#ship: summer/liberty

[chazmcfreelyhater]

This old art was a hit w the mysims fandom so after 3 years (?) i redrew it🫡

heres the OG if anyone wants it. both of them are MID in my eyes i hate drawing and creating

[rabbitcruiser]

Ellis Island opened as a US immigration depot on December 31, 1890.

[sl-vega]

SWEET N’ SOUR ! - a scaramouche celebrity smau

˚୨୧⋆｡ synopsis:  the bright lights of fame and fortune aren’t for everyone, and you’re starting to think you’re part of that majority. You just can’t seem to catch a break! Every movie you’re in goes straight to DVD, every album you drop just barely gets any streams. From child star to sub par popstar, it seems clear that the world has some kind of vendetta against you and you love to blame it on a certain rising musical sensation; Scaramouche. Thanks to your godforsaken luck you happened to go out with the wrong guy at the wrong time because he just so happened to be Scaramouche’s ex, next thing you know you wake up to truck loads of death threats, your record label dropping you, AND a whole album labelling you as the ‘other woman’! After what seemed like a never ending onslaught of straight bullying and harassment, you had long since retreated from the limelight, the only thing left from your music career being ever so occasional covers on YouTube that only your few close friends watched religiously. However, after writing a heartfelt original piece and uploading it from your humble bedroom, it goes viral! A single song has thrusted you head first into stardom once more, and face to face with the person you ruined it for you.

genre: rivals to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies/rivals to friends (?) to lovers, celebrity smau, singer smau, social media au, modern au, gn! reader

warnings: cursing, kms/kys jokes, mentions of death threats, brief slut shaming, just parasocial fans and weird behaviour towards celebs in general (much like irl unfortunately), photos are used as placeholders and are not meant to depict reader's appearance

status: ongoing!

side ships: lumine x ayaka, beidou x ningguang, kokomi x gorou

additional notes:

so um, THIS smau will get consistent updates trust me this time (no click bait)

i actually had to physically restrain myself from posting this the second I made it, so by the time the masterlist is out i'll probably have most of the first act planned out/maybe even fully planned out

inspired by the sabrina carpenter and olivia rodrigo drama!

^^ not a one to one creation ofc I obviously took some creative liberties

i'm aware this isn't really a trending topic anymore, but I thought it would make a damn good fic!

taglist is open! comment/ask to be tagged!

[🍬] means the chapter contains written content!

PLEASE let me know if I can use your username as a fan, the main reason I can't mass produce chapters is cuz I need fan names T^T

dividers by @nicodefresas and @aquazero

-> OPENING ACT

TEASER 001 // TEASER 002 // PROLOGUE

˚୨୧⋆｡ STARRING:

0.1; winx club on crack // 0.2; d1 y/n haters

ACT ONE; that's that me espresso!

01; it's brutal out here // 02; caffeine high // 03; hot cacao in hotter weather - [🍬] // 04; have you ever tried this one? // 05; you'll just have to taste me // 06; in my good graces - [🍬] // 07; bleeding me dry like a vampire // 08; not in my time zone but you wanna be // 09; it's been a cruel summer - [🍬] // 10; good 4 u // 11; dancing with the stars - [🍬] // 12; two steps back // 13; twiddling my thumbs // 14; looking at me - [🍬] // 15; in another life - [🍬] // 16; on air! // 17; don't just stand there staring honey - [🍬] // 18; floatin' through the memories // 19; short and sweet - [🍬] // 20; maybe we could've been friends

ACT TWO; girl, so confusing

21; - // 22; - // 23; - // [TBA]

ACT THREE; i'm so obsessed with your ex

[TBA]

ACT FOUR; you make me wanna make you fall in love

[TBA]

🍬 (open) taglist: @shrii-kk @freyao7 @analiee6 @thetwinkims @bellflower1257 @blvdmrcnry @bloukoup @yuan1819 @yourstrulymauki @fungaltoehehe @enrions @atlatcaheart @mywillt0live @myeomiz @adornavia @automaticpatroltragedy @scaraenthusiast1 @sesamemin @syunifu @blueberrybxba @fishii28 @a-sorrowful-tune @emvss @jiminscarmex @mwaiu @lloversss @d4y-dr3am3r @usagiarchive @idaissupercool @raytoebiter @lizzie-harper @anqelkoz @blue-moonies @lalalaloveallmydays @jinjjjia

[loudclan-clangen]

The World Ender by Lord Huron would be perfect for this moon

Anon you're so right and also I'm losing my mind over this song rn.

I had been imagining "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash for this moment but this song has all the vibes I loved from that one plus lyrics that are literally perfect for Wildfirecry, this is such a good pick!

Okay, SO: 7 farm cats attacked Fiercestripe's patrol. 4 of them were killed (Coal, his two sons, and one of Bee's sons), and 3 of them survived, but were wounded (Spider, Bee's other son, and Butterfly's son). These 3are the cats that Wildfirecry tracked down and killed in Moon 29 Part 3. He didn't kill anyone but those 3 toms!

No artistic liberty here! Wildfirecry committed at least three real life war crimes!

Absolutely! There's not a whole lot more to them than what is shown. I haven't put a ton of thought into Forestclan because they're already gone, but I imagine that they were a lot more religiously focused than Loudclan is. Their Starclan literally lived in the stars, and thus they were almost everpresent during the winter, and absent in the summer, when they were believed to hide underground. For this reason, if a cat died in the summer their body must be buried in order to join Starclan, and if a cat's body could not be buried, then they would be lost to wander until the sky darkened again. On the other hand, if a cat died in the winter, they would be left out to decompose in the open air, so that their spirit could ascend up to join Starclan in the sky, and burying them would leave them lost until Starclan returned underground. The rites that Wildfirecry performed doesn't allow for either of these fates. It traps a cat's soul somewhere in the middle, suspended in the air too low to escape into the sky and to high to shelter underground. I don't know if I've talked about it before, but I don't think the valley territories have a dark forest or equivalent "cat hell", so this is truly the worst punishment that Wildfirecry can bestow upon them.

It's Fiercestripe we're talking about here, she didn't waste time with some lovey-dovey good bye. She wants vengeance just as much as Wildfirecry does, if not more, and she only has a moment to speak to him. They'll have time for softness later, for now Wildfirecry has a job to do and she's here to help him do it.

I imagine that Rosehiptree would have been the one person Wildfirecry told that he was leaving. Quietly, before he excused himself, he told her that if he hadn't returned within a moon that she needed to go to the Black Water Pool and get her lives. While Wildfirecry didn't intend to lose all of his lives, he didn't want to promise to come back when he couldn't assure it, and honestly dying and passing his lives on to his only remaining daughter to make sure she outlives her illness is not necessarily a total loss in his book. Rosehiptree did that math, and considering everything she knew about her dad, decided that he was definitely not coming home. She relied a lot on Songpaw after their conversation, and even now that Wildfirecry's back and she's doing a little bit better, she still treats him as her anchor. She knows that Wildfirecry HAD to go do what he did to be able to live with himself, she's even thankful that he did it so that she doesn't have to fear Spider coming back, but he still left her when she needed him, and Songpaw didn't.

Thank you! That's a great compliment! I think it's pretty likely that you've spotted at least one of the ships being foreshadowed in Moon 30, but the real question is did you catch them all???

[frodosrings]

okay guys... the announcement is finally here...

join us for.....

☀️SAMFRO SUMMER☀️

myself and @silme-lorien present to you all the Samfro Summer 10 Day Event! From July 1st-10th, join us in creating writing, artwork, and any other creative endeavour for Samfro Summer! This 10 day event will have daily summer themes that we can all follow along with, and you can post your works with the hashtag #samfrosummer !! the daily themes are listed below :)

Day 1: Large Gatherings / Festivities examples/prompts:

county fair, carnival, summer festival, backyard parties, cultural celebrations, weddings, party time, meeting family

Day 2: Sun / Heat examples/prompts:

solstice, freckles, sunburn, tanned skin, sweat, blinding lights, searching for shade, sunrise/sunset, glowing, ethereal, wind/breeze 

Day 3: Nature / Wilderness  examples/prompts:

camping trip, hiking, bonfire, wildflowers, stargazing, shapes in the clouds, grass beneath your feet, mountains, wildlife, storms

Day 4: Rebirth, Regrowth, Rejuvenation examples/prompts:

finding yourself, family, change of seasons, trying something new/trying again, refreshing love, planting the seeds

Day 5: Snacks & Refreshments  examples/prompts:

lemonade stand, ice cream, picnic, barbeque, cooking together, picking berries, come over for a meal, farmers market

Day 6: Summer Pastimes  examples/prompts:

reading a book, lazy mornings, going for a walk, hammock, summer routines, boredom, domesticity, loving in secret

Day 7: Water / Beach examples/prompts:

beach day, swimming, tanning, in the sand, cooling off, lakes/rivers, cool bath, waterfalls, a quick dip, skipping stones

Day 8: Games & Creativity  examples/prompts:

board/card games, art, writing, muse, sports, sculpt, gifts, scrapbook, paint, teaching the rules, having fun, crafting, sewing

Day 9: Hard Work examples/prompts:

yard work, gardening, building something, rekindling, getting out of your comfort zone, chores/housework, making up

Day 10: Wildcard   examples/prompts:

it’s a wildcard!! create something for a summer prompt we haven’t covered OR go back and do a prompt you couldn’t get to / had more than one idea for :)

GET EXCITED!

Rules below:

DO:

from the daily themes, either pick one of the “example/prompts” (or combine a few) or choose your own related to the daily theme and create a work of writing/art/some other creative endeavour to share!

tag your works each day with #samfrosummer

support each other! reblog and share one another’s works/pieces!

tag nsfw/mature/triggering content properly, we want everyone to be included and we don’t want anyone to see things they are uncomfortable with

create some hype so we can get this event to as many people as possible! reblogs on this and/or @silme_lorien ‘s post is greatly appreciated!

use the same hashtag if you post your works on other sites so that we can keep them all together

take creative liberties! make works in canon universe, in different au’s or timelines, gender-swapped, anything you want! all we ask is that you stick with the daily summer related theme :)

send an ask to mine or @silme_lorien ‘s inbox if you have any questions!

let us know if you will be participating!

DON’T:

spread hate or ship discourse. don’t like? don't participate! easy

if you live in the southern hemisphere, i apologize and please ask that you still participate and just pretend it will be summer in july :P

[the-universal-sun]

On what age range does Stan regress? And also what type of agree gear does be use? Just politely asking as a fren :3

Yes! Thank you friend for the ask! There’s going to be more coming this way because I’ll have entirely too much time on my hands in the next few days! So please enjoy this too!

Can you guys tell what book I apparently really like?

I don’t think there’s a solid age he regresses down to, like consistently, I think it’s around the 2-5 mark, unless something happens or he’s feeling extremely distressed, then he regresses down younger. Which, in that case, means he HAS to have someone take care of him. Which is probably going to be Ford, he’s the only one he can really trust to care for him in the way he needs when he feels that young.

As for gear, it depends.

If Fiddleford is his caregiver (and even though this would be in the early 80s we are going to be anachronistic. This is fiction we can take liberties) then he’s getting at least one pacifier. Fidds probably made it for Stan so he doesn’t mess up his teeth even more, and he probably made it to have a cute little nickname spelled out. I like to think Fidds uses food/southern nicknames for Stanley when regressed, so think something like “Pumpkin” or “Junebug”. He does have his “Poindexter” plush that he’s had since he was 19, but Fidds does win him a really big Duck plush when the fair comes to Gravity Falls. He has some sippy cups because he has a tendency to tilt the cup all the way up and pour his drink all down his face and clothes. He really only has some footie pajamas for when it gets to be winter up there. It’s not easy to come by someone who will custom make clothes in gravity falls, especially nothing like the kind of clothes Stan wants. So he mostly settles for some softer clothing with fun designs and patterns. Nothing vibrant that’ll hurt his eyes. Sweats and grandma sweaters mostly. Fidds makes sure he has a lot of paper and coloring books with as many crayons and markers as he wants. He loves to color and draw. He also has some blocks, a lite brite for when the lights needs to be off so his eyes can rest, play doh, and fighting robots to name a few. He has a few story books that Fidds will read to him. Fidds wants to spoil him, but he knows that he can’t buy Stan everything he wants to, so he does what he can (for now…)

If Ford is his caregiver (we’re doing Grunkle Ford for now) then he is going to do his best to spoil Stan with all he wants as much as possible. From buying stuff online (the internet is marvelous!) to making/inventing it. Ford’s got Stan enough pacifiers stashed around the ship and later shack to have a different one every day. He’s getting Stan sippy cups of all kinds of patterns and designs. it’s easier than cups for him if he’s got dentures since he likes to take those out. He’s got one bottle for the times he’s feeling extra small. He’s got some nice and warm footie pajamas for when they’re in the Arctic, and some lighter ones for more general use-sometimes his brother just needs a lazy day where he can wear what’s basically pajamas. Those kinds of footies are going to be the kind that are animal themed with the ears and tails-Ford thinks they’re so cute. He’s also got some nautical themes pajama sets for the summers spent in Gravity Falls. That’s not even accounting for all the soft handmade sweaters Stan’s got from Mabel that he wears-his favorite having dinos on it-and the soft pants and shorts he feels more comfortable wearing now that his secrets out in the open. I’ve already mentioned Poindexter, that’s a staple for any kind of regressed Stanley, and I mentioned in a few posts Shanklin 2, the stuffed Opposum Ford gets Stan after finding out he’s barely got any Little stuff. He will give Stan all the toys he had back in Jersey and all the toys he’s ever wanted. Legos, blocks, slinkies, playdoh, etch n sketches, fighting robots, hard to break tea sets, coloring books, fancy crayons (This is art, it deserves the best!), anything Stan looks twice at really. He goes a bit overboard, but he’s just trying to make up for all the years he’s missed out on. Also Goodnight Moon, can’t forget that book. That’s Stan’s favorite out of the multitude of books Ford reads to him.

Now if it’s just Stan regressing by himself? He only allows himself the bare minimum. He has Poindexter, an old onesie he allowed himself to buy a few years beforehand, and old and worn pacifier, some crayons, coloring books, blank paper, Ford’s old coat that he likes to wrap around himself when he misses him, a sippy cup, and Goodnight Moon. He feels guilty letting himself indulge. He feels ashamed to be acting like that, a child, to be needing his paci and sippy cup, even in the privacy of his own home, even though he can’t help it. So without anyone there to tell him it’s okay, he doesn’t allow himself to indulge or to spoil himself like he is when he’s being taken care of.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

June 17th

~*~

1. Any fics with Wei wuxian getting excited about Lan zhans ankles or period typical immodesty? @cratastica

~*~

2. Hello! ITMF canon-divergent fics where Wei Wuxian cultivates to immortality as a teen/young adult (IE before he dies in canon). Could be as a child genius, in his teen years, during the sunshot campaign, during the Yiling era, etc. I would love to see how the story would play out differently with immortal!WWX. Thank you all! @gloriousclotpole

💖🔒 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, YLLZ WWX, Arranged Marriage, political scheming, Gratuitous Domesticity, Mutual Pining, EXTREME SLOWBURN, the inherent eroticism of the forehead ribbon, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, neither wwx nor lwj want to be Perceived, but sorry kids! it’s gonna happen!, rated E but the the NSFW stuff doesn’t begin until chapter 19!, bottom LWJ in chapter 20 and 27)

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3. hello! thank you for your work.

i have a request for the next in the mood for, if that's okay.

i recently read an oc/self-insert/reader transmigration fic into mdzs world and i was wondering if there's more of them available. shipping/non-shipping involved, anything is fine.

thank you again.

i told you when i came i was a stranger by Caramelized (M, 50k, OFC/LXC, minor WangXian, Isekai, Transmigration, Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Amateur cartography, Butterfly Effect, Sunshot Campaign, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, No Golden Core Transfer, Dimension Travel, Politics, LXC the politician, Self-Insert, Foreknowledge, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Wait a minute! by Anonymous (T, 45k, WangXian, World Travel, Dimension Travel, Canon Divergence, Transmigration, I'm Going To Create a Fic That is So Self Indulgent, you guys know the story u make up before you sleep? yeah this is it, Crack Treated Seriously, Everyone Lives, Fluff and Angst, Attempt at Humor, Isekai)

🔒 Dream Before Daybreak by vermillion_crown (M, 189k, JZX & OCs, MM & OCS, WWX & OCs, LWJ & OCs, LXC & OCs, WIP, Major Original Character(s), Canon Divergence, Worldbuilding, Xianxia, Transmigration, Reincarnation, Isekai, Self-Insert, POV First Person, POV OC, Unreliable Narrator, Potty Mouth Protagonist, (narrator has a temper), JZX is going to have a friend, Drama, Dark Comedy, Gender Roles, (are turned into breakfast rolls), Genderfluid Character(s), Liberties taken with Imperial Chinese History and the Chinese Language, (家族祖先饶命...), Political Intrigue, Magic and Science, Physics, Mathematics, (a surprising amount of STEM concepts for a fantasy genre), The bilingual/diaspora experience as taken to the extreme with transmigration)

🔒 by foot it's a slow climb by Vroomian (Not Rated, 78k, LWJ/WWX/OC, WIP, Canon Divergence, Threesome - M/M/M, Polyamory, boys being dumb, Reincarnation, cultivation station, made up cultivation bullshit, gee LWJ how come your brother lets you have two oblivious boyfriends?, Jealousy, Unrequited Love, Requited Unrequited Love, Love Triangles, butterfly man meme: is this flirting?, give! LWJ! friends!, knock knock it's bad luck!, bad luck who?, Oh, will we ever know what happened with the jins?signs point to no, dubiously reliable narrator, Comedy, Drama, Self-Insert, OC(s), LQR voice: finally some good fucking nephew in law options, (ha ha ha syke), (yrz is a Mess) Rape/Non-con Elements)

~*~

4. Hi, I'm ITMF a fic where; (a) Wen ning has a partner(s) Canon, post-canon or Canon divergent. He gets to explore sex and his sexuality not necessarily as the main character. I'd prefer his ghost general form and a male partner NOT jwy. @purplefuzzypickle

the hardest part of ending (is starting again) by KouriArashi (T, 23k, LXC/WN, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, Reconciliation, Hopeful Ending) Not sure if it covers sex (rated T) but this looks promising

Nie Huaisang's Boyfriends at Evil Summer Camp by alate_feline (E, 18k, NHS/WWX, NHS/LWJ, NHS/WN, JC & NHS, Summer Camp, Qishan Wen Indoctrination, Implied/Referenced Torture, Spies & Secret Agents, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Canon-Typical Violence, Fake/Pretend Relationship(s), Developing Relationship(s), Homework, Fix-It of Sorts, Instant Plot Derailment Just Add Polyamory, Dubcon Kissing, Caught Smooching, Consensual Sex, character attempts Black Widow style spywork and accidentally achieves a polycule, forward momentum, manipulation at its finest, Friendship/Love, Solidarity, slight suggestion of bdsm, Canon Divergence, Characters Are Adults, Trapped In A Closet, Have to hide a body, Rooming (Imprisoned) Together at Wen Evil Summer Camp, Hurt/Comfort, crack, Poisoning, sprinkle of betrayal, Background Character Death, Sabotage, Infiltration, kinda psychological warfare?? but sexy, implied ace JC, allergies as a plot device, NHS has a plan, And Then It Got Out of Hand, Coming of Age, life in a prisoner of war camp, Canon Typical Hostage Situation, Daring escape plans, Pre-Xuanwu of Slaughter Scene, Totally Successful Seduction, some spicy espionage, NHS is a fantastic manipulator of emotions, brief explicit sexual content, Oral Sex, Frottage, ADHD King NHS, Borders of Infinity, idiots to found family, this is very much the NHS show, fuck around and find out, breaking news: actions have consequences, open relationships for everyone, intricate polycules are my aesthetic) And this is set during Wen Indoctrination so he's still alive, but i highly rec

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5. ITMF for any animal/creature hybrid WangXian! Giggling Foxes and Grumpy Dragons and all that jazz pls! (Or anything that involves them being animals in general)

Dazzle Like a Diamond by Tsukimiko_san (T, 4k, WangXian, Dragon LWJ, Crow WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, No Angst, ok maybe a tiny sprinkle of angst but like, usual LWJ thinking WWX is just teasing him, it doesn't last long, Getting Together, they are both so whipped, Boys Kissing, Courting Rituals)

cloudy autumn heaps the sky by anatheme (T, 23k, WangXian, Fantasy, Universe Alteration, Secret Identity, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, WWX is a little older here, WWX piling gifts on LWJ and encouraging hoarding tendencies, Sharing a Bed, Literal Sleeping Together, Arranged Marriage, of sorts)

醉 | drunk; intoxication by sweetlolixo (E, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Mythical Creature WWX, everyone falls in love with WWX at first sight…, Besotted LWJ, Romance, Pregnant WWX, Fluff)

💖 Hoards and treasures by  apathyinreverie (T, 21k, WangXian, Siblings, Family, not particularly Jiang friendly, YZY Bashing, slightly darker Gusu Lans, LXC being the best brother, Some manipulation, But with the best of intentions, and   not between wangxian, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Smitten LWJ, Fluff, perfect   happiness, adorable WWX, Romance, Some worldbuilding, courting)

🔒 flame and rust by Reverie (cl410) (M, 34k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, dragon WWX, The BSSR lineage are dragons, Canon Divergence, Happy Ending, BAMF WWX, Child Abuse, via Madam Yu, Fluff and Humor, Protective Siblings, Time Skips, Supportive LQR, Angst, Golden Core Reveal, Good Uncle LQR)

in the arms of the angel by ScarlettStorm (E, 37k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Fox WWX, animal rescuer LWJ, Minor pining, major shenanigans, Comedy, Smut, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Adhd WWX, the mortifying ordeal of getting your head stuck in a peanut butter jar, and getting subsequently rescued by your crush, there were in fact two beds, but LWJ knows what he's about, Blowjobs, Frottage, switch rights, Scent Kink, mildly telepathic sex, courtship via kittens)

Snow Burns and Fire Falls by Liebing (T, 12k, wangxian, Fluff, Fox WWX, fox LWJ, snow fox LWJ, red fox WWX, Childhood Friends, Orphans, LXC is 8 years older than LWJ, LWJ and WWX are besties, LXC is the best big brother, WWX is adopted by the Lan clan, Happy Ending, Sweet, soft, Cute, Fluffy, Jealous LWJ, WWX has the whole of cloud recesses in love with him… baby LWJ is pouty, LQR loves WWX, Literally everyone loves WWX, The entire Lan clan: we would die for little WWX, Thwarted dog attack, LQR trying to arrange marriages, Time jump forward, No one is harmed in the dog attack not even the dog, Clan leader LXC, Jealous WWX, Oblivious WWX, love at first kiss, Wangxian fox babies)

The Dragon's Bride by jaws_3 (T, 34k, WangXian, Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Arranged Marriage elements, Slow Burn, sometimes ya get sent off to atone for ur villages misgivings and u just gotta deal, Dragon LWJ, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending, Spanish Translation Available)

These Mortal Treasures by ChilianXianzi (T, 9k, WangXian, Fantasy, Canon Divergence, Dragon LWJ, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Possessive LWJ, Domestic Fluff, implied eggpreg, Dragonji's hoard is 1 (one) WWX, The Cultivation World's canonical fuckery, eggyuan!, Gift Giving)

To lurk, to lie in wait by trippednfell (M, 124k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Huli Jing, strangers to co-parents to lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Dragons, Kid Fic, teenage juniors, background NieLan, Angst with a Happy Ending, Case Fic, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Not Really Character Death, Fox Spirit WWX, Dragon LWJ, Blood and Injury, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note)

🔒 Turnabout by apathyinreverie (T, 7k, WangXian, WIP, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Tiger cub A-Yuan, Mischievous WWX, Smitten LWJ, Possessive LWJ, Oblivious WWX, Domestic WangXian, LXC does his best, LQR wishes his nephews had better taste in men, Fluff, Romance, Mpreg mentioned, courting, creature shifts)

~*~

6. Itmf a fic where wwx got raped when he was still living in the streets! I don't want it to be explicit with the rape tho, also if he still has his normal personality but still very traumatized the better! Thanks!

~*~

7. Hello! This is for ITMF - Can you and the community please rec your favorite teen pregnancy fics? Canon or modern era is fine. My only restriction (if you can even call it that) is that I want it to be wangxian and wwx to be the one who gets pregnant. I know that there is a pregnancy comp. I'm specifically looking for fics that deal with the theme of teen pregnancy or something similar.

The Winner Takes It All by YilingSani (M, 46k, WangXian, Modern, Single Parent WWX, LWJ doesn't know he has a son, Old Friends, One Night Stands, No Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Forgiveness, Second Chances, Inspired by Mamma Mia! (Movies), Teen Pregnancy, Mpreg, mention of miscarriage, Birth Trauma, amniotic fluid embolism)

part 5 of Blue Blood series by PotterheadAvengerDemigod (T, 90k, WangXian, A/B/O, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Parent-Child Relationship, Adopted Children, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Parenthood, Post-Canon, Implied Mpreg, Grief/Mourning, Identity Reveal, Love, Unplanned Pregnancy, Teen Pregnancy, Mpreg, Discussion of Abortion, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Reunions, Childbirth, Not Everyone Dies)

In which Lan Qiren eavesdrops and gets a new nephew (and grandnephew) out of it by h0peless_oblivion (M, 64k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, LQR & LWJ, Modern, High School AU, A/B/O, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Mpreg, Teen Pregnancy, Shotgun Wedding, Good Uncle LQR, Madam Yu’s A+ Parenting, WWX almost gets disowned for getting knocked up, But the Lans take him in, Fluff and Angst, Family Feels, Unspecified Setting, WWX Has ADHD, A-Yuan is Wangxian’s son, Pregnant WWX, Humor, non-graphic birth, Family Drama, The Lans love wwx, Male Lactation, Mild Smut in later chapters, wangxian’s canonical breeding kink, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, WIP)

🔒 Choices/you can live with/ by Nyatci (E, 76k, WangXian, Jiang Family & WWX, WWX & YZY, Underage, Non-Traditional A/B/O Dynamics, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Intersex Omegas, Nonbinary NHS, High School, Teen Pregnancy, Mildly Dubious Consent, Non-Explicit Sex, Miscommunication, Discussion of Abortion, Character considers having an abortion but changes their mind, Good Parent YZY, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mpreg, Underage Drinking, Slow Burn, POV Alternating, classmates to co-parents to lovers trope, Bullying, Explicit Sexual Content, Male Lactation, Lactation Kink, kinks are mild, WangXian Have a Breeding Kink, with art)

Favors from family by h0peless_oblivion (T, 1k, WangXian, LXC & LWJ, Modern, A/B/O, Mpreg, Pregnancy Scares, High School, good brother LXC, Teen Pregnancy, almost, Family Feels, Fluff, Humor, Gremlin LXC. LXC has to drive Wangxian to get a pregnancy test, Omega WWX, Alpha LWJ)

(Un)forgettable by Edens_Cat & VividestList (E, 67k, wangxian, LWJ & LSZ & WWX, WWX & WQ, modern, misunderstandings, angst w/ happy ending, kid fic, teacher WWX, single parent WWX, amnesia, protective WQ, protective LSZ, smut)

~*~

8. Any Wei ying gets adopted into the lan clan when you g and then betrothed to lan zhan? @yesibest

how a smiling homeless child melted jade hearts and got a homeby anxiouswreck0_0 (T, 41k, wangxian, canon divergence, lan WWX, childhood friends to fiances, fluff & angst, fix-it of sorts, character death, possessive LWJ, dark LXC)

藍色的花，紅色的蘭 {Lan se de hua, hongse de lan} by Admiranda, AshayaTReldai (M, 45k, WIP, WangXian, Orphan WWX, Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, wwx raised in the lan clan, softer lqr, Good Uncle LQR, Good lan clan, Good Older Sibling LXC)

🔒 Life is Like a Stranger by through_shadows_falling (T, 69k, wangxian, Kid Fic, Child LWJ, Child WWX, First Meetings, Canon Divergence, Cute Kids, Orphan WWX, Autism Spectrum, Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Canon, POV LWJ, Growing Up Together, WWX raised at Cloud Recesses, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Puberty, Growing Up, Coming Out, teenage angst, Wet Dream, Pining, This fic gets a little raunchier as the kids become teens, But it won’t get too explicit, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Spanish Translation, Brief mentions/moments of WWX kissing others in chapter 22 but only on the cheek, also characters kiss WWX on the cheek in chapter 23, but his real first kiss is with LWJ, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian)

soft-hearted by sarahyyy (G, 6k, WangXian, Childhood Friends, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, First Kiss, Wedding Fluff)

❤️ All will be well when the day is done by abCEE (T, 76k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix It, Not Jiang Family Friendly, JFM & YZY Bashing, YZY Bashing, Definitely not YZY centric, Fix it for our main characters, Time Travel, Butterfly Effect, Madam Lan Lives, No Sunshot Campaign, Artistic License, Unreliable Narrator, JC Bashing, non-yunmeng WWX, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Good Uncle LQR, OOC, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, WWX gets the love and care that he deserves from the very beginning, Mainly CQL but has elements of the novel as well, WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiangs, verbal and physical (c/o Zidian) abuse from YZY)

~*~

9. hi again! i've got to say, your blog really is a life saver, thanks sm for the suggestions! for the next itmf, do you have any fics with wwx mentoring the juniors during a night-hunt? similar to the hook extra in the novel. would prefer if it was set post canon and if the night-hunt/mystery was the focus of the fic rather than romance (but wangxian is still fine ofc). please NO ships between the juniors tho. thanks! @harapecowee

爱不释手; never let me go by yiqie (E, 68k, WangXian, Case Fic, Blood and Injury, Demons, Body Horror, Mystery, The intrinsic horniness of wound tending, Yearning 2: The Electric Boogaloo)

Wearing Down Every Bone by CSHfic, VSfic (E, 30k, WangXian, Groundhog Day, Time Loop, Temporary Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Case Fic, Curses, Pining, Getting Together, Time Travel, Night Hunts, Hurt wwx, Mystery, Angst with a Happy Ending, Use Your Words, Mutual Pining, Depression and Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, gratuitous use of empathy)

your words upon my lips by uchiuchi (T, 17k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Fluff, Curses, no sad times only good times, Canon Compliant, Romance, they are married!!, Let LWJ Say Fuck, Case Fic)

~*~

10. Do you know any fics about the Banquet where WWX drinks the cup for LWJ and where the cup is poisonned/drugged and either WWX, either Xichen, either both are poisonned/drugged?

At the bottom of the bottle, you're the poison in the wine by KatAnni (T, 11k, WangXian, JC & WWX, JC & WWX & JYL, WWX & WQ, Fainting, Angst, Poisoning, JZN is an asshole, Golden Core Reveal, Fix-It, a little poisoning will solve all your problems!, Hurt/Comfort, POV Multiple, Attempted Murder, Everyone Lives, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon Divergence)

every breath that comes before by tardigradeschool (T, 10k, WangXian, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Poison, Golden Core Reveal, Sharing a Bed, Hair Brushing, Angst with a Happy Ending, PTSD, WWX's terrible self-esteem)

🔒 After Truth Lies the Honest Path by Vrishchika (M, 11k, wangxian, WIP, Canon Divergence, Truth Serum, Angry WWX, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Mild Angst, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Everyone Lives, Getting Together)

~*~

11. your favorite post-canon fics? thanks for all the hard work!

And Yet Here You Are by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, Cloud Recesses, settling down, Separation Anxiety, Teacher WWX, very light angst, Chief Cultivator LWJ)

Deeper grows my longing by feyburner (T, 4k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Getting Together, First Kiss, Deeper grows my longing [podfic] by someplacelikebolivia)

I’m Going Out (Gonna Make A Name For Me And You) by cosmicmilktea (T, 16k, wangxian, post-canon, chief cultivator LWJ, Mentor WWX, intersect relations, slow burn, sickness)

🔒💖 When has silence saved anyone? by Vrishchika (T, 6k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, Post-Canon, LXC Critical, Gusu Lan Sect, Not for LXC Fans, novel canon, Salt, Angry LWJ, Angry LSZ, Family Feels, WWX Protection Squad, LXC Gets Scolded, Based on Chapter 99 the Novel)

Rarely Pure and Never Simple by thunderwear (Not Rated, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Truth Spells, Curses, lan juniors, First Kiss, Love Confessions, LWJ is panicking, the juniors are freaking out, WWX to the rescue, Post CQL, Getting Together)

Something Yet to Learn by Glitterbombshell (T, 16k, WangXian, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff) WWX accidentally becomes a teacher to some baby Lans

that friend who is my beloved by laallomri (T, 34k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Curses, Case Fic, Established Relationship, Happy Ending)

ruined me with your regard by laallomri (T, 46k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Introspection, Epistolary, it is not all letters but there are quite a lot of letters, Discussion of Canon Events, Pining)

a kind of emptiness by ScarlettStorm (E, 11k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Eating Disorders, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Eating Disorder Recovery, low angst, Happy Ending, seriously in spite of the tags this fic is very soft, Tender smut, Frottage, Praise Kink, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note)

Mud on Your Feet by AvoOwO (Not Rated, 59k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Nightmares, Sentient Burial Mounds, Burial Mounds, Possession, Panic Attacks, Night Terrors, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Good Sibling JC, Hurt WWX, Soft WangXian, Feels, Blood and Injury, Hallucinations, Delusions, JC Loves WWX, Insomnia, Good Sibling WWX, Sleepwalking, Sleeptalking, LWJ just wants to sleep with his husband, Protective JC, WWX Sees Dead People, LJY pulls through, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses, PTSD, Post-Canon, YLLZ WWX, resentful energy, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Thirteen Years of WWX's Death, WWX's Three Months in the Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, WWX is tired, LWJ literally just wants to sleep with WWX again is that too much to ask for??, Soft JC, Yunmeng Siblings Feels)

Home, Family; a Safe Feeling by Thinking_of_Wolfie_Fluff (T, 6k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Bittersweet, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Gusu Lan Forehead Ribbon, Gusu Lan Sect, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Soft WangXian, Married WangXian, WWX Loves LWJ, WangXian in Love, WangXian Get a Happy Ending)

~*~

12. hey admins! itmf sick wei ying fics! thank youuu

hunters seeking solid ground by Attila (E, 23k, wangxian, Canon Compliant, discussion of canon character death, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, bed sharing, Getting Together, Yearning, Literal Sleeping Together, Really Excessive Amounts of Hurt/Comfort)

something left to save by androids_fighting93 (E, 57k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, No Bloodbath of Nightless City, JYL Lives, Not Everyone Dies AU, Hurt/Comfort, single dad wwx, Sick Character, Golden Core Reveal, the lightest d/s dynamic if you squint, handjobs, Anal Sex, Canon-Typical Dynamics)

Grace and a tender hand by feyburner (T, 4k, WangXian, Modern, First Date, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Fluff)

Sick Bed Reserved In Gusu Lan by scifigeek14 (T, 14k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Sick fic, Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Golden Core Reveal, Fix-It)

~*~

13. Do you know any fics where we can see Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian being friends, where Xichen help his brother and WWX, or where Xichen saves WWX from Madam Yu's abuse?

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 828k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) It's a small part of the overall fic, but LXC & WWX have a friendly relationship in this, with LXC treating him as another younger brother

💖 Hoards and treasuresby  apathyinreverie (T, 21k, WangXian, Siblings, Family, not particularly Jiang friendly, YZY Bashing, slightly darker Gusu Lans, LXC being the best brother, Some manipulation, But with the best of intentions, and   not between wangxian, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Smitten LWJ, Fluff, perfect   happiness, adorable WWX, Romance, Some worldbuilding, courting) link in #5

🔒 Modern Cultivator AU by Netrixie (M, 74k, LXC/NMJ, WangXian, WWX & LXC, JYL/JZX, JC/NHS, LXC & LWJ, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunk LXC, Modern Cultivation, LXC is horny on main for NMJ, LXC centric, WWX is an enabler, Attempt at Humor, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Getting Together, Everyone Lives, Minor Original Character(s), the nie clan is life, NHS could be a criminal mastermind if he really wanted to but he uses his powers for good, the plot exists merely for LXC to get some dick so don't think too hard about it, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Mutual Pining, Long-Distance Relationship Feels, LWJ is a good brother, communication is key, NMJ is a multi-texter, Established Relationship, Platonic Love, Sibling Bonding, The mortifying ordeal of loving and being loved in return, Fluff, Light Angst, LXC deserves good things and by god he's going to get them) Modern AU but my bookmarkers' notes say that LXC and WWX are established friends in this series

Nursery Rhymes by manaika (M, 96k, WangXian, NieLan, Modern AU, Inexperienced WWX, Experienced LWJ, Reconciliation, Budding Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Unreliable Narrator, Medical Inaccuracies, Slow Burn, Past Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Found Family, Past Injury, Nurse! WWX, Doctor! LXC, Teacher! LWJ, Character With A Heart Condition (Major), Past Incarceration (Major Character), Underage Character With Leukemia (Minor)) The best LXC & WWX friendship I've ever read

~*~

14. sorry if you’ve already had this before, haven’t gone through all the posts, but if you’re still doing in the mood fors, any fics set during the 13 years or later, where lwj and wwx were secretly together before wwx died? thanks !

~*~

15. hello! i have yet another hyper-specific itmf request, so no worries if nobody has any recs lol. i'm looking for any fics that involve a character having to relearn how to communicate with others. like, (re)learning how to speak mandarin or how to act "normal." recovery fics also might count? i've recently realized this is a type of fic i really like for some reason so i'm looking for more! any setting is fine :)

this is weird enough that i want to explain it just to be clearer, so,,,, some examples in fics i've read are: zombie wei wuxian, whose mental faculties are only just coming online after being braindead (in A Corpse Called By Name); and wei wuxian being displaced in time, forced to learn modern mandarin instead of the ancient language he speaks (in The Shade of Old Trees). i know this next one isn't a mdzs fic, but another example would be xie lian in A Long And Slow Recovery, in which he just got out of the coffin and is struggling to act human and recover fully.

thank you so much!!! <33 @kisskissgotohell

🔒 Confusion by Vrishchika (Not rated, 5k, wangxian, time travel)

Wrong Turn, Right Place by diamondbruise (E, 71k, WangXian, Time Travel, kind of, it’s more reality travel but there’s modern wwx and cultivator lwj, Mutual Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending, Jealousy, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Misunderstandings, Cultural Differences)

忘不了你的爱 (can't forget your love) by PorcupineGirl (G, 25k, WangXian, Time Travel, Modern Cultivation, Canon Divergence, Time Traveler WWX, discussion of canonical character deaths, a whole lot of handwaving, conveniently localized fires, Discussion of Canonical Suicide Attempt, mostly happy but slightly bittersweet ending)

Cloudy Memories Recessed by FirefliesNLightningBugs (M, 7k, JC & JYL & WWX, WIP, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Sunshot Campaign, Good Person JZX, Good Sibling JC, Good Sibling JYL, Amnesia, (kind of), Weird Magic, Demonic Cultivation, post WWX disappearing during sunshot campaign, POV Alternating, POV JC, POV JYL, POV WWX) starts to do this sorta, in that he's not really aware of/reacting to his surroundings in a "normal" manner.

~*~

16. Thank you for all you do 💕 Itmf feral/sick alpha wwx soothed by omega lwj

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17. itmf a fic where lwj has a thing for wwx calling him gege or er-gege ♡︎

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[usafphantom2]

#TomcatTails

#TomcatTuesday

Single Engine Divert to Kuwait

I supremely enjoyed my time in the VF-154 Black Knights onboard the USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) from 1998-2000. Our Air Wing was CAG 5 and we had 3 Hornet squadrons (VFA-27 Royal Maces, VFA-192 World Famous Golden Dragons, VFA-195 Dam Busters), VAW-115 Liberty Bells, VAQ-136 Gauntlets, VRC-30 Rawhides, VS-21 Fighting Redtails, and the HS-14 Chargers. That’s a LOT of airplanes on the little ol’ Kitty Hawk but she was a very capable boat and ran her smaller flight deck very efficiently.

Back in those days, the Kitty Hawk/CAG 5 team would typically have a “Spring Deployment” from March to June or so, then the “Winter Deployment” from September to November. Our principal focus was the Korean Contingent, the war plans for what the US would do in the event a million screaming NORKs came flowing south into South Korea. The initial responses would generally be USAF assets with the Kitty following up in about a week after the flag went up. It was a pretty interesting battle problem for the Air Wing because the NORKs had a REALLY heavy IADS (Integrated Air Defense System) and a massive air force, arguably of mostly older Vietnam-era jets, but if you’re getting run down by THIRTY MiG 15s, you may have a problem.

At any rate, in 1999 we got roped into the Arabian Gulf rotation because there was a gap in CNVs that we had to plug. At that time, it was still kind of that Operation Southern Watch thing with a no-fly zone enforcement over Iraq, along with a new thing called Response Options (RO). Essentially, if the Iraqis did something untoward (flew combat jets, lit off SAM radars, committed hostile acts, etc.) then that would trigger a “Response Option” mission designed to basically swat their nose with a newspaper. We didn’t get to pick the targets, we didn’t even get to pick the ordnance. It was “hit this target with this sized bomb on this date and time”. We kinda knew what we were doing with Weaponeering (the science of blowing shit up) by then and didn’t need the help, but oh well. And the ONE TIME I got to drop a bomb in anger was for an RO mission. I’m no war hero compared to so many other Tomcat drivers out there but at least I got to fire a shot in anger. But that’s a story for another #TomcatTails. This one is about flying a heavy Tomcat in the HOT Persian Gulf when something goes wrong.

On this particular deployment we’re part of the RO team so we had a pretty cool load out.

- 1 x Phoenix (station 1B)

- 2 x ‘Winders (stations 1A, 8A)

- 1 x LANTIRN Pod (8B)

- 2 x GBU-16 (1K pound LGB; 3, 6)

- 1 x “stinger” Sparrow in the belly (4)

We’d drag that load around all the time (same in the image with this poast) as it was highly versatile and we loved the GBU-16, calling it the “Gentleman’s GBU”. It was a great weapon with outstanding penetration characteristics so it was a good all around boom-boom and wasn’t especially heavy or draggy. Contrast that with a GBU-12. Only a 500-pound bomb so some targets might not be destroyed enough. Then you had the GBU-10, a 2,000-pound monster that would blow the living shit out of anything but were VERY heavy and draggy. No, we preferred the trusty GBU-16.

We’d chopped into the Persian Gulf by April and started up our patrols. By the May/June timeframe it starts to get pretty hot in the Gulf. The water gets up to 82° which heats the ship, the air temps get into the high 90s, and it’s just another summer in the Persian Gulf. All the former Persian Gulf Sailors can attest that it’s just balls hot there. Consider as well that aerodynamically, the worst performance envelope for aircraft is “hot, high, and heavy”. We certainly didn’t have the “high” part at sea level, but we had the “hot and heavy” in spades. It has to do with hotter air being less dense and offering less Bernoulli’s under the wing to keep the plane flying. Or something like that. I was a Geography Major……don’t ask me.

On one fine, sunny (hot) Friday, myself and Huey man up for a standard RO patrol flight providing presence over Southern Iraq for a few hours. It was generally a “double cycle” with a standard cycle of the flight deck being 1.5 hours. Launch, gas up, patrol, gas up, patrol, gas up, patrol, gas up, recover. Pretty simple operations. Except this day. And I remember it was a Friday because we were wearing our “shit hots”, a term used for the special flight suit all squadrons have made based on their unit colors. Ours, of course, were all black with embroidered insignia, etc., hence the “shit hot”. That comes into play later.

We bang off the cat and start our climb out at 7 miles from the boat on the assigned radial. Normal Case 1 departure is to launch, do a quick clearing turn left or right to get out of the way of the ship, level off at 500 feet and then at 7 miles start your climb on the daily assigned radial from the ship. During our climb out, wouldn’t you know we get a Master Caution flashing light on the main instrument panel and I look down/right at the CAP or Caution Advisory Panel to see which of the 52 possible warning (yellow) or advisory (green) lights needed attention. Shit. A right Breather Pressure light.

The Breather Pressure light was a relatively new light for the F-14A. I don’t recall the exact year, but it became known that excessive engine breather pressure was an indication of possible catastrophic engine failure (BOOM!) and the light came on to give you time to reduce power and assess. It was a “land as soon as possible” emergency, so kind of a big deal. In certain situations you could leave the bad engine at idle (night, bad weather) but normally you’d shut it off and recover single engine. Also key to note here, when this warning modification first came out there were quite a few false alarms, making us recover single engine at the boat with a perfectly working motor shut down (causing you to think about the risk balance there). That created a little skepticism about the Breather Pressure light but we’d generally honor it. And in this case we did.

First, we’d just launched so we’re WAY fat on gas so gotta start dumping. Dump is on and Huey starts talking to the boat as we arc around left to get behind the ship anticipating a single engine straight in. I think we climbed to 8,000 feet and shut the motor off and arrived at a holding position behind the boat. The Tower said to let them know when we were ready. “Roger that” as we now start to prepare for the single engine trap. They’re pretty varsity, but during the day not THAT scary. It takes some rudder to keep it all balanced but all in all it’s manageable if you stay in front of the jet.

We were having trouble getting all the fuel to transfer out of the drop tanks because those use a fuel pump to move and we had one engine off, lowering the fuel pressure a bit. We eventually get to where we can start slow flighting the jet to see if we can’t get to landing speed (15 units Angle of Attack or AOA). I think maximum landing fuel was like 5,500 pounds or something so we dumped to 7K just to test the jet. The right drop tank still had 500 pounds in it which you can’t land with….eh, I’ll get to that later.

We drop to about 5K feet and start to slow down. 250 gear down….200 flaps down…..speed brakes out…..slower….12 units……13 units…..and WOOPSIE DAISY we depart to the right. Full power, clean up, get the nose above the horizon aaaaaannnnd, we’re flying again. Hmmm. Let’s try that again. Gear…flaps….speed brakes…..13 units…OFF WE GO. Recover. Dammit. Hot and heavy is not a place to be a test pilot so I tell Huey we’re going to Kuwait while we still have the gas. He says “Really?” Yup. Call tower and tell ‘em we can’t get to 15 units and we’re going to Kuwait. He does.

Tower comes back “Stand by Knight 102.” Pause. Obviously, my CO, ships CO, CAG, Admiral are all talking. “102, Tower. We’d like you to try and slow flight one more time to see if you can’t get to on-speed.” Easy for you guys to say sittin’ next to the cookies. I tell Huey to tell them “no” and switch to Red Crown (Gulf air control cruiser). Huey again, “Really?!?”. I don’t normally talk on the radio but I’m the Pilot in Command and wanted to give Huey some backup so I key and say “Tower, Knight 102. We’re unable to get on speed with this jet so we’re going to divert to Kuwait. Switching.” That last switching comment is to indicate we’re leaving the radio frequency because we’ve made our decision and the conversation is over. One doesn’t do that much in a career, but they didn’t sign for the jet, they weren’t single engine in a heavy jet on a hot day, and they weren’t going to get wet or worse if this went badly, so see ya later. I tell Huey to switch. “Okaaaay”, he says a bit in disbelief. This actually was a very valuable lesson for him later in the Knights on a divert to a Japanese airfield. If you’re airborne, take no shit.

And so we start the route to Kuwait. Nothing really fancy. Just trucking along. At this time, the Air Force had set up shop at Kuwait International Air Port a number of years previous and had quite an operation. A tent city, catered food, a post Exchange (WalMart), jets, bunkers, and all the things you need to run a small Air Force det. Some of the USAF brethren can expand on that as my interaction there only lasted a couple days.

One “funny” thing happened on the way to Kuwait. Over your left knee in the Tomcat are your engine instruments in the form of white vertical tapes with all white maxed out, all black means off. They’re RPM, TIT (Turbine Inlet Temperature), and Fuel Flow which is the primary engine gauge used to set your power. We’re just tooling along, left tapes in their proper ranges in white, right tapes all black with the motor off. At one point I glance down just as the LEFT Fuel Flow tape rolls down to zero, all black, indicating the engine just shut down. This is another of those instances my Dad (a Naval Aviator) called “a shot of cold piss to the heart”. You know that shudder you get when a cop car lights up behind you? This is like that but times 100. I take a breath and then realize that RPM and TIT are fine. Move the left throttle a bit and see a response. Left engine still running. Perfect time for a Fuel Flow indicator failure right? Cool, cool.

We start our approach to Kuwait and honestly the landing was fairly uneventful. We took an arrested landing just to be safe. After we shut down in the wire and hopped out to look at our stricken jet, I asked one of the USAF dudes for a spike or a heavy screw driver so I could open up the engine bay door to take a look. We always got funny looks from USAF Airmen when we’d ask for a tool. Did it quite a bit, really. I pop the bay door open and WOOSH, a couple gallons of oil come pouring out. Whattya know? The motor had entirely shit the bed and the Breather Pressure light was accurate.

Huey and I are wrapped for the day so we go in search of a place to eat and sleep. Now remember when I said we’re wearing our black shit hots? Well now we’re just getting stared at wherever we go. “Who the f**k is THAT in the black flight suits??? U2 guys? Spies???” I imagine them saying. Stares, points and whispers. We ignore it and find the chow hall. Or shall I say catered cafeteria. Loads and loads of wonderful fresh food, fruits, vegetables, desserts. This is a constant feather in the cap of the Air Force….they know how to take care of their people.

Onward to lodging. We’re directed to some tent to check in. But on the way there we notice….an above ground pool with a deck around it. And on the deck are a bunch of lounge chairs. And laying in the lounge chairs are a number of attractive bikini chicks. Wait. Bikini chicks? 5 Star dining? The only thing that could make this better is if they got paid extra to be here. Oh, hang on. They do. Per Diem, bikini chicks, great food. Sign me the F up!!

We eventually find our lodging and get assigned a tent. We figure this is just gonna suck for a day or two so we get ready to embrace that suck and move on. We head to our tent, walk through a double fly kind of thing and…..it’s like 65° in there!! There’s a massive A/C duct on one wall, exhaust on the other, and you could literally hang meat in there in the middle of the desert in the summer. WTF??? I always said you can never be too comfortable on cruise but this is ridiculous.

We make a quick run to the post Exchange for essentials and then start shooting the shit with several of the Air Force dudes. After explaining our flight suits (because EVERYONE asked about them), they were interested to hear about life on the ship from these two strange Navy people. And naturally, we eventually asked in hushed tones about where one might find an adult libation in this desert paradise. “Oh, there’s no booze here” we’re told.

Me: “Yeah, sure. I get it <wink>. Then where’s the….uh….medicinal supplies <wink>.”

Them: “Honestly, Sir. There is none. That’s a big deal here.”

YGBSM! (You Gotta Be Shittin’ Me). No booze in this place? What’s WRONG with you people?!?!? Ah well, better luck next time. In all honesty, our USAF hosts were very kind and polite and we really appreciated their hospitality (even if they were holding back about the booze thing).

I don’t recall if it took 1 or 2 days to repair our jet, but the Kitty sent a C-2 Greyhound COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) with a TF-30 in can and the Maintenance Crews to swap the motor. After the swap Huey and I launched out and did a maintenance check ride on the motor before arriving back at the Kitty Hawk for an uneventful day trap. That really was quite a flight and an experience. Both of us learned quite a bit on that one. We knew the Air Force really took good care of their people but the expeditionary forces really got some top notch stuff.

But Bikini Chicks??? Sheesh…….

@VSE_VB via X

[pastlivesandpurplepuppets]

Some neighbors of the Malarkeys were keeping a watchful eye on “the little troublemaker.” But Michael Noland, the bewhiskered maritime pilot who lived next door, found him harmless enough; he believed Donnie just had a “sense of adventure.” Flask at his side, Noland would sit on his front porch with the boy and regale him with stories of guiding ships in from the Pacific Ocean across the Columbia River sandbar, one of the world’s most dangerous. “Donnie, at times them waves’d be three stories high,” he would say. “See that telephone pole? Them white horses’d snap that like a toothpick.” Eyes wide, Donnie glanced at the pole. “There’s a reason,” said Noland, “they call it the ‘Graveyard of the Pacific.’ ” “Sounds scary,” said Donnie. “Why do you do that, Mr. Noland?” “It’s the adventure, lad. It’s wondering what’s behind the next wave—and the one beyond that, and on and on.”

[...] In contrast to Michael Noland, some people regarded Donnie with a touch of suspicion. The issues? Mischief in general and marbles in particular. Donnie was such a good player that the kids in the neighborhood would routinely lose most of their marbles—and their allowances—to the kid who lived on Kensington Avenue.

[...] He lived a sort of Huckleberry Finn life, particularly in the summer on the river. He loved the land, loved the water, loved the freedom that came with both. The Northwest was rich in Indian lore, and when Louie Jacobson—half Native American—took Donnie under his wing, the boy relished the lessons he learned. Jacobson taught him to shoot a yew-wood bow and arrow, to trap small animals, and to catch crawdads. People joked that Louie was half-Indian—and Donnie full-blooded. He explored the river in an old rowboat, fished for sea-run cutthroats, picked wild blackberries, and camped on the riverbanks. No schedule. No responsibilities. Nobody to answer to—least of all his father, whose insurance business capsized in the Depression and who, if not lost at sea, was beaten and battered trying to stay afloat. His father was “never the same,” Don Malarkey remembered as an adult. “Just went numb.” Books deepened Donnie’s sense of adventure; like Mr. Noland, he began wondering what was beyond the next wave. When the rains came in November, he would curl up with Roy Rockwood’s Bomba the Jungle Boy series. Inspired by Bomba’s living-off-the-land spirit, he adopted a swath of alder saplings at Fifteenth and Madison as his own private jungle. He would climb to a treetop, grab a branch, start swinging it, then use the “whip” to send him to the next tree, where he repeated the process. He could go an entire block without touching the ground. If Bomba inspired Donnie to climb up, his own imagination inspired him to jump down. In the early 1930s, when the U.S. Army was only beginning to experiment with the idea of parachuting men out of airplanes, Donnie climbed to the roof of the Malarkeys’ two-story house. He popped open a beach umbrella and eased himself to the roof’s edge. As if he were the Statue of Liberty holding her torch, he thrust the umbrella skyward. And jumped.

~ Bob Welch

[creative-girl]

most vicious creatures: prologue

The moonlight filtered through the trees in the forest where Senior Auror Cressida Corner and two of her subordinates, MacMillan and Bloomwell, were hiding. They were waiting for Bones and Edgecomb to return.  They had gotten intel that Grindelwald’s fortress allegedly called Nurmengard was situated somewhere in the Black Forest, in Germany. Head Auror Scamander had trusted her with this mission and so far it was going smoothly.  According to sources Nurmengard had been abandoned. This is where Grindelwald had hid and that there is a chance they might still find leads. Grindelwald was a sneaky bastard. He had killed thousands of muggles and wixen alike in a series of massacres, starting from the February of 1914.  Cressida had been in her second year of the Academy when she had gotten the news that her mother and brother had been killed in an attack on a village in present day Austria. That was the first attack.  Her father had died prior to that in the Dragon Pox pandemic. She had no one. She had wondered for a long time who had killed them, and then in the summer of 1916, Grindelwald revealed himself. 

most vicious creatures: chapter 1

On a bright December morning the HMS Temeresi sailed into New York city. The sun was bright, and the sky looked young and without a trace of clouds. The seagulls welcomed the ship with their songs.  The passengers were all crowded on the deck welcoming the sight of the city, where most of them had come to look for opportunities and new beginnings. They leaned on the railing and pointed either at the approaching New York skyline or the Statue of Liberty.  The people were smiling and laughing, the children were running and happy, excited about what the city held for them. Amongst the crowd, on a bench sat a stranger looking at the statue with great interest.  This was Newt Scamander’s first time in New York. A tattered suitcase sat idly by his side. He had spent two years travelling the Americas but he had hardly visited a city, preferring to stay among the flora and fauna. He was a Magizoologist afterall.  One of the catches on his tattered leather suitcase flung open on its own accord. He closed it and lifted the case up to his lap. Newt was tall, lean and weather-beaten as his peacock blue overcoat, his hair was auburn, he had hazel eyes, and his face full of freckles.  He leaned and whispered like a parent gently warning a child “Dougal — settle down now, please. It won’t be long.” and rested his head on his hands on the case as he enjoyed the view of the approaching city. 

Please check out my Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them rewrite!! Been working on it for a whole year!

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Our Flag Means Death Season 2: Exclusive First Look

Vanity Fair joins Stede, Blackbeard, and the rest of the cast on set in New Zealand for an exclusive early look at the second season, debuting on Max in October.

BY SARAH CATHERALL (AUGUST 24, 2023)

Only the fans of Our Flag Means Death can determine whether they’ll be satisfied with the show’s second season, which debuts on Max in October. But if you ask Fernando Frias, who directed three of the season’s episodes, he sounds pretty confident: “If my life depended on saying whether it’s yes or no, I would say yes.’’

It’s December 8, 2022, and the principal actors on Our Flag Means Death as well as the 800-plus extras and crew members have three days left of their three-month shoot for season two. Things are starting to get emotional. “You’ve been the most amazing crew I’ve ever worked with,” says one actor as he wraps his final scene. Frias says it’s like leaving “a long summer camp,” adding, “it’s like a family.”

Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

The series created by David Jenkins was a surprise breakout hit when it debuted in the spring of 2022, building a fiercely devoted fan base with its silly yet emotional deadpan, and defiantly queer take on the adventures of real 18th-century pirates. Everyone involved in Our Flag Means Death is eager to preserve the surprises in store for season two, which kicks off with gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and softhearted bad boy Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) ruefully separated after finally realizing their love for each other at the end of season one.

It’s “going to be unexpected and surprising, but also very pleasurable and satisfying for those who like the show,” promises executive producer Garrett Basch. It “doesn’t follow the expected route,” teases Con O’Neill, who plays Blackbeard’s devoted enforcer, Izzy. All that means is we’re not at liberty to share too much about what happened on set that day, which included emotional conversations, new cast members, banter with the Kiwi crew, and some seriously killer costumes.

But these exclusive new images give a hint of what is in store. There are fresh faces—Minnie Driver will guest-star as the real-life Irish pirate Anne Bonny, and Ruibo Qian joins the cast as the mysterious merchant Susan—and a lot of New Zealand actors and locations, now that the production has decamped across the Pacific.

“The viewers will see the scope of their world has expanded based on the fact we’re able to get to these amazing locations within a short travel time,” says executive producer Antoine Douaihy. “You will notice a marked difference between the two seasons in terms of the scope and the scale.’’

Minnie Driver joins the cast this season as Anne Bonny. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

There will be plenty of familiar faces too, of course. On set that day in Kumeu, New Zealand, a rural area about 20 miles outside of Auckland, are Waititi and Darby along their fellow returning cast members O’Neill, Vico Ortiz (Jim), Kristian Nairn (Wee John), Joel Fry (Frenchie), Matthew Maher (Black Pete), Leslie Jones (Spanish Jackie), Samson Kayo (Oluwande), Ewen Bremner (Nathaniel Buttons), Samba Schutte (Roach), and more. New onboard are two Kiwi actors, Madeleine Sami (most recently of the Australian mystery-comedy Deadloch), and Samoan-born Anapela Polataivao. And there’s one returning figure impossible to miss on the soundstage: The Revenge, the stately ship that Blackbeard—a.k.a. Ed—commandeered at the end of season one. In real life it was carefully transported across the Pacific Ocean from the show’s original Los Angeles soundstages.

The Revenge is vast and impressive, much larger in real life than it appears onscreen. But it’s not the only stunning scenery in store. There are around 50 sets involved in the production of season two, including the 30-acre forest behind the Kumeu Film Studio, Piha Beach, and the wild, black-sand Bethells Beach.

Waititi, who also executive produces the series, was part of the push to film season two in his native New Zealand. “Taika is an extraordinary talent and what’s really great about him with his international success is he’s remained very committed to New Zealand and very loyal to our industry,” says Annie Murray, the CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission. “The beauty of filming in New Zealand is that you can find incredible varied locations within a very short driving distance. [And] when you get to those locations you can turn your camera in any direction.’’

Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet, filming at New Zealand’s Bethells Beach. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

The scope of the season is very evident back on set, as well. There’s a whole other pirate ship in addition to The Revenge, plus sets for a floating market, Stede’s cabin (empty when we visit), and the Republic of Pirates first glimpsed in season one. Behind the scenes it’s a maze of wardrobe, wig rooms, and dressing rooms. In another facility, props are stacked on shelves, ready to be taken away to storage as soon as filming wraps—vases, plates, antique furniture, and piles of mannequins replicating dead bodies which were used in one of the battle scenes.

Costume designer Gypsy Taylor joined the production this season and has designed hundreds of costumes, checking with everyone on set that day to make sure everything is in place before cameras roll. Taylor says each of the principals have six to eight looks in this season, and that every item—every leather belt, wig, bit of jewelry, even a mermaid tail—has been made by her 60-strong workshop. The costumes this season have a “Mad Max, ‘streets of New York’ feel,” says Taylor. “David Jenkins was keen to give the series a cool rock-and-roll vibe…so we had these rock-and-roll elements with an 18th-century twist.’’ As is evidenced in the image below, even Stede’s crew winds up with some unexpected new looks over the course of the season.

Wherever it is these Revenge crew members have found themselves, there’s something that surprised them. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

Two armies are part of the action in season two, all of them needing elaborate costumes—around 150 Chinese pirates and a fleet of 100 navy officers. Even the breeches are in studded black leather, and punkified. Says Taylor, “The theory behind their costumes is they would’ve stolen from other pirates…. Although our Wee John has started to become quite the seamstress, so he’s knitting this season.’’ True enough: Nairn is wearing what looks like a hand-knit sweater on set that day.

Wee John isn’t the only pirate getting into crafts. Nancy Hennah, who has managed the hair and makeup for both seasons, points to Blackbeard’s wig—made in London—and tattoos as Waititi works on set. With 14 tattoos on his right arm and 10 on the left, plus plenty of scars, he needs at least an hour in the makeup chair. “Taika wanted most of the tattoos to look like he’d done them himself,” Hennah says. “Like on slow days on the boat when there’s nothing much to do, they sit around and give each other tattoos.”

She gives a hint of a storm in one episode: “One of the hardest days here in makeup was when they were caught in a storm on the back of the boat. [The cast] were saturated for a whole day, which caused havoc with things like tattoos and hair, wigs and beards.’’

Taika Waititi as Blackbeard, who begins the season with a broken heart. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

By mid afternoon, Con O’Neill is taking a break in his trailer. He pulls his slim, leather trousered legs up to a corner seat. A candle blazes on the kitchen bench as the veteran actor talks about the physical endurance required during the shoot. “It’s been frantic,’’ he says. His signature gray hair barely moves, frozen by the team of hair stylists who arrived on set around sunrise. (All interviews with actors in this story took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike). 

Izzy “goes on a remarkable journey” this season, says O’Neill. “He understands what love is and whom he’s in love with.’’ On a series featuring a variety of joyful queer relationships—not just Stede and Blackbeard, but Black Pete and Lucius (Nathan Foad), Jim and Oluwande, and Spanish Jackie and her many husbands—Izzy’s unyieldingly straitlaced devotion makes him an odd man out. By the end of season one many fans speculated that Izzy was driven by something at the intersection of love and obsession. This season, according to O’Neill, Izzy gets even deeper into that dynamic. “Physically it’s been quite demanding, and also emotionally it’s been quite demanding to be playing a man enraged by unrequited love, who’s basically a hopeless romantic, and to be able to play all that and also remember that this is fundamentally a comedy.’’

Though the show is often warm and fuzzy when it comes to feelings—one of Stede’s mottos in season one is that when faced with challenges, “we talk it through as a crew”—Izzy represents the darker, more violent side of pirate life, which the show doesn’t shy away from either. “What I love about this show is it does allow itself to swing between the two,” O’Neill says. “We’re almost operatic in our darkness at times, and then we swing back to the sweetness of the simplicity of the love of our two guys. It’s been challenging just to get the tone right.”

“We’ve gone further this season than we did last season with those tones,” he continues. “So sometimes it’s quite interesting to remind yourself that you have to take your foot out of the tragedy—literally, your foot—and put it back into the comedy.”

With a season behind them to build the dynamics between the characters and the actors alike, on set there’s been “a lot more spontaneity and script revisions based on what’s happening day-to-day,” says Douaihy. “The cast are so comfortable with one another and their characters, that they move through it naturally.’’

Leslie Jones as Spanish Jackie and Taika Waititi as Ed a.k.a. Blackbeard. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

The way O’Neill puts it, they’ve also built trust with Jenkins, their showrunner, to follow some bigger swings. “I don’t think David Jenkins is ever going to follow an expected route. I’d hate to drive in a car with him.” Thinking of the fans who will greet the series when the show returns in October, O’Neill continues, “I think they’re going to appreciate what [Jenkins] wants. Season two does stick to the original premise that we created in season one, which is take it on to other levels.’’

One character leveling up in a major way this season is Jim, the quiet badass (there are knives involved) played by the nonbinary actor and activist Vico Ortiz. “Jim really evolves in season two,” they say. “They’re a bit more chatty and a bit more conversational…. Most of the first season you see Jim in disguise, hiding, but in this one you see them a bit more [thinking,] Oh, this is my chosen family, and I feel good. There’s a bit more zaniness and a bit more softness.’’

Like O’Neill and several other castmates, Oritz had attended their share of fan events by the time season two began filming, and the entire cast and crew returned to the high seas with a strong sense that their show had taken on a life of its own. “It’s so beautiful to see that people are finding community within the fan base. It’s about creating spaces where we feel safe and seen, and it’s so great to see that so many people watch the show and feel validated in their experiences, whatever that may be,” says Ortiz. “A lot of people that watch the show are like, “Yeah, I’m a guy and it’s good to see all these dudes being vulnerable.’ We can just shake up [ideas about gender].’’

Ruibo Qian joins the cast this season as Susan, a merchant with secrets of her own. COURTESY OF NICOLA DOVE/MAX.

Basch admits the fan following surprised some of the team, “but it made a lot of sense” too. After years of television shows and movies that built up the potential of queer romance only to stop short, Basch thinks the fervor for Our Flag Means Death “says that shows in the mainstream aren’t delivering that promise or that setup, and we have. That’s really why the fans have gone wild for it.”

That promise, it’s safe to say, is kept in season two, and then some. On set that day in December, for example, there was a major romantic moment between two key characters. But we’d risk Ed Teach’s wrath if we told you any more.

Source: Vanity Fair

[verfound]

FIC: "When Did You Get THAT?" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Lukanette Month 2024)

@lovebugs-and-snakecharmers is doing a Lukanette Month for September 2024, and we all just kinda tossed some prompts in the disco to compile a list?  We ended up with 71 prompts, so I decided I’d roll some dice to pick a prompt, do a twenty minute (ish, bc we all know sometimes they run away from me) sprint, and try to get some short fics out this month?

Also HUGE shoutout to @goldenlaurelleaveswrites , who is the Juleka Whisperer and absolutely saved this fic when my Get-the-Prompt-Donitis had Juleka sounding like a dyed Alya. You're the best, babes 🖤

Read on Ao3

Prompt 52: Piercing

Luka was…distracted.

Which really wasn’t saying much, because Juleka would argue he was usually distracted when a certain someone was around, but today was…worse than usual.

Because today was hot.

And had been set aside for a seasonal Mop Up Day – one of the few times a year the Captain actually tolerated the word clean on her ship.  And Marinette had come over with the best of intentions, not realizing it was a Mop Up Day until it was too late.  All Luka had told her, when she had first asked if it was all right to come over that day, was that they’d be busy all day and wouldn’t be able to have anyone over.  He had also had the best of intentions, wanting to keep her from getting caught up in the chaos that was the Captain cleaning.  He had also known that, because it was Marinette, she would totally offer to help, and while that was appreciated he had still wanted to save her from the Captain cleaning.  So imagine his shock when she showed up bright and early – at least for them – with a box of pastries and some harried excuses about how I know you said not to come over but if you’re busy you’ll need sustenance and pastries are always a great pick-me-up, right?

It was just…Marinette being Marinette.  Being the awesome girl she was.  But it had, unfortunately, also completely blown his plans to save her from cleaning, because she was a helper.  A doer.  And the next thing he knew, she was hauling boxes and mopping decks with the rest of them.

And he wasn’t complaining, because he would never complain about getting more time with Marinette, but…it wasn’t really fair.  For her, totally, because it wasn’t even her home.  Sure, she spent enough time there and often joked that it was like a second home, but the Liberty still wasn’t her actual home.  She shouldn’t be responsible for cleaning it up.

It also wasn’t fair to…well.  Him.  Because it was hot, and she had dressed appropriately for a late summer day, and sure he had seen her in shorts and swimsuits before but that never made it any easier when there was just so much Marinette on display.

…he was still a guy.  A guy who was still stupid in love with her, even if he was pretty sure it was no longer mutual.  A guy who was still stupid in love with her and had eyes.

Somewhere out there, up there, whatever (…probably hiding in her purse, or back in her bedroom but still somehow just knowing), the universe (or a tiny snake-shaped god) was laughing at him.  Uproariously.

He was probably playing his pain on fucking loop.

So now Marinette was sticking around for the mop up, and while she wasn’t stuck with the more manual tasks Luka had been assigned – like how he was currently on the roof of the greenhouse, replacing some panes that had broken in the last bad storm – she was still…there.  Distracting.  Because, if you asked Juleka, Marinette was always distracting.  At least for him.

She…really had a point.

Because he was always so aware of her, even when she wasn’t directly engaging him.  He was drawn to her, as he had always been, like a magnet.  Every time he heard her voice somewhere below.  Every time Juleka said something stupid that made her laugh.  Every time he looked up and saw the flex of her arms as she lifted something someone so tiny shouldn’t have been able to, or saw the curve of her ass on full display as she bent to pick something up off the deck.  The way her white tank top was starting to stick to her skin with her sweat.  The glimmer in her eyes when she called up to him and tossed a water bottle his way – “So you don’t overheat!”

…the little glimpse of something, something small and shiny, that he couldn’t be sure he was actually seeing every time that tank rode up just a little too high, which was happening more and more as the day wore on.

He couldn’t be seeing that right.  It had to be his imagination, or a hallucination, or…something.

Because there was no way he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

There was no way Marinette would have gone through with it.

There was no way in hell Tom would have let her.

And there was definitely no way she would have done it without telling him!

…right?

Not that…not that she needed to.  But they were friends – really good, really close friends – and they told each other stuff.  He had told her before he’d gotten his first tattoo.  And sure, that was partly because he’d been hoping she would design it, but…he had still told her.  She was actually the first person he had told, when it was still just an inkling of an idea instead of actual ink.

So wouldn’t she tell him if she was planning on…on…

She turned back towards Juleka, lifting an arm to wipe some sweat from her brow, and there.  Her shirt lifted just enough that her navel was in plain sight.  And she wasn’t moving.  And he could clearly see, glinting in the sun…

Juleka noticed it, too.

“Woah, Mari,” she said, her eyes widening.  Her hand reached out almost automatically before she seemed to catch herself, and Marinette frowned as she noticed Juleka was staring at her…she squeaked and went to tug her shirt down, but Juleka put a hand on her arm and made her pause.  “Can I…is that what I think it is?”

“It…ah…” Marinette stammered, but then she was looking towards the deck as she nodded, lifting her shirt up just a bit more to reveal…holy shit.  Juleka gave her a Look, and she rolled her eyes and sighed as she lifted her shirt even higher.  Luka swallowed, his throat suddenly too dry.  There was a tiny, pink flower – a cherry blossom, he was sure, because what else could it be with her, made of glittering pink crystals – nestled perfectly in her belly button.  A smaller white stone poked through her skin just above it.  It was…it was…

…hot, a tiny, strangled voice somewhere in the back of his mind offered, most unhelpfully.

“When did you get that?” Juleka asked, her eyes widening even more.

“Not that long ago,” she said.  She started to lower her shirt again, but Juleka shook her head as she reached out to stop her.  She looked up at her with a grin, one Luka had seen too many times over the course of his short life and now had Marinette looking away anxiously, clearly uncomfortable with her scrutiny.  There was a blush on her face.  “It’s…it’s still new.”

“Not that new,” Juleka said, and Luka watched in something akin to amazement – or maybe just…bafflement – as she reached out to poke her fucking stomach.  She seemed to remember herself just shy of actually touching Marinette, but Marinette – who was too familiar with such oversteps from other people who had called themselves friend over the years – flinched away all the same.  It was enough to make his fists clench against the roof, and the next thing he knew he was making his way down to the deck and over towards them.  He didn’t care if Juleka was his sister: she knew better, and even if she had opened up more over her time in lycée – mostly thanks to friends like Rose and Marinette – she knew shit like that wasn’t ok.  He noticed she did pull back as his boots touched the deck, her hand moving to rub at her elbow as she looked at Marinette’s stomach.   “…sorry.  But it can’t be that new, Marinette.  It’s not even swollen anymore.”

“Juleka…” she sighed, and Luka felt himself swallowing again when she glanced over at him.  Her face turned several shades darker as she saw he was no longer on the roof, and that almost gave him pause.  “Cut it…come on.  It’s not a big deal.”

Juleka followed her gaze, and her grin turned positively wicked when she saw him, and that was around when Luka realized they were both fu…doomed.  His swallow was more of a gulp that time as Juleka coughed and nodded towards him.

“…have you told Luka yet?” she asked, her voice just loud enough for him to hear as he walked towards them.  There was a moment – an almost painful moment, as his boot landed heavy on the deck behind Marinette and her entire body seemed to tense before she spun around, her eyes wide and her face several shades darker than it had been moments before.  And she looked up at him, her eyes wide and kind of terrified and so, so blue, but…she was still holding her shirt up.

It would have fallen, if she hadn’t still had her hands twisted in the hem so tight he was surprised it hadn’t ripped.  If she hadn’t frozen upon seeing him right there, in front of her, with his eyes glued to the piercing like some creep.

“Did you know, brother dear?” Juleka asked, her voice entirely too innocent as she smirked at him from over Marinette’s shoulder.  He swallowed, and her grin grew.  “Me neither.  But I must say: it looks hot.  Don’t you think?”

“I think I liked it better when you were too shy to speak…” Marinette grumbled, her eyes dropping to their feet.  Luka was pretty sure he was supposed to be yelling at Juleka – or corralling Marinette below, away from the ‘good-natured’ teasing and to the safety of his bunk, where she would be more comfortable.

…because they were friends, and she was comfortable with him, and this conversation was clearly making her so very…not comfortable.

“Come on, Jules,” she sighed, her eyes still on her feet.  “It’s not a big deal.  It’s just a belly button ring.”

“Lay off, Jules,” he said, finally tearing his eyes away from the piercing to glare at his sister.  “You’ve had your fun.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started, brother dear.  You, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are pierced,” Juleka snickered, grinning at her.  She nodded towards Luka.  “You officially have more holes than that idiot.”

“Juleka!” they both snapped at her, but she just laughed – outright cackled, like the little witch she was – before looping an arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

“Seriously.  Did you lose a bet or something?  I wouldn’t have pegged you as a belly button ring girl,” she quipped.  Her grin was almost feral, and Luka honestly wasn’t sure if the blush on Marinette’s face was from embarrassment or frustration.  Probably both.  He was starting to feel frustrated himself.  “Probably some more on your ears.  Maybe a nose ring.  But your navel?”

“Juleka –” he started, but Marinette huffed as she tried to shrug her off.  Juleka took her arm back, her expression wavering for a moment, and he was relieved to see that.  Good.  Maybe she was finally getting the picture.

“Shut up, Juleka.  It wasn’t like that,” she said, her hands still twisting just enough in her shirt to keep the piercing revealed.  He was trying his level best to ignore it.  “I just…thought it was cute.  And Rose agreed, and she thought –”

That was enough to catch her attention.

“Wait, Rose?” she asked, her eyes widening as she looked up at her.  And that…that look on her face possibly made up for how much he wanted to throttle her, putting Marinette on the spot like that.  Like she wasn’t finding her game very amusing anymore.  That dawning look of horror and realization as she connected some dots in her head.  “Son of a –!”

“No, Juleka, wait –!” Marinette called as she spun away from her, but it was too late.  Juleka had the look about her of a woman possessed, and Luka knew nothing they said or did would deter her from her goal.  “You weren’t supposed to know yet!”

“I need a break!  Tell Ma I’ll be back soon – text me what you want!” Juleka called, and then she was gone.  Marinette blinked before turning back to him.

“Did…did she actually say where she was going?” she asked, her fingers still twisting anxiously in the hem of her shirt.  “I’m assuming she’s going to see Rose, I mean, but…”

“She’ll have to bring something back if she’s going to convince Ma she’s not just shirking her duties,” he said, shrugging.  “Might as well take advantage of it.  I dare say she deserves it.”

Marinette groaned and dropped her face in her hands – finally dropping her shirt in the process.  Luka couldn’t stop the way his eyes flicked down, or the way he reflexively swallowed when he still saw a glimmer of pink along the strip of still-exposed skin.

“Rose is going to kill me,” she said.  “It was supposed to be a surprise.  She didn’t want Juleka to know until it had fully healed – hers got…why am I telling you this???”

She had squeaked out the last question, and she was peeking out over her fingertips at him.  He shook his head, chuckling slightly as he smiled at her.  It didn’t feel as easy as his smiles for her usually did, which was…weird.  He hadn’t felt this off-kilter around her in…well.

That wasn’t fair.

He usually felt off-kilter around her.

He was just…usually better at hiding it.  At least he liked to think he was.

“Because we’re friends?  And we talk?” he hazarded.  He reached out, laying his hand on her arm and rubbing…it was supposed to be soothing.  Comforting.  He hoped it was, for her.  His skin felt like a livewire where they touched.  That damn piercing was still taunting him, begging him to reach out and…  “I’m a little surprised you hadn’t told me yet, honestly.”

“Because it was supposed to be a surprise,” she huffed, rolling her eyes.  “It…I mean…I didn’t…”

“I’m sorry she kept on you like that,” he sighed, squeezing her arm before removing his hand.  He shoved them in his pockets, where he was thankful to find a spare pick he quickly started flipping between his fingers.  Anything to fidget with.  Anything to keep him from…  “She knows how much that sucks.  She shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that.

“I’m not embarrassed,” she was quick to say.  He lifted an eyebrow, and she pushed out a breath as she rolled her eyes.  “I’m not.  I just…she just…I was going to tell you, Luka.  I was.”

“I know,” he said, because they told each other stuff like that.  He had no doubt she would have told him.  When she was ready.

“Do…” she glanced back down, her teeth worrying her lower lip in a way that was just as distracting as the damn piercing.  “…do you like it?”

…he would have told her he liked XY, with the way she was looking up at him like that.  He was amazed she even had to ask.

Like it?

Did he like it?

He didn’t like it.

He loved it.

He was…actually having some very inappropriate thoughts about just how much he loved it.  Thoughts he probably shouldn’t be having, considering…

“Yeah,” he finally said, swallowing thickly as he nodded.  Her smile turned a bit easier, and he reached out to flick a finger against her shirt.  When she didn’t flinch away, he lifted it just a little.  Just enough to fully reveal the little flower glinting up at him.  His eyes flicked up to her, his smile growing as his finger brushed the warm skin stretched out in stark contrast to the cool silver of the piercing.  It had to be his imagination, but he would have sworn she shivered at the touch.  “It’s pretty cool, Marinette.”

The smile she gave him at that was one of his favorite things, and he found himself smiling back as she ducked her head, a pretty blush on her cheeks.

“C-cool,” she stammered, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear.  Her other hand reached out, her fingertips brushing against his until she had pulled his hand towards her, and his breath caught as she threaded her fingers through his.  As she held his hand and smiled up at him like…he twisted their hands, pressing their palms together and  brushing his thumb against hers.  Her smile turned easier, and she took a step closer.  One more step, just one, and she’d…  “Cool.”

[the-al-chemist]

Human Errors

I’m publishing this story as part of @hphm-ship-week, for the prompt “Second Wizarding War”. I actually wrote the first draft of this about three years ago. It came to me after reading an online discourse about how people should know better as they get older than to make mistakes. Perhaps this is true, but it isn’t the case. To err is human. We never stop making mistakes. We are all mainly making it all up as we go along.

With that in mind, this story is for anyone who has ever made the realisation that they’ve gotten to the point where they thought they’d know it all, but still feel like they don’t know anything. Welcome to the club.

Warnings: mentions of death, war, grief, trauma and PTSD.

Dragon wasn’t usually allowed on the bed. He had his own basket in the kitchen, where the stone floor was cool in the summer, and the oven warm in the winter. His master did let him into the bedroom occasionally, but even then he was expected to lie on the rug. It was a special occasion when he was permitted to go “up”.

In the last few days, though, there had been a lot of special occasions. One each night, and every morning. Either that, or this newcomer was just a bit more lenient than his master was. He didn’t really care what the reason was, however. He was just happy to make the most of it.

A creak on the bottom step this morning made Dragon roll off his back and onto his belly, which his honorary packmate had been scratching for him a few seconds earlier. He let out a low growl.

“It’s just me, Dragon.” As his master’s voice called up the stairs, Dragon stopped growling, and wagged his two tails. “Am I alright to come up?”

The female human moved beside Dragon so that she was more upright. “Yeah.”

Dragon’s master smiled as he reached the top of the staircase, carrying what looked like two narrow, tall water bowls.

“You’re taking liberties again,” Charlie muttered as he sat on the end of the bed. He passed Artemis one of the mugs of tea and added for her benefit, “Him, not you.”

“I guessed as much,” replied Artemis, taking the mug from him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I thought that if I was going to wake you up, I should at least bring you tea.”

“I was already awake.”

“Right.” Charlie inclined his head and took a sip from his tea, regarding Artemis over the top of the mug. She had yet to drink, and was instead staring at the wall opposite the bed, chewing the inside of her gum and tapping one finger against her own mug. “You know, you don’t have to wait for it to cool down. It’s not actually that hot.”

Artemis said nothing. Charlie tried not to sigh as she continued to ignore the drink in her hands. She had been in this state for four days now, ever since he had awoken to the sound of banging at his front door and opened it to find her on his doorstep unannounced, broomstick in hand and completely bedraggled.

He had known immediately that something was very, very wrong. She had clearly flown to the reserve overnight — and that wasn’t exactly a short journey to make — and from the grimly panicked expression on her face, she’d done so out of shock and desperation. If that wasn’t enough, the fact that she couldn’t even find the words to tell him what the matter was when he asked her paid testament to how shaken she was.

It took a lot to shake Artemis Hexley.

It wasn’t until after he’d arrived late for his shift and been remonstrated for it by his boss Magda that he found out what the reason was behind Artemis’ unexpected arrival. It was all anyone was talking about: the death of one of the competitors during the final challenge of the Triwizard Tournament. His heart sank further when he learned the name of the victim.

Diggory. Cedric Diggory. No wonder Artemis was in such a state.

He had decided to act as if he hadn’t heard about Cedric’s death. Knowing Artemis — which he did, very well — there wasn’t much point in forcing her to talk about it. She’d speak when she was ready. In the meantime, he’d just have to wait, and hope that he’d not have to wait too long.

That morning, though, he had received a letter from his family in England that had made him rethink this strategy. The news they’d sent was… strange. Strange, terrifying, and overwhelming.

There was a growing pit of uneasiness in his core as he considered his next move. Somehow, though, he managed to force a smile and a tone of voice that could almost pass for cheerful.

“I was just thinking,” he said, scratching Dragon the Crup behind his light brown ears, “that maybe this morning you’d like to come for a walk with me and Dragon, before it gets too hot.”

Artemis’ answer was simple: “No, thank you.”

“Or we could go for a fly after breakfast?” Charlie persisted, smiling in spite of Artemis’ blank stare and his own feelings of dread and fear. “I just think it might be good for you to do something other than sit in my bed all day, that’s all.”

Artemis’ eyes narrowed, and she pursed her lips as she slowly turned her head towards him.

“Is that your way of saying you want your bed back?”

“No. Not at all, I just thought you could do with getting some fresh air and a change of scenery. Maybe even eat a vegetable, and have a shower.”

Artemis frowned, and sniffed herself in a way that was almost subtle — subtle for her, at least. Charlie’s smile became entirely genuine for a few moments, before it faded. He wasn’t getting anywhere with this. He didn’t want to, but he was going to have to push the subject.

“I got a letter from Dad this morning,” he said, not sure even as he spoke how this conversation was going to go. Judging from the way Artemis had already stiffened, it was unlikely to go well. “He was talking about some stuff that happened after the last challenge, and it was a bit confusing. From what he said, it sounded like you might know what he was going on about, so I figured that I should probably just ask you about it.”

A tense silence hung in the room. Artemis shook her head.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, eventually, her voice quiet and hoarse.

“Yeah, I know, but I just want to understand what… it doesn’t make any sense, what Dad’s written. His letter says that You-Know-Who… that he’s back,” Charlie frowned, and Artemis shuddered. “Is it true?”

Artemis merely nodded in response. Charlie swallowed, hard.

“And Cedric?”

“He’s gone,” Artemis closed her eyes. “He was killed.”

“In the challenge?”

“By… him.”

Charlie swore under his breath, and ran a hand through his hair.

“How? Why?” he asked, his voice catching with both one-word questions. “What happened?”

“The Cup. It was turned into a Portkey, transported Cedric out of the maze. Your brother’s friend, too,” Artemis still hadn’t opened her eyes. “Apparently there was a duel and some Death Eaters, and You-Know-Who. Alive. They came back and Cedric was… Everyone was screaming, and crying, and then there was all this chaos, and there was a Death Eater spy at Hogwarts. I saw Dumbledore afterwards and he told me all of it. I didn’t know what to do, so I came here.”

Charlie had to force himself not to put his arms around her. His chest tight from the gravity of the news and aching for his friend’s sake, he drew a shallow, almost painful breath before speaking again.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know how.”

That was fair enough, he supposed. The whole situation was so bizarre and terrible that it was hard to know what to think, let alone how to talk about it. Still, he wished she had told him. This was important, after all.

“That’s alright,” he said, with a shrug. Artemis shook her head.

“No, it’s not. I should have told you.”

“You didn’t know how. I wouldn’t have known how to say it either, it’s so—”

“That’s not…” Artemis drew a shaky breath and pulled her knees into her chest. “I just didn’t want you to hate me.”

“I could never.”

“Not even if it was all my fault?”

Charlie frowned, and Artemis lifted her hazel eyes to meet his. They had a sincere expression and were almost tear-filled. Though Charlie doubted that Artemis could have actually caused this horrific turn of events, it was obvious that she thought she had.

“Try me,” he said, with a sad smile. Artemis sighed.

“I… it was really busy that morning, getting things ready and everything. Bagman was being useless as always, so I was running around like mad, and I was already not quite… Well, I had a stressful evening the night before. It’s not important, not anymore.”

Charlie’s eyes drifted to her knees, where her hands were resting, the tips of her bare fingers digging into her legs. Artemis, either by instinct, having caught Charlie looking, or sensing that he was looking, shifted the position of her hands, so that the right covered the left. Both were bare. Charlie felt his heart skip a beat.

“Anyway,” Artemis continued, “I got there and I offered to help Badeea by taking the Cup into the maze. But then, I ran into Moody and he took one look at me and said I could do with a break, and he was happy to take the Cup into the maze for me so I had one less thing to do, and I… I gave him the Cup.”

“You’ve lost me, sorry,” Charlie said, placing his not quite empty mug onto the floor by the bed. “How does that make any of this your fault?”

“Don’t you see? Moody was the Death Eater spy.”

“What? But he’s an Auror!”

“No, it wasn’t actually Moody. It was the spy using a Polyjuice potion,” Artemis explained. “But that was his plan. Get the Cup, turn it into the Portkey. And I just… handed it to him. Just like that.”

Her eyes lifted to the ceiling and she blinked, hard. A single tear rolled down her right cheek, its course altered slightly as it deflected at the level of the small scar under her cheekbone. Charlie’s fingers itched to wipe it away for her, but he didn’t. There were certain lines he didn’t want to cross, and touching Artemis’ face would definitely definitely overstepping some kind of boundary.

Artemis rubbed the right side of her face forcefully with the heel of her hand and inside of her wrist. She blinked again, and took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for judgement. But judgement never came. Not from Charlie.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty for that,” he told her. She stared back at him, clearly disbelieving. “Artemis, you weren’t to know. You can’t beat yourself up like this over something that you didn’t know about.”

“No, but I should have known—”

“How? How would you have possibly known that? I mean, the whole thing is unbelievable. You’d have to be mad for the idea to even cross your mind that someone might… that any of that might be true.”

“I guess,” said Artemis, unfolding herself slightly to stroke Dragon, who was nudging her arm. “But I should have known something was wrong.”

Charlie shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. You were stressed out, and someone you thought you offered to help you. There’s nothing suspicious about that. Besides, we have all trusted the wrong people before.”

“That was different.”

“How come?”

“We were children, then. You’re meant to trust your teachers when you’re at school,” Artemis reasoned, her eyes still firmly on Dragon. “We were told Rakepick had our best interests at heart, so we believed it. We weren’t to know better, not when we were only teenagers.”

“I suppose not,” said Charlie, frowning, “but at what point would you say that you should know better?”

“I dunno.” Artemis’ nose wrinkled. “It’s just that when you’re growing up, you just assume that adults know what they’re doing and have all the answers to everything, and if they do things that are wrong, it’s because they are all wrong. But now, we are the grown ups, and I don’t know about you, but I still feel like I’m just making things up as I go along.”

So, it wasn’t just Charlie that felt that way. “Yeah, me too.”

“Shouldn’t we know by now? What we’re doing, and what is right, and what is wrong?”

“I… I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like you turn seventeen and the trace disappears and gets replaced with some kind of fountain of wisdom, is it?”

“No, but it would be good if it did,” Artemis said, with the shadow of a smile.

“Oh, yeah. Instead we just carry on not knowing things, with the addition of feeling bad for not knowing them. It’s pretty crap, if you think about it.”

“When do you think it will happen? That we will figure it all out and stop having to muddle through our lives?”

“You’re asking the wrong person. I’m as clueless as you are.” Charlie half-laughed. “Maybe when… Maybe never. Maybe no one actually knows what they’re doing.”

“So what, everyone in the world is just stumbling around blindly trying to find their way, every single day, until they die?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Even McGonagall?”

That was a good question. Charlie considered it for a moment. “I think she might be an exception.”

Artemis grinned, smiling properly for the first time since she’d arrived.

“Probably. I can’t believe that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. What about Dumbledore?”

“He definitely thinks he knows what he’s doing,” Charlie replied. “But I reckon he doesn’t. He hired Rakepick, didn’t he? And this person who wasn’t actually Moody, he obviously didn’t know about that either.”

“No, that’s true,” Artemis bit her bottom lip. “Do you think he feels guilty, too?”

“I bet he does.”

Both of them were quiet for a while, Artemis watching Dragon, and Charlie watching her.

“It must be easier if you’re a Crup,” Artemis said eventually. “Life, I mean.” Charlie nodded, and she raised her eyes to meet his, before telling him, “I would like a hug now.”

“I think I can manage that.”

Charlie wrapped his arms around Artemis’ shoulders and pulled her against his chest, while Dragon jealously nudged his way between them. Artemis mumbled something, and Charlie made a questioning noise.

“I said” — Artemis lifted her head from his sternum to talk to him — “what happens now? Now that…”

“Now that he’s back? I don’t know. But I don’t think life’s going to get easier any time soon.”

“What should we do?”

“I’d start by having a shower.” Charlie kept his face straight as Artemis scowled. “In the nicest way possible, you don’t smell good.”

Dragon wriggled out from the middle of the hug as his new packmate batted his master with a forepaw. She stood up and padded away from them, and he turned to look at his master with pleading eyes and two sheepishly wagging tails. He knew he was about to be scolded for being on the bed.

But, to his surprise, his master merely patted him on the head.

“Good job, Dragon. Well done, boy,” he said, before he also walked out of the room.

Dragon watched his master leave without even telling him to get down. He tilted his head to one side and whined to himself softly.

Humans were such strange and confusing creatures.

[weekendpassrevoked]

Easy's Songbird - Chapter 21

authors note:

Now, I know what you’re all thinking— “Isabella! Why does your writing style shift so much between chapters?” Well, dear reader, that’s because I don’t write in chronological order.

I write wherever inspiration strikes. Chaos? Maybe. But it works for me. In fact, this chapter—and the next two or three—were actually written months ago. They were some of the very first scenes I ever wrote for this fic. So if it feels like there’s a slightly different vibe to them, that’s why!

Is it a good way to write? Probably not. Do I regret it? Also no.

This chapter in particular has been burning a hole in my drafts for almost a year, and I’ve been dying to share it with you. It’s a little slice of home, a moment of softness and joy before the storm rolls in. I hope you enjoy the fluff and this peek into Isabella’s world outside of Easy Company.

Thanks for reading

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

Camp Mackall, North Carolina, August 5th, 1943

The barracks were buzzing with activity as the men scurried around, excited at the recent news Sobel had told them.

They would be allowed home for a week before they shipped out.

Isabella had nearly cried at the news, overjoyed. A week with her mama and papa. A week seeing Maya and the kids. A week with Cameron, who had told her in a recent letter that he would be heading home too with his own week, and Lucas, who had already been home for a week with his accumulated liberty time all the way from England.

She was ecstatic.

Gene, Liebgott, and her were on her bunk. Isabella lay down as she rested her head in Liebgott’s lap and Gene sitting on the other side of the bed reading his medic textbook.

“I can’t believe it.” she began. “A week!”

“Bet your mom already has enough food planned to feed a battalion,” Gene said without looking up from his book.

Isabella laughed, a bright, unrestrained sound. “She probably started cooking the second she read my letter. Maya’s gonna kill me for not warning her earlier.”

Liebgott grimaced. “Yeah, well. I’m staying. Takes too long to get to San Francisco from here, half of my time will be gone before I even get home.”

She frowned, at his words, heart heavy. “You can always come with Gene and I.”

Liebgott’s brow furrowed, confused. “Why is Roe going with you?”

“Why wouldn’t he!”

“That doesn’t answer anything, Birdie.”

Gene sighed, taking pity on him. “She really wants me to meet her family.”

“And you’re going to?” Liebgott huffed, surprised.

Gene shrugged as if it didn’t make a difference and Isabella spoke up again. 

“Everyone but my big brother will be there so it’ll be fun! Plus, there’s more than enough room at my house for both of you.”

Liebgott hummed as Isabella began poking him repeatedly, eager to annoy him into going. Finally, his patience runs out and he grabs her hand. “Fine! I’ll go as long as you quit poking me.”

Grinning triumphantly, Isabella replies. “Wonderful!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camp Mackall, North Carolina, August 6th, 1943

As Isabella is packing the next day, she realizes that she had a major problem to solve before she left at the end of the week.

Eugene Roe, Joseph Liebgott, and the rest of Easy Company have no idea that half of her family is Japanese.

She froze mid-fold, a soft summer dress clutched in her hands. The realization hit her like a punch to the gut.

They didn’t know.

‘Fuck.’

It wasn’t something she’d ever lied about, not exactly. But she hadn’t volunteered the information either — not when war posters painted every Japanese person as the enemy, and certainly not when men around her had said things she tried hard not to remember.

They didn’t know that her sister-in-law was Japanese. That Maya had been born in Kōfu, Japan, and had only come to the States as a university exchange student. That she’d met Michel Alejandro during their junior year at university in Florida, and that he’d fallen hopelessly in love with her the moment she corrected his pronunciation of a haiku in class.

They dated for three years. Got married in San Francisco, after Michel was stationed there with the Coast Guard. Moved to Connecticut. Had Anzu. Then came the second stationing — Pearl Harbor — and Maya, heavily pregnant with Taiga, went back to Florida to be with Isabella’s family for the birth.

She’d been there — in their kitchen, brushing flour off her sleeves, chasing Anzu around the garden — when the bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor.

Isabella sat back on her bunk, heart thudding.

Maya wasn’t just some footnote in her life. She was family. Isabella loved her like a sister, and Anzu and Taiga were as much her niece and nephew as if they’d been born of her own blood.

But that didn’t mean the world saw it that way.

Not after December 7th.

Not after the whispers. The slurs. The looks.

Even though Maya was a mother. A wife. A resident, now.

Even though she baked cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings and always carried little candies in her bag for Anzu to share.

None of that mattered to people who only saw slanted eyes and a war across the ocean.

And Easy Company didn’t know. She’d kept that part quiet — not because she was ashamed, but because she was afraid of what might happen if the wrong word slipped. If someone said the wrong thing about Maya, or about her niece and nephew. If Isabella snapped back.

Or worse — if they looked at her differently afterward.

She trusted Gene. And Joe, too, even if he was gruff about it. But this was different.

This was home.

This was everything.

She stared down at the half-full bag and let out a long sigh.

She needed to tell them. Maybe not the whole story — not yet — but something. Before they stepped foot into the Vega house and saw Maya in the kitchen, or heard Anzu shout in Japanese when Taiga stole her toy.

Before they met the family she was willing to fight a war to protect.

Isabella quickly finished packing her bag and headed off to find Gene and Liebgott who were happily chatting with some of the other men in 2nd platoon in the mess hall. 

She came up to them nervously, clearing her throat. “Gene, Lieb. Can you guys come with me for a moment?”

They looked at her, concerned at the scared look on her face and followed after her without a word.

They found a quiet spot behind the mess hall, near the edge of the trees where the air was cooler and the sounds of camp didn’t carry so loud. Isabella sat on an overturned crate, knees bouncing, her fingers anxiously picking at the edge of her jacket. Gene leaned casually against the tree behind her, arms crossed, while Liebgott crouched nearby, elbows on his knees.

“You’re actin’ like you’re about to tell us you’re not actually from Florida,” Liebgott muttered, squinting at her. “C’mon, Birdie. What’s goin’ on?”

She looked at them both, heart racing.

“There’s something I need to tell you before we leave tomorrow,” she said carefully. “It’s about my family.”

Gene didn’t move. Liebgott tilted his head, skeptical.

“You guys know my brother Michel Alejandro, right? The one in the Coast Guard.”

Both nodded.

“Well... his wife — my sister-in-law — Maya. She’s Japanese. Born and raised in Kōfu.”

Liebgott’s brow furrowed immediately. “Wait—Japanese?”

Isabella raised a hand quickly, as if to catch the fuse before it could fully light. “Yes. She’s lived in the States for years. She’s a resident. She married my brother in San Francisco before the war. They have two kids — my niece and nephew, Anzu and Taiga.”

Gene blinked, then shrugged. “Okay.”

Liebgott, on the other hand, stood up sharply. “You’re bringing us into a house with a Jap?”

Isabella stood too fast. “Don’t you dare call her that.”

“Birdie—”

“No. You don’t get to say that. You’ve heard me talk about Anzu, haven’t you? The little girl who sends drawings in every letter? That’s Maya’s daughter. You’ve asked about her. You told me the one with the cat ears was actually kinda good.”

Liebgott opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“And Maya?” Isabella continued, voice tight. “She’s the one who always asks how the two of you are doing. Who sends candy for the kids to give to soldiers when we come back. Who prays every night that this war doesn’t take us before we make it home.”

Joe’s expression cracked slightly, confusion giving way to something else — guilt, maybe. Realization.

“You never said—”

“I didn’t say because I was scared,” Isabella admitted. “Because I didn’t want to hear what someone like you might say without thinking. Because I didn’t want her or Anzu or Taiga to be hurt by words that aren’t true.”

Liebgott ran a hand through his hair, his voice lower now. “You should’ve told us.”

“I’m telling you now,” she said quietly. “Because I trust you. Because I want you to come with me. But if you’re gonna come into my house, you have to understand: that family is mine. And I’ll protect them with everything I’ve got.”

There was a long silence.

Finally, Gene spoke, his voice calm and dry. “So... does this mean no bacon at breakfast?”

Isabella snorted, the tension breaking slightly. “No, there’s bacon. Maya’s not that traditional.”

Liebgott shifted, eyes on the ground. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

Isabella looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. “It’s okay. Just... remember who they are. Not what the world tells you to see.”

He gave her a small nod, almost sheepish. “I already know ‘em, don’t I? Anzu’s the kid who draws everyone with crazy hair. Maya’s the one who makes that cinnamon bread.”

“Exactly.”

“Alright,” Joe said finally, glancing at Gene. “Let’s go pack then.”

Isabella smiled softly, relieved. “Thank you.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camp Mackall to Orlando, August 7th, 1943

Eugene Roe had never expected to have become his junior medic's best friend. He expected even less that they would become such close friends, that he would agree to go with her to Florida to visit her family one last time before they would be shipped out to war. He agreed after weighing his options. 

So now, he found himself sitting on a train next to Easy’s youngest, listening to her excited chatter, along with Liebgott who had also become one of Isabella’s closest confidants (much to everyone’s surprise). She had insisted Liebgott come along, stating that he was too far from home anyway and that there was more than enough room for him at her house. Liebgott had put up a fight at first, arguing that he didn’t need a babysitter and how he had absolutely no interest in some Colombian family grilling him about his life. But Isabella was tenacious (or stubborn as Nixon usually insisted) and had a ridiculous amount of charm, so in the end, she had gotten her way.

The air turned warmer and warmer the more south they went and Isabella buzzed with excitement (jumping off the walls, Liebgott said.) Her foot tapping against the floor as she rattled on about her hometown, her family, and all the things they had to do while they were there. He listened quietly, taking in every detail, while Liebgott leaned against the window, arms crossed, pretending not to be interested—but Gene knew better.

“So, what you’re saying is,” Liebgott finally cut in, tilting his head toward her, “we’re about to step into a house full of people just like you?”

Isabella beamed, unwilling to let Liebgott’s attitude get to her. “Nope! There’s only one me but I’m sure you’ll like everybody anyway.”

Liebgott scoffed, shaking his head. “Yeah, sure.”

Isabella laughs. “You say that now, but just you wait until Anzu gets to you, she’ll have you wrapped around her finger in no time.”

Gene chuckles under his breath, glancing at her. “Sounds like you.”

She looks out the window, eyes nostalgic. “She’s probably so big now…”

Liebgott nudges her, hoping to better her mood. “Great just what I need, another Vega running circles around me.”

Giggling, she nudges back. “Don’t worry Lieb, you’ll get used to them soon enough.”

Eventually, the train reaches their stop, brakes screeching. Isabella jumps out of the seat, ecstatic. She urges Liebgott to hurry, insisting he help her grab her bag from the top. 

Liebgott rolls his eyes but reaches up anyway, grumbling under his breath as he tugs her bag free. “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous, Birdie.”

She beams, slinging the strap over her shoulder. “You’re my favorite, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you say that to everyone.”

Gene smirks as he adjusts his own bag. “She probably does.”

Isabella ignores them, too giddy to care. “Alright, boys, welcome to Orlando!”

Liebgott steps onto the platform, squinting at the bright sun overhead. “Jesus, it’s like stepping into a damn oven.”

Gene hums in agreement, taking in the warm, humid air. “Definitely not North Carolina.”

Before Isabella can respond, a high-pitched squeal pierces through the crowd.

“ISA!”

She barely has time to react before a small figure barrels toward her, colliding into her with surprising force. Tiny arms wrap around her waist in a vice grip, and she laughs, hugging the little girl back.

Liebgott watches the scene, raising a brow. “Well, shit.”

Gene smirks. “That must be Anzu.”

She’s trailed by another tiny body, chubby and not as quick. 

The second child toddles behind Anzu, arms outstretched, determination written all over his little face. Isabella laughs, crouching down to scoop him up before he can trip over his own feet.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” she coos, pressing a kiss to his round cheek. “You got bigger too, huh?”

The boy giggles, clinging to her like a koala. Anzu tugs at Isabella’s sleeve impatiently. Isabella juggles the two children, overwhelmed by emotion. She’s saved by two boys her age, dressed in their own army uniforms. 

The two boys stride over, their uniforms crisp despite the sweltering Florida heat. One is a little taller, blonde with blue eyes with sharp features and a confident smirk, while the other carries a more relaxed air, dark eyes and skin tan with his eyes glinting with amusement as he takes in the sight of Isabella juggling the two clinging children. Gene instantly recognizes them from the photos Isabella had received.

"Struggling there, Isa?" the taller one teases, reaching out to effortlessly scoop up the little boy from her arms.

Anzu immediately latches onto the other boy, who kneels to let her climb onto his back. "You took forever," she huffs, pouting.

“Ah, if it isn’t our resident ranger and pilot.” Isabella sighed. “As if this dynamic duo isn’t enough.”

“You’d think our beloved sister would be more excited to see us, wouldn’t you Cameron?” said Lucas. 

Cameron answers. “Damn, and here I thought we were still your favorites!”

Isabella smirks, shifting Anzu higher on her hip. "You guys were my favorites. Then you left me to deal with these two," she jerks a thumb toward Gene and Liebgott, who both give her unimpressed looks.

Lucas chuckles, slinging an arm over Cameron’s shoulder. "Harsh words, Isa. And after we came all this way to pick you up."

Cameron shakes his head dramatically. "Tragic, really. The betrayal stings."

Liebgott, still taking in the exchange, glances between them. "I hate to break up this heartfelt reunion, but are you going to introduce us or what?"

Isabella weaves between the two boys, grinning. “Well, as you might remember, this idiot here is Lucas.” referring to the blonde. “And this other idiot here is Cameron!”

Liebgott eyes them, then shrugs. “Great, more of her running around. Just what we need.”

Isabella sticks her tongue out at him before adjusting Anzu on her hip. “Alright, alright, let’s get moving before my mom sends out a search party.”

‘Or the whole army…’

With that, the group gathers their things and heads toward the exit, the air buzzing with excitement and familiarity. They walk down the road, sweating under the Florida sun. Eugene takes in the scenery, realizing how similar it was to Louisiana. 

He exhales slowly, the thick, humid air clinging to his skin. The towering trees, the chirping cicadas, and the distant scent of saltwater all remind him of home. For a brief moment, he feels like he’s in Louisiana, realizing Isabella had been right when she said they were neighbors when they first met—until Isabella’s voice yanks him back to reality.

“That old dock over there?” She points excitedly. “We used to jump off it into the lake. Nearly broke my arm once, but it was worth it.”

Lucas snorts. “She screamed so loud, I swear the gators scattered.”

Cameron laughs. “And then her Mom nearly skinned you alive for letting her do it.”

Gene smirks, adjusting his bag. “Sounds like she hasn’t changed much.”

Liebgott wipes his forehead, already looking miserable. “Jesus, this place is a goddamn oven. How do people survive here?”

Isabella grins. “You adapt. Or you melt.”

Gene chuckles, shaking his head. They arrive at a large house near a pasture shortly after. It’s old and made of wood, with a large garden up front. He can smell the warmth of fresh food from the open windows. They walk up the small set of stairs to the patio, covered in painted flowers and stars that had begun to fade and chip. Toys scattered everywhere. 

Isabella opens the door without hesitation, the screen door creaking on its hinges. Two cats run to the door, attracted to the sound. They meow noisily, excited to see their mom return after so long.

“We’re home!” she calls, her voice carrying through the house.

The response is immediate—rapid footsteps against wooden floors, followed by a flurry of movement as more family members appear from different rooms. The air fills with excited chatter, laughter, and the clatter of dishes from the kitchen.

An older woman emerges first, drying her hands on a rag. Her sharp eyes soften the moment they land on Isabella. She embraces Isabella tightly, tears in her eyes. A man with grey hair and dark skin appears from one the side rooms, steps wide to reach Isabella. 

Isabella melts into the embrace, nuzzling her shoulder. “Hi mama.” Once her mother lets her go, she runs into the man's arms, excited. “Hi papa!”

The warmth spreads to Gene and Liebgott as well, though they remain at the doorway, unsure of what to do with themselves. Lucas smirks and nudges Gene forward. “This one’s a quiet one, huh?”

Before Gene can respond, Isabella’s mother turns her attention to them, looking them over with an appraising gaze.

“You boys must be starving,” she declares, stepping back. “Come, come, you eat first, then we talk.”

Liebgott glances at Isabella. “I like her already.”

She giggles. “Yeah wait until you meet Maya.”

Isabella’s mother leads them to the dining room where she sits them at what Isabella calls “the fancy table”, a large wood table made of oak her family had brought with them from Colombia that had beautiful detailing. “We only use this table when we have special guests.” Anzu whispers to them, glancing up at them curiously.

Gene and Liebgott sit down patiently with Anzu and Taiga between them as Isabella and the rest of her family buzz around, preparing the food. The smell of grilled chicken fills the air while Isabella’s mother places the freshly cooked rice on the plates, making Liebgott’s stomach growl loud enough for Anzu to giggle. He rolls his eyes but smirks, leaning down towards Anzu.

“How old are you, kid?” he asks

Anzu holds up her small hand, excited. “Five!”

Liebgott nods, feigning deep contemplation. "Five, huh? That’s a pretty big number. You must be the boss around here."

Anzu beams, nodding eagerly when Isabella calls out from the kitchen. “Anzu, where’s your mom?” she asks. Anzu kicks her feet under the table, legs too short to reach the floor. “Don’t know!” she answers.

Isabella pops out from the kitchen door, eyes furrowed and face confused. “What do you mean you don’t know, she’s your mom?”

Anzu retorts, the family sass taking a hold of her tiny body. “You don’t know where Abu goes sometimes either.” 

Isabella’s face deadpans, unamused. “You want to repeat that?”

Noticing her aunt's seriousness, Anzu fidgets, nervous. “No…”

Isabella turns back to the kitchen, voice fading away as she asks her mother where her sister-in-law was. Anzu tugs on Liebgott’s sleeve, motioning him toward her. “Abu is hard to find sometimes. Isa calls her a ghost.” she pauses, glancing up innocently. “I like your hair.”

Liebgott cackles, taken by surprise. He turns to Gene, completely taken off guard. “Man, this family is full of characters! This is great!”

The front door opens, a feminine voice calling out something Gene and Liebgott couldn’t understand. “只今ー” Anzu bolts up from her seat, running to the door. “Mama!” 

Gene and Liebgott turn around to find a woman around Isabella’s height, with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wears a simple but elegant dress and a warm smile that lights up the room. She takes Anzu into her arms and heads to the dining room.

“Mama look!” Anzu points at Gene and Liebgott, excited to show her mother her new friends. Maya greets them kindly, and Eugene realizes that this woman was the one who Isabella had spoken so much about. Who had shown her so much kindness as a child who felt so alone in the world. The woman who Isabella had to keep hidden away from the world despite all she had done for her.

“Oh goodness! You must be Eugene Roe and Joseph Liebgott, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Isabella has told me so much about you.”

Eugene and Liebgott stand from the table to greet her properly. Eugene offers her a polite smile, extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too ma’am.” he says respectfully. 

Liebgott, ever the charmer, grins widely and waves his hand in a nonchalant gesture. “Yeah, we’ve heard a lot about you too. All good things, of course,” he adds with a smile. 

Maya laughs softly, her eyes twinkling as she takes their hands in turn. “Well, I do hope so,” she replies warmly, her voice soothing and welcoming. “Isabella is quite the enigma when she wants to be.”

Isabella’s father comes out of the kitchen, happy at the arrival of his daughter-in-law. He sits down at the dining table and Maya excuses herself to her bedroom to prepare herself for dinner.

Like the rest of her family (excluding the honorary siblings she had adopted and the Japanese portion) Isabella’s father was short, tan, and had wrinkles on his face that indicated his years. He motioned for them to sit back down, eager to speak with the two of the men Isabella worked with.

“I hope you like our home,” he says. “It is not much, but it is always open for you.” He had a thick accent, English slow as he tried to pick the right words to convey. 

“I am Michel senior, Isabella’s father.”

Gene and Liebgott exchange glances before sitting back down at the table, both nodding respectfully as Michel speaks. Gene offers a polite smile, adjusting in his chair. “Thank you, sir. It’s kind of you to welcome us like this.”

Liebgott, strangely polite, grins widely. “Yeah, this place is great. Real homey. Feels like we’ve stepped into a different world.”

Michel’s smile widens at the compliment, his eyes crinkling with the warmth of a proud father. “I am glad you like it. I know training must be tough.” he says, his voice carrying a sense of pride, even if his English is slow and measured. “Isabella has... she has talked about you both often.”

Gene’s gaze softens slightly at the mention of Isabella, though he’s careful not to let it show too much. It’s clear to him that the bond Isabella shares with her family is strong, and hearing how much she’s spoken of them only adds to the picture of who she is outside of the war—someone caring, attached to those she loves.

“She speaks highly of you all too,” Gene adds. “Your hospitality is... well, it’s something else. We’re real grateful for it.”

Liebgott chuckles, settling into the atmosphere with ease. “Definitely not used to all the kindness. Feels like a strange contrast to what we’re used to.”

Michel chuckles, nodding knowingly. “The war has made many things strange for all of us. I would know.”

Michel's demeanor reveals just how much he wants to connect with these two men who are part of his daughter’s world. “It is good you are here,” he says simply. “Isabella... she is strong, but I worry for her despite this.

Liebgott’s voice carries a certain sincerity that’s rare for him, his usual sharp tone softened by a note of respect for Isabella’s family. “Yeah, it’s been good working with her. She makes everything interesting.”

Michel nods solemnly, then looks between the two of them with a knowing gaze. “I can see that,” he says with a slight chuckle. 

Gene and Liebgott share a brief look, both of them silently acknowledging that they’ve seen enough of Isabella’s strength to believe it without question. Gene feels a sense of reassurance, though—something about hearing it from her father makes it feel all the more real.

Maya comes out of her room, dressed in her house clothes. She places Anzu gently next to Liebgott again, flashing the two of them a warm smile. She places Taiga’s bib on while he’s in his high chair, preparing him for the dinner that was almost ready. Taiga squeals, arms waving after he realizes what time it is. Maya moves to sit across from Gene, hands wringing in her lap.

“So you are Doc Roe, yes?”

Gene looks up, surprised at the direct question. He nods politely, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah, that’s me. Eugene Roe, but most people just call me Gene.”

“Isabella tells us you are her teacher.”

Gene blinks, a bit caught off guard by the new direction the conversation has taken. "Her teacher?" he repeats, his brow furrowing slightly. "I wouldn't say that exactly. She definitely knows a hell of a lot more than I do.”

Maya smiles softly, her eyes twinkling with understanding. "She speaks very highly of you, always talks about how you've helped her adjust, how patient you are with her. For her, that is a teacher. Someone who teaches her how to be.”

Gene hums, heart warming at the revelation. He had approached Isabella at first because he was curious to see if she could last the day. But when he learned how young she was, how the world had placed so much weight on her shoulders, he took her under his wing. He had never anticipated becoming so attached to his junior medic.

She turns to Liebgott, who had started using his utensils to play swords with Anzu, who seems to have won over his heart in only a short time. Maya watches the scene with a soft chuckle, her eyes full of warmth. "He seems to have a soft spot for her, doesn't he?" she muses aloud, glancing at Gene.

Gene follows her gaze, a quiet smile tugging at his lips as he watches Liebgott and Anzu going back and forth with their playful sword fight. "Yeah, didn’t take long for her to win him over," he agrees, his tone light but affectionate. "Liebgott’s got a good heart underneath all that gruff."

She laughs. “So I’ve heard.”

The kitchen door opens, revealing a flustered Isabella with plates of food in hand. “Sorry it took so long!” she huffs. “It’s chaos in there.”

She places the plates in front of Gene and Liebgott, food steaming. “It’s chicken, rice, and potatoes with some of the veggies from the garden. The sauce is called Hogao, it’s a traditional Colombian food.” she says proudly. Her mother comes out with everyone else's plates, hastily sitting down when Lucas and Cameron come out with the drinks. 

Lucas places Gene and Liebgotts lemonade in front of them, smirking. “So…how is it like jumping out of planes like lunatics?”

Isabella scoffs, annoyed. “You can’t ask that asshole.” Lucas grins wider, keen on making her miserable. “You don’t get to say anything, you’ve always been a suicidal maniac so I have hear it from somebody who can give me an unbiased answer.”

“Not much of a difference, kid.” says Liebgott. “All of us are suicidal maniacs if we voluntarily signed up to jump out of moving planes.”

Vindicated by Liebgott’s defense, Isabella beams. “See?”

They all dig in, starving from the different events of the day. Eugene’s taste buds sing from the new flavor they had been introduced to. Next to him, he sees Liebgott scarf down his own food, overwhelmed by the taste. Dinner continues on peacefully until Isabella speaks up again.

“I hope you guys packed something else besides those uniforms.”

Gene and Liebgott share a look, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you guys didn’t think you were gonna come all the way down here and not enjoy a performance were you?”

Liebgott beams, ecstatic. “No way!”

“Yup.” she replies. “Gonna get the whole experience! Full band and all.”

Gene chuckles, leaning back in his chair as he tries to suppress a smile. “Took long enough.” Isabella pouts, turning her head to the side to hide her embarrassment. “Can’t let my favorite guys come all the way down here and not have them have a fun time.”

Cameron cuts in, mischievous. “Maybe you’ll find yourself some pretty dame.” This catches Liebgott’s attention the most. “Alright then. When do we go?” 

Isabella’s brow raises, surprised. “Eager much?” She leans back looking out one of the windows. “We all have to rest up a bit. Lucas and Cameron only got here recently, so it’s best we do it a couple of days from now…Plus, I still have to show you the house and around town!”

Liebgott slumps, but he hums in understanding anyway. Isabella turns to her mother, thanking her for the food and welcome, but states they’ll be excusing themselves to tuck in for the night. Gene doesn’t realize just how tired he was until she mentioned it, and he can see Liebgott think the same. 

They leave the table following behind her along with dog-like cats they had seen when they arrived. She leads them upstairs where she takes them to a room at the very end of the hallway. “This is the only guest room, so you’ll have to share. Is that alright?” she asks apologetically, hands wringing. Liebgott ruffles her hair, smiling. “Don’t worry Birdie. We’ll make do.”

She opens the door, revealing two twin beds pushed to the sides of the room. The walls were painted white with a variety of flowers delicately brushed in around the edges of the ceiling. A picture frame with the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus sits above the shared nightstand. The window has white mantilla curtains and holds fresh Bougainvilleas on the windowsill. An old wood desk sits close to the door with a rug covering part of the floor. Towels and extra blankets had been left on top of the beds.

“I know it’s not a lot. But I hope you’ll think of it as home for the next couple of days.” she says sheepishly. Leading them back outside she shows them the bathroom and lets them know that room was hers in the long hallway, Lucas and Cameron’s rooms next door. “You’re more than welcome to knock whenever you’d like. We don’t have anything special planned for tomorrow, so you can sleep in as long as you want, but I’ll pop in to see if any of you want breakfast.”

They thank her, overwhelmed by the immense hospitality they had both been shown. Isabella waves them off before she disappears into her room, leaving them to settle in properly. The door closes gently behind them, and the two men stand in the middle of the room, taking in their surroundings. The simple, cozy space feels warm and inviting, nothing like the monotone and uniform rooms they'd grown accustomed to. For a moment, Gene feels a little out of place, but he quickly pushes the thought away, reminded of how kind Isabella’s family had been.

Liebgott flops down on one of the beds with a heavy sigh, throwing an arm over his eyes. “This is nice,” he mutters, his voice muffled by the pillow. “I could get used to this.” 

Gene nods, still standing by the window. The moonlight filters through the thin curtains, casting a soft glow over the room. The peace of the moment settles over him, something he didn’t realize he needed until now. He walks towards his bed, exhausted. Despite the heaviness of their reality and the uncertainty of what lay ahead, there was something undeniably comforting about being here, in this quiet little house, surrounded by people who genuinely cared.

As he readies himself for bed, Gene finds a wooden rosary hanging on the bed frame. He feels a wave of warmth fall over him at the sight and as he lays his head down on the pillow, he falls asleep to the muffled sound of gentle guitar playing and a sweet voice on the other side of the wall.

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

Translations:

只今 - I'm home

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

taglist: @malarkgirlypop, @darling-heffron

[nightingaelic]

If you missed the Xbox Summer Showcase + Starfield Direct, here are the highlights:

Fable trailer featuring that awkward guy from The IT Club as a gardening giant

South of Midnight giving bayou blues and beasties

Obsidian's medieval fantasy romp Avowed, which looks like it's borrowing Outer Worlds graphics a bit

Cutesy Fallout 76 video celebrating the player base and hinting at an upcoming in-game journey to Atlantic City (???)

Jusant, a pretty rock climbing sci-fi adventure featuring a cute blob in a backpack

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC official trailer with Escape from New York-style shenanigans, releasing September 26, 2023, possible new ending for V, LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO???!!!???

BioShock-ish time travel steampunk adventure called Clockwork Revolution that features a villainess with the coolest mohawk I've ever seen and ticky-tocky mustachioed killer robots

Star Wars Outlaws, 33 Immortals, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Sea Of Thieves: The Legend Of Monkey Island, Microsoft Flight Simulator X Dune, Payday 3, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Persona 3 Reload, Path of the Goddess, Towerborne, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Cities: Skylines II, Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, and a brand new Xbox in carbon black with the sickest Xbox console edit this side of TikTok

No leather jacket for Todd Howard, smh

An in-depth look at Starfield's gameplay, including character creation, weapons mods, ship mods, planets, space travel mechanics, combat, locations, inspirations, companions, and the one and only Vasco who can say your name (like Codsworth), and a release date of September 6, 2023

Starfield limited edition smartwatch, case, Xbox controller, and headset, coming soon to a tech review channel near you

Still no Elder Scrolls VI news

[wisteriagoesvroom]

manifesting chaos in the 2024 f1 season (wiz edition)

kudos to @keepthedelta for starting this idea way back when, theirs were hilarious

- jos verstappen and carlos sainz snr have an actual fistfight, but agree to do it on pay per view TV for maximal profit and impact. carlos snr wins only because he still has good core strength from driving endurance races and also he definitely does yogilates

- forced to get more sponsorship money, kick stake sauber drivers have to do an embarrassingly slutty ad for vitamin water. turns out valtteri and guan yu is very game for it and it actually goes super viral, but only in china

- FIA announces seoul gp 2026 and do an embarrassing eGames tie up as well as get nct's most junior division (most of them are 10 years old) to promote it for some reason. 2025 Charles leclerc finally makes his debut on MDC singing an slow-fi hip hop song with lots of air horns. it’s the one he co-wrote with lewis hamilton as an anthem for the ferrari team

- no more grill the grid. liberty media takes things to the next level and makes all the drivers do elimination games from squid game. drivers may be injured or perish. however as per FIA regs they are still expected to recover well enough to drive by the following sunday

- seb vettel returns but only for one race to drive a literal tractor across a field in austria to promote saving the bees

- alex albon is told he gets to move to red bull again except alex albon was busy taking some proper off time with his girlfriend during the summer so he misses the email and the tweets. by the time he catches up with the rumours, red bull have already musical chaired first liam lawson and then daniel ricciardo in the seat only to immediately take it back and give it to a fifteen year old who’s currently taking a nap in the rb junior academy room somewhere

- zak brown starts a new tie up with an aerospace company and andrea accidentally builds a rocket ship that blasts the papaya boys into space. lando and oscar do a livestream in the MCL38 parked on the side of an asteroid

- nico rosberg appears on a sky broadcast in a t-shirt that people swear lewis hamilton once wore, and it in fact may be the exact same one. neither of them comments on it at all

- otmar somehow returns and spends half his time instructing his drivers to try and chase / destroy that orange twink… i mean, car. somehow he will manage to run a team more embarrassingly than haas.