#i'm so excited i got a lot of cases full of stuff i've been wanting

[breadcrxmbs-reblogs]

weeee i finally have over 100 cases stockpiled for my birthday unboxing

[choochooboss]

Submas sketchdump! Vol. 1

April-June 2022

Literally dumping all the presentable works as promised, whether I'm proud of them or not! This is where I started, even before the first thing I posted online (That subway station one). Many of these are not on Twitter yet so there's lots to see!

The top piece above the header is my very first digital Submas artwork!! I never finished it bc I didn't know how to pull my vision of as I wanted & started modeling the train and didn't finish that either, whoops! I really want to remake this later and make it super cool!

^^^ My reaction to breaking 500 likes & 100 followers in a single day with my first tweet (the battle subway one) all the way back in May!! I was completely floored by all the attention, oh how it skyrocketed my excitement and anxiety! Crazy times, I was so super nervous to be there with so many amazing artists and doubted if I could ever survive there ahahah!! Many had joined the community much much earlier than me, so I had arrived with a late train to PLA/neo Submas hype!

Next up is a bunch of stuff I haven't posted before:

One of my fav sketches! Been saving this for so long bc I really really want to finish this one day!

One of the first submas sketches with an actual story behind it! The subway bosses are running late for their flight because they didn't pass the safety check! The irony!! This would never happen as bosses are always on schedule. But Emmet hadn't noticed a wild Joltik hiding under his coat, so he set up the alarm and they got examined and interrogated of smuggling! How embarrassing for them! The bosses resolved the situation by catching the Joltik, but will they be able to catch their flight anymore?? Maybe if Elesa can distract the stuerts performing the safety protocol for a minute!

More sketchbook stuff...

In case you can't make any sense of it, Emmet's dreaming of different combinations of pokémon. Meanwhile Ingo snores louder than the train! HONK SHOO!

Top 7 every submas fan draws at some point!

Submas trademark posing

submas sleeping in a train

sad Emmet

Emmet with Joltik

Ingo with a cool solo pose

Emmet being chaotic & Ingo reacting to it

a bunch of mirrored submas poses

I sure have a full bingo card lmao, most of them you can see here XD

Next up is a sad man...

Stay strong our friends!

My typical sketchbook pages, crammed and messy as usual. x)

Post-PLA exploration:

A few examples of how my pencil sketches evolve.

I've done so much art experimenting with submas. I really like this black & white painting but I don't think I'll finish it anytime soon.

Where did you go?

The way I draw the twins' faces has changed a lot. They started with softer features and somewhat neutral emotions, because I wasn't as familiar with them or comfortable drawing them yet. Now there's hundreds of submas sketches, and they still keep evolving! My style is also kinda hard to pull off well, so their features differ from picture to picture.

This one was inspired by some submas music videos, can't recall their names anymore. The glowing eerie eyes and yellow&orange + black&white color schemes were neat!

I keep telling myself I need to draw more butlers, these twinks look so lean and neat and have more color and are posh with their monocles and have fun tailcoats!

(...why eyeglasses are not called binocles??)

I was there for the vinegar chaos. Good times!

That's all for now, I hope you got something fun out of this! Still got loads more art to share but I'll save them for another time. Next round I'll bring in my first submas comic!

[aroenbylaw]

In case it wasn't glaringly obvious from the stuff I've reblogged in the past few days but I'm suffering from Rob Lucci brainrot, so I'll continue that and make a whole post talking about some thoughts I've had related to his and Kaku's future in the world government.

So, it seems like Kaku's and Lucci's view of the world government might actually, finally change. Lucci looked absolutely shocked when he saw (I think it was) Marcus Mars in his fuckoff big monster form. Then he, after he gave a full and comprehensive report on everything going on and after a whole life successfully serving the world government as one of their most infamous figures, simply asked Mars to even try and spare Kaku just for it to be disregarded. And that is the second time the world government completely disregarded him and his fellow agents despite literally having dedicated their life to the government and being some of its strongest figures.

Now, this technically is nothing new to them. I doubt that they didn't know they were seen as expendable losses if the worst happens even back in Enies Lobby but I doubt that experience didn't change them at all as people. CP9 helped gather the funds to pay for Lucci's treatment and then they went out to town and had fun together. While they were definitely a tight knit group beforehand I think it's safe to say that they weren't that close before the buster call and two of them getting severely injured.

Which is slowly bringing me to my point: CP0, specifically Kaku and Lucci going forward. Lots of people, me included, see a potential for them finally opening their eyes properly and potentially leaving the world government. Lucci showed obvious care for Kaku which got immediately shot down. Kaku has always been interested in the world around him and even mourned being properly fired from the Galley-la. In the picture we have of him as a kid he even has a model ship, implying he has had an interest in ship building. When they arrived in Egghead he was very excited about all the advanced technology around him. When Stussy asked if she was allowed to free him he had some pretty emotional facial expressions too.

Here's my prediction on what's going to happen to them, maybe not directly after the arc but in the future: I believe Kaku will leave the world government, maybe with Stussy or maybe under other circumstances, but Lucci will not.

Let me explain why I think that. As I mentioned earlier, Kaku has had interests outside of his job and emotions towards other people. He always put his job first but he doesn't shy away from enjoying himself. His ties to the world outside of the government are pretty prominent and I think him seeing the Gorosei as the monsters they really are might be the final nail in the coffin for him. Additionally, he and Stussy were friends and she absolutely does not need to help him but still does. He has a free spirit. Him freely jumping around buildings is among the very first things we see of him. So I definitely see a possibility of him breaking through his conditioning and taking the first steps for himself.

Lucci on the other hand has none of that. He has relationships with his fellow agents, both with Kaku and to some lesser extent with Jabura as we briefly see at the start of Enies Lobby. Them getting into petty fights seems to be a regular occurance and a habit Lucci willingly indulges in. I don't think it's far off to say that Lucci was seen as a de facto leader of CP9 with him being almost twice as strong as Kaku and Jabura (according to the power scaling they briefly used during that arc) so if he wanted to shut down Jabura's shit talking he absolutely could've but he never did which leads me to believe they are (or at least were) close in their own way. Also, he has Hattori, his pet bird that has miniature versions of Lucci's own outfits. A pet bird owned by someone with a cat zoan. And Hattori still loyally stays at Lucci's side through everything. I don't think I need to elaborate more.

But that's where his social relations end, just like the things he cares about. The way he presents himself is incredibly stoic and untouchable. Back in water 7 and Enies Lobby he stood out as cold hearted and tough even among the other agents due to his personality. Everyone else had their own quirks but he was dead serious, no nonsense the entire time with very few exceptions when he was with the other agents. Even in the beginning stages of his fight with Luffy he only talked in order to discourage him. It wasn't a conversation like there were in the other fights. The only things that override his blatant disregard for almost everything around him are his pride and his bloodlust. Chopper warned the strawhats about Lucci when he transformed because he has a carnivorous zoan which give users a thirst for blood and violence. He jeopardized Robin's transfer on purpose by letting Luffy find him by allowing Chimney to leave so she would tell Luffy where the underwater passage was just so he could fight him, most likely with the intention of killing him. The most recent example of him going out of his way to fight is on Egghead where he immediately threw away any rules and protocol to have another fight with Luffy (the anime did an amazing job with the fight holy shit). There we literally see how his devil fruit take over, his eyes whitening and he even runs on all fours. And he was having a great time! For me it's hard to remember and put together mentally that him in his zoan form and him in his human form are identical people. The awakening might fuck with his mind a little bit like it does with Luffy but if he minded that at all he wouldn't be nearly as ready to use it. As for his pride, I don't quite remember a lot of examples and the few I do remember are quite blurry but one example I have (that I hope I remember correctly) was when CP9 encountered Ussop in Water 7 on his own. Ussop bravely shittalked them and Lucci was definitely not happy about it.

The reason I recapped this was to show that we have not once seen him be interested and happy in anything but murdering. And when he isn't doing that, he puts on a stoic face. (hell, he even puts it on while murdering, trying to appear to be much more civilized than his urges and instincts make him) Unlike Kaku, he does not have any more. The world government has him on a leash, ans they point him in the direction of their targets, his prey, for him to go hunt and kill just for him to come back and repeat the cycle. I think Kaku, after Zoro defeated him and received the message that he was fired, even said that being an assassin doesn't exactly have a lot of skills transferable to other professions. But for Lucci that's all he has and it's all that he wants. He has learned other skills of course but those he uses as tools for his disguises and nothing more. He does not fit into anything in else the world. He would have absolutely no idea of what to do and why and how if the world government was to disappear suddenly. Lucci's being is entirely dependent on the government. Unlike basically everyone else working for the government he isn't limited by its restrictions and assigned roles, they are the things that let him be himself in the first place. They give him structure and a healthy amount of restraint.

And that is not to mention his pride. He was one of the, if not the youngest Cipher Pol agent in history at just 13 and has ruthlessly worked for them his entire life. It's the organisation that justifies and permits him his preferred way of living and in return he swore undying loyalty. He'd be too prideful and stoic to abandon ship even after seeing the Gorosei for what they truly are, I think. His stoicism might he used to cover up his bloodlust when he's working but it's also part of him as a person.

Additionally, he has scars in the form of the world government logo burned into his back. They were caused by cannon balls, injuries endured while on a mission for the world government where he killed 500 hostages, showing the messed up justice he gladly follows without question. He is literally brand marked with the ruthlessness of the government that he is a walking embodiment of.

That being said, Lucci isn't an idiot either and his current experiences on Egghead will change how he sees the government. He cares about a few things, one of which might go directly against the government in the near future. I think that he will end up acknowledging that the world government might not be as just as he thought for a long time and might even acknowledge its faults but he will remain by its side. I also think that he might be the one that lets Kaku go if Kaku ends up switching sides. I also think he will know that he's going down with a sinking ship much earlier than everyone else working for the government, be it the navy, cipher pol, or the gorosei.

My predictions for Lucci's end or conclusion in the story are either that he'll be killed or severely injured for helping Kaku (and maybe Stussy) out of government imprisonment and letting them go. Not immediately since he's skilled enough to not make it obvious but someone, somehow would find out and report it. Or the other thing I could see for him, that he will be one of the figures standing in Luffy's on his way to beat Im-sama just for him to be happily beaten in one hit. I'm not sure if it would be better for his character to die or to stay alive. Both of these ends would have their justifications and degree of satisfaction. Him dying would be a fitting end because, aside from the gorosei and Im-sama himself, he is the worst the government has to offer. Unlike the Celestial Dragons he knows about basic morality and friendship on a human level and still decides that these things are of no matter to him. He wasn't raised to believe that he was inherently and absolutely above others, it's a choice he made for himself. Him living would be fitting to complete his change in view on the government, which he only stayed with out of principle if my interpretation comes true, and free him out of their cold and soulless grip. Having it taken from him could force a change of perspective on him he wouldn't have gotten if he had left out of his own will. It could be the first step to him actually becoming more human, not just as a disguise but because of a forced change of perspective.

[greenerteacups]

Hey GTC, I have always been such a fan of your Tumblr and your engagement with the fandom. However I must say that as of late, the questions you’re being asked most often are essentially variants of “Will X happen?” or “Will Y character do Z like in the book?” or even, “I’m noticing Theme A, will it continue in future chapters?”

A significant element of the fun that you’ve created for Lionheart readers is that we don’t know which elements and events of the JKR texts you’ll preserve untouched and which you’ll turn into the sixth and seventh year Lionheart storylines. I adore making my guesses to which parts of canon you’ll play with and which parts you’ll completely and utterly upend. Unfortunately, questions that ask about canon events in books 5-7 ruin so much of the fun.

Historically, you’ve used the Ask box to provide us with analyses of your own work and characterizations, but I feel as if recently you are often indulging questions about books 5, 6, and 7. I hate to say it, but I even feel that your answers veer into spoiler territory. I used to lurk your Tumblr incessantly, but since I’ve started to see this influx in predictive questions these past couple weeks, I’ve been avoiding the app.

It’s such a gift that we get to engage with your work on such a vibrant epistolary and interactive space as your Tumblr. I know that you can’t control what fans ask, but I humbly request that you please consider refusing to answer questions that ask you to ponder future events. Thank you for your tender care to everyone in the fandom. ❤️‍🔥🦁🧡

Hey, what's up, dude. I hear you. Sorry about that.

The problem is that the line between spoilers and not spoilers is totally subjective, and the line between "spoilers that are fine" and "spoilers that bother me" is also totally subjective. I don't know where you are on it, but we probably don't line up, and that's okay. I just don't know how I'd begin to sort out questions that one person considers "too much" from what someone else just thinks is fun analysis. My hard rules are as follows: I don't answer any questions about future ships, events, or arcs (and I get a lot). I haven't revealed anything that I would be unhappy to discover in a Tumblr askbox instead of a fic itself. True, I've dropped teaser/trailer stuff for 6 and 7, but to be honest, even looking over the stuff I've posted recently — I hate to say it, but I disagree with you. It isn't spoilers. Not to me, anyway.

But that's just me! There's no right or wrong answer here, it's just a coordination problem of how we can both cultivate social media experiences that make us happy. For instance: I like answering questions about my fic. It makes me happy to talk to people who want to know what happens. It encourages me and gets me excited to write about it, and I don't believe that any of the content on my Tumblr spoils what's going to happen. I don't really want to stop doing that, so I'm not going to. If that means you and other readers whose spoiler thresholds are below mine can't engage with my Tumblr, that's a natural consequence of us having different attitudes about media, and it was bound to happen. I'm sorry that that's the case, but it would bring me much more grief for you to injure your reading experience than it would for you to avoid my (largely irrelevant) e-journal full of random metatext. I love my fic, and I love my readers, you most certainly included; I do not, candidly speaking, love my Tumblr account. And for what it's worth, I absolutely do not think anything I've written on here is worth diminishing your experience of a story you enjoy. It wouldn't jive with my philosophy of literature and art.

So here's what I got: I'll continue tagging spoilers about past and current events as [#lionheart spoilers], and if a question makes reference to events not published, I'll use the tag [#prognosticating]. That way you can block the tag, and other readers can enjoy content that fits under their threshold of non-spoilerism. If our thresholds still don't line up, then I think the only solution may really be to block the [#lionheart spoilers] tag altogether. That's probably not the answer you're looking for, but it's the best I can do.

[aethersocietyofficial]

♡ HELLO WORLD! ♡

I am SO SO SOSO pumped to FIIIINALLY officially introduce the ~AETHER SOCIETY~! (^O^)/

We're a RAD, SMART, and ♡TOOOOOTALLY ADORBS♡ group that is SUPER DUPER DEDICATED to preserving the REAL goal of Lady Lusamine and the REAL Aether Foundation!! We felt the way it's been going is so totally NOT KEWL <(｀^´)> so we decided to TAKE A STAND and put the world on the RIGHT TRACK!!! (*^.^*) We made this account for a *fewwwwww* awesomesauce reasons- to SPREAD THE WOOOOORD ＼(^o^)／, to *sometimes* posting supercute mems of supercute Pokémon because they're *supercute*!!!,,, and to get the universe PUMPED! RIGHT! UP! for our STELLAR REVIVAAAAL!!!! ♡♡ヽ(´ー`)人(´∇｀)人(` v´)ノ ♡♡

SPEAKING OOOOOOOOF here's the SUPER COOL LINK to our SUPER COOL MISSION STATEMENT by the SUPER FABULOUS DR. ZENO!!! MAKE SURE TO GIVE IT A REEEAD ~♡

Please also see posts tagged with "mission statements" for updates regarding this document. We are always learning and expanding more as a society.

(Other post links since I forgot to reblog these off of this post when I made them oops.)

OOC post

OOC character rundown

*BUT ENOUGH OF ALL THAT BOOOOOOOORING STUFF,,,, DONTCHA WANNA MEET US????*

♡♡ I'LL GO FIRST!!! ♡♡ ehehe~ (`･ω･´)

My name is Hydie! ♡♡ Soo cute right?? ♡♡

I go by she/her, I'm originally from Kanto (ugh.. (；一_一)) but I'm an Alolan girl at heart~♡. I'm super stylish at 19 FOREVER!! I'm also this awesome blogs CREATOR AAAAAAND I run it and the rest of the Aether Society as its leader!! So you'll be hearing a lot from Lil ol meeeee~ (^_-)-☆ I've got a big team of ♡♡ADORBS LITTLE CUTIE BABIES♡♡ and I CANT WAIT to show them all to you!!!

This is my FAAAAAV picture of me, in case you REALLY wanted to know how cute I was ;)

Ignore the weird guy behind me! He doesn't matter.

Hello. I am Dr. Zeno, the leading and only scientist of the Aether Society. I am also the goal coordinator. I am the one you will speak to if you have any questions regarding our mission statement (which will be posted soon) or any other scientific inquiry. Enclosed is a photo of me in my former uniform. I am told I will need to update it soon. I go by they/them and am an adult. (I do not feel the need to disclose my age).

I have since ranked up from an entry-level scientist.

WHATS UP GANG ITS THE BOY COMIN AT YA!

You already know what fuckin TIME IT IS- YATT TIME BABY! My full name is Wyatt but that's such a dork-ass name so I go by Yatt- AND DONT NONE OF YOU BITCHES CALL ME WYATT OR I SWEAR I WILL FUCK YOU UP!

(Hydie says I'm not allowed to swear, but we'll fuckin see about that huh?)

As a former Pokémon Ranger, Team Plasma agent, AND Team Skull agent (Guzma is a weak-ass shithead by the way) I've kinda been around the block a few times- which is why I do the dirty work when these two softies don't wanna do it lmaooooo. I got a Team of absolute fuckin killers and I'm not afraid to use them or my fists- that shit is up to how much you piss me off, YA FEEL?

Oh and yea I go by he/him and I'm 21- and I'll TOTALLY buy you fireworks and shit too hmu. Here's my picture so you can find me ahaha

I look like a TOTAL DORK I know but I swear to fuckin arceus I'll update it soon alright

♡♡*AAAAND THATS ALL OF US!!* HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS AROUND SOON- WE'RE SOOOO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!!! ♡♡

(^^)/~~~

[yuurivoice]

how are you doing lately yuuri? (everyones been asking about content so i just wanted to ask something that wasnt related to it. obviously no ill will towards them ❤❤)

I'm pretty great actually!

My 2024 didn't really kick off until the middle of March tbh, but now that I'm really rolling I'm feeling good about things.

Creatively I'm charged up and full of ideas. Every time I go to the well, my cup is full. That's the best case scenario for any artist, so I'm very happy. The bigger projects will take time but I am actively chipping away at them rather than letting them stew in my brain.

Am still head over heels for Aerith after playing FFVII Rebirth, and put some solid hours into Dragon's Dogma 2, so I've been a real gamer boy so far in 2024 lol

Cats good. House good. Life good.

Nothing really new going on. Had an appointment to get my passport, that was cool and my picture turned out pretty decent so I'm not mad at that.

I'll be seeing Nothing More and Hozier in concert this month, and Motionless in White next month. Excited about that for sure.

Life is definitely very content-centric right now but it doesn't feel like work and things are going well in terms of numbers. It's an ebb and flow usually but when both of those align it feels particularly rewarding!

I've streamlined and refined some of my processes when it comes to scripts, planning, etc. and that feels good after years of just sorta vomiting on the page and hoping everyone involved can figure it out lol

Had some really wonderful portfolio submissions when I called for them on Patreon! I have many people I need to reach out to and I feel really optimistic about some of the writers that reached out. Having some wonderful scripts to use when I need to get ahead of schedule and focus my own writing on the narrative projects is really going to take some pressure off of me. Script submissions have been helpful sometimes, but now that I have a bit more brain capacity I can take extra steps to really get hands on and work with select writers 1:1. Script submissions will still be a thing, and if you haven't submitted your portfolio and think you've got the sauce...go hit my business email!

In terms of art I just need to expand options when it comes to merch, one off thumbnails, etc. to help with the flow of things. With multiple major series coming, I'd like to be able to keep Jackie on those and not have to interrupt the flow by throwing a new thing at her every other week and end up messing with the schedule because I can't stop having ideas lol

So! A lot of great stuff going on. I'm feeling great and am looking forward to smashing the rest of this year!

[joe9cool]

Collide-Epilogue 2 Part 2- Take My Hand

A/N: As usual, don't steal my work, I only own my characters. I do not know or affiliated with the Chargers. This is fanfiction only. Enjoy

The whole plane ride home was a different atmosphere. The guys were fired up, but exhausted, most of them were using the ride to sleep. They already knew that once they landed there was going to be no time to rest, as they were heading straight to the stadium to celebrate with their fans before the official parade the following day.

They also had some television appearances (which Justin was super excited about.) Sara was tired, as much as she wanted to attend the rallies and the parties. She had a court wedding to plan.

Justin was napping next to her. He had told her, in a whisper, he wanted to be as well rested as possible for their wedding day.

It was surreal to her, she was getting married today. As much as she made a big deal of waiting til the party to make it official, she loved this idea. Eloping, saying their vows in private and it just being both of them.

Well not just them, they did need a witness. Sara thought about her sisters. Brittany and Katie were in town, they could easily serve as the witness. However, she was the closest with Alyssa and Brent, and it would kill them if they weren't there.

Speaking of, she had to respond to their texts of congratulations. Also she had to pick out something to wear, cause she wanted pictures, but who was going to take them? Maybe the witness, well that person needed to be a good photographer…"

"What's going through your head right now?" Sara snapped out of her daze and looked to see Justin staring at her. "I've been up for five minutes and you're just staring straight ahead. Like you're in a trance."

She shook her head. "Sorry, just planning our courthouse wedding."

"I thought the point of the courthouse wedding was so it wouldn't be stressful?" He smiled and she laughed. "I know, but you think I'm really going to allow us to go there in just Nike clothes?"

"I’m in." He dodged a swat. He laughed. "No, I understand. I have a nice tan suit, the one I wore to Fehoko's wedding. You liked that one, couldn't keep your hands off of me." He smiled, most likely remembering when they got back to the hotel after the reception.

"Oh that's a good one." She thought about it. "I have no idea, I guess I could wear one of my outfits that was picked for the wedding weekend." She thought. "Well if I get spotted wearing white that will make it obvious."

He laughed. "Don't overthink it babe. You and me tonight. Meet me at the foyer, your assistant can serve as a witness."

She nodded.

The rest of the plane ride was full of chatter as everyone began to wake up from their quick power naps. Once the plane landed the players were let out first to the screams of the crowd. Hoisting the Lombardi trophy over his head, Staley gave a quick speech thanking the fans for their support. The players were signing autographs while the Lady Bolts made it to the cars to head home.

She was heading to her assistant's apartment to pick up the cats (and to drop the bomb) she zoomed in and out of traffic, not caring if people were recording or if she ended up on tmz later.

Reaching her floor after getting past security she knocked rapidly. She wished she called first in case she wasn't home.

"Hi Sara! Eugene and Nova are ready to go!" She stepped into the apartment and grabbed the carriers containing the meowing cats. "How were they!"

"Angel's!" Sara gave her assistant a look. "Well Eugene had some difficulty taking his pain med so I had to stuff it in a sardine." They both laughed. "Congratulations to Justin by the way. Wow with the superbowl and the wedding, you must have a lot on your plate! Maybe you can have the Lombardi trophy there!"

Sara didn't think of that. Too busy wrapped up in trying to plan this last minute courthouse wedding. "It's so nice that your friends and family are all celebrating you. That's what it is about. Love." Hannah smiled.

Sara nodded. "Yes, Justin and I are very blessed."

Grabbing a carrier containing a cat, they headed down towards Sara's car. Once loaded up, Hannah asked her. "Hey, was there anything important you wanted to tell me? You kinda got here fast, and with no warning. Did I forget something?" The assistant was nervous, like she was going to get fired for forgetting something.

This was it, Sara could tell her to help her pick out an outfit and serve as a witness. "No, I'm just in a hurry. I've been on autopilot since January. You know how it is."

Hannah smiled. "Oh yeah, well it will calm down, and you can enjoy your Bachelorette party! Bella and your sisters made all of the arrangements! A few days away will be just what the doctor ordered!"

"Oh definitely. Thank you for everything." In a spur of the moment, Sara threw her arms around her, which she knew her friend was surprised about. Sara always kept her at a distance, afraid of letting her in due to her previous predecessor. Hannah reciprocated the hug. "It's no problem. You know we started off as friends." Sara nodded, feeling emotional. "Yes I know, and I know I've been all business since hiring you. But thank you so much for everything. I cannot thank you enough."

Hannah smiled brightly. "Seeing you happy and getting everything you deserve is thanks enough."

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Once home, and the cats were eating their lunch, Sara unpacked her suitcases. She tried to be as normal as possible despite all of the chaos. On autopilot, she looked at what to make for dinner, totally forgetting about the events tonight.

Her phone buzzed on the counter, grabbing it, she smiled reading the message.

Justin I can't wait to marry you.

It was still around 1pm, so once he was done with all of his fan obligations, he would be home and getting ready.

Deciding to dedicate the rest of the time to a mini spa day, she popped open a bottle of wine, and grabbed a bottle of champagne for when they got home from the magistrate. Running towards their master bathroom, she slathered her face in a mask, and her hair in coconut oil. It was up to her to do hair and makeup for her ceremony so she was watching ideas on her phone while doing a pedi and shaving over the tub.

Sara exfoliated in the shower, getting all the craziness of yesterday off of her. It took a bit longer than usual, but it was worth it in all aspects. She knew she was going to be busy tonight.

Once finished, she lotioned up and began her skincare. She was grateful she had gotten a facial before the superbowl. As she finished up and was in their huge joint closet trying to figure out what to wear. She could wear white, but she didn't want to tip anyone off. While friends might not assume anything, their families would. Speaking of, they were supposed to attend a party tonight with both families. Maybe they could make a late appearance

As she was looking through her rack of dresses, there was one that caught her eye, and she pulled the hanger out.

It was the satin emerald green cocktail dress she wore to Joe and Alisha's July 2022 wedding.

The same dress she wore when she met Justin's for the first time.

He had complimented her on it during their conversation, and she proceeded to launch into a five minute spiel about how it was her favorite color and she hated green as a kid. She was worried she scared him off, but he laughed and said usually everyone's favorite color is blue, so it's different.

She smiled, it had so many memories, and suddenly, the dress was perfect, even more so than the one she would actually be wearing on the day.

She laid it out on the bed, and began to style her hair. She kept it down in loose curls. Her makeup was simple, but played it up to make her eyes pop.

It was around 6pm by the time she was done and had all of her and Justin's documents needed to give to the courthouse. Hearing the door opening in the foyer, she walked out to see Justin in a simple black suit, and Mitch and Isabelle dressed up as well.

"I told them our plans." He said, seeing the confused and concerned look on her face. "We needed witnesses, and I honestly knew you wouldn't tell Hannah because of security reasons."

Mitch cut in. "It will be our little secret, mom, dad, Patrick and Carly went out to Mike's house for a party, I said we might join them later. "

Sara smiled. "You're right, I didn't tell Hannah, but I'm glad to have you guys here."

Truth be told, she didn't tell Hannah because she was afraid of leaks. She actually had second doubts about eloping. But when she saw the green dress, something in her knew that this was the right decision, and having Mitch and Isabelle here felt right. She wanted to be married to Justin as soon as possible.

"I called the office and they are staying open. Do you have our documents?" She nodded and held up two long envelopes. "We got our licenses?" He nodded. 

Isabelle stepped forward. "I stopped at Whole Foods and picked out a vanilla bean cake for you guys. There's also champagne so we can all celebrate after."

Sara smiled. Justin grabbed her hand. "Let's get married."

—--------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you Judge Hemmons, we really appreciate you making time for this." Justin smiled as he shook their hand

The older man laughed. "Well it's not everyday a superbowl champion and his famous fiance ask me to stay late and marry them in secret. You do realize though that once this is registered tomorrow this will be available to the public?" They both nodded. Truth be told they didn't expect anyone to go searching for the records. The rest of her family was coming out the day after the parade to celebrate. Brent was injured, so he and Alyssa were going to leave the kids with his parents. 

They would break the news over dinner at the house.

"Paperwork is filed out, do you have the rings?" Justin spoke up. "We actually didn't bring them, since we wouldn't be able to wear them."

the older man nodded in understanding. "What about vows?" 

Justin and Sara agreed in the car that they would say their personal written vows to each other and do something else for the wedding in front of everyone. It saved the awkwardness of everyone seeing them be vulnerable. 

"Okay. Now let's begin." They stood in front of the judge and held hands while Mitch and Isabelle stood off to the side.

"We gather here today to join Justin Patrick Herbert and Sara Christine Wozniak in this union of marriage. Before we go further you both understand you are entering this legal binding union?"

"We do." They both spoke, staring into each other's eyes. 

"You may now speak your vows." Sara gestured at Justin to go first. He cleared his throat. 

"Sara, I never thought we'd be here. Although I always wanted to be here from the moment I came by your house for a movie night, and we watched Shrek 2." Everyone laughed. "And despite that, I knew I'd done everything to destroy what we had."

Justin paused, and the tears came to his eyes. Sara found herself getting emotional. Choked up, he continued. "But here you stand before me, loving me, and supporting me even when I didn't deserve it.  I can't promise our lives will be smooth sailing, but I promise that I will always be there through the good times and bad. I will be there with you watching our days pass by in the rearview mirror. You're the love of my life, and no matter what happens, I will give you and our marriage my all."

Just those short words were so sweet and made her emotional. Taking a deep breath, and thanking God for waterproof eye makeup, she began. "Justin, I read a quote that said. "Someday, someone will come into your life, and make you understand why it never worked out with anyone else."

She took another deep breath. "At that time, I thought that moment would never happen to me. I watched as everyone had their fairytale, and I came to a conclusion that I was happy on my own. Until you came into my life. Then all my tears, all of the pain, didn't matter. In these coming years, many things will change, but the way I feel for you in this moment will stay . I vow to be the best wife, and mother to our children. I love you Justin Patrick, and I can't imagine my life without you."

She heard sniffling  behind her.  The judge cleared his throat. "Do you Justin Patrick take Sara Christine to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Justin nodded, before realizing he needed to speak. "I do."

"Sara Christine, do you take Justin Patrick to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then I hereby pronounce you in the state of California and the City of Irvine husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Justin picked Sara up, and their lips connected, tasting the saltiness of their tears. The flash of the camera pulled them away, as Isabelle was taking tons of photos on their phone.

After signing the wedding certificate and the documents to change Sara's last name. They took tons of photos, then decided to dine at one of the fanciest restaurants before having cake and champagne at home.

They were sifted at the back of the restaurant. The owner came over and gave the group whatever they wanted. At one point during dinner Isabelle spoke up. "So are you planning to tell everyone soon?"

Justin took a sip of his wine. "Yes, the rest of Sara's family is going to come after the parade tomorrow. So we are going to have a big barbecue the next day and tell everyone."

"How do you think your family is going to take it?" Mitch looked worried for his new sister in law. Sara sighed. "They aren't going to be happy. But then again, it's like they always expected it from me. So who knows? But it's not like we are going to cancel the actual wedding. It's just not going to be legally binding since that's already happened. Probably more spiritual? Maybe we can incorporate a little more catholic traditions? So that might ease any anger." 

Again, Sara didn't know how her family was going to take it. They always told her she was probably going to elope if she ever found someone. As soon as they told her parents and sisters they were engaged they were expecting a huge wedding in Pennsylvania. At one point Cathy suggested they have the ceremony and reception at home. Since they had space and could decorate the huge land. Cathy got emotional just thinking of it.

She knew they were upset that the wedding was being held in Oregon. To be honest she thought she should host it In a neutral place. But that would make no sense with Justin's side.

Food and drinks were flowing, and the group had to wait as they were a little tipsy. Mitch paid the bill, which Justin tried to fight on. But his older brother was having none of it. "You think the best man who is a doctor is going to let the groom buy dinner on his wedding day?"

On the drive back, Justin, feeling the drinks, was all over Sara. "Hey guys." He called from the back seat. "After the cake you should probably take a drive by the beach for a while because I don't think you want to hear screaming."

"Justin!" Sara was red. Isabelle was laughing, Mitch groaned. "I think I liked it better when you were all awkward."

"Excuse my husband." Sara said and stopped. She looked at Justin who gave her the same smile. "You're my husband." Sara gushed, then continued. "Holy shit we are married!"

He laughed. “You’re my wife. Mrs Sara Herbert.” She giggled, drunk on cocktails and love. “I moved up in the alphabet."

He nuzzled her neck. "I love you my wife." He muttered. She smiled. "I love you my husband."

"Yeah I think we are just going to get a few things from your house and leave you alone." Isabelle laughed.

However, as they pulled up they saw the lights on. "I thought everyone was supposed to be at the party." Mitch was confused.

Justin sighed. "It seems like everyone had a change of plans. Come on, we will celebrate later." They all got out of the car once Mitch parked

Sara was annoyed. "But it's going to be total chaos this week." She yelped when he slapped her ass. "Stop being a brat." He growled. He wrapped his long arm around her.

Upon entering, they saw Patrick,Carly, his parents, Scott, Brittney, Katie and Charles. "There you are! We were waiting for you guys at Mike's house. What happened? And why did you guys get dressed up?" Holly was confused, looking between the whole group that just entered.

"I wanted to take Sara out, you know, just private time since this week is going to be chaos." Justin lied.

"Didn't you go out with Mitch and Isabelle?"

Mitch cut in. "Yeah we ran into each other and just decided to join them."

Patrick huffed. "Thanks for the invite jerks."

"Well sorry, but we thought you were going to be at the party late." Justin was trying to hide the agitation in his voice.

"Well, it got a little out of control and the cops came by. It's all over TMZ sports." Mark laughed.

Katie interrupted. "We kept calling and texting you. Mike sent us home with a ton of leftovers. Which There is no room because there's a cake in the fridge? Where did you get that?"

Isabelle cut in. "Well I saw it at Whole Foods and remembered it was Sara's favorite."

"Why were you at Whole foods?" Brittney looked at them suspicious. One thing about Sara's family was that they were going to ask questions.

Sara jumped in. "I mentioned I needed a few things for the barbecue. Didn't have it. Well we have cake now, and champagne. And since almost everyone is here we can have a proper toast." She pulled out the champagne glasses while Isabelle grabbed the cake and the bottle out of the fridge.

"We should probably change. I'm not too comfortable in this suit. I'm sure you want to get the dress off." It was a hint that Justin wanted Sara to join him in the bedroom." Sara nodded. "We will be right back." She told the crowd before following her husband into their bedroom.

Once in and the door was shut behind them. Justin groaned, and Sara laughed. "Relax, we will have some time to celebrate by ourselves."

"Maybe we need to take the drive by the beach." Justin unbuttoned his shirt. She laughed. "And risk getting caught and making the news?"

"Good point." Justin came behind her and unzipped her dress. "Thanks baby."

It was funny, watching them undress in the mirror. She didn't even realize she stared off into space until he said something. "What's on your mind?"

She shook her head. "Come on, tell me."

She laughed."I was just taking in everything around me. Watching you do your night routine. We are already such a married couple." She smiled up at Justin and he laughed. "I know. I can see us right now getting ready for our ten year anniversary. Our kids clamoring to get our attention.''

The thought warmed her up, until there was a knock at the door. "Are you guys coming? The cake looks really good."

Both sighing, they finished their routines before coming out. "Sorry, my zipper got stuck."

"Uh huh. Sure" Patrick joked. "Already getting a head start on the honeymoon?"

Justin froze, but Sara played it cool. "We are saving ourselves for marriage. I don't know what you're talking about." She shot back.

"Yeah I remember the first time you came to Oregon."

"Please, I would not like to know anything like that about my sister." Katie put an end to it.

The champagne was poured, the toasts were made, and the cake was cut. Despite It being an unbeknownst spoiler, it turned out to be a good night. Sara could see Justin relax and happier around the family.

Everyone agreed to turn in a little earlier than planned. It was a big day tomorrow with the parade. As Sara laid snuggled into him as Justin rubbed her back. "We're married." He whispered. She giggled. "Yep. I got the paperwork to go online and change my last name next week." She kissed him and he moaned into it. "You know we could sorta celebrate." She kissed his neck and began to move down.

"Babe, you parents are sleeping on the pullout couch right outside, and while I'm proud of it, you're not exactly quiet." She huffed. "I hate that you're right." He laughed.

"Don't expect that to happen often." It was silent, and she thought that he was drifting off to sleep until he spoke. "Don't think I didn't notice the dress you wore." He whispered. Turning to her. "I love that you wore that one."

"I knew you would." She kissed him again. After another moment of silence she whispered again. "We are married!"

She heard him laugh. "We are." There was a pause. "So how should we make that announcement?"

She shrugged. "Maybe during dinner. We tell them the wedding is still happening. But we are legally married. But we stress that we are having a catholic ceremony to please my mom."

He laughed. "So you're going to tell everyone that you're going to obey me?"

She smacked his stomach. "Fuck no."

They burst out laughing. "Happy wedding day my love." They intertwined fingers.

"Officially marking it. February 10th is the best day of my life." Justin smiled. "Mine too."

—-------------------------------------------------------------

Sara's family came the evening after the parade. It was total chaos. Some family were staying with Justin and Sara, others were staying in her old house. The kids were upset they weren't staying with their aunt and uncle.

At one point Justin remarked. "We should maybe consider getting a bigger house."

It was chaos, and they loved it. It made them think of the future, a house full of chaos with their own children someday.

It was now the day they were going to announce their marriage, and Justin and Sara were picking up last minute things at Costco's. It was nice to get back to normal after months of well, not normal. Between Press for both, and the overall football season it was a lot. As they made their way down the aisles. Justin remarked. "I think we should do a little getaway. Like a weekend trip to a Vineyard."

Sara smiled as she put some fresh vegetables in the cart. "That'd be nice." They passed by the huge display of roses and balloons. The arch saying. 'Happy Valentine's Day' Sara glanced at it. "Isn't Valentine's Day tomorrow?"

He looked up from the bouquet of flowers. "Huh. I guess it is." They both looked at each other and began laughing. "Wow. Our first married Valentine's day together and we totally forgot. Aren't we so good at this marriage thing?" Sara spoke softly so no one around her heard.

"Jeez, I'm probably the worst husband right now." They laughed again. "Well since we're here can I pick out my bouquets?"

Justin nodded. "I should probably get some for our moms to smooth things over."

"Good idea." They spent a few minutes trying to decide which mom would like what before they headed out.

Loading the huge batch of groceries in Sara's SUV they headed back to the house. Stuck in traffic Sara turned on the radio to get news and weather reports. However, after flipping through multiple stations, she ended up on the top 40 countdown. Justin was tapping on the steering wheel.

"Here we have Angie with the entertainment news." Ryan Seacrest's voice announced. "Apparently we have wedding bells!"

"Yes Ryan. Breaking News this morning as TMZ reports Sara Wozniak and Los Angeles Chargers Quarterback Justin Herbert tied the knot at the Irvine courthouse the day after The Chargers became Super Bowl Champs. The media outlet obtained a copy of the marriage license, which was filed Tuesday in Orange County. The couple reps couldn't be reached for comment. It is unclear if they are still going to hold a bigger ceremony which the bride gave details on planning last year."

Silence.

The air left the car.

The couple didn't even realize the cars ahead of them moved until the blaring of a horn brought them back to reality. "Oh my god." Justin finally whispered as he began to drive forward.

Sara just stared off into space. This was bad. Very bad. This wasn't how she wanted her family to find out. "Maybe they don't know. I mean it's the radio, no one listens to it." She tried to calm down until she pulled out her phone

40 missed calls 58 texts

Heidi. Alex. Alyssa. Brittany. Mom. Dad. Bella. AnnSophie

Justin exited off the main road and pulled into a parking lot. Pulling out his phone he sighed as he saw the insane amount of missed calls from his team and family. "Fuck." He whispered.

"What do we do?" Sara honestly didn't know. She felt the tears come to her eyes as she thought about how her family felt.

"Call Heidi first. She will know everything." Justin spoke like a true Hollywood veteran.

Heidi picked up on the first ring. "It's everywhere. Even local news outlets picked up on it. They called your parents for comments. Your mom went off on a rant on how she didn't know and how sad it was she had to find out from them. The media is all over that."

"Oh My god." Sara pinched her nose. It was even worse than she thought. "What else?"

"You guys weren't very slick. There's blurry photos of you and Justin, and well as two other people entering the courthouse in the back."

Justin spoke up. "How did they even get those photos?"

"Someone probably saw you and hid in the bushes across the street."

"Look I could put out a statement or keep silent. Justin's team reached out and we just all agreed to keep silent for now."

"That's fine. Don't say anything." After talking about their next course of action. Heidi said her and Alex where already on their way to the house to discuss future details, they hung up." Taking a deep breath Sara began crying. Justin gathered her in his arms as best as he could. "Hey, Hey it will be okay."

"No its not! This is not how I wanted them to find out! And now they think the worst. My family never spoke to the press unless it was a planned interview or under my control." She sobbed.

"That wasn't cool of her." Justin was already cursing out his mother in law. "She is probably just upset. She will get over it"

"You don't understand. We finally have a good relationship…." She trailed off and Justin knew what she meant. She thought she was going to jeopardize it.

He shook his head. "Sara. We are grown adults. We are still going to have the ceremony and celebration, but this was just for us. You don't… regret us getting married do you?" His voice was shaky

Immediately she shook her head. "I don't regret it at all. I'm just mad that once again my news got leaked before I could tell them. I don't understand why it's such a big deal? My marriage doesn't affect my fans' lives."

He smiled. "I mean your fans are crazy." It was true. He gained so many followers. Leaving comments asking him if he could fight and threatening harm if he hurt Sara. There were a couple of fan pages that disapproved of him, trying to dig up into his past that he wasn't worthy of their idol.

"Wanna just run away for a bit? We can get started on an early honeymoon and make up for our wedding night?" He wiggled his eyebrows and she giggled. Kissing him quickly. "As much as I would love to, we have groceries, and we do owe them to hear it from us."

It was the fact that her husband had the ability to calm her down and make her see rationally. He grabbed her hand and brought it up to her lips. "At least I can start wearing my athletic wedding band." She smiled. She got him a rubber gray band for him to wear during workouts or on the field if he wanted. "True."

They drove back home, Justin purposely taking the long way and driving slower than usual. Sara smiled, as much as he gave the pep talk she knew he was a little terrified of seeing her parents upset. He had never seen them really mad. He had been exposed to many of the arguments Sara had with her sisters and was immune to it, since they always made up a day later.

Finally, they pulled up to the house, and cars were everywhere. Sara even recognized Latrell's car and Justin knew his management's car. Justin and Sara approached the door with the boxes of items in their hands.

The door opened, and they were greeted with Charlie, the now preteen being almost his aunt's height. He closed the door behind them. "I just want to let you know it's bad. All these people are here, and grandma and grandpa got into it with Mr. And Mrs. Herbert."

Sara and Justin took a deep breath. Charlie, being the wise one that he is, filled them in. "Okay so Grandma is accusing the Herbert's of knowing and plotting behind our backs. Your business people are upset because I guess you guys have no prenup, and then the little kids are crying because they think you're nor having the party. Uncle Brent just wants to leave and got yelled at when he said everyone was being dramatic."

Justin rubbed his head. "I'm sorry you had to be exposed to that kid. But thank you. Now what kinda car do you want when you get your license?"

"Justin!" Sara looked at Charlie. "Thank you, just don't ask for a Lamborghini or something ridiculous."

"Charlie? Charlie? Charles Burke!" The door opened and Katie appeared. After shooing her son inside she glared at the couple. "I see you planned on hiding and avoiding us?"

Sara went to speak up but her mom appeared from behind Katie. "Sara Christine Wozniak, get your ass in here."

Justin's jaw dropped, not believing Sara was spoken to that way. Granted they were still her parents, but she was almost thirty years old. His parents never spoke to him that way.

She grabbed his hand and he squeezed it for reassurance, he wasn't sure if it was for him or her and followed her into the living room. Where everyone was waiting for them. It was both of their immediate families, his and her management. There were about fifteen or more people and they were all upset.

Justin and Sara sat next to each other on the couch. After a few moments of silence Sara began to talk. "You know how this isn't how we wanted-"

"Do you know how it feels to find out your daughter got married from a total stranger calling you?" Mike began and everyone could tell he was trying to hold back his anger.

"Dad-" her mom cut in "no you don't! That's why you did what you did. You've always been selfish."

Justin couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Cathy-"

"That's Mrs. Wozniak to you!" He sighed. "It was my idea."

"Oh I bet it was." She looked at Mark and Holly. "You two were there!"

Mark, having enough sighed. "That's ridiculous if you paid attention. We were at the same party that night!"

"But you knew! You knew your son and his girlfriend would be there!"

Mitch sighed. "It was last minute!"

Patrick cut in. "Yeah thanks for thinking of us guys."

"It was just for us! We needed a witness!" Justin threw his hands up

Cathy cut in again. "Yeah and you did not once think that Sara should have her family there. You made it all about yours! With this wedding you won't have it where she grew up! Her family and friends won't be able to show up!" She once again looked at her daughter who had her head down. "Now you're robbing us of a wedding in general!"

"I hope you realize you let down many people. Your own nieces are upset because they won't get to be flower girls!" Brittany cut in.

Sara looked up. Tears gathered in her eyes. "That's not true! We are still having a wedding!"

Cathy threw her hands up! "What's even the point! Your family might as well not show up since you made it clear you don't want us!"

Mike spoke. "Your mother has a point. I thought we were on the mend, and now you go back to shutting us out. I don't understand."

"I'm not shutting you out!" Sara ran her hands through her hair. Justin was speechless. He had never seen this side of the Wozniak family. He knew they had a not perfect relationship. He remembered the early days of their relationship when she didn't speak of her family and the little she spoke he was disturbed. Justin thought Mike's heart attack changed everyone.

But now seeing them tearing into her made him consider something. He wasn't sure he even wanted them there, or around any future kids if they were going to cause his wife this much pain.

"Also can we talk about how stupid this decision was!" Katie jumped in. "I mean you didn't even sign anything. No prenup! Asserts are unprotected! Me and Latrell have been trying to get you two to sit down with Justin's accountant to discuss if there was a divorce. Oh my god Sara California is a 50-50 state!"

"We could do a postnuptial agreement." Latrell cut in. Uncomfortable on intruding in a family conversation.

"Well first we have to do damage control, Sara, I need to book you on a tv show. I was thinking Late night, you got to clear it up and say it was a misunderstanding. Heidi pulled out her phone. “I have to call Alex and get you booked.”

“Like hell you are! I don’t regret what I said. Don’t you think the world should know how hurt this family is over your actions!”--

Mike shook his head. "I'm not upset, just disappointed in you two. Was this your plan of revenge? To exclude us?"

Holly cut in. "We aren't too happy about this either. We are getting harassed by extended family. Everything is up in the air!"

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Oh please save it.

"Hey Carly and I are still upset. We were left out as well!"

Everyone began talking over each other and arguing. Cathy was still directing her anger at Sara. It was chaos until a loud voice took over. "Hey, Hey, Hey!" Everyone quieted and looked at Brent, who looked perplexed.

"What the fuck is wrong with everyone!"

"Brent please!" Alyssa tried to calm her husband.

He shook his head and got up slowly. Still recovering from his injury. "No, I'm sick of this! This is supposed to be the happiest moment of their lives and you are all making it about yourselves! They didn't even explain themselves! And not that they have to, they don't owe us anything. He approached Justin, who stood up from the couch. Shaking his hand Brent spoke. "Congratulations you guys, I'm happy for you. Can't wait to celebrate in May."

Sara got up and hugged her brother in law. "Thank you." She cried. He gripped her tight and whispered to them both."I expect a nice bottle of scotch." He whispered and she chuckled. After hugging Justin he turned towards the family. "I think you all owe them a massive apology. Now let's get this food in on the grill and try to celebrate the newlyweds.

There were murmurs of agreement and everyone disbursed. Latrell and Ashley approached first to apologize and congratulate the couple. Although Sara felt they didn't really owe one. It was the job to make sure the client was making the best decisions for themselves.

After Latrell left, Heidi made sure that Alex would book her on a talk show sometime in the future for some damage control.

Ashley stuck around for the barbecue. Almost everyone began helping and getting back to normal. Most of Sara's family, besides Alyssa and Brent and the kids, avoided Justin and Sara. Feeling awkward about their outburst.

As Sara was in the kitchen helping Carly and Holly prepare things. Cathy came in through the sliding glass door.She was very awkward and avoided eye contact with the other girls. "Sara, can we talk?"

"Whatever you have to say you can say it here." She bit back. Once the shock of the family's reaction wore out, anger began setting in. Coupled with a margarita she didn't really hold back.

Holly looked between the mother and daughter. "Um, we will help move everything outside." Passing by, she gave her daughter in law a quick squeeze on her elbow before heading outside.

Once Sara heard the door closed she faced her mother. "Okay now say it."

Cathy sighed. "Look, you have to understand where we were coming from-"

"Really? That's how you start? No 'hey I'm sorry Sara? I'm sorry Justin? Or Holly and Mark?"

She was done, all her life she was labeled as something she wasn't when she did things for herself. Then forced to be the bigger person.

Cathy took a deep breath. "I shouldn't have yelled infront of everyone, I should have just pulled you aside privately and for that I'm sorry. But once again you went and excluded us again. I thought we were on good terms!"

Sara shook her head in disbelief. "So, again instead of clarifying and asking us, you fly off the roof and blab your mouth to a tabloid. Then make Justin and I's happiness all about yourselves. Did you really think after all of the stress and planning and everything custom made we would just say fuck everything and cancel it?"

"I don't know what to think! You have shut us out at everything! You're whole life!"

Sara bit back. "Yeah and why do you think that is?"

Cathy rolled her eyes. "Your father and I can't change the past. We provided everything and then some for you and your sisters. We have apologized over and over again and have been trying to be better. But you insist on punishing us."

Sara slammed her hand on the counter. "This what you don't realize, none of this was for punishment. It was something that we wanted to do. Just have a moment where it was just us. The whole point of this barbecue was to announce it to everyone!"

Sara shook her head as she finished mixing the salad. "All you could think about is you. I get being a little upset but you just had to put it out to the press, and you wonder why I was distant. I can't even trust my own family."

She picked up the bowl and brought it outside, leaving her mother to ponder on her words.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the night it was awkward. While the couple's siblings and in- laws tried to carry on like there was no major conflict earlier, Mike and Cathy stayed quiet, only pitching in when someone asked them a question or to clarify something.

Sara was not only upset at her parents but for her siblings for not having her back. In some ways it felt like a betrayal. They all ganged up on her, except Alyssa.

As they got into bed that night. Justin pulled her close to him. "My mom asked if you wanted to join her on a hike tomorrow morning." He muttered into her hair. Holly approached him and said she was concerned about Sara. She nodded and sighed. "I knew they weren't going to be happy, but wow."

He nodded. She had told him about the earlier conversation between her and her mother.

"I should have had them pay for an expensive hotel." Justin was confused. "Wait, why?"

She smirked "cause we have been married for almost a week and we haven't even fucked!"

He laughed and she joined in. "You know we still could." She raised her eyebrow at him. "There's the car in the garage."

"True. We have to have so much sex. Superbowl sex, wedding sex." Justin snorted. "Don't laugh baby, I'm deprived!"

He kissed her before he got up. "Well what kinda husband would I be if I didn't satisfy my wife?"

She smiled and got up, grabbing his hand. They opened the door and looked out into the dark hallway. Taking a few steps, they thought everything was clear until the kitchen light came on. "Oh hey guys. What are you doing?"

Fuck. They turned around to see Patrick with a smirk on his face. "Sneaking off I see?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "We aren't tired. So we thought we'd go for a drive to Jerry's." It was a total lie, but could also serve as a backup since they were was that secluded forest where they could park and fuck."

"In your PJ's?" Pat smirked. Justin glared at his brother. "Well we might stop there, we might not."

"Well I'll join you guys." He laughed seeing the shock on Justin and Sara's faces. "Oh you thought I wasn't going to seek revenge on you guys not inviting me? Oh no. I'm going to make sure that you don't get a moment alone together as long as I'm around. So who's driving?"

Justin grabbed Sara's hand and led her back into their bedroom. "Goodnight asshole." —---------------------☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆—-------------------------------

The rest of the week was mixed

While they were still getting around that issue with her family while planning the Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties during dinner. Justin found out the extent of the Wozniak’s sisters' early party days.

“I have no idea how we talked the cop out of arresting Katie!” Sara was in tears as she recounted the story of her oldest sisters bachelorette party.”

Cathy rolled her eyes. “I thought having your youngest sister meant you girls wouldn’t get into too much trouble.”

“Come on mom, you know that we went crazy all of the nights you and dad were gone.” Brittany smirked. “Remember when Dad called the cops on the half naked man that was running across our property after we pulled in late after visiting Grandma?”

Sara’s eyes widened. “Britt do not!” Mike was confused. “Yeah, some dumbass kid decided to be funny. You know how kids were in the neighborhood.”

“Yeah and guess who was the only one home?” Sara laid her head in her hands, red faced when her dad thought about it, then it clicked. “Sara Christine! That was Carson, the man I met a few days later and I kept saying he looked familiar!” Everyone busted out laughing, except Justin and Mike. “And mom knew too!” Sara and Mike were both shocked. “Mom! Why didnt you rat on me!” Cathy laughed while sipping her glass of wine. “You think your father and I were saints?”

Holly joined in. “My boys always swore they were perfect angels.”

“We were!” Mitch protested. “I know you were, I am just not sure about these two” She gestured to Justin and Patrick, who were confused. “Wait, we were! Don’t blame this all on us!”

After dinner, when everyone was enjoying dessert and the kids were in the pool,Sara got a call from her manager. Excusing herself she headed inside. Leaving Justin alone with Mike.

"Justin, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for how my wife and I reacted to you two eloping. It wasn't very appropriate and we ruined such an exciting time. I remember being on cloud nine marrying Catherine, and we took that joy away from you. My wife, she's very stubborn. She will come around eventually. But I need to apologize to you."

Justin cut in "and Sara. I think she is the one that is owed the biggest apology."

Mike nodded. "I did this morning. Although I know it takes time for full forgiveness. If she ever decides to forgive me."

“What about Cathy? I mean Mrs. Wozniak.” Justin corrected himself

“Its Mike and Cathy, and don’t worry about her. She's sort of embarrassed about the whole thing.”

Justin nodded his head. “Cathy owes both of us an apology. Also my family as well.” Mike nodded. While things may never be one hundred percent, for now Justin wanted to move on and focus on the future and their wedding.

Before the family left, apologies were given, and Mike and Cathy took everyone out to dinner as one of the ways to make amends. Sara just wanted to move on from it all. She wanted to move ahead and enjoy the moments of the wedding coming up.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Exactly where is this going to be?” Justin looked at all of the skimpy outfits laid out on their bed.

It was Wednesday and Sara was set to leave Friday morning and come back Tuesday with her bridesmaids, as well as some of Justin’s cousins and some Lady bolts. They were taking a private jet to someplace warm

“Mexico. We got our own private house.” Sara zipped up the bag of shoes and toiletries, and opened the main suitcase to begin packing the outfits. They each had their own bag and Justin thought it was a bit excessive. His bachelor party was next weekend and the guys planned to go to Montana where there was fishing and hunting.

Looking over at all of the barely there outfits, he wished he pushed for a joint party.

He knew Joey wasn’t happy about having a pregnant AnnSophie along with the girls. She was five months pregnant with their son and while she and some other moms would be the overall moms of the group it was still going to get crazy.

"Why do we even need a bachelor party? I mean we are married." Justin picked up a white crystalized mesh see through dress. "I mean is this supposed to be a cover up? It doesn't cover anything!"

Sara glanced at it. "No that's for dinner and dancing." Justin's eyes widened and she began laughing. "There's nothing here! Babe you can't go revealing your underwear!"

"Relax there's a set you wear underneath." Justin was going to argue that point, but was distracted by something white going in her bag. Pulling it out his jaw dropped. "This bikini! This is the one that I love!"

It was the infamous white bikini that barely contained her goods. The one she wore infront of the guys that made him crazy. "There's not another one you have?"

She shrugged. "This is the only white one I have, and since I'm the bride mostly everything has to be white. I'm recycling outfits. Remember you said we shouldn't waste?" He groaned as his words came back to bite him in the ass. "Yes, but I think in these circumstances this should be allowed!"

She laughed. "Babe, it's a big group. I promise we will behave." She walked up to where he was sitting on the bed and kissed him. "Hey there won't be any strippers."

He rolled his eyes. "I know babe." He rubbed his hands up and down her sides. "I just worry about you running around in all of these skimpy outfits."

"We will be safe. You know Joey made AnnSophie bring security with." He made a mental note to message a thank you to his teammate. "Don't drink too much, and stay in the group."

"Okay dad!" —------------------------------------------------------------------

"TO OUR BRIDE!" Troye screamed to the cheers of the girls as Sara popped the champagne bottle. They were taking a group photo in front of the private plane. Justin just shook his head as he and the other partners all knew it was going to be a crazy weekend. Once again, he was grateful that Joey insisted that AnnSophie bring security with the group. As he saw the Itinerary was going to be massive crowds of people.

Mitch laughed as Isabelle pulled out a bottle of tequila and passed it around for the group to take shots. "Are you sure you don't want to crash it?"

Patrick had suggested that they all have a mini boys weekend while they wait for their partners to come home. He pulled the others aside and suggested that they crash it. "Have you seen the outfits the girls are packing! There's like… no clothes at all!"

Justin shook his head as the group began to climb up the steps Sara turned around and blew Justin a kiss which he caught.

A few seconds later, his phone buzzed, opening the message he laughed and blushed.

I'll send you nudes to think of Me.

—---

"I cant believe this." Sara gasped as she opened the door to the massive house her sisters rented out. It felt like a reality show, it had a luxury kitchen, living room. Sara of course got the master bedroom with the attached bathroom, although she knew the girls would be getting ready together in the room.

"Holy shit. I might not even want to go out." Ekeler's wife was in awe as she checked out the massive pool and jacuzzi. Sara laughed and nodded in agreement. Bella squealed when she saw the massive bar and pool table. "I feel like we are on a reality show."

There was a massive fruit and snack assortment spread with more champagne. "Girls, we got the Meg the Stallion concert in a few hours!Time to get ready!" Samira called out

The group screamed and began to rush to their rooms to get settled, get ready and pregame.

It was pure chaos, with clothes, shoes, makeup and hair accessories spread out in every room. Sara had her hair in rollers when Carly came in with a tray of tequila shots for the group in her room. "I'm going to be so drunk this weekend aren't I?"

"I think we all are!" Carly laughed and the group cheered before taking the shot. Sara had no idea how she did benders in college, but then she was in her early twenties where as now she was going to be twenty nine in a few months. Definitely won't be able to recover as fast. However, she was determined to have one last party before she was married…. Well… the wedding.

Katie took one shot and said that she was going to take it easy. "Trust me sis at thirty eight you're really not going to be able to stay up past ten!"

Things with her oldest and middle sister were still a little awkward. Brittany and Katie did Apologize to her, citing that they thought it was in her best interest to have consulted someone about signing a prenup first.

"So you're saying my marriage is set to fail?" Sara humphed as she took offense to the comment.

"No Sare Bear, we just want to make sure you're protected. I mean also we just feel like this relationship was so fast."

It didn't make any sense, their reasoning, and while Sara opted to forgive, she didn't want to forget.

As everyone finished up their looks, and tons of pictures were taken they were shared to everyone's private social media. Sara didn't want her party to be making headlines, although once people spotted them it was sure to make the front page of every gossip blog and news outlet.

She made sure to message Justin a quick word of their whereabouts and Bella stopped everyone and made a big spectacle about putting a crown with a veil attached on her head. The group screamed once again, and Sara blushed a deep red.

"LETS GO GIRLS!" Troye yelled! And they all hopped onto the large party bus awaiting them.

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

God look at her dancing like a whore on the table!

Seriously, she's married and a quarterback's wife. Have some class.

At least Brittany Mahomes never did that Oh please Sara is way classier than that bitch in KC

What's wrong with yall? She is enjoying her moment!

She's married already. Why is she having a Bachelorette party?

Don't call yourselves feminists and then put her down!

Justin felt himself grip his phone tighter as he watched the private stories that her friends posted.

"That's it. I say we fly out to Mexico asap." Patrick said as he focused on a story with Carly dancing on the stage when Megan announced a special guest. Justin's jaw clenched when a video came through on his private messages. 

It was an up close view of Sara shaking her ass for the camera.  No doubt she told whoever had her phone to film this for him.

"Guys, they're all fine. I told Annie to bring her security. They are all good!" Joey was surprisingly the most calm one throughout the situation. 

"I cant believe you guys are getting jealous. Come on. The girls love us I don-" Mitch stopped as he checked his phone. "I told Isabelle that was too see through." Justin busted out laughing at his older brother's sudden change of tone.

"Just let them have fun!" 

—---------------------------------------------------------

"Move out of the way gentleman!" Security shouted as he shoved the cameramen out of the way for the group to make it to the vehicle. They were heading home after dinner and the concert. Sara was tipsy, so she was fighting for her life to focus. 

"Did I look sober?" She asked Alyssa once they were all in the limo. Alyssa, who was probably more tipsy than the bride, looked closely. "You caaan yell in the eyes. But I think you walked the straight line…" Alyssa slurred.

The next morning everyone got a late start to the day, and decided to go out on the boat. It was going to be a chill day. It probably wasn't a good idea to party on the first day.

The girls were now on a boat. Sara was sunbathing in her bikini, while the others were in the water. She was messaging Justin, who was not pleased at all of the videos on social media and news outlets on her twerking on Meg on the stage. She giggled as he told he wanted to spank her.

"Ladies, we have company." AnnSophie announced as she looked out from her chair on the deck. Sure enough a small boat pulled up in the distance. Four men with cameras began to shoot the girls in their bikinis. Sara sighed. "Oh my god please these people need to get a life."

Every minor move was being snapped by the photographers. Sara immediately reached for her cover up. She looked at the group. "I'm going to head in. Turning towards the cameramen on the opposing boat she held up her middle finger so the photo of her alone wouldn't be able to be sold. 

Once inside she joined her sisters in the lounge area. "Hey bride." Katie smiled. "Enjoying your festivities so far?"

Sara smiled. "I am. Thank you guys."

Alyssa hugged her. "You deserve every moment of this girl. So I guess I have to ask this question. "How's married life so far?"

Sara giggled. "It's been great. My name is officially changed."

"So will you be known as Sara Herbert?" Brittany asked as she snacked on the fruit display.

She shrugged. "My team said it'd be better to keep my maiden name professionally. And to some point I agree, but I like knowing that I have his last name."

"Hyphen it." Katie suggested. "Put Sara Wozniak-Herbert on social media."

"I'll think about it."

Alyssas phone rang, and she went to answer it. Once she was out of the room. Sara laughed. "The kids are probably driving Brent crazy." They all laughed

"Speaking of kids, are we going to see a honeymoon baby from you and Justin?" 

"I'm surprised she isn't pregnant right now!" Sara choked on her drink. "Woah woah guys. Let's get past the party first. Besides, Justin and I agreed that we would wait at least a year. Let us get through the first football season married."

"Okay, but you know cousin Siobhan put the pregnancy hex on you." The girls laughed.

—-------------------------------------------------------------

"So guess what we did today?" Justin smiled as his wife was a tad buzzed from another club. Again, social media and news blogs were flooded with pictures of the girls crazy night. 

"Besides dancing on the stage and having a little too much to drink?" He laughed and Sara giggled. "Well first, we took a pole dancing class, and then we had a lingerie night where I got all of these new sets."

"Oh?"

"Yessss." She giggled.

"Did you have a bit too much tonight?" He smiled as he pet Nova laying beside him. Eugene was walking around the house meowing at missing Sara. He heard a giggle on the other end. "Yessss." She paused.

"Is that Eugene I hear?" He sighed. "He has not shut up since you left."

"Oooh poor baby. Oh speaking of, I saw a tiktok of flower girl pulling the cart with cats as the ring bearer." 

"Sara, babe we have to lock them in the bedroom when we have our families over. That is not going to go well with over one hundred guests."

"I'll give you the sloppiest-"

"Sara! The food is here!" That seemed to distract his wife. "I'm sorry baby I got to go."

"It's okay, eat and sober up. I love you."

"Love you more."

The girls did not sober up. They progressively got drunker and raunchier. Karaoke was available in the main living room, and Sara was singing to 'I need a hero.'

"Ladies, our bride got her hero!!" Alyssa screamed and everyone cheered."

"AND WHAT A FUCKING HERO I GOT! WITH A GREAT ASS!" Sara yelled to more cheers.

—-------------------------------------------------------------

"Do you compare the guys in bed?" Bella was sitting on the bed while Sara was repacking. They were scheduled to head home tomorrow, and as much fun as she had partying, being in the sun, she missed Justin and the cats. Plus, her body reminded her she wasn't in her early twenties anymore. 

"What are you talking about?"

"You, Isabelle, and Carly. Since you're all dating brothers, do they have the same mannerisms?" Sara's face wrinkled. "No. That's kinda weird." 

She heard a laugh from the other room, Carly and Isabelle joining them. "We have to be honest. We compared Mitch and Patrick."

Sara paused for a moment, then spoke. "Justin makes this sound when he is close to finishing-" Isabelle made the grunt perfectly, and there was a second of silence before all of the girls began giggling. "Oh my god! Mitch does too?"

"Patrick does the same thing?"

Bella cut in. "Yall think they get it from Mark?"

All of the group busted out in ewws and laughter.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

1 month til the wedding.

"Okay so the final guest list is 220 people." Sara looked over the official rsvp. "Well I guess my parents managed to sneak some of their friends to come." She sighed as Justin walked into the house, sweaty from a workout. He wrapped his arms around her and she squealed. "Get off of me! You're nasty!" He laughed and kissed her cheek.

He had been trying to distract her since now it was crunch time. They were set to leave for Eugene next week to visit family, then drive up with the Herbert's to the venue. She had her final fitting the other day, the bridesmaids and groomsmen had their outfits. Everything was booked.

As for the minister. Stevie Nicks agreed to marry them. Which was surreal in itself. Then there were the famous guests. Timothee, Zendaya and Tom, Harry and his girlfriend. Taylor Swift (Sara invited her on a whim when she ran into her at an awards ceremony) , Hailee and Josh, and Sara's castmates. Justin's teammates and Oregon Legends. The wedding was gaining attention. So much so that the wedding planner had decided to put up tents so the paps didn't capture anything.

Also Sara's camp had contacted Vogue and gave the final no. Anna wasn't too happy about it, but for Justin and his family Sara wanted them to enjoy the day, not worry about signing release forms, and not being able to share photos. To be honest, Sara didn't care about candid photos and videos of the reception being on the internet. So much that she requested polaroid cameras to be on the tables for guests to take candid photos of whatever.

It was becoming real, and she could feel her and Justin's excitement as they arrived in Oregon. All of Justin's family was at the house, both maternal and paternal side. Her family was to arrive a couple weeks before.

She thought she'd be a total brideszilla, but she felt calm. Justin was surprised as well. As the wedding got closer, he had his moments of upset when something didn't go right. He couldn't help it, he was a type A. Everything had to be perfect, especially since this was going to be the most important and expensive day of their lives.

Maybe the calmness could be attributed to the fact that they were married, and they said their most meaningful vows to each other in front of people they loved and were completely comfortable with. When Stevie asked what she should say while officiating, they said to say some nice words about them and the only words coming out of their mouths would be 'I do'

5 days before

"As you can see, guests will be on the balcony for cocktail hour. Then the grand ballroom will open for the reception." The director of open motion for the hotel employees to open the doors to where the ceremony would be held. The large tent was in the process of being set up. However, where they would be standing the coast would be in the background.

It was everything Sara imagined when she picked out the place. Looking at Justin, she smiled big and Justin matched it. "Can you believe this baby? Our day is in less than a week!"

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "I can't wait."

"Oh and security will be very tight. I've already made sure the guests have wristbands to get on certain parts of the property. You and your bridal party will be able to enjoy our luxurious, world renowned golf course with the utmost privacy."

Justin smiled. "Oh don't worry we will." Sara laughed. "I think that's why you wanted this place."

"There's the couple of the week!" They turned around to see Justin's cousin and her husband approach them. After exchanging hugs, Justin smiled. "I see you checked in a bit early?"

His cousin laughed. "Are you kidding? This guy." She pointed to her husband. "Couldn't wait to get on the golf course."

"I can't wait to brag to all of my coworkers about the course."

Justin looked at the planner and the director. "Can we hit the course now? I mean my buddies are here, and everything is taken care of on my end." Sara nodded. "I don't care, I'm probably going to check out the bridal suite and look over the rehearsal prep one last time." He nodded and gave her a quick kiss before heading off.

She did a quick once over before heading inside. Guests were starting to arrive and check into their rooms, and someone approached her and she walked the area.

"Sara!" She turned to see Harry and his date coming up to her. After exchanging greetings, they all began to walk together. Sara was explaining how all of the planning was coming together. Harry smiled. "I suppose I should have congratulated you on being married already, but it doesn't feel real until the actual ceremony"

Sara smiled. "It's half and half, sometimes I feel married, other times I feel engaged."

His date smiled. "You look gorgeous, you have that married glow I want to have one day." She looked up at Harry, who was greeting Stevie.

Sara really liked this girl, and was confident Harry would settle down with her. It was just a matter of when.

"Excuse me Mrs. Herbert, but Ms. Swift's security team has arrived, and they want a copy of the guest list to make sure everything is on the up and up." The director came by with a big man, one of Taylor's security team. Taylor had called Sara and asked if she was sure she wanted her to come. It was going to bring a spectral if someone saw her, which she was taking extreme measures not to be seen.

Harry smiled. " Are You used to being addressed as that?"

Sara smiled. "Not yet."

"It does fit you. Congratulations Sara, you're going to make a gorgeous bride."

The rehearsal

Sara wished she paid attention during her sisters rehearsals.

She was a bridesmaid (and Alyssa's maid of honor) before, and she could honestly say she zoned out for every practice. All she had to do was wait for her cue to walk and made sure she went along with the music. No problem

Well now she apparently walked too fast. To be fair her feet were killing her. She wore lace 5 in platform's along with a tight satin dress. Pierpaolo made sure she was dressed to perfection for the pre celebration.

Paps were already on sight and took photos of her on the grounds that weren't sealed off. Everyone was losing their minds over her rehearsal dress. Crowds gathered at the end of the property after someone had spotted Taylor. Taylor kept apologizing to the couple, and as much as Justin was annoyed he didn't genuinely feel sorry for Taylor. It wasn't her fault that people couldn't accept boundaries.

"Sara! A little slower please! You look like you're dragging your parents." Sara was walking alongside both her parents. "Honey, also put your chin up, trust me you don't want double chin in the photos." Her mom whispered, and her smile faltered. Justin immediately took notice being at the end of the altar.

"Okay, now everyone resume places." They immediately went back to the spots. "Okay once the music starts, the doors will open and again, slow, careful steps guys. One, two, three."

The music began playing, and the doors opened. Sara's arms linked with both parents and they slowly began walking. One thing she discovered was that she didn't like everyone looking at her. A nervous tick was that she began laughing uncontrollably whenever she felt awkward. "Sara, control yourself." Cathy whispered. "There's only twenty people, I cannot imagine how you will react when the seats are filled."

"Okay one thing we have to cut out is the side convos. Remember you will be mic'd up so everything you say will be recorded. Also Mike move over a bit, we don't want you tripping over the flowers. Front the top."

Once again, everyone took their place and they went over the routine for what felt like the millionth time.

Finally, everyone was satisfied with the walks, the timing of the music, and some other mundane things. Everyone was over it and hungry.

The rehearsal was catered by Traeger Grills. Justin and Sara loved the crew as they had come over to film sponsor videos with Justin.

As they all enjoyed the full barbecue banquet, both sets of parents had surprised everyone with a sideshow of the couple growing up. Justin died of laughter seeing Sara go beet red when some childhood photos popped up she thought were buried deep in the attic. Mark and Holly came through with Justin's pictures.

The planner made sure that everyone disbanded and was at their rooms by 9pm. "We want to make sure we all get a good night's sleep. 6am wake up call tomorrow."

Justin and Sara walked slowly to the hotel lobby, they would stay on opposite ends of the hotel and wouldn't see each other until the first look. "This is ridiculous. We are already married." Justin whined as they swung their arms as they walked. Sara giggled. "It's one night. You will live." She squealed as Justin picked her up bridal style and swung her around with ease. Their lips met and even after a few years, there was still passion, the love that they had through each other could be felt through their kiss "Are you sure we can spend the night? We will just sneak back before everyone wakes up." Justin broke away.

She thought about it. "Sorry. But the girls and I are doing a little skincare before bed. Plus I'm saving myself for the wedding night." Justin snorted. "And how is that going for you?"

"Pretty well. Actually." They heard footsteps. "Alright you two you will see each other in the morning." Bella laughed as Justin set Sara down, making sure to steady her in her heels. With one last kiss, they departed and went their separate ways.

Upon entering her Bridal suite she laughed. Above her bed were big Silver balloons spelling out 'HERBERT'

"It's surreal huh? Sorta your last night as a Wozniak." She turned around to see her MOH, Alyssa leaning against the doorframe with a smile on her face. Sara smiled. "Yeah. I mean it feels official. I know Justin and I are legally married. But…." She trailed off, not sure how to explain her feelings.

Alyssa nodded. "I know. When Brent and I first got engaged and were in Mexico, we went to a church and got married." Sara's eyes widened. "You never said anything."

"We never did the paperwork to make it binding. But we did it. Why do you think Brent was so defensive of you two?" Alyssa walked up and grabbed her younger sisters hands. "I should have stood up for you too."

"We all should have." Now they were being joined by the other two. Katie sighed. "We are very sorry. How we reacted, God we are no better than our mother." The girls laughed. "Where is mom, by the way?" Sara looked behind her.

"She's off making sure everything is set up. Also Denise and Linda are with her as well." Sara rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything else they were interrupted by Alisha knocking. "Come on ladies, we have everything set up!

Feeling better after the talk with her sisters, the girls joined the rest of the bridal party.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

The wedding day.

Put over 10 girls in a bridal suite, and pure chaos commerces.

Sara was calm as a cucumber. It was funny, because when she looked back on her sister's wedding days she remembered them being all high strung and panicking. Yelling, and barking orders at her and the other bridesmaids.

Yet as she sat at the table eating her omelet and sipping her orange juice (her mother insisted she use a straw, so no stains) she was very calm. It was 7 am, and official pictures weren't schedule til 12:30.

The photographer was due to arrive at 8. "Sara, have you washed your face?"

She shook her head. "Once I'm done I'll jump in the shower and wash my hair. Jonathan is coming soon, and he wants my hair wet."

Cathy gasped. "Sara, you should have showered as soon as you woke up!"

"Mom, can you check and see if every bridesmaid's station is set up." Brittany ushered their mother out the room. She looked back. "You better jump in the shower, I can't hold her off forever." Taking a quick bite of the omlett, and Sneaking some fruit. She quickly jumped into the shower. She was a little bitchy since her mom didn't allow her to have coffee (takes too long to get rid of coffee breath)

Once she was ready she was in the chair as Jonathan began to dry her hair. They were going for a half up half down romantic hairstyle with loose curls. Her heirloom headpiece was taken out of its case while he was finishing up and the makeup artist began.

Pictures were being taken as the fellow bridesmaids were getting ready. "The bouquet is here!" Holly came in with the florist who presented the mix of white and baby pink carnations for inspecting.

"Those are gorgeous! Just like grandma's." Sara felt herself get emotional as she remembered the photo of her grandmother's wedding bouquet she showed to the florist.

The wedding had its personal touches. Justin's suit had a piece of his late grandfather's suit stitched into the inner coat pocket. As well as the memorial table and section in the wedding programs.

More pictures were taken with the bridesmaids in their robes, then the smaller details like the shoes. Cathy unzipped the Valentino garment bag, and Sara undid her robe and stepped into the lace and satin gown. It felt surreal, she had many try-ons, but this was the moment. The one she thought she'd never have. As her mom tied up the back and Holly adjusted the front, she thought about all of the times she watched her sisters and some other family and friends have their moments, and people joking that would never be her.

All of the tears she shed, all the times where she would fake being okay, led to Justin, and this moment. After attaching the hairpiece and veil, she sat down so Alyssa could put on her shoes. "Oh honey, you look gorgeous." Cathy began dabbing her eyes. "My baby girl, I'm so happy for you."

She was guided over to a mirror and Sara felt beautiful. Her A- line ball gown flattered her figure, her now longer hair was styled to perfection. Sara had to admit, she looked gorgeous. Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside into the main area, where all of her bridesmaids were ready with eyes closed. "Okay ladies, open." Sara smiled as the girls squealed and awed over her completed look. "Mom, aren't you forgetting something?" Katie questioned. Sara's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Cathy laughed. "Just wait."

The door opened and Mike walked in, he immediately teared up upon seeing his youngest daughter in this moment. "Oh SareBear, you look beautiful." He wrapped his arms around her. "I can't believe it, this is your day sweetheart."

"Makeup make up!" Her artist yelled as he began to reach for his kit. "I used waterproof everything, but there is going to be a lot of tears shed today, so no chances."

"You have the gift Michael." He nodded and pulled a small black box out of his pocket. "Your mother and I didn't know what to get you for your day, but this would be something that we hope you can pass down to your daughter one day."

He opened it and Sara gasped. It was small teardrop diamond earrings. Mike turned them around to reveal an 'H' on the back piece, also in diamonds. "In honor of your new name."

As she put on the earrings, she felt herself get emotional all over again.

—------------------------------------------------------------

Justin was facing the ocean. It was a nice and relaxed day. He woke up, showered, played pool with his groomsmen and new in-laws. He even enjoyed a glass of brandy, courtesy of Brent.

He had to admit Sara was right, it felt more official now that the lavish ceremony was taking place. He never thought in a million years he'd be here at 27. Justin didn't plan on settling down til after thirty, let alone someone in the public eye. But somehow, almost three years ago his heart was stolen by the little brunette who somehow loved him back.

He smiled as he heard the soft clicking of heels over the crash of the ocean waves behind him. The sound grew closer.

"Shit. This veil is heavy." He busted out laughing, and despite not seeing her he knew she had a smile on her face. "Shut up!"

He felt her hand rest on his back. "You can turn around now." She said

As Justin faced his wife. The sight of her, looking like an angel in white almost sent him to his knees. "Wow." He whispered, tears coming to his eyes."

"How do I look?" She whispered nervously and she brought her veil around her shoulders so he could get the whole effect.

"You look gorgeous." He shook his head as the photographer and videographer captured every moment. "I can't believe it's here."

"Yeah." She laughed in happiness. "We're here. Getting married." She smiled. "I mean we're already married but-" He kissed her quiet.

"Are you ready?" She smiled after they pulled away

"As ready as I have ever been."

—----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dude you're just staring into nothing. It's creepy." Justin broke out of his trance as Mitch stood next to him at the altar. The place was full, every seat filled. Some were waking the paper programs, others were whispering to their seat partners. Most were staring at him. Holly had to calm him down as he escorted her to his seat.

He recognized a few famous faces. Josh and Hailee were there, so was Taylor and Travis (never thought Kelce would be at his wedding.) Hell, the legendary Stevie Nicks was standing next to him, waiting to marry him and his wife.

The music began to play, and the doors opened to the bridesmaids walking to take their places. There was AnnSophie, who was sporting a quite a bump at seven months pregnant, then Carly and Isabelle, Samira, Bella, and then her two sisters. Alyssa, her MOH was the last up the aisle.

The music stopped for a bit then the violin began to play here comes the sun. As everyone rose, the doors opened, and despite just seeing her not too long ago his eyes began to water again.

She was on the arm of her mother and father, her veil was over her face. Mitch clapped his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

Sara was nervous, all of these people in the room staring at her. As her eyes stayed locked on Justin she could sense his unease too.

Finally, she reached the altar and she kissed both parents.

"Who allows this couple to marry?" On cue both sets of parents spoke in unison. "We do."

"Please be seated." The crowd took a seat, and Stevie began

"Welcome everyone to this wonderful occasion. On behalf of the couple and the Wozniak and Herbert families thank you for your love and support on this special day. I would like to start off by saying a couple words about marriage and Justin and Sara as I've gotten to know them individually and as a couple.

She cleared her throat.

"Justin and Sara grew up on opposite ends of the country. He was a west coast kid with a love of sports, she an East coaster with a love for the arts, now that wasn't the only thing that was opposite. Justin likes to blend into a room while Sara commands it. Sara loves in and out while Justin hates it."

Everyone laughed.

"But despite that, these two with the help of fate and friends, ended up at the same place and time on July 22nd 2022, and now they stand before us and God because when they are together, everything is right in the world."

Sara knew her role model was a talented songwriter, but her officiant speech took her breath away

"Today before us and God, they pledge their lives to each other. By agreeing to enter this union, you agree that there will be times of laughter, and love but there might also be times of hardship. Do you both understand that this is not something to take likely?

"We do." They never broke eye contact with each other

"Do you understand that a mutual love and respect for each other is important not only for each other but if blessed with children that they need to see above all else, their mother and father respect each other?"

"We do."

"Now Justin Patrick, do you take Sara Christine to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Justin smiled "I do. Again"

"Sara Christine, do you take Justin Patrick to be your lawfully wedded Husband?"

She nodded. "I do, again."

Stevie smiled. "May I have the rings?" On cue, Alyssa and Mitch handed over the couple's wedding bands to the older woman.

"May these rings be blessed as they who give it, and they who shall wear it live in peace and love until their lives end." As rehearsed, Justin took Sara's band first.

He grabbed her left hand, and repeated Stevie's words. Slipping the thin platinum diamond band on her finger, Sara gasped and how stunning the ring was. "It's gorgeous." She whispered.

She repeated the same actions to Justin, and Stevie said a few more words, as the crowd said amen. (She left some catholic aspects to appease her parents)

Finally, "By the state of Oregon, I pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined together may no one separate. Justin, you may kiss your bride."

Loud cheers and claps could be heard in the air all around them but the couple were too wrapped up in their kiss.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Do people actually have sex on their wedding night?" Justin laughed as he undid the buttons on his dress shirt. Sara was in the midst of taking her hair out. "Fuck this hurts." He walked over once his task was completed. "Let me help you with the dress"

She had changed into a white satin cocktail dress and decked out sneakers for the reception/after party, claiming she wanted to 'throw it back' on Justin.

They had fireworks at 10pm to send off the older couples who wanted to leave, then the sparklers were set off at 1am for the after party leaving.

It was now 2am, and the drinks and dancing were now affecting the couple as they wanted to go to bed. "Tell me why you thought a brunch before going on our honeymoon was a good idea?" Justin smiled as he watched his wife clean her face.

"We can still sleep in. Brunch Is at 11am and our flight is at 5." She dried her face and wrapped her arms around him.

Justin smiled down at her. "You're right. It feels more official now that we are wearing our rings."

"Do you regret how we did it?" He shook his head. "We did it our way."

"That we did."

A/N: Thank you guys so much for your patience! I wanted to write so much more regarding the reception but This was already too long. Maybe I'll write a small blurb or you guys can ask questions

[iraprince]

I adore all your art with cookie and was interested in Sapphicworld- but I’m curious (so plz don’t take this as a negative-) what exactly in your opinion sets it apart from other Queer PBTA hacks like Thirsty Sword Lesbians?

I’d just really like to hear your thoughts about it as a system and world especially given you are a indie developer yourself?

hi!! thank you!!

so, a few caveats before i start off — one, i actually haven't played many other pbta games (like for example i know Of thirsty sword lesbians + own a copy that i've poked around in but im not very familiar w it), so i honestly can't provide much in the way of comparing/contrasting it w other pbta stuff in the same vein, and my impressions of sapphicworld are pretty much just contained to the game as its own thing, not so much sapphicworld as a Type Of Game

and two, while i am a dev myself, i'm a huge novice! like, i'm proud of the stuff i put out and i love doing it, but i personally feel like my lack of experience is such that like, i don't think my opinions in this case are particularly informed by my own work as a dev or anything. all this to say im happy to answer this question, i think i just gotta tackle it from a different frame than what ur specifically asking!

BUT ANYWAY. i can still talk abt why im so excited abt sapphicworld in a way that has kind of outstripped other stuff in general, and for me it's about the world 100%. like i honestly spend close to no time thinking abt the fact that sw is even pbta to be honest. not that the mechanics + gameplay aren't important, bc they are thoughtfully crafted and well done and fun, and i'm saying that from the perspective of someone who playtested earlier versions that have now been reworked! it's just like, not what comes to mind first for me — what's exciting and fresh and irreplaceable abt the game in my mind is like. it is fully committed to immersing you in an extremely lush, strange, richly fleshed out world, one with a long history and folklore/mythology and a TON of really fun npcs who all have different subcultures and its own calendar with seasonal holidays and regional terrain with specific fleshed out dungeons/towns/etc to discover and even like, specific FOODS typical to each different region and and and and —

and maybe at first that seems kind of overwhelming, and tbh it is. when i first got into it and i was going thru the playtest document (which if im remembering right was like. ~300 pages shorter at the time than the current playtest doc) i DO remember anxiously thinking to myself "god this is a LOT and idk if i'll be able to retain enough of this to rp convincingly" etc etc. but like... it's just really compelling, and it does an incredible job of mixing humor and gravity and horniness in a perfect ratio that always comes across as intensely earnest and makes it equally easy to have a fun goofy time or a really emotional time, which i think is REALLY hard to do.

and while normally it's hard for me to get thru something that dense and long all i can really say is that i just straight up like it enough and was charmed by it enough to pick away at it until i grasped it and felt like i understood a bunch about the world, which also has a curve to it bc in structure and tone its very different from any of your... idk more Standard fantasy or sci fi worldbuilding, so it's not like u can immediately slot in ur expectations from other settings and just learn some new vocab words, it's a world that from my perspective also Functions differently than a lot of other fictional settings in a way that's a little hard to describe succinctly. (none of this is succinct to begin with but ykwim). it makes me want to gm my own campaign, really really bad, when usually i have always been absolutely Terrified of the idea of gming! idk man. it has a Flavor. it's full of Vapors. u get transported somewhere else reading it and playing it in a way i haven't experienced in a while and a lot of times after a playtest session i felt like my brain stayed behind in sapphicworld for a pretty long time.

i feel like i am sounding a little melodramatic and incoherent but like. genuinely sapphicworld is just a fictional world that i am really bone-deep charmed by and interested in and when i WAS reading thru the rulebook for those first days it did not take me long at all to find myself constantly thinking "i want to play in this world, i want to play in this world, i can't wait to play in this world," and i just think that's really special. and like — just as your curiosity abt comparing sw to tsl was not intended as a diss or a negative, what im abt to say is similarly neutral — im a person who sometimes finds it a little difficult to click with or feel excited abt a lot of the Queer Indie Stuff that i see get popular with other people, bc it just doesn't connect w my specific lesbian + trans experience; not that it feels inauthentic but that im like, oh, idk, i think these guys are just. not My Zone, ykwim. on the flip side so much of the humor and heart and transness and sex in sapphicworld is something that really resonates w me and just Clicks in a way that i have also found really special.

rounding myself off before i ramble for like five more paragraphs but just as one more morsel of something i like abt sapphicworld that is a little more concrete than me spinning around the room yelling "I JUST LIKE IT OKAY": one of the most fun parts of character creation is getting to mix and match your kind (sort of like ancestry/species, the form ur physical body takes) with a subculture. so u get things like a werewolf babe (cookie! babe being a subculture that focuses on being Like, Totally Hot), or a centaur knight, or a minotaur debaucher, or a vampire cowboy, or an organist (cthulu-y tentacle guy) scenester, or a skeleton wizard, etc etc etc etc — there are SO MANY to pick from that when i was trying to bait my friends into playing w me i couldn't find a convenient way to list them all so ppl could start thinking abt their characters. and every possible combination basically is interesting and amusing and fun and practically THROWS a great oc into your lap and i literally think i could amuse myself endlessly just Making Characters in sapphicworld and never actually playing w them.

[panting, disheveled] so tldr. i like it. uh. what sets sapphicworld apart from other ttrpgs to me is that i have fallen balls to the wall in love with the very soul of it to the point where i don't even really think about it in comparison to other games at all and it has just become an Experience to me and i suppose i cannot guarantee anyone else will fall into insane homosexual hysteria in the same way but here we are. HOPE THAT HELPS

(ALSO PSSST. idk if this is just perfect timing or if ur curiosity was specifically prompted by this but the @sapphicworldttrpg patreon DID just launch and if any of this has been intriguing u should check it out. okay mwah bye)

[cloudtastrophie]

A little headcannon tidbit based off of chapter 2 of @canarydarity 's ranchers baseball au <3

-----

St. Louis felt infinitely like home. Or, as close to home as Jimmy could get. Coming into the city from the Illinois side of the river made him sick to smell the air of his childhood backyard. To taste the dirt in his mouth as he, once again, lost against Grian at the diamonds. St. Louis was 10 times smaller than grand old New York, New York, but it was 10 times more welcoming. The drivers were calmer, the streets less full, the culture more laid back. It was a lazy city, sticky and slow like molasses in the early summer midwestern heat. 

As the team bus rattled its way across the Eads Bridge, Jimmy felt Joel smack his arm, breaking his gaze away from the lazy flow of the Mississippi. “What in the bloody hell are they building?” Joel muttered, half standing to see over Tango’s shoulders across the isle. Tango looked as if he was about to burst out of the window, he was pressed so hard to the glass. He swiveled his head to look at Jimmy and Joel. 

“You two haven’t heard? It’s been in every paper for weeks!” He was practically vibrating with excitement. 

Jimmy shook his head and stood up taller to see what the fuss was about. By then, the whole team was ‘ooh and ahhing’ at the absolutely massive structure being built, right on the banks of the river. 

“It’s going to be called the Gateway Arch. It’s probably going to be the biggest feat of engineering since the Empire State. Probably better than the Needle out in Seattle is going to be.” Jimmy raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on his lips. Since when did Tango have a special interest in engineering?

“I did a few months in an engineering class. Got me hooked, but numbers are easier to understand.” Tango explained, as if he had read Jimmy’s mind. Then he turned back around and continued to peer at the stories-tall cranes slowly moving into place, and the two wide, square beginnings of what would apparently become a feat of engineering. Jimmy didn’t really see the draw, but he leaned across Joel and the isle to Tango anyways.

“We should come back to see it once it’s finished.” Jimmy said, watching the construction site fade behind them. The Cardnial’s stadium appeared behind the looming Old Courthouse. 

“I agree!” Tango replied, beaming. Jimmy didn’t care if he was 100 by the time the Arch was finished. He’d come back and see it with Tango when it was done.

------

hi worm i know you're reading this,,,ok I haven't had the energy (or time) to do any art for the baseball au but the brainrot has been stuck with me for DAYS. so I decided to write a little tidbit of how I imagined the ride into St. Louis for that game against the Cardnials. I have a lot of love for the city I grew up around so I really wanted to do something for it for you :) And if you're interested, here's some of the history I incorparated to make it feel more historically accurate! (i'm a cloested history buff, can you tell)

the st louis gateway arch began construction in 1963 technically, but I'm like 90% sure that there was soo much prep work done on the site before the actual construction, as there is a basement underneath it, and a huge walkway/viewing platform area, as well as the whole thing with the levee right on the Mississippi. I wanted to sort of figure out what that would look like in 1961 when the plans were being laid out. Also, the Arch is a certified national park, it's professional name being "St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park"

The Old Courthouse. UGH its one of my favorite buildings I've ever seen actually. Its so beautiful, and you can, from the road I'm writing them on, see Busch staduim looming behind it. The Courthouse also actually held the first two trials of the Dred Scott case, if you're into that kind of stuff.

The Eads Bridge. Also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It is the oldest bridge on the Mississippi and was constructed under the care of Andrew Carnagie. That bad boy is made out of actual authentic Carnagie steel. Sooo history rich. Pretty sure they actually held a parade with elephants once it was done. so that's cool

Oh, and Busch stadium. It wasn't called that way back when! And it looked much, much different than it does now. I'm honestly not sure what it was called in the 60's, but I'm sure most people called it Cardnial's stadium. It was a beautiful and massive stadium back then, and it still is now.

the seattle neetle was being constructed around the same time as the arch as well, which is why i had Tango say something about it LOL

And for funsies, here's a scorecard that I'm sure Tango would've recieved in 1961 from the stadium.

hope you enjoyed my little rant!! And if you made it to the bottom of this and you're not worm, I hope you enjoyed learning a little about st. louis today. :)

[salazarsrighthand]

Alright so I'm on the train to college now and I've had some time to sit with my thoughts on Shadows of Rose. Here are some thoughts. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

- the twist that "Michael" is Ethan was so obvious that I don't know if it's even worth calling it a twist

- "Do you... resent him?" Hit me like a knife in the heart

- me: [exploring Ethan's house and crying like a bitch]

- Eveline:

- the Masked Duke calling the clones of Rose "Rabbits" was very interesting to me because-

- the story starts with Rose falling into a dream world, chasing a "Rabbit" and has an extended section where she's shrunk to the size of a doll. Big Alice in Wonderland vibes but not enough for me to be sure it was intentional.

- the puzzles in Castle Dimitrescu felt very PS1 era RE, complete with themed keys and painting puzzles.

- the lack of a merchant or enemy loot drops is also very classic RE. I get the impression that it was intentionally a return to the old format.

- Mia is mentioned maybe twice throughout the DLC and I don't think it's ever by name. Kinda weird, Rose even says she hasn't seen her mom in ages. What's with that? They didn't really explain it.

- Eveline continues to be an extremely tragic character. She just wants a family!! She just wants to be loved!!

- House Beneviento once again provides some of the best content in the entire game. When the creepy Mia mannequin started chasing me I was like "lmao okay I can walk backwards cool" then there were TWO. Then more!! And you're in these tight corridors, not knowing if one's gonna be behind you but you can't turn around in case you lose sight of the ones chasing you. Then you're shrunk and there's the hide and seek, which honestly feels like an infinitely more exciting version of the Scarecrow stuff in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

- Rose's character was interesting, we get to see her being ashamed of who she is because of her... unique circumstances and the bullying she received as a result. Unfortunately it's largely a very generic story about self acceptance and like... yeah obviously she's not going to give up her powers by the end. I'm familiar with this kind of story and know how it's gonna go. Honestly her relationship with Ethan and her rapport with him as "Michael" is the best part of her character, which is a shame. I would've liked to get a better sense of who she is outside of that aspect.

- some people think that the ending implies that Ethan was secretly still alive in the end, since he's walking on the road beside the car. Personally, I think that undercuts the story and doesn't work. I do believe that he's still somewhere in the megamycete network, watching over Rose the same way he had been for the past 16 years.

Overall, final thoughts, I had a lot of fun with the DLC. I really like Rose's character but I'm not keen on the franchise having a massive time skip so I think I'm okay with leaving her where she is at the end of the game. Her arc has a satisfying conclusion to me. She's made peace with herself, accepted her powers, reconnected with her father and got the chance to say goodbye to him. It's not a great self contained story, not a full fledged campaign like Separate Ways was for RE4, but it's an effective epilogue that lets the Winters Saga end on a much more optimistic note.

[we-love-morioh-cho]

Chapter 58 - Kaato's Return

I try to avoid long, speculating posts for my Jojolion liveblogging BUT Chapter 58 has my mind racing with ideas and I'm so excited for the Higashikata family drama that I need to get this out of my system. This single chapter has more character intrigue to me than other entire parts of Jojo, that's how much I love this stuff 😭

This post is really, really long and messy and probably more headcanon than actual analysis and will not be very polished. It'll likely age poorly and be very wrong but this is legit some of the most enjoyment and interest this franchise has ever given me. To avoid spamming the tags, I'm shoving a lot of ideas into this single post so I apologize in advance.

Kaato

One thing I've had spoiled about Kaato is that she isn't the main villain but that everyone wanted her to be. So I'm already really excited for her character but I'm not sure what to expect. Given how Jojo is written, I'm expecting there to be more to the child murder. Her intro referenced Jolyne a lot, soooo I'm thinking she was pressured by someone / set-up.

Maybe I'm just falling for her scheme like I did with Damo, but her grief and pain here feels genuine to me. If there is more to the murder, then this is a tragic situation for Kaato - she was separated from her children and has been iced out of her own family. There must be a reason she could never tell them the truth too, maybe she's still in danger?

This series tends to neglect mothers in the narrative so I'm enjoying their focus in Jojolion, plus there's some sort of parallel with Holy being established. I'm trying really hard not to stan her before knowing the full story in case it's absolutely fucked up but god is she iconique. I'll talk about her in passing in other character's sections, there's already A LOT to say and already she is a very high tier character to me.

Josuke and Kei

Poor Josuke man.....I was not expecting the hospital scene and it really got to me 💔 I'm so glad Jojo has been exploring it's protags' internal lives more in later parts, I would say since Jolyne it's felt more introspective and emotional. I'm glad poor Josuke is getting to have his grief explored and shown, it makes the storytelling so much more impactful to me at least. I must ask why Kei wasn't at the hospital, surely she must know of Holy's condition and should be involved too. Have her and Josuke even really spoken since early Jojolion? I need more of Kei as Holy's condition becomes more and more important.

What on Earth does Josuke feel seeing Kaato show up? We don't get an answer in this chapter BUT I am hoping him and Kaato will interact in the future and this will be brought up. There's just a lot of directions to go with this dynamic and I hope we get it explored. He was pretty passive during Kaato's scene, I kept hoping she would point him out and question his presence but fair enough. Also, it was interesting how him and Kei were the two outsiders during this scene - as their mother is dying, the mother of the Higashikata family appears and is clearly involved with Jobin who is also vying for the miracle cure that they need too. Crazy potential here with these characters.

Norisuke

Not to be a Kaato apologist already but I have some things to say about this man. I'm assuming that, if there is a deeper secret to the murder, he's unaware of it, but I really have to ask why Kaato wouldn't tell him?

I get that telling your two youngest kids that their mother was in jail for killing a child would be rough but GODDDDD he couldn't even tell them when they got older or at least keep his story straight? Also, evidently Jobin and Hato never told their siblings about their mother - how did that conversation go? Norisuke had to be the one to enforce that rule and I'm sure it was not an easy process.

Did Norisuke ever talk to his eldest children about their mother leaving? Because with how Hato phrases it, it seems like he brushed it all under the rug. And while it's obviously sad the two young ones never knew about her, imagine what the two eldest kids felt having known her then watching her be dragged away????? He never even showed the little ones a photo of her, that is insane and just next level to me. Was Kaato's crime not widely discussed in the town? How did neither Joshu or Daiya ever hear about it somehow?

This section originally spiraled into a HUGE theory / headcanon / speculation discussion on how the Kaato situation might've led to a divide in how the eldest siblings and youngest siblings were raised, but I'm gonna wait on that thought until I know more and give it it's own post in the future sometime.

Jobin

Jobin was a pure menace this chapter and I fucking loved it. He really let his convicted-murderer mother into his family's house, didn't inform anyone of her release, and shows up as soon as she leaves to casually drop that he orchestrated this whole thing. And then he rocked up like this -

I'm guessing he watched / listened to the whole ordeal from afar and just chose to watch the chaos? I have a lot of thoughts and theories about how Jobin views his younger siblings and this chapter doesn't help lol. Why did he do this? What did he gain from this? Absolute deranged menace behavior lmao

I'm now thinking that Jobin and Norisuke's issues with each other may have originated from Kaato. Jobin is clearly close with mommy dearest and seems to take her side over his dad's. I'm not.......the biggest fan of potentially blaming Kaato for Jobin's issues and I hope this isn't just an 'evil mother turns son against poor father' situation because I am not a fan of that trope.

Kaato briefly mentions that she's helped the family's success so I'm wondering if she is behind Jobin's philosophy of advancing the family's greatness beyond Norisuke's smaller ambitions. You know that other trope of women in patriarchal systems using their cunning and male relatives to exercise great power from the shadows, a la Agrippina and Nero? Yeah.

Anyway, him and Kaato are obvs scheming and I am so fucking keen and ready - Jobin has been a great antagonist so far and I am here for the fucked up mother-son team taking on Norisuke. The Higashikata family drama has hooked me from day one and I really enjoy the focus on their dynamics. Norisuke's final line this chapter is incomplete as he ponders something about Jobin, I love the mystery set-up with what could be going on. I adore how character-driven this story is and how personal the stakes are - I've ALWAYS wished the series explored the Joestar family more in-depth and, while it's obviously different, this part is making me veryyyyy happy with the Higashikatas. A++++ content for me and Jobin remains both compelling and really fucking funny.

Daiya

Not too much to say but this shit is so sad to me. Her entire life, Daiya's father and two eldest siblings never told her about her mother, to the point she seems surprised to even have one? Maybe this is just meant to be a joke about her being dumb / she's more surprised her mother is alive but still. Norisuke couldn't show her a photo, or give her closure or anything? A memento to think of her? Even a story so she could at least know something positive about her own mother who she surely must have wondered about before?!?! Norisuke is on thin fucking ice istg.

I could easily see Daiya latching onto Kaato moving forward and maybe even taking her side over Norisuke. Ofc she loves her dad but she's also a teenager finding out this critical bit of info has been hidden from her her entire life and is clearly so, so excited to have a mum 💔 Imagine how impactful it would be if Kaato managed to win over 2 of their 4 kids, the eldest and the youngest? I don't wanna get into speculating too much though.

Also - it was very sweet to me how Daiya was the one person who tried to approach Kaato and clearly wanted to help her up when Joshu tripped her. Regardless of Kaato's trustworthiness, I just thought that was very sweet of Daiya even if it maybe was naive 🥺

Joshu

Hate him and need to see him die rn. Kaato was completely justified and very based for attacking him and I hope she kills him with her bare hands. Literally the dinner table scene from Hereditary. What the fuck kind of parenting does Norisuke even do? Kaato's here for 5 minutes and puts Joshu in his place, while Norisuke just seems annoyed by him and has nothing to really say about him sexually assaulting Kaato in front of the entire family.

I don't want to imply that a strict mother would entirely fix Joshu's issues but holy shit, at least she would actually do something to discourage his behavior besides sighing and looking embarrassed. Is Joshu the way he is, in part, because Norisuke is a lousy dad who has implicit biases and an acceptance of his son's horrific behavior? Maybe. In an alternate world, could Kaato have whipped him into shape growing up and saved us all? I can dream.

Hato 👑

Fuck!!!!! I love Hato sm and am so so so happy she got a little spotlight this chapter 🥺. Initially this post was just gonna be about her because I'm in my Hato-obsession era so hard rn, but I had too much to say about everyone else. This will be a long section so I saved it for last but I will def return to some of these ideas when I've finished Jojolion.

From a writing standpoint, Hato is so valuable in this chapter. She fulfills a role that really no other character could and its cool to see - Hato is the only character who could realistically convey info to Josuke, and therefore the audience, about Kaato. The parents are too caught up arguing with each other and wouldn't want to tell the whole room about the murder. So who; a) knows about Kaato and her actions and b) has a good enough relationship with Josuke to convey this info to him? Hato. And what's cool is that Josuke knows this.

Josuke is perceptive enough to realize that Hato recognizes this woman and quietly asks her who she is. Despite how personal and emotionally-difficult this moment would've been for Hato, she opens up and tells him (and thus the audience) this family secret.

This next point is probably a bit more fanfic than analysis, but Hato would easily be the closest person to an ally Josuke has in the Higashikatas besides his complicated dynamic with Norisuke. It's really understated and maybe not even intentional, but Josuke and Hato logically should trust each other.

Jobin and Joshu just have an all-out antagonistic relationship with Josuke and have actively clashed with him multiple times. Josuke is on good terms with Daiya and Tsurugi, but not only did both begin by attacking Josuke, but they are both young and cannot always fulfill an equal role to Josuke because of this. Mitsuba and Kaato are currently unknowns, leaving Hato.

Unlike Norisuke, Hato has never antagonized Josuke. She has never gone after someone he cares about and, critically, is uninvolved in her family's shady stuff. She's not in the position to hide vital info from Josuke or scheme against him. All around, Hato seems pretty pleasant honestly and doesn't ever hurt others the way her siblings all seem to do - her eccentricities are harmless and Josuke doesn't judge her the way he judges other characters. In a house full of shady and bombastic people, I can see Josuke really appreciating Hato (Kei should really fulfill this role too).

In the Vitamin C arc, he specifically wants her permission before he kills Damo. Josuke can be ruthless at times, Damo is actively killing the family and it would be very justified for him to just kill the guy BUT he waits for Hato's approval. To me, that really says something - that he respects and likes Hato enough to go out of his way to consult her. Then, Hato and Josuke work together to defeat Damo, both using their stands to overcome Vitamin C. And Josuke's words on Damo being a threat and needing to be defeated helps Hato in her emotional journey - helps her reach the point where she fights back.

They're paired together a lot in this chapter and it's sweet seeing Josuke actually have a nice and healthy bond with someone in this goddamn family 😭 They really play off each other in a compelling and dynamic way, they're open to what the other says and they just generally seem to be on the same wavelength. I just see endless potential in them working together and getting along and maybe becoming like actual siblings and I hope we see more because I can see The Vision and I love them.

Focusing back on Hato, I desperately need to see more of what her childhood was like. What was her and Kaato's relationship? The only thing Kaato says to / about Hato is that she's "as beautiful as ever" and then a little quirk she had as a child. This doesn't give us a lot so I don't have a clear idea of their dynamic outside of wild headcanon. More importantly, Hato knows her mother well enough to anticipate her retaliation against Joshu. This makes me think that maybe Kaato was a stern mother who never took any disrespect and that she potentially had her stand even in Hato's childhood. There's so much potential here but it's too early to know anything.

While I know it likely stems from Araki not really intending for Hato to be a major character, from a Watsonian perspective it amazes me that Hato is as well-adjusted as she seems to be. The amount of disruption she faced as a child, losing her mother and then having her father give conflicting info is insane. Again, how did she rationalize all of this?

And then, worse of all, for her to have to look up her mother's crimes herself and find out about the murder herself - I am begging for a flashback to that event. Did she confront her father? Was Norisuke ever planning on breaking the news to her? Did she ever talk to Jobin about the crime?

I'm not gonna dwell on this too much, but this reveal makes the lack of Jobin + Hato moments so far really stand out. With their father having to raise the young ones and trying to brush everything under the rug, did the 2 eldest siblings ever confide in each other? It doesn't seem like it, their large age gap and Jobin's shadiness around Kaato gives me little hope Hato could find much solidarity with him but I might be wrong. I would love to have a scene of the 2 talking about this or really just interacting in a meaningful way.

This is much more fanfic-y and is my feminist lens coming in, but I can't help wondering if Hato took on a sort of 'motherly' role after Kaato's arrest. I'm not saying Norisuke like demanded she help raise her siblings buuuuuuuut I could see societal expectations and their family's situation causing Hato to take on this role regardless. Jobin was nearly an adult when Kaato left and seemed to go off and start his own family / pursue his own ambitions. He doesn't seem very close with his siblings and, with how much Norisuke has on his plate, I could see some responsibility and expectation falling onto Hato's shoulders. A maid could've helped but it is unfortunately a thing that eldest daughters in a family are burdened with these duties even when older sons are in the family. And with her mother gone and her male relatives set to run the family business, it just feels very likely. Would the eldest daughter even have a chance to run the business?

Hato is close with her younger siblings, she playfully teases Joshu and looks out for Daiya. While she has her own quirks, she is generally much more mature and responsible than most of her family. As the inheritor of the family curse and the business, a lot of focus would've been on Jobin growing up. Norisuke wanted to act like Kaato never existed and Jobin is distant, clearly knowing more. Hato would've been the primary female figure in both Daiya and Joshu's upbringings, she had to lie to them and keep the secret of Kaato for their entire lives. But she's not included in all the other secrets of her family, she's left out of a lot of subplots and the idea of her being involved in the business is never even suggested. Most likely, she'll remain a minor character, but god would I love for all of these intricacies to be explored. There's just sooooooo much juicy potential here, so much family drama and character arcs and social commentary and thematic stuff here and I know I'm overthinking this but idc I love Hato and her unique role in the story and this chapter has really opened my mind to a lot of ideas and possibilities.

Lastly, I just wanna point out Hato's current feelings towards Kaato and how she seems to be distancing herself from her mother. She seems distrusting and literally looks down on here in the panel above - please God give us some interactions between these two, I am so intrigued to see more of what Hato thinks about her. If there is more to the story of Kaato allegedly killing a kid, how will the family react if it comes to light? I hope we see lots more family drama and I am begging for more Hato focus especially, love her so much.

[unholyverse]

waterparks // rock sound awards 2021

(full text under the cut)

WATERPARKS

CLASS OF 2021 ARTIST OF THE YEAR

WORDS: JAMES WILSON-TAYLOR PHOTOS: JAWN ROCHA

Another album, another lap around the world…another year that very much felt like it belonged to Waterparks. Their exponential growth continued this year with a new label deal and their latest and absolutely greatest record.

They began 2021 in isolation putting the finishing touches to 'Greatest Hits', and end it off the back of a triumphant, huge North American tour, by way of big, big festival slots and the realisation of more ideas than even they might have thought possible.

Here, Awsten Knight looks back on the journey he and his bandmates Geoff Wigington and Otto Wood have been on over the past 12 months, and faces towards the future.

How has your 2021 been, Awsten? It seems like a lot of bands have understandably found this year to be way more productive than last…

"It's better, but it's been equally productive. In 2020 I still made over 100 songs. Still recorded all of 'Greatest Hits'—it was pretty much done by January—made the DVD, 'FANDOM: LIVE IN THE UK'… that took like, five or six months. Yeah, 2020 was still super productive and then obviously this year…album release, making a million more videos, playing shows. That's why I say it's equal."

Was there any transitional period for you, or were you just straight into work mode?

"It never stopped. And I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing, but I just can't stop working. It's very hard for me to stop. Sometimes I actively try to just because, but I feel like I just operate better if I'm working on things. The thing is, at least if we are out doing shows, I'm not writing songs because of it. But last year I didn't have an excuse."

'Greatest Hits' was of course released this year. You've talked before about wanting to better yourself with each album, but what's interesting is it feels like the leaps between each record are now getting bigger too…

"I'm very about smooth transitions between stylistic stages. It feels very inorganic if somebody has screamo, alternative rock and then they try and go full pop. It's like you didn't do it naturally, so it feels disingenuous. I also think that I was more impatient being stuck at home. And on top of that, since I had more time to create and just make weird sounds and demo things out, I got to learn a lot and hit a lot of things that I wouldn't have necessarily found so soon. So I think it's a combination of those things. This gave a lot of time for me to find the most weird, left of centre, out of pocket stuff. I can't tell you how many Halloween sounds I went through making 'See You In The Future'. Sorry, 'See You In In The Future."

It's funny hearing you talk about acts earning that change in sound. It's like you are world-building but it's about the musical sounds rather than characters or stories…

"Yeah, and wanting to make as many different styles as you can. Because when it stops being fun or fresh or exciting, I don't wanna do it. Touring itself is very fun and rewarding, but it can also get monotonous. So if you are not pushing the boundaries everywhere you can, whether its sonically or show production or whatever… I mean, you see how easily I get distracted. I won't want to do it if it's not fun. You know who has got the best transition between that I think I've ever seen? Like, as far as musical styles go as a band? Bring Me The Horizon. I know where they started and watching them go to 'That's The Spirit' and even the stuff they are putting out right now… it changes style-wise so much. Not only is it consistent, but it changes and I think thats awesome. Not a lot of bands are willing to do that in case it feels like they are putting on somebody else's clothes. But they've done it in a very smooth way."

"WHEN IT STOPS BEING FUN OR FRESH OR EXCITING, I DON'T WANNA DO IT"

"I THINK BEING ALONE ALL THE TIME MADE ME WANT TO COLLABORATE MORE…"

Was there anything specific on 'FANDOM' that you wanted to improve on or push further this time around?

"I don't wanna compare songs especially because if you compare old things to new things, just because of how nostalgia works, it'll never compare until more time has gone by. But if I can sit down and look at 'Numb' vs 'Watch What Happens Next… They're both cool, they both have interesting pre-choruses in very different ways. One of them is more drawly, very minimal and then the other is a little hip-hoppy but more in a Beastie Boys kind of way. Then that outro is from hell, just crazy. I love the vocal patterns in it, in the b-section. And then I'll look at 'Watch What Happens Next' and compare those patterns. I look at things like that. What stuff got added in that's special? What are the special elements that aren't just guitar, bass, drums? I compare stuff like that a lot. Some songs are written where it's like, 'This one will have a pit'. Some songs it's like, 'This is for people who don't even fuck with us, but it has such a groove'. Or, 'This one is a dark 'Life Of Pablo'-type production that's dark and evil but expensive-sounding'. There's just certain things I wanted to accomplish and especially at that time, during recording, being stuck at home, I needed to do what's going to make me feel fulfilled right now."

You seem to be in a very collaborative mood too with the guests on the album and then things outside the album like the track you did with DE'WAYNE. Is that collaborative spirit something you are becoming more open to?

"Yes, definitely. I think being alone all the time made me want to collaborate more. And then also I feel like, and I hope this comes off okay… as good as I feel like I am at writing and production and finding creative ways to do things, I know that other people are so much better than me at other things. I don't wanna be the fucking best in the room at everything, because then why am I in this room? When I gave 'Crying Over It All' to Zeph, I didn't give very much instruction. I was like, 'Just add harmonies, do your thing, pretty freeform, just go for it'. Because when I listen to her stuff, she'd always send me demos or even on her Instagram stories she'll post the acapellas of stuff she is working on. There's like twenty layers of vocals and they are doing these random swells and all this cool shit and I'm just like, 'Woah, that's insane'. So when she sent back all of the vocals for that, it was the same kind of thing. And that's not something I would have thought of. It's no longer me sitting at this desk right here working on 'Double Dare' or 'Entertainment. I think you can only go so far alone and if you happen to have friends and people you like around you who are incredible at other things, I don't see why you wouldn't collab with them. At the end of the day, all I want is the best album in the world."

It felt like that spirit of collaboration had disappeared in the scene for a while but is now coming back around again, which is great because, like you say, everyone benefits from that…

"Yeah that's totally true. And at least for me, I felt like I had something to prove, especially early on. Because we did… we had a lot to prove. But I think, maybe in an ego sense, or I don't know what it was, but I took a lot of pride in it. We'd meet people in other bands who were bigger than us and they'd go, 'Is it true that you had no co-writes or people working on this or anything?' But in the grand scheme of things, we're not shit. In the world of music, most people don't even know we exist. But I feel like that thing - that weird alternative music mindset. Some, 'Us against the world, got to prove yourself' type of shit - I don't really have that anymore. And I'm glad, because it's not productive, it's not helpful, it's not gonna make you have a better album. I feel like alternative music, as stubborn as everybody is, I think they are probably seeing how good collabs are in hip-hop, or how Spotify works and are like, 'Oh shit, we should do that"." You've always talked about personal stuff within your lyrics but it feels like on 'Greatest Hits', you were a lot more open and direct.

What do you think has changed in your approach to lyrics?

"I think there's multiple reasons for it. I think most people just don't look that deep into stuff and I want them to know what I'm talking about. 'Entertainment… that whole fucking album is metaphors. The whole thing. And I think with stuff like 'Turbulent', that was in a way more cathartic. This isn't an objective truth or anything, this is just for me, but I think it's more cathartic to be blunt. And thats not to say metaphors or keeping things poetic isn't good. I want to still use metaphors, part of me wants to lean a little more on that. There's just something very cathartic about just saying it. 'LIKE IT'… just getting to talk shit for verses and I had even more verses written but I just wanted it to be like a punk song. A very grungy, punk kind of thing. It was just more of a release. People that are very into the band will look more deep into things but sometimes I just want someone who hears ten seconds on Tik Tok to know what the fuck I'm talking about. Lyrically, I didn't want to waste any time, I just wanted to get to it."

'Double Dare' celebrated its fifth anniversary this year. Is there anything about the creative process back then that still applies to how you work now?

"Honestly, it's the same. Sit down, laptop, guitar, keyboard, bass, mic. Shut everything out, start making shit. What is made has changed, but the process is the same."

Is there anything you wish you knew back then that you know now?

"All I would do if I could go back is just give them a mixing budget. Because I wouldn't change anything. I like some of the songs more than others but I still think they should all exist. We made the whole album for like, $10,000. Some people might hear that and think it's a lot, but it's not. For making an album, especially on a label, thats nothing. If we could get a Zakk Cervini mix, like a remix…"

When it came to the live show, this tour seems to match this new era in feel. How did you approach bringing 'Greatest Hits' to the stage?

"We went through a lot of different stages with the production. This was the first idea - I want it to make it look like thunder if we want to, make it really dark and moody, no lights around us just silhouettes and bits of lightning, because it's just a full cloud wall, so we can be in a storm like we are going to die or it can glow gold like we are in heaven, or like a sunset. Somebody actually asked me at a Q&A the other day about the symbolism of the doors onstage and I think being in my apartment so much for that long, I was always just looking at them. It felt right to bring the three doors hovering in the clouds. We had the red, yellow and blue bikes because that was my only escape during it. I could come up with crazy production all day, but you also have to take into consideration the rooms you are doing. Is it indoor, outdoor, 500 people, 2,000 people…You base these things on that. What can work in different ways. I think it's the most fitting and conceptually it's probably the best pairing we could have had visually with this album. But some day I think it would be so cool, when we get to do those fucking arena shows, to collab with someone who has done it a million times. The first time or two around, you don't understand the capabilities of what can and can't be done. You don't know what your limits are, so you just kind of be safe. So I'm excited to eventually start collabing with someone on that."

As things get bigger, it feels like the rooms are starting to match your ambition. Is there a pressure to scale things up?

"There's not really a pressure. I just don't think about it like that. The other night, and this hasn't happened in forever, but right before going on I had this weird moment where I felt like I'd re-entered my body. They were already playing 'Greatest Hits' and the first song is about to start and I felt like I'd re-entered. I glanced at the audience and thought, 'Oh god'. Fucking freaked out. Like, 'What the fuck am I doing?' I say that because the best thing you can do is not think. If you just show up and do it, cool shit gets done. If you think about it, if you analyse it, you psych yourself out."

"I NEEDED TO DO WHAT'S GOING TO MAKE ME FEEL FULFILLED RIGHT NOW"

"SOMETIMES I JUST WANT SOMEONE WHO HEARS TEN SECONDS ON TIKTOK TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT"

It was also great to see you be joined again by Mikey Way during this tour…

"I know man, that was so cool. We're always talking about when we can do stuff because he loves playing shows and he fucks with Waterparks and stuff which is so crazy. I was in Nashville a month before the tour and we hung out and got dinner, and he's like, 'Dude, I wanna play one of these shows'. And he's gonna be in Nashville so I'm like, 'How about Nashville? And anything else you wanna do'. And he's like, 'Definitely Nashville and I'd love to do more'. I was like, 'You let me know what you wanna play and we'll switch up the set after'. That was so fun. He is one of the nicest fucking people in this world. He's in the biggest rock band in the world and does not act like it. He's so humble and so nice. He's just a good dude."

Looking forward, what do you think are the biggest things you learned in the process of making 'Greatest Hits"?

"I definitely don't wanna talk too much, especially as I don't know way too much, but I think that the one drawback that I've had with 'Greatest Hits'… it's not even a drawback with 'Greatest Hits', it's just the way in which it was consumed. I think that because it's so long, and not even long runtime wise… It's just that 17 tracks is intimidating to some, especially if you are not a diehard listener. I think some songs got overlooked, or under-appreciated. There are certain ones where I wonder how long it's gonna stay underrated. The production on 'See You In The Future' is fucking insane but its not even in the top seven of the most listened to. Or 'Magnetic'. Or 'Crying Over It All' is I think one of the best songs Waterparks has ever put out. They just get overlooked. 'American Graffiti', I kind of made that song as I was frustrated one night at how dogshit a lot of alt rock stuff that was coming out at the time was. I was just like, 'This is so uninspired, I'm just gonna make the way fucking cooler version of what these people are trying to do. I'm gonna do the perfect mix of Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab and all these people. And then just throw in some real wild production'. That outro is so fucking pretty. I feel like a lot of those get overlooked because theres so much. And there's a lot we can't put in the set because it's literally 17 songs. We're already playing for an hour and a half every night, which is a lot. We're not playing six of the songs because theres not even time. What I'm getting at is, the next album will probably be more…I don't wanna say concise, because it's not like 'Greatest Hits' isn't. It definitely goes on more tangents because that was the point. But it'll probably be shorter."

It certainly feels like alt.rock is the place where the album is king. In hip-hop you can release singles all the time, EPs, whatever you want. Is that something you've thought about in terms of release structure?

"I'm cool with singles. I don't really wanna do EPs anymore. Mainly because I'd rather just do four singles or release them as a pair. Because then if somebody hates one, they'll probably like the other. But I think that I would probably just do singles or pairings then drop another album."

What is on the to-do list for 2022?

"We are coming to Europe. We've got some more shows that we are gonna announce soon. Some places we've never been before. We've locked in support, haven't announced it yet but its gonna be very cool. We're playing that London show—insane. I wish I could say more. It's gonna be a good year."

Waterparks' latest album 'Greatest Hits' is out now via 300 Entertainment. They're due to tour the UK next summer.

[asleep-in-the-keep-sideblog]

Announcement: Anniversary

Just me talking about the future of the fic :)

First off, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Wow a whole year (plus extra) WITH (near) constant updates, that's crazy. More than I can say for my other fic... (it haunts me. I still plan to finish it but ouch). 

First things first!

I wanted to update sooner (since I've had this written for a month now) but I was also working on a one shot to post at the same time. I was making great progress but then finals came round and I got burned out. They're finished now but I'm still burned out. I'll give a brief hint about it though since I'm a little excited and just wanna talk about it. So its a Dadzawa fic that's actually happy and ends with them as a family (unlike how it was in the last chapter lol). It was supposed to cheer people up and also be practice for writing them as a family and stuff. The Danny is very different from the main fic tho. The fic was also supposed to serve as an anniversary present for all you guys too, to thank you for reading and being here. I really wanted to finish in time but it kept getting bigger as I wrote. I do hope to post it this month tho, so keep an eye out for that!

Next thing!

On AO3 it shows that the fic is now apart of a series and has a chapter count. I talked about this in the notes of a previous chapter, but I had been wanting to do that for a while now. I want to have the next part of the series out by next year. I know I have been updating monthly now, but I'm gonna try to do twice a month if I can. I'm really excited and It want it done soon! I might do 2 chapters this month or will just count the one shot if I get lazy.   

I also added the tags "full ghost Danny." Sorry to burst anyone's bubble that held on hope for Danny. Tbh the original plan was that his human half was still hiding inside him, just healing and small, but it was gonna show up in one of the chapters. The longer the fic went on, the more I started to rethink that. The human reveal, while good in the short run, would crumble some of the plot lines I had set up while also not contributing much to the rest of the plot. I am debating maybe doing a short series of "what if" where that is the case tho, just so people can get a taste. If I like it enough I might make it a full thing. Who knows. 

Final thing!

(this paragraph is referencing the support on AO3)

Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! This fic has 2k kudos????????!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP! WTF?! 

That is so huge! Gahhhh! Man, I am always critical of my writing (I've gotten better) but wow to have that kind of support just in my face! Literally speechless. I always had the thought in the back of my mind that once the fic goes on for long enough people will start to see its flaws or get bored. That's true for some, but I keep seeing a lot of the same names again and again and I am grateful to you guys so much. That was also one of the reasons I wanted to do the one shot. I just want to keep giving you guys more content that you'll enjoy.

Thank you so much for being here, truly 💚

Good luck on finals if you got them! 

[angelresource]

charlie's angels (2000) & charlie's angels: full throttle (2003)

i figured we could have a little breakfast. and then, maybe, after...

we're past keeping secrets at this point.

which wire? the red one or the blue one?

isn't it amazing how much information you can learn off the internet?

when do i get to meet this [name]?

who wants a man who's intimidated by a strong woman?

are you okay?

could we get started this millennium?

isn't that poisonous?

i'm new. i'm like a virgin. i mean, it's my first time... here at [place].

why do they always run?

imagine how dangerous this would be in the wrong hands.

you like fast cars?

thanks for the ride.

what's going on?

did you ever have parents? i mean— i know you have parents, but i mean—

that was smooth.

want to play scrabble?

i wanted to see you.

you look great.

i've been thinking a lot about you and me and, well, us.

i hope you like to dance.

we must keep our relationship professional.

i'm having so much fun! this is so exciting!

was that over the top? it felt over the top.

who sent you?

you bitch.

oh my god! you're hit!

i haven't been honest with you.

don't stand next to the window, it's not safe.

i don't think it's gonna work out, you and me.

you had no idea that this was going to happen?

you got it all figured out. any other questions?

they say in death, all life's questions are answered.

you are the cheapest man on the planet.

i had a long talk with a squirrel once. longer than i've talked to most humans.

this feels like the first day of the last of my life. or the last day of the first of my life, or something.

revenge is fun.

thank god you're alive.

i'd like to see more of you, maybe in a continuous block.

watch your back!

you know, under different circumstances... we'd have made a great couple.

can you keep a secret?

is this a bad time?

you seem a little distracted.

what is an angel doing so far from heaven?

i'm no angel.

i'm [name]. i'll be your rescuer today.

i didn't think you'd find me.

let's go to plan b.

the most expensive thing i own are these boots.

i thought we were on a time-out.

was there a lot of blood?

wow. i've heard so many stories about you.

you always fall for the bad guy.

you didn't think it would be the [number] of us forever, did you?

so where do you see this going?

you did the right thing.

hey, i know the safest place in town.

you don't know me anymore.

i'm the only one here who knows you.

here's all your stuff back.

i'll never forgive myself if anything happens to you.

where do we go from here, [name]?

don't you have a case to solve?

i tried to outrun my past, but it caught up with me yesterday.

your past is what makes you who you are.

you know, i never really got that partner thing.

why be an angel when i can play god?

you couldn't make it one day on your own, could you?

very impressive, really. you've got it all figured out.

your destiny is yet to be written.

taking the lives of innocent people is not the answer.

there must be something in you that's still good.

i was never good. i was great.

mind if i cut in?

you want to know who i am? then you look inside your own heart.

i'm nothing like you.

i have something you'll never have.

go to hell.

[aranarumei]

okay watched ep 2 of fhjy and as anyone might imagine I've got thoughts. under the cut.

lots of fun things this episode! haven't watched the AP yet btw. i'm mostly writing these down myself so I'll go character-by-character, but some overall stuff about the episode:

whatever episode one was doing really paid off here. by itself, the full episode of battle, apart from being excited by all the new intros, was a bit frustrating especially since I wasn't sure how they were actually going to be able to reel the night yorb in, but they did it in this one! with lots of time left over for other stuff.

and with both episodes out, (as i suspected) that really frustrating feeling from episode 1 carries a lot more meaning--brennan making everyone fight those minions was perfect icing on the cake. as well as all those personal troubles at the end. but that gets into character stuff, so:

riz:

riz gukgak is one of my favorite characters in the universe. when i watched fhsy baron happened and i obsessively took notes the whole season bc i was like. riz is aroace and i can prove it. as you can imagine i nearly died when my green heaven released

anyways, pretty much everything riz has done has been so, so, on brand for what I'd think he'd do, so that's great--i feel like I haven't gone wrong in understanding him, which is cool

one of the big things that seems like we'll be getting this season is riz's attachment to his friends, by which i mean he feels like he can't hang out with them unless there's a job to be done. he's got this bit in the boys' night extra where riz says "it's usually like we kind of have this whole group dynamic where all of us come together and we solve these problems together. and when I don’t have a problem to solve, I don’t know what to do with myself." which is pretty much exactly what's going on here. as brennan phrases it, riz has basically just told his mother "I have a pretty a hard time connecting to my dearest friends whose lives I've saved many times unless there's a problem, so I can feel useful."

and this like... deep sense of anxiety around being alone, that's kind of a really deep part of riz's character, right? penny luckstone was his babysitter--closest thing he had to a friend. riz cares a lot about the case, but he probably also cared about the only connection he really had. and now the bad kids are his connections. he wants to be with them, like, forever, and half of his worries about all those romantic entanglements is that everyone is going to prioritize themselves and their romantic partners above him, and since he doesn't... want that kind of thing, where does that leave him? alone? forever? with no place to belong? he's already one of the only goblins we ever see in the whole time we've been in the land of spyre.

and I think what's really heartbreaking about this, at least to me, is that riz so clearly and obviously loves and adores his friends. he doesn't have a problem expressing his love! and I don't think he really even doubts that his friends love him, too. it's just that. i don't think he can deal with the possibility of being without them. and he doesn't know if the fact that they like each other is enough to keep them together. but hey, world-saving does.

sklonda was so good this episode, too. was particularly affected by when she told riz "you do everything for other people, and I want to make sure that you don't get your heart broken" because it's just... yeah. also that's such a real struggle money-wise with college in particular... I really kind of hoped we could maybe help sklonda out with her case, but, it is her job, after all. see where riz gets his board from haha. but seriously, she's just... such a good mother. every time the gukgaks interact it's so warm to me because riz and sklonda just... so obviously care for each other, so carefully. like. not a single bit of resentment or frustration coming from riz once sklonda tells him he might need some to put some extra pressure on himself, and it's partially being fine with pressure, partially not acknowledging his problems, and partially that he's just a good kid and knows his mother's doing the best for him. so he'll do that for her, too.

who bets that riz will not talk about any sad feelings in front of his friends this season!!! anyways that was so goddamned long, because I'm crazy about riz. the rest will be way quicker

anyways no one except ME is reading this. haha.

fig:

so, I'm fully convinced that gilear and fig swapped lucks. the sour, curdling feeling? very gilear yogurt. also the kicker was icing on her shirt. real yogurt moment there. and with all these kisses of fortune gilear's getting, I'm convinced that's what's happened for fig. very interested to see how that messes with her coolness

I'm also really interested in fig actually taking bard classes. i do have to wonder how it might go... I know emily like, does music, so I wonder if any of her knowledge there might come in handy

also very interested in seeing how any of the aguefort quangle stuff is gonna mess with things this season! even the little bit of ayda we saw was so good.

kristen:

so, like, obviously, cassandra's not doing so hot, because they've only got two followers. i think it's really interesting how non-pressuring they are towards kristen because like. for all the pestering they don't actually seem to outright mention that they aren't doing so great

also kristen seems in a pretty bad place this semester, but I'm hoping that the stark reality of expulsion is actually going to make her think about like, getting her life together. i'm really interested to see where it'll go because like. i dunno. i'm not much of an evangelizer myself.

more than tracker being away, it must sting additionally that like, apart from being in a possible breaking up state, tracker, right now, is being the like, perfect cleric. like she is reforming and adding nuance to her faith and stuff in a really really big way!! which is the kind of achievements kristen should be doing. but you know. they're world saving and things are... they're pretty tiring. (must've been nice talking about the moon goddess during eternal night, i bet)

ragh is also back and i'm so glad bc i love ragh. also 100% that red crystal lydia barkrock's been dealing with is gonna be relevant. i really hope that he has somewhat of a presence this season because like, he was around in fhsy, but ragh's like... idk, he's cool, and I feel like he's rich enough in character that he's got places to go?

adaine:

loved the little aelwyn mention. that nemesis abjuration is such a deeply aelwyn way of looking out for her sister

i am really excited to see adaine trying to get a job, personally. and i do hope we get to see more of zayn darkshadow bc he's just a really chill and nice minor npc in my opinion

fabian:

i love fabian's parents as equally as i hate them, and this scene exemplified it. they like... give him things, and look after him, but they're not really... supportive, are they? in an emotional way. no time to talk, and he's 18 now, so they're totally fine leaving him alone for months. they can be the cool parents that let him throw awesome parties. and hallariel saying it's a great thing to be his father's son... I don't know, bill seacaster's like, kind of a shithead?

so that'll be interesting. and he wanted to go to dance camp...! i hope he really does get to explore that passion more during the school year. truthfully i have to wonder how his grades are... riz and adaine are doing great, fig and kristen are doing terribly, gorgug is probably not the greatest considering his rage, but fabian? I'd be interested in knowing what's up with that

also they don't directly answer whether they're taking all the staff iirc, but judging by how hallariel mentions that food is just set up with an account, it may be that he can't even like, talk to cathilda or anything. which sucks!! it really does suck.

gorgug:

in some ways, zelda and gorgug breaking up was a little anticipated. still, it does suck. but it's not like he really had the time for anything

i wonder how this interacts with the timeline of the seven: that's in her junior year and sam seems to still refer to gorgug as zelda's boyfriend, and stuff, so I wonder if it's a retcon or I've got the timeline wrong or that I haven't quite finished actually watching the seven. anything could be fine--personally I think gorgug and zelda work really well as solo characters, so like, who knows

edit: in the AP brennan said zelda graduated so the events of the seven have likely already happened... that does bring up the question of why things dont line up but like. i can handwave time shenanigans in my head. especially with the quangle.

could be kinda fun if gorgug and ragh bonded a bit more this season.

thistlesprings are great parents, of course. love that they offered to fix the hangvan, or work on it together, and I'm really hoping their supportive energy is gonna help gorgug out this year. i have to wonder if there's gonna be any strangeness with gorgug meeting any of the thistlespring extended family, now that they're hosting this festival

speaking of this festival, it's the same one that sklonda's working a case related to!! i want to get my claws into this mystery so bad

ok that's about everything. gonna watch the AP now! my final thoughts... it's so frustrating that these bad kids have saved the world multiple times over and done so many things, and it's not like... enough, not even close. but that's a very real thing I felt during junior year of high school and that I'm sure many people felt--that I'd spent all this time developing myself as a person and becoming better and doing some pretty interesting stuff, in my opinion, but when I put it all out on like a resume or a college application or whatever, it looked like nothing. even though it was absolutely meaningful and important, it was nothing.

[innerchorus]

How do the various adaptations of The Heroic Legend of Arslan compare to each other and the original novels by Yoshiki Tanaka? I'm specifically interested in a general comparison of the manga adaptations by Chisato Nakamura and Hiromu Arakawa.

Oh man, this question probably warrants an essay to answer it properly, and tbh I don't think I'm in the position to do it because 1. I still haven't read Nakamura's version in full and 2. there isn't a translated version of it available either, which makes it a lot harder to compare nuance (I have to run the pages I'm interested through a translator first to try and decipher it).

I used to think that Nakamura's manga was a very straightforward adaptation of the novels, but recently realised that's not the case. I'd apparently only read a little of it before because I think it was back when I was still avoiding spoilers. But I've learned Nakamura wasn't afraid to add scenes if she thought it would benefit the characters in some way (see additional conversations between Isfan and Zaravant, and Hilmes and Irina). I feel as though Nakamura is sensitive to the emotions of the characters and that's what's driving these scenes; she wants to show the connection between them and, in some cases, make them feel better. There's also the incident where Elam and Alfarid encounter Sam, which is presumably used as an opportunity to show that Sam has a good heart even though he's ended up with Team Hilmes.

Both Nakamura and Arakawa will cut or abbreviate stuff at times. So in Nakamura's manga, Isfan's night raid got cut and Guiscard killed the mage instead. Perhaps she thought it best for the pace of the storytelling? It's not a major plot change, but it does get us through that section a bit faster. Arakawa's manga also doesn't adapt every novel scene. For instance, in the novels there's a scene where Hilmes rejoins Zandeh in the final stages of the hunt for Team Arslan as they near Peshawar Fortress. Arakawa didn't include it, opting to show a panel of Hilmes travelling fast, obviously heading back to pursue his prey, and then later he and Zandeh are shown together when they confront Narsus and Alfarid. Why did that scene get cut? Again, pace maybe (the same as the missing Hilmes and Zandeh scene before Hilmes sneaks into Peshawar), or Arakawa didn't like how sarcastic Hilmes is to Zandeh there and decided to omit it on that basis, lmao

As for more major changes, I'm inclined to say Arakawa's manga has more of those, certainly now we're heading towards the conclusion. Nakamura's manga stays closer to the novels than I'm expecting Arakawa's to as far as the ending of Part 1 (Book 7) goes, though the final scene of Book 7 is absent, allowing for it to feel more conclusive. But I think it's obvious at this point that Arakawa's version is already modifying novel events in a bigger way, and is probably aiming to answer some questions and deal with all outstanding plot threads by the end, so I'm excited to see where that goes. Just don't kill off my faves, please.

On the whole, Arakawa's tweaks feel like they have been very carefully considered to stay true to the heart of the novels and preserve the characterisation. I still have to translate the extra Hilmes and Irina scenes from Nakamura's manga, but I am amused that Tanaka directly said 'Hilmes didn't go and talk to Irina at this point in time' and Nakamura said 'yes he did'. Nakamura seems slightly more wilfull about doing what she wants in this respect (but again, she doesn't make big, plot-altering changes... even the added stuff with Sam slots neatly into the novel canon plotline without causing ripples).

You might have seen this post already, but @colleyuriko discussed a specific instance with regards to the tone difference of the Daryun and Narsus relationship in Nakamura and Arakawa's versions, regarding Daryun's comment about Alfarid (my reblog here with some of my thoughts too). I think that's worth a read.

Nakamura's manga takes 13 volumes to reach the end of Book 7, while Arakawa's version will hit 19 next month when the next volume is released and obviously hasn't finished yet. So from that alone I guess Nakamura's treatment of canon is briefer than Arakawa's (even allowing for some of the content added by Arakawa, such as early scenes with Etoile).

Obviously, there are stylistic differences in the art etc, but those are self-evident so I don't think I need to go into them. Hopefully this has at least started to answer your question!