#my dog slept with me and this baby is like glue

[rhysands-rightknee]

they're really paying me at work to watch maxton hall 🫶

[pwblogarchive]

January 2006

January 2, 2006

It was strange being outside of chicago on new years. If anyone remembers our apartment shows.

But the confetti was pretty and I think a girl from miss seventeen tried to kiss me on the mouth but kind of missed. Oh yeah and apparantly andrew john hurley is a dreamboat. Check the scoreboard. Tommorrow letterman and then I’m gonna buy some more heinous gear. Do you love it when I wear clashing colors as much as I do?

And why didn’t anyone tell me how amazing the movie the squid and the whale is? I told you about panic…

Over and way the fuck out.

xoxo

January 4, 2006

my top ten (er top seven) of 2005 - no records included.

bonnie dillard - she is always around to tell me how wack i am - she uses the the word "totes" and "just sayin" way too much - and actually types them! she named her dog roxie wentz and she has given me exactly two compliments in my entire life - one of which was on an outfit that she picked out for me. but she pretty much is the glue for clandestine and sometimes pete wentz. editor of filthy magazine.

nick scimeca - this kid makes the craziest faces i have ever seen in my entire life. the first time i met him we got in a snowball fight. pretty much we are in this gang together forever. he does infect, foe, and some clandestine stuff. pretty much whenever i am bummed i can call him up on the phone and hell tell me some hilarious story.

demar hamilton - i have pulled this kids underwear off every time he is around me and totally wasted. its awesome. he also has a dog living in his basement that looks like a 100 yearold teddy ruxpin. oh yeah, his band is rad.

leslie simon - me and her talk about our crushes all the time. we have a mutual love for the music of ashlee simpson and kelly clarkson. when i tell her insane stories i dont even have to say "off the record" she pretty much knows. she thinks of bright eyes and fob in the same way which blows my little mind. she is editting rainy day kids. oh yeah and writing a book about boys in tight jeans that wear eyeliner as far as i can tell but its pretty hush hush.

jonathon cecil miller/dirty - pretty much this kid is made of snakes, snails and puppy dog tails. i have nothing else to say but he is the new pauly shore - even if he always punches me for saying that. pretty much he looks like a cheeseburger with toothpicks for legs but i wouldnt trade him for the world. pretty much he is the best kid ever.

jim sevcik (or however you spell it) - this is the guy who goes and digs the little youth medium shirts out of tiny boxes in the 100 plus degrees on warped tour or freezing temp on NFT - and then takes the money out of your paws. he is definitely most underrated.

andrew simon/buck - when on the westcoast these guys function as my mother. they take us out to dinner, help me find a house or apartment, look up movie times, get screenings, help me find tours, starbucks, have the cutest baby on the planet, oh yeah and they even book shows every once in awhile.

oh well i ran out of steam. ill finish later. pretty much people that i hang out with every single day are not included on this - you know who you are.

- petey

1/04/06 Q&A

question

Pete, I really need some advice. I was a virgin until I slept with this guy. I didnt tell him I was a virgin until 2hrs. after we finished nad I told him online. Then I started freaking out because I was scared I had screwed everything up between us, which I think only made everything worse. this all happen yesterday. Did I screw everything up?

answer

the best part about when things like this happen is that eventually they become the past- if you really like this guy you could probably explain yourself to him- how you just got scared and were nervous to tell him certain things. if he is worth it, i am sure he will take the time to listen and tell you how he feels too. and if he doesn’t give you the time to do that, than he isn’t worth it anyway. you can be through with the past but that past isnt always through with you.

question

Pette what type of bass do you have?

answer

fender just made me my own- its pretty rad- red and black- super light maple neck- customized electronics and pick-ups- check out a picture of it over at: www.clandestine.buzznet.com - they say they are gonna make a real cheap version of it for people to learn on

question

the background on the site finally changed. who does that?

answer

it changes with mother nature.

question

Do you have any scars. Not like emotional scars (you can include them if you wish) but good-story-scars. Like stuff involving armadillos or something interesting like that.

answer

ive got this amazing one down the palm of my hand from when me and robby windgator (sp) climbed a fence in his back yard and my hand got stuck on a nail. it slid down the entire length of my hand- i was like 8. i have two on my right hand from when i fought a car the week before the VMAs. trust me i definitely beat the car up.

January 6, 2006 

notes on black clouds and underdogs - see also: cast all your fears away:

1. tickets will not be 50 dollars. haters are spreading this on the internet. if you buy your ticket ahead of time (not through some wack broker or on ebay or from a scalper)- average ticket price will be between 23-28 dollars - not going over 35 anywhere. we picked the venues based on how cheap we could get them.

2. the bands- we didn't want to have a tour where you had to see five bands that sounded exactly like fob. we went for variety. all of the bands are really nice guys as well. there will be special guests through out the tour and some suprises to make each show more exciting.

3. this is going to be fob's biggest show ever. we will be playing our longest set and will be including some special secrets.

4. did you expect us to just dump the dates in your laps? we are nerdy and weird and different. so we created a game. we thought it would be fun. the points will be weighted so a small town will have the same chance as a huge city to win a small suprise show. we want to play in front of kids that are excited and we know this is a chance to do this. there will still be other secret shows randomly happening.

5. close your eyes and just click. youve got it. dont worry just come out. andy will be running a kissing booth - it will be a blast.

more later.

January 6, 2006 

8:11 pm

i am just a hot mess. i woke up to the feeling of myself throwing up today. pretty much put a damper on the entire day. i ate about 50 stomach pills and then threw them all up- it was a pretty color in the toilet. my toungue is black on the top right now. i am pretty sure thats a bad thing. i watched way too much gastinaeu (however you spell it) girls today. i think it made me sicker. it took me awhile to realize that they were mother and daughter and not sisters- but the mom is kinda hot in pissy kind of way. my mom is out of town so there was noone here to take care of me- my brother was around but hes pretty much always bongzilla'd. so i waited for back-up caretakers to arrive- one of them was busy cutting hair and the other has like a "real" job besides being dad. the best part about vomitting alone in the morning is the way the bathroom tiles feel kinda cool in a pleasant way so i took a nap there for a bit. i want to see hostel tonight but the problem is all the vomitting- see its not that i mind so much its just what if i run into someone in my sicky gear and puke on them? wow. i am glad i did this update. arent you? im gonna leave the comments open cause i never do- just write down the first thing that comes into your mind when you see that reply button- heres mine: i am just a hot mess. 

January 6, 2006

I have to say it makes me feel safe and some kind of comfort to look at the clock in the corner of the screen and know that you are awake too.

posted by: peterpumpkineater

1/12/06 Q&A

question

whats your view/opinion on racism?

answer

i love it. i mean what opinion would i have other than it is terrible. i hope thats what you expected.

question

So Pete, I have been wanting to learn how to play bass for a long time. Any idea when that HOT Clandestine bass will be available for the public? Thanks.

answer

its going to be available as a fender squire some time in the (near i hope) future. squire is fenders cheapest bass line - very affordable and a good bass to learn how to play on.

question

college dropout or late registration?

answer

“highschool graduate” its the mixtape he put out awhile ago- its pretty sweet.

question

okay crazy dream last night.. you [pete] and me making out after a show in a bed? yeah just thought id share.

answer

im pretty gross after a show. itd be better to just highfive i think.

question

pete. please stop licking the shoes of the island CEOs. i am getting really tired of turning on a tv and seeing a commercial for you guys playing at the fucking arena or a WHOS NEXT IN MUSIC? PANIC AT THE DISCO and THE ACADEMY IS mtv shit which was was totally all your -for lack of better word- fault. sometimes i think it cant get any worse but im always wrong. when is this going to end pete?!?!?!?

answer

i am kind of confused by this one- we are on island defjam records but the advertisements for our tour were made by our booking agent not island. academy is on atlantic/fueled by ramen and P!atd are on decaydance neither of those are island related. but i think i understand the gist of what you are trying to say. i understand that its hard to feel like you are losing a band you loved to “the mainstream” or to a bigger media. i want you to know how much fob turns down because we dont believe in it or agree with it- at the same time would you rather see the academy is on trl or limp bizkit?- id rather see sincere music up there. anyway, i know we’ll all still be here after this ends. hope you are there with us.

question

Peter do you ever get mad at us?

answer

sure. just the same way you sometimes get mad at me/us- but thats okay. neither of us ever seem to stay mad very long…

question

choose one: paramore. cartel. the academy is. or acceptance.

answer

the academy is. i dont really know the others too well.

question

Petey, what have you been up to this past week? xo

answer

training for the new video and working on/editting release the bats two (http://www.findthescene.com/Videos/RTB2_Trailer.mov)… oh yeah and sleeping some.

question

So what do you think of Brokeback Mountain?

answer

good love story. kind of depressing- it makes me think about how much i do not want to go camping.

question

ryan seacrest called you “heartbreaker wentz.” how does that make you feel? it made me giggle…

answer

i never broke that mofos heart.

question

I was wondering if any of you guys are superstitious

answer

i kiss clocks, make wishes on take offs and first kisses, hold my breath on graveyards - yes.

question

Im really upset because i have friends who like me have been FOB fans for the longest time and have met you guys numerous times but are really angry about the ticket prices and are complaining your just sell outs. Im mad because i dont think this and now they are boycotting your CT show.You guys were bound to get famous so why do people have to get like this? Whats you opinion on all this?

answer

our primary concern with this tour is: having a huge general admission floor space and keeping ticket prices as low as absolutely possible. we are doing our best- if you compare this tour with other tours with bands of the same size you will see the difference in ticket price.

question

so much for teh huge general floor space. i cant get decent tickets.

answer

if you get tickets early you should have no problem getting floor tickets. ask your broker when they will be releasing floor tickets as they are often released in bunches. i promise you every venue we are playing has a huge floor space- and if not me and my friends always used to just sneak down onto the floor. the security never tries to hard to stop you.

question

Have you ever had sex with a groupie?

answer

nope.

question

So after they finish the tour that they are on now Mest is breaking up. I sort of cant believe it but I was wondering - do you guys plan on sticking with us for a while longer? It is actually pretty hard to deal with bands just stopping for good…so I am hoping that you guys can be there with us for at least a while longer. Much love.

answer

honestly? some days i think fall out boy will be around for 20 more years and some days i think it might end tommorrow.

January 13, 2006 

first jt. now mr. frey. i fear that we are next.

it may just be the hour of the night or the song stuck in my head or some strange mix of it all.

i can't shake it. 

the chemists called it crossed signals.

the poets called it magical.

nowyousayimabird.

- petey

January 14, 2006 

i love how i never care about anything you say except how i always do.

that doesn't even make any sense.

late at night everything about you is an orchestra. and i am the conducter.

January 14, 2006 

4:14 pm 

"noones ever been this good for this long"

this is everything i am thinking right now with out transition. i apologize for my brains lack of linear thought processing: i hate the way it gets dark so early here this time of year. i guess "seasonal depression" kind of falls under "ADD" and "post tramatic whatever disorder" for me. i feel like its science from the madhatter down the rabbit hole. not too real. but lately i just wake up blue - my only thought is- how soon will the day be over so i can get back into bed. i open my eyes just a tiny bit and blur the numbers on the clock with my eyelashes. every word you say rolls off of my back - the praises and the barbs. i don't hear either, ever. sometimes the tips of my fingers itch from the back of my head- just to get the chance to tear someone to pieces and just barely let them off the hook. i swear to god, i was asleep alone. quick text me an alibi and oh god please don't dust the keyboard for prints. sometimes i stare out of the frosted window and make up stories as people walk by. the bottled blonde, park ave. princess walking whichever dog matches her coat. you know how i could turn your world upsidedown. its not love if a day goes by when you don't think about dropping it. its not the world keeping you on the outside, its you not wanting to be on the inside. everyone wants to be the first. buts its okay to be the second if you understand it better, if you make it look prettier. worn down doesn't even touch this. and theres nothing worse than when someone acts like they have you figured out, when you haven't even figured yourself out. nice boys don't write good stories or sing good songs. and his songs are boring. and his stories are just personal ads set to background music. i found the skeleton key for wedlock but i am holding off on telling her. on telling anyone for that matter. consistent inconsistency. thats all you ever have to remember and you'll do okay with me. dancers are always strippers. and paying their way through college is the BE VE. oh and hey pete do you remember the way the world used to trick you with fifty degrees in january and orange leaves in june? button your jacket tight, don't believe everything you read... don't even believe everything you wrote. i'm tired of always leaving. i'm tired of the way things always/never change. swim upstream until your gills bleed just because thats what genetic encoding commands. there aren't any trophies that are really worth it in the end. they can put you in a box when you are very young, so you'll be a pretty corpse but there are too many pages filled with too many words to lie beside you forever. intelligent design is the last great joke i heard. but honestly, no one will ever stay where i tell them, least of all the years. they keep moving. worlds greatest liar and how do you know i'm not lying when i tell you this right now? and thats coming from the king of one-liners. copy and pasted - long live the away message. kiss the monitor. fast asleep baby.

1/16/06 Q&A

question

Thanks for deleting me off your myspace friends. Youre different than who I thought you were Peter.. : (

answer

i do not have nor ever had a myspace account… the only sites outside of this one that i use are friendsorenemies.com and livejournal. fall out boy has a myspace account but i dont even know how to work it.

question

PETER! maybe that got your attention this time :)! My question, Did your parents or siblings ever say your “stupid” or “gay” for wearing girl pants, or tight shirts..because i go threw alot of crap for wearing tight clothing and i go to a city school so either its gangsters, or me left out..please help me with gettin threw this..Also cant wait to see you guys in Hersey!

answer

kanye west wears pink polos. rob halford wears black tshirts. not that any of it matters. but how you dress should only be an amplification of who you are inside, it should not be all you are… i get teased about alot of things but you know, at the end of the day its okay to be me. im pretty sure its okay to be you too, as long as you arent like hitler or a serial killer or something insane.

January 18, 2006 

these pictures make me think of me and you before i got so crazy.

the hippo lost its momma in the tsunami. now the he hangs out with this super old turtle and follows it around. from what i've read they have developed their own form of communication.

this is insane.

these parts of life are amazing.

i will try and not forget them next time.

- petey

January 18, 2006 

the band is in chicago preparing their new homes to be moved into. mine is still in my parents cause i am a loser like that: see also why i am hanging in nyc by myself. but ive got some schemes that i am working on.

how i have been (barely) living: the hippo and the turtle, hanging out with minkus from boy meets world in north carolina, going to the mtv studios in nyc to see baby bros all growed up on trl, eating every single thing in this hotel minibar, writing, you. writing you.

- petey

January 19th, 2006 

1:55 am 

wahahahahaha. i laughed for like a million hours at the shittalking over at: www.friendsorenemies.com its way fun to see your friends make fun of you. it keeps you levelheaded. it has gone live.

January 19, 2006 

yesyesyes-ya'll. newyorkcity. hung with patd and tai backstage at TRL and tried to make them unnervous. but i was butterflies inside. but they couldnt ever let me down. the rest of the day was spent listening to the new gymclassheroes songs and working on the new video. the gch songs are insane: i can't describe them "we gotta take our clothes off to have a good time". insane. new octfall: youve probably never met these kids but they are the nicest. always calling and asking how im doing. then the hush sound: all i can say is "sweet tangerine"- 6 months from now, you will agree with me. anyway, this isn't just some preachy post. i just love watching my friends suceed and i will believe in them until the day i die. its so great to watch everyone grow up. hopefully, somewhere someone says that about me.

we contributed a song to the breast cancer one tree hill episode/compilation. we just thought it was a great cause and couldn't pass it up. we actually thought it was a really personal cause to alot of people involved so i wanted to give a really personal song to me, so we used "dark alley".

its late and alot of the things i have been working on and thnking have stalled out. but i am trying oh so hard. got some smaller shows coming up in las vegas and l.a. for the diehards so keep your eyes out.

i am in new york city but it feels so fucking foreign. the band is in chicago but there is too much to be done out here. i know there needs to be breaks but i cant get away. maybe ill see you on fuse or trl tommorrow. maybe not cause it'll be weird with out the guys- i dunno. this hotel room doesn't make any sense. my lights are on and i am in bed knowing i will never fall asleep. i am realizing people in all the buildings outside i can see lit up can probably see in here on me. but thats okay cause i am wearing some sweet pj's.

wwwilliambecketdotlove

turn me inside out.

swoon. make me easy on the eyes. it aint hard in this light. read it. write it. throw it away and come back to the phone. light up text king.

oh yeah a little bird named mouth told me: friendsorenemies.com is up - my profile is actually me over there ... yay! let's hate eachother and/or get sexy.

January 20, 2006 

dear ireland- thank you for your pretty accents and your amazing show.

dear home- i miss you

dear you- what the fuck happened to this

a real update later.

the whole world loves it when you dont get down.

January 21, 2006 

12:17 pm 

i hate you and i hope you die. yes. i realize that you will make fun of me/take stabs at me/post ridiculous pictures of me. i realize that because of this band i have given up some of my privacy and personal life. i accept that. i can laugh at myself. i realize i will get called a douchbag. i get what i get. i have begun reading things about my friends and family. that i will not accept. i read things written by people who kiss my ass to my face. i remember who you are. fuck you. bring it on me. please leave my friends and family alone. it is extremely hurtful to me. if anyone is a friend of mine out there please tell your friends. i on the otherhand am open game. i have a good laugh at all of the stuff written about me. i am silly, i realize that. thank you. 

peter

January 24, 2006

I am an arms dealer.

I sell words you could only use as weapons.

This isn't a scene it is an arms race.

I am a con artist.

A door to door salesman.

A snake oil seller. Cures for whatever ails you.

Somehow I don't hear the violins playing.

Not really the leading man type.

I am a cadaver deep frozen. Waiting for reanimation to beinvented.

Wrote "fuckoff" on my hand to remind me to call you tommorrow morning.

What do you do when everything they say about you is true?

Do you expect me to just roll over and die?

My skin has made promises.

Whether the rest of me has or not.

Writing off tommorrows every time my fingers touch these buttons.

Putting all the comforts and closeness in reverse just for you.

I think its time to re-asses some of the policies of the wentz administration.

Our approval rating is at an all time low.

In case you haven't been informed you have to take a ticket to be disappointed by me.

There's a fucking line.

Well have some goddamned order.

Its a posh and exclusive club.

I have a lifetime membership.

Make it glamorous.

Make the rumors true.

Read the sign next to the bridge "giveupallhope..." and just tie down the gas pedal.

Lie in the back.

Haven't you heard, sorrow is in.

You are the beaches of normandy the night before.

And a girl with such a sweet drink should never sit in the corner and cry about anyone or anything.

The kids on the net had it right sometimes we should fuck off and die and break up and stop ruining art.

But the kids had it right sometimes when they sit waiting in line with hands frozen out waiting to get into a room first.

The only thing I can admit is this is no masterplan. I'm trying to figure it out.

"Without the sour the sweet wouldn't taste so sweet (tangerine)".

Its 3am in leeds. This is what just crossed my mind.

Love, the fancy kid.

January 26, 2006

live via manchester holiday inn express:

first and foremost. these shows have been amazing. i think it is quite possibly because we don’t get over here often or maybe because we are playing smaller clubs… but i am thinking we need to make a stop over here more often.

i wanted to congratulate p!atd the disco on making it to number 10 on the TRL countdown. and i just wanted to put this out there: there is no way it was paid to happen. of all the bands on “new bands week” panic was the only that didn’t put up big pushes to have the video voted on. if anything this band wants to do things their own way. hence picking the song they did for the single- that was the bands choice and in my opinion they have songs on the record that could easily be bigger. it was also the bands choice to create a darker video…. as a label i can tell you that we definitely don’t have the money to spend on a “big budget” video right now- not to mention having any left over for anything else- you’d laugh if you saw the budgets we filmed the new panic and gch videos on. but i couldn’t say enough about how nice these kids are- they don’t even get how big their band is and thats a good thing… i personally would rather see great bands on the forefront of music… and yes there are lots of other bands that deserve to make it there as well- so maybe on our messageboard tell me about some great (unsigned) bands that we should check out.

other than that we’ve just been writing new songs and working on the new video. pretty soon its going to become time focus all attention on a new fall out boy record again.

got some big news for you coming up very soon…

peter lewis kingston wentz

ps 'hater dudes marry hater bitches and have hater kids’

1/26/06 Q&A

question

hey, what kind of books are you and the rest of Fall Out Boy into? p.s. tell patrick he is spectacular

answer

andy is into comics and books on anthropology/human civilization i dunno what books joe reads patrick is into reading about music i am into a bunch of different authors lately hemingway still. before he went and hung out in africa. i haven’t been reading as much as id like lately. ps the book panic has in their book club this month is a great book. its the first thing i gave ryan after reading his lyrics, it kind of reminded me of him- so if you like panics lyrics head on over and check out their book club

question

do you watch that show roseanne on nick at night. i love that show!

answer

me and my friends used to hang out with becky in evanston, il in highschool. she was not to fond of me or my friend jody.

question

ok i know this is nobodys business but yours but there is alot of stuff going around on the boards saying that the big news is your engaged just to get things straight is that it? because those people are starting to annoy me….

answer

me being engaged is most definitely not the big news.

question

in the song calm before the on take this to your grave, there is a line that says :Well theres a song on the radio that says lets get this party started, lets get this party started. did you write that line because of the song by pink called lets get this party started. just curious.

answer

yes.

question

Hey Pete. My grandma is dying (and she doesnt care) and I for real dont feel anything towards her. My mom is seriously upset, my dad is just about the same and my sisters dont know. I am suppose to tell them but how do I do that when my grandma wasnt a grandma for me but for them she was a great lady? I just want this done and over because I am kind of tired of waiting for her to die since she has been making suicide references for the past two years.

answer

that is one of the hardest places to ever be in. i remember seeing thoughts of my grandfather in my head when he died i was on tour. and i couldnt really feel sad unless i thought of it as my dad and it really freaked me out. it made me feel like i wanted to see my dad right that second. id be completely lost with out him. i think that people handle grief in different ways and the best thing we can do is try to be there for them. im sorry to hear about that though.

1/30/06 

question

my roommates and i almost got into a brawl at 4am with some drunk kids who wanted to fight us because we did not appreciate the hint of lime in their tostitos. is it just me, or is your life this ridiculous as well?

answer

it is . we were thrown out of another fob afterparty after nearly fighting the staff who was berating dirty.

question

Peter, I just got the “Panic! At The Disco” cd and I love it! could you recomened any others?

answer

the hushsound “so sudden” - myspace.com/thehushsound october fall “season of…” myspace.com/octoberfall dangerradio “party foul” myspace.com/dangerfall the academy is “almost here” myspace.com/theacademyis armor for sleep “all” myspace.com/armorforsleep shiny toy guns “all”

question

do any of you have brothers and siters? (like any single younger brothers���:) if so, who and how old?

answer

um come on this question is kind of insane. but my one dog marley is super hot for a dog. hes a good kisser though.

question

I read somewhere that Patrick was a vegitarian. Is that true?

answer

he was he eats fish and likes to talk long walks in the park with hot babes.

question

Why does patrick wear a hat all the time and why does the drummer never talk?????

answer

just to drive your pretty little head mad with these questions.

question

Okay, heres a question: Has someone you superly-duperly adored gone away? And by adored we are talking like, lets-run-away-to-isreal -and-get-hitched-without-telling-anyone adored.

answer

yes. the sinking feeling in your rotten gut is your reminder. cool sheets on your bed are your antidote.

[pbandjesse]

I am comfortable in my hammock. I'm having a pretty nice day. Even if other people are bringing me down a bit. I am trying to let things ago. Let myself be happy. But it is very hard. This is why I like being alone up here.

I slept alright last night. It was hard getting up but I honestly felt fine when I got up. I hugged on James. They had brought my stuff to the car already because they are great. Love my husband. Very quickly though I was on the road.

I stopped for breakfast. Gave a person begging what I could. The woman at the window commented that they were just going to use it for something they shouldn't. And I said that my character is judged by what I did to help, where my heart was, not what she did with it after. That's on her character. And the woman at the window agreed with me and said I had a good heart.

I got to camp at 8. Someone driving out, the entrance, gave me a dirty look. And there was a baby bunny I had to stop for. But it was normal beyond that.

It was chilly. I got out of the car and found that the art building was musty but it was fine. I was not happy about the tent was not out back

I had to move my tables. And there was trash. But the thing that made me angry was my table cups, that have materials like colored pencils and scissors, were left on the picnic table so they were filled with water form the rain and a bunch of supplies were ruined. I was furious. I sent a very cursey text to CJ just because if I didn't say it to someone I was going to say it in the group chat and get fired.

Ty would come go to tell me that there was trash and mess at homestead and the very old chicken, grandma, was injured!!! We were worried that it was children in the enclosure or something. So we decided to go to the office to talk to Alexi.

Alexi was understanding. She is hopeful that it wouldn't be the kids who hurt grandma and was maybe a fox. But she is discouraged that the areas aren't being treated appropriately.

As we were talking and going through complaints and ideas to make it better Kieran came in and told us that the chef claims that there was a bear in the trash!! So now we're like was it a bear??? Wild.

We headed back to arts and crafts. And it would be a fine day. Tati was great and super helpful. She would be in charge of the hot glue and would get so good at it by the end of the day. Like we were figuring out how to layer yarn to look like hair and she really has it down by the end.

I would read a little. Work on my knitting. And we would talk about the weekend and our projects and the plan for the day. And the group would be late but they would come soon enough.

And the project is going pretty well so far!! I'm glad I didn't put all the markers out because they would break some. But overall they were great with the materials and I loved what they made. Not everyone did a person but I said animals were fine as long as they had faces. And it was just really fun to see what they came up with.

Both my morning groups did well. And then it was lunch time. Which ended up being a bust. They had hot dogs. I wish they did vegetarian hot dogs but instead we got some kind of stir fry. Which I was not feeling so I had a hot dog bun and went to make Mac and cheese. I was nice sitting with friends though. But at noon I went to make the Mac and cheese at the office.d

Tyler would join me to use the microwave. And he would give me a cinnamon twist from his dominos leftovers which was excellent. We ate on the porch and we were able to get some paperwork done that camp needed for the reaccreditation that's happening this week.

Speaking of that though. I got very frustrated later in the day because Cody would come up to our building and he gave me a paper that he said we should have been filling out and he was surprised that I had never seen this before. Basically it's an entire list of materials that the programs use. I don't know if you guys can picture what the art building looks like. But it would take me days to document all of the stuff and quantities of things that are in here. And he wants it done by tomorrow. That is impossible task and not fair that they are asking of me two days before the accreditation is happening. This shouldn't have been given to me now it should have been given to me during training. When there was actually a chance of me having time to do that. So I'm very overwhelmed by that but I'm trying not to let it bother me and I'm going to try to have Tatiana just list everything she can see in the room and will make estimations of what things are. Because man am I stressed out about that.

After lunch though I had my two-day camps and my older kids. And it went really well. I brought the metal stamping kit with me and a couple people made coins today and that was really fun. A couple of the counselors got really into it. And everyone really likes painting on the wood and so because I do not have enough spoons I texted Joe and asked if he would mind cutting wood for me just to have more pieces. And he said he would and that was really great of him.

During my half hour break after my day camp but before my older kids Dad called and we talked for half an hour and I wish we could have talked longer. It was really good to hear him and he sounded really strong and healthy. I know he started physical therapy again today and I really hope it helps him regain some confidence and balance. But it was nice to talk and I got to tell him all about Jess's house and some stuff at camp that's been drama. But it was just really nice talking to him even if it was just a short period of time.

And like I said the older girls really enjoyed making bracelets and beads and one of the girls made a stamped coin and then their counselor was really into it and made a couple. Including one that said on Wednesdays we wear pink. And I thought that was so funny. So at the end of the day I would sit down and I would stamp out the whole quote about being crazy in a rubber room with rats. Because the younger boys say it all the time and I thought it would be funny to show that to them. It did take me a while to make though.

My last group was with Trista and I love Trista. I was very sad that I missed their class last week when I had to go to the doctor. And we had a nice conversation while the kids worked and talked to Tatiana made sure that the kids pieces didn't look bald unless that's what they wanted. We had this bit going with this one child who made there character green with very sparse orange hair and we kept going. Oh my God. How did you do that. It's like a mirror. You you did that so well. And just being so dramatic about it. And she would go I know like no one believes just I made this That's how good it is. It was very silly.

But at 4:15 I said goodbye to everyone and I grabbed my pool bag and I headed out. I was going to go swimming because it was really hot out. And it was the hottest time of the day.

There were so many kids in the shower though so I couldn't get changed in the bathroom so thankfully no one was using the laundry room and I wouldn't change them there after chatting with the lifeguards for a few minutes. I checked in with CJ as well who had to be a counselor today because Candela is not here from Spain yet. Something happened with her flight but she should be here tonight. And then I got in the water. And it was beautiful.

I was just kind of sit in the cold for a while and eventually would get most of my hair wet. Celia did not remember her bathing suit again. I'm actually just texted her to tell her to put her suit in her backpack so that this does not happen again. So she would just sit with her legs in the water but eventually Antonio and Annabelle joined me. And it was fun watching the kids do pool canoes and I just floated for a while and it was a good temperature and I felt very happy being in the water.

At 5:00 I decided to get out. The kids were going swimming again after their canoes and I went and took a shower. Max was in the bathroom trying to clean but because of girls bathing suits they just bring so much water and that it's impossible to clean it because it's all wet. So he had to wait a while anyway and I went to go take my shower and felt so much better afterwards.

I came back up to arts and crafts and I felt okay. Kind of uncomfortable but fine. I would hang out for a while in the outside hammock and was reading. I did my rubber rat crazy stamp thing. And then once it was closer to 6 I took my book and went down to the lodge.

I got lots of pillows from wonderful children on my way there. And when I got there I sat in the back corner and I read for a while. The colts book is okay. I've decided I'm going to skip the ones that I'm not super interested in right now but I think I would like to go back to a narrative book tomorrow. We'll see. I have a couple still that I would like to read on my shelf this week. Got nothing's really calling to me yet. I was not really looking forward to dinner when I heard that they combined the vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and allergy concern dinner into one thing. Again. I don't understand why the chefs don't understand that they should just be making whatever everybody else is having as close to that as possible. Because for some ungodly reason today we had turkey patties for dinner, which apparently work gross. But the vegetarians had ratatouille. And it wasn't even good. It just tasted like stewed tomatoes with undercooked zucchini in it. I hated it and I was very upset. The one saving Grace was I asked Charlotte if I could have two rolls and at first she was like well if another child doesn't get a role coming out of your pay. But she gave me two rolls. And then I ended up getting a third roll. I wish it had butter but at least it was carbs. And they know I'm supposed to be even less carbs but they're the only thing that makes me feel not shaky. I'm trying. I'm not trying that hard but I am trying.

I was kind of sad though. Dinner just made me feel depressed. Tyler was also feeling depressed. I don't know why I'm switching between Ty and Tyler in this post But they are the same person. Just in case you weren't sure. But he was not happy either and we left and went up to the art building together. Where he made his own coin and memory with Grandma. Who is not dead but has gone home to her owner to heal. He also told me that he did find a bird net to go over the enclosure so hopefully nothing else can get in. And I hope that the office buys it ASAP.

I decided to fall back on the things I used to do when I was sad and grad school and I made a tote bag. I'm really proud of it actually because the fabric on the outside is the same as the inside and I made sure that all of the pattern is going the correct direction so all the pictures are facing the right way and it has velvet handles and a flat bottom. I'm really proud of it. It's a little oversized and floppy And I really like that. And I sent it to Jess and she made a big fuss that how beautiful it was and now I want to make more tote bags to possibly put it in my market table. So that's a consideration right now. I'm not that concerned about it though but maybe I'll knock out some cutting and that's always the part I hate the most anyway and I have big tables here so we'll see.

Tyler would head out And I would finish sewing my bag. And then I would take a walk to the nurse. I had choked on a roll as we were leaving the dining hall and I had upset myself from coughing so hard. But some water on my face helped and then I came back up here after chatting with PJ outside of the building for a bit. The air quality was very bad today and I guess we've all just given up on caring about that because I never even got an air quality alert on my phone. Even though it was at the same numbers it was the other week when we were all forced to be inside. So that's cool. I'm not annoyed by that at all.

And when I came back up here I hung out in my hammock for a while. The mosquitoes were eating my legs for the first time this summer and I hit a mosquito and blood got everywhere. I have no idea if it was my blood or somebody else's blood I was not happy about it. So I came inside and put on more bug spray and started winding down.

I closed the door at 9:00 and brushed my teeth. And I've been laying here for a while now. I hope tomorrow was a good day. I hope that my stress is of today lesson. Because honestly I had so much fun with my groups I just hate how much other people's energy brings me down. And so many people are coming to me. And it's not that I don't enjoy that I want to be a rock for people I want to be here to listen. Tatiana even said today that I was famous because every time I'm not here a million people apparently come to the door looking for me. But I just wish that it wasn't always negative. I don't mind some negative. I want to hear when things are wrong. But I also need to be positive about camp. I like this job. I like being here. I just don't like all the other crap outside of it. Fingers crossed that I can just be happy. Despite everything else.

I also really hope I sleep well tonight. I'm pretty comfortable right now and it's not supposed to be rainy or anything tomorrow so I'm hoping there's no big spikes and humidity. And I just hope it's a nice day. I hope you all have a nice day. I hope you are safe out there in the world. I also found out that my very first friend in Baltimore, Ben's husband passed away suddenly today. So I just want to remind everyone that you never know when things not going to be over. And to tell the people you love how much you love them. Until next time.

[cairparavei]

when love comes | ivar (vikings)

requested by @kingleshe

pairing: ivar x f!reader

wc: 2.7k

warnings: language, the lothbroks being assholes (kinda, all of them except for ubbe)

You had known them since middle school.

The four brothers had always been a mystery to you, until you dumped into Ubbe, the oldest, accidentally.

You used to have a normal friendship; nothing too remarkable, until their parents passed, and you found yourself in the middle of the four brothers, letting them take their rage and sadness on you, making yourself worth of their trust.

Which was a good thing, because everyone knew that messing with a Lothbrok could only mean trouble.

It all went better ever since. They used to be the popular kids in high school, and almost every guy was scared of them.

In fact, they made your prom date leave you hanging just because they didn’t like his necktie, or so the guy said, and you had no choice but to go with Hvitserk.

Not that you were complaining; Hvitserk had grown into a very nice looking man, but you really liked this date you managed to get for yourself, so you were disappointed when you heard your parents’ house bell ring and saw the brothers waiting for you outside, instead of him.

Time passed and you were still as close as ever, and not a day comes by that you’re not thankful to Ubbe for being clumsy as hell that day, and the next one, and then the next until he introduced you to the rest of his brothers.

To sum up, you claimed Ubbe as your big brother, since he was always overprotective because you apparently are the little sister he always wished to have, and not a bunch of horny teenagers to take care of every time they went to a party and drank more than what their bodies could handle.

On the other side, you were like the chamber of secrets for the two middle brothers, Hvitserk and Sigurd. They told you everything from the first time they failed an exam to the most detailed description on how they lost their virginities, and they knew very well you wouldn’t say a word about it, for they also knew your biggest secret; you’ve been in love with Ivar since the day you met him.

They constantly teased you about it, claiming he felt the same towards you and that you were going to have to tell him sooner or later, but you kept knocking this issue off until it was completely necessary.

In fact, Hvitserk and Sigurd had told Ivar for you, but both of them were so drunk none of them remember, and, how did you know about this?

Ubbe heard them.

It happened when he picked them up from a party a couple of weeks ago actually. Both were sitting in the back of Ubbe’s car, and he noticed that they were whisper-arguing, until Sigurd raised his voice and told Ivar he was being blind for not noticing how you had eyes for nobody but him.

Of course, Ivar was oblivious.

As soon as Ubbe arrived home with them, he left Ivar in the car, half asleep, and accompanied Sigurd to your shared flat. First thing he did was glare at you for not telling him before, for he could have helped you.

 “Someone had better be dying if you’re calling me this late.”; Ivar threatened over the phone.

“Ivar, I’m bored, and I can’t sleep”, you pouted over the phone. “Come over, please?”

“Listen, Y/N, it’s almost 4 a.m., and you share a flat with Sigurd, why can’t you just wake him up instead of me? I have classes tomorrow if you didn’t know”

“Okay, first of all, he’s not here. Second, I have classes as well, and lastly” you remarked. “I want to see you. You’ve been avoiding me for days, what the hell is wrong with you? Am I not your best friend? We don’t ignore best friends in this household, Ivar Lothbrok”

You heard Ivar sigh on the other side of the call, and after a while he finally agreed to visit you.

You hung up happily and started to make yourself look presentable.

You really had missed Ivar lately. One day the Lothbroks throw a party, then the next it seems like you barely exist to one of them.

It’s not like you had done anything bad, or that you thought, so you found no reason for Ivar to behave like this.

A few minutes later you heard the door open. All of Sigurd’s brothers had a spare key, just in case something happened; which usually meant they were too wasted to go to their own homes so they crashed at your place.

You peeked outside from the kitchen to see Ivar taking of his shoes and coat.

He hadn’t noticed you yet, so you took the opportunity to observe him – he had his hair in a small bun, his glasses on, and was wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. Straight out of bed, you thought.

He made his way to the kitchen and took one of the cups you were holding.

“What’s going on, Y/N?”, he asked out of nowhere.

“What, can I not invite my best friend over without a reason?”

“Not if you call at 4 a.m. and make hot chocolate. It’s more than clear you want to talk about something”

You shivered and looked over him, making his way to the living room and taking a seat in the sofa.

You knew each other like the back of your hands, but were you really that obvious?

“I told you, I couldn’t sleep”, you said sitting on the other side of the couch.

“Why, are you afraid of the dark, sweetheart?”, he smiled.

“Shut up, asshole”, you said, laughing.

The Lothbroks used to tease you often, but especially when you moved in with Sigurd and had to spend your first night in your new place all alone and pretty scared, because he had decided it was a good idea to attend some random girl’s party because “he was in desperate need of human warmth”. So when it became way too terrifying for you to tolerate it, you called over Ivar to spend the night with you.

“Now, tell me what’s wrong. You don’t call someone at this hour for nothing. I don’t believe it’s just because you ‘can’t sleep’”.

You sighed. You really couldn’t let a small lie go past him.

“You’re being weird with me these days. For no reason. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong to you or anyone for you to be distant as fuck”, you told him, putting your cup on the small table in front of you. You sat back, facing him and crossing your arms over your chest.

“I’m not being weird, you’re overreacting”, he said, and you furrowed your brows.

What in the actual fuck?

“I am not.”, you remarked, “Just like it’s obvious of me to make hot chocolate when something doesn’t feel right, it is for you too when you haven’t been the same towards me these days.”

He licked his lips and looked down at his cup of chocolate. He smiled to himself, noticing you had given him your Toothless cup, just as you used your Light Fury one.

It was kind of funny to him, because you always screamed that you would only share you ‘How to train your dragon’ stuff with who you would consider to be the love of your life.

 “You just don’t want to believe it, Ivar. But you know very well that she’s always looked at you with the brightest eyes.” Sigurd said drunkenly; “Or are you really that much of an idiot? I mean, you’re not the brightest of guys, but I thought of you as an intelligent person, baby brother”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Sig, you don’t know what you’re saying.”, Ivar answered.

“I won’t shut up until you notice”, Sigurd hiccupped, “Or at least until you admit you feel the same for her”.

Ivar frowned. They knew. But how? He knew his brothers, and they would only mess this all up if he had told them.

Being the youngest, he had seen his brothers have their hearts broken, especially Ubbe’s.

Breaking up with his long-time girlfriend, and childhood friend as well, meant for them to lose contact with her completely, and that scared Ivar.

Like, really. He was scared to the point that, if confessing meant losing you, he would rather dig his own grave and let some wild dogs rip his arms and legs out until he no longer breathed.

Yes, that much you meant to him. Not only Ivar, but to his brothers as well.

You were like the glue that stick them together, for he knows they wouldn’t be talking to each other anymore if it wasn’t because you were there to help them solve their problems.

Like that one time he and Sigurd had the biggest argument and you literally took him by his ear, forced him to eat his own ego, and apologise to Sigurd for ruining his possible ‘potential long-termed relationship’ by telling the girl he had a fart kink.

“Ivar!”, you snapped him out of his daydreaming, sighing “I’m fucking talking to a brick”

“I’m sorry”, he said, “I was thinking. There’s a lot on my mind right now, I’m really sorry, Y/N”.

“Then let it all out, Ivar, you know that’s what I’m here for”, you smiled softly, taking his hands in yours.

You really had no idea what you did to him.

You cleared his mind whenever you talked to him, and gave him goosebumps whenever you held his hands or snuggled up to him every time you slept over at their place and they chose to watch a horror film

What both of you weren’t aware of is that both Ubbe and Hvitserk did it on purpose, since they were able to see how much you liked to be close to him, feeling his warmth when he put his arms around you and told you repeatedly how he would protect you if anything happened to you, as well as how much he enjoyed being able to be the one to calm you on stressing situations.

Suddenly your phone, which was on the table as well, lit up. You both looked over as a knee-jerk action, and he noticed you had a picture of him as your wallpaper.

“You have some explaining to do as well, miss”, he said, smiling, “I don’t remember giving you permission to use me as your wallpaper”

“Ah, shut up, you know very well I don’t need it”, you laughed, “You’ll have your explanation, but you go first”

“I really have no choice, right?”, he smiled softly while you shook your head no.

He shifted in his seat, facing you as well, and took your other hand in his. You heard him take the biggest breath of air while looking down at your intertwined hands, and you were able to see fear in his eyes when he looked back at you.

“I’m scared, Y/N”, he started, “I’m scared of doing something that could make you run away from me”

You stared at him, your breath stuck in your throat.

“I could never leave you, Ivar, none of you. Tell me what’s wrong, please”, you said, tightening your hold in his hands, trying to reassure him you weren’t leaving.

He took both of your hands and lead them towards his mouth, kissing them softly before supporting his forehead on them.

“Just tell me, Ivar, don’t overthink it. I’m sure whatever it is, we can make it work, nothing bad will happen if you and I stick together, remember?

You felt him smile in your hands. He straightened his back and snuggled you close to him until you were sitting in his lap facing him. He then hugged you tightly, pulling you as close as he could. You felt him shaking a bit.

“It’s okay, Ivar, we don’t have to talk about it now, I’m sorry if you feel pressured”, you told him.

“I just can’t find the right words”, he sighed. “I didn’t think I would ever have to tell you all this shit I’m feeling, I’m so sorry”.

“Don’t be, and don’t say those things about yourself”, you hugged him tightly, “You’re the most amazing person I know, Ivar. You have your tantrums, yes, but who doesn’t?”

You took his face into your hands, and looked him in the eyes.

“I love you, Ivar. You know damn well I love the four of you with all my heart, but out of all of them, you’re the most intelligent, talented, and handsome. You hear me?”, you asked, and he nodded, “And it doesn’t matter how bad whatever that’s going on inside that stubborn head of yours, I’m not going anywhere, okay? It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me yet, I understand, and it’s completely fine”

You were about to keep talking, but, as you were about to do so, he put one of his hands over your mouth while his other one kept you still and close to him by circling around your waist.

“I don’t deserve you. None of us do, actually, but I couldn’t care less about them now”, he started, “I... Remember that time when we went on a picnic that turned into a photo session and then in a cinema date, months ago? That day made me realize I was starting to catch feelings for you. I thought it was just the heat of the moment, but once they came, those feelings never left. I found myself thinking even more about you, and all I knew was that I didn’t see you as a friend anymore”

You frowned, scared of what he could say.

He took off his glassed and put them on the table and rubbed his eyes before looking back at you with the most sparkly eyes you had ever seen.

“Don’t think of this as a bad situation. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me, and I know how awkward you get whenever a guy tells you he likes you, or how you don’t even speak to boys after you go out on a date with them. That’s why I didn’t tell you all this before. I don’t want you to feel strange around me. God, I should have kissed you when I dropped you off at your parents’ house that night. You looked so pretty back then”

He was caressing your face now. You were trying to get all those words he had said into your head. You were trying to believe this was really happening and was not some made-up scenario happening in your head while you were trying to sleep.

“You mean so much to me, Y/N”, he continued, “I don’t even know what I would do if you weren’t around anymore. I don’t want you to leave my side, I feel like I need to know what is like to kiss you whenever I want, to make love to you until we can no longer breath. It may sound childish, or stupid, but I need to know what is like to be loved by you”

You felt like your heart was going to get out of your chest from how hard it was beating.

Ivar, your Ivar, the one you’ve loved for so many years, was here confessing to you.

You couldn’t find the words to tell him you felt the same, and that you were never in your life going to leave him, so you did what your mind, body and heart told you to.

You kissed him. And he kissed you back with such passion you thought you were going to run out of air. You were holding his face firmly while he snaked his arms around your waist again, pulling you as close as possible without breaking apart from the kiss.

You both knew what this kiss meant. You both knew that, after this night, nothing would ever be the same between you; at last, it was going to get the best it could. You both were telling the other one that you loved them deeply. You both were giving your hearts and souls to each other.

You leaned back until your forehead touched his, and whispered a soft “I’m in love with you”.

“I’m so in love with you too, Y/N, you have no idea”, he whispered back.

[imme-youareyou]

Thank you so much @i--am-ironman for tagging me!!

What colour are your eyes? as someone once told me "hot chocolate with a little tiny bit of milk"

What instantly tells you if a person is good? I usually look them in the face and feel their vibe, I'm strange like that, if I don't like you from the start I am usually not wrong

Do you have a recurring dream? Unfortunately I don't remember any of my dreams

What is the most interesting class you have taken? new medias' sociology

How often do you find yourself day dreaming? Always. If I'm driving I'm day dreaming, if I'm cleaning I am day dreaming, if I'm cooking I'm day dreaming... do you get what I'm hinting at?

Name/Nickname: Lu, Lux, Lucy

Zodiac: capricorn 🙈

Height: smaaaaall, 151 cm on good days, otherwise 150 cm

Nationality: Italian

Favourite colour: green and orange

Favourite season: winter, I am a Christmas baby, I love winter

Favourite animals: cats, I love cats

Favourite fictional characters: Draco Malfoy

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate?: everything but coffee

Average hours of sleep?: 5 on good days, otherwhise 3 to 4

Cat or dog person: CATS

Number of blankets slept with: one.. How many blankets should I sleep with??

Places ancestors are from: a couple of kms from where we live now, north Italy

Dream trip: Sweden, I'd love to visit all Europe really

Blog established: summer 2013 I think

Random fact about yourself: for whatever reason, when I was in elementary school I thought that stick glue was tasty af and ate it a lot and I cried when mum told me it was a no no thing to do.

Three ships: carlando, drarry, larry

Last song: Really Don't Care by I don't Fly

Last movie: I don't remember, it's been a while

Currently reading: fanfictions... I'm guilty

Currently watching: nada

Currently craving: a job and getting away from my parent, but also hot chocolate

[spacegaywritings]

Sweet, sweet Birthday Boy (A Happy Birthday fic for Casper)

General

Relationship: Remus X Casper (OC /Attachment)

Tags: QPR, QPP, tentacles, SFW, sweets, eating, candy, this is the epitome of a sugar sweet aesthetic, scavenger hunt, Remus is a sweetheart, he is just an excited puppy, light hint that the light sides are kinda uncool, (esp young Roman), talking candy, ellipses, This Story Contains Lactose, This Story Is not Diabetes- compatible, mentions and vague descriptions of candy gore, mentions of bunny and duck onesies, Breaking and Entering, nighttime, caps like once, they are threatened like twice,  jawbreaker nightmares, mentions of christmas treats, ethnic candies, killer popsicles, the Dragon Witch!, small bits of angst you will not notice, hurt comfort, kinda, tears, goo, acceptance, love.

Summary: It‘s Casper‘s birthday and Remus would be a rotten partner if he did not go all out of his way to turn the world upside down for his horrible love.

Note: Casper is “Attachment“. He is an OC and his birthday is Pink Shirt Day - an action to raise awareness of bullying, prevent it and stand up against it. For more info on Casper, refer to my other Casper stories such as “Cursing into Emancipation“.

Also, if you are triggered by certain candy brands, you are lucky, cuz I avoid mentioning any specific one!

My KoFi  - Support me ♥ or Commission me

Note: If you miss any tags, have issues with links or any other concerns, please feel free to contact me. Anon is on and my DMs are open.♥

Links broken? Inform me, please!

(Story under the cut: 13,7k)

***

 11.59pm.

 Remus crept over the floor. Darkness was flooding his vision. He was lucky to be Creativity, albeit the more or less forbidden one for Thomas. He fulfilled anything people would consider to be “cursed“ thoughts. He brought about nightmares, taboo topics and horrible or even dangerous ideas. He resided in the Imagination but sometimes, he liked to come out and mess around. Tonight, he was not up for messing around.

 The man had a mission!

 His tentacles and he slid over the floor of the light side territory.

 For a group call liked that, there was a whole lot of awful darkness down here! Not that he was complaining. It made things easier for him.

The dark side of creativity turned his head from one side, to the other, then back to where he had started. After a whole 360° of turning, he proceeded. Nobody was around.

 HA!

 Even logic was asleep. Virgil had not noticed a thing, or maybe had noticed, yet did not care for him and his shenanigans. It was just him, a harmless little octopus yeeting himself into someone‘s room through the slit between the door and the floor.

His body was flattened to be as thin as a shadow. Indeed, he was a shadow trying to get to all the other shadows in this room. Remus squeezed himself through the little slit and soon enough had his thicc butt on the other side of that door.

 He allowed his body to take proper, three-dimensional shape again. Instead of tentacle shadows, he returned to his full body. A proud butt, a rather regular body and toned limbs.

If he had a say, he would make Thomas work out less and eat gross things more! But that was another topic. He was here on a mission.

 The dark side peeked up to a little night light. It was shaped like a heart and just a s rosy. Remus smirked.

How cute!

His body crept over to the bed.

 Yes, he had let himself into a bedroom and it was just about time.

The clock ticked and his body rang like a bell! Vibrations shook him, running through his body. The dark side felt himself leap into the air like a cartoon character struck by lightning. He squeaked and with yet another leap, landed in the bed he had been busy approaching.

 A figure moved.

 Midnight! Midnight!

 Remus flung himself at the person.

 “Cas! Awful birthday to you!! I wish you all the slimy horrible things to happen!“

 The sleepy figure hummed softly, barely capable of verbally communicating. The night light was prominent enough to illuminate his smiling face. It took them a few more moments, Remus grinning patiently.

Then, Cas was awake enough to process what had been said to him. He threw his body at the other and engulfed him in a hug. He squeezed his partner and Remus squeaked in delight!

 Casper giggled.

 “Shhh!“

 He shunned the other and both giggled, stopped because they might have altered the others, then giggled again, this time quieter. Their eyes met, conspiracy giving them a wild gleam.

 “I have a plan for you! For us! It has been your birthday for seven minutes already!“

 Casper hummed softly. His body sacked against Remus‘ chest. Casper was a bit smaller and meeker than Thomas. Every side was a bit different in terms of body and personality. The pink side was about as pink and sweet as he seemed like a rather childish kid.

Remus brushed through his chestnut hair and patted his head ever so softly. It was soft like a breeze, fluttering like a kiss to Remus‘ heart. The weight of a grown man was in Remus‘ lap and he felt it more and more as Casper dozed off into his warm, sweet sleep.

 “Caaaaaas~“

 He grinned softly.

The body in his lap twitched. The dark side brushed over his  back. Attachment responded with yet another hum. This time, it seemed less warm and lethargic.

 “Huh?“

 Casper‘s body jumped back into place, upright and awake at once. The green side giggled and gathered him back into his  arms. He heaved him up and kissed him onto the top of his head.

 “I made you breakfast!“

 Casper curled up in Remus‘ arms as he teleported them into the Imagination. Of course he could have teleported into his room, but where would the fun have been? So, he promptly changed their location from a pink room to a pink world.

Remus had modelled his part of the Imagination to look like a candy wonderland. There were huge candy canes, striped with glittery rainbow colours. They stood, framing paths like trees. Sugar crusts with cute faces were hanging from them like baby mobiles.

 Casper blinked himself awake. His body was lethargic, still heavy with sleep. He turned his head to look around. Surrounded by cotton candy clouds and dog-sized gummibears, the pink side found himself right in front of a row of tables standing close together to form a heightened path of space. It was decorated with funny strings all over and even a table cloth which was made of edible “paper“. Sprinkles and heaps of whipped cream adorned the table at every seat. The seats were made of chocolate wavers and had icing to glue it together and decorate it.

 Attachment perked up at the sight and hopped into one of the seats. His arms reached out to drag Remus down with him. They shared their stead and Remus eventually broke off a part of the wavers and reattached it with a bit more space for the two. A bit of whipped cream was whisked off the table to serve as glue.

Remus huffed, satisfied with the space he had now established.

 “We shall feast, birthday man!“

 Casper giggled.

A little bit of sleep was still veiling his eyes.

 He looked at the table of sweets. A huge grin spread over his face and he turned back to face Remus. Was that for real? This seemed like a dream! Also, the Imagination usually looked like a huge mess, all  colourful and straining for the eyes and full of bad smells and things but-

... Casper blinked.

Oh! It smelled like pancakes in the morning!! And chocolate syrup to balance out the chocolate-mint chips. His stomach habitually bubbled at the temptation of a scent.

 Did that mean he would get pancakes? Any of them were great, but personally, he really liked them with sprinkles inside and sugar on top (optionally! - it depended on the amount of sprinkles inside of the pancakes.

Remus turned to exchange a knowing look with the other and Casper felt himself become somewhat warm inside and all fuzzy.

 “We can get pancakes“, he whispered in realisation.

 Wow.

 Remus simply nodded back at him. The birthday boy perked up.

Before he could try and materialise his own pancakes like the other had shown him once, he realised something else. It was a realisation worth noting!

Looking at the other, he realised that Remus was not in his usual attire of fancy clothes and funky accessories. Instead, Creativity was dressed in a fuzzy suit of furriness. An eye-strain of colours met Casper. It made him wonder how he had not noticed it before. Remus was wearing a bunny suit, but it was something that Casper would call „“candy gore“ in appearance. It was about the only kind of gore things he could handle.

 Remus must have worn it just for him and his birthday. After all, scary things were not okay to him. He still slept with a night light in order to keep the mean things away. Especially because the light sides were not okay with the two having regular sleepovers.

They did not know the two were somewhat dating, either.

 A breeze to the face distracted him from his thoughts. He blinked, reality slowly fading back into his awareness.

Remus was blowing air to his face and making weird movements with his hands. Was he trying to fan Casper some air? He was okay!

 Before he could ask, Creativity already cheered.

 “Finally! It has taken me ages to blow your dummy thoughts away!“

 Casper giggled, his love soon joining in.

He was blessed with the best of the best! No matter what the others were thinking about them! They were as they were, but they were happy.

 “Thanks, Ree!! Now, back to the pancakes? I want the cute ones with sprinkles inside, the colourful chocolate ones! And AND AND!“

Casper hopped in Remus‘ lap.

“Can they be shaped like cute animal faces? Pleaaaaase?“

 His pink eyes seemed wide like a doe‘s. The irises were hearts that seemed to grow and throb as he looked at the other in anticipation. Remus could get lost in them, but he was pre-occupied. He had planned a birthday for his boy and he would give a birthday to his boy!

 “You can have anything! You know I would give you my heart!“

 Casper squeaked.

That was a literal statement. Remus had offered him his bloody organ more than once and while his reactions to it had dulled down to an awkward giggle, Attachment still did not enjoy the action.

 “No hearts!! I am happy with a funky bunny in my arms!“

 He squished his body closer to the other as if to demonstrate how close they were. Remus chuckled softly and pushed himself against the other too, their bodies snug.

 “Pancakes, then~ I will give you little kitty cats, my ducky~“

 Casper blinked at the nickname.

Thomas had resorted to calling Remus “Dukey“ but what was “ducky“ all about? Remus summoned a plate made of oblaten wafers. Soon enough, pancakes started falling onto them. One by one, Remus caught them. His hand moved around, nowhere yet in all places at the same time as he brandished the plate around like an acrobat.

Casper clapped his hands together, giggling.

 “Yay!! You are doing it, Ree!“

 He grinned at his best friend and platonic partner. The mustache grinned back.

Remus summoned himself a plate as he retreated his arm with the plate to his chest where Casper leaned against. The duck-onesie-clad man was curled up and hugged the thin plate to his chest at once.

Dogs and cats had their faces marked into the colourful sprinkle pancakes he had in front of him.

 “For you, Cas!~“

 What was better than this?

Casper could not imagine anything better. However, knowing Remus, there was much to come for sure! So, he took what he had and dug into the food. He had no cutlery but those were pancakes and they were just perfect~

 Warmth spread in his mouth. The soft, dough-y texture of pancake flopped onto his tongue and he started to chew. The sprinkles were partly molten but his teeth still made some parts of them crack and crush under their power.

 “..wow.“

 Chocolate, sugar and wonderful dough melted in his mouth, combining to an amazing taste of a breakfast way too sweet to be consumed by any ordinary person.

But none of them was ordinary. Also, Casper could swear that the cat faces made cute kitty purr sounds in his mind when he ate them. The dog ones were making dog sounds, like yawning and stretching and panting.

 It was amazing.

 He never would have thought about any of these things. Attachment had never known just how much he had needed these things and wanted them before he had gotten them. They were not necessary for his regular life but they did make it much better!

 Remus seemed to be done with his plate, already devouring the kitchenware. Considering it was made of sweets, Casper bit into his, too.

Crystals of sweetness broke inside of his mouth, slowly melting on his tongue, or cracking and exploding between his teeth.

 He had never had anything as tasty as this. Not even Patton‘s home-made cookies were as good!

 They ate for a while and eventually, Casper called it a meal. He was not sick of the sugar, nor sick from it. The pink side was energised and sufficiently filled.

Remus snuggled him from behind and brought his tickling fingers to his sides.

 “Ah, Ree, nO- AHH!“

 Attachment squealed in delight. Giggles made the air vibrate. Remus‘ mustache was twitching in cheerfulness. The screams of pure delight and ecstasy were enough to replace his need for agony and blood.

Plus, Casper was one of these people to squirm when tickled. A pure gift to Dark Creativity.

 “Reeeee~“, Casper whined.

 He was breathless and mindless. Giggles had overridden his thinking, his common sense. All he could think of was pushing Remus away to stop the tickles.

Or..

A devious grin spread over his mental mouth. He was perpetually grinning and chuckling at the moment. His body wormed around like an excited dog, trying to get away from the tingles spreading from Remus‘ chaos hands.

 He took a huge breath.

Remus was taking a break. One glance at his eyes suggested he was only waiting for Casper to catch his breath. The pink side was unaware of the little glitter tears in his eyes, the wetness from being tickled throughout.

While the dark side bathed in the triumph of their one-sided tickle fight, Casper angled his body and got into position. Remus was grinning at him with that huge mustache all over his face. Sugar crystals adorned the corners of his lips. A few crumbs of cookies resided on his cheeks, still.

 Casper charged at him.

His (baby) duck-onesie-clad body made him fluffy. He appeared to be even smaller and cuter than usual. To be fair, he was objectively the most adorable side in the Thomasphere but that was not the topic in this context.

The topic was this pink boy of sugar slamming his body against Remus‘, effectively pinning the long boy down. It certainly was a sight to behold. A duck was hovering over a neon-gore bunny accident, driving hands up and down the messed up fur.

 “I got you !! HA!“

 Casper asserted in triumph.

Remus was squirming and writhing underneath him. Despite his wild movements, he was chuckling like a madman.

 “YOu!“

 He nearly snapped but laughs and breathlessness cut him down to mere chuckles and incoherent sounds. Casper grinned at him from above, finally in the position to give back what he had gone through beforehand.

 “You!“, Casper mimicked sassily.

 Fingers flew.

Hands sought out the best spots, ears accounted for which reaction was greater than the other. All the while, mouths were only moved to complain or giggle - rarely to suck in the sweet, sweet relief of oxygen, which the nose could not provide enough for.

 They ended up entangled, limbs going anywhere as they had flopped over again and again like a pan-fried cheese sandwich.

The sound of heavy pants filled the air. Both pushed at each other‘s chest to successfully de-tangle the mess of their intertwined bodies. Remus rolled down onto his back, right next to Casper.

 Casper‘s lungs were burning. His eyes fluttered shut.

He was tired, technically. He had not slept the whole night. His mind knew he was supposed to be tired, to be asleep. The amount of adrenaline and dopamine running through his body were not on par with getting back on track with his sleep-wake cycle. His serotonin wanted to complain but there was nothing to do about it now.

The pink side was numb to complains. He only heard the rhythmic pants of himself and his love. He turned to watch Remus. His chest fell and rose fast but the creative side restrained his lungs to fall back into a more slow and natural dynamic.

 Warmth bloomed inside of his chest. Little flowers of hearts seemed to grow and spread inside of him. Looking at Ree bore no more but good feelings to him.

It was illegal to think bad of him, to see him as mean or harmful when he had been the only one to be open, honest and caring with the other. To Casper, Remus was the farthest away from being an unreflected hypocrite of all the sides in Thomas.

 His face grew warm. Casper‘s, not Remus‘! The little heart-shaped freckles of his cheeks were starting to sparkle with colour. Whenever the pink side got excited or really emotional, the freckles would become bright and show off their amicable shape.

 “One more thing!“

 Remus rolled his body up into a squatting position, then jumped to his feet. How was that dude so fit? They were both part of Thomas, simply representations of their functioning inside of him. How was Casper so unfit compared to someone made of the same stuff?

It did not make sense to him, but considering they were residing on a path of chocolate stones, green grass of almond paste all around them, he could not complain about a lack of logic at all. Instead he sat up and stretched out his hands.

 “Reee~“

 Remus gently took them and helped him up. The pink side was beaming up at him. The sight of his warm freckles, bright and wide, brought a red dust to Remus‘ pale cheeks.

 “Yes, yes! You need to have your present- well, a part of it, maybe!“

 Casper gasped.

 “You got me a present? But this was a huge breakfast and it was secret!“

 Remus wiggled his eyebrows as if he had started a career in it.

 “A present for the gift to my life!“

 A part of Casper‘s mind was still stuck on the fact that his present was not one but multiple parts. He was, in fact, so occupied by this thought, he had to blink when a new something appeared in front of him.

The present was wrapped up in almost see-through paper. Was that rice paper? It seemed to be .. no, that was candy glass!

 Casper stared at Remus, then back at the gift. Again, he looked at Remus and then at the gift and at Remus-

H-

How was he supposed to open th-

 Something ding!“ed in his head. He lowered the gift and threw himself against Remus, squeezing him in his arms. It was a huuuuge bear hug. Creativity squealed in his arms. He shook his head and hugged Casper close in return. The pink side sighed softly.

 “Reeee~ I need your hammer thing!“

 The dark side stopped dead in his tracks.

For a moment, Casper had the feeling the other had frozen. Time seemed to stand still and suddenly, he was heaved up into the air.

 “CAS!! YOU ARE LEARNING!“

 The squeaky delight was evident in the increased scratchiness of Remus‘ voice. He almost sounded like a messed up record from the 60s or whatever. Scratchy, horribly quality and a complete ear-fuck to listen to.

However, he caught Casper like a pancake and pushed a huge pole into his hands before letting him go. Attachment landed on his feet, a bit wobbly. The weight of the pole tilted his balance to the side. It was the side on which end the pole had a huge ball to it.

 “I am so proud of you“

 Casper tried to balance the pole in his hands. The spiky end was a giant weight to him, really unbalanced. It was unusual to him to actually do any heavy lifting. He was attachment! He held hands and liked people and cried for them and over them. He suggested how to handle relationships and whether or not to detach.

Holding a big-boned bastard of a bone-crusher in his hands was NOT his expertise, but as Remus had mentioned, he was learning.

 And he was proud of him.

His freckles felt brighter again, cheeks and heart warm. Casper liked to imagine that Remus‘ nice words and weird ways of showing affection liked to mend the broken heart that was his symbol. He wanted to wonder about whether or not a side‘s logo could change but he saw the gift again, his mission right in front of it.

 Crush the bomb!

 Casper pushed his hands a bit away from his chest. His arms were angled to his upper body, in the right position to best provide muscular support to heave the immense weight of this unusual weapon of choice. He focused his eyes on the gift and thrusted the mace into the air, letting it crush down with his arms tensing as much as possible against the obstacle.

 The sound of a pathetic crushing and breaking filled the air. Sugar flaked and cracked, pieces of it flew through the air, seeking to hit and destroy in revenge. Other parts of the hardened gift wrapper was pulverised and seemed to spread over the ground like sweet snow.

 It was pink and green.

Remus caught a few of the pieces and offered one to Casper.

 “I‘m good but thanks a lot!“

 Casper grinned up at him. The green side shrugged and started snacking on the razor-sharp bones of what used to be a loving gift‘s shell.

Small, pale hands reached into the splinters of candy glass. If it had not been for the plans he had yet to be informed about, he would have tried to play with the shards, trying to put together a sweet and colourful mosaic of sugar and uniqueness.

 “Huh..“

 The birthday boy pursed his lips ever so slightly. He trained his gaze on the shards, hands starting to push the broken shell out of the way. Slowly, a little piece of paper seemed to appear. It was folded, string keeping it together.

If this was candy, then it was no candy he knew how to name it. It was new.. felt like actual paper in his hands. The ink seemed to be dark chocolate, darker than Thomas‘ eyes. He smiled at the thought about it.

 “What is this, huh?“

 Ree grinned widely. His face seemed to get larger, just large enough to accommodate the growing grin of his lips. Casper was squinting at the paper as he unfolded it properly and inspected it carefully. There were more lines than words. A few symbols indicated a deeper meaning.

 He was holding a map in his hands.

WAit a moment-

 He turned over the map only to find instructions plastered all over its back.

 “You made riddles for me! This- This is a whole treasure hunt!“

 Casper jumped up.

Energy fuelled his body enough to make him jump. Being physically idle did not do well in letting out all the feelings he was experiencing. Thus, he had to wiggle his body a bit. Remus happily joined in on their improvised, weird dance.

The dark side giggled at his partner. Casper felt his heart halves melt together.

 “This is a map!! Thank you so much, Ree!“

 There was an unspoken transfer in this action. While Remus‘ present was a whole adventure and a lot of work, there were implied values attached to it. Casper was rather childish and seemed to be more like a young child, rather than an adult side.

He was pink, he was cheerful and he liked candy and childhood friendships more than adult topics, mature matters and questions of morality. All he cared for was playing catch with his friends, cuddling his favourite pets and finding someone to really feel complete with. Someone he would never have to be fully separated from.

 Thus, the light sides treated him like a young child.

The map in his hands was more than just a task, a means to build up tension to an even bigger gift. It was trust in Casper‘s leading abilities, trust in him understanding and being competent enough to navigate them through this wild candy land.

 His heart swelled up until it felt like it was twice its original size.

 “Thank you.. really. Thanks a lot.“

 Tears started to well up in his eyes. He smiled despite of it - or maybe he smiled because of it, smiled along with the tears in his face.

Remus drew him into a hug.

 “Aw, Cas!“

 He papped the other ever so gently and gently nudged him with his shoulder. A compass appeared in the hand of the arm that had nudged the other. The pink side looked up at him, eyebrows narrowed.

 “Ree, this is wonderful- I.. May I lead?“

 His big, wide eyes looked up at him. They were magenta around a dark heart at its core.  Remus blinked at him, his eyelashes like lavish fans.

 “That‘s your gift. Your present wants you to lead.“

 The compass in his hands was chocolate, laced by gold. A few sugar crystals adorned the round device. The little pointers were made of sugar, too. The little letters were licorice on an oblate base. In Remus‘ hands, the pointers went into any and all directions. Once in Casper‘s palm, it seemed to recalibrate, to organise itself.

The thing was reacting to him and him alone. After a bit of watching the pointers dance, the little tip came to a shaky stop.

 It pointed them towards South at the moment.

 Casper checked with the map.

The candle table was.. there, at the left top of the map. The x-mark was on the other side of the map, in the very corner. The candy table rose on the map until it was materialised.

 “Wow-“

 Ree nudged him to keep looking at the map. South was downwards, according to the compass of the map. The map started illuminating a spot below their current location. A sketch of a forest was light, yet did not rise like the candy table and the wonderful arches they had here.

If Casper found the spot, maybe the map would save it and materialise it, like the one they were at. Maybe it would only show the spot they currently were at with a three-dimensional model.

 Attachment gripped the map tight, then gently folded it, his fists melting onto the parchment. Rivers of fingers curled around the paper and gently decreased its size. He put the map into his onesie pocket and cleared his throat. The compass was firm in his right palm.

 “We shall get on track with this adventure!“

 Ree squeaked like a dog toy. His body twitched up into the air, just a few inches above the ground. His limbs wiggled a bit before he came down again, attaching himself to the slightly smaller Casper.

 “Aye, we shall, Leader Cas!“

 Pink returned to his cheeks, marking his name as “pink side“ as a rather literal phenomenon. Creativity grinned at him, eyebrows arching.

 “You shall come with me, oh yee... uh.. thee magical union of creation and dis-creation!“

 Remus nodded, a hand over his chest as if to contain his wild heart. Casper believed this to be not unlikely at all. He gently smiled, pride gleaming in his eyes.

 “I shall!“, Ree agreed. His voice was strong, resonating with his body. Casper felt almost taken aback by it. He grinned over it, after regaining his posture, and used his finger to indicate what the compass wanted from them.

 “There we have to go to! March!“

 Ree groaned playfully.

Their feet started to march away, down to south, to the mysterious forest. It did not take a lot of time for them to see the scenery change. The candy table and wide space seemed to disappear, swallowed by how narrow the path got. The chocolate stones and pebbles faded until sparkling sugar sands  took over, turning darker and giving way to almond paste grass, green like Remus‘ wonderful logo.

 Casper‘s free hand intertwined with Ree‘s. The taller one gently squeezed the hand in his bigger one. It took only a few moments for Casper to squeeze back - but not in response to Remus‘ actions.

 Cake pillars of trees were dancing around them. The map seemed to vibrate in Casper‘s pocket, so he let the compass plop into his pocket and pulled the curious map to his sight.

 “There seems to be something going on, mate!“

 Ree giggled like a maniac at Casper‘s comment. He grinned, nodding again and again as if the pink side had said so much more than he actually verbalised.

The birthday boy peeked at the map. There was a change, indeed. The forest was starting to rise from the paper, drinking up colour until it was bright. Huge strings of gummy-like sweets were hanging from the trees, sometimes intertwined with the chocolate flakes of bark. The real trees in front of them were more detailed, had the natural carvings of tree bark, the wrinkles of plants. Here and there, golden syrup was leaking from a few injured trees. Others had dried trails of such syrup on them, marking them as recovering trees.

 The pink side swiftly turned to the other, mouth slightly agape.

 “You are doing all of this? This is so cool! Ree, you outdid yourself!“

 Attachment beamed brighter than the soda candy sun in the sky. It was smiling a candied slice of lemon. The pink side, however, was grinning white teeth and excitement. His hand tugged at Ree‘s and dragged him into the forest. His feet moving swiftly.

 The bigger, elder trees had huge branches of churro sticks. They built a sort of canopy above Casper and Remus, shielding them with shadows from the soda sun and cotton candy clouds.

A lake of purple grape pop crossed their way.

 “Will we just f- UAHHHH!“

 Casper turned to Remus to ask something, steps slowing down together. However, something made him trip over. Casper landed on the grass which seemed to become darker in colour and more in numbers.

Rock candies were glistening from underneath blankets of chocolate crumble earth and almond paste grass. A few stray rays of sunlight warmed the solid, translucent rocks. They seemed to shimmer. A few beams of light reached up to Casper - or rather, down. He was currently sitting up, Remus squatting down next to him.

 “You alright?“

 Casper had a smudge of green on his elbows and quickly licked it away. The action curled his and Remus‘ mouths upwards.

 “Yup!“

 The pink side wanted to ask something, but a marshmallow with strawberry “softies“ on top walked over. Was this a little mushroom?

Casper squealed.

 “ Ree!! Look!! I want to be friends with them!“

 He hopped back onto his feet. The candy mushroom approached them, a few smaller mushrooms following after. All of them had little black eyes but only the bigger ones had enough face to fit a mouth onto them. They looked like black candy tint on them. The eyes were in different colours.

 “Are you one of the biped heroes? Will you help us?“

 The mushroom hopped up. How did it jump without feet? Well, how did it talk when it was fully candy. This was a paradisical dream world, not a logical report on extraterrestrial objects. Of course there was no real logic in here.

 “A hero?“

 Casper repeated. His eyes grew wide. Pink hearts seemed to sparkle at the word.

Hero.

Who in this sugar forest was a  hero?  Remus was the classical villain to everyone but Casper. The pink side was just him, right?

 The mushroom nodded.

An umbrella of red leaned close, facing the ground for a moment, then stopped right before touching it. The mushroom sighed back into position, the red umbrella resting in its intended place.

 “The legend says only biped heroes can mend our issues! You need to help us!“

 The pink side blinked.

This was getting interesting. So, he did the natural thing and -

 “But this can‘t be. We just happen to be on two legs. That means nothing!“

 -doubted himself.

 Remus nudged him.

His mustache seemed to transform to licorice curls. He looked at his partner, eyebrows arching.

 “You have to be the heroes! You are our only hope! We cannot leave the forest because we cannot climb down the beach where the water comes from. Please, we need help!“

 Remus whistled softly.

The crowd of mushrooms was trembling a bit, collectively staring at the others.

Attachment looked at them, eyebrows cast downwards. His eyes seemed to decrease in size as he observed the little mushrooms. They barely got us to his thighs.

They were so helpless.

 “...Alright, we can try. What do you need us to do? What‘s outside of the forest that matters so much to you?“

 Casper got back down onto his knees. He wanted to be on eye level with the mushroom people.

 “Our flower friends need a lot of strawberry milk. We get our milk from a river outside of the forest! It usually fills up a whole pond and our flower friends grow all around it. But.. but now they are hurting a lot because they are so hungry. Everyone has syrup, but that is not enough for them. Some gummy bats fly around to help them bring some strawberry milk. They take chocolate egg shells to transport it but it is not enough. Please, our flower friends need help!“

 Casper nodded.

The tallest mushroom of all was starting to shed little marshmallow fluff tears. Attachment‘s heart felt hurt, too. He placed a heart on the red umbrella part as the smaller mushrooms started to wail along.

 “Don‘t worry! We will do our best to help. I- I don‘t think any of us is a hero, but we can do our best to mess things up!“

 Remus cheered him on and nodded wildly. He glomped Casper from behind. The pink side giggled softly.

 “You would?? Thank you so much!“

 A few smaller mushrooms started to stray from them. They seemed to line up with a path away from where they had come from.

 “The smaller mushrooms will lead you the way out of the forest.“

 As if this sentence had been a clue, the small mushrooms jumped up, their marshmallow torsos buried by their bright red umbrella heads. Promptly, they started glowing.

Casper gasped at the sight.

 “Wow! That is so cool!“

 He turned to Ree, then to the mushrooms. The small ones were radiating a halo of glow around them. It was slightly greenish. Maybe that came from the rich surroundings of the jungle-like forest they were in.

The dark side nodded. To him, that was just one of the most normal sights. It was usual, so he saw nothing outstanding or gasp-worthy in that. But he saw Casper‘s excitement and it brought a smile to underneath his mustache.

 „“Let‘s go follow them, then, huh?“

 Casper nodded.

His mouth was still slightly agape but he closed it then and there. The pink side hopped on the spot and turned his whole body towards the glow path.

 „“Farewell, biped heroes. Farewell. Our trust is in you!“

 Casper felt a warmth in his heart. It seemed as though it had started to grow wings. It lifted itself up inside of his chest and it was wild and swollen in power.

He waved at the big mushroom with eyes and a mouth, then let his hand intertwine with Remus‘. The taller one gave him a squeeze.

 And off they were.

 The partners followed the glowing mushrooms for a while. At some point, they had walked for a long time and Casper sighed softly.

 “How long do we have to travel? I am getting hungry.“

 Remus shrugged.

His free hand indicated the worlds of sugar around them.

Casper hummed softly.

 “We could take a break, how about that?“

 Just as he said so, they got a peek on a huge tree. It seemed broken, so Remus suggested having some of it. Casper agreed. The two walked over, four legs approaching the broken tree.

As they did so, they realised that fog started to come up. At first, Casper thought that light cotton candy clouds were coming down on them. Instead, something heavier seemed

 “Oh, is it really okay to just..- huh?“

 Attachment stopped himself.

More and more sugar thread seemed to come down onto them. At the end, it felt as though the whole forest was covered in hair made of sugar. This was the oddest thing to ever happen to him, even despite all the years he had spent with Remus, visiting the weirdest places of the Imagination and so on.

This really made an example of how odd things tended to be, sometimes.

 “Ree, I think we have a problem-“

 Said side already tugged Casper closer.

 “I bet it is too late to check the map now, isn‘t it?“

 Casper snorted.

 “Great idea, but too late indeed. Now.. what can we-“

Again, the pink side stopped himself. He looked up at.. uh.. well, more and more hair, considering he was unable to detect Remus at all. His gleaming spark of ideas in his eyes was not visible to the other, nor were his own hands before him.

 “I have an idea instead, Ree. I know we can‘t see one another, so it is really important to stick together. Don‘t let go of my hand.“

 Ree nodded.

It took him about three moments to realise the birthday boy could not see him. So, he cleared his throat and played a loud “Aye, Sir! Mister Casper, Sir!“.

The pink side jumped on the other side of his hand, but regained his posture enough to squeeze back in reply.

 “Very well then. Listen to where my voice is coming from, follow to where your hand seems to be with mine.. and slowly eat the fog away with me.“

 The idea his Ree like  a truck. Without seeming him, Casper could physically feel the other snap into action and suddenly start eating away the fog. It was pismaniye. It tastes sweet, mostly, but also a bit nutty. It was nothing like cotton candy. It fell like hair.

It was almost creepy to be surrounded by something that looked and felt and fell like hair, yet was sugary sweet and kind of tastes like sesame and pistachio.

 Attachment followed his own advice after becoming oddly aware of his own inaction. He started to eat, his hungry body grateful for the input of actual sustenance. They had been walking for a few hours, so breakfast had been a longer while ago. The steady exploring had exhausted him.

Now, he just wanted to see his Ree and be sure they were with one another, even if he could feel him on his hand.

 Diligently, almost as if they were quite enjoying it, the two were eating away the barriers between their love. Hands held softly were the guidance to their inner compass directing them. It took them a short while, but eventually, they had eaten away enough fog to start seeing colours shimmering through, then even pieces of actual clothes appearing behind the thick curtains of light blonde angel hair.

 “Ree! There you are!“

 The dark side did not let himself be called twice. He reached out and picked up his smaller partner. Carefully, he drew him to his chest.

 “This is my Cas, and the forest won‘t get a single piece of you!“

 The pink side giggled. Remus brushed a piece of sugar wool off his face and instead stuck it into his own mouth. His partner giggled.

 “We should get out of here. Maybe the fog will get worse. We need to be quick. As much as this was a good snack, we need to think of moving first.“

 Cas commanded. He quickly checked the map and the compass. They needed to go to the west. The funky trees on the map started to retreat. So, they were almost outside of the forest!

 “Let‘s see for the lights!“

 Maybe the mushrooms were glowing because they knew the fog would be coming? In any case, Casper held onto Ree‘s hand again and started walking, when he experienced the worst deja-vu of all-

Once more, he tripped, once more, this triggered a whole bunch of plot.

 Remus was helping him up when they heard ripping, the sound of branches breaking. Something heavy was breaching through the forest and it would not be kind to them, as it sounded.

 “Ree, we need to go!“

 Casper pushed the other over the dead tree and they tripped over it, curling into a ball of a falling and rotating mess. Their bodies stuck together due to their hands finding one another, but it did nothing to help with the rapid movements as well as the intense churning they experienced.

When the pink side laid eyes on what was chasing them, he was more than glad to experience this rather than.. that!

 A huge jawbreaker was rolling after them, breaking and running over many plants and animals. A “squish“ noise reminded him of the mushmallows.

 “I hope they are okay..“

 Casper had a last thought before a horrid squeak cut through his mind. All worries about the others were gone when his hand was gripped tightly. It was so tight, it started to hurt, his bones aching already. He wanted to turn around, ask Remus to stop.

He could not.

His body was drawn in and engulfed by arms. Remus was was holding him close, blocking his mouth with a whole bunch of furry onesie. He thought he was actually breathing in the gore-bunny‘s heart or whatever kind of monstrosity was growing from it‘s chest.

 While Casper was unable to ask or scream about what was happening, he clearly heard wind whooshing around him. The ground under his feet was gone and all the safety he knew was Remus‘ grasp on him.

He was sure he was going to be safe, yet his broken heart was aching. His lungs seemed to string.

 He closed his eyes harder and focused on Remus‘ smell.

This time, he did not have pickled poo logs on. No, he was wearing vinegar and rotten roses. What a romantic.

As Casper tried his best to focus on Remus being warm, being smelly as always, he did not notice the heat rising around them.

 However, a soft thud occurred. It was followed by millions of variations of one single sound. It was difficult to describe, but Casper felt as if it sounded like plastic pieces crashing together. It was a series of dull noise.

To Casper, it was an unspoken sign, a permission to look again. Now he would be able to open his eyes again.

 Slowly, he did exactly that.

His eyelids fluttered. The pressure on his face decreased.

 “Oh, we fell and landed softly! How wonderful!“

 Remus‘ voice reached him.

It was close. His voice box was so close, it made Casper‘s ears rumble a bit from Remus‘ vibrating chest. His lips curled up, just a tiny bit.

 “Fell?“

 He detached himself from the other‘s chest and blinked, trying to slowly let reality dawn onto him. The world was different now.

A thought flashed inside of his mind and he quickly took his map and his compass out of his pocket. He looked around, trying to filter out certain landmarks which would tell him where exactly they were.

 “Oh.. we did fall. Where-“

 He blinked at his map.

The jungle.. this.. forest.. it was gone, away away. Instead, a new space was rising from the map and even making a sound. He could hear the rushing of wav-

 “CAS!“

 Remus jumped into him.

The dull sounds of plastic meeting plastic started to sound up again. It kind of felt drowned out in all of the sounds of waves. Coming closer and closer and crashing over them, breaking and burying them in..

Candy beans?

 Different colours filled his vision. Huge logs of colour fell from the sky, rained down onto him. Casper could not hear more than the deafening noise of dull plastic crashes.

His whole body was walled in by a huge Remus as well as the plastic sounds and big colour logs. He wanted to narrow his eyes but felt himself close them instead.

 “WOO~“

 Casper felt his chest become free with the sound of Remus cheering.

Attachment did not know what was happening but he knew that a LOT was happening. The sounds of Remus being Remus were closer but not louder than the plastic ones.

But it was warmer.

 He felt a warmth spread inside of his chest.

 Slowly, the noise subsided again. It faded away but never really disappeared.

Maybe he had internalised it by now. Who knew.

 Casper, for his part, was giggling a bit. He had his things, still, so he took what he had and tried to get up. Beans were around him and as he got up, Ree followed.

 “This was a nice ride!“

 He hopped up and looked around, one hand over his eyebrows as if to build a makeshift roof with it.

 “Huh, we-“

 Casper interrupted him.

The golden colour before them cued him.

 “WE ARE AT THE BEACH!“

 He squealed and screamed. His body turned towards Remus once more. The dark side was more than happy to reply with screams and squeals from his own side.

 “AHHHHH!“

 Casper grinned: „“WE DID IT!!“

 Remus wiggled his body and nodded. He looked like a Golden Retriever.

 “WE DIIIIIID!“

 The duo giggled at one another before jumping at one another, chests first. They melted into a hug, laughing still the soundtrack to their current situation.

Casper was the first to pull away but Remus quickly picked him up, pulling him closer. He gently rested the other on his shoulders.

 “Look out for waves. I will walk us back to the beach.“

 Casper nodded. Not, that the other could see it. He still had his compass and his map in his hands, so he put the compass away. But he did shoot a glance at the map, considering he wanted to see the “beach“ part of the map start to rise up.

Carefully, he observed it, witnessing how the candy bean sea became more prominent in colour. They seemed to roll a bit, much like a regular sea‘s many waves.

 “Will do.“

 He looked over at the waves, but the sea was rather calm now. The next few waves were barely one full layer of beans reaching over to them. By the time a bigger one started to build up, Remus was ankle-deep in the “water“.

A few more steps and he was outside. He softly put Casper down.

 „“We did it!“

 Casper giggled softly.

Now that he was standing on the shore, he took the time to examine the land around them more closely. Previously, he had focused on looking out for the waves, but now his attention could be redirected to their mission again.

He checked the map.

It very much was the beach, it really was.

 Casper felt as though his heart was being lifted in his chest. It was an almost violent feeling but it made him want to hug Remus close.

And so he did.

 “Come here, Ree“

 He pulled the other into a huge bear hug. Casper gave those a lot to Ree, especially when they had not seen one another in a while. It was their “welcome hug“ when Casper was not too tired or exited to give it.

The dark side could feel himself being squeezed tightly. Warmth surrounded him. Warmth seeped into him.

 “Aww, Cas. I am proud of you. You got us right here where we needed to be.“

 Casper nodded softly.

He was unsure about it but his success did the talking.

 “Hey, wait a moment!“, he exclaimed. Remus looked at him, a loyal companion as always, “there are sandwiches!“

 Indeed, there were.

Casper flashed his pointer at a row of cacti around the beach. They seemed to be never-melting popsicles rising from the sandy ground. A few fruits seemed to hang there.

 “Cas, I think that‘s jus-“

 Yet the other was running before Ree got to finish his talk. He was about to say something important even, or so he thought. But there was no stopping the other, so it was apparent that the taller one had to follow the birthday boy. Said person was getting closer and closer to the cacti.

Like, he actually did.

Remus could not believe it while Casper believed and knew it all the way.

 “Sandwiches!! They are sandwiches!“

 For the first time in the sweet little world, - quite literally sweet - Casper found something not exactly made of sweets and sugar. This was bread, actual bread.

Ree stopped right behind him as he gripped the “fruit“ until it came off. The dark side cleared his throat.

 “Is that safe?“

 He was mimicking Patton‘s voice. Casper only shrugged. He rolled his eyes as he turned to face his partner.

 “Do you want to try it?“

 He handed the round-ish ball over. The “fruit“ had a little stem of cheese.

Why did such things come from a popsicle cactus?

One would never know.

 Ree inspected the thing.

It was.. somewhat circular, kind of golden in colour. Some were a bit different in colour, like more green or more red. It was funny. The one he took out of Casper‘s hands was clearly golden like the sun - well, the sun in the non-candy world.

He looked back at the other fruits. His mind held the fruit absent-mindedly, squeezing about tighter as usual. Casper gasped.

 “Ree! Let go! Look, look! I told you it was sandwiches! I could see it, I could smell it!“

 The pink side‘s hands came around Remus‘ larger ones. He carefully eased his grip on the fruit. Remus just let him do and shift as he pleased. His hands were almost limp, making it easier for Attachment to move them around and pry them away from the fruit just a bit.

The cactus fruit had unfurled itself, revealing a golden crust. In fact, it seemed as it had shed a little case in which the sandwich had been stored.

 “You were right!“

 Ree concluded in awe. Casper nudged him playfully.

 “Stop sounding so surprised! I know my food. Let‘s sit down and eat. I can study the map and you and I could need a little break. Also, I am hungry. What about you? Aren‘t you hungry, too?“

 Ree shrugged but picked a fruit for himself as well.

Around the popsicles, it was a bit cooler. The soda sun was actually burning down pretty hard, but the cacti provided more than enough cool and shadow for them to not really sweat a lot. The run and fall had done a number on them, so the warm breeze and sunny heat was enough to dry them off and give them a nice time to relax.

 “Those are not bad. I got tomato on mine.“

 Casper giggled.

He had unpacked his map, eyes fixed on the compass on it as well as the beach rising from the flat parchment again. Slowly, he started biting into his own sandwich. He took his eyes off the map, letting it process all the changes around them.

As he ate, an explosion of warm, umami flavour flooded his mouth. The sandwiches were warm, but not hot. The cheese was molten pleasantly. He did not seem to have tomato in it. Instead, it was just a whole lot of cheese.

 Attachment loved it.

 “Jus‘ chees‘“, he mumbled around his food.

Ree giggled.

His hand swung over to his partner, silently presenting it to the other. The dark side took a huge bite from it. In return, he grinned and started chewing away at it while offering Casper some of his. The pink side was staring at the map, yet noticed just enough to react and bite into the tomato-fed piece of delicious.

 “Mhmm...“

 Both sat in silence. Relative silence. A few chewing, humming as well as general eating sounds occurred from them.

They both reached for another sandwich when one was done.

 “Oh, see. Is that the river they talked about? It was not there before, but now it is flowing. It looks pink. Hey! Like me!“

 He smiled softly. Ree shrugged.

 “Looks rad. Does that mean we can go on?“

 Casper shrugged.

 “I think so. We must have fallen through the barricades or whatever was annoying the strawberry river. Well, we can go further to here.“

 He pointed at a place further below the beach they were currently at. At least when considering the positions on the map.

 “It seems like a forest or something else is gonna await us.“

 Remus shrugged.

He had already finished his food and was interested in biting into the cactus. Would it hurt? Pain only made sensations more interesting. He leaned in and bit into the plant.

 “AHHH!“

 Remus pulled away at once. Casper flinched closer to his partner and best friend. His forehead was wrinkled up. Remus looked almost offended in contrast to the pink side.

 “What did you do?!“

 The cacti started to bow over them, arching their bodies.

 “Why did you bite me!“

 A new voice arose, demanding and accusatory. Casper looked at the cactus, the source of sound coming from that direction. He could see the bodies of the cacti turning a bit, revealing faces.

Angry faces.

The cacti were colourful, white and red and orange up until the tip where they were green again with a few red dots and little pricks to them. One of them seemed to be missing. Remus pulled it out of his mouth and threw it into the sand.

 “Bite?“

 Casper repeated softly. The moment he said it, he realised just what has been said. The cactus was accusing them of having bitten them. Sadly, Attachment looked at Remus holding his mouth in mild pain. A small pout was making his lips appear bigger and more innocent than usual.

He wanted to hold him but also push him away for being such an impulsive idiot. Exasperation took hold of him and he sighed.

 “Ree, you cannot just bite people!“

 Ree‘s pout grew bigger.

 “I didn‘t know! I just wanted to test the cronch!“

 The cactus cried out as if having been bitten even harder. It shook. Casper squeezed against Remus‘ side. The taller side was hurting, but put one arm around the smaller one, carefully holding his partner a bit closer.

 “Cronch?! I am no cronch! You hurt me!“

 Remus shrugged.

 “Well, sorry about that. I cannot change it now, tho.“

 Casper nudged him.

 “Can we do anything to make it up to you?“

 He felt a pit inside of him. There was emptiness. Despite the sandwiches, he felt as if nothing but self-eating emptiness was inside of him. And it hurt.

No, actually, the sandwiches probably made it worse. They were the poison in the well that was his body. Casper wanted to wince but he tried to be as nice as possible. It must have hurt to be bitten by Remus.

Remus was quite the strong one after all.

 The dark side huffed stubbornly. The cactus stood as tall as possible. Casper had the feeling the cacti were trying to stand even taller and broader than before, maybe to just look a bit bigger.

The shadow they cast onto them was growing huger, longer. They were dooming stripes, thick prison bars in the sand, trapping them in place.

The cacti were actually growing, the middle one, the talking one, more than the others and much  faster at that.

 Casper took Remus‘ hand again.

 “I think we tried a lot to be friends with the cactus again, but they won‘t listen. We should go, really-“

 Attachment‘s voice spoke with a much more intense haste than usual. He checked his compass and started to take the initiative.

He was the leader of their little troop, their small team. He was to make decisions and do things. So, he made the decision to run away at once. Behind them, cactus pricks shot through the air. They bore into the sand, digging deep into the loose sand.

Remus turned his head to throw one last glance at the angered cactus, now much taller than them, surrounded by a few cacti which grew into similar sizes. They started to free themselves from the sand, popsicle stick feet  were hopping through the sand.

They were after them.

 “We need to hurry!“

 Casper was running like the wind.

His partner alerting him was more than enough to push his mind over the edge. He had to make a decision fast and quick. Where would they go? There were sugar bean oceans, strawberry rivers-

 There!

A huge pond!

 Casper pulled Remus after him. His feet were almost flying over to the pond. It was a temple of safety in Casper‘s mind, the kind of place were they would be sheltered from the mean cactus.

Well, the cacti were kind of right to be mad, but chasing them around and trying to prick them? That was a lot!

 The cactus monster was hot on their heels, nearly breathing down their necks. Remus had the feeling they were melting down onto their exposed body parts and absolutely non-innocent skin.

The pink side felt an idea hit him much harder than a prick could have. The cactus started to “reload“, prepared to pierce sharpness into them.

 The leader was against that. So, Attachment took a sharp cut into another direction. The cactus monstrosity was huge and did not react well. The sudden change of direction had the meanie baffled. The cacti union wanted to turn around just as sharply, but lost balance. The many branches of cactus heads were too enormous in size and different ideas. One wanted to gather their balance again, while others were arguing whether to give it up or actually still pursue them at all.

By then, the pink side had them safely  hidden away in the muddy warmth of a dark chocolate fondue. He waited a bit, dragging the curious Remus behind him before his air was out and he had to get up and breathe again.

He squeezed Ree‘s hand and gently tugged it upwards as he returned to the surface. Two heads, completely immersed in dark chocolate, popped out of the darkness.

 It smelled like cocoa butter, a bit bitter, even.

The two cleaned their faces carefully, trying to free their eyes and mouths and noses first, so they could breathe and see right.

The cacti seemed all gone.. they were safe?

 “Good idea!“

 Remus‘ mustache was now double its size. Casper started to giggle.

 “Ree!!“

He chuckled to himself.

“You look so funny!“

The dark side grinned.

He tried to glance at his mustache, but it was hard. How was he supposed to see his face? He scrunched up his nose. He craned his neck a bit, showing off the side of his throat.

No, he could not see better like this either.

 Casper could not hold his laughter back.

He was curling in on himself, shook by his own amusement. Seeing Remus trying to turn his face upside down and whatnot just to see himself was hilarious. The pink side shook his head, little crystal tears appearing at the corner of his eyes once more.

 “You..You-“

 He tried to express anything with even a hint of coherence.

Needless to say, he did not manage. His breath was short from how much he was laughing, also, he was laughing way too much to actually say more than one or two syllables in one go.

Remus pouted playfully.

 “Cas, you are being meeean~“

 A huge grin adorned his chocolate features.

Time to take matters into his own hands! He approached the laughing side. His partner was currently wiping tears from his eyes. They were squeezed out from how much he was laughing, balled up cheeks squishing his eyes like lemons.

 He realised the other too late, and even later.

Casper could barely squeak out a plead, a word to turn Remus‘ mood more mild. The other already threw himself onto him, arms finding his muddy wet sides. Warm chocolate covered his ticklish spots, but did not desensitise them.

Attachment was squirming.

 „“Ah..Ahhhh~ Ree!!!“

 His giggles had barely faded, just to be resumed once more. A new force  was accompanying the sounds of his laughter. Casper‘s little body was flailing its limbs into every direction it could possible reach. He squealed like prey.

 „“You deserved that!!“

 Remus playfully shot back. Attachment wiggled away, trying to move out of Ree‘s reach. He  reached the end of the chocolate pot and heaved himself out eventually.

Sweet, sweet - ouch!

 He landed much harder than expected.

It was a deep fall, leaving him to roll over a bunch of leaves. He blinked softly. His sides were hurting now, but he was okay.

A loud breaking sound rushed to his ears.

 „“Hu-“

 He gasped. Obviously, his mind was going many places.

They had faced a lot of obstacles, nice and mean people. Now, the sound was promising a fall -

...a fall of Remus, apparently.

As Casper before him, he was breaking out of the pot without a lot of grace. He had broken some branches in the process but took it with a giggle, as he too, rolled over.

 “That was fuun!! Wooo!“

 He cheered.

The taller one sat up, his hands up in the air. They were all chocolate.

 “It was, but it hurt.“

 Casper retorted.

He shrugged it off, though, and simply looked at his hands. They were full of leaves - as much chocolated as he was. Chocolatified? Chocolate-covered.

 “Ha, look at this! We are covering everything in chocolate!“

 The light side beamed up at his partner. Remus slid over to him.

 “Truce. No more tickling!“

 Casper nodded. They shook chocolate-hands on that!

 “Alright! But we need to do something about this chocolate stuff!“

 Remus shrugged.

 “We can wait this out. Just take a nap and the chocolate will be hard as a d-“

 Casper nudged him away.

 “Staaaaahp! We can take a nap, alright alright!“

 He had a pout on his lips now, too.

 They playfully pushed one another before paying down and curling up together, one against the other. Remus curled around Casper like a bowl, or maybe a nest. Casper nuzzled his chest softly.

He was sure he would have a hard time sleeping now. He had been up all night, they had been chased yet again. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, his brain. The chase, the fall, the tickles and the rest of it all. They were in his mind, flashing before his inner eye.

He could see what had happened to them, he thought about everything they had experienced so far. Before he knew it, he was caught in a deep sleep.

His body was snug against Remus‘. Together, they slept into a state of hardened chocolate.

 When they woke up, they felt odd.

Hardness kept them in place. They were restrained, even when they tried to breathe a bit deeper. Chocolate armour was attached to them like a second skin. It was not tight, nor was it really heavy, but it was everywhere, even in their hair as they now realised.

 “Oh.. oh, what‘s that?“

 Casper nagged.

He wanted to un-curl, get up and see the world, but every twitch of muscles was met with resistance. He felt pressure against his skin when he tried to move. Very much from his chin down, he felt immobile and restricted. Little walls were keeping him in space.

A frown fell over his features.

 He had been soft, even a bit disoriented from switching over to reality after his warm, heavy sleep and dreams. Now, he was surrounded by so much confusion, he barely knew what to do. The world was odd, their situation was odd.

For a moment, he feared being unable to ever move again. His throat tightened.

 Oh no.

Now, even the rest of him would freeze and become unmovable! The rigidity around him seemed to worsen. It pressed a moan out of him. Little tears formed at his eyes again.

Instinctively, his throat formulated what he usually did when Casper did not know what else to do. The helplessness of having no more logical thoughts to help but only panic to guide him made his chest heavy.

 But his automatism kicked out a powerful: “Remus!“

 Instead of a whine, a pathetic plead, he strongly pronounced the other back into their reality. Remus awoke with a sudden jolt through his body. Though, he could barely move. The twitches resulted in pressure against his skin.

There was a whole lot of pressure instead of the nice, heavy warmth of a chocolate blanket from before.

 Remus caught on rather fast.

 He wiggled his body as powerfully as he could. Little grunts and moans came from him. He sounded like a character from Dragon Ball in a ten-episode filler fist-fight.

Cracking was soon to be heard. It filled the air, much like the sounds of opening an egg.

 A louder sound breached Casper‘s ears.

He was unable to see much, considering he was much glued to Remus‘ chest shell. Yet, he could see and hear how Remus removed himself from Casper‘s face with a sudden motion. The dark side rolled all over the space around them. This time, his body did not pick up any more leaves or straws of grass. He jumped to his feet and yelled.

 “I AMST FREEEEE.“

 Remus shed a last piece of dried muddiness around him. The dark, bitter shell crashed to the floor and burst into pieces. Casper flinched into an embryo position, trying to curl up as much as possible. The dark side shrugged and sat down to his friend.

 “Actually, I can get you out even better!“

 He gave Casper a smug grin. Before Attachment could think twice, the other was leaned over him and bit into his necK!

 “AH! Ree!“

 While Casper wanted to complain, he.. felt no pain. He looked up. Actually, he COULD look up once more. He felt his neck crane ever so softly. IT worked! He could move again!

 Oh.

 The pink side felt the other carefully bite and push until the shell gave in. Casper giggled at times. The chocolate was brushing against his skin, sometimes with the warmth of Remus‘ breath.

 “That tickles!“

 He started to squirms.

Soon enough, Remus‘ work as well as his additional wiggling helped him out of the shell. Casper chuckled, snuggling up to his partner.

 “Thank you, Ree. I got really scared.“

 The dark side shrugged.

As nonchalant as he acted, he still leaned down to kiss the tears building up in the corners of Casper‘s eyes. They were crystal-like, precious like sugar.

 “Awww, what for?“, Ree reasoned softly. Casper was giggling but still holding onto the other. The dark side held his partner softly, „“there is nothing I wouldn‘t save you from. See? I defeated the chocolate!“

 Casper chuckled.

When he looked up at, Remus‘ face was smudged with chocolate. It was all dark brown around his mustache and lips. Attachment chuckled and  snuggled into Ree‘s arms again.

 “You are so silly! You are full of chocolate!“

 He was giggling with the other but when Remus brought both his arms around the  smaller side, he sighed softly. His heart was melting inside and he felt.. right, being so close to the other.

They stayed like this for a while.

Only after a longer while did they part. Casper wiped his eyes. Remus wiped his mouth.

 “I have the feeling we can use the chocolate leaves a bit. Let‘s take them with us.“

 Remus nodded. They took a sugar glass cup from the trees around them and collected the leaves. They then locked their hands again, fingers intertwining. They smiled as they walked through the calm trees of the forest.

It seemed different than the other, more plain, less crowded. There were no funny mushrooms... marshrooms? Well, they were none, so it did not matter. However, they saw some cute mice racing around. Some birds and bats flew around. Licorice and yoghurt gummy bears crossed their ways.

They kept on walking.

 Eventually, Casper checked the map again.

The last stage before the treasure seemed to be highlighted. Much like the others before, they rose from the map and stopped, slightly moving since mice from the map were moving around, too. Gummy birds were tweeting and chirping.

It felt like a song for these two alone.

 “Hey, there is a funky thing here.“

 Casper pointed at something. Remus nodded softly.

 “Yes, yes.“

 The dark side‘s response prompted him to go on.

 “Let‘s go there.“

 They did as they decided on and eventually came around to a clearing. There, their favourite mixed-race person was sitting!

The dragon witch!

 “Good day, children.“

 She had a table set up, a few plates made of stroopwafel were laid out. Little cups of chocolate were prepared. There even was a little kettle.

The table looked like a horizontal yule log, lazy in the sun. It was surrounded by smaller Baumstriezel which formed little things like chairs. Candy glass covered the hollow inside on top, so people could sit on it. It had funny colours. The dragon witch gestured to the seats. They were two free ones, the exact number of butts that needed a rest after nearly walking and falling all day. Even their nap was not enough. They had walked for over one hour once more after this.

The duo sat down with the witch, happy to be welcomed.

 “I hope you brought some leaves for our tea.“

 Casper perked up.

 “We have chocolate-coated ones!“

 The dragon witch giggled.

She was a huge dragon with a stereotypical witch-hat adorning her head. Roman had made her up. Remus had befriended her after his light-reflection kept on fighting her. She was his first friend on the “dark“ side.

She opened her hands. They were claws and wonderfully colourful. Scales of all colours decorated her body. Casper smiled and put the leaves into her opened palm.

 “Thank you young man! This shall make a wonderful, spiced hot cocoa.“

 Gently, she started to blow her hot, steaming and flaming breath onto the bottom of the tea kettle. Soon, it started whistling.

Casper giggled.

The warmth was very much welcome. He and Remus warmed up on it, hands stretched out.

 “Nice..“, they breathed out softly. Smiles decorated their faces.

Behind them, the bushes rustled. Little mice and other animals came to join them. Casper picked a bit of stroopwafel and handed it over to them, bit by bit - crumble by small crumble.

 The dragon witch giggled at him. Her hands moved and a new piece of food entered the scene. A few mice ran over, bringing them a loaf of dense, dark bread. It looked like dark caramel on the outside. On the inside, it was much more yellow than people would expect bread to be.

Of course, it was something special.

 “I made Ontijkoek for you. I hope you can enjoy it, child.“

 Casper grinned up at her.

His and Remus‘ hand intertwined under the table. The dragon witch paid that no mind. She cut the bread and gave everyone a little piece.

 “Happy birthday, Casper.“

 She started to take everyone‘s cup. One by one, she filled in some of the tea which had steeped for a while. Well, it was less tea and more chocolate chai whatever.. He did not know. But what he knew was that the second the dragon witch started the fill his cup with this chocolate mix of hot liquid, little animals of chocolate liquid started to rise from his  cup.

They danced above their heads, chasing one another.

 He looked up, eyes gleaming.

 “Ohh!“

 Remus giggled.

 “That‘s cool! I want too! Please, dragon witch!“

 The dragon witch shook her head. She pulled out a wand. It seemed to be made of crystal candy. Colourful, shining, powerful.

She poked Remus‘ nose with it.

 “Nah, nah, little naive man. You shall get a little surprise for your birthday when it comes about. Until then, we are celebrating for Casper.“

 Ree‘s lips were fallen into a pout for just another moment. Then, he gently nudged the other.

 “I bet on the funky horse.“

 Casper frowned.

 “No, no! The cat will win.“

 The dragon witch let one animal per cup rise above their heads. Now, her cup had its turn. She catapulted a bit of the steaming liquid into the air. Promptly, a raccoon formed.

 “I hope my raccoon friend can show you what counts~“

 They ate their bread as the animals raced for them. Sometimes, they ran into one another for fun, jumped at one another and so on.

     Like that, they let the world move on for a bit longer. The animals ended up playing around and flowing into a little puddle for the other animals to enjoy. The Dragon Witch gave a little gift to Casper, but left it under his bed, like a secret.

 The duo travelled on.

They had passed the last stage, had a nice afternoon tea and now, the sun was slowly sinking down. Casper was yawning again.

 “This was a cool birthday..“

 The pink side snuggled up to Remus who held him loyally.

 “What‘s the last stage?“

 He asked softly. Remus shrugged. Casper felt his head move along, considering he was leaning onto the other with most of his weight. He stifled yet another yawn.

Remus pressed a kiss to his forehead.

 “We are right there. Come on there, my prince. I will carry you.“

 Casper did not answer verbally. His body moved to spoon Remus half-way from behind. His body was snug against the dark side‘s back. Swiftly, the journey continued.

 His eyes blinked.

 The forest seemed to be over.

There was the little hill they had seen. From there, the jungle-like forest they had been in at first was visible. It was far away, but Casper felt it in his heart that they were somewhat back where they had been before. The strawberry lake trickled into the side of the jungle. It was a fine line of thread, coloured like self-made strawberry yogurt in the summer.

 The nostalgia made Casper feel more like he was in his bed. Remus usually made him feel liker that, but also remembering nice and simple times.

He was sure the other knew about this.

Mentally, Casper focused on this for just a while. He barely realised when Remus gently settled himself and the lighter side down onto a nest. It was green and made of funny candy. Casper new it was edible Easter grass, but he did not know how it was made. It looked weird and he had never really liked the taste.

Still, he would usually ask for it, ask for the completion of a holiday child dream.

 However, he noticed a change of pressure on his butt. He hummed softly. The nest was soft, but not as soft as the air his butt had nestled against beforehand.

 “Hmm... Ree..“

 He smiled softly and patted the space next to him.

Ree sat down next to him. They enjoyed the view for a while.

 “The strawberry lake.“

 Ree nodded. He hummed, because he realised the other did not look at him but at the world created for him and him alone.

 “Can we go back here, sometimes?“

 Ree nodded once more.

Again, he made it more clear to the other, even when Casper looked up at him with his big, pink eyes.

 “Of course we can, Cas.“

 A calmness settled over his head.

 “Thank you, Ree. Really.“

 They both looked at each other, then, as if they had communicated about it, they looked back at the jungle for a while.

 “You made a great world.“

 Remus smiled.

He had made it for Casper only. Casper was more than a world to him, so he knew he would build more and more worlds for him - as long as the other would let him.

 But of course he did not say that.

He smiled, his mustache twitching a bit with it.

 “I am ready for the end.“

 Ree nodded.

This time, he did not have to indicate his approval, his understanding, any more in order for Casper to understand.

 Sounds of rustling tickled Casper‘s ears. Like a set of butterfly kisses, the light touch delighted his skin and caused some areas to curl up in a veil of goosebumps. He tilted his head a bit, towards the source of this new noise.

Around them were eggs. Not the small ones.

 Oval balls of all colours were in the lime green nest. They were sprinkled with some spots of the dark chocolate, revealing its true nature of chocolate at heart.

 “Oh?“

 Casper felt the sound leave his lips, slipping from him like a fleeting thought.

He sighed softly. A smile warmed his lips.  

Each egg was huge. Had he been standing, it would have reached just below his knees, he was sure. It was similarly broad, but definitely taller than broad.

The pink side reached out, feeling drawn to touch the eggs.

 Softly, he approached one by one. He placed his ear against the shells. All of them had sounds. Only one of them was quiet. When he listened to all of them, he glanced at Remus for just a moment, then returned to look at this egg.

 It was yellow, less oval than the others. It also did not seem as sprinkled. In fact, the golden like colour was spot-on. Or rather: spotless.

While other eggs had vibrated against his ear, sounds and movement keeping him mentally engaged, he saw this motionless egg.

 It was almost lifeless.

 A feeling of knowing came upon him.

His eyes were fixed on the one egg. Golden, glistening. It seemed to be sparkling at him and him alone.

 Attachment placed his palms onto the peculiar egg‘s shell. It seemed... surprisingly thin. Instead of a robust, thick shell, it felt as though Casper could reach right through it, almost like tracing his finger tips over the see-through veil of rice paper.

 A part of him wanted to look at Remus.  He did not know why. At this point, it felt like instinct, maybe habit. In any case, he experienced the urge to look at the dark side. Yet, he refused it.

The egg first.

This, he mused, was his time. Although provided by his lovely partner, it was a moment for him alone and he wanted to value it - for the sake of himself, really.

 Almost as if following a deeply ingrained ritual, his fingers started to grasp at the egg, carefully cracking its top. His nails scraped off the thin layer of colour. Golden fractures of colour split off of the egg.

Soon enough, the little mountain top of gold was melting away under Casper‘s magical hands. He worked until he could see enough and even reach into the inner of the egg. A little bag was inside of it. Dark.

Not candy.

 Casper‘s fingers brushed over the fabric, trying to take in which candy it could be until it occurred to him that it actually was no candy at all. It was too smooth, not sticky enough. It was light, breezy. It did not feel air-tight at all.

 He wanted to ask what this was, but his eyes were focused, his brain not even considering the idea of opening up his mouth in order to even try and produce a single sound. All he did was to open the bag and insert one hand.

The inside was.. odd? To the touch at least, he felt nothing but weirdness. Somehow, it was several textures at the same time. It was somewhat gooey, yet also firm. Was that slime over something?

 His eyebrows narrowed together, nearly meeting above his nose.

 He pushed his thumb into the item.

It felt very much solid, covered in something like grime.

 Attachment gently retreated his hand. He had his eyes closed. He had not even realised it, but he must have done it during the time of him trying to feel just what it was. He was guessing mentally, was attempting to understand it all.

When his eyes fluttered open, his freckles were a faded, peach colour. He blinked a few times.

 The item was not just small enough to fit into his palm, it also seemed to reach around his palm. It was spheric, hollow inside. His hand fit right through.

He looked properly at it, squinting ever so carefully. The line around his hand was made of interwoven tentacles. Green goo was dripping from it. It was translucent, yet did not feel disgusting. It was smooth and silky, instead of sticky and stranger.

It felt as natural as water to his hand but did not stain him or wet his fingers.

 “Wh-“

 Now, his mouth was moving. But he stopped himself at once.

He did not know what to say. He wanted to say so much, wanted to what this was. His brain assembled the pieces, slowly solving the puzzle one object at a time.

 This was the most Remus gift ever, for the most Casper person in the world.

Attachment scratched at his friendship bracelet. He had made them all, for any side Thomas had, any side he knew and liked. He had made them and sometimes, the others did not even wear theirs.

Not once person had returned the favour, had given him a similar treatment.

 “Thank you..“

 He took a really deep breath.

His body was in Remus‘ arms all of a sudden, his body moving into its right place right by his partner.

 This piece of weird string, eternally dripping its weird, unaffecting goo, was a symbol of so much more. The tentacles never-ending, never stopping. It was snug against his ankle soon. Remus‘ hands hugged the root of his foot, gently squeezing it before putting it back down onto the bottom of the nest.

 The first eggs started to crack around them. Little blocks of Turkish delights, flush and warm in colour were starting to jump around them, up and down. They made funky, wet sounds.

Slurp, Smorf.

 They shared a giggle.

This time, Ree let the other cry.

 When Remus curled up in bed, Casper was with him, a little ball of ducky onesie in his arms, a trail of crystal sparkles over his cheeks, stopping right above the curl of his smile.

[isabearies]

I never thought she would get old.

Hi. This is my dog, Maulie (it’s pronounced Molly, she’s named after the plane model). She is, undoubtedly, the love of my life. I have had her since I was ten years old. She became the light of my life after the tragic passing away of my puppy, Moxy, months earlier due to an unforeseen accident.

At the time, life was grim. My childhood dog, Jessie, my one and only friend until that day, was growing very old and very, very tired. She was sick and would never get better. My father had had a motorcycle accident that could have killed him and rendered him bedridden for the next year. My great grandmother, the staple of our family, passed away earlier that year.

All that was, until my mom found a little puppy in Modesto. She was covered in fleas when they found her, stuck underneath an abandoned house alone with her deceased brothers and sisters. She, too, was having a rough year. She was the smallest thing I had ever seen. You know those single tissue boxes? She could fit into those! We never tried obviously, but we knew from comparison. I remember that day very, very clearly. I had taken out my flip phone and I just got out of school. I checked it and saw mom had sent me a photo of the puppy that we had been looking at. I continued to go to the parking lot where my mom waited for me. I thought for a minute and pulled my phone out again. That puppy was sitting on my bed, next to my Finn and Jake dolls. She was perched, staring at the camera, next to a single tissue box.

She got the puppy.

I ran, ran to the car. When I opened the door, there sat a sleeping little girl, not more than four pounds. I cried so much, I never thought I would feel happiness again. There was only one thing I could say.

Maulie.

The first few days with her, she only slept. Puppies usually do that. She slept on my dad’s left shoulder (the broken one), she slept on my stomach, and she slept on top of Jessie. She never complained, never asked for anything, rarely had any accidents. She immediately was stuck to me like glue. She never left my sight, or rather I never left her sight. Sometimes I would cry about leaving her for school in the morning.

She started to grow, becoming a whopping, big and strong....13 pounds!! She might’ve been small but she could take on the world, I knew this for a fact.

She become the love of my life. She was around when Jessie passed away, when my dad got better, when we moved, when I was hospitalized, when Leo died, everything. Whenever I felt sad, she slept near or on me. I think all along she has been trying to fix us with her sleeping powers (they work!).

Maulie hates men. More specifically, she hates men in sunglasses and hats (anything that hides their face). I never knew why, I just accepted it and only occasionally did she see my boyfriends. I still think it’s funny to see men get real anxious when a little 13 pound dog chase ‘em around.

You know when you know you’re grown up, but you still get bombarded? When those things you thought were fact become illuminated and they turn out to be just...childhood thoughts. I found one the other day, and I don’t know how I feel about it. It sounds irrational to say aloud.

I thought she would never get old.

I’m not saying the thought never crossed my mind, of course it did! I just could never see it, never feel it. That was, until about two weeks ago. I was laying down, her head on my shoulder and body against mine. My hand went down her furry little back and my heart stopped.

A spine.

Now if any dog owners are reading this, then you know what I’m talking about. She’s not malnourished. (trust me, she eats all of the cat food anyways). No, that’s the old spine. The spine you feel on old dogs. The dogs that get sick, the dogs that go blind, the dogs that are in pain, the dogs that—

I did what I always do when I get nervous: I pet Maulie. However, when I felt her head, it felt...harder. The skin on her head was thinner. I felt down her her upper back. Her shoulder blades protruded. I looked at her whiskers. Gray. I felt her nose, her coat, her tail.

She was awake now. The hair on her chin smooshed up her face. Her ears floppy as ever. I have seen those eyes. Those same tired eyes. Jessie had those same eyes. Jessie was old. Jessie is gone.

I knew the day would come. The day I realize my dog is getting old. I just never knew it would come this quickly. Now you may say, “Isabelle, she’s not gone yet! She’s not even eight, she has plenty of time!”

That’s not the point. She grew up with me, I expected her to grow old with me. That’s what soulmates do, right?

She’s a dog. I know she’s a dog. I know I will outlive her lifetime multiple times, but that doesn’t change the hurt. I love her more than life itself, I just hope she knows that.

I’m sorry for this long, convoluted rant. It’s just hate thinking sometimes, especially since I’m forced to be inside where all I can do is think. But hey, at least I’m getting writing done!

here’s some of her baby photos as apology for the sad post

[luminouswhump]

tagged by @galaxywhump

Name: Rowan

Nicknames: Ro, r2d2

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Height: 1.70

Languages: Dutch, English, I can understand most German but I'm not good at speaking it

Nationality: Dutch

Favorite Season: Spring, baby animals, not too hot, flowers and stuff blooming!

Favorite Flower: probably hibiscus?

Favorite Scent: I don't do well with most smells though I like lavender

Favorite Color: purple

Favorite Animal: Otters or birdies

Favorite Fictional Character: Dick Grayson or Vax'ildan!

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: hot chocolate, though tea is also noice

Average Sleep Hours: around 10, I have chronic fatigue syndrome and I will get ill if I go with 'regular' amounts of sleep YEEHAW

Dog or Cat person: I prefer cats but all animals are wonderful and I love them

Number of Blankets Slept With: 2, regular blanket and a blanket I made for a ren faire type thing when it was Cold. it's a soft floofy blanket with a fancy red velvet type fabric that I used to like,, line it with, and a sun I embroidered on with the sewing machine. It's wonky but,, So Soft and Warm

Dream Trip: I would love to go to Disney world with my friends and mom

Blog Established: no idea, but it's well over a year old

Followers: most of them are inactive/dormant accounts but tumblr is a platform where I don't really monitor my follower amount

Random Fact: my dad dropped me as a child and they had to glue my chin and bottom lip back together so now I have two scars there

[radiobribri]

How about an older Paul and reader cuddling together, thinking on how much they love the other? :3 Like a 'When I'm 64' thing

There are actually tears in my eyes, anon. Thank you for this

Paul McCartney x Reader - Eyes Don’t Change

Word Count: Under 800

Warnings: The Sweetest Fluff EVER

For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.

Those were the vows you took on that day, in that little chapel with Paul and your families. The boys were there, of course, cheering you on. You wore a pretty white dress with lovely lace details, and Paul wore a nice suit(as always). That was in the early days of The Beatles, when everything seemed to be going so well and the four of them got along famously. That changed over the years, and they grew apart, but Paul always had you, and vice versa.

You were so nervous that day - you were facing the greatest endeavour of your life and you didn’t know what the future held. As soon as you saw Paul’s face as your father walked you down the aisle, though, you were sure in your decision. His eyes were wide and bright, pooling with happy tears. No matter what problems you were faced with, you knew you would always have your Paulie to lean on. You would always have his warm, kind eyes watching over you. As soon as the minister pronounced you man and wife, Paul embraced you like it was the last thing he’d ever do.

“(Y/N) McCartney. It’s perfect.” He said, as you were walking out of the chapel together, running the gauntlet of your family and friends throwing rice onto you.

“I agree. I think I’ll like being Mrs. McCartney!” You remember laughing. You had never smiled so much in your life until that day, and though it was nerve-wracking, you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Not long after, you discovered you were pregnant. You’d always wanted to be a mother, but when confronted with the fact that you were expecting, you nearly fainted on the spot. You had waited, anxiously, all day for Paul to get home from the studio so you could tell him in person. When he finally did, you stuttered nervously through the announcement. He had to coach you through forming the words. But when you finally managed to say it, those dark eyes locked with yours again and you found peace; they were expectant, and full of joy.

Your pregnancy was delightful - you relished the feeling of the baby’s kicks and hiccups, shopping for tiny clothes. It seemed like every time Paul went out of the house, he came back with another little outfit for the baby. The boys were enamored, too, always rubbing and poking at your ever-expanding belly. Everyone was excited to meet the new McCartney.

When the baby finally arrived, however, he brought with him a whole new type of love between you and Paul. Your husband looked at you with pride, now, and admiration - you had carried and birthed his child, his perfect little boy. He was the spitting image of his father; with big baby-blue eyes, not yet turned to their permanent color, and Paul’s sleek dark hair. When you watched them together, father and son, your heart grew to bursting. You’d never known how much you could love Paul until you saw him with your son, rocking him slowly as he slept soundly bundled in his father’s arms.

Many years down the road, and many children later, the two of you were still very much the same. Even through adversity, you stuck together like glue. Much had changed in the years that went by - The Beatles parted ways, you’d filled your house with several more McCartneys and a few dogs too, and you lost John and George. But even through that, through all the events life threw at you, you stayed strong.

Now you were old and grey and wrinkly, and couldn’t see without your glasses. But he still held you the same, warm and close in his arms, with his head resting on the back of your shoulder as you watched television. He hummed softly, some new song he’d written that he couldn’t get out of his head.

Many things had changed over the years, but one thing in particular stayed the same - those big, hooded hazel eyes staring back at you, their corners crinkled in a smile. They never failed to melt your heart.

Requests are: OPEN! Send me Beatles or Queen blurb requests! I write fluff and smut! My Request Info - My Masterlist - My WIPs

Taglist: @katiekitty261 @pichu-chu

[endoftheroad1983]

Trouble with Steve pt 6

Trouble With Steve part Six (new)

Steve Rogers x Reader pt 6

Y/N sat back after the look in Steve's eyes. The crackling fire fill the silence between the two of you. After a few moments Y/N gave in.

“So we need to go back to the tower?” She sipped more on her drink. She welcome all the alcohol she could get before she had to leave her comfort zone.

“Actually, there is a safe house that I want to take you to. We will be safe there.” He was now rubbing his hands together. A safe house alone with Steve? That would be a dream come true if your brain would stop tell your heart no.. Things have been weird around you two.

“I want another hour before we leave.” Y/N suddenly demand.  Steve didn't cover up the guilt stricken face that wash over him.

“Of course.” He softly agree.

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

A cabin in the middle of the National Yellowstone Park was not what Y/N had except Steve to take her. After a very long drive, Which You slept through most of, they reach a three bedroom, two bath cabin. It was breathtaking view that awe her.

“ I quit and now I’m moving here.”

“Your hilarious.” Steve chuckle at your joke. Y/N spinning on her heels to face him.

“Who says I'm joking? I'm going to put a lavender garden under the kitchen.” Steve froze for a moment as he could actually see you doing this.

“I don't think we will be here that long.�� Steve burst your dream bubble. He frown a bit when he realise he had cause your face to scrunch up.

“We can pretend. Where's your imagination?” You tease him lightly as she wonder into the kitchen.

After a tour of the house, Y/N went back downstairs to the living room. A book shelf of DVDs indicated that there wasn't any cable out here. That didn't bother you one bit. You venture into the kitchen for a snack. Only to discover that the place was empty. Steve walk in to see the confuse look on your face.

“I'm heading out to the store now.” He smile when he saw her face.

“I can't come?” She question with a small pout.

“And risk H.Y.D.R.A  knowing where you are? I don't think so.”

“Oh yea, I forgot that I'm in protection.” She shrug it off. “I guess that I will take a bath in the master bath. Did you see the size of that tub? You could fit three people and a dog in there! I'm going to see if I can get Nick to give me this house!”

Of course Steve saw the tub, he had place his bags on the bed before going through the house to make sure everything was bolted before bringing her in. A light blush crept into his cheeks as he thought of you in the tub.

“I won't be gone very long.” In an attempt to change the subject Steve blurt out the his first thought. His eyes quickly drop to the floor.  Was Steve malfunctioning again? You thought to yourself, well I really hope not. Y/N was enjoying the nice time alone with him.

“Maybe we can catch a flick when I get back?” Was it a question or was it a suggestion? Y/N didn't know which. But she paid no mind to it when her heart was trying to bust out her chest. They rarely spent that kind of time together.

“Sure that sounds like fun!” She beam at him as she pass him to go upstairs.

A couple of hours later, Y/N found yourself bathed and clothed. You wonder around the house taking in the architect in the frames. You were upstairs admiring paintings that hung on the wall when you heard a car pulling up. You quickly pinned herself to a side of a wall with a window. You peek out just to see the back of Steve as he pull brown paper bags from the back. After a moment of still watching him, you felt sure that he was the real deal.

You bounce into the kitchen to see Steve bring in the last bag of food and a pizza. You quickly help Steve put everything away.

“I hope you don't mind that I pick up food for dinner. I know how much you enjoy cooking.” A blush kiss your cheeks at his words. How did he know that? It's true you cook a lot at the tower in your spare time but you didn't openly admit that it was very therapeutic for you.

'No that's cool. Not in the mood to mess this pretty kitchen up yet.” You made your way to the cabinets and beginning pulling out plates and cups. You sat them down on the island and went for the fridge for something to drink. By the time you got back to the island the plates where already gone. You left the kitchen to find Steve setting the table with plates.

“Hey, lets be really bad.” You lean up against the door frame with your arms cross over your chest. Steve froze in his tracks. His eyes look up to you after a minute of him regaining his bearing.

“Bad?” His question put a smirk on your lips.

“Yes totally bad. Let's take everything into the living room and start our movie night.”

You push away from the wall as your eyes wonder over to his. He was still quiet. Did he forget that he had suggest movies before he left or was this another glitch he was having? You weren't sure so you stay just ask quiet. Right when you were about to say that they didn't have to, Steve's eyes brighten and he gather up the plates again.

“Sounds good.”

The rest of the night went smoothly as you two shared a great pizza and watch a couple of movies. Neither one of you wanted the night to end so a third movie was pop in. Sadly you didn't make it past the first half hour of it. That day's events caught up with you. Little did you know that Steve had fallen asleep a few minutes after you.

You didn't know what time in the morning it was but a car door shutting brought you from your sleep. You look over to see that you had fallen asleep on Steve's shoulder. Your eyes scan his face. He had heard the door as well.

And then another one.

Before you had time to react, Steve grab you by the shoulders and flung you to the floor. You were now pin under Steve hidden between the couch and table. The weight of his body on you wasn't that bad so he must be holding most of his weight.

The front door open and shut without a care in the world. Then the door open again.

“You can't just walk in here. You are in danger.” Sam's voice relax the both of you. Steve look down to meet your eyes with a smile. Before you guys could move or even speak the living room light flicker on cause both of you to shield your eyes from the harsh light.

“What the Hell is going on in here?” A  female voice demand. You raise your eyes to see that Abby had her hands on hip hips.

“Steve?”

“Sam?” The guys greet each other with questions.

“We fell asleep on the couch and woke with the cars doors. I thought we were under attack.” Steve explain first. It hurt your heart a bit to hear the excuse but it was probably the truth.

“She wouldn't stay still and demand to leave my care.” it was Sam's turn to answer, “I tried to reason with her but...”

“Ah, you call that reasoning? I want to be protect by Steve and not you.” Abby cut him up with such venom it was clear to you that she got whatever she wanted, “Why are you still on top of that slut of yours? It looks like me getting here was for the better. Now I can save you from her.”

Your blood began to boil. Did she just call you a slut? Steve let go of more of his weight to keep you down. Y/N began to mumble about a broken jaw will keep her quite for awhile.

“Ok Lady, hold up.” Sam grabbed her by the shoulders to lead her into the kitchen, “We'll give you a minute to wake up.” Sam inform. Abby didn't look to thrill about that idea but went with him none the less.

“Thanks, Sam.” Steve yell after him.

Steve's eyes stay glue to the doorway there were in for what seem forever. He then drop his baby blue eyes down to yours. You didn't hide the anger that was in you.

“Are you good?” He whisper to you. His lips being very close to yours that you almost forgot that your anger. You nodded as your eyes continue to stare into each other.

“Are you sure? Cause I don't need you putting her into the hospital.” Steve wink at you before lifting his body of of you. He stretch his arms over his head as his head shook form what just happen. After that he took off into the room.

You, on the other hand, just lay on the floor. You were to stun to move at first. The cold air and overtaken the warmth of Steve's body that was against you. You shudder at the thought of being wrapped around him. You force yourself up off the floor and decide to just hit the hay for the night. You shuffle into the kitchen for a glass of water. Abby was in the middle of chewing out Steve. For real?, who is this chick? You thought as you collect your things. It seem she was undisturbed by your presents.

“I thought you had a special mission you had to go on.” She threw out at him. Your eyes meet with Sam’s, who wasn't holding back the grin on his face. He threw a wink your way as his smile put a bigger on on you.

“I do. It's just...” Steve was cut off by Abby ranting again.

“Oh so shacking up with her is more important then me?” She threw your way. You paid no heed as you took a spot next to Sam. You had decide to stay and watch the show.

“You both are in equal amount of danger.” Steve finally snap at her. Abby was unfaze.

“Then why does she get you to protect her? She can do it herself and I don't want Sam to watch over me.” Abby pouted her lips as she walk over to Steve where she place her hands on his chest. She then reach up on her toes to whisper something in his ears.

A deep red blush ambush Steve's face as Sam's smirk disappears. Sam and Y/N exchange glances. What happen between this two?

“So pretty please? Can I stay with you, Captain?” She pour a whole bag of sugar on him. Steve was putty in her hands. Jealousy hit your heart so fast that you had to contain the gasp in your throat.

Now your blood was beginning to heat up. If she wanted to be with Steve so bad then it was fine by you. Steve was nursing a sudden smile when You broke their train of thought.

“Sounds great! Sam, I'll have my things ready in ten.” And with that you storm the stairs taking them by two.

You reach your room with ease. Your stuff, thankfully, was still mostly pack. You race around the room looking for anything that was left out. How could you be so dumb? You actually believe that this was a vacation with Steve. But of course it was ruin all thanks to Abby.

An image cross your mind, it was the one were Steve was blushing with great force of the things she was saying. How could you be so dumb? Steve isn't the cheating type so it means one thing. He was going to cut ties with you. A escape sob burst out but it was the only one.

You maintain yourself as you search for your bracelet. You had it on at your sisters when Steve met you there. Dread wash over you. You had left it in Steve's bathroom. Forget it, it can stay there! Your brain was the one to answer and you swiftly agreed to it.

Gathering all your stuff you made your way down the stairs into the kitchen. Abby was glue to Steve’s side but you made sure to ignore the situation. Sam was sitting at the island. His eyes widen when you came rushing through.

“Ready Sam?” You ask hurried through the kitchen to the back door. A pang of guilt ran through your veins as you knew you should of went out the front door, Because the second you open the back door, it was slam shut again.

The action took you off guard that your mouth dropped open with no real response. You look up to see Steve and his long arm and hand bracing the door shut with all his strength.

“You can't keep me here.” I whisper over to him. Not having the real strength to talk louder.

“Enough!” He bellow out. You flinch at his loudness. You had never flinch at him before but he's never been this anger before.

“No one is leaving.” He told everyone in his super soldier voice.

To be continue...

[bulldagger-bait]

Femininity is a prison

Not many people know this, but I was ruthlessly bullied for my body-hair during my childhood. It got so bad that I begged my mother to let me start shaving. The first time i remember asking, I was nine.

At nine years old I didn’t know how to do multiplication. I couldn’t tell you what 5x6 is, but I could tell you exactly how someone had threatened to rape me.

I stole my mother’s razor many times in my childhood. I shaved my caterpillar eyebrows into pencil lines. I gave myself miles of razor burn on my shins. I cant tell you how many times I cut my lips getting rid of my peach-fuzz, aka the body hair everyone has on their face because thats literally how skin works.

I woke up on my twelfth birthday and opened my first present. It was a razor and shaving cream. After years of begging my mother she conceded and agreed to let me start once I turned 12. I spent an hour shaving my legs, checking a thousand times to make sure I hadnt missed some miniscule spot. I repeated this ritual every second day.

At age twelve, i hadnt even hit puberty yet. I wasn’t allowed to stay home without a supervision. Our school hadnt taught us what the holocaust was because it was still “age innapropriate” content. I was 4’1”. I lost my last baby tooth a year before that. I weighed between 30 and 50 kg—less than most dogs, because I was still a child.

At 12 I could tell you exactly which shade of lipstick made my lips look the most kissable.

I got my first pair of high heels at age 11, and I wore them well into my 13th year. That’s how young I was. My shoe size did not change between the ages of 11 and 13. I wore the same pair of 5” platform heels almost every weekend.

By age 13, I hadnt grown breasts, hips, or the majority of my pubic hair but I had 4 pairs or heels. I knew exactly how to strut to make my ass look good. I wouldn’t write my first essay for another year. My homework still consisted of spelling words and week long projects to write a 100 word short story. I kept pva glue in my hello kitty pencil case because I liked peeling it off my hands. In my free time i made up stories with my friends.

At 14 most of the friends I had outside of school had lost their virginity. I would not lose mine for another 3 years at which point I felt like “the late bloomer”.

At 14 I was learning how to do algebra. My mum still woke me for school. I wrote all of my letters in glitter pen. I still had a dollhouse in my room. I had also been harassed on the street countless times and threatened with rape twice. I was an A-cup. My braces had come off a year prior. My bones hadn’t calcified properly—a process that happens during puberty after your body has finished growing. Before this your bones are more flexible, able to heal faster and grow easily. I had never been on a date. The closest I got to flirting was the boy sitting next to me stealing my pencil case. I slept with doctor who sheets on my bed, alongside a few dozen stuffed animals. I still cut all the crusts off my bread and had my mum brush, dry and braid my hair after I washed it.

I was still very much a child and yet I was behaving like a woman. Its funny how young we start learning these behaviours—we almost dont consider them as strange.

Whenever I say, i had these experiences as a young teen people seem to forget just how young a teenager is. We’ve forgotten just how small our children are. These experiences happened to me between the end of elementry school and the beginning of high school.

[depressedkakashihatake]

Star Trek Holiday Fic Exchange 2017

Star Trek AOS

Leonard McCoy/Reader

Word Count: 1200ish

Warnings: cuteness and fluff

Prompt: reader has vocal training and sweet.

A/n: written for @musikat18 as part of @outside-the-government holiday fic exchange.

   You had expected the holiday party to be a little more, lively. It was, after all, Captain Kirk's idea to have it, so the lack of loud noises and shenanigans was a little odd.

  "That doesn't look like the face of someone having fun." You didn't need to turn around to know who had made such an 'observant' comment.

    "I wasn't aware we needed to glue on our 'happy faces' for the party. I think I left mine on the bridge after the Captain's last attempt at humor." Leonard slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter, a poor attempt to keep the Captain from noticing that he was having fun.

     From the corner of my eye, you could see kirk on the other side of the room. He didn't seem to be doing much more than conversing with Spock, but his face seemed to light up when he heard Leonard's laughter, and he did take a second to look over and see what was going on.

    You ignored the playful wink the Captain gave when he noticed your gaze. He had been different since you had begun a relationship with leonard. More, friendly. Though, the Captain  was always friendly. Anyone could tell you that, especially if he had slept with them, but this was different. This friendliness came with early off times to go spend with Leonard in medical, or surprise gifts of wine to share with the doctor. you're  pretty sure he's trying to make sure this whole thing works between the two of you, but it's kind of weird. Thankfully Leonard seems to have agreed, and after what you could only assume was one hell of of a talk the Captain finally backed off a little.

    With an unimpressed roll of your eyes, you turned your full attention back to leonard and reached out to carefully extract his hand from over top his mouth. "Did the Captain make you come?" You asked, hoping the answer was yes so you could have an excuse to sneak away and cuddle up on the couch in Leonard's quarters instead of waiting around for the first bad thing to happen and all hell to break lose.

    "Jim doesn't drag me to everything." Leonard looked almost offended by your comment, though you could still see a small smile tugging at the side of his lips. "I mean...most things yes. The vast majority of it being dangerous and deadly situations on planet where I may never return from.."

             A fond smile pulled across your lips. It was obvious that Leonard enjoyed those missions Jim dragged him to just a little bit, if only because he could use them to remind Jim of all the times he saved his ass from 'certain death', but you weren't going to call him out on it in a crowded room. This was a conversation best saved for a private night alone with some good whiskey.

     The sound of soft music growing a louder bit by bit pulled your attention back to the real world, and you couldn't help but smile when you heard the familiar rythem to your favorite Christmas song.

      "Oh..." one eyebrow arched perfectly upward on Leonard's face when you started to give him the puppy dog eyes.

    "Fine..." he waved a hand dismissively, letting you reach out and take hold of it so that he could kiss the back gently. A move you stole from him, much to his amusement. "Go on. Go sing your Christmas song and make everyone smile."

"You're the best." You beamed, continuing to hold his hand and ignoring his 0rotests as you started to drag him towards the middle of the room "I'll make it up to you later."

    "What exactly are you making it up to me for?" He asked with fear in his voice. You knew Leonard hated being the center of attention, but this was a moment you were going to have to take him out of his comfort zone just a little bit. It was the perfect opportunity and you couldn't waste it.

   "Bones! You going to sing as well?" You ignored the Captain's jab and continued to tug Leonard along with you. Jim wasn't going to ruin this damn it.

          "I don't know what you're doing, but it's it's a bad idea." You finally stopped and turned to face leonard, noting the frown now etched on his face along the ways his eyes sear he'd out for the nearest exit.

   "It’ll be worth it, I promise." You gave his hand a gentle squeeze for emphasis, smiling when Leonard returned the gesture and refused to let you pull your hand away. "And after well go back to your room and do your thing."

      Leonard debated it for a second, wincing when Jim threw out another playful comment that you didn't quite catch. "Alright." He sighed in defeat. "But after we're making hot chocolate and listening to hanukkah music for the rest of the night."

       "I'll take it." Stepping back, you continued to hold onto Leonard's hand and kept your eyes on him as the lyrics finally started up.

    "I don't want a lot for christmas." You watched as Leonard's face slowly started to turn bright red as you started to sing, and all eyes turned on the two of you. "There is just one thing I need."

    Taking a step forward, you reached out and took hold of Leonard's other hand so that you were facing each other, his soft hazel eyes focused on you and the bright red tint in his face slowly disappearing as you continued to sing.

      "I won't ask for much this christmas, I won't even wish for snow," you're certain it was kirk standing behind you throwing some of the fake snow decoration into the air over top of you two, but all that mattered was the way Leonard's face lit up a little more as you sang each lyric, and the way he gently extracted one hand from your grasp and placed it on your waist so he could pull you a little closer. Your nose brushed up against his in a playful kiss, and his eyes focused on you alone.

      It was the best feeling in the world, being the center of Leonard's attention, and being in a crowded room with everyone focused on you two made it even better. There was nothing that could ruin this moment.

   "All I want for Christmas is you, baby" the final words left your mouth with ease, and slowly the rest of the room started to come back into focus. The cheering, the fact that kirk was now standing behind his best friend clapping him on the back triumphantly and congratulating him on a 'good catch'.

   All that mattered though, was the way that Leonard squeezed your hand and started to lead you away from the crowd. The fact that he ignored everyone's cheers, only giving the appropriate 'see you later' and 'have a good night's necessary to be a good party guest.

    And most important was the way that he looked back at you once in a while, a smile plastered on his face and a soft look in his eyes. It looked like you were going to get those couch cuddles and hot chocolate you were looking forward to, and it was all thanks to years of vocal training and being head over heels in love with an absolute sap.

[slashtrashqueen]

NOTE

the following text is directly copied and pasted from the article for my own reference convenience and I in no way claim authorship over anything written here

If I’m in your car, and we’re not in a hurry, chances are that at some point, I’m going to ask you to pull over so that I can solemnly poke a stick at a dead thing along the side of the road. If we’re in my car—which is usually equipped with nitrile gloves, hand sanitizer, and garbage bags—and the decedent is more structurally sound than a fetid fur pancake, you might want to brace for a smell or two.

I’m into roadkill. I get messages late at night about a beautiful fox in good condition by the side of a highway, and in the morning curse Morpheus himself that I slept through the precious window between warm death and Pollockian spatter. I once left a fat, pristine squirrel carcass on a tree stump next to my then-boyfriend’s car as a gift, like a lovesick cat; he later married me. My friends gave me a bird carcass in a cooler for my birthday.

Dead animals are my shit.

My interests in the subject span more than just a pathological curiosity about the macabre reality of mortality and a steadfast appreciation for the slippery mechanics of life: no, dear reader, I am also into crafting. And what better way to memorialize the fair critters who meet their untimely ends during some shitlord’s 2 a.m. taco run than to turn their dick bones into brooches?

(Don’t answer that.)

Maybe you’re into dead stuff, maybe you aren’t. But if you’ve ever marveled at a pelt, or browsed bone jewelry on Etsy, or wondered what the fuck a rotten squirrel smells like, then I am here for you. Welcome to DIY Death Crafts. Please wash your hands.

First off, a word on the legality of scooping broke-neck Bambi off the interstate. There are states where this is not, per se, legal. State wildlife and game commissions work to regulate who can hunt what and when, requiring licenses to take down specific animals during specific seasons using specific methods. For example, in North Carolina, where I live, hunting feral hogs on game lands is prohibited from one half-hour after sunset to one half-hour before sunrise, unless you have a special permit. Oh, and public nudity on game lands here is prohibited, so no shirtcocking during your pursuit of pork.

I’m allowed to pick up dead animals—North Carolina is pretty friendly to crafty Southerners with a penchant for road steak and possum stew—but other states have concerns that if Billy can’t shoot a feral hog wherever he wants, he’ll just hit it with his car and take it home anyway, or at least tell you that’s what he did if and when some poor government employee comes to scope out his freezer to check that those kilos of sausage had the appropriate papers. So, if you’d like to stay legal, before you grab that non-federally endangered, catastrophically brain-injured animal off I-95, double-check to see if you’re technically allowed to do so.

There’s also the question of safety.

When picking up dead things, it’s best to a) be prepared, and b) assume it’s infectious as shit with something terrible. Rabies is essentially 100 percent fatal, and wild animals are often heavily parasitized with nasty little bugs, so don’t tongue-fuck roadkill corpses or let your dog hump them or anything. I’m not about causing harm with this DIY, so please be aware of the legal and physical dangers, and play at your own risk. Also, if I find out that you hit an animal with your car on purpose for crafting, I will absolutely punch you in the throat should we meet.

That said, now that you are aware of the danger and legality of your actions, let us begin.

The author, in her element

Selecting Your Buddy

Obviously, what you are able to do with your ode to the destructiveness of humanity depends on the quality of the body that you find. The best case scenario is a warm, fresh death, still soft without rigor, preferably dead of brain injury and relatively intact. These are also, as you might assume, pretty damn rare. Fresh is preferred, as it’s easier to skin a warm animal: you can peel ’em like a banana.

However, if you’re scouting for bone crafts, which is what I’m covering today, it doesn’t matter so much. (Word of caution: if you are maggot-averse, you might want to err on the fresher side, but don’t freak out too much, as a lot of roadkill gets pancaked or eaten before the fly babies hatch.)

Find a carcass with some intact bones—preferably not too stinky, if that’s the kind of thing that bothers you—and if it looks like it was pretty healthy, recently deceased, and merely unlucky, you can proceed to step two. Also, if the smell is really bad—like, for instance, dead squirrels fucking STINK—a little Tiger’s Balm under the nostrils can make the drive home more pleasant.

Transportation

Here is where I like to cosplay CDC detective and get real serious about my safe-specimen-collection protocol.

Nah, just kidding, I use a trash bag and gloves. First, I use my gloved hands to examine the animal, because I don’t want a surfeit of weird raccoon fleas in my ancient Subaru, and also because I am curious to a fault and like to get up close with my new friend before I bring her home.

If the animal is small, I’ll just put it in the trash bag using my gloves. If it’s larger or awkwardly positioned in rigor mortis, I’ll take my gloves off, stick my arms into a garbage bag, grab the roadkill, then inside-out the bag around the corpse the way people pick up dogshit off the sidewalk.

Then just tie the bag off and go home. Please don’t forget there is a dead animal in your trunk. Learn from my mistakes.

Clean The Body

There are lots of ways to do get the bones out of your roadkill buddy. Personally, I use my dissection skills from college to skin the animal, remove the viscera with minimal damage to all the stinky guts, then strip most of the muscles from the bone is a fairly haphazard fashion. Alternatively, you can also just bury the body in a bucket full of dirt, preferably in warm weather and damp soil, and check on it on a few months, if it’s small. (Bonus points if you can bury it near an ant hill, which will expedite the process.)

For skinning, run your knife crotch to chin, trying not to pop the peritoneal sac full of viscera. Then, with gloves on, run your fingers between skin and muscle and just rip the two apart. From here, pull out the guts, hack off the muscle, and get ready to macerate. This isn’t precious work—there’s no one way to do it if you’re just wanting bones—so my suggestion is to watch some YouTube tutorials and fucking try it.

Macerate That Shit

Once you have mostly bone, put the bones in a bucket of water or a glass jar, close it—but not too tightly, as a lack of oxygen will slow down the process—put it in the sun, and leave it. This is called maceration, which is a sped-up rotting process whereby the bones are cleaned by bacteria. One handy tip, which works well for small carcasses but can be scaled up as needed, is to stuff the bones into some pantyhose for easy retrieval. I mean, unless you want to fish though the soup of liquified death for vertebrae. Your call.

After two days, change the water. You don’t have to change all of it, just dump out some of it and replace it, being careful not to use water that is too hot, as it will kill the bacteria that you are relying on to eat the body. As you do this, remember to enjoy the horrible smell that will happen! I love this part, probably because it makes people throw up. When you change the water, try to remove as much meat and fat and gross shit as possible; you want the bacteria eating food off the bones, not the greasy remains left in the death stew. Check again after another couple of days, and keep scooping shit out and replacing some of the water until the bones are clean. Could be as quickly as five days or so, and it probably won’t take more than two weeks for larger animals.

If the process seems to have halted, put the bones in a stock pot, simmer for about an hour, careful not to boil them, then restart the maceration process. This is a pretty hardcore step, as it’s gross and smells bad and you have to do it in your kitchen. But I figure you should know that the option is there.

Once the bones are clean, remove them and dry them carefully. Don’t dry them in the sun or the oven, as this can cause cracking.

Degrease and Bleach

For extra-pretty bones, degrease and bleach that shit. There are several ways to degrease, but my preferred lazy-girl way is soap and water. Stick the bones in a container of hot water and healthy amount of dish soap, and leave ’em for at least a week. There will be gross shit floating on top of the bone-soup when you are finished. Do not eat it.

Once the bones are clean, bleach ’em in a 4-percent hydrogen peroxide solution by soaking them for a day or two or three, whatever you need to get the visuals you like. Very important: the bleaching container should not be airtight, or it could explode! Chemistry, man. You can keep doing the bleaching step until the solution no longer foams when it comes into contact with the bones, usually about two or three times. Once they are nice and pale and clean, dry those babies on paper towels and get ready to get weird.

Annie Get Your Glue Gun

Congratulations, you have a pile of bones! Now get out there, crank up that glue gun, and tap that creativity like a maple tree. A few ideas for newcomers include gluing plastic gemstones all over a skull like some kind of fucked up death BeDazzler, making brooches from the bones that look the coolest and pretending you know which ones they are, gluing the bones together in an intractable mess that would make David Cronenberg weep, and—my personal favorite—leaving the whole jumbled disaster in a pile on your kitchen table and calling it art.

Death comes for us all, my friends; might as well make it beautiful.

Leigh Cowart is a freelance journalist covering sports, science, and sex. Her work has appeared in Vice, The Classical, and NSFWCORP, among other places. Follow her on Twitter @voraciousbrain. Not for the faint of heart.

Adequate Man is Deadspin’s self-improvement blog, dedicated to making you just good enough at everything. Suggestions for future topics are welcome below.

[imagineclaireandjamie]

More Vietnam AU pleeeeeease I need to know what's happening! *folds hands and makes puppy dog eyes*

Vietnam AU

Claire idlytapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for the traffic signal –hanging limply from an overhead wire, swaying gently in the warm breeze, asparrow jauntily perched on top – to turn green.

 Saturdaymorning. Not too early, but not too late.

 She hadn’tslept. Agonizing over what to wear, what to say. What to want.

 And what *did*she want? To be Jamie’s…love interest again? Or simply to bring him news thatshe was well?

 It didn’tmatter anymore. If the motel’s kind receptionist was to be believed, this wasthe final turn-off before Beauly Boulevard – the only access road to the vastFraser estate.

 Once Dr.Beaton had told her about the long and illustrious Fraser history in Boone,suddenly she saw the name everywhere. In the handprinted tag attached to askein of yarn in the small gift shop near her motel (“Would you believe thatthe wool is grown right here in town, on the big old Fraser farm?”); in themom-and-pop hardware store (“We still call it Fraser’s even though they soldoff the business right after the war”); even in the name of the town’s smalllibrary (“Fraser Memorial – yes, *those* Frasers. The money was donated wayback in the 1800s in memory of the Frasers who had died in the War Between theStates, and the Revolution, and even back to some old war in Scotland beforethey all came over and settled in the mountains”).

 It was a grandname – a proud name. And the kind people in the village usually followed uptheir anecdote with a comment or two about the current Frasers. She had learnedthat Jamie had a sister – Jenny – who was married with a few children of herown. That Jenny and her husband ran the farm, even though Jamie owned it – had inheritedit after their father died about five years back. That Jamie was a war hero, ofcourse. But quiet about it – never wanted to draw too much attention tohimself. Which was a shame, because he was *such* an eligible bachelor…

 Claire joltedas the truck behind her gently tapped on its horn. Blinking harshly, she lookedup at the signal – green – and pulled her car forward.

 Just as thereceptionist had said, Beauly Boulevard was the first right after theintersection. She turned onto the unpaved road, slid her sweaty palms furtherdown the steering wheel, and breathed.

 Gravelcrunched as the car gently climbed a steep hill. All of a sudden she was in themiddle of a forest – surrounded by greens and browns and pine branches and anoverwhelming stillness.

 Peace.

 The roadcurved around to the left, and the grand old manor house came into view.

 Three stories.Beautiful tall white columns. Black shutters. A porch scattered with emptyrocking chairs.

 Sanctuary.

 One more gate –stone, with “Fraser 1768” and a coat of arms carved into one side. Clairesquinted out her window to read the motto.

 *Je suisprest.*

 She swallowed,pulled the car into an empty spot beside a worn but well-kept pickup truck, andcut the engine.

 I am ready.But ready for what?

 Claire grither teeth, reached to the passenger seat for her purse, and stepped out of thecar.

 It was an old house,to be sure – and had clearly been added on to over the years. But the additionswere tasteful. The house wasn’t overpowering – even though the family who builtit and still lived in it commanded great power and respect.

 And then achild laughed somewhere inside – and the house became a home.

 Her home?

 Softly,quickly Claire climbed the steps and pushed the doorbell.

 Somewhere inside,footsteps pounded and doors slammed.

 Suddenlyself-conscious, Claire patted her hair and straightened the collar of her coat.Too late now.

 The door flungopen, revealing a small, dark-haired woman clad in jeans and an apron. Aninfant slept snug against her chest.

 The womanstood back a bit, hands on her hips. Impatient.

 “How may Ihelp you?”

 Claire’s hearthad floated out of her body. She had rehearsed these words so many times – and nowit didn’t matter one bit.

 “My name isClaire Beauchamp. I’m looking for Jamie Fraser.”

 The womanopenly eyed Claire up and down. Appraising. “Jamie’s up at the barn just now.Is he expecting you? You’re not from around here.”

 Claire slidher sweaty hands into her pockets. Lint stuck like glue to her fingers. “No –no he’s not. I – I served with Jamie in Viet Nam. I’m visiting the area thisweek and thought I’d stop by.”

 “Did you, now?He doesn’t speak much about it.” The baby fussed, and she lay one soothing handagainst its back. Her wide, practical wedding ring flashed in the late morningsunlight.

 Claire heldher ground, meeting the woman’s gaze. Not challenging her – but provingherself. Proving her worth. “I treated him when he was injured. At the Chu Laifield hospital.”

 For thebriefest of moments, the most extraordinary look came across the woman’s face –but then it was gone. And Claire wasn’t even sure that it had truly happened.

 “Well then. He’sat the horse barn, looking at the harnesses. Do you want me to take you, Ms.Beauchamp?”

 “No – no,thank you.” It was Claire’s voice, but someone else had to be speaking. “Canyou just please tell me how to get there?”

 “Of course –it’s just up the hill, around the rear on the right side. You can’t miss it.”

 Claire noddedand pasted a thin smile on her lips. “Thank you – ”

 “Oh! How rudeof me. I’m Jenny Murray – Jamie’s sister. This is my youngest, Maggie. And letme be the first to welcome you to Fraser’s Ridge – and Lallybroch.”

 Clairegratefully shook Jenny’s extended hand, and nodded, and quietly walked down thesteps and around the back of the house.

 Just a fewmore steps.

 Her feet weren’ttouching the ground.

 This couldn’tbe real.

 So manyoutbuildings – all old, but all well-maintained. Constructed of solid, honeststone with just the barest hints of modern upgrades.

 The barn wasn’tas big as she thought it would be – but then again, what use did a modern farmhave for horses, anyway?

 Moss coatedthe damp stones of the barn, where the doors stood open. Claire padded over andinto the old building, footsteps silent on the carpet of leaves and wood chips.

 It wasn’t justone large room, but rather one main room with a series of smaller chambersbranching out – old stalls, undoubtedly. Quiet. Peaceful – just like the restof this place.

 A rack to oneside held various accoutrements associated with horses: saddles, bridles, bits.Old posters were tacked up on the opposite wall – even folded and yellowed withage, she could tell that they were for equestrian shows.

 The door tothe back stall was open. Claire slipped past the other stalls – to hersurprise, full of horses – and followed the sound of a hammer.

 Finally,finally she arrived at the back stall. Bent over a saddle mounted on a woodenblock, his back turned to her, was Jamie.

 “Is that you,Jenny?” he asked, not turning around. He was dressed in jeans and a simplebutton-down, and had a tool of some kind in his hand, with which he was doingsomething to the leather of the saddle. “Took you long enough. Did you get the –”

 “It isn’tJenny,” Claire said. Her voice was higher than usual. “It’s me. Claire.”

 Hestraightened up very slowly. His hair was longer than the last time she’d seenhim – the ends brushed his shoulders, but he didn’t choose to wear it up.

 Then he turnedaround – and they stared at each other, not speaking.

[alenahorowitz]

Crafted Cocktails In the middle of the night, I woke up again to the guy coughing and wheezing below me, #nocondoms.... not even trying to stifle his germs from entering the air. I swear people's mammas didn't teach them to cover their cough anywhere else in the world besides America. I grumpily wrapped myself in my blanket and stumbled to the 24-hour reception to see if I could switch rooms for the remainder of my stay. There's nothing worse than getting sick while you're traveling. The receptionist understood my grievances and gave me the key to a new room and for the next three hours, I slept like a baby, fearless about catching the "hostel flu." By this time I'd made good friends with some of the hostel staff and we decided to go for brekky at a local cafe. I should really be buying and cooking my own food because I'm slowly but surely whittling away at my finances and eating out is a sure way to cut my 6-month vacation in half. But I swear eating out is one of the best things about traveling! The restaurant matched the hostel's hipster neighborhood with messy black lettering and pictographs painted all over the walls, chunky unfinished wooden tables, polished concrete floors, and hanging strands of Edison lightbulbs. We ordered cute little flat omelettes with freshly baked bread, zucchini-flower adornments, and coffees all around. The coffee is so good here, for €1 euro, you pretty much get the best tasting cappuccino you've ever had. The hostel planned fun activities for all hours of the day, and today's activity was peddle-boating on the Vltava river. We were supposed to meet downstairs at 2:00pm, but I swear my shower turned into a time-warp and I missed the group by about half an hour. I took to the river and tried to find them for a few minutes, but it wasn't going to happen with all the other floaters out on the water. Instead, I walked the shoreline and the historical downtown district of Prague. I passed by Frank Ghery's "dancing house," explored three shaded islands, and walked over the Charles Bridge (which has apparently been held together with egg-based glue since the 1300s). Along the cobbled riverbank, people were sitting with their feet hanging over the water, drinking 50-cent beers and enjoying the sun. Dozens of floating-restaurants and ex-battleships have been made into bars, where longhaired bartenders pour stiff cocktails and flip their manes in the wind on the river. They were renting stand-up-paddle-boards and kayaks from the back of the floating bars and restaurants, and real swans chased breadcrumbs being thrown off swan-shaped bicycle-boats. There was even a floating volleyball court as well as an outdoor Zumba studio, where they blasted Justin Bieber and tropical house over all the other competing music. We were supposed to go on a pub crawl, but it was rather expensive, so we opted for another option. We walked downtown to what they call "Dog Bar," but that's not actually it's given name. Here, you paid for a prepaid wristband at the entrance, scanned electronically at all the bar tops and got your unused money back at the end of the excursion. The bar was dimly-lit with inappropriately-sharpied white walls (give a man a sharpie and he WILL draw a penis), shirtless bartenders were pierced and tatt'ed all over their faces, groups of friends smoked cigarettes around hanging door-frame tables in the bar's multiple nooks and crannies, people sat above the bar on shoddy hand-built levels and swing sets, and two enormous Irish wolfhounds (which are a legendary dog, even in Ireland because their size) walking freely around the bar, greeting drunken guests. After returning our wristbands, we decided on something more classy. Anonymous bar is known to Prague as a craft-cocktails bar with cocktails ranging above €10.00. We ordered from the limited menu and watched in awe as the mixologists juggled the ingredients back and forth while wearing anonymous masks from V for Vendetta. They harvested fresh orange peels with special peelers, crushed fresh apples with pressed, sliced cucumber, pickled lemons, ground pepper and even lit one of my drinks on fire as they poured it back and forth. Our first round was one of the best drinks we'd ever had so we went to order a second round. When we told the bartenders we were back for seconds, the masked gentlemen handed us a special black light laser-pointer. When looking at the white pages of the menu with the laser pointer, suddenly blue invisible ink appeared on the page and we had access to a whole new array of cocktails. A second drink unlocked a whole new set of options and we were very impressed by the presentation. Always, Alena Horowitz | Miss Potato

[chuum]

to make you cringe on a bad day xD don’t read all just scroll to something random lol

sometimes you need a really bad mood lifter.

Look we all need it.

Just read them

Some of them don’t make sense so uh

yea

enjoy children

Can I watch the TV? Dad: Yes, but don’t turn it on.

What did the mountain climber name his son? Cliff.

“‘I’ll call you later.” “Don’t call me later, call me Dad.”

Did you hear that the police have a warrant out on a midget psychic ripping people off? It reads “Small medium at large.”

“My dad literally told me this one last week: ‘Did you hear about the guy who invented Lifesavers? They say he made a mint.’”

“Whenever the cashier at the grocery store asks my dad if he would like the milk in a bag he replies, ‘No, just leave it in the carton!’”

“Me: ‘Dad, make me a sandwich!’ Dad: ‘Poof, You’re a sandwich!’”

“Waitress: ‘And here’s the check. Is there anything else I can get you?’ Dad: ‘Someone to pay the check?’

“I heard there was a new store called Moderation. They have everything there

A steak pun is a rare medium well done.

“How can you tell if a ant is a boy or a girl? They’re all girls, otherwise they’d be uncles.”

I went to a book store and asked the saleswoman where the Self Help section was, she said if she told me it would defeat the purpose.

Milk is also the fastest liquid on earth – its pasteurized before you even see it

“What’s Forrest Gump’s password? 1forrest1”

Do you know where you can get chicken broth in bulk? The stock market.

What did the ocean say to the shore? Nothing, it just waved.

“What’s ET short for? Because he’s only got little legs.”

“What is Beethoven’s favorite fruit? A ba-na-na-na.”

Why do crabs never give to charity? Because they’re shellfish.

What do you call an Argentinian with a rubber toe? Roberto

“What do you call a man with no nose and no body? Nobody nose.”

I cut my finger chopping cheese, but I think that I may have grater problems.

What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fshhhh.

“On all of my medical forms growing up my dad wrote ‘red’ for my blood type. To this day no one knows my actual blood type.”

“What do you call a man with no arms and no legs lying in front of your door? Matt.”

My cat was just sick on the carpet, I don’t think it’s feline well.

I dreamed about drowning in an ocean made out of orange soda last night. It took me a while to work out it was just a Fanta sea.

Without geometry life is pointless.

A termite walks into a bar and asks “Is the bar tender here?”

What’s Forest Gump’s Facebook password? 1forest1

I gave all my dead batteries away today… Free of charge.

I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

I am terrified of elevators. I’m going to start taking steps to avoid them.

“Anytime I do something smart my dad says, ‘Wow, you’re a fart smella…I mean smart fella!’”

What’s the advantage of living in Switzerland? Well, the flag is a big plus.

Why did the octopus beat the shark in a fight? Because it was well armed.

A red and a blue ship have just collided in the Caribbean. Apparently the survivors are marooned.

I’ve deleted the phone numbers of all the Germans I know from my mobile phone. Now it’s Hans free.

Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back. Luckily I was the one facing the TV.

Q: What did daddy spider say to baby spider? A: You spend too much time on the web.

How much does a hipster weigh? An instagram.

What do you call a group of killer whales playing instruments? An Orca-stra.

Why was the big cat disqualified from the race? Because it was a cheetah.

Bicycles can’t stand on their own, they’re two tired.

Just watched a documentary about beavers… It was the best damn program I’ve ever seen.

Breaking news! Energizer Bunny arrested – charged with battery

“How do you make holy water? You boil the hell out of it.”

A Sandwich walks into a bar, the bartender says “Sorry, we don’t serve food here”

“Doctor, I’ve broken my arm in several places” Doctor “Well don’t go to those places.”

I’m on a whiskey diet. I’ve lost three days already.

“Why did the Clydesdale give the pony a glass of water? 
Because he was a little horse!”

There’s a new type of broom out, it’s sweeping the nation.

Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

Slept like a log last night … woke up in the fireplace.

“We were getting fast food when the lady at the window said, ‘Any condiments?’ My dad responded, ‘Compliments? You look very nice today!’”

They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian – they’re not laughing now.

What cheese can never be yours? Nacho cheese.

A police officer caught two kids playing with a firework and a car battery. He charged one and let the other one off.

Last Christmas we bought a fake Christmas tree and the guy behind the counter said to my Dad,” Are you going to put it up yourself?” Dad replied, “Don’t be disgusting, I’m going to put it in the living room. “

I’m reading a book on the history of glue – can’t put it down.

Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It’s fine, he woke up.

I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it. It was a shitzu.

What did the daddy tomato say to the baby tomato? A: catch up!

Q: What’s 50 Cent’s name in Zimbabwe? A: 400 Million Dollars.

Q: What did baby corn say to mama corn? A: Where’s popcorn?

What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.

What did the Buffalo say to his little boy when he dropped him off at school? Bison.

So a duck walks into a pharmacy and says “Give me some chap-stick… and put it on my bill”

Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.

Why did the girl smear peanut butter on the road? To go with the traffic jam.

Why does a chicken coop only have two doors? Because if it had four doors it would be a chicken sedan.

Why don’t seagulls fly over the bay? Because then they’d be bay-gulls!

“Two peanuts were walking down the street. One was a salted.”

What do you do when a blonde throws a grenade at you? Pull the pin and throw it back.

What’s brown and sounds like a bell? Dung!

How do you make a hankie dance? Put a little boogie in it.

Where does batman go to the bathroom? The batroom.

What’s the difference between an African elephant and an Indian elephant? About 5000 miles

What do you call Jay-Z when he’s sleeping? Jay Zzzzzzzzzz.

A man walks into a bar and orders helicopter flavor chips. The barman replies “sorry mate we only do plain”

: Commissar! Commissar! The troops are revolting! Commissar: Well, you’re pretty repulsive yourself.

What do you call a sheep with no legs? A cloud.

I knew i shouldn’t have ate that seafood. Because now i’m feeling a little… Eel

What did the late tomato say to the early tomato? I’ll ketch up

What did the 0 say to the 8? Nice belt.

Why are skeletons so calm? Because nothing gets under their skin.

Why don’t skeletons ever go trick or treating? Because they have nobody to go with.

Why do scuba divers fall backwards into the water? Because if they fell forwards they’d still be in the boat.

Have you ever heard of a music group called Cellophane? They mostly wrap.

What kind of magic do cows believe in? MOODOO.

Why does Superman gets invited to dinners? Because he is a Supperhero.

“What time did the man go to the dentist? Tooth hurt-y.”

“Hold on, I have something in my shoe”  “I’m pretty sure it’s a foot”

Why does it take longer to get from 1st to 2nd base, than it does to get from 2nd to 3rd base? Because there’s a Shortstop in between!

Dad I’m hungry … “Hi hungry” I’m dad

When phone ringing Dad says ‘If it’s for me don’t answer it.

“I asked my dad for his best dad joke and he said, ‘You.’”

Where’s the bin? Dad: I haven’t been anywhere!

When Dad drops a pea off of his plate ‘oh dear I’ve pee’d on the table!

How do you know when you are going to drown in milk? When its past your eyes!