#literally everything else about alice was kind of more obvious bit they really got me there with gil ngl

[one-hell-of-otaku-is-here]

Me after seeing where Vincent and Gilbert came from after episode 15: NOW THIS IS SOME GOOD PLOT TWIST

(Also Jack being the hottest character in PH>>>> , YES HE IS I DONT MAKE RULES HAVE U SEEN HIM???? Hes probably my fav rn and I don’tcare what shit he did he' so iconic)

[inkbyajm]

Something Brewing

pairing: C.H. x fem!reader

category: fluff

warnings: anxiety attack

word count: 1.5k

notes: felt like angst, felt like sobbing uncontrollably, but my body wouldn’t cooperate, so imagining it will do for now. this was supposed to be a one-shot, but i didn’t realise how much i had written. now i’m splitting it into two parts. next part will definitely be more angst than fluff, so stay tuned for the terrifying sight that is angry corpse :) (p.s. don’t mind the occasional use of british english, it’s my default lmao)

next >

A peculiar thing it was, the concept of love. It was very personal and feelings about it varied from person to person. For some, it had existed since the beginning of time, when Adam and Eve first walked the Earth, when the Almighty willed his beloved humans to lead their own lives with him in their hearts. For others, it is a feeling to long for, to crave, a feeling they found themselves daydreaming about often. And for the rest, love is a tool of ruin, potentially driving people who cared for one another away from each other, instilling at least a smidge of repulsion in each one of them. However, humans are social creatures after all, and sometimes, attraction was unavoidable no matter how much one tried. And try he did.

━

Living in California could get hard and stressful at times, but at least Corpse didn’t live at the heart of the city of anxiety-inducing social interactions and constant chaos that was Los Angeles. Sure, it meant that he didn’t live close to his friends, but he wasn’t far away from her, and that was enough for him.

A few soft grunts and sounds of slippers landing on the hardwood floor echoed from the kitchen of (Y/N)’s apartment. He got up from the couch in her living room and decided to investigate the source of the noise. Coming into the room, he saw her jumping to reach the highest shelf in one of the cupboards. Looking at it, he noticed her favourite mug sitting at the edge of said shelf and, afraid she would knock it over whilst attempting to grab it, he effortlessly got it for her. “Thank you. God, I was about to grow a foot taller trying to reach for this thing.” she sighed, eliciting a deep chuckle from him, “See, this is exactly why you’re my favourite friend.” Friend? Well, yes, of course a friend, what else would he be? Corpse felt an uncomfortable tug at his heart, and he couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason why he was feeling that way, so he brushed it aside. “Why was it that high up if you can’t even reach it?” (Y/N) wasn’t a short person, she was perfectly average, and he himself wasn’t that tall of a guy either. But when it came to situations of this kind, he couldn’t help but feel good about his being taller. “It usually isn’t, but I let (F/N) use it once the other day because she refused to drink out of any of the other mugs, that stubborn bitch.” she replied, pouring her homemade Italian hot chocolate into the acquired cup. (F/N) was also taller than (Y/N), so it was only natural for her to be putting things in higher places. It was done out of habit.

(Y/N) and Corpse walked back to the living room to once again settle into the couch. He glanced at her as she sat with her legs crossed, concentrated on blowing on her moderately hot beverage, while the light from the moon peeked through the curtains of the balcony door, illuminating her face ever so slightly. Since when did he start noticing these things? Looking away to set his eyes on the TV in front of them, he sensed his heart beating at an usual rhythm, palpitating, and along with it came slight lightheadedness. Was he having a heart attack? Were these signs of atrial fibrillation? Or was this simply the start of an anxiety attack? Surely any of these would be more...recognisable, to say the least. The only situation he could think of with similar reactions was when one would develop a crush. A fucking crush? At his age? How old was he, ten? “Earth to Corpse? Please don’t tell me you’re one of those people who sleep with their eyes open, that’s fucking creepy.” Her finger snaps pulled him out of whatever trance he was in. “Sorry, were you saying something?” “I asked you if you had watched Bly Manor like three times. You were very far away.” she answered, emitting a few giggles. “Sorry, I uh- I was thinking of something, but it’s stupid. And no, I haven’t, I’ve been meaning to, though.” And just like that, they settled on the show they were going to watch for the next couple of weeks.

━

“NOOOOOOO,” (Y/N) yelled, voicing her defeat “WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF LUCK IS THIS.” Corpse lay on the floor, slamming his palm down onto it out of hysterical laughter. They had been playing Unmatched for the past hour, this being their third round, and after many cards and a level of tension that could only be cut through with a saw, his Robin Hood had finally defeated her Alice. It was Corpse’s first time playing, so to say that his winning of all three games was a crushing moment for her was an understatement. “This is not normal, you lied saying you’ve never played before!” she pouted, putting everything back into the box, “I’m usually really good at this game.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes, struggling to keep a good composure. “I’m sorry, I guess I’ve found my talent,” he joked, but he did feel bad for stealing her thunder, “Would it make you feel better if I said that my Robin Hood is, like, extremely hurt right now? You have a fucking gigantic knife as a weapon, I only have, like, a bow and arrow. That’s kind of unfair.” (Y/N) bit her lip in hesitation, then picked up her figurine and lightly tapped it along the table to approach his. Putting Alice at a slight angle, she made a kissing sound as to imitate her character smooching his. “There, a kiss to make it better. I promise not to hurt you too much if you let me win next time.” 

The same strange feeling he had experienced for the first time two months ago, when they were sitting on the couch of her living room, and many more times after that, had come back. He would’ve blamed it on heartburn, except it was nothing like it. It wasn’t anything he was used to. “Hey, you alright?” (Y/N) furrowed her brows in concern “You’ve been doing that a lot lately, rubbing your chest like that.” Fuck. He had never noticed the habit he had developed. “I’m fine, just me and my heart problems, nothing unusual.” Filthy liar. Brows still furrowed, she moved closer to him and, with her legs tucked under her, she put her hand above his heart to check. “Jesus, Corpse, your heart is going a million miles per hour! Are you sure you’re okay?”

Looking up at him, she noticed how red he had suddenly become, and this worried her even more. “Bubs, you’re literally changing colours.” How did she expect him not to when she was doing this? (Y/N) further inspected his condition and put the back of her hand on his forehead, then his cheeks, to check his temperature. Expectedly, he was getting warmer. She stopped for a second and listened intently, only to hear his shallow breathing fill the silence. She then glanced down at his left hand resting on his thigh, and surely enough, found it trembling. “Alright, Corpse? Hey, can you hear me?”

His breathing only picked up its pace as the seconds went by. On the spur of the moment, (Y/N) placed herself in front of him, her legs on either side, and gently cradled his head. “Corpse, darling, I’m gonna need you to look at me, okay? Focus on me, focus on my breathing, mm?” He forced himself to tear his gaze away from the ground and did as he was told, eyes darting around, analysing her expression. He’s never found himself having an attack in her presence, it was surprising how well she was handling it.

Wait- darling? Bubs? “Now, can you name four things that you see? Can you do that for me?” He briefly scanned the room for answers, his mind still cluttered. “The fridge, the couch, the light and-” Did she mean to call him that? It was probably nothing, she could be using it with any of her friends for all he knew. He wasn’t special. “and the game, the board game. On the table.” “Good, now can you name three things you hear?” This one took a lot of concentration, there weren’t many obvious sounds for him to point out. “The motorcycle outside, your hands rubbing against my skin, uh-” What the fuck else? Was he losing his mind? The task was simple enough, why was he having so much trouble with it? “I’m sorry, I- I don’t hear anything else.” “No, it’s okay. You’re doing splendid, see? Your breathing is much more stable.” she reassured him, squeezing his upper arms.

“Lastly, can you give me two things you can smell?” Nodding, he closed his eyes. “The coffee you drank earlier.” It took him a moment to come up with something else, and just as she was about to get off of his lap, figuring he had done a good enough job, she heard him mumble “your perfume”. Scared he’d get another attack, Corpse avoided looking into her eyes, which he could feel the gaze of. He only picked up on the scent from her shifting closer in the last second. “That’s funny, I had forgotten to put perfume on this morning.” 

[halfusek]

BATIM SPOILERS AHEAD

SECRET MESSAGES FROM CHAPTERS 1 - 5

With a sort of analysis/shitposting on my side? Yea.

Chapter 1

There is like two walls with these, that’s a lot. Is he... aware from the beginning now? I mean someone’s crossing this and Henry is implied to be leaving these messages so...?

Choose your fighter.

Ok wow harsh.  Haven’t you seen all these cool AUs in his house?

Also can I just point out how... Joey... literally... drew... the Studio...

Oh, my bad.

He drew STUDIOS. Because the damn thing keeps happening over and over again.

Oh fuck if that’s the case then that is clever. I made puns about him drawing the studio before, wish I did something with it before Chapter 5 dropped, that would be hilarious to look back at fvdfjkvnfkj

That’s just depressing. But like... yeah...

Wow Henry you must be a proud mom now

Hey remember when DAGames played Chapter 4 and was interrupting Alice Angel’s monologue by telling her to stop watch him poop

It spells “There never was a choice.” (never underlined)

Those messages are either hilarious or straight up depressing.

It’s... kinda sweet how Henry from the past (pasts) helps his future self (selfs). And encourages.

I’m pretty sure she’s got many hearts in her stock.

STOP WATCHING ME POOP

Henry what the fuck

The falling human made out of the two Ls, the Y and the splatters above it-

Fuck.

GASPS NO WAY

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He is not the creator of the cartoons. He is the creator OF THIS WHOLE FUCKING STUDIO AND EVERYONE IN IT. Like it’s maybe a sort of obvious thought but when you let it sink in... damn

Rest of the chapters under the cut because it’s really long

Chapter 2

ARE THOSE IRL BODIES? YES? NO? SYMBOLS OF THEIR SOULS BEING TRAPPED HERE? WHAT???

Do you remember that? Or only slightly? Oh man. “I should have warned him” thoughts and then you get a pissed off boy in Chapter 5.

COME ON NOW

Ok. How. How did you write anything there. When. The only time he’s aware would be right after Sammy hits him with the dustpan. So is he like fainting and writing it? So he wouldn’t be able to write anything else like SAMMY IS GOING TO KNOCK YOU OUT WITH A FUCKING DUST PAN because yeah he’s passing out so it’s just... OUCH! Also to confirm this he is facing the way he’s facing when he’s on the floor. God that’s both shitposty and depressing. Nice.

Henry don’t be a dick

So you do sing 👀

I wonder how Henry figured out walking backwards to not trigger the Demon here and write this specific message. Also is Joey behind those closed doors because there’s the whistling.

Is he cooking

Chapter 3

Oh, hi.

Excuse me what

Henry is a Jacksepticeye fan confirmed

Joey is a man of ideas... and only ideas.

Which is why he created a studio, an OC based on a person he has a one sided crush on (me) from who he stole and claimed their OC as his, also made that stolen OC a thing and then made both of the OCs fight in an infinite loop in the massive studio which is behind his kitchen.

This both has a literal meaning but is also like a deeper general thought Henry do you want Joey to create a therapist OC you seem to have some problems

Why do these coffins hurt so much

Who are you asking Henry because Alice sure won’t fucking read that And why won’t you just write it with regular ink why you gotta do it like this

Why does he keep this thing secret? Did he make it? Probably since he’s the one leaving the messages Hmm

I fucking wheezed.

But also imagine Alice just giving her speech and Henry writing something on the wall with his finger Unless he doesn’t write that in a literal sense but like... spiritually Huh

THEY HAD DRINKS TOGETHER AND JOEY WAS PAYING FOR THEM AWW

He’s so fucking gay I swear to fucking gods.

Let’s hop on the existential crisis train, choo, choo.

How can you be kind to people who try to murder you

But this. This. Is such a good fucking work/life thought like damn. I love this game for those.

But are those just some thoughts Henry wanted to get out of his head or does it have something to do with the game because I’m kinda getting pacifist/neutral/genocide route vibes from this. But it it’s not the case it’s still pretty neat, we do meet them, we just don’t have the choice to treat them in some way most of the times.

It’s on level 14 and damn you game damn you yet again. I guess it can also be applied to that moment when The Projectionist is reaching out for Henry who is hidden in the Miracle Station? Like we don’t know what to expect of him because he had that small moment of realisation of... something. And he is also one of Henry’s “old friends”.

Is Is Ink Demon killing The Projectionist a symbol of Joey’s jealousness like Norman: *reaching out in curiosity, maybe to help* Joey: >:( my fren

Chapter 4

Thanks. Roll credits. So Chapter 4 is intentionally pointless in the terms of Henry trying to save Boris. THAT’S FUCKING SAD STOP IT

NOT. MY. DOG. YOU. BITCH.

So Henry is catching up. Joey does regret all that shit he did. I wonder how exactly does it tie here, with Bertie. Maybe that theory I had about Bendy Land being Hell for Bendy? :0c I don’t really think so but that’s a thought.

I’m losing my shit.

Okay that seems like another woke thought.

Henry can’t change not being able to save Boris.

Joey can’t change all of his mistakes. But Joey is the one making it happen over and over again so it might be slightly pointed at him?

Like, pal. Stop dwelling on your mistakes. Move on. Let me the fuck out.

This game is really heavy with this problem:

Move towards your goal, hope, believe, dream, don’t give up. Well actually do if it’s like super hard.

????? This is such a deep uuhhh analysis of this like one of most basics functions of how we people fucking work and live, what keeps us going. Holy shit I am IN LOVE with that.

But oof yeah Henry was and IS the one good at pushing Joey to do the right thing. Man...

Instead of trying to cheer you up lemme just write this message you can’t read real quick.

THAT WHOLE FUCKING THING WAS POINTLESS AND I’M LOWKEY MAD

;_; holy lord sweet baby jesus

Can Henry like be fine fun concept Meatly please

I suggest giving this a read if you as I weren’t familiar with that expression https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/23/heels/

Of course it’s a pun on “Time heals all wounds” expression. The word “heels” there refers to contemptible people. Earliest citation: 1934 and it got more popular around that time till something around the 50s-60s according to that website at least. Neat.

That is interesting. I guess we can associate the door with Joey as well since Henry warns himself not to go through them? And the Demon drags Projectionist’s corpse through them. Sorta against his will, heeeeeeh.

They look like they could be interactive but I dunno :0c

Oh, yeah. That two-faced motherfucker. That’s my bitch.

HE GAVE THEM FUCKING NAMES

Chapter 5

I feel like it was kinda exaggerated. Henry they like saved your life twice or so, how salty can you be

OKAY LET ME TELL YOU ONE FUCKING THING

AT FIRST WHILE PLAYING I THOUGHT JOEY WROTE THOSE BECAUSE

I mean why the fuck would they drop this star outta nowhere AND HE IS EXTRA LIKE THIS

But then again there’s this “Don’t go through the door”

Unless Joey did contact him through this as well? But I’m assuming it only because of the stars vfnjksd Idk I like when symbols actualy uhhh symbolise something

ALSO YOU KNOW WHAT’S INTERESTING

This is pointing at ANOTHER way. Without the boat. Possibly the Valued Employee (take the long walk) achievement?

I would check it right fucking now but my saves are fucked and I would have to replay everything again and I’m just too tired hhhh

Also Valued Employee does sound like someone who listens to their boss right?

And I’m getting the impression it’s not all Henry’s writing because it seems as if there is a different personality present? Idk

That sounds like sort of both of them. Joey is cheering for Henry, even if he’s planning to make him go through all of this again. Does he... have to make him go through it? That’s a bit odd. Joey nani the fuck.

I like the idea of Joey saying this ok lemme dream vskjvnskjvs

But it could be Henry (past/present/whatever) trying to cheer himself up like he did with the “Don’t be scared” message (if that was also him)

Oh, Henry...

Once people That implies that real people got somehow affected, right?

I love the halo and the bone, also you can see the bone only if you give it to Boris in Chapter 3

Wait It is The whole fucking Ink Machine Is inside Holy

A cooking gay.

Ink Demon/Joey parallel implication. I don’t think he is Bendy in a straight up sense though. He is/was a soulless boss, just how soulless Bendy was/is. I wonder if there is a studio version of him or HHHHHH complicated stuff

Is it like When people create something good but they just don't know when to stop it eventually ends up really bad And the Demon took The End so his cartoon couldn't be finished and it all had to keep going, Joey had to keep going Hm?

So like there is no message on Henry’s second desk

But it does trigger the same dialogue AND IT HURTS

Actually a lot of people missed the arrows so just so you know

But I thought we don’t like doors

Also it’s the last hidden message so I do believe it has a special meaning

CONCLUSION get Henry outta here and give him loads of therapy

Is his fucking last name Stein because he made monsters via the Ink Machine by powering it goddamnit Joey don’t trick people into creating that shit

[polar-stars]

@Anon who asked for NSFW wedding headcanons

@nightcrownsking was so nice to do headcanons for each ship I did wedding headcanons for ;w; So applause to him for doing it ! 

He also has a new writing blog most recently, which I will shout support out for !!! @shokugekinospice

So yeah, these had canons are written by him ovo (which you will notice because I wouldn’t make jokes like this ahdhd)

IbuRyo 

The wedding was brilliant. What comes after the whole celebration and after-party? Another party. A very, very, fun party. It’s gonna lead to sex, my dudes. They taste better than their wedding cake. 

Listen, four words: SLOW AND LOVING SEX. It's gonna be real passionate and loving, so what else could you expect? 

Neck kisses, Thigh touches, Some Biting, Definitely Praising, BODY WORSHIP- like it's slow and loving, nothing too kinky but it's filled with love and it's obvious throughout the whole session. So yeah, loving and sweet.

EtsuNe

Oooooooooo boy, these two kinksters. Well more of- Eizan is the kinkster, he's a fucking kinky bastard. He's got something better than cold tonight, baby. It's fucking //pleasure// and he's gonna enjoy the night. Nene would be enjoying too. THEY WOULD BOTH BE ENJOYING! Wedding night sex ftw yeehaw 

Okay, anyway- No clothes ripping this night. NO CLOTHES RIPPING THIS NIGHT. Eizan is upsetti. Okay, no- I am kidding. He doesn't want to break the dress so for once he's fucking careful with her clothes, so well yeah, they good. It's strip teasing though which isn't too usual with this couple- well it's something new, but they both do like it. Eizan prefers being a ripper of clothes though but it's good too

 Okay yeah, they've done a lot of stuff before the wedding night and honestly? What happens in the wedding night is just ALL that they've liked so far besides the clothes ripping that can be done in a bedroom alone. Guess who's idea was it? ... Of course it's fucking Eizan.

SouMegu

This ship is so soft and they're such a good couple. It's gonna be loving and sweet, and it's filled with love. Nothing less, but everything more. It's filled with them and only them. They only use each other's bodies to make themselves happy. It's traditional sex, and vanilla sex. WHICH IS VERY CUTE. 

Honestly, they're also very soft in a sense that despite pleasuring themselves, they actually make sure the other is fully comfortable and are having a pleasurable time. The other is more important, and their need/wants should be satisfied and their comfort is the most important. 

 One of the best things about this is, there's so much compliments and praise during sex, even reassurance to one another that they're doing well. It's a kind of sex that you can feel the loyalty and love of.

MarYu

ANOTHER SOFT COUPLE WHO WE STAN AND LOVE!! Their wedding night is loving, and honestly, they're just such an adorable couple even when in the act. They're both embarrassed sometimes while doing it, but the other always tells the other they're looking and doing great during the act and they cute each other's insecurities. 

I feel like their wedding night won't have anything too kinky, but it will have some stuff that the couple likes such as pet roleplay just to spice things up a bit, it's more of soft sex than anything and the wedding night is special because of how much feelings are felt during the whole time. It's very special to them, and it's that they love each other 

They end up taking a bath together which isn't something they usually do, but it's like to clean the other up and they actually have such a comfortable and soft atmosphere as they do it, it's just very sweet and honestly, the wedding night went so well for the both of them

ShinoHina

They took fucking forever in getting together, imagine them taking fucking forever in sex too and everybody just fucking yeets out the window and it turns out that the first time they do it is the wedding night so all held back feelings?? RELEASED BECAUSE IT TOOK SO LONG BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING DO THIS 

Okay listen, there's some kinky shit, but trust me, it's not that bad I think. I think it's all fine and dandy because like blindfolds, probably some tying hands behind back with cloth at the middle, some begging and shit, but well- that's not that bad. Okay, that's the first round, full of trying things they believe the other would like. The second one is literally skin to skin contact and that alone and oooo boy is it steamy 

After the whole thing, they actually fucking debate why it took them so long to get together, and how long it took them to do this and they just ended up actually snuggling before going to bed but Hinako makes these funny comments that makes him want to push her off the bed but he loves this woman too much to actually do so

RyoAli

They've been together for so much years, they probably know which the other likes and wants during this time so when it's their wedding night, they just do everything which they know the other likes as long as it is in a loving matter. He calls her Alice during the whole time and she actually calls him Ryo, but Ryo-kun playfully if she wants to tease him or something. Foreplay has A LOT of teasing of different kinds. 

They're not vanilla, nah there's some shit that isn't really considered vanilla and could be considered more on the rough side because this is how they both like it, but they both make sure their lover enjoys it, and you know how pain becomes pleasure? Yeah, they make sure about that too. So it's obviously filled with pleasure. 

Once they're done, it ends up with them having some conversations about the possible future plans until they both fall asleep. Alice sleeps first, and he ends up pulling in her close before kissing her lips and eventually falls asleep next to her.

[fanfics4all]

The Northside Serpent: Part 15

Request: Yes / No

Request are open but ONLY if they’re Halloween<3 Have a nice day/night

Sweet Pea x Keller!Reader

Word count: 2068

Warnings: Death

Y/N: Your Name

Summary: You’re Kevin Keller’s little sister when you’re mom left to go to war and your dad started cheating (I’m making it so he’s been cheating since season 1) You started rebelling; dying your hair, getting a nose piercing, tattoo, and hanging out on the southside.

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

Kevin made me come to school with him early to ask Jughead to be the videographer. I really didn’t want to go to school early but I didn’t have a choice. So I was also forced to go to the before school musical practice. I watched them sing and dance and I sat next to Fangs while they did this. After they were done everyone sat in a circle on chairs and Kevin smiled.

“Welcome to Carrie: The Musical.” He said and then Fangs pulled his chair into the circle, next to Kevin and Toni.

“Okay. Next, introductions.” Kevin said and I rolled my eyes. Jughead was behind everyone filming the behind the scenes.

“I’m Archie, I’m playing Tommy Ross. The boy next door.” Archie said.

“I’m Betty, I play Sue Snell. The good girl.” Betty said.

“Veronica Lodge, playing mean girl, Chris Hargensen.” Veronica said.

“I’m Cheryl Blossom, playing the iconic role of Carrie White.” Cheryl said standing up.

“Tone deaf.” Josie said with a cough and I bit my lip. Oh boy…

“Who’s playing your mom? Margaret White.” Ethel asked.

“I am.” Alice Cooper said walking in.

“Ah!” Kevin said with a smile.

“Mom?” Betty asked.

“Wait, seriously?” Ethel asked.

“Settle down. Yes, it’s untraditional but to me, there’s nothing more amateur than age-inappropriate casting.” Kevin said and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s a school play.” I said and Kevin narrowed his eyes at me.

“I’m really looking forward to getting to know who this woman is, you know, get under her skin. And, of course, to spend some quality time with my daughter, Elizabeth.” Alice said and Betty smiled.

“Uh, sorry.” Chuck said walking in and everyone rolled their eyes.

“I thought rehearsal were in the Music Room.” He said.

“No problem. All are welcome here.” Kevin said and I scoffed. Chuck sat down and they kept talking.

“Why am I even here, Kevin? I’m not even in the play.” I asked when they took a break.

“Because, you don’t have anywhere else to go.” He said and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Anywhere is better than watching you guys put on a stupid play.” I said crossing my arms.

“Dad wants me to keep an eye on you, so you’re staying here.” He said and I rolled my eyes.

“Of course he does.” I said annoyed and just walked over to Toni and Fangs.

“Hey Quinny, how are you doin’?” Fangs asked.

“Eh, I’d rather not talk about this…” I said and Toni placed her arm around me.

“Forget about that, we’re talking to him. Besides that, how are you and Kevin?” She asked and I groaned.

“Ughhh, I still don’t want to talk to him or my dad.” I said annoyed and they sighed.

“He’s your brother, you gotta talk to him.” Fangs said and Toni nodded.

“Maybe when he gets his head outta his ass.” I said crossing my arms and they laughed. The break ended and I went back to sitting on the sidelines.

“Okay. Act one scene one.” Kevin told everyone as they looked at the scripts.

“Actually, before we begin…” Cheryl said standing up and putting her script down.

“I’ve heard whisperings that some of you ensemble-vultures don’t think I’m fit to play or sing-” She said and looked at Josie.

“No.” Josie said shaking her head.

“The role of Carrie White. So, to settle this matter once and for all. Maestro?” Cheryl called out.

“Okay, uh, Cheryl-” Kevin said but she cut him off by starting to sing. Cheryl finished and Toni stood up to clap. I also started clapping and soon everyone else joined in.

“Wow, I think I speak for everyone when I say that was undeniable, Cheryl.” Kevin said. Cheryl was walking back to her seat when a sandbag fell and almost hit her. We all looked at her in shock. After that happened Kevin decided to call it for practice. I stayed in the shadows throughout the day just like I have been for the past week. I just really couldn’t kick the horrible feeling I felt from Sweet Pea breaking up with me.

After school Kevin and I went home and he told me that he found a letter in his locker from the Black Hood. He said that the Black Hood didn’t want Cheryl to play Carrie but he wasn’t going to recast her. After he told me that I just stayed in my room until dinner where I ignored my family. I really didn’t want to talk to them since they literally ruined my relationship. During the whole Carrie rehearsals Kevin forced me to go with him. When I refused him he had Toni, Fangs, or Jughead make me come. They all claimed they wanted me to keep my mind of Sweet Pea. I watched as Betty, Archie, Veronica, and Chuck practice their scene where they were both wanting to help/hurt Carrie. Once it was finished Kevin told everyone it was finished and then we went home. The next day I was dragged there once again. Cheryl and Josie were practicing their scene and honestly this was probably the only scene I was excited to see.

“In this scene, gym teacher Mrs. Gardener is being a friend when out girl has none, out of sheer kindness.” Kevin said, I was sitting behind him and Fangs.

“I’ll fake it as best I can.” Josie said with a sigh and Cheryl looked her up and down. The music started and Josie was the first one to sing.

“Stop, stop, stop.” Cheryl said and everyone stopped.

“Okay, Cheryl, I’m the only one that’s allowed to stop.” Kevin said and I rolled my eyes. God he’s taking this too seriously.

“I can’t do this! I can’t have you hating me while we’re singing a song about friendship.” Cheryl said and my brother shook his head.

“I know everything I did was legit crazy, Josie, but I was wrestling with some dark, Carrie White-like demons, and I’m so, so sorry. So please, please forgive me.” Cheryl said and they started singing again. I sighed and watched as they both were making up. Ugh, I wanted some drama… After that was done Veronica was up to practice her World According To Chris scene. God could Kevin cast anymore obvious? Betty the good girl, Veronica the bad girl, it’s a little on the nose. She finished and everyone clapped.

“Okay, Veronica, I am obsessed with everything that just happened.” Kevin said walking up to her.

“Thank you, it helps to be off-book and in full costume.” Veronica said with a smile and Betty laughed.

“Don’t be so modest. You are the literal embodiment of Chris.” She said and I smirked, guess I’ll be gettin my drama after all.

“Never has a role been so perfectly type-cast.” She added.

“Betty…” Archie said trying to stop her and my brother sighed.

“What was that, Betty?” Veronica asked.

“I mean, think about it. Spoiled rich girl, check. Major daddy issues, check. Bad to the bone, trying to control everyone around her, including her boyfriend and best friend. Check, check, check.” Betty said and I smirk nudging Jughead.

“Looks like your girlfriends finally figured it out.” I said and he shook his head at me. Kevin told everyone they could leave and they did. I was stuck with Jughead and he was watching as Archie was talking to Betty in the back.

“A little jealous are we?” I asked him.

“Shut up Quinny.” He said shoving me.

“How are you anyway?” He asked turning the camera off.

“I’m doing as best as I can be after my first boyfriend broke up with me because of my family.” I said sitting back in my seat.

“Hey, we’re talking to him okay? Toni said you made him happy so he’s not just gonna throw that away.” Jug said giving me a side hug.

“He already did…” I sighed. I could feel a wave of tears ready to escape. I got up and walked over to my brother who was with Fangs.

“Hey Kev… I’m gonna go home…” I said and he looked at me worried.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asked and I nodded.

“Yeah… I’m just tired. I’ll see you at home.” I said and walked out. I walked home and locked myself in my room. I took out my phone and started going through mine and Sweet Pea’s texts. Why was I torturing myself like this? We haven’t talked in weeks, hell I haven’t even seen him besides in class. Maybe Toni was wrong and I didn’t make him happy… I cried myself to sleep again that night.

The next day I was yet again forced to go to rehearsals but this time Cheryl wasn’t there. I looked at everyone confused. Where was she? She wouldn’t be late, she wanted to play Carrie more than anything.

“Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Cheryl will no longer be playing the role of Carrie White.” My brother said and Fangs tried to place his hand on his shoulder? Did Fangs have a thing for my brother? Good luck with that.

“What? Why?” Toni asked.

“Let’s just say that Penelope Blossom isn’t much of a stage-mom.” Kevin said and I scoffed.

“I think Cheryl’s by the gym bleachers.” He told Toni and she grabbed her stuff and left.

“In the meantime, Cheryl’s understudy will assume the role.” My brother said.

“Understudy?” Ethel asked.

“I appointed one after the sandbag incident. Midge Klump!” He said and everyone clapped. After that announcement everyone took their seats. Midge and Alice were going to practice one of their scenes. Everything was going well until Alice said Betty instead of Carrie..

“Mom?” Betty asked.

“Don’t leave me, Betty. Don’t leave me like all the others.” Alice said while crying then ran off. Betty got up and followed her.

“Am I directing a train wreck? And where’s my tea?” Kevin asked Fangs.

“Yeah you are. What did you think was gonna happen?” I asked rolling my eyes.

“Shut it you!” Kevin said looking at me.

After what felt like forever it was finally the night of the play. Kevin made sure we were dressed nice, so I was dressed in black lace dress, black and silver flower earrings, a black and silver flower necklace, and some black heels. For makeup, I up on a dark red lip and black and silver eyeshadow with a wing. I also curled my hair and put a bow in the back.

It was definitely too dressy for a school play but Kevin was making us so we had to. I was sitting next to Cheryl and Jughead and he was sitting next to my brother. We were watching the play and everything was going great. Alice was singing one her songs where Carrie was locked in the closet and everyone was loving it. They set looked amazing too.

“Alright Carrietta, it’s time to come out of your closet.” Alice said and the set lifted. What everyone saw was horrific.

“Uh, Kevin, did you re-block this scene? Why isn’t she on her knees singing?” Cheryl asked.

“I-I…” Kevin just stuttered, he didn’t know what to say. There on the wall was Midge Klump stabbed with multiple knives and with things written in her blood…

“I am back from the dead all those who escaped me before will die. B.H.” I read and we all just stared in shock, not processing what was happening.

“I don’t think that’s part of the show.” Jughead said shocked.

“Oh my God!” Kevin said.

“Somebody should help her! For God’s sake, help her!” Cheryl yelled and Alice finally turned around. She screamed and everyone started screaming and freaking out. We all got up and Kevin grabbed me pulling me to the stage but I got out of his grip and ran for the door. Two people stopped me and I looked up to see Fangs and Sweet Pea. Fangs grabbed me and pulled me out of the school with them.

“What the hell was that?” Fangs asked shocked.

“I don’t know, the Black hood must be back…” I said scared and Sweet Pea wrapped his arm around me. I froze not really knowing why he was doing this.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.” Sweet Pea said and they took me on their bikes to Sunnyside Trailer Park.

Tag list: @54fangirl @southsidehufflepuff @xrosesareredx @cvvlxx @skeletalwolfcat @demigodofthesun @depressed-octopods-art @nalayrene @yourfavouritefuckup @staygoldsquatchling02 @sataninsatin @im-socialy-awkward-no-joke @dark-night-sky-99 @aframeofbones @jojokoko0717 @nixdunbarhale @wanderlust-and-poetry @theyouthfulmoon @seasiren96 @nixdunbarhale2 @misskarynie @emo-godess-loves-you @serpent-stan @a--smallgirlinabigworld @ohlookmybed @everheart12 @sailorsolar12 @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear  @herokyolachan @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs @schisbro87 @lover-of-books-and-teas @nerdygaloresposts @alex--awesome--22 @teenwolfbitches2 @blueandgoldaus @southsidefandoms @hiya-imthatgirl @answer-the-sirens @mindsetjupiter @averysinclaire @mittelerde1999 @sweetest-peas @rousewriter @jjkingston @k-is-cray @staygoldsquatchling02 @wanderlust-and-poetry @hiighdeex3 @blueberry-lipgloss @ayeitsjaz @nadiagazecka @mysticrebelwerewolf @tht1wrdo @thegirlallthebadguyswant  @widowsgirl

[oceansborn-blog]

intros: next gen verse, pt. 1

ALICE LONGBOTTOM: seventh year, hufflepuff, head student, halfblood, cis female, she/ her. fc: milena tscharntke. pinterest. 

Mum Friend™ 

alice is like... very nurturing, honestly. she likes to be there for people and take care of them -- they come first, in her mind, and she comes second. definitely considers most people around her more important than herself -- she doesn’t have a bad self-confidence, really, but putting herself first isn’t something she’d think of?

even from first year she’d be the kid others could come to if they couldn’t sleep and she’d make them some tea and stay up with them 

favourite subjects are care of magical creatures & herbology -- just loves everything about nature and all the creatures in it 

her room at home is full of plants & she joined the herbology club at hogwarts as soon as she could so she could help out in the greenhouses; makes her feel like home and less homesick, though having her siblings and parents at hogwarts now definitely helps 

her tag is ‘steady flame’ which i tend to think pretty suitable for her -- she’s not a bright, roaring wildfire or anyone that sticks out particularly much, but she’s steady in her light and her love and she’s always there to provide some comfort 

always tries her hardest in her classes but if she has to help a friend out that takes precedence -- she cares about her grades but not as much as helping people, so if she needs to skip out on revising more for a test to comfort a friend, she will 

takes her prefect responsibilities quite seriously and now her head student ones, but isn’t a stickler for the rules in the sense that she always tries to understand the reason behind why a student got in trouble and if exceptions should be made 

her biggest passion is dragons and they have been her favourite animal since she was a kid her heart just !!!! soars when she thinks of them 

her dream job is to be a dragonologist but she hasn’t really... committed to it because she’s like... afraid of leaving home? she doesn’t want to be somewhere else if people need her? in a way ig she considers herself a bit more important than she is -- people will be fine if she moves elsewhere, the world will not fall apart, people will be happy for her -- but simultaneously she’s afraid to leave if like. nothing changes when she’s gone? and she’s not as important and necessary here as she thought? idk she has Conflicted emotions so her solution rn is just to let that dream remain just a dream 

hopefully she’ll get her act together and go for it one day 

but rn she’s considering a herbologist career instead even tho her heart is yelling at her to work with dragons 

AISLINN FINNIGAN-THOMAS: seventh year, hufflepuff, vampire, cis female, she/ her. fc: inbar lavi. pinterest.

bde: big dumbass energy

chaotic horny

kind of spoiled in the sense that she has both her dads wrapped around her little finger and kind of... charms her way into avoiding punishment?

gets away with a lot of shit she shouldn’t and has since she was a kid

maybe that’s why she’s such a disaster now! whom knows

was sorted into hufflepuff not so much because she admires or embodies the traits, necessarily, but because hufflepuff takes the rest and she really couldn’t fit anywhere else

she’s really just here to have a good time and wants to accomplish that in any way possible

she’s really... not interested in anything that doesn’t involve having fun. schoolwork? serious matters? will gladly ignore!

she Loves her friends and family but might not be the best person to always turn to for emotional support? or ever gfhsjd. her strategy for anything painful is ignore, ignore, ignore! and that tends to be her advice to others. she’s for sure nice to turn to if you want to distract yourself and do something fun, but in terms of actually discussing things and trying to process them? really not the right gal

‘mate, am genuinely jus here for a laff x’ in a person

gets into A Lot of stupid and reckless and dangerous situations just because she’s a person who tends to follow any half-rotten idea she gets. could be seen as brave, i suppose, since she’s not really scared of much --- but it’s more because she doesn’t think about it or linger on what consequences could come long enough to actually get scared

really doesn’t have an ambitious bone in her body. she’s never been one to even plan a week ahead but just lives her life a day at a time. teachers might try to get her to settle on a career and plan for it but she’ll just say a goal and by the next meeting drop another random career that she has no intention of trying for. probably drives them up the wall

does just well enough to scrape by in her classes so her parents can’t complain but no more than that

makes a lot of bad decisions, especially if she’s drunk

key example: deciding that knockturn alley seemed like a good place for a hookup and went there late at night, alone, and drunk as hell

did not find a hookup, but a vampire found her

woke up the next day feeling like absolute shite and with a very obvious bite that aislinn in true dumbass fashion thought was the ugliest hickey in the world

really hasn’t.... processed being a vampire? she’s like eh! can be ignored! i’m not emotionally and spiritually a vampire which is all that matters!

insists on still doing stuff she can no longer do, like eat a shit ton of garlic bread and lie out in the sun when she’s fucking nocturnal now

she’s quite sweet but her disaster energy brings a lot of stress to the logical people in her life

ISABELLA POTTER: fifth year, ravenclaw, disaster, halfblood, cis female, she/ her. fc: lana condor. pinterest.

she’s like the really trashy love child of leslie knope and ben wyatt?? mostly their bad sides lmao??? she too would be referred to as a human disaster on national tv

she’s a descendant of the part of the potter family that moved to america ages ago, so until she transferred to hogwarts in her fourth year she didn’t know the other potters?? like obviously she knew of them what with harry saving the wizarding world and all, but they hadn’t met each other before. she’s an only child with no close cousins so like meeting the potters and the huge fam that comes with them was kind of like …��…………… wait what for her and she’s still like??? doubt we’re actually related sorry can’t live up to you all

but yeah it was just her & her parents growing up and she was quite close to them when she was younger, but her dad is a politician ( now the president of the magical congress of the us ) and her mother is a healer, and they’re both just really ambitious, hardworking people so they didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to their home life?? and when isa went off to boarding school they drifted further apart, so at this point they honestly don’t know each other that well?? and tbh they’re not bad parents per say, if you don’t count how focused on their careers they are rather than supporting her, it’s just that they’re both so focused and confident i don’t think they ever consider that isa might,,, not be?? and she really, really isn’t.

her self-worth is so low and confidence is basically nonexistent, and when she’s nervous or struggling a lot with anxiety she tends to ramble a lot, which her parents just interpreted as her being talkative rather than there being an underlying reason for it, and basically there was just… a lot of misunderstanding between them? like isa still loves them, but whenever she was home she just didn’t feel good, and she hates herself for it because they are good people, but she just doesn’t know how to change that??

somehow did not end up nearly as charismatic or smart or anything as her parents tho and is just a mess™ so she mostly introduces herself only with her first name and tries to like not think of the fact that that her dad held such an important position bc she doesn’t want to bring more embarrassment to the family than she already has lmao

she really wants to make her parents proud and everything and tries to behave properly she’s just ??? failing epically. always finds a way to embarrass herself and put her foot in her mouth and once it happens her pride kicks in and she just makes it worse and worse because she can’t just admit that she did something wrong so she just continues to dig her own grave like every second conversation it’s amusing to watch but she’s just a tragic mess

with her father being the president and her mother out there literally saving lives she was like i gotta do something good with mine!!! she doesn't see becoming an author as good enough in comparison, so she's gonna study to become a healer like her mom after she graduates but like,,, it’s so not the right career choice for her, she'll probably would dropp up halfway through training

when anything remotely bad happens she’s like this is THE worst thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life and i cannot show my face ever again so basically,,, the ppl in her life are probably used to her Dramatic self by now. tho i guess now that there is an actual apocalypse going on, everything sort of is the worst thing that’s ever happened in her life?? anyways 

when it comes down to it isa is just a mess™ who just. gets into embarrassing situations Constantly because she never shuts up. she is often awkward and anxious and always puts her foot in her mouth and once that happens her pride kicks in and she just makes it worse and worse because she just can’t admit that she did something wrong so she just continues to dig her own grave like every second conversation. amusing to watch but a terror for herself she’s just a tragic mess who Cannot shut up for two seconds 

her mouth just runs on it’s own and her brain struggles to keep up so she just says weird shit sometimes 

it is honestly a surprise she hasn’t run off to live in the woods and write trashy romance novels yet 

that’s genuinely a thought she has daily djhasg she loves her family so much so she wouldn’t but like. she thinks she should not be allowed to talk with other people because she Will fuck it up and she’s proven that again and again

lowkey terrified of actually falling in love despite how often she gushes about it and just runs away at the thought. quite literally. she will ramble and then run as fast as she can she’s gotta GO

VERA WOOD-KRUM: fifth year, gryffindor, broom racing mess, halfblood, cis female, she/ her. fc: brittany o’grady. 

vera is entirely her fathers’ daughter and that becomes clear to everyone who has heard of them like .5 seconds after meeting her

she is Loud and she Will Not be stopped!! 

so yeah she’s the daughter of viktor and oliver, and at this point they’re even more iconic than they were when they were younger tbh. even their ‘love story’ is pretty famous around the wizarding world, their rivals-to-eventual-friends-to-lovers story touching many, not to mention being one of the first openly gay couples in the quidditch sphere

vera will always argue they’re the most iconic couple at the very least in the quidditch world but also probably in the wizarding world but lbr she is Biased 

she has three siblings, a younger brother named max who is... probably in his second year at this point i wanna say, and two older siblings, katya & alex, who are a bit closer in age to her. oliver and viktor used surrogate mothers and mixed sperm and have their kids, and yeah long story short vera is fiercely loyal to her family and would highkey die for them. 10/10 always ready to fight for them if someone talks shit 

very grateful for her family and her happy upbringing and they mean more to her than anything in the world 

obviously comes from a very quidditch centred family, and tho neither of her parents would force their kids into any career, they did have her join a little league quidditch team as a kid to encourage a healthy lifestyle and bc it’s their favourite sport in the world lbr. vera started out as a chaser but the coach decided to switch her position to seeker because he thought it would be a more suitable position --- which it definitely was, only more so than intended. her time in the little league quidditch team made her realise her intense love for broom racing, and she quickly lost interest in the actual game, racing off the pitch before quickly crashing and being brought back by the coaches fgjgdsfjhs

has been set on becoming a professional broom racer since she was a kid, basically, and is as obsessed with that as oliver is with quidditch --- if not more. like father, like daughter fjhsdgfhjs 

basically all her birthday and christmas wishes since then has been related to it, whether for broom polish or workout clothes or books on the matter, even sometimes wishing from brooms when a new version was released 

always makes sure to keep up with the latest news regarding anything from brooms to quidditch 

anytime one of her fathers went to diagon alley, she would hound them into bringing her so she could hang out in broomstix, overtime annoying the old owner into liking her LMAO, becoming something like the granddaughter he never had 

she worked there over summer and helps out a bit now during christmas break as well 

but yeah vera was sorted into gryffindor like .2 seconds after the sorting hat touched her head HFJSDGFJS she was so far from a headstall it’s ridiculous 

she takes after oliver a lot which i think is one of the first things ( and sometimes only if they don’t get to know her ) people notice about her --- she’s vivacious and loud and dramatic and incredibly competitive and is absolutely ridiculous, most of the time, especially when it comes for the lengths she’ll go to when it comes to broom racing. but she holds viktor’s kindness and loving nature at her core and she has quite a fixed 

definitely wouldn’t be wrong to call her a daredevil, one of the things she loves about broom racing is flying around obstacles and how wrong it can go if she’s not good enough gjhdsgfj 

has been in and out of both the hospital wing and st. mungo’s many, many times for a sixteen-year-old 

her whole family is very supportive of her dreams which she is So grateful for, partly because they just want to see her succeed and be happy but also to reduce the amount of injuries she gets hsdhjfgs viktor especially trains her a lot with his seeker experience in mind, a role which her older siblings took on when she started hogwarts 

that said, the wood-krum siblings are just as likely to encourage each other to get into trouble as to help each other so she ends up in trouble a lot hjsdghfj she Loves it tho all the professors probably think she is a pain in the ass, albeit a charming one

vera always tries to get around hogwarts by broomstick or longboard so like. rip in peace to the rest of hogwarts’ inhabitants bc the amount of detentions she gets doesn’t face her, she is set in her ways 

[abdicatedarchive]

hold me close and hold me fast || juliette and stevie

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: chalice wedding // june 21st 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: juliette x stevie.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: juliette has a romantic surprised on a stressful day.

Juliette arrived at the wedding separately from Stevie, but approached her before the ceremony. "Look at you!!" she said quietly with a big smile on her face. To say Juliette was anxious about today was an understatement. Her parents would be here, but she wasn't sure how ready she was to invite them to see her and Stevie together in public. It wasn't insecurity about Stevie, it would be about how her parents acted. "You look so beautiful" said Juliette, blushing at how beautiful the other girl was, "save me a dance later?" she asked, "I assume you're sitting up front with your family". Juliette didn't want to intrude. It was Stevie's cousins wedding after all. "I'm going to be running around back for Katie I'm sure of it" she distracted, not wanting to acknowledge why she didn't want to sit with Stevie exactly. It was just up front and all eyes would hopefully be on the bride, but she didn't want to risk her family ruining this nice event. That would be so embarrassing she wouldn't be able to function. She would definitely have to dig in Katie's bag for her emergency anxiety meds. 

To say Stevie was stressed was an understatement. Stevie Summers doesn't do stressed, but the past week at home had just been a little too much. Her parents always got weird when it came to the rest of the family, but they were able to keep a nice distance from them at all times. Because of this wedding, however, things have been more tense than usual. Her parents weren't going to miss Charlie's wedding, no matter how much they wanted to. They were vaguely aware that he was the only cousin Stevie was close to, and he was kind enough to invite them. It took a lot of convincing, but Stevie somehow got them to agree. It's not that her parents didn't like Charlie, they just really didn't like anyone else in the family, and it was so painfully obvious in the rehearsal dinner. Having everyone together was simply a bad idea. She didn't know how she was going to get through this day, but as always, she kept all those negative emotions bottled up, and slapped a smile on her face. Stevie directed her attention towards Juliette once she heard her voice, and for a moment, her worries vanished. "Look at me? Look at you, Hastings. No offense to the bride, but you just might be the most gorgeous girl here." Juliette always looked nice, but damn, she was absolutely stunning right now. "Of course." she nodded. Stevie wanted to have a nice night tonight, and she hoped being around Juliette would help with that. But she was aware that the girl's parents were here. Juliette had mentioned that her parents, or at least her mom, was a lot more accepting about everything, so there was some hope here for Stevie. She finally got her girl back, sort of, she didn't want to her lose her again. "Yeah ... yeah, I'm sure she's going through it right now." Stevie obviously wanted to sit with Juliette, but it just didn't seem like that was going to be realistic. "I'll see you after the ceremony?" she asked, trying her best to keep the smile on her face.

Juliette laughed nervously when Stevie said she was even more beautiful than the bride, "I think we both know that Alice Altman is about to wow people in a way that has never been done before" said Juliette, blushing a little still. She could see that she had let Stevie down, but it was for the best. Juliette knew she needed to stop making choices like this for them, but she didn't want to bog Stevie down with all this stress that was going on for her. Juliette liked her perfect little world with Stevie separate from all of this bullshit. "Yes, of course" said Juliette giving her favorite person in the world a small touch on the shoulder, squeezing a little. But it wasn't like she was comfortable enough to give her a kiss. She could feel her parents presence on the property. -time jump- Juliette texted Stevie after a horrible dinner of eating at the same table as her parents. Things had started going well with the two of them far after the seating charts were already done. perchancetodream: meet me at the gazebo out back Katie had felt so guilty about making Juliette sit with her family for dinner that she had helped make a little special space for the two of them. You could hear the music coming from the party as Juliette stood in the middle of the gazebo. This is where they had planned to meet back in the day. When Juliette was finally going to tell her the truth. Then everything with Griffin happened, so she couldn't even get herself out of bed. When she saw Stevie approaching she walked down and took her by both hands, walking backwards. "May I have this dance?" she asked as they walked up to the gazebo.

Stevie looked at her phone to see the text Juliette gave her and immediately headed over there. To no surprise, dinner sucked. There were definite pros and cons to being seated at a different table from the rest of the family. She didn't have to hear her cousin's remarks or deal with the stupid looks from her grandparents, but it made her feel so unwelcome. Stevie didn't care if her parents had issues with the family, but she hated being in the center of it all. She was the literal reason for all these problems. The sight of Juliette inside the lit up gazebo was breathtaking. It felt like a scene straight out of a movie. Stevie took hold of the girl's hands and nodded, "Of course." she said as they made their way to the center of the gazebo. She then placed one of her hands on the small of Juliette's back and started to slowly sway side to side. "You got this all set up for me? I'm honored." she smiled down at Juliette before looking around the gazebo. "So, how has your night been so far?" Stevie had to assume things weren't going great if they had to dance privately. She hoped Juliette's parents weren't giving her a hard time tonight. It made her a bit nervous to be alone with her right now, she couldn't imagine what would happen if her parents found her out here with Stevie.

Juliette smiled softly and put her head on Stevie's chest as they danced. Her ring shining on her hand as it held Stevie's. "It's an apology from Katie. She's on the no drama task force. But I saw her running around with Nathaniel Langston earlier?" said Juliette letting a small smile appear on her face. "That's a nice tall man for Katie. He does like business stuff? I'm not sure, but that's not what this is about. I'm pretty sure he got everything finalized out here is what I'm saying" said the girl, distracting from talking about anything real. It was so hard with both of their family stuff coming in and effecting their nights. This all could have been so nice, but of course there was baggage. There was always baggage in this town. "It's not been ... great. But I know what would make me feel a lot better" she said as she took a deep breath. She had asked the band to play La Vie en Rose in 10 minutes from when she came out here, so it began to play. She stopped dancing and took both of Stevie's hands. "I love you so much, and I know I've been a huge problem in this relationship. From stuff that was out of my control, to things that were very much in my control. But if you're willing, I would love to be able to call you my girlfriend again. In public. All the time. Holding your hand. Kissing in the park. I want all of it. Good days and bad days" said Juliette. She took another deep breath, praying that the response was yes.

Stevie smiled to herself as Juliette began to talk about Katie, "Oh shit, a Langston? Look at her go. He seems like a cool dude." Stevie stayed on sus mode, but that was when people gave her a reason to be, and almost every time, she was right about her suspicions. Most people were cool in Stevie's book anyways, and if Katie was into him, he had to be great. "I was kind of excited for us to be her wingwomen, but it seems like she's got things under control." Though Stevie assumed that Juliette was having just as much of a shitty time as her, it still sucked to hear it. She immediately turned her head in the direction where the music was coming from, a big smile on her face formed as she heard La Vie en Rose play. One of the many songs that reminded her of Juliette. Stevie then gently squeezed the girl's hands and listened to her speak. She had asked Juliette to be her girlfriend the first time, and if their situation was different, she probably would have done it again. But this time, it was out of her control. This was Juliette's choice. Yes, they've had issues along the way, and there were things they still needed to work through, but sometimes you just had to take a chance and give things another go, and this was one of those times. Juliette Hastings was worth it. Stevie pulled her in close and kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you too." she said after stepping back to look at Juliette. "I'd love to be your girlfriend again. I just don't want to make things difficult for you and your family anymore. If we need to give this more time, I'm willing to do that." The wait would hurt, but Juliette's happiness and safety came first. She couldn't risk the girl's parents doing something else because of this relationship. "We could always talk to them this time, but you know them more than me. It's your call."

"Katie is worse at dating than I am, so she might still need some parent trap style assistance" said Juliette with a small laugh. Proclaiming her love to Stevie had been rehearsed but she didn't say anything that she had been planning, the gist got across though. Juliette was better with her words in front of a computer or a notebook. That had always been true. Juliette looked at Stevie firmly and confidently, "I don't want time. I don't want to talk to them. They don't talk to me much. I don't owe them anything, my grandparents are in charge of all my finances when it comes down to it. I've thought it through and they can officially ... fuck off" said Juliette, letting the swear come out. It wasn't any kind of religious thing or anything, and honestly she wasn't sure why she chose not to swear. Part of her felt like it was weird coming out of her form. Like she was too delicate for language. It just didn't suit her. She broke into a smile at the word though. Knowing that Stevie would love it. "I don't want to make this wedding about us though. That's my only boundary. But after tonight? We're going to be all over town, just making out like crazy" she joked. Juliette had never been one for PDA anyways. A very private individual, not in the business of being very public. But it would be nice to hold Stevie's hand or get a temple kiss while they were having ice cream. The cute things she was definitely okay with.

Stevie raised a brow and let out a laugh once she heard Juliette curse. It wasn't everyday she got to hear the girl say that, but it was always enjoyable. "Goddamnit, Hastings. I see I'm already a bad influence on you." she joked. If Juliette didn't want to tell her parents anything, then so be it. Stevie hoped they'd eventually come around, but it wasn't fair for Juliette to put her life on hold for others. Whatever her girlfriend wanted to do, Stevie would support. Her girlfriend. It put a smile on her face just thinking about it. "But, I mean, they can definitely fuck off." she nodded. "Yeah, I'd feel bad if we took the spotlight off of Charlie and Alice and officially became the hottest couple at this event. Alice and Katie won't let us live that down." Stevie was simply trying to make light of the situation, but one private night wasn't going to hurt her. She had told herself that she would wait as long as it took for Juliette and she meant that. Now all she had to wait was one day, that's it. "We could stay here for a little, dance a bit, and then head back out to everyone?" she suggested, she just wanted one more dance with the girl.

"It would be very unfortunate to steal that title away from them on their big day. Tomorrow though? They become old news" said Juliette as she hugged Stevie tightly. Like she was never going to let go. And to a certain extent, she wasn't going to. At least not emotionally. Stevie suggested dancing some more out here, "I would love to. I actually had a surprise dance practice with this nice girl I met in the studio. I went to go brush up on some stuff" said Juliette, "her name is Laney. I think you're gonna like her. She needs friends, so maybe we should invite her to your next show". Juliette had surprised herself with wanting to make friends, but being back with Stevie had her confident again. Juliette smiled, "I can lead" she said with a little wink, "I mean I am the top in this relationship. Speaking of, dibs on top it's just me now. I'm the pants wearing heteronormative butch girlfriend. Nothing you can do to stop me" Juliette said as a smirk broke into a strong smile and a hearty laugh. She even let out a snort.

"Those poor souls don't know what's coming." Stevie said before wrapping her arms around Juliette just as tight. They had been at a good place for a little bit now, but nothing compared to actually having Juliette as her girlfriend. Labels did't always matter, but this one felt nice. Now she didn't just have to wear her J necklace around her ankle like she was in this moment, now she could wear it proudly around her neck at all times. She smiled once Juliette brought up a friend of hers, she was glad that she was meeting new people. Stevie didn't want her to regret switching over to Brindleton. "I'm always down to meet new people, and she could meet the rest of the band too, if she doesn't know them yet. It'll be great." Stevie tried holding a serious face, but it was just so hard when Juliette started calling herself a top. She broke out into laughter along with her girlfriend, and probably laughed even harder when she heard her snort, "You're such an adorable bottom, this is why we work so well." she said before giving the girl a kiss.

"Only I'm allowed to laugh at me! Summers!!!" Juliette whined as she gave her a little smack on the arm. Stevie followed it up with a kiss, so she guessed it wasn't too bad to be a bottom. "I am serious about the fact that I can lead one dance. I did practice" she said as they got into position. "If you remember I used to do cotillion and pageants so this is right up my alley" she said as she guided Stevie around the gazebo. Her eyes were shining, "we really are soulmates, you know. I've done a lot of reading up on them, and the fact that we're always finding each other in one way or another is pretty by the book" said the girl, "you are my fairytale, that is for certain. We slay dragons tomorrow, but today is just about us". Juliette was very content in their little world, but she knew for everything to be real they needed to be more than that. To be public, to enjoy life. "Also, if you think you're sleeping at home tonight you are wrong. My tiny house is almost finished but everything works. So that's where we are going. Plus my book is there, and I've got separation anxiety" said the girl, looking at just how beautiful the other girl was. How had she gotten so lucky. Thank god for degrassi and local bands.

"How could I forget the pageant pictures? They're some of my favorites." Stevie got into position and began dancing with Juliette again. As lame as it may be, she got goosebumps when the girl said they were soulmates. It was definitely something she had thought of many times before. It seemed like wherever life took them, they were always meant to cross each other's paths. They lived in a rather small town and never talked in person, yet fate made sure they still met each other. If it wasn't going to be in person, it would be online. Stevie thought she had lost Juliette for good once she got sent to boarding school, and a couple years later, she ended up transferring to her college. Their love was written in the stars. She flashed her teeth as she smiled widely at her girlfriend. "Soulmates, huh? You might be right. We must have been lovers in another life, destined to find each other in every life afterwards." She raised her brows dramatically as Juliette mentioned her tiny house, "Woah, we're on day one of our new relationship and you're already trying to get me to spend the night. If you want sex, all you have to do is ask." she teased the girl. "But I have been excited to see this tiny house, so I can't say no to that." They were back where they belonged, finally.

Juliette leaned into Stevie a little and whispered in her ear, "in the past life, I was the top" she said before letting her eyes crinkle as she smiled innocently. Juliette loved the joke about her being a top. It wasn't anything she was insecure about, she loved her tall and powerful lady. Juliette also just liked being taken care of. She continued to dance with her girlfriend, turning her out to spin her as the girl mentioned sex. "Oh I am most definitely inviting you over for sex and sex alone. Not because I wanted to read while you sat there" said Juliette sarcastically. The song ended and Juliette kissed Stevie's hand, "I mean, we are about to spend a lot of nights apart at camp" she said with a little frown, "I want to get my time in, plus I haven't had sex since we last had sex ... back in high school ... which is kind of embarrassing now that I'm saying it out loud" she admitted as her face grew red.

"If that's what helps you sleep at night, then we can stick with that." Stevie looked down at her girlfriend with a smile, holding in her laugh. The top jokes about Juliette being a top would never get old. She held onto the girl's hand and dipped a little as she was spun around. "You know if sex with you wasn't so amazing, I'd be really offended." she said playfully. The idea of them not having as many nights together because of camp hadn't really dawned on her until now. That ... kind of fucking sucked, but at least they had tonight. Stevie shook her head and cupped the sides of Juliette's face to kiss her quickly, "Oh come on, there's nothing embarrassing about that. Sex is just sex. You do it, you don't, who cares?" she paused as she thought about her comment for a moment. "Well sex can be meaningful too, which is great, but ya know what I mean." she chuckled. "And after tonight, you won't have to say your last time was in high school."

Stevie was doing a good job distracting Juliette, but she still heard the whole sex is just sex thing. She tried her best to not think about how many people Stevie had been with since they had broken up, but the thoughts were pouring in. "Yeah, yeah of course. I gotcha" said Juliette, knowing it was her own insecurities getting to her. But at the same time ... he insecurities were getting to her. "I will be shouting it in town square tomorrow" she giggled as she pulled Stevie into a kiss. "Cmon lets go sit and eat cake while we guess what people's conversations sound like from across the event" said Juliette after the kiss broke. This is what happiness felt like. She cold love Stevie so freely, it was better than any book she's ever read. //END

[confessionsofaloudmouth]

The Half of It; a blog post by Chelbey Trump

Okay, so I kinda fell off the face of the Earth for the past 2 months. I was so dedicated to uploading on here, but then I felt it was disrespectful to post my own work directly after the death of George Floyd. I spent a few weeks educating myself by watching various documentaries and signing a ton of petitions. Of course, that didn’t take up all of my time. I read a lot, got a killer tan, and basically just procstatinated the idea of uploading on here.

But, today I have sparked inspiration! I am going to write about The Half of It, a Netflix original movie, directed by Alice Wu, and starring Leah Lewis. The movie was released on May 1, 2020 and has a 97% rate on Rotten Tomatoes.

Characters:

Ellie Chu; I saw so much of myself in this character, yet felt so much different than her. Like Ellie, I am witty and snarky and, yes, sometimes a bit of a smart aleck. On the other hand, Ellie was much more quiet than I, her family situation was unique, and I have never made money off of writing papers for other students. Ellie was the perfect main character for my favorite genre of a movie. She had the mindset of getting out of the small town, of wanting more from like. To me, she was very similar to Charlie from Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is my all-time favorite movie. She’s on the outside of everything, looking in, until a sudden move makes her the center of everyone important’s attention. I was worried she would live up to the generic, slightly rude Asian stereotype that so many movies choose to enhance. However, while her heritage played an important role in the relationship she had with her father, it didn’t take up the entire storyline. Yes, it painted realistic obstacles of being made fun of in high school and being different in the whitewashed small-town. Yet, again, it wasn’t all about how she was different because of her race. I think it’s important movies do that in order to highlight the struggle of POC in America, however, I think we’re all sick of POC main characters only getting a storyline that stems out of their race. Moving on, I loved Ellie. Her character arch was so delightful to witness: We watch her literally come of age, accept her sexuality and embrace the love she feels for someone else. I love seeing women become confident and happy with what they already have in themselves.

Paul Munsky; I think you all know I’m about to say he is the cutest character ever. Like, ever, in the history of...ever. Another storyline we always get is the POC sidekick best friend who provides the humor and never gets a deeper connection with the audience. However, Paul was a straight, white man and the story didn’t revolve around him! How delightful. Paul had his own subplot which I think balanced well with Ellie’s. I believe that it was testament to the whole, “You never know what someone’s going through.” It also provided the support reflected from Ellie that extended from just writing letters for Paul. His sausage storyline is super cute and it compliments well with his football player demeanor: He has poor communication skills, and he only knows how to make sausage because he helps work for the family business. However, hes bored with that life, so, as hes trying to literally spice up the sausage, he wants Ellie to spice his life up with a love letter to Astrid. In the end, Ellie helps him learn to be more of an individual than just another football player. I don’t the fact that he ended up falling for Ellie, however, I can see why he did. She was a light in his boring darkness, saved him from carbon copies. She saw the very best in him. How could you not fall for someone who helps you love yourself?

Aster Flores; I love, love, love, love, love Aster. She was the perfect mixture of girl-next-door turned art-nerd-you-never-expected. She wasn’t the weird, quirky, “I’m not like other girls,” stereotype. She sacrificed her personality for the sake of pleasing other people. She kept her own feelings, sexuality, inside in order to satisfy the people who looked to her for guidance, which was, conveniently, popular blondes and her own ‘boyfriend.’ Her dynamic with Ellie was beautifully tragic. I wanted them to fall in love so badly, yet I was perfectly okay with them simply being best friend. Yet, i guess, in a way, aren’t those sometimes the same thing? A best friend and a lover? Maybe Ellie was wrong in saying there was no perfect person for everyone... Overall, i want to see more of Aster. She didn’t really step out of her cocoon until the movie was ending. I want to see her in art school, flourishing both in grades and, ya know, sexuality. She told Ellie she had to find herself, and I want to see that happen. Sequel title: The Whole Thing. Idk, to me, that’s perfect.

Honorable Mentions; Mrs. Geselschap was on-point for the common, small-town English teacher. I always form deep connections to my English teacher, for obvious reasons, and I felt that connection with this character. Trig Carson was annoying and I hate him. His character was good, yeah, it paid omen to the gross, rude, homophobic, racist, jocks that attend every American public high school. That’s why I hate him... Mr. Chu was deeply symbolic for Ellie, but also just a comedic relief for the audience. The moments he was asleep, or talking during the movies, I saw the lovely dynamic of a broken, yet still close family that doesn’t really get displayed on television. Its possible to be missing a parent and still be a well-functioning citizen. Finally, Mr. Chu made me cry a lot at the end, so he gets extra brownie points.

Settings:

I was reminded so much of my little hometown, with the football games being the biggest moment of every fall, the cornfields stretching far and wide, and the usual, broken-down pickup trucks. I loved the detail of Ellie’s father operating the train system, which Ellie ultimately took over for him. That small detail was symbolic for Ellie, showing her that there was a way out and that she didn’t have to settle in Squahamish just because of her dad. In the end, the trains she directed ended up taking her out of town. The small-town aspect also let us feel closer and more deeply connected to the characters. They were exactly like every teenager around them, but tiny little aspects which made them unique- their love for art, their sexuality- made them stand out and gave their story more prevalence and relevance. All good coming of age movies rely on a geographically convenient setting, and this one worked very well.

Plot Lines:

Ellie vs. Other Students; Ellie didn’t care when they made fun of her. She wasn’t afraid of their bullying or even offended by it. She simply turned her cheek and literally helped them all by writing their papers for real cheap. She outshined all of the other students with her educational and musical abilities, yet she never once stood up to them or let that light do it’s thing. She stayed behind the line, opting to play her piano at the talent show. However, when those bullies broke the piano to embarrass her, Paul swooped in with a guitar and forced her to do her thing. Without even wanting to, Ellie showed them all up. She needed to do this, to cross the line without a big, grand gesture to fully become herself. Additionally, I loved that Ellie wasn’t even hateful towards Paul, who was seeking after the girl Ellie was in love with. She stuck to her devices, never wanting to hurt others or outsmart them by actually trying. It made who she ended up being a complete shock, yet it was comfortable, because they sneakily morphed her throughout the movie.

Family Dynamic; Paul was expected to stay small-minded by his own family. They didn’t care if he went above and beyond because they never pushed him to even do so. Paul wasn’t encouraged to do that well in school or social settings. He had a fate, which would be taking over the family business. Maybe that is what he ends up doing, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Ellie’s dynamic was similar, however, with her mother dead, she ultimately took over the paternal position while still a high school student. I felt angry with her father for not being strong enough to be a proper father- and, yes, mother- figure for Ellie. In the end, he found his way again. I liked, though, that Ellie was able to go on without her mother there. Her mother meant a lot to her, but her world didn’t fall apart without her. She carried her sadness as motivation to make her mother proud.

Homophobia; I know I was not the only one shocked by Paul’s declaration that Ellie was going to hell when she admitted to him that she was gay. I think this was obviously upsetting, but it was a true testament to a small-town, driven and united by religion. It showed that, though Ellie knew Paul well and they were really good friends, Paul’s religious ‘morals’ were beyond any relationship he might had formed. In the end, I was happy that he accepted her for who was she was. Homophobia is not excused by any god, including my own. It is with love that we begin to truly wash out sin and Paul was able to understand that. I felt sad that Aster was driven into the closet somewhat by the unspoken homophobia obviously laying in wait in the town. However, I do understand that she also didn’t want to come out because she didn’t really know herself, either. There was a nice balance of reality and self-assurance here.

Quote Corner:

“Love is being willing to ruin your good perfect for the chance at a great one.” (The entire scene where Aster and Ellie exchange paintings on the side of a building added 3 years to my lifespan, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m serious, I’ll cry.)

“How you could live in an ocean of her thoughts.”

“I’m like a lot of people which kind of makes me no one.”

B-Sides:

These were the songs which touched my music soul the most;

Overall Rating: 4.75/5

Literally the only reason I took off .25 points is because this wasn’t one of those movies I could watch again and again. Of course, I’m going to watch at least five more times within the next year. However, I only know 2 movies I can watch again and again: Tangled and Bohemian Rhapsody. Even then, I get bored after awhile. This movie was in my favorite genre and it satisfied every single detail required to successfully tackle that specific trope. It wasn’t cringey, though movies in this genre tend to be, and the characters were spot on without being annoyingly so. I want to see more of all of them and I’m hoping Netflix would consider a sequel. We shall see, friends.

Next time I decide to actually put effort into something other than a book or swimming, I want to discuss a classic: Mystic Pizza.

In the meantime, here is a Google Doc containing various petition links: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj7wKips77qAhXYlnIEHZiuCBsQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fu%2F0%2Fd%2F1wtawPIxNuYuYlPTIBMxPe6jmaMSN7aH0pJO5x7cy4nc%2Fmobilebasic&usg=AOvVaw3MAVKPgC70UwkdV2rH2PlN

[mariadoylekennedy]

Two To Talk: Maria Doyle-Kennedy and Sinead Gleeson in conversation about writers, music, film and the meaning of life

Sinead: Why do you think you’ve ended up doing what you do?

MDK: I think that I sing because it is almost the easiest thing that I do. I don’t think when I’m singing. Everything else I do, I got there through singing. Singing brought me to all those other places.

Sinead: I was always a reader, but then I spent four years pretty much in hospital as a teenager, and my reading went up to ninja level and I’ve been obsessed with books ever since, so it seems like a really obvious thing that I would work around books. I talked about being a writer for years and didn’t do it for various reasons. I love books, I spent all my money on novels. When I did journalism I managed to turn my hobbies into my job.

MDK: I think desire has to have something to do with it as well. That it’s what you want to do more than anything. Somehow you find a way to fuel it.

Sinead: What do you think is a dominant characteristic of the other?

MDK: I think you’re very optimistic.

Sinead: You’re incredibly kind, thoughtful around other people. You help people out a lot. I always feel very relaxed around you. You’re very chill.

MDK: Thank you! I think I’m a trier. Doers do things and get them done, and I don’t always get them done, but I try.

MDK: When did you last cry?

Sinead: I wrote a piece about my godmother.

MDK: That was beautiful.

Sinead: It’s hard to write about very personal things sometimes, but you also have to switch off a part of your brain so you can do it. Every single time I wrote a draft or edit it, I would literally sit at my computer and bawl. I never had that with a piece of writing at all.  

MDK: I cry often. When I was small and if there was something wrong and you were upset and you’d hope for a comforting word, my mother would always say, “there’s nothing wrong with a good cry”. There’s no shame about it. I spend a lot of time on the train going up and down to Roscommon and I often zone out on the train – it’s so beautiful going through the Irish countryside on the train – and sometimes I’ll think of something sad and I’m off.

Sinead: What about your death-row meal?

MDK: I’d go straight to the liquor, skip the food.

Sinead: I think so. Fancy booze.

MDK: Who would you like to receive a letter from?

Sinead: I’d probably go Kate Bush. I know she’s been sent a copy of The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore. I’d love to know what she thought. She’s one of those people who is mega famous and then when you talk to her, she’s just lovely, just human.

MDK: Dorothy Parker. Imagine what she’d write to you? How many times you’d read it, how much you’d laugh.

Sinead: What was the worst day of your life.

MDK: I think I know what mine will be and I haven’t had it yet.

Sinead: Wow, that’s pretty profound.

MDK: I think I live in the now a lot. I find it hard to think of the best time or the worst time.

Sinead: Mine is the leukaemia diagnosis, six months to the day after I got married. You have this flash forward to all the things you think you’re not going to have.

MDK: Who is a film-maker or artist or musician who really speaks to you?

Sinead: I want to say – because I always think of them as a troika – Alice Maher, Dorothy Cross and Aideen Barry. I love all their work, not just because it’s strange and of the body and slightly supernatural and very feminine, but it’s uncompromising, it’s not like anyone else, and it’s not easy to make. I think they’re incredible.

MDK: James Turrell, I’m living and breathing him at the moment. I find light installations deeply moving, and you’re never being told on any level what to think. It’s nourishing and not in any way patronising or didactic, you’re just being inspired.

Sinead: I’ve never met someone with a mind like Brian Eno. He writes books, he does music installations, he produces, he remixes, he keeps up with everything, reads everything, a proper public intellectual, and super nice given how well-known he is.

MDK: I love the new Lankum album as well. Radie Peat’s voice is very special.

Sinead: Anything you wish you did better in school?

MDK: Mine is history. I didn’t do it for my Leaving Cert and I so regret it.

Sinead: You’re a Gaeilgeoir and your kids go to an Irish school, I just had a series of unenjoyable Irish teachers. I wish I had been taught a bit better, and I wish we all spoke it. I wish my Irish was better.

Sinead: Is there a mantra or motto you return to?

MDK: I really tried to get information out of Patrick Scott. I would ask him whenever I could – give us the meaning of life! He would just bat me away like a fly, but he did say: just make the work. I can hear him say it. I miss him terribly.

Sinead: That’s good advice. In work terms, I always say “if you don’t ask you don’t get”. More than that, and I think this is more important as I get older: be kind. If somebody has some good news, shout about it and celebrate it, champion other people, lift other people up. We can be very whiny and snide about other people’s good news and good luck and I don’t like that. I think it affects you if you’re like that.

[maximusthewolfe]

Peaches and Plums | 2/?

Back in Fillory, present day, Eliot struggles with the rush of memories from a life he apparently lived, even though he didn’t. But there’s a quest to be finished, a kingdom to be run, and a world with no magic to make it all infinitely more difficult. So what’s a High King to do when flashbacks won’t stop and Quentin just wants to move forward?

I wanted to play with all the empty spaces from THE scene in A Life in the Day, and explore the fallout from it in the present world that never really got shown. I hope you enjoy!

Also on AO3

“So, we need to use the ship, then, to find the fourth key,” Quentin explained, splaying the book on the windowsill before them.

He looked at Margo, not Eliot, and Eliot did his best not to take offense to that as he steadied himself. The intrusion of the memory (echo? Hallucination? What the hell was he supposed to call it anyway?) had set him off-balance, but he masterfully covered it by leaning casually against the cool stone of the hallway.

Margo stared at an expectant-looking Quentin for a few seconds before waving her hands in a wildly dramatic, dismissive gesture. “Wait, was that supposed to be a question? Seriously? Yes, yes, of course you can use the ship to go get the key we absolutely need if we want a chance at getting fucking magic back. Fuck, Quentin, did you seriously call a meeting for that?!”

Quentin’s gaze immediately fell to the floor, which only served to spur on Margo’s mood. “Q! El and I have a kingdom to run here. A kingdom that’s been High King-less for too long, I might add,” she said, aggravation heating the words. She turned her accusatory stare toward Eliot. Eliot put his hands up defensively. It wasn’t like the mosaic had been a fun vacation idea he’d thought up.

“Um, well, see, that’s the thing,” Quentin said, clearly more cautious with this stipulation than the previous one.

“What’s the thing?” Margo pressed when Quentin took longer than a beat to continue.

The mood in the hall was tense, nerves and irritation and urgency all mixing together into a vaguely suffocating thickness that coated the air around the three of them.

“I, uh, I kind of need El for this one,” Quentin said finally, and Eliot, who had been doing his best to look anywhere else suddenly snapped his attention to Quentin. Quentin, in turn, averted his eyes instantly to, well, anywhere else.

“I’m sorry,” Margo started, venom dripping from her words. It was only Eliot who caught the slight hint of insecurity lingering at the back of it. “You two just got back from abandoning your thrones while I was forced to marry a fucking child bride and you want to leave me alone to sort it out so you two can go play houseboat? Uh-uh, I don’t think so.”

Her tone was ice-cold and damn determined and Eliot had to admit, losing an eye to a fairy deal had been mostly a pretty terrible thing, but the ornate, outfit-coordinating eye patches really served to up her already astronomically high bad bitch factor.

“It’s not a want-to thing, it’s a need-to thing. From what I can decipher, this key isn’t a one-person kind of thing, and well, we still don’t trust Alice,” Quentin started on an explanation he must have anticipated having to give, because it flowed unusually well for a man who normally stumbled over everything when faced with the wrath of Margo. “And like you said, you’ve got an, uh, a bit of a marriage situation on your hands --”

He continued with his line of reasoning, and Eliot might have found it a little bit sweet, how hard Q was going to bat for him here but the younger man was still, pointedly, ignoring him. Eliot chanced a glance at Margo and was instantly glad he did because the “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit right now?” look she tossed his way was equal parts withering and entertaining, a patented Bambi combination he had come to deeply admire over the years. He felt a pang, a longing, an echo of how much he’d missed her in the mosaic world.  He smirked in response, pressing his lips firmly together to repress what itched to turn into a full-blown smile and lifted his shoulders slightly in an “I know, but what are you gonna do? The kid has a point,” response.

The message was received, Eliot was sure of it by the way she huffed, turning her wither on full blast as Quentin wrapped up his soliloquy on why this key quest required Eliot’s presence.

“I’m still calling bullshit, and if I get out of this marriage without starting a war while you’re gone, I’ll be damned if you fuckers are gonna waltz back in here and take any credit for my exceptional leadership, but FINE. Take the Muntjac. Take Eliot. But please, for the love of whatever God isn’t actively trying to fuck with us at the moment, be reachable by bunny this time,” she conceded, begrudgingly, but with impressive grace.

Queendom suited her so well.

“Cool, um, great, thanks,” Quentin said, and Eliot nearly lost it at how obviously his former life partner had not expected to win.

“On what planet would I stand in the way of our best shot at getting magic back? Because I can count two for sure where the answer is obvious,” Margo retorted.

“Right, no, I know, I just – Thanks. Eliot,” Quentin said, finally, fucking finally, turning toward him, “Can you have Benedict pull us some maps?”

“Oh, so it speaks to me after all,” Eliot said spitefully, unfolding his arms from where they’d settled across his chest and rolling his upper back against the wall to push himself off of it. All it took was a single arched eyebrow from Margo before he dropped it. “Yeah, yeah. Maps, making it happen. Chop, chop, onward to Glory.”

“Great. Now that that’s settled, if you useless monarchs will excuse me, I have an infant husband to not fuck.” Margo turned and left the hall, her heeled boots clicking magnificently every step of the way. The woman could exit with just as much impact as she entered a room, maybe more, and that was saying something. Eliot made a mental note to declare a day in her honor or something if they survived all of this.

“Great, so, maps,” Quentin echoed, turning to follow Margo’s initial path. Eliot sighed, throwing his hands up in exasperation, following Q and calling for Benedict in one elegant, incredibly frustrated motion.

Not long after they sat in the same hall, surrounded by maps, the paper unfurled on the floor before them. Eliot sat, long legs folded beneath him as Quentin pointed to a dark area in the outer sea. Every time their hands almost touched, Eliot was painfully aware that it was the closest they’d been since they returned from, or were stopped from ever going to, their past-alternate life. Fuck, he was going to give himself a migraine if he kept trying to figure out the mechanics of what he remembered but apparently hadn’t lived.

“So, from what I can tell, the fourth key is somewhere in The Abyss. It’s this uncharted area outside of Fillory where it’s kind of…. permanently night,” Q explained.

“Do you really need me for this?” Eliot asked, unable to keep his focus when he had a million unanswered questions and Quentin’s shoulder kept brushing against his in a very distracting manner.

“I need another quester, yeah,” Quentin replied simply. Oh sure, now he was brief with his language.

“There are more of those than me, you know,” Eliot bit back.

“Uh, I – yeah. Do you not want to do this?” Quentin asked, and the way his brows knitted together to match the confusion in his voice made Eliot consider that maybe he wasn’t the only one struggling with the aftermath of the mosaic after all.

“No, no, I do. I’m just  - a little surprised you do,” he admitted, keeping his eyes firmly on the maps in front of him.

“I just thought – I dunno, going on a boating quest together sounded good.”

Eliot couldn’t stop the small, self-satisfied smile that tugged the corners of his lips upward in that moment. It was far from an admission that mirrored anything near the violent tug of war in his head, but it was a start.

“Say no more El Capi-tan. Let’s go sail to some God-forsaken place where the sun literally never rises and get another key that does who-knows-what,” he said, a surprising amount of exuberance in his voice for the actual words he was saying. He jostled his shoulder against Quentin’s playfully, basking in the start he’d been given, “But, hey, we can do that thing on the bow of the ship you’ve always wanted to do,” Eliot said.

“What thing?” Quentin asked, confusion still lacing his words, this time in a way that made Eliot laugh. He shook his head, draping his arm around the shorter man’s shoulders casually, pulling him in and pressing an effortless kiss to the top of Q’s head. “You know, the thing,” he murmured knowingly, amused when Quentin’s expression remained firmly bewildered.

It took a moment before Eliot realized how much of his mosaic self had been in that familiar movement, but as soon as it hit him, he pulled his arm back to his side, clearing his throat and pointing to The Abyss again.

“Looks like about a 3-day trip on the Muntjac. We should get going. I just need to check on Margo before we leave.”

****

Three days. Three whole fucking days with just them and the boat’s crew, and they had somehow managed to talk about everything that wasn’t the only thing they needed to discuss. Now, as their boat headed into the edge of the overwhelming darkness of The Abyss, Eliot felt like the time for talking was over.

In his experience, these key quests hit a tipping point and maybe it was just a shot from the well-dressed hip here but floating into total darkness sure seemed like the point at which pedantic self-reflection was no longer a helpful use of time.

“Any idea where, exactly, in The Abyss we might find this key?” Eliot asked, glancing at Quentin as they helped the crew light lanterns. The illumination was quickly becoming necessary as the eternal night swallowed the boat whole.

Quentin rubbed the back of his neck nervously, which was never a good sign. “Is there really a way to know where you are in The Abyss? It’s just kind of…dark in all directions, right? I was kind of hoping for some sort of beacon or weird ringing that gets louder as we get closer or something,” he said sheepishly.

“Well tie me down and fuck me stupid,” Eliot muttered, only slightly pleased when his specific choice of words made Quentin jump just a little. “That’s putting an awful lot up to chance in a very important mission there, Q.”

“Yeah, maybe, I guess,” he trailed off, “But it’s not exactly like the book spells it out super clearly. Cryptic is kind of its thing if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Eliot said sarcastically, “I thought it was crystal clear last time. That was something I totally walked into willingly with all the cards on the table.”

Quentin, whose jaw had fallen open just slightly at the first almost-actual mention of the topic they’d both been avoiding, looked like he was trying really hard to come up with a suitable response. Eliot was surprised at the way his blood rushed through his ears while he waited.

“Do you hear that?” Quentin finally said, turning to look out at the water.

God, he really would do anything to avoid this, wouldn’t he? Quentin was the one who signed them up for being suck on a boat together, mostly alone, for days. Did he really expect Eliot to never bring it up?

“Very funny, Q. You know if you didn’t want to --” but Q had already rushed to the side of the boat.

Brow furrowing, Eliot turned his ear toward the water and he heard it, kind of. It was very faint, but it was enough to make him turn to Benedict. “Get me one of those…weird extendo-scope things that the pirates use in the movies,” he snapped his fingers and somehow, perhaps by sheer force of time spent deciphering Eliot’s Earth-isms, Benedict understood.

Eliot stepped forward to join Quentin at the side of the ship, and as soon as he was beside his fellow King, he heard it again. It was still faint, but the voice distinctly human, and distinctly calling for help.

“What the fuck?” he said, placing a hand on Quentin’s shoulder to pull him back from where he leaned over the edge, straining to see in the darkness. “Whoa there, cowboy. One unexpected wave and you’re Quentin, the Overboard instead of Quentin, the Fillorian King.”

As if on cue, Benedict arrived with the spyglass. Eliot grabbed it, extending it as he raised it to his eye. “There’s a chick out there,” he said. Quentin grabbed the spyglass from him and looked for himself. “Oh, shit. There is somebody out there.”

Eliot turned to Benedict, who was standing by looking confused and uncertain. “What are you doing?! You heard the man! There’s someone out there! We need a life preserver and a really long rope – now!”

Honestly, sometimes he wondered why he had royal helpers at all. To the pudgy man’s credit, as soon as he was ordered, he skittered into action, and with only a moderate amount of effort, and three ridiculous misses, they managed to pull the woman – average height and build, red hair, objectively nice breasts – onto the boat.

Quentin rushed to her side to make sure she was ok, but Eliot hung back, towel at the ready, observing the situation with the skeptical eyes of a High King who had seen too much bullshit to trust readily.

When the woman pushed away Quentin’s mother-henning, Eliot stepped forward, offering the towel. The woman accepted it, squeezing it over her hair first, examining her sopping clothes and seeming to decide they might be a lost cause. Eliot was sure they had something dry in the boat somewhere, as long as they decided she was worth keeping around, first.

“Thanks, guys, I was starting to wonder if anyone would ever find me out there,” the woman said as she toweled off as much of her as she could.

“And who is ‘me’ exactly?” Eliot asked, eyeing her warily.

“Oh, right, how rude of me,” she responded sarcastically. “I was just busy trying not to drown, my bad.” Okay, maybe Eliot liked her. Just a little. She extended her non-towel-holding hand to them both. “Poppy Klein. Brakebills, class of 2016, at your service.”

The look Eliot and Quentin shared then said one thing very loudly and very clearly: Holy shit. But before either of them could try and convey anything more complex without actually speaking, Benedict shuffled over, a rabbit in his arms.

“So sorry to bother you, my King, but High Queen Margo is requesting your assistance,” he said, nodding nervously toward the woodland animal that was sniffing the air around it rapidly.

“Eliot, help. Married a twat,” the rabbit bellowed. Eliot’s eyes widened a little, and he followed Benedict below deck, raking a hand over his face as he did. It was never just one thing at a time anymore. Oh, no clusterfucks seemed to come in threes these days.

After helping Margo devise a plan to keep the horny teenage mutant husband and the raging lunatic fairy queen at bay for just a while longer, all via 5-word bunny messages, Eliot headed out of his royal nautical chambers to see what the deal was with Missing Third Year Redhead Barbie and Refuses To Deal With His Non-Past Puppy-Eyed Ken.

He found them below deck in the open common area, where the rich tones of the wood that made up the Muntjac were only made warmer by the glow of the lanterns and the red light emanating from the ship’s heartwood. It was an impressively elegant ship, ornate in every way, which had always suited Eliot’s tastes very well. All of his royal trappings were extravagant, even when the kingdom was staring down the barrel of very serious bankruptcy, and honestly, Eliot appreciated that dedication to appearances. If both of his worlds were going to fall to shit at once, he at least wanted to look like he was keeping it together on the surface.

He stepped closer and saw that Quentin was holding something. Eliot’s breath hitched in his throat when he realized what the small golden thing was – the key. The key?! It couldn’t possibly be that easy, could it? Q looked as bewildered as he felt, but Poppy saw him first. She snatched the key out of Quentin’s hands.

“Hey High King,” she said with a smirk, tossing it across the space between them in his direction. “Catch!”

At the same time as Poppy tossed the key, Quentin’s eyes grew wide and he shouted “Wait, no, Eliot, don’t --”

Before he could finish his warning, the key landed in the palm of Eliot’s hand, and Eliot wrapped his fingers around it tightly, unwilling to lose what they’d come all this way to find.

“Touch it,” Quentin finished, defeat and fear marring each word as it came out of his mouth.

Eliot didn’t see what the big deal was until he looked up and found he was staring at a very smug, very mean-looking Eliot Waugh, and there wasn’t a mirror in sight.

[blueskyheadleft010]

Analysis of Stevenbomb: Wanted

There be spoilers under the cut

Ok, so first off I want to say that I am very pleased with this strong narrative Season 5 has started with and am dying for the next episode(s) to come out even though we have none scheduled as of yet. (I swear to goodness it better not be an entire month before we get another episode I’ll be frothing at the mouth and dying by then).

I’ll go ahead and skip analyzing Stuck Together since it aired early and most of the internet has already seen it. Having said that, let’s proceed to The Trial.

While there’s a lot to say about this episode, I’ll try my best to summarize it as just WOW.

True to her word, Rebecca has done it again by giving the fandom exactly what it has been waiting for since Jailbreak Season 1. A meeting of the Diamonds with Steven acting as a key factor. To be honest, I was honestly surprised we were getting straight to the point with this episode, seeing how Steven just sorta decided to surrender at the last moment in I am my Mom, but I’m grateful the Crewniverse wastes no time throwing us into the hellfire of a 6,000-year-old grudge against Rose Quarts as we finally get to see exactly what roles the Diamonds play on Homeworld.

I absolutely adored Zircon in this scene; trying her best to be a good lawyer and losing her cool, and yeah I get the show’s ‘logic’ is supposed to for kids, but honestly her dialogue had me raising an eyebrow or two as she tried to state her case, and I think even Steven knew she was getting nowhere with her argument.

Speaking of that, the attitudes that the different Zircons and Pearls have towards their own kind ruled under different Diamonds was an interesting little bit of information that clearly shows gems don’t seem to find ‘compassion’ and ‘friendship at the top of their list; at least when it comes to other gems ruled under another Diamond. (I also loved how Y-Pearl typed her entry in, while B-Pearl drew pictures. :3)

Adding Lars in for the trial was an interesting touch that I think surprised just about everyone, seeing how up until now he hasn’t really been significant to the plot other than for comedic relief and furthering Steven’s own maturity. I like how he’s just sorta dragged around by the gems, yet is still allowed to do his own thing to an extent. (So long as he doesn’t interfere with whatever the gems are doing). Seeing how he helps keep Steven grounded and focused on the mission I think is what makes him an important plot piece in the episode, as otherwise I think Steven would be very overwhelmed without a direct goal in mind. (And that goal is saving Lars and getting out of there.)

Blue Zircon really makes her debut after the brief court recess, as she finally gets her act together after Steven provides her with some actual evidence, and completely turns the tables around as she goes as far as to accuse the Diamonds of sabotage based on the factual evidence and eye witness accounts.

Here’s something I found funny. Eyeball as a witness. She had no real reason to be there, and frankly made herself look even worse when she admitted Steven healed her during the trial. Why would a Diamond shatterer heal an enemy gem? ;) Still, it was a nice little touch the Crewniverse added for comedic effect and I loved it all the same.

I’ll wrap it up by saying that Yellow seemed pretty mad to be accused of treason, though I have my suspicions that she’s not the real culprit here, nor is Blue. (Though dang Blue’s emotion manipulating abilities are something to be afraid out.) It might be White, since she’s not been seen yet, and she may not even exist I’m just spit balling, or it might be a color switching/shapeshifting alien/gem? We’ve never seen before.

Point is, Rose is pretty much confirmed to not be the killer of Pink Diamond. I’d bet my two cents that she loved PD, and that Pink was actually trying to help humans. :O

Off Colors

Oh you sneaky writers, you ;)

I really like how the title not only foreshadows Lars’ death, but is also a slang term for ‘defect’ on Homeworld, which I never guessed either would be canon in my wildest dreams.

So, we basically meet 3 new gems (8/9/10 ½ ??? If you count the fusions and whatnot) and Lars becomes a hardcore hero who sacrifices himself to save his new friends.

I have to give props to Lars for doing what he did, seeing how he’d basically been a yellow-belly this entire time and only ran away from his problems. Honestly I expected him to do the same this time around, but when I watched him interact with the defects I realized that he saw something he’d never expected to see in those gems. Himself. And why is this significant?

Let me put this in perspective for ya,

Have you ever looked at an old photo of yourself doing something either embarrassing or something that reminds you of a darker time in your life and go, “If only I had a time machine and could go back and tell myself not to do ‘x’ or that life will get better if you just hang on a bit longer… Then life would be so much better for the both of us.” This is Lars seeing his past-self reflected in these, scared, defenseless gems, who have no one to help them.

So this is why Lars decides to become courageous and be the hero he’s always wished he could be but was too afraid to act, and goes ape sh*t on the robonoids because he knows he’s the only line of defense they’ve got.

So ya, needless to say I’m very proud of Lars for sticking up for himself and protecting the defects from Homeworld.

(Also A+ writing for the team thinking about Lars being ‘invisible’ to the Robonoid’s scanners and using that against them! It was amazing and heroic and alkjfhdgjkdhfjgkhfj!)

Lars’ Head

So a bit of a misleading title, but understandable given it’s hard to explain what’s just occurred in a few short words while simultaneously not spoiling the episode. (Even though everyone already knows that Lars is Pink Lion 2.0 from the previous episode).

So wow, again I never expected this to be a canon thing in the SUniverse.

I can’t really express the excitement I got when Lars was revived by Steven, the team discussing death (briefly and without literally saying that word ‘death’ just ‘away from life’), and Lars is PINK now. (And has what I assume is a BA permanent eye scar, along with the fact his ear lobes are probably stretched out forever now hahahaha sucks to be you Lars! ;D)

I think Lars accurately summed up everyone’s thoughts when he asked Steven “Am I a zombie now?!?” because let’s face it, yes Lars, you are in fact a very, very, magical pink zombie. J

So yeah, let’s talk about the defect gems for a second since I totes forgot about them in favor of paying attention to my Pink Son for a moment.

We’ve got the Twins of Rutile, Rhodonite, Flourite, and  Padparadscha Sapphire (Which I’m gonna call P-Sapphire for now).

The twins are rather interesting, as they seem to be the most level-headed of the team, as well as quite possibly two of the brighter gems in the group. I just really love how they don’t seem to be all that concerned about their appearance, and more concerned about the group, which really shows how compassionate they are in comparison to some of the other characters on the show which are way more hung up on their looks than caring for others.

Rhodonite wasn’t a major shocker for me, seeing how we’ve already been filled in about Garnet’s past, but it did raise some eyebrows about how two gems fused on Homeworld and weren’t shattered right away for doing so, just merely replaced. I think theirs’s a lot more to their story the Crewniverse didn’t have time to put in, but hopefully somewhere along the lines we’ll see her again and get to know more about the two of them.

Flourite is… Interesting. Besides the obvious fact that she looks like the Hookah smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, her personality and combination of gems is so distinct from the others that it’s amazing she’s actually a stable fusion. I get the underlying theme is polyamory for her, but besides that it’s something else to see such a massive fusion remain so gentle and kind while not bickering between herself since she’s got like 6 or 8 gems… Sidenote: something interesting I wanted to point out was how slow Flourite talks when she’s speaking, and one can only assume that’s because of how many gems she’s comprised of, which is fascinating. It speaks volumes that the more gems involved in a fusion, the more time it seems to take to sync up thoughts and even actions, as demonstrated by Flourite’s behavior.

Lastly, P-Sapphire. A classic Rosalina appearance with a heart of gold. I’m really curious to know how the heck she survived this long and how she found this rag-tag misfit of gems since she can only predict the recent past, as she seems to constantly be stuck in her visions as demonstrated by her actions. Regardless, she’s still really cute and I love how eager and excited she is about everything, so hopefully we’ll get to see her character arc grow past just comedic relief.

Anyways, back to Lars. The fact that Lars is essentially a portal home is cool enough, but when Steven steps inside it’s shown he’s got his own tree in there too. So I get Rose can do plant stuff, which explains the tree on? in? Lars, but what I don’t understand is the portal power since it doesn’t seem to be connected to either of her abilities.

The fact Rebecca decided to leave the defects and Lars on Homeworld was a surprise, but an understandable one, not for the story’s sake, but because trying to fit Flourite through Lars’ hair would be a nightmare that I don’t think anyone would want to explain.

So Steven discovers he’s a necromancer and that Lion’s his undead slave pet, and then the gems and Connie and Greg all show up just in time to have a reunion and happy tears are shed. (And then Steven proceeds to eat everything in sight, prompting Greg to go out and buy the boy some more bread lol).

So much has been left out in the open, and I get the distinct feeling this is gonna be the least season for this show. L Still, I feel like everything’s gonna be amazing when we get the next episode, so for now I’m rather content. :D

[lostinafictionaluniverse]

Riverdale 1x09 thoughts

Under the cut bcos its super long, read at your own risk

Jughead’s opening narrative

Blossoms have controlled the maple syrup business since the town’s founding? No mention of the Cooper’s/ Hal grandpa

AAAnnnd we don’t hear Jason speak yet again.  

The sickly, sweet smell was inescapable - allusion to the Blossom’s influence on the town, how all-pervading their power is? And how they leave their mark on everything? That last comment by Cheryl after she kisses Archie - about her lipstick being Maple Red and the sweet taste being because of it? Was it really necessary? Is it some sort of clue? I love how Maple Syrup stands for so many things in this town - For the Blossoms, its obviously power and legacy; and its also the symbol for slut shaming so does that link slut shaming to the Blossom clan somehow? Its sweet, its sticky, its red - hmmm, blood is sticky and red too....

Bughead scene in Betty’s room  

THEY’RE SITTING ON HER BED LITERALLY ON TOP OF EACH OTHER (*DYING WHALE NOISE*)

SHE IMMEDIATELY AIRS HER CONCERNS TO HIM

HE’S HER ROCK, HE’S THERE TO LISTEN AND HELP HER AND ASSUAGE HER FEARS AND BUILD HER UP AND SHE KNOWS THIS!

WE’LL FIGURE IT OUT - BETTY IS NOT ALONE ANYMORE, JUGHEAD IS WITH HER IN ALL OF THIS SHIT SHE’S GOING THROUGH

COME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (BRB - BUSY DYING)

HER SMILE AND LEANING TOWARDS HIM, HIS HAND SLIDING DOWN HER THIGH, HER HAND GOING UP TO HIS FACE, HIS SMILE, THE KISS

ALICE COOPER, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!

THE STARTLED JUMP, HURRIEDLY BREAKING APART, THE LOOK OF IRRITATION ON BETTY’S FACE!

Alice shows no surprise at Juggie being there, means she knows, or she let him in. So Bughead already has the stamp of approval from Mama Cooper! It could be that Alice saw how their extreme disapproval had affected Polly (and Jason) and hence she decided not to do the same to Betty? Or maybe she genuinely likes Juggie like Madchen has said? 

Her deciding to go after the Blossoms reeks of anger about her own failure to get her daughter back. She talks about the Cooper-Blossoms feud, but its really something else, something we will know only in ep 12. What the Blossoms really did to the Coopers. Why would Alice hate the Blossoms so much for what they did to her husband’s grandpa? This is personal (Hal says as much)

“According to your milquetoast father”- what’s with Alice calling Hal all these coward names? What did Hal do or didn’t do that was so cowardly? She brought this up earlier - when Betty questioned Hal if he had killed Jason - she said he wouldn’t have the stomach for it. 

Seriously did Alice hate Jason so much just because he knocked up her daughter? She was hoping he’d rot in hell when they found his body, she was positively gloating when the coroner told her about scavenger activity and him being tortured, she thinks killing him would be a brave thing to do. This much hatred for a boy who got her daughter pregnant? Alice can be dramatic I know, but this is a bit too much, even for her.

Ronnie and Hermione

I’m glad Hermione told Ronnie exactly what was happening with Fred and how Hiram had gotten to know about them

Seriously the kids in this show seem so much more mature than the adults, Ronnie tells her mom to come clean - this is a small town, tell him before he gets to know from anyone else.

Cheryl and Archie

What’s with all this sudden interest in Archie, Cheryl? Has she always been interested? Remember Betty warning Ronnie in the pilot not to talk about Archie when Cheryl approaches them? Do they have a history? I don’t want Kevin or Reggie, I want you. She makes it seem as though it was all about him defending her to Sheriff Keller, but idk.

Ethel and Ronnie

Ronnie recognized Ethel’s poem for what it was - a cry for help. Then her confession to Kevin about what she and her BFF at Spence did to a girl called Paige (and the girl had to have therapy and transfer schools). Clearly she feels guilty as hell. Ronnie is trying to change and that’s what’s the best thing about her. She hardly ever backslides on her mission, in fact the only glimpses we see of the old Ronnie is possibly the regret laced in her voice when she talks about what they lost. 

I love that she immediately talked to Ethel and offered compassion and kindness. Ronnie is such friendship goals - really! 

Archie and Penelope Blossom

That far angle camera shot with both of them standing made me think they were gonna kiss! Archie - you truly are a ginger stallion offering rides to anyone who cares to get on!

Penelope brought up that jersey thing again - not only brought it up - they actually showed us that moment from the funeral when Archie offered her Jason’s jersey which makes me think this is important somehow. The fact that Penelope commented on his resemblance to Jason yet again - ‘i swear when the light hits you just right” - makes me wonder if that theory about him being the victim might not be true? Or the resemblance may not be concerned with the murder itself but to some other secrets that maybe revealed as to the truth of these kids’ real parentage? If Cheryl and Jason are not really Blossoms, then the whole legacy plot-line fails. Jason is not the heir, neither is Cheryl. 

Why does everyone need to reiterate the fact that Archie is good and decent unlike everyone else in this town??? Show us, don’t tell us. We had Cheryl, Mr and Mrs Blossom all talk about his great character and his goodness. Why are they rubbing in that fact? Is it not obvious? Or is it foreshadowing that he really is not good and decent and is going to do something dastardly? Or is it that in the Blossom’s book, good and decent people can be bought and /or used to their advantage? Like maybe they used some other good and decent people? Eg; Mary Andrews. What if Penelope was barren and couldn’t have children and since it was so important for the Blossoms to have a heir, Clifford had Jason and Cheryl with Mary (they need not have slept together, IVF and surrogacy were viable options) or someone else entirely? Maybe Fred needed money to set up the business and Mary was paid handsomely for it. And Fred wasn’t entirely on board with it, hence the tension between him and Mary and also the reason why they separated years later? Could this be the secret Fred is keeping? It was said that Cheryl and Jason’s twincest would be explored in this episode, but not quite in the way we expect. Was it an allusion to Cheryl kissing Archie? I know this theory has a hole because why would Clifford and Penelope actively encourage Archie to hang out with Cheryl? But I’m excited at the possibility that there maybe a link somewhere - Archie resembling Jason cannot just be a coincidence. The theory that Archie may not really be Fred’s son but Mary and Clifford’s has already been talked about. This could also be a reason for Fred and Mary to split if he found out years later. And maybe Cliff didn’t know, Mary never told him cause she was already married to Fred or something? But they’re drawn to Archie because he reminds them of Jason. Else its hard to understand the Blossom’s fixation with him! Archie’s loyalty to his dad keeps coming up too, he was willing to give up his musical career if Cliff would help his dad’’s business. It would be poetic if Fred wasn’t really his dad, yet they have this inextricable bond.

Archie was very believably seduced by the promise of a great musical future at the Bradenburg school and who wouldn’t be?

The kids in the common room

Jughead being the first to deduce that Mrs Blossom offering something to Archie cannot be without any strings attached - he’s so razor sharp, this boy!

Okay with you being a gigolo?

Ronnie is wise - she knows its hard to get by without connections but also that these connections come with a price-tag.

She looks to Betty for support, but Betty thinks its a great idea. Throwback to Archie asking Ronnie for support when Betty was attacking him about the Grundy thing, and Ronnie sides with Betty! Methinks Betty wasn’t thinking about Archie here, she wanted someone to get info on her sister for her, which is okay!

Maple syrup tapping scene

That scroll thing was ludicrous!

Cheryl was so nervous about the tree tapping thing, Archie’s encouragement got her going. Cheryl demeanor is a facade, she’s lost and lonely and also bitter and jealous. She wanted her parents’ attention, but Jason got it, he became the Golden boy. So she resorted to wild erratic behavior to get her parents’ attention. Inside, she’s just messed up, she craves approval and attention. Like all attention hungry kids she will do whatever it takes to ensure that all eyes are on her. She loves flattery and is immediately susceptible to anyone who even shows her a modicum of kindness, which shows she hasn’t had much growing up. Her parents are horrible to her, her brother was good to her, but he died. I wonder if her yearning for her parents’ approval made her hate Jason to deep down? Or at least resent him for being the favorite? Did she inwardly rejoice when he decided to run away, knowing that now her parents would now rely on her with Jason gone? Maybe they’d even cut him off from their legacy and she could be the heir? I did support the Cheryl killed Jason theory because of this notion. She does have a motive. If it were to come out that she actually really hated Jason and was jealous of him, she would have a very good reason to do away with him. It could also be that she loved him just like she says she does, and still thinks Polly killed her brother. That’s why she reddened Polly’s face and why she was the one to ask her to come stay with them in Thornhill. 

Polly thinks the Blossoms killed Jason, Cheryl thinks Polly did and the Blossoms just want their heirs aka Jason’s children that Polly’s carrying. Ugh! What a mess!

Archie standing up for Cheryl was sweet  and very Archie-like but it was a tad overdone - “Don’t underestimate Cheryl”? Don’t bet against her”? I think its foreshadowing about how crazed, dangerous and vindictive Cheryl really can be if you get on her wrong side which Archie managed to do by the end of the episode! Also her prompting him about her 4.0 GPA was so Cheryl!!! 

Archie gets sucked into escorting Cheryl to a banquet. And he’s going to have a suit tailor-fitted for the occasion! Poor sod!

So Ethel’s grandpa and dad are both called Manfred?

Hermione and Fred

Hermione finally came clean to Fred and told him about the land and the Lodges being the anonymous buyers. Fred was understandably pissed. Hermione is a smart cookie, maybe her business acumen is actually better than her husband’s and she’s the one calling all the shots while pretending to be this helpless, hapless woman. Didn’t Penelope say at the end that they should’ve sent Hermione to jail instead of Hiram?

So Clifford told Hiram that Hermione and Fred were together? Why? Just to gloat? Or to get him to sabotage his own building which is precisely what he did. So he knows exactly how Hiram would react. I’m curious about Hiram. If he was this cold-blooded businessman that everyone says he is, he wouldn’t react so impractically to his wife seeing Fred. He wouldn’t sabotage himself just for getting back at his wife’s lover, he could’ve thought up of other ways to deal with Fred. So Hiram loves Hermione, but does Hermione love Hiram? Was she just playing a game with Fred so he would get on board SoDale? But Fred was interested in SoDale anyway, She could’ve got him on board even without playing cootchie-coo with him. So did she really care? 

Fred toughened up and asked for a 20% stake and also ended things with him and Hermione. Which was great. Showed backbone and also his - I’m sick of you people using me and my family as pawns- speaks about his righteous anger against being taken for a ride. Hermione wasn’t pleased but had to grin and bear it for now. Hiram is certainly not going to be pleased. 

Back to Bughead and Cheryl (and I’m back to capslock)

POWER COUPLE WALK IN STEP

BETTY LOOKING TO JUGGIE FOR REASSURANCE SINCE SHE FINDS HER COURAGE FALTERING WHEN SHE CONFRONTS CHERYL

HE LOOKS BACK AT HER WITH A -YOU’VE GOT THIS BABE

AND OUR BABE ATTACKS - WHAT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME SPELL HAVE YOU CAST OVER MY SISTER?

JUGGIE LOOKS ON ADMIRINGLY AT WIFEY WITH A SMILE

THEN ATTACKS WITH HIS OWN - HOSTAGES DO NOT GET TO MAKE OUTGOING CALLS!

SO NANA BLOSSOM’S POWERS ARE TRUE, POLLY IS HAVING TWINS!

Cheryl mentions a Dr Patel, Is he Raj and Tina Patel’s dad? If yes, will we see them in Riverdale S2? Sidenote: Isn’t Tina one of Cheryl’s friends already?  

CHERYL DID YOU JUST CALL MY SON A HOBO YOU WITCH!!! (I love Cheryl btw, she’s so extra and Madelaine plays her so well)

SHE LITERALLY CUTS THROUGH THEM, PUSHING THEM APART! I already mentioned I think this is foreshadowing that she will be responsible for the conflict that creates a rift between Bughead.

BUT FEAR NOT, IT’S ONLY MOMENTARY. SINCE OUR BOY’S HAND IS BACK ON HIS GIRL’S BACK ALMOST THE IMMEDIATE NEXT SECOND! WHICH ALSO MEANS THE BUGHEAD RIFT IS GOING TO BE VERY VERY MOMENTARY AND THEY WILL BE BACK TOGETHER ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AND STRONGER THAN EVER!

Ronnie and Ethel

Ronnie telling Ethel her dad used to buy her expensive gifts whenever he did something wrong. Poor Ronnie. Her heartbreak at finding out Ethel’s dad had attempted suicide was so genuine, that scene was powerful and Camila played it very well, pulling apart the beads from her neck, symbolically destroying her dad’s hold over her. And her finally telling her mom she as done lying for him. It was a touch choice for Ronnie to make, loyalty to family or doing the right thing. I’m so glad she had the strength of character to make the more difficult choice!

Cheryl at Archie’s house

OMG Cheryl is really so extra. She called Fred DILF!

The Icewoman cometh!

Bribing Archie with an ‘84 Les Paul in their signature colour. Swoon!

I soo love Jughead’s expressions all through this exchange!

‘My claustrophobia acts up in small houses’. Is this going to come up again? Cheryl’s claustrophobia? Is someone going to lock her up in dark, dingy closeted space and that triggers something in her? Is she the one in danger that they’re trying to rescue in that snow scene like so many have already pointed out?

Cheryl kisses Archie twice and leaves a lipstick mark in this episode - on his cheeks and lips. Is this foreshadowing/ symbolism of some sort?

‘He’s also pimping himself out to Cheryl’ - Forsythe ‘subtle’ Jones everyone!

Hal and Alice

So Hal fired Alice and blocked her password? Really? He went there? And Alice calls him milquetoast?? More like fearless warrior to me! Hal showed his petty, vindictive side too, so there’s that!

So what’s this, Hal? You hate the Blossoms more than anyone, you don’t want to raise a child with Blossom blood, you have a personal vendetta against the Blossoms from before you were even born! And you’re telling Alice you won’t support her in HER personal vendetta? What even??? 

Okay, theory time! We know that Alice was mad at Hal for what he did to her - the same thing he did to Polly. But he only made an appointment for Polly. He may have done the same for Alice, but does that make it obvious she actually aborted the child? Maybe she gave it up for adoption (this was a choice the Coopers were on board with even for Polly)? Maybe the child was Cliff Blossom’s and that’s why Hal’s extreme hatred for any child with Blossom blood? Maybe Cliff raped Alice and got away because of his powerful connections and that’s why Alice’s extreme hatred for Cliff? I know it sounds crazy but it could explain a lot. I initially thought that Jason and Cheryl could be Alice’s kids (with Clifford) and they gave them up to the Blossoms to raise since Penelope was barren or whatever, but then Polly and Jason incest - yewww! But it would be delicious if the twins thing were actually a Cooper family thing and not a Blossom family one like everyone’s thinking, no??

Alice certainly has rage issues, throwing a brick at your husband, calling him a bastard all in front of your teenage daughter? WTF Alice?

Bughead at the Blue and Gold!

BETTY TELLING JUGGIE ABOUT HER PARENTS FIGHTING AND HOW ALICE THREW A BRICK AT HAL. LIKE I SAID, HE’S HER ROCK AND SHE CANNOT HIDE ANYTHING FROM HIM NO MATTER HOW UGLY!

JUGHEAD BEING JUGHEAD WHEN HE SAYS I WISH I’D SEEN THAT. HIS HUMOUR AND SARCASM ARE SO PART OF HIM NOW, THEY’RE NOT AN ARMOUR ANYMORE

BETTY ROLLING HER EYES AT HIM AND HE IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZING FOR BEING INSENSITIVE - MARRIED!!!!!

BETTY BREAKING DOWN - THE COOPERS WON’T EXIST ANYMORE. SHE’S TIRED OF FIGHTING, POOR BABY, SHE’S EXHAUSTED AND SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHERE IT’S ALL GOING AND NOTHING IS MAKING SENSE

*SUPPORTIVE BOYFRIEND MODE ACTIVATED* - YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THE WHITE NOISE, STRONGER THAN YOUR FATHER, STRONGER THAN YOUR MOTHER, YOU’RE HOLDING YOUR FAMILY TOGETHER, DON’T GIVE UP, DON’T 

 THAT COLLAR GRAB, THE EARNESTNESS, THE URGENCY IN HIS TONE, HE CANNOT SEE HER BREAK APART, SHE IS HIS CONVICTION, HER FIGHT IS HIS FIGHT TOO. HIS FAITH IN HER ABILITY TO HOLD HER FAMILY TOGETHER IS AN ASSERTION THAT IF HE COULDN’T DO IT SHE COULD! SHE HAS TO SUCCEED, THEN MAYBE SOMEWHERE THERE WOULD BE SOME HOPE FOR HIM TOO!

DID YOU NOTICE HE SAID YOU’RE HOLDING “THIS” FAMILY TOGETHER - NOT “YOUR” FAMILY BUT “THIS” FAMILY- HE CONSIDERS HIMSELF A PART OF HER FAMILY. SHE’S HOLDING HIM TOGETHER TOO! SHE MADE HIM WHOLE, FIXED ALL HIS BROKEN PIECES. HIS “DON’T LET GO” WAS A PLEA FOR HER NOT TO LET GO OF HERSELF - BETTY COOPER, OF WHO SHE WAS DEEP UNDERNEATH AND WHAT SHE’S CAPABLE OF AND WHAT SHE BELIEVES IN. 

SHE IS IMMEDIATELY CONVINCED BECAUSE “I WON’T” IS A PROMISE SHE MAKES TO HIM. A PROMISE THAT SHE WILL BE WHOLE, UNBROKEN AND STRONG FOR HIS SAKE AND WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP HIS FAITH IN HER ALIVE!

THE HUG!

THAT’S ALL - GO HOME

Val and Archie

WHAT DID CHERYL SAY TO VALERIE??

The Blossoms are buying you!

If you have to ask - you don’t know me at all! Slay, Valerie!

Val blowing off Archie - good for you, Val!

Archie at Thornhill

Cliff Blossom thinks Archie by his daughter’s side could improve her image? Why Archie again? 

What were Cheryl and her dad arguing about when Archie was dancing with Polly?

Polly was playing Nancy Drew, I was right! But she’s being foolish. She’s heavily pregnant (with twins!) and she needs to protect her babies first. She entered the enemy’s lair without a thought for her own protection? She’s scared, she doesn’t want the Blossoms to know, which means she thinks they are dangerous. Why would she put herself and her babies willingly in harm’s way just because of the Cooper penchant for sleuthing? Also don’t understand how Betty and Alice can be okay with this madcap scheme?

Cheryl again with the you’re-the-only-good-person-in-this-town which changed the minute Archie wanted to leave. So she’s susceptible to flattery and also petty and vindictive when rejected. Did she kill Jason because he was kind of ‘rejecting’ her for Polly? Or was she secretly happy he was out of the picture so now she could become the focus for her parents?

There could be 2 reasons Cheryl hates Polly. One because Polly’s kids would be the heirs to the Blossom legacy and not her. After Jason she may have thought herself to be the sole claimant. But Polly being pregnant ruined everything for her. Btw, did they do a DNA/ paternity test yet to find if Polly is telling the truth about Jason being the father? The Blossoms are just taking Polly’s (and the Cooper’s) word for it? I think they would smell something underhanded knowing the Coopers are involved. Also Cheryl could hate Polly because she still thinks Polly killed Jason and wants to exact her own revenge on Polly. 

So Clifford sent Hiram to jail and that makes Hiram a suspect. But does this mean Hiram is really innocent? Or that Clifford just exposed his guilty ass?

Bughead and Alice

BETTY LOOKING AT JUGGIE TO INVITE HER MOM TO THE BLUE AND GOLD!

*SON-IN-LAW MODE ACTIVATED*

BLUE AND GOLD HAS A HIGHER ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET THAN THE REGISTER? IS THAT POSSIBLE?

BUGHEAD BUGHEAD BUGHEAD

*SCREAMING*

BYE

ETA:

The last scene with Bughead realizing Hiram Lodge could be a suspect, Archie looking on clueless, while Betty and Jughead go back and forth completing each other’s sentences - OMG they’re so fucking attuned to each other!!

They have Hermione Lodge, the Blossoms, The Coopers, Hiram Lodge and Reggie Mantle (???? Why??) as probable suspects already. Why is FP Jones not on the murder board???? Because they don’t know about the jacket? 

THE PROMO FOR 110

JUGHEAD LOOKING UPSET AT THE MENTION OF A BIRTHDAY PARTY (MAYBE HE HASN’T HAD ONE IN FOREVER BCOS OF HIS DAD OR SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED AT THE LAST PARTY HE HAD AND HE DECIDED NEVER TO HAVE ONE BCOS IT BRINGS BACK BAD MEMORIES? *SOBBING*)

BURGER CAKE

BETTY IN A CROWN SWEATER

BUGHEAD ADORING LOOKS

ETHEL LOOKING SHADY AF

CHUCK CLAYTON GETTING SLAPPED BY BETTY

JUGGIE PUNCHING CHUCK

JUGGIE BRUISED ON HIS FACE (WHO’S A BRUISER NOW, MOOSE?)

RONNIE LOOKING UP WORRIEDLY (IS SOMEONE UPSTAIRS IN THE ROOM?)

SOMEONE IN A WHITE FUR COAT UNLOCKING (OR LOCKING) A DOOR - CHERYL?

ARCHIE AND RONNIE MAKING OUT

EVERYONE IS WASTED

WTF is happening?

[asriels]

I'm not sure if you're still in the hp fandom but how diffrent would the story be if a- Harry was a Slytherin and b- Alice and Frank had lived? I hope you're well, xxx

Oh man. What a question. What a big question.

Now for A—I’m sorry, you’re probably going to hate thisanswer. But I can’t ever see a version of the story where Harry is sorted intoSlytherin. Not only because JKR’s conceptualisation of the world and Slytherinin particular is so restrictive (which I won’t go into now but is like…thebiggest argument against Slytherin!Harry bcus JKR really, really wants Slytherins to be The Bad Guys), but also because the HP books are somuch about choice.

Choice comes in on so many levels. It’s in-your-face  (“It is the choices we make, Harry, that showwho we really are, far more than our abilities”) but there is so muchunderlying interest in choice, andthe human capacity to choose their path for themselves. Harry’s free will istaken away incredibly early on in his life—as an infant, he has no say in wherehe goes or what happens to him once he is with the Dursleys. Even once helearns about Hogwarts, he’s not really given a choice on whether he goes—he’san eleven-year-old child, and Hagrid says to him “you’re going to Hogwarts”, soHarry decides, “I’m going to Hogwarts”. It’s a choice, but really he doesn’thave an alternative. Even the things he takes with him to Hogwarts are decidedon for him. He’s so lost in Diagon Alley he just accepts what he is told—buythis wand, take this pet, get these robes, don’t get a broomstick.

The first big choice he makes, really makes, for himself, iswhen he turns down Draco Malfoy’s invitation to sit with the future Slytherinlot. He picks Ron. And I think that is such a formative moment for Harry thatthere is no way after that that he could be in Slytherin. Draco and his friendsremind Harry of Dudley—the cousin that has bullied him his entire life. All the‘good’ people Harry has met so far have told him that Slytherin is a ‘bad’house, and the only real encounter with Slytherin Harry gets is an introductionto nasty bullies who remind him of his awful cousin, so that opinion isinstantly reinforced. He dislikes Draco from the moment he meets him in MadamMalkin’s. I don’t think he’d have gone to sit with him even if he hadn’t metRon. So I don’t blame Harry at all for begging not Slytherin, and I honestly cannot imagine a scenario where he’snot sat on that stool asking for the exactsame thing.

And the Hat—because this is JKR’s world, and she’s so muchabout choice—listens. It will always listen.

I’m forever interested in posts that say “imagine Harrybeing in Slytherin and being friends with people across all houses” and all thefascinating meta that can come out of that but it just…rings hollow for me. Don’t get me wrong, if you like it, keep at it. You do you. 

I’m coming at it from a point of view that it’sa nice idea, but my experience growing up in a boarding school in this countryhas made me very, very aware of how unlikely it is. Bearing in mind that Harryis a kid who’s spent most of his life trying very hard to ensure his peers don’thate him—although with little luck—I don’t think he’d be sticking his neck outat eleven and defying the boys he has to literally live with nine months out ofthe year to make incredibly swift and close friendships with people everybodyelse in his house hates. I can see a friendship developing in later years, whenthey’ve all matured and learned to think for themselves more—but I still reckonany situation that has Harry in Slytherin would have him isolated and miserablefor a good couple of years at least, and that’s really not going to end well for a boy who can hear giant snakes in thewall and who has a mainline to the darkest wizard of the last century.

Like, Harry might end up making friends with Ron andHermione anyway, but I doubt it. We see that Ron is outgoing, ebullient, funand generally kind; Hermione is bookish and quiet and comes off as a bitinsufferable. Not only would they be unlikely to make friends with each other,but an unhappy Harry in a negative dorm room environment would be more like theHarry we see in OotP—withdrawn, sullen, suspicious—and I really can’t see anyfriendship forming instantly. We have to remember that these areeleven/twelve/thirteen year old kids, not late teens or twenty-somethings withthe benefit of reflexivity and distance. Kids feel first and think second, andthat would get in the way of these three coming together in a huge way.

And Harry needsRon and Hermione. If the series is about choice, it’s also really aboutfriendship and loyalty and love. I mean, that’s obvious to anybody who’s readit. It screams about love. It wantsus to believe in love and treasure love and ascribe immense power to love. Lovemakes Harry who he is—not just the literal physical protection his mother’slove gives him, but the platonic love he feels towards Ron and Hermione and hisromantic love for Ginny and the filial/maternal love he shares with MollyWeasley. Love and choice and loyalty are the ABCs of Harry, and if he was inSlytherin I think he’d be severely lacking in at least two thirds of them.

Also, let’s not forget he’d have Snape—bullying, abusiveSnape—as his chief guardian figure whilst at school. So instead of trading theDursleys for the strict but ultimately kind and caring McGonagall when he goesback to school, Harry would be trading them for Snape. Can you imagine growingup under the immediate care of a teacher who is willing to completely abuse hisauthority to outright bully you and other children? I’d like to think thatother teachers would intervene, but based on the fact that nothing was doneabout Snape at Hogwarts until he straight-up murdered the headteacher, I doubt it.

On a more pedantic and picky level, the plot just…wouldn’thappen if Harry was a Slytherin. He probably wouldn’t venture into thatforbidden corridor, he wouldn’t have Hermione around to figure out thePhilosopher’s Stone was hidden in the school, and he wouldn’t even make it pastthe Devil’s Snare without Ron and Hermione. That’s trusting, too, that Harrywouldn’t internalise the other Slytherin’s prejudices about Hagrid and startlooking up to him less (strong as Harry is, he’s still a kid, and it’s all tooeasy for children to absorb the feelings and prejudices of those around them)and therefore never find out how to get past Fluffy. And if Harry doesn’tventure down into that dungeon, then Voldemort never finds out about theprotection Lily left, and everything changes.

I’m not saying Slytherin Harry wouldn’t be fascinating—it would—butI don’t think the series would be about Harry if he was. Voldemort would goafter him, sure, because Voldemort is a megalomaniac mass-murderer who wouldn’tbe able to stand having been beaten by a one-year-old child first time around.But Harry wouldn’t be Voldemort’s arch-nemesis. He’d be a minor roadblock onhis path to world domination. He wouldn’t foil Voldemort’s plans early on, he’djust be…around. Trying to get by. And probably completely fucking miserable forlike 90% of his teenage years. Lupin being around in his third year would bereally good for him, but still….Snape’s going to be unable to resist outingLupin as a werewolf at the end of the year, and for Harry to lose thatpseudo-father figure without a support system to fall back on is going to MessHim Up.

I’m sorry that I can’t give a better answer to this but I amjust completely invested in the connections Harry makes to Hermione and theWeasleys and the person they make him into. Harry is able to develop into ahero primarily because of the friends he makes and the people he finds to lovehim—and I think if you take them away (which putting him in Slytherin would, due to the prejudices within theworld) it’s just not going to have the same moral to the story. Gryffindor gives him the belonging he has been desperate for his entire life, and I don’t think he’d be the same without it.

Also, I’m super into the Next Gen, and I love to Sort LilyLuna into Slytherin and her brothers into Gryffindor, and have them all grapplein their own ways with their dad’s legacy. His membership of Gryffindor is abig part of that, so I’m probably super biased towards keeping him firmly inthat house.

And, quickly, because I realise how long this is now—Frank andAlice being alive would be a fascinating change, but primarily with regards to Neville.I didn’t get the sense they were particularly close to James or Lily (I mean,obviously they were friends, but Ididn’t get a best-friends-would-fight-against-the-wizarding-world’s-main-authority-Dumbledore-to-change-Harry’s-lifevibe from them) so I don’t think they’d really have much impact on Harry’sstory. They might give him access to memories of his parents he couldn’t getfrom anywhere else, and I can see him looking to them for guidance in the sameway he looks to Molly and Arthur Weasley for the sense of parental love andsecurity he’s never got anywhere else, but I don’t think his overall plotlinewould be that much affected.

Also if Frank and Alice ever found out about the prophecy,can you imagine the guilt they’d feel every time they looked at Harry? Because they’dbe relieved it wasn’t them, wasn’ttheir son. And that would be a terrible thing to carry around. It wouldcomplicate everything they felt about Harry.

Neville on the other hand—oh, Neville with his parents.Probably Neville with younger siblings. Neville without a childhood under thethumb of his very strict grandmother. What kind of a boy Neville might havebeen! Still nervous, I’m sure, still insecure—but much less afraid of himselfand of the world. That fight we see in him at the end of Philosopher’s Stoneand in later books—I think we’d see a lot more of it, and we’d see it sooner.

I’m utterly fascinated by the idea of Neville with hisparents around. But I also would miss that moment where we find out it’sNeville who’s killed Nagini. So unexpected, because nervous hapless helplessNeville is not who anybody would have expected to kill the last Horcrux. Butthat’s what makes the moment great, and it’s a thread that runs throughout theseries: heroes aren’t better than anybody else, when it really comes down toit. They are just people who have made a brave choice in the face ofinsurmountable odds. That’s what Neville does. And I think it carries even moreweight because up until then we’ve got the sense of a bit of steel insideNeville, but we don’t realise quite how wide a steely streak it is until thatmoment.

But if Neville had Frank and Alice around, I think we’d knowthat steel was there from the very first. In fact, coming back to my pointabout friendships, I think in a series that had Harry in Slytherin and Nevillewith his parents alive, it would be Neville who reached out to Harry and madefriends with him first. But that’s a whole fanfiction, probably.

P.S. I will always be in the HP fandom. I keep trying to get out but I think someone locked the doors. I love to mess around with the canon a whole lot, but I prefer to do it outside the constrains of the stories themselves. That’s why I love the Next Gen, and that’s why I think a lot about the Trio’s lives post-Hogwarts, and how they get to where they end up in the Epilogue.

[literarypsychobabble]

Dr Thomas and Nurse Trevor

LIAM Cora was asleep. And I was having a very hard time not disturbing her and looking away from her long enough to rest or sleep myself. I felt stupid yet each time I saw her again my heart would nose dive into my toes and I wanted to hold her as tightly as I could. I had already memorised the best of her heart, her sweet strawberry and rose scent but also that subtle me-and-nuts undertone that I assumed was the baby. OUR baby. Whenever I looked at her she seemed to glow, green eyes full of sweetness and gentility. I craved the sound of her voice like warm caramel thawing my frozen body and cherishing me in an embrace that I never wanted to have to leave. I watched her with her naturally slightly pouty rose bud mouth, the slender slope of her neck, the pale golden freckles like star kisses patterning wings over her shoulder blades trailing down her spine. Her chestnut hair that was pulled up into a messy and simple knot atop her head, a few loose tendrils having fallen onto her pillow and her long slender nose that ended in a gentle but sharp dainty little point and the sharp lines and gentle edges of her angular but fragile and almost heart shaped feminine face. I stared at her stupidly, awed by the gentle innocence on her face before I recognised the knock on the door followed by the fresh pine and wood scent that made me frown to myself seconds before I gently carried myself out of the bed and down the stairs. I treaded as lightly as possible, avoiding the creaky floorboards and focusing on getting to the door that seemed very far away as quickly as possible. Moonlight splashed in through gaps in curtains like cold milk, urging me onwards to avoid too much exposure before I finally got to the door and opened it, masking my amusement and surprise. Spencer stood on the doorstep dressed in a baggy and holey jumper and jeans, but with bare feet. His dark hair was tousled and his face oddly sheepish, almost. His hands were stuffed uncharacteristically in his pockets and though he towered over me the shadows emphasised things like the sharpness of his cheekbones and the hollowness of his literally empty cheeks despite the broadness of his shoulders and the surprising word I found myself associating with him was small. Spencer looked uncharacteristically young and as though he was about to turn and run blindly into the middle of the road at any second. "Spencer." I stepped back and gestured for him to come in. He hesitated, peering into my face from where he stood. "I wouldn't want to disturb you." I almost laughed. "Since when do you care?" I noticed how serious he remained and almost regretted trying to joke. "You wouldn't be disturbing us so you shouldn't worry about that...." he continued to watch me and I wanted to grab him by the throat and force him to tell me what he was thinking. "Just come in." I avoided the please and turned to look behind me, wondering what he would think of the very cosy house that he seemed to fit into, wildly though. He looked around himself; something I wondered if he even realised he did anymore but I recognised he did this wherever he went almost like survival instincts. I was tempted to say something but bit my tongue instead. He stopped by the door to the living room, hesitant and unlike himself. "You can go in and sit down." I offered. "Or do whatever you want to do to be honest." He seemed lost in thought as he sat down, eventually with his hands splayed in his lap as he seemed to trace patterns into the rug beneath him with his eyes. I was perturbed by this complete change in his persona. He suddenly ran his hands through his hair and seemed to sigh to himself and slump back, teeth clenched firmly as he looked directly at me, green eyes weary. "I need your help." I blanched momentarily; what could SPENCER need MY help for? Spencer had made it clear he needed no one's help. "I need your help because something is amiss." I nodded slowly and carefully. "Well I'm.......you don't normally seem to need anyone's help so this is...well you aren't being a sarcastic prick and you seem to genuinely want help." Of course I was going to state the obvious and make things weird. "I do." He closed his eyes. "These wolf attacks." I shifted as I thought about Cora and the baby. "It isn't from the pack, not even Thornton, the newcomer is capable of this. I know Thomas isn't the sort to attack, nor is James or Trevor or even Jim. What's more, the attacker is a female wolf." "So..it's just a normal wolf?" Were there even wolves in this part of England? He just stared at me, not speaking and I wondered if he was even here or lost somewhere in his head. "No." He seemed to suppress a yawn. "She is one of us." He pursed his lips. "Unfortunately I can't read her thoughts. She's very distressed and possibly dying, however I feel as she feels and I experience things she experiences...or so I would assume YET I am unable to actually understand where she is. I have come close to her at various times but have never managed to cross paths with her but it seems she sees me because I can often access those tangles of her thoughts." He paused as though it took him effort to put together the right words. "Policemen who knew how it all started all those years ago have become involved again and I have a feeling that if someone finds out what we are we could find ourselves locked up and used as lab rats." He raised his eyebrows and shrugged, pursing his lips before he shook his head. "No one deserves that..." "But surely they wouldn't be ALLOWED to experiment on us." He met my eyes, staring chillingly at me and I noticed the buttery golden flecks in his green eyes. "What are we, Walters?" I blanched. "Humans who become wolves." "Yes what else?" He seemed on the verge of impatience. I struggled to find the words he needed and almost expected him to roll his eyes and sigh. "We are dead." His stare was deadly itself, cold, hard and emotionless. "We are dead but somehow still alive." "That doesn't give them r-" "Dead people have no rights." His tone was nonchalant and unbothered, somehow making me angry. "We aren't humans who have any rights and of course bring dead means we don't apparently have anything else to do. We become the lab rats of a nation. History repeats itself." "What if we tell someone-" He suddenly smiled; the unsettling broken spark that made me feel unnerved. "We can write to them for a meeting and turn up to discuss matters with them." I felt flustered as I realised he was being sarcastic. "Spencer you CAME to me asking for help....I don't even know WHY I'm here or WHY this is actually happening....so PLEASE enlighten me and explain to me what exactly you somehow expect me to say or do. I know as little about any of this as you...maybe even less!" I shrugged for emphasis but was suddenly feeling a tight coil of rage deep within my gut. "Spencer we don't even know who YOU are or where you're from yet you're somehow our alpha and you have no past...no connection and I hate to be a bearer of bad news but that puts a funny taste in my mouth for one...." He looked stoic and unshaken. "I have no one Liam I have no past-" "So you're saying you just fell out of the sky?" He seemed momentarily troubled. I stared at him unblinkingly. He finally looked up at me, green eyes somber. "I watched my mother burn alive." He offered. I was struck by a sudden jolt of pity for him that I quickly forced myself to recover from. "And I was....used for a bit...to understand how things work..." he seemed oddly unbothered by what he said. "I escaped. I broke my leg. I was small. And I survived." He sounded as though he was reading off the back of a milk carton. "You technically aren't dead then." I finally offered. He glanced up at me from where he had been looking at the carpet and his face took on his usual haughty stare. "So you say. Life gets tiring when you live with no connections. Although I never want any....I wish you all the best with your family." I was tempted to apologise to him but instead I bit my tongue. "But we really do need to understand what is happening here." He added, face drifting into firm seriousness again. "Is she like everyone else though? Did she die and become like us?" He shook his head slowly. "But she's dying now, the change hasn't agreed with her and she is struggling alone. It's almost like cancer with the symptoms and she's drawn to mercilessly attacking as many people as possible." "And you can't connect with her?" He shook his head wearily. "I need to stop her before she gets us all caught." "We." He looked confused. "We need to stop her." He seemed to contemplate smiling but then shrugged instead. "I should let you get back." He glanced at the ceiling and gave me a thoughtful look. "You have something special. Please don't let it go to waste." I frowned bemusedly, when I finally looked up again he was gone and had melted into the night itself. "What are you up to Spencer?" "Liam?" Her voice made my heart lurch. I struggled to stop the smile stretched across my face. "I'm here!" I called out to her, tempted to bound up the stairs and scoop her into my arms and hold her as close to my heart as possible. "I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs so I wouldn't wake you up." She was quiet, which made me start moving closer to the stairs. "I just wondered where you were." She continued. "I miss you and I kind of maybe love you just a little bit too much so not having you here right now is driving me crazy." I almost chuckled to myself as I finally started making my way up the stairs, feeling a funny pang close to my heart as I remembered Spencer's words and expression. * ALICE I was staring into the trees that reminded me weirdly of accusatory fingers being pointed at the bloated moon to swear that it was the reason the sun had fallen out of the sky and thinking about the odd predicament of everything when Jim's face suddenly bobbed into view. Shock almost ripped a scream from my mouth as I toppled backwards away from the window and he used his arms, very pale long fingered hands latching onto either side of my window and his awkwardly long and skinny legs to kick into my room and then heaved the rest of his body in as well, shaking dead leaves and twigs from his hair as he landed with a boney CLUNK on the floor. He smelt strongly of sweet, ripe apples and I found myself wondering what exactly he had been up to. "Sorry." He finally offered sheepishly once he had collected himself and looked around him at my room. "I um....got into something stupid." Like apple juice. Did all rockstars bathe themselves in apple juice? I noticed his face was flushed and he looked uncomfortable. "Well you smell like you showered in apple juice. Or is that normal....I mean I know for a fact that apple juice has less calories than orange juice so I don't know maybe this is some odd diet fad you picked up on as a....rockstar or whatever but I don't think you should overdo it." I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to tell me what he had been doing and why. I was also apparently unable to shut up and my sense of humour was bad enough to make a hyena cry. He smiled at me. "Do all women know random things like how little calories apple juice has?" He seemed to want to have a conversation with me; someone who was as capable of conversation as a teapot. I shrugged and stepped back slightly, acting as nonchalant as I had never even felt. "Anyway I was hunting and sensed something weird so I....kind of ran and am....finding my way through your bedroom window when that's totally fucking stupid and I'm just sorry about this because....it just seems fucking weird..all of it and we gotta random human who deserves a better life-" he ran a hand through his hair and flicked his head back to shake his fringe off his face before giving me a close mouthed, square grin. "Well, none of it IS fair you know; it's life and life itself isn't likely to be fair at all. Besides I get free bodyguards in a way and furry buddies who are actually really nice to get on with." I caught his eye and smiled. "Life isn't all that bad." And I was still saying really weird things and seemed to have forgotten how to shut up. He frowned imploringly, looking out of the window and sighed. "You shouldn't feel like you don't belong." There they were; the words I had wanted to say to him for so long because of how he had spent so long just staring at everyone but quickly looking away as though he felt intrusive. His eyes widened and I felt like I was yanking at hidden strings in his chest, making his breath catch in his throat. "What?!" My face felt hotter as I looked up at him, regretting what I said. He was watching me as though I had just sprouted tentacles and started doing the cha-cha slide on a flimsy straw without somehow bending it. I could feel him taking in every single part of my face and body; maybe he really was looking for tentacles, but I was very boring. "So where are you from?" "England." I offered, realising my words were sharp with sarcasm. He rolled his eyes. "No I mean...you're as mysterious as Spencer is." "Mysterious..." I was stuck in a web of thoughts as I peered up at the moon past his shoulder, having grown used to the painfully strong scent of apples he was literally radiating I no longer sensed it; of course for some odd reason I would seem like Spencer? I was nothing like him. "So do you normally just have one word answers for everything?" He teased, eyes flashing. "No I just...don't really have much of a past." I gave him my best smile, aware that it made me look retarded. "My parents just aren't around much at all. They never were. And I just get by and got by on my own." My parents had had no interest after I reached eighteen they had conveniently slipped away somewhere without letting me even know. I just remembered waking up to a note and an empty house when really we had all been getting ready to move, it seemed I was no longer part of their perfect family. He seemed to frown thoughtfully and I was tempted to say something but bit my tongue instead. I decided it was time to change the subject before I ended up coughing up the truth I had buried so I grabbed the first thing I could remember him saying and decided to stretch it. "Sadly my life isn't really very glamorous and I haven't had anything intense happening in it but you said something about running into something....?" He seemed to flush. "Sorry yeah I don't know what it was but it well I sensed it when I was getting ready to hunt only it seemed....dead but in a very creepy way and I didn't feel comfortable being near it and then I just remember that....it just went oddly still but I could still sense it and it reeks of old garlic and I got this urge to just RUN and yeah I changed back and now I'm in your-" he jumped at the sharp knock on the door and stared at me, blue eyes wide and face almost obscured by the shadows of his fringe. "Come in." I called out, taking a quick step away from him and making sure I looked as though I had been busy doing something else; something that in no way involved Jim being in my room in the middle of the night though I rolled my eyes because something like that was ridiculous. The door was cautiously and carefully opened, it seemed; so as not to disturb even the clammy and already unsettled air in any way. Spencer appeared framed in the doorway, he looked weirdly apologetic but extremely tired as he looked at Jim and me as though he was used to things like seeing completely unexpected people in a room together. Then again in the given circumstances I was standing inside a room with two dead men, one of which was a rockstar, both of them had the ability to turn into wolves and both of them looked as tired as I felt, if not more. Life had never been odder. And yet, this seemed almost perfectly normal. He focused on Jim. His eyes seemed to blaze a brighter green that darkened the room around him and shrunk in the corners as though he had tightened a string around a rolled up canvas. He seemed unable to recognise anything around him and for once it did not matter to me that my room was a boho-vintage explosion of things I owned, books and art hastily flung together with the walls covered in random patches of green wallpaper that did not fit together but somehow the scraps made the perfect collage. I wondered if he noticed the glass bowl full of the pinecones and red plastic petals and flowers, sparkly clean tops of things and all of the things he had ever brought for me as a wolf. I had pinned various random little sketches of him and of how I saw him to one of my walls with a slightly twisted and warped nail that gave the illusion -almost- of a branch that was forced to stick itself through the wall. "Are you alright?" Spencer surprised me by asking, looking at both me and Jim; apparently we were now you. Jim seemed to blanch, as shocked by the kindness as me before he managed to nod and then exchange a wide eyed look with me after which we both faced Spencer's impatient stare. "Yes?" He looked at me again before focusing on Spencer alone. "What did you see?" Spencer paused, eyes bright. "You smell like an apple orchard." That could have been mocking but he seemed genuinely perturbed and curious. Jim pulled a funny face. "I might have fallen into a barrel full of apple juice? Yeah I'm amazed it isn't sticky....or I'm not sticky...." He looked down at his ringed fingers. "I just had this odd feeling something was following me but I had to somehow quickly get away as fast as possible. I only saw....the wolf afterwards? There was something odd about it, it had silver fur and these crazy coal black eyes, DEAD eyes." I could only think, for some reason, of Jim thrashing around in an apple juice barrel; something I had not even known existed. Spencer kept staring at him as though he was leeching the information out of his mind. "Are you hurt?" He asked again, which unnerved me because he seemed so far from his usual haughty self and as though he genuinely cared. "No?" Jim shrugged. "But something tells me if I hadn't gotten away on time I would have been dead." He said this as calmly as someone talking about a slight cold, of course though it also highlighted the sad truth that he was completely fine with death, which seemed sad because he was worth more than death. I wondered if all of the wolves in the pack had the same thoughts. "Silver fur and dead black eyes." Spencer sounded almost mechanic or as though he was reading off a pamphlet. "And the smell of old garl-" Jim stared intently into his eyes. "Cloves." "Yeah." Jim shrugged to himself and looked away from Spencer at the carpet at our feet, frowning to himself thoughtfully. "Where exactly was the apple juice barrel?" Spencer seemed bemused as he raised an eyebrow. "It was a really big barrel-" Jim corrected, flustered and flushing. "I don't know it was just....THERE in the middle of nowhere?" He seemed to swallow nervously, uncomfortable and clearly feeling as though Spencer was mocking him. "I didn't even know it came in barrels or that that was a barrel because I mean it was open and cut in half and just basically....I was running and just fell in while trying to....get away. It was huge." He seemed to be getting more and more flustered as time went on. "Relax." Spencer almost smiled at him. "You are safe and unharmed, I only care about what happens to my pack and you seem ok despite having bathed yourself in apple juice." Jim still seemed sheepish. "And about what Ms Smith was saying earlier." He nodded slowly. "You are as much of this pack as me, as anyone else, which is why I make an effort to include you in every single thing." He pocketed his hands and faced us authoritatively. "And the pack needs to start being careful. Something is out there, and hard times have come." He paused momentarily, looking at each one of us in turn before he walked resolutely out of the door, melting into the shadows of the night. Jim turned to glance at me momentarily before bobbing me an exaggerated courtesy that almost made me smile before he turned to walk out of the door too, closing it behind him. * LIAM I felt myself staring almost dazedly at Thomas, the meek mannered long limbed man with golden blonde curls who was smiling at me nicely enough to make me WANT to trust him with my whole life. His white jumper only added to his Angelic appearance, and I was stupefied by the reality of what was happening until I noticed Spencer stood nearby and then looked at Thomas again who continued to smile at me as he had done before. "So..." I finally managed to tell him. "You're...a....doctor." I realised he would be seeing to Cora and finally managed to find the smile tucked away inside one of my cheeks. "Yes." He offered jovially. "Or I was until I stuck a needle in my arm and died of a heart attack. And I woke up on the back of a pick up with Spencer sitting next to me looking bored. I handle any kind of illnesses and issues amongst our kind and make sure everything runs smoothly." "Spencer advised me to bring Cora to you." I finally managed, feeling that familiar jolt in my chest as my heart rolled into my mouth and my face flushed, as it always did whenever I realised I was going to be a dad. When I was younger, I recalled fearing impending fatherhood because I felt it came with this red hot invisible sticker that somehow screamed 'WE HAD SEX' but now, it seemed oddly normal. Was I meant to tell Thomas why I had to bring Cora to him? Thomas was flipping through a thick leather book and suddenly stopped, a thick page caught in between two fingers as he looked up at me almost thoughtfully. "I take it this is your first time handling something like this?" I felt my face turn warmer and looked at the thick yellowish page he was holding for something to do; amused by the intricate diagrams on the page in jet black ink. "Yes." He seemed oddly unperturbed, which for some reason made me feel like someone had a string tied to the tip of my spine and was yanking me to sit up ramrod straight when I felt as lifeless and floppy as a puppet. "It isn't an easy situation." He glanced at the book before him. "How far along is she?" "Two months." I managed to somehow pull the worlds out of the corner of my mouth where I had been pointlessly chewing on the reality of what was happening for a very long time. "This isn't like a normal pregnancy. The baby is much bigger. You'll be seeing a lot of steady and rapid movement soon, if you haven't already. She'll be craving things that are odd but almost exactly based on what the baby needs for foetal development, in more ways than one the baby is making itself known and will do. Gestation will be anywhere from six to eight and a half months....but it isn't going to be an easy delivery. She may need a lot of help and someone on hand and she just needs to be really careful. Also if this wolf that attacked her or whatever it was that attacked her attacked her once, it could do it again so she needs to be closely watched....it could become a Komodo dragon situation..." I choked awkwardly and fought to steady myself before I had a coughing fit, realising that for some reason I had been holding my breath and cleared my throat, forcing myself to look at him. "How on earth are we going to handle the whole delivery?" "You should have considered that a few months ago." Spencer threw my way barely audibly and I noticed he had sat down at the table at some point. I rolled my eyes at him and ignored him, focusing on Thomas. "James and Trevor are nurses." He offered matter of factly while acting as though he was not necessarily even talking to me. "Trevor's a band mate of Jim's though-" "That doesn't mean he can't be a nurse." Spencer offered almost as though he was bored. I looked at him studiously, struggling to understand what he was trying to do. He was looking down at the book with an amused expression on his face. I wanted to shout at him to look at me, be serious and tell me exactly what was happening because he knew. He finally did look up, green eyes bright. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened. You can't really expect me to gave all the answers to everything. I did tell you this wasn't an easy pregnancy." I was angry at life, but turned my scowl into a pointed smile, my eyes fiery. "Well now we're left with no option and you're kind of the alpha-" He looked pointedly at Thomas who muttered something about having to water his socks and disappeared, gently tugging the door shut behind him. I felt slightly sick in the silence that followed. "So you want to know what happens." "Yes. I think it's only my right to know what happens because I'm a part of it all Spencer in case you haven't quite realised-" He continued to look amused. I opened my mouth but quickly snapped it shut over a retort, instead firmly holding his gaze. "All records state that childbirth is going to kill her. There are even gruesome tales of how the baby eats its way into existence." He seemed so unbothered by what he said I wanted to grab him by his shoulders and shake him. "But there were over fifty cases of women who had similar babies. Their pregnancies lasted six months...wolf pregnancies last a little over two months but this child is still partially human so that's a total of six months, everything about it is exaggerated and fast. She'll be fine. So will the baby." He seemed thoughtful. "You're going to have to be present when the baby is born....he or she is going to form this bond with you as the father that is like a survival instinct but will mean that no matter what happens you'll always find each other." "This sounds like something I read in a fucking book once. Only it's..." "This is reality Walters. It does odd things to you." "Ok then..." I felt a tight knot inside me open and leaned forwards towards him slightly. "Who was Maddo-" "Liam!" He looked up. I spun around. Cora flew in, the door flying open as she flew across the room to where I stood, eyes wet with tears. "Cora-" I felt myself stiffen as I fought the urge to change to protect her; how it would protect her I would never even know. She suddenly grabbed one of my hands tightly enough to hurt me. My eyes widened as she stared down at me fiercely, the setting sun bejewelling her hair in sparks of golden flames that blazed intoxicatingly in her green eyes. She gently steered my hand over to the smooth skin of her bump. I stared up at her, not daring to look away from her crazy eyes because I had no idea what she wanted. And then I felt it too. My heart stuttered to a stop. "Fuck..." the baby was moving. Making itself known. The crazy movement against my hand under her smooth flesh made my pulse sing. And my vision blur....until I fainted again.

[comicalcats]

Volume 2: Bitter Sweet

CHAPTER 1

As Alice had stated, the two were now on an adventure. Although it had started on a positive note, it quickly became apparent that there would be some issues concerning the clashing of their personalities.

Dale seemed to prefer the safer route due to his lack of courage and backbone. The routes that Dale perceived as ‘safer’, were the routes that were less likely to have them stumble across villages, which suited his lack of social interaction skills. Unfortunately, the safe route was almost always the longer route, which didn’t sit well with Alice.

Alice was completely alien to someone like Dale, who had spent his entire life avoiding people. She was his complete opposite in literally every way possible: she loved to talk and appeared to be very opinionated. Not to mention, her obvious superior strength. Without even outright saying it, she made it quite clear that she was incredibly intent on getting to the Kingdom as soon as possible, even if it meant dealing with danger to do so.

They had been travelling for about three days before they got close to a village. But before they could actually get to the village, night fell, enveloping everything in darkness. While this made it difficult for Alice to see, it was ten times worse for her traveling partner.

Dale was afraid of the dark, and for good reason; while his impaired vision made bright colors appear dull and washed-out, colors such as blue and black came to him as much darker and bolder than they actually were. Because of that, the only things Dale could see around him besides an unending sea of darkness were his blue clothing. Other than that, he was more or less blind.

Alice has no clue about any of his issues. They had only met a few days ago, and Dale wasn’t exactly the sharing type. Despite Alice’s title of ‘best friends’, he had yet to give her his trust.

Little did they know that something change when they finally stumbled across a village one fateful evening.

DALE

Just kill me already.

Thank goodness Alice wasn’t a mind-reader, because dozens of thoughts similar to that one had been filling up my mind faster than a dam flood for the past few hours, including a few not-so-kind thoughts about her. Even if she had been a mind-reader, she was much too busy blabbering on about something or other. I didn’t know her very well, but the one thing that I could say I knew for sure about her was that she liked to to talk.

Scratch that, loved to talk.

I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. It wasn’t that I couldn’t focus, her rambles just didn’t require much of my attention. But I did tune in from time to time, just so she didn’t think that I was ignoring her. Even though I guess I kind of was, I didn’t want her to catch on.

I decided to tune in just as she jumped onto a new topic. “Y’know, I’ve always thought that people who wear a ton of makeup look like clowns. Makeup is fine, as long as you don’t look completely ridiculous wearing it, I mean-”

I drifted again once it became obvious that I wasn’t really missing much. Alice gave off a vibe of being in a hurry. Everything she did seemed rushed, from simply walking to packing and setting up camp. At the moment she was ahead of me, but she glanced back every now and again to make sure she wasn’t leaving me behind.

I had never been in shape, so I felt a bit bad at the possibility that I was slowing her down. Of course, it seems that Alice is quite used to doing things quickly. I can only imagine how much easier this trip must be for her than me.

After hours of walking, a village came into view. I sighed, half relieved, and half disappointed. I had hoped we wouldn’t come across any people for a while, yet there we were. It was a stupid thing to hope for, looking back on it.  

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of Alice’s voice ahead of me. “I wish I was a little more like you. You’re so quiet and peaceful, and I never really know when to shut up. Living on your own must have been nice, too. Not a single person to bother you, all silence and tranquility, by yourself in the forest. I’m a little envious,” she added, laughing dryly.

I almost couldn’t believe the words that had just come from her mouth. Envious? How could she possibly envy living in such misery and sorrow? If she knew what my life was like, she would never have opened her mouth to speak in the first place.

Before I could even react to her statement, she spoke. “We’re here! Come on, let’s go find an inn to stay at for the night.”

I hadn’t even realized that we were at the outskirts of the village. Just as we passed the village sign, we heard yelling from inside a nearby shop. Alice’s head turned in that direction, seemingly interested in whatever was happening inside.  

I felt my chest fill with dread as I realized what she was about to do.

She marched towards the shop to investigate just as I feared she would. I had a split second to decide what I wanted to do. I could stay outside by myself, in the dark and quiet, and possibly get mugged.

Or I could follow Alice into the shop where the source of all the noise was, as well as a decent amount of light. Each option had a couple of pros and cons.

I followed Alice into the shop, jogging slightly to catch up with her fast-paced walking.

A bell dinged as she opened the door, but the people inside the shop didn’t notice a thing. Closest to us were three men and a woman, all angry-looking. Even the smallest member of their group was much taller than me and looked like he could break my bones with a flick of his hand. They were yelling at the old man behind the counter. He had gray hair, a mustache, and a terrified expression.

The man who appeared to be in charge was the one shouting. “Listen up, old man. You said you would have the money this week, and now suddenly you don’t have it,” he paused. “Y’know what? I think you’re lying to us.”

The counter man looked even more scared now than he had a few moments ago, if that was even possible. “No, please, I swear. I just-”

Behind the counter, a boy burst through a doorway covered by a curtain. He was a short redheaded kid with glasses and a high-pitched voice, which he used to cry, “WAIT!”

The room fell dead silent. No one moved, their eyes glued to the redhead. Finally, he spoke again. “It was me. My grandpa is innocent. Please, don’t hurt him,” he pleaded.

The man who had been yelling at the shopkeeper let out a low laugh. He sneered at the boy, “What makes you think I’m gonna listen to a little twerp like you?”

He leaned over the counter and grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt, dragging him out from behind the counter. The boy resisted, of course, but he was no match for the thug, who was much older and bigger than him. The thug pushed the boy towards one of his cronies, who grabbed his arms from behind, effectively restraining him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was just a kid, easily the same the as myself. How could people be so cruel towards an innocent little boy trying to protect his grandfather?

I remembered how the inhabitants of DonDo had treated me. I had done nothing to earn the hate of the village, yet they had decided that I deserved to be abused. For no reason whatsoever, they detested me. They threw things at me. Mercilessly, they pushed, punched, and kicked me without putting any thought into why they were doing it. This kid, although not completely alone, was in a similar situation.

And it hurt. Even though I wasn’t the one being picked on at that moment, it hurt to see someone else receiving that kind of treatment. If possible, it hurt even worse than when I was the one being attacked. To see another person endure the same torture that I had endured for years tugged at my heartstrings. I thought I was going to throw up.

A resonating smack filled the room. 

  Holy shit. I didn’t have enough time to process what had just happened. I was stunned.

[literarypsychobabble]

Dr Thomas and nurse Trevor

LIAM Cora was asleep. And I was having a very hard time not disturbing her and looking away from her long enough to rest or sleep myself. I felt stupid yet each time I saw her again my heart would nose dive into my toes and I wanted to hold her as tightly as I could. I had already memorised the best of her heart, her sweet strawberry and rose scent but also that subtle me-and-nuts undertone that I assumed was the baby. OUR baby. Whenever I looked at her she seemed to glow, green eyes full of sweetness and gentility. I craved the sound of her voice like warm caramel thawing my frozen body and cherishing me in an embrace that I never wanted to have to leave. I watched her with her naturally slightly pouty rose bud mouth, the slender slope of her neck, the pale golden freckles like star kisses patterning wings over her shoulder blades trailing down her spine. Her chestnut hair that was pulled up into a messy and simple knot atop her head, a few loose tendrils having fallen onto her pillow and her long slender nose that ended in a gentle but sharp dainty little point and the sharp lines and gentle edges of her angular but fragile and almost heart shaped feminine face. I stared at her stupidly, awed by the gentle innocence on her face before I recognised the knock on the door followed by the fresh pine and wood scent that made me frown to myself seconds before I gently carried myself out of the bed and down the stairs. I treaded as lightly as possible, avoiding the creaky floorboards and focusing on getting to the door that seemed very far away as quickly as possible. Moonlight splashed in through gaps in curtains like cold milk, urging me onwards to avoid too much exposure before I finally got to the door and opened it, masking my amusement and surprise. Spencer stood on the doorstep dressed in a baggy and holey jumper and jeans, but with bare feet. His dark hair was tousled and his face oddly sheepish, almost. His hands were stuffed uncharacteristically in his pockets and though he towered over me the shadows emphasised things like the sharpness of his cheekbones and the hollowness of his literally empty cheeks despite the broadness of his shoulders and the surprising word I found myself associating with him was small. Spencer looked uncharacteristically young and as though he was about to turn and run blindly into the middle of the road at any second. "Spencer." I stepped back and gestured for him to come in. He hesitated, peering into my face from where he stood. "I wouldn't want to disturb you." I almost laughed. "Since when do you care?" I noticed how serious he remained and almost regretted trying to joke. "You wouldn't be disturbing us so you shouldn't worry about that...." he continued to watch me and I wanted to grab him by the throat and force him to tell me what he was thinking. "Just come in." I avoided the please and turned to look behind me, wondering what he would think of the very cosy house that he seemed to fit into, wildly though. He looked around himself; something I wondered if he even realised he did anymore but I recognised he did this wherever he went almost like survival instincts. I was tempted to say something but bit my tongue instead. He stopped by the door to the living room, hesitant and unlike himself. "You can go in and sit down." I offered. "Or do whatever you want to do to be honest." He seemed lost in thought as he sat down, eventually with his hands splayed in his lap as he seemed to trace patterns into the rug beneath him with his eyes. I was perturbed by this complete change in his persona. He suddenly ran his hands through his hair and seemed to sigh to himself and slump back, teeth clenched firmly as he looked directly at me, green eyes weary. "I need your help." I blanched momentarily; what could SPENCER need MY help for? Spencer had made it clear he needed no one's help. "I need your help because something is amiss." I nodded slowly and carefully. "Well I'm.......you don't normally seem to need anyone's help so this is...well you aren't being a sarcastic prick and you seem to genuinely want help." Of course I was going to state the obvious and make things weird. "I do." He closed his eyes. "These wolf attacks." I shifted as I thought about Cora and the baby. "It isn't from the pack, not even Thornton, the newcomer is capable of this. I know Thomas isn't the sort to attack, nor is James or Trevor or even Jim. What's more, the attacker is a female wolf." "So..it's just a normal wolf?" Were there even wolves in this part of England? He just stared at me, not speaking and I wondered if he was even here or lost somewhere in his head. "No." He seemed to suppress a yawn. "She is one of us." He pursed his lips. "Unfortunately I can't read her thoughts. She's very distressed and possibly dying, however I feel as she feels and I experience things she experiences...or so I would assume YET I am unable to actually understand where she is. I have come close to her at various times but have never managed to cross paths with her but it seems she sees me because I can often access those tangles of her thoughts." He paused as though it took him effort to put together the right words. "Policemen who knew how it all started all those years ago have become involved again and I have a feeling that if someone finds out what we are we could find ourselves locked up and used as lab rats." He raised his eyebrows and shrugged, pursing his lips before he shook his head. "No one deserves that..." "But surely they wouldn't be ALLOWED to experiment on us." He met my eyes, staring chillingly at me and I noticed the buttery golden flecks in his green eyes. "What are we, Walters?" I blanched. "Humans who become wolves." "Yes what else?" He seemed on the verge of impatience. I struggled to find the words he needed and almost expected him to roll his eyes and sigh. "We are dead." His stare was deadly itself, cold, hard and emotionless. "We are dead but somehow still alive." "That doesn't give them r-" "Dead people have no rights." His tone was nonchalant and unbothered, somehow making me angry. "We aren't humans who have any rights and of course bring dead means we don't apparently have anything else to do. We become the lab rats of a nation. History repeats itself." "What if we tell someone-" He suddenly smiled; the unsettling broken spark that made me feel unnerved. "We can write to them for a meeting and turn up to discuss matters with them." I felt flustered as I realised he was being sarcastic. "Spencer you CAME to me asking for help....I don't even know WHY I'm here or WHY this is actually happening....so PLEASE enlighten me and explain to me what exactly you somehow expect me to say or do. I know as little about any of this as you...maybe even less!" I shrugged for emphasis but was suddenly feeling a tight coil of rage deep within my gut. "Spencer we don't even know who YOU are or where you're from yet you're somehow our alpha and you have no past...no connection and I hate to be a bearer of bad news but that puts a funny taste in my mouth for one...." He looked stoic and unshaken. "I have no one Liam I have no past-" "So you're saying you just fell out of the sky?" He seemed momentarily troubled. I stared at him unblinkingly. He finally looked up at me, green eyes somber. "I watched my mother burn alive." He offered. I was struck by a sudden jolt of pity for him that I quickly forced myself to recover from. "And I was....used for a bit...to understand how things work..." he seemed oddly unbothered by what he said. "I escaped. I broke my leg. I was small. And I survived." He sounded as though he was reading off the back of a milk carton. "You technically aren't dead then." I finally offered. He glanced up at me from where he had been looking at the carpet and his face took on his usual haughty stare. "So you say. Life gets tiring when you live with no connections. Although I never want any....I wish you all the best with your family." I was tempted to apologise to him but instead I bit my tongue. "But we really do need to understand what is happening here." He added, face drifting into firm seriousness again. "Is she like everyone else though? Did she die and become like us?" He shook his head slowly. "But she's dying now, the change hasn't agreed with her and she is struggling alone. It's almost like cancer with the symptoms and she's drawn to mercilessly attacking as many people as possible." "And you can't connect with her?" He shook his head wearily. "I need to stop her before she gets us all caught." "We." He looked confused. "We need to stop her." He seemed to contemplate smiling but then shrugged instead. "I should let you get back." He glanced at the ceiling and gave me a thoughtful look. "You have something special. Please don't let it go to waste." I frowned bemusedly, when I finally looked up again he was gone and had melted into the night itself. "What are you up to Spencer?" "Liam?" Her voice made my heart lurch. I struggled to stop the smile stretched across my face. "I'm here!" I called out to her, tempted to bound up the stairs and scoop her into my arms and hold her as close to my heart as possible. "I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs so I wouldn't wake you up." She was quiet, which made me start moving closer to the stairs. "I just wondered where you were." She continued. "I miss you and I kind of maybe love you just a little bit too much so not having you here right now is driving me crazy." I almost chuckled to myself as I finally started making my way up the stairs, feeling a funny pang close to my heart as I remembered Spencer's words and expression. * ALICE I was staring into the trees that reminded me weirdly of accusatory fingers being pointed at the bloated moon to swear that it was the reason the sun had fallen out of the sky and thinking about the odd predicament of everything when Jim's face suddenly bobbed into view. Shock almost ripped a scream from my mouth as I toppled backwards away from the window and he used his arms, very pale long fingered hands latching onto either side of my window and his awkwardly long and skinny legs to kick into my room and then heaved the rest of his body in as well, shaking dead leaves and twigs from his hair as he landed with a boney CLUNK on the floor. He smelt strongly of sweet, ripe apples and I found myself wondering what exactly he had been up to. "Sorry." He finally offered sheepishly once he had collected himself and looked around him at my room. "I um....got into something stupid." Like apple juice. Did all rockstars bathe themselves in apple juice? I noticed his face was flushed and he looked uncomfortable. "Well you smell like you showered in apple juice. Or is that normal....I mean I know for a fact that apple juice has less calories than orange juice so I don't know maybe this is some odd diet fad you picked up on as a....rockstar or whatever but I don't think you should overdo it." I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to tell me what he had been doing and why. I was also apparently unable to shut up and my sense of humour was bad enough to make a hyena cry. He smiled at me. "Do all women know random things like how little calories apple juice has?" He seemed to want to have a conversation with me; someone who was as capable of conversation as a teapot. I shrugged and stepped back slightly, acting as nonchalant as I had never even felt. "Anyway I was hunting and sensed something weird so I....kind of ran and am....finding my way through your bedroom window when that's totally fucking stupid and I'm just sorry about this because....it just seems fucking weird..all of it and we gotta random human who deserves a better life-" he ran a hand through his hair and flicked his head back to shake his fringe off his face before giving me a close mouthed, square grin. "Well, none of it IS fair you know; it's life and life itself isn't likely to be fair at all. Besides I get free bodyguards in a way and furry buddies who are actually really nice to get on with." I caught his eye and smiled. "Life isn't all that bad." And I was still saying really weird things and seemed to have forgotten how to shut up. He frowned imploringly, looking out of the window and sighed. "You shouldn't feel like you don't belong." There they were; the words I had wanted to say to him for so long because of how he had spent so long just staring at everyone but quickly looking away as though he felt intrusive. His eyes widened and I felt like I was yanking at hidden strings in his chest, making his breath catch in his throat. "What?!" My face felt hotter as I looked up at him, regretting what I said. He was watching me as though I had just sprouted tentacles and started doing the cha-cha slide on a flimsy straw without somehow bending it. I could feel him taking in every single part of my face and body; maybe he really was looking for tentacles, but I was very boring. "So where are you from?" "England." I offered, realising my words were sharp with sarcasm. He rolled his eyes. "No I mean...you're as mysterious as Spencer is." "Mysterious..." I was stuck in a web of thoughts as I peered up at the moon past his shoulder, having grown used to the painfully strong scent of apples he was literally radiating I no longer sensed it; of course for some odd reason I would seem like Spencer? I was nothing like him. "So do you normally just have one word answers for everything?" He teased, eyes flashing. "No I just...don't really have much of a past." I gave him my best smile, aware that it made me look retarded. "My parents just aren't around much at all. They never were. And I just get by and got by on my own." My parents had had no interest after I reached eighteen they had conveniently slipped away somewhere without letting me even know. I just remembered waking up to a note and an empty house when really we had all been getting ready to move, it seemed I was no longer part of their perfect family. He seemed to frown thoughtfully and I was tempted to say something but bit my tongue instead. I decided it was time to change the subject before I ended up coughing up the truth I had buried so I grabbed the first thing I could remember him saying and decided to stretch it. "Sadly my life isn't really very glamorous and I haven't had anything intense happening in it but you said something about running into something....?" He seemed to flush. "Sorry yeah I don't know what it was but it well I sensed it when I was getting ready to hunt only it seemed....dead but in a very creepy way and I didn't feel comfortable being near it and then I just remember that....it just went oddly still but I could still sense it and it reeks of old garlic and I got this urge to just RUN and yeah I changed back and now I'm in your-" he jumped at the sharp knock on the door and stared at me, blue eyes wide and face almost obscured by the shadows of his fringe. "Come in." I called out, taking a quick step away from him and making sure I looked as though I had been busy doing something else; something that in no way involved Jim being in my room in the middle of the night though I rolled my eyes because something like that was ridiculous. The door was cautiously and carefully opened, it seemed; so as not to disturb even the clammy and already unsettled air in any way. Spencer appeared framed in the doorway, he looked weirdly apologetic but extremely tired as he looked at Jim and me as though he was used to things like seeing completely unexpected people in a room together. Then again in the given circumstances I was standing inside a room with two dead men, one of which was a rockstar, both of them had the ability to turn into wolves and both of them looked as tired as I felt, if not more. Life had never been odder. And yet, this seemed almost perfectly normal. He focused on Jim. His eyes seemed to blaze a brighter green that darkened the room around him and shrunk in the corners as though he had tightened a string around a rolled up canvas. He seemed unable to recognise anything around him and for once it did not matter to me that my room was a boho-vintage explosion of things I owned, books and art hastily flung together with the walls covered in random patches of green wallpaper that did not fit together but somehow the scraps made the perfect collage. I wondered if he noticed the glass bowl full of the pinecones and red plastic petals and flowers, sparkly clean tops of things and all of the things he had ever brought for me as a wolf. I had pinned various random little sketches of him and of how I saw him to one of my walls with a slightly twisted and warped nail that gave the illusion -almost- of a branch that was forced to stick itself through the wall. "Are you alright?" Spencer surprised me by asking, looking at both me and Jim; apparently we were now you. Jim seemed to blanch, as shocked by the kindness as me before he managed to nod and then exchange a wide eyed look with me after which we both faced Spencer's impatient stare. "Yes?" He looked at me again before focusing on Spencer alone. "What did you see?" Spencer paused, eyes bright. "You smell like an apple orchard." That could have been mocking but he seemed genuinely perturbed and curious. Jim pulled a funny face. "I might have fallen into a barrel full of apple juice? Yeah I'm amazed it isn't sticky....or I'm not sticky...." He looked down at his ringed fingers. "I just had this odd feeling something was following me but I had to somehow quickly get away as fast as possible. I only saw....the wolf afterwards? There was something odd about it, it had silver fur and these crazy coal black eyes, DEAD eyes." I could only think, for some reason, of Jim thrashing around in an apple juice barrel; something I had not even known existed. Spencer kept staring at him as though he was leeching the information out of his mind. "Are you hurt?" He asked again, which unnerved me because he seemed so far from his usual haughty self and as though he genuinely cared. "No?" Jim shrugged. "But something tells me if I hadn't gotten away on time I would have been dead." He said this as calmly as someone talking about a slight cold, of course though it also highlighted the sad truth that he was completely fine with death, which seemed sad because he was worth more than death. I wondered if all of the wolves in the pack had the same thoughts. "Silver fur and dead black eyes." Spencer sounded almost mechanic or as though he was reading off a pamphlet. "And the smell of old garl-" Jim stared intently into his eyes. "Cloves." "Yeah." Jim shrugged to himself and looked away from Spencer at the carpet at our feet, frowning to himself thoughtfully. "Where exactly was the apple juice barrel?" Spencer seemed bemused as he raised an eyebrow. "It was a really big barrel-" Jim corrected, flustered and flushing. "I don't know it was just....THERE in the middle of nowhere?" He seemed to swallow nervously, uncomfortable and clearly feeling as though Spencer was mocking him. "I didn't even know it came in barrels or that that was a barrel because I mean it was open and cut in half and just basically....I was running and just fell in while trying to....get away. It was huge." He seemed to be getting more and more flustered as time went on. "Relax." Spencer almost smiled at him. "You are safe and unharmed, I only care about what happens to my pack and you seem ok despite having bathed yourself in apple juice." Jim still seemed sheepish. "And about what Ms Smith was saying earlier." He nodded slowly. "You are as much of this pack as me, as anyone else, which is why I make an effort to include you in every single thing." He pocketed his hands and faced us authoritatively. "And the pack needs to start being careful. Something is out there, and hard times have come." He paused momentarily, looking at each one of us in turn before he walked resolutely out of the door, melting into the shadows of the night. Jim turned to glance at me momentarily before bobbing me an exaggerated courtesy that almost made me smile before he turned to walk out of the door too, closing it behind him. * LIAM I felt myself staring almost dazedly at Thomas, the meek mannered long limbed man with golden blonde curls who was smiling at me nicely enough to make me WANT to trust him with my whole life. His white jumper only added to his Angelic appearance, and I was stupefied by the reality of what was happening until I noticed Spencer stood nearby and then looked at Thomas again who continued to smile at me as he had done before. "So..." I finally managed to tell him. "You're...a....doctor." I realised he would be seeing to Cora and finally managed to find the smile tucked away inside one of my cheeks. "Yes." He offered jovially. "Or I was until I stuck a needle in my arm and died of a heart attack. And I woke up on the back of a pick up with Spencer sitting next to me looking bored. I handle any kind of illnesses and issues amongst our kind and make sure everything runs smoothly." "Spencer advised me to bring Cora to you." I finally managed, feeling that familiar jolt in my chest as my heart rolled into my mouth and my face flushed, as it always did whenever I realised I was going to be a dad. When I was younger, I recalled fearing impending fatherhood because I felt it came with this red hot invisible sticker that somehow screamed 'WE HAD SEX' but now, it seemed oddly normal. Was I meant to tell Thomas why I had to bring Cora to him? Thomas was flipping through a thick leather book and suddenly stopped, a thick page caught in between two fingers as he looked up at me almost thoughtfully. "I take it this is your first time handling something like this?" I felt my face turn warmer and looked at the thick yellowish page he was holding for something to do; amused by the intricate diagrams on the page in jet black ink. "Yes." He seemed oddly unperturbed, which for some reason made me feel like someone had a string tied to the tip of my spine and was yanking me to sit up ramrod straight when I felt as lifeless and floppy as a puppet. "It isn't an easy situation." He glanced at the book before him. "How far along is she?" "Two months." I managed to somehow pull the worlds out of the corner of my mouth where I had been pointlessly chewing on the reality of what was happening for a very long time. "This isn't like a normal pregnancy. The baby is much bigger. You'll be seeing a lot of steady and rapid movement soon, if you haven't already. She'll be craving things that are odd but almost exactly based on what the baby needs for foetal development, in more ways than one the baby is making itself known and will do. Gestation will be anywhere from six to eight and a half months....but it isn't going to be an easy delivery. She may need a lot of help and someone on hand and she just needs to be really careful. Also if this wolf that attacked her or whatever it was that attacked her attacked her once, it could do it again so she needs to be closely watched....it could become a Komodo dragon situation..." I choked awkwardly and fought to steady myself before I had a coughing fit, realising that for some reason I had been holding my breath and cleared my throat, forcing myself to look at him. "How on earth are we going to handle the whole delivery?" "You should have considered that a few months ago." Spencer threw my way barely audibly and I noticed he had sat down at the table at some point. I rolled my eyes at him and ignored him, focusing on Thomas. "James and Trevor are nurses." He offered matter of factly while acting as though he was not necessarily even talking to me. "Trevor's a band mate of Jim's though-" "That doesn't mean he can't be a nurse." Spencer offered almost as though he was bored. I looked at him studiously, struggling to understand what he was trying to do. He was looking down at the book with an amused expression on his face. I wanted to shout at him to look at me, be serious and tell me exactly what was happening because he knew. He finally did look up, green eyes bright. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened. You can't really expect me to gave all the answers to everything. I did tell you this wasn't an easy pregnancy." I was angry at life, but turned my scowl into a pointed smile, my eyes fiery. "Well now we're left with no option and you're kind of the alpha-" He looked pointedly at Thomas who muttered something about having to water his socks and disappeared, gently tugging the door shut behind him. I felt slightly sick in the silence that followed. "So you want to know what happens." "Yes. I think it's only my right to know what happens because I'm a part of it all Spencer in case you haven't quite realised-" He continued to look amused. I opened my mouth but quickly snapped it shut over a retort, instead firmly holding his gaze. "All records state that childbirth is going to kill her. There are even gruesome tales of how the baby eats its way into existence." He seemed so unbothered by what he said I wanted to grab him by his shoulders and shake him. "But there were over fifty cases of women who had similar babies. Their pregnancies lasted six months...wolf pregnancies last a little over two months but this child is still partially human so that's a total of six months, everything about it is exaggerated and fast. She'll be fine. So will the baby." He seemed thoughtful. "You're going to have to be present when the baby is born....he or she is going to form this bond with you as the father that is like a survival instinct but will mean that no matter what happens you'll always find each other." "This sounds like something I read in a fucking book once. Only it's..." "This is reality Walters. It does odd things to you." "Ok then..." I felt a tight knot inside me open and leaned forwards towards him slightly. "Who was Maddo-" "Liam!" He looked up. I spun around. Cora flew in, the door flying open as she flew across the room to where I stood, eyes wet with tears. "Cora-" I felt myself stiffen as I fought the urge to change to protect her; how it would protect her I would never even know. She suddenly grabbed one of my hands tightly enough to hurt me. My eyes widened as she stared down at me fiercely, the setting sun bejewelling her hair in sparks of golden flames that blazed intoxicatingly in her green eyes. She gently steered my hand over to the smooth skin of her bump. I stared up at her, not daring to look away from her crazy eyes because I had no idea what she wanted. And then I felt it too. My heart stuttered to a stop. "Fuck..." the baby was moving. Making itself known. The crazy movement against my hand under her smooth flesh made my pulse sing. And my vision blur....until I fainted again.