#that's the saddest messed up love triangle

[scarefox]

Kiseki: Dear to Me episode 8: here have some heart break :D

Kiseki: Dear to Me special: haha, sorry about that. Here have a special in-between episode with even more heart break but from the other side, the enemies side :D and we even added a little bonus for the "History3: MODC" traumatized yearning for a fix it ever since - crowd: it's another - you guessed it - heart break :D

[cupcakeinat0r]

Thinkin abt DadBod!Miguel… once again…

You were the lucky girl that pulled Miguel n had him wrapped around your lil finger.

As much as he didn’t like to show it publicly, the man was whipped. By the means of your affectionate love, Miguel actually began to take better care of himself, resulting in happy boyfriend weight gain.

As time went on, you’d noticed those changes: Thicker thighs, fatter ass, pecs are perkier, and a soft pouch that you’d feel up when you removed his shirt during hot, open-mouthed make-out sessions.

Miguel was a little surprised to find that you loved it, and since then, has taken advantage of this information.

Now, he proudly walks around shirtless, in nothing but grey sweatpants or even boxers sometimes. He thought he was slick by acting coy, but you knew that he knew that you get wet just by the sight of his brawny, hairy muscles, or that muffin top he had going on… and that happy trail…

Then he’d give you that smirk when he caught you staring, making fun of you when he did. And when he sees that you’re a blushing mess, he attacks you with kisses, you swatting him away but it’s no use; he’s already caged you under him on the couch, the both of you breaking into a fit of giggles.

Today, it’s early in the morning. He didn’t have to be at the society until a little later, so you made the best use of the rare time you had together and made him some breakfast. After he was done eating, the two of you cuddled on the couch for the remainder of his free time.

He was sprawled out on the couch (almost too small for him) with your body on top of his. Your head lays on his chest, the hair there slightly tickling your skin. His strong hands rub your back oh so gently, making you drift away. Miguel occasionally kisses the top of your head as he himself doze off as well. Just when the two of you are about to fall asleep, his watch on the coffee table goes off.

“mierda—“ he groans, immediately going to snooze the loud, annoying alarm. You lift your head with a ‘mph’, your body grieving the loss of a peaceful moment between the both to you. “Already?” You look up at him with the saddest puppy dog eyes, ones that break his heart.

“I know, mama, I know, I’m sorry, but y’know I have to go.” He tuts. Like as if you were made of porcelain, he gently pries you off of him, but you refuse. “Just call in, baaaabe.”

Miguel feels you grab onto him tighter, and he lays back on his elbows in regret, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, mamita. I gotta go, mama, c’mon.”

“But baaaaabyyyyy.” You pout.

“Beba, tu sabes que yo quiero quedarme contigo, pero I simply can’t.” He really did hate having to say bye to you. He used to never wanna leave the lab, but now he counts down to the seconds until he gets to come home to your arms.

“Just a few more minutes?” You lift your head from his chest again, giving him those eyes that could get you anything.

“Beba, por favor-“ he knits his brows. He was cracking.

“Pleeeeeeaaasse?” You pout your bottom lip, “We haven’t had a day like this in forever, babe. Besides, you work so hard already…”

You place and subtly push your hands on his chest, and to your surprise, he lays back on the couch, wanting to hear what else you have to say, and maybe see what mischievous plan you had this time.

He could spare a minute or two, it won’t hurt… right?

“You deserve a day off, no?” Your voice becomes softer, more sensual as you peel yourself from his body and straddle not on his waist, but his stomach. Miguel’s consciousness is slipping.

Miguel’s hands instinctively go to rest on your hips, which have started to vaguely grind on his belly.

You were clever. By teasing Miguel and grinding against his stomach, merely inches from his fat cock, you knew you’d have him crumble under you in no time. “Well… do you?” You ask again, raising your eyebrow. You know it was working.

His eyes are now laser focused on the triangle of your panties, now marked with a wet spot, rubbing against his mid section. In his mind, he’s practically fighting for his life between going to work or letting you keep doing what you’re doing and so far… what his eyes are stuck on is winning.

“fuck, mama… you’re makin’ it real difficult, you know that?” His voice gravels at the sight in front of him. He doesn’t look up, too distracted by your slow thrusts against his soft belly. He hissed as he can feel his own cock rise in his grey sweats, precum bleeding through, no doubt.

“Baby, just stay, just for today… please?” Your breathy tone goes straight to his aching dick, pushing him over the edge from staying or going.

Hungry, Miguel licks his lips just as he takes one of his hands, hooking his pointer finger on one side of the triangle of your panties, pulling it aside so that nothing separated your wet heat and his fluffy stomach. He let out a low sigh and a few curses, watching as you painted his belly with your juices. He’s not even in you, but he could cum just from this.

“Aw fuck… what am I gonna do with you?“ he looks up at you, almost annoyed that this was working on him, but he couldn’t help it. He was pussy whipped. Feeling like you’ve won, you lazily smiled, already getting close to your climax as you continued grinding on his soft stomach.

“Lyla… fuck… mute my watch. I’m takin’ the day off.”

A/n: This one right here…. This ask did it for me. Been replaying this one in my head for days now hnnnghh I need him so bad, it actually makes my stomach hurt and my head dizzy 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 Thank you nonnie <3

Hope y’all liked it <3

Want more DadBod!Miguel ? Here’s my master list, bae!

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Double trouble: fun little au about hot sex and cute spats between König and his younger self

My terrible diseased brain: I wonder how young König felt when he realized his older self has a wife. Did he feel relief? That there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that there is someone who will love him, flaws and scars and all? Did he feel bitter that he doesn’t get that love until he’s older, more tired? Did Colonel König ever think about the fact that his wife would even have loved him as the young, stupid asshole he used to be? Do you think that the recuit and the colonel ever have a quiet moment of just existing next to each other, having a mutual realization that he was worthy of love all along?

Me: good grief

Bucca my sister in crime!! Ily 🩷🩷🩷

I'm sorry that you had to wait so long and on top of everything, all I have for you is angst 😭❤️‍🩹❤️

Young König is surprised (to say the least) when he sees his older self as a married man. He’s stunned to see he’s even alive. He thought he would die before reaching his 30s, in a way he had aspired to be dead before growing too old: that was the goal goddammit.

Who would want to live long enough to see how they turn even more lonely, fucked up and cold?

So his whole worldview is in turmoil now. This is what happens instead? He grows old and happy and gets to marry this hot chick? He gets to be a colonel?? He gets to be loved???

Young König is in love with reader too before even a month has passed, he’s torn between wanting her all to himself and settling for the bone he’s given. Even if he’s a horny menace full of red flags, he adores her. In a way I think he’s the most tragic character in this love triangle/polycule because he seems to be ok with it and has this nonchalant ‘no strings attached’ attitude while clearly, he’s madly in love (and needs therapy).

The attempted mating procedure of young König goes something like this: he sees a hot girl -> he opens his mouth -> she leaves. So now that he is the one who was approached, the dynamic is a bit different. The presence of Colonel means that his bad behaviour flares up like a bad old wound that’s poked. The saddest thing is that the older version has learned to love himself, he loves his wife boundlessly, he even loves his silly young self.

I mean what else can he do but love this beaten dog who’s trying his best and is still a mess?

Colonel’s secret hope is that he could somehow help the young pup to reach destination self-acceptance a little faster through this experiment. But like all of König’s tries to help himself and others, it backfires a bit…

Because young König doesn’t fool himself for one second with daydreams of love. He knows reader doesn’t love him like she loves the Colonel: he’s just a fucktoy in this sick scenario. So no, he isn’t mature enough to co-exist with his older self without bringing good old competition in. Reader can tell him she loves him all she wants, he’s not going to fall for that. Her and Colonel’s love life and marriage only remind him of what he doesn't have, what he can’t get. It’s just scraps for him, like always.

(When will it be his turn???)

[jensettermandu]

could we ask about yunjin/reader relationship after that? and how chaewon/reader relationship grew? :(

one side of me wants to think if yunjin eventually losing feelings during college and chaewon/yn having a great relationship…. but i also love me a love triangle and think of yunjin finally growing a spine and confessing after maybe seeing chaewon/yn have a fight or something heavy :(((

considering it's an open ending everyone can imagine it however they want it to be tbh, so this is a very individual question and everyone will have different answers.

here's what i'm thinking and it's still one of the options/the one i see as the most reasonable one imo

it's difficult to answer how their relationship grows at first considering we dont know if yn had any feelings for yunjin or not

i do imagine that they genuinely fall in love with each other after a while

yunjin would never try to get in between them or confess when Y/n's vulnerable, especially knowing that yn loves chaewon. she loves and cares too much about her and she'd first try to help solve it without even thinking of her own feelings

however, does yunjin fall out of love? we can't know, but how i imagine it it's the type of love that lasts forever

i genuinely have a feeling that she would never fully fall out of love but learn to live with the fact that yn isn't hers (the version in my head they never end up together)

Y/n never confronts yunjin about it because it's not something she can push and she wouldn't want to do it either (depends on if she's even aware of yunjin's feelings for her) and she would wait for yunjin to say something herself

from my pov yunjin considers it again but ultimately never does and comes to terms with being in love with someone she cant have whether that's true or not cause who knows what Y/n feels (not me, not you, not anyone, depending on your version of the open ending)

she also doesn't want to mess anything up/get in the way of Y/n's and chaewon's relationship. she wouldn't confess even if they broke up

do they last forever or not??? no clue, but i think from how certain things are worded in the story they believe in fate or destiny and believe that they are meant to be so they will work through the rough patches and end up as married high school sweethearts

i think the saddest part is that yunjin would watch the person she loves grow a life with someone else yet she would be happy for Y/n and obviously find someone but that first love would forever last

and the biggest question is if Y/n ever had any feelings for yunjin. we never get to know :/

this is what i imagine with the open ending, i do have some other versions too. anyway i will gladly read/answer if anyone else has their version for the open ending or anything else

[risingfire17-the-weeb-trash]

Join me and @sailorstarr-chan4 in our 40 Day Anime Photo Challenge, where we nerd out and share our thoughts on all things anime!

40 Day Anime Photo Challenge Prompts:

Day 1: Favorite anime

Day 2: Favorite genre

Day 3: Currently watching

Day 4: Favorite song from an anime

Day 5: Anime world you’d want to live in

Day 6: Character who resembles you the most

Day 7: Character you want to marry

Day 8: Who would be your anime bestie?

Day 9: Character you want on your side in a zombie apocalypse

Day 10: Character you despise with all your heart and soul

Day 11: Character you feel most sorry for

Day 12: Favorite “dere” type

Day 13: Favorite trope

Day 14: A trope you can’t stand

Day 15: Favorite canon couple

Day 16: Your OTP that never became canon

Day 17: Favorite love triangle

Day 18: Your NOTP (that regrettably became canon)

Day 19: Something you ship that makes absolutely no sense

Day 20: A ship that makes you question your morality

Day 21: Best platonic bromance

Day 22: Healthiest anime couple

Day 23: Favorite kiss/confession scene

Day 24: Best anime parent(s)

Day 25: Best dressed character

Day 26: Favorite fandom to write fic of

Day 27: Favorite villain

Day 28: Favorite sidekick/comedic relief

Day 29: Favorite animal mascot

Day 30: Character you’d cosplay given the chance

Day 31: Saddest anime moment

Day 32: Most hilarious anime moment

Day 33: An anime you loved but will never watch again

Day 34: Most messed up anime you’ve ever watched

Day 35: An anime you regret watching

Day 36: Anime that got the source material horribly, horribly wrong

Day 37: Worst dub of all time

Day 38: Anime you wish had a few more seasons

Day 39: Your guilty pleasure series

Day 40: Anime that changed you the most

[mannatea]

Predictably asking for Symphonia for the fandom meme!

I stan. 🙏

the first character i ever fell in love with: Raine. Even as a teenager she was my favorite and I loved her immediately.

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: I actually think I used to really like Zelos and found him hilarious when I was a teenager myself, and now I'm like 😨 about half of what he does and says. Yikes, bro. It actually makes me wonder how differently he would be written if the game was coming out for the first time now, because a lot of the stuff in the game just would NEVER fly these days.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: Ah. Behold, my personal cringe: I used to ship Kratos/Raine. It didn't last very long because my fellow shippers in 2004 made me abandon ship entirely & do a heelturn toward my current OTP out of pure spite. If I'm being honest I was only shipping it because they were the only two adults in the party for a while, anyway, so it wasn't a serious attachment. 🙄 But like, it should be noted that this happened while I was in the middle of writing a love triangle fic. (My other personal cringe, shh.)

my ultimate favorite character™: RAINE, MY BELOVED. 🤍 I literally love every single thing about her.

prettiest character: You thought I was going to say Raine didn't you? WRONG. It's Yuan, actually. Look at him.

my most hated character: RODYLE. He's just so hateful.

my OTP: Regal/Raine. I will die on this hill, actually. (And have been quietly since late 2004.) This is the only ship I just won't compromise on. What can I say about it? Their dynamic just hits on a lot of notes that work exceedingly well for me personally. I won't write a manifesto here (you may thank me for holding back for your benefit) but I love both of them so much and think their personalities balance one another out incredibly well, which is a lot of fun to write.

my NOTP: Basically any Raine ship that isn't my OTP is a NOTP for me, though I do have two in particular I would consider NOTPs. IYKYK.

favorite episode skit: The My Sister skit. IT GETS ME EVERY TIME.

saddest death: Marble. SHE'S AN OLD WOMAN. PLEASE.

favorite season side plot/scene: Virginia, honestly. It messes me up every time. The doll haunts me to this day. Also, that they so INTENTIONALLY made Raine look exactly like her. Poor Raine just can't escape. And the trauma?? AHHHH.

least favorite season side plot/scene: That buffoonish Peeping Tom thing at the hot springs. I wanted more meaningful conversation with my girls and I had to deal with that instead. NO WAIT I HATE THE SCENE IN SYBAK LOOKING FOR THE LITTLE BOY'S MOM SO MUCH MORE. ZELOS'S BOOTSTRAPS SPEECH WAS THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF READING, not because it wasn't 100% in character for him (HILARIOUSLY IT IS VERY IN CHARACTER 🤣) but because I feel like nobody else in the scene was written in a believable way—not Regal, not Colette, and not Lloyd. WTF WAS THAT SCENE?

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate am lukewarm about: Hate is a strong word here so I toned it down. I feel very lukewarm about Kratos. In fact, I'd go so far as to say his potential was a bit wasted just because they didn't bother to do enough with him.

my ‘you’re a piece of trash, but you’re still a fave well-liked’ fave: This is a hard one, because the trash characters are still trash to me. I'll maybe go with Kate or George for this. They both did terrible things but I still find them interesting and compelling as characters.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: Colette, always. Also? Presea.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: I don't have one because you'll never see me shipping something like this. It's not my cuppa.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: This is a hard one. Maybe Genis/Presea for this? I think they are good for one another but they're both too young BY A LOT to really be thinking that deeply about things. However, their respect for one another and their compassion/understanding of what the other has been through could lead to something nice later in life. I'm not over those adorable skits where Genis asks for advice from others on what present to get for her and they all collectively give him the worst advice imaginable and he ends up buying her a whetstone because he KNOWS HER AS A PERSON and she LOVES THE GIFT. This is what peak performance looks like in a person, actually.

Thanks! ♥

[cakebeam]

Can we commiserate together? I was already undecided about if I even wanted to watch s3, moreso since the tiny teasers came out and everyone started on the idea of Kyle & Maria together… But now that panel has filled me with dread.

The whole ‘girl can’t have her gay bestie so she’ll take his straight brother instead’ is just so yikes.

It’s terrible to say, I kinda just want this season to be over already

Nonnie, you are more than welcome to be sad or cynical with me going into season 3. None of the promo clips have made me pumped for RNM or Malex, right now I'm just feeding off the energy of the actors who are excited for the season. But after that panel today with possibility of Maria/Greg, it just continuing this written toxicity of this character towards Alex Manes. It looks like Maria is continuing to be written to enforce herself into Alex Manes life and it's getting beyond her looking obsessive with him at this point. I just want her to leave him alone. I was hoping they were going to give her a love interest that was just for her and not involved with the main 8 at all. I'm still hoping for it.

This season has a lot weighing on it. I'm just going to be speaking for myself here but if RNM messes this one up like it did with season 2, I'm out. I can't take watching anymore homophobic narratives being written with Maria's EXTREME inappropriate behavior towards Alex and there not being any positive LGBTQ+ representation on this show and Alex, the one and only gay and physically disabled character, being given one of the saddest storyline's of all and can't ever catch a break because the writers hate the guy apparently. It's just a constant slap in the face toward the gay/queer community and the huge amount of gaslighting that was seen on screen in season 2 to try and sell that Maria's actions during the love triangle was about "friendship" and "love" and if we didn't think so or agree then we were wrong. Yeah, no I'm not on board with that. Sorry Chris that you had to be given this amount of homophobic narration to fix but it is your job and if it's not seen on screen that it IS fixed, then I'm no longer going to be watching it.

[katiecomma]

Tell me the fandom deets on Macgyver, pretty please?

the first character i ever fell in love with: Jack Dalton - 100% - From the moment I first met him I was like: sassy ex Delta Force who loves everyone too much? MINE!

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: Unpopular answer: Mac honestly. I love Mac. I love him a lot. I understand that he’s been through some shit. But some of his motivations in the last few seasons (fair warning: I’m not totally caught up on the show - this is one of the main reasons why I stopped watching) haven’t made a lot of sense to me. And the stuff with Nasha really made me mad... And I think if they would have given us the voice overs in S3 we would have been able to see more of his motivation and gotten into his head why he was doing/saying some of the things he was doing it would have helped. And from what I’ve seen... I don’t like who he is in a relationship with Desi (I don’t hate MacDesi, but I hate what they’ve done with it in the show from what I’ve seen)... so I just... I don’t know I feel like he’s not the same character from S1-2... and that’s my Mac honestly.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: I actually think I still love all of my ships from this show... there’s no ship that I don’t like anymore... Huh. But I don’t tend to give up on ships... I don’t know if I’ve ever changed my opinion drastically on a ship in a fandom like that ever.

my ultimate favourite character™: Jack Dalton again... I love him too much. He’s got the greatest lines... he’s charming and witty and loves all of his little found family so much it hurts.

prettiest character: I honestly have to say I think this is a tie between Riley and Mac. I have a bigger crush on Riley... but GAH they’re both so pretty. Like... ridiculously pretty.

my most hated character: James. He’s the worst. I even wrote an entire fic on the premise of Jack getting to punch him in the face. There was some other plot... but I honestly engineered the whole plot and everything around Jack getting to punch James in the face at the end. Worth it.

my OTP: MacDalton - I’m on this ship until it hits an iceberg and sinks. I love them so much. You go kaboom, I go kaboom?! Epic ship material. Coming back for another FUCKING TOUR IN AFGHANISTAN FOR MAC?! Epic ship material.

my NOTP: MacDesi (SORRY! This is not invalidating this ship for ANYONE ELSE - this is a personal opinion and I support you shipping them 100%) - again, fair warning that I’m not caught up on the series... but from everything I’ve seen... Desi is a very abusive SO. I think they had potential, but I really don’t like what they’ve done with it on the show. As for shipping outside of canon... I personally never saw the romantic connection based on their interactions before they got together. Very-Desi centric... the pink dress scene drove me crazy because I didn’t like the idea of Desi trying to win Mac over by doing something like that. Up to that point Desi struck me as the kind of woman to be herself and just wait for a man to make a move on her, or to just be bold and make a move on him. But strutting around in a revealing little dress and playing mating games - I was sad they took her character to that place... so I never really shipped them.

favourite episode: Mac + Jack (S2E12) - as a MacDalton shipped I love this for obvious reasons... but there’s just so much in this episode... I loved seeing Jack and Mac in the army... the way they first met and totally hated each other at first... fantastic. This episode also has my favourite line of all time... when Mac’s trying to defuse the bomb under the hummer... and Jack’s bothering him... Mac: Well, you know what, there is a quicker way to do this. Jack: Really? Mac: Yeah, it involves a loud boom and a bunch of shrapnel in your body. Close second place: Skull + Electromagnet (S2E5) - Harper Hayes is so awesome and badass. I love her a lot.

saddest death: Jill Morgan. I loved her so much. I remember sitting down to watch the S3 premiere and saying: As long as they don’t kill Jill, they really can’t let me down...

favourite season: 2 - I loved Cage. I loved all the dynamics. My favourite episodes are in this season. It’s solid from start to finish. I love this whole season.

least favourite season: I will say 3... because I didn’t watch enough of S4 to name it. But S3 really let me down. I hated the way things just faded away with Nasha. I wish they’d had a better end to that. I hated that we lost the voice overs, especially because some of the stuff Mac was doing and saying was obviously because he was messed up over what happened with Jill and Murdoc and all that, and if we’d had voice overs we could have understood what he was feeling. The same way we did in S1 when all the stuff with Nikki was going on. Jack left. Gross. And he left Mac behind with just that handshake. Before Jack left I hated the way he was treated - they made him into the comedic relief buffoon... and there were several episodes where Mac was making Jack the butt of jokes. Desi showed up and it was pretty obvious when she came on the scene that they were introducing her as a new love interest for Mac. I have 0 tolerance for female characters being introduced solely as a love interest - cause: gross. I hated the Riley/Billy breakup. I hated that they killed Jill.  I hated that Charlie died the way he did, and then that night when they got together for beers Mac was smiling and hitting on Desi And let’s not forget that DESI got a phone call from Jack when Charlie died... but Mac didn’t. WHY?! You really think Jack would find out that Charlie died the way he did and not immediately call his boy!? Bullshit Sorry for the rant... but there were a lot of things in this season I didn’t care for.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: I guess Desi... though I wouldn’t say everyone else loves her. I just... there was so much potential with Desi as a character. Strong asian-American woman who’s the badass strong arm of their team... and they made her a love interest and made her kind of an abusive SO... and I just didn’t care for that. I think her and Mac as characters were both treated badly as a result. In conclusion: I really wanted to like her... I even have a huge crush on her... but I still just... don’t.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: I guess Murdoc?... Cause I love Murdoc a lot. And I was sad that they ruined the dynamic between him and Mac when he killed Jill. Killing Jill made it so their dynamic can never be the same. Mac didn’t like Murdoc before, but now he hates him on a personal level and will never forgive him.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: Riley - she deserved for Ellwood to stick around. She deserved for Jack to stick around. She deserved for Billy to STICK AROUND. And she deserves to have Mac treat her his found sister and not try to get into her pants the way he seems to every other woman he’s EVER around. (AGAIN: I am not in any way saying MacRiley isn’t a valid ship. I can see the potential - ship to your heart’s content). All this talk of love triangles upsets me... I think they’ve waited too long to pull the trigger on MacRiley... because they’ve always very much had sibling vibes to me.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: I had originally written that I didn’t have one, but I TOTALLY DO!!! Jack/Harper Hayes!!! I have this series of fics where she’s basically his Murdoc and is totally stalking him and stuff... and I just... everything I’ve written around their sexual tension is very non-con... but I love them a lot and I DON’T KNOW WHY.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: Mac/Jill - I kinda love them. I love the idea of them being nerds together. I think they would be adorable. Jill is into the spy life but not a field agent so there wouldn’t be as much stress for Mac about losing his girl to the life... etc... So I love them. I think they could have been happy together. And seeing Mac have a happy little home with someone he can still talk about spy stuff with I think would have been great. And yet as much as I love them I just still sit back and dream about it, but I haven’t written much for them. Thank you for the ASK!!! I love doing these!

[ddixons-angel]

Fated: Season 4

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff)

A/N: And we’re back with another chapter! I am honestly worried how this one will be received by you guys but for another reason completely, you will probably know what I mean haha I won’t hold you guys back any longer, let’s go!

Chapter 5

For the last few days, the ex-residents of Woodbury had been asking Glenn and Daryl to make a run back to Woodbury to get some of the things they left. They’d been telling them about their infirmary that should be stocked with their medical supplies. The kids had even been chiming in, asking them to pick up some of their toys they left behind. After discussing it with Daryl, Glenn decided that they would go back to Woodbury and take a look for anything useful back in the town. The two set out for the run, bringing along Sasha and Tyreese as they had experience outside the prison and they resided in Woodbury for a time so they could guide Glenn and Daryl where to look.

Gloria was on her shift at the fences, taking out walkers with her daggers. Since both Tyreese and Sasha had left on the run with Daryl and Glenn, she was the only one on her shift. Maggie was on watch and Carol was busy watching the kids in the library. Gloria had taken it upon herself to take care of the bodies of the walkers she had killed. As she walks to get the car, Nina meets up with her halfway.

“Hey, you going somewhere?” she asks, sounding genuinely curious.

“Burning the walker bodies.” Gloria tells her as she doesn’t stop walking to the trucks.

Nina follows her, “you’re going alone?” and Gloria hums a yes, “I’ll come with you, we aren’t supposed to leave the prison alone anyway.”

Gloria slows her pace and looks at Nina, “you don’t have to, I can do it myself.”

“I want to help, okay? Please? Plus, I want to make it up to you for making you feel bad the other day.” Nina looks down to the ground.

“Alright, come on, we’re taking the blue truck.” Gloria tells her after pondering for a moment, then starts making her way again to the vehicles with Nina following her. 

Gloria gets into the driver’s seat as Nina climbs into the passenger’s seat. She drives the truck to the gate of the courtyard, driving it through with Karen’s help as she opens and closes the gate. She honks the horn lightly to call Carl to open the main gate for her and he does it quickly, then closes it as soon as the truck is outside. With Nina’s help, Gloria collects the bodies of the walkers outside the fence into the truck and they proceed to drive to the designated area to burn the bodies. 

Putting the truck into park and turning off the engine, Gloria jumps out the truck and starts to move the bodies from the truck into the hole that was pre-dug. Nina follows her actions and does the same. Once the back of the truck is empty of walker bodies, Gloria lights the bodies in the hole on fire. The flames crackle for a while before Gloria douses it, shoveling dirt into the hole to prevent any walkers from being attracted to the light and sound of the fire. 

“Alright, done!” Gloria lets out a breath of relief, then looks to Nina, “come on, let’s go back.”

Nina smiles back but then looks behind Gloria and lets out a scream. She then turns and starts running away into the woods. Expecting a herd of walkers behind her, Gloria spins around with her hands ready to pull out her daggers from her belt, however she sees nothing but forest. Frowning in confusion, she looks in the direction Nina had run.

“Nina!” Gloria calls out as she chases after the other woman, “Nina, there’s nothing there, it’s okay, you can come back.”

She searches for her in the woods until she comes across a cabin where she sees Nina panting, breathless from running. Nina seems to be startled by Gloria coming out of the woods as she fumbles back then lets out a sigh of relief when she sees that it’s only Gloria.

“What was that about?” Gloria asks, frustrated that Nina made her chase her out here for nothing.

“I thought I saw something behind you.” Nina says innocently. 

“Well, there wasn’t anything. Come on, let’s head back to the truck.” Gloria says as she turns around.

“Wait! Shouldn’t we check out this cabin?” Nina calls out to her, making Gloria turn back around.

She glances at Nina then at the cabin. It seemed pretty sturdy, the windows were dirty from the outside grime but were still intact. She takes a few steps closer to the cabin to peek into the windows, her back now to Nina. It seemed clean and secure, but Gloria wasn’t about to rummage a cabin in the middle of the woods with Nina. She was not an experienced fighter and if anything happened, Gloria would have to fight for the both of them.

“We should tell the others abou- ah!” Gloria’s words are cut off when she feels a sharp pain on the back of her head, making her fall to the ground, her vision blurring as she looks up at Nina. 

The last thing Gloria saw before she blacked out was Nina holding a rock and a sick grin on the woman’s face. 

---

Groaning and wincing at the pain throbbing in her head, Gloria opens her eyes and finds herself tied to a chair. She looks around and realizes that she was in the cabin Nina had supposedly stumbled upon. Well, that was bullshit. Gloria tugs at her restraints but stops when she hears footsteps coming from behind her.

“Awake already?” Nina cooes as she walks in front of Gloria. 

Gloria looks at Nina warily, noticing that her clothing and hair were messy, disheveled, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m just getting rid of you,” Nina says with a smirk, “I’m going to kill you and leave absolutely no trace of you.”

“You know you’re never gonna get away with this. The hell are you going to tell the others when you get back and I’m not with you? Maggie saw us leave together and so did Carl.” Gloria argues, Carol was definitely right about her.

To Gloria’s dismay, Nina chuckles, “Oh, of course I know that. I’ll just tell the others that you, being the super selfless person you are, sacrificed yourself to save little ol’ me. We got swarmed by a herd and you caused a distraction, allowing me to run. And they’ll believe it because that definitely sounds like something Glenn’s baby sister would do.”

Gloria mutters a curse under her breath. She had actually come up with something the group might even believe. She remembers the other day when Carol told her about the conversation she had with Glenn and Daryl. Nina must have overheard and come up with this plan. 

“Stop this!” Gloria shouts, “Glenn and Daryl are going to find out about this and so will Rick, none of them are going to let this slide. You really think they’re that stupid to believe your story?”

Her only play now was to scare Nina into thinking her plan wouldn’t work and that they’d see through it. She had to stop Nina from doing whatever it was she planned or else Gloria might not make it out alive. 

“Nuh uh, they’ll be grieving too much when they find your body all torn up,” Nina prances around the cabin, “and that’s when I’ll find Daryl, comfort him in his saddest moment, and then he’ll be mine!”

“You’re willing to become a murderer just for a guy?” Gloria could not believe that she was caught up in some sort of psycho love triangle and she was about to die for it.

“He’s not just any guy. He’s Daryl!” Nina glares at her, her eyes flare up in anger, “I love him and I’ll do anything for him! I’ll prove it!”

That’s when Gloria hears the snarling from outside. She looks at the dirty windows and sees a mass number of walkers just outside the cabin. 

“Listen, you don’t want to do this.” Gloria starts, “there’s an actual herd outside the cabin and you’re going to need me to fight them, you’re not getting back to the prison without me, not with all those walkers out there.”

“You’re right, I do need you...” Nina says but then smirks, “but not to fight, I just need you to distract them so I can get out of here.”

Gloria watches as Nina comes closer to her and pulls both of Gloria’s daggers out of their sheaths. Throwing one to the other side of the cabin, she points the tip of the dagger to Gloria’s face, barely poking at her skin.

“The walkers will be drawn to the scent of your blood, they’ll be distracted by you and your screams when they start tearing you apart right in this very chair.” Nina snickers, moving the blade away from Gloria’s face.

“You’re a fucking psychopath!” Gloria shouts.

Nina laughs then slashes Gloria’s chest with the dagger, making Gloria cry out at the sudden pain. She doesn’t stop there though, Nina proceeds to slash at her upper arms and forearms. 

Gloria seethes at the sting on her now bloody skin, “Daryl will never love you.” 

Nina’s grip on the dagger tightens as she gets angry at her words, she glares at Gloria then steps forward and stabs Gloria in the abdomen, causing her to gasp loudly at the pain. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of Daryl.” Nina says as she pulls the dagger out of Gloria, and throws it somewhere in the cabin. 

She steps back and goes to the door, “main course is ready!”

Nina bangs on the front door loudly three times and then opens it to reveal a bloody mess of dead animals littered on the porch with walkers devouring the flesh. Nina runs to the back of the cabin and makes her exit. The walkers’ attention now on Gloria, catching the scent of her freshly spilled blood and flesh. 

“Fuck...” Gloria swears under her breath as the walkers start getting up and making their way towards her.

She tugs at the restraints but they’re too tight. Her feet were also tied to the legs of the chair but found that they were still touching the ground. Gloria carefully lifts her body, attempting to stand up, putting her weight onto her feet while the chair was still attached to her body. She had to keep her balance otherwise she’d be walker food. Noting that the chair was old, she prayed that enough force would easily break it. Gloria steadies herself and then pushes herself off her feet, propelling herself backwards, letting her body and the chair fall back into the wall. The momentum from her push and the weight of her body was enough force to crumble the chair, freeing Gloria. She rolls around on the ground, groaning at the pain in her torso. 

Gloria quickly gets up as she sees the walkers beginning to pile into the room. Out of habit, she reaches down to her belt for her daggers and groans as they’re missing. She scans her surroundings and picks up two now broken chair legs and starts swinging them at the walkers, fighting for her life.

---

Spotting the prison gates, Nina ruffles her hair and tears her own shirt. She makes a face and starts to wail, fake tears streaming down her face now as she runs out of the woods and to the prison where Carl was sitting. 

“Open the gates!” Nina shrieks, waving her arms frantically as she runs towards the prison.

Carl gets up immediately and opens the gate for Nina, worry written all over his face, “hey, what happened? Are you okay?”

Nina drops to the ground and sobs, her hair covering her face. Rick and Hershel were taking care of the crops and piglets when they heard Nina’s cries. Concerned, the two made their way over to where her and Carl were. Carl looks out to the road and the forest, then frowns even more when he realizes Gloria isn’t with her. 

“Hey, where’s Gloria?” Carl asks when Rick gets to them.

“Nina? Nina, hey, are you alright?” Rick asks, kneeling at Nina’s side. 

Nina just continues to sob, making Rick look up at Hershel, “bring her inside, she might calm down once she realizes she’s back home.”

Rick nods and helps Nina stand as he starts to walk her back to the prison, “Carl, come inside.”

“No.” Carl tells his father, “Gloria’s still out there, I have to be here to let her in when she gets back.”

A soft smile creeps on Rick’s face as he nods, “okay.”

Rick and Hershel help Nina into the prison, her sobs have softened but she wasn’t able to stop crying. Her sobs and cries catch the attention of everyone in the main area. Rick helps her sit down at one of the tables. 

“What happened?” Carol asks, coming out from Cell Block C. 

Rick shakes his head and sighs, “I don’t know, she isn’t able to talk and she hasn’t stopped crying.”

Sasha goes up to Nina, sitting down beside her and puts her hand on her shoulder, “Nina, what happened? We only want to help.”

Nina shakes her head and sobs harder. Sasha sighs and gets up as she isn’t able to break her walls she seems to have put up but then she gets an idea. Nina didn’t really like Sasha or anyone in particular but everyone knew she liked Daryl. 

“Daryl,” she calls out to him as he leans against the wall with his arms crossed, “try and get her to talk.” 

He hesitantly looks around as everyone looks at him. Nina had made it painfully obvious she liked Daryl and he knew it too. Hating that everyone’s eyes were now on him, he sighs then makes his way to Nina. Sasha moves out of the way to give them some space. 

“Nina... what happened?” Daryl asks as she sits down beside her. 

In an instant, Nina throws her arms around Daryl and cries. Daryl didn’t really know what to do, he was never comfortable with physical contact, especially with anyone he wasn’t close with. But Nina was crying and he had his arms up, hovering over her body, clearly uncomfortable. 

“Daryl, I was so scared! I went out to burn the walker bodies and got swarmed by a herd! I barely made it out!” she chokes out between sobs. 

“You went out there alone?” Carol frowns as she asks the question.

“No,” Maggie frantically says as she walks out from Cell Block C, “she left with Gloria, I was on watch when they left.” 

“Yeah, I opened the gate for them to drive out the courtyard.” Karen chimes in, crossing her arms.

Glenn jumps up at this and Daryl puts his hands on Nina’s shoulder to push her away from him, “Where’s Gloria?” 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Nina starts to bawl again, “I didn’t want to leave her but she told me to! I didn’t want to! She yelled at me to leave while she caused a distraction for me to come back here!” 

Not believing her story, Carol doesn’t say another word as she rushes out the building, followed quickly by Daryl, Glenn, Maggie and Rick. The five of them run to the front gates as Rick yells to Carl to open the gates for them. They were going to bring Gloria back, they had to.

---

Next Chapter

SO, that just happened! :D I’m gonna get bombarded by angry comments now aren’t I... hehehe I still love you all~~ hope you enjoyed this infuriating chapter, please let me know what you thought! I’m gonna go hide now!! Love you~

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy, please don’t panic, we will get through this!

And as always, I would really appreciate any comments left for me! I’ll be replying to any comments in a new post because this is a sideblog!

Taglist (please let me know if you’d list to be added/removed!):

@twdeadfanfic​ | @fandomfanatic97​ | @crossbowking​ | @watchmeaspire​ | @spidergirla5​ | @kamieshep​ | @letsstarsfalling​ | @molethemollie​ | @alicewinchester99​ | @neilox​ | @womanup22​ | @jodiereedus22​ | @theonlyone-meeeee​ | @theunofficialduke​ | @inlovewdxx​ | @delightfullykrispypeach​ | @mrsfortune1306​ | @wolfkg​ | @funeral-7​

[hermionegranger56]

ok lads its time for my breakdown of folklore, something absolutely no one is asking for but here we are!! this album. thIs ALBUMMMM. dear GOD. the intersection of my two favorite things, taylor swift and indie folk???? i feel like i’m dreaming. when she announced the surprise drop i literally burst into tears and evidently for good reason lol.

anywho here’s the thing. Red has been my all time favorite album for 8 years now. it holds such an important place in my life and i never thought anything she did could come close (though Lover almost did). but this. THIS IS BETTER THAN RED

the lyrical genius is unmatched here. taylor isn’t just writing songs here, this is POETRY. every song is nuanced, intricate, devastatingly beautiful, with words that’ll haunt me for a long time. and the fact that it’s stories, literal folklore, no longer just about her own life is incredibly creative and is executed so well for someone who has interwoven her life into her entire body of music thus far. folklore blends facts with fiction so seamlessly and is a true exhibition of taylor’s power as a songwriter.

and the vibessss!! from haunting heartbreak songs, to ethereal lost-in-the-woods vibes, to a comforting return to her old self, this album has everything. taylor is without a doubt one of the most versatile artists of our generation, having success and skill in multiple genres and folklore only solidifies this fact.

ALL RIGHT KIDS LETS JUMP IN

the 1: hell yeah explicit tswift give it to me lol you ARE on some new shit!! ok when i first listened to this i hadn’t read her statement about the other perspectives and i was about to RIOT about her and joe breaking up (like they could ever lol). this is such a catchy beat, such a casual?? look at such a painful feeling? a really good start to this album. the part where she goes another day waking up aLONE killlllllls me wow

fave lines: “in my defense i have none/for never leaving well enough alone”

cardigan: (don’t get me started on the mv it’s gorgeous) YES THE TEENAGE LOVE TRIANGLE suchhh a good concept!! the melody of this song is unreal, the chorus makes me want to scream it’s so beautiful, the i-i-i is SOMETHING ELSE. it’s crazy how just the melody makes betty’s pain so palpable, but so enchanting at the same time. it’s bittersweet and cinematic and i’m in love. PETER LOSING WENDY GOD. easily top 5 song here

fave lines: “when you are young they assume you know nothing”, “cause i knew you/ heartbeat on the high line/ once in 20 lifetimes i” “you drew stars around my scars/but now i’m bleeding”

the last great american dynasty: watch hill!!! her watch hill house!! i live near there!! oh i think this song is so clever and i love how it ties into mad woman as well as harkens back to starlight. i LOVE the way she ties her self in, “and then it was bought by me” like ughhh her mind? and its catchy AF

fave lines: “i had a marvelous time ruining everything”

exile: YOU KNOW HOW TO DO AN INDIE ALBUM??? BRING BON IVER INTO THIS SHIT!! wowww this song is haunting and is definitely the “i’m you but stronger” version of The Last Time. the overlap of both of them singing and their parallel lines are flawless. i could play this on repeat for hours and contemplate my whole existence

fave lines: “you never gave a warning sign/i gave so many signs”

my tears ricochet: ok somehow a track 5 with tears in the title is not the saddest song here but DAMN is it good. I love the visual of someone watching over their funeral and reacting. the music is stunningggg here. ALSO i am pretty convinced this is about the whole scott/scooter drama, like the lyrics fit so well? and she said it was the first song she wrote so the timeline kinda fits?? geniusss

fave lines: “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace”, “and if i’m dead to you/why are you at the wake?”

mirrorball: ohhhh this one is so pretty!! it just makes me want to dance around the kitchen with the person i love??? its comforting, ethereal, happyyy ugh i love it. I also think it could be about her relationship with her fans? like her music shows us different sides of ourselves idk? or just absorbing into a relationship?

fave lines: “on my tallest tiptoes/shining just for you”

seven: i’m gonna call this now: this is going to be the most underrated song on this album. it is STUNNING. POETIC. HEARTBREAKING. the music is so hauntingly nostalgic. and the lyrics, holy absolute shit. they’re a delicate testament to childhood, memory, and innocent love. it’s gut wrenching and i love it so so much

fave lines: “i’ve been meaning to tell you/i think your house is haunted/your dad is always mad/and that must be why”, “and just like folk song/our love will be passed on”, “before i learned civility/ i used to scream ferociously” ALL OF IT

august: and now we get the girl james cheated with’s perspective, which i think is great. its sunny, wistful and sad underneath all that beautiful production. when she slides from the chorus to the “back when we we’re changing for the better” and hits that “mineeee to lose” GOD, it just fills your chest. i feel like even if you never have, this makes anyone feel like they know exactly what a summer fling feels like. one of my faves

fave lines: “august slipped away/like a bottle of wine”, “cancel my plans just in case you call/ and say meet me behind the mall”

this is me trying: the slow pacing of this melody serves to show these EXQUISITE lyrics here. this is so intimate and personal and i feel like everyone can relate to this feeling of just trying to hold on and put on a brave face?

fave lines: “they told me all of my cages were mental/ so i got wasted like all my potential”

illicit affairs: ok all you need to know about this one is a) I’m obsessed b) this is the closest she has come to creating a bridge that makes me feel like the All Too Well bridge has, like scream sobbing in the car type vibe??? its unreal. and this song makes me feel that shitty feeling of: “this was supposed to be casual but oops its very much not” hmmm maybe that’s where the scream sobbing comes from hahah

fave lines: “don’t call me kid/don’t call me baby/look at this godforsaken mess that you made me/you showed me colors you know i can’t see with anyone else”

invisible string: this. THIS is probably her most stunning love song. like. i thought it was Lover. i was wrong. this one is confidently from Taylor’s perspective, about Joe and dear lord i want a love like theirs. and shit does this song put the folk in folklore, the music is so simple and gorgeous and harkens back to her country roots without losing this new sound she has. and the first few notes remind me of Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens so instantly im sold. this and betty are tied for my number 1, it’s just too beautiful

fave lines: “time curious time/give me no compasses/give me no signs” “isn’t it just so pretty to think/all along there was some invisible string/tying you to me”, “cold was steel of the axe that i had to grind/for the boys who broke my heart/now i buy their babies presents”, “hell was the journey/but it brought me heaven”

mad woman: FUCK YOU FOREVERRRRRR!!! yes taylor said fuckkkk ugh i LOVE this vibe, the revenge of the mad woman that the town cast out is so eerie and powerful, i’m obsessed. it ties back into the maddest woman of TLGAD and it feels like a spiritual sequel to The Man, the same feminist thread weaving through it. the lyrics are razor sharp and biting, i love it

fave lines: “and you poke that bear/till the claws come out/ and you find something/ to wrap your noose around”, “it’s obvious wanting me dead has really brought you two together”

epiphany: so uhhh THIS is the saddest song on folklore. fight me. the seamless comparison between wartime and the pandemic and waiting for some epiphany that could make sense of all the horrors surrounding the both. idk man, as someone who’s been a covid nurse since March, i just….this one HURTS. similar to Soon You’ll Get Better tbh

fave lines: “hold your hand through plastic now/doc i think she’s crashing out/and somethings you just can’t speak about”

betty: OH I LOVE IT WITH MY WHOLE HEART! this is such a TRIUMPHANT return to old taylor, it is so joyful but sad at the same time?? the harmonica?? the last part of the love triangle?? it sounds like Taylor Swift and Fearless all grown up and it makes me ache for back then, but love where we are right now. tbh the first time i heard this i sobbed through the whole thing just out of pure nostalgia. she’s back but at the same time she never left. this feels like a love song to original fans and it. is. incredible. my favoriteeee goddd

fave lines: THE WHOLE CHORUS BABYYYYY

peace: it’s gorgeous, especially the guitarrr ugh. this feels like delicate’s quiet older sister. i think it’s definitely about joe and how taylor, despite loving him, still has these insecurities and fears about what a relationship with someone in her position could be like? like there will be struggles, but he’s her family and she “would die for you in secret”. stunning

fave lines: “i’m a fire and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm”, “the devils in the detail/but you’ve got a friend in me”, “give you my wild/give you a child”

hoax: i’m surprised she ended it on a sad one (but we still have the lakes!!) but this song is hauntingly beautiful WOW. every line of this absolutely floors me. i think this one will also be largely underrated, but it is pure poetry and deserves so so much hype

fave lines: “stood on the cliffside/screaming give me a reason/your faithless love’s the only hoax i believe in”, “it still hurts underneath my scars/from when they pulled me apart/but what you did was just as dark” “my kingdom come undone/ my broken drum/ you have beaten my heart”

ANYWHO TAYLOR HAS PRODUCED HER BEST WORK TO DATE AND IM READY FOR SAD GIRL AUTUMN

[lostlegendaerie]

Fluff Week Prompt: It starts like this: Chorus has A LOT of feral cats. It ends like this: Wash running Chorus's first new animal shelter and spay/release program.

I DIDN’T REMEMBER THAT YOU SAID ‘A LOT OF CATS’ AND JUST REMEMBERED WASHINGTON WITH STRAY CATS, ANYWAY, I WROTE THIS MOSTLY ON THE BUS AND IN THE LAST HOUR, GOD HELP ME I’M BACK ON MY SHIT.

Rating: T for language and (non-violent) animal death. Ship: TuckingtonWord Count: 2.5K

—–

The first time Washington watches a cat crawl from a ruined building, he almost mistakes it for a rat (or one of the terrifying Chorus mega-rodents) and shoots. But then the ears twitch, distinctive triangles, and he drops his gun with a clatter.

The next day, he leaves a bowl of meat scraps in its path, and comes back to see it rotten and swollen with insects. He tries a trail camera and only catches shadows of movement - spends three days in the archives trying to find a map of the building so he can find its other lanes of travel without stomping all overs it’s personal space - and the fourth time he tries to slip out of the mess with half a raw fish in his armor Tucker catches.

“Surprised you didn’t try shoving that in your codpiece,” he snarks. Wash gives him a dry look. “… okay, but seriously, what’s with you? You’re all– twitchy. I’m worried you’re gonna start blowing up bodies or shooting Donut again.”

“No, I’m–” he looks around to see if anyone else is paying attention; when he turns back to Tucker, the sim-trooper’s expression is even more suspicious. “I found a cat.”

“… And? You scared of them?”

“No!”

Tucker looks down at the fish in Wash’s hands, that’s starting to smell and shed scales the longer it’s handled. “Ohhhh my god you’re trying to make friends with it. You’re trying to make friends with it and failing. That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard–”

Wash spins on his heel and makes to storm off. He makes it two steps before a hand claps on his shoulder and he’s sorely tempted to slam the fish in Tucker’s stupid, beautiful face and grind the meat into it. “Fuck off.”

“Hey, man, I wanna help.”

Now it’s Washington’s turn to look suspicious. “Have you ever, wanted to help anybody, in your entire life?”

Tucker pokes him in the chest. “Happens as much to me as it does to you, jackass. You gonna let me or not?”

Washington gives him another once over, digging for ulterior motives in Tucker’s expression - he knows they have to be there, he just can’t find them yet - but the smell of the fish is getting obnoxious so he concedes.

“Fine. You can help.”

“Awesome! Lavernius Tucker, solver of pussy problems, is on the case.”

The winsome smile accompanying that does nothing to stem Washington’s immediate buyers remorse.

—

“And why the fuck,” says Grif, choosing Now of all times to take his job as supply supervisor seriously, “would I loan you the infrared surveillance equipment?”

“I swear, it’s for Washington!”

He snorts. “If you wanted to see him naked, you could probably just ask him.”

“I–” Tucker takes a second to process what Grif means, and then another second to imagine actually getting Washington to strip for him. “It’s not to look at Washington, it’s to help him out with– something.”

“So you’re helping him peep at the girls?”

“No!”

This apparently has exhausted all of Grif’s possible scenarios for the infra-red, and he stands staring at Tucker. If he wasn’t wearing his helmet, Tucker assumes Grif would be gaping.

“Why?”

“He wants to catch this cat or something, I don’t care, the point is, I’m going to be there as Agent Washington looks like a total sap cooing over feral animals and somebody has to record this. For blackmail.”

“Now now, Tucker, you know it’s polite to ask before you start recording!” Donut rounds the corner just then, sounding as chipper as ever. “That being said, Grif, I totally think you should give it to him.”

Grif clutches the crate of equipment closer to his chest. “Fuck off, Donut.”

“No, really! I think it’d be a great bonding opportunity for Washington to see Tucker in heat!”

“Uh… thanks?” Tucker ventures, reaching for the crate while keeping a close eye on Donut.

“Sure thing, Tucker. You know I love to play for your team.” His pink helmet tips in a perfect approximation of a flirtatious wink, and Tucker snatches the crate out of Grif’s hands and bolts.

Washington is waiting for him at the coordinates listed with a cooler in his hand (that Tucker is pretty sure was stolen from medical and was designed for organ transportation) and a mistrustful stare.

“I thought you stood me up,” the ex-Freelancer admits, making room behind the bench for Tucker to kneel. They’re across the street from an abandoned building a few miles away from the main base in Armonia, and there’s little signs of previous stakeouts; a scope, a food bowl with bits of dried meat stuck to it, a handful of towels.

Cute, thinks Tucker, and then comes back to the present with a shiver. Guess Donut rubbed off on him.

… Wait.

“What’s with the gear?”

“Oh, it’s infrared, that way we can spy, uhhhh, survey the cats without bothering them. Or something. That’s what you’re supposed to do with cats, right? Give them their space?”

Washington is already starting to set up the equipment. “Depends on the cat,” he says, pulling out the legs on a tripod. “The one I had in high school was a real sweetheart. Wouldn’t sleep on my bed but whenever I came home from school he wanted to be in my lap as I did homework.”

The mental picture of a young Washington - especially a young Washington with a cat - seems like another, fresh impossibility. Tucker checks the settings on the infrared camera and passes it over, letting Washington struggle attaching it to the base as he picks at the dried food in the dish.

“I never had any pets.”

“… Really?”

“I had a pet toad for like, a week. Then I had to let it go.” He’d kind of forgotten about that until now. Spikeball was a small, fat fellow who trilled whenever Tucker picked him up. (Later, of course, he learned that all male toads made this sound either in distress or as a mating call, but Tucker wanted to believe that his younger self had been gentle with the little bastard.) “Other than that, the closest thing I had to an animal in my house was one of my ex-girlfriends. Roxanne.”

“I was starting to feel bad for you,” Washington says dryly, “and then you had to ruin the moment.”

“What moment, dude? Not like I missed out on much. Pets are like babies, but they can’t talk and they die way faster.”

For a moment, he thinks Washington’s silence is because he saw something through the camera. But then his yellow-striped helmet turns Tucker’s way and he says, slowly and deliberately as loading a gun, “just because it’s temporary doesn’t mean you don’t remember it forever.”

Tucker stares. Washington goes back to working on setting up the infrared, and by the time Tucker finds his tongue the moment is long, long gone.

—–

He’d been skeptical about the idea at first, but after they’d found the little uneven spot of orange in one corner of a room, Washington had been riveted. It could be a sleeping cat, or two. Maybe even kittens. They’d just have to wait and see.

Between the two of them, they manage to keep up a near constant watch all day; tagging out to do their part in the Chorus rebuild and tagging back in for their free time. By now it’s evening, the pair of them together behind the stone bench and Tucker’s keeping his boredom surprisingly under wraps.

“So, obviously, you can’t kill Donut since you tried that once and failed, therefore marry and… maybe fuck Simmons? He’s part robot. I wonder if his ass vibrates. You into robots any? I mean, who isn’t these days, everyone lives in their armor anyway and aside from like a sense of identity robots are basically the same–”

“What if it’s kittens?”

Tucker stops gesturing with his hands. “… You’d fuck kittens?” he asks, laying on his back beside Washington in a pose that cannot be comfortable. In retaliation, Washington flicks him in the visor.

“No, the building. What if it’s kittens? What if their mom isn’t coming back?”

“Oh.” He rolls over then, resting on his elbows. “… Do you wanna go get them?”

“I don’t… know. We’ve been here for hours. I’d think the mother would have come back by now. I mean, it’s possible that– hey,” he cuts himself off as Tucker gets to his feet and starts walking away. “Where are you going?”

“We’re gonna go get your kittens, Wash. Duh.”

Washington stares at him for another moment, mutters a dumbass under his breath and follows him in.

Led by the lights on their helmets and guilded by the tracking marker Washington had set, they wander the abandoned building together. It looks like something out of a classic horror game; old advertisements ruined by water and sunlight until the ink runs, rust stains on the walls from hard water leaks, hungry holes in the floor with exposed rebar fangs that Washington more than once tugs a distracted Tucker away from. But it’s Tucker who spots the cats first.

“Shit, dude,” he says, and at first glance Washington assumes it’s from affection. There’s a half dozen of the things, moving slowly and weakly in the beam of their flashlights under the cover of an old box. But then he recognizes the still shape laying beside them as their mother’s body, wrapped around them even in death.

Part of the floor crumbles under his boots and distantly he hears Tucker’s voice spike with concern, but all that matters to Washington is getting to the cats. “Easy, easy,” he says, in a voice that belongs to a man who died years ago, “I got you.”

He pulls off his helmet and scoops each of the kittens into it, using it like a makeshift basket. They’re small and dirty and so skinny it hurts, but one of them hisses when he reaches for it and Washington feels his heart might burst.

“I can’t hold them all,” Washington says, scooping up the angriest of the bunch and holding it out to Tucker. “Can you take this one?”

“Oh. Uh… yeah, s-sure,” he stammers, accepting the little bundle with more care than Washington has seen him use for live explosives. “No problem.”

“Let’s get them back to base. We should be able to find some stuff to make food for them. I don’t think they’ll need formula, but we’ll see.”

Tucker is unusually quiet the long walk back, but that’s all right. Washington talks enough for both of them, keeping his voice light and soothing as he tries to think of things the kittens should stay alive for.

—-

Tucker has fucked up. Like, spectacularly fucked up. Fucked up in ways that would go down in history books, if anyone still wrote the damn things and if they ever covered anything other than how cool white men were. Not only had he signed away all of his free time in the foreseeable future, but he had to spent it wrangling with mewling, biting, shitting kittens.

The worst part? Washington adored them. The worst worst part? Seeing a badass ex-Freelancer use the laser on his sniper rifle to entertain a grey striped shitbag while using a cute voice made Tucker fucking hard. Like, really hard. Stomach cramps level of horny.

“Grey,” he laments one time as they’re watching Washington towel dry one of the kittens after she’d gotten into some spilled motor oil, “I think I’m dying.”

“Not yet, you’re not!” she pronounces, elbowing him - hard - in the side. “Your fluctuating levels of testosterone and oxytocin are a natural byproduct of the paternal bond.”

“God, not that shit again.”

“Speaking of again, do you finally have time to show me the scars left behind by your parasitic pregancy with–”

Tucker jumps off the crate he’d been hunched over and approaches Washington. “Hey there, you look like you need an extra hand.”

“Uh, I guess. Knifle’s just about dry, but I wanna take a look at Puma again. He’s not been eating as much as he should.”

Tucker does a quick head count of the kittens in the towel lined box. “Hey, where’s the really pretty one? The one with the two different eyes?”

“Yorkie’s with Carolina,” Washington says, nodding to the woman seated on the other side of the room, grinning as the black and tan kitten sinks her tiny teeth into the gloved hand, tail lashing back and forth. “And I think Grif ran off with Kirk again. Now that he knows all the girls love the kittens, he keeps making Simmons hold them or something.”

“Hahaha, dumb girls,” Tucker says, biting the inside of his lip as Washington gently cleans out the white and tan cat’s ears. He’s seen those hands pulls the pins on grenades, plunge a knife through a man’s neck, dislocate arms; but it’s holding a goddamn kitten that makes his palms sweat and his mouth water. Fuck me, he thinks as both a swear and a plea.

“You know, you still haven’t named yours.”

“Mine?”

Washington nods at the grey striped one curled up in an angry orb, obviously trying to sleep as his littermates walked all over him. “You carried him home. You get to name him. Never too late for a pet”

“I don’t want a cat, Wash.” No, it’s not the kittens that keep him coming back. … Well, maybe a little. Just a bit. Knifle is pretty cute like this, now that she’s stopped screaming.

“He doesn’t have to be yours. But you should name him. Caboose named the black one Sparkles,” Washington adds, in a voice that suggests that somehow, Tucker’s naming of the thing could save it from a fate worse than death.

“You realize I could name it something awful, right? Like Pussy Destroyer? Or Church?” Church at least would be accurate. God knows the fucker bit him enough times to remind him of his old, teammate-shooting friend.

Washington raises one eyebrow, and fuck if Tucker doesn’t get hit with need in the pit of his stomach again. Goddamn it.

“… Spikeball?”

The eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, which doesn’t make him that much less fuckable.

“You know, because he’s like… Full of teeth and stuff. And claws.” Tucker tries to mime the little bastard’s propensity for violence, but he’s pretty sure he just looks like a dumbass.

“Those are really your top three? Never mind, then,” Washington says with a grimace. “Figures. Forgot you named your kid Junior.”

“Here’s an idea, then,” and Tucker pokes Washington in the forehead, right between his stupid judgy eyebrows, “Recovery One. One for short.”

His expression shifts under Tucker’s fingertip. “You’re naming him after me?”

“Sure. Bitey grey bastard I helped rescue, why not?”

Washington blinks at him, as if searching his expression for something. Tucker forces himself to hold eye contact, even as the intensity makes him swallow.

“… I could live with that one,” he says at last, fixing his gaze firmly on Knifle. Now that it’s gone, Tucker wants his attention back, and huffs as he adjusts his kneel.

“Glad to have your permission, Dad.”

Washington snorts.

[riverdalerandomness]

10 Question Meme Thing

So I was tagged by @simlishdistractions. We are about to get deep with these questions... or not. lol But these really make me think!

Questions from @simlishdistractions:

1) What is your longest marathon simming session?

- My longest marathon simming would have to be with the Sims 2. I played for four hours one time without a single crash. It has never happened ever again. lol

2) If you could visit one premade world as a real life place, which would it be?

- I would have to say Vacation Island in the Sims. You had three locations in one setting. Spend one day at the beach, the next camping and fishing, and then the final day snow boarding and drinking hot chocolate.

3) Tell me about a sim of your who you were saddest to lose (death, game glitch or whatever…)

- It’s two actually. Tyra and Thomas Brooks in my Sims 2 game. I was offline at the time so I couldn’t get to any Sims forums for help, or even Google an answer. I don’t know what happened, they just ended up glitching out so badly that I had to kill them off. It was not only devastating to me, but to their three children as well. Their oldest, Eva, ended up moving in with her husband - then boyfriend - to take care of her twin teen brothers.

4) If you could go back and change one thing about your simming, knowing what you know now, what would it be?

- This is a hard question. My first response would be never to discover cc, because that would save me many days, weeks, and sometimes months of weeding through cc trying to find the one that has messed up the whole game. But I LOVE cc, so I could never advise myself to stay away from it. So I would have to go with, get a larger hard drive and the best graphics card that I could afford.

5) Do you aim to give your sims a happy perfect life, or enjoy watching their struggle and misery? >:)

- Ha, ha. No! I love the drama and those “little” hiccups that come my sims way. I don’t even have to start drama because they get into it all on their own. Anyone who has followed my blog back with I still played Sims 2 knows all to well, from teen pregnancies, to love triangles, to cheating. If it can happen in game, my sims will have it tossed their way.

6) What do you sip or snack on while you’re simming?

- Most of the time it’s either hot tea or coffee, or a nice glass of water. I don’t snack much while simming, I find that it takes my attention partly away from enjoying the game. But if I do need to take a bit it’s normally tortillas with hummus or guacamole.

Questions from @sullivanrandomness

1) When you’re playing, do you have the game music on or off?

- I use to play with the music on, but now I turn it off. One, because I started my YouTube channel and I don’t want to get any copyright strikes or claims, and Two, it got annoying. And when I’m in a long session in CAS it kind of distracts me. I want to focus on the sims that I’m making not the background music.

2) How long have you been playing your current hood? 

- Well in the Sims 4 it’s been since May or June I think. I accidentally deleted my old world and had to start a new one. In the Sims 3 I was playing a save from 2014 I believe, or possibly 2013. But I need to reinstall it after uninstalling the game because of some bad cc.

3) Uh-oh! Your game just exploded: are you going to rebuild or start afresh? 

Rebuild. I love my simmies too much to just let them fade away into the ether.

4) What is your favourite Sims version and why? 

- It would have to be the Sims 2. They were the most fully fleshed out sims that we have seen. They weren’t driven by whims or buffs. Their memories helped shape them, along with their “life” experiences. And they just seemed so much more alive to me. I know each game has its drawbacks. But if The Sims 3 was the Sims 2 with an open world (ported, and the core game engine designed correctly) with a color wheel. That would have been the bees knees for me!

5) What’s an expansion you’d love to see that EA never did for any version of the game? 

- I would love a whole ep dedicated for vacations. Ranging from Cruise ships to a trip to the local amusement park. I posted an outline for ideas over on the main forum in the Game Ideas section. I just think it would be super cool to have true vacations where sims could either plan a jam packed getaway with activities, tours, etc. or just chill pool side or at the beach/lake able to sip on fruity drinks with little umbrellas. Order food pool side. Kids could be off doing supervised activities.

Or just a getaway for two. The ability to plan a “Ladies” vacation, leaving the hubby and kids at home for the weekend. Or a Guys Night Out. How about a Single cruise. Or a senior Golden Vacation. With custom packages that sims could plan and book, and all they would need to do is bring extra cash for souvenirs, etc.

And then you have your local theme park. Real roller coasters - steel tracks, wooden tracks, standing ones, etc. - with dips, loops, tunnels, a camera to take a picture at the end. Water ride. Ridable hunted house. Games - sims could also win prizes from pet gold fish to ginormous stuffed animals, other rides like the Jack Rabbit (found at Kennywood), skydrop, The Whip. Just basically all the awesomeness of Roller Coaster Tycoon but on The Sims scale. (sorry, went overboard)

6) Do you use cheats (apart from building cheats) when you play?

- Not in Sims 2 or Sims 3. With Sims 4 I find I’m more willing to use cheats like Motherlode if my sims need help paying their rent or bills. But outside of that, no, none.

7) Do you consider yourself primarily a player, builder or decorator? Or other? 

- I would say a player. Simply because I love to play the game. I also can’t build to save my life. lol But I will if I’m pushed against a wall and can’t find what I’m looking for online.

8) Do you play pre-mades, your own sims or a mix? 

- I haven’t truly played with pre-mades since the Sims. I have since with the other three games allowed my created sims meet and fall in love with pre-mades. But for me to play with all or at least half of them, they have to have wiggled their way into my heart. Those who do come to mind are the Ramaswamis, Ottomas, and Picaso. They became some of my Founder families in my old Sims 2 game.

9) What is your favourite kind of business to run? Or what kind would you like to run, if your game version allowed it? 

- In the Sims 2 it’s a toss up between a restaurant and a clothing store. Both were super fun to do. But having to pick one, it would be the rastaurant, and I wish the way they had done OFB transfer over to Sims 3 and Sims 4 as well. It’s just not possible in either games like in Sims 2.

10) If you were a sim, what would be your aspiration and lifetime want? Feel free to translate that to your own game version - I only speak TS2! 

- What would my aspiration and LTW be? Hm... I would have to say as aspirations go, having a Successful Lineage, where all my kids have an awesome life after the hubby and I kick them from the nest! LTW would be to reach Golden Anniversary.

And because I’m having so much fun!

Questions from @memoirsofasim:

1) How often do you play the sims? 

- I normally play daily most days. But when I get burnt out I can go about a month without playing. I have a few challenges and just gameplay going on over on my YouTube channel, so I have to keep those fresh.

2) How long do you usually play the sims for in one session? 

- Normally 2 hours. That has always been my max, sometimes I’ve gone 2.5 to 3 hours though.

3) Favourite expansion pack and why? 

- I would have to say Super Star. I had so much fun when that ep came out. I even pre ordered it, and I remember it coming a day early. And those of use who got it over on N99 (neighborhood 99) shared picks and game play. It was done right - at least for me. The stalker though. ROFL Leaving those dead roses at your sim’s door. Made me cry from laughter all the time. And I was sad when we didn’t get something similar in Sims 2. And I don’t really care for the celebrity system in Sims 3, but I do enjoy Showtime.

4) Name a townie sim you never liked? 

- I forget his full name, but Vald the vampire that came with the vampire GP. My sim, Pattie Newberry (Not So Berry) cannot stand him, though all he wants is to be her friend. lol She pulls pranks on him all the time, and even tried to fight him once. He stands outside her house wanting to be loved.

5) Have you ever made a sim of yourself? 

- Yes, in Sims 2, Sims 3, and Sims 4. Never shared her with anyone though, and no pics. And never played her for long either. Just seems weird to me. Playing my sim self. lol

6) What is your favourite food? 

- No matter how many foods I like, it will always be pizza! Favorite toppings but not all on the same pie: pepperoni, salami, gyro meat, shrimp, artichoke, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, pineapple, banana peppers, green and black olives, feta cheese, steak, onions, pesto, and hamburger.

7) Do you play with cc or no cc? 

- Yes! ALL the cc. I would die without it.

8) How many mods do you currently use in your game? 

- I am not sure. I just know I have ALL the mods. lol In all my games.

9) Do you play on a laptop or a desktop computer? 

- Desktop. It’s my gaming pc. Can’t live without it. It’s my non human baby.

10) Do you own any pets? 

- Yup, I sure do. We have one cat - Stormy. One turtle, he’s a red eared slider - Speedy. And one hamster - Vanilla. He’s so huge I call him Bear Claw, yes, the doughnut. He had a brother - Brown Sugar - who I called Pee Pee, since he peed all over the place. But he recently passed away. :(

So I don’t have any questions to add. So feel free to take from those listed above.

I’m tagging @shespeakssimlish, @greeneyedsims, @sommeliersims, @mysimsloveaffair, @snarkysims, @tikamosh, @icy-spicy-scalpel, @josiesimblr