#such a simple scene but so many things to unpack and love!!! from tim not being afraid to stand his ground

[hawktims]

No. I wanna be with you. Sleep in the same bed with you all night. Not get kicked out at midnight so the neighbors won't see me leaving in the morning.

FELLOW TRAVELERS (2023) 1.03 | HIT ME

[myrandomfandomramblings]

Angela’s “Baby Shower” - a The Rookie Fanfic

At 35 weeks pregnant Angela was over it. She was sick of always having to run to the bathroom.  She was done with the fogginess in her brain interfering with her work. She was over the sore back and hips and feet that came from carrying an extra 30 pounds in her abdomen and she was tired of being so tired after being unable to find a comfortable sleeping position. But mostly she just no longer wanted to feel so different. She hated being too exhausted to go out with her friends after shift and even if she was feeling up for it she always had to get water while everyone else got their cocktail of choice. She was frustrated at being unable to bend down easily when investigating crime scenes and having to rely on others to find all the evidence. She also disliked the attention she got because of her pregnancy. Everybody always seemed to be looking at her belly, asking her when she was due, how she was doing and cooing about the joys of parenthood. She was excited about the baby and couldn’t wait to meet her little bundle of joy but she also craved normalcy, to just feel like herself and be a part of the group instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. So when Wesley pitched the idea of a baby shower to celebrate her and their little one, yet to be born, she vetoed that idea fast and hard. When she shared her reasoning her Fiancé nodded.

“I understand where your coming from but you actually gave me a really good idea for a baby shower that I’m sure you’ll love. Do you trust me?” he asked.

She had nodded and agreed to let him throw her a baby shower with the caveat that she could pull the plug at anytime.

Which brought them to the day of the baby shower, a Saturday, two weeks later.  

Wesley had kept the entire thing a surprise so Angela was thoroughly confused as she watched him unpack a number of crates and garbage bags from the truck and bring them into the downtown park where she sat.

“What is all this?” She asked. 

“You’ll see,” he replied giving her a wink. “Once everyone gets here.”

20 minutes later everyone was there. Lucy, Jackson, Tim, Nolan, and Harper. Grey wanted to come but had to work.

“Welcome everyone,” Wes announced, “today we will be competing to see who is the most badass pregnant person.” At this point everyone including Angela was looking at Wesley like he had grown a second head but he pushed on. “There will be three challenges: an escape room, laser tag and a contraction simulator and you will be divided into two teams. Angela as our guest of honour you get to pick your two teammates.”

“Nyla and Lucy,” Angela said immediately. She still didn’t really understand what they were doing but she had the feeling girl power was the way to victory.

Lucy and Harper excitedly moved over to Angela, giving each other high fives.

“Guess that means we’re a team,” Nolan said draping his arms around Jackson and Tim’s shoulders.

“Great,” Tim replied rolling his eyes. Angela wasn’t sure if he was mad because she didn’t choose him or because he wasn’t on the same team as Lucy either way she was looking forward to kicking his butt.

“OK now the last thing to do before we start the competition is to pregnify everyone,” Wesley stated.

“I feel like I should make some sort of joke about how babies are made but I think I’ll wait to see where you’re going with this,” Nolan offered.

“First everyone put one of these on,” Wesley said as he reached into a garbage bag and brought out a handful of wrap baby carriers which he handed out. Once everybody had theirs on he opened the lids of several storage containers.

“Now everyone, come grab a balloon and put them in your carrier.”

“Wow these are heavier than I expected. What’s in them?” Jackson asked as he lifted a balloon out of the tub.

“They’re full of water and some sand,” Wesley answered, “and they each way exactly 30 lbs, the average amount of weight gained in pregnancy. I weighed them myself.”

“Is that why you asked me where the scale was the other night?” Angela asked

Wesley confirmed before moving on. “Next everyone grab a hoodie to put over your bundle of joy,” he said opening another garbage bag.

“It’s at least 80 degrees we don’t need hoodies,” Tim complained.

“It’s to replicate the heat generated by a growing baby,” Wesley replied, “plus I had a lot of fun with them.”

Tim rolled his eyes but obediently put on the last hoodie.

All the hoodies were bright neon colours (Lucy pink, Harper purple, Jackson green, Nolan yellow and Tim blue) and had pregnancy announcements written on the front in thick black letters: ‘Baby on Board’, ‘Coming summer 2021’, ‘Eating for two’, etc. 

“There’s one for you too if you want it Ange, but you don’t have to wear it,” Wesley said. “Now the last thing, well things,” he added bringing out a bottle of Benadryl and stack of medicine cups, “since I can’t give you brain fog I’m just going to make you drowsy. Everybody take a medicine cup and wash it down with one of these,” he said opening a cooler lid to reveal a stack of 1L water bottles, “the whole thing.”

“I’m going to have to pee so bad,” Lucy joked as she started to drink her water.

“That’s the idea,” Wesley replied.

They spent the next 20 minutes finishing their waters, waiting for the Benadryl to kick in and admiring their new ‘bellies’.

Angela laughed as Jackson yelled “belly bump,” while running then jumping towards Lucy who met him in the air before the force knocked them both off their feet. She laughed even harder watching them try and fail to get up on their own until Wesley came to help them. She happily accepted a belly bum from Jackson once he had taken them down a notch (or several) as did everyone else but Nolan who was excessively protecting his fake fetus, shielding his stomach with his arms and body whenever anybody approached. Angela watched her friends, thoroughly entertained by their antics. She was especially enjoying the effect a visibly pregnant Lucy was having on Tim.  He was constantly stealing glances at her and when she smoothed her hoodie over her stomach and asked him how she looked his cheeks flushed and Angela was pretty sure she heard him stutter. This was confirmed by Nyla who had come up beside her and after a quick poke at Tim started reminiscing about her own pregnancy with Lila, which got the two woman talking and comparing notes. She was vaguely aware of Lucy who had taken her phone out and was now taking pictures and videos of everybody but didn’t fully turn her attention back to the others until Wesley said it was time for the first challenge: the escape room.

They walked to the escape room place which was only about a block away with minimal whining and a lot of perplexed looks from passers by. Once they got there they split into their teams and went to their respective rooms. The girls’ room was sorcerer’s lair themed and overall they got through it pretty smoothly. They had a few bumps in the road: by 20 minutes in they were all crossing their legs trying to hold their pee, Lucy fell asleep once while sitting at a table trying to decode a message and Nyla debated trying to use one of the magic wands in their room to pop her balloon. “Now I remember why I only had one. This was not easy,” she said as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor. But overall they worked together really well and had a lot of fun just talking about anything and everything as they solved all the puzzles and escaped the room. 

 When the girls were done, after a quick trip to the bathroom, they joined Wesley in the control booth to watch the guys via video and they seemed to be having a much harder time.  Jackson was trying to decode the message Lucy had but was becoming visibly more and more frustrated as he rubbed his temples and verbally demanded and pleaded with his brain to work. Nolan was trying to bend down to open a trap door (Angela had opened theirs with a broom handle) but couldn’t quite reach it without nearly falling over. After many failed attempts he eventually used the chair as a support bar to lower himself to the ground then push himself back up once the door was open. Meanwhile Tim kept swearing under his breath as he accidentally knocked various things off shelves and tables with his fake belly when he forgot how far out it reached. Luckily one of the things he knocked off opened when it hit the floor to reveal a key they needed to escape the room, which Nolan was able to retrieve with his new chair technique. Shortly after, Jackson succeeded in decoding his clue and from there they proceeded to finish the room pretty quickly and easily.

After another bathroom break they headed to the food trucks for a quick lunch where they mostly sat in content silence as everyone happily shovelled food into their mouths. This silence was only punctuated by the occasional comment that was either gloating or trash talk or by Tim barking “What are you looking at?” at people eyeing the group.

Next they headed to laser tag. Which Wesley had booked privately, so they had the whole place to themselves. The rules were simple every time you shot a member of the opposing team your team earned a point. First team to 30 won. Everybody seemed to have a good time. Angela laughed at her friends as they tried to sneak up on or out run each other, both techniques that were being significantly impacted by their fake pregnancies. Nolan at one point declared that the more aggressively you waddled the faster you could go and spent the rest of the game darting around like a mad penguin. He was ultimately successful in getting 6 points for his team using this technique which was significantly more than the 1 point he got before implementing it. Jackson on the other hand found a good hiding place in a high traffic area and would shoot the opposing team anytime they came by. Although initially this strategy was very successful and he quickly racked up 10 points, once the ladies realized their vests always lit up red when they passed that area they made a plan and were able to all find and corner him in his hiding spot. By the time he got away they had got 10 points themselves. Tim tried to use a lot of the same techniques he used at work or at paintball but unfortunately for him, although  they were efficient Lucy knew all of them and was able to use that knowledge to her advantage. The girls took a different approach and worked more as a team. They used some techniques from work and also had fun designing and implementing crazy plans, including one of them acting as bait to lure the guys in and the other two blind-siding them. When all was said and done the guys won 30-29. The girls attributed this to Tim and Nolan’s height advantage. They were able to see over all the obstacles but it could also be that the girls were having a little to much fun making elaborate plans that weren’t necessarily the most practical (the gun tricks looked cool but significantly decreased their shooting accuracy). Nonetheless, Angela had the greatest total points with 16. 

Following laser tag everybody was really happy but also extremely exhausted and they outright refused to walk the ten minutes back to the park despite the fact that because they were downtown it would take twice as long to drive their in traffic. While everybody went pee again Wesley walked back and brought the van. 

“I call middle row,” Harper yelled as Wesley pulled into the parking lot. 

“Me too,” West added. 

Angela took the passenger seat which left Nolan, Lucy and Tim to squeeze into the back row. Because Lucy was the smallest she was forced to take the middle seat but it didn’t seem to matter to her as she fell asleep almost immediately and spent the 20 minute ride leaning against Tim, head on his shoulder. They woke her up once they were back at the park but only after they had taken a couple pictures. 

Once they all got out of the van Wesley told them they could take off their hoodies and fake bellies. Tim and  Nyla quickly took off their stuff and helped Wesley set up for the labour simulation. Meanwhile the three newly minted P2’s goofed around. Nolan pretended to be giving birth taking quick breaths and squeezing Lucy’s hand as he pushed his balloon out the bottom of the carrier where Jackson caught it. Then working together the three of them lifted the balloon above their heads and belted out ‘The Circle of Life.’ Following the end of their song they too quickly shed their layers then went to join the rest of the group gathered in front of a folding beach chair that had been set up. 

“Alright everyone welcome to the final and tie-breaking event,” Wesley announced.

“Tied?” Angela questioned. “We beat the guys by at least half an hour in the escape room and they only beat us by one point at laser tag. We are winning.” 

“That’s not how this works babe. But don’t worry because you will be sitting this one out because you have to go through real labor in a couple weeks, I will be taking your spot and I will make sure your team wins.”

“You better,” Angela replied teasingly.

“Alright this is the labour simulator,” Wesley explained holding up a small device, “We stick these electrodes to your stomach and this machine will deliver electricity which will result in fake contracts that range in intensity from 1-10,” he pointed to a dial on the machine. “According to the instruction book 1 is like mild period cramps, 4 is Braxton-Hicks contractions, 8 is full blown labour and 10 is just full blown torture. Whichever team can tolerate the highest combined score wins. Oh and tolerate means experience that setting for at least ten seconds without ripping the leads off your body. Any questions?” When everybody shook their heads he continued. “Who wants to go first?”

“I will,“ Jackson offered making his way to the chair. Wesley stuck the electrodes to his abdomen then he was ready to go. 

He jumped initially on the first setting since he had no idea what to expect but after that he was pretty calm just clenching his jaw as the pain was increased. That is until he got to 6.

“Can I hold somebody’s hand?” he asked, “That’s a thing, right?”

Both Lucy and Nolan immediately stood up.

“How about two hands,” Nolan suggested seeing this.

“Even better,” Jackson replied intertwining his left hand with Nolan’s and his right with Lucy’s. 

This was enough to get him through 7 and 8 as he channeled all his pain into his friends, crushing their hands, but one second into 9 and he immediately pulled the leads off.

“Great job Jackson,” Wesley said as everyone patted him on the back, “Who’s next.”

Lucy went next and didn’t so much as flinch until 5 at which point she decided she was going to try meditation. This helped her through 6 and 7 at which point she too wanted hands to squish. Although both Jackson and Nolan offered, Lucy’ teammates decided it was their job. Between crushing her friends hands and focusing on her breathing she got through 8 rather easily. She clearly struggled more with 9. Jackson, Nolan and Wes were counting down. “Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven,” Angela felt Lucy’s grip loosen in her own. She was going to pull off the leads that is until Tim spoke up, “Come on Chen. You’ve got this. You’re strong,” he said and Lucy’s grip tightened back around Angela’s. “Three, Two, One, Done.” Everybody cheered as Lucy released her team mates hands and opened her eyes. “Sorry team but that’s enough for me I’m not trying 10,” she said as she removed the electrodes from her stomach.

“You did great,” Angela said and patted Lucy’s shoulder.

Tim went next. Rather than closing his eyes he fixed his glare on the machine in Wesley’s hand as if he could intimidate it in to giving up.  He also refused to hold anyone’s hand and instead gripped the armrests of the chair. By the time he got to 8 he was gripping so hard he broke the arm of the chair but still some how managed to maintain a near neutral expression throughout the entire experience. At this point Lucy insisted on holding the hand that had broken the chair. When he pointed out that he was worried he would hurt her she stubbornly grabbed his hand in both of hers, “I’m strong, remember.” With Lucy’s help Tim too made it through 9 and like his former rookie decided to end it there.

Harper went next. Although she was clearly in pain she was able to do 10 by focusing on her breathing, holding her friends hands and thinking about Lila. 

“How did you do that?” Jackson asked awe in his voice.

“When I was in labour with Lila I had contractions that were at least the intensity of 8 that lasted a minute each for like eight hours. One ten second one is a piece of cake.”

“You didn’t have an epidural?” Nolan asked

Harper shook her head, “I was being stubborn. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”

“You’re very impressive, but I have nothing to prove to anyone. I’m getting an epidural,” Angela offered. 

“You do what’s right for you,” Nyla replied patting her friend on the back, “ You’re going to do great.”

Nolan went next. He was practically jumping out of the chair by the time it got to 6 and at 7 he was writhing around so much he actually managed to tip the chair over. The fact that he ended up in a tangled mess on the ground was probably the only reason he made it through 7 without ripping the electrodes off. He did his best on 8 but despite having everyone around him either holding his hand or holding him down he only made it five seconds.

“OK the guys got 7+8+9 that’s 24. We already have 19 so all you have to do is get through 6 babe,” Angela said to Wesley.

It should have been easy. The pain wasn’t that bad, but it was in his abdomen and it was just a little too similar to the pain he experienced when he was stabbed. He was starting to get flashbacks but he wanted to do this for his fiancé, the love of his life and mother to his unborn child. He was going to do this for Angela even when she told him it was OK, that she understood, that he didn’t need to push through this trauma for her but he wanted to. So despite the fact that his whole body was pale, we was dripping with sweat, dizzy and short of breath with tears streaming down his face he pushed through his ten seconds at 6 with steely determination. At this point Angela pulled off the electrodes for him then pulled him into a hug. All her friends wrapped themselves around the couple and they stayed like that until Wesley was feeling better. 

“I didn’t get any prizes so bragging rights will have to be enough,” Wesley admitted.

“The day was prize enough,” Lucy offered, “I had a blast, we should do stuff like this more often.”

“Does that mean you’re not going to rub it in?” Jackson asked.

“Not a chance,” she replied.

“How about because we won we get to meet the baby first?” Nyla suggested.

“That’s fair,” Angela agreed, “but what do I get?”

“Presents,” Nyla said handing Angela her baby shower present. 

After Angela opened her presents which mostly consisted of clothes and books and toys for the new baby everybody headed home to get some rest.

“Thank-you,” Angela said giving Wes a quick kiss, “For today. I really needed it.”

And she meant it. She had been feeling alone, helpless, and inadequate. But today reminded her about all the people who love her, about the strength that comes with working together. It reminded her that it’s ok to be imperfect, stressed, struggling but also to be goofy, to let loose and have fun. After today she finally felt like her self again and that woman was going to be a great mother.  

[starlocked01]

Second Glances

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: Roman has spent years making his aesthetic Gay TM and yet his soulmate's first impression of him is that he's straight. What has he done so horribly wrong? Nothing, but first impressions often are wrong.

Day 18 Prinxiety- Your Soulmate’s first impression of you is written on your skin somewhere

Damn it all the cute ones are straight

The mark appeared on Roman’s 18th birthday at midnight and frankly, he was mortified. He had been out and proud for the past two years and almost always had a rainbow flag somewhere on his person or belongings. How in the world could his soulmate get such an incorrect idea of him?

He interrogated all his friends at school to see if any of them had crushes on him and had thought he was straight but with no luck. Apparently they all had better gaydar than his soulmate.

Roman didn't have much time to worry about soulmates though because in just a few weeks he and his twin were moving into the dorms for freshman year of college. They packed up their entire room and wondered what their roommates would be like.

"I don't know Ro, what if they don't accept me or get uncomfortable with me?" Remus ran his fingers through his hair. He'd been growing it out almost a year now.

"Then I will kick their ass and get you a new roommate. Simple," Roman reassured Remus.

"Heh, thanks Ro," Remus smiled, still visibly nervous.

Roman grinned, "no one hurts my sibling and gets away with it."

On move-in day everything was a whirlwind. The car was packed past full and Roman was a ball of nervous energy.

"Remus, are you ready?" he called up the stairs.

"It's Renee today!" she called back down, appearing at the top of the stairs.

"Oops! My bad. Ready to go, sis?" Roman smiled broadly as she walked down, fussing with her skirt.

"Yeah!"

"Let's go! College here we come!"

Renee was unusually quiet during the drive. Roman spared as many glances away from the road as he could.

"You okay, hon?" He asked gently.

She nodded slowly, "are you sure I won't get funny looks during move in? Should I change into something masc before we get there?"

"No, you will do no such thing. It's a co-ed dorm, Ren. And I'm literally right down the hall," Roman shook his head.

Renee glanced down at her palm, "do you think I'll meet my soulmate today? I mean there's gonna be a lot of people there and it is a fem day…"

Roman smiled, "anything is possible, sis. Just keep being your beautiful self."

Thoughts of soulmates reminded Roman of his own frustrating mark. He kinda wondered what his soulmate’s mark said. Guess he'd think it sooner or later.

After the slightest confusion at sign in, he and Renee were ready to move into their dorm rooms. He decided to help Renee with her stuff first (and to make sure any roommate would know who they had to answer to). They were carrying in their first boxes and found her roommate already unpacked and chilling out at a desk with a book on existential philosophers.

The boy looked up and Roman and smiled extending a hand as he and Renee set down their boxes, "you must be Remus. I'm Janus. Nice to meet you."

Roman glared and opened his mouth to reprimand Janus but Renee spoke up first, "actually, I'm Renee!" she took Janus’ hand and shook it, "Remus is my legal name."

"Oh. Oh, my apologies! You would think I would know not to assume," Janus laughed uncomfortably, "sorry, Renee. It's charming to meet you."

"I'm Roman, her twin brother," Roman's mouth twitched. He was ready to cause a scene if things went south.

"Well, actually this is rather fortunate," Janus looked between the two twins, "I get the feeling you two will be understanding. I'm nonbinary and go by sie/sier pronouns. Again, I apologize for assuming. I hope we can get off on a better second impression."

Renee giggled, "that's so cool! I'm actually genderfluid. We can talk more later though, Roman and I still have to unpack all his stuff too."

Roman sighed in relief and turned to go get the next load of Renee's stuff.

After moving all her boxes from the car, Renee and Janus both helped Roman move his stuff into a room just down the hall from them. Even with moving Renee first, Roman’s roommate was nowhere to be found and he wondered if he lucked out with a no-show roommate and accidental single dorm room.

Renee was bubbly and excited, talking about her roommate and sier interests and opinions. Renee was already pretty infatuated with sier. Roman started to unpack his clothing.

"Ro, this is going to be the best! I'm so excited I can't contain it!" she started bouncing on the bed. Roman chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug.

Just then he saw a boy drowning in a purple and black hoodie stop at the door, double-checking the door number. He was so skinny, the only thing Roman could think was Tim Burton Reject but like Cute. The boy caught sight of Roman and Renee hugging and Roman almost thought he saw the 5 stages of grief flash through his eyes.

"Uh, should I come back later? I think this is my room…"

Roman grinned and walked over to the door, "come on in! Virgil right?" Virgil nodded, "hi, I'm Roman! This is Renee. Need help with your stuff?"

Renee waved and Virgil set his box down, "um sure, thanks."

Renee fiddled with her skirt, "Ro, I'm gonna go change."

"Okay, cool. Name when you get back?"

She skipped out of the room, "Reagan! Thanks Ro!"

Roman chuckled and smiled at Virgil, "you'll get used to them. They're genderfluid and switch kinda frequently."

Virgil nodded and started back down the hall to his car, "how long have you known each other?" His voice was tinted with barely noticeable jealousy.

"Since the day we were born. Reagan is my twin," Roman followed his roommate, oblivious to the confusion on his face.

"Wait.. siblings… ohhhh, oh thank god," Virgil was wide-eyed.

"What?"

"I thought Renee was your girlfriend. That would have been awkward," Virgil flushed with embarrassment and Roman broke out laughing.

"Wow, that's a first! I've never been told my sib looked like my S.O.! You're funny Virge!" Roman hit Virgil on the back in a friendly pat that sent the smaller boy stumbling forward.

They quickly moved the few boxes Virgil had brought into the room and both boys started unpacking. The room was tensely quiet until Reagan came barreling back into the room with their roommate in tow.

"Oh my God! You guys!! Janus is the sweetest bitch," their eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"All I did was offer to help with classwork," Janus mumbled. Sie looked at Roman and Virgil and could feel the awkwardness in the room that Reagan was oblivious to, "so, anyone know a good ice breaker?"

Roman and Virgil replied at the same time, "polar bears."

Janus snorted, trying to contain sier amusement, "not quite what I meant, but A for effort."

"Ooh, have either of you two met your soulmates?" Reagan grinned at Virgil and Janus.

"My birthday is in a couple of months, so I have no idea," Virgil shrugged, taping up an MCR poster.

Janus rolled sier eyes, "no, I'm not really trying to find them either. Their first impression of me is disappointment anyway and you know how impossible it is to correct a bad first impression."

Roman laughed, "I feel like I'm looking for the impossible! My soulmate’s first impression is that I'm straight . How?" he held up the pride flag that he was preparing to hang above his bed.

"I could imagine it if the first time they saw you, you were… I don't know, hugging your sister," Virgil coughed suspiciously.

"Well, I will quickly correct them. Shoot, I forgot to ask. Virgil are you okay with queer stuff all over my side of the room? Because if not we have a problem," Roman smiled nervously and Reagan snickered at him. He supposed he should have figured this out before outing Reagan to Virgil but better late than never.

"You're good, Princey. I might not be flamboyant but I'm definitely gay," Virgil smiled softly.

"How lucky you're rooming together," Janus smirked, "should we dismantle one of the beds now?"

Reagan howled with laughter as Roman and Virgil both vehemently denied that suggestion, faces redder than strawberries.

"Give it a month, Jan," they snickered, wiping a tear from their eye.

"Indeed, bet?"

"20 bucks says you're on."

"We're right here!" Virgil protested.

"Shut up, you know I love you guys," Janus replied smoothly.

"No. No, I don't know that," Virgil flipped up his hood to hide his face from the others and pulled out his DVD collection to sort it. Roman glanced over and gave a triumphant shout.

"I knew it! Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice? I knew you'd be into Tim Burton!" Roman grinned happily, "fantastic movies!"

"How? We've known each other for like an hour…" Virgil was confused.

"Ah, I think it was the hoodie. You just look like one of his characters, you know?" Roman's grin turned sheepish.

"Fair enough. That is my aesthetic," Virgil shrugged.

"So should we leave you two future love birds alone now or…?" Reagan chuckled. They could tell Roman liked his roommate a lot, even if he wasn't outwardly flirting.

"Excellent idea, Reagan. We can cause more mischief elsewhere," Janus turned to leave with Reagan following close behind sier.

The first semester of classes went chaotically fast. True to Reagan's prediction, Roman and Virgil started dating within weeks. Despite outward dissimilarities, the two made for a good couple, balancing each other's sweetness and snark and flair and dramatics.

Roman couldn’t help but feel nervous as the clock ticked closer to midnight. Winter vacation had been hard enough with Virgil on the other side of the country, but tomorrow was his birthday and Roman was anxious to figure out if the connection he felt with his boyfriend was as deep and as fated as he wanted it to be.

They were facetiming when the alarm Roman had set for midnight went off.

"Happy birthday, my chemically imbalanced romance!" Roman grinned as Virgil shook his head at the nickname, "where's the mark?"

Virgil chuckled, "can't I enjoy being legally adult for two minutes?"

"Virgillllll please?" Roman pleaded, puffing out his lip.

"Fine. I think it's on the back of my neck though. Hang on," Virgil turned off the camera to take a photo while Roman waited impatiently.

Roman couldn’t see his face but he could hear Virgil’s soft gasp, "what is it, love?"

"Did you really think that about me, Roman?" Virgil sounded upset and Roman wished he would turn the camera back on.

"I don't know, V, what does it say? Please turn the camera back on," Roman prodded gently.

The camera flicked back on and Roman could see the back of Virgil’s neck with a single line of shiny scarlet text, "Tim Burton Reject but like Cute."

"Your first thought of me was that I was a reject??" Virgil brought the camera back to his face and Roman could just make out the line of a tear cutting through his makeup.

"Virgil, it's not like that-"

"Well, it sure looks like it! Either that was your first impression of me or we aren't soulmates! I have to live with this on my skin for the rest of my life I deserve to know!"

Roman glared at Virgil, "quite hypocritical considering I have to live with the fact you thought I was dating my own sibling written across my ass!" Roman took a deep breath before continuing, "yes, my first thought of you wasn't the kindest phrasing. First impressions are so often very wrong. People aren't static pictures, they're living art. Just look at Remus; he's constantly changing. And I've seen you change in so many ways the past four months, Virgil. I would never call you a reject now. I'm sorry I did back then."

Roman watched Virgil’s face as he finished his apology. To his surprise, Virgil started to laugh, low and quiet at first but quickly growing.

"You were right though. I was so skinny, so dark, and so edgy- I think just about anyone would have agreed with you. I think you got the short end of the soulmate stick, Ro, because now you're stuck with me, the Tim Burton Reject," Virgil's smile was wide and genuine and Roman clasped his hand to his chest in relief.

"Oh my goodness, you scared me. I thought I was going to be single! Who knew your birthday was the actual nightmare before Christmas," both of them laughed at that, "goodnight love. Text me when you open your present."

Roman smiled as Virgil saluted and ended the call.

Thank the stars they actually were soulmates.

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020

[ranger-jedi-knight]

A New Hero Chap 23

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887313/chapters/64491796 Taglist: @bluesimani

Ok, so here’s the next chap!! So I’m going to skip the date scene cause I’d just butcher it but it did happen and it DID go well. I hope you guys enjoy it!! Also, check out my Tumblr for an announcement! Tumblr: ranger-gothamite 

Lana couldn’t help but softly smile with a laugh at seeing Xan’s face as they walked throu Gotham. He had the happiest face ever from how well his date went with Lila on Saturday. Even days later, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lila was with them along with Mari, Damian, Kim, and Bee. Haya was busy doing commissions and her Lila, L, had a date but she wouldn’t tell them the name yet since she wanted to see how it went first. Two couples held hands as they walked. Nino and Chloe were doing some last minute stuff and would meet them up after.

“So, Lana,” Bee starts looking at her friend curiously and Lana tilts her head toward her friend. The others are looking at them as well, wondering what Bee was going to ask. “Have you thought about getting a coach?”

“Coach? For what?”

“For your ice skating! You’re really good at it,” Bee said, smiling encouragingly at her friend and Lana grew flustered at that as everyone nodded agreement.

“W-well. I don’t know. I’m not that good. It’s been years since I did a competition. I doubt any coach would want me,” Lana said waving a hand and Bee scowled as she took Lana’s hand and squeezed it.

“You are good. Don’t put yourself down. I’m sure lots of coaches would want you,” Bee said giving Lana a look as the others nodded.

“Ya, Lana! Don’t put yourself down,” Xan replied this time and Lana just gave a one-shoulder shrug.

“I-’ll think about it.” With that they continued walking toward the ice rink since everyone had wanted to do that. Mari shared a smile with Damian and pulled her phone out. Damian let her hand go so that she could message the man that offered to coach her what seems like forever ago. Damian looked at their group as the others talked to themselves while Mari quickly talked to Philippe.

Reaching the ice rink, Lana and Bee sat down to pull on their skates while the others went and rented some skates. Once they were all ready, they went onto the ice and skated around with Kim, Bee, and Lana helping them skate smoothly. “Hey Lana, mind recreating the last routine you did after I...?” he asked and Lana gave Xan a soft look as she nodded agreement.

“Of course. I did dedicate to you,” Lana said, pulling her phone out and pulling up the song. A song Xan was fairly fond of before he was killed and taken. “Play this when I get into position.” Xan nodded and she skated to the center of the rink. She was lucky there weren’t many people out then, and when they saw her they moved to the sides. He pressed play when she got into position, a soft smile grew on his lips when he realized it was ‘My Heart Will Go On’. She glided across the ice, unaware of the camera Mari had trained on her and the crowd.

Xan felt tears stinging his eyes as he watched the dance. Lila squeezed his hand, holding tightly as she wiped away a tear herself, watching as Lana danced with a grief and remembrance of someone she loved. It wasn’t a song dancers typically chose since it had words but she did as a tribute to him. She ended a bit to the side from her start point, her head tilted up looking to the side with her eyes closed, her mouth agape as a hand clutched her shirt above her heart and her other slightly behind her. Her torso turned slightly the way her head was facing, her right leg turned to face in front of her while slightly lifted as if to push her off while her left faced the same way her head was facing, toward Xan.

Xan was the first to class before everyone in the rink started clapping as well. A blush dusted her cheeks as she pushed off to go back to them. Mari was beaming as she slid her phone back into her pocket after sending the video to Philippe. “It was a bit clumsy,” she muttered embarrassed and flustered, You don’t deserve the praise. You’re a fake, a voice that sounded like Steve’s voice whispered into her ear. She hugged herself when she reached them, folding into herself. Bee was at her side immediately, whispering into her ear things that none of them could hear. She nodded occasionally, taking a few deep breaths.

“That was awesome! Mind teaching me some of those moves?” Kim asked, somehow knowing that a distraction is needed for her mind. Lila started nodding as well right as Nino and Chloe arrived on the ice.

“Teach what?” Chloe asked and Kim launched into an explanation of the routine Lana did. Chloe immediately beamed at Lana and nodded eagerly as well. Lana pulled them to the center of the rink to start teaching them, with some of the other people there as well joining in. Xan shared a smile with Mari and Damian at seeing her relax after whatever went throu her head skating back to them after the dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duke had a small sideways smile on his lips as he shook his head. “You guys are ridiculous,” he said looking between Jason and Tim while Dick was face planted on the couch exhausted after doing a nightshift at the precinct.

“I resent that. That’s not true,” Jason said with his arms crossed and Duke just gave him a look while Tim snorted. “What!?”

“Nevermind that. Is it true?”

“Oh ya! It’s very true! Damian is dating Marinette! Finally! And, Dick is also dating Alya finally, along with this british FBI agent. They got close it seems while Dick was dating Babs. And don’t ask me about Kon ‘cause I can honestly say I don’t know who he’s seeing. He hasn’t told me and the person is just listed as ‘My Heart’ on his phone with hearts around it. Very cute if I’m being honest,” Tim said with a smile.

“You didn’t hack his phone to see?”

“Hey-!”

“You would! Don’t deny it!” Jason shouted while Dick mumbled his agreement along with a ‘shut up’.

“I’m respecting his privacy. I can do that,” Tim said and the two brothers shared a look before giving Tim a look.

“Couldn’t crack it?” Duke asked and Tim pouted as he looked away.

“He so didn’t. Bab’s probably encrypted Kon’s phone,” Jason replied and Duke nodded.

“So, when do I get to see ‘em?”

“See who?” Dick asked looking up, half asleep.

“You’re boyfriend and girlfriend, Dick. I already know Marinette.”

“Oh, uh…” he trailed off in thought and a yawn left him. “I’ll see,” he mumbled before going back to his nap so that he was ready for patrol that night. The three laughed at that and then Tim turned to Jason with a teasing smile.

“Duke, I don’t think you’ve heard about Jason’s crush,” Tim said in a teasing tone and Jason glared at him. Jason rushed over at Tim who evaded him while Duke looked interested.

“Oh?” he asked, curious since he hadn’t seen Jason crush on anyone in a while.

“Ya! You’ve met or seen Alya before, Dick’s partner at the precinct, she’s come here quite a bit,” Tim started and Duke nodded, he’s certainly seen her in passing, having maybe one or two conversations that lasted minutes because they each had something to do. “Well, she has a younger sister named Lana-” Tim yelped as he ducked under Jason’s arm as it swung at him. But he didn’t need to say any more as Duke was nodding with a smile.

“Ah. I see,” he then grabbed Jason’s wrist as he almost caught Tim’s shirt. Tim scampered behind Duke with a smile and patted his shoulder.

“Yup! Now I have to go! Gotta make sure the board didn’t try screwing over that hotel again!” Tim then ran out of the room and to his car while Jason glared at Duke.

“Not a word.” “Oh, I think the others won’t stop even when you ask her out,” Duke replied with a smirk before heading up to his room to unpack. Jason just groaned and fell onto the couch, Dick somehow being quick enough to keep his legs from being sat on. Once Jason was sitting on the couch defeated, Dick dropped his legs over Jason’s lap. Jason just groaned at that and tried melting into the couch, hoping his embarrassment would leave before someone else came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melody was humming under her breath as she typed on her computer. A request to the sister hotel to see if they could borrow an employee. Looking up when she heard the door, she was surprised to see that it was the CEO Tim Drake-Wayne. “What can I do for you, Mr. Drake-Wayne?” she tilted her head as she asked the question.

“Just came by to make sure the board didn’t try pulling one over me,” he explained with a smile and Melody returned it with a soft laugh.

“Don’t worry. They haven’t. I think you scared them when you told them of what they did wrong,” she replied and Tim nodded with a smile and the phone started ringing and she raised a finger and answered it. As she dealt with the patreon, he looked around the lobby taking note of how it was simple, but nice. Plants were on both sides of the door, along with a couple in the corner by the front desk. A few landscape paintings covered the wall, along with a Gotham skyline showing the vigilantes-his photograph. He took it a while ago and he could tell what each silhouette was- Batman in front, Robin slightly behind with Nightwing and Red Hood behind them, caught up in a race, Spoiler and Signal high fiving as they jumped a gap after the two with Orphan bringing up the rear.

“You know, that’s one of my favorite photos,” Melody said coming up from behind to stand next to Tim. Tim startled at that but smiled softly as he looked over at her then back to the photo.

“Really?”

“Ya, it’d be even better if it had Red Robin in it too,” she replied smiling at him as she gave the photo one last look before going back to the front desk. “If I could, I’d have this photo, including Red Robin in it, in my house.”

“You like Red Robin?”

“Ya, why wouldn’t I?” she tilted her head a bit confused at his question as she started an email to their maintenance man. “Red Robin is awesome, he saved my life some years ago when I first arrived in Gotham. So I was grateful at first but now I look up to him,” she explained with a shrug, curious about his slightly shocked expression. “Ok, I can understand not knowing why since you are a CEO and plenty busy, but believe or not, a lot of people do like Red Robin.” “Ya, just been pretty busy. Only really seen Batman and Robin memorabilia thou. Nightwing and Red Hood I have seen occasionally but not much,” he admitted with a shrug and Melody nodded with a laugh.

“That is true. But I think it’s more on the concept of Batman and Robin being the dynamic duo who’s been around the longest. I mean, they still sell stuff that looks like the original Robin paired with Nightwing since it’s easy to guess that they’re the same since there was no Robin for a few months after Nightwing appeared,” she replied and Tim had to nod, people even suspect Robin #2 and Red Hood being the same which would be fair.

“Ya,” he whispered with a small smile, knowing that people did appreciate his work as Red Robin even if it wasn’t obvious.

“Since you’re looking around, you could get some coffee or something from the machine,” Melody said looking up as she sent the email before pointing to the machine that sat on a counter running along the wall next to the desk.

“Thanks,” he walked over and made himself some hot chocolate. Going back to the desk, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card and held it to Melody. “Here, in case the board tries anything again.” He then started toward the door and waved to an employee that was walking back to the front desk.

Mari-aculous @MDC_Designs Having fun at the ice rink with everyone! Apparently Lana is popular right now #awesome #iceskating #icedancing #figureskating #learning *Mari beaming at the camera before turning it to show Lana helping bother her friends and some strangers doing some figure skating moves*

Ok, so here’s the next chap! I hope you guys enjoy this fun little thing showing the characters doin random n havin fun. AND DUKE APPEARS!! Sorry if Duke is a bit OOC, I tried. He seems like a cool character, I literally read a couple wiki type things bout him so this is my best guess of how to do him. And, next chap Duke will meet Alya and Xavier and see the others again! Until next time!! -Love Willa<3<3<3 

[listdepot]

Top 10 Indie Games of the Decade (10 - 6)

Boy oh boy, video games sure did happen this decade, huh? A lot of stuff with a whole lot of video games and, most importantly, the independent game scene became far more pronounced, previously just confined to PC, the increasing presence of the online marketplace on consoles has greatly expanded the scope to which indie games reach players, putting these games on the same level as AAA. Anyway this is 10 of this games that I liked this year.

An honorable mention goes out to Firewatch because I still don’t know what is Firewatch.

10. Stacking

Double Fine are undoubtedly my favorite game company. Tim Schaefer’s company has not only created my favorite game of all time (Psychonauts), but all their games have such a fun creativity to them. Whether its a turn-based RPG where children fight based on their Halloween costumes or an action/strategy game set in a world based on hard rock and metal, Double Fine have proven to be such a company that embraces fun and whimsy, that Sesame Street of all people let them develop their most recent game.

Stacking, as you can tell from the screenshot, is a world populated by matroyshka stacking dolls, and you play as Charlie Blackmore, the smallest of all the stacking dolls, who sets out on an adventure to stop an evil Industrial Age baron called The Baron, who has enslaved his siblings. To do that, he stacks into other dolls, only able to go up in size one at a time. Most characters have their own unique abilities and Charlie uses those abilities to solve adventure game puzzles. And that’s where Stacking gets really cool.

Every single puzzle in the game has multiple solutions, if you can’t figure out one version of how to do it, there’s usually two more solutions. While you only HAVE to do one, the puzzles reset once you finish them, letting you take your time trying to figure the others. Its an adventure game that forgoes classic tropes of that genre, also replacing your standard point and click with the quick to pick up stacking mechanic that lets you pick and choose how you want to do things. Its a game that combines interesting ideas with an anticapitalist story and visually is both early 1900s set design while those sets are comprised of everyday household items. Its like playing a diorama from 1915. Not a lot of games are like that.

9. The Stanley Parable

The story of The Stanley Parable is simple. A narrative-driven walking simulator, you control Stanley, a boring office drone that’s tasked with monitoring data on a computer, pressing buttons and not asking questions. One day, that monitor goes blank and Stanley goes to fix it, suddenly discovering the office he works in is completely empty.

But that’s not the real story of The Stanley Parable. The narrator that describes Stanley’s actions, storybook-style, doesn’t control Stanley’s narrative. You do. And you have every opportunity, every step of the story, to go against the grain of what you’re told happens.

The Stanley Parable is a game that, as soon as you do anything it doesn’t want you to, begs you to continue following the path laid out for you then berates you for not following that path then continues to just complain to you, trying to regain control of the story. Every variation of Stanley’s story is maybe 10 - 15 minutes long but each one is a fun and weird surprise and Kevan Brighting’s soft friendly British narrator is an all time great voice acting role. One so good, Valve’s DOTA 2 MOBA game features an announcer pack that fully replaces the game’s announcer with Brighting’s narrator. DIGITAL SPORTS.

8. Observer

A digital plague called a nanophage has infected and claimed the lives of countless augmented people in this cyberpunk hellscape of Krakow, leading to war and rampant drug use. The Chiron Corporation stepped in soon after and took control, turning Poland into even more of a nightmare than it had been, condemning those on the lower rung of society to poorly kept together tenement buildings, while also creating a police force known as Observers, detectives given free reign to hack the minds of citizens. Its 2084 and you are Daniel Lazarski, an Observer who receives a message from his estranged son Adam to come to a tenement, where he discovers Adam’s body, dead from long before the call was made. And that’s when things get weird.

The more I think about it, the more I think Bloober Team’s more recent horror game, Layers of Fear 2, should take the place on the list. The only issue is I only played Layers 2 a month ago and, no matter how much I love it, my first exposure to this company was through Observer, and more than that, this was a game I did not stop thinking about for like a year and a half. While Layers 2 plays with color and black & white in a game about the early days of film, Observer is clearly influenced by classic works of cyberpunk (the most obvious being Blade Runner), the bright neon buzzing endlessly in this dark, miserable nightmare. 

Even the real stars of this game, the minds of the dead you dive into as you solve this murder mystery, embrace that look as your setting is warped around you constantly. Rooms that look normal start stretching endlessly, doors open into other memories. And as Dan gets deeper into the mystery, the line between the real of the world around him and the memories of those he’s probing begin to blend until his own memories get mixed up among them, showing what lead to the current sad life he lives. Its a game that oozes misery even as it tries to jumpscare you around every corner. And its why it still keeps showing up in my thoughts.

7. Gone Home

What exactly is a walking simulator? Dumb, that’s what. The idea that a game isn’t a game simply because it follows more of an adventure game aesthetic without any real challenges is absurd and, frankly, a childish view of what a game can be. And no game broke gamers’ brains more than the “walking simulator” Gone Home.

In 1995, Katie Greenbriar returns from a trip overseas on a stormy night to find her family home completely abandoned, moving boxes still unpacked. The unnerving quiet of the house mixed with the constant rain and occasional thunder feels like something out of a Resident Evil game. But instead of horror, the game uses this to make you feel confused, something to make you want to solve what happened. And it turns out its not a horror story, but a love story.

As Katie progresses through her house, she finds plenty of objects she can interact with, many that often unlock other areas in this large rural Oregon home. Along with many of those unlockables comes narration from Katie’s sister Sam, who details the awkwardness of moving into this new house, frequently thought to be haunted, and her life in a new school where she can’t connect with too many other people. Until she meets Lonnie. The two young women bond and fall in love. And the more you explore the home, the more this story gets fleshed out. Gone Home is a pure delight of a video game and one that not only spawned the pejorative term of “walking simulator” but became a gold standard for them, a term that the gaming industry has since embraced. There is no shame in using interactive media to simply tell a story, and Gone Home knows it.

6. Jazzpunk

Its the late 1950s in the country of Japanada and Agent Polyblank must-  I’m going to be honest with you guys. I don’t know what Jazzpunk is. I’m not entirely sure what its about. I’ve played it multiple times and loved every moment of it but I’m not going to pretend its a game that makes any sense. And that’s just what it wants to be.

Heavily adopting the style of mid-century spy and cyberpunk fiction, Jazzpunk is a game that overly prefers making you laugh over any qualitative form of actual gameplay. Sure there are puzzles to solve to move the story along, but those puzzles task you with collecting giant spiders that are better rendered than anything else in this game, or hacking into a Soviet consulate which involves using a telephone to dial “Kremlin 2: The New Batch”. 

And the puzzles that make up the story stuff isn’t even 1/5th of the general dumb garbage you can do in this game. Jazzpunk exists for gags like the wedding cake that opens into a console that lets you play the multiplayer wedding-based FPS Wedding Qake. Jazzpunk exists to make you help a woman swat down flies in her store of very expensive vases. Jazzpunk will make you suddenly stop what you’re doing to do a first person version of the car bonus stage from Street Fighter 2, or suddenly put you into a cyberpunk heist in a Blade Runner-like city. 

Jazzpunk is Saul Bass on laughing gas. An intentionally stupid and disorienting experience purely designed to have you explore every inch of this weird world just so you can dig up weird crap on the beach with a metal detector and experience a pizza-themed Evil Dead 2 parody. Jazzpunk exists to be Jazzpunk. And in a lot of ways, it fully lives up to its nonsense name. Its a game of subversion in a way so impossibly dumb that it entirely feels improvised. That’s Jazzpunk.

[biillyhargroves]

Top 5 book scenes

This wound up getting long just two answers in so I’m going to put it under a read-more to spare your dashboards!! The lit major in me came out and I got way more passionate than I thought I could be, honestly. There’s just so much to unpack with great book scenes and I love to talk about them. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve re-read most of these books, so some of my details might be a bit off!

The New Hunger by Isaac Marion | In The New Hunger, I really adore all of the scenes between Nora and Addis, but there’s this one moment when they’re in a park and Addis is just being a kid, playing in a wading pool and splashing water at Nora, and these wolves come up to them and put Nora on the defense. And as she’s trying to figure out what to do, this zombie (I think it’s M? Again, it’s been a while.) that’s been following them comes out and attacks the wolves, saving Nora and Addis, and when Nora screams at him to leave them alone because she’s scared and wants to protect her brother and the world is so fucked up he kind of groans “Please” at them and it just. GETS ME EVERY TIME. In probably the least-known book of the series, that one simple scene says so much about the world Isaac Marion has created. It stirs up questions about the zombies and who/what they are, it sparks confusion in the human characters, it’s just....I love it so much.

The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx | I don’t know if this counts as a “scene” because it’s from a memoir, but I digress. Towards the middle of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx contemplates the change in tone of his 1987 diary entries- which, by about the summer (the diary starts in January and chronicles Nikki’s life all through ‘87), grow more and more hopeless -and how he can clearly see twenty-some years later (he published the diaries in 2007) how desperately he was crying for help. There’s a line in there about how he felt that he just wasn’t crying loud enough, and it fucking breaks my heart but I think it also speaks volumes of human vulnerability and how difficult it can be to ask for help, especially when we tend to worry about our pride and, when we’re young, convince ourselves that we know exactly what we’re doing. Like, it makes me sad but I also appreciate the strength Nikki shows in sharing it and I think that even if you can’t relate to exactly what he was going through at the time, there’s a lot to take away in regards to clarity in retrospect. It’s humbling to think about how clearly we can understand our past selves better when we’ve had some distance from them, and this section speaks to that.

We Band of Angels by Elizabeth M. Norman | I also don’t know if this classifies as a “scene” because it’s an account of historical events, but one piece of history that Norman brings up in the book is when a bus of military hospital patients is being evacuated (it’s been a while since I’ve read the book or even brushed up on WWII nursing history, so I don’t remember what city they were leaving or going to - I just know that it was in the Pacific theater in the Philippines). Before they leave, one of the nurses was pulled aside and taught how to shoot. She was to defend the patients should their vehicle be stopped or come under attack, and it’s this really powerful moment where she’s both terrified but filled with this intense protectiveness and defensiveness over the men. It’s just a narrative we don’t get often, and although she never fired a shot, this young woman who joined the Army Nurse Corps to serve her country by helping injured men having the potential to essentially be on the front lines is huge? There’s also a moment where Norman talks about head nurses directing their staffs from their own sick beds as they came down with dysentery and all these other illnesses while in Japanese POW camps and it makes me both proud to be an American woman and to know these women served so honorable, and angry because how did I never hear about this in school? Why aren’t these women celebrated? I feel so many types of ways, honestly. 

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien | I don’t remember any of the character’s names, but there’s one section of the book that talks about a young soldier who has returned to his hometown after serving in Vietnam, and he can’t find anyone to talk to about what he experienced because everyone is either protesting the war, doesn’t want to hear about all the sad and scary stuff, or just simply doesn’t understand, so he ends up driving in circles around this big lake for hours just trying to clear his head. Something about it just stands out to me. I’ve worked with Vietnam vets before (I used to intern at a veteran’s hospital) and the whole time I was reading it I couldn’t get the thought of them as young men out of my head. I think it just speaks volumes of how traumatic war can be, and what soldiers go through, and what the reality of post-traumatic stress is for them. 

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion | I haven’t re-read this book in a while either, and I think in my head some of the scenes get mushed with the movie versions, but one that always stands out to me- in book and film -is when Julie is hiding R in her room in the stadium compound, and he’s laying awake and looking at all the words Julie has written on her walls and ceiling that he can’t read, and thinking about how badly he wishes he could speak more clearly, and communicate with her, and understand her. It’s the scene where he says (and I’m paraphrasing as I don’t remember the exact line): “I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I’m drowning in ellipses”. It’s that exact notion that separates the Warm Bodies series from any other zombie story, because here’s a conscious zombie that wants to communicate and wants to be heard, but can’t figure out how. Here’s a zombie that we can relate to and it’s just really powerful in my opinion.