#scott blub

[hello-its-j10]

not drawing today—take these

[kokocactus]

watching scott pilgram takes off… WHY IS NICK FROST AND SIMON PEGG HERE?! also??? ring of fire??? why??

[quillandink22]

Rick Warden's (Harry Welsh) interview with Ross Owen: Funny moments/anecdotes.

Boot camp:

"Honestly, I tried to escape. If Jimmy Madio (Frank Perconte, who was on guard duty) didn't stop me, I would have been out of there."

Jimmy Madio caught him "blubbing" (crying) by day 5.

He carried Dextor Fletcher (Johnny Martin) around one of the runs.

Neal McDonough (Buck Compton) was fasted. "Lived up the front" on runs.

He was forced to do push ups when he spoke in his British accent. When asked to do his Harry Welsh impression "LUZ" first word that comes to his head.

Got his platoon lost on their first night attack: solution: they all lay down and fell asleep till it started raining.

"I'm losing my mind. Where are we?" Conversation with Ross McCall (liebgott) day 8.

Was so in character that his long term girlfriend broke up with him after boot camp. "She found me after boot camp on my fists in the kitchen doing push ups at 3am" "I think at that stage she thought you know what this is out of control"

Honestly the effects of Dale Dye's boot camp need to be studied.

Richard Speight (Skip) , Rick Gomez (Luz), and Jimmy madio were the "class clowns."

Matthew Settle (Speirs) played music from the 40's in the barracks to get them all in character.

Neal McDonough took a gun to the head. Shane Taylor (Eugene Roe) attempted to stitch him up before declaring, "I'm not a doctor."

Close friends on set:

Knew Damian Lewis prior to bob. Specified that he didn't meet him in a Bangkok whore house.

Shared a girlfriend with Damian Lewis. "Not at the same time." (Honestly was questioning at this point how close these two were.)

Closest with: Neil McDonough, Rick Gomez, Jimmy Madio, Richard Speight, Scott Grimes (Malarkey), and Michael Cudlitz (Bull).

Filming:

Marched his platoon down to the set every morning.

He was apparently criticised for his portrayal of Harry's injury in bastogne. He justified "screaming his head off" instead of playing it stoic due to the fact he though Harry would be thinking about Kitty. (Personally I think he did a great job)

Shane Taylor covered his body on the jeep journey to the aid station even though it wasn't in the script.

The full interview is on YouTube: just look up Band of Brothers Ross Owen. He interviewed loads of the cast.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (19-25 Nov 2023)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Old Town Road (Singles series) (Chris Molanphy) - Part of Duke University Press' series Singles, chart geek/music historian Chris Molanphy dives deep into "Old Town Road" which he describes as a 'one of one' phenomenon. To quote the book blub, which sums it up nicely: Molanphy shows how “Old Town Road” channeled decades of Americana to point the way toward our cultural future. Fairly short and incredibly readable.

🥰 Ordinary Numbers (BootsnBlossoms, Kryptaria) - 44K, canon-divergent meeting for 00Q

🥰 The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (Society of Gentlemen #0.5) (KJ Charles, author; , narrator) - short story, kicking off KJC's incredible romance series set in during the Regency and political unrest around the time of the Peterloo massacre

😍 [Podfic] Mr Webster's Wager (fahye, author; HowOldAreWe, narrator) - 29K, very slight canon-divergent expansion of The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh, expanding on Francis & Ash getting together - so well done I almost consider it a part of the series, at least for my own rereads - this is a really great podfic of it!

😍 A Fashionable Indulgence (Society of Gentlemen #1) (KJ Charles, author; Matthew Lloyd Davies, narrator) - exquisite Julian finds purpose and love transforming young radical Harry into a gentleman. Plus there's the Peterloo massacre and personal murder plots

😍 A Seditious Affair (Society of Gentlemen #2) (KJ Charles, author; Matthew Lloyd Davies, narrator) - Tory/Radical romance with some incredible digging in to what it means to be a man of principle ('Wednesday by Wednesday, I have loved you')

💖💖 +75K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Art Nouveau (voluptuous_panic) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 12K - reread, forever fave - Cap!Steve has a disastrous first date at a hipster cider bar but luckily the hot, tattooed bartender is there to distract him. Short & very, very hot.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Hot Ones - Melissa McCarthy

Screen Rant - Siobhan Thompson Talks Dimension 20 Burrow's End & Fantasy High Junior Year

Screen Rant - Brennan Lee Mulligan Talks Dimension 20 Burrow's End & Fantasy High: Junior Year

QI - series S, ep 1

Dirty Laundry - s3, e6

D20: Burrow's End - "Five" (s20, e8)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Everything, Every Stoat, All at Once" (s15, e8)

D20: Fantasy High: Freshman Year - e1-10

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

What Next: TBD - Bedbugs Are Back, Baby!

⭐ Endless Thread - The Grand Can-Spiracy

Song Exploder - Paramore "Liar"

⭐ Hit Parade - Ride ’til I Can’t No More Edition

⭐ Hit Parade - The Bridge: Can’t Tell Me Nothin’

Shedunnit - Death at the Club

You're Dead to Me - Shakespeare

Desert Island Discs - Patrick Grant, designer and broadcaster

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Gaga Tour of the Town

Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett

NPR's Book of the Day - Jamie Loftus' 'Raw Dog' investigates the social and culinary history of the hot dog

Cautionary Tales - Photographing Fairies

Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Julia Gets Wise with Isabel Allende

What Next: TBD - Inside OpenAI's Implosion

The Allusionist - 185. Gems and Patties

Cautionary Tales - The Art Forger, the Nazi, and "The Pope"

Today, Explained - How Cassie sued Diddy

99% Invisible #561 - Long Strange Tape

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

One Year - 1990: Pizzastroika

Ologies with Alie Ward - Abstract Mathematology (UH, IS MATH REAL?) with Eugenia Cheng

⭐ Off Menu - Ep 215: Paul Rudd

⭐ Pop Culture Happy Hour - Rethinking Killers Of The Flower Moon

NPR's Book of the Day - In 'Blackouts,' Justin Torres shines a light on silenced LGBTQ history

What Next: TBD - Where Scams Are Born

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Rockstar [Dolly Parton] {2023}

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vols 1 & 2 [Ray Charles] {1962}

Presenting Massive Attack

Presenting Nine Inch Nails

New Blue Sun [André 3000] {2023}

[sugdenlovesdingle]

7 comfort movies

thanks for tagging me @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

(i definitely didn't forget about this, oh no)

I'm more of a tv show than a movie person but I managed to come up with 7 after all

1 Pride - the ending always has me blubbing like a baby but I probably know the dialogue better than the actors by now. Solidarity forever!

2 Red White and Royal Blue - one of my favourite books turned into a film? By people who love the book as much as I do? yes please!

3 Chez Nous - Dutch gay heist film. One of the few good Dutch films!

4 Love Actually/Alles is liefde - It's basically the same film. Only the Dutch version is set around Sinterklaas the way Love Actually is with Christmas. Both are must watch December films and both have cheesy quotes everyone posts on Facebook every year.

5 Grease - I love musicals

6 Back to the Future Great Scott Marty!

7 Shrek - can't go wrong with Shrek!

I have no idea who has and hasn't been tagged so I'm just going to pick some random people that are in my notifications

@theredandwhitequeen @chaossmagic @coffeemakesmeahappybean @keepersofmyheart @rileychester @spongerobertstudpants @vogelmeister @bobbie-robron @firstprince-history-huh @reyestrandd @ravensofskyhold @daisytachi @bringingclawstoagunfight @cant-getno-sleep @miggydiaz

as always - feel free to ignore!

[denimbex1986]

'Sitting in a darkened room snivelling, cheeks wet with tears and nose streaming is a terrible way to spend a night, right? Well not always… especially not if you’re in the cinema and you have just had your heart wrung and mind blown. And forget the stigma around crying in public – fellow audience member scorn be damned, blubbing away may even be good for you.

Watching the BAFTAs last week, I was reminded of exactly this experience as clip after clip of All of Us Strangers teased each of its six nominations including for Outstanding British Film, and acting nods for the wonderful Andrew Scott, Claire Foy and Paul Mescal.

I’m not ashamed to say this was a film that set me off when I recently saw it, getting the waterworks going on at least four separate occasions – each time Scott’s character Adam talks to the ghosts of his parents at the age they were killed in a car crash, and now younger than Adam himself.

It is a story of familial love, of longing, regret, wish fulfillment and loss. Beautifully written and directed by Andrew Haig, the acting takes the words to a level that doesn’t just pull at the heartstrings, it rips them right out. Even for those of us lucky enough to have both parents alive, it can’t help but leave the viewer reduced to a puddle...

...whatever stigma crying in public has now, it wasn’t always that way. Ancient societies from the Aztecs to Chinese antiquity would use ritual public weeping and performative wailing; they certainly would have had no fear of loudly blowing their noses in the second row of the local multiplex because Adam’s dead dad wants to give him a cuddle...

At last week’s BAFTAs, All of Us Strangers had tears running down my face again – though this time in frustration – as the film and its wonderful cast walked away completely empty handed (as they will from the Oscars next week as they have not landed a single nomination). That really is a crying shame.'

[bunkerhive]

《 MOST NORMAL GIRL EVER 》

[Pubeverse o!Tubbo rp blog managed by @patorucho]

》 Things to know about p!Tubbo:

Uses he/she/buzz pronouns, and identifies as nonbinary! He is unlabeled in terms of attraction, so it's none of your bee's wax on what she calls herself or what she's interested in.

Lives underground in a beehive esque bunker. Probably not plotting to take over the server.

Most likely building farms and machines for said farms. And doomsday devices, but we don't talk about that.

Obsessed with pollen and flowers.

《 KEKW 》

》 Tags p!Tubbo will use:

#buzzfuckery - text post

#collective hivemind - asks

#pollen collection - character interaction threads

#brewed honeypot - end of thread

#in the toolbox - in character reblogs

#shulker click + #ooc - out of character

《 BEEBOY AIN'T FUCKING AROUND 》

》 Tags when interacting with the Boys:

[written in character]

#pampered fuck - @particle-princess (Ranboo)

#chicken clingy - @bigman-birdism (Tommyinnit)

#little shitsnag - @the-inch (Sneegsnag)

#the crowfag - @your-royal-crowfather (Philza)

#the L in blaze - @youreblazing (Jack Manifold)

#the fagtain - @fallen-starbourne (Captain Sparklez)

#miauuu miauuuu - @serverspussy (James Marriott)

#blub blub blub - @fishachu (Niki || Nihachu)

#why are you normal - @milkvines (Ted Nivison)

#farm for pistons - @sludgeyson (Charlie || Slimecicle)

#the phobia part - @hauntinghallz (Wilbur Soot)

#stop stealing my shit - @wealthindamouf (Fundy)

#walking bomb - @smajornova (Scott || Smajor)

#sniffs you ig - @thefragranceman (jSchlatt)

#turned tom down lol - @beauvian (Beautie)

《 JOIN THE HIVE 》

[chuckecheesekid9000]

Omniverse Falls

Story Summary:  What would happen if the Crystal Gems had settled down in a place other than Beach City, a little backwoods town just west of weird…? What if, upon coming to Gravity Falls for the summer, Mikey and his younger twin siblings, Dipper and Mabel were to befriend Steven and his two best friends, Toby and Connie? What kind of magical and mysterious adventures would they have? What if a watch-like device falls from space, attaches to Mikey, and gives him the power to transform into 10 different kinds of aliens, while trying to keep his secret from the world? And, how would they fare against the combined threats of merciless, Homeworld Gems and a certain triangular demon? Find out what happens when Magic and Mystery meet in Omniverse Falls…

Characters:

Major TLH/C: Lincoln, The Loud Sisters (Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily), Lynn Sr., Rita, Leonard, Lance, Albert, Myrtle, Ruth, Clyde, Sam, Mazzy, Sully, Benny, Maggie, Silas, Skippy, Winston, David, Ronnie Anne, Bobby, Arturo, Maria, Carlos, Frida, Carlota, The Casagrande Brothers (CJ, Carl, and Carlitos), Rosa, Hector, Danny, Lupe, Sid, Adelaide, Stanley, Becca, Harold, Howard, Scotts, Angus, Morag, Chuck, and Mick

Major MML: Bradley

Major GF: April, The Swanson Siblings (Calvin, Harriet, Hannah, Hugo, Cody, and Nina), Henry, and Laura

Major SU/AB: Steven, Toby, Connie, Garnet (Ruby/Sapphire), Amethyst, Pearl, Rose Quartz (flashbacks), Greg, Dr. Tenma, Jean, Teresa, Duncan, Elizabeth, Brian, Beverly, Bim, Bam, Luka, Lion, Lapis Lazuli, Peridot, Bismuth, Jasper, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond (flashbacks), Yellow Pearl, Blue Pearl (flashbacks), The Ruby Squadron (Doc, Leggy, Army, Navy, and Eyeball), Martha, Lars, Sadie, Ronaldo, Peedee, Jamie, Buck, Jenny, Kiki, Sour Cream, Mr. Fryman, Kofi Pizza, Doug, Priyanka, Aarav, Kevin, Vidalia, Yellowtail, Onion, Marty, Barb, Andy, Mark, Dogcopter, and the Off-Colors (Fluorite (Anatase/Red Pearl/Lavender Sapphire/The Peridot Trio (Head Peridot, Right Peridot, and Left Peridot), Rhodonite (Levi/Button), Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins (Mindy and Cindy)).

Major OF/WFRR (AU): Mikey, Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Wendy, Soos, Bill Cipher, Gideon, Candy, Grenda, Gorney, Pacifica, McGucket, Waddles, Gompers, Mr. Poolcheck, Mermando, Ma, Pa, Robbie, Tamby, Thompson, Lee, Nate, Manly Dan, Caroline, The Corduroy Brothers (Marcus, Kevin, and Gus), Joellynn, Jessica, Roger, The Rabbit Kids (Zephyr and Beth), Tyler, Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, Preston, Pricilla, Filbrick, Karen, Blendin, Agent Powers, Agent Trigger, Time Baby, Lazy Susan, Giffany, Abuelita, Reggie, Bud, Archibald, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Quinten, Toby, Blind Ivan, Rumble, The Summerween Trickster, Wax Sherlock, Jeff, Shmebulock, Ducktective, Azmuth, Xeannith, Retaliator, Tetrex, Gluto, Sixsix, Kraab, Verdona, Aggregor, The Omnitrix Aliens (Goop, Four Arms, Grey Matter, Echo Echo, Upgrade, Diamondhead, NRG, Big Chill, AmpFibian, and Heatblast), The Omnitrix Unlock Aliens (Ghostfreak, Fasttrack, Feedback, and Gax), and Ra'ad

Major SP: Jack and Rebecca

Major SD: Shaggy and Scooby

Ships: Steven/Connie, Mikey/Carly, Mikey/Wendy, Shaggy/Wendy, Dipper/Wendy, Dipper/Pacifica, Bradley/Pacifica, Ruby/Sapphire, Rose/Greg, Pearl/Rose, Tenma/Jean, Nate/Jenny, Robbie/Kiki, Lars/April, Ronaldo/Sadie, Brian/Lapis, Azmuth/Xennith, Dipper/Connie, Steven/Mabel, Steven/Dipper, Amethyst/Peridot, 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Angsy, Friendship, Humor, Action, Family/Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, and Sci-Fi

Rating: Dark Subjects and etc

[life-series-losers-blog]

DL!Scott: Suck a light blub? Are you suffering from memory loss? Did you seriously forget I'm gay and would enjoy it?

I bet it be therapeutic to try hitting you though

🖕🏼

-Scarlett

DL!Scott: No your just crazy

[babybadger]

Skye getting all sad when daddy Scott get tackled during a game and you have to dry her tears and tell her daddy will be fine but she only stops crying when you join Scott in de meds room

“DADDDDDYYY” she screamed and immidiately started crying. You felt bad for your husband but you knew it was just a bad tackle and he’d heal up soon. You kinda wanted to laugh at your daughters overreaction but when she turns around from the glass of the VIP box, with her big blue eyes almost drowning in tears, you immidiately give her a warm smile.

“Dada..*hiccup* is hurttttt” You daughter wails as she nearly chokes on her our tears. ���Will mummy tell you a secret?” you say as you get off your seat and go pick up your daughter to bring her back to the table. Your daughter sniffles and continues to gasp but nodded her head. “First time I saw daddy got tackled, I got so mad, I shouted at daddy’s boss after it and everyone laughed at mummy cause it wasn’t a bad booboo at all. Just a scratch.” you explain the story in the hopes it will distract her and she’ll move on.

Five minutes later and he still wasn’t on the pitch. “Dada not dere yet” she continues on, her eyes full of worry and ready to cry again at any point. “Right cmon gorgeous i’ll show you were dada is.” you say giving in as the other mums you were talking to start giggling at the sweetest of your daughter. They remember how you were exactly the same at the start, which is why you knew exactly where Scott would be. “We’ll be back soon, just like her mummy” everyone chuckles and you pick up your daughter.

“Daddy open door” shouts your little girl which causes laughter in the corridor. The door opens to one of the medics who you knew well from your earlier days of being with Scott. “Haven’t seen you in a while Y/N. Thought they banned you from this corridor after your fight with the old manager.” he laughed and opened the door wider to let you in.

“DADAAA” Skye shouted lunging our with two arms towards her father as you placed her in his lap on the physio bed. “Heyyy darling what you doing here? Why are you not watching the boys play?” he asks as his babygirl sits facing him on his thighs and he uses his thumb to wipe away tear lines. “Daddy you got hurt and mummy tell me you okay but then you not play again which means you have a big booboo!” she explains but worries herself in the process and her tears begin again.

Scott hushes Skye as he looks at you suspiciously. “She’s exactly like you you know. This is EXACTLY what you were like when you first started to come to games.” you giggle and kiss his cheek before peeking over and your daughter who had fallen asleep against her dads chest. “You are okay though aren’t you? I don’t know if Skyes cut out for watching games, she’ll have a heart attack by age 7.” Scott laughs in agreement. “I’m fine babe, just a twisted ankle from the tackle and Ole didn’t wanna risk it for the next fixtures.” he says laying a gently kiss on your temple and you sit on the bed beside him.

“Scott you alright?” asks Ole walking in the room. “Oh hello girls” he says taken a back by seeing Skye and you there. “Skye thought I was upset so she came to check up on me.” Scott explained and you just smiled hoping he wouldn’t be angry that you were there. “Well we can’t have any babies upset around here, i’m glad she’s settled now.” he smiles and winks at you before walking out. You turn your attention to Scott who is looking down at Skye on his chest and gently playing with her thin hair, keeping them both settled.

[huntingrays]

lizzie: we need to discuss something

scott: take the cod head off, this is important

jimmy: anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my cod head

[wint3r-h3art]

Besties, I can’t believe I made this milestones! A huge thank you to each and everyone of you that follow this cluster fuck of a blog. I love you and i appreciated each and everyone of you, even if we haven’t spoken a single word to each other! That being said, I have met amazing people on this hellsite, writers and readers alike. You all have made this experience joyful!

To celebrate, I set up some sleepover as well as a writing challenge for you to participate! 

Sleepover will roll all the way to the first day of May, which should give me plenty of time to work on requests, while Writing Challenge will roll over to June. 

I hope you can join me for this fun celebration. 

Bless Me with Thy Thots

🔮 Ask me anything\let’s get personal

🔎 Ask Game of Fuck/marry/kiss/one night stand

🧙 cast your mutual [insert movies, tropes]

📌 Send me smutty, fluffy, cracky concepts you have for any of my works or just in general

❤️‍🔥 Send me pics of any of the men I thirst for and a concept, and i will write blurb about it

💽 Send me a character/person with a song, and I will write a blurb based on that song

** Please note that any blub/drabble asks will take sometimes

Marvel Characters: Xu Shang-Chi, Peter Parker (specified which one), Frank Castle, Matt Murdock, Steven Grant | Marc Specter, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Loki, Thor, Sam Wilson, Erick Kilmonger, Pietro Maximoff (AoU), Stephen Strange, Scott Lang, Bruce Banner.

DC/DCEU: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Terry McGinnis, Barry Allen, Arthur Curry

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron, Finn, Darth Maul, Darth Revan (Old Republic).

RPF: Simu Liu, Gong Yoo, Danile Dae Kim, Oscar Isaac, Pedro Pascal, Andrew Garfield, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evan, Jon Bernthal, Charlie Cox, Anthony Mackie, Jason Mamoa, Michael B. Jordan, Johnathan Major.

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

If this fail, let’s pretend I never made this ok? 

[schillypokespe]

goooood evening we are. so melatonided. anyways <3 interpretat tioms of hermit/empires genders of yoyr favourite characters. Go

Tumblr deleted me the first time I tried to write this. anyway this is almost incomprehensible.

Anyway

Grian - He/feather my favorite bird

Gtws - He/they but like in a feminine way

Mumbo - redstone pronouns in the way yourpalross has redstone pronouns

Etho - He/him

Bdubs - agender no pronouns i love bdubs

I can't physically make a gender headcanon about Impulse bc my dad knows the guy

Iskall - She/they/it and i love that for her

Scott - He/they in a like. not knowing what pronouns are kind of way

Lizzie - She/lotl/fei (not based upon my wife introject at all nooo)

Jimmy - He/they/blub

Sausage - He/king because hes just Like That

Fwhip - also has redstone pronouns but in a like creepier version of yourpalross kind of way. shit like sun/suns

Joel - He/woof/paw because im a joel introject and i make the rules

[willow-salix]

Little something that wanted to come out for the Sensory Sunday prompt of "Smell" by @gumnut-logic

Witches rely on their senses more than anything else. Witches see the world differently to other people, they see, they feel on a different level. They feel, they notice, they pay attention. A big part of their gifts, the magic that they weave is linked to their senses, it’s linked to the conjuring up of energy which they shape, they mould to push out towards their goal. The real power lies within the heart of the witch, not in the tools, not in the elaborate rituals, not in the clothes or the magic words, but in their very essence.

For Selene her sense of smell is second to none, as finely tuned as a bloodhound's. She could identify herbs in a jar by smell while blindfolded, she was more likely to be roused from sleep by the scent of coffee than an alarm call.

Scents can be pleasant, energising, calming, comforting, arousing, alluring, insulting, horrendous, vile and nauseatingly horrible. They are many and varied but each and every one serves a purpose to her.

To her everything had a smell that was unique to it, things, people, places, they all had a scent she associated with them and they could affect her mood and her energy in both positive and negative ways.

She loved the smell of old books, they relaxed her, calmed her as she flicked through the dusty pages and felt the paper crinkle beneath her fingers. Incense was something she used every morning and evening, setting the tone for the day or helping her wind down after a hard night, lavender, rosemary, sage, nag champa, patchouli, fruits and herbs, she loved them all. The smell of baking cakes and bubbling soups could invoke calming memories of her Grandparents, the smell of the sea made her senses tingle, energising and empowering her. She was ruled by her nose as much as Scott was ruled by his stomach.

One of the first things she had noticed about her John, apart from that voice that just rubbed against her senses like a purring cat, was how he smelt. He smelt like the night, like the sky, like stardust and moonlight, all combined with a soft, calming scent of some kind of aftershave or shower gel that she couldn't identify but immediately wanted to buy shares in. She’d buried her nose in that little dip just below his ear and breathed him in, her eyes closing in pure bliss. That scent conjured up memories of late nights in quiet woodlands or on a solitary hilltop, the full moon shining in the sky. 

Whenever she inhaled that scent she imagined that if she tipped her head back she’d see a blanket of stars twinkling up high, pinpricks of light in the darkness, as sure and everlasting as the earth itself. That was where she was most happy, soaking up the energy, soaking up the magic that danced in the air and he was the human embodiment of that. 

She’d known from that first moment that he would be important to her, that he was destined to be in her life and to make it so much better.

She’d sat in the back of a massive craft, overwhelmed, dizzy and weak, she was shaking from adrenaline and fatigue, the gorgeous spaceman that smelt of everything that was good in the world wasn’t there anymore and for the first time in a very long time she felt vulnerable and just wanted to be at home.

She'd closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths in an effort to calm down and stave off the panic attack that had been threatening since she had been thrown into that blasted tree. The big machine smelt like any other mechanical device, like hot metal, grease and for some strange reason, undertones of cheeseburger. But then, mixed in amongst those nose offending scents had been the boys, comforting and friendly to her nose.

Gordon always smelt like chlorine and saltwater, which was hardly surprising given that it was him, but he also carried the warmth of sunshine on him like it was ingrained in his skin along with something tropical, almost coconutty. He gave off a happy, buzzing energy that you just couldn’t help but be drawn to, cheering you up in your darkest moments.

Virgil was a contradiction of smells wrapped up in a big, cuddly bear package. He smelt like engine oil, turpentine, paint and all sorts of manly smells, but he too had undertones of something more. He smelt of woodland forest and the earth after it rains, something fresh and natural that soothed her soul. She could imagine that he would be the very best person to send to anyone that was panicked and scared, anyone that was in need of calmness and comfort.

He’d spoken to her so kindly, had made sure she was OK and had been respectful of her tools even though he probably thought she was crazy. He looked like he should be gulping beer and watching football but had settled in his seat and lifted the big machine into the air with the bare minimum of effort. He’d checked on her one more time and then politely inquired if she minded them listening to some music. Of course she’d said no, thinking that music might be a nice distraction for her. She’d expected something with a hard beat, or energetic workout music because no one got those size shoulders without hitting some serious weights. The last thing she’d ever thought to hear oozing out of the hidden speakers of his console was the soft strains of Vivaldi. 

It was Virgil and Gordon that knew her secret and had been sworn to secrecy, it was them that knew the big, tough witchy had one very real fear, a fear that could paralyse her and turn her into a blubbing, sobbing, shaking wreck. She was terrified of needles. It was Gordon and Virgil that she had grabbed hold of at the hospital for her tetanus shot and refused to let go of, it was them that had stayed with her the entire time. It was Gordon that had distracted her with an endless stream of stupid jokes as the doctor had readied the syringe and it was Virgil that had wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head in against his chest telling her not to look and that it would be over in just two seconds. Virgil that smelt like comfort and kindness, Gordon that smelt like warmth and cheer. They had navigated her fears, calmed her hysterics and not held it against her when she had sworn at them more times than she could count.

Scott had two layers to his own unique scent. He had the freshly washed, impeccably groomed, shower gel, antiperspirant, spicy cologne and hair gel of first thing in the morning and by evening, after a rescue he’d have the chemical tang of jetpack fuel, and his skin smells slightly of the material used in their uniforms with just a hint of sweat that the material hadn’t managed to soak up.

She remembered the first time she had caught a wiff of that unique Scott smell and had an inkling as to the man that was standing before her. He’d been watching out for her all night, joking and being the perfect companion but the second he’d gotten her alone had been the moment he’d made his stance perfectly clear, hurt my brother and you’ll have to deal with me. She wouldn’t say he’d radiated hostility, more of a warning, letting her know that family was everything to him. Luckily she’d passed the Scott test.

Scott had quickly become one of the most important people in her life, one that she was closest to. He was an immovable force of nature, a solid, dependable, strong presence in her life that she couldn’t do without now. Scott was strength, Scott was the protector, the one that everyone deferred to to fix everything, even when it seemed impossible. Scott gave off an aura of carefully controlled energy but with an edge of hardness that he never showed to his family only to the people that really pissed him off.

Kayo smelt almost the same as Scott in that high octane way, she didn’t wear perfume, she didn’t bother with fancy hair products or highly fragranced antiperspirants, she was a simple one, a wash and go type. Her hair always smelt of shampoo, her skin often had the same residue of jet fuel and uniform material and she had the same idiot repelling energy as Scott though she was harder to get close enough to to feel it.

Then there was Alan, gods she adored that boy more than life. She remembered the first time she’d hugged him, having known him less than four hours, having watched him fear for his brother's life but still be so brave about it. He smelt soft and warm, with a sweetness like a hint of chocolate under the usual teenager smell. He smelt faintly of soap, but it had faded over the course of the day, maybe two, since he’d showered. He had the same sunny warmth that Gordon had, with a buzzing energy of pure happiness. He was adorable and she just wanted to keep hugging him, like he made the world better just by being in it.

Everywhere she had walked in the Villa had held faint traces of their unique scents apart from John’s unless you were in his room or he’d recently vacated the couch. But it had smelt homely, welcoming, comforting, that was until Grandma started cooking and the smell of burning spices permeated the air. 

Grandma smelt comforting, like flowers and cookies even though her baking could count as a nuclear disaster. Her ever present leisure suits smelt like washing powder and fresh air as she often insisted on drying clothes outside after she blew up a dryer. Her hair smelt of the same hairspray that Selene's own grandmother had used and the same lily of the valley perfume was liberally spritzed about her person. In short she smelt like love in a way that only Grandmas could.

The air of the island itself was unique, it mixed the fresh ocean air with the damp coolness of jungle plants, along with the earthy, ashy smell of the volcanic rocks. It was a smell that was hard to describe but even harder to forget once you knew it.

For her there was nothing better than walking into a room and catching the scent of moonlight and stardust in the air, that tingling of energy that signaled her love was home. 

She was now used to there being an unlimited supply of hugs, warm bodies to relax against, heavy arms slung around her shoulders and the comforting scents of the people she loved more than anything. Any time she needed strength, energy, happiness, calming or love she'd focus on them, she'd smell them on the air, she'd breathe them deep into her lungs and she'd hold them close to her heart, weaving that love into her own unique magical essence to conjure up the most powerful of magic. 

To Selene home had always smelt like the lingering scent of incense, coffee, warm candle wax and burning sage. She was a witch, it came with the territory, but now the thought of home was mixed in with the island and all the family that came with it.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Yesterday, I taught from 10.00 until 3.00 and then the 60-year-old man went for a three-mile walk and to use the outdoor gym. By 4.00 pm, a light rain had begun to fall. Look at my face. Was I bovvered?

On Wednesday night, The Trouble and I had dinner early. I watched her warily as she slotted another jumbo sausage roll into the oven. She caught my expression. “What?” she said. “I’m eating for two! Me and my belly!”

The reason we were eating early is because we were scheduled to sit shivah for a recently-deceased and dearly-loved cousin. Mum wanted us to attend on her behalf. I squeezed my post-Covid body into my suit and The Trouble put on a smart, black dress. “Let me look at the email,” I said, “I need to check the address.” My eye was immediately drawn to a sentence that said, “Join us, virtually!” Thanks, Mum! That will teach me to let an 84-year-old organise my social life!

At 8.00 pm, we joined many others on Zoom to pay tribute to this lovely man. I’ve done my first nine nights on Zoom, this was my first shivah. We were alright as his older relatives and work colleagues told amusing stories about him but, once the grandkids starting crying, it was all over. I thought I looked pretty slick ... until I began blubbing! If any of you come to my funeral, you will be forbidden to talk unless you’ve got a funny story or a totally scandalous story about me! And, yes, I did once enter a private party wearing nothing but a large rubber ring (but then I was very drunk!)

I have recently heard that young people find full stops ‘aggressive’, so they have ceased using them. That’s right: they send text messages, WhatsApp messages and post things on line without using a full stop. It’s a good thing many of these young people don’t know me because then they would truly experience aggression. I know teens are traditionally lazy but if they can’t even be bothered to use punctuation, I have no sympathy for them when they fail exams and fail to get a job!

Big love to my beautiful friend Samantha Sing Scott, who has created a very entertaining weekly event and the next one is TONIGHT at 7.15. It’s hosted via Zoom and you can also see it on YouTube. Each week, Sam gathers together a group of black and white people to talk about current affairs, with an emphasis on issues regarding race. Tonight we will also be talking about obesity and weight loss with a team of medical experts. Click on the link to Sam’s page to find the show.

Have a throbbing and thrusting Thursday (with hopefully a few thrills through your thoroughfare?) I love you all. And, remember, if you enjoyed this status, my three novels are self-published via Amazon (106 Five-Star reviews to date!)

[babybluebanshee]

Seared With Scars - Epilouge (Mystery Nerds AU)

And here we are at the end, my friends. I'd like to thank everyone who's stuck with me through the frankly insane and arduous undertaking. I keep every single comment that people leave on my stories, and reading yours on this one is what eventually inspired me to get back in the saddle and pick it up again after two years. You guys are pretty damn awesome. I'm probably not gonna do something this ambitious again for a good, long while, but the Mystery Nerds series is far from over. So enjoy the ending, and hopefully we can all venture into the unknown once more very soon.

--

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” - Helen Keller

---

Helen hesitated only a moment as she slid her key into her front door. She knew, logically, that there couldn’t be anyone from the Society on the other side, waiting for her. There was no Society left. There was nothing to be afraid of in her home. And besides, she had to go in. Her spare pair of glasses were in her nightstand. She needed them. Darryl had graciously driven her all the way back to her house, when he had a family of his own to get back to, just so she could get them and Stan wouldn’t have to leave Ford’s side.

Plus it couldn’t be more than thirty degrees out here and she was freezing.

She had to go inside.

The sight of her keys, still stained slightly with Louise’s blood, made her gut feel things differently.

Darryl spoke up from behind her. “Want me to go in first?” he asked, his voice gentle.

“Thanks,” she muttered. Hot shame pooled in her cheeks for a moment as he walked past her and turned the key, but she stamped it down. Even though she knew that there would not be anyone in her house, she had every reason to be anxious. She wasn’t going to let shame keep her from trying to get better anymore.

And the first step towards healing was admitting that the trauma was there.

Darryl swung the door open and walked in, looking from side to side as he went. He motioned to her, an indication that he saw nothing out of the ordinary. She pooled all her courage and followed him inside, holding her head high.

The house was very much the same as she and Stan had left it. She noticed, with a wry sense of annoyance, that Stan hadn’t even pushed in the dining room chair he’d been sitting in while Darryl patched up his bleeding head.

“You need me to check your bedroom too?” Darryl asked. His tone was one hundred percent serious. Helen had no doubt in her mind that he’d search the entire house, top to bottom, if she’d asked.

“No, that’s okay,” she said. “Go ahead and have a seat. I won’t be too long.”

She started down the hall, her hand trailing down the wall to keep her steady, and immediately, a flash of memory popped into her head, of turning around and finding a stranger in a red hood staring back at her. It was followed by a stab of fear because where was Stan, what had they done to him! She felt Darryl’s presence at her side. She looked over at him and he smiled sweetly at her. He was going with her now, and it seemed like there was no arguing it.

She found that now, she didn’t mind.

There was no one in her bedroom.

There was no one in her house.

She was safe.

She had a friend.

They walked down the hallway together, and Darryl said, as casually as if they did this all the time, “I thought you might like to know the status of our friends, the former cultists. I didn’t want to say anything while we were at the hospital. Didn’t want to be overheard and stir any memories, ya know?”

“Give me details, man,” she said, leaning towards him exaggeratedly. She felt a bit silly, but she needed some silliness right now.

“Well, for starters, Louise is going on extended leave. Absolutely no word was mentioned about her coming back.”

“I would say that I’m sad we’re gonna be stuck with sourpuss Sharon for a while, but Louise did break into my house and punch me in the face.”

“Maybe they’ll actually hire some who doesn’t have staggering emotional issues to replace Louise,” Darryl said.

They reached her bedroom door, and Helen peered in. The only evidence of what had happened to her was a small brown stain on the carpet, less than a foot from where she stood at the door frame.

She had expected seeing that stain would have been what made her crumble. Miraculously, she found it elicited no thought other than she was going to have to call a carpet cleaning service on top of her optometrist and goddammit did Louise have to make her life harder?

And that thought just made her laugh quietly to herself as she crossed the door frame and walked to her nightstand.

“Also Matthews is in talks for his retirement.”

“I knew he and Andrea had been talking about that for a while before she died.”

“Yeah, everything just kinda fell through after that. But apparently his daughters have been pretty insistent. I think what happened kinda brought it all to a head. Liz has got Meg on a flight up right now.”

“Damn. I don’t think Ed’s getting out of it this time if she’s flying up here all the way from New Mexico.”

She pulled open the drawer and there, sitting on top of a pile of dried out pens and pocket change and spare tampons was her spare pair of glasses, slightly dusty with disuse, but at least in one piece. And with a relatively recent prescription.

“Right? But even they’re not playing as dirty as Ruth is right now with Muggins.”

“Oh, Leroy’s in trouble.”

Darryl laughed. “Yep. Ruth was giving him an earful right before I got to Ford’s room. Something about this job of his prematurely aging her.”

“Funny, I thought that was because she drinks grain alcohol out of a measuring cup.”

“Semantics. Point is, they’re leaving. I heard the words ‘timeshare’ and ‘Fort Lauderdale’ right before I got to Ford’s door.”

“Sounds utterly heinous.”

She slid her glasses on, and the first thing that came into view was the phone. Not for the first time since things had died down, she thought of calling the kids. She wouldn’t dream of it right now. A glance at her tableside clock told her it was barely six, and Michael would scream her deaf if she woke him up this early on a Sunday. Maybe later, after she’d gotten back to the hospital and slept a bit more. Had some more time to get her thoughts together.

She still had no idea what she was going to tell them about her battered face. It wasn’t exactly something she could explain away with a tired excuse of “I tripped and landed on my face”. Not even Amanda would buy that.

But really, why did she need an excuse?

She thought back to her conversation with Daisy the night before, the shame she’d felt at causing her daughter to worry for her, over something she’d been certain that she could handle.

She still didn’t want her children to have to worry for her. They didn’t need that kind of burden in their young lives. They needed to worry about school and friends and their hobbies, not if their mother was going to have an emotional breakdown or get into a fistfight with crazy cultists.

But, perhaps, she thought now, that worrying about someone you loved was inevitable. She’d been doing it for almost twenty-four hours now - not just about her biological kids, but about Stan and Ford and Fiddleford. No matter how old they were, she didn’t think she’d ever stop seeing them as more children for her to look after. It was just her nature.

She didn’t want her children to worry about her, but she also didn’t want to lie to them. Her lies about being okay had done everyone more harm than good, even though they’d proven somewhat useful in the end. She still smirked a bit as she thought of Blind Ivan falling for her distressed mother act hook, line, and sinker.

But now she didn’t need to lie anymore. She didn’t need to keep her pain locked up so she didn’t make other people worry for her. She didn’t need to be concerned that everyone would look at her differently. Everyone that she respected and cared about already knew, and they still treated her the same as they always had.

And if Daisy, Scott, and Amanda could be okay after what had happened to them on that awful night almost two years ago, they could handle their mom explaining why she looked like she’s lost a fight with a two-by-four.

She closed the drawer on her nightstand and turned. Darryl was leaning against the doorjamb, turning over a dog tag in his hand. His face was unreadable.

“You okay?” she asked.

He looked up at her like he’d forgotten he was in her house, and quickly said, “Yeah, I’m alright. Just thinking.”

“What about?” She came over slowly, stopping a few feet from him.

“‘Bout what you said to Matthews,” he replied, looking back down at the dog tag. “‘Bout getting help.”

“Yeah?”

“Listening to him, talking about Andrea, not being able to sleep...not being able to do anything…” He gulped heavily. “I don’t want that to be me one day, Doc.”

“It won’t be. Not after all you’ve done. You fought it when no one else would.”

“Well, I wanna make sure. And I’m gonna start by delivering this to Hank’s little brother, first thing tomorrow.” He held the dog tag out to her.

She took it, and read the words punched into the metal.

BLUBS HENRY J. A POS 91-470-441 LUTHERAN

“You might have met Little Daryl,” he said. “He works over at the Dusk 2 Dawn right now, but he’s training for the police academy.”

“His name is Daryl too?”

He gave her a wistful smile and nodded. “Hank always thought it was a riot that his best friend and his baby brother had the same name. So he called us Darryl Little and Little Daryl.” For a moment, he focused on the dog tag, and seemed to be a million miles away from her. It only briefly reminded her of Ed, but she very quickly noted a key difference.

Darryl was still smiling.

When he came back to her, he added, “Hank’s family got the tag he wore around his neck. They let me keep the one from his boot. Been carrying it with me ever since I got home. Twelve years, I been carrying that thing around my neck like a weight. I thought it was good to have, to keep him close.” Darryl paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath, then releasing it slowly. “But maybe it’s become more of a penance than a memorial.”

Helen didn’t reply. She simply handed the tag back to him.

He quickly tucked it away in his pocket. “Little Daryl will definitely get more comfort from it than I ever did,” he said.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Helen replied. “I can give you the names of a few good therapists when you’ve finished that. Especially since I’m looking up mine again come Tuesday.”

“I’d appreciate that.” He sighed heavily. “Stan was right. We are a bunch of sad idiots.”

“At least we know what we’re about.” Helen gave him a warm smile. “Now come on, I told Stan we’d swing by his house to take care of the dog, if that’s okay with you.”

“You had me at dog,” Darryl replied. He jammed his hands in his pockets and followed her down the hallway, to the front door, and out into the sunlight. ---

“So what are we gonna do with all that stuff under the history museum?” Stan asked before he tore off a hunk of sausage with his teeth. It wasn’t Greasy’s, but it would do. He’d never felt more ravenous in his life.

Fiddleford swallowed a mouthful of apple and replied, “I don’t rightly know. We definitely can’t just leave them there, but I don’t feel right watching any of them. Now that I know what the others were using them for, I’d feel...I dunno, like it was a violation of trust or something.”

“Honestly, after the hell they put up through, I think they all kind of deserve a violation of trust,” Stan replied with him mouth full.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough traumatic events to last a lifetime,” Ford said, setting his carton of orange juice back on his tray. “Maybe we could store them somewhere else. Somewhere more safe. The bunker might work, once it gets a bit warmer and all the snow melts.”

“Is the Shapeshifter still down there?” Fiddleford asked, narrowing his eyes in Ford’s direction.

“You remember the Shapeshifter?”

“You guys had a shapeshifter?” Stan said. Just when he thought these two nerds’ adventures couldn’t get any more bizarre.

“I asked you first, Ford,” Fiddleford said. He took another bit of his apple, almost menacingly.

Ford looked downright sheepish as he muttered, “Last I checked.”

“Then we’re not using the bunker, Fiddleford replied, his mouth still full.

“Fiiine,” Ford said dramatically, flopping back against his pillows, the smile was evident in his voice.

Fiddleford’s only reply was to stick his tongue out at him. Stan couldn’t help but chuckle. These two dopes were made for each other.

Then he had an idea. “What about the basement? There should be plenty of room down there once you guys get the portal squared away.”

Ford considered for a moment, and then said, “That sounds plausible.”

“It might not even take that many trips if we take multiple cars,” Fiddleford added.

“Sounds like we got ourselves a plan,” Stan said. He raised his paper cup of coffee to his lips, but at that moment, the swinging door in the hallway was flung open, and another draft barreled down the hall. It’d been happening all morning, a savage draft from the rain-chilled morning practically lowering the temperature of the entire wing. Stan set his breakfast tray off to the side, and reached for his jacket, slung over the back of his chair. “As if this hospital wasn’t cold enough,” he grumbled. “What, do they turn off the heat to make people leave faster?”

He heard the tube hit the linoleum before he ever saw it.

He’d actually forgotten the thing was in his pocket until now, as it rolled across the floor and into his foot.

“What’s that?” Ford asked, attempting to lean forward in his bed for a better look, but grimacing when he put pressure on some broken thing inside him.

“That’s a memory tube,” Fiddleford replied, straightening up in his chair. “They’re what the memories the gun erased are recorded on. Where did you get that, Stan?”

“Ivan dropped it, out at the cliffs,” he replied. “I only noticed it after he went over. Must have had it in his sleeves or something.”

“Who’s it for?”

“Some guy named Preston Northwest.”

“Wait,” Ford said. “The Preston Northwest?”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Stan replied.

“The Northwest family founded Gravity Falls,” Ford said. “They’re the richest family in town, possibly in the state of Oregon. There’s hardly a thing here that they don’t have their hands in.”

“So, what, you think this Preston guy is a member of the Society that we just didn’t catch?”

“I mean, I doubt it, since he’s only about fifteen years old.”

“Why would Ivan want the memories of a teenage boy with him while he escaped?” Fiddleford pondered aloud.

Stan studied the tube a bit more, as it caught the light of the morning beaming through the windows. Despite that, it felt cold in his hand. That familiar, primal repulsion was back. He wanted to throw it out the window, let it smash against the pavement in the parking lot below.

Instead, he held the tube out to Fiddleford and said, “I guess it doesn’t matter. The only person that memory is really gonna be of any used to is currently having his body dredged out of the lake.”

“I suppose,” Fiddleford said as he took the tube. “It’s just strange.”

“Well, we’ll have plenty of time to find out later,” Ford said. “I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m pretty adventured out for a while.”

“That is an amazing point,” Stan said. “It’s been a rough night. I vote this is one mystery that can wait its turn. Whatdya say, Fidds?”

Stan saw the uncertainty pass over Fiddleford’s face as he studied the tube in his hands. A familiar look of concentration was there, signifying that he was trying hard to conjure forth any member associated with the tube, try to unlock whatever it may be hiding from him.

But it was gone in moments as Fiddleford let out a mighty yawn.

“I reckon you’re right,” he said. His eyes reminded Stan of a tired puppy, fighting sleep every moment it could. “These memories aren’t going anywhere for the time being. We can get to the bottom of them another time.”

“That’s the spirit,” Stan said. “Right now, the only thing I wanna get to the bottom of this cup of coffee, and then nap for about six months.”

“Coffee is supposed to do the opposite of making you want to nap, Stan,” Ford chuckled.

“I watched a man jump to his death, Ford. Don’t underestimate my desire to nap right now.”

Ford chewed his lip for a moment, as if he were giving the matter serious thought. “Alright,” he said. “Fair enough.”

---

In the depths of the forest, there was a river. The river fed usually fed directly in the falls, but a small tributary had branched off it over the centuries, and it gathered in a small lake. When it was first formed, it was mostly used by animals as a watering hole. But that was before the town, before people, before time had shrunk it to nearly nothing. Now, it was too shallow for anything, even for winter’s bitterness to freeze it over. It stood stagnant and brown and cold, and not even the most desperate beast touched it.

So there was nothing around for miles when Ivan finally broke the surface with a loud, gulping gasp.

He dragged himself to the bank, ignoring the burning in his arms and legs, from weary muscles that had spent an hour keeping his head above the water before giving out completely. Fortunately for him, he’d lost his strength at the mouth of this lake. He’d simply gone limp and let its current carry him here.

As soon as he felt the dry, frozen earth under his hands, he collapsed, face down in the dirt. He didn’t care that he looked horrendously undignified. There was no one around to see him, and besides, he’d earned a moment of exhausted self-pity. His plans - the Society, the gun, his army - all lay in ruination at his feet. Four months of tireless work and it’d all be destroyed by a gaggle of prying, headstrong fools.

He let an angry fire blaze through him for a minute. It gave him something to focus on that wasn’t his aching face, where he’d been headbutted and punched. Something that wasn’t his wet robe, making his internal temperature drop even faster than if he’d been wearing nothing at all. The rage that boiling in his blood made him forget all that for just a moment.

But it couldn’t last forever. He couldn’t stay out here in these wet clothes and find somewhere out of the cold, or he’d freeze.

This was, after all, only a momentary setback. He wouldn’t be thwarted. Not until he finished what he needed to do.

He rallied all the strength he had left in his body, and pushed himself onto his hands and knees. A powerful shiver nearly knocked him back down, but he ignored it. He wouldn’t be out here for a much longer. From watching McGucket’s memories, he knew that, not far from here, was a system of caves, all connected under the waterfall near Gravity Falls Lake. Inside were tiny little creatures that could make fire if they were struck together. That would suit Ivan’s needs just fine, for the time being.

With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself up farther, going slowly, until he’d gotten back to his feet. He stumbled a bit, his limbs still heavy from the time he’d spent underwater, but he caught himself before he fell. Then he pulled his heavy, wet robe over his head and shucked it off. He tossed it to the ground. Wearing it while it was soaking wet like that would only put him at greater risk for hypothermia. It wasn’t as though he needed it anymore anyway.

As he turned, he saw, over the treeline, a great manor, looming over him, perched high on the hills. It seemed to be looking down upon the humble town beneath it, proud and arrogant and fully prepared to rub the townfolks’ collective noses in its decadence. It made Ivan sick to look at, but he also knew that, with any luck, it wouldn’t be there for much longer.

He began walking into the forest, making sure the manor never left his sight. It was his beacon as he sought his shelter.

The Northwest family had so much to answer for. Not just the ones currently living, but the generations that had come before them. One-hundred and forty years of Northwest blood, building their legacy on lies and deceit and fear, reaping the benefits of their treachery and leaving the weak to wallow in whatever meager fate the accursed family had left them to.

He was going to burn it all to the ground.

---

Yl clckw uylbcpq gl rfc lgefr Ugrj Lmprfucqr Kylmp gl fgq qgefr Msp fcpmcq’ rpmzjcq ypc lmr wcr bmlc Dmp Gtyl’q qafckgle fyq hsqr zcesl