#posting it again but it said that the previous video was still loading like BITCH?!?!?

[saltynsassy31]

Need I say more?

Most satisfying win I ever got

I saw the chance and took it :)

[cupidbedsy]

୨୧ hate ; hughes brothers

➪ summary: y/n is on the verge of not going to a game because she's scared of the hate she's going to get so she keeps it to herself. but when they're all in their apartment, he brothers can't help but ask what's wrong

➪ warnings: hate comments, crying, hughes brothers crying session (literally)

➪ word count: 2.3k

➪ cupid's notes: hughes bros!! i'm gonna be so honest, i do not know what the ending of this fic is but i remember getting asks from anons saying they liked it the first time around so i figured what the hell I'll post it. and now we're here

© cupidbedsy ; do not copy, repost, or translate my work and designs on any other website or here

Y/n sat in her bed, covers pulled up to her chin as she stared out the window. She had a teddy bear tucked into her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around it. Her TV played a video with a fireplace on it, creating a warm atmosphere in her room. 

She felt sad, a new wave of depression rolling in. She had spent today on socials, getting caught up with the latest and interacting with her friends. She occasionally got hate, most of it from her brothers' fans who just desperately wanted to have her life. It bothered her to a certain extent, she knew she had no control over who her brothers were and what they had become, what they did for a living. 

Today the hate was worse and she didn’t know why. She hadn’t done anything differently than in the past, simply just living her life as usual. She didn’t know if the comments themselves were worse and there were more of them or if it was her mind playing tricks on her and making them a big focal point. 

She didn’t want to get up, her bed and blankets brought her enough comfort which is all she needed right now. She could hear Luke and Jack arguing from the kitchen and she rolled her eyes, there was never a time when their home was silent. She snuggled herself deeper into the bed, not even sure if it was physically possible. 

She knew she should go tonight, she hadn’t seen Quinn in a long time, not having gone to the previous ‘hughesbowl’ as they called it. She wasn’t a big hockey person, despite her family’s name. She never understood the appeal of it, you watch a bunch of men or women, race back and forth on ice chasing a tiny round piece of rubber while hitting others. 

That being said, she didn’t know why her brothers playing each other was so special. Matthew and Brady had played each other plenty of times, so they just added a third brother and it was the biggest thing on the planet. She got the appeal of it but not so much as the big deal, she was proud of them sure and it would make for a good game but past that?

She heard footsteps coming towards her room and she quickly ducked her head under her comforter to be ignored by whoever was coming to the door, “Y/n/n?”

She was silent, steadying her breath, “I know you’re awake.”

Still nothing and at this point, Luke was just about ready to give up until Jack charged in, “Get up!”

She wasn’t in the mood to see everyone rave about her brothers, she didn’t need to go out into the world and see more hate spread about her. What would it be this time? Oh, she’s not supporting Quinn, that’s kind of a bitch move. Oh, she favors Jack and Luke too much. She’s wearing Quinn’s jersey, that must be her favorite brother. Do you think she’s using them to get with any of their teammates? She couldn’t do anything right anymore. 

“Y/n if you’re not up in the next five seconds I’m bringing a pot in.”

“Do you even own a pot?”

“No… but you’re talking now.” Jack cocked an eyebrow, an all too familiar smug look making its way onto the boy’s face.

Y/n turned around to face her bedroom door and muttered, ‘Congratu-fucking-lations.”

“Someone’s got an attitude.” Jack whistled, eyebrows raising again.

“Bro, come on.” Luke hit his older brother on the chest before walking over to the girl, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s a load of bullshit.”

“It’s nothing, Luke.” She raised her left arm to wipe the growing tears in her eyes. Luke eyed them carefully, placing a hand on her arm, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Good luck tonight.”

At this, Jack furrowed his eyebrows, “Why are you saying that like you’re not going to go?”

“Because I’m not.”

“What do you mean you’re not? You were excited to see Quinn.”

“I dunno.” Her eyes looked everywhere her brothers weren’t.

“Are you not feeling well?”

She merely shrugged before turning over again, the boys exchanging looks, “All right well if you change your mind, let me know and I’ll come back and get you.”

“Okay.” The brothers left, heading to the Rock leaving their sister alone with her thoughts.

It was twenty minutes later that she felt she wanted to go, she should support her brothers no matter what. She got ready, throwing a Canucks shirt on and her Devil's beanie covering her hair to hide the uncleanliness of it.

She texted Jack and asked for him to come back for her, to which he responded instantly with a yes. She sat on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for her brother to come and get her. 

ﾟ+*:୨୧:*﹤

To y/n the game was uneventful, just another one of the hockey games she could add to her total. The six of them had decided they would go out for dinner and being away from Quinn for such a long time she decided to ride with him to the restaurant and back.

When they got back to Jack, Luke, and y/n’s home, the girl immediately returned to her room, not so much as saying a word to anyone. The five remaining Hughes’ exchanged confused glances, “Has she been like this for a while?”

No one responded to Quinn’s question at first until Jack thought back to earlier, “She was acting a little weird before the game but I just thought she was tired.”

They all seemed as if that was a good enough assumption and sat in the living room watching a movie. Meanwhile Luke had been oddly silent, he knew there was something wrong with her from the moment he walked into the room this afternoon.

He excused himself from the family, walked down the hall to her room, and knocked on the door, “Go away!”

Luke entered the room and just as before, knelt in front of her so their eyes were meeting, “I know there’s something up with you.”

“No there’s not.”

“Come on, spill it.”

It was silent before y/n looked at her brother with glistening eyes, “Why are people so mean, Lukey?”

That was all it took for her to start crying, Luke wasting no time jumping onto the bed, wrapping his little sister up in a hug. The sudden affection caused her to let the tears flow over and bury her head into his chest. All Luke could do was hug her tightly, staring at the wall as his heart shattered. There was nothing but the sound of her sobs he could listen to, it was like the world had gone dead silent to amplify her cries. 

He closed his eyes, trying not to let the tears form or fall from them. He heard her sniffle, signaling that she was calming down a bit. There was a knock on the door and she quickly whipped her head up, “I don’t want to see anyone. Please.”

The boy looked conflicted before coming up with an idea, “If it’s Mom and Dad how about I tell them to go away but if it’s Jack and Quinn you have to let them in okay?”

She nodded, knowing that she wasn’t going to get very far with this. Luke called out, waiting for the person on the other side of her door to respond. When the voice called back and they both instantly recognized it was Quinn’s she sighed before squeaking out a ‘come in.’ Quinn entered the bedroom, his younger brother following behind him with his hands crossed across his chest. Quinn took notice of the girl’s face, followed by Jack as they sat at the end of the bed, "What's going on?”

Y/n sat up pulling her knees into her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She looked hesitantly between her brothers, not wanting to say what it was that was happening to her. She was old enough that she didn’t need to be treated like a baby who could break at any moment. 

Quinn’s older brother persona was comforting out of all three of them. If she had to rank them, let’s just say Jack would be at the bottom of her list while Luke was tied, or maybe just slightly under Quinn. She only looked at him before looking back down. Luke placed a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder, “We want to help you, y/n/n.”

Words were hard for the youngest Hughes, not knowing how to explain how she felt or what was happening. They never came easily to her, they never pieced together to form a complete sentence sometimes, and they never made sense when she was upset. She reached out for her phone that sat on the nightstand and Luke leaned over to grab it for her, placing it in her hands.

She pulled up screenshots of the comments so took, a constant reminder of why she wasn’t good enough for the Hughes’. She held the phone out, ready for any one of them to take it. Quinn was the first to take the phone, eyes scanning over the screen and swiping through the pictures. His facial expressions were very noticeable, his eyes widening at the language used, his mouth frowning at the comments, the tears in his eyes as he thought about his little sister going through this. 

He passed it to Jack when he was done, rubbing his eyes rid of the tears. They all waited in silence as Jack and Luke read the messages, tension filling the air. The three brothers exchanged looks, silently conversing without y/n noticing. In the silence, y/n started to grow anxious. What if they started to realize that what they were saying was true? What if they started to believe them?

Luke turned off the phone and placed it back on her nightstand, looking at his older brothers in a way that asked who was going to say the first words. They could all see the gears turning inside their sister’s head, nervous about what she was thinking. Quinn reached an arm out and placed it around her, pulling her into his side, “You know none of that is true, none of it.”

She just shook her head, not believing a word he said. Jack tried next, attempting to break through to her, “It’s going to be hard to hear at first, y/n/n, but nothing they say is true. They just-” Jack sighed, not really knowing where to go from there.

“They just hate me, it’s simple. They hate me which makes me hate myself.” She put her head down so it was resting on her arms. 

The brothers hadn’t felt this sad about something in a while, they gazed at her with tears in their eyes. They never would have thought that she of all people would be getting hate, she’s not even a public figure. They felt horrible about themselves even though it wasn’t their fault, she was experiencing this just because they were related to her. 

Quinn removed his arm from around her shoulders moving to sit in front of her. He moved her arms so she had to lift her head to look at him, “What?”

“Don’t say that. You have no reason to hate yourself, y/n.”

“Don’t cry.” She could hear the tears in his voice despite the fact that she wasn’t directly looking at him.

“Can’t help it. Our little sister is sitting in front of us, crying because she thinks she’s not good enough.” Luke spoke for the first time in a while. His voice cracked at some point throughout the sentence, bringing him to tears.

She reached out to hold his hand as a form of comfort which he gladly accepted. She looked at the three, noticing Jack’s oddly quiet persona. She tilted her head in confusion and looked him in the eye. When he made eye contact with her, he broke down himself. His tears left his siblings in shock, not expecting him to do that.

“What’s wrong, Jack?”

“I don’t want her to go through what I went through.”

Quinn moved from his spot to wrap his younger brother in a hug, “She won’t and you know why?”

He shook his head, burying his head into his shoulder, “Because she has us. Because she has you.”

The four Hughes siblings were left a crying mess after that night. Each of them fully broke down at one point or another, some more than others. Quinn had broken down in silence when all four went to bed in the same room at the thought of his younger siblings being this sad, being attacked by people who were nobodies. Jack’s breakdown affected everyone, he had known what his sister was going through. After his rookie season, he thought it would never let up.

Luke broke down mostly because everyone else was, he didn’t like seeing everyone sad. He started laughing halfway through crying because he didn’t actually know why he was crying. This was near the end of the night, everyone had practically run out of tears by then and laughed with him as soon as he started to. 

Y/n only broke down at one other point during the night, it was right before they went to bed. She had gone on her phone and the first thing she saw was a comment from someone on her latest post. She had begged her brothers to make it stop even though she knew they couldn’t do anything about it. However, she was determined not to let it bother her anymore so she made her brothers promise her they would help her with it.

And they did, they would protect her from anything even if it was their so-called fans. 

꒰ HUGHES BROTHERS TAGLIST ꒱

@toasttt11 @chiblackhawks @prettyjoseph @nicole01-23 @shawnshoney @auriesphantom @dancerbailey3 @quinnylouhughesx43 @petite-potato4 @thehuggybearslover @absolutelyhugh3s @kei943 @dyslecticdutchman

H. BROS MASTERLIST ; NHL MASTERLIST

TAGLIST ; NAVIGATION

[stacyswirl]

Once again, the list was pretty much sorted by early February, but it took me a while to write up the post.  Here's my notes on my Top 15 albums of 2023!

15. Metallica - 72 Seasons

I haven't truly loved a Metallica album since last century, and their previous album, 2016's "Hardwired... To Self Destruct" was exceptionally boring to me.  Modern day Metallica songs are mostly long and kinda repetitive, without much of the inventive structure that made their classic material great, nor their occasional experimentation and pop chops that boosted the best of their ‘90s music.  72 Seasons is a bit better than Hardwired, it's more on par with 2008's "Death Magnetic".  The reason it manages to make the list though is the final song, "Inamorata".  An 11 minute long epic complete with a wah-pedaled slow solo in the middle.  It is very reminiscent of their trio of epics from 1996's "Load" album; "Bleeding Me", "Thorn Within" and "The Outlaw Torn".  Metallica hasn't made a song that sounded like this in nearly 30 years, and it just fills me with such happiness.

14. Pierce the Veil - The Jaws of Life

A truly strange album.  It's kind of like... if My Chemical Romance were simultaneously more poppy and more heavy?  There are some truly deep, heavy metal moments on this album, mixed in amongst the screamo vocals and tiktok trap beats.  It's a very modern mix of genres , which is why I think of this album as carrying the nu-metal torch in a way.  The first song I heard was a relatively soft pop-rock single called "Emergency Contact", it really reminds me of Placebo. 

13. Olivia Rodrigo - Guts

Olivia's debut "Sour" was a great pop-punk punch to the gut in 2021.  Her followup has a few really great tracks (the first three especially; "All-American Bitch", "Bad Idea Right?" and "Vampire") but the album as a whole hasn't grabbed me as strongly as Sour did.  Still good though.

12. Alex Lahey - The Answer is Always Yes

A great straight ahead rock record, Alex Lahey's third album is really fun and chill.  The opener "Good Time" has laid-back swagger reminiscent of Beck, and lyrics espousing how everyone needs a good time after the last few years have been so rough for us all.  She has a wonderful punk edge to her voice, but can sing a very pretty melody when called for.  The music has gained some extra layers since her debut in 2017, there's occasional pleasing fuzz tones to the guitar.  This album has some pretty indie rock ballads amidst the fun rockers too.  A really well-rounded rock record.

11. Paramore - This Is Why

I've never really connected with Paramore, they seem like a great pop-punkish group that I should like but I just never got into them in a big way.  This new album (their sixth) does something a little different than I've heard before.  Exemplified by the title track "This Is Why", they've brought a jagged, start-stop new wave sound to the music.  Recently I've listened to a bunch of old Talking Heads and Blondie, and "This Is Why" has a similar sonic pallette to those late '70s/early '80s weirdos.  It was intriguing enough to get my foot in the door and enjoy everything this band had on display.  A very unique and interesting album, great to erratically dance to.

10. Blink-182 - One More Time...

My first favorite band, my first concert, Blink-182 have been a very important soundtrack to my life.  I didn't dislike their last two albums without founding member Tom Delonge, and did not foresee this reunion actually happening any time soon.  That said, I'm glad it finally happened.  Their first song released from it "Edging" was a little stupid, and didn't make me expect too much.  But then in September they released the video for the title track "One More Time..." and I cried while watching it.  This stupid pop punk band has meant so goddamn much to me over the years, and this song delves into their personal history and breakups and makeups.  Just hearing Mark and Tom trade vocals on a beautiful ballad like this feels so good.  The album has a lot of songs, 17 in total, but being punk songs the whole album is still only 44 minutes.  I'd say the album as a whole skews closest to their 2003 Self-Titled album in sound.  Which most people probably consider their creative peak, so it's not a bad choice.  Who knows what will happen in the future, but I'm glad these guys got together one more time at least.  I'm seeing them in concert this summer, for a full-circle nostalgic trip.  It's good to have them back for however long it lasts.

9. Metric - Formentera II

Metric put out a "part 2" of sorts to my 2022 album of the year.  It has a gloriously catchy, synthy sound mixed with their signature smooth guitar sound.  There's a lot to love on this album, from the meandering soft rock of "Days of Oblivion" to the disco swagger of cheating anthem "Just The Once".  I'm so glad this band has continued to thrive for over 20 years, it seems they'll never lose their effortless cool.

8. K.Flay - Mono

2022's Inside Voices/Outside Voices album was a creeper hit for me, I listened to it more and more over time.  I was still in full fledged fandom mode for it when she put out Mono.  I listened to a little bit of it but it took several months before I seriously gave this album a chance.  It has won me over big time.  I'm impressed by how big and loud so much of it is, especially the song "Irish Goodbye" featuring the singer/guitarist of Pierce the Veil.  It uses dubstep-like drops in its chorus that never fails to make me bang my head.  It's not all big guitars though, there's lots of her softer, weirder songs too.  "Spaghetti" is a wandering stoner monologue of a song, set to '90s alternative guitar and a simple boppy drumbeat.  K.Flay has consistently put out weird, interesting music that mixes her punk-white-girl-rapper past persona with the complicated experimental soundscapes of her elder millennial existence.

7. Kesha - Gag Order

The final album that Kesha had to make under her record contract that connects her to her abuser, Kesha pulls no punches on it.  She enlisted legendary producer Rick Rubin for this album, and it's unlike anything she's done before.  Swirling cold synths and tinkling acoustic guitars surround her natural voice while an ominous deep robotic bass throbs underneath.  This is the music of PTSD, a survivor being supported to tell her truth.  It's a very powerful statement, I recommend the visualizer video for "Eat the Acid", it's surprisingly intense in its simplicity.  Lyrically I also really like the song "Hate Me Harder", for anyone who wants to stand up to their haters or abusers.

6. Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust

Fall Out Boy has taken me many years to appreciate.  I really liked their 2015 album American Beauty/American Psycho, and a couple of their previous album's hits, but hadn't gone much deeper.  But within the last year I've fallen in love with both their first greatest hits collection (of their music from 2002-2009) and this, their newest album.  It has everything I love about Fall Out Boy and more.  They take the pop-punk-emo playbook of the early 2000s and inject it with a sweeping, cinematic epic quality that is hard to quantify but instantly pulls me in.  The song "Hold Me Like a Grudge" is so ridiculously catchy, they've injected a slight disco-riffic quality, with a danceable bassline and handclaps.  Handclaps for God's sake!  I can't not dance around when this song is on.  As for that epic quality I mentioned, the song "Heaven, Iowa" has it on full display, going from a soft crooning intro into a full blown prog explosion over the course of its 4 minutes.  They've got my full attention now, and I am listening intently.

5. Crosses - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.

Deftones' gothy synthwave side project Crosses finally puts out a second full length album ten years after their first.  It's a bit more dynamic, a bit more electronic than their debut, big and booming, sexy and dark.  I took Phoenix to see them in concert earlier this year and this sound was so cool to hear live.  Chino's sexy, ethereal whisper-to-a-scream voice is on full display, dancing on top of the pulsing beats and sharp synths.  Listening to Crosses makes me feel like I'm in an underground vampire club in the late 80s, hoping to be bitten by a femme fatale in sunglasses and patent leather.

4. Cannons - Heartbeat Highway

Cannons shot out of nowhere for me in 2022, with their debut album landing at #2 on my list of that year.  Their retro dream pop that captivated me then is in full force again on their sophomore effort.  It took me a little while to warm up to, at first I was a little disappointed because it seemed so similar.  But it didn't take long for that to not be a con at all, and now I am completely in love with this album, just like I was with their first.  I can see the small differences, and appreciate both albums on their individual merits.  This album has consistently been one of my top listened to in the car, their soft soothing sound has been there for me when I need something to make me feel better.

3. Various Artists - Barbie Soundtrack / Mark Ronson - Barbie Score

The Summer's movie hit was also a gigantic musical hit for me and my whole family.  The soundtrack had some instant classics, including Lizzo's adorable "Pink" and "Pink (Bad Day)" and Dua Lipa's modern pop disco anthem "Dance the Night" (easily one of my most played songs of the whole year).  Ryan Gosling's breakaway book number "I'm Just Ken" and hilariously over-the-top cover of "Push" always brought a smile to our faces.  It's so much fun to sing along with his mushy mouth vocals.  Billie Eilish's piano whispery wonder-anthem "What Was I Made For?" somehow embodied the message of the movie perfectly and always gave me a chill when I heard it.  Most of the rest of the soundtrack was filled with modern pop tracks that ranged from kinda meh tik-tok autotune pop to really engaging fun songs ("Choose Your Fighter" and "Man I Am" being highlights of the latter).  This brings me to the score.  Mark Ronson, retro producer known for his work with Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars, has taken the colorful plastic world of Barbie and given it a '70s sunshine and lollipops soundscape to match.  Many songs are of a piece with the Lizzo and Dua Lipa tracks, which he also produced, and by the time of "Beach Off" he's in full '80s technicolor soundtrack mode.  There are softer bits too, he uses Billie Eilish's pianoline as a soft introspective theme for the film's quieter moments several times.  This score has been wonderful to put on in the background while working or cleaning, it picks me right up, never bores, and always has something new to hear.

2. Linkin Park - Lost Demos

I'll admit this isn't a normal album.  But its significance can not be understated.  It begins with "Lost", a 2002 era song, fully finished but cut from their second album Meteora and subsequently forgotten about.  Meteora has always been my favorite LP album, and being able to "go home again" and hear a new track with that perfect early-'00s nu-metal blend of rough guitars and smooth electronic production was great.  LP hadn't sounded like this in years.  Of course, the real draw was the late Chester Bennington's unique emotional howl, unheard on new material since his sad passing in 2017 (the day after my birthday of that year).  "Lost" dominated radio last year, and rightfully so.  The next two songs on the album are standard Linkin Park songs, juxtaposing Mike's rap verses with Chester's emotionally charged choruses in a wonderful showcase of the band's musical alchemy.  After that are some songs that do include vocals but are clearly a little less fully realized.  The bulk of the rest of the album are demos of Meteora era songs, some with alternate lyrics and completely different ideas on display.  Taken as a whole it's not as strong as a full studio album could be.  It is instead an interesting complement to Meteora and a welcome window into a past that we'll never be able to fully enter into again.  RIP Chester, thank you for bringing us one more badass banger from the archives to remind us of your legacy.  And thank you Mike for packaging it into this alternate historical document of an album.

1. Dessa - Bury the Lede

Dessa's transformation into pop princess intelligentsia has taken its largest step ever.  The first steps were taken on 2018's "Jumprope", followed by the gloriously giddy 2021 song "I Already Like You" (included on this album).  Her sophisticated wordplay and quick rap skills are still front and center on almost every song.  Now they are accompanied by bright and catchy beats, with zippy melodies that infuse the album with a bubblegum sweetness, all floating amongst the feminist smarts and vulnerable feelings on display.  My favorite song has to be "Tell Me Again", with its amazing '80s synthpop sound complete with handclaps and saxophone overdubs.  Opener "Hurricane Party" showcases her witty political commentary rap over a unique bell-clangs and skittering-synth-hits beat.  Every song has something new, Dessa is in full experimental mode, throwing the pop playbook at the wall and seeing what works best to amplify her intense songwriting so that her audience will think and dance at the same time.

[muzeez]

8:41pm

Monday

17th August 2020

I lost it today and I wished I hadn't. I threw a handful of cards at Hansel and walked out. Now I need to look for another job but in the heat of anger I didn't care about that at the time.

I'm just tired of everyone being miserable and mean towards me.

I went to the woolshop before going into work. Kathleen had heard that the woolshop was closing down and she phoned me up in a royal panic giving me a list of needles that she needed.

Gillian and Pat were working and they were chatting to eachother when I arrived. I told them that Kathleen had heard the shop was closing and asked if it were true. Yes, was the reply. I read out the list that Kathleen had given me and joked about the panic phonecall I had received. They weren't 100% enthusiastic about helping me and they weren't particularly friendly. Especially Pat. Gillian wasn't too bad but with Pat, it felt like she could do without my turning up.

I mentioned wool but said I don't know what type of wool she uses.

"Well, it's either soft or baby" Gillian replied with a little bit of impatience in her tone.

Well, if it were that simple, why doesn't Kathleen think that, considering she's virtually a professional knitter, I thought to myself.

After she sold me the needles, I asked if it was possible to take some pictures of some wool so I could show Kathleen. Pat decided she had somewhere better to be and disappeared.

"Miserable, ignorant, unfriendly Bitch!!" I thought to myself. It would have been great to say it out loud but I didn't.

However, Gillian was a little more amicable and said I could take a video if I wanted to.

"Hey, that's a good idea, yeah thank you I'll do that" I said. I took a quick, short video. While I was doing that Gillian went off to her own shop across the aisle. She could have stayed with me and given some narrative advice.

When I finished I planned to have a quick short chat with her but another miserable woman had hijacked her, telling her life story. I just said thank you as I was leaving and laughed about Kathleen fearing the internet, otherwise I could have done a video call with her.

"Do you want me to get you some" the other miserable woman said to Gillian. Cutting me off and continuing with their conversation, like my interjection wasn't welcome.

I couldn't help wondering at that point, what the real reason for lack of custom was. Can't blame everything on lockdown and the experience I'd just had wasn't exactly pleasant. I'd approached them okay, spoke directly, pleasant, friendly and upbeat, looked them in the eye. So, I wasn't doing anything wrong. Quite similar to the experience I'd had at OddJob Bob's.

Anyway, then I made my way down to the shop where I work. In a later phonecall Rasbach would be adamant that Hansel was absolutely fine that morning. No he wasn't. From the moment I walked in he had a face like a slapped arse. He looked furious about something but there again he did most mornings. Grinding his teeth together at the inconvenience of having to get out of bed to come to work and stay all day while me and Romeo were getting a full wage and getting loads of time off.

Or maybe he'd been looking at my Facebook account and kept seeing my smiling happy face and all the likes I was attracting and my light hearted posts. Maybe that was secretly annoying him. In previous weeks, I recall Hansel making a bitter comment about people posting stuff that have no purpose and how he only posts stuff that have purpose.

"What... Football?" I thought to myself, because that's all I see him posting about. Boring football and nobody seems quick to react to any of his posts.

Anyway, he had a miserable face towards me this morning and I tried to ignore it and remain upbeat.

Rasbach was also a little hit and miss this morning. I needed them to be pleased to see me. I needed them to be upbeat and happy. Give me what I'm giving you. It's bad enough that every single person this morning has had a horrible miserable face on them, I don't want to see my colleagues and bosses like that too.

Anyway, I took off my coat and started getting on with putting cards out. I kept trying to make eye contact with Hansel but he was making a point of not looking at me. He had no problem trying to establish eye contact with people passing by though, as always. Makes me feel like I'm holding him hostage and he's trying to get outside help.

He had such a face of thunder and it felt like it was towards me, he seemed fine with his Dad and his Dad was being fine with him. Doing their usual intimate whispering every so often. I really wish they wouldn't behave like this because it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. No laughter, no love, no enthusiasm, just being plain miserable. Not only that, I've realised over the years that customers pick up on the mood when they come into the shop. I also believe they pick up on the dynamics between US. People aren't stupid and I've learnt that they pick up on the vibes and they play on them too. They can sense who is who and who is the underdog and they pick alot of it up from Rasbach and Hansel's body language and mannerisms.

Customers start being ignorant, rude and having a sense of contempt towards me. Rasbach and Hansel are like a pair of vultures and they sink their teeth into it. It's like, the customers at the slight contempt from my bosses towards me, so they act on it, then Rasbach and Hansel see the contempt from the customers towards me and that spurs them on, like they've now got confirmation, let's really go for it.

You really have to be right there, right in my shoes, for days, weeks, months on end to know what I'm talking about. I sure ain't imagining shit!

Anyhoooo, an old couple came in the far doors, as I was walking around the front unit. I went to say "morning" to them but the woman was looking right passed me, lips pursed outwards and nose pointed upwards. The man had a face full of thunder and he was also looking through me. Like they're immediately irritated at my being there.

"Well, y'know sommet" I thought. "I am NOT gonna be the one to be saying morning. It's a 2 way thing isn't it?" I can tell the difference between people who're twats people who aren't and I've had a gut full of always being the one to speak first and then they're response is rude.

I carried on with my work and as I was bent down in one of the female birthday units, (when I say 'bent down' I was fully doubled over and Hansel couldn't see me) the woman suddenly and abruptly shouted to me, "where's anniversary for husband?". There was such a tone to her voice.

Remember I'm doubled over, I'm not very well going to answer while I'm upside down. She had an opportunity to ask me when she waltzed passed me moments earlier, while I was looking in her face and stood upright.

I straightened myself up and even though I'd clocked her ignorance and abruptness I engaged with the woman with no problem. I always make a conscious effort to be right.

The two of them were already stood in front of the anniversaries so I said, "they're just in front of you love". Usually, I'd walk closer to people when I'm speaking to them but with all the social distancing thing, I kept back. Not because I'm being awkward, or because I believe they're going to give me Coronavirus or whatever but because I know it's on everybody's minds and everybody's on edge.

I then realised the husband anniversaries weren't in front of them, they were at the end. "oh no sorry, husband ones are down there." They didn't say thank you or anything like that. They're whole demeanor was rotten towards me.

Hansel's supposed to be pricing cards but he's picking up on EVERYTHING all the time. Especially, if it's negatively incriminating towards me. He's picked up on the couple's negative and abrupt tone towards me and that's giving him that boost, reassuring him, affirmation that it's okay to be contemptuous towards Muzeez. Customers are doing it, his Dad's doing it a bit this morning. Hansel's already spitting feathers towards me (I'm guessing it's my latest Facebook Post, a bright cheery, positive selfie.) and this is his excuse do pick on me.

"Why d'ya have to make things so difficult" he snarled as I walk by the counter. I looked at him and his top lip was curled up in a nasty anger sneer. This is the millionth time I've looked at him this morning and he still refuses to engage me properly with eye contact.

"Pardon!?!" i asked.

"I said, WHY..... DO YOU... HAVE.... TO..... MAKE... THINGS.... SO.... DIFFICULT...." he repeated, seperating each word and annunciating each word. The whole clever and horrible attitude in his tone, and briefly flicking his eyes up at me like I was a lump of shit, his top lip curling further and further up. My blood was starting to boil.

"Oh, what am I making difficult Hansel?" I ask, this time I'm getting an attitude and he doesn't answer. "No go on Hansel, how am I making things difficult?"

"it doesn't matter" he says, because he can hear the edge in my voice so he's deciding to sound all lovely and calm.

But by now I'm raging, "if you've got nothing pleasant to say Hansel, keep ya mouth shut."

[lust-bts]

an. y’all I have to answer this by taking a pic cause my dumb bitch ass accidentally posted it on the first paragraph 🤦🏼‍♀️

You pouted, your boyfriend sat at the end of your shared bed. He was home earlier than usual tonight and you were hoping to have a more intimate evening, than you’d had all week, but apparently Jungkook had other plans. He’d come home, showered, dried off and was now sat in just a pair of light grey Puma tracksuit pants with his headset on and PlayStation controller in hand. Usually the sight of him so enthralled by a video game was one you quite enjoyed but you were feeling needy tonight as apparently your boyfriend hadn’t noticed.

Deciding to take matters into your own hands you sat up on your knees and shuffled closer to the bare back in front of you. You began by massaging his shoulders with a firm but still gentle squeeze, when your boyfriend hummed appreciatively you moved down to his biceps and softly kissed along his neck. You could feel the shiver that coursed through him and by the way his cheeks puffed up and dimpled you knew he was smiling to himself.

“Baby-“ he drawled and you hummed against his warm skin to show you were listening. “I’m busy, not now,” he brushed you off and with a slight huff you pulled yourself away from him.

“But I want you,” you whined before slipping your hands over his shoulders and feeling your way over the front of his body.

This time when Jungkook spoke it wasn’t to you, “shut up guys, that’s my girl,” whatever they’d said mildly annoyed him and it was obvious by the way his tone deepened but where that was supposed to scare his online gaming friends into stopping their teasing it also turned you on even more and you were left squeezing your thighs together for some relief. It became apparent to you very quickly that Jungkook’s will was a lot stronger today than most and although you’d managed to sneak a few, distracted, kisses from him it was t enough for you and Jungkook was gettin increasingly frustrated.

It took you being the cause of his characters death for him to put the controller down and finally turn the tables, you always forgot how quick and strong your boyfriend was because in a matter of seconds you’d gone from sucking and bruising his neck, jaw and shoulders to being pressed down into the mattress with your hands above your head.

“You want me to fuck you baby, is that it?” He asked darkly, uncaring that his headset was still turned on and is friends could likely hear every word. You nodded meekly in response, your previous confidence gone the second Jungkook turned around. He smirked as he reached over into his drawer and pulled out the silken fabric he kept in there just for you.

You grinned, immediately catching on and moving so that your wrists could be bound to the bed frame. He kissed you softly after you were all tied up and just as you were ready to get into things Jungkook moved away from you completely.

“One more game baby, and I’m yours,” he promised sweetly, kissing your forehead from his new seat right beside you. You whined, thrashing slightly while Jungkook waited for the new game to load up.

“Kookie-“ you whined his name, the problem was that all of our one sided forplay had gotten you so heated that when he’d pinned you down you’d already sodden your panties and now you were left horny, frustrated and with no means of fixing it. You looked up to find Jungkook looking at you with mischievous amusement glinting in his eyes so you retaliated; closing your thighs and using the friction to give you some sort of relief. He licked his lips while he eyed your core through the baby blue lace you were in.

The game loaded in then and he carried his attention away from you and back to the screen, you huffed quietly to yourself and just seconds before his character landed on the map he dropped the controller to his lap and moved your thighs apart.

“No getting yourself off without me,” he ordered and you all but cried out in your frustration. His game seemed to last forever, or maybe that was just him making the world spin slower so that you could be tortured even longer. After he’d killed his first player you were done abiding by his rules and closed your thighs again to buck into them. You caught Jugkook’s gaze slipping while he roamed the map for resources and that’s when you let a small moan slip.

Growling lowly, he moved his hand between your legs and the tingling feeling of pleasure his touch elicited made a breathy sigh pass your lips. He pressed the pads of his fingers down into your heat and ground his palm down into your clit until your back was arching. Then a sharp feeling hit your pulsing core and you looked down to find he’d just slapped your pussy.

“K-ook,” you whined, pulling harder at the binds on your wrists.

“Be good,” he warned again before he went back to the game and straight into a shooting battle with another couple of people alongside his own teammates.

You panted a few times, writhing slightly still with your aftershock until you heard the clatter of plastic on wood and jumped. He was on top of you again, roughly kissing your breath away this time and grinding down against your quivering core. You moaned loudly at the friction and then Jungkook was moving on to your jaw and down your throat. You where breathless in seconds as he kissed his way down to your white cropped t-shirt, pulling the top up over your chest so that he could stare at your tits.

“How do you expect me to play my games when you’re here tying to get yourself off?”

“I want you, so bad,” you whispered, you back arching just like earlier wen his fingers found your core and slipped straight in.

“God, I know you do baby, you put on such a good show for me,” he breathed into your ear, sucking onto your lobe to have you panting.

“Reward me, I’ve waited so long an I’ve been so good, I haven’t touched myself once,” you promised him while you held his unwavering gaze. He smiled gently in response before kissing you, then your shirt was being moved over you head until it draped over your arms.

“Okay baby, fuck. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” he vowed, his voice dipping low, while he shuffled back between your legs; taking your panties off with him. He gave you a tantalizingly dark look as he held your thighs apart and slid down to his stomach.

“Keep your eyes open, baby. I want you to see me make you fall apart tonight so you can think about it the next time you’re lonely.”

[punkscowardschampions]

Liam & Edie

Liam: [okay so wrong number text which isn't actually we know, which is just the location of some illegal rave moment that she'll wanna go to] Edie: treasure? ❌🗺 Liam: wooden leg would be useful to hide all the treasure we're bringing in Edie: Gutted I don't know anyone who's ever had an abscess go full necrotic ☠ Edie: and who wants to cart around a treasure chest Liam: don't wanna do your share of the heavy lifting, big surprise Edie: is it? Liam: outgrow this pussy behaviour before tonight as a favour to me Liam: I don't wanna cart that much dead weight about Edie: As I remember it, you owe me though Liam: your memory's in the 🚽 Liam: I owe nobody nothing Edie: yours is selective Edie: can't even get 11 digits down Liam: a barcode's got 12 & I told you it's your business if you wanna walk round inked like you've only lived that many years that's your lookout Liam: not holding your hand Edie: even more gutted, no doubt Edie: 💔 Liam: if you won't be talked out of it, put it on your balls where no-one'll see it Edie: Will you think I'm tough then? Liam: what kind of gay shit is this? Edie: 😂 Edie: go easy on your mate Edie: you got the wrong number Liam: fucked the 11 digits Liam: that's what you were trying to say Edie: mhmm Edie: that's what I said Edie: but a barcode tattoo is a shit idea Edie: agreed Liam: sick of being the voice of reason around here Edie: I find it's more entertaining to let people make the bad decisions, personally Liam: would be jokes until I look a sad twat by association Liam: wants it on his head Edie: 🙄 what's it gonna say, product of the system? Edie: pretty sure a serial killer has already done that Edie: or some shit rapper Liam: he is a shit rapper Liam: [link] Edie: oh Edie: I know him Liam: serious? Edie: by association Edie: I'm a less shit musician in general, not that that's any brag Liam: can I get a listen or you're just here to promo to set me off on a ❌🗺 as payback? Edie: depends Edie: who's heading the rave you linked? Liam: [deets] Edie: alright Edie: you're not 12 like your pal Edie: [links him her music] Edie: [definitely pictures and videos along with, as if you don't know who she is but pretending you don't lol] Liam: come tonight instead of him Edie: talking to strangers is one thing, boy Liam: you leave the bad decisions to everyone else Liam: don't sound as entertaining as it could be Edie: I meant for your safety Edie: could be anyone Liam: be full of nobodys and anyones when we get there Liam: I'm still gonna go Edie: what makes you stand out? Edie: as you ❌ the barcode Liam: when I track you down, I'll listen to your opinion about me Liam: I'm bragging before then Edie: 🤞 we can't hear much of anything over the bass Edie: not that you're intriguing enough to show up for Edie: but the invite is sound Liam: you'll still know what I think, never had an issue with body language over bass Edie: I think I can guess already Liam: 👌 guess Edie: don't take a mind reader Edie: body language and 💭 are one in the same Liam: it don't take a mind reader when you know you're beautiful and talented Edie: ha leave it out Liam: 🧯 Edie: less of that as well Edie: not a wet blanket Liam: 🧨 Edie: that I like Liam: buying 🎇🎆 if you have any requests Edie: [all the party drugs not in code 'cos we're not bothered] Liam: 👾 Edie: NOW I look forward to 👀 you Liam: guessed it Edie: what gave it away? Liam: the vids you linked me to Edie: that's your review? Edie: at least give me some ⭐s Liam: 3.5 Edie: 👌 Liam: I'll give you another 1/2 when the anti barcode tat song drops Edie: what about the other whole? Liam: get him on the track Edie: 😂 Edie: you're on Liam: 👌 Edie: thank god for the edit Liam: & that only you're allowed to freestyle it rule we just invented Edie: good thing I'm more talented than even you are demanding Liam: I'd agree but you've heard it once & you weren't a fan Edie: you can agree when you see it in person Edie: I don't do this online fake shit Liam: I'll have my turn at looking forward to 👀 you Liam: more than down to Edie: good luck Edie: I can't find any cars with spare seats, so it's gonna be a crowd clearly Liam: yours is in if you want his Edie: how will I get my freestyle if he can't catch a ride? 🤔 Liam: shit like that is what earns you the rest of the ⭐s Liam: talent's not just Liam: 🎤🎧 Edie: yeah, I'm well kind and considerate Edie: known for it Liam: good thing I am Liam: [pic of all the drugs he has picked up] Edie: 🤪 Liam: got a 🐷 mask to fit in post raid, can stick it on early if 🥴 isn't doing anything for you Edie: 💡⭐ Edie: if you can't hang with your gurn we can't hang, like Liam: [a gorgeous gurning pic from a previous rave moment] Edie: fit Liam: ha ha ha Edie: don't act like you don't know Liam: I do 👌 out of my mugshots Edie: convince him to get that tatted instead Liam: too gay Edie: alright I'll do it Liam: before or after you take his seat Edie: if you tell me your name I'll save you a spot to earn mine Liam: Liam Edie: alright, Liam, thanks for not having a long and hard to spell name Edie: give me 🖐 Liam: you can have 3.5 again Edie: [purposely leaving it a full five before coming back with his name stick n poked and then a shoddy box for the mugshot portrait to go in] Edie: tada Liam: 👏 Liam: I didn't think you would Edie: if I say I'll do something, I will Edie: why not Edie: loads of Liam's in this town Liam: don't act like it's a standard trick to pull Liam: he's been oohing & ahhing for months over identifying as frozen peas when his face gets scanned Edie: it's a win-win for me, no need to think on it Edie: either you end up being sound, then it's a memory attached, or I get a cool story about getting a tattoo of a mugshot to get a lift to a rave to tell my grandkids Liam: I wanted you to sit next to me 5 mins ago, I can be impressed, can't I? Edie: I accept impressed Edie: and 👏 of course Liam: what did it feel like? Edie: it's somewhere between a scratch and a burning sensation Edie: but deeper Liam: you'll have to do me Liam: I like the sales pitch Edie: what do you want? Liam: what can you do? Edie: on you, a lot better than I can myself Edie: anything you want, I'll make it happen Liam: thanks for accepting impressive Edie: I intend to be so I can Edie: not here to disappoint Liam: I only was willing to be when I thought I was talking to that little bitch boy Edie: no gay shit Liam: unless you like one of the girls in the car Edie: ha Edie: we'll 👀 obviously Edie: where you starting out, anyway, and when Liam: [a time and place, I like to imagine it's a longish drive to give them time to #bond UGH] Edie: [and usually is to go to a middle of nowhere moment so agreed[ Edie: I'll be there Liam: would make me laugh if you don't show now Liam: longest chat I've had for ages Edie: even if I missed you 🚗 I've hitched before Edie: and it's been ages since I've been to a decent party so Liam: my pic could've fooled you but that last one was shit Liam: got a better feeling this time Edie: I feel you Edie: 💊🥤 just makes it tolerable Edie: down to 👀 yeah? Liam: Yeah Edie: better go find my glitter and gemstones out ✌ Liam: I feel you, will take me a while to paint my 💪 UV Liam: not got as steady a hand as you Edie: damn, that was almost impressive Liam: I'll work on it Edie: your steady hand or your bragging about your 💪? Liam: which one's letting me down the most? Edie: 🤔 Edie: you don't need to tattoo me yourself Edie: you are good looking enough you could get away with being cockier, go with that Liam: 👌 but now you've made me wanna tattoo you myself Edie: maybe Edie: if you think of a good idea, we'll overlook the shaky lines Liam: I'll try & think of an idea where wavy lines are part of it Edie: smart Edie: I like it Liam: 🌊 or something Liam: but less shit Liam: 📻 ones maybe Edie: you have any? Edie: professional ones, like Edie: you asked what stick n poke felt like so obviously not Liam: spend my money as fast as I have it Liam: what are you gonna charge me? Edie: what else are you gonna do with it though Edie: see how nice or poor I'm feeling Liam: I won't let the 💊🥤 run out, you'll feel a lot better than nice Edie: deal 🤩 Liam: be me blinded by your glitter & gems Edie: not actually my first rave Edie: but I can raid my little sister's shit if that's part of the deal Liam: see you in a 👑 will I? Edie: that's just standard day to day tbh 🤷 Liam: how many raves have you done? Edie: I've tried not to be in at the weekend since I was like 12 myself so Edie: enough that I know there's nothing fun or attractive about freezing your tits off in a neon bikini in a field Edie: what about you, you're [the year he'd be in which is either 2nd to last or last, either way], right? Liam: hasty to go with unattractive Liam: but yep, you're not wrong Edie: 😏 Edie: I get it, you wanna match 💪 Liam: no gay shit, your own words Liam: I didn't go to my first one until I was like 15, still not impressing anyone here Edie: me either Edie: middle child syndrome or whatever Liam: trade you oldest and only son if you want it Edie: Attention is grand and all but too much parental attention isn't what I'm aiming for Liam: can't offer you it Liam: my parents attention is elsewhere Edie: yours still together? Liam: nah Edie: oh good Edie: wouldn't know what to do with a dad Liam: not lots you can do with mine Edie: might be stuck being ourselves for the foreseeable anyway Edie: not a convincing freaky friday/parent trap situation you and me Liam: shame I won't get to 🎸 & lay down a track with your talent Edie: just buzzin' off all the things I could lift obviously 💪 Liam: this where I get cocky like you said? Liam: go on about how much I can Edie: you could Edie: but I'm clearly impressed before you need to use that tactic Liam: it's too desperate Liam: we both know I can pick you up if you get stuck in the mud later on Edie: we both know it's every man for himself when the 🐷 show Liam: I got you a mask Liam: yours has lipstick and more eyelashes, so we know Edie: thank god Edie: fragile femininity anyone? Liam: prefer toxic masculinity Edie: same Liam: 👍 Edie: if the daddy issues weren't glaring the 👑 will make 'em blinding Liam: we can pretend that since you're with me no-one'll be looking at you if you want Edie: the freedom Liam: I'll give you 🛢🧨 to play with Liam: 🔥 will take the attention Edie: really? Liam: 🎇🎆 wasn't only a code Liam: I do have some Edie: 🤩 no joke Edie: I wanna blow shit up Liam: that's all I ever wanna do Edie: yeah Edie: feel that too Liam: if you can capture 🔥 in a tat that'd be something worth considering Liam: not in a gay way like 🎲💀♠ Edie: that's overplayed, and doesn't mean anything Edie: I'll do some designs, providing I make it home alive Liam: supposed to see my dad tomorrow for the first time in months, don't think I'll rush back Edie: 🛢🧨🎇🎆 why would you Liam: don't feel you have to either, unless you're catfishing me Edie: I'd pick someone else if I was Edie: and you accidentally texted me Liam: I'm into the someone I accidentally texted, full fucking offense to whoever you wanna pick Edie: then I'll stick around too Edie: nothing I'm rushing back for Liam: it's in writing I'm not kidnapping you Liam: have to do a mugshot monday instead or something Edie: feel free Edie: I can't see that I'd mind Liam: being kidnapped or sharing a cell? Edie: hmm Edie: both Edie: though the involvement of bars to keep me about is unnecessary really Liam: does hitchiking only work if you're a girl with killer eyes? asking for myself before we torch the car Edie: as you're toxically masculine, most people'd be afraid to stop for you alone but as we're together, you should be safe and not an axe murderer Edie: unless I'm pulling a Hindley Liam: when we go for that we'll think it through more Liam: 🐶 or 👶 on board Edie: I can borrow one Edie: 👶 more likely Edie: people don't like cats enough Liam: I'll get over a fence to grab us a dog Edie: in one step, like Liam: depending on the fence Edie: sure, don't wanna oversell it Liam: you don't want no online fake shit Edie: just telling you so you know Edie: not the same Liam: thanks for telling me Edie: yeah alright Edie: didn't lecture you did I Liam: nah you didn't Edie: there we go then Liam: [quotes some of her own lyrics at her that he likes because genuinely listening to these tracks] Liam: you could sell that harder Edie: I'll work it out in my freestyle Liam: 🛢🧨 Edie: 🔥 Liam: 🎇🎆 Edie: 🤩 Liam: let's see your glitter Edie: checking it's not a catfish? Liam: can't show you mine first, too cocky behaviour Edie: [a rave lewk when we've clearly done the most to do the least you know the vibe] Liam: [I like to think he's written her name in body paint wherever she put her stick n poke so have a pic of that gal] Edie: 👍 Edie: approved Liam: what do you want your i dotted with? Liam: about as artistic as you'll get me to be Edie: ⭐ Edie: has to be Liam: [an adorable little star has been added so have another pic] Edie: perfect Liam: thanks for having a name that's short and easy to spell yourself Edie: oh yeah, snap Liam: except I haven't met another one of yours Edie: maybe an 👵 Liam: prefer a silent snatch & grab Edie: 😂 Edie: alright, then I can be the one and only Liam: do you wanna guess what I think about it? Edie: I have Edie: be too cocky to say Liam: I'll do it then, you said I can get away with more of it Liam: I think it'd be good if you were Edie: let's see if you're right Liam: feels like I am but yeah we'll 👀 Edie: it is weird Edie: how you randomly found my number instead Edie: how many # were you out by? Liam: you'll have his if you didn't before Liam: last number Edie: crazy Edie: another good story Liam: should've been a 6 but I did a 9 Edie: 🤪 love that Liam: I'll lose my phone again if you're what I find Edie: I'll save your number then Edie: or add it to the tat Liam: since you love how it feels Edie: and I'm no less liable to lose my phone, so Edie: the pain is just a bonus Liam: I can add it as fuel to the 🔥 any time you'd like an excuse to cross my number out & go again Edie: I won't run out of ideas either way Liam: what about space? Edie: not anytime soon Edie: I'll have to go back to biro and keep it less permanent after that Liam: leave it on the bodies of our victims like the shittiest calling card for the 🐷 Liam: call me Edie: ooh Edie: we could get really zodiac with that though Edie: only murder people on days ending in 9 Liam: I like it Edie: I'll go solo if you piss me off and do it on 6 days Liam: I'll start staging them like they've starred in your vids to get your forgiveness Liam: attention to detail for attention from you Edie: we can communicate through corpses Edie: that's new, no one's done that before Liam: when I keep the 👀 as a 🏆 you'll know I wanna see you Edie: romantic, aren't you Liam: toxic like my masculinity Edie: good Liam: ☢️ better than a barcode but not by a lot Edie: I could do you a Chernobyl victim tat Edie: get the toxic and the 🔥 in a really untasteful onner Liam: 👌 you're beautiful, talented & smart Liam: don't give me any flaws to pick at then Edie: I did say untasteful instead of distasteful, if you wanna be pedantic and take away smart so you can save some toxic masculinity points Edie: one-ner, also, doesn't translate to typing Liam: when it took you pointing it out, I don't think I can take anything away from you Edie: you can try Edie: again, like kidnapping, might not mind Liam: I can't help thinking it'd be better to give you things Edie: 🎇🎆🛢🧨? Liam: all that Liam: ⭐🐶👶 Liam: & anything else I've not remembered Edie: we can keep the puppy right Liam: what else would we do with it? Edie: just letting you know I draw the line at puppy killing Edie: get that out of the way now Liam: me too Liam: never microwaved any 🐹 or thrown them at the wall Edie: imagine how big you look to 🐹 Liam: 🏙🦖 Edie: definitely made that 📹 as a kid Liam: I'll be in the remake next time you're stuck for a vid idea Liam: if you still have it, we'll kick it frame for frame Edie: you'd be perfect for my next project Liam: sign me up Edie: [tat pic again like I already did] Liam: what else have you got? Edie: [just a comprehensive pic rundown of your tats that are all just silly ones you've done on the whole hope you've not got them anywhere too scandalous but realistically gonna need to be able to hide them when school so it's probably mostly legs at and like, upper arm and ribs/hip vibes] Liam: 😍 Edie: I'll tell you all the stories later when we're smashed Liam: no awkward silences in the car Liam: great idea Edie: not if the other girls are hot Liam: there's one I think you'd like Liam: you'll have to tell me if I'm wrong Edie: I'll flash a 6 or a 9 and you'll know Liam: she can be our first victim either way Edie: 😈 Liam: 🚗🔥 Liam: 🔐 Edie: 😍 Edie: you win Liam: how do you feel about playing games? Liam: 6 or 9 Edie: 9 Liam: same Edie: I know Liam: yeah, you're smart, I gave you that Edie: how smart is it that I wanna play with you? Liam: I'd call it a good decision, which maybe isn't smart if you only like bad ones Edie: I just like doing what I want Edie: good or bad is mostly irrelevant Liam: so do what you want Edie: you to be here now Liam: direct me 🗺❌ Edie: [at least you've had the good sense to be in town not at yours] Liam: [lord imagine] Edie: [like sure Rio ain't about but still don't need to be inviting you in quite yet lol] Liam: [her room is still there and no thank you hun] Edie: [not today huns, we can either skip to post rave now or post this as is?]

[p-artsypants]

Longest Night (16) Struggling

Marinette had thought Highschool had been hard. Right now, in this moment, she'd give anything to go back to those petty arguments and gossip fueled drama. But she couldn't. Instead, she and Adrien were trapped here, being punished, humiliated, tortured, for being heroes, all broadcasted for the world to see. At least she and her kitty were in this together. For now. Whump!Fic

Ao3 | FF.net

Note: This chapter has brief mentions of the previous two chapters. We are in the viewer’s perspective.

—

Hawkmoth. We need to talk. —Salo.

Alya stared at the sentence over and over, her breath hitching in her throat. How could this happen? It couldn’t! It just couldn’t!

“I have to remove this link!” Alya stated. “Max, can I get on your computer?”

“Of course,” he stated, taking out his laptop. “It’s pretty obvious how she posted that. You are using a public server through blogspot, after all.”

“Can you prevent her from doing it again?” She asked, logging into her account.

“Of course. No problem.”

Incorrect username.

Alya clenched her fists. “That bitch kicked me out!”

“Now now, hold on.” Max assured, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Let Markov try.”

“Of course, this will be easy. One moment please.” Markov plugged into the computer, and in a few seconds, the Ladyblog’s dashboard appeared.

“Wonderful! I’ll change my email and password too. After I delete this post!”

It was right up top, in the most plain and boring formatting. Just a white box with black text.

“Huh.” Alya said aloud, staring at it.

“What’s wrong, Al?” Asked Nino.

“There’s no trash icon. No comment section, no share icon, nothing. I can’t edit it or delete it.”

“Allow me,” stated Markov again.

A red triangle with an exclamation point came up on his face. “Whoopsies, we don’t have access to the post.”

“Whaddya mean we don’t have access!? This is my blog, isn’t it?”

“Yes and no.” Said Max. “Everything around this post is your blog. But this box itself is not.”

“Huh?”

“Think of it…as Salo cut a hole in your website and has this in the background, showing through.”

“You can do that?” Asked Nino.

“Not easily, by any means. It’s extremely complicated. I’ve never tried it myself. No need to.”

“So…what do we do?” Alya crossed her arms, looking anxious.

Max screwed up his lip in thought, turning the laptop towards himself. He typed away, a next window coming up. In a flash of textual garbage, too complexed for anyone else to understand, he had a diagnosis. “Okay…well, the post has a slightly different URL, that’s associated with the blog. But it’s being hosted on a private server, which I can’t access. At least not yet. I can try to take it down, but it will take me a few hours, at least.”

“But we don’t have a few hours! Hawkmoth could see this post at any second!”

“I understand. The other thing we could do, is delete the blog in its entirety. Then the post won’t have a URL to associate with and will be unviewable.”

Delete the Ladyblog.

Alya felt sick.

What was two years of hard work in exchange for her friend’s safety? She still had all the videos, all the pictures, she could make a new website, right? One that got Marinette’s approval before every posting.

“Okay—“

“Wait,” said Nino. “Shouldn’t we see where the link goes first? What if it helps the police find them?”

Alya gasped slightly. “I’m glad you thought of that!”

“Markov, initiate Backdraft operations.” Max said.

“Backdraft initiated.”

“What’s backdraft?” Asked Alya.

“It’s simply a protocol I use if I think my presence is being tracked, or I may be counter hacked. It’s basically a fancy firewall.”

“Oh, I see.”

With the class gathered around, Max clicked on the link.

Another window popped up, with a loading wheel. It spun for a moment, then a big red ‘X’ covered the screen and the window closed.

“Hmm…how very interesting.”

“What the heck was that?” Asked Kim, resting his chin on Max’s head like a pest.

“Believe it or not, that was a video chat. But it uses facial recognition to get in.”

“So it’s not going to be helpful to us at all. Huh?”

“I can try to track it. Though it may be difficult since the page closes so quickly.”

Nino whispered as quietly as possible. “Didn’t the detective say he wanted to use your blog to help with the investigation?”

Alya scrunched up her face. Now she had to make two decisions. Stop Hawkmoth, or take the chance and maybe get a lead on Salo.

Any normal person would have gone with the absolute, but Alya was desperate.

“Leave the blog up. Do you think you can track the link?”

“I’ll give it my best shot.” Said Max, honestly.

Alya gave a twitch of a smile.

Something about her conversation with Hawkmoth earlier niggled in her brain. He had addressed her by her name, not as an Akuma. And when she asked him to leave, he left.

Of course, there was no trusting the man, that was obvious, but as far as villains go, she was much more willing to deal with him than Salo.

Alya shook her head. That was an insane thought.

Then the bell rang, and lunch was officially over. Alya and Nino found their seats, now feeling keenly aware that Adrien and Marinette were both absent from class.

“Oh,” said Nino, holding up a pink backpack. “She left it here. Adrien’s is here too.”

Alya smiled fondly. “We’ll carry them back with us.”

—

Miss Bustier was nothing if not understanding. None of the students had their homework done from yesterday, so she just cancelled the assignment. Alya and Nino weren’t given the missed work from this morning either.  

She had a feeling they probably wouldn’t be doing it anyways.

Alya had her phone out all day, plugged into a portable charger.

She constantly refreshed the page, hoping for something different.

But no. For hours now, Adrien and Marinette has been hanging by the wrists from chains.

Near the end of the day, Alya looked over to see Marinette speaking to the camera.

She rewound, found the time stamp and raised her hand.

“Yes Alya?”

“Marinette’s saying something! She’s speaking to us!”

“Are you sure?” Miss Bustier asked.

Nino was already next to her, looking at the screen.

“She’s looking right at the camera. I don’t think she’s talking to Adrien.”

“Can I turn on the projector?” Asked Max.

“Well…” Miss Bustier saw the first broadcast. She had turned away the moment Marinette was demanded to strip. She hadn’t watched anything since, and didn’t know if it was safe to show the students.

But looking around, she saw that they were all worried, and eager to see what Marinette had to say.

And so she nodded at Max.

In a matter of seconds, the website was up, and Adrien and Marinette’s states were now visible to the room.

There was a round of gasps.

No one had watched the stream this morning.

“Is that…is that Adrien?” Chloe asked, with choking breath.

Regardless of the state of room, Alya hit play.

Marinette looked around, and then looked directly at the camera. She gave a tired little smile.

“Hey,” she spoke in an absolutely broken voice. “If you’re watching this, you…you’re probably feeling a little hopeless. I don’t blame you. I feel…pretty hopeless too. I mean, I’m…I’m stuck. I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of this. But…but Ladybug always saves the day, right?” She glanced away, choosing her words. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m 17 years old, and my favorite color is pink. I’m the daughter of the best bakers in Paris, though I might be a little bias.” She smiled slightly. “Before I became Ladybug, I was a normal girl, with a normal life. What made me extraordinary, was my willingness to help others, and my kindness. So Paris, I have a favor to ask:

“Be helpful and kind. Go out of your way do something nice for someone once a day. If you can do this for me, then I know Paris will be safe until we return.”

“I promise.” Alya heard Chloe whisper.

She glanced over to Adrien, then off screen, and then back at the camera. “Maman, Papa...I’m really really sorry I had to hide this from you. I didn’t want to, and some days I thought about how much easer it would be if I just told you. How I could explain the lateness and absences, and my bad grades. But I just had to let you think I was a bad kid. It was for your safety, after all...but despite my best efforts, this still happened, and now you’re in danger. Please get somewhere safe. Leave Paris if you have to. I love you so much. I promise I’ll be out soon.”

Her brow crinkled, as she hesitated. Then, “Alya, I’m sorry too. You…you probably feel kinda betrayed right now. But, like I said, it was for your own safety. You were put in peril so many times because of me. How many more would that have been if Hawkmoth thought you knew my identity? After everything, I hope you finally believe me now...sorry, that was harsh. I...I’ll forgive you, if you forgive me. Deal?”

Alya broke down sobbing. If there was anything else to be heard, she missed it. Of course she forgave Marinette! How could she not? Marinette picked her as Rena Rouge, time and time again!

And what did she do in return?

Stab her in the back.

Some best friend she was.

“Al…” Nino comforted. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not alright!” Alya shouted, startling everyone. She hated how much of a mess she was. She was supposed to be a superhero, damnit! But at this rate, Hawkmoth would try to akumatize her again.

“She’s right, you know.” Said Miss Bustier, rubbing a hand under her eye. “It’s not alright.” She cleared her throat and spoke to the class. “I know things seem bleak right now. And it’s okay to be upset. It’s okay to grieve and to hurt. But it’s never okay to hurt others to make yourself feel better. That’s exactly what Salo is doing. That’s what Hawkmoth has done for years. I know it hurts, and things seem hopeless. But we need to listen to Marinette, to Ladybug. Go out of your way to be kind to someone.”

Alya breathed a sigh. Miss Bustier always knew what to say to make things better.

“Alya, can you come stand with me please?”

She nodded, getting to her feet. Up front, Miss Bustier hugged her, and held her around the waist, as she beckoned each one of her students forward.

“Alya, you’re so smart.”

“You’ve got a wicked sense of humor!”

“You’re really perceptive, and notice things that others don’t!”

“You always put in that extra bit of work to make a project look amazing!”

On and on, each student complimented her, as was custom in Miss Bustier’s class. But all of them were genuine, not just going through the motions.

Except maybe Lila, but still, it was hard to tell. “You are really dedicated to your blog, and put everything on it, to make it just right.”

Alya swallowed. That comment fell flat in comparison to the others.

Chloe came up, a scowl directed in Lila’s direction, then she grabbed Alya by the upper arms. “You are fiercely protective to your friends. No matter who they are. If you feel friendly towards them, you protect them. And that’s something I’ve always admired about you.”

Alya wanted to cry again, but she spared Chloe the satisfaction. “You’re just trying to be nice.”

“Me? Nice? As if!” She scoffed, but they both knew it was true.

“The reason we do these activities,” explained Miss Bustier, “is so that when you see someone having hard time, you take the time to cheer them up. It should be an automatic response.”

“For Marinette and Adrien!” Cheered Kim in the back.

“For Marinette and Adrien!”

—

After school, Alya and Nino gathered their stuff from their lockers. It was time to head back to the Agreste Mansion, for their own safety. Though, the temptation to go out and patrol was strong. Yet the heat was still on, and it wasn’t smart to risk it just quite yet.

“Alya?” A soft voice asked.

It was Choe. And she looked shy. Sabrina was no where to be seen.

“Hey Chloe,” Alya said pleasantly. It felt better to just be nice, like Miss Bustier suggested.

“I…” Chloe started, then she turned away. It took a few tries, each time she started differently. Then, she finally managed out. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What?”

“I…I don’t know what to do. Normally, when I want something, daddy just buys it for me. He takes care of everything. I’ve never been in a situation where I couldn’t have what I wanted. But…but I can’t do that with this. I begged daddy to save them. Both of them. And he tried! He talked to the chief of police and they got in contact with Europol…but basically…there’s nothing they can do. So…I have to do it myself. I have to save them.”

Alya scoffed slightly. “You can’t save them yourself.”

“I have too.” Chloe said right back, her daily stubbornness shining through. “You don’t understand!”

“Chloe…”

“I found the Bee Miraculous. Marinette dropped it, and I found it. Despite all my mistakes, all my insults and my cruelty, Marinette…Marinette let me become Queen Bee. Several times. She threw a party for me, when I felt like no one liked me. She went out of her way to help me reconnect with my mother. And…” She started to sob.

Chloe, it’s me, Ladybug. You can trust me, you can tell me the truth.

You have a purpose.

“She spoke to me in a way no one else had before. She was so…so nice! And she meant it! Only Adrien ever treated me like that! But I was never mean to him!” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “That’s why I have to save them! She has to know how sorry I am! How much I appreciate her! And how much Ladybug still means to me!”

Alya was touched. “Why you telling me this?”

“Because you’re the Ladyblogger, duh! You’ve got to know something! Don’t you have a hint to who Rena Rouge are Carapace are? Any way to contact them? I want to help them! As Queen Bee!”

Alya screwed up her lip. “And you don’t care about the attention of being a superhero in the limelight again?”

“Puh-lease, if I cared about attention, I wouldn’t look like this!” She gestured to herself.

Nino snickered. “I didn’t even think you owned a track suit.”

“How do you think I stay in peak physical form? By Instagraming all day?!”

“Still…”

“Fine! It’s Givenchy! Give me a break!”

Alya and Nino shared a look of understanding. Now was the time to use all the help they could get. Alya reached into her bag and pulled out a little black box. “Chloe Bourgeois. This is the Miraculous of the Bee. You will use it for good. Until such a time that Ladybug and Chat Noir are safe, you will keep it safe and protect it.”

“And you won’t put it on your snap story!” Nino added, harshly.

Chloe took the box, reverently. “Are…are you sure?”

“The guardian gave it to us, and told us to give it to you when we felt it was safe.”

Chloe, smiling, opened the lid, and a glittering yellow light appeared.

“Hello my queen!” Pollen sang.

“Pollen!” She scooped her up and held her to her cheek. Then she looked back to Alya and Nino. “When do we start our patrol?”

Alya laughed, happy to see Chloe so eager. “Soon. But we have some catch up to play.”

—

It had never been this hard to akumatize someone.

Granted, Chloe Bourgeois had put up a great fight. But it was nothing like this.

Hawkmoth had assumed Alya would be the perfect candidate to become an Akuma. In all the times he had been around her, granted it was only a handful, she had been absolutely devastated.

Lady WiFi had been amazing, and given her powers of pausing, she would have been great.

But, she was not cooperative. Sure, maybe he could have pushed her a little more, put on the pressure. But it didn’t feel right.

Nothing about this felt right.

And that’s what made him so conflicted.

Because we was willing to do whatever it took to get Emilie back. Exploiting people who were having the worst day, who were in unbearable pain.

So why the hesitation now? This was Adrien, the light of his life. The only family he had left. He loved his son, although he often had a hard time showing it.

He reached out to Nino Lahiffe, who, admittedly, was not as visibly upset as Alya had been, but his hurt was still present. Nino was unbearably calm as he asked Hawkmoth to ‘kindly f—- off.’

Next was Chloe Bourgeois. Surely she would agree, right? She loved Adrien!

Oh but she was nearly feral trying to get rid of him. She yanked on her hair and screamed and cried.

He left quickly, feeling her pain as his own.

He looked at Tom and Sabine, but didn’t have the heart to even try. Ladybug’s parents, now that was cruel.

He was beginning to run out of victims. Gorilla? Nathalie? Himself?

Lila Rossi! She was always ready and willing to be akumatized!

But then, he remembered with growing horror that she hated Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She may try to save Adrien, but she’d leave Marinette all alone to suffer. And that was almost worse.

He dropped his transformation, a dropped to his knees.

“Master? Please don’t cry.”

“I disgust myself.” He whined in the back of his throat. “Why…why can’t I do it? What makes this so different? Am I not desperate enough? Do I not love Adrien enough?!"

Noroo swooped in and nuzzled against Gabriel’s cheek. “You love Adrien plenty. Don’t beat yourself up over having sympathy for others in pain.”

Gabriel swallowed, digesting the kwami’s words. “I suppose...that means there’s hope for me yet.”

The elevator rose, bringing Nathalie into the room. “Sir, Madame Cheng has something to show you on the stream.”

“She found something?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then we’ll continue this later Noroo, let’s go.”

—

Sabine stood in the lobby, her phone in hand. Thankfully, the stream could be rewound to repeat anything that had happened. And so when Gabriel finally emerged from his office, she went to him, thrust the phone in his face, and pressed play.

“Notausgang.”

“Pardon?”

“Notausgang. Does that word sound familiar?”

“No...it sounds German though. Why?”

“It’s written on the wall behind you.”

“Like Graffiti?”

“No...it looks like it’s supposed to be there. Like a sign.”

“A German sign on the wall? You don’t think...we’re in Germany, do you?”

“I have no clue where we are, but...why else would there be German on the wall?”

“Well, maybe we’re still in France. Maybe not Paris, but Alsace-Lorraine or...”

“Notausgang is German for ‘Emergency Exit’. It’s everywhere in Germany.” Gabriel responded. “Not so much in Alsace-Lorraine. If there’s no French by it, it’s safe to assume they are in Germany.”

Sabine choked. “Oh no…no no no…”

Gabriel rested a calm hand on her arm. “Sabine, it’s alright. This is good. We know we’re looking in the wrong place, and we can tell the detective what we learned. Okay?”

She nodded, wiping her cheeks. “I just…they’re so far…I feel so helpless!”

“I feel the same.” He assured.  

And he did. Not only did he have no clue where they were in Germany, but his akumas couldn’t reach farther than Paris. Even if he were to go to Germany, he’d have to spend days hopping around from city to city. And that wasn’t suspicious at all.

Still…if that’s what it took.

First, they’d talk to the detective. Then they’d plan the next move.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #248

“i was unprepared for fame, then everybody knew my name.”

Are you more positive or a debbie downer? I don't think I'm either, honestly. I'm realistic. How many meals do you eat a day? Since getting a calorie & macro counting app, I try to aim for three, but sometimes I only manage two. I have to be conscious of how I'm spacing out what I eat. If you could have any talent in the world what would it be? Be realistic. Draw exactly what I see in my head. Do you brush your tongue with your tooth brush? Bitch you better brush your goddamn tongue. I didn't know until I saw this as a survey question a while back that there were people who didn't. How many times do you brush your teeth a day honestly? Once. What are you favorite type of jeans? I don't wear jeans anymore, but aesthetically, dark, skinny, torn jeans. Do you pop your bones, crack your knuckles? NO it disgusts me omg. There's this girl who sits in front of me in Women Writers class who cracks her back ALL the time and I have to fight cringing so, so hard. Do you eat your nails? YO NO. I may peel my nails when they get long (to me, anyway) but who the fuck eats their nails. Do you eat the ice in your drink? If it's that good cronchy type, fuck yeah. What do you order at Chic-Fil-A? I used to just get the classic sandwich and fries, but I stopped going there forever ago due to their connection to anti-LGBTQ organizations. By now I can't even stomach the thought of eating something from there. Damn are their sandwiches good, but I'm not giving them business. If you had to go to Mcdonalds what do you order? "Had to" lmao. I have no problem with McDonald's, honestly; you couldn't make me go, because I'd be quite willing. I love their cheeseburgers and, of course, their fries. But because I'm a fatass I have to at least get a double cheeseburger. Have you ever been addicted to cigarettes? No. Which do you use more? Facebook or Instagram? Facebook. Are you a student? If so, what classes will you take next? Yes. "Next," I don't know, considering I haven't chosen classes for next year. Currently I take Painting, Women Writers, Psychology, and Biology. Are you a good kisser? I don't know? How many real bf/gf have you had? Two. Did you enjoy your past relationships? Sure, save for the one with Tyler. That was pointless as shit. Would you ever get back with your ex? Sara, if certain conditions were right. Jason, I honestly don't know and hope I'm never put into the position to need to decide. Other exes, no. Do you like 80’s music? Rock and metal, absolutely. It was a great decade for the genres. Name a comedy that you like. Rush Hour 2 popped to mind first because we mentioned it in school yesterday. Do you like homework? ??????????? WHAT IS THIS QUESTION???????????????? NO??????????????? Something you want to buy real bad? Ugggghhhhh a lot. Being unemployed is a BLAST!!!!!!!!!! Something you would buy a friend as a gift? It depends on the person, of course. I try really hard to give very personal gifts, so what it would be would greatly vary. What is something that would be a good birthday gift for you? Donate Big Bucks to my tattoo fund and I'll give you smooches. Something you would gift yourself? Still tattoos lmfao. Favorite candle scent? Cinnamon rolls mmmmmmmmm. Do you watch beauty videos on YouTube? So here's the tea I genuinely love Jeffree Star and I'm digging NikkieTutorials lately LOOK idk I guess because I find makeup to be an art, I like watching that stuff. My YouTube interests have become seriously diverse lately. Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Ha ha obviously. What is the best thing about life? Man, that's a loaded question. I suppose having people in it that make it worthwhile and a true privilege to simply be here. What do you think will happen when you die? YO, HONESTLY, I don't know, man. I've even questioned reincarnation lately. I 100% believe we are not hollow bodies meant to just decay after death, but creatures with spirits that live on in SOME form or way afterwards. I don't believe in the concept of a "Hell," but I don't really think I accept there being a true "Heaven," either? I think there's just... something. What, I don't know, but guess I'll figure it out at some point. Are you superstitious? No. What kind of surveys do you like the most? Random ones, especially the ones that make you think. Do you go to church? No. Do you like Christian music? No. I get frustrated from just bad memories/associations. Have you ever skateboarded and failed at it? Never really tried. What show/concert have you went to that you didn’t like much? N/A Is sex a must in your life? Nah. Could you wait until marriage for sex? Lol I was the abstinent one years ago, so obviously I could, because I understand it. What do you think about weed? Medically, it's fantastic. Too much evidence of it being so to argue it anymore. For other use, I feel the same way about it as I do cigarettes: bad idea, but whatever. I personally don't care if it's made legal for recreational use or not, so long as it's treated similarly to alcohol, ex. illegal to drive while high. If you found a baby turtle on the side of the road, would you pick it up and keep it? With it being a baby, I'd probably take it to an animal rescue or something. Did you and your mum ever have a big fight that caused you to move out? I stayed at Dad's for a handful of days. Has the last person you kissed ever been to your house? Yes. Does anybody have a tattoo with your name on it? My sister has my initial, anyway. Who did you last see shirtless? My mom. Do you like to make the first move? NONONONONO I'M SHY. Do you think you will ever be married? Probably. If the last person you kissed saw you kissing someone else, would they be mad? I don't think she'd be mad, no. Do you understand football? Nope. Who last called you beautiful? Probably Mom. If you fell pregnant to the last person you kissed, what would you think? We're both female so like- Do you think the body is the most beautiful thing that was ever made? No. Name five things you did today? Stayed at the hospital for my beautiful niece to be born :'), slept far too little after getting home, and that's... kinda it. What kind of phone do you have? It's literally a Tracfone, BUT WAIT! I actually wanted it, ha ha. Mom has one and it is *genuinely* a good phone, so I got one for my birthday. Hell, it's cheaper than paying monthly, so I'm fine with it. When was the last time you talked to one of your siblings? 5 in the morning when we were all still with Ashley. Do you like fire? Sure, I like watching it. Have you ever been to a spa? Noooo, not my jam. Do you know how to do a cartwheel? No. Who’s the funniest drunk person you know? Ehhhhh. When he drank, my dad was either hilarious when drunk or hateful and short-fused as fuck. 50/50 shot. But yeah, if you got Version 1, he'd crack anyone the hell up. Now that he's sober and happy he's always like that. What would you do if your partner still kept pictures of their ex? Well, I'd say it depends on the picture's context. Like, a picture of you two kissing, then I'd be uncomfortable as shit. If you have prom pictures or stuff like that but don't like go looking through them regularly, idc. It was a special event. What if your partner went through your cellphone? BYE, CUNT. What if your partner was flirting with another girl/boy? BYE, CUNT. Is there really a difference between Coke and Pepsi? YES. I can absolutely taste it. Pepsi sucks. Are there any mistakes with your recent ex you wish you could have changed? Stupid and/or impulsive shit I'd said, sure, but for the most part, no. We had a good relationship. Has anyone ever been with you while you were throwing up? My mom always is if she's present. I am terrified of vomiting and even at my age still want her there, even though she can't do anything, obviously. I turn into a baby when I'm about to throw up. Background on your computer? My favorite picture of Teddy. Who has hurt you the most? Jason. Or hell, my own head, idk. Are you happy with where you are relationship-wise now? Sure. What language do you want to learn? I wanna be fluent in German. Who’s the last person that came to your house? A family friend. Is there anyone you would like to fight? God no. I'm not a fighter. Who did you dance with last? Sara. Who is your best friend(s)? Sara. Song playing? "It's A Raid" by Ozzy feat. Post Malone. The album's out T O D A Y , B O Y S. Who is your arch-enemy? I don't have one. What's the most attractive thing on the opposite sex? GODDAMN shoulderBLADES Do you want platinum or gold for your wedding band? Not normal gold, I know. Rose gold is my ideal one, but I really don't care much. Have you ever paid to have your eyebrows waxed? I mean my mom has, seeing as I didn't have an income then, either. Got that done regularly in high school. Not because I asked, but because it was just "normal" since my two sisters did it, too. Do you think that the tobacco companies should pay for people’s medical bills? No, it's not their choice to use the product. Sure, they're making it, but it's really too late to cease production of tobacco. It'd be catastrophic in terms of the job industry. Do you curse in average conversations? Yes; I have to actually make an effort to not curse if needed. Have you ever bought a shot glass? No. Do you have a therapist? Not anymore after my previous one that I loved and trusted gave me every reason to break her jaw. I kind of want another one, but also don't. I'm supposed to, considering my history and that I'm on a lot of medication, but I just do nooooot want to go through the whole trust process again. Do you ever fall for spam mail? No. What color do you wear the most? Black. Do you only eat cough drops because you like the taste? No. Have your parents ever walked in on you having sex? No. Do you like getting stoned? I've never been so and aren't interested in ever getting there. Have you ever gotten a bloody nose from snorting cocaine? YOIKES THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY lol no, I wouldn't touch coke with a ten-foot pole. Red, white, yellow, or pink roses? Pink. What’s the worst name your mom has ever called you? I don't know. She hasn't called me anything too awful that I know of. Have you ever done acid? No. Were you at a rave? Never been, definitely not my scene. Do you post pictures where you look good but your friends look bad? Well, I don't hang out with like... anyone, so, lmao. But I wouldn't. Are you friends with any of your exes? Yes. Would you ever dye your hair pink? ACTUALLY! Pastel pink is on my list. I tested some soft colors out in Photoshop on me and it actually looked really cute. I think I wanna be a smaller size first, though. Do you ever masturbate? I haven't since I came off that godawful birth control that drove me batshit insane in terms of libido. I still don't think it's a bad thing, my interest in that is just, gone. Are you embarrassed about your sex life or lack there of? No. Who’s the last person you said I love you to? My sister. Did you like your life when you were in middle school? Actually fuck middle school with a maul. If you went on American Idol, do you think you’d go through to Hollywood? Nope. Have you ever received an anonymous gift? No, I don't think so. What kind of laugh do you have? A loud and obnoxious one. Do you hoard anything? "Hoard" isn't the right word, no. Are you afraid of flying? I am, but I feel it's only a realistic apprehension. Especially going back and forth to Sara's a few times, you kinda have to get used to it. Most recent Facebook ‘like’? Shit man idk, I "like" a load of stuff. Have you ever camped out somewhere for an event the next day? No. Do you do anything regularly that could damage your body? Can someone please eliminate soda from the face of the earth???? What do you love most in the world? Those closest to me. What woke you up this morning? Ugh, the sun. I need to put my curtain back up after Roman tore it down. Who was the last person you rode in a car with? My mom. Is anything bothering you? There's always *something* bothering me to some degree, but nothing seriously at the moment. Are you in a good mood? My niece was born overnight and is gorgeous and healthy so I have to be. :') When were you the saddest in your life? 2016. Do you own more than one cell phone? Ha ha, I have two old ones. One I used for pictures because the camera was good, and the most recent old one, I just need to get some pictures and contacts from... but I'm lazy. Have you ever had a song written about you? No. What songs make you happy? Depends on what I'm feeling. Next concert? No clue now that Ozzy had to cancel his, bless his old heart. As a child, did you ever get the chance to go to Disney World/Disneyland? Yes. When was the last time you fought with your significant other, if any? I’m single. Do you know anyone, personally, who is in an abusive relationship? Are you? No, thankfully. When was the last time you were on a boat? Where did you travel on it? Not since I went fishing with my old best friend a few years back. We were just in a pond. Are you planning on going anywhere with someone, some time today? Probably not. Do you like cereal? What would you consider your favorite kind of cereal? Hell yeah. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is *maybe* my favorite? Idk, I like a lot. Are there any people you don’t like for your significant other/crush to talk to? This doesn't apply to me, but even if I had one, they're not my damn child. I'm not gonna police whom they talk to. I mean I guess there are exceptions, like, talking to a drug dealer to name one, but talking to most people, that's their business. Just don't hide it from me. Have you ever forgotten your birthday? Did you soon figure it out? No. What color are the curtains in your room if you have any at the moment? Maroon. Is there anyone you are currently trying to get out of trouble? Why? No. Have you ever wanted your significant other to get rid of a friend? Well, calling back to that other question, there was one in a previous relationship that I really couldn't stand, but it wound up working out. If you have siblings, have they moved out or do they still live with you? It's just me and Ma now. Do you ever go to Blockbuster? How frequently would you say you go? WHAT A CALLBACK!!!!! Omg did I love BB. Went like every weekend to rent a game, and sometimes we'd go there Fridays before a sleepover to grab a movie. Do you ever listen to music so you can actually change your emotion? Sure, sometimes.

[geekygoddesss]

“You’re so silly, I love you”

Requested by @teenageguitarist  

Based on one of my favorite scenes from my favorite show, Friends.

Everyone knew that Mondays were boring as fuck, it was no secret, they came after everyone’s praised weekend and somehow this day always seemed like the longest day ever. But not today. It was indeed Monday, but not only that, it was the day my boyfriend and his band were releasing their last album and that deserved a celebration.

It obviously had to happen at Ashton’s place, with happened to be right beside ours and it was a little bigger than our place, plus, out of everyone in the band, he was the one that was more excited for this new record, he poured his heart out on this, throwing out a party almost felt like a necessity.

It was fun. We drank, we danced, we laughed. Just like a good party should be, so naturally, after a good few hours of a full house of people drinking and messing around, people started leaving, it was the start of the week and a lot of them have things to do the next day, it’s totally fine, we only got left with the same old group of friends, the ones that would be around no matter what and the ones we could always count on for a good laugh. It felt like home to have them here.

We were currently sitting on Ashton’s living room, I was comfortably leaning on Calum’s embrace, while everyone else was sitting around in a circle, the lights were low around us and there was music in the background playing so softly. I was holding back a laugh from seeing our friend Mitchy prank calling some guy who worked with him, telling him something about winning a new X box or something like that. Lame joke, but I found it really funny.

He ended up hanging up the call after five minutes of keeping it up, we moved on our little truth or dare game, something kind of childish to do, but always really fun.

“Okay, so (Y/n), truth or dare?” Mitchy points at me since it was his turn to pick someone.

“Truth” I answer lazily, I was starting to grow a little tired, since it was already almost 3 in the morning and I barely slept before. I was not totally in the mood for dares.

“Boring” someone calls out to me, I don’t even see who it was.

“Hey” Calum says frowning a little and rubbing on my arm.

Mitchy seems to really think about it, there are not many things that you can ask in truth or dare, let’s be real, in this dumb games if you weren’t creative enough you would end up asking the same old questions everyone always asked. That is exactly what he didn’t do “Tell us about something you did years ago and you haven’t told anyone about” he says in a daring tone. I was really not expecting that.

“Woah, that’s very specific” I hear Michael say from the other side of the room.

“Yeah, where’s that coming from?” I ask him with a frown, it was such a weird question.

“She chose truth, I literally can’t think of anything else to ask” he excused himself.

“You don’t have to answer”  Calum whispers in my ear before kissing my head.

I think about it for a second, yes I technically don’t have to answer such a thing if I don’t want to and take a dare instead, but there’s something I need to say, maybe this is the time now that he brought this up. Nothing too harmful I guess, it’s just something that happened, I’ve been keeping this for myself for a while, we were all friends here, there’s no harm in saying it now.

“No, it’s fine” I smile up to Calum and move a little, sitting straight by his side “Well, Okay” I sigh, really thinking on what I was about to say, but there was no turning back now “Do you remember that time when we were in Australia and I was just starting to work with you?” I ask him.

“Yeah?” He nods with a confused look “Before we were dating?” He asks me.

“Yes”  I nod. My hands were shaking a little.

I give a deep sigh and close my eyes. I start talking.

I remember that day clearly because it was fucking scary. I was 18, maybe 19 at that time, the truth is I don’t remember but I was young.

I was just starting my job as a general assistant for the band’s team, I would help anyone with what they needed, no matter what it was. It was my second, maybe third week working on this and to be honest, I was having such a blast, I loved my job.

I remember to be helping the merch guy to load up the little stores around the venues. There tons of boxes around and we needed to put every single one of them in place before show time, I was not the only helping on this. My boss, Mark came up to me that day, catching me just walking through the doors that lead backstage and just getting to the store closer to the stage.

“(Y/n), are you busy right now?” He asked me with a friendly smile when he saw me.

“Em, no, not really” I lie, putting the box down on the store counter, If I could do something better than carrying boxes I would take that chance, I wasn’t in total shape and I hated carrying heavy things “I was just helping Gary with all these” I say pointing at the heavy box beside me.

“Okay cool” he nods and gives a step closer “I need you to do something for me” he says and pulls a phone from his pocket  “See this?”   “Yep” I nod.

“It’s Ella’s phone” he explained, I knew Ella, she was the one that always helped with all the photography stuff, she’s nice “She has some footage in there, recordings, everything, even those edited tour diary videos” he explains “Just put it all of it on your laptop, save it, and send it to me” he Instructs me, handing me the phone quickly and stepping back to do whatever he had to do “Uh, also make sure to find the clue images to post on twitter and program it to be posted in an hour or so” he adds up, walking away.

“You got it” I say loud enough so he could hear me.

“Thanks, Kiddo” “Anytime!” I call back, walking to a whole different way than I was before.

I remember how quickly I got to the green room, which was the room right beside the catering. I grabbed my laptop and turn it on, taking my USB cable to plug the phone into the computer. It was such a weird moment, there was exactly what Mark said there was, footage, videos of the guys, pictures, but right beside one of the clues pictures I had to post on twitter, there’s was a really low-quality video showing on screen, it looked like a screen recording from the camera of another phone or this phone.

Out of pure curiosity, I click on the video, it’s my computer, after all, no one would find out. It started as a weird video (indeed a screen recording) of a boy that not only didn’t showed his face but showing off his body from the neck down. It was such a short video, around 10 seconds, but it was clear, the boy in the video took the hem of his pants and pulled it down, showing off his boner in a very clear picture before the image went back to an app main menu.

“Oh, what the hell?” I sighed with a big frown. what the actual hell?. I play the video one more time, trying to take a guess on who was the person in it, but it doesn’t take me long to find out, because I recognized that big tattoo on his arm, that big bird in black ink was really ringing a bell, that boy was Calum “Oh my god” I almost wanted to exclaim my cheeks getting redder and redder “Bitch” I groan, playing the video one more time, there was a laugh at the end. Ella’s laugh, what a fucking bitch. She recorded Calum’s dick. Bitch.

I try to take my mind off what I just saw as I do the exact thing that my boss told me to do, I sent him the videos, post things he told me to, but somehow I found myself looking at that video again, who the hell would do something like this and save it up along with videos of the band that was to be public, Obviously someone who’s brain was as big as a peanut or smaller than ant. I don’t know what I should but I was definitely going to delete that video.

I click on the video image on the screen and click again, showing all of the options that I could do to this footage, I was just about to delete it, but I hear my name being called once and then again, I look up and click the option without looking to then immediately shut my computer down.

“(Y/n)?” I hear a voice call me again and enter the room. Speaking of the devil. “Yeah?” I say with a very fake smile “Oh hi, Calum” I say putting my computer aside. He smiles back to me “Hey, I thought I heard you here” he says walking into the room towards the mini bar “What are you up to?” I hesitate a little to answer “I’m just here” I shrug “hanging out” “Oh” he nods talking out a water bottle and opening it up  “Listen, I still have like an hour or two before I have to go on stage, I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, join me and go for coffee or something?” he says smiling and taking a sip of his water, he already looked ready to go for stage and he was now asking me out.

Isn’t he dating, Ella? “What?” I say for myself, but I snap out of my temporary trance before he thought I was crazy or something  “I mean, Yeah, I would love to” I smile at him, my blushed, that’s embarrassing. “Nice” he says with a very wide smile “should we go then?” he says pointing to the door. “Yeah, yeah, I Just- I need a second, I’m finishing something, I’ll be done in a minute” I say, almost sounding rushed and I was not lying, I still had to send Mark a couple of videos. “Okay”  he nods “I’ll wait for you outside then” “Okay” I nod back, to then wait for him to leave the room.

I wait to open my laptop until I hear the door shutting, I am very quick, I open my computer and go to my previous job, sending in what needed to be sent in, but I notice something weird, the moment I go to my twitter profile sitting right beside my mail is literally blowing up, not in a bad way, I guess, I have like a thousand followers, I was not popular. I scroll down and see what’s happening.

I hit send, not delete. Fuck.  I’m stupid. “Shit, shit, shit” I curse under my breath, my hands are shaking so bad that I barely knew what I was doing  “No, don’t do this to me” I say going to my profile and immediately deleting that video. about 20 people have already liked this. then realisation came “I’m gonna lose my job” “(Y/n)?” I hear calum call me out and I just close my laptop.

“Coming”  I call out and get up my sit, taking the phone with me and leaving my computer away “I’m ready, let’s go”

So, that was the day he first asked me out, along with the day I almost ruin his career. This is fucked up.

“You posted my nudes?” He said in a not very happy tone. I don’t blame him if it was me I would be mad too. “It was you?” I hear Luke ask in surprise. “I’m so sorry, okay?” I panic, getting up my seat “I didn’t mean to do that before I could delete it some people already had the video” I explain, but I could tell this was not getting any better “it was an accident” “People kept making fun of me for months” Calum says getting up his seat too and almost trying to control himself from yelling “The management team went hammed on me because of it, you know that, I was so dead nervous thinking you would think badly of me for that shit” He groaning “And I didn’t” I exclaim, almost like if that was the good side of the story “listen, Calum I’m so sorry” “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He shakes his head, he’s disappointed at me. I shrugged and look down “Because of I kind of ignored it” I mumble “I didn’t want you to freak out” “Well, I am freaking out now!” he exclaims at me and I flinch, I wasn’t scared, just surprised that he suddenly raised his voice, I didn’t like when he did that “I am so sorry baby” I say looking up at him and trying to hug him but he walks back, getting away from my hold. “Well a ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it, I can’t believe you did that” he says shaking his head even more “Fuck this, I’m sorry, I’m gonna go” He says and with that, he just turns around to leave. “Calum” I walk towards me but he almost marches straight to the door. “Don’t follow me”  he groans, to then walk out of his best friend’s house. I stand on my feet, not giving a single step towards him, he’s really mad at me and that was never good. So I decide to not push it for a little while and wait for him to cool down a least a little. I just hope he doesn’t break up with me over this. I really hope he didn’t. “Shit, (Y/n) I feel so bad, I’m sorry” Mitch’s says, clearly apologizing for doing that question in first place. “It’s okay” I say giving him a sad smile “I guess this had to be told someday, anyways” I shrug “I think I should go now” I say walking starting to walk out but before I could give a full step, Crystal, Michael’s girlfriend, grab my arm. “Do you want me to keep you company for a while?” She kindly offers. “No, thanks, Crys” I say with a shrug “I guess I’ll try to talk to him” I say and she nods at my answer “thanks for having us, Ashton” I wave my hand at me. “Anytime, good luck” he says with a kind smile. Good luck. That’s the best thing someone could tell me right now, cause I was fucking nervous.   Walking home isn’t really a long way and I can tell Calum literally ran home because I don’t run into him on my way back. I left just a minute before he did, I should have at least see him enter the house, which I didn’t, however, the lights were on, he was clearly in there. I unlock the door with my keys and close the door behind me, I don’t even have to take a guess of where he Is because he always goes to the same place when he’s upset. The music studio. I walk to the door of his studio upstairs. It’s quiet inside, so I guess he’s just digesting what just happened, makes sense. I know twice and I hear his groan at the other side of the door. “Open up” I say softly. “Go away” “Calum, really, open up” I say grabbing the door knocker but the door is completely locked “I’m sorry okay?  That happened years ago, let it go” I say as if that was going to make him be less mad at me. “How can I just let it go?” He exclaims and I flinch, he’s raising his voice again “You could have ruined my reputation” “I know,I’m sorry” I mumble and knock again “Just open up, talk to me” I beg but he ignores me. I ran out of words to say and I feel like I have no other way to Ale him happy again. But oh wait, there is one way, one really stupid and strange way of making him happy again. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I clear my voice for a second and prepare my voice for what I’m going to do. “(Y/n) says she’s sorry and she shouldn’t have done that”  I say I’m a very high and awkward voice I only did when I was joking around with him “it was a big mistake and she won’t ever ever do that again” I hear him groan and little and walk to the door, opening it up and looking awkwardly at me “What are you doing?”  He asks “She feels really bad for not telling you” I keep talking in that voice, I could see somehow it was making all of this a bit better. “Are you really imitating Tommy pickles to make me feel better?” He asks crossing his arms over his chest. “Well” I shrug, keeping my voice high pitched “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do” He tries to keep his face still but I can see his smile starting to crack and breaking up into a full-on laugh, it felt like music to my ears, just beautiful. “Did I do it?” I say in my normal voice with a big smile on my face. “Oh my god” he says in between laughs, looking at me like I was the greatest thing that ever made him laugh “you’re so silly, I love you” he says and I (literally) freeze. “What?” I ask, my face can’t help but smile. That was the best thing he has ever said. In all of these years we’ve been dating he’s never told me such a thing, it had nothing to do with me, it was just him, he wanted to be sure that he would say those three words to the right person and believed that saying it marked a very important phase in the relationship. I respected that, and hearing him say it to me felt special. “Nothing” he says, starting to freak out “I said you’re silly and then I just stopped talking” My hands are covering my face and then my mouth, I point at his chest and make him give a step back, his eyes were wide in surprise, he was totally weird out by this “You said you love me, I can’t believe this” “No, I didn’t” he denies “Yes, you did” “No, I didn’t” “You love me!” I exclaim in emotion, while he keeps freaking out. “No, I don’t” he freaks out  “Stop it, Stop it, Stop it” he says running his hand through his hair and giving a step back. “You Stop it!” I laugh, my eyes were filling up with tears. “Oh my god, you love me” “Okay well, yeah! I do” he says in realizations to then look at me “Are you crying?” He says softly, walking to me. “I’m so happy” I cry, feeling him pull me into a hug “you finally said it” “I did” he said running my back softly “I’m sorry I freaked out” he apologizes “I’m sorry about the video” I said back, looking up at him. “It’s fine I guess” he shrugs  “it happened a long time ago” “But I’m truly sorry about it” I apologize once again, crying into his chest. “I know” he says softly to then caress my hair “stop crying” he chuckles, caressing my head really softly. “I can’t” I laugh a little, I really couldn’t stop crying  “Calum?” “Yeah” he mumbles in response. “I love you, too” I say and look up at him with my already red eyes. “I know” he says, kissing my forehead “I know” We stay quiet for a good while, embracing each other and feeling the warmth of the moment, it was definitely a weird night, but thankfully, it turned out better than what it could have been. All I needed to know here was that we now know how much we love each other, and that was more than enough. Well, that’s really all I need.

[iamcmims]

SUPERNATURAL: Olivia Parker: Wendigo

Words count: 11K

A/N: Sorry for posting this part on Tumblr this late! It’s been on wattpad since Sunday and I had no time to post it here! I posted the other day that I had no access to internet, so the chapter three “Dead In The Water” would be posted later, well, turns out internet is back and working! So I can get back on this new chapter and post it either Sunday or Monday! 

Feedback always appreciated! If you want to be tagged, feel free to ask! 

Warning: Blood, injuries, insults, angst, violence. 

PREVIOUS PARTS: Pilot

NEXT PARTS: Dead In The Water  — Phantom Traveler — Bloody Mary — Skin — Hook Man — The Fight — Home

Previously on Olivia Parker...

In one of the several suburban homes, Olivia Parker was sitting on her bed in the darkened bedroom, looking at her closet that opened itself, making Olivia scream.

In another home, Mary Winchester runs up the stairs into her youngest son's, Sam, nursery. John Winchester gives baby Sam to Dean, "Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Now, Dean, go!"

After Olivia's mother, Caitlyn closed the doors; it once again opened itself. A silhouette comes out of it; it looks around until it spots what it was looking for. The shape walks to the wooden desk and takes a picture of Olivia and her parents. "It has begun."

Dean runs downstairs with Sam and leaves the house. John goes back to the nursery and watches his wife, Mary burn on the ceiling. "Mary! No!" John watches the nursery burn, Mary with it.

31st October 2000.

Olivia was now older, dressed in black, looking at herself in a mirror. Her mother looks at her, "Are you ready?", "Yes. As ready as I can be on the day I bury my husband and child."

Olivia stayed until the end of the ceremony when everyone had left, she kneels down, "I'm going to find what did this to you and I'm going to kill it, no matter what it takes."

October 31st, 2005.

Sam watches his brother that was in his and Jess, his girlfriend, apartment. "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." Sam put his arm off of his girlfriend, keeping his eyes on Dean, "Jess, excuse us."

In the stairwell from Sam's apartment, Sam speaks to Dean, "I swore I was done hunting. For good.", "I can't do this alone."

In Sam's bedroom, Jess speaks to Sam. "And now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend the weekend with them?", "Hey. Everything's going to be okay. I promise."

"You think Mom would have wanted this for us?" Asks Sam.

In John's motel room, Sam looks at the photo John left of the three Winchesters.

"Dean, we were raised like warriors."

Olivia smiled and tilted her head, "Did you really think I would be this stupid? Come on, show me some respect." As she finished her sentence, Olivia swung her machete, beheading the vampire. "Eat this, bitch."

Olivia was in her Black 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport, blood on her face and clothes.

"I'm so sorry..."

Olivia sits on the bed in her motel room and dials the number of her mother. "Hey, mom. — Work is busy lately. I might stay for a little bit longer." She takes out a journal and a pen, 'November 1st, 2005. Still nothing. I killed another nest of vampire. If they knew something about the accident, they would have never told me. I  need to find what killed Conor and Joey.  But for that, I need to find John Winchester. "

Olivia was in front of a house that looked abandoned. The flashback of the night of the accident hit her. Her son looked outside, "Mom who is in the yard?" Olivia went outside and put herself in front of the man, "I said, get out. If I find you here again, I will kill you. You understand me?" The man left.          Olivia was sitting at a table with her husband, Conor who as sitting in front of her. "He didn't move, not until I put myself in front of him. He was fixing Joey's bedroom.", "Well, just to be safe, keep your gun next to you." Olivia looks up at her husband. "What do you think, Conor? I have it on me, loaded.", "It's not your fault, Livy.", "He was not human. Trust me."          "I gave up hunting, Conor. But my instincts are still there.", "This man, whether he's human or not, is not here because of you.", "Well, I won't wait to find out. I may not be in the life anymore, but I'm not stupid, I didn't erase every number.", "Who are you going to call?", "John Winchester. After all, he's the one who trained me."

"This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean 866-907-3235."

A drop of blood falls on Olivia's shoulder then other ones. She looks up and sees her husband and child on the ceiling. "No!" John arrives and sees the fire starting, "Olivia! Come on let's get out.", "No! I can't leave them there!"

"How did you know?", "One call was enough to know you were in trouble.", "What happened back there, it's the same thing that happened to you, to Mary.", "We're going to find it, I promise.", "I know. Even if it is the last thing I do."

"You have responsibilities, Sam!", "To Dad? And his crusade? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back." Dean grabs Sam by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. "Don't talk about her like that."

Olivia was inside the Impala with Sam, they were talking to Dean on the phone, "Dad's gone. I've got his journal. He left me a message."

Sam compares the coordinates in the journal to a map. "These coordinates he left us, it's weird, man."

Sam, Dean, and Olivia were in John's motel room that he abandoned. "Hey, Dean? What I said earlier, I'm sorry." Dean raises a hand, "no chick-flick moments."

"If I were Dad, though, I'd go ask her husband," "If he's still alive." Sam and Dean tun around and see Olivia standing at the door. "Olivia!" Sam frowns, "wait, Olivia? Parker?"

Olivia walks over to Sam, "You know, despite everything John said to you, he was damn proud of you, Sammy.", "I guess so."

"Jess?" Sam is in his apartment, lying on the bed, eyes closed. Blood drips on his forehead, and he flinches, opens his eyes, and gasps in horror. Jess was pinned to the ceiling, bleeding. "No!"

Dean watches outside Sam's apartment the firefighters handle the situation, then goes back to Sam and Olivia at the Impala. Sam finishes loading a shotgun and tosses it in the trunk.

"We've got work to do." Sam shuts the trunk.

Today — Lost Creek, Colorado.

In the forest, two tents were set up near a fire ring. Crickets were chirping. Inside one tent, two young men, Brad and Gary, were playing head-to-head handheld video games. "Dude, you're cheating." Gary smirks, "no, you  just suck." Something growls outside. In the other tent, a third young man, Tom Collins, records a video message on his cell phone. "Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge." Something dark flicks behind the tent wall behind Tom, too fast to be identifiable as more than 'something dark'; but as Tom was recording himself, it also recorded the fast silhouette. "We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Tom stops recording and sends the message.          Brad closes his game system and tosses it aside. Gary stares at his system for a moment, then turns to look at Brad, who is getting up and unzipping the tent.  Gary looks at him, "hey, where ya goin'? My moment of victory.", "Nature calls." Brad goes outside and zips up the sent behind him. He goes to stand against the tree to relieve himself. The fire crackles. Something snaps a stick. Brad looks towards the sound and sees the trees rustling. Brad shakes his head and returns his attention downward, then looks up sharply. Something growls.          Inside Tom's tent, Tom, who is reading Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces,' hears Brad scream.          Inside Gary's tent, Gary hears the same scream and rolls over. "Brad?"          Tom sits up. "Gary, what's goin' on?"         Gary opens the tent and sticks his head out to look around. He sees nothing. Then he hears growling again. He looks up; something pulls Gary out of the tent. He screams.          Tom turns out the lantern he had on. Shadows move very quickly around the outside of Tom's tent. Tom looks around, his eyes following the shadows and growling. Silence falls. Something slashes open Tom's tent, making him scream.

Olivia and Dean were in the Impala that was parked not so far from the cemetery where Sam was walking. Olivia was shotgun and Dean in the driver seat. Olivia looks at Sam then looks in front of her, fixing her eyes on a tree. Dean shifted his gaze from Sam to Olivia and then looked at Olivia. They didn't have the time or the chance to talk. Dean felt terrible for not giving her any news, just one text to make sure she knew he was alive wouldn't take long, he thought. But then again, did she want this text? Dean takes a deep breath and looks where Olivia's eyes are fixed. "How are you feeling?" Olivia gives a side glance at Dean then looks ahead. "Usual." Dean doesn't answer. "You know, Dean. You gotta stop beating yourself up. I know you were out searching for John." She looks at him. "I should have at least called." Olivia shrugs. "It's true. So should I." They look back at Sam that was wearing a suit and tie, carrying a bouquet of various flowers. "This thing took too much from us. We have to find it and kill it." Dean nods. "I know.", "Something happened to John. You know it like me." Olivia turns and looks at Dean once again. "Wherever he would go, he would have his gun and this journal. Something happened.", "I know. It's like he left his legacy. Like he's saying goodbye. Do you think we're going to find him?", "I hope. I think we've lost enough. We're going to kill this son of a bitch, and if we have to go in a blaze of glory, I say let's do it."          Sam sighs and stops next to Jessica's gravestone. On the tombstone was written 'Jessica Lee Moore,' 'Beloved Daughter,' 'January 24th, 1984 — November 2nd, 2005'. There is a small picture of a grinning Jess set into the stone above name, a black-and-white photograph of her leaning against the stone between a white teddy bear. And a wooden box with a crucifix leaning on the picture a small American Flag next to the box, and three candles standing on the gravestone; one is of the Virgin de Guadalupe. Sam looks between the headstone and the flowers. "I, uh…" Sam laughs. "You always said roses were — were lame, so I brought you, uh…" Sam looks at the picture set into the gravestone, then looks away, choking back tears. He steps closer to the gravestone. "Jess…oh God…" Sam kneels to set down the flowers. "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth." Sam leans the flowers in front of the crucifix. An arm covered in dirt shoots out of the ground and grabs Sam by the wrist.          Sam jerks awake. He's in the backseat, Dean and Olivia were talking. Dean looks in the rearview mirror, "You okay?" Sam glances over and away. "Yeah, I'm fine." Dean nods and brings focus on the road. "Another nightmare?" Sam clears his throat. "You wanna drive for a while?" Sam and Olivia laugh. "Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that.", "Just thought you might want to. Never mind.", "You're missing an occasion, Sam!" Sam smiles at Olivia and looks at his hands. Olivia and Dean glance at each other, having a silent conversation about Sam's state. Sam didn't miss it, "Look, guys, you're worried about me. I get it and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay." Olivia and Dean agree at the same time, "Mm-hm." Sam grabs the map in front of Olivia and goes back to his seat. "All right, where are we?" Olivia turns and looks at the map; she puts her finger where they are, "Just outside of Grand Junction." Then sits correctly on her seat, feet on the dashboard. Sam folds down the map, which is of Colorado and has a large red cross labeled 35-111. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Dean sighs, "Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica—", "—We got to find Dad first.", "Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence. Dad will have answers for the three of us. He will know what to do." Sam frowned when Dean said for the three of them, not understanding what he meant. Dean didn't tell Olivia's story to Sam. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him. Until then he would keep the secret. "These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge." Olivia slightly moves in her seat, enough to be facing Sam. "What about it?", "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere." Olivia looks at Dean. Sam was making a point. All of this made no sense.          They drive past the National Forest sign that says, 'Welcome to LOST CREEK Colorado National Forest.'

The Impala is parked next to a sign that says 'Ranger Station Lost Creek Trail, Lost Creek National Forest.'          "So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam looks at a 3D map of the national forest, paying particular attention to the ridge labeled 'BLACKWATER RIDGE.' Dean looks at the decorations. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place.", "Dude," Dean was smiling. "check out the size of this freaking bear." Sam and Olivia look over. Dean was looking at a framed photo of a man standing behind a much larger bear. Sam comes to stand next to Dean while Olivia stays close to the window looking outside. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure."          A forest ranger, Wilkinson, walk up behind them; when he speaks, Sam, Dean, and Olivia whip around startled. "You guys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The three of them shake their heads. Olivia walks in front of his desk. "No. We are environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Olivia smiles, Sam laughs, and Dean grins, raising a fist. "Recycle, man." The Ranger rolls his eyes, "Bull." Sam's eyes flick to Dean, who doesn't move. Olivia does not give away any sign, she was impossible to read, thought the Ranger. "You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Dean considers. "Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger—" Dean checks the Ranger's nametag. "Wilkinson.", "Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing person now, is it?" Olivia sighs, Dean shakes his head, and the Ranger nods. "You tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine.", "We will. Well, that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean laughs a little at the end of his sentence. The Ranger nods at Dean. "That is putting it mildly." Before they leave, Oliva frowns and takes a step closer. "Ranger, you know what would help a lot? It's if we could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know so she could see her brother's return date." The Ranger eyes Olivia, "I can't do that.", "Well," Olivia takes out a fake FBI ID, "you can. But then again, it's up to you. We'd totally get it if you don't give us the paper."

Sam, Dean, and Olivia leave the ranger station. Dean is holding the piece of paper Olivia got them, laughing. "Got to tell you something, Olivia. That was beautiful." Sam nods. "Yeah. Well, you guys heard it. It's not a missing person case.", "I still think we should go see this girl." Says Dean while looking at the paper. "What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?", "What do you mean?", "The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" They stop when they arrive at the Impala. "I don't know. Maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean and Olivia were looking at Sam. "What?" Olivia frowned and faced Sam, "Since when are you adopting John's way? Shoot first ask questions later?", "Since now." Olivia raises her eyebrows and looks at Dean. "Really?" Dean goes around the car and gets inside.          Olivia's phone rings, she takes it out of her pocket and answers. "Yes? — It's me. — Hey, Bobby. — Sure, what can I do for you? — What happened? — What do you think it is? — Yeah sounds about right. — Okay, I'm coming. — Yeah. — Don't mention it." She hung up and looks at Dean. "You will have to drop me at the motel.", "What did Bobby want?", "Werewolves nest. I'm going to help him." Dean looks at Olivia then back on the road. "You sure you should go alone?", "I won't be alone. Bobby will be here. And you seem to forget that I've been hunting alone for a moment."          Dean stopped the car at the motel room; they got out of it. Sam and Dean stood against the Impala while Olivia was taking her duffel bag off of the Impala to her Riviera passenger seat. She closes the door and walks to Sam and Dean, hands in her jacket's pocket. "Don't be a stranger, give me some news this time." Dean laughs and nods. "You got this. C'mere." Olivia puts her hands out of her pockets and hugs Dean. Dean talks low, enough for only Olivia to hear it. "You be careful out there. The thing's still out." Olivia nods and goes to Sam. "Don't do anything stupid, or anything that Dean would do." Sam laughs and nods, "Yes ma'am.", "Okay. Come here, don't make me beg for it." Sam laughs again and hugs Olivia. She lets go and get into her car, turning on the engine. Dean closes his eyes. "Ohh," he reopens them and looks at Olivia, "almost as beautiful as Baby's engine.", "Don't compare two queens, Winchester." Sam and Dean wave at Olivia while she leaves the parking lot. They get back in the Impala, driving to the girl's house.

Sam and Dean are standing at the door to a house. The door opens to reveal Haley Collins. "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean; this is Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." Haley hesitates. "Let me see some ID." Dean pulls out a fake ID with the name Samuel Cole and holds it up against the screen. Haley looks at it, then at Dean, who smiles. Haley opens the door. "Come on in.", "Thanks." The door swings open; Haley catches sight of the Impala. "That yours?", "Yeah." Sam is looking back at the Impala. "Nice car." Haley turns to lead Sam and Dean into the kitchen, where Ben Collins is sitting at the table on a laptop. Dean turns his head to mouth something to Sam, who rolls his eyes.          "So," begins Sam "if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Haley comes back into the room with a bowl she places on the table. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos — we haven't heard anything in over three days now.", "Well, maybe he can't get cell reception.", "He's got a satellite phone, too.", "Could it be he is just having fun and forgot to check in?", "He wouldn't do that." Dean eyes Ben, then Ben looks away. Haley puts more food on the table. "Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other.", "Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Haley nods at Sam, "Yeah." On a laptop, Haley pulls up pictures. "That's Tommy." Haley clicks twice, and another picture comes up, then the still frame opening the latest video. "Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." Sam spots the shadow flicking past. "Well," starts Dean "we will find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing.", "Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning. And I'm going to find Tommy myself.", "I think I know how you feel.", "Hey," cuts off Sam "do you mind forwarding these to me?", "Sure."

Olivia parks in front of a motel, she takes her phone, goes to the message Bobby sent her with the number of the room. "450." She turns off the engine, takes her duffel bag and walks to Bobby's room. She knocks three times, pause for five seconds and knocks two more times. Bobby opens the door and smiles. "Hey, Kiddo. Thanks for coming.", "Sure." She enters the room, puts the duffel bag on the ground. "So what do we got?", "So far, three bodies with hearts missing.", "Yeah, so it's definitely werewolves.", "Yeah. But wait for it, they've got a type.", "What type?" Bobby looks at Olivia and raises his left eyebrow. Olivia sighs. "I'm going to play the bait, again? Come on Bobby; it's like you really want me to die." Bobby laughs. "Not my fault if you're the supernatural kind's type!", "Yeah, what can I say. Got everything for everyone. Alright, what's your plan, Singer?", "Easy. You will go to the local bar—", "One thing, this time, I don't have to wear a skirt that could almost be mistaken as my underwear?", "Nope. Just have to sit down and order a drink and wait for it.", "Fine. I will take a shower and rub the hunter smell off of me, and dress a little bit differently." Olivia takes her duffel bag and makes her way to the bathroom. "Oh, Olivia." She turns around, "How's Sam?" Olivia sighs. "Honestly? Bad. He's acting a lot like John when Mary died. Shoot first ask questions later. We already have John missing, and a mini John on the way. He's going to get himself and probably Dean, killed." Bobby sighs loudly, worried. "Sorry to bring you bad news Bob'.", "And you?", "What me?", "How are you handling?", "Bobby, it's been years you've been asking this question. You know the answer. I won't rest until I pull a damn bullet in the thing's head. After I do this, ask the question again, and I will see which answer to give." Olivia turns around and closes the bathroom door behind her. Bobby shakes his head and opens a beer, takes a big sip of it, "Those kids will be the death of me."

Sam and Dean sit down at a table in a bar. Dean takes his phone and dials Olivia's number. It goes straight to voicemail. "Hi, it's Olivia Parker. I can't be reached for the moment, if it's important leave a message and I'll call you back." Dean takes a deep breath, "Hey, Olivia, it's Dean, been trying to join you. Uh…call back whenever you can. Bye." He hung up and puts his phone in his pocket. "She's fine, Dean. No need to stress." There is a moment of silence. Sam frowns and looks at Dean. "Dean, earlier in the car, when we were talking about Dad and everything that happened to Mom and Jess, you said "three of us," so you included Olivia, what happened?", "I ain't-a kiss and tell, Sammy. If you want to know, you will have to ask her.", "This thing took something from her, am I right?" Dean didn't answer, but it was enough for Sam. "It's bigger than what we think, bigger than what Dad maybe thought.", "We will figure it out." They fall once again into silence until Sam decides to break it once more. "So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But, still, this is April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam opens John's journal. "Any before that?" Asks Dean. Sam pulls out a newspaper articles to show Dean. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Dean reads the headline in 'The Lost Creek Gazette.'          'GRIZZLY BEAR ATTACKS! UP TO EIGHT HIKERS VANISH IN LOST CREEK AREA HIKERS DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLE AUTHORITIES Families continue to search and rescue efforts in spite of disappointing (...)' Sam pulls out his laptop. "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936." Sam opens the laptop, which already has a window open to Tom's video. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay, watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." Sam pulls up the video and goes through three frames of the video one at a time. A shadow crosses the screen. "Do it again." Sam listens to Dean and repeats the frames. "That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Dean hits Sam, making him look up at Dean. "Told you something weird was going on.", "Yeah." Sam closes the laptop. "I got one more thing." Sam hands over another newspaper article. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive." Dean looks at 'The Lost Creek Gazette.' "Is there a name?"

An old man, Mr. Shaw, talks to Sam and Dean while leading them inside his house. Mr. Shaw has a cigarette in his mouth. "Look, Ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents go mauled by a—" Sam interrupts Mr. Shaw. "Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Mr. Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, takes it out, and nods. "The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Mr. Shaw doesn't answer Dean. "What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Still no answers. "We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it." Declares Dean. "I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make." Mr. Shaw sits down. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." Sam sits down across from Mr. Shaw. "Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" Shaw pauses. "Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like…no man or animal I ever heard.", "It came at night?" Shaw nods at Sam. "Got inside our tent?" Sam presses Mr. Shaw. "It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming.", "It killed them?", "Dragged them off into the night." Shaw shakes his head and then continues. "Why it left me alive…been asking myself that ever since." Shaw's hands go to his collar, "did leave me this, though." Shaw opens his collar to reveal three long scars. Claw marks. Sam and Dean look at them. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."

Olivia and Dean were on the phone with each other, talking about their respective cases. "So," begins Olivia, "What do you think it is?" Dean sighs, "I don't know. It attacks at night and in the woods. And the way it broke into Shaw's cabin, it was neat, like a human.", "A werewolf?", "Maybe, but they usually go for the heart, not the whole body.", "Unless they cover they trace. But once again, they would have not let the Shaw guy live. It may not be a werewolf.", "Talking about werewolves. How's your case with Bobby?", "Well tonight we caught one, told us where the nest was, so tomorrow we work on the plan, train a little, and by nightfall, we will go there and gank the whole nest.", "Be careful.", "Dean." Olivia's voice was a warning. "Hey, can't stop me from worrying."          Sam enters the room and sees Dean on the phone. He frowns at Dean, silently asking who it was, Dean mouths Olivia, making Sam nod. "Tell her I say hi." He whispers. Dean nods. And listens to Olivia. "I will be back as soon as this case is over.", "I know. Just don't rush it too much, don't get yourself killed or I will bring you back to only kill you again." Olivia laughs, making Dean giggle. "Deal, Winchester. Now, I'm going to sleep. Night, Dee.", "Night, Livy." Dean hangs up and puts his phone on the table. Sam looks at Dean with a grin. "What?" Sam shakes his head, "Nothing. So what'd she say?", "Thought of a werewolf too, but as she pointed out, Shaw would be dead if it was indeed werewolves." Sam sighs. Dean stands up, "Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls.", "So it's probably something else, something corporeal.", "Corporeal? Excuse me, professor.", "Shut up. So what do you think?", "The claws, the speed that it moves… could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."          Dean opens the trunk of the Impala, then the weapons box, and props it open with a shotgun. He puts some guns in a duffel bag. Sam leans in. "We cannot let that Haley girl go out there.", "Oh yeaH? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?", "Yeah." Dean looks at Sam, dumbfounded. "Her brother is missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean picks up the duffel. "Finding Dad's not enough?" Sam slams the weapons box shut, then the trunk. "Now we gotta babysit too?" Dean stares at Sam, he didn't recognize Sam, Olivia was probably right, he went back on the field too soon. "What?" Dean shakes his head, "nothing." Dean throws the duffel bag at Sam and walks off, Sam staring after him.

Olivia was training outside in the small forest not so far from the motel room. She was shooting at different targets she put in front of her, not missing one. When Olivia finished, she walked closer to the targets and looked at it. She turns the safety on of her gun and runs back to the motel room. She enters the room and sees Bobby cleaning his weapons. "How's the weather, Rocky?" Olivia laughs, puts her gun on the table and takes a bottle of water from the small fridge. "The best weather to gank a next of werewolves!" Olivia takes drinks half of the bottle and puts it down. "I'm going to take a shower then we can work on the plan." Bobby nods bringing his focus back to the weapons while Olivia goes to the bathroom.          A map was on the table, Bobby and Olivia were around it. "So," Bobby puts his finger on a point on the map, "entry A. The Alpha of the nest will probably be here, protected by at least two other werewolves." He puts his finger on another point. "Entry B, that's the 'killing room,' after killing them, we should check out this place in case if there are some survivors." Olivia nods. She looks at the map and taps another point with her finger, "entry C is where we enter." Bobby nods, "but the thing is, Bobby, we will have to park the car down the block. So we will have to walk to the entry C.", "This ain't a problem, as long as we find a way kill all of them.", "Unless we get caught, we will have to run fast. Really fast and without involving the neighborhood and have more victims on our hands." Olivia stands up straight. "Our plan is what? We park the car down one block, enter by the entry C, then what?" Bobby looks at the map, "Then," he pauses and searches the map. "There is the main room, where the rest of the nest will be, around five of them." Olivia nods. "Okay, well, I say let's go have a little ride just to see the surroundings."

A man named Roy talks to Haley and Ben while checking a shotgun. They were all carrying full backpacks. "I'll tell you again, I don't think Ben should come.", "Roy—" Haley begins, but Roy cuts her off. "Look, you're paying me good money to keep everybody safe. I think Ben's safest at home." The Impala pulls up. Roy, Haley, and Ben stare. Haley shakes her head. Sam and Dean get out of the car, Sam opens the back door of the Impala and pulls out a duffel bag. "You guys got room for two more?" Haley gives Dean a questioning look. "Wait, you want to come with us?", "Who are these guys?" Asks Roy. "Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Sam heads past everyone. "You're rangers?", "That's right.", "And," Haley looks at Dean's shoes, "you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Dean looks down at himself. "Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean heads past Haley. "What, you think this is funny? It's dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt." Sam turns back and looks at Roy. "Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be." Dean looks at Roy. "We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all." Dean heads past Sam.

A mine shaft lets in light, Tom and Gary are hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. There are different corpses with them. Growling. Gary spots a tall skinny shape and starts yelling. Tom does his best to turn away and closes his eyes tightly as Gary shouts.

Olivia and Bobby were in the Riviera driving past the house where the nest of werewolves was. Bobby takes several pictures as discreet as he could, while Olivia doesn't stop the car and keeps driving. They stop at a local diner called 'The Old Maple.' They take a booth and order coffees. "How much did you get with the photos?" Bobby looks at them and sighs, "Not much. We had more details on the map. It does confirm the entries, though." Olivia nods, the waitress arrives and gives them their coffees, they smile and nod at her with a quick 'thank you' and return to their conversation. "Okay. Well, nightfall is in hours away so what now? Are we sure there are only three victims?", "There are only three reported victims.", "This is what I thought. So we should look into missings, ask some people, and if people are missing, we'll include this in the plan, and after we killed the nest, we will check into it. I just only hope that there are survivors." Bobby nods. "I do too."

The group hikes through the forest, Roy in the lead, then Dean, Haley, Ben, and Sam bringing up the rear. "Roy, you said you did a little hunting.", "Yeah, more than a little." Dean nods, "Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?", "Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Dean passes Roy. "Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Roy grabs Dean. Sam looks on. "Watcha doing, Roy?" Asks Dean. Roy grabs a stick and pokes the bear trap Dean had almost stepped in. Haley looks annoyed. "You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy drops the stick and retakes the lead. Dean looks at it then up, "It's a bear trap." They hike on. Haley catches up to Dean. "You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." Haley grabs Dean's arm. "So who the hell are you?" Ben goes past Haley and Dean. Sam looks at Dean, who silently tells him to keep going; Sam obeys. Dean watches him go for a moment. "Sam and I are brothers, and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat.", "Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?", "I'm telling you now. Besides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman except Olivia. So we okay?" Haley pauses and nods. "Yeah, okay. And who's Olivia?", "Our best friend. She's helping us find our Dad.", "Why?", "She grew up with us. My Dad took her in at a bad time in her life.", "What happened to her?", "Ah, sorry. No can do. I promised to keep this to myself, that if someone were going to tell her story, it would be her." Dean winks at Haley who smiles. "You're a good friend.", "I try to. And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean pulls out a big bag of peanut M&Ms and sticks his hand in the bag as he hikes on. Haley waits a moment, then follows.

Olivia and Bobby were in FBI suits. Olivia was interrogating a woman and Bobby, another man. "So, Mrs. Brook. I saw that you posted on the local's website that your son went missing." The woman nods, "Did you have any news about? Some things you feel like I should know?", "I—I don't know...", "It's okay. It's alright. Take your time. Uh, did you see someone, a stranger for instance near your house, or your son? Did he tell you anything about it?", "He said he had a new friend older than him. But I thought he was from another grade. Oh my, God." The woman starts to panic, Olivia helps the woman to sit down. "It's okay. Did he tell you anything else? Where he lived, where they would see each other?" She shakes her head. Olivia sighs and sits down, next to the woman. "I'm sorry for pressing you with my questions. The more I know, the more chances I have to find your son.", "I understand. Keep going.", "Okay. Did any of his teaches talked to you about this new friend?", "They said that Dylan was distracted lately. He cut some classes.", "Okay. Did Dylan had a phone?", "Yes.", "Okay, could you give me his number and your operator?" The woman stands up, takes a paper and writes down everything Olivia needed. Olivia stands up and takes the paper. "Thank you." Olivia stops for a moment and sighs, "I know what you're going through. I'm going to do my best to find your son.", "Thank you so much." Olivia nods and leaves the house. Bobby was already in the car, the goes around the car and gets into the driver seat. "So, what did the man told you?", "His daughter went missing a week ago, but she came back yesterday, she was at a friend's place. You?", "This woman's son is missing. She said he made a new friend, someone older than him. She gave me his number and the operator so I will try to track the number and get the phone's history and see if he interacted with someone. I also think we should go to the school. She said that he cut some classes, if it was with this new friend, maybe someone saw him. If the description's close to one of the werewolves, it'll be enough. She gave me a photo of him." Olivia gives the photo to Bobby. "Olivia, you're sure you're up for this one?", "Yes, I am, Bobby.", "But this kid missing—," "Will only make me want to finish this job correctly, so the kid is safe and sound. Like any of the survivors.", "Okay. I say let's head back to the motel and get everything ready and then wait for nightfall." Olivia starts the engine and drives off to their motel.

Roy leads the way, followed by Sam, Ben, Haley, and Dean. "This is it. Blackwater Ridge." States Roy. Sam heads past him. "What coordinates are we at?" Roy pulls out a GPS, which reads N 35° 45. 383, W 111° 00.55. "Thirty-five minus one-eleven." Dean comes up to Sam. They listen. "You hear that?", "Yeah. Not even crickets.", "I'm gonna go take a look around.", "You shouldn't go off by yourself.", "That's sweet. Don't worry about me." Roy waves his gun and pushes between Sam and Dean to retake the lead. Dean turns back to the others as Ben and Haley catch up. "All right, everybody stays together. Let's go."          Sam, Dean, Ben, and Haley are looking around near a large rock. "Haley! Over here!" Haley runs towards Roy's voice, followed closely by the others. They come to a halt. "Oh my, God." The tens are torn open and bloody, and all the supplies are scattered. "Looks like a grizzly." States Roy. Dean and Haley look around. "Tommy?" Haley takes off her backpack and goes through the campsite. "Tommy!" Sam moves to catch with Haley. "Shh.", "Tommy!", "Shh-hh-hh!", "Why?", "Something might still be out there.", "Sam." Sam goes over to Dean, snapping a stick, and crouches next to him. "The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird" Sam and Dean stand up. "I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog." Dean goes back to the campsite, and Sam follows. Haley picks up Tom's cell phone; it's bloody. She cries. She turns the phone over, and the back is open. Dean crouches next to her. "Hey, he could still be alive." Haley gives Dean a skeptical look. "Help! Help!" Someone screams, Roy leads the way as everyone runs to the aid of the shouter. "Help! Somebody!" They find no one. "It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" They listen. "Everybody back to camp." Orders Sam. Back at the campsite, all the supplies are missing. "Our packs!" Exclaims Haley. "So much for my GPS and my satellite phone." Whines Roy. "What the hell is going on?" Sam looks at Haley, "it's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help." Roy looks at Sam. "You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear." Sam goes to Dean. "I need to speak with you. In private." Sam and Dean head a little ways away from the group. "Good. Let me see Dad's journal." Dean hands it over. Sam opens it and flips through until he finds a particular page. "All right, check this out." Sam points to a First Nations—style drawing of a figure. "Oh come on, wendigos are in Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west.", "Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice.", "Great." Dean takes out his pistol. "Well, then this is useless." Sam gives Dean back John's journal and heads past Dean, stopping for a moment. "We gotta get these people to safety."

"Dylan was an amazing student, he didn't always have A's, but he had a great grade, he participated, and he wanted to learn." Olivia was talking to Dylan's teacher. "What happened?", "His grade started to drop about a month ago, he started to cut off.", "How much?", "Half of his grade went down. If he continues at this rate, he won't pass. He missed around twenty classes. He made up fake notes from his mother or father. He even found someone to pretend to be his father to explain his absence.", "Wait, who was pretending to be his father?", "I don't know his name. He went under the identity of Dylan's father.", "Could you describe him?", "Yes. Uhm. Tall, medium brown hair, a beard, brown eyes, he—he has a tattoo of the moon on his right arm. He's muscular. That's all I can remember.", "It's enough. Thanks.", "You're going to find him, right?", "I will do my best to bring him home."          "So turns out the friend Dylan made was the werewolf that we killed.", "So he's in their lair." Olivia nods. "We have maybe two or three hours until nightfall. I say we go over there and wait for a little, in case something new happens."

Back at the campsite, Sam addresses the group. "All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten…more complicated.", "What?" Haley looked at Sam, confused. "Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Dean rolls his eyes at Roy. Sam sighs, "it's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now.", "One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." Dean looks at Roy, "relax.", "We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you." Roy steps right into Sam's space. "You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night.", "Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's going to hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid, sorry ass out of here." Roy laughs. "You know you're crazy, right?", "Yeah? You ever hunt a wen—" Dean pushes Sam. Haley screams Roy's name. "Chill out." Dean tries to calm Sam. "Stop. Stop it." Everyone turns to look at Haley. "Everybody just stops. Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." For a moment, no one talks, until Dean breaks the silence. "It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves." Haley looks at Dean and nods, "How?"

Olivia and Bobby were taking their gun, making sure they had enough bullets. "Okay. So entry C, then the main room we kill all of them, then we go to the room A, kill the Alpha, and if everything goes as planned, we go to the room B and save as many victims as we can." Bobby nods. "And remember, we can't save everyone.", "I know. Let's go." They walk to the house when they arrive at the entry C, Olivia puts herself at the left side of the door, Bobby at the right side. They look at each other, Olivia shows three fingers and starts to silently count. When the last digit is down she takes her gun correctly in her hands, Bobby opens the door as quietly as possible. They enter the room, Olivia covering the left side once again as Bobby still covers the right side. Bobby does a movement of the hand to tell Olivia to keep walking ahead, she nods. They look around, gun aimed and loaded. As they are closer to the main room, they hear people talking. Olivia gets closer to Bobby and whispers "They're at least seven in here. We need to shoot correctly. We don't have many bullets on us.", "Okay. We go in there at the same time and start shooting right away, giving them no time to adjust and attack us." Olivia nods. They take a breath and enter the main room, they start shooting at the werewolves.

The group has built a campfire, and Dean draws something in the dirt around the campsite while Haley pokes at the fire. "One more time, that's—," "Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Roy laughs, gun over his shoulder. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean heads over to sit next to Sam, who is at the edge of the campsite. "You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?", "Dean—," "No. You're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?", "Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sigh, right?", "Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek.", "Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go pick up Olivia, and find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?", "This is why." Dean comes around to Sam's front and holds up John's journal. "This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business." Sam shakes his head. "That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just—call us? Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?", "I don't know. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it.", "Dean…no. I have to find Dad. I have to find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about.", "Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them. I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man." Sam looks down, then up. "How do you do it? How does Olivia or Dad do it?" Dean looks over at Haley and Ben. "Well, for one, them." Sam looks over at Haley and Ben. "I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable." Dean looks at his little brother. "I'll tell you what else helps." Sam looks back at Dean. "Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." Sam smiles. A twig snaps. "Help me! Please!" Dean stands and readies his gun. "Help!" Sam shines a flashlight. "He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Roy rolls his eyes, "inside the magic circle?", "Help! Help me!" Growling is heard. Roy points his gun at the sound. "Okay, that's no grizzly." Haley talks to Ben, "it's okay. You'll be all right, I promise." Something rushes past. Haley shrieks. Sam looks around, "it's here." Roy shoots at the rustling, then again. "I hit it!" Roy goes to see what he hit. "Roy, no! Roy!" Dean turns to Haley and Ben, "don't move." Haley is holding a stick, burning at one end as a weapon. Sam and Dean run after Roy. "It's over here! It's in the tree!" The wendigo reaches down from the tree and snaps Roy's neck. "Roy!" Sam shines the flashlight around.

The werewolves that were protecting the Alpha came running into the main room where all of the other monsters were dead. Olivia hears the Alpha leaving the house. She looks at Bobby, "I'm going after him, you got this?", "Yes. Go." Olivia runs outside by the entry C and corners the house. She aims her gun, taking long deep breaths, calming her heart, when she calmed it she walked as slowly as possible, avoiding anything that could betray her position. Olivia knew the Alpha would still be here. At least she was hoping so. Olivia looks around as she arrives at the entry B, the killing room. She sees the door half open. She looks inside and sees the Alpha passing back and forth. She also heard whimpering. Someone was still alive. She waits for the Alpha to turn his back to the door, she slowly opens it and aims her gun, when a woman sees her she gasps, turning the Alpha's attention to Olivia. She werewolf attacks Olivia, she falls to the ground, the beast on the top of her, she struggles to get her gun back. The werewolf's teeth were dangerously close to her. She turns her head and tries to grab her gun. When she realizes she can't, she knees the werewolf in the stomach, she then headbutts him, she slightly moves to the left, enough to grab her gun. When he comes to his senses, Olivia has just enough time to shoot the Alpha in the head. The body falls to the ground. Olivia takes a deep breath and stands up. She looks around and sees Dylan and two other women. She sighs in relief.

Sam is sitting on a hollow tree stump, holding John's journal and playing with a lanyard attached to same. Dean, Haley, and Ben are among the tents. "I don't…I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real." Dean sighs at Haley's words. "I wish I could tell you different.", "How do we know it's not out there watching us?", "We don't. But we're safe for now.", "How do you know about this stuff?" There is a slight pause while Dean considers. "Kind of runs in the family." Sam comes over. "Hey." Haley stands up. "so, we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch.", "Well, hell, you know I'm in." States Dean.  Sam shows the wendigo page of John's journal to Haley and Ben. "'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours.'", "They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter.", "How's a man turn into one of those things?" Dean picks up a couple things up off the ground. "Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe r camp.", "Like the Donner Party." Dean looks at Ben.  Then Sam continues, "cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality.", "If you eat enough of it, over the years, you become this less than a human thing. You're always hungry.", "So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Demands Haley. "You're not going to like it." Dean glances at Sam, then back at Haley. "Tell me.", "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake, it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there.", "And then how do we stop it?", "Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically—" Dean holds up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up. "We gotta torch the sucker."

After Olivia checked if the victims were okay, she put something on the man's body that didn't survive. She looks at Dylan and then at the door. She had to join Bobby. She gives one of the women a gun, "do you know how to shoot?" The woman nods. "Okay. If it's not a man in a ball cap or me, you shoot." The woman nods again. Olivia charges her gun and gets out of the killing room. She walks to the entry C and reaches the main room, she sees one werewolf walking to Bobby. She aims her gun and shoot, killing him. The body falls, Bobby looks at Olivia and sighs. "All dead. I found Dylan alive, and on the three people missing, only two women survived, the man was dead.", "Okay let's get out of here."

Dean leads the way through the woods. Molotov cocktail in hand. Haley follows, then Ben, and Sam. They pass trees with claw marks and blood.

Dylan was in the back seat of Olivia's car. Olivia parks the car in front of Dylan's house. She gets out, opens the door for Dylan to get out. She walks with him to the front door, she knocks and waits for the door to open. When Dylan's mother opens the door, she puts her hands on her mouth when she saw her son. She takes him in her arms. "Thank you so much.", "Don't mention it. Hey, Dylan." Dylan turns and faces Olivia, "next time you see a stranger, don't go near. Okay?", "I promise.", "Okay." Dylan gives Olivia a hug, taking her by surprise. "Thank you, Olivia.", "No problem kiddo. Now go." Olivia turns around and starts to walk to her car when the woman stops her, "Wait a minute." Olivia turns, "I figured out you weren't from the FBI. But I don't care, you brought my boy home. And I will forever be thankful for this. I don't know what happened to you, but I can tell you are a mother. So from mother to mother, thank you, from the bottom of my heart." Olivia hugs the woman and leaves.

Sam is now leading the group. "Dean." Dean catches up. "what is it?" Sam and Dean look around at the trees. There are bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere. "You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow." Growling. Sam and Dean whip around. Trees rustle. Haley is standing under a tree. Blood drips on her shirt. She notices and looks up, then leaps out of the way; Roy's corpse lands where she stood. Dean examines Roy as Sam goes over to Haley. "You okay? You got it?", "His neck's broke." Sam helps Haley up. More growling. "Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Everybody takes off. Ben falls, and Sam hurries back to help him up, dividing the group in half. "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha." Dean and Haley stopped short: the wendigo is in front of them. Haley screams. Ben looks up, "Haley?" Sam stops running and picks up Dean's Molotov cocktail, the bottle is broken. "Dean!"

Back at the motel, Olivia went to take a shower then Bobby. "Well, I say it's a good day.", "It sure could have been worse, but I'm feeling bad for the man's wife. She's pregnant.", "I know. But as I said we can't save everyone. We saved three out of four, Olivia. It's a good day." Olivia nods. I'm going to sleep."

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?", "Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off." Ben finds a trail of peanut M&Ms and picks one up. "They went this way." Sam catches up to Ben, who hands over the M&M. Sam laughs. "It's better than breadcrumbs." Sam tosses the M&M away. They follow the trail. They come to a mine entrance marked with a sign that says 'Warning! Danger! Do not enter extremely toxic material.' Sam looks at Ben, shrugs, and goes inside. Ben follows. Above the entrance is a larger sign that says 'keep out no admittance.'          Sam shines the flashlight ahead of them. Growling; Sam shuts off the light and pulls Ben against the wall. The Wendigo comes towards them. Sam covers Ben's mouth before he can scream. The wendigo takes a different tunnel at the crossing. Sam and Ben keep going. The floorboards creak, and Ben and Sam fall through the floor; they land in a pile of bones. There is another pile nearby of skulls Ben spots them and leaps backward. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Sam and Ben look up; Dean and Haley are hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. Sam runs to Dean, Ben to Haley. "Dean!", "Haley, wake up!" Sam grabs Dean and shakes him. "Dean!" Dean opens his eyes. "Hey, you okay?" Dean winces. "Yeah.", "Haley, Haley, wake up, wake up!" Sam cuts Dean down, and Ben takes care of Haley. They help them over to an empty patch of floor and get them down. Dean makes pained noises. "You sure you're all right?" Dean grimaces. "Yeah. Yep. Where is he?", "He's gone for now." Haley divests herself of rope. She stands up and spots Tom still hanging and starts crying. "Tommy…" Haley touches Tom's cheek. Tom's head jerks up. Haley jumps back and shrieks. she turns to Sam. "Cut him down!" Sam cuts Tom down. "We're gonna get you home." The stolen supplies are piled in the corner. Dean picks up flare guns. "Check it out." Sam turns around. "Flare guns. Those'll work." Sam grins, Dean laughs and twirls the guns.          The head down a tunnel, Sam and Dean in the lead with flare guns and Haley and Ben supporting Tom, who is limping. Growling. "Looks like someone's home for supper.", "We'll never outrun it." Dean looks back at the others then at Sam. "You thinking what I'm thinking?", "Yeah, I think so.", "All right listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here.", "What are you gonna do?" Dean doesn't answer Haley, he winks and starts walking and yelling. "Chow time, you freaky bastardç Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good." Sam waits until Dean is a safe distance away. "All right, come on! Hurry!" The Collinses follow Sam down the tunnel.          "Hey, you want some white mean, bitch! I'm right here!"         Sam, Haley, Ben, and Tom hurry down a tunnel. Growling. Sam points the gun at it, then lowers the gun and turns to the Collinses. "Get him out of here.", "Sam no.", "Go! Go! Go!", "Come on, Haley!" Haley and Ben help Tom along the mine tunnel. Sam holds the flare gun ready to shoot, looking down the tunnel. "Come on, come on." Growling. Sam turns: the wendigo is right in his face. Sam shoots and misses, then runs after the Collinses. "Sam!" Sam catches up. "Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." They run to the end of the tunnel, the wendigo right behind. "Get behind me!" Sam is large enough to hide all three Collinses. The wendigo approaches, taking its time. Dean comes up behind it. "Hey!" The wendigo turns, Dean shoots it in the stomach. The flare goes off, and the wendigo goes up in flames. "Not bad, huh?" Sam grins.

Olivia puts her duffel bag in the passenger seat. She closes the door and looks at Bobby. "Well, it was a pleasure to work with you, Bobby." Bobby laughs, making Olivia smile. "You take care of you back there, all right? And take care of the boys. Be the sane one.", "As usual, Bobby." Olivia hugs him, "bye." she gets into the car and leaves.

An ambulance loads up Tom. Two police officers interview Ben; Sam stands behind him. "And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?", "That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds." Sam nods at Ben's words. "All right, we'll go after it first thing." The officer nods and leaves. Haley talks to Dean, both of them have already been patched up. "So I don't know how to thank you," Dean smirks lasciviously. Haley smiles despite herself. "Must you cheapen the moment?", "Yeah!" A paramedic comes up to Haley, "You're riding with your brother?", "Yeah." The Paramedic heads back to the ambulance. Haley turns to Ben. "Let's go." Sam and Ben nod at each other. Haley kisses Dean on the cheek. "I hope you find your father." Haley and Ben head for the ambulance. "Thanks, Sam." They climb in the ambulance with Tom. Sam sits on the Impala's hood with Dean. "Man, I hate camping.", "Me too." Noises of the ambulance driving away, sirens on. "Sam, you know we're going to find Dad, right?", "Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving." Dean tosses Sam the keys. Dean's phone rings, Olivia sent him a message 'Just arrived at the motel. You're okay?', 'On our way. We're good. You?', 'I'm fine. See you.' Sam looks at Dean and starts the car, "who is it?", "Olivia. She's at the motel. Let's go."

[thisisnotartcritique]

All Hail P.P. Smithson

Given how niche your previous themes were and how broad internet art is, why write about this theme? 

P: Internet art and our previous themes are not mutually exclusive, in fact many of the work that we have talked about in the previous themes are from the internet - what is not on the internet these days. But to answer your question, we want to explore new genres of art, if you cannot already tell from our atypical themes. Internet art here perhaps acts as an umbrella term for our themes. 

What’s your favorite type of internet art? 

J: Considering how much time I spend on the internet, what don’t I like? I love the shitty YTP videos (which is a pun); and also digital art, because it’s something I like to partake in. I also enjoy looking at things on the internet that are accidentally art, you know? Above all though… I just love videos! Movies, documentaries, vlogs, jokes.. 

M: Wow, you actually know technology, old man. 

J: There’s a lot I know, actually. I’ve a good few millennia on you, young man. But enough of that. Let’s let Peter speak!

P: My favourite type of internet art are the videos that loops infinitely on instagram, be it a jelly-like person getting squished (not gory), or a pendulum that swings back and forth through an opening in a highly satisfying manner. The automatic looping shifts how I view the video, and I thought that is an interesting aspect of internet art - your perspective is filtered by the structure of the platform that it is shared on, if that interacts with the art. 

Is internet art the future of art or simply a contemporary competitor? 

M: Loaded question. Depends on your perspective and how you define Internet art — like I said before, it’s none and all of the above — it’s the medium, the platform, the artwork itself, archive, gallery, and more. Digital art differs from internet art, but both are slippery. What do you define as internet art? 

Without a collective philosophy, can it be compared to movements such as modern art and postmodern art, which have their own sub-movements e.g. Dada-ism and neoclassicism? 

As virtual and augmented reality lead to digital spaces and artworks that don’t have to be realistic but are ultimately grounded in our imagination and senses (you can’t paint with a color you don’t know), internet art has the potential to be the future. 

However, given how extensive the internet is in our work, and personal lives now, it is timeless. It’s a massive archive, and so it’s past, present, & future. Not just for art, but for everything. 

Unless World War 3 happens and we’re back to dirt, the internet is here to stay, and likewise internet art. Contemporary art has no singular movement. Is contemporary art not just postmodern, or post-post modern, or even post-post-post-to the infinite power modern art? 

People will always go back to previous mediums and platforms like classicism, vinyl, retro, whatever. Contemporary competitors are a compelling idea, but there’s always an audience for any type of art. After all, art doesn’t have to make money or function — it simply is. But I’m just an old white man. What do you think? 

If you were an artist rather than a critic on the internet, would you take on a persona? How would it differ from your critic persona? 

J: It would be fun, wouldn’t it? The idea of playing another role in a professional sense, or maybe to adopt the personality of someone perhaps the complete opposite of me: an awkward repressed mortal little kid who is super lonely but cannot communicate that longing for social interaction with others due to their inability to trust or feel Anything anymore… that would be fun! It would also be incredibly difficult, I’d imagine, to keep up that act. 

But then again, who doesn’t wear a different persona to different events? My work personality differs greatly from my Friday night demeanour, and none of those compare to my true form. I’d show you guys, but I’m afraid you’ll be too scared to compliment me.

M: Ha. Ha. Don’t worry, you’re already scary-looking, Hans. 

Anyways, funny you ask that. I was an artist turned critic. My name, Michelangelo Merisi da Vinci, is an amalgamation of Michelangelo who painted the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio who painted The Calling of Saint Matthew, and Leonardo da Vinci the Mona Lisa. My parents were weird — amateur critics and artists themselves. 

The internet allows for anonymity and even encourages it with avatars and usernames and multiple accounts. Even now, I write under MMXX or Michelangelo Merisi da Vinci, a white male critic who still remains charming despite his receding talents. But what if I’m ancient Hans or sharp Pete or the average Joe? Am I truly white or male or straight? Am I privileged? Did you respect my critiques more, less, or the same? Am I a liar — and if so, the question is did I lie from the start or just now? 

Remember, dear, a mask only makes man honest. 

As an artist persona, I think I’d want to be closer to my true self as a matter of pride. If my work is applauded as masterpieces, I want you to remember my name. My legacy. I’d be more vulnerable inherently as my artwork would reflect me more than my critiques. However, it is tempting to adapt another persona whether for the anonymity, or the possibility of more success. But who do you think I am? I’ll be your dream. 

P: As a critic, I have been told, and I sometimes catch myself being very harsh on others. I don’t take offence in that, as I believe the point of a critique is to challenge the original, to evoke more thinking! Artists work on the project for a long time and they need a fresh pair of eyes to point out what’s missing. Nonetheless, I have been trying to contain my criticisms and get out of trouble…. But if I were an artist, I would be grateful to receive the blessing of a brutal lashing from P.P. Smithson, be humble and just listen to what I have to say. 

J: I want a brutal lashing from P.P. Smithson!

M: Weird kink but okay.. Should we sacrifice your art then, Hans? I’ve seen your scattered canvases — you should stop hogging up the kitchen. 

J: What about your bedroom ceiling? We might as well photograph that old thing and let PP decide which is better.

M: Bitch, it’s vintage. You’re just ancient but you still paint like a toddler throwing a tantrum with dollar store acrylics. 

J: What can I say, I’m a big fan of the Expressionists. But let’s be adults here: what do you think we should write about next? You being the audience, of course. 

M: Should P.P. Smithson be brutally honest about Hans’ art? Let us know in the ask box! Say yes (: 

J: All Hail the Brutal P.P. …

Photo: Purl, 2018

[medea10]

Medea’s Anime & Game Superlative of 2017

Time to do the annual list I do once a year acknowledging the anime and games I played this year. So that means if an anime came out in like...1979, as long as I watched it this year, it counts for my list. Let’s get started! First Fandom of 2017: Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga I started Blue Exorcist back in 2013 and fell in love with the story instantly. However, I often wondered what came after the whole finally confronting Satan story of the anime. Don’t spoil it for me, I’m not caught up with the manga yet. So when they announced this anime was going to come back, I was all ready to watch Rin and Yukio in action. Despite the many reservations I had with this particular season, I was so excited for this season early this year and couldn’t wait for the latest episode to air each week. I am satisfied to hear back-stories from some of the minor characters like Bon, Shima, and Konekomaru. And of course any moment when Rin is about to punch someone in the face is always satisfying to watch! Rin grows quite a bit in this season so this season wasn't a complete waste. Plus Bryce Papenbrook slays it as Rin and we get another awesome song by UVERworld. Favorite Main Character of 2017: Oscar François de Jarjeyes (Rose of Versailles)

As I mentioned in my superlative list last year, Rose of Versailles was an anime I didn’t expect to get into, but enjoyed nevertheless. And as I continued watching this year, I was severely hooked on the main character, Oscar. I know Oscar is indeed a fictional character in a story that’s based on actual history. Which makes me wonder if history would be any different if Oscar truly existed? I felt for this woman, especially in those last 10 episodes of the series. Oscar is one of the toughest females in anime history with her attacks during the French Revolution and the turmoil she went through in her love life. I was rooting for her to succeed throughout the entire series. All the way up to standing up against the French Army, she does it all! Favorite Villain of 2017: Frieza (Dragon Ball Super) Why do I love the biggest assholes in the Dragon Ball series? I don’t know. Out of all the villains in this series, Frieza was my favorite. Despite during the Z series where it literally takes him around 10 episodes to try and blow up a simple planet! With Dragon Ball Super, he’s still pure evil! He ends up resurrected more than once (thanks a lot Goku). However, I really wish that he would have gotten more of an evil streak during this Universe Competition saga. I know he can’t kill anybody or he’d be disqualified, but he could do a little more other than just stand on a pirch and laugh at the pitiful fighters. But when he’s fighting the Saiyans (including other universe Saiyans like Cabba), he’s ruthless! Anyone else hoping to see him take on Jiren in the coming episodes? Favorite Video Game Character of 2017: Lillie (Pokemon Ultra Moon) Lillie, you’ve done it again! And you are THIS close to becoming my favorite in the anime (except I’m still a Lana fangirl). With the Ultra Sun/Moon games, Lillie definitely shows hutzpah in her actions. She goes to great lengths in order to save the pokemon Cosmog and would even go through dangerous situations in order to save her own mother (who verbally disowned her). What’s even better with these new games is that in the post-game, Lillie actually battles with a pokemon. AND IT’S FROM THE CLEFABLE LINE! Lillie actually battles alongside you with a Clefairy. If it means I get to fight against that genital wart, Faba with this little lady by my side, I am very satisfied! This is awesome! I’m glad we get this extra bit in these games since the previous version had Lillie traveling and we don’t see her after defeating the league. Favorite Game of 2017: Miitopia …It’s my own fault for getting hooked on Tomodachi Life back in 2014. Ever since then, I’ve been having so much fun with these Mii games. And Miitopia was no exception! Guys, it was either this game or one of the Freemium games the Japanese throw my way. But since I don't feel like getting into Idol Hell with Love Live, I'm going with the miis again. As for this game, I got to add my favorite characters of anime (like Tracey Sketchit), favorite characters on sitcoms, favorite celebrities, and all sorts of others to fight an evil Dark Lord. Better yet, this game doesn’t care in terms of gender. You can be a boy character and be a princess. You can make two men lovers! Plus browsing through all the miis there are was amusing. I can’t tell you how many Guy Fieri’s and Rick Sanchez’s I’ve seen come through my game. Plus, I had a lot of fun trying to kill Donald Trump and Celine Dion. These are the people I despise, deal with it. The one downside was having your face stolen and having it put on something absurd like a rock, a mouse, or a turkey’s ASS! WHY WOULD YOU ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN?! Favorite Het Couple of 2017: Takeo Gouda x Rinko Yamato (My Love Story) THIS WAS SO ADORABLE! These two, together, the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe it has taken me so long to watch this series. So this series revolves around a very, very, very, if the mother wasn't a former pro-wrestler, she would have split in half giving birth to him large high school freshman named Takeo falling in love with this petite girl named Yamato. I was amazed to find that they both confessed their feelings for each other so early in the series. And then have the rest of the series dedicated to their relationship blossoming! I know they’re only high school students, but seeing them do the simplest of things like holding hands or going on a date is downright adorable to see them do. Yamato sees past Takeo’s large exterior and sees that he is a sweet boy. I want this couple to thrive well into old age! Long live this ship! Favorite Yuri Couple of 2017: Ymir x Christa/Historia (Attack on Titan: Season 2) This year there were several Yuri couples that caught my eye (including couples from Love Live and Miss Kobayashi). But the one that stood out the most came from Attack on Titan’s second season. In the first season, I really never paid attention to Ymir x Christa. I think I was busy screaming out, “HOLY SHIT, THOSE ARE SOME FUCKED UP LOOKING TITANS!” When the chibi middle school spin-off came along, they laid it on kinda thick, especially on Ymir’s end. But this season is where it all came out. Particularly in the episode Historia! In this episode, we get a touching flashback of the two girls surviving in the harsh winter climate. Ymir did a lot in order to protect Christa, even exposing her giant secret. Both girls cared about each other enough so to confide in each other their dark secrets. I know this ship might die down when season 3 airs next July, but as for this season, we got plenty of this, and I couldn’t be any happier. Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2017: Grell Sutcliff x Sebastian Michaelis (Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic) Here I am again with this one-sided ship. Call it a long-time guilty pleasure. Okay, I’ll be honest. I didn’t watch that many anime this year where I was enthralled with two boys. Not like last year when Yuri on Ice aired! I almost gave a pity throwaway to Ash x Kiawe from Pokemon: Sun & Moon. But one thing I do remember and liked was when I went to the screening of Black Butler’s Book of the Atlantic. Because with Black Butler, you never know when a certain reaper in red is going to come swinging a chainsaw! And as I said before, this ship is heavily one-sided as Grell always wants Sebastian (either to make love to him or kill him…or both) and Sebastian finds him annoying and dodges his advances. But my fangirly heart still loves this ship. Besides, this isn’t the first time I’ve put this ship on my superlative list. Not even a boat-load of zombies can keep Grell away from his Sebas-chan! Eight years later and I still squeal anytime I see that! Fandom That You Didn’t Expect To Get Into: Sakura Quest In April this year, I picked a completely random anime that was brand new to start. I had no idea what it was about, I just jumped right into it. And what I found was a quaint story about a young girl who becomes queen of a very rural town. There are many fine animes that delve into the concept of living in a small, rural town and the colorful characters that live there. And honestly, I’m just glad that it didn’t end up with the people murdering each other (like Shiki or Higurashi). Instead, we get the main character Yoshino take part as the role of queen of the small kingdom. And with the help of four other girls from the town, they were able to bring life into their little town. I enjoyed many of these characters and fell in love with many of their back-stories. From Maki striving to be an actress to Ririko breaking out of her shell! Kadota wanting to make-up for his past mistakes he made in his youth, to Yoshino deciding on her future! Even though Yoshino wasn't too fond of the small village scene, she quickly adapted and learned that small towns like Manoyama can be just as fulfilling as big cities like Tokyo. Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Attack on Titan *singing incoherent Japanese gibberish* YEAGER! I didn’t think I was going to get into the Attack on Titan hype train this year as big as I did. Especially since it’s been 4 years since the previous season aired. Buckle up bitches! Despite this being only 12 episodes, this season was truly memorable and gave us MANY, MANY, MANY revelations. However most of that was from minor characters. Now this season did come with some irritating things. Like Levi and Jean being pushed to the side. Eren is like a hostage for what feels like half the season. And Mikasa turned into so much of a yandere, I think Yuno Gasai pissed herself. But aside from my nitpicky things, I really enjoyed this season of Attack on Titan. Not just with this season, but catching up with the manga as well. Because I’m not waiting until 2018 to learn about giant monkey man titan! Add to that, a bomb-ass opening theme by Linked Horizon, Eren fighting the armored and colossal titan, and Ymir x Christa, this was one hell of a season. Can’t wait for July 2018! Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Miss Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon This is something I’m currently watching…and boy is it crazy! I almost gave it to Mr. Osomatsu again, but then I see busty dragon ladies! Imagine if you will, opening your front door and finding a humungus dragon standing at your door step. You are either in an anime, stoned off your ass, still drunk, or this is just a dream. Well in this case it’s an anime…and Miss Kobayashi might have been hungover when she met Tohru. And because it’s an anime, why not have this dragon transform into a busty girl? Thanks Japan! And living with Tohru and the rest of the dragons is anything but simple. Since Tohru is going to be Kobayashi’s maid, she’ll have to cook (by she’s going to cut off her tail and cook it for her master), clean (by licking Kobayashi’s clothes with her tongue), and protect the home from intruders (by blowing any and all intruders to oblivion). Yeah, this anime is wacky with not only Tohru, but the other mythical creatures like Kanna, Fafnir, Elma, and one of animes BIGGEST PAIRS OF TITS I’VE EVER SEEN Lucoa. Last Fandom of 2017: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma: The Third Plate The third season of Food Wars is by far the BEST thing to air for Fall 2017 animes. Not just I think so, but friends and co-workers of mine agree. Fans of the show were finally treated to meeting rest of Totsuki Academy’s Elite Ten. Not only that, but learn a great deal of one of this anime’s most hated characters (as to why we hate her). As Totsuki is drenched in tradition, we see this tradition break by an uprising as an exiled member of Totsuki emerges and ends up taking over the academy. This leading to mass changes in curriculum with the students and the Shokugeki in danger of no longer existing! To which Soma Yukihira says, “Hold my beer. It’s time to cook.” Okay, he doesn’t exactly say that, but he definitely takes on the establishment (including several Elite Ten members) in order to protect his friends and colleagues of the school. And let’s not forget what this show also contains! FOOD ORGASMS! I will admit that the later seasons have toned down a bit on the food orgasms that’s shown. But when it does happen, it’s almost other-worldly due to who’s cooking the food. I would love to eat any of that food that they cook on this show…I just don’t want my clothes to rip off me while the food molests me both ways.

[shirlleycoyle]

Zombie Capitalism

What if the zombie apocalypse, but in the era of accelerating privatization? Speculative fiction writer Tobias Bucknell gives a whole new meaning to ‘zombie capitalism’, to savage result. Enjoy. –the ed

The dogs started barking at the zombie in the pool long before Sheryl figured out what Zim and Garfield got the scent of. Zim, the German Shepherd, crashed through the picture window to scrabble out after it.

Sheryl yelled at the dogs to get back in the house as Garfield took off to join Zim at the chain fence around the pool.

Then she heard the zombie splashing about in the shallow end of the pool. It snarled when it saw her, and she couldn’t quite stifle a small scream as she realized a rotting corpse had pulled itself through a hole in the pool fence. It had trailed blood and innards all across the decorative brick path, then collapsed in a cloud of black ichor into the crystal clear blue water.

Sheryl ran back inside and got the Remington Seven from the rack by the door, loading it and working the bolt by feel as she jogged to the back of the house. By the time she returned to the pool the zombie flailed around in one of the corners, not able to pull itself out of the pool. A long, black tangle of intestines looped around the pool cleaner had tied it up.

“Jesus Christ.” Sheryl grabbed Zim. “Damn it dog, you stay here.”

She managed to get Zim’s collar, but Garfield had scrabbled off counter-clockwise around the fence to wiggle through the damn hole. He arrowed into the pool along the zombie gut trail like the damn beagle scenthound he was.

Garfield ran around to snarl at the zombie as Sheryl got Zim’s leash on him, clipped him to the fence, and then ran over to the gate.

“Garfield, get over here!”

She fumbled with the padlock for a second. Garfield shrieked as the zombie got clawed, bony fingers into him.

Sheryl kicked the gate open and fired at the zombie. A chunk of shoulder blew away. She swore and worked the bolt again.

The second shot blew the zombie’s head apart, bits of brain raining down into the pool. Sheryl pulled Garfield out of the water, carried him to the pickup, and got him into the passenger seat.

“Hilldale Vet Clinic,” she shouted into her phone.

She was halfway to the vet before she realized she’d left Zim clipped to the fence, and called Kathy next door.

“No worries,” Kathy said. “I’ll send Jaden over, he can plywood up the window and take Zim in.”

*

“I thought,” said Cory from the vet’s curved desk and two sleek computers, “that the National Guard had swept the town. What was the point of all those checkpoints around town? Fucking zombies.”

Somewhere in the back, Sheryl thought, Garfield lay on a table under anesthesia. And that young vet from Chicago that didn’t look like she could legally order a weak beer, or even drive a car, was trying to save him.

“Zombies, huh?” Cory said again.

Sheryl pulled her head out of her bloody hands she realized he was talking to her. “What?”

“National Guard isn’t doing a good job of keeping up,” Cory said.

“They left,” Sheryl said. She took a deep breath and blew her nose.

“They left? When’d they leave?” Cory looked horrified.

“It was on Channel Five,” Sheryl said. “You didn’t see it?”

“I’ve been working extra shifts,” Cory said. “Trying to get ahead on my payments for steel shutters.”

Sheryl had been seeing more and more of those go up. Bars on windows as well. She didn’t like the look. The HOA kept sending out letters pointing out that it violated the community guidelines, but they just kept popping up.

Zombies trumped HOA rules.

“UTD won against the government.” The judge on the case ruled that getting the military involved unfairly influenced the market. Ultra Tactical Dynamics, a company built just to provide zombie and zombie home defense produces, would lose all its business if the National Guard defeated the zombie hordes. And that was anti-capitalist and un-American.

Second amendment rights trumped governmental anti-zombie actions.

“These are fundamental American rights,” a blonde spokeswoman wearing aviator sunglasses told reporters at a press conference on the steps of the court, as Sheryl watched the news and chopped onions and carrots for a stew the previous night.

News reporters noted that the CDC wasn’t allowed to track zombie populations starting next week, and conservative senators had advanced a bill to prevent funding for a cure.

*

“You should buy UTD stock,” Zachariah told Sheryl at BreadWorx the next day. “The dividend is growing, and the stock is flying high after the decision.”

He’d been their financial advisor for three years now. Dale liked him. Zachariah was a high school buddy who came back to town after college with a business degree to take over his dad’s business selling insurance and retirement.

Dale couldn’t make the appointment, told Sheryl she needed to go. What she really wanted to do was stay home and grieve Garfield.

Damn, she’d loved that dog.

Fucking Dale. He was probably off drinking at lunch. Sheryl hated meeting Zachariah on her own. He never took his eyes off her chest. She’d insisted on meeting him for lunch somewhere public to avoid the claustrophobic feeling of doing this in his office.

“They stopped the plague in France,” Sheryl said, ripping off a piece of sourdough bread and dipping it in the potato soup. “What happens when this is all over?”

“We don’t need a whole socialist intervention,” Zachariah scoffed. “Got enough firepower right here for us regular folk to stop the horde. I saw Andy take out one of them in the hardware parking lot. Bang, right between the eyes. People got out of their cars to clap.”

Some of the boys were talking about building blinds out in the woods around town to sit and hunt zombies with their rifles.

Zachariah had a whole prospectus for Cheryl to look over. A glossy brochure full of charts that showed zombie outbreak growth, personal defense sales, and featured UTD’s unique ‘prep parties’ sales system that set up individuals as distributors to sell defense projects on down the line. Like Tupperware parties, but for lawn spikes, shutters, guns, and bitching swords.

Dale loved going to town UTD parties.

“Listen, you see these videos online?” Zachariah asked.

He pulled out his phone and showed her a clip of a three men in full camo gear on ATVs, all of them wearing night vision goggles.

“Watch this,” one of them giggled, and tossed a stick of dynamite out into the dark. When it exploded, dark gore and body parts rained out of the night and everyone laughed.

Local government all over the country lifted limits on what hunters could use on zombies. YouTube was chock full of men filming themselves firing on zombies with all the arms they’d been hoarding since the NRA first started posting about the government coming to take their weapons.

“Okay, look, if you don’t want to invest in UTD, how about something a little more exotic?” Zachariah leaned in and tapped the UTD brochures.

Cheryl sighed. “What’s that?”

“You remember Randy?”

“Chemistry Randy?”

Zachariah nodded. “He’s starting a safari experience for the city folk. You come out, do a few practice rounds on a shooting range, and then they load you into a open-topped bus with a wire cage and run you out into the countryside and you take potshots from the comfort of a vehicle.”

Fifty thousand seed capital to help him get two vehicles with chopped tops.

Who knows how much they’d make?

“It’s zombie capitalism,” Zachariah said with a big grin. “And business is good.”

“I’d have to talk to Dale,” Cheryl said. She could barely focus, her eyes were watering every few seconds and Zachariah was too focused on talking investing at her to notice that she’d been dabbing at her runny nose the whole time.

“He’s good for it,” Zachariah pushed. “He used to run the same business doing feral hog hunting. Same idea. You could hunt them with just about anything because they were spreading too quickly all over the country. We used to go out machine-gunning the things on weekends. Most legal fun you could ever have.”

It looked like so much fun, but the bottom fell out because people started importing feral hogs up to other areas where hunters were all excited to start the process all over again.

And then soon you had feral hogs ripping through farms like a horde of locusts. They’d breed like rabbits. Local authorities would lift hunting restrictions. People would film themselves hunting with machine guns, and then the whole thing would repeat.

“Zachariah, I really have to get going,” Cheryl said. “I have things to do still today.”

*

According to the radio, stocks were up. Lots of companies building new things to deal with the zombie apocalypse. Construction was up. Walls, moats, shatterproof windows, heavy doors. The hardware stores were doing well. Everyone was taking out second mortgages or maxing out their credit cards.

The economy was humming along because everything had to change for the new reality.

CEOs reported that things had never been better. The NASDAQ at new highs. S&P 500 hitting new records.

A shambling corpse stepped onto the road. Cheryl screamed and swerved. Never swerve, she thought, her car insurance agent told her that. Just hit it dead on and keep moving. Call the 1-800 number on the back when you got home.

Do not park the car in the garage, leave it at the end of the driveway.

Dale always mocked her fuel-efficient hybrid. Maybe he was right, maybe she needed a big pickup that could climb over a zombie and keep going.

*

The edge of their two acres needed spikes. And Cheryl needed Dale to dig a moat. She’d called about the steel shutters, but they were back ordered three weeks.

Funny, the magazines Dale had all featured heavy weaponry. But nothing about ditch-digging and defensive features.

Cheryl dug a hole near the Japanese maple at the property marker. Garfield’s favorite spot. He’d sit there and watch the road, waiting for them to come along the curve, then race his way out to the driveway to pace the car up to the garage.

She wept as she returned to the car and pulled the still form out from the trunk. Garfield’s body sagged in her arms as she walked out over to the grave and slid him in.

“You deserved better,” she said to her dog.

*

The zombies came through two weeks later. They wore brand new camo, and many of them had vests with the logo for Randy’s new zombie sightseeing company on them.

“Figures,” Cheryl muttered as she looked out her non-shuttered windows at the undead running across her lawn, ripping up the daisies and boxwoods. “DALE!”

Zim started barking up a storm downstairs. Dale shouted at the dog. Then the dog shrieked and Dale ran up the stairs, eyes wide.

“Safe,” he gasped.

She kept a shotgun by the bed, always at the ready, since Garfield died. Cheryl aimed it down the stairs and fired.

Dale came back with a smile and an AR-15.

Together they stood on the landing and gunned the creatures lurching up the stairs at them apart, one by one, until the walls dripped with gore, the banister fell over, and the stairs creaked with the weight of the dead.

When it was all over, Cheryl sat in the ruination of her carefully remodeled kitchen.

“We fucking crushed it,” Dale shouted, getting himself a bottle of bourbon and stepping over a corpse.

Cheryl shook her head. “Dale, I’m tired of this.”

Why did it have to be so hard? Why couldn’t they all work together? Why did everything have to be extracted? Lobbied for? Why was she sitting here surrounded by all these bodies, her dogs dead, when there had been perfectly good soldiers surrounding the town earlier?

Dale wouldn’t get it. He’d just won. And where was Cheryl going to go? Fucking Europe? She was an American. Her family was here. Her friends were here, her community was here.

Cheryl sighed and grabbed a mop. Tonight she’d clean. Tomorrow, she’d talk to the bank about a zombie disaster relief loan so they could start rebuilding the house, even though they were already up to their eyeballs in debt.

Maybe it was time to buy a little UTD stock.

Zombie Capitalism syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[jstanley1998-blog]

Holding All the Roses – A Thorn to Mainstream Music Too country to be rock? Yet too rock to be country? This is the definition commonly used to describe Blackberry Smoke, arguably Southern Rock’s hottest act since Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged in the early 1970’s. They’ve toured with the likes of Skynyrd and ZZ Top, as well as other huge names in country and southern rock to boot. Prior to the release of ‘Holding All the Roses’ in early 2015, Blackberry Smoke had made a name for themselves by touring almost constantly, as well as releasing 3 albums and an EP. To kick this off, it is worth noting that this album is most ‘produced’ of all Blackberry Smoke albums at the time of release. The band hired legendary producer Brendan O’ Brien (AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen etc), and this led to the album having a heavily, almost overproduced sound; there was less emphasis on the instruments individually, and it generally remixed in a more ‘pop rock’ style. Fans were split about this, as previous Blackberry Smoke albums have had a somewhat ‘raw’ quality, notably 2012’s ‘The Whippoorwill’. However, I, as the writer here, am a big fan of the likes of Meat Loaf, and Def Leppard, so I dig heavy production. I believe it makes for a better sonic experience, and with the case of Blackberry Smoke, THE LOUDER THE BETTER! The album artwork is also worth discussing. ‘Holding All the Roses’ is an analogy meaning ‘you’re the winner’. Just listening to the album, you may assume this is a reference from the band to the fact they finally are starting to hit the big top. However, the album cover and rear tell a different story. The front cover is a donkey adorned with roses; it has just won an event. But the background exhibits near empty stands, and nobody is looking; does anybody really care? And the rear cover of the album shows two unkempt, older hillbillies waving their roses in the air. These two are seemingly the only fans and supporters of the donkey, leading us to question whether it’s worth celebrating the donkey’s victory. This sarcastic display is a perfect set up for the album, particularly once you start digging into the lyrics. The first track off ‘Holding All the Roses’, ‘Let Me Help You Find the Door’ is the best example of straight up, loud anger on the album. Dripping with sarcasm and loaded with a guitar riff that could cause an earthquake, singer Charlie Starr belts out a protest to the music industry of today. He’s not gonna take any shit from anyone. ‘Why’s it got to be the same damn thing? Same damn song that everybody wants to sing… Same Sons of Bitches still rigging the game, they sell the same old faces with a brand-new name’. Admittedly, this is a rarity for Blackberry Smoke. They’ve managed to remain neutral and politically correct for their entire career, so a sudden outburst is, if anything, slightly out of character. Nevertheless, if they felt the need to write it, then something must be going on behind the scenes to encourage it. If anyone can find a more damning view on today’s chart music than this, then I owe them a drink. I challenge you. Continuing down the hard rockers aisle, we come to ‘Rock and Roll Again’. This is completely different to ‘Let Me Help You Find the Door’, though it retains the punch and attack from the first song. ‘Rock and Roll Again’ is a classic ‘man loves girl’ rock song, characterised by its thumping shuffle feel. Play this song, and close your eyes. It is almost as though you’re in 1977 watching Status Quo bash through their 3 most iconic chords. Yet open your eyes to the music video and you’re in a Southern American strip club. The music video caused a large amount of controversy among fans due to its heavy reliance upon nudity. Whilst Blackberry Smoke play on the stage of the club, nude cowgirls play with snakes and swings. Through all of this though, the video does have an element of humour, as we see when [insert spoiler alert here] the protagonist, a tattooed cowboy of about 35, tries to slap one of the strippers’ bum. This results in a bar fight (what American music video is complete without one?) during which he makes an escape. All in all, everything about this song is good fun, whatever your outlook. For those of you who are interested (as I’m sure you all are…), be sure to check it via the link provided link. ‘Wish in One Hand’ is one of my personal favourite tracks. Lyrically it is another brash dig at society. Its written about those among us who are loud, obnoxious and just want to be the centre of attention. Yeah, we all like a degree of attention, but this is about the kind of people you see on the front of gossip magazines. ‘You wish you could be everybody’s best friend, know the whole story from beginning to end’. Let’s be honest, we ALL know somebody like this! Musically this song is also a stand out on ‘Holding all the Roses’. The solo section features some beautiful twin guitar work, very reminiscent of the Allman Brothers Band with Duane Allman and Dickey Betts on guitar. The actual improvised solo part is equally mind-blowing. It almost feels like a different song. It doesn’t feel like a conventional solo section, with odd chords and notes regarding the original key. Throughout it though, Blackberry Smoke manage to keep their thrashing mood, and whilst it may feel a bit out of place, it works, and that’s Blackberry Smoke for ya. In my opinion, the most un-Blackberry Smoke song on the album must be the title track. ‘Holding All the Roses’ is a loud, relentless track. To the date the album was released, this was the heaviest track the band had ever laid down. Though saying this, it is tinged with a few bluegrass inspired licks. ‘Holding All the Roses’ is a bit of a musical oxymoron. The chorus is heavy and loud, yet the ‘middle 8’ is based on some chicken pickin’ acoustic guitar and a violin trading licks, and the actual guitar solo is huge. It sounds like Charlie is setting the fretboard on fire, and this is why I love the heavy production. If you haven’t played this song on full volume, then you may need to rethink your life. One of the most memorable tracks on ‘Holding All the Roses’ is a standalone on the album. It’s a short instrumental played on solo acoustic guitar called ‘Randolph County Farewell’. Clocking in at just 1:17, it is by a large stretch the shortest piece on the album. Played by lead singer and co lead guitarist Charlie Starr, ‘Randolph County Farewell’ is a welcome break from the rollicking rockers. It’s also a nice nod to Charlie’s influences with guitar, as its clear that he’s a Merle Travis fan. That ‘Travis Picking’ style is unmistakeable in bluegrass, and we almost expect to hear ‘Cannonball Rag’ in the same piece! Blackberry Smoke may typically be a southern rock outlet, but there’s no denying their roots in country music. The EP they released in 2003 entitled ‘New Honky Tonk Bootlegs’ consisted of 5 songs which are undeniably country infused. Considering that and the fact they managed to record the iconic ‘Yesterday’s Wine’ with Jamey Johnson and the late, great, George Jones, Blackberry Smoke really haven’t done too bad for themselves. There’s a couple of very country infused songs on the album. The first I will talk about is one of my personal favourite tracks, ‘Lay It All on Me’. It’s a predominantly acoustic track which appears towards the end of the album. In my opinion, the lyrics are incredible. Just the opening verse with the continuous rhymes ‘Ruby’s got a brother, her brother’s got a lover, his lover’s got another on the side’. What a way to open a song. Again, this song also shows off Blackberry Smoke’s musical prowess, as the chords make heavy use of chromaticism. Now, most people who know music will think of Stravinsky and Schoenberg when someone says chromaticism, but Blackberry Smoke aren’t like that. Not even close. ‘Lay It All on Me’ is full of interesting turnarounds, most notably the unexpected chord progression at the end of each section. Behind all this is some beautiful electric guitar playing. We’re hearing tasty country licks that sound like something straight out of a Merle Haggard track. Beautiful stuff. The other country laced track is also the only other track with a supporting music video. ‘Too High’ is a stunning track. It’s clearly very bluegrass inspired, as we can hear notably in the chorus. Co-guitarist and backing singer Paul Jackson’s high harmonies take us right back to the times of Hank Williams. It’s enough to bring a tear to a grown man’s eye. It is said that the song is written about Charlie Starr’s first experience away from home, where (unbeknownst to him), his housemates were cooking meth in the basement. ‘Too High’ is a story about trying to get away, but struggling in the process. ‘That mountain is too high for me to climb, the river is too deep and it’s too wide’. Its something that a lot of people these days can connect with, not necessarily directly, but with the basic premise. And that’s the true beauty of this song, we’re all the same deep inside. Preach. ‘Living in The Song’ is southern rocker. No other way about it. If there’s any song on ‘Holding All the Roses’ that wouldn’t be out of place on a Lynyrd Skynyrd album, it’s this one. Despite it’s moderate upbeat tempo, this is lyrically one of the saddest songs on the album. It’s about the protagonist struggling to get by post-relationship. ‘Tell me that the darkest hour is just before the dawn… Whoever said that never spent so many nights alone’. To read the lyrics alone would make for a very stark and moving poem, but set it against loud guitars, a moderate tempo and the key of A major, oh and have Charlie Starr sing it, and you get southern blues. The guitar solo has a sense of melodic prettiness, whilst still having the bite of Charlie’s single p90 pickup, and again, Paul Jackson’s high harmony backing vocals remind us of when country music was good, before the times of so called ‘bro country’ and ‘country rap’. Who even likes Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line anyway? I’d far rather crack open a cold one, and listen to Blackberry Smoke, like a real man (as internet sensation Uncle Rob might say). ‘Payback’s a Bitch’. It’s all in the title, straight there in front of you. Everything you need to know about this musical opus. It’s the complete opposite of ‘Living in The Song’ in that the subject matter is the same, but its taken completely differently. ‘Living in The Song’ is the protagonist lamenting about the past complaining about the fact ‘lonesome finds me everywhere I try to hide’. ‘Paybacks a Bitch’ is a protagonist post-relationship vowing to get their back on their not-so-significant other. ‘Don’t think you wrecked it, I’ll get you when you least expect it. And tear down that old tangled web you weave’. It even contains my favourite line on the whole album ‘Karma is about a step behind me’. ‘Payback’ is quite a scary song. Not the kind of scary you associate children���s music boxes and dolls with, I mean it has a presence. You don’t mess with Blackberry Smoke in this one. Easily my favourite part of the song though is at the end. The final time around the chorus. Charlie starts belting out the chorus, but with new lyrics, and there’s extra added instrumental parts to REALLY fill out the texture. To listen to this bit on full volume is an experience, and I really recommend you do it. Right now. ‘Woman in the Moon’ is the slowest song on ‘Holding All the Roses’. I particularly like the production on this song because everything has been given a respectable amount of reverb, and it sounds almost as though we’re listening to it through a tunnel. But it works. It’s also very bass heavy, particularly in the guitar solo. Listening to the guitar solo is quite an experience, as there’s quite a lot going on. Keyboardist Brandon Still is playing something very haunting, and I’m sure there’s an orchestral bass drum thrown in there too. Here we (again) hear a beautiful, melodic solo played by Charlie Starr over the top of it all. ‘Woman in the Moon’ is also in a calm waltz time, which adds perfectly to the haunting feel of it. Despite the reservations you may have after reading that it’s kinda haunting, it’s incredibly laid back, and the lyrics appear to me to be about being different. ‘A Little off kilter, just left of centre, bent just a little out of round’. Charlie Starr has stated that the woman he sees in the moon is Marilyn Monroe, which he states was the ‘weird’ that inspired this song. Further down ‘laid back lane’ we come to ‘No Way Back to Eden’. Generally considered a fan favourite, this is the only ALL acoustic song on ‘Holding All the Roses’. It’s also the calmest song on the album, and has its own little corner on my ‘Relaxed’ playlist. The two most standout things (to me) on this track are the percussion and the backing vocals. From the outset we hear that this track makes use of more traditional sounding percussion over the standard drumkit. I don’t know exactly what was used the recording, but there’s no doubt that drummer Brit Turner’s ‘Shitar’ came into it somewhere! (those who are unaware, the shitar is Brit’s percussive guitar, adorned with all sorts of bells and noisy articles. He usually plays it during acoustic sessions). I also love the backing vocals in this as I feel they’ve been used to brilliant effect. Notably on the first and third lines of each verse, they really seem to bring out the mood of the song. And in the final chorus, the high harmonies really fill the space left in every previous chorus, it builds up to something truly incredible. The final song on ‘Holding All the Roses’ is an upbeat track named ‘Fire in The Hole’. Everything about this track screams Blackberry Smoke. And yet you can still hear the influence of some hard rock bands. The opening chords and verse riff sound like every AC/DC song ever released (coming from a huge AC/DC fan, no offence intended), yet with enough Southern blood to keep it Blackberry Smoke. Lyrically the song is fantastic. It’s quite obscure, I had to really think to understand them, but it seems to me that the song is about people in the world who just go out of their way to f**k things up. People who lie. Its about the kind of people we could do without. ‘It’s a bitter pill, it’s a hard old row to hoe. You’re standing in the way, fucking up the ebb and the flow’. ‘You cross your fingers when you look me in the eye’. Its right there in front of you once the idea hits. That’s one of the beautiful things about Charlie Starr’s song writing, the songs are often obscure until you listen in depth. All in all, ‘Holding All the Roses’ scores a solid 10/10. It’s the perfect blend of country and rock, and never strays too far from the original southern rock formula. It’s like they say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.