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splatooshy · 11 months ago

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tvdu headcanons

yes these are completely correct, no i do not take criticism. either compliment me and my clever thoughts or walk away.

damon

- pretends his initials stand for ‘damon fucking salvatore.’

- Humanity isn’t something Damon lacks. He ignores it sometimes, but he did that when he was human too

- shy. so PAINFULLY shy. that didn’t change until post 70s.

- fav colour is jade green.

- born in italy, then lily had multiple miscarriages over 5 years and giuseppe decided they would move to america for better prospects, and stefan was born in mf.

- giuseppe despised anything ‘foreign’, and would lock damon in the cellar when he slipped up. never mind that damon didn’t really know any english.

- named his first horse (a shetland pony) sir handsome. loved his horses. hated people, loved animals.

- bibliophile. brains over brawn.

- gets banned from new orleans every few decades. marcel HATES him. also was in nola in 1914, freya and kol both took pity on him/ befriended damon after he managed to piss off the witches AND marcel in one day.

- always had the most inconvenient crushes as a human. the first was the daughter of some middle class storekeeper when he was eight. the second was emily bennett (his secret bff) and the third was a dude with a horse when he was a teenager. stablehand/riding instructor/ young gent passing through, named sebastian. giuseppe caught the boys fooling around one day and promptly shot sebastian in the head, before beating damon within an inch of his life (WOAH I WROTE THIS SO CASUALLY). damon never fully recovered.

- finds grimoires to bring to his favourite witch at the time. often the spells are super wacky and mostly useless.

- chatty and clingy drunk.

- after augustines, physically cant sleep alone, and half the time wakes up only to realise he’s killed his bedpartner (strangling, decap., suffocation etc.)

- in the 30s, he became a professional dancer.

stefan

- fav colour is an icy, glacial blue.

- nobody knows what his first language is. His first few words were either Italian or French, but it’s not certain which one. of course, giuseppe locked damon in the cellar for that.

- first horse was sir handsome, a hand-me-down from damon. loved both people and animals, but most of all loved when damon was introducing him to the animals.

- actually the cutest little child ever. big green eyes and floppy blonde-ish hair. looked like a five-year-old until he was 13? 14? and then suddenly shot up really quick.

- bull in a china shop. brawn over brains.

- the ‘ripper’ was created by lexi. she isolated and abused stefan, manipulating him into whatever she wanted.

- chronic migraine sufferer.

- as a human, he physically could not eat when nervous, which just so happened to be 80% of the time.

- rarely gets drunk but is a very outgoing and slutty drunk.

- lizard brain blood lusty ripper stefan only speaks italian.

- model aeroplane / train / car kind of guy.

- tumbled down into a well twice as a human.

- built the engine for the first automobile, passed it onto henry ford.

enzo

- likes the challenge of getting his way without resorting to compulsion (which is cheating.)

- has the stickiest fingers. he didn’t become a little street urchin in london without picking up some skills.

- turned by jack the ripper in 1888. approached him mid-murder.

- physically incapable of hating damon. and believe me, he’s tried.

- after augustines, physically cant sleep alone, and half the time wakes up only to realise he’s killed his bedpartner (strangling, decap., suffocation etc.)

klaus

- went to college a few times to study art. ended up stabbing the teacher [with a paintbrush] because they critiqued his work.

- was tsar nicholas 2 as a joke, purposely ended the dynasty.

elijah

- slipped ecstasy into klaus’ drink in the 80s just to see what would happen.

rebekah

- had a habit of accidentally wandering as a kid.

- clairvoyant / clairsentient.

- very partial to throwing knives.

kol

- bffs with charles 2, gets knighted (inspired by that episode of parks and rec where ben and andy meet the rich british guy)

- refers to stefan as klaus’ estranged paramour

- mixes vervain and wolfsbane into joints and such to get klaus to chill the fuck out. and mixing vervain into other drugs and stuff so that they’d affect him - damon joins the operation in 1914.

- was jack the ripper in 1888, saw a man drowning in his own blood in an alleyway, just watching as kol disemboweled a prostitute, before approaching him like ‘please sir, can you spare any change?’ and kol was delighted.

- damon pissed off marcel in 1914 and kol decided at that moment they were best friends.

- BIG fan of the ottoman empire. it only collapsed because kol was daggered.

- has grimoires full of odd spells.

alaric

- owns vervain coated knuckle dusters

- basically begs damon to talk history with him.

elena

- pre-accident: queen bee and she knew it. at her core, she is self-centred and used to getting her way. this only changes with her parents’ accident, but eventually elena reverts back into her old self.

- refers to katherine as her identical grandmother

[ - bitchy stares. not even an rbf, her face is just super expressive and you can tell when she’s judging you ]

caroline

- was second to elena all her life, and elena knew how to fuel that envy of caroline’s. but then elena’s parents died and caroline was finally #1, except stefan shows up and it’s back to the elena show again.

[ - well-meaning but tone deaf ]

both elena and caroline are just those bitchy popular girls.

[ bonnie ]

[ i have so many for her but a lot are completely against canon so here’s the ones that could be ]

[ - best cheerleader on the squad // the older girls adopted her as their flyer from day 1 ]

[ - because she’s tiny, yanno? ]

[ - known as the ‘i dunno her but she seems nice’ one, the ‘quiet, seems really sweet but i think she hates me’ one and ‘elena’s minion’ ]

[ - but she’s actually more popular overall ‘cause she does all the volunteering / xtra curricular stuff with caroline and she’s not in your face about it ]

[ - has very weirdly specific daily rituals as to what she eats and when on which day (waffle wednesday), what pyjamas she wears, how her pillows are arranged, etc. ]

[ - she didn’t even notice she did all of that until she was at a sleepover and the other kid’s mum made a different breakfast to what she would usually have on that day and bonnie was like ‘hmm. i seem to be uncomfortable with this. why is that?’ but sucked it up and ate her breakfast without saying anything ]

#tvd #damon salvatore #denzo #elijah mikaelson #tvd fanfiction #bi damon salvatore #elena gilbert #stefan salvatore #caroline forbes #klaus mikaelson #enzo st. john #kol mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #headcanon

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lgbtimelords · 5 months ago

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a fanfic i'll never write, part 3:

couldn't have loved me better

Kara sees the woman lying, bloody and dirty, in the tower’s medical and sighs.

Not another one, she thinks. One was one too many.

Bizarro. Overgirl. Red daughter.

Once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a habit. Four times is… fucking ridiculous.

She doesn’t have time for this. She really doesn’t.

She’s still too tired from her trip to the Phantom Zone. She needs to write that non-existent article for Andrea. She wants to sleep, a day- maybe two. She promised Alex a sister’s night with Kelly and Nia a lunch together. She wants to eat way too many boxes of potstickers until her stomach hurts and wants to watch a movie. She needs to call Eliza, maybe fly over to Midvale, too. She needs to answer all the pilling up texts from James, Lucy and Cat. But all she wants to do is curl up in her bed and cuddle with Lena- not that she’d ever voice that wish.

She wants to go back to that time before the reveal when touching was simple and normal. A hand on Lena’s back. A hug to say hello. A hug to say goodbye. Lena’s hand on the crook of her elbow as they walked together. Fingers through dark hair when it got messy. Fingers pulling up her glasses when they fell to the tip of her nose. Touch was… a thing. Their thing.

Now, other than the emotional and aching hug after Kara’s return, they haven’t touched. And Kara desperately wants to.

Half of it she blames it on her own need to know Lena is actually alive, actually here. And that none of the nightmares she went through in the Phantom Zone were real. She wants to make sure Lena’s heart is actually beating behind her ribs, make sure her head isn’t playing tricks on her and the heartbeat she hears isn't just an illusion. She wants to put a strand of hair behind her ear and make sure it’s as soft as always.

But Lena is careful and unsure around her— and it hurts her a little bit. Although she gets it, she’s unsure too. She’s not sure where they stand. And Kara’s restless nights, she’s too drained, physically and emotionally, to have such an important conversation with Lena right now. And by the heavy dark circles under Lena’s eyes and the way she keeps rubbing the back of her stiff neck, Kara guesses she’s as tired as her.

But now, after being rudely woken up at five am, she watches as Lena takes the woman’s arm- the woman that looks exactly like her- and softly wraps a bandage around it. It’s the softness that Lena does it with that makes Kara stop.

Her fingers softly trace the place where there’s a deep cup in the woman’s arm with a white-ish cream before she delicately wraps it. She does it with the one on her arm, then moves into her wrist- before she’s carefully cleaning a nasty cup above the woman’s brow, Lena’s face too close to her face. It almost looks like Lena is leaning in to kiss her and Kara wants to scream.

“You shouldn’t do that,” she says bluntly, making Lena jump, a hand on her chest as she moves away from the woman, “she should be okay after a while under the sunlamps.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she says, extending a tablet to Kara, “her blood work and every other test we’ve done so far came back human.”

“What?”

“I’m waiting on Alex to come by with the DNA test results but…” Lena trails off, unsure of her own next words.

Kara huffs- half laugh, half disbelief. She throws herself in the chair next to Lena’s computer. Or more like the tower’s computer that Lena is always using and because of that had taken the name of “Lena’s chair”. Lena’s computer. Lena’s side of the tower. Kara likes to hear that.

“That’s a new one,” she says, looking curiously at the woman, “I was half expecting a fight as soon as she woke up.”

“Well, I wouldn’t lose hope just yet,” Lena says, smirk on her face, “this still seems to be one version of you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she smirks at Kara, “I just think you can be a little hot headed darling, that’s all.”

“Me? Hotheaded,” she gasps, “okay now you’re lying.”

“Oh, so it’s a lie that you used to say punching first, questions later?”

Kara groans again and throws her head back, making herself spin a little in the chair, “I hate that you and Alex talk a lot now. It’s unfair.”

Lena is smiling, that soft and kind smile Kara loves so much- and just when she moves her mouth to answer her, the woman on the bed is groaning loudly. Lena turns around, her face covered in worry, as she gently puts her hands on her shoulders- stopping the woman from moving around.

“Where’s everyone?” Kara whispers, as she hands Lena the syringe she wordlessly asked for.

“Alex should be here any minute, I sent Brainy home because he looked exhausted.”

Lena effortlessly inserts the syringe into the IV and the blonde goes still in the bed again. Now that she’s closer to her, Kara can see that while she does look like her, her face is somehow... different.

There’s some freckles in her face Kara knows she doesn’t have. Her hair is maybe one or two shades darker and there’s a lot of tan lines, one on her face clearly marking her nose, and on her body, she can see the lines of a bathsuit on her shoulders and one tiny scar of a vaccine on the side of her arm.

Her body is not as solid as Kara’s either, she notices when she helps Lena turn the woman to her side so she can tend to the wounds on her back. There’s muscles on her arms and back but they’re not as defined as hers, neither are her abs- they’re more like a soft line on her belly instead of the six pack she possesses.

It’s weird. It looks like her, except that when you look at her, she doesn’t.

“Do you want to have dinner?” Lena asks, as she sits down in one of the sofas in front of Kara, after checking and rechecking the vitals of the woman lying in bed.

“It’s five thirty am, Lena." She’d laugh, if she wasn’t so worried about the fact that the brunette has been neglecting her health again.

“Oh,” she sounds surprised, even as she checks the clock on the wall to confirm that, yes, it is five in the morning. She looks at Kara confused, “What are you doing here then?”

“Alex called. Said she needed to go out and you needed help.”

The answer is just Lena pressing her lips together, “I told her not to call you. You need to rest.”

“Lena-”

“-Kara,” she interrupts, “you’re exhausted. I know you are.”

“It’s okay,” she says, and wishes she could reach out and touch her hand. Be brave enough to do something as simple as to touch someone’s hand. “I want to be here.” With you.

Lena is hesitant but nods anyway.

“Really early breakfast then?”

Kara smiles, “Well, I won’t say no to that.”

They walk side by side, Kara’s pinky touching Lena’s- and she’s gathering all the streghtn inside herself to grab Lena’s hand when a loud gasp makes them turn around.

The woman is sitting up on the bed, the bandages on her arms turning red as she moves her hands up to her throat. She’s coughing and coughing and her back is so arched as she bring her head to her raised up knees that Kara wonders if it’s painful.

“Don’t move too much,” Lena says, walking closer to her and grabbing a water bottle on one of the tables.

It's like the words click a switch on the woman's mind and as quickly as her stiff muscles allow her, she wraps her arms around Lena as soon as she sees her. The woman's hands make a fist on Lena's clothes and her face hides in the crook of Lena's neck.

“My love,” she chokes out like a prayer.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #kara zor el #my fic #supercorp fanfiction #supercorp au #a fanfic i'll never write #that 1 prompt about person As clone showing up and crying at the sight of person B because they're gone and person A doesn't know what to d

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preciadosbass · 4 months ago

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5/8/24

woke up at 9:30. when i wake up naturally early i always say good morning to boris so i did that and then decided that i’m not exhausted to the point i should go back to sleep. i just doomscrolled the entire morning and saved a few max green edits along the way. i looked through a few pin sharing urbex groups on facebook and saved a couple videos to my watch later on youtube. its a pain there’s not actually much around where i live, like, that’s why i cant go out on my own. as much as woods are beautiful and nice to be around/at there’s not any shops or town in walking distance.

the next time my family go on a road trip hopefully i’ll be able to explore a few places then. there was an abandoned housing estate about 40 minutes from where i live but apparently it’s being demolished soon, plus i’m not allowed to go there anymore. as for any of the other stuff close-ish, it’s not really anything you can explore. however, i did find an abandoned plane graveyard online and it turned out it was decently close by to me. when i went they didn’t even let me take photos but they did email saying someone could tour me and show me the planes if i arrange a date which is exciting. although i’ll most likely have to wait until october so the plants around it die down.

when it got to about 10/11am my dad came down so i said goodmorning to him and had breakfast as he made me it and i’d feel bad not to. luckily i’ve found breakfast option which has a lot less cals than that bagel so i feel a little, tiny bit more relaxed about having food in the mornings. at 1 i went outside with boris and cuddled him on the driveway. he seems a lot more energetic today. i was sitting on the sleepers across from the front door with my feet outstretched and he layed down leaning against my leg/shoes it was so cute i just had to record it. while i was outside i also fixed the lighting of a picture of jaime and changed my layout and things on all my socials.

i also followed lots of cool people in hopes of become their mutual or something. i stayed out there until 2:20. when i got back inside asked my mum about that list of things on depop that i want to buy and she sent offers on all of the uk items for me. with the rest, i just had to wait until people got back to me about shipping. since yesterday i added one more item to my wishlist, a frank iero tattoo poster from an old magazine, i sent an order regarding this aswell. my mum was getting frustrated and didn’t really understand why i wanted the stuff that i did. but she did see my point about buying the funko pops second hand from depop rather than the official website.

i think i had a nap and woke up at approximately 4/half five but i’m not too sure about times. i saw an informative video about taxidermy and how to tell if things are ethical or not and remembered i was texted a mutual and they kept asking for advice regarding stuff like that, so i sent it to them. at around 5 my hairdresser came round so i got dressed for once [i hate departing from my onesie don’t judge me 🤫] and had my ends touched up. having my hair cut is always kind of awkward for me because i have to stop myself from asking to get it cut short. my parents are fine with it, im just terrible with change. but i have been wanting it short for 4+ years now. its just scary that once it’s done, if i don’t like it, there’s pretty much nothing anyone can do. i’m fine with dye.

before she was about to leave i found out that she’s going to be looking after boris when me and my family go to butlins. she’s really nice and talked me through everything/asked me to text her if i have anything particular i want her to do but i’m scared about leaving him. i think i have a few weeks until we go. i feel guilty saying this, but i am excited, i think. i haven’t been away with my whole family before. that dosent take away the worry though. once my parents had payed and she’d driven off i went outside with boris again.

i was out there up until 7:20 when i went back into my room and put on coraline. i finally found the dvd after looking everytime i watch something for weeks. i’ve watched it so many times i know everything that happens so while i was listening to it i wrote this before i’d forget everything about my day. my phone was blowing up at the same time because some rando keeps submitting anonymous messages harassing me over making music my personality loll — anyways, i watched up until the scene where the other mother gives coraline the box with the buttons in it until i went on a walk with my mum.

we left at almost exactly 9 and went to that same field i’ve spoken about before where you can see london in the distance. the person who owns it must’ve just mowed everywhere so we were just walking on really thick piles of dead grass so it was 10x more tiring. it left like i was walking through snow. obviously it was even more tricky because we walked down and then up the really steep hills. we got home at 10ish and was out for at least 40 or 50 minutes.

when we got back my mum handed me an envelope. i immediately knew what it was; since i’ve been young [7] i’ve had this youth thingy send me and my sister arts and crafts stuff related to the stuff going on at the time. i took it into my room i continued listening to coraline while i made a collage out of the zoos map from yesterday. i opened the envelope once id glued in half of the stuff i wanted to and used this wooden flower from it. i finished it at 11, and i cant tell if i despise it with every fibre of my being or if it’s tolerable. ive never made a collage with so much untouched and plain space [photo at the end]

coraline conveniently finished when i’d completed the collage so i went out to the kitchen to see boris. my mum started arguing with me about how the questions don’t affect me at all and they only have a negative affect on her and my dad when i asked when i should come up. i’m gunna admit, this kinda hit really hard because nobody knows how much it truly affects me and i’m too far gone to even be able to speak about it/write about it. because if i do then it’ll make something bad happen. but i do appreciate that it’s really draining for them too. i just cant stop.

boris went into the living room so i sat out there while finishing the rest of that mcr 2011 concert and updated this at 12 while listening to fall out boy’s folie á duex. once i’d written what i needed to i rewatched a few videos i took at my pierce the veil concert back in april. i’m still not over seeing jaime. i went up to my parents at 12:50 because thats when my mum said they’re ready for me to ask questions about boris. it took about an hour because it was on and off and i kept on getting sidetracked. afterwards i went downstairs, had some breadsticks [and found this huge ass spider living above our food cupboard], did my teeth, and said goodnight to boris.

i cant recall how long i was speaking to him, but i finished at 2:50. i told him about my day and what’s going to be happening tomorrow so he knows i might not be able to be with him as much as id want to. [my prevision is coming round tomorrow]. i got into bed directly after id finished speaking with boris, and listened to three days grace + the used while wrapping up this entry. went to sleep at 3. i usually get to sleep the second my head touches my pillow but it took me a few minutes more today because all i could focus on was the sound of electricity and my radiator. it isn’t even that whirring sound you’d hear at your grandparents when you sleep over, it’s high pitched and inconsistent and weird. also my stick insects were being noisy.

* ughh i hate this page sm it’s probably my least fav one i’ll ever do here’s a picture of boris to make up for it

have a good day/night O_o

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baby-yongbok · 1 year ago

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Poetry

Chapter Five - Morning After

Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff, sweet like candy

Summary: Will you die of embarrassment or will you make it through?

Word Count: 4,446

A/N: I wanted to do so much in this chapter but I'm trying to pace the story right. I hope it isn't too boring lol this the first fluff series I've ever written and my first slow-ish burn series ever in my years of writing. I hope that you enjoy it! + If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading the previous parts before this one so that you get the ✨full experience✨. See you next Thursday at 6 💕

Part Four

✧Poetry Series Masterlist✧

✧Main Masterlist✧

Is this even real? You’ve been asking yourself that for the past twenty minutes while you’re cuddled into Hyunjin’s side laughing about any and everything. Did you guys really just kiss? You find yourself sneaking your hand up to your lips every few seconds as the feeling lingers, you’re not ready to let it go just yet.

“So did you ever find out what it was?” Hyunjin asks, curious to know more details about your haunted childhood home that you’re telling him about.

“Nope, but I truly believe that It was a ghost.” Hyunjin shakes his head, staring up at your ceiling. “How did we end up telling ghost stories?”

“I asked what made you afraid of lightning and it all spiraled from there.”

“Ah, right.” You glance over at your digital clock but there are no numbers on display. You were so tangled in your own world with Hyunjin that you completely forgot that the power went out.

“What time is it?” Hyunjin sits up and you follow. He looks around for his phone as you make your way to your vanity for yours.

“11:23pm” Your voices clash with each other as you both answer at the same time, you both follow with a chuckle and Hyunjin stands from your bed.

“I should probably get going.” He stretches, taking a quick peek out of your window to gauge the storm's intensity. It’s nothing like it was earlier, it’s actually way worse.

“I am not letting you walk home in that.” You protest, taking a peek out of the window yourself. The sidewalks are damn near flooded.

“I walked here and I was fine.”

“You were soaking wet.”

“That’s nothing.” Hyunjin shrugs, you cross your arms over your chest, raising an eyebrow at him. He flashes a cute playful smile at you and you roll your eyes, taking a step towards him.

“I’m not letting you walk home in that, it's too dangerous and you’ll definitely get sick.” Hyunjin shrugs again, his smile not fading. He steps closer and you can't help but feel your heart flutter, you scoff, turning towards your closet and making your way over to it.

“You’re staying the night.” Hyunjin chuckles lightly, you can hear his bare feet against your floor as he circles the bed over to your closet.

“I saw that coming.” You reach for some extra blankets at the top of your closet, stretching yourself to get to them. “I got it.”

Hyunjin gently places his hand on the small of your back before reaching up to grab the blankets. You feel that familiar electricity run up your spine but this time it’s less of a surprising sensation and more of a relaxing one. “Anything else?” Hyunjin peers down at you, waiting for your answer.

“You tell me, you’re the one sleeping on the floor.” You shrug as you meet his gaze. He tongues his cheek, sighing sarcastically

“I don’t even get the couch?”

“Our couch is way worse than the floor, trust me. That thing graduated university with me.”

“Ew, okay, I’ll take the floor.” He takes note of what he’s already taken down from the closet before asking for another blanket, you point to one on the other side of your closet and just as he reaches for it you both hear a loud crash coming from somewhere in your apartment. You both turn towards the door, brows pinched together as you listen closely for any other sounds.

“Let me check on that.” You start walking towards your door and Hyunjin follows close behind. You stop suddenly, turning to look at him with furrowed brows. “You don’t have to come.”

“You want me to let you investigate a loud sound in your apartment with no power on?” Hyunjin asks slowly and sarcastically. “Make it make sense.”

“Fine.” You sigh, you’re sure that I was nothing, probably just the wind. You open your bedroom door and creep out slowly, using your phone flashlight to illuminate your path. Hyunjin follows, his eyes busy scanning everything around him. Once you start to approach the kitchen you can hear the sound of glass clinking. You follow the sound and find another flashlight in the kitchen held by your distracted roommate. He’s got his headphones on as he cleans up the mess that he made, unfortunately that mess was your antique thrift shop vase shattered with the orange roses that Hyunjin gave you sprawled out on the tile.

“Ugh, really Bin?” You groan just loud enough to grab Changbin’s attention.

“Ah, sorry about this, I was looking for more matches and I knocked it over. I’ll buy you a new vase.” You nod, taking a couple of steps closer to check out the damage. Just as you’re about to comment, Changbin asks you a question that makes your heart skip.

“How was your date? Was I right?” You look up at him with wide eyes and try to subtly shake your head. There’s no way that he’s asking you this and Hyunjin is right behind you, does he not see the tall dark haired man standing right there? Is he blind?

“I wasn’t right? He didn’t kiss you?” You sigh, squeezing your eyes shut and dramatically palming your forehead. “What?”

“Hey.” Hyunjin speaks before you can, taking a step forward and awkwardly waving at Changbin. “I’m Hyunjin, nice to meet you.”

You can hear Hyunjin trying to hold his laughter and you cringe a bit from embarrassment. How could Changbin do this to you? You definitely won’t let him forget this.

“Oh shit, Uh nice to meet you, man. I’m Changbin.” Your roommate introduces himself then looks over at you. “You could’ve warned me.”

“You could’ve kept your mouth shut until the morning.” You roll your eyes, sighing dramatically. “He’s staying over, I’ll see you in the morning. Try not to humiliate me again, please.”

You and Hyunjin turn around to walk away and Hyunjin mutters a quick good night before retreating back into your room. Before you can get too far you hear Changbin whisper yelling your name and you turn back towards him. “Was I right?”

You groan, turning around and flashing your middle finger in your roommate's direction before walking away. When you get back to your room Hyunjin is fiddling with the blankets you gave him, starting to set up his spot on the floor. You go over to the head of your bed to pick out some pillows for him, you both move in silence for a minute or two until Hyunjin clears his throat.

“So -”

“Don’t.” You cut him off before he can finish and he immediately bursts into a fit of laughter. You groan, trying your best not to laugh with him. “Do not make me relive the embarrassment.”

“Come on.” Hyunjin grabs your wrist as he tries to stop laughing. He pulls you into him, hugging you but you don’t hug him back. “You wanted me to kiss you tonight?”

“No.”

“No?” Hyunjin pulls back to look down at you, amusement written all over his face. You roll your eyes, pouting a bit as you realize that you have no way out of this.

“I mean, I wanted you to, yeah. But, Changbin predicted that you would, so that's why he asked if he was right.” Hyunjin nods, still smiling down at you.

“Are you going to talk about me when I leave?”

“Please don’t make me answer that.” You stomp your feet dramatically.

“That’s a yes.” He lets you go and you plop down onto your bed face down. “What are you doing?”

“Dying of embarrassment.” Hyunjin sits next to you on the bed, ruffling your hair playfully.

“Please don’t die before I get to take you on a second date.” You sigh dramatically into the mattress and Hyunjin smiles as he watches you. How could you be so cute?

“Too late, I’m withering away, this is the last you’ll see of me. I’ll be nothing but dust in the morning.” Your voice is muffled by the mattress and Hyunjin chuckles at the sound.

“Why are the ones that read always so dramatic?” You roll over, gasping at him and pretending to be offended. Your hand lays over your heart, exaggerating your reaction.

“I am not dramatic.”

“Hey, I am too. I’ve been called a drama queen for years but clearly you’re coming for my crown.” You roll your eyes, pulling yourself onto your feet and dusting yourself off.

“This is why you’re sleeping on the floor."

Your alarm wakes you up at 6:30 am just like it does every other morning. The sun has yet to rise but you can already hear the birds singing. You sit up, stretching a bit with a yawn, you look over to your left and stare for a second before leaning over the edge of the bed a bit to get a closer look. Hyunjin is still fast asleep, he’s turned on his side with one arm draped lazily over his chest while the other holds his phone. You faintly remember falling asleep before him last night. The two of you ended up talking until about two in the morning, you can never seem to stay up later than that since you start your day so early. Hyunjin stirs a bit in his sleep, huffing out a breath and moaning lightly as he brings his knees closer to his chest. You watch him, admiring how peaceful he looks curled up on your floor.

Your admiration is cut short when he mumbles something in his sleep but it’s not just anything, it's your name. You stare down at him in shocked silence before pulling back and laying back against your pillows. Your wide eyes scanned the ceiling searching for confirmation, did you really just hear that? Did he really just say that? You close your eyes for a second, trying your best to refocus. You don’t have time to wonder what his dream is about. You need to get ready to start your day… but what was it about? You shake your head, sitting up and forcing yourself to start moving. If you’re going to obsess over it you might as well be productive. You step out of bed quietly, making sure not to bump into anything. You circle your bed and make your way over to your door. Just as you’re about to turn the knob your second alarm starts going off, you jump at the sound before turning around and rushing over to turn it off. You pick up your phone quickly, fumbling with it before you finally swipe the alarm off. You exhale heavily and glance over at Hyunjin, you smile a bit as you take in his unbothered frame still sleeping peacefully. He’s a heavy sleeper, huh? That must be a good dream.

You take your phone with you as you make your way out of your room, closing the door carefully. You make your way to the bathroom across the hall to get started on your morning routine. You wash your face and brush your teeth as your mind shifts through all of the possible reasons that Hyunjin would say your name in his sleep. Maybe he’s dreaming about your date or some cool adventure. Maybe you just made a quick appearance in the dream and you were there and gone in a flash. You look in the mirror, checking your face for any blemishes when a certain thought sticks out at you, maybe it was a wet dream. Your eyes widen and you almost want to smack yourself for thinking that. You two literally just had your first date, there’s no way that he’s having a wet dream about you, but time doesn’t really matter in the dream world does it? You splash some cold water on your face to pull yourself out of your thoughts before going back to your room, the last thing that you need is to spiral into a fit of ‘What if’s’. As you’re going back to your room you can hear music coming from Changbin’s. He always wakes up at least half an hour before you do to get a head start on working out before the two of you eat breakfast together. You both take turns preparing breakfast and today was his day to cook.

When you get back to your door you turn the knob gently, trying your best not to make any noise. When you open the door you’re surprised to see Hyunjin sitting up from his spot, his knees tucked into his chest and his head resting on his crossed arms. You close your door just as gently as you opened it, not wanting to scare him. He hasn’t looked up at you so you assume that you did a pretty good job at sneaking in until you hear a sniffle. You freeze as you watch him. He’s still, no shaking or micro movement but he sniffles again and you notice him trying to subtly wipe his eyes, he’s crying. You slowly walk over to him, kneeling down when you get close enough and crawling over to close the gap between you two. He doesn’t move, it’s almost like he didn’t even notice you were there. You don’t say a word, instead you lay your hand on his back, rubbing large circles against his t-shirt. You can feel him relax a bit as you soothe him, his shoulders drop a bit and his back muscles untense. You two sit in silence for a couple of seconds until Hyunjin moves, in a swift yet slow motion he uncurls himself and sinks into you. His head finds your chest and his arms snake around your torso, holding you close. You gasp as the sudden change but quickly settle once he’s comfortable.

“Sorry about this.” He mumbles, his face halfway pressed into your collar bone. “I had a nightmare.”

Your heart skips and your thoughts begin the race as his words skin in. He had a nightmare with you in it?

“Do you want to talk about it?” You want to know more, both in an attempt to comfort him and in a selfish attempt to calm your rising anxiety.

“No, I'd rather just try to forget about it.” You mumble a small ‘okay’ and attempt to put your anxiety aside to comfort him properly. After about a minute of hugging you he pulls away, he looks over at you with puffy eyes and a small grin on his face.

“I’m alright.” He nearly whispers as he wipes his face. “I have nightmares often but sometimes they’re terrifying, I guess last night was one of those nights.”

You nod, trying to drown out your thoughts. Not only did he have a nightmare with you in it but he had a terrifying nightmare that literally brought him to tears, that’s great.

“I’m always here if you want to talk about it.” You try to sound as affirming as you can and it clearly worked since Hyunjin flashed you a more sincere grin this time. You decide to try and stop your spiraling once again by attempting to get ready for your day and trying to help distract Hyunjin. You stand from your seat on the floor, pulling him up with you. He’s a bit reluctant but he follows you, towering over you as soon as he stands completely. You reach both of your hands up towards the ceiling, your pajama shirt lifting a bit as you do. Hyunjin watches you with furrowed brows and you smile.

“Come on, stretch with me.” He smiles back for a second before joining you, a heavy sigh followed by a long whine leaving his lips. You chuckle as you transition into your next stretch.

“You stretch like a five year old.”

“Hey, I do not.” His morning voice catches you off guard now that you can hear it clearly. You expected it to be a bit raspy but you didn’t expect it to be that deep. You blush a bit at the sound of it as you twist your torso and Hyunjin follows.

“You do.” Hyunjin pouts in your direction, making a sound that a child would make, proving you right.

“I do not.”

You managed to get Hyunjin in higher spirits after some stretching and a bit of play fighting. Apparently calling him by his full name makes him tackle you and tickle you until you agree to never say it again. You put on your morning playlist, humming to the music as your favorite songs played and Hyunjin helped you pick out your outfit for the day. He shifted through your closet for what seemed like forever, picking things out and putting them back until he found a skirt and sweater comb that he thought gave off the ‘Autumn Spirit’. You dressed up the outfit, adding some warm tights and a jacket while he grabbed all of his stuff. Once he was ready he picked out some jewelry for you to wear but there was one piece that you weren’t familiar with.

“Is this yours?” You watch him as he fastens a bracelet around your wrist. The silver chain was a bit heavier than you expected.

“Mhm” He responded happily, watching your reaction closely.

“Does it cost a thousand dollars? It’s so heavy.” Hyunjin laughs as you run your fingers over the cool metal. You rotate the bracelet until the silver name plate shows the brand written in bold letters on the front of it. “This is Versace?”

He smiles at your bewildered tone. “Hyunjin I can’t take this, what if I lose it? What if I break it? This bracelet could probably pay my student loans.”

“Well, it’s only a five hundred dollar bracelet so it’s not that bad.” You stare up at him wide eyed and he tries his best to not laugh at your expression. “ And you can give it back to me when you see me again.”

“You’re not going to act like you didn’t just say that this chain on my arm is five hundred dollars.”

“Angel, it’s not that bad.” You open your mouth to rebuttal but you get stuck on the name that he just called you, he’s never called you anything but your actual name before. A deep blush creeps up your neck and over your cheeks and you look back down at your wrist, studying the expensive jewelry.

“Fine, I’ll wear it.” You smile down at the chain before turning to grab your bag from the end of your bed. “Did you want to stay for breakfast?”

“I should actually get going so I can return this suit to Han, he’s been texting me about it for the past thirty minutes and if I don’t get it back to him soon our next date will be my funeral.” You chuckle, watching as Hyunjin grabs his stuff and puts his messenger bag over his shoulder.

“We don’t want that now do we?” You look in the mirror one more time before turning to face Hyunjin. He’s grinning at you, his eyes taking you in slowly. “What?”

“You just look beautiful today.”

“You’re only saying that because you picked out this outfit.”

“I’m saying it because you look stunning in everything.” He takes a step towards you, looking down at you with sparkling eyes but you can’t decipher the emotion behind his gaze. “And because I picked out your outfit.”

He smiles wider once you gasp at him dramatically. He leans down and lands a quick kiss on your forehead, causing the blush on your cheeks to deepen all over again.

“Get out.” You playfully roll your eyes and Hyunjin chuckles.

“Yes ma’am.” You both make your way over to your bedroom door and Hyunjin opens it, moving to the side so you can exit first. Just as the two of you are approaching the kitchen you hear Hyunjin mumble something before following up.

“Ah, I forgot my charger. I’ll be right back.” He turns around, heading back to your room to grab his forgotten item and you decide to wait for him in the living room. Just as the kitchen comes into sight you hear a very excited voice call your name. You light up a bit as your eyes land on her, Serena, Changbin’s girlfriend, is sitting at the kitchen island across from him. You and Serena get along well, maybe a bit too well. She and Changbin have been dating since your Junior year of University, if there’s anyone that you would think to be couple goals it’s definitely them.

“Serena! What did I do to deserve such a beautiful woman in my house this early in the morning?” You make your way over to hug her, trying your best not to mess up her very sophisticated pants suit.

“I bought breakfast so that I could get the tea while it’s hot.” You looked around the kitchen searching for actual tea but when you didn’t find any the look on Serena’s face gave you all the answers you needed.

“You told her?” You ask Changbin with your arms crossed over your chest.

“Of course I told her. We’ve been trying to get you laid for like three years, this is a big development.” Your cheeks flush once you hear a bit of shuffling coming from down the hall, Hyunjin’s coming back, fuck. You shake your head quickly, putting your finger over your mouth and Changbin quickly gets the message. Unfortunately, Serena wasn’t as quick.

“Come on, tell me everything. Is he cute? Is he a good kisser? I need the tea immediately.” You sigh, slapping your hand against your forehead and you hear Hyunjin stop behind you. Serena’s jaw falls open as she takes in the tall man behind you who is probably as red as a strawberry from trying to hold back his laughter.

“Good morning.” He says with a smile before taking a step towards Serena and holding a hand out towards her. “I’m Hyunjin, nice to meet you.”

“Well hello there.” Serena takes his hand as her eyes rake over Hyunjin’s frame slowly, taking in every detail. “I’m Serena, Changbin’s girlfriend. It’s nice to meet you”

“The pleasure is mine, Serena.” Hyunjin lets go of her hand and then turns to you with a smile. You avoid his amused gaze, trying to find something else to focus on as he takes a step over to you, nearly closing the gap between you two.

“So -”

“Don’t” Hyunjin chuckles, trying his best to not fall into a fit of laughter. How many times can you be embarrassed in the span of twelve hours?

“Don’t be shy, angel.” You pull your lips into a thin line as your heart flutters. That pet name is not helping, it’s only furthering the embarrassment.

“Maybe I’ll let Han kill you.”

“Hey, don’t you want a second date?”

“I’m not so sure.” You glance up at his smiling face for a second before looking away, you can’t help but to smile a bit in return. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

Hyunjin nods at you before turning back to your very captivated audience. You roll your eyes at Changbin and Serena’s smirks as you pass them, making your way over to the front door.

“Have a good day, it was wonderful meeting you.” Hyunjin bows to them slightly and they both say a quick good-bye. Serena’s gaze follows Hyunjin as he walks away and Changbin leans over the island to push her shoulder.

Once Hyunjin reaches you he slips on his shoes and you open the door for him.

“I’ll text you when I get home.” You nod with a small smile and Hyunjin pulls you into a hug, it’s firm yet gentle and you can’t help but to melt into him a bit. “I hope that you had a good time last night.”

“I had a great time, really. That was probably the best date that I’ve ever been on.” Hyunjin pulls away, a look of satisfaction on his face.

“Now I have to top that.”

“Good luck.” You tease and Hyunjin rolls his eyes.

“I’ll see you later.” Hyunjin’s eyes search yours for a second, and he gives a small, gentle smile. He leans in and gives you a chaste kiss on the cheek before whispering “And don’t worry, I’m going to talk about you too.”

Your face heats up and your heart sings a bit with excitement. He stands tall and takes a couple of steps away from you. “Don’t forget to mention how pretty I am.” You tease and he smiles wider.

“I’ll put it on the list of things to say.” He waves at you and you wave back. He gives you one last look before he turns around, making his way down the hallway and over to the elevator. You step back inside, closing the door gently and taking a deep breath. You slowly make your way back over to the kitchen, smiling like a child who’s just won a prize at the arcade.

“Binnie, when’s the last time you saw her smile like that?” Serena asks her boyfriend as she eyes you.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen her smile like that.”

“Okay, come on, spill everything, we need all of the details. Changbin, make her a plate, we don’t have any time to waste.” Changbin instantly grabs a plate and puts a bit of everything that you like on it. You can hear their voices but you aren’t really listening, you're too busy smiling at the butterflies in your stomach. You snap out of it when Serena grabs your wrist and pulls you over to a bar stool, prompting you to sit next to her. Her and Changbin stare at you expectantly and you sigh, picking up your fork and starting to eat.

“What do you want to know?”

“Did he kiss you?” Changbin asks quickly and you shake your head. They both gasp, Serena claps excitedly and your roommate puts his fist in the air as if he’s won something. “I called it.”

“The real question is, was it a good kiss?” Serena asks with raised brows and you stop eating immediately. They both lean in, waiting for you to answer while you play back the memory. The reminiscent feeling of Hyunjin’s lips on yours makes you grin a bit as you bounce your leg excitedly. You close your eyes for a second to fully immerse yourself in the memory before opening them and looking over at them. You exhale deeply before smiling.

“It was so so good.”

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hesbuckcompton-baby · 3 months ago

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tagging @archival-hogwash @lucyfromtheoldhouse @blakelysco-pilot - thank you for the love on part 1!!

american boy -> bernard demarco x susie lamb (college au) - part 2 (part 1)

The faint smell of beer filled the house as Benny turned the page of his book, each movement tentative and slow, desperate to make as little noise as possible. He had already dressed, but was sitting cross-legged on the bed, too wary of the creaky door to risk going anywhere else. Leather couch cushions had sunk beneath the weight of Susie's body, curved along her outline as she slept soundly, an arm dangling down over the side, knuckles brushing against the floor.

"If you had seen me around, I doubt you'd remember."

Her words had been crossing his mind incessantly since the moment she'd first uttered them. A stray auburn curl fell across her face, draped over the bridge of her nose. And there they went again. The idea that he might have forgotten Susie Lamb struck him as utterly preposterous. Hell, she'd hit him with a car mere hours ago, and he still managed to like her. There was just something about her that seemed to distract him from whatever he was supposed to be mad at.

Benny had been awake for two hours. He'd only managed to focus long enough to read five pages.

A rustling sound pulled his attention as she rolled onto her back, blinking slowly as she regained consciousness. A streak of sunlight poured through the window across her face, and she let out an exhausted groan, squinting in discomfort.

Susie ran a hand across her face, glancing up as the blinding light suddenly disappeared to find Benny hurriedly adjusting the curtain. She was far too tired to notice the sweetness of the gesture. That realisation would have to wait for later.

Letting out a long yawn, she pushed herself up lazily on an elbow. "... What time is it?"

"Nine-thirty. Ish."

She collapsed back onto the couch, letting out another groan of annoyance. "Fuck. I had class - why didn't you wake me up?"

There wasn't any way to say he'd rather liked just watching her sleep that didn't make him sound like a creep. Nor was there a way to say he might like her even more when she was vaguely pissed off.

"I... drank a lotta beer last night," Benny shrugged, purposely ignoring the way her eyes narrowed at him.

Susie sighed deeply, covering her face with her palms for a long moment. When she finally sat up, a throbbing ache shot through her head, screwing up her face in displeasure. "How much did I drink last night?"

"Well. At one point you accused me of, quote 'drinking like a wimp', and made me go get you a bottle of whiskey so you could drink it straight," He recalled, chuckling slightly at the memory.

"Sounds about right," She admitted, letting out a grunt as she pushed herself up off the couch to stand. "Right, well. Thanks for that... my car's outside, so..."

Susie moved towards the door, stopping as she felt Benny's hand brush across her shoulder. "You're not going anywhere until you've had some painkillers and coffee, minimum."

"I'm just trying to get out without any noise - really don't need all your housemates assuming we slept together."

"To be fair, what you actually did to me last night is arguably way more embarrassing."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes teasingly. "You should get over that."

Benny pointed to the band-aid plastered across his forehead. "You maimed me."

"I'm amazed you can still walk," Susie snorted, fighting against the smile tugging at her lip as she reached for the door once more.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Downstairs looked more like a warzone than a kitchen, empty bottles and solo cups littering every surface. The pair wordlessly went about the business of sorting some breakfast, simply shoving the piles of trash to the side whenever they were in the way, too tired or uninterested to bother with any attempt at tidying. Clipping her unbrushed hair up and out of the way, Susie headed towards the refrigerator in search of butter, pausing as she opened it.

"Hey Benny?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a shoe in your fridge."

He turned away from the coffee machine for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "... Huh."

"Well, I'm not touching it," She shrugged, reaching past the shoe as she seized the butter. Slotting a slice of bread into the toaster, and tossing a few more solo cups into the sink out of the way, she muttered a quiet thanks as Benny handed her a cup of coffee and some Tylenol.

"You do this a lot?" He grinned.

"Huh?"

"Run people over to score a free breakfast."

"Ok," Susie nodded, turning to lean against the counter. "One - I did not run you over, I lightly grazed you with the front of my car. That mess on your face is from you hitting the ground weird, so I'm not even 100% sure that's my fault. Two - I don't think slightly burnt toast is worth the legal issues. A full English? Maybe. But not this."

He chuckled, pushing himself up to sit on top of the kitchen island. "How very British of you."

"Yeah, well," She nodded, turning around to butter her toast. "Not my fault you people make terrible bacon."

At the sound of footsteps descending the stairs, they both glanced towards the door. "Heyy, Kit-Kat," Benny called, a teasing twinge in his voice as a dark-haired girl wandered into the kitchen. "You spend the night in Bucky's room?"

"Mind ya business," Kit retorted playfully, coming to stand beside Susie as she slotted another piece of bread into the toaster. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Kit, this is Susie," He explained.

She glanced between the pair, smirking slightly to herself. "So, you and Benny-?"

"Oh, no - I hit him with my car," Susie shrugged.

"Good for you," Kit nodded, seemingly entirely unphased by this. She was so surprised by this response that she had to fight not to laugh, watching with a smile as the girl wandered off, disappearing down the hall.

"Oh, I like her."

"God, I don't need two of you," Benny scoffed, rolling his eyes as he slid off the island. "She's a pain in my ass."

"Well, maybe you need one of those," Susie teased, a smirk curling her lip. For a moment, he froze, gaze caught on the half-a-dozen toast crumbs stuck to the corner of her mouth. If he'd seen a face like Susie Lamb's before, he was certain he would've remembered.

"You got a little-" He uttered.

"Oh," She reached up, brushing a hand across the wrong side of her face.

"Nah, it's just-" Before Benny's brain could scream at him to stop, he'd swiped his thumb across the edge of her lip, her skin soft and smooth against his. Her eyes widened by an almost imperceptible fraction, feeling her cheeks heat up as her back pressed against the counter behind her.

Someone cleared their throat loudly in the doorway. Susie took a firm step sideways, instinctively distancing herself from Benny as the housemate they'd bumped into last night stared pointedly at them.

"I'm gonna go get my shit," She muttered, downing the last of her coffee in a hurried gulp and fleeing out into the hall.

Benny sighed, shoulders drooping slightly. "Thank you, John." He groaned.

"What?" Bucky frowned. "She's pretty."

"Yeah, I know."

"Didn't she run you over, though?" He chuckled, stepping further into the room in search of food.

"She... lightly grazed me with her car."

Bucky let out a bark of laughter, tugging the fridge door open as Benny left, heading for the stairs in the direction Susie had headed.

"Huh. That's where my shoe went."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When Benny returned to his room, Susie had already gathered her belongings, shoved clumsily under her arm as she rummaged down the side of one of the couch cushions for her car key. "Got it," She muttered to herself, tucking the keys into her pocket before noticing his arrival. "Oh. Hey."

"Hey, look, I'm sorry about Bucky, he's... Well, he's Bucky."

"S'fine, he didn't do anything," Susie shrugged, standing up straight to face him. "I've just gotta go, I've got work to do. Was nice meeting you, though."

"Yeah," Benny breathed, stepping aside to let her pass as she slipped through the door and back out into the hall. "Hey, Susie?" He called, catching her just before she could descend the stairs.

"Mm?" She hummed, looking up at him.

"We're having another party, same time next week. You should come."

A smile smile creased her cheek as she nodded. "Sure. Thanks."

Susie disappeared in a thunder of footsteps, scurrying swiftly down the stairs and making for the front door. From where he stood in his bedroom doorway, Benny could just make her out through the window, heading down the front path to where her car remained parked from the night before. As she clambered into the driver's seat, he jerked with surprise at the realisation that Kit was suddenly hovering beside him, watching along in silence. "Jesus, Kit."

"You got her number, right?" She asked as Susie's car rolled out of sight.

His stomach sank so hard, it was as if he'd swallowed a rock. "... No."

Kit reached out, smacking him up the back of the head as he let out a yelp. "Ow!"

"Idiot."

#mota college au #bernard demarco x oc #helena writes #bernard demarco #oc: susie #mota oc #mota #demarco x susie

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honeybeezgobzzzzz · 1 year ago

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𓅨 Your Fate is Sealed With Mine: Chapter Thirty-Five

Your Fate is Sealed With Mine: Y/N Burgess is the granddaughter of Alex and Paul, and after having spent so many summers at their manor and always wondering why she was forbidden from entering the basement, she descends the steps into the world of the Order. She broke out the being that had been trapped in that glass cage, but what does he want with her now that he is free?

Warnings: The Fates Meddle in the Affairs of the Endless and His Bonded, Language, Reader Gets Scolded, More Exposition Heavy Plot (For Reader’s Sake/Development).

To Note: Morpheus/Dream x Female!GranddaughterReader, based on Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’, Reader now has long-ish hair for plot reasons (Just so Morpheus can tug on it later). Extra special thanks to my brand new beta reader! Hearts and kisses for you!

Word Count: ~2.1k

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You had been trying to come up with a way to deal with the Corinthian when you felt your soul get sucked from your body once more. Feeling like you were flying through dimensions, your stomach rolled in fear that you would end up, for a third time, at the mercy of Desire. But Desire’s realm was not the place you ended up, no, you ended up in a place you had never been before and had zero recollection of. Looking around, you noticed the crackling thunder and swift wind that seemed to come and go. You stepped forwards.

“This one’s a pretty one,” A woman said, appearing in front of you. You blinked in confusion and she was replaced with an older looking version.

“Yes, sister but this one is far more tenacious than those previously.” Your eyes went wide as the older woman was replaced by a middle aged one.

“You look exhausted, dear? Sleeping enough?” The middle-aged woman asked, your lips parted in confusion but she was replaced once more.

“Of course not!” The older one snapped out. “Not with Morpheus dragging her heart around!’

“You should rest, love,” It was the younger one again, what the bloody hell was going on!?

“Come now sisters, can’t you see we’re scaring the poor thing?” You baulked and shook your head.

“I’m not scared I just have no bloody idea what is going on or how I got here!” You exclaimed loudly, looking at the three woman lurking about. “The last time someone zapped my soul I ended up in Desire’s realm!”

“This one’s got fire,” The young one spoke with a smile.

“Clearly, who else would put up with Dream of the Endless?”

“We aren’t going to hurt you Y/N.”

“You’re quite interesting actually,” You pressed a hand into your forehead, already feeling a headache coming on from the constant switching.

“I do not wish to be rude, but will you please tell me who you are?” You questioned, looking between the three of them with a strained exhale.

“We’re the Kindly Ones, love,” The younger woman spoke, she was the Maiden. She was replaced with the Crone.

“We’ve been wanting to meet you for a very long time, Y/N Burgess.”

“For what purpose?” The Mother appeared with a gentle smile.

“You’re fate is bound of Dream of the Endless, dear, it is only natural to be curious about whom Morpheus chose. You do not disappoint.” The Maiden was back.

“Your future is quite unsteady, love, you’d better decide what you are going to do with your bonded.”

“Unsteady?” You repeated. “What do you mean by unsteady?”

“There is no set path for an Endless, Y/N Burgess, the possibilities are Endless.”

“I’m not an Endless,” You stated, your eyebrows pinching at the Crone.

“You are now, love.”

“Your future hangs in the balance as long as you question your bond with Morpheus.” They were being maddeningly unhelpful.

“Well Morpheus can’t make up his bloody mind about whether or not he actually likes being around me so—“

“You do not listen,” The Crone cut you off sharply. You pursed your lips together so you didn’t bite back. “Many have told you of his desire for you, of his yearning. Yet you still refuse to believe.”

“I’m not a bloody—“

“Hold your tongue, child,” The Mother tutted, her eyes flashing sternly. “You do not comprehend the depth of emotion which the Dream King possesses.”

“Then help me understand,” You softly uttered. “I cannot choose a set path if all I feel is confusion and hurt.”

“I hope you don’t have a jealous heart,” The Maiden spoke with a giggle, covering her mouth.

“Morpheus has taken a few lovers in his time.” The Crone added, her wise eyes staring at you intimidatingly. “You might not like what you see.”

“It is not for me to like or dislike,” You carefully responded, choosing your words decisively. “It is Morpheus’ past and if I am to understand him, I should learn all I can.”

“You might just settle your scales, dear,” The Mother spoke before stepping up to you. You watched her wearily as she took your face in hand. “Be not quick to judge.” She then leaned forward and pressed her lips against your forehead.

You closed your eyes as that sucking feeling ran through your body and rock disappeared underfoot. You were floating through space, looking around you at the glittering stars and looming planets. Then you were tugged into a dream. A woman with blue skin, snowy white hair, and who glowed with green fire, was standing in front of a figure you recognized all to well. It was Morpheus, you were sure of that, and when he called her by her name, Killala, with such gentleness and adoration,you felt your heart squeeze painfully in your chest. This must be Morpheus’s first lover, you were sure of it… the adoration and passion on his face was nothing you had ever seen before. Then the scene shifted and you saw Killala ultimately chose to embrace a glowing sun in a lover’s embrace.

The crushing heartbreak and depression emitting from Morpheus was breath stealing and made your body tremble, your knees weak. You were sucked away once more, spiraling around and flipping through space until you landed in an ancient city. It had the lodgings of a city in Africa, it’s architecture and sculpting reminiscent of pictures you had seen in University. The sun overhead beat down upon your body in an unrelenting fashion, you could feel perspiration gathering along your skin. Stepping forwards, the animal pelts you wore upon your body shifted with every step you took in exploration. Morpheus would be around here somewhere, surely. You felt a pull and followed it, weaving your way into the grand palace. You sandal covered feet barely made any sounds against the polished floor of the palace, and when you reached a highly decorated area.

You heard the sounds of moans and breathless sighs. You halted in step, did you really wanted to intrude on such an intimate moment? The subconscious urge to continue your path was all too much to refuse. Heart racing beneath your breast and adrenaline fueling your steps, you walked forwards until you were parallel to a room, out of the corner of your eyes you could see a very beautiful woman with rich dark skin. The man she was wrapped around had equally dark skin, but you could feel his very essence, his soul. That was Morpheus, once again caught up in the throes of love he always seemed to be without. This was not a side of Morpheus you had ever seen, or expected.

The palace faded to ruin, the native people long dead. Nada heartbroken, took her own life. What would Morpheus do now? He could not take a mortal lover without repercussion, but with Nada now in the netherworld, he was free to pursue her. Their confrontation was not what you expected. Morpheus wanted her to be his queen, his eternal lover within the Dreaming. Nada refused and the side of Morpheus you were more accustomed to emerged. He was enraged by her rejection after having such deep, emotional ties to her. Rejection was not something he was accustomed and it stung bitterly. You flinched when he cast Nada to hell, his cruelty just barely masking the agonizing pain you could feel ripping at his heart. He was genuinely devastated that she had refused him.

Your eyesight shifted once more, this time taking on a Grecian look. You didn’t even need to seek the pair out within the Parthenon to know that this was Morpheus’ muse lover: Calliope. The muse was drop dead gorgeous and even made you feel self conscious… but the way she looked at Morpheus, with such adoration and gentleness, you could hardly dislike her. She had an air of elegance that drew anyone in, even you were attracted to her beauty and light. Then you could feel a riff slowly forming between the married pair. It’s tipping point? The death of Orpheus, neither quite recovered from, let alone addressed the grief you knew they both felt. Well, the grief you were currently feeling from Morpheus had your knees bending and eyes watering. He had such strong love for his family, but that riff had entirely torn it apart to unrepairable pieces. You wept from the hurt and pain Morpheus had felt from losing his son.

Another shift, another lover, this one more fleeting then Calliope. A faerie queen and a narcissistic one at that. This affair ended the quickest and yet, you could still feel the sting of hurt that ate away at Morpheus’ brittle heart. By now your own heart felt like it was made of a crystal that was slowly breaking down, each lover chipping away at the softly beating glass.

The next one was a far more gentle soul, a woman by the name of Alianora, sent to aid Morpheus (by Desire of all people) in his quest to take back his realm from two ancient Gods. This time it wasn’t betrayal or death that separated him. Morpheus’ love for Alianora simply faded with time. But he hadn’t bid her farewell from his lands, no, he had created an island from which she could rule herself as long as she lived. From this memory, you learned how Morpheus’ creepy helm had been made, from the bones of the Gods Morpheus had defeated. A tad bit creepy but it certainly made a point when one saw it.

When you were torn from this world and found yourself standing in the familiar hall of the Dreaming’s palace, you knew that this was the last lover Morpheus would take. Thessaly, a witch who had lived for thousands of years. She could utilize any form of magic, including spells and charms, and even use powers from any belief system she chose to tap into. As the last of her people, she was a powerhouse. It was no wonder that Morpheus had been drawn to her. But the love was not entirely requited and upon parting ways, Morpheus had been crushed by the break up. You felt that pain, that hurt, and that sent you to your knees. But your knees didn’t hit the soft Dreaming grass, but hard rock of the realm of the Kindly Ones.

Gasping out from the physical pain in both your knees and heart, you caught yourself with your palms as the three woman looked down at you. Tears leaked from your red and watery eyes, falling to the cold stone below while your lips trembled. You felt everything, all of that emotional pain that Morpheus had gone through in his past relationships. The instability he felt within his relationships. The oppression of a love that was never bound to last. He had hurt so much and chose to remain emotionally closed off and stagnant. Afraid to love again because he would only lose it in the end. An agonizing cycle that always repeated and always gorged fresh wounds in his heart.

“Do you now understand, Y/N Burgess?” The Crone questioned. “Are you ready to seal your future, your fate, with the one you are bound to?”

Your eyes gradually lifted from the hard ground, fresh tears intermittently running off your chin. Looking into the Crone’s eyes, you faltered for words. You understood why Morpheus was the way he was, you understood that he felt so deeply, so passionately, that when his relationships ended he felt into a pit of despair. But to spend an eternity with an overly protective Morpheus who would rather have you locked up in the palace where you were guaranteed to be safe and always within reach should he need you? You couldn’t live like that, you refused to.

“No,” You told them, your eyes sparking silver. “You can show me all you want, Kindly Ones, I will not let anyone chose my future save for me.”

“You’ve got the spark of fire and life,” The Maiden said, appearing before you. “Perhaps you will be what he needs, or what will be his undoing.”

Your face started to harden, not likening the way the Maiden had worded her sentence, but you didn’t get the chance to respond before you were yanked away. Lurching upright with a gasp, you came face to face with the Corinthian who was looking at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Good ol’ Morpheus try to have a little chat?” He mused in question before offering his hand. You stared at the offered hand before grudgingly taking it with a snort.

“The Kindly Ones, actually,” You snipped back, allowing him to pull you to your feet. You reached up and felt your cheeks. They were dry, but that pulsating ache of heartbreak still lingered within your chest. “Now, don’t you have a speech to give?”

Date Published: 12/12/22

Last Edit: 8/20/23

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#dream the endless x reader #morpheus x reader #dream the endless #sandman x reader #dream of the endless #morpheus #the sandman #lord morpheus #the sandman netflix #dream of the endless x reader

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underforeversgrace · 1 year ago

Text

the walls you hide behind (I saw the truth inside the real you) - 1

title: the walls you hide behind (I saw the truth inside the real you)

words: 3,224

Story Summary: Jazz is tired of the ghosts, tired of her parents not doing enough, tired of Phantom's recklessness and her brother's persistent exhaustion. When she yells all of her frustration at her parents after nearly getting killed by a ghost, she gets sent to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin for the weekend - where she's offered a chance. She could have the ability to fight back, protect her brother and her town. Jazz leaps at the prospect. When she returns to Amity Park at the end of the weekend, it's with abilities and strength of her own, and she's fueled by anger and disdain. And she's got her eyes, first, on Danny Phantom.

Chapter 1 of 10: I Will Run Alone Tonight

AO3

Tumblr Chapter Two: (hyperlink isn't working for me rn) www.tumblr.com/underforeversgrace/727105534475583488/the-walls-you-hide-behind-i-saw-the-truth-inside?source=share

AU: Takes place early season one (pre-My Brother's Keeper) but ghosts have been a problem for months and are known to be a thing.

Jazz pulled her blankets tighter around her, suppressing a shiver. It was always cold, these days, it was like FentonWorks just couldn’t get warm. She seemed to be the only one to notice it, though. Her parents seemed comfortable in their hazmat suits and if Danny was cold, he hid it well.

She knew it was the portal making her cold - no matter how cold it was outside, it was colder inside FentonWorks - but her parents refused to listen to reason, like they had taken to doing constantly ever since that ridiculous portal opened. By now, there had been enough ghost attacks that Jazz was forced to admit her parents weren’t lunatics, they had actually torn a hole in the fabric of reality - with no thought to the consequences the town could face. No worry about what it would do to their family, to live with a portal to Death.

Jazz had started to believe she’d never feel warm in her own home again.

Her alarm went off next to her and she groaned, sitting up and turning it off. She’d been sleeping restlessly, but that alarm now meant she had to actually get up and out of her almost-warm-ish bed. She perked up as she remembered it was a school day - at least she had something to do that she enjoyed, out of the house.

With a sleepy yawn and a stretch, Jazz got up, changing into her favorite teal top and pulling her headband on. She considered making breakfast but dismissed the idea with a sigh. The food had been in the house longer than two days - so now most of it was approaching sentience. Still, she may as well make sure Danny was up. That boy could sleep like the dead - Jazz knew puberty was tiring, but Danny seemed outright exhausted most of the time.

“Wakey wakey!” She sing-songed loudly as she threw open Danny’s bedroom door. He gave a low grumble and balled up further under his thin sheet, hiding from her.

How in the world was he not cold?

“C’mon, Danny, time to get up!” She continued, talking far too loudly, causing Danny to grab his pillow and smoosh it over his head to block her out. She pulled the curtains wide open, letting sunlight stream in as she pulled the blankets off of him.

“Jaazzz!” He whined, much to her amusement.

“Don’t Jazz me!” She reprimanded. “It’s a school day, get up.”

“What happened to resting when you’re dead?” Danny mumbled into his pillow, Jazz straining to hear him.

“What was that?” She asked.

“I said what happened to letting me sleep in?”

“We have five minutes to leave. This is me letting you sleep in.”

He muttered under his breath, though he did finally sit up, his hair sticking up every which way. Jazz, unable to resist, reached out and ruffled his messy hair.

“Hey!” He whined, batting her hands away as she giggled. “I’ll meet you downstairs, okay?”

Jazz glanced at her watch. “Three minutes to be there or I’m bodily dragging you from the house in whatever state of dress you’ve managed. Capiche?”

He waved her away in response and Jazz left the room, closing the door behind her to give him some privacy, with a final warning that he better not fall back asleep unless he wanted Dash to see his cartoon star patterned pajama pants. She heard a soft thump as the pillow Danny threw after her hit the door.

“Love you too!” She called back with a laugh.

True to his word, he made it downstairs with seconds to spare, hairbrush in hand and still jerking through tangles. Jazz rolled her eyes and took the brush from him - “Hey, I can brush my own hair!” - and pulled it through the knots on the back of his head.

“If you brushed your hair everyday, you wouldn’t get this many tangles. Or if you got a haircut.” She chastised.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled wordlessly, though he didn’t fight her back. Once she was satisfied she had managed to get her brother looking slightly less like a feral wild child, she dropped the brush to the nearby table and ushered him out the door and into her car.

~~~

Danny snoozed in her passenger seat for the whole drive, Jazz occasionally shooting him worried glances despite their earlier playfulness. He had bags under his eyes and his already baggy clothes seemed to hang on him even more loosely. Pulling up to a stop light, she frowned, reaching towards him and pushing up his bangs.

Or, at least, that’s what she tried to do. As soon as she brushed her hand against his skin, his blue eyes flew open and her wrist was wrapped in his grip as he snarled. Jazz froze, suddenly feeling like she’d been cornered by a rabid animal. She didn’t even try to break his grip on her, despite the bruise she could feel forming.

The moment lasted for half a breath before Danny’s eyes widened and he recoiled, releasing her wrist. “Uh, sorry. Was having a nightmare,” he said.

“About ghosts?” She asked with a sigh. Her brother’s penchant for running from them at the first sign of danger was well known, even to her grade year.

“I’m not scared of ghosts!” He protested, though his eyes shifted to the left, one of his tells when he lied.

Jazz opened her mouth to tell him to stop lying to her, but a honk behind her brought the green light she was still sitting at to her attention. “It’s okay to be scared of them, Danny,” she said soothingly as she accelerated through the intersection. “Ghosts are scary! Is that what happened to your forehead?” She asked, gesturing towards the scratch she’d seen under his bangs - the reason she’d inadvertently woken him in the first place.

“I think I woulda mentioned being attacked by a ghost, Jazz,” Danny said with an eye roll. “I walked into a door frame, you know I’m a klutz.”

“You didn’t used to be this clumsy,” Jazz retorted, signaling to turn into the student parking lot.

“And now I’ve dropped seventeen beakers and forty three flasks in three months. It’s a growth spurt!”

Jazz just sighed, suddenly weary. “Okay, Danny.”

They didn’t speak again as she parked the car and they went their separate ways. Jazz watched Danny’s back as he hurried away, a heavy stone in her heart. She didn’t want to say she hated her parents, but… she really didn’t like them.

Jazz moved through the hallways on automatic, though she found herself struggling to pay attention in class, her mind too full of thoughts about her parents.

Great. Now they had stolen the reprieve of school from her, too.

Don’t get her wrong, she knew her parents loved her and Danny. But sometimes… it felt like they loved ghosts more, especially since that portal finally opened. For goodness sake, Danny had gotten electrocuted by the portal and they hadn’t even taken him to the hospital! Sure, he’d insisted he was fine and had looked uninjured, but he still should’ve been taken for an examination!

She rubbed at her temples, trying to calm the headache trying to bloom behind her eyes. Her efforts at such were dashed, however, when the glass shattered from the window beside her. Jazz shrieked, throwing her arms up to protect her face.

“Come on, man!” Phantom yelled, comically tangled in the desk he’d been knocked into and struggling to extricate himself from it.

As though summoned, an enormous green dog was in the room, slobber dripping grossly from its mouth. Jazz grimaced as some landed on her head, soaking her hair in ectoplasmic ick when she was too slow to get out of the way. That’ll be fun to wash out - she knew from experience. Her parents had shot her (on accident, she knew, but still) enough times for her to be familiar with the cold goopy mess.

Phantom, as though just now realizing he wasn’t alone, scanned over the class and she saw him pale when his eyes landed on her. She scowled at him. She didn’t believe everything her parents said, of course not, they had too much inherent bias, but she had yet to see anything about Phantom that didn’t match with their theories. He was reckless and uncaring of human life. She didn’t think he meant to be, he wasn’t evil, but he was still akin to a rabid dog that needed to be put down.

He grimaced at her, eyeing the scratches on her arms from the glass, but then his attention was back to the dog. “Let’s go! Wanna play?” Phantom asked, floating up from the ground, forming a green ball and tossing it back and forth between his hands. “Fetch!” He called as he wound up like a baseball player, sending the ball flying. The dog barked - a sound like a train right beside her - and chased after it, Phantom following right after.

“Are you alright, Ms. Fenton?” The teacher asked, already pulling out some paper towels for her to try to clean up with.

Jazz dabbed at the bleeding cuts on her arm. “I’m fine.” She grumbled. She touched the top of her head tentatively and felt almost ill at the pile of snot-like goop she could feel there. “Can I go to the girl’s locker room so I can wash this out?”

Mr. Jacobson nodded, writing out a note for Tetslaff and handing it to Jazz, who hurried out of the room, grateful the hallways were empty. Tetslaff didn’t give her any problems, merely looking nauseous at the ectoplasm running down her hair. Jazz didn’t hesitate, pulling off her clothes and hopping under the warm water of the shower in the locker room. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against the cool tile as warm water drove the ectoplasmic drool down the drain.

She wanted to cry. She knew everyone blamed her family for the increase in ghosts, and she couldn’t even fight their words because they were right. She wished the portal hadn’t worked, she wished her parents had normal jobs befitting of their intelligence, she wished she didn’t live in a town where ghosts had become a fact of life. But Jasmine Fenton does not cry. Jasmine Fenton holds her head high and gets shit done.

So that was what she did - she pushed away from the wall and ran through a deep breathing exercise, making sure she was clean of the goop and getting dressed in her spare gym clothes.

At least this day can’t get worse, she thought to herself as she scrunched up her dirty clothes and returned to her class, stopping to shove the clothes into her locker.

Turns out, it could. Four ghost attacks during the span of the school day, with Phantom showing up each time.

And with Jazz getting injured each time due to Phantom’s reckless ‘heroism.’ He was not careful, at all, and everytime he saw her, he frowned at her, as though she were the problem, the one causing all the problems.

Finally, finally, it was the end of the school day and Jazz hurried to her car, relieved to get away from the chaos of the school despite her earlier desire to be at school.

She didn’t want to go home. She didn’t want to be at school. Heck, she didn’t even really want to be in Amity at all!

…where did she want to be, then?

Jazz pulled her keys from her pocket, ready to unlock the door, when it felt like a brick wall had been rammed into her stomach. She was thrown against the car behind her, her back and head slamming roughly against it even as she heard the unmistakable crunch of metal being flattened.

“Cujo! That is enough!” Phantom shouted, releasing Jazz’s waist, and she sunk to the ground, her vision spinning a mile a minute. “Stop!” He yelled, his voice starting to sound further away.

Jazz knew not to shake her head after an injury to it, so she brought her knees to her chest, ducking her head between her legs and taking slow, harsh breaths as her back ached with every one.

“Jazz? Are you okay?” She heard her brother’s voice, felt him kneel next to her and place a hand on her knee.

She slowly lifted her head, squinting against the sunlight but nothing seemed to be spinning anymore, at least. What she saw, though, made her heart drop.

Her car, crushed to pieces. A car she would’ve been inside of, would’ve died in, if that dog had come even thirty seconds later. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized how close she’d come to death in that moment.

Still, she turned to face her brother, though she didn’t try to act like she was fine or happy. Even as oblivious as he was, Danny would call her out on it. Blue eyes searched her own, then scanned down her, checking for injuries. He noted the scratches on her arm from that morning, his frown deepening.

“I’m alright.” Jazz said as she pushed herself to her feet, relieved when nothing seemed to spin around her. No concussion, good. She looked at her car again and sighed. “I think we’re going to be walking back and forth from school for a little while, little brother. Which means you are going to have to start getting up earlier.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked as they started the trek home, gesturing to the various scratches all over her. “I’m pretty sure you weren’t wearing that this morning.”

“It was Phantom and his stupid dog,” Jazz said. Danny flinched at the venom in her voice.

“Phantom doesn’t have a dog,” Danny mumbled.

Jazz snorted. “Sure. There's just a dog who obeys and follows him, and he knows the name of. Definitely not his dog. Just like he definitely didn’t cause these cuts.” She held her arm up for emphasis.

“I… I’m sure he didn’t mean to…” Danny said, looking at her arm with something that looked like guilt before turning his eyes to the ground and shoving his hands into his pocket.

“Sure, that I believe,” Jazz said. “He isn’t a full human consciousness, he isn’t properly sentient. An insect doesn’t mean to be a hassle, it can’t even understand the concept.”

“Did you just compare Phantom to a bug?”

“And that might be insulting to the bug!” Jazz ranted. “Phantom is a menace. He’s nothing more than an animal that needs to be put down! I hope our parents catch him soon, but we both know they won’t.”

Danny frowned. “If Mom or Dad catch him, he’s going to be tortured.”

“Not my problem!” Jazz said, stopping and throwing her hands into the air. Danny stopped a few feet away. “As long as he is out of our lives! I wish they would just close that stupid portal! Keep him and all the ghosts where they belong.”

Danny’s face was stoic and unreadable as he responded. “You know they’ll never close the portal.”

“Of course they won’t!” Jazz snapped at him, resuming the walk towards their home. “They don’t care they put our lives in danger, the entire city in danger! And then they’re too damn incompetent to do anything about it!”

Danny didn’t interrupt her again as they continued their trek, Jazz ranting the whole time about ghosts and how dangerous they were and how their parents were useless against them. By the time she got home, she’d built up her resolve - she was going to demand they shut down the portal.

Unsurprisingly, when Jazz opened the front door, her parents were nowhere to be seen. They were over an hour late from their normal time getting home (Jazz was, at least), and her parents hadn’t noticed. She threw her backpack to the floor and headed straight for the lab, Danny following behind her. She shivered in her t-shirt and gym shorts, the lab always colder than the rest of the already chilly house.

The elder Fentons didn’t notice their arrival. Of course they didn’t. Jazz walked over to one of the metal tables along the wall and, with more force than she thought she had, slammed her palms down onto it, the clang reverberating through the room.

Jack and Maddie jumped at the sudden sound, twirling around with their guns pointed at her. Danny squeaked in fear and ducked behind her and her fury rose.

“Jazzy-pants? What was that for?” Jack asked, he and Maddie immediately holstering their guns again.

“We’re closing the portal.” Jazz said, glaring at the two of them. Danny poked his head out from behind her before fully emerging from hiding.

“Jazz, we can’t do that,” Maddie said.

“Why?” Jazz asked, more desperation leaking into her voice than she meant. “We got attacked at school today! Five times!”

“Seven times,” Danny corrected.

“Oh, really?” Maddie asked, grabbing a notebook and pencil from beside her. “Did the ghosts say anything? Was Phantom there? What powers did the ghosts show? Any unique? Any environmental changes? Any -“

Rage made Jazz tremble as her mother listed off questions. “Shut up!” She screamed. “I almost died today! We need to turn the portal off!”

“Jazzerincess, don’t exaggerate, we would never have let you get hurt!” Jack said with a wide smile on his face, looking entirely unbothered.

“A ghost stepped on my car! My car is totaled, and I would’ve been dead if it had been later! So where were you? How were you supposed to save me if you weren’t there?” Jazz asked, wiping off angry tears that had begun to fall.

Maddie laughed. “You’re fine, sweetie. Don’t worry so much! Besides, we can’t turn the portal off. We aren’t sure what would happen.”

“What do you mean you aren’t sure what would happen by closing the portal?” Danny asked.

“Well, sweetheart, it is a portal to another dimension. A literal rip in time and space, so to say. It could turn off easily, it could cause an explosion. We don’t know.” Maddie said with a shrug as though that wasn’t terrifying.

Jazz and Danny were both stunned into silence.

It was Jazz who broke the silence, with a low laugh devoid of humor. “You two are worthless as parents.”

“Jasmine Vladimira Fenton!” Her mother yelled, hands going to her hips, and Jazz’s rage rose at the reminder of her ridiculous middle name. “We are your parents, you can not speak to us that way!”

“And every night I wish you weren’t!” She shouted. “I’d give anything to have a normal family instead of you… you freaks!”

Even Danny flinched at that, along with their parents. All three of them seemed at a loss for words as Jazz turned on her heel and went up the stairs, unable to handle being in the same room as them anymore. As soon as she got to her room, she collapsed onto her bed, crying into her pillow.

How could her parents do this? Build a portal they didn’t know if they could shut off without destroying their home? Build it in their family home, even. Why couldn’t she have had a normal family? A normal life?

#grace writes #danny phantom #jazz fenton #danny fenton

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mama-qwerty · 2 years ago

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Sonic’s First Birthday

From @spacemulder

Sonic's first birthday with the family? They go to see Cars 3 I insist

(Changed it to the first Cars because I haven’t seen #3 in a while.)

Sonic bounced on the couch, unable to contain his excitement. Sure they’ve had movie nights before, plenty of them, but this one was different. This one wasn’t just a movie night.

It was a birthday movie night.

His birthday movie night.

It was going to be the perfect ending to a perfect day.

He’d never had a birthday before. Oh, he knew what they were, of course. The park was a popular place to hold parties during the summer, so he’d seen a ton of them when he lived on his own. And one of the first things Tom and Maddie asked when he moved in with them was when his birthday was.

He just didn’t actually know the date of his birth. He’d only been around three-ish when he ran through that ring to this world, after all. And the days and months weren’t the same here as they were there, let alone the length of the year. He’d also never seen snow until he’d come here. So there was absolutely no way to know what his actual birthday was.

So he’d simply picked a day that seemed good. June 23rd. He wasn’t sure why he picked that particular day. Seemed nice enough—it was still warm and nice outside, it stayed light until after 9pm, and Tom and Maddie usually took some time off around then to travel. Perfect weather and a chance to spend more time with his two best friends? Seemed a good choice.

And now that day was today. They’d let him sleep as late as he wanted—a rare treat, as they usually try to get him up at stupid o’clock in the morning when they woke. Then they’d taken the day off and the three of them went out for a nice picnic around lunch. After that was a fun game of Laser Tag at Dale’s Funderland. For supper he chose chili-dogs (of course), and afterward, Maddie brought out a big birthday cake with lots of frosting and candy flowers. They’d sung to him, and he had to turn away to hide the tears.

In all his years on this planet, and all the birthday parties he’d secretly watched, he never thought he’d hear his name in that song. Never have it sung to him, while candles flickered on a cake made especially for him.

He could hardly believe how different his life had become in just a few months.

Then had come presents. A phone so they could keep in touch with him while at work, a new pair of running shoes—ones that lit up when he ran, how cool was that?!--and more markers and paper for his budding artist skills. He’d thanked them and shared hugs and high fives, before moving into the living room for his special movie night.

“Ugh, where is he??” Sonic cried, bouncing ever higher in his sugar-fueled excitement. “Speed is right over there, what’s he looking for?”

“Maybe you’d like to try something a little different tonight?” Maddie asked, gently placing a hand on his head to stop the frantic bouncing. “There’s a movie you haven’t seen yet that we think you’ll like.”

Sonic crossed his arms with an exaggerated pout. “It’s my birthday,” he muttered. “Shouldn’t I get to pick?”

“Sure, sweetie,” she said, scratching behind his ear. A shudder ran through him and he dropped his arms, leaning into her. “But can you please just entertain the idea of watching something that isn’t Speed?”

“Hmm?” he hummed, eyes half-lidded. Her nails hit just the right spot behind his ear and he practically tumbled into her lap.

“Found it!” Tom said as he walked into the living room, holding a DVD before him like the Holy Grail. “We have a lot of movies downstairs. How’d we get so many?”

Maddie laughed. “I think they multiply when we’re not looking.”

Tom nodded, a smile curling his lips as he watched Sonic melt under his wife’s fingers. “Wow. Careful he doesn’t wet himself.”

At that, Sonic sat up straight, brushing down the mussed fur behind his ear. He cast Maddie a shy smile, before turning back to Tom.

“You’re just jealous she likes me more,” he said, hopping down and zipping to grab the movie out of Tom’s hand. “Now what movie do you foolishly think I’ll want to watch instead of the perfection that is Speed?” He arched an eyebrow. “Cars?”

“Yep,” Tom said, that crooked smile on his lips. “It’s just like Speed except there’s no Keanu, no bus, no bomb, and all the cars are alive.” He paused. “Oh, and the main character is a race car who likes to go fast.”

Sonic stared at him. “You’re making that up.”

“No, actually,” Tom said, taking the DVD back. “We think you’ll really like it.”

“Ugh, fine,” the hedgehog said, moving back to the couch. “We’ll watch your weird living cars movie. But! When I don’t like it, I get to pick tomorrow’s movie. Which will be Speed. Just so you’re aware.”

“Duly noted.” Tom slid the DVD into the tray, and grabbed the remote on his way to the couch.

Sonic huffed. There was no way this movie was anywhere near as good as Speed.

~X~X~X~

Almost two hours later, and the credits were nearly done. Sonic had made a few jokes at the start of the movie, but grew quiet the more into the story he became. By the end, when Lightning pushed a damaged King across the finish line, the boy’s eyes were wide and shiny.

“Well?” Tom asked, clicking off the DVD player. “Whaddaya think? Pretty awesome, right?”

Sonic sat quiet, his brow slightly furrowed.

“Bud?”

The hedgehog blinked, and turned to him. “He was like me.”

“Yep, but honestly you could probably beat him in a race.”

Sonic shook his head. “No, I mean . . .” His brow furrowed deeper. “He was . . . alone.”

The smile slipped off Tom’s face, and he felt Maddie stiffen beside him. Sonic was still sensitive about his time alone, and the fact that Lightning didn’t have any friends or people who cared about him didn’t even occur to them.

“Oh, honey,” Maddie said, reaching over to rub a knuckle down his muzzle.

“He was alone, but convinced himself he wasn’t,” the boy said, but he leaned into Maddie’s touch. “That . . . I did that. For a long time.”

Maddie moved her hand to take his, and gave it a squeeze. Tom reached over to place a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“He even got scared and caused damage before making friends, like me.”

“And now he has a family who love him,” Maddie said, stroking his quills. “Like you.”

Sonic turned his large green eyes to the two people next to him, and they turned watery as the first tears trickled down his muzzle.

“Happy birthday, Sonic,” Tom said, wiping the tears from the boy’s cheeks.

“We’re so glad you’re here,” Maddie whispered, planting a kiss on his forehead.

Chest hitching, Sonic threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around these people who helped him when he was in danger, took him in when he was alone, and loved him when he needed.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

~~~

Like this? Check out my other snippets. Reblogs are appreciated!

#tumblr prompt #sonic fanfiction #sonic the hedgehog #tom wachowski #maddie wachowski #my writing #my fics #writing snippet

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fivewholeminutes · 1 year ago

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i am in fact the same TMBTE anon both times (sorry!! 😭). again, such a cool analysis!!! i'm new to ST and IMMEDIATELY got invested. i haven't seen an artist do something like this before, so it's really amazing trying to connect the dots based on what everyone thinks. and yes, i do think it's the same girl in the music videos, which is interesting because of the whole "he planned everything from the start" theory. then i wonder about what the music videos mean (though i do agree that the vision shifted a little after TLYW)! i loooveee the idea that Sleep is coming from within Vessel, cause he's literally a host as in an empty holding vessel. and the white mask thing omg......so crazy cool......cause then it goes into after being "taken hostage", they change their masks as like some sort of acceptance (which kind of mirrors Vessel's black body paint transformation cause the current masks are black too?). idk, i do think that sometimes we/the fans stretch things, but that's also the fun of it. always love hearing the Think™

and in true sleep token fashion, i think i'll remain anon - 🪼

Hello again, Anon!! Sorry this one took so much time! I am stuck in a car now, so I can finally finish it. The editing on mobile is an absolute fucking nightmare though

Don't be sorry for being the same Anon! I was just listing all possibilities and now, knowing it was you all the time, I hereby pronounce you My Beloved Anon. No take backsies. (Kidding, if you're not comfortable with this title, let me know!)

Alright! Let's make a list:

Immediately getting invested in ST? HIGH FIVE, this is what happens to approx. 98% of us (at least here on tumblr). And everybody agrees that there is Something about them. And nobody knows what that is, only that it works. So we're actually in a cult, sorry everyone!

Ok, no, it's not entirely true that we don't know, people have hinted that their uniqueness might be in a. extreme fucking talent, obviously and b. letting the audience fill in the gaps that lack of the band members' identities provides with whatever suits everyone's needs best.

The videos switch their vibe dramatically, don't they? The early ones feel more... I don't know, based in reality (maybe except for the Fields of Elation), while TPWBYT ones feel more like they are set in those dreamlands Vessel mentions in The Apparition. Okay, TLYW is more dreamland-ish, Alkaline looks like it's set on Earth/waking world, but Vessel gets too much power from Sleep and needs to be stopped by the ancient-gods-slash-eldrich-horror-hunting version of Ghostbusters. So the older videos seem more human to me, you know what I mean? Maybe they wanted to show that with time, Vessel looses more and more of his humanity. But we can't rule out the "they just had more money for the videos, so they went off" possibility. Also, I think they don't make much videos to not let the fans think there is some "canon" here?? Or they just don't like making them lol

EXCELLENT IDEA with that whole hostage mask situation - I've just had a loose thought they looked like sacks, but i haven't connected it to the lore, thank you, Anon!!!!! Now, as usual, it made me Think™. Cause we have interpretations floating around (which i love, btw) with the other Vessels being "drafted" into the band to relieve the first Vessel from the toll Sleep's power has on him, cause after all, his human body cannot manage it by itself when Sleep grows in power from all the worship. BUT what if they didn't join voluntarily? They weren't persuaded to join the cult, but they were kidnapped instead. Carefully chosen, to fulfill the plan of greatness. Hence the hostage-looking-masks. And then stockholm syndrome kicked in (i know, i know, the term is not exactly correct anymore, but for the lack of a better one 🤷‍♀️) and they were like "ye, you know what. That's actually better than a 9-5 job" and the masks changed. They have embraced the dark side. (I am cataloguing this under "unhinged theories", btw. But yeah, it's just a thought, possibility, me fucking around etc. That's a long-ish car trip, I gotta do something with myself, you know.)

Oh and we absolutely DO stretch things (see point 4, for example)! See things that aren't there. Make 2648585 interpretations. It's fun (when we remember not to involve the real people behind the masks in the mix)!

Anon, i respect you deciding to stay on Anon so much. You're making the band proud, probably!

#okay i was gonna finish this ask on a day when my mind was clear and i wasn't sleep deprived but life decided to be busy #asks #thank you again i love your asks!!#i have read it like 10 times and tumblr keeps jumping to a different part of the paragraph or italicise whole paragraphs #or cross them out when i want only two words crossed out it's a STRUGGLE #but i want to finish it!! I've made you wait long enough already!#but due to the difficulties there are probably still incoherent parts sorryyyyy #and fucked up tenses. i always fuck the tenses up #sleep token

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purplesurveys · 2 years ago

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1665

What’s your favorite amusement park? Feels unfair to call it a favorite when it’s the only one I’ve been to, but to be fair Universal Studios in Singapore wasn’t bad at all. Only thing I hated about the trip was that gross couple in front of us who endlessly made out while my family and I were in line for one of the rides.

Do you know your social security number (or equivalent) off by heart? Nah. Our HR team currently takes care of everything relating to my social security so there isn’t really a reason for me to memorize it, at least for now lol.

What would you take to a potluck dinner? Truffle mac and cheese from my favorite Italian restaurant.

Do you have any sisters? How is your relationship with them? I have a sister, two years younger. We’re pretty tight, but our relationship is very casual more than anything. We’ll rant to each other and occasionally share how our day went, but we’d never confide in one another or have heart-to-hearts.

When was the last time you changed your hair and what did you do to it? I had it dyed to purple and trimmed up to my neck last October. It’s since faded back to a light brown and my roots are awkwardly growing out, but I’ll likely wait til June-ish to dye it back to purple again so that it looks perfect by the time we fly to Thailand.

What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done? Uh. Maybe that time I got an ex-partner a pendant with some pretty significant symbols inside when you open it? I don’t remember 98% of the relationship, but that one sticks out.

Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, what was the last one you listened to and did you like it? No, my attention span is too awfully short for something like that. Also why I can never get into podcasts no matter how hard I try.

Describe yourself in five words. Loyal, (too) hardworking, passionate, resentful, sensitive.

What was your favorite class in high school? History.

When was the last time you did laundry? Couple of days ago.

Do you own a leather jacket? Do you wear it often? No. No reason to own one considering the climate we experience in this part of the world, hahaha.

Can you get Chinese food from a drive-thru in your town? Yeah, we have a Chowking just right outside the village.

If you could choose your middle name, what would you pick? I’ve always liked my second name (Isabelle). I liked it too much to the point that when I was a kid and was being teased in school about my unisex name, I tried making my second name my main nickname; it didn’t stick though. Partially my fault too because I’d never turn around when I was being called by my second name hahaha

Would you rather see a sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I don’t like waking up early, and I’ve always thought sunsets looked better and more peaceful anyway.

Do you have any plans to buy any furniture in the near future? Nope.

When you go to bed, do you go to sleep straight away? Sometimes, but most of the time I’d continue to use my phone and go through social media and Reddit until my eyes start feeling heavy.

What do you do for a living? I work as an account manager in the public relations industry.

Do you own a suitcase? When was the last time you used it? Where did you go? I do, but I haven’t used it in since 2016 when I went on a cruise and had to pack for three different countries. I don’t plan on using it for my upcoming Thailand and Malaysia trips, either.

How many pets have you had in your life? More than 10, but I don’t remember how many goldfish we owned in total.

Is there any soda in your fridge right now? We may have Coke actually but idk?? I had my birthday dinner with friends last night and my mom asked if anybody wanted soda so apparently we have some.

Do you call it soda, pop, fizzy drink or something else entirely? Soda or softdrink depending on who I’m talking to. Filipinos tend to use ‘softdrink’ so I’m likely to use that when talking to an older friend/relative.

Do you need to get any groceries right now? What do you need? MORE 3-IN-1 COFFEE. I recently ran out :(

If I was visiting your town, what would you take me to see and do? Probably one of the cafés up the mountain so you can see the Metro Manila skyline.

What was the last thing you spent money on? Beer.

What subscription services do you have? Spotify, YouTube Premium, Netflix, Disney+.

Do you like olives? I have my moods for it but otherwise I will take them out if I encounter them in a dish.

Would you rather be too warm or too cold? Too cold. These days the heat index is reaching 50ºC so being ‘too warm’ is at the VERY BOTTOM of my priorities right now.

What’s your favorite name for a girl? Olivia. I like the name Mia too, but one of my clients has the same name so for now it’s taken a backseat as my favorite lololol. I love Elliott for a girl, too.

How do you make your coffee? I rely on 3-in-1 coffee precisely because I’m terrible at making my own coffee and always fuck up the ratios for the add-ons.

Do you know anyone who has a matching tattoo with someone? (including yourself)? Apart from BTS, no not really lol.

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minarcana · 2 years ago

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laurel childhood headcanons yay

she’s from a tiny-ass village high up in the mountains. its extremely difficult to get to or leave, so theyre fairly cut off from the rest of the world at large. theres some migration/trade/visits from other near-ish viera, but for the most part laurels hometown is very isolated and generally missed/was unaffected by a lot of historical events. even the garlean invasion was... kinda missed for the most part. they heard stories of war from lower down the mountains and took in a handful of those who fled, but it never really felt like a major world-ending event yknow. up until dalamud fell, laurel didnt really have much of an impression of the world outside her village actually having consequences.

laurel is the first child of her mother, with her father having abandoned the family and disappeared shortly before laurel’s birth. fortunately their village, being a tiny-ass circle of population, is very close-knit and laurels mother is a kind person, so the village at large helped provide whatever laurel’s mother couldn’t by herself. laurel views her entire village as basically an extended network of aunts and uncles.

after laurel got a little older and more self-sufficient, happenstance led to her mother taking in two orphans from a different tribe, which laurel helped raise. one thing led to another and laurel and her mother basically became the keepers of the house for any children who were otherwise in need of home for whatever circumstance, which led to laurel’s massive collection of siblings. she sees no difference in those related to her by blood and those simply adopted; so long as she sleeps in the same home and she brushes your hair for you in the mornings, you’re her sibling. laurel’s mother was perfectly capable of supplying food and shelter for the family, and laurel helped her provide personal care and keeping an eye on anyone young, and the communal setting of her home made up for any other difference. (laurels mother never managed to remarry but laurel did end up with two or three other blood siblings over the years)

since laurel was old enough to have a sense of responsibility she occupied herself generally doing errands for anyone around who needed them done, and helped take care of her family with payments earned (be it money, favours owed in return, food, items, etc. etc.) from this. she is a very strong Big Sister Type and this developed then. she is Everyones Aneki thank you

shes 200 years old, so shes viewed as “old enough to leave on a journey but still not old enough to be viewed as Not Young”. she’s in Viera Mid-20s basically

considering this is more or less the setup for adventuring, it’s not a shock that she became an adventurer. she likes being able to protect her family, likes being able to care for others. when Dalamud fell and the ripples reached even her own home, she realized that things that happen in the world have effects that could reach even her siblings. and someone needed to be able to take care of everyone and protect them if something worse happened, knowing more about the world would work to keep them safe! so laurel packed up gear and left running her duties in the hand of her next-oldest sisters, and hopped on a ship to Limsa, where she stayed for four or five years getting her footing and learning of the world before ARR. she has a network of people she knows that helps her send money back to her family, too, but contact is very rare and they dont know laurels the WoL nowadays.

ANYWAYS the meaning of this is if she decides ur her sibling she will now kill and die for you. she looked at the moon falling and went “well, if that happens anywhere nearer to us, someone’s gonna have to push it back from where my little sisters live :/” and simply decided shed get strong enough to Fight The Moon And Win if it looked funny at her family, if she includes u in this family she will go just as hard for u. (also why she doesnt have much of a connection/motivation of ‘ill protect the whole world’ if she doesnt think of it as ‘the world is where my family lives so obv to protect them i have to protect it’ because her world for 200 years was Very Small. her world expands as she meets people she decides to include in that world, rather than her having a concept of The Entire Planet Is Something I Care About By Its Own Virtue).

#headcanon : laurel

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krawlernyannyan · 9 months ago

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HSR 2-20-24

Walked around Penacony for a while nabbing up Emotion Gears I'd left around.

12x Nihility Calyx rounds for Kafka. She's one of my main DPS so I figure getting her maxed out would be pretty solid investing. Today's haul got her Talent buffed (8 -> 9).

12x Erudition Calyx rounds for Himeko. Today's haul wasn't enough to get the last Trace I wanted to get with her for now.

After that I went in for some rounds in Mirror of Chaos. Starting at the older one to get some extra stars before it's gone.

LOR Stage 10: First half was incredibly smooth, the Aurumaton made me have to take things slow but aside from Black Swan getting into the red at one point I was never in any real danger. Finished that up with 25 Cycles left, and while Ratio cleaned up real quick I still finished two over the full clear limit. 18 Cycles left on this one.

LOR Stage 11: The Bronya half of the first battle took its time, so I ended it with 23 Cycles left. The second half was surprisingly simple but, frustratingly, I was one action off from finishing in 20. 19 Cycles left over.

LOR Stage 12: At this point I wasn't even worried about three-starring this, I was just gonna be satisfied with clearing it with no deaths. First half went reasonably well, and outside of having to tank 2 Flamboyant Gores The Deer didn't feel that bad. Wrapped up The Deer with 13 Cycles left. Kafka was actually surprisingly easy to deal with, although I'm annoyed that Welt ate it at the very last attack meaning I 0-starred this one. I was at 30 stars total anyway so it's not like it cut me off a reward but, man.

DOL Stage 7: First stage of the new one for me! It's an earlier stage so this wasn't hard. First half went down with 28 cycles left, but the Swarm took a little longer and I wound up finishing with 23 Cycles left overall.

I'm really glad Player From the Other Side is the battle theme for this MOC, it's one of the great themes from the 2.0 OST. Not sure if I vibe with the Turbulence for this period since it's clearly modeled for the benefit of Sparkle, arriving in a week-ish, but it's fine.

After that I did a little work on Light Cones - got Planetary Rendevous and Good Night Sleep Well up to 50 and I'll probably spend a little time getting materials for them. PR is gonna be something I swap out onto Yukong for my mono-Imaginary build and GNSW is probably gonna stay in storage until I can get it superimposed, but eventually it's gonna be Sampo's new cone to replace Fermata with.

Also got a new copy of The Day the Cosmos Fell to superimpose onto Himeko's copy (S1 -> S2). Also opted to get Tingyun's LC to L80 (from 75) since I've been trying to use her more lately.

Five-Star Fund: 186/180 Days to v2.1: 36

#EZ: HSR #Daily Blogging

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thedaveandkimmershow · 11 months ago

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It's Christmas day!

It's Christmas day and we're up around seven (ish) so we can ease our way into the morning.

What that means, of course, is that I'm the one up at seven to kick start Kimmer's morning wake-up routine by getting the coffee started.

By 'n by, I also set up a monitor in the living room to stream and play Christmas movies across the day. It's a habit we picked up many years ago when we happened to be watching "The Polar Express" in the late afternoon and then started opening presents.

We kicked off this year's tradition with "Home Alone". ☺️

In the meantime, Kimmer's finally up 'n about, getting in a final bit of baking that involves crescent dinner roll dough set onto a baking pan in the shape of a Christmas tree after which she adds some magic ingredients, bakes it, then frosts it.

In broad terms, it has the flavor of a cinnamon roll. Tasty as hell. 😁

By 'n by, we stage our Christmas tree like a crime scene... with all the evidence of someone having entered our home while we were sleeping. And whilst in our home, this person filled out stockings with candies, goodies, and gifts... and placed Christmas packages for each of us under the tree.

And then vanished into thin air.

☺️☺️☺️

The whole "crime scene" thing, of course, is a tradition that started when Linzy was the littlest of little, that narrow window of her life during which she believed in Santa Claus. A window that lasted right up to the moment she was the only one in her grade school class still defending the big man. She was all in, our little one. And we enjoyed setting the living room scene ever since even so.

By the way, if it's not super evident, our presents are color coded. Oh sure, they mostly have gift tags... but we don't actually rely on those. The red presents are for Linzy, the green ones Kimmer, and the black ones me.

We also ran low enough on time and decided to not drive ourselves crazy trying to make everything just so. So there's no ribbon or bows on the presents. That's just how it worked out this year and we're okay with that.

So.

The scene's set, the coffee's drunk, the tree-shaped super low profile cinnamon rolls are ready. Linzy shows up around 10:30 for breakfast and our first round of Christmas presents featuring the opening of the stockings which usually, definitely in this case, involves more stuff to eat. 😁😁😁

Okay.

So Linzy shows up around ten-thirty, we do breakfast and stockings, then it's time to head off to the movie theater for the 12:30 showing of "Wonka" for which we already have tickets. All we need's...

The tub 'o buttered popcorn!

And a sweet, sweet movie...

youtube

Definitely the filmmakers know where the emotional heart of this story is and aren't afraid to wield it at just the right moment. Every oompa loompa scene with Hugh Grant's a winner. And the music from the original still gets me after all these years.

youtube

We're back home around three with friends arriving around five. So we set about opening our presents from under the tree, a tradition we've had for a long, long time now. At least a decade if not more. Get up in the morning, breakfast, stockings, Christmas movie of choice, lunch, favorite Christmas movie in the background, then opening our presents.

It makes for a full day. Rather than a coupla hours in the morning and then you're done.

This year, where dinner would normally appear, our dear friends showed up bringing their portion of the Christmas meal to match up with the food Kimmer was cooking on Christmas Eve.

The children, of course, immediately wanted to do filters with Linzy. She held them off until after dinner at which point they joyfully indulged.

Earlier this year we went to Universal Studios in Orlando. While there, each day we hid an object in some picture we were taking. At first the object was a 3D printed neon green tugboat. Then I lost the tugboat so we bought a keychain Minion. So then we'd take pictures with that Minion somewhere in the photograph and we'd send that photograph (or two, or three) for our friend's kids to examine.

On Christmas, then, Linzy hid that Minion somewhere in the tree and the kids were told that if they could find it... it was theirs.

Linzy did such a good job that it took the entire evening with both kids looking for it as well as, at various points, their parents. Many hints were given. At one point our friend Ben was in his back under the tree trying to see what he could see. At another point, even after having been told the Minion was hidden at kid level, the kids insisted on standing on a chair for a bird's eye view.

It's hard to ignore the implications, though, that they thought they were being lied to about the Minion being at kid level. 🤨🤔😕

On its own, the evening was its own complete Christmas experience with a wonderful, shared dinner, a fun dinner experience, a lot of hanging out and playing in our living room and family room, some fancy drinks conjured by our friend, a touch of gymnastics once the mat was unveiled, all atop plenty of conversation, friendship, and family.

Oh yeah.

And presents.

☺️

We wound up coloring Christmas 2023 right out to the edges with family and friends, with tradition and improv, with presents and fun and laughter.

I think by the time the last child was out of the house, it was somewhere around nine. Prolly after, a bit.

Maybe nine-thirty.

And yes.

We got a fantastic night's sleep after that.

😁😁😁

#Christmas #Christmas Day #family #friends #kids #children #wonka #traditions #improv #laughter #presents #goodies #fun

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leggigoesabroad · 1 year ago

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we pick up at Mahali Mzuri, for our afternoon game drive. Spoiler, this one was EPIC. At this point we’ve been on a fair number of game drives, so we can’t expect all of them to have something super special and exciting. The “normal” crew you see pretty much every time are zebra, impala, gazelle, buffalo of some kind, etc. Very often, giraffes (which I actually never tire of - they’re all so stunning in their own way and I’m obsessed with their markings and watching them walk/amble.) But the more rare sightings can’t be an every day occurrence. We had been bombing around the Mara a little bit and not seeing too much, and the sun was going to set fairly soon so I figured we’d head back. We came across some jackals fighting over a baby gazelle (😭) and then hyenas, both of which were new for me, so that was cool - and then Betty turned a corner and we came upon a clearing I between some bushes, sort of like a protected circle, of FOURTEEN SLEEPING LIONS. Four big males, some adult females, and maybe about five cubs. The cubs weren’t brand new, but not fully teenagers either - probably like the size of a medium dog, maybe 40-50 pounds. It was… magical. Twelve out of the 14 were passed out asleep, and two of the cubs were NOT TIRED! And wanted to PLAY! They kept wrestling with each other, or going over to jump on their sleeping dads (straight out of Lion King) and the males would wake up and gently ROAR “no, you’re annoying, stop” just enough to scare the cubs into going elsewhere. Watching these cubs tackle each other, balance all four paws on their dad’s big bellies, bite the big manes, plan their attacks and creep up as a game… I will never forget it. It goes under the list I’m keeping of “soul rearrangements” which I credit to my colleague, Erica, who went on her first safari last year and said that after the sunrise over the Maasai Mara while ballooning, she felt her soul had simply been rearranged. It’s a poetic way to describe a complicated feeling: gratitude, stillness, incredulity, you name it. The other vehicles started pulling away, but we stayed until the very last second, when it was officially dark and we had to go. I could have watched them all for hours. I often get a little bored at animal sightings, like ready to move on once I’ve seen it, but with these lions I was the absolute last one wanting to go.

We had an early bedtime because the next morning was a 4:30 am departure time for hot air ballooning in the Maasai Mara. WHEW. somehow, I had no anxiety dreams about oversleeping, and I fell perfectly asleep around 9:45 pm so kind of got a good night’s sleep. Woke up to the hippos and the hyraxes absolutely mooing and screeching away, and popped out of bed. We left at 4:30 and drove about an hour ish to the balloon launch site, across EXTRA bumpy roads. These types of roads are a weird combination of lulling you to sleep, while also not being quite comfortable enough to ever rest. The vehicles are as comfortable as you can get, but there’s not a great place to rest feet/heads/etc. Just when I was getting super over it (and in the pitch black) we pulled up to the large clearing, where several balloons were being fired up and the sun was slowly starting to rise. Probably about 25 total people there from all different safari companies, which I’m told is dead quiet compared to peak season. Krista and I were put in a balloon with about 7 other people. The balloon is divided into five compartments: one rectangle down the middle for the pilot only, underneath his controls; then four squares aligning with the four corners of the balloon basket, separated by thick wicker. You get in on your back, crawling in with the basket on its side, and laying down facing up, in each compartment. A little awkward, but you have to start that way so they can tilt the balloon and basket up once it’s fully inflated and ready to go. There’s a whole team of guys assisting the pilot and manning the balloon strings on the outside until it’s time to let us go. Then… up up and away! I wasn’t scared at all, like I thought I would be. We really don’t go THAT high up, and it’s very slow and gentle. They only balloon in a very calm, flat place of the Mara, so there are no trees or power lines or any obstacles. They say they can’t control WHERE you go, just the altitude and the general direction depending on the wind. All the balloons went roughly the same way and we flew for about an hour before landing. As promised, it was stunning. Just a million colors of the sunrise, paired with the vast panorama of the entire Maasai Mara stretched before us. Almost no sounds to be heard, other than the whooshing of the hot air gas being intermittently pushed into the balloon, and the birds. I spent most of the ride just resting my chin on my arms, on my corner of the balloon, taking it in. Like an hour-long, peaceful meditation. Landing went well, and then our driver picked us up to take us to the hot breakfast site that was being prepared for us and the others with the same balloon company.

We pulled up and were immediately served mimosas, and directed to our white linen tables as the crew finished all the breakfast prep. It was a buffet, with hot items made to order. They even had two pop up bathrooms with a tent around the toilets - called “loo with a view”. I sat next to the other people in my balloon, and the guy next to me introduced himself as Ahad and asked where I was from. I said Denver, and he was too! He lives right next to my old apartment in Five Points and we had much to talk about. He also runs a company that consults for management and employees and teaches them how to improve culture. I was like, were you planted here to marry me?? TBD if I think he’s cute or realistic but we definitely aligned in all the personality ways, so we’ll see when we get home. I also chatted forever with a girl from the nearby town, Norah, who was there because her sister is married to the guy who owns the balloon company. She’s 23 and I loved her. She doesn’t want to stay in her village and get married, she wants to move to NEW YORK CITY! I was thisclose to just asking for her routing number. She gave me her Instagram name to follow her but I didn’t have service, and when I went to look it up after, it didn’t work. Either she fake-numbered me or there was some kind of issue and I’m Very Sad about it, because we bonded hard. I even did like an hour of investigative journalism that night to try to get to the bottom of it using what I knew of her sister and the balloon company, but no dice. I’ll probably just hire a private investigator when I get home.

After all of this, it was only like 9:15 am. I had been up for almost 6 hours and had done so much already! Wesley and our balloon driver, Carol, drove us over to another area of the park when we were done, because they had heard there was a cheetah sighting. We did end up finding the mama in the distance, but she kept moving around and we couldn’t get too close, and didn’t want to stress her out. She was separated from her cubs but within eyesight of them, and we looked at them through binoculars. We turned around to leave, and then came right across the mama, 10 feet in front of us. Killed the engine and sat quietly just observing her massive, sleek, majestic form. She made a sound calling out for her cubs, and the four of them came sprinting over to her, and all five paused right in front of us. I still can’t believe it, even typing this. There are only 25 cheetahs left in the entirety of the Maasai Mara, and five of them stood within 10 feet of us. I wanted to cry. They slowly ran away, and we all sat there dumbstruck. Two days, two unbelievably beautiful big cat moments, with incredible luck, just served up for us. As soon as that happened, I felt like I could go home if I had to. No one could possibly stay this lucky. We got home and rested the rest of the day, and I got a massage and read by the pool. I feel strongly that rest and reflection are equally important parts of safari as the actual experiences themselves. It’s like meditating - you need to live life, then experience stillness. Too much of either won’t help, as they’re a precious balance.

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