#if she intervened she could've gotten hurt

[animation-557-butterfly]

Yuki and Ame's fight...

Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki

Written by Mamoru Hosoda. Illustrated by Yuu (Chapter 12 | Manga)

[fromabasementonthehilll]

A Cold Kiss For Warmth

͙⁺･༓☾ - Summary: you unknowingly saved Jackie ‏‏�� ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎from her own death.

Pairing: jackie taylor x fem!reader

Warnings: ...

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"I'm not jealous of you, Jackie. I feel sorry for you." Shauna spat, her words had bled out of her mouth and into Jackie like a sharp blade.

"And I'm sure everyone back home is so sad to be losing their perfect little princess," Shauna's breath hitched slightly, "but they'll never know how tragic, boring and insecure you really are," Jackie's lips trembled beneath Shauna's sentences, eyes wide and hurt - tears gradually piling upon her face, "or how high school was the best your life was ever gonna get."

"Fuck you." Jackie's words were almost silent, disintegrating into her tears.

You watched, alongside everyone else who had been settled around the fire warmed cabin. It wasn't for you to intervene; or for anyone else to intervene, you had never seen Jackie and Shauna fight - let alone with so much spite, and you figured it was best to leave them alone, though your heart felt for Jackie, Shauna's accusations were visibly going too far.

"I cant be around you - I cant even fucking look at you right now." Jackie didn't have the malice to insult Shauna, you sensed that neither of them really meant what they said, and it had just been the sickening feeling that haunted everyone after the crash, now creeping into their friendship.

It was just last week that you had really gotten close to Jackie, in school you'd usually hang out with the other girls, catching Jackie throwing glances your way in class every now and then. And you could've been caught daydreaming, the way you'd stare longingly at her; the way her hair fell onto her shoulders - how her honey eyes glowed when she looked at you.

"Hey (y/n)." She smiled, a towel around her neck after it had rained during practice. "Oh hi Jackie!" You turned to her after brushing your hair out and handing it back to Lottie.

"I just wanted to say you look really pre-"

"(y/n), hurry up we're gonna be late." Lottie interrupted, "Oh, yeah. Sorry Jackie, I'll see you later."

It was the first time Jackie had the courage to come up to you outside of being lab partners, she was confident most of the time - but when it came to you, she was helpless. You didn't even question your feelings towards Jackie, it just felt like an adoration of some sort, and you were completely oblivious to anything more than 'school friends' being between you two.

And that's how it stayed for a while, longing stares, unsaid words and random study sessions.

Though she'd be there for you when you needed her the most, and you'd be there for her - nothing more than that.

"Well that sounds like your problem, so maybe you should leave." Your mind focused back on the situation at hand, this time watching Jackie more intently, furrowing your eyebrows and clenching your jaw, Shauna's face was ridden in sweat and small tears - her hair in a messy ponytail with strands pinning to her cheek. You looked to the side, watching as everyone lowered their gaze in shame. "Are you fucking crazy Shauna? Nobody's leaving, she'll freeze to death." You stood up, voice quiet yet loud, knowing the chances of people taking your side was slim - but another death out here would cause further, unnecessary chaos. "She'll be fine." Shauna talked to you, yet her gaze was still fixed on Jackie.

"I don't even know who you are anymore." Face painted in disappointment, Jackie scoffed, then averted her look towards you, "I need to take a walk." You followed her, ignoring Shauna's sneer and the confused stares of everyone else, who had seemed to find understanding in your reasoning despite your doubts.

-

The door closed, and frost sunk its teeth into your skin, "(y/n), you don't have to come with me, she's right - I'll be fine." Her words blamed themselves, she shook her head at the floor. "It's freezing out here," both of you began walking away from the cabin, where the light stopped its reach, "you shouldn't be alone." Jackie's face stuttered, finally making eye contact with you.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

She smiled in response, drying her tears with her cold-shaken hands. The both of you slid down behind a tree, you brought your knees to your chest; hugging them. "God, how could she, after all that I've done for her." She wrapped her arms around herself. "She doesn't deserve you Jackie," your eyes trailed her expression, "it's fucked up, what she said." You said, unreasonably nervous, and reasonably shaky.

"I never even liked Jeff that much, I cant believe I let him ruin our friendship like that."

"You didn't?"

"No," her voice settled slightly, "and Shauna knew I had feelings for someone else, I guess that's why she took it as a pass to go fuck Jeff, so I couldn't hold it against her." Jackie tried her best to make up with Shauna in her head, but everything kept leading to a dead end, "But whatever, I'm just glad you're here."

"You cant be serious, you're asking me to study?" You asked, holding a math paper that said 'C' in the biggest writing imaginable - as if your teacher wanted to rub it in as painfully as possible. "Yeah, I mean you're good at chemistry right?" Jackie said, and it was true - it was one of the only subjects you were naturally good at.

"I guess, sort of?"

"So can I come over?"

"Today?"

"If you don't mind,"

"No, yeah, sure." You smiled, raising your eyebrows and packing your bags before leaving.

You had something planned with Lottie that day, though it was easy to cancel with a 'my parents are making me clean up' excuse. It didn't phase you why you were starting to make excuses not to hang out with your friends, but it was rare to talk to Jackie, and at the time it didn't look like you two were getting closer than that anytime soon.

You bit your lip, opening your mouth to speak before stopping yourself. Jackie looked at you, the cold eating away at the two of you, "Jackie, I need to tell you something." You squinted your eyes, barely seeing Jackie's face as the trees blocked the moonlight and using it to your advantage, calming your nerves. "I like you," you wanted to say more, but it felt like you were trapped, and all you could do was drag your words out while struggling to read her face.

Snow began falling onto your hair and patterning Jackie's nose, "Really?" She chuckled, you stretched your legs out and smiled with your lip hanging out slightly, "you're kidding me right? This entire time?" She asked, scoffing at her own words. "Yeah, I guess I never found the time to tell you." The snow reached your shoes, which you hadn't stopped staring at.

"Neither," You looked at her confused, "I like you too, (y/n)." You were even more confused this time, I mean she didn't like Jeff all that much - but you couldn't have been the one that she wanted instead, right? "I swear, I couldn't have told you, I thought you liked that guy from our chem class, what's his name?" She titled her head, "Matt? Are you fucking kidding me? You thought I liked Matt?" You laughed, knowing he had asked you out on multiple occasions, yet you rejected him every single time. "So? He's cute, I thought you guys were a thing for the longest time." she snickered, leaning her eyebrows as she shifted her body to face you.

Your laughs cleared, the grass had been covered in a thin layer of snow by now, and Jackie's bottom lip hid under her mouth. She watched as the snow caressed your hair, lips, nose and skin - admiring every part of you, especially your (e/c) eyes that harboured a small reflection of the moon. "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen, (y/n)." She faintly smiled, edging closer to you. Your eyes gazed through your lashes, looking at her in partial doubt, you didn't know how desperately she wanted to tell you that for the longest time.

Wintry hands latched onto your frostbitten cheeks, her fingers grazing your jawline as her pale lips slowly found yours. Her touch was warm, her lips were softening under yours as you caved in deeper - you could almost feel her face regaining its rosy colour. You eased beneath her, your mouth tasting hers.

She pulled away, though still being mere inches from your face, "you're cold, I can feel it." Her hands traced down to your shoulder, "I'll be fine." You whispered, wrapping your arms around her neck and kissing her again, with a greater passion than the first time, she almost instantly leaned back in, with gentle confidence.

After a moment, you let out a small giggle against her mouth before bringing your arms to her shoulders and pushing her away gently, "I think we have to go." You spoke, numbness overtaking your legs and nose, Jackie brushed a few snowflakes off of you, before the both of you got up to get back to the cabin, though could've stayed there until dawn.

[yellowhollyhock]

day 21, adopting a pet

Nightwatcher gets a kitty <3

With one last tug, the restraints were secure, and he could leave his quary to the police.

"Maybe you and your friends will think twice next time about fooling around in this neighborhood," he suggested.

The thug protested vehemently into his gag. Raph raised his eyebrows.

"Not really in a position to make demands," he taunted. "In case you didn't catch everything while you were getting your butt kicked, your buddies didn't get away with the stolen weapons and the shopkeeper called the police. And you know, the police ain't always as nice as I am about getting talked back to."

A clatter around the corner got his attention. His job here was done, and it was a big one--an organized heist by a group he'd been tailing for a while. The kind of thing that would keep the media a little off his shell, something the police would see as a worthwhile contribution in spite of themselves. The kind of scuffle going on around the corner--arguing, some hitting--that was domestic violence or assault. More serious crimes in Raph's book, but not the kind of thing that ever made Nightwatcher look like a hero. Once he intervened, he may as well be the thug who started it as far as the press was concerned.

He turned into the alley.

It was just a dumb kid, looming over something, probably a smaller kid, and kicking, just taking out his anger. Raph made himself big; it would be good if this one just ran off without having to get hit first.

"Hey!"

As he'd hoped, the short figure startled and then scrambled. Raph shook his head at the cowardice, and crept closer to assess the damage.

A mess of yellow, white, and black fur, huddled against the dumpster. She crouched and hissed, angry yellow eyes fixed on Raph's slow, steady movements.

He crouched down, hands out in front of him for her to investigate.

"Hey, girl, are you hurt?"

She batted a claw at him. He winced as it scraped against his armor, pulling back more for her sake than his.

Ideally, he should have had some kind of treat to offer to help her know he meant no harm. Since he didn't, he tried to give her plenty of space while he looked her over for injuries. More than anything, she just looked emaciated. She favored her front left paw, and the same side of her face had a long scar. It didn't look fresh.

"It's okay, you're safe," he soothed. He wanted to give her some food, and he would probably be able to find some in the dumpster, but if he started digging for it, she would definitely run off. He needed to gain some trust first.

She was still on edge, after all he had her cornered. But she must be curious, too; she could've gotten away if she'd wanted. He held one hand out to her. She sniffed it cautiously.

"That's it; no worries. I probably smell like all kinds of trash that I've been digging through tonight," he alluded to the situation around the corner that the police should be taking care of any minute. "But I'm a nice guy.

Once she seemed more curious than nervous, he moved his hand up to gently pet her. At first the touch made her tense again, but when it proved gentle, she approached. He let her crawl into his lap.

"There, you see? I'm just a big metal softie. Wouldn't do a thing to hurt somebody like you. Now are you gonna stay while I find you some food?"

About an hour and a couple of discarded hot dog scraps later, Raph was lingering outside the lair, a matted bundle of fur nuzzling contentedly against his plastron. Her paw was wrapped as well as he could manage in some old newspapers. He needed Donnie to look at her paw and Mikey to help name her--he was debating between Razor and Darling.

But first he needed to figure out how, exactly, he was going to explain this to Master Splinter.

[zaritarazi]

now i gotta ask. how did dctv teth-adam and zari meet?

well. i acidentally plotted out what season 8 would've been, and the tragic thing is if i'd even posted this in january of this year we would've gotten a season 8 on tv. nevermind that the cw had negative dollars. phil ran out of material bc i got too horny for matthias and we all know it bc really who contributed more to the legends canon than me? no one. a lot of people would be scared to admit that. a lot of people would be scared. and i'll

so please read this knowing it would've been exactly how the show would've gone. phil is going to read this tonight and fucking sob in the shower for 6 hours about what could've been

we know the legends are going to time-jail. in my little universe, we get the scene where they do the going into the jail catwalk in their little jumpsuits- WHICH, by the WAY, are styled in ways that appropriately reflect everyone's personalities, because i know what i'm fucking about- and there's general chaos and probably a song over it and zari, who is the focus of the season alongside booster (they're foils baby), is somewhere towards the back of the group, like maybe astra and spooner are behind her, and she just sees this guy who's kind of pointedly ignoring them sort of all the way in the back of the crowd and she's like huh it's weird that i'm noticing him and it's also notable that he has some kind of like- she thinks it's a breathing device, like maybe he's from space or something, and later finds out it's a gag of some kind

and listen. it looks like a respirator mask without the parts you put the filters on bc this is legends, we went to the store and we got a 3m half face and we spray-painted it like dark green and it's attached with spirit gum, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

and just as she looks at This Guy he finally looks up at the legends, her specifically, and there's this moment of very bizarre eye contact where she kind of just stands and stares at him and he's staring at her and astra walks into her and is like what are you even looking- sees teth-adam in the crowd- do you have a radar for finding the worst guy in any room? is this your gift?

so for me 8a would be very much like when dutch, johnny, & d'av were in jail in killjoys, specifically the part where everyone seems able to just wander around and bother each other, why not it's not like this is a prison or anything (side note big part of this season is about how prisons need to be abolished <3) where zari has this fixation on this guy and he seems equally fixated on her and everyone else is like. hey. is this getting weird should we intervene?

i would also love to actually create zari and behrad conflict as they start to go in very separate directions because tala and shayan could make that shit hurt. haven't fully plotted this. more on that as i think it up

part a.2 is booster's plot, which i haven't figured out yet but will be sexy. it would probably build on him trying to find ted and/or bring him back to life, as was alluded to in the 1 dc's legends of tomorrow comic based on the TV show we will ever get, and i actually love the idea of zari and booster basically being an investigating team where they're both the charmer and neither one of them has any lock picking skills but they're literally like. they'd be perfect for each other if they didn't have fixations on other people at the moment. but there's chemistry.

the b plot is spooner basically becoming the most popular person in time jail and astra getting jealous and then they make up and it's gay you know this trope you've seen it that's what's happening they kiss emmy please

anyway the midseason finale, to me, would be zari finally getting this guys mask off at the same time that astra finally figures out who he is and is like well. shit fuck shit fuck i guess! and zari thinks he's going to kiss her and instead he cups her cheek and says that magic word and the two of them get struck by lightning <3 couple goals <3 <3 <3 and this would be how we give zari her comics powers without her totem. listen they've bent so much canon in the dctv universe let me have this. i deserve this

8b is about zari getting the "heroism" she wanted and weighing it against the cost of the strain it now has caused on her relationships with the legends, especially with behrad, who's like hey. we can share the totem again but this isn't you. zari needs a rebellious phase! behrad needs to call her to the mat! black adam needs to be like kind of unconditionally in love with zari but also she's not entirely sure he doesn't just love a different character she's putting on, like she's ditched the dragon girl for what she thought she wanted- but maybe what she really needs is balance? parallel this to finding out how booster ended up trapped by the time cops the first time, and how being a hero maybe cost him ted? and him reconciling what he'd have to give up to get ted back?

i'm literally a genius and i've read at least 2 books.

anyway this ends with zari realizing she wants to be captain of the waverider after behrad with his totem saves her even though she's all shazamed out, so while she doesn't give up her powers, she at least un-shazams herself for the time being with explicit confirmation, leigh bardugo, that she can re-shazam whenever she wants, and black adam agrees to support her but won't un-shazam and we can tell if this series were to continue (but it won't this is the series finale) they would have conflicts over this bc i know how to keep a relationship fucking interesting, phil,

my c plot is that gary is no longer an alien and he starts a jewish prison gang like the one in arrested development

[rootclan-alone]

Moon 26

After the comfort he'd given her, Brookpaw stopped talking to Duck once again, lost in a trap of grief and self-blame for what happened to her brother. However, it didn't take long for her to start blaming Duck instead, for not being there to protect them, and for not doing enough for Whisppaw. Instead of ignoring him, she used every opportunity to remind him, hurting him with a sharp tongue. Duck never seemed bothered, not in front of her, but whenever she was nowhere to be seen he grieved. Not only the loss of his son, but his daughter too, her trust in him was completely gone.

But as the saying goes, time heals all wounds. As the sunrises went by, and it soon became a moon since Whisppaw's death, Brookpaw no longer blamed her father, she realised she'd been too harsh in her judgement of him, judgement that he didn't deserve. He'd done his best for them, ever since they were young, it was just him looking after them and they'd done everything they could to make it hard. Brookpaw had never asked who her mother was, she figured she'd died giving birth to them, leaving Duck alone.

It was during the night in her dream, after a day of father and daughter finally bonding again, that Brookpaw was certain she'd met her mother. She looked just like her, and it was obvious where Whisppaw's eye colour had come from. Brookpaw

learned that her name was Daisyknoll, and when asked if she was her mother, the she-cat never denied it, simply looking upon her sadly. They spoke for a long time, and Daisyknoll taught Brookpaw all about StarClan, about the code, both warrior and medicine and the more she learned the more Brookpaw wanted to follow in her mother's pawsteps.

The next day, she approached her father with a gentle smile on her face and told him that she wanted to be a medicine cat. Her mother would teach her all she needed to know. In her excitement, Brookpaw missed the bewildered look on Duck's face as she turned away.

Moon 27

Brookpaw wanted to go out to collect some herbs for the first time, the first time she'd wanted to go outside since the death of Whisppaw. Duck was heavily against the idea, but logically he knew they needed herbs, if Brookpaw really was being trained by her "mother" - it didn't matter that whoever this cat wasn't really her mother, just that she was teaching her - then when she said they needed herbs, they needed herbs. So instead of going out to hunt or patrol, Duck compromised to go herb gathering with her.

As they walked, Duck suddenly thought back on the dream he'd had last night. Daisyknoll had spoken to him again after so long, apologising for her absence and for the death of Whisppaw, lamenting how she just wasn't allowed to intervene. Duck had been angry at first, but he understood deep down.

"Are you ok Dad?"

Duck looked down at his daughter, humming an affirmative, before deciding to bring the dream up, "I spoke to a StarClan cat last night."

Brookpaw's eyes lit up immediately, intrigued and excited.

"She apologised for not being able to help with Whisppaw. She also told me that.. she'd spoken to you-"

"My mother! I told you. I'm right, right? I look exactly like her, and Whisppaw had her eyes!"

Duck cringed, looking away. Did he tell her? Would it stop her from becoming a medicine cat, if she knew that her mother wasn't really a medicine cat and in fact, her father had given birth to her? He decided against it. One day, when she was older, she'd know, but for now, Duck would let her believe it.

"Sure kiddo. That's your mama."

Moon 28

Brookpaw turned 12 moons. Whisppaw would've been a warrior, Duck couldn't help but think about it. The father-daughter pair spent most of the moon grieving what they could've had with their son/brother.

Moon 29

They were out on herb gathering again, and Brookpaw loved to take advantage of being the one with the knowledge. She'd gotten bigger now, but to Duck she was still his little girl, and an apprentice, so being bossed around by her was downright humiliating, especially since he couldn't argue back with any parental punishment since this was her area of expertise. She was being extra bossy today, and Duck was not having it. Instead of listening to her, he stayed stock-still and stared her down.

"Dad." She sighed exasperated.

"Daughter."

They spent the entire herb gathering patrol with Duck being pretty much useless.

Moon 30

Duck flinched when he heard Brookpaw yell out from the medicine den, in the middle of the night. He'd moved out as she got older, into the warrior's den, and suddenly he was regretting it. Flashes of Whisppaw flashed through his mind as he ran as fast as possible to the den, only to find that Brookpaw was fine, for the most part. She was breathing heavily and crying, she'd had a nightmare.

"Oh, sweetheart."

Duck approached her and gently pushed his nose against her cheek, sitting next to her and allowing the she-cat to push herself into his side. Brookpaw sniffed, looking up at her father.

"It.. it doesn't hurt as much as it used to, but I still dream of him sometimes."

"I understand.." He really did, he'd had plenty of nightmares, especially of that dog. Not only had it ripped Whisppaw up, but Brookpaw too, those nights once Duck had awoken from the nightmare he never could go back to sleep.

"You still need some time, and we'll never be completely over it, but we just need to take comfort in knowing that he's always with us." He raised a paw to tap her chest, "In here."

...

That morning, for the first time in a long time, Duck went out on his own. The prey of the forest was stretched thin once again, so, again, he had to travel further out. It had been many moons since he'd been so close to the twoleg place, but as he grew closer, he realised that there were.. twoleg kits. Were the red-eyed beasts still out there, or had the twolegs chosen to bring kits into this new world as he had? He didn't have time to decide because one of the kits spotted him, instantly leading to his escape from the scene. Maybe he'd go back again someday to see how they were doing.

Listen they look freakishly similar, so I couldn't resist! For the sake of lore, Brook just doesn't remember being nursed by her dad LOL

[ofwrxth]

Taliah can hear the truth in Gabe's words and she knows he's trying not to offend her but that doesn't make the words any less heavy when they land. "I would've–" she breaks off, about to insist she would've seen the weapon but, in truth, she knows it's a lie. She hadn't seen it before jumping into action and who knew? maybe a bystander could've gotten hurt if Gabe hadn't intervened. "How do you see everything, though? I really thought I was in the clear, Gabe, or I wouldn't have tried to pursue him. You know that, right?" She looks at him in earnest. For whatever reason, it's important that he knows she isn't reckless. Taliah does things by the book. "That was such a rookie mistake," she finally exclaims, frustrated with herself. She sets her cookie down and drags a hand over her face. "I'm sorry...I...yeah, just ego I guess..but still sucks...and uh, thank you."

The cookie was just a way to lick metaphorical wounds. Gabriel could remember when he had the same enthusiasm for the job as Taliah did, and how every loss felt personal. Over time it got better, or Gabriel became more numb to it. "He had a weapon, Tal." Gabe shrugged, knowing that it was hard to spot those things. "Reacting fast is good, is about fifty percent of it but the other fifty is reacting after you see everything you need to." he shrugged, offering words of wisdom despite his tone being drab. He knew the makings of a good officer and Taliah had them all. "The real catch is being confident you've seen everything." he then added because that was crucial. "I was letting you handle it, didn't doubt you for a second but I saw him reach to his jacket and had to make a choice. Maybe be thankful these wounds you got are just your ego?"

[saidrabbles]

Hello!!! So I red your park joon gil fic and it was good please write more for the show Ik obsess with your writing 🙏🏼🥰🥰

a/n: thank you so much anon, you really made my day ♡ i hope u like it !

.

timeless love

pairing: park joong-gil x reader

warnings: blood, suicidal thoughts, violence

summary: finally waking up after 6 painful months, all seemed well. the risk management members missed you, but all they had to wait were 50 years...right? you left an impression in everyone's minds in jumadeung, including the seemingly heartless escort team leader.

.

saying goodbye after working for 6 months in jumadeung was hard to say the least. the members of jumadeung, especially the risk management members, had gotten used to your presence. "we'll just have to wait for 50 more years." ryeon says out loud. "49 years and 2 months, leader." ryung-gu retorted, seemingly disappointed. "is ryung-gu actually disappointed?" ryeon teased. "ah-ehem. n-no?" the younger one hesitantly replies. ryeon smiled. she didn't expect to miss you that much either.

but what no one had expected, was for you to show up on the app. checking the red light app one day, the coffee in ryung-gu's hand slips from his hand. you were the life they had to save. "w-what...?" both members look at each other "how did this happen...?"

after digging around and asking people close to you for what happened, they discovered the tragic incident. your sister was a victim of bullying in her workplace, and one day — it went to far. a sharp object present in the wrong time, was the cause of her death.

.

she was a few feet away from being in your hold. that day, you discovered what your sister was going through by accidentally reading her journal. you immediately went to her workplace, terrified that you don't make it in time. but what you didn't expect, was to see your other half lying on the ground, lifeless.

all you could see was her blood, forming a puddle around her. still in disbelief, you called 911. "there's a person hurt here, please come quickly..." you were barely able to speak "ma'am, is the person you're talking about breathing? what is their condition?" the person on the other line inquired. "just fucking come !! she's alive...she has to be !!!"

you hang up and slowly move to where she lied. cries turned into sobs, as you held her in your arms. this pain was like no other, you felt your heart being ripped out of your chest. you were going to do everything that it takes to punish them all for taking her from you.

.

when joong-gil coincidentally became aware of this, he was in complete shock. he had become fond of you during your time in jumadeung, and was worried. he didn't want you to commit the the one thing he hated the most.

it was not her fault, why would she blame herself? he couldn't understand. he couldn't wrap his head around it, he's lost touch with his "human" emotions a long time ago.

but then why is he finding ways to intervene with the risk team to be close to you?

.

seeking revenge, you started losing yourself. all you thought about was how to kill those bastards. you do everything in your power to find them. you ultimately find them. and as ironic as it is, you end up losing your life. one that you could've cared less for anyways...

you wake up to see a lifeless body, cold blood oozing out. im...gone...? you stay on the ground for god knows how long until you see a figure standing infront of you. joong-gil got there first. worried was written all over his face.

how can he be so late????

"did you..." he breathlessly tries to continue, "kill yourself?..." you laugh bitterly. "that would've been better, at least i could've gotten my revenge first." you feel weight over you as you try to balance yourself. "w-what...." joonggil was hugging you, he was crying? "thank god...." you were confused to who this man was. why's he holding you with so much...warmth?

"who...are you..?" that's when he remembered. you don't recall any of what happened in jumadeung. "im...a grim reaper." he let's go of you and stands up, feeling embarrassed. "do i...know you?" his eyes glinted in excitement. "do you know who I am..?" you can't remember...but why would you have known a reaper?

what the hell is happening to me...joong-gil was new to all of this. ever since he heard of what happened; something in him changed. his true feelings were escaping through his nonchalant facade.

.

he then took you to jumadeung, to the jade empress. he made up an excuse for showing up before the others, seemingly convincing. he wanted you to be in jumadeung, for him to be close to you - but he obviously used your skills as an excuse. the empress decided to give you a lighter position to begin with.

you were silent almost all of the time, only speaking when you needed to discuss work matters. joong-gil had been watching over you, and he felt the pain tear into his heart. you were in so much pain, yet you didn't want to be reborn. you want to punish yourself, for something that was never your fault.

he noticed how little you are eating, and decided to leave food on your table everyday. in the first few days, you were unhinged. but after that, you started eating a bit of the food, which made him feel more than happy - you're trying. he would then wake up earlier than the rest to buy coffee and breakfast and put it on your desk before you come. it's what he can do for now.

that was until you decided to wake up earlier than usual, and go to work. that's when you saw the strange yet familiar man putting coffee on your desk. "so it was you..." you partially whispered. but it caused joong-gil nearly making a coffee mess on the desk. "uhh...you're early..." he tried to look unphased, but he was visibly nervous. that's when he heard it.

the first time you've laughed in a while.

joong-gil was taken aback, and all he could do was take in your facial features as you're smiling. he sensed a nervous feeling in his stomach. he was getting butterflies. and when you looked at him, he knew — there was no going back. hes in love with you.

"thank you...uh.." you nervously fiddle with the button on your shirt. "what should i call you?" he left the coffee on the table and fully turned to your direction "you can call me yours joong-gil." "well, thank you for your kindness, joong-gil-ssi...but i don't deserve it." you try to smile. "why is that?" he pushed on. "what happened to my sister...it was my fault for not noticing when i knew her too well." he takes a few steps closer to you. "you weren't the one who hurt her, you didn't know" he assured you.

"but i can't help think of the what ifs...if i had noticed earlier. if I've seen the bruises on her..." not wanting to cry in front of him, you turn around. as you try to wipe your escaping tears, you felt two strong arms behind you wrapping themselves around you. "it pains me to see you in so much agony. i know...how it feels to reach a person when it's too late..." he held you tighter.

you wanted more of this warmth. you wanted to inhale this person's scent, to live in it. you push his arms slightly for you to turn and bring yourself closer to his body. you wrapped your arms around him, feeling your shameless heart beat loudly. joong-gil was surprised, but he held you just as tightly. as you relax into his embrace, you decide that you were going to ask about your time here.

.

after you ask the empress about your past here, she gave you the erased memories. that's when it all made sense. joong-gil wasn't clear with his feelings in your past recollection, but your feelings for him was clear. you loved his little gestures that would show he cared, how he was acting beyond his understanding, and you acknowledged him. but before anything happened between you, time was up. and you had to go back to where time existed.

and now you're back here, but you're holding a greater pain in you. you didn't know if you deserved happiness at all...not after what you failed to do. protecting your family. "your sister is in a better place right now. she's living a life she always wished for...but it pains her to see you hurting." you hear the empress say. she puts a hand on your shoulder. "...you can be reincarnated and eventually meet your sister - in another life."

you felt like the weights on your shoulder had been lifted. you smile. you were told that you can meet your sister...you should be happy...but he kept showing up in your head. "you've endured well...and you're allowed to choose your happiness." you felt shameless for wanting him...but you knew that's what your sister would've wanted as well.

you finally let your feelings for him take over.

you knock on his door, and he answers with his deep voice on the other side. you enter, feeling yourself getting nervous. as you take a look at him, you stop in your tracks. the dark vest hugging his body, defining his small waist. the black pants emphasizing his long legs. he was breathtaking. when you look at his face, your heart skips a beat. his eyes were focused on you, never wandering. his lips curled up in a small, genuine smile.

caught in a daze, your body takes over. you walk up to him, hold his chiseled face in your small hands, and kiss him. he was shocked for a few seconds, but almost immediately kisses back. your hands slide down his chest as he holds your face gently. the kiss started with subtle movements, but eventually got more intense. you only stopped to catch your breaths, still holding each other.

"i won't be able to let you go after this..." he whispers. "you won't need to...im staying." he looks at you with shocked eyes. "im not getting what you're saying-" you caressed his face. "im saying that i won't be reborn, im going to be by your side, in this timeless place."

unable to form words, he kisses you again.

[fallenflowersfromgrace]

Worrying is a Perk of Motherhood.

Escaping Expulsion fic

Au where I decide to add angst because the last time it was late and Luz wasn’t home, Eda had to go save Luz. That was also the last time Eda thought she would see Luz again. I also just wanted a worried Owl Mom, okay?

///

It was fine. It was all fine.

Well...it was fine until Lilith kicked the door open and Eda saw the night sky behind her.

It was dark.

Stars were out.

It was dark, the stars were out, and Luz wasn’t home.

If it wasn’t for the monster of ice that was threatening the household, she would've grabbed Owlbert and dashed out the door on a hunt for her kid.

Because the last time this happened, she almost lost Luz.

Unfortunately, there were other and more demanding things that needed her attention at the moment.

Just one thing at a time. Fix this problem, then find Luz.

Easy enough.

///

Luz came home and Eda couldn't help the next words that came out of her mouth.

"Where the hell have you been?" Did this kid not understand how worried she was?

"I-"

"It's late, and I don't even get a call from you. Not a message, not even a quick stop by the house to fill me in-"

"Eda-"

"Zip it. You better have been at a friends house or I swear to Titan-"

"Eda!" Lilith, of course, decided to intervene. "J-"

"No, shut up, Lilith, this doesn’t involve-"

"She’s hurt."

Shit. Her blind fury of worry didn't even acknowledge Luz was hurt.

Luz's uniform was torn, she had multiple cuts, and Titan, was that a bruise on her face?

"Alright, sit down, I'll patch you up. Lily, keep an eye on King." Eda rubbed her temples, "I'll go grab the med kit."

////

"Alright, I promise not to yell at you anymore so can you please tell me what happened?" Eda asked as she bandaged Luz's leg.

"No."

"Kid-"

"No, because you're going to get mad and there's nothing you can do about it."

"I'm not going to get mad. Just worried, okay?"

"Still..."

"Okay, then how about this? How was the first day back?"

Wrong move, considering how stiff Luz had gotten.

"Kid?"

"Y-yeah?"

"What happened at school?"

Titan, she didn't like this.

"...I got expelled."

What?

"For what? You must've done something massive to piss Bump off."

"It...it wasn’t Bump who I pissed off."

"Okay, you lost me."

"I pissed off Amity's parents."

How did Luz even meet Odalia and Alador? They had no reason to even glance in Luz's direction, so either there was a piece of the puzzle Luz was hiding or this came out of nowhere.

"By doing what?"

"Being Amity's friend."

There it was. They came after her kid because their kid was doing something they didn't like.

"You know that wasn’t your fault, right?"

"Well..."

"Luz."

"I also got Willow and Gus expelled too. Amity's parents came to the school and us expelled because of all the things that we-"

"No, no, no. You did not get them expelled. The two idiots who pressured Bump into doing so are at fault, not you."

"But if I hadn’t-"

"Luz. It's not your fault. The adults were in the wrong, not you. Now, before you decide to fight me on that any further, what happened after you got kicked out of school?"

"Well..."

///

Eda had placed at least three ice packs on Luz, and was probably one more detail away from grabbing Owlbert and bashing Odalia and Alador's heads in.

There was so much to process, good Titan. Luz decided to take matters into her own hands, which included doing something so stupidity reckless. Luz had made a deal to be a test subject so her and her friends could be let back into school. Odalia was okay with murdering Luz and humiliate her in front a crowd of people. And if it wasn't for Amity, her kid would be dead.

That's not even mentioning Odalia tried to go back on her deal or the fact Luz and Amity had to fake their deaths.

"Eda?" Luz asked as the witch slumped beside her and buried her face in her hands.

"You could've died today." This was too close to the last time. At least the other time, she could and she did save Luz.

"But I didn't."

"That's not the point!" Eda turned her head to look at her.

"But I fixed-"

"And it almost cost you your life!"

"Eda-"

"Luz-"

"Why aren't your proud of me? I did-"

"Why do you think I would be proud of you for recklessly endangering yourself?"

"Because you were the one who taught me to handle myself!"

"To handle. Meaning to know your limits, to know when you're in over your head, or something is a stupid and reckless idea."

"Why are you making this a bigger deal than what it is?"

"Because the last time this happened, I almost lost you completely and I'll be damned if we go through that again!"

Luz's eyes went wide as she blinked in confusion.

"The last time it was late and you weren't home, you almost died," Eda explained. "It was-"

"The bridge duel." Luz frowned, "But that was different, you were there and-"

"This one I wasn't. I don’t think you understand how much you worry me, kid."

"Eda-"

"Don't sweat it. It's just a natural thing you do when you care about people."

"I'm sorry I worried you. I just wanted to fix things."

"I know. You have a knack for getting yourself into situations to carry the world on your shoulders, but you're a kid. You shouldn't have to worry about stuff like that."

"But I do."

"I know." Eda sighed and ruffled her hair, "Sorry for yelling at you."

"You're worried about me. It's fine," Luz shrugged.

"But you know I am proud of you right? Regardless if you make reckless decisions or not."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, Eda."

"Anytime, kid."

[megandzane]

Why do you think does it seem like Harry is angriest at Charles - not at the Queen who's technically the boss and could've intervened if she wanted to and not even at William who supposedly had Harry's back for the longest time? I feel like most of his tirades are directed at his father with nothing explicit about his grandmother or brother. I really thought Meghan was accepted by Charles fully and then this happened.

It’s possible he’s not lashing out or seemingly as angry at his brother is because there’s not a relationship there anymore. Feeling let down and hurt by your own parent is on another level. The queen should have said and done something. But I don’t know how much of a role she has now, it’s always been the courtiers and heirs running the show. And I’m sure It’s gotten worse as she’s gotten older. They were the ones who blocked Harry and Meghan from going to visit her. Charles is actually the one who picked her current secretary . 👀

It’s no secret that Charles was kinda a shit father. He wasn’t there for his kids. He regularly used Harry to better his own image.

Truthfully I think a lot of Harry’s hurt and anger comes from not being protected or feeling like his dad didn’t do his job as a parent. Hell even Andr*w’s daughters were looked after more, their parents made sure they had a place to live and security ( even if it wasn’t taxpayer funded).

Harry said the phone hacking started when he was 13, he has said he was spied on by the British tabloids while at school. There was a Fleet Street agreement after Diana’s death, granting the boys privacy, this was a blatant violation of that. Why didn’t charles file a lawsuit on behalf of his minor son?

The queen might be too deep in the institution to change things this far in, and I don’t know how much of a role she has now. But Charles will have the power to change things, yet he wants things to remain as they are, just a tad slimmed down. He is fine with his kids ( and grandchildren) hurting because he went through the same. How do you not harbor some resentment with a dad like that?

I assume all this might be harder for Harry to reconcile with being a father himself now. Maybe he realizes how messed up some of this stuff was. Why wouldn’t you do everything you can to prevent your child from hurting?

Harry and Meghan have acknowledged that they are able to distinguish between the family and the institution. I get the sense that the queen is a grandmother to them. Charles puts duty above fatherhood, even behind closed doors. Ignoring your son’s calls when you know he’s hurting is something else.

As for Meghan, I did appear that Charles was fond of her. But it became clear that he was using Meghan to appeal to the commonwealth. Made a show out of welcoming her in but never defended her once. It was Charles who made the call that othered H&M children, and would deny them security. Harry and Meghan know their kids wouldn’t be eligible for prince/princess titles until Charles takes the throne. But it was Charles who wanted to change the convention specifically for Archie. And I assume Charles was probably the “very senior member of the family” who told Meghan she couldn’t go somewhere to get treatment. I don’t think it was the queen because they were being blocked by courtiers and that’s by appointment. This was urgent .

And I’m sure there’s a lot of things Harry knows that we don’t.

[codename-freya]

Pin My Muse // accepting

@neverxalone said: “NO”

Send “NO” to pin my muse against the wall to PROTECT THEM

~*~ Kaisa's zanpakuto had been drawn and she had been standing her ground. In a split second she'd gone from being ready to attack to being pinned against a wall. Emerald eyes were wide with surprise and her face went white as a sheet. She'd not been expecting anyone to intervene or even to be stopped. Kaisa's focus wavered and her breath caught in her throat.

Being pinned was something she wasn't particularly fond of. It went along with her dislike of touch. A cold panic had set in, draining her face of color as she realized she was against a wall and there was someone pinning her to it.

The color of green caught her attention and the voice that shouted 'no' had taken that moment of panic and had it calm in a matter of seconds. She was still shocked, but Kaisa realized that it was to protect her. If it hadn't been to protect her she wouldn't have been able to come back to reality as quickly.

"Please let go." Kaisa said softly. Her voice wavered the slightest bit as she was coming back. "You could've gotten hurt trying to protect me."

[ofeliaslullaby]

Fleabag Season 2: A Discourse on Love

Finally caved and watched season 2 of Fleabag. And I say caved as if I haven't been waiting for this show to come back for a solid 2 years...but I was saving it for a day when I truly needed something to rival my own stuff. I knew Fleabag would, because it had when the first season premiered in the US. The poetry of the show really has a way of putting some things into perspective. Season 1 seemed like a discourse on friendship, grief, guilt and self-worth. Season 2 felt like a discourse on love. There will be spoilers.

Firstly:

This season was a love story. Not the storybook, happily-ever-after love (There are no happily-ever-afters in Fleabagland, just there-will-be-pain-but-it-will-get-better-afters), but love in all it's grotesque complexity. After watching the season I took the "this is a love story" opener to not just be about Fleabag's ironic love for the Catholic Priest, but loving yourself (Belinda's monologue, Claire's haircut, Fleabag's new care for herself), familial love (Fleabag's relationship with her sister and father), Martin's love for Claire, and Claire's love for her work and Klare (Claire/Klare will never not be funny and cute). And the Godmother "loves" the Father and art but really I think she just loves attention and the idea of eccentrism.

The first episode hits you hard. It takes place over a year after we leave Fleabag at the end of season 1, and she's doing well, as is the guinea pig café. She is seemingly no longer blaming herself for Boo's death, no longer using sex as a form of escapism, and genuinely valuing herself. We once again get to voyeur through some of Fleabag's life moments. When it all kicks off we go from insufferable family dinner/engagement party for the Dad and the Godmother (who I didn't even remember were not married) with the Catholic Priest they got to marry them, brother-in-law Martin who we despise and the sister we haven't spoken to in over a year; to a tragic and intimate scene in the restaurant bathroom between the two sisters, and almost immediately back to the awkward dinner table where all hilarious hell breaks loose. This formula continues, as it did in the first. If you're not laughing, you're wanting to cry. Such is life, I suppose.

You get a little more context this season behind Claire and Fleabag's relationship. Like all relationships its complex (I feel like there were times when it felt like my relationship with my older sister), but there is love there. So much love. In the bathroom scene in the first episode it is obvious Fleabag is concerned for her sister, while her Claire is distraught, embarrassed, and eventually we come to find out relieved. When they get back to the table and Martin makes remarks that are clearly only hurting the Claire's feelings, Fleabag intervenes because she loves her sister and doesn't want to see her suffer anymore that night. Championing Claire to leave Martin (was rooting for this), that was love. It was obvious Martin loved Claire, he says as much in the scene, but they were not right for each other. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you're meant to be (something we get shown more than once in the finale). A defining moment in their onscreen relationship is when Claire says to Fleabag that the only person she'd run through an airport for is her. A few episodes before this scene we'd learned that what always looked like disdain on Claire's part was jealously and resentment stemming from her own feelings of inadequacy. By the finale I feel like Claire had gotten over some of those issues. When she leaves the wedding for the airport (guess there was someone else she would run through an airport for), I was cheering for her. Phoebe and Sian have so many dynamic scenes together that wouldn't work if the two didn't have amazing chemistry. I love them as sisters, and I love the characters' relationship.

Speaking of chemistry:

Of course, Fleabag would fall in love with the emotionally unavailable. Phoebe and Andrew's chemistry is so good. They played easily off each other's quirks and The Priest sees Fleabag in a way the other characters aren't able to (he notices her zoning out/fourth wall breaks). I could've watched this relationship play out for years. But alas, some things aren't meant to be.

It was obvious the two would end up together, just as obvious as it was that they were never going to last, as friends or a couple. When Fleabag breaks the fourth wall early on she says "we'll last a week". They're both a little dysfunctional, and we never fully get to hear why The Priest is the way he is (he always gets cut off when he tries to explain his past, only getting as far as "When I was a child..." and that he wasn't close to his mother). Through their relationship though, we see that even though it's been some time Fleabag is in fact still coping with the death of her mom and Boo. I feel like part of what she was looking for in their relationship was reassurance, as she turned to the Bible and prayer (something she would never have done previously, as an atheist), where she would normally have only turned to sex and alcohol or other ways to harm herself. When she and The Priest finally do have sex, we the invisible friend have our view almost immediately cut off. Has Fleabag ever done this? She usually narrated her sexual exploits. I feel that adds to the fact that this intimacy with the Priest was love, not a means of escape like the other times.

What I said earlier about the Godmother I say with a tiny grain of salt because I do realize that it's all subjective. We only see Fleabag's point of view. However, she's still the worst. She collects "friendships" like commodities and talks about them in terms of listen descriptors, most clearly shown when she introduced people in the finale. There is no real redeeming of the Godmother for Fleabag after she went from being the Mother's "best friend" to the Father's special someone. And it's hard to tell if the Father really loves her or if he's afraid of her/afraid of being on his own. Fleabag has a lovely heart to heart with her Dad (which acted also as a callback to a scene a few episodes earlier at the mother's funeral) in the finale where in a foreboding moment he says to her "I think you know how to love better than any of us. That's why you find it all so painful." Fleabag replies to us voyeurs tersely, "I don't find it painful". She definitely did. Look at the way she dealt with Boo's death. Yes, there was guilt, but she loved her. She loved her mother and having to see her Godmother with her Father, and being told snyly says she modeled the bust after her mom, her reaction...that's pain from love. We know Fleabag's love and grief for her mother were just as strong as the love and grief she had for Boo. In a flashback scene to after her mother's death, she tells Boo she doesn't know what to do with all the love she felt for her mom and how painful it is. Boo says to give it to her, she'll take it. Boo was a real one. I don't remember Fleabag breaking the fourth wall in these flashback moments (maybe I need to watch it again), but that got me thinking that we're probably taking the place of Boo. The person she lost who shared her laughter, her love, and her grief. We're her echo.

The final scene is heartbreaking to watch play out. You kind of know it's coming especially during his wedding speech, which he seemingly recited to her. The whole season spanned such a short period, but there is an immediate investment in what could be between these characters, and for the Priest this was the only real way this could end. There was no way he was leaving the priesthood. He warned her and thus we were warned, but we don't listen when it comes to the things we want. I was sad for her and him, but as Brittany Howard sings out to the credits (and The Priest's fox-foe pursues him); with a shake of the head that says "you don't need to follow me" and a wave goodbye we, the invisible friend, are reassured she's going to be alright. This was a wonderfully poignant way to end the series. It basically ended as the pilot ended, Fleabag on her way with the stolen bust of her mother in hand. I don't think it could've ended any better.

*I've had this in my drafts for maybe six months, started a new blog, decided to finally edit and post it. If you're reading this I hope you enjoyed it. -S*

[marvelthismarvelthat]

Different Anon here: I have to say I disagree about May in 5B. I think because you are a philindaisy fan, you're projecting your own feelings of what you think May does. She could've very simply told Jemma and Elena that a lot was at stake and they need evaluate whether going against Daisy is helping. Nothing more, nothing less. And defending Fitz to Daisy? Terrible.

tbh the idea that bc i’m a philindaisy fan i’m projecting my own feelings onto may’s actions and therefore giving her a pass is pretty funny to me. 

as a philindaisy fan i have, if anything, a lot of reason to be pissed. and the fact is that the philindaisy fan in me is upset as hell, and the daisy stan? is even more pissed off. like i said i’m a daisy (and philindaisy) fan before i’m a fan of anything else, but that’s not how i approach my metas and analyses.  i make it a point to step back and see storylines from a generalized lens. it would be way easier to let my “daisy is my fave character in the history of ever” lens take over, and write out why i’m mad and what i would’ve liked to see done different, but i choose not to. 

elena and jemma are not stupid. they knew what was at stake, they knew what they were risking and they knew how they were hurting daisy. but they were so blinded by their fear of the future and the desire to prevent it that they lost all reason, and made daisy the bad guy bc she was an easy target and was getting in their way. 

if may had outright demanded that the others respect daisy, it would’ve had would one of two effects:

they’d feel backed into a corner and resent daisy even more bc may told them off. in turn, they’d also probably resent may and stop trusting her because of it. 

they’d listen to may, out of respect for MAY, not daisy. this would’ve cemented that daisy isn’t really the leader at all, because they’re listening to may and not daisy.

either way the end result of may intervening would’ve been the same–may firmly taking daisy’s side and showing direct opposition to fs and yoyo’s behavior (which let’s be real, is what that would mean) would’ve just fractured the team more regardless of how the invincible three reacted. and who knows if daisy would’ve really wanted may to step in like that. 

and may does tell elena off in 5x20: “we’re going to find a way to help coulson, either find a way to pitch in or don’t be here when we get back.” this was what may said in direct reply to elena’s “[daisy] is going to get us all killed” right after she’d come to blows with her. again, elena’s not dumb. she knows that may hasn’t gotten mad up until that point, even though she already knew elena was hesitant to save coulson. her anger was pushed over the edge bc of elena’s actions in that moment. 

and as i’ve said many times before, may never defends fitz. her saying “he’s still on our side” isn’t a defense, it’s a truth. i’m not defending fitz in saying that either, bc his actions don’t deserve to be defended. but the thing is may doesn’t mean “he’s still on your side”, she means that he still wants to save the world just as they do. she never implies that what he did was okay. hell, she even calls him a super villain before going in there, and once she’s in his cell she works an angle to get fitz to cooperate. nothing more, nothing less. she’s a specialist, she was doing her job. 

[indigo-brainspark]

My school once took us to a field trip to a park with a peacock in it. I don't know what one kid did, but suddenly she was being chased down by a murderous giant bejeweled feather duster.

She could've gotten badly hurt, but no one in the class wanted to intervene, just in case that monster switched targets to THEM.

you know how city pigeons are an invasive species that were originally imported as fancy domesticated pets? but then they were released into the wild and started breeding and are now technically feral?

[retail-hell]

JoAnns is a special kind of hell. Here are some short stories of mine:

I had a customer get belligerent at one of our disabled workers, because the woman thought this girl was mocking her, and the woman couldn't understand her. I quickly intervened, and dismissed the girl so she could go back to her job. The lady goes, "What is that girl retarded or something?!" I puff out my chest and go, "Ma'am, do not call her that. (Name) is a hard worker, and is very kind, and I will not help you if you use that word again!" The lady deflates, but still has an attitude and asks me where and item is. I check the handheld, and we had just gotten it on the truck, but I didn't know where it was, which is saying something, considering I was the one who sorted the truck. Meaning it could be in FedEx, or in with yarn. I tell the woman to wait patiently, while I went looking for it. I look for about fifteen minutes, I can't find them. I ask coworkers, they have no idea what the item is. So I go and tell the customer and she starts fuming. She DEMANDS I get her the store manager. I go into the office and talk to the SM, and my SM is like, "No, I'm not going to go talk to her about an item we just got. Tell her to come back tomorrow, and we'll have it out and stocked." I go out and relay this information to the woman, and she's furious. She goes, "Did the store manager tell you to say that, or are you just making shit up?" Finally, I've had enough, and I radio my SM and politely insist she comes and speaks to the customer herself, because I needed to clock out. Apparently this customer yelled in her face until she cracked and searched through yarn boxes for twenty minutes to find these palm-sized fuzzy balls for a hat she was making.

So one Task shift, I was really excited, because we had just gotten in more top-stock shelf strips. They're the strips that say "Please ask a Team Member for help with these items". I had gone a little overboard with then in the Unfinished Wood aisle (1/10 of my sections in the store), and put them on every single top-stock shelf in the aisle. Not even an hour after we opened, I was returning to the aisle from backing up the registers to finish stocking it, when I saw an old lady, maybe 70 years old, standing on the basedeck and reaching for a wooden box that was up in top-stock. Before I could say anything, the small box falls and hits her in the head. She cries out in pain and jumps back, snatches up the box, then at me. Once again, before I can say anything she says, "You work here? I need a manager so we can file an incident report! I was just hit in the head with this box!" I shake my head, "I am not going to get a manager, and we are not going to file an incident report." "But this box fell on me!" "I know. I watched you knock it down." "So get a manager!" "No. You did it to yourself. We have signs posted through the entire aisle that tell you to ask an employee for help, which you ignored. It is not our fault if you ignore our signs, and get hurt in the process." "There are no signs!" "Ma'am, I know there are signs. I am the one who posted them this morning. I am also the one who stocks this aisle. There is no way my top-stock could've fallen on you on its own." With that, she quietly put the small box on a shelf and left without so much as another word.

Within the first two weeks of me working at JoAnns, I was working closing register alone. I was still very new. So new I didn't really know how to do returns without a receipt. A woman comes in at 8:20. She meanders up to the register, grabs an item from the queue line all sneaky like, and comes up to me and says she has a return. She proceeds to dump out a bag of items (which contained one spool of ribbon from our store that had clearly been cut, two spools of ribbon from Hobby Lobby, a shoe lace, and bits of packing for an item from Walmart)and puts the flashlight from the queue line up infront of me. She does have a receipt for our ribbon. So I start by pointing out the obvious, that two of the spools of ribbon are from Hobby Lobby. She's pretty understanding about that. I return the one spool of ribbon that is ours, and then shit starts to go south. I returned the $1.20 to the card used at purchase instead of handing her $1.20 in cash, which set her off. She loudly berrates me for doing so, which makes me find her and her bahvior suspiscious. She demands to know why I didn't return the shoe lace or the flash light. I quickly reply that we don't sell shoe laces, and even if we did, they didn't pop up when I scanned the receipt. As for the flash light, it also wasn't on the receipt, so there was nothing I could do. She tried to argue that we do no-receipt returns all the time. I tell her, "No we don't. I can't return an item without the receipt. Go home and look for it." I deny her service and she left, leaving the remaining items behind. Pretty sure she was going to try to rob us, or was looking for a quick buck.

Had a guy stop me by the paint aisle to ask how much out expensive arcylics were. I confirmed the price, and proceeded to tell him that if he has the JoAnn app, he could use a 50% off coupon on them. He promptly tells me he doesn't have a smart phone. I say, "That's okay. If you text this number you can still get the coupon-" He interjects to tell me he doesn't have texting either. I apologize and tell him there's nothing I can do for him then. He then goes into a fifteen minute tirade about "today's youth" being so wrspped up in technology that they don't want to buy his art anymore or come into his gallery on Main Street, and that we "don't appreciate art anymore". I quickly interject and tell him that I am, in fact, and art major with an art degree. He gets quiet, and then demands I help him get a coupon. I tell him there's nothing I can do to help him if he doesn't have text messgaing. I go back to stocking floral, which is up by our registers. I then hear him berrating one of my coworkers for the 50% off coupon. When she tells him if he can't produce it, she can't help him, he starts to go off on the same tirade. Finally, an old woman offered him hers, because he was holding up the line. Bastard didn't deserve it.

One night, after a week of bad storms, we had really bad leaks in the stock room, and me and my coworker spent most of our early morning shift moving items out of the way of the water, and placing totes to catch the water. Our cage, where we keep our Cricuit machines, was flooding, but we saved them. Then the shelves where we keep fixture bits had a leak. Needless to say, I ended up climbing shelves to get up there, clean up the water, and place a tote to catch the leaks. Our shift manager was pissed, but the store manager was thrilled we did this.

The Wednesday before Black Friday, we had an overnight to get ready for the holiday. Clean the store, fulfill BOPIS and SFS orders, ect. One rule we have at JoAnns is employees and customers cannot put itmes on hold the day before Black Friday, because it's unfair. Our holding area was FULL. I made a passing comment to my store manager, when I noticed a coworker I hated had a chase Pop! Figure on hold. My store manager looked and bitterly told me to clean out the hold area, and then reminded everyone that holds were forbidden during Black Friday. I hid the holds of my friends in yarn boxes, and put back the holds of people I hated and customer holds. I took the chase Pop! Figure, slipped into a store bag, tied it off, and hid it under a basedeck until a few days later when I bought it for my brother for Christmas.

I have more, I am sure, but those are my favroties.

Short stories of working at Jo-Ann’s.

• I’m a crafter, and I’m not 100% familiar with all of our fabrics and sewing items. Which by proxy means I don’t know how to sew in any way except for how to make a pillowcase like I learned in 8th grade. I had a lady come in and I’m back up register so I’m available to help so I offered help when she said she had a question. She proceeded to badger me on how to make a dress. I told her I’m not familiar with how, but one of my managers (who does drag and makes BEAUTIFUL dresses) is. “I saw him earlier but I don’t know if he’s still here. You make go back to the cutting counter to see or ask.” She’s huffy I won’t follow her (I’m clearly doing an important project). She comes back to ask when he works next. I saw I don’t know, I don’t know his schedule. She turns red and leaves.

• Around the start of Black Friday sales ( the first time around, I just made it one year) I was put to train on the cut counter. I’ve done a couple simple cuts before to help out. But I was only trained for less than an hour before I was needed at the register. SM scheduled me for counter my next shift and I was immediately overwhelmed by the line, what people wanted cut, I literally didn’t know what I was doing, it was just me and one other person who was already cutting so she couldn’t teach me, no one could, and I was eventually sent to the back to take care of my first massive panic attack in years. I’m still a little traumatized and have refused to cut since.

• Our store doesn’t sell sewing machines. Instead we have an independent stored that rents floor space from us to sell sewing machines and their other various items. They close at 6, it is 6:10, they are gone, and a lady comes to the register with three of their items and one of ours. Here’s how the conversation went:

ME: Sorry ma’am, I can’t sell you these three items. They are not ours.

LADY: What do you mean? They’re in your store and I need them.

ME: They belong to the independent store in the carpeted area. Their barcodes are made clearly different, and we cannot sell them. You can come back tomorrow to get them. They unfortunately closed at 6.

LADY: You don’t understand, I need them for a project I have to finish tonight. Can I just give you money in and envelope to leave for them.

ME: Logically and morally I cannot do that, ma’am. It would be categorized as stealing as I can’t sell another store’s items.

LADY: You know what? I’ll find someone else to help me.

She proceeds to take all items. Throws the one that was ours onto a random shelf as I watched. Screaming that it was terrible customer service for not doing what she asked. (And as I learned after she left) Yelled at my manager for saying the exact same thing I did, angry that she too wouldn’t steal from another store for her. Then power walked out in a huff. That same manager asked me if she bought anything else, worried she’d leave a stupid survey that would hurt our scores. I simply said no she only wanted those.

• All the customers that complain that our fabrics is a mess and our store is a “mess” are the same ones doing it because we all watched them.

• Bless the few mothers that actually control their kids, instead of letting them run around the store using anything and everything as a toy. Such as the family that let their kids break a big glass vase and proceeded to tell no one. But said “oh at that was us” when a manager found them still looking in that area.

• I had a woman tell me that all of our gift cards were disgusting and that she was super mad that we didn’t have birthday themed ones, nor did we have envelopes for them.

• Customers that say “Oh it was this way not too long ago” and roll their eyes when I say “oh well it’s been like this since before I started working here over year ago and when I shopped here before then”

• “The packaging is a little damaged, can I get a discount?

• All of the empty packaging hidden and plainly visible we see all over the store. Clearance, regular, and sometimes empty bolts stuffed into fabric clearance.

• (I was here this day but I know the story) One day, receiving a large truck load, there was a woman looking for an item that wasn’t on the shelf. She then took it upon herself to go into our freight room to look through boxes and totes for her item. One of the managers eventually yelled at her, threw the tote the lady was looking in at that moment out the door, and slammed it shut when she had followed it.

• One lady was looking for an extremely large sized pillow. And was mad that I told her we don’t carry it instead of looking for it. (I was the only one on register are pillows are in the back.) She said she would call back later to ask again. She never did.

• One much older gentleman (who seemed to have a ferret up his but the moment he came into the store) was first angry that he had to take a number to ask for help because it was busy at the counter. It was empty at the register I really don’t know why he didn’t ask me. He refused to have our female manager help him. He turned the male manager, who was cutting for someone else, to ask him for a pattern for a robe. He was told where and how to find them, as my managers were too busy to leave the counter. The gentleman proceeds to just come up to the register. At the same time counter person came back from lunch. MM ran to help me at the register since there was now a rush. The gentleman comes to me and asks if I’m the manager. I say “no it’s the gentleman next m-”. MM interrupting “yes me and the woman in the back.” The gentleman decided to ignore my manager and complain to me like I’m the manager and can do anything about it. Then asks if I can help him find the pattern. I tell him the exact same thing and apologized that I could not leave as we don’t have the people to cover the line. He turns around, fuming, but following my directions. We get through the line and I’m sent to lunch just as the gentleman comes back and he stares at me as I come out from behind the counter, turning as I went around him. “I’m terribly sorry sir but I have to go lunch now as we behind”. His response was to huff and slam the pattern book he had on the register counter my manager was at. Yelling at him to find it. He did, the gentleman then left.

• One time I was trying to get to the register to help out. But I was stuck behind a gaggle of later 20-early 30s women moving two steps at time, blocking the whole walkway between the aisle. They scoffed at me as I said “pardon me” and squeezed between them.

• Hearing “do you work here?” ten times a day, wearing the bright green apron, having all the gear, and doing my job.

• “I found this on your website, why can’t I find it here?!” Clearly says online only or not available in my store.

• Over Christmas a lady tried to return a Christmas light necklace without a receipt, that was clearly different in design and packaging of what we had on display right next to us, claiming she bought it last week. No you didn’t honey.

• We’re still working on a mega huge yarn reset, and there is nothing but complaints about the boxes in the aisles when they should know by now that we obviously don’t have a back room based on the up stock shelves and that we don’t have enough people because they definitely would’ve been working on getting the yarn out.

There’s more than just customer stories though.

• we had 8 stackout fixtures, they took away four, ands expect us to have 20 set

Be creative!

•magazines were moved to right in front of registers, dropping magazine sales, queue item sales, and causing traffic jams when we busy and people are shopping the magazines.

Be creative!

• we are literally drowning in clearance, we have to have it throughout the store including on queue panels, even though they started wanted us to set 11 queue panels months ago with us only really having 10

Be creative!

• they sent over 50 planograms to be done in one week and as I far as I’ve heard that was legit and not an accident which is ridiculous. Being as hours has been cut so much there had only been one or two people able to work in planograms in general

Be creative!

• sending a million sequin ty animals of all sizes to be set in a tiny display and a million boxes of each type of seasonal candy and only giving tiny sections put it. Such as the Easter candy stackout that had three different peeps in one two foot basket and sending five boxes of each one

Be creative!

I don’t understand how much more creative we can get when it feels like our store is getting smaller and smaller as fixtures are taken away or filled and boxes of overstock just keep coming. I love my job, it’s just extremely frustrating how the uppers and customers are treating us.