#sandra knew he had a wife

[caystar13star]

Pic from this post

Every time Pete hears someone refer to her as Penny Benjamin it makes him angry all over again. Her name was Penelope Mitchell, and she was his baby sister.

He remembers how happy his mother was as she danced around the house, getting larger every day it seemed like.

“You’ll have to watch out for the new baby, Petey. You’re their big brother. You can tell them everything they need to know about the world.”

She bled out two days after Penny was born. Two weeks after the men came to tell them his dad was gone.

Pete tried to stay with Penny during the service, his wide green eyes following the movements of everyone as they paid their respects. He didn’t understand the things they whispered as they turned away—traitor, turncoat, damn Mitchell.

Two people stood out to him. The first was a lady named Sandra. She was from somewhere that started with a C, but he didn’t remember the rest. She had asked him several times about their family, if they had grandparents or aunts and uncles. Petey bobbed his head up and down and told her about his Uncle Snake that flew with his daddy.

She got a sad look and asked if there was anyone else. A neighbor, a friend at school maybe? He assured her that he would be just fine, and he could take care of Penny. He had been fixing her bottles since she was born, as their mother was too weak.

Penny had a big appetite.

There was another man there. He looked familiar, and Petey was sure he had met the man at some point. He was taller than Pete’s daddy, bigger muscles too. He had a frown on his face as he stared at the Mitchell siblings, sitting quietly on a chair.

Sandra introduced the man as Lieutenant Benjamin. He had flown with Duke, and Mike, and he had earned a trip home after their infamous mission by way of the shrapnel he picked up in the firefight.

The lieutenant’s wife was enamored with Penny. She called her a beautiful little doll. Petey had to remind her that Penny was his baby. She didn’t seem to appreciate that.

The next few days were confusing. Pete was urged to pack his clothes, and a few pictures. He didn’t know where he was going, but he would take care of Penny wherever he was.

Except, when he arrived at the group home for young boys, Penny wasn’t there. Sandra explained to him that Penny had been ’dopted. Lieutenant Benjamin and his wife were going to raise her now.

They didn’t want Petey.

Pete’s first fights at the group home were because some of the other boys heard him crying about Penny. He fought back with his fists and earned a beating for it.

As Pete grew older, he never forgot about his baby sister. He clung to the one grainy photo he had of them together, taken by Sandra the day of their mother’s funeral.

It took years. Approximately fifteen of them, to be exact. Pete was finally in the Navy, flying like his father, and he was stationed at the same base as Admiral Benjamin.

No one understood his fascination with the man, and he was warned off by many that his daughter was definitely off limits. But Penny was a Mitchell as well.

She snuck out, hopped on the back of Pete’s motorcycle, and he took her back to his assigned housing, and told her where she really came from. He showed her the picture of them, and the few pictures he had of their parents. He was so proud of how beautiful his baby sister was, even if she did have the nerve to already be as tall as he was (good nutrition growing up makes all the difference). She also had braces, but Duke’s teeth were unmistakable.

When Admiral Benjamin found out about them sneaking around, he threatened them both with Pete being posted far away. Pete retaliated by sneaking her into his F-14.

Once Penny was grown and out of the Admiral’s house, she got to know her big brother better. She loved the Bradshaws, and tried her best to be there for Pete and Carole after they lost Nick.

When she married her own (worthless) sailor, she hoped Pete would settle down and stop getting transferred all over the world. She knew it bothered Ice, and she missed him as well. She wanted him to see her daughter grow up.

It took time, and both their tempers cooling some with age, but Pete and Penny would spend their remaining years watching their kids (and grandkids) grow and play.

[jq37]

Are we sure Sandralynn wasn't cursed with like. Shit taste?

It's def a real mixed bag, though I think besides Bobby it's more just wild choices than straight up bad choices.

Bobby Dawn: Regular Freak. Liar, Frumpy, Wrong. Cheated on his wife and then ruined another woman's life over it. This is not a a ranking so I'm not giving him a score but I almost wish it was so I could give him a comically low number. Actually, there aren't any rules here. I still can. Negative infinity and kick rocks. If I was Sandra Lynn's friend I would be *begging* for her to love herself (or at least have a better sense of self preservation) and RUN GIRL.

Gilear Faeth: Gilear was a successful, hot elf before his loser energy kicked in because of his curse. Wasn't he like a diplomat or something? Like, Gilear now is a loveable loser but Gilear then was probably kind of a catch. And hell, Fabian's mom likes loser Gilear and she's a pretty hot commodity herself. As Sandra Lynn's friend I would be doing cartwheels if she moved on from Bobby to be with Gilear. 1000% improvement. And, for what it's worth, so is loser Gilear. Most guys would be frankly.

Gorthalax: Def seems a bit reactionary to go from a cleric of Sol to one of Sol's fallen angels turned devils. But Gorthalax is a nice guy from what we've seen and as a devil of gluttony he prob can conjure up some killer date night food. I think that if I could get over the shock of him being a MAJOR DEVIL, as Sandra Lynn's friend, I could warm to the idea. And he's not Bobby Dawn so instant improvement. However, as there was infidelity involved this would be another GIRL WHAT? reaction from me. But again, less about the guy himself, more about the decision to cheat.

Jawbone: OK so the thing about Jawbone is that I think he's great and a super good person and he's Brennan's semi-self insert so of course I love him. But he would also be an insane person to know IRL. Like, the stories he tells so casually. I think I'd be like, uh are you sure about this one? But he seems to have at least mostly chilled out now that he's working with kids and I think he's a really great guy. There's maybe a risk of contracting Lycanthropy but I'm sure they're using whatever protection you use for that. Solid guy as long as you're cool with his past.

Garthy: When Garthy was introduced, 80% of the fandom was instantly thirsting over them so objectively, "Garthy is hot" is a pretty mainstream opinion. And even if you (like myself) were in the 20% of people not thirsting over them, they're still very clearly a good person between raising Ayda and being super into self care (I loved the scene with them and Mercer's char in PoL). Also they're just really cool conceptually. So again, very normal person for Sandra Lynn to wanna hook up with. The problem, once again, is the infidelity. Especially because Jawbone was willing to have an open relationship! He closed the relationship for her! She took an L here for no reason!

So, to recap: shitty guy, good guy (who was cursed), devil (who is a good guy* and also an affair partner), good guy (with a wild past), and hot pirate (who is a good person* and also an affair partner).

*I don't remember if they knew Sandra Lynn was in a relationship when they were hooking up with her and am not factoring that into my judgement.

Besides Bobby Dawn, the rest of her choices were pretty OK (unless I'm forgetting stuff). Wild and with no obvious connecting thread--she absolutely has a rogue's gallery to rival Batman's--but it seems like the problems she had with relationships came down more to stuff other than, "She picked an objectively bad guy."

She really has the most inconsistent taste ever. I can't even begin to categorize what her type is. Gilear and Garthy should never been on any list together besides, "NPCs with G names."

[purrassicjet]

snippet of rangerwolf discusses marriage fic plsssssss <33333

I like this one very much. Here's the whole thing because I'm not sure how long this will take to actually be finished

---

Birds chirped lazily as Sandra Lynn banked Baxter down towards the field around Mordred Manor, her typical landing zone. The sun was quickly falling below the horizon and it was casting a beautiful orange glow on the world. She smiled softly and made a smooth landing near the stable, quickly removing Baxter’s bridle and saddle. Things had returned to normalcy mercifully quickly after her kids’ summer adventure, Sandra Lynn’s transgressions not forgotten, but explained and moved past. She sighed pleasantly as she retrieved the mail from the box, flipping through the various scam letters and weird pamphlets that had been dropped there as she pushed through the door. She stopped on a pile of letters all tied together. On the front of the top one, written in a handwriting intimately familiar to her, was “To Ms Sandra Lynn Faeth.” She pushed the door open with her back and wandered into the kitchen, dropping the usual mail on the table and cutting the string keeping the letter pile together.

She lifted her own letter from the pile, spying the name on the front of the next, “To Mr Jawbone O’Shaughnessy.”

“Jawbone! Mail!” She called out absentmindedly, grabbing a letter opener from the drawer and sitting at the table, slicing the envelope open with the precision only a former adventurer could wield. Just as she went to pull the pieces of paper inside out, Jawbone strode through the arch.

She gestured to the pile of letters, “Top one is yours. Not sure who the other ones are for.”

He made a soft “huh” noise and pushed the pile over, scanning the names, “They’re for all of us.” He took his and opened it with one claw.

Sandra Lynn pulled the paper out fully, opening the first up. Her eyes widened as she read the contents and Jawbone made a small whine of surprise that told her he was reading exactly the same thing as she was.

“You, Sandra Lynn Faeth, are formally invited to the wedding of

Gilear Faeth and Hallerial Seacaster

on the 22nd of November. 12:00pm.

Please RSVP as soon as possible.”

She stared over the edge of the note at Jawbone, he raised an eyebrow at her. “I didn’t even know they were engaged.”

“I had a feeling.” Sandra Lynn shrugged, “When we were in Fallinel, he was looking for Hallerial’s Dad’s blessing. Gilear’s always moved quick. Honestly, I’m surprised I’m invited.”

“Why?” Jawbone sat down in the chair next to her.

“I figured Hallerial wouldn’t want Gilear’s ex-wife at her wedding.” She pointed out, absentmindedly shuffling to the other note.

“Would you be okay with Gilear at your wedding?” Jawbone said casually, looking sideways at her.

Sandra Lynn froze. She knew why he was asking. He and Gilear were close. If he was to get married, if they were to get married, Gilear would be there.

He noticed her expression and shuffled closer, “I didn’t mean- It’s not like I wouldn’t- But-”

“Stop, it's fine.” She smiled, quickly regaining herself, “I’m not against talking about it. I mean, it’s relevant. My ex-husband is getting married, of course it would get brought up.”

“I can drop it.” He offered, “Or we can talk, if you want.”

She put the other note down without reading it, “We’ll have to talk about it eventually.” She shuffled closer so they could have a real conversation, “One day? Yes. Now? No. I do want to spend the rest of my life with you, I’m pretty confident about that, but I learned the hard way that I don’t want to get married so quick again.” She paused for a second, “I felt trapped by getting married quickly, and I don’t think I’d feel that again but…” She trailed off. She didn’t feel trapped with Jawbone, quite the opposite, but she was terrified of their relationship ending because of some stupid mistake.

“I get it.” He bumped his shoulder up against hers, “We don’t have to be married to love each other.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “I know. But I also know you want to be.”

[msnihilist]

going against the woke mind virus to say that i want to hear about your gwevin batb au!

SAY NO MORE, BELOVED ANON!!

Okayokay, so the world in this AU has magic, but not aliens. Ben is in possession of an incredibly powerful artifact, the Omnirune (name still pending) that lets him shapeshift into all sorts of creatures. It was created by Azmuth, the (arguably) most powerful wizard who ever lived. (Many who follow the Old Majick believe that Bezel is the greatest sorcerer ever.)

Anyway, none of that matters. Anodites in this AU are a female-only sect of witches, and they are incredibly powerful. Verdona was crushed to give birth to two boys, but when they grew up and married, she was hopeful that one of them would have a daughter so that she could pass on her majick. Both families were terrified of this happening, because it meant that Verdona would take their daughter away and raise her into majick without any interact from her parents.

By pure luck, Sandra and Natalie went into labor on the same night, a terrible, stormy night in December. Sandra was premature by two months, but to everyone's surprise, she still gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Natalie and Frank were devastated to be handed a baby girl.

To prevent Verdona from taking their daughter away, Carl and Frank switched their babies. After Verdona inspected Ben and lost interest in yet another male, Carl swapped Ben and Gwen and he and Sandra loaded up into a carriage and left in secret. Frank and Natalie presented a boy, and Verdona left. Later, they all met back up and decided that they couldn't lie forever — to keep Gwen safe and with them, their family would have to run away. Max helped them, even though it meant going against his wife. He didn't want to lose the kids any more than their parents did.

So the seven of them jumped from town to town. As Gwen grew older, her majick became stronger. And majick can be tracked, so they had to keep moving.

Eventually, though, when Ben and Gwen were eight years old, Max happened to run into an old warlock named Hex. He knew of an old place, an abandoned castle, where majick was shielded from the outside world, and had been staying there with his niece, Charmcaster. Hex allowed the Tennyson family to stay, as well.

There, they all finally settled down. Gwen could practice her majick freely and finally make friends who she wouldn't have to run from, thanks to the nearby town. Ben became enamoured with the idea of knights, and he swore that he'd always protect Gwen from their grandmother.

Fast forward, and Ben and Gwen are ten. They've strayed far from the castle while playing and stumble upon an old lab. This is where Ben finds the Omnirune, which seals itself to his wrist and won't come off. When the two of them flee, they're attacked by strange creatures guarding the place and Ben is badly injured. Gwen heals him, and the two of them manage to escape back home.

But in all the rush of making sure Ben is alright and trying to get that thing off of his wrist, Gwen barely even remembers healing him. She neglects to tell her parents that she used majick outside of the protective barrier. And it only takes a few days for her to pay the price.

Verdona arrives, smiling serenely. "This game of hide and seek has been fun," she says, as her family stares on in frozen horror, "but we've waited long enough to begin your training, Gwen. Come with me, darling." She isn't asking. It's a threat.

Ben makes the mistake of trying to defend Gwen. His newfound power makes him believe he can do it, and Verdona proves him wrong in an instant — she runs him clean through with a majick construct.

As Ben bleeds out, Gwen frantically tries to heal him. But it's not working. She can close the outside of the wound, but Ben has already lost so much blood, and his insides are damaged so badly, and he's going pale and slurring his words and all Gwen can think is, "not him, please, anyone but him."

"Poor thing." Verdona tsks in mock sympathy. "Perhaps his parents should have taught him to respect his elders."

And Ben's hand goes limp in Gwen's, his eyes glassy, and Gwen snaps.

All of her majick explodes out of her body in an energy wave that destroys the courtyard. With her fury comes cold, sweeping in like a terrible storm on a dark December night. Everything in Gwen's immediate vicinity freezes — the plants, her home, her friends and family. All of it is covered in a thick layer of ice.

But her outburst doesn't stop there. It sweeps through the village, a coldsnap that kills crops and animals and infants. The people flee while they still can and, slowly, clouds roll in and snow begins to fall.

Gwen collapses to her knees over Ben's frozen body. He's not dead — her majick got him lodged somewhere in between. And as for herself, Gwen looks at her hands and they aren't human anymore. She overdid it, literally blew her own skin off, and the being of pure majick at her center is all that's left of her. She doesn't know how to turn back, and there's no one left to teach her.

But she doesn't want to, anyway. Gwen can feel that, if she becomes human again, her majick that's holding this place at a standstill will fade. The ice will thaw, and Ben will resume bleeding out.

Gwen is stuck, in a prison of her own making. And she's okay with that. (It only takes a few months for the cold to inch its way inside of her, too, and Gwen quickly forgets what it was like to not be okay, or how to be sad or happy or anything at all.)

Years pass. Enter Kevin.

(Yeah, that's all just the background, lmao, I bet you forgot that this was supposed to be a Gwevin AU!)

I will save those details for later, if I get another ask about it. I think this post is long enough as it is!

[claireelle18]

Everything Turns Out Right - Ross Colton

He’s out of surgery and she meets him in his room afterwards, telling him “you know, they almost didn’t let me in here. They said I had to wait until you were up and asking for me.” Her pointed look towards him.

“They only let me in because you had me listed on your paperwork as your wife. Though I had to convince them, due to us not having the same last name.” 

He put his hands up in a half-hearted attempt, “I’m trying to manifest the things I want by speaking them into the universe.” 

“And you want a wife?” A faked pointed look shot to him. 

“Only if it’s you.” A cocky grin spreading to show his pearly whites. 

“I think your meds are too strong. You, mister, are lucky. I was able to convince them we hadn’t agreed to us taking each other’s names yet and that we were waiting for my passport to be renewed before anything else.” 

He chuckles, “So you’re going along with this wifey?” Her heart racing hearing him jokingly call her that name she desperately wants him to actually mean. 

“Only because I wanted to be here,” she stuck out her tongue, settling next to his bedside. 

Hours must have passed before the next person visited. “Mr. Colton…” stated a middle aged nurse.

“Shhh…please. She is trying to sleep,” he motioned to her curled up in the corner of the hospital room couch. “Kept her up all night worried with the injury as she had to fly in before learning anything further.” 

“So sorry, Mr. Colton. I was trying to inform you that visiting hours are soon to be over.” 

“She’s my wife. She can stay.” 

“My bad sir.” The nurse ducked out of the doorway. She stirred soon after. Blinking around, searching to understand her surroundings. 

“Tony is on his way here with real food for you. You need to eat. I’m pretty sure you last ate that snack size bag of Cheez-Its before the airplane ride.” He said. She squinty-eyed him. “You know I’m right.” 

“You need to eat too, R,” she huffed. 

“Already ate. Hospital food. Not half bad,” he shrugged, motioning to the bed tray with the past dinner plate. 

“I can go down to the cafe and get something before they close for the night,” she started to protest. He shook his head. 

“Too late sweets. He’s on his way. Meantime I’ve been channel surfing and I found a Jurassic Park movie marathon.” 

Thanks to Tony coming in with true food for her before retreating back to the team’s hotel, she was left with him again. “Come here sweetheart,” he motioned to the slightly larger than a twin bed. 

“R…” she started to protest. 

“Nuh uh honey. Join me, I need you here to make sure no dinosaurs come to eat me.” She rolled her eyes. 

“You’re a dork.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but I’m your dork. Now get over here.” She gingerly climbed into the bed as best as she could to avoid bumping into his shoulder. 

Before the team jetted off to the next city for the next game in the road series, a few stopped by to check in. She had slipped out to grab a cup of coffee while the men all talked briefly. “Soooo Tony spilled the beans that you told the docs she’s your wife…” Patty joked. 

“Well I knew she would just be too anxious to sit in the hotel room with one of you guys. No offense,” he replied back.

“You must really love her to go that far to lie about her to a hospital,” Brayden chimed in. 

“And to have us use your card to buy her that emergency flight,” Steven commented. “Ross you have to just tell her the way you feel. Sandra tells me that the way she looks at you is the same way that all of our ladies look at us, but that there is that look of longing written deep in her expression. Hate to break it to you now, but do something about it. Seriously.” No one knew that she had returned from her coffee adventure to over hear the conversation. 

Steven was right. All the guys were. Sandra was, and she knew exactly her feelings towards the New Jersey native as it was a family common topic of discussion in the family box. “I want to give her the entire universe. I wasn’t really lying about the whole wife part, more just trying to actually speak what I want into existence with her. I know Tony knows this since he was there to help me pick it out, but I have the ring for her.” A ring?! So he had that planned out already. 

She burst into the already cramped hospital room, carefully flinging herself into the body of the man she loved so much. A couple of the guys chuckled at the scene in front of them. “I love you so much, R.” 

“So I am guessing you heard the conversation,” his laugh reverberating through her. 

“Every word.”

“Well fuck this wasn’t really the way I had thought it would happen,” he glanced around the room at the guys. “I don’t even have it with me. Didn’t expect to have you here with me, even if it is due to the unfortunate circumstance.” 

“I don’t care if you physically have it. You have known that items aren’t important to me.” Her eyes getting all teary.

“Sweetheart, it’s important as it’s my promise to you. You deserve to have a ring. It’s been in my nightstand drawer for months.” That was true. He bought the ring almost a year ago. She had left for a weekend to visit her family, which meant he was able to go pick out the right ring for her. He had been speaking with a local jeweler for a handful of weeks, and the designed ring finally came in. 

The team left, and the couple (well Ross) was discharged from the hospital. The flight back to Tampa was uneventful, except for the company of one of the trainers to make sure there were no unforeseen complications to the injured offensive. When the two arrived home, he pulled the velvet box from that back part of his nightstand. Her tears springing to blur her vision. “Again, not how I had imagined or planned to do this for you,” he started. 

She shook her head, a silent laugh shaking her body. “My love, you have been the best part of my life,” he continued on. “The nonstop love you have for everyone around you. How much you pour yourself into your life. I could not even imagine life without you in it. When you came into my life, the sunshine brightened the world even further. I saw it from a different outlook that only you could show me.” He watched her closely as he momentarily struggled with the small box. 

Pulling it open, revealing the large custom ring to her. “Will you do me the honor of continuing that life, and be my wife?” He asked her. 

“Absolutely yes! I would say yes in every life time to you Ross.” She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it, and was so glad he felt the same. Through it all, life would be amazing with each other by their sides. 

[gumballavocadoharry]

An old affair: Jack Chambers:

Clinks of wine glasses, pops of champagne bottles and the chatter and laughter of the dining room was a typical treat for the Chambers. This was Alice and Susan's time to don their best evening dresses and jewelry and a time for Roger and Jack to suit up in their best tuxedos, accessorized with customed watches.

Two glasses of wine, one glass of iced tea with lemon and another of cola. The appetizers had arrived along with everyone's ideas for dinner time chatter. Alice went on about how Bunny had asked her to spend a weekend together in the Netherlands for a girl's trip. Alice expected Jack to show some apprehension, to protest his wife leaving all the domestic work and the child rearing for the weekend for himself alone- not that he didn't enjoy it, but that it was a handful already for the couple alone, Jack only imagined how it was when he was solo in running through the house chasing Roger to get him to take a bath.

Roger's giggles filled the house at every corner. Meanwhile, Jack had swore he put his back out grabbing the ankles of his kiddie, wrestling him out from under the bed. By the time bedtime had arrived, Jack had little energy to fight with Roger about how many stories should be read. So, he read six of them before passing out on the couch for an hour before dragging his body up to his room at one in the morning.

But instead, Jack just admired his wife. Her dainty, delicate neck that donned a gold necklace that matched her fancy ruby gold ring. Her blonde hair tussled to the side to highlight the dangling rose colored earring with gold trimming around them. Her wrist reached for her wine glass, sipping lightly and elegantly like a poise mannequin or ancient painting that abstracted the impression of everything a woman should represent. And Alice was exactly that. Jack pressed a gentle peck to her cheek, not able to resist the air of laud that suffocated him.

"Jack?" His head shot up to a tall sandy brunette headed woman with the most bewitching eyes. Her tight fitted maroon dress hugged her slender curves and arched legs that seemed to cup perfectly together without one pinch of imperfection. In the eyes of young Roger, this woman had walked right off a magazine cover. Her smile widened to show her pearly straight teeth, "Jack Chambers, is that you?" Jack could feel his wife's body stiffen.

This woman ran closer, now standing above their table, "Jack, it's me, Sandra. Remember, from Manhattan?" Her accent rang between an ounce of Brooklyn mixed with a European blend. What the man didn't expect was for this woman to throw her arms around him with such a quickness. She held him like this for a few minutes, making Jack's cheeks flustered and sweaty and Alice's jaw clench and her knuckles turn a boney white.

Jack cleared his throat, scanned the table and introduced Sandra. "Oh, is this your family? They're lovely!" Alice's pinched tight smile yet glaring eyes didn't seem to rattle Sandra....in fact she upped her introduction. "I used to see Jack around the corridors in University- remember that, Jack? Oh, he was Mr. Wattson's favorite student...so smart and funny. He knew how to make all the girl's go for him- there was one girl, May, remember her Jack? You and her-"

"Oh yeah, she was my science partner while we were learning about mechanical techniques." Jack's throat felt white and dry. He knew May, very well and wanted to one day be someone he could forget about.

"Yeah...It was nice seeing you, Sandra." Jack wanted this woman away from the table as soon as he could get her. Alice was a quiet woman with an active mind. Of course, she knew Jack was faithful, she just hated Sandra. Everything about her: her body, her thick hair cut into this shoulder length curly and her walk that seemed to make men stare every time she passed them with her behind jiggling more than it should've.

But she was gone now. She was polite, but insolent. Impudent, coming over and flaunting herself like that in front of another woman's children. "Jack, who was she?" Alice's eyes held gripe and resentment that bubbled and brimmed through her stare like cold ice to warm skin.

"She was a classmate back in Manhattan when I was in college. We knew each other from one of my friends, Daniel, I think." The peppy relaxing dinner was now full of tension and bubbling internal angst. Alice's tense silence was evident when her fork would stab her plate a little harder than normal. The screech and scrape jotted through Roger's ears like nails on a chalkboard. It made him cringe with every bite from his fork from his mother's hostility that she took out on her plate.

The car ride home was quiet, yet Susan and Roger's glances and looks to each other spoke loudly about what everyone had witnessed at the table. Alice stared blankly out her window, looking banal at all the speeding cars that whizzed past their car. The lights of streetlights and front porch hues, flickered off her irises, radiating a blue, then gray and then hazel shimmer off them. "How was dinner kids?" Jack's eyes still locked on the road; desperate to saw the thick heave of ice that wavered in the car. "It was really good!" Roger allowed Susan to speak for the both of them. Jack understood... Susan being the oldest knew how to assert a sense of reassurance that coupled for the both of them.

The minute Jack pulled into their driveway, Alice stepped out with the kids and asked them to enjoy Tv time downstairs before she dragged Jack up to their room.

"I wasn't looking her up and down, Alice! I wasn't looking at her at all! I wanted her to leave!" Alice sighed; rubbing her feet from the heels that she set aside her and adjusting her seating on the bed bench. "Well, everyone else was looking at her.... her throwing herself at you in front of our children. Disgusting!" She scoffed, "And why did she have to bring up May? Dumb slut-"

"Alice!" Alice looked down, cheeks flushed and fevering. Her mouth suddenly became dry and achy. Her eyes tried to brim with pity tears, but she quickly swiped them away like a gnat had landed on her. She didn't want Jack to see her pitiful jealousness, to her it was a weak insecurity and a slash to her collectedness.

"Baby?" Jack's voice so soft and warm, like a teddy bear. He was a teddy bear to Alice. So full of understanding and love...... she looked into his eyes with tears in her own. She raised her hands before sniffling away her angst. Alice let her blonde locks tickle her cheeks as she shot her head down to floor. Her hair was a curtain to cover the shameful guilt that leered into her like poison. And it was poison.

But.... a feeling of a large finger had pulled her hair to reveal her soft face. Then.... it wiped away a straying tear that strolled down across her left cheek.

"Jack.... who was she anyway? Beyond Daniel, I mean." Jack bit his lip before turning to Alice's green eyes. "A mutual friend from my friend, Daniel, at the time-" "Jack.... she hugged you and was very friendly with you than you were with her.... she's more than a mutual friend." "An ex... we had a small thing in college, but that was it! And besides, I broke it off because I found out she had cheated on me with this other guy- James Willings-"

Jack had disliked that guy a lot in college, flashing his expensive cars and watches- buying the woman he went with rings like broken promises were cheap.

"Your ex girlfriend?" Jack nodded. Alice put a hand to the bridge of her nose, "Jack, why didn't you tell me this before?" "Because, since the relationship- if you can call it that- was so short, I didn't think it would be relevant."

Alice stared at her nails, peeling off the artificial parts, "Did you ever kiss her? Or touch her?" Jack sat beside Alice. He took her chin into his palm, "We barely looked at each other, our relationship lasted two weeks at best. Promise." Alice smiled slightly, "I'm sorry babe. I shouldn't have kept that from you. I wanted to tell you at the table, but I didn't want the kids to know." Alice threw her arms around Jack's neck.

"I'm sorry too Jack. I know you didn't mean any harm. I love you,"

"I love you too honey."

Jack kissed Alice's cheek before pressing his forehead against hers. He looked into those lush kitten eyes that he fell for the day he met them. He saw future in them.... his future. No one else's but Alice's.

And only Alice's.

[spirittalkstheater]

Just In Time Review - 4/26/25

Last night I saw the opening night of Just In Time staring Jonathan Groff, and I think it was one of my favorite theater experiences in some time. We sat in row G on the right side, but the theater is so small, and the cabaret seating made it, so any seat was a good seat.

I don't know a lot of Bobby Darin music. I knew Splish Splash and had heard of some others; however he wasn't an artist I ever had interest in exploring the discography of, nor did I know the story of how young he died. It is truly a tragedy that he did, since he did make good music.

I adored the way the show portrayed his heart issues and also his internal monologue, same with the way they showed that Sandra could do the same thing. They really were the two main characters, and Erika Henningsen was phenomenal. Her voice has so much power to it, as well as Gracie Lawrence! They were both just incredible and hearing them sing Mack the Knife as a duet together was amazing. It's Lawrence's Broadway Debut, but she's definitely an actress to look out for. Anyways, I'm getting off topic. The way they do the inner monologue of Bobby is incredible. The lights dimming (the lighting in this show was just amazing) and the complete silence. It really just stopped the show and made the moment feel very intimate with the audience. The way they showed his heart issues was amazing too, the green lighting and the show once again halting, it feels so sudden. That whole aspect of the show was incredibly well done.

The audience interaction was also absolutely lovely! Everyone in the seating up front looked like they were having the time of their lives, and it was one of the highlights of the show for me. I always love audience interaction though, so any show gets points for just having it in my book.

However, I do have some problems with some of the characters. I didn't care for many of them. Which is mostly fine, but to me this was a very character driven story. And the moment where Nina tells Bobby that she's his mother didn't do anything for me, neither did the death of his mom or him divorcing his wife. I wish we got more of Sandra, Henningsen has such a great voice.

Truly, the main draw to this show is the cast. They had such great chemistry on stage and looked like they were having the time of their lives. Jonathan Groff stated at the beginning of the show that Bobby Daron liked to perform, and so does he. It's always lovely to see actors who just love their jobs. And that was my personal favorite part of this show, seeing the actors and audience having an amazing time together.

Would absolutely recommend seeing the show if you have any interest in Bobby Darin, his story is truly an interesting one and the show itself does have something to say about immortality that I think everyone, especially in this day and age, should hear!

[melis-writes]

Hi Melis! Can I request headcanons for Sonny and Sandra's relationship and marriage? Both SFW and NSFW.

I was inspired by your latest Sonny hc post, specifically no3 Deep Down Romantic. You said that when he's in love his love is genuine, and that he doesn't feel the same passion and push for love with any of his mistresses.

That made me think of Sandra, because he was wife, you know what I mean? And I truly believe he loved her the most and above all other women in his life.

Hello, hello!! ❤️ Absolutely, I love me some more Sonny headcanons one way or another! 🥰 Sandra and Sonny may not have a traditional relationship like the others in The Godfather but I strongly do believe their love is real, solid and genuine, and I don't think Sonny ever felt that way with any other fling, woman or mistress, even Lucy! 👀

🕊️ SFW Headcanons 🕊️

Sandra Grounds Sonny's Fire

Sandra is the only person who can bring Sonny back from the edge with just a look. He could be mid-explosion, ranting, ready to rip someone to pieces but one quiet “Sonny...” from his wife would pause Sonny's storm. Sandra is his tether to reality, and that of a reality where men were expected to be monsters and Sonny is no exception. She grounds him back to reality, connects him with the love she provides and reminds him of who he's truly fighting for.

Sonny Worships Sandra as a Mother

Sandra giving birth to his children transformed the way Sonny saw her forever. He always loved her, but after that? Sandra became divine in his eyes. The strength, the pain, the way she held their babies, how she gave Sonny a family, made him a father and gave his life more purpose? It was everything to Sonny. Sonny would get emotional just watching Sandra rock their daughter to sleep. He'd wrap his arms around her from behind and murmur, "“"You’re everything".

🔥 NSFW Headcanons 🔥

He Saved the Best of Himself for Her

Sonny was a an animal in bed and there's never been any question about that, but when it comes to Sandra, he turned that animalistic energy into worship. The passion he showed his mistresses was shallow and fast, for instant gratification, to pass time and simply just for fun. He could always brush that off and move on with his day, never thinking twice about it even if his mistresses were head over heels for him and a session with him in the sheets, but with Sandra? Oh, Sonny takes his time and he does so at every single opportuntiy he gets. Sonny wanted to know how Sandra's body worked and what made her toes curl, what made her whimper, what he would have to do to rock her body into explosive orgasms--something he'd never care to do to any other woman.

Sandra and Sonny's Chemistry Is Ethereal

The chemistry between these two is simply undeniable. The second Sandra and Sonny's eyes lock across a room? Sandra knew what was coming. The sexual and romantic tension pulsating and rising with just a smirk or subtle touch of Sonny's hand over Sandra's waist was fierily intense. The walls of their bedroom had heard things, and the floorboard was no different. Sonny fucked Sandra anywhere, everywhere and in any way she wanted him to whether that meant having Sandra on all fours, head down, ass up as the headboard rattled against the wall or in reverse cowgirl, bouncing up and down Sonny's cock in the backseat of his Cadillac. It was all too common for Sonny to pull Sandra into his arms in a dark hallway at family events when he was bored, kissing her like he was a starving animal; clasping a hand over his moaning wife's mouth as he fingered her pussy and licked off her juices dripping down her thighs under her dress.

Rough, But Not Careless

From Sonny's fiery personality alone, everyone would come to assume Sonny was rough in bed and nothing else. Of course he was, but never with Sandra unless she wanted it. Sonny was never reckless and selfish with Sandra, and he never lost control with her. Sandra got a gentle, lovemaking side of her husband he never gave anyone else. Sonny always made Sandra cum first, and more than once as his golden rule. He could bury his face in her pussy for hours on end, lapping up her juices like he was deprived. As long as he heard Sandra moaning in pleasure with her thighs shaking against his face, he was the happiest man on earth. Every mark he left on Sandra was consensual, every grip was protective, and every whisper of "mine" was possessive, but loving. Their sex is always intense, raw and full of mutual hunger.

[justforbooks]

In 1962, Federico Fellini placed advertisements in Italian newspapers seeking a woman to play the lead character’s mistress in his next film, which would eventually be titled 8½ and released the following year. The successful candidate, he wrote, should be “somewhat old-fashioned … with a pink-and-white complexion and a small pea-hen’s head on a Rubens body, very soft, flowery, maternal and opulent”.

The director auditioned as many as 5,000 applicants. “An interminable procession of ladies who had deserted their worried husbands and children came forward,” reported the writer Angelo Solmi in 1967. It was rumoured that the whole endeavour was merely a publicity stunt and that all along the role had been earmarked for Sandra Milo.

Milo, who has died aged 90, was a vivacious presence marketed as “the Italian Judy Holliday”. She and Fellini had met on a summer evening in the coastal town of Fregene; she happened to be passing a cafe where he was seated with his screenwriter, Ennio Flaiano, who knew Milo and called her over to introduce them.

Fellini was determined to coax Milo out of her unofficial retirement for the role in 8½ of Carla, mistress of the film-maker Guido (Marcello Mastroianni), who installs her in a nearby hotel while he is preparing his science-fiction epic.

When Fellini offered her the part, she reminded him she had quit the business, following savage reviews for her performance as an aristocrat’s daughter in Vanina Vanini (1961).

However the next morning, she was woken at home by the arrival of the director, his cinematographer and assorted technicians and make-up assistants, who had come to shoot a screen test. “They took me and put that famous little hat on my head,” she said, alluding to Carla’s fluffy white ushanka.

She was dressed in a black redingote festooned with violets; all at once, the lights were on her. “My God, what a thrill,” she recalled. “I felt like that was my world, and those were my people. I felt like I was flying.”

She signed the contract, agreeing to gain weight for the role. Shortly afterwards, she fell pregnant, though Fellini kept her chained to the trough all the same. “Every time Federico sees me off the set he tells me to go eat something,” she complained at the time. “I feel like a Strasbourg goose.”

When she finally emerged on set in costume at Cinecittà, Fellini and Mastroianni told her: “Welcome back. You’re home.”

To the ravishing dreamscape of 8½, which won two Oscars and is widely considered Fellini’s masterpiece, she brought an earthy vitality and rambunctiousness, as well as her unassailable beauty.

Fellini cast her again in his first colour film, Juliet of the Spirits (1965), this time in a tripartite role opposite his wife, Giulietta Masina, as the dissatisfied title character. Milo played Suzy, a hedonistic neighbour who hosts orgies, wears feather boas and plunging necklines, and cavorts in a treetop house where a slide connects her bed directly to a swimming pool. Milo is also seen as Iris, a spirit, and Fanny, a circus ingenue.

He sought to cast her a third time in the autobiographical Amarcord (1973), and even shot a screen test with her. But her husband, increasingly jealous of Fellini, forbade her from accepting. Milo’s declinature, the director said, left him with “an air of melancholy”. He told her: “I have something of a feeling we won’t see each other any more.”

In 1982, she published Caro Federico, a thinly veiled account of her time as the director’s lover. Fellini’s biographer John Baxter described it as “largely imagined”, and even Milo admitted eventually that it had been mostly a work of fiction. Fellini claimed never to have read the book. “I don’t even want to smell it,” he said.

Milo was born in Tunis, and moved with her family to Tuscany during her early childhood. At the age of 15, she wed Cesare Rodighiero, but the marriage was annulled after 21 days. She found early work as a model in Milan and began acting after moving to Rome, making her film debut in the comedy The Bachelor (1955).

Roberto Rossellini helped launch her career with General della Rovere (1959), which starred Vittorio de Sica as a Genoese con-man recruited by the Nazis, but Vanina Vanini was a notorious flop.

Fellini films apart, she gave her finest performance in Claude Sautet’s Classes Tous Risques (1960), in which she played an actor who becomes caught up with a gangster on the run. The film got lost in the shuffle at the time of its release, its elegant classicism upstaged by the more radical and irreverent Breathless, which had opened shortly before, though Sautet’s picture is recognised now as an exemplary policier.

Milo gave up acting for a second time in the early 1970s. Despite returning to the screen at the end of that decade, she was known latterly more for her appearances in gossip columns and on television as a presenter, talkshow guest or reality-show participant.

Reflecting on her time as Fellini’s muse, she confessed it had not always been easy. “Sometimes he’d make me feel indispensable, marvellous, as if I were the only woman he’d ever loved. And then he’d treat me like a nothing, a nobody.” She maintained that she loved him “truly, madly, deeply, stupidly”.

She is survived by three children: Debora, from her relationship with Moris Ergas, who produced films of hers including Generale della Rovere and La Visita (1963); Ciro and Azzurra, from her marriage to Ottavio De Lollis; and by a grandson. She was also briefly married to Jorge Ordoñez in 1990. All her marriages ended in divorce.

🔔 Sandra Milo (Salvatrice Elena Greco), actor, born 11 March 1933; died 29 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[todayinpleasantview]

It's the Start of Round 9!

In-game it is Monday, Week 5. (I play half a week each round.)

Our families are spread across 13 households, with small families getting big and big families getting even bigger. The Oldies are gone, and Don has no one to continue the Lothario name. Meanwhile, we have a new Pleasantview clan - the Langerak-Harris family - comprised of familiar Pleasantview characters and their offspring. I've also introduced one of my offscreen families into the main story - the Thyme family, including Justin Thyme, Chiqo Thyme (yes, punny, I know), and recently widowed (through no fault of Herbert's, sorry dude) Faith Goodie.

The Families

BROKE (1.5 households)

Brandi had a fling with John Burb early on, producing third son Casper. (He took the place of Unborn Baby Broke, who I decided not to bring into existence this time.) Casper is now an adult and living with his half-brother Bradley and new husband Orlando. Brandi has remarried and is living her best life as an elder with townie Merlin. Dustin is long gone, having moved in with Angela Pleasant, and Beau is still trying to decide what to do with his life.

BURB (2.5 households)

John and Jennifer had another two children after Lucy, with only the youngest, Diana, still living at home. Lucy is married and living in her own condo with husband Tazama and baby Quincey. John is on good terms with his illegitimate son Casper. Neither household has much money, with Jennifer being the only one earning decent money. Thankfully, Lucy and Tazama, despite their Family aspirations, are steadily building up their own incomes, and Bradley, living the bachelor life, is also hoping to progress in his own career.

CALIENTE (2 households)

Nina moved in with Don early on and the two maintained an open relationship, seeing other people along with each other while also raising their daughter Nika. Once Nika got too old to look after, Nina decided to adopt some cats and is now the neighbourhood's main kitten breeder. Don and Nina seem to have committed to one another now they are both elders, but have no desire to get married. Meanwhile, Nika graduated university and moved in with her boyfriend, Chiqo, and his family, introducing this branch of the Thyme family into the story. Faith and Justin are pleased to have Nika living with them.

DREAMER (1 household + uni)

Darren got the girl in the end, and he and Cassandra have built a loving and creative family with kids Duncan and Darla. Dirk went off to university, then came back and fell in love with Kay Spitzig (apartment townie). With Cassandra bringing part of the Goth fortune with her, Darren was able to massively extend the house and enable the two families to live together in one place. Now Dirk and Kay have their own children, Vick and Violet, and Duncan has gone off to university. The family run an art store from home selling Darren's paintings, but Darren is closely coming towards the end of his life.

GOTH (2 households)

Mortimer married Dina, and together they had a little boy named Mortimer Jr. Unfortunately, Mort Sr. died when his son was still young, so he and Alexander had to bring themselves up while co-habiting with their pleasure-focused mother. On returning from university, Alexander and Dina found themselves drawn together - Dina seeking full integration into the Goth family, and Alexander seeking preventative measures to ensure some goon like Don Lothario doesn't end up with the Goth fortune - and they soon married, much to Morty's despair, and had twins Zander and Isabella. Meanwhile, Mortimer was keen to inhabit his own Goth Manor so took his portion of the fortune and built a new house the other side of the family graveyard, where he and new wife Sandra are hoping to start their own legacy.

LANGERAK-HARRIS (1 household)

What goes around, comes around... Kaylynn knew that Daniel was married, yet still decided to leap into bed with him. After wrecking that family, however, she found herself settled into a place with a man she didn't really care for. She soon realised that she liked Remington, the family maid, so much more than Daniel, and they soon began their affair. Now Kaylynn and Remington are living in their own apartment with son Winston and adopted daughter Lydia, glad to be free of the Pleasant family shackles. Kaylynn hopes she can make it up with Grace one day.

PLEASANT (3 households)

Daniel originally divorced Mary-Sue and married Kaylynn. Mary-Sue took Angela and the Oldies out into another house while Lilith stayed with Daniel and Kaylynn. Grace is Daniel and Kaylynn's one and only daughter, and is looking to inherit the Pleasant mansion. Lilith found love with one of my other created Sims, Billie Reid, and now lives with her in an apartment with their recently adopted daughter. Angela married Dustin once they became adults and they are still living in the Oldie house with twin boys Kobe and Ichiro. Mary-Sue died a few rounds ago, and Daniel looks to be going soon too, leaving the three sisters entirely separate from each other.

Let's see what happens with the families this week!

[sxkurarxse]

Lore about Sakura’s backstory

So I did Venus’s backstory so I decided to make Sakura’s backstory, buckle up because this one will be bonkers.

(TW: Mentions of an ED and abuse)

Several notes before I start:

There will be Hellaverse mentions and other fandoms

The timeline will transition from each Ben 10 show in order (specifically UAF and OV)

1. Sakura’s background

Sakura is Malware’s youngest 16-year-old daughter, and she used to go by Melanie which was the name she was given when she was born.

She has six older sisters (4 by blood, and 3 who were step siblings), they consisted of the V sisters (Vaeda, Valentina, Vanessa) and the Mechamorph sisters (Cassandra, Christina, Serena).

2. The turning point

A few months after Sakura was born, Heaven’s army of exorcists along with Adam and Lute invaded Galvan Prime and Galvan B.

Sadly, Venus (her mom) along with all six of her sisters were captured by Adam and Lute along with Vaggie (yes, Vaggie was still an exorcist at the time).

As a result, she, Malware, and Azmuth were the sole survivors of the royal family and thus, they added really strict laws along with a curfew to protect both the Galvan Prime and Galvan B kingdom.

Sadly, things would go downhill from there ever since that day and there would be challenges as she got older.

3. Sakura having Autism

So fun fact about Sakura, she has Autism Spectrum Disorder. She didn’t learn how to talk until she was 3 and she was stimming 24/7 and was really energetic. She didn’t get diagnosed with it until she was 14 when Ben’s parents started noticing the signs.

Ben knew something was off and did research and he gave his parents the idea to take Sakura to a doctor. When she got diagnosed, they weren’t in shock. Neither was Sakura because Malware and Azmuth didn’t notice the symptoms and thought she was a really energetic kid, but little did she know, this was just the beginning.

4. Sakura’s epilepsy

Around the time Sakura escaped from a lab facility after she was kidnapped by Agents 1 and 2 (Helluva Boss) and Jacob Hopkins (TOH) during her journey after she ran away from home, she got diagnosed with epilepsy, and yes, she was also 14 years old at the time

Basically, Ben called Gwen and Kevin for help after he found her in an alleyway having an epileptic seizure, Gwen ended up calling an ambulance while Ben and Kevin were trying to get the seizure to subside

When they got to the hospital, Sakura then got diagnosed with epilepsy and she had to stay overnight for observation. When Grandpa Max came to visit, he gave Sakura a hospital bear (which she still has to this day), following her discharge, she moved in with Ben and his parents

Ever since, she had to endure a bunch of appointments, EEGs, MRIs, you name it. Ben, Carl, and Sandra were still curious about what caused her to have seizures (that to this day still remains a mystery). At first, for a few months, she couldn’t go to school dances, concerts, anything with flashing lights, except she could only go to the arcade, to the movies, or family gatherings, weddings, birthday parties, etc.

But eventually, they were able to let her thrive, they let her go to concerts, school dances, anywhere with flashing lights as it didn’t bother her anymore. However, she isn’t allowed to drive but Carl and Sandra really wanted to teach her how to drive so she can get her license but they had to do what was best for her.

Ever since, she had been seizure free for a couple years now, she has and had been on medication for those couple years now, and she has family and friends already have a plan in case another seizure happens.

5. Sakura suffering from anorexia

As Sakura was growing up, Malware and Azmuth wanted her to have a certain body figure so that way when she was older, her future arranged husband would have a beautiful, rich pretty little trophy wife and queen (yes, Azmuth and Malware were gonna put her in an arranged marriage too, despite what Malware went through with his arranged marriages) and Sakura was at a below average weight, even as a teen.

When Sakura was around 15, 16 (this takes place during UAF, thus at the time, she was still living with the Tennysons), Ben and his parents noticed that Sakura was barely eating and was at a below average weight. She was also weighing herself often and she was often afraid of gaining weight.

Thus, they took her to a doctor, and the doctors recommended that they try to get her to eat (taking baby steps).

They tried everything, but Sakura wouldn’t budge and they decided to take Sakura to a doctor again, and there, she would get an official diagnosis.

When Ben’s parents asked Sakura why she had been starving herself a lot and eating very little food, Sakura then opened up about how Malware and Azmuth would force her to only get by on juice alone and forced her on strict diets because they thought this way, they would keep her body figure that way since they thought men want a queen who was skinny as (🐬), rich, and beautiful.

Ben then immediately was pissed at Malware and Azmuth, not only did they not care about what she wanted, they didn’t care about her health, they only cared about their wealth, image, and status, and made a vow to himself to protect Sakura at all costs.

6. Sakura’s life on Galvan Prime/Galvan B

Growing up in a sheltered and overprotective Galvan B, Sakura was often really rebellious (often vandalizing both Galvan B and Galvan Prime, dressing however she wanted against Malware and Azmuth’s wishes, sneaking out, you name it) and she just wanted to express herself and explore other worlds.

Outside of her rebellious behavior, she was often really curious about life outside and very adventurous and often sneaks out to go travel to other planets, Earth, Heaven, Copper 9, even Hell, and she would meet a lot of people

Among them were Ben, Lizzy (who would later be her ride or die), Wander and Sylvia (they were visiting Galvan Prime and Sakura didn’t want to be fake, but Wander and Sylvia knew she didn’t ask for this life, and when they caught her rebelling, she explained everything). She would also meet Gwen and Kevin along with Charmcaster (who she sees as a big sister and told her everything)

She was also not allowed to go to school, thus, she was homeschooled by Azmuth, and she was put in extracurricular activities (like how she currently is), she learned ballet, archery, gymnastics, fencing, even karate (those helped with her rebelling)

She often collected Squishmallows (among them a Kuromi Squishmallow) and Melanie Martinez merch (Listening to Melanie Martinez has helped her through (🐬) and often stayed up late to watch her performances on The Voice and her K-12 movie)

She also gained a passion for musical theatre after she went to go see the Wicked musical with Lizzy during a secret sneak out together. Ever since when she was alone, she would sing songs from various musicals and collect play bills and merch from various musical theatre merch (ranging from Falsettos to Heathers, Hamilton, SIX, Wicked, Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, you name it)

7. Breaking point, running away, faking her death, the facility

After Sakura and Malware got into a fight after discovering her rebellious behavior, her interests, and her hangouts with Lizzy, Ben, Charmcaster, etc., she had enough and decided she wanted to live her own life

Thus, she packed her backpack, wrote a note, took off in the middle night, and left and never looked back. In order for avoid people looking for her, she faked her own death and changed her name from Melanie to Sakura. She even changed her whole look and covered her magic eye with her flower crown

Sadly, only two nights into her journey after running away, Agents 1 and 2 along with Jacob Hopkins kidnapped her from the alleyway where she was sleeping, and they later dropped her off at a lab facility where she would endure an even worse hell. Her own identity was taken away, she was often experimented on, and all her needs were neglected and was badly abused.

She once attempted to escape but was sadly caught and the abuse got worse and was chained to the wall, was muzzled, and was forced to wear a shock collar and if she stepped out of line, she would be given electric shocks as punishment. Sakura felt completely hopeless at this point and just wanted her misery to be put to an end until she escaped when no one was watching

When she was at the hospital recovering from her seizure, because of the conditions she was put through at the facility and the wounds caused by the painful experiments, her stay was extended to a few months and sometimes Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max would stay with her for a couple nights, Carl and Sandra would do the same (and sometimes Kevin, Charmcaster, and Lizzy would visit and sometimes stay with her overnight). During the first couple months, she was asleep most of the time, only being up when she needs to eat, use the bathroom, have check-ups, etc. and other than that, she would just sleep. (Charmcaster would feed Sakura’s meals to her because she was too weak and then when Sakura got some of her strength back, she was able to eat on her own). But as time passed, she would be awake sometimes but would lay there and play with her bear, at that time, she was also healthy enough to do physical therapy and to eat on her own (When she was chilling in bed, either Sandra or Charmcaster would rub her back for comfort, even when she was eating)

8. Living with the Tennysons

So after Sakura got discharged from the hospital, it started out with living with Ben and his parents on the weekdays and with Grandpa Max on the weekends, then later transitioned to living with Ben’s family full time. They put her in ballet, karate, archery, fencing, and karate (which she attends lessons once a week) and later added musical theatre after they recognized her talent and was in a Drama Club and in theatre classes when she attended the same school as Ben

At first, she started out by participating in showcases and one-acts, but then eventually because of how good she was, started starring in plays

When Sakura accompanied Ben, Grandpa Max, and Gwen to their summer trip, she would often beg them to take her to see a musical. Sometimes, Ben’s parents would surprise her with tickets to see a musical as a Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or birthday present

In fear of them knowing about Sakura’s personal life, she rebelled in Bellwood (ranging from petty theft to vandalizing, sneaking out, going out past curfew, you name it) just to see what Ben’s parents would do. When she was about to go to jail, Sakura then came clean and admitted she only rebelled as a way to test them to see what they would do and she was afraid they would do the same thing Malware did to her

Since then, Sakura cleaned up her act and quit rebelling, and she got good grades, she managed to juggle her extracurricular activities and school and was even on the cheer team due to her skills, and she was even often in her theatre practice’s shows and recitals

9. Malware and Sakura coming to better terms and coming to a compromise

When Malware saw Sakura’s true potential and her path to healing after Sakura faked her death, he knew he messed up and had to go make things right

Thus, one night, following a ballet recital she had, he took Sakura to a secluded area to talk and apologize for everything. He ended up opening up to Sakura about the truth about his arranged marriages and Heaven invading Galvan Prime and Galvan B and how he didn’t mean to pass his trauma down to her

Sakura knew this wasn’t an excuse, but decided to forgive him after he promised to support her and understood if she was happy at Bellwood and let her visit home whenever she wanted

10. Where Sakura is now (Crossover Mayhem timeline)

So far, Sakura is now with her family, her friends, the gang (Hellaverse characters, FNF characters, TOH characters, etc.) and she now had dreams of stardom. She, Malware, and Azmuth were now in better terms

Malware still didn’t approve of her listening to Melanie Martinez because he thought her music will make her depressed, but tried not to mind it

Sakura is already also less than two years away from graduating high school and had her Sweet 16

However, there will be times where Malware would embarrass her and baby her (Hey, she’s still his little princess and he still loves her)

He would often drop her off to school and her extracurricular activities and is now supportive of her dreams

Bonus: some pics of Sakura’s look over the years to wrap up the post

14-year-old Sakura (Pre-UAF timeline and rebel attire)

(Her hair was supposed to look like this without the hoodie and mask)

15-year-old Sakura (Ben 10 Alien Force look)

16-year-old Sakura (Ben 10 Ultimate Alien look)

17-year-old Sakura’s look (OV look)

Sakura’s future queen look had she not run away from home

(What Sakura’s future queen hair was supposed to look like)

What her signature look used to be back when she was living with Malware and Azmuth

(What the look was supposed to look like, and she has the same hair in the second photo)

(What her shorts are supposed to look like)

(If you want to make fanart, you have to give me credit)

[liebgirl]

and well i loveeeee a ranked list so. masters of the air characters ranked <3

if i leave some guys out. it is because i do not know who they are. peace on earth… who is brady. i’m genuinely asking. anyway

john egan!!!! this feels to me exactly like when i do a lost character ranking and jack goes right at the top and no one is shocked at all because he’s always at the top every single time…. dua lipa’s fiancé i’ve grown incredibly fond of you 🩷 he’s just so. guy who’s kind of annoying but making it work… and of course as a fellow Guy Who Gives People Unsolicited And Kind Of Bad Nicknames i have to respect the game. if i knew you in high school there is a 100% chance i called you something stupid. one of my best friends in color guard i started calling her becky kind of as a bit and it caught on like wildfire and i never could tell if she hated me for that or liked having a nickname that differentiated her from the other girl named rebecca. anyway. so i get his game i guess basically

gale cleven….. major babydoll princess...... a of all that's my man b of all one of my favorite things to do these days is to lie awake wondering what the HELL his problem is. they wanted to present him as the dick winters of mota but he is nottt dick winters... so what's his problem..... gay surely. but let's dig deeper than that...

rosie <3 i love. how often everyone claps and cheers for him.... these guys see rosie and they're like yesssss rosie everybody come look it's rosie rosie is here everyone clap and cheer!!! and it's so beautiful.... also big fan of the horror and suffering he went through in part 9 😐 ww2 media always has to make some lovely jewish guy see those damn camps 😐 and i cried. anyway. i love rosie :)

sandra my girl who didn't really do very much but slayed sooooo fucking crazy anyway. wish we'd gotten a final update on her deal i wanted to see her one last time....

alex.... very little screentime but he charmed me.... recency bias for sure. whatever. i loved him

crosby my buddy croz!!!! he accidentally navigated them into occupied france.... and then somehow he just kept getting promoted.... he is just like me for real in many ways.... ALSO incredibly charmed by the fact he became a professor after the war like awwww....

helen <3

tatty my woman who did not do very much! and yet here we are. a seasoned yuri fan can find yuri in the way the wind blows through the trees and between the blades of grass etc etc. i know a dyke when i see one

bubbles i like because when it was the scene of harry reading the letter he almost sent to harry’s wife when his plane went down and it’s after bubbles dies like. the next day. i criedddddd so bad....

marge spencer my girl who was in one episode for like five seconds but happens to be my buddy veronica from young sheldon so i obviously couldn't like, forget about her.... that's veronica! anyway is it disrespectful to call her a fujo wife. i'm just saying she had to Know. surely. we can get into this later

“who’s gonna tell egan” guy…. icon! ally!

sabrina carpenter’s ex boyfriend rip i guess. incredibly funny when he crash landed in scotland and he was trying to be all guys i'm irishhhh my family's irish we're the same basically <3 and all the scottish guys were like fuck offfff you're american.... meanwhile this is an irish actor doing an insane american accent.... slay

[jonesypiercedme]

Please Consider Donating!

On behalf of Krisztián Koller and @edvina-brkic who brought this to my attention, please look into this campaign on Go Get Funding!! https://gogetfunding.com/help-the-koller-family/ Please help this father of 6 from Hungary after an intense shoulder injury receive the proper treatment he needs going forward! They have a bright and hopeful future but medical expenses and accidents like these can be a sword of Damacles without proper follow-through and treatment. I know I would not have been driven insane and mistreated if I had received proper treatment for illness and injuries the first time, but no one knew I was injured. The pain landed me in the psych ward 4 times before it was re-addressed, and not even properly!!!! Right now, you can be fairly certain someone is hurt, and spare a few dollars, especially as fundraising and paying for expenses gets more and more difficult on a multitude of platforms.

Now, a random selection of some of my favorite poems to recommend so this does not count as spam and is a reward for reading his story first and reblogging/liking/donating to spread this campaign:

Ozymandias by Percy Shelly

John Milton - On His Deceased Wife

Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily Dickinson

You Get Fat When You're in Love by José Olivarez

Four Skinny Trees by Sandra Cisneros

[which-hospital]

Earlier I was thinking about Sandra to distract from being sad about Teddy but then I rewatched her and Andy’s scenes from the Shades of Love/Cry for Help/Anaconda/Lifelines set of episodes and now I’m sad about her too.

They foreshadowed her death the episode before, they bring in a young woman who dies (killed by her boyfriend's wife) and she gets very stuck on it and tells Andy that she's wondering whether she'd leave behind anything worth remembering about her. Cry for Help says that 'yes, there are things worth remembering about Sandra Mute' but Anaconda and Lifelines follow that with 'it's easier for the people who knew her to keep going if they choose not to remember'. People are already moving on in Anaconda. By the goodbye party for Andy at the end of Lifelines, she's been forgotten.

The main person who remembers her in those episodes is Andy but she's remembered in faceless young women he doesn't have it in him to treat because they all look like Sandra to him. Even he's moving on, he just has to choose to, while everyone else seems to be able to do it naturally. He chooses to leave the job, he chooses to try and fix things with his wife again. There's a really sad moment after her memorial where he just stands outside the church, looking at the ambulance station while all the other paramedics go back to work.

Another moment that got me after the memorial is when Duffy asks Susie to go shopping to cheer them up - Sandra had been their friend and now they will have to get on with the rest of their lives and she can't.

When people do remember her so much of it is about her relationship with Andy, which she had finally decided she didn't want anymore right before she was stabbed :( At the same time, I can't stop thinking about how the first thing we ever see Andy say to his wife is "darling" and then, for the first and only time, he also says it to Sandra while they're bringing her into the hospital (but she's already unconscious by then).

Sandra had to die, not even because the plot demanded it, just... Casualty required it to keep things moving. I don't think it's entirely her death that allowed Casualty to last longer than two series, the writing did start to get better around when she died and that's definitely the main thing that kept it going. But her death was a sign of that good writing - Cry for Help's Sandra/Andy scenes are entirely brilliant, 'Casualty at it's best' scenes. She had to die, but it's still so sad to me how quickly she disappeared.

Ugh, Casualty, stop making me miserable with your paramedics.

[lomappreciationblog]

Can't Look Back: Quest Discussion (Part 2)

Part 2! This is the meat of the story, where the truth finally gets revealed to us as a player and Mephianse comes face-to-face with the lies he built up for himself regarding Nakratos's fate.

So after Mephianse dashes away and we chase him, this is the next story beat - where we finally meet the "ice witch," Crystalle.

She wastes no time beating around the bush certainly, immediately called out Mephianse for that lol.

Mephianse certainly was slandering Crystalle, but one does still feel some sympathy for him with what happened - which Crystalle finally explains.

First, Crystalle immediately attacks two of the core narratives Mephianse built around losing Nakratos - that Nakratos died, and it was because of Crystalle. But the opposite is true - Nakratos is STILL alive, and Crystalle had nothing to do with what happened.

As she makes it very clear later - she was just a witness, but Mephianse's pov turned her into a villain in the story.

Understandably, Mephianse doesn't respond immediately, which Crystalle takes for disbelief, and she does have the right to feel bitter about this.

And so we finally have the full story - Nakratos turned himself into a snow beast with the intent of forcibly making a Faerie obey his will and let him see his wife again.

It does finally get through to Mephianse that what happened to Nakratos was something he did of his own volition, and that he wasn't a victim - but merely one foolish, desperate man.

There is a certain theme across the three major story arcs, and in this quest, of things happening because of "a truth you refused to hear until now." And so, the characters who actually get over that become better for it.

With the Jumi Arc, Sandra wished to heal Florina, but rather than act out of compassion, she saw the rest of the Jumi as cruel and selfish for being unable to cry, and judged them to a fair sacrifice to heal Florina. Blackpearl experiences disillusion too, when she finally realizes that forcing Pearl to be the new Clarius was not the right answer - when she acknowledges that, she accepts the help of Elazul and the MC and finally fights to change the fate of the Jumi for good.

With the Dragon Arc, Larc knew what he was doing to serve Drakonis was selfish and evil, but he continued doing so because he thought that was the only way he could reunite with Sierra. Sierra initially believed the MC was helping Drakonis with the same evil intent, but she later learns we were only coerced to do so and we join forces to make things right.

Now, for the Star-Crossed Lovers Arc...that is the root of all the trouble - the truth of the matter being, Matilda hated that she was bound and stifled by her duties as a priestess, and what Irwin did, by inspiring her to run away with him, and by stealing her elemental powers, she was freed and she found the will to be her own person. Unfortunately, Escad and initially Daena only thought that this was just Irwin following his demonic heritage and trying to hurt Matilda. And eventually, Irwin too, came to think that he hurt Matilda and he regretted what he did (he also got waaaaaaay lost with the whole "destroying the world that hurt us" plot unfortunately).

I did mention in Part 1 that "Can't Look Back' and the Faerie/Star-Crosser Lovers arc have similar themes, so here's some elaboration on that: in a way, I came to see as "Can't Look Back" being the other outcome of Matilda and Irwin's relationship, had we not stepped in to interfere while things were unfolding.

Nakratos became a beast in hopes of forcing the Faerie to do his will, all because he grieved the loss of his wife to death. He changed himself, becoming strange to the people who knew him, and became a danger to himself and others.

In the Star-Crossed Lovers arc, while Matilda didn't die after Irwin took away her powers, she aged rapidly, becoming an old woman - but one who was content with what happened to her. Irwin however, refused to accept this outcome, and he too, became like a beast - a powerful demon, and unlike Nakratos he retained his cunning, and more importantly, unlike Nakratos, Irwin actually put the Faeries under his command. With that, Irwin sought to destroy the unfair world he perceived had done him and Matilda so much wrong, but underneath all that, they both wanted to love each other, and in their current forms they couldn't do it without hurting each other, or Escad and Daena.

As a last point of comparison, Daena did NOT want to accept Matilda's death. She tried her best to bring Irwin and Matilda together when she finally saw what Irwin was doing, but what she failed to account for was that Matilda becoming Irwin's queen in the Land of Faeries wasn't the right solution either, since that meant the Faeries would be forced to accept a human queen.

But in this quest...Mephianse DOES accept what needs to be done, to free Nakratos.

Mephianse finds he can't keep looking back and deluding himself with thinking Nakratos died by someone else's hand, and to fulfill Nakratos's wish, he had to be put to rest.

Of course, that's not the easiest thing to say...or even worse, to actually do, even if it's a mercy kill.

....well, who else is around and is good with weapons?

That's right, it's time for us MCs to do what we do best!...to be nosey. Not to give mercy kills. Though we sorta do that a bit in LoM.

Will do, Crystalle.

It's worth noting the location for the boss fight is called "The Field of Lost Guilt."

So we go and fight Nakratos, now turned into one of the Du' family of bosses. While LoM has a couple of reused bosses, notoriously with the recolored Jewel Beast boss fights, I do appreciate that while Du'Inke in "The Lost Princess" and Du'Cate in "Huntin' Du'Cate" are recolors of each other, Du'Mere, Nakratos's beast form, has a widely different appearance, whether because it lives in a completely different environment, or because it's a hint it was formerly a human.

....I guess Nakratos did lose his mind, why the heck was Du'Mere just hopping at the final part of this fight.

There is something meaningful in the fact that the loss animation for this boss is turning into an orb that floats upward, which does seem to concretely say Nakratos's spirit has been freed.

And now, back to Mephianse.

...so like...did we commit murder or....

And now, for the screenshots which got me thinking about this quest to close it off:

That's probably the understatement of the century.

Crystalle does sound a bit too trolling considering Mephianse just went through the emotional wringer, but I guess she has a pass for poking fun at Mephianse after all the slander he did.

.....annnd I reached the photo limit for this post, so there's a part 3. But it's gonna be short, just the L'il Cactus diary entry, reaction, and pause menu description. No more mega rambling, hopefully!

[solarishashernoseinabook]

For the trick or treat, could I get a Arald/Duncan? As a trick, please.

Here ya go :D

~

When Arald inherited his father’s position as Baron of Redmont, King Oswald came to personally offer his condolences for his father’s death. Redmont being so important to the kingdom meant Oswald had worked closely with Arald’s father Wellaby, and he said he looked forward to working with Arald in the future. Arald didn’t remember what he had said – empty platitudes, probably. Oswald had brought his son Prince Duncan along with him, and all of a sudden Arald’s plans of settling down with a nice young woman were dashed to pieces. He only tried to bring up his feelings once, when he and Duncan found themselves sharing a tent on campaign. In a low, hesitant voice, he asked if Duncan had ever felt any attraction to men.

There had been a few agonising moments of silence; then Duncan had laughed. Arald had forced a laugh as well, and they spoke no more about it. A few months later Arald proposed to young Lady Sandra de Claire, who accepted instantly, and they managed to live comfortably enough, even if Sandra had to acknowledge that she was not the only object of Arald’s affections. Arald, too, made peace with his feelings, or thought he had, and regarded Duncan as a good friend.

Months later, that friendship was tested when whispered rumours said Duncan had tried to poison King Oswald. Arald refused to believe it. Duncan was a good person, not power-hungry enough to kill his father. But then Duncan seemingly disappeared after a trip to Gorlan, and a few weeks later news came that he was fighting and raiding near the Pictish border. Arald was sure it was a mistake, but the news kept coming, and Arald was too busy running Redmont to track him down and find out the truth for himself. Soon, it became impossible to deny that Duncan was up to something. Arald tried to harden his heart towards Duncan, tried to tell himself he had been wrong about the prince, but it wasn’t that easy. Sandra spent many long nights comforting him as he cried over the betrayal.

And then the most wonderful news came – Duncan hadn’t been raiding at all, but imprisoned, and an impostor had been raiding instead. Arald leapt at the chance to save the prince and expose Lord Morgarath for the duplicitous traitor that he was.

He saw Duncan at the tournament at Gorlan. The change in him was shocking. No longer was Duncan neatly groomed and well-dressed – now his hair and bear were overly long, his clothing old and dirty, and he had a wild, restless look in his eyes.

It was quite dashing, if Arald was being perfectly honest. When Duncan fought a pitched sword battle with Morgarath on the last day of the tournament, all of Arald’s carefully-buried feelings came rushing back to him.

But nothing could come of them – that Arald knew. A year after the tournament, Arald stood arm-in-arm with Sandra at Duncan’s wedding. Lady Rosalind Serenne was a lovely bride, and Duncan a stunning groom. Seeing the prince there, so close yet so far, brought a lump to Arald’s throat that had nothing to do with the festivities. He had to excuse himself early, taking a few moments alone to recover.

He saw Duncan between then and the wedding, of course, but the next time they spent any significant amount of time together was nearly a year later. Queen Rosalind had gone to Woldon Abbey in the hopes that the sisters could keep her healthy through the last months of her pregnancy, and with Morgarath preparing to attack at any time, Duncan’s army was camped out on the grounds in front of Castle Araluen, ready to move out as soon as it was clear Morgarath would attack in earnest. The fear for his wife and child weighed heavily on Duncan, visible in the lines on his face and the set of his shoulders, and Arald felt keenly for him. But Duncan didn’t talk about it, and Arald didn’t press.

Until one day, when Crowley came back from Woldon Abbey with a newborn baby girl – and no mother in sight.

That night, lying awake, Arald heard the canvas door of his tent draw back and looked up to see Duncan’s tall frame outlined by moonlight. Arald fumbled with his flint and steel and lit the candle beside his cot. In the dim light, Duncan was a changed man. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face tear-stained. ‘She’s gone,’ he choked.

‘I know,’ Arald whispered. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

Arald wasn’t sure what happened next. All he knew was that Duncan was on the cot next to him, and they were in each other’s arms, and Duncan was sobbing, and Arald was comforting him as best he could. All the while Arald felt like he was drowning in a sea of emotion, but he couldn’t say anything, not with Duncan as he was.

‘You asked me something, years ago,’ Duncan said. ‘You asked if I’d ever been attracted to men.’

Arald swallowed hard past a lump in his throat. ‘I did.’

‘The truth is…’ Duncan sobbed. ‘The truth is…sometimes I have.’

Arald shook his head. Not now, any time but now. ‘Duncan, please—’

Duncan kissed him, grabbing at his clothes, and it took some effort for Arald to push him back. ‘Stop.’

‘I need to forget,’ Duncan said. ‘I need to stop feeling things tonight.’

‘It won’t help, not in the state you’re in,’ Arald said. ‘But if you must, find someone else.’

‘I don’t want to find someone else!’ Duncan said. ‘You asked me!’

‘And since then,’ Arald said, forcing his voice to remain level, ‘I’ve committed myself to Sandra. As you committed yourself to Queen Rosalind.’

Duncan sobbed, and lowered his head to Arald’s shoulder. Arald hugged him close, and together the two men wept: one for what he had lost, the other for what he could never have.