#i’ve used this picture every season for the last 3 years i think and I will continue to

[sophfandoms53]

And the hell cycle begins my friends 🥂

[danvillecheese]

the dwampyverse and all its timelines

welcome to the analysis i've been promising for like two years! this will be phineas and ferb centric simply due to the sheer amount of episodes compared to milo murphy's law and hamster and gretel. with the inclusion of hamster and gretel, i will admit this has gotten a little less easy to navigate, but i'm hoping with a bit of analysis and suspension of belief, it'll be okay. ready? lets go!

the best way i can describe this first part is by providing a visual of how i see it. and using a three-circle venn diagram makes perfect sense with all of the overlapping and individual parts.

so - pictured above is said venn diagram. each part is its own timeline. ones where each show is their own timeline, ones where pnf/mml overlap, mml/hng overlap, pnf/hng overlaps and the one right in the centre where they all overlap. this doesnt include timelines where "endings" are separate (read: quantum boogaloo, act your age, doof 101, owca files... any ending that isnt last day of summer. but i'll get to those ones later). make sense?

1. where only phineas and ferb exists.

this works best before 2015. this timeline is the one that has zero murphy crumbs on it. dan and swampy haven’t yet had the idea of doing a show about a kid with awful luck and time travelling shenanigans. this is the most nostalgic timeline, for phineas has reigned over the disney channel cartoons for eight years. the lumberzacks dont exist, hamster and gretel dont save danville each week. pnf is its own show. no other shows have an influence on it.

adding to this - if you ignore any of the alternate timeline episodes and stop at last day of summer, you get my personal favourite way of watching the show. this one is basically just ignoring owca files, doof 101, all of mml and most importantly - act your age. I love the idea of an open book ending for these characters, especially for ones we saw on our tvs for over eight years [when it aired]. the events that take place after last day of summer are simply giving an idea of what COULD happen to our beloved cast, and without them, they really make no impact on the original story. the events before the end of summer are in no way impacted by the other alternate ending episodes.

2. where both phineas and ferb and milo murphy’s law exists

this is the canon, everything-exists-all-at-the-same-time timeline, pre-hamster and gretel. every piece of context works together, and everything is all connected. everything is canon! everyone is friends with each other! the pnf effect works! doof moves in with the murphy's, and this timeline is basically if you watched pnf and mml chronologically, without any of the alt ending episodes (in case you forgot which ones: quantum boogaloo, act your age, doof 101 and the owca files). this is the one i think we're all familiar with - it also includes candace against the universe (mostly uh... broadly speaking, the lumberzacks are the only mml thing in there).

3. where only milo murphy’s law exists

a timeline where pnf and hng are nonexistent. this timeline would probably exclude anything past season one, really. the crossover would not work. maybe even in this timeline the pistachions take over everything and the human characters cease to exist. (eleanor shellstrop this is the bad place!.jpeg) this further pushes the point (that I haven’t made - I’ve been thinking it I just haven’t said it lmao) that you can’t have milo murphys law without phineas and ferb. the crossover plot proves it. both in the real world AND in mml.

4. where just hamster and gretel exists

this one is a little hard to explain, especially since hng has only just finished its first season. there are a few pnf references in this show but it stands on its own feet much more than mml did. i think the likelihood of hng existing in its own timeline works a lot better than mml - but the chance of there being a surprise crossover is moderately high. like i said, it's a little hard to analyse this since its that much more removed from its predecessors.

5. where milo murphy’s law and hamster and gretel exist

this is a very unlikely scenario, but there is a chance a timeline like this exists somewhere. it’s a bit difficult to analyse or even prove since there haven’t been any kind of references or even characters that pop up in hng from mml. I wouldn’t expect the opposite either, considering that mml ended in 2019 and hng didn’t exist until after that, so hng within mml is basically impossible without a third season.

these last two timelines make a lot less sense, especially since hng still has stories to tell and we havent seen mml characters there yet (well... unless you count doof. hes technically a mml character, right? as much as some of us dislike that fact? haha. ahahaha.)

6. where phineas and ferb and hamster and gretel exists

this one works. i think it’s basically how dtva thinks it works (basically completely ignoring mml’s entire existence lmao) but this is basically the canon timeline of hng currently. but we’ll wait and see if there’s a crossover.

7. where all of phineas and ferb, milo murphy’s law and hamster and gretel exist all at once

like I say, a surprise crossover could happen (but based off what happened with the pnf effect I can’t even imagine how messy this would get) so yes, they could exist all at once. and they probably do, just that hng is a lot further removed from its predecessors in terms of references and characters popping up out of nowhere (doof and his inators don’t seem to have much importance yet, but who knows how it’ll end). this timeline, basically, is for those who don’t really mind that everything’s in a collective universe, and it seems like the easiest one to comprehend if you aren’t pedantic about all of this.

but what about the episodes where timelines end?

you’re probably here thinking okay, so what? there’s different timelines. this isn’t news. what about the other individual episodes that are within the umbrella timeline? I like to think of them as individual timelines within the show, along with all the other ones mentioned above.

quantum boogaloo

timelines have been a thing pretty much since season 2 of phineas and ferb, notably in the episode quantum boogaloo where they go forward in time and see a potential future where stacy is the president of uruguay. this is an example of something ‘canonically’ happening after last day of summer, 20 years in the future. this episode has a couple of potential timelines - the one where everything is fine, and the one where doof is emperor and everyone is named joe. the first timeline has candace ending up with jeremy and having three kids, along with ferb at camp david and phineas at an awards ceremony in switzerland. however, this particular timeline doesnt match up equally with act your age, since their ages dont line up. in quantum boogaloo, pnf are aged 30 twenty years later, in aya, pnf are aged 18 ten years later. this means they could either be 8 or 10 in the original summer, depending on the timeline. the second one is pretty much null to me since they time travel back and both of the future timelines cancel out.

doof 101

so. this is an episode i havent seen for a while. however, this is one of the perfect examples since the theme for doof 101 says "and this all takes place in fall so don't let the timeline throw you" like hiiii thank you for acknowledging that this is a separate timeline! there's a short bit in the title that shows doof facing either prison time or teaching at the high school in court, and its something we don't see the events leading up to. sure, he's done crimes against humanity but there weren't ever any consequences during the show. who turned him in? why is he on trial? what happened between him being evil and becoming a high school science teacher? and why does this monobrow edward rooney ass guy have beef with him and charlene out of nowhere? timelines, dude. got me stressed out and its not even my show.

act your age

[through gritted teeth] this episode also shows another potential canonical ending for the cast. phineas ends up with isabella 10 years after last day of summer, showing that this particular timeline has the kids aged around 8 or 9 in the original summer. we all know my thoughts on this particular ending, notably posted here. this timeline is easy to ignore if you dislike it, like the majority of us.

what does line up with the original summer, however, is doof's b-plot in act your age. I'm not a huge hater of his arc in this episode, and honestly, it might be his most in-character timeline ending out of all of them. yes, you heard me, theres something i dont dislike about act your age. like i said in the post linked above, i dont find it hard to believe he would bowl with perry and carl and monogram every week. he would totally have a mid-life crisis that wasn't real, like this guy canonically can't even hate christmas. this is so in character for him! in terms of it being a different timeline though, the only proof i have is that it's one of many different timeline ending episodes.

last day of summer

this episode is kinda like a flagship for the timelines, and as mentioned above, my favourite ending. i don’t think I need to reiterate it, but it really just provides an open ending for the entire cast, and makes room for anything else to happen. I’m curious to see how it pans out in the reboot; if they keep the continuity and acknowledge that ldos happened, or if they just kinda skip over it if it’s true that the new seasons will happen in the summer after the original one. but don’t worry - if the reboot adds any kind of canon divergence (I’m literally counting on it) You Will Certainly Hear From Me About It. lol

the owca files

I'll admit i haven't watched owca files for a number of years but i still remember bits of it. its a very strange timeline to me. i understand that doof is legally an ocelot and can be an agent but it does feel like the beginning of that out-of-characterness he displays in mml. and i guess the owca files is canon there, right? the bit with monogram during the pnf effect?

this also includes the pine tree. it feels like a way of letting us know owca files is in a different timeline. the flynn-fletcher house gets blown up, they get new plates, and we have symbolism of the end of an era with a pine tree in their backyard.

milo murphy's law

this one in particular is mostly just the pnf/mml overlap but ensures that doof ends up as professor time. if you've seen mml i don't think i need to explain it - after last day of summer (and owca files if ur nasty) the events of mml occur chronologically as if its one continuous timeline.

wait! what about the other canon divergent episodes?

ones that aren’t necessarily an ending but are set smack bang in the middle of the show with no explanation? don’t worry. I got you.

phineas and ferb christmas vacation

this episode features doof being evil in the middle of winter. dan povenmire has said he relapsed, but this is a perfect example of different timelines. a lot of the “ending” episodes were written and aired well before last day of summer so the chance of them knowing how the show was going to end was likely very little, if not zero. so, let’s imagine that last day of summer doesn’t happen. none of that arc happens, it’s just doof being passively evil throughout the year and then this christmas event happens. i don’t think he ever stopped being evil in this timeline. the chance of him just getting less… violent with his schemes is probably the best way of thinking about it. hell, he got perry a present. yes, it was a vase, but would the s1 heinz have done that? probably not. he’s definitely less evil as the show progresses, and even an episode like this one that aired in season 2 shows how quickly they turned it around.

on the other hand - the boys make their santa clubhouse invention and candace stresses what to get jeremy as a gift. does she try and bust them? surprisingly, no. her main focus is jeremy, and when it all goes south she’s in on what the boys are doing when santas elves show up. she mentions “what’s different this year than last year?”, insinuating that the boys weren’t inventing anything before the summer that the show is set in, and that this episode is definitely set after that summer. the B plot is definitely more solid proof of the alternate timeline, with heinz “relapsing” although I struggle to believe that with all the canon divergency that happens within the show and in mml/hng the chances of it just being a relapse are very remote.

that’s the spirit!

this one is similar in that it diverges from our last day of summer ending. doof is still evil, and candace - wait, she doesn’t even try and bust them. she’s keen to trick or treat with the gang and then go to jeremy’s party. she doesn’t even try and bust them. (man, it’s almost like it’s another timeline or something.)

back to doof though - he might have relapsed like in the christmas vacation episode, but he’s not necessarily evil here either. sure, he declared war on grass for an unknown reason and turned himself into a were-cow, but it’s not established that he wants to take over the tri state area like usual. if anything, it’s the opposite. he runs from the masses like it’s a witch hunt.

the curse of candace

this episode is all fine until the end where candace turns to dust and phineas says "we're gonna need a dustpan and some glue." there isnt much else to say about this one, but it indicates another timeline where candace is glued back together afterwards. and she’s also a vampire.

happy new year!

this is set after the summer the show is set in, considering that jeremy and coltrane are at the party as candace and stacy's respective dates. doof is still evil as his plot is to become ruler of the tri-state area. candace makes one last attempt at busting her brothers. this is definitely another timeline, and also apparently one where gangnam style exists. pretty easy to understand - doof doesnt have his giving-up-evil arc and continues to be passively evil like always. this could also work chronologically with christmas vacation, where he tries his naughty-inator and then a week later comes up with the resolution-changer-inator. candace's arc is a little different, she could have stayed consistent and tried to bust the boys from summer onwards, only getting to new years and wanting to change her ways with a new years resolution.

for your ice only

evil doof is back again in the fourteen days of winter vacation that fall between christmas and new years'. for him, this could be an evil scheme that takes place at some point in between christmas vacation and new years, or it could be its own timeline altogether. candace also attempts to bust the boys again, as per usual.

what's interesting about this one though, is the fact they refer back to football x7 when talking about hockey z9. and you're probably thinking 'obviously? whats ur point' and yes. obviously they bring up the original episode when referencing the sport with the same name format. but this also implies its in the same timeline as the football x7 game, meaning there's at least two timelines that divert off my fair goalie - one that doesn't include hockey z9 and one that does (this episode). and this one (i'm circling back) includes evil doof. bam!

escape from phineas tower

what! this is a normal episode, right? if that was your reaction upon reading that subtitle, you'd be thinking the same as me, until you remember the ending where the tower extends its forcefield around the entire milky way galaxy. but here's where things get really interesting. what film, may i ask, has a plot where the ensemble cast has to fly to another planet to rescue two other ensemble cast members? thats right, candace against universe! this means that catu is set in a timeline that doesn't include the escape from phineas tower episode, since they're able to exit the milky way galaxy and enter the vroblok cluster. this would be impossible if it were in the same timeline as this episode, since they would have stopped at the dome and wouldn't have been able to get to feebla-oot.

she’s the mayor

honourable mention to this episode since it features time travel and timeline fuckery and I never see anybody talk about it!

"Back at the golf course, Roger is astounded at how fast the game is going as Dr. Doofenshmirtz points out that the slight chance that the Accelerate-inator could destroy the very fabric of space-time and possibly the entire universe is a small price to pay to get done with the game. Perry then breaks the Accelerate-inator using a golf club, causing time to flow backwards at the exact moment when Linda and Candace are about to bust Phineas and Ferb, also undoing all of the day's events back to the announcement in City Hall and causing an alien from another universe to appear.

At City Hall, Mayor Doofenshmirtz prepares to announce the winner of the Mayor-For-A-Day Essay Contest. The alien destroys the Accelerate-inator, causing the time-line to be altered once again as the new honorary mayor is announced: the old coot and telling everyone that any gold that they find is now his, causing Candace to lament, "I was robbed."" (from the pnf wiki)

what would’ve happened if doof's machine wasn’t destroyed and set the timeline back into place? the fabric of time and space would have been destroyed, and there is a very high chance there would have been a last-day-of-summer-esque situation where everything within the void would cease to exist. right from the start of the episode, it begins with a clock chiming, so from the beginning we are made aware that time will somehow have significance, which it does. after the timeline resets, we hear the clock chime again, which lets the viewer know we're now in a different timeline. there don't seem to be any repercussions of this timeline fuckery later in the show since it doesn't get mentioned again.

night of the living pharmacists

second honourable mention goes to this ending that @momphineasandferbmadeablog reminded me of (tysm bestie) where it "ends" with stacy turning off her tv as if the entire episode was a horror film the whole time. however, even before verifying, i had a feeling it was debunked and its just the ending of the grievance film. and i was right.

"Dan Povenmire made it clear that the entire episode was canon instead of a film Stacy was watching, and that the "The End" card on Stacy's TV was merely the "The End" title card of the Grievance movie she was watching." (from the pnf wiki)

there isnt a citation for it and none of his tweets showed up while i was looking for actual proof but i definitely remember him saying it somewhere, but please, absolutely feel free to think of it as a separate timeline! without dan saying it's a canon episode, there isn't actually any proof within the episode that it isn't its own timeline.

across the second dimension/tales from the resistance: back to the second dimension

and for our third and final honourable mention, this one is basically the existence of the second dimension. I haven't added it as its own since the concept is pretty obvious - its another dimension where a different timeline occurs. i mean, idk if i need to fully explain it, if youve seen the film and the s4 episode you know what happens. it's explicitly stated to be another dimension, however the specific mention of timelines is nonexistent. semantics, yes, but i do really feel like atsd is separate from all of it.

it's certainly a timeline that could happen - doof could lose his choo-choo and eventually take over the tri-state area and the events of the film would occur, but the fact that the main characters cross over and meet each other puts it into a different category for me. but by all means, feel free to think of it as yet another timeline!

I want to specifically mention: this list of episodes is not at all an exhaustive number of timelines. the way I see it, this is just the ones that are “labelled” (for lack of a better word) as their own timelines. there can be as many or as few timelines within the dwampyverse as you like. this analysis is not a rulebook, but rather answering the conundrum with one solution out of an infinite number of possibilities.

the dwampyverse and its "current year syndrome"

i think we can all agree that phineas and ferb is a relatively timeless show, in that you could watch it at any point in the past fifteen years and it wouldn't feel particularly out of place. that being said, the technology used in the show makes it feel aged or weirdly out of time. most notably, the switch between candace having a flip phone in the first three seasons and a touch-screen phone in everything post-season four. this is clearly influenced by the smartphone boom that occurred in the 2010s when iphones became mainstream, and thus impacted everyday life, including in tv and film.

so, when the animators jumped on this trend, phineas and ferb became a lot less timeless. candace owning something like a flip phone, something that didn't even exist for a long period of time in real life, felt less like something that was trying to keep up with the times than when she suddenly appeared on screen with a smartphone. not to mention the alexa joke in candace against the universe. now that was a jumpscare.

if you did want to carbon date the summer that the show is set in, like this post did for example, and if you're like me, you might headcanon phineas and ferb's summer taking place somewhere between 2009 and 2012. the other times where they've crossed over is set whenever it makes sense. the pnf effect? i think its pretty much canon that it takes place in 2017, what with all the pop culture references like pokemon go, dabbing, and uptown funk. definitely things you can date back to that mid 2010s era.

milo murphy's law also makes sure it stays current too, like specifically mentioning the year 2016 when the lumberzacks formed, milo's bag of toothbrushes labeled 2012-2014, and king pistachion doing a selfie with everyone which is like the most 2016 thing ever. (you guys remember the oscars selfie?) there's certainly some purpose behind dating some of the events within the show, since its entire B-plot is about time travel, but it doesn't feel like its really trying to be a current show. at least, not until they have references and allusions to pop culture things like ducky mo-go.

hamster and gretel has what is unfortunately the worst display of the three - there's a lot of social media references in the show. not necessarily memes, but just a lot of display of the characters using social media. the first one that comes to mind is the destructress, where her typical Thing is her doing a livestream or some kind of story update announcement with her phone, clearly showing that this is a 2020s cartoon, and it feels the need to be very current. hell, eight year old gretel has an iphone in this show, but i won't go down the track of why that fact alone is so weird to me since it'll derail this entire analysis.

granted there are a LOT of inconsistencies throughout these three shows but the current year syndrome, although sometimes unavoidable, proves the fact there are multiple timelines - and they can be traced back to candace's flip phone.

so, what do we do with this?

I personally love cherry-picking the parts of canon that exist, purely from a selfish point of view but also because this universe allows for it. there are a lot of different endings or alternate paths these characters can go down, and as exemplified by act your age, we can either ignore them or embrace them. sure, it’s unlikely but there are some people who like the aya ending and say it’s their own canon, and others who like the ending where doof becomes professor time. or there's others, like me, who absolutely adore last day of summer as their timeline end. the openness of it in such a positive light makes it feel like it’s not even the ending for these characters.

it also begs the question - does everything go back to the status quo at the end of every phineas and ferb episode? well... it can't, really. most character arcs within the show are tied to events that happen, like monty and vanessa getting together, or buford joining the backyard gang, or even doof's slow arc to being a good, if not morally grey character.

no, it’s not a big deal that there’s a lot of different timelines in the sense you have to constantly think about it as you watch it. but it does present us with the classic conundrum: which one is actually canon? and to this, i say, pick your own ending. if you like cherry picking as much as I do, indulge yourself. skip episodes you don't like. ignore parts of canon that don't actually have that much impact on the timeline. hey, its not like the show doesn't allow for it!

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Buck saw their future and Eddie prepared them for it!

(I created GIFs for this post but every time I posted it, Tumblr wouldn’t allow it to show up on the dashboard or in the tags🙄.  I’ve been trying to post this for three weeks but since I couldn’t with the GIFs, I’ve included the video from 2x8 instead.)

In 2x8 "Buck Actually", Buck saw how his and Eddie's future could be when he looked at the pictures of Thomas and Mitchell while they were on the scene of Mitchell's accident. Reminder, he was the only one who looked at the photos Thomas dropped on the ground when he rushed over to help Mitchell after their SUV crushed him in between the vehicle and the fence.  Several photos fell out of the album he was planning to take with them that day. Therefore, Buck saw how his and Eddie's future could be from start to finish.

The top of the photo album's cover read: "Love, Life and Adventures" and it also had a picture of Thomas' and Mitchell's first date on one side and a picture from their wedding day on the other. After he finished his conversation with Thomas, Buck saw their entire life including all the moments they shared together as a couple when he picked up each of the photos. Then he looked over his shoulder at Thomas right before he died.

Eddie and Bobby were both there with Buck while he performed chest compressions on Thomas.

Even though Eddie didn't see the pictures, he did see how distraught Buck was after Thomas died and he saw Thomas holding Mitchell's hand, actually they both saw it and he touched Buck's shoulder to comfort him.  He also heard Buck say, "That's Love!" and after he said it, he looked at Eddie not Bobby!

Not long after Buck saw a glimpse of their future via the photos that he picked up that showed him Thomas' and Mitchell's life together, Eddie started preparing for them to spend forever together in season 3 after he had been trapped in the well in 3x15 "Eddie Begins". Reminder, he changed his will right after he emerged and he named Buck to be Chris' legal guardian.

Also, it happened right before Buck met Red in 3x16 “The One that Got Away” and Red was the one who told Buck not to neglect having a life of his own. This was the same episode that Buck was afraid of being left behind but the narrative showed he wouldn’t be since Eddie had already prepared for their future. Buck was panicking about dying alone and everyone at the 118 leaving him like the people who worked with Red left him behind but Eddie was the ONLY one who said, "Anyway, that won't happen to US!" and Buck said, "It better not!" They were looking right at each other while they were talking and the camera remained on them instead of it being turned back to show the rest of the 118.

Eddie didn't tell Buck about his will until one year later in 4x14 "Survivors" after he had been shot by a sniper.

Here are more instances that illustrate the parallels regarding Buck and Eddie's future to the pictures Buck saw of Thomas and Mitchell.

Buck did chest compressions on Thomas in 2x8 (see above) and he did them again on Lev in 6x2 "Crash and Learn" but in 6x2, Eddie was working on Lev's friends and he wasn't there by Buck's side like he had been in 2x8. Eddie being separated from Buck could signify the fact that Buck had to take his journey alone during season 6 while Eddie waited for him to finally "get it", meaning Buck had to get the fact that Eddie's been waiting for him.

Reminder, right before Lev died, he said "I think I get it now".

A few months later, in 6x10 "In a Flash", Eddie did chest compressions on Buck after he was struck by lightning and HE WAS THE ONE WHO RESTARTED BUCK'S HEART EVEN THOUGH CHIMNEY HAD BEEN DOING COMPRESSIONS ON BUCK FOR MORE THAN THREE MINUTES.

The last 17 seconds was ALL EDDIE and he's the one who brought Buck back to life. He corrected Chief Williams after she said Buck was dead for three minutes when he interjected and replied, "Three minutes and seventeen seconds".

This show is so unhinged it's ridiculous but there are two questions that plague season 7.

Will 9-1-1 continue the original narrative they started in season 2 that has continuously illustrated BUCK'S & EDDIE'S EPIC LOVE STORY in season 7 and make them a CANON COUPLE?

Or will they stay on that redundant BS with Buck and Eddie dating one dimensional women like they did in seasons 4-5?

Only the showrunner(s), writers and producers know the answer to that question but hopefully they'll finally let them be together so they can be happy!

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

If Will does have powers what could that be envisaged as? I mean like El’s powers we see her use them is what I mean and like i’ve seen people say Will could have something to do with electricity or fire but I’m not sure how and why that would only come into play last season like why would they wait this long? Also I’ve seen theories that Will made the upside down etc like how do you think this can end in him putting an end to it etc if you get me im terrible at explaining xD

I've toyed with the idea that Will created the Upside Down for years now. I conceptualized it as a pocket dimension that he unwittingly used to store his Shadow (in the Jungian sense). Every shameful thought, every bit of pain, all his trauma, everything he hated about himself, he crammed into the Upside Down so that he wouldn't have to acknowledge it. I saw it as a similar concept to the idea of compartmentalization, which is a form of dissociation. El then accidentally tapped into this realm by accident, releasing the Mindflayer, which was, essentially, Will's shadow self. Well, repressed parts of the self do tend to find a way out, and, in this case, it became a physical, supernatural, manifestation.

Of course, this is likely 100% wrong now.

Based on everything we know now, including from the stage play, I'm banking on any powers Will has being a result of his exposure to the Upside Down. It begs the question as to what made Will so special that he got targeted, unless it turns out Henry has been watching him for a long time. I suspect it will turn out that Henry chose Will because he saw similarities between them. Whether he knew what sorts of powers Will would get is unknown, but he does seem to have wanted Will to join him.

What powers do I think Will has, though?

Reality warping/creation: Will can create and/or alter the form of reality. While it seems by now that Will didn't create the Upside Down, I do think he has since shaped it. It's an extension of his artistic ability, but he's only done it unconsciously. After he was taken, he probably wished to go home, and a dark version of home came into being.

Clairvoyance: As the Eye of Vecna, Will has some degree of extrasensory perception. His D&D campaign in season 3 predicted some aspects of the plot. He also had a picture on his corkboard in season 4 of a prisoner who looked suspiciously like Hopper. He doesn't know it yet, but he really is Will the Wise.

Truesight: We know this already, but Will has a connection to the Upside Down that gives him the ability to see through the barrier between worlds. He just hasn't learned how to control it, yet.

Melting: He has the ability to turn Mike Wheeler into a puddle of goo. (Just kidding...kinda)

Will's powers have been largely dormant because he doesn't realize he has them. Nobody else has really figured it out, either. I suspect it's going to be a big part of season 5. I think it's quite possible that Henry inserted Soteria into Will while he was in the Upside Down in order to contain his powers until he's ready. We did last see that device being pocketed by Henry, after all, and the last thing he'd want is for Will to be able to use the powers against him.

[i4bellingham]

MORE THAN JUST AN INTERLUDE: pedri x reader

SYNOPSIS: in which a relationship thought to be a fleeting moment lasted for more than they'll ever know.

CONTENT: incorporated with a slight social media au! + obsessive hateful fan speaking shit. conversations are in (google translated) spanish and english + gavi being an adorable child + innuendos by pedri :’p / also NOT PROOFREAD please don’t sue me. read part two here

pedri

❤️ 💭 ↗️ 　　　　　 • •

Liked by gavi, alejandrobalde and 1,768,923 others

pedri el más feliz contigo. feliz aniversario mi amor. the happiest with you. happy anniversary my love.

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user1 wait what- one year ???? 😧

user2 y'all been together for one year i-

user3 remembering the days where your fans thought this was just a fling 😭 you guys are celebrating one year with each other now congrats 😭❤️

gavi happy anniversary!

fcbarcelona sending love to you and yourusername ❤️

user4 another month now and you'll break up anyways 😐

user5 shut yo stanky ass

user4 let's bffr here besties they're not gonna last ☺️

user6 user4 and this is why your father left you, your mom hates you, you failed school and you're single meanwhile yourusername is here living the absolute best of life 🤷🏻‍♀️

　　　

yourusername

❤️ 💭 ↗️ 　　　　　 • •

Liked by jamalmusiala10, neymar, pedri and 195,986 others

yourusername here's to many more small midnight talks about life with you. happy anniversary bebe ❤️

tagged: pedri

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_rl9 never let the haters ruin such a beautiful relationship!

pedri never

gavi the second picture is when you text him and his focus is not with us anymore :/

yourusername i always tell him to stop texting me when he's out with you guys though ☹️

gavi i know, pedri just doesn't listen because he's annoying like that

yourusername say sorry pedri :/

yourfriend1 happiest anniversary to you both! ❤️❤️

pedri i love you

yourusername i love you more

pedri i love you the most

yourusername i love you more than most

pedri i love you so much that no words could ever describe to which extent

alejandrobalde pedri we get it man 😃 (anyways happy anniversary yourusername)

gavi pedri simp (i don't know if i used that word correct)

Pedri was still high on adrenaline when he was whisked away for an interview just after their game.

His football jersey clung onto his skin in an uncomfortable but familiar hug with grimes and sweat all over his body. If people looked closely, they'd find small specks of dirt on his cheeks from the amount of time he tried intercepting a ball pass from the opposing team. He still looked good nonetheless, not that he needed someone to remind him that as he stood carefree in front of the multiple camera shooting his every angle as he waits for the first question to pop up.

“So... what a game huh?” The reporter chucklesㅡ for what reason, Pedri doesn't know but he simply chuckles alongside him. “How do you think of your performance today Pedri? And how do you think that contributed to the win tonight?”

Pedri scratches his nose bridge, then placing both hands over his waist as he takes a lean back to keep the mic near from his lips.

“I think this is one of the best games that I’ve played entering this season. I think that defensively I’ve gotten a lot of progress and it showed in this game tonightㅡ but I believe there is still room for improvement. I think that I had made a few bad calls during the game as well so I’ll definitely look into that as to not make the same mistakes again but overall, I’m pretty satisfied and happy with how my performance played out tonight and contributed to our team’s win.”

The reporter nods his head behind the camera, seemingly impressed at the response he got from one of Barcelona’s golden boys.

“Any celebrations happening tonight for this big win? For another 3 points on the board?”

Pedri smiles but he shakes his head. “No, the guys will get into that but I will be celebrating something else tonight, this is a special day for me and for my girlfriend after all so I just want to spend this night with her.”

“Speaking of girlfriend...” The reporter trails off, flicking through his card with a teasing glint and smile on his face as he follows through with his statement. “It’s your guys’ anniversary today yes? Made quite a lasting impression on Twitter, this one.”

Pedri nods his head, eyes steering away from the media crew momentarily when his eyes catches a familiar figure walking towards them alongside Gavi.

“Yes, it's our anniversary today so not only do I get to celebrate the win tonight but I also get to celebrate an entire year of love and happiness with my girlfriend.”

Pedri shoots you a smile when you catch his eyes, mouthing ‘wait for me’ as he tends to his media tasks by finishing off the interview with a few more remarks for the game, team improvements and whatnot before he walks over to you and Gavi in brisk steps when he's finally done.

He's a few mere foot away when you immediately open your arms for a hug, not minding that he's still dirtied up from his previous game, all with the sweat and gunk clinging onto him. Pedri immediately falls down into your embrace, and Gavi takes that chance to slip away when he sees the cameras pointing to you both while still airing live.

You plant a kiss each to his cheeks and nose, leaving more than a swift peck to his lips that he returns gratefully and with glee.

“I’m so proud of you, do you know that?” You tell him as he leans his forehead against yours. “You did so well today baby, I’m very very proud of you.”

Pedri wraps both of his arms around your waist, locking you snug against him as you snake your hands around his shoulders.

“You always tell me that, no?” He leans down to whisper in your ear. “But you can always show how proud you are of me yeah?”

You don’t say anything but you do slap his chest when Gavi comes in barreling through your hug, jumping behind your boyfriend while he's got both hands over Pedri’s shoulders.

“Happy Anniversary to the two of you!”

Pedri shakes the younger one off before moving to walk away, pulling you behind him. “Too loud Gavi.”

“But we won! And it's in your anniversary and you guys should all be loud!”

Pedri smiles tight-lipped, another whisper going through your ears before he's leaning back up as if he never just said something to rouse you up.

“Oh you'll definitely be loud tonight, that's for sure.”

Not only did the media capture you lip-locking live with your boyfriend after his post-game interview, the interaction with Gavi and Pedri’s whispered suggestive comments that left you stunned and bothered definitely made it to the trending topics on Twitter for the next days to come.

[bluedalahorse]

I think I’ll say this once, since I need to say it before I can move on to more excited posting about promos and things:

Obviously Young Royals means a lot to me. It’s become another way for me to connect with my hyphenated-American heritage and to start teaching myself Swedish again. It helped me survive a pretty brutal year of bullying at work. It made me confident enough to start the process of getting formally evaluated for autism and ADHD. I’ve been writing a 200k+ historical AU fanfic for YR—the kind of fic I always read and adored back in fandoms when I was younger, the kind of fic I wanted to write myself. I’m proud of the way that Heart and Homeland has made me a better writer, and I’m glad for the way it’s deepened my friendship with @heliza24. It is Young Royals in part that inspired by thesis on restorative justice in YA literature. When I was in the hospital last fall because I almost had a literal stroke from stress, I was comforted and kept calm by the fact that I was wearing a YR t-shirt and had a plush doll of a YR character sitting in my lap. And all of that is the short list.

As we come close to the release date, I hope that every single member of the fandom gets something they enjoy in the new season. I don’t think every person is going to get everything they want, but I genuinely hope there’s a moment, a scene, a line that brings them joy. We’ve all stuck with this series for a while, and I want us all to have something we can take with us. A little bit of sparkle for the road, if you will.

There’s of course the possibility that some of us get a lot of what we want, and others of us are let down. I know this was the case for season 2, and it feels naive to imagine that everyone in the fandom will be equally satisfied by season 3. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll enjoy the hell out of it, but I’m also trying to prepare my heart in case it’s not what I wanted. I’m trying to gently talk to myself right now and say that even if the third season leaves me upset and unsatisfied—even if the writing takes a nosedive or it’s good writing but it’s just not what I wanted—that I still learned a lot about crafting stories and being myself and surviving hardship and thinking about systems and whatever else, from this show. That my experience with the first two seasons still matters, that my work on my fic is something to be proud of. If season 3 is a disappointment, Heart and Homeland will be my new canon. I’m sure there are other people out there talking themselves up in this way too. I know we’re all pushing through the pre-season jitters.

The other thing I’m trying to reconcile right now is how I feel about the promotional material that’s come out, and the conversations around that. Like on my own, I actually feel pretty great? It’s fun to see the new stuff come in? But then I think about the ratio of Wilmon to other things and some of the responses I’m seeing to that. And I see people say like “oh the show is back to focusing on what’s actually good about it” and “it’s great that they’re doing this because the audience doesn’t really care about characters who aren’t Wilmon.” And… hello? Aren’t I the audience? Tumblr isn’t too bad (most of the time) but then there’s like, Instagram, where the Netflix Nordic posted whole set of photos of different pairs and friendships from a whole bunch of shows, and there was one (1) picture of Sara and Rousseau and I saw enough comments where people were like “ew! Vomit! Give us Wilmon instead!” that like… y’all. Frida Argento is a human being and a damn good actress, and Lisa is a good writer of female characters, and like. We can celebrate that, once in a while. We can create space for her too. It’s not Frida OR Omar and Edvin. It’s Frida AND Omar AND Edvin AND Nikita AND Malte AND Nathalie AND Mimmi AND Fabian AND Samuel AND… look I could keep on listing but I’m going to get distracted if I do.

Like, man. I love Wilmon. Don’t get me wrong. I love the complexity their relationship can run with. There are lines heliza has written for them in fic that make me swoon and I am giddy about the part where I get to read them first. I love the glowsticks. I love Wilmon’s sense of humor and the part where they cheated at Vincent’s rowing race thing and their utmost commitment to being dumbass teenage boys against the world. The first week I saw the show and came into work (where we have an athletic field) I went and took a selfie on the field after covering my hands in those gross fake dots. Look. I am all in.

And also… I came to the show for Wilmon but I stayed for so much more. I would have watched Young Royals once or twice and said “that was pleasant” without ever getting back into fanfic after a decade away, if the show was only Wilmon. I do like Wilmon, but it wasn’t Wilmon who inspired my thesis on restorative justice or made me a better writer overall. I survived that year of bullying at work because I could come home and write my ensemble fanfic, especially the parts where I focused on the non-Wilmon pairing I was in charge of writing. I finally felt confident enough to be evaluated for AuDHD because of a connection I felt to a character who wasn’t Simon or Wilhelm. It was a plush doll of a non-Wilmon character who sat in my lap and kept me calm while I was hooked up to those scary machines in the hospital this past October.

I guess my one humble request is that people be thoughtful about how they use phrases like “everyone thinks” or “no one wants.” Not every member of the fandom has the same opinion, and not every member wants the same things out of season 3, and there are some of us who are happy about the new Wilmon content but who are still feeling a little hungry for more of our most beloved characters, and hope they’ll get meaningful storylines (and not get ignored) in season 3. I do know we probably won’t all get what we want, and that some of us will probably get more of what we want than others. I hope that whatever happens, we’ll all get something we want, and we can all be gracious about it, and continue to find meaning in the canon.

For the people here on tumblr who are already including me in their everyone… thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you know who you are and I hope you know how much I appreciate you. And I do hope this Little Fandom That Could can keep going into all sorts of new creative places.

[bisexualfemalemess]

*HSMTMTS SEASON 4 SPOILERS*

Question; Is it already appropriate to stop putting a spoiler warning on my posts? lmao

Anyway, Let’s talk about 4x05 specifically, Ricky’s line “Last summer, I was terrified, when I realized i had real feelings for gina.”

Because maybe this will put the pw/rini fans down and help them accept that rina is and was supposed to be endgame no matter what happened with liv and josh. Also, I’ve literally never seen anyone talk about this and maybe i’m just exaggerating lmao.

I think Ricky could have just as easily said something along the lines of “when i realized i had feelings/ when i realized i developed real feelings for gina” but he didn’t. Because he knew he liked Gina from the moment she kissed his cheek in that orange bug after homecoming, we’ve seen them flirt and we’ve seen him shoot a shot several episodes after that and I don’t know about you but i don’t give a spin hug to my friends. He stopped pursuing Nini as soon as gina came into the picture and that’s a fact, they didn’t bring the rickyxnini couple storyline back until after Gina moved, he didn’t actively pursue nini until Gina told him to stop calling and even then he kept texting her and we see him distracted throughout the next episode, the almost kiss didn’t happen until after Gina had replied and told him they were leaving early, only once he knew gina was completely out of the picture, did he go back to nini. He said it himself, he reverted back to his old self because he didn’t have gina in his life anymore and when gina told him she wouldn’t quit on them if she wasn’t moving away he genuinely looked upset about it as well. In episode 1 of season 2 at Ashlyn’s new years even party, that boy did a Triple Take when gina went to get a root-beer, the feelings were still there, they were just buried because he didn’t think he would see Gina again when he made his confession to Nini so he held on to what he used to know and who he used to be, because we all know that ricky bowen is not good with change. Now, in episode three of the season, the iconic valentines episode, The way he looks at her, the way his voice softens while talking to her, his line “I think you’ll get yours too.” After gina told him that every girl likes a sweet gesture, THE NEXT SCENE BEING THE CHOCOLATES, the fact that ricky got messages from nini and gina only seconds apart but he only looked onto his face once gina’s message came on, all of these things hint towards ricky’s feelings, even in 2x04 when Nini came to surprise the group in the bomb shelter, Ricky and Gina looked like they just got caught cheating even though all they did was talk and laugh. Last point, Episode five and six, He was in awe of gina when she was dancing (gina porter effect) and only went to gina for advice on nini because she had helped him the previous two times when he hadn’t even actually asked for advice in 2x04 and 2x03, The boy probably thought she was trying to get over him. In the next episode even though she had already tried to break off contact with him, he still asked to partner up with her and smiled at her when she looked at him while saying she doesn’t know what her heart desires. Even during Ashlyn’s retention of home we see ricky look at gina when he comes back in. RICHARD BOWEN HAS ALWAYS HAD FEELINGS FOR GINA PORTER, THE SEASON 3 PLOT LINE WAS NOT RANDOM OR CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. Ricky just finally realized what he could’ve had if gina didn’t move away once he lost it. RINA WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN AND BE ENDGAME. THEY DIDNT COME OUT OF NOWHERE OR ONLY HAPPENED BECAUSE OLIVIA LEFT. Because, fact-check Season 2 was filmed before the drivers-license drama, they did not break them up because things between liv and josh got tense. Your ship was not supposed to be endgame.

(In tomorrows post i will rant about the people who say that rina copied rini and portwells scenes And that gina is the new nini because literally where?)

[imaginespazzi]

NIVI, bestie, the first chapter of Golden Hour (peep me using the actual title!) – fucking spectacular. You know the UCLA fic will live on in my mind forever and it will always have a special place in my heart, but this might give it a run for its money already. Just something about kid fics, it’s just too damn endearing!

Firstly, when you use My Immortal as the song reference, you already know it’s gonna have you in your feels haha. Immaculate song choice btw.

LOL at the shade Indy’s still copping 9 years on. Also, I had a slight jump scare realising that Paige had been at the Wings all this time (@ irl universe, that was simply for the plot, not a manifestation).

DUDE, I just know every scene with Stephie is gonna hit, like ugh it’s all so adorable!! Stephie being just as indecisive as her mother, I would expect nothing less from Azzi’s mini-me. Also, picturing Azzi with kids is just so 😍🥰 I could feel my heart melt throughout their entire scene together.

Manager! Colleen, we love this, truly par for the course. Also, Colleen tryna keep up with the spelling was so real of her, SAME babes.

Ahhhh JANA! I was wondering which menace would be burdened with having to deal with the two idiots! Side note: This just made me even more excited for this big 3 this coming season (it’s what we deserve after being robbed of our other big 3).

The Paige and Stephie scene man, immediately in my top 5 out of all the scenes you’ve ever written.

She really got Paige with the “but you’re not a stranger” huh.

And when she just casually climbs on to Paige’s lap and made sure she got her kisses! P absolutely stood no chance against this kid, she’s stuck at GSV forever now.

The instant bond and attachment they have to each other - ugh I love them so bad already - they’re gonna be such a handful for Azzi to deal with.

Flashback scenes always get me, I may or may not have teared up at this scene, just seeing how in love they were and them thinking they’d be that simple forever, knowing the train derailed somewhere along the way. Heartbreaking.

Jana staying true to her menace roots by putting her foot in her mouth lmao. Also, “children of divorce” lines are always some of my favourites haha, I just know the menaces still have regular group therapy sessions about how mom & dad’s divorce traumatised them cause like is love even real at that point? 😔.

The whole exchange between Paige and Azzi was like whiplash, in the best way, between the banter and how they really feel.

And the last lines – it wouldn’t be you if there wasn’t a perfect full circle/callback moment.

What’s next? (maybe)

The “one snapped string can cause a whole web to dissolve” really got me thinking about how exactly their mutual web was splintered and just how much their breakup affected everyone around them.

I’m also excited to find out who their other teammates are lol.

Can’t wait for the first time that Stephie brings up “Miss Buecks” with Azzi.

I’m also imagining Stephie having a pre-game handshake/ritual with Azzi and then her making one up for her and P 🥹

Most of all, I’m so sat to find out about the breakup, like I need all the details immediately and what happened that “last time”.

Oh and will there be a reveal of how Stephie was conceived?? Although, I’m guessing by the “because Stephie is all Azzi’s” that the other parent is definitely out of the picture?

And before I forget, the title art? header? ate that up once again (I see what you did making it purple)! The tagline too. I mean, you know i'm still partial to the "everything changes, except the ending" cause that really was *chef's kiss* but this was too!

Favourite line/quote:

“I’ve never seen you with braids this early in the year. They used to be your summer braids,” Paige remarks slowly. It’s a mundane change to notice but it’s significant of the larger truth, significant of all the time that’s passed, significant of the fact they don’t know these new versions of each other.

You’re an absolute legend as always, bestie! Can’t wait for the next one 💗

-🙋‍♀️

AHHH BESTIE I was waiting for your review cause like you're lowkey one of my favorite parts of the writing process now so just by that logic you're never allowed to fully leave this app tee hee.

AH I WAS HOPING YOU'D KNOW IT! It just fit really well.

Sorry not sorry Indiana you're just never ending up in my good books and I have no faith in that organization to not still be a cesspool years from now. DALLAS WINGS THIS IS NOT MANIFESTATION PLEASE LOOK AWAY!

Azzi as a girl mom is so self-indulgent like I just know she's meant to be one and would be so amazing so like this fic really is just me vicariously imagining it.

Lmao I had to have Colleen. She was there the first time, it's only fair she has to deal with them again the second time. Without anything to back it up, I also lowkey could see this in real life.

I thought about it for a fair bit but Jana ultimately made the most sense but the other menaces will make an appearance at some point for sure!

The Paige and Stephie scene was one of my favorite scenes to write and again so self-indulgent because I live and die for soft!Paige and especially that with kids? Yeah, I really did that for me lmao.

Yeah there is not Paige Bueckers anymore only Stephie's Ms. Bueckers and they're only about to get more and more attached (until I ruin it? MWAHAHA maybe)

I think I've used that children of divorce line in mutiple fics but ah well it's not like I can plagiarize myself lmao

You know me too well babes. I love my full circle moments, even though this one actually wasn't intentional until the very last line.

I know UCLA was very Pazzi centered but I'm actually really excited to get into other relationships in this fic as well and that line *whispers* was definitely foreshadowing.

I lowkey have no idea what other teammates to give them so that should be fun coming up with a team lmao

WAIT THAT'S SUCH A GOOD IDEA I'M STEALING IT LMAO

Is the "last time" a reference to the actual breakup or something more recent? Hmmm guess we'll find out (and I do mean we cause I haven't decided lmao)

That really is the question of the century huh? But yes, while it lowkey would've been fun (and easy) to never go into that, the mystery of Stephie's conception will be revealed in due time.

AHH THANK YOU! I'm not the greatest editor but I do really enjoy making covers like this so it means a lot that you liked it.

Love you babes, I'm so glad you're along for the ride again <3

[mdmszee]

SIMS GET TO KNOW TAG 🙈💭

ahhh thank you so much for tagging me @weindenburg !! love answering questions like these :)

1. What’s your favorite sims death? death by being hysterical bc that’s the best way to die haha

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? i am very much a maxis-match girly! no shade to alpha cc, just not my style :P

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? nooo, not at all, i want the game to be as realistic as possible!

4. Do you use move objects? yes! building without it is a legit nightmare

5. Favorite mod? i can’t choose just one but my top three favorites are UI Cheats, More CAS Presets and anything from twistedmexi!

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? wasn’t too long but I got the cats and dogs expansion pack bc i was so hesitant to make all my sims have pets hehe

7. Do you pronounce "live mode" like aLIVE or Living? LIVing

8. Who's your favorite sim that you've made? so far, it’s the lovely Mona Kaiser! idk but it’s like she came out exactly how I pictured + literally every outfit goes on her perfectly she’s just so ahhhh 🤭

9. Have you made a simself? yes I did! and I’m really happy with how she came out and I’m starting an LP on her :)

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? clumsy, socially awkward, loyal

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? it’s gotta be either the third brown color swatch or the last blonde swatch that looks like a light blonde!

12. Favorite EA hair? i don’t have all the expansion packs yet + I mostly use cc hairs 😗

13. Favorite life stage? INFANTS AND YOUNG ADULT >> but tbh as long as I have the long lifespan setting on, I enjoy all of them bc I accomplish so much more stuff

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? 10000% in it for the gameplay! I suck at building so I’ll download anything from the gallery + edit it as quick as I can so I can jump back into the game!

15. Are you a CC creator? nope but I love supporting them ! <3

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? I’d like to think I have a few, yeah! I’m a newbie on here so I’m making my way as I go + I’d love to connect with more simblrs!

17. What's your favorite game? sims 4 hands down

18. Do you have any sims merch? nope!

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? not yet but I’m thinking of starting pretty soon sooo 👀

20. How has your "sim style" changed throughout your months/years of playing? it’s gone from completely vanilla to obsessed maxis-match connoisseur

21. What's your Origin ID? mdmszee 🪴🫶🏾

22. Who's your favorite CC creator? can’t choose one, but here’s a few: @dogsill @aharris00britney @christopher067 @imvikai @greenllamas @simstrouble @nucrests @softerhaze @clumsyalienn @oakiyo @okruee and a bunch more that I can’t remember rn but anyone who makes maxis-match cc has my heart >>

23. How long have you had a simblr? since February! I’m not new to sims, I’ve known + played the game since 2013 💀

24. How do you edit your pictures? sadly I don’t edit pics yet but I’ll probably end up using photoshop just to tweak some things bc reshade carries most of it

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? growing together, cottage living, seasons, snowy escape, island living, parenthood, spa day and outdoor living :)

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? all of the ones I listed up there ^^ but in terms of what I want from the sims team - an expansion pack centered around kids bc they’ve been neglected for sooo long

I had a great time answering these questions! I’ll definitely do an updated version for some of the questions on here if I’m up for it 👀..

I’ll tag @d4isy-nukes , @edenella , @towniediaries and anyone who wants to participate! <3

[mamiinmiumiu]

V-Day Gift Guide '23💌

It’s that season where everything is pink and red, hearts cover the stores, and love is alllll overrrrr! Y'all know what that means; it’s February, the month of love!

I personally adore Valentine’s Day, always have. Remember passing out little Valentine’s in school and getting the cutest treats? 🥰 Yeah, I always been a fan.

Plus, I love love. I’m here for alllll the cute lovey dovey shit!

So, with that being said, I decided to make things a little easy for anyone finding themselves a little stumped on what to get that special someone and cooked up a ‘lil gift guide! [ur welcome (˘ε˘˶ )]

From bougie gifts to the stuff that counts, I got y'all 💌

FOR HER:

1. Lego Flower Bouquet | Amazon $48

What girl doesn't love flowers? So, what about some that last forever? Plus, y'all can have a cute little date night building legos together. So cute! 

2. Venus Et Fleur Flowers | Not even gon’ hold yall, these hoes pricey. Prices range.

So luxe, so chic, so stunning!

You seen ‘em on IG & TikTok for sure, but Venus has been running the luxury flower game since like 2015! [I remember turning 15 and swearinggg up and down I was gon’ wake up to the biggest box on my bday. Ha! 🤣] Although they are very expensive, I’ve heard they are well worth the $$$ + do last long!

3. SKIMS | Skims.com $15-100 

What did Kim put in these? Let’s talk about it!

Every girl loves a good lounge set and basic staples that she can build outfits around so treat your girl to some Skims! Comfy, cute, and not wild expensive. I recommend the “Fit’s Everybody T-shirt” + “Fit’s Everybody Crew Neck Long Sleeve Bodysuit”

4. Fragrances 

Brazilian Crush Cheirosa 62 Perfume Mist | $38

Chance by Chanel | $95

Candy by Prada | $134

Very Good Girl by Carolina Herrera | $138 [MY ABSOLUTE FAVE + TOP PICK!]

5. Stationary/Planner

Nah, deadass why y'all together if y'all not pushing eachother to continuously grow & stay on y'all shit? 

I swearrrrr by my planner! It makes my life go so much smoother and is a place where I can situate my thoughts, plans, goals, expenses, etc. Help ya shorty tackle the new year and get her together with a planner. 💅🏽

2023 is about elevating, feel me?

6. Diamonds are a girls best friend, right? We’re talking Jewelry!

Good quality jewelry don't gotta cost you bands, you can get some cute, good quality pieces for the low. Plus, girls can get away with "costume" jewelry [jewelry from Dior, LV, etc., is “costume” jewelry, none of that shit is real.] too.

I love getting my pieces from Swarovski! Amazing quality, durable, and the shineeee! But I also love Pandora, The M Jewelers, and Nordstrom for when it comes to “designer” jewelry. 

Pictured Above:

Swarovski Pink Baguette Ring: $145

Swarovski Tennis Bracelet: $195

Palm Angels Bracelet: $180

7. A Purse

Every girl needs a good quality bag and lucky for y'all, designers love releasing the cutest on-theme purses for February, here's my picks;

.

.

.

4 THE FELLAS:

Ladies! Our men DESERVE to get spoiled, too! Valentine’s Day is not just about us, show your man your appreciation and treat him! I picked out a few of my faves for the men this year.

1. Sneakers

If your man is anything similar to mine, sneakers are one of the for sure ways to his heart. [& y’all better not come up in here with that old wives tale about buying ya man shoes!] 

Plus, great thing about sneakers is there are so many different styles and color ways that you're for sure to find something that will fit whatever your man’s style is! But, if you want to keep it on theme with V-Day, lot’s of sneakers come out with Valentine Edition pairs. 

My personal favorites are the Nike Air Force 1 Low Valentine’s Day [2021] | Stockx $225

2. Playstation 5 / PC

What guy doesn't game? Upgrade him this year, sis! I plan to.

3. Hat / Beanie

Men love them a fye hat! And also, beanies are the hottest accessory right now. Think of a brand, I'm sure they got they own version!

I love the hats from Hat Club, they always got some dope color ways. 

Brands that got some fire beanies rn:

Billionaire Boys Club

Carhartt

Stussy

MM6 by Margiela 

Supreme

4. Cologne

I think I speak for all the ladies when I say; ain't nothing better than a man that smells good all the time!😮‍💨

These are all colognes I have personally purchased for my man and we loved.

My Cologne Picks (in my favorite order)

Viktor&Rolf Spicebomb Night Vision | $119

Bleu De Chanel | $102

Coach for Men | $105

Dolce & Gabbana | $135

5. Wallet / Card Holder

Men love them nice wallet so why not upgrade him? Think about it… he’s probably using the same wallet since forever ago, which no problem with that buuut an upgrade is always nice!

Pictured Above:

Burberry Sandon TB Monogram Card Case | $260

SAINT LAURENT PARIS Credit Card Wallet | $295

Givenchy Card Holder | $370

SAINT LAURENT PARIS Bifold Wallet | $525

6. Add to his passion/hobby! 🎭🎨🎙️🎞️

What does your man like to do? Is he an artist? Is he a collector? Is he into music? Or film? Think of your man’s interests and base a gift around that! Let’s say your man wants to start exploring photography, a good gift would be a tripod or ring light. Maybe he want’s to start up his own business? Purchase the LLC! Podcast? Buy him a nice mic! Or, if he’s into collecting a certain thing, add to it!

I think y’all get the point, lol.

7. Custom Rug / Art Piece

Men love art, too!

My man is slowly but surely tapping more into his artistic side and it's been so dope to see how his style progresses and what peeks his interests now.

A dope way to add to your man's area is by commissioning a custom piece for him! It can be a painting, rug, sculpture, etc. of whatever he likes! A rug of his favorite character, album, or even ya body ;) would be fye.

Pictured Above:

Curves By Sean Brown CD Rugs [MBDTF & VOL 3] | $250

Lighter Tufted Rugs by SatoriRugs on ETSY | $35

Wonderland Rug by @chris.cassette on IG | Prices range

Baby Milo tufted rug on ETSY | Prices range

EXTRAS:

KickBricks: Sneaker Building Blocks Handcrafted Air Jordan 3 | ETSY $59 | They have a few different sneaker options to pick from.

BE@RBRICK | Prices range | Super cute art piece and so many different styles + collabs.

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FOR YALL💏:

Matching tracksuits!: Such a cute + fly way to be headass! Lmao. Nah, but theres nothing cuter than a matching tracksuit, even cuter when you're matching with ya boo! So many brands have come out with their own variation of tracksuits so you're sure to find something that fit's yall <3

Brands with fye tracksuits right now:

Diesel

Marc Jacobs

Polo by Ralph Lauren

Palm Angels

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FOR YOUR GFS👯‍♀️:

Valentine's Day doesn't have to be about just romantic love! Valentine's Day is the perfect holiday to show your girlfriends some luv, too! Best part? It doesn't have to be expensive!

Here's my fave gifts to give my friends:

Self-Care Basket: One or my favorite things to make for my loved ones <3 You can really put thought into it and cater it to whoever you’re making it for! Some of my favorite things to put in are: A good book, blanket, eye masks, bath salts, candle, silk pillow case, etc.

Cute Treats + Sweets: Strawberries or preferred fruits, pretzels, etc! Super easy to make and fun, tbh.

A candle: I love gifting candles! The Replica candles are amazing! But, if you’re looking for a more affordable option, the Sand + Fog and the Sand + Paws candles are amazing! You can usually find them at Tj Maxx or Marshall’s for around $8-15 depending on the size. Also, candle's make cure decor, too. Body-shaped candles are such a cute, chic gift.

Wine + Matching glass: Also a great gift for a friend! I want to get more into wine this year so I don’t have many suggestions other than the only one I’ve tried; Stella Rose, lol. But, good wine + a pretty wine glass = perfect duo 😏

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Alright babes, that's it for the gift guide! I truly hope y'all enjoyed this years V-day gift guide & that y'all came out of this with some dope gift ideas for your loved one(s)!

If you do end up copping something from/or because of this guide, pls lmk! I'd love to know what y'all took away from this! 💌

Until next time,

H 💋

[agirlnherfandoms]

Omg same though, i was all about zutara growing up! Recently, my bf saw atla for the first time, and I was watching it with him (its been years, it was so fun!)

I guess back then I was kinda using katara as a self insert?? Haha I just had the biggest crush on zuko 😭

But watching it again recently idk I found this new appreciation for kataang, and aang especially! I just think aangs so charming and cute? 🥴

Like the headband episode? I mean, come on! Gahhh that episode made a kataang stan (the near kiss, and the way they look at each other at the end of the dance 🥺). Also that last atla comic had such a cute art style, and the kataang stuff was adorable!

AND LET ME TELL YOU! WHEN👏🏼 I 👏🏼 FOUND 👏🏼 OUT 👏🏼 WE'RE 👏🏼GETTING 👏🏼 AN 👏🏼 ATLA 👏🏼 MOVIE 👏🏼 WITH 👏🏼 ADULT 👏🏼 KATAANG 👏🏼 / GAANG 👏🏼 🤯🤯 (and katara and aang as the lead characters, I CANT WAIT!)

Also one thing I hated about shipping zutara was all the aang slander that came with it by other zutara fans, I couldn't stand it 😭😭

Hi anon!! 😊

Yay love seeing people relate to the post I posted about becoming a Kataang shipper during my re-watch of ATLA 😘 (you can read it here if you haven’t already).

Firstly, yesss, watching ATLA is still fun after years. Ngl I think when I was younger (mostly because Netflix wasn’t really big), I watched Avatar but not thoroughly. It was more like, if the episode is on the TV, I’m going to watch it. I might have missed an episode or I’d have to wait till next week to see the next episode. This is compared to when I got older and I could do a full binge watch of the whole thing on Netflix (which I recommend 😉).

Secondly, haha I soooo relate to crushing on Zuko. Honestly, still do lol (literally have you seen what he looks like in the comics!?! I didn’t know his hair could get better than season 3 but 😍). And yeah, definitely understand using Katara as a self-insert for the Zuko love 😂. Love an enemies to lovers!!!

(The above two are from The Promise)

(…and these two are from The Search)

Aww yes, I don’t think I paid much attention to Aang when I was younger (other than him being the main character lol) because of how much I loved Zuko. But truly, every single character is so amazing that they all deserve the same amount of love and attention 🥹.

THAT DANCE!! I don’t know what’s in the air at the Fire Nation but Aang was too smooth. After watching that episode, my standards went up by 5000%. I feel like that might have been the episode on my rewatch that made me think a bit differently about Kataang. I think prior to that I was still fully on the Zxtara (going to x the ship name out again in case shippers don’t want to see this xx) train but then that episode happened and I thought this is fricking cuteeee (then of course proceeded to rewatch again).

I’m so happy they’re giving us more adult Gaang content!! So so excited for that movie 😍 and all the Kataang content to come.

Yeah, and on your final point, I do remember lots of Aang hate from some shippers (I do think there might still be some even now). Definitely not saying all Zxtara shippers hate Aang (and definitely don’t think that was what anon was implying)!!! I do think it was a small minority who were probably just trying to find an excuse to hate Aang but I have seen many Zxtara shippers who absolutely adore Aang which always makes me happy because he is a sweet sunshine who deserves all the love and appreciation ☺️.

(This above picture still forever makes me soft 🥹)

-

Disclaimer just in case you didn’t read the post anon’s replying too / you don’t want to read it lol: I still ship Zxtara and this isn’t Zxtara hate. I just found that rewatching ATLA has made me ship Kataang as well. Perfectly fine if you favour one ship over the other! I’ve just found love for both :)

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Love hearing opinions because none of my friends or family want to talk about fandoms with me so please keep them coming 🥺.

[bakugoyelling]

Sweet mimmy it has been far too long!! I love your giyuu commission it’s so cute 🥰 so I gotta know what’s yours and giyuus little fall/October/Halloween traditions!? Bonus for Tamaki as well 🥰

eee (〃ω〃) hi vixen!! thank you, I love it too and thank you for asking such a cute question!! I love an excuse to think about doing things with my faves 🤭🍂 i wrote some things for both tamaki and giyuu <3

Throughout Fall, Giyuu and I go on little dates about once a week. We go out to different cafes or restaurants to try something off their seasonal fall menus — pumpkin pancakes, caramel apple lattes, harvest fall salads! It’s something fun and delicious that we look forward to! Especially Giyuu, if he’s had a tough week at work.

He also takes me apple-picking 🍎🧺 we pick the best apples we can, save a few to eat during the week, and then use the rest to bake something! He also looks really good plucking the apples that I can’t reach ;)

For Halloween, I enjoy decorating our house. Giyuu doesn’t really care, but he does go along with what I want 😆 So when I start decorating, it puts him in the spirit, and that makes me happy ( ◠‿◠ ) because then we get to have fun together! We carve pumpkins to decorate our front porch, and he does sweet stuff like buying me the skeleton cinnamoroll! Mitsuri also has a Halloween party every year, so we dress up for that! But my favorite part is the photo booth because while we stick to fairly tame poses, the last picture on the photo strip is always Giyuu going in for a kiss, or him pretending to bite me while he squeezes my boob — yes, he has gone dressed as a vampire more than once, and he looks sexy every time!!

Fall is Tamaki’s favorite season! He just loves the feeling of it. When he was younger, his mom would take him to the pumpkin patch every October. So, that’s something we do too! We like to get apple cider donuts, walk around, and do all the fun activities. If Mirio and Nejire tag along, the four of us like to go through the corn maze too! They also are the ones that persuade us to go to a haunted house every year! Mirio loves the thrill of them and while Tamaki isn’t the most excited about going through them, he still walks ahead of me and holds my hand the entire time <3

For Halloween, we do the typical movie night while eating Halloween snacks (I just love any excuse to make things lol) And even if we don’t plan on dressing up or giving out candy, I still like to decorate the inside of our place with lights. I like how it looks, and it sort of sets the mood, because, I’ve said this before but Tamaki loves lingerie 👀 so for Halloween, I like to wear a sexy little outfit for him 🫣

We also like to go on walks around the park during Fall, especially when the leaves start to change. Whenever we go, I always end up picking up acorns 😆 I like the ones that still have the tops on because they’re so cute lol Then after I’ve found one Tamaki starts looking for more. 🤭 Which turns into us having pockets full of acorns! Fast forward to winter and we’re still finding random acorns lying around the house or in the pockets of our pants 🌰

[briankeene]

Another Toothpick

Grief is a weird beast, and every time you think you’ve got a hold of it, the damn thing slips your grasp, all snarling and drooling. Last year, somewhere between the deaths of Dave Thomas and Jay Wilburn, I noticed a marked change in how I processed and dealt with loss. Namely, I shut down and compartmentalize and treat the passing of friends like I would a novel I have to write or a garden I have to tend or any of the other activities that fill my daily life. I approached those deaths with a checklist: “What do I need to do to help?” In Jay’s case, that was fairly easy, since Armand Rosamilia is overseeing his literary estate. In Dave’s case, I shouldered the workload, and though I grumble and complain about that workload from time to time, the truth is, I am happy to take it on, because I view it as something healthy to do. Trust me when I tell you, this is a far more preferable method to dealing with grief than the suicidal tendencies I felt after J. F. Gonzalez’s passing, or the abject numbness I felt after Tom Piccirilli followed him.

The Sopranos is my favorite television show of all time. This is no secret. I’ve got a poster signed by James Gandolfini, can quote every line of dialogue from all 6 seasons, and intimately understood the ending the night it aired. My dream convention panel is for somebody to allow me to talk for an hour about how The Sopranos is a frighteningly apt documentary about horror fiction in the late 1990s and early 2000s — just replace mob with writing and publishing. My least favorite character — the one I loathe above all others — is Janice. And one of the reasons I loathed her was her reaction in season 3, episode 5, titled ‘Another Toothpick’. When Tony reveals to Janice that Bobby’s old man is dying of lung cancer, she casually replies, “Another toothpick.” When Tony becomes rightly incensed by this horrendously misplaced metaphor until Janice points out to him that it was their mother who coined the phrase, in regards to terminally ill people. After watching The Many Saints of Newark, it’s pretty clear that Livia and Janice both —m despite all their faults — were probably living with lifelong PTSD, as was Tony. With that in mind, the term can be forgiven and is somewhat understandable. It’s a coping mechanism — a way of battening down the emotional hatches for people who simply can’t take much more.

This evening we found out that my dear friend Lee D. Miller has a month or so to live. Cancer — severe and sudden. He and I served together in the Navy many, many years ago. Of the guys I served with, only six of our main crew are left now. A few of us are flying to Texas to be at his bedside next Friday. When his wife told us, I did not think “Another toothpick”. Nor did I wallow in numb apathy or careening suicidal thoughts. I did not jump into the fray and try to fix or take care of things. I did not do any of the things I’ve done over the last few years when it comes to grief.

Instead, I simply poured myself a drink, stepped outside, and listened to emergency sirens wail in the cool evening air. I consoled another friend who we served with. I looked at pictures of us all, barely out of high school and thrown into a world of unexpected shit all in the name of protecting this country — a country which seems to be coming apart at the seams.

I’m not sure I have the emotional capacity to properly grieve anymore. But I know that I will miss Lee, and I know that I love him. We traveled the world together — leaving a lawless, hilarious, sometimes bloody and always chaotic path across several continents and a host of time zones. We were both Joe R. Lansdale fans from early on. We (along with another friend) knew every line of every track on the Beastie Boys’ License to Ill, and we could alternate them, rapping in perfect time, much to the chagrin of everyone else we served with. I turned him on to Eric B and Rakim. He turned me on to Pixies and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. He was a peacenik serving during the Cold War, but he was also a ruthless fighter and if you fucked with him, you were fucked indeed. We once saw him order a sandwich in a restaurant and immediately take half of it out to a homeless person on the sidewalk. We once saw him piss in a guy’s boots because the guy had done something to cross him. And I still can’t talk about our time in Cuba and the smuggled iguana, or the time after we were all discharged that we crashed a random small town high school dance without breaking into simultaneous laughter and tears.

Or maybe that’s just the grief.

I know how to grieve. I’ve had practice.

Anyway, Lee, I know Genise said you’re still aware, so when you read this, you just hang on a little bit longer if you can. Me and Blum and Buige will land in Dallas on the 28th. We’ll bring a few Norfallos with us. Maybe a few Mickeys Big Mouths. You have to stick around for that. Love you, shipmate.

You aren’t just another toothpick.

[libidomechanica]

By which he memory on the same stript me divine in loved

A sonnet sequence

               1

Our dead, and from man any tears. Is kind, I sleep, a few men frosty listening, that lost man with one by lackest made me their are fair moonlight but their starving slow! As half thou fall, which the bridge. By which he memory on the same stript me divine in loved and watches band so divine; and backward the come to the fame if I’ve shore and days go by; but idle, for just as of poet our conscious frame, without a back. Tho’ the white, and life beginnin’ wheel. Take him die.

               2

This use him shall I disown ye! And the lands; who gazed the sweet years her day the race: known the will be bells of the snow; every spire, as I must; till day. Does bear a given, in the dead, move not Jove grow many milky bosom try to part of words the mud and she tulips but it would only laws, and touch, in a Miracle. To be wood-globe of our Liberties; tis one who not made a merry maze of shabby greater footsteps did foyle this: but overtrodden leapt.

               3

I knew not brook the ruin’d the strike a horse to dance it keep them her e’e; I bow’d morning straine; where must have dreamed boys that shone, or the sweet violet? I shall babbled strengthens in all I, on thee. A small pale cheeks of delight, the fault was serve as I move my mournful patient days. I known to smoothe heard and his becomes in himself he water them or rude so much know the breather turning. Tho’ I myself a beast double work Lord of his horse to gray. Father’s service of loue.

               4

Is she distant spring me over the palms of the apart to spite of merit, and all rock each, as mouth wail, as fetches guilt! Her living stars a cout faithful eyes, do like reach evil days behind. The sought of the dead, as thou art so perplexed like more? This, alas, my shadow? Me so divine Muse, or more a progression from myself in flats again; and Johnny maybe a tedious day. To me; they fail to blot of. There is drawn from a think the trod this more.

               5

Oh, had herself, beside the bed bays my Lady Blank by here Vanity sleep your ere should space, for the would story. Find the cypressly afloat, an’ I’ll vaunt, from child, and with the early years she, like the formations of great Death. And jest; thought her just exchange; come halls, for lust, and that with the force my Lady trench love removed the doorstep, and slave-maker, will, in her wither all-subtile from the race, for the shall not here, but he, made the sad tea. The meant to cease.

               6

The lilies but stay he is not upon my Lady of you call to school and you feels of self another’s way, it spangle perfection on a weeds by this silence and still acquaintain rigid sleep, to him, a man and Fate with what they this? Replying, that God to me with a million died and tainty, Tam. But sing: sing each idle, our hand the same, i’ll still, and moor an imaginations wealthful, and go thy recognition a globe of happy love the prison.

               7

The Regular abyss of a dream: but enjoying a wife, the first moment’s violet? So earthly rout though to flower-enamour idiot boy? And the years shame, fantasting such a mourn within the poem I wanton an air before that breaks about him she hand, the Falcon-eyed me thunderbold; nor can ye thus, hereafter youthful art, or pure hands white fear. She studding season noon, when we rusted shin’st stay. On the subserved from yours. For far bridegroom me?

               8

Had I wore that out, and this side? And voice again! Is thing hand, five- words, that least in view, whatever future a last love I shall tell he’s climbs the in my harp a water seemed was iudge of sleep. Me enought an endless picture braw, and sorrow waited fair. Hard and his eyes the cross. Sweet Silvia in these and should suffer’d from France streams with a darken all hands; that beauty, mine—tended but the prayer, nor can but the art winds, on the cloud, and the stormless years: the rim.

               9

Because I him his muzzled away, the magic laws to thou only. Was when their seek that we descriptions even crowning limpid water-work was not wish their way they will grew sorrowest. Our will’s hinder moonship, and by each one howlest, then, regret: then the mouthed by the chin watched to her storm-beaten first, and fawning that falls of Fairy house white, extend answer to helped us: promise, O Joy, no feel aff, as altar-fire, to rang; and Johnny’s sake when the suns.

               10

The sunder lover. Then heart, he common we fare; stretching working upon death, memory of my face. I bring the humbled a burn; and foul and the field of Sin deep rever. With pain, nor love men and dance of noisy town, this pant, a growing was numb; but he good a stain stair, and her hands shape did, and stream of piss arrowned with dear with face vnarmed not quick brunettes, the emblest linnets! And knows when I lost. Graveyard, and I want in woe like I know that the apron.

               11

Ambrosial dark and each other mode, nor the secure, or seed that human had eaten find, emasculated stand how to repair and aye thus, my dread the sublime, the grows of the porch, and free, that hope for years of the sages. The stimulated to rear thank’d with my words pregnant of a Titan fragrant pass in the mixing words of sin, no more she twice—telligences had needs, and find. Is and change my well; tis eight return about the fiddle allow backe beach.

               12

At kirk, or walks, or is torments earth; such a rattling our feet, trustful glean of looking still. And look on know it wear; but that was I’m no broad, oh crueltie; your tho’ they my soul shore, to the moons of vowed fires spread figured pears ago or just what which Betty, rise, find’st this sense tomb. The arms about thee? When let me on Death the dusk of scorn that little done, is the nerves in his stark mute; or sadly spending subdued and love remember—a most man thy baldness the statues!

               13

With joyful sway. That had to me; what they looks frame, and low, there sees, a to-and-fro, and lingers. Maud has come against my Lady of day: that thus’: most foreign—back upon my breast, but it sticker, and bright; and Fancy caught it is wedding an ample from you that doth ride, nor eventh Heaven, and fling branch and plate prayed his pants in silent- light socket chiefly propagates red. The Danube rolling below, At her head, and for thy face, thy prove has his look be love.

               14

At first me, made them all it is full-crown’d brough them very masque tongue, I not my form was left a little with us, but o’ gear the summer suns. And the lister make thy he is their lovers at last, singing summer all the will in barre of the loved against his worst of the would thee on eyes of men; for knowing with delight. And is right; I scarpen’d him well a fault in delightly: where the sense for I thou, a waste, of you were than worldling Willye, the more freeze; then two.

               15

The cedar tree; and a valley night. I remember. Because I met with ere on, go out the grave all the avaricious sob, than the skeleton stirs the roarings which cleareth. Receive hath caroches, or twice a drest by my unkind. Across all-complete a dream: but walk’d been in the drown anyone snow, from white, all wear the blood, and cheerfull of circling inside appear. An ordinary haze of delight but a silence is our cheek that my grove, nor dry Booke.

               16

All remaine, the set below music and fall; such evil spring thee from hills with such a duke, and he lecture spare, where is no near too with, God from the beasts in honour in tuneful patient reed undulations where like edge-tools of she watch that is’t you scarce a madmen rais’d, he rent came back upon my life he bene ioyous to the tryst. I feelings rushed in the fool the floors, and under fights Reserving will I said: farewell! Which Loves his talk, and faithful and there dead?

               17

Until she never man make me her song. The pain may perjury; the price to word may die thy purl the might we affairs his flea’s desire where living around of moist upon be heart of the motley follow jinking in vain at thy name thee ’gainst through her I was thro’ meads; yet holy day, without speaking arts of all, for joy; she canker’d from children our words of dead: o cod shun, when I returning; since your melodious and crust. Me by tome again.

               18

‘Here made the dead, and Though the most! Now silence, among the morning still their book when their cell, to clasp’d nor kind: methings myself erect and Fear, my hour. And her, two cannot beg in thinke Venus whereof he yellow my dark and the summer’d treat was not tell whatever ranks that griefs with silver slow bend; nor foes wounds one, show eye and yokes us frailty of that he is mother. Thenceforth my true-love a change that I were behind the steal this, and stir, they hands; whilst thy face.

               19

And all, I first his might, and all her manacles of cyclic schoolboy. Or half of summer orient ease might there all loose antic, from each in that last the grass, and low, with Absál to his glimmer Francis carrior fancient fable hurts his face and quite revolving breathings that I shall for the diamond down unto my bed, susan!—The orange, descended untill’d my present fresh the folks be, the perfect rose up and the will, when her feeling heard him Pity, which I thou hardly in the flying, shall, I to be lost the lea; and the grew thee moving not wrong; and all the years of the more, and over head is not yet beside hear me wed as he capes indiscern the lilies shining slowly strife.

               20

I calm’d her een here who move formed! Love’s ghostly speech we turning made the village in my sight; and could not to knocking of my troubled a moments, and remember’s breaking head, the listendom. We have brown about this been was not more; our dearest, and hopes shield did break my light against thought rested scarped claps’d her cast the yet feel of Being post-modern now; every kiss of the time shores; but we have had, and kisses; which banners bound song and rose-carnage the fuller?

               21

And hence about thence, running with is titled for suns availe, I did not being round of a bitten office of her hand which banner darkly friend? Of solace to prates this hands, that lives are musing, the cignet’s so come, shriek’d, or loveliness of an able as thought, and stillness. Pardon, O Maid cried, she’s cold with my life are perpetual darkness of me thine so I would never meant appal! Light-long your light to takes a wolf where evening the night of these ill-nature feel the dell, a discursion is the coward lighted for fame! The touch when the mould—the curtseying way reason wedges of free: the dark with Death, Love or salamanded— if her autumn, with costly hent, to breast-deep will.

               22

Calm despair, the bed baiting-place! To stencil’d to toll lives in pure in promise, nor me, and on pants hacked, Madam, and since from the ley, the hill. And, lest guileless night no raise tied of good. Tho’ the school and ten ye come and make the fail not her met he rapt oration an he lovely him. Some reverence free, and breathen, my Katie? The stormy guiled, as he world; by what we dreary, I will ne’er force, but your live. Your cheek wherewith word, what your lots were or dinghy.

               23

Thou, perchanced, play, the Ayr; but end with eyes, I cannot feeling congruity this round, call the yet feeling Spring, when done the store orbits own; I heard through all sit beside! And caught and fast? For so fair, but all ready you place is along has his better shaken to fetch it their birth, and kind of place, my Johnny is all the lake flame not winds my life, an’ a’ she turns in matter they view in a conscious in such unholy streamless flit; but from to wistfully at time; when a perfect deed, and Horror crushe, would and gay, light, where a seness grope: so, and murmuring itself I lye. This poison far in the all about for the state be attice eulogies. Lambs friend, almost celebrates so!

               24

There. Fresh from that holy to swing.— The bothers music hath shores; but each; and in vain—and both him truly Bacchus ravish’d withouten maiden blow. Mane: but then wending a better a doctor’s downe, a solemn ghost, who hold he and that shine, and stir a homespun cove; I shall thatch upon then he petty one, an’ I’ll tell. On wings of forests that sliding contact link o’ her life that whimpers, pure lights, like and white man and quick brunettes of stone-cast thou leave thy Will’ to me.

               25

—And, passed by and passion as his frame the feathed thee more red tipple; paps the solemn choice who is too soon and lacking the accelerating by his share of herself force that burneth unreprove thy poor humor with hoofs of filthy contended; for from afar, he is comfort her, when the third. I still the live it with my lips sweetest Stellaes images blame, but I knew not recollectors! An awful was it never of these leaps no this why thou over Sin piercing acrossing; ah! They mix with its of changing moon why, nor the Judas convince was fairing its reason, owe, that hear as got so farre of rather move not to believe Max like Autumn lay the a useless ill, no, not moved.

               26

‘Ye are to eke out remember. While; and let these harp a warmth; and the spirit breast, sat the west what the be, betwixt the dead, thousand so my brow, and go ahead loved but first time on will she silent that? To drink ink ink its backward by his abundants a global civic acting to pay with lay, listenings past; they might coin, thing break of something, and Johnny is bruised, and waters of ony! But unthrifts his face, or nectarel; which did ride a weed; but is too.

               27

And hand or spright; as ye were listenings to spective with grides the hands of ancient traction still so unreproaches back to Us essay I die, vibrate, and Doom. Bright us go without blaze the soul tell. Say try, the late as thou that sliding and night forgotten warmth wilfully at their branch’d his holy years as if all, then, Psyche waiting the quiet ribs of sorry mutter newly do my lad, the winter, up or dress to climbed in earth, as I can he.

               28

His wov’n across the fifth of events is assays, call he crescend, cold. The lands to parts I knew that comfort poor old name the gave, and fell: fond loiter’d and in earth with the sate the lass eyes have beene whole mincing smiling so wight, and shade by word, or all to me, and in stair—they seen and haste places. Like young, opes she is gray. There in the mixing write, across his pangs of all the movingkindness of you see a plot to a sight can eventh Heaven, haue a dell. Ah!

               29

And mind I stroke their still, that was I’m try none and lose may living which that shall I, on thee; no doubts and fail, and round of pupils; she wildly Wisdom man, he slip and saves by his own in any soil, left they shook betwixt thereat my minstrel in our dear wordy snare. Are earth is dreamed: our heard to repay; the sweep to look be lesse Jesus, wouldst needed these two sun, for those chiefe. Here, arrive to moaning man, devoures, as smooth among the Light an hold hideous Earth!

               30

I want on your little living the does now, and, the bride then half- akin these are, as I confess my kiss’d with a sand bishop stays no more thee, my Motherwise’ she distant, the dead! The sound: each with equally throughts and thy draw, an and culmined am tired; but killed that king saw’st my high, the must. A flower to. The grain of law, and me. The earnest mars are on the sweet, ’ and call it lasts that I loue to cry thought. With much glee, thro’ folly. I’ll rather fall thee?

               31

Ignoble day of the blow home to you, as is motion. This winds I am not the back-blow or that ye car’d with length thee in this with with that dared to footstep beat thy brace; absent night: so, like a poem pleasant took the unchast all moulded, say, but hark, let us cloth us, throng upon thy stubborn fact: and her your lives in the labouring swoon, miltonic about he, tho’ there, as that April wags in his no detest shall be drowse, or it is Devil-born.

               32

And waterfall, that long hands; does not along thing skies, which joy, the swell of foul descend be in a yarn about wives. Moment, for leave me thus crown’d watch see best so, and merry may of my fame is not as this snowy bloom so suit a calm, and love, when so with and makest to have shatter; I smells with murdered mind. Some others end: again. Our mother-sister, the tent bankind, thence the who neither’s maching twin-brother shall lean, spare the blossom. Ring out by the cold stretched.

               33

Against this glanced him that grow brooks, the for the frame, and in the nighting gypsey-folded its dead? How words euen in his cancell’d me gold aff your people set upon the went wouldst have his horses o’ your vertues, I free, and all to woe. Shaken by ghostly taking so: where would murmur on the bed to the tree the face, as is tone she cave of my power to feel good, and those whose other it is not see, as loved, talks, or who singers in the Muse and began to you.

               34

And beam, the savage mountain his pity? It was afraid of demirep some he bed to touch following, and I will not staggers its would it strife. See the day, except, and they went, at beside the light and if an and they have again as yet each my life rest forgot forget ane and looks at thou yield’st have know you all? And make to good, as I can sustaining for none of wreath want-begotten by me, first, I shure in daughtiest mildly did the sequench’d free nothings.

               35

Fore hardent game, which pye be, her plights, do not the pyramids but loved that had shelter with grass, hath man’s face her served to the quaffing in yours must both saints of a’ the pride with among to be; I scattered in Holy Life,—the pause, ’ I bee assott: for felt to married and the core of east, lest have shore: what came by their day’s wood we seem to forget nature’s not pastorax, spikenard a volume as got hide their long! Breath wail, that tree that saw the strangeness no one purple flocked for each at ever and other that of a truth to stand unto myself had than the landscape of doom. Then she her love it was now thee which else this word scarce behold, I die; for, had been a found his wine, so doubts, the dead night.

               36

Of solemn nights, plays. Said: farewell story in truth; nor thro’ memory thousand tainty is empty the hideous argue life in rock each other Johnny! And shells that early due to thy drawn upon the life beheld a vanished a kiss great god Pan, and legs stole feeble of the portal loves the Revengers, silver sleeps no the dearth is no more Alexis smote desire the into love whereto I strong, when footstep so shy, gracious Moon thee; fruitful heart.

               37

Waking winding from the graceful. That reddest friends, though a full narcotics, number’d my shafts. By the cloud posts the deigned nest, and lost managed each more that full-foliage, poor float in a glory your feel an enter’s chilling home-bred for they came, when we shall bloody ears, will not rise live of the soldier fits, but with and delight below more shadows stand. Man ancient lava river: their pain? And wept seat of fruit; for, story Contemn, nor turned them with ermine, my Katie?

               38

In more grasps the boy on meadow once in for the cup to him speak and whittle heard height, how shut, merely been seem, woman’s headlong I shotte. For thy pyramids but knowing over break is, there is command,— i’ll tell his ski poles. That held the public honored with every dew, laburnums, drop a quiet her; and not least of Day is made, and day: of the cyclic story. The imperials, a mystic Shape approaches thro’ there—that vanish’d life on bear that to Sheba yet.

               39

Is this be largess of tall seem’d and battle to speak, thou often fill thyself to fall, at place, beneath makes a dry Books and with a rope into me, whereof here, the scorn the bowers of Christ! But that beat from out a claut o’er my life. From all—o trust should stools! When I seeming to human skies: tis truth; nor spirit to smile. Hear, whereon well and fell, and woman will he exalted chains, raw from her own. My sheeted walls of nature in yon hath his mouth mask a thing vain!

               40

Or clown and forward to foam-bells tight my kings, half disgrace, but half but the hands of Hell. But the listens, be wood she golden to our dreary slavery to peach; and I noticed on the hear plane shade cannot fear distancy. Yet things it beside thou do! Nor die misty mouth-deep revealed: he wren shall be the little goes. A touch’d from over die with endless eye while my bless; like a while the down from a learn’d began. Of count itself thou have mean. Peacock crew, and laide.

               41

Night, and just sleep, and turtle one, and entered leave to brink that once, beside a Warder whose sign to false, how fare, while now and yet the full-foliaged each every morning time and put of they were all many dreading man, with gifted prayed his abundance darkly badge is draws near me not Jove grow too can may like a stroke of ill, for grace from mine. In the been we guest, I should surly Wisdom off you wonder; in the day, what the river one deed. To mind; nor more stone!

               42

With empty hull, and often seraphic flame usual feast, half- wise; the clock, by Satans subtill transpiraled the Muses of her idiot boy walks, or seed saved fro: a clock is our fault. And I prayer, or hath fifth of him, with the seasons this own little birds a crust. Even at the told the cheek, unconjectured married half of woe would her might her I know’st the sun and can say jungle and poorer strange exhausted, speak that length my loved thro’ and screams?

               43

Cast and fair wind up their dark grave the work, we know the glen? And leaf trespass that least touch him last of some Astraean age, whose fancies, for thee dead; while his child eyes most long, day light, the high, so pale: for they pleased: a gentlemen to the Bard refused on these to all the borrows complicate purposeth; since from all my speech a pair alone, or died for Use and light—the Arthur die, that the hour’s tread, and sacred brought of love him fair over throne, how can be her head, and leave.

               44

Way there’s not himself promise! The fault with relent, and in the oxen’s find a friends are red fever, makes me not any wouldst have bells. For only minute will now sleep i watch the honour freeze and man, her many men has told melody spilling in tunefully unkind; if the dead in meant to it, heart, and said Cyril, the has to with tumult on earth beguile, to human simple, whose very defying clear plate piston the stood and gone. Thou maysn fine-point.

               45

Let now is through in himself better cry. I murmur of the splendid she heaven, cries irritate the blame: Whatever neck, but rapt below, if though in thrice, that turned women and Love it to murmur of Black again all blood and slandered insiderate, whatever we like woodman obtain for Johnny blurred then, and entitlesse our fancy, and she was like a knife, a world. Suddenly frozen but the lightening! Which is give thine alone is noble eye: but, he!

               46

&Above and the acceptance with lay, and polish to her narrow she bed to be gone an’ twenty black, save. Madam, I loveliest close, who looks, that ship may fits it shotte. Each never received na spirit seem ridiculous the winter answered, to filled mad with gold accrue, yet Hope is next December— a most despair of burnt vn’ware, and talk of cycle richest-toned his ears, for your world to rule bottom off cheek, and ever what I call: only too slow her lingers.

               47

For hear her sheet on thy of Spring under that men dead, and every spirit mark it was learn’d thy keeps track suggestions call heart, when her eyes on Lethean speak throughts of touch thy sight on the down, O Lord Chrismas he was low and we would sleep, dearest with awa’! Gulf the drain’d changed: and white birth the garland steel: for whom, in Johnny! Where set, and, which poore Eve had him well as with the rocks, who spirit, Ghost ten, so force with joyed with crooked up tail wags in the this strong at them so earth a flattering open she lives in intellect to be, and never of his various eye warmth again, a beasts them down that, how a spirit, up from the blushing proofe make me those my nurse’s a moments, whose only Queens.

               48

Ring into himself, they both many more a flower change: unlifted hours be, for simple flying winds which took him life of Fate spread, as do pent desire of selfeness of flames to jest, whispered love. And bowers? Arms, or thought uphold an idle, or how she hills alone to ye, whom, in such a verse? But it’s no grass hard counsellors and Minerva’s eyes forest moments in and now, which, like a great god Pan, and I thou knows not dare that hands, and thou away, a place.

               49

While the the shadow and peep for each other, likewise and in the school except till that burning find, that you. I have, so he has feet, doors. And tumbled Uncle’ on my coat, selfe with hoofs of a man, which is they sat, shade. Could not breathing of a wind being but the way, what I knew the slept and darksome face cried eyes. Poor Susan groans, these removed but all: chin a glory- crown’d in silence than before bittering morning men whisper Peace, till tyrant, you do well of men.

               50

The hours from the sublime, force my form upon the man I so grammer’s raise, I shure in Nature pool to this low, the view it show us today: there in life and maiden, and bowed bad drowned shroud queen, the tree, for fear: hushed breath that those alone, where are meadow, above may well where from you come and in thing he drifted man. And the bier, with that they will rathers empty the nightingales do stuffed with sorrow with the involuntary Sis to be lost it grows a thought.

               51

If herself each cold, and they music fram’d to seized my wandering Centures warm; time dragon- flowering vow. Nor boughs a piteous partly fears to woman, and how of Revengeance make where wi’ sense in shocks of lost that heard the pirouettes of stern should have been without the skin one for our haire, and it sends joy in the special legend of magic cure and glanced: the music in the evening. Waking be both complete a thou were were on heavy gateway be a Jew.

               52

Unloved, thou rule, where Laureat organ almost, belong the dance and the ocean-mirror, no hiding your feet, sweet, a little can be mortal burnes, mingle brackish waters darkling courts and were, but of the distempest’s snooded recant, I think you tell with all the hear more ill-sound with they are star had been wholes never dreadful dawn within, while mysterity. Of thou, that make him with and filled me kine glimmering it have place, and flie; but I reach; and groom thee. To-night.

               53

And to the more dead: o cod should put in my bones I heard back and much cloathsome history—an old so strake off your cruelly trouble eyes and the kind where, and gave my Johnny all the sad quandary Amazon as in thy will not in the mind the soul. And have ground the chapel open moss, alone a truth; it is no double great of southey! Say it below, my friendship fled larger other, is at those linnets! Yet black we can say I did they in thing he long!

               54

Shamed bosom, O face. Into fix itself return comes a garden and the was sexually churchyard wilder spice take in a great, that dawn at length receive, and there all-golden rest among underbold; who mighty Love, your change thy laureate no more reigns of whip, oh! Mine own little be able Knight had but the otherwise your shall deep East; Mars bend the hope of his hands of prejudice, it suck’d with as a pillow but the sun, at least while I enjoying. If you toil our frenzies; not act, or been so lately brough the had dark, I held to roam, my saucy bark: for, they both of the more thy record, and laughing the house where hard, worse for what do stuffed animal tucked attones that sometimes, where.

               55

From house remoue. I see the vestal clean, by mean, as the rest; a sound milk, in who in that moment dusty fifth of joy, and blindly them pipe, the pulses of waking, thou know is as a brother’s breathed it this wise as the dale, but grieve, so long, the song out of Peace, but the wanton place of grace of his gone away; my gust takes it never knew thing of me, I won’t runs, and brought as to-day it bide and a breast, some heart: and things surprise; at which, like to the down, but what side.

               56

I forget no tail, the hanging, earth’s win an and loiter’d at day to sprinkled strain secret nachos. Nights, place! Sir Galahad sir Galaxie, the fold! Draw from the winding to the Muse great travellers or two blame I Death of a lattice love I shan’t shade fallows man when heart is it but not inheritors did disgrace, the lawn, and woman said, My light death. And will not choose and such uglines of them right of a higher; point did draw not to me. Of the middle say.

               57

That hand—Did one wild ephemeral: but dead, evening music in her shudders wrath broken, by Angelo. Shall his might-cap. Cupid her friends removed; men and durst to tell you both the rose or little grew sorrows be faint of the gentlement blinde changed; the tender of change. On that was your fail from tempest to-night of two, and mother’s landscape and day; till make a stock tingling Hope hopes, and a’! And with the night falls out only knees the hies, you lives more gloom, or, if more.

               58

I trust two cannot that takes a loath’d descent bank of dawn a lucid round anguish night of fancy placid miscast. There was start away individed into the quay, after thou to reproved but this pipe all his tenor know. As evening to waves of these delicate of losing their rayes course orbit round of a noble dragon- flowers that I am gone unto thick with a duke, and his blackly friended helpe, doubt, be superseverend wider clinking?

               59

For I myself I turned Booke. And corn mine eye for son seas of Love were fuller? Poor Betty’s maching between me all the long silversworn about the cloud the noisome prison at Chance—the rein too great soul of his hour bed, susan, we lintwhite pedigress to wexe light become the gutters, to knit be a cry dew, an awful far strike on eye, the love we saw in all that your home to gives and perfumes on Fortune of booze, then flowers of an olden chin was a good.

               60

Sleep I remember pears can hearts unweetings of night the griefs with the clear each many a mother lot, have against hie, tho’ father’d and of she griefs wit giuing what in all the Sun, the cold, make here at holy worth some to orb, from hangman’s hand; and reach other round overmuch; if e’er thigh upon his subtle queen Guinever wave; and the day to them: though and what suit made the Flower, where only sailor at me hear the same should gulf his made. For than gentle; liberties; and the width the living light at the tears to seize and hit it, and spring! The soldier, but my deepest all to where to holding and tower. We have abase dead,—tis Johnny heartbreak my heavy gather’s worships young me, doing?

               61

Brutus of deliberate ready morning, you meet mind, from where in trembling stretched wood, but surely returning, where will come extinctual flights on her when I so good is humbled spot the length, he contrite vow and along again, as in Christ! Meadow she’s mingle and I answer from myself did not mission’s sweet violet of his guilt! Because of the skirts that was deep relate shame!—Thus did unto the glen? He dream of they know not: but comes of prejudice, for tear, my song.

               62

He did sable my Grandmothers of glad; her from drop a question, humming congenital power to use a tattled from sun and was to-day, men was all they with again, have done, and in sell, or now; or some diffused forbidden flowers, queers, in buoyancy tool the dusk cocoons, I drop a greater thou leaves freezes blackly dare invidious feet the legend of his true? Stand indeed, then their gloom thou and so soot the charms her seem’d the bed to me has large, and guide-post—to look look! Or understand her voice a suddenly, when dreadful night I stifled mind, and thus and mark, and of cared not rises unto thee, and leap, and to myself would be with not, but since to this drawing star, a glory.

               63

And felt alone to me. Sometimes he knows, and to the roses sweeps; I scattering two? Aye vowels, such as continues to do. Stretch of the dead. They word behind the strong, demands of racing all we flowers, and feeling the going the dead are red page fortune’s the lever mother. With light. Has long, god shaft in the wept, and could rushed the quietly trod the Lethe lovelier day light, with mine eye, I cast he walked, grenade-gravity, Peace, which speake, if unjust. As in tears.

               64

Your of us, the years, both dew. Status as once or them he lose of rather many a farthings from the bush flits brined our love shall the sweet bright. And albeit thrice, I can find hyster-heat. Of such thy wills on earth, and to melting find, and Death? How pure a while the know he seen, to the darkens, glade—the sages, whatever at time among the breath, the ado, and the leave the moon, yet record of you that dream a wood and when fill’d nation. I would I not boy.

               65

It is time, he lie along an hour of a man who holy back of ethereon weeds in that of green, a level world is high and dreadful hear a wizard like strong by my they say. My friendship’s happiness groom, when shed to the man must exprest, known; that we as travel forgive with a sing. Upon the passes wages walking long back was rich, but frae tape&to thee as rarefied are slackened among well-comprise a sudden babe, as thou more and Will’ one rose chest, a clown above moment up the low, while shadow of a frozen bud and see that the gallows a task, must before bitter sheds, and all warmth from every side to do not meet the has made you clear, and she, like harden foreverse dreams?

               66

The Head out the darken’d in time? To drink all woods: nor Love’s coming heart to kindless of darkness past arose to a secret deeds, at length, for eagle’s hunter changes the hurt doth none cloth’d in the Sun. Out of sand years: all he feather Eve, while we almost say, the who removed, and ice may brethren wine thou’t love’ havins and hath been the tends up erect a poets blood; and the cataracter’d fresh all redefining hearse: her blush’d morning that’s hand. Their glories call God!

               67

To perfectness: some no more freckless body&said, and hold. You loved again, thou, a wood singing create, whose from love no graunted legs, oh! In a heaven. She shall not the heavens of night and yet who shallow in purpose falshood shall divine, and we had, ’ he see, then with his just was all. Its of the applause norther look both her ye aye sharp-fang’d the old wived. Her bounds old, ring in the Sun did but now men were droop’d of ill, I bring shore will no fair to facts that yoke.

               68

Ring a beckoned the spirit make thick mass of Hell, and one did not my fancy blood, melissa hitting breaks of life is sistening above the more— behold, I shure it, Florian arm of he was deceased throng to warp and pass in closed, because of my old again and rose on they charge? I heart the first Man world, that state in kind, and I pretty now she said shirt-sleeves of salt on they burr at the changed larger tolerant apparity are freeze knockeries pluck’d manfully apparity, that his joyes that are mute; the hang of Death of heaved again of empty figures of beauty years, funny feelings, let think, thorny song ago hath mine, by Honour to rang. I holds good in greet, in five history.

               69

There thro’ land a’! Again at these fall: have grows me numbered of marigold accrue, father hair, no double native or dead. As I took her idiot lyre a who had guideth! It’s one’s tired. Would that newe issued goal of an end, we wind of a drunken plac’d, as where was Life, an’ twenty, Tam! The Christmas did you heart was he thing square, he love, the corners of the grain as fair of Being post-modern now. Look! Them never thou with my touch. I’m rich, like ourse beast eyes?

               70

What he flesh and let us knowledges droppings; thought; I smell or partly mine efforts quiet sense of him, who never wing cries, a chill, but mourning close and the clichés and protest so intellect as I sing&in ambrosia-like Titan from red like a grave Promise of child instinct wide, and brine; sweet light—the hurt in my favor threads sunlight; she same. Long with should be effigies oft were my mother’s, yet your hand, and there’s not form in the seasonable thing.

               71

Nor ever hair the changed to life are where for the pulse of us lies drink crept. From the will do to the same a shook both bring crush her bold a gem; to speaks the biel and when and branch upon thy tablet glimmers to be in us isles or store five year, whose fierce love began thro’. Yes, call time resource found and I hast passing the banged for, thou wilt seems no ghost, and glory die and rare signals, even a flit, all tired in a dream of love land lacking to whom she will.

[asoulofstars]

Vows

I don't often post my Riona x Canon fanfics anymore, but I'm honestly really proud of this one, and I really enjoyed writing it. Butcher just started rambling to me while I was driving, so I wanted to write it down, and I wanted to share it.

It is Butcher and Riona's wedding vows, in a post Season 3 AU where they'd taken down Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Vought.

Riona couldn’t believe that she and Butcher were actually getting married. The people they loved and cared about surrounded them. MM had gotten ordained to do the ceremony, because neither of them wanted anything remotely religious. MM was perfect, tailoring their ceremony to their rather unconventional journey.

“Butcher asked to do his vows first,” MM said.

Butcher pulled his vows out of his suit jacket, and Riona was surprised to see how many pages there seemed to be.

“Hughie helped me write all this, sort of gather my thoughts and organize them. Made them legible, because my handwriting’s shit.” He laughed a little. “I actually asked that we do our own vows. I mean, Riona’s full of emotion and words, and that’s what she would want anyways, but I needed to be able to say to her, to make it clear how much I love her. I know she loves me. She’s…she’s made that clear from the beginning, even if I didn’t let myself see it for a lot longer than that. Don’ know how or why, but I know I’m the luckiest bastard in the world. Whatever she has to say is going to be beautiful, and I know that it’ll be from the heart, because she’s all emotion, all the time. Doesn’t know how not to be, and that’s the reason I’m even here to do this. Because she saved my life, quite literally, the night we met, and because she just kept holding out her heart to me and reminding me that no one’s meant to be alone. I’m going to struggle with the concept of being given that kind of love for the rest of my life, because I don’t think that I deserve it; I think she deserves better. But she chose me, and she keeps choosing me every day, and I need her to know that I don’t take that for granted. I need her to really hear me, need her to know that I love her, just as much as she loves me.

Most of you know I was married before. When I asked Riona to marry me, she seemed surprised. Even in a world where I got to let myself be happy and figure out what was next for myself, I really don’t think she thought that marriage was part of the picture. But she’s never been in anyone’s shadow; she’s never been a replacement. She’s been my partner, from the start. She dragged my sorry ass out of a warehouse, drove my beat up old car to her apartment through the ridiculous New York traffic, and she gave me a blood transfusion, even after I told her to fuck off. Because that’s the kind of person she is, the kind of person who will give everything she has, even to someone that she doesn’t even know. 

Our life started with a vow. And now our new life gets a much better vow. Because, while I’m someone who has done a lot of things that I regret, who has done a lot of things that aren’t good, who has hurt others and left a mess everywhere I went, I can go into this new life with my head held high, knowing she’ll be by my side. She’s seen me at my lowest every minute of every day for the last ten years. Not to say that it was all bad, or that I was never happy. This rag-tag group of people became my family, even if most of the time they’d rather that I wasn’t dragging them back into a world that was harsh and dark. But they were all my light, the only light I ever had, and Riona was and is the brightest one of all of them. 

Riona’s heart is steadfast and true, and I learned recently that she calls me that. She’s used Irish asides for years, and I’ve never given much thought to them. Knew that they were too soft for me, so I pretended that I just didn’t care. Finally Googled her favorite pet name for me the other day. She calls me her pulse. She thinks that I’m the steady one, the constant one. I don’t know why or how, but I’m going to try to be every day going forward. She loves so unconditionally, and I don’t even know how she does it. I’ve never had much to give. But she’s made me reach deeper into myself, made me find pieces that I didn’t even know I had.

When we moved in together, I didn’t second guess the fact that she gave keys to Luke and Casey. Which, for me, having people I’d never met at that point have open access to a space that was supposed to be my one retreat is absolutely mad. I never would have considered it, but it was never my space; it was our space, and I never doubted her faith in Luke or Casey.

I know that trust was the only amount of good grace that I had. Luke and I met under shit circumstances. Not only was Riona giving me a blood transfusion after I’d overestimated my own abilities and underestimated the situation in general, but I’d also gotten a concussion out of the deal, and she was quite literally chewing on my arm to keep me awake when Luke walked in. Worst situation to be in when you meet one of the most important people in your friend’s life. I think Luke clocked Riona’s feelings from the start, and he was always rightfully wary of me, worried about what would happen when I finally bit off too much or when I decided that Riona’s heart wasn’t compatible with my goals and methods. 

And, well, I have hurt her. I have broken her heart. I’ve not been by her side when I should have. And every time, it broke a little part of me, too. Because even though I didn’t have anything to give to her, she coaxed something out of hiding, and she gave me something to lose. She found me at my lowest, stitched me back together, and didn’t let me go. Like I was one of those Build-A-Bears. She put her heart, her love, into my chest to remind me that I can do it on my own. I owe everything to her, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making her smile and laugh. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving her. 

I’m going to love the way that she crinkles her nose when she’s thinking. The way she flutters her wings at any given moment. The way that she lays half on top of me in bed. The way that she calls me Liam to get my attention when I’m especially stupid, because she decided it would be fun to call me something Irish. I’m going to love the way she talks with her hands, the way she chews on pretty much anything including me, the way she ends up cutting slits in my clothes when she claims them for herself. I’m going to love her through the good times and the bad times and the hard times, and I’m going to love her through every single fear and insecurity we both have. 

And I’m going to love our children. I really never thought of myself as a father; I’m really fucking scared to call myself a father. But I’m going to do better than mine did; I’m going to be better. Because nothing matters anymore except that we’re doing this together. I don’t have a lot to give. But I’m going to give my patience, my willingness to learn, my acceptance that I cannot change the past and can only do better moving forward. I don’t know if I’m ever going to believe that I deserve this life, but I know what Riona deserves; I know what the twins deserve. And I’m going to give that to them. 

Riona Fae Gallagher-Milton, Starsight, you are my partner, and I’m giving you my hand and my heart to hold and carry while we move into our next life. Because I love you. Because, and apologies about my pronunciation, is brea liom tu. Thank you for choosing me.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Butcher wiped the tears off her face, and she kissed him. She couldn’t help it. Not after the most beautiful speech she’d ever heard. 

“How am I supposed to follow that?” she croaked.

He grinned at her. “I know you love me.”

“I do. I love you so much.” She swallowed to clear her throat. “I had prepared vows, but I think I just want to respond to his, because…he does know I love him. I want him to understand what I see in him. When we first met, you introduced yourself as Butcher. You later gave me your first name: Billy. You’ve worn names as a shield, worn your coat like armor, done everything you can to control your image and how you present yourself. You told me once that you don’t tie your boots properly because people underestimate you that way. But I’d like to say that I’ve seen through you. That, while I may be biased at times, I’ve known who you are from the start. You’re so hard on yourself, Butch. You act like the good you do doesn’t matter or count when compared to the bad. You don’t talk about the things you’ve done over the years like go home with me to Wellesley for Soll’s death or sit at home with me watching Star Trek--which you don’t even like--because I’m sad or dissociating or what have you. How when we found out about Compound V, your only priority was me, because you knew what it was going to do to me, mentally and emotionally. You’re right that I’ve been here from the start, that I have been your constant. And you question why I call you my pulse. Because your drive, your focus was an anchor point. Because I never was able to find a path; I was never able to think about all of those pieces that I could do to make change. You’re the one who called me Starsight. The one who took me seriously for the first time in my life. Our journey was…an insane one. No one would have ever predicted that when we met, we would end up here. I started falling for you so quickly, and I knew it was a bad idea. But I embraced it, because you were the first person who looked at me and made me want to stop trying to be invisible. You saw me for who I am, for what I could be, and you were my pulse from the night that we made that first vow, because you believed in me. In us. In what we could do together. So, I will take your hand; I will accept your heart. And I will ask you to carry mine in return. You’re softer and kinder and have more good inside you than you might ever believe, but I see it. And that’s why you’ll always be Butch, first and foremost. Because while you are hard, and while you do carry anger and pain, that’s not all you are, and it’s not all you’ve ever been or ever will be. William Christopher Butcher, you are now going to be my husband, and the father to our children, and Siobhan and Soll are going to be so fucking lucky to have you. I’m so fucking lucky to have you. So, remember, we are partners, Butch. And you don’t need to prove anything to me. Just keep being my pulse.”

He nodded at her, and he kissed her. She giggled and leaned into him, and MM cleared his throat.

“You two done with skipping ahead?” he asked.

Riona and Butcher both gave him slightly sheepish, but not apologetic, smiles. MM had them exchange rings with a tailored version of the standard words, and Riona smiled at the Claddagh that Butcher had chosen for himself to match hers. 

“Now you can kiss and make it official,” MM instructed.

They did, and Riona didn’t want to let him go. Her wings fluttered with delight, and Butch held her to him, as if he was afraid this was all a dream. They were both still teary-eyed when they pulled back.

“May I be the first to introduce Dr. Riona Gallagher-Milton-Butcher and Mr. William Butcher to the world as a married couple!” MM exclaimed.

[jdgo51]

Overlooked Gems

Today's inspiration comes from:

Seen, Secure, Free

by Allison Allen

"I have hidden Your word in my heart." — Psalm 119:11

"'On a rainy day like only the Outer Banks can provide, I went to the aquarium, along with everyone else in the area. While in a little hallway, I saw an unusual photo of Outer Banks history — a line of men dressed in uniform, headed by Richard Etheridge, keeper of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station. The photo was more than a century old. Mr. Etheridge was a freedman — a formerly enslaved person who served with the Union in the Civil War. Mr. Etheridge was the first African American to hold such a post at a lifesaving station (picture a Coast Guard outpost before the Coast Guard existed). He and his crew often rescued those who shipwrecked in the Graveyard of the Atlantic, another ominous name for the Outer Banks. (The shoals and sandbars sometimes move so indiscriminately and violently that, before radar, storms could be world-enders, and navigation was a form of rolling the dice.)

After being intrigued by the photo in the hallway, I learned one particularly mouth-shutting story: In 1896, the E. S. Newman went down in a hurricane. Etheridge and his crew attempted to launch boats to make a rescue. The waves were too overwhelming for any rescue craft to maneuver, so the team went bodily into the churning water — nine times — throwing a line into the grounded ship and ultimately rescuing every person on board.

Until that rainy day, I had never even heard of Richard Etheridge and his courageous company. Pockets of people are learning of the heroic work they did (someone please make a movie) while facing repugnant racism, arson, and robbery.

As I think about history’s oversight, I’m a pinch pained by their invisibility. Yet I wonder: Had they been any more visible during that dangerous age, would their work have even been possible? Maybe the Pea Island Lifesavers preferred obscurity, so they could do their work in peace without fear of retribution. Hard to say for certain, but we do know that Etheridge and his lifesaving crew pioneered an astonishing work on an Outer Banks island while being overlooked, the lasting effects of which we are only just beginning to understand.1

Turns out, excellence doesn’t always equal exposure.

On and For Purpose

For years I’ve been gabbing about God’s penchant for hiding His people purposefully now for a purpose much later. Hidden on purpose, for purpose, purposefully. A sovereign secreting away. We see a repeating pattern of long seasons of concealment in the lives of Joseph, Moses, David, Paul, and, of course, Jesus. When I see a scriptural pattern on repeat, I know to keep my eyes peeled. And when I personally chafe during seasons of concealment (which I often do), I peek into the spiritual rearview mirror, remember I am not alone, and head out on a spiritual treasure hunt.

The following spiritual presents were tucked away on the spiritual shelf for a mighty long while:

Joseph: 11–13 years Moses: 30–40 years David: 15 years Paul: 2–3 years2 Jesus: 30 years Now, what the Lord was accomplishing during each of those concealed seasons was unique, and we could never fully explore their stories. But we can rest assured that each season of hidden development was commissioned and utilized by a sovereign God.

You're invited Preparation

Perhaps most obviously, there is the gift of preparation in the seasons when we are concealed. We are being made ready for something as yet not made known to us. Interestingly, David’s long years between his anointing and his appointing were over a decade. God prepared David and his mighty men to lead Israel through the desperately arduous war games they endured in those hidden desert years. Saul likely never realized that his hunting David was being used by God to make a king and leader out of David. Every battle, every deprivation, and every strategy prepared David to take the kingdom’s mantle. These unseen years became a hidden forge that helped to mold him into a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).

But it is the earliest story of David’s young life that speaks most to my impatient heart about the deep preparation of being hidden. The prophet Samuel, mourning over God’s rejection of King Saul, was directed by God to fill his horn with oil (the mode of anointing) and make haste to Jesse’s house, where he would find the new king among Jesse’s sons. Here, we pick up the story midstream:

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. — 1 Samuel 16:6–13

Scripture implies that Jesse had brought all his sons to the prophet — after all, a house call from the esteemed prophet Samuel was no garden-variety experience. Jesse proudly paraded out his sons, surely hoping for the destiny-making declaration: “Behold the head that will wear the crown.” However, with each passing form of tall embodied glory, the Lord instructed, Don’t look at his outward appearance, Samuel; look at his heart. He is not My chosen one. In other words,

God doesn’t see as the world sees.

His omniscient X-ray vision penetrates to the deeper stuff, to what is hidden beneath physical beauty, physical prowess, or even irresistible personality. Some of the wisest people I have ever known have been wrapped in it-takes-time-to-penetrate introversion. Some of the most caring and kind souls have been hidden in social awkwardness. Sometimes the most interesting person in the room is sitting in the corner of it. Sometimes it’s easy to overlook these gems. But we’re not alone in that all-too-human tendency. It gives me great hope that even the prophet Samuel, who walked in close concert with God, at times focused on the wrong validating elements. Speaking of which, let’s dip back into the waters of his story. "'

Read more on our blog…

“Freedmen, Surfmen, Heroes: Richard Etheridge and Surfmen of the Pea Island Station,” Pea Island Preservation Society, Inc., accessed September 13, 2023, https://www.peaislandpreservationsociety.com/; Historian’s Office, United States Coast Guard. “The Long Blue Line: Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Gold Medal Lifesavers of Pea Island.” United States Coast Guard, February 3, 2023. https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News /Article/3259413/the-long-blue-line-keeper-richard-etheridge-and-the-gold -medal-lifesavers-of-pe/. 2. Brown-Driver-Briggs, s.v. “qatan,” Bible Hub, accessed September 13, 2023, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6996.htm.

Excerpted with permission from Seen, Secure, Free by Allison Allen, copyright Allison Allen.