#okay I’m really not considering that last one I have to live to see dani in july but I haven’t the slightest clue what I’m gonna do next

[emawinslow]

not to be dramatic but I literally feel like I’m going insane lol

[vicsnook]

Never Left Me Pt. 1 | Scott Miller x Reader

word count: 2330

warnings: arguing, Scott being Scott

notes: Hello! I’m still here y’all, just been dealing with a lot of personal stuff so haven’t been able to write as much as I’d like. But here is a little something for this brat of a man who had probably less than 10 minutes of screen time but continues to live in my head rent free. Hope you enjoy and part 2 will be up Sunday! As always, please don’t forget to like and reblog 🫶🏼.

A row of desks is all that stands between me and the man who I once thought might have a soul despite what everyone else said. Everyone that is sitting on the desks is thankfully too busy to see me coming and that’s how I make it past the receptionist and to his office.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Scott! You can’t go through with this!” I yell as soon as I walk in. The anger is still cursing through me from where I read the termination email.

His eyes lift up from the monitor and I can tell immediately by his expression that he is very displeased by my interruption. Well that makes two of us now, I think to myself.

“Sorry sir, she ran past me,” says the receptionist from behind me and I don’t need to turn around to know she’s giving me a nasty look.

He looks between us before waving her off. “It’s fine, Kathy. Please excuse us.”

“It’s one thing to have investors when you could do our research with grants and not have to be unethical.” I fume. “It’s another to let the biggest asshole in Oklahoma now own half the company and let him fire half of us without cause.”

He scoffs, not bothering to look at me. “I did what was best for the company. Sorry you didn’t make the cut. If you need any letters of recommendation, please let Kathy know.”

It takes everything in me not to walk over and smack the attitude out of him but I know I might need the stupid recommendation so I take a deep breath instead.

“Anything else? Or do I need to get security to escort you out?” He says, looking at me with those icy blue eyes that once gave me butterflies.

“When this inevitably blows up in your face, don’t bother to call.” I respond and walk out, not bothering to close the door on my way out which I know he hates.

The elevator is slow to get me to the lab where I pick up what little I keep in my office and then with one last look to the place that I once considered my second home, I start to head out. Taking down the picture of Javi, Kate, Scott, and I from the wall and throwing it in the trash can before I get on the elevator.

After eating way too much ice cream for dinner and playing darts with Scott’s picture attached to the board, I realize I have no idea what to do next. Only thing that’s for certain is that bills will pile up quickly if I can’t get another job soon though.

So I dial the only person I know might help me and hope my past job is something he can look past. Hope fills me up when he picks up on the first ring. His southern drawl already making me feel like things will actually be okay.

-

“Good lord, Y/N, as I live and breathe! What the heck are you doing here city girl?” Asks Boone, pulling me in for a much needed hug.

“Well the city didn’t really want me anymore so here I am.” I admit, looking at my feet as I blush in embarrassment.

Boone knows me too well and it won’t be long before I know I’ll have to keep him from punching Scott in the mouth. Even if he really deserves it. He sighs in response, looping his arm through mine and leading me to the rest of the team.

“Look at what the cat dragged in, come here girl,” Dani says, enveloping me into a hug that Lily is quick to join into. “Welcome aboard,” they whisper before pulling away.

“Alright, Alright, let’s not suffocate our newcomer. We still gotta show her the ropes.” He says, and I feel my heart begin to race. Damn you, Tyler Owens for having this effect on me, well actually, on most of the female population.

“Thanks again for the opportunity,” I say, turning around to meet his eye. The past couple of months definitely did him well, I think as I take in his physique.

“Don’t mention it.” He responds, leaving me to get acclimated with my new role in his team.

-

Soon enough we’re racing down the road to where a Tornado has begun to form but before we can turn into the street that will lead us right to it, the Scarecrow truck that I once shared with Scott cuts us off.

“God I hate that asshole,” Tyler mumbles as we resume our journey, now trailing Scott who can’t seem to pick a speed. “Turn left up here, then turn right before the dead end, it’ll put us right ahead,” I tell Tyler who is quick to follow instructions as I buckle into the harness and hold the steering wheel so he can do the same.

But the action is over before it’s even begun as the tornado quickly dissipates before it reaches us. Tyler and I look at each other and down at the computer which shows no other storms in the area today.

“Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow,” I say, radioing the rest of the team who suggests heading to the diner down the road for dinner.

“So what happened between Kate, Javi, and Scott? Why did they take off?” Tyler asks, as he drives down the nearly deserted back roads that lead to the town.

“Scott had a majority share in Storm Par because of his uncle and after the stunt Kate and Javi pulled in Reno, he had them pretty much fired.”

“Well, I got that already from Kate and being there but why didn’t they come back?” He asks, and I know exactly what he’s really asking. Why did Kate ghost him?

But I don’t know how to tell him the truth. So I try to do the one thing I suck at. Lie. “They just got busy, I guess. Javi got a job with Kate last I heard and it just worked out better up there for them,” I say, avoiding eye contact.

“I bet it did,” he mutters, and I can’t help the guilty feeling in my stomach. But could he handle the truth?

-

We head up to Texas the following week and the ride is mostly silent except for me giving directions to Tyler every once in a while. I don’t think he takes up very well to lying since he’s stopped trying to make friendly conversation and will only talk about work.

The motel comes into view and it isn’t the nicest. But when are they ever nice?

Tyler hands me my room key and I grab my bag. It feels odd being here without the rest of the team but we need to be in two places at once sometimes to get our data.

“Hey Tyler, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for lying the other day. I really hate to start our work relationship on the wrong foot.” I say, as we walk up the stairs to the rooms.

“So why don’t you tell me the truth then?”

His green eyes lock on mine and I suddenly feel nervous. “Kate, she wasn’t ready to be here. After her and Javi got fired, they figured they could make a better difference up in New York working with NOAA.” His face twists into a frown. “For what it’s worth Ty, she almost came back for you but you’ve gotta understand after what she went through, she just wasn’t ready.”

“I just wish she would’ve called.”

“I’m sorry, Ty. But she’s coming to see her mom in a few weeks. Maybe show up? See what’s up?”

“I just might. Now go on and get some sleep. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.” He says, and I nod heading into my room.

-

“Ugh!” I grunt when my alarm goes off the next morning.

Why did I pick this job when I’ve never been a morning person?

I shower quickly and pack my dirty clothes back into my bag and as I put on my shoes there’s a knock on my door. He sure is punctual.

“Hey we’re getting some crazy weather east of here. You ready?” Tyler asks as soon as I open the door. “Yep, let me grab my stuff.”

By the afternoon we’ve already had two F1’s and a whole lot of data collected so Tyler decides we can head for some lunch.

The sight of the Storm Par truck is enough to make my appetite go away as I spot the scarecrow sticker on the back but nevertheless I follow Tyler in and order a burger.

“Hey I gotta make a call, I’ll be right back.” Tyler tells me and I’m left alone in the booth picking at my fries. Unfortunately for me it isn’t for long as Scott slides in to the seat across from me.

“Didn’t think you’d go work for the hillbillies,” he says, stealing one of my fries and I roll my eyes. “What the hell do you want Scott?”

“Just to offer you a job. I need a navigator.”

I scoff. “I told you I’m not working for you again.” I can feel his eyes on me but I refuse to look up.

“Suit yourself,” he says, sliding out of the booth and leaving me alone. God I cannot stand that man.

“Y/N! We gotta go!” yells Tyler, rushing back into the diner and I throw two 20’s on the table and run after him. Noticing Scott also getting up to follow.

The weather has changed in the little time we were in the diner. What was a clear sky is now dark gray and the rain starts to come down hard as I slam the truck door shut.

“It’s coming this way, look at the radar,” says Tyler as he shifts the truck in gear and soon we are speeding down the two lane highway. “Ty, it’s starting, oh God.”

The tornado is forming right ahead of us and as I stare at the screen in my laptop I realize it’s headed straight for the diner.

“Fuck, hold on!” yells Tyler, doing a U-turn and speeding back towards the diner. We need to move fast and get these people to safety.

I hop out as Tyler puts the truck in park and we rush back inside, Tyler yelling out to get to the back since there isn’t a storm shelter. People nearly trample us as they file into the back room.

I turn to the windows, the sound of the familiar sirens is almost deafening and that’s when I see him. Scott is pulling into the parking lot and the tornado is right behind him.

“Y/N! Get in here!” Yells Tyler but it’s muffled. My body is almost in autopilot as I sprint to the door to try to save the man who’d probably leave me for dead.

“Scott!” I scream, the rain is coming down harder and I can hardly see anything. The ground shakes beneath me but I push through to where I think I see him and we collide. “C’mon!” I yell as I pull him with me to safety and it’s like everything is in slow motion.

The windows burst into shards of glass and I duck, hoping Scott did too. My hand never leaving his as I continue to pull us inside and we make it, just barely.

He envelops me in his arms as the tornado goes over the diner and everything around us rattles. The screams of the people around us are terrifying and I think “Is this where we die?”

And just like that it’s over.

We survived.

-

I sit in a booth wincing in pain as Scott and Tyler pull glass shards out of my face and arms. The pain is nauseating and all I want is a shower and a nice bed.

“What were you thinking going after him?” asks Tyler when Scott walks back to the bathroom to get more paper towels.

“I wasn’t.”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Well that much is clear.”

I nod in agreement as he takes the paper towels from Scott and dabs at my cuts and I wince in pain.

“Yeah, you need to go back home and get some proper rest.” Tyler says, and shushes me before I can protest. “I’ll book you a flight tomorrow. Take a few days off. I’ll be back in Oklahoma by the time you’re good to go.”

I nod reluctantly.

“I can take her back, I’m heading back up tonight.” Scott says from behind Tyler and I stiffen at the suggestion. “Y/N, that's okay with you?” Asks Tyler looking at me and as much as I want to say no, I know if he doesn’t have to buy me a flight, he can use the money to help the community affected so I nod.

“C’mon I’ll take you back to the motel to get your things. Can you meet us there Scott?”

“I’ll be right behind you,” he responds.

The car ride is silent other than the radio reporting the damages and all I can think of is wanting to stay but I know better than to argue with Tyler.

I slowly gather my things when we get to the motel trying to avoid spending much time with Scott. Why did I really go after him?

The hot water feels good on my skin as I wash away the blood and remaining pieces of glass. The alarm on my phone startles me and I step out knowing we have to go soon.

I wince as I apply ointment on my cuts then head out the door to meet Tyler and Scott.

“Drive safe!” Tyler yells as Scott pulls out into the highway and I know it’ll be a long six hours as he turns up the radio.

click here for part 2 🫢

[boston-babies]

“This is fixed! I demand a recount!”

You rolled your eyes from your place in the kitchen when you heard Ryan yell that from the den. Tanner laughed when she walked in “what’s that all about?” You sighed “they’re playing uno” She laughed harder “is that a good idea for them?” You shook your head “absolutely not. I know in about five minutes from now a fight is going to break out that I’m going to have to stop”

She nodded “that’s why Henry and I stopped at two” you laughed “oh because Will and Lily don’t fight?” Tanner shook her head “not at bad as your five”. There was a quiet beat before she turned serious “how are they handling the separation?” You looked down into your coffee mug “not well. Not seeing him all the time is hard for them and Danica’s asked me a few times if she could go live with Chris in Maine” Tanner scrunched her face “ouch. I’m sorry” you sighed “even Ryan’s upset and wants us back together” Her eyes widened “wow, that surprises me. Even after the hard time he’s been giving Chris over all of this?” you nodded “surprised me too.”

She narrowed her eyes “there’s something else. What are you not telling me?” You shrugged “nothing” she rolled her eyes “oh please, we’ve known each other since kindergarten, we’re best friends, I know when you aren’t telling me something so start talking”

You sighed “Tom called me yesterday” her eyes went wide as saucers “shut up, no way!” You nodded and Tanner continued “what did he want?” “He’s in town and wants to have dinner” her jaw dropped “what did you say?” You went silent and shrugged “oh. My. God. You’re considering it?!” You shook your head “I didn’t say that!” “You didn’t have to! Do you really think having dinner with the ex boyfriend that got you and Chris in this mess in the first place is a good idea?!”

You rolled your eyes “No, Chris got himself and I in this mess when he decided to do what he did”. Your eyes watered. You so desperately didn’t want to cry but all the anger and frustration from this last year just came pouring out. Tanner pulled you into a hug and “I’m sorry, I know this past year has been awful for you but be honest with me here. Are you only considering going to dinner with Tom to hurt Chris back? Or because you genuinely want to move on from Chris?”

You wiped your eyes “you wouldn’t be proud of my answer Tan..” She sighed “you’re human, it doesn’t make you a bad person” you took a deep breath “I don’t know what to do anymore Tanner” “what about therapy? I thought that was going well?” You took a deep breath “he hasn’t shown up to the last two sessions” you shook your head and started sobbing “I love him so much that it hurts but somewhere along the line I lost him and that kills me more..”

Tanner pulled you into a bone crushing hug as you completely broke down “I just want him back” she rubbed your back “I know..it’s gonna be okay, I promise. You two will figure it out, you always do..”

What you didn’t realize was that Dani had been listening from the hallway. Her heart was breaking for her mother. Suddenly, there was pounding on the front door and Danica huffed and rolled her eyes as she went to the door to answer “yeah yeah, I’m coming” She opened the door and went wide eyed when she saw her father on the other side looking frantic.

“Piglet..where’s your mom? I need to talk to her” Dani shook her head “no Daddy. You don’t.” He looked shocked “Dani?” “You need to leave mommy alone. I’m done taking your side and letting you hurt her. So no, you don’t need to talk to mama because there’s nothing to say. So go back to Maine and leave her be.” She started closing the door and Chris spoke sternly “Danica Taralynn” She shook her head once more “I hope all of this was worth destroying your family” She shut the door completely and took a deep breath. You and Tanner came down the hall. You wiped your eyes “who was at the door baby?” Dani turned around and looked at her mom “no one important mama”

She walked over and gave you the biggest hug “oh..” you hugged her back “you okay dandelion?” Dani nodded and hugged you tighter “I love you mama” you kissed the top of her head “I love you to baby”

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E138 & 139 (May 25, 2021)

Hello, you lovely people! It’s Tuesday and it’s time again for TM! Tonight’s guests: Marisha Ray & Liam O’Brien! The first picture that pops up when you google his name to check the spelling for the thousandth time is him with a shaved head, which is a wild look.

Ah! According to Dani, this is likely the last Zoom Talks! I’m so happy to hear this! They complain about Laura’s internet freezing constantly whenever she was about to say something exciting.

This episode is sponsored by The Elder Scrolls Online. As I’ve recently resumed my Skyrim run, this makes me crave it all over again.

Liam talks about having to drop everything to start the Zoom call, then having 27 minutes of technical difficulties before they could even begin recording. Augh, same hat.

Beau navigating the Astral Sea & Cognouza was empowering and unsettling. “This is the coolest! Uh oh.” It’s like seeing a new piece of RL tech come out and thinking about how it will change everything, then immediately thinking about how it’ll be abused, like deepfakes.

The first interactions with the Somnovem was overwhelming. They started fighting gnolls in a medieval towns and are now fighting interstellar beings. For Beau, it felt like talking to a really drunk friend. I actually love how she phrases this. “To me, it definitely felt like when you talk to one of your friends when they’re really drunk, and you’re like, ‘oh, I see what version of this person I have right now.’ And then you catch another version of that person on a shit day, and you’re like, ‘ah, I get it, you’re having a shit day.’ But then you catch them when they’re all put together and holding it down, and you’re like, ‘okay, you only hate yourself on the fringes.’ I get that. I found the Somnovem relatable.” Dani: “I too am just a collection of different emotions just barely hanging on by a thread.”

Marisha was able to put the pieces together of the ninefold emotions pretty quickly.

They do a whole tape-review bit after Brian mispronounces Yussa that is amazing. Aside from that, the M9 are glad they got him out of the city. It felt like a die-in-the-Matrix situation for him.

Liam kind of always suspected Matt would dangle the time-travel carrot in front of him. He honestly doesn’t know which way he’d go now. “For a long time, Caleb was like, ‘this doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter.’” It’ll probably be a mental coin flip if it comes down to an in-game decision.

"The dice are a CW producer,” when it comes to Beau & Yasha fighting each other.

They can’t remember another prolonged encounter bleeding into another encounter directly since Thordak/Raishan & Kevdak/the herd.

Cosplay of the Week: cattheterrible on Twitter with a beautiful Yasha.

Liam thinks Matt did a great job making it feel like a pressure cooker in terms of balancing their approaches between Lucien’s party & Cree. They’re also both very pleased that their plan with the threshold crests worked - it’s one of the few plans they’ve had across two campaigns that worked. (Honorable mentions they pull: intuit charges, Gelidon, Yenk/Vorugal from C1. “Will Friedle was a better [tactician] than all of us that entire campaign.”)

As far as the nine eyes on everyone go, “we’re all just one metaphysical garbage disposal.” Omar starts barking and they joke the dog will be SAG-eligible before Dani. Ha!

Just the idea of Aeor as a relic of history is massively important. They might die at any point, but if they live, Caleb thinks it’s so important to preserve that history Indiana-Jones-style, especially since it was obviously more advanced as a civilization.

Marisha wonders if they can bring forward the piece of Lucien that is Molly. “It’s a fractal. It’s that full molecular crystalline structure that’s repeating and recurring, and even if it’s several times removed, it still feels like part of the same thing. But maybe a different version, a different timeline of what Lucien is was more or less Molly, and can we Spiderverse the fuck out of this? Can we somehow recall that programming from whatever’s buried? [...] It’s like how moving things to your Recycling Bin doesn’t really clear them from your hard drive.”

Fanart of the Week: mellifera38 with a beautiful Lucien pre-tentacles. The card award shenanigans come complete with massive fireworks green screen display, a rainbow unicorn, a cease and desist letter, eagle wings, lasers, and a PHYSICAL CARD in his hand oh my gosh, to celebrate the final Zoom Talks.

Liam is glad Essek was there to help out with the dunamantic elements of their fights. He’s doing a lot to redeem himself. Liam is also thinking a lot about endgame, long-term repercussions of how this would affect the kingdoms.

Marisha finds the weasel being Artagan adorably traumatic and hilariously tragic. Not only was this poor weasel getting dragged to hell and back, sometimes his personality gets shoved to the side to allow Artagan in. Poor thing, ha! Liam talks about one aspect of the game is that you learn things about your character as ago and then apply it backwards; “We ragged on this weasel so hard, that Matt was like ‘fuck you guys, he’s alive because there’s a fey prince inside him’ and made it retroactive through time.” He’d noticed it for a while, but because there was no downtime in Aeor, there was never a chance to casually bring it up. Beau’s confirmation of seeing something weird about the weasel was a relief that he wasn’t crazy.

It’s a lot of pressure to be the “face” of the party, especially considering Beau’s CHA stat is low. Now it feels like siblings deliberately pushing Lucien’s buttons, except with the full recognition you’re poking a nuclear bomb. It’s honestly been fun, though - she loves being a smartass to people she should ABSOLUTELY not be saying things to. In Caleb’s mind, Beau is the closest thing the group has to a responsible hero. Cad is a great sage, but Beau does what she thinks is the right thing that needs to be done.

They both laugh at this being Matt’s love letter to FF games. They should have been ready for the transformation and the amazing spectacle of the whole thing.

And that is that is that! Brian thanks the guests, Dani, and the crew. “We did it! We did Zoom. Thank you Marisha especially, and our amazing production team for figuring out a way for us to be able to do this from home and make all the artwork and everything so awesome. Thank you to everyone who has touched the show in some way and helped us do it from home.”

Is it Thursday yet?

[mackeydoodledoo]

I got your Back

Pairing: (DragonBat!)Daniela Dimitrescu x (Fem!)Reader

Summary: One walk out in the woods would change your life. One encounter with a Royal Dragon Bat changes your views on the four lords.

Warnings: Near-Death, Running, Being chased by the Queen of the ‘Dragon Castle’

A/n: I thought I was going to make this a one story thing, but I was WRONG! Hi, I apparently make series and this is apparently a series now. Also, plot twist comes in this chapter!

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

1 Year...

Daniela’s injury had long healed however, eve if you were letting her go, she only just walked back towards you. No matter what you did to distance yourself from her, she’d always, someway somehow find her way back to you. 

“Don’t you miss home sometimes?” You ask Daniela, leaning against her back

I do but... I enjoy being in your presence as much as I do being at home. 

“Are you sure?” You ask her, reeling in a fish, “Last time I checked, there was nothing special here...”

As you bring in that reeled fish, you toss it to Daniela and she catches it, downing it in a gulp. You roll up your sleeves as you reveal a tattoo. It was a design of Daniela; the Brilliant Red scales and mane with a hint of Brilliant Emerald Green scales was all in the design. You unfortunately had to leave town for a little bit to go into the modern world to get it done. 

I can’t believe you really have a tattoo of me...

“You’re my best friend Dani,” You explain, “So, even if you go, you’ll be on these adventures with me.”

You’re something else Y/n...

“Hey, were you always a dragon?” You ask, “Sorry if that’s out of the blue... If a dragon bat can communicate with me telepathically you must be human as well...”

I don’t know... However, there is a legend... Where humans who were turned into monsters like me...

“I don’t see you as a monster,” You say

You... Don’t?

“I don’t,” You say, “Continue on the ‘legend’ you know about.”

You don’t notice Daniela’s cheeks flushing a deep red. 

It started with a daughter of the royal family. She was absolutely lovesick. From time to time she fell for many different men. One night she went too far and killed the man that she had ‘fallen in love’ with. This had angered the townspeople. The daughter was chased to the edge of town, where she begged mother to help her. However, the mother... Was fed up with her daughters’ flirtatious ways. However, deeply caring for her daughter, she felt merciful and found a way to curse her. The mother had cursed the daughter to become a hybrid of a Dragon and a Bat. The challenge for her cursed daughter was to find someone who would love them not only for appearances but for one who truly is themselves shall be turned back to normal. 

“That’s... Intense,” You sigh, “Do you think... It’s about you?”

Who knows? Just maybe. 

“Well, for one, it’s awesome having a dragon bat for a best friend,” You start, “Who would have thought that-”

You hear rustling in the distance. This causes Daniela to begin hissing and growling. You stand up and cock your gun and stand up to begin making your way to where the noise was. Daniela right behind you to protect you. You lift your gun and begin listening for anything out of the ordinary.

Dani... You hear them too?

I do.

As quick as a flash of light, a hoard of Lycans jumps down from the bushes, ensnaring Daniela in a net.

“Daniela!” You yell, beginning to shoot the lycans, “Let her go!”

One lycan had gotten closer to you however, you immediately whip yourself around and shoot at the lycan that was inches away from your face. You watch molten fire string right above you, dodging the drips of lava that was dripping down from the stream of molten flame.

Run!

“I don’t think so!” You yell, taking down the remaining lycans that were holding Daniela down

You immediately remove the netting from Daniela and wrap your arms around her neck as much as you could.

I thought I told you to run...

“I’m not leaving you behind Dani,” You say, sternly, “We’re partners...”

The Dragon Bat coos under your touch as the both of you begin walking back to your home. Somehow you had been able to keep it afloat. Even with all of the Lycans targeting you. However, you were certain they were all after Daniela. You shoot at the final lycan but hear it beginning to speak.

“The mother of... The Castle... Will kill you...” It says before dying

The lady of the castle?... Does he mean?-

Y/n? Are you okay?

“I’m fine,” You sigh, “No scratches or anything.. Shouldn’t you get back to the castle?”

My mother is being overprotective... I can take care of myself.

“I wouldn’t want you being strongly punished for choosing to stay with me,” You sigh, “Or even me getting burned alive... I wouldn’t want to go out like that.”

Then how would you want to go out?

“On my bed,” You answer, “Surrounded by the people I love... Well, you for that matter... I’m pretty sure a dragon bat like yourself can live longer than the average mortal...”

That is true, But... I’d rather go out valiantly.

“As your typical dragon bat would,” You smile and sigh

What’s wrong with going out valiantly?

“Nothing at all,” You state, “You should go out valiantly. Or at least protecting the ones you love.”

Before Daniela could answer, the both of you look up to the sky and notice a large silhouette of a dragon. Daniela uses her head to nudge you inside of your home. 

“Daniela!” You yell as Daniela uses her tail to lock you in the house

Daniela walks away from the home and watches the large dragon land in front of her.

You stay away from the castle for over a year?!

I wanted to be on my own for awhile mother!

What if a hunter could have killed you?! Or even sold you for money?!

Mother the human I’m with has not sold me or killed me!

You try to unlock the door however it was locked from the outside. You cover your fist with your hoodie and begin punching the door window, unlocking it. However, you look down and notice how your fist began bleeding; seeing dark spots beginning to seep through. You leave your fist covered however, you run in front of Daniela.

“You leave her alone!” You scream

Oh! We have a loud mouth!

Your eyes widen and jump out of the way just as the white and black dragon breathes its fire. 

Mother Stop! Please!

If you want me to stop you must come home!

Daniela actually considered it, but, she had grown attached to you. She couldn’t just up and leave right then and there. She didn’t want to leave you. You appear right back at Daniela’s side, not long before the ‘Mother Dragon’ had began forming her fire in her mouth. It wasn’t before Daniela had curled her neck so that she was practically guarding you; her tail also curled around you. You hear and feel the growling emitting off of Daniela.

You DARE growl at your mother?!

Mother... I don’t want you hurting this human... She saved my life!

Humans are all the same! Now move my daughter!

Daniela also didn’t want to anger her mother. A chill shoots up your spine as you feel Daniela’s tail move away from you, along with her head and neck. But, you feel her warm steam exit her nose.

“Run...” A very feminine voice whispers in 

You’re not sure what shot through your body, but in the next second, your foot pivots and you run... And run... And run.

You come back and succumb to your despair!!

You could hear what the Mother Dragon was yelling. But, you don’t turn to look back. That’s one thing your father taught you; to never look back when you’re running away from something. However, you hear another roar; making you finally turn your head, stopping in your tracks. 

Daniela?! What is the meaning of this?!

“Run Y/n!!!” Daniela yelps as she falls off her mothers’ back

Did Daniela just...

You wanted to turn back and help her. But how could you? The Mother Dragon said it herself. You were a mere human. No special powers, no dragon bat abilities you were just human. However, you couldn’t just simply run away now. Daniela was in trouble. 

You will come home this time! And you will never-

Before the Dragon Mother could finish her sentence at a whimpering Daniela, she turns to a pressure on her tail; your teeth were attempting to sink into the scaly tail. Like themselves, you were grunting, growling and trying to injure the Dragon mother long enough for Daniela to get free. 

No mortal has ever sunk their wee teeth into me flesh before... Got to say little one... You have guts... No matter, You’re finished..

With a simple motion, your teeth weren’t strong enough to hold against the Dragon Mothers’ tail whip. Daniela’s ember eyes widen as she watches your body be flung over the edge of the cliff. Despite being under her mothers’ foot, she manages to break free from her mothers’ grasp. 

Y/n!!!!!

You couldn’t scream. The heavy drop of your stomach made it hard for you to. At that point you decided to accept your despaired fate. That was... Until you saw a silhouette of dragon wings...

A/N: Omg!! It’s been too long! I’ve gotten a new job and it has been exhausting me to the bone! Hopefully I can upload more soon!!

Go Home Daniela

[magnus-the-maqnificent]

Asdfghjjkklllllllhhkkl the way I don't remember the last time I didn't do that while watching a movie 😭😂😭😂😭😂

DUDE MALEC RUINED US FOR GOOD I'M AFRAID THERE'S NO COMING BACK

AND WE'RE HAPPY ABOUT IT AHHHHHHH

also, how do you project malec into them, like, you remember the ask you sent Dani about what she thinks malec would do? What do YOU think?

Do you agree with her? 🥺🥺

(I haven't seen FD partly because I don't really watch anime, I can never really understand what's happening there so I don't watch them 💀💀 but I've read your views on it and now I don't know if I want to beg you to write an FD malec au (with a happy ending of course 🤨😂) or run away from it as fast as possible 😭😭😂😂🤦🏻‍♀️)

Kskskskks I didn’t think anyone would pay attention to my FD rants I’m 🙈🙈🙈

And smsmsjsjka yes everytime I watch a movie or a show or something I’m just like “okay this one’s Alec and this one’s Magnus”. Every single damn time. I have no regrets 😎

Okay soooo I actually first watched like the first ten episodes of Future Diary several years ago (I think in like 2018?) so when I wrote smniyb, their dynamic and characterisation was heavily influenced by that of the two main characters. So obviously Alec is Yuno Gasai (cause Dark Alec supremacy)

And Magnus is Yukiteru (Yuki) Amano

(He looks more like Alec. I know. I KNOW.)((It doesn’t really show in this gif, but yes, his eyes are blue))

Back then I stopped at the tenth episode cause I couldn’t really understand what was going on 💀 but now when I watched it it was much more clearer and i could understand everything better and didn’t get bored lol. And then I got to the end and these bitches KILLED MEEEE.

Okay, Dark Alec and FD!Malec aside, yeeeeaaaaahhhhh I mostly agree with her. By the end they’d both be arguing about who’s gonna die and at the end one will pull some shit and kill themselves (mostly Magnus) and the other is alive and becomes God (mostly Alec). In FD, Yuki suggests that they both commit suicide and let the world end, but I can’t see either Magnus or Alec suggesting that. They’d both want the other to live on. Yuno however is… complicated but basically by the end she wants Yuki to live on and become God and let her die and that’s pretty much what happens. :’)

So yeah. I basically agree with Dani. Except I don’t think Alec will think kill himself (not that he’ll have the choice anyway, since he’ll probably already have become God before he can even think of it), but that he will end up like Yuki does at the end of Future Diary - letting the world die anyway and just… being depressed in limbo:

(HE LOOKS EVEN MORE LIKE ALEC IN THIS ENDING SCENE ITS FUCKING BREAKING MY HEART SKSKSKSK)

These are all the screenshots of the scene tumblr will let me post but hopefully you get the idea :’)

Unlesssss he goes full Yuno Gasai 👀 which is exactly what would happen in a hypothetical future diary malec au. Which… I’m low-key considering writing but I also want to run away from it 😂😂😂 also FD does have a happy ending! Kinda. The last scene of the last episode is what I just posted above lol, but there’s a post credits scene that hints at a happy ending, AND there’s an extra episode called Future Diary: Redial which shows the happy ending and how it happens.

Ksksksk this post got longer than I expected and that’s without infodumping about some major plot twists and just… Yuno Gasai in general. (I love that girl. I seriously fucking love her.) 😭😭😭 Kay imma go now also THANKS FOR LISTENING TO ALL MY RAMBLINGS ILY 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[danioak7]

A Perfect Day

Heyo! This is Dani here! Finally posting one of my insert reader fanfics on here, and what could be a better way than to start with the first of 4 parts in my Jonathan Crane series! I’ll hopefully post up another random fanfic later on, but here’s part 1 of my A Perfect Life series. Hope you guys enjoy❤️

~~~

“Johnny, c’mon! I’m sure your dad won’t mind.”

“I-I’m not sure, Y/N...”

She stopped running. She then turned to face him and grabbed his hands. She looked almost nervous. Her small problem was that she did this without thinking too much, and she never considered if Jonathan would be okay with this. She looked up into his eyes, and he could see her e/c eyes as clear as day. They were mesmerizing.

“Hey. If he gets you in trouble, I’ll be there to take the blame.”

“I-I don’t want you to do that. That doesn’t seem right.”

“I don’t care if it’s right; I’m not letting you be at fault for this. But if you don’t want to go...”

“N-No! No, I-I want to go. I really do, Y/N. Let’s just go.” If he was being honest, he really just wanted to spend more time with her. With her holding his hands, he felt safe. He wanted to be in a relationship with her so bad, but with his dad’s research picking up, he knew he couldn’t dare be with her. His father was already so hesitant about him going to school, so what would happen if he got a girlfriend?! But at this moment, he just wanted to be with Y/N. So that’s what he did; he stuck with Y/N.

“Really? O-Okay! Yeah! C’mon, it’s this way!” Y/N still held onto one of his hands as the pair raced from the front of the school towards the small town closest to the school. It wasn’t quite considered as being “in Gotham”, but it was a peaceful little town with a low crime rate, considering how heavy the crime was in the large neighbouring city. For a good bit, the teens were running. But Y/N eventually slowed down, because neither teen could successfully run very far. The entire time, Jonathan held her hand tightly. He was afraid that if he let go, then he’d lose her forever. They strolled through the small town just outside of Gotham, just enjoying each other’s company. She led him towards a pier, where there was a safety railing so people didn’t fall into the water. What she did next left Jonathan in awe...

She let go of his hand and ran up to the railing. She stood there holding onto it, and looking at the water and the sky with so much hope in her eyes. The wind blew lightly, and it softly lifted her h/l, h/c hair. Her skirt was blowing behind her in the wind, and her body language showed that she was at peace. The water in front of her was a deep, sparkling blue. The sky was filled with cotton candy shaped clouds, and was coloured a pale blue like the shirt he wore that day.

The breeze became a bit cold for her, so she shivered slightly. In an instant, Jonathan calmly took off his hoodie, walked towards her, and wrapped it around her. She was so grateful for the gesture. She even wrapped an arm around him, as she hoped he would stay beside her. He did indeed.

The pair started towards the open water ahead of them. It was such a calm time in both of their lives; it felt so weird, but in a good way. But the gears in Jonathan’s head were turning rapidly, just trying to figure out how to tell the sweet angelic girl beside him how he truly felt. To hell with what his dad thought; he wanted to be with her. And if that was the last thing that he would do, he’d be glad he did. Y/N on the other hand was in pure bliss. The boy she had fallen for all those years ago was in such close proximity to her, to the point where she could almost hear his heartbeat. She decided to lay her head on his shoulder, which startled the nervous boy.

“I’m sorry, Johnny! I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.”

“N-No! You’re good. Um, if you want to, you can put your head back there. I really liked it...”

“Oh, okay. I really liked it too.”

Once her head landed back on his shoulder, Jonathan pulled her slightly closer to him. His confidence had disappeared in an instant. But Y/N needed to say one more thing before they fell back to their comfortable silence:

“I’m so glad you’re here with me, Jonathan. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“M-Me too, Y/N. I think I’d be pretty lost.”

“You’d still be in the corner, alone at lunch,” the smaller one replied with a chuckle.

“That I would be. That I would be...” and with that, the pair fell back to their peaceful silence. But Jonathan’s head was still trying to figure out how on Earth he was gonna tell her that he felt all these feelings for her.

Bit by bit, his confidence came back. After a while, he did something that even took him by surprise: he lightly kissed Y/N’s forehead and muttered that he loves her. As soon as he did, his face turned an even darker shade of red (if it even could). Where did this come from?! He wasn’t even thinking straight. He started to panic, and wished he hadn’t said that out loud nor done anything at all. During his panic, the small girl looked up at him with large doe eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, Y/N. I-I don’t k-know what-“

“Shut up.”

“I- what?” That got his attention for sure.

“Shut up! You’re so nervous! Don’t be,” she lightly grabbed his chin so that he would look at her, and looked deep into his eyes. Her smile was huge, “because I love you too.”

His mind went blank. Absolutely blank. She loved him?! Oh god, his heart was soaring. He was on cloud 9. All his setbacks in this whole endeavour today had been because he was so nervous and stuck in his head. But all the things that led to something good were when he just shut off his mind, and followed his heart. So that’s what he did.

The lovestruck boy pulled the equally lovestruck girl closer to him, and repeatedly planted sweet kisses to her forehead. The pair were a smiling, blushing mess. But they didn’t care; they had each other. After the many kisses to her forehead, Jonathan mustered up the courage to plant a gentle kiss onto the beautiful girl’s lips. It was sweet and simple, that left the two of them wanting a little bit more. When the two teens pulled away, they instantly wrapped each other in a tight hug.

For Jonathan, he finally found someone to love him and not have the urge to use him for studying purposes. But for Y/N, she now had someone to call her own. She had always wanted someone who loves her unconditionally, and now she finally has that person: her best friend and now boyfriend, Jonathan Crane. And as they watched the cotton candy clouds shift and the sparkling water ripple, their souls intertwined. That single thing caused a symphony of endless love and adoration that rang through the air around them. No matter what would happen in the future, they’d face it together.

But that was all just a pleasant memory now. Now Jonathan sat in a cell in Arkham Asylum, with his back pressed against the wall and a photo in hand. He managed to sneak the photo in, and hide it any time someone came nearby. It was a photo that Y/N had taken that day: she held the camera in a selfie-like fashion, and it showed her with a giant smile. Jonathan was behind her, with his arms wrapped around her waist and his head on her shoulder. He looked so lovestruck in the photo. He still was to this day. The poor boy still twitched with fear as he sat, but that photo- no, the sight of Y/N kept him calm.

She never visited. It was as though he didn’t exist anymore. He would never know if she just didn’t want to come, or if there was something blocking her path. But as long as he had the photo in his hand, he believed he’d be alright. Maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow. Or the next day, even.

“If I could just take us back to those days. If I had one wish, then I could just do that. You used to brighten every empty space, and the words ‘I love you’ replaced any doubt I had. Maybe time wouldn’t try to erase you from my mind. If you could only know that I’d never let you go, Y/N.”

The guard heard Jonathan’s ramblings, and went to check on him. The scared boy saw the infamous scarecrow figure instead, looming over top of him. As soon as the guard got close, he saw the photo. He grabbed it out of Jonathan’s hand, and marched back outside. In Jonathan’s eyes, he saw the scarecrow figure that he hated wrenching his hand open. Then he finally saw the guard, who proceeded to take the photo from the helpless boy. And with that, all his hope disappeared, and he was left completely alone.

“A-And the words ‘I promise, I’ll be back. I’m not leaving you’ r-ring through my head. I-I m-miss y-you Y/N…”

The broken shell of a hopeless boy was all that was left in that cell. And from that point on, there were few words he actually said. All that came from him now were screams.

[eponymous-rose]

Return of the Revenge of the Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E108-109 (September 15, 2020)

It’s been six months since the last Speech Machine Upper Luminosity (is that right?), so let’s jump right back in like nothing ever happened!

Tonight’s guests are Laura Bailey and Matt Mercer!

Announcements: Talks will now be biweekly, discussing two episodes at a time! Unfortunately, this means fan question submissions aren’t doable yet, since they’ll often be filming Talks for episodes that haven’t aired yet; questions will come from crew, but fanart and cosplay from earlier episodes will still get awards. Dani Carr’s new official title in the company is Lorekeeper!

Episodes 108-109

Brian asks Matt about the tug-of-war with the Moonweaver’s influence: “how much of that did the Traveler and Jester’s interactions influence him not going back to the Feywild?” Matt: “Okay, well, the Moonweaver isn’t necessarily happy about taking on the images and icons and co-opting elements of her worship, but also isn’t a vindictive deity necessarily.” She has a similar fey history to Artagan, “so I knew this encounter, there would be a punishment involved, at the very least to take Artagan down a few pegs.” He wasn’t going to be actually banished; the Moonweaver just wanted to “scare the shit out of him: You think you’re a trickery god? Welcome to the original trickery god, bitch.” There was a possibility of him just vanishing for a while, if there was no sign of humility; but based on their interactions, it was just enough to show the planetar that maybe this isn’t the same “troll of an Archfey” that the Moonweaver had known. “Maybe this is enough of a lesson.”

Laura thought Artagan was going to be “gone-gone, and Jester was going to be left alone”. She thought there was going to be a Feywild rescue, and Jester would have to try to find a new deity.

Laura’s wi-fi conks out. So does mine. Ah, 2020.

Jester would probably have followed the Moonweaver in an attempt to make amends. Laura mentions that every time she sat down to prep something for Traveler-Con, she realized Jester wouldn’t sit still long enough to plan it.

Laura: “If that cult hadn’t been there and she hadn’t seen what a false god could do to people, I don’t think she would have come to the realization that what her and the Traveler were doing was detrimental: oh, we’re fucking over people’s lives, hardcore.” If Artagan hadn’t been on board with picking a different deity, Jester would have stepped down at Traveler Con and she would have exposed the lie.

Matt’s “super happy” because he was purposely making sure he didn’t know what was going to happen at Traveler Con. “Okay, everything around it’s going to be interesting and fleshed out, but as to the actual convention, I have no idea what’s going to happen.” He wanted to balance a complete train wreck with character beats and mini-arcs, and he was satisfied with how that worked out.

Brian asks if Jester ever considered walking away from the Traveler. Laura: “Yeah. It could have progressed to that point. Jester always gave him the benefit of the doubt, and loves him with her entire heart, so if he would have not seen that what they were doing was not acceptable, in his own way, then Jester would have probably walked away. I don’t know if she would have walked away from him, but it would have been a big issue for her. I have no idea what that would have meant for her... my entire character arc.”

How does Jester feel about the Traveler now? “She loves him, but at the same time, she doesn’t adore him without boundaries. She sees a little bit more of who he is, and the worshiping aspect isn’t there anymore. She sees him more like another friend. That’s a complicated relationship for a cleric to have.”

Matt talks about what a fan he is of his players. “I’ve just been enjoying the hell out of this.”

Has Artagan learned his lesson? He’s been living for a long time, and old habits are hard to break. Matt points out that Artagan “is free in a place that he doesn’t have complete domain over, and he’s been humbled a few times. I think he’s definitely learned a series of lessons to some degree. We’ll see how far it sticks and where their relationship goes.”

Brian asks Laura how it’s been to have the spotlight on Jester for a long time. Laura: “It was nerve-wracking. I feel very relieved that it’s on to something else now, but it was so much fun, too. I feel like I kept getting so emotional as her through all this. Having to come to terms with all the things she was going through was crazy. But it felt good.”

Cosplay of the Week: An amazing Yasha by @shiieldmaiden on Twitter, photo by @asheneyed.

Matt: “I took a bath for this.”

Brian notes that Jester found herself caught between her god and the M9. Who would she have chosen if Artagan hadn’t kicked her off? Laura: “Here’s the thing. If Fjord hadn’t jumped on my back, Jester would have gone. But him doing that, I mean, that’s why I froze like I did. I really didn’t know where it was going to go. Thankfully Artie made that choice for me.”

The Vilya reveal’s been waiting since Marisha made Keyleth’s backstory. Brian recalls that the question of what happened to Vilya came up in the campaign 1 recap, and Matt was cagey about it. “When I got the original backstory from Marisha, in my head, I was like, her mother’s probably still alive, just lost to the chaos for reasons that I’ll get to, but I like the idea of an eventual reunion when it made sense.” As they got later in the campaign, Keyleth’s story became about taking on this leadership and stepping into her mother’s footsteps: “I didn’t want to rob her of her journey by bringing her mother into it before it was complete. There wasn’t a beat that felt right for it in the first campaign unless the players actively wanted to go and seek it out.” He knew she was on an island somewhere, and that there was an issue with her memory, but the details were still hazy, and it never came up in the first campaign. “As soon as we got to Rumblecusp as a possible visiting location, I was like, this would probably be the island that Vilya’s at.” He knew the community would pick up on it quickly, but the players would likely be too engrossed in their own story. “Getting to send her home was wonderful, both for an idea of closure, but as a long-waiting gift to Marisha and Keyleth. It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to giving to her.”

On building Vilya’s character: “I wanted to make sure she wasn’t too similar to Keyleth. She couldn’t remember her family, but when she did, it meant everything.”

Brian asks what inspires Jester’s thought process to try and befriend every creature they come across. “Everyone is interesting. Except for Celia, she’s a bitch. If you piss her off, she might just hate you forever, but everybody else she thinks is pretty great. Jester can hold a good grudge.”

Brian asks Matt about the inspiration for Vokodo. “It is a heavily customized version of a Morkoth. I was just intrigued by how they had created this creature that creates this island around it. It has ways of affecting the minds of creatures around it. I didn’t enjoy that the creature was only Medium in size, and I wanted it to be something that was a little bit more changed by its experiences.” He also tied it in with the Astral Sea lore and suggested that it had been changed by its proximity to this volcano, similarly to how Thordak did in the first campaign.

Fan Art of the Week: An amazing Traveler Con Jester and Artagan by @callanthee on Twitter

How about the visions of the living city? Laura: “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with that thing. If it true that there’s a Molly connection, the Eyes of Nine, I don’t know. It’s just too much. We have to look into it.” Matt, blandly: “Weird mysteries.”

Who would the Disintegrate spell have hit if it had ricocheted? “Initially, I would have wanted to choose Caleb, like back at himself, because the immediate threat of that ray towards Vokodo, it would have been just right back at him.” But the runner-up would have been Jester because of the threat of the banishment back to the Astral Sea, the one place he didn’t want to go.

Laura could tell from Liam’s gameplay that he hadn’t realized someone was going to perma-die from that. “I thought it was going to be me, because I had been the one to banish him.”

Dani points out that the group would probably have gone after Artagan if Jester had died right before Traveler Con.

Matt highlights Cad’s Divine Intervention as pretty much the only way they could have learned the important information they used to prepare for the fight with Vokodo. He was torn between frustration at not being able to use this boss to its fullest potential... and pride in his players.

Laura is amused at listening to the characters talking about Jester when she’s not there. “It’s fun to hear but not be able to use that at all in your interactions with them.” Laura points out that even her sister who watches the show doesn’t trust the Traveler. Matt mentions that he’s always being very careful with the relationship between the Traveler and Jester, because it could get into rough territory. “There are unhealthy elements of their relationship, very much so. A lot of her story has been about disillusionment.” Laura: “Yeah. Eyes open.” They’ve set up bumpers to make sure they don’t veer into territory the players find uncomfortable. 

“Artagan at the end of campaign one versus Artagan at campaign two are different. He came into this world a purely selfish being of id and impulse. He still has those dark tendencies and can lean down those dark paths. But he went from a purely chaotic, selfish creature to unintentionally beginning to care for people that aren’t him.” Traveler Con definitely left a mark on him. “Aw shit, I let them in.”

Sam starts Facetiming Brian. “How does he know when we’re filming this?! No. I’m not going to do it.”

Matt and Laura are "super excited” for the new landscape of the next part of the journey.

Laura notes that Jester is getting past the point of “needing to put on the mask”, including around her mom. And as that’s happened at Traveler Con, the small breakdowns have been piling up. “That’s what therapy’s like, right?”

On the new goliath shopkeeper (even with the mispronunciations as clues, I got nothing on that spelling), Matt points out that purchasing magical items is tricky because most things were pulled into the war effort. He was trying to figure out how a shopkeeper could build a business in that environment: “with a bunch of really small, shitty enchantments”. As a kid, he loved novelty shops, and took a lot of inspiration from those memories.

So glad everything’s back in business! “As always, don’t forget to love each other. And don’t worry, it’s almost Thursday.”

[novelconcepts]

FOUND IT!!! Consider this an official ask for 3 and 14 combined! #wheee

smiling into a kiss and play wrestling

Having a best friend again is strange. She’d gone so long imagining the phrase as a sort of neon sign staked firmly in the past: Best Friend, already spoken for. Eddie had always been it; no other volunteers need apply. 

But Eddie’s gone now, out of her life, living out wherever his might go in another country altogether, and Dani finds the position has--slowly, without really planning for it--been filled once more. Not that she planned for it. Not that could ever could have. 

She didn’t come to Bly looking for Jamie, and if you’d told her the gardener who refused to so much as meet her eyes, much less introduce herself, would become the most important person in her life--well. Life is full of surprises.

There is so little of Eddie in Jamie, she sometimes wonders how both could have occupied the same shape in her heart. Sometimes wonders how Eddie--who prized cleanliness, routine work hours, dinners at his mother’s once a week--would look at Jamie, if he could see her. Jamie, all tousled hair, happiest with a cigarette between her teeth and both hands buried in soil. Jamie, who has never kept a nine-to-five, never craved Sunday afternoons with her parents, never looks at Dani like she expects firm posture, bright smile, neat clothes. 

They couldn’t possibly be more different--and yet, somehow, Jamie is her best friend. Unfair to think it, maybe, but she might be the best friend Dani’s ever had. Her sense of humor is dark, her vocabulary wallpapered with curse words and shorn letters; she smells of nicotine and sunscreen, dresses in wrinkled flannels and torn jeans. Where Eddie looped an arm around her shoulders, Jamie nudges her with bony elbows; where Eddie pressed his lips to her temple, Jamie leans carefully away. Different, in every measure. 

And it isn’t that she likes Jamie more. That wouldn’t be fair--not after so many years in Eddie’s company. It’s just that when Jamie looks at her, eyes bright, dirt smudged on one cheek, sometimes, she feels...

“You’re thinking,” Jamie observes. She doesn’t say it the way Eddie would--the way he always pointed out when she was clenching her fist under the table, or picking at her nails, his voice edged with concern bordering on condescension. Her voice is light, her lips curved in a small smile. 

Eddie never quite smiled at her like that. Or, if he did, it didn't pluck the same chord in her stomach. Not that that matters. Not that that affects the sincerity of friendship. 

Not that it’s making her feel weirdly flushed this afternoon. 

“Am I not allowed to think?” she asks. The sun, she thinks, is responsible for the goofy smile on her face. The heat of the day, which stretches on and on the way only early July knows how.

“Not arguing,” Jamie says. “One of us ought to.”

She’s on her knees, pulling weeds, her face shining with sweat. There’s something about days like this--afternoons where the kids are occupied helping Owen bake cookies, leaving Dani to nurse a glass of water and pleasantly-meandering conversation--that feels almost too good to be allowed. Eddie would have wanted to do something with a day like this: hike, or clear up the yard, or go visit family. 

Jamie, on the other hand, pushes to her feet and surveys the bed she’s spent all day working. “Think that’s good enough for a break. Here, budge over.”

Dani obediently scoots to the edge of her seat, amused when Jamie flops down half in her lap. A year of working at the manor, and Jamie’s gone from a woman who couldn’t make eye contact to save her life to this: gangly limbs tossed haphazardly over Dani’s, sweat-slick skin sticking where it lands against Dani’s shoulder. It’s too hot for cozying up like this, but she can’t seem to convince herself to push Jamie away. 

“There,” Jamie sighs, tilting her head back against the plastic of the lawn chair. “Christ, feels good just to breathe.”

“You breathe,” Dani says, “and I’ll think. Together, we make an almost-functional human being.”

“Almost,” Jamie says wryly. Her hand loops around Dani’s, teasing the sweating glass out of her grip long enough to take a sip. Dani nudges her. 

“Could get you one of your own, if you ever learned to ask politely.”

“Don’t like me polite,” Jamie says with a shrug. “My brand is prickly-yet-charming, and we both know I’m your favorite for it.”

“Technically,” Dani corrects, “Flora is my favorite. Mainly because she doesn’t make me remind her to say please.”

“Please,” Jamie says without missing a beat, “keep pretending you aren’t captivated by my winning personality.”

Dani laughs. “Oh, is that what I am?”

“Mm.” Jamie takes another sip, reaches over her to set the glass down on the table, closes her eyes. “S’what you were all pensive about just now, I’m sure. How entranced you are with my witty banter.”

“Entranced,” Dani repeats.

“Beguiled. Mesmerized. Drunk with adoration.” Jamie’s face is pink, a bead of sweat neatly lining her upper lip. Dani only realizes she’s staring a fortunate beat before Jamie rolls her head to the left, peering at her with lazy amusement. “Go on. Tell me how much you love me.”

“Love how ridiculous you can be, maybe.” And how sweet, and how unquestioningly soft, though she doesn’t see a need to put that into words--or a way to do it without sounding entirely out of her head. The heat, she thinks, is absolutely getting to her. 

It’s the heat, making her want suddenly to slide an arm between the plastic back of the chair and the cotton of Jamie’s tank top, pulling her even closer. The heat, making her want to displace the normal back-and-forth ease of friendship with something else entirely. 

She’s had a best friend before. She’s never quite wanted to do with Eddie what she is, more and more, thinking about with Jamie curled up beside her. 

Distract, she thinks, because Jamie is still watching her with that half-lidded expression she gets when the sun is particularly bright, the day’s work has been well-tended, and Dani’s shoulder is a cushion beneath her head. More and more, it’s been feeling like a dangerous sort of moment, Jamie’s face lingering near the crook of her neck. Jamie’s breath coasting down the neckline of her dress. Jamie’s smile sweeter than should be allowed, given the grumpy way she slouches around the grounds. 

“Thinking,” Jamie says, her voice almost soft. Dani shakes her head. 

“It’s not illegal.”

“Is,” Jamie says, “if you’re gonna just stare at me all googly-eyed while you do it. C’mon, what gives? Is today some holiday I’ve forgotten?” She sits up a little straighter, her face comic in its sudden concern. “Shit, Poppins, it’s not your birthday.”

She almost wants to say it is, just to watch Jamie turn fascinating new shades of maroon. “No--just--it’s hot.”

Jamie sags back with palpable relief. Her arm is freckled, Dani notices, beyond the norm; the summer is drawing all sorts of secrets from her skin, and it’s suddenly painfully tempting, the urge to trace her nail along these newfound constellations. 

Distract, she thinks again, more urgently this time. Without thinking it through, without considering the consequences, she dips two fingers into the glass of water and flicks the still-cool moisture directly into Jamie’s face. 

Jamie, to her credit, hardly jumps. She’s just blinking at Dani like their conversation has taken an unanticipated left turn into another language, water dripping from the end of her nose. 

“Okay,” she says. “If that’s how we’re playing it.”

Her arm reaches across without hesitation, replicating Dani’s playbook: two fingers dipped, flicked, landing back in her lap as Dani sputters. 

“You got me in the eye.”

“Cooled you off, though?” Jamie asks, almost politely. Dani laughs, and suddenly, it’s war. There’s barely enough room on the chair for the both of them to sit like adults, much less to squirm around, hips knocking, legs tangled up as the remainder of the glass finds its way--droplet by droplet--into Jamie’s face, down Dani’s neck, sometimes missing entirely and disappearing into the sizzling summer air. 

Dani is ultimately the victor, an upset decided when she grasps the glass--now containing maybe two inches of water--and upends it directly over Jamie’s head. She’s laughing almost too hard to breathe, particularly when Jamie gives a firm shake of her hair, looking like a rumpled dog after a bath.

“That,” Jamie says in a low, dangerous tone, “cannot stand.”

She’s up before Dani can stop her, sprinting toward the garden hose uncoiled in the grass. Dani twists in her seat, knees drawn up to her chest, arms extended.

“Don’t you dare!”

“All’s fair,” Jamie says, almost apologetically, depressing the trigger. 

They are, Dani notes somewhere in the back of her mind, full-grown adult women. They are thirty years old, gainfully employed, responsible for the upkeep of an entire house and the well-being of two small children. 

They are also now chasing one another across the lawn, Dani sopping wet, Jamie laughing so hard she nearly trips over her own feet taking a corner too fast. The hose is growing more and more tangled by the minute as she dashes in a zig-zag pattern, periodically firing a jet of water over her shoulder, and Dani has no prayer of catching up--not with her shoes squelching, slipping on wet grass, her lungs clenched around a soundless jag of laughter. 

Adults, she thinks, as Jamie makes the insurmountable error of trying to bolt past her like a quarterback dodging a tackle; she makes a successful leap over the tangled hose, but forgets at the last second to factor in the edge of the lawn chair. Dani has her around the middle before she can dart out of reach, the both of them tumbling over in a cackling heap of grass clippings, puddled hose water, freckled limbs. 

They’re rolling, shouting wordlessly around giggles, Dani struggling to pry the hose out of Jamie’s hands. It’s harder than it looks; Jamie is small, but strong in an annoyingly wiry sort of way. Even when Dani manages to get her onto her back, the water is inescapable, dousing in short jets across her chest, down her arms, pooling awkwardly between them. 

“You are,” she laughs, “a child.”

“Could a child do this?” Jamie replies, jerking upward at the hips with unexpected force. Dani rocks up with her, one hand grasping the sodden front of Jamie’s shirt for balance, and drops back down without budging from her seat. Jamie releases an oof as her back makes rough contact with the ground again, giggling too hard to successfully shove Dani over.

“Yes, actually, I think a child would be exactly that effective,” Dani informs her. Her body has never felt quite this alive, her muscles aching with the effort of an unplanned run. Jamie, chest heaving for breath, is practically glowing. 

“Just want to remind you,” Jamie says, “you did start this.”

“Does that mean I win?” If she hasn’t, she can’t imagine it would feel any better than this: straddling Jamie’s hips in the soft grass, cool water seeping down her back, her dress sticking pleasantly to warm skin. Jamie allows the hose to drop from her grip at last, her head tipped back, eyes closed.

“Call it a draw.”

“What if I wanted to win?” She slides a hand up without thinking, pinning Jamie by the wrist before she can decide to take up her watery weapon again. Jamie draws a deep breath, face flushed, grinning. 

“Guess you’d have to work harder for it.”

Children, Dani thinks--but suddenly, it doesn’t feel childish anymore. Suddenly, she’s overly aware of her dress rucked high around her thighs, of how short Jamie’s shorts really are, how her body is considerably less obscured than usual with her shirt plastered to her frame. Suddenly, she’s aware of Jamie’s hand flexing against the grass, pinned beside her head with a loose enough grip to break--though Jamie isn’t breaking it. Isn’t even trying.

Jamie is, instead, gazing up at her with hair mussed, eyes bright. Jamie, whose free hand is sliding up to rest along the curve of Dani’s hip. 

She’s Dani’s best friend, like he was, but this doesn’t feel like it belongs in the same category as late-night stories swapped by the fire, or letting each other steal the vegetables the other doesn’t care for off their plate. This feels like a category all its own: the way Jamie licks her lips as Dani’s head lowers, the way Dani’s fingers graze the freckles painting her wrist on the way up to notching her palm against Jamie’s. 

Her hair is wet, and Jamie’s face is sweaty, and there’s so little romance to the whole picture, it takes her by surprise. She’s always thought there should be talking before a thing like this, at least--a decision made on equal footing. 

“I don’t have to,” she says, even as Jamie is saying, “Do you want to?”

Children would laugh again, go back to wrestling, go back to how it all felt just a few minutes before. They are not, Dani notes as she lowers her head--as Jamie shifts up at the shoulders to meet her--children. 

She’s hyper-aware of all of it now: the sun beating against her shoulders, the hand Jamie is using to grip the back of her dress, the exact angle of Jamie’s mouth parting beneath her own. Her tongue is gentle, brushing Jamie’s, and the sound Jamie makes into her is anything but. 

She’s smiling, she realizes, so hard, it hurts--that deep, wonderful hurt of laughing too hard for too long, of slipping in the grass and landing in a heap with someone who couldn’t help catching her on the way down. She’s grinning into Jamie even as she’s kissing her, even as she’s letting her body stretch out to press Jamie more firmly against the damp ground. 

And Jamie, fingers curled between her own, making soft sounds of appreciation into the kiss, is grinning right back. 

“This was your plan all along,” she accuses, brushing the hair from Dani’s eyes when they break for a breath. “Awful lot of work, for a kiss.”

“All’s fair?” Dani suggests--and she genuinely, honestly cannot decide which she likes more: the way Jamie kisses, or the way Jamie kisses and laughs at the same time. All of it, she feels, goes a country mile beyond best friends. All of it goes a country mile beyond anything she could ever have dreamed up, walking away from him the way she did. 

It couldn’t possibly be more different.

[interact-if]

Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!

1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?

2. Do you have a niche interest right now?

3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?

4. Any fave movies/tv shows?

5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?

You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤

We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!

 We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!!  😌

1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!

2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!

3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.

4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).

5. Heh. Okay.

In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.

In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.

Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!

Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.

When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.

Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!

1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3

2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)

3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot

4. The Good Place <3

5. My WIPs:

Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.

Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3

Others’ WIPs

I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌

1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]

2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤

3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty  

4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well! 

5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3

Alright, let’s go!  I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm... 

The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe. 

Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical  zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell. 

Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so... 

Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10? 

When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10) 

Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late. 

god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof

Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...

1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!

2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3

3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.

4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3

5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333

The Goodfellows: 7/10

Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3

Greater than Gods: 7/10

I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.

Vardir: 10/10

Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!

Creatures' Cradle: 8/10

Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.

When it Hungers: 8/10

That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3

Orthall Bay: 6/10

Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao

Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3

1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!

2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3

3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.

4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.

5.

The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf

Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.

Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD

Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10

When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!

Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.

[nlights37]

Fixer-Upper Tease: The Final Installment

Okay kids, we're in the home stretch with my favorite grouches (and maybe yours, too, who knows), so here's a little morsel from out final installment, a little taste of what to expect in this last chronicle of Joe Snow and the newly-minted Mrs. Snow. Enjoy!

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

“Oh, Dan-YER-US!”

Dany stared numbly at the phone in her hand, the screen long since gone dark, still so shocked that she couldn’t force even the slightest noise past her lips.

She should, actually. She really should remind Jon that his newest gag of addressing her by every mispronunciation of her name possible, submitted to him by telemarketers if he was lucky enough to catch the landline, was getting old.

But she was too stupefied to respond, and he was making himself laugh, moving further into the house, the solid thud of Drogon jumping down from his cat tree and onto the hardwood below firm evidence that Jon was heading her way. She could hear his chuckles bouncing down the hallway as his voice grew louder. “Dan-yer-us Tar-jerry-an?”

Her lungs unfroze enough to allow a huffed exhale.

A knock sounded against the door of their shared office, now that his place was their place, and he waltzed in, holding Drogon like a football and rubbing his knuckles against the old cat’s jaw as her husky boy began to rumble. “Hey,” she breathed out, eyes wide, her limbs still somewhat sluggish to respond in the wake of her phone call. “It’s Dan-yer-us Snow, asshole.”

Jon held his hand up in mock surrender. “My mistake,” he drawled, seeming to notice as the seconds ticked by that she was very much not quite herself. Gray eyes narrowed and settled straight on her face, his amusement quickly replaced by growing concern. “What’s going on?”

She squeaked, then winced, and finally forced herself into motion. “Everything’s fine,” she said soothingly, not as convincing as she’d hoped when he cocked his head to the side and looked at her skeptically. “I’m just…,” she floundered for a moment, searching for a way to describe this disorienting storm of happiness and fear and nervous excitement, “Surprised? Yes, that’s good. That works.”

Her husband of two surprisingly awesome months (well, not surprising really because of course she’d known deep down this would work, but still there had been that little whisper of fear, of everything that had gone wrong for her before beginning again, and she felt silly even admitting it to herself) remained a hard sell. “And what, Mrs. Snow, are you so surprised about,” he checked his watch, “at 4:17 in the afternoon?”

“They want to publish it.” Saying it out loud made it seem even more outrageous, because she’d never actually thought anyone would want to publish her little labor of love for the Hardware King himself.

Jon’s brows drew together. “Publish what? Oh, Gods, Dany, not my nudes. Not my beautiful catalogue of tasteful nudes.” His forced horror melted away the moment she yelped his name indignantly and thumped him on the shoulder.

“The book, Jon, and please,” she scoffed, “if you had nudes I would already have made them my lockscreen.”

Jon snorted and rolled his eyes, leaning down to deposit Drogon near her bare feet. “The book?” He swatted away errant cat hairs from his t-shirt. “Which book?”

She made an exasperated noise, dancing away from his newly-freed and wandering hands, over to the built-in shelves tucked into the corner. “This book, Jon.” His brows flew to his hairline as he spied the book in her hands, the one she’d made him for Christmas, now displayed out of reach after Ghost had swept it from the living room table in one wide brush of his tail.

Oh.” He settled finally on her face. “The book.” Then he considered her quietly, a long contemplative silence passing before he crossed to his chair and sat down, bracing each foot on the floor so the rolling seat wouldn’t budge and patting his crossed leg invitingly. “Step into Joe Snow’s office.”

Shoulders slumping with a resigned laugh, she dropped herself into his lap, leaning in automatically as he wrapped an arm around her, the other dropping to her knee as she settled against him. “Hey,” he whispered, and she craned her neck up to meet his eyes. “This is a good thing, right? I mean Rhaegar’s been on you for awhile about getting it out there, and you were really pumped, remember?”

Dany nibbled on her lip for a moment. “Yeah,” she sighed out, tucking her head into the space between his shoulder and neck. “But I don’t know, I guess it just feels really personal? I made that for you.”

“Aye,” he said gravely, the arm around her back shifting so he could slide his hand to her ass and squeeze. “To declare your undying love for me.”

Wrinkling her nose, she threw him a glare, which deepened as he grinned. “You are so annoying, Jon. I hope you appreciate what a saint I am for tolerating all of your nonsense.”

“A regular 'Baelor the Blessed', Dan-yer-us, that’s what you are.” He squirmed a little as she fished a hand between them and pinched lightly along his ribcage, her put-upon expression softening his own as he stopped needling her. “Okay, listen, I get what you mean. But to the rest of the world, like the 99.99% that doesn’t know us? They’ll think it’s a fun story about the grouchiest fucking pets known to mankind.” He paused, only to find Drogon glaring at him from his renewed perch on the cat tree. “Case in point, old man, what are you looking at?”

“He knows you’re slandering his good name.”

Jon snorted and flicked his finger at the cover of the book she still held in her hands. “You literally titled it ‘Grouchy’, Dany, so maybe his fight is with you, not me.”

It was a good thing he made being insufferable so attractive, it really was. And she understood what he meant, all his jesting aside. The butterflies in her stomach began to settle, as she let out a hard breath and relaxed once more against his chest. “And you don’t mind?”

“What?” He looked at her as though it was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever said, the title formerly held by her declaration that putting ketchup on macaroni and cheese was something psychopaths did. Which probably hadn’t helped as he’d been in the act of doing that very thing, when she’d said it. “Dany, why would I mind?”

Dany gave him a small smile as she gazed up at him, and shrugged. “I made it for you, Jon. I mean, your dog is in it. You are in it.”

“Just the top of my head,” he interjected with mock sternness.

She just sighed and rolled her eyes, because honestly, his instinctual disagreeableness was one of her favorite things about him. It made her own perfectly allowable. “You know what I mean, Joe Snow.”

“Do it,” Jon said firmly, not an order, she understood that, but he was casting his vote. “I hope it makes a shitpot of money. I have plans.”

“Oh?” Her question, coupled with a sarcastic raise of his brow, earned her another squeeze of her ass.

Jon nodded with a quick jerk of his chin, perfectly sure. “Oh, yeah. See, the way I figure, it’s destined to be a hit, with me as your muse.”

Dany scoffed, just before a giggle escaped. “Ghost, you mean. Ghost was my muse. And Drogon.”

Jon relinquished his hold on her ass to slide his hand upward, patting comfortingly at the top of her head. “Whatever makes you feel better, love.” Then he winked and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Besides, either way, seems to me I’m headed straight down the path towards my dream job, the role I think, frankly, I’ve been destined to fill.” His voice had taken on a dreamy quality, as he stared away, now, at the wall opposite, where several of her drawings were tacked up to a corkboard, a drafting table he’d built for her situated just below. “It’s fate.”

“Do I want to know?” He side-eyed her at the droll question, and huffed.

“Look at me, Dany,” he said, head lifting imperiously. “I’m clearly meant to be a trophy husband.”

[appleflavoredkitkats]

ame i’m like 99% sure you said you were going to bed so i’m also 99% sure ur supposed to be asleep rn so i hope u don’t answer this until you wake up bUT. if you would like to expand on quackity’s mother hen sort of attitude towards fundy and schlatt because I Would Love To Hear It

YE YE YE DANY THANK U SO MUCH, YES I WILL TALK ABOUT THIS AU MORE BECAUSE I CAN AND YOU CAN'T STOP MEEEE

tw for gambling, smoking, substance abuse, self-neglect, slight starvation

all /rp /dsmp

naturally, out of all of them, quackity is the more composed one, which is great n all but he's heavily relied on when it comes to everything and anything

schlatt and fundy literally do not know how to cook or buy stuff or heal themselves or anything, and it’s literally down to quackity to do all these things because he sure does know schlatt and fundy don’t tell him when they’re starving or hurt or anything

sometimes fundy and schlatt, in their own private suite (yes they all have suites on the last floor of their hotel) would wake up to a ziplocked bag of pb & j just stationed on their desk left by quackity

quackity is also the only one who doesn’t drink/smoke as much as fundy or schlatt do, and he isn’t afraid to snatch any cigarettes he sees from them. one time, fundy opened a pack to see that it’s filled with lollipops with a small note that had a heart on it

(fundy does kind of lessened his smoking habits a bit because of this. he doesn’t want to admit it but he really likes the lollipops lmao)

every morning, whenever he sees schlatt, he always does memory exercises with him before they start the day. simple statements of “you live in las nevadas, you are schlatt, i am quackity, and our other good friend here is fundy. you’re alive, you’re safe, and we’re going to start a new day.”

they aren’t necessarily a family, and they don’t label themselves that way, but there was a gradual shift wherein quackity considered them as tools to good friends. after losing his own fiances, quackity kind of had no one else to protect in las nevadas? 

so here he was, accidentally finding a new group of people to attach himself to. there was a point where wilbur and dream visited and some Chaos happened because las nevadas is a threat of power, and fundy got hurt because he was kind of the only competent pvper there. and quackity. whew quackity realized that he actually grew attached to fundy and schlatt because he had a moment of fear where he thought he’d lose them.

(doesn’t help that he’s gotten even more scared of losing them after he knows of their self-destructive tendencies. after that event, fundy fell into a depressive slump and quackity had to stop las nevadas for a few days to take care of him)

schlatt’s typically insecure about his appearance because of his decaying skin so quackity always does Anything he Can to find (or sew) the most dapper suits he can for schlatt. sometimes, during dayoffs, he would manicure schlatt’s horns and paints his nails so that schlatt can feel a little better abt himself

and on fundy’s off days where he stays in bed all day, quackity just sits beside him and tries to stay with him the entire day, combing through his hair while they just. talk. lots of philosophical thoughts and storytelling n all

okay that’s all the hc’s i have rn but i’m probably gonna make more soon :DDDD I LOVE THIS AU SM GUYS

[chilling-seavey]

Qui Totum Vult Totum Perdit (d.s.) - 13

A/N Time to meet our last character 

Warnings: This story is centered around a murder so there will be graphic descriptions of blood, death/manslaughter, dealing with corpses, possible domestic abuse (physical/verbal), crime/covering up a crime, shock/grief, and other possibly heavy or triggering topics. Please read at your own discretion.

Jonah woke me up early the following morning by a shake of my shoulder. I winced as I lifted myself off the desk and stretched my arms above my head until my spine cracked.

“Sleep okay?” Jonah chuckled lightly as he glanced over my shoulder at the paper I had basically slept on top of.

I dropped my hands back to my lap with a heavy tired sigh, “I guess.”

“Any sleep is better than no sleep.” Jonah said. “We gotta get a move on though.”

I got up from the desk chair and turned off the lamp before starting to gather my things up again. The clock on the bedside table read 7:30am and I tried to ignore the ache in my limbs from exhaustion and my uncomfortable sleeping position as I packed up our few things in preparation to leave again. Jonah opened one of the cans we bought at the grocery store with a knife and stuck it in the hotel room microwave to warm up some sort of makeshift breakfast for us.

As I was packing up my laptop bag and Jonah was tending to our weak excuse of breakfast, there was a knock at the door. Our heads snapped over towards it.

“Housekeeping.”

The microwave beeped steadily three times.

Jonah and I looked at each other and I hurried over to the door to look out the peephole into the hallway.

“Close the bathroom.” Jonah whispered sharply.

I closed the bathroom door as instructed before speaking through the main door to the person on the other side, “We don’t need service, thank you.”

“Your check out is today so I need to come in and clean up.”

“Come back when we leave.”

“I was told to come by now.”

I glanced over my shoulder to Jonah who was standing a few paces back with his arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed in confusion and concern. He shrugged and I opened the door to the young man in the hallway.

He gave me a wide smile, standing beside a small housekeeping cart and wearing one of the hotel staff’s uniforms of sky-blue scrubs embroidered with the Riviera logo on the breast pocket and his nametag above it read ‘Corbyn’. The small rectangular shape inside the pocket caught my attention and I narrowed my eyes back up to his face.

“I won’t be long, Mr. Seavey.” he said reassuringly.

The statement of my name sent my heart to my throat, now regretting the fact that I gave my true information over to the lady at the front desk last night. I was now a prime suspect in a murder case and my whereabouts was suddenly incredibly easy to find. Not to mention my bright white Tesla sitting in the parking lot with my identification plates easy to see in the broad daylight. We had to get the hell out of there.

“Thank you, but we’re okay. Give us ten minutes and come back.” I tried to speak as solidly as I could.

“Is your wife here? May I speak with her?”

“My…my wife?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s none of your business.”

“Are you hiding something?” he asked bluntly.

“I just don’t want housekeeping right now.” I retorted.

I tried to close the door but he stopped it with his hand flat against the painted wood.

“Your brother said you left for a road trip…so can I speak with her?”

I reached into his breast pocket of his uniform and pulled out the small recording device before grabbing him by the arm and yanking him inside, slamming the door behind us. I shoved him backwards onto the desk chair and held him by the front of his shirt, glaring right into his light eyes.

“Who sent you?”

“That’s none of your business.” he pushed back on me.

“Are you a cop or a reporter?”

“I plead the 5th.”

“Bullshit.”

“I must say, Mr. Seavey, your panicked reaction to simple questions is quite concerning.”

I took a step back from him and Jonah moved up beside me. Corbyn smirked proudly up at us and started to get up from the chair. I shoved him back down.

“What do you know?”

“I know that you two are some of the most popular people in all of Los Angeles county. I know you have enough money to buy up this entire resort. I know that you’re currently on the run from the police in the possible murder of your wife.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“Where is she?” Corbyn pressed. “I’m not a cop. I’m just curious. You…you can call me a fan of sorts.”

Jonah didn’t even need to see my panicked look before he was pulling the rope tie from the closed curtains across the room and tying Corbyn’s wrists together behind the chair. I unbuckled my belt and passed it over to Jonah too and he locked him to the chair around the middle with the belt.

“Nice. Real classy.” Corbyn scoffed. “Is this how you treat all your guests?”

“Shut up.” I snapped, reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet. I flicked through his cards to find his ID and came across a Press Pass with his photograph and name under Corbyn M Besson. “Fuckin’ paparazzi.” I grumbled as Jonah looked over my shoulder at what I was finding.

“Paparazzi? Ooh, that’s insulting. I like to consider myself more of a journalist.”

“You’re a fucking stalker is what you are. How did you know we were here?” Jonah asked sternly.

“A magician never reveals his secrets.” Corbyn cocked his head to the side slightly as he stared sweetly at us, “So, tell me, how was the honeymoon, Daniel? Was it romantic and blissful? Costa Rica looks beautiful this time of year.”

Jonah and I knew perfectly well from a few years of being bombarded by paparazzi how to avoid questions and although this was much more serious than ‘which artist are you currently working with?’, it was all one in the same. They were sly and Corbyn seemed no different; being able to hide his true malicious intent behind a handsome face and an almost trustworthy voice. He was one of the pros, no doubt.

“Don’t answer him.” Jonah spoke lowly to me.

“I know.” I mumbled.

“He’s trying to get under your skin to get some bullshit to publish.”

“I know.”

“What’s in that box?” Corbyn asked.

Jonah and I looked over at him and them followed his furrowed gaze to the equipment trunk by the wall. The towel was peeking out from under the closed lid and the blood stain on the corner was unmissable. I swallowed thickly.

“Music equipment.” Jonah answered flatly. “We always take work with us.”

“Yeah?” Corbyn peaked an eyebrow at us. “Avalon’s here helping you?”

I clenched my jaw and stuffed his cards back in his wallet with trembling hands.

Corbyn spoke gently as if we were nothing less than old friends catching up, “I met her before. She’s a really nice lady.”

“Honey?”

The front door slammed and I got up quickly from the couch at the sound of her sobbing and rushing down the hallway. I followed after her, right into our bedroom and she shook with tears, stumbling over each breath as her hands raked through her messy blonde hair.

“Ava? Honey, what’s wrong?” I asked softly as I stepped up beside her.

“Th-They cornered me!” she sobbed, accepting my comfort and she curled into my chest, her arms wrapping tightly around my waist.

“Who did?” I pressed gently.

“The paparazzi…some reporter…” she cried, her tears soaking through the shoulder of my t-shirt. “Cornered me outside of work and I-I thought he was going to hurt me he-he-”

“What did he say to you?” I asked as softly as I could as I stroked her hair soothingly while she cried in my arms, her whole body trembling.

“Asked me a whole bunch of questions ab-about you…who you are working with…about our wedding…said he was going to show up. Oh God, Dani, I don’t want paparazzi at our wedding!”

“I know. There won’t let there be any. I’ll make sure of it.” I promised, pressing a kiss to her head.

“He cornered me…pushing his phone in my face and asking all these questions and…and…and I couldn’t get him away and he grabbed me. He grabbed my arm so tight and I couldn’t get away! He knows where we live, Dani! He knows where we live and he said he’s going to get the information out of me one way or another…I’m so scared!”

I leaned back from her to take her face in my hands. Her tear-streaked cheeks and shimmering brown eyes made me furious as to who the hell laid their hands on my fiancé. My anger was easily overpowered with concern and I spoke gently to her as I wiped the tears from her cheeks with my thumbs, “I’ll take care of him, honey. Did you get his name?”

“His Press Pass said ‘Besson’.”

I held the Press Pass in my hand, staring at the surname of the man who made my wife fear for her life. I have stated many times that I was not the best husband, dear reader, this is a fact we cannot deny. I am human and I am selfish, and yet, I know the feeling of protective anger when it comes.

“You motherfucker.” I spat, dropping the ID to the top of the dresser in one swift movement and making a lunge for our captee.

Jonah grabbed me quickly before I could throw a punch and yanked me back.

“I know exactly who you are! You scared the fucking hell out of her and you made her scared to even live in our house!” I shouted angrily, Jonah desperately holding me back. “Do you know how many times she woke up from nightmares about you?! About you cornering her in that goddamn alley and threatening her like you did? You are a fucking creep!”

“Daniel.” Jonah spoke sternly from behind me as I thrashed in his arms.

“I was just doing my job. One passionate man to another I figured you might have understood my responsibilities.” Corbyn answered slowly, his face filled with stupid concern.

“If you have a problem with me then you come to me. What nutjob corners a woman in an alley at night? Huh? Threatening her and grabbing her like a psycho!”

“Daniel.” Jonah repeated but his voice was no where near what I was focusing on. Between my fear and my grief and now my anger, seeing red was truly what was happening in my mind. I wanted and almost needed to avenge my wife’s death and this man had guilty written all over him.

“She’s dead because of you!” I screamed.

Corbyn’s eyes went wide and he lifted his head up straighter at my sudden outburst.

“Daniel.” Jonah hissed against my ear, “You better stop talking right now.”

A little smirk tugged at the corner of Corbyn’s mouth, “Wow. The raise I will get for bringing this information in is fucking astronomical.”

I went to shout some more at him but Jonah smacked his hand over my mouth and pulled me backwards and into the ensuite, slamming the door behind us. He shoved me away and gave me a glare that was nothing less than ‘what the fuck’.

“He’s the fucker I told you about. The one who cornered her and scared her out of her mind.” I said through my teeth.

“Okay, but you have to shut the fuck up, Daniel. I’m serious. I get that you’re angry but you just blew our tiny bit of cover. You have to remember that everyone in the whole fucking state right now thinks you killed her and admitting that she’s dead is only going to screw you over.”

I huffed angrily and glanced down at Avalon still resting in the bath of ice.

“He’s a reporter for the paparazzi. He has no remorse and he is an expert at getting a scene out of people like us. He’s going to talk and you are going to be screwed.”

I sat on the side of the tub and held my face in my hands, “I just need more time.”

“I know we do.” Jonah sighed, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck in thought. “We can’t let him go now though; you gave him information that we can’t afford letting out.”

“Goddammit.” I grumbled, rubbing my hands over my face tiredly.

“We could just leave him here. Gag him and leave him tied. It’s not perfect but it will at least give us enough time to make it to the lodge.” Jonah suggested quietly.

I thought it through for a moment before nodding in agreement. It was our only logical option. There was no way I would be willing to take him with us otherwise we may have ended up with two dead bodies in the trunk. One was already far too much.

Corbyn was already tied to the chair so we just had to gag him. If the guy would shut up it would have made it so much easier but his constant pestering questions only made it easier to leave him there.

“You don’t know what you’re doing! I was just doing my job!” Corbyn protested, “I’d do anything for a good story and she was the easiest way to get it! I didn’t mean to scare her but it’s not my fault if she can’t even handle-”

I stuffed one of the cloths from the bathroom in his mouth and Jonah wrapped the silk belt from the hotel robe around his head to finish it off. Corbyn struggled a little but Jonah tied a tight knot around the back of his head to keep the gag in place and we hurried to pack up and get out of there.

Corbyn tried to continue his ranting but it only came out as a bunch of muffled noises. My heartbeat was in my ears. It was so damn loud.

Jonah and I pulled the equipment trunk into the ensuite and carefully lifted Avalon back into it, tucking the towel around her again before closing the lid and latching it up. I tossed my laptop bag over my shoulder and slid the hotel pad of paper into my pocket as we got ready to leave. Corbyn thrashed around slightly on the desk chair, trying to get his hands free of the binds that held him but Jonah and I didn’t give him a second look as we each took one end of the large trunk and carried it out of the room. To tell you the truth, dear reader, after everything I knew about that young man and his conniving ways, I was mostly worried about leaving my favourite belt with him.

The morning was just as hot and sticky as the previous evening when we arrived and perspiration was already forming at my brow when we stepped out of the hotel and into the parking lot. My mind felt as muddled as the desert humidity. I unlocked the car and we lifted the equipment case into the trunk before slamming it shut and getting into the front seats quickly, the denim jacket back in my hands. Jonah offered to take his turn to drive which I was grateful for and I let myself rest back against the window ledge as he pulled quickly out of the hotel parking lot and towards the freeway. I swear I could still hear Corbyn’s muffled screams from the hotel room.

The sun was rising above the mountains in the distance as we drove north-east towards state lines. Once we crossed over into Nevada, I felt like I could actually take a moment to breathe. I wasn’t safe yet, not until I could prove my innocence, but at least the distance gave me time.

Detective Team: @jonahlovescoffee​ @randomlimelightxxx​ @stuffofseaveyy​ @hopinglimelight​ @tempus-ut-luceant​ @br4nd1s​ @xkelsev​ @hiya-its-amber​ @the-girl-who-cried-wolf​

[goldenslumbersfanfiction]

i’m not sure if you want to keep going back to the little green verse but would you consider doing a one shot of dani, jamie, and luna visiting karen? i absolutely adore their dynamic in that verse and always go back to that fic :)

Read it here on AO3

It’s the summer after Luna turns five years old, and your mother invites you to Iowa. She had moved to a new house in an over 55 community at the beginning of the year, and she just finished redecorating. She has a guest room and a pull out couch, and she tells you that she’d love to have you visit. 

You delay as much as you can, because even though your relationship with her had honestly become something unrecognizable in it’s goodness over the last several years, you have not been back to Iowa since you returned to sell your house and all your things as quickly as you could. You delay until you can’t anymore, until Karen gets Luna on the phone one day and is chatting away with her and your daughter comes running into your room to tell you that grandma invited you all to visit, and that she has a swimming pool, and Luna will not shut up about it for weeks, and now you’re a bad mother if you hold her hostage from the promised fun it.

So you book your tickets, and you push down that feeling of unease about it, because Luna keeps zooming around your living room with her arms stretched wide like an airplane, and you'll probably have a good time. It’s only five days, but it’ll still be the longest stretch of time you’ll have spent with your mother in years, and Jamie will be there beside you the whole time, and she’s always been steady for you. And, you always did love to swim.

Jamie has strangely won Karen’s affection over time, and you only really know this because your mother had stopped making those high pitched humming noises like she’s judging you for your relationship when you would give updates on her over the phone, and more and more over the last five years whenever she calls and Jamie answers, she keeps her on the line for a while before asking for you. 

But even though you have Jamie’s hand in yours now, or maybe precisely because you have Jamie’s hand in yours, it’s strange to be back. 

Your mom picks you up from the airport, and on the car ride to her house Luna will not stop asking you questions about everything she’s seeing outside the window in the back with Jamie, and it’s so lovely, to hear the low hum of Jamie’s laugh mingled with yours when Luna shouts when she’s horses in a field that you pass and tries to count them as best as she can (accidentally skipping eleven, which you correct) before the car zooms away.

You pass your high school that still looks exactly the same, you drive along the road where you failed your drivers test on the first try, you pass the church you used to go to when you were little before your mom decided it wasn’t for you guys anymore, and there isn’t a single ounce of nostalgia in you for any of this. If anything, there’s just a vague resentment, a small creeping under your skin like the very atoms of you recognize that you do not belong. 

But Jamie is here with you, and your little girl is rattling off colors she sees and is telling your mother about how she met the pilot of the airplane, and honestly, you don’t care that you don’t belong here, because you belong with them, and that’s what matters.

//

Your mother’s house is wonderful. 

You don’t realize, until you’re unpacked and the stress of travel has left your system, until you see how much more relaxed in this place your mother is, that maybe you and her really did understand each other more than you ever even knew. 

You never really thought about her being unhappy in a space she forced herself to be in, in a life she thought she should have wanted, until she flicks the radio on and you see her walking around her kitchen and cutting up some apple slices for Luna, who she’s lifted up to sit on the counter beside her.

You never thought of it this way, that maybe your mother was just stuck, too. Maybe when you left, she only tried to drag you back as much as she could because she never considered what unhappiness actually felt like, couldn’t understand how you were able to identify it and refuse it, never considered she was living with it laced in everything she did all this time.

You don’t see it at all, here. You just see her tapping hand along to a tune, her jewelry clinking against the granite countertop, and you think of the joy and the freedom you felt when you finally settled into your first apartment with Jamie. How you finally felt like four walls with a lock and a key were created to keep you safe, not keep you trapped. 

You never considered this about your mother, but now, as she sings along in her terrible voice to the radio, and puts the cutting board into the sink, you think that everyone deserves to feel like they are the beating heart of a home.

//

It’s not that you aren’t having a good time, because you are. You are enjoying yourself, and you aren’t trying to convince yourself of that, it’s actually the truth. You are happy, you are so in love with Jamie, and Luna has never swam so much in her life. Your mother has been great, and you haven’t argued over a single thing since you arrived, haven’t even felt any hostile energy from her. Only openness. Only love.

She’s in the pool with Luna right now, and you’re sitting on a towel you have stretched out on the edge of the water, your feet dipping in just a bit, and you were surprised how readily and enthusiastically your mother said yes earlier when Luna asked if she could go in the pool with her. 

You’re kind of in a trance, as you watch this simple scene before you. Your daughter, swimming with all of the effort and coordination of a little girl with one year of YMCA swim lessons under her belt, kicking her feet absolutely everywhere, her eyes bugged out and foggy behind her little goggles that look like fish. Your mother, laughing and encouraging, telling her she’s doing such a great job, as she keeps walking farther back in the pool to test just how much more Luna can swim to her on her own, her arms outstretched and open for her. Luna, eventually grabbing hold of her as she flails and splashes in the water.

Luna screams over to you, pure elation and pride in her voice as she’s held on your mothers hip in the water, her goggles now hanging around her neck, and asks if you saw how far she swam, and you tell her you did, you saw it all, that she’s such a good swimmer, and your mother is pushing wet strands of hair from her face, is holding her close.

“Come in the pool, mommy!”

“Yeah, come in the pool, mommy.” 

You turn your head when you hear Jamie’s voice, and she’s gotten her bathing suit on and she’s smiling at you so big, she tosses her sunglasses onto your lap, but she pauses a bit.

“You alright?”

You hadn’t considered you weren’t actually, but you suppose you are, because you’re having a good time, so you smile and nod, and it seems to be good enough for Jamie, because she grins and then without warning, runs and cannonballs into the water and it splashes you and Luna is cheering and swimming over to her. Jamie lifts her up high and throws her back into the water, and it’s so fun, and it’s so good, and so pure, and there is so much simple love here, right now. You can see it all in front of you, so why do you feel like you are apart from it?

You thought you were alright, you wanted to be, but until Jamie asked you, you hadn't considered that you aren’t. And you see your mother swimming under water and grabbing at Luna’s feet. You see the pile of pool toys she took Luna to buy at Toys R Us yesterday, you see her putting Luna on her shoulders, and teaching her how to float on her back in the water, and suddenly, you can not get a full breath into your lungs.

You feel like there is static crawling up your neck, and you feel lightheaded, and you’re standing up and going back into the house because maybe if it’s quieter, maybe if you get out of the sun, maybe if you just have a glass of ice water or lock yourself in your room, the darkness and stillness will calm you down.

But the more you take in shaking breaths, the farther you feel from sanity, the farther you feel from stability, and you close the door to the guest room behind you and prop your back up against the hard, cold wood, and you will yourself to calm down. You close your stinging eyes, breathe, in and out, and you try to get your body under control, but all you can hear is buzzing in your ears and you gasping for breath because it’s never enough air, you can’t get nearly enough inside of you, all you can feel is pressure building under your skin, and when you exhale, you are sobbing. 

You clasp your hand over your mouth, close your eyes, because you feel so loud, you feel too much, like you are screaming, like you are an earthquake, but you can still hear your mother, and Luna and her delightful laugh just outside, so you must just be invisible. 

There’s a gentle knock on the door, a shake of the handle, and you hear Jamie say it’s her, so you unlock it and step away as she opens it. She comes inside, a towel pulled around her shoulders, her hair still a bit drippy, her brows pulled together as she shuts the door behind her.

You hear her say, “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” over your shaking sobs and desperate breaths, and her hand is wiping away tears from your cheeks you hadn’t even known were falling. “What’s going on? What happened?”

You cross your arms, like if you just hold your muscles tight enough, everything will stop feeling like it’s caving in on you, and you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know, you don’t know…

“I don't know. I was just...I was just sitting there and I…I don’t know why I’m like this, god, why am I like this?” You still can’t stop crying, you still feel like you can not breathe.

“Okay, come here.” Jamie pulls you in so tight, and you wrap your arms around her back and hold on to her, because she is the only thing that is real, she is the only thing that is solid and steady and her skin is cool from the water and salty with your tears and she’s telling you to breathe in time with her while she holds you, so you try as best as you can. You focus on her, on the press of her against you, on the chlorine scent on her skin, on her hands on your back keeping you tethered while the rest of your reality swirls and thrashes around in your skull. 

It takes a few minutes, but you get a few deep breaths in and your head feels less like it’s a hurricane of static electricity, more heavy and cloudy and tired, but Jamie is still holding you.

She pulls back slightly, wipes the tears from your cheeks again, even though you haven’t really stopped crying. “You alright?” 

You nod, even though you aren’t really, but you feel like you’re through the worst of it. 

“You want to tell me what happened?”

You don’t reply right away, you’re still sort of in a daze, but you step back from her and go to sit on the edge of your bed, and you shrug, because you still really aren’t sure what happened, all you know is...

“She’s just...she’s so good with her, you know?” Fresh tears tumble down your face and you wipe them away. Jamie just nods. You let out another sob, a wet, sad thing, and your voice is so small when you ask, “Why didn’t I get that?”

“Oh, love.” She’s beside you now, her towel safely under her as she sits down on the comforter, and she pulls you in again, and when you sink into her this time it’s less about a swirling storm around you, it’s more about leaning on her because you feel heavy and worn down and Jamie has always been a safe place to land. Jamie has always kept you afloat. 

You cry into the crook of her neck, and her hands are gentle against your back. She whispers things into your hair that you don’t quite catch, but you don’t really think it matters so much, the exact words that she’s saying. You feel it all the same. It’s soothing, and it calms you, and you aren’t crying anymore, but you still feel wrung.

“Look, I know it’s...corny, or whatever. But...people change. Christ, if you met me even two years before you did, I’d have been the last person you’d volunteer to raise a kid with, let alone hitch your life to, I can promise you that.”

A burst of laughter escapes you, and you press a kiss into the patch of skin closest to your lips, because Jamie has always been this for you, and every time you think you can’t love her more for it, she gives you another reason to.

“And I’m not saying that takes away the bad things, you know? Not saying you shouldn’t demand peace from it. But...the woman she is now wouldn’t do that to you, if she could make those choices again. Problem with time, really, what’s done is done. For better or worse.”

You nod. And Jamie tells you that you should talk to Karen about it, if you want to. Not on this trip maybe, but at some point. 

You think you won’t, you think that’s a bad idea, that she would be reactive and make you second guess everything. That all may be true, but after you take a nap, after you spend the rest of the day in the pool, and go grocery shopping with her, after you cook dinner together and she passes you a bowl of popcorn when you all settle down to watch a movie together, you think it might not be such a bad idea. And you aren’t really worried she will stop speaking to you anymore. You aren't worried she will be cruel to you in the way that she was when you were a teenager. You think, maybe, she might actually try to help you get the answers you don’t have. You think if you ever did tell her, she might feel upset by it all, but not from defensiveness, but because you are in pain, and she didn’t know.

It’s not a conversation for now, and that’s okay. You learn that even though you are still, always, healing, that you can still enjoy her, that you can still love her fully, that you can sit beside her and watch the VHS tape of Matilda that Luna snuck into her suitcase that you found when you unpacked her clothes, and it can still all be good.

//

You and Jamie have taken the guest room, and Luna has been sleeping on the pullout couch. She’s still so small that she doesn’t even really need to use the pullout, could just sleep right on the couch cushions, but she has a lot of fun setting up the bed every night, so you don’t mind. Jamie lets her think that she’s so strong that she pulls it out all on her own, but really Jamie’s got her hand along the side of it helping her along, and the way Jamie’s muscles strain and pop when she does this as you watch from off to the side definitely doesn’t hurt.

You help get the blankets and pillows set up for her, and usually she’s out pretty quickly. It’s the same tonight. A full day of fun in the pool and dinner in town means she’ll be sleeping soundly through the night.

But it’s around midnight when you hear her start crying. You are still up, Jamie slipping into sleep beside you, and you still have the TV on a low hum in the background, but you hear her, you always can. 

Before you can even make your way out of bed, though, she’s knocking on your door, and you open it to find her, holding her stuffed whale and her blanket, tears streaming down her face, her little lip trembling, and absolutely distraught. 

You get on your knees so you’re level with her, and you pull her in and she fits right there in you. Between hiccuping sobs, you manage to get that she had a nightmare, and she’s scared, and she wants to sleep with you tonight. Jamie is awake now and sitting up in bed behind you now, pulling down the covers so Luna can settle in between you.

You keep the TV on, because you know when Luna is like this it doesn’t help her to plunge her back into complete darkness, even if you are beside her.

She woke your mother up, though. You can tell because the crack under your door brightens when the hall light turns on and you can see her footsteps shuffling past your door, and you don’t expect her to knock, thought maybe she was just taking the awoken opportunity to use the bathroom, but a few minutes later, she does. 

The door creaks open, and she sticks her head in, and asks if everything is okay in a whisper. You nod, tell her she can go back to sleep, but she pushes the door open just a little bit further, and you see she’s carrying a small mug in her hand.

“Wasn’t sure if you did this with her, but...always worked for you.”

You sit up and take the warm cup into your hands, it’s light and soothing aroma sending you back into a collection of memories of your mother you had completely forgotten about. 

“What’s this?” Jamie’s voice grumbles beside you.

“Whenever Dani had a nightmare or couldn’t sleep, this always helped. Warm milk with some honey.”

“I forgot about this.”

“You were always such a nervous kid. Had me going through an extra gallon of milk a week just to get you to sleep through the night.”

“Yeah, I...thank you.”

She nods, her hand brushing your shoulder and she presses a light kiss to your head, wishes you goodnight, and then she’s gone, closing the door softly behind her and switching off the hall light.

Luna drinks the milk, and you can feel her nerves smoothing over, the heavy limbed lull of sleep creeping back into her little body.

She settles in between you and Jamie, and you turn off the TV, and she asks you if you can tickle her back, and that always helps to soothe her. You run your hand along the sun-warmed skin under her favorite Princess Jasmine nightgown and you feel her breath even and deep under your palm as she drifts into a peaceful sleep, safe and snug between the two of you.

Jamie’s hand reaches for yours after you pull Luna’s nightgown back down over her body, and she holds it close to her. Your eyes are adjusted to the dark just enough to see her sleepy expression, to see how beautiful she looks when she’s looking at you in moments like this. These soft, quiet, in-between moments that you love so much. 

You fall asleep like this, with your arm draped over Luna, with your hand safely threaded through Jamie’s and pressed against her chest, the three of you the beating heart of your own little home.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E111 (Redux! Oct. 13, 2020)

Gooooood evening good evening good evening, all! I started the VOD late for this recap and somehow the first four or so minutes of the show have a Twitch audio copyright claim, so I am reduced to only reading Brian's lips when he asks if we're on the internet. Hilariously, Marisha's background room is a comfy-looking blue/gold fabric wall with a ceramic colorful abstract lamp and a yellow silk scarf over the lampshade, and Taliesin's is an industrial looking games room in grey and black with multiple monitors, overhead speakers, and mysterious metal fixtures behind him. What a treasure this group is, honestly.

Tonight's guests: Marisha Ray & Taliesin Jaffe, discussing episodes 110 and 111 again. I wildly speculate once more about what might have caused their absence: jury duty? Sam appearing on The Masked Singer? Something to do with the animated show? One day, we’ll know, one day... (One day this “copyrighted audio” section will come back from the wars, too. Ugh!) Finally! The audio comes back to reveal Brian discussing the endless reality of digital meetings and Marisha talking about (I think) her glare-reducing glasses she’s wearing. Welcome to the New Age (welcome to the New Age, to the New Age).

Announcements: Marisha suggests checking out Dimension20, another live tabletop gaming group, which premieres live on Wednesdays at 4pm (CollegeHumor). 

Brian immediately wants to know how they feel about the revelation that Molly is alive. Taliesin’s personal reaction: he “knows some things” he can’t talk about and is aware of several possibilities that might be going on, but had a sneaking suspicion that there would not be a body for them to find. He says it’s almost all there for anyone to see in past material. Marisha’s personal reaction: she just wants to know how she’s doing with her theories, & was trying to block Tal’s face out deliberately as she was going off on her theories in the last episode. Taliesin says he thought her ideas were pretty good!

Cad has no clue what to think - it’s like listening to your friends talk about Buffy. Marisha thought it was a 50/50 Molly would still be there, but Beau had no idea. Not that it mattered, because as soon as Matt went through with it the reveal still blew their minds. Tal laid out his plans for the character with Matt during Campaign One (towards the end) after they all got their VM tattoos.

It is a “horrifying and gross” thing to dig up a body, and Beau was pretty reluctant to do it. Tal, as Cad: “Sometimes dead’s better.” The moral quandary of trying to speak with a dead friend was very different here than the frequent occasions they used the spell in C1.

Taliesin says his poker face is very bad, so it’s easier for him to over-react and let it all play out. The only other player he can see very easily from his place in their current setup is Travis, and because he knows Travis doesn’t watch TM, tweet, or participate in social media, he admits he thoroughly enjoyed watching Travis freak out at his freaking out. He says he only knew about 20% of what Matt described at the end of that episode. He was picking things to mug to increase Travis’s surprise. I love this so much.

Taliesin provided the table left leg shake; Travis provided table right. Ha!

Beau is really accepting her role in the Cobalt Soul. It’s good when “as a person, you feel like you can settle into your calling. Sometimes you can do more from the inside than fighting from the outside.” It’s a mirrored but opposite path of Keyleth from C1; Beau felt like she was too good for her duty, while Keyleth thought she wasn’t good enough.

Caduceus is not a big believer in jumping to conclusions. He does have an idea/notion of the “city of the undead” and thinks all this necrotic energy must come from somewhere, and wonders if this is the “capital of anti-death.” He’s willing to believe whatever he sees. This is one of the few things that trigger a bit of loathing and disgust in him. It was terrifying that the Wildmother didn’t know anything.

Beau is pretty confident in her Charlie Day impression laying-out-the-research last episode. She enjoyed taking the things that were known & extrapolating around them; this is a huge facet of Marisha’s own personality and she really enjoys it, so she built a character this time that would allow that kind of puzzle-solving. It’s also why she repeatedly notes when Beau journals, so she can avoid metagaming. Trent’s mention of Vess Durogna’s tomb raiding was completely circumstantial, and the only reason she’d made the connection to the Tombtakers was because she’d recently reviewed those notes for a separate unannounced project. Sometimes she tries to make connections and Matt is like, “It was...just descriptive. Just flavor. The curtains were red...” and she has to discard a paragraph of notes. She feels like it’s still something they have to do because of “look at what he does! Look! It’s totally valid!”

Cosplay of the Week: @kitsunstudios with a gorgeous Caduceus with a very intricate silk vest.

Caduceus’s takedown of Trent! One of my favorite moments in the entirety of C2. Taliesin felt Trent was an asshole; Caduceus felt sorry for him because of how dumb he thought he was. Caduceus’s response was "this is the dumbest man I’ve ever met in my life. He’s so dumb! Is nobody going to tell this guy how dumb he is? Oh, they’re all freaked out. Somebody needs to tell this guy he’s an idiot before somebody gets hurt.” (Marisha: “Before?”) Tal says it was the product of several years of therapy and many drunk conversations with Whitney Moore. It was from a genuine place of concern from Caduceus. “How are you allowed to have this much power and be that dumb?”

Brian loved how funny it was to watch everyone tiptoe around Trent and then Caduceus bulldoze through the end of the meal.

Taliesin: “Damage doesn’t make you interesting or better. It’s not what makes you good. Character isn’t found in damage. Just recovery.”

Brian & Marisha commiserate going through the stage where believing surviving something automatically made you a stronger person, better for the pain; instead it just meant you had to pick up the pieces after. Marisha talks about how strength through survival may be true for some people, but it shouldn’t be considered a necessity. Taliesin talks about how he used to think he had to be miserable to write. Brian talks about how believing he liked reading and writing miserable things only limited him for years.

Marisha feels it’s a C2 theme that almost all the PCs have someone trying to handwave or take credit for their accomplishments or explain their pain as being for their own good (Trent, Beau’s dad, Obann). She thinks it’s interesting to see all the various ways people try to take credit for your work/delegitimize you as a person. She loves that RPGs allow you to explore these odd moralities in interesting ways. The only way to fight it is to have a sense of your own self-worth, which is a problem a lot of the M9 started with.

Caduceus likes everyone, and really likes people who appear to need role models (Eodwulf). “With the right friends and the right bar and the right attitude, I think he’d be okay. Come over here where it’s so much better. That seems like an exhausting friendship that you have there.”

Marisha loves the mix of personalities in the M9; Veth, Cad, & Jester were all “we kind of like them!” after the dinner, and she immediately made eye contact with Travis and they both shook their heads. She knows Beau has to go along with it for Caleb’s sake for now, but she & Fjord are pretty sus of Trent’s proteges.

Beau is less concerned about Artagan’s relationship to Jester because “he showed his ass--she’s less worried about Jester now because a little of the magic is gone.” It’s a little like becoming an adult and realizing your parents are also just adults & human. Caduceus wasn’t suspicious of the Traveler for a long time until they got to the island. Aside: Taliesin loves the pantheon in D&D. “The notion of attempting to apply common Western conceptions of religion to a world where you have a pantheon of interventionist gods as baseline makes no sense to me. Everyone admits that every other god is there and doing shit; it has more in common with ancient Rome than anything else.” Now that he knows it was a con, he feels the wind had been taken out of it. He does have a sense that Jester’s gotten back together with an ex: “I hope that I’m really happy for you.” They’re both interested to see how Jester navigates the new relationship.

My internet goes out, of course. I panic for a second, thinking I’ve lost everything above, but all is well! Thanks, Form History Control addon!

Marisha loved punching Artagan, but regretting rolling so poorly. “I miss violence.” Dani lets us know it’s been about four episodes since the last battle.

There’s no way the Cobalt Reserve doesn’t have a single document on the Eyes of Nine. Beau believes “there are no real secrets” because people are just bad at not writing things down. For there to be no information at all seems really suspicious for her.

Fanart of the Week: @oddalchemist on twitter with some awesome Beau conspiracy red-thread boards overlaid a distant shadowy Molly walking away.

Caduceus feels a little guilty for really enjoying his time right now with the M9 and not wanting to go home. He’s starting to suspect that he’s going to go home very different than when he left. “He has the softest problems. I don’t know if I want to move back in with Mom & Dad.”

Beau is trying to get comfortable with the idea of being happy. Jester is probably Beau’s first real best friend & one of the first healthy female friendships she’s ever had. As long as she still has Jester in her life, she doesn’t care. For Yasha... “At the end of the day, Beau is a lonely person and has always been a lonely person. And I think you kinda reach this point where once you’re not lonely anymore, you can kind of come out of the fog and realize that was horrible! And terrifying! And is even more terrifying now that I know what I could have, and I don’t want to go back to that. At the end of the day Beau doesn’t want to be lonely anymore. There’s always been that flirtation with Yasha, but everyone had to figure their own shit out. And now it feels like it’s coming out a little bit of that haze, maybe this actually could be...” There are a lot of ways they complement each other & are good-different from each other. Marisha believes people can be attracted to more than person at once.

Caduceus doesn’t think nature turned against him on Rumblecusp, it was just a reality of nature being dangerous and violent. “He has a complex relationship with nature.” He doesn’t expect special treatment.

Thoughts on the mansion: “Man, it’s nice to be seen.” Marisha: “I don’t know how I ended up becoming the Scanlan of this campaign, but I’m living for it.” It felt like an echo of “I’m better for having known you.” They compare Marisha taking specific notes on the campaign to Liam taking specific notes on people’s favorite tapestries, comics, etc.

They talk about missing theme parks and daydream a park version of the mansion in CritRoleLand. It’s lovely.

Taliesin never expected Divine Intervention to work; he just wanted to roll some dice. He’s still processing what he saw/heard. They all agree it was very useful in the Vokodo fight.

Vilya! Marisha: “Ah! Ah! Ah!” As a player, Marisha was so deep in Beau’s eyes she didn’t pick up it was Vilya at first (especially since Matt really emphasized they should not be looking for C1 NPCs). Marisha’s brain melted. She bawled her eyes out on the ride home after that episode. Right after it ended, Laura told Marisha “Keyleth finally gets her happy ending,” and it makes Marisha emotional again since Keyleth’s story ended so bittersweetly. She talks about the very real feelings of “just wanting them to be happy, though!” She went back and listened to all her old Keyleth playlists. Everyone was teary after the episode. “Everyone has these 100% real memories of being these characters and having these good times.”

And that’s that for that! Thanks for your patience, all, and is it Thursday yet?

[kinglazrus]

Not Your Danny – Ch 4. Who Understands

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Word count: 3739

The memorial notebook sits open on Jazz's desk. For the twenty minutes, Jazz has sat here with her rule and pencil carefully tracing out a template for the event schedule. The hour of the event, pencilled in as one to two p.m., is broken into fifteen-minute increments which have three bullet points each. The bullet points, along with the fifteen-minute boxes, are colour coded and measured out to perfect, equal distance.

At the top of the page, the words "Memorial Schedule" are written in a loose, flowing script and dark ink. Eraser smudges behind the ink are the only indication of how much time and care Jazz put into making those letters.

Now, the blank schedule stares up at her, waiting only for Jazz to finalize the plans. The memorial itself is still three weeks out, but it is still too soon. Even though they buried Danny a fortnight ago, the memorial feels more final. Jazz doesn't want to say it, but she already knows why she feels this way.

Danny was a halfa. He was her sweet, human brother, but he was the town hero, too. There's a chance, no matter how slim, that he might still be out there as a full ghost. There has to be a chance. It doesn't matter that he died as Phantom. It doesn't matter that Sam and Tucker themselves were there to see his ghost half fizzle out, see the human body it left behind. There has to be a chance.

The funeral was for Danny Fenton, but the memorial is for Danny Phantom, for the whole city to mourn the loss of their hero. For Jazz to acknowledge that her brother, in his entirety, is gone forever.

Suddenly, looking at the notebook makes her feel nauseous. She closes it and shoves it aside. It's late enough now that she could go to bed, but she doesn't feel tired, not physically. After the fiasco at dinner, Jazz wants to shut everything out for a little bit. Pretend she lives in her own bubble where everything is fine.

How could she have forgotten? Seeing Dani's human face certainly took her by surprise, but she was not unprepared for it. Unlike their parents, Jazz didn't have trouble separating Fenton from Phantom. They were the same to her and looking at Dani's ghostly face was already close enough to seeing her little brother. Instead of the face itself, Jazz was stunned to see Dani in human form at all. At the same time, it brought her comfort. Dani and Danny, no matter how similar, are not the same. But having her here, seeing her do the things Danny used to do...

It's so easy. Having Dani fill her little brother's place on the couch when the watch TV. Having her by Jazz's side when they cook. She can't help it. It's almost like having Danny back, so soon after they lost him. And every time Dani doesn't fill that hole, it hurts in a way Jazz never expected.

She rubs her eyes and leans back in her chair. Maybe she should go to sleep after all.

—

"You want us to host... a memorial?" her mother asked. It was obvious Maddie had been crying that day, her eyes red and puffy. Perhaps not too long before Jazz came to talk to her parents.

Jazz herself had been in tears not too long ago when Sam phoned her with the idea. She nodded. "Yes. I know it's only been a few days, but this is Sam's idea and I think it's a good one. Mom, Dad..." she took a deep breath, bracing herself. "I knew. All along, I knew about Danny being Phantom. And it was so important to him. A memorial to Phantom could help you come to terms with not knowing about this side of Danny."

Maddie's hand, flat on the table, curled into a fist. "Jazz, we haven't even... the funeral is tomorrow. I've been on the phone with Alicia all day because she can't make it down in time. Chartering a plane costs too much and there isn't a flight out for weeks. I know this is important, but—"

"I think it's a good idea," Jack said. Stretching forward, he reached across the table and patted Jazz's shoulder. "But I think what you mother means is that we need time to consider it. It's hard adjusting to all this."

"I know. But promise me you really will think about it? It would mean a lot to him." Jazz waited until her father nodded. "Okay. I'll just... yeah. Think about it."

She left the kitchen in silence. That went okay. A shorter conversation than Jazz would have liked, but small steps are still steps. She needed to text Sam later and let her know the verdict, as tentative as it was. For now, she will leave her parents to think, hoping they eventually agree.

Halfway to her bedroom, a noise from Danny's room made her pause. She couldn't be certain, but it sounded like the squeak of his bed springs. Tip-toeing closer, Jazz stared at the crack under his door. A faint white light shone through.

"Danny?" Jazz whispered.

There came another creak.

Jazz's breath stopped, caught in her throat. She crept closer, pressing her hand against the door, and eased it open. In the dark of Danny's room, the figured outline in glowing light leapt from the shadows, impossible to miss. The aura, far brighter than the dim light of hall, nearly blinded Jazz, but its colour was unmistakable.

She pushed the door open. "Danny!"

The figure flinched and threw themselves into the air, twisting around to face Jazz. She slapped her hand against the switch on the wall, flooding the room with orange light. No longer blinded, she found herself now face-to-face with a Phantom. Not Danny, though, but Dani-with-an-I.

She looked horrible, her white hair caked with mud, dirt smeared along half her face. Suit wrinkled and damp.

"Oh, my God, Danielle." Jazz gasped.

"It's true?" Tears welled in Dani's eyes. "It's true? He's gone?"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't even think..."

That was all Dani needed to hear. She spun away and bolted, flying through the wall.

"Dani, wait!" Jazz called after her, but the young halfa was already gone. Jazz threw the window open, leaning out over the alley to a dangerous degree. Searching the sky, she tried to find and trace of Danny's clone, but everything around her was dark. Not a single glimpse of silver light to be seen.

Jazz pulled herself back inside and dropped to the floor, hands pressed over her mouth. She had forgotten, completely, that there was another person out there important to Danny, someone who wouldn't know about his death right away. In the days since Danny's death, Danielle's existence hadn't crossed Jazz's mind. It made her feel rotten. Dani had been important to Danny, but she slipped so easily from Jazz's memory.

However, through the wave of guilt, Jazz could not forget that single moment before she turned on the light. No more than a second, but still the happiest she felt in days, when she saw the aura of a Phantom and believed that her brother had not died after all.

—

The star shirt fits well, better than Dani expected it to. She drapes her hoodie across the back of Danny's desk chair before sliding in front of the mirror. It fits and it looks good. Looking herself up and down, Dani blushes. She has never thought of herself as a self-conscious person but seeing herself in something other than her regular hoodie fills her with warmth. She likes wearing something that doesn't look two times too big for her, showing off more of her form.

Although she has never said it out loud, that is part of the reason why she likes being in her ghost form so much more. The pants, the crop top, she likes them so much better than her human clothes. Until now, they were her only option, since she didn't want to cart around a backpack full of clothes, but now she has a room. She has a place to keep things, her things.

She could actually have things. The temptation to own stuff has always eluded her, but the longer she stays at Fenton Works surrounded by things that are not hers, the more she understands.

Dani rarely stays in one place for so long. Only a week and one day, but it feels so much longer. Looking at herself in the mirror, she's struck by the realization that this is home now. She has a home. Her mind still struggles to wrap around the idea, but the word does not feel so foreign anymore. After Vlad, all she wanted was freedom, and she got it. But while roaming the world was fun and exciting, it was also incredibly lonely.

She had always had Danny, though. Their relationship wasn't perfect, and they never acknowledged how they were related beyond the loose label of cousins, but she had him. And then he was gone without her even realizing.

Dani didn't know what to expect when Jazz extended her the offer of moving into Fenton Works. And, to be honest, she still doesn't know. Things are strange, and still lonely sometimes, but not bad. That has to count for something, right?

She toys with the buttons of the shirt, wondering if she could somehow tie the bottom, wear it shorter than it is. As she considers the style, her hands drop to the waist of her shorts, bright red and loose. They don't go with the shirt very well. Unfortunately for Dani, she has already been through all of Danny's clothes, and she does not like any of his pants, even if there were some smaller, older pairs that might have fit her.

There is a hint of promise, though. Dani has seen how much junk fills the Fenton garage. They are the kind of people who hold on to things until they absolutely do not need it anymore. Judging by Danny's drawers and closet, clothes get the same treatment as any other junk.

Jazz must have a few old pants lying about. A skirt sounds nice. Dani has never worn one of those, but girls always look so pretty in them.

Her door is open when Dani makes the trek down the hall. Jazz herself is slumped over at her desk, arms folded under her head.

Dani walks into the room and pokes Jazz's shoulder. "Did you sleep at your desk last night?"

Jazz wakes with a start, flinching at Dani's touch. She rubs her eyes, then the side of her face. A thick red mark overtakes her cheek where it had been laying on her arm.

"Dani?" Jazz's voice is thick with sleep. She sits up, stretching her arms and arching her back until it pops. Her neck cracks a few times as she roles her head. "What are you doing?"

"Do you have any old clothes?"

Jazz blinks. "It's rude to walk into someone's room without warning them."

"You were asleep, though. Clothes?"

Blinking a few more times, Jazz clears her eyes and looks Dani up and down. Her gaze lingers on the shirt. "That’s..."

"Found it in Danny's closet. I can't believe he actually wore something like this."

Jazz shook her head. "No, he didn't like it. Sam got it for him as a joke, because of the stars. I don't think he ever wore it."

"Really?" A smile breaks out across Dani's face. If Danny didn't wear this shirt, then technically that makes it hers. She owns something now.

"Yeah. Did nothing else of his fit? It's okay if you want to wear it. I think that would feel better than packing it all up," Jazz says. "You don't have any clothes besides the pyjamas Mom bought, right?"

Dani actually forgot that she has those. "I went through his clothes already. Didn't really like them much. Do you have a skirt?"

Jazz's eyes go wide. "A skirt?" For reasons' Dani can't fathom, Jazz says it like it is the strangest thing in a world. Dani wanting a skirt? Preposterous. "Danny never liked skirts."

There it is. "Duh, Danny was a dude."

"I know, but I mean. He wasn't comfortable in that kind of clothing before he transitioned. Your hoodie and cargo shorts aren't so different from what he used to wear, so I thought..." Jazz trails off, but her point is already made.

"Jazz, I'm comfortable being a girl. I like being a girl. Being made from his DNA doesn't make me his clone."

Jazz opens her mouth to correct Dani.

"You know what I meant." Dani wraps her arms around herself, feeling small like she did her first day here. "I don't know why I need to keep saying this, but I'm not Danny, okay?"

Jazz grimaces. "I know, Dani. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you were."

That isn't what Dani meant, but she doesn't press further. "So, about that skirt?"

—

Later that day, when Jazz asks Dani if she wants to watch a show, Dani says no.

—

"What did you do when you weren't in Amity Park?" Jack asks. The question comes out of nowhere, as they always do. In the few days since he took Dani's samples, she has seen him outside the lab far more often. Joining them at mealtimes, coming upstairs in the evening. Sometimes she hears the heavy beats of his approach moments before he pops into the room with a question on his tongue, like now.

Dani holds a moment, her gaze lingering on the models surrounding Danny's desk, before spinning in the chair to face Jack. "I travelled."

Jack, rightfully so, takes her answer as an invitation and comes further into the room. "Oh, yeah?" He sits down on the bed facing her. "Where did you go?"

"All over. I mostly stayed in the United States, at first, but there's so much stuff to see out there. The pyramids were awesome."

Just as Dani found her rhythm with Maddie and Jazz in her first days at Fenton Works, she and Jack seem to be finding what works for them. She likes the time they spend together. His questions feel genuine. Sometimes, he asks her about what being a ghost is like, what abilities she has. His eyes glow with fascination every time she answers. Dani has never seen anyone so engrossed by a single topic before.

But her favourite times are when he asks about her. What does she like? Does she have any hobbies? She gets the feeling that this is how Jack shows interest in people, by asking about themselves, and she returns the favour whenever she can.

"Have you ever been to Egypt?" Nudging the desk, Dani pushes herself back and forth on the chair, turning slowly in place. Her eyes keep catching on the models she had been examining when Jack entered.

Danny had a lot of models, all of them related to space, apparently. Planets, spaceships, little astronaut figures. Much like the posters on his wall, Dani sees no use for them, but Danny obviously liked them. He has two spaceships that look identical. One sits on his desk, safely kept behind a glass box. The other stands tall on the shelf above the desk.

"No." Jack's voice pulls Dani back to the conversation. "Mads wants to go, though. What was your favourite place that you saw?"

Dani has to pause and think about this. The pyramids are high contenders. She went to Japan for a few weeks last year and explored the natural landscape. There was so much beauty there. She has been to a lot of beautiful places, but none of them are her favourite.

"I don't know where it was. It was back when I could barely hold myself together, when I was destabilizing, remember?"

Jack nods. Dani told him that story only yesterday.

"Flying was really hard then, and it made me tired. I got lost a lot between cities if I wasn't following a highway. When I was heading back to Amity Park, I passed out once when flying." Dani hugs her knees. That was one of the scariest moments of her life, second only to melting in Vlad's lab. Before passing out, she could barely see, the sky and the ground blurring together. Her very core ached and, when the darkness started creeping in, she thought she was done fore.

"I woke up in this woman's home. She found me out in the forest and took me in. Didn't care that I was a ghost. I stayed with her for a few days. She actually... she offered to let me stay forever." Dani said no, of course. She had to get to Amity Park, to Danny, to get fixed. "She didn't even know me, but when I told her I didn't have any family beyond a cousin, she just... said I could stay. I left as soon as I could fly again. Haven't been able to find my way back."

Jack's heavy hand settles on her head. He ruffles her hair, the small act of comfort filling her with warmth. "Sorry you didn't get to take that chance, kiddo."

Dani ducks her head and rubs her eyes. There are no tears, but she needs the excuse to look away. There is a weight behind Jack's words, one Dani can feel, but not decipher. She thinks, perhaps, that Jack's words aren't entirely for her.

"So, what were you doing just now?"

Grateful for the distraction, Dani slides the chair over so Jack can see the desk. "Looking at stuff."

Her endeavour of going through of Danny's things has proved harder than she originally thought. It's so easy to get distracted by some small trinket, and she often finds herself wondering what Danny did with it, why he kept it all. Cheap toys from fast food restaurants. Paper airplanes stuck between book pages. A ball of rubber bands bigger than Dani's fist.

At first, she only wanted to look, commit these items to memory. Jazz said it took time before people put away a lost loved one's things, and even though Dani didn't understand, she would respect it. But Jazz's comment about the clothes has been lingering in her mind all day.

Despite Dani's own assurance of her personhood, was there anything she could like only because Danny did? She thought she might find the answer if she pondered long enough, but so far all its done is made her question why people collect things.

She touches the box encasing spaceship.

"That was his favourite."

Dani starts, jerking her hand away from the glass. For a moment, she forgot he was there. His face is turned toward her, but his eyes fixate on a point to her left. Dani doesn't need to turn back around to know what he's looking at.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Space Shuttle Columbia, the first of the Space Shuttle program. At least that's what Danny said it was. I can never tell the difference."

Dani looks from the Columbia to the second model on the shelf, this one smaller and lacking a protective case.

"Are you sure they aren't the same shuttle?" she asks.

Jack chuckles. "Absolutely. Danny never let it go if anyone mixed the two up."

"What's so special about this one?" Dani taps the Columbia's box.

"It was maybe the third model that he got? The first two were pretty cheap. He saved up for them himself. Took a while. I didn't even realize he had them until he mentioned wanting a third. Didn't even realize he liked space so much... I bought this for him a week later and gave it to him after school."

Dani nods along as Jack speaks, although she doesn't see the point yet. Lots of people have expensive things; that doesn't automatically make them special.

"We built it together. I wasn't interested in stars and astronomy, but Danny asked me to help him with it, so I did. I never got why it was his favourite, though. He had better ones, models he saved up for penny by penny. He made that one"—Jack nods to the model on the shelf—"with Sam and Tucker. But sometimes, I think..."

Jack falls silent.

Dani catches his reflection in the glass display case. He has one hand pressed over his eyes, the other fisted at his side. Dani has yet to see either Maddie or Jack cry since coming to Fenton Works, and she thinks that streak is about to end.

"I know we weren't the best parents. There've been times when we've... neglected our duties to focus on ghosts instead. I never thought about it before, but it couldn't have been easy on a couple of young kids. All I ever wanted was for Danny to follow the Fenton family footsteps. But space was his. And sometimes I think he liked this model the best because it was the first time I showed any interest in something he liked."

Jack shudders as he exhales.

Dani resists the urge to go invisible. This heart-to-heart stuff really isn't her thing. Their little question and answer sessions have been fun, but talking about the woman in the forest was already deep enough for Dani. Now things are getting a little too intense.

If Jack does start to cry, she might flee out of sheer awkwardness. He doesn't—thank God—but when he pulls his hand away from his face, he looks old and tired.

Dani racks her brain for something to say. "I think... maybe... he liked it the most because it showed that you loved him, not just because it was about space. Or something."

Jack meets Dani's eye through his reflection and cracks a smile. "I guess if anyone could say what Danny might think, it would be you."

The words cut through her.

"Right," Dani says, her voice empty. "Sure."

Jack nods, as if Dani has revealed some great truth to him, and turns away. His footsteps are louder as he heads for the door, more like his regular self. Dani has no doubt that Jack is leaving this room feeling brighter than before.

All Dani feels is an uncomfortable twist in her gut.

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