#like outside of maybe my guitar i guess but i think i would trade out my guitar for this jacket any day

[dismalswamp]

cat pissed on my jacket and I think this might be the last straw

[djarins-cyare]

Get to Know Me (tag game)

Thanks @burntheedges and @sydneyinacoma for the tags! 💖

I guess I don’t post much about myself on here, so behold the mystery of Jyar’ika revealed under the cut (because I waffle and didn't wanna take up y’all’s dashes)…

Ahh space to include GIFs (*is happy*)...

1. Were you named after anyone? Hmm, that’s a sneaky way to get a name reveal outta me. Alright, I don’t mind… apparently one of the hosts on Blue Peter (the longest-running children’s TV show in the world - you’re not getting an age reveal outta me too!) had a baby just before I was born. Why my parents were watching a children’s TV show I have no idea, but this host evidently wrote/sang some kinda song on air about calling her baby daughter Jemma with a J not Gemma with a G. So I was named after a terribly trite and obscure TV reference that nobody will ever remember. You may call me Jem if you wish, my friends all do, and if you’re bothering to read this then you’re in that category.

(If you're wondering about the GIF, the show was always broadcast live and they had several pets. The outtakes are numerous.)

2. When was the last time you cried? I think I’m weird… I don’t tend to cry? Or only if I’m really really upset. Maybe I’m Cameron Diaz in The Holiday? So yeah, I can’t actually remember 🤔.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, although it’s a fairly recent decision to not have them. I spent much of my life assuming I wanted kids until I realised I had been conditioned by society to think I did. Since I started considering what I genuinely want and need in my life, I’ve never been happier! I'd make an exception to adopt a certain little green guy, though.

4. What sports do you play/have played? Ugh, I hate questions like this. Nope, I’m a lazy asshole and now you all know it 🫣. I mean, I activity-hopped throughout my school years (gymnastics, karate, soccer), but these days I live in front of a computer. My exercise is lugging 24 bottles of water up 4 flights of stairs twice a week.

5. Do you use sarcasm? I’m British. Sarcasm is my mother tongue.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people? I’m the least observant person ever! So voices a lot of the time, I think. Pretty sure that’s why something clicked inside me as soon as Din Djarin spoke his first on-screen words.

7. What’s your eye color? Depends on the light, but somewhere between dark blue and grey.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? I’m an absolute wuss when it comes to scary movies, so I don’t put myself through that. Also, the literature student in me desperately wants to point out that these things are not mutually exclusive, as you can have scary movies with happy endings, so a more appropriate ‘either/or’ scenario would be tragedies or happy endings. But either way, I will say no to the former and yes to the latter. I dislike making myself feel scared or sad – I consume fiction (in all formats) to feel good, so I’ll always look for the positive. I’m currently experimenting to see if I can write a massively angsty fic, and it was supposed to be done by the New Year, but I’m struggling. I will also have to include one of those open-ended ‘maybe it could work out after all’ epilogues. I just can’t leave my characters in pain.

9. Any talents? Not sure what constitutes a talent… I can sing, play guitar, write a longass Din Djarin fanfic that people seem quite keen on, uh… cook, I guess (though I rarely bother), understand quite a few languages (less proficient at speaking them). I’m sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. I would say I have a talent for procrastination – I can complete a whole workday and get barely anything of substance done!

10. Where were you born? In a village outside a town in Surrey, England. It's only about 30 miles from London. Lots of trees. Very dull. I left as soon as I could.

11. What are your hobbies? Writing is my main obsession, specifically Din Djarin-related, of course. Also reading (same genre). Throughout my entire life I’ve enjoyed stories in all formats – reading, writing, watching, listening, proofreading the fuck out of them – so if it’s a good yarn, I’ll have a good time.

12. Do you have any pets? Not currently, my landlord won’t allow it. I used to own 3 rats who were the most adorable boys and so smart – they knew their names, responded to commands, liked to snuggle. When I can finally buy my own place I’ll probably get a dog, as I like pets that listen to you, even if only sporadically. I had a very non-communicative chameleon once. He was called Minion. He was not a good minion.

13. How tall are you? 5’4. Not tiny, but sometimes I have to go up on my tippytoes to reach stuff.

14. Favorite subject in school? English literature (see hobbies question above). When I got to university and enrolled on an English lit/lang degree, I tried to take as many literature courses and avoid the language ones. It wasn’t until years after graduating when I started proofing/editing and writing more seriously that I developed a respect for all the mandatory language courses I had to do. I also liked media studies and film studies; you can guess why. Psychology was interesting too, it’s good to understand human nature if you want to write realistic characters.

15. Dream job? I wish I could write novels for a living. It’s a goal as well as a dream. I know a couple of authors who’ve self-published via Kindle Direct Publishing (I proofread/edited for one of them), and they were successful enough to turn that into their careers. They keep encouraging me to try, although I’m currently in my ‘obsessed with Din Djarin so just writing fanfic to develop my authorial voice’ era. When my obsession wanes, as obsessions inevitably do, I’ll hopefully feel ready to write something original and take my shot. But I’m not pressuring myself, and right now I’m happy attempting to entertain the Mandalorian fan community. I feel safe here 💖

Now I know I’m supposed to tag people since that’s the point of a tag game… but I’m that autistic kid in the corner who is too shy and worried about tagging people who might not reply. So I’m foregoing tags today. But, if you’ve bothered to read this and you haven't already played: TAG YOU’RE IT! That’s me tagging you, please take it seriously and thank me for your tag in your own post (I will be genuinely thrilled if anybody does this, and I’m sending advance love to anyone who does – you don’t know how much it means to someone autistic to have the decision-making element dealt with for them). So go on, now it’s your turn!

[sunshinereddie]

what instruments do you think the losers would play

OOOOH i love this.....

well in all of my band/musician richie aus i am a hardcore supporter of drummer richie. i can just SO imagine him going absolutely insane on the drums so drummer richie will always be in my heart <3 but also, i can imagine him in like. high school band class just fucking around playing all the instruments (and getting in trouble). so i think that he would also be able to play lots of instruments ! maybe not all of them super well, but i like to imagine that he would be sort of a jack of all trades when it comes to music :)

i also loooooove to imagine beverly playing bass and electric guitar !!! she is just so cool and i just know she would absolutely ROCK IT playing those !!!!!! plus her and richie having jam sessions with guitar and drums in richie’s garage, having so much fun but giving poor maggie a headache

i think bill would play piano! since his mother plays, i think she would have also maybe tried to teach bill and georgie. bill was never very good at it, he would have much rather spent his time playing outside with his friends than learning how to read sheet music, but on those cold rainy days he often found himself sitting at the piano with his mother and following her hand movements on the keys. 

i can see stanley doing piano or maybe violin lessons as well growing up/in his early teens. but i also have my own little hc that stan went through a punk phase in college, so i also like to imagine that maybe he got into electric guitar :) buuuut he also never forgot his classical piano + violin training! so just imagine college stanley, in his punk phase, whipping out a violin and playing this beautiful classical piece- idk i just love that idea ahaha

ben gives me ultimate guitar vibes. idk just when i think of ben + music i think of him being the guy who plays the guitar for everyone around a campfire. he’s a quick learner, and so he can always take requests and play people’s favourite songs and he’s always so fun to be around when there’s a guitar. also, i can imagine him playing the guitar as a way to destress, and bev also loves to listen to him play those gentle melodies.

for mike, i guess this doesn’t really count as an instrument, but i love to imagine him with a beautiful voice. he’s enjoyed singing all his life, he would sing songs with his parents while working on the farm, he’d hum little tunes to himself while doing chores, and he was always the best out of all of the losers at karaoke. so i like to imagine that whenever the losers bring out their instruments to play, mike is the one accompanying them with his voice :)

idk if this is a thing for all schools, but where i live in grade 6 we had to choose an instrument to play for mandatory music class. so imagining that this is the case at derry middle school, i imagine that sonia kaspbrak would say no to a lot of the instruments that eddie wanted to play. no wind instruments, that could trigger his asthma. no string instruments either, his fingers are too delicate. no percussion, the volume of the drums and cymbals could damage his little ears. so eddie has to play the only instrument left……. the triangle. (but in all seriousness, i do have a hc about eddie playing the guitar that i posted quite a while ago!)

thank you for this request !!! sorry it took so long :)

[kissinginkitchens]

You Bring Me Home—Chapter Two: Where the Heart Is

a/n: Thank you so much for all of the love you have shown to part one! I’m so glad to see that you’re enjoying YBMH so far, the story is just getting started. I hope you’ll stick around for the full thing, so without further ado, here’s chapter two! As always, my inbox is open so feel free to come chat with me when you have finished this part :) Much love, Mel <3

Pairing: Hawai'i!Harry x Original Character

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drug use

Word Count: 5.1k

read part one here

The phone screen flickers to life at the touch of Harry’s finger, flashing the exact same time that it had the last time he checked, though it feels like hours have passed since then. He sighs at the disappointing revelation and turns his phone over so that the screen meets the aged wood of the piano where it rests. In all honesty, Harry has no idea why he agreed to the interview in the first place. He had skillfully dodged the hundreds of requests for an exclusive tell-all following the untimely split of One Direction and successfully avoided the prying eyes of the general public for several months. So why had he indulged the first request from a girl he hardly knew without so much as a blink? The answer seemed a frustrating mystery to him, but to anyone else, the fluttering in his stomach when he caught a glimpse of her yellow Ford Bronco pulling up to the studio and the way he instinctively raked a hand through his hair gave the answer away.

“I know I’m late, I’m sorry!” Alani apologizes, emerging from the car with a notebook nestled under her arm and a smoothie in each hand. She closes the door with her hip before making a beeline to the studio entrance where Harry stands, his right shoulder leaning against the doorframe with the same stoic expression Alani recognizes as his signature look.

“I had to get my sister to cover for me at the café and then I got lost because Google sent me to a Napua restaurant instead of the recording studio,” she rambles in an attempted continuation of her apology. “But anyway, this is for you. A peace offering and a thank you for doing this.”

Harry gingerly takes the green smoothie from her outstretched hand and offers a curt nod in response before ushering her inside.Alani pushes her sunglasses up and settles them into her windswept waves, trailing behind Harry and taking in the space. In one corner across the room, she notices a couple of brightly colored tapestries thumbtacked to the wall with a microphone stand perched in the center, all encased behind a screen of plexiglass. The adjacent wall is lined with guitars all standing at attention and glimmering, despite the dim lighting. Harry stops at the doorway of another room with a couch and a coffee table, the floor littered with wires and pieces of crumpled paper. He motions Alani to step inside and then clears his throat, which catches the attention of two other long-haired men chatting with amused expressions on their faces.

“Sorry lads,” Harry crosses his arms with eyes glued to the floor to avoid their questioning stares. “‘Fraid I have to intrude. Can we have this room?” 

One of the men grins behind a full beard,  popping a peanut M&M into his mouth before standing. “Sure thing, boss man. Let’s bounce, Rowland.”

The other man, also bearded but smaller in stature with a thin, pointed nose nods silently. He continues twirling two drumsticks between his fingers and points one of them at Harry in passing. Alani offers polite smiles at the both of them, and a quiet “thank you” falls from her lips as they exit without another word. Harry closes the door behind them and gestures to the couch, which she takes as her cue to sit.

“I like the uniform,” Alani smiles, gesturing to her hair as a comment on the fact that the three men all share similar lengths and styles.

“Thanks,” is all Harry says, taking a seat across from hers and clearly dismissing her attempt at humor.

To pacify the urge to fill the uncomfortable silence, Alani sips her strawberry smoothie and steals a glance through her eyelashes at Harry who is doing the same. She clears her throat after a minute and sets the drink on the table in front of her; a notebook takes its place on her lap.

“Thank you again for doing this, I really appreciate it,” Alani offers while digging through her bag for her phone. “I’m gonna record this on voice notes, just for the sake of quoting you accurately.”

“Sure,” Harry replies, occupying his gaze with the condensation trickling from the cup onto his fading black jeans. 

Dry retorts from everyone else, especially customers, have little effect on the way Alani conducts herself.  But every short comment from Harry, or lack thereof, makes her feel like a bug under a microscope. She settles her phone onto the coffee table and takes a deep breath to calm the trembling that spreads from her chest into her fingers and toes.

“So first, I wanted to ask about your time in Hawai’i. Are you enjoying it so far?” Alani poses the question lightly, hoping to open him up just enough to extract the story that she’s really looking for.

“It’s nice,” Harry nods, finally meeting her expectant stare. When she doesn’t respond for a beat, he clears his throat and adds on to the statement. “Weather’s good,”

Alani musters a half-hearted smile and glances down at the questions on her page. This is going to take for-fucking-ever, she sighs.

“Is that what drew you here—vacation? Getting away?” 

“Yeah, pretty much,”

The row of guitars behind the singer catches her attention suddenly and guides the next question.

“And to write or.. record?”

Harry shifts in his seat, calculating his response carefully. “Both,”

“Solo stuff?”

Alani watches as he takes a slow sip of his smoothie and crosses his legs, an action which tells her that she’s struck a dead end. Or, at the very least, a door that she hasn’t gained his trust to open yet.

“You were with One Direction for half a decade,” She recovers. “Constantly releasing new music and touring. But now you’re here, doing neither, and haven’t done so for almost a year. What is that transition like?” Alani isn’t sure if Harry will answer when she poses the question, but to her surprise he meets her gaze and nods, as if to say that he accepts the inquiry.

“It’s different than anything I’ve ever done, for sure,” he starts slowly. It’d be a lie to say that he hasn’t given the breakup and, subsequently, his future outside of the band much thought. He thinks about it every day, especially his bandmates and their supportive fans. That much he has been able to unpack privately, but the rest of it—the sudden need to escape and write new music— is still something he can’t quite put into words, so he leans into the nostalgia and hopes it’ll suffice.

“Like you said, it’s been non-stop for the past five years, so I guess it is a bit jarring to come to a sudden halt after so much momentum. Obviously, it’s nice to have the time off, but I love putting out music and touring it. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,”

Alani is grateful to have more than a couple of words of material, despite the fact that it doesn’t really answer the question or tell her anything new about the man sitting crossed legged and closed off in front of her. Looking through her notes, Alani selects another question and embarks on a new angle.

“You were really young when all of that began,” she starts, thinking about how she could never have left her family and home at just 16. Hell, she was 22 and still figuring it out. Hopefully, if all things went well with this interview and Rolling Stone, she would finally find the opportunity to do it. “Do you ever think about where you would be if you hadn’t auditioned for X-Factor?”

Harry knows that she’s playing it safe, trying to feel him out and test the buttons she can push. He also knows that he’s being difficult, much more so than usual due to his nerves. So with an unfamiliar pang in his chest, he decides to relent the tiniest bit.

“Well, I’m starting to think maybe I could’ve been a professional surfer,” he offers matter-of-factly which makes Alani flash an amused grin. Harry’s sudden humor makes the room a bit less suffocating for the both of them and she’s grateful for it.

“Surfing, huh? This I have to see.” she  quips back, suddenly trying to picture him ditching the black skinny jeans for a wetsuit.

He nods with a faint smirk. “Maybe you will.” 

Alani meets his gaze with a shy smile of her own and her eyes fall to his lips for a brief second. The almost imperceptible action sends another foreign jolt through Harry’s chest. She opens her mouth to resume questioning when a loud bang startles them both and causes Harry to spin in his seat, looking through the glass window of the sound booth.

“Sorry!” A man with short, blonde hair and a fading tie dye shirt laughs while lifting the tipped over drum cymbals. “Don’t mind us!”

The two men from earlier straggle in behind and poorly conceal their own fits of laughter. Harry flashes his middle finger briefly, mouthing something that Alani can’t see but knows is undoubtedly rude. She suppresses a giggle and sneaks a glance at her phone, which indicates only a few minutes worth of dialogue. When she lifts her head, the door opens and the blonde man peeks his head in.

“Hello,” he greets with an extended hand before entering and taking a seat next to Alani on the couch. “Tom Hull, or Kid Harpoon...or just Tom, whatever you like best,” 

 She accepts his hand eagerly, not missing the way Harry pinches the bridge of his nose in her peripheral vision. “Mahealani Hale, or just Alani. Nice to meet you,”

“Wow, beautiful name,” Tom compliments. “Sorry to interrupt, I didn’t realize you had company, H,”

“She was just—”

“I’m writing about-” The two speak at the same time, making brief eye contact before Harry turns his attention back to Tom.

“Did you need something?” He asks. Tom’s eyes dart between Harry and Alani before he clears his throat and reclines in his seat.

“Just dropping by to see if you wanted to go for lunch...” he trails off, which Alani takes as a cue to start gathering her belongings.

“Kind of busy here,” Harry offers with a glance back at the girl seated awkwardly across from him. “Another time,”

At this, Tom turns to Alani and ignores his friend’s protests. “Alani, do you eat lunch?”

Before responding, she casts an apprehensive glimpse at Harry who has suddenly become very intrigued by the drink in his lap, purposefully avoiding her eyes.

“Uh.. well yeah, but I don’t-”

“Great! Have lunch with us,”

“Mate—” Harry speaks up.

Tom grins, shrugging. “What? You plan on starving the poor girl?”

“I really can’t, but thank you for the offer,” Alani explains with a sheepish smile, standing and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “It was really nice to meet you Tom. And thank you again, Harry, I’ll see you around.”

The musician watches her shuffle out of the sound booth quietly and turns his attention back at Tom, who sits with an incredulous look on his face.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” He asks, standing. “Go after her, dickhead!”

“It’s not like that she’s-”

“I really don’t give a fuck about your excuses, go!”

Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes, looking out the window as Alani slips through the front door.

She fishes her keys out of her bag and sighs when a familiar voice says her name.

“Alani!” Harry calls from the doorway, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun. He makes his way down the steps and over to the driver’s side where she  ghosts the key over the ignition. 

“Come have lunch...please?” 

“It’s okay,” she purses her lips together politely. “I don’t wanna get in the way,”

Harry catches his lower lip between his teeth and runs a hand through his hair, choosing his next words thoughtfully. 

“No, you’re not—you won’t,” he starts. “I would really like it if you joined us for lunch, especially since our time got interrupted. Please, let me make it up to you.”

Alani can’t help the way her stomach flips at the words “our time” that fall from his lips and she finds herself nodding in agreement before her mind has had a chance to intervene. 

She makes her way to the passenger seat of the Range Rover parked behind the studio, which she learns is where all of Harry’s entourage keeps their vehicles. A variety of brightly colored vintage cars are neatly parked, and it amuses her that Harry skips all of them, instead going straight for the black SUV with darkly tinted windows. At least he’s consistent,  she smirks. As Alani climbs into the car, she is met by the warmth of Harry’s scent—something woodsy and vanilla— and the fact that she recognizes it makes her heart pound.

“You can connect your phone,” Harry nods to the stereo as he buckles his seatbelt. “To the Bluetooth, I mean, if you’d like.”

 “Really?” she asks, brow raised in mild disbelief.

“Only if you play something good,” he teases with a stony expression, adjusting the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. Alani takes that as a challenge, scrolling through various playlists as Harry peels away onto the main road. Over the speakers, the beginning of “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys surrounds the two of them. 

“Is this to your liking, my liege?” Alani poses in an exaggerated British accent that makes Harry cringe, though the small grin on his face gives away his endearment.

“Yes, but please don’t do that accent ever again,” 

“So you admit it, you’re the one with the accent,” she wiggles her brows, eyes peeling away  from the view out her window to Harry in the driver’s seat.

“If it’ll get you to never do that one again, sure,” “Dunno, love,” she continues, watching the coast shimmer under the afternoon sun. “Think  it kinda suits me,”

Harry shakes his head and checks the rearview mirror to make sure that he hasn’t lost Tom, Mitch, and Jeff in the car trailing behind.

“What’s it like?” Alani questions, studying the perfect slope of his pointed nose and strawberry pout.

“What’s what like?”

“England,”

Harry thinks for a second, recalling his London flat, lunches with his mum and sister, the streets of Trafalgar Square, and Abbey Road. 

“Rainy,” is all he says.

Alani scoffs, which draws  his attention over to where she lounges in his passenger seat, sitting comfortably as if it was exactly where she belonged. “That’s all?”

“What?” He questions, though he knows exactly what she means and is perfectly aware of his own stubbornness.

“Just seems like... I don’t know, such a generic description for a place you consider home,”

Harry mulls her response over, the word “home” especially catching his interest. It’s a strange concept in his mind because while, yes, England is where he has spent the majority of his life and where the people he loves most reside, he has never truly felt connected to just one place. And after spending his formative years traveling the world, who could blame him?

“It’s... safe,” he tries again, attempting to verbalize what he’s feeling. “When I’m there, I mean, I feel safe. Like I don’t have to be anyone or do anything specific, I can just... be. No expectations,”

Alani lets Harry’s words sit between them for a moment, sensing that there is still more he wants to say. When she doesn’t respond after a minute,  he continues in an effort to clarify and fill the lull in the conversation.

“I used to think that London was just a starting point and that if I could make it to LA, it would mean that I had really made it, and I would feel more at home there,” he continues, slow and calculated. “But I dunno... when I’m there it still feels like an extended holiday,  like I’m just buying time until I leave for the next place. London doesn’t feel like that, feels much more constant... so yeah, I guess it is home,” 

As if she had read his mind earlier, Alani adds on. “Not to mention that’s where your family is, I’m assuming,” 

Harry nods, once again thinking of his mum and sister. The image of their beaming faces  brings the shadow of a dimple to his cheek.  “Yeah,”

“What’s your family like?” She continues, truly interested and forgetting for a moment about the article she still has to write.

“Kind of small, I guess. S’really just my sister and my mum, but they’re,” Harry pauses, searching for the right words, “They’re the best. My mum’s probably the kindest woman I’ve ever met. Feel pretty lucky with that one, considering what a pest I was as a child,” he chuckles lightly and it’s a sound that Alani hadn’t heard up to this point, but one she knows she’ll replay in her mind over and over again.

“Gem’s pretty patient too—and brilliant, always the studious one,” he adds finally, a dreamy look on his face that Alani much prefers to the stoic one he always dons. .

“Ah yes, there’s always one,” she nods, catching the quirked brow he offers in response.

“Oh yeah? Are you the one in your family?” 

“I guess so. School just seemed to come easily to me,”

“And what made you want to study journalism?” He questions, stopping to let a woman and her toddler cross.

Alani thinks about it for a moment while twirling a strand of fabric from the hem of her ripped shorts around her finger. 

“I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was really little— like short stories and stuff. And I don’t know, I guess I like the idea of traveling and seeking out a story, too.”

Harry nods understandingly, pulling up to a curb across the street from a restaurant that Alani has frequented. It’s relatively empty at Pineapples for a summer afternoon, though most tourists don’t stray too far from the beaches, so Hilo maintains a healthy local population at all times. The pair climb out of the car and Alani makes her way to the rear where the rest of the group has parked. One of the men from earlier greets her with an outstretched hand while Harry chats with the other two that emerge.

“Hi I’m Jeff, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiles warmly,  pushing his sunglasses into his hair. 

“Alani. It’s nice to meet you, Jeff,”

“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be rude by not saying hi it’s just-”

Alani dismisses his concern with a wave of her hand. “Oh don’t worry about it! I was kind of nervous then, too. I don’t know if he told you, but I’m interviewing Harry,”

“Oh, right! Yeah, he did mention that I think,” Jeff recalls, “Which magazine are you with?”

“None.” Yet, Alani thinks, her mind wandering to the Rolling Stone rejection letter. “It’s for a class, I’m a journalism major. Harry was just being nice and agreed to let me write about his music,”

Jeff nods. “Got it. You know, he’s not normally this serious. Just got a lot on his mind but he’ll loosen up,” he explains quietly just as Alani and Harry’s eyes meet. She quickly averts her gaze back to the kind, bearded man standing before her.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” she smiles appreciatively.

“Where’s Jeffrey?” Harry speaks up, catching her attention. She looks back to Jeff, confused, before he shakes his head.

“Other Jeff, his manager.” He explains.

“Probably already inside, he said he’d meet us here.” Mitch pipes up.

With that, the rest of the crew head into the restaurant while Alani stays a few steps behind to follow their lead.

“Y’okay?” Harry asks, shuffling along beside her.

Alani startles slightly at his unexpected presence, but relaxes as their strides fall into sync.

“Yeah, thanks. And thank you for the invite, too.” She offers, the corners of her mouth upturned softly.  Harry responds with a tight-lipped smile of his own and clears his throat before holding the door open for her.

In the far corner of the restaurant near the open balcony, Harry’s manager Jeff waves the group over to the table he saved. Everyone exchanges greetings and settles into their seats, the two at the end facing each other remain open for Alani and Harry.

“Jeff, this is..Mahealani, did I get that right?” Tom gestures to Alani for approval.

She nods and waves. “Yes, but you can just call me Alani,”

“Nice to meet you,” Jeff calls from the other end of the table, glancing over to Harry in search of  an explanation for her presence.

“I’m writing a piece about Harry and his music,” Alani offers. “But I’d love to talk to all of you, if you have a chance.”

Jeff nods, still shooting Harry a knowing look. “Yeah, sure thing.” 

The two Jeffs, Tom, and Mitch engage in their own conversations, mostly inside jokes that go over Alani’s head. Harry watches, silent for most of the interaction and barely engaging the girl seated across from him, though he is overwhelmingly aware of her presence. When the server comes to take their order, warmth floods to Alani’s cheeks.

“Alani, hey!” the tall server greets, flashing a handsome, pearly-white smile. “Long time, no see. You’re looking good as always,”

“Mahalo, David. You look good, as well,” She smiles politely, catching onto the way that Harry sits a little straighter in her peripheral vision. David still pays no regard to the rest of the table, but his gaze momentarily flickers over Harry and sizes him up before returning to Alani.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were on a date,” he apologizes, which makes Alani’s eyes bulge  and Mitch snicker beside her. 

“Oh no, we’re not—“

“He’s just—” Alani and Harry speak at the same time, eyes darting to one another before she explains.

“I’m... working on something—an article,” she says, and David nods understandingly.

“Oh...right. Big-shot reporter, I almost forgot,” David teases in a snide way that makes Harry’s blood boil with annoyance. “Anyways, what can I get you all? The usual for you, right Alani?”

She nods curtly while the rest of the group take turns ordering. After the server has gone,  Harry notices a shift in her easy-going demeanor and decides that it’s his turn to break the ice.

“Come here often then?” He poses gently, taking a sip of his lemonade.

Her lips press into a tight line as her eyes wander to the other patrons. “Yeah, kinda,”

“Asshole ex-boyfriend ruined that, I’m guessing?”

Alani lets out an amused breath and shakes her head.

“He’s not my ex. I mean we went out, like, once in high school... and maybe a handful of times in college but that’s it, really,” 

Harry studies the uneasiness in her expression trying, and failing, to understand what she’s holding back.

“Seems like you dodged a bullet,” he confides, leaning in. Alani’s eyes meet his and her pursed lips ease into a small grin, which Harry mirrors with a simper of his own. As he rests his smooth chin in his palm, she notices a large, healing scab along the underside of his forearm, and her brows furrow.

“How’d that happen?” Alani asks.

“He jumped out a window,” Mitch intervenes. “Though to be fair, he was high,”

Harry shoots a deathly glare at Mitch and turns back to Alani. “It was a one-time thing.”

“It was shrooms,” Mitch replies with an amused smirk.

“Hardcore,” Alani giggles lightly. 

Mitch swirls the straw in his mimosa with his index finger while extending a pinky at Alani. “You do drugs?”

She shrugs, taking a sip of her Mai Tai. “Smoked weed a few times, though not enough to consider myself a pothead, I guess,”

Mitch snorts and steals a glance at Harry. “Pot makes our boy sleepy, and hungry. Alcohol makes him giggly. Shrooms get him buzzed just right,”

Harry’s cheeks flush and he averts his gaze past Alani where families and visitors roam the streets outside. 

“Jumping out a window’s  ‘just right’? I’d hate to see what going overboard looks like.” she teases, watching the blush of embarrassment creep across the bridge of Harry’s nose and cheeks.

“Keeps things interesting.” Mitch shrugs, turning back to Jeff to join his previous conversation.

 Alani feels a strange sense of endearment wash over her at the thought of a giggly Harry, dimples replacing a deeply furrowed brow. In the short time she’d known and served him at the café, she’d only ever seen him reserved—polite, at best. Alani had hoped that interviewing Harry would provide some insight into his mysterious background, but she didn’t imagine that she would want to know more than what could be penned in her article. In the few minutes spent mingling with him and his friends, she began to think that maybe there was something worth getting to know, not just professionally, but before she can give it a second thought, David returns with their food.

“Thanks, Derek.” Harry says, flashing a facetious grin at David who stands confused for a second before sauntering back to the kitchen. Alani laughs, quickly clasping a hand over her mouth, and Harry’s stomach flips at the sound. He immediately wishes he knew what else he could do to hear it again.

Alani scrapes the last bits of potato off her plate and leans back in her seat, patting her growing food baby. 

“I’m thinking of naming mine Oliver, you?” She sighs contentedly. 

“Anne, after my mum,” he quips back, pulling out his wallet.

Alani reaches into her bag for her own, but Harry shakes his head and speaks up. “Don’t worry about it, ‘s on me,”

“Oh, no Harry you really don’t have to—”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugs, slipping his card onto the small clipboard attached to their receipts.

“Thank you,” Alani smiles, feeling warmth spread through her limbs, but she assumes that it’s mostly due to the rum in her system.

Harry pushes a lock of hair behind his ear and returns the wallet to his back pocket without another word. While there is no alcohol coursing through his blood, he refuses to believe that the burning in his cheeks has anything to do with the girl seated before him.

Alani climbs back into the passenger’s seat of the SUV while Harry settles behind the wheel. He braces his right hand behind the headrest of her seat and skillfully reverses, only becoming aware of their proximity when he turns back to switch gears. Alani peels her eyes from his and focuses on finding a playlist for their journey back to the studio, her mind racing as she clicks shuffle. Harry’s arm retreats, much to Alani’s disappointment, and his ears perk up when he hears the familiar chimes at the beginning of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere”.

“‘S a good one,” Harry breaks the silence, tapping on the steering wheel. “Christine always says it’s her favorite,”

“Christine...McVie?” Alani questions with an eyebrow quirked. “You know Christine McVie?”

“Kind of,” he shrugs, the corners of his lips twitching into a smirk.

“Do you know Stevie Nicks?”

“Yeah. She lives in London,”

“Holy shit!” Alani marvels, covering her mouth in excitement.

Harry chuckles lightly, stealing a glance over at Alani still processing the news. “Big fan?” 

She whips her head away from the window and scoffs. “Massive. Named my car Stevie, actually,”

“Hardcore,” Harry teases, echoing her own comment about his psychedelic escapades.

“Yes, Mr. Spider-Man. In my own right, I suppose it is hardcore,” Alani retorts.

“I thought  Spider-Man climbed buildings. Don’t think he jumped out of them.”

“I’m sure he’s done his fair share of both.”

The two drive down the coast for a while without a word, Harry drumming against the steering wheel as the song dies out while Alani soaks in the view outside her window. Suddenly, she reaches over and taps him on the arm, drawing him out of his reverie. 

“Turn right up there!”

“Why?” Harry asks, already putting his blinker on. 

Alani doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t need to. Harry saw it just seconds after turning into the lookout and it left him breathless. The car comes to a stop and Alani wastes no time unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping into the humid air, Harry close behind. Before them, the biggest rainbow either of them had ever seen shimmers in the high afternoon sun like a wall of unbelievable vibrant hues. Harry had never seen one this close, he felt as though he could reach out and feel each color slip through his fingers. 

“Are you making a wish?” Alani asks reverently, as if raising her voice too loud will spook it away. 

“I thought that was for shooting stars,”

“We’re literally staring face to face with a rainbow and you’re gonna argue with me about the logistics of a wish?”

“Okay, okay,” he relents, grinning to himself as his eyes flutter close. 

Harry takes a deep breath and searches his brain for something, anything, but there is only one word pounding in his mind. He doesn’t know why it stood out to him when Alani first said it, but it struck a chord within him that hasn’t stopped reverberating, so it must mean something. Harry swallows the lump forming at the back of his throat and releases the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. When his eyes flutter open again, he steals a peek through the corner of his eye at the girl beside him and then fixes his gaze back on the rainbow. 

“S’quite big, innit?” He remarks, breaking the reverent silence. 

Alani snorts and shakes her head, turning on her heel back to the car. 

“You’re so eloquent. Can’t wait to hear what lyrical gems are hiding in your new album,”

“Heyyy,” Harry pouts, climbing behind the wheel. “Who said anything about an album?” 

As they peel away from the lookout, Harry can sense something has shifted in the atmosphere, though he can’t quite put his finger on it. He opts to ignore it and poses a lighthearted question instead. 

“What’d you wish for?”

Alani narrows her eyes playfully. “You’re not supposed to tell. It won’t come true.”

Harry hums, trying to imagine what she could possibly wish for that would require such secrecy, but his thoughts wander back to the singular word that has haunted his mind since it left her lips. 

Home.

Next Chapter

[tuffduff]

My Path to You (Slash x Reader)

Pairing: modern!Slash x younger!Reader

Words: 2,300 (OOPS)

Request: anon! : “hi there! i was hoping you could write a modern!Slash imagine where there’s a considerable age gap (whatever you’re comfortable with) and the two of them meet and fall for each other. eventually slash wants to ask the reader out on a date but is super shy and nervous but she says yes and then they go on a date and it can end however you want it to.”

A/N: MY FIRST SLASH REQUEST Y’ALL!! And I do be nervous writing it lmao. This is entirely from Slash’s POV, I’m not sure if people like that kind of thing but it’s a different way to explore writing. There’s a little coffee shop in my area that has a picture of Slash on the wall, so that was inspiration too. Hope y’all enjoy, thank you for the request! 🖤

What now? It was a question Slash asked himself nearly every day, now that he was newly single. That was a new feeling, one he wasn’t expecting now at this stage in his life; wasn’t he supposed to be married and settled and happy and all that shit by this point in his life? He brushed off the notion, after-all who gave a fuck. He wasn’t a conventional guy. Life is as it happens. But he’d be lying if he didn’t say the idea of getting back out there again intimidated him.

Slash kept to himself in his own world, for the most part. Creating, always with guitar in hand. Especially now being sober, putting himself out there wasn’t exactly appealing. He couldn’t use a dating app, he wasn’t gonna go to a bar or a club, and all of his friends were taken. Where would he possibly meet someone? Dating someone famous wasn’t really what he was looking for, he never fit in with that scene. He wasn’t opposed to dating a fan, but could he ever find someone who wanted him for him?

“Don’t worry, man.” Duff had reassured him. “If it happens, you know, it’ll happen. But not if you’re looking for it. You’ll find her when you least expect it. Just live your life.”

That was smart and Duff was usually right. So, Slash continued to focus on his craft. And he tried to change his outlook, very literally. One night, he wore a baseball cap pulled low and his hair tied back and tucked away in his jacket and hoped it was enough not to get swarmed as he headed out to an art walk in the more historical art district near downtown.

If anyone recognized him, they let him be as he walked down the cobblestone sidewalk, taking in all the creations. The more art and sculptures he admired, the more he stopped worrying about getting recognized.

He was admiring two pieces of wood burned art, a set featuring an artistic interpretation of a woman’s silhouette body.

“These are really sweet.” Slash complimented the artist, who gave a gracious nod.

“Thanks, man. Those pieces have had a lot of eyes on them tonight, thankfully.”

“How much for ‘em?” Slash asked.

“$65 each.” The artist replied, almost sounding sheepish. “...Maybe that’s why they haven’t sold yet.”

“I bet they took a lot of time.” Slash assured him. He pulled out his wallet, fishing out two hundred-dollar bills. “Don’t let people make you second-guess your work.” He passed him the bills, to which the man’s eyes widened.

“Uh, I’m-I’m not sure if I have the enough change.” He said, hastily digging through his small stack of cash from prior purchases.

“It’s cool.” Slash said, smiling and extending his hand. “Thanks again, man.” They shook hands before Slash picked up the two pieces of wood, already trying to picture the perfect spot in his house.

“Okay, I’m back! I’ve got it!” Slash heard someone breathlessly calling behind him. It was a younger woman clasping a wad of cash in her hands as she ran up to the man Slash had just left. “Dipped into my savings but...”

The wood carver gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, they just sold.” Slash watched literal heartbreak wash over her eyes before they flickered right over to him. The dismay in her gaze, the way her shoulders slumped and deflated nearly made his own heart break.

“Oh...damn.” She muttered, tucking the cash back in her pocket. “I really liked them. Oh well. Thanks, anyways.” She said politely. She sent one last glance towards the pieces of art in his arms before she turned on her heel and walked away, head down.

“Hey!” Suddenly, Slash found himself hurrying after her. She stopped in her tracks and turned, her eyes now displaying curiosity.

Uh, what now? He asked himself in his head once he found himself face to face. Up close, she was even more striking, he realized. Beautiful, he’d never seen a face like hers. So expressive, so vivid, so alive with emotions. Her hair framed her face perfectly, her clothes complimented her body well and seemed to be a representation of the woman she was. And he liked everything about what he could see.

“Uh,” he chuckled nervously, looking down. “I, uh, I overheard you had your eye on these.” He said, raising the pieces of art.

“Yeah. I come here to this event every month. I’ve seen those two every time and I’ve been trying to save up. This month I would’ve had enough, but bills—you know.” She rolled her eyes and sighed a little. “Anyway, I saw them tonight and I just couldn’t bear to wait another month or risk them finally being sold, so I ran back to the ATM down the street and pulled out of my savings, not that I really had a lot in there to begin with...” she paused as though she had said too much, shaking her head, flustered. “Sorry. Uh, but I mean, I’m happy for you. Just, take care of them for me.” She chuckled, but her eyes were still stuck on the art.

“I’ll do a trade with you.” Slash proposed. His nerves were playing tricks on him, making him more outgoing than he normally was and then wanting to take it back as soon as he spoke.

“Um, what kinda trade?” She asked curiously. Her nose scrunched a little as she frowned in confusion and he smiled. She was precious. Slash found himself wondering every little detail about her, about the path she had walked in her life so far, and how somehow theirs had crossed.

“I’ll let you have these if you’ll get coffee with me.” Coffee dates, that’s what people did nowadays, right? She blinked a few times at his words and had him wondering.

“That doesn’t seem fair; you paid for those. I’ll pay you for them.”

“No, no. I really don’t need the money.” Slash replied, laughing a little. “How about you keep one and I keep one?”

“...Why?”

“I can tell you really like them.” He said. She bit her lip as she seemed to consider his offer, hesitating.

“And why coffee?”

“I think you’re the prettiest art I’ve seen all afternoon.” Again, her face expressed vivid emotion that most people tried to hide. He watched her lips form a laugh and appreciated the sound.

“I don’t even know your name.” She laughed. He panicked a little in his head. Guess he wasn’t gonna get everything right; it had been a while.

“I guess you can call me Saul.”

“You guess?”

“My friends call me something else.” He mused. A part of him was curious to know if she knew him; lots of people recognized him, not that he was conceited or kept track. Was she a fan? Did she hate his kind of music? Surely, she’d heard of Guns N’ Roses. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N.” Slash smiled; it was like finding the right spot on a puzzle. It fit perfectly and helped him see even more of the picture. “Y/N, I can tell you really like them. I wouldn’t feel right keeping both; I just stumbled upon them.”

“All the more reason you keep them. They spoke to you, like they spoke to me.” There it was. Her voice, her words, it sent a slight wave through his stomach. That warm, fluttery feeling. He extended out one of the pieces to her insistently.

“All the more reason you keep one too.” She smiled as she took the wood carving.

“Thank you so much.”

“So, would you maybe wanna...?” Again, a part of him panicked. “You don’t have to, you know. You can take your half and be on your way if you’re not interested.”

“No, I’d love to! There’s this little local coffee shop I go to all the time—they display local artists’ work and have live musicians Friday nights and stuff. Do you want my number?”

“Uh, yeah. That’d be cool.” He fumbled with his phone, surprised he had gotten so far. That evening he went home with more than just a piece of artwork and a new perspective. He dialed Duff immediately.

“Hello?”

“I’ve got a date, but I need help.” Duff laughed.

“Are you on that date right now?”

“What? No.”

“Oh okay—it sounded urgent.”

“Well, I’m still freaking out a little.”

“Why?”

“She’s a little younger. But she’s so fucking beautiful, dude. She’s just, I don’t know that much about her, but I want to, you know? From just what little I could see.” Slash sighed a little before he walked Duff through the whole story.

“Did she not recognize you?”

“I don’t think so. But I was wearing a hat and glasses and my hair was tied up.”

“It’s gonna be fine, man. Don’t forget who you are, and that’s one badass talented motherfucker. But also, if nothing else, you can take something from this experience and just gain a new perspective. See the world from someone’s eyes. Don’t overthink any of it. If you guys click, you click.”

Slash realized Duff was right. That’s why he appreciated art. Music, especially. There was so much to be said in something someone created, a story they were trying to tell. Listening was something he did best.

He met Y/N at the local coffee shop, not far from where they had first met. The large pot holders outside were adorned with colored mosaic and he stopped to admire them for a moment.

“Hi, Saul.” He turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Y/N was walking up, a bright smile on her face. It was as if his memory were confirmed; yes, she was as beautiful as he remembered the first time.

“Hey, Y/N. This place looks neat.”

“Wait ‘til you try the cold brew. Do you like that?”

“I like those things you get at Starbucks, the caramel things, you know?”

“Caramel macchiatos?” Y/N asked with a laugh. “They have something like that. I’ll order it for you.”

“Okay.” He agreed instantly, smiling at her. “I trust you.” He paid again even though she argued, remembering what she had told him about bills. As they sat down together with their drinks, they broke into what he supposed was small talk, however, it didn’t feel like it. In the meanwhile, Slash couldn’t help but notice the pictures adorning the exposed brick wall behind them. A framed photo of ABBA, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin…and, one of himself, on stage. He laughed a little.

“What’s so funny?” Y/N asked as she sipped her drink. He smirked a little, deciding maybe he should come clean.

“I was just looking at the pictures on the wall,” he replied nonchalantly. “Out of all of these people, who do you think is the coolest?”

Y/N turned in her chair, her eyes passing over the pictures.

“The Rolling Stones are cool...Slash is pretty awesome. Probably one of those two.” He smiled when she turned back around. “What?”

“You think I’m pretty awesome?” He asked as he pulled his shades down. Y/N’s eyes widened and she clasped her hand over her mouth.

“I—you! Are you—” he laughed. “So that’s what your friends call you! Oh my god. I didn’t recognize you with your hair pulled back and the glasses are different, and I didn’t know you had the scruff nowadays—it looks good.” She stopped. “I listen to you all the time, this is so...strange.”

“Is it bad?” Slash asked.

“No!” She laughed again. “But...me?” Slash shrugged, smiling as he nudged her shoe with the tip of his converse.

“You seemed pretty chill.”

“Thanks. Most of the time I’m not.” She grinned.

“Neither am I.” She didn’t try to argue or continue to fawn. She didn’t stare at him like he was a Martian. There was reverence in her eyes, surprise, but more so, curiosity.

“What makes you say that?”

“I dunno. It’s kinda like, social media. People only put a small portion of themselves out there, what they want people to see usually. But when everybody knows who you are, they still only know one part of you. And they think they know everything. But here I am...getting a divorce. I’m a dad. I’m just trying to figure shit out like everyone else. Experience life.” He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He laid all of it out on the table, after-all, he couldn’t hide any of those facts if he were looking for an honest partner.

“When it comes down to it, that’s what matters, right?” She mused with him. “Experiences. Not getting it right. Who decides what’s right anyways? I’d rather say I really lived.” It was those words that really stuck with him. It had him thinking, it had him yearning, it had him daydreaming.

It had him asking to see her again.

Slash called Duff before he even made it home.

“Hey, man, how’d it go? How’d she take it when you told her?”

“Good, she really is just the most chill chick ever. She knew who I was, she just didn’t recognize me. But she’s so cool, she’s got all these thoughts, all these opinions that really get me thinking, you know? I can’t wait to pick up my guitar, man, like, I’m that inspired right now.” Duff laughed.

“So, are you gonna see her again?”

“Yeah. That’s the other thing.” Slash paused. “I invited her over for dinner next week.”

“Oh. Right on; good for you, man!”

“But I don’t know how to cook.” Duff was silent for a moment before he laughed.

“Okay...well. I can help.”

[tlou2holland]

Joel x reader ( Pt 6 )

Summary: Joel and Y/N go to the dance, letting their secret slip 

warnings: fighting and cursing 

You can read the previous parts here! 

When you wake up the next day, strong arms are wrapped around your torso, holding you in place. You stifle a yawn, stretching your legs until they bump into another pair. You open your eyes and immediately smile at the sight in front of you. Joel lays on his back, mouth slightly ajar and soft snores coming from his throat. His hair is a mess and lays unruly against the pillow. His arms are locked around your waist and your head rests right next to his shoulder, ,making you kiss his collarbone. Last nights events replay in your mind and you blush as you rub your thighs together, feeling the slight burn Joels beard left there. “Mornin´“Joels whole chest deeply vibrates as he squints an eye open, and pulls you tighter into his chest. His hand runs up and down your arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. “Good morning.“ Your voice is still raspy due to the lack of using it, and Joel hums. “You slept well?“ He asks, eyes fluttering closed again. “More than well, and you?“ You rest your chin on his chest and teasingly twirl his chest hair between your fingers. Joel grabs your hand and rests it on his stomach, fingers intertwined. “You snore.“ He says bluntly, making you gasp. “Says you!“ You swat his chest and Joel laughs, finally opening his eyes for good. “you want to stay for breakfast?“ Joel carefully moves you onto the pillow next to him and you happily cuddle into it, looking at him with sleepy eyes. “That sounds lovely.“ You watch as Joel gets up and slips into his clothes from last night, thin red stripes decorating his naked back. You bite your lip and wrap the blanket tighter around your body, inhaling the lingering scent of Joel. “You want me to bring it to you?“ Joel sits on the edge of the bed and leans back to brush some hair out of your face. You shake your head and lean into his hand, kissing the inside of his palm. “I´ll come with you.“ With that you get up and dress as well, jeans uncomfortably rough against your sore legs. Joel already waits for you in the kitchen and you sneak up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your head against his clothed back. “I could get used to this.“ You mumble,  eyes almost closing again. Joel rests his hand on top of yours and grabs two mugs with the other. “Me too. Last time I had a morning like this was way before the outbreak.“ He chuckles at the memory and you peel yourself away from him to get a look at his face. Resting against the counter while you watch him prepare some water, you feel a pinch of jealousy in your stomach when you think about Joel with another woman. “Were you married?“ You ask, trying to sound casual. Joel nods and keeps himself busy with cutting some bread. “For short yeah, I was really young.“ He briefly looks over to you and goes back to preparing the coffee. “How young?“ You tilt your head and play with Joels shirt around your body. “definitely too young to have a kid.“ A sad smile grazes Joels face and you frown, guessing where this is going. “You had a kid?“ You slowly push yourself away from the counter and Joel nods, fingers playing with the watch around his wrist. “A daughter. Her name was Sarah. She would have liked you.“ Seeing the hurt in Joels eyes, you decide not to press the topic further and quickly kiss his cheek before leaning against his side. “I´m sorry.“ You take the steaming mugs out of his hands and carry them to the nearby dining table. The bitter smell of coffee fills your nostrils and you suppress a sigh, having missed the smell for years. “Your past always gets to you somehow.“ Joel shrugs his shoulders and joins you, a plate with bread and some butter in his hands. You eat in silence and sometimes look at each other, a comfortable atmosphere laying over you two. When you reach for your coffee and the dark liquid touches your lips, you eagerly lick them and moan out in joy. “God did I miss this.“ You beam at Joel, and he chuckles at your face. “It´s good, isn’t it?“ He drinks some as well and you nod, savoring each sip on your tongue. “I mean, given the circumstances I didn’t really grew up with coffee, but my dad loved it and let me have some whenever he found it.“ You warm your hands on the mug and Joel takes a bite of his bread, brushing some crumbs out of his beard. “Were you guys always outside?“ He asks, brows furrowing at the thought. You nod and push your empty plate away from you. “We never stayed too long at the same place. My dad wanted to find somewhere safe, but every time we thought we could stay, infected or people showed up.“ You shrug and finish your coffee, thinking about all the times you had to leave your makeshift home and be on the run. “Then we heard about Jackson from another group with kids, they said they trade goods from time to time and that it seems to be safe. My dad immediately wanted to go there.“ You smile at the memory and Joel leans back, chair creaking under his weight. “I was with Ellie when I first heard about Jackson. I haven’t seen Tommy for years and suddenly there he was, married and settled down.“ Joel shakes his head and you rest your chin onto your palm. “How did you meet Ellie?“ You watch Joel as he inhales and scratches the back of his neck, eyes uneasy. “Marlene, an old friend of Tommy wanted me to bring her to the fireflies. We traveled through the whole goddamn country. Ellie kind of grew onto me along the way.“ Joel clears his throat and your eyes meet, sadness in both of your gazes. “What happened between you two?“ You whisper, scared of crossing a line but Joel simply shrinks into himself and pushes his mug around the table. “I made a decision she can’t forgive me for.“ Joel looks at you, a stern look in his eyes. “But given the chance, I’d do it all over again.“ He sounds hurt but not regretful, and you decide not to push him any further. 

“I´m sure you made the right decision.“ With that you get up and bring your stuff back into the kitchen, briefly looking outside the window and catching a glimpse of the rising sun. “I should get going, before someone sees I´m not home and starts to worry.“ You feel Joels presence next to you and turn your head to look at him, his hazel eyes already scanning over your face. “Let them worry.“ He pulls you into his chest and you hug him close, his warmth engulfing you like a cloud. “I thought we wanted to keep things private until we know where this is going?“ You ask, a teasing tone lingering in your voice. “So we should sneak around like teenagers?“ Joels fingertips dance against your back and you laugh, leaning up on your tiptoes and pressing a kiss against his pink lips. “At least for a little while.“ 

So that’s what you did. Your days were spent with going on patrols, helping out on the fields and sneaking over to Joel when the rest of Jackson was already fast asleep. You’d watch old movies together, or read each other your favorite books. You even learned how to play the guitar and practiced in secret whenever you could. You showed Joel how to knit and he helped you with carving, conversations getting more natural and deep with each night you’d spent over at his. You could just lay cuddled together on the couch, his head in your lap while he tells you some story out of his youth, you’d listen for hours. You love every second of it, and by now, you were sure you love him too. You want to say it, to finally hold his hand in front of others, to stay even after breakfast is done and people could walk in. You know it was your idea to keep your relationship secret until you know it’d last, but you never expected it to get this hard. You want to gossip to Dina about the way Joel makes you feel, how good he likes to make you feel. You want to tell Jesse about all the small things he has in common with Joel, things Jesse might want to ask him about to learn something from him. You want to tell Ellie how happy Joel makes you, and that you love him truly. But you can´t, and it slowly starts to frustrate you. “What´s going on in that pretty head of yours?“ Joel sneaks up from behind and pulls you out of your thoughts. You lean into his chest and close your eyes as he kisses your neck. You got used to the scruff of his beard and scratch it lazily with your fingertips. “I want people to know about us.“ You mumble, distracted by Joels teeth grazing your flesh. He pulls away and rests his chin on your shoulder, speaking directly into your ear. “You know most people won’t understand.“ He winds his hands around your waist and you scoff. “I don´t care. I only care about Ellie and what she thinks, the rest can keep their opinions to themselves.“ You carefully brush a finger over his watch, finally knowing how much it means to Joel. You feel him straighten behind you and slowly loosen the grip on your hips. “You think she’s going to take it well?“ Joel seems worried and you shrug your shoulders, turning around to see his face. “I don´t know, but we have to tell her. I don´t want her to feel betrayed. I mean, all this time I spent with her without saying anything- I’d be pissed. You’re like a dad to her.“ You don’t even think too deep about your words, but Joel clears his throat. “Maybe I was close to her once, but she pretty much shut me out.“ Joel sadly drops his head and you reach out and lay a hand on his cheek. “That’s Not true, she obviously still cares about you. In her own I-don´t-need-you-in-my-life way, but believe me, she wouldn’t want to live without you.“ You run your thumb along his jaw and Joel looks at you, eyes tired and heavy with emotion. “I wouldn’t want to live without her,either. Or you.“ Joel looks away and your heart does a flip, a wide grin spreading on your lips. “Let´s talk with her tomorrow and just hope for the best.“ You nervously chuckle and Joel pulls you in for a kiss, hands cupping your face while his tongue pushes past your lips. You tilt your head and lean in even further, gripping tightly onto his shirt. “Are you coming to the dance tonight?“ You ask breathlessly, lips brushing over his while you speak. Joel nudges his nose against yours and shakes his head. “I have better things to do.“ He pulls away and you groan. “Oh please! Dina is making me go with her. Wouldn’t it be fun to sneak around one last evening? We can go to the next one together.“ You teasingly nudge his shoulder and intertwine your hand with his. You still feel the spot where he had a splinter some hours ago and caress it with your fingertip. Joel sighs and looks at you, a warning look in his eyes. “No funny games if I go.“ He points his finger at you and you innocently bat your eyelashes at him. “No funny games, I promise.“ You link your pinky with his and kiss him one last time. “I see you tonight at the dance, Mister Miller.“ You let your hand glide over his chest and push him away with a laugh, quickly skipping down the stairs and making your way home to get ready for the dance. 

Not that you have many clothes to choose from, but you still try to dress up a bit and do something nice with your hair. Dina was already waiting for you when you finished, and together you make your way to the dance. The loud music from crooked still could be heard from a distance, and you smile as Dina impatiently wiggles her hips and urges you to go faster. “Hurry up or we’ll be late.“ She grabs your hand and you let yourself fall back a bit, laughing when she pulls you forwards. “We can’t be late to a dance that has no official start.“ You smooth down your clothes and Dina rolls her eyes. “I don´t want to leave Ellie waiting. You know her, she’ll probably leave if I don’t show up.“ Dina blushes and you squeal, surprised “Ellie and you have a date?“ You ask excited, happy for your friends. “Kinda, you know Ellie is not the most affectionate but at the dances she’s not as tensed and relaxes a little. Maybe we’ll kiss again.“ Dina looks at you, a lock hiding the small smile on her lips. You let go of her hand and wrap your arms around her neck instead, pressing your cheek against hers. “I ship you two so hard, please make a move if Ellie is too shy. I need-“You pause, slightly loosening your grip on Dina as you both start to stumble. “I absolutely need you guys together in my life.“ You finish, jokingly grabbing your heart and Dina mimics your actions. “Oh Y/N, thank you so much for shipping us!“ She rolls her eyes and you giggle, earning a chuckle from Dina. “But all jokes aside, I need details as soon as things get serious between you two.“ You release her from your grip and Dina nods her head. “I want to kiss her, like real bad. Stuff is bound to get serious.“ She says it like its the most normal thing ever, and you beam as you think about how happy Ellie would be if she heard Dina. “Talking about kissing, is Joel a good kisser?“ Dina teasingly points to your neck where the tiniest love bite pops out from your blouse. You reach up to cover it with your hand, and simply nod. “The best I ever had.“ With that you walk faster, and bite your lip when you hear Dina gasp behind you. You don’t give her any chance to ask further tho, as you push the doors of the barn open and step inside. You are immediately greeted by Ellie, and hug her close. “I thought you’d leave me alone with Jesse.“ She puts you at arms length and you give her an apologetic smile, gesturing to Dina. “Dina wouldn’t be too amused about that. She’s been dying to get to you.“ You laugh as Ellie and Dina stare at each other, ears tinted red and shy smiles on their lips. “You´re going to ask me to dance?“ Dina asks, and grabs Ellies hand. She waits for no answer and simply pulls her towards the dance floor, holding onto her hips and leaning her head against Ellies shoulder. Ellie is a little stiff but smiles when you give her a thumbs up, and starts twirling Dina around. You stroll towards the bar and get a drink, loosening the first buttons of your blouse as the warm air inside starts to get to you. You look around for any familiar faces and wave at Jesse who talks with Maria. Both wave back and you relax against a pole, resting your shoulder blades onto the thick wood. “Looking for someone?“ Joel nudges your hip with his and you turn your head to the side, almost kissing him on the spot. “You came!“ You beam, hands reaching out to touch him. He takes a sip of his beer and keeps his eyes on Ellie and Dina while he nods. “Don´t want my girl to be upset, right?“ His deep voice sounds more beautiful to you than ever, and you feel immense pride inside your chest at his words. “I can´t wait to dance with you, you know, feel your hands on me. Knowing what they can do.“ You sigh and hide your grin behind the rim of your glass when Joel shoots you a glance. “Remember, no funny games.“ Joel looks around and quickly squeezes your hip when nobody was looking, fingertips brushing over your bum. Then he slanders away and talks with some friends of his while you stand there, a tingling in your stomach and lips pursed. You know the effect you have on Joel, and couldn’t wait for tonight when you’d end up in his bed.

 “Hey Y/N.“ Marcus taps your shoulder and you turn around, looking directly into his blue eyes. “Hi Marcus.“ You take a sip of your drink and rest a hand on your hip. “You´re here all alone?“ He slides his hands into the pockets of his jeans and you shake your head. “I´m here with Dina and Ellie.“ You look over at your friends who laugh and giggle in each others arms, goofily swinging each other around. “You wanna join them?“ Marcus asks when he sees your wandering gaze and you look back at him, clearing your throat. “I´m not a good dancer.“ You take another sip from your glass and Marcus laughs, showing off his white teeth. “I know for a fact that’s not true. Come on, one dance. As friends?“ Marcus extends his hand and you bite your lip, scanning the room for Joel but not seeing him anywhere. One dance couldn’t hurt, right? So you nod and take Marcus hand, laughing at his toothy smile and wide eyes when he realizes you actually said yes. “Friends, nothing more.“ You remind him when his hand wanders a bit too low down your back and he apologizes, cheeks a deep shade of red. “Yes Ma´am.“ He Salutes and you laugh, swinging your hips to the beat while Marcus twirls you under his arm. You sync the lyrics with your lips and grab his hand to make him twirl under you, standing on your tiptoes while he crouches down with a chuckle and rotates under your arm. “Look at your moves!“ You let go of Marcus and throw your head back, stomach hurting from all the laughing. If you knew Marcus was this fun to dance with, you would have said yes way sooner. “I told you I’m awesome.“ Marcus wiggles his eyebrows and rotates his shoulders when a banjo solo begins. He inches closer towards you and you sway your hips, chests almost touching. “I wouldn’t say awesome but you’re quite alright.“ You turn around and rub your back against him, his hands on your upper waist. You feel him trying to inch closer and give him a warning look, making him back away with a laugh and hands raised in surrender. “Sorry, I miscalculated the space.“ He poorly excuses, lucky that you find him amusing and only shake your head at his stupid apology. “You have it fistful behind your ears.“ You point your finger at him and continue to dance, a playful glimmer in your eyes. Marcus just tilts his head and smirks, hands extending to tightly grip your hips and pull you into him. You gasp and rest your hand on his chest to push him away, but his hold on you is too strong. “Girls like just that, don’t they?“ He leans down and closes his eyes, lips pursing to meet yours. You turn your head to the side and lean away from him. “Marcus stop.“ You say, all jokes aside. He opens his eyes and frowns, hands inching even lower. “Come on, it’s just a kiss.“ His fingertips burn against your spine and you shake your head, cheeks heating up in anger. “Let me go.“ You growl, all playfulness gone. “You heard her.“ A husky voice says behind you. You don’t need to turn around to know its Joel, his heavy steps and angry puffs gave him away. “You don’t have a say in this, Joel. This is between Y/N and me.“ Marcus slightly loosens his grip on you and you use the chance and push him away from you. Marcus takes a step back and you briefly look around, no one noticed the tensed atmosphere, yet. “I think I do have a say in this. Y/N clearly said no and you should respect that.“ Joel steps forward and you rest a hand on his chest, pleadingly looking into his eyes. But he doesn’t even look at you, and Marcus only grows more frustrated with each second. “Look man, I appreciate you looking out for her, but Y/N is old enough to mind her own business. Go and baby Ellie or something.“ Marcus lazily sways his hand and you scoff, stepping in front of Joel and between him and Marcus. “Thats enough, Marcus. Just leave me alone, please.“ With that you turn around, but Marcus reaches forward and grabs your arm. You don’t even have time to react when Joel pushes past you and takes Marcus hand from you, pressing it against Marcus side with force. “Don´t you touch her.“ He growls, and the threat makes the people around you stop dancing. “Or else, what?“ Marcus puffs out his chest and tries to imitate Joel, but he simply stands his ground. Joel doesn’t respond to that, but if looks could kill, Marcus would lay dead on the floor. “You-“Marcus pokes his finger into Joels chest, “should learn to mind your own business. Old man.“ Marcus was about to pull his finger back when Joel pushes him, making Marcus land butt first on the ground. You hear some woman gasp around you and a “What the fuck??“ from Ellie. You stand frozen on the spot but quickly move when Marcus gets up, vein popping out on his forehead from anger. “Come on Joel, please don´t.“ You whisper as you grab his shoulder and catch his attention for a split second, that’s until Marcus pushes Joel back and hits your nose with his elbow in the progress. You whine and grab your face, hiding it behind your hands to protect it from more damage. “Marcus stop!“ Maria angrily shouts from somewhere in the crowd, but you only hear Joels heavy breathing and fists colliding with skin. Dina gently grabs you by the shoulders and pulls you back as she examines your nose, your eyes too glassy to see anything. “Please make them stop.“ You mumble when you hear Joel grunt and Marcus laugh, the music still echoing through the room. “I said don’t you touch her!“ Joel draws his arm back for another swing but Ellie steps forwards and holds his arm, angrily shouting at the fighting men. “stop it! What the fuck is wrong with you?“ She lets go of Joel and Marcus huffs, brushing his blonde hair out of his face. “Just because he likes to fuck Y/N doesn’t mean he can tell me what to do!“ Marcus frowns and Joel looks at Ellie, fists clenched. “Oh fuck off. You just punched her you asshole.“ Ellie raises her voice and Marcus finally notices you in the corner, mouth opening but no sounds coming out. “I think its best if you leave.“ Maria steps forward and gently pulls Ellie back, while she corners Marcus and urges him to go outside. As soon as the heavy doors close again and Marcus has left, Joel opens his fists.

 Without another word he turns around and walks over to you, cradling your face in his hands. “Are you okay?“ Despite the anger in his eyes, his voice is soft and you nod, hands coming up to hold onto his wrists. “Let´s just go please.“ You lean into him and ignore the stares the people are giving you. Ellie looks at you confused, but you only have eyes for Joel and his split lip. Dina takes Ellies hand and whispers something into her ear, kissing her cheek afterwards. 

 “I´m sorry.“ Joel pecks your forehead with his lips and grabs your hand, shielding you from the shocked faces as you walk trough the small crowd and outside. “I didn´t want Ellie and the others to find out that way.“ You cry out as Joel and you stand on his porch, tears pricking at the back of your head. “I´m sorry for how tonight turned out.“ You frown and wipe your eyes, breaths quickening. “Hey.“ Joel hugs you and you lean against his chest, clasping onto his shoulders. “None of this is your fault. Marcus was drunk and I shouldn’t have let him provoke me, if anything, its my fault. Although he deserved it for laying hand on you.“ Joel angrily mumbles the last part and you pull away to look into his eyes. “That was an accident. He wouldn’t have punched me on purpose.“ You sniffle and Joel wipes another tear from your eyes. “Accident or not, I don’t care. No one lays a hand on my woman.“ Joel rests his forehead against yours and you close your eyes. His woman. “I just hope he doesn’t try to talk me again, I simply want to stay here with you and hide from anything.“ You sound almost child like and Joel chuckles at your pout. “That can be arranged. Now you don’t have to sneak around no more. You can actually stay for as long as you want, you know?“ Joel lifts your chin and deeply stares into your eyes, trying not to get mad at the small bruise on the bridge of your nose. You smile the tiniest smile and nod. “I��ll stay for as long as you’ll have me.“ “Then you best prepare to never leave again.“ Joel kisses you and you taste the blood from his lips on your tongue, a small sob erupting from your throat. You just have so many emotions you can’t pinpoint, and feel overwhelmed by the previous events. You hide your face in the crook of Joels neck and hold onto him for dear life, your tears slowly soaking the front of his shirt. “I love you.“ You whisper, eyes pressed shut and voice muffled by Joels front. He heard you nevertheless, as he tightness his grip around your front and rests his chin on top of your head. “I love you, too.“

————

I´M BACK!!! Sorry for not updating but I’ve been really busy. I´m going to make it up to you by writing roughly 5 more chapters for this story, so stay tuned :) my mind is crap rn so please forgive me, I hope you like the new chapter nevertheless 

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Review: The First Adventure! or Baby Donald Says Eat the Rich

Welcome back. I’d been looking forward to this one for some time in the hopes of getting one thing i’ve been waiting for.. sadly that thing didn’t come, we’ll get to that, but this was still a fun episode so let’s hop right in. Spoilers in a second but my tag is spoiler tagged soooo.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We open in the 1960′s. Austin Powers just went into Cryo Freeze to prepare for Dr. Evil’s eventual return, The Marvel Universe was in full swing, a teenager in baltimore was battling racisim via a dance show, and Black Heron had just been caught by Agent 22, aka Beakly when she was young and just as gorgeous then as she is now. Heron once again engaged in her usual cartoonish supervillian, and now SHUSH has her.  Meanwhile in a nearbye room a young accountant by the name of Bradford Buzzard is outlining his plan for Director Von Drake: The way he sees it every time a villian costs chaos Shush “Wastes” billions causing MORE chaos to stop it without controlling things. He proposes taking over the world, weeding out the chaos and ruling from the shadows. Naturally, Ludvig isn’t on board with any of this and points out they aren’t super villains. It’s here this episode fully defines something about Bradford’s character. Back in “Let’s Get Dangerous!” when Huey called him a villain, he said he’s not one... at least from his point of view. It’s here, in his youth we get a clear understanding why he dosen’t think so: So far most people we’ve seen in the world of Ducktales take the chaos and insanity of the world in stride: Either just numb to it like most of the citizens, Rolling with it like Daisy and Violet, or diving straight into it like.. pretty much the majority of the cast, either for the love of adventure and treasure like the McDuck/Duck family, or for their own ludcrious ends like Glomgold, Mark Beaks or Magica. To them the world’s fine the way it is and there’s to explore, take or whatever.  To Bradford.. this is madness... he feels all these people are just a bunch of overgrown children, and in some cases actual children, are just making the world worse and worse until one day their going to break it. One day skill, intuition, wit, and knowledge just wont’ be enough. Someday Scrooge, SHUSH or whoever’s standing in the way of evil will fail and the world will fall. This simply can’t go on, and SOMEONE has to control this, someone has to take this world, shake the chaos out of it and MAKE it sane. Make it work the way it’s SUPPOSED to. And to Bradford that’s him. Someone has to, no one else will, so he will. To him SHUSH doing this is just the logical thing: They want peace right? Their fighting for good right? Then what’s better than making the world a utopia? Ending these conflicts and remaking it.  The thing is.. that’s not what Heroes do. As we’ve seen in various stories where the superheroes, the Good Guys take over they do improve things.. but at the cost of free will. At the cost of free thought. At the cost of their morals. They become what they were fighting all those years and have to bloody their hands and keep them bloody just to make THEIR world right. And that’s not Utopia, that’s a dictatorship. The example I always come to, even though there were ones before and after this including Marvel’s incredible Squadron Supreme maxi-series, is Justice League the animated series’ two parter, like most of their episodes really but that’s not the point, a Better World, about an alternate reality where Superman kills Lex Luthor after Luthor kills the flash and hte League take over the world. The thing is.. the world isn’t BETTER. It’s just crime free. You can sweep the chaos and the crime under the rug.. but your not making a better world, your just making YOUR version of it. No one person is a god even if they have a power of one and no one person can or SHOULD be able to decide what’s best for everyone. It’s up to each of us to MAKE the world better, to fight for a better world. That’s what Ludvig knows full well and what Bradford just can’t see. You can’t control the world, you just have to accept the things you can’t change like it being chaotic and change the things you can like injustice. 

Bradford however, who was hired as a favor to his grandmother, can’t though Von Drake lets him off with a warning.. and a laugh about an accountant being able to be a super villian. Bradford however realizes ther’es some truth to that.. he needs someone to teach him out to operate outside the law, and if SHUSH won’t take the world and remake it.. maybe it’s time someone else did.  So in the prison cells of SHUSH, which are conveniently empty outsdide of Heron, Bradford outlines his plan to her. To create a massive orgnization to steal the world and give it the order it needs. To combine their skills: Heron’s for grandeur and crime, and Bradfords for strategy and focus, to take the world. The Orginzation for World Larceny, or OWL, fitting bradford’s hatred for theatrics. Heron objects, adding an F for fiendish, and Bradford relucntantly agrees to get her on board, lets her loose and fakes like he just saw her escape. FOWL is born. And the world would never be the same. Cue credits and cue the rest of the review under the cut. 

After the opening we cut to 1994-5.. sometime around then as it’s hard to get an exact year, and that’s how the crew likes it. Point is it’s the 90′s, and Scrooge is.. busy running his company. We’ll get into the weeds of that in a bit, but this is a different Scrooge, one who while no less capable, has no thirst for adventure or drive. He’s not nearly as miserable as the Scrooge we saw back in Woo-Ooo but he’s still a much less complete man. Anyways alongside him for his planning is Duckworth, whose very much alive at this time, and who tells his boss his sister Hortense left something in his office for him.  To no one suprise, that thing is the twins, at the tender age of i’m guessing 10. Since your probably curious, Della is still voiced by Paget Brewster, just using a slightly different voice like the Triplets and Webby’s voice actors do. It’s just a bit more jarring here since unlike those characters, we’ve seen adult della and thus are used to this voice coming out of a grown woman. It’s not bad and I got used to it eventually but it was jarring at first especially since once again Donald has a completely diffrent voice ACTRESS doing his voice.  This time around it’s cristina valenzuela, of Miraculous Ladybug fame, who I know more for her song work and twitter than her actual work ,but am delighted to see her here and she does a terrific job. I genuneily did not realize it was her, and while not exactly like the late great russi taylor, it is just similar enough to work. 

So we get to see what the Twins were like when they were the Triplets age: Della is about the same, but with more of Dewey’s impulsiveness, and Donald, much like he’d be a few years and some dead parents later, is a bitter, grungey musician whose constantly on his guitar and railing against the man.. which is Scrooge in this case which is fair. Hortense left a note.. which bothered me as I genuinely expected her to show up and was majorly disappointed she did not. We are in year 4 of this series, season 3 and STILL no appearance of Hortense or mention how she died, as she and Quackmore are still alive by the end of this. Given she’s easily my faviorite part of Life and Times, this bothered me, and the only reason i’m not more upset.. is the clever way they wrote around actually using her. The letter she leaves for Scrooge explaining things is the same one Della herself used in the comic strip, and using a bit of the postcard she left in the cartoons, when leaving Huey, Dewey and Louie with Donald, down to the Twins having left a firecracker in their fathers seat, thus leaving him in the hosptial. As disappointed as I am my favorite Ginger is completely absent once again, this is a brilliant reference, and I have to give them credit for it, so it’s a fair enough trade off.  As for his “Angel Nephew and Niece”, Della wants to dive into adventure while Donald struggles to write a song, singing throughout the episode. It varies in tolerablity, though mostly due to the writing, Cristina is doing fine. Della however is disappointed to find her legendary uncle views his past exploits as merley a means to an end to get his fortune and now he has it he can just focus on building it in the boardroom. This is an intresting take.. and one I could easily have seen happening to the Don Rosa version seen in Life and Times. The Scrooge there himself saw building his wealth as the most important thing until his encounter with Teddy Rosevelt, who taught him experince was what mattered and the having isn’t as fun as the getting. It works for me: This is a scrooge who never got that lesson so once he got to be richest duck in the world, having achieved his life’s goal nothing was left. He’s not miserable like the Scrooge we saw at the start of the series, having lost his love for adventure after loosing his niece/daughter, and having lost his fight. This one has retired.. but because he likely just sees no point in going on. He’s the richest duck in the world, has a vast empire.. no amount of treasure is really going to add to that like it used to, and as he points out in a second Shush has tons of agents at this point to clean up what’s left of FOWL. He’s the man who has everything, so why keep going. It’s weird to see a scrooge without the hunger to keep going, but it makes sense when his belly is full. Without someone to get him to see there’s always another rainbow, he just stopped chasing them. Also a fun nod to the comics I almost forgot to mention is when hearing about the “Gift”, i.e. the twins, Scrooge dreads it’s another surprise party, a nod to life and times where Hortense threw Scrooge one that went.. badly and lead to their entire relationship collapsing. Though Donald did get back at Scrooge for screaming at his parents and Auntie Matilda

However his busy day is disrupted with a call from Beakly. They’ve found the last known cordinates of Captain Yellowbeak, but FOWL is on them and Scrooge is the only one Beakly trusts for this since they have a leak. Beakly is also director of SHUSH at this point, with Von Drake having retired or died or both at this point. Scrooge reluctantly accepts, while Della is excited at the prospect of a real adventure and Donald ends up sharing her enthusasim as it’d make a good song. Scrooge, naturally, has no intention of bringing them with him to their disapointment and leads Donald to sing another “Suck it the man song” which totally isn’t about Scrooge.... spoilers: It entirely is, he’s just a little dumbass grunge baby and I love him.  We then get a cute sequence of Della popping up in Scrooge’s Luggage and Trunk to try and convince him to let them tag along, before we cut to the Limo, driven by Duckworth at this point, which solves that mystery. Scrooge is firm in having his butler take them back and have them work with him and Duckworth’s fine with that.. but wants overtime, which is fair. Scrooge, being Scrooge, grumbles about not being made of money, proven wrong by gold spilling out of him. Though I do like the update of Scrooge’s classic cheapness when it comes to pay: INstead of barely paying his employees like a monster, he’s simply reluctant to pay extra if he dosen’t have to, and would rather drag two 10 year olds with him on a dangerous adventure than pay overtime, which tracks. It’s also clear if he had to he WOULD actually pay it, either due to legal reasons or his moral standards, he just isn’t happy about it. So he agrees, though he wants Donald to leave the guitar behind which.. given the most Donald’s been able to come up with is “Suck it THE MAN” and “This guy’s a greedy asshole”.. he’s extremely correct and when Donald tries to pull a “YOU CAN’T CENSOR ME MANNNN”, Scrooge just chucks it out of the car.  At the airfield while Della is excited like an rabid chipmunk, and genuinely thinks she can fly a plane because she’s played Outrunner 2.. which I have only vaguely heard of before now. And is apparently just a pc game where you run a lot so I genuinely do not get where Della gets piloting from that.. but she IS Dewey’s mother. So with that in mind the family take off and Scrooge explains what their after: The Papyrus of Binding. It’s a dangerously powerful magical artifact from Ancient Egypt that will make whatever’s written on it happen. The dangerous part is that it’s incredibly literal: As Bradford puts later in the episode, ask for unlimited power, it might zap you dead with a million volts, ask for infinite wealth, prepare to be crushed underneath it. It’s a nice twist on a Monkey’s Paw or Jackass Genie situation. Instead of either the source of the wish granting magic just being inherently evil, or some dickhead screwing with the hero.. it’s just an object that has no ability to interpret nuance, just like your phone with the goddamn autocorrect. It can’t judge intent or tone or meaning, it just gives exactly what it’s asked. It’s a thoroughly interesting concept. 

Something I really like about this episode is the fact it answers some little questions. While none were Hortense related, and I am still grumpy about that even with this coming out a good 17 hours after I watched it due to getting caught up with other stuff, it does have little touches that explain small parts of the lore: Who drove Scrooge? As just mentioned, Duckworth. Who flew scrooge? Paid pilots. Did he have a plane before the sunchaser? Yup. It fills in some small gaps in the world. Stuff we weren’t dying to know but’s stil lintresting. Said pilots in this case however are Heron and Bradford. This episode also fills in Heron’s character, as while we’ve already seen bits and pieces this season she LOVES being a classic, take over the world james bond type villian, like she stepped out of a duck version of kim possible.. and i’m just now realizing there probably IS a duck kim possible somewhere in this world as while far after disney afternoon, it fits too neatly to not be wedged in there with your tailspins and goof troops. I wouldn’t be suprised if there were brid versions of every human based disney afternoon and one saturday morning show. My.. my head’s swimming from this. I could be, and probably am wrong but the sheer idea of this... it’s amazing.  Back to Heron, she just LOVES being evil and destructive, letting the world know she exists and operating on a grand scale. Now we’ve seen more of her while she’s Beakly’s nemisis.. she’s really an evil scrooge.. yes another one. Like Scrooge, at least how he normally is,  she simply gets how the world of Ducktales operates and can take advantage of that to the best of her ablility. Just like adventuering, cartoonish supervilliany is about risk and reward.. sometimes you faceplamnt hard, that’s the risk, but the rewards and rush is worth it. She’s as addicted to grandoise villiany as Scrooge is to adventure by this point. And like Scrooge, and unlike her partner Bradford, she sees the world as it is: Chaotic and one big sandbox to play in. She contrasts Scrooge by the fact that while Scrooge is willing to bust down doors, he still has morals, as well as the wisdom to not go overboard Heron often lacks. It also makes her a good contrast ot the equally skilled Beakly: While Beakly is taciturn, controlled in all things especially her emotions, Heron is bombastic, gloating and borderline insane, and while deadly in a fight, dosen’t exercise any control in her plans, preferring it big and loud despite her partner usually being right about reiging it in.  So Heron evacuates dramatically, taking a grumpy Bradford with them, and sending the plane into a tailspin. 

I can’t wait for Next Year’s Tailspin episode. I swear to god. I’m hoping for Shere Kahn but this episode has taught me to be okay with disapointment, if a grumpus. Della however shows her natural talent and despite having no real experince with planes, lands it gracefully. While that’s going on, Bradford berates Heron for her plan, pointing out that they COULD have simply landed the plane, then captured the McDuck family and executed them quitely, versus leaving a chance they’ll survive which they do. They AREN’T supervillains.. or at least he thinks he isn’t. Heron does show off her competence though, pointing out that this way they can simply stay low, and FOLLOW the Ducks to the treasure. Bradford is impressed for a second.. till Heron’s evil shows as she plans to use the Papyrus. Bradford loudly objects to this, listing the possible risks shown before. If not used CAREFULLY, it could kill them, and she balks and wants him to just embrace being the Villian already. It’s what I love about their dynamic set up here: While they are equals, Bradford is a better strategist, able to think and plan way in advance, and prefers subterfuge, and if present day is any indicatoin probably used Heron’s flash to distract from the real mission or goal often or to do something on the down low while she kept SHUSH busy. His last two plans, while again requiring some pizzaz, relied on misdrection: having the ducks take care of an immidate threat like their used to.. while he gets exactly what he wants while their busy and whatever they get out of it is either nothing (Impossibin) or something he couldn’t use just yet and thus if he didn’t get it, no loss, but if he did it just moves up the timetable. Not only that but he’s outlasted all three other big bads, lying in the shadows till it was too risky to leave scrooge and play and even THEN, only coming out into the open when forced out. IT’s why he’s Scrooge’s most dangerous opponent: He knows how Scrooge’s other enmities operates as well as Scrooge himself. And since he knows everything he can maneuver Scrooge exactly where he needs him to do exactly what he wants. It’s unknown how the family will beat him, but he’s easily the biggest challenge they’ve had. 

But back to the show and the past, Scrooge bonds with his niece and nephew, retelling stories of his past as they get closer, with Donald ending up high at one point and thus seeing the ship stranded on a mountain. As he recounts a fight with El Capitan, the villian from the ducktales 87 pilot, he counts the story as as a loss: He didn’t get anything from it, no treasure no new contracts. But Della shows him the point he’s been missing; He got a story. Sure he lost.. but he got experince, a tale to tell and a legend grown.Just because you don’t get everything dosen’t mean it wasn’t worth the experince and you can’t hold it in your heart. And this episode shows why this scrooge needed his family: Without Teddy to mentor him, he simply never got that adventure wasn’t about gains or what you get.. it’s about the thrill of it, the enjoyment of discovery and the memories you make.. it’s about the Journey not the destination. 

As Scrooge starts to warm up to that, he finds a gap, with Della volunteering Donald to jump but Scrooge just having the kids hop on his back and pogo caneing across. The family find the Papyrus, and find out why the ship is all the way up here: Captain Yellowbeak, who’s a character from one of barks stories and the one who had the scroll last, wished to escape.. but that just stranded them. He asked for water.. and it drowned his crew.. and finally with the document hteir reading he asked for release... and thus is now a skelington. The kid are happy to have reached the goal.. while Scrooge is back on his Zack Morris phone trying to reschedule things and schedule a SHUSH evac, to the kids annoyance. However Scrooge raining on their parade gets interupted by Heron and Bradford, as Heron can’t resist popping out dramatically and Bradford is UTTERLY furious since she blew his cover, and Scrooge recognizes him from his christmas party, a nice callback. Scroog being scrooge figures out he’s the mole and Bradford runs , furious at Heron. Their conflict is an intresting one: Both have a point but both will not back down. Bradford is right this showboating nonsense has only hindered Heron’s plans.. and Heron is right that Bradford needs to accept he’s the bad guy. Even if he has well meaning motives, he’s the villian, he works with them, he leads them.. he is one.  He just can’t accept he’s wrong or dosen’t have the answers... huh.. I wonder who that reminds you of. And that’s 100% intentional as Frank has outright compared Huey and Bradford and like last season it’s neat to have the main vilian contrast our chosen Duck for the season. 

Heron outfoxes the kids and gets the papyrus and being just an enitrely black hearted bitch, plans to kill them just to spite scrooge.. writing that “his sidekicks will perish on this mission.”.... but Scrooge’s character development, and her choice of words, means nothing happens. As Scrooge outlines, “Their not my sidekicks their my FAMILY, and this isn’t a mission, it’s an ADVENTURE”. Scrooge has finally accepted his life for what it really is.. and the thrill of the chase over what lies at the end. There’s always anothe rainbow.. and he’s finally become the man who will chase every last one. 

OF course this is interupted, and Heron escapes with the papyrus, when a skeletal pirate attacks.. why is Yellow Beak alive, why’d the scroll do this?

But we get a neat fight as Scrooge fights the skeleton while he sends the kids after Heron. Scrooge gets a cool looking swordfight, while Bradford gets the papyrus, and Yellowbeak even terrifies me what with his bestial roll and fucking centepede crawling out of him.. jesus those things freak me out.  Meanwhile the kids battle Heron, who throws della overboard... and thus for the first time, Donald taps into his beserker rage, snikty snoink, and easily incapaciates the more experinced and fully grown adul, though Della since we’eve been following her kids for the past three seasons, is fine, if suprised by her brother being the goddamn wolverine. 

While heron is out for a second, Scrooge heads after Bradford, and vows to tell Beakly and chase him all across the world. However Bradford gets an utterly awesome moment.. he admits scrooge may be right and probably would.. but since he has the papayrus and is careful in everything he writes his request carefully and perfectly “As far as the ducks are concerned, I was never here.” Grante dit COULD have left scrooge out.. but since he didn’t sday duck family or specificy, and likely knew it’d do that, it instead just means the three bilogical ducks. Bradford dissappears, turning invisble and leaving the papyrus for scrooge, who foils heron by simply writing that this scroll will be lost until one day found by his heirs.

So Heron takes a fall and looses an arm, again.. or for the first time.. the family is triumphant and despite loosing his goal, Scrooge is convinced he and the kids will find it again. See above. Scrooge then pulls out his phone and tells Duckworth to rework his schedule.. but it’s so he can find someone to run his comapny so he can spend more time with the kids. As for why Hortense would allow this before her still mysterious passing.. i’m guessing A) she notices her brother is happier and more alive than he’s been for a while and B) they just blew up their dad’s ass with a firecracker, and she won’t be able to use it for a while, so she’s double mad, so if it means she gets a moment’s peace and is with someone she trusts.. why not?

So we end on Scrooge packing up, preparing for further adventures.. i’d love a spinoff of this one day. I mean Disney plus needs it, and since Frank is probably going over to Darkwing.. maybe matt could take a crack at this. Just saying. You have the cast ready, a giant world to explore, and 15 years worth adventures. Run that baby damn you! But yeah the inevitble happens and Bradford further proves his magificent bastardry.. by appling for the position of running the company as head of Scrooge’s board, and setting up said board. So now FOWL has unlimited resources, he has a direct eye on what he now realizes is his greatest threat, and the complete trust and faith of both Scrooge and Beakly. It also puts Beakly’s breakdown in context: We now see WHY she went as far as she did: While the revelation was bad for Scrooge, finding out one of his most trusted allies was a traitor the whole time and knew everything about him, for Beakly.. it had to be worse. Finding out one of your best employees, one of the FEW people you ever trusted, and someone you DIRECTLY RECOMMENDED TO SCROOGE, was not only the man who set up your greatest enemies, but had compromised your organization for most of your career. IT’s no wonder she broke down so hard.. while I already gave several reason adding “This level of betrayal and self doubt to the list” only makes it that much harder on her. But for now a partnership is started.. one that very well may end scrooge. 

Final Thoughts: A pretty good episode overall. It’s well paced, to the point I probably forgot a LOT, has some good jokes, and fills in a lot of the gaps in the lore, while giving us a nice insight into bradford and heron. Even without hortense this was a pretty good episode. 

Upcoming Reviews: LIfe and Times; Master of the Mississippi Ride of the Three Cabbleros: The Three Cablleros (House of Mouse) Tomtrospective: Lava Lake Beach

[i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle]

Chapter 30: A Pear-fect Reunion

After the deeply bittersweet, but ultimately happy reunion between Starlight and her mother, as well as Sunburst’s father returning to Sire’s Hollow for good. The Elements of Harmony and the Cutie Mark Crusaders go back to Sweet Apple Acres to see how Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and Granny Smith are doing with with Pear Butter & Bright Mac. Twilight actually gives Celestia her own pack of gum so perhaps she can get back to Saddle Arabia herself as she still plans on attending the wedding. Trixie went back to her wagon to rest for a while.

Some of the group heading back to the farm is still reeling from the emotional scenes of the family reunion in Sire’s Hollow.

Rarity: *sniff* That reunion Starlight and Sunburst had was so beautiful, yet so sad, but also satisfying, and yet also so heartbreaking…

Twilight: That was certainly a mix of emotions wasn’t it? But I think ultimately we can be very happy for Starlight to have gotten to see her mother again.

Applejack: Yeah, Starlight’s past regarding her mother is more tragic than fo’ mah own parents. But now at least we both get t’ see them every now and then thanks t’ Spike’s Dragon Tear. This thing is certainly going t’ be ah life changer fo’ ah lot o’ ponies

Apple Bloom: Sure is! But let’s go see how Granny’s doin’!

Once they all get to the house they actually see Sugar Belle, Big Mac, Granny Smith are outside with Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s spirit while the Cake family seems to have probably returned home since then. Sugar Belle is the first to notice the return of the Elements and the CMC.

Sugar Belle: Welcome back! How did things turn out with Starlight and her mother?

Twilight: It’d be a looooooong story trying to explain everything that went on… we can get to that soon. But how have all of you been?

Granny Smith: Oooooooh! One o’ the best days o’ mah long life fo’ certain! Why didn’t ya’ll wake me up t’ see Pear Butter and Bright Mac come down in the first place?

Twilight: I guess it slipped my mind, sorry Granny Smith.

Granny: Heh, it’s ok. Admittedly, when ah was first woken up the first thing ah saw was Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s ghosts. Ah initially freaked, cause ah thought ah had kicked the bucket myself in mah sleep! Ah’m at that age after all!

Big Mac: Heh heh, it did take ah little while fo’ us t’ convince Granny that she wasn’t dead nor was this ah dream!

Granny: But once ah calmed down, it was sooooo good t’ see mah big son and his lovely wife again!

Sugar Belle: Me and Pear Butter talked a good while being the non-Apples that married into the family.

Pear Butter: Being a pear farmer as opposed to a pastry-baker is a bit different. But we nonetheless both fell in love with two large apple farming stallions. That alone is enough to make a nice bond with my new daughter-in-law. But she’s also as sweet personality-wise as the sugar in the pastries she must make. It’s just too bad we spirits can’t eat, mostly because we don’t need to any more. But at least we’re in a state where we always feel contently full, otherwise it’d be kind of unbearable.

Pinkie: Spirits no longer get to eat?! That sounds awful!

Pear Butter: It is odd at first to no longer need food, and indeed kinda a trade-off that we’ll never get to taste food again. But it takes some time to get used to, on the bright side though… We no longer need emergency bathroom breaks, ahahaha.

Granny: So… Ah heard all o’ ya went t’ help Starlight find her mother?

Applejack: Yeah, hope ya’ll not too upset ah chose t’ go see her instead o’ being there, when ya’ll was reunited with Ma and Pa.

Granny: Nah, ah gotcha. Sugar Belle told me ya mentioned having felt an obligation t’ help her out after ah conversation ya’ll had with her at the ball. Helping Starlight find ah mother she never got t’ know sounds pretty noble o’ ya’ll

Apple Bloom: It certainly was, Granny! We did kind o’ find Starlight’s mother!

Granny: Well, ain’t that nice! Where was she?

Apple Bloom: Well… maybe us finding her isn’t the exact word… ya see… just like our parents… Starlight’s mother was dead. So we got Spike t’ summon her t’ us.

Granny: Oh mah… that must o’ been one bittersweet reunion. A mother she didn’t know... that’s been dead the whole time…

Applejack: Believe it or not, Granny… that ain’t even the saddest part o’ Starlight’s story...

Applejack and the others take some time to recap everything that happened and/or they learned about Starlight’s Mother. Granny Smith going through just about the same mix of emotions they went through hearing everything. Big Mac and Sugar Belle with some shocked reactions themselves too.

Granny: Dang… what ah mare Sunset must o’ been… Ah do feel like ah heard the name Sunset Shimmer around 30 or so years ago, but she was likely still mainly in Canterlot. So wasn’t often mentioned too often in our humble little town. There’s no way ah could o’ known she’d be Starlight’s mother. Still, it’s ah good feeling Starlight got to meet her and Sunburst has his father back home too now!

Pear Butter: I think I’ve seen Sunset before up in the soul shield, though I never talked to her. It definitely makes me want to meet her now though!

Twilight: Well, you can… if you’re willing to go to a wedding between two of my friends in Saddle Arabia in just two days. We actually asked Sunset if she’d like to be summoned back down for it. And she agreed, you won’t know who the couple are. But it’d certainly be a good opportunity for you to either reunite with some more ponies or meet for the first time!

Bright Mac: That sounds like a good time!

Applejack: Say Twi, what if we got both mah mother and Sunset t’ meet that club o’ mothers we saw at the ball!

Twilight: Oh yeah, that would be kind of neat.

Pear Butter: What’s this about a club of mothers?

Twilight: You see Pear Butter, each of the mothers of the Elements of Harmony formed a club together. They also brought in Sunburst’s mother as well as Mrs. Cake AKA your friend Chiffon Swirl. I also kind of joined myself since Spike’s my adopted son!

Pear Butter: That sounds lovely! I’d love to meet all the other moms. I guess I’m the only one of the Element of Harmony’s mothers that have been missing from that club for... obvious reasons...

Granny: Ah can’t wait until the next annual Apple Family Reunion! Ought to be the best one yet when we can get Bright Mac and Pear Butter back!

Applejack: True t’ that! Heck, why stop there? There’s plenty of other deceased Apple family members we can see again. Like your own parents for example, Granny!

Granny: That’s true too! Haha! Though one o’ these days soon, ah myself am going t’ need t’ be summoned!

Apple Bloom: Awwww Granny, don’t just say that so casually…

Granny: Ah wouldn’t usually, buuuut this spirit summoning thing kinda makes death only an inconvenience fo’ us old folk now. Not any less sad, but it’s just naturally not as upsetting when ah know ah’ll still be able t’ nag at ya’ll even from beyond the grave! Ehehehehe! Of course that could also just somewhat be an opinion on this as somepony who’s lived long enough. I understand it’s probably still tragic for Bright Mac and his wife since they died way too early...

Bright Mac: Yeah… We had so much we wanted t’ do still when we passed, some o’ which we still can’t do as Spirits. But, we’d gladly trade in some o’ those just fo’ the chance t’ see our family every now and then. So fo’ us, this thing is still ultimately a plus.

Pear Butter: One downside to being a spirit is I won’t be able to use my guitar anymore. I can only somewhat touch the ground as well as family members and/or close friends.

Sweetie Belle: But you can still sing! Applejack’s always told me you had a beautiful singing voice

Applejack: Oh yeah! Ya’ll can sing fo’ us again sometime! And don’t worry about ya guitar, ah can play the instrumentals!

Pear Butter: Ok, then yeah. That can work certainly!

Applejack: Oh and ah didn’t meet her until sometime after ya passed. But ya’ll have t’ see ah friend o’ mine in Manehattan. She’s known as Coloratura, but ah call her Rara. She’s ah famous musician. Ya’ll would make fo’ an excellent duet, ah’d be willing t’ bet!

Pear Butter: It’d be great to meet all the friends you’ve met since I passed, AJ.

Scootaloo: Heh, you know what’s funny about spirit summoning? We could potentially have famous singers who have passed away brought back to make new records!

Apple Bloom: If their fans won’t mind the slight echo that spirits have in their voice

Sweetie Belle: Eh, if autotune spells can be relatively popular. I doubt a spirit’s echo would ruin it for most too bad. Heck, you know how I’m into metal? There’s plenty of songs in that genre that include an echo that gives you the best chills of the song!

The family and friends keep on talking for a little more while when suddenly a knock is heard from the other side of the house.

Applejack: Oh looks like we have ah visitor! Ah’ll go see who it is!

((Story continues after the break))

Applejack heads back inside the house and opens the door for the visitor. It just so happens to be Grand Pear.

Grand Pear: Hey there, AJ

Applejack: Oh mah stars! Grand Pear, so nice t’ see ya’ll!

Grand Pear: Nice to see you, too. I’ve been hearing quite a ruckus even from my house, I think my hearing’s weakening, but I almost swear there’s been quite some noise coming from the Apple farm today. Was kinda curious what exactly is happening, and if everypony’s ok.

Applejack: Oh we’re more then ok, Grand Pear. In fact, ya’ll should absolutely join us. Trust me, ya’ll don’t want t’ miss it.

Grand Pear: Do tell…

Applejack: Just follow me, ya’ll quickly see it soon enough.

As Grand Pear and Applejack head back out the other side, Apple Bloom is the first to greet them at the back door

Apple Bloom: Grand Pear! Ya’ll must come out here quick t’ see who’s here! Ya’ll gonna love it!

Grand Pear: Your sister said something similar, though I have no idea what you could possibly mean.

Grand Pear is now back outside as he looks around the group noticing all the Elements of Harmony and Apple Bloom’s friends.

Grand Pear: Don’t you see these ponies all the time? I don’t know why they’d be so great for me to see them, It’s not like you got Pear Bu-

Grand Pear finally notices two ponies with a white glow and somewhat transparent look. Grand Pear just stands there mouth agape but silent before he just becomes a stuttering mess.

Grand Pear:  P-p-p-p-pe-pe-pe-pea-Pear… b-b-b-b-bu-bu-bu-bu-butter?

Grand Pear wipes his eyes in case this was some sudden hallucination he was having. But even given a through wiping, Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s glowing spirits are still there. He walks just a bit closer, but quite slowly. Making sure it wasn’t a cruel mirage either. Pear Butter and Bright Mac themselves look towards Grand Pear. 

At first they look at eachother, though both don’t exactly have happy faces seeing him. Bright Mac giving him a rather mean stare, whilst Pear Butter angles her eyes similarly, but also makes an extra step at turning her back to her father. This distraughts Apple Bloom a bit who doesn’t understand why this isn’t an instant happy reunion.

Apple Bloom: Wh-wh-what’s goin’ on? Why aren’t our parents happy t’ see Grand Pear?

It’s Big Mac who answers his littlest sister

Big Mac: Grand Pear never apologized t’ either Ma or Pa before they passed. All o’ his apologies came t’ their graves, where it looks like the spirits don’t hear us. He was still in Vanhoover at the time.

Apple Bloom frowns

Apple Bloom: Oh no...

The whole group remains quiet as the tension between the spirits and Grand Pear who never managed to get a real contact for reconcilation for how Grand Pear treated them before their wedding.

Grand Pear: I… don’t know how you two are here… but… looks like all my apologies I said to your graves never reached you… did they.

Pear Butter’s ears perk up and she turns back around to look at her father, though she still looks at him with a displeased face. Although it disappoints Grand Pear that everything he’s ever said at Pear Butter’s grave was never heard. It at least assures him that this is actually them, and not some kind of dream.

Grand Pear: Well then… *sigh* I guess this is a good time to finally get to apologize to both of you for real… Pear Butter… Bright Mac… I am so so so so sorry for leaving you the way I did, before I went to Vanhoover… The feud I had with the apple family was the stupidest thing ever and I cringe whenever I’m reminded of those days…

I should have never let a petty competition between me and Granny Smith get so out of hoof that I’d refuse to let my daughter to see somepony she loved just because they happen to be in the apple family.... I’ve… met all your children. They’re all great ponies. Big Macintosh is such a gentle giant, Applejack knows how to keep things honest and is one heck of a hard worker, and lil’ Apple Bloom is just a bundle of joy and youthful optimism that I can’t help but cherish. 

Apple Bloom in particular reminds me a lot of what you were like when you were a filly, Pear Butter…

Grand Pear starts tearing up heavily. Voice occasionally cracking into a weepy tone.

Grand Pear: You were my little girl, I loved you very much. I’ll never forgive myself for prioritizing the pear business over my daughter’s happiness. I never should’ve left! *sniff*

The day I learned of your passing just a little over a decade ago… it was the most heartbreaking day of my life. You died way too soon… and even at the time, I was considering returning to apologize to you… 

But… I was just too late… and that’s what made that day worse… just when I was close to taking a chance at reconnecting with you and finally show I have accepted your love for Bright Mac… and reconciling with the apple family as a whole… fate was cruel… and I had thought I’d never get… *sniff* the opportunity to say sorry for all I’ve done while you were dating Bright Mac…

It hurt me so much it delayed me further from returning to Ponyville, I didn’t even attend your funeral in Ponyville because I thought that was only going to get me cursed out by the entire Apple Family if I attended… but I held my own sigil back in Vanhoover for you… and then I think I cried that whole night… my pillow and the top of my bed was soaked with my tears the next morning… *sniff*

Both Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s expressions have changed. They’re still staring him down, but instead of angry ones, their eyes are tilted in the opposite directions with sad looks on their faces as Grand Pear continues his apology.

Grand Pear: I frankly have no idea how you’re here right now, but I can tell that you are actually here… but the how doesn’t matter as long as I get this chance to apologize to you. You don’t have to accept my apology, I’m sure me being far away when you died probably only made yourself more bitter towards me wherever you spirits go… and I understand that I didn’t treat your love for Bright Mac with the respect that it deserved.

I was a bad father and terrible pony all those years ago, I’ll admit that. But I’m a repentant, changed old pony now… I’ll understand if you still want nothing to do with me after what I did. But I still at least want you to know… that I love you Pear Butter… and as for Bright Mac… I would be more then happy to accept you as a son-in-law now. Pear Butter loved you, and that’s what should of mattered more then anything else… I will forever be sorry… we’re all ponies… we’re all farmers… Pears and Apples are both fruit, and quite frankly both delicious… and your love was valid… but my stupid younger self chose to ignore all of those for some foolish sense of pride…

That’s most of all I’ve wanted to say… I can start heading back home... if I’m still not quite welcome…

Everyone there just stands quiet for a long while as the weight of Grand Pear’s apology falls on the emotions. Pear Butter lowering her head, turning away from her father, for a little bit. Grand Pear frowning, seeing that as a sign that she’s still not ready to accept apologies yet. Just lowers his head as he starts walking back to the Pear farm. He gets about to the other side of the house before… Pear Butter starts calling for him.

Pear Butter: Father… wait…

Grand Pear: Huh?

Pear Butter slowly walks up to her old father and starts to speak to him for the first time since he had rudely made her choose between remaining a Pear, or being an Apple family member at her privately held marriage.

Pear Butter: You were still a stubborn father when we last talked… and my resentment only got deeper when you refused to even so much as reply to our letters when I was raising a family with Bright Mac. The years of raising Big Mac and Applejack when they were little were some of the best years of my life, but if there was one thing that disappointed me was the lack of support I had from you... It’s going to take more then one conversation to fully forgive you for the years of giving me and my husband the cold shoulder…

But… I can still get a sense of the sincerity in your apology. And while I’m not sure I’m quite ready to say that I accept your apology…

Pear Butter sits down and outstretches her hooves.

Pear Butter: Come here, father. I’d be at least willing to hug you for the first time in a while.

Grand Pear gasps, though at first he questions if he even can

Grand Pear: But… aren’t you a…

Pear Butter: Do you want a hug from me or not?!

Grand Pear stands silent for a short moment, nothing would make him happier than getting to hug his daughter again. And if she’s offering, then somehow it must mean it’s possible despite her being a ghost of some sort. He approaches closer, and then Pear Butter wraps her forehooves behind her father’s back. Grand Pear wrapping his own hooves around his daughter as well. He’s surprised at just how warm Pear Butter felt, if he was blind he would of thought Pear Butter had actually never been dead at all.

Grand Pear: This… this is amazing… I thought I’d only just go through you… Don’t suppose I should also give your husband a hug?

Pear Butter: Sorry Father, you likely won’t be able to. We can only touch those who are alive if they’re blood related, or had been friends with us spirits while we were alive.

Grand Pear: Oh… ok then… I guess I have a lot of newfound lore to catch up on then, but that’s good to know… though still a darn shame.

After they release each other from the embrace. They rejoin the group, as Twilight and Applejack recap everything they’ve learned to Grand Pear about spirit summoning, where Pear Butter and Bright Mac went when they died, and what exactly they do up there.

Grand Pear: So… Dragons if they have some special sort of gemstone they can cry out can summon down spirits of the deceased? I guess I have to thank this little feller for allowing me to see my daughter again. I don’t think I’ve actually met you for very long, what’s your name?

Spike: My name is Spike, I’m Princess Twilight’s adopted dragon son.

Grand Pear: Princess Twilight’s son, ay? Well ain’t that adorable. Thank you so much for summoning Pear Butter and Bright Mac down so I could say my apologies. This… isn’t a one time thing, is it?

Spike: No, as long as somepony related to and/or were friends with either Bright Mac and/or Pear Butter goes to see me... I can summon them back down anywhere at any time after they’ve returned to the soul shield.

Grand Pear eyes shine as he hears that

Grand Pear: Why… that’s the best thing ever… so many ponies could see dead friends and family they miss so much again…. It’s incredible. And even when I eventually pass, the Apple siblings can bring me back down on occasion.

But on another note, so my daughter has been circling the planet as one of among trillions of protectors huh. I guess that’s a pretty comforting thought. Most who have ever died in all of history has been keeping us safe the whole time from all the unknowns of space. Makes death all the more less scary too, if we’re greeted by many of our closest relatives and friends before ultimately joining in the noble mission to protect the planet. I just hope I can in time get my apology fully accepted before I’m up there with Pear Butter.

Granny Smith: Until then, you can join in on some bingo with me and the other ol’ gals!

Grand Pear: Ahehheh, perhaps I should.

Apple Bloom approaches her mother

Apple Bloom: So uh.. how ‘bout singing ah song now?

Pear Butter: Oh! Yeah, certainly. I think AJ just needs to get out the guitar and then I can sing.

Applejack: Ah’ll be right back with that, Ma!

Applejack heads back inside the house and brings out her mother’s guitar from it’s case. Heading back outside to sit next to her mother as she gets ready to sing.

Grand Pear: Now this will be good, what song are you going to sing?

Pear Butter: Well… it’s a song that you wouldn’t have approved of in the old days. But I guess thankfully you’ll appreciate it now. It’s a little… love song I had for Bright Mac while we were still dating. It’s called “You’re In My Head Like A Catchy Song”

Grand Pear just smiles

Grand Pear: Let’s hear it.

Meanwhile, Sugar Belle and Big Mac whisper to eachother a little before Pear Butter starts singing. Applejack strums the opening notes

((You’re In My Head LIke A Catchy Song))

Pear Butter: We’re far apart in every way

But you’re the best part, of my day

And sure as I, breathe the air

I know we are the perfect pair!

(Bright Mac starts singing along with his wife)

Pear Butter & Bright Mac: On a prickly path, that goooees on for miiiiiiiillleeeeeeeees

But it’s worth it juuuuussst to see you smiiiiiiiiiiilllleeeeeeee

And I cannot, be pulled apart

From the hold you have, on my heart

And even if, the world tells us it’s wrong

You’re in my head like a catchy song!

(Sugar Belle and Big Macintosh join in to sing for the rest of the song)

Pear Butter, Bright Mac, Sugar Belle, Big Mac: The seasons change, and leaves may fall

But I’lll be with you, through them all

And rain or shine, you’ll always be miiiiiiiinnnneeeeeee

On a prickly path, that goooees on for miiiiiiiillleeeeeeeees

You’re the only one, who makes it all worth whillllllleeeeeeeeeee

And you should not, blame me too

If I can’t help, fallin’ in love with you…

Once the song ends. Both Pear Butter & Bright Mac, as well as Sugar Belle & Big Mac give a good long kiss. The rest of the group at the farm clap, cheer, and/or wipe joyful tears at the beautiful sight of two generations of Apple family couples singing together.

Sweetie: You were right Apple Bloom… your mother has a beautiful singing voice!

Pear Butter: I see that my oldest recalls my lyrics? I guess I did share it to you and AJ back in the day.

Big Mac: Eyyyyyuuuppppp

Sugar Belle: It’s a beautiful song. Big Mac shared the song when we were dating and we practiced singing it ourselves. We thought it’d be nice to sing along.

Pear Butter: I appreciate that, quite a bit.

Grand Pear: Absolutely heartwarming song, Pear Butter. I admit I probably would of tried to rip apart the lyric sheet had I found it was for Bright Mac long ago. But that’s not me anymore. It’s wonderful to get to hear you sing again.

Pear Butter: Thank you, Father.

Twilight: Wonderful singing from both couples! Though if I may, I thought it’d be important to mention something we took an educated guess about with Sunset. We don’t have to send you back ourselves, when Pear Butter and/or Bright Mac fall asleep thy will return to a comet-like form themselves and go back to the soul shield. So they’re free to stay the rest of the day, and then maybe we’ll summon them back down in time for the wedding in two days.

For now, we can hang out some more time here at the farm. But once it gets late at night, we’ll have to get back to sleep whether we’re sleeping back at home or going back to our rooms in Saddle Arabia. Once again, I’ll have the castle protected just like last night.

Bright Mac: Yeah, I think we’ll stay for the night and go back up ourselves once everypony’s asleep.

Pear Butter nods her agreement. As for much of the rest of the day, Pear Butter & Bright Mac spend quality time with family & friends until nighttime. Where most of the Elements and CMC use the portal gum to head back to their rooms in the Saddle Arabian palace. While Twilight and Spike once again put up their protective measures from last night over at the castle.

Meanwhile, in Sire’s Hollow it is also nighttime. Sunburst, Stellar Flare, and for the first time in a long while Sunspot are all in their beds in their own home. Starlight is sleeping in her old room, and Sunset’s spirit is laying (Though perhaps, more like just floating on the bed) next to Firelight. He tries to get some blankets over Sunset but they only go through. Though the try at it certainly makes Sunset giggle.

Firelight: Oops… I guess with the fact I’ve been able to hug and kiss you again briefly made me forget that you weren’t... alive… heh…

Sunset: *giggle* Yeah, you get the blankets all to yourself now. Don’t worry about me, we spirits feel like we’re at normal room temperature at all times. We’ll never be too hot, or too cold.

Firelight: Are you sure? Because with your fiery colors, you’ve always been plenty hot~

Sunset: Hehe, I’m glad you still haven’t outgrown your cheesy flirtations. Always found it rather charming. I guess maybe your much cooler colors may also have brought us to a comfortable level~

The reunited couple hug each other in bed before also kissing.

Firelight: Look.. I know you’ll be gone by the morning, but if you can… hold on tight to me, it’d be nice… to have some more body… or rather spirit warmth as I go to sleep.

Sunset: No problem, Fi-Fi. One perk of being a spirit is I can’t exactly get tired. As long as I don’t close my eyes for too long and/or start drifting off and/or focus.on heading back up. I’ll be here with you. I’ll wait till’ you’re sound asleep and I’ll have my hooves around you the whole time before I leave. I still remember your distinctive snoring, so I’ll know when you’re deep asleep.

Firelight just smiles, and kisses Sunset again.

Firelight: It’s good to have you back, even if repeat visits aren’t going to be quite easy without an easy ride to Ponyville or Canterlot within a year.

Sunset: I’m glad I’ll be able to come back occasionally too, best day of my li- or I guess I should say… afterlife… to see you again, and see the kind of pony my daughter has become. I’m glad I’ll still be able to watch her future unfold from time-to-time.

Firelight: I guess I’ll see you at the wedding in Saddle Arabia next, huh?

Sunset: Yep, should be fun.

Firelight: Goodnight, Shimmy

Sunset: Good night, my darling Fi-Fi.

Sunset and Firelight proceed to hold onto each other for the night. Hours later when Firelight has been snoring for a good while. Sunset closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, before focusing on heading back up. Her comet form leaving the house, back up to the soul shield. Until the next time she gets summoned again.

UP NEXT: Chapter 31: The Sands Of Time & Family

[thinking-in-symbols]

Quinquennial Life Assessment

So, it’s been a few years.  When I was 19 I posted a sort of “roadmap” for the evolution of my life on this blog.  Today I thought I’d revisit that.  I want to take a look back and see what progress I’ve made, and then in a separate post I want to turn to the future, think about how my vision for it has changed, and consider how I can reincorporate these goals into that vision.

This is the list of things I wanted to get done in varying time frames.  I’ve crossed off the things I’ve done to get a sense of my progress:

1 year:

At 19, my hopes were to accomplish the following things by age 20:

- Joined, and consistently participated in, at least 2 campus organizations that suit my interests, at least 1 of which should be competitive in nature - well, I joined the ISO and KVRX, my college radio station!  Neither of those were competitive, but in retrospect I don’t really care about that :-)

- Made concrete plans to study abroad - Nope, unfortunately I never did this.  I’m not quite sure I regret that, all things considered - I traded that experience for other things.  I did make plans to spend a few months abroad of my own accord, and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling global pandemic.  But as it stands I haven’t done this.

- Learned C++ and python to proficiency - Hm.  “Proficient” is a relative term.  But I think I have a tendency to downplay my skills, so in the interest of counteracting that I’m going to count myself as “proficient” in these languages.  I think that’s fair.

- Gone on at least a several day road trip with at least 1 friend - I’ve gone on several trips with @meeshbug​, my very lovely girlfriend and best friend in the world :-)

- Decided on a concentration beyond the extremely vague umbrella of “computer science” - Unfortunately as far as my education is concerned I never really did this.  If anything my interests have *broadened* rather than becoming more focused.  More on this later...

- Made meaningful, ongoing contributions to an open-source project - You know what?  I’ve published the source of everything I’ve ever made, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can make stuff that’s not trivial.  So I’m giving myself credit for this one.

- Learned to cook enough meals to eat in most days and not get sick of my own food - I wish.  I’ve learned to cook a fair amount of stuff but I still get way too depressed and lethargic to apply that consistently.  Whether I consider myself to have achieved this honestly depends on the month.

- Learned to keep my living area clean - I’m much better at this than I was at 19, but at 19 I could barely clear a path to walk across my room.  So there’s more work to do.  More on these last two later.

- Gotten a pet - Meesh and I have a dog named Courage (after the dog of cowardly fame) and a cat named Jax!

2 years:

- Independently written a piece of software to completion and deployed it publicly - I’ve always pretty bad at actually seeing projects through to completion, but I do have a few full, independent projects under my belt at this point.  I’ve built a simple game engine, a pathtracer, plugins for games I like, and some other stuff.

- purchased and begun regularly using some basic amateur radio equipment - Ah man.  I got my license but I still haven’t gotten any equipment.  I guess I have to get on that...

- purchased and begun experimenting with some basic music recording equipment - This one I’ve done, but I haven’t done as much experimenting as I’d like.

- hosted a party - I did this for my 21st birthday and it’s one of my favorite memories!  Honestly this was probably the last time I had all my really close friends in one place.  I’m actually getting kind of emotional about that.

- done some kind of hallucinogen - I have now done this.  I definitely did get something out of it, albeit not what I expected.  This is something I actually only did pretty recently and it’s still having a pretty profound effect.  Maybe I’ll write a separate post about this.

- Gone camping with friends - Despite my best efforts, this hasn’t happened yet.  Pretty fucked up.

3 years:

- learned to play another instrument besides the piano (guitar?) - I don’t feel comfortable crossing this one off quite yet, but I went ahead and bought myself some guitar equipment and have been messing around with it lately :-) I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and pay for lessons if I’m serious about this, which I am.

- Written and recorded a song - Damn, I can’t believe it’s been 5 years and I haven’t even done this.

- Met a group of people I can play music with - nope

- Owned a leather jacket.  I can’t believe I’ve still never even owned a leather jacket - I’ve done this and wore it frankly too much.  Kinda cringe.

- Worked as a professional software developer - Yep!  Worked as a software developer for a retail company for a couple years.  I’m actually not working as a software developer right now, though; I’m working in a sort of adjacent position.  More on this later.

- Participated in research related to my field - That’s pretty ambitious.  Not sure I’ll ever do this, unfortunately.  But we’ll see.

- Been to a film festival - Oh shit, I totally forgot about having written this.  That’s a cool idea.  I should do this, it’s not like it’s hard (well, at least in principle.  I guess covid kind of changes the situation).

- Gotten a dog - Courage is one of those, I think, although he might also be part rat.

- collected 50 records - Lol, my dumb ass really thought I was going to buy $1,000 worth of records on college money.  No, I haven’t done this, but I’m on my way there.

- Purchased a desktop computer - Well, my dad gave me his old desktop.  That’s not really a purchase but I think it counts.

5 years:

- Begun accepting freelance development gigs - haven’t gotten here yet and I’m not totally sure this is a direction I want to go in my career.  Freelancing has its own stressors as I’ve come to learn from others.  No career path is sunshine and roses and I’m trying to internalize this fact.

- Participated in a student film - Nope.  I don’t even know why I wrote this down to be honest.

- Gotten laid by solving a 5x5 Rubik’s Cube in front of a girl because surely that’s gonna have to work on someone eventually, otherwise I wasted a lot of time - These are getting weird.  Surely I didn’t really expect this to happen, right?  Well, either way I now have a long-term girlfriend, so I don’t - wait, Meesh has seen me solve a Rubik’s cube and she saw it before we started dating.  So actually I’m going to give myself credit for it.  I’m the one who makes the rules here.

- Fleshed out my political opinions - Yes, I now know everything about politics and can answer 100% of questions on political issues.  Just kidding.  But I know where I stand.

- Participated in a protest or some other kind of political event - Done!  Went to a few protests as part of the ISO, participated in lots of their events, and attended some protests with friends as well.

- Studied abroad - Nope :-/

- Learned a language other than Spanish - I took a semester of French!  But I don’t quite want to give myself credit for this one because I really would like to learn a different language to something resembling fluency.

- Run a marathon - Lmao.  I am in much worse shape now than I was when I wrote this post, and even at that time I could probably do like 7 miles if I really pushed myself.  How sad.

- Gone hiking outside of texas - This is weird because I’d literally already done this when I wrote this post.  But I’ve done it more since then, so hey!

- Been out of the country with a friend - This I had also already done.  I guess the point is to have done it without “adult supervision” or whatever.  I haven’t done this since writing this list so I guess I have to leave it uncrossed.

10 years:

- Lived with a girl for an extended period of time - Meesh 🥰

- Spent at least 6 months living on the road in an RV, preferably with a dog and a girl - God, I am so close to being able to do this.  I don’t want it to be an RV anymore - those things are expensive.  But a van?  Still pricey, but doable, especially if I’m willing to sacrifice some comfort.  This has actually been front-of-mind for a while.  I’ll let you know when I get the balls to pull the trigger.

- Started making Real Money - Well, yep, I have gotten to that point.  I do have other thoughts on this, though.  Money is weird, man.

- Lived in a long-term living space outside of Texas (i.e. not including RV time) - How long is long-term?  Three months?  If so, I’ve done this by living in Boston with Meesh for a few months after she went there for law school.  However, I anticipate staying there much longer in the near future, so I’ll wait on this crossing this one off.

- Written a book about something, idk - Not yet.  I’m halfway to the deadline on this one and I have some ideas, but ideas aren’t worth all that much, especially to me, who rarely sees them through.  We’ll see where this goes.  It’s not exactly a priority and historically I struggle to get even my priorities done.  It might make more sense to replace this with recording a concept or narrative album, for which I also have ideas that I happen to take more seriously.

- Learned to solve a 6x6 Rubik’s Cube - nope

- Gotten laid by solving a 6x6 Rubik’s Cube - nope

- Lived in an apartment where I pay all the rent - Yes!  :-))) We love independence

- Earned an advanced degree (this one’s iffy) - This hasn’t happened, and whether it will ever happen is something I’ve been thinking a lot about.  I sort of decided half-way through college that I would be totally burned out on school by the time I graduated.  But in retrospect it takes way less time to burn out on work than it does to burn out on school, and grad degrees are a different kind of thing.  So it’s worth revisiting.’

- Given a best man speech (Sam, this means you have to get married within the next 10 years.  Good luck out there.) - Holy shit, Sam, you maniac, you actually did it!  Sam got married back in 2019 and I gave his best man speech! It’s another one of my favorite memories :-) 

- Gone on a cruise with someone I’m dating - Hmm, not yet.  I’ve gone on cool trips, but none on a boat.  Maybe that’s something to aim for after the pandemic passes :-)

Retrospective:

1yr: Completed: 5/9

More than half isn’t bad!  I’m not gonna worry too much about whether I got these things done within their assigned “time-frame”.  I’m a procrastinator in my heart and I don’t see any reason to put that kind of pressure on myself.  The point is, they got done.  That’s enough for me.

The things I did best in in this category were academic things, and things to do with relationships.  I’m proud of the academic achievements, I really feel like doing them has increased my belief in myself and my sense that I’m good at the thing I’ve spent the last four years studying.  And of course, I am so happy to be in a loving, fulfilling relationship that brings so many good things into my life.  I almost feel like the things I accomplished sort of fell into my lap - of course I’m gonna do programming stuff as a programming student, and getting pets / going on road trips are things I did as a result of my relationship with Meesh.  I don’t say that to downplay the accomplishments, but I do think it’s worth noting.

The things I haven’t done are more to do with personal development, which is disappointing.  I would like to be able to say, 5 years down the road, that I’ve done the personal development I expected to do in just a single year, but maybe that’s a lot to expect.  These are problems I’ve dealt with my whole life.  I think what this means is that I can’t expect everything to fall into my lap.  Those things are going to take real concerted effort to change.  I’m not quite sure how to go about that, though.

2yrs: Completed: 4/6

Two-thirds!  Even better!

Lots of these are one-time accomplishments, not so much long-term commitments to personal development.  The good news is, I did them, and I think those resulted in some development in their own right :-)

Again, though, the things I didn’t do so well are the things that require long-term, concerted effort.  For instance, while I crossed off the one about experimenting with music, it’s really only the initial investment that I’ve really done at this point.  It remains to be seen whether I’ll be able to follow through on the commitment to actually experiment and learn.

3yrs: Completed: 4/10

This category also follows the same pattern I’ve noticed with the last two.  The other thing I’m noticing is that so, so much of my effort over the past few years has been going towards developing a very particular skill: programming / computer science.  Music and art are so important to me, but I’ve done very little real development in those areas.  I mean, I’ve done some.  But not as much as I would have hoped for half a decade.

5yrs: Completed: 4/10

This is getting a little more fun because less of my goals have to do explicitly with my degree.  I’m starting to think beyond college, which is good, because the stage of life I’m in right now requires me to start thinking about the kind of life I want to build now that I’m done with school.  Also, I’m at the deadline for this one right now!  So this is a particularly interesting category because it really shows where I thought I’d be by this time.

The goals I accomplished in this timeframe are, again, mostly things I’ve done through my relationship, but politics also feature pretty prominently on this part of the list.  I spent a lot of time reading and researching political issues during college and really did look for ways to participate.  I honestly made politics a pretty big part of my identity over the last 5 years, and I think it will stay that way forever, but I’ve gotten to the point where I think I need to devote less of my mental energy to knowing more.  I know what I need to know.  It’s time to think about other things.

10yrs: Completed: 4/11 (and counting!)

There’s some career stuff in this section that I’ve been able to do, which is good news.  I’ve always been scared about entering the working world.  All things told, it’s gone more smoothly than it could have.  But I also have lots of lingering doubts about what I want to do in the long term.  So one of the most pressing goals I should aim for is to resolve those doubts.

Ultimately, I have a lot of time left, and I’m not even done with this time frame, so I’m not gonna spend much time dissecting the things I haven’t done.  What I’ll do instead is say that while I didn’t do everything on this list, I feel proud of the things I have accomplished.  I said when I first wrote this list that it’s sometimes hard for me to feel that my life is moving in any particular direction, and I’m still feeling like that five years later, to be honest.  But looking back on these things has helped me see that I actually am making progress in my life.  Not in all the ways I want to, but that’s OK.  There’s still time.

In the next couple days I want to come back to this and reorganize this list into an updated set of goals, for the same time frames.  Maybe that will help me think through exactly what it is I want out of the next five-ten years, with the benefit of having analyzed the things that I did and didn’t do well over the previous five.

[thewidowsghost]

Chapter 4 - (Y/n), Julie, and the Phantoms

3rd Person POV

Back inside, the Carlos, Julie, and Ray are setting the table and (Y/n) brings out a large bowl of spaghetti in one hand and garlic bread in the other. (Y/n) sets them down on the table before running to get the fresh salad from the kitchen as well.

There were always five places set at the Molina's table, the three plus (Y/n) and a place for Julie's mom.

"Let's do this," Ray says.

"Let's do it," Carlos agrees.

The four connect hands, and (Y/n) and Carlos leave a gap between them.

"Your turn, Carlos," Ray tells his son.

Thank you for our leftovers and the power of the mighty microwave, and (Y/n), who can make us a salad," Carlos says. "Amen."

"Amen," (Y/n) and Julie say in unison.

Ray chuckles and grabs the tongs, serving the spaghetti on four plates. "So, Carlos tells me he found you two in the studio."

"She was out there talking to herself," Carlos says.

"She was talking to me," (Y/n) tells Ray.

"Hello, hello!" comes a faint voice.

"Oh, busted!" Carlos says and he and (Y/n) clear the final spot at the table, (Y/n) sliding her chair over and sliding her place-mat over.

"Huh?" comes the woman's voice. "Spaghetti. Again?"

"Yeah," Ray says.

"I made garlic bread and salad though," (Y/n) says with a grin.

"That's too bad," the woman says. "I brought you my pasteles and arroz con pollo."

"Yum," Ray says.

"Mm!" Julie hums. "Thanks, tia. It smells great.

"You can have it tomorrow," Julie's aunt tells them. "I can't let you have leftovers every night."

"Hey, I make dinner sometimes," (Y/n) argues lightly, an amused light glinting in her eyes.

Julie's aunt moves over and pats the spot where (Y/n) had been sitting a minute or so. "Oh . . . I see things are going better?"

Ray nods, setting down his fork and picking up his napkin, wiping his mouth. "Actually, Julie and (Y/n) have been cleaning out Mom's studio. Hopefully, we can get the house on the market and some offers soon." Julie's aunt begins rubbing her back as some spaghetti hangs out of her mouth.

"Well, I like the sound of that," Julie's aunt says. "Moving from here is only gonna help you move on. (Y/n)," (Y/n) looks up at Julie's aunt. "What are you going to do when they move?"

"I dunno," (Y/n) answers, her eyes drifting behind Ray to the front door. "Maybe just find someone else's house to live at," she continues, but her eyes widen as she sees three ghosts step through the front door, "or just, you know, stay at the orphanage I'm currently supposed to be at."

(Y/n) catches the three ghosts listening to her last words and Reggie and Alex exchange looks.

"Julie, I like what you've done with the place," Luke says, coming over to stand at the table.

"You're not supposed to be here," Julie hisses.

"I'm only here to help, mija," Julie's aunt answers.

"Oh, I think that's our cue to leave," Alex tells his friends.

"She means, you should be at Pilates," (Y/n) says, exchanging a look with Julie.

"Thanks for bringing us food," Julie chimes in.

"Oh," Julie's aunt chuckles. "It's nothing. And now that you're no longer in the music program, you can concentrate on classes that matter."

"Hey," (Y/n) exclaims. "Music does matter."

"You did get the email from the school, right?" Julie's aunt asks, ignoring (Y/n)'s comment.

"Yeah," Ray lies. "We're still discussing it."

"Bueno," Julie's aunt says. "I'm off to Pilates." She presses a kiss to the back of Julie's head.

Julie's aunt leaves, the rest of the table eating in silence until Carlos speaks, "So, Julie, wanna hear how I slid into home and was almost safe?"

"You're a good brother," Ray says. "That's not gonna work."

"I'd love to hear the story," (Y/n) says, standing up and placing a hand on Carlos's shoulder. "Come on."

The two leave the table and Ray begins to speak to his daughter.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks. "You made me lie to your aunt."

"Sorry," Julie's voice cracks. "I was gonna tell you after dinner."

"Yeah," Ray hums in disbelief.

"I was," Julie retorts.

"Honey, I know those classes can be difficult, but you still like music, don't you?"

"I don't know," Julie answers sadly. "Maybe."

"Look, we talked about this, you know?" Ray says. "And how painful memories can be, but," he inhales deeply. "You know, every time I see you and Carlos, I see Mom. It's like she's right here with us. But you know what? I love that. I do. And maybe if you'd give yourself a chance, you'll get there."

Julie sighs, and looks sadly down at her plate, before she hears distant rock music playing.

Carlos and (Y/n) run out of the room. "What was that?" Carlos asks.

"We must've left the stereo on in the garage," Julie says.

"We'll go get it," (Y/n) says, running towards the front door, Julie right behind her.

Julie and (Y/n) pull the doors to the garage open and walk inside, seeing the three ghosts playing music.

"Guys! Guys, stop!" Julie yells, but the ghosts are playing to loud.

(Y/n) puts her fingers to her lips and lets out a loud whistle, and Julie is the one to clap her hands over her ears this time. The music faces and Julie removes her hands from her ears.

"The whole neighborhood could hear you," (Y/n) tells the ghosts.

"I thought I told you to leave?" Julie asks.

"Wait. People can hear us play?" Luke asks and Alex stands up from behind his drum-set. The three looked dumbfounded.

"Yes! And so did my dad and my brother!" Julie hisses and Reggie pulls his guitar off his back.

"W-wait," Alex says. "So, only you two can see us, but others can hear us play? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?"

"Who cares, man?" Luke says. "People can hear us play!"

"We might be dead, but our music isn't?" Reggie says.

(Y/n) looks over as the doors open and Julie's dad walks in.

"Dad!" Julie says turning to face her dad.

"Hey," Reggie says.

"Just making sure you two are okay," Ray says,

"Yeah, we're good," Julie answers.

"I just had to turn off the CD player," (Y/n) lies.

"What? Is this the junk that was in the loft?" Ray asks.

"Junk?" Luke asks.

"You know me," (Y/n) says. "I'm a merchant of all trades."

Ray taps his fingers on the drum as Alex looks on in disbelief. "Some of this stuff's in pretty good shape. Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks."

"Stop touching my drums!" Alex yells. "Tell him to stop touching my drums!"

(Y/n) and Julie shrug.

"I liked that song you had on," Ray says, stepping away from the drums.

"Sweet!" Luke exclaims. "We're Sunset Curve."

"Tell your friends," Reggie pipes up.

"It's just an old CD I found," (Y/n) says hastily.

"Well, still, it's nice to see that you two are listening to music again," Ray tells the two girls. "Out here you can play whatever you want, whenever you want."

"Even me?" (Y/n) asks.

"Of course, you're always welcome," Ray tells the tall, (H/c) haired girl.

"Stay out of this," Julie hisses to the ghosts.

"I-I'm sorry, honey. I didn't . . ." Ray's smile falls off his face.

"Oh no, no,no. Not you. I mean . . . Uh . . . Er . . ." Julie stutters. "You know, give us a minute." She grabs her dad's hand and goes leads him outside.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. We'll figure out this music program thing."

"Thanks, Dad," Julie smiles.

Reggie waves goodbye.

Julie closes the door behind her dad.

"He likes our song," Luke says.

"He doesn't count," Alex says, fiddling with his drumsticks. "He's a dad."

"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts?" Julie asks. "Hang out at an old mansion. I hear Pasadena's nice."

(Y/n) chokes back a laugh.

"Ugh!" Julie stomps out.

"I think she's warming up to us," Alex says with a smile.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Pasadena," Reggie says.

"Hm," Alex hums.

Luke pops out of the studio, leaving (Y/n), Reggie, and Alex in the room.

(Y/n) moves over to the wall, looking at the two bass guitars Julie's mom, Rose, had given her a few years back.

"You play?" comes a voice behind her and (Y/n) turns to find Reggie standing at her shoulder.

"Used to," was (Y/n)'s reply. "Played for the first time in a year this morning."

"Why'd you stop?" Reggie asks. "If you don't mind sharing, that is."

"I-It's okay," (Y/n) says. "It's been a rough couple of years," (Y/n) says finally. "My parents died in a car crash when I was ten, I was here at Julie's house. I went to a orphanage, but I'm here most of the time. Then Julie's mom died last year, and it was hard. She offered somewhere to go after school, taught me how to play."

"I'm sorry," Reggie says.

"It's okay," (Y/n) tells him after a moment. "It's been a while," she says simply. "I'm gonna go."

(Y/n) moves back towards the piano and pulls the sheet back over the piano and putting her drumsticks in her hoodie pockets, the heads sticking out.

(Y/n) gives a little wave as she leaves the studio.

Stepping out and closing the doors, she turns to find the three ghosts talking to Julie.

"You guys haven't seen her around, have you?" Julie asks as (Y/n) walks up the steps to stand behind her. "From wherever you're from."

"Um," Reggie shakes his head.

"No. No. I mean, you two are kind of the first people we've seen," Alex says.

"Yeah, but she's not dead, so that doesn't really answer her question," Reggie says.

"Yeah, I think she knows what we mean," Alex says, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Julie nods and (Y/n) places a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Thanks," Julie says, smiling softly. "Sorry I got mad. You guys are kinda good."

"Kinda?" Luke asks in disbelief. "Y-y-you know that's like twenty-five years of rust just getting dusted off."

"Yeah. Do you play the piano too?" Reggie asks.

"No," Julie answers. "No, I don't play. That was my mom's stuff in there."

"No way," Luke says. "She's an amazing songwriter."

Julie nods.

"She was," (Y/n) agrees.

"Wait," Julie looks up at Luke. "How would you know?"

"There's a song on the piano. If it's hers . . ." Luke trails off. "Your mom was really talented."

Julie nods, smiling.

(Y/n) and Julie turn to leave but after a few steps, Julie stops. "I guess. If you need a place to stay, you can stay in there."

"There's a bathroom in the back, and a couch that folds out into a bed if you're into that kinda stuff," (Y/n) adds.

"Dibs on the shower!" Reggie says, raising his hand. "I just really like showers and sometimes teh occasional bath."

(Y/n) lets out a breath of laughter at the guitarist's comment.

"This . . ." Julie shakes her head. "This is just too weird."

The two girls turn and walk back inside Julie's house.

"What would you say if I told you there are three ghosts living in my mom's studio?" Julie reads aloud as she texts Flynn, (Y/n) settling down on the bed beside her friend. "You'd say I'm crazy."

Word Count: 1857 words. I couldn't find a good stopping place, so this one's quite a bit longer.

Um, I'll probably have the end of episode one done by the next chapter.

I'll see you guys soon!

Love,

         Kaitlynn 😍❤️

[thewindorsomefuriousvexation]

World Building the Wives from MMFR background for my own sanity

I have a lot of ideas about who the wives were before Immortan Joe got them. A lot of stuff is going to be pulled from the game more so than the comics because it really does speak of a world outside of their car chase through the desert,

The Splendid Angharad (also known as "Splendid" or simply "Angharad")

I honestly believe Splendid is the daughter of The Gyro Captain and ‘The Captain's Girl’, she was never given an official name it seems. Due to the old Max’s actions, her mother and father (they could easily have been her grandparents as well) were able to escape and create the Great Northern Tribe in ‘Paradise’. I really do think the people made it there and lived happily for a handful of years. Of course with something like that sitting out in the open and the tribe didn’t really have any warriors left, a bigger stronger group came along and pillaged/captured it. Angharad wasn’t captured by the War Boys at first, but by a lower ranking group of raiders whom she traveled with for a short time, eventually being traded as shown in one of the comics. No one grows up in the Wasteland not knowing that ‘everything out here hurts’ unless they were extremely privileged. Seeing as The Captian’s Girl wasn’t really all that involved with the fighting, we can assume she got her reluctance to kill from her, while also having her father’s attitude towards anti-establishment. But heres the kicker, i think her father was kidnapped (its not shown in the comic) with her and her Mother was either left for dead out in the wastes or killed in the first raid. He was probably used as a bargaining chip to get her to comply, thrown onto the wheel and worked himself to death and thus his head is used as an ornament on Nux’s car. She doesn’t speak of ‘Paradise’ because she knows it is no longer there unlike Furiosa who still believed ‘the green place’ existed.

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

Toast the Knowing

“According to Fury Road writer Nico Lathouris, Toast has come from the Wasteland. She was most likely passing through War Boy's territory and was captured by them. According to him, she most likely has some experience from the Wasteland, has been taught to defend herself, be able to drive a car and operate weapons.”

If i had to give a guess, i would say Toast was from one of the strongholds in the Mad Max video game. My best bet would be on either Jeet or Pink Eye’s strongholds. If she was with Jeet i would be more likely to believe she grew up with a small family, perhaps a father and older brother, or just a father. Under Jeet’s leadership and her Father’s guidance she would have defiantly learned all the skills she would need to live in the Wasteland. Jeet was a guy where he would say ‘everyone’s got a job’ and put her to work early on as a child. Perhaps she was on a supply run with another Wastelander or her Father when the War Boy’s found them and ran them down. Her Father/other person would have been killed and herself captured. Maybe one day, after she helps the Citadel, she would go back to try and make an alliance with Jeet or whomever else was running the place now.

If she was with Pink Eye, than i would say she probably knows some of those War Pups. Pink Eye was known for raising children and they were some of the brightest in the Wasteland. Toast obviously display’s her intelligence when she is naming vehicles from afar and knows her bullets. But at some point Pink Eye has to send her children out into the world, Max helps them gather supplies to do so, and so we can assume the Stronghold was nearing it’s end, thus why Toast never speaks about it. She and the children would have been sent out into the world on their ‘wind powered machine’ and cruising through some territories. The War Boys could have easily seen their massive sail and chased after them. Toast and the other older one’s would have fought and shot, but with so many children they were no chance. The War Boys would have captured her and any healthy children, raided the supplies they had, and left the others for dead.

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

Capable

Capable, i believe, was the daughter of either the Bullet Farmer or the People Eater. Even though she was the daughter of one of these men, I don’t believe she was given a lot of freedom or respect. Her Mother was the daughter of a great Singer, Elvis Presley, who was captured a long time ago. Gifted with her Father’s talent, she passed it onto Capable thus how she knows to play the guitar in the comics. She would have no doubt have had half brother’s or sisters, either they died young or were sent off to ‘do war’ for the Immortan. Eventually, once she came of age she was gifted to Joe as a Wife, thus ripping her from her Mother. Her Mother maybe fought to keep her daughter, but was deemed ‘too old’ and killed or left out in the waste’s to die. With the only thing she considered home gone, she would not try to go back for obvious reasons. Capable was probably groomed from a young age on how to ‘act’ for the Immortan, but would put up a front while secretly getting their fighting spirit from her Mother. While Angharad was pretty much the mother of the group, Capable easily takes over that role once she is gone which leads me to believe she was given a lot of motherly attention. Plus she seemed pretty comfortable around a War Boy aka Nux which tells me she had plenty of experiences dealing with them.

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

The Dag

The Dag is probably one of the few left whom one could call a mystic of sorts. Despite her outlandish behavior, she seems to connive with the world on a different level than the other Wives. Her personality is a lot like Griffa’s, despite being a little childish she has the pillars to be one day a history woman or even some sort of wanderer whom goes around spreading stories/life lessons. My theory with her is that she use to be a Buzzard, or atleast a ‘diggling’ (children used by buzzards to dig and scavenge stuff from the old world underground). She was either kidnapped as a child or was born to a woman there whom had no social standing in the Buzzards. She, her Mother, and the other lower society may have one day realized there was more of them than there were Buzzards and fought back. Unfortunately, the casualties were great on both sides and everyone was scattered. Dag may have gone underground for a while, scavenging what she could, seeing what the old world was but not really understanding it. Eventually she came to the surface, was seen by a War Party, and captured before she could scuttle back underground. This would explain her almost ‘feral and defiant’ nature when trying to stand up against Joe. She may have never been a proper Buzzard, but she gained their quick snappish personality and fierce protectiveness of those she considers her own.

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

Cheedo the Fragile

Cheedo knew not of anything outside the Citadel and lived comfortably her whole life. My belief is that she was born to what was considered ‘middle class’ at the Citadel, those whom have valuable skills. Her Mother and Father were taken/captured by Joe when her Mother was pregnant with her. But as soon as Cheedo was born, her Mother died, thus leaving it up to her Father to show they were worthy of staying. He proved himself and probably raised Cheedo in the middle class, away from the prying eyes of the Immortan. With her father raising her, Cheedo didn’t have to believe Joe was ‘a god’ as believed by the War Boys and the Wretched. When she came of age, obviously someone saw her and reported it to Joe. He promised her a better life no doubt, leaving out certain details which i’m sure the middle class was naive to at the time, and took her away from her father. Most likely her father tried to get her back once he learned of what was going to happen, he was killed, and Cheedo was just told ‘he passed peacefully and or killed in an accident’. With also the only one not rapped yet, this would explain why she idolized and thought Joe was a quote on quote “good man” who would “forgive them”. With no other family left but Joe and the Wives, she would have clung onto them as we see in the movie and make up any excuse she could.

[hellfirenacht]

Unpacking

Fic Trade with @pigtails-are-for-girls

Male/Gender Neutral Reader

Domestic fluff 

“Remind me again why we have so much stuff?” you asked, setting down the last of the cardboard boxes in what was going to be your living room. Moving into the small house with your boyfriend had seemed like a dream move in practice, but the execution was proving to be more of a struggle than you had hoped. 

“Because all of our friends used us moving in together as an opportunity to pawn off their stuff to ‘help’?” Sal suggested as he opened a box marked ‘kitchen’. He pulled out a beat up box, taped together to keep the contents from spilling out. “Who gave us the cake pop maker? Better question, who in the group eats cake pops?” 

“I think that was from Maple.” you suggested, sitting down on the couch for a moment. “I think she got it for Soda’s birthday and never touched it again.” 

“That sounds about right.” he agreed, setting the box back down and joining you on the couch. It was getting late in the afternoon, but the two of you had managed to bring in all of the boxes. Though your friends had originally been their in the morning, they all had different obligations for the afternoon and had left. 

“So what room do we want to start in first?” you asked, looking over all the boxes. 

“Probably not this room.” Sal suggested. “Maybe start with the bedrooms and work our way through everything and leave this for last?” 

It was a plan. The next few hours were filled with sorting through clothes, setting up furniture and picking out what posters went where. Sal wanted the Sanity’s Fall poster tacked to the wall above where your bed was going to be, but you told him that this was an adult apartment and that it needed to be framed before it was hung up. The corners were already torn, and you knew Sal didn’t want any of the autographs to get damaged. 

“Oh, right! I got you something!” you suddenly remembered and stumbled your way through the living room, opening one of your boxes. You pulled out a brand new silver metal guitar mount, and smiled at him. 

“Found this the other day in town. I thought it’d match all the mods on your guitar that Todd did.” you explained. 

You couldn’t see Sal’s expression under his mask, but you could tell by the way he reached out for it that that he was super excited. “This is awesome! Where should we hang it? Can we hang it in the living room? Having it hanging up there would be perfect!” 

“Knock yourself out.” you said, clearly pleased that you had picked out something he liked. The stress of the move had taken its toll on both of you, but no matter how much of a pain it was living with your boyfriend had to be the best decision you’d ever made. 

Another few hours went by before you heard a strange noise come from Sal’s direction. “Everything okay?” you asked. 

“Hey when was the last time we ate?” he asked, and at that moment, your stomach mimicked the noise you heard earlier. 

“Shit, we forgot food was a thing, huh?” you laughed. “I’ll order pizza.” 

“Order 3 or 4, we still haven’t gone grocery shopping.” he replied and made his way back to your bedroom. 

You couldn’t help but smile at that thought. Your bedroom, grocery shopping, decorating your house together. It was more than a house now, it was home. Wherever the two of you were felt like home and that’s all that mattered to you. 

After placing the order, you dug through the kitchen stuff and started putting away plates and glasses until the pizza arrived. You didn’t want to use any, but it was a good feeling to have them set up now. 

When the pizza’s were safely in your hands you headed towards the bedroom to inform Sal. When you entered, you were surprised at what you saw. The bedframe that the two of you had struggled to put together was pushed to the side of the room with the large mattress laying by itself against the wall, covered in almost every blanket that the two of you owned. The blankets that were not on the bed had been set up around the mattress, tenting it and creating a small cave. The TV was on the outside of the cave facing inwards, a moving that the two of you had been planning to watch in the DVD player and ready to go. Sal had also set up a small TV tray with a bottle of cider in the perfect position for watching the tv as well as eating the pizza. 

That wasn’t the best part to you though. When you walked in, Sal was admiring his work with a smile; a smile that you could tell he was wearing because his prosthetic was sitting on the dresser, his glass eye also dropping in a glass of water next to it. 

Covered in scars, half-blind, battered, and beat up, Sal was still so beautiful. He turned and looked at you, his smile slightly unsure now. Though you had seen him without his mask before, Sal always felt uncomfortable without it. 

“Not bad for thirty minutes or less, huh?” he asked, and you walked over and kissed his cheek. 

“It’s perfect.” you said, refering to the blanket fort and your boyfriend. 

“I guess we live here now.” Sal said, looking over the half unpacked boxes around the room. 

“Internet doesn’t get set up til tomorrow.” you mused. “Glad we got all these DVDs and CDs.”

“I can always beat you at Mario Kart if you get that board.” he offered with a small laugh. 

“Ha, in your dreams.” 

He took your hand and looked at you, hesitating for a moment. “If you’re my reality, I don’t need dreams.” 

Your heart caught in your throat for a moment. It wasn’t like Sal to say something so romantic and cheesy. But still you reached out to him, placing a hand gently on his cheek leaned in close and whispered back.

“Gay.” 

The two of your burst out laughing for a few moments before you pulled him in for a proper kiss. 

“I love you, Sally Face.” you said. 

“I love you too.” 

[slothgiirl]

shadowplay part 15

Sam waves off the real estate agent while you look around.

“So he went down on you,” she repeats for the thousandth time.

It's the 7th place you've looked at this week and you've got to hand it to the agent, he knew exactly what you were looking for. Small cozy place with lots of natural light, at least two bedrooms and a patio or yard because you fancied that you would grow your own herbs at some point after you learned how to cook.

It could happen.

You were going to stop living off takeout.

Eventually.

“Yes and we’re dating. Like I’ve told you for the hundredth time. God I look awful in those photos,” you wave off. You should've worn makeup to the airport. “Do you think redoing the bathroom and kitchen is too much work?”

You hated the kitchen and bathroom.

“We can diy,” Sam grins. “that's what youtube is for and yes you look like utter shit. But who cares when you're getting that good dick.”

“Can you keep it down,” you utter, glancing at the real estate agent. This house was in a good location, close to Regents park. It was a steal well, because the inside needed some updates if you didn't want to live in the tackiest home ever.

Houses were an investment.

“Well at least one of us is getting laid.”

“You just had a one night stand,” you remind her. “It was the first thing you told me. Alex heard.”

“How was I supposed to know he was going to be there this morning!”

“Not to mention you never gave me my spare key back.”

“What are friends for,” Sam winks. “Okay yeah we'd need to trash the inside but the foundation and pipes look good.”

“He asked me to move in with him.”

“What! Really? I never expected you to move that fast.”

You shrug. It wasn't like...with Alex things were...well not easy but you weren't second guessing every single thing. He was starting to write and that meant you'd usually get home with food and Alex would be engrossed in his own scribbles with a keyboard or guitar even while eating. It had bothered you at first.

But you'd talked.

And you just had never felt as comfortable with anyone.

You needed downtime from Sam.

But you didn't mind Alex playing guitar while you went to bed because it was Alex. And you wanted to enjoy every single second he was there because music meant he would sooner or later be touring.

“Well I said no,” you tell Sam. “I mean..I think I would've said yes if I wasn't in the market for a house. It just doesn't feel like I'm rushing things...he's already said I love you. I don't know how to explain it but it doesn't feel like I'm making space for someone in my life it just feels like sharing. If that makes any sense?”

“Ah you're in love,” she sniggers, “stop rubbing my face in it.”

“This color is awful too,” you motion to the puke pink-brown on the wall.

“I've definitely vom’d that up after too many shots.”

“Sam!”

“You should get this house. I will move in exchange for helping you redo the paint and other stuff. Also you love regents park!”

“I do.”

“It's meant to be.”

“You think?”

Sam nods, “your horscope was also very positive this morning.”

“Sam!”

Her eyes widen, “I didn't interrupt anything this morning did I!”

You roll your eyes. “No. We'd-,” you cut yourself off, refusing to tell Sam everything. Give her an inch and she'd take the whole damn mile. “No. I saw this diy on how to make a faux marble countertop?”

“Now you're thinking,” she grins widely. “I still can't believe Mrs. Harrington’s going to wear a whole ass clam on her head! Poshos I swear!”

“Lady Gaga could pull it off,” you add. “Remember that lobster hat?”

“Yes!” Sam laughs. “I saw the pile of instruments you've amassed. When can I expect free concert tickets” She wiggles her eyebrows.

You laugh. Sam wouldn't turn down free tickets, but she, like you, hadn't really known about the Arctic Monkeys before Alex came into your life. “He's writing. Not sure how close to recording that is,” you shrug. You were pretty sure he had stayed up all night composing a song last night. “It's nice. I'm actually managing to get through my reading list.”

“You two both need to do some more Rolling Stones-esque partying. Not sit it. I'd go crazy with that little attention. I'm like a plant but with attention instead of water.”

“My liver is still recovering from the states,” you answer. You'd smoked weed and done shots like it was happy hour twenty four seven. And while it was fun, you couldn't work and party that hard. You liked sleeping too much.

“Well it better recover quick,” Sam opens the door to the yard, a small patch of land covered in weeds and dead grass. “We are going out this weekend. My roommates on and off again boyfriend’s birthday is this weekend. and it's the big 3 O. And there's going to be all the fun drugs. I refuse to turn 30 without snorting coke once.”

You look at her, bewildered, “you did do coke. I remember being there and telling you I wasn't going to look after you.”

“But you did.”

“Where would you be without me?” You smile, trying to picture basil and whatever other herbs people are growing in the little yard.

“Well I'd have ended up flashing the school. Thank god you had some safety pins on you.”

“Ah yes,” you grin. Her punk phase, the reason Sma had gone to trade school for fashion with you. Unlike your suiting skills, hers had fallen more into fabrics and dress making. She always knew just the fabric to use to get the desired cut. “I told you that seam wouldn't hold.”

“I'd probably be working in a bar. Or,” she frowns, “still living with my parents. Gross.”

“I'll put an offer in then.”

“How soon can I move in,” she winks.

“Do you really want to,” you offer. It would be nice to live together. You might hate that she never washed the dishes, but she did cook. And also you remember that she never bought groceries. Or remembered to tell you she had someone over. And Sam had the worst habit of staying up until three in the morning for no reason which wasn't a deal breaker but was way past when you went to bed.

You hadn't shared a flat since she'd moved out to live with some guy that she then broke up with and kept the room he'd been renting.

“No. I can live not having to see you and Alex be disgusting in front of me.”

You smile fondly. “He really is shameless. We made out outside of that pizza place next to Liberty yesterday. Ate out for once. And only because I thought the pizza would be cold by the time they got to my flat.”

“It is a bit far from there,” Sam nods. “But if you end up getting this house it won't be.”

“I am making an offer. Are you sure you're not the real estate agent.”

“Maybe I need a career change.” Sam notes.

“Well let me go make an offer then.”

“We should get bubble tea after.”

“Totally.”

[llucy-san]

CHARACTER STUDY

Tagged by lovely @pd3 ❤️ and maybe someone else but.... 🤷‍♀️

@faithchel @ja-crispea @smithandrogers @shelliechen @v3ryvelvet @veinereastath @dieguzguz @f0xyboxes @fadedjacket @risenlucifer @tomexraider @fromathelastoveritaserum @goodboiboomer-fc5 @geronimo-11​

I made it as my OC's would answer this ask game, so go ahead and read if you want to know more about them or how they interact.

LAYER 01: THE OUTSIDE

NAME: Hope Amelia Lansdowne but Hope is enough.

EYE COLOUR: It's mix of blue and green, but more of blue.

HAIR STYLE / COLOUR: Long, wavy blond hair, but I like to comb it into a bun or a ponytail.

HEIGHT: 5′6″

CLOTHING STYLE: I usually wear comfortable things like T-shirts, pants, combat boots and of course my military jacket. But you won't find anything fancy like dress in my closet.

BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE: *shrugs* Don't know, whole body i guess. I'm trying to be fit.

LAYER 02: THE INSIDE

FEAR: Lose the ones I love.

GUILTY PLEASURE: I got drunk once so hard with mates, Sharky and Hurk that you don't even want to know where we woke up the next day. A week after our little meeting, I felt still little dizzy. But I would never trade my two to ride and die. NEVER.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE: My plane!! You can look at it but don't touch it.

AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE: Live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment with our loved ones.

LAYER 03: THOUGHTS

FIRST THOUGHTS WAKING UP: Glaring at those little numbers on my alarm clock and whisper “I hate you” but then *sighs* I remember all the things that awaits me that day and somehow, I get out of bed.

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT MOST: If I will have the strength to get up the next day.

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT BEFORE BED: My baby!! I usually fall into bed and instantly fall asleep.

WHAT THEY THINK THEIR BEST QUALITY IS: My flying skills and maybe my humour. There is nothing better than being sarcastic to someone who you don’t like. Or if I won fight over men twice my size.

LAYER 04: EITHER OR

SINGLE OR GROUP DATES: I don't do dates, and quite frankly, I don't even have time for it. But if I have to choose, I prefer single.

TO BE LOVED OR RESPECTED: Can't I choose both? I think they're both corresponding.

BEAUTY OR BRAINS: Brains, definitely.

DOGS OR CATS: Both, take a look at Bommer and Peaches. They're both so adorable.

LAYER 05: DO THEY

LIE: Who hasn't? I try to be honest but sometimes some situations requires it.

BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES: What kind of bloody question is that? *frowns* Of course, I believe in myself.

BELIEVE IN LOVE: If you meet the right one, go ahead. Though, I was not so lucky.

WANT SOMEONE: Why are you asking? You offer?

LAYER 06: HAVE THEY

BEEN ON STAGE: Nope.

DONE DRUGS: Sharky has a lot of stuff, but I keep my hands off it, so no.

CHANGED WHO THEY WERE TO FIT IN: I don't need to pretend in front of anyone to fit in. I am who I am and I will never force myself.

LAYER 07: WHAT'S THEIR

FAVORITE COLOR: Don't have one.

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Wolves, I adores them.

FAVORITE BOOK: *shrugs* I don't read much, but when I do, I read what's first hand.

FAVORITE GAME: If you consider games where you drink a lot, then yes. *shifts in her seat* Hey, you should come to Spread Eagle with me sometimes and we can play our drinking games. Hurk will bring his liquor he got from many journeys he survived and Mary will make her famous cocktails.

LAYER 08: AGE

DAY THEIR NEXT BIRTHDAY WILL BE: 24th September

HOW OLD THEY WILL BE: 25

LAYER 09:

I LOVE: Flying, I have flying in my blood, or just being in lap of nature.

I FEEL: *sighs* Tired of your questions.

I HIDE: My bourbon! You wouldn't believe how hard it is for me to bring it here unseen. Especialy from Sharky cause he will drink anything he can see.

I MISS: My parents. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye with them one last time or go to their funeral.

I WISH: To be done with this so I could go.

LAYER 01: THE OUTSIDE

NAME: Marcus Adam Lansdowne but Marcus is fine.

EYE COLOUR: Blue

HAIR STYLE / COLOUR: Short-cut blond, short on the sides and up here *combing his hair* I have to comb it back or hold it with something, usually cap helps me.

HEIGHT: 6′1″

CLOTHING STYLE: T-shirts, pants but also something elegant like suits. But I wear them only at special occasions. 

BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE: Arms, for sure. But Avery, my wife, will tell you something else.

LAYER 02: THE INSIDE

FEAR: My family above all. All I have left is my sister and my loving wife. So if you so much as look at both of them in the wrong way, *leanes closer in his seat* then, you and I have a problem, mate. 

GUILTY PLEASURE: You would believe me but singing while playing on my guitar.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE: When I lose something and Avery or Hope says, "Well, where was the last place you had it?" Seriously? That's being helpful? If I knew the last place I had it, it wouldn't be lost, now would it?

AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE: I don't know. I have everything I need and don't need anything else.

LAYER 03: THOUGHTS

FIRST THOUGHTS WAKING UP: Time in the army taught me to get up early so, next question.

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT MOST: Family

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT BEFORE BED: What kind of question is this? *frowns* The bed equals rest. What else should I think about? Oh you mean. *clears his throat* Next one.

WHAT THEY THINK THEIR BEST QUALITY IS: Strength, devotion, intellect.

LAYER 04: EITHER OR

SINGLE OR GROUP DATES: I don't know what you want from me anymore.

TO BE LOVED OR RESPECTED: Respect from others and love from family.

BEAUTY OR BRAINS: Brains.

DOGS OR CATS: Dogs.

LAYER 05: DO THEY

LIE: I hate it when people lie to my face, but I'm not an innocent either.

BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES: Yes, I do.

BELIEVE IN LOVE: Yes

WANT SOMEONE: *quirks his eyebrows* I'm hapilly married. Avery is only one I want.

LAYER 06: HAVE THEY

BEEN ON STAGE: No

DONE DRUGS: Never in my life.

CHANGED WHO THEY WERE TO FIT IN: No.

LAYER 07: WHAT'S THEIR

FAVORITE COLOR: Dark blue, black, dark green.

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Wolves, dogs, I don't know.

FAVORITE BOOK: I don't know, but the last time I read something was by Faulkner.

FAVORITE GAME: Hope once took me to one of their gatherings in Falls End and it didn't go so well. Although, I had fun like never before, but I have never had such hangover in my life. And I have to warn you about Sharky's home-made liquor. Strong as hell.

LAYER 08: AGE

DAY THEIR NEXT BIRTHDAY WILL BE: 2nd February

HOW OLD THEY WILL BE: 33

LAYER 09:

I LOVE: Enjoying days with my family and friends or spending time in the woods.

I FEEL: Fine

I HIDE: Nothing you need to know about.

I MISS: Parents. I miss them very much.

I WISH: To stop asking me these odd questions.

LAYER 01: THE OUTSIDE

NAME: Hayley Louise Moore but friends calls me Hale.

EYE COLOUR: Olive green

HAIR STYLE / COLOUR: Semi-long chocolate hair and at the ends it turns into soft waves.

HEIGHT: 5′5″

CLOTHING STYLE: It's usually a blouse and a pencil skirt, but also a dress. But what I love most are my sweaters and sweatpants, which I wear in the late evenings while reading books.

BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE: I run around the docks every morning so I'd say legs. Nature here isn't like in Atlanta or New Orleans, but it's much more beautiful.

LAYER 02: THE INSIDE

FEAR: *laughs* Well, my husband's flying. Like, I'm not afraid of flying, but the last time he took me with him and he did his wild stunts like front flips or whatever he calls it, I almost killed him after we landed. I'm not kidding. *shift in her lovechair* Affirmination and I are not friends.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Dancing while vacuuming or cleaning the ranch.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE:

AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE: Seeing my kids grow up into the wonderful adults we're with John trying to raise.

LAYER 03: THOUGHTS

FIRST THOUGHTS WAKING UP: New day new beginning. Morning is my favourite time of day.

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT MOST: Kids, Family, you know stuff like this.

WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT BEFORE BED: Sleep, only sleep, and maybe something else, *whisper while leaning closer* but that's not appropriate.

WHAT THEY THINK THEIR BEST QUALITY IS: My persuasive skills. I always get what I want because I learned from the best, I know.

LAYER 04: EITHER OR

SINGLE OR GROUP DATES:  Single, certainly single. Actually I think I've never been to a group dates before.

TO BE LOVED OR RESPECTED: Both

BEAUTY OR BRAINS: Brains. No matter how handsome or beautiful you are, I care how you will deal with difficult situations so I choose brains.

DOGS OR CATS: Cats

LAYER 05: DO THEY

LIE: Not often, but only here and there.

BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES: Yep.

BELIEVE IN LOVE: I do.

WANT SOMEONE: Why are you asking? Only my husband.

LAYER 06: HAVE THEY

BEEN ON STAGE: Nope

DONE DRUGS: No, it will completely destroy your brain.

CHANGED WHO THEY WERE TO FIT IN: I've never been able to pretend who I'm not, so no.

LAYER 07: WHAT'S THEIR

FAVORITE COLOR: I don't have a favourite colour, but my wardrobe mostly consists of soft colours and black and white combination.

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Cats because of their eyes.

FAVORITE BOOK: Fitzgerald. I love Great Gatsby.

FAVORITE GAME: I don't play games much. I'm not very good at them.

LAYER 08: AGE

DAY THEIR NEXT BIRTHDAY WILL BE: 15th August

HOW OLD THEY WILL BE: 27

LAYER 09:

I LOVE: Watching my husband cook, because have you seen someone like him work around in the kitchen? *glances behind her shoulder* I just adore him.

I FEEL: Good

I HIDE: My cookies!! Listen, I love Jacob, he is my favourite brother in law but he always eats almost everything on plate before I can. I have to be fast if I want at least one or two cookies from Faith.

I MISS: Every now and then I miss my life in Atlanta and my best friend Nadia. *sighs* God, you should meet her, you’d love her.

I WISH: To have at least one of those delicious cookies cause my brother in law just came so if you don't mind I will go.

[honeybeewriter]

Icarus

Chapter 1: The Rebel Princess

Au: Fantasy AU

Word count: 2.6k 

Pairing: Hawks x reader

Warning: Smoking, light cussing

Link to next part:

A/N: im super excited to be writing this story! its my first story ive written in a long time and im super happy to share the first chapter of Icarus with you guys! hope yall enjoy it as much i as i do!

Aesthetic:

This overbearing weight of being royalty and responsibilities of princess has hung on your shoulders like a horse stomping on a snake, it was awful to say the least. Along with this your father had now set up an arranged marriage to the kingdom next over to make peace: something you did not want. No, your heart soared for adventure and your senses longed to smell the sea and feel the cool breeze through your (h/c) locks. It’s a wish, a dream, something far from your grasp.  

The morning dew settled among the kingdom, golden warm rays flooded in through the window, caressing your face, rubbing against your eyes as they flutter open. The feeling of silk and cotton danced along your naked legs, you stir awake, outstretching your arms. A gentle knock echo’s out into the silent room, before the creaking of the door opening. “Ah,princess (l/n) you’re awake!” The maid known as Mina entered the room, with a bow. “You know m’lady you should get out for a while! I know about your little dreams” Mina laughs as your face flusters “Mina!” you exclaimed and held your hands to your face “I’ll cover for you, Please don’t bring home another fae!” you had jumped out of bed at the thought of adventure. “Mina! Tamaki is a nice fae!! Don’t be rude!” You both erupt in fits of laughter. What a start to the day. 

Adventure was in the air, as you snuck out of the castle. You dawn a fine silk gown that a fair maiden would wear, a pale lavender tone matched with a wine red hooded cloak: To hide your identity from the ones who would stitch to your father.  

Across the forest, in a cart with friends laughing and having fun. A winged man stood with a guitar singing a merry tune, a man with burn scars guiding a horse with a scowl, a woman with blonde hair in buns reading her daily tarots card. The winged man lowers his guitar and his singing fades as he begins to speak “Hey Toga, whats is my card today?” he asked, sitting in front of the witch, who then shuffles them a few times before drawing out. The wheel of fortune. “Oh! Change is coming! This can be exciting, this means something big is at work, but what goes up must come down. Therefore be careful when change comes!” Toga explained before putting away her cards her satchel. The man with scars turned around and glanced at the two “There is a kingdom coming up, and we need to resupply before heading onwards.” His voice husk from smoking as teen, he still does nonetheless. The song of the frogs and bird sang throughout the woods as the trots of the horse and that squeaky wheel join in the chorus.

The winged man looks to the sky and ponders,Hm change? I wonder what the winds will bring me? The clouds line the sun, like curtains with only peeks of yellows rays shining down. The cart comes to a stop, and the man with raven hair and scars stood up, while lighting a cigarette “Alright we are here, no trouble, gather supplies and come back to the cart before sunset” He inhales the tobacco and puffs out a cloud of smoke. “Got it, keigo?” 

Keigo looks back with a smirk “Me trouble, pssh, never. You’re the one that burnt that caravan, Dabi, oh powerful burnt bastard!” Dabi snarls, clenching his fist tightly “Get out of here you damn buzzard!” keigo waved him off as he slipped on a leather jacket that was inscribed with magical rune that hid his wings. “Meet here at sunset, got it crazy?” Dabi spoke to toga as keigo ventured off into the kingdom.

The town was lively and hardy, towns folk chatter and trade, while the echoes of laughter of children and barks from the stray dogs dance throughout the streets. The smell of fresh baked goods with the smell of blood from the meat market, not very pleasant to smell. You browsed the fruit stands, gliding your hand along the fresh picks, thinking within your thoughts of today's adventure; maybe a nice picnic in my secret garden, or maybe an adventure in the outside forest. Your mind was so deep in thought that you hadn't noticed that a certain knight was next to you. 

“Ahem!” the knight coughed, causing you to jump with fear, as your eyes followed the armor, you gulped.. Iida.. “What are you doing here Iida!” you barked as you gathered up some fruit that had caught your eye, paying the merchant. “I should be asking you that Princess.”  Iida was a stickler for the kings rules and so the king had appointed young iida as your bodyguard, since you liked to skip out and such. “Iida please let me have today off! Please!” you begged as you held the bag fruit to your chest, bouncing like a child begging for a sweet. 

Now usually rumors and gossip caught Keigo's attention but, overhearing the about the rebellious princess, now that caught his keen hearing. As he turns from the stand he sees a tall knight and a cloaked person unknowingly, it was the princess. He strolls on over and wraps an arm around your neck. “Look, knight, i'm sure you have some crown to guard, so do me and my friend here a favor and bug off would yah?” and without waiting for an answer keigo whisps you away into the crowded streets. 

“Geez what a killjoy!” keigo said as he leads you to a quieter part of town, “Ha, I'm sorry if that was weird or if i made you uncomfortable, but that knight seemed to be hard on yo-” Keigo was cut off as you whipped out your opal knife, “Look i don’t know you or where you came from, you take me back to my knight!” You snarled. Keigo just laughed and grabs gentle onto your wrist, lowering the knife “Ah so you are the rebellious princess i’ve heard about! Tell me, Do you really want to go back?” you look defeated and huffed, shaking your head no as you sheath your knife. 

“No not really i just want to go to my garden and eat.” You said as you lowered your cloaks hood. Keigo finally got a good look at your face, (h/l) beautiful (h/c) hair, along with a pair of radiant (E/c) orbs, that sparkled in the sun. You looked just like a princess, no.. a queen at best. His eyes lit up as he looked your body up and down. “Will you please stop oodling me, come on, i guess you will have to be my pretend bodyguard for now” You spoke, you knew when they found the both of you. The two of yall were in serious trouble, him more so, i mean kidnapping a princess that is very bad to the king. 

The streets grew into dirt roads, and the houses disappear as you walked further into the depth of the kingdom, humming a tune, singing as you go. Keigo follows of course, his curiosity growing about you, a runaway princess. 

 “Down in the depths, where the marble stairs cry, to left pink flowers hang their lives, make a right. Trot down the path into the pine, two stones of moss on the northside, listen to the whisper of the willow that lays upon the pond bank , that is where you will find. The sweet little spot of mine.”

Pure white marble stairs lay in bed against the hillside, a makeshift stream runs down the steps, carrying twigs and leaves, a sight to see. Such sad marble stairs longing to be cleaned and re-purposed. Keigo watched as you took off your shoes, the sound of splashing as you walk down the steps. He follows in suit taking his own shoes off, the pitter patter of wet feet echo throughout the silent forest-line.

You stop and look up, “Up there is where the pink flowers hang.” you loop your arm with his as you tell the story about a lonely prince who once lived in this ruin. How his family had gotten a witch to curse the boy, he was a sweet green haired prince who wanted adventure like yourself, but one day he had crossed a line into the dragon land, and he had fallen in love with the king. But once his family found out he was shunned, and casted out. One day his dragon king had found him and they were happy, but the curse of the witch:

Those be warned who want to find the lost, if you travel further than the pine you will find poison, outcast from his family, a lock against the seal, betrayed, outcasted its a weakened deal. The blood of royalty lay among the scales, heed my warning, your life frail. 

“Story of the green prince and the king.. So is this place cursed or something?” Keigo asked as you both walk into the pine forest “i believe it is cause i found the skeletons of the two” You said as your hand glides across the brush as you walk. “That must have been a sight to see.”  Your face fell as the memory plays in your head. The two skeletons embracing in against a tree seemly untouched by mother nature. “A pure sad sight” You tug the blonde male along the path. 

Two stones with moss on the northside, and the whispering willow. The two of you stop admiring the willows horror filled beauty. The willow had to be at least 100 years old, her branches twisting and growing in a way that makes your stomach get a sick feeling. A thick fog rolling over the lake, like a dress dancing over a marble floor. 

“So are we almost there?” Keigo asks his eyes fixed out onto the stilled water. Taking the male’s hand you pull him along into the ruin of clay and brick, a small grotto hides away this lostwonder of a place. Keigo's eyes widen, what a hidden away little base. “Wow, this must have been their home.” Keigo rubbed the back of his neck as he took a seat on the edge of the water basin, you sat next to the male and pulled out the fruit bag that you had bought earlier. 

“So what brings you to the kingdom of berbile?” you questioned With a small chuckle as he takes a pear, 

“I'm actually just passin by, me and a few friends are heading west towards the coast.” He takes a bite of the green fruit, the juice running down into his beard. Your ears perk up at the mention of the ocean.  ‘Wait you mean the ocean! That's like a 5 month cart drive! Give or take if weather and such.” your voice chirps, your eyes brighten at the thought of the salty breeze.

 You take a chomp out of your (F/F) as he explains the mission that his leader sent him on

. “Keigo, dabi and toga i need you three to go west and find recruits, send them back this way we are finally going to take down the two kingdoms along the way, When you get to the ocean that is when you will turn around and come back.”

 Keigo looks at you and ponders “you want adventure, do you not?” 

Keigo quirks his eyebrow at you. You frantically nod your head. “Yes yes!! More than anything! My father has set up an arranged marriage and to hell with keeping the peace to the kingdom” You jump up on the bricks of where you were sitting “I rather see the world!” You exclaimed, pumping your fist into the air. 

Keigo grins “Well why don't you get a maid to gather clothes and meet me by the castle walls near the stables, tonight after dark?”

--

Later on you both went separate ways to avoid getting caught by iida and the other guards, The night set among the land, the quarter moon in the sky guiding your path to the outskirts of the kingdoms edge. 

“Mina i have to go, this is my only chance to get adventure! I won't be coming back, please come with me, won't you!” You held your bag in your arms, dawning a black cloak, money clattered in the coin purse as you pull against minas arm. “(Y/n) as much as i know you want adventure you know, your father will be mad if he finds you gone!” She huffs and pulls you back towards your room. 

“Tell him I died or something I don't care! I'm leaving this kingdom, and you're not stopping me!”  you exclaimed with tears in your eyes, jerking your arms back to your side. Mina looks at you, her eyes soften and a damn broke through, her cheeks flooded and pink. 

“Go, Ill cover for you” You embrace each other in a tight hug before your crawled down the makeshift bed sheet ropes and disappeared into the darkness. 

Giving one last look to the home you grew up in. The hell that was raised, your mother would be proud of you for leaving this greed filled kingdom. 

Dabi tapped his foot impatiently, “You said this girl would be here by now, Where is she!?” he barked, flicking the ash from his cigarette, keigo huffed and  stretched his neck looking over nothing to see if anyone was there Where is she? He pondered. Out of the shadows a small hooded figure comes running, a 2 large bag on its back and a large purse in the other.

Toga grins, looking up from her spot in the cart “oh? You made friends with the Princess I see now~” toga giggled as keigo brushed her off, lighting a torch and holding it out “Two stones!” he called out, dabi and toga give him a weird look before hearing. “With moss on the northside!” a soft voice returns 

Keigo jumps off the old wooden cart, his boots met the mud as your flats met the end of the stone road. You flipped your hood down allowing your (h/c) locks to fall into place. “So it is the princess, damn hawks. Boss will be pleased.” Dabi takes a drag, blowing out a cloud of ashy smoke. “Alright princess, load up, it's gonna be a long journey.” 

You get into action, tossing your bags into the bed of the worn cart, Toga leaning against the edge, looking you over. “This is certainly some change, a princess joining 3 commoners. I'm sure once the king finds out your missing, people will be after us.” The blond female giggles and sits back down, “Call me (Y/n) (L/N). please. No need to be formal, its stupid.” 

Keigo helps you into the cart and then jumps up into the passenger seat next to dabi. “Well you know who i am, This burnt bastard is dabi, Just dabi, he refuses to tell us his real name, and that little crazy next to you is Toga!”

Dabi whips the reins, causing the horses that pull the cart to move on. The clatter of hooves against the ground, the old night owl, singing his hunting song. The voices of the howling wolves, echo throughout the forest. Keigo takes off his magical jacket,  and a pair of beautiful deep  crimson wings emerge. Your eyes in wonder, “Wait you didn't tell me that you had wings, keigo!!” 

“Makes him look like a buzzard if you ask me!” Dabi chims as toga laughs. “Hah, Yeah each of us has some kind power, i'm a witch, dabi up there is a warlock and keigo is just cursed!” Toga explained. 

You look over the three with a warm smile. Adventure was well among its way, and youll be there to greet it with open arms

[quickspinner]

MLHolidays2k19 - 23. Carols

Part 2 - 20. Traditions 

Part 3 - 21. Blankets 

I was thinking about today’s prompt, and then I played this song and remembered the carols prompt and got to thinking, so we’re jumping back a few prompts. 

New York was full of inspiration, and Marinette’s favorite place to find it was a little bistro she’d stumbled on a few weeks into her assignment. A wide variety of people came and went, and they often had live music. Tonight, though, she just couldn’t seem to get interested in anything, even though one of her favorites was playing, a nice-looking young man with pierced ears and dyed hair who played the guitar beautifully. He had a fun style and Marinette had sketched him more than once in the past, but tonight she was just staring into her drink, stirring it listlessly, her sketchbook idle under her other hand. The people swirled around her little table but she just didn’t feel like watching them. The music was nice, but it seemed a bit melancholy.

Or maybe that was just her. 

She was startled out of her thoughts as the blue-haired guitarist began to sing. He rarely did, and it was always a treat. Marinette loved his voice and the songs he chose always seemed to resonate with what she was feeling at the time. 

I’m dreaming tonight of a place I love Even more than I usually do And I though I know it’s a long road back I promise you

It was no different tonight. His voice was smooth and mellow with just the right amount of longing. He sounded like she felt, and the song went straight to her heart as the words penetrated.

I’ll be home for Christmas You can count on me Please have snow and mistletoe  And presents under the tree  Christmas Eve will find me where the love lights gleam I’ll be home for Christmas  If only in my dreams

She’d heard the song many times since Thanksgiving, often enough that she had largely stopped noticing it, but now it struck her dumb. 

Marinette stared at the singer, who remained calm and relaxed, but with just enough tension in his body and in his face for you to believe he really felt it. For a moment Marinette felt he was looking right at her. She reached up quickly to wipe away the tears that had begun to cluster on her eyelashes. She’d never heard this song played on an electric guitar before but it fit him, and he made it fit the song too. Somehow he captured the perfect tone of wistful longing hidden under a brave smile, and it robbed Marinette completely of her ability to be brave any longer. She hunched down in her chair, clutching her drink, and hoped no one would notice the tears. 

Marinette had no idea how long she’d been sniffling there when a shadow fell over her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” said a male voice, low and smooth and...with an accent? She looked up to find the singer standing next to her table, with his guitar case in his hand and a friendly, sympathetic smile. 

“Oh,” she said, sitting up straight and grabbing her napkin to wipe at her eyes. “You didn’t. Truly, I was already sad. You just sang what was in my heart, I guess.” Marinette tried to smile, and the man’s face brightened.

“Pardon me, but are you French? Your accent—” Marinette was having the same revelation; she hadn’t been wrong, though his singing had always been perfect, when he spoke, he did so with an accent; lighter than hers, but distinctive. 

“Yes, I’m from Paris,” Marinette smiled. “I’ve only been in New York a few months. And you?”

“I’m also from Paris,” he answered in French, and it sounded like music as much as anything he had done with his guitar. He gestured at the chair across from her. “May I join you? It’s been a while since I was able to speak to anyone from home and, well...it seems like maybe we’re both a little homesick tonight.”

“Please, go ahead,” Marinette said eagerly, and he sat down immediately, tucking his guitar case under the table.

“It’s been months since I’ve been able to speak French with anyone,” he said with a self-conscious smile. “It feels good.” He held out his hand across the table. “My name is Luka, by the way.”

“Marinette,” she answered, shaking his hand. Luka’s smile widened.

“That’s a very pretty French name.” He leaned his elbows on the table, clasping his hands in front of him. “What brings you to New York?”

“Work,” she replied. “I work at a fashion design firm and they’re based in Paris, but they sent me to New York to work on a collaboration with another company that’s based here.”

“They must trust you a lot,” Luka observed. “You must be very capable for them to send you here on your own.” Marinette felt a little fluttered at the compliment, and didn’t quite know how to respond. Luka continued, with a slightly knowing smile, “I’m also here for work, playing backup for my mother’s old partner. It’s been fun, but this time of year, you definitely start to feel the distance. My boss is having a big Christmas party but it’s not the same as Christmas at home.” Marinette wasn’t sure but she thought he was blushing a bit. “I feel foolish admitting it, but I’ve never been away from my mother and sister at Christmas, and I miss them.” He swallowed hard and looked away.

Marinette leaned forward and patted the hands he had clasped on the table. “I feel the same way. I’ve never been away from home at the holidays either. When I think about missing my father’s bûche de Noël...” Her throat closed up and she couldn’t say anymore. 

Luka took her hand before she could pull it back across the table and squeezed it, and for a moment they just sat, connected but not looking at each other as they both tried to pull themselves together. When their eyes finally met again, they both shared a sheepish smile. 

“You okay?” Luka asked, and then cleared his throat, letting go of her hand.

“Not really,” Marinette giggled weakly. “You?”

“Nope,” he laughed back. “All right, well, how about this. If it sounds good to you, I can go get us another round of drinks or some food, and you can tell me about your family, and I can tell you about mine, and maybe we can at least keep each other company for a little bit, enjoy having someone to talk to without having to stop and figure out a word every few minutes—” Marinette giggled, and he smiled. “Because I can tell you, they don’t teach you the names of musical equipment in standard English classes.”

“Ugh, it’s the same with the technical terms where I work,” Marinette sighed. “I know exactly what I want to say but sometimes I just can’t find the right way to say it and I feel so stupid!”

Luka’s grin broadened. “I’ll get us a menu.” 

Marinette’s tears were soon forgotten in the joy of having someone from home to talk to.  Luka was a good listener. He asked insightful questions and seemed actually invested in the answers, and when he spoke he had interesting stories to tell. They shared plate after plate of food until they were really just nibbling for the sake of justifying their continued presence as they compared neighborhoods and swapped stories of their travels. 

“Seriously,” Luka grinned as Marinette laughed, her hands over her mouth and her eyes sparkling. “He rolls up outside our houseboat playing a piano on top of his giant tour truck—because of course he can’t have a bus like a normal rock star. And I’m just staring there like an idiot because it’s Jagged freaking Stone playing the piano on top of a truck outside my house, and then my mom just rips into him like’s her scummy ex-boyfriend.” Luka paused for a sip of water. “Because apparently he was. And my sister and I are just completely freaking out but only on the inside because a Couffaine never sweats where you can see.” 

Marinette could barely breathe for laughing, but she waved for Luka to go on.

“So he finally gets down off the damn truck and they have something almost approximating a conversation between two normal human beings, and it turns out he needed a guitarist and he wanted my mom to come play with him. And she basically tells him to fuck off but he can have me if I want to go.” He shrugged. “The money was good and I’ve never been to the States so I said, sure, what the hell. And here I am, Jagged Stone’s backup guitarist.” He rolled his eyes. “I get why mom was so pissed at him, though, he fires me like once a week, but…” He shrugged. “I’m good at what I do, and I’m laid back enough not to care about most of his weird antics, so his agent always just sends me home for the day and tells me to come back in the morning. I’m pretty sure she thinks nobody else could put up with him for this long so she has a vested interest in keeping me around.”

“Still, that’s terrible,” Marinette giggled. “I met him once, actually, years ago. He probably doesn’t remember, we met as part of a school project, but he wanted these sunglasses shaped like the Eiffel tower and colored like the French flag. I ended up making them because I couldn’t find anything like what he described.”

“You made those?” Luka raised his eyebrows. “He loves those things. Never lets them out of his sight. He left them in a restaurant once and Penny had to drive a six hour round-trip to go get them.”

“Really?” Marinette blushed, eyes wide. “Wow. They were so...wow. Okay.” 

“Yeah,” Luka grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him you’re in town unless you want me to. He’d probably have you making glasses shaped like the Empire State Building next.”

They both giggled at that, and when the laughter finally died, Luka sighed and rubbed his neck. “I should really get going.” He hesitated. “Could I give you my number? Maybe we could hang out again sometime.”

Marinette smiled. “I’d like that.” Luka grinned and they traded phones to type in their numbers. They split the check and both got up to go. She got a bit stuck trying to get her coat back on, but Luka stepped behind her to help, chuckling, and sorted her out quickly. 

They walked together at the door, and just outside, Marinette turned to Luka. 

“Luka, do you—“ she hesitated and bit her lip.

“Do I?” he prompted with a gentle smile.

“Do you want to come over and spend Christmas Eve with me tomorrow?” she blurted in a rush. “I mean, I know we just met but if you’re going to be alone and I’m going to be alone and neither of us wants to be alone then…” She shrugged. “Why should we be? I can cook and maybe it won’t be the same but—“ she paused as Luka laughed quietly.

“”You don’t know how nice it is to hear somebody talk that fast and still be able to follow,” Luka chuckled, and though the laughter faded, the warmth remained in his smile. “And as for us being strangers, you’ve been listening to my music for a long time, so I think you know me better than you realize.”

Marinette’s eyes widened slightly. He’d noticed her, all those times he played?

Luka cleared his throat, glancing away for a moment before bringing his gaze back to hers. “I’d love to spend Christmas Even with you, Marinette. Text me the details? I’ll pick up some wine and bring my guitar and neither of us has to be alone.”

Marinette felt all bubbly inside at the thought of cooking for another person after all this time. Suddenly she felt motivated to clean up and find a nice tablecloth and put up some lights. All of those things she had always loved but couldn’t see the point of with no one to share them with. “Great! Yes, okay. I’ll see you then!” She had so much to do, she needed to plan a menu and make a grocery list and—“Bye!” she called with a bright smile, setting off with a bounce in her step.

Luka watched her go for a moment, his own smile growing. She practically sparkled as she bobbed down the street, clearly lost in her plans and looking so happy...

Yeah, he wasn’t going to feel bad about ditching Jagged’s giant Christmas party at all.