure he didn’t care. This is the man that saw me almost die and I need not remind you that he has seen you in the hospital. Multiple times.”

“I try not to remember.”

“Did he say anything?”

“No.”

“You are so boring,”

“It was late, Garcia. I don’t think I had the patience to deal with anyone, including him, and if you were to ask him I’m pretty sure he would say that feeling’s mutual by how he looked.” Spencer sighed. “He was so pretty though. Like sleepy pretty, not the way we see him at work.”

Penelope was just sitting there, sighing.

“What!” Spencer said, playing with a piece of dirt that was caught between his nails.

“Nothing. You are just so, so fucked.”

“I know!” Spencer dropped it and threw his hands to his face. “He’s just so… AH! I feel like a teenage girl.”

“Considering your looks, you might not be far off.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding, but really, you need to tell him. It’s gotta happen eventually.”

“No, I don’t want to ruin our friendship for my own feelings, it’s selfish.”

“Have you ever considered he might feel the same way?” Penelope asked, and Spencer just stared back at her. “You’re telling me you haven’t?”

“I just haven’t thought about it, of course it’s a probability but the chance that he likes me back is just so low. Did you know the chance of your crush liking you back is-” Spencer was cut off when Derek walked into the room, right into the middle of a conversation he had no idea was about him.

“Thank you for saving me from that,” Penelope said.

“Hotch needs you both at the round table,” was all Derek said, smirking at both of them.

“We’ll be there soon.” Spencer said, staring as Derek left the room. “Do you think he heard any of that?”

“You talk too fast and I wasn’t really keeping up very well, but no, I don’t think he knows it was about him at the very least.”

“Thank god.” Spencer sighed. “Come on, I don’t want to be yelled at by Hotch again.”

“Guess whatttttt!” Penelope said, with everyone mingling around their desks on a chilly December morning, having not been called in on a case yet for the day.  

“Did someone die?” Emily asked, taking a headcount of everyone there, all BAU team members accounted for.

“What? No, oh my god Em. Unrelated to death, we get to have a secret santa!” She exclaimed, and everyone's faces lit up with smiles.

“Strauss thinks it would be good for us to bond over the holidays,” Hotch said, cracking a small smile.

“Yeah yeah, anyways write your names on these,” Penelope all handed them a torn piece of paper, “and put it in the magic hat.” She held out a small colorful beret she sometimes wore to work and mixed up all the names that were placed in it. “Now who wants to go first?” She asked, looking around the room eagerly.

“Can I go, Pen?” JJ asked, walking up to the hat.

“Why of course my dear,” Penelope said, dropping into a bow but making sure none of the names spilled out.

This went on for ten minutes until everyone had someone picked out. Penelope then took the last name out of the hat for herself before snugly fitting the hat back onto her head.

Spencer looked at the slip of paper he had gotten, and in all caps was the name Derek . He reminded himself that there was a 1 in 7 chance. A one in SEVEN chance. Maybe the universe just hated him, he mused to himself, trying to keep a poker face while slipping the paper into his pocket. He would tell Penelope about this later, because even though they were supposed to keep it a secret, she would want to know about this.

Derek did the same as everyone and glanced at his small slip of paper but did a double take when he saw the name scrawled on the parchment. Spencer Reid, was all it said in black ink. Great, of course he got his best friend, whom of which he was inconveniently in love with at the moment. He tried to keep his facial expression neutral, as there was a team full of profilers watching and if he even showed the slightest amount of emotion right now, it might give away who he had drawn.

“Now as per the rules of our lovely unit chief, no gifts above $20, and no telling who you got, as it would ruin the game. We will exchange gifts on the 24th and our lovely Rossi has agreed to let us use his home for the gift exchange.” Penelope described the rules, gesturing over to Rossi.

“Not home, mansion” He corrected, smiling.

A few days later, after agonizing over whether or not he should tell Penelope about his crush on Spencer, Derek texts Penelope. Everyone is asleep on the jet home except for Spencer and him. Spencer is reading a book at a million miles an hour, and Derek is on his phone. However every few seconds in between texts he would look up at the doctor, who always looked so peaceful and serene while reading.

New iMessage from: Garcia

You’re kidding me.

Derek smiled at his phone and typed,

No, I’m not. And I got him for secret santa too. I am so fucked, aren’t I?

He finished typing and set his phone on his lap, glancing at Spencer again while waiting for a response. Well, he thought, less of a glance, more of a stare. He zoned out looking at the younger man, memorizing the way his hands ran over the page. Suddenly the doctor looked up, and they looked in the eyes for a moment before they both quickly looked away. He felt a buzz on his chest and feeling grateful to have an excuse to look at something other than him, continued his conversation with Penelope.

Garcia: First of all you weren’t supposed to tell me the secret santa thing, second of all,  I can feel you staring at him from here. You are so in love it makes me sick.

Penelope rummaged around her office in Quantico, cleaning up before the team arrived and they all got to go home. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and took it out, Morgan again.

Derek: I know, but I had to tell somebody because I’m going crazy over it. I don’t know what to get him. He deserves something better than some random book.

Garcia: My sweet, I promise you he will love anything you get him.

Derek: You sure?

Garcia: I am sure.

Garcia: And if you don’t go to sleep right now Derek Morgan I will strangle you when you get back.

Derek: Fine fine, we’ll be back in an hour. You should get some rest too, go home.

Garcia: Like hell I’m leaving before you all get back here safely. I’ll wait.

They landed in Quantico about an hour later, and as promised, Derek was asleep for about 30 minutes when the jet landed and jolted everyone awake. They all walked back into the building together, tired as all hell even though most of them got sleep on the plane.

“Hey, kid,” Derek said, walking with Spencer to his desk. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Nope,” Spencer said, packing up his things, avoiding looking Derek in the eye.

“Are you alright?” Derek asked, and Spencer froze in his tracks. There were a million things he could’ve said at that moment, but he just continued packing his things after a muttered ‘yea,’. “You know you can talk to me, right?” Derek asked, but Spencer just started thinking about how no, actually he could not talk to him because talking to him about the particular thing he was feeling at the moment would ruin their friendship and Spencer didn’t know if he could take any heartbreak at the moment considering he was tired and about to break down into tears.

“Please, just go to your office, Morgan. I don’t want to talk.” Was all he said, and as Derek walked away a single tear slipped down Spencer’s cheek, which he aggressively rubbed away. The rest of the team was either too busy wrapping up or too tired to notice the distress Spencer was in at the moment.

Derek walked to his office, trying not to burst into tears. When he closed his door he immediately started crying, though. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. He hated seeing Spencer in danger, which is exactly where every case put him. And he was always so cold to him, like working with him now was a pain, a formality that must be gone through with. The glance on the plane was a spark of hope before, that maybe Spencer felt the same way, but it was put out by the way he acted earlier. He didn’t know anymore.

He knocked on Penelope’s door, hoping that the technical analyst hadn’t gone home yet. And she hadn't; she was sitting in her chair, knitting when Derek came in. She jumped up, giving him a kiss on the cheek when he arrived.

“God I am so happy to see that you are safe and well and a million other good things.”

“Actually, safe and well might be the only two good things I feel at the moment, Pen.”

“Alright, talk to me. What happened.” She said, moving her way over to sit down with Derek, rubbing his back.

“I don’t know. There was a moment, on the plane, while I was texting you that I thought maybe, maybe he felt the same way but when we got back he was so cold. It was like he was trying to distance himself from me in every way.”

“Ok, well you’re the profiler. Tell me exactly what he said.”

“Babygirl I don’t remember-”

“I think you do.” Penelope said, crossing her arms at him.

“I do. He said, ‘Please, just go to your office, Morgan. I don’t want to talk.’ He sounded sad, and he said please, which means he was probably expecting me to stay.” Derek had a moment of realization before putting his head in his hands. “I should’ve stayed, oh my god I should have-”

“Hey, hey there is nothing you can do now. Deep breaths. And you’re right. Those sound like the words of someone who is trying to push you away for their own good. And I’ve heard them before,” She said, punching Derek softly in the shoulder. “I don’t think he wants you to leave, Der. I think he just needs some time to figure out himself, first.”

“Do you think he likes me?”

“I can’t say for sure,” (She definitely could) “But I’d say he does.”

“About the secret santa,”

“Hun, I don’t care that you told me.”

“No, not that. What should I get him?”

“I already told you. He would love a ‘random book’” She did air quotes around what Derek had said over text earlier. “But you should make it special, write a note inside or something.”

“You know what…” Derek started, getting an idea. “I think I will.”

“Great, glad I could be of help. Now if you will excuse me, I have to be back here in 6 hours now, and I would like to go home for at least 4 of those.

“Well don’t let me get in the way.” Derek said, smiling at her and backing out of the office.

Spencer spent the rest of that night overthinking, trying to sleep but only falling unconscious for 3 hours before his blaring alarm woke him up. Did I push him away? He thought to himself, lying awake.

Spencer texted Penelope on his way into work, and even though he wasn’t much of a texting person, he didn’t have the time to make a call right now. All his text said was: I really messed up this time, Garcia. She replied as he was walking into the office, What did you do? Although Penelope, of course, had some inkling of what the young doctor was talking about. They had a few minutes before work officially started for the day, and Hotch hadn’t given them a case yet so he strode directly to Penelope’s office, not bothering to set down anything.

Spencer knocked on the door before coming in, and closed the door before sitting down.

“Alright, so spill.” She said, crossing her legs. Her office was becoming less and less of a technical analysis space and more of a therapist’s couch.

“I pushed him away. I was tired and angry and I pushed him away.”

“Slow down, slow down. I’m sure he didn’t take it that way, all of you were feeling that way last night.”

“No but he seemed angry with me too and I-”

“I can promise you. He probably was angry at first and regretted it, and now he’s thinking the same thing you are. Make an effort today to reach out to him, you’ll be surprised.”

“You sound like JJ reading my horoscope.”

“Maybe I can just see into the future.”

“Yeah right, and anyways that isn’t the end of it. I know I’m not supposed to tell you but I got Derek for the secret santa thing.” Spencer sighed into this coffee that was pressed against his lips, and after taking a sip, said, “I’m starting to really hate you for putting this together, because I have no idea what to give him.”

“Maybe get him something he likes,”

“Yeah, but what does he even like? Music?” Spencer asked, setting his coffee cup on the table beside him. “But I don’t even know what or who he listens to. All I know is he likes music and I feel like I don’t know anything about him right now.”

“Football. He likes football.” Garcia said, also trying to think of things her best friend would enjoy as a present.

“Ok that’s a start, what about football is there…”

“No, no scratch that. Do you know how to make a mix of music on a CD?”

“Garcia, you know I can barely work a printer.”

“I’ll help you. I made his playlist that he listens to on the jet so I know what he likes. All you have to do is give it to him.”

“Wow, thanks Penelope. I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t. Say anything that is, just go catch a serial killer and I’ll have it ready by the end of the day.”

As promised, at the end of the day Spencer walked into Penelope’s office and she had a CD ready for him. It was a relatively short case, a local one that had the team home before 8pm. Everyone was in a good mood, but decided to go home early while they had the rare chance.

“Ok here it is, loverboy. Just so you know you can write on it with Sharpie and it won’t mess up the disc.” She winked and handed it to him, Spencer blushing and turning around to make sure no one was at the door.

“Thank you, Penelope. Really.”

“It’s nothing. Thank me when you finally confess your love to that himbo.”

“What’s a-”

“You know what, I’m not explaining that to you. Go home, try and go to sleep early tonight.” She said, pushing him out the door with his new CD. As the door closed in his face, Spencer started to say,

“Have a nice-” But it closed before he could say “-night.” He sighed and walked down the hall, carrying his CD and bag with him towards the elevator. He didn’t expect to see anyone else, but lo and behold Derek Morgan walking towards the elevator at the same time.

“Hey, Reid.” He said, stepping into the elevator with him.

“Hey,” Spencer replied, glancing everywhere but into Derek’s eyes. They were about level, height-wise, and this made it harder for Spencer to avoid his gaze, so he just stared down at the ground.

“Look, if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. I just want to know why.” Spencer’s face heated up in shame, and he looked to Derek.

“I’m sorry that I’ve been acting so cold lately. I’ve been having a hard time, but Garcia helped me realize I shouldn’t be shutting people like you who care about me out.”

“Garcia helped you realize-” Derek paused, thinking. “How long have you two been talking?” He asked, curious.

“Pretty much every day since September.”

“Ok ok, I see.” Spencer didn’t question the way Derek asked how long he’d been talking to Garcia, and switched the topic of conversation.

“Four days and counting until the Secret Santa party.” He said, glancing back at Derek.

“Yeah, you excited?”

“Mostly excited to see who mine is.” Spencer said, staring at the elevator doors, which had just opened. “Have a good night,” He said, walking out the doors of the building, rushing towards his car.

“Yeah, you too.” He said, but Derek knew that Spencer was long gone by now. Derek left the building and walked towards his car, starting it and leaving the parking lot as quick as he got here this morning.

The day of the Secret Santa party, Hotch had one case for them. When they got to the round table, everyone was pretty disappointed, because cases often meant that they came back late and in a bad mood. But it turned out that this one was just an hours drive away, and even quicker on the jet, so everyone hopped in, hoping that this wouldn’t take long.

The case only ended up lasting the day, as the killer was sloppy and left behind an extensive trial. The BAU team boarded the jet wondering why they were even called in to help in the first place.

“Hey, at least this means you all can still come over tonight.” Rossi said positively.

“Yeah, everyone’s coming, right?” JJ said, scanning the plane, but no one spoke up. Just nods of heads to confirm that they were all going.

They all took their seperate cars to Rossi’s, with Emily riding with JJ because she left her car at her apartment and took the subway.  

When Spencer got there, the house was lit up. Rossi and Hotch had been the first ones to arrive, and shortly after Spencer the rest came filing in the door, joking and laughing with everyone. Spencer caught sight of everyone holding their gifts, wondering which bag or wrapped box was for him. Penelope was the last to come in, taking off her shoes at the door like everyone else and smiling at him with a wrapped present.

“Not for you,” She said, seeing the look on his face “That comes later.”

They all ate good food and talked and drank wine that night, and everything seemed perfect for that moment in time.

“Ok, ok. It is time for the event that we all came here for to take place!” Penelope said, a little wine drunk, standing up and grabbing her present. “Here’s what’s gonna happen, everyone stand up and go find whoever you were assigned. That’s it, good luck.”

They all rose from their seats to go find their assigned person. Spencer just silently waited. He knew he had Morgan, but he wanted to receive his present first and then find Derek because he was a little more… personal, and he didn’t want anyone getting in the way. Just then Derek made his way to him . No, no way is this happening, he thought, terrified and excited at the same time.

“Spencer Reid,” He said, handing the doctor a poorly wrapped present “I believe this is for you.”

“Oh my god,” Reid said, eyes darting between the present and Morgan.

“What?” Derek asked, visibly confused.

“Here. You were who I was assigned.” Spencer said bluntly, shoving the small present towards him.

“What are the odds,” Derek said, and then added as Spencer opened his mouth “please do not actually tell me the odds,” and they both laughed, unwrapping their gifts to each other. Spencer, since he got his gift first, unwrapped it faster and found a book.

“Derek, I love this,” It was a book he had never read before, and from the many books Spencer Reid had read, there weren’t a lot of those left. “Thank you.” He said, looking at him. He thumbed through the pages as the scent of the new book filled the air around them.

“Look at the inside cover.” Derek said, with a hint of shakiness in his voice.

“Only if you look at the CD.” Derek was holding the case in his hands, not taking the disc out itself yet. He was going to listen to it on the car ride home, he had told himself.

“Ok,” Derek wondered what was written on the CD. Probably just a funny playlist name or some fun fact about music, he thought dismissively. At the same time he pulled the disc gently from it’s casing, Spencer opened the cover to the book. In Spencer’s scrawled handwriting, Derek made out the words ‘I love you.’ written in black sharpie on the disc. As Spencer opened the book, he found Derek’s bold lettering on the cover page, saying ‘I love you.’

At the same time, they both looked at each other and came to a realization that this was not platonic. This wasn’t the way friends said they loved each other. And they both realized that the other felt the same way that they had been feeling for months.

“I love you too,” They both said at the same time, both letting out a laugh and realizing what happened.

“My place after this?” Derek asked under his breath.

“Most definitely.” Spencer replied, leaving Derek with a kiss on the cheek to go talk to Penelope.

[george-mackay-macfine]

Dear Diary Prt. 15

Word Count: 1,750 (Roughly) 

(I promise the word count is going to pick up again once we get through some of the shorter enteries, and into long ones again, at the moment we’re all just in Graces brain.)

December 25th, 2011

Dear Diary,

Happy Christmas!!

I don’t have time to go over the events of the morning right now, (Aunt Mildred sat me down and went over the first time she gave a blow job), Mum’s called me downstairs, apparently, I have a gift from Harry that came in the post.

I’ll write more soon!

Love Y/N,

--

December 27th, 2011

Dear Diary,

Sorry I didn’t write again the other day, after reminding myself about Aunt Mildreds blow job story I went downstairs and stole a bottle of vodka and spent the rest of the day drinking for God with my oldest cousin Jesse.

I did remember to drunkenly open Harry’s gift, it was a thick diary, with a handwritten note on the front page. It says;

Dear Y/N,

I didn’t know what to get you for Christmas but knew I had to get you something.

I always see you scribbling down in that old tattered diary of yours, so I thought I’d buy you a new one. Maybe when you write you’ll think of me.

Love Harry,

Isn’t that the sweetest! Harry Styles has to be the most thoughtful guy I have ever met.

Love, Y/N.

--

December 29th, 2011

Dear Diary,

I’m finally home. After an excruciating six days, (It was five an a half, but six makes me sound like a better daughter) with my family driving me mental about my medical degree, my love life, and how much wine I was drinking at dinner I’m finally home in my own bed.

Harry and Dean aren’t home until tomorrow, so I’ve got the flat to myself for the whole night. I’ve already messaged Tom and he’s on his way over with some food, and you guessed in more wine.

It’s good to be home Diary,

Love Y/N.

--

December 30th, 2011

Dear Diary,

It has become so extremely utterly apparent to me that I am utterly useless when it comes to sex and the opposite gender… Even more so than I already thought I was.

Let me tell you about last night, and how my utterly useless self realised I know nothing.

So Tom came over, and when I saw him standing at my front door with wine, take away and flowers, I swear my heart did a thousand backflips and well, diary I began to feel guilty about that kiss with George, so I did what any rational woman would do, and I practically jumped him at the door.

“I’ve missed you, Darlin’,” Tom whispered against my lips as I pulled him into the apartment, moving us back towards the settee. “Six days, too long,”

“Mhhm,” I agreed, lips still flush against his. Something took over in the back of my brain and I needed more of him as we fell onto the settee. “You’re jacket,” I began to pull it down his arms, “Take it off,”

“Y/N,” He pulled away, his full hands moving to my shoulders holding me still, “Slow down, we have all night for that,” He pulled me into his chest, “I’m beginning to think you only called me over for a booty call,”

“No,” I stuttered. “I missed you, that’s all…”

“Alright,” He conceded pulling away from me and standing, “If my girlfriend wants me to take my jacket off, then my jackets coming off.” He began to pull the fabric down his arms, stopping midway when he took in my shocked face, “Unless my girlfriend isn’t in this room?”

“You want me to be your girlfriend?” His jacket was halfway down his arms when he nodded his head.

“Yeah, I do,”

“Your girlfriend wants you to take your jacket off,” I whispered, watching as a smile broke out onto his face, the jacket falling to the floor.

“Whatever the girlfriend wants, she shall have,” He fell back onto the settee with me, a mess of limbs. “Well girlfriend,” He stroked my cheek softly, “You’re still coming to the party tomorrow aren’t you?” Tom’s New Year’s party.

“Yes, the boys and Charlotte are still right to come as well aren’t they?”

“Of course,”

“Then I will most certainly be there,” He smiled kissing me softly on the lips, “We should eat,” I whispered through another kiss, “Or we could do other things,”

“I’ve never seen your bedroom,” His hand drew over my knee in circles soothing my rapidly beating heart,

“You want to see my bedroom?” He nodded his head, “Okay,” I stumbled standing from the settee and crossing. The short distance to my small room. “It’s not very tidy, I was studying last night,” He walked inside, fingers running over nicknacks, picking up the diary Harry gave me. “Harry gave it to me for Christmas,” I missed Harry, and Dean being here without their constant football talk didn’t feel right. He smiled at it before setting it back down on the desk.

“It’s all very Y/N,”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I’m not too sure anything about you could be bad,” He laughed laying on the bed. “Beds not too comfortable, squeaks as well,”

“Loud bed,” as George had aptly put weeks before. “Not so great when you have a bad sleep,”

“Oh really?” He raised his eyebrow,

“Wakes everyone up,” He reached his arm out towards me beckoning me to join him on the bed. I padded over and sat beside him on the hard mattress. He reached out and pulled me down beside him, laying us close together. “Hi,”

“Hi,” He breathed our noses brushing softly as he moved.

“Hi,” I whispered back. He smiled, fingers resting softly under my chin as he brought our lips together, letting them brush together softly. The kiss became rougher as Tom pulled me closer, his hands running down my arm, stopping at my waist. My heart rate spiked as Tom’s lips left mine and moved across my cheek leaving a trail of kisses from my lips to my neck, the skin of my neck being pulled deviously between his teeth. “Ugh,” A strangled moan escaped my lips as I pulled at his short hair. “Tom,” My breath was whispery, nearly unrecognisable as Tom bit into the skin again. “Fuck,”

“You okay?” He pulled his head back up, meeting mine,

“Yeah,” I pulled his lips back to mine, unable to stop the hunger I’d found for him, for the feeling of his lips on mine. He pulled me over so we spun on the small bed, I was on top of him looking down at him as my hands worked on their own to pull his shirt off. He leaned up, pulling the shirt off his body and tossing it on the ground beside my bed. His skin was toned, and nicely tanned. My fingers traced down the expanse of exposed skin as his right hand went to my hip, squeezing the skin before moving back up, fingertips tracing underneath the thin fabric off my shirt. He looked me in the eyes as he moved it upward, exposing a small part of me to him.

I felt underneath me him hardening, God, it felt a lot bigger than Julians had when we made out, and I didn’t know what to do with his, how am I supposed to know what to do with Toms… His hips slowly, subconsciously rutted up against mine hitting me in my most intimate areas.

“Y/N,” He groaned as my hips accidentally moved down against him. “Do you have anything?”

“No,” I sat upright, the cold water of his words rushing over me. “I don’t have anything,” I swung my leg off him and sat down beside him, hand resting on his bicep. I looked down to the bulge in his pants. “I’m sorry,”

“Sorry?”

“Yeah,” I moved my head so I motioned to his crouch. “About that,”

“Hey,” He sat up, putting his hands under my chin, “Don’t be sorry about anything Y/N,” He kissed me softly. “It’s fine,” He whispered. “How about we go have tea before it gets cold?”

“Yeah, Please,” He stood up and helped me up, holding my hand the entire way to the living room where the forgotten bag of food sat. “What’d you get?” I asked as I sat on the settee watching him riffle through the bags,

“Italian,” He smirked sending me a cocky wink.

And that was it Diary, Tom asked me to be his girlfriend, we made out for the first time… I mean really made out, the kind of made out where you’re sitting there, and you feel everything… everything!!! and I am now constantly worrying about how his Penis…. more so the size of it… (Which felt quite big as we already know) and how it is going to fit anywhere near (or in) me.

When Sarah told me about losing her virginity to Freddie Ashmore in tenth I assumed she was making up how painful it was, you know, the stretching, but now having felt how big Tom is, I don’t think she was lying.

Not that I’m planning on losing my virginity to Tom ANY time soon… I don’t even know if it’ll be him I lose it too, maybe he’ll end up breaking my heart and I’ll die alone an old spinster virgin lady.

I hope not,

Love Y/N,

--

December 31st, 2011

Dear Diary,

I’ve been Tom’s girlfriend for nearly twenty-four hours now, and it’s kind of weird… The relationship already feels more mature then the one Julian and I were in, I think it’s because we’re in Uni, and we’re practically adults… at least he is, I’d rather be an adult in training - the juice in the bottle can be wine - Last night he went home after Midnight, giving me a final kiss and a promise of seeing me tomorrow, as we enter the New Year - together.

Speaking of New Year, How crazy is it that we’re nearly in 2012… Since finishing school the year has flown by, the first year of Uni is halfway finished, and I can’t believe it.

I really lucked out meeting the people I met this year and having them to spend my first year of Uni with.

I’ll give you an update of how the party went tomorrow Diary, hopefully, the hangover isn’t too bad.

Wish me luck,

And Happy New Year Diary,

Love Y/N,

[radiojamming]

Can you tell us anything more about John Hartnell's time on the Voltage?

Hell yeah, I can! I have some pictures from the log books I can post later, too. I legit sat for H O U R S reading tiny handwriting from the master’s logs. Most of the logs were lists of chores, punishments, notes on the weather, and any major events. John’s time on the Volage can be divided pretty neatly in half, between the ship’s North American tour, and its Irish Sea patrol, all between 1841-45. 

The North American part was probably pretty exciting for him, considering that he’d been a shoemaker since he was thirteen years old. Compared to what his brother had been up to on the Volage (the Aden Expedition, Battle of Chuenpi, etc.), it focused less on military ventures and more on transportation and patrol. The first major thing it did was in December of 1841, when it accompanied the HMS Warspite and HMS Thalia in taking the King of Prussia, Frederick William IV to England to attend the christening of the Prince of Wales. After that, it scurried over to Plymouth to get new fittings, and then took off for the Caribbean. 

A lot happened in the Caribbean, and reading through the log books (always written in very non-emotional language, but still entertaining) paints a very eclectic picture of their activities. The Volage went to Jamaica first, awaiting orders until they were ordered to go to Saint Martha to pick up... $800,000 in gold. Legit, that sat on the Volage for two months until they dropped it off in Port Royal. By then, half the crew was incredibly ill with a mix of diseases including what might have been dysentery. Amazingly, for all of John’s terrible luck, he doesn’t appear on the sick list, even as one of the lieutenant’s eventually died as well as the clerk. 

They scurried back and forth across the Caribbean from January of 1842 until they departed for Halifax, Nova Scotia later that summer. (Land of @theiceandbones!) In all honesty, the Volage didn’t get up to much during it’s time in Halifax. They didn’t necessarily have a mission, but it does make for some really entertaining reading! There was a lot of shore leave, for instance. Here are some of the notes I wrote on my read-through between the Caribbean and Halifax (which is from ADM 54/312):

Mondays and Fridays are mandatory clothes-washing days.

8th of July 1842 - “Punished Michael Logan with 48 [!] lashes for Disobedience of Orders and Insolence”

12th of July 1842, 6pm - “Committed to the deep the Body of Samuel Marvin (AB) Deceased.” / “Departed this life William Baillie (boy) - Buried at sea on the 13th.”

18th of July 1842, 10:50 pm - “Heard the report of several Guns from the North” [in Halifax]

20th of July 1842 - Halifax Citadel visit and the burial of Robert Webb (boy), Samuel Gibbon, John Barnes, and Samuel Brummage (carpenter’s mate) on shore

Godden reports that several warm nights, sailors were permitted to use their hammocks and sleep on the beach! (I put a smiley face next to my note here!)

Most of their Halifax mooring was spent cleaning. Lots of repainting, holystoning, repairing, etc.

Multiple discharges for “uselessness” and “disgrace”. 

The latter note is really interesting, considering that none other than Charles Dickens visited Halifax that same year, and made note of sailors making total idiots out of themselves on oysters and champagne. Indeed, there are plenty of punishments recorded for that summer for drunkenness, insubordination, and desertion, again sometimes up to 48 lashes. (I’ll post a picture of the log just to confirm that.) On a high note, John Hartnell wasn’t punished once! And believe me, I looked!

They did have to have some repair work done to fix a leak in October before scurrying back down south with the “Squadron”. Godden makes some pretty boring notes about looking at the United States coast (as in essentially saying, “Yep, there it is!”) before they hang tight to the coast of Mexico. 

The Volage appears to have been outfitted for doing survey work, which is part of what they did for the next few months. Between that, mooring for absolutely nothing, and hanging out with slave ship hunters (I like to think they high-fived the HMS Racer at some point) their zig-zag order of ports of call are:

Barbados > Puerto Rico > Grenada > St. Vincent > Jamaica > St. Lucie > Antigua > Jamaica (long-term Port Royal mooring) > Haiti 

By early 1843, the Volage was headed back home. They docked in Plymouth for a time before getting their next orders for the Admiralty for the apparently much-maligned Irish Sea duty. At this point, Captain William Dickson had a temporary replacement for the deceased Lt. Davey, but eventually, that lieutenant had to leave as well. Captain Dickson did get a note from the Admiralty that he was to get his replacement at the Cove of Cork, and according to the sudden burst of tiny handwriting at the bottom of the page on Tuesday, August 29th, 1843, Captain Dickson totally forgot about that. Literally, the note for the day is kind of falling off the page from squeezing it in, but reads: “Read the Commission of Lieut J Irving”.

Because Lieutenant John Irving hopped on board as a new replacement, thus using those sweet, sweet letters of his to describe the next few months. He was absolutely meticulous about dating his letters, and having them on hand in his memoir made it easy to line up with Godden’s notes in the master’s log, confirming everything between the two of them. This time, Irish patrol got kind of exciting.

First, here’s Irving talking about joining the Volage, saying much nicer things about Capt. Dickson considering the captain was probably going, “Oh shit right I forgot we were doing this.”

“To my great joy I found the ‘Volage’ at anchor here. I was afraid she might have gone somewhere else. I went on board direct from the steamer, and was introduced to Sir William Dickson, the Captain; rigged myself in a blue coat and a pair of epaulettes; the hands were turned up, and the Captain read my commission appointing me lieutenant of the ship to the ship’s company. There are three of us. I am the second in seniority. Our mess consists of seven--viz., three lieutenants, one master, surgeon, a lieutenant of marines. They are all very good fellows. I was three years messmate of one of them in a former ship, so am comfortable in that respect.”

Irving noted that the officers were frequently invited to parties in Cork (”I could be at parties every day if I liked;”), and Godden does say that the rest of the crew were given shore leave fairly frequently, even though they didn’t have enough officers to allow them to leave as often. 

For the next four months, the Volage remained at Cork, doing patrol with several other man-of-war’s. On land, there were frequent clashes between the Protestants and the Catholics, but more importantly, there were the Repealers following Daniel O’Connell’s urging to repeal the Acts of the Union and re-establish the independent Kingdom of Ireland. Between Irving and Godden, the image of this time from the perspective of the Volage is one of a lot of bloody rumors and high tension (a Protestant curate was killed, houses were being burned down). However, O’Connell’s followers were very civil to the sailors and actually invited some of the Volage officers to visit their homes. Irving called their hospitality “quite Highland”. 

The Volage was temporarily relieved of its patrol in December, and returned to Plymouth by January of 1844 for refitting and repair work after shearing off part of her keel. Godden and Irving both noted that sailors and officers were boarded on a hulk, or a non-sailing ship. Godden also noted that several sailors were permitted leave to go visiting nearby. (John Hartnell did have family in Plymouth, and Thomas Hartnell may have been visiting the area at the same time, if a pet theory of mine holds up.) 

They were back in the Cove of Cork by February, with the Volage now as the flagship. During a period between February and June, the Volage frequently made trips between Cork and the town of Bantry, after further pro-Repealer agitation began to raise tensions once more. Godden’s log doesn’t say much on the subject aside from weather reports and notes on officers leaving the ship to attend parties, major gatherings in town (there’s a really interesting bit from Irving on scaring the bejeezus out of a group of paraders and stealing the Waterford city flag), and switching out officers. However, the tensions once again didn’t amount to much more than far-off reports of violence and a few observations of pissed-off “pisantry”. The Volage did return to Plymouth for Christmas before returning for a short turn in Cork, and then being paid off completely. The log for that topic shows that John Hartnell was paid off on February 1st, 1845.

As far as what life would have been like for John Hartnell on the Volage, it’s hard to say for sure since, once again, Godden’s logs are impersonal. However, he was responsible for recording all punishments, injuries, illnesses, and deaths, of which there was no lack. He also kept meticulous note of what chores were to be done on particular days, as well as drills. I noticed there was a lot of repetition in the chore schedule, and there was a slight uptick in sailors suddenly taking ill with “unknown” illnesses about two and a half years in, especially on days that had chores requiring a little more elbow grease.

But I think, as I said, this would have been very exciting for someone like John. After all, he voluntarily signed up for the Erebus four months after signing off on the Volage. Unfortunately, we don’t have any letters to or from him that might hint to how he felt during this time, so we have to take it from his actions rather than his words. I like to think he enjoyed himself.

[bryan360]

My YCCTEAM's Wireless Switch Pro Controller - Part 8 (Playtime Battery Life Results)

Hi guys and my friends. I'm back to bring you my next YCCTEAM Controller topic that I took from past weeks of 🍀March 2021, but man that is like took forever to show this as my playtime results after using my controller. Just to clarify or something, I've been doing my next topic part with my controller to see how much playtime I'll having til the controller's batteries run out. Only thing is that my YCCTEAM Controller's battery had been still running well through some days I tracked on; from back in March 5th until 14th til the controller's battery finally almost running out as I stopped. I would've original plan to stop my results when if my YCCTEAM Controller's battery run out completely, but maybe not? ^^* I mean if it would to, then I would be take plenty of hours during the weekends more often. However since I already got the results from top, I would take a guess to learn how much playtime til the batteries runs out eventually.

By the way, I'd use my iPad Mini 2's timer and screenshots of my results I've putting down I gotten. This one different cause I took them back in March 5 til 14th that you already know. It won't be simply unlike my charging results for my YCCTEAM Controller I did last time.

1st Image from top left

From March 5th that I started this progress with my YCCTEAM Controller to track time; spending hours of playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate like I always do. I even picked the latest new fighter that you may know, but best that I can save my thoughts soon for this month or another month if I had trouble with my schedule a little. Nevertheless, at least knowing it took me of what it looks like 2 hours and 52 minutes on first try.

2nd Image from top right

It's been 7 days after I was doing some stuff with homework and drawing to get by, but on day 12th I'm back to continuing of my test at least 1 hour and 26 minutes through Super Smash Bros Ultimate a second time. ^^* Again that I been using the latest new fighter by doing Classic Mode, but it so hard that I was so close to getting 9.9 Intensity score. Yet the battery for my controller still fully charged of what I saw on screen.

3rd Image from middle left

At day 13th, I putting up a notch by doing a third try using my controller to play Luigi's Mansion 3; which if you know that I owned it from last year. Link Here It was actually a good game that I remember my first play to try back in December 29th, 2020. However, I wanted to reset things up to get any collectables of ghost and gems to hoping of getting that 100% completion. For doing so, I using my iPad Mini 2's timer again to track how much time I'll having to get Luigi's Mansion 3's 100% completion; while trying to drain the battery of my controller. So far, it took me 4 hours and 4 minutes before taking it break. At least knowing the batteries from my YCCTEAM Controller had finally powered down on half. 🙂👍🏼

4th Image from middle right

The same day that I went through lunch later, but back to continuing my progress still; even I would reset the timer instead I should've save it while playing Luigi's Mansion 3 again. It took me about 4 hours and 35 minutes I gotten before decided to take a ease. Yet the batteries from my YCCTEAM Controller still had half power before hoping it can reach to power down.

5th/Final Image from bottom last

Finally that I REALLY going through there for day 14th as I took 9 hours and 55 minutes of playtime with my YCCTEAM Controller. Yeah, it actually go through there non-stop at least on Sunday; just to make sure the batteries can finally drain out some more. Don't worry that I'm fine about having a blast with Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Luigi's Mansion 3 games at the same time; in making turns of course. At least knowing my controller's batteries is finally almost low power just before I can take a break at 7:20 P.M.

Whew! It was really something that I been using my YCCTEAM Controller through about 4 days (since from past 7 days that I was out after March 5th for my first progress til 14th to finished) with the batteries is working fine through more hours than I thought would be. Wondering what kind of batteries it was to power up my controller? Well, I look on its instruction book for the controller's battery was built in "1000mAh polymer lithium" that it can run about 8-10 hours.

However, I don't think that wasn't it after I been through my progress with my YCCTEAM Controller that took me days til the battery is running low. Also, the controller on the back saids that the battery capacity was "3.7V 1200mAH" instead of "1000mAh" from what the instructions book said.

It really get me confused the fact the controller's battery had a different built-in that it tooks me days after using it for my Nintendo Switch console with Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Luigi's Mansion 3. After checking some results at the end though, I'm guessing the different built-in battery set for my YCCTEAM Controller will take about 20 or more hours of playtime. I'm not sure it was the official answer I'll take, but still.

My Thoughts:

The batteries for my YCCTEAM Controller I've been using for days sure works me hard, even taking through more hours of playtime can be a good thing for the weekends to plan with your ownNintendo Switch system. That being said, I couldn’t put a finger on about what kind of build-in battery for my YCCTEAM Controller had gotten after playing it for 20 or more hours. I even look through online to double check the same controller’s details in Amazon.com, but still said it can take 10 hours of playtime. Link Here

I’m taking a guess after reading the controller on the back saids the battery capacity was “3.7V 1200mAH” had to do with taking 20 or more hours after using my controller. Hard to say, but it was likely in theory. Who knows if I’ll be taking another battery result test for next time soon, but for now it was a good first one I gotten from past weeks of 🍀March 2021.

Before I can finish off my next topic part for my YCCTEAM Controller and onto the next one, I like to apologize to my friends that I’ll be delaying my next DeviantArt posts til next month for Sam’s new bio and reactions with my main OCs to Pyra/Mythra after joining Smash Bros. Let’s just say that I’m working some drafts to make and other one of course, my homework writing after the package send me by mail. Yeesh.... 😑 Again, I’m sorry to my friends that I’ll be delaying my next DeviantArt posting plans at least next month soon. Though considering we have 2 weeks left until March 31st; which is the exact date til Nintendo will stop selling Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I would get into showing me playing my last year’s Christmas game now. I’ll even added through my next topic part with my YCCTEAM Controller on hand, but I promised I’ll bring up the gyro control testing first. Sorry. ^^*

Pervious Posts for my YCCTEAM’s Pro Controller Topic:

Wireless Switch Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite (Part 1) - Link Here #1

My YCCTEAM’s Wireless Switch Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite Unboxing (Part 2) - Link Here #2

My YCCTEAM’s Wireless Switch Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite Comparison with my Xbox One (Part 3) - Link Here #3

My YCCTEAM’s Wireless Switch Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite Comparison with my Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons (Part 4) - Link Here #4

Testing Buttons (Part 5) - Link Here #5

Rumble Feature Testing (Part 6) - Link Here #6

Battery Charging Test (Part 7) - Link Here #7

[starship-squidlet]

Twelfth Night: Chapter Eleven, Pipers Piping

Summary: Back to work after Christmas! Things are a little tense, but everyone is just ready for the show to end...

Word count: 1,722

Disclaimer: Twelfth Night Preface

Tag list: @the-cowbi @prettyinlimegreenboots @fifty-for-the-racer @aggressive-bucky-barnes-stan (ask to be added/removed!)

A/N: Second to last chapter! This story has flown by so fast... I’m going to post the preface to the next story (The Green Fields of France, which will start posting 1/14 probably) I’m working on either tonight or tomorrow, so if you’re interested in being tagged in that please let me know!!! The sequel to Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, will becoming at some point towards the end of February/early March, so keep an eye out for that as well!!! (Also coming soon: Space Pirates AU, and the New Music spinoff #2 and sequel!) Feel free to reach out and chat if you’re interested in knowing more about any of those, or if you want to be tagged when they’re posted!!!

Anyways, I hope this chapter isn’t too boring! It’s a lot of exposition and internal monologue because... at this point in a show... that’s about all you feel like doing 😂

Joke of the Day: What’s black and white and black and white and black and white and black and white and black and white? A penguin rolling down a hil!!!

Previous chapter: Lords A-Leaping

Next chapter: Drummers Drumming

No-one wanted to go to work on the twenty-sixth. Since Christmas Day had been so drowsy, they’d all had a hard time sleeping that night, so dragging themselves out of bed to get ready for work had been challenging. There was no lack of envy for Will, Alden, and Alan, who didn’t have to be in until two hours later than the others, although they still got up at the same time in a show of solidarity. Jack, Crutchie, and Elaine had to drag themselves down the block to the parking lot, almost completely silent save for the odd yawn or wordless grumble that escaped as they drove to the theatre. Inside, everyone else was just as still and quiet as they were—a “Christmas hangover”, as Race put it.

Jack moved through his pre-show preparations like he was moving through soup. Everything seemed more difficult than it should be, even simple things like rolling the cart-mounted carousel horses across the wagon house or rigging the carnival games. Elaine trudged through the wagon house, dragging the z-rack full of freshly-pressed dress shirts and scowling as the first performers began to arrive and fill the wagon house with their chatter—although even they weren’t as loud as normal. Not that anyone on the crew was complaining about that.

The only group that had even close to its normal level of energy was the child and teenage performers, who burst through the door in small packs, each one its own explosion of noise and color and force. Behind one of the little groups—the one containing one Leslie Jacobs—Jack had to hide a grin at the sight of an utterly exhausted-looking Davey Jacobs. When Davey caught sight of Jack, he perked up and smiled, giving the other man a small wave, before vanishing into the stairwell. A few minutes later, he was back, and sat down next to Jack on the bench by the stage right door with a sigh.

“How was your break?” Jack laughed.

“Well, we kind of crammed everything about Hanukkah—besides the candles; we did those during Hanukkah, but didn’t have time for anything else between working and finals and everything—into the past three days, and spent a lot of time on video chat with our parents. They wanted to come home, but decided it was probably best to just wait until the show closed because a lot of the time a second round of sick goes through in the last week just because everyone’s exhausted.”

“Great,” Jack groaned.

They watched Albert and Elaine walk past and pointedly ignore each other. Both of them arched their eyebrows at the odd interaction—or, rather, lack thereof—and watched the two head their separate directions.

“That was weird,” Davey observed.

“Yeah… I’m not really sure what it’s about. They were fine earlier.” Jack looked around and waved JoJo over. “Hey, what’s up with Albert and Elaine.”

JoJo shrugged. “Who knows. We’re all exhausted. They always fight when they’re tired. It’s probably nothing.”

Before the break, Jack had thought that the final Sunday’s show had been the slowest of the run. He had been wrong. The first show back was the slowest one—literally and figuratively; not only did it feel like it was dragging on, but, upon checking the time on his phone (repeatedly) he realized that was actually taking longer than normal to get through the show.

“Does the music sound slower to you?” he asked Race and Albert at one point as they moved the stage right house into place for a scene.

“Definitely,” Race grumbled.

“Even the band is out of patience with the show,” said Albert.

The second act, despite the high-energy start with the dancing and singing elves, things seemed to get even slower. From Race’s headset, Jack could hear the stage manager complaining about the lack of energy and speed—very loudly—and had to laugh. There was nothing to be done about it, after all.

The second show wasn’t much better, although the tempo picked up a little bit. They were still a few minutes longer than their normal run time, but had halved the amount of time that the day’s first show ran over.

For the rest of the week, things slowly moved closer and closer to normal. Everyone was still quiet and a bit lackluster, but the onstage energy picked up considerably the more shows they did—and the closer to closing they got. No-one ever figured out why Elaine and Albert were mad at each other, and Jack had a sneaking suspicion even the two of them wouldn’t have been able to answer if asked, but they were back to their normal scheming selves in a few days. Jack and Race decided to thank Mike, Ike, and JoJo for that, as another snowball war had been started—although this one was a stealth version that involved sneaking up on people before, after, and between shows; during intermissions; and even during lulls in the shows themselves and snipe-shotting one’s opponent with one of the little stuffed snowballs. Elaine always had a snow-puff in one of her apron pockets, and Albert kept at least one in the cargo pockets of his pants at all times. Jack guessed that Mike, Ike, JoJo, and Romeo—who was drawn into the war a little later—kept them on their persons most of the time as well. He never quite got used to the sight of fist-sized balls of fluff flying past his face in the middle of carrying props across the wagon house, usually followed by a startled yelp.

To everyone’s surprise, Elaine was the best participant in the war, and, when they were scolded by Weisel and called the competition off, she was declared MVP. Despite self-professed bad aim and poor depth perception—which the others could confirm, as other accuracy-based games that were played amongst the crew had illustrated her poor performance in these categories over the past months—she was scarily accurate with the light snow-puffs. It became common for her opponents to be in the middle of a conversation only to have a small ball of fiberfill and faux fur hit them in the back or head and to see a giggling, grinning Elaine dart around a corner or into a stairwell on the far side of the wagon house.

As they counted down to their final show, it was almost like everyone’s breath was held at the same time. The shows started to get faster now, and the protests by the stage manager over headset became pleas to slow down rather than speed up. Even the dancers commented on the increase in tempo, coming off from the tap number and elf sections breathless, sweaty, and laughing. A new energy seemed to be building up amongst both cast and crew, and Jack felt himself getting caught up in it without even noticing, the sort of energy that came with a storm on the horizon, with a wave about to crest in the ocean—with any sort of impending change.

Yet, with that nervous energy came an odd undercurrent of sorrow. As awful as so many of the parts of the show and its run had felt, as draining as the experience had been, as much as Jack wanted to be able to take a few days and just sleep—even though he knew that half of January was packed full of concerts and tours so he wouldn’t be able to do so for long—he was sad to see the show ending. Les Mis hadn’t felt like this, at least not that he could remember. He had felt ambivalent to tear that set apart after the final show, and happy to run his track for the final time. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had spent more time and energy working on the Christmas build, or just because he had grown so much more attached to the people he worked (and lived) with during this run, but he was truly sorry to see it go.

December 29th, 2019 was the second-to-last night of shows. Most of the performers spent more time than usual in the dressing rooms after the show, collecting personal belongings to take home with them. Many of them would be leaving the city or even state the next day, after the final show, heading for jobs at other theatres, as most of them weren’t permanent residents—the exceptions being two of the male singers, along with Alan, Alden, Will, and the show captain—of Santa Fe. One of the kid casts had had their final show the day before and had said tearful goodbyes to the adult cast members, each other, and even some of the crew. Some of them had returned tonight to see some of their friends on the other cast, and another round of tears went through the wagon house. Tonight’s kids cast had laid out their show t-shirts on the wagon house carpet and asked everyone to sign them. To his surprise, even Jack had been asked to sign several, and had reluctantly given in and done so.

Another reason that the ending of the show was particularly bittersweet, for Jack and his roommates, was that Will had told them, a few weeks earlier, that he would be moving back home to London in January, after accepting a job there. Despite jokes about having more space in the apartment and one less person to share the bathroom with, everyone was sad to see him leave, even Jack and Crutchie, despite only having known him for a few months. As the penultimate show drew to a close, Jack couldn’t help but notice Alan, Alden, and Elaine’s misty eyes as they prepared to say goodbye to their long-time friend and partner. He swallowed a lump in his own throat. It would certainly be strange to not hear Will’s accent somehow always discernible through the chatter of the entire cast, or run into him heading for the bathroom in the middle of the night at home. He’d be around for another week before leaving—it wasn’t like he was flying out after the last show, like most of the others, but quite suddenly it felt very much like he was going to be gone before they knew it. Maybe, Jack thought, that the show they had almost felt would go on forever was finally coming to an end…

[pie-thinkings]

My Best Friends

So I wrote a post a while back about my five stages of friendship. If you wanna read that it’s here:

Anyway. I wanted to tell you about the 4 people who are in stage 5 :) My best friends. (I’m not adding my fiancé in this, because he could have a whole post to himself 🥰)

So I’ll start with longest friendship first, and that’s my childhood best friend, Heather. We met in nursery when we were 3 years old; that will be 29 years in August! We don’t ever remember meeting, or when we became best friends, and I don’t really think we went through the five stages, but she is my oldest best friend. We’ve been through our whole lives together. Nursery, primary school, high school. We went to different universities, but stayed best friends throughout. Now she’s got a PhD and is a high school biology teacher. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding, and last October she and her husband had a little baby boy. She will be a bridesmaid at my wedding in July! We sometimes don’t speak for months, but when we do, we just pick up from where we left off and it’s wonderful!

Next is my best friend Panda. We met when I was 19 working in a shop together. We just celebrated 12 years in February. Our friendship was a slow burn. We started as friends and over the months developed a stronger relationship until we realised that we were besties. We’d go shopping after work every pay day and have sushi and buy clothes. Soon she moved jobs, but we continued to hang out. We briefly worked together again in another job, which was so fun! Panda and I have been through so much together and we still speak almost every day. We also watch shows on Netflix over the phone some nights and have to press play at the same time so we can watch together. I was her maid of honour at her wedding and she will also be mine at my wedding too!

Next is my long distance bestie, Shelle. We met right here on tumblr almost 6 years ago. We chatted over our love for TMNT and it blossomed into a wonderful bestfriendship. We found we could talk about anything and everything. I even flew out to Florida to meet her and we hung out for a week. It was amazing. She then came to Scotland for a week too! Until she moved to Montana in 2019, we literally spoke every day. But the bigger time difference kind of messed that up. She lives in Oklahoma now, and we try and speak as much as we can. Because of the strong relationship we’ve built, we can go a while without talking and still know how much we love each other.

Last is my newest best friend, Quentin. We met on 29th December 2019 while playing Portal 2 online. I’d never played the game online before, and he was the third person I was matched with. We chatted on the game for a bit before we added each other on discord. From there we spoke every single day for months. He lives in France and he planned to come stay with me last summer, but then Covid hit. We went through all five stages of my friendship post in just a few months. We’ve been there for each other through happy times and sad times. We just clicked instantly.

And there’s my four best friends in a nutshell. I love all of them dearly, and I know that they are all here to stay.

[vgirl-10123]

Decorating (Damianette Fic)

    A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I missed the first 2 days but i wanted to add something to my #1 favorite ship atm. I appreciate any and all feedback! Also I know there's not a lot of dialogue, I really suck at it.

It was November 29th, and Marinette was just finishing packing up for her Christmas trip to Gotham. Her parents had allowed her to travel to Gotham for Christmas this year as they would be busy with the bakery this time of the season. She was sure that they just wanted her to spend some time with a certain green-eyed someone, but they would never admit it if she asked. After she came back from a class trip, they saw how she seemed to brighten up. She seemed to laugh more and they didn’t miss the noticeable blush when she got a call from him.

During her class trip to Gotham City, she had met someone, a boy. Damian Wayne to be more precise. She had been going on a tour of Wayne Enterprises and was eating lunch in the cafeteria with Alya , Adrien, and Nino, when a man with impossibly green eyes sat down in front of her and the rest was history. They ended up hanging out for the rest of the two weeks they were there. Joined at the hip, hanging off each other, holding hands, the list goes on and on. They managed to stay in contact since then and no one was surprised when the started dating 3 months later. He came to Paris for a vacation. At the end of it, he asked her to be his girlfriend on the Louvre.

Another thing, they know each other’s identities. It was by accident. She was hanging out with Damian In Gotham when she got an akuma alert. She managed to leave to Paris and when she came back with Adrien through a portal and about to detransform, Robin was watching the whole thing and saw the detransformation. He stepped out of hiding and with Marinette and Adrien freaking out about how he can’t tell anyone and about how they are so screwed, Robin started laughing. He wiped away tears and brought them to the batcave. Once there, he pulled off his mask and revealed that he was Damian. Adrien being Adrien was confused, but Marinette managed to figure out the identities of the other bats before even officially meeting them. To say she impressed the big bat was an understatement. Her and Tim bonded over their intelligence. Adrien and Dick had managed to form a quick bond over their sunshine sides. Surprisingly, Marinetter and Jason had actually became really close. All in all, Bruce mentally adopted 2 children that night.

So, Bruce had generously offered them to visit Gotham for the holidays. They would come from December 1st and stay until January 3rd. Both Adrien and Marinette were able to go. That leads us to now.

“So Marinette, are you excited to see Dami?” Adrien asked with a teasing tone in his voice.

“Adrien! If you must know, yes, yes I am,” Marinette said sticking her nose up in the air before giggling. “I’m actually super excited to see him. It’s been a few months now and even though we video chat, it’ll be nice to see him in person.”

“I get it. Plagg is so excited that he gets to see Jason again. Says he just radiates destruction and chaos.”

“Maybe from the Lazarus pit that brought him back to life? I don’t know. Either way, Tikki over here is so ready to see Alfred and his new cookie recipes he has.”

“That reminds me, Plagg is excited for all the cheese that is going to be there. Says that someone’s bound to set out camembert for him.”

Marinette laughs, then looks at the time. “Hey Adrien, I have to go. I promised Master Fu that I would grab Kaalki before it got too dark out. I’ll see you at patrol tonight yeah?”

“Okay. See you then, M’lady.”

“Goodnight Chaton.”

The morning, at 5 a.m., she and Adrien boarded the plane. Many hours later they arrived in Gotham. Alfred had picked them up and they had set off to their rooms for a much needed nap. Once they woke up, they went their separate ways. Marinette to Damian and Adrien to the kitchen for some food. They didn’t fully recover until 3 days later. Apparently, jet lag had hit much harder than intended.

December 3rd, Marinette woke up feeling refreshed for the first time in days. She went down to the kitchen and saw that Alfred was the only one up. She helped him make some muffins for breakfast and talked about recipes and kwamis.

Marinette spent the day with Damian and his brothers, playing some board games and card games. She absolutely bested them at poker by the way. The only bad part about the whole day was that it was the first akuma since they had arrived in Gotham. Her and Adrien had suited up and left in a portal to Paris.

The akuma was relatively easy, just a nightmare a little kid had, nothing they haven’t handled before. It had only lasted an hour and they made it back to Gotham in record time. It was so perfect that by the time they got back, Dick and Jason had just got a tree set up in the living room.

They both had immediately started helping. Getting the lights untangled, putting on ornaments, putting on the tree skirt, the works. They had finished the tree around an hour later. She was curled up with Damian, hot chocolate in hand, and sitting around the fireplace. Looking to her right, she saw Adrien sleeping with Plagg in his arm. Gazing around the room she also saw Dick sprawled on the couch, Jason with his feet on the coffee table, and Tim curled up in the corner of the couch with his cup of coffee. Bruce sat in the chair with a book in hand. She looked down and saw Tikki curled up in her hoodie that she had put on. Faintly, she heard alfred in the kitchen cleaning up. She glanced up at Damian and saw him smiling softly at her.

“What?”

“Nothing Angel. I love you habibti.”

“I love you too Damian.” And with that thought, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

[woodstockbtswriter]

Dreams

BTS Dream Journal

Note: Just a log of actual dreams I’ve had about BTS. I’ve written some of them out as drabbles and the links are next to the dates.

January 13th, 2020

I meet BTS backstage with several of my girlfriends and we all play musical chairs. I win and impress Namjoon. We flirt.

January 18th, 2020 - Indescribable

I’m a high school student and BTS is going to perform in my school auditorium. My friends and I manage front row seats, but have to endure several unimpressive opening acts from our classmates in band, glee club, etc.

February 3rd, 2020

I’m front-row at a BTS concert. I shout “Hi, Namjoon!” and he actually hears me. He finds me in the crowd and pulls me onstage. All the boys give me a hug and perform a song for me.

March 8th, 2020 - Thrilled

I’m riding in a car with several BTS members. Namjoon is driving, and Jungkook and I are kissing in the backseat. When the members in front of us notice, they’re all disgusted and yell at us to stop.

March 28th, 2020

I’m on a summer vacation with BTS at a seaside cottage. Namjoon and I are dating and I can tell he’s planning to propose during our trip, but I have unresolved feelings for Yoongi.

April 6th, 2020

My friend and I are just fans, but we notice that Hoseok has been down lately and want to cheer him up. We find out that BTS is coming to our city that night and we decide to make him a heart balloon bouquet and try to give it to him.

April 12th, 2020

It’s revealed at an awards show that Hoseok has a young daughter that he’s been keeping secret and it’s a huge scandal. An actor speaks out in support of Hoseok and BTS while giving an acceptance speech. After the event, the tour bus carrying Hoseok is hit by a car. I try to Google if he’s okay, but I keep fumbling trying to type “J-Hope”. When I’m finally able to pull up search results, the reports are not definite.

April 30th, 2020

I go to the movies with BTS, but in the middle of the movie we can’t find Yoongi. After looking everywhere, we finally find out that he snuck into a different theater to see a zombie horror movie. Later, Yoongi and I are superhero companions and our mentor is training us to fly, but we’re distracted by our attraction to one another. Eventually, we abandon the lesson to make out instead.

May 3rd, 2020

I’m Yoongi’s girlfriend and I accompany him to a formal dinner. All the members pose for pictures while the other boys’ girlfriends and I wait. Then the boys ask if the girlfriends can join. After taking a few pictures all together, Yoongi gets down on one knee in front of everyone and surprises me by proposing. Later, in a different dream, I meet Namjoon in a cafe and he invites me to a museum. At the museum entrance, security doesn’t want to let me in, but Namjoon uses his influence as a celebrity to convince them to make an exception. Once inside, we run into Hoseok and he and I walk along as we hug each other’s sides.

May 10th, 2020 - Alone

I’m hanging out with all the members in Yoongi’s hotel room after their concert. I’m Yoongi’s girlfriend and we’re snuggling in his bed while we all watch a movie.

May 14th, 2020 - Cute

May 16th, 2020

Yoongi, Hoseok, and I are all high school students, but we attend different schools. My friend and I pick up Yoongi and Hoseok after school in a minivan. My friend drives, Yoongi sits up front, I sit in the middle, and Hoseok sits in the back. As we drive, I lift my hands up over my head and rest them behind the headrest behind my head. I wait while Hoseok looks at his phone, hoping that he notices my hands and holds them. Eventually he does interlace our fingers and gives mine an affectionate squeeze.

June 19th, 2020

I’m at a play place for kids, adjusting some ropes above one of the play structures, when Yoongi (who I don’t know and I guess who works there) yells up at me telling me to stop messing with it, but I can’t understand him because he’s speaking Korean. I then climb down to the floor and Yoongi walks up to me like he knows me and grabs my face and nuzzles me and kisses my cheeks and lips, saying something obviously cute and affectionate, but again I can’t understand him.

June 28th, 2020

I’m hanging out with Yoongi and my friend is a third wheel. When my friend finally leaves, Yoongi and I immediately start making out. While we’re cuddling, I ask him if we’re officially boyfriend/girlfriend now. He hesitates before answering and I get mad, saying he’s just like all the other boys I’ve dated.

June 30th, 2020

I’m in a theater with all the Bangtan boys and we’re trying to choose our seats. I want to sit up front, but everyone else wants to sit in back. Namjoon volunteers to sit with me, and when the others head to the back, Yoongi gives me a quick and tiny goodbye kiss on the lips in passing. When Yoongi is gone, Namjoon gives me the same kind of kiss as we settle into our seats, then says, “You know Yoongi does that all the time because he’s in love with you, right?” And I’m like, “What do you call what you just did?! You do it all the time, too!” Then he smiles and starts really kissing me and we make out through the whole movie.

July 7th, 2020 - Surprise

I’m on a rooftop in the city at night, playing a “drinking” game with all the members of BTS, but instead of drinking alcohol, we’re eating bite-size foods.

October 14th, 2020

I was having dinner with all the members at a restaurant, it was our first time seeing each other after a long separation. While we were settling into our seats, I called across the table to Taehyung and cutely said, “Tae Tae, I love you!” He looked adorably unsure for a second while he translated in his head and thought of the correct response, then he replied, “I love you, too,” and smiled his big boxy smile, all proud of himself for speaking English. Then after dinner, we went out on the patio of the restaurant to enjoy a nighttime view of the ocean, and I gave Hoseok a big hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to kiss his cheek, but he was acting all shy and not hugging me back. I said, “What’s wrong, do you not want to hug me anymore now that I’m dating Yoongi? It’s okay, nothing’s changed between you and me. We’re still friends and we can still hug like we used to.” Then Hoseok relaxed and smiled and wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me tight.

December 21st, 2020

A bunch of guys that all looked like either Jungkook or Yoongi were sitting around a lunch table in a cafeteria. I was going around hugging them all and giving them all cheek/forehead kisses and thanking them for being kind and caring people. None of them were the real JK or Yoongi, they just looked like clones. The dream/clone JKs were sweet and hugged back, but the dream/clone Yoongis acted like they didn’t care/were annoyed (but they actually appreciated the praise and affection).

December 22nd, 2020

I ran into Hoseok while buying tickets at an amusement park. We were friends but we hadn’t seen each other in a while. Hobi gave me a big hug and we tumbled to the ground together, but we kept hugging and laughing and he got all flirty. He tickled my tummy and gave me several pecks on the lips and was saying, “It’s so good to see you, I missed you so much!” Then he helped me stand up, we made plans to get together to catch up, and he said “see you later” with a wink before walking off.

December 25th, 2020

Another ARMY and I got to go to a rehearsal for an awards show. Yoongi wasn’t there because he was still recuperating from his shoulder surgery, so I was a little disappointed. Then Namjoon started flirting with me, and the other fan was jealous. After rehearsal, we joined the boys for dinner and Yoongi came, too. He sat next to me and I was really excited to meet him, but then he was rude to me. I didn’t understand why he was acting that way, but it turned out that it wasn’t actually him, it was the jealous fan in disguise (like she used polyjuice potion or something). She wanted to get back at me for Namjoon flirting with me. After she was exposed and kicked out, the real Yoongi showed up and he was nice (and even flirty).

In another dream, Taehyung and I had been talking but had never met in person. I made Christmas cookies using a recipe he sent me and I video-called him to show him.

December 29th, 2020

I was an extra in a new Agust D music video, and after filming wrapped, I went up to Yoongi and tried to say something in Korean that I had rehearsed. He was nice and smiled but he couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand him. Then everyone went to dinner together. I sat at the bar and Yoongi sat at a table behind me with his Korean-speaking friends, and he kept stealing glances at me. Then the bartender gave me a drink I didn’t order and said it’s from Yoongi.

January 30th, 2021

I was in England visiting some friends, and we were having dinner at a restaurant. My friends brought some of their friends along which included Yoongi and Taehyung. My best friend and I were sitting across the table from them and whispering about how cute they were. Yoongi looked like this:

And both he and Tae were speaking English with British accents. I told my friend I liked “that one” best, nodding toward Yoongi, then asked her which one she liked best, and she indicated Tae. I did my best to flirt with Yoongi during dinner, asking him questions, joking, smiling, leaning toward him, batting my eyelashes, and biting my lip. He seemed to get the message, and eventually slid a folded up card across the table to me with his phone number scrawled on it. Emboldened by Yoongi’s expression of interest in me, I switched seats with Tae so I could sit next to him. Then I really started flirting, touching his bicep and thigh, adjusting my slinky dress so he could get a good view of my legs, and whispering in his ear. We unfolded a menu and stood it up on the table in front of us to give ourselves a little privacy, and next thing you know we were making out. It was so realistic and I could actually feel Yoongi’s lips and tongue on mine, they were soft and smooth and felt sooo good, and while we were kissing I told him he had such pretty lips. Then Yoongi excused himself to go to the bathroom and while he was gone I moved to sit next to our mutual friend who had brought him along. I asked the friend to tell me more about Yoongi and asked him if he thought he was a good guy. I wanted to gauge his reaction to me dating Yoongi, but he was reluctant to answer my questions. Then when Yoongi returned from the bathroom, he and I left the restaurant together.

April 7th, 2021

I was traveling with BTS and when we got to the airport we found out our flight was delayed so we were just hanging out in the VIP lounge. An airport employee was being kind of rude, acting like the boys weren’t important enough for him to help, and I’m like, “Do you have any idea who these guys are?! They’re only the biggest group on the planet!” Then I was talking to a different, nicer employee and she was like, “So are you one of their girlfriends or something?” I said yes and she asked which member I was dating, so I told her to guess. I don’t remember who she guessed but she was wrong so she asked me to just tell her. I think it was supposed to be a secret, because I answered quietly, “Suga.” But she didn’t know their names so I had to subtly point him out, and when she saw him she was impressed. Then Yoongi got up to go somewhere and he discreetly grasped my hand for a second and gave me a secretive smirk as he walked by.

July 26th, 2021

I was outside on a lovely spring day flying kites with Yoongi and Hoseok. We were taking selfies together with our arms around each other, laughing and having fun.

August 22nd, 2021

I was riding a subway train with all the members, on our way to one of their concerts. Hoseok and I were sharing a seat and I had my arm through his. We were smiling and laughing, and we held hands and he kissed my cheek.

September 20th, 2021

I was filming a segment for a talk show with BTS. We were in a conference room around a table, all talking and laughing. Yoongi and I kept exchanging glances and smiles until the other members called us out and teased us for obviously liking each other.

[matrixaffiliate]

Salient

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

Hooray for Friday updates! I'll be back on February 29th with chapter 29. (Because I'm sort of geeking out over posting on leap year, and how the numbers work out with this story, but I'm weird that way...)

Chapter 28

"Are you ready?" Ellie raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes?" Al nodded.

"Then perhaps we should stop standing on the pavement and go knock on the door?"

"Right," Al nodded again.

Originally, Al had not been all that nervous to bring El to meet the Ron Weasley clan. But that was before Rose had called him that morning to let him know she had a new boyfriend who would be joining them, and who that boyfriend was.

They'd known Scorpius alright while in school. They didn't necessarily run in the same circles, but Al thought him a good bloke from the moment Scorpius stood up to some older kids picking on a group of first years, being only a first-year himself. So it isn't like Al disapproves of Rose and Scorpius dating, he's just not sure what to expect. He hasn't seen the man in years, he has no good point of reference.

To put it simply, Scorpius is an unknown entity in Al's perfectly measured procedure, and now, who knows what the results will be?

"Come on," Ellie rolled her eyes and pulled him forward. "I'm sure your cousin's boyfriend is a lovely man."

Al followed, part of his brain agreeing with her, the other part panicking in protest.

"Right."

Hermione opened the door as they triggered the wards and waved them inside.

"Come in, come in, it's getting cold out."

"Isn't it lovely," Ellie slipped her jacket from her arms.

Hermione chuckled, "I suppose it can be."

"Aunt Hermione, this is Ellie," Al took El's jacket, "Ellie this is my Aunt Hermione."

"I'm so glad to finally meet you!" Hermione waved their jackets out of Al's hands and into the cupboard.

"Al!"

Al turned just in time to catch Rose mid-air as she flung herself at him.

"Hey, Rosie," Al set her down and turned to Ellie.

"Ellie, this is my cousin Rose, Rose this is my girlfriend, Ellie."

Rose threw herself at El, who laughed as she wrapped her arms around Rose's middle.

"Rosie," Hermione chided, "Let the poor woman breathe."

"It's fine, really," Ellie grinned as Rose pulled back. "I love hugs!"

"Well then you'll love, Rose," Hugo stuck his head out into the entryway and rolled his eyes. "Rose will hug anyone."

"That's Hugo," Rose stuck her tongue out at her brother. "The baby of the family."

"Rose, stop it," Hermione chided as she gave the three of them a nudge towards the sitting room. "You're adults now, so act like it."

"Adults with Weasley siblings for our examples," Hugo grinned before ducking behind his book to avoid Hermione's death glare.

"He's got a point, love," Ron chuckled and came in from the kitchen. "Ginny, my brothers, and I still end up bickering like children from time to time."

He held out his hand to El. "It's nice to finally meet you, Ellie. I'm Ron, Al's uncle."

"Thank you all for having me," Ellie shook his hand and Al scanned trying to figure out where Scorpius was hiding.

"He's not here yet," Rose eyed him.

Al tried to look calm, "Oh?"

"I've known you since we were born, Al." Rose rolled her eyes. "I know what you're doing."

"I'm just reminiscing about how this place hasn't changed much." Al avoided his cousin's gaze.

"How about we turn on the wireless and have a drink while we wait for Scorpius to make it." Ron waved his wand at the radio and quiet music filled the air. "I've got some hot wassail on the stove as well if you're of a mind."

"Really?" Ellie's smile beamed. "My aunt only makes it at Christmas time. I love wassail!"

Ron grinned. "I've always said it makes no sense to save the best things for once a year. Follow me, Ellie, and we'll fill you a mug."

Ellie gave an excited squeak and Al chuckled as he kissed her cheek before pushing her towards Ron and the kitchen.

"Why didn't you say that you disapproved of Scorpius?" Rose pulled on his arm once Ellie had disappeared into the kitchen.

"Because I don't," Al blinked at her.

"Then why are you freaking out?"

"Rose, Al is fine," Hermione cut in.

"No," Hugo called from his book, "Al's definitely freaking out. He's doing that thing where he looks at everything then stops and zones out with that panicked look in his eyes and then repeats it over and over."

"See!" Rose pointed at Hugo. "He knows too!"

"Rose," Hermione's voice was firmer, but Al was peeved now and let Rose have it.

"No, they're right. And I'm panicked because you took a safe, predictable scenario and then last minute threw in a wild card!"

"Scorpius isn't a wild card!" Rose shot back.

"He is for Al," Hugo turned the page of his book.

"You knew him in school!" Rose protested.

"I knew of him and we left Hogwarts years ago! So excuse me for being nervous that I brought the girlfriend that I kept from the family for over a year to meet you on the same day that you spring someone I can't calculate on me."

"I told you," Hugo looked up from his book, "I told you to wait for next time."

"Al, if you're feeling uncomfortable, we can reschedule this." Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's always hard to have things sprung on you, especially when you're already nervous."

Al shoved his hand in his hair. "No, I want to be here. I want you all to get to know Ellie." He turned to Rose. "And I am happy for you, Rosie. Just, let me work through this alright. I'm learning not to try and treat life like an experiment with controllable variables, but it's taking time." He smiled, "And most all of El's patience."

It was Rose's turn to look panicked as she threw herself at him. "I'm sorry! I've been so nervous because Scorp and I have gotten so much crap because he's a Malfoy and I'm a Weasley and I just wanted you to be excited for me because so many people were wary at first and I just needed someone to love it and I wanted it to be you but I didn't think about how I'd changed plans on you last minute! And..."

"Breathe, Rose," Hugo put his book down and smiled at Al. "You going to be alright, mate?"

Al nodded as he disentangled himself from Rosie. "Yeah, I might still do some of my tics, but I'm not leaving." He smiled down at Rose, "I am happy for you. And I know someone who was happy for you the moment they found out you we dating and loves that you and Scorpius are together."

"You do?" Rose furrowed her brow.

"Ellie."

"Yes?" Ellie walked in, steaming cup of wassail clasped in her hands and a happy smile gracing her lips.

Al reached for her, "I was just telling Rose how you were excited to find out she has a new boyfriend."

"Oh!" Ellie nodded. "I love hearing about how people met and got together. My grandmother tells me stories all the time of how half of St. John's relationships started."

Al smirked, wondering how many of those stories were actually told to Naomi verbally.

"That sounds a right side better than the stories my grandmother told me." Scorpius walked into the room and Rose's whole face lit up like a bright white LED lightbulb as she ran to him.

"Scorp, you remember Al," Rosie wrapped her arms around Scorpius' middle.

"Of course, it's good to see you again. Rose tells me you're blurring the lines between the Wizarding World and the Muggles."

Al nodded and shook Scorpius' proffered hand. "We had a successful test run for the production of one of my product ideas this morning. But I've got a lot of help from Ellie, here. Ellie, this is Scorpius Malfoy, one of our old classmates. Scorpius, this is my girlfriend, Ellie Battiste."

"Nice to meet you," Ellie shifted her mug to shake his hand.

"Is that wassail?" Scorpius' eyes went wide.

"Dad made some," Rose nodded. "He doesn't see the point of only having it in December."

"I knew I liked your dad," Scorpius nodded to the room, "I'll be back in a moment."

The rest of the evening went much smoother than Al had originally anticipated. Everyone loved Ellie, and Ellie's lack of any history on the matter helped Al to see Scorpius through fresh eyes. He hadn't held any hard feelings for Scorpius, but Al realized that he had held a lot of pity for him. Having El there helped Al to see Scorpius without that pity, and that made it easier to get to know him.

As the evening drew to a close, Al went into the kitchen with Scorpius for one more mug of wassail.

"I'm really glad you were able to come tonight," Scorpius leant against the counter. "It's been really important to Rose."

"I'm glad I came. It was good to actually get to know you." Al filled his mug before setting it down to grab El's.

"Are you alright with Rose and me then?"

Al chuckled, "She'd kill me for trying to give that sort of permission."

Scorpius gripped the counter behind him. "Look Al, everyone at Hogwarts knew how you and your brothers handled the guys that broke Lily's heart. Honestly, I'm surprised anyone was willing to date her at all. But what I'm going for here is that you're not upset it's me Rose is choosing."

Al studied Scorpius for a moment. "As long as you're choosing each other, Scorp, I couldn't be happier."

Relief seemed to wash over Scorpius as his whole body relaxed and he smiled.

"Thanks, Al."

"Anytime, but can you be straight with me on one thing?" Al filled Ellie's mug and picked up his.

"Sure?"

"How long have you and Rosie actually been together?"

"Not long…" Scorpius looked down at his mug.

"This is definitely not a brand new relationship, Scorp."

Scorpius sighed, "What gave it away?"

Al chuckled, "You didn't knock when you came in today."

Crimson colored Scorpius' cheeks, "Yeah, Ron told me to stop knocking about three months ago."

"And…"

"And he told me to stop calling him Mr. Weasley and call him Ron for Merlin's sake about four months ago."

"And…"

Scorpius finally looked up, "And I got the courage to ask Rose out six months, two weeks, and five days ago."

Al tapped his mug against Scorpius'. "Cheers, mate. I'm happy for the both of you."

Scorpius grinned and pushed off the counter. "Thanks, Al."

[husheduphistory]

“Tiger Woman” and her Trunks: The Horrible Case and Cargo of Winnie Ruth Judd

It is difficult to imagine what was going through Ruth’s mind when she arrived at the train station on October 19th 1931. She was only twenty-six years old but she had lived in numerous states, moved to Mexico, had her marriage fall apart, reestablished herself in Arizona, and was beginning a new life. But now, she was unexpectedly in California to meet her brother with a bandaged hand and a lot of luggage to pick up. When she arrived at the Los Angeles train station the baggage agent refused to let her pick up her trunks until they could inspect the contents. She informed them she did not have a key and that she would come back for them later. She never went back. Within a matter of days she was given many new names, became the subject of a manhunt, and surrendered herself to police inside a funeral home. The story was shocking, but it was far from done.

Winnie Ruth Judd.

Born on January 29th 1905 in Oxford, Indiana, Winnie Ruth McKinnell (who went by Ruth) was only seventeen when she married Dr. William C. Judd, a World War I veteran who was twenty-two years her senior. Dr. Judd was a morphine addict and his pursuit of a steady job brought the pair to Mexico where he worked as a medic for an American mining company. By 1930 the two were living apart and Ruth returned to the States by herself looking for a place to call home. What she found was Phoenix, Arizona and a job working for a wealthy governess. It seemed that Ruth had finally left the troubled times behind and was on her way to forging a new life. Then she met Happy Jack.

John J. “Happy Jack” Halloran was very well known in Phoenix. At forty-four years old he made a name for himself running an extremely lucrative lumber business and with his success came friends in high places. Both he and Ruth were married, but that did not stop the two from igniting a relationship and Ruth soon found two new friends during their alcohol-infused parties with Halloran’s associates. Agnes “Ann” Leroi was thirty-two years old, twice divorced, and was working as an x-ray technician. Her partner, Hedvig ‘Sammy” Samuelson, was twenty-four and the pair had moved to Phoenix from Alaska after Sammy’s battle with tuberculosis. Ann and Sammy lived together in a small three-room bungalow and it wasn’t long before Ruth moved in, cementing the house as thee location for Halloran and his drinking buddies’ parties and card games. After several months Ruth moved out and got her own apartment, but the three women remained best friends. On the night of October 16th 1931 Ruth went to visit the two friends for dinner and drinks. Ann and Sammy were never seen alive again.

“Happy Jack” Halloran. Image via the Arizona Memory Project https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/

Three days later in Los Angeles the train station baggage handler was waiting for Ruth to come back and open her luggage for inspection, but he couldn’t wait anymore. The luggage was leaking, it smelled horrific, and there were flies gathering around them. He was convinced she was smuggling deer meat and he called the Los Angeles Police Department. When the police arrived and opened the luggage out tumbled the body of Ann Leroi and three sections of what was once Sammy Samuelson. When Ruth was picked up by her brother he had no idea what his sister was hiding, he dropped her off somewhere in the city and she vanished.

The luggage that contained the remains of Ann Leroi and Sammy Samuelson.

The headlines exploded with the horror story, screaming “TWO WOMEN’S BODIES SHIPPED HERE IN TRUNKS BY FIENDISH KILLER!” and dubbing Ruth with names like “The Blonde Butcher”, “The Tiger Woman”, and “The Trunk Murderess.” Back in Phoenix the owner of the bungalow didn’t waste a moment and immediately placed ads in the local paper offering tours of the crime scene for ten cents. The frenzy raged on for four days before Ruth finally turned herself in to the police on October 23rd.

The question on everyone’s mind was what could have caused anyone to kill their two best friends and shove their bodies into luggage, but it was a question that was difficult to answer. By the time the police were able to investigate the crime scene the house had already had thousands of people walking through it and one mattress was inexplicably missing. Ruth released a statement through her attorney explaining her version of the story. According to her account, she visited the two women for a nice evening but ended up getting into an explosive argument with Sammy. Her account goes on to claim that Sammy:

“got hold of a gun and shot me in the left hand, Mrs. LeRoi grabbed an ironing board and started to strike me over the head with it. In the struggle, I got hold of the gun, and Sammy got shot. Mrs. LeRoi was still coming at me with the ironing board, and I had to shoot her. Then I ran from the place.”

Then came another shockwave, Ruth said she fled to her apartment where Jack Halloran was waiting. She claimed he returned to the house with her and it was he who cut up Sammy and shoved the bodies in the luggage while she cleaned up the bloody scene.

The story was a sensation, but it did not overly make sense. The police and medical examiners at the scene determined that the women were shot in the head at close range while laying in their separate beds. The location of the injuries did not match with gunshots fired during a fight, especially a fight involving three people, one of which was holding an ironing board. Another question swirled in the minds of Phoenix, why was Halloran waiting at Judd’s apartment and why did he help her dispose of the bodies of their friends?

Newspaper reporting the discovery of the bodies in the trunks.

The trial of Ruth Judd began on January 19th 1932 and from the beginning Judd claimed she only shot Ann and Sammy in self defense. Amazingly, she was only tried for the murder of Ann, and the court did not buy her story. In the eyes of the court the tension between the women was evident for weeks, beginning with Judd moving out of the house they shared. The theory was that the source of the bitterness was venomous jealousy over Halloran’s affection for the other women and that Judd went to their house that night with the intent to kill. On February 8th 1932 Judd was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging.

Judd at her trial in 1932.

Judd was not the only person defending herself in court over the gruesome crime. When Halloran’s name was brought into the story he too was eyed for his involvement in the bloody scene. On December 30th 1932 he was indicted by a grand jury as an accomplice to murder, and Judd was the star witness against him. In Judd’s testimony she told the story of how she got into a fight with Sammy over her introducing Halloran to another woman. She then shot them in self defense, met Halloran at her apartment, and it was he who dismembered Sammy, dragged in the luggage, packed the bodies into a single large trunk, and made her promise to tell no one. Even though Judd admitted to the shooting and later unpacking and repacking the bodies in different pieces of luggage so they were easier for her to manage, she insisted that Halloran was just as guilty as she was. She stated in court “I am going to be hanged for something Jack Halloran is responsible for ... I was convicted of murder, but I shot in self-defense. Jack Halloran removed every bit of evidence. He is responsible for me going through all this. He is guilty of anything I am guilty of.”

Halloran’s lawyers argued that since Judd said the women were killed in self defense there was no crime to charge their client with. And besides, she was obviously insane. The charges against Halloran were dismissed on January 25th 1933. He may have been found innocent in court but he never regained his beloved image in Phoenix, losing his business and most of his associates.

Judd’s execution was scheduled for February 17th 1933 but only days before she was supposed to die Arizona authorities changed her sentence. Following a huge outpouring of people who believed that Judd was mentally unsound and should not be put to death she was instead committed to the Arizona State Mental Hospital, beginning her stay there on April 24th 1933.

Everyone assumed that Judd would live the rest of her days behind the walls of the hospital, but they were wrong. On October 24th 1939 she constructed a dummy out of boxes and towels, arranged it under her blankets, and escaped from the hospital. She was at large for six days before she was caught and brought back but Judd was able to escape six more times. Her last escape took place on October 8th 1963 when she simply walked out the door, a friend inside the hospital had given her a key. Most of her previous escapes only lasted a few days but this time was different. Judd somehow ended up in the San Francisco Bay Area and formed an entirely new identity. Living as “Marian Lane” she worked as a live-in housekeeper in a mansion owned by an elderly woman for seven years before her true identity was discovered and she was again arrested. Considering she was able to escape multiple times and resume a “normal” life outside, she was then judged sane by medical examiners and relocated to the state penitentiary where she remained until she was released in late 1971. When released Judd made her way back to California where she again took up the name “Marian Lane” and she went on to live a quiet life until her death in 1998 at the age of ninety-three.

A nurse holds up a rope used by Judd in her 1952 escape. Image via azcentral.com.

Although Judd was found guilty of first degree murder in 1932 the reason for the killings was never crystal clear. In 2014 a letter was discovered in the Arizona State Archive. It was dated April 6th 1933, it was handwritten by Judd, and it states that it is her “first and only confession.” In the text of the letter Judd details the murders of Ann and Sammy, claiming she was pushed to kill by the incessant “taunts” of Ann Leroi who tormented her by flirting with Halloran. She states: “Those taunts kept me awake, I could not sleep. I cried. I even prayed.  I was losing my mind…No human was ever going through so much turmoil of mind.”

According to Judd, on the evening of October 16th with her “brain whirling” with “insane thoughts” she “got up and went over to Ann’s house,” carrying her .25-calibre handgun. Both women were asleep and she snuck in through the front door, deciding to sit down on the couch where she eventually fell asleep. She was woken up by Sammy walking into the bathroom and she then remembered what she “had come to do.” She moved toward the bedroom but turned away because she was “shaking inside.” Returning to the couch she fell back to sleep. She was woken up by the sound of the milkman outside and when she realized Sammy was again in the bathroom she got up, went into the bedroom, and shot Ann in the head. Hearing the gunshot Sammy rushed into the bedroom and tried to wrestle the gun from Judd, accidentally shooting her in the hand. Judd then claims they both fell on the floor, “and I finally got the gun and in my wild state I shot her in the head.”

After both her friends lay dead Judd went into the garage, pulled a large trunk into the house, and stuffed Ann’s body inside. Then, Judd went to work and carried out a normal day. According to her letter, she had nothing planned out other than killing Ann, “I really had nothing definite in my mind. No plans made. In fact except for an irresistible impulse to get Ann I had no other plans.” After a brief trip to her apartment after work she returned to the scene of the crime and got inside through a bathroom window. She attempted to fit Sammy in the trunk but “that was utterly impossible, I couldn’t possibly lift her, she was too heavy and her body was stiff.  I then got two cheap knives from the kitchen and severed her body into portions I could lift.” She then shoved the pieces of Sammy into a smaller trunk and a suitcase.

Ann Leroi and Sammy Samuelson. Image via azcentral.com. 

Those who only knew “Marian Lane” in California probably had a very difficult time reconciling the person they knew with the Winnie Ruth Judd from Phoenix. She was a little old lady who always had a friendly smile and her hair done, a hugely far cry from the “Trunk Murderess” that filled the headlines decades before. She never fully denied her past though, once commenting “how she was sorry she wasn't going to live long enough to see the day when people would finally stop remembering Winnie Ruth Judd.”

Today, the bungalow where the murders of Ann Leroi and Sammy Samuelson took place still stands in Phoenix at the corner of Second Street and Catalina Drive. It was recently purchased by someone who hopes to restore it to show what it looked like the night of the infamous Trunk Murders.

You can read the full confession of Winnie Ruth Judd here.

A 2010 photograph of the Trunk Murders bungalow. Image via Wikipedia.

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

Sources: 

The Arizona Memory Project https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov

The Yale Review yalereview.yale.edu/trunk-murders-1931

AZCentral.com

Read More: 

The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jane Bommersbach