#the game doesn’t have a mama van

[michelleelizabethtanner]

Okay, Beth’s house was way more complicated to make, with all the walls and whatnot. 😩 I did my best. 🤣

[bucksboobs]

Hi, I'm the spoiler anon. Sorry, I didn't think about our different timezones and only been able to send an ask now.

Firstly, I loved the way that Nichols and Wolfe dealt with their (small) conflict this episode. They've been consistent in showing great open communication between the two, and I like how it still felt like they were meeting more in the middle rather than it having to be one opinion vs the other, it just felt very respectful.

The way the show dealt with Alison in this episode was also great. I had felt apprehensive about them possibly going down a more 'fatal attraction' type road, but I should have given the show more credit considering previous episodes. Though I did find it odd that Wolfe and his interns were the ones treating her initially. Would she not have gone to the ER, and would those who work in neuro typically be working in the ER?

What might be an unpopular opinion, and the main thing I'd love to hear your thoughts on, is that after this episode I think Ericka is best alone or with another doctor outside that hospital. I still like Jacob and Van as individual characters, but this episode showed me that neither of them are good for Ericka, at least right now, and they both have issues with jealousy and possessiveness, just in different ways. Van is more overt, whereas Jacob is more subtle. Then when Van was a dick, he responds in kind by revealing he has a kid.

Seen people try and make the argument that Jacob was just being a good guy and he didn't know that she didn't know Van had a kid, but he absolutely knew and decided to use it to cause issues between them. More importantly, Ericka knew that was why he did it, out of jealousy and possessiveness, which is why she called him out on his behaviour. Would love to know your take on it.

It does feel a bit of a shame that for a show that had so far built up great supportive relationships, to have them crumble due to a love triangle. Though the next couple episodes might build back the support.

So for the Van/Ericka/Jacob triangle I do think the fact Jacob told Ericka directly after Van gloated and that Ericka knew immediately that it was a play makes it pretty obvious that it wasn’t an accident.

I think up until Van did his gloating, he was kind of completely in the right just vibing, and following Ericka’s lead. Jacob’s sudden push into making it into a competition seems like it made him pretty mad and territorial which is something we hadn’t seen from him before (an new depth to his character that might explain why his son apparently lives with his baby mama) I think partially this is set up to explain how Van’s previous relationship fell apart.

On whether either should with Ericka I think that’s meant to be up to Ericka and I think it’s pretty obvious she wants nothing to do with either of them right now, but I could see her forgiving Van a lot quicker than she could forgive Jacob simply because Van being hesitant to mention his kid in a potentially romantic relationship when it’s clear not even Dana (who seems to be Van’s best friend among the interns) knew —when Ericka had made clear that she doesn’t want kids in the previous episode— kind of comes off as understandable whereas Jacob giving away a major secret to score points in some game where Ericka is the prize… not so much. If she ends up back with Van I won’t be surprised. I think for the time being, Jacob’s out of the running until he apologizes.

Allison’s thing was handled well, and to answer your question, she was being treated by neuro because of the nature of her overdose, I think they just initially had Dana and Ericka there because for whatever reason, Neuro seems to be close to the ER entrance at Bronx general. Watching this story though, I really focussed in on how well the story was treating Carol. She never makes excuses for herself but she also admits she had selfish reasons to continue treating Allison. Her being so gentle with Morris asking for the divorce was a perfect showing of who she is: a woman who will always prioritize the emotions of everyone around her but who won’t let that be at the cost of herself. She asked for the Divorce not because she hates Morris but because she doesn’t want to live angry anymore, and still she takes the time to tell Morris she still loves him. It was really beautiful even if it was sad. Morris doesn’t quite get that of course, he’s still under the impression that as long as he keeps apologizing everything is okay but that’s a very human flaw, to think that apologies are all that’s required to mend a relationship.

As for Josh and Oliver: they were so cute at the very end and I’m glad they addressed how Josh and Oliver butting heads isn’t going away nor is it antithetical to them continuing to be in a loving relationship. I hope they keep that squabbling dynamic for the rest of the series just to add light drama and humor as they continue to grow to understand the other’s perspective. They’ll never have an exact understanding of course because Oliver comes at everything from a palliative perspective— treating symptoms and improving quality of life— whereas Nichols, as a neurosurgeon, approaches everything from a curative perspective— eliminating the disease process entirely. From the first episode we see this play out: Josh thinks he’s done his part because he cured the epilepsy, but Oliver is focused on the side effects and quality of life for the patient. Ultimately one approach cannot exist without the other, so to vocalize it using the two of them having their little squabbles is a strongpoint of the series.

[itsthestutterforme]

A Night in Charlotte 1/3 (Rafe Cameron x black!reader)

Summary: After Pope lies to Bobby about where he was taking his truck, you were left stranded in Charlotte for the night. And what better idea then to go to the nearest bar?

Notes: GIF is not mine, all mistakes are my own, this will be a three part series, requests are open for OBX, sexual themes (dry humping, praise kink, fingering, oral sex, p in v penetration, morning sex), MINORS DNI

Prompt credit @mostlyheinous : “No seats? Bummer.. my lap is feelin’ empty though.”

**

Rafe’s deal fell through again. They ran countless tests on the gold and even went as far as to ask how him and Barry got it. Rafe grew impatient and yelled a few profanities before leaving with the suitcase filled a pound of gold. He finds that’s a common theme. Better established businesses questioning his credibility and turning him away.

How was he suppose to make any money? It’s not like he can go back to Ward with his tail between his legs. He’s on his own now. He had to make things work. He took a deep breath after he downed the rest of his whiskey. He jingled the ice in his cup at the bartender and the bartender acknowledged him with a nod before reaching for the whiskey bottle.

The bell above the door rung when you stepped into the bar. Your plane landed two hours ago and you were met with a chaotic mess. You called the number from your grandma’s phone book that was labeled Bobby Heyward. He’s your uncle and one of the fewest family you could get into contact with since your grandma’s passing.

Bobby seemed to think your plane landed tomorrow and gave his son the truck for the day. Apparently he still has the truck, which means you were stranded in Charlotte until tomorrow night at the latest. After finding a hotel with some vacancy, you randomly decided to go to the nearest bar.

Nothing is more depressed than spending a Friday night indoors watching the same Law and Order reruns. You beelined to the bar stools, your box braids swaying with every step, only to see all the stools were taken by someone.

You’ve got to be kidding me, you thought to yourself. You felt your face getting hot so you pulled your braids into a low bun to keep your neck cool. Rafe’s gaze locked on you as soon as you stepped foot into the bar. You wore a red, floral sundress and matching red Vans. You never were one to wear sandals, even on the hottest of days. You were the perfect distraction for Rafe until Barry calls with a reality check.

Rafe decides to make his presence known by saying, “No seats? Bummer.. my lap is feelin’ empty though.” “Please tell me that line doesn’t actually work,” you crossed your arms with an eye roll. “What if it does?” “Then the women here have absolutely no game and neither do you,” “Ouch,��� he presses his hand on his chest with fake offense.

He takes out his wallet and pulls out $200 before dropping it on the table in front of the man next to him. “Hey buddy, you mind?” He cocks his head to the door and the man looks between him and the $200. “I was just about to leave anyway,” the man says, sliding the money into his front pocket as he stood.

“Good man,” Rafe said with a kind smile. A smile that only grew wider when he pats the now empty seat for you to sit. “I’ll have a Bahama Mama please,” you tell the bartender. “Bahama Mama- you know, how come you’re nice to him but not to me?”

“One, you have to be a special kind of douche to be rude to people in the hospitality industry. And two, he didn’t try to get me to sit in his lap within ten seconds of meeting me.” “Thank you,” you state when the bartender hands you your drink. “I’m Rafe,” he offers you his hand and you opened your mouth to say something else snarky but you realized he spent $200 on you without so much as knowing your name.

“Y/N,” you say after a pause, sliding your hand into his. He repeats your name softly, twisting your hand to kiss your knuckles individually. “You’re not drunk, are you?” You blatantly ask and he laughs at your bluntness. “Not at all. This is my third.” He states, raising his glass for emphasis. “And I assume you’re not a lightweight?”

“I think the better question is are you?” He raises a brow and you bit your lip to hold back your laugh. “I am more the capable of holding my liquor. Thank you.” He watches you circle your finger around the rim of your glass a moment before meeting your gaze. His eyes never left yours for an entirety of ten seconds.

He leans in closer and whispers, “You want me to try another pick up line?” “Absolutely not,”

**

A proud smile tugs on Rafe’s lips when you push him on the bed before you kick off your shoes. “What?” You start. “Nothing,” he sits up and leans back on the palms of his hands. Your legs felt like jelly after he just fingered you against the door for ten long minutes, holding you in place so you couldn’t squirm away.

You pulled the dress over your head, not caring that it pulled your box braids out of the loose bun you had it in. As soon as you were close enough to him, he pulled you into his lap and buried his face into your boobs that were pushed up by your bra.

Your core throbs against the hard bulge pressed against you. He lifts you up a bit and starts rocking you against him, grazing your sensitive clit against the zipper of his jeans. Your mouth fell open when his jeans rubbed you just right, making your thighs clench around him. “That feel good?”

“Use your words, baby.” “Y-yes,” “Yeah?” He pressed his lips to yours, nipping at your bottom lip. You let out a gasp and he took the opportunity lick the tip of your tongue. You tugged his shirt open and buttons flew everywhere. You pushed him on his back and kissed down his chest, occasionally scratching down his stomach.

“Fuck,” he moans, bringing your lips back to his. His hands smooth down your body before sending a smack to your ass. He held you close to him as he switched positions so you were laying on your back. He gave you a kiss before pulling away from you to take off his mangled shirt and his jeans.

He lifted your ankle on to his shoulder and kissed up your entire leg until he reached your throbbing core. “Please,” you begged. “You sound so pretty when you beg,” he rips the seams of your panties until they were torn completely off and laid flat on his stomach. He lifts both of your legs over his shoulder before sealing his lips over your clit, massaging your walls with his tongue.

“R-Rafe,” your back arched off the bed and you started to twist away from him. He licks up your broad stripe, giving you a small break before using his thumb to rub hard circles on your clit. Growing impatient with your twitching body, he wrapped his arms around your hips tightly and burying his face in your pussy, kitten licking you until he felt your legs seize and straighten.

Fireworks went off behind your eyes, your hand gently held his head feeling as he bobbed his head with every lick. “Fuck!” You pushed his head away when he continued to lick you through your orgasm. He soon replaces his tongue with his fingers, curling them into your upper wall.

“Beg,” he taunts, smiling when he sees tears brimming in your eyes. “Please,” you croak. “Please what?” He says, leaning in to whisper in your ear. The action alone sent chills down your body. “Fuck me,” he sent a thrust with his fingers, rubbing your throbbing clit with his calloused palm. “Please, Rafe.” You whimpered, your body twitching consistently under the movement of his palm.

“Attagirl, so pretty.” You held back a whine when he harshly pulls his fingers away from you. He sucks them dry before crawling up your body, pecking your lips as he pulls his boxers down to his ankles. Instinctively, you spread you legs for him. He holds one of your legs straight up into the air, slowly pushing the tip against your folds.

“Do you think we’ll need lube?” You answered his question by wrapping your ankles around his waist and pulling until he bottomed out inside or you. The two of your moaned in unison, the tip of his dick already nudging a gspot without much movement. His eyes rolled to the back of his head when you adjust your hips to take more of him.

“I’m not going too last long. Fuck you feel so good.” He groans, looking down at where your bodies met. He sent an experimental thrust, watching your face contort with pleasure. “Fuck me,” he says under his breath. He rolls his hips to make short, heavy thrusts. You clung to the sheets for dear life as he fucked you within an inch of your life.

You clenched around him and he thrusted hard enough to knock the wind out of you with every thrust. Whining when he comes to a complete stop, he bent down to kiss you warmly. You were about to ask what happened when he extended both of your legs straight up and pressed them flush against his chest.

He used your legs as handles to hold you in place when he fucked you relentlessly. The bed creaks under his quick thrusts. He licks his thumb before spreading your legs just enough to rub quick circles on your clit. “Shit, shit, shit!” You chanted as your toes curled for your third orgasm that night.

The convulsion of your walls sent Rafe over the edge. He sent a few thrusts more before pulling out and sending his cum across your chest. The two of you caught your breath and he reached down to grab his ripped shirt. To your surprise, he cleans up his cum with the shirt before tossing it clear across the room.

Without missing a beat, he collapses next to you, draping an arm across your stomach. Your eyes felt heavier the more you blinked. You turned on your side facing away from him and his body naturally fit with yours as he spooned you.

Maybe North Carolina wasn’t as bad as you thought.

[ladylooch]

A Game of Chess

Timeline: this is before “when Nico saved Lucie”.

Lucie digs the toe of her Vans into the concrete floor of the jail cell below her feet. She can hear the softness of her dad's voice coming closer to the door along with heavy, boot footed steps of the Swiss policeman who caught her running from an abandoned warehouse on the outside of town. 

She fell running. Her jeans have a rips in the knees and blood has dried to both the fabric and her skin. She has chewed her fingernails down to their bed with worry. They gave her a phone call. She wishes she could call Lio, but her only option was her dad. 

He had been asleep. His tone had turned murderous when he heard where she was. 

"Lucie." He had growled exasperatedly. 

"I know." She whispers.

"I'll be there soon."

Now he is here, walking through the metal door looking as disappointed as she has ever seen him. She drops her gaze back to her Vans.

"Yep. That one is mine." Nico sighs. The policeman opens the door to the cell. Lucie wordlessly walks out. Nico's brown eyes shoot daggers into her. They do not speak to each other until they are at Nico's Mercedes outside the building.

"Paying for your bail has to be the proudest moment I’ve had as your father." He rips the car door open. “What were you thinking tonight?”

"I..." She bites her lip. It shakes beneath her teeth. She looks away, out the window, tears slipping from her brown eyes.

"I need an answer, Lucie. This is ridiculous. I have to use my name to get you out of trespassing charges? This is what we have come to with you?"

"I guess so." She snaps at him. Nico inhales loudly, muttering under his breath in rapid Swiss German that Lucie cannot keep up with.

Nico throws the car into drive. The only sound is the tires slapping the pavement as they move towards home.

“I don’t know what to say to you to make you understand how bad Marco is for you, Luc. He… doesn’t care about you.”

“He does.” Lucie juts her chin out defiantly, never mind the wet tracks of tears on her cheeks. She folds her arms across her chest.

“He doesn’t. No man leaves the girl he loves behind.”

“We don’t love each other.” Lucie rolls her eyes.

“Okay, well then it isn’t love, but he doesn’t care, Luc. Why would you want to be with someone like that?”

“He cares in his own way.” Nico shakes his head, a headache beginning to pulse in the center of his forehead. “We can’t all be perfect like you and mama.” Lucie practically sneers at him. Nico blinks away the blinding anger threatening to take over. 

“Hmm. Well, you can think about that while you’re grounded for the next few months.” Nico is kicking himself about letting her go on that trip to see Lio over break. Lexi was right. He should have kept her home to show her how serious they were about her behavior needing to change. 

“What about the ski trip next week!? All my friends are going!”

“You should have thought about that before you snuck out of my house and got arrested.” Nico seethes back as he pulls into the garage. The door to the house opens and Lexi stands in the doorway, eyes on her oldest daughter immediately. Like Nico, Lexi is torn between wanting to inspect her to make sure she is okay, and yelling at her. 

“What were you-“

“Thinking?” Lucie cuts her off. “I was thinking that jail is better than this prison.” She scoffs, then stomps by her mom to head up to her room. The slam of her door shakes the house.

“What are we going to do with her?” Lexi whispers to Nico, who clearly has no answers. 

“Send her away? I don’t know. I’m too tired to talk about this tonight.” Nico sighs.

“We need to give her consequences, Neeks. This is getting so serious. Did they charge her?” 

“No.” 

“No?” Lexi furrows her eyebrows. Then realization crosses over her face. “What did you do?”

“Saved our daughter from herself.” Nico yawns. “Let’s go to bed.” 

“Nico… I don’t think-“

“I can’t let anything bad happen to her, Lex. Not when I can still make things go away for her. Soon, I won’t be able to. She’ll be in New York and…”

“And doing all of these things still.” Lexi snaps. “Because you’ve saved her every time. What kind of example does that set for Mack and Sophie? That you’re going to save them every time they screw up?”

“I guess we are talking about this tonight.” Nico sighs, going over to sit at the dining room table. Lexi remains standing in the kitchen with her arms crossed over her pink robe.

“We need to nip this behavior once and for all.” 

“I know, babe. Let’s… take her phone away and stop giving her an allowance.”

“And the car. We are taking the car.”

“How is she supposed to get to study group?” Nico defends.

“She can ask for her friends for a ride and be humiliated about not having a car to drive. Plus, if she doesn’t have the car, she can’t go see Marco.”

“He could come here and pick her up.”

“He won’t though. We bank on him continuing to be a piece of shit. Maybe that will end this once and for all.” Nico contemplates. 

“Are we making the girls suffer because of Lucie?” Nico asks. Lucie brings Mack and Sophie to school too. Now, Nico and Lexi will have to bring the older girls to one school and Sophie to another. 

“They will be fine about it.” Lexi waves off. “Mack gets annoyed with Lucie making her late so much and Soph will go with whatever we say.”

“Alright. We can tell her tomorrow morning.” 

With the next move in their chess game planned, Nico and Lexi surrender to their exhaustion and head upstairs. They walk by Lucie's bedroom, both hearing the muffles sobs from behind the closed door. They share a look, both fully aware of how hard of a day tomorrow will bring.

[jackhues]

sorry i sent in the previous request before I was done. (the one about mama’s relationship change w/ the boys).

on the flip side, each boy was mama’s baby growing up for different reasons:

Luke: the literal baby of the family (until peanut comes along). whatever Luke wanted, he got! mama definitely cried the first time luke told her he “didn’t need her anymore” or “i’m a big boy, i don’t need you” cause she has nobody to look after and she’s hurt that he doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

Jack: i feel like mama & Jack have the same personality and just bonded closer, but also growing up mama notice that Jack had some middle child tendencies between the 3 boys, and would take him under wings even more so he didn’t feel left out. the only time Jack wasn’t her biggest fan is when all his friends from the time they were 15/16 to present day would flirt w her, it drove him batshit crazy!

Quinn: that’s her first baby! everything she learned about being a big sister came from quinn. their relationship definitely changes the most as the grow up because they both take on the older sibling responsibilities. & at times it was like they were trying to out do one another on who was the best older sibling. I’m thinking mama is a early ‘98 baby (february or may), so they are fairly close in age.

^ the previous ask

ooh, this is such an interesting topic! kinda got long, but i love this!

so yeah, mama's just really involved in all three of her brother's lives bcz that's just how it's always been. everyone jokes around saying peanut's mama's fourth child and her brother's are the first three. mama's been there for everything, especially because she just doesn't ever want to let her brothers down. she grew up hearing her friends talk about their older siblings and how amazing they are, and being exposed to that from an early age just had her always involving herself in her brother's lives bcz that's what was happening around her.

mama's relationship with each boy is different exactly the way you mentioned! i think the only thing is that jack is more annoyed with his friends than mama (but he still gets all embarrassed when she would walk out in front of them during that time, and would be like "dude, go away.")

mama's relationship with luke is rlly special to her bcz after quinn and jack were drafted and went to van and nj, luke was the only one left, so he got a lot of her smothering (he was babied even before they left, but it was worse once they were both gone). when luke was once leaving for a game (he was prolly 15/16) and mama kept trying to get him to eat some food, luke went, "i'm a big boy, i'll be fine." and mama just deflates bcz he's not a baby anymore, but she doesn't know how to deal with that. with quinn, mama's two years older than him (summer of '97 - bcz i wanna keep the two year age difference between each sibling), but he was the first baby she saw and everything she learnt, she learnt through the way she acted with him. they had a phase where quinn wanted to be the better older sibling (when he was around 16-17), but after a breakup, he went crying to mama and decided he'd rather be the younger sibling. with jack, mama sees his outgoing and smiley personality, and just wants to protect that. the two of them get along bcz they're always bickering, but they never ever take what the other said to heart. mama knows jack's very innocent in certain things, and she grew very protective bcz of that.

once mama's pregnant, it pretty much flips, where the boys are insanely protective of her. which is a little funny bcz luke's like 16ish and he's glaring at anyone who even looks up at mama. mama def tries to maintain the older sibling status, but it's hard when looking at a box of cereal makes her cry. during this time, mama grew to see luke as an older person, not a little baby. bcz jack and quinn are playing in the nhl for most of her pregnancy, luke's around the most. she sees him set the crib up, and buy her whatever she's craving, and she really starts to accept that he doesn't always need her, but she'll still be there for him.

after peanut's born, their dynamic changes again. jack and quinn literally just get back for the offseason, and luke's home and there's a whole baby there too. mama's adjusting to this new life, and the boys are a huge help, but at the same time, they would rather play with peanut than change her diaper, etc (not that mama makes them, they help out, but they'd rather play with the baby). mama's days and nights are taken up by peanut, who was not an easy baby. ellen, jim, and peanut's dad help out, but at the end of it, mama's breastfeeding and she's just really tired/trying to adjust. her attention has come off the boys for the first time since they were born, and ellen and jim notice the boys kinda deflating. they can talk to each other fs, but they've spent their entire lives relying on mama, but now she's got someone else who needs her more. it takes a month or two, and the boys slowly learn that peanut needs mama more than them rn. once they realize that, they pick up the slack, taking peanut out for more uncle/niece days, giving mama the day off. jack books the two of them for a spa day (mama's always complaining that he's got nice hair but never looks after it nicely), and they do their best to take the load off of mama's shoulders. with the boys helping out as well, and peanut becoming less fussy as she grows older, mama goes back to her role as oldest sibling. it's never the same as it was, with mama focusing on them and no one else, but the relationship matures on both ends. mama will always be there for them, they know that, and mama knows that the boys are old enough to survive without her having to help them make every little move.

[alittlesilhouettoofaman]

Sleeping Together, an excerpt from Froger Love

Ever since boarding school, Freddie had hated sleeping alone. He'd been sent so far from home, and he missed his baba and mama so much. He didn't fit in at boarding school, something the other boys made abundantly clear, calling him buck tooth or bucky. London was lonely. Lonelier than Freddie had ever imagined, but then he found Brian, Roger, and John.

Queen was doing well, but they needed to think bigger... All four of them were crammed into Roger's dingy van, squabbling about something silly. Well, not that silly. 

 "I don't want to share a room with you!" Brian exclaimed. 

"Why not!" Roger whined. 

 "Mate, you fucking stink, and I'm not staying up till four with you again." Brian glared at Roger. "I'll be sharing a room with John, and that's final." 

"But there's only one bed!" Roger tried to whisper. He just couldn't. "I know you better than Fred. No offense, mate." 

Freddie sighed. "Dears, we've been driving for hours. We're all knackered. Let's stop fighting and get some sleep." Honestly, Freddie was looking forward to sharing a bed with Roger. He was always so warm. Roger went silent as Brian parked the van; his lips slightly puckered. 

They grabbed their stuff, all of them staring up at the dingy hostel they found themselves in front of. 

The paint was peeling off of the walls and half of the sign was missing. 

"Well, isn't this lovely," Brian winced. 

"Maybe it will be better inside?" Freddie considered hopefully. 

"It can't exactly be any worst," John chimed in dryly. 

Unfortunately, they were proven wrong about that. Reluctantly, they checked in, knowing they had little choice given that they'd never been to the city before. 

Roger swallowed thickly as he shut the hotel door behind them. The hair on his arms prickled at the thought of being alone with Freddie. It both terrified and excited him at the same time. "Some hotel, huh?" Roger chuckled awkwardly as he set his suitcase to the side. He suddenly felt so unsure of himself-something which seemed to happen a lot in Freddie's company.

“Oh, this is nothing,” Freddie said, kicking off his go-go boots. “You should’ve seen the hovel we stayed in after we left Zanzibar.” Freddie shimmied out of his tight jeans and plopped onto the bed. He was completely oblivious to Roger’s staring. “I hate when we’re stuck in the van for so long! My legs are sore!” Clad in nothing but a silk shirt, Freddie started jumping on the bed just like a child. He giggled at Roger’s horrified expression. 

“What are you doing?” Roger asked. 

“Flying!” Freddie giggled. “C’mon, get your feet off the ground!”

Roger pursed his lips, fighting a smile at the amusement jumping on the bed seemed to bring to Freddie. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like that. Unable to resist, he kicked off his shoes and made a beeline for the bed…the furniture creaking below their combined weight. “Whoops!” Roger exclaimed as both of them lost their balance, tumbling backward against the bed with a smile. 

“God this feels more ancient than Brian’s old banger of a van outside!” Freddie giggled; his eyes crinkled with mirth. 

It brought a warmth inside of Roger at the noise. It had been so long since he’d felt that same happiness, and it was impossible not to get swept away with Freddie.

"I'm surprised it held up under our weight." Freddie laughed, imagining the ancient bedframe giving way and them ending up even closer to the dirty floor. 

"Don't even joke about that!" Roger looked horrified. 

"Well, I suppose we'll not break the bed then. But that doesn't mean our night of fun has to end." 

"Hmm?" Roger hummed. 

Freddie grinned. "Have you ever gone sock sliding?"

“Sock sliding?” Roger frowned. Growing up, he’d not had many sleepovers with friends, so most childhood games were lost on him. “What’s that when it’s at home?” 

“You’ve never heard of sock sliding?” Freddie asked in indignation. “Oh sweetie, you haven’t lived. Let me show you how it’s done.” 

Roger watched Freddie carefully bound up from the bed, delicate and noiseless as a cat. All of his worries about sharing a room and a bed with Freddie had disappeared, and the two of them were back to being their usual silly selves together. It was just the distraction Roger needed.

Grabbing Roger's hand, Freddie pulled him into the hallway. "Now, it's important, we're wearing socks, otherwise it won't work, and this hostel's perfect because it's not carpeted. All we need now is a running start!" Freddie ran and slid down the hallways. Laughing like a little kid, he hollered, "C'mon, Rog, your turn!" 

Roger watched him, lips pursed in amusement. But he figured he could use the distraction. “Oh, what the hell.” Roger followed his lead, stepping backward and sliding himself forward along the wooden floor. He slipped, falling to the ground with a giggle. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this free.

Freddie jumped on top of Roger.  They both shook with laughter. 

“Shhh!” Someone from a different room hushed. 

Freddie and Roger giggled. 

A door opened and Brian poked his head out, “Quiet down!” Roger and Freddie roared with laughter.

Roger had never felt as free and giddy. All of his anxieties about being with Freddie disappeared, and it was like he couldn't stop laughing. "Oops," Roger gasped out between more giggles. "I think we've just been told off." 

"I'll make it up to him tomorrow." 

Roger blinked, partly taken back by the beautiful image of Freddie on top of him, a cheeky grin on his face, and his dark, shiny hair falling across his slight shoulders. He'd never noticed just how full and soft Freddie's lips seemed. In fact, they looked inviting.

As their laughter died down, Freddie could feel just how close he was to Roger. “I-I suppose we should get some sleep?” Roger doesn’t like men, Freddie tried to remind himself. He’s my best friend. That’s all.

Roger swallowed thickly, his gaze drawn to the curve of Freddie's lips. It would be so easy to lean forwards and kiss him, cover his smile with his own, but then...what would happen after that? He was no good at relationships. His last one proved that. The thought of losing Freddie for good made his heart clench in his chest. "I guess so," Roger said reluctantly, though he couldn't seem to make his body follow that command. Instead, he remained where he was, his arm sliding round Freddie's slim waist. God, this feels so right, Roger thought to himself wistfully.

Freddie sighed. He had never been able to love anyone halfheartedly. He loved Roger as a friend, of course, he loved him as more. But Roger didn’t know how to love right or how to love right in return. He always came to Freddie for advice, but what could Freddie say?

Roger felt his cheeks burn as Freddie slowly detangled himself from his embrace, his gaze towards the floor. A pang of panic shot through Roger at the thought of him already messing up the fragile bond between him and Freddie. He ran a hand through his hair, painfully aware just how aroused he had already gotten at their closeness. Freddie's lithe body pressed against his had felt too good to ignore... Roger shivered, his mouth dry at the prospect of how electric that first kiss might had been. But alas, Freddie would never feel the same way. And he liked him too much as a friend to lose him. "Beer?" It was the only thing Roger could think of to say. Lord knew, he could do with a drink.

Freddie snorted. "I suppose we'll both be smashed anyways. Who needs sleep anyway?" Freddie considered himself a night owl. He was always restless, but there was something about the darkness that made his thoughts bubble up like a lava lamp. "I think there's a bar downstairs." A bit of numbness would do him good because then he wouldn't care so damn much. 

Roger nodded, looking away until he didn’t quite feel so flushed. He was already slightly tipsy but the ability to his numb his thoughts and feelings further was a very tempting offer. “Let’s go.” Roger lead the way, striding down the hallway with a determined spring in his step. His heart was still racing and his body still felt all tingly from their near kiss. He couldn’t get the image out of his head—the two of them entwined. How good it would feel. He shivered, clearing his throat and desperately searching for a distraction of some kind. 

Freddie followed after Roger, trying to clear his thoughts of Roger's tight pants, or how his shirt didn't quite cover his toned back. Freddie shook his head. He stared at the colorful carpet instead, but it gave him the heebie-jeebies because it looked like the carpet from The Shining. Finally, they arrived at the dark bar. It was well into the morning and past the time for parties, so it was quite empty. Freddie hurried and ordered vodka. "Here's to us, I suppose," Freddie toasted, trying not to stare at Roger for too long. But it was impossible, wasn't it? Roger was a creature of sunlight and morning dew; he simply shone too brightly to ignore.

Roger smiled, his eyes lingering on the curve of Freddie's lips as he made a toast. He clinked his glass against his, holding his gaze as he took a sip. "To us." The burn of vodka against Roger's throat was delicious. It was just the distraction he needed.

“To us,” Freddie echoed. Friendship is better than nothing. Roger had a strange look in his eyes. But Freddie didn’t question it. He wondered how Roger saw him because when he looked in the mirror he didn’t see anything special. Just a boy who was too wild and reckless…

“So,” Roger cleared his throat, searching for a conversation starter. “How do you reckon this tour will go?” They all knew it was make or break. It was just another thing that was playing on Roger’s mind.

Freddie didn’t know. He wanted to say that of course, the tour would go fabulous. But the truth was, he didn’t know. “I’ll sing my heart out. You’ll drum your arms off. Brian will bore us all to death, but he’ll play his guitar strings off. And Deaky, well, he’ll keep us grounded. But his legs might fall off with that funky dance of his.”

Roger chuckled in fond agreement. John had only been with them for a few months, but he’d already fit in with them so well. They were a band but first and foremost, it already felt like a family. That was exactly why these newfound feelings for Freddie made things so much more complicated, he thought, his gaze lingering on Freddie’s lips a fraction too long as he went to take a sip of his drink. Freddie arched one eyebrow, amusement in his eyes. “What?” “What?” “You’re staring.” “No, I’m not,” Roger insisted, cringing internally for having got caught as he reluctantly tore his gaze away and sipped his own drink. He should have been more upset given he’d only just broken up with his girlfriend. But he’d known it was the right thing to do. They barely saw each other now that the band was taking off. And if Roger was truly being honest with himself, he’d been having more and more fantasies about a certain beautiful and exotic lead singer for quite some time. Now they were sharing a bed for the whole night-and all Roger could think was how much he was dying to kiss him. Consequences be damned. 

“I suppose we should at least try to get some sleep,” Freddie said softly. He doubted he would be able to sleep so closely beside Roger. But he couldn’t take Roger’s staring anymore. Roger was looking at him like bees and flowers…

“Err…yeah, I guess you’re right,” Roger reluctantly agreed, downing the rest of his drink and forcing his gaze away. He felt flushed with embarrassment and desire. He knew he could be a lot—he’d been told as much by almost everyone he’d ever met throughout the whole of his life. When he liked someone, he was all in. But it was different this time. It was Freddie. He would have to tread carefully. For starters, he wasn’t even convinced the feelings were mutual. Secondly, the band was too important to mess this up. And thirdly, if he managed to chase Freddie away…Brian would kill him. But the thought of spending a whole night so painfully close to Freddie was in the forefront of Roger’s mind. “Apologies in advance if I snore,” Roger tried to joke as they walked slowly back up to their room. “My sister always reckoned I’m louder than a trombone.” March 28, 2023

Freddie giggled. “I’m a bit of a bed hog.” Most of his lovers hated how clingy he was in his sleep. But his whole life he’d just wanted to be close to someone. Freddie was unsteady on his feet as he followed Roger back to their room. He wasn’t sure if Roger was talking. He couldn’t hear anything over the drumbeat of his heart.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Roger admitted, looking back at Freddie with a smile, which quickly disappeared from his face when he saw how pale Freddie had suddenly turned. “Freddie?! A-are you okay?” He raced to his side, putting a hand against his back and trying to gauge what was wrong. March 30, 2023

Freddie shivered against Roger's touch. "F-Fine, darling, just floated away for a moment." Roger frowned. But Freddie didn't want to explain. He lay beside Roger, staring at how his golden hair almost looked silver in the dark. He thought Roger was sleeping, so he whispered, "You deserve someone who loves you. You give yourself to all of these girls, but none of them love you, not really. And I'd give anything to love you... but I can't because no one's ever loved me either."

Roger remained still, attempting to get his head around what he’d just heard. He’d been on the cusp of sleeping when Freddie began to speak. He rolled over, catching the way Freddie’s eyelashes were fluttering softly. He put his hand on his waist and moved himself closer. “You deserved to be loved too,” Roger whispered ardently. “You’re perfect just the way you are. I just wish you could see that too.”

Startled, Freddie was terrified that Roger had overheard his heart's greatest secret. He couldn't even process Roger's words... And Roger, knowing Freddie better than anyone else, pressed a chaste kiss against his lips. "We both deserve love," he whispered. "And I think we've been fools not realizing how much we love each other." Freddie blinked back tears, drowning in the ocean of their kiss...

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: BIG MEAN CARL

Asked by @nuggetaubrey

@princesssarisa @softlytowardthesun @angelixgutz @amalthea9 @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @faintingheroine @parxsisburning @gravedangerahead @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @lioness--hart @lord-antihero @giuliettaluce @silverfoxstole​ @professorlehnsherr-almashy​ @captain-dad��

Favorite Thing About Them: A voracious monsters who cares for nothing else than eathing wathever is in front of him (be it actual cooked food, a sapient living being, or a machine), Big Mean Carl landed several roles troughout the Muppets Tonight series, be it playing a Big Mean Bunny who eats cute rabbits and pups when the contestant got an answer wrong at the game show Swift Wits, a psychic who predicted he would eat you, making bubbles come out of his head after eating Bill the Bubble Guy, smashing talking pumpkins, or eating the tape machine, all the while treating what he did as a big performance that he would always finish with a big “Thank you” to the audiences. Is he good, or is he bad? He probably will say that he doesn’t care. The only thing that matters to Carl is that is always hungry. Than he returned to the Muppets viral Youtube videos and later landed a role as a desk receptionist in the 2015 ABC series, and thankfully kept the Chaotic Neutral energy that made him such an interesting character.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Is confusing that both his mother and his sister are named Big Mean Carla. How does he know wich Big Mean Carla people are talking about?

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

*Like he did in the 2015 ABC series, I work as a receptionist at a desk (tough of a library instead of a TV channel);

*I sometimes talk in a high voice tone without noticing;

*I also love the performance arts;

Three Things I Don’t Have In Common With Them:

*I am more of a pick eater than he is;

*I am not a giant furry monster;

*I am more likely to take sides in a dispute (at least private) in comparison to his neutrality;

Favorite Line:

From the Heather Locklear episode of Muppets Tonight:

“Ooh, I love this, biscotti.  Ooh, I hate these chimichangas!  And I love this biscotti!  And I hate these chimichangas! Ooh, and I love this lamp! Ooh, I hate this alarm clock! Thank you. Thank you.”

From the Hostile Makeover episode of ABC’s the muppets.:

“I take messages. I DON'T JUDGE TONE!”

brOTP: Mean Mama, Doglion, Sweetums, Bad Polly the Lobster, Clueless Morgan, Bill the Bubble Guy, Bobo the Bear, Dr. Phil Van Neuter, Seymour the Elephant, Pepe the King Prawn, Rizzo the Rat, Yolanda the Rat.

OTP: Angel Marie.

nOTP: His mother or sister Big Mean Carla.

Random Headcanon: Considering the documentarist cut an interview where he was talking in a hostile way about his father, I assume that Big Mean Carl ate him.

Unpopular Opinion: Like a lot of Muppet characters that were created in the nineties, I believe Big Mean Carl is very underrated and needs more love from the Muppet fandom.

Song I Associate With Them:

Bohemian Rhapsody

Stand by Me

Favorite Picture of Them:

[frogerlove]

Sleeping Together, an excerpt from Froger Love

Ever since boarding school, Freddie had hated sleeping alone. He'd been sent so far from home, and he missed his baba and mama so much. He didn't fit in at boarding school, something the other boys made abundantly clear, calling him buck tooth or bucky.  London was lonely. Lonelier than Freddie had ever imagined, but then he found Brian, Roger, and John.

Queen was doing well, but they needed to think bigger... All four of them were crammed into Roger's dingy van, squabbling about something silly. Well, not that silly.

"I don't want to share a room with you!" Brian exclaimed.

"Why not!" Roger whined.

"Mate, you fucking stink, and I'm not staying up till four with you again." Brian glared at Roger. "I'll be sharing a room with John, and that's final."

"But there's only one bed!" Roger tried to whisper. He just couldn't. "I know you better than Fred. No offense, mate."

Freddie sighed. "Dears, we've been driving for hours. We're all knackered. Let's stop fighting and get some sleep." Honestly, Freddie was looking forward to sharing a bed with Roger. He was always so warm. Roger went silent as Brian parked the van; his lips slightly puckered.

They grabbed their stuff, all of them staring up at the dingy hostel they found themselves in front of.

The paint was peeling off of the walls and half of the sign was missing.

"Well, isn't this lovely," Brian winced.

"Maybe it will be better inside?" Freddie considered hopefully.

"It can't exactly be any worst," John chimed in dryly.

Unfortunately, they were proven wrong about that. Reluctantly, they checked in, knowing they had little choice given that they'd never been to the city before.

Roger swallowed thickly as he shut the hotel door behind them. The hair on his arms prickled at the thought of being alone with Freddie. It both terrified and excited him at the same time. "Some hotel, huh?" Roger chuckled awkwardly as he set his suitcase to the side. He suddenly felt so unsure of himself-something which seemed to happen a lot in Freddie's company.

“Oh, this is nothing,” Freddie said, kicking off his go-go boots. “You should’ve seen the hovel we stayed in after we left Zanzibar.” Freddie shimmied out of his tight jeans and plopped onto the bed. He was completely oblivious to Roger’s staring. “I hate when we’re stuck in the van for so long! My legs are sore!” Clad in nothing but a silk shirt, Freddie started jumping on the bed just like a child. He giggled at Roger’s horrified expression.

“What are you doing?” Roger asked.

“Flying!” Freddie giggled. “C’mon, get your feet off the ground!”

Roger pursed his lips, fighting a smile at the amusement jumping on the bed seemed to bring to Freddie. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt like that. Unable to resist, he kicked off his shoes and made a beeline for the bed…the furniture creaking below their combined weight. “Whoops!” Roger exclaimed as both of them lost their balance, tumbling backward against the bed with a smile.

“God this feels more ancient than Brian’s old banger of a van outside!” Freddie giggled; his eyes crinkled with mirth.

It brought a warmth inside of Roger at the noise. It had been so long since he’d felt that same happiness, and it was impossible not to get swept away with Freddie.

"I'm surprised it held up under our weight." Freddie laughed, imagining the ancient bedframe giving way and them ending up even closer to the dirty floor.

"Don't even joke about that!" Roger looked horrified.

"Well, I suppose we'll not break the bed then. But that doesn't mean our night of fun has to end."

"Hmm?" Roger hummed.

Freddie grinned. "Have you ever gone sock sliding?"

“Sock sliding?” Roger frowned. Growing up, he’d not had many sleepovers with friends, so most childhood games were lost on him. “What’s that when it’s at home?”

“You’ve never heard of sock sliding?” Freddie asked in indignation. “Oh sweetie, you haven’t lived. Let me show you how it’s done.”

Roger watched Freddie carefully bound up from the bed, delicate and noiseless as a cat. All of his worries about sharing a room and a bed with Freddie had disappeared, and the two of them were back to being their usual silly selves together. It was just the distraction Roger needed.

Grabbing Roger's hand, Freddie pulled him into the hallway. "Now, it's important, we're wearing socks, otherwise it won't work, and this hostel's perfect because it's not carpeted. All we need now is a running start!" Freddie ran and slid down the hallways. Laughing like a little kid, he hollered, "C'mon, Rog, your turn!"

Roger watched him, lips pursed in amusement. But he figured he could use the distraction. “Oh, what the hell.” Roger followed his lead, stepping backward and sliding himself forward along the wooden floor. He slipped, falling to the ground with a giggle. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this free.

Freddie jumped on top of Roger.  They both shook with laughter.

“Shhh!” Someone from a different room hushed.

Freddie and Roger giggled.

A door opened and Brian poked his head out, “Quiet down!” Roger and Freddie roared with laughter.

Roger had never felt as free and giddy. All of his anxieties about being with Freddie disappeared, and it was like he couldn't stop laughing. "Oops," Roger gasped out between more giggles. "I think we've just been told off."

"I'll make it up to him tomorrow."

Roger blinked, partly taken back by the beautiful image of Freddie on top of him, a cheeky grin on his face, and his dark, shiny hair falling across his slight shoulders. He'd never noticed just how full and soft Freddie's lips seemed. In fact, they looked inviting.

As their laughter died down, Freddie could feel just how close he was to Roger. “I-I suppose we should get some sleep?”  Roger doesn’t like men, Freddie tried to remind himself. He’s my best friend. That’s all.

Roger swallowed thickly; his gaze drawn to the curve of Freddie's lips. It would be so easy to lean forwards and kiss him, cover his smile with his own, but then...what would happen after that? He was no good at relationships. His last one proved that. The thought of losing Freddie for good made his heart clench in his chest. "I guess so," Roger said reluctantly, though he couldn't seem to make his body follow that command. Instead, he remained where he was, his arm sliding around Freddie's slim waist. God, this feels so right, Roger thought to himself wistfully.

Freddie sighed. He had never been able to love anyone halfheartedly. He loved Roger as a friend, of course, he loved him as more.  But Roger didn’t know how to love right or how to love right in return. He always came to Freddie for advice, but what could Freddie say?

Roger felt his cheeks burn as Freddie slowly detangled himself from his embrace, his gaze towards the floor. A pang of panic shot through Roger at the thought of him already messing up the fragile bond between him and Freddie. He ran a hand through his hair, painfully aware just how aroused he had already gotten at their closeness. Freddie's lithe body pressed against his had felt too good to ignore... Roger shivered, his mouth dry at the prospect of how electric that first kiss might had been. But alas, Freddie would never feel the same way. And he liked him too much as a friend to lose him. "Beer?" It was the only thing Roger could think of to say. Lord knew, he could do with a drink.

Freddie snorted. "I suppose we'll both be smashed anyways. Who needs sleep anyway?" Freddie considered himself a night owl. He was always restless, but there was something about the darkness that made his thoughts bubble up like a lava lamp. "I think there's a bar downstairs." A bit of numbness would do him good because then he wouldn't care so damn much.

Roger nodded, looking away until he didn’t quite feel so flushed. He was already slightly tipsy but the ability to his numb his thoughts and feelings further was a very tempting offer. “Let’s go.” Roger lead the way, striding down the hallway with a determined spring in his step. His heart was still racing and his body still felt all tingly from their near kiss. He couldn’t get the image out of his head—the two of them entwined. How good it would feel. He shivered, clearing his throat and desperately searching for a distraction of some kind.

Freddie followed after Roger, trying to clear his thoughts of Roger's tight pants, or how his shirt didn't quite cover his toned back. Freddie shook his head. He stared at the colorful carpet instead, but it gave him the heebie-jeebies because it looked like the carpet from The Shining. Finally, they arrived at the dark bar. It was well into the morning and past the time for parties, so it was quite empty. Freddie hurried and ordered vodka. "Here's to us, I suppose," Freddie toasted, trying not to stare at Roger for too long. But it was impossible, wasn't it? Roger was a creature of sunlight and morning dew; he simply shone too brightly to ignore.

Roger smiled, his eyes lingering on the curve of Freddie's lips as he made a toast. He clinked his glass against his, holding his gaze as he took a sip. "To us." The burn of vodka against Roger's throat was delicious. It was just the distraction he needed.

“To us,” Freddie echoed. Friendship is better than nothing.  Roger had a strange look in his eyes.  But Freddie didn’t question it. He wondered how Roger saw him because when he looked in the mirror he didn’t see anything special. Just a boy who was too wild and reckless…

“So,” Roger cleared his throat, searching for a conversation starter. “How do you reckon this tour will go?” They all knew it was make or break. It was just another thing that was playing on Roger’s mind.

Freddie didn’t know. He wanted to say that of course, the tour would go fabulous. But the truth was, he didn’t know. “I’ll sing my heart out. You’ll drum your arms off. Brian will bore us all to death, but he’ll play his guitar strings off. And Deaky, well, he’ll keep us grounded. But his legs might fall off with that funky dance of his.”

Roger chuckled in fond agreement. John had only been with them for a few months, but he’d already fit in with them so well. They were a band but first and foremost, it already felt like a family. That was exactly why these newfound feelings for Freddie made things so much more complicated, he thought, his gaze lingering on Freddie’s lips a fraction too long as he went to take a sip of his drink. Freddie arched one eyebrow, amusement in his eyes. “What?” “What?” “You’re staring.” “No, I’m not,” Roger insisted, cringing internally for having got caught as he reluctantly tore his gaze away and sipped his own drink. He should have been more upset given he’d only just broken up with his girlfriend. But he’d known it was the right thing to do. They barely saw each other now that the band was taking off. And if Roger was truly being honest with himself, he’d been having more and more fantasies about a certain beautiful and exotic lead singer for quite some time. Now they were sharing a bed for the whole night-and all Roger could think was how much he was dying to kiss him. Consequences be damned.

“I suppose we should at least try to get some sleep,” Freddie said softly. He doubted he would be able to sleep so closely beside Roger. But he couldn’t take Roger’s staring anymore.  Roger was looking at him like bees and flowers…

“Err…yeah, I guess you’re right,” Roger reluctantly agreed, downing the rest of his drink and forcing his gaze away. He felt flushed with embarrassment and desire. He knew he could be a lot—he’d been told as much by almost everyone he’d ever met throughout the whole of his life. When he liked someone, he was all in. But it was different this time. It was Freddie. He would have to tread carefully. For starters, he wasn’t even convinced the feelings were mutual. Secondly, the band was too important to mess this up. And thirdly, if he managed to chase Freddie away…Brian would kill him. But the thought of spending a whole night so painfully close to Freddie was in the forefront of Roger’s mind. “Apologies in advance if I snore,” Roger tried to joke as they walked slowly back up to their room. “My sister always reckoned I’m louder than a trombone.” March 28, 2023

Freddie giggled. “I’m a bit of a bed hog.” Most of his lovers hated how clingy he was in his sleep. But his whole life he’d just wanted to be close to someone. Freddie was unsteady on his feet as he followed Roger back to their room. He wasn’t sure if Roger was talking. He couldn’t hear anything over the drumbeat of his heart.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Roger admitted, looking back at Freddie with a smile, which quickly disappeared from his face when he saw how pale Freddie had suddenly turned. “Freddie?! A-are you okay?” He raced to his side, putting a hand against his back and trying to gauge what was wrong. March 30, 2023

Freddie shivered against Roger's touch. "F-Fine, darling, just floated away for a moment."  Roger frowned.  But Freddie didn't want to explain. He lay beside Roger, staring at how his golden hair almost looked silver in the dark. He thought Roger was sleeping, so he whispered, "You deserve someone who loves you. You give yourself to all of these girls, but none of them love you, not really. And I'd give anything to love you... but I can't because no one's ever loved me either."

Roger remained still, attempting to get his head around what he’d just heard. He’d been on the cusp of sleeping when Freddie began to speak. He rolled over, catching the way Freddie’s eyelashes were fluttering softly. He put his hand on his waist and moved himself closer. “You deserved to be loved too,” Roger whispered ardently. “You’re perfect just the way you are. I just wish you could see that too.”

Startled, Freddie was terrified that Roger had overheard his heart's greatest secret. He couldn't even process Roger's words...  And Roger, knowing Freddie better than anyone else, pressed a chaste kiss against his lips. "We both deserve love," he whispered. "And I think we've been fools not realizing how much we love each other." Freddie blinked back tears, drowning in the ocean of their kiss...

[burnmyloveaway]

So another DGS 2 rant...

I appreciated how Gina and Maria - two teenagers - dealt with the truth about their idols coming out.

Gina couldn't accept it at first but she trusted Ryu and once it has been demonstrated, she still mourned for Gregson, respected him, and decided to keep his memory alive by keeping up where he left off and following in his footsteps as a fellow detective (in training).

Maria held so much esteem for and was so proud of her Mama. She was amazed at the fact that Dr. Sithe was present and took part in such historical events. She grew up in the same environment being taught by her and got enamored with a job for which she is truly passionate.

Both girls understood that when their idols have been stopped or when the truth about them came up, it was because other people were doing their jobs, there was nothing to be taken personally, even if it hurt (whereas Gina couldn’t accept it at first, Maria says she didn’t want to know what her mother really did).

Both girls have been able to discern the right from the wrong and to see that Gregson and Dr. Sithe made horrible mistakes, but they didn’t hold it against them, they still loved them despite everything.

The best thing though is how neither Gina nor Maria kept Gregson and Dr. Sithe on a pedestal.

It's interesting (and sad) to see how Kazuma and Barok - two grown adults - still very much hold Genshin and Klint on that pedestal, instead.

The circumstances that led them where they ended up were surely tragic, but so is the fact that they chose that path.

Both of them had families to take care of, they were both family men, husbands, and fathers but instead of cherishing all the good things they had, they both let themselves get engulfed by the same darkness.

The game wants (?) the players to feel sorry for them, Barok and Kazuma have no apologies and forgiveness to offer to each other but if Klint was a murderer, so was Genshin, so why doesn't Kazuma see it?

Sure, the way Genshin got betrayed and killed was horrific, unnecessary, undeserved, and absolutely enraging but that doesn't nullify his guilty in taking someone else's life. To put a stop to The Professor's killing spree wasn't his duty.

And what about Barok?

In his will, Klint declared himself the Lord of the manor of the van Zieks estate, which would hint at their parents being dead (in the DLC Barok mentions having inherited a silver chalice from his father, but in case 2-3 he says a murdered took Klint away from us... ?).

If it's indeed the case, that would mean that Klint wasn't only his older brother but the very person who raised him which would make sense, considering that Barok said Klint was his "guiding light" and that he didn't know what to do or where to go after his death.

Again, the game presumably wants the player to feel sorry for Klint as well, but while four on five murders were carried out due to Vortex/Stronghart’s coercion/extortion giving him no other choice, the first of these murders was voluntary. Just because he’d been extorted that doesn’t completely exonerate him either. He was a murderer through and through.

The worst thing is that he probably left a 23 y.o young man completely alone in the world. While he certainly wasn’t a child, a 23 y.o is still too young to prosecute the worst criminals around. Barok had already been targeted before the whole Reaper conspiracy, too, what made Klint think he could keep up with that entirely on his own?

The line “It is my fervent wish that my unspeakable deeds should not hinder your advancement” pissed me off, to be honest. Like, what? So you justifiably get your baby hidden so that she doesn’t have to live as the daughter of a murderer but you hope your brother can keep up in that direction? Does he really have to? I don’t know, to me, it was a pretty egoistic thing to say, as if the truth couldn’t have hurt and compromised Barok, too.

Klint certainly couldn’t predict that Vortex/Stronghart would have used his brother like he did but damn, it wasn’t so difficult to imagine that if he set his sight on him he couldn’t somehow do the same with Barok as well, c’mon.

Klint had to make a very difficult choice in his last moments and while he managed to get his child saved, he left his younger brother completely alone at the mercy of Vortex/Stronghart and of bloodthirsty criminals who just couldn’t wait to manipulate and kill him. It was because of Klint that Barok remained in danger, totally isolated and unable to trust anyone for ten years, something like this would fuck anyone up. And while Klint would have never wanted anything like that nor did he do anything like it on purpose, his action had very serious and dire consequences on his brother’s life.

And Barok still holds the same older brother who ruined his life on that pedestal!

When after his trial he quotes Vortex/Stronghart’s on how to fight the darkness you have to become darkness yourself he says that those are the words of a coward, but why can’t he see that his brother pretty much thought the same thing? So Vortex/Stronghart is a coward but Klint isn’t?

Barok’s biggest problem is exactly this and so is Kazuma’s. They’re now stuck together while Barok feels mortified for events that he had no control over whatsoever and Kazuma is full of grief and has no forgiveness to offer, except it is against the wrong person.

Just because they’re respectively Klint’s brother and Genshin’s son it doesn’t mean that they have to bear the burden of mistakes that weren’t theirs but sadly, none of them seemed to realize this at the end of the story.

[hereliesbb]

Found this old ask in my docs from my Brio-writing bestie @entwinedloop — I’d really wanted to start writing and she was so encouraging and sent me this ask To inspire me. This is the first thing I ever wrote for Brio.

“Imagine a perfect Brio date. Where would they go? what would they talk about?”

Ah.

I’m imagining it. And it IS perfect. How could it not be?

A perfect Brio date in my mind is one where both of them are in denial that it's a date. They need to meet to discuss business and hey..Everyone's gotta eat, right?

He hasn’t eaten at his favorite Mediterranean spot in Midtown for a hot minute, and since he overheard Annie teasing her sister for being “the only weirdo to bring homemade hummus to the PTA meeting” it sounds like a good place to meet.

And Beth, well, usually the idea of discussing business with Rio after a long day of working would be exhausting, but she is hungry… it is Friday after all, so she can sleep in tomorrow. Plus, Dean has the kids at his parents’ cabin this weekend and the girls are both busy with their own families. It beats watching Cupcake Wars in her PJs. (debatable that sounds amazing)

And really, if she doesn’t go he will just end up popping up on her at some point. So sure. Why not.

But instead of meeting there, he says to be ready at 8, her house. It's on the way anyway. She doesn’t know where he lives but she chooses to believe him. I mean, why else would he go out of his way to pick her up?

And it's not. On the way. Not really. But parking along Midtown is a bitch and he doesn’t feel like waiting around for her to parallel park the mama van.

He’s home by 7 after handling some unpleasant business. He showers, throws on his signature Ramskull button up in navy, and is out the door by 7:30; smelling like gunpowder and cologne no one can afford.

Beth? She’s a different story. Because she was just gonna wear what she wore to work, I mean, she was already dressed. No point in changing, right? But then she remembers that one dress.. The one she wore to Kenny’s birthday party. It's a great dress, super comfortable, and she has only worn it once. Might as well just throw it on, it being spring and all. She should probably shower also, so she didn’t have to do it later when she’s tired. And she definitely does not want to spend her weekend without the kids having to do things like shave and paint her toenails. So she might as well do that, too. While she's at it. Two hours later and she is ready for this business meeting.

He knocks on her door which is… different. And when she answers she smiles small and slightly confused at him and he just gives her a look like “You got somethin to say?” but she doesn’t so they walk to his car.. His hand coming up near her lower back but never quite making it there.

Of course, he isn’t completely on his game because he forgets for a second, and opens the door for her. And then he's watching her dress ride up her thigh and trying not to think about why her breathy-sweet “thank you” makes him feel like he's on his way to senior prom.

Because this is a business meeting. They have quite a bit to discuss; namely the guy she recently “hired” to deliver the cars. Rio didn’t like the way he eyed Elizabeth that time she bent over to pick up her pen. Nah he wasn’t trustworthy. He needed to talk to her about him. Also there were other things probably.. He was pretty sure he it would come to him.

Inside Rio’s car the warm rhythm of Latin Jazz is faintly beating and she thinks it makes sense. The desire to tell him she thinks he has an old soul weighs heavily on her tongue.

He only looks over at her once. When she tells him his car smells good.

“Pretty sure that’s me, darlin’.”

She blushes when she realizes what she actually just said to him and is grateful for the darkness.

Rio though, he doesn’t need light to feel her embers burning.

What do they talk about? Well business, of course. The drinks arrive and when they do he brings up the delivery boy. Her response is to wave him off and he has to tamp down his annoyance at her “I like him. He’s sweet. And not only that, he has done everything I've asked with no push back. He’s staying.”

Her eyes tell him ‘That’s that’ and Rio is grateful she doesn’t ask him why he thinks the kid is untrustworthy, because he's not sure that's the reason he wants him gone.

After that, it's mostly soft glances and companionable silence. The words that are spoken, are loaded. He asks her why she is still married to someone she despises. She tells him she’s not really sure why. She asks him what his last name is and he looks at her, teeth catching his top lip and releasing it slowly, he reaches his hand across the table and introduces himself.

“Mario Saez.”

She smiles wide, meeting his hand with her own and answers back softly, “Elizabeth Marks, pleased to meet you.”

When she winks at him, her hand cold and soft in his, something foreign fills his chest.

On the way back, she thinks of something she wanted to discuss; it could probably wait but since she had him here, now… she invites him in for tea.

He drinks tea before bed every night anyway so

“Alright, Ma”

But somewhere between his car and the tea, something breaks open in one of them. One reaches for the other and they’re holding on. Hard lines against soft curves. Heartbeats and heavy breaths echoing the other’s. His face in her hair, her nose in his neck.

And it feels like inception.

[thiswasinevitableid]

54. I’m not sure what you think I said, but you start calling me an asshole and whip a ruler at me and somehow, we both end up in detention

Indruck, sfw, please?

Here you go! Content note: spiders appear at one point.

I based some of this AU--namely the concept of the Crucible and how magic is channeled--on the Carry On series by Rainbow Rowell. And Duck is trans in this, because any good wizarding school is inclusive.

After three years at Amnesty Academy, Duck is used to the objects being magically propelled through the air. But a ruler zipping through the air and smacking the back of his head is a new, unpleasant experience.

He tracks it to two chairs to his left, the new third year with the silver hair. He hasn’t even been here a day, what the fuck the is his problem?

“Hey, what the hell man?”

“You know very well what.”

“Uh, no I don’t, and I don’t appreciate bein hit with a fuckin ruler!”

“The maybe think before you insult someone next time!”

“I didn’t fuckin insult you! I don’t even know your name!”

“Ahem.” Ned, their Charms professor, looks down at them reproachfully, “gentlemen, while I know the review of Zone of Truth is rather dull, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t entertain yourselves with mindless conflict.”

“Sorry, Ned.” Duck mumbles, sending his pencil shooting below desk level to whack the other guy in the leg at the exact same moment he whips his pen at Duck’s hand.

“OW!”

Ned sighs, “I hate to do this, but-”

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

“Detention! Lovely, my first day here and I’m in trouble. Thank you so much, Duck Newton, for landing us here.”

“You started it!” He growls as they take their seats. God, he hopes this isn’t one of Woodbridge’s days.

“Huh, only two.” Mama wipes her boots on the mat, closes the door behind her, “Afternoon, Duck. And…”

“Indrid.” Says his nemesis, “It is nice to meet you Professor C-” he cocks his head, “you really prefer I call you ‘Mama?’”

“Yep. Never could get behind that more formal stuff. Let some of the first years call me ‘Ms. Mama’ if they really need to feel like they’re showin some deference.”

Mama is deputy Headmistress of Amnesty. The only reason she’s not fully in charge is that she’s not a witch and some families object to that. So The Quell technically runs the school while Mama does most of the actual day to day work. She also teaches a course of non-magic practical skills because, “some things you can’t magic your way out of. Like taxes.”

Duck loves her class and, while he doesn’t understand why someone would opt into this weirdness, he admires the guts it takes as a fifteen year old human to walk into a wizarding school and declare that there was plenty you could learn there even though you couldn’t so much as send a spark from your fingers.

As he and Indrid watch the clock tick down, Mama pulls a bag from her satchel. The contents are cookies, which she offers to each of them.

“Barclay tryin’ out new recipes?”

“Course he is. Kid is gonna be the best damn kitchen witch in the country by the time he graduates. Guess he’s plannin to spend the summer drivin around and learnin the food magic of different regions.” She smiles, “bet you’ll never guess who’s goin’ with him.”

“Joe?”

“Bingo. Apparently he wants to study niche cultural magic.”

Duck’s pretty sure there’s another motive; sharing a van bed with Barclay. It sounds fun, roving the country, discovering new places with someone handsome by your side.

All that’s by his side is a glower hiding behind red glasses.

“Mama? I, ah, would it be possible for me to leave five minutes early? I’m supposed to get my pairing from the Crucible tonight.”

The older woman looks between the two of them, “Better tell me how you landed here first. Ned just said it was an argument.”

“He threw a ruler at me outta nowhere.”

“It was not, you know what you said.”

“The last thing I said before you hit me was ‘“nah, man’ when Billy offered me a pizza roll from his lunch.”

Indrid goes still, “Oh. I, ah, I misheard you. I thought you said 'mothman.' I apologize. I ought to have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

He seems so suddenly downtrodden that Duck shrugs, “Yeah, you should have. But it ain’t the worst thing that’s happened to me here. Not by a long shot.”

“No kiddin” Mama leans back on the desk, “Two of you can go at five til.”

His evening turns uneventful after that; dinner, hanging out with Juno and Aubrey, half doing homework and half fucking around on his phone in his room (the agreement between the school and the government is that a long as the students don’t post vidoes of themselves doing sick stunts with magic, the government will ignore any explosions and/monsters in the vicinity of the school).

He’s never had a roommate; when the Crucible spat out his name in fire on his first day, there was no other name with it. Almost everyone else rooms in pairs or trios. So his belongings are strewn about the tiny cabin that makes up his home away from home. Which is why, when the door creaks open at ten p.m, he sits up and prepares to fire off a spell.

Indrid stands in the doorway, one bag over his shoulder and another in his hand. He looks tired.

“Hello, Duck. Ah, I guess that one is my bed, then.”

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

The class schedules for Amnesty are generated by the heart of the school itself. Indrid isn’t entirely sure what that means, but the heart must not be terribly creative. It stuck him in divination class. He’s been seeing the future since he was five, managing it with his drawings since he was eight. Even the professor has no idea what to do with him, since the images come in like a garbled T.V signal when he uses a crystal ball and the cup shattered when he tried to read tea leaves.

At least Barclay gave him a conciliatory caramel while they swept up the shards. It made him feel a bit better, though whether that’s due to enchantment or Barclay being exceedingly good at cooking is hard to say.

And now he has to go to “Magical Weaponry.” Magical Defense he understands; there are still lots of malicious forces out there, or even just everyday evils that it’s good to be able to ward against. Plus, Vincent is a good professor, enthusiastic and understanding.

Professor Minerva is just as enthusiastic but twice as loud. This is their first day in the actual gym, as opposed to at a blackboard, and his visions suggest it’s going to go poorly for him. As it should; he’s not a fighter, he’s a disaster.

At Amnesty, magic is channeled through objects. Most people use wands or their hands but some, like Aubrey, use jewelry (a necklace from her mother) or another accessory.

Duck Newton uses a sword. Or he’s trying to. The sword seems to be winning.

“Exert your will on him, Duck Newton, he answers to you!”

“I answeeer to only the capable.”

“Shut up, Beacon.” Duck adjusts his grasp, but nothing happens until he drops the sword and sends a spell through his fingers. The target explodes. Indrid suddenly feels a bit better about his own probable performance.

Duck notices him, indicates the practice area next to him is clear. While they started off poorly, his roommate is doing his best to demonstrate southern hospitality. He invites Indrid to eat with him, helps him when his visions offer no help in navigating the grounds, and even lent him a blue and green shirt (Amnesty's colors) for his first Spirit Day. Duck is the best thing to happen to him in his first month here.

By the time class is over, they have six broken targets, a shredded mat, and a knife that is now a very confused frog between them. They manage to laugh about it, even as Duck scoops up the amphibian and tucks him into his shirt pocket.

It’s then that Indrid realizes he has a crush.

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

“You comin to the game tonight?” Juno measures her sapling.

“Assumin nothin comes up and nobody’s tryin to kill me, you know I’ll be there.” He loves cheering Juno on during her soccer games (hey, not everything has to be magic based, even at a wizarding school).

“Drat.”

The hissed frustration draws his attention to the far end of the work table. Indrid is trying to coax his Venus Flytraps to perk up, but they remain brown and limp.

“Need some help?”

“Please, as you clearly know what you’re doing.” Indrid tilts his head towards the sapling pine tree Duck is working on. If he does his growing spells right, he’ll be able to take it home as a Christmas Tree during winter break.

“You tend to picture words or, uh,pictures when you do your spells?”

“Images work best. The trouble is that the futures sometimes make it difficult for me to picture a spell clearly.”

“What if I try describing how I’d see it and you picture what I say?”

“It’s worth a try.” Indrid closes his eyes.

“Okay. Think about the roots drawin water up from the soil, about the traps absorbin nutrients from prey. That brown is goin green as they do, they’re stems are growin stronger…” he grins as the plant turns bright green, it’s mouths open, “hey, ‘Drid, look”

“Oh!” Indrid flaps his hands, “it worked! Now I can keep them healthy and big andohno, nono not again.”

The table cracks and collapses as the plant turns gigantic, blocking out the light from the greenhouse roof.

“Holy fuck, that’s great!”

“Language, sport, but I agree.” Thacker, the head of the magical Horticulture classes, whistles as he looks the plant up and down, “this is mighty impressive Indrid. Wonder if we could use it on some pumpkins come fall…”

“I don’t recommend it, unless you want them to chase people.” Indrid points to one of the heads, which is swaying in the air and lowering closer to him. It snaps and he leaps back, falling to a pile of potting soil. Thacker raises his walking stick and the flytrap returns to its proper size.

Duck helps Indrid up, but his friend stays quiet through the end of class and on the walk back to their room.

“You know it ain’t anythin to be ashamed of, right?” Duck flips on the light, “we all fuck up spells now and then. Hell, Aubrey is on track to be the best spellcaster this school’s ever seen and she still has trouble.”

“But mine go haywire constantly” Indrid flops, dejected, onto his bed, “forget mastering my powers, I’ll be lucky if I graduate able to keep them in check. If I graduate at all.” His hand searches the bed blindly; Duck sets the weighted, plush bat into so Indrid can set it on his chest.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never lasted more than a year at a magical school. Or a non-magical one. I started at Mt Vernon when I was fifteen. Tried Deep Hollow and Shasta the year after that. I’m powerful but I can’t seem to channel it well, and three different schools decided I was more trouble than I was worth.”

“Bullshit.” Duck rests a hand on Indrid’s knee, “you’re strugglin with somethin; that means you need more help, not less. And if anyone gets it into their heads to kick you outta Amnesty, I’ll raise a goddamn ruckus.”

Indrid chuckles, quiet and disbelieving.

“I’m serious. You know Aubrey and them would side with me, and Joe knows school policy well enough he could probably find a reason why them tryin to get rid of you was against the rule.”

“Thank you.” Indrid’s smile is a rare flower, fragile and stunning.

“You want one of those calm-down caramels Barclay made?”

“Please.”

Duck grabs the box from the cabinet of their little kitchenette, then snags a Coke and a pineapple soda from the fridge. Indrid is no longer horizontal, is instead sitting with his back to the wall so Duck has space to join him.

Under the fizz of fresh bubbles, his friend murmurs, ‘“Have people really tried to kill you?”

“Yep. Someone sent an assassin after me my first year, and there was a Dire wolf on the grounds last winter that was clearly locked on to my scent. Perk of bein a Chosen One.” He grumbles as he swigs his drink.

“...Who on earth sends an assassin after a fifteen year old?”

“Right?! Fuck if I know, they never got any information out of the guy. Fuckin prophecy I swear, I didn’t even want these powers, let alone to be some kind of hero.”

“I sympathize.” Indrid rests his head on Duck’s shoulder, “there are prophecies around my birth as well.”

Duck clunks their bottles together, “To bein’ fucked over by stuff we can’t control.”

Indrid drains his soda, then perks up, “Oh! Oh dear, you should go if you want to be there for Juno’s match.”

“Come with me?” Duck can’t get the image of the two of them sharing a giant pretzel while smushed thigh to thigh on the bleachers out of his head.

His friend grins, “Of course.”

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

Duck hoped, after his not-great time in middle school, that a magic academy would be asshole free. But no, there are assholes everywhere, and these ones have even more tools for tormenting their targets. He’s never been one, nor have any of his friends. The one time someone tried to bully Barclay, Dani sicked three spectral hummingbirds on them until they apologized.

Indrid, odd and new, is an easy target, though he seems to hold his own just fine (and his proximity to the most powerful witch in school does scare off many potential antagonists). But three guys in their Magical Defense class have zeroed in on him.

They’re standing in line to practice against an evil eye when Indrid’s glasses, the ones he doesn’t take off even when he sleeps, hit the floor by Duck’s feet. Duck scrambles to grab them before they get stepped on, wondering why everyone is making such a fuss. Then he turns and backs up in alarm.

An eight foot tall moth creature is where Indrid should be, red eyes wide and claws clicking together anxious.

“Who let that thing in here?” Someone yells from behind him.

Indrid’s antenna flatten.

“Fuck, wasn’t expecting him to be that big a freak” one of the bullies scoffs.

Black wings twitch.

“Newton, give him the glasses back so we don’t have to look at him!”

Indrid trills, upset, and leaps into the air at the same moment Aubrey yells, “that’s enough” and Vincent shouts a reminder about no flames in enclosed spaces and also detention for you three. Duck is to busy climbing out the window Indrid flew through to pick up the details.

One two-story fall later, he’s chasing a dark shape into the Monongahela forest. While the parts of the woods near his hometown of Kepler are non-enchanted, this chunk is magic down to the moss (he plans to write his final year project on how those halves of forest mesh on an ecological level). One of the worst aspects of the enchanted portions is their tendency to re-shape around travelers. His usual way around this is to have an unwavering sense of where he’s going and pretend the woods are giving him an unchanging path to get there. But that trick does fuck-all when he doesn’t know his destination.

After two hours of searching he’s no closer to finding Indrid, it’s getting dark, and he’s debating heading back to the school for help. He hasn’t been this deep in the woods since he fled the Dire Wolf, and he knows the deeper you go into the trees, the wilder the magic becomes. Bad news for him, even worse for his friend who's out there somewhere, upset and alone.

Eight gigantic eyes glitter at him from the dirt, and he quickly rearranges who has it worse right now.

Throwing a burst of light into the trapdoor spiders eyes buys him enough time to bolt to a tree and climb. As soon as it crawls free of its burrow he freezes; if he’s remembering right, they use vibrations to locate prey.

Fuck, that thing is the size of a VW Beatle. Why is that even a thing? No spider needs to be this big!

In spite of his stillness, it spies him and sets its forelimbs on the tree-trunk. There’s nothing else for it; he draws Beacon, pictures the spider shrinking, and casts his spell.

A soft crunch of leaves signals it hitting the ground, now an unremarkable size for an arachnid. Just as he steps down a branch, a second trap door opens and an enraged spider bursts out, looking for it’s friend. When it can’t find it, it turns and snaps its mandibles at Duck. This time, Beacon does nothing, no matter how Duck commands and curses as his eight-legged doom gets closer.

A crackle of electricity and then this spider disappears as well. On the other side of the trunk, red eyes regard him with worry, “are you hurt?”

“Nah, all in one piece thanks to you.” He holds out his hand, “you wanna head back?”

“Yes, please.” Indrid flaps to the ground, Duck following him on foot and then turning them towards campus, “you did not need to come look for me.”

“Course I did, not gonna let my friend get swallowed up by the forest. Oh, here” he holds out the red glasses, “you want these back?”

“Not just yet. That is, if this form is not too alarming to you.”

Duck takes in the glossy feathers, the charming ruff, the way the face is still obviously Indrid yet excitingly new, “I’m good.”

Light flickers from black claws, stars and flowers spinning out with ease, “It’s so much easier when I’m like this. I never foresaw my disguise charm being an issue, but the older I’ve gotten the more it seems to influence my ability to control my spells. But, well, you saw how people reacted. Even you were startled.”

“In my defense, I thought you’d been eaten by, well, you.” Duck casts the same spell, vines of light chasing the red flowers, “I’m still sorry, though. You ain’t horrible like this, ‘Drid; you’re fuckin stunnin. Never seen anyone as incredible as you.”

Indrid stops, looking down at him, “Do you truly mean that?”

Duck rises on his toes, pecking his cheek, “Yeah, I do.”

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

The Halloween Formal is the most elaborate event at Amnesty. Indrid feels that if there’s any day he’s within his rights to be in his true form, it’s when everyone else is dressed as monsters.

He doesn’t have a date. He thought Duck was in the same predicament. Then his friend left before he was half-done grooming his feathers, saying he needed to get flowers for his hot date.

Ah well. At least Indrid will get to see him there and spend some time with his friends.

He checks his reflection in the gleaming black walls, orange and purple lights glowing and jack’o lanterns floating above his head. He adjusts his robes, the nice red ones his father sent him, and prepares to enter the ballroom.

“Hold up.”

When he turns, Duck is standing there in his black dress shirt and green tie, looking for all the world like he’s alone.

“You got one more thing to put on” He holds out a bracelet of flowers, sized to slip perfectly over Indrid’s hand. There are matching flowers pinned to one side of Duck’s hair.

“Oh. Oh my. You really-”

Duck uses a small spell to bend Indrid into a kiss; it’s a bit messy, since their mouths aren’t meant to fit together, but Indrid would not trade it for all the magic in the world.

“Yeah, ‘Drid, I really do.” With that, Duck offers his elbow and they walk arm in arm into the great hall.

[yes-ihavealwaysbeengreen]

Day 19: Rules Change - Javier Pena

Day 19: Rules Change- Javier Pena 

November Writing Challenge Masterlist 

Day 18: Her Husband - Marcus Pike 

“You do understand that by getting yourself into this situation...we are going to have to send you back stateside?” 

You nod. 

“Do you have anything you would like to say before we finish today? After this meeting you will need to go to your apartment and pack your bags, your flight leaves out of Columbia at 9 AM.” The ambassador glared at you from his high back leather chair. 

“No...I have nothing to say to you. Only this, I don’t regret a damn thing.” 

“You’re excused. Now get out of my office and go pack your bags.” He dismisses you with a wave of his hand and promptly ignores you. 

You slam the door behind you on the way out and walk over towards your desk. You can feel the eyes of your co-workers on you as you pack your small box of personal belongings from your desk. You reach toward your cactus plant on the corner of your desk and it falls to the ground, shattering. 

“Fuck,” you bend down to begin picking it up when a pair of dark sun-kissed skin move into your line of sight, you look up at Javier Pena, your boss. 

“Thank you,” you whisper. Picking up the remaining shards and placing them in the trash. You notice he has a small white paper cup in his hands and he carefully places the cactus in the cup. 

His arm grips your elbow gently, pulling you to your feet. You feel braver with him near and you take a moment to look into his eyes. A storm of emotion is boiling in them and it takes your breath away, “this is fucked up,” he whispers harshly, “I should be the one sent home, not you. I’m your boss...I’m supposed to protect you.” 

You chuckle darkly, “well maybe if we both used protection we wouldn’t be in this situation,” you rest your hand over your slightly protruding belly, “I have to go pack...will you come over tonight?” 

He hands you the plant and you place it gently in the box. “Do you really have to ask?” he whispers. You go to lift the box before it is quickly removed from your hands. 

“Daniel...I can lift a damn box,” Van Ness smiles at you before shrugging. 

“I can also lift a box, isn’t that funny? Let’s go, mama, time to get you home.” 

You cringe, avoiding the eye contact of the office gossips. Only a select few knew why you were leaving and those that didn’t could guess. It was the watercooler gossip of the week. Javier Pena had knocked up one of the Embassy secretaries. She was being fired and sent home in disgrace while Pena stayed in Columbia to take down the Cali cartel.

You didn’t blame Javier though. He wanted to leave with you and threatened to quit. But after the chance to take down Escobar was ripped away from him you knew he had to finish the work with Cali. It had caused many an argument between you but it was a fight he wasn’t going to win. Your one concession to Javi was that you were going to Texas to live with his father. 

You had no family left of your own and when you both sat down and called his father he was ecstatic about becoming a grandpa. Your shook from your thoughts when Daniel nudges you toward the door and Javier’s hand slips from your elbow watching you leave. 

At your apartment, you’re surprised to find Chris Fiestl there and packing your books into boxes with the label already written out. Tears spring to your eyes and you reach out for both of them as they engulf you in hugs, “Don’t cry y/n, you don’t wanna upset the baby.” Daniel reaches forward and gently rubs your stomach. 

“I’m just really happy to have such good friends,” you tell them both pulling away to wipe at your eyes. Daniel and Chris came around the same time you did and you instantly clicked. The three of you would go out drinking and dancing. 

When you started sleeping with Javi, the boys were there for you as you navigated the waters from casual hookup to a full-blown relationship. 

“I’m really going to miss you guys,” you hug them both tightly. From behind you the door unlocks and Javier comes in. Seeing you all embracing he sighs before walking to the small kitchen for a drink. 

The boys give you one final hug before they go, letting you and Javier be alone. You walk to the kitchen and see Javi nursing a whiskey and cooking some dinner. He wasn’t the greatest cook but since you found out you were pregnant and got sick at random smells he’s taken over cooking for you both. You hug him from behind and he leans back onto your shoulder, kissing your cheek. Putting down the spatula he turns and holds you tight. 

“I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to be away from you...I love you so fucking much,” he nuzzles your neck placing soft open mouth kisses. 

You pull away and scratch your nails through his scalp he groans at the feeling. “It’s not forever, just until you put those Cali bastards away. Then you can come home to your dads and we can raise our daughter and have a life together.” 

“...Daughter?” his voice is hoarse as he looks at you with glassy eyes. 

You can only nod, your own filled with unshed tears. “I found out a few days ago at that last appointment. We’re gonna have a baby girl Javi.” 

He drops to his knees before your belly and lifts your shift. His hands rough and calloused trace patterns over the small bump. He kisses your stomach lightly “I love you mija, I will always be there for you,” he gazes up at you, “for your both.”  

5 Years Later 

“You have got to be kidding me! That’s a BULLSHIT CALL!” 

“JAVIER!” you shoot up from your lawn chair and pull your husband back down, “SIT THE HELL DOWN! You are embarrassing us!” 

Your father in law is cracking up beside you in his own chair, watching his granddaughter run unsteadily across the field. 

“But baby, she was clear and he called her foul! That’s my little girl out there and you better believe I will kick any honky white ass referee who tries to stop her!” Javier shoots up from his chair again pacing. 

You snort watching the man who helped take down Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel down get mad at a children’s soccer game. But that was Javier as a father. 

After that night he promised he would always be there for her he meant it. Every doctor appointment, hair cut, toddler tumble class, story time at the library, and recently soccer game he was there. His office walls covered in her artwork and always wearing a bracelet she made him at preschool out of macaroni and string; like it came from Tiffany’s. 

“Honey you need to calm down, she is doing great! Those are just the rules of the game, the ref didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“Rules change baby, and that guy needs to change his damn rules so he doesn’t foul my daughter,” Javi huffs and you rise pulling him towards you for a kiss. 

“She is so lucky to have you as a daddy Javi. We all are…” you rest his hand over your stomach and his eyes nearly fall out of his head.

“Baby?...” 

You nod and he shouts before kissing you. The whistle blows and your daughter who is the spitting image of her father comes running up. Javi picks her up, blowing raspberries against her cheek as she giggles, pulling you both into a tight hug. Despite the rocky start, you wouldn’t change your family for the world. 

[upsetting-candles]

Aaliya Tori Van Dort  ☀  24  ☀  Amita Suman

☀ - +kind, caring, loving ☀ - -impulsive, brash, loud

Powers ☀ Regenerative healing; phasing

☀☀Character Inspo

Diana Prince ☀ Wonder Woman –  Just like Diana, Aaliya has a strong sense of justice which she acts on accordingly, even if it her sense of justice may be a little bit wonky. She wants to protect those who need it and build them up.

Imperator Furiosa ☀ Mad Max Fury Road – Furiosia is a woman of action. She made a plan and saw it through, protecting the girls around her who needed it while trying to find them all a better place to thrive. Things may get to her, get her down, but she doesn’t let it keep her down. She gets back on her feet and keeps going

Princess Leia ☀ Star Wars – A rebel from birth, Leia is someone who won’t stand by and let injustice go by without fighting to try to make it right. She’s strong, obstinate, and headstrong. She’s ready to fight if it means things will be okay in the end, even if she personally doesn’t come out on top in the end.

☀☀ Hogwarts House – Gryffindor ☀☀Divergent Faction – Dauntless ( The Brave ) ☀☀Hunger Games District – District 4.       District 4’s industry is fishing.

☀☀ Aaliya’s Playlist       Could Have Been Me – The Struts       So What? - Pink       Light ‘Em Up – Fall Out Boy       Lip Gloss – Lil Mama       Bad Guy – Billie Eilish

☀☀Connections

Friends ☀ - Olive Rogers, Sofia Paguro,  Romantic Connections ☀- Jeri, Ben (ex)

(If you would like connections with Aaliya, hit me up on Discord!)

[enamoured-x]

Hey babes! Can you do a Rio with squishy southern reader that has no problem putting Beth in her place after being particularly mouthy to her in front of Rio?

so this doesn’t follow every part of the request because i got carried away in my idea. i hope you like it though! (gif not mine)

rio wasnt a huge fan of you tagging along when he had to make ‘business’ runs

when he first met you, you were a firecracker

and he liked that

a lot

and that same kind of energy would sometimes get the best of you when you went with rio to meet people

and he had to admit that it was hot seeing you get riled up sometimes

it eventually turned into you accompanying him a lot more

he liked having someone ‘rule’ by his side

his queen

your southern hospitality would go straight out the window when people would try to cheat you

cheat rio

you were actually pretty good at this game

so when you accompanied him to his next visit with some suburban women

he knew it was going to be interesting

you hadn’t yet met them but rio had filled you in on them

when you met them at an underground garage they were quick to eye you

they’d never seen you before so it made sense

“who’s she?”

the redhead known to you as beth spoke up

“you ain’t the one asking questions here.”

rio was never one for chitchat

he had a business to run and things to do

“i think we should know who we’re meeting with. how do we know she isn’t-“

“isn’t what? she ain’t a narc. now where’s the money?”

“in my van, but i need to know who we’re doing business with. who is she?”

you were tired of this

from what rio told you, beth thought she was smart

trying to pull one over on him a few times but rio was smarter of course

you step forward

“i’m the girl who’s going to shot you between your eyes if you don’t give my man his money.”

rio couldn’t hide his smirk

“is this some fucked up bonnie and clyde thing you got going here?”

annie, that one was annie and from what you heard her and ruby were harmless

“something like that. now where’s the money?”

you were the one doing the talking now

“what’s your name?”

beth didn’t know when to stop

“none of your fucking business. now either give him his money or we’re going to have a problem.”

ruby and annie looked terrified to say the least but beth still stared at you with a smugness that made you angry

“you wouldn’t kill us, there’d be too much clean up and -“

before she could finish her sentence you walk up to her with your gun drawn and pointed at her head

she froze

not so smug now

“we’re getting it! we’re getting it now!”

ruby and annie were quick to grab the boxes from their car as you stared down beth

she was close to crying

once they handed the boxes over to mick rio stepped up to your side

a smirk on his face

“alright, mamas. i think she gets it and we got what we needed.”

“next time, bitch, do as your told.”

rio couldn’t help but laugh as he put an arm over your shoulder and led you back to the car

damn, he loved you

[elenaoftheturks]

Dawn of a new era (Takemura/Reader)

Chapter 4: Coffee for two

Goros PoV:

Having nothing to do until the man called V wakes up I decided to follow her.

Maybe she knows where to get something to eat in this city forsaken by the gods.

A cheap place to stay would be great as well since I can’t sleep in the Van all the time.

After walking what felt like an eternity she stopped in a back alley I wouldn’t even set foot in if one placed a gun to my head, in front of a place called ‘Books n Coffee’, from the name I figured it’s a coffee shop.

As she walked inside I asked myself Who would place a coffee shop here of all places?, while looking around.

Well, seems like I’ll stay hungry. I thought I might get something good to eat but obviously Nightcity only has plastic and sawdust.

How utterly disappointing.

Shaking my head to get rid of my thoughts, I decided to go inside.

“Welcome! A table for one?”,the waiter approached, greeted me kindly and with a smile.

“No, the woman who walked in before, I’d like to talk to her.”

“Oh? I am sure I musn’t inform you that stalking women is a very bad habit. Especially in her case it could go very wrong, very fast…”,he said with a sly grin on his face.

“Can I just talk to her? All I want is---”

I couldn’t even finish my sentence when I heard her voice right behind me saying “He may, Thomas. Thank you.”.

The waiter, Thomas smiled at her while he walked past me and whispered “Try anything and you’re dead”.

She walked around me and her eyes flared red.

“He was right tho. Stalking people isn’t nice, especially not if they saved your life before.”

Within a second I couldn’t even move an inch before her eyes returned back to normal.

“I see.. You are a Netrunner. But I mean no harm. I only wish to talk to you. ”

She looked a bit confused but mentioned to follow her as she walked behind a thick red curtain and down some stairs before she sat down on a huge brown fake-leather couch.

I glanced around the room, everything looked antique.

The brown-leather couch with a small wooden table placed on each side, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a few candle shaped lamps on the walls.

Somehow her and her outfit fits in this place quite nicely, “She looks like a doll on the huge leather couch”,I thought as she mentioned for me to sit beside her.

“So? What is it what you wanted to ask?”

“I was wondering if you might know where to get some good food around here and … A cheap place to stay at since my pockets are almost empty.”

“Food? Y-You...Ahahaha~ ”,she looked shocked and burst out laughing.

I scratched my neck, even though I knew it is useless because of my cyberware, but it’s a habit I have had since childhood.

I only wished this conversation would be less awkward and less embarrassing.

Your PoV/Third person PoV:

As he looked around the room, clearly not used to such interior you pointed to the unoccupied side of the couch and hoped he’d take the hint.

It took a few seconds but he sat down next to you.

“So?”, you asked, What is it what you wanted of me?”

He shifted a little and with a serious face asked “I was wondering if you might know where to get some good food around here and … A cheap place to stay at since my pockets are almost empty.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

A full grown man stalking a woman to find food.

That was the most hilarious thing that ever happened but, from the look in his eyes, you could see that he wasn’t lying.

“Well, since this is a coffee shop where you can relax and read, this isn’t the place.”

“I figured as much.”,Goro said while shifting uncomfortably on the couch.

“The Tacos at Mama Welles are really good but she’d shot you on sight and I couldn’t even blame her since your people killed her beloved son.“

Thinking of Jackie made you feel sorry for Mama Welles and Misty alike and it hurt you too.

Just when you felt like crying again, Thomas appeared with two cups of Coffee. Yours included two spoons of sugar and more milk than coffee, just as you liked.

You never understood why people liked coffee so much, you only come here for the books but just reading without buying something just doesn’t feel right, so you started ordering your coffee that way.

“Here’s your regular ____. As for our new guest”,Thomas said while eyeing Goro, “I don’t know your preference, so I hope a black coffee will suffice.” and just like that he put the coffee down, gave a light bow and left.

“So…” you started as you took a sip of your coffee “I can’t help you much with your food-problem however”,you put your coffee down on the small table beside you, “..I might be able to help you with your other problem. The apartment right next to mine is currently unoccupied but... I’m afraid it doesn’t match the standards you are used to.”

Goros PoV:

I didn’t expect it but she is actually quite easy to talk to and willing to help me.

After Rogue turned me down I didn’t think there would be anyone willing to lend me a hand.

The apartment next to her, huh? Might come in handy at some point.

As I took a sip of the coffee the waiter called Thomas brought me I noticed that it wasn’t as awful in taste as I had thought.

“As you can see, I have little to offer. My pockets are almost empty so I can’t complain about anything. Anything will do, truly.”

“Great.” She smiled and took her phone out, called a number and after a quick talk with Granny she turned around grabbed her cup and emptied it on one gulp before offering another kind smile.

“Very well. Let’s go see your new home.”

“This Granny of yours… Is she really okay to have me living there?”, I dared to ask.

“Uh, yes.”,she gave s light nod and placed a few coins next to her empty cup on the table as did I, “As long as you pay your bills and don’t blow the whole place or me up, you should be fine.”

“Fine...Let’s take my Van. Please tell me the directions.”

As we drove to Megabuilding H8, I curiously asked if she lives with her Grandmother but she declined and told me she got adopted by her. After nine sons she was happy to have a girl for a change. I didn’t dare to ask any further questions.

__________________________________

Not sure if anybody is actually reading this but it's a bit slow paced so I could add some character development.

The story will follow the game storyline most of the time but I will add a few dialogues and scenes here and there.

Hope you like it so far. Since I am working full time I barely get time to write and update besides the weekends 😅

[patrick-hockstutter]

Modern!Bowers Gang:

Patrick:

Really into cinematography and photography of the unsettling

Never captions his Instagram posts

Goes live on Instagram a lot, even though people really wished he wouldn’t

Makes art out of dead animals or animal bones he finds

Think Banksy, but with roadkill

He’ll take some (somehow) tasteful photos of them, post them, then leave the scene there for some unexpecting bystander to find

Has a nosering (fight me)

Never uses incognito mode

If someone happens to stumble upon his search history, he’s not paying their therapy bill

He likes reading smut more than he likes watching porn

A ps4 guy

Loves spooky games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Until Dawn and Death Stranding

He’s not really into school, but he surprisingly reads a lot when he’s alone in his room

Only about things he likes though

Abnormal psych, criminal psych, and sometimes some zoology (u kno y)

Watches serial killer documentaries like he’s paid to

Listens to grunge, nu metal, and 80s alt

Won’t admit it, but sometimes listens to Joji

He’s not super into emo music, but he’s the only one who will listen to it with Victor (he fckn vibes to Brand New)

Ironically uses a Zune

Has an Android but lowkey wishes he had an iPhone

Doesn’t have a computer, just jailbreaks/hacks the school issued laptop

Has a black line tattooed around some of his fingers, one of his wrists, and the shell of his ear

Has a foot tattoo

Has a fucking Juul

Watches LeafyIsHere on YouTube (tell me I’m wrong)

Spends too much time on Reddit

Wears flannels, skinny jeans, and Vans (a beanie if he’s cold)

Mostly cycles through the same three or four outfits

Wears the same pair of Vans every single day

Victor:

Big into aromatherapy

He uses lavender soaps and has an essential oil diffuser in his room

Uses incognito mode to watch Vampire Diaries

A Nintendo ass b i t c h

He has the gray Switch Lite

He brings his Switch with him everywhere (yes he’s that guy)

But what else are you gonna do when you wanna ignore Patrick?

Watches conspiracy theories about ghosts, cryptids, and aliens

Also big into podcasts (mostly true crime and conspiracy ones)

He listens to them on his headphones while he takes walks or draws

Posts his drawings on Tumblr

Does art streams on Twitch when he gets really bored

Has an eyebrow piercing (but it’s a small stud one, not a ring)

Has little tattoos on his hands

Wears bomber jackets, skinny jeans, joggers, army jackets, converse, and combat boots

The boy has style okay

Had an emo phase but still listens to the music (especially Tiny Moving Parts)

The emo phase was pretty short because Henry made fun of him so much

He just fucking liked MCR and Taking Back Sunday a lot, okay?

And Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens, but he doesn’t readily admit that

Now mostly listens to new wave, synth pop, and lofi hiphop

His favorite bands are Drab Majesty and Choir Boy (look up their new album btw)

Has a black iPhone and a space gray MacBook Pro

Uses Apple Music

Vapes, but only fruity flavors

Watches BoJack Horseman

Doesn’t really eat fast food but never passes up an M&M McFlurry

Paints his (and Patrick’s) nails black

One time Patrick caught him doing a facemask, so Patrick put one on and started chasing him around screaming as a joke

Cue: hmm… this feels kinda good tho

So now Victor and Patrick have secret mini spa days

Drives a Subaru

Belch:

Makes Spotify playlists like he’s paid to

He’s just really good at putting songs together

He tried to get into music theory, but he wasn’t one for actually making his own songs

Really into metal (obvi) but also likes some classic rock and punk stuff

Has records hung up side by side all around his room where the wall meets the ceiling

Still buys CDs

His Instagram feed is full of vintage cars and custom import cars

Fast and Furious is his favorite movie series

His favorite shows are Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead

But he also loves early 2000s comedies

Has a mini projector to watch movies on his room wall

Wears band tees, flannels, jean jackets, Carhartt stuff, d a d  h a t s

Really wants a tattoo but always gets nervous

Uses incognito mode to watch porn and buy some of his band tees from Hot Topic

Only one in the gang that uses Facebook (Mama Huggins made him so he could keep in contact with family)

Follows a few meme pages but also some cooking ones so he can send his mom any cool recipes he finds

Victor lowkey makes fun of him for actually using the Facebook page

Invests money in really good headphones and car speakers

Has a black iPhone

It’s always at 20% battery cause it’s always connected to his headphones, Bluetooth speaker, or car stereo

Him and Victor FaceTime when they’re bored

Sometimes they won’t even say much, they just like the over the phone company

Doesn’t smoke, but sometimes hits Vic’s vape

A social vaper if you will

Watches Idubbbz and Filthy Frank on YouTube

His favorite fast food place is Wendy’s

Not really into video games but fucking slays at Guitar Hero

And when Rock Band came out nobody saw him for like two weeks

Has a black Hydroflask with band stickers on it

Henry:

He plays a lot of Xbox

Mostly Halo, COD, Destiny, any first-person shooter really

Baits people on Xbox Live cause he thinks it’s hilarious

He’s also a fucking cyberbully but we all expected that

Has Victor’s old iPhone

Never fucking charges it

He’ll text you back in 3-5 business days (if at all)

And if you try to call him he’ll block your number

Plays iMessage games like cup pong and 8 ball with Belch

The only social media he uses is Snapchat and Tinder to look at girls

In one of his Tinder photos he’s holding a fish (srrynotsrry)

Doesn’t really listen to too much music

He doesn’t dislike music, just usually prefers to do things in silence

His mind is chaotic enough, he doesn’t need background noise

But he will listen to Cigarettes After Sex and TV Girl on a really low volume when he goes to sleep

Uses incognito mode to pick and choose random soft or angsty songs that he likes to put into a bedtime playlist

Otherwise just listens to whatever Belch listens to

Has a tattoo on his wrist

Takes a lot of drives into the countryside/national forests/mountains with Belch

Takes a lot of scenery photos, but never posts them anywhere or shows anyone except Victor

Still smokes cigarettes (he thinks vaping is douchey)

Watches South Park and American Dad

If he’s willing to spend money to go see a movie, he’s going to an IMAX theater

Sometimes he likes 3D, but most of the time it just hurts his eyes after a while

Longboards everywhere

Needs prescription glasses but refuses to wear them

They’re mostly for reading, which he doesn’t do anyway

But he does listen to audiobooks sometimes

Likes Frappuccinos but will kill you before you find out

He orders them through Uber Eats under a fake name so nobody will find out

BONUS: all four!

Victor still has his childhood GameCube that they play Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Melee on

Henry is banned from playing Mario Party after breaking a controller while beating Patrick with it

Patrick only ever picks Waluigi in Mario Kart and everyone is sick of it

When they play Rock Band Patrick is on bass, Henry plays guitar, Belch absolutely slays the drums, and Vicky boy sings his lil heart out

One night a week they order a shit ton of Dominos and make a drinking game out of watching Vine compilations

Victor does everyone’s birth charts

They collectively made a fake Tinder account on Patrick’s phone and catfish guys with it

They all try to one up each other doing vape tricks yikes

They buy bags of chips and candy from Costco and lounge around eating them on weekends

They’re banned from the city metro busses because Belch’s car was in the shop for a week and that week was hell for every bus driver in the city