#my cat died. my great aunt died my great uncle died my friend from high-school? dead

[babybearnini]

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[humansofnewyork]

“I was eleven years old at the time. A new law passed allowing members of the same household to migrate to America. So we all went together, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandmother. Only my mother stayed behind. She had just remarried, and couldn’t leave my newborn brother. At the airport she was inconsolable, but she knew it was for the best. We left Havana in the middle of a twelve hour power outage. And when we landed in Miami, there was a sea of lights in every direction. It was clear why my mother had wanted me to go. In Miami our entire family moved into a two bedroom house. That first night I shared the pull-out sofa with my great grandmother Mami. Little did I know that we’d be sharing that couch for several years. Mami was a tough lady. She had to be, because she grew up in Cuba during the thirties. She snored like a growling cat. And she never asked about my feelings. But if she felt me crying on the other side of the bed, she’d roll over and put her hand on my shoulder. Those first few years were tough. I went straight to middle school. I couldn’t speak English. Every night I’d call my mother back in Cuba, and we’d both cry on the phone. During this time Mami became my best friend. She taught me how to shave. I’d tell her about my crushes. And she’d always tell me that one day I’d be wearing a suit. Mami had worked in a factory since the age of twelve. So that was success to her wearing a suit. No matter how close we got, she was always careful to remind me of how hard it was for my mother. One night we were watching one of her soap operas, and the story made her emotional. She turned to me and said: ‘You’re my son.’ Then she paused, and said: ‘Never forget the sacrifice your mother has made.’ Mami died three years ago. But she lived to see me graduate high school. And community college. And she was still alive when I got my first job. It was a job at a bank, and I wore a suit. It was a cheap suit from JCPenney, but it was a suit. On my first day I took a picture and sent it to Mami. Then I called her, and she was crying on the phone. It took her awhile to speak. But the first thing she said was: ‘I know how proud your mother is right now.’”

[strawberrysoup]

Let’s Review || Chapter 22

Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-consensual&dark sexual situations, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat  additional warnings: open the read more, CTRL + F and search “content warnings” to skip to the additional "spoiler-y" tags for trigger warnings

hey guys! i made a ko-fi! if you enjoy this and have some cash you could spare to help me out with my bills, id really appreciate it! if you follow the link and check out the ‘posts’, there’s a snippet for ch. 4 of posies! 

Their parents had died a few months after her thirteenth birthday and Penny essentially blacked out for the next 8 months. She didn’t remember anything from that school year, although she’d evidently scraped by in all of her classes—actually, Penny was still convinced that little Peter, who was already showing signs of being a tiny genius, had done at least half of her homework. She didn’t remember Hanukkah that year, or the first Christmas she’d ever celebrated with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. She had zero friends coming out of that year, having accidentally pushed everyone away in fits of rage or sadness that she couldn’t even remember. The pain cut just as deep every time she remembered showing up to school the first day of her freshman year only to receive the cold shoulder from half her grade.

That was actually one of the first memories she’d retained after coming out of 7 months and 3 weeks of complete emptiness, how none of her best friends wanted anything to do with her. Everything had been confusing, somehow devastating all over again but… it was less. Her parents were gone and it hurt so much but it was nothing compared to the agony that had beset her form seconds after being informed her mom and dad were dead. When Penny racked her brain she could almost remember Aunt May crouched in front of her while she sat on the couch at home, holding her hands.

Somewhere in her brain, Penny had known that plane crashes were possible. Like, as a concept she understood the idea. The plane that was flying through the air stops doing that, and all the people inside the plane die. But it couldn’t possibly happen to her parents—they were her parents, they were infallible. Plane crashes happened, yeah, but her parents couldn’t be gone. Aunt May had told her several years later that she and Ben had been petrified she would try to kill herself, especially when the state tried to take the young girl away from the Parker’s.

They’d never had the money for therapy and Penny figured she’d never regain the memories from those months but honestly, she didn’t want them. The gaps were reprieves, the missing conversations, the absence of any and all detail. Wasn’t she sad to not remember her eighth-grade graduation? Fuck no, it was a blessing to forget how she’d felt like everyone in existence had their eyes on her—except for the ones she wanted.

There were times she absently wondered how disappointed her parents would be that she didn’t finish college, let alone get an actual high school degree. Her dad had been so smart, a genius in his own right. And her mom… Penny tried not to think of her mom often, not when it hurt so deeply. Mary Parker had been a gentle soul with an IQ of 150 who made Penny feel safe and loved and understood every day of her life. Her mother would’ve been understanding, she would’ve seen the necessity in her dropping out but it would’ve hurt that gentle soul to know the opportunities her baby had missed.

It hurt Penny in a special way that neither of Mary and Richard Parker’s children would be graduating from high school. Neither would attend university. They wouldn’t go on to press the limits of their parent’s knowledge or make an impact on the world. Somehow despite everything she’d sacrificed, Peter would never get the opportunity that he deserved. Her genius baby brother, his potential capped before he had a chance to try. God, it was an agonizing burn in her chest, a searing pain that made her nauseous and light-headed.

Her heart was pounding so hard she wondered if her ribs would crack. The cabin was lovely. Dark wood and an A-frame, a nice deck in the back and lots of windows. It was surrounded by trees, with dark needles or thin pale trunks, the purple mountains of the Rockies a lovely backdrop. It was colder than she’d expect for summer, especially considering the overcast sky and the breeze. The clouds moved so fast at such a high altitude and Penny watched trembling as a shadow passed over the house, chasing the light away before the sun followed its path ravenously once more.

Steve and Bucky were unloading suitcases from the back of the SUV, passing each other calculating looks as Penny stood practically frozen in place. Her shoulders were hunched almost to her ears, arms wrapped gently but tightly around the white kitten in her arms. It was purring quietly, the same way it had been for hours now. The little thing had cried the first few hours after they’d left the tower and subsequently the chubby cheeked orange kitten behind, only settling when Penny laid down across the middle seat in the SUV and let it burrow into the crook of her neck.

If Penny turned around she would’ve recognized the mournful looks on their faces, the pain in the lines of their eyes. The soldiers knew the hurt she felt, to be separated from their most important person—they understood that Peter was the most important person in Penny’s world. This separation was on their heads, but what could they do? They’d worked themselves into a rut, the three of them, wearing such deep treads into their negative behaviors that they couldn’t climb out. A complete shakeup was the only solution.

Both winced when she abruptly folded at the waist, clutching the kitten to her chest, and vomited over the pine needle strewn dirt of the driveway. Her hair fell in heavy, curly curtains around her face as she heaved again, hiding her tear-streaked face from the soldiers’ view. The sound of them setting the bags they held down registered in Penny’s ears but she couldn’t find the strength to collect herself before they converged on her.

“Come ‘ere doll, lemme take you up to the bathroom,” Bucky stated quietly, sweeping her and the cat up into his arms as gently as he could, “you can take a bath while me and Steve get everything unloaded. I think you’ll really like the cabin baby, we… well, we designed it just for you. If there’s anything you want to change, you just tell us. We want it to be perfect for you.”

She mostly caught flashes of green and white and brown, tucking her chin to look at the kitten snuggled into her cleavage. It felt cruel, to have taken the white one and left the orange, but the little chubby-cheeked kitten had taken to her brother so well—better than it had taken to her, even. Peter had named it Malcah and while it still didn’t like being picked up or held, it twined his ankles and meowed at him for love.

“Sit here baby,” the soldier set her carefully on the lid of the toilet, after having climbed a set of stairs and turned multiple blurry corners, “let me run your bath.”

It was all white tile, the toilet built into the wall. The tub was a freestanding clawfoot, with a spray nozzle and high sides. It was surprisingly small, considering how large the tub in the tower had been. Penny idly speculated that only perhaps one of the soldiers would be able to fit at time and it would certainly be a tight squeeze if she was forced in with them. There was a standing shower on the other side, where the roof wasn’t so sharply sloped by the A-framed roof. The nice thing, that Penny would never admit was very nice, was all of the plants. The entire room was predominantly white but there was a long-vined philodendron hanging gracefully over the tub, snake plants sitting on the shelf before the toilet. She could see a rubber plant and another type of vine by the sinks, framing the mirror.

They’d obviously gone to great lengths to make sure it would be something she liked, clearly evidenced by the bathroom alone. There were even candles waiting to be used on the antique, hunter green shelves and bath bombs with lovely scents. If she’d been able to design a personal bathroom, Penny figured it would probably have looked something like this and that made her hate it all the more.

The bastards were so in their heads they could barely see the sunlight. Penny was convinced that they were so distracted orchestrating her nightmare they’d lost the plot. They kept throwing stuff at her; beautiful plants, nice clothing, cute cats, lovely homes—but it didn’t mean a single thing. All of the possessions in the world didn’t make up for the gaping, rotting hole in her chest.

“Alright doll, let’s get you undressed,” Bucky shifted towards her once the water was at the right temperature and filling the tub, a small smile on his stubbled face.

“Do you think I’m debilitated?” She rasped after a moment, rolling her eyes up to stare him in the face before spitting a vomit speckled wad of phlegm onto the rug by her feet and setting the kitten on the shelf next to the snake plants. “Last time I checked I didn’t need to be treated like a baby. Are you gonna keep standing over me like a pervert? Get out.”

The soldier’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, surprised by the calmness behind her cutting tongue. Usually, when Penny got an attitude, it came with fury and fists and resulted in broken bones or bleeding wounds. This was overwhelmingly controlled; a bitchy rebuttal. Her voice was the gravelly tone she usually got after screaming or crying, dark brown eyes nearly black.  When he didn’t move, Penny rolled her eyes and stood, whipping her t-shirt over her head and dropping it to the ground.

“You’re bein’ a little moody, babe,” Bucky watched calmly as she undressed, her clothes piling up on the floor. “Wanna think about reigning it in?”

Penny’s hair was big and curly around her face, framing the clenched jaw and sneering nose. “What are you gonna do, kill me? Whatever.”

“Penny, what—”

“Peter is a thousand miles away,” Penny’s voice started out sharp but very quickly faded into a tired drawl, “you can’t hurt him from here. And what do I care if you hurt me? So could you either get the fuck out and let me take a bath or fucking drown me in it? Whatever it takes for this interaction to be over.”  

“Are you looking for a punishment right now?” Bucky’s lips pulled down at the corners, eyebrows furrowing, “‘Cause you’re working your way towards one really quick.”

“What’re you gonna do? Kill someone in front of me?” She groaned, reaching up to dig her fingers into the roots of her hair, tugging sharply before dragging it into a tangled, thoughtless bun on the top of her head “Or spank me until I can’t sit? Rape me? Could you just get it over with? I want to be alone, please!”

Bucky was silent for several long seconds before sighing through his nose, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. “Take your bath, think about your fuckin’ attitude. Steve and I are gonna bring the bags in.”

He left the door open and Penny was further irritated to learn he had too much dignity to stomp down the stairs the way she’d hoped he would. His break in composure had been so good for her it was unbelievable—but there was likely a punishment on the horizon and Steve wasn’t likely to let her off easy once the brunet told him what she’d said. The bastard was stone cold when it came to that shit.

She stared idly at the steaming bath, naked with her clothes piled around her feet—the question was whether she wanted a bath or if she’d been resigned to it? The water was scented, because of course it was. It was even one of her favorite citrusy scents, she noted disdainfully, another thing they had paid so much attention to while keeping her locked up in a tower like fucking Rapunzel. Now in a cabin, she figured she was a Jewish Goldilocks surrounded by hungry bears.

But it smelled nice and her body ached from the long car ride, it had already been run so why not hop in? Besides, it would keep her busy while the soldier’s fucked around and she wouldn’t have to see them for a bit. They were shuffling around and she could hear the sounds of bags being placed around the cabin. The door banged off the walls several times, always accompanied by a groan or a curse, one of which she recognized as a Yiddish swear—which she refused to find endearing. The kitten meowed at her from its position on the shelf, looking put out to be so far away but Penny shushed it quietly.

“You won’t like the water, just stay there,” she murmured quietly at the distraught little creature, picking up a washcloth and dunking it into the perfumed water. “If I come get you I’ll make a huge mess.”

She ignored the kitten as it continued to communicate with her, chittering in annoyance and pawing the edge of the ledge for several minutes before evidently surrendering and lying down with its little paws draped over the edge. Penny smiled to herself, the cat’s tail was roughly the size of its body and when it curled the fluffy mass of fur around itself it became unrecognizable as a cat. The orange one would’ve continued to complain until Penny let it down, would’ve just barely given her ankles a rub before running off to hide somewhere.

That’s why she decided to leave Malcah with Peter; the orange cat didn’t run from or scratch him. She twined his ankles, sat next to his thigh on the couch, kneaded her little paws against him. Peter had decided both kittens were female, based on the very reasonable basis that he wanted them to be. Penny wasn’t sure, didn’t quite care. The only thing she ever referred to the cats as was Chatul—which literally meant cat in Hebrew. She’d shortened it to Tuly for the white kitten, for the sake of ease, but refused to say it in front of the soldiers. The cat was hers, she didn’t have to share it with them.

The sounds of the soldiers were becoming more consistent throughout the cabin and Penny figured they must’ve brought in all of the bags and were focused on unpacking. She could hear someone down in the kitchen, unloading the masses of groceries they’d brought up the mountain while the other was in the bedroom. Penny rubbed the washcloth over her skin lightly, the oils from the fragrance making her skin soft and slippery.

She didn’t hear him come in, she felt Steve come in. The blond’s presence was just as overwhelming as Tony Stark’s, an aura bigger than his body that filled the room. She could feel the disappointed stare, even as she continued to wipe herself down with the washcloth. Her teeth ground together as he watched in silence, just waiting.

“Bucky said you’ve caught an attitude, baby doll.”

“Caught an attitude?” She rolled her eyes. “Wow, if only I hadn’t become desensitized to living in constant terror—you never would’ve realized I’ve had an attitude the whole time!”

“We’re supposed to be turning a new page, Pen.”

“Turning a—” Penny scoffed, face appalled as she abruptly stood from the bath and ignored the water going everywhere, “we’re not turning a new page—You burnt the fucking book!”

The blond’s eyes widened; Penny had gotten angry in the past, furious even. She’d broken things, broken skin, broken bones and it was always accompanied by outraged screaming. But Penny didn’t make unnervingly straight eye contact while she did it. She was barely coherent at the best of times, mostly she screamed to the room at large before flying into a violent frenzy—it was different. It was startling, the light in her eyes and the way her voice cracked.

“There is no page turning, there’s no fucking­—fucking reconciliation here, Steve,” she snatched a towel from the rack behind the tub, wrapping the light green fabric around her chest tightly, “I can’t believe after, fuck, how long has it been? A month and a half? Two months? What fucking day is it?”

“…It’s July 2nd,” he found himself choking out, still feeling shell shocked as she stepped out of the tub.

“A month and a half,” Penny’s face twitched, just barely concealing the distraught look he could see she wanted to make and she started shifting past him, “Jesus Christ after a month and a half you guys still don’t get it—you know what, never mind. After a month and a half, I should’ve been smart enough to realize what dumbasses you both are.”

“Penny—”

“God, fuck!” She shouted up at the ceiling, stopping in place halfway out the door. “I have listened to you two talk at length for what’s apparently been a month and a half! I have tried to listen to your stupid fucking rules, I put in the fucking effort and you still decided to take away the one thing I care about! I’m sick and tired of you saying my name in that fucking tone, I’m tired of constantly internalizing and I’m tired of being fucking walked on! So I’ll tell you what I told Bucky—either kill me or leave me alone, but for fucks’ sake just give me space!”

A low mew followed her statement and Penny made an abrupt about face, stomping past him to snatch up the kitten from where it had been sitting on the ledge and storming past him again. It was like getting brushed by a wildfire and Steve fought the urge to take a step back when her wet hair whipped against him.

She dug through one of the bags that held her belongings angrily, kitten on her shoulder, knowing that the blond continued to watch her from the bathroom doorway. Shorts, underwear, a sports bra, a t-shirt, and a hoodie over that. She would’ve put on socks but she knew it bothered Steve when she went barefoot.

“Come downstairs, precious,” he sighed after watching her dress, gesturing towards the stairs, “we’ve got to talk.”

“We’ve always got to talk,” Penny snorted derisively but started down the stairs anyway, Tuly back in her arms, “but it’s usually just you two telling me what I can and can’t do. Stop bossing me around.”

Steve followed after her, aghast and confused—Penny had always been brave in the situations she was forced into, whether it was taking custody of her fourteen year old brother or dealing with being kidnapped from her apartment by a billionaire criminal, but she hadn’t ever antagonized before. She’d talked back, got irritated, snapped, but she hadn’t ever just been flat out bitchy.

On the main floor, Bucky had already put away all of the groceries and was folding up the cloth shopping bags to tuck away for next time. The brunet’s eyes locked on Penny for several long calculating seconds and her hackles raised; whatever was coming was going to be annoying. She refused to be afraid though, not when there wasn’t anything to lose. Not anymore.

“Sit on the couch, let’s talk,” Steve directed, watching as she seemed to contemplate following the direction before doing so, “things are obviously going to be different here, precious.”

“The cabin is equipped with the same AI as the tower but its restricted to monitoring and safety protocols,” Bucky explained, gesturing to the open layout of the main floor, “you’ll be able to go outside so long as you ask first, there’s plenty to do out there. When Steve bought it there was an overgrown vegetable garden out there, we had it cleaned up for you and the shed fixed up and stocked. A lot of good hiking around here too.”

“I can’t talk to JARVIS?” She asked, eyes tracking the way the soldier’s exchanged glances. “Of course not. Then I would have some sort of interaction beyond the pair of you. Damaging to your plan, huh?”

“Penny, the rules didn’t end just because we’re out of the tower,” Steve had one hand braced on his hip while the other rubbed over his forehead, “be—”

“If you say Be Sweet I’ll find a way to kill myself,” Penny intoned, a dry look on her face. “Jews don’t have an afterlife you know, I’m not afraid of going to Hell.”

“Penny, we’re trying—”

“Penny we’re trying,” she mocked in a high-pitched voice, dead eye stare once again boring into Bucky’s, “I’m not. I’m done trying. You’ll either kill me or drive me insane, I’ll never see Peter again—I…I failed. I couldn’t protect him, I couldn’t even keep him safe until he was an adult, isn’t that insane? Grand total of three years and some change and I fucked it up.”

Penny stood up from the couch, shaking her head as she went. The kitten was quick to jump off the couch and follow after her, meowing while that massive fluffy squirrel tail curled over its back. The open floor plan of the cabin came in handy for the soldiers though, because she couldn’t really escape even as she walked across the living room and into the kitchen.

It was hard to pretend she didn’t actually love the cabin. The kitchen was small, located beneath the loft that held the bedroom and bathroom. The railing to the loft was covered in live vines that hung down to create a tiny illusion of separation between the living room and kitchen, the kitchen itself was sage green with white and dark brown accents. There were more plants, open cabinets mounted to the walls, the sink was small but there was a dishwasher. She loved the spiral staircase that led up to the loft, framing the kitchen to the left with small shiny baubles hanging from it.

There was a hamsa and a cross, both stained glass and hanging from the tallest step. Pretty cat toys hung from the lower railings, just within the kitten’s reach. It made Penny’s skin itch, just how lovely and perfect the whole cabin was. More evidence that they were paying a freaky amount of attention to her and every move she made.

“You didn’t fail, doll,” Bucky’s tone was quiet and he hesitated for a moment before following after her several paces, ending up on the edge of the kitchen, “You didn’t fuck it up, Peter—”

“Peter is trapped in a prison in New York with a creep more than twice his age who wants to violate and brainwash him,” Penny was on her knees in front of the fridge, digging through the crisper drawer in the bottom. “Literally all I had to do to prevent that from happening was pay more attention to his daily life. Fuck, kid was practically raising himself with how often I was gone—never stood a chance, you know?”

“Don’t think like that Penny,” Steve sighed, leaning down to pick up the kitten that had circled back to his ankles and setting it on his shoulder, “there’s nothing you could’ve done. You know who Tony Stark is, you know what he’s capable of. You can’t heap that guilt on your shoulders.”

“Oh, can’t I?” She hummed, absently throwing a package of bacon onto the floor, followed by a flat of raw chicken and beef. “There can be dairy in here or there can be meat, not both.”

“We might need a second fridge,” Bucky observed quietly, watching Penny drop a couple of deli bags with sandwich meat onto the ground before she started shuffling everything into different places within the cooler. “We could keep it in the shed?”

“No room,” Steve shook his head absently, “garage?”

Penny had collected a stack of items from the fridge and piled them onto the counter, not even bothering to look back on the soldiers as she began puttering around. The open-faced cabinets on the walls held mostly dishes and containers filled with ingredients and she ducked down, opening the lower cabinets and digging out several pans.

“Do you… do you want a hand, doll?” Bucky asked hesitantly after several moments, watching her collect ingredients and tools and turn on the stove.

“No.”

“Penny—”

“Can I make lunch please?” She whipped around, an irritated look on her face and a spatula in hand, looking like she was about to use it to beat them both, “I’m hungry and I want to die, I figure you’ll only allow me to fulfill one of those wants so can you let me cook?”

The next thing she knew, Penny had been swept up into Bucky’s arms. The solider looked confused, lips curled in frustration but his brow furrowed with dismay. She stiffened at the action when he stomped back to the couch and sat down roughly, dropping her over his knees and landing a smarting blow to her ass through her shorts without warning.

“Thirty for this fucking attitude,” he barked, yanking the shorts down until the waistband settled under the curve of her ass against the tops of her thighs, “count.”

A sharp inhale followed the first skin to skin hit and Penny snarled in response, “one.”

“Apologize,” Steve’s fingers tangled into her hair, extracting the hair tie and letting the curls fall in chaotic waves over her shoulders and face.

“Two,” she counted dutifully and angrily, narrowed eyes landing on Steve’s face, “I’m sorry you’re a fucking monster!”

“That just added ten more, Penny,” Bucky sighed through gritted teeth, “you better reign it in.”

“You better just kill me,” she rasped, nails digging into his leg where she was holding on for balance through the hits, “because I won’t reign it in. I’m sick to death of you motherfuckers—Oh, fuck, three!”

“No cursing during punishments, start from one,” Steve ordered darkly, the hand in her hair pulling taught as he glanced into Bucky’s eyes—the baffling combination of anger and dismay and loss in the brunet’s eyes let him know he wasn’t the only one scrambling.

“Fuck you!” Penny shook her head roughly as if to dislodge his hand, canting her head to the side the best she could manage to look him in the eye, “beat me black and blue, I don’t fucking care. Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter anymore! Nothing fucking matters.”

content warnings: spanking *edit, addition content warning: disrespectful terminology for Jewish people 

[goldenavenger02]

Susz's Halloween Recommendations Part 2: Books and Fics.

Books

Pet Sematary by Stephan King

Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, moved to Ludlow, Maine with their two young kids, Ellie and Gage, and their cat, Church. In the woods, near their home is a pet cemetery with a sign that was spelled sematary.

Notes: this book made me scared of my own cats for about two weeks. I really enjoyed it but that scene with the cat was very excessive.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

The book chronicles teenager Sadie Hunter’s quest to find the man who killed her sister. In alternating chapters, Sadie’s subsequent disappearance becomes the topic of West McCray’s podcast The Girls.

Notes: this audio book is so fantastic, especially the podcast elements! Trigger warnings for Sexual Assault and Child Abuse.

The Project by Courtney Summers

But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire.

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye.

Notes: a book about a journalist trying to learn more about the cult who took her sister from her. If you have siblings, this one hurts even more than if you don't. This has a frick ton of triggers, so please look into that before picking this up.

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly By Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. 

Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly By Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. 

But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire.

Notes: a queer witch book with plenty of action and magic throughout! This book is so important to me and I'm currently reading the second and final book!

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Long retired, Sherlock Holmes quietly pursues his study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection.

Notes: one of my mom's favorites and this is one of the best mysteries I've ever read!

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

On the edge of town a beast haunts the woods, trapped in the Gray, its bonds loosening…

Notes: this author has been involved in some not great things involving being anti semetic (I hope I spelled that right), so if you still want to read this, please don't do it in a way that financially supports her. That being said, I read it before that stuff came out, and I liken it to a queer Teen Wolf season 3 type story.

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost. ...

Notes: an amazing murder mystery and one that I highly recommend! A bit slow at times, but the fast scenes make up for it.

The Assassin Game by Kristy McKay

At Cate's isolated boarding school Killer is more than a game-it's an elite secret society. Members must avoid being "killed" during a series of thrilling pranks-and only the Game Master knows who the "killer" is. When Cate's finally invited to join The Guild of Assassins, she knows it's her ticket to finally feeling like she belongs.

Notes: this takes place on an small island near Wales and it's one of the most atmospheric books I've ever read! The first chapter is really nasty, but after that, it's so good!

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen. M McMannis

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

Notes: this was like reading a CW show. That's all I can say about it.

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Jared, Simon and Mallory, who finds a mysterious Field Guide hidden in the attic, written by their great-great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick, who studied Faeries — magical beings who hide themselves from Humans using a type of magic called glamour.

Notes: I can't say much about this because I barely remember it. But I remember it freaking the crap out of me.

Fics (all of these are MCU)

Pumpkins and Stitches and Monster Mash by @marvelous-writer

Notes: I told myself to pick one fic from one writer, but with Marvelous-Writer, I just couldn't do it. I'm not gonna give synopsis' for the fics, because you really just need to take my word for it and read them.

too sick for clowns by @hailing-stars

Notes: short and sweet. Hailing-Stars is an icon and everyone needs to follow her.

Vein Drain by @ciaconna on Ao3

Notes: absolutely fantastic and humorous.

Trick Or Treat (Or Traumatize) by @awesomesockes and @whumphoarder

Notes: I just freaking love this writing duo.

No doubts about it by @angels-creative

Notes: my queen, my bestie, and the fic she had to send me the link to cause I couldn't find it XD

And I think that's all for this year! Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!

[fairymadnessyeah]

BNHA Ship to Finish the Year

KotEri (Izumi Kota x Eri Aizawa)

Canon

I like to think that Kota and Eri meet during October. Eri never went trick or treating, and since Kota is a kid her age and Ragdoll is available for taking the door to door, Shota deems it okay.

They met before Halloween night, and it goes okay. Mostly they talk about costumes.

They dress up as LeMillion and Deku. Ragdoll sends a lot of pictures, It's too cute.

From there on out, the two are inseparable. I feel like Kota would be Eri's first friends, and he teaches her the beauty of pranks. Once, they put cooking oil on the floor and watched as Iida went flying into the TV. There is a no running rule now.

I don't think they would go to school together until they go to UA. 

I feel like until then Kota only sees her as a friend until they start high school. Suddenly, the guys of class 1a are talking about who the cutest girl and they all think it's Eri.

He knows he shouldn't, but he is mad about it... Oh no!

I feel that for Eri, it happens later and more slowly. She knows she can trust Kota. Whenever she has a problem or needs someone to talk to, she knows she can trust in him.

By the second year, when I imagine he suddenly hits a growth spurt and enters his emo phase, she realizes he is handsome. 

The two don't say anything until they go to a hero-convention (Deku Merch!) and one of the ex-Hassaikai attacks as a villain and recognizes Eri.

Kota helps her by taking her around the city, and when they get to a Sakura tree, Eri leans in and kisses him. He obviously returns it, and they start dating.

They keep it a secret for as long as they can, since Aizawa is the principal and very protective of his daughter. However, once he finds out, his trust in Kota is completely broken. He is not welcome in their home anymore.

However, Shinsou is weaker against Eri's puppy eyes.

I don't know why, but I would love a fic about them like this:

"Hey Izu-kun, you know how to drive right? And your aunt's and uncle let you take their car whenever?"

"Yeah, why?" "I need you to drive me somewhere?" "Sure, where?" "Tartarous," "... alright."

"So, why am I driving you to Tartarous?" "Oh, I want to talk with Chisaki," "*stops abruptly* WHAT!? You want to talk with the man that tortured you since you can remember and made your life a living hell!? WHY!?!?"

"I need closure. I know I might never be able to forget him and what he did, but I can't freeze every time somebody mentions him. I need to do this, I need to move on,"

He goes with her, as moral support. It kind of helps seeing him armless, behind bars and defeated, but Eri simply tells him she is moving on with her life and he should too.

After it, they go for ice-cream and a walk in the beach (I like to think this is a favourite date for them). I think it's a very romantic moment until Shinsou interrupt them.

Her family was made aware that she visited Chisaki and have been looking for her like crazy.

Family

Aizawa is not happy when he finds out. This is what happens:

*Eri comes in with Kota. The two have smoothies, Kota a blue one and Eri a red one* "Hi dad! We are going to be in my room studying! Don't interrupt us!" "Alright!"

*An hour later* "Eri, Mic is going to be home in a few minutes, we'll have dinner when he arrives. Is Kota staying?" "No, his aunt is picking him up in a bit," "...Why is your tongue purple?" "Oh... um... maybe it was the smoothie," "You had a red smoothie... and Kota had a blue... one..." 

*He realizes what happened and starts stomping up the stair, Eri behind him, telling him to calm down. He slams the door open and sees Kota, with his hair messed and his lips covered in lip gloss, throwing himself off the window.* "Come here, you traitor!"

Aizawa calls a family meeting, and even Shinsou who has his own home has to come. He is ready to expel him, he feels betrayed. He trusted that kid in his home, and he takes advantage of his daughter? I don't think so! He is going to die.

Hizashi cries, his baby girl is replacing him. (I headcanon that she would die her hair to look like a rainbow, and Kota helps her, instead of Hizashi)

Shinsou is the one who sides with Eri, reminding his parents that she is old enough to make a decision like this, and they should trust her. "Besides, I was her age when Kaminari and I started doing stuff," "What?" "What?" "I don't live here anymore, I don't have to keep secrets,"

Shinsou lets her come to his home to get ready for her dates, so that Koda doesn't have to fear for his life in their living room. However, he still threatens him.

"For some reason, you make Eri happy. But if that changes, and you make her sad, you are going to wish, Midoriya never saved you from Muscular," "H-how do you know that?" "I know everything. Have fun on your date!"

The WWP are embarrassing. They have a photo album ready, they tell Eri how much he talks about her.

They also have an open-door policy, but Koda is a rebel and doesn't follow the rule. However, they found a way around it.

*comes in without knocking* "Hey kiddos, want some cookies?" "No, Aunt. We are fine," "Alright, just keep the door open!"

*comes in without knocking* "Hey lovebirds, are you thirsty? I made some lemonade!" "We are fine, Pixie-bob," "Alright, just keep the door open!"

*comes in without knocking* "Have you seen the cat?" "We don't have a cat, Ragdoll!" "Oh, right! Keep the door open!"

But when he locks the door:

*BANG!* "Aaaaahhhh!" "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" "Tiger! Did you just kick the door open!?" "Yes! Remember to keep the door open!"

Also, when they found out, the WWD follows them on their date. They need pictures.

The problem is that Kota and Eri are not on a date. They are helping Katsumo give a tour of the city to his sister. They all notice the four pros following them, Kota tells them to ignore them.

I feel like Deku would be happy for them. His first fans are so cute together. 

AU - Band AU

This is a modern setting au.

So, Eri was adopted into music. After she was rescued from Chisaki, she was adopted by Present Mic and his husband, Aizawa.

Present Mic is a famous radio host, and before that, he and Aizawa and Oboro played in a band together. Now, Aizawa is a music manager for young artist, in between those there is 1A band.

As she grows up, she is introduced to music, and it becomes one of the best things in her life. She is a great singer, and she also learns how to play the piano.

She want to have a career in music, so when she is a teen, at UA school, she joins the music club.

She is trying to form a band, and along the way she finds Katsuma, who becomes the bassist, Tamashiro on the drums, and they only need a guitarist and vocalist.

Enter Bad boy Kota. His parents were musicians that died in a boat accident, and so Kota now lives his aunt and their dancing group, The Wild Wild Pussycats.

He used to love music, but now it's only a reminder of who he lost.

But one day, Eri hears him sing. She asks if he would want to join their band. He refuses and leaves, but that is not the last he sees of Eri.

The two are paired for some school work, and while working on it, Eri starts singing, and it wakes something in him.

Kota doesn't know what it was, but suddenly, he felt as if he was with his parents again.

He tells her that he'll join her band temporarily, at least so he has enough time to figure out what was that feeling.

They are all ecstatic, and they start playing together.

Eri and Kota are the ones who most clash since he is really into rock and edgy stuff, and she is more cute and pop style.

However, the two spend a lot of time together.

Kota wants to understand how Eri makes him feel stuff, and Eri doesn't really mind his company, so she lets him stay. She was always very shy, so it's hard for her to make friends without recurring to music.

At some point, Eri tells Kota about her life as Chisaki's toy, and it makes him realize why Eri is so special.

She is real, she suffered and survived, and now she can keep smiling. Which Kota never got to, he never moved on from his parents death, and still hold on to the rage and sadness.

Kota also opens up to Eri, and he tells her about his parents death and his departure from music.

Eri asks him to sing with her, and when they do, Kota feels like he has his parents back. It brings him to tears, but Eri hold him.

The band present themselves to the talent show of the school and somehow end up winning. 

During the celebration party, Kota and Eri kiss.

Fanon Opinion

I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable writing NSFW stuff about Kota or Eri.

I know that I age up everybody, and I did so with these two, too, but I can't.

I can't picture them as nothing, but children and I am not going to write PWP about that. 

I don't they would do it until their third year, but I do think that they make out.

I think this is a very cute couple. They have that puppy-love thing going for them. 

Also, I love this because it would be a good thing for Eri. We just want good things for Eri.

And I know that Eri is older than Kota, and supposedly she should be his senpai. But with all the emotional baggage she has, I think it makes sense that she would start school a little later.

I think that they would be a beach and parks couple. In summer, they go to the beach, while in the winter they hang around the park.

I feel like they would love to go camping.

Also, they match. They are horn buddies.

Also, Tik-Tok has a lot of stuff about them, so I recommend seeing them. I got the Band AU idea from it.

I imagine that they would become heroes when they are older. Eri would be like a new recovery girl, but scarier, and Kota would torture the children when they go to the training camp.

In my mind, Eri uses Aizawa's capture weapon, but she has it wrapped around her arms, covering her scars.

Also, while they are at the dorms, they are the Parent Couple. The two take care of their classmates with Kota stopping them from doing stupid shit and lecturing them, and Eri comforting them and healing their bruises.

Also, if Katsuma goes with them to class, he would be the baby.

"Oh, No! This is Bad! This is Bad! Stress is bad for the baby!"

"What baby?"

"ME! I'm the baby!"

[iamdunn]

Miraculous Flash Forward: Adrien Graham De Vanily

A Miraculous Fan-fic

Written By

AJ Dunn

The Agreste brand was gone as Felix stepped in to take over his uncle’s company at the behest of Adrien. Having shed off the name of that villainous man Adrien took his mother’s maiden name. Graham de Vanily. It only felt right to have his cousin who was a Graham de Vanily take over the company. He had more, business sense than Adrien. Not to mention Adrien had some things to attend to that meant staying out of the public eye. He and Felix had been identical their entire lives. It was weird although their mothers were identical twins. Felix and Adrien had different fathers as well. Felix’s father had died and Adrien’s mother remained in a coma. They had found her after his father had been captured. The miraculous’ had been returned to Ladybug who now held the miracle box as its guardian. 

Adrien looked down at his own miraculous. He often wondered if he should return it to her. The thought of returning to Paris hurt, but the thought of seeing her and the hurt he must have caused her. He couldn’t bear for her to hate him. So he stayed away. He had completed high school in London with his cousin then set off for horizons unknown after singing his cousin in as CEO of the former Agreste fashion brand. He could even stand in for Adrien as the new face. However, he didn’t have as much flair for modeling as Adrien did. 

“So you’re just going to leave me with YOUR company?” Felix asked with a wry smile. 

“Makes sense to me,” Adrien replied without looking at his cousin. It was hard enough to look in a mirror, worse to look at his identical cousin. Felix sighed.

“You can’t even look at me anymore Adrien,” Felix complained. “I know I have been… insufferable but this…” he held his hand up. 

“I’m sorry Felix you’re right.” Adrien felt ashamed. “It’s just hard.” He darted his eyes up to meet his cousins. His green eyes shown brightly, his silky blond hair slicked back in the same formal style his father always wore. Even his black suit and white shirt were straight and proper. A black-tie adorning his neck... He looked like a mannequin without even so much as a wrinkle or hair out of place. Sure he wore far less color than his father, who was a fashion designer. Felix was more… of the businessman than interested in fashion. While he still had a keen eye for it, he preferred to stick with the basics for himself. It was his way of separating himself from Gabriel Agreste. 

“So, you’re leaving then?” Felix asked coldly. He had gotten so used to having a “brother” living with him. It made for fun pranks right after Adrien moved in with him. They’d switch close. Adrien needed to laugh, he needed to make friends but it was hard for him having been sheltered for most of his life then yanked away from the only friends he ever knew. 

“In the morning.” Adrien zipped up his suitcase and set it by his bedroom door. Felix stood by the bed holding his hands behind his back spinning the silver band on his finger. Adrien wore the twin ring on his opposite hand. Felix noticed Adrien never took off the other silver ring he had. “My flight leaves at 7.” He looked at his watch. It was nearly time for dinner. “We should go, Aunt Amelie will be waiting.”

“Indeed, we won’t want to make mother wait.” Felix left the room first closing the door behind him. Adrien flipped the lock on the door then went to his mini-fridge. Only a couple of pieces left. He thought. 

“Plagg?” He asked the air. “You’re going to have to slack off on the stinky cheese for a while.” he could hear the groan coming from the mini closet to the side of his bed. He swung the door open looking in to see Plagg cuddled up on the Ladybug squishy pillow. “Hey that one is mine.” he snatched the squishy pillow and tossed it on the bed. Replacing it with a simple black round squishy pillow with a neon green pawprint in the middle. He had found them on Marinette’s website. She had designed them and Adrien couldn’t resist. Plagg pouted.

“This one isn’t as comfy as that one,” Plagg complained.

“I know you miss her, I miss Ladybug.” Adrien sat on the edge of the bed. “Maybe I should take you back.” he slouched forward placing his elbows on his knees.

“NO,” Plagg yelled. “I’m not leaving your side.”

“You might not have a choice Plagg.” he looked up at his little friend hovering only feet from his face. “Where I’m going, they don’t have stinky cheese,” Adrien smirked. Plagg looked shocked then crossed his arms and turned his head away.

“If you can walk away from Ladybug…” Plagg sighed, his arms dangling at his sides. “Then I can walk away from Camembert.” Plagg gulped his words. “As long as it’s not forever, you have to promise to go back.” Adrien chuckled.

“I will Plagg, I promise.” he stood up and headed for the door. “Let’s go eat.” Plag zipped into his shirt pocket as Adrien opened the door. 

The airport was nearly empty. Adrien had chosen this time so he could escape London without cameras following him everywhere. He had done well to avoid being in the public eye for the past few years. It wouldn’t be good if everyone in Paris found out that Adrien Agreste was leaving for China. Heaven forbid Marinette to follow him. She did have a great uncle there and he had planned to visit Cheng Sifu’s restaurant as often as possible. He found his boarding gate and took a seat in the corner where he was less likely to be spotted or recognized. He pulled his hoodie down over his eyes as whisps of his blond hair dared to expose him. He brushed them back the picked up a magazine. Marinette’s face struck him as he read the excerpt about her new company. Her designs were becoming a global sensation as his friends from his former band Kitty Section took the top spots on the chart and even knocked Jagged Stone down a peg or two. Adrien smile thinking about how proud he must be that his kids Juleka and Luka are succeeding him. There was a picture of the band. Juleka and Luka look very much the same, Rose too. Adrien’s eyes narrowed on a silver wedding band on Luka’s hand and his heart sank. Did he and Marinette get married? He closed the magazine and tossed it to the side. 

Boarding, call London to Shanghai now boarding.

Adrien stood by the window watching the sunset. He could feel Marinette standing next to him as he smiled. He looked over to her, but she wasn’t there. It was only a memory. One of his favorites. 

Adrien stepped out of the taxi at the address on his booking slip. He had leased a condo. It was paid up for the three years he planned to be here. Thanks to his trust fund which, luckily had been protected from the scandal caused by Hawk Moths’ deeds. It had been created by his mother instead of his father. Not to mention the funds from his days as a model. He didn’t have to worry about money. The now Graham De Vanily fashion industry was co-owned now, secretly of course. He wanted to maintain the guise that Adrien had disappeared in case Ladybug did in fact figure out he was Cat Noir. He couldn’t face her, not yet. 

Adrien marveled at the design of the building. It was very modern with the appearance of two bullet trains back to back. The walls were glass with a metal framework. The entrance was directly in the middle of the building. Adrien walked up to the door as bell boys scurried to his cab to grab his bags. He had taken off his hoodie so as to not look the part of a vagabond. 

“I am Adrien Graham De Vanily, I am supposed to pick up my keys from you.” He spoke Mandarin very well thanks to his father’s insistence. It helped that Master Fu and Cheng Sifu applauded him for it. Otherwise, he might have forced himself to forget it all. The guard nodded handing him a packet of papers and the keys. 

“Top floor, suite 1A.,” he told the busboys who hurried to the service elevator with his bags. “I just need you to sign a few papers here.” he slid the papers to Adrien over the counter then a pen. He signed them quickly. The guard pointed him to the resident elevators and he headed upstairs. The top floor was nearly empty as he walked down the hall to his condo. It would be his home for a while and while he had never lived on his own, he was used to being alone. He always had someone else to prepare his meals, and tend to the cleaning and daily maintenance of his home but now, he was on his own. It felt refreshing to not have to worry about close calls and coming up with excuses for the ripe smell of cheese all over everything. 

He couldn’t really complain, he was a cat kwami after all at least it wasn’t fish he was obsessed with, he’d never get the smell of rotten fish out of anything. He put the key in the door and opened it. He opened a sliding door to the right exposing a coat closet with a hanger for bags. He hung the bag closing the front door flipping the lock and deadbolt. 

“Hello,” he called there wasn’t a sound as he made his way into the living area. The room was lit with natural light exposing a room larger than the one he grew up in. The white marble carpeting was cushioned his steps as he inspected the seating. A black leather love seat with silver metal framing and two matching armchairs sat in a square around a glass table with the same silver metal for legs. There was a swirling black, tan, and gray rug under the table. The seating faced the wall opposite the window that covered the entire external wall. The daylight beamed in as he saw the entirety of Shanghai spread out for him to view. He walked to the break in the wall where sat two swinging glass doors leading to the balcony. He searched the area seeing rooftops laid out before him. He could easily leap between them and return to his room undetected. 

Returning to the sitting room he could see the large TV mounted on the wall. The art decor matched the black & silver theme. He saw the steppes leading up to the loft above the television and made his way up. The walls weren’t lined with bookshelves as his old bedroom had a bed but there was a walk-in closet and a king-sized platform bed against the wall with a railing over looking the seating area. The black slick bedside tables matched the black slick headboard with a silver bar slicing them in half. The bed was made up with a black with silver and white ivy weave bedspread. 

There was a bathroom to the far side of the unit next to a closed-off kitchen. The decal in the kitchen was white marble flooring with black marble countertops. Silver appliances finalized the theme. The bathroom might just have been bigger than the actual area of the bedroom as it comprised of a large standing shower and a jet stream tub. There counter held two sinks and medicine cabinets with another cabinet housing linens. Amelie had made all of the arrangements for the purchase and set up of the furnishing and linens, as well as the kitchen accessories. He opened the fridge. 

“Ah,” he said. “Looks like I will be doing my own grocery shopping Plagg,” he said aloud. No response. “It’s safe to come out Plagg.” the Kwam flew slowly over to him. A grumble came from the tiny stomach as he stared in horror at the empty fridge. 

“Are you trying to kill me?” Plagg groaned turning his back to Adrien crossing his arms. 

“Guess we’ll have to go out to eat.” Adrien closed the fridge and turned around. “Cheng Sifu’s?” 

“Fine.” he gruffed. “But we have to get some food before we come home.” he pointed demandingly at his owner. He was grateful to have one like Adrien, he couldn’t have imagined if Gabriel had found him and Tikki instead of Nuuroo and Duusuu. It would have been catastrophic.

They walked to the Metro and took to downtown. Adrien remembered the way to the restaurant from the last time he perused the city. He got off a few blocks from the restaurant and dipped into a mini-store. He couldn’t show up at Cheng Sifu’s empty-handed. He may have spoken Mandarin well, but he had no idea about cooking or ingredients.  He looked over various ingredients then settled on a bushed of leafy greens and grabbed a small block of Manchego for Plagg to try. He paid then headed down the sidewalk with his bag. Stepping into the restaurant which was bustling with patrons, Adrien made his way to the kitchen. 

“Cheng Sifu?” Adrien called to him in Mandarin. “I don’t know if you remember me…” 

“Adrien. My Marinette’s boyfriend.” Cheng came around the preparation counter and greeted him. Adrien’s face froze as his cheeks tinted with red. Cheng wrapped him up in a tight hug though now he was slightly taller than Cheng. Cheng, who was taller than his niece Sabine, was still a rather short and plump man. He was one of the world’s greatest chefs, but despite having been told many times that Adrien and Marinette weren’t dating, he never believed that. “How is my Marinette?”

“I … I actually haven’t…” He scratched the back of his neck as Cheng lead him into the back of the kitchen where a table was set with two chairs. Ingredients were laid out. “I haven’t seen her in two years,” Adrien announced finally. Cheng looked up saddened and confused. “I had to move away, because of… my father.” he sat down setting the bag on the table. He pulled out the leafy greens offering them to Cheng hoping this would change the subject. “Would you please teach me how to cook?” Cheng’s eyes widened as he accepted the fateful food items. 

They spend an hour preparing a meal with the ingredients Cheng had set out and the fateful ingredients Adrien had brought him. It had gotten late by the time the food was done so Cheng boxed some of it up so Adrien could take it home to eat. 

“You come back tomorrow and we make something else.” Cheng waved to Adrien as he left the restaurant. 

“Keep your promise.” Adrien reminded. He had asked Cheng to not tell anyone he was here until he was ready to go back. He promised to bring fateful food every day to learn how to cook. He wanted to impress Marinette when he went back. Adrien walked with his hands in his pockets, the bag with his food hung around his wrist. His hoodie pulled over his head as he snuck into an alleyway. He set the bag down.

“Plagg claws out.” He scooped up the bag and bound for the rooftop and slipped quietly through the shadows from one rood to another. He was on his way home when a sound caught his attention. He landed silently on the brick wall of a manor where a man was fighting off three assailants. The hand-to-hand combat of this martial art style was intriguing. He watched for a minute wondering if this man could handle himself or not. The three men seemed to be struggling as his efforts fought to subdue them. Cat Noir turned and was about to leave when he saw several more coming, this time with blades. Two of them with a saber or dao and one with a set of sai. He set his bag down without thinking another thought and dropped onto the backs of the three incoming assailants. Two of them hit the ground hard as the other tried to pull Cat off their backs. He side kicked the man in the chin sending him flying backward as he drove a single punch to the two now incapacitated assailants. The man fought off the others as they turned tail to run seeing can hovering over the unconscious bodies of their comrades. The man closed his palms together and gave a curt bow to Cat Noir in thanks. Cat returned making sure to bow lower in respect for the master. 

“Your arrival here tonight must be fate,” he said. “May I know the name of my rescuer?”

“I am called Cat Noir.” 

“Hei Mao.” You are welcome here anytime. I am Chao.” 

“Can you teach me Chao Sifu?” Cat bowed again. The man nodded curtly. “You come at night, under the cover of darkness, and I shall teach you, Hei Mao.” He turned and headed into the building. It was a small temple-looking house with an ancient appearance. Bamboo stalks and sand with stones decored the yard. A few koi ponds in the corners. He led Hei Mao to the back training ground. It was larger than the front and completely hidden from anyone outside the walls. Large trees cast their shadows over it as large stones and other terrain provided adequate advantage points for sparring and battling. 

“You meet me here after the sun goes down,” Chao said waving his hand around. “I can not start tonight. I must sit with the ancestors first.” He left Hei Mao. Mao returned to his bag and finished his trek back home. Ducking into an alley to transform back in the darkness so no one would see. 

[purplesurveys]

1127

1. What is one thing you will never do again? Watch The Hours. Film itself is great, but is way too triggering.

2. Would you rather be twice as smart or twice as happy? I’d take happiness easily. It’s not bad for the most part to make mistakes and I’d rather be too clumsy than be altogether miserable.

3. What happened the last time you cried? It was the day of what would’ve been our anniversary and at that moment I was alone in my car at a parking lot (waiting for the office to open) on a gloomy day. I just had to cry and let my feelings out for like 5 minutes to accept everything but I was immediately fine afterwards, haha. Grief can be funny.

4. What happened the time in your life when you were the most nervous to do something? My first job interview. It was my first adult thing ever. They never got back to me - very professional of them - but I was still grateful for the experience nonetheless.

5. What would your parents be surprised to learn about you? That I was in a whole ass relationship for technically 6 1/2 years. They probably have an inkling by now, but only about me being in a relationship. I’m sure they would be very surprised if they ever found out how long it had actually gone for.

6. What’s your worst habit? I pick at my toenails when I’m nervous or stressed. I tend to do this when I’m doing a work task that I particularly dread, and sometimes I’ll end up being fixated on the habit for like 10 minutes straight and not get anything done.

7. What superpower would you have for one day? Time travel, just to take quick trips to multiple decades and see how life was like during those times.

8. What fictional character do you have the biggest crush on? Matty from 13 Going on 30 would be one of them. Albert Finney’s character in Two for the Road is also charming as fuck.

9. Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? If money wasn’t an issue, probably somewhere cozy in like Switzerland or Canada.

10. What is your most bizarre pet peeve? Not necessarily a pet peeve but I get extremely uncomfortable when someone hands me a gift then they insult the gift while in front of me, saying it’s not a great gift or that I probably don’t need it, etc. Filipinos also have this habit of saying something along the lines of, “You earn way more than me so you’d probably think this gift sucks” like how do you want me to react :(((((( I love receiving gifts and the idea of being thought about already means a lot to me, so it just makes me wince a little bit when I hear statements like the above.

11. Who knows you the best? Gabie, probably. I’ve changed a lot since then, though.

12. What after school activities did you do in high school? Clubs were mandatory extracurricular activities in my high school; in my time, I joined the table tennis and yearbook clubs.

13. What “most likely to” superlative would you be most honored to receive? Idk, we didn’t have those in school. I probably would have been honored to get a journalism-themed one though; something like Most Likely To Write for NYT or Most Likely to Win a Pulitzer or something like that. Obviously that’s changed now and I’ve long let go of journalism as a passion.

14. What’s the last book you really loved? I haven’t read in a long, long while.

15. What was the greatest television show of all time? I don’t watch a lot of TV so I’m not the most credible decision-making body for this lol, but out of all the shows I’ve watched the best one would easily be Breaking Bad.

16. What’s been your favorite age so far? 16. Life was insanely easygoing back then and everything fell into place for me at the time.

17. If you could go back in time, what is one piece of advice you would give your younger self? Know when it’s enough. Be kind to yourself.

18. What one thing would you be most disappointed if you never got to experience it? Have kids.

19. Apologize or ask permission? I don’t understand the relationship between the two.

20. Unlimited love or money? I would love to never have to worry about finances ever again.

21. If you knew you would die in one week, what would you do? Take a week-long leave for work, spend all my money, bond with my dogs, throw a party for my closest friends, and honestly, make my peace with her.

22. What’s your most listened to song? Spotify doesn’t show that feature, but I bet it’s from Paramore or Hayley anyway. It would be impossible to know my most-listened to song of all time, like if we took into account my Spotify, iTunes, etc.

23. Beach vacation or European vacation? I need a beach vacation badly, but a European vacation would be a new and different experience. I’d take the latter.

24. If you could have been a child prodigy what would you have wanted to be skilled at? Playing the piano.

25. What’s the first thing you would do if you won the lottery? Depends on how much I won lmao. I’d probably retire this early if the money was big enough since I’m pretty stingy anyway. But generally, I would like to pay off whatever bills my parents are currently paying for, get back the car that we had to sell because of the pandemic, and maybe go for a solo vacation or five heheh.

26. What celebrity would you trade lives with? Kylie Jenner, for a day. Just so I can briefly have a taste of how being that rich is like.

27. If you were a performing artist, what would you title your first album? Nope.

28. What story do your friends still give you crap about? Staying with Gab despite the red flags that glared for four whole years is one of them. Angela will also never let go of that one time I tried some kind of fruit juice in high school and I described it as ‘packs a punch.’ It’s understood as a super Westernized idiom where I live and literally no one uses it in a casual sentence, so it was a hit with her and now we use ‘packs a punch’ whenever we want to describe something awesome or surprising.

29. If earth could only have one condiment for the rest of time, what would you pick to keep around? Mayonnaise and I will die on this mayonnaise-coated hill.

30. What is the ideal number of people to have over on a Friday night? Ideally? At this point? Like 20. I would love for that to be the case on the first Friday we can consider the Philippines COVID-free.

31. What was the worst age you’ve been so far? Sorry for yet another incoming Paramore reference but they literally have a lyric that goes, “22 is like, the worst idea that I have ever had.” Before turning 22 I used to think it was a weird line, like how could 22 possibly be unenjoyable? Now I’m 22 in a pandemic going through a rough breakup and I can’t even see my friends nor work in my first workplace ever.

32. What is your weirdest dealbreaker? If they wanted only cats as pets. I can deal with a dog and a cat, I guess; but cats were never fond of me so I feel like I’d struggle with this situation lol.

33. What fictional character reminds you most of yourself? Mr. Peanutbutterrrrrrr. Has a lot of love to give, doesn’t always use it on the right people. Also lives on pleasing others.

34. Do you believe in karma? Just to a tiny extent, in how I would want people’s awful actions to come bite them in the ass one day. It’s not a philosophy that controls my life and the things I do whatsoever.

35. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? My absolute favorite was Hi-5, with the original cast. As I got older my interests shifted to Spongebob and The Fairly OddParents.

36. What is the weirdest thing you find attractive in a person? I don’t think it’s weird, but I don’t hear thighs too often when people list down their favorite physical traits. It’s certainly one of mine.

37. What Jeopardy! category would you clear, no problem? A Friends-themed one, obviously. This reminds me of the Jeopardy night I had with some friends a few nights ago! That was so much fun, and Andi makes really great and fun questions hahaha.

38. What is something you’re superstitious about? I don’t think I am about anything.

39. What is the scariest experience you have ever had? Maybe that night my grandpa went into a drunk rampage. I was 9, right in his line of sight, frozen and scared shitless, and I didn’t know who he was going to strike next.

40. Who is a non-politician you wish would run for office? I never really think about this. If someone’s a non-politician then there must be a reason they aren’t, lol.

41. What cheesey song do you have memorized? Little Things by One Direction is very cheesy and it’s one of my least favorite songs of theirs, but I still have it memorized out of habit.

42. What one dead person would you most like to have dinner with, if it were possible? My great-grandpa died all the way back in the 70s, even before some of my aunts and uncles could meet him. It would be cool to spend time with him.

43. Do you think it’s important to stay up to date with the news? Yeah, absolutely. I have the stomach for it lol, so I always monitor what’s happening locally and globally. Skipping the news from time to time is fine because I get how anxiety-inducing and depressing some events can be, but there’s a huge difference between ignoring the news for your mental health and being indifferent altogether. I’d immediately judge anyone who’s the latter, and would assume you are incredibly privileged.

44. What is the best present you could ever receive? My money refunded -____________- I had food delivered to my director, Bea’s house as a surprise earlier today, but apparently I ran into a scammer driver and the fucker drove away with the meal I had bought for Bea. I reported the driver and the situation, and thankfully the customer service rep of the food delivery app quickly responded and said they’d return the full amount I paid for; but I still haven’t received it.

45. Would you give up one of your fingers if it meant you’d have free wifi wherever you go, for the rest of your life? No. Mobile data exists for a reason.

46. What’s the first thing you’d do if you were the opposite sex for one day? Check out my voice.

47. If someone told you you could give one person a present and your budget was unlimited–what present would you get and for whom? I’d love to surprise Angela with an overseas trip that would last for like a month. Traveling is one thing we have yet to do as best friends.

48. What is the nicest thing someone could say about you? Nothing particular, but it makes me happy when people call me strong and when they validate the shit I’ve gone through over the years.

49. Giant house in a subdivision or tiny house somewhere with a view? I would take the giant house. When it comes to my own place, I would want to have a lot of space to roam around.

50. What is the weirdest quirk your family has? Nothing is coming to mind.

[agrosehamada]

Rose’s Stories

So below are some very rough ideas that I have for what Rose’s book series would be like--I hope to eventually write all of them but I thought it would be fun to share this with all of you! 

Family:

Tadashi and Fred Hamada: Dads

Daniel: Older brother

Hiro Hamada and Ezra Bridger-Hamada: Uncles

Hope and Dev: cousins, kids of Hiro and Ezra (Hope is younger than Daniel but older than Rose and Dev, Dev and Rose were in the same incubator at the same time so are cousins but also consider themselves to be sort of like twins)

Cass: Grandma on Tadashi’s side :) (Really great aunt but all the kids call her Grandma)

Stan: Grandpa on Fred’s side (as a superhero he saved Tadashi from the fire and is the reason Tadashi is still alive! Yes his name is Stan Lee as an homage to Stan Lee being the model for Fred’s dad in the movie BUT to clarify he has no connection to the real Stan Lee, may his memory be a blessing!)

Books:

Meet Rose: Story starts with her finishing up her last day of homeschooling, Rose is going to start regular school for junior high in the fall. Possibly just Fred homeschooled her and Danny to give them a good foundation, or possibly because she’s ASD and didn’t handle elementary school well when she tried they decided to homeschool her but she’s agreed to try again in Junior high (she’s a bit nervous but mostly excited.) She gets A’s in all classes but math she gets a B which she’s a bit sad about but she tried her best (math is hard for her, she does good but it’s not fun which kinda sucks since math comes naturally to everyone in her bio family except for Fred.) Theme of the book is Rose is a very helpful person but sees everyone in her family is doing big things to help the world (making Baymax, etc.) and she wants to do something meaningful with her summer, feels like she needs to accomplish something big before starting junior high (aw, sweet summer child thinking junior high is so grown up and important XD). She goes around asking everyone what she can do to help them and keeps doing little things that they ask her to help with but is worried she’s not really doing anything important. Story ends with Tadashi explaining that she doesn’t have to do a “big thing” and the “little things” are actually really important, but does take her to adopt a cat since she can make a big difference in the life of the kitty :) Random note: Tadashi and Fred always make sure to have family time on Friday nights and Tadashi, since he doesn’t have as much time with the kids as Fred working full time, has special time for one-on-one time with each of the kids at some point during the week to check in and see how they’re doing/spend time doing something that’s important to them :)

Rose Learns a Lesson: Rose going to school. Lots of stress: For one thing just struggling socially but especially because of how she and Danny were born some of the bullies decide to pick on her for being “a freak”, ask her if she was born in a test tube/is a clone, when she explains about the incubator they make a connection to chickens and start calling her “chicken girl” or “egg girl” and spread a rumor she was hatched from an egg or some shit. Also teachers expect her to be just like Danny (who loved math) and Hope (who wasn’t super into math but it was easy for her) and are frustrated that she struggles with math. Oh, and she was supposed to have the same schedule as Dev but the principal separated them for most of their classes, except maybe home ec where he kind of outshines her in baking/cooking so there’s drama there too. She does make a friend, Hermoine, who has two moms (one of her moms is trans so she was born that way) and they hit it off really well :) They bond over Harry Potter (Rose is a Hufflepuff with a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor for dads while Hermione is a Ravenclaw with a Gryffindor and a Slytherin for moms) and other nerdy stuff :) Hermione is an avid fanfic writer and Rose loves reading, and Hermione loves Rose’s plushies so they work really well together!

Rose’s Surprise: Christmas story, Rose loves Christmas and is hard at work on making Christmas presents for family. Expected a small Christmas but Tadashi and Fred invited a lot of the adopted family to celebrate (BH 6 team and their family plus Ezra’s family) to celebrate with them and so there’s a LOT more people around than expected (social anxiety), Rose feels like she has to make present for everyone (PANIC), and she keeps getting pulled into doing holiday things which means she has even less time to finish making presents (MORE PANIC.) Resolution is everyone realizing she’s stressing out but she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by saying no to celebration things or by not making presents and everyone reassures her she doesn’t have to make presents for everyone but also gives her some down time to finish making the presents :)

Rose Saves the Day: The annual Sakura Festival is happening in San Fransokyo! Rose is super excited, it’s one of her favorite times of the year, and she always helps Aunt Cass with the extra customers she gets during the festival (they usually give it a special theme, this year it’s a cat maid/butler cafe!) But this year Tia Honey Lemon asks her to help with her fashion show as a model (Honey Lemon gives her sewing lessons in exchange for her helping model her clothes) and helping make outfits, and also the animal shelter where Rose got her kitty from needs support so Rose offers to make plushies for them to sell at the booth/offers to help run the booth and kind of over extends herself. Not a lot of story ideas built out on all of that yet but she’s doing lots of running around and she’s really tired and possibly gets a bad grade on a math quiz because of it and she kinda melts down and Tadashi has to help her figure out how to calm down and do what she can while also making thing manageable (including apologizing but telling people she can’t meet all of her commitments and everyone is very nice and understanding about it!)

Happy Birthday, Rose: I don’t have a lot worked out aside from Rose having a summer birthday, possibly she invites classmates but gets ditched (except for of course Hermione and her fam) for someone more popular running a party (maybe also Rose made it a costume party and people were like “You’re turning thirteen and THAT’S what you’re doing?) For sure the family goes to DisneyLand! Also possibly some angst because Danny has graduated high school now (he graduates at sixteen and is starting at SFIT next year) and overhears Hiro saying something about how when Tadashi started college he was never around and so she’s worried about losing Danny and he has to reassure her that he will always have time for her. Possible angst if Rose gets ditched for her party trying to convince her dads into homeschooling her for eighth grade and try again with high school, but she gets talked into trying again. 

Changes for Rose: It’s a new school year, Danny has started at SFIT and yeah, is not around as much and Rose is missing him and maybe he’s missing family night on Fridays and Tadashi and Fred are like, “Well he is in college, it is going to happen as he gets older” and Rose isn’t happy about it. Main plot point is Callaghan is being paroled from prison, it’s been about twenty years now and he’s in his sixties/seventies and is pretty broken down at this point. Abigail is living on the other side of the world now for work, and Callaghan has no one else to turn to but a desperate hope that Tadashi might help. Tadashi has been visiting him all this time on the down low (Hiro and most of the others don’t like it) and is like, “He’s still my dad figure, I can’t let him end up on the streets, he can come live with us.” (Callaghan was a friend of the Hamada parents and helped raise Tadashi after they died/got Tadashi interested in robotics, losing Abigail pushed him off the deep end but once he had time to think about what he’d done after it was all over he was horrified and is still incredibly guilty about almost being responsible for Tadashi’s death.) Fred is not terribly happy about it but is kinda understanding. Hiro is NOT happy at all (has never forgiven Callaghan.) and there is a lot of family drama going on. Rose is a bit nervous around this strange old man, she does know what happened but Tadashi always spoke highly of him and he seems lonely and sad just sitting quietly in the guest bedroom all day, maybe reading but often just staring out the window. And she’s feeling lonely with Danny being gone so much so she ends up making friends with him and kind of helps the others come around to him and is happy to have a new family member :) Random note: Maybe Callaghan helps her a lot with her math homework, he’s a really good teacher and helps her find ways to understand math that work with her learning style ^^ Other plot point: Rose might be realizing that she likes Hermione as more than a friend?

[frncs]

⌠ ERIC OSBORNE, 21, NON-BINARY, HE/THEY ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, FRANCES ‘FRANK’ LAVOIE! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in MACGYVER SURVIVAL SKILLS AND NAVIGATION & COVERT OPS; and they DID go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of oversized clothing stitched with thick yarn and littered with cat hair, the snap of stretched balloons before they’re blown and a post-nap dazed gaze. when it’s the (virgo)’s birthday on 09/01/1999, they always request CORN DOGS from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ tasha, 22, she/her, est ⍀ 

well well well .. id meant to bring another kid ages ago .. n then jus didn’t because the personality part was/is givin me grief FGJH so pls 🐻  w me n replies as i figure out his voice . also .. haven’t even written out my intro yet . . bt ik it’s gna be long apologies , pls feel free to just read the tldr 

tw: death, accidental murder, grief.

TLDR: grew up fairly well off to spy parents who didn’t want him to be part of that world but apart from that didn’t care what he did with his life otherwise. he often questioned whether they really cared for him at all (tht quote thts like .. if u love me u love me in a way i cant understand). luna’s his best friend, and he’s obsessed with his aunt and uncle’s circus that stops into town every year. life is pretty great until luna ‘dies’ at 16. he joins the circus and becomes a clown, he loves performing with all his heart. at 18, his aunt and uncle arm him with a credit card and tell him to go travel, he assumes it’s because they just want him to explore the world. visits europe for six months and asia for six months, enjoys it but misses the circus terribly, busks a lot. they actually send him away to distance him from the shady happenings that are starting to boil within the company. he comes back in time for the halloween switch-a-roo, where everyone rotates their act (so he does the magic show as a clown). he’s part of a set-up that results in him accidentally killing a person and sawing them in half. his aunt and uncle call his parents, who reluctantly send him to prep school for a little less than a year to heighten his chances of getting into a spy school for protection, which he does. dedicated to working hard and getting a high paying job to pay for reparations for the circus and do a massive overhaul of the way it runs, because it’s like his second home.

grew up in waterford ct, to one retired spy parent ( his mom ) and his dad who works with the government and is aware of espionage. his mom straight up didn’t have a good time, no one really talks about it, he has no idea what happened, doesn’t know if his dad knows either but it’s clear that they don’t want him going into the spy world. 

he feels like he’s always been treated like an adult for as long as he remembers, not in the sense that they burdened him with responsibility, but that they didn’t seem to care what he did one way or another. the best way i can describe it is that his parents had the same energy as a character in a yorgos lanthimos film, very dry and lifeless, like they’re on autopilot. he’d try and cuddle his mom and she’d just pat him on the head. he couldn’t really rebel against them and as long as he went to school and got good grades they appeared un-phased about what he got up to, a very mind your own business dynamic shared between family. 

he didn’t get up to a whole lot, he was a bit of an outsider. didn’t make friends very easily because he didn’t know how to let himself go around people, even though he’d sometimes be excited but wouldn’t know how to show it. definitely had that reserved temperament ingrained into him from his parents. 

he did have one friend who knew him inside and out, luna <3 who was also his neighbour. their demeanours were a perfect match but also he’d find himself getting so excited and wanting to tell her about his day or listen to hers, or read with her or play hopscotch or send her secret notes with his flashlight at her window. 

there was one other thing that got him terribly excited and it’s when his aunt and uncle’s traveling circus would stop in. he’d go every single day for the week and a half it was there. his parents would arrange one dinner with them and consider their familial duty done, other than that they remain out of contact with them. his aunt and uncle tell him that he’s always welcome to join, and he holds them to it. his parents say do whatever you want, just graduate high school first. 

his whole world kinda crumbles when luna ‘dies’ at sixteen. he feels immense guilt over it thinking he should’ve done something about that skeevy bf of hers...this also coincides with one of his mom’s friends dying (harlowe’s mom) which makes his mom act even weirder so he fast tracks his plans to join the circus and joins at sixteen, doesn’t graduate high school. i envision the convo btw him and his dad went like: 

“dad, i’m joining the circus.”

“graduate high school first.”

“no.”

“okay son, i can’t control you.”

the company welcomed him with open arms and he tried out everything, acrobatics, sharpshooting, but wasn’t particularly talented at anything. except, clownery. because messing up is commended, noting how all the kids would laugh at him trying basic magic tricks. so his aunt and uncle got him into a clown costume lickety-split. performing brought him a lot of joy through the grief like he’s an entirely different person when performing, insert that one cursed joker picture: put on a happy face. 

because the owners were his aunt and uncle he was treated exceptionally well and he was very oblivious to the malpractice that went on behind the scenes. the circus had a whole sector dedicated to pickpocketing (other kids who he just saw as friends were often runaways from broken homes who didn’t have anywhere else to go and earned their wages by stealing from customers), and serious kerfuffle with pay, probably some extortion going on, just general yuckery. he vaguely knew it was happening but was kind of like it is what it is kinda standpoint. heavily inspired by the circus barney and clint barton grew up in reffed in the 2015 run of all-new hawkeye.

a couple years later his aunt and uncle give him a credit card and tell him to go travel for a bit. he does because why not but misses the circus terribly. he spends six months in europe and six months in asia, busks as a clown a lot and but his on-the-road/home sickness never really fades.

he returns super excited, ready to clown around but it’s evident tensions are just really high between the workers but they’re still all super sweet to him because he’s very sweet even if he’s oblivious. halloween comes around which is his favourite time of year because they do this thing called the switch-a-roo, where everyone switches what act they’re doing, bicycle acts do contortionist acts, lion tamers do rope walkers, magicians do animal taming and clowns do magic acts. it’s just one big laugh because obviously most of them are cross-trained, but it’s meant to be more of a comedy thing and their mess-ups are to an extent choreographed but also capitalizes on the scariness because they hype up the fact that they have no idea what they’re doing.

he’s doing his magic act, messing up all the magic tricks showing all his cards, and his last act is the sawing someone in half, so the assistant comes out in the box, really selling it like omg a clown !!! being like stop !!! you don’t know what you’re doing !!! and frances is like playing along with the act, as he was told that the gag would be when they split the boxes they’ll have some practical effects to make it look like he’d accidentally actually cut the assistant in half. fumbling with a very real chainsaw, he does the choppity-chop which takes a bit more muscle than he thought it would and the assistant screams a lot then pretends to pass out. anyways it wasn’t an act he accidentally cut someone in half, and they die.

EXTRA CLOWN LORE THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT FEEL FREE TO SKIP!

i envisioned that worker negotiations had been going on for a while and had kinda reached a stalemate where nothing was happening, and there were rumblings about frances being off travelling and spending a shit ton of money where it could’ve been put towards the workers and the circus and his aunt and uncle would hear threats thrown towards frances which is why they wanted him to stay away/go travelling for a while. the girl who was killed did so knowingly, and died a martyr (and also left frances a note explaining things and how she was sorry that he was the one that had to kill her). the whole thing was executed with a lot of thought: how it would affect frances and how it would be seen as a personal attack against his aunt and uncle - and that while the act seemingly went off without a hitch and the public didn’t suspect a thing, the workers have leverage to make it public (which ideally they don’t want b/c a lot of the workers are pretty disenfranchised or have criminal records and truthfully don’t want the end all being the circus closing b/c they do love their job just not the conditions). his aunt an uncle are in a bit of a jam because they need an investor but can’t get that because of shady hiring practices in the first place, and their greed definitely exacerbated the problem.

after that happens his aunt and uncle immediately call his parents, who despite never wanting him to go into the spy industry believe that it would be the safest option for him, and enrol him in prep school (which he attends for less than a year) so that he has more of a chance getting into gallagher the following year, which, with the right strings pulled happens. 

now he’s dedicated to giving it his all so he can get a really high paying job and do a complete overhaul of the company and make a lot of reparations that should’ve been made years and years ago. 

personality

- very patient, a slow talker and more of a listener.  - idealistic, in the sense that he’s always been surrounded by people either in poverty of vulnerable, and despite being a caring guy, adopted that kind of mind your own business mentality his parents had. even his desire to get rich in order to save the circus is a very unrealistic plan or at the very least would take a very long time to achieve.  - tired, i know it’s not a personality trait but i’m making it one, he’s a little bit dazed, not gloomy per se but like he’s woken up from a nap and needs to warm up a bit before being a functioning part of society. but that’s like all his interactions. has the gait of like a drunken kung fu master, very limber.  

headcanons

has slight imposter syndrome about clowning, knows he’s great and always got a standing ovation but can’t help but wonder how much nepotism played a role in her being the main clown in the company.

planning on hiding out in her room during halloween, but is very bittersweet about it, because he thinks that halloween is one of the only times that people are happy because they get to be anyone they want and has found that most people don’t want to be themselves.

has an overweight, old cat which he’s had since he joined the circus and has been everywhere with him. it’s name is cat. he also has an album on his phone of all the strays he’s ever met, which is a lot being on the road. he named all of them but they never got to come with him.

sleeps a lot, probably has some sort of chronic sleep disorder, but enjoys the sweet release from life so he doesn’t question it. has no shame and will sleep anywhere and does.

loves making balloon animals, was his favourite thing to do at the circus. keeps a jewelry dish full of unpumped balloons on his bedside table. also a big reader, and hoarder of anything that can fit in a small travel notebook (leaves, ticket stubs, pictures, anything). 

wanted connections: i’ll update my actual google docs in the coming days but people he met while traveling for a year, anyone with pets wanting to have a pet playdate (cat’s not too active but he could use some company), someone who catches him crying (he cries a lot haven’t peeped his full chart but i can sense the water energy from miles away), people who wake him up when he falls asleep in class, in the common rooms, outside, flirty flirts, someone who’s been to the circus, someone who clowns him about being a clown and he gets super angry, really anything, i’m terrible at coming up with connections i get such a thrill from mundane relations i’m boring <3

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Bluegrass-Chapter Four

                     A special thank you to @statell​ for your help and wisdom

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Four

Claire and Molly were hopping from one farm to another in Lexington when Claire announced she had to make one extra stop. They were done for the day and she filled Molly in on her date for the weekend.

“Chad Remington called out of the blue and asked me to dinner. High profile date, lots of press I’m sure. Chad gave me a one hundred dollar minimum to buy a dress. Will you help me, please?”

Molly looked confused and finally found her voice, “what about Dusty?”

“What about Dusty?”

“He would …”

“Dustin and I are best friends Molly, nothing more.”

Molly watched Claire’s eyes and saw compassion, maturity, and truth. “Okay, I didn’t know how you were together. So it’s like brother and sister then.”

“I don’t know about that, I never had either, or a Mother and Father. I don’t have anything to compare it to. I just know that Dusty put me first and for the first time in my life, someone knew I was in the world and cared about me. And I cared for him the same way. You watch, when we spy on him in the coming year, I will bet money he’s in love before his GPA is 4.0, the little brat. Let’s go”

Molly was young but she had a great eye for fashion from looking at hundreds of magazines. It was her guilty pleasure fueled by sitting in waiting rooms of salons, waiting for no one, consuming every page that the magazines offered. Claire tried so many dresses on but Molly scrunched up her nose. The saleswoman began shooting darts at the young woman, so she took over and looked through the evening wear pulling dresses as she went. She handed five dresses to Claire.

Claire’s eyes went wide as dress after dress fit perfectly, hugged her curves in the right places, and was fashionably short.

“Well young lady, now I have the opposite problem of having too many choices. What do you think?”

Molly pulled the best fitting dress and walked to the shoes, pulling a gorgeous heal with straps that exposed almost her entire foot. She grabbed a pair of silk stockings on the way to the register.

“Straighten your hair and put this in it.” She handed Claire a beautiful cubic zirconia hair clip that would sparkle against her dark hair.”

“Straighten my hair? Like how?”

“I’ll help if you want.”

“Yes, I think that would be really nice if you don’t mind.”

Once back in the truck, Molly got very quiet and seemed preoccupied with something troubling. She said goodbye to Claire and got into her car, but Claire stopped her. She leaned against her truck and looked down at Molly as she prepared to leave.

“Something is troubling you, Molly. I don’t want to impose but is there anything I can help you with?”

Molly locked her hands on the steering wheel and looked at her lap shaking her head. Claire waited, giving her the time to decide if she wanted to speak her trouble or not.

“Last night I was harassed by the police. They said I would be arrested if they caught me again. I don’t want to go to jail but I probably will because I have nowhere else to go.”

Claire watched the tears streak down Molly’s sad face, and she was ready to offer this sweet girl whatever she needed.

“Whatever it is Molly, I will help you, I promise.”

“I lost my job a month ago and I have no more savings, so I had to leave my apartment.” She blushed crimson talking about her poverty. “Can I park here tonight and sleep, so the police will leave me alone? I can tell them you allowed me to stay here. I won’t be back until after dark, I promise.”

Claire pulled the young girl out of her car and helped her up the stairs. “Molly, are you an orphan too?”

Molly looked at Claire through her bleary eyes, “no I have an aunt and older brother but neither of them can take me.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen. I’m too old to collect the welfare that kept me going my last year of high school, my church helped as well.”

“Did your parents die sweetheart?”

“I don’t know. They just left and never came back.”

Molly cried in earnest, apologizing to Claire as she was led into the house.

“I won’t hear another word about it, young lady. You need to bring your things in. You can wash what you want and take the extra room. See? No one has ever used this room, so it has been wasted. If you sleep in here it will not be an empty room anymore. I hate empty rooms, don’t you?”

Molly looked around and Claire could see her mind working on being a burden.

“So, what I need you to do is get your things from your car while I make dinner. I have needed a roommate, but I don’t know anyone in Kentucky. I would like a roommate so will you stay with me?”

Claire had talked so fast Molly hardly had time to formulate an answer and her bulldozing boss was suddenly her benefactor, offering her safety from the cold dark night.

Claire was pushing a warm plate of food at Molly and bringing in blankets and pillows. She sat across from Molly and ate from her plate in silence, watching the poor young woman inhale her dinner.

“Molly, I won’t accept any money from you, but I need your assurance you will be honest with me about what you need.”

Molly grabbed her hand and struggled with her tears, shaking her head yes.

“That is good enough for me dearest. Get some sleep, and there is more on the stove if you are still hungry. Good night love.”

Claire was intimately familiar with orphan’s pride. Many households took her in and fed her, gave her a room, and reminded her of their generosity every day after that. Uncle Lamb died and left her alone at sixteen with no one to care for her. It was the loneliest time of her life, more so than the eleven years she spent traveling the world with Uncle Lamb because then, she always had him.

Claire retired to her room and prayed that Molly would have the fortitude to give this a chance. This was a match that needed to happen, and she was the best advocate for this young girl, because she understood what she was going through.

The food was left on the stove to encourage Molly to eat. Claire heard noises in the kitchen and relaxed knowing she was fed and warm. Before she made it to her patio for Yoga the next morning, she noticed her sparkling kitchen and all dishes put neatly away. This was going to be easy she thought as she pressed into her first pose.

As the week progressed, Molly made fewer mistakes and pulled a small notebook out of her pocket each time Claire asked about the treatments. Molly would look at her notes and Claire would write furiously as she worked through the files. Claire let several monumental wins go by without noticing them because she was locked in her head.

She was so excited about seeing Chad at the end of the week she hardly noticed anything. The ripping of paper brought her mind back and she watched Molly deftly pull a syringe out of the sterile sleeve and twist a needle on before plunging it into a bottle of Penicillin. Claire walked over and looked at the medicines, bandages, fecal collection cups, and gloves she would use for treatments this morning.

“Wow Molly, you are certainly getting the hang of things. I am very impressed. Claire leaned back on a stall as she talked bringing the horse forward to nibble her hair. She reached up and ran her hand down his cheek hearing him complaining of pain. Claire opened the stall door and looked at a trough full of food from earlier in the day. He wasn’t eating, his head was hot, and his mouth hurt, according to him. Claire asked to look in his mouth and he finally obliged. There was a large abscess on the roof of his mouth. Most likely from a bur in his hay.

“Oooh, that looks nasty my friend. Molly, I must find the barn manager and see if they want me to lance it today. Be right back.”

Claire came back with several men who all crowded into the stall to help hold the suffering horse. Claire took the halter from one of them because she would be far gentler getting it on. She asked Molly to watch the men, and how they held the horse still.

The horse was not happy with the searing pain in his mouth, but Claire had it lanced quickly and flushed with peroxide. She could tell the pain was improving when she put her hands on his cheeks. A stiff shot of antibiotics and they were on to the next horse.

Molly wanted to know how Claire understood to look in his mouth but decided not to ask. She was still fresh to Claire’s treatments and would know her ways soon enough.

They quit early on Friday so Claire would have plenty of time to freak out before Chad picked her up. On the patio, a small cat cowered in the corner and they almost missed it. Claire picked it up and stroked it while it sat in her lap. Molly was bringing groceries into the house when Claire got up and asked her to drive the cat home.

Molly followed where Claire directed, and they watched the cat run toward a house. Claire followed, rang the doorbell, and when the door opened the cat ran inside.

“Sorry to bother you, your cat was lost and crying so we brought it home. Have a nice day.”

Since the homeowner did not know how far they had come, she figured Claire had seen the cat in her yard at some point. Molly, on the other hand, could not understand how Claire could know, so she asked her and got her mind blown.

“You, you hear them tell you things? Is that what you said? Cat’s don’t talk so how do you hear them?”

Claire did her best to explain the images she sees and using the cat as an example, she pointed to the clumps of Black Oak trees and told her she saw the cat climbing one of them.

“I have only seen these trees here, so I thought it was a good start. We got lucky.”

Molly was quiet. Another doubter, she thought. This was something she was used to, and silence was always Dustin’s response to her truth. She dropped it and turned her thoughts to Chad, not a hard thing to do because she found him very attractive. The only man who could top his looks was Jamie Fraser, she thought. Now he was off the charts. She thought about Jamie for the rest of the trip home and wondered why he hooked up with such an awful woman.

Later, Claire and Molly sat on the porch watching the sky turn its Kentucky colors. The sunset was distracting enough to let Chad slip up the stairs and watch the women for several minutes. Actually, Molly got a passing glance, but Claire was studied from her feet to the top of her head.

“I’m a bit speechless. I’ve never seen you out of your scrubs.”

Claire stood up quickly, shocked to hear his voice right behind them. She introduced Chad to Molly, smiling the whole time, so excited to be going somewhere fun. Molly waived and sighed at the charming Chad Remington. When he smiled at her she almost swooned. He was a beautiful and elegant man. She forced herself to go inside because staring after them was just plain weird.

Chad admired Claire’s shiny straight hair and the little black dress, long legs and killer shoes as they walked through the restaurant to their table. The conversation seemed to have no end as they got lost in the others back story. Chad’s brother came to their table and sat with them for a while. When the food reporter for the local news wanted to interview him, he suggested an open place right next to their table. While that was going on, Claire turned her attention back to her handsome date.

After dinner, they walked the downtown area because there was so much more to talk about.

“You have a hopeful for the road to the Kentucky Derby? What exactly does that mean?”

“Claire, I’m surprised you don’t know the term since you doctor these horses every day.” He was teasing her.

“No one’s ever had the time to tell me. Now might be a good time.”

“All the breeding farms you visit in this area are working toward one thing, to drop a foal that will be the next Secretariat. When I decide on my breeding matches for the year, it’s a bit like a mad scientist mixing genetic material to produce a super runner. At least that’s what it feels like to me. Once in a great while, someone produces a foal that was born to run faster than all the others and it’s like magic watching him win race after race.

“So the road to the Kentucky Derby?”

“The road is a group of races decided on by Churchill Downs. They are stakes-grade, minimum one mile, and the top four finishers win points. The second phase of the road to the derby is called the super six. Stakes-grade, tough races, with fierce competition because so many horses drop out during the first phase. Owners can nominate their horse for the Triple Crown as early as January. Right before the race, the top twenty point winners are chosen to run for the roses. Just getting to that point is a star in your breeder crown that will never dim, it’s a permanent elevation to elite breeder. It’s all I’ve ever aspired to, producing one of those twenty horses.”

“My preference for racehorses was a carryover from my Uncle who raised me. He loved the sport and talked about it constantly. He spoke of the Triple Crown winner Secretariat with such reverence I would giggle sometimes. He was quite a horse according to my uncle.”

Chad stopped walking and pressed Claire to the wall of a large retail building. His hands were on either side of her head and she was thrilled to the bone because he might kiss her any minute now.

“Claire, I really like you, really like you. Would you mind if I kissed you?”

“I do not mind, that would nice.”

She barely had time to finish her sentence when his lips pressed rather hard on hers, flatly, and unmoving, then released her.

“Well, that was something awful I think. I just rushed it, and I am very rusty. Can I try again?”

“Of course.”

This time, he looked into her eyes and took his time getting to her lips which Claire found very exciting. They kissed three more times and each time was better.

“My God Claire, did you feel the earth move a bit when we kissed?”

“Umm, no actually.”

“Me neither. I think that is okay because it will happen next time. Claire, it’s one o’clock in the morning already. Let me get you home.”

They kissed once more at Claire’s door and she waved goodbye. She was confused because the last time she kissed like that was at a campus party with someone she didn’t know. In fact, she ended up taking that great kisser home for the night, and it was rather good if she remembered correctly. It made no sense that Chad, a handsome breeder who was easy to talk to, initiated kisses that did nothing for her.

The next day, Jamie was running through the kitchen grabbing some fruit before leaving to watch Nick with the yearlings.

“Come here Jamie, there’s your strumpet, in the paper, laughing with her nose in the air. Come here!”

Jamie looked over Isobel’s shoulder and sure enough, Claire, looking fabulous with…Chad Remington! What the hell was this all about he wondered. Most people assumed Chad was gay so how did she end up at dinner with him? He bit into the apple and left Isobel muttering under her breath.

“Jamie! Glad you could make it. I refuse to say I told you so by the way. Let’s have a look at your magic colt.”

Jamie could see three colts being lunged by a handler who was clicking up their speed, while Midnight Runner was stationary looking at the weird man in the middle without a clue what to do. When his handler used the big whip to get the horse moving, the colt looked at his backside where he heard the whip and then back at the handler.

“Tell the handler to make contact with the whip. Give the lad some incentive to run away at least.”

Nick called out and the handler flicked the whip on the colt’s ass making him jump and glare at the man.

“He still doesna get it. I know someone who might help. I’ll get her here today, but chances are he won’t run. Just like ye told me, Nick.”

Claire clicked off from Jamie’s call feeling weird butterflies in her stomach. She had a vague recollection of his handsome face and a solid memory of what she saw on the inside of the man. It took her back to that day. She didn’t hate Jamie Fraser, and it sounded like he really needed her help. She made two calls to reschedule and told Molly they were going to Highland Brothers for the rest of the day.

Molly had ceased to be impressed by the large breeding complexes, but her eyes were darting all over the compound as she took it all in. Jamie waved them on to the premises.

So he is waiting for me this time. What on earth could be so wrong, she wondered.

Jamie pulled her aside right away so Molly would not hear him. He looked like he was chewing glass when he spoke to her.

“This colt is special, Doctor Beauchamp, I need for him to at least make a showing at the two-year-old races. It could finish me in Kentucky if he refuses to try. Understand? Ye said ye could understand them so I’m askin ye lass, please can ye find out what’s wrong wi’him?”

Claire looked out at the training arenas where three other horses were running on the lunge line and the colt was chewing on the handler’s hair.

“Oh dear, that is a problem. Can you leave him in the ring alone and let me take a look? I need Molly to observe him for me. From what I’m getting from him already, you, Mister Fraser must stay out of his sight. Okay?”

Claire walked into the arena and smiled at this enormous, but childlike colt who trotted to her, so happy to smell and taste someone new. She felt the presence of an innocent who didn’t understand what he was supposed to do. When Claire put her hands on his cheeks, she showed him he was supposed to run, as fast as he could.

He asked why. Why do I run? Is there a treat when I get there? Are you going to run too?

Claire laughed at the similarities between the colt’s thought process and a small child. She told him to get ready to run and called for Molly to get the sugar cubes from the truck. Molly came back to the rail and watched her crazy boss line up to race the horse. She constantly touched his face and they finally lined up together. Claire took off running as fast as she could. The colt stood and watched her but then jolted into a gallop, ears back, butt muscles exploding and passed her like a lightning bolt. He looked around for her, confused again, but saw her big smile and arms held out wide so he ran to her.

Molly saw the beast running right for Claire and she jumped the rail to help her. The colt came to a dead stop a foot from Claire, and Molly could swear he looked happy like this was a game. Claire’s arms were around his neck and she laughed. The colt backed up and reared on his hind legs like a kid saying, “watch this!”

Molly sat on the rail for the next two hours as Claire led the colt through a series of gates and games that seemed to heighten his interest and fun. Jamie pulled Nick to his hiding place to watch the transformation in the colt and the crazy vet that was making it happen.

“Why are we hiding Jamie?”

“The lad thinks I’m his mother and just wants hugs when I’m around.”

“What the hell? I swear it looks like she is speaking to him and he is listening!”

“Somethin like that Nick, she has a way to communicate wi’em. You should see him run, like the wind he is!”

The men watched the duo in fascination as they both lined up to race again. Molly was laughing as she watched Claire seem to taunt him into racing.

“Molly, if you would do the honors of saying bang please.”

“Bang!”

Claire took off as fast as she could run, and the colt watched her until he again seemed to get hit with electricity making him bolt into his own race. Claire knew he could sense her emotion, so she concentrated on winning, at whatever cost, she wanted to beat him.

The colt passed her going so fast she could hardly see him and she smiled triumphantly as he ran his heart out, right up to Molly to get his treat. Then he ran right at Claire again to bask in the glory of being the winner. He trotted around her as she told him ‘I want to win!” and he taunted back ‘never! I am the winner!’

Claire was still panting and holding her hip but kept up the teasing wanting to implant the love of winning.

“Okay big guy, race you to Molly for the rest of the sugar cubes!”

Claire ran with all her worn-out might as the colt blasted past her filling her head with Ha-ha, Ha-ha.

“Cheeky little bastard.”

Molly looked up as the colt appeared to be a beast of a horse running dead for her. She was so scared she fell backward, right into the arms of Jamie Fraser. She looked up at him and thought she had died and gone to heaven. She smiled up at him and saw their wedding, and children, and a glorious future together.

“Ye alright lass? Ye bumped ye head on the rail.”

Claire was running for Molly, ready to pass out but she opened her arms to hug her across the rail.

“Jesus Christ, Molly. Are you alright?”

Molly shook her head and blushed with embarrassment as Jamie set her on her feet. Nick had joined Claire in the arena and gave the colt some love while he praised her for making him run. Jamie looked at Claire and could see the gears working in her mind. He decided then and there that his prized colt, his road to the Kentucky Derby, and his business, were now the domain of one Claire Beauchamp because if there was a way, only she knew it.

Molly was packing up to leave and Nick had taken the colt back to his stall. Jamie noticed Claire was relaxed around him with none of the flirting jitters most women get from his presence. He found it energizing and delightful like he could be charming without stoking an unwanted forest fire.

“He won’t get the idea from this in one-day Mister Fraser. I had to goad him into running. Without the correct motivation, he won’t run or at least not his hardest. Do you want me to come back?”

“Aye. I know ye have a practice to run so whatever time you give me will be much appreciated and I will pay ye well lass.”

Claire smiled at this incredibly handsome man. “Three times a week for as long as I can.” She started walking to her truck and Molly.

“How ye gettin along wi’out Dusty?”

“It’s hard but Molly is doing great.” Another brilliant smile for the Scott and she climbed into the passenger seat.

“How do you do it Claire? Dusty would have walked off the earth for you, Chad wants to date you, and Jamie looked like he would do a backflip if you asked him to.”

“Claire laughed tiredly. Dustin is very special, Chad-isn’t, and Jamie needs me more than he needs air right now. It isn’t about me, it’s the circumstance we all find ourselves in.”

“Jamie is so good looking, is he married?”

“Almost. I thought you liked Chad!”

“Not anymore.”

Claire looked at her dreamy-eyed assistant as they drove off, and laughed before diving into files to update her notes for the day.

[january-glooms]

tattoo hc’s

for @silver-bubbles

Small disclaimer: this is all Penny because I was writing this for a mcu overhaul where Tony is the godfather of Felicia Fury, who is just Felicia Hardy, but a Fury,,, for you guessed it my friend Felicia. Peter is Penny because I said so (I wanna be Peter Parker okay, leaf me alone), but this pretty much works regardless of Peter’s gender. All you have to remember is that Peter/Penny is Tony’s biological child

So, I had this thought, what if? (lmao what if) Penny has tattoos for her parents, aunt and uncle. So like their death dates in Roman numerals paired with a flower that represents them to her. Mary and Richard’s death date is the same so they share the tattoo, but instead of one flower there are two surrounding the date. And later on she gets a matching one with Tony. After that Harry, Genie and her get a group one. She also gets a group one with Ned and MJ. The Web Warriors™ have one with their momma spider. Of course Shuri saw this and wanted on with her. Don’t even get me started on Felicia (and Sharon) that woman can be atrocious when she doesn’t get what she wants immediately. And last but certainly not least she has one with Harley.

The Parkers:

The numerals:

Mary & Richard: XXIX. XI. MMIV

May: IV. V. MMXII (she died during the invasion in 2012 i’m sorry)

Ben: XXV. X. MMXV

The flowers:

Mary: a black and white heather (protection, she thought that by giving her to Tony, she’d be protecting her)

Richard: a freesia (unconditional love, cuz eventho he isn’t her bio dad he still loves her like she was)

May: a garden rose (free spirit, if that isn’t May Parker than I don’t know what is)

Ben: instead of a flower he gets the quote: “With great power comes great responsibility” (cuz Ben is special and different also it’s the reason she became Spider-Woman)

Placements and timing:

Mary and Richard’s is on the left side of her torso close to her heart, it was the first one she got and wasn’t comfortable with showing it. So, she got at an easy hideable spot. She got this one shortly after the spiderbite with permission of course.

May’s is on her upper left arm where you usually see tattoos of a rose, the numerals are under the rose. This one was a gift for her fifteenth birthday.

Ben’s is on her inner left bicep so he is near May. The quote is in italics with the numerals a little underneath and to the side of them. She got this one together with May’s.

Irondad & Spiderdaughter:

Tony has her spider emblem.

Penny has his arc reactor.

The tattoo is on Tony’s left wrist and on Penny’s right. She got this one as a birthday gift with her dad on her 16th birthday.

The Golden Trio:

Harry has a lightning bolt for Harry Potter, because just like Harry he is famous for something he doesn’t want to be. (Also they share a name and I just couldn’t pass the opportunity)

Genie has a wand for Ron Weasley, because just like Ron he loses his way sometimes by standing in the shadows of Harry and Penny’s fame and intellect, but he always comes back.

Penny has a book with a quill for Hermione Granger, because just like Hermione she is the smartest and has the most common sense (which isn’t that much) out of the three of them. (She’s like 88 percent of Harry’s impulse control)

The tattoo is on all of their right ankle, because no matter the distance between them they will always find their way back to each other. They got this after Harry returned to NYC from France after the whole Green Goblin ordeal.

The Rebellion:

Ned has a lightsaber for Luke, because just like Luke he is a innocent puppy who deserves the world. (That’s basically it)

MJ has a blaster for Leia, because just like Leia she is an activist but also like her she us the only one with actual common sense (Cindy too ig, but she isn’t part of the Star Wars trio)

Penny has a Millennium Falcon for Han, because just like Han she is impulsive and has no regards towards her own safety.

The tattoo is on their right shoulder blade. They got this one the day they graduated from high school.

The Web Warriors™:

This one is easier, all of the Web Warriors™ together with their favourite momma spider have a little web tattooed on their right collarbone. Next to the web is маленький паук written for the teen heroes aka Penny, Cindy, Gwen & Miles (eventually) and Natasha has мама паук written next to her web. Natasha, Gwen, Cindy and Penny got this one on the one year anniversary of Gwen being a Romanoff (Roni wanted to be in the story too, this was her choice. go bother her about it @justsomeonerandomiguess). Later on when Miles becomes Arachnid and turns 18 he gets one too.

Science Sisters™:

Shuri has Science Sister written in Italian, Penny’s first language. Sorella di scienza

Penny has Science Sister written in Xhosa, Shuri’s first language. Usisi weSayensi

The tattoo is on their bicep, left for Shuri and right for Penny, it’s written in cursive and wraps around their bicep so it looks like a band. Technically speaking this is the latest of the tattoos she gets, on Shuri’s 18th birthday.

The Legacy Trio™:

Felicia has Gattina written with a little black cat.

Sharon has Topolina written with a little mouse.

Penny has Cucciola written with a little puppy.

The reason for it is, because those were the nicknames Tony gave them and it stuck with everyone. This tattoo is on their lower back and they got it on Penny’s 17th birthday.

Parkner:

Harley has the word Princess written with a spiderweb in the shape of a heart.

Penny has the word Darlin’ written with a spiderweb in the shape of a heart.

The tattoo is on Harley’s right hip and on Penny’s left. This tattoo is one she gets on her one year anniversary of dating Harley, at this point they have already been through so much together that she knows that he’s it for her. He knows it too, so much so that he is already working on a ring. But that is besides just like the fact that they are only 17 at this point. Also Harley is the only one who is allowed to have his tattoo on the left, the same side as all of her deceased relatives. When she tells him he asks her if she is sure and she says yes, because this way he is a little closer to those who matter to her that he can’t meet.

[dasozelotvonnebenan]

— OC QUESTIONS

everything for lorna so a lot of stuff

BASICS

1. What’s their full name?

Lorna Astriddottir.

2. What does their name mean? Why were they named that?

Her name doesn’t mean anything special. Just Lorna the daughter of Astrid. Regular norn stuff.

3. Do they have any nicknames?

Lorna von Kodash when she wants to sound a little more epic. She made that name up when she was a kid and didn’t even know where or what Kodash was. She read it somewhere and thought “well that sounds cool”

4. How old are they?

28 or so

5. When’s their birthday?

somewhere in winter, close after wintersday. She says she gets less presents because of that

6.What’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? Do they believe that holds any significance?

I don’t know much about that, so I’m gonna extend that to her and say she doesn’t really think about it.

7. What’s their species/subspecies? Do they have any special/magical abilities?

She’s a Norn, coming from a long line of Owl shamans. She thinks that is why she can’t transform, but its a little more complicated.

8. What “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? If none, what weapon do they favor?

She’s a necromancer, mostly fighting with a big ass greatsword. And when I say bigass I mean it. The sword as a whole is about as tall as she is, so the blade is about 3 m long.

APPEARANCE

1. What do they look like?

Note how big that sword is? Lorna is 3 and a half metres tall (that’s 11′5′’). I hc norn to be taller than they are in game so they are a little more like giants so she isn’t astronomically taller than everyone but she is still very tall for a norn. She’s also buff as hell. She will stomp you and spit in your eyeeeeee.

have a screen

2. Do they have a face claim?

no. though I think her face ingame is pretty accurate

3. What’s their style like? Clothes, hair, makeup?

She makes a point of casually wearing plate armor to show how strong she is. The rest of the time she wears her robes from the necromancy academy. Her hair is most often braided back, though she changes the pattern often. Makeup wise... excentric and playing off her tatoos.

4. How do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression?

Lorna knows she is intimidating and she revels in the feeling. She’ll stand to her tallest, look expressionless into your eyes and watch you melt into a scared puddle under her gaze.

With friends she is a lot more relaxed though and actually laughs a lot. She still doesn’t smile much though.

5. Do they have any physical ailments or disabilities?

She sometimes accidentally turnes swearing into harmfull magic, but that’s mostly under controll now.

PERSONALITY

1.What’s their alignment?

Chaotic Good

2. Which one of the 16 Personality Types do they fit into?

No clue about those

3. What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

She does enjoy hunting, usually with daggers becaues if she uses her swords it’s an unfair fight for the boar. She plays DnD with her cousins when she is staying with them and is an excellent kegbrawl player. She does read sometimes, mostly bad romance novels. The more predictable the better.

4. What are they bad at?

Cooking that is more complicated that holding something over fire. She has in her life not once produced a meal that was properly seasoned and is not allowed near the salt box.

5. What kind of things do they dislike/hate?

Jokes about her height.

6. Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

nope

7. What are their goals and motivations?

She wants to get into complete controll of her magic swearing, but other than that she doesn’t have any big goals in life.

8. What are their manners like? Any habits?

Theoretically she knows how to act well mannered. However she elects to be obnoxious because she knows people are too afraid to tell her off.

9. What are they most afraid of?

Being alone. As much as she plays the untouchable loner she values her friends greatly.

BACKGROUND

1. Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

Lorna was born in Hoelbrak, where her parents lived most of year. Her parents died when she was very little though, and she was raised by her uncles. She spent a lot of time with the Akis and Dak’s sisters.

2. What’s their family like?

Her parents were owl devotees, by tradition from her mothers side, and her father kind of picked it up because of her mother. They were very caring until they died. Her aunts and uncles are a wild bunch. The Akis are sibling grade cousins and obviously very nice people to be around.

3. What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

She’s a Scientica at the Thule Academy of Thanatology (My dad’s necromancer school rp guild) which means she is in the third semester.

In the Family Kegbrawl Team she plays as a brawler and has 14 year streak in getting the highest points for a single player.

4. How do they fit into their “story”?

Most of her personality developed through and around the academy rp. Her magic swearing for example was introduced as a reason why she would want to go there in the first place. Now that the guild isn’t active anymore she is part of my wholesome group of Akis and friends for when I want to think about happy people being happy.

5. Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

Lorna doesn’t have a place of her own. She mostly stays with the Akis in their homestead or stays at the hunters lodge in queensdale for the school year.

6. How do they eventually die?

no plan yet

RELATIONSHIPS

1. Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

The Akis are definitely not only family but also friends, and she is friends with a few of her classmates. You could count Era and Cap but they are more friends of friends to her.

2. What’s their friend group like? What role do they play in it?

3. What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

no significant other, no kids.

4. Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

Her Jotun historian great uncle who for most of her life was the coolest person she ever met, and if she hadn’t met Knut Whitebear one time.

5. Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

I don’t think Lorna hates any specific person, but she has a deep and powerful hatred for the svarnir because of her parents.

6. Do they have any pets?

no pets

7. Are they good with kids? Animals?

Lorna is okay with kids, others admire her for how much she can keep up with the energetic little ones without getting tired. She doesn’t particualarly enjoy it but she just can’t say no when they want to play.

With animals sually yes, though she doesn’t like animals that are close to her size or even bigger than her. She isn’t used to it finds it intimidating.

FUN FACTS

1. Which tropes do they fit? Which archetypes?

She’s the Loner that isn’t actually alone just plays that mysterious aura.

2. Do they play any instruments? Sports?

She can play drums :D And yeah as said above she is a good kegbrawl player.

3. What are some items they always carry?

She has a chak claw that is made to be a continer for life force, so that she doesn’t actively hold onto some all the time. It was the first thing she had to craft in the academy. She also carries around a small owl feather in a locket for good luck.

4. Do they collect anything?

The only thing you could say she collects are insults. She knows quite a lot of those.

5. What position do they sleep in?

Curled up because most beds are too small for her. The guest bed at the Akis’ homestead is theoretically big enough for her, but she is so used curling by now she never uses the full length.

6. Which emoji would they use the most?

😈

7. What languages do they speak?

Common, the Norns’ own language (with a pronounciation/word selection that sounds old), a bit of jotunn.

8. What’s their favorite expletive?

(I’m gonna lift this one straight from myself because it kinda fits and Lorna is a bit self inserty anyways) most used is something simple. Fuck and shit in comparable amounts. Her favourite though is “blood and ash!” (which may or may not be the expletive of choice in the wheel of time)

9. What’s their favorite candle scent?

honey

10. What songs remind you of them?

Can’t come up with one right now, but I’ve never been big on the connecting ocs with music thing.

11. Which animal would you say represents them?

You know how cats roam around alone but actually are group animals that raise their kittens together and stuff? That’s lorna.

12. What stereotypical high school clique would they fit into?

She’d be with the emos for sure.

13. What would their favorite ride at an amusement park be?

Haunted House

14. Do they believe in aliens? Ghosts? Reincarnation or something else?

Aliens and Ghosts are both a thing in tyria. I don’t know of any instance of reincarnation but our collection of immortals and sentient zombies makes up for that. So yeah she believes in those.

As for like tyrian cryptids or unprecedented and absurd supernatural happenings she isn’t big on those.

15. Do they follow any religions/gods? Do they celebrate holidays?

She’s a norn and does the norn things.

16. Which Deadly Sin do they most correspond to? Which Heavenly Virtue?

Wroth and Diligence

17. If you had to choose one tarot card to represent them, which would it be?

hmm the hermit would be the obvious one but because she doesn’t actually want to be alone I think the Stars fits even better.

[alonelytinywriter]

Bright Shadows

Yandere! Present Mic / Yandere! Eraserhead / Original Female Character 

Playlist ~ War of Hears (Acoustic Version) - Ruelle

Name: Izuku Nezuko ~ Birthday: October 28th ~ Age: 24 ~ Hair Color: White ~ Eye Color: Red ~ Gender: Female ~ Height: 4′8′’ ~ Quirk: Shadow Walking

Appearance: Nesuko is a short girl with a noticeably lithe, light figure. She is an albino, with snow-white hair, pale skin, and red eyes: even her eyebrows and lashes are white, though she commonly has her lashes darkened at the local Salon near her home in Tokyo. Her hair is extremely long, and reaches down to her knees at the beginning of the story, but she chops most of it off later on.  Her most noticeable feature is her prosthetic left leg, which has a large lace sleeve design etched into the material in red. ~ Nezuko’s casual outfits typically consist of sweatpants or leggings, and loose, comfortable tops. As a ballet dancer Nesuko is forced into uncomfortable clothing and she wants to be able to relax off stage, although she is not apposed to wearing a kimono.

Quirk: Shadow Control ~ Nesuko’s Quirk gives her full control of the shadows around, allowing her to use it for travel, attack, defense, and concealment. Her Quirk, however, is limited to the fact that in brightly, well lite places make the use of her Quirk difficult. Her ability to change her Quirks’ focus at a moments notice, allowing her to change the ability of her Quirk she uses, made her a choice candidate for Hero work, but after  the loss of her leg she quit that line of work and turned her attention to ballet instead.  ~ Power - 3/5 ~ Speed - 6/5 S ~ Technique - 6/5 S ~ Intelligence - 4/5 ~ Cooperativeness - 5/5

Random Notes ~ Originally, Nezuko’s name was going to be Mia, but I had about five different OFC’s knocking about in my head and all their names started with M, so I had to change it . . . to N . . . because that’s original. Also, it should be noted that the accident that caused Nezuko to loose her leg, and therefore stop attending a Hero program, would have been something to do with the Hero program. There would probably be a pretty dramatic backstory behind it, something that has to do with life or death, but I’ve not focused on that too much.

~Bright Shadows~ 

~ Nezuko and her fiance Hadao arrive in Musutafu, where their wedding is meant to be held in only a few days. They both visit Midoriya’s mother and upon learning that her little cousin not only enrolled, but was accepted to U.A. High School, she becomes thrilled, if not a little confused - how could her Quirk-less cousin become a hero? This is great though! He’s getting to live out his dreams! - and she decided that she wants to see him before the wedding, to invite him personally.

~ Nezuko travels to U.A., hoping to catch Midoriya before he begins home, and instead runs into Hero’s Present Mic and Eraserhead outside the academy entrance. They are just about to interrogate her - as in who she is exactly, and what she’s doing there - when Midoriya comes out of nowhere. Holy SHIT when did that kid get so fucking FAST? In his excitement, Midoriya accidentally mangles the knee join in Nezuko’s prosthetic leg, sending them both crashing to the ground.

~ “Midoriya! You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!” “I’m sorry! I”m sorry! I’m so sorry, Koko.” “Great Buddha Midoriya, I can’t even WALK now!” “I”M SORRY. OH my GOD, I’m so SORRY!” “Stop trying to TOUCH IT!” “CRAZY OLD HAG, I’M JUST TRYING TO HELP!”  I’m pretty sure you’ll know who is who.

~ It’s fine. Everyone knows that U.A. has Mia, and Mia can work on anything, and anything Mia works on, Mia fixes. And the fact that Nezuko has a pass card to enter the school . . . and knows Mia already . . . well, that’s fine. Totally, fine . . . right? It’s not until their already in the school, Midoriya and Bakugou helping Nezuko hobble along, that it suddenly dawns on the two hero’s in the group that the alarms never went off, and Nezuko seems familiar with the layout of the school already. As it turns out, she was a student, years ago, but after the accident which cost her her leg and her best friend, Nezuko transferred to a non-Hero academy. “I joined a ballet company only a few years after transferring. Turns out I’m really good at dance, I just never knew because I was so focused on becoming a Hero.” 

~ The Hero’s are fascinated and silently decide to stay along with the students as Nezuko waits for Mia to fix the knee of her prosthetic leg, perched atop a work table, her left leg ending just a few inches above her knees. The scar is smooth, a simple X, nearly hidden beneath the ink tattooed into her skin in a rich red that matches the lace design etched into the ceramic leg. Everyone is fascinated by her appearance, what had happened to her, where she had danced and what she typically danced too, and Nezuko chats away easily, flashing smiles and laughing madly. She and Midoriya exchange private jokes often and it’s revealed that she’s Midoriya’s cousin, one who had moved away years ago. The wedding is mentioned and in Midoriya’s exited, he inadvertently invites not only himself - which Nezuko didn’t mind at all - but also his teachers and classmates as well - which only bothered Nezuko the tiiiiinest, not that she would tell him that, with him smiling so wide and just so damn excited about her upcoming marriage.

~ The morning of the wedding comes and with it comes a mass text sent by Nezuko to, as far as anyone can tell, every attendee of the wedding: The wedding has been canceled. Please don’t try to come to the temple. I’m sorry. Of course, the chat absolutely blows up but for the next 10 hours but Nezuko doesn’t make a single entry to the speculation, accusations, words of worry, and any of the other hundreds of messages people continued to send throughout the day. 

~ That night Midoriya and the other students of class 1-A are sitting in the common room of their dormitory, speaking at length about their day of classes with Eraserhead and Present Mic, when suddenly Mineta starts screaming about ghosts, pointing  at the wall behind everyone, and they turn to see someone materializing in the shadows. Everyone goes on the defensive, but a moment later Midoriya is screaming for everyone to calm down. The shadows condense and Nezuko steps out of the darkness, clad in her white wedding kimono, her hair and makeup done - although her makeup is more than a little smudged - and absolutely bawling. She’s absolutely plastered, and shes babbling about not being able to find her hotel and how she kept getting lost, and makes more than one awful joke about walking into the wrong place at the wrong time, until she begins to sob so hard she can no longer be understood. 

~ Everyone looks at Midoriya, expecting him to know what to do, but he’s completely in shock. Growing up, she was the one who would go after Bakugou whenever he was bulling Midoriya. She was the one who could fall from a tree and jump up laughing. She never cried. Not when her cat died when she was in the eighth grade, or when her mother passed away two years later, or when she lost her leg and was forced from the Hero program. But now she looked . . . broken. 

~ The most he can think to do is get her to one of the couches so shes not collapsed on the floor. Pretty soon everyone starts coming forward with small items they think will help her. Mineta brings her a bucket, saying that every time his Aunt drinks, she’s sick. Yuga not only mentions, but prepares warm tea, saying that it will help sooth her stomach. Uraraka and Asui appear from nowhere, small towels in hand. “Their cold . . . they’ll help.” Asui doesn’t explain further, but Midorya doesn’t think to ask questions. 

~ And the question is finally asked: ”Nezuko . . . what happened?” 

~ It doesn’t take long for the story to unfold once Nezuko begins talking. It’s like she’d been holding it in all day and she was finally allowing herself to admit to what had happened. She arrived to the temple at dawn, as she was supposed to do, and it wasn’t until she had already prepared and dressed for the wedding that she learned that Hadao had yet to arrive. When she called it went the first mail the first time . . . and then the second, and the third, and the fourth . . . He didn’t answer until she had called so many times she was certain it would take her weeks to clear the calls from her phone. 

~ “He answers and acts like I - I can’t hear the woman talking in the background! Like she isn’t laughing, plain as day! And he doesn’t even act concerned when I bring up the fact he should have been at - at - at the temple over an hour before. He just said ‘Oh, that was today?’. He can’t stand me. He told me - he told me that the sight of me is disgusting. And that - that for the past year he’s - he’s - he’s been sleeping with my understudy!” 

~ Everyone finds it difficult to understand Nesuko after this story unfolds, as she sobs uncontrollably, but one sentence stands out, as she begins to repeat it over and over again. 

~ “What did I do wrong?”

~ The sound of her voice begins to rise, despite the fact she doesn’t appear to be yelling. Her emotions are beginning to carry so strongly that her Quirk is acting erratically. Shadows begin to draw in around her, then fade entirely, shrouding her in darkness before sending it spiraling away like smoke. Her skin begins to darken and Midoriya panics. 

~ He had heard Nezuko’s mother and father speaking with his parents when they were much younger. He had been trying to sneak into the kitchen to snag a couple of cookies for the two of them, but something his Uncle had said stopped him in his tracks.

~ “It’s lucky that she didn’t kill herself, or anyone else for that matter. I’ve never seen anything like it. The fireworks started going of and her Quirk - it - it exploded. I don’t know how else to explain it. It exploded, Inko. Everyone near her was thrown back and it was like . . . it was like the shadows were trying to take her. Like she was going to disappear into them.”

~ Midoriya never did get the cookies that day. 

~ In the end, it’s Eraserhead who steps in. He just walks up to her and sort of scoops her up before rocking her back and forth in his arms, almost like she was a baby, shushing her all the while. And it works. In minutes Nezuko is nearly silent, sniffling as she falls asleep in his arms. She needs to sleep this off, everyone knew, and no one questioned the Hero’s as they wandered away, a nearly unconscious Nezuko still held in Shouta’s arms. 

~ The students wouldn’t realize this but Shouta and Hizashi help Nezuko strip from her wedding kimono, helping her shrug from layer after layer of heavy silk and lace. She’s completely blasted at this point, barely speaking, and she doesn’t seem to understand who the two Hero’s are, not that they would complain. Instead they allow her to cling to them, shushing her delicately, smoothing their hands across her back and sides as they speak lowly between themselves.

~ “She’s beautiful.” “Like a doll. Why would that idiot -” “Shhhh, you’ll upset her.” . . . “He’s an idiot.” “Yeah, he is. But we won’t let her go, will we, ‘Zashi?” “Of course not. How could we let our Darling go?” 

~ They dress her in one of Hazhish's t-shirts, one that smelled heavily of the hero - even if it might have looked a bit to formal to be a sleeper - and a pair of Shouta’s boxers, and after stroking their hands across her soft - so soft - skin, they leave her in the nearest guest room to the commons, a glass of water and aspirin on the side table. Just as they shut the door behind them they say her sigh and roll over, her hands clenching at the air for a moment before she settled into a more peaceful kind of rest. 

~ The next morning dawns bright and early, a low mist hanging along the ground, and Nezuko has no idea where she’s at when she wakes up in a too large bed, her wedding kimono gone and replaced by an extra large t-shirt that smells of bourbon and hairspray. She’s nearly on her way to a full blown panic attack, the memories of the previous day muddled by her drink, when she stumbles from the room and finds herself staring down a brightly lit hallway that leads to . . . a living room? Or maybe a kitchen? There was a thought tickling at the back of her memory, one she knew would explain her surroundings. It evaded her, however, and she walked forward rather than focus on the lost memory. The the large windows spanning the length of one window show U.A. looming in the background, and Nezuko breaths a sigh of relief. The dormitories. Of course.

~ A clock near the kitchen entryway shows that’s it’s early, much to early for the students to have already awoken and Nezuko decided to cook, something to keep her hands, and mind, busy. By the time the first of the students begin to awake the smell of food is wafting through the dorm halls. Nezuko is found by Hizashi - barely awake and almost 100% scruffy - and Shouta. She’s ‘borrowed’ one of the students music players, and she’s dancing around the kitchen to the beat of the song that plays through her headphones, eggs being whisked thoroughly before she moved to pour more into the pan before her. On the table sits a spread of steamed rice, tamagoyaki, sliced watermelon and cucumber, and toast topped with bacon, lettuce, and small cherry tomatoes on the side. 

~ You better believed that Nezuko dropped the bowl, wasting what eggs she had left, when she turns and finds the two Hero’s standing behind the island counters, watching her move with wide, dazzled eyes. And her scream brings every single student of class 1-A running into the commons. 

~ “It’s fine. It’s fine, Midorya. I just didn’t know anyone was awake yet.” “We weren’t even doing anything! We were just standing there!” “I know, I just didn’t know you where there.” “It’s not her fault you two old geezers decided to sneak up on her!” “Okay, no, calm down -” “There so much food . . .” “Holy crap, is all that for US?” “No, stop Bakugou - yeah, it’s for you - because their your teachers, that’s why you little jerk.” 

~ While the students all begin to dig into the breakfast before them, Nezuko begins to muse out loud about what she would do next. There might have been more than a bit that she couldn’t remember - how exactly she’d gotten to bed was still a mystery - but she could remember the conversation with her ex quite vividly, and the one that followed - the one where she drunkenly called her ballet company, explained how Siesa, her understudy, was a dirty husband stealing whore . . . and then she’d quit. 

~ The comments start as a joke, the kids telling Nezuko that her cooking is so good she could give Lunch Rush a run for his money. Midoriya feeds into the hype, claiming: “She learned how to cook when we where kids. She used to make all the deserts for every family get-together, and every time she brought something different. It was great.” Bakugou even goes so far as to admit that, “Her cheesecake is really good. Fluffy, and really creamy.”

~ Of course the other students beg Nezuko to bring them each a different dessert, and Nezuko jokingly agrees, but Mina mentions that there���s never anywhere for the students to eat on campus, but for Lunch Rush, and he’s only available during school hours . . .the knowledge stuck with Nezuko, knocking around in her head for weeks. 

~ During these weeks she moves in with Midoriya’s mother and works at restarting her life after her failed wedding.  She learns of a cafe/studio apartment located on the U.A. campus, a building that was abandoned due to a main waterline break and after only one visit she falls in love and immediately begins to work towards taking ownership. Only a month later she’s moved into the building, and gutted the water damaged first floor. Within two she’s rebuilt and standing outside the doors of the cafe - named The Garden - welcoming students in for the grand opening. 

~ No one is really sure, but some time during these two months Nezuko cut her hair. No one seemed to notice for ages (Present Mic was the first to take note and he was horrified to see that her hair, which had hung well to her knees, had been lopped off so the tips brushed her shoulders) but once it was, Nezuko merely stated that, “It was too damn long.” 

~ The Garden ends up being the main spot for students who don’t want to cook their breakfast or late-time snacks. Even the teachers come here sometimes, especially ones who live on campus with the students, as Dorm monitors and the Principle. 

~ During the next few months Eraserhead and Present Mic become a nearly constant presents at the cafe. If one isn’t there after school hours then the other typically is, and more often than not, they arrive together, engaging Nezuko as she floats through the crowded store, handing out drinks and meals. They begin the transition into her life so smoothly Nezuko doesn’t even notice until it’s too late.

~ It happens out of the blue, Present Mics’ advance on Nezuko. One moment, they’re relaxing together in the cafe, sipping their favorite drinks and half-halfheartedly watching the news as a villain attack takes place across the town, both waiting for students to begin to arrive after their classes, and the next Present Mic has drawn Nezuko across his thighs onto his lap and his lips are on hers, and his hands are on her, and - 

~ “Stop!” 

~ Nezuko rejects him as gently as she can, she really does, but even as she explains that it’s too soon after her failed marriage, too soon after Hadao betraed her, how she doesn’t want to move into a relationship with anyone, there’s something . . . off, about Hizashi’s expression. For a moment he had appeared furious, damned that she would rejects him, but almost as quickly as it was there he smoothed the expression over and instead watched her with a cool sort of indifference. 

~ “’Zashi what’s . . . what’s wrong?” 

~ His answer is lost in the sound of sirens blaring, and the two realize that the school is under attack. Lights are cut off, although the sirens continue to wail, and in the distance Nezuko is sure she can hear explosions sounding. 

~ Present Mic leaves saying that he has to check on the students - “Hide, and don’t come out for anyone, understand?” - but Nezuko knows that he was looking for Eraserhead. She had heard about the U.S.J. incident that had happened only a short time before, and she knew the Voice Quirk Hero worried after his friend. The two were close in a way that had caused her to ask Nemuri if the two were a couple. Nemuri had merely shrugged, stated that she, and every other member of the faculty, had been trying to figure that out for years. 

~ Nearly an hour passes, and still the fight seems to go on until, finally, everything goes silent. Nezuko emerges from her hiding place, but a moment later a large hand covers her face, a rag smelling of something sickly and sweet enveloping her mouth and nose, and then everything goes black.

~ The next few days are a blur for Nezuko. She drugged more than once, sometimes with a something that puts her back to sleep, sometimes with something that makes her skin feel like its on fire and her body to twist and writhe with a strange sort of pain that wasn’t whole unpleasant, but made her want something more, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was that she wanted. 

~ When Nezuko finally comes aware, she realizes that the shadows been seeing through the fog of drugs, the voices she’s been hearing - it’s Present Mic and Eraserhead, and for their part, their acting as if there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing strange about the fact Nezuko is in a strange place, without know how or why. And no matter how many times she tried to slur the words out, Nezuko felt as if they purposefully misheard her. 

~ Present Mic convinces her that everything is fine. She’d been ‘kidnapped’ by ‘villains’ and they had ‘rescued’ her. None of this sets right with Nezuko . . . but why would they lie? They were her friends. But the unsettled feeling that bloomed in her stomach continued to unfurl as the day went on. They were no long on U.A. campus. Instead, they were in a large home, two stories, with a large wrap around porch, and windows that looked into the trees that seemed to surround the home on all sides. And the house is beautiful. A strange mix of exactly what Nezuko would have though Present Mic’s and Eraserhead’s homes would have looked like if they lived together: a subtle mix of loud and obnoxious, and a more subdued, simplistic combination that blended well with one another.

~ That day Nezuko glimpses the first taste of what her situation is truly like: 

~ It starts so innocently - lunch had been ate, dishes washed and put away, and Nezuko was just beginning to feel comfortable when Present Mic began to insist on her using their first names. “It’s no problem, Darling. You just call me Hizashi, or ‘Zashi, and you can just call him Shouta. We’re friends, aren’t we?” The touches began after than, soft brushes of Shouta’s fingers across her shoulder as he reached above her to point out something, or Hizashi rubbing against her as he walked by to take her to a new room in house - and there was a lot - and once she could have sworn that Shouta was standing behind her, nuzzling into her hair, but when she had turned around he was nearly a foot back, and merely watch Hizashi talk animatedly about his extensive vinyl collection. 

~ That evening things come to a head when she’s called to the bathroom to find that both Shouta and Hizashi are there, a steaming bath with rose petals waiting. “It’s time for your bath, darling.” . . . “What the fuck?” Nezuko is ready to attack within minutes. She had trusted them, believed them when they had said she as in danger but they . . . they were the danger. Delusional. They thought that she was theirs. Their girlfriend. Their darling. It was said so many times that Nezuko wondered if perhaps she had been kidnapped by villains, her memory modified is some manner . . . but she knew deep down that she wasn’t wrong when she looked them square in the eyes and said, “You’re crazy.” 

~ The fight that would have ensued or, more specifically, Nezuko’s escape was thwarted nearly instantly by Shouta’s Quirk. And despite her high school years being spent training to be a Hero, the years spent as a ballet dancer that followed had done nothing to prepare her for a fight between two Pro-Hero’s. And Shouta had been prepared. A vial of medication designed to slow a persons Quirk to the point of being non-usable was waiting in one of his many pockets, and the moment and scarves had Nezuko immobile he moved in, deftly forcing her to drink the liquid by simply pinching her nose shut and not allowing her to take a breath until she did as he requested. 

~ The medicine takes effect almost immediately and afterward Hizashi and Shouta have no issues undressing their Darling and easing her into the bathtub, Shouta’s fingers working soaps and conditioners through her hair lovingly while Hizashi uses a soft cloth to smooth a peach scented body wash across her skin. Neither Shouta nor Hizashi show any shame in their adoration of her body and the two allow their hands to stray often, fingers rubbing against her nipples, delicate caresses to the inside of her thigh and the sides of her neck, a single touch against her private area - it was enough to send Nezuko, in her drugged state, into a near hypnotized state, her breathing labored and her cheeks rosy. They take her panting whimpers and her hands pushing against theirs as signs that she is enjoying their administrations, and the begin to shower her with words of love.

~ “You’re such a beautiful Darling.” “We’ll never let you go.” “So lovely.” “He was a fool, baby. We’ll never abandon you like that.” “Beautiful girl.” “Sweet girl.” “Our girl.” “Ours.” 

~ Nezuko has enough and when Shouta moves to stroke her cheek she moves her head and bites him, growling lowly. She may not be able to speak well, due to the drugs, but she’s able to get across her point with little problem. Shouta sighs, and says, “I was hoping that it wouldn’t come to this.” 

~ And then he spanks her. He lifts her up, lays her so she’s bent over the side of the tub, her ass in the air, and he honest to god begins to spank her. He smacks her until her bottom is as red as an apple, and Nezuko has long since been reduced to a sobbing, blubbering mess. She hasn’t been spanked since she was a child and the experience is . . . startling. 

~ Afterward Hizashi exits, saying that he’s going to be late for a shift at the radio station, and with a soft kiss to Nezuko’s forehead, he’s gone, leaving her with Shouta as he helps her from the tub, towels her dry, and dresses her in soft cotton shorts and a cotton tank top. Despite her mind knowing that it was Shouta who had just inflicted the pain upon her, the moment he laid down in the bed wit her, his hands rubbing against her back soothingly, Nezuko found herself sobbing once more, her face tucked against Shouta’s chest, shoulders shaking, until she finally collapsed into a restless sleep. 

~ When Hizashi arrives home he finds Shouta still in bed with Nezuko, her head pillowed on one of his arms, her breaths short and even, and he can’t help but to climb into the bed with them, his phone at the ready. If anyone went through his phone in the next few days it would lead to a very awkward conversation since it would clearly show him laying next to Nezuko and Shouta, which wasn’t a problem in and of itself . . . except for the fact they may or may not have led everyone else to believe that villains had kidnapped her. 

~ But that was a worry for another day. 

~ Weeks pass and Nezuko falls into an uneasy routine with the two Hero’s. They make no moves to punish her again, so long as she doesn’t create that much of a fuss, and she doesn’t fight (although Eraserhead ensures that she’s fully aware of how easy it would be to track her if she escaped, as they placed a Quirk dampener around her next before she awoke her second day under their care, and how much trouble she would be in if she did escape) and Nezuko was more or less allowed to roam the house and do as she pleased. She was allowed outside, but only if one of the two Hero’s were with her, and as she tried to avoid them as much as possible, this happened very rarely. 

~ The two Hero’s do, however, seek Nezuko out randomly, touching her, kissing her, showing their love for her, and despite the fact she shows no enthusiasm for these embraces, the two Hero’s don’t loose hope and merely refer to her attitude as “her little pout” which they were convinced would fade eventually.  

~ Shouta and Hizashi are called away, and despite the fact neither want to leave Nezuko unattended, they agree that they have little choice in the matter. They spike her tea, hoping that she’ll sleep until they return, and once she’s fallen asleep they tuck her in and head out, Hero Gear already donned. But when their mission runs much longer than they expected and 6 hours  turn into 16, they already know what to expect when they arrive home.

~ The window in the kitchen is smashed and there is a trail of a single bloody foot print that staggers from the window, across the back porch, and down the steps, towards the trees. It’s already dark outside and the two panic, fleeing into the woods to find their lost Darling, and it doesn’t take the two long to find her curled among the roots of a tree, shivering from the cold and the mist spraying from the river. She’d clearly lost her way and fallen, her arms and legs scrapped and bleeding, and the way her prosthetic leg was laid out in front of her, knee askew and ankle bent to a strange angle, they knew that she had damaged it badly. 

~ Nezuko begins to panic, attempting to scrabble away, nearly hysterical, but Shouta and Hizashi are so reveled that she’s okay and they found her that they don’t even remember to punish her. Instead they scoop her up and begin to dote upon her, making sure that she’s alright, and the two take her back to their home, despite her protests of wanting to be let go. 

~ Hizashi soothes her, smoothing back her hair and Shouta whispers softly into her ear. “You’ve had a rough time, darling. Let get you bathed, and a nice warm meal, and then you can take a nap. Hmm? How does that sound?” 

~ It doesn’t matter what Nezuko says, their going home.

[disregardcanon]

important modern westeros headcanons concerning the extended stark clan for my own modern au 

important details to know 

married couples: brandon and barbrey, ned and cat (duh), rickard and lyarra, hoster and minisa, brynden and unspecified beautiful man, and edmure and roslin

the starks, as we know them, are not The Starks Of Winterfell, they’re like their sixth cousins who live in winterfell the town (not the castle). they still have some runoff money from being related to them but they’re not the absurdly old money that The Starks Of Winterfell TM are. rickard and lyarra and then brandon and barbrey are at the cusp of between upper and upper middle class and then ned, lya, and benjen who didn’t go into the family business are towards the bottom of upper middle. 

rickard stark is a shrewd and calculating businessman. he doesn’t ever coast through deals on the stark name, but he doesn’t like. avoid using it either. out of all his children, legal or good, he gets along the best with barbrey, brandon’s wife. rickard sent all of his children to a upper crust southron boarding school over the school years and then the “summer” (i don’t know how westerosi school years would work yet okay but imagine an equivalent of an american summer vacation) he sends brandon to stay with some friends in barrowtown, where he ended up falling in love with barbrey ryswell. he dies around the same time that bran is born of cancer. 

lyarra stark, nee flint, is dedicated. she’s the one who kept up her husband’s squeaky clean public face, and she was always doing double time for brandon. when lyanna ran off with rhaegar and then came back with a baby to live with ned and cat for a few years, she was doing triple time. lyarra has a sharp wit and is very ambitious. she thinks that all of her children but brandon made a mistake when they chose not to go into the family business and she doesn’t let any of them forget it. she loves her grandchildren, even though she dislikes the circumstances of jon’s birth and thinks that ned might not have gone into police work if he didn’t marry a woman who went into law. 

brandon and barbrey stark are the “someone will die.” “of fun!” couple. brandon is big, boisterous, and friendly and barbrey is hilarious, if you have a cruel and biting sense of humor. barbrey is devoted and loving, if you’re her family, and she’s disapproving of anyone who hasn’t earned her love. she and brandon don’t have children because brandon travels so much for work and barbrey doesn’t want them, but they love on ned and lyanna’s enough you’d think they were their own. brandon takes over the company when rickard dies and babrey is a higher up in her own father’s. she and roose bolton are frequent business partners. 

in less fun news, barbrey’s sister, bethany, was married to roose bolton. barbrey and roose remain good friends until she attends the funeral of the man’s other son after he was killed resisting arrest for serial killing, torture, lots of not great ramsayish things because barbrey’s like “well roose is kinda a dick but it’s not like he wanted the kid to be like that. gotta go support the guy so he feels less bad” and gets a really bad vibe about the whole deal. she cuts off contact after that. 

when lyanna stark was young, her mother and father were always talking about different businessmen she could marry and how she could come north and take over her portion of the family business, and lyanna felt suffocated. instead of coming back up to winterfell after her high school graduation, she runs off with her married poetry teacher, rhaegar viserion. it’s about a two year crazy ride of a romance, and lyanna ends up with a baby and the realization that rhaegar is terrible for her. she moves back up north to winterfell with ned, who was in the midst of a falling out with his parents over his choice to forego college and go into police work and his choice to marry so young, catelyn, and their young son robb. lyanna lived with ned for about four years (seeing sansa’s birth) before she died of cancer. this results in a few year long custody battle with jon’s father to keep him in winterfell. the custody arrangement ends up with jon spending major holidays of the seven and summer vacations with rhaegar and his siblings but all the rest of the year with ned and cat. 

benjen made his way north to work for an expedition company north of the remains of the wall. he has not married and does not plan to. he dated a few women back in college, but it wasn’t really his thing. he tried dating a few men later on, but it wasn’t his thing either. benjen’s just kind of a lone wolf. he’ll spend holidays down in winterfell, and sometimes ned and cat spend the children up for a week or so at a time for a little break and because benjen loves his niblings

the tullys! depending on the way that i’m feeling on a given day they might be named tully and just be so distantly related to the tullys of riverrun that they can’t even prove a connection, “blackfish” as the children of a riverlands knight who admired brynden tully, or just “fish” because that’s a real last name and the idea of it makes me giggle. the family grew up in maidenpool.

hoster is a former physician well respected in the communtiy. he and his wife, a surgeon, made quite a nice living for themselves, and now hoster is in hospital administration, running the one at the university of maidenpool, one of the most respected institutions in the country. 

minisa whent met hoster at the beginning of med school and the two have been together ever since. becoming a surgeon was difficult for minisa because of all of the obstacles that were against her, but she never let any of it stop her. she was said to have the “steadiest hands in the riverlands” and her children remember her for competent as a professional as well as for being kind and compassionate as a mother. minisa died in a car accident when catelyn was fifteen, and hoster was never the same since. 

brynden was a college athlete, a pro athlete, and then a sports announcer. when catelyn was seventeen, he and his boyfriend were outed to the world and he became one of the most prominent gay celebrities, paving the way for more openly gay men in sports. he was always exceptionally close to his niblings, and once they had children, he doted on them just the same.

lysa was always a little bit unstable. she spent much of her life pining after petyr baelish, their neighbor across the street who was always in love with cat but never looked her way once. when she tried to talk to him about her affections, he laughed in her face the same way that cat had to him. when petyr moved away to king’s landing for college, he never came back and never spoke to her again, though catelyn apparently heard from him lots. 

she flitted from interest to interest, always trying to find something that she was better at than catelyn. she took up a job at an after school program for primarily underprivileged kids, and while she wasn’t good at working with groups, she found that she was very good at making individual members feel loved and confident in ways that she never had as a child. she decided to start up her own home day care with high rates that only let in a small amount of kids, so that they could have more personalized attention. 

she never had any luck with romantic relationships, but after deciding that she wanted a child of her own, she went through the insemination process and had robin. unlike canon robin, this robin almost never lacked peers to interact with between his mom’s daycare kids, his winterfell cousins and his maidenpool cousins, he never lacked for friends. and between his grandparents, his cousins, and his aunts and uncles, robin ever lacked for family or love. 

edmure and roslin met at college. while hoster had been trying to pressure edmure into medical school, he met roslin in his intro to psychology classes and fell in love with the subject as he fell in love with her. roslin is the daughter of, of course, walder frey, by one of his later wives. walder is like a donald trump figure in all the grossesness that entails. roslin became interested in discovering why people act the way that they do (and why that way is so often Bad) and how to try to help people like, not do that. discovering a man who was so earnest, true, and kind was a breath of fresh air. edmure only completed his bachelors and ended up going into public relations at a company in maidenpool but roslin went all the way to get her doctorate and start practicing psychiatry and helping people that way. they had three daughters, minisa who’s rickon’s age, bethany who’s three years younger, and celia who’s two years younger than that. 

[sroloc--elbisivni]

It’s been three months since my dad died.

I think about him every day. Never in the same way twice. Sometimes it’s like last night, where I started remembering the way he grinned and the way he made salmon and how much I miss him and start crying into my pillow. Sometimes it’s like today, where I feel numb and dull and empty until I realize it’s been a quarter of a year and I’m not going to do anything for the rest of my life but get further and further away from him, and the person I was when I knew him. And then I start crying on a plywood platform thirty feet off the ground at work.

I’ve been working a lot this week. This whole semester, really. I’ve wanted to be busy. I’ve wanted to not think about things. And I hate it, because I know that thinking about him is one of the only ways he’ll get fully remembered, and I’m too afraid of getting lost in missing him, and I need to move on and be in the world and I don’t always want to.

But the further away I get, the more I lose. So let me tell you about my dad.

‘You’ being, the general world I guess. You don’t need to read this. I just need to say it. Pretend I can shout at the world “A GOOD MAN IS DEAD” and have it matter.

My dad was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and he had the state in his bones—one time I needed to know what city for paperwork, and I texted him to ask if it was Fargo, and he said “No, the other big eastern city.” He understood blizzards and thunderstorms and dressing for the cold, and he taught them to my brother and me even though we were growing up in coastal California, where only one of those happened, and then rarely.

He was brilliant. If you want to know anything about my dad, it was that he was brilliant, and he was kind, and he was loving. He also had several small strokes at the end of his life that meant he didn’t remember or retain things well, and that he got more irritable, and reclusive, and locked into routine. We didn’t know about the smaller strokes until a month before the one that would kill him. Just that he was getting more distant.

My dad was prickly at the oddest times, and he had a temper, and he hated telemarketers, and bad drivers. He lashed out when he got mad and got sulky when you lashed back. He could snipe, and pick at things you didn’t even realize you were sore about, and didn’t know how to listen to a problem without trying to fix it.

He was good at fixing problems. He would take apart a toaster to fish out a burnt piece of bread, and study up on the riding lawnmower engine and go at the engine over and over again, and learned like he breathed. He wanted to write a book about learning, about the way we think and how it actually works, and what thinking is and what learning is and therefore what teaching should be. He believed that learning was just patterns of action. He and my mother literally wrote a book on how to teach in a way that built things up, rather than trying to pick at people’s behavior until they did what you wanted.

My dad was a teacher. He was a wonderful teacher. He taught me how to ride a bike, and drive a car, even when I was yelling at him, and he taught me how mean, median, and mode worked for a third grade science project. He helped talk me through algebra, and fractions, and division. He tried to teach me editing, but that went badly, because I was fourteen and had decided I knew what was best, and he never knew how to let things he cared about go.

He was a teacher for all of his adult life, even though he only ended up in the teacher’s program at his college because he took the RA’s keys after the RA left them lying around and he thought that was irresponsible, and the authority in charge of his punishment was his mother’s friend and also the Dean of Education. He stayed in the education program at the University of North Dakota for the next several years, helped found the school’s first no-hazing fraternity, found a skull with some friends at an archaeological dig site and held onto it for a couple years, went nocturnal for a while, and wrote his dissertation on the way we learn and the history of education. He talked about cave paintings, as early human abstract thought, but he didn’t get to see them until last year, when we went to France. My brother and I had to make sure he didn’t fall, as we went down into the cave, because it was rough and sloping and he was unsteady on feet he couldn’t quite feel anymore.

My dad had diabetes. My dad loved food. By the end of his life, he had lost feeling almost all the way to his knees, and insulin was taking up more room in our fridge than the eggs and milk put together. He was a great believer in the power of ice cream, as a special treat or just to hide in the fridge for when you wanted a taste. His favorite food that I baked was chocolate chip cookies. I made them with his mom’s recipe. Every time i was baking, he’d walk by and try to steal a piece. He stole popcorn every time we made some, too. Called it a ‘popcorn tax’. He used food as a love language, which made it awkward every time you ended up stopping on the way home for dinner without him, on a night he was cooking. He loved going out to eat, and would always talk to the waiter. He would always talk to anyone, really. More than the rest of us would like. My brother and i would always complain that he didn’t have to tell people our whole story, that they didn’t care. But he cared, and sometimes strangers did too, and sometimes they became friends.

My dad loved having friends. He loved knowing people, and talking to them, and learning from them and teaching them. He loved people, but had the misfortune of marrying an introvert and fathering two more. He was the popular kid in high school, on the football team and the newspaper. It was a Catholic high school—he was a Catholic until college, and then he started asking a lot of questions and never really went back. But he remembered all the theory, and all the questions, and all the things they tried to answer, and he could tell you about them if you wanted to know. My mom remembers when he met her aunt for the first time, a former nun, and they spent a good hour debating the finer points of something she couldn’t understand and barely remembered about the Holy Stations. He was good at that, at making you feel in every conversation that he was looking right at you, and interested in what he saw.

He got his doctorate in education, moved to Colorado, learned to ski, learned to parallel park—at 38, something I never failed to bring up when he was trying to teach me to drive—got married, became a step-father, started a charter school, had a wonderful couple of years teaching things the way he felt people would learn them, worked a paper route to try and keep it going, closed the school, dressed his stepkids up as Jawas for Halloween, got divorced—not necessarily in that order. I wish I’d asked my dad more about this part of his life. All I have are unconnected stories. Eventually he went back to North Dakota, and met my mom, and they spent the rest of his life together as “itinerant academics,” trading off who found a job at another university when they wanted to move. They got married at a courthouse two days before Christmas, because my dad needed health insurance and Mercury was going into retrograde. They had a kid in St. Paul and another in Tacoma. They were progressive educators, at a time when that wasn’t a comfortable thing to be in the Northern Midwest, and they made the giraffe their mascot because they kept ‘sticking their necks out’. I didn’t really appreciate that my parents were rebels against a system until I found out that in his first year of teaching, my dad and his friend had adjoining classrooms, and they came in with sledgehammers one weekend and knocked down the wall so they could have a big open classroom.

I found that out at his funeral. So many people my parents know are scattered all over the country, which is great for road trips and hard for gathering. They sent stories instead.

My dad played the guitar, and he sang in his first year of college—at a Catholic school choir, before he transferred, and the Beach Boys on the bus. He loved the Grateful Dead, and Jimmy Buffet, and the Eagles, and Peter Paul and Mary, and the Kingston Trio, and Bob Dylan, and he loved singing along in the car and dancing along in the kitchen, shuffle-step bouncing to the beat. He wore a sweatshirt with the logo of the elementary school my brother and I went to for fifteen years at least, from the time I was in kindergarten to the time he died. I remember it getting covered with cat hair, after the cat followed us on a walk to school too far to turn around and take her home, so he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. She shed in terror. He used to carry the little half size cello I started learning on to school and back, every Wednesday and Friday, on his back making jokes about being a Sherpa.

My dad liked jokes. My dad liked to laugh. He loved comic strips, and insisted that my brother and I be allowed to read as many as we wanted. Probably the reason he and I got so very good at reading. I would recite Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield and Baby Blues to him, retelling what I remembered and hoping he’d laugh at the punchline. I’d show him things I found on the Internet when I got older, still trying and trying to make him laugh. I was less and less successful over time.

He was excited about the new Star Wars movies. I remember him telling me from his computer in his office, showing me the article. I remember going to the midnight showing of Episode VII, but not VIII—he couldn’t stay up that late. We saw Rogue One with my uncle, weeks after it came out. My dad was always the one who took us to movies as a kid. He liked stories. He liked to have fun. He liked Terry Pratchett and Robert B Parker novels and books about how the universe worked that took him months to finish. He had a brother, a younger brother, and lost him months after he lost his dad, years after he lost his mom. He saved things from them—the couch he grew up with, half a dozen chairs, boxes and boxes of books and records, a flag on the wall, a breakfront with china in it, all kinds of other keepsakes. My dad liked things. liked to save things. Liked to remember people—and he had a good memory. Up until the end.  I came out to him about my gender six times, because he just couldn’t retain it when I told him. and every single time, he was supportive, and careful, and kind, even when he didn’t understand.

He loved our dog so much. He would make her food just so, with kibble and wet food and bacon grease all mixed together and heated in the microwave just so she’d like it. He used to take her on walks, every single day, and took her everywhere in the car with him. They walked on the beach a lot. My dad loved the beach, probably because he lived so far away from it until he was 51. I was born when he was 52.

My dad worried a lot about math education. how people get traumatized by math, and when they become teachers and parents, they pass on that learning math is hard. He worked for UC Berkeley for years, running a program to give engineering students the skills to become teachers. He ran a summer camp in Emeryville for STEM for high schoolers. Or…middle schoolers? I don’t remember anymore. He made these math models, abaci and blocks that showed ones and twos and tens and how numbers fit together into bigger numbers, and then he painted them all the colors of the rainbow so they wouldn’t be scary. So they’d be toys, something fun and beautiful and clever.

There are so many more things, about what a full and beautiful and complicated human he was that I can’t pull to mind or don’t have the words for, but I need you to know he was more than everything I’ve managed to pour here. 

He wasn’t perfect, but he was the best dad I could have had. He was smart enough to answer all the questions I asked him, and he gave wonderful hugs, and he loved with a heart as big and open as the prairie sky. And I miss him, so, so, much, and it hurts to think of how I’ve been missing him for a long time, as little pieces of him broke off and drifted away when we weren’t noticing.

His name was George W. Gagnon, Junior. People called him ’Sandy’ as a kid to keep him distinct from his dad, because he had blonde hair as a baby. When I was little, it was dark, dark brown on the sides and circling the bald top. In the beginning of July it was a snowy white.

He’s my dad, and he’s gone, and I’ve spent the past three months knowing that I’m never going to go home again, not really. And knowing that ‘family’ is too big and whole a word to fill with what we have left.

I can’t cry in front of other people anymore. And I don’t want to talk about how I’m feeling, or what the world is like now. I just want people to know.

A good man is dead. He loved, and was loved, and laughed, and learned, and ate good food and made bad jokes. And even after writing all of that—I still miss him, and he’s still gone.

[tabletibbletobobble]

Gone in an Instant - Prelude

It was a cool October night and laughter echoed down the lonely street.

“You can’t do that!” a young boy shouted. “You can’t wear roller skates.”

It was true; she was wearing roller skates. “There’s nothing in the big invisible rulebook of tag that says I can’t,” she reminded him. She was eight, with black hair and golden-brown eyes. Her hair was curly and fell just past her neck.

“You’re too fast, it’s not fair,” the child continued to protest. His pale face was turning red, his lips rolled into a pout. A small group of fellow players circled around the boy, most nodding in agreement. “You can’t play until you take them off.”

“Who died and made you king of tag?” The girl countered. Her voice was harsher than she meant, but her face remained scrunched up in anger.

“Who made you so bad at running that you need wheels?” The boy laughed. A few children behind him gasped and oo’d.

“Fine!” she shouted. Her fists curled up in anger as she began to kneel down to unlace her skates. “I was just trying to be nice. I’m much faster without them,” she bragged, even unsure herself.

“This ought to be good,” said a spectator.

The girl’s skates weren’t just too big for her, they were high too, with lots of laces. She began unlacing, muttering every almost-swear she could think of. Her mom can’t get mad at her for almost-swears, right? The skates were hand-me-downs from the girl’s aunt. She was an odd woman who used slang incorrectly and talked a lot about bands the girl had never heard of. Her bumper sticker said “Disco Never Died.”

She was just about done with the first lace, when the boy who was it shouted, “Time in!” The entire group scattered.

“You guys are gonna be so sorry when I’m done.” She could here the pattering of footsteps getting more distant. She had to focus on the laces if she was going to be able to play. “I’m gonna run circles around-“ The girl was interrupted by a small hand pushing her firmly to the ground.

“You’re it!” The mean boy exclaimed as the girl winced in pain.

She pulled herself to her feet and saw not a single kid was in sight, except one, who watched the girl from a distance. One foot still in a skate, the other in nothing but a fluffy purple sock. She stood there feeling defeated and humiliated before looking at her arm. A small red cut puffed from her brown skin. She touched it and sucked in through gritted teeth. The girl pulled off her left elbow pad and threw it on the ground, before collapsing down to a knee once more to remove the other skate.

The remaining boy approached her. His hair was a dirty blond falling to bangs above his brown eyes. He wore an orange t-shirt with a shark on it, and a striped black hoodie over it. He walked slowly, as one would approach a stray cat.

“Are you okay?” the boy was nervous. He didn’t want to get yelled at, and he definitely didn’t want to be “it”.

“What do you care?” The girl sniffed, choking back tears.

“That was mean of them,” the boy offered. “I’m sorry.”

“Boys are jerks,” the girl muttered. She might’ve been the new kid, but she knew boys like the ringleader. They’re everywhere.

“Nuh-uh,” the boy argued. “Not all boys are jerks.”

“Name one,” the girl demanded.

“Name one what?” the boy scratched his head.

“Name one boy who’s not a jerk,” the girl looked up at him, as she pulled off her last skate with an “oof”.

“I’m not!” the boy protested.

“My mom says you’re not allowed to say if you’re nice or not.” The girl stood up, she was about the same height as the boy. Maybe a centimeter taller. “She says you can’t judge yourself. So, try again.”

The boy thought a moment. “Mufasa, Simba’s dad.”

“Nuh-uh,” the girl rejected. “He was a bad guy in Star Wars.”

The boy reconsidered for a moment. “What about Naruto?” The boy smiled triumphantly.

“Mom says kids who hurt their friends are jerks,” the girl quickly pointed out. “And him and Sasuke fight a lot.”

“They fight over a girl though!” the boy exclaimed. “They both like her.”

“Mom says boys who fight a lot like each other.” The girl put her hands on her hips confidently.

“Wait,” the boy’s eyes opened wide. “Boys can like other boys?”

“Yep!” the girl exclaimed. “My uncle Nate likes his boyfriend. They live in Boston.” The girl twirled around, picked up her skates by the laces, and began walking toward the two bikes lying on the grass.

The boy followed her. “How’d your mom get so smart?” the boy asked earnestly.

“She always was,” the girl smiled.

The boy smiled back. “Cool.” The two reached their bikes and pulling them up and walking down the street at their sides. “You’re new, right?”

The girl nodded.

“Do you have any friends yet?”

The girl nodded again, “I do, but they’re back California.”

“You can’t be far-away friends with someone,” the boy argued. “They’re pen pals. Do you have any friends here yet?”

The girl shook her head. “The boys are jerks, and the girls are bees!”

“Bees?” The boy questioned.

“It’s what my mom says when a girl is a jerk. I think it stands for something, but I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

“What did the girls do?” The boy asked.

“They said I couldn’t join sports because they didn’t have a surf club and that kids from California only know how to skateboard and surf.” She sighed. “And I don’t even surf! I mean, my dad does, and me and my mom tried it once, but my mom got stung by a jellyfish after we fell off so we had to go home.”

“Whoa!” the boy gasped. “Did she die?”

“No but her foot got red and puffy,” the girl explained. “I think it laid it’s eggs in her. Like in that movie dad said I couldn’t watch the rest of.”

“Which one?”

“ET, I think.” The girl finally mounted her bike. It had a sleek silver paint job, with pink and black waves painted on the handles and frame.

“So you need friends, right?” The boy stat out kind of startling.

“I guess so,” the girl answered. She shrugged. “If my pen-pals don’t count.”

“I’ll be your friend,” the boy offered. Releasing the didn’t even know each other’s name, he shoved out his hand, offering a handshake. “My name’s Nick.”

“Railly,” the girl reciprocated. She took the boys hand and shook it as hard as she could. The two laughed and jumped on their bikes. They raced to the end of their street, then back up where they had played tag. They dodged invisible alien laser blasts and chased off an evil space ship. Railly’s ship was faster, but Nick’s had a more armor and didn’t have to dodge as much.

It wasn’t long before the sky began turning orange and purple. The two were lying on the grass talking about their favorite Saturday cartoons, and who they were going to be for Halloween. Railly was still in her socks, not having removed her sneaker from her school backpack. Her eyes danced around the autumn sky. The gray clouds and what remained of the leaves made Railly think of visiting Uncle Nate. The sky was blue but was starting to shitft. At the first sign of sunset, Railly jumped up. “Oh shoot!” She exclaimed. “I told my mom I’d be home before now!”

The two pulled themselves onto their bikes and raced down the street. “Crap, crap, crap,” Railly repeated to herself. The two sped down the right side of the street, only slowing to cross the street.

Railly’s fuzzy socks were a present on the birthday before they moved. Her mom said she needed to stay warm in the great white north. Railly was not exactly used to the extra bulk of these socks as one got caught in the gears of her bike. She attempted to pull it away, but she over-corrected in trying and swerved to and fro. It was only inevitable that her bike would pull her off road. Onto the grass leading down the hill, into the forest. “Whoa, who, whoa!” She cried as he bike jumped the curb and began it’s bumpy descent. She swerved, nearly slamming her front tire into a large rock, but the bike was still on a collision course for an old willow that marked the forest edge. She should have hit that tree.

Nick’s eyes widened as he watched what had just unfolded. This fast, graceful girl thwarted by a sock, and now hurdling down the hill. He jumped off his bike, leaving it to fall in the middle of the street. He ran after her. He saw her mere inches from the tree and instinctively closed his eyes to avoid seeing the contact. But there was no crash, no scream, no thud. Nick opened his eyes to see nothing but woods and the small creek behind the tree line. Did she jump off her bike and hide just to scare him? Was she a ghost the whole time? Nick rubbed his eyes. There was no Railly. Just an empty silver and pink bike, leaning against an old oak tree. He called out to her. He tried again and again as sun set and the sky turned dark. His new friend was gone.

Railly stumbled forward, rolling into the orange dust of this strange place. She pressed forward back onto her feet, still only with the fluffy purple socks against the rock dirt beneath her. She looked up, seeing the red sky above her, and the orange mountain range in front of her. She looked around, feeling helpless and alone. She turned and pressed her hands against the dirt hill behind her. Could she go back? Could she get home?