#sorry I went AWOL

[call-me-maggie13]

The night is turbulent and pitch dark. If she had been outside, she wouldn’t be able to see her hand pressed to her nose through the storm. The creaking from the trees could be heard through the rattling window Shannon is staring out of with wide eyes.

The first flash of lightning lit up the trees, followed quickly by another flash and a booming crash of thunder that knocks the air from Beatrice’s lungs. A series of quick strikes of lightning make the trees move like a stop motion video nauseatingly fast. The wind roars heavily and Beatrice is reminded of the story of the wolf and three pigs.

Thunder sounds like gunshots in the tiny room, Beatrice’s back pressed to the wall furthest from the window when the hair on her arms raised with the electricity filling the room.

"Come on, Shannon. You know the drill." Rich is eerily calm, completely unperturbed when he pulls Shannon away from the thin, shivering glass. "Beatrice, go grab a pillow and a blanket, we’re sleeping in the basement tonight."

Basement?

She doesn’t move, her heart racing faster than the wind outside. Rich takes a deep breath and crouches in front of her, offers his hands for her to latch on to.

"You’re safe, Beatrice. The storm is outside, it’s not going to hurt you," he explains softly, kindly. "If you want, I’ll walk you to the basement then grab your pillow and blanket myself?"

If we’re safe, why are we moving to the basement?

She can’t find her voice to ask.

He helps her from the ground slowly, hovers his hand above her shoulder for a long while before setting it softly to guide her to the basement. Martha is setting up candles and an electric lantern around the dank room, the single bulb swinging above her head flickering. There are sleeping bags already laid out and Beatrice carefully steps around them to reach an overturned milk crate with a seating pillow thrown over it.

"I’ll be right back, right? You’re safe here, it’s just a storm."

It doesn’t feel like just a storm. It feels like God’s wrath tearing the world apart, like He’s punishing her for not saying her prayers or going to mass.

Rich has one foot on the bottom step when Shannon tumbles through the doorway, slips halfway through her race down the steps and crashes into him.

"I got you stuff, Bea." She holds out a crumpled blanket and pillow for Beatrice to take. "Oh and this!"

It’s HoHo. His soft fur ragged and tattered, his ears rubbed of all their pink and tail hastily reattached. Shannon’s dressed him in a tiny red bucket hat and blue parka.

Beatrice’s ears burn but she tucks him against her stomach and squeezes tightly around him.

He was the first thing she’d packed when she was being sent away, tucked him into the bottom of her bag and buried him under clothes and other trinkets. He’d been in much better shape then, she hadn’t been allowed to play with him, let alone sleep with him until she’d arrived here.

It’s hard to believe she’s been here long enough to lose his tail, to amass so much damage on his tiny body that he’s nearly unrecognizable to his original form.

"You dressed him?"

"All I had were the clothes from my Paddington, I hope it’s okay?" Shannon drops her pillow on a bright blue sleeping bag and Beatrice’s on a pale yellow one.

"Why?"

"Well, we gotta keep him warm and dry, right?" Beatrice, despite the treacherous storm raging outside and the overhead light blinking on and off with the flickering power, has never felt more safe than she does in this moment.

He’s just a tattered toy. A monkey who’s once soft fur has been loved ragged. He doesn’t get cold and he never feels wet. Why would it matter if he was scared of the storm?

He couldn’t be scared. He’s fake.

Why does Shannon treat him like his fear is real and palpable and worthy of being comforted away?

Shannon tilts her head at her, eyes squinting beneath stitched brows.

"But he - he’s just a toy?" Jasper tries to shove his nose between this plush and her hand, tail wagging when she drops her palm against his head.

"Yeah and you’re just a girl and Jasper is just a dog." She rolls her eyes and Jasper trots to her side when he hears his name, jumps against her legs until she sits and allows him to climb into her lap.

Beatrice doesn’t understand.

Jasper is alive. He’s real and breathing and annoyingly cute and, despite her previous disdain for animals, she finds she quite adores him.

And she - she’s alive too. As much as she doesn’t understand why, her heart still beats and her lungs still expand and contract. She’s real.

HoHo, he’s just a toy. Just cloth and stuffing and a beaded nose.

Beatrice feels like she has a cosmic misunderstanding of the world, where Shannon can amount a toy to being equivalent to her life.

Above her head, there’s a crash of thunder loud enough that the entire house jumps under the force of it and the lights go out. Her ears are ringing from the sudden silence, the flickering candlelight the only motion in the room.

"Alrighty, looks like Zeus said it’s bedtime." Rich winks at them and grins, motions Beatrice to join them on their circle of sleeping bags while Shannon digs through a cardboard box and pulls out board games.

She drops Monopoly into the empty space between them and her dad cackles before moving it behind him. She follows up with Uno and Beatrice is nearly certain by the way Martha’s face scrunches that she’s only chosen it for the reaction. Lastly, she carefully sets down a Scrabble board before retaking her place across from Beatrice, on either side of Rich and Martha.

"Do you know how to play, Beatrice?" Martha turns to her while Rich and Shannon start to set it up, passing out tiles and their holders. When she admits she doesn’t, Martha begins explaining the rules carefully.

"It’s a word game. Whoever knows the most words wins." Shannon shrugs when Rich tells her that’s not entirely true. "Either way, you’re probably going to win. You’re like a walking dictionary-thesaurus."

Shannon plays CART which Martha builds into CARTON.

"It’s like a crossword? I can add on to the word or build off a letter?" Shannon nods and Beatrice stares at her tiles. KRKAPOH.

She shuffles them around before staring intently at the bird and building PAKORAS off Shannon’s R.

"That’s not a real word." Shannon interjects immediately. Beatrice starts to scrape her tiles away when Rich stills her hands.

"What’s it mean?"

"It’s a popular Indian dish of deep fried vegetables or meat. It’s derived from the Hindi word pakorā which denotes a dish of vege- "

"Thank you, Beatrice. It counts, Shannon." Rich interrupts, sliding Beatrice’s tiles back into place while Shannon pouts.

Beatrice stands down, content to allow Shannon to win until Shannon puts down BLAND. Beatrice simply can’t resist herself when she builds BLANDISHMENT onto it.

"I know that’s a fake word! You’re lying!" Shannon jumps up and points at Beatrice accusatorially.

"Beatrice?" Martha straightens the letters Shannon has knocked askew.

"Blandishment is a noun and is something said or done in order to coax or persuade an individual or group to do something. It’s commonly used in the plural blandishments because people rarely - "

"Oh, you’re making things up! Dad!" Rich shrugs when Shannon stomps her foot and stares at him.

"Sorry, kiddo. You’re going to have to take that up with Sir Oxford." He points to the blue dictionary on the shelf behind Shannon’s head. She grabs it roughly and begins flipping through it, stopping then flipping back only to repeat the opposing action again.

"Do you want me to find it?" Beatrice reaches for the dictionary and Shannon snatches it away.

"I know how to read. I’ll find it."

"You need to go the other way. You went too far."

"I know that." She sticks her tongue out then flips the other way in the book.

"You went too far. Other way."

"I know how to read, Beatrice." She follows Beatrice’s direction regardless, flipping carefully over the next few pages before Beatrice slams her hand onto a page and points at a word.

Blandishment (noun)

/ˈblændɪʃmənt/

• a pleasant thing that you say to somebody or do for them to try to persuade them to do something

Shannon kicks her foot out and sends the board flying, letter tiles turned projectiles scattering around the room when she groans.

"I quit! She’s cheating!"

"It’s not cheating if she’s using real words."

"It is if she’s cheating!" Beatrice scoots back and bites the inside of her cheek. She wants to apologize so terribly it tears her throat and burns behind her teeth but she can’t catch her breath enough to speak.

"Shannon, that’s enough." Martha is firm but her hand on Beatrice’s shoulder is soft. "You’ve done nothing wrong, Beatrice. Shannon’s a terrible loser who seems to have forgotten herself."

Shannon’s rebuttal is interrupted by an explosive crack of thunder that makes the bulb above their heads flash bright before popping and shattering onto them. The candles cast eerie, creeping shadows from them, crawling up the walls in search of a lightless corner to haunt.

Beatrice doesn’t breathe.

"Oh! Can I tell a ghost story?" Shannon bounces and the nylon sack swishing beneath her when she wiggles.

Beatrice doesn’t respond when Shannon reaches for the flashlight she’s suddenly holding, flipping it on and holding it beneath her chin to cast unnatural shadows across her face.

Beatrice doesn’t believe in ghosts. She’s ten years old. She’s not some silly baby that’s scared of the dark and thunderstorms and scary stories. Beatrice’s heart is certainly not beating so hard that the room beats with it. Her chest is certainly not aching like all of the air has been sucked from the room. Her ears are certainly not ringing so loud she worries everyone else can hear it.

"Or, and just hear me out before you say no, but we could just tell regular stories. The non-scary kind?" Rich doesn’t need to look at Beatrice for her to know he’s seen her falling apart silently. He knows she’s scared, and that’s arguably worse than the fear itself.

"I like scary stories. We can do scary stories." When did she become a prevaricator? When did she start spreading truthless information about herself?

"What if I don’t like scary stories?" Rich narrows his eyes but he’s still smiling softly, the juxtaposition makes Beatrice’s ears ring louder, like a whistle in a tornado.

Shannon gives her a weird look, face scrunched up and frowning.

"Are you good? You look funny."

"You look funny." If Beatrice had punctuated her sentence by sticking out her tongue, perhaps the statement would’ve been overlooked. Instead, she paired it with deep red cheeks and a conspicuous quiver in her voice that drew all eyes to her.

"Wait. Are you scared?" Shannon, despite her tremendous efforts, giggles at the realization. "It’s just a storm, dude. It’s outside, we’re not. It’s above ground, we’re inside the earth. It’s fine."

"Shannon, don’t belittle her." Martha fixes her with a glare before turning to Beatrice. "I understand how scary the storms can be, but we’re safe down here. No matter what’s happening above our heads, we’re alright."

Beatrice pulls her legs to her chest when she tries to pay her knee.

"I am not scared of a storm. I’m fine." She shakes her head and pulls away, pushes herself backward until she’s pressed against the wall. "I think I’m going to sleep instead. I’m tired."

"All the way over there?" She’s barely a fathom away from Shannon, she doesn’t know why she’s acting like they’re halfway across the globe. She rolls her eyes when Beatrice nods. "Alright, suit yourself. Night, Beatrice."

Beatrice hates when she does that. Everyone calls her Beatrice. Everyone except Shannon. She’s Bea. To Shannon, she’s always been Bea. Not Beatrice.

She doesn’t want to be Beatrice. She wants to stay Bea.

She clenches her jaw, curls onto her side with her back to them, squeezes HoHo to her chest and tries to fall asleep. She tries counting sheep, repeating the Fibonacci sequence as high as she can count, listing all the species of insect she can remember, alphabetizing everything she can see and hear, visualizing a comfortable room in the mountains somewhere, adjusting then readjusting then re-readjusting her position.

Shannon must fall asleep at some point. Beatrice can’t say it every truly gets quiet, but Shannon certainly stops talking and her silence echoes loud in Beatrice’s ears.

"Beatrice?" Rich’s voice is soft and kind, barely louder than the storm above them. Beatrice pretends she’s asleep. "I know Shannon was teasing you about it but I want you to know it’s okay to be a little scared of the storm. I’m scared too. But we would never let anything happen to you, right? You’re safe here."

Beatrice doesn’t answer. She’s not certain what she would say if she even attempted to. But maybe.

Maybe she believes him. Just the littlest bit.

Find more here!

[junibugs]

hi y'all.... how y'all doing....

[saexy]

I have CUTE BABY SCENARIOS CLOGGING MY BRAIN SO..YALL WILL SUFFER NOW... some zae houeshold.

so basically our eldest doenst relaize that all three of us.. she, her dad.. and i have been the eldest children.. so its jist alot of colliding energy we bring to the table.. especially her and sae.. like.. theyre copies of each other.. so lile the three of us trynna establish our says.. and nobody is winning... each time rin is over.. he just looks at yuu and he goes.. that tiny niichan the way she runs the house. Rin DOESNT HAVE A SAY against her.. Im TALKING FOOD- SHOPPING- what to order if theyre having a nite out at rinnie's. NEEDLESS TO SAY RIN IS TERRIFiED OF HER...

our middle one is more- SAE and i jave a hard time dogesting her thoights. SHE is lwk Built DIFFERMET- . YUU GAGS IF WE even look at each other for three dinners straight.. she just stays there wi this smile on her face... "that love...." "house is free from 6-8 tomorrow" ... "go get it sae!" and sae just goes "getout.." HE is lwk freaked out by her.. she has a habit of Calling us by our names at times... she is an old soul... and we re pretty chill.. lile we have a an argument- she is giving sae love advice- IT DOES WORK. like she slides in lile a little gremlim.. "trouble in paradise'....AND HE QUWSYIONS HIS LIFE FOR ASKING HIS DAIGHTER HOW TO FIX THINGS AT TIMES.

the triplets are prettty young- so its lwk peaceful atm... 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[stargirlinterludefr]

obx season four part one in just over two weeks how we feeling (im so excited)

[nerdragenewvegas]

A Well Timed Scandal - Update

Chapter 9: It's All So Awkward

Cooper Howard x Reader, pre-war Hollywood setting, kinda slow burn, Cooper Howard is horny & it makes him feel guilty.

POTENTIAL CN: Mentions of drug use, Marilyn Monroe's there also if you're a mentally ill girlie like me and thinking about her triggers you sometimes like it does me.

『“Action!”

“No, I just know how men think,” Cooper says, something in his tone darker, almost angry as he once again crosses the space between the two of you. “I know exactly what they think and how they feel, because I am one!” Except he doesn’t know exactly how Dean goddamn Domino felt kissing you, because he hasn’t kissed you. You’re supposed to be Cooper’s girlfriend and Dean had the audacity to welcome himself into your trailer and kiss you, like you’re Dean’s.

“Well,” you spit again as he approaches, not noticing that there’s something different in his step, in his eyes, in how tense he is. You don’t know he’s seeing red right now, that he’s wondering where Dean gets off thinking he has any right to you based on a head shot and a call from Johnny that was placed to blackmail Cooper in the first place. The thought of Dean touching you makes him feel sick. Dean doesn’t know you, he doesn’t understand you, he doesn’t see how emotionally intelligent you are, he doesn’t know how selfless you’ve managed to stay in a place like Hollywood, how kind you’ve kept yourself.

What right does Dean Domino have to make a move on you?

“Go on, then. Say it.”

What right does Dean Domino have to make a move on Cooper Howard’s girl?』

[buck-up-buck]

HMMMMMM

Ya'll can blame @theredrenard for this because I was told specifically to stop manifesting this, so guess. what.

HERE IS ME CONTINUING TO MANIFEST IT.

So, as per my post HERE I talked about the potential to burn Buck's loft down. Now, again, you don't have to tell me twice about how AO3 this theory is, I have been in this fandom since day one and I have read an unhealthy amount of fanfictions with this plot line, but, indulge me a second, will you?

So, at the beginning of the season I know that SOMEWHERE, there was a scene where there was a housing market crisis headline on the TV in the background, but I cannot for the life of me find it, so here is a screenshot of a post I saw talking about it!

We also have the scene where Buck is touring Harbour with Tommy at the start of 7x04 and Tommy mentions that he sometimes responds to "high-rise fires."... interesting Tommy; do you sense a high-rise fire in your near future to save you boyfriend, huh, HUH?!?

AND THEN, we have Buck at the end of 7x04 before Tommy knocks on the door seemingly going through paperwork, bills maybe? This, accompanied with the housing market crisis SCREAMS that Buck is maybe having issues with paying rent, or with living in the loft in general and is potentially looking for an out?

Now. all of these combined alone are enough to see a potential storyline to do with the loft (and it burning down, cough cough), but what really sealed the deal was Eddie's comment in the last episode (7x07).

Eddie walking in and commenting that he could smell smoke, with Buck telling him the new recipe he is working on is cracking him, rubbed me the wrong way. What a STRANGE way to word that scene. AND THEN, Buck looking up at the ceiling, where I assume the smoke detector is, all confused as if it should have been going off, but wasn't, is potentially foreshadowing issues with the building.

NOW, all of this together, SCREAMS a storyline to do with Buck's loft, the scene in 7x07 just solidifying a potential fire even moreso.

I will admit, I have changed my mind on Amir's involvement in the fire. I now highly doubt this man would go through all this effort to burn down an apartment complex, after suffering such a loss in one himself, and would not go out of his way to injure innocent people. BUT, what I do think however, is that his conflict with Bobby is going to potentially do some more foreshadowing for the loft potentially burning down.

I doubt Amir would use the words as direct as "karma is a bitch", but I do think sentences like...

"The universe has a wicked sense of payback." "Life has a way of serving up its own brand of justice." "In the end, karma is a flame that burns with the heat of our actions."

that all basically SCREAM, fire. And this makes Bobby super anxious but Amir is gone, he is either over it and has moved on with his lil ominous departure, or he's been arrested for his conflict with Bobby, and Athena is like, "he is gone, that man is gone from our lives." and Bobby settles because she is right, it's fine. everything is fine.

Until it isn't.

Until something happens that causes Buck's loft to go up in flames and all Bobby can think about is, fuck, this is my karma, and he is like, no, I will save my son, and he goes all badass and he gets Buck outta there.

Below are my messages in my beloved 9-1-1 server that I sent literally as that scene in 7x07 was playing out in front of me, including a 46-second-long VN about why that comment from Eddie just, didn't sit right with me.

ANYWAY, hope you enjoyed. As always, let me know what you think. Am I crazy? Am I onto something? At this point, I don't even know anymore but I am having so much fun terrorising the Clown Car that now I just do it for the bants.

Whenever anyone sees me type "I HAVE A THEORY" they all immediately log off, it's so weird.

[lacomandante]

Sharpe + The Onion headlines: Part 9 of ?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

[devilmass]

ya boy got a new job at the local library :)

[haikyuuhoo]

hi okay so I just got home and am v tired so sadly there will be no gojo birthday fic :((( another time to make up for it, perhaps 🫶🏼

[buggyandthebartoclub]

Sorry I’ve been DEAD i took a Benadryl yesterday and it knocked my ass out. Gonna spam all y’all w my love today after I eat 💕💕 sorry for abandoning this blog I am BACK BABY unfortunately for y’all lol

[fatalroyale]

i of all people should know that you should be very specific when you wish for things, but when i said i wanted more demons on tumblr i did ****not**** mean my boss

[sadgirlautumn]

Nikki would get along with the Yellowjackets characters methinks

[hinakyuu]

I miss you Sophie!!!

GEENAAAA i miss you too!!!

[iracide]

ikea pisser apprehended in east blue, found missing 2 toes begging for 7 up. aka gift art of my friend's one piece fc, lock!

[mystupidlovesongs]

I miss you! How are you these days 😘😘😘

omg hello! i’m good, but i’m also grownup busy. the kind of busy that sucks, because it’s not even fun.

i also had dental surgery and it hasn’t been the greatest, but i’ll survive.

thank you for asking! this has honestly made my day

[lalaluuz]

Luz glowed almost as much as her light spell, pride emanating from her grin as Oliver watched her orbs of light in awe.

"Go ahead! They won't hurt you like this. But if you poke 'em, they bounce away. If you really wanna get a good look at 'em..."

She stood and cupped her hands around one of the balls of light, bringing it close with a fond smile.

"You gotta catch 'em, like a lightning bug."

"READY!" He's more ready than he can ever be, actually. He's on his knees and he's right next to Luz. His eyes are GLUED to the papers laid out in front of her. She looked like one of those wizards he'd heard about in the fairy tale books. The ones that can cast out spells through these magical books. Instead of books, she has pages (papers) to summon magic.

orbs of light come right out from these papers and they float and as they do, Oliver is back on his feet, amazed.

"Whoa...." he breathes out in awe, "Can--If I touch it, will it hurt me?" He's already prepping his finger up to poke the orb light.