#the way he uses them during interrogation…….the way they become your worst nightmare literally

[yaburnaee]

one day i’ll meta about az’s shadows

[followtheowls]

Does anyone think about how, when Ezra made his speech in season one, not only did it inspire and rally his parents in prison, but also a newly imprisoned Kanan at the time? And how his message brings pride to both sets of parental figures who are separated from him by a fascist government.

Kanan has just then been captured, and you can literally just see the pride it brings him, as well as the resolve and strength it gives him. The moment is visible in the change in his facial features while he’s listening to the broadcast.

Kanan heeds Ezra’s words and steels himself for his impending imprisonment and interrogation with the Empire.

Ezra’s poise and composure during the broadcast is under appreciated too! He reveals earlier that this scenario is exactly what he fears - his new family becoming broken as a consequence of trying to speak out, exactly like what he witnessed firsthand with his parents. We also saw this fear manifesting during his vision at the Jedi temple.

His worst nightmare is coming true, and once again, history is repeating itself. Of course this was a terrible and heart wrenching situation for the entirety of the Ghost crew, but the additional trauma that this must evoke for Ezra must be astronomical. Seeing your parents get taken away, only to be condemned to a life as a street rat at age 7 for nearly eight years, is not something that goes away. Like this would trigger the same panic, loneliness, and trauma from when Ezra was 7.

Even with all that, he gives a moving and powerful speech that spurs action all over the galaxy. Even under all the stress and trauma, he keeps it together and delivers a call for revolution on the fly. Gave hope to the hopeless, the oppressed, the incarcerated.

Overall, I just think this shows the extent of Ezra’s power and his natural leadership instincts. He takes his trauma and uses it to create change, to help and reach out to others. I often see people refer to Ezra as immature and annoying, and it always makes me so mad. Because he just acts his age most of the time (he acts like a teenager), but in the moments where the most is on the line and he’s suffering intensely, he still leads and moves forward. In a way that many properly couldn’t, not having gone through what Ezra did. He exhibits his maturity through this, and how he is able to center himself and embody the teachings of both his parents and Kanan, despite their looming absence and knowing the fact that there’s a hefty chance he will never see any of them again. I think that’s real strength and is often forgotten by those who want to write Ezra off as just an annoying character.

[shimmershae]

My thoughts on Episode 5--Out of the Ashes.

Okay, though.  I’m already excited about this one because Carol and Lydia are on the little guide picture thingy, lol.  My girls.  

As usual, I’m going to put the rest underneath a cut to save you lovelies potentially being spoiled should you not want to be.  

Wow.  Look at that full moon.  And the colors in the woods.  

I’m telling you.  These cold opening scenes have been generally pretty awesome this season.  

Aaron with Gracie always gives us such sweetness but this time maybe not.  

Omigosh.  Now *that* is a nightmare--the Walkers, the Wolves, the Saviors, the Whisperers, Mays.  Did I miss anybody?  And then Gracie gone just like that?  Poor Aaron.  All he wants is to keep his little girl safe and happy.  

So.  Is Gracie sleeping right next to her daddy because she had a nightmare or because her daddy’s been having them?  Because either way, oh my freaking heart.  Especially at her still sleeping with her stuffed bunny.  I’m really, really hoping that bunny isn’t a bad omen of sorts for our Gracie, because little girls with bunnies haven’t fared all that well--going all the way back to the first episode and as recently as the subway episode where Daryl found that picture of the two siblings after they’d already found the bunny from the picture amongst the bodies.  Please not Gracie.  Aaron has already been through so much.  

Are they all just communing together now?  Because I can see how that would harken back to Season 4.  

Jerry!  Not even 3 minutes in and already two of my faves are present.  I can tell this is going to be a good episode.  

That really sucks.  Not even being able to take a peaceful piss because you can see Walkers shambling past your window, lol.  

There goes my queen running straight at danger as real queens are apt to do.  ;)  

Were there always lights coming on in the windmill during the opening credits or is that a new thing for this episode?  

That orientation video was so surreal.  Had to laugh at the political touch of having “this message is approved by Pamela Milton” at the end.  

Okay.  So they’re getting their work assignments, huh?  Orientations are the worst, lol.  All that damn paperwork.  

Retail clerk--Princess being excited at the prospect of working in a mall, even having a mall again, has me LMAO even as I’m like girl.  No.  You’ll love it ‘til you hate it.  

I didn’t catch Eugene’s job.  But Ezekiel doing animal control kind of cracks me up.  For reasons.  

So.  Essentially Eugene and Princess and Ezekiel got blue collar jobs while Yumiko’s got an invitation to join the upper crust.  

I love Lydia being accepted as part of the community.  About damn time.  

For a second I thought Rosita said what’s left of the horses plural and I was fixin’ to go OH NO.  

This is where I’m at on the Maggie/Negan issue, for better or worse:  Maggie absolutely, IMHO, has earned the right to stay mad at Negan for the rest of her days.  Because Glenn.  Because her little boy was robbed of his daddy.  That said?  I don’t think I have it in me to watch 5 more episodes of this beaten horse antagonistic conversation much less a whole season.  It would be one thing if it hadn’t already stolen valuable and earned screen time from other characters that seem to have been pushed to the periphery to spotlight it like it was the marquee event or something.  I don’t want want 2/3′s of the final season so heavily focused on the conflict between these two when there are so many characters that are already woefully underutilized.  It’s only compelling if it doesn’t become commonplace.  

It’s a sad business having to put down people you know, I’d expect.  Funny, though.  We never knew them so the impact is kind of artificial.  I appreciate the intent of the scene, though.  

Where the hell are all the Walkers coming from?  Like, I thought most of them went skydiving off that cliff without parachutes.  

Judith training the other babies.  If only her parents--every damn one of them--could see her now.  

Gus!  How cool and awesome for him!

ASZ is just full of asshole teens isn’t it?  How dare that little dipshit push our Asskicker down like that and say such hateful things?  To be fair, though, the kid is probably just repeating what he’s heard from others and I’m glad they’re being realistic here even if I don’t like seeing Judith cry.  

Cailey Fleming’s expressive face and eyes!  This kid has my heart, ya’ll.  

That perfectly pretty cake wasted!  LMAO.  Seriously though.  How does a cardiothoracic surgeon end up assigned to work in the bakery?  Yumiko’s reunion with her brother Tomi honestly was on par with what I’d expect from someone seeing the sister they’d long given up as dead.  

Freaky still how the Whisperers choose to herd the dead even without Beta and Alpha.  

Was that the real Stephanie in the scene with the ice cream?  Right under Eugene’s nose while he’s with Fake Stephanie?  They have a connection, ya’ll.  Eugene felt it.  

Okay, though.  I wanted the kids having their first ice cream cones.  If I were Eugene, though, I probably would have inhaled that thing after being deprived for so long.  

The Milton Hotel?  Alrighty then.  Somebody feels self-important.  

Aww.  Eugene’s thinking of Rosita and Coco.  They really have evolved into such a sweet, good friendship and I miss them together.  

Literally, I love Princess more each time I see her and hear her open her hilarious mouth.  LOL at her with the ice cream cone.  

Is everybody in ASZ staying in the same damn house?  Whoever broke the board with Carl’s and Judith’s handprints on it needs an ass kicking.  

“Me, too.”  Welp.  Guess RJ’s already met his line quota per appearance 24 minutes in, LOL.  

Aww.  My heart.  A Rosita/Judith scene.  I’m already loving it but not gonna lie.  Who do we have topay to get a Carol/Judith scene because she’s been there since Judith was an embryo?  

“Now it’s broken.  He’s gone.  Everybody is.”  The way this scene is unexpectedly gutting me right now.  Because Rosita’s right.  It never really gets easier.  It’s just something you figure out how to carry.  How many people devastated by Covid or other illness or tragedy are carrying these same feelings of loss and hurt everyday?  

Give us more of those heartfelt moments, dammit.  This girl at least craves them.  Not the endless Maggie/Negan conflict.  

Ouch.  “I think I haven’t met a Whisperer who wasn’t a liar.”  Damn Aaron.  Lydia’s right there beside you. 

Angry Jerry hurts my heart in ways I cannot explain.  

On a completely shallow note, Miko’s brother is attractive too.  I quite like his accent, lol.  I wonder why he’s so hesitant to put his skills as a surgeon to use.  

“Want some cake?”/”Hell, yes.”  Yumiko=me 99% of the time.  LOL.  Just kidding.  In reality, I have to say no.  

“They clearly got a gym in this joint.  Your chiseling is perfecto.”  LMAO.  I’m all for Princess/Mercer.  She flusters him a little and I’m loving it.  When she told him he had beautiful eyelashes, I howled.  

Oh my sweet Aaron.  I’m in the same kind of pain and disbelief as Lydia watching you interrogate that Whisperer.  

Thank you, Carol.  Melissa McBride?  I effing LOVE you.  My heart hurts.  

I’m sure she’s gonna get hate from the usual crowd while they cheer Aaron further along his dark and desperate path.  Yes.  Ya’ll are *that* predictable.  

But Maggie, though?  How long you gonna wait?  Because you gonna be waiting on Daryl’s ass a long time.  

“Cheesy video guy.” LOL.  Leave it to Princess.  Somehow that Lance dude looks even cheesier in RL.  

By the screaming cave?  What the hell is the screaming cave?  

Ohh.  Next episode actually looks interesting.  Thank goodness it’s not a bottle episode strictly focusing on Virgil/Connie though because no matter how much I like Connie/Lauren?  I don’t think whatever story she’s stuck in with Virgil is enough to keep me riveted to the tv.  

Overall impression of this episode--again, I enjoyed it.  Aaron’s dream was dark AF.  Hell.  Aaron was dark AF in this episode.  Ross Marquand did some really strong work and I’m glad he finally got a moment to shine even though I hate seeing him leaning into the darkness instead of his inherent goodness.  Judith and Rosita’s scenes were touching.  Carol/Melissa made me bawl in the span of two minutes.  That’s why she’s the MVP of this show, lovelies.  She does so very much with so little.  I’m just glad we didn’t have to see Leah and her band of bitchass brothers this episode.  

I’m going to miss this show when it’s gone.  At least I’ll have the Carol and Daryl spinoff off to ease my heartache.  

[eldritchamy]

I watched “Happiest Season” and no it fucking wasn’t.

Here’s a review so you don’t have to suffer like I did: if I wasn’t watching it as the host of a movie night, I would not have made it past 20-30 minutes in.

It was very uncomfortable to watch.  I feel like I just spent two hours on a plane with a crying baby.  Except the baby was a homophobic rich white Republican that I was forced to campaign for.  All of the people I watched it with, including myself, found it stressful, anxiety inducing, and deeply unpleasant.  The first thing I did when it was over was warn my best friend not to watch it.

90% of the movie is rich white straight people drama forcing lesbians into the closet.  It’s not fun.  It’s not happy.  It wasn’t enjoyable.  At all.  Watching this was an uncompromisingly depressing and miserable experience.

It was marketed as a romantic comedy and it was neither of those things.   I feel repressed for having seen it.  

Every relationship in this movie is toxic and hard to watch, with the sole exception of two other characters who aren’t part of the family both having much better chemistry with Kristen Stewart’s character than her girlfriend.

Aubrey Plaza playing Gay Aubrey Plaza one of two redeeming things in the movie and she’s in it for about ten minutes, and even one of her scenes was hard for me to sit through (the awkward and dubiously written drag bar scene)  The other 90 minutes are agonizingly drawn out and unbearable.

If you are determined to support this movie because god knows we need more (and MUCH better) representation and we live in a hellscape where money is the only way to ask for such things, press play on it and then take out your headphones and go read a book instead until it’s over.

For your own sake please do not watch this.  

I genuinely can’t tell who it’s even FOR.  If anything about this movie resonates with you, I am SORRY to hear that, because you are probably the lesbian daughter of a very rich white man running for office as a Republican, and watching any of the rich housewife reality shows probably gives you PTSD because those are the kind of people you grew up with.  

And even IF that is the case, spare yourself the trauma of watching your own life and watch something else instead.  This movie will only hurt you.

Nothing about the experience of seeing this was worth it.

Plot spoilers ahead.

The plot is as follows:

Abby (Kristen Stewart) loves her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis).  But she does not love Christmas.  After a night out together, Harper asks her to join her when she visits her family for the holidays.  Abby says yes, and gets her gay male friend John (that guy from Schitt’s Creek) to cover pet sitting for her. While running a few errands with him, she goes to pick up an engagement ring which looks completely unattainable for a woman who makes a living as a pet sitter.

When they are almost to Harper’s family’s home, she awkwardly brings up that she lied about coming out to them earlier in the year.  They still don’t know she’s gay and they have to make sure the family is perfect and scandal free because her dad is running for mayor or something and one of his donors? campaign manager? is going to be there.  So they have to pretend Abby is her straight roommmate.  They fight about it before Abby very reluctantly agrees.  This is a pattern that repeats until Abby can’t take any more.

The family is like upper-class-Republican terrible.  They are AWFUL people.  The parents treat their children like trophies in a display case, and the children all feel forced into brutal competition with each other to see who the parents will actually be proud of.  One of Harper’s sisters (Jane) is actually an okay person who does nothing wrong, but she’s an aspiring writer who has spent 10 years not finishing her book and she’s played like she belongs in a different movie, and it feels like she’s meant to be seen as the useless layabout sibling, in a cruelly funny way.  

The other sister is a nightmare of a woman (Sloane? I think?) played by a completely unrecognizable Allison Brie.  She’s a lawful evil cutthroat monster who is straight up VICIOUS to the other two, and is especially terrible to Harper, because neither of them even see Jane as competition.  Her own family is the thing she uses to try to be worthy of her parents’ pride and affection.  

The dad is focused entirely on his campaign and is more or less indifferent to all of them unless they aren’t “presentable” and “scandal free” enough to keep his potential donor/campaign manager satisfied, in which case he “expects better of them” until they behave.  The children are like 30.  

The mom is maybe the worst of all of them.  She’s invasive, ignorant in that forceful way where she doesn’t give a shit about anything except her own bubble of reality that she thinks she’s living in and blows past any contradiction to it like it’s not even there, nitpicky about what everyone’s doing, is willfully out of touch with everything she’s told (Abby’s parents died when she was 19, and she spends the movie acting like she thinks Abby grew up in an orphanage made of dirt and never had a Christmas before).  And she will not leave the two of them alone.  She insists it’s ridiculous for two grown women to share a bedroom and gives Abby a room without a lock in a basement that’s bigger than my whole house, while Harper’s room is upstairs.  Everyone is constantly barging into Abby’s room with less than two seconds of notice, which leads to the kind of tension and awkwardness you’d expect.  The first morning, Abby wakes up to Sloane’s children staring at her.

Abby is clearly MISERABLE.  And so are you, because you’re watching this movie.  Abby and Harper are constantly pushed apart by the family, and Harper pushes Abby away while pretending to be perfect and straight for her family.

Her family invited Harper’s ex boyfriend, who thinks they should rekindle things.  Super fun thing that I always love to see in my lesbian media.

While out at dinner, Abby and Harper have another mini fight in the bathroom.  Harper promises she had no idea Connor(?) was going to be there and that there won’t be any more surprises.  They walk out of the bathroom, right into Harper’s OTHER ex, her first girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza, who literally just plays herself and is the only good thing about the movie).

This is the first 20 minutes.

There’s a party that leaves Abby feeling isolated and pushed away.  She goes outside to make a phone call.  She makes regular texts and phone calls to John for support and advice throughout the movie.  He’s terrible at taking care of fish, but he’s genuinely a good friend to her and it’s clear he cares about her a lot.  It’s probably unfair not to say his friendship is the second redeeming thing in the movie.  After Abby gets off the phone with him the first time, Riley comes out from around the corner and tries to be nice, saying she could relate to what she’s going through.  Abby kind of closes off from her and she takes the hint without any fuss and leaves her alone.

The movie slogs on with compounding stress and anxiety and a moment when Abby is LITERALLY forced to hide in a closet and pretend she was sleepwalking on her way to Harper’s bedroom at night.  It MIGHT have been an attempt at a joke?  I’m genuinely not sure because I did not come close to laughing once in the entire 100 minutes of this nightmare.  Harper instead sneaks into Abby’s room while she’s awkwardly trying to get away from Harper’s mom.  That’s where the gifs of the sneak-snuggle from behind the door come from.  Enjoy the gifs because everything that wasn’t giffed is not worth seeing.  Harper spends the night there.

Bright and early, Harper’s mom comes knocking on the door, trying to open it and barge in again but Abby blocked the door with something heavy claiming it was to “keep her from sleepwalking again” (her excuse for being in the closet) while Harper frantically gets almost-dressed and hides behind the door as BOTH parents come to bother them, and the evil sister’s children see her partially dressed through the crack in the door.

Later that day Abby has to go shopping for a present for the “White Elephant” Harper didn’t warn her about.  She bumps into Sloane at the mall, who dumps her kids off on her before quickly leaving.  The kids very intentionally frame Abby for shoplifting by putting a necklace in her bag, and there’s a really awkward and uncomfortable scene with her being interrogated by overly forceful mall cops who are yelling at her.  When she finally gets back to the house, Harper’s entire family now thinks she’s a criminal.

Abby spends the night alone during another (campaign?) party that Harper told her she’d probably be happier getting left out of, and she bumps into Riley on the street and gets to talking with her, still more frustrated by Harper and her family.  She says she needs some alcohol, Riley takes her to a drag bar which gave me really bad vibes and bonds with her there, telling her a bit about her relationship with Harper.  They dated secretly (obviously) in their first year of high school (which implies she knew she was gay before she dated Connor, and used him as a cover).  They would sneak each other romantic notes.  When someone found one in Harper’s locker, she threw Riley under the bus completely, outed her, and said she was obsessed with her so she could go on pretending to be straight.  They bond a bit and seem like they could be friends, at a minimum.  They have a few more scenes together over the next hour (yeah there’s still that much movie left, and if you’re wondering how it could be that bad, you’re welcome for the warning, because I was wondering that too) and they have better chemistry than Abby and Harper by miles.

Eventually Abby becomes so miserable she checks the movie-specific version of Uber to try to go home by herself, but it’s running at holiday rates so it would cost over $1000 for her to leave.  She’s still tempted to do it, and calls John again for advice and says she feels awful, completely alone, and with no way out of this horrible situation.  He gives her some more friendly support.

Abby still needs a White Elephant gift, but has no way to go by herself because Harper drove them there.  So she calls Riley to go with her.  They spend a day hanging out together while Harper is doing some other thing with her dad’s campaign, and Abby makes text excuses to Harper, who then immediately sees Riley and Abby walking by on the street together.  Before she gets a chance to run out and say something, she gets interrupted by something I thankfully don’t remember (I long for the moment this is true of the rest of it).

Riley and Abby bond some more but nothing romantic happens.  The plot only wants them to be good friends, even though their chemistry is really good.

At the end of the day Abby comes in and Harper immediately almost starts a fight with her but they get interrupted again somehow.

I have willed most of the next 20 minutes out of my mind, apparently.

There’s yet another party at this gigantic house because I hate the rich, Abby and Riley talk more.  This is the one with the really gay outfit.  Abby admits to Riley that she was planning on proposing to Harper, but at this point it’s like she’s a completely different person and she can’t tell who the real Harper is.  Riley says it’s probably both of them.

SURPRISE JOHN IS HERE.  He comes in the front door and calls for Abby.  After Abby’s last phone call he arranged for his therapist to do the pet sitting and he drove all the way here just so he could take her home.  Seriously, John has incredible Good Friend Energy.  Yet more awkwardness ensues, while John mixes some awkward flirting with Connor into his poor attempt to come off as straight.  Abby then walks right up to Harper, says “we’re done” and goes to grab some things to leave.  Harper follows her into the room and tries to get her to stay, Abby says she can’t take the hiding and the general misery, the whole experience has been terrible and she’s not sure if Harper is the person she thought she was.  Harper argues for her to stay and says she’s caught between being afraid of losing her family if she comes out and knowing she’ll lose Abby if she doesn’t.  She promises to come out to them as soon as the holidays are over because Abby is more important to her.  They kiss briefly and realize Sloane is in the doorway.

Sloane tries to run to tell the rest of the family because burning Harper’s reputation forever means she’ll be the one their parents love most.  They fight in the many hallways of this stupidly enormous rich people house (this is when “Stay out of it, Sappho” happens) and on the way to ruin her sister’s life Sloane finds her husband making out with another ....campaign person? in the pantry and or closet which is big enough to fit two people inside.   Now Harper has something to use against Sloane.  This family is fucking horrible.  Sloane gets to where everyone else is first, and outs Harper.

Harper tries to swear she’s not gay, and sees Abby watching her.  She silently turns and walks out the door with John.  Harper then grabs a giant painting that Jane spent 100 hours on for the white elephant and smashes it over Sloane’s head and yells at her before falling apart.

Abby and John have another heartfelt conversation where John asks how she came out to her parents, and she said they loved and supported her.  Then he said his dad kicked him out on the street and didn’t talk to him for thirteen years.  He says everyone’s story is different, and Harper was still going through hers, and it was a hard one.  I THINK he acknowledges that if Abby doesn’t feel like she belongs in that story, she shouldn’t force herself to?  But that might have been wishful hindsight.  Abby comes back into the house to grab her things and leave, Harper comes out to her family right in front of her, Abby says it was too late and leaves anyway.  Harper is crushed and the rest of the family starts to see how fucked up they all are.

And then in the span of 7 fucking minutes the parents realize they were shitty to Sloane and Harper and the only reason Jane turned out okay is because they gave up on her, they give a minimal apology to their children, who also realize they were shitty to each other, and then it’s the next day and Abby is there with them, Harper has the ring on her finger, and everyone is magically happy now because the dad turned down his campaign advisor who said she could still work with him if he kept Harper’s “problem” a secret.

Jane’s book becomes a best seller and she’s friends with John now, because he was the only person who seemed genuinely interested in her passion.  He sits next to her at her book signing.  The end.

No, I’m not kidding.

As soon as it was over, I thought, wow that felt like a rushed happy ending that got slapped onto the end with nothing building up to or deserving it.

After further consideration, that gives it too much credit.

Because honestly? after the first hour and thirty five minutes of this hell, Abby and Harper being together at the end is not even something I would consider a happy ending.  I wasn’t satisfied at all.  It DEFINITELY felt like Abby ending up with Riley would have been a better movie.

If I had been told beforehand that a lesbian romcom starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, and featuring Aubrey Plaza as Gay Aubrey Plaza would have been an absolutely miserable experience that was hard to sit through and nothing but unpleasant to watch, I would probably have been shocked and disappointed.  

But at least I would have not seen this movie.  That is my gift to you.  Please do NOT watch this.

It was marketed as a romantic comedy and it lived up to neither of those claims.  Absolutely terrible movie.  The happiest season of all is one where you don’t watch this stressful, uncomfortable disaster.

[mightydragoon]

Darth Vader A+ Parenting.

While Darth Vader in canon ain’t exactly the nicest fellow, this is a Vader or Anakin who has no qualms getting what he wants and using any methods to do so. 

Or otherwise known as Darth Vader A+ Parenting. 

1.  to gain a son Russy

After falling into a trap laid by the Empire and being captured by two Inquisitors, Luke Skywalker wakes up in an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar man watching over him.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019218/chapters/60586045

2. No Time Like The Present PinkEasterEggs

In a Galaxy where Princess Leia Organa and Luke Vader have always known they were twins, a deadly discovery by their biggest enemy throws their entire lives upside down. Yet again.

Now on the run from the Empire, the Skywalker twins find it their mission to bring peace back to the Galaxy once more. And with Darth Vader on their trail, that mission is far more complicated than they originally believed.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24754825/chapters/59851300

(Note* Part  3 of the  Back To The Future series. Can be read as standalone) 

  3.  The Heir - SpellCleaver

Darth Vader just killed his master and learned a galaxy-changing truth: the child Palpatine adopted, the Imperial prince and heir, is actually Vader’s son, raised by Palpatine to torment him.

Meanwhile, Luke Palpatine just woke up from severe injuries he sustained in a Rebel attack to a galaxy where his father is dead, he is the Emperor, and the figure from all his childhood nightmares is acting suspiciously nice.

They figure it out from there.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24024442/chapters/57801529

4. Eclipse - SpellCleaver

Luke and Leia, the twin children of Darth Vader and heirs to the Emperor himself, defect. When they do, it's naturally a dream come true for the Rebellion and the mother they never knew, one that's been a long time in the making.

But they have to get to that point first.

Or: Darth Vader unwittingly sends his children down the merry path of treason... and the ugly, painful fallout.

(Note* Obviously) 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18221840/chapters/43109123

5. Walking the Line Between - aradian_nights

After an emotional confrontation on Bespin, Luke Organa has been captured, and his newfound twin Leia Skywalker will not stop until she has rescued him. Even if that means murdering their own father.

( How the Other Half Lives  -   aradian_nights) 

(Note* the entire series is this but more in particular the recent additions, I’ve already discussed this story multiple times before so you know the drill )

6.  The kidnappings of a Sith Lord - maedre13

How a certain Sith Lord may or may not kidnap his rebel son. One-shots. Strongly inspired by sparklight´s “Where Our Intrepid Hero Doesn´t Get Away”.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10606992/chapters/23453241

(Note* not all these chapters are Vader at his worst but he isn’t exactly a top notch parent in them either) 

7. How to Save the World from its Heroes - stardustgirl

Being the Avatar’s—and Fire Lord’s—non-bending heir isn’t what Luke signed up for. He also didn’t sign up for an Agni Kai he can’t possibly win, or for getting dragged into a search for someone who can kill his own dad. Then again, someone has to bring the world back into balance, and if his dad won’t, then Luke might as well give it his best shot. After all, how much worse can things get?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24948487/chapters/60386875

(Note* Only started and already you can see Vader A+ Parenting in all its glory) 

8. your heart is full of stars and your hands full of shattered glass -victoriousscarf

Nineteen years ago, Vader took his children off Mustafar, and Palpatine raised them to be Sith, the perfect weapons he had been looking for.

Except the very eve of his greatest victory, the fully functional Death Star, Luke Skywalker defects to the floundering but growing Rebel Alliance. His sister follows because someone needs to watch out for that fool.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13242183/chapters/30290415

9.  Love of a daughter. - youngjusticewriter

"and yet, so far at least we have yet to figure out what you gain from this." It's a question as well as statement. A chance to explain, to come clean on why she - a unknown Sith- had assassinated they're precious, beloved Chancellor (what fools). But how could you come clean when there is so much blood on her hands? Never-mind the sins and blood on Vader and Luke's when her family had been alive.

When she answers it's not because she's announcing her transgressions in hope that her heavy, dirty soul might be saved. One couldn't repent when they didn't feel guilt in their sin.

"For the love of a daughter." Leia pauses and looks back at Anakin and thinks: I did this to avenge you. After thinking that Leia says one more thing - the last thing actually because she nothing else to say after this.

"And you should have been more careful electing your Chancellor. You never know who is Sith." This has double meaning but she's the only person who knows it.

And she's fine with that (no, she isn't).

Leia wonders if her younger self and Luke will ever become the monsters like her Luke had been and the monster she is.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10924239/chapters/24297558

10.  Literal Hell - TreeOfTime

Luke Lars is content as a Moisture Farmer with his father and mother... until two people come to find what was lost to them...

Then all hell broke lose

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22579066/chapters/53957833

(Note* oh dear lord Vader A+ Parenting in its full glory, a Sith Leia for flavour and a non force sensitive Luke. ) 

11.  Dynasty - Valerie_Vancollie: Co-authored by Rebecca Thomson aka Zekkers.

Hit in the leg by a stormtrooper's blaster bolt, Luke falls in the Death Star hanger bay and is unable to escape on the Falcon along with Han and Leia. During the subsequent interrogation, his true heritage is revealed and Vader instantly takes him to Coruscant, determined to reclaim the son the Jedi stole from him. But the glory of the Imperial capital belies its true nature, where politics and power are everything and anything is fair game in the never ending game to reach the top. Not lying, not betrayal, assassination, sabotage, blackmail, nor seduction. As he commences his Sith training, Luke must also learn the rules and etiquette of the Imperial Court if he is to survive as most of his enemies fight their battles with words and political maneuverings rather than military force. Yet, even as he struggles to gain his place within the Empire, Luke learns that his best friend has joined the Alliance...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13111908/chapters/29997507

12. Fractured twists - Annessarose

Timelines are fickle things.

Every line is balanced precariously on the precipice. One shift, one twitch of a finger, one step in the wrong direction, and entire stories change. Lives flicker out, galaxies rise and fall, but the Force is always a constant.

Each moment is carefully balanced. We know how the Siege of Mandalore happened - how the former Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano led her men into victory. How she defeated Maul in single combat and earned the loyalty of Lady Bo-Katan Kyrze. How she rode her ship too late to meet with Anakin Skywalker, and how the galaxy fell and burned under the hand of the Sith.

This is the way it could have gone if Obi-Wan had followed Ahsoka to Mandalore.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24158608

13. Runaway- Valerie_Vancollie

Co-authored by Rebecca Thomson aka Zekkers & a contest winner.

What if Luke had runaway from Tatooine and joined the Imperial Academy?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12976095

14. A Mother's Decision - Valerie_Vancollie

What if Padmé had brought Luke to Vader when Luke was only nine months old?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12915687

15. Descent into Darkness - Valerie_Vancollie

What if instead of waiting for Luke to come to him on Endor, Vader had gone for Luke and the others, capturing them while with the Ewoks?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12908223

16. Avenge and Conquer - arikylo

The Alliance has fallen into a very well laid trap and now Luke has no choice but to hand himself over to Vader. But what does the father have in store for the son? Can Luke handle the torture and the ruthless tactics of the Empire or will he be forced to surrender and embrace the dark side?

The struggle between the light and the dark is strenuous, relationships crumble and all is looking bleak for the Alliance.

Dark!AU set after ESB.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3058115/chapters/6639581

17. The Terrorist - Seasider

High above Bespin in Cloud City, Vader chooses not reveal his identity and instead uses deceit to trick Luke into surrendering. The Dark Lord has a lot on his agenda, so he entrusts the breaking of his son to an Imperial interrogator, unaware that the man has an agenda of his own: revenge.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24810643/chapters/60006952

(Note* Dead Dove do not eat. Contains some reall fucked up shit) 

18. Consequences - treenahasthaal

An intense burst of light and a vicious blow to his left shoulder sent him spinning violently backward and he fell...

What if Luke hadn't made it off the Death Star immediately following Kenobi's death?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/809144/chapters/1527145

(Note* It’s also a boba fett/ luke) 

19. Instinct - treenahasthaal

There was something about the blond boy in the crowd of detainees that caught Commander Yarryn's attention. Something that pulled at his gut and told him there was more about this captive than met the eye. It was his duty to find out what it was the boy was hiding - and find it he would, for Yarryn was very good at his job.

12 weeks after the destruction of the Death Star.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2185854/chapters/4785594

( Part 1 of the Invictus series) 

20. Child of Mine - Oneshotshipper

AU. Darth Vader discovers Leia at a young age. Barely managing to escape her father's clutches the first time, young Leia goes into hiding and becomes the Empire's most-wanted fugitive. If the second time comes, fate will not be as kind. Meanwhile, Darth Vader would tear apart the galaxy itself to possess and keep his child. The Dark Side seems to inevitably be the fate of the Skywalkers.

21. To Catch a Daughter, One must... - ftbprotocol

A variety of AU one-shots where in canon Leia stayed a secret, but in these stories did not. Because there needs to be more Leia and Vader fic!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12173637/chapters/27632673

22.  Daughter Over The Son - Keetajet

Work is inspired by ftbprotocol's work "To Catch a Daughter, One must..."

The moment where Darth Vader did not save his son. Instead, he will have his daughter.

Leia's future went downhill the moment she felt her brother die on the second Death Star, leading to their capture on Endor. Only she, Han, and Chewie survived the failed ground assault and they were restrained and being held at gun point.

She has a bad feeling about this.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25354183/chapters/61476130

23. Before the Emperor - SilverDaye

Luke is defeated and captured at Cloud City by Vader. He is then dragged before the Emperor. However Palpatine is dead. Luke's father is alive. And someone else holds the reigns to Vader and the Empire.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15950198/chapters/37196351

Tags- to help search for more

Darth Vader's A+ parenting

Dark Anakin Skywalker

Sith Luke Skywalker

Imperial Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader

Leia Organa & Darth Vader

Bad Parent Darth Vader

[bramadian0336]

Black Honey- Chapter 1

A Kylo Ren/OC fanfiction

Jeyna is a scholar whose obsessed with the legend of Revan, a famous Jedi and Sith from millennia ago. She has found the first of many star maps, clues to something Revan left hidden, but her studies catch the First Order's attention. Captured and interrogated, she is expecting to be killed once she has no more information to give. Instead, she finds herself working for Kylo Ren.

Warnings: Eventual Smut/Explicit Sexual Content, Language, Mild Violence

Chapter 1

The little girl knew better than to be in this room. For the entirety of her brief life so far, she had been forbidden from entering it. Her mother had sternly enforced the rule, not even permitting her to peek beyond the doorway.

But her mother wasn’t home, having left in a hurry but promising to come back as soon as she could. The little girl had tried to behave, to play and to avoid that room that called to her. But inevitably she had been drawn to the door, her hand extending to the knob. Like magic, it turned and creaked open a few inches before she could even lay a finger on it.

And now here she stood, in the small room that was barely more than a closet. It was almost disappointing, if not for the strange object she found her gaze settling upon. It was taller than her, exotic looking.

She crept closer before giving a childish, worried glance behind her. She would be in so much trouble if her mother caught her. She should leave the room and go back to playing, she decided. Despite this thought, however, her feet stayed firmly planted. Her ears pricked as she realized she heard a light humming. Eyes widening, she instinctively knew it was coming from the object. It was shaped like a square pyramid, dark, reflective. She stretched her hand out, suddenly wanting to feel it. Would it be hot, or cold to the touch?

The instant the skin of her fingertips connected with the side, it split open, the sides folding down. She jerked backwards, dropping her hand as guilt spread through her. Now her mother would know what she had done.

Before she could process the utter terror her immature mind associated with disappointing her mother, an image was projected above the base of the object.

It was a holorecording of a man. He had dark, thick hair and intense eyes. A thin scar ran from his left eye down to his mouth, but somehow it didn’t mar his handsome face.

He looked too tired, but began speaking. The little girl listened in awe, wondering how a recorded image of a man could seem to look right at her.

“Revan. Day 134. Still nothing to show for my search,” he begins, sounding dejected.

“I’ve had nothing to do out here but contemplate my life’s decisions. Far away from the hyperspace routes, from even the most remote outer rim planet…I sometimes question how anything can exist. I fear the silent dark of the unknown regions might very well drive me insane…” The man shakes his head, his eyes stormy. The little girl wants to look away but finds she can’t tear her gaze from his. Something about him is compelling, something in her knows this is important. “Everything I have done, I’ve done to protect our civilization. The threat I have seen from outside is greater than any war we have ever faced amongst ourselves.”

The little girl hears the door to her home, and she knows her mother is back. But she doesn’t know how to stop the recording. She doesn’t want it to stop. What is the man talking about?

“Jeyna! JEYNA!?” Her mother’s panicked voice is screaming suddenly throughout the home. The girl startles and turns, confused. It is then she hears the noise, one that she cannot yet place. One day the sound of it will haunt her nightmares, almost every night.

The sound of the first bomb falling on her small village.

18 Years Later

The little girl grew into a young woman, and that young woman threw herself into her studies. Research, archives, archaeological expeditions…it allowed Jeyna to fixate on something purposeful, something that she found fascinating. It should be little surprise that her chosen area of research was Revan. The prodigal Jedi Knight, and Dark Lord of the Sith, from thousands of years before her time.

She still remembers the man’s face, the somber timbre of his voice, as if she had seen the recording just yesterday. She remembers his vague reference to a search, to some threat from outside the known galaxy. It’s a mystery she’s been working on, sponsored by various universities, for most of her adolescent and adult life. And now it has brought her here.

Dantooine - Now

Jeyna races through the cave system, stumbling on chunks of rock and narrowly avoiding hitting her head as she has to run hunched over to fit through the passage. She’s unfamiliar with her path, as it’s not the same way she had entered the ancient vault. However, it's now her only way out.

Her breath comes in ragged gasps as she forces herself to go as fast as she can through the dark maze, hoping it's leading her to light and freedom. Behind her the stormtroopers’ shouts are echoing, reverberating off the rocks and surging towards her. Her heart hammers in her chest as her mind struggles to catch up with the current situation.

The First Order is here, on the peaceful farming planet. And they’re coming after her.

Jeyna pushes herself faster when she realizes she sees daylight, the path becoming uphill quickly. The muscles of her legs burn as she climbs, eventually having to use her hands to grab at the jagged rock. It scrapes and cuts into the flesh of her palms as she scrambles upwards, the light growing stronger. She can see beams of light now ahead, coming around a corner. She’s nearly out of the cave when the stormtroopers erupt into the space behind her.

“FREEZE! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!”

The shouts of the many identical uniforms blur together, and Jeyna ignores them not out of defiance but terror. As she reaches the top of the incline, a blaster shot rips through the air and impacts a large boulder near her shoulder, showering her with fragments of stone.

She staggers, almost falling in surprise, before righting herself and lurching forward. Around the corner, and she can see it. The mouth of the cave system, dead ahead. Jeyna pushes her sore muscles to move as she sprints forward, only to falter.

The sunlight dims as stormtroopers step in front of the opening, blocking any hope of escape.

One Week Later

Are you working for the Resistance?…What does the Resistance want with the Holocron?...How did you get the Holocron to open?...What does the map lead to?... Where are the other pieces of the map?... What do you know of the Ritual of Nathema?... Who is your contact with the Resistance?...What are you trying to find?

The questions they’ve bombarded her with for days blur together in Jeyna’s mind, as sleep deprived and stressed as it is. She’s answered their questions, time and time again. She hasn’t bothered to hide anything. She isn’t a Resistance operative, after all, she’s merely a scholar. Their war doesn’t concern her.

It doesn’t matter. Still, they hurt her. They wake her from her sleep, strap her onto the cold metal board. They ask her the same questions, over and over again, as if her answers could suddenly change. They don’t bring her food, and her stomach is past grumbling. It feels hollow, burning, pained. They don’t bring water, either, allowing a med droid to supply her with IV fluids to rehydrate her. It keeps her alive but leaves her mouth and throat parched and painful from her screams.

Jeyna twitches her limbs, restricted by the cold metal cuffs. This is the worst part of it. At least when they are done with her for a few hours, she can lay on the floor and curl into herself. But here, strapped to the board, even her head restricted into place, she can’t block out her situation or escape from the terror and pain.

The door slides open, and she is expecting more of the same men to appear. What she isn’t expecting is Kylo Ren, second in command behind only the Supreme Leader of the First Order.

A wave of relief crashes through her at his recognizable mask and dark robes.

Jeyna knows the rumors about Kylo Ren. That he is violent and ruthless, prone to literally slicing through his enemies on the battlefield and even those that anger him within the order. She doesn’t care about those rumors, though. The ones Jeyna cares about are regarding his abilities with the force.

Supposedly, he can enter someone’s mind and see everything they are trying to hold back. He can read memories and secrets like a book.

And so she doesn’t tremble in fear at his approach, but rather she feels the sweet relief that perhaps her nightmare is almost over. Of course, the logical part of her brain that is still hanging on knows that once he sees she has nothing more to offer in her mind, she will likely be killed. But at least, Jeyna reasons, this marathon of sleep deprivation, starvation, and torture can be over.

His approach, which had started with a purposeful stride, hesitates for a moment. That strange mask he wears tilts to the side, as he contemplates her. She wonders what he is thinking, if he is curious about something, as the door behind him slides shut again and he seems to just be staring at her from behind the metal.

Jeyna draws in a painful breath, waiting. He is huge, she realizes, tall and broad. There is an energy around him that even she can pick up on, heavy and thrumming. Finally, he moves again, coming to a stop in front of her. He is too tall, she attempts to crane her neck to look up at the mask. The back of her skull presses into the hard table, aching. She sees his hand twitch, and suddenly the metal holding her to the interrogation device releases. Her legs barely catch her, almost giving way when she lands on them. She has to grab on to the sides of the table behind her to steady herself on weak, strained muscles.

He turns and strides across the room, to where the metal table and chairs sit. She hasn’t even approached it during her confinement. All of her time has been spent trapped on the interrogation device or on the floor, exhausted and wishing for sleep.

To her surprise, Kylo Ren sits in one of the chairs. His mask fixes onto her face again, and he gestures slowly at the table.

“Sit,” he commands. The mask strips his voice of humanity, of emotion, making it mechanical and unkind.

She stumbles forward obediently, pulling out the chair and practically falling into it.

“I find myself interested in your studies, scholar,” he says idly, as if making pleasant conversation. “I’m going to look inside your mind to check the veracity of your prior statements.”

Jeyna nods slightly, having expected this. The feeling of relief returns, accompanied by sadness. He’ll see she’s told everything she can, and he’ll have the stormtroopers come for her. Will they give her a blaster shot to the head? Or just shove her out of an airlock?

Ren reaches forward a hand, low, hovering above the table. The palm of his black glove is up, as if waiting. “Try to not resist me. It will hurt less,” his mechanical voice says quietly.

Her eyes widen slightly in surprise at his advice, before the pressure starts in her skull. It’s like the atmosphere is suddenly too heavy, pressing down on her head from all sides. And then she feels it, she feels him. It’s as if something is inside her brain, crawling around, sliding through her thoughts.

Jeyna instantly resists on instinct, willing away the intrusion. She is met with blinding pain, throbbing and shooting and making her eyes see nothing but static.

“Don’t resist,” he orders, but she can barely hear him. She tries to obey, to give in. She accepts the pressure, the uncomfortable sense of wrongness that his presence in her mind causes. She feels tears leak out of her eyes at the sensations, but the pain dulls gradually.

When her vision comes back to her, it is swimming. The room is rotating nonsensically, and she grips the edges of the table and fights waves of nausea. Her fingers hurt from the pressure she applied trying to dig them into the metal, and she consciously releases her grip. Slowly, her vision stops spinning and she can focus her eyes again.

Kylo Ren sits across from her, silent. Waiting. She raises her eyes to his mask, and bizarrely wishes she could see his face. Even if it was hideous, even if he was twisted by the dark side like the rumors said… Jeyna would like to see one last face before her death, instead of masks.

He cocks his head slightly to the side again. “You do not work for the resistance,” he states finally.

“No. Like I told them, I don’t work for anyone,” she says, her voice coming out hoarse and frustrated.

“You are wrong,” Ren says, suddenly standing. “You work for me now.”

Jeyna is left staring after his imposing form as he strides to the door. It slides open for him to exit, and she is left alone to process what he has said.

Next chapter: https://bramadian0336.tumblr.com/post/646500010079485952/black-honey-chapter-2

Chapter Index:

https://bramadian0336.tumblr.com/post/646403464799404032/black-honey

[the-roadkill-cafe]

Throwing a Stone in a River Part 5

Summary: When Sakura graduates from the academy, she suddenly finds her head invaded by the ghost of Uchiha Shisui. Her inner is gone, but not forgotten, and she struggles with impulse control more than ever before. But also, Shisui gives a lot of unsolicited advice - useful and otherwise - and does not shut the fuck up. He’s not thrilled about current events.

Rating: T

Characters/Pairings: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Shisui (not Shisui/Sakura or SasuSaku)

Word Count: 3.5k

Chapter Warnings/Squicks: graphic torture, severe eye trauma and torture, body horror, violence

Author’s Notes: Firstly, please take the warning seriously for this chapter. If you would like to skip the scene where these apply, this is the very first scene. Jump to the scene break, which has the opening line “Sakura woke up with a gasp.”

Secondly, I would like to give an enormous thanks to @jaycrowind for betaing, @thriceandonce for being an excellent cheerleader, and @stormwind13 and @hiruma-musouka for talking me through the difficult parts of this chapter (which was basically everything after the opening scene, ha).

Also, I would like to remind everyone that I have no plans to discontinue any of my fics at this time. Please do not send any comments/asks/reviews/messages either asking me if I have or implying that I have. If I do come to such a decision, I will make a public announcement.

Finally, I am now available on twitter! My handle is _roadkillcafe_ . I also have given an official blanket statement for anyone wishing to do podfics/translations/remixes/fanart/etc of my fics. Just leave me proper credit for the original fic, and send me a link for me (and others) to enjoy! Thank you very much :)

Previous Part: Part 4

“Shisui, please.”

Ragged breathing filled her ears. There was a burning ring around her wrists and when Sakura glanced up, she saw that she was chained in too tight cuffs that had rubbed her wrists bloody. Even before she could catch her breath her heart was already pounding in her chest with fear.

“Please,” the voice broke into a sob. “I can’t take this anymore, just kill me. Don’t let them have my eyes, Shisui, please.”

Sakura’s head turned without permission and every iota of her being rebelled at what she saw.

A young shinobi was literally pinned to a chair, stakes driven through his hands and arms to the chair. Below, his ankles and legs were similarly staked. Blood dripped everywhere from him, but the most horrific part of the scene was his face. Her eyes were unwillingly drawn to the eyeball that dangled freely from the socket, only connected by a strand of nerves. Dimly, Sakura realized that the boy was a Hyuuga.

“Nikkou…” Her voice was raspy and yet familiar to Sakura, despite not being her own. Shisui. She was reliving Shisui’s memories.

“Nikkou, I can’t – there’s no way out of this. I’m sorry.”

“C’mon Shisui, you’re a genius, you’ve gotta think of something. Anything, I don’t care, just don’t let them take my eyes, please.” Nikkou’s remaining good eye rolled wildly in his head. It occasionally fixed on Shisui, teary and wide eyed with terror and pain. Sakura struggled to look away from the sight of his bruised face, but Shisui’s gaze remained focused on Nikkou and his ruined eye, and so did Sakura’s.

Before Shisui could reply, the door to the cell banged open. Both of them startled badly, Sakura’s heart beating a sharp staccato rhythm in her chest.

A Kiri shinobi strode into the room. He was older than Shisui and Nikkou, with the beginnings of craggy lines on his face, and his hair styled into something resembling a fin. Sakura had no idea who he was, but there was a foreign swell of resignation and fear and hatred in her chest.

She watched him circle around the room like a shark, slowly closing in on Nikkou. Nikkou’s breath escaped him faster and faster until he was almost hyperventilating, his good eye hyper focused on the foreign shinobi. On his hands specifically, which held clippers. The shinobi considered Shisui.

“Well, Konoha? Do you have anything to say yet?”

Nikkou’s eye snapped to her. “Shisui, tell him something! Tell him what he wants to know! Please!” When she remained silent, Nikkou tried again, his voice becoming a ragged scream. “Shisui, please!”

Her mouth moved. “I will not betray my village.”

The Kiri shinobi smirked. “I didn’t think any of you Konoha shinobi had it in you.” He jabbed Nikkou in the shoulder with his elbow in a seemingly friendly gesture. “Too bad for you, kid.”

He reached forward to grasp Nikkou’s dangling eye. When his fingers made contact, Nikkou began screaming, the sound echoing in the cell.

“Not my eye! Please, not my eye! Take anything else, please!”

Revulsion rose, with Sakura unable to tell if it was hers or Shisui’s. There was a layer of understanding that Shisui had that wasn’t hers; an understanding of the fear of losing an eye. The hatred was turning to outright loathing as the shinobi pulled the string of nerves taut and brought the clippers close to the end where they were attached to Nikkou’s skull. He took his time, drawing it out, stroking the blades along the length of nerves. Nikkou was wailing and Sakura was unable to look away when, with a quick snip, the shinobi took his eye.

Her upper lip curled with a rage such that she had never known. She memorized the way the Kiri shinobi casually dropped the eye and its attached nerves into a sterile bag. Nikkou sobbed brokenly, defeated.

“Thanks for the eye, kid. It’ll come in handy. I’ll come back for the other one later, unless your teammate here decides to talk. See if you can convince him while I’m gone.” The shinobi spun the clippers around his fingers in a goodbye, and left them alone once more. Sakura tracked his movements the entire time.

If it was the last thing she did, she would kill him.

Sakura woke with a gasp. Before she even fully understood what she was doing, she was moving, ripping her blankets off her body and stumbling to the bathroom. She made it to the toilet in time to vomit her dinner violently. Her stomach heaved over and over, even after there was nothing left, and only strings of saliva and bile clung to her lips. She barely had the strength to spit into the toilet. She pressed her face against the cool porcelain and wept.

When her shoulders had stopped shaking, enough time had passed that Sakura could address the silent presence in her head.

“What the hell was that?”

Shisui was silent for a long time, long enough that Sakura started to doze with her face on the toilet. And yet every time she drifted off too much, the image of Nikkou’s eyeless socket surfaced. With the image came the foreign tangle of emotions that had to be Shisui’s association with that memory. Sakura had certainly never hated someone so much in her life.

‘I never would have wanted you to see that memory,’ Shisui said at last.

But I did, Sakura thought to herself, and felt Shisui’s slight flinch when the stray thought reached him.

She stayed silent, and so did Shisui, as she struggled to process the nightmare. She didn’t even know what she wanted to ask Shisui first or if she even wanted to learn more about it at all, and as she thought, his words from before floated across her mind, I was on the Kiri front during the Third War.

There was the unspeakable horror of Nikkou staked to the chair and the Kiri shinobi clipping out his eye while Shisui watched. There was Shisui’s absolute, resigned refusal to give over any information to the interrogator. There was the question of how he escaped. There was the niggling wonder of why the hell bad things happened to eyes around Shisui. But most of all…

‘What happened to Nikkou?’  Sakura asked at last.

‘He’s dead.’

Despite her exhaustion, the images from the nightmare - Shisui’s memory - drove Sakura out of bed to avoid enticing their return. Which is how she ended up running laps in Konoha before dawn, before pre-dawn even, the sky still blanketed in stars. She had several canteens of water buckled to her waist as the only things weighing her down. When her lungs burned for air and her legs felt limp, she stopped to drink. All too soon, the vivid images would return and spur Sakura into continuing her laps.

Sakura turned towards home once the sky began to lighten. The first rays of dawn once again swept away the worst of the night terrors until she felt almost normal again. At least, normal except for the dead jounin haunting her. She kicked off her shoes and made her way towards the shower to wash away the sweat and the remnants of the sickly feeling from vomiting.

Showering led to redressing, which led to breakfast. By now Sakura was ravenous and dreading the day’s work. What had she been thinking, running laps for hours? How was she going to be able to train? How was she going to complete the mission?

‘Oh, relax,’ Shisui said in the face of her fretting. ‘Training should always push you to your limits. The run was good for you. You should do it every morning.’

‘I should’ve known you would suggest more running,’ Sakura grumped. She hated doing laps. And yet, this was the second night in a row she had nightmares from Shisui’s memories. She would have to do something to keep them from lingering. At least running had long term benefits. ‘I’ll think about it.’

It wasn’t long before Sakura was ready for the new day. She eyed herself in the mirror. There was no outward hint of the nightmare she had suffered last night, nor of her ghostly tenant. She just… looked like herself. Sakura leaned forward so she could peer at her eyes. They did say that eyes were the windows to the soul. But there was nothing.

She shook herself. At this rate, she was going to be just as obsessed with eyes as Shisui was. She needed to get to training. Hopefully it wouldn’t be as bad as it was yesterday.

When she arrived, Sakura found that she was earlier than any of her teammates. It was a pleasant change from being late the day before. It also gave her time to sit and relax. The weather was warm and breezy, but thankfully not humid. All in all, a good day for training. If only Sakura had any idea of where to even start.

‘I can help guide you through a few things. You should work on your conditioning and basic taijutsu and weapons skills before you think about fancy ninjutsu or genjutsu,’ Shisui offered.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the sky. ‘What’s in it for you?’

‘I don’t die again because of a genin’s stupid mistake,’ Shisui said dryly.

That sounded believable, especially after his insistence yesterday that he wouldn’t teach her anything.

‘You start with conditioning first, to prep your body for the strain of jutsu, right?’ she asked.

‘That’s part of it. But there will always be a time when you don’t have enough chakra for any jutsu, and how well you know basic taijutsu can save your life.’

Sakura looked down at her hands thoughtfully. ‘Alright, I’ll listen to what you have to say. But nothing too hard! Who knows what kind of training Kakashi-sensei is going to make us do.’ Sakura said.

‘That’s the spirit. Now get up. There’s no time like the present.’ Shisui urged her.

Sakura rolled to her feet. There was a moment’s pause when she pondered what exactly she should do to condition herself. Then, with hesitant strikes, she began working through the Academy practice routine. Neither of her parents had styles to call their own, not like clan children. They had always encouraged her to make the best of her intelligence and what the Academy taught her. That had been enough to get them to chuunin, after all.

Shisui didn’t speak, or even give any indication he was paying attention besides a sense of watchfulness that Sakura couldn’t explain. Since he didn’t stop her, she continued with the series of simple katas that she knew. The style was mostly built around redirecting a stronger or faster enemy’s force, under the assumption that the user was smaller and less experienced. Sakura definitely counted as that.

As her routine came to a close, Shisui began to offer her pointers. They were, to Sakura’s relief, far more useful than the ones he had given her yesterday.

‘Your stance weakens when you punch with your left hand. Watch the placement of your feet,’ and ‘Lead with your opposite foot to strengthen that strike,’ and ‘If you follow through, you can turn this kata into a hold,’ were all patiently explained to her. It was at odds with his patronizing attitude the day before. Sakura couldn’t decide if it was because Shisui was, contrary to first impressions, actually a good teacher, or if he still felt bad for the nightmares his memories had given her. Either way, she didn’t question it.

Shisui hummed thoughtfully. ‘Your grasp of the Academy basics is solid, though you do need lots of conditioning. But I only know how to teach speed.’ Sakura got the impression of a shrug. ‘So I will teach you what I know. My style is far different from the Academy’s. At its most complicated, it is a very fluid style that requires a lot of flexibility and makes equal use of every part of the body. I combined it with my speed to dispatch enemies as efficiently as possible. At your level, you will need to do the same.’

‘Okay, makes sense. So where do I start?’ She was tired and her thighs weren’t exactly happy after her impromptu morning run, but she also wasn’t bone dead exhausted. She could do this.

‘With stretches. Lots of stretches,’ Shisui said. From there, he talked her through several exercises that were new to Sakura, and that were barely even the beginning of Shisui’s personal style. There was a lot of ground for her to cover, and not much time to do it in. Training wasn’t going to be something she did just with her team, but a new hobby that she did constantly.

That morning, Shisui only had time to teach Sakura one of the beginning forms. But combined with the other stretches and his advice on her use of the Academy style, it was enough. She even felt ready to go another round with Kakashi. There would be no way that she would win, but she wanted to try out what she had learned against an unsuspecting opponent.

Sasuke soon arrived at the training grounds as Sakura finished her stretches, and then Naruto showed up five minutes later. She had timed it so that her teammates wouldn’t spot her. She had no idea how to explain to them how she was suddenly learning non-Academy forms. Besides, this way, if Kakashi was anywhere near as late as he was yesterday, she would have plenty of time to rest before more training and possibly another mission.

Sakura peeked under her lashes at Sasuke. He looked so cool, leaning back against a tree, the sun catching his pitch eyes just right so that the pupil was discernible from the iris. She felt her heart flutter against her ribs. He was so smart and talented, sure to be the brightest star of their generation. Heat rose to her face.

‘So...what do you actually know about this kid?’ Shisui asked.

Sakura startled out of her musings. ‘What?’

‘Well, you keep going on and on about your infatuation with him. So you must know a lot about him, right? What is it that you like about him besides his talent? Konoha has plenty of talented and skilled shinobi,’ he elaborated.

‘Well…’ Sakura paused to organize her thoughts. ‘He likes tomatoes, I think. They show up the most consistently in his lunch. He’s not very cooperative on teamwork tests at the Academy, but that’s only because he can do everything himself! And…’

She frowned. What did she know about Sasuke? Why had she started crushing on him? He wasn’t always such a loner. In fact, a few years ago, he had been...friendly. Competitive, certainly, but outgoing and playful. She had liked him because he had never bullied her or avoided her. He didn’t go out of his way to talk to her, but he had never been cruel, not even in the thoughtless way that kids could be. And then Sakura found out that Ino had liked him too, and that was the final straw.

Sakura shook herself. Things about Sasuke. ‘He says he doesn’t really like or dislike anything, or have any hobbies. He doesn’t have a dream, but an ambition. To kill a certain man, he said, and restore his clan.’

‘That’s ominous.’ Shisui’s presence seemed to ripple a bit. It felt weird, like her brain was tingling.

‘It is,’ Sakura agreed, subdued. She wondered why Sasuke wanted to kill someone so badly. What was it that this person did that made Sasuke think only of killing him? What did it take for a person to feel that way?

‘Clearly, you need to train more,’ Shisui interrupted, his voice lighter now. ‘And learn more about what happened. And then you can go along with Sasuke on his little field trip to kill this man. If you’re actually serious about your crush on him, that is.’

Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ‘Why do you care if I get a chance with Sasuke-kun?’

‘I don’t,’ Shisui said flatly. ‘But it just so happens that training kills two birds with one stone.  You get to impress your crush, and I get to stay in a body that won’t die on the first C rank mission it goes on.’

‘Does it really matter if you’re already dead?’

‘Who doesn’t want to stay alive a little longer? This is my second chance. Besides, I’m a ghost, and like all stories about ghosts, I have some unfinished business that I’ll probably need your help with,’ he said.

‘What kind of unfinished business?’ Sakura perked up. This was interesting. She hadn’t had anyone to gossip with since her friendship with Ino became a rivalry.

Shisui huffed. ‘The kind you don’t need to know about yet.’

Sakura fidgeted with the hem of her dress, feeling a bit like Hinata all of a sudden. ‘Does it...does it have anything to do with Nikkou?’

He hesitated, and Sakura got a brief flash of quick thinking on his part. Maybe deciding how detailed he wanted to be, though after that nightmare, she didn’t see why it mattered. ‘I...yeah. That Kiri nin, he’s still alive. His name is Ao. And I’m going to kill him.’ There was a rush of hatred and intense focus, almost obsession. Shisui wanted to avenge his mutilated teammate and bring home the last part of him that never made it back.

Nikkou’s screams echoed in Sakura’s mind again, causing her gag reflex to rise. She swallowed down the bile. Shisui didn’t even have to ask.

‘Of course I’ll help you kill him.’

Sakura easily committed Ao’s face to memory. Blue hair styled into a fin, slightly craggy face, Kiri fatigues. She would know him the next time she saw him.

“Wow, Sakura-chan, I didn’t know Kakashi-sensei being late made you this angry.” Naruto’s voice jolted Sakura out of her head.

Sakura glanced around. She had forgotten that she was at training with her team, waiting for Kakashi to show his face. While she had been talking with Shisui, her gaze had focused on a far off tree, and her face had done little to disguise her emotions. Even Sasuke was looking at her with a little interest. Sakura flushed. Just what had her expressions revealed to them?

“Well,” Sakura blustered. She seized upon the excuse Naruto had gift wrapped her. “Well, it’s rude! And a waste of our time! What’s the point of meeting so early if he isn’t going to be on time to help us train or supervise missions! He’s so irresponsible. We all managed to be here, didn’t we?” She gestured redundantly.

“I know!” Naruto exploded. He was suddenly in Sakura’s face, expression animated. “I could be learning a super cool jutsu! Or, or, protecting a castle from a mutiny! Not just hanging around here waiting.”

“You sure you’re up to protecting a whole castle?” Sasuke said. The fact that he was drawn into their conversation spoke volumes about how bored he was. Luckily, it had the advantage of not only getting his attention, but pulling Naruto away from her.

“Of course I am. I’m gonna be the Hokage, you know.” Naruto posed proudly. “Do you even know what you’re gonna be?”

Sasuke folded his arms. “I’m going to be an elite jounin of a village, and bring honor to my family name.” His tone made this sound like it should have been obvious. Sakura nodded along. And it should have been. Sasuke was the best.

To her surprise, they both turned to her next. After yesterday and the way they so got caught up in their rivalry, and Sakura being lost in her thoughts with Shisui, she thought they would ignore her.

“Ne, Sakura-chan, what about you? What are you going to be?”

Sakura licked her lips. Her eyes wanted to dart to Sasuke, but he had nothing to do with her being a shinobi. She had, after all, joined the Academy two years before she even started to have feelings for him.

“I…” she clenched her fists with embarrassment. “I don’t know what I want to be.” She glared down at the ground. Sakura didn’t want to see the expressions on her teammates’ faces.

‘We all start somewhere, kid. Chin up.’

She breathed out through her nose and ground her teeth together. Shisui was right. She was brave enough for this. She looked up. Sasuke and Naruto were still waiting for her to finish.

“But I am going to be strong! And useful! I won’t be someone’s tag along or left behind.” Sakura nodded decisively. It was too soon for her to tell what she would specialize in, or what she would like best. Maybe she would be a chuunin like her parents, or an elite jounin like Shisui or Kakashi. Maybe she would go into Intelligence, or the Academy, or Research and Development. For right now, she was a genin. She had time.

[lemonloveheart]

Voltron Superhero!AU (worked on with @demosiac on IG)

Allura

Known as Enchantress when she goes out into the field

Has the ability to manipulate perception, so she changes what people see

Her father had the ability to manipulate emotions and her mother could read minds, which resulted in her ability to manipulate perception

The head of Altea, the company that sponsors the team, Voltron

Inherited the company from her father, Alfor, who got bipped by Zarkon, a former business partner and friend

Essentially an older sister to Lance

Coran is basically her stepdad, was romantically involved with Alfor after her mother left, but they never had time to get married

Always tries to appear professional around the team but occasionally breaks under pressure around the team

Lance

Known as Maelstrom when he goes out into the field

From Atlantis, a kingdom under the sea

Atlantians were a race of “mermaids”

They mostly communicated through singing

They were never supposed to hear their own singing voice because it sounds hideous to them and hurts their ears

The only part of an Atlantian’s voice they can hear themself is their screams

He was rescued by Alfor and Coran when Atlantis was destroyed in a freak earthquake created by Zarkon, who then got booted from Altea for destroying the civilization

Zarkon formed his own company, Galra Tech, and lives for getting revenge on Altea

TLA (The Last Atlantian) and was a prince, so lmao that sucks

Controls ice mostly, water sometimes, can control water temperature, and can heal others and himself, but only himself when he really really needs it (you’d be surprised how much it happens)

Absolutely could freeze a person’s blood/ control him, but it nearly kills him

Has a siren like voice that invokes powerful memories in those around him

His singing in the shower causes the team to gather around the bathroom door in various stages of distress

Also has a sonic scream (like the sonic wave gun on the blue lion) that he rarely uses because it’s super harmful to anyone around him and himself because it invokes the worst memories of all

Sometimes Lance’s voice sounds like someone else’s to a person, especially if that person craves to see/hear the other (i.e. allura hearing alfor after nightmares)

Grew up alongside Allura and trusts her immensely, despite years of playing tricks on each other

Treats everyone like family (especially keith)

Hunk

Known as Oobleck when he goes out into the field

Can control the density of his body and can temporarily change the density of other objects

Got his powers from a Doc Ock type accident when he was showcasing a device that would teleport objects by altering their density

He was so confident in his invention (as he should be, hunk is a genius) that he tested it on himself, but something went wrong and made his body’s density constantly fluctuating

His family shut him out after that, as coming from a genius family that worked hard for their prestige, he would be seen like a stain on their record after that incident

He blocks out those memories and doesn’t dwell on them anymore

Is the only person who always hears Lance’s voice as Lance because he only wants lance from lance (if that makes sense)

Is the unofficial chef and always makes sure that everyone eats and drinks enough

Has a huge crush on the head nurse, Shay, and always brings her lunch when she forgets

Keith

Known as Dynamo when he goes out into the field

A literal hothead

Controls fire, has firebreath (it hurts his throat though), sparks occasionally, can create lava if extremely distressed/angry, high heat and fire resistance

Was born with his powers and was taught from birth to never let anyone take him for his powers

His birth dad died and his mother disappeared soon after

He was taken into an orphanage and was adopted by thace and ulaz

Had a pretty good life from then forward until he was about 16 and started having discipline issues and getting in fights with thulaz

The final straw was when he got suspended and had a huge fight with his dads and went to bed extremely angry

He set fire to his room in his sleep, and subsequently the house

Tried to save his dads, but they were already crushed beneath timber

He sat there and cried tears of lava until Allura’s people came for him

His ‘don’t let anyone take you for your powers’ mentality kicked in and he fought until he had to be sedated, tied down, and muzzled which led to some funny pictures on lance’s phone

Eventually calmed down enough and joined the team

Constantly afraid of hurting those he loves

Lives in fear of hurting Lance (who is really weak against fire due to controlling ice and basically being half fish)

Pidge

Known as Codex when they go into the field

Essentially Iron Man but tiny, green, and not an alcoholic

Controls technology and plants

Hacked their way into the military to go with Shiro and Matt

Got separated from them on a mission to Galra Tech, the boys got kidnapped, and Pidge got attacked by Haggar (who is still a witch)

Their heart was weakened, so they basically made an arc reactor

They had been in a greenhouse when attacked, so they connected with the plants when Haggar attacked them with magic

Made their own suit, which can fly, shoot vines, and turn invisible

Has a lab and a garden where they grow ingredients and such for Hunk

Was contacted by Altea and joined up immediately to try and further their progress to find their brother (and his boyfriend but whatever)

Shiro

Known as Paladin when he goes out into the field

Controls electricity, i.e. lightning and such, emotions can manipulate sources of electricity and light, has super strength and a way higher metabolism than most humans

Was in the military with Matt and Pidge when he and Matt got kidnapped

They were modified and magicked to become the perfect living weapons as a team

Shiro was Champion, the supersoldier that could deliver hard and heavy hits to overpower enemies

Eventually broke free of Galra Tech’s control and escaped

Was found by Altea and taken in immediately

Became the leader of the team but anytime they go on Galra missions, he’s at risk of being controlled again and used against the team ;)

Is really withdrawn at first, but once Matt is introduced to the team, he loosens up

Matt

Known as Rogue when he goes out into the field

Controls darkness, has super speed and an astronomically high metabolism, can also shadow travel

Was in the military with Shiro and Pidge (he didn’t approve of their hacking at all, but he was definitely impressed)

Matt was Rogue (kept the name because he liked it), a speedy hitman that could deliver sneaky and quick strikes to incapacitate enemies

When Shiro escaped, the Galrans upped the ante on Matt, making him into an assassin that was basically untouchable and untraceable

This also makes him a good medic because he knows all the pressure points and places to make someone bleed out and how to identify them

When the team came face to face with him, Shiro trapped him and he was captured

At first he tried to do anything to escape, but when he realized he couldn’t, he verbally assaulted anyone that came near, targeting their weakpoints after spying on them during Galra missions

He knew who Pidge and Shiro were and attacked them the worst

Eventually he was snapped out of Galra control when Keith was interrogating him and whispered “Patience yields focus” under his breath

He came to and instantly apologized for everything he’d said and done and was eventually introduced to the team

Is actually a really sweet and nerdy guy and once he was recovered, him and Shiro reuniting was the sweetest thing

Is really good at comforting people, especially keith and shiro, after nightmares

Was updated on memes by Lance

The Lions!

Black is a Maine Coon that hangs out in the rafters of the training deck and only comes down when Shiro or Matt train

Red is a Sphinx that Keith found that loves how warm he always is

Blue is a Russian Blue that hangs out by the pool and harasses Lance for food

Yellow is a yellow tabby cat that hangs out in the kitchen (Hunk feeds him too much)

Green is Pidge’s cat from home that they trained to bring them parts in return for treats. She can also kind of talk due to the device Pidge made for it

Allura also has her mice and she handmade colored collars for them

Hi! If you managed to read through all of that, good job! I’ve had a lot of fun developing this with Caleb, and I’m excited for Angie to draw the characters in the superhero suits. (She’s on DA as thedragoncurve and IG as tastyphilosophy) This basically started out as an Avengers!AU (see Pidge), but we developed it and made it our own, and I’m so proud and happy to see it finally get out there.

If you have any questions, message me and I’ll try my best to answer them.

Also, we have oneshots and stuff that we’ve got the plot for already so when we feel like writing them out, I’ll post them here and on Wattpad most likely.

[kellyinboston]

WHAT Wednesday

Hi folks. WHAT is up? I feel a bit out of sorts today and I don’t know why! I am all over the place attention wise and I just feel restless. Strange.

Everyone excited for the 3-day weekend? It sure doesn’t feel like the end of May to me. The weather hasn’t been great (here I go again with weather talk). We had a 5-day stretch of nice weather last week and now it is back to cold and rainy. A bit annoying. Also, I think I smell like skunk. Last night someone got sprayed big time right outside our condo and I think it trailed in and our unit smelled and I think I still smell like it (or maybe my nostrils just have permanent skunk smell in them)??

Anywho.

There are a few things I would like to talk with you about today, so let’s get to it!

WHAT am I reading?

I finished Hillbilly Elegy. This book was sold (not literally) to me as part memoir part sociological study on a certain population of people that I do not know much about (white working-class Americans). So, I was looking forward to that analysis. Well, what I got was more memoir than I expected/wanted. I did like the stories the author told about his family, childhood, etc, but I didn’t love it. I thought the flow was a bit off and he wasn’t the best storyteller in regards to transitioning, depth…it is hard to explain because I did find it fascinating. I think that if you knew nothing about the book and just read it then you would like it better. I wanted more sociological talk!

Anyways, I am now reading Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein and listening to LaRose by Louisa Erdrich.

Code Name Verity has been on my list for a few years and I actually *gasp* bought the book. I have not bought a physical book in who knows how long (unless it was Harry Potter related). I decided a month or so ago that I wanted to start buying books again. Not in bulk, but a few here and there to support the industry. Anyways, I am maybe a little over half way through and I am enjoying it for the most part. It is written a bit different and so it took me a while to get into the flow of the writing. Here is the description:

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Then, this morning, I started the audio book LaRose which came out last year (I think). I literally just started (like 15 minutes of a 14 hour audio book). But, I have to say, I like it so far. It just jumps right into to the story. Here is the description:

North Dakota, late summer, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich

The youngest child of his friend and neighbor, Peter Ravich, Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son, LaRose. The two families have always been close, sharing food, clothing, and rides into town; their children played together despite going to different schools; and Landreaux’s wife, Emmaline, is half sister to Dusty’s mother, Nola. Horrified at what he’s done, the recovered alcoholic turns to an Ojibwe tribe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. Following an ancient means of retribution, he and Emmaline will give LaRose to the grieving Peter and Nola. “Our son will be your son now,” they tell them.

LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Plagued by thoughts of suicide, Nola dotes on him, keeping her darkness at bay. His fierce, rebellious new “sister,” Maggie, welcomes him as a coconspirator who can ease her volatile mother’s terrifying moods. Gradually he’s allowed shared visits with his birth family, whose sorrow mirrors the Raviches’ own. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal.

But when a vengeful man with a long-standing grudge against Landreaux begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died, he threatens the tenuous peace that has kept these two fragile families whole.

I am trying to get more involved in the online book reading community. How to do this…I am not sure. I am following a lot of book readers on Instagram and liking a lot of those photos, hoping they will follow me in return. I am reading more book blogs. I am not sure what my end game with this is…maybe to have more book friends because, to be honest, a lot of my friends (most) do not read or really care about books…so I am sure this section of WHAT Wednesday is not enjoyable for many of you. Sorry.  

WHAT are we watching?

Basketball. I am just not really into the playoffs this year. I guess most years I am not. I have started The West Wing again, I have watched maybe 12 episodes (of like 150) and I do like it. I have just been on a reading kick lately so watching shows have taken a back seat. I do want to see the movie Dunkirk when it comes out in July.

WHAT is going on with the family?

Ha. Snoop is something else I tell you. She is not allowed on the couch. Neil doesn’t want her “dirty butt” on it. Fair enough. So she doesn’t come up on the couch…but look how she sits ALL THE TIME.

Not technically on the couch but she pops a squat on that corner with her big, dirty butt. What Neil was trying to avoid…she found a way around it. Pretty funny if you think about it because if we would just let her on the couch there would be less dirty butt than how she sits now. Did that sentence make any sense?? Also, wanted to share ANOTHER photo of her sleeping. It just cracks me up.

Finally, whenever Snoop wakes up from a quick nap she jumps up so quick like she is embarrassed that we “caught” her sleeping. Hard to explain but we get a kick out of it.

And just another picture of Snoop hanging out on the patio under the table!

The walk this morning was interesting. I was talking to another dog walker and Snoop laid down during our conversation…right in dog poop. So… she had dog poop on her hind leg, yuck. When we got back to the condo I picked her up and put her in the shower to give her a quick bath. This resulted in my cleaning out her behind area because there was stuff there that needed to be cleaned. Don’t need to get into the details but it was gross. She gets a haircut in two weeks so she will be nice and clean again!

Neil is good. His friend (my friend too) David is in town for a week, he got in town last night. He got to our place around 10:45pm so I was getting ready for bed but him and Neil stayed up talking architecture until 1am. He bought his ticket to Copenhagen – he will be on his own a couple days because I have to work, so he is putting together a list of places he wants to visit. He got his cowboy boots in the mail the other day and wore them to work. They are not my taste but if Neil likes them then I will support that?? He is still deciding if he likes them or not. He goes through interesting fashion phases and I am assuming that this is just one of them?

WHAT did we do this past weekend?

This last weekend was a grade A weekend for us. On Friday night we met up with Mike and Cheryl at a new restaurant in East Boston called The Reel. It is right on the water and has amazing views. We were celebrating Mike’s birthday and the end of his training. On Saturday morning I went for a run (I am out of shape) and then in the afternoon Neil and I met Kate (her husband, Zach, was out of town) at the Fells (dog park/trail). We took Charlie with us because Mike and Cheryl were out with family and Snoop wanted her buddy to be there. The car ride was funny – 2 big dogs in the back seat of our small car.

The weather was perfect for a walk (probably around 3 miles).

After that Kate came over to our place to hang out and eat some dinner. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday I went for another run (still out of shape) and then Neil and I went to home depot to get some flowers for our porch. I potted them (is that the correct terminology??) and I think they look nice!

After that Snoop and I went to the library to return a book and then we took a nap and relaxed on the couch (well me on the couch and Snoop’s butt on the corner of the couch) the rest of the day. It was a great weekend!

WHAT else is on my mind?

I need to switch my shampoo and conditioner. I feel like my hair has been SUPER frizzy lately so I figured I would try some new product. I suppose I could just do my hair, instead of throw it up every day, but that sounds like too much work.

So off the shoulders tops are in style. Huh? Not for me.

Still trying to raise money to open an independent book store. Snoop was sniffing like crazy the other day on our walk, which usually means she found something really gross and will start rolling in it, but not this time – this time she was leading me to $0.17 on the ground (3 nickels and 2 pennies). So I am $0.17 closer to my goal of what, like $500,000. Slowly but surely!

Thanks for reading!