#ralph looks so cute in those glasses

[chisfics]

two gay senior citizens going on a date after finally reconciling their decades of unresolved (sexual) tension

[sku-nk]

May i request somwthing with, Sam and reader on a movie date but reader is a nerd and rambles to Sam about the movie after and Sam finds it cute 🥹 you can do it however, I would like it nevertheless 🫶🏼 (I love grumpy x sunshine trope srry)

Whatever You Say

Synopsis: You've rediscovered your favorite movie, and with that comes lots of rambling. Sam doesn't mind much.

Warnings: I forgot I took the language out, my neck hurts, my foot hurts, fluff, The Outsiders spoilers I suppose

A/N: Let's hope "constructive criticism ☝️🤓" anon finds this up to par.

"I feel like... this is one of the few movies that do their book justice, you know?"

Sam looks up from the stove with a raised brow. It's been almost half an hour since the two of you finished watching The Outsiders, yet your enthusiasm hasn't wavered one bit since the moment she clicked play to the moment the end credits rolled (your tears, too, to Sam's secret amusement).

"Right," she says as she looks back to the spaghetti, more so to assure you she's still listening than anything else. Honestly, she's almost completely sure you wouldn't care if she wasn't.

"I mean, yeah, some people say it's not the best option, or, like... some aspects could be whatever, whatever, but it's good to me, though. You know?"

"Sure."

"Especially Johnny, I think. Like, Ralph was probably... one of, if not the best casting choice. He, like- he looks like a kicked puppy. Not saying that like- you know."

Sam lowers the heat on the stove, turning to grab the pesto sauce from the fridge. "I know, Y/n" she sighs as she opens the door, glancing in for a moment before reaching in and pulling out the pesto. She straightens up and turns back to the stove— and you, now that you've moved to lay half your body on the island— nudging the fridge door closed with her foot.

Sam opens the glass jar, dumping the remainder of the sauce into the pan unceremoniously. You watch with mild interest as you continue with your little analysis, or whatever it is you're doing. She has to admit, it is slightly endearing to see you so passionate about something, even a movie.

"I think people who still say the movie could have been better should remember the actual horrible movie adaptations out there. Like Avatar the Last Airbender," you say, tapping your hand on the island.

"I don't know what that is," Sam mumbles absently, stirring everything together, watching as meatballs disappear and spread out in the pan.

"It's something you never, ever wanna see, Sammy," you tell her matter-of-factly. Sam snorts.

"Anyways, those people are probably the same people who say the book didn't make sense in the first place. I didn't even know The Outsiders haters existed. Like, it... it makes sense. It does."

"Okay, Y/n, whatever you say," Sam says. She'll take your word for it. It was a good movie, she sort of sympathized with Darry. But she didn't really get into it the way you did.

"I mean, the whole movie is extremely symbolic, you know?"

"Uh..."

"I think it might be one of the best movie adaptations ever. I'll be honest, though, it's probably because the book was so good that the storyline does most of the work for the movie but..."

Sam looks up from the stove at you as you ramble on. She watches as you completely lose yourself in it, the way your eyes sort of light up and you have this little smirk whenever you get to a topic you especially enjoy. Sam leans forward on the counter.

After a long moment of you speaking with the absence of Sam's little hums of acknowledgement and 'sure's, you look up from the loose string on your shirt you'd been playing with, voice trailing off. You cock a brow at the look on Sam's face, something that makes her almost laugh.

"What?" you ask, confused. Sam just shakes her head and reaches over to turn off the stove, chuckling to herself. She turns away from you, making her way over to the cabinets where the plates are.

"Nothing," she says, though her tone is a little too amused for it to be nothing. You watch as she grabs two forks and brings it all back to the stove, piling both plates with generous amounts of spaghetti.

She puts a lid on the pan with the remaining spaghetti and carries the two plates to the table. She sets them down, in next to each other in front of your usual seats. You hop off of the island and take a seat in one of the chairs.

Sam settles herself in beside you and picks up her fork as you let out a little sigh.

"It looks good," you say, grabbing your fork as well. You use it to pick up some spaghetti, but when you lift it to your mouth you pause.

"You know what? I think if you watch the movie while you listen to the book it'd be a cool thing. 'Cause some parts will line up and you can see the stuff happening as it's being read, and stuff. Also, it's cool to see what's different."

You take a bite. Sam drops her gaze to her own plate and digs in. It's comfortably quiet for a moment. Your fork clatters against the table.

"I just feel like Johnny's death was such a necessary thing, like it was something we as an audience needed even though it broke our hearts, and— What?"

Sam sighs, though a soft smile takes over her features. She shakes her head, just looking at you for a moment.

"Eat your food, babe," she finally says, her smile still present as she looks back to her own food.

[greattigerssimp]

Hi! I see you like my stupid Punch Out x Disney Princess idea. Maybe some headcanons if they went out for Halloween as the Disney princesses (I know Halloween is over but still 😭)

idk really stupid idea but I blame my brain lol

It's not stupid at all! Girl boss Disney princess boxers coming right up ^^

Little Mac 🟢🥊

- Went as Vanellope

- Doc Louis went as Ralph and Peter Punch went as Felix

- Highly protested against putting candies in his hair

- Kept the hoodie after Halloween, but otherwise didn't care for the costume

- Terrible at the voice

- Watched the movie for authenticity, later bullied Joe for being cut from the film

Glass Joe 🇫🇷 🥐

- Absolutely adorableeee. Bro got lots of candy for being so bonita

- He actually loooves Beauty and the Beast! It's classic French literature, after all, and he's a sucker for adorable literary works like that.

- Also relates to Belle a lot, mainly for her love of reading

- Gets giddy every time he watches the movie or the Broadway version

- Kinda snobby about it though, like he's all like "erm actually the Broadway version is the one I prefer" like sis no one cares, shush and continue being adorable

- If Gabby was alive in this AU, he'd dress up as Gaston. He admires him in a not-straight way lmao

- Obviously kept the dress

Von Kaiser 🇧🇪 🔩

- Wanted to go as Snow White or Rapunzel since he's familiar with them (his mom would read those fairy tales to him as a kid), but since he was the last boxer to choose who to go as, he got stuck with Anna

- Watched the film alongside Soda, and he didn't care for it (that was mainly bc of Soda singing along to each song)

- Sweating BUCKETS during trick or treating since Anna's outfit is quite warm

- Chaffed... a lot.

- Did not keep the costume, even after Joe's compliments.

Disco Kid 🇺🇲 🕺

- Was happy to go as Rapunzel, until he realized what a hassle the long hair would be

- Also hard to get groovy bc of the hair

- Has the entire films soundtrack on a playlist

- Made a remix of "I see the light" after he was done trick or treating

- Kept the dress, but gave it to April (his lil sister in my AU) after Halloween. She definitely dressed up as Flynn to match with Disco Kid that night

King Hippo 🏝 🦛

- Bonita af

- Watched the film, and got obsessed with it... the lush, tropical environments reminded him of home, which is rare since Hippo doesn't remember a lot about Hippo island

- Y'all should've seen him watching the film for the first time; he can't talk, but during the songs bro was low-key stimming- like, bouncing a bit in place, humming along, that sorta thing. Dude was in his element

- Joined Macho Man at the local beach for a Halloween swim

- Sadly lost his outfit in the ocean. Cried for 3 hours

Piston Hondo 🇯🇵🥊

- Dresses up as Mulan

- Thought the film was nice, but would much rather wear Mulan's armor than a dress she barely wore

- Heike dressed up as Li Shang, Dragon Chan later joined them during trick or treating, dressed as Shan Yu

- Even Yuki joined them, wearing a cute lil Mushu outfit

- Sadly didn't keep the outfit

Bear Hugger 🇨🇦🐻

- Went as Snow White (SO DID I OMGG?? - me)

- Most authentic portrayal of character; dude equipped himself with animals and stuff to make himself look real

- Wifey Lomasi (OC of mine) had to help him put on the dress. She would match him by dressing up as Prince Florian (would love to go as Pocahontas, but didn't want to chafe + wanted to be unique)

- Spruce (his squirrel) dressed up as an apple

- Singing the songs in a very jolly, very off-key manner.

- He's definitely keeping the costume for next year

Great Tiger 🇮🇳🐯

- Dressed up as Jasmine, but he'd really prefer to dress up as Jafar. He's more bonita (this hc was brought to you by ✨️an extremely biased Jafar fangirl✨️)

- His clones dresses up as the other characters, namely Aladdin, the Genie, and the very bonita Jafar

- Jafar Jafar jafar

- Holy frick I love Jafar smmmmm

- Okay back to Great Tiger

- He liked the movie a lot, and thought it was very funny

- Also very content with his outfit! He didn't chafe (hahaha Kaiser-) and it was nice and breezy

- Even fashioned his flying carpet to look like the one from the movie

- Keeping the outfit, but is definitely dressing up as Jafar next year (mmmm my fave boxer + fave Disney character uwu)

Don Flamenco 🇪🇸 🥀

- Dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, aka Aurora (ironic since in my Halloween hcs Carmen was Aurora and Don was Prince Philip lol)

- Carmen dressed up as Maleficent bc she doesn't want to "dress up as a dude" (oh the symbolism)

- Loves all romance stories, and Sleeping Beauty is no different. Dude 100% believes in true, unconditional love

- Joe also loves sleeping beauty, since it's another piece of classic French literature. He's going to see the play version with Joe in about a month lol

- Somehow didn't chafe; it must be his skincare routine

- Got sleepy halfway through the night and went home early

- Carmen stole the dress and isn't giving it back

Aran Ryan 🇮🇪 😈

- VERY against dressing up as Merida (a Scottish character) at first, but slowly grew to love it

- He watched the film, and related to Merida to a T (and so do I lmao)

- Brought a real bow and arrow and definitely shot random people with it (Before Sandy broke it)

- Took off the wig, burned it, and threw it at a random house

- Kept the dress and gifted it to his younger sister, Brooker (Another OC of mine) back in Ireland

Soda Popinski 🇷🇺🍾

- Watched the movie with Kaiser and really liked it! He's a sucker for winter aesthetics

- Researched more information on Elsa and went crazy learning about Elsagate

- Can and will sing "Let it go" if you either ask nicely, pay him, or if your name is Super Macho Man

- Chaffed terrible, ended up crab walking most of the night

- Spent 30% of the night w/Macho Man and king hippo, watching Macho Man do laps

- Also gifted the dress to his sister after Halloween

Bald Bull 🇹🇷 🐂

- Dressed up as Tiana, and doesn't care for it

- Very independent trick or treat night

- Was fine with the movie, but wasn't crazy about it

- A few candy givers complimented him though

- Accidentally ripped his dress late into the evening. Pray to the random group of trick or treaters that got mooned that evening

- Didn't keep the dress

Super Macho Man 🇺🇸🌊

- He's absolutely slaying the little mermaid outfit (he got first pick lol)

- Will not shut up about how he saw the movie in theaters as a kid, and will not shut up about how he knows Jodi Benson lmao

- That being said, it was very hard to move, which meant someone (Soda) had to pull him on a wagon everywhere. Dw, Soda wasn't complaining

- Decided to go to the beach to see if he could swim like a mermaid with the tail on. Yes, he could, and he did it beautifully.

- Soda also joined in his swimming. It wasn't straight at all

Mr. Sandman 💤🟢

- Very itchy dress- it did not accommodate his build at all

- He won't admit it, but he felt very bonita

- Joe started yapping about how lucky Sandman was to be dressing up as such a deep, meaningful character (bro straight up has a hyperfixation for French literature)... Sandy almost clocked him for yapping.

- Ironically had to go home to midnight, not because it was late, but because his glass shoes broke under his weight, and he had to go home and pick shards of glass from his feet

Bonus HC: All of them definitely recreated this scene:

OG post from @flamingoprincess25 ://www.tumblr.com/flamingoprincess25/765906549064482816/to-the-punch-out-fansmy-halloween-special-is?source=share

[i-rebelled-for-this]

Agatha all along episode 6 Part one

Familiar by thy side

It was beautiful and honestly answered a lot more questions than I expected it to do.

Seeing Agatha from Teens perspective was hilarious.

Both Williams was handled very beautifully and Joe did a fantastic job!

The chair that resembles a toilet seat at William’s Bar Mitzvah really throws me out of it though. I’ve seen it about six times now and I just can’t with that chair. Who saw that chair and went, yes this is it?!

Billy is going through a blue drapery to get to a mostly red space about his future. I see what you did there.

Also I love the lamp

Lilia herself in gold and blue, no necklace.

Very nice blue and red colours together in Lilia’s tent.

Also notice the tower tarot card, representing Sudden change, upheaval, chaos, revelation and awakening.

And The wheel of fortune card, representing karma, good luck, life cycles, destiny and turning points. Notice that I’m not a that good at tarot so I may get it wrong.

Also more sun symbolism with Lilia

Upside down Billy

Lilia says the tower reverse, a big personal change and transformation coming. Make total sense

Lilia just remembering something, once again, kin implies she exists out of time, what is time for her, how does she experience it, can she affect it?

I yelled when Billy said he loved the vibe in the tent, very early Argento. I had to take a break.

Argento, the director and writer of Suspiria, the witch movie which was the inspiration for episode 4.

This is huge! This indicates that it’s actually Billy that keep the road in movie/tv-themes, not Wanda or any leftover of her spells. Which we also see mote of later in the episode.

Of course, now we have new questions.

Like does he know?! Or is he trying to cope with losses like his mom?

The sigil is interesting, (not just because it’s a beautiful nod as a W or WW) but does it hide Tommy too? Since neither Wanda or Billy can find him. Also notice how later Agatha will say there are two of you, implying the are one or two pieces of a whole.

Why does Lilia want to hide them?

Interesting that the radio air the first episode of WandaVision.

William shouting “mom, look out” as they get in the car crash. Don’t touch me!

And the dome and the dead tree by the car. Beautiful but hurts.

Red glass shards. Once again beautiful but hurts.

Bye Tommy

ALICE! Good to see you darling!

Greg knowing what’s up.

WILLIAM/BILLY’s room!

His signature blue

The movie posters and the actual wizard of oz toys in his bookshelf.

I started writing down all the movie posters but some were obvious or too hard to make out so I let it go.

Eddie being cute.

Freak like momma.

And he taking everything Billy tells him better than I would have.

Nice trans flag.

Now as he have grown up, it’s all horror movies and the occult.

We’re off to my second scream and had to take a break in this episode.

But first, their usernames? lol. They worked hard on those two.

Ralph/Randall/Pietro/Peter (in my culture we have a saying that goes, a loved child has many names.) You are doing great sweetheart!

I gotta admit I thought they were gonna let us wait for VisionQuest to see him again. I’m thrilled!

Not really a fan of the red hair they gave him but, I get it. It matches Wanda

Also, love his stealth, very stealthy.

Nope, sorry Ralphie, can’t call a a kid Bub when you willingly goes online as Bohnerrific69. There are rules. And also made me google that just to get the spelling correctly.

Notice how he talk about Wanda, ge calls it sad but he talks gently about her and the one he is actually actively angry about is Agatha.

Also notice how when Billy asks about if it changed him or if he can do stuff now, he gets very serious for a moment and ask him what he is talking about.

Billy, I need to know if that water actually hurt you.

And never, ever yell Mr. Bonherrific.

I really can’t make out what Ralphie is shaking? First. Thought it was mr Dibbles or hoped. lol

The market value? Hon, she is still in the house! Priorities here.

My sweet baby, but yeah, keeping Monica in the attic was a bit much.

RIP Sparky. It was Ralph all along.

Speedster and mind reading brother. Babies!

Wanda is dead, sure jan.

Not the blu-ray collection!!!

Another movie buff in the Maximoff family. I get emotional writing this.

Agatha can keep his Bow-Flex, thread mills. Funny, not liked he needs it.

Go to his one man show in Paramus please!

Dreadit lol

Down the road baby!

[tableintheteacherslounge]

Abbott Elementary S03E07 thoughts

Melissa having a spare room baring in mind we’ve seen her house feels fake sorry - How will she have a room mate but noone look at her pictures and keep control of her kitchen. I get its gonna be for plot but i don’t buy it

I’m w ava that’s a woman who just found out she’s not pregnant - that’s a woman who’s been successfully slutting it up (how’s she gonna slut it up with a roommate)

Omg protective barb 🥺 (ALSO BARBS RIGHT BC MEL WOULDNT GIVE OUT HER ADDRESS WILLINGLY)

AS SOON AS SHE SAID NERD I THOUGHT JACOB

“I know its gods will but hes gotten awfully creative” 😭😭😭😭😭

I love it when Mr johnson lore gets unlocked

Manny and the beard whew 😮‍💨 I was literally wondering where he was so I’m glad they’re using him again

Janine ur SO SMART this is such a good idea and not like a janine unnecessarily fixing a problem like an actual good idea- good job babygirl

Not ava spilling the tea to the whole room

Ponytail melissa at home is so personal to me, I love that this continues from s2, this is just who she is, she throws her hair up when she’s at home. I like that she’s wearing the eagles hoodie we’ve seen before too. Love the hair, makeup & costume details on this show

“I only know how to cook for 12” 😭

Finally mel talking about her breakup! Damn maybe it really was “im not bringing this to school” this whole time

Also Gary being a dead ringer for her dad?? I’m not saying my headcanons are more correct than the show but I disagree with this statement. Gary is not schemmenti coded.

Omg the jacob melissa work momming work sonning ive been dreaming of

“And dont forget theres a 3 booked limit 😒” barb is PISSED and i LOVE IT

“Oh i know what a google doctor is 😤”

Barb really is the best character on tv im sorry noone can do it like sheryl lee ralph like they just cant Shes everything

Janine forgetting the key term (pottery wheel) in her analogy she is so me

“Jacob if u dont like my ziti just say so and i will heave myself out that window” 😭😭

“I went to find mr johnson but he was still crying” NO 😭💔 hes just a sensitive guy 😔

“Mrs howard i blew down the house” 🥺🤏🏻 I love the kids being so central in this ep, I’ve missed that recently, and the kindergarteners are soooo cute

“🐷 I am a pig 🐺 i am a wolf 😄 and im a librarian who thinks she can just change everything around here 👋” IJBOL no please give sheryl another emmy I beg

“This programme is more of a distraction than an improvement” that’s teaaa actually. Thats so often what councils etc do, distract with new flashy things rather than fix the real problems. Even though in this case it’s well meaning it does make u think how big a priority should the library actually be? But actually children reading is super important and what did they say last season? The librarian was an alexa in glasses? 🤣

“You okay? You look like raven having a vision” 😭 you don’t understand how often i say this

I have thoughts on Barbara’s intentions and my instinct is gregory needs to keep her name out his mouth. I do think it’s really important that Janine stood up to Barbara, just maybe gregory made barbara seem worse than she was

“It’s been a rough week I could use the pick me up” i just love mr johnson

My immediate reaction was this one of my favourite episodes of the season - lots of excellent Barb moments, the kids, more mr johnson, story arcs I enjoyed and felt completed.

Janine standing up to Barbara was a really big deal for her considering her hatred of conflict and worship of barbara as a mother figure. It made me really proud to see how far janine has come.

But the longer since watching the less I like it. And it’s two main things:

- the jacob melissa room mate situation feels like jumping the shark for plots sake and not something realistic for those characters. So as much as I enjoy them and their dynamic and their growth it just feels fake.

- I dont care about the librarian. The set up feels like she could stick around and I just don’t care for new characters, I like my main people. (But then the same apprehension was had w the district people and they’ve not seemed to be around much).

I do still really like this ep and it definitely ranks highly in the season, just idk, some eps I enjoy more over time but this has made me feel more confused as to what will happen next I guess.

[chessyhoward]

Since her move to the states, Chess Howard had worked plenty of jobs. She'd waitressed, for all of five minutes. She hadn't managed to get through a shift without a drop or spillage, until the manager had politely taken her to one side and suggested it wasn't quite for her. She'd worked the shop floor of a cute clothing boutique, and been pretty good at it too. Then one day, she'd been pulled into the office and told she didn't quite fit the 'vision' they had for their employees. Five months pregnant and glancing over at the beach-ready bodies of the other girls she worked with, Chess had left that job, shamefaced. Some days, when Chess felt like throwing in the towel with the whole fashion blogger-stroke-influencer thing, she remembered those jobs.

Still, being yelled at by a snotty woman at a high end restaurant was looking pretty good right now. Chess' job was pretty solitary most of the time, her work schedule squeezed between drop off and pick up time, spent bathed in the artificial light of her laptop screen. But on occasion, Chess had to network. She had to cheerily slide into the Instagram DMs of beautiful models, other bloggers, TikTokers and the like. In all honesty, it was a little baffling to Chess. But if she was going to keep monetising her blog and maintain this as her full time job, she had to schmooze, just a little.

Danika, a pretty New York socialite whose bio said she was 'up for anything!', had 45.8k followers. A number that made Chess' little blog look meagre in comparison. But she'd agreed to drinks, asking Chess to meet her at a little hole in the wall bar, which she'd described as 'cutesy' and 'rustic'. Now that Chess was sitting in said bar with Danika and five of her most gorgeous, chronically online friends, Chess would describe it a little more like 'sticky' and 'with the potential to get stabbed at'.

Tugging at the strap of her dress, a third-hand Ralph Lauren slip that had been altered so many times it was barely still a Ralph Lauren, Chess wondered when they were going to start talking business. Instead, the girls seemed more intent on passing around the Instagram page of some gorgeous, British model Chess had never heard of with like, piercing blue eyes. Chess thought antsily of the folder stuffed full of flyers, her CV, examples of her work, still hidden away in her bag. Fighting the urge to yawn, Chess pressed her ruby-red lips together, standing abruptly.

"I'm gonna grab another drink." she explained to the group, who now seemed to be making DMing said model a group effort. Grabbing her oversized clutch in one hand and her glass in the other, Chess moved towards the bar, feeling overdressed in the dim lighting.

Placing her handbag down on the bar, Chess shook her glass at the bartender in what she hoped was a cute and endearing gesture, not a 'clicking at the waitstaff' sort of gesture.

"Can I have another, um... whatever this was? It was fruity and gave me the confidence to talk to six pretty girls at once, I'm not sure."

Setting the glass down, Chess began rifling through her bag, pulling out her overstuffed folder in search of her purse.

"Sorry, it's here somewhere..." she murmured under her breath, only vaguely aware she was littering the space with her, well, life's work.

[berlinbisque]

Time to make people jealous…

This was an old shopping spree/departmental store haul, I was so depressed I’ve reduced my expenses cuz I was getting addicted to all this, that’s how our dopamine works, I never got to share it before… I had taken this stuff long ago, the checkered mules on the top are not for me I just like such English ones (they’re for guys, added them because of the style factor) however I got the ones with the golden buckle for 999/- after disc. they’ll go with all my flannel pyjamas, then I got Paris Cafe ☕️ I always wanted this candle even when we didn’t have BBW in India, I got it for 1299 or so (thanks to offers) actually everything here was on sale, then I got the socks (you know I can’t resist bears like Ralph Lauren) for 499/- cuz I need socks on a regular basis, the robe is something I’d taken a while back I’ve only added that because it matches the colour scheme, well I always wanted bear shaped bedroom slippers but they’re not available in India nonetheless I got these furry bear boots again on 50% off and that icy glass is my fav, when you pour anything inside you can see a dancing doll and cedar trees, it was a steal for 240/- and I got a powder puff or pouf which we haven’t seen since the 90s it has a frosted lid with a rose carving on top, scented powder and well… a powder puff, its all plastic, back in time you would get such things in crystal, you do get those jars but you’ll have to make it separately as in get some talc + powder puff. I love the bow and everything they’ve put there and the fragrance as well, the plastic doesn’t look bad in real life. In the images it does look a bit tacky but its cute enough to go on your dresser. I also got one more essential item which I’ll share later on… that’s it.

Xx Zara Sauleh

[cobraking]

Good morning.

Am I muted?, wait.  x

[punk-in-docs]

hi, would you write for Joe’s character, Ralph, from Timewasters?

Oh Nonny. You really do be plucking at my heartstrings here- this sweet little angel absolutely deserves more love-

Are you digging right into one of my favourite eras ever to write about? Why hell yes. Wild Gatsby-esque style parties and live live live to excess. The fun, the frivolity. Where the Jazz is hot and the Gin is cold.

Oh my goodness, just imagine stumbling across this sweet suited boy at some insane party at a friends gothic country manor one night.

The place is overrun with coiffed dandies and loose floozies and you just want to dance in your pretty new dress to Jack Teagarden’s records on the Gramophone.

The champagne pops sparkling gold and fizzes, pours way too freely, people are dancing on the settees. Wearing masquerade masks and dripping in pearls and fringe. Pillows have been ripped. White feathers rain like it’s a storm. The Crystal chandelier hangs precariously swinging down, broken. Smashed glasses and broken antique crystal shards.

There’s no thought to the fresh faced consequences of tomorrow. Live for now. Don’t be a square.

Sad drawn brows and dark deep red lips sit on so many girls. It’s so fashionable now. Making them all look smoky divine Clara Bow. It’s mad. It’s glorious. You’ve never felt more alive.

There’s drugs too, playing in the snow, they call it. A little mirrored tray and a straw. You stay enlivened with your glass of gin and you twirl in your heels and your silver dress. Your hair is cat black and bobbed short, sleek. You think it’s just masculine enough to be beautiful.

Your mother’s heirloom pearls rattle on your wrists. You’re fresh out of the racy clubs and hoighty bars of London and you could use the distraction. You’re young you’ll dance and bop long into the night. Racing its completion to dawn til you drop.

Then there’s this awful cute boy in a snappy silky suit, in the corner toasting your health with a coupe glass of champagne. Eyes like sad brown puddles of chocolate. That’s intriguing.

“Are you here with someone?” He gets the courage to ask. Voice wobbling. He looks at you like one of those priceless exhibits at the British museum. Cleopatra. Nefertiti. Goddess.

You sip from your glass. The champagne is old and flat but you like the taste. You tap ash off the end of your black cigarette. Big dark diamonds glitter off your fingers. You look far too bad for him.

You are dark clouding opium.

Oh well.

You smile. Lips are plum waxy and dark with lipstick.

Your smile is brilliant. Wizard, he thinks.

“No. I came to dance, sugar. Care to indulge me?” You lean forward. Full of gumption and gin. Heavy smoke black lids look mournful yet you’re such a zinging zest of liveliness.

You talk like Louise Brooks off the silver screen. Punch your words out brightly, and you mean them. Forwards. Cut direct. Is there any other way to be?

Feather boa black you’ve got draped around you, tickling at your poky bare shoulders. Your perfume is rose noir. Dark musk and velvet lapping orchids. Black petals bloom towards him like something delicious and burnt. He’s beckoned to follow where they lead.

He’s smitten.

(Sweet anon, let me noodle this around in my clown brain for a bit and let it brew. I guarantee you something wicked and very jazzy this way will come-)

[hawkinsbanishedhero]

a life well loved

summary: a collection of moments between the reader and ralph. from their first meeting to their last moments together. pairing: ralph x gn!reader word count: 6250 warnings: smut, angst, fluff, panic attack (slight mention), suicide, death

masterlist | ao3

“O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.” - Excerpt from ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare

Ralph knew that [Y/N] was the one for him as soon as he set his eyes on them. He adored the way they made him feel and the affection they showered him with. Ralph never thought that he would end up finding someone who he could call his own. And that someone also happened to return the same amount of admiration towards him!

[Y/N] was, or rather is, the love of his life. And nothing could ever change that. The amount of love he felt for them was enough to fuel love for thousands, if not millions, of people. Though he would just settle for one person. [Y/N].

Every time he sees them, Ralph’s heart bursts with love. An uncontrollable grin plastered on his face. He almost acted like a puppy around them. That being paired with those big brown eyes of his, made Ralph seem even more puppy-like.

Now let’s get into how their whole love story began and ended. Though I guess it never really came to an end. Anyway, shall we?

It was one of Victoria and Ralph’s birthday parties. [Y/N] knew Victoria via a mutual friend and was dragged along to the annual celebration. Upon agreeing to go to the twins’ birthday celebration, [Y/N] had no idea that they would end up meeting the love of their life. (Their friend would soon tease them and say that it was them who got the two together.)

[Y/N] nursed a drink in their hand as they stood near the bar. Their friend had quickly gotten whisked away by Victoria, who wanted them to socialise with their circle of friends. Apparently that hadn’t included [Y/N]. Not that they were complaining.

“Hi!” Ralph, who seemed to pop out of nowhere, eagerly greeted [Y/N] with a wide smile accompanied by a blush on his cheeks.

Maybe it was the alcohol that made them feel slightly light-headed upon meeting his gaze. Or perhaps it was the way his big brown eyes gazed into theirs along with a smile that could rival the sun's brightness.

“Hi.” [Y/N] politely smiled after having realised that he was awaiting a response.

“Would… Would you like to dance with the birthday boy?” Ralph asked as he shyly pointed to himself.

[Y/N] felt like they could have melted into a puddle right then and there. They didn’t know if they were going to survive this evening if this was how things were going to go.

“I would be honoured to!” They answered.

Ralph beamed brightly before a toothy smile appeared on his face. He held his hand out for them to take after [Y/N] had put their now empty glass on the bar. And just like that, [Y/N] was swept up onto the dance floor.

“I’m Ralph.” He happily introduced himself.

A small laugh pulled itself out of [Y/N] before they began to nervously ramble. “I know. Or rather I didn’t know until you asked if I wanted to dance with the birthday boy. And that’s you of course. Oh! I’m [Y/N].”

Ralph smiled bashfully. He felt himself falling deeper in love with them by the second. Ralph only hoped that they were beginning to feel the same way.

“It’s nice to meet you.” He said with a gentle kiss to their knuckles.

That was it. [Y/N] definitely knew that they were a goner right that second. They only hoped that Ralph felt the same way. Though they had only just met so they began to doubt it. A faint tap tap tap began to be noticeable to them over the live band. [Y/N] quietly wondered why they had only just begun to hear them and decided to blame the fact that Ralph had distracted them with his cuteness. Hence them having not realised sooner.

“Are you… Wearing tap shoes?” [Y/N] asked curiously. Though they weren’t judging him at all.

“Yes! Aren’t they wizard?!” Ralph exclaimed with a laugh.

“They are!” [Y/N] agreed with no hesitation. “They seem like so much fun to wear.”

“Do you want to wear them?” Ralph asked with complete seriousness.

[Y/N] softly laughed as Ralph stopped their dance, completely ready to drop down to his knees and give them his shoes.

“It’s okay! They won’t look as wizard on me.”

“Oh.” Ralph said, almost feeling disappointed.

“Perhaps I could break out a pair of tap dancing shoes next time?”

Next time? What was [Y/N] thinking? They probably wouldn’t even see each other again after this. And even if they did, it would probably only be in passing on the street.

“Yes! Next time!” Ralph happily exclaimed. “Can I ask you for another dance? I think I’ve found the perfect dance partner.”

[Y/N]’s heart fluttered at the statement. They were definitely falling hard and fast for him.

“I would love to.”

The two of them smiled brightly at each other as they quickly swept each other up in another dance. And that was just one of the many dances they’d share with each other that night.

Ralph was never completely sure if he believed in love at first sight. Other people probably felt like he did. He did, after all, seem like a hopeless romantic. But Ralph knew, right then and there, that he had fallen in love with [Y/N] the moment he laid his eyes on them. And that feeling only grew the longer he was in their presence. (Ralph would soon find that it also grew out of their presence.)

The male often found himself strumming his ukulele and softly singing lyrics that he had come up with to compliment [Y/N]’s appearance. Victoria, admittedly, didn’t know how to react at first. She had never seen him this way before and now here he was, acting like a love sick puppy. Although she will admit that she did end up feeling happy for him, even if she did act harsh towards him at times.

Before Ralph and [Y/N]’s departure from one another after the party had come to an end, the two exchanged telephone numbers. Ralph was practically on his knees with the promise of calling them. And when he did, he immediately asked them to accompany him on a picnic. Ralph had explicitly told them that he was wanting to begin courting them.

With linked arms, Ralph and [Y/N] walked through Hyde Park. A basket gently rested on Ralph’s other arm. The pair tried to scout out the best location to set up their little picnic. They soon settled on sitting under a tree so that they could be shielded from the sun that was shining brightly that day.

Ralph took it upon himself to set up the picnic and gently ushered [Y/N] to sit on the blanket once he had laid it down on the ground. Whilst he set up the picnic, [Y/N] couldn’t help but send literal heart eyes towards Ralph’s direction. He looked so cute in his baby blue suit, accompanied by a straw boater hat.

“Here.” Ralph broke the silence, his hands held a piece of fruit up to [Y/N]’s lips.

[Y/N] avoided eye contact with him as they took a bite of the fruit, suddenly feeling shy despite the fact that they had just spent the last few moments eyeing him.

“Tastes good!” [Y/N] said, their voice slightly muffled from the fruit that they chewed.

Ralph gave them a smile that could stop hearts in seconds, before he dug into the food himself as he looked at the scenery before him. (Although nothing would beat the enchanting sight of the person sitting next to him.) His eyes locked onto a flower that sat nestled in the grass a few metres away from them. He excitedly jumped to his feet and quickly ran to the flower, his hat almost flew off in the process. [Y/N] though they had only known him for a short period of time, knew not to question anything that Ralph did. He gently plucked the flower from the ground with mumbled apologies. Once Ralph sat back down on the plaid blanket, he softly took [Y/N]’s chin in his hand before he tucked the flower behind their ear.

“Stunning.” Ralph whispered.

Their eyes locked with the other, before they both looked down at each other’s lips. With bashful smiles, they both turned away and directed their attention elsewhere. Perhaps one of them would gain the courage to kiss the other another day. 

Ralph couldn’t wait to propose. It had only been two weeks since he had met [Y/N]. And yet he’d probably combust if he waited any longer. Ralph had met his soulmate so why not get married as soon as possible? Sure, it was a bit soon but [Y/N] was definitely the person who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. There was no doubt about it.

Ralph was definitely someone who did things in the spur of the moment. Sometimes these things would blow up in his face. Time and time again he got hounded for doing things without thinking. For having such strong emotions. Probably way more emotions than he knew how to deal with.

With the velvet box in his pocket, Ralph set off to find the love of his life. Sure, he could have made this a grand spectacle, it would be very Ralph like. But he didn’t think he could wait that long. Muffled footsteps grew louder from behind the closed door of [Y/N]’s house. Ralph quickly got down onto one knee and presented the velvet box before him.

“Oh!” [Y/N] gasped at the sight of a ring that was nestled in the box.

“Will you marry me?” Ralph blurted out.

He almost cursed at himself. He had a whole speech prepared! And yet almost all the words were sucked out of him as soon as Ralph came face to face with them. [Y/N] was lost for words. They wanted to accept the proposal. [Y/N] had never felt this way towards anyone before. Perhaps this would be the start of something amazing? Their heart began to beat faster as Ralph continued to look up at them with those big brown puppy dog eyes of his. [Y/N] already had their answer. They just weren’t sure why they were hesitating.

“Yes!” A quiet exclamation left [Y/N].

Ralph’s eyes lit up even more, if that was even possible, and a grin overtook his features. He stood up and softly took their left hand in his before he slid the ring onto their finger with so much delicacy and care.

“Can I?” Ralph asked as he glanced down at their lips.

With a wordless nod, Ralph kissed [Y/N]’s lips. It was a quick clumsy kiss and his lips didn’t completely land on theirs. But to them, it was perfect. And they wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

“Oh! I can’t wait!” Ralph gave a toothy grin.

[Y/N] couldn’t help but smile and kiss Ralph’s cheek in a silent agreement. Neither of them could wait to see what the future bought for them.

News of Ralph’s and [Y/N]’s engagement quickly travelled around their close friends, acquaintances and even strangers. To celebrate this new stage of their life, Victoria had begged them to let her organise a party. [Y/N]’s friend quickly joined Victoria’s side in begging.

“There’s the happy couple!” Victoria exclaimed upon seeing them enter the party.

[Y/N]’s friend let out a squeal when some champagne almost spilled on them as they popped open a bottle of the stuff. 

“Come and get a glass!” They said with excitement as they filled four glasses.

Ralph and [Y/N] approached them with matching grins, each of them took a glass of freshly poured champagne. The quartet clinked their glasses together before they took their first sip. Once drinks had been consumed, they all made their way to the dance floor. Ralph and [Y/N] took a hold of one another and quickly swept each other into a series of energetic dancing. Twirls and fast steps overtook the engaged couples bodies. Guests began to look over at them, the expressions on their faces were almost unreadable.

A few dances later had the pair trying to catch their breath. [Y/N] kissed Ralph’s knuckles with a smile. Ralph parroted their actions. He loved giving and receiving any kind of physical affection. It made him feel so seen.

“Let me go and get us more drinks.” Ralph said, parting from [Y/N] with a kiss on their cheek.

As Ralph went off to the bar, he started to feel the eyes of a handful of people on the back of his neck. Goosebumps started to rise up on his skin. He began to feel suffocated. Whispers began to travel amongst the guests.

“How did Ralph of all people manage to get engaged?”

“Do you think he’s paying them to marry him?”

“How can [Y/N] keep up with his personality?”

“They’ll probably regret marrying him.”

Ralph pulled at the collar of his shirt. He couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t he breathe?! It’s something so simple. Something he’s been able to do since the day he was born. And yet, just like that his breath was stolen away from him. Ralph didn’t know if he’d be able to get it back.

“-Ph?” A voice cut into his thoughts. “Ralph?”

His eyes slowly looked up and met [Y/N]’s gaze. Their eyes were soft. Not eyes filled with judgement like most of the people in the room. Just by looking at them, Ralph couldn’t stop the tears that began to fill his puppy dog eyes. Though he didn’t want [Y/N] to see him cry. He was always more sensitive than others. Something he got picked on for when he was younger. Young Ralph would cry over something. Kids would make fun of him. Then more tears would fall from his eyes. A loud choking noise escaped from Ralph’s throat due to the tears he had been holding back. The sound almost frightened him. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“Let’s get you somewhere quiet, yeah?” [Y/N] suggested, taking notice of how Ralph was beginning to get more panicked.

Ralph nodded stiffly. He tried his best to block out the harsh whispers which still travelled around the room despite them now bearing witness to his panic attack.

“Can I hold your hand?” [Y/N] softly asked, their tone was almost a whisper.

Ralph gave a nod, not trusting his voice. [Y/N] gently took his hand in theirs and led them outdoors. Once the cool air hit his face, Ralph started to feel like he could start to breathe again. 

[Y/N] slowly moved Ralph’s hand onto their chest and began to gently instruct him to follow their breathing pattern. Deep breathes in. Deep breathes out. Repeat. Ralph focused on nothing but [Y/N]. Even though they hadn’t known each other for a long period of time, Ralph was glad that they weren’t the sort of person to poke fun at someone for being sensitive. He doesn’t think that his heart would have been able to take it if [Y/N] was like that. Ralph would probably break into a million pieces and then hide away forever if that was the case. Tears welled up in his eyes again at the thought. Ralph knew then and there that he was lucky to have someone like [Y/N] in his life.

“I... I think I'm okay now. I feel like I can breathe again at least.” Ralph shakily said.

[Y/N] frowned at Ralph’s demeanour as they gently wiped away any tears that did end up falling. He wasn’t his usual bubbly self. Which made sense, seeing as he did just recover from a panic attack. They mentally cursed at the guests inside for making Ralph feel this way. All those things they said about him made no sense. Sure, he was different from others. But that’s what made him so wonderful! [Y/N] took his hands in theirs, determined to cheer him up.

“I love you for you, Ralph.” [Y/N] confessed, unaware that they had spoken those three words for the first time. “I love the way you get excited about things. How your eyes seem so puppy like and full of wonder. How you always brighten the mood of those around you. Nothing could ever change how I feel about you. I love you, Ralph.”

“You- You love me?” Ralph asked in disbelief, despite the fact that the pair were going to get married.

[Y/N] paused as it then dawned on them what words they had spoken for the first time. “I do. I love you, Ralph. And I always will.”

“I love you too!” Ralph excitedly blurted out.

The couple started to smile and giggle at each other. Ralph went quiet and removed his hands from theirs so he’d be able to cup their cheeks. His big brown eyes shined intently as he softly gazed into their eyes. Ralph and [Y/N] leaned in closer and closer until their lips met each other in a kiss.

“Now, I’m going to fight every single guest in there that was being mean to you.” [Y/N] said with determination. “Although I feel like Victoria has gotten a start on that already.”

Ralph smiled at [Y/N]. He had started to feel like himself again. It was as though the past events had never happened. Ralph wondered if his childhood would have been slightly different if [Y/N] were around then. However there’s no use in dwelling on it now. He had them now and that’s all that mattered.

The day of the wedding had finally arrived. Two months of preparation led up to this day. Victoria had been a huge help during the whole preparation process. She made sure that each thing was done exactly how Ralph and [Y/N] wanted them to be. There would be no room for error at her brother’s, and soon to be sibling-in-law’s, wedding. Victoria wanted people to talk about this wedding for years to come.

[Y/N] nervously waited at the altar for Ralph. For some unknown reason, he had begged them, with his usual smile plastered on his face, to let him be the one to walk down the aisle. [Y/N] had no complaints. They would also hate to see the smile drop from Ralph’s lips.

When the doors opened to reveal Ralph, [Y/N] felt all the air get knocked out of their lungs. He looked so perfect with his hair swept back and in a pretty white suit. A light red carnation tucked away in the front pocket of his suit jacket. Victoria walked Ralph down the aisle with their arms linked together.

Tears began to gather in both of their eyes, taken away with how stunning the other looked. Ralph looked like he had just stepped out of a painting. He looked so magnificent in his pure white suit. [Y/N] had half expected Ralph to walk down the aisle with his tap shoes. Though they had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to wear them during the reception. Not that [Y/N] had any complaints. They loved how excited he got to wear his tap shoes. Something that Victoria had gifted him with for his most recent birthday. Ralph, in return, had gifted her with a matching pair.

Ralph had to fight back the urge to kiss [Y/N] as soon as he got to the altar. They looked so perfect in his eyes. As they usually did of course. But there was something about seeing them standing at the altar before him that made everything seem so much more magical. The couple couldn’t help but smile in each other’s presence. Whispered compliments about the others appearance were quickly exchanged as shaky hands gripped the others equally as shaky hands. And just like that, the ceremony began.

“Welcome, loved ones. We are gathered here today to join Ralph Penbury and [Y/N] [L/N] in holy matrimony.” The officiant began. “I have been told that the couple have prepared their own vows?”

The soon to be wedded couple nodded their heads in sync. Ralph silently asked with his eyes [Y/N] if he could go first. He looked just like an excited puppy at that moment. His big brown eyes made it even more so.

“[Y/N], I had a feeling that the moment I set my eyes on you would be the start of something amazing. We’ve only known each other for a few months and some people may say that I rushed into this too soon. But they don’t know how much my heart races in, and out, of your presence. When I was going about my life without you, I felt less complete and since you entered my life I feel like it’s safe to say that you were the missing piece. I love you with all my heart and I will continue to do so even after death.” A few tears fell down Ralph’s cheeks with his words, which prompted [Y/N] to gently brush them away.

“I love you too.” [Y/N] whispered, their heart swelled with love. “Ralph, I never pictured myself standing here and getting married. I never really expected to find you, my soulmate either. Though I’m glad that you approached me at yours and Victoria’s birthday party. When I look at you, it’s like I’m seeing the world for the first time. Everything brightens with colour when I’m around you. And as you said, you’re also the missing piece to my life. I can’t even picture my life without you and I would hate to experience the rest of my life without you now that I have you in it. You’re my soulmate forever and always.”

Ralph could feel himself getting choked up. This was the best day of his life. Well, maybe the second best. Him meeting [Y/N] for the first time is definitely a close contender.

“Now it’s time for the exchanging of rings. Ralph, repeat after me-” The officiant instructed.

“With this ring I, Ralph Penbury, take you, [Y/N] [L/N], to be no other than yourself. Loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know, I will respect your integrity and have faith in your abiding love for me, through all our years, and in all that life may bring us.” Ralph repeated as he slid the ring onto [Y/N]’s ring finger.

“And now [Y/N]-“

“With this ring I, [Y/N [L/N], take you, Ralph Penbury, to be no other than yourself. Loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know, I will respect your integrity and have faith in your abiding love for me, through all our years, and in all that life may bring us.” [Y/N] said as they repeated the same actions as Ralph with the ring.

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you as married. You may now kiss your spouse.” The officiant declared.

Ralph eagerly swooped in and kissed [Y/N]. Guests happily exclaimed at the sight. Victoria was the loudest whilst she clapped her hands with a loud “Wooo!”. Of course any guest that picked fun at Ralph at the engagement party was not invited. Victoria didn’t want any kinds of negativity on her younger twin's special day. Smiles couldn’t stop themselves from appearing on the now married couples faces as the two pulled apart. [Y/N] quickly sneaked in another kiss before the two turned towards their guests.

The two of them had married the love of their life, their soulmate, and they couldn’t be happier.

[Y/N] rested their head on Ralph’s shoulder. The two slowly swayed with the music. A quiet tap tap tap accompanied Ralph’s steps. The surroundings around them slowly faded away until their focus was only on each other. The choice of having their first dance to a slow song did surprise people, considering the fact that Ralph was just a bundle of energy that could not be contained at times.

“Having you in my arms just feels right.” Ralph murmured.

[Y/N] tilted their head to look up at him and smiled softly. “And being in your arms just feels right.”

Ralph kissed their forehead tenderly. Eyes filled with nothing but admiration for his spouse. He could get used to this. Having moments with [Y/N] that filled his heart with warmth. They were too caught up in each other's presence to notice that the song had transitioned into another as they continued to sway.

Nobody dared to disturb the couple. Noting how content they looked being wrapped up in each other's arms. That was the day where everyone knew that they were made for each other. Whispers of their romance would soon follow the community and people would soon aspire to have a love story like theirs.

Ralph’s lips nervously locked with [Y/N]’s as they shut themselves in their room at their honeymoon location. He felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest. What if he did everything wrong? What if this is what made [Y/N] leave him? [Y/N] pulled away, as if they could tell what was going through his mind.

“Are you okay?” [Y/N] asked, hands gripping his biceps.

“I’m just…nervous.” Ralph admitted.

“We don’t have to do it now if you’re not ready.” [Y/N] suggested softly.

“No!” Ralph blurted out. “I want to. I’m worried I’ll mess up.”

“We’ll learn together then.” [Y/N] pecked his cheek. “And it doesn’t matter if you, or I, mess up. I just know that it will be perfect no matter what because you’re here with me.”

Ralph silently nodded. The tension around them filled the air as clothes and underwear were stripped away and forgotten about in a messy pile on the floor. Short kisses were exchanged between the newly-wed couple. Only when [Y/N] was laid on the bed with Ralph hovering over them, was when they stopped their kisses.

Ralph nervously lowered his hand closer to [Y/N]’s hole. He wanted to make sure that they were prepared for the later event. Without another word, he began to thrust his finger in and out of them.

“Ralph!” [Y/N] exclaimed as their tight ring of muscles clenched around a single finger.

“Are...Are you okay?” Ralph asked, panicked.

“’M good. Feels good.”

With those words, Ralph eagerly pushed in another finger and shortly after a third once [Y/N] began to loosen up.

“Are you ready?” Ralph quietly asked.

“Yes!” [Y/N] almost shouted. “Need you so bad.”

Ralph aligned his dick with [Y/N]’s hole, his neck and face turned red with embarrassment when he clumsily missed each time he tried to enter them. [Y/N] pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before they helped him out. Moans erupted from both of their lips as Ralph started his thrusts. His movements at times were unsure and he had no idea where to put his hands. But being with [Y/N] slightly put his mind to ease. They were his safe space.

“You feel so… so good.” Ralph whined, tears gathered in the corner of his eyes.

[Y/N] moaned in response and hid their face in the crook of Ralph’s neck. Ralph’s whines got louder once [Y/N] started to bite down on his neck. Hickeys began to blossom on his skin. Ralph blushed heavily at the thought of walking around with the marks. His hips sloppily thrust into [Y/N]. Each movement wasn’t exactly perfect. Sometimes he would move so far back that his dick would end up almost exiting [Y/N]. He then struggled to get back inside of them. Other times, his thrusts were a little too harsh and [Y/N] felt the air get knocked out of them.

“’M going to -!” [Y/N] said, gasping.

“Me too!” Ralph said, red in the face.

After a few more thrusts, Ralph felt himself cum inside of them. It spilled out of them once he pulled out. He whined at the sight. He didn’t think he could witness something so glorious. Embarrassingly, Ralph wished that he could keep a physical record of the sight.

“I love you.” [Y/N] whispered.

“I love you too.” Ralph collapsed on top of [Y/N]. Heavy breaths left his lips. “So much.”

[Y/N] always made sure that their husband’s spirits were lifted, as seen during the events of their engagement party. The light always seemed to leave Ralph’s eyes whenever Victoria interrupted him. And [Y/N] made sure to shower him in affection. One of these instances was when the three of them met the jazz band. Victoria and Ralph, although it was more Victoria in this scenario, were adamant that they were to perform at their party.

“Now, call it fate but Ralph and I, along with [Y/N].” Victoria began as she motioned over towards their sibling-in-law who had their arm hooked around Ralph’s “Are hosting a sick-makingly glorious birthday party!”

“We’re twins!” Ralph sang before he became serious. “Non-identical.”

“I was born first.”

“So Victoria and I are having a-” Ralph began to excitedly explain.

“Yes Ralph!” Victoria snapped.

The smile was instantly wiped from Ralph’s face and he almost curled in on himself. [Y/N] gently squeezed his bicep before they placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t frown, darling.” [Y/N] whispered. “It pains me to see you so sad.”

[Y/N] had tried numerous occasions in the past to get Victoria to not act so harsh towards Ralph. But nothing ever worked. So all they could do was dote on him. [Y/N] only wished that they could do better.

Ralph stared at them with complete happiness. It was as if the past events with Victoria had never happened.

“Thank you, my love.” Ralph replied with a gentle kiss to their forehead.

Ralph and [Y/N] gazed at each other with what could only be described as heart eyes. The Jazz band, along with Victoria, stared at the couple who seemed to be in their own world.

“Ralph! [Y/N]!” Victoria raised her voice. “We’re done here.”

“Oh!” [Y/N] exclaimed.

“I think I got a toothache from watching that.” Lauren quietly said to her friends.

Murmurs of agreement filled the air.

[Y/N] felt themselves falling in love with Ralph all over again upon seeing him in his birthday party outfit. The pattern of his suit was bold but it suited him so perfectly. Ralph felt the same way as well. He didn’t think that he could fall any harder for [Y/N]. Yet here he was, looking at them like he was seeing them for the first time again.

Ralph gasped before he exclaimed. “You’re wearing them!”

“Of course I am!” [Y/N] laughed. “I said I would last year, didn't I?”

Ralph couldn’t contain himself when he heard the familiar tap tap tap of a certain shoe he loved to wear to these kinds of events. He eagerly swooped down and kissed them on the lips. [Y/N] kissed back with just as much enthusiasm.

“Ralph. [Y/N].” Victoria greeted the couple before they could get their tongues down each other's throats. 

“Hello Victoria.” [Y/N] and Ralph said in unison, both donned flushed cheeks from their short make out session.

The couple made eye contact with each other before they let out a few laughs. Even though Victoria wanted to snap at them for acting silly. She couldn’t help but smile slightly. Victoria was still happy that the two were so in love with each other.

“Now that I’ve stopped you from taking that a step further. I’ll be off to make sure that the jazz quartet is ready!” Victoria happily exclaimed before wandering off.

“Let’s get a drink!” Ralph eagerly suggested as he offered his arm to [Y/N].

Ralph and [Y/N] made their way to the bar, the exact place Ralph had interacted with them for the first time. A series of tap tap taps from both of their tap shoes filled the air around them. Each tap made the smile on Ralph’s face grow bigger.

“Here you go, my love.” Ralph said tenderly as he passed a drink over to them once it had been served.

“Thank you, darling.” [Y/N] left a kiss on his cheek.

With one hand holding their drink and the other holding Ralph’s hand, [Y/N] led him to a table where they could sit and enjoy their drinks before they would sweep one another off onto the dance floor.

“A toast!” Ralph exclaimed all of a sudden as he moved to stand on top of his chair, a bottle of champagne in one hand whilst he gestured towards Victoria, Lauren, Horace and Jason. “Hurrah to us! To you! And a bloody marvellous evening!”

“Oh god! I love fun!” Victoria said before she raised her voice. “Who wants some cocaine?!”

Ralph raised one finger up in the air at her question and [Y/N] couldn’t help but be in awe of his cuteness.

“Careful Ralph.” [Y/N] gently spoke as they took one of his hands in theirs and helped him down from his seat.

Ralph let out a dreamy sigh before he kissed their cheek. “I love you.”

[Y/N] giggled. “I love you too.”

Ralph held the base of his glass of champagne as he took a sip once he was safely seated. Which of course caused some of the alcohol to dribble down his chin. When a quiet “whoops” left his lips, [Y/N] leaned forward with a napkin and gently dabbed the fabric against his chin. Ralph gazed at them with nothing but love as they focused on cleaning up his chin.

“Why did you hold the glass like that?” [Y/N] curiously asked, a smile accompanying their features.

“It seemed like it would be fun.” Ralph said with a smile, almost feeling shy.

“Well it was very cute.” [Y/N] admitted with a kiss to his knuckles.

[Y/N] hand travelled towards Ralph’s wrist and gently fiddled with the cufflink, a gift that they had gotten him for his birthday, that sat snug on his shirt. Ralph stared at [Y/N], his gaze filled with an enormous amount of affection towards the love of his life. Without another thought, he leaned towards them and brought their lips into a kiss.

Multiple decades had passed. Ralph and [Y/N] [L/N]-Penbury had gone through so many milestones and adventures during the course of their love life. Each day their love for one another only grew bigger and bigger.

Ralph currently laid in their bed with [Y/N]’s arms loosely wrapped around him. Ralph felt himself getting weaker. But he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to experience more of his life with [Y/N]. They had so much more to do! He couldn’t just leave them. Old age sucked. How could it tear him away from [Y/N]? It was just cruel. So cruel! If he had the energy, he would cry. But he felt too weak to do so.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” [Y/N] whispered softly, arms still wrapped around Ralph. “You can go now. I love you.”

“I…I love you too.” Ralph struggled to speak but he wanted to tell them. He wanted them to hear those words one last time.

Tears fell from [Y/N]’s eyes. They rested their chin on the top of Ralph’s head. Their sobs grew louder as they pressed one last kiss to Ralph’s forehead. [Y/N] tried to keep it together but they found it too hard to do so. They wanted him to pass away feeling happy. They didn’t want him to bear witness to their tears.

Ralph’s breathing got slower. And slower. Until he finally stopped. [Y/N] let out loud choking sobs. They had just lost their soulmate. And in turn lost a part of them self. They felt nothing but anguish.

[Y/N] didn’t know how they were going to live their life without him. Without Ralph. Their sobs got stuck in their throat at the thought. They knew that this day was going to come. It had been so obvious over the past few months. But [Y/N] was never going to feel ready enough to let him go.

A week later, [Y/N] was found dead in their bed. An empty bottle of tablets were on the bedside table. The pain of losing Ralph had gotten to be too much. They had spent so much of their life with him that it just felt wrong to continue living it without him. Everything reminded [Y/N] of Ralph and they couldn’t take it any more. So, with tears in their eyes, they downed a bottle of tablets with little to no hesitation.

One can only hope that they were reunited after death. And if not, does true love really exist?

[impossible-rat-babies]

tuesday, two in the afternoon

fallen hero / 2.1k words / chargestep (nb!sidestep + m!ortega) / cw: smoking

mostly below the cut!

--

“Why did you bring me down to the beach? It smells awful down here...”

Pollux kicks a rock across the barren sand, watching it roll into the lackadaisical waves lapping at the meager shoreline. The sand squishes beneath his shoes, water leaking through the crappy canvas.

It rained not long ago���almost caught the both of them in the downpour.

His head is still damp from the few fat drops that landed from between the slats in the boardwalk they used to take cover. He runs his hand across the fresh buzzcut, forgetting for a second there’s no curls to tuck behind his ears.

“I thought you liked the beach.” Ortega comes up beside him, keeping pace as they wander through sand and rock, passing by tiny tide pools refreshed by the rain. The sun will dry what the waves can reach soon, but for now they thrive under the cloudy grey sky.

“I don’t mind the beach, but it always stinks like garbage and wet dog down here after it rains.”

“At least it keeps the place private.”

“If you don’t count the seagulls.”

“They’re worse than the tourists.” 

Ortega smiles and Pollux turns to walk backwards, cocking a brow over his sunglasses. Of course Ortega is overdressed to be taking a walk on what passes for a beach these days—a fancy shirt and slacks and the watch he’s got on costs more than four months of rent on Pollux’s shitty apartment.

(Disregarding the sunglasses he’s toting around that are without a doubt the third most expensive thing he owns and even then they were a gift. From Ortega, obviously. He disregards the invading thought that the most expensive thing Ortega has won’t ever be his clothing or a watch, but his spine. Pollux thinks *if*—not *when*—he dies if they’ll pry it out and stick it inside someone else; a replacement for an accident of their own.)

Ortega is always dressed to impress, the silly man. Pollux it’s a habit, or he doesn’t have anything else to wear that isn’t something higher class or luxury, or if he genuinely enjoys silk shirts. The tailored slacks with fancy watches and Italian leather shoes. There’s no one to impress but Pollux and he hasn’t fallen for that trick in years.

“Worried about your shoes?”

“They’re...squishy.”

“You’re gonna ruin them.”

Ortega kicks another rock off towards the waves, stuffing his hands in his pocket as an answer. Pollux snorts, rolling his eyes, and he turns back around, falling into step beside him. He’s always been a fast walker--a faster runner.

Silence stretches out between them and apprehension feels like just another word for awkward, this gap between them. The few pointed inches—enough for static electricity to jump between them, for Pollux to anticipate Ortega’s touch and deftly pull away, leaving air beside his fingertips.

It’s still so hard to let him close.

“Why did you want to meet up here?” Pollux asks just to have something to say, anything to avoid Ortega looking like he’s going to throw his arm over his shoulder and pull him in to mumble something fond, or a terrible joke.

“Just to go on a walk?” Ortega tries and oh he tries so hard. More than he used to.

“Since when did you start walking for fun?”

“When you decide to come along with me. It’s fun, Lux.”

Pollux frowns—he knows this game. Ortega’s got this little tell of looking away just the right way.

“You just wanted to get me out of the house then.”

Ortega shrugs—he’s avoiding, nor is he saying no...

“Okay so I lied. I don’t have anything to talk about. But, if I just wanted to spend time with you then you would’ve said no.”

“True...” Pollux hates how he’s right more often than not. Asshole. “So you picked the beach?”

“I didn’t plan on it raining.”

Pollux sighs, tired of the sand and he wanders away--further out of reach--towards the rocks near the pillars holding up the promenade. 

It’s deserted right now, the rain and the fact that it’s two in the afternoon on a Tuesday keeping the crowds away. Give it a Saturday on a cool summer’s evening and it’d be packed to the gills; people screaming on the small roller coasters, the stink of fresh fried food and the lights--the dizzying array of red, blue and yellow. All the people and all the thoughts buzzing through his head; there were so many bombarding him--all of them, just as aggressive as the lights. He’s braved that terrible crowd--all because Ortega asked. 

He used to do that, do things because Ortega asked nicely. Because they were fun--he had fun. Does he still remember what that felt like? Being on that promenade, breathless and young, laughing like he knew how to laugh? 

They walked down to the very end once, away from the bright lights where it was just the ocean stretching out in front of them like a black abyss. All alone. Ortega asking him, pleading for one ride on the ferris wheel. “Come on Lux just one little ride.” Pollux calling his bluff, shoving his face away because it was all just a ploy for a kiss. Like this is some snapshot romance movie still.

It’s stupid to think about bygones.

There’s no temptation to jump into old times down here, just the water swelling against the rocks and the concrete walls. Trash hiding in the crevices, old green beer bottles that will break and turn to sea glass; left to wash up on the shores of Hawaii.

The beaches there are still nice--worthy of memories. Not this smog stained grey sand.It’s just a hop skip and a jump up onto the slick brown rocks smeared with algae and something that shines like oil. It stinks like it.

Pollux stops, shaking a cigarette out of the package and he cups his hand to protect the fragile flame, watching Ortega clamber up onto the rock beside him. He flops down on a relatively dry spot, free of the worst of the gross.

“What are you doing?” Pollux asks with a faint laugh and a cocked brow, letting his cigarette go unlit. It droops between his lips.

“What does it look like? I’m sitting down.” Ortega replies, smoothing a strand of hair back into the salt and pepper waves at his temples.

“Mr. Ralph Lauren is gonna be pissed you ruined your pants?” A raise of the brow and Ortega looks up at him with a look in those brown eyes.

“My shoes are wet, Lux.” Ortega whines and Pollux is *this close* to kicking him off their rock.

“I think you’re getting old.”

Pollux squats beside him, arms draping over top of his knees.

“Now you’re just being cruel...”

Ortega adjusts, grimacing when he inevitably puts his hand on a wet spot. He untucks his shirt, and he’s rather reminiscent of those “aged like fine wine” men on old magazine covers he found in shitty motel lobbies. He’d fit right on a sandy beach in Florida. These aren’t the right beaches for any of that anymore, still mostly rock. Their original glory immortalized in photographs on the fronts of travel brochures.

But they are healing—slowly. The sand creeps up the shoreline more and more each year.

“I’m not cruel. You just an oversized sun hat and a lounge chair. Maybe a nice hot beer.” Pollux teases and Ortega grimaces.

“It’s January.”

“That doesn’t stop people in Florida or Hawaii.”

“Have you even been to Florida?”

Ortega asks so harmlessly and Pollux pauses.

He’s been there half a dozen times before—fuzzy memories from over a decade ago. Rooftop gardens on top of high rise builds off the coast of Miami, galas with thousand dollar dresses and caked on makeup in the low light from crystal chandeliers. It was all for work, watching and scanning, nimble mental fingers coaxing and teasing truth from the mind’s eyes. He would watch, take in the sights and the sounds through other people’s minds. Take the truth and puzzle over the rest. Ask the dangerous questions: why and how?

He still believes the biggest mistake they made was allowing him to learn.

“I’ve watched movies.” He says instead of lying and he knows he isn’t getting away with it. “Besides, have you ever been to Florida? Or Hawaii even?”

“No, but I’ve watched movies before.”

Ortega grins and Pollux groans, resisting the urge to yet again so shove him off his rock and into one of the tide pools below.

“You’re an asshole.”

Pollux fishes around in his pocket and grabs out a matchbook, flipping it open and fuck he grabbed the wrong one. There’s nothing but the empty packaging in this one, uneven lines from tearing out matches without much grace. He flips it over onto the back and nothing--even the striker strip is shot to hell. Fuck. 

“Are you out?” Ortega peers over and he grumbles.

“Grabbed the wrong matchbook” Pollux huffs, about to grab his carton back out and stuff the poor cigarette back in.

“Wait, I still got--here.” Ortega pulls a small matchbox out of his shirt pocket, holding it out to him. It’s much nicer than his ten cent books he frequently gets for free from the gas station because the cashier thinks he’s cute. 

“You...still carry them around?”

His voice stalls in his chest: it’s meant to be more of questioning incredulity, but it comes out much softer. Forlorn and sticky at the front of his mouth.

Ortega sheepishly looks down at the matchbox, flipping it between his index and forefingers.

“Old habits die hard.”

He ran out of matches a lot, even the crappy little packages where the matches broke more often than actually struck. Ortega started carrying them around, little inch and a half boxes of matches tucked in his coat or shirt pocket. He doesn’t remember when the habit started. But it evolved into a habit of stealing them, seeing how easily he could sneak one away without him noticing.

Ortega protested whenever he caught him and the two of them scrambling for the box until Pollux tucked it away like magic, or Ortega tried tickling him enough times to get an elbow to the nose.

He got him back: a sufficient enough shock and Pollux complained about having a numb hand for the next week.

Pollux had a little stacked collection of them all lined up against the baseboard next to his mattress. He kept the fun ones, the brightly colored and eclectically designed ones--neon blue and mustard yellow. Held onto them until they were falling apart and he painstakingly cut them apart and glued or taped them in the pages of notebooks.

Even now, seven years later Ortega still carries them around and that tugs sharp in the back of his throat and deep in his belly—a sort of nausea that stings his eyes.

He blinks several times and fuck there’s the logo of the cigarette shop Ortega dragged him to once in a blue moon. The floor was some cheap old green motel carpeting--the windows covered in layers of advertisements and wood paneling everywhere else. But god it smelled fantastic--like a humidor stuffed to the brim with anything from cheap cigarettes to fancy and illegal cigars in glass cases. 

(Fuck, it was the best place to buy cigarettes--they still had the little machines with the tokens he’d pay five bucks for at the counter.)

“Yeah...” Pollux mumbles, tearing his eyes away. “Kinda literally, you know. Dying.” He chuckles bone dry and Ortega cringes.

“You still recognized the matchbox. I can’t call you a lost cause yet.” 

He looks over at him, salt and pepper black hair blowing in the breeze, the little white spots where the scars cut through his beard. The soft smile on chapped lips. Even with all the anger in the world rushing under his skin, he can’t be mad.

There’s just that wistful empty ache and he blinks, looking away. The distant shoreline etched on the horizon of a dark ocean and the patchy grey sky above. He lights the cigarette with a single match, the sharpness of the sulfur and the sweet menthol cloud of smoke the breeze dissolves into nothing. 

“Here...” Pollux offers the matchbox back to him.

“Keep it. You need it more than me.” Ortega says, pushing his hand back towards him and he pulls his hand away.

Pollux fixes him with a with a long look before he heaves a sigh and looks back out towards the coast and the ocean further beyond. Smoking the cigarette, filling his lungs on the menthol and tobacco until it burns out at the filter. Ortega sitting beside him, bouncing a leg but he’s quiet. And he doesn’t look over at Pollux.

The sun barely peeks in through the clouds and it looks like this is all the rain they’ll be getting.

[atlafan]

If Elliot was going to listen to a podcast, she wanted it to be relevant and fun. She wanted to feel like she could contribute to the conversation if she were there in the room. During her scrolling, she stumbled upon a low-followed, highly-rated podcast called Lovable Oafs. There was no picture of these said “oafs”, just a logo. As she lays back in bed, she decides to push play on their latest upload where they’d be talking about what they did during their two weeks off.

“Hello, everyone, your favorite oafs are back!” A chipper Irish accent sounds through Elliot’s headphones.

“That’s right, hope you didn’t miss us too much.” Elliot’s eyes snap open as the smooth, low drawl comes through next. Elliot takes a deep breath and closes her eyes again. “What did you do during your time off, Niall? Other than getting horribly sunburnt.” The deep voice chuckles, and it raises goosebumps on Elliot’s skin.

“Oi, I’m tan, not sunburnt! I spent some time in Ireland to see my mates and family. What about you?”

“Went to Italy for some much needed R and R, ate my weight in gelato.”

“Meet anyone new?”

“And as per usual, my love life is not on the table for discussion, you twat.”

“Well, why don’t you tell the people what is on the table for discussion, Harry?”

Harry, his name is Harry.

“I was thinking we could talk about Ariana Grande’s latest album. I’m gonna make a hot take here, Ni.”

“Better be hot and spicy.”  

“Now, I’m not going to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, but I feel like it was just sweetener part two.”

“Fucking, yes! I’ve been thinking the same thing for ages! I gave it like three listens, and I don’t know…I liked it, but I’ll admit, there are some skips.”

“Definitely, if I had to give my favorites, I’d say they’re positions, 34+35, nasty, obvious, pov, and magic. That’s also in no specific order, but those are the ones I like best. The others I could take or leave. I was sort of underwhelmed with her collab with The Weeknd.”

Elliot was sort of freaked out. Whoever this Harry was had the sane exact opinions as she did, down to the favorite songs from that particular album.

“I agree about the song with The Weeknd, but I quite liked motive, Doja Cat was in that with her, and I think they made a good pair.”

“I’ll respect what you’re saying, even if I don’t agree.”

It was like she could hear the smirk on his face. She listened to them babble on about Ariana Grande for a while. Harry and Niall were almost yelling at each other when they were comparing Dangerous Woman and Thank You, Next. She fell asleep before she was able to listen to the topic they moved on to. She listened to the rest of it as she got ready for work the next morning, and listened to another episode on her way to work. She texted Val and told her all about her new discovery, and thanked her for not making any recommendations so she could find them on her own.

For whatever reason, she felt perkier at work, more focused. During her lunch break, she couldn’t help but listen to another episode. She thought it would be fun to start from the beginning, and work her way to the present. Apparently, the boys started their podcast back when they were in uni. They had wanted to join the campus radio station, but they also didn’t want to be censored. They were both broadcast majors, and ended up becoming roommates. From there, they both got jobs working at a bar and would do that at night while working on their podcast during the day. They hadn’t blown up all that much, but they were doing well enough now that they were getting ad sponsorships. They both still worked at the bar, but less often.

Elliot found it endearing that Niall and Harry didn’t seem to get sick of one another. They were attached at the hip, and she remembered what that was like. She and Callie were practically attached at the hip just the same; she missed that. Friends like that were hard to come by, but apparently friends like that could also fuck your boyfriend for months behind your back, so Elliot really didn’t know what a real friend was anymore. Even with how close she was with Val, she kept her at an arm’s length.

She was half tempted to check out their Instagram, or even see if they had anything on YouTube, but Elliot sort of liked that she didn’t know what the boys looked like. It kept an air of mystery around it. The boys talked about things she genuinely found interesting, and they were hilarious. They’d make each other laugh, and the way they spoke made the audience feel like they were on the inside of the joke.

The Lovable Oafs podcast soon became part of Elliot’s every day routine. She listened to them to fall asleep, as she got ready, on her commute to and from work, and on her lunch breaks. It seemed a bit obsessive, but when Elliot found something to hyperfixiate on, she clung to it so she could feel any and all serotonin.

She had been listening to them for almost two months now. Elliot of course caught up with them, but she was getting three new shows a week. Lucky for her, the boys usually talked for around an hour, so it would take her a couple of days to get through an episode. Elliot still hadn’t checked their social media, keeping them afar was healthier.

It had been a particularly rough week at work, so Elliot thought to take herself out for a drink. One of her co-workers recommended a bar close by to where they worked. She hadn’t been before, but a glass of red was a glass of red anywhere. Happy hour was alive and well, she was lucky to find an open seat at the bar. She sighs heavily as she waits for one of the bartenders to notice her. It was busy, so she didn’t blame the people that worked there. The man sitting next to her looks her up and down, and smirks.

“Hi, there.” He smiles at her. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“Oh, no thank you. I can get one myself…eventually.” Elliot says to him, then facing forward. She really wasn’t in the mood to be hit on right now. She just wanted a glass of wine.

“C’mon, you look like you’ve had a rough go of it. Let me get you a drink.”

“I’m really all set.”

“You don’t have to play cute, Sweetheart, why else would a woman come to a bar by herself?”

“Probably to relax, Ralph, so why not just leave her alone, hm?” Elliot looks up at the bartender with wide eyes. She’d been listening long enough to recognize his voice. It was Harry…Elliot had ended up at the bar that he and Niall still occasionally worked at. “Course, if you don’t, I’ll have to throw you out, and when I have to do that with the same customer three times, they get banned.”

[COMING TO PATREON THURSDAY, 3/24 @ 8AM]

[maskedpeach]

RPG Maker Fever Hero & Issues

Warning: This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

Five little authors went out to write. One little author has missed the deadline. Four little authors didn’t pay him much mind. Three authors are left since fourth drank the lye. Three little authors are bursting with confidence. One overworked himself and other two ignored his absence. Two little authors try to finish hard task. Teddy bear hugged one and one stands at last. One little author is left all alone. He hung himself on the chandelier and then there were none…Then who has finished this article? And why this teddy bear is giving me a weird look?

1. Walking on a Star Unknown

Walking on a Star Unknown is the latest game made by Segawa and most heartwarming out of her three games (while End Roll was more heartbreaking than heartwarming, and Farethere City is somewhere in-between). Game  tells a story of two alien siblings, whose ship has crashed on the unfamiliar planet, where they decide to participate in the cooking tournament to get their ship fixed. Gameplay is simple yet very fun - most of the time you gather ingredients, learn new recipes, do side-quests and make friends with the planet inhabitants. Game has memorable cast of characters with their own interesting stories and  bright and stylish visuals. As previous Segawa’s  games Star also has some disturbing themes and some areas are dark and creepy, but overall tone of the game is bright and optimistic.

2. Witch’s Heart

Actually I wrote the detailed review on this game few posts ago, but  I’m still including WH in the article for those who are lazy to read that enormous wall of a text. The most notable part of the game is its plot (which is interesting to follow and full of good twists) and memorable cast of well-developed characters. Along with it WH has  entertaining  gameplay (mini-games included), great presentation and catchy soundtrack. Overall it is one of the best games I’ve ever played, so if you like rpg-horrors I suggest to at least give it a try. Game is still unfinished, currently only one ending (out of four routes) is available, but even in the present state it means about 15-20 hours of gameplay.

3. The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 1, 2, 3

Here goes a game trilogy about Sogo Inaba-a tsundere detective with adorable side and Nina Arimura – his energetic assistant, together they solve various cases, some of the cases are pretty normal, and others are somewhat paranormal. First game of the series is a detective with minor supernatural horror elements – some rpg-horror typical puzzles and minor chasing sequences included. Second game is purely realistic and much more simple gameplay-wise comparing to the first game. Stories in first two games resemble Agatha Christie’s detective  novels mixed with japanese psychological horrors. Third game of the series is closer to pure survival horror with minor detective elements and plays like many other rpg-horrors . To be honest, the third game is my personal favorite, since it is the most polished game out of three and the good conclusion for the Inaba and Arimura’s story. All three games are about 2 hours long and have great presentation (like quality art-style and great in-game music).

4. Asadoke no Majo

Asadoke no Majo starts with our protagonist  Yui arguing with her father and as a result running away from home to …another country, where resides their old family mansion along with dark family secret and a handsome guy managing the estate as a bonus. Game is about 2 hours long and has pretty simple puzzles, minor jumpscares and several chasing scenes (but a final chase is the only frustrating one). Despite being pretty typical rpg-horror Asadoke no Majo leaves very positive impression thanks to bright cast of characters (the Nogi guy here is something else), good story and atmosphere along with well-chosen soundtrack. Currently game is available in japanese and russian.

5. Hero & Daughter

H&D is a dungeon-crawler made by tachi (Headless Prisoner, Moonlight Ghost, Hello?Hell…o?), which mocking famous fantasy cliché “hero defeats a dark lord”.Our hero Ralph get his level reduced to 1 because of his arrogance, and with this permanent level 1 he is tasked to defeat the Demon Lord. Again. That’s where Ralph’s friend of the haremancer class comes to rescue. This guy can summon pretty girls (including heroines from previous tachi’s games like Erina and Akari) to help Ralph in his quest. H&D is fun and entertaining, battles are fast-pacing, dungeons are complex, visuals are nice, also game has enormous level-cap and loads of optional content and many playable characters. Plot may be simple, but H&D has good humor and characters ( even generic Ralph got a nice personality). If you like quality role-playing games I highly recommend to try it out

6. Ai korosu yori, Ai korosaretai

An ordinary (alright, maybe a bit eccentric) family moves into new house. Soon after that their daughter Lucy falls with high fever.When she gets better, she discovers that her parents are gone  and various weird phenomena is occurring in the house. To find the missing parents Lucy will have to search the house and learn about its history full of mysterious disappearances and tragic events. AiAi has very interesting story (good mix of horror and sci-fi) and entertaining gameplay with interesting puzzles and action cut-ins. Also beside proceeding the story you can also do some optional stuff  like gathering collectibles and later saving runaway cows. If you like quality horror-adventures I highly recommend to try this game out. AiAi is currently available in japanese and russian.

7. Escatpade

Here goes another quality game for those who is tired from horror and tragedy and wants something warm and relaxing. Escatpade  is about the girl who falls into the pit and finds herself in the weird place full of adorable talking cats. Game is nice and fun, have a bright, adorable designs and simple yet elegant puzzles. Also some items in the inventory can change appearance of our heroine (like clothes, glasses and stuffed kittycats).

8. Tower of Feles

ToF made by the author of Escatpade and also full of adorable cats. But unlike Escatparade this game is slightly more challenging. ToF is an action-puzzle where your objective is save your little sister from evil witch. In order to do so you have to climb on top of the tower, solving various puzzles and avoiding witch’s servants in the process. Every floor has a time limit, and if either time runs out or your health drops to zero you’ll have to start the floor over. Game is a bit tricky and very fun to play. If you have beaten Escatpade and want more cats and cuteness- Tower of Feles is what you need. 

9. Twilight Epic

Twilight Epic is a sequel to Amayado Bus Stop. This time the main character is Akane’s and Akari’s cousin Akino, who  receives a call from unknown girl, who tells him about certain “promise” and right after that he finds this girl’s dead body (or not quite dead). The boy decides to find out the truth and grown-up Chitose and Akari are helping him out. Game is far more simple than its predecessor-puzzles are mostly gone and chasing scenes are pretty straightforward, but still the game is very enjoyable, since story is good and heartwarming. Also game has quality art-style and skit system similar to one in Tales series. Twilight Epic is currently available in japanese and russian.

10. Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners

Peret em Heru is survival horror with rpg-elements about a group of tourists, lead by an archeologist, professor Tsuchida, exploring  ancient  ruins underneath the Great Pyramid of Giza. Needless to say, that these ruins are filled with deadly traps and Tsuchida’s intentions are far from mere scientific interest.  Gameplay resembles Sweet Home and Corpse Party –Rebuilt-, but more simple and straightforward – you play as one of the tourists,  fight monsters, grind levels,  and save your teammates from booby traps. Overall Peret em Heru is a nice game with stylish old-fashioned visuals and good music, game is about 3 hours long and have one ending, which varies depending on how many of your teammates have survived.

11. The Object

You awake in the dark room in the unknown place and find out that not only your memories are gone, but your head is gone as well. On top of that  you can attach literally anything to an empty place where your head once was. Now your goal is to regain the lost memories along with the head and leave the house. Game consists from exploration and simple yet elegant puzzles, which you solve by swapping  your heads. Game is pretty interesting and  has five endings , to get all of them  you’ll  need about 30 minutes.

12. Colors: Lost Memories

This time you play as a little girl who finds herself in the colorless world inhabited by talking animals. To get back home she must return this world its colors. Colors have stylish visuals highly reminiscent of old GBC games as well as unique puzzles based on using various colors you get during the game at the right places. First you can use only one color (for example red is needed to light or put out fire), later you will be able to activate up to three colors at the same time.Game is cute and fun to play, approximate time of the playthrough is one hour.

13. Nemoral

Nemoral is a short game about two cops who end up in the abandoned mansion while chasing the cult followers, assuming that they have something to do with the recent disappearances of children. And this mansion hides pretty dark secret about a project based on the famous fairy tale. Nemoral is quality action-horror, where both visuals and gameplay is somewhat resemble very first Resident Evil (in the good way of course). The only con of Nemoral is anti-climatic ending (game was made for the contest, and author was short on time). But even in present state the game is still enjoyable.

14. B*x. Colorful.

I’ve decided to unite both games in one mini-review, since they are both made by the same author and both are very short. B*x is about lonely girl in bunny outfit, who lives with her boyfriend, the only person who cares about her. But it seems like he’s hiding something from her. Game is about 30 minutes long and have few easy puzzles. Colorful is only 10 minutes long and have no puzzles at all, and more depressing than B*x. In Colorful you just listen to the story and watch pictures. Both games have very nice art style.

[those-celestial-bodies]

WandaVision premiere liveblog!

All spoilers will be contained under the cut; I’ll be editing & saving this post as I watch!

Seriously I can’t believe we’re here! Round of applause for everyone who has been here over the years! I’m so excited that we’ll be joined by a whole new wave of people for the show. No matter how the show ends up, I’m glad we’re all sharing this!

I have watched a streaming premiere approximately 0 times before... do they go up exactly at the turn of the hour or is it here or there? 

Apparently it’s five minutes post the hour...

Here we go! Marvel Studios intro has changed Wanda’s little part from the AoU “you are an Avenger” to her fight with Thanos. Vision is still the last thing we see in the “M” for the final logo.

Oh my god her little short wedding dress! Love that it’s “starring” Wanda and Vision. And man they are just dropping us in media res. 

I’m dying this is too cute. And they did remember Vision doesn’t technically eat food! I wonder how the dinner party will go...

I am going to be creating Sims 4 house of every single era no one can stop me.

“Charmed”, from Agnes. Haha.

Oh we have a name for the husband--Ralph. Don’t think there’s any significance there.

People we weren’t kidding Bettany is completely natural in this environment. 

He’s so carbon based I love him. CARBON BASED.

Oh they actually call him Vision. Does he have a first name? That’s his last name I’m assuming... 

That magazine is “Glamorous” is seen in the 70s too.

A toaster... ok. So long as they avoid the obvious joke. Oh that’s the “blinking red light” from Stark Industries.

OH THAT EXPLAINS THE DRESS! Aw that’s too cute!

Oh she is still Sokovian! And Mr Hart is all red scare. I love they brought that in.

Interesting Wanda brings up super speed before his density shifting.

Woah thirsty Vision! 👀

Oh there’s the density reference.

That’s REALITY WARPING BABY!

Oh my god this is genuinely funny! 

I like how Wanda is European with her super American accent but Vision is... I guess not?

Interesting...Vision doesn’t act until Wanda commands him to. And it looks like Mrs Hart was pleading with Wanda there right?

YAKETY YAK OFFICIAL SCARLET VISION SONG.

Those names in the  credits didn’t mean anytihng to me.... gonna Google them later.

Oooh MCU real credits. Very cool. Pixel Rose, pixel glasses, pixel... gazebo? Pixel watertower, pixel children’s mobile, pixel staircase, pixel house, Halloween costumes.  Aw... the wedding rings...

That’s Episode 1 done!

Praying for animated opening... Oh we get a previously on, that’s cute. 

Yeah you can kind of hear the difference in Elizabeth Olsen’s 60s cadence here. Neat.

Can I say I love they aren’t completely sexless?

HELL YEAH ANIMATED HERE WE GO!

Oh cute they’re all the actual characters!

Oh shit they’re actually called Glamour and Illusion. +1 for fake Wardell. Anyway that’s a reference to the sidekicks from the 2nd 80s mini.

Love how it’s transformed to a slightly more naturalistic approach. 

There Agnes is with the brooch again...

Huh that mailman is suspicious.

Love the reference to Mary Tyler Moore’s pants-wearing being a controversial thing in The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Please clap.

Hmmm I kinda know what they mean with the weird splices of mystery kind of out of nowhere.  Interesting that both Mr Hart and Dottie suddenly get a lot nicer when they have... incidents...

Strucker like Baron von Strucker? Oh yes that’s HYDRA lol

Aww that’s so cute, he’s “drunk”!

Haha his smug face when he floats 

Wanda is too cute as Glamour!

Oh my god his drunk party tricks. 

Oh look the cabinet has the Mind Stone on it.

I love how they kind of subtly established Wanda wanted kids with the “for the children” thing.

Aw...he put his hand on her belly to protect the babies.

SIMS 4 HOUSE COMING GOTTA DO IT.

Oh that’s interesting... there was that one clip from the trailers showing them sitting down and kissing that doesn’t happen in this. 

Anyway, that’s it for Episode 2! This was amazing and more than exceeding my expectations. I was a little worried by the early reviews but frankly, if that’s the worst of their problems it’s only getting better from here!!

[toku-fangirl-dolls]

Meet the dolls: part 1 (Historical)

I just added a part 2 with my contemporary dolls, but for now, let’s start with all of my historical American Girl dolls.

Samantha

Samantha was the doll that started it all. She’s not the oldest doll in my collection, but she is the one I’ve owned the longest and still the one I treasure the most. I fell in love with her picture in the catalog back around...1993 or so, I want to say. I thought she was the most beautiful doll in the world. I have most of her original fashions, though I never did get her tea dress, and also a few of her re-release outfits. Here she is in her original cranberry Christmas dress, along with her cape, hat, and muff (I unfortunately only have one of her shoe covers that matches the cape...child me was very good at losing small accessories). Samantha is the big sister to the rest of the dolls.

Nellie

I wanted a Nellie doll so badly as a child, but they didn’t start making them until 2004. By that time I had decided I was too old for dolls, so I saw her, wished they would’ve made her sooner, and moved on. When I got back into collecting, I decided to track her down. I found this one on eBay, bundled with several of her outfits. I had to track down the coat separately, but it was worth it. She is wearing her Christmas dress under her coat. When I set up my dolls in different scenes I always have her and her bestie Samantha together.

Melody

I bought Melody right when she was first released because I was glad AG had decided to make another historical Black doll (I’d love to see a Black doll from the 1950s, but that’s a story for another day). My Melody wears glasses because I think they look cute on her (and she had them in the movie). I have a couple of her historical outfits, but honestly I dress most of my dolls in contemporary clothes most of the time (although “contemporary” in this case means anything from the 1990s onwards...I’m old, aren’t I? Sigh). Anyway. Melody is wearing her historical Christmas dress under this coat. My Melody is a Star Trek fan, again because of the movie (she wanted to go to space), and she has a red Starfleet dress that she wears for Halloween to be like her favorite character, Uhura.

Kirsten

I found this Kirsten at a toy show in early 2019. I’d been thinking about adding a Kirsten to my collection and I just about fainted when I looked under her dress to check the condition of the cloth body...

There’s a chance that this doll is a year or two older than me! The white-bodied dolls were only produced from 1986-1991, and only for the original 3 dolls (Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly). The seller wanted $50 for her, and since the white-bodied dolls can go for several hundred, I knew I couldn’t pass her up. I spent the rest of 2019 slowly building up her wardrobe thanks to eBay. Of all my dolls, she is the one who spends the most time in historical fashions.

Addy

I bought Addy in 2019 as well, from the American Girl Benefit Sale in Madison, WI. Like I was saying, most of my dolls wear modern(ish) clothes. She’s currently enjoying a pajama day. 

I learned how to do Dutch braids so I could braid her hair. The braids have held up fairly well, although I may take them out and re-do them at some point to try and get them neater/tighter.

Felicia (custom Felicity)

Felicia here is a bit of a Franken-doll. She was another eBay find, and actually the last doll I purchased before my collecting hiatus. I had originally meant to fix her up and give her to my aunt, but then she and my uncle got divorced and we lost touch. When I got back into collecting, I fixed her up for myself. She had bad stains on her limbs, which I was able to remove, but she needed a new wig and a new cloth body. I gave her a wig from a JLY 61, and also swapped out her eyes for blue. Her original eyes were fine, but I liked the red hair/blue eyes combo and wanted to give eye swapping a try. She’s another doll who wears glasses because I like how they look on her. Here she’s wearing a handmade Anna outfit that I found at the benefit sale craft fair.

Ariel (custom Marie-Grace)

I’ve always thought the MG face mold was a good one for Disney princess customs. I swapped out her wig for one from Beautifully Custom. She has a mermaid dress, but here she’s wearing one of the Truly Me outfits (can’t remember the name of it). I also have a pattern for her pink dress from the movie, and I’d like to make her a pair of pajamas like the ones in Wreck-It Ralph.

And those are my historical dolls! I’ll introduce the contemporary dolls (GOTY, JLY, and CYO) in part 2.

[fanfics4all]

The Piano Man

Request: Yes / No 

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader 

Word count: 3999

Warnings: TALK OF RAPE I will not be tagging anyone but do not read if you are triggered by rape! (This is based on season seven episode 12)

Y/N: Your Name 

Y/L/N: Your Last Name

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

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

Masterlist 

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

A long time ago I used to live in Houston. That was a part of my life that I never wanted to return to. But now, it looks like I had no choice. I had joined the BAU team in the FBI and our case was back in my hometown. 

“So Houston PD needs our boots on the ground for the Piano Man case.” Garcia said and I silently gulped. 

“The serial rapist?” Morgan asked. 

“A case we consulted on about eight months ago. Twelve victims over five years.” Hotch said and he glanced at me. He knew that I was one of those women that he had hurt, he was the only one that knew. Not even my boyfriend of one year knew, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone else. Hotch needed to know because it came up on my psych eval, but that was the only reason. The local PD didn’t even know, I never reported it because I was scared… 

“He crosses racial and social lines, ages too.” He added and kept glancing at me, I knew the others noticed as well. 

“Power assertive?” Prentiss asked. 

“Knocks them out with a date rape drug, and binds them with piano wire…” Rossi said. 

“They wake up with no memory of the assault or how they got the permanent scar the wire leaves.” I said, managing to keep my voice leveled. 

“So he’s branding his victims. How does he dose them?” Prentiss asked. 

“Houston PD still isn’t sure ‘cause, you know, date rape drugs metabolize quickly, and he’s keeping them for twelve hours.” Penelope answered before I could say anything. To be fair, I have no memory of how he drugged me, so even I didn’t know. 

“So why are they calling us in now?” Morgan asked. 

“Because of these most recent attacks. This piece of work has elevated sick and twisted to a whole new dimension. Cases in point- Brittany Anderson filed a report after she woke up outside the restaurant she was abducted from, and Vanessa Campbell was just reported missing.” Penelope answered and my eyes widened. 

“Wait, those were victims two and five, weren’t they?” Spencer asked. 

“Yes. He’s going back and attacking survivors a second time.” Penelope confirmed. 

“Vanessa was grabbed from her house? He’s changing his M.O. from what we studied. He’s upping his game.” JJ said. 

“Well, we know he stalks them. But public venue abduction, he has the power. Home invasion, he’s on their turf.” Morgan said. 

“So he’s betting he can gain control before they get to a phone or a gun.” Spencer said. 

“The question is why? What is he getting from revisiting old victims?” Rossi asked. 

“It seems careless for someone who’s been so controlled up to now.” Hotch said. 

“What is this? On the floor?” Prentiss asked.

“Uh, that- oh, God, that is the contents of Vanessa Campbell’s stomach, which she ralphed up.” Penelope answered. 

“And in the glass?” Prentiss asked. 

“According to the police report, it is salt and water.” Penelope answered. 

“Homemade emetic.” Prentiss said. 

“E-what what?” Penelope asked. 

“Quick and dirty cocktail meant to induce vomiting.” Rossi answered. 

“Vanessa Campbell and her husband moved to a new address. They’ve put locks on the doors. They took precautions. She even knew what to do if she was dosed again, and it still wasn’t enough. That’s what he gets out of it.” Prentiss explained. 

“Their fear. He wants them to know that no matter what, he can still get to them.” Hotch said and I felt a chill run up my spine. 

Everyone was getting ready to get on the jet. I gathered my stuff up and headed to the jet early. I walked on and saw Hotch sitting there alone. 

“Hey.” I said. 

“Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. Sit.” He said motioning to the seat in front of him. 

“I don’t want you to go on the case.” He said and my eyes widened.

“Hotch, I’m fine.” I said and he shook his head.

“No, you’re not. You are too involved with this case.” He said and I shook my head. 

“This man is the reason I studied so hard for this job, I want to catch people like him and now I have the chance to catch this son of a bitch. Please don’t take that away from me.” I said and he started at me for a few minutes. 

“He’ll try and come after you.” He said and I nodded. 

“I know the risks, but Hotch I can promise you I’m okay. I’m not gonna let him scare me.” I said and he sighed. 

“Fine, but you listen to what I tell you and don’t try and find him on your own.” He said and I nodded. 

“I promise.” I said, although I knew I might not be able to keep it all that well. Hotch and Rossi were talking with the chief and JJ and Prentiss were interviewing the victims. Reid Morgan and I were sent to the latest crime scene. 

“Does Vanessa smoke?” Spencer asked her husband. 

“Yes, Vanessa smokes. What does it matter?” He asked. 

“It might explain how the unsub is drugging these women.” Spencer said and my eyes widened slightly. Thank God I quit. 

“The media has done a very good job of warning people to watch their drinks so that bars are no longer a fertile hunting ground, but cigarette smokers aren’t as careful. They might ask to have a cigarette from a stranger, or have their pack swapped out of their purse when they put it down and then unknowingly inhale PCP or scopolamine, both of which mimic the effects of date rape drugs.” Spencer rambled, it honestly was always so cute to me, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking that.

“She hid them in her purse. She didn’t think I knew. She cracked the windows so I wouldn’t smell it when I got home.” Mr. Campbell said. 

“You know, if the unsub stalked her from the backyard, he’d have a good view when she lit up.” Spencer said. 

“He also took out the window with something like a center punch.” Morgan said. 

“What’s that?” Mr. Campbell asked. 

“It’s a spring-loaded device used to punch divots into metal. It also breaks glass.” I explained as Spencer walked off towards the kitchen. 

“No cigarettes. He must have taken them with him to hide the evidence.” Spencer said while looking through her purse. 

“You know, it might not be all he’s trying to hide.” Morgan said. 

“What do you mean?” I asked him. 

“Mr. Campbell, was this on when you came home?” He asked. 

“The police told me not to touch anything.” Mr. Campbell answered. 

“Well, you sure got a lot of MP3s on here.” Morgan said scrolling through them. 

“Was it playing one of them?” He asked. 

“No. Why?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“The media center keeps a history of the last twenty songs that were played, but either you don’t listen to any of them or someone erased it.” I said catching on to what Morgan was thinking. 

“It wasn’t me.” Mr. Campbell said. 

“I’ll call Garcia.” Morgan said, pulling out his phone. 

“Whatcha need?” She answered. 

“Hey, there’s an MP3 player in the Campbell house, can you tell me anything about the erased history?” Morgan asked. 

“Okay, I can’t tell you who deleted that playback list, but I can tell you exactly when the log was cleared. 7:43 P.M..” She said. 

“Why erase a history of someone else’s music?” Spencer asked. 

“Because he didn’t erase someone else’s music. At 7:36, he loaned an MPS via USB drive, played it, and promptly deleted it.” She said, showing us on the Campbell’s T.V..

“Cleared the history so he could cover up his tracks.” She added. 

“The unsub brought his own music to an abduction?” I asked confused. 

“Yes, he did, and that is creepy. Fortunately, whatever is imported onto this computer downloaded the home network, so, ladies and gentlemen, the mystery song of Mr. Gruesome is…” She said and the music started playing. “That’s specific.” Spencer said. 

“That’s another reason to call this guy the piano man.” Morgan said. 

“Turn it off. Please.” Mr. Campbell said. Morgan turned it off.

“Does this song mean something to you or your wife?” Spencer asked.

“Vanessa hates it.” Mr. Campbell said and I gulped. 

“How come?” Morgan asked. 

“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. But every time it came on the radio, she’d burst into tears.” Mr. Campbell explained.

“So the unsub just happened to play it the night he came after her.” Morgan said. 

We got back and JJ and Prentiss brought the woman back in to see if they had songs that triggered them too. All of us were in the room the local PD had set up for us and looked at all the songs these women now hated. 

“Lady in Red, Up Where We Belong, Glory of Love. Each victim has her own piano ballad.” JJ said. 

“You know, considering the survivors lose consciousness during the rape, we think this functions as the unsub’s signature. He most likely plays the songs repeatedly during the assault, resulting in pavlovian response when they heard it later, sort of a subconscious rape trigger.” Spencer said. 

“The night of Vanessa Campbell’s abduction, that signature became part of his torture.” Rossi said. Hotch looked at me and I shook my head. 

“We need to know.” He said and everyone looked at me. 

“No.” I said. 

“Know what?” Spencer asked confused. 

“Y/N is one of the victims from the first time.” Hotch said. 

“Hotch!” I said and I felt everyone looking at me in shock. 

“So, what song is it?” He asked and I looked away from everyone. 

“Endless Love…” I said.

“So, why these songs? What do they say about him?” Hotch asked, but before anyone could say anything more his phone rang. 

“Go ahead, Morgan.” Hotch said. 

“We just found Vanessa Campbell’s body. He didn’t even bother hiding it.” He said and my eyes widened. 

“How long has she been dead?” Hotch asked. 

“Maybe five hours.” He answered. 

“He’s never killed before…” I said. 

“Are we sure it’s our unsub?” Spencer asked, he was clearly worried. 

“He used a piano wire as a garrote.” Morgan answered. 

“Alright, Morgan, you come back here, I’ll go to the coroner's office once they’ve looked her over.” Hotch said and hung up. 

“Keep working.” Hotch said and pulled me out of the room. 

“You need to go back home now.” He said and I shook my head. 

“I’m not going anywhere until he’s behind bars.” I said, standing my ground. 

“Y/N this is serious, he’s getting more confident, you need to leave.” He said. 

“Hotch is right Y/N.” Spencer said coming out of the room. 

“I’ll give you two some time to talk.” Hotch said and went back into the room. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked. 

“Because I wanted to forget about it. Hotch is the only one that knew because of my psych eval.” I said not meeting his eyes. 

“I can help you.” He said, gently touching my arms. 

“Spence, there’s nothing to help. The only thing I need to do is to catch him.” I said. He gently guided my eyes to look at his.

“I understand, but this is dangerous for you, he could try and come after you now and what if he kills you? I can’t lose you…” He said with tears in his eyes. 

“I promised Hotch I wouldn’t go looking for him alone and as hard as it is to keep that promise, I need to. Because if I ever see him again, I will kill him.” I said and Spencer’s eyes widened, but he saw the tears in my eyes. 

“I can’t let him get away with this again.” I said and a tear slid down my cheek. Spencer pulled me to him and held me close. 

“Just stay with me okay? I can tell Hotch that we need to stay together, I can protect you.” He said and I smiled. 

“You know, I think that’ll be better for the both of us.” I said and he smiled back. 

“I love you.” He whispered. 

“I love you too, now let’s get back to doing our job.” I said, but he stopped me. 

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to go home?” He asked and I smiled slightly. 

“You know there’s not.” I said and he sighed, but nodded. 

We walked back in the room and Hotch said the three of us were going to the morgue. So we hopped in a car and headed there. They didn’t have too much to look over apparently. 

“Tissue inflammation is consistent with inhalation of some sort of drug. I can’t tell what yet.” The doctor told us. 

“And the ligature marks?” Hotch asked. 

“Same as before. New wounds on top of old scars.” The doctor said holding up the hand and I felt myself reach for my own wrists. 

“No sexual assault, though. Possibly because she regained consciousness at some point and fought back.” He added. 

“She doesn’t show any signs of defensive wounds.” Spencer commented. 

“No, but I did fish this out of her trachea.” The doctor said handing Spencer a bag. 

“Neoprene?” I asked. 

“From a glove. My best guess is she bit him.” The doctor said. 

“Not enough to break the skin, unfortunately.” He added. 

“An exam glove?” Hotch asked. 

“Most likely.” The doctor answered. 

“Actually, it’s a surgical glove. A little bit thicker than an exam glove. If he was wearing neoprene, it means he has an allergy to latex.” Spencer said. 

“I’ll have Garcia check hospital records.” Hotch said and left the room. 

“Thank you doctor.” I said and Spencer and I followed Hotch out. 

When we got back to the PD Hotch told Spencer and I to take a little break. I objected at first, but he said it was an order so we took a walk around the block. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” I said grabbing Spencer’s hand. 

“I understand why you didn’t.” He said. 

“I can hear him still you know…” I said and he looked at me confused. 

“What?” He asked. 

“He sang the song, I remember his voice. I was new to smoking so I wasn’t used to it yet. I was out with some friends and I went to smoke alone, when I tasted it, it tasted off so I got rid of it, but I blacked out after. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could hear that song and him singing it…” I admitted. 

“We need to go back.” Spencer said and grabbed my hand. We ran back as fast as we could and we saw everyone sitting at a table. 

“Hey you guys are back, we got a suspect.” JJ said and we looked at her confused. 

“Y/N remembers his voice.” Spencer said and everyone’s eyes widened. 

“Let’s go, Prentiss you try and get him to talk. Hotch said and the four of us walked towards the investigation room. Emily went inside and started playing to his fantasies. 

“It’s not him.” I said. 

“He’s definitely assaulted Dianna though.” Prentiss said. 

“Arrest him for that, but he’s not the man that raped me.” I said and walked out of the room. 

“How can Herman Scodie not be the piano man? We’ve got the medical gloves, the medical record he pulled.” Rossi asked. We were all gathered in the room, after Hotch had sent JJ, Spencer, and Morgan to go check his house anyway. 

“The taunt he said to Diana Mitchell, he repeated to us.” Prentiss said. 

“Well, Scobie definitely assaulted Diana the second time. He’s probably re-victimizing all of the survivors.” JJ said. 

“But apply the profile to Herman Scobie, and look at what’s different. There’s no piano wire, and there’s no song played.” Morgan said. 

“You think there are two unsubs, the piano man and a copycat?” Hotch asked. 

“A copycat studies the original unsub in order to learn. Herman Scobie’s a doppelganger.” Spencer said. 

“He’s trying to pass himself off as the piano man.” I said. 

“Why?” Rossi asked. 

“Convenience, maybe. If he assaults the piano man’s survivors, they’re less likely to reach out to the police.” Morgan said. 

“And if they do, the women claim it was the piano man. No one thinks to look at hospital orderlies.” JJ added.

“So who killed Vanessa Campbell, the piano man or Scobie?” Hotch asked. 

“It’s a lay-up. Same neoprene glove in her throat as we found in Scobie’s van.” Rossi answered. 

“There’s something odd about that too, though. If Vanessa swallowed this it would be scarred by digestive acids. I mean, even if it got caught in her trachea as he choked her out, gastric reflux would be evident, but there isn’t any.” Spencer said. 

“So the unsub placed that in her throat postmortem.” I said. 

“Which unsub?” Prentiss asked. 

“He used the piano wire, he played the song, it must be the piano man.” Morgan said. 

“So he plants a piece of evidence to frame Scobie.” Rossi said. 

“Okay, let me get this straight. The piano man is trying to convince us that Scobie is responsible for all of these crimes.” Prentiss said. 

“And if these two have studied each other this closely, then Scobie is the key to finding the piano man.” Hotch said. 

“His lawyer’s here. Scobie’s not gonna talk to us.” JJ said. 

“He will when he finds out he’s been set up.” Hotch said. 

“Let me talk to him.” I said and everyone looked at me. 

“No way.” Hotch said. 

“If he’s studied the piano man he’ll know who I am. He’ll want to talk to me.” I said and Spencer shook his head. 

“No, we can’t let you do that.” He said. 

“Fine. I’ll go in with you. That’s the only way.” Hotch said and I nodded. 

“Hotch, you’re serious about this?” Spencer asked shocked. 

“She’s right, if he knows who she is then it might put him on edge.” He answered. 

“Let’s go.” He added and we walked inside. Herman and his lawyer looked up at us and I noticed Herman’s eyes flash with realization. 

“My client has nothing to say.” His lawyer said. 

“Good. We’d rather he listen anyway.” Hotch said. 

“You’re going away fro rape. The question is whether you’ll let your competition hang Vanessa Campbell’s murder on you as well.” I said. 

“I didn’t kill her.” Herman said. 

“I didn’t even touch her.” He added. 

“Herman.” His lawyer warned. 

“From what you’ve told us, we know exactly what you think of these women.” Hotch said. 

“You don’t need to kill them.” I said speaking as if I wasn’t one of them. 

“They’re not worth that much effort to you.” I said and he never took his eyes off me. 

“But the piano man can’t take that risk. When he’d heard what you’d done, he killed Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said. 

“He went back to an old victim, just like you, but then he places a piece of neoprene down her throat. Does that sound like an accident?” I asked and he glared at me. 

“He’s setting you up.” I added. 

“I need to discuss this with my client.” The lawyer said. 

“No, he talks to us now, or he takes his chances with a jury.” Hotch said. 

“What do you want to know?” Herman asked, eyes still never leaving mine. 

“Who is he?” I asked and he smirked. 

“You should know, I know who you are.” He said leaning forward towards me. 

“His unknown victim. The one that didn’t report him.” He said.

“Who is he?” Hotch asked again. 

“I never met him. I just read about what he did in the hospital records.” He said looking up at me. 

“You were the only one that didn’t report him, but you came in with the same marks as those other women.” He said, looked at me again. 

“The weird thing though, I had three chicks picked out to do next. I was gonna start with Vanessa, but… He got to her first.” Herman said. 

“Who was the other ones?” Hotch asked. 

“Regina Lampert and Y/N Y/L/N.” He answered. 

“You’re going away for a long time.” I said and walked out of the room. Spencer grabbed me and pulled me to him. 

“It’s okay.” He whispered and kissed my head. We all met in the room and tried calling Regina. 

“Okay, guys, regina Lampert is not answering her phone, and I found something hinky on her, which I’m sending to your tablets.” Garcia said. 

“Alright, Garcia, what are we looking at?” Hotch asked. 

“It’s a surveillance video from the bar that Regina Lampert works at. Do you see the guy she’s talking to?” She asked.

“PLaying the piano. He’s taunting her.” Rossi said. 

“She knows it too. Look at her body language.” Hotch said. 

“Watch what happens when I fast-forward to closing time.” Garcia said and sped up the video. 

“She seems to warm up to him.” I said. 

“And then, watch this.” She said and the video changed to a different angle. 

“Garcia, freeze it right there.” Hotch said. 

“Look at her face. No, she doesn’t. She set herself up as bait.” Hotch said. 

“Credit card says that the guy at the piano is Hamilton Bartholomew. This is what I know, his wife just filed a missing persons report on him this morning. She directed me to some job he just applied for, so I got a background check from that where they did his fingerprints.” She said. 

“Alright, Garcia, pull Regina Lampert’s rape kit and cross-reference the prints found with Bartholomew’s, and see if you get a match. We need to get to her house.” Hotch said. 

“Sending her address to your GPS.” She said and then we hung up. We all left to get to her house. 

“Garcia, did she pick up?” Hotch asked, answering the phone. 

“No, but we did just get a 911 call from her house, and it is freaking weird.” Garcia said and then started playing the call. 

“911 operator. What’s your emergency?” A lady asked. 

“Hello?” She asked when no one said anything. 

“My name is Hamilton Bartholomew. I’m being held captive by a lunatic!” He said then a gunshot went off. 

“She took the piano man captive?” Prentiss asked. 

“Unless he’s not the piano man. I mean think about it. Would the piano man call us to rescue him?” Morgan asked. 

“She could be shooting at the wrong guy.” Rossi said. 

“No, it’s him.” I said. 

“What?” Spencer asked. 

“That’s his voice… I know it.” I said. 

“The lab just confirmed, it’s him.” Prentiss said. We pulled up to the house and everyone got out. 

“Y/N you stay out here, that’s an order.” Hotch said and I knew there was no fighting this on. 

“As long as I’m the one that puts the cuffs on him.” I said and Hotch nodded. They went in and Spencer stayed out here with me. Hotch and Prentiss came out with both of them and Hotch handed him to me. 

“Hamilton bartholomew, you’re under arrest for the rapes of thirteen women and the murder of Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said and I put the cuffs on him. 

“It’s you…” He said to me. 

“I’m gonna make sure you stay in jail for the rest of your damn life.” I growled at him. Hotch took him from me and Spencer came up and held me tightly. 

“Should have let her pull the trigger.” I said. 

“Come on baby, let’s just go.” Spencer said and took me to the car. 

“He’s never gonna see light again, you know that.” He said. 

“But he’s still alive…” I said. 

“And I’ll be here for you, whatever you need.” He said and held me close.