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[alectology-archive]

these family trees make me sooo gleeful, sorry. they really were tossing the doom and the prophecy between themselves and rand and egwene inserted themselves into their dynasties and chased prophecies willingly and well. we know what happened after that.

[asunsetgrace16]

✧ 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦⎥ 𝗠𝗖71

Pairing: Macklin Celebrini x fem!reader

Warnings: one swear, little brothers being little brothers

Summary: Mack meets the parents.

Notes: Request

masterlist⎥ navigation

Word Count: 1k

For the first time, Macklin is joining Y/N’s family for dinner and meeting her family in person. Of course, they had talked over FaceTime, but it is a whole different ball game to meet the parents in person. His schedule with games and both of their class schedules, along with being on the opposite side of the continent, made it impossible for it to happen during the season. Now, with both school and hockey over, Y/N and Macklin flew home for the summer. They drove through Vancouver, out into the suburbs. The sun began its descent as they drove east. Y/N flipped the radio to a classic rock station, minimal conversation being made. As they neared her parent’s house, Mack blew out a breath, his knee bouncing nervously. His hand flexed on the wheel, a nervous tick. Y/N noticed, reaching over the console and resting her hand on his knee. Her thumb rubs soothingly over the fabric of his jeans. 

“Why are you so nervous, baby? They’ve always liked you.” Y/N asks softly, keeping her eyes trained on Macklin’s face. 

“I know, but what if it’s different now? Besides, I think it’s tradition to be nervous before meeting your girlfriend’s parents.” He says and looks over at her briefly. The joke makes them both smile a little. 

“I guess there’s that. But don’t worry, dad will talk your ear off the whole night if my brothers don’t get to you first.”

“A welcome distraction. I’m not sure who I’m scared of more, your dad or your brothers.”

“Preteens are remarkably harsh.”

“And brutally honest. RJ has more of an attitude than the three actual teenagers in our house combined.”

Y/N laughs, shaking her head and says, “It’s always the youngest ones.”

She has many times been a witness to the youngest Celebrini’s antics, hilarious, annoying, and exasperating in equal measure. She turns as much as her seat will allow, content to gaze adoringly at Macklin, a soft smile on her face all the while. Macklin moves to turn up the radio, and before long, they are singing along to Bon Jovi at the top of their lungs. The rest of the drive passes quickly, with each of them taking turns doing karaoke to whatever song plays next. As they pull into her parents’ driveway, Macklin is nervous again. He wipes his palms on hsi jeans, closing his eyes for a second. 

“It’ll be ok. Just be you.” Y/N says encouragingly, “C’mon, they’re probably waiting.”

They climb out of the car, and Mack immediately grasps Y/N’s hand, interlocking their fingers. They mounted the porch steps and just as Y/N reached for the handle, the door flew open to reveal her parents. A flurry of activity had Mack and Y/N in the house, passed between parents for hugs and ‘nice to meet you’ handshakes.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Y/L/N. I just wish it could have happened sooner.” Macklin says, going to shake her mom’s hand. She goes for the hug instead. 

“Just Anna, Macklin, Mrs. Y/L/N is my mother in law. And technically we have already met.” Y/N’s mom says warmly, smiling at him.

Y/N’s dad is less warm, opting for a firm handshake that Mack returns no problem.

“Nice to meet you, sir.” 

“Brian. Not ‘sir’. It makes me feel old. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He tells Macklin. 

“Good things, I hope.”

“Oh yes, as Y/N called it, ‘a grade-A teenager level crush’ which tells me all I need to know.” Her dad winks, and Y/N covers her face with her hands and groans.

“Dad, don’t embarrass me.” She pleads.

“What, it’s my job to embarrass you. I get the feeling that Macklin here isn’t going to run for the hills when he hears an embarrassing story,” He and Macklin share a grin while Anna rolls her eyes and heads to the kitchen, “besides, who knows what stories your brothers will spin and share at dinner.”

Y/N just groans, following her mom out of the living room. The group settles in the kitchen while dinner finishes cooking.

“It smells amazing, Mom. What are you making?” Y/N asks.

“Beef stroganoff and broccoli salad.” Anna answers, sliding the salad bowl and dressing over to Y/N. 

A thunder on the stairs announces the arrival of Y/N’s younger brothers, 13 year old Chase and 10 year old Reese. Y/N introduces them to Macklin, both of them pulling a disgusted face at the words ‘boyfriend’ and ‘don’t embarrass me’. Chase pretends to puke. Before long, they whisked Macklin away to shoot pucks outside. Y/N’s dad laughs as she watches the three of them out the window, her mom smacks him with a towel. The boys are called inside to wash up. Dinner passes quickly, with the conversation of school life, the hockey season, and how Macklin and Y/N met, punctuated periodically by her brothers grilling Macklin about the NHL players he knows. 

Y/N and Macklin help clean up before heading on their way. Copious amounts of leftovers are sent with them. Her brothers give her a quick hug, Reese holding on for a second longer. Reese even awkwardly side-hugs Macklin, who simply smiles, while Chase goes for the grown-up handshake. They finish saying their good-byes, hard to do when Brian likes to talk as much as he does, and head back into the city. 

“I’d call that a success.” Y/N comments. It’s dark out now, but the stars can’t quite be seen. 

“I think so. I had a good time. Your dad really likes to talk.”

“I’m glad, and I told you he would. I lived in that house for seventeen years. Mom’s been pestering me since we got back that we need to come for dinner.”

Macklin hums in acknowledgement, “Your brothers are hilarious, by the way.” 

“Oh yeah? What did they tell you about me?”

“Oh nothing important.”

Y/N can hear the quiver in his voice. He’s trying not to laugh, the fucker. She tips her head back and sighs, eyes closed. Macklin rolls his lips together to fight off a smile, hand flexing on the steering wheel.

“You’re never going to tell me, are you?” 

“Nope.”

[hauntedestheart]

Security Footage - Artifacts (Pt. 1)

One of Trevor & Andy’s misadventures, a more detailed account of the sort described in Security Measures - Artifacts

Another story that starts with a party- but at least this time, Trevor was the host.

The young man had plenty of cause to dislike parties. He was an introvert. Being short meant he got pushed around in crowds. Party playlists usually contained terrible songs. Nobody ever invited him to them growing up.

However the main reason he hated them was because ever since Andy had come back into his life, it felt like the only times he ever wound up at a party was when he was chasing down some unhinged body snatcher. Being exposed to the absolute dregs of the party ecosystem had really put a dampener on his college experience and caused him to swear off of soirees- which was a testament to what a good mood he was in when he invited some of his friends over to his new off-campus apartment for "a little get together."

Recently he and Andy had experienced a run-in with an individual in possession of a ring that allowed him to switch bodies by grabbing someone's hand… no points for guessing who his first target was when he arrived in their city.

The ring somehow travelled with the snatcher so in a bit of a twist on the usual formula, the guy had actually switched out of Andy's body by the time they located it, leaving another random person inside, and the couple spent several days working their way through a daisy chain of body swaps until they (and the angry mob of victims) finally cornered the troublemaker and forced him to fix everything.

And not only did everyone get their bodies back, Trevor got the ring as well.

In his mind, the ring was a major breakthrough. It was the first concrete item he'd found that would actually be able to help Andy with his condition- maybe it couldn't stop snatchers outright, but it gave them a tool to fight back with when they did strike. The end of their body swapping woes was something to celebrate, and with the ring safely tucked away in his nightstand drawer in case of an emergency, Trevor felt comfortable letting loose a little bit.

Just a little bit though, and to be on the safe side, the guest list was just a handful of close friends, and the activities were limited to card games, Mario Kart, and Just Dance. There were still drugs and alcohol though- it wouldn't be a college party without them.

The lanky white guy on the couch with the bowl of chips between his legs was RJ, a friendly stoner type who had lived next to Trevor back in the dorm days and had managed to graduate from "randomly assigned neighbor" to "friend" before they moved out. Their friendship was like a weed, in the sense that it stayed healthy even with little attention, and in the sense that they smoked a lot of weed together.

The chubby Asian guy sitting in a plastic folding chair in the corner, glaring at his phone, was Han. When Trevor had dared to venture out to a welcome event thrown by the school's (small) LGBTQ+ society in the first weeks of college, Han had been the only other gay guy in the freshman class to show up, and the two had remained in touch out of a sense of loyalty ever since.

The pretty black girl lying on the carpet was Monica, a year above Trevor but one of his closest friends. A journalism major, she'd interviewed him for a project about victims of bullying and was so charmed by him that she decided to take him under her wing- and when she found out he could match her attitude, she liked him even more. Curled up next to her was her boyfriend Alexander, a lean and laid back white boy on the track team who had to work hard to keep up with his girlfriend.

The party had been going on for an hour or so and they were playing Just Dance (switching over from Mario Kart after RJ kept thrashing everyone) so the group was treated to the rare sight of Trevor dancing- or rather, attempting to dance. There wasn't much rhythm in his skinny little body, but he gamely wiggled from side to side to the music in an attempt to prove that his hips did not, in fact, lie, and Andy was so in love with Trevor that he managed to find the awkward gyrations endearing.

"Oh yeah, shake it for me baby," he teased, ostensibly as a joke, but the way his eyes were glued to Trevor's little booty as it swung around in the air said otherwise.

Trevor finished the song with a respectable score, a sigh of relief, and thunderous applause from Andy that would have been a standing ovation if Andy wasn't worried about everyone noticing his fat semi. Down boy, he told himself. Not while his friends are here.

Trevor was red faced and embarrassed, but he smiled at his boyfriend then tossed him the controller (Andy caught it with one hand) before disappearing down the hallway towards his room. Andy lazily scrolled through options and chatting with RJ about what to pick next, but the game was forgotten when Trevor emerged a minute later holding a bong.

"Attention everyone," he announced. "We're entering into phase two."

"Sick!" RJ shouted out, bouncing up and down in place on the couch cushion with excitement and nearly crashing into poor Andy.

"That's my cue," Monica said, pressing a kiss to Alexander's cheek before hoisting herself up to her feet and heading over to the kitchen for her purse. Alexander scooted over to be closer to the coffee table, striking a relaxed pose as he watched Trevor and Andy get everything set up.

"Han, are you feeling up for some smoke?" Trevor asked, frowning when he noticed how morose his friend was. Han wasn't always the cheeriest but this was a new level of gloom, even for him- still, he grunted and dragged his folding chair over to the table that Andy had begun clearing cards off of.

Trevor set the bong down on the table, and RJ's eyes lit up when he got a closer look at it. "No shit, is that the same one you had when we were in the dorms?"

"Nostalgic, right?" Trevor shook it from side to side and the clear water inside sloshed around.

"This bong is special to you two?" Andy asked, eyeing it curiously- he'd seen Trevor used the worn (but clean) glass tube many times, but its history had never come up.

"Nope," Trevor snorted. While he did have fond memories of lying on the floor of his dorm room talking about life with RJ when they were younger and dumber, the truth was… "RJ's just impressed I still have it because he breaks all of his after a month."

"That's not-" RJ's knee knocked the bong off the table and it was only saved from shattering by Andy's quick reflexes; the athletic young man caught it inches from the floor and gently returned it to its proper place. Trevor waved his hands vaguely at RJ, as if to say, see?, and RJ lifted his own hands. "Hey, IN MY DEFENSE… I am a little drunk right now. Looking forwards to being crossfaded though."

"Nice catch man," Alexander complimented Andy- though he and Trevor were acquainted through Monica, this was his first time meeting Andy, and he'd already developed a bit of a man-crush on the big guy. "You play sports?"

"Nah, used to play some basketball in high school though," Andy shrugged. "I do a game of pick up every now and then for fun though."

"Well, you're shredded," Alexander said, eyeing Andy's arms enviously.

"What, you mean this?" Andy flexed, bouncing his grapefruit sized bicep up and down a few times, and he gave a cocky grin. "I work out every now and then."

RJ whistled appreciatively, leaning over and pressing a finger into the peak of Andy's bicep as hard as he could. "That's sick bro."

"I gotta say, it's nice to have a man around the house," Trevor joked, slipping into the empty spot on the couch next to Andy.

"Yup," Andy yanked his boyfriend close and pressed a kiss onto his head. "And I've got the best one in the world right here."

Everyone in the room groaned and looked away as Andy showered Trevor with kisses, which Trevor was powerless to stop no matter how hard he shoved Andy away so instead he just surrendered to the onslaught and accepted the love. He pulled his face out of from the spot it was nestled into Andy's chest (truthfully, he could have stayed a bit longer) and peeked up at Andy; the two gazed into each others eyes and smiled at each other like they had a secret… which, of course, they did.

Not everyone was so impressed by the saccharine display though, and Monica broke the moment by loudly clearing her throat. Trevor and Andy separated (slightly) and Monica shook the bag of marijuana in her hands like she was ringing a bell as she called the meeting to order.

"Okay, well, now that we're done with the PDA," she said, a sour look flashing on her face for a moment as she side-eyed Andy, and she loaded up the bowl while she spoke. "Since I bought the weed, I get to decide who takes the first hit, and I think it should be Trevor since he so graciously invited us all over to his new place like I've been begging him to do for weeks now, and I think he deserves a little treat for it."

"Thank you Monica, for both the weed, and the attitude," Trevor snickered, and Monica smiled at him as she passed him the bong. Trevor picked up his lighter and clicked it on, staring at the flame for a moment, then he lifted it into the air for an impromptu toast. "To things going well for once."

Everyone (except for Han, who was still moping) cheered as Trevor lit the weed and the water began heating up, and a minute later, Trevor was exhaling a plume of skunk scented smoke. Greedily, RJ tried to snatch the bong from him, but Trevor batted his hand away ("Let someone else have some before you hog it all") and handed it across the table to Alexander. Alexander accepted the bong with a smile, but instead of taking a hit, he offered it to Monica.

"Ladies first?" he said, doing a half-decent smolder that made him look rather suave, and she gasped with mock delight.

"Why thank you babe!" she exclaimed, giving him a quick peck on the lips as she grabbed the bong from him. She toyed with the stem suggestively for a moment and eyed the other boys seated across from her. "At least someone here knows how to treat a woman right."

"Ma'am, you're surrounded by homos," Trevor deadpanned.

"Exactly," Monica took a deliberate, luxurious pull from the bong, then slowly exhaled the smoke like a queen. "So you should be worshipping me."

"We got Han, Trevor, bisexual king Andy," RJ counted them up on his fingers, scrunching his forehead with exertion as he did simple math, and he pondered the three digits he had extended before lifting up his head and smirking at Alexander. "The straight boys are getting outnumbered dude."

Alexander winced and scratched his beard. "Uh, actually I'm also bisexual…"

"Nooooooooo!" RJ cried out, horrified by the betrayal. "You can't leave me alone with them! I can't be a minority!"

"Hey, you're all minorities," Trevor began, locking eyes with Monica, and the two of them finished the joke in unison. "You're in the Glee Club."

"See?" RJ's hands flailed as he watched the two of them cackle. "How am I supposed to know what that means?"

Alexander, too normal to know what to make of any of that, busied himself by taking his turn with the bong, fading into the background for a moment as Monica, Trevor, and RJ bantered back and forth. He slowly released smoke from his nostrils as Monica and Trevor made more jokes he didn't understand, and Andy caught his eye through the smoke and gestured at the three friends with a good natured (but long suffering) smile. Solidarity between boyfriends, he seemed to be saying.

Alexander offered Andy the bong, but to his surprise, the big guy politely waved it away. "Nah, I'm not into that stuff."

"Okay well if he's giving up his turn, I'm taking it," RJ said, snapping into attention the second weed was up for grabs. He snatched the bong out of Alexander's hands before anyone could protest and he leaned in to take a hit, pausing an inch away from the bong to tease Andy before going in. "I swear, you must be the one guy on the planet that those anti-drug programs worked on."

Alexander eyed Andy curiously. "Dude, you don't smoke?"

"I try to stay sober," Andy shrugged, a bit uncomfortable- the truth was, he used to partake in substances, but after a few months as a body snatcher magnet, the idea of taking anything mind altering sounded awful to him. "I just don't like anything that makes me feel like I'm not in control."

"Really?" Monica raised her eyebrow and pinched her lips tight- something she did when she smelled bullshit. "Because I seem to recall you going pretty wild at a bar downtown a few weeks back."

The pointed undertones of her comment were not lost on anyone, and the mood in the room instantly became a lot tenser. Andy's shoulders fell, and Trevor winced- Monica had made it clear to him many times that she had a lot of issues with Andy, but he'd thought that she would behave herself at a party and not take the chance to bring it up to the poor guy's face. And apparently he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Monica, honey, don't," Alexander grabbed his girlfriend gently by the shoulder and murmured in her ear, glancing over awkwardly at Andy and Trevor. "You promised."

"What? I'm just saying," Monica brushed him off and waved her hands in the air like she was presenting invisible evidence. She glanced around the room, waiting for someone to challenge her. "The man says he doesn't drink or do drugs, meanwhile half of my girlfriends have stories about him getting plastered and grinding up on them. Am I wrong?"

She wasn't wrong- she was just missing a few crucial details.

"I… wasn't myself then," Andy answered diplomatically, and Monica hummed.

"Seems to happen to you a lot," Monica said with a disapproving glare. "A little bit too much for a guy with a really nice boyfriend."

Andy couldn't meet Monica's eyes and instead looked glumly at the coffee table, a boulder of guilt pressing down on his back. The couple had decided early on that it would be safest to keep Andy's "condition" a secret- if word got out, it could put him at even more risk than he already was -but the downside of this was that the boys had no explanation for why "Andy" would periodically ditch Trevor to go on wild sprees… or for why Trevor kept taking him back afterwards.

As far as anyone was concerned, Andy was just an incurable playboy who relapsed often, and Trevor was the sorry sap who was letting himself be treated like shit.

As usual, when Andy wasn't able to defend himself, Trevor stepped in. Resting one hand on the small of his boyfriend's back for support, Trevor put on his most stern voice. "Monica, we've talked about this. I know it seems weird but Andy and I are happy, and I really don't like it when you talk badly about him."

"I'm just looking out for you Trevor," Monica placed a hand on the table and leaned in, her voice softening to what Trevor liked to call her "mom voice," and Trevor bit his lip. "You're young and you're innocent-"

RJ pause his toke to interrupt her. "Uh, you're like a year older than us."

"Exactly, babies," Monica said without missing a beat. "And mama here has seen tons of guys like this who think that just because they're hot shit that they can toy around with guys and girls, and it never works out. You can't trust a player, and I think you deserve someone who's going to be there for you."

Her eyes snapped suddenly to Andy's with such intensity that everyone else flinched, and she glared at him like a lioness. Andy was a foot taller than her and twice as broad, but that didn't seem to phase her in the slightest. "Which is why I want you to know that, I see you, I am watching you, and if you keep playing around with my sweet boy then I'm gonna have to end you."

"Monica! Too far!" Alexander put his hand on her chest and gently reigned her back in; she allowed him, but kept her eyes on Andy. Monica's beleaguered boyfriend rushed to apologize. "Dude, I'm so sorry-"

"No, don't apologize," Andy said, to everyone's surprise. Despite the daggers Monica was shooting his way, he seemed calm, and he looked her dead in the eyes. "She's just looking out for him because she loves him, I get that. I love him too." One of his hands drifted down to Trevor's, and the two laced their fingers together. Andy focused on the warmth of their connection, and smiled sadly. "And I really wish that I could be a better man for him."

Monica stared at their interlocked hands for a second, eyes narrowing, then she leaned back. Apparently appeased for the moment, she pulled the bong away from RJ and began to reload it in a gesture of goodwill. Trevor let out a sigh of relief and slumped into Andy's shoulder.

"Hey, Han, is your date coming?" Trevor said, eager to change the subject, and all eyes shifted towards the silent young man. "He was invited too."

"Oh yeah!" Monica jumped in, sounding much more cheerful now that she was no longer in attack mode. "Rex, right? I saw his picture on the LGBT+ Society's page, he's cute! When's he getting here?"

Everyone stared at Han expectantly, and his eyes flicked from face to face. Clearly a bit uncomfortable, he shuffled in his seat and clutched his phone so tight that knuckles whitened, and then he scowled.

"Rex actually dumped me because he was, quote, 'kinda bored with me,'" Han said bitterly. "So no, don't think he's coming."

Silence settled over the room, punctuated only by a few coughs from RJ, who had inhaled too fast.

"That sucks dude," the stoner wheezed out, then he extended the bong towards Han. "You can have the next hit, sounds like you need it."

Han grabbed the bong and took the biggest, angriest hit anyone in the room had ever seen, and then jumped to his feet and stormed out of the room. Trevor rose to follow but Monica put her hand on his arm and stopped him- the guy definitely needed a moment to cool off before he was ready for any sort of human interaction.

"Okay I'm officially banishing this negative energy," RJ declared, exhaling another puff of smoke that no one realized he'd been holding in. "Let's smoke until we all forget everything that just happened."

Murmurs of agreement from the other partygoers, and Monica fished another baggie out of her purse.

In truth, Han didn't want to be a party pooper, but it was difficult for him to be around happy people when he was feeling so miserable. Han had always been unlucky in love, something he bitterly attributed to being an Asian who didn't fit into the neat stereotypes of "soft and submissive twink" or "dominant bro" that all the guys expected. People didn't want plain, chubby dudes like him. They wanted big hunks like Andy, or pretty little twinks like Trevor. And who was he to blame them? He wanted the same things.

He'd thought he'd found a kindred spirit in Trevor when they'd met freshmen year, but just when he'd finally worked up the courage to ask the other boy out, Andy had materialized out of thin air and snatched him away. Stupid, impossibly handsome Andy who was bigger and better than Han would ever be or could ever hope to compete with. In a desperate bid for companionship, Han had thrown himself into a string of failed relationships, but no matter how low he lowered his standards, things never worked out for him.

Han threw open the first door that he found which was, ironically enough, Trevor's bedroom. It figured that the only time he would ever end up in Trevor's bed was when he was plopping himself down on it to stew in his bitterness. The young man buried his head in his hands and sighed, then a glint of light out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Momentarily distracted from his doom spiral, Han glanced over at Trevor's nightstand and saw a ring sitting on top of it.

That's strange, he thought. Trevor doesn't wear jewelry.

Curious, he scooped it up for a closer look. A thick band of smooth, shiny gold with intricate patterns carved into the interior and a few clear gems dotting the outside at strategic points, and Han found himself mesmerized by the way the stones caught the light and twinkled. It was a beautiful ring but not Trevor's style- perhaps it was a gift from Andy, a sign their relationship was getting more serious.

The thought made jealousy bubble up from his belly and his head swam- the weed must be hitting him harder than he'd thought. The metal of the ring felt tingled against his skin and for some reason, he put it on, to feel for a moment what it would be like to have what he wanted in his grasp. Then the door flew open and when Han looked up, he saw Trevor's boyfriend standing there, with a stupid smile on his stupidly handsome face, with his stupidly big muscles, and his-

"Oh hey dude I…" Andy blinked, whatever thought was in his head disappearing into a puff of smoke. "I completely forgot what I came in here for."

The ring glimmered on his finger.

Do it.

Han reached out.

---

"Is it too much to ask for one normal night?" Andy yelled at the universe, grunting as he threw his body into door. "Or at least that I switch into somebody with some muscles?"

It had all happened so fast. One second he was sitting on the couch with Trevor, then it seemed like he blinked and he was alone in Trevor's room with his weird friend Han, and then Han had the ring, and then… he was trapped. In Han's body, and in Trevor's room, because Han (who had been thrilled with his new digs) had jammed a chair or something on the other side of the door and now Andy couldn't get it open. He could have busted down the door in a second if he were himself, but unfortunately, all of his hard earned muscles had been commandeered by a creep, so he had to make do with what he had.

Which isn't much, he though to himself, glaring down at Han's weak body with distaste.

Andy was an open-minded guy who did his best not to judge other people- he was blessed, he knew that! Not everybody had the time and genetics to build the kind of body that he had. But it was hard to be body positive when stuck with a body that wasn't his own, and once again, he was short and fat. Before puberty hit him like a sledgehammer and transformed him into an Adonis, Andy had been a chubby kid, so being in Han's body made him feel like he was twelve again. Small and powerless.

Andy channeled his frustration into another charge at the door and succeeded at nudging it open another inch, although the force of the blow made his borrowed shoulder throb. Nasty bruises were already forming, but hey- not his body.

He needed to get out of there now. Andy would freely admit that he was the jealous type and he'd never liked the way that Han looked at his boyfriend- Trevor was like the sun, who could blame the guy for developing a crush? But Trevor was his, and now that Han was him, there was no telling what he would do. The thought of that creep using his body to take advantage of his sweet little guy… using his muscles to sweep the twink off his feet… working Trevor open and fucking him with the massive cock he'd stolen while the real Andy was stuck with a little nub…

The rush of anger gave Andy the push he needed tackle the door at full strength, finally knocking the chair out of the way and sending him stumbling into the hallway. Light, music, and voices filtered down the dark hallway, and Andy scrambled to his feet- only to go crashing right back to the floor when he failed to vault over the fallen chair. (Han's body couldn't make the jump.) Cursing in pain, he half-crawled/half-stumbled down the hallway to the living room and burst in in a panic.

"Trevor, listen, Han found the ring and-"

He blinked as he registered the scene that laid before him- utter chaos.

RJ was running around the room at top speed, ducking and weaving around the furniture as he tried to escape Alexander, who was in hot pursuit behind him and gaining ground fast. They nearly plowed into Andy's own body, which Andy was standing dumbstruck in the middle of the room, both hands buried in the front of his jeans as whoever was in it fondled his with a dazed expression of shock. Poor Monica was pacing back and forth, babbling to herself as she grabbed her own breasts, while Trevor was standing dumbly by the entrance to the hallway, munching on a bag of chips.

Andy grabbed him by the shoulder. "Trevor?"

"Huh?" Trevor droned, looking at Andy with dumb, bloodshot eyes. He snickered at something funny in his head and slumped over onto Andy's shoulder. "Han, dude, I'm so high right now. I hallucinated I was the Hulk for a minute there, like, I was ripped. Everyone's gone crazy, lol."

Okay so not Trevor, Andy thought to himself. This must be the real RJ, which meant the one being chased by Alexander's body must be someone else- the golden ring glinting off of his finger confirmed it. But who was it? Was Trevor still trying to get the ring from Han? Or had Trevor already gotten it, and was now trying to keep it away from him? His questions were answered when "Alexander" caught up to "RJ" and managed to grab him by the waist.

"You can't stop me!" RJ's body taunted, struggling against his captor. It was clear that RJ's body was no match for Alexander's track and field trained muscles, but when Han stretched RJ's long arm out as far as it could go, he managed to grab onto Andy's body. With a flash, he was free, and he finished his sentence with Andy's voice. "With this ring, I can be anyone!"

He made a break for the door, but Trevor (the real Trevor, using Alexander's body) tossed RJ's body aside and dove for Han's legs, managing to send them both crashing to the ground. The two tussled for a moment, and while Andy's body clearly had the upper hand in terms of strength, Han was uncoordinated and caught off-guard, so he elected to retreat by hopping over to Monica's body as it passed by.

This turned out to be a mistake as he could barely walk in her shoes, and he wasn't able to hobble far before Trevor was upon him- but Han managed to catch Trevor unaware and switched the two of them, leaving him as the track and field star and Trevor in heels. Trevor had the presence of mind to take one of the heels off and throw it at Han's back, and Han gave a yelp and tripped into Trevor's body, sending chips flying everywhere. Meanwhile, whoever had been swapped from Monica's body into Andy's was grabbing his crotch again, but the expression on his face was one of relief rather than confusion.

"Oh thank god," Alexander groaned, thrilled to be anatomically male again, then his eyes widened when he realized the scale of the anatomy he held. "Oh my god!"

He gaped down at Andy's cock, then seemed to register Andy's pecs were also obstructing his view, and he reached up to cup them in his hands. A grin split his face as he began flexing, doing stereotypical macho-man poses as he geeked out over the incredible musculature he now possessed. Before he could get too comfortable, he was sent crashing back to Earth when RJ's body crashed into him and grabbed him by the hand, zapping him out of his dream body. He squeezed one of his skinny new arms and sighed.

A lot happened in the next few seconds as the partygoers tussled on the floor. RJ's body had Trevor's body the arm, while Monica's body was pounding her fists into Alexander's body, while Alexander's body was trying to hobble away while Trevor's body was curled around its legs, Andy's body was trapped on the floor being stepped on by all of them, and the real Andy's head was spinning as he tried to keep up with who was who.

"Trev?" he asked. "Where are you?"

Monica's body turned to glare at him, and Andy would recognize that look on any face.

"I told you, nothing good ever happens at parties!" Trevor huffed.

After they'd gotten the ring back, fixed all of the switches, and then gaslit their friends into thinking that they'd smoked some bad weed and had a very vivid group hallucination, Trevor decided that he'd better keep the ring in a harder to find place from then on.

Part Two

[vintagelasvegas]

Old School Las Vegas

Postcard: Las Vegas Grammar School, 4th & Bridger, circa 1911. Inscribed, “Dear Mother, Just here for the day. Pretty little place in the desert. Expect to be in L.A. before the end of the week.”

This is an overview of the first schools in the city of Las Vegas up to the early 40s. The list does not include early schools outside the city limits such as those in Goodsprings, Blue Diamond, Paradise Valley, North Las Vegas, etc. Several more schools were built in the 40s-50s. Clark County School District (CCSD) was created in '55.

Tent School ('05) for a handful of students near Las Vegas creek.

Las Vegas Grammar School ('05-'10) 2nd & Lewis. Salt Lake Hotel was moved from Main St. to the southeast corner of 2nd & Lewis, converted into a school house, and opened Oct. '05. A second, smaller building was added later. The main school building was destroyed by fire Dec. '10. For the rest of the '10-11 school year classes remained in the second building while others moved to the Methodist Church and to, "a few shacks on the 200 block of N. 3rd St." The second building was relocated at a later date to 815 S. Tonopah Dr. near W. Charleston and served as Shady Spot (bar) and a private home. (RJ 3/13/49)

Las Vegas Grammar School ('11-'60) 4th & Bridger, the "first permanent school in Las Vegas." Kindergarten and Manual Arts buildings were added in the 20s. Used from '60-'65 as a school administration building. Sold to the federal government in '65, it was demolished and replaced by the Foley Federal Building.

Clark County High School ('17-'34) 4th & Bonneville. After LVHS opened CCHS was used as a grammar school. CCHS was destroyed by fire on 5/14/34. An adjacent tent school was used from '34-'36, at which point CCHS was replaced by Historic Fifth Street School.

Westside School ('23-'67) 330 W. Washington Ave. Oldest surviving school house in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas High School ('30-'93) 315 S. 7th St. Las Vegas Academy of the Arts since '93.

Historic Fifth Street School ('36-'66) 4th & Bonneville. This opened as "Las Vegas Grammar School" and the name "Fifth Street School" came into use in the 40s.

North Ninth Street School ('43-'57) 600 N. 9th St. Elementary school.

Mayfair School ('43-'70s) 421 S. 15th St. Elementary School. Replaced with Fire Station 4 and Mayfair Place Park.

Helen J. Stewart School ('43-?) 201 E Washington, or today’s 801 Veteran's Memorial Dr. The elementary school was called Biltmore School in its first year. Helen J. Stewart and John S. Park were the first schools in Las Vegas to be named after individuals. A man named Fred Pine came to Las Vegas in '02-'03 and lived in a tent by Las Vegas Creek, and in '43 he was building inspector for this school built on the same site. (A. E. Cahlan. From Where I Sit. Review-Journal, 6/14/43.)

John S. Park School ('43- ) S. 10th & Franklin. Called Huntridge School in its first year.

Las Vegas Grammar School, '20s postcard by Oakes Vegas Studio, showing buildings added to either side of the original school house. The building on the left is the same design as Westside School. Elbert Edwards Photograph Collection (PH-00214), UNLV Special Collections. 

Las Vegas Grammar School in the 40s, via CCSD archives.

Postcard of Clark County High School ('25) and an undated photo. Both images are seen from 4th St. Elbert Edwards Photograph Collection (PH-00214), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

Clark County High School fire, 5/14/34.

Source include: Contract is let for high school. Las Vegas Age, 6/9/17 p1; Fire Destroys Vegas School. Review-Journal, 5/14/34; New School Buildings To Be Ready In Fall. Review-Journal, 6/23/43; Names of Pioneer To Be Carried on Two Schools Here. Review-Journal, 8/31/44; How a Home, Old School House Once Used as Early-Day Road House. Review-Journal, 3/13/49 p10; End of an era. Review-Journal, 7/29/65; R. Lawson, T. Szymanski. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue: 65th Anniversary. (Stephens Press, 2008); Jami Carpenter, editor. Education in the Neon Shadow. Shephens Press, 2009.

[highladyluck]

Season 2, Episode 3 Liveblog

Teaser:

YES WE HAVE A DRAWL I REPEAT WE HAVE A DRAWL 🚨🚨🚨🪲🤠🚨🚨🚨

FANCY RED COAT RAND is here to steal your wine

My jaw DROPPED at Mat’s glow-up 😍🤩😘 I cannot WAIT for this man to be forcibly extracted from his bathrobe

Loved the Arches & ceremony, some word-for-word quotes there.

First real big surprise is Natti as Wisdom- I would not have thought she had the social standing for that, but otoh possibly the other options died? And it actually seems kind of plausible that she could even be taught to channel if you consider book canon (given Bode and Eldrin), though I don’t think that’s required.

Ooooooh ok I see why they picked Natti- they needed someone to twist the emotional knife in real good 🙃 Also you can see where Mat gets his moral core from, here- there’s a job and someone has to do it. But the jobs no one else wants/can do tend to SUCK, no wonder he tries to avoid them.

(Book Mat gets his values from his dad, but I think there’s probably a lot he got from Natti that he feels on an unconscious level/doesn’t talk about because it’s not at the level of talking, it’s at the level of doing. Relatedly, I keep thinking about a theory I heard that book Natti was a functional alcoholic; someone said that how early book Mat responds to sickness & interpersonal conflict reminds them of adult kids of alcoholics.)

I’m looking forward to the last ring >:)

HUH

I wonder if she had to gentle/kill Lan in there?

Still Peak Nyneave, honestly

OH MAN FAKEOUT YESSSSSSSSS we are getting the canon test!?

Incidentally I like that branded water jug

Where is Suroth getting her lip color? I like it

Oh that’s creepy, incredible horror movie move with the pointing

YES WE HAVE A DRAWL I REPEAT WE HAVE A DRAWL 🚨🚨🚨🪲🤠🚨🚨

The Voice sounds like the South Carolinan delegate (main villain) in the women & minority genders version of 1776 I saw recently. Incidentally, RJ lived in South Carolina.

Female soldier, check

Asymmetric haircut, check

Oh Uno, you are a good man

WOW … but actually that was exactly as dehumanizing and brutal as I would expect

May the last embrace of the mother welcome you home, Uno.

Perrin is gonna do a murder- oh I guess not

Lol Logain has Rand pegged

Hahaha the other fakeout is paying off now too (Logain looking at Mat and Rand in Tar Valon)

Oooh more book quotes!

Miss “I know everything” Selene

The Queen of Cairhein?!?

Glow-up! Glow-up!

Oooooof :(

Liandrin respected someone?

Mat is gonna have SUCH a complex after this, but otoh he’s probably heard worse from his mom

Mat wants to matter T_T

PEAK EGWENE

FANCY RED COAT RAND is here to steal your wine

I love Rand setting the letters on fire

Oooooooh class warfare, Rand is so offended

Wow, Rand is wasting no time

I love Rand being taught by Logain actually

Oh that is a DEEP CUT into WoT lore (pun intended), we know from Origins of the Wheel of Time that RJ was originally intending ‘gentling’ to involve actual castration

Rand are you sure you want to say that?

Oh interesting, does everyone hear LTT? Or just voices?

YAY reunion??? Oh, Mat. :(

Yeah Mat is scared out of his mind

Time for an interview with Ishmael! This reminds me of Mat’s first POV in book 3 actually, at least superficially, but it’s more like the dream meetings

Well done wolves!

So many cages and traps in this ep :D

Ooooof that betrayal’s gonna hurt later

Ooooh maybe we do not want to piss off Selene?

Oh good job setting the Foregate on fire, hero (inn fires 4 lyfe)

Ooooooh yeah Egwene would try to bring Nyneave back

Elayne, a rule follower? Well, when it comes to thinking she knows best, she would be a rule enforcer.

Nyneavelet is very cute

My jaw DROPPED at Mat’s glow-up 😍🤩😘 I cannot WAIT for this man to be forcibly extracted from his bathrobe

Awwww Mat can pay off all his debts in Nyneave’s fantasy world 😭

Ah I see Nyneave’s fantasy world is real enough that it involves visits from the main plot conflict 🧐

“What’s that” is Mommy’s rage-triggered ticket home, sweetie

Oooooooof.

[rjschoicesstuff]

RJ's mc and oc masterlist

Thought it might be nice to make one lol, so people can find their tags easily and stuff, one day I'll work on proper profiles.. + I'm still adding characters.

I'm marking the books/mc's I've posted a bit more about purple and the ones I have yet to post about pink.

Immortal Desires

Ripley Reese (she/her) - mc

LI's: m!Cas and f!Gabe

Tag

David (he/him) - mc

LI: m!Cas

Tag

Terri Reese (she/her) - oc (sort of)

Tag

Miguel (he/him) - oc

LI's: m!Cas, F!Gabe and F!Ripley

Tag

Joy (she/her) - oc

Tag

Sabine (she/her) - oc

Tag

Blades Of Light And Shadow

Rex Lilborne (She/her + he/him) -MC

LI's: Imtura and Tyril

Tag

Brenin Nightbloom (he/him) -MC

LI: probably gonna settle on Valax + maybe Nia

Tag

Ruby (Rex' future daughter) - oc

Tag

Firven (Rex' future son) - oc

Tag

Queen B

Billie Hughes (she/her)

LI: Zoey (+ some secret more toxic evil thing with Poppy)

Tag

Bitten

Jasper (she/her)

LI's: Alexandra and m!Skyler

Tag

It Lives Series

ILITW: Devon (he/him)

LI: Andy

Tag

ILB: Oli Vance (he/him)

LI: Tom

Tag

Terror Fest

Noah Carpenter (She/her)

LI: Lucky

Tag

Crimes of Passion

Cameron Rose (They/them)

LI: f!Trystan

Tag

America's Most Eligible

Mollie Lee (she/her)

In game LI: Mackenzie

LI in mi heart: Teagan

Tag

The Cursed Heart

Eli (he/him)

LI: f!Kieran

Tag

Alpha

Kai (he/him and she/her)

LI: f!Channing

Tag

Kindred

Thistle Morrigan (she/her)

LI: F!Kaine

Tag

Wake The Dead

Luke Asher (he/him)

LI's: Shannon, Troy and Angel

Tag

Open Heart

Mateo Valentine (he/him)

LI: Rafael

Tag

Platinum

Ollie Jackson (she/her)

LI: f!Avery

High School Story series

Jake Lee (he/him)

LI: Michael

Tag

Class Act: Bailey Jenkins (he/him)

LI: Skye

Tag

The Royal Romance

Riley Morgan (She/her)

LI: Liam (they are in a QPR though)

Tag

BloodBound

June (She/her)

LI: Lily

Tag

Nightbound

Alexander (He/him)

LI: Cal

Tag

A Courtesan Of Rome

Loucita (She/her)

LI: Sabina (endgame) + Marc Antony

Tag

Desire & Decorum

Clarissa Mills (she/her)

LI: Annabelle Parsons

Tag

Kiss of Death

Diamond Wolfe (she/her)

LI: F!Vic

Tag

Guinevere

Guinevere (she/her)

Li: f!Artura

Tag

Laws Of Attraction

Quinn Michaels (she/her)

(might change her name on a replay)

LI: Aislinn

Tag

The Elementalists

Maxim (he/him)

Attunement: wood

LI: Beckett

Tag

Ride Or Die

Ellie (she/her, he/him fine too)

Note: I hc Ellie as a trans guy who still needs to realise he's trans, when talking about the events in ROD I tend to use she/her for her because that's the pronouns she uses. In the future she'll transition and change her name to Milo.

LI: Colt

Tag

[carylerxsecretsanta]

A Valentine's Getaway by TheresNoSafeHarbor4MyShips

Title:  A Valentine's Getaway Author:  @theresnosafeharbor4myships Rating:  G Theme: Valentine's Day Summary:  Daryl learns it's Valentine's Day and surprises Carol with a getaway. A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, my Caryl loves! I hope you enjoy this little bit of Caryl expressing their love for one another. I greatly appreciate this fandom, so--for now and always--much love from me! <3 Happy Heart Day!

“Uncle Daryl, how do you spell 'valentimes'?”

“RJ!” Judith scolded, causing Daryl to turn from the stove where he stirred the soup they'd eat for dinner.

“What?” RJ asked, indignant. “I need help with the spelling.”

“I could've helped you. You didn't have to ask Uncle Daryl.”

“But you can't help me with the secret part--”

“Shhh,” Jude hissed with a look of consternation.

“Jude, what's goin' on?” Daryl asked before a squabble could break out.

Disappointment crept over her face as she answered. “During writing class the other day, Mr. Travens told us about Valentines Day, how it was celebrated...Before. About how people would write love letters and get or make Valentines Day cards for people they loved. He said Valentines Day is this Friday, and we have to write a letter to a parent or guardian.”

Daryl tried to keep the skepticism he felt from seeping onto his face. “And you have to turn this letter in as an assignment?”

“No, we have to give the letter to the person on Friday,” RJ answered.

“As a surprise,” Judith intoned, throwing her brother a side-eye—a rare occurrence—before turning to focus once again on her homework.

“I'm giving mine to Aunt Carol,” RJ proclaimed proudly.

“At least it was supposed to be a surprise,” she muttered.

“Judith is writing hers to—”

“RJ!”

Duly scolded, RJ looked sheepishly at Daryl. “So how to do you spell 'valentimes'?”

The wind whipped cold against his face, his dark sunglasses the only thing keeping his eyes from stinging as he pushed his bike past 45 miles per hour.

Carol sat behind him, snugly pressed against his back, her arms around his waist and her hands balled up in his jacket pockets.

She hadn't questioned his insistence that morning that they go hunting, had trusted his promise that he'd packed everything they needed and secured Aaron, Gabriel, and Eugene to watch the kids for a night or two.

*************************************************

The winter months had stretched long, and he'd felt the clawing need to get back on the road, if only for a few days, despite the chill still hanging in the air. He appreciated home, had gratitude for the walls and family they'd all built, missed them when he was gone, and loved Judith and RJ like he imagined he'd love kids of his own—despite them wearing him out most days. And the fact that he got to live and love and spend what time he had left in this life with Carol made the constant fight for survival worth every second.

But those blessed times when he left the confines of Alexandria behind, when he didn't feel pulled in a million directions with others needing him to make decisions, fix something, run here, fight there, make the kids do their damn homework...those days gave him a sense of peace like nothing living inside the walls did.

Today was one of those days.

“Going farther than normal,” Carol called out against the wind, the statement tinged with a question.

He merely nodded, the hum of the bike's motor an excuse not to respond. She waited for more, but when he stayed silent, she settled closer to him, laying her cheek against his shoulder blade, hiding from the fierce wind.

They drove another fifteen minutes or so until he saw the weeping willow tree, its gnarled branches slyly pointing down the overgrown lane he'd discovered last summer. He turned onto the hidden road, deftly avoiding the bare branches that swiped at the air as he maneuvered along. A few minutes later, he pulled the bike in front of an old farmhouse tucked back from the road and hidden within a copse of trees.

��What is this place?” Carol marveled as he killed the engine and she moved off the bike.

“Found it last summer. Tucked a few things inside in case I ever needed them, bein' out here so far from home.” He slung his leg over the bike to dismount, toed the kickstand into place, and untied the two side bags he'd packed from the back of the bike. He turned towards the house to see Carol just standing there, staring at it.

“Reminds me a little of...” she spoke quietly, trailing off instead of finishing her thought.

He'd thought the same thing when he'd found the place. The wraparound porch with an old rocking chair in front, the faded, peeling white clapboard siding with what was once a green roof, the portico porch on the 2nd story, a brick chimney on each side of the house. It was like stepping back into a bittersweet memory of a time before they truly knew how tragic and devastating the world could be.

“Haunting,” she admitted, her eyes darting around them, taking in the expanse of yard. “And comforting, somehow.”

He nodded in agreement, waiting patiently for her to be ready to enter the home.

“You go ahead,” she said. “I'll be right there.” She motioned towards the woods, and he ambled towards the house, leaving her to her privacy. Hopefully her bathroom break would allow him enough time to set everything up.

He hurried into the house and dropped the backpacks onto the living room floor. He'd spent a few nights last summer laying on the couch, ancient now though it was, listening to the owls hoot and the screams of their prey as he drifted off to sleep. He'd found the surrounding woods teeming with prey of his own, especially compared to Alexandria's local forests, and he'd chosen to stay in the solitude an extra day before collecting their future dinners.

The home and its interiors were in decent condition, all things considered. The majority of the furniture stood upright and though dust covered every inch of the place, it was cleaner than most locations he'd drifted into and out of in the past decade.

Daryl flipped up a couch cushion and snagged the blanket he'd tucked there months before, a barrier he'd set between the flimsy cushion and the spring that'd poked at him when he'd first sat down. He shook it out and floated it onto the middle of the living room floor, adding one of the couch's pillows to each side of the blanket. Rifling through the bags, he set out the picnic he'd packed: packages of deer and squirrel jerky, a container with fruit salad Judith had made, two canteens of water and one flask of ages-old wine, a bag with some walnuts and another of peanuts, a small bar of homemade candy one of the neighbors had made, and two forks. He placed the two candles he'd bartered for on each end of the fireplace hearth and lit them with matches from his pack. Then he stood back to take it all in.

It looked as good as he could've imagined, given the items he had to work with. The idea of surprising Carol with a weekend getaway had popped into his head as soon as he'd spelled 'Valentine's' for RJ earlier in the week. It'd been a leech on his mind as he'd fought with himself about how stupid all the manufactured love thing was.

But he did love Carol. Loved her spirit and her heart and her strength. How she took care of him and the kids and their family and their home. Loved her ocean eyes, how she fit snugly against his heart. How she made him feel real. Like a man. Alive.

Reminding himself that he now, nearing 50, actually had a Valentine, he'd decided to ignore how silly he felt about it and just do it. He'd worked through all the details, selecting the perfect location, packing all of the items he'd brought without anyone discovering what he was doing, talking to the guys about watching the kids.

He'd managed to keep his nerves quiet for most of the day, focusing on getting Carol on the bike without answering too many questions, then enjoying their hours-long freedom ride on the bike, and keeping a keen eye out for the hidden lane to this place. But now, in the quiet, staring at his idea come to life, and waiting—just waiting—for Carol, had him nervous as hell.

"What's all this?”

He hadn't heard her enter the house, and he faulted his nerves for it. She moved to stand next to him, and he looked at her, back at the picnic blanket before them, then at her again.

Her eyebrows raised questioningly, she peered at him with a small smile on her face.

Daryl swallowed hard before answering. “It's been a long time...since we spent some time alone. Thought it'd be nice to get away for a day or two. Have a break from running the town, chasing after the kids.”

He held back the rest, feeling ridiculous again. Never one for obvious sentiment or frivolity, he found it hard to admit the real reason he'd set up this romantic getaway.

Carol's smile reached her eyes. “Daryl...”

Her voice came as a near whisper, sending whisps of warmth fluttering through him. “Just wanted to do somethin' nice for you, and...”

Over the past year or so, as they'd made their relationship known and settled into the day-to-day of being with each other, he'd gotten better at the quiet, intimate conversations. He'd learned how to talk about the things he felt and when to keep his mouth shut. But there were still times when his insecurity screamed at him, cinching a vice around his chest and making it difficult to breathe.

“And...?”

Daryl pushed the inherent fear down, focusing on the tender look on her face and the love in her eyes as she gazed at him, recalled the way she'd snuggled against his back on the ride here, and forced the words out of his mouth.

“And Jim was teachin' the kids about...Valentine's day. They said it's today, and...” He swallowed before continuing. “I wanted to spend it with you.”

Her hand came to rest on his shoulder before sliding down to his bicep and urging him to fully face her. He felt his face flush, but he turned to look at her.

Carol moved into him, up on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick kiss. “Thank you,” she said softly. “This is the sweetest Valentine's gift I've ever gotten.” She slid her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, and linked them behind his neck. “You're the best Valentine,” she whispered before kissing him fully.

Daryl's heart kicked up speed, the fear he'd felt swiftly replaced with fire in his blood, overwhelming love for the woman in his arms, and gratitude for this time for just the two of them.

“Come on,” Daryl said, easing away from her, nodding towards the picnic spread. “I have one more surprise.”

Carol sat on one of the cushions Daryl had placed on the blanket as he rifled through his pack once more. He withdrew two envelopes, then sat across from her.

“The kids made me promise we'd open these today. A homework assignment to write Valentine's letters to their guardians,” he answered the questioning look on her face. He passed an envelope with 'Aunt Carol' written across it in RJ's writing, while he kept the one Judith had addressed to him.

“I can't believe all this, Daryl. I've never...Valentine's day was never a thing for me...Before.”

He thought of the Valentine he'd written for her, still secreted in his bag, of the quiet evening here with her, tucked away in a hidden home, away from the world. Of how much he loved her and how he wanted to show her.

“It's only startin',” he promised. “Happy Valentine's day, love.”

[incorrectonceandfuturenerd]

Happy Ten Year Anniversary @onceandfuturenerd! A few of us over on the discord server put together an audio compilation of us talking about how much we love the podcast and what it means to us. There's a transcript below the cut that also has the names of who's speaking in each clip.

Thank you so much for making this wonderful podcast, and congratulations on ten years!

Kat: I love most things about The Once and Future Nerd. The characters, the setting, the genre awareness, the humor. It’s my favourite podcast for a reason, and that’s saying something as I’ve listened to over a hundred. I remember listening to the show for the first time in late 2016, it was... Christmas concert season and I was walking back and forth pretty much exclusively between my dorm, rehearsal, class, and the dining hall. Um. But somehow, despite that very limited time, I managed to listen to all of The Once and Future Nerd over the course of approximately two days, and fell in love with it pretty much immediately. Um, at the time, all of book one was out, which was, uh, less than there is now, but still a significant amount of podcast to listen to over the course of 48 hours. Um. Aside from how wonderful I continue to find the podcast, The Once and Future Nerd has also allowed me to have access to a community I never would have had otherwise. After creating the discord to talk more about the show with a few other folks, I met some of my closest friends. As of sending this message, I have sent-- and I checked right before- before I did this-- in the server alone, 28,638 messages. That is not including direct messages to my friends, that is just directly in the server. Um, the server has also had a long-running Dungeons and Dragons game that’s been going since spring of 2019, and has had multiple bl- book clubs, including one that meets weekly has consistently since spring of 2020. It’s been one of the most fulfilling community experiences of my life, and it all ties back to The Once and Future Nerd. Creating stupid inside jokes like Gy’y Fy’ryy and Elves Have Fur and Antonin being the sexiest the character no matter what any polls say, he better win this last one, I swear... um, it’s been one of the great joys of my life over the last five years. Thank you so much for all the love and joy, humor, tears, and so much more that The Once and Future Nerd has brought to my life and to the lives of many others. The story’s been wonderful, y’all are wonderful, and I hope you continue for many years to come. Happy ten year anniversary.

Nicole: What do I love about The Once and Future Nerd? This is going to sound weird, but I love how specific it is. The Once and Future Nerd is such a peculiar blend of genre and humor and social commentary, that it’s a near perfect filter for finding like-minded people. I’ve met some of my best friends through this podcast and I’m so grateful I found it back in 2016. At the time, it was so hard to find fantasy audio dramas, so I was immediately drawn to The Once and Future Nerd for that alone, uh, when I was trying to search for some. I really liked the concept, enough to make me listen until Monsters, because that’s the chapter that hooked me. I devoured the rest of book one after that, only pausing to sleep and attend lectures... and sometimes listening to it during lectures. Sorry, not sorry to my stats prof. If I had to pick a favourite moment, I would have to say Yllowyyn’s confrontation with Ry’y lo-Th’yyt in Bridges. I think that one is burned into my brain because I was a crowded train trying not to freak out at the time. This podcast means a lot to me as a source of connection with others and it’s just a plain fun story. Thank you, Zach and Christian and everyone who works so hard on it. It’s been going for ten years, and I don’t care if it takes ten more.

RJ: I found The Once and Future Nerd in February of 2017 as a depressed 18-year-old in my first year of university, and I think I listened to everything that had been released at that point in about a week? I love it because of the genre subversion and genre awareness, I love the characters, I love the way it challenges expectations and engages with complex topics with care... I really, really like listening to this podcast, but more than that, I like talking about this podcast. The main thing that makes me keep coming back to The Once and Future Nerd, keep listening, and that makes it important to me, is the community I’ve found in listening to it. I joined the discord server two days after it was created, and that remains the only fandom space where I’ve successfully made actually close online friends. To the point where the friendship has expanded beyond just our shared enjoyment of the podcast into just... being friends. It’s really great to get to know these people, to plan things like this anniversary event with them, to have things like a weekly book club, or collaborations on projects, or just conversations about silly and serious things related to the podcast, and unrelated to the podcast. And none of that would have happened without The Once and Future Nerd so, thank you. Thank you for being the reason that I know these people, thank you for being the reason that I have been inspired to make creative things, from fanart to videos to what have you, uh... I love your show so much, congratulations on ten years, and I can’t wait to hear what comes next.

Dirk: Hey, this is Dirk. Uh, I don’t remember when I started listening to this podcast, it was years ago-- but I do remember being immediately drawn in by the brief and tragic tale of Mr. Fluffy Toes. The mix of humor and sass and sincerity, it immediately struck me. As the story went on, I delighted in Nelson being shockingly genre-savvy about this fantasy world and, honestly? I really enjoyed the fact that the world at large ignored the kids at first. That’s not something you often get in portal fantasies. Uh, I’ve also always deeply enjoyed the queer representation and tongue-in-cheek political commentary... As if that wasn’t enough, you all gave me a chance to write for your podcast. I had so much fun with the Bailey sisters short, and with making up a whole-ass holiday! It was so much fun. And even though I had to recuse myself from the later plotline, I’m still here to listen to how it goes. My inability to write for it has absolutely no bearing on your grace and kindness to me, and even though I dread how it will make me feel because of my own personal issues, I know that I can trust whatever it turns out to be. Like so many pod- things in this podcast, it’s gonna be sensitive, sometimes funny, sometimes deeply tragic, or terrifying, and it will never punch down. Because that’s the kind of podcast you have made. Happy ten year anniversary, thank you so much for all that you’ve given us. And I hope you can continue making whatcha love for as long as you want to be making it. And like... Let’s be real. As long as you’re making this, we’re gonna be here for it, so... Thank you.

Oriana: I had the podcast recommended to me by a friend who was very active on the reddit at the time. I love that The Once and Future Nerd is not afraid to look long and hard at The Implications of a lot of fantasy tropes. I kept listening because I wanted to know what new ideas would be explored next. One of my favorite moments is the speech that Traft gives about how the Princes of Iorden do alchemy. The Once and Future Nerd is the first thing that I got to write for that has an established audience and... that was very cool. Thank you for everything.

Aja: Hey guys my name is Aja, and I just wanted to say congrats on ten years of a fantastic podcast. I started listening to The Once and Future Nerd back in 2017, 2016, not long after I’d gotten my bachelor’s degree from college and right as I was starting to realize that I wanted to go back to school to get my teaching degree. So it- it came at a really special time in my life. What kept me coming back over all these years is the fantastic character development, especially for the kids, uh, in the story, but also for everybody else, and I’ve also just really appreciated the, uh, subversion, I guess, of fantasy tropes. I think it’s kept the story really interesting and really relevant, and it’s- it’s so real, despite being a fantasy story, so. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, and I look forward to listening for... as long as you keep making this podcast. Thanks guys.

Aster: The Once and Future Nerd is one on an ever-growing list of podcasts that I deeply love despite being upwards of a year behind on, and every time I am able to get back to listening to it, I am in awe of the incredible world that it shows. And a special thanks to the podcast for finally, really, dragging me down into the incredible world of audio drama fandoms.

Teddy: Well, first of all congrats on ten years, that is a tremendously long time to work on a project, and it’s an excellent project to have been worked on. I’ve loved the podcast for... a while. I’m not quite as into it as I used to be, but I still listen to the episodes whenever they come out. Uh... I first listened to the podcast all the way back in, I believe 2016? Uh, when I was in college. One of my friends was listening to it at a DnD session and I heard just one clip of it-- I think it was the scene where Regan had a threesome with the barkeep and his partner? I don’t remember exactly what happened in that scene but, uh... [laughs] it was interesting enough to draw my attention, and I talked to my friend about what the podcast was about, and I decided to go ahead listen to it, and so I listened to it. It hit all the right notes for me. I really loved the emphasis on diversity, and the science that went into it. I thought the science... um, the way science and magic integrated in the show was really fantastic and clever. You know, I really loved the characters. I think I listened to the entire podcast, up until the beginning of covid, about... three or four times through, and then since the pandemic when everything’s slowed down I’ve only listened to it another couple times since then. But, even though it’s no longer quite my main fandom or anything... But I think that I’m going to continue listening to it for as long as it comes out. Even if it’s never my big passion, it’s gonna be one of those quiet, comfortable, familiar things that will be a thread woven throughout the path of the rest of my life. Or not the rest of my life, but, you know, a good portion of it. However long- however much longer it goes, um. But, yeah, uh, congrats again on ten years of The Once and Future Nerd, and thank you for creating it. It’s really fantastic, I love it so much.

Rachel: So I found The Once and Future Nerd shortly after the pandemic started. A friend reached out to me who, um, I had met in college, and she asked to connect and we started calling every week, and we eventually started listening to this podcast together because she was already a fan, and she thought I would love it-- she was totally right. Um [small laugh], and we listened to this for almost a year, almost like a book club. Um, and we talked about it, and we got deep into the themes which was really enriching for me, that’s one of my passions, I got a degree in it. Uh, in, um, literature, so just picking apart stories and I-I was- I’ve always been impressed by how crunchy it is. How the characters feel fleshed out and stood apart from each other, and how so many tropes you think you understand and then you guys subverted them. Um. And then, while I don’t listen to The Once and Future Nerd right now, I have other podcasts that I do listen to, and before listening to The Once and Future Nerd with Kat I was not a podcast person. So, because of this podcast I actually have maintained a friendship, and I’ve gained a whole new ways to access stories, and it’s been pretty marvellous. And I’ve loved that a lot. So I’d like to thank the creators for those two sparks of joy in my life.

Kellie: Congrats on ten years! Um. I have not been listening to The Once and Future Nerd for ten years, I’ve been listening more like the past, like, one and half or so years, um, and I am so glad that I started listening. This podcast means a lot to me, it is one of my favourites, and not only is it just individually enjoyable for me, it’s also brought me closer to a lot of people, um, the existence of the podcast itself has brought me into a community that I value so deeply, and brought me close to so many people who I just love and adore. So, I mean, you know, obviously you’re doing something really right if, uh, you’re bringing people close together for lifetime friendships, uh, by making, you know, content. And that’s amazing in and of itself. But also, just, the podcast itself is so good. I mean, first of all, it’s great quality, it’s, you know, these... these wonderful little stories that are so, so gay. [laughs] And that analyze interesting topics in a really nuanced way. I can’t express the appreciation that I have for the way that y’all talk about these topics cause they’re always- they’re handled so well. Um. So, instead... [laughs] so instead of trying to express that, um, I will instead express that I just love how... I love when Arlene and Gwen are gay. Like, that’s just great. You know? It’s fantastic. And they’re so, so gay, and it’s so, so wonderful every single time. [sighs] And also Regan is just so hot. You know? Like. Uh, I... [sighs] Good for her, you know? Good for her. And good for y’all for- for having this podcast be- be going on for so long and still going strong. It’s- it’s so much fun and I’m so excited to keep listening to it. I’m not all the way caught up! But I’m working on it and I’m r- just enjoying every moment along the way. Thank you for what you do, cause what you do is so great. It’s incredible. Thank you.

Drak: The Once and Future Nerd. Um. What it means to me. So I had really bad migraines a couple years ago. Uh, to the point of, I had to blindfold myself for days and weeks at a time, uh, in order to avoid a debilitating migraine. And, um, so I found myself suddenly having to navigate the world without being able to see. The worst part of it was the boredom because I couldn’t read fanfiction, I couldn’t, uh, do most of my crafting hobbies, I couldn’t play video games. Um, obviously there are, you know, ways that people can do those things while blind, but I did not have any of those accommodations at the time. And so I started listening to podcasts, and I found The Once and Future Nerd and while listening to it, sitting in my room, by myself, uh, blind and in pain, The Once and Future Nerd took me away from my loneliness and my boredom and my pain and, you know, kind of, uh, saved my life. Uh, because I had something to help me get through a difficult period of my life, and, um. On top of that, you know, I-I love how much care and thought the crew and the cast and everyone involved puts into the story, um, in terms of being, like, sensitive about topics and as well as, like, trying to, um, provide good representation for, uh, marginalized voices, and um. I just. God, I love this podcast so much. Thank you, thank you so much for everything y’all do. The Once and Future Nerd is... I-I recommend it to everyone I know, even if they don’t like podcasts because I-I really think it’s that good. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sen: I love this podcast for its tapestry of fantasy tropes, the funny takes, and the moments of awesome. For multifaceted, diverse characters that I hadn’t encountered in other mediums before, and [sighs] well, for a gorgeous sound design that brings it all together. I found this podcast back in the middle of 2018. I was in a really, really bad place then, I was failing my classes, um, due to depression and anxiety for which I had begun taking medications too, which was not easy to adjust to. I just- I couldn’t concentrate on anything at all. So, I ended up searching for, uh, podcasts, and specifically what I would do back then is I would read the scripts and then I’d decide to listen to the whole thing later, you know. I read the first two episodes, then I just decided fuck it. I’m gonna listen. This podcast, and a few others, they were what got me through a really difficult time, but, you know, what made me keep listening then after that was just that it keeps on getting better. Personally, my favourite moment in TOaFN is, uh, episode three of I’ve Been Working on the Whale Road. Because, okay, yes, there are the pilot- uh, pirates, and there is Maddy Groves, but then there is also Bryce’s death. An ignoble death, nobly done. I get emotional thinking about it, but I think the way that Bryce died, it touches you, I think. And I think that... that balance between the humor and the silliness and the sincerity, and the love, I think, uh, it’s always- it touches you. I love this show for its emphasis on storytelling, the words “people are the stories they tell, power is who gets to tell those stories” th-they’re ingrained in my mind at this point. I resonate with the philosophy so much, and I’m so grateful to this show for getting me through tough times and for teaching me things about storytelling, about myself. And for the people that I have met through this show. In the discord server, the long-running DnD game, um, those people that, like, I got close to, and the book club folks, er, that I get to chat with on occasion. They make me laugh and they make me smile and I can confide in them, they’re always there and... I just- I- Thank you so much, for giving me all of that.

CJ: Congrats on ten years!

[wheelofmeta]

As much as I love certain details of Wheel of Time and it's use of some fantasy tropes, I do have to sigh over the use of two specific tropes that we can really blame on Tolkien and should probably either not been used or better explained what was going on.

Namely a) creation of a made up language and b) the Special Old Blood.

Firstly with the created languages, almost no one does it as well as Tolkien did, which is completely understandable since the man was a legitimate linguist and honestly at times the Lord of the Rings and it's related books can feel like 'did you create these languages for the world, or did you create the world as an excuse to create your own languages?' We can get a sense of how languages can change, the amount of languages that are around, etc though from what he did. We see there were multiple languages. We can get a sense of how things shifted around. We can figure out why all the languages don't have the same base, etc.

Wheel of Time doesn't have that.

Wheel of Time we've got no real explanation of how the hell we went from the Old Tongue to the modern language, or how the hell *everyone* speaks the same modern language even when it make no sense; the Seanchan should not be speaking the same language as the main continent, not with a thousand years of no contact like that. The Aiel also honestly shouldn't be primarily speaking the same language either (since they're so isolated in the Waste) or the Sharans (since again, isolated empire). Even if you use, for the Seanchan at least, the argument of 'well since the ruling class are claiming descendant from Hawkwing, they'd try to keep their language as purely close to his as possible!' it falls because. Well. Languages just shift over time no matter what. Compare even just Old Enligh versus modern. Chaucer can be an experience to read.. But Shara doesn't even have that potential excuse. We get the implication that the language is widespread in Shara even though even if you're using the excuse 'well there's trade going on between them' then really it should only be the traders who are fluent since they'd need to be. The average Sharan would have no reason to speak the same language. Same with the Aiel really; the traders should but not everyone else.

Like from a meta standpoint it makes sense since it simplifies writing. RJ this way doesn't have to justify the characters learning multiple languages to interact, just understand accents and maybe differences in slang. But it still would have been nice if at least someone pointed out how weird it is to not have any issues.

The other really big issue of use of a Tolkien-trope is the Old Blood stuff. Okay thank you for implying incest/genetic bottlenecks give special powers for real how the hell didn't the Two Rivers literally just inbreed themselves out of existence if they're intermarrying that rarely with outsiders? It's been apparently three thousand years of them pretty rarely doing it and that population has shrunk a lot since it's peak pre-Trolloc Wars (and we're never given much sign there was ever a real large bounce back) But here's also the bigger issue.

What the every loving fuck makes a difference between Old Blood versus not in the first place?

With Tolkien and the men of Gondor/Andor we actually *do* have an explanation of what's going on there. The nobility are either descended from a population that originally lived on that world's version of Atlantis (not too far from its version of Paradise/Heaven though still separate) and had been given additional special blessings by the gods, or intermarried with a literal different species (elves). It makes sense that there's a difference that gave specific abilities (longer lives most notably). There was fuckery abounding. That sort of fuckery was not abounding in the Wheel of Time's world.

It's just like...RJ implying unintentionally(?) that Incest Gives You Powers.

Where are these outside lineages that are apparently weakening the gene pools channeling ability-wise, or making it so you don't have a genetic memory of speaking Old Tongue? (Which also there why doesn't that seem to be a thing that effects the Aiel, the Old Tongue genetic memory thing?* They're literally described as being of 'ancient blood' and of all groups really should have something going on there since of everyone their the closest to being the same group as they would have been during the AoL). Hell, the Cairhein citizens are descended from the people who gave the Aiel water during the Breaking. We're not given any implications however they've got the Old Blood specialness going on even though the Aiel are literally able to identify them as being the specific descendants of that group and not anyone else even though there's what? An almost two thousand year difference or so at that point? So what is going on here beyond RJ wanting 'well there's something special here'?

Okay the answer probably is just 'Rj wanting something special here' but you get my point.

In reality it's probably just one of those 'he wanted to build out his world' and how at least with the language thing there would have been a different headscratcher otherwise of 'wait how are they still speaking the same language after three thousand years?' It just would have been nice if we got additional details (not necessarily even in the main books, but in the indexes or side notes we see) to explain a bit more what was going on there, with things like the evolution of languages or how/why everyone speaks the same language even in the present excluding accents.

*Compare how Rand needed a translator when speaking with the Finn versus Mat not needing one even pre-getting his memories (which also, interesting implications for how Brigitte makes a comment in a later book that strongly implies that *shouldn't* have been a thing in the first place, that level of understanding for Mat). Rand's described in prophecy of being 'ancient blood raised by Old'. He really should be able to do the language thing too, but then again this seems to be a thing that most strongly effects Mat versus all the other Two Rivers residents which again has interesting implications I'm going to look at in a different meta.

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[lover-girl-estxx]

Can you write a fluff story about Nick, taking his son for the first time to the gym (BJJ or boxing, something like that.) and that the reader is a little bit concerned about it.

I Don't Know

Nick Diaz x Reader (N35 R33)

Fluff🖤 With a little dash of Angst

not the same RJ

"RJ just asked me something" Nick said getting in bed next to me, I sat my book down "and?" "he wants to go to the Jiu Jitsu class tomorrow" he smiled "yeah?" "I told him yeah" " you did?" I raised my brows "I didn't think it was a big deal" "I wish you would've talked to me" "i'm his dad, me and his uncle run a MMA gym you didn't think this would happen? I can't believe he didn't ask sooner" I shook my head "okay" "i'm sorry i didn't-" "no it's okay " I gave a small smile "love you," he kissed me "sorry" I smiled "love you".

-----Next Morning-----

"Breakfast!" I yelled RJ (7) came running in the room, both in a NDA shirt. "mom are you gonna come to the gym with us?" RJ asked "um-" "Pleeease?!" he said I laughed "okay yeah!" I smiled. "you ready?" Nick asked "Yeah" he said "babe?" he looked at me, I nodded "can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked "yeah he nodded.

| Nick's POV |

"whats up?" I asked after telling RJ to go in the living room "I don't know if I can watch him do this" she said biting her lip "why?" she sighed "what if he gets hurt?" "he won't" "that's what you've told me every time and you always got hurt" she said quickly looking up at me "babe" "and I want to support him but" "he's gonna have a great time and he may get a scratch but he'll be fine promise" I cupped both side of her "okay," she hugged me "all you fucking Diaz's give me a heart attack" I chuckled and kissed her head.

"Uncle Nate!" he yelled running to Nate, he hugged him "what are you guys doing here?" he said "dad's letting me do a jiu jitsu lesson" "oh yeah?". Y/n sat watch the lesson, one kid threw RJ over his shoulder giving Jay a bloody nose. Y/n tensed and held her breath "oh my god mom did you see that!" he smiled "clean your face" I said. Y/n cleaned up his face while he went on and on about how cool he thought it was.

We were know in the car on the way home when he asked "can I go again next week?!" Y/n look back to his smiling face "yeah!" "really! dad?" "if you liked it, of course" "I did! when can I punch people?" I laughed and Y/n scoffed with a smile "soon" I said Y/n slapped my chest "see your moms already there" Y/n laughed me joining.

A/n: I don't know if this is what you wanted. but I hope you liked it!

[unikittybigbrightworldau]

Doctor Fox asks:

Be honest. What do you really think of RJ?

Richard: I was rather unsettled when I saw his letter open with “Hey, Babe.” His devious attractiveness doesn’t make that okay. I can forgive him for it since he clearly confused me for his own Richard.

Puppycorn: Who?

Swanna: I’ll be honest- his look reminds me of Balloonheads. You know, that weird movie about that band invading a radio station? Aside from that, I think he’s really shaken the world. That’s a man who knows what he’s gonna do! Does he still have that flying fist-shaped spaceship I’ve heard him mention before? I’d like to see it!

Imogen: You mean RJ from my science class? He’s a decent kid, but I don’t know what’s going on with him. I don’t think he’s showered in four days. No offense. I was always curious as to what those little round things on his head were… Wait, what? Oooooh. I thought you knew the RJ from my class.

Germafrost: If I’m being very honest? He’s… helpful. I’ve been feeling less sad since I saw him.

Piano: I… do admit he’s loosened me up. Quite a lot. All of a sudden, I’m… thinking much less about myself?

Waterlily: Honestly, I’m… kinda scared of him. He asked me about flowers that look like living crystals, but why?

Spike: Could he be the reason why my EP is this popular in the Unikingdom? Sorry. I think that RJ is a generally friendly person. It’s just… I’m not a famous celebrity red star, or whatever they call it there. Can you keep that kind of light off of me? Thanks. Did I say too much?

Marcella: He kind of unsettled my friends, but I’d love if he visited again, however possible. I FORGOT TO ASK HIM IF HE COULD TAKE ME TO OUTER SPACE!!!

Kira: Well… he’s been stopping by the Tree very often, and a while ago, he dropped off a bag of cake-looking things called cooks, or something. I don’t know how he was able to train those very large lizards, and in bulk at that. They’re very clearly lone hunters, so I’m impressed! He’s got some skill! My friends are frightened when they see him coming, but not Zora. Or me.

Trey: (smiling a kind of elfishly charming smile) Personally, I think he’s kind of a rascal. Don’t tell him that I managed to steal one of those shiny, glittery crystals.

[jellycrusher]

Fangirl pt. 3

INITIALLY POSTED ON MY FORMER PAGE: bts-teaspoonff

Genre: Romance, Slow Burn, Idol A/U

Pairing: BTS OT7 x reader

Rating: PG

Summary: Y/N, being a huge fangirl, finally got her chance to work alongside her favorite idol group as a backup dancer. She gets to know each member personally and realizes that her feelings may be more than fangirl-idol attraction.

Word Count: 5.6K

Taglist: @nochujeonjk @i-like-puppy-mg@miyochan @satotakeru14​

PARTS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | …. masterlist

So far, your week of waiting for the company’s response was uneventful to say the least. You exchanged contacts with some of the dancers and they have all been very friendly with everyone. You were busy with work at the gym and at the dance studio so that made you take off your mind from the backup dancer job at least for a while.

During those days that you were waiting, you took double shifts in the gym and twice the amount of classes in the dance studio. You wanted to push yourself just to ease your nerves. Also, you need to pay this month’s rent alone since your roommate and best friend is out on vacation. 

Lisa, your bestfriend. She’s been with you ever since college. Both of you only started living together when your brother moved out but she used to always live near you. When she moved in with you, she would always leave to travel somewhere for at least a month then come back to you. That was now your routine with Lisa. She loves travelling so much that she promised to fulfill her bucketlist as soon as both of you graduated. Her family is pretty well-off and she manages this online clothing shop to finance her trips. You and Lisa constantly video call each other almost every day. Sometimes, you would even answer each other’s call even when you’re in the shower. Of course, you already informed her about your pending job in Big Hit. She almost exploded from happiness when she got the news. She was hiking that time and it almost gave you a heart attack when you saw her jumping from happiness near the ledge. You could say that she’s your #1 fan and you are hers too.

The day came when you received the email. You were eating your breakfast at that time, taking a big bite of your omelet sandwich. You choked on your glass of water as you read the email saying “Congratulations. You are now formally a part of Big Hit’s Dance Team.” You read the other contents of the email as you generously drink water once more. You are soon to be expected to start two days from now. You can’t contain your excitement as you feel your face beaming with happiness. You could just dance your ass off right now from joy. You walked to your room with a sandwich still in your mouth as you reach for your speakers. You blasted Anpanman by BTS on full volume and pranced around the room. You also took your RJ and Koya plushies, hugged it and twirled around. You buried yourself under big Chimmy, Tata, Cooky, Mang and Shooky plushies on your couch.

You nervously entered the Big Hit building once more and went straight to the practice room. You made sure not to order a big glass of coffee this time, even though it’s very tempting. You just made a small cup of coffee at home, a routine that greatly relaxed you. You enter the room with one hand tightly gripping the strap of your cross body bag. You saw familiar faces and was grinning from ear to ear. It turns out that everyone was accepted and no one was left behind. A few of them ran to you, hugged you and then pushed you to join some of them sitting on the floor.

The dance directors and choreographers gathered all of you to discuss the plans for the dance team. Everyone was then assigned to different artists to solely focus on their performances. They started calling out the names of the dancers and the artists who they will be working with. Our main dance director started with TXT and you were not on the dancer’s list. You silently chant each of the boys’ names one by one, as if you were having a ritual on your own, until the dance director mentioned BTS. Your ears were on full concentration mode as he calls the names of the dancers one by one. As if on cue as you were continuing to chant the boys’ name and imagining your name being called, you heard your name slip from the dance director’s lips. You really tried your best to not shout and celebrate. You feel like you won the lottery at this point from your chain of good luck lately.

Each dance team then went on to different practice rooms. You, along with other male and female backup dancers, were present in another practice room as your dance choreographer started informing everyone that BTS is planning an online concert months from now. Everyone will be performing a lot of new numbers, including new dance breaks that will be mainly composed of you with the other female backup dancers.

For the first week, everyone started the dance practices without the boys yet. Everyone would spend hours being taught group performances by different choreographers. Two of which are old songs from their old albums and two were from their latest album. At first, you struggled to keep up with the other dancers but all of them were nice in helping one another when one has a hard time with performing the steps. You also made friends with the male backup dancers especially those who were close to your age. All of you were quick to get acquainted with each other and that made work very fun. You would always be light on your feet when coming to work since you’re glad you could make new friends who share the same passion. Everyone was so nice to you too since you’re the youngest out of the female backup dancers but there are also two male dancers younger than you.

You were also excited for your new work since you would get to see Jiyong almost every day. When one of you are free, you would always eat together. Your heart is filled with happiness right now. Your mind is now at a place where you’re just sitting on cloud 9.

Your body couldn’t really handle three jobs at the same time so you chose to quit teaching dance classes at the dance studio. You informed the dance studio owner about your new job to which she congratulated you non-stop. She knows how much of a big fangirl you are to BTS so she couldn’t be more proud of you. She then proceeded to convince you that no one better than you should handle the BTS dance classes. She made good points that convinced you to stay but only if you handle selected classes that works around your schedule. Luckily, she agreed and gave you at least one class a month. You couldn’t really argue with her since she pays you generously per class that you teach.

You retained your work in the gym since your shifts works around your work in Big Hit. You could handle your new work schedule and you really need to earn money for the apartment fees and your BTS merchandises. You also informed the gym owner about your new day job and he congratulated you non-stop as well. He nicely let you adjust your shift to better work around your new schedule.

So far, everything is going into place. Your new job, new acquaintances at work, quality time with your brother, and Lisa will be returning soon from her trip. You could just sit down and inhale all the good air that’s surrounding you lately. You’re scared that given this amount of good luck around you will be soon replaced by strings of bad luck, but of course you’re highly hoping that will not happen.

You went home late one night from a hectic shift at the gym. One of your clients arrived late for her schedule but still came, coinciding with the timeslot for your other client. You still accommodated the two of them and went back and forth for them during their sessions. You had to be the one to close the gym that night also. You ate like there’s no tomorrow that night since you were so tired from dance practices and the sessions at the gym. You just went to sleep right after dinner, slamming yourself into the bed and into the sheets.

You didn’t wake up from your alarm the next morning. Good thing that you had already wash your hair last night so you just fashioned a bucket hat and hurriedly fix yourself before you went out in a rush to try to arrive on time for your dance practices. You arrived at the lobby entrance just in the nick of time with a few minutes to spare, rushed to the elevator and tried to catch your breath while you wait for the lift to arrive on the right floor. You hurriedly ran out the elevator and to the hallway when you heard your phone ping. You took out your phone in your pocket while rushing in the hallway. You saw Lisa’s name at the top of your notification screen but chose to read it later and kept your phone in your hands.

You were approaching a corner in the hallway so you decreased your pace but was still slightly running. As you were about to take a turn, your head bumped into something soft but obviously firm that was moving towards your direction. You were slightly pushed back but somebody’s hand caught your arms as you were about to fall backwards. You soon realized that your head bumped into someone’s chest, somebody who’s very tall. You look up and saw Namjoon. I really got to stop meeting the boys by bumping into them like this. Your mouth fall to the floor in shock and embarrassment.

His hands were big and his arms were tan and toned. He still excludes this gentle giant aura, the same way you pictured him every time you see him on social media and on the pictures in your phone. He still has his hands around your arms as you try to help yourself back up from almost falling to the ground. As if you could feel fire on your arms around his touch and time stood still. Both of you apologized to each other at the same time. You both chuckled as you withdraw your hands from each other. As you were about to introduce yourself, you noticed that your phone was on the floor and under his foot. He also soon notices this as you try to bend down to reach for your phone.

You took the phone under his foot and checked it. You stared at your phone screen and was shocked to see the screen cracked. You saw Namjoon looking at your phone as you check but quickly hid it realizing that your wallpaper was all of the members of BTS. You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself more by letting him know that your lock screen and home screen are photos of them. Unfortunately, Namjoon has already noticed the crack on your phone screen even before you hid the phone away from his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that I stepped on your phone.” Namjoon panicked at the sight of the cracked phone screen.

“No, it’s okay. It’s my fault also for not being careful.” You assure him but he clearly looks worried about the cracked phone. “Nice to meet you. I’m y/n. One of the new backup dancers assigned to BTS. I’m looking forward to working with you.” I bowed.

“Nice to meet you and looking forward to working with you as well.” He bowed as well. “I’m really sorry about your phone. Can I do something about it?”

“Honestly, it’s okay. It’s just a small crack.” No it’s not entirely okay because the crack almost encompasses the whole screen. It’s my fault anyways so he doesn’t have to feel bad about it. You don’t want to burden him about your phone. “Also, I’m sorry but I’m really in a rush for practice. See you around. Nice to meet you again.” You bowed and rushed towards the practice room.

“Wait.” Namjoon raises his hands while looking at you, rushing away from him. Although he was truly worried about your phone, he actually caught a glimpse of your lock screen. It amuses him to remember you trying to hide the phone from him. Of course he knows that their fans would have the members as their wallpapers but usually their staff wouldn’t really have the boys’ face plastered on their belongings.

You are still in disbelief that you met Namjoon. Your heart is still in disarray as you try to replay the scene in your mind. His hands are big and he’s so tall. His chest is so toned that even though your head bumped into him for a split second, you could almost remember the ridges of his chest. 

…..

“Shit.” Namjoon exclaims as he slumps back on the couch of Hoseok’s studio with four other members in the room. Jimin, Taehyung, Hoseok and Jungkook all turn their heads as their leader enters the studio.

“What got you in a dump, hyung?” Jungkook asks in concern.

“I stepped on a phone and destroyed the screen.” Namjoon puts his hands on his face. He’s wondering how he can mend the cracked screen situation with you. Your face suddenly appeared at the back of his mind and honestly, a part of him find you adorable and beautiful. The way how your fringe falls perfectly on your forehead and on your long lashes. You were a little pale but still, he got a long look at your face and still finds you attractive. He never got interested with female staff members but there was something about you that piqued the leader’s attention.

“Whose phone?” Hoseok, seated in his chair in front of his equipments, turns his chair to face all the other members.

“One of our female backup dancers.” Namjoon groans out loud in frustration, breaking him from his daydream.

“How did you even step on her phone?” Jimin asks his leader, seated on the far corner of the couch beside Taehyung.

“I saved her from falling then I didn’t realize her phone was under my foot.” Namjoon sits straight up, shaking his head.

“You never disappoint, hyung.” Jimin laughs while reaching for Namjoon’s shoulder to pat it. Taehyung sits back to give access to Jimin’s hand to reach Namjoon.

“Give her one of our extra Samsung phones. I think we still have some of those. Go ask the staff.” Taehyung suggests.

“You really are the God of Destruction.” Hoseok chuckles at his good friend.

“I’m so embarrassed. I just want to bury my face right there and then.” Namjoon pouts in frustration.

“I think I can help you ease your frustration.” Hoseok turns his chair around back to his monitor. He pressed a few buttons and music started playing through the speakers. “How is it?” Hoseok plays the song that Namjoon, Taehyung and himself are working hard on. He glanced behind to look at Namjoon’s face. Namjoon stood up and walked to Hoseok’s chair.

…..

I am so tired. I think I’m pushing myself too far this time. You still have a few weeks before Lisa returns so you doubled your shift in the gym. You could really use the extra pay since you spent your extra savings on a few BTS merchandise and on repair fees for the air conditioner at home. The double shifts will only last until this week so you have no problem with it.

You came into the practice room, still groggy from lack of sleep. You glanced at the huge mirror across the room and saw your pale face and poor complexion. Gosh, you have never looked this bad since finals week in college. You tend to forget to take care of yourself when overworking or fatigued. You took a sip from the cup of iced Americano on your hands and sat on the floor with the other dancers.

A few minutes after, the choreographer came in and soon follows the 7 ethereal beautiful boys. They bowed one by one as they enter the room and thanked us for our hard work. You try to fix any unruly strands of hair on your sweaty forehead and straightened your back.

Namjoon entered the room first, greeting all the dancers with a smile. The leader exuding off a charismatic aura as he leads the group in the room. Jimin and Hoseok soon followed, both of them hand in hand giggling and skipping but released their hold on each other and laughed out loud after a few steps inside. The two main dancers eager to meet the dance team. Taehyung and Jungkook silently followed their hyungs, strutting like models with their hands in their pockets. I saw the maknae sporting a man bun that compliments his face and almost making him look like a Greek God, especially with how his tight black long sleeve shirt faintly gives a silhouette of his sculptured chest and back. Taehyung’s disheveled curly do accentuates his bear-like cuteness but still gives off a masculine appeal. Lastly, the two oldest entered the room greeting the dancers. Yoongi entered first with Jin’s hands on his other member’s back. The two of them silently entered the room, ensuring that they greet all of us first before joining the other members at the side.

Your eyes scanned the members one by one as the choreographer informs everyone about the dance practice for today. As you were admiring the amazing view in front of you that was gracing you this morning, your gaze met with Yoongi’s. He then slightly put his head down while looking at you. You couldn’t really paint his expression right now but you dare to say that he looks bothered. Like a puppy that chewed his toy and is being scolded by his owner. He then turns his head away to talk to the other boys when he saw you openly reading his face.  

You were so confused at Yoongi’s bothered expression when you caught him looking at you. You don’t remember bumping into him or meeting him today. Yet, his aura today is a lot softer than the day you met. For your first and second (may I say terrible)encounters, he would always look so irritated or pissed at you specifically. I mean who wouldn’t, you’re crazy clumsy ass kept on bumping into him.

Everybody’s in their respective blocking and is set to practice once more. The moment the music started, your heart kept doing somersaults. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. You are now dancing with the 7 boys. The pinnacle of your fangirl chronicles. You could never imagine that someday you will share the same stage as them. You truly respect them for their art and passion so you give your all even on their first full dance practice with the dance team. Of course, Jimin and Hoseok doesn’t disappoint. The two energetic boys that came skipping inside the room just moments ago became two dancing machines. You couldn’t stop smiling that you could feel your face could tear off. Your fatigue went away as you savor this moment. Nothing matters right now, only this moment.

The music stopped. All took a minute before polishing the dance moves on a specific part of the song. One female backup dancer nudged you on the waist, giggling. “You happy?” She was one of your good friend on the dance team. She knows that you’re a big fangirl of BTS and how ecstatic you are about your new occupation.

“Dream come true but I’m still so far off from being perfect. I need to be at my best to be deserving of sharing the same stage with them.” You whispered to her while giggling. She pats my head in adoration and you looked at her.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re doing a good job.” You smiled back at her. Soon you heard the choreographer call out everyone to gather to start practicing again.

Two hours were spent in the practice room, dancing nonstop. Slowly, you could feel your fatigue catching up to you but you refuse to take a break. You could see everyone’s passion and hard work so you don’t think you deserve to take a breather. Everyone was giving their all from the boys and girls on the dance team, the 7 BTS members and even with the choreographers. A longer break was given after the two hour mark. All of the other dancers walked straight to their bags to get their water bottles. The 7 boys also went to the water dispenser at the corner of the room near the door to take a sip of water as they catch their breath. You walked towards the door, excusing yourself out to use the restroom. You saw Namjoon and Yoongi noticing you as their eyes follow you before I opened the door.

You took a few steps away from the dance practice room and was stopped in your tracks when you heard a familiar voice calling your name. “Hey!” you turned around and saw Jiyong walking through the hallway in the same direction as you.

“Hey. What’s up?” Jiyong walks up to you with a smile on his face.

“I’m on my way to the recording studio.” He turns his head and caught his eyes on the dance practice room. “Are you guys practicing right now?”

“We are on a break as of the moment.” You wiped your sweat off your forehead. “Who knew that even dance practices was this intense?” You saw Jiyong examining your face and he lifts up his hand to land on your cheek.

“Your complexion’s not good. Are you eating well?” You froze in place. Is my complexion really that bad? Actually, if I remember correctly, I only ate crackers this morning and haven’t got a chance to drink water since I was rushing to go to work.

“Oh. Jiyong-nim.” You and Jiyong quickly looked towards the practice room door when you saw Namjoon, Yoongi, Jimin, and Jungkook about to go out of the room. They saw Jiyong caress your cheek and their faces are painted with bashful expressions. They immediately thought that you might be in a relationship with Jiyong. “You guys know each other?” Namjoon asks your brother.

Jiyong quickly placed his arms on your shoulder and around your neck. He laughed as he rubbed your head. “What do you think?” He placed his hand under your chin to lift up your head straight to present to the boys. The four of them puzzled by your brother’s question and took them a few seconds before it registered to them that you and Jiyong are twins. You totally forgot that Jiyong mentioned that he was good friends with the boys. I want to hide right now.

“No wonder why she looks familiar. She reminds me of you, hyung.” Jimin exclaimed.

“You’re twins?” Yoongi asks Jiyong. Your brother nods his head while giving his boxy smile.

“Identical, in fact.” Jiyong proudly stated as he further rubbed my head, making a mess out of my hair.

“That’s amazing, Hyung. I didn’t know you had a twin.” Jungkook exclaims as well, in fascination. You were just quiet in your brother’s arm. He released his hands around you and you stood up straight. Taehyung and Jin noticed the commotion of the four boys and also peeked out the door. Jimin informs the two boys and you saw Jin opening his mouth in astonishment, releasing a loud gasp in his tiny comedic voice.

“Take care of my sister. If one of you mistreats her, I’ll give you a hard time in the studio booth.” Jiyong jokingly teases the boys. 

“You know I’m older than you right?” You quickly hit him on the shoulder as the boys laugh.

“By two minutes.” He looks at you and laughed. He glanced back to the other boys. “Anyways, she’s a big fa…” You pinch his waist to stop him from talking. He cries out in pain but at least that stopped his mouth from rambling.

“Excuse my brother. He likes to tease me a lot.”

“Well, I have to go to the studio booth as well. If you’ll excuse me.” Jiyong finally excuses himself out. He walks away and left you out in the hallway with the 7 boys just standing outside the practice room. A short silence from all of you filled the hallway before they resumed from walking out of the practice room.

“I have to excuse myself too.” You bowed, turned around and continued walking away.

“Wait.” You heard Yoongi call out as his footsteps catch up to you. Not long, he caught up and stopped in front of you. He scratched the back of his head with his head down. “I owe you an apology.”

Yoongi was uneasy at the thought that he disrespected you twice at the expense of his mood that day. The last thing he wants is to never get the chance to apologize to you. He couldn’t really concentrate on the dance practice today as he could see you avoiding him. Whenever he would try to take the chance to apologize to you during breaks, you would always be around the other dancers. 

“Apology? For what?” you froze in place out of shock and wonder from yoongi’s statement. You stare at the man in front of you with his head slightly down. The air between the two of you was so still.

“The day we met… I am aware that I was not at my best self and it turned out I was rude to you. Even if I was having a bad day, there’s no excuse for my lack of respect.” He lifts his head up and looked straight in your eyes. As much as you appreciate his apology, you couldn’t really respond to him as you realized that one of your idols is just an arm’s reach away. Never have you imagined that someone you just watch over and over again from the small screen of your phone would be humbling himself before you to apologize. You don’t really know how to handle the situation. 

“It’s okay. It’s my fault as well. I guess I have to learn not to be as clumsy anymore.” You laughed as you placed your hands on your nape. His face slowly lit up and the air between both of you started getting lighter. “Here I thought you’re actually disliking the idea of working with me. You were wearing this irritated expression whenever our eyes would meet during practice.” 

Yoongi got beet-red thinking that’s how he comes off to you when he was actually irritated by the fact that he can’t get a chance to talk to you alone. “No. I was just…. trying to find a chance to apologize to you.” You smiled so sweetly at the thought of occupying yoongi’s mind during practice and even made him worry on how we would approach you. Yoongi notices the change in your expression and his heart skipped a beat. There’s something so adorable with the way you smiled that caught Yoongi’s attention. He took a good look at you and realized that you were actually good looking despite being so sweaty from practice.

“I would like to begin again.” You held out your hand to Yoongi. He looks at your hand and back to you. “I’m y/n. It’s an honor to work with you. Let’s do our best to show everyone the best performances we could give.” You flashed a smile so big that made Yoongi pleased as well. Your passion to give your best performance fascinated him.

He shook your hand and his heart skipped another beat. A smile like that fits you so well. You almost remind him of Hoseok. Someone who embodies sunshine. Also, he admits that you really look beautiful. Not that he wants to compare you to the other female dancers but he can admit that you’re the most attractive out of all of them. He had his eyes on you the whole morning and was amazed by how you transform into a dancing machine when music starts.

…..

You just concluded your last session with a client at the gym. Despite having a chance to go home early, you kindly offered to the gym owner that you would stay until closing time. You asked permission to use the small studio in the gym. He gladly allowed you and you were ecstatic to finally have a space where you could freely practice. Back at home, the apartment that you share with Lisa is just the adequate space for living, but not so much to consider it as a space to practice. You own a floor length mirror but it’s beside your bed. Your arms and legs have bumped your bed so many times that you could almost file a physical abuse case against the innocent piece of furniture. The small studio in the gym may not be as big as the practice room in Big Hit but it has enough space for you to fly and dance around. Plus, there’s a huge mirror on the entire wall. You’re actually fortunate to have the studio by yourself.

As you start practicing the dance numbers inside the small studio, the gym owner quietly manned the reception area in your place. Only a handful of customers are now currently using the gym and usually at this time of night, influx of customers is at bare minimum. Suddenly, someone enters the gym and walks to the reception area. The gym owner turns his head towards the door.

“Hyung!” The gym owner was surprised by the sudden visit of his friend. He shoots up from his seat to welcome the person who just came through the door.

“Jungkook! What are you doing here?” Jungkook appeared in front of the gym owner wearing his huge black hoodie and a black cap to hide his face. The gym owner walks around the reception table and hugs Jungkook.

“I just tried a new route to run and I remembered your gym was along the way so I thought to pop in and say hello.” Jungkook hugged his friend tightly. They continued to chat as Jungkook quickly noticed the music that was coming from inside the gym. The gym owner also noticed Jungkook looking towards the direction of the sound.

“That’s coming from the studio… which reminds me, one of my employee just got in as your backup dancer. She’s so dedicated and diligent that she spends her extra time to practice here after her shift.” The gym owner offered to usher Jungkook towards the small studio. Jungkook was intrigued and fascinated that one of their backup dancer works at the same place as his close friend. The music gets loud as they get near the studio and he gets a glimpse of somebody dancing eagerly to one of the songs that they were just practicing to this morning. They look just outside the door and Jungkook’s eyes were glued to you as you dance.

He recognizes you immediately and was captivated by how you were working so hard this late at night. He noticed that you weren’t wearing the usual baggy cargo pants that you love to wear for dance practices. You were wearing tight gym leggings and a dri-fit shirt. Nevertheless, you still exude charm and power when you dance to their songs. Jungkook admits to himself that the sight of you in tights dancing to their powerful songs charmed him.

He opened the door and you were late to notice the sound of the creaking door. You were surprised to see Jungkook’s reflection behind you as you strut to the music. Jungkook jumps in surprise when you gasped out loud at his presence and you ran for the speakers.

“Noona, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” You bent down to stop the music. Quickly, you stood up and turned to face him. Jungkook was still walking towards you. He removed his cap and ran his hand through his hair. He was sweating a bit but still, the sight of him sweating makes him look like he’s sparkling. You wondered why in the world is he inside the same studio as you are now. “Hyung’s my friend and I happened to be in the same area so I dropped by. I didn’t expect Noona was working here.”

You peeked towards the door and the gym owner was smiling and waving his hand. He must’ve been the one who informed Jungkook that you were practicing here, you thought. Your attention came back to Jungkook. You admired how handsome Jungkook looks right now despite being barefaced. “May I help you with something?”

“Do you want to practice together? I mean if only you’re comfortable with it.” He offered. Suddenly, you felt like everything slowed down and the two of you remained. You want to slap your face in disbelief that Jungkook actually offered to practice with you. Jungkook slowly walk towards you and you react by stepping backwards.

“I’m having a hard time learning a specific part in the choreo so I may not be the ideal practice partner… for you right now.” You feel as though the space between the two of you has shrunk. Jungkook smirks at the sight of you slightly panicking as he steps closer. Jungkook has been eyeing you ever since the first practice session with them this morning. He saw how his hyungs, Namjoon and Suga, kept on looking at your direction. He discovered that you were the same girl that they were talking about. You were the one whose phone was destroyed by Namjoon, who caught the attention of Jimin and Jhope during the evaluation, and who constantly occupies Suga’s mind about when to apologize to you. You piqued his attention with the way you had these encounters with his hyungs. He also noticed your charm whenever you execute the intricate choreograph during practice, just as Jhope and Jimin describes. He’s determined to have this chance to dance with you.

“I’m sure I want to practice with you.”

Next part: 4

[auradon-bore-a-don]

Hi! You're on my Bingo card, and this is such a great opportunity to delve into new fandoms! Tell me about Daphne, when did the Radcliffes have her, who does she take after, and what are her thoughts on Cruella?

Hello! Glad I can introduce you to a new fandom!

To give you some backstory on Descendants: Belle and the Beast have been crowned the sole royalty of the United States of Auradon - a world where all the classic Disney stories have merged sort of Pangea like. They rounded up all the villains, both dead and alive at the end of their movies, and moved them to the Isle of the Lost where they live in horrible conditions. Fast forward 20 years where the children of the villains are given a chance to come to Auradon and live normal lives. Of course, their parents have given them a mission to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand and breakdown the magical barrier that surrounds the Isle so the villains can take their revenge. So the VK's (villain kids) will need to choose to follow in their parent's footsteps or to be good.

I'm still working on my exact timeline of events, both prior and post the wedding, but for me, the end of 101 Dalmatians happened before the wedding. Roger and Anita found out they were pregnant at the same time as Pongo and Perdida. Anita gave birth to a baby boy, Daphne's brother RJ. I imagine raising 101 dogs, mostly all puppies and a baby to be decently difficult. It took Roger and Anita quite a few years to get the Dalmatian farm up and running and to get to a place in their lives where they were ready to have another child. They had Daphne 4 years after Belle and Beast's wedding, a full 8 years after her brother was born, making her 16 years old during the events of the first movie.

It's hard to choose just one parent Daphne takes after most. I like to think she's a bit of a combination of the two - she has Roger's love of music and plays the piano, much to his delight, as well as a love of books from Anita, as I headcanon her to be an author as we don't know what she does in the movie. She also has her dad's sense of humor, much to her mother's chagrin. Daphne will stand up for anybody she thinks is being wrong, making her a fierce friend as well as a caring one. One of her flaws however, is that she tends to put those relationships above herself and will try to make other's happy before she is happy herself. One example of this being her crush on Ben, when he and Audrey, Aurora's daughter, get together it hurts, but she would rather they be happy together than hurt either of them by admitting her feelings.

Like most kids in Auradon, Daphne has grown up on stories about the villains living on the Isle. Her father has always been very vocal about his dislike of Cruella and while Roger and Anita try to not talk about her in front of Daphne, it's hard not to know about what happened when it's taught in your history class. Especially when she was young, Cruella was a sort of boogeyman figure for Daphne. She used to be extremely afraid that she would come back and take the Dalmatians away. As she grew up, Daphne's realized that Cruella is just a person, a mean and cruel person, but a person all the same. Daphne may not like Cruella but she's not afraid of her anymore.

-

Thanks for the ask, I answered this on my lunch break and it took way longer than I expected lol so I'll answer your other asks when I get home!

[hallmark-movie-fanatics]

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSLEY, CHELSEA HOBBS, ROGER CROSS AND ANDREW J. HAMPTON TAKE THE STAGE IN ‘DREAM MOMS’ A NEW, ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING MAY 13, ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

STUDIO CITY, CA –– April 19, 2023 – Tamera Mowry-Housley (“Inventing the Christmas Prince,” “Girlfriendship”), Chelsea Hobbs (“The Holiday Sitter,” “The Picture of Christmas”) Roger Cross (“A Snowy Day in Oakland,” “The Murdoch Mysteries”) and Andrew J. Hampton (“Blockbuster,” “So Help Me Todd”) star in “Dream Moms,” a new, original movie premiering Saturday May 13 (8 p.m. ET/PT), on Hallmark Channel. The movie also launches Hallmark’s “Make Her Mark” Women’s Directing Program.

Mowry-Housley is given the opportunity to show off her vocal talents and performs “Dream That Dream,” “Bring it Back” and “So Right,” three original songs that were written expressly for the movie.

Danielle (Mowry-Housley), a one-time off-Broadway performer and former backup singer, and Claire (Hobbs), a once-aspiring dancer, both had dreams of making it to the Broadway stage. Many failed auditions and years later, Danielle is married Mark (Cross), a successful lawyer, and has a ballerina daughter, who is positioned for NYC ballet, living in the Upper East Side. Claire is a single mother raising two sons and working as a bookkeeper in the Garment District. Now consumed with motherhood, they no longer have time for themselves and have deferred their own dreams. Danielle’s brother RJ (Hampton) introduces the two after Claire begins taking classes at his dance studio. He is impressed with Claire’s dance technique and wants to bring the women together to compete in a nationally televised talent contest. As they start practicing for the show, Danielle and Claire begin to regain their sense of self and passion they once had as performers. When competing priorities arise with their families and cause them to reconsider, the pair ultimately realizes they need to show up for themselves and set an example to never give up your dreams. They compete in the talent contest and with the support of their families, Danielle and Claire learn it’s never too late to become what or who you want to be.

“Dream Moms” is from Front Street Pictures. Roxanne Messina Captor is executive producer. Charles Cooper serves as producer. Jessica Harmon directed from a script by Jessiline Berry based on a story by Messina Captor.