#like super fast- 9 hours for my first baby and 3 hours for the second one

[harmonizewithechoes]

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[gilverrwrites]

If that ask was too long and elaborate, I have another one!

What about a fic with Batman, where the reader finds out she’s pregnant and doesn’t know how to tell Bruce since he already has mature/ teenager kids and she doesn’t know if he wants to raise one from the infant stage to adulthood.

She kinda overthinks about it and distance herself from Bruce. He notice it and when she would confess, to her surprise, Bruce would get super exited!

What I don't understand

AN: I'm back baby! At least partly, my hand is still on and off achy so I won't we posting as activiely as I have previously. I've done so much research on pregnancy that all my adds are now of pregancy tests, fertilitie test, baby stuff, I'm worried my bf might start to suspect that I'm pregnant which would be akward Bruce Wayne/F!Reader, 3.9K words CW: Husband/Wife dynamic, pregnancy, feet (none sexual), mentions of vomit, body dysmorphia, lying/sneaking around, prenatal anxiety/depression, martial problems, swearing. Fluffy ending tho!

Pregnancy brain is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Or maybe that's insanity, who knows? You ponder the thought as you fidget with the flimsy cardboard packaging of the pregnancy test you're awaiting the results of as if you don't know the answer. You'd already taken countless tests, trialling different brands in the hopes of a different outcome but every single one of them had confirmed your situation with variations on lines and plus signs. They'd never offered you a negative, and yet you keep trying.

There was no denying it, and pretty soon there would be no hiding. You were fast approaching the end of your first trimester at 9 weeks but had only found out about a month ago. The task of informing Bruce while there was still time to act seems to grow bigger and scarier with each passing day. Not to mention; it's becoming increasingly obvious that he already suspected something is wrong.

3 weeks ago:

The cold tile against your aching feet felt like ecstasy. You couldn’t help but close your eyes and lean against the wall, relishing in every second of release as you awaited Jason’s return.

You’d spend hours hiding your pain, precariously balancing in a pair of heels as you kept up appearances during a charity event being held at the manor. Bruce was currently being cornered by a visiting dignitary, and as bad as you felt leaving him alone, it might have been your only chance. You’d slipped away to an off-limits hallway, grasping Jason’s who had drawn the short straw for event appearances along the way. Once out of view to your guests you’d begged him to retrieve a pair of pumps from your bedroom, the petty prospect of keeping it secret from, and thus getting a one-up on his adoptive father being the primary motivator. That and he owed you, a lot, for defusing many situations in which he and your husband had butt heads.

The weight of your discarded shoes hung heavily from your fingers, you hadn’t realised how weighty they were. A shame, because they were so pretty. They were a gift from Bruce, strappy and bedazzled, the perfect colour to match your dress. Another pair for your ever-expanding collection, he’d always favoured gifting you shoes and purses, and you certainly didn’t mind, at least not until your ankles had begun swelling at the mere notion of being used for their primary function.

“Are you okay? You seem off.” Jason’s voice returning to the hall made you jump out of your stupor, and he watched with concern as you tucked your heels behind a curtain and slipped into the flats he’d brought you.

“Fine, fine.” You smile, patting his arm with a reassuring smile. “Just didn’t wear those in properly and now I’m paying the price.”

“Right.” He still seemed dubious and was about to say something else when a door creeks open, redirecting both of your attention.

Bruce stood in the doorway, stern, arms crossed. He glares at the both of you, he and Jason have a very similar glare. His eyes focus in on you, identifying you as the main culprit, his gaze roves across your form, lingering on your feet for an uncomfortably long time before speaking.

“If I have to suffer through this, so do the two of you.” He points behind him. “In.”

Jason’s face is obscured as he takes the lead, but Bruce must not like his expression because his frown seems to deepen.

You followed close behind, careful not to step on the hem of your dress now that you lack the additional six inches the heels had offered but your integration back into the crowd is halted. Bruce traced his hand along your back, cupping the curve of your waist and directing you to a lesser populated spot amongst the outskirts of your visitants.

The stony look on his face was gone, replaced with a polite smile for the crowd and softer eyes for you.

“What happened to your shoes?” His voice was low, in-perceivable to anyone but yourself.

“My feet were sore is all.” It’s not a lie.

“Too sore for dancing?” He asks, voice as slick as silk and you don’t want to agree but yes, they are too sore dancing. Not to mention you’d gotten nauseous from standing up too quickly only hours earlier but damn if you didn’t want to dance with your husband. Want to feel his chest against yours, his hands on your curves, admire the smile on his face. There are few things you enjoy more than any form of intimacy with Bruce.

“Maybe later.” You sighed, “I think I need to sit down for a while.”

2 weeks ago:

‘Breast changes are another very early sign of pregnancy. Your hormone levels rapidly change after the egg is fertilized. Because of these changes, your breasts may become swollen, sore, or tingly.’

You groaned aloud, rereading the entry on WebMD once more. You hadn’t expected your breasts to change so early on, incorrectly assuming any swelling or pain would be a result of breast milk, but you were wrong.

Believing you had the house to yourself, you figure now was as good a time as any to read up on more early pregnancy symptoms, to correct any other misconception you might have. You were midway through reading about progesterone and how it causes constipation when your laptop pinged.

A notification popped up in the corner of the screen, a DM from UserDC27, Bruce’s bat-server codename. You click to open the message and audibly gasp when a screenshot of your browsing history greets you, framed in red with its own ‘suspicious activity’ notification in the corner.

‘Pregnancy trimesters in weeks’ ‘Swollen breasts pregnant’ ‘Early pregnancy symptoms’

Amongst all the suspicious browsing habits of this family, of course yours had flagged up! Fucking ridiculous!

UserDC27: ? UserRI01: For a friend UserRI01: dw UserRI01: Love you x UserDC27: is typing… UserRI01: has signed out.

1 weeks ago:

“Good morning.” A familiar voice greeted you, strong hands slink around your body, brushing against your back and hips before settling on your stomach. What should have been a sweet moment frightened you, disturbing you from your train of thought and causing you to almost spill your morning decaf coffee.

“Woah there.” Bruce laughed, the warmth and proximity of him soothing you quickly. He effortlessly took the mug from your hands and settled it on the kitchen island so he could pull you closer without spillage.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, turning your head to rest it against his chest. The strength of his cologne is always so much stronger in the mornings, the scent of the man you love, of citrus and woodsiness does wonders to comfort your frantic brain no matter the time or place. “Just lost in thought.”

After a second you realise your mistake, you’ve allowed him an opening to ask what you’re thinking about and that exact moment certainly did not feel like the right time, what with Damian in the next room. You should be alone, completely alone.

He surprises you however, always one for keeping everyone on their toes, by spinning you around to face him and telling you, “I don’t think that’s it.”

“What do you think it is?” You tried to keep your voice airy, relaxed, unsuspicious but even you can hear the guilt in your tone.

“I think you’re tired.” He watches you with a playful glint in his eye, but the next words out of his mouth are accusatory no matter how light his tone is. “Where are you sneaking off to in the mornings, oh wife of mine?”

“W-what?” You heard him fine, you were stalling while you calculated a response. You had been sneaking off in the mornings and the fact that he’s asking so playfully, as opposed to interrogating which he is not unknown to do even with you, means he knows more than he’s letting on.

Bruce isn’t exactly an early riser, often too tired from long nights of crime fighting and case filing, but he is a light sleeper. Always on alert. He’d already caught you in a bought of morning sickness once. Roused by the unpleasant noises you’d been making. You’d lied about it, citing an upset tummy from something you’d eaten. You weren’t sure which was worse, the vomiting, the sombre expression he’d given you as he approached to rub your back throughout, or the look of horror on Alfred’s face when Bruce had brought up your supposed food poisoning later that day.

Ever since you’d purposely been rising early and sneaking off to dispel any nausea in one of the many guest bedrooms.

“Nowhere, I’m just becoming more of a morning person I guess.”

He eyed you sceptically, and you thought you might crack under the pressure. His hands reach up to cup your face, preventing you from turning away. His touch is so gentle, so soft for a man of his stature. “You can tell me anything, you know that?”

“Of course.”

As if you couldn’t feel worse he adds; “I miss waking up to you beside me.”

“Oh Brucie-“

You’re already on your tip toes, ready to concede, to apologise, to shower your sullen husband with kisses when you’re saved by the signal. Literally, a call from Duke 'The Signal' Thomas, with a reminder of your apprehension; an active situation that needed Batman’s participation.

Your relationship, and now marriage to Bruce had always hinged on an unspoken understanding that Gotham comes first. Even with Tim taking over most of his responsibilities at Wayne Tech, Bruce simply does not have enough time to raise a baby. You can't expect him to take turns with the nighttime feeds, with the frequent nappy changes, with the constant attention an infant will need.

You’ve no doubt Alfred would delight in assisting you, he's been dropping hints about wanting a baby Brucie since the engagement, and you love him very much but if you’re to raise a baby, you want to do it with your husband, not his butler.

That’s presuming your husband even wants a child. Another child. He already has enough children to populate a small village. Children with lives of their own. Children who in some way or another have followed in his vigilante footsteps. You think of the stress and trauma each of them has faced, and how it has affected them and their father. You think of Steph and her tremulous relationships with Bruce and Arthur. Of Jason’s deaths, plural. Of Dicks ineptitude to form meaningful relationships with anyone outside of the lifestyle. Of all the childhoods so many, but especially Cass and Damian missed out on. Could you be responsible for putting another child through any of that?

Furthermore, if your child wanted to live this life, could you really stop them? Nobody stopped Tim. Nobody stopped Barbara, when Jim had tried it only caused the rift between them to grow bigger.

Could Bruce stop your unborn child? Would he want to?

Speak of the Oracle. The chime of your phone draws you out of your spiral of perinatal anxieties. It’s Barbara, informing the girls-only group chat that she’s running late for lunch. Crap. You’d completely forgotten that you’d promised the girls lunch and shopping. Barbara had some tech on hold, Steph wanted to try the new caramel cookie waffles at Goodilicious, and Cass needed new boots whether she knew it or not.

Hurriedly, you shove the used test into a previously disused makeup bag that is now full of other used tests. It's starting to smell, but you don't have time to figure out how to stealthily throw it out, so you hide it at the back of a cupboard behind a basket of sanitary products before rushing out the door.

Later

Catching up with the girls had been fun, it had really helped you forget about your predicament and just relax for a while, but it had also taken a lot out of you, keeping you out well past dinner. Your body just was not functioning as well as it used to, for obvious reasons.

Upon returning to the mansion you’d made it to the ground floor lounge, feet too sore to even consider the stairs, and collapsed on the closest couch, exerting just enough energy to pry your shoes and sock off of your swollen feet prior to falling asleep. Just a quick nap you tell yourself, to regain some energy, you’ll be right as rain in time for Damian’s bedtime. He’s old enough now to put himself to bed, especially given that he often patrols with his father until the early hours of the morning, but tonight is his night off and you’d always make the effort to wish him sweet dreams when you can.

You’re awoken by the feel of calloused fingers pressing into the arches of your feet. You hadn’t heard him enter, but Bruce is sitting on the arm of the couch, in nothing but sweatpants and slippers. Between his bare chest and cowl hair, he is a welcome sight, bruised chest and freshly cut lip and all.

“What happened to you?” You ask, voice husky from your impromptu nap. You manage to draw your eyes away from Bruce long enough to check the time on an antique wall clock, it’s 4 AM. You’d far exceeded a nap. “Where’s Damian?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Damian is asleep. When you didn’t wish him a goodnight he came to look for you, that’s how I knew you were here.” He asserts. He looks at you with a furrowed brow and pinched lips, working his thumb into the arch of your feet with just enough pressure to make you mewl in relief. “Are you punishing me for something?”

The question hits you like a ton of bricks, it’s not without merit. You hadn’t intended to spend the night on the couch, but you can understand how it must look to him, especially in tangent with the ways in which you had intentionally been avoiding him; sneaking out in the mornings, not allowing him to see your naked body for fear that he’ll notice your swollen breasts, and growing belly. You hadn’t had sex in at least three weeks.

All at once you are overcome with remorse. You’d been so consumed with the pregnancy and how best to approach the subject with Bruce that you hadn’t stopped to think how your actions would weigh on him. He’s so strong, your anchor, an unchanging presence for the whole family. He locks himself and his emotions behind the big bad bat or billionaire Brucie so well that sometimes he forgets he has them. Sometimes you forget. Even now, clearly hurting and concerned for his marriage, he’s rubbing your feet.

“No of course not Bruce, I’m sorry…” your mind starts to form the end of your apology ‘I was just so tired’ or ‘it’s been a long day’ and they wouldn’t be lies but they’re not the right thing to say. You can’t keep postponing for the ‘right moment’ that will never come, can’t keep chickening out. He needs to know the truth. “I’m- I’m pregnant.”

You’re not sure how you’d expected him to respond really. You’d feared anger, hoped for joy but instead, he continues to stare at you, his brows raising in a way that implied he needed more information. He swaps your left foot for your right as he awaits your resumption. When you don’t speak he nods and states; “I know.”

“You know?” As though possessed your tired body launches into an upright seated position. “How could you know?”

Bruce smiles in response, an amused, tight-lipped ‘Are you kidding?’ smile.

“Well, to name a few things;” he counts off each observation on his fingers. “You’ve stopped wearing heels because your ankles are constantly swollen, your breasts are also noticeably swollen even under your clothes, you now only drink decaf, you seemingly have ‘food poisoning’ every morning and at no other time of day, a massive increase in urination, and my personal favourite, the bag full of positive pregnancy tests behind a crate-full of menstrual products that haven’t been used in almost three months.”

He’s trying to hide it, but he’s smug about his own detective skills. His mouth might be straight but there’s a fire in his eyes that has you drawing your legs away from him with a huff, abruptly ending the massage you had been enjoying. “How long have you known?”

“I’d had my suspicions for about 6 weeks, but I wasn’t certain until I found your stash last week.” Typical of Bruce to have figured out you were pregnant before you’d known yourself. “What I don’t understand, is why you didn’t tell me. Why you’ve been lying.”

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have kept this from you. I was going to but…” You trail off,  straightening your thoughts as best you can and finding your composure, preparing to begin monologuing about your concerns. “I didn’t know how you’d feel about it, what with you know, already having so many kids. Everyone but Damian has flown the nest, Dick and Babs are married! They’re all so grown up, do you really want to start again? And then…”

Conscious of your rambling you cut yourself off, looking to Bruce for reassurance that you’re not talking too much, that he’s not offended by your worries. He consoles you by coming closer, sitting on the cushion beside you and easily coaxing your legs over his. His firm hands are gentle as they grasp your knee.

“And what?” He questions.

“I wasn’t sure how I feel, I wanted to figure that out before talking to you.”

“What do you think you feel about it?”

“I think I want to have your baby Bruce, our baby.” So caught up in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed your husband’s hands creeping higher and higher up your body until a hand settles on your stomach, his thumb stroking you through the fabric of your shirt. You’d been so self-conscious of its growth but as you look at it now, under Bruce’s sturdy fingers, you realise it isn’t much bigger than it had been pre-pregnancy. How tedious your problems seemed when voiced and put into perspective, except maybe one. “I’m just not sure about how… well I guess I never thought about raising a child within your lifestyle.”

“I understand.” He nods, confirming his statement. He’s done well to keep his face soft but neutral throughout, a staple of his Batman facade but also a careful way not to let his own emotions interfere with yours.

“What do you think?” He looks down at your abdomen as he considers his words. You follow his gaze, watching as his fingers lift your top, exposing your skin to him. Without warning he lowers himself to pepper your belly with gentle kisses, the ticklish motion causes you to giggle and writhe beneath him.

When he looks up at you again he’s smiling, the motion causing the scab on his lip to split and bleed. Without thought you pull yourself closer to him, using his broad shoulders as leverage. Once close enough you dab at the minor wound with your thumb soaking up the fluid as best you can and examining the cut to ensure no further damage.

Bruce watches you intently the whole time, cupping your face in his hand when you appear satisfied. The adoration in his eyes makes you feel sheepish even after everything you’ve been through together.

“I think,” his voice is low, sincere. “I couldn’t be happier to be growing our family together. I think this child, like all our children, will be lucky to have you as a mother, whatever life they choose to lead.”

The amount of pent-up tension in your body had not been apparent to you until now. Until your body noticeably lightens in response to his words. The relief of no longer sneaking around, no more fretting over how he might react has you wishing you’d done this a long time ago.

“Bruce?” You sag into his chest, breathing him in. His arms unconsciously wrap around you in response, pulling you in for a tighter embrace. “We’re having a baby.”

“Were are having a baby.” He confirms, pressing more, tender kisses to your neck, the curve of a smile apparent as his lips press to your exposed skin. "I've been waiting for this moment since the day we me. But, I think it’s time we got to bed, it’s late.”

Swift and practiced, Bruce lifts you from the couch, cradling you in the bridal position. You stretch to check the clock, 4:34 AM.

“Technically it’s early.” You jest, expecting him to punish your cheek by jolting you in the air or throwing you over his shoulder as he normally does, but instead, he chides you with an amused glare, clearly too concerned about the baby for play fighting.

“Neither of us has been to bed, it’s late.” His grip tightens on your body as he makes his way up the stairs, one steady step at a time. “And I expect my wife to be in our bed when I wake up.”

“Hmmm.” Your morning sickness has eased in the last few days, you’d only persisted in sneaking out to be safe, but he doesn’t need to know that just yet. “I’ll try, but I might be in our bathroom.”

“I can cope with that. At least then I can care for you. And we can throw out your hoard.” You don’t fuss over the likelihood of him having to rush off to save the day or for an urgent board meeting, you just throw your head back, laughing at yourself for trying to hide anything from Bruce.

When you reach the bedroom he lays you in the bed and climbs over your form. He’s in full caretaker mode, a manner you could get used to. He carefully removes your clothes, offers to redress you in your sleepwear and to bring you your lotions, or anything you should need from the bathroom.

Dawn is breaking behind your blackout curtains by the time you’re both settled in bed, entangled in each other’s arms. Sleep has nearly taken you again when Bruce whispers; “I do have one other thought.”

“Oh?" You peer at him curiously over your shoulder. "Yes dear?”

“I think you should be the one to tell Damian.”

His request hangs heavy in the air as you consider the implication. “Tell Damian that he will no longer be your only blood child?”

The room remains silent, he doesn’t expand because you know what he’s getting at. Damian probably won’t mind, because he’ll still be the oldest, the first in line and you’re certain he’ll be a wonderful older brother, he’s great with animals, so why not babies? Right?

“… That's not fair.”

“Think of it as penance for lying to me all month.” There’s an air of humour in his voice as he pulls you closer still, squeezing himself into your back and planting sleepy kisses against your neck. “Besides, he’ll probably take it better from you. I think he likes you more.”

[simmydumps]

my current founder, carmen. i love everything about her <3

(backstory under the cut)

ok so basically, carmen and her cat buzz moved into this tiny little shack in brindleton bay. their life before that is a mystery to us all. she started out working a random office job to pay the bills, and quickly became besties with her neighbors supriya and justin(who are married and very in love btw!) she loves gardening and fishing, as well as knitting and cooking! she lived in a tiny home for so long, she has a lot of impressive skills. she' also an overachiever, so i'm sure that has something to do with it.

pretty early on she also met a guy named dan off of simda. they went on a date and hit it off and would you believe it dan is a doctor!!! he started moving really fast and within like a week they were engaged and on vacation in sulani. on the 3rd day of their trip, carmen woke up feeling very off. in her gut she immediately knew what was wrong. she snuck away before dan work up, and went to the spa to try and clear her head. she knew dan did not want kids, but she secretly was very excited. a few hours later, she returned home to find dan in bed with another woman!! she angrily blurted out that she was pregnant and that was the last straw. the two had a terrible fight, broke off their engagement, and carmen headed home from vacation early.

home from vacation, carmen began to prepare her shack for her new baby. her friends helped her work through her emotions, and stuck by her every step of the way. well into her 2nd trimester, carmen found out she was pregnant with twins! she felt super overwhelmed by this news, but also knew that she was ready for this unexpected challenge.

9 months later, shiloh and rowan were born!

when the twins entered toddlerhood, carmen reached out to dan. it was the first time she had spoken to him since sulani, but she needed help. he agreed to buy her a house and give her a little pocket money if she agreed to never reach out again and never try to involve him in their lives. she agreed. she also discovered during this meeting that the woman he cheated on her with also had a baby with him named kelsey. this information was tough to digest, but she is working through it. thanks to her courage, she, the twins, and the cats(they got a second cat because buzz seemed lonely) are moved into a new home! Carmen also started a new career as a gardner.

[crystalglassjar]

🦋 Butterfly Baby 🦋

-🦋 Butterfly Baby 🦋-

this isn’t exactly a fanfic but not exactly a list of headcanons either. it’s basically an “I suck at writing but I’ve already planned out an entire story”. is there a beginning, climax, and satisfying ending? no lmao

-📋 story description 📋-

xiao and hu tao get together and have a family. hu tao is 19 at the start of this fic if you’re wondering. I just really needed to get this story out my system...hehe...and reply to this post if you can figure out why the story is called Butterfly Baby

-‼️warnings‼️-

mild spoilers, also this was written on 2/7/2021 so some stuff might seem incorrect after more story quests come out. also major character death if you read the alternate ending

-📜 the actual writing 📜-

• hu tao and xiao start hanging out together (aka hu tao comes to bother xiao and eat almond tofu with him whenever he stops by wangsheng inn)

• xiao eventually grows fond for hu tao but makes many attempts to keep her at an arms distance, all of which were in vain

• xiao and hu tao are both in denial about being in love but obviously xiao takes his denial to a whole other level

• xiao doesn’t visit the inn for 2 weeks but eventually caves and goes back because he missed hu tao the silky texture of almond tofu

• ganyu finds out after overhearing verr goldet (desk lady at wangshu inn) reporting back to ningguang about her observations

• ganyu thinks it’s an exaggeration until she goes to wangshu inn for some business affairs sees xiao and hu tao chatting over some almond tofu and tea

• xiao pretends to not notice ganyu peering from behind a wall

• xiao brings it up during ganyu’s adepti training (ganyu story quest) and she just looks away and apologizes

• xiao knows she wouldn’t tell anyone so he doesn’t bother making her feel even worse than she already does

• xiao and hu tao start actually dating (in secret) but it’s hard to keep at least a few people from noticing an adepti and a funeral parlor director walking near the outskirts of town

• xiao once again tries to distance himself because he feels like he’s not worthy of her love after all the people he’s killed and that an adeptus can’t be with a mortal, hu tao shuts that argument down with “but I don’t care”

• hu tao is a bit hurt that he thinks it matters if she’s a mortal

• she laughs at the rumors that she’s dating an adeptus even if it’s true

• zhong li eventually hears about the rumors and is pretty sure it’s true because hu tao comes to his statue everyday and recently brought up questions about love

• fast forward 10 months of hush hush dating and he finally proposes. no ring or anything fancy, just a simple “do you want to get married?” while they stood at the peak of guyun stone forest

• hu tao says yes without even thinking about it and immediately kisses him and starts excitedly talking about wedding plans that she totally hasn’t been thinking about for the past 3 months

• xiao comes to ganyu to ask for help with wedding planning and ganyu nearly looses her head when she hears him say “so I’m engaged now..”

• hu tao somehow convinced zhong li to help her with planning

• zhong li isn’t too shocked about the engagement but hopes that xiao knows what he’s getting himself into

• hu tao, with a lot of effort, convinces xiao to move into the wangsheng funeral parlor with her

• xiao has a tough time adjusting to mundane life (haha get it because- no? not funny? ok I’ll stop)

• it doesn’t take much negotiation with ningguang to secure a venue at yujing terrace

• xiao would’ve preferred a private wedding at jueyun karst but didn’t know how to ask cloud retainer about it

• one month of planning later and they get married at yujing terrace

• basically everyone in Liyue attends the wedding including traveler

• the adepti got their invites delivered from ganyu and watched the wedding from afar

• I know nothing about Chinese weddings so uhhhh that’s for the reader to dream about

• hu tao throws a flower ball made of silk flowers into the crowd (customs of liyue, volume 1)

• may or may not have forgotten about contraception during their wedding night.....

• too embarrassed to go down to bubu pharmacy get morning after medicine

• hu tao prays to rex lapis that she won’t get pregnant

• zhong li, sipping his tea: I pretend I do not hear

• xiao doesn’t know if he should tell hu tao about zhong li being rex lapis so he just hopes he’ll never have to reveal that secret

• xiao nearly breaks his skull on the wall when he realizes what he’s getting himself into

• people of Liyue are still in shock about an adeptus marrying a mortal (since they were never confirmed to be dating beforehand) and nearly explode with buzz when the funeral parlor director starts growing a baby bump

• “have you seen the wangsheng funeral parlor director? last time I saw her, it looked like her belly was growing a bit. do you think she’s pregnant? oh my archons, a half adeptus baby? I can’t believe it!”

• xiao asks zhong li if he can go out an order a crib, rocking chair, baby clothes, etc for him

• zhong li obviously says yes

• fast forward 9 months and hu tao goes into labor just an hour before the funeral parlor was closing for the day

• zhong li rushes hu tao to her room and tells the undertakers to fetch the midwife

• hu tao calls for xiao and of course xiao is there within 10 seconds

• midwife nearly shits herself when she walks into the bedroom and sees an adeptus

•the midwife nervously asks if xiao was the father

• there was a popular (false) rumor going around that hu tao had an affair with zhong li and the baby was his, mostly because people refused to believe that hu tao was pregnant with a half adeptus baby. these rumors were only fueled further when zhong li was overheard asking a shop keeper if he should order multiple sizes of baby onesies just in case.

• zhong li just nods his head and xiao looks away in shame

• midwife gives helps deliver the baby while thinking “if I fuck this up, this adeptus is going to kill me”

• surprise! the baby is completely fine and healthy

• ganyu asked the qixing if she could take a day off (much to the shock of everyone who knew she wouldn’t even take her yearly vacation leave)

• ganyu has never ran so quickly down Liyue’s streets and nearly kicked down the funeral parlor door

• she’s super excited to know that there’s going to be another half adeptus in Liyue but is also incredibly worried about the idea of a half yaksha child

• I can’t come up with a name for the daughter so ill just call her daughter

• zhong li is named the god father and ganyu is the named god mother

• xiao and hu tao take the baby down to jueyun karst

• ganyu and cloud retainer both think the baby is such an adorable and precious little thing

• the rest of the adeptus are just like “xiao wtf...but ok”

• refer to my posts about xiao as a father if you want some more cute details but I don’t wanna just write a copy paste of my past post

• everyone at Liyue harbor is gossiping about it

• hu tao is a very fun and free mom and teaches the kid to become a tiny ball of chaos with the pyromania of klee and the sneakiness of yaoyao. aka the kid is now unstoppable

• pyro vision because of course

• hu tao teaches her daughter how to master pyro, how to write poetry, and most importantly, how to become a funeral parlor director

• the daughter actually prefers swords over poles and gets classes from the guhua clan, and more specifically,

• zhong li was very eager to give the kid a vision and was managed to get the pyro archons permission

• xiao confronts zhong li about the vision it in secret

• xiao: you gave her a pyro vision. do you know how destructive she will be? 

• zhong li, taking another sip of tea: ✨ I pretend I do not hear ✨

• hu tao overhears the conversation and puts two and two together

• hu tao and xiao have their first ever argument ever since they got married

• “why didn’t you tell me before?”

• “because it was a secret!”

• back and forth until they hear the baby waking up and crying

• they agree that there’s no point in arguing now and go off to calm down the baby

• they end up living a happy life as a family of three, and after hu tao’s death, xiao continues to raise the child as much as he can (with the help of zhong li and ganyu)

• their daughter becomes the 78th director of the wangsheng funeral parlor

~the end~

-↪️ alternate ending ↪️-

• osial somehow wakes up during one lantern rite

• xiao was distracted by a different, much smaller, demon

• the guizhong ballista and jade chamber had been repaired by now and were better than before, and they were able to defeat osial without sacrificing the jade chamber again

• however they didn’t get to the jade chamber fast enough and a small part of Liyue was destroyed

• one place in that part of liyue being the wangsheng funeral parlor

• xiao is overcome by grief because he believe it was his fault that he wasn’t able to protect this family

• he finally succumbs to the corruption

• what he didn’t know what was that hu tao did indeed die in the destruction, but his daughter (currently age 12) was still perfectly well and alive

• ganyu takes in the daughter

• zhong li took over the post as director after hu tao’s death and became the 78th director

• zhong li continued to teach the daughter about how to properly run a business and conduct flawless funerals

• the daughter becomes the 79th director of the wangsheng funeral parlor when she’s 18

• she also becomes the new demonslayer of the adepti, following in her father’s footsteps

• even through the trauma of witnessing her mother’s untimely death and being given the news that her father’s had also died, she made it through and raised a happy family of her own, while wearing the hat that her mom passed down.

~the end~

-📝 author’s note 📝-

ok...so that was longer than expected. let me know what you guys think! see any typos or anything off? please mention it! if you guys have a header for hu tao please do share~

[p1harmonyofficial]

[📰] Get to Know the Members of K-Pop Group P1Harmony With These 10 Fun Facts! (Exclusive)

P1Harmony is a rising global K-Pop troupe, but we wanted Just Jared readers to get an exclusive chance to know them a little better!

The talented six-member boy group first arrived on the scene back in October of 2020, embarking on their international music career with the release of their first mini album DISHARMONY: STAND OUT and feature film, P1H: A New World Begins, which positioned the group as a force to be reckoned with in the music scene.

Amid the pandemic, the group continued to make new music for their fans with the release of their second mini album, DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT, including their slamming, hip-hop infused title track “Scared,”” along with an accompanying music video full of street-style dancing and intense visual effects.

Watch “Scared” and check out these 10 Fun Facts about P1Harmony inside!

INTAK

1. I have more eyelashes on my right eye than my left. Right after my debut, I didn’t really know how to remove eye makeup, so for a while, I used to just rub my eyes really hard with soap and now, I have more eyelashes on my right eye than my left. 2. I used to love oysters, but now I cannot eat it. I was an oyster fanatic, until very recently. I ordered raw oysters after watching a TV show at night with JONGSEOB, and after one bite, I couldn’t eat it anymore. The taste of the “sea” was so pungent. Now, I’m too traumatized! 3. I saved a man’s life. I went chestnut picking with my dad, and found a guy hanging on a cliff and struggling to get back up. We immediately helped him get up. He was really grateful and I remember feeling so proud to have saved someone’s life! 4. I have a small horizontal scar on the right side of my face, and I kind of like it. I got this scar when I was about four or five, and although it’s not that visible now, sometimes I like it because it makes me feel like a charismatic, bad guy! 5. I love dogs. I love dogs, so I have been watching a lot of dog-related videos but I’m terribly allergic. I can’t stop myself from petting them when I see them on the street, and always regret it afterwards because I turn all puffy and itchy! 6. I fantasize a lot about time travel. I even tried and feel like it can really happen one day! I lie down in my bed, put my blanket over my entire body and focus really hard on the idea, but this brings me nowhere but to the future. [Laughs] 7. I have a gold tooth. 8. I have a brown spot (mole) on my middle finger. 9. I love my Crayon Shin-chan character earphones. I get happy just looking at it. 10. I go to the convenient store so much that there isn’t anything I have not tried!

THEO

1. My right shoulder is more developed than my left. I used to play volleyball and would strike with my right arm, so my right shoulder is more developed than my left. 2. I have a red mole. I recently got a red mole on the side of my right neck, but I have no idea where it came from and why but it’s not going away! 3. I can’t burp, literally. I don’t know how to burp and have never burped in my life 4. I only drink carbonated drinks. I rarely drink anything that is NOT carbonated. 5. I don’t like lettuce and tomatoes in my burgers. 6. I had a burst appendix and didn’t know it for a while. I was hospitalized for two months, because they couldn’t find my appendix. Apparently, my organs are shaped and structured differently. 7. I love slippers. Unless I am going to an official engagement or doing promos, I am always in slippers, (even during winter)! 8. I have never cried in front of people until I turned 20. I was watching a very emotional episode of “Animal Farm,” and got caught crying in front of KEEHO, SOUL and JIUNG. Since then, I think I’ve gotten more emotional. I once cried watching JONGSEOB cry, too. 9. I can’t stay still when I’m on the phone. I have to walk around or do something when I’m on the phone. 10. I love singing songs to my friends over the phone.

JIUNG

1. I love Tonkatsu (pork cutlet). I have been addicted to tonkatsu these days and have been eating it almost every day for the last few months. 2. I have the same birthday as my younger brother. My younger brother and I share the same birthday, which is Oct. 7. We were also born around the same time. 3. My younger brother and I have a similar birth time as well. I think he was born like 8 minutes before me or after! 4. I love raw garlic and don’t like kimchi. 5. I only drink flat coca-cola. I purposely decarbonate my coke by shaking it and letting the air out multiple times until the bottle doesn’t expand anymore and the coke is completely flat. 6. I still fit into my hats from my adolescent years. My head is so small that I still fit into all my hats from elementary school. 7. I think too much. I make daily memos and write down almost everything to organize my thoughts. 8. I like to dance and sing when the streets are empty. When no one is around and I’m in a good mood. I love walking down the empty street thinking I’m shooting a music video. I sing, dance and act. Last time, I bumped into someone and I ran away in full embarrassment! [Laughs]. 9. I have a scar on my eye. 10. I may look picky, but I’m not a picky eater! I love trying a lot of different cuisines.

KEEHO

1. I love collecting sunglasses and glasses although my eyesight is near perfect. I love wearing glasses even though I don’t need them to see. I also have been collecting a lot of sunglasses lately. 2. I talk during my sleep, apparently! According to my members, I sleep-talk a lot (almost every night), but I don’t remember any of it and I never have dreams. 3. I have the same birthday as my dad! 4. I can eat salads all day. I love salads! I love eating vegetables, especially celery and carrots, and prefer dressings like ranch and oriental. 5. I am not good at smiling. I have a hard time smiling so I’m still in the process of learning how to smile naturally! I have to make sounds out loud to smile [during photo shoots]. 6. I used to hate wearing sweatpants. I don’t know why but I hated sweatpants and never wore them when I was younger― even if I had to wear something more uncomfortable like slacks or jeans.. Now, I wear them all the time! 7. I rarely cry alone or in front of people. The only person who has seen me cry is INTAK. I was going through something heavy and was alone at a park by myself when INTAK came to pick me up. He started crying as soon as he saw me, and that made me cry. 8. I used to pull all my loose baby teeth. I hated having something loose in my mouth, so instead of waiting to go to the dentist, I used to pull them out on my own. 9. I have a light (barely noticeable) mole on my big toe. 10. I have curly hair, so unless I blow dry it, it goes wild.

SOUL

1. I used to collect beetles. I think I had up to 30 beetles in one big box. 2. I only wear Air Jordans. I only wear Jordans and my favorite design is the Air Jordan 1s. 3. I love dolls! I love buying and collecting dolls. I like anything that is cute and fuzzy. 4. I don’t like taking pictures of humans except KEEHO. I only take pictures of nature, architecture or like a beautiful scenery. The only time I would take a picture of a human is of KEEHO. 5. Me and my younger sister found an important historical stone artifact. We were just digging stuff up and found a stone artifact. We later learned it was a historically valuable artifact, so we donated it to a museum. 6. I wear my pants backwards. 7. I don’t like electric fans. I don’t like when wind blows in my face 8. I once had the same dream three times in a row. I had the same dream three times in a row, but every ending changed depending on the choices I made [in my dream]. 9. A bird pooped on my head while I was on my way to school. Without having much reaction, I just walked to school and waited until I had to go to the bathroom to wash. 10. I don’t get scared or surprised easily. I used to get yelled at for bowing down and saying hi to all the actors playing zombies, monsters or ghosts at haunted houses in theme parks.

JONGSEOB

1. I like books that are thick and with small letters for no particular reason. I tend to buy books that are thick, whatever the genre is. I think it’s because I’m a fast reader. 2. I never had cavities! I love eating sweets like jellies and candies. I can go through a whole pack in one sitting, but I’ve never had cavities! 3. I have something called a “knee hyperextension and/or back knee. My knee bends backwards in a straightened position unlike many people. 4 I love the dark. I usually don’t turn on the lights unless I really have to. 5. I could sleep for long periods of time. I once slept up to 16 straight hours, and I barely have dreams. Maybe like five times a year?! 6. I don’t like/eat seaweed or seagrass. 7. I love walking into a room that is super cold. I turn on the A/C and close the door for about 30 minutes so it can be ice cold before I walk in. 8. I want to learn how to play bass guitar one day! I watch random videos of jam sessions, and one day would really like to play bass guitar. 9. My eyesight is different on both eyes. I am near-sighted on one, and far-sighted on the other. 10. I am pretty good at playing games on my phone.

[incorrect-sdv-quotes]

Okay so I know this is a SDV Incorrect quote blog but I really wanted to show off my SDV headcanon’s so you may ignore this post if you wish (I’ll go back to the normal posts after this, I have like 13 quotes queue’d up right now) 

Headcanon’s under the cut:

1.Alex’s real first name is Alexander he just prefers to go by Alex

2.Alex is a trans male so he was born female but transitioned to male at age 13

3.The bachelors ages are (listed youngest to oldest):

 Alex: 19 

Sebastian: 19 (one month older then Alex)

Sam: 20

Harvey: 25-30

Elliott: 36

Shane: 38

4.Despite Sam being older then him Alex is taller (if you put them side by side Sam looks taller but that’s only cause of his hair if you flattened it you could see Alex was taller)

5.Sebastian is secretly a vampire (He does look like one anyway)

6. Haley and Alex kind of have a Hazel and Xander from Bunk’d relationship where they’re kinda friends but one of them *cough cough* Haley *cough* has a huge crush on the other to where it’s at yandere point- Haley is not QUITE as crazy about Alex that Hazel is about Xander and unlike Hazel Haley can hide the craziness she does have around people but when it’s just her and Alex she’s all crazy and clingy- 

Like, she’ll call him pet names like “My jock prince” or “Alex-zandy-” or “My knight in shining armor” Etc. etc- or hug him and never let go until someone LITERALLY prys her off- Talk about nutty nutty nut-so-

7. My headcanon voices for the bachelors are: (Well some of them, if a name is in strike through that means I don’t have one for that one- yet)

Alex: Shining Armor from MLP

Sebastian

Sam: Rottmnt Leo/2020 Sonic the Hedgehog/Dewy from Ducktails (this one might change)

Harvey: Fozzie Bear (Harvey: WaKa WaKa (I’m sorry))

Elliott: Gunther from Shake It Up

Shane

8.Shane is basically the god of chickens he’s such a good caretaker of chickens that he could summon an army of chickens to peck the eyes out of everyone in town with one “Babock” CHICKEN ARMY!!

If you decided to read this post and you liked my headcanons then this is it for now more might be added later as I play the game and scroll through the SDV tags on Tumblr more 

EDIT 1: More headcanons!:

9: Elliott is an amazing actor but a horrid horror-movie actor (It’s just his screams are unrealistic he will literally just say “Aaaah” otherwise it’s the same as the rest of his acting) (This scream-glitch is an easy fix if you yell “Ghost” more on that in 10)

10: Elliott is TERRIFIED of ghosts even those cute and/or clearly fake ghosts (Why else do you think Spirits Eve/Halloween has Skeletons every year and not ghosts? No one wants to scare anyone Too bad.) Actually Alex dared Elliott to watch the Disney Junior show Vampirina which went fine until Demi came on screen- Elliott literally wet himself and screamed for 3 whole hours- (Poor Alex who had to listen to that the whole time-)

11: Elliott treats his pocket crab as his ACTUAL son, not as his pet but as his actual biological son (it’s actually really cute)

12: The portraits in this video for a portraits mod is how the characters actually look to me (Excluding Elliott Sam and Sebastian they still live in my brain with their cannon looks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmBW8BzSZpU&list=WL&index=1&t=5s

13: Krobus is Sebastian’s father (yeah you THINK it would not make sense along with Hc numb.5 but if you think about it if his father is a monster and his mother is human he’s gonna be born as a human-looking monster! Which is a Vampire!)

EDIT 2: Damnit. I was scrolling through this and I realized I missed a Hc and it slipped through the original post and the EDIT 1!

14: Alex has Dyslexia (this bugger Hc belonged in the original post but it slipped through both edits)

EDIT 3: MORE HEADCANNONS-

15: Both Abigail and Sebastian used to have hair to match their parents (Abby’s was brown (Like said in game) and Sebastian’s was Ginger) but due to their “Unusual” parents (Abigail: Wizard Sebastian: Krobus) their hair changed color when they got older and their mothers just pretended they died their hair so both the towns people and Abigail and Sebastian themselves would not freak out 

16: Sebastian has snake bite piercing's but he only wears them when he’s alone (he got them in the first place cause 1: Sam dared him and 2: he decided it would be a fun way to rebel against dead to Sebastian Demetrius, he didn’t have to keep them but he ended up liking the look) 

17: Sebastian owns a giant frog plush, it’s twice the size of him, is really soft and is incredibly fat (it’s to the point it’s just a circle that has stubby legs) he loves it more then anything Excluding Alex but he does not want anyone finding out he loves it let alone owns it so he stuffs it under his bed when people are in and/or near his room

18: Sebastian’s first word was literally “Froggy”

Ex:

Robin: Can you say “mama”?

Baby!Sebastian: ...Froggy!

Robin:

Robin: Out of all words your first word is “Froggy”? Really?

19: The shortest to tallest Bachelors are:

Shane

Sam (If you take his hair and go *Squishes flat*)

Alex

Sebastian

Sam (If you count the added height from his Mullet)

Harvey

Elliott (Tall stinky sea dude)

20: Sam got Sebastian to scream “Bubbles” for 5 hours straight 

Details on that:

Sam: It’s impossible to say “Bubbles” threateningly

Sebastian:

Five munities later:

Robin: Uhhhh Sam? Why is my son on the roof screaming “BUBBLES”?

21: Sebastian owns a biker jacket but he only wears it when riding his motorcycle cause the jacket makes him look way more goth then emo and he prefers the emo look over goth look despite he acts more like a goth

22: One Feast of The Winter Star Sebastian got everyone an empty box and when they opened it Seb said: “It’s a void of nothingness. Just like life.” He did not get in trouble or nothing cause your allowed to give what you want but he did not do that again

23: Sebastian requires glasses to read, he can see perfectly but when it comes to reading on a computer or on paper he needs glasses

24: Sam does a perfect Darth Vader voice and Darth Vader breathing noises

25: Sebastian has vampire powers (cause he is a vampire (Hc 5)), he knows about them and is chill about it but he does not use them unless necessary cause he just does not feel the need to use them otherwise (His powers include, immortality (he also can’t be killed cause on my take on Vampires the stuff that “Traditionally” harms/kills them is just a mith and actually does nothing to them), super strength, increased speed, fast self-healing, telekinesis (I know this is not “Traditionally” a vampire power but Seb does have it) and the ability to change into a bat)

26: Both Sebastian and Elliott are actually pretty jacked (Not Alex level jacked but still) you just can’t see it unless they’re shirt-less (but in Seb’s case at least loose the hoodie)

27: Harvey’s doctor’s mallet weapon is just as heavy and as big as himself so he rarely goes into combat cause he has trouble welding his own weapon- 

Harvey: Time to explore the mines! *grabs his giant doctors mallet*

Harvey: Nope going down. *falls backward with a thud*

28: Elliott carries at least one very sharp pencil with him at all times so if he sees a very annoying person or a slime that escaped the mines he’ll grab it and go *StAb*

29: Everyone else makes Hermit jokes around Elliott which he finds funny and annoying at the same time (They used to do the jokes about Sebastian as well but they stopped cause when they did Seb strangled them Darth Vader style) Ex of the hermit jokes:

*singing* Someone’s on the beach with a hermit! There’s a hermit on the beach I know I know! Someone’s on the beach with a hermiiiit! And the hermit’s name is Elliott!

30: If you think Elliott’s cannon SDV schedule is anti-social you should see how anti-social he gets when writing a book-

EDIT 4: Surprise, there’s more

31: Elliott is a mermaid merman (he’s a human by day half human half fish by night but he’ll change forms sooner if you dump water on him- found that out by Haley throwing water on him in hopes he’ll melt-)

32: When in ‘fish’ form Elliott’s tail is incredibly strong (if you get hit by it you’ll go flying 900 feet in the air in 5 seconds at full strength)

33:Elliott only lets Harvey call him “Elly” if anyone else does so expect Elliott to dump water on himself then hit you with his fish tail)

34:Vincent will sing The Little Mermaid song “Under the sea” around Elliott and Sebastian (Sebastian cause think about it and Elliott cause he’s an IRL Mermaid)

[bitoffairydust]

Yesterday we came home from the hospital as a family of three.

Things haven’t been super smooth sailing, nor did I expect them to be, but our little one is doing well and I’m healing fine so that’s really all we could ask for.

Wednesday was a bit of a whirlwind. I was scheduled to go into the hospital for my induction at 5, so we spent the morning doing a bit of last minute clean up around the place. Then around 12, someone from L&D called and said if we were available to come in earlier, we could just show up whenever. We still had a few things to finish up so we had lunch, I took a shower while my wife did the dishes, then she took a shower and got the cats set up for a few days home alone before we called an Uber to head to the hospital.

We got there around 3:30-4 so not super early but they got us into the delivery rooms right away and someone came over to go over a few questions (medical stuff and what I was hoping for with the birth). I got hooked up to the contraction and fetal heartbeat monitors, they got my IV line in, and then we went over the induction options for me. Based on my last check up, I was about 1.5 cm dilated, so before anything else they had to get me to about 3 cm, which they offered to do with either the foley balloon or misoprostol. Then the plan was to start me on oxytocin to get contractions going. I requested the miso, cause I figured there would be enough things going in and out of my vagina for the evening without an additional thing thrown in there 😅

It actually took a little while for the induction to start because as it turns out, three people (myself included) showed up for their induction within 5 minutes of each other and I was the last so it was closer to 7 before the resident came to examine me. In doing so they found I had actually progressed to 3 cm on my own since my last appointment so they were able to just get me started up on oxytocin.

Contractions started up pretty much instantly but they were very manageable. I’d say just from the oxy progression, the worst contraction I got was maybe a 5 on the scale from 1 to 10. Then they ran through the dosage and did another exam to see where I was at. They didn’t give an exact number then but I think it was somewhere between 4 and 5 cm. Before starting me up on another dosage of oxytocin, they went ahead and tried to break my water as it hadn’t yet. They didn’t actually manage to fully get it, and honestly, at that point, them trying to get it to break was actually more painful than the contractions I’d experienced that far.

That changed pretty fast once they established they’d gotten enough of the membranes for the time being. I’m fuzzy on the timeline but I think it must have been close to 10 at that point, and the pain level climbed very quickly along with contraction intensity and frequency. I tried to bounce on a ball for a bit and the nurse showed my wife some pressure points to try and help with the pain but it did nothing. Around 10:30 I requested the epidural, which was unfortunate timing on my part as the anesthesiologist had just gone in to assist with a c-section. By the time she was out and got to my room it was about 11:30 and pain was an easy 10 on the scale with contractions maybe a minute and a half apart.

The epidural itself went in pretty smoothly but at first there wasn’t much to be said for relief. Since they mentioned it could take 15 minutes to really be felt I didn’t think much of it, and I did feel like things were getting a bit better as minutes passed. The last contraction I was asked about felt more back down to a 5 on the pain scale so the anesthesiologist left. Unfortunately, that 5 turned out to be a fluke because pain shot back up pretty quickly and I was soon at a 10 again, no matter the dosage boosts.

That part was quite honestly the worst of it all, having expected some sort of relief and finding it to be just as worse as before. To make it worse, baby was not handling those contractions well. His heart beat would drop with the start of each contraction, though it picked up before the end of them so though they wanted to keep an eye on it it wasn’t cause for intervention yet. The nurse monitored his heart rate with me laying flat on my back, on my right side, on my left side and then sitting straight up. The latter was the slightly better option for him, but definitely did nothing to help my pain management. She did get me back on my back to try and relieve me a bit since the difference to the effect on baby wasn’t huge but at that point contractions were relentless. I was dealing with back labor contractions, which were maybe a minute apart, and because they suspected the placenta had detached a bit when they tried to break my water, when a contraction would subside, the pain in my abdomen would become more prominent and almost to the same level. It made it feel like I was contracting non stop with no break for catching my breath or trying to recuperate.

Around 2 in the morning there were a few people in the room examining me and trying to figure out the best course of action. A C-section being needed started being mentioned if things didn’t improve, but I was at a little more than 9 cm by then. The OB and the anesthesiologist had a talk outside the room and decided to re-do my epidural as it had clearly failed (they did an ice test and it was clear I wasn’t frozen anywhere at all), and if I were to end up needing a c-section, I’d have to have it redone anyway.

She took two tries to get everything situated in my back. That second try did the trick. I don’t think I can even describe the amount of relief when my foot started feeling warm and then going numb, and within maybe 5 minutes it was amazingly painless. They did another ice test and this time I felt no cold at all anywhere, and when the nurse pointed out I’d just had a contraction it cemented it because I’d not felt it at all. The only thing I could feel at that point was a bit of abdominal pressure every now and then. And I will say, I did have a great team with me. Everyone was very empathetic and trying their best to get me to feel some form of relief before the second epidural. And they seemed almost as relieved as me when that last one finally worked - especially because after that baby’s heart stabilized.

By the time the epidural was done, even though they figured I had likely progressed to 10 cm, they elected to let me rest for a bit, and give baby a chance to keep making his way down, so I got to catch a breather until about 4 am. Then they told me it was time to try and start pushing, with the nurse guiding me since I still couldn’t feel any sort of contraction. I pushed through maybe four or five contractions without huge progress, and the OB came in to assess and established baby needed a bit of help coming out. They set up the forceps and had me push through another couple of contractions, but they were pretty week and hard to catch even for the nurse by then, and baby’s heart rate was starting to struggle again. So they got on the phone to get a room prepped for c-section, and the doctor told me I would get to push through one last contraction, but if nothing happened we’d have to go into surgery.

The nurse tried to wait for a good one (she had already reupped the oxytocin drip at that point) and by some miracle, the next push for his head half out and with the second one it was completely out. The rest of his body followed quickly and before I had even caught up with it all, I had his tiny little body on me.

Even though they’d brought someone in from the NICU just to be safe, he ended up being perfectly okay. I needed a bit more attention because I had more bleeding than normal, and I had to have 4 stitches and another IV line put in to help with the blood loss. Then we stayed in the delivery room until about 6 at which point we were brought over to our postpartum room.

Since then nursing has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge. He did have a tongue tie, but he struggled from the get go. He would latch well but lose it and then get frustrated and cry. He also is a very lazy eater - I’d spend easily 30-45 minutes per side trying to get him to stay aware long enough to take in maybe 15 minutes of proper feeding, but he’d start smacking his lips practically the moment he was done, and he’d wake up hungry again within the hour.

Unfortunately there was no lactation consultant on staff as she was on vacation this week. People commented time and time again about how I had no supply issue, and his latch (when he was latched) was good, but it didn’t seem to help. I also felt I kept getting conflicting information as one moment he’d have crystals in his urine to indicate potential dehydration, and the next they’d be telling me he had barely loss any of his birth weight and was perfectly on target for that.

We did decide to get his tongue tie cut as it seemed to really be frustrating him at feeds and make it harder for my breast to properly fit into his mouth. The feed that followed the cut was easily the best we’ve had to date, but unfortunately it went downhill from there. After we got home and I tried to feed him last night, he did fine on the right side but then only lasted 10 minutes on the left and then lost it, started to scream and wouldn’t latch again. I haven’t been able to make him latch on the left side since, and I only managed to get him latched to the right a couple more times before we ran in the same problem, so we had to go ahead and start giving him bottles. I’ll be trying to work through it with a lactation consultant as soon as possible, and I’ve now started pumping, but in the meantime, him being properly fed was the biggest thing.

He does also have a small fracture on his right clavicle, likely from the forceps, but the pediatrician said that will resolve on its own within the week. In the meantime we just have to be very cautious how we move his right arm, and she prescribed him Tylenol if need be.

In the meantime we’re just trying to settle down to our new sleep deprived routine. But then looking into all the sweet, funny faces he makes both when asleep and awake makes it feel pretty worth it.

- Marie

[z-iridest]

(A/N: Emergency fluff for a friend who's feeling down... Life, I hope you enjoy this 💜 )

Writing Prompt: "I would've had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you."

(A/N: Apologies ahead of time if he's ooc at all, I tried my best 😖)

Home Sweet Home: A Tomura Shigaraki x female! reader one shot

Rating: Super Fluff :3

Tomura groaned as the sunlight streamed in through the window, awakening him quite rudely. His arm came up and draped over his eyes. Despite being in his twenties, he was not ready to get outta bed, especially this early. He felt something move beside him and looked down, a rare, soft smile forming on his chapped lips.

You were still fast asleep, cuddled into his side with your head over his steadily beating heart. His arm was under your back, consequence of falling asleep with you laying on his chest and then moving in his sleep. Your e/c eyes were closed, your lips slightly parted as soft, adorable snores left you. He couldn't help but gently bring you closer, fully wrapping both arms around you as he burried his face in your h/c hair. He was half asleep, but even if he wasn't, he'd be a clingy baby in some way. It didn't matter if it was holding your hand in his during a meeting or coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist, ever since the two of you began to date, he needed to touch you in a way or he was a cranky little shit until you cuddled him again. He couldn't even believe he had gotten lucky with you in the first place...

When you had joined the LOV, Dabi had brought you in, blindfolded. At first, Tomura saw nothing special about you, denying you entrance to the LOV because it appeared what you were quirkless. When you argued with him that you did, in fact have a quirk, (and calling him a few choice names), he had tried to decay you, but the moment all five of his fingers touched you... Nothing had happened. To say that he had been shocked was an understatement. Dabi then informed Shigaraki that you had a nullifying quirk. If anyone tried to use their quirk on you, your quirk automatically activated and negated it, almost like a defense mechanism. The only reason for Dabi knowing this was that he had tried to burn you, but nothing happened. Boy, did you have his interest from then on....

Shigaraki's fingers gently caressed your sides, his fingertips tracing your curves as his free arm came up so his hand could gently tuck your hair out of your face, allowing him to see you properly. His mind suddenly went back to the day All For One had first met you.....

Kurogiri had brought you to AFO a couple months after you joined, telling you that the big boss wanted to speak with you. AFO asked you some questions about your quirk before he used his true quirk, giving you a power instead of trying to take yours... He explained that you were to be the LOV's personal healer. Whatever wasn't deadly, you were to mend every wound you could. It took you a while to master, and you found yourself taking a lot more naps during the day.... And occasionally waking up to a fast asleep Tomura next to you, curled up like a freaking cat, the first time being 6 months after he first met you. You'd found that, the more comfortable he got around you, the more clingy he got. For example, if you were chillin' on the couch watching tv when he got back, he would immediately walk over to you and plop down next to you before laying his head in your lap. It had flustered you half to hell the first time, meanwhile he seemed to be looking up at you through that hand on his face like, "I'm waiting". It wasn't until a bit later down the line that you realized that look meant he wanted you to run your fingers through his hair... The second you started doing that, that decaying baby boi was passed out in seconds.

9 months after you joined the LOV, Shigaraki had come back from a mission banged up bad while everybody else had minor scratches. They took care of their own wounds, knowing you would have barely any energy left after healing Shigaraki. You had grabbed him by his cold wrist, dragging him to your room while chewing him out for getting hurt so bad and scolding him to be more careful. He'd had his head slightly tipped to one side while he watched you work your magic while scolding him. You were even cussing a bit too, which had made him chuckle. "...The hell you gotta say for yourself?" You had asked him after your angry, tired rant, only to get this response:

"You're adorable when you're mad at me." This had completely thrown you off guard, but you didn't have time to process this due to exhaustion from healing him. About an hour or two later, it set in that he had been flirting with you, a blush creeping up your neck and spreading onto your face. That's right about when the clinging started. He'd come up behind you when you were talking to Dabi or Twice and wrap his arms around you from behind, he'd slip his hand around yours under the table during meetings, always having you on his right... Then there was the laying his head on your lap after missions where he wasn't banged up. He hadn't really asked you out either, he just started treating you slightly different than the rest... The pincher? When he got you to play video games with him.

The two of you were in the middle of a video game war, sitting side by side in front if the tv as the two of you played. You laughed as you won the round the two of you were on, him sitting there dumbfounded as your laughing caused you to fall backwards so you were laying on the floor on your back as you continued to laugh. A smirk had crossed his face at that moment before he loomed over you, making your giggling come to a halt as you had stared up at him, your heart pounding against your chest. "Congratulations, kitten. You deserve a prize." That had been the first of many kisses he was to give you, and he had asked you out after that kiss.....

Shigaraki softly pressed his lips against your forehead and the tip of your nose before capturing your lips in a soft, sweet kiss only he could give you when he was like this. He smirked a little when he felt you kiss him back, looking over you as you wrapped your arms around his neck. When the two of you finally pulled away, he peppered your still sleepy face with kisses, managing to get a giggle out of you. As soon as he laid back down on his side, facing you, you snuggled against him again, burried in his chest as the smell of his musk surrounded you. "That was nice." You confessed, though it was muffled against his chest. Shigaraki gently stroked your back with his fingers as he held you close. You hadn't had an easy night the night before....

The previous night, he had come back from a mission to see you crying in your room. Instead of asking what was wrong, knowing he wouldn't get an answer, he had walked over to you, picked you up, and carried you to his room before laying down on his bed with you on top of him.

"You don't have to say a word, just cuddle me until you feel better, kitten." He had told you, letting you cry it out into his black shirt until you fell asleep in his arms. Your warmth had lulled him to sleep soon after you had fallen asleep. It had been the first time the two of you had been in the same bed together, and the first time you had really seen Shigaraki without "Father" or the hood of his hoodie covering his face. It had been his way of being vulnerable to you, showing you his face in a time when you needed comfort from him.

"How are you feeling?" Shigaraki asked, pulling back enough for his crimson eyes to look straight into your own but still keep you close to him. He had always known when you were lying to him, he could always see it in your eyes.

"Better than last night." You confessed, snuggling into your boyfriend's chest again. "Thank you." It came out muffled, but he still heard it, judging by the way his arms wrapped around you a little tighter.

"Do I need to go decay someone?" He asked, his raspy voice coming out in a protective growl. You giggled.

"Easy does it, Tomo, I'm okay." You reassured him with several kisses. He kissed you back each time, affection in his eyes when he finally looked at you. He didn't think he'd be so whipped for a woman, particularly one like you, but he'd be damned if he didn't say he loved you more than anything. The sudden sound of a stomach growling broke the silence, Shigaraki's face burning in a state of embarrassment while you erupted into laughter at the timing. "Have you eaten anything?" You asked him. Quite sheepishly, he shook his head.

"I would have had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you." Shigaraki pouted. "You looked too cute."

"Hey, if I get to wake up with your kisses and open my eyes to see this handsome mug of yours, I'm sold." You told him. He grinned down at you before swooping down to kiss you again, making you giggle as you kissed him back. "C'mon, Shiggy baby, let's get some food in you." You told him as you got up, allowing him to finally get up. He obediently followed you and latched onto your hand as you gathered ingredients for breakfast, unable to help but wrap his arms around you from behind as you cooked with his face burried in the little crevice where your neck met your shoulder. You were his princess, his Player 2...

He loved mornings with you, and hoped that nothing about you and him would ever change....

Not that he ever planned to let it....

Fin

Taglist: @lxvely-mha @bnhabookclub @sadistiks @savagetrickster @wesparklebitch

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Fated to Love You here reaffirming my long held conviction that no pure romance drama should be 20+ episodes.

This show is... really something. It is, in the fullest possible sense, A Lot. It starts out as an all-out screwball comedy wrapped around a troperiffic romance fluff plot. Wall to wall clichés, but not in a bad way; in a meta, self-aware, peak performance, finest Velveeta way. And if you’re not familiar with screwball comedy, think ‘light-hearted crack fic with slapstick and farce’. There is nothing believable or grounded about any aspect of it, it starts at Bonkers Level: Platinum and it only climbs higher as it goes on.

(On a side note, this results in the leading man being possibly the most memorable love interest in romcom history. His introduction scene is nothing short of batshit insane and you can't reliably predict how he will respond to anything. I have never seen a main character like this, he is all over the shop and utterly singular. Your first reaction to him is ‘wtf?’, your second and third reactions are ‘really?! this guy??’, your fourth reaction is ‘okay he do be mad hot tho’, your fifth and final reaction is ‘I cannot believe this performance exists, I have no idea what he is doing, but it is amazing.’

Appropriately(?) the actor who plays him is an uncanny Korean doppelgänger of Johnny Depp and- between the resemblance, the mannerisms, and the fearless total commitment to a bold as fuck acting choice with the very serious chops to back it up- I’m not convinced they aren’t half brothers separated at birth.

They do sabotage my happiness several times by starting to randomly style his (long, beautiful) hair very weird, fixing it right when the plot is rapidly circling the drain so he looks his hottest just as the show becomes briefly unwatchable, and then ruining him for the entire second half of the series by shearing it all off. WHY, my anguished cry goes up. Why do you do this?! Why does he have like seven hairstyles over the course of the show? Much later they even briefly give him that ubiquitous Kdrama Second Lead haircut with weirdly forward combed fringe in a solid straight line across the brow all the way back from the crown. It looks terrible on everyone and I hate it so much. This version was less bad than most but it is still bad. Anyway.)

So it’s an incredibly fun time to start but there are some problems with the tone and plot even in the first 9 episodes, including when the lovers start getting along really well right away and they’re both thoroughly decent people so there’s nothing keeping them from having a lovely time together making the best of the circumstances (forced/fake marriage). And, instead of introducing new conflict or advancing one of the dozen conflicts previously established and actually moving forward, there is a painfully contrived rehash of something they already dealt with which is then just never resolved. They make the hero leap to a conclusion his wife is nefarious after he’d already decided once that she isn’t (though it was completely reasonable for him to think she was- the fact that he decided to trust her so quickly just speaks to what kind of person he is), never try to find out more or talk to anyone about it, start pushing her away because of it, and have all this come to absolutely nothing. It only exists so he’ll stop being so incredibly nice to her and they won’t fall in love too fast.

You’d think they would have to eventually clear the air before the romance advances right? No. It wasn’t a real plot point, it was just a reset button to get them estranged and hostile again after they connect over their kindred spirits and we’ve spent a bunch of time showing how profoundly supportive and honourable our hero is. He’s being beautifully mature and selfless because he’s a really good dude (unusual for a romcom drama, right? for the main guy to be nice and considerate? to accept responsibility even if he doesn’t have to? Gun’s weird but he’s wonderful), but the writers need him to be cold and standoffish, so they just make him act like an unreasonable idiot for a while. He’s been thus far hugely proactive and direct and honest about everything, it’s one of his most prominent character traits, but suddenly he’s going to avoid confrontation in favour of being super passive aggressive?? Then the writers never solve it. Never! It just goes away. He got over it, I guess? He decided he doesn’t care if she’s a gold digger who deliberately trapped him? God forbid we have motivations that make sense and organic character drama, right? It's not like he didn't have totally valid reasons to be suspicious that could have led to legitimate conflict our heroine would struggle to vindicate herself from.

But anyway, apart from that kind of lazy bullshit, it’s a fine romance plot with extremely endearing characters who have great chemistry. They are fun and well-rounded and incredibly human despite all the silliness and OTT antics. Their relationship is hugely, hugely engaging and the dynamic is perfect, they really complement each other as characters and organically drive each other's arcs. There's the genuine depth and warmth and quiet pathos so often lacking from this kind of show. Things progress at a semi-reasonable pace. They work up to confessing their mutual feelings and get into some cute shenanigans before making out. It happens soon enough that you are not frustrated, but there's still plenty of build-up. Then- uh oh! We’re only 9 eps in and we have another 11 hours to fill with this fluffy plot!

Time for a bunch of absolute fucking nonsense. Time for our show, which has been so goofy and removed from reality it occasionally resembles a Monty Python skit, which has been so light it asks you to ignore the frankly incredibly fucked up implications of its premise for the sake of comedy (they were both drugged and proxy raped resulting in a pregnancy- the FL was a virgin prior to this and Gun had a girlfriend he wanted to propose to- and it was the FL’s family who did this to them: SUPER FUCKED UP), so farcical that it makes Some Like it Hot look like a gritty crime drama, that show to cover a bunch of serious heavy shit.

First, the rankest of melodrama. The families and the world all turn on our couple, but their love is true and will conquer all- UNTIL, he randomly collapses and gets convenient Soap Opera Amnesia. He’s forgotten their entire relationship and a series of coincidental pieces of misconstrued evidence, the machinations of his scheming ex girlfriend, the Soap Opera Doctor’s advice, and his closest confidants all going along with this conspire to make him believe (AGAIN) that his wife just wants his money.

This whole terrible episode is mercifully brief, but it just gets worse after his memory returns. This is where we get into the Noble Idiocy. The ‘pretend you don’t love them to “save them” from getting hurt by hurting them and making their important life decisions for them as if they don’t have a basic fucking right to decide that themselves’ kind. Which goes on for three FUCK years in the show. He wastes three years of their lives they could have spent together because he’s worried he might die young (in a terrible way) and doesn’t want to put her through that. And, of course, they inevitably get together later, so all he did was make it infinitely worse for her either way. To say nothing of how he thus couldn’t be there for her through the loss of their child. Possibly my most hated fucking trope of all time when done this way.

And, yep, you read that right. This show that has the single most batshit bonkers over the top slapstick I have ever seen in a kdrama, this show has a storyline where the fluffy romcom trope accidental pregnancy ends in massive trauma. Because she was standing around in the street after realising he does remember her (he continued to pretend he had amnesia after his memories came back, it’s all part of the stupid noble idiocy so I glossed over it) and gets hit by a car in the middle of their angst staring.

It is nearly Meet Joe Black levels of hilariously abrupt and incongruous.

so, blah blah, they lose their baby (there’s a very stupid whole thing about her telling everyone to save the baby instead of her- the baby is not far enough along for this to have been remotely viable. She is like 3 months pregnant. They all act like there’s a choice to be made between them and she’s mad at her husband for choosing to save her, but there was NO CHOICE. Either she lives or they both die! ffs I’m so irritated about this) and then he dumps her ~for her own good~~ because he loves her too much to make her go through losing him? So she loses him sooner?? right after their baby died???

Why do people in these stories always think being betrayed and abandoned for no reason and being incredibly angry at someone you love while also not getting to be with them is somehow less painful than making the best of your life together and then losing them against their will? ‘I will make her hate me and then she won’t be sad we broke up/I died!!!!’ is such a fucking galaxy brain take and I despise it with the heat of ten thousand suns. Fuck you, Spider-Man. You aren’t protecting anyone, the villains still know you love MJ and will still use her against you, you clod. Emotionally torturing the person you love is not going to make them not a target because the villains are not as fucking stupid as you two. Anyway.

Amnesia was right where I started fast-forwarding and skipping around (because I couldn’t bear it), but it only goes downhill from there. Maybe I would have toughed out more of the wretched middle part plot twist if they hadn’t cut all the hot guy’s hair off. If I’m going to watch total nonsense tedious melodrama, I need it to at least be pretty. I understand it was a Symbolic Haircut but damnit! Let me have this!

And it ultimately does the thing that kdramas seem obsessed with and which makes me want to claw out my own eyeballs with frustration. There’s a giant time skip, the female lead gets a personality transplant, all narrative momentum is lost, and the characters who eventually (at ENORMOUS length) get together permanently are essentially completely different characters with a completely different dynamic than the couple you were shipping for 90% of the story. It is so FUCKING unsatisfying and it is EVERYWHERE.

Not so much with this one because this one still had a lot of very romantic scenes late in the game, but most that do this, it’s also like all the romance is sucked out of the post-time skip episodes and the ending is a consolation prize instead of a triumphant culmination. Inevitably, the heroine abruptly cools off and is suddenly wary of the hero and wants this Important New Career she never mentioned until the penultimate episode but is now her one true life’s dream. What the apparently irresistible appeal is of these contrived separations and demure conclusions is I CANNOT FATHOM. I’m here for the fucking romance guys, you have not made Citizen Kane, please just indulge me with a big schmoopy finale.

And if not that, it’s frequently that there’s been so many random mood swings and so much shitty behaviour by the end that the relationship doesn’t make sense and you don’t know why they even bother to get back together.

I’m not inherently against all misunderstandings (they are the bread and butter of low stakes romance let’s be real) or attempts at noble idiocy from misguided characters, but the duration and seriousness of the drama these generate needs to be in proportion to how ridiculous they are. If your entire plot can be solved by a thirty second conversation there is NO REASON not to have and the continuation of the misunderstanding is a result of someone just NOT SPEAKING UP when any functional human being would have spoken up seven times by now IT’S BAD.

Do little cliff-hangers, whatever, but don’t draaaaagg out silly misconceptions into Shakespearean tragedy, it’s just wearying. It makes me hate the characters for acting like emotionally constipated toddlers with terminal stupidity. If there is so little trust, so little understanding, and so little basic patience between these people, they probably shouldn’t be dating, so try fucking harder, writers. And noble idiocy that is more than an impulse they fairly quickly see the error of is just insulting. You are not helping the other person, you are being domineering and selfish. I have a whole complex about wasting time and seeing endless parades of characters flushing years down the toilet for literally no reason gives me hives. Especially when the whole issue is about time!

(And, btw, so much of the plot is about how desperately the family needs an heir and everyone still wanting them to have kids the second time they get together- while the ~dilemma used to keep them apart is a GENETIC DISEASE which could STRIKE AT ANY TIME. Do you SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WRITERS????? NO, I KNOW YOU DON’T. ommmmmmmmggggg that’s awful! So they’re just dooming more kids to Soap Opera Brain Disease? And maybe growing up without a father just as Gun did? And no one even considers suggesting adoption??? He never considers that he shouldn’t have biological children despite thinking he shouldn’t have a wife?)

ANYWAY. Please do watch the first nine episodes and the last three, it’s bananas. They are cute as fuck, Gun is The Best, and the tropey romance scenes are top quality. You don't get those things executed so well, it doesn't happen, so you need this in your life. The acting is of a calibre you never usually see in modern romcoms; these are people at the top of their game committing utterly and taking these characters completely seriously. In that way it is pure wish fulfilment for me as someone who loves romance and is almost always disappointed by popular romance media, and thus the show is incalculably special. But skip the middle. Just skip it. It's not worth the suffering. I find the tone whiplash honestly just this side of crass.

I’ve been thinking about it for over a week and I truly love the main characters so it did plenty right, but I just cannot with wedding the two things this show is trying to be together, especially when it goes so hard in two mutually exclusive directions. but also the Meet Joe Black sudden car accident device is not redeemable under any circumstances. Can we never do that again, please.

[bellasharifuddin]

The Day I Became a Mother

It’s been a while since I last post anything here, typing feels awkward as well. But this has always been a thing that I wanted to do since the day I’ve given birth, to document and blog about my pregnancy and my birth journey, so in 4-5 years to come when my memories fade, I can always come back to reminisce every detail that I keep here, like a memory capsule. 

The Day I Found Out I Was Pregnant. 

You know, when people say that when you have a strong intuition about something, trust your gut feeling, because it’s often true. Mirin and I have always talked about having kids, me wanting a baby so much within months after we got married, however, Mirin having second thoughts about it. We were both married for less than a year, sleeping on a toto without a mattress or a bed, living in the deep slum of Wangsa Maju area where the rats are larger than the cats. Hahaha. Naturally, given our circumstances, he’d want to take things slow. 

Fast forward to a couple of months, we went out for some steaks and karaoke on a weekend night. I told mirin to stop by Watsons, for me to buy a pregnancy test kit. Mirin didn’t question much, because occasionally I would randomly buy one, just for fun. But this time, I didnt just get one. I ended up buying three. Why? Because somehow, I had a strong feeling this time. I just felt... weird. It was a feeling that I can’t put it into words. 

We came home at midnight, I went to the bathroom too “pee on the stick”. Then I saw the first line... a few seconds later comes the second one. Oh my god. Okay. I knew Mirin was standing outside the toilet door, waiting. Eventually, I had to break the news to him. When I showed to Mirin, we both ended up hugging and crying. Was I happy? Was I in shock? Was I sad? Yes, a little bit of everything. Its funny that all you’ve wanted was a baby, then when it actually happens, suddenly you’re freaked out. Happy that its a blessing. Sad that it hits you without a warning. 

                                                      Pregnant!

When the morning sickness finally kicked in, I knew we couldn’t live in the current house. Its not the best place to raise a child. And the next-door neighbor was having major renovation that was super loud and noisy. After sleepless nights and searching for a new place, we eventually moved out. Bought our first bed, bought our first dining table, bought our first gas stove. A many of firsts. Soon we finally bought a baby cot from Ikea. We bought it too early. Although it was too early to put it up, but Mirin assembled it anyways. I could tell that he was excited. It was such a fun and exciting moment, for the both of us.

But those were the fun part. Like most pregnancies, the not so fun part about being pregnant was me being diagnosed with Pregnancy Hypertension during my 36th week of pregnancy. My blood pressure spiked up to 140/100 on two consecutive readings, and the next thing I know, that I’m sitting in an ambulance, on my way to Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s emergency building. 

                     At Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Waiting for an available bed

                  Mirin bought me the entire family mart food available xD

I spent 3 nights in their maternity wards, finally discharged after the doctor told me that I was clear to go. While I was in the hospital, it pains me to see new mothers struggling during the COVID19 pandemic. Throughout your stay, no visitations were allowed from anyone including your husband. If your baby cries or if you’re in pain, you’d have figure it out yourself. I remember praying to god while crying that I do not want to be induced there. The ward was stuffy and hot. There were too many people crammed in a room. It was hell. 

The Day That I Give Birth

One week after my discharge, we both went for my monthly checkup with my OBGYN at Pantai. Again, my doctor advised me to be induced tomorrow, since my blood pressure spiked again, and I was almost full term (38 weeks) so it was okay to go. She told me that “It’s best to get the baby out or else you boleh kena sawan” OMG Okay okay. So we packed our bags, ate sushi for dinner, slept soundly for the very last time, and headed to the hospital again at 9 am the next morning. 

                         Induction day. We definitely overpacked haha

       Arrived at the hospital lobby, did a mandatory swab test before entering

Appointment card. Booked and paid for the accommodations prior to checking in

I was told to change into my labor robe (I’m not too sure what it’s called), and waited. When my doctor finally arrived, she then began to insert some sort of a plastic strip deeeeeep into my cervix. Ouch, that hurts. Okay, so that’s how induction works eh? Then I was given antibiotics into my IV drip too, since I was GBS (Group-B Strep) Positive as well. 

                                Toilet selfie! Calm before the storm

After an hour, I felt the contraction. Initially it was uncomfortable, then it hurts like hell. The contractions felt like period pain but like a million times worse. Occasionally, Doctor Haslinda would come and check on my “bukaan”. Hours passed. 1cm... 2cm... 3cm.... when I finally said:

“Omg sakit sangat dah tak tahan, I want an epidural!“

Ok no, that was a lie. I initially didn’t want to take an epidural. I wanted to try and bear with the pain, but Mirin convinced me to take it, so after tossing and turning like a dying fish I finally said okay. 

The anesthesiologist came after what felt like an eternity, and asked me to sign a consent form. I’m not really sure what was written in that. Siapa je ada masa nak baca terms and conditions panjang panjang bila tengah contractions??? 

He told me to sit on the edge of the bed, while hugging a pillow. I remembered him injecting some numbing spray, then I felt the BIG NEEDLE poking through my spine. Then.. that was it. It was so fast. The entire process took only 5 mins. Was it painful as I thought it would be? No. Was it still scary tho? Yep hahaha.

Soon after, Dr Haslinda pecahkan air ketuban when I was 4cm dilated. It didnt hurt because I was on epidural, but I felt so much warm liquid flowing out non-stop. So bizarre. 

Once you’re on epidural, you’re basically bed-ridden. No bathroom trips anymore, my legs feel like jelly. Sometimes the nurse will come to empty my bladder with a catheter. When the epidural kicked in, I could finally sleep. I slept like a baby. I slept for hours. Painless. No more feeling like a dying fish. And so I thought.............

3am. I woke up with INTENSE CONTRACTION PAIN. Why is it so painful? I thought I’m on epidural? I called the nurse straight away. Turned out the epidural drug ran out. It was sooo stressful because the nurse that was on duty that night didn’t know how to topap balik the epidural drug into the machine. She called her colleague, then the colleague also tak tahu. Then both of them spent like forever to troubleshoot how to use the machine, sampai lastly kena call doctor tanya. YA ALLAH, rasa macam nak maki je. 

7am the next day. Bukaan baru 7-8cm. Doctor decided to use another form of induction to speed up the process. It’s called pitocin, and injected through my IV drip. Within MINUTES, I could feel very intense and painful contractions, that the epidural can’t even help. So throughout the remaining 7cm to 10cm, I felt every inch of real labor pain. I clenched Mirin’s hand. So tightly that I think it got bruised. A minute felt like an hour, and an hour felt like years. It was soo bad that my memory was so fuzzy. 

Finally, it was 10cm. Time to go. They put both of my legs up, macam gambar bawah ni haha: 

                                      Picture courtesy from Google

There were two nurses, one small cute Malay nurse, one pregnant Indian nurse, and my OBGYN, Dr Haslinda. I love them all, they were so supportive and nice to me throughout my labor process. My doctor taught me how to push correctly:

“Take a deeeeeeep breath then tahan, clench your fists, chin down and teran macam nak berak sekuat-kuat hati“

I was so determined to get the baby out. I just wanted the contraction pain to end. I did everything they told me to do. I hold on to Mirin’s hand, and PUSHHHHHHHEDDDDDD! I could hear Mirin saying “You’re doing great sayang!” After several pushes, and some sips of water breaks, the baby’s head is almost out. The head was the hardest to push. Besar! I literally felt like my down there was stretching to its limit. Once the head is out, I did another small push, and the rest of the baby’s body macam keluar instantly macam super slimy like that haha. 

Finally the baby is out! 8.26AM! The contractions stopped immediately. I instantly feel like I wasn’t pregnant anymore. The doctor then injected something on my thigh, then my uri just popped right out haha. My body felt so tired, but so so light. Lega, yay no longer pregnant haha. I ended up having second degree perineal tear without an episiotomy, and was stitched. I felt the benang, ngilu. I felt the needle pierced through my muscles too. But it didnt hurt so it wasn’t too bad. 

The baby gets cleaned up. Then soon all of the nurses left the labor room, it was just me, Mirin and our baby. Mirin picked her up, and azankan. Mirin started crying, I cried too. It was magical :’)

We did skin to skin and tried breastfeeding for the first time. As I look at her, hair was so thick. Her cute little fingers. Her beautiful face. She’s perfect. 

                            I slept for 5 hours straight after the labor

Thinking back, I have no idea how I managed to muster such courage to go through all these. Mirin even told me that during the active labor stage, when I was pushing, at one point I pushed so hard that my entire face turned blue. Talk about adrenaline.

Do I want to have another baby? Well, lets keep a rain check on that question for another few more years to come xD

[myhauntedsalem]

True Ghost Stories and Tales of the Supernatural

1. A Baby Crying

“When I was in high school, my uncle would throw me a couple bucks to help babysit his kids with my aunt. They lived in a two-story house by the water, nice area. The kids were about 3 and 6, respectively.

One day I was sitting in their den on my phone when I started to hear a baby crying. Thinking it was the three-year-old, I headed to the bottom of the stairs to check and see if my aunt was up there dealing with it. I called for her a couple times with no response. The baby kept crying. I called for her one more time, and when I got no response I started walking up the stairs. Then I heard my cousins and aunt playing outside.

All the hairs on my body stood up and I literally felt a chill run down my spine. I quietly turned around, walked down the stairs, got in my car, and drove away. The ‘baby’ was still crying when I closed the door behind me.

A few years later I was drunk at a family party and told my uncle the story. He told me that he and his wife used to hear the baby too, and apparently, the previous owners had a kid die of SIDS in that room upstairs. He’s uber Catholic and had a Mass said for the baby. He said after that it never happened again. Still gives me the willies when I talk about it though.” – urgehal666

2. The Man with the Suitcase

“I was 13 years old and drinking lemonade with my best friend in my kitchen. We were alone. From where we were seating we could see a corridor that leads from the front door to the backyard. We were talking and something made us shut up. We looked to the corridor and there was the shadow of a man walking by with a suitcase. I know she also saw him because we both described the same thing: a tall shadow with a suitcase

Fast forward to a few years later, I had to do a school project with another girl. Again I was alone at home, working on the computer when she arrived. She then asked me where my dad was. When I told her my dad was away, at work, she asked me, ‘Well, then who’s the man I saw walking downstairs and carrying a suitcase when I came in?’

So far, no one else from my family has seen him. I haven’t seen him again ever since, but for a while it really scared the shit out of me to be home alone.” – rraarraarraasputin

3. The Exorcism

“I work as a paramedic, got a call to a church, the retired nun who still lived at the church was having some issues. The priest was attempting an exorcism when the family got a state order to get her into a psych facility. We got her into the back of our ambulance and all was fine. Then this 92-year-old, 90-pound woman ripped out of her leather restraints and started speaking in a voice no human could produce. She then told me that her commander in the war had burned and buried her alive during the war when defending France against the Germans.

The whole presence was terrifying and gave me nightmares for years to come. I told my partner to use the lights and sirens so I could get out of there as fast as possible. During the whole transport, she was speaking in weird tongues.” – rbilly0001

4. The Morgue Door

“Used to work hospital security and we had video cameras accessible in the office.

During body escorts, we kept finding the morgue door open. That was weird because it was a heavy door that could only be opened with a keycard. Pathologists were blaming security and security was blaming pathologists for leaving it open, as we were the only two groups with access. I did a body escort one day, made sure to close the door behind me and went back to work. Not even a half hour later, the office got a call bitching that the ‘last guard left the door open.’

I swore up and down I didn’t and went to check the cameras. The cameras showed me pulling the door shut, pushing on it and then wiggling the locked handle to ensure it was closed. I wasn’t even out of frame from the camera yet before we could see the door swing ALL the way open, hit the wall and then slowly swing shut until it was slightly ajar.” – LilithImmaculate

5. The Haunted Hotel

“Not me but a friend who is a pilot. She stayed at an older hotel downtown Chicago and was studying for her recurrent class which was in a few weeks. While at the desk, deep in thought, she heard people talking and laughing. When she looked up, it got quiet. She said it sounded like it was in the room with her and went back to studying. The noise started off softly and then again sounded like a party was going on in her room. She got up and looked around and there was silence. There were no sounds coming from any rooms, no televisions on, no radios, no people in the hallway – the noise was definitely in her room.

That night around 2 am, she was in bed and felt someone brush strands of hair from her forehead and tuck it behind her ear. She jumped up and turned on the light and there was no one there. She didn’t get back to sleep and bid around that overnight so she wouldn’t be in that hotel again.” – Sandbargirl

6. Echoes of the Past

“When I was little I saw a recurring ghost. She would appear for a split second and then vanish, but I could always perfectly recreate the image.

She was a short little girl wearing a frilly blue dress and a big red bow, blonde hair, blue eyes, large ears. A couple of notable sightings were her looking through my mom’s jewelry box and one peering through our glass door at me (with her hands over here eyes binocular style)

It never really bothered me and these happened for a while. A few years later at my Grandfathers house and we were helping him unpack his attic and I found a portrait of his long since deceased sister.

Not quite the same dress, slightly different bow, but the face was absolutely her. She had died as a child quite tragically so obviously I had never met her, but I did know of her but had never seen a picture of her before.

So, not a scary supernatural encounter but rather a heartwarming one knowing the great aunt I never met was saying hello.” – Omni_Omega

7. Alone in the Chuch

“I worked for my church for two years. One day, a coworker and I were closing up the church at the end of the day. By this point, doors were locked and we had checked every room to make sure no one was in the building. The church had two lobbies, one in each side of the building. They were connected with a long hallway lined with classrooms. As my coworker and I were turning off lights and double checking the doors in the one lobby, I looked down the hall and could distinctly see a boy (late teens to early 20s) in a blue plaid short sleeve shirt and khaki pants sitting in the chair. He had his hands folded and was looking at the ground as if in deep thought.

Initially, I didn’t think anything of it as this wasn’t an uncommon sight. I turned and in the second it hit me that we were the only ones in the building. I turned again and he there was no one (from the time that I saw him to when he disappeared all happened in about a second or two). I told my coworker what I saw and we both noped out of there quick.

Being that is was our first unexplained, potentially supernatural, experience, we were both pretty freaked out but we never felt threatened nor was the presence malicious in any degree.” – AgentMarks

8. The Escaped Prisoner

“I worked in a maximum security prison for awhile. I was assigned to central control one night, which is where the camera screens were.

One of the cameras was for the classifications room. I glanced at it and there was an inmate in there. This was super odd because it was two in the morning and nobody was supposed to be in there. Everyone that had keys to that room went home at 5.

Anyways, so this inmate is just sitting in there doing nothing. I got the sergeant’s attention and told him someone was in there and gave him the spare key to the room. He went to go check it out with a couple of other people, but by the time they got there, the room was empty. They searched for like 15 minutes but there was definitely no one in there.” – Bb21297

9. Calls From the Old Morgue

“My colleague used to work in a hospital and would often receive phone calls around 3am but no one would speak at the other end of the receiver. The number was from an extension somewhere in the hospital and when they looked it up, it was from an old morgue nobody has used in a while.” – manicpixiechick

10. The Footsteps

“When I was about 12 our family moved into a new house—new to us, actually quite old. It was in our same village but down a different lane.

Part of it used to be a bungalow so my room and my sister’s room were on the ground floor, down a long hallway. All of the ground floor had walnut flooring and there was a Persian rug outside the door to my room to avoid cold toesies in the morning.

Every night, around 11 or so, I would hear footsteps walking at a fairly slow pace right down the hall, from the end guest suite up past our rooms and away down the hall to the living room.

I was always in bed when I heard them, and so was everyone else. You know how you can tell who a family member is by the way they walk up the stairs, or open a specific door? I knew it wasn’t anyone in my family. Plus, it was the sound of outdoor shoes clacking on the wood and everyone in my family wore slippers inside the house.

I would hear the footsteps start, fairly loud on the wooden floor, way down the hall, come up past my sister’s room and then there would be a pause—while whatever it was walked over the rug. You could hear the gap in the footsteps, about three seconds, then they would start again on the other side of the rug and fade out as they walked down the hall away to the living room.

Then they would come back—same footsteps, break across the rug, resumed on the other side.

I don’t remember ever feeling scared, but I never ever went out to see what it was. I would fall asleep to the sound, it would go on for a really long time. It stopped about 3 or 4 weeks after we moved in and I never heard it again. I didn’t really think about it much after it stopped, but I’ve never forgotten it and as an adult it makes me shiver to remember it.” – KE-1930

[violetnotez]

Shopping Trip HC- Kirishima x Reader

@fxndxmxnxce​!:Hi! i just saw your blog but you already look so good😍 could i get a request where kirishima and his s/o go out to get groceries for cook dinner for their classmates? they goof off; riding around in carts, taking random samples of food, and even recite vines while they look for ingredients🥺 just a lot of tooth rotting fluff because why not :D bonus todoroki gives them endeavor’s card (in which he stole) to let them pay for the stuff tonight LMAOO thanks i love you🥰🥰🥰

ACK MY FIRST REQUEST THANK UUU! I love getting requests ngl :) I made this into a HC hope you dont mind!

Kirishima x reader

Genre: OVER LOAD of Fluff

Word Count:

Warnings: Choatic Energy throughout

(RULES | MASTERLIST COMING SOON| REQUESTS OPEN!!! :))

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

It was the week before exams and everyone was beginning to cram big time

Everyone was in the common room, every surface covered in textbooks and notes from the semester

Izuku, Ochaco, Iida, Froppy, Ojiro, and Toru  were on the training grounds practicing for the practical exams- Todoroki was studying on the couch

Momo was giving all of Bakusquad (including you) a huge study session that made all of your heads hurt (minus Bakugo- he wouldnt be caught dead studying with a bunch of ‘idiots’)

All of you were exhausted- you had been going at this since 9 in the morning at it was already close to dinner time

Kirishima had his head resting in your lap, you playing with his fire red hair as Momo rambled about Geometry, while Kaminari and Sero tried desperately to take notes as fast as Momo talked 

Mina had given up an hour ago and was now standing in front of the fridge

“Ughhhhh”, she whined, “we have no fooooooood.” 

“Cmon Mina we got like a hour to dinner you can wait!” Kaminari said while writing like his life depended on it (which it kinda did- he was borderline passing his classes as it was- if he failed these exams he was screwed)

“Oh be quiet Kaminari your the one who eats all the food half the time!” Mina yelled frustrated

When Mina’s hangry- she is HANGRY

“Dont blame this on me- my quirk isnt the one that depends on eating to work!”

“If your trying to imply Im the one who ate all the food then you are completely wrong!” Momo spat out at Kaminari, kinda looking hurt

“Can you all keep it down-Im trying to read,” Todoroki interjected calmly, not even looking up from his book

To be honest, all of you forgot Todorki was even in the room, so it kind of threw you all off

“Hey-why dont me and y/n just go pick up some food! The market’s not too far away” Kirishima sat up, his hair in odd angles from you combing it with your fingers

You knew what he was doing- he had zoned out too, and he just wanted a way to leave the study session, but he was too polite to actually leave it (for Momo’s sake- she got way too excited over study sessions)

You yawned, stretching from sitting for so long- “thatd be nice, Id like to stretch my legs a little.”

Kaminari shrugged, “Sure why not- not like were going anywhere, mind as well get some snacks-”

You started making a list of everything everybody wanted and it was long- Kaminari and Sero were shouting out everything fattening, from Takis to Twinkies to 2 liter sodas, Mina yelled she wanted a bunch of sweets like Pocky, Momo was a little healthier but she wanted more expensive things like sushi, and Kirishima wasnt helping since he wanted to buy everything for everybody

You two started adding up stuff in your head and you knew for sure there was no way you could pay for all this, even if everyone chipped in

You gave Kirishima a look, letting him know that this wasn't going to work- somebody had to help you two out or ask for a little less

He knew you hated to let your friends down, so he smiled, letting you know he had it under control

“Uh, guys, we cant get so much food- this is way too much and we cant buy all this- can we maybe take something off the list?” kirishima asked as Kaminari and Mina began to whine

To your surprise, Todoroki walked over and handed you something. You looked down at it seeing it was a credit card.

You gasped slightly- “No Todoroki we cant take this this is yours-”

“I dont care what you do with it or how much you charge on it,” he said calmly, “as long as it makes you all quiet.”

“Of course- thanks man, we owe you one!” Kirishima smiled, grabbing your hand, pulling you up and shuffling you out the door

“Well you were desperate to leave, huh Kiri?” you kidded as you cuddled closer to him as you both walked to the store

“Anything to spend some alone time with you princess,” he smiled, kissing the top of your head, “Also.... I think my head was starting to hurt from listening to Momo- what even is a Pythagorean theoreom?!”

Oh Kiri you poor baby

You both get to the supermarket and the cute lovey dovey Kirishima disappears

He instantly gets super excited because FOOD

And carts

“Cmon y/n they have kiddie carts!”

“Kirishima no those are for kids!” you laugh, taking the cart from him gently

“Ahhh cmon babe please!!!”

You kiss him on the cheeck- “No Kiri sorry!” (he pouts tho)

You get one of the normal carts and he instantly stands on the back and holds on to the wired basket, forcing you to push him around

You shake your head, smiling, because he looks so cute just standing there having the time of his life as you push him around

“A Thousand Miles” comes over the speakers and you both look at each other with the most shocked but happy faces ever

-30 seconds later-

Your now on the back, Kirishima is pushing your around like a maniac, has knocked you into 3 stands of food already, but you dont care because your both laughing trying to sing the lyrics

“IF I COULD FALL INTO THE SKY” Kirishima practically shouts, holding a can of whip cream like a microphone

“DO YOU THINK TIME COULD PASS ME BY!” you sing after

“BECAUSE I WOULD WALK A THOUSAND MILES JUST TO SEE YOU!” you both shout out, getting some dirty looks from a pair of old ladies at the meat section (which you could care less about)

You both look at each other and just start busting up, Kirishima taking you to the next aisle

You get to the candy section, where Kirishima is still laughing over the old ladies’ glares at you two

You kinda calmed down, going back to the task at hand, picking out all the candies Mina had asked you to get her

He then sees a bag of Life Savers

PLS TELL ME SOMEBODY REMEBERS THIS VINE

“Hey y/n-” he taps your shoulder, giggles barely being contained from him

You turn around, a grinning Kiri holding a bag of Life Savers

“Le-fes Sa-ve-airs”

You roll your eyes, giggling, “Oh my gosh Please Kiri no more vines!”

“Oh calm on vines are so awesome!” he exclaims, putting the bag of candy back in its original space

“Yes but I think we’ve annoyed enough people with our vine references”

“Only two old ladies!”

“Two old ladies that will probably get us kicked out” you laughed, giving him a kiss

“Lets just get the food so we can go back to the dorms- Im getting kind of hungry seeing all this food…”

“Wait, youre hungry?!?” he asks super concerned

“Just a little,” you shrug off, “its no big deal-”

“WAIT HERE” Kirishima practically yells, seemingly not hearing what you said and runs off

You shake your head, knowing your boyfriend too well- he could get impulsive sometimes

You got all the food and was waiting in the checkout line when you spotted Kirishima trying to balance a bunch of small, clear cups in his hands

“Are those--- samples?!” you asked, shocked that he went around the WHOLE store getting all those samples

“Yep!” he says super proud, happy he was helping his girlfriend

“Oh my gosh Kiri I love you, you know that, right?” you exclaim happily, your stomach growling as you began to eat out of one of the cups

KIRISHIMA.exe is BrOkEn

If he knew food would get you so happy he would have brought you WAY more food A LOOOOOOONG time ago

You got to the check out and the price- was- ALOT

You gulped, hoping the rumors of Todoroki being extremely rich were true

And thank the gods they were because you were able to pay for the food no problem

Then you realized- you had 10 bags full of food you had to lug back to the dorms

And it was close to a 15 minute walk

You started picking up bags, already feeling the weight of them after 3

“I got them, don't worry babe!” Kirishima gingerly took the bags from your hands and began to strap them across his arm

‘Wait Kiri no theres alot you can't hold all-”

Kirishima put a kiss on your cheek, instantly making your cheeks warm

“Its okay I can carry them!” He smiled, making your insides all fuzzy

How did you get such a cute boyfriend?

“At least let me hold 2!”

You literally had to claw two bags away from him because he refused to let you hold any because it wasnt “manly” for his girlfriend to have to hold a bunch of heavy bags by herself

The walk back was a breeze, Kirishima seemingly unbothered by the weight and you two both  enjoyed the sunset coming down against the mountains

When you finally got back, all your classmates were there, everyone in their pajamas and on the floor

All the notes and books had been replaced by pillows and blankets and everyone was in their lounge or sleep wear

“Oh hey ya two love birds, you got the food!” Kaminari yelled out happily, wearing pajamas with lightning bolts on them

“Hey Pikachu,” you laughed, “and yes, we got your food,” throwing him a bag of chips (which he devoured instantly like an animal)

“Why is everyone in their pajamas?” Kirishima asked, putting the bags on the kitchen counter

Mina came over and hugged you, so happy you got her snacks as Uraraka made a pillow float in the air

“We all decided were going to hang out and build a huge pillow fort and have a sleepover!” Uraraka exclaimed excitedly, Froppy and Momo helping her place the pillows inside the fort

“Awesome!” Kirishima shouted excitedly, “Cmon, y/n, lets go get changed!” 

He grabbed your hand, Kaminari and Sero making whistle sounds at you two as Kirishima pulled you up stairs

You shook your head, a blush coming on your cheeks

“When did they get so interested in us?” you asked, your face turning red from those dumb whistles

“Dont worry about them babe,” Kirishima said soflty, “their just jealous that i have somebody as amazing as you.”

                                                             BONUS

“So,” Ochaco asked, snacking on a cookie, “how were able to pay for all this food?!”

“Yeah, you guys must have spent a fortune,” Tsuyu added

“It was Todoroki,” you explained, “he was nice enough to let us pay for it on his credit card- again Todoroki, thank you for letting us pay for all this!”

Kirishima agreed, his hand wrapped around your waist, “We totally owe you a favor- if you ever need anything, come to us!”

Todoroki nodded in thanks

“Your all welcome”, he replied calmly, “but that credit card wasnt mine-”

“It was my father’s.”

You instantly choke on the soda you were sipping on, Kirishima patting your back to keep you from choking

“Wait-” you gasped out, “We SPENT 500 DOLLARS OF FOOD ON ENDEAVOR’S-PERSONAL-CREDIT CARD?!”

“WHY WOULD EVEN GIVE US THAT CARD IF IT WASN'T EVEN YOURS MAN?!” Kirishima shouts, fear evident in his voice

To say the least, the night just got 10 times more stressful as you and Kirishima were terrified that the #1 Hero was going to come and rip you to shreds for using his money to buy snacks

Requests open!!!!

[janeyseymour]

Escape- pt 9

pt 1. pt 2. pt 3. pt 4. pt 5. pt 6. pt 7. pt 8.

Jane Seymour has stayed with Henry long enough. Cue Catherine of Aragon and the rest of the girls to save her.

Jane and Catherine take advice from others.

Henry had made his way out of the state and hadn’t seen his case since leaving until now. 

“A Mr. Henry Tudor has been on the loose since last month due to a report of physical abuse to his at-the-time fiancee. Police have very limited information. If you, or someone you know, has any information on the whereabouts of Tudor, please dial the number at the bottom of the screen. That’s all for tonight. We’ll see you again tomorrow.”

“Shit,” he muttered when he heard a knock on the door. “Coming.”

“Your food is here.” The lady smiled before her nose scrunched in confusion. “You look vaguely familiar.”

“Oh, that’s not possible. This is the first time I’ve ever been at this hotel.” It wasn’t a lie; this was the first time he had been at the hotel. “But maybe I’ll see you around sometime soon? After you get off of work maybe?” Henry didn’t know it, but he had just fallen into a trap.

“I’d like that. I’ll come to your room around 7:30?”

“I’ll be waiting.” He winked at her and closed the door. “Oh this bitch doesn’t know what she just got herself into.” Then a realization hit him: he never ordered room service. 

Around 7:15, Henry heard a knock at his door.

“It’s just me!” The room service lady called.

“Hey gorgeous,” he grinned as he opened the door. “Boy are you-”

“Henry Tudor put your hands up!” The woman yelled as she pointed a gun in his direction.

“How do you know who I am?” he shouted as he threw his arms up.

“Bring ‘em in boys.” A group of police ran in and seized the man. 

“What the hell? You bitch!” He tried to escape the woman’s grasp.

“You didn’t think I recognized you? If you thought you were going to get away with harming a poor innocent woman to get to another poor innocent woman, you really are crazy,” she laughed as Henry was put in handcuffs and led out of the hotel. 

Catherine’s cell phone began ringing while the two were napping again. She reached for the phone quickly so as to not disturb a slumbering Jane. 

“Hello?” She answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Catherine? It’s Beale.”

“Oh hi. Let me wake Jane.”

“You might want to. I have big news.” 

“Okay.” She held the phone to her chest. “Jane? Honey, wake up.”

“Mmm,” she stirred. “Baby’s hungry. Pickles and peanut butter.” She smiled with her eyes closed. 

“I’ll get that for you, but right now Beale is on the phone.” Grace’s eyes flew open. 

“I’m awake. Put it on speaker.” Catherine complied, and Officer Beale’s voice was heard throughout the room. 

“Henry was arrested yesterday. We are unsure of who else is or was involved, so we suggest you continue to lay low and keep up with any sorts of training you began. He has a $250,000 bail before he goes to trial, and it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll be able to make it, but we’ve had crazier things happen. Questions?”

“Are there any people suspected to have been involved?” Catherine asked simply.

“There was a disposable phone in his possession that had been calling a recently disconnected number. He alluded to the fact that he was in contact with a Mr. Thomas Culpepper. Does that name ring a bell?”

“Yes,” Jane said through clenched teeth. She knew she had been right to hang up on him the day he called her. 

“He hasn’t been seen in a while, so we’re suspecting it has something to do with him.”

“Thank you sir. Have a nice day,” Jane’s voice trembled. As soon as they hung up, a tear fell down her face. 

“Why are you crying honey?” Catherine wiped the tear away with her thumb. 

“Hormones and happiness,” she began sobbing. When her sobs grew louder, the other four women made their way to the bedroom. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for the gentle woman to cry, especially now with carrying a child. That didn’t stop the others from running to her side to offer her comfort, and cake if you were Anne. 

“Happy crying?” Anna read the room quickly. Jane nodded. 

“Do you want cake?” Jane shook her head. “Well, I always have cake ready if you ever decide you want cake.” 

“Just give me her damned location!” The second Jane and Catherine hung up, Thomas had called, refusing to give up his name. “I am a very close friend to Jane, and I want to make sure she’s okay! She considers me family!”

“It’s confidential sir. I can’t just give that information away to anyone, and you are not family sir. If you were family, she would have told you herself.” Beale had figured this was someone who wanted Jane for themselves. “If anything, she’s dating the person she left with. They’re her family now. Good day.” Best to not give up any information on Catherine either, he thought. Then, he remembered something. Grace had mentioned something about a baby.

“Jane Seymour,” the blonde answered as she usually does. 

“I would advise you not to answer the phone like that anymore. You’re hiding, remember?”

“Oh. I didn’t even think about that. Thank you.”

“Just looking out for you Jane. Are you pregnant?” He got straight to the point. 

“Ye-yes,” she stammered. “How’d you know?”

“You were half-asleep and said something about a baby and pickles and peanut butter. My wife had the same craving when she was pregnant. Put two and two together.”

“Oh. Well, I am, and I fully intend on keeping it.” Her voice went stone cold as she followed with, “I demand full custody of my son or daughter.”

“Of course. I’ll have those papers sent out as soon as I can.”

“Thank you,” her tone went back to normal.

“Of course. Good day.”

“You told him?” Catherine asked, half asleep.

“Figured he should know?”

“Hey, do you wanna go out to dinner tonight? I can pick you up at six,” Catherine laughed at her half-joke.

“Sure. What should I wear?” The blonde leaned back into her companion.

“Something nice, but not too nice? It feels like forever since we’ve done anything fancy, and when the baby comes along, God only knows when’s the next time we’ll be able to do something,” she laughed.

“Okay! Before all of that though, I have to call my mom.”

“I’ll be here.” Catherine reached for her phone. With Jane out of the room, she saw this as her opportunity to call John.

“Hey John, it’s Cath. We have to talk.”

“What’s going on? The kid’s not yours, is it?”

-

“Mom, it can’t really be Lina’s. That’s not really how that works. And besides, we haven’t done anything,” she paused before adding on a quiet, “yet.”

“Okay!” Margaret exclaimed, although a bit defeatedly. “I just need to prove your father wrong... Wait, yet?”

-

“Sir, I’m taking your daughter out tonight. I want to ask her if I can be there for the baby, almost like another parental figure. You know her best. How will she react?”

“That baby might not be yours biologically, but that doesn’t matter. Your heart’s in it, and that makes you more of a parent to this baby than Henry will ever be.”

-

“She’s taking me to dinner, and I’m going to use this as an opportunity to ask her if she’ll help me with the baby, so long as everything goes well these next months.”

“Honey, I’m 100% sure that woman would literally do anything for you. She’s like a sister to you, isn’t she?”

“I’m not so sure anymore Mom. I don't really think of her like that anymore. I have to go get ready though, so we can talk about this later.”

“Not so fast.”

-

“Whatever happens, be there for my daughter. It doesn’t matter if you’re an aunt or another mother to that kid. Have the best intentions for the baby. Have the best intentions for Jane.”

“Yes sir.”

“I just have one more question for you,” John announced abruptly. “Are you, for real, in love with my daughter?”

-

“I just have a question for you Janey, and I want you to answer it truthfully. Are you in love with her?” Margaret pressed.

In two separate rooms, the two replied, “Uh, yeah. I think I am.”

Jane quietly walked into the living room, realizing she had forgotten a washcloth for the shower. Catherine was still on the phone. She backed into the hall but couldn’t help listening in on her conversation.

“Yeah, no. Don’t worry John. You can tell Margaret.” Jane gasped before going silent, praying Catherine hadn’t heard her. She counted to ten before walking in. 

“Dad, I gotta go,” Catherine tried to cover up her conversation, blissfully unaware that Jane heard the last of the conversation. “See you later.”

“So cute with your dad,” Jane played along with the other woman’s bit. “So where are we going exactly?”

“Well, Cathy knows this super quaint- no. It’s a surprise.” She grinned. “Don’t worry. You’ll see in like three hours. Right now though, I have to run some errands. You cool to stay home for a little while?”

“Yeah, of course I am.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a few hours. Don’t do anything too crazy.” She kissed the blonde woman's cheek softly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just going to get the peanut butter and pickles you never got me!” she teased.

“I hate you.” Catherine grinned as she made her way out of the house.

Before Jane could go to the kitchen, Anna appeared. 

“So you and Cath are finally going on a date?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a-”

“It’s probably a date. Seymour, you can’t tell me you and Cath don’t have even the smallest thing for each other.”

“We- I- she-”

“Just say it man. You’ll feel better.”

“Why do you think you know?”

“Know what?” Anna encouraged Jane to verbally admit the feelings she had for her friend. 

“Why do you think I have feelings for Lina?” Jane chose her words carefully. She wasn’t about to admit her feelings for her best friend, knowing her feelings would only be rejected.

“Well, for starters, you’re the only one who’s allowed to call her Lina. Anyone else is only to call her Cath, and you both made that clear. You’re also just not that secretive. The longing glances, the way you two are never apart, the clear soft spot you have for her.”

“You’re silly. We’re just friends. And even if I did have feelings for Lina, and I’m not saying I do, there’s no way she would reciprocate the feelings.” Jane wasn’t going to get her hopes up. 

“So you’re telling me that if I called her Lina to her face, she wouldn’t tell me not to?”

“Well no. She doesn’t really let anyone call her that but me.”

“And you’re telling me that Cath just goes around and kisses all of her friend’s cheeks? Because I can say with certainty that she hasn’t done that to any of us, not even Cathy, and those two are related.”

Jane went to argue, but Anna continued, “Listen Seymour, all I’m saying is: don’t deny what’s right and what’s right in front of you.” The woman left, leaving Jane standing by herself for a moment. Had she really been that oblivious? Was it possible Catherine was also in love with her?

[deadlygoddess85]

Eternal Soul - Serie

- Part 2 - 

Chapter 2 - The Coven

Pairing: The witches x Hongjoong, Seonghwa, San and Jongho

Words: a lot

Genre: Fantasy - a bit of horror

Songs suggestion: The Queen of the damned soundtrack. 

Characters presentation - The vampires

Characters presentation - The Witches

/ CHAPTER 1 - THE BEACONING /

The sweet laugh of the chubby baby sitting on the toy plane made her chuckle. Even if she has been doing this for the past 3 years, babies are still her weakness. She loved them so much and this one, was a little cutie pie with the tiny aviator hat, the goggles, and the blue scarf around his tiny neck. He was having the time of his life with this toy plane.

The mother was incredibly pleased, and she promises to buy a lot of photos from this session. So, Nina made sure to make her baby look the best.

“Oh Nina! You are the best with kids!” said the woman picking up her baby boy.

Nina blushed, putting a strand of hair behind her ear “Thank you Mrs. Abbott. It’s easy to do my job with this munchkin” she said, playfully pinching the baby’s chubby cheek.

Mrs. Abbott looked at her watch and gasped “Oh my god! It’s already 9. I’m so sorry Nina, I didn’t know it was so late already”

“No worries Madam. You are my last client for today. Plus, we need the perfect picture for your little prince, right?”

The mother smiled, happy with Nina’s professionalism. The young woman walked them to the door and unlocked it

“Well, Mrs. Abbott, I will call you when the negatives are ready. We’ll schedule a new appointment to choose the pictures you want.”

Mrs Abbott thanked the photographer by giving her a huge tip and walked out the studio into the brisk summer night air. Nina looked at the woman walked away with her kid and she sighed. Her eyes went down to her hand on the 100$ bill the mother tipped.

“Thank you, Mrs. Abbott, you just paid for tonight’s rounds!” she chuckled.

The photographer closed the studio. She stopped in front of one of the mirrors in her shop and fix her make-up. She looked at her dress and smiled. She loved that dress; she remembered the day her mother gave it to her. The old woman had spent countless nights sewing the whole thing together as a surprise for her younger daughter.

Nina played with the hem of her skirt, her fingertip brushing across the embroidery details “I miss you mom!”

She wiped a small tear from her cheek and walked out her studio. She made sure the door was locked properly before she made her way to the Twilight Grove.

---

The Twilight Grove was already pretty crowed even if it was early in the evening. Jo, the barmaid, was busy trying to get all the drinks order out as fast as possible. She was thankful about her decision to have her hair into two pompoms tonight, with the crowd around her bar, it was super warm. She finished a batch of Cosmopolitans for a group of girls who were at a table in the middle of the place. Jo put all the cocktails on a tray:

“Marcus, cover the bar a minute, I’ll drop these cocktails to the girls over there!” she said taking the tray in her right hand and walking to the center of the place. Walking through the dancers was a hard maneuver but she managed to get to the table without spilling anything.

“Here you go girls!” she said giving the cocktails one by one to the customers. They paid Jo, but barely left any tips. The barmaid smiled anyway and made her way back to the bar. She noticed a man sitting alone at a table in a far corner of the place. It wasn’t the first time she was seeing him there. She got back behind the bar and continued taking orders when her sister arrived

“JO!” she yelled, making her way behind the bar.

“Nina! You’re not supposed to be here!” Jo said softly, hugging her sister. Nina took two bottles of beers, gave them to a cute man that was waiting and made him pay. She looked at her older siblings and winked. Jo shook her head smiling,

“Alright! We could use your help. Go see this man over there. He has been waiting for a while!” Jo said pointing at the strange customers.

Nina salute her sister like a soldier and happily walked to the stranger.

San was too concentrated on the crowd to see Nina walked to him. He got startled when he heard her sweet voice

“Hi Sir, we are sorry for the long wait. Can I take your order?” she asked smiling.

San blinked looking at the lovely woman in front of him. His heart skips a beat when she placed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.

“Hmm…I.. I don’t – w-what do you recommend?” he studder. Nina giggle “Cute!” she thought to herself. She gave the cocktail menu to the young man and bent to his level to show him her selection.

“If you like sweet cocktails, I suggest the Blackberry Vanilla Lemonade. It is spiked with vodka. Very good! But if you are more strong alcohol, the Old Fashion is a classic here”

San’s heart skipped a beat again while having Nina’s face this close to his, he slowly inhales her sent, she smelled like fresh raspberries. He adjusted the glasses on his nose and gulped hard.

“I’ll- I’ll have the Old Fashion….please!”  

Nina stand back up and winked at him “Coming right up!!”

San sighed heavily and slightly loosen his tie. He has seen a lot of people in his long vampire life, but nobody like this young woman. There was something about her. He decided to concentrate on her and read her mind.

Nina got back to the bar and gave the order to Jo. She leaned on the bar

“He’s cute, isn’t he?” she asked her sister

“Who?” Jo asked while she was mixing the cocktail.

“The man over there” Nina answered

Jo lift her gaze for a second, looking at the mysterious man and she smirked

“Well you sure did a good impression on him. He is so checking you out!”

Nina stared at him with hungry eyes and bit her bottom lips. San saw the way the young woman was looking at him. He fidgeted on his seat, clear his throat, and rake his hair with his soft fingers, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Nina came back to him with his cocktail

“Here you go Sir! It’ll be 7$ please” she asked politely.

San gave her a 20$ bill while trying to avoid looking at her in the eyes. “You can keep the change” he said, his voice was tiny, almost a whisper. The young woman cocked her eyebrow at the sudden change of attitude. She pouted going back behind the bar to help her older sister. San downed the cocktail in one shot, the alcohol burnt his throat for a mere second and he left the bar.

---

The place was silent, only the sound of her breathing and the humming of the refrigerator was echoing into the lab. The dark hair woman took a syringe in her steady hand and slowly pour the liquid contained in it into the petri dish. She looked at the result through the microscope and scribble the details into her notebook.  

“You are still here?” asked a male voice behind her. The woman took her goggles off and rubbed her eyes. She leaned her arms on the table and yawned

“Yes, I’m close I know I am, but I just can’t get the blood sequence right” she said softly.

The male walked to her and rest a hand on her shoulder “Andri, go back home! You haven’t slept in the last 48 hours. Get some sleep and come back in two days!”

Andri turned to face her colleague “But…”

“It’s an order! I’m your boss after all! GO!” the male ordered.

She sighed heavily. She knew too well she couldn’t win against her boss. She gathered her things, unwillingly, while her boss was watching her. She slowly walked toward the door of the lab

“Nobody touches my research please!” she said before her boss pushed her out the lab and locked the door. He waved at her with a big smile and she understood she had no other choice but leave and go home.

Although, she wasn’t in the mood to go home. She stopped by the lab’s showers, cleaned up and put on some clean clothes before getting out of the lab.

The wind was refreshing on her skin as she was walking toward the Twilight Grove. She walked pass a dark alley and heard a small whimper coming from the narrow road. She looked around her, hesitant, nobody was there, the street was empty. Andri made three slow steps in the alley

“Hello? Anyone there?” she asked. Silence, she was about to turn and walk away when she heard the whimper again. In a flash, Andri was pinned down by two vampires. Two vicious Nightshades trying to feed on her blood. Quickly, she reacted by focusing on her two sisters.

“Jo! Nina! HELP!”

Nearby, in the Twilight Grove, Jo and Nina suddenly hear an aerie voice calling for them. They both stop what they are doing and exchange a look. They automatically walked toward the exit

“Andri!” Nina shouted in the middle of the street.

“Where is she?” Jo asked her sister. They looked around; the street was empty. How was it even possible? A small fog-like smoke was hovering the ground, Jo saw, down the street, four maybe five vampires.

“Nightshades!?! What are they doing here?” her rhetorical question was only answered by the growl of three more vampires behind them. “We have to find Andri!” she told her younger sister.

Nina think quickly and she kneeled on the hard ground. She took a small piece of white chalk she always carries with her and started drawing runes on the hard ground, the fog covering the surface making it much harder for her.

“Cover me!” she told her older sister. Jo looked down at her sibling with wide eyes

“Are you kidding me?” The three vampires that were behind them tried to make a move toward the two sisters, but Jo quickly raised her hands in front of her and instantly the beast where violently pushed back by a huge invisible force. The three beasts were brutally shoved against the brick wall about 6 feet away.

“Hurry up!” Jo screamed at Nina on the ground. The young woman drew as fast as she could. As soon as the last rune was drawn on the ground, she put her hand together, gathering an imperceptible energy and with one huge flash she saw signs of her older sister. The vision was blurry, but Nina could see her. Andri was in an alley two blocks down surrounded by Nightshades. Nina quickly got up, she took Jo by the hand and start running toward the alley she saw in her vision.

“This way!” she said pulling on her sister to follow. Jo started running behind her younger sibling. Loud growls were heard behind them as more feral vampires gathered to chase them.

Andri was at the end of the alley, behind her a tall steel fence, in front of her; two Nightshades growling and hissing ready to pounce on their prey at any given second. She tried to use her powers but the previous attack by the vampire hurt her badly and she couldn’t concentrate enough to get her energy going.

As they were about to take advantage of the situation and attack, the two vampires burst in fire, right in front of Andri’s eyes. The beasts burned into aches in an agonizing moan as Jo and Nina ran to their sister.

“Are you alright?” Nina asked panting. Andri nodded before hugging her siblings, the little reunion was soon interrupted by more growls behind them. The three women were now blocked in the small alley, surrounded by 6 more Nightshades.

“Girls, I can’t use my magic!” Andri informed her sisters. Jo and Nina stepped forward to shield their kin from the menacing vampires in front of them. Jo remembered the last time she fought one of those in the past.

She recalls all the blood that was shed that day. She remembered how young she was, maybe 11-12 years old. She remembered; The whimpers of fellow witches agonizing on the floor as their blood was being drawn out of their bodies. The screeching sound of every Nightshades being slaughtered.

She was quickly brought back to reality when one of them didn’t hesitate to jump on her. The young women were trying her best to push away the beast hovering her body. Her muscles were flexing and trembling as the creature was putting all its weight on her poor arms. It snarled like a rabid dog a few inches only from her face.

“Nina!” she let out through gritted teeth, hoping her younger sister would help. But it’s only when she turned her gaze that she noticed Nina was already fighting two Nightshades. She cursed to herself.

Her muscles were about to give up, when suddenly the creature got pulled away from her. It took her a few seconds to realize what happened, but when she finally got up, she saw four men fighting the Nightshades. One of them, tall, black hair slicked back, perfect jawline, pale blue eyes, turned to Jo

“Stay back” he shouts with a stern voice. She didn’t try to argue and stepped back to protect Andri.

Nina wasn’t an expert at fists fighting but she could deal a good amount of damage while using her power of “Life link”. By linking her mind with the Nightshades, she was able to read them, and she was able to find their weakness more easily.

She has been able to stun one on the ground as another one stepped in front of her, punching her in the guts. The air got knocked out of her lungs. Nina dropped on one knee as she tries to catch her breath, at this instant, the feral who tried to jump on her got knocked down. The young woman lifted her eyes and saw the man from the bar, fighting the other creatures with a very skilled martial art.

The sisters retreated in the back of the alley as the four men were fighting the Nightshades away.

Soon, one of the creatures screeched signaling the others to retreat, which they did, leaving the sisters and the men alone in the small alley. The tall handsome one, walked to them.

“Are you girls alright?” he asked grabbing Jo by the neck and inspecting it carefully.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Paws down pretty boy!” Jo let out pushing him away from her.

“Seonghwa, my friend. Don’t be rude!” the voice was calm, eerie. It almost sounded like a melody to the sister’s ears. Another man walked towards them. Smaller than Seonghwa but just as beautiful. Deep brown eyes, silver hair, he was wearing an all-black Victorian Jacket with a dark blue embroidered vest and a black shirt. His fingers were decorated with many rings, and only the pinky of his left hand was painted in black nail polish.

The man stopped in front of the three women and politely bow,

“Please, excuse my friend. He didn’t mean to be rude. He is just…foreseeing” he said. “I am Hongjoong. Leader of this group.” He continued, bringing a hand to his heart as he bows again. “This handsome one is Seonghwa. There’s San” he said pointing at the man who help Nina “And that’s Jongho” he pointed at another man, roughly the same high. More muscular, short dark hair, cute features. He turned back to the sisters

“We are The Ateez family!” he said smiling “If I’m not mistaken, your girls are Moonlight sisters, right?”

Jo considered the man in front of her then those behind him.

“Yes, we are. And I’ve heard of your family.” She walked a few steps back shielding her younger sisters “You guys are vampires”.

Hongjoong chuckled “Indeed we are. Please come with us, your sister needs some medical attention and we need to talk about some serious issues”

Jo was about to protest but Andri winced in pain, she looked up at her older sister:

“Please Jo, let’s go with them.”

Jo’s stare went from Andri to Hongjoong and back. She nodded:

“Alright, we’ll go with you!”

The leader gave a small signal to the boys behind him and quickly Seonghwa wrapped his arms around Jo’s waist, San did the same with Nina and Jongho took Andri in his arms. Before the sisters could understand what was happening, they vanished from the alley.

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Stay tune for more chapters!!! 

All right reserved to DeadlyGoddess. DO NOT COPY or USE WITHOUT MY CONSENT.

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[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Episode 11: Alone Time

Prodigal Son. Come for the plot line. Stay for the whump. Let’s dive into this episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

0:06 - Look at poor baby Malcolm’s black eye. :( Do you think the bullies are why he got into martial arts - because he wanted to defend himself?

0:59 - Malcolm is chained to the ground. At this point he can’t escape. Can someone please explain to me why Watkins decided to take Malcolm’s shoes and socks? I mean - no shoes makes it harder to run away but he’s chained to the ground so why bother?!? Furthermore, where is Malcolm’s tie and suit jacket? Why take those? ...he also took Malcolm’s watch but at least that one makes sense.

1:10 - This is Not Good. Malcolm looks scared and a little confused. Does he have a concussion? 

1:45 - This is Gil terrified and determined to find his missing kid. My heart is breaking just looking at him. 

1:50 - Why was this speech necessary 12 hours after the kidnapping and murder? Why to the whole precinct? Why does Colette get to make it instead of Gil? The precinct respects Gil. They don’t respect Colette. 

2:03 - JT looks sad and scared. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him look this upset. Malcolm’s wormed his way into JT’s heart. It’s sweet. 

2:08 - Dani looks concerned and scared too - but that’s not a surprise given the amount of screen time that’s been given to Dani and Malcolm’s brewing friendship. 

2:10 - Gil looks pissed when he’s staring at the floor. I don’t blame him Colette is suggesting that his kid might already be dead. He’s probably blaming himself. Is he side-eying Colette - for making an insensitive speech 12 hours late? Or Dani and JT because he wants them to ignore Colette and go and find Bright? 

2:24 - JT isn’t acting out of line here. I’ve watched enough Criminal Minds to know that sometimes locals PD officers/detectives get upset and take things personally when the FBI get involved. BUT Colette is acting like a real piece of work. She’s disrespecting JT on purpose. She clearly hates men. What is her deal? 

2:31 -  Dani is great here. She totally diffuses the fight that was about to break out at JT (rightfully) lost his mind on this woman. It makes me wonder if Dani was bullied as a kid. Colette is acting like a high school queen B. Dani doesn’t seem like the type to be a queen B so I wonder if she was tormented by one as a kid?

3:00 - Honestly, I’m pissed about this. Yes - Jessica shouldn’t have had that press conference. BUT it’s downright criminal to avoid telling a mother that her child was kidnaped. Just more proof that Colette is a controlling, b**ch. Gil looks like he’s using all of his self-control not to lose it on Colette - which is a shame because I would pay good money to watch that outburst. 

3:15 - Colette clearly thinks that Gil and Jessica are in a relationship since she caught them standing so closely in Gil’s office. It’s kind of funny but also such an inappropriate thing for her to focus on right now. 

4:10 - So Gil does have a history of church attendance. The past tense there makes me assume that he stopped going when he became and adult and moved out of his parent’s house. 

4:15 - This is the closest to a Gil outburst we’ve gotten so far. I’m obsessed with it. Look at his face. He’s furious. He’s scared. ALSO - please tell me that Matilda gets jail time for being an accomplice. 

5:40 - When Jessica is on the phone she really reminds me of Ainsley. They both have this certain inflection in their voices when their determined and having a conversation with someone. 

 5:46 - Oh no. Gil does not want to do this. He does not want to tell Jessica that he didn’t protect Malcolm well enough. Look at how wrecked he is. He looks close to tears. 

6:24 - “It’s about Malcolm.” Jessica’s face. She immediately goes from playful and determined to serious and terrified. This woman adores her son. 

6:38 - I love this whole conversation between Gil and Jessica. I love that Gil calls her Jess. It suggests that at one point in time they were good friends. Believe me - my name is Jessica. If you introduce yourself as Jessica to everyone only your close friends/family (and douchebags trying to get in your pants after knowing you for 2 minutes) will start casually start calling you Jess. Furthermore, they both look scared. I love that Gil tries to reassure Jessica that it’s not her fault - partially because he knows it isn’t - but partially because he believes it’s his fault for not keeping a better eye on Malcolm.

6:55 - It’s interesting to me that the writers keep suggesting that there’s the potential for a romantic relationship between Gil and Jessica but then they also show Gil wearing his wedding ring. I find this interesting because Gil is a dude with a iron-clad moral standard. He would never cheat on his wife. The fact that he’s still wearing that ring suggests that he would never do anything with Jessica because he still considers himself married to his deceased wife. 

7:04 - I love how determined Gil is to find Malcolm. How desperate Jessica is to help. 

7:24 - Oh hell yes. This is such a great exchange. Gil is going to visit Martin Whitly and Jessica pretty much gives Gil permission to murder him. Gil and Jessica are both so desperate to find Malcolm and it’s precious.

8:08 - I do not like the way Malcolm is smiling here. He looks drugged and delirious. I’m really worried about that head wound and the fact that he’s probably missed doses of his mood stabilizers. *sigh* I want to hug him. 

9:18 - Ok. This is great. Watkins wants Malcolm to become his murder partner. He just thinks that Malcolm needs to “go through the trials”. Hasn’t Malcolm already “gone through the trials”? I mean, his dad is in prison, he’s been bullied his whole life, he has a nasty list of diagnoses that plague him, and he has so much trauma. We shouldn’t compare trauma but Malcolm’s probably had more severe trauma than John’s “my mommy left me with abusive grandparents who locked me in a wardrobe”. What happened to John was criminal but also he’s killing people. 

9:31 - I love that Malcolm openly states that he’s not a killer. How many times do you think he’s had to say that to people throughout his life? People who judge him when they find out who his father is. How many times do you think he’s said it to himself in the middle of a panic attack? Makes me wonder at what age he changed his last name.

10:02 - Aww Dani. Girl, you’re breaking my heart. You look so worried about Malcolm. ALSO love the determined teamwork we’re getting from Dani and JT here. So sweet.

11:00 - When do you think Martin last saw Gil? Murder trial? When Malcolm was a teenager? More recently? I’m really curious.

11:20 - Look at the pure hatred in Gil’s face. Man. Gil is an absolute A+ guy but I genuinely believe he’s capable of murdering Martin Whitly without guilt. 

11:30 - Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how incredible Michael Sheen is in this scene? He’s always good but this scene is just....wow. *chef’s kiss* Martin’s eyes. Martin’s panic attack. The way Martin squints due to light sensitivity. The hysterical laugh. Ugh. So. Good.

12:18 - Gil’s face when Martin is laughing hysterically. The look he’s giving Martin is fantastic. It’s a look of anger and disgust. Watch as Gil crosses his arms and avoids eye contact with Martin a few seconds later. It’s as though Gil is physically restraining himself from crossing that red line and using physical force to get the answers that he needs from Martin.

13:16 - Anyone else hate it when Martin calls Malcolm “my boy”? It really drives home the fact that Martin is a psychopath for me. A normal man who refer to Malcolm as “my son”. The fact that Martin refers to Malcolm as “my boy” implies that he views Malcolm as an object that he possesses. It makes me feel sick. 

13:30 - Amazing. Check out this look that Martin and Gil share. For a split second Martin has Gil convinced that he cares about Malcolm. Martin’s eyes are conveying fear for Malcolm. So are Gil’s. I’m sure Gil wasn’t intending on telling Martin that Malcolm is missing but Gil’s desperate. His emotional walls are crumbling and Martin has succeeded at manipulating him into telling him about Malcolm. 

13:50 - Martin’s panic attack is really interesting to me. First of all I’m an engineering student - not a doctor or a psychologist, BUT I’ve always thought that psychopaths can’t feel empathy or anxiety. Therefore, I thought psychopaths were literally incapable of having a panic attack (a quick google search suggests that my assumptions might be wrong). Secondly, why is Martin having a panic attack? Is it truly because he’s worried about his son? I don’t think so. I think it’s because he’s afraid of what Malcolm might find out from Watkins. I think he’s afraid that the NYPD and Malcolm might discover that Martin has done more crime than has been previously thought. 

14:03 - Martin you are lucky Gil needs you conscious. If he didn’t he would’ve probably let you suffocate to death simply for traumatizing Malcolm.

15:05 - Look at the way Malcolm physically recoils when Watkins starts screaming. Huh. I never noticed that before. 

15:27 - Malcolm is too good for this world. Seriously, the guy is chained up, bloody, and in pain yet he’s empathizing with his captor. It’s not even Stockholm, Malcolm does this to every serial killer. It’s almost as if he’s trying to help them because he wishes someone would’ve helped his Dad. Or that he wishes that he could help Martin - but he can’t so he uses other serial killers as a substitute for Martin. Kind of concerning behaviour actually. 

16:30 - This whole stabbing scene is perfect. Malcolm looks terrified and confused when he finds out about Watkin’s old stab wound. Then Watkins stabs him and Malcolm descends into silent, painful, shock. My whump heart is beating so fast. I have so many feelings.

19:06 - Anyone else find the way that Gabrielle says “You need to stay alive kiddo.” is super creepy?!? Just me? Ok. 

19:55 - You know, it’s really impressive that Malcolm is so self-aware when he’s hallucinating and/or having a nightmare. 

20:11 - This is heartbreaking. Malcolm looks so lost and scared. He doesn’t care about his life anymore - just answers. 

21:21 - I’m so offended that Colette is chilling at Gil’s desk like it belongs to her. This woman is on thin ice with me. 

21:30 - Look how desperate/scared JT and Dani are. These. Are. The. Friends. That. Malcolm. Deserves.

22:00 - Of course. Colette isn’t coming because she’s concerned about Bright. She’s coming because 1) she doesn’t trust Dani and JT and 2) she wants credit for the arrest of John Watkins.

22:46 - “It’s over.” Is Martin referring to his son’s life or the very comfortable prison life that he’s established for himself. I genuinely think that Martin is afraid of what the NYPD will find out when they find Malcolm’s body (because Martin assumes Malcolm is dead).

22:48 - Martin and Gil fighting over being Malcolm’s Dad is everything. My heart is so full. Gil is getting soooo pissed. I’m in love. This scene might just be my absolute favourite of the whole season thus far (April 16,2020). 

25:35 - More suggestions that something is going on romantically between Jessica and Gil. Check out the look in Gil’s eyes there. He’s upset. Is it because he likes Jessica and he thinks he’s not worthy of her. OR is it because Martin is wasting time and he thinks that Malcolm is dying?

25:50 - Malcolm doesn’t look surprised here. He looks confused and a little scared. Huh. Did he previously suspect that Martin had been planning on killing him?

26:40 - You know, everyone reacts to trauma and bad news differently. However, Ainsley doesn’t seem nearly upset enough about the fact that her only brother has been kidnaped by a serial killer. Even when she’s trying to comfort Jessica - she looks concerned for her mom. Not for her brother.

28:34 - Malcolm looks angry here. He’s desperately trying to convince himself that Martin loves him. That Martin would never try to kill him. 

29:10 - This is the most broken I have ever seen Malcolm’s eyes. Holy crap. His lip is twitching. It’s like his brain just completely dissociated. He’s terrified and he thinks his family is in danger.

29:42 - Now Ainsley looks scared. Is it because she thinks a serial killer (other than her dad) gave her gifts as a child? Or is it a delayed reaction to Malcolm’s kidnapping. Kind of like a 5 stages of grief but for a kidnapping? She hit the disbelief and anger stages before the fear stage?

30:50 - Why does Colette feel the need to restate that she’s the primary on this case? It seems redundant and demeaning to JT and Dani. Ugh I hate this woman.

30:59 - I love that Malcolm suddenly snaps out of his dissociative state the second that Watkins tells Malcolm that he is going to kill Jessica and Ainsley. He becomes desperate and even more terrified than before. Look how fast he’s moving despite his injuries. That’s love.

31:50 - “Damn it Bright. You’re skinny ass better still be alive.” Gold. Just pure gold. JT loves Malcolm like a brother and he is so annoyed that he cares about Bright. This line is everything.

32:00 - Malcolm looks so close to tears here. He’s completely terrified. My heart is shattering. BUT my whump heart is also really happy. Because I’m a monster.

33:06 - I love how angry Dani gets on the phone with Gil. It suggests that Gil took a nasty tone of disbelief with her when she told him they didn’t find Malcolm. 

33:30 - Malcolm tries to run after John despite being chained up. My heart is so full. This boy adores his mother and sister. 

34:05 - They’re putting Martin back into solitary. Huh. Why didn’t they just have Gil question him in solitary? It was an emergency. Why go to the trouble of moving Martin through the hospital?

34:20 - Gil is definitely not supposed to be that close to Martin. That’s how scared Gil is - he just physically held a serial killer in a sort of comforting way to try and save Malcolm. This man deserves an award for Dad of the Year.

34:55 - So did Jessica not know about the tunnels under the house? I feel like that’s something she would’ve told the police about when Martin was arrested. Or at least something the police would’ve found when Martin was arrested. WHY DID NO ONE THINK TO CHECK THERE WHEN MALCOLM WENT MISSING?!? 

35:05 - Jessica Whitly is my queen. Running for her life. Terrified to death. She still has time to make sarcastic, sassy remarks to her daughter. I stan this woman. 

36:00 - Look at Malcolm. He’s completely lost the will to live. He’s given up. Until the hallucination of Martin makes him angry enough to keep living.

39:00 - “I have never counted on a man to save us and I don’t need to now.” Again. Jessica Whitly is a perfect woman. 

39:20 - Watching Malcolm break his own hand is utterly heart wrenching. What a total badass. He is bleeding out from a stab wound. He probably has a concussion. He is terrified, off his meds, and in extraordinary pain. Yet, he breaks his own hand in a desperate attempt to save his family. That is love.  Also...how did no one hear Malcolm screaming in pain when he broke his hand? How did no one hear Watkins screaming at Malcolm earlier?

40:04 - Jessica going at Watkins with a pair of scissors is both hilarious and just vicious. I love it. She is clearly terrified but if she’s going to die she is intending to die fighting. This woman is a treasure. 

40:46 - Jessica regains a sense of power when she hears Malcolm’s voice. Her eyes look less scared and more angry. 

41:20 - For continuity reasons I’m going to assume that Watkins is hallucinating that trunk and Malcolm just knocked him out onto the carpet. Also protective!Malcolm is very attractive. 

42:32 - This ending scene is awesome. That family hug. The fear in Jessica’s eyes when she asks Malcolm if Watkins is dead. The relief in her eyes when she sees Malcolm. The pain in Malcolm’s eyes. 

This episode is so so so good. Thanks for hanging out. 

[badlydrawnmanic]

time for episode 3 i guess! wish i could focus on the things i gotta do but something’s bugging me and i just can’t, i might have to start from scratch but anyway...

• manic wants to find a place where he belongs... • why were the triplets born in... an alternate dimension??? what • dingo is a tree and it’s freaking me out • sonic: hey did you notice anything strange about that tree   manic and sonia: no we did not see the canine face with stupid glasses staring at us directly as we passed by • the fact that manic’s drums can cause earthquakes and stuff is pretty neat • i seriously feel bad for dingo at this point • there’s a camera angle where it looks like manic’s levitating in front of sonic when sonic is supposed to be dragging him along real fast • i don’t understand why the bad guys are like “lmao nature and clean things are stinky” like i know you’re bad but like ??? man • i think this show would be much more visually appealing if they used brighter backgrounds like in mobodoon • again how old are they supposed to be, it’s their birthday? they’re so small • i know mayor winnieham (how the fuck do you spell that) is a horse but she looks like a soft dragon, she’s so nice and i actually like her voice • hooray for socialism • sonic sniffs and it sounds like jaleel had a stuffy nose that day • horse lady is so nice but a ton of nice people in this cartoon are traitors so i’m like :grimace: • A CHAOS EMERALD • manic is so overwhelmed by the fact that someone cared about him and his siblings that he starts to like fall backwards and the lady has to push a chair under him, he’s crying someone hug this boy • “sonic’s always been cool, having this mondo world as his home” sorta implies that he had adventures before all this, i only say this because i’ve been trying to slap together a timeline and i think i made underground take place between satam and sonic 3? i forget exactly

• h • you’d think horse lady would be more excited that they’ve returned and stuff • gee sonia why does your mom let you have super speed and strength • did she recognize dingo this time?? she got mud on her and immediately attacked him so like... would she do that to anyone??? • the people who wrote this show don’t understand how siblings interact with each other, i don’t call my brother “bro” every two seconds and i don’t think anybody does • okay why does the horse lady say they were born in this nursery room, i would assume that that’s... not true... please tell me there’s a hospital or something in this city • three episodes into the series and manic’s like “i’m gonna stay here and break up the band :D” • horse lady made evil eyebrows i don’t trust her all adults are bad • SONG TIME AGAIN, SONIC UNDERGROUND STYLE • I think this is one of the only songs where manic sings and it’s not even clear that it’s him? i was told that it was him singing • GSDJG MANIC’S HAIR IS BIRDS • sometimes the baby triplets are cute and sometimes they’re terrifying • they reused animation that was used like just before the song started • manic goes “wow” in his normal voice right in the middle of the song • i actually really like this song, but like... the singing voice is odd, a bit nasally. other than that it’s good and i’d listen to it again, like... 9/10 i think, i’ll hum it absentmindedly after the episode is done. if they re-recorded this for any reason or if there was a cover of it i’d be pretty happy about that! • sleet unrolls a huge sheet of paper with absolutely nothing on it • the background characters in mobodoon aren’t as hideous as the normal background characters • sonic leaving fire everywhere when he runs seems like it would be an issue at some point • sleet and dingo are terrorists • they deadass just stole a family’s whole house • THE CHAOS EMERALD • i’m calling it a chaos emerald, apparently it controls the daylight cycle and structural integrity of the whole dimension which is odd • if she’s so worried that mobodoon will fade why don’t they evacuate? unless they can’t without the chaos emerald or something • apparently they can leave whenever because sonic’s back with sleet and dingo • they used footage from this episode in the previous episode’s music segment...? i wonder how production was • sonia and manic fall from the sky • “manic, hold all the important doohickeys while we do the cool stuff” • dingo’s fucking feral in this segment holy shit calm down • the cave of wonders................ • MANIC HAS LITTLE SHARP TEETH • manic did it!! • i still don’t get how mobodoon works • how unstable is that dimension if the chaos emerald being gone for an hour max is enough to make it nearly collapse • sonic called dingo “dingus” and i have no idea how old that term is

• manic looks like a very small child waiting for his mom to say he did a good job saying “thank you” to the grocery store checkout person and that’s adorable but also he looks goofy as shit • this poor boy, i imagine he just wants a mother figure, horse lady has her hand on his shoulder and she’s probably one of the few dependably nice people they’ve encountered in a while • aw, sonic and sonia like... acknowledge that manic is happy here and are willing to let him stay in mobodoon, that’s pretty wholesome. i feel like this was supposed to be an emotional beat but like... bad pacing kinda mucks it up

• “don’t forget to visit” god, my heart, he says it so gently like poor baby • “oh i almost forgot that your mother who has been absent in your lives since you were literal babies and that you’ve been risking your lives to find stopped by during the climax of the episode, my mistake”

• okay, i can see the horse part of her now maybe more of a donkey • “together at last” is one of the audio blurbs they play and they say it like they’ve been separated forever • they knocked sleet back into mobodoon like that solves the problem??? • i kinda like how they replay part of the song at the end of the episode to like... reestablish an idea in a different light? like when it played the first time it’s like “oh i found my childhood home and the place where i came from” and now it’s like “i’ve found the place where i belong with my loved ones” and that’s actually really good imo • i feel like manic has the most potential for depth out of all of them just because if you look any deeper into what’s happening in the show it gets kinda sad? [slaps roof of manic] this bad boy can fit so much emotional trauma in it