#it’s gonna take like many hours to do but it’ll be worth it lol

[scoutshorror]

the singer from grlwood showed me how to customize my phone to make it look like a pokemon game last night i am fucking living

[solar4seekstron]

Transformers One x reader: Awakening Chapter Two

Chapter 2: Map

Chapter One, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six

Transformers One x Cybertronian!GN!reader

TW/tags: Long chapter, reader’s dragged along, D needs a hug, the reader is safe from Elitas grasp, B and Reader get along very well. You think he funny deal with it lol, I believe that’s all

(Note: Yes chapter 2 lets go! Like chapter one this will be pretty long as well. I also decided to add two characters who I really love, especially MTMTE being Ratchet and Drift. At the time though since it’s before the war Drift is still Deadlock I don’t think he had a different name before becoming a deception so I’ll just be putting Deadlock as a name for the story. I like to think Deadlock in the story has a cog but we don’t see or hear of him. At least I don’t think so I’m going to add him here. If you guys want to imagine him being your favorite bot or cogless that’s totally fine. I’m just having a good time. Ratchet will show up in the medical bay scene later. The two already knowing and have eat Y/N before. Helping give some lore dump of Y/Ns past like hinted earlier in the first chapter. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this long chapter!)

It was the day of the Iacon 5000. Many of the Cybertronians with cogs and not go to the arena to see many races and by far the most exciting thing of the day for them. Y/N is seen walking by their self into the stadium along side other miners and other cybertronians with cogs. They make their way getting a pretty good seat to watch the race. They would seat next to a few miners. Next to Y/N was Deadlock, someone who worked clubs as a bouncer dealing with customers. At first he didn’t notice them since they were so small. They would put their hand on his arm to gently grab his attention causing him to look around confused until he looks down

”Ah. Y/N so glad you could come my dear.” He would put his hand on their back as he continues to talk

”Can’t wait to see the race I see. Must be tiring working all those mines for hours”

”It has it’s moments but just shows how strong I am to do it pretty much everyday.”

”I bet. I can’t imagine how you can do that for so long. Then again I work at a club so I shouldn’t complain. Heh If you had a cog I would be taking you places. A shame really. You cogless bots gotta work all the fragging time. Ain’t fair that I can’t see you all the time.” His arm would then be around their shoulders as he looks forward. Y/N would chuckle to what he said but then look down a little sad. Looking at his hand then forward again as they waited for the race to start. Deadlock continueing to speak to another bot next to him not moving his arm.

*With Orion and D-

D and Orion were walking together as they talked about the race.

“The Iacon 5000 is finally here!”

“I have a surprise for you. Come on.” Orion pats D on the shoulder. Grabbing his attention.

“Where are you going? The stadium is that way.” D says to Orion, turning to look at him.

“Yeah yeah I know. But follow me.” D would sigh and reluctantly follow behind him.

“Great. We’re gonna be late now. I wanted good seats. We came all this way to miss the opening ceremony. This is wonderful.”

“Trust me I know what I’m doing. Hold up. Get caught in one of those. It’ll launch you halfway across the city.”

“Ok where are you taking me?”

“Don't be a glitch, this will be totally worth it. Trust me.”

“Hey you don’t be a glitch. I know this is like fun for you like we joke around but if you make me miss any part of the Iacon 5000 I swear I will smelt your face right off your…”

D soon realizes he and Orion are inside the starter line. Seeing thee crowd and the racers coming in from different directions

“Welcome! To the Iacon 5000. There they are. Put your hands together for todays competitors are taking the field.”

“Look! Look! There’s Thunderglide! And Bahemoth! Unbelievable! I feel like I’m in the race…..You did this..for me?”

“No. I did this…for us.” The two would fist bomb as they looked at eachother

“And now. The moment you all been waiting for. The Icon an Iacon. The Savior of Cybertron. Quintessons fear him but we love him! Our Leader. The One and Only! Sentinel Prime!”

Sentinel Prime would fly down from a tall tower and fly down to the stadium as the lights of the city followed him. Y/N would see him. Deadlock not really caring much rolling his eyes as he removes his arm from around Y/N to check his polish. Y/N would then get the idea and and stand reaching their hand up as high as they can for Sentinel to give them a high five. He will fly close to the the other Cybertronians and give a few high fives as they raised their hands. Sentinel notices them as he flew down seeing them raise thier hand and looking at him. He almost loses focus and makes sure to get to them. Y/N being the last one to get a high five before he goes to his spot in the sky and speaks.

“Yes! It feels so good to be here with you all today! My friends. My Cybertronian family. It has be precisely 50 cycles since the Quintessons attacked our home. 50 cycles since we lost the matrix of leadership and our energon supplied dried up. 50 cycles since the battle that killed the other primes my brothers and sisters in arms. Today we honor the primes who gave their lives for ours and show them that the strength of Cybertron will never be diminished.”

Y/N would watch as the primes appear and start to think to their self as Deadlock cheers wanting the race to start. Deadlock would notice Y/N still standing and chuckles his himself as he looks forward again. Still sitting down.

“Racers! On your marks!” The racers start to transform

“I can’t believe we get to watch from the starting line! At the best seats of the house! Why'd you bring jet packs?”

“Get Set!”

“Its time we show them we are more than meets the eye.”

“Oh no..”

From there Sentinel shoots his blaster and the racers soon start. Deadlock now standing as he cheers for his favorite racer. Y/N watches but then notices two bots flying with jet packs. Them soon looking familiar. They would gasp after the realization of who they are.

“And they’re off!”

From there the two would fall down and Orion would catch D as D was upside down. Him screaming as Orion looked forward with a smile plastered on his face.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Sure feels like it.”

“The Iacon 5000 has begun.”

“Sorry. Are those miners in the race?”

“Miners! Those are miners! Like us!”

“Can’t believe what I’m seeing here. There are miners trying to run in the Iacon 5000!”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

“This is insane!”

“There’s miners in the race!”

“Miners?!”

“Where?!”

“They can’t even transform!”

“It’s Orion Pax and D-16!”

“This is a first in Iacon 5000 history! How are they going to survive?”

“If we survive this I’m going to kill you!”

“I accept those terms!”

“Going into the led down the main strip. Followed by scape and skyfire!”

“Hey look out!”

The two would then have to start running continuing the race

“I owe you one!”

“More like a 1000!”

Sentinel was watching the two run with his hands behind is back in almost disbelief

“I can’t believe we’re not in last place!-“

“Beat it, Miner!”

“Darkwing delivers a devastating blow.”

“We’re not fast enough!”

“Improvise!”

The two say to each other running into a tunnel with the other racers. One by one the two would jump on another Cybertronian. D continuing to be polite to the others being a big fan while Orion was sort of having fun at that moment. Soon D would save Orion and the two continue to run joining together to jump out

“Time this right! And. Now!”

“Move!”

One of the racers say trying to warn D. But it was too late and D was hit. Soon D was over the edge but Orion was able to catch him just in time and pull him up. The two ran again before stopping.

“And the miners have fallen way behind. We can now focus on the real contenders on this race.”

The two would then get an idea

“I don’t believe it! The miners take down Darkwing!”

“Ugh! Miners!!”

“Great effort Darkwing!”

“It's all worth it. It actually worked!”

“Is this the dumbest thing we’ve ever done?”

“Oh yeah it’s up there!”

“Wait. Go go go.”

“Four blocks pile up in the magnetic tunnel that the miners are now in first position! This is unbelievable.”

“D!”

“Go! Go! Leave me!”

“No! We do this together!”

“One miner is now carrying the other! Mere steps from the finish line. The most amazing sensational, dramatic, hard working, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of-“

“Yeah!!”

“We have a winner. Chromia comes to take the price! Talk about an Iacon 5000 for the ages.”

“Well second place is still pretty good.”

Then other racers would past them

*After the Race and Orion and D are taken to the Med Bay

Y/N stands up and starts heading to the exits . Deadlock noticed and walks after them.

”Woah hey where are you going?”

“Those two are my friends. I have to make sure they’re all right!”

Deadlock would grab their arm stopping them as other bots walk past the two and he stands next to them

”Don’t worry I’’m sure the doctors and nurses will take good care of them. Come on let me take you out and grab a drink before your shifts.” He puts a hand on their back as they looked up at him

”Maybe next time Lock but I care about my friends. I’ll see you at the next race yeah? I should really go.” They would pat his arm gently as they then leave. Deadlock putting his hands on his hips as he watches them ;eave. Seeming almost disappointed and upset before walking away with the other bots.

*The Medical Bay-

“Reaching Dr. Ratchet. Dr. Ratchet to-“

“Do not worry you’ll be fixed up in no time.”

“Did I win?”

“You- participated.”

“Yaaaay.”

The two past the room with Orion and D. D looking very mad as Orion tries to think of what to say to kill the silence.

“So. How long do you think we'll be here?”

“I’m not talking to you………You know what, I can’t believe you made me do that! We are so screwed!”

“I thought you weren’t talking to me.”

“Hey! I know it’s all a big joke to you! But not me! I was paying my dues. I was going places and now they’re going to bust me down I-I don't even know how many tiers.”

“I’m sorry D. Come on, didn't you feel it? Even for just a second? Didn’t you feel liberated? Didn’t you feel like you were something else? Like you could be more than what they say you are?”

“Yeah I felt it. I did. But it doesn’t matter, we’re going to get punished and demoted. Ugh, Sentinel Prime saw everything! This is so embarrassing!”

From there this tall spider woman walks into the room using her eyes on the side of her to scan the two as they look at her confused and a bit scared.

“It’s clear.”

Sentinel would then walk in. Hands on hips as heeled down at the two.

“Orion Pax. D-16. What you two did today was one of the craziest things I have ever seen.”

“Sir, this is all my idea and we’re so sorry-“

”YOU TWO!!!” The three in the room besides Airachnid were startled by someone yelling as they then hear someone running towards them almost panting. Y/N then appears gong around Sentinel then standing in front of him not really processing he’s there as they look at the two angry and worried. Sentinel look down at them surprised, regonzing them from the crowd as he had his hand up to stop Airachnid from approaching. He then has an intrigued look on his face as he listens to them speak

“Orion what were you thinking putting yourself and D in that situation?! It was awesome but you could’ve died!!”

”Uh Y/N-“ Orion would say

”And D why didn’t you just stop him. What in the forever spark of Primus could have convinced you that-“

D would stops them grabbing their hand and pointed at Sentinel.

”Oh hey Sentine- Sentinel?! OH! Sir I am so sorry. Mostly for these two. I’m sure something like this will never hap-“

“I loved it!”

The three woukld look as him confused and shocked

“You did?”

“How can anyone not love it? You gave my best racers a real run for their money!”

Y/N would walk back a bit to stand next to D. Putting a hand on his shoulder as they listen to Sentinel

“So we’re not getting demoted?”

“Demoted?” They would start laughing. D and Orion laugh nerviously as Y/N only chuckled a bit

“The fact of the matter is. We are halfway into the first shift since the race ended. And that mining crew has already reached one hundred-fifty percent quota. You inspired them to work harder!”

“Sentinel Prime, Sir. We joined the race to show everyone our potential. That we bots can do more then just mine-“

“Outstanding. I love a bot that can think for himself! Perhaps you two could tour the mines. Speak to your brethren and help them see their potential.”

“Wow. Great. That- that sounds incredible! I-i would love to be-“

“Sir. It’s time.”

“Ba. Yes. I’m sorry friends. We’re preparing our next travel to the surface. But in the meantime, I got a treat for you. Hang tight. Airachnid have someone escort these heroes to my personal service facilities. Best care in Iacon. Ah, and Y/N I believe was it? Maybe you can join me up until my depart seeing you’re a good friend of these two and you can help me figure-out how we can make the city with the miners a better place with these two.”

“Oh sir that would be wonderful but I believe I should start heading to the mines before my superior gets mad at me for being late. I can always join later though as these two finish getting their special care.” D chuckled a bit and Orion hummed. Sentinel looked a bit disappointed his eye brows farrowed as he looks at Y/N then at the two. His smile retuning

“Well that’s just fine. I look forward to seeing you join us for a little meeting for the miners of Iacon. Until next time legends!”

He especially winked at Y/N who looked a bit confused as the other two didn’t notice

“Sentinel Prime. Ahh Thee Sentinel Prime!”

“You still mad at me?”

“I am less mad at you.”

“I’m telli-“ The two are then grabbed by the their shoulders. Orion on his right and D on has left as Y/N stood in front of them again and shook them a little

”You two ain’t off the hook yet! It is still stupid and you two were idiots!….But you’re alive and seems like you aren’t that harmed from racing luckily. So when we return from Sentinels quarters after you two better have a really. Really good apology! You got that?!”

The two nod saying yes to make them happy. They would turn to walk out but then look back at them and gives them a quick hug. Their arms around the both of them so their heads are close to theirs

”Just try to not scare me like that ok all right?” They would pull back their hands on their shoulders again then smiles with also worry in thier eyes. Then turns around and walks out. Right at the door then pointing at the two

”Good apologies.” Causing the two to chuckle watching as they left

“I’m telling you D I got a feeling that everything is going to change wer- we’re going to go-“

From there Darkwing walks in very upset

“Miners!”

“Ahh..Darkwing.”

*With Y/N-

They walk out of the medical bay and passes Ratchet. He waves at his patient saying he’ll only step out for a moment and walks to speak to Y/N outside the room and go for a little walk.

”Ah Y/N good to see you’re well and healthy. How’s the new team? Are they treating you well? Was there an injury that cause you the need to come here?”

”Yes Ratchet they’re a lot nicer then my last team. But I can’t really say the same with the surpiors. But I like it. Just came to check up on a couple friends. Going to the mines right now to see a friend at waste management.”

”That’s good to hear. At least it’s safer and I don’t have to see you in my hospital much anymore.”

Y/N only chuckles a bit embarrassed and almost looks sad. Once at the front Ratchet look turn to look at them

”You take care now and get plenty of rest”

”I will. Good seeing you Ratchet.”

*Orion and D during that time-

Darkwing then flies the two down the sub levels

“No! No! Wait wait! You don't understand we were suppose to Sentinel Primes service pods-“

“You two dots aren’t going to see anyone ever again! I’ll make sure of that!”

“You’re making a mistake! Ask Sentinel!”

“Hate that guy.”

They then see a yellow bot. Soon the bot is walking to them pointing at them.

“You! How did you get down here? There’s no access. There is no one else here but me! N one- You’re real?! You- you- you- you’re others! You’re not me! You’re here! And you’re not me!”

“Uh yeah?”

“Awesome! I am so sorry that must’ve been so weird for you. I-i just haven’t had a lot of company since they put me down here in sub level 50.”

“50? But there are only 40 sub levels.”

“That’s what I thought. Turns out there are 10 more. And they are not pleasant. Probably why no one ever really talks about them.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“How long have I been here? Ha! Lets see, uh. Somewhere between a long time and forever. I mean I had other jobs but I kept getting reassigned ‘cause I’m so good at what I do. Oh! I’m B-127 by the way. But you can call me B. I’m actually working on some nicknames the one I’m floating right now it’s badassatron which is actually pronounce. “Badassatron” But if you have any critiques.”

“Yeah uh. Great great. How- how do we get out of here?”

“Great question. You don’t.”

“We don’t?!”

“Nope. We have limited access to the waste management area but the new shift manager there does not like distractions. No, they prefer we stay here on the task at hand.”

“Which is?”

“Oh, The scrap comes in from the shoot there onto the coveyor velt our job is to look for anything that might be worth salvaging before it hits the furnace and gets smelted.”

“So you just watch garbage burn?”

“Yes! It is so great that you are here now! I can’t wait to learn everything about you, and then tell you everything about me! I have a lot of hopes and dreams that I am just dying to share with one or two new best friends!”

“Uh yeah we- we love to.”

“Where are my manners? Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. Hey guys!! We got company! This is EP508. This is A-A-tron. And this fella here is Steve.”

“Steve?”

“Yeah. He’s foreign.”

“Question. Do they talk back to you?”

“Um. They’re not real. What- jeez. They think I’m that crazy?”

“No no. It’s just you been down here for-“

“I was talking to Steve.”

“Classic Steve!”

“What is that?”

“Look at this guy”

“Its coming from the side-“

“Steve! Noooooooo!”

“I am so sorry.”

“Steve! Nooooo! My Steve!”

“Uh we can fix it! Don't worry! We uhh-“

“Quintesson ambush! Calling the high guard for immediate support. Immediate support!!”

“That’s Alpha Trion.”

“One of the Primes?”

“Repeat. Zeta prime has fallen.”

“It’s an SOS message.”

“Protect the matrix! Sending location coordinates. Sending location coordinates.”

“Holy Primus.”

“Those are coordinates to a location on the surface. This could be where the primes died in the Quintessons war. Which means this is where we can find the matrix of leadership.”

“What are you talking about? It’s an old beacon inside a statue made of garbage.”

“Or it's a clue of how we can find matrix of leadership.”

“No. No way. Absolutely not.”

“Hey D. Come on. This could be our chance to show everyone that we’re not-“

“You already tried to show everyone in the race you tricked me into running which got us stuck down here in this waste hole with this- uhh really cool guy.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“I’m just saying-“

“There’s a reason why no one goes to the surface; it's dangerous! I’m waiting right here until Sentinel Prime finds us.”

“Oh Okay. Yeah well we’ll just stay here forever. That's cool with you B?”

“Forever? This is great! New coworkers and roommates! There’s plenty of room now that Steve is dead. I usually sleep on the conveyor velt but you can totally have it. I’ll just sleep in the corner next to A-A-Tron. Plenty of room for you guys to stretch out too because you guys are taller and I am you know what I mean? You know what I mean?”

“Hey D what do you think Sentinels reaction will e if you personally handed him the Matrix of Leadership that You found-“

“Ok stop. I know what you’re trying to do. And it's definitely working. I’m in!”

“Haha! Yeah buddy!”

“How do we get to the surface?”

“You're kidding me. The surface? Easy. I know a way. But it won't be easy.”

The three will then proceed to climb the trash shoot.

“Why is there so much trash?”

“Warning next time please. My mouth was open.”

“Only 49 sub levels to go.”

“Waste disposal trains are the only vehicles that go all the way to the surface.”

“Yeah but they don’t allow passengers ‘cause the trains are autonomous.”

“Yeah that’s the “won’t be easy part.”

“That’s perfect. We’ll be safe inside the train.”

*Meanwhile with Y/N-

Y/N continues to head to waste management. Where Elita was still working at. They would pass by the surpiors as they are their way over tho Elita. They see Elita picking up a box and making her way to the train. They would follow her. After she put the box down she would go to a bigger box and look to see who’s closer. That’s when Y/N waved and stood on the other side of the box.

”Hey Elita, how you holding up?”

”Only the best I can Y/N. Though I can be of more use else where.”

”Hey at least you have a pretty good job and you know Orion didn’t mean to do what he did. He really is sorry.” Y/N says as Elita looked at them then down a upset

”It’s whatever. At least I wont have to see that scrapping face again. Mind helping”

”Not at all”

The two pick up the box together and start to carry it into the train. The two walk out as another two bots with a big box go in then put theirs down in the middle of the room

“That's the last one. Start her up.”

The three would land on the train sneakily and get through one of the small doors on top of the train. Getting in quietly after seeing two other bots leave. Y/N old walk to the other miners until she notices there’s one more box. She’ll pick it up and walk back into the train. Y/N would wait staying close by thre trai while the other miners just talked.

“Hold up. One more. I’ll lock it down.”

She would then see the open door on the ceiling. Scoffing and even chuckling as she walked back in.

“Heh thanks for being an idiot whoever you are.Turning you in will definitely get me promoted back a rank or two.” Y/N would notice her still in the train. They then walk standing a little pass the doors inside the train about to speak until they witnessed what happens next

“Got her!”

“Wait wait wait.”

“Elita stop!”

“Orion??” Y/N and Elita say at the same time

“Hold on let me-“

“Security! Sound the alar-“

The doors would close and the train would start moving forward to its destination. Elita will grow annoyed and start running towards the front of the train.

“Elita wait- Orion. D-16 what in primus is going on?!”

“I’ll tell you later but right now I need to stop her!”

”What?!”

“She’s headed towards the entry.”

The three start chasing Elita and Y/N just groans then starts chasing them. Staying behind D

“Don’t worry I got this! Hold on, let me explain we’re on a mission!”

“So am I! To ruin your life!”

The train would then go up. Elita getting on a box as the others would fall back because of the gravity. Y/N was able to hold on to a box where they watch the others fall back

“Elita, wait we found a message. We know-“

Elita would then kick the box down and keep climbing up the train as the box would almost land on Orion until B pushed Orion before getting hit

“This bot is crazy! Who is she??”

“Deadend Elita! There’s no way uhh..Well she’s gone.”

Elita was able to make it out of the train. climbing you as the others follow behind. Orion soon on her tail as B comes out next and then D.

“Why! Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?”

“Climb Faster!”

Y/N continues to follow behind going up the train ladder after D as they climbed up. As the four continue to follow her the train soon goes in a straight line once more and then down before going forward once more again causing the four to hit the train after holding on. Orion then sees his opportunity and grabs her leg.

“Gotcha!

Elita would then turn to punch him but seeing the surface for the first time soon stops her. The five stand up as they look ath the same direction. Y/N would step a bit closer to D. Being both fasciated but scared of they are currently witnessing. D noticed this and sets his hand on their left shoulder to bring them a sort of comfort

“The surface.”

“It’s beautiful..” Orion would look at her

“It’s incredible…”

“I am…speechless.”

“Elita, listen to me, we know where the Matrix of Leadership is.”

“Oh sure, and I’m really a prime. I just prefer loading crates in toxic waste- woah where I’d you get this?”

“From my friend Steve. Orion killed him.”

“I did not kill Steve.”

“He was never alive.”

“What?” Elita and Y/N both say. As Orion and Elita spoke D puts his hand back on their shoulder

”It’s a long story. Also this is B.”

”Hi!”

“Oh uh hello B.”

“Sentinel told us he was going to the surface and then we found this message. We figured that we can hand deliver it to him or scout the location ourselves. Whichever comes first.”

Elita would stare at the map for a good second before looking at Orion

“This was too important to wait. It will change all of our lives.”

“No no no no. I’m not going to get demoted again because of you. I’m turning this rig around and I’m notifying the o-“

Elita starts walking to the head of the train once more Orion watching her along with B and Y/N but D would speak.

“Hey hey guys? What is that? Is it getting bigger?”

“Or closer?”

As the five watched, B would start running. The others soon joining him running back the open door.

“No no no no no no no-“

“Don't close. Stop closing. Don't close! It’s closed!”

The five will start trying to open the door. But the giant transformation is soon closer and the five turn their head and look at the now mountain. Fear on their faces they all grab the railes and hang on tightly

“Come on!”

“Oh now I know why no one comes to the surface!”

Soon the transformation causes the train to shake and at times loses its gravity. This causes the five to let go without meaning to. Causing them to fly and soon hit the ground. Elita would then open her optics

“Elita…..Elita….You ok?”

Elita would punch him on reflex and trys to stand up while Orion was still on the floor as he touched his jaw. B in the back upside down as his legs stay outside moving. D then comes up grabbing Bs leg and starts pulling to help. Y/N was on the floor between the four mostly their head and upper back on the floor as their legs are over their head and seems to not be moving. But can be heard groaning a bit

“Please stop punching me in the face!”

“Iacon. The trai- Where’s the train?!”

“Relax! Ok here it comes. Aaaaand there it goes. Ok I was wrong about that it was going the other way-“

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

Oh yeah Chapter 2! Next chapter will be released on Tuesday so in 4 days

[sugarbunniis]

ok so embarrassing story time from one of my drs-

(〜￣▽￣)〜

get ready luvs

(cw- SPIDERS, showering (???))

um so this is in my singer dr where i’m dating one of my many celebrity crushes, and for the sake of his anonymity (lol i’m already getting exposed enough in this post.), we’ll call him T.

so it was a nice wednesday morning, and i was getting ready to go to a photoshoot with vanity fair, i had an hour to get ready may i add. T was doing whatever the hell he was doing in the bathroom as i was in the fancy ass shower, him just casually leaning against the counter. (idk dude attached to me. like i totally didn’t script that jkjk) no but actually he was reading me some dumbass news article that was goofy af.

all of a sudden while i was shampooing my hair making it all bubbly and such, i moved my hand in the wrong direction ig and i got the mfking shampoo in my eye.

ofc, experiencing that kind of crippling pain, i shriek, or i guess more of a yelp, and T who was just laughing at some stupid article a second ago, was in full on protective bf mode ready to fight whatever just attacked me in the shower.

“OH MY GOD. (insert my irl name), BABY, ARE YOU OKAY?!” T yells, deciding wether or not it was appropriate to open the ALREADY SEE THROUGH GLASS SHOWER DOOR. (EVEN THO MFKER HAS SEEN ME NAKED TOO MANY TIMES [who said that..?])

“yep. yep. fine, sorry just got shampoo in my eye.” i take a sec to come up with something funny to say, “at least it’ll be clean now after all the shit i’ve witnessed.”

he laughs cause i’m just funny like that. “ok, i was worried there was a spider and i was gonna have to come in there to kill it.”

“i mean-there’s no spider but you can still come in if you want to.”

✧

so yeah. if you were curious, yes embarrassing stuff like getting shampoo in your eye when your boyfriend is reading you an article about some dumb shit happens in your dr.

anyway after this i knew T was a keeper after offering to sacrifice his life over spiders for me. 🙏🧎‍♀️

xx, sugarbunniis ❥

p.s- lemme know if u like little stories from my drs like this! it may be worth the embarrassment if it brings you all some motivation and happy feels. ❤︎︎❤︎︎

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

NSFW Headcanons~ Charles Brady

(Not my gif)(Requested by my own lust and subsequently an anonymous ask)

(This is absolutely filthy. I apologize in advance. I also hope you enjoy because I feel like this is a little all over the place lol.)

- You prefer not to think about his previous sexual escapades; for obvious reasons, but rest assured, he’s well experienced. He hasn’t had all that many sexual partners but he’s had a lot of practice and that’s what really counts, isn’t it?

- Something you’ll come to find out about him is that he’s never gonna turn down head. He falls in love with you through it: his face falling into a slack jawed expression while his eyes meet yours; thinking about how you’re going to be the death of him while you gaze at him with an angelically evil look. Handjob, blowjob, what have you: he loves it all the same.

- When you’re giving him a handjob, he loves having you in his lap, kissing him while you twist your tightened fist around his aching length. If you have him in your mouth than he’ll love it when you keep eye contact with him, slapping his cock against your tongue or hollowing your cheeks around him while he holds the back of your head.

- That being said: if you’re a whore than he’s a whore because he can legitimately eat you out for hours. He’ll hold your hips down and make you cum until your entire body is thrumming and your wetness is dripping down his face; all before looking up at you like that’s his way of saying “love you~”. He can be plenty obedient when he wants to be and he’ll crawl over to you on his knees, resting his face on your thighs until you tell him what to do; if that’s the sort of thing you’re into.

- Charles; being the animal that he is, can smell when you’re in the mood and will act accordingly: his eyes darkening as he moves in closer; insisting that he’s not doing anything as he gets all handy with you. Most of the time, this behavior culminates in him carrying you off to bed like a husband carrying his bride; relishing in your laughter and the way you feel in his arms.

- Foreplay is almost always guaranteed. He likes seeing you desperate for him: it strokes his ego and satisfies the part of him that grows frustrated every time he’s forced to pretend as though just seeing you doesn’t turn him on.

- How he acts with you really just depends on his mood: sometimes he’s more animalistic while other times, he’s much more devoted and romantic. When the two of you first got together, his mood swings were enough to give you whiplash, but nowadays you can play him like a fiddle; swaying his emotions to your benefit just as much as he sways yours to his.

- For the most part, he plays the role of a sort of service dom: taking charge and doing most of the work yet obeying your commands and doing everything he can to please you.

- This submissive leaning part of him lessens and grows the more he gets to know you. Oftentimes he acts like a well behaved and sweet brat: acting out in order to get your attention; whether it be trying to make you jealous or saying things like “anything particular in mind?” when he knows exactly what you want. If he’s particularly desperate for you, he’ll melt under your undivided attention: his banter dying in his throat as you pick up on his antics and give him exactly what he wants.

- He’ll come up and wrap himself around you, kissing your neck and speaking to you in a soft, soothing voice; refusing to accept that you’re too busy to pay attention to him. He’ll do whatever he can to keep you occupied: distracting you with his words and actions and otherwise letting you know that it’ll be “worth your while” to take a little break.

- Oftentimes, this will include trying to make you jealous; for a multitude of reasons. He falls in love to the point of obsession so it’s no surprise that once he has you, he’ll want you to stake your claim on him and feel as possessive and jealous over him as he does over you. It’s just too bad that you see right through him and choose to turn it around on him; acting as though you have similar stories about other men when he brings up the girls in your school who think he’s cute.

- If you’re more submissive than you are dominant, this is your chance to have your cake and eat it too. It might be blatantly obvious what you’re trying to do; even to him, but the farther you push it, the more he’ll be consumed by the thought of it. You’ll say “what a coincidence” and bring up a boy in your class and before you know it, you’ll be dragged into the bedroom; only leaving it once he’s entirely sure *insert boys name* is out of your mind for a very long time.

- You’re the only person he can really experiment with so while there may be certain things that he carries into your sex life from his past experiences, he’ll usually change things up and introduce new things into the bedroom every now and again. He does have a bit of a thing for seeing how depraved he can convince you to be.

- Fooling around in his car. If you’re a particularly innocent person, he’ll enjoy teasing you: questioning you about different things while his hand toys with your chest, grinning as you whimper in response to him and his actions.

- Lots of kissing and making out. Sometimes you wonder how he manages to stay conscious with how little he seems to stop to breathe.

- He absolutely loves it when you play with his hair: running your fingers through it, brushing it from his face, tugging on it. It drives him crazy and turns him into putty; melting in front of you as he all but purrs in response.

- Domestic behavior tends to turn him on; same with maternal behavior but we won’t get into that. He loves seeing you cook and clean and act like a little housewife. You’ll oftentimes catch him lingering in the doorway, watching you for god knows how long before you realize he’s standing there and spot the look in his eyes that you’re all too familiar with.

- Teasing back and forth’s. It isn’t often that he shuts up when the two of you are having sex; at least not in the beginning and/or for very long.

- He’s consistently trying to make a move on you; especially when he’s been away from you for a particularly long time. He’s got a ridiculously high sex drive and he makes it your problem once he gets comfortable enough around you.

- Speaking of him making moves: don’t expect him to stop just because you’re in public. You’ve often found yourself whining about how “someone will see” as he pushes up your skirt and kisses along your neck; only to be met with him telling you to “let them see” as he fumbles to fill you up.

- His favorite position is doggystyle: the type where he presses his hips flush against your ass and thrusts into you like a sensual and desperate animal; wrapping his arms around you while he engulfs your entire body.

- For this very reason, his thrusts tend to be deep and grinding; up until you need him to speed up or go harder. He likes being inside of you as much as possible, burying himself as far as he can go while you whimper and mewl below him.

- He definitely has a breeding kink and I refuse to believe otherwise. He’ll try to keep it from you for as long as he can but it isn’t long before the dirty talk slips out and you’re confronted with the truth. Once you explain that you’re fine with it, he gets absolutely filthy: don’t be surprised if he starts talking like a man possessed while you’re in the middle of things.

- Speaking of his more animalistic kinks: he’d also be into a bit of biting. The two of you would be in the heat of the moment and he’d grow feverish, biting down on your shoulder harshly and tugging at the flesh before running his tongue against the wound soothingly. It’s somewhat instinctual so it’s not particularly something he can help; though he’ll try his hardest not to do it if you really don’t want him to.

- Admittedly, pain sort of just comes with the territory sometimes. Charles is sort of a psychopath so don’t be surprised if he suggests some really depraved shit; like using a knife on you. He’s far kinkier than you’ll ever anticipate when you first get to know him.

- He absolutely loves when you leave scratches on his back; the deeper the better. He wants to look in the mirror and see the marks you left on him for days at a time. He wears them like a badge of honor.

- Alright, let’s talk about the knife kink. It’s less a knife kink and more a marking kink but the details really don’t matter. What matters is the fact that he’ll show you the angry looking scar in the shape of your initial carved into his arm, and plead with you to let him do the same to you; except this time on your thigh.

- He’ll insist it doesn’t hurt “that bad” and a part of you considers it worth it when he stifles your cries or gasps of pain with his mouth and runs his hands along your body soothingly; visibly holding himself back from pouncing on you like a wild animal because the sight of his name on your skin affects him so much. His husky whispers about how “now you’re completely [his] and everyone will know it” will explain what his infatuation with it is really about and you’ll wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into when you realize that that actually does something for you.

- Overstimulation. Sometimes he just wants to fuck you until your spent: your body quivering and covered in sweat, tears forming in your eyes as you pant and moan like never before. He likes seeing you dripping, biting your lips and writhing as he makes you cum over and over and over again. He treats you so well doesn’t he? Can’t you tell how much he loves you?

- Being with him really is a trip because he’s consistently kind and loving towards you; acting like an all American gentleman, before getting into the bedroom and doing something ridiculously perverted. He’ll lick the sweat off your forehead or smell your panties and you won’t be able to stop yourself from thinking back on it the next time he acts like a youth counselor.

- All of this isn’t to say that he can’t be gentle and sweet because he most certainly can. Lovemaking is a specialty of Charles so if you prefer to take things slow, all is certainly not lost. Just take control for a bit and set the mood: the two of you usually start things off pretty tame and loving so it isn’t hard to go from there; sometimes he even prefers it.

- Okay, but imagine him putting his shapeshifting abilities to good use; if you know what I mean. Changing the shape or length of his tongue, his fingers, his you know what. No matter what he’s doing to you, it’ll always feel unreal and his sexual expertise will definitely be used as a secret weapon in certain situations; like when you’re mad at him or otherwise thinking of leaving.

- He’s naturally just sort of average sized but like I said: shape shifting.

- Typically, Charles prefers cumming inside of you; for obvious reasons, but it’s really up to you. If you want him to do something else then he’ll do it; unless he really can’t help himself. But regardless, it’s best to go on as much birth control as possible because he’s really not joking about that whole breeding thing.

- Charles is the best at aftercare: treating you like an absolute princess while he caters to your every need and want. Want food or a drink? He’s got it. Want a bath? He’ll run it. Want a massage? No problem. Want to cuddle? It’s his pleasure. He loves taking care of you and he loves to relax in bed with you afterwards; even if he asks about “round two” only a couple minutes in.

[im-no-jedi]

only three days? 😩

well, regardless of whether we’re already together or not, I figure Hunter and I both have very different ideas of what activities to do. he’s an active, outdoorsy guy, and I’m an indoor couch potato LOL

so then, we’d split up the days! (treating this as a modern AU btw 😜)

first day would be doing whatever Hunter wants. he’d argue about letting me go first, but no, I wanna get the hard stuff outta the way first 😝 I’m sure he’d wanna go on a nature walk or something like that, so I’d recommend my local arboretum. I genuinely love going there, so I could stomach a few hours walking around in a familiar forest of trees. I’d douse myself in bug spray, which would likely deter him from wanting to get near me for a while haha. but he wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. he wants to stick close in case I wander off. and you know… for other reasons 😉 we’d track down some of the deer and other little critters that live there, maybe even spot a hawk or eagle if we’re lucky. there would definitely be hand holding for most of the walk. I’d wish I could pick some of the small flowers growing around to take home, but I’m nervous about taking anything for fear of getting in trouble (even though there’s no one else around 😝). Hunter secretly starts gathering flowers for me to surprise me at the end of the walk with the tiniest little bouquet ever 🥺💙 I’m sore and tired by the end of it, but the walk was worth it to get to see Hunter in his element, enjoying the natural beauty of the world 🥰

day two would be whatever I want to do. which is just stay home ROFL. we’d stay on the couch and chat away about literally anything. I love hearing stories about his family, and him with mine. I’d show him my favorite movie (Tron Legacy of course 😋), and then we’d play some video games (Mario Kart, Smash Bros, maybe some Overwatch too). I would wanna order out food, but Hunter would offer to cook something as a special treat for me. he’s not the best cook, but he enjoys doing it (unlike me), so I let him do it. he knows what I like, and like with the forest, I’m just relishing in seeing him so happy 🥰 oh, did I forget to mention there would absolutely be much couch cuddling? because there would be much couch cuddling 😁

third and final day, we both decide on an activity together. it’ll be out of the house for Hunter’s sake, but I pick where we go. and I know the perfect place to satisfy us both: a day at Six Flags! Hunter momentarily balks at the idea of going to an amusement park, but I tell him he can pick what rides we go on first. which he then tells me, it’s fine, he doesn’t care, he’s just happy to spend time with me 🥹 so I take him on all my favorite rides, which are mostly coasters. Hunter… isn’t the biggest fan of coasters. but again, he’s doing this for my sake! he’ll power through it! even if he ends up screaming every time we go down a big drop! 😂 lucky for him, there’s some rides I like that aren’t coasters. and thankfully, he doesn’t get dizzy easily cause there’s a LOT of spinning rides. he ends up enjoying it solely because I’m so happy after each ride is over and I excitedly drag him onto the next one. there are several carnival games, and I reeeeeeally want the Pikachu and Charmander plushies they have, so you bet your butt Hunter’s gonna play those games until I have my precious Pokémon plushies. lucky for me, he’s so skilled and dexterous that it doesn’t take many tries 😁 we also get some funnel cake and Dippin Dots throughout the day cause you HAVE to get funnel cake and Dippin Dots when you go to Six Flags, you HAVE to. by the end of the day, Hunter is more exhausted than I am, so we finish our visit with a nice calm ride on the carousel. we find two horses side by side (I must have a black one, he doesn’t care what color his is). he helps me onto my horse before practically flying up onto his. right before the ride starts, Hunter reaches over and grabs my hand. we keep our hands locked throughout the ride. I’m focused on looking out at the park as we ride, while Hunter can’t keep his eyes off me. it’s a nice, long, calm ride to signify the end of our time together. our hands don’t separate even after getting off the ride.

once we get back to the car, Hunter suggests we find a quiet place to pull the car over to and watch the stars for a bit. there aren’t many stars where I live, but ironically, it just so happens to be a perfectly clear night. we can see my favorite constellation, Orion, up in the sky. I tell him how much I’d love to visit the stars. he says he would do anything in his power to get me there if he could. more than anything, we both just wish we had more time together. our hands stay interlocked and our heads gently rest on each other, which inevitably evolves into more intimate activities (I am NOT letting this man leave without some smooches 😤).

our time together may have been short, but it was worth it. at the end of it all, the activities didn’t matter. simply being together was enough. and we were grateful for every second of it 💙💙💙

If you had 3 days to spend with your favorite clone, what would you do? And would you be in an established relationship or just falling in love? I wanna hear all the cheesy daydreams. 😂

[yelena-bellova]

Safe Haven: tfatws!Bucky Barnes x fem!reader - Chapter One

Chapter One: The Other Wilson Sister - chapter two

Series Masterlist

Plot: Y/n grew up with Sam and Sarah Wilson in the bayou of Delacroix. During the Blip she stayed with Sarah to help run the family business. With Sam back and trying to save the day, Y/n’s perfect opportunity to confess her long-kept secret to her best friend presents itself.

Warnings: tfatws ep.1 spoilers, language, suicide mention, undertones of racism, lots of Wilson sibling arguments, tragic backstory

Word Count: 5.9k

A/N: As I wrote this first chapter out I realized it’s most definitely also a Sam Wilson x platonic fic. Bucky doesn’t come in till next chapter but rest assured, it’s gonna be a wild ride...Also I didn’t know till now how difficult it is to plan out a series in its entirety when the show isn’t completed lol. Hope you enjoy! (I may or may not change the title depending on how I feel about it later today lol)

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Delacroix, LA 2024

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One of the only things I was certain of in life was that blood didn’t make a family.

I had no official tie to Wilson family, I wasn’t a daughter or some distant cousin sent to live with them. We shared no DNA and they had no reason to love me as much as they did. But throughout my life I had known no kinder people than them and I doubted that would change. As I stood on the family boat helping to unload the catch of the day, I thought of how our corner of the Louisiana bayou felt more like home than any place I’d ever been.

“Hey,” Sarah said from the dock, “Head out of the clouds and down here helping me.” “Sorry,” I shook myself out of my thoughts and hopped off the boat, “Not a bad catch if you ask me.”

Sarah sighed as she bent over a large bucket of fish, “It could’ve been better.” I came to stand in front of her and held my hands out for a bucket, “Take the wins where you can get ‘em, Sar. Lord knows we don’t get enough of them.” Sarah Wilson was the only superhero I’d ever aspire to be like. She was a widow who had raised two kids and run a business all by herself with no family for support. The past five years had been challenging with so many people gone and while I had moved in with her to help however I could, I could take no credit. She was one of the strongest women I’d ever known.

“You had that look on your face again,” she said as we worked.

“What look?”

“That look that lets me know you were thinking real hard about something,” Sarah imitated the expression in question by thinning her eyes slightly and furrowing her brows, “Like this.” I laughed heartily at her impression, “So what was it?” I gazed out at the bayou waters before turning to the boat and finally Sarah, “Family.”

She nudged me with her hip, something we’d done when we were young and an affectionate gesture we’d carried into adulthood. A half hour went by with us and the boys unloading and sorting the fish we’d caught. I was too wrapped up in the task to notice the sound of a vehicle approaching until AJ and Cass announced the arrival. 

“Blue for the snapper, orange for the whitefish.”

“Uncle Sam!”

My head shot up upon hearing his name, as did Sarah’s. I used my hand as a visor against to sun to spot the familiar rusted truck parked a few hundred feet away, with my best friend standing outside it hugging his nephews.

“That’s right, Uncle Sam,” Sarah called, “You’re back early.”

I grinned as I shucked my gloves off and made a beeline for him, slamming my body into his for a tight embrace. It had been a few weeks since I’d seen him, having spent the only weekend he was off away, and I’d naturally been worried sick about him. My best friend and un-biological brother may have been an Avenger for years, but after losing him in the Blip I didn’t think I’d ever stop worrying about him.

“Every time I come home, you act like I’ve been gone for five years,” he joked over my shoulder, resulting in me pulling away and slapping his bicep.

“Not even a little funny,” I pointed a finger in his smug face, he slung an arm around my neck as we walked over to Sarah.

“What’s goin’ on? You got Mom’s sneaky look on your face.” “How you gonna try to read me when you know I’m the one that reads you?” Sam smiled, passing by and greeting a long time customer of ours. “That look is permanently glued to his face, Sar,” I chuckled, “I learned that in grade school.” Sam shook his head at me and laughed before making his way up the dock to the Wilson family boat. “You gotta marvel at it, baby’s being held together by duct tape and prayers.” I leaned into Sarah, “Are you telling him or am I?” She took the initiative, “It just needs to float long enough for me to sell it.” “I thought we were gonna discuss if we were selling it,” Sam replied as he helped unload another bucket of fish. “We did, and then you were off fighting Doctor Space Cape or whatever while we,” Sarah gestured between us, “Were holdin’ it together for five long years. Now that the world is going back to normal, this thing’s gotta go.”

Sam looked to me with a look of displeasure, “Were you in on this?” “Don’t drag me into this,” I waved my hands as if wiping my involvement away, “This is a Wilson sibling discussion.” “Uh-uh,” Sam called me out, wagging his finger, “Don’t do that. Dad said every chance he got that you were one of his own, you’ve got a say in this too. What is it?” I scrunched my face up, dreading the argument that was knocking on our door, “It’s dead weight, Sam. The money we could get for it would be enough to keep us comfortable for a little longer without having to worry.” “We grew up on this thing. It’s not just Mom and Dad’s name on it. This thing is a part of our family.”

I sighed as Sarah stepped forward, “You know the situation we’re in. This is why I prefer not to dwell on it in front of everybody.” “Well what if we don’t need to sell it?” Sam said. “Can we talk about this in private?” I suggested, tiring of having to convince Sam that we were in the right when he hadn’t been around to witness our struggles. A long time friend of ours called out to Sam and he willingly took the distraction, opting out of having the inevitable difficult conversation. Sarah and I trudged back, totes of fish in hand and tried to get through the rest of the work day without worrying if we were approaching our last.

————

During golden hour, when the clock had struck five and we’d started packing it up for the day was the only time to get Sam to actually listen. I knew how much the boat meant to him, it meant something to us all, but he wasn’t living in the reality that Sarah and I were.

“Sam, the boat’s gotta go,” Sarah finally said, breaking the silence we were working in on the vessel. “Wait-“ “No, let me finish,” she said, “Y/n and I are doin’ everything I can to keep this business afloat and every day we’re making $5 and spending $10.” Sam looked between the two of us, “So why won’t you let me help?” 

“Sam, don’t…” I winced, knowing Sarah’s reaction would be strong.

“No, don’t start with that. We made a deal before Daddy died,” Sarah carried a few buckets to the center of the deck, “You’re out there, I do things my way here. Y/n agreed to it too when she went off to school.” “Right, but you tangled the house into this when you took those loans,” Sam finished tying off one of the ropes, turning around and giving Sarah the perfect opportunity to punch his chest, “Forgot how hard you hit.” I sighed as I passed him by to follow Sarah, “Low blow, you deserved it.” 

“Sarah, Y/n, c’mon,” he chased after us, “Look, and don’t hit me again…What if you had money to fix it up? Make it nice so you can charter it when you’re not out working the waters?” “Sam, do you think this was an easy decision for us?” I faced him, leaning against the doorway next to him, “I tried every tactic I learned in business school and got nowhere. Anything I thought up, we needed more money to do. This is our only option.” As he always did with the things he cared about, he fought. “We can take a loan and consolidate everything, it’ll take down your monthly,” he looked confused as he watched Sarah laugh, “What?” “You think I didn’t try the banks? They’re in with all that big business now.” I followed them like the little sister I’d always been as they moved their fight towards the cockpit of the boat. Sam blocked another doorway, “Yeah, but now you have me.”

“Don’t, Sam,” Sarah shook her head, “I just got good with this.”

“All right…”

“Maybe it is time for us to move on,” Sarah sighed. “Either way, just let me help,” Sam offered, “I’ll set the appointment. Look, I won’t let you guys down. We can turn this shit around. Trust me.” I peered over at Sarah, wishing I could see the calculations going on in her brain. It seemed pointless, but any shot at changing our luck was an avenue worth pursuing.

“It can’t hurt to try,” I shrugged.

Sarah finally relented, “To the rescue, huh?”

“Always,” Sam smiled, “Now, let’s get some dinner. I’m hungry.” ————

Sarah was taking AJ and Cass back home while Sam and I took his truck to go pick up food.

“So how was Tunisia?” I asked, sticking my hand out the window and letting it rise and fall with the wind.

“Hot, but the mission went well,” he answered, looking out of the corner of his eyes at me, “And that’s all you need to know.”

I snickered, “C’mon, it’s our thing. I ask you detailed questions about your confidential missions, you tell me you can’t reveal anything, I keep asking…You’ve gotta honor tradition.” “I flew, I fought, I rescued. Boom, mission explained.” “Ugh, you’re impossible, Wilson,” I waved him off, “How was the museum dedication?” The atmosphere changed as the subject of conversation changed from easy to complicated. “It was nice to see Steve’s accomplishments celebrated. Got to see Rhodes which was nice…” “You’re avoiding a red white and blue topic,” I said, trying to coax his true feelings out of their shells, “Seriously, are you really okay with this? Giving up the shield?” Sam inhaled deeply and exhaled, gathering his thoughts. “I don’t think it was ever meant to end up in my hands. I did the right thing, it belongs with Steve and the museum is the closest to Steve I can get.” I respected my friend’s choice but I knew there was so much more to his decision and I wished he would just say it. He had an enormous amount of respect for Steve Rogers and what the shield represented, but Steve Rogers never had to face the issues that Sam Wilson did. Steve Rogers could follow a government and be respected in return with no problems whatsoever. Sam Wilson couldn’t, not always. There was an elephant in the room and if neither of us wanted to talk about it, I wouldn’t push it.

“You’d have looked good in that uniform though,” I smiled as we turned into the take out place’s parking lot.

“Damn right,” Sam waggled his eyebrows and unbuckled his seatbelt. Laughter rang out in the truck sending me on waves of nostalgia. The memories that me and him had in this truck still were infamous between us. As proud as I was of the Falcon’s heroics, I was prouder to call Sam Wilson my best friend.

————

Just as he’d promised, Sam made the appointment with the banker. He and Sarah were already on their way as I made the hour long drive in the opposite direction to New Orleans. I’d told them I’d be back in the evening to discuss how it went, but I had my own appointment to keep.

Sam and I had met back when we were just a couple of first graders. I’d always struggled with making friends as a kid, but Sam never had an issue when it came to connecting with others. It was one of his strongest qualities. And so he used his gift on his desk neighbor, the loneliest kid in class, and pulled her out of herself. We were inseparable until college and adulthood forced us apart, but we’d never lost our bond. Even when he was a pararescue, he wrote to me as often as his work allowed him.

All the Wilsons had taken a liking to me after Sam brought me home one day after school to watch cartoons. Darlene had told me I was welcome to come over any time I wanted, an offer Sam and I accepted till I became a permanent fixture in their house. Paul and his wife had frequently tried to get the rest of my family over for a crawfish boil or a barbecue. They’d send me every few weeks with a verbal invitation to my parents and the next day I’d always come back with a polite decline and excuse as to why we couldn’t make it. Mom was busy with spring cleaning, Melanie had a recital, Dad was feeling under the weather…

The only one that had ever been true was about my dad not feeling well. He was never well. But as a child, how do you explain that your father is a ghost around his own home who drinks himself to sleep and wakes up each night screaming from nightmares? There was no polite way to phrase circumstances that dark. Sometimes I felt like my dad had never returned from the military and though there hadn’t been a war at the time of his service, he still came back with his share of trauma. Mom did everything she could to try and help him. She found support groups for veterans, she took him to the best psychiatrists, she created a safe space for him within our home to retreat to. There was no amount of help that could kill my father’s demons and that was proven the night he’d said we were out of milk and he was going to the store. A few hours later, with my sister and I fast asleep upstairs, my worried mother answered the door and was informed by the police that my father had crashed his car and was dead. After speaking to Mom about what his mood had been like before he’d left and if he suffered from any mental illnesses, it was ruled as an undoubtable suicide.

My mother didn’t get much time to mourn after the funeral, she had two children to provide for. She took three jobs just to earn enough to move us from our house in New Orleans to a dingy apartment in Delacroix by the bayou. When the Wilsons heard that Mom needed to scrape enough money in the budget to hire a baby-sitter for me and Melanie, they put a stop to her efforts immediately. The insisted that Mel and I would be happier spending the time my mom was working with them and their kids rather than a stranger. That was how the Wilsons and the Y/l/ns had ended up so tightly knit. While Sarah and Melanie had bonded as the older sisters and were often off doing their own thing, Sam and I caused havoc of our own in classic younger sibling fashion. By the time we were in high school, both parents called the other’s children their own.

When Paul and Darlene passed away, it was incredibly hard on all of us and it was equal when Mom had a fall and the doctors suggested she move into a facility. Sam, Sarah and I had worked hard to get her into one of the best nursing homes in the city and she hadn’t stopped raving about how much she loved it. Pulling into the parking lot was like muscle memory now, I never missed a weekend visit with her. This one was special because Melanie, her husband and brood of children had come too. I grabbed my visitor’s sticker at the front desk and made my way down the familiar hallways. The sound of laughter and cooing echoed out of my mom’s room, bringing a smile to my face.

I knocked on the door and heads turned, my nieces and nephews being the quickest. “Aunt Y/n!” I embraced Sophia and Max tightly, “The twin tornados! I missed you guys,” separating from them was difficult as they clung to me but I made it to Stephan, giving him a kiss on the cheek and doing the same to Mel, “You look hot, mama.” “I certainly don’t feel it,” she remarked as she cradled their newest addition, baby Alexandra, close to her chest, “I spend more hours of the day covered in glitter glue and spit up than you could imagine.” “You wear it all well,” I patted her shoulder before coming to my mother’s bedside and hugging her, “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” she kissed both of my cheeks and looked to the door, “Sarah and Sam couldn’t come?” “No, but they send their love. They had an appointment at the bank,” I set down my purse and pulled up a chair, “We’re trying to get approved for a small business loan.”

Glen took Alexandra from Mel so she could tend to the twins, “I wish we could help out, Y/n. I’ve looked at the budget over and-“ It warmed my heart that my brother-in-law cared so much about a problem that wasn’t his to bear. “Glen,” I held up a hand, “You guys are stretched thin enough. This isn’t me asking for charity, it’s our problem and Sam’s confidant we’ll find a fix.” “How does he have enough time to be a member of the Air Force, an Avenger and save the family business?” Mel asked.

“Well, the Avengers are kind of off doing their own thing right now from what I understand and he’s home for a little while from the Air Force,” I explained, “So his main job at the moment is to get us our funding and annoy the snot out of me while doing it.” After earning some giggles from Sophia and Max at the expression, Glen announced that they were going to go and grab lunch for everybody. My mom took my hand once it was just the two of us and I settled into my seat, “How are you, sweetheart?”

“Hanging in there,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair, “Tired, stressed, I smell like fish most of the time…We need this loan or else we’re going to have to sell the boat. You should’ve seen Sam’s face when Sarah told him…”

“I’m sorry, I know how much that boat means to you kids. I could’ve offered you the moon and stars and it still wouldn’t have been enough to get you off it.” I smiled at the memories of summer nights spent laying on the deck stargazing, dance parties on the stern and early mornings spent with Mr. Wilson teaching us how to fish. A childhood with so much sadness had also contained so many joys. To part with a tangible one killed me more than I’d let on to Sam.

Sensing that the topic was making me emotional, my mother was kind enough to change it. “How are things otherwise? Have you been getting out there?” I dropped my head back dramatically and groaned, “Mom…” “I’m just saying,” she dropped my hand and held up hers in surrender, “You should get out there, meet someone. There’s no shame in trying those online dating services. What’s the one…the…Tinder?” “Oh my gosh, Mom,” I buried my face in my hands and moved my fingers so she could only see my eyes, “Please stop talking.” “You know who I ran into the other day? Jack’s mom, from high school. She lives just down the next hallway, she says that he’s still single. You could get in touch with him.” “Y’know, for a woman who advocated for her daughters to lead such independent lives, you’re sure quick to try and marry us off,” I chuckled, “The second Mel started dating Glen you were practically booking the church.” “And I’m very proud of both my girls for being such strong young women,” she smiled proudly, “But finding love doesn’t mean losing your independence so long as you’re with the right man. I love that you’ve been helping out Sarah these last few years but honey…I see how lonely you are. In those big y/e/c eyes you think I still can’t read after all these years.” The y/e/c eyes in question started to fill with sadness at hearing my pain verbalized. It was true, I was lonely. More so than I would ever let on to anybody. I was a shy enough kid who only withdrew further after Dad passed away, that kind of introversion wasn’t one that you outgrew. But I’d given up the idea of finding someone to spend my life with a long time ago for a bevy of reasons.

“Sometimes it’s better to be alone, Mama,” I nodded as if to force myself to agree with my statement, “No chances of getting hurt…or hurting somebody.” “You couldn’t hurt somebody even if you tried,” my mom argued sweetly, “You couldn’t even kill spiders when you were a kid.” “And now there’s a Spiderman out there so I’m glad I didn’t,” I shot back with a laugh.

“I’m serious, honey,” she took my hand once again, “Don’t let your heart’s wounds keep you from finding someone who could help soothe them.” 

I was convinced my mother was both a poet and a therapist at some point in her life, she gave advice in the most beautifully phrased way. And while I’d loved to have taken her words to heart, tell Mel to fix me up with one of Glen’s friends and put an end to my loneliness, I feared that I was just too broken to give love to someone.

————

I arrived back home late, shedding my boots and bag at the doors. I’d expected to hear a triumphant chorus of Sam shouting ‘WHO DA MAN?’ as he typically would when heroically proving me and Sarah wrong, but there was only silence. When I walked into the kitchen and saw their glum faces, it wasn’t hard to guess the outcome of the meeting. “You’re kidding me…” “Said that things had tightened up,” Sam said, leaning against one side of the island and taking a swig of his beer, “Had the balls to ask me for a picture afterwards.” I groaned and grabbed the beer bottle Sarah had extended to me, “Okay, we’re out of options. It’s time to move forward-“ “Don’t say it…” Sam tiredly warned.

“Someone has to, Sam. We can’t keep searching for solutions when the right one is sitting out on our dock,” I gestured to the window that looked out on the road we took each day to work.

Sarah set her beer down and held her hands up in surrender, “I’m not having this argument again tonight, I’m going to bed. If you’re gonna kill each other, do it quietly.” She left as me and Sam silently stared each other down, waiting for the other to speak. I was too frustrated to play the game, “What’s this really about?” “It’s about the damn boat and that you and Sarah are throwing in the towel too-“ “What,” I elongated the single syllable word, “Is this really about?” Sam set his drink down and rubbed his hands over his head before looking back up at me helplessly, “You guys were on your own for five years and you’ve done an amazing job. But now nothing’s working and I just…I just want to help because I couldn’t for so long.” It all clicked as to why Sam was being so insistent on trying to eliminate the whole matter. He was used to saving the day and finally meeting one that he couldn’t save was a wall he thought he could still find a way to run through. He’d been like that ever since we were kids, always trying to help the people he loved even when it was impossible. He had the biggest heart of anyone I’d ever met.

“I love you,” I set down my bottle and crossed the island to come next to him and wrap my arms around his shoulders, “But this may be one problem that the Falcon can’t swoop in and fix. The Avengers work hard, but a business graduate helping to run a struggling seafood business works harder,” I succeeded in getting him to crack a smile, “Believe me, I’ve run all the numbers and consulted with anyone who would listen. The boat’s gotta go.”

“Yeah, well, humor me and give me a little while longer.”

“Fine, a couple more days,” I grabbed my beer once again and clinked it against his, “But it’s not my fault if Sarah smacks you again.” Sam laughed, slung an arm around my neck and kissed my temple. “You coming up soon?”

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” I answered, watching as he finished his drink before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs. Once I’d heard his bedroom door open and close, I exited out to the back porch. I took in the late night sounds of the bayou, the crickets chirping and the wind rustling trees had always soothed me. I wished they could touch what I was feeling right now, but the noise didn’t do a thing to drown out my worry. For the business I feared we may lose, for Sam as he ran himself ragged trying to help and for myself and what him and Sarah would think of me once I confessed the secret I’d kept from them for so long.

I held out my hand and watched as the blue energy flowed from my fingertips. Would Sam ever forgive me for not telling him I had powers? They had manifested when I was young, my parents said. I couldn’t remember a day where my body hadn’t produced a magical energy that when harnessed incorrectly could be destructive. It had been a sad day for my mother’s garden when I’d discovered that bit…According to her, she’d wanted to take me to a school for people like me run by a man named Charles Xavier but my father had said no immediately. He’d been so insistent on keeping my powers a secret that my mother said she’d only seen that type of fear in his eyes when he had a war flashback. So I was instructed to never show my powers to anyone under any circumstances and I’d done just that. I’d thought about revealing them in 2012 after the Battle of New York, but my dad’s fear rang in my ears. Three years later when Sam became an Avenger was when I began to feel guilty that I was keeping a secret from him. I’d wanted to join him and find somewhere where I didn’t feel so out of place, but I’d decided against it again. Now with their team so broken and Sam off with the Air Force, I’d finally gathered the courage to confide in him and Sarah. I should have done it six months ago, but I’d chickened out too many times. Tomorrow, I decided. Tomorrow was the day. But would they still see me the same way once I showed them? ————

The next morning, after dressing and running over what I wanted to say three times, I hesitantly headed downstairs to face the music. With there being nobody in the kitchen, I followed the sounds of the television to find Sarah and Sam staring at the screen intently. I stood to the side of the room and watched a suited man give a speech out front of a government building. “We need someone to inspire us again, someone who can be a symbol for all of us. So, on behalf of the Department of Defense and our Commander-in-Chief, it is with great honor that we announce here today that the United States of America has a new hero. Join me in welcoming your new Captain America.”

My jaw slackened as a man marched out in front of the gathered press, dressed in a variation of Steve Rogers’ patriotic uniform and carrying the iconic shield. The shield that had only weeks ago sat upstairs in Sam’s bedroom in a case. I dragged my gaze away from the screen to look at my best friend, hunched over in his seat with his eyes shut in sorrow. Sarah looked just as distraught, her eyes trained on her brother as well. We waited in silence until the breaking news broadcast switch back to regularly scheduled programming before Sarah switched the box off.

“I thought you said it was going to stay in the museum,” I finally spoke, my voice choked with emotion.

“It was supposed to,” Sam ground out, his grip on his own hands tightening. Without any warning, he rose from his seat and left the room. My instinct was to follow him and try to comfort him, but there was nothing I could say to ease the deep pain he was feeling. I wasn’t even sure I could form words that weren’t doused in raw shock. The two things I was sure of were that a) the government had fucked up royally and b) now was definitely not the time to tell Sam about my powers.

————

It was a few days later and Sam still hadn’t spoken much to Sarah and I about the situation. It was unnatural for Sam to suffer in silence especially around us, but we both gave him the space he needed. 

I was taking laundry to AJ and Cass’ room and had to pass by Sam’s, surprised to see him packing a bag. “Thought you were sticking around.” “Something big came up,” he replied as he set a stack of t-shirts in his duffle bag, “I need to go check it out.” I leaned against his doorway, “Air Force big or Avengers big?” “The second one.” “And you’re going by yourself?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Sam looked over his shoulder at me finally, “Don’t have anybody to else to call. Besides, I can handle myself.” I hummed in response before setting down the stack of laundry, an idea forming in my head that could solve both of our problems. I folded my hands together and dug my feet into the carpet, “What if you didn’t have to go by yourself?” He looked confused, “What are you talking about?” My folded hands began to make circles in the air as I struggled for the right words, “What if I came with you?” “What, like take your family to work day something?” Sam scoffed, “That’d be fun.” “I’m serious.” “Are you crazy? Of course you can’t come.” “Hear me out,” I looked to his bag and the pair of jeans he had next to fold, “Actually watch.” He folded his arms and waited for my demonstration. I took a deep breath and extended my hand, forcing my energy outwards to levitate the jeans. “Whoa!” Sam exclaimed as he watched me maneuver the clothing inside his duffle, “W-w-what…What was that?” I shrugged and pulled my hand back to my side, “The reason why you should take me.”

“How long have you been able to do that?” “Since I was a kid,” I moved out of the doorway and closed the door, the last thing I needed was AJ and Cass knowing their aunt could move things with her mind, “My parents told me never to tell anybody. I’ve thought about telling you for years since you’re used to this kind of thing but I was scared…Then you were gone and when you came back, life was moving non-stop and I lost my courage. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” Sam stood with his jaw hung for a few seconds before shaking his head back into reality, “Why are you apologizing? You never had to tell me, but I’m glad you did,” he pointed a finger towards me, “But you’re still not going.” “What are you talking about? I’d be an asset to whatever it is you’re fighting! And I love you but c’mon bird boy, you may be able to fly but I can do it without any tech.” “Oh, so that’s how you wanna play?” Sam gestured between the two of us, “You think insulting me is the way to get me to let you come?” “Come on,” I moved to sit on his bed, “Tell me what the problem is and I’ll prove that I can help.” “Alright, alright,” Sam took a stance in front of me, “You wanted to hear the tea on my missions, I’ll spill it. There’s an online group called the Flag Smashers, their MO is to get the world back to the way it was during the last five years. My military contact, Torres, went undercover in Switzerland when they robbed a bank. Knocked him unconscious when he tried to fight back.” I balanced my elbows on my knees and tapped a finger against my lip, “So kind of a Robin Hood deal, right? Stealing things from the rich and giving it to the poor. In this case, the poor being those who never disappeared.” “Exactly, except the guy that knocked Torres out was strong. Too strong. I’m thinking they could be a part of-“ “The big three.” Sam’s neck snapped back, “How do you know about the big three?” I shrugged nonchalantly, “The little you do tell me about your avenging always ties back to either androids, aliens or wizards. Though I think you’re being a little dramatic with the term ‘wizard.’”

“Are you seriously gonna correct the guy who’s actually there doing the fighting?” “Are you seriously gonna deny yourself valuable help against either an alien or an android?”

Sam sighed, I was successfully backing him into a corner. “Can you even fight?”

Extending one hand, I levitated Sam and gently slammed his back into the ceiling before reversing course and lowering him onto the carpet. He moaned as he rolled over to face me, “Could’ve given me a concussion.” “Maybe that would knock some sense into your head,” I stood and gave him my hand to pull him up, “Sam, I know that I don’t have any experience but I am more than capable of defending myself. I want to actually do something with these powers instead of sitting on my ass. I’d rather do it with you than on my own. Please?” I watched the cogs in his mind turn through his eyes, I knew he was only fighting this hard because he wanted to keep me safe. But he was in way over his head if he thought it wasn’t worth taking me with. He accepted my hand and stood to his full height, “Pack a bag, we’re leaving for the air base in an hour.” I smiled and threw my arms around him, “Thank you, you won’t regret this.” “I’d better not,” he warned, his arms stayed straightened in displeasure of my enthusiasm, “If you take some stupid risk and put yourself in jeopardy, I’m putting your ass on a plane home.” Quick footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway until the door opened to reveal Sarah, “What was all that noise? It sounded like you were throwing each other into walls.” “Busy,” I quickly dismissed her, using my energy to shut the door in Sarah’s face from a distance.

“Um,” her muffled voice rang through, “What the hell was that?!”

--------

Taglist: (open)

[cqlfeels]

what do u think happens to post-canon nhs?

I'm really not a good person to ask this to because I spend very little time thinking about post-canon - I'm mostly interested in canon, then pre-canon and only then post-canon, and there are only so many hours of the day I can devote to fandom, so I end up getting around to post-canon musings only very rarely. So take my answer with a grain of salt because it's very half-baked!

I don't... See a happy ending? I know it's a popular headcanon that NHS has been Unleashed™️ and now he's gonna Be Awesome and also Do Things, but I don't know about that.

He's burnt every bridge for a revenge that doesn't seem to have given him the satisfaction he hoped it would. (I think in part because literally no one in the room thought "Hey, JGY is a monster! Thank god someone revealed his misdeeds!" but rather everybody is either sympathetic to JGY or, at best, utterly uninterested in the whole thing. I don't think that's what NHS was hoping for.) So he has no friends, and for all that he's good at keeping secrets, he seems to genuinely enjoy people, so that's not ideal. He can't trust the smart people around him to be truly his friends now that they haven't taken his side (he's a Nie. You're loyal to him or you're not, and he won't ever move on from that.) but if he stops hanging with the absolute geniuses of the jianghu to mingle with, say, members of his sect, he's gonna be bored in five minutes. Even at his laziest, NHS has never shown any interest for people who aren't outstanding. I don't think he'd start now.

In terms of motivation.... Well. He already made his brother proud by taking revenge, didn't he? What's left after that, now that he's shaped his whole identity around NMJ? WWX is a good parallel here - after molding himself as the protector of the Jiang, he became a protector of the Wen, and when both of those things failed, he couldn't find anything to live for (especially in CQL, but I'd argue MDZS WWX was pretty depressed too.) NHS has succeeded rather than failed, but is that much better? He's also at loss, it's just that he seems to feel empty rather than depressed.

And the thing about having no moral compass is that you don't know what direction you wanna go if left alone. Characters like XXC know that even if they lose everything, they wanna help people. Characters like XY know that even if they lose everything, they'll keep lashing out at the world. What does NHS wanna do now that he's lost everything? What does he strongly feel about? Imho, nothing. No matter what he does - if he paints fans and bothers no one, or becomes Chief Cultivator and changes the world, it'll still be nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to pass time until..... until what? I don't think he'd know.

This story is a lot about sacrifices, and I think NHS sacrificed his future for his family. (Twin Heroes, anyone?) I think going in, he knew it was possible that he'd spend the rest of his days miserable and aimless, and he thought it was worth it. I don't think NHS quite escapes the Nie curse? In every way but physically, I think he did die pretty young and now he's mostly waiting for his body to catch up.

So those are my extremely cheerful thoughts lol Anyway, I stand by my belief that in the entire Sunshot generation, wangxian are the only people in this story to get a happy ending, and even that is because they've had two tries. Even if I'm wrong about the specifics, I think just by the story logic, I'll always assume NHS doesn't have a bright future ahead of him.

[nordic-language-love]

2022 Plans and Goals

I actually gave up making new years resolutions many years ago because I never stuck to them. I’m not about to change that, but I have some things I’d like to achieve in 2022, so I want to make plans. Plans that I actively work towards achieving. I want to update every month (or week?) with the steps I took towards achieving that goal to encourage me to actually work on them, even if it’s only a little.

Anyway, these are the goals I have in mind (under a cut because it’s long)

1. Pass the Bergenstest

Obviously this is my number 1 language priority! My written test is booked for the 1st of April. I’ve not booked the spoken test yet, but I might have to wait until September as I’ve not had any response from the UK test centres about taking the spoken test and I can’t afford to go to Norway twice in one month.

2. Pull all my skills up to C1 level

At the moment, I think my reading/listening are about C1 level (not a high C1 though), but my speaking/writing are definitely not at that level. It might be a little ambitious to think I could get to that level overall this coming year, but I intend to try!

3. Complete Norwegian Tutor and Enjoy Norwegian textbooks

I’ve had both of these books for ages and I’ve still not finished them. I have maybe 5 chapters left of Norwegian Tutor, but I’ve barely done more than flick through Enjoy Norwegian. It’d be nice to complete them both!

4. Intensively study another language for 3 months (?)

After I’ve passed the Bergenstest, I want to spend some time on a different language. I might pick up Spanish again, or maybe Japanese, but I’m also tempted to start a completely new language and see how good I can get in 3 months (probably Russian because I have so many Russian students). I’m still not 100% decided I’ll do this at all. At the moment I’m leaning towards Japanese because my mum got me some Japanese bilingual short stories and Genki for Christmas, but we’ll see!

Non-Language Goals/Plans

Although I won’t really post about these on this blog, I’m putting them here as a record for myself, as well as for accountability’s sake.

5. Move out of my current house

I’ve lived here for 10 years, and now with my boyfriend living with me it’s just too small. I’d never planned for us to live here together, and certainly not for 3 years. We need to move out. It’s gonna be an absolute ballache, but it’ll be worth it! I think my goal for January is to make a list of all the things that need fixing/replacing and planning a timeline/budget for that (it’s gonna be expensive ugh but hopefully my dad will help seeing as we have joint ownership and all).

6. Learn to fan dance properly

I love my fans! But I currently feel like I just wave them around disjointedly while awkwardly walking/running around. Of course, this goal isn’t easy to measure, so here’s some measurable goals I can work towards:

Perfect antispin flowers

Learn simple body tracing patterns

Learn reels and weaves

Perform smooth transitions between different patterns

See a noticeable difference in my performance skills when comparing two videos side by side

I may also track the time I spend practising. Of course, I’ll keep track of this goal properly on my performer side blog @jo-jenova

7. Go to the dentist

This is super embarrassing to admit (and I’m sure some of you will be horrified) but I’ve been avoiding the dentist for years. I hate them and I’m terrified that they’ll tell me I need to spend thousands to fix my teeth. But if that’s the case then ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away, soo... I need to pull myself together and just do it lol.

8. Prioritise my health more

*Quick trigger warning for mentions of food, diet, exercise and weight loss. Scroll down to the next heading if you don’t want to read this bit!*

I used to train 10-15 hours a week and eat at least semi-healthy. Now I barely exercise and eat a lot of junk food. I’m pretty sure this is at least partially responsible for my lack of energy and I just don’t feel like me, really. So I want to change some things, for example:

Move daily, even if it’s just 10-15 minutes of yoga

Swap unhealthy snacks for fruit and veggies

Stop snacking right before mealtimes

Drink water instead of pepsi max and tea

Cut down on meat

Eat mostly home cooked meals / cut down on takeaways

Stop eating after 9pm

I plan to focus on one aspect every couple of weeks (rather than trying to do everything at once). So one fortnight I’ll focus on increasing my exercise, then the next I’ll focus on eating more fruit and vegetables, then drinking water etc. And if during the weeks I’m focusing on water intake my fruit/veg intake drops off, that’s okay. If I can keep it up, awesome. I just don’t want the pressure on myself to do all of these things all of the time. Maybe I’ll have a primary goal for each month and a secondary goal.

** End of trigger warning **

I may think of some more things to add to this list, but this is all I’ve got for now! I’m going into this year with a surprising amount of positivity given the past two years have uh. sucked. C’mon 2022, don’t let me down!

What goals do you guys have?

[rawbins-undertale-blog]

This is a slight TW question, so feel no obligation to answer:

How would horrortale Sans react to an S/O with an eating disorder?

TW for eating disorder(s) (nearly only ARFID is spoken about, anorexia is mentioned)

If I missed any tags you think I should've included, please tell me.

This may sound a bit strange, but I’ve actually been wanting to write something for this, specifically because I suffer from an eating disorder. I’m not comfortable writing anything with an eating disorder (or any disorder in general) I personally don’t have, mostly because I don’t have the time to give it the proper research it deserves, so I’ll be writing about a lesser known eating disorder, that being ARFID. Let me explain it so people who don’t know what it is will, uh, know what it is lol

ARFID - also commonly called “Selective Eating Disorder” - stands for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. A lot of people with it are characterised as being “picky eaters”, but it goes to a point where it’s seriously unhealthy and crosses a line that makes it into something more serious. It has to do with sensory processing issues, rather than self-image issues (though self-image issues could also play a part in it I'm pretty sure, but it’s not the main “motivation”). Most people with ARFID actually wish they could go up in weight, but can’t because they can’t make themselves eat. I, for one, desperately wish I could just eat like a normal person, both because it’s very… not convenient to only have around 20 or less meals I can eat (and that list is slimming down as I grow tired of my safe foods*) and also I’m skinny enough to match Papyrus in looks, which isn’t very confidence-inspiring when you’re supposed to be a human and not a sentient magical skeleton, believe it or not. Whereas a person without ARFID could eat most things, including things they don’t really enjoy eating, somebody with ARFID might not be physically able to. For example, I literally throw up food that I don’t like (and I’ve gagged while eating food I do like due to seeing somebody eat something I don’t like and/or just smelling other food nearby). When I'm to try a new food, I have on more than one occasion gotten anxiety attacks. That’s how bad it can be.

*a "safe food" is food you know you can eat without panicking/throwing up/getting triggered in one way or another

I’ll be basing these HCs off of myself, so keep that in mind. You’re free to point out misinformation (and I, in fact, encourage you to point it out if I somehow got something wrong) but I ask that you stay respectful and don’t make fun of this. I doubt it would happen, but this topic means a lot to me and is really serious. So yeah please don’t be rude or invalidate people. Anyways onto the headcanons (which aren’t in the usual format, sorry if that bothers you)

Dusk (HT Sans) wouldn’t really understand. He’s able to eat pretty much anything (not like he had much of a choice for a while) and food is important… But he’ll try to understand. Especially because he can accommodate you. He’ll be fine eating the same meals, however “boring” they are, over and over because like I said: not a picky eater. Any food is good in his book. So long as you’re not restricting him and his food intake and so long as you aren’t dying from starvation and/or malnutrition, you’re free to do whatever.

It does annoy him when you go to social gatherings and you can’t eat the food because it’s not one of your safe foods. He’s not going to let you just starve yourself when there’s perfectly fine food just waiting for you. Not gonna lie, he’s pretty insensitive the first time this happens. Basically, he’ll pull you over when he notices you’re not eating anything and try to convince you to eat. Starts out really gentle and encouraging, but when you don’t budge he becomes increasingly agitated and insistent until he hisses that you’re making a fuss over nothing. Needless to say, you aren’t thrilled and it starts a pretty serious argument that probably ends with you either leaving, starting to cry or blowing up at him. He feels bad when it’s all said and done and apologises, because he realises after some thought that he wasn’t being helpful and he decided to do more research again. Even if he forgot it all like he did the first time he tried researching ARFID, it would have been worth a shot. After that, he’ll instead pack food with him for you whenever you go somewhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s “socially acceptable”, because like I said, you’re not starving if he’s got something to do with it.

He’ll also, after coming around to realise the best he can do to help you isn’t trying to push you out of your comfort zone forcefully, try to make sure there’s always at least one of your safe foods available. Don’t get me wrong though, he’ll still encourage you to expand on your list of safe foods. He’s got memory issues so he sometimes forgets, which he feels really bad about, but he has multiple alarms set to make sure you eat properly for the most part. (He’s got an alarm for nearly every minute of the day and he has his calendar full of things as mundane as “make sure s/o eats” and “do laundry”, by the way.) I have a tendency to skip lunch because I simply don’t like food, but he’d put a stop to that lol

To summarize, the whole thing with you having an ED starts off with the two of you having a rocky start before Dusk comes around to be really good at handling it.

Anyways sorry if you meant an ED like anorexia. I know most people write about things like that, but like I said: I’m not really up for writing things that I have to pour hours of research into to make sure I portray it respectfully and accurately because I don’t have that time or patience. (Or attention span, tbh.) Also, I literally hadn’t heard of ARFID for like… the majority of my life, I’ve only known it’s a “thing” for like. A few months. I really thought I was the only one who was so picky with my food and it made me feel alone and isolated (ESPECIALLY after I went to a "specialist" (not sure if she was actually a specialist anymore because her technique to get me to eat was to give my a small glass that I'd pour sauce into to try it every time it was served which obviously didn't work lmao) to help me when I was like six and she said she’d “never seen somebody this bad” before not giving me a diagnosis (as far as I know)), so if anybody with undiagnosed ARFID is reading this:

you're not alone. I know it’s difficult to deal with this - it can be humiliating and embarrassing and horrible and terrible in so many ways - but you can do it. It’s so hard, so fucking hard to step out of your comfort zone and try to expand on your list of safe foods, but you can do it. I believe in you. You aren’t alone and you can learn to have a healthier diet, please just try. I’ll be honest in that you’re probably never going to completely overcome this, ARFID is something that likely stays with you forever, but you can make it into a smaller problem. You can turn it into something so much smaller and inconsequential that you won't encounter any more embarrassing situations where you can't eat what you're given. To a point where you won't have to use the excuses "I already ate", "I'm not hungry", etc anymore. It’ll take time and patience, but you can do it. Don’t give up, okay? <3

[canalciego]

My problem about if the news tomorrow IS the US tour who are they touring with (I’ve seen a rumor it’s Enter Shikari and like… not really interested at all lol) so like. Is it worth the money and making my friend drive down like 2 hours, get me, and go wherever they’re playing for one opener???? In a pandemic???? In this economy?? (😂) Idk, if that proves true I’m probably waiting until they come with someone else I actually like or a headliner cause like. I don’t make a lot of money and I’m high risk for covid so even being vaxxed and boosted and masked (I would be keeping mine on) it makes me nervous being around that many people for ONE BAND and it would leave to me dying if only because my mother would MURDER ME upon my return home lmao. Obviously I’m not gonna judge anyone who DOES go just for them but it’s just not realistic for me and while it does make me sad I would rather wait and have a fuckin blast with a few bands I DO like instead of just one lol if that’s WRONG, however, and they’re opening for someone we do like, we would 100% go lol

Girl!!! IDek who Enter shikari is/are I literally had to google them to see who they were 🤣🤣🤣 but I get you especially from that perspective… for one opener and In the middle of the pandemic when you’re at risk it doesn’t seem worth it… and like you’ve already waited 8 years so one more year shouldn’t hurt. You need to take care of yourself and your health first or else how you gonna see the bois? We need you healthy to go see them.

Lol and girl judge me all you want coz I will definitely go to the concerts (saw that enter shikari has four concerts planned in Cali) even tho I’ll probably will see them for just 40 min🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ but if you times it by four concerts then it’ll be 160 minutes which equals to an hour and half 🤣🤣🤣

[artsoupsoupart]

911 Smut Week: Turn Blue

Day 2: Day Two: Handcuffs, sex toys, anything you want to incorporate into a pwp and/or have a plot too.

A/N: I’d like to apologize bc these prompts are gonna be SO late lol. But I’m committed to finishing these and Madney Week lol 

Read on Ao3 

Maddie Buckley is a goddamn tease. It’s a fact that Chimney has developed a love for over the past few months as they’ve grown closer as a couple. Sure, she’s boosted his ego many times by letting him know he’s better at it than she is. And he is. But still, Maddie is learning and exploring, and she has her talents. She’s sneaky and calculative, striking as though she’s a lioness and he’s her unsuspecting prey. Maddie doesn’t have to necessarily do or say anything to get the man riled up. She’s a woman of few words but the look in her eyes and the sway of her hips always tells him exactly what he needs to know about the game she’s formulated in her mind.

Maddie has been tempting him for the past seventy-two hours. Her kisses before either of them leaves for work are slow, deep, filled with a heated passion that makes him want to call out sick and focus on only her and her body and her pleasure. Her touch lingers against his hips and waist and biceps. She has pressed against his chest more than once, sometimes braless so her pebbled nipples can be felt through their clothes. At the karaoke bar the night before, Maddie had let her hand, which had been not so innocently on his thigh the entire night, trail up towards his crotch, a perfectly painted nail tracing over the zipper as he hardens under her touch with their friends and coworkers singing and drinking away, little words being whispered into his neck that send a shudder through him and his ears blaze red. It took everything in him to not drag her to the restroom and show her exactly what she does to him. And still, she did not give him the release he so desperately needed last night.  Maddie Buckley is a goddamn tease, and she sports this devilish smile with confidence because she knows the affect she has on him.

When they’re finally free from the constraints of work and siblings and friends and have the opportunity to simply indulge in one another, her torture (because that’s exactly what this is no matter how much he enjoys it) begins with Chimney stripped bare and put on display for her on the couch like a five-star meal or perhaps precious jewels. She truly has Chimney practically drooling at the sight in front of him: tanned skin beneath simple but lacey black underwear, her curled hair long and flowing along her shoulders. The heels. That’s what really has Chimney’s breath stuttering. The heels she has on are tall and a deep blood red. He has half a mind to blurt out that she could do absolutely anything to him as long as the heels stay on. But this isn’t his game, it’s hers and she’ll refrain from giving him what he needs if he oversteps.

She takes a few steps forward and leans down close to him, a millimeter away and he can feel the heat radiating from her entire body. Or perhaps it’s his. Maybe both. Both is good. His eyes drop to her cleavage and his eyes glaze over in lust as her lips press to his in a bruising kiss. Chimney reaches up to place his hands on her waist, her hips, her breasts, anywhere he can reach but they’re instantly slapped away. She clicks her tongue as if scolding him, her lips trailing along his jaw to his ear which she takes between her teeth before she whispers in his ear, “No. Touching.”

The order is more for her own good than his because as soon as his hands get to explore familiar paths, she loses her resolve and lets him have his way with her. She doesn’t want that though he’s sure she would have no problem prolonging his torture for another day.

When his hands move back to the couch, he wants to curse because there’s nothing to hold on to as Maddie says, “good boy”, and her lips begin their descent down the column of his neck. She stops at his Adam’s apple for a moment, nipping and chuckling as it bobs up and down when he thickly swallows. He’s cute like this, needy like she normally is and as ready as ever. It’s been a fun few days of seduction, of mentally edging him until she could do so physically. Her tongue swirls around his surprisingly sensitive nipples, enjoying the way he squirms beneath her lips before she trails down washboard abs. Maddie sits on a fluffy pillow on the floor between his legs, eye level with his erection. He’s sure he sees absolute lust on her face and something else that is commanding and dominant and, God, he wants her to get it over with so he can bury himself within her. Long nails scratch at thighs that tense under their pressure. His hands clench into fists and for a moment Chimney wonders if he can keep his arousal at bay.

“I want you to last as long as you can, Chim. Can you do that for me?”  

She says it so innocently yet so… sensually and his mind briefly fogs as his imagination runs. He doesn’t want to, doesn’t want to stave off his orgasm because he needs her more than he thinks he’s ever needed anyone before. But he will. He will because it’ll be worth it in the end. Chimney nods, swallowing again, his mouth dry with want.

“Use your words,” she scolds as her head tilts, and she raises a brow.

He has to tell himself to play her game, to be compliant, maybe a bit subservient because it’ll be worth it. What’s to come (and his revenge) will be absolutely glorious. “I can do anything for you.”

That’s exactly what she likes to hear. She leans her head against his thigh, her nose just shy of pressing against his erection. The amount of blood rushing to his dick truly has him a bit lightheaded. Maddie isn’t sure if he’s been this aroused by her before, but she makes a mental note to tease him more often if this is the response she’ll receive. Pearly teeth dip into her lip as the pad of her finger runs over a thick, throbbing vein. This beautiful cock that is hers to please and use twitches beneath her touch. Maddie internally swells with power. She breathes him in, the scent heady, musky, and masculine, so uniquely Chimney that it makes her mouth water.

For what seems like forever, she simply touches him. Her fingers are featherlight. The point of her nose joins her fingers every now and then and that’s something he never knew would make the fire in his gut blaze so bright. She avoids the tip, the most sensitive part of him besides his heart, though it’s been dripping precum for almost as long as she’s been touching him. The thick drops trail down his shaft aiding in the sensations of lithe digits that have barely touched him. He can do this, it’s not that bad. That’s the lie he tells himself. It’s hell because he wants her to fully use her hands or her mouth or anything and relieve him of the pressure that is teasingly building.

When her tongue pokes out for the first time to run against the vein, from base to just before his bulbous mushroom head, all the air is knocked out of Chimney’s lungs. He has half a mind to beg, but he knows it won’t work. Maddie is stubborn, if him begging would have worked, he would have been deep within her days ago. Still avoiding his tip, she flattens her tongue against his shaft. It’s not much for sensations, but the visual of her licking him like the best ice cream cone is enough for his heart to beat a little faster in anticipation.

After a few more minutes, Maddie catches his gaze, grinning at the stress of his brow and the way his tongue pokes out to wet his lips. “Too much?” she asks.

Chimney stares back at her, shakes his head before audibly saying no. His girlfriend pats his leg before leaning away to shuffle through the bin under the coffee table, the bin that’s mostly used for random magazines that arrive in the mail and the remote. His darkened eyes land on the bottle of lubricant, one of many in their collection that she must have placed there earlier. Chimney lets out a strained groan which gets a laugh out of his girlfriend. Their collection of flavored lube is growing, and it seems Maddie has chosen chocolate cherry, one of her favorites. The liquid, though cold, drips onto his throbbing tip and Chimney lets out the most delicious groan. Maddie almost takes pity on him. Almost.

Her hand, covered in a bit of lube as well, wraps around the base of his erection and she begins stroking in long passes. Her eyes barely leave her handiwork, watching as he glistens. Maddie adjusts, moving to kneel on the pillow instead of sit, watching as he still drips for her. Ever the tease, she presses a kiss to a gooey droplet on the very tip, the taste of him and the lubricant deliciously mingling. Chimney’s entire body shudders and he lets out a groan when she licks at his head. With this reaction, Maddie herself can’t do much more teasing. She wraps her lips around his head, sucking and sucking in time with the stroke of her hand. She keeps this up before opening her mouth to him, drawing him in as deep as she can. Brown eyes that she loves so much roll back as he tenses and tries to relax in her mouth and Maddie attempts to stifle a laugh. The vibrations shoot through him, and his hands squeeze at the couch cushions. It would be so easy to chase the sensations that the warmth of her mouth brings. It would be so easy to let himself tense and tense and tense until he explodes in the back of her throat. There wouldn’t be anything she could do about it if he does, though he’s sure she’d disapprove and who knows what punishment that would bring him. Instead, Chimney attempts to think about anything other than the way her tongue swirls around the head of his dick. Anything other than the feeling of him being drawn down her warm throat as far as she can take it.

It takes everything in Chimney to stop her when he feels his orgasm truly begin to build. He can’t take more, he thinks. He wants to be inside of her when he releases for her. He’s been flirting with the brink of release for at least two hours when she twirls the silicone ring around her finger just in his line of view. Chimney groans and that devilish smile of hers returns. Chimney has no problem with getting hard, staying hard, or stamina. But the couple of rings they bought really add to their pleasure, allowing Chimney to draw out more of Maddie’s beautiful orgasms. Their eyes meet as her underwear falls to the floor. It takes just a second and she slips the ring around the base of his cock, her desire growing just as his erection does right before her eyes.

“Feel alright?” she asks, not wanting him to be uncomfortable in the slightest.

He nods, clears his throat before choking out a yes as the ring squeezes against his base. It feels good, but it feels even better when Maddie straddles his lap and sinks down on him, grateful they read the ingredients to the lube before purchasing and delighted at the way his face contorts and his breath catches in his throat. She takes him, inch by inch. Chimney isn’t necessarily long, probably somewhere slightly above average in length but girthier than most. The ring emphasizes his width, has her pressing her mouth to his to stifle the guttural moan the leaves her throat as she adjusts. There’s nothing for him to grab and Maddie hasn’t told him he can touch yet, so he chooses to stuff his hands between the cushions to counteract the way her walls clench around him.

Maddie focuses on herself for the most part, rocking her hips in a way that feels good, but it doesn’t stop Chimney’s own pleasure from building on its own accord. Chimney’s head falls back to the couch, and he simply watches her, watches her erotic scene of him disappearing and reappearing between them. He wants to touch her. He needs to touch her or do something with his hands beside clutch onto plush cushions. She’s sexy, exceedingly sexy with her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side. Her tongue pokes out to lick her lips.  When her eyes open, his girlfriend, his beautiful, talented, wonderfully evil girlfriend adjusts once more, one foot propping up for leverage. The change in angle is just what she needs if the rapid sounds of her moans are any sign, and it allows for him to press in just the perfect spot to draw out every single ounce of pleasure he can.

It’s when his hands move to the back of the couch to ground himself in reality that she takes them and moves one to her still covered breast and the other to her ass, giving him permission. It’s as though Chimney comes alive at being able to touch her. His own talented fingers draw the cup of her bra down, teeth nipping at the skin of her breast before he pulls her nipple into his mouth until it’s erect. She clenches around him with every suck of his mouth. His other hand kneads and palms at her ass and it’s as though he hasn’t touched her in years. They find their rhythm easily, slow at first because Maddie isn’t quite done teasing yet. She can’t last long. She’s been dripping wet for as long as he has and the way he reacts to her, the way he wants so desperately to please her has that metaphorical rubber band close to its snapping point. Maddie watches as he goes doe-eyed for her, and she knows he’s close.

“Is that all you can take, baby?” her hips don’t stop their movement as she asks him, and he nods. She tuts again, her hips rocking in time with her own command. “Use. Your. Words.”

“Yes, Maddie. Fuck, Maddie it’s all… I can’t…” His hands dig into her waist, hard enough to bruise as their pace increases, but she welcomes the minute pain as she climbs the ladder of her own desire once more.

Ever the pleaser, Chimney grunts through his own arousal. He removes one hand from her waist to find her clit, stimulating her both inside and out until she’s panting and letting expletives of her own fall from plumped lips. His thrusting hips match his circling fingers and she’s so close, her toes curl in excitement.

“Howie,” she draws out his name as she begins to pulse around him in her own release.

Maddie leans forward, wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his ear and tells him to make her come, to come inside of her while he does it, as deep as he can, as much as he can. Her words are a catalyst to his orgasm, sending him over the edge he’s been on for hours. Hearing him cum for her is the most satisfying sound. Feeling him thrust into her until he’s done is just as spectacular. Maddie could get drunk off the way her name sounds as it’s stretched through moan after moan of his pleasure.

When their hips slow and they catch their breath, Maddie presses her lips to his. He’s a vision as his eyes droop. He’s exhausted in the cutest way. She slips from him, slips the ring from around his dick. They’ll need to clean themselves and the toy up before getting into bed. With one hand, Maddie pulls a still dazed Chimney from the couch and all but drags him to the bathroom for a nice, soothing bath, both of their legs jelly and their lust for one another satisfied. For now.

[floraone]

The King’s New Clothes

So I wrote this for @nari20 because it happened, lol! (And the reason it happened is because Nari is currently doing a compilation of Mamoru Makeover Art over on twitter because she is a gift to this world and there is a MANKINI IN IT and TUX UNDERWEAR and I am LIVING and how do we deserve this woman in our midst making our days So Entertaining lol?!)

Anyway. Talking about Mamoru fashion ended in some mutual prompting so. Enjoy some Fabulous Fashionable Kendy tumblr short!

---

Utopia had taken a surprising amount of time to adjust to, and no one had had a harder time with it than the new queen of the world.

Especially in the beginning, she'd bottled it up and painted a smile over it. But Mamoru - King Endymion now, or so his official royal name, and what the fuck that would need some getting used to - had been with his wife for long enough to see the tenseness of her shoulders, know what it meant when she gripped his hand so tight.

She'd been terrified.

The leaders of the world intimidated her. Not because she was someone easily intimidated, but mostly because some of them tried very hard to do so.

She gritted her teeth through glassy eyes when another old, bald man in a bland, navy suit tried to talk down at her, and stood her ground.

But afterwards, she'd tremble in his arms in the hotel room in any capital city of the world and try to breathe in deeply through her nose. When she'd started whipping out notebooks asking him all sorts of vernacular intentionally thrown her way because she could not understand it, thinking she had to learn and asking him to tutor her even though they’d done it all on purpose, he got mad in a way he started shouting for the first time in his life outside of life and death situations.

Not at her, mind you.

But they were trying to bring down his wife, not even realising the luck they fucking had to have someone with her heart trying to make them be compassionate and humanitarian and good. Someone so unwaveringly pure, someone with her unfaltering integrity. Someone so easily finding the good in others and bringing it out.

But they'd just fucking have to learn.

He'd hired a personal translator for her then, first thing in the morning. One of what was to be one of many. Someone who'd take these terms fired at her in foreign languages and usually translated just as haughtily and arrogantly to her, and instead explain them without shrouding them in pomp and circumstance. 'Habituation' in the end, was only 'getting used to something over time', after all, for a good translator.

They might have tried to hit her at her flaws, but Mamoru was determined, at Neo Queen Serenity's side, to show off where she was better than any of these assholes combined. The world lacked love, not fancy words. Usagi had him for the fancy words.

And so, even though it all began in endless work hours that tore at Usagi, in stuffy rooms half-way around the world at any point in the year, slowly, she grew into it. If Usagi was good at one thing, it was finding positivity and joy in all manner of circumstances, and this was no different.

The climate treaty negotiations in Brussels might have been mind-numbingly infuriating, but she'd snuck them out during lunch hour to a Belgian chocolate vendor nearby who'd been making paradise for the tongue for over 300 years in their little family run-store, and Usagi's eyes lit up like this had suddenly turned into the best fucking day. She might have to try and wrangle power-hungry men, but she could also buy a restored French carousel from 1872 and put it in her sitting room, and yes, she had. And yes, she rode it.

But even those worldly pleasures that made it all more bearable for someone who struggled with having to concentrate for a minimum 60 fucking hours a week most of the time, those pleasures that had the power to balance out the fact that Tsukino Usagi did not get to sleep in anymore at all, ever, were sometimes turned sour for her.

The second time he'd shouted outside life-and-death situations, he'd found her crying over a tabloid as she emptied hanger after hanger of extravagant dresses from her wardrobe.

One of those pleasures that made it all worthwhile for her? Fucking extravagant dresses. Even when Usagi was 14 and had only just learned she'd one day be fucking queen of the world, she'd started to look at couture differently. Started collecting moodboards and clippings. She'd been looking forward to that. A teenage girl's dream of the glamourous life of being Queen.

But now that she was, this life was more work than glamour. The only glamour she got was the one she made for herself. Like carousels in sitting rooms. Like Paolo Sebastian Autumn/Winter 2018 and George Chakra Autumn/Winter 2016 and Isabel Sanchis Spring/Summer 2020 and Ralph & Russo 2017 and Dior Spring/Summer 1992.

The tabloid was horrid. 'Neo Queen Serenity: What a Little Girl Looks Like Who Mistakes Leadership for Playing Dress-Up. Is the Future in Good Hands?'

Underneath it, a spread of Usagi in glittering, sparkling, over-the-top dresses. Everywhere from cutting ribbons at the newly minted Crystal Tokyo Center for Free Childcare to sitting in week-long conferences somewhere in New Brunswick.

Sometimes, he wasn't so sure if the world even deserved her.

He'd personally hung back every hanger into this wardrobe himself, cancelled their meetings for the day much to Ami-chan's organisational horrors, and took her shopping in disguise.

That day, something profound had changed.

"This one," Usagi had said with a flushed giggle. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes were dancing. And really, if it took playing dress up for her, no garment was ridiculous enough to not be worth it.

He stepped out the dressing room in the brightest floral-patterned shiny pastel suit the world had ever seen. Baby blue and pink roses over rococo gold embroidery to bright baby blue patent leather loafers. He looked like a chandelier had fallen into fresh paint and then rolled around in confetti. And his Queen loved it.

"Well, then," he'd winked, and she'd giggled again. "Let's take five."

If they were going to make fun of her choice of clothes, he'd just have to top her game, Mamoru decided.

And really, it made so much fucking sense.

Back when he was a boy with a glimpse of he's future, he'd always wondered how the hell THAT happened. And with that, he'd of course meant something quite specific, and not the fact he'd somehow made it on a throne.

A lavender colored tuxedo that had made him frown into the night for a long, long time. A lavender colored tuxedo that had yet not found its way into his possession. One he'd begun to doubt ever would.

Of course, Mamoru had always liked the more dramatic of clothes. So far, so unsurprising. His favorite attire was a tux and cape that he could flap like no other, after all, and then came a color-blocked puff sleave shirt he'd worn until it fell apart. He'd always liked color. One didn't get married to Tsukino Usagi if they didn't adore a colorful world.

But that?

And yet the royal world they'd found in their future hadn't looked satin and lavender when they'd finally made it there. It hadn't happened. It was navy suits and etui dresses with leaded hems to they wouldn't blow up, covered shoulders and skirts that absolutely had to be no smaller than knee-length, and he supposed it had made sense. After all, the Windsors didn't run around in see-through shift dresses and tiaras, either.

He'd even been a little relieved. He liked blending in. He'd told himself, when he first saw that lavender tux when he was fucking 18 and his mind was blown with too much information he should not have had, that he wasn't gonna do it. No matter what.

Now? Now it made so much sense. Really, he should have known. Of course, this was what was gonna do it.

Someone criticize his wife? They gotta go through him.

If protecting his wife's happiness while she made the world a better place meant Lavender Suits and Capes, then this was what it'll take.

Now, he was gonna fucking do it. Of course, he was.

So no, the Windors still wore unicolor, leaded costumes in the future.

His wife wore skin-tight chiffon, silk and satin.

And he wore mermaid-colored sequined-dinner jackets. He wore heels with flamingo-patterned trousers, complete with a tuxedo stripe at each side. He wore shimmering, metallic athletic wear, skin tight. He wore fake fur collars and thick embroidered velvet robes to black leather gloves. He owned a mankini. A hot pink leather jacket he wore over men's pastel evening wear. The green jacket was jealous somewhere in a closet. Maboroshi no fucking fashion sense.

Nobody ever wrote something offending about the Queen's new clothes once he'd grooved himself in.

(Minako loved it perhaps most of all.)

---

(ANYWAY NARI *ILLUSTRATED* THIS IN THE 50 MINUTES THAT IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THIS AND YOU GOTTA SEE HER ART. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK HOW DO YOU DO MAGIC SO FAST, NARI?!)

[cdelphiki]

I’m writing the next chapter of The Best Things now. This will probably be a tomorrow thing, once it’s done. 😬 Sorry I’ve been so bad about keeping to schedule the past couple months, but it’s a work in progress. 

I ended up switching the POV from what I’ve been working on all weekend and it’s coming out SO MUCH EASIER now. So we’ll see if I’m able to get it done tonight or if it’ll still be a tomorrow thing. I’ve got work tomorrow so I can only stay up another half hour or so. But we’ll see!

I’m gonna give y’all a sneak peek at a whumptober fic in the meantime, just as a sort of sorry for not updating anything lately. 😂 It’s a super-work-in-progress (meaning this entire thing might get revised) but I am excited about the concept:

Untitled Baby Tim & Bruce WIP, set after The Best Things, but nothing spoiler-y. Assuming we all already know Bruce is taking Tim and Cass in permanently. LOL  

- 

Bruce avoided business trips at all cost. He tried his best to force all trips to be contained into a single day. He owned a plane. He could take off first thing in the morning and return late that night. No big deal.

He hated business trips. Too much ‘networking,’ meaning too many people trying to kiss up to him, too many fake smiles, too many drinks avoided, and far, far too many meetings.

Which is why when it became clear in mid-June that he’d have to travel to San Fransisco for a week-long trip, Bruce just groaned.

Right there. In front of Lucius and everything.

It didn’t get him out of it.

The kids were not nearly as fazed by it as Bruce thought they’d be. He supposed they were used to him having to go away for a few days a time.

Usually it was League business, but the result was all the same for them.

At least League business was typically more enjoyable than a week’s worth of meetings.

“Kay, whatever,” had been Jason’s response, when Bruce told them all at dinner the night he found out, “you gotta bring me back something, though.”

“Yeah,” Damian shouted, “presents!”

Bruce sighed and looked over to where Cass and Tim sat next to each other, to his left. Cass grinned at his attention, then took another bite of her dinner. He was fairly certain she’d understood his announcement. If she had something to say about it, she would have said it.

Tim stared back at him for a beat, then asked, almost uninterested, “When will you be back?”

“Friday.”

“Okay,” he said, with a nod. And that was that.

At least. Bruce thought that was that.

Because when it came time for him to leave Sunday night, everything broke down.

“Be good for Alfred,” he said to the kids, who were all sitting in the living room playing a card game together. He tried to give each of them a goodbye hug, but they were far more interested in their game than they were in saying good-bye.

It was amusing.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason said, as Bruce leaned over the couch and wrapped an arm around him, “Okay. Bye. Now get off me, old man.”

Bruce chuckled as he moved over to Damian, who actually stood up on the couch to give him a proper hug with an upbeat, “Bye, Dad!” as he did.

Cassandra grinned wide and let Bruce hug her as she said, “Yes. Good. See you.”

“I love you, sweetheart,” Bruce said as he let go.  

Then he turned to Tim, with the intention of giving him a hug, too, but paused.

Because Tim was sitting there, stiffly.

Bruce rounded the coffee table so he was right next to Tim’s armchair and knelt down, making himself level with Tim.  When he held his arm out, asking for a hug, however, the dam burst.

“Don’t go,” Tim cried, not leaning forward for Bruce to hug him, “You aren’t supposed to go.”

With a sigh, Bruce set his shoulder bag down on the floor and moved to be right in front of his son. “Tim, buddy,” he said, running a hand up and down Tim’s arm, “It’s just for five days. It’s okay.”

“That’s what they always say,” Tim whined, as he pressed the palm of his hand into one of his eyes.

How many times had Tim had this conversation with his own parents? How many times had they promised him a week and been gone for two?

Or seven?

He already hated Jack and Janet Drake. He didn’t need more reasons.

“Come here,” Bruce said, tugging Tim forward so he could finally hug him, “Tim, it’s—“

“I know, I’m sorry,” Tim interrupted, as he squirmed in Bruce’s arms until he could press both his hands into his eyes, “You have to, I know. It’s work. It’s more important. I’m sorry, I’m trying to stop. Sorry.”

Bruce might not need them, but Tim would never stop supplying him with more reasons to hate them.

And every time he said ‘sorry’ or suggested anything was more important than him?

Bruce’s hatred increased tenfold.

“Shh,” he said, squeezing Tim a little tighter as he whispered into Tim’s ear, fully aware that only two of the kids had left the room when Tim started crying, “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s okay to feel this way. And nothing is more important than you kids and your happiness, including work, okay?”

He wasn’t sure how many time’s he’d have to say such a thing to Tim, but he’d keep saying it. Over and over. Until one day Tim finally prioritized himself without prompting.

“I,” Tim started, sniffling once before he broke down into sobs again, “I don’t want you to leave me.”

Curse the Drake for making simple business trips so painful for Tim.

“It’s not forever,” he promised, still holding Tim close, “I promise I will be back on Friday.”

Tim merely let out another heart-wrenching sob, and Bruce couldn’t take it any more.

“Okay,” he said, pulling Tim back away from him, “Go pack a bag.”

If Tim couldn’t handle him going away for five days, then Bruce would just take him with.

“What?” Tim said, startled into silence.

“A bag,” Bruce repeated, standing to his feet and picking back up his own shoulder-bag, “Five days worth of clothes and essentials. Maybe your camera, if you want. Don’t forget pajamas and your phone charger.”

Tim shook his head, and asked again, “What?” Like he couldn’t believe what Bruce was saying.

Of course he couldn’t believe it. Jack and Janet Drake would have sooner died than bring Tim along on a trip, Bruce was sure. They probably though he’d get underfoot, or something.

Admittedly, he probably would get underfoot. He was ten. And Bruce had a week full of meetings ahead of him. Tim was going to get bored within the first hour of meetings, but at least he’d learn that business trips for Bruce lasted exactly as long as he promised they would.

“Hurry,” Bruce said, “Or we’ll be late. I’ll get you some travel stuff you’ll need, okay?”

Even with that, Tim still hesitated, so Bruce said, rather authoritatively, “Go,” and Tim sprang into action, out the room and up the stairs.

“No fair,” Jason whined, once Bruce turned around to face whichever kid didn’t leave to give Tim privacy, “Why does he get to come? I want to come.”

Bruce was not dealing with two kids on the trip.

“Jay,” he said through a sigh, deciding to just be blunt about it, “Do you have abandonment issues?”

“Maybe,” Jason said, crossing his arms and jutting a lip out at Bruce, “You don’t know my life.”

He might not know every detail of Jason’s life, but he knew enough to know Jason would not be scarred deeply by Bruce leaving him with Alfred for five days.

“Jay,” he said again, as he wrapped an arm around Jason, “He’s terrified I’m going to leave and not come back for months. I’m just going to show him what happens on business trips, which is a lot of boring meetings, and prove that I stick to my schedule, okay? Next time he’ll want to stay here, because here is more fun.”

“Fine,” Jason exclaimed, in feigned annoyance as he pushed Bruce back off him, “But you better bring back something super cool.”

Laughing, Bruce pat Jason’s head and said, “I’ll call you tonight like always.”

“Kay.”

[ri-ahhh]

Okay but hear me out: Grayson begging to come with you to take care of your baby siblings (like 2 and 4 years old) and he’s ON IT but then they get really out of hand and he’s like “I can see why birth control is a thing”

Listen I worked in a daycare for four years and I’m a firm believer that anyone wanting to have a kid needs to work that job for a week. Or like, forget the stupid baby dolls you take care of in high school, let a 15 yr old take care of 5 babies or 10 2 yr olds by themselves and see if they’ll have unprotected sex lol

You’re walking around your apartment, straightening up the place and removing anything potentially breakable or that might be a choking hazard in preparation for the day you promised to babysit your niece and nephew, when your phone buzzes in the back pocket of your jeans.

“Hello?” you answer, unplugging a stray phone charger from the wall socket by the couch and replacing it with one of the childproof plastic covers.

“Hey,” came Grayson’s voice on the other end of the line. “What time do you think you’ll head over?”

You pause in the middle of the room, confused momentarily, then smack your palm to your forehead. You had totally forgotten the plans you had made with your boyfriend to have a pool day at his house. 

“Shit. I’m sorry, Gray. I totally forgot, I told my brother like three weeks ago that I’d watch his kids for the day while he and his wife go house hunting.”

“Oh, damn,” he says, disappointed. His voice perks up when he speaks again, however. “I love kids, though! What if I came over and helped you out?”

You raise an eyebrow. “You want to spend your Saturday wrangling two toddlers? They’re little hellions, babe, to put it nicely.”

You can hear his grin through the phone. “Yeah. I wanna see you be an auntie.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, you relent. You’d be lying if you tried to say that you aren’t thinking about him being in dad mode for the day now, too. “Alright, but you don’t get to bail when shit hits the fan. Let me check that it’s cool with my brother.”

An hour later, you’ve got your just-turned-two niece Cami and her four year-old brother Cash sitting on your couch, entranced by Aquanauts playing on the TV, when Grayson knocks at the door. The kids’ heads jerk up, and your nephew looks at you questioningly, always excited for the opportunity to be a big boy and answer the door. You smile and nod, giving him permission to scramble off the couch with you following close behind.

You help him heave the door open, and he looks up at Grayson standing there, friendly smile fixed on his face when he sees your nephew. 

“Hey, little man! Can I come in?”

Cash nods with an excited smile of his own. You had already told him that your friend Grayson would be coming over to play with them. Outgoing and extroverted and a genuine people-person to no end, he had been as jittery and excited as if you had given him a spoonful of sugar ever since.

Grayson steps past the threshold of your apartment, and holds his fist out for Cash to bump. “I’m Grayson.”

You feel two little hands tug on your shirt, and you look down to see Cami reaching up to be held, curious about this new person but also cautious. You sweep her up and settle her on your hip, then nod at your nephew. “Gray, this is Cash. Tell him how old you are, bud.”

“Four!” he shouts, counting out the correct number of fingers before holding them up to Grayson. “I had a Spider-Man party! Do you like Spider-Man?”

“Dude, I love Spider-Man,” Grayson says exaggeratedly, giving Cash an enthusiastic high-five. He looks at Cami, who’s got her head resting on your shoulder as she watches this stranger interact with her brother. “And who’s this?”

“You gonna tell Grayson your name?” you ask Cami, knowing it’ll be hit or miss if she does or not. Much more of an introvert and also used to having an older silbling do everything for her, she isn’t quite as quick to warm up to people as her rambunctious brother. Sure enough, today is a no-go, but she still observes Grayson with big eyes and a fascinated little smile. 

Before you can answer your boyfriend, Cash speaks for her in that typical older-sibling fashion. “Her name is Campbell, but we call her Cami. Or Cam.”

“No way! My sister’s name is Cam, too!”

That’s all the small talk and mutual ground Cash needs to grab Grayson by the wrist and drag him into your living room to play with the pile of toys on the rug. He flashes you a grin as he passes, clearly impressed with himself that he’s already made such good friends with Cash.

You grin and roll your eyes, but follow them and sit with your back resting against the couch and Cami planted in your lap.

Admittedly, Grayson is a natural as he makes all the appropriate dinosaur and car crash noises and gladly accepts the Batman action figure instead of Spider-Man. He even coaxes Cami to take one of the animal figures, meeting her smile with a bright one of his own, glad to be making some headway now with the precious little girl in your arms.

Until Cash catches sight of the little plastic tiger now in Cami’s hands, and decides to ruin the moment completely.

“That’s mine, Cam!” he shouts, dropping Spider-Man and snatching the toy from her.

You know it’s coming, but Grayson is completely unprepared for the shrieking scream that Cami lets out as she clambers off your lap to take back the toy. Gray winces and looks at you in shock, but you’re just immediately going into ‘stop the fight’ mode.

“Cash, you weren’t even playing with that,” you reprimand, holding out your hand for him to reluctantly drop the toy into. You sit Cami on the rug next to him and make her look you in the eye. “Cami, use your words next time. What do you say when you want something?”

Her eyes light up when she sees the toy in your hand that she knows is about to belong to her once again. “P’ease!” she says, swiping her hand across her chest as well, leftover baby sign language engrained in her little brain.

You hand her the toy and make her say ‘thank you’ as well, then catch Grayson watching you in awe. “You handled that well,” he says.

You blush a little and shrug, crawling across the carpet now that the kids are happy and occupied so you can plant a soft kiss to his lips. “Hi,” you murmur, grinning against his mouth.

He chuckles and kisses you again, equally as chaste. “Hi.”

There are a couple more arguments that you have to stop, then they settle down for a bit while they eat a morning snack of banana slices and Cheerios. Cami definitely dumps her half-empty bowl on the floor to signify that she’s finished, and Cash accidentally spills his water everywhere after taking the lid off because ‘he’s not a baby.’ Grayson offers to clean it up while you take the kids to the bathroom to wipe Cami’s messy hands and face and to change Cash’s soaking wet clothes.

There’s a park nearby your apartment, so once everything is tidy again, the two of you round up the excited little balls of energy and head out the door. Both kids have easily become infatuated with Grayson, and as the four of you walk the sidewalk on your way to the park, he carries Cami on his hip while holding tightly on to Cash’s hand to stop him from chasing bugs into traffic. It’s an adorable image, to say the least, and makes your chest swell warmly.

You like watching him run around with Cash equally as much while you push Cami on the baby swings. Grayson is learning first-hand that even someone as in-shape as himself is no match for the energy of an excited four year-old. He chases Cash around the playground, flies him around like an airplane, and plays a game of tag before finally convincing him to come to the swings as well.

You laugh when he makes his way over, panting heavily. “Having fun?” you ask amusedly.

Grayson doesn’t answer, just takes his place behind the swing Cash chooses and catches his breath for a moment as he starts to push him.

“Just trying to figure out how my dad did this with me and E.”

Lunch and nap come next, which goes a little smoother than snack had. Grayson plays with them on the floor again while you cook, and you let him put out the squabbles himself until everything is ready. Cash only puts up a small fight when you lay them down in your bed. They’re both out in a matter of minutes, exhausted by the activities and excitement of their morning.

When you emerge back in the living room, you find Grayson slumped on the couch, staring at the TV that’s now playing Dora.

“Brushing up on your Spanish?” you ask, plopping down next to him and snuggling up to his side. “Or are you watching for the adventure?”

Grayson chuckles and wraps his arm around your shoulder so he can pull you closer to him, his voice gruff and tired. “You were right. Hellions, both of them. Cute, but insane.”

You tip your head up to kiss the underside of his jaw. “For what it’s worth, they loved you.”

“Really?” he asks, his voice lighting up with the smile you can’t see.

You nod against his chest, grinning as you think back on the day. “Absolutely. Cami never takes to strangers that fast, and you were able to keep up with Cash, which is a feat not many others can do.”

He’s quiet for a moment. “Kinda makes me scared to have kids now. It’s only been like five hours and I’m already exhausted.”

“You’re meant to be a dad Gray,” you assure him quietly, lifting your head and offering him a gentle smile. “If I didn’t already know that before, everything I saw today definitely made me think so. And no good thing comes easy, right? I think being a little tired is worth having one of those of your own, don’t you?”

“For sure,” he nods, cupping your cheek and dipping down to kiss you softly.

You hum into his mouth, needy for him now that you’ve got him all to yourself, and wrap your arms around his neck to pull him down until you’ve got him sprawled our on top of you. You trace his lips with your tongue before slipping it between them, but at the first slide of it against his, Grayson pulls back.

“Is this okay, you know, with them...?” He nods down the hall to the closed door of your room.

You nod. “They’re heavy sleepers. We should probably keep it to over the clothes stuff just in case, though. And my brother will be here in an hour to get them, so we only have to wait until then.”

It’s enough to satisfy him, and Grayson ducks down again, ready to pick right back up, until he breaks away from your mouth once more.

“What?” you ask breathily, looking up at him with both confusion and frustration.

He reaches an arm behind you to grab the remote sitting on the arm of the couch. “I’m sorry, I just can’t make out while Dora is screaming at me to ‘vamonos.’”

[hopevalley]

Season 8, Episode 5: What the Heart Wants

I was going to try to follow my scene-by-scene format for the entire season, but I’ve been getting a lot of migraines recently, presumably from staring at the computer too long, so I don’t want to spend all morning working on typing up the play-by-play for this episode.

Also, for what it’s worth I think this episode lends itself to plot discussion better than some of the previous episodes...at least in some sense.

And as another head’s up, it’s back to being critical for me. ;P

Storylines:

School Ends/Graduation/Parent-Teacher Conferences

The Dress Shop/Rachel

Postal Service, Ned

Bill’s Uniform, Nathan’s Vacation

Carson and Faith

Henry

Elizabeth and Lucas

Clara’s Dilemma

--

School Ends/Graduation/Parent-Teacher Conferences

This plot felt a little scattered, but for once it wasn’t the kind of storyline they foisted too much drama upon. After years of every single function possible being besieged by bullshittery, it’s a relief to see one go off without a real hitch.

The beginning scene with Robert hugging Elizabeth was sweet. I enjoyed the Canfields immensely and am intrigued by Angela’s role in the story long-term (PLEASE let her befriend Allie!). Nathan...eh, I have thoughts—but I’ll talk about that a bit soon. The actual ceremony was cute and kind of fun with the kids singing. 

Neat Thing I Noticed:

Continuity? Cat Montgomery is still listed as Emily’s mother. ♥♥♥ I don’t know why but this made me really happy???

-

Complaint Corner:

Parent-teacher conferences should have been in this show from a much earlier point, and so should graduation have been. If there was a point to this celebration (the first year in a while anyone was old enough to graduate) that would have been a nice touch, too. It just managed to feel sliiiightly out of place.

I’ll forgive the “everyone in town goes to the graduation” thing because this is 1918...something like this would be a whole-town affair IMO. Invite everyone and have a nice get-together/party, probably on a Sunday afternoon after church but Hope Valley does whatever it wants, so...eh.

The threat of merging Hope Valley with other schools doesn’t fit in this scenario and it feels like they ripped it directly out of Tales from Avonlea which was almost rage-inducing to me.

Look, school mergers happened a lot in the early 1900s, especially around the WWI mark, but it wouldn’t be hitting a rural western town just yet. They don’t have any way of getting these kids to other towns for schooling. Where would the next closest school be? It would have to be pretty large and modern to merge multiple schools together.

*Adjusts nerd glasses* This felt forced and completely unnecessary. If anything this guy could be telling Elizabeth that they’re working on building a modern school somewhat close by, and could even have her involved in some decision-making regarding layout. Then they could bring in a “merger” storyline next season without it feeling out of place.

It mostly just felt dramatic for the hell of it, and it was boring, as was this man’s threat that Elizabeth had no right to teach a blind student. As if they’d accept Angela at a better school? As if her parents could afford top tier education for her? PLEASE.

Now it’s time for Nathan. The man chose to go fishing instead of to the parent-teacher conference? It makes him look like a tool. This isn’t about him or about Elizabeth; it’s about Allie. I understand why he didn’t want to go, but he should have done it anyway. It would have taken five minutes of his time. 

His flippant attitude annoyed me because it went completely against his character as we know it, but Elizabeth’s lecturing was irritating, too. For a moment I thought we had Lorigail back on the show...

I think Elizabeth was well within her rights to warn Nathan about the effect his work has on his ward, but that inquiry took like a week AT MOST. Heck, let’s be generous and say TWO WEEKS. Allie’s concentration suffered for two weeks. There was no need to say more than, “Hey she worries about you and her work suffered for a bit during that time frame, just so you’re aware.” 

I think what annoyed me about the math program thing is that...Elizabeth being a teacher would probably be VERY WELL AWARE that MOST of the parents to her students aren’t good enough at schooling to assist their kids with their homework. I dunno, it just feels out of place for her to tell Nathan that she wants to put Allie in an accelerated “program” and that Allie might need his help with her homework. It’s even more out of place when he admits he used to bribe his sister to do his work for him. Like. It’s very possible he’s not that good at math and isn’t capable of helping. (But maybe that will be a plot down the road...?)

“Or a tutor...” BITCH WHERE IS HE GONNA FIND A TUTOR IN THIS TOWN?! It’s super annoying to see dialogue like this that feels completely out of touch with the reality these people would be living in...lol. But also if she needs a tutor to stay caught up in an advanced program, she probably...shouldn’t be in the advanced program.

I don’t know how to feel about this whole thing here: “Nathan, you are Allie’s world. You’re the only father she’s ever known, and as she grows up you will always be the measure of the quality she’ll look for in a man as she chooses who to marry.” 

On one hand, it does fit the situation (he seems to think everything is behind him but Elizabeth’s words are kind of a caution that 1) his actions still have an effect on Allie, and 2) every day he’s teaching her by example). On the other hand, it seems almost wildly inappropriate to bring up? At the same time, it’s probably not wrong that Allie will measure other men (friends, acquaintances, potential future romantic interests) against Nathan’s example.

I dunno. The conversation felt disjointed. 

I think what they were going for was Nathan just feeling too awkward and weird about being with Elizabeth to want to be there for the conference, but...he interacted with her quite normally after the inquiry and stuff (even after she’d broken things off with him), so...it feels out of place. Like maybe this should have taken place right after the breakup and not weeks later?

Anyone else have thoughts on this and why it doesn’t feel quite right?

--

The Dress Shop/Rachel

This plot wasn’t what I would call a waste of time (rather, it’s worth having it mentioned now), but part of it was completely pointless and stupid. The whole Rachel getting lost thing was tacked into the promos to stir up drama, but nothing happened and there was nothing worrisome even going on. YAWN.

Rosemary’s desire to do something meaningful and different with her life is super interesting. I’m very curious to see what they decide to do with her if Dottie does sell the dress shop.

Also, Rosemary finding the book under Rachel’s bed was pretty funny.

But yeah, I didn’t really find much in this plotline to care deeply about. I guess I am pretty interested in knowing who might be purchasing the dress shop and/or if this decision is to bring someone else onto the show (a female love interest for the man who doesn’t win Elizabeth’s heart in the end, or even to bring back an old character*) or to take the dress shop out of the equation entirely... It’s also just as possible that Rosemary/Lee or Clara/Jesse end up buying it themselves down the line... Thoughts?

*I can’t begin to imagine who would be the best fit for this in this case, though. Who would have the money to buy her out?

--

Postal Service, Ned

Ned is just honestly so cute and fun. I love him. He’s really been doing well this season and seeing him wander around town delivering mail door to door was kind of nice.

Also, he’s one SMOOTH operator! Look at him, talking about putting a bell on the door so that he and Florence won’t be caught off-guard if they’re in the middle of...something. 

Oh my, Ned. What might customers be...interrupting? :3

Continuity? Not only was the ulcer from last season brought up, but the horrid cabbage juice was, too. :’) It was a nice touch. And these two had just enough screentime to be kind of fun/interesting without also taking up too much time.

--

Bill’s Uniform, Nathan’s Vacation

Nathan got his vacation and Bill is in charge...again. This happens an awful lot. I wonder if it’ll actually impact the next few episodes or if it’s just here for the hell of it.

I love Bill a lot and I want to brag up his character in this episode a bit. I’ve complained many times in the past about him being written like a Grumpy Old Man Yelling at Clouds but this episode was super respectful. He got his scene with his uniform. Nobody interrupted it. There weren’t even any words. I quite liked it.

But it also felt kind of...pointless? I don’t want to judge it too harshly yet. Like the dress shop plotline, this could actually be going somewhere in the next couple of episodes. 

Plus, unrelated to the uniform, it was nice to see Bill acting fatherly toward Clara. While it sort of came out of nowhere for the wedding, I appreciate the attempt at continuity there. Plus, so far this season, I’ve felt like Bill’s almost been a father-figure to Clara, Fiona, and even Nathan, so I’m enjoying that a lot.

--

Carson and Faith

CONTINUITY? The show finally remembered that not only is Carson actually a surgeon, but that was his original passion. It’s not that they completely forgot (S5 had him performing surgery on his sister-in-law, after all), but giving Carson a PASSION makes him a way more interesting character to me. 

And also, finally, this feels like a REAL high-stakes plotline for him and for Faith.

I really liked Faith’s take on things. I know, I know, I’ve been rooting at them to break up, but the reason is mostly because they’re just so BORING together. I’d rather watch Henry twirl around in a chair for an hour than suffer through date scenes with these two.

It’s not that I’m against a doctor wife/husband team. I’m not. I just think Faith was a much more interesting and cool character on the show before Carson showed up and usurped her place (and completely overshadowed her for literal seasons). This plotline for Carson might actually be interesting. Like, a fellowship? For modern surgery? IN BALTIMORE?!

I hope this is Faith’s way of saying she wants a break and/or a break would be good for them. I can’t picture her leaving Hope Valley without any trained medical staff, let alone long enough for a fellowship... 

But if this goes through, what will they do with it? Would they really write Carson off the show? To be perfectly honest with y’all, I’d be fine with that. At least it’s the type of write-off that makes a lot of good sense (unlike some of the other ones we got). I guess this is just another “wait and see” plotline which is uhh...the theme of this episode, huh? Anyone have thoughts on this?

--

Henry

Henry barely had any screentime, but I do want to say he is #relateable. The man is back at work for ten seconds and already exhausted. SAME.

Also, I appreciate that he’s ready to be back in the oil business. At what cost? I know people were worried they were gonna kill him off, and I really doubted it, but now I’m starting to wonder where they’re going with this exactly. Yet another wait and see moment LOL!

--

Elizabeth and Lucas

Some damn fine scenes for Lucas and Elizabeth in this episode. Mostly the scenic ones. :P

I enjoyed the agreement to a date. The horseback riding stuff was pretty cute. 

Complaint corner? I don’t know. I have petty complaints. Even though the celebration for the kids was a town-wide event, and therefore Lucas was invited, it still felt out of place to see it brought up. Maybe it should have been mentioned as a town celebration from the start?

Then Lucas’s comment about not wanting to make things awkward for Nathan (who is actually a parent and there) makes a liiiittle more sense. I do think it was good of him to not go, even though he wanted to spend more time with Elizabeth, but it gave off a weird vibe, like, “Look at how good and wholesome Lucas is!” Is that intentional? I’m not...sure...?

For what it’s worth I already felt like Lucas was an honorable person in this regard. He loaned Nathan money, after all. Maybe he should have told Elizabeth he views Nathan as a friend and doesn’t want to hurt his feelings unnecessarily and/or if he was there he’d want to hog her all to himself or something cheesy. Hm.

My other complaints are:

Elizabeth running to the saloon would be WAY faster than all this getting set up at her house...?? Who thought this made sense?

Elizabeth’s dress looked like a nightie she bought at Kohls.

Too many damn candles.

Characters Do What Plot Dictates Even Though Plot Makes No Sense. More at 11:00!!

I have no further comments on the dress. It needed sleeves or something so it looked more like a dress and not like a nightgown/piece of lingerie.

I think the candles might have been on purpose to parallel Jack...but I hated it lol. Fire hazard? HAVEN’T ENOUGH THINGS IN TOWN BURNED DOWN/EXPLODED?!

I didn’t hate the date scene! But I never feel like Elizabeth has any meaningful conversations with Lucas and it’s starting to drive me batty. 

Could we get uhhh something of substance please? It has to be surface-level nonsense on purpose. Right? RIGHT?

(And no, discussing a book for ten seconds on-screen is not “intelligent conversation” okay...?)

It’s really a shame because I’m starting to actually warm up to Lucas a little bit in this season but it feels like the conversations are just...kind of stilted and she’s not really into dating him—just agreeing to it because he’s the only option. 

And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but...he deserves better than that. 

Don’t get me wrong, by the way. If it’s part of the story and it’s revealed as such down the road, I’ll be fine with it...but I always worry they’ll just skip important relationship milestones and/or important conversations and expect us all to just accept it.

Kiiiiiind of looking forward to the rainy date scene in the next episode, though. I’m Team Nathan mostly but I’m keeping an open mind and I think I might actually enjoy it. Hopefully they’ll get some good scenes together that don’t feel like this one did.

--

Clara's Dilemma

Clara’s fears about running the salon without Fiona...are legit. LOL.

Also, this little bit was funny (between Mike and Jesse and Bill):

Anyway, if Clara was that worried about it, she should have just...told Fiona no? I hope it comes up down the road. Poor Molly??

I genuinely don’t know how I feel about Clara and Jesse’s involvement in this episode. I guess it was okay. I liked Clara’s scenes with Bill. I thought the idea of Clara and Jesse buying into the cafe was a nice one. Jesse having “invested” their money and lost it all, though... They did a similar plot with other people in what...Season 5 was it? Or was that the start of S6? He didn’t even say what he invested it in? But he admits the money is all gone? 

I think that’s what was missing from that scene. “I invested it in X, hoping to make us more money, but it didn’t work out and we lost everything.”

I’m not going to criticize Jesse’s characterization, only because sometimes character "growth” doesn’t happen for the better of anyone involved. My biggest worry here is that it’ll be solved by the end of next episode....but I hope that’s not it.

Like, I think they did better with Frank and Abigail if we’re going to talk about a man who didn’t know how to live like he was in a committed relationship. It made more sense with Frank, too, being older and single most of his life. His bouts of selfishness felt realistic.

Jesse feels like he’s somehow getting worse and worse as a person as the show goes on. I’m kind of at a point where I hope he and Clara divorce, because he’s so damn selfish it’s embarrassing. He’s off having a beer while his wife works multiple jobs? And then he has the audacity to act like they should save money when he just blew all their savings? 

I’m sure it’ll work out fine but I hope Clara puts herself in charge of the finances at the very least.

As to investing failures, I liked how they did that with Henry and Abigail. That was the kind of tension and worry that felt natural to me—like she trusted him with her money after he’d proven himself untrustworthy ten million times throughout the years, and he failed and had to uhh admit that. 

Jesse straight up betrayed Clara. Which, if it’s dealt with in a satisfying way...I think can be a good plotline. I just worry about it actually being dealt with properly. That’s a huge stumbling block in a relationship. And why is he continually getting worse as a person? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. 

Gasp... it’s almost like it’s just plot because they feel like they have to give someone something every damn episode.

--

Which brings me to THE FINAL

COMPLAINT CORNER (The Big Boy™ Complaints)

The show has really struggled with finding its footing. I wish they’d take notes from better shows with ensemble casts (cough cough Road to Avonlea cough) without also ripping off their storylines (cough school merges cough).

My #1 complaint at this point in Season 8 is the SHEER AMOUNT OF THINGS GOING ON EVERY EPISODE.

I want continuity, so I want to see things happen naturally over a season, but my God do we not need to have mindless pointless crap in the episode. Rachel getting “lost” for ten seconds wasted literal MINUTES of screen time that would have been MUCH better allocated to basically anyone else in this episode.

And I don’t think it would bother me so much if it wasn’t also shoved into the promo like it was supposed to matter. It didn’t matter. Nobody cares. Why was it allowed to stay in the episode alongside stuff like Clara and Bill’s conversation?

Or Lucas and Carson’s?

I think they want to appease all the fans in every episode by giving them scenes of their favorites, but what did Henry sitting in his chair accomplish in this episode? Rachel getting lost? Jack not sleeping well/missing his mom? The school superintendent?

Did Bill trying on his uniform have to be in this episode? Did Jesse and Clara’s problems have to come fully to light right now?

When every episode is formatted like this, with 10 plotlines all interconnected slightly and going on at the same time, I feel like...nobody gets the spotlight they deserve when they deserve it.

I cANNOT believe I’m saying this, but this plotline for Carson, especially if it will end with him leaving the show for a while or permanently should get the focus it deserves. But it won’t if we get tiny snips of it here and there and then BOOM decision made because Reasons.

And again, I know I’ve said before that I want more continuity throughout the season, but... the best way to do that is to tighten up the plots. Have fewer of them per season and give more screentime to the ones you choose to pursue. 

--

Anyway, I’m still enjoying the season, but I hope they keep some of this kind of stuff in mind for next season. They don’t need plotlines for everyone in every episode. They need the plotlines they choose to write to be worth their screentime.

Sorry this was sloppily written and all that. Hopefully it makes sense. Very curious to see y’alls thoughts. Feel free to make your own posts and @ me, or reblog this or comment!

[ptersparkers]

hell froze over

summary: it’s a thursday afternoon and caliban’s taken you by surprise when he teleports to earth and asks you out on a date. not that you’d ever say no.

warnings: mentions of religion and typos, probably.

a/n: lol i can hear my parents sh*uting so i’m gonna write instead because!! we love distractions!! 

add yourself to my taglist!

Sabrina Spellman swore that Hell would have to freeze over the second she saw Caliban get “soft” and care for mortals.

That day was today. 

Greendale, being the small town that it was, housed many local favorites which included Dr. Cerberus’ diner, also dubbed as the local hangout of the Fright Club. There wasn’t much to say about the whole situation about who was running Hell with Sabrina’s clone down under and the Sabrina you knew alive and well, talking your ear off about Nick this, Harvey that, and Caliban this and that. 

If you were being completely honest, you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

So when Caliban teleported back up to Earth’s surface and caught you off guard leaving school grounds, you let out the loudest yell imaginable and dropped all of the books and stray pieces of paper you were carrying. 

“Jesus Christ,” you said, clutching your heart. You bent down and started to pick up what you had dropped. 

Caliban chuckled. “Not quite. Doubt he’s ever going to come to Earth.” 

You didn’t pay much attention to his comment in favor of gathering everything that was on the concrete and Caliban frowned, bending down to help you pick up some notebooks that were closer to him than you. When you finally stood up, you moved strange of hair out from your face and huffed, annoyed. 

“If you’re going to scare me, at least do it where people won’t see because I’m pretty sure I’ve embarrassed myself enough for this entire school year.” The corner of Caliban’s mouth lifted into a smirk when he saw you try to reassure your schoolmates and tugged on your backpack strap to get your attention.

“It’s a Thursday afternoon,” he stated. 

“Yes?”

“Do you have any plans?”

You were taken off guard. 

“What are you planning?” you asked with a raised brow. 

“Nothing bad,” he promised. “Since Sabrina number two is down in Hell dealing with things for the weekend, I figured why not come up here and spend the day with my favorite mortal.” You laughed at the sentiment and fixed your backpack to keep the straps from falling. 

“Well, I’m headed to the diner to study for a little bit before I head to cheerleading practice,” you explained. “I have about two hours before I have to be there so might as well eat and study. You know, kill two birds with one stone.” 

“Mind if I join you?” he asked. 

“You want to watch me study for two hours? It’a gonna be kind of boring,” you explained. 

“Think of me as your study-buddy.”

“Where did you even learn that phrase?”

“Sabrina’s rubbing off on me,” Caliban said with a low laugh. He gestured away from you. “Lead the way.” 

The diner wasn’t too packed when you arrived and you chose a table big enough to let you put your laptop and notebooks on while having a plate of food beside you. Your water bottle sat proudly in Caliban’s hands as he looked at the various stickers stuck to it. 

“This is quite peculiar,” he said.

“It’s a bunch of memories,” you explained. “This one’s from the camp grounds Harvey and I used to go to when we were younger. The orange one is from when Sabrina and I first became friends and that red one is the first sticker I saw with the world ‘Hell’ on it after coming back from, you know, Hell.” 

Caliban smiled at that one. “You’re odd.” 

You tilted your head and chuckled, not knowing how to respond to such a comment. You turned your attention to the screen in front of you, reading online articles assigned to you for your AP World History class. 

“What is ‘AP’?” Caliban asked, looking at the textbook that sat beside your computer. 

“It stands for advanced placement. It’s basically a college course for high schoolers so we don’t have to take it when we get to college and it gives us school credit.” 

“Sounds complicated.”

“It is,” you said, clicking out of the article you had finished taking notes on. “I think this while ‘Hell’ ordeal set me back because I haven’t been studying as much as I used to. At the end of the school year, everyone who takes AP classes has the chance to take a test that determines a score, which determines college credit.”

“You humans are so overachieving,” he commented, stealing a fry from your plate. “But I suppose being knowledgable isn’t bad.”

“Sometimes I feel like I put too much pressure on myself,” you confessed, your gaze back on the man sitting in front of you. “Like, does this really matter? Whether I ace or fail my AP tests won’t matter in the long run and it’s not like I can avoid going to Heaven or Hell.”

Caliban quirked an eyebrow, realizing that discovering the secrets of witches, Hell, and Heaven had left you in a turmoil that no one bothered to discuss. Sabrina was a witch and had accepted her fate on her sixteenth birthday. As for the other three mortals, they had some sort of lineage in magic that offered them solace. You did not. 

“Going to Hell really messed with you, didn’t it?” You didn’t want to say anything in fear of offending Caliban. When he wasn’t trying to steal the throne from Sabrina, he was a decent person, you thought. 

“Um,” you said, pausing, “I think it made me realize some things. I think those things are making me confused about the next step in my life and if what I’m doing is worth finishing.” 

Caliban looked at you and the various books, notebooks, and writing utensils sprawled out on the table. He saw your color-coded planner, binders that kept your articles and paperwork in place, and the dark tint underneath your eyes. That was all he needed to know. 

“I think you’re on the right path. From the looks of it,” he said, gesturing to the messy table in front of you, “you are so passionate and dedicated about learning and doing something with your life. Not many people can say the same. You have the advantage of knowing Hell exists and the second layer to humanity while others wonder about religion and faith. Use it to your advantage.”

“If I hear this correctly, it seems like you don’t want me to give up.” 

“I don’t,” he said, almost too quickly. “Your ambition to do well on your tests resembles my quest to become King of Hell. As I have found out another way to rule Hell alongside Sabrina, I think you’re going to find out what you’re meant to do in life.” 

“You’re starting to sound like someone who believes in God.” 

He chuckled. “God and angels exist. You know that now. I suppose you’ll have to continue praying to find out what He has in store for you.” 

You sat there, dumbfounded. It wasn’t too long ago that Caliban had been in the grand room, cursing angels and Heaven above out of frustration and anger. You and Sabrina had been waiting for him to finish throwing his tantrum before she could engage in business with him, so hearing Caliban talk about having faith in something that even he didn’t believe him gave you a glimmer of motivation. 

“I don’t even know what to say,” you said softly, fiddling with a pen. 

“Go out with me,” Caliban said. “To that drive in theater across town. You mentioned once that you like to go there when you’re stressed. We could forget about Heaven and Hell for one night.” 

“Okay,” you said quietly, earning a gigantic grin from Caliban.

As you were about to pack up your belongings, you heard a “Oh for Satan’s sake” from behind you and turned to see Sabrina rolling her eyes, already dressed in her cheer uniform. 

“Caliban, my clone and I are going to beat your ass if you hurt Y/N in any way,” she said in a sickly sweet tone. Caliban nodded, heading the message without much argument. You packed up your belongings and ran to use the restroom, leaving the two mystical beings alone. 

“I really like her,” Caliban said after a brief pause. “And I know you don’t agree wholeheartedly but I intend to prove otherwise.” 

“Y/N’s smart and won’t take anything from a boy if she’s not comfortable with it,” said Sabrina. “All I’m saying is you should watch you back should you ever hurt her in any way because it’s not just the Fright Club that’s gonna come after you.” 

Caliban gulped and watched as you emerged, putting your hair in a low bun before walking outside to go to cheerleading practice. 

“How does tomorrow night sound?” Caliban asked before you entered Harvey’s truck.

“Pick me up at six,” you said, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “And this time, please don’t teleport and scare me.” 

The boy made of clay laughed and promised not to, watching as you climbed into the truck and waved goodbye. He saw Sabrina give him an all-knowing look, but he was determined to befriend your friends if it was the last thing he did. 

Hell, he had an entire lifetime to get to know you. 

***

BONUS:

“Why are you looking at me like that?” you asked as Harvey and Sabrina looked at you. The keys were in the engine but Harvey didn’t bother moving, opting to look between you and the spot where Caliban had teleported to Hell. 

“I know he’s kind of a good guy now, but are you serious?” Harvey asked. 

“What?” you asked, provoking him. “Am I not allowed to be in relationships like you two?”

“I’m just surprised, is all,” said Sabrina. “I mean, you did hate him when we first met him.”

“Absolutely nobody messes with my best friend,” you said. “You two, well, the other you, is ruling with him peacefully.”

“What is he tries to pull a trick?” Harvey asked. 

You had to admit, that was a fair concern. 

“I don’t think it’ll come to that, but if it does, there’s no way in Hell, literally, I’m choosing a boy over my best friends. Who, by the way, I’ve been friends longer with.” 

Harvey seemed to like this answer and started the engine, driving back to the school grounds with you in between him and Sabrina. 

“I guess Hell really did freeze over.” 

***

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