#there’s no muffin emoji that’s so sad…

[lesbianboyfriend]

banana nut muffin

[romirola]

What about an angsty fic for #48 (hearing them sigh as they turn away) with Davey and Angel?

Thank you so much for the request, @welcometohelllosers! Hope you enjoy!

Rating T, WC: ~1K, Prompts: Angst, a sigh as you turn away, David/Angel

David Shaw took a long look at his mate and frowned.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and Angel was busily typing on their work laptop. He glanced at the clock, noting that it was well past lunchtime. According to the calendar, Angel had been planning to meet a few of their coworkers for coffee, but in order to keep the date, they would’ve needed to leave the house about ten minutes ago. It was unlike Angel to be forgetful when it came to social obligations. David knew firsthand just how thoughtful and compassionate Angel was when it came to their loved ones, but, he figured, no one was perfect. Angel did have a tendency to get wrapped up in their work.

“Angel,” he said softly to drag their attention away from the glowing screen. “You should probably get going soon if you want to be on time for your coffee date. I know it’s not far, but you don’t want to keep your friends waiting too long.”

For the first time in over an hour, Angel looked away from their screen to face David. They blinked owlishly through their blue-light blocking glasses. “I’m not going,” they admitted in a steady voice. “I thought I’d use the extra time to get ahead on a few work forms.” They returned to their laptop solemnly and resumed their typing.

That small reply had David stop in his tracks. Angel had been looking forward to seeing their friends outside of work for the last two weeks. He took a seat across from them at the kitchen table. “Why not?” David asked.

“I just don’t feel like going,” Angel shrugged, purposefully keeping their eyes trained on the work in front of them so they wouldn’t be tempted to meet David’s concerned gaze. He could always pick up on exactly what they were feeling just by looking into their eyes. “I don’t really want to see any of them today and I have work to do anyway, so I'm just going to stay home.” A thin smile spread across their lips. “Guess you’re stuck with me all day today.”

“I’m never stuck with you,” David corrected gently, though he refused to drop the subject because he could see how upset Angel was, even if they were trying their best not to show it. “But you love any excuse to be social,” David observed. “And you also love the chocolate-chip muffins at Cuppa Joe’s.” David leaned over the table, a variety of reasons to explain Angel’s strange behavior popping into his head, all of which concerned him. “Are you feeling sick?”

Angel rolled their eyes. “I’m not sick, Davey.” They sighed deeply, turning their face away from their mate. That sigh was one full of sadness, and it put David on edge.

“Talk to me, Angel. What’s wrong?” He scooted his chair close to Angel so they could no longer turn away from him.

Ripping the glasses off of their face and tossing them on the table, Angel turned back to David. He was distressed to find tears lining their lower eyelids. “It’s nothing,” they shrugged. “It’s just…” Their voice cracked.

David brought a hand to Angel’s shoulder, squeezing softly. “Just what?”

“Well, this morning, we were texting in the group chat, solidifying our plans for today. And one of my coworkers, Alex, you remember them?” Angel began to explain, leaning into David’s touch. “Well, they texted a message that I think was meant for another group chat.” Angel pursed their lips, realizing David needed more information to understand why they were so upset. “A group chat that evidently doesn’t include me,” they clarified. “They were saying some pretty nasty things about me, saying I get assigned the best client accounts because I…” Swallowing nervously, they trailed off a bit. “Because I do things for our team’s supervisors that definitely don’t fall under my job description. And everyone else was responding with stupid little gifs and laughing emojis and I just…” Angel swiped at their eyes just as the first tears began to fall. “I didn’t realize they all thought about me like that. I mean, I know I haven’t been working on this team for very long, and I know that I do usually get assigned accounts that are on the more prestigious side, but I have more experience then they do,” they choked out. “But I also thought they were my friends.”

David used his grip on Angel’s shoulder to pull them into his chest. “Angel, I’m sorry,” he said, letting his chin rest atop their head. The thought of Angel stumbling across those insults made his blood boil with rage, but he tamped down that instinct because he knew that right now, Angel needed his full attention and support.

Angel let David guide them into his strong body. They grabbed a fistful of his shirt. “I don’t think they even realize I saw those messages. I never responded,” Angel continued. “I know this all probably sounds so childish of me. I mean, it’s not like what they think is true. It’s not. At all!” they emphasized. “And I shouldn’t be so upset over a few people’s opinions of me who don’t even matter. They don’t matter at all. I know they don’t!” Angel exclaimed. “It’s not like they can actually affect my job title in any way, shape, or form. It’s just a bunch of stupid, office gossip. I don’t mean to let it get to me like this.” They pushed their head into David a little more.

David didn’t hesitate to place his free hand on Angel’s back and run small, comforting circles.

“But, it’s just hard, you know?” they admitted. “It hurts. I feel so dumb, thinking these people were my friends. I never had any idea that’s how they felt about me. Not when we waved to each other when we crossed paths at the office. Not when we texted outside of work. We’ve even hung out a few times, and I just keep thinking to myself, why? Why did I delude myself into thinking these were people who were my friends when really, I don’t know, I guess it was all one big joke to them.”

“No, don’t turn this around on yourself,” David soothed. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Angel. You always see the good in people because you want to see the good in people.” He angled his chin downwards to encourage them to look him in the eyes. “And I love that about you. It’s not stupid or childish. Neither is being upset when you realize that your trust in someone was betrayed like that. It’s normal. It’s healthy. And it’s damn valid.” He kissed their forehead. “I’m glad you didn’t go and force yourself to spend any more time with those assholes than you’ll have to at work. Fuck their group chat. Fuck their petty gossip. They’re jealous of the fact that your skills merit those better accounts, and rather than try to improve themselves, they decided to lash out with shitty, false gossip to make themselves feel better.” He let one hand cup their cheek. “You are a damn hard worker and a whiz at this stuff.” He jutted his chin toward the open laptop that had flipped to Angel’s screensaver: a picture of Balto. “You deserve every bit of accolades you get at work, and then some. Don’t let those jerks make you think anything other than that."

“Thanks, Davey,” Angel whispered against his body. They twisted their head to kiss the inside of his palm that had rested on their face. “I… I guess I needed to hear that.” Angel shifted onto David’s lap so they could properly press a kiss to his mouth, which he eagerly accepted. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, Angel,” he returned in kind. “Now…” He shut the laptop, knowing the work Angel had done up until that point was automatically saved. “Maybe put this work stuff away for today? Just because your plans fell through, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. It’s beautiful outside. Let’s take a walk and maybe grab a few of those chocolate chip muffins while we’re out.”

“I don’t know if I really want to take the chance of running into all of them,” Angel grimaced humorously. "Although, I do love those muffins..."

“You can stay outside the café if you want,” David offered. “Because if I just so happened to run into Alex and their friends, purely by coincidence, of course,” he said with his eyebrows raised. “I might have a few choice words they can add to their little group chat.”

[thewiscryptid]

SHE’S SO BROKEN INSIDE -- C - R - A - Z - Y !!

a reboot of my sentence starters for crazy ex girlfriend season 1 please change any pronouns/words to make it more applicable for your usage! some mature themes apply!

“This is what Happy feels like. This is what I’m supposed to feel like.”

“Why aren’t you happy?!”

“You didn’t even break skin and you inconvenienced a lot of people.”

“Remember you said that if I was in the neighborhood I should give you a buzz? Well… BUZZ!”

“I’m taking a few of these until my business cards come in, just so if anyone asks why I’m here, I can say ‘It’s for work! It’s legitimate!.”

“Because you’re pretty and you’re smart and you’re ignoring me so you’re obviously my type.”

“I’m not good for much but I do know it’s not right to hook up with a crying girl.”

“You half Italian? I can always tell.”

“He should be a search term on porn sites.”

“He made me feel warm inside— like glitter was exploding inside me.”

“I’m not in love. That would be stupid.”

“I’m crazy and I’m irrational and I’m everything my mother ever said I was.”

“If we play this right, it’s gonna hit him like a bag of nails to the balls.”

“Could we have a postmortem on the whole make out-crying situation?”

“Bras are in aisle one.”

“I’m going to gracefully exeunt and be chased….by a bear.”

“Maybe I will throw my saddle on that filly and take her for a ride around the paddock. ...Wow. Men are disgusting.”

“They spread a rumor that I slept with the English teacher! Which was totally a lie because we only did hand stuff!”

“Of course we’re friends because what other agenda could I possibly have?”

“I want to cut the silky hair right off your head and slurp it up like spaghetti.”

“We were just being cute! Cute kissing! For attention!”

“I can’t be friends with women. Everyone wants to have sex with me!”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that telling the truth from the beginning was probably the right option.”

“Luna bars are for women. I think they have menstrual blood in them or something.”

“A true friend loves you no matter what, even if your downward dog is horrible.”

“Now, if someone pulls a gun on me, I pull out my knife!”

“Come sit on my lap like I’m Santa and listen to me—”

“Put those things away, you’re going to poke a kid’s eye out.”

“I don’t leave when there’s whiskey left.”

“It was weird and sad and kinda beautiful in a pure and unironic way.”

“You’re really starting to fit in here. That’s not a compliment.”

“She’s seriously ‘bonker balls’.”

“The last thing you need right now is a conversation with a pathological narcissist!”

“How are you? UTIs under control?”

“Hey, don’t skate sad!”

“Let’s leave the children outta here for a sec.”

“Shut up, I love that fire! It’s my favorite fire!”

“How could a guy with a man bun know what’s authentic?!”

“You took some guy home from our date and SLEPT with him? What’s WRONG with you?!”

“I make no sense and you shouldn’t waste your time on me, can’t you see that?”

“I have an IQ of 164. On the entire SAT, I only got two questions wrong and in subsequent years, those questions were removed for being misleading.”

“You are a good person. He is a good person. …. We are good person.”

“What do you want me to say, people? That she doesn’t have the softest hair? And that I don’t watch her while she sleeps? Because I do! She’s an Angel.”

“She had flyaways! I can’t have her walking around like that.”

“You know I want to turn you in so much, because you’re an actual piece of human garbage.”

“Can I get a free beer? I’m down like $10,000.”

“My parents are alive. They’re just frigid and unloving.”

“Parents love brown nosers but men? Men love a woman who looks like me.”

“Chicken soup is just gross, hot, fat water.”

“I got a tongue scraper! Things are looking hhhhhhhexcellent.”

“Look at you, old man. You loooose! You have tubes in your face!”

“You promised me a drink and I got tired of waiting.”

“It was like Pearl Harbor meets the movie Pearl Harbor.”

“Why does Netflix always want me to watch Leaving Las Vegas? Is it trying to tell me something?”

“That basset hound could benefit from a juice cleanse.”

“Twilight is only the greatest love story since Shakespeare… in Love!”

“I needed that sage to cleanse the house of evil spirits. Ghosts are obsessed with me.”

“Do I really need to tell you to not take a pill from off the bathroom floor?!”

“I’m not going to listen to you. You talk silly.”

“I’m half of him so I am half of what you hate!”

“I’m glad you stood up to me because when the Cossack’s come, I know you’ll survive!”

“I want to melt into the chair like a butter lady.”

“Get realsies with me or I’m outskies.”

“Thanks for showing my boyfriend your cervix.”

“Charm and wit is a weird name for your boobs.”

“Where am I? Who am I? Am I in the Matrix? Am I Neo?”

“If you can’t even send me a whole word, then I’m not taking my clothes off for you. At least send an emoji. A chipmunk eating a block of cheese. I get that. I’m coming over.”

“Be the boat. Don’t be the hole. Nobody likes the hole.”

“Oh, you know what people say. One person’s blackmail is another person’s love story.”

“Okay, you can sleep at the foot of my bed tonight. Like a dog. …. Please don’t look so excited.”

“Oh, I don’t like her. She looks like she orders everything on the side.”

“He looks like a Kennedy. But a sober one.”

“What’s a pretty, showered girl like you doing here?”

“I think my life is a giant turd.”

“Why doesn’t he love me? Why doesn’t anyone love me? Why am I so alone?”

“I don’t want to say I don’t like anyone as much as you … but I just said it.”

“Love does not last in my life. I’m loveless.”

“I want to haunt Hitler and make him rethink a few things.”

“She’s not just a kid! She’s your daughter, you ass!”

“Oh, come on! Let’s make bad decisions together! We could run into traffic!”

“I’m not a sourpuss. I’m pensive and deep.”

“Are we being pleasant now? Sorry. I don’t know your rules.”

“He has the flat top of a Greek God.”

“If it were any other situation, I would take off my heels, my earrings and my extensions and curb stomp you.”

“Chasing someone who isn’t into you is a terrible move.”

“You have been Single White Female-ing me since you got here.”

“I have, like, the smartest face here.”

“Boo work and life and clothing.”

“You need to realize that ‘U up?’ is text speak for ‘are you horny?’.”

“You gotta force love, everyone knows that.”

“You weirdo face, put me down!”

“You just scooped me up like a basket of muffins…— PUT ME DOWN!”

“Why is he always talking about his theater major?! I know a lot of theater majors! They don’t talk about it! They just are!”

“I appreciate you Schwarzenegger-ing out back there.”

[fruitcoops]

hiii i've just spent the last 36-48 hours reading your works and oh dear do i lOVE your writing and this universe :') . i dont know if you are taking requests but i think it would be kinda interesting (and low key hilarious) if you would write the lions reacting/reading thirst tweets? idk if this is a dumb idea or not but just like some of them reacting to them and going "well i'm actually gay/married so.. no!.. but thank you!"

Part two of the six-month celebration, everyone! Thank you thank you THANK YOU to everyone who submitted comments--I had over 60 come in, and while I couldn’t include them all, reading them was a true joy. The Lion Pride channel was something I started writing on a whim; I never expected it to grow like this <3 Much love to all of you!

TW for alcohol mentions and thirst tweets (nothing explicit)

“Why do I always fear for my life around you?” Sirius asked as Marlene settled into a cushy chair to the side of their table.

She smiled, catlike, and crossed her legs primly. “Because only Finn appreciates me.”

“That’s just the Aries connection, Cap,” Finn said with a smug grin.

“We’re both Leos, Harzy.”

“Eh, close enough.”

Remus raised an eyebrow at her. “You should probably start asking questions before this devolves further, Marley. He’s gonna keep digging himself a hole and we won’t get anything done.”

Marlene’s smile returned with a vengeance. “That’s where you’re wrong, Loops! We’re not doing any questions at all today.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Read it and weep.” She tossed a small posterboard at him like a frisbee; he caught it, barely, though both Talker and Sirius had to duck out of the way. Marlene faced the camera and winked. “Welcome back to Lion Pride, everyone! Today I’m here with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Thomas Walker, and our wonderful cubs to react to your comments on our videos!”

“Bet you thought we’d never see ‘em, huh?” James asked.

“The comments fall into four categories: thirsty, funny, mean, and sweet. I will be reading two of those groups, and my lovely fiancée will be reading the others because she is the human embodiment of sunshine.”

“If you make Dorcas read the mean ones, I’ll be sad,” Leo laughed.

Marlene gave him a look of disbelief. “You think I’m passing up a chance to roast you guys? Puh-lease. We’re starting off strong with some thirsty, thirsty comments! Loops, you’re up first.”

“This is going to be fun,” Sirius said, leaning back in his chair.

She cleared her throat, then turned a smoldering look on their table. “I didn’t know I had a freckle kink, but then Remus Lupin appeared and now here we are.”

“Oh, shit,” Remus muttered, covering his face with his hands as the others howled with laughter.

“Lupin has been looking sexy as hell on the bench for years now. I'm so glad people are simping over him like he deserves,” Marlene read. “And there’s a little heart emoji, just for you.”

“This is every one of my nightmares come to life,” Remus said, though his voice was muffled by his forearms.

James lifted his glasses to swipe away the tears of mirth that had gathered in his eyes. “Are you kidding? This is everything I have ever wanted.”

“Y’know, it is so good to see people drooling over this hot piece of ass at last,” Finn sighed, reaching over to ruffle Remus’ hair as his face turned bright red.

“One more, and it’s a good one,” Marlene warned. She licked her lips, then had to take a moment to laugh before speaking. “I feel like Remus Lupin is the type of guy to bake you muffins—”

“Accurate,” Leo said.

“—but is also a kinky motherfucker.”

Remus’ mouth dropped open as the table erupted into cheering. Logan pumped both fists in the air and Sirius was laughing so hard no sound came out; Talker sank so low in his chair that only his head and shoulders were visible as he applauded.

“Why do people comment these things?” Remus asked, barely above a whisper. “Holy fuck, I’m engaged!”

“Speaking of…” Marlene raised her eyebrows and Sirius smile drooped.

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes. Buckle up, Cap!” She rolled her shoulders out. “Get someone who looks at you the way Sirius Black looks at a hockey puck.”

Remus snorted; James’ laugh was so short and sharp that it set everyone else off as well. “That sounds like I have a hockey puck fetish!” Sirius complained. “Which is so, so not true!”

Finn made an ‘ehh’ noise, and he leaned around Remus to smack the back of his head. “Hey!”

“Next one!” Marlene announced. “Sirius Black was my bi awakening.”

A beat of silence passed. “Is that it?” Sirius ventured, looking nervous.

“Yep.”

“Aw, man, that one’s lame,” Talker said, shaking his head. “Everyone thinks Cap is a little hot.”

Remus shot him a look. “A little?”

“Fair. Marley, I dare you to find one person who wouldn’t tap that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Me, though that dovetails nicely into the last one for our lovely captain. Ahem. I understand why Remus is with Sirius: he's hot as hell and rich, I'd hit that too.”

“Oh, fuck, you’re right,” Leo gasped. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Finn and Logan turned to him in unison with a mix of disbelief and offense written all over their faces. “Dude.”

“First of all, Leo, you found yourself two hot rich boys,” Remus interrupted. “Second, that comment is forgetting that he’s funny, and smart, and nice, and—”

Seconds after the initial cover, Sirius took his hand off Remus’ mouth as if he’d been burned. “Did you just lick me?”

“Moving on! This is in all caps, so be prepared.” Marlene shuffled through her posterboards and turned to Leo with an ominous smile. He glanced toward the camera in mild fear. “What does a person have to do to get some hockey player ass?! Like why is Leo Knut so fine?!”

“Amen!” Logan called as Leo blushed.

“According to six of the seven people at this table, the answer to that first question is to be a hockey player,” Talker laughed. “The world may never know the answer to the second, sadly.”

“Lily could play hockey,” James said, resting his chin on his hand. Every single one of the others rolled their eyes. “She could! She’d be so good at it, too.”

“We know,” Finn groaned. “You only mention it every other day.”

“Speaking of the lovely Mrs. Potter,” Marlene began with a sly look as she held up a new card. “Do James and Lily Potter need a third? Asking for me specifically.”

James paused, dumbstruck, while the others drummed their hands on the table. “…no?”

A general sigh of disappointment went up. “I was really hoping he’d say yes,” Leo said.

“Ask Lily next time,” Remus recommended.

James turned to him and blinked slowly. “What are you insinuating, Loops?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Don’t worry, James, you’ll like this one,” Marlene assured him. “James Potter is the ultimate dilf.”

“You’re damn right I am!” James whooped. “Vindication, bitches!”

“Marley, what have you done?” Talker whispered. “He’ll never shut up about that, now.”

“Oh, never,” James all but cackled. “I’m officially a dilf, you guys!”

“I hate you,” Sirius groaned.

“Tremzy, are you ready? We’ve got a couple very special ones for you,” Marlene said.

“Anything to get us out of this hell,” Logan begged.

“In that case: Logan Tremblay’s ass is better than Sidney Crosby’s. I said what I said.”

A pleased flush rose to his cheeks as Finn and Leo high-fived over his head. “Really? Thank you!”

“And they would be correct!” Finn announced. “Best ass in the league.”

“Come on,” Remus scoffed, though he was smiling.

Marlene cleared her throat to get their attention. “I don’t think I can legally read this on air without being censored or getting the video taken down, but…”

She turned the board around; all seven of them leaned forward to read it, then slowly looked at Logan, who turned vivid red. “Mon dieu. Is that—someone commented that on a video? Like, for people to see?”

“I feel like I need to bleach my eyes,” Sirius said just as Finn began shaking with silent laughter.

Leo’s face fell. “You wrote that, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Finn wheezed, scooting forward to fist-bump Marlene. “We wanted to see what you guys would say. Fuckin’ hell, your faces.”

“Alright, Talkie, are you ready?” Marlene asked around her laughter. “Seeing Thomas Walker with a baby makes me want to have his babies…please hit me up.”

He held up his index finger and took a second to laugh before responding. “If that’s Noelle, yes. If that’s anyone else, I’m flattered, but absolutely not.”

Logan made a face. “Ew.”

“We have two more,” Marlene warned. “For some very special people that aren’t here today, but I think you’ll like them anyway.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes. “I don’t trust the look on your face.”

“Daddy Dumo makes me swoon.”

A muddle of horrified noises echoed through the studio as all seven of them cringed. “Oh, my god, that’s my dad!” Logan yelped, covering his ears. Sirius looked vaguely ill and Remus’ shoulders crept toward his ears; James shuddered.

“The worst part is, we all know he can get it,” Finn said with a grimace. “God, I feel like I just heard someone talking about my parents having sex.”

“I’m sure he’ll love to hear that,” Marlene laughed. “Last one, from one of our truth or drinks.”

Remus went pale half a second too late. “N—”

“Hope Lupin is a milf.”

A broken noise escaped his mouth and he clamped his hand over it while Talker rubbed his back in sympathy. Sirius shook his head. “Somehow, that’s worse than Dumo’s.”

“Whoever sent that in, show some respect!” Leo said indignantly as Remus bonked his forehead against the table. “Hope Lupin is a lovely woman!”

“I think they noticed that particular fact,” Marlene pointed out, earning herself several scandalized shouts of her name and a whine from Remus. “That’s all we have for thirst comments! Are you ready for some funny ones?”

“Anything,” Remus pleaded. “I am begging you, anything else.”

Marlene shook her head as she stood, still smiling, and kissed Dorcas on the cheek when she entered the frame. “Go for it, love.”

“Dorcas!” they all cheered, lighting up immediately.

“Hey, guys, it’s been a while!” She curled up in Marlene’s vacant spot and took her own posterboards out from underneath the seat. “Alright, let’s rock and roll. Pascal Dumais is the team dad and nothing will change my mind, and Tremzy is the annoying youngest child.”

“That is so accurate,” Sirius laughed, leaning just out of range of Logan’s playful punch. “Whoever commented that has no idea how right they are.”

“We’ve got a whole sibling dynamic thing going on,” Talker agreed. “Tremzy’s the baby of the family, Cap is the quietly chaotic middle child, and Pots is the older brother that starts shit and inevitably gets blamed for however out-of-control it gets.”

Dorcas nodded. “You are one hundred percent correct. In a similar vein: Pots was the dad jokes friend before he was even a dad.”

“Painfully so,” Leo confirmed, shaking his head as they all groaned in agreement. James looked rather smug about the whole thing. “So many puns.”

“Oh, you’ll like this one,” Dorcas mused as she drew a new card. “If Tremzy looked directly into my eyes for even two seconds, all of my problems would be solved. I am sure of it.”

“Yes,” Finn and Leo said in unison.

“It’s something about the eyes, I think,” James added. “They just stand out so much that it’s a little startling straight-on.”

Logan looked to the camera and stared at it, unblinking; it zoomed in slightly on his face. “Everything will be fine,” he said with mock solemnity. “Your problems are solved.”

“Well, that was terrifying,” Sirius said drily. “Got any more for us, Ms. Meadowes?”

“Of course I do! We’ve got quite a few for Loops and Leo.” She took a sip of her water before getting comfortable again. “My favorite thing about these videos is that we can all see Loops get steadily buffer as the season goes on. Good for you, king!”

“Flex! Flex! Flex!” the six of them chanted; Remus rolled his eyes, but slid his sweater sleeve to his elbow and flexed his forearm, resulting in enough hoots and hollers that they could probably be heard a block away. Talker fake-swooned into Leo’s arms and Remus lightly whacked him on the shoulder.

“Remus Lupin looks like he has squishable cheeks,” Dorcas read aloud.

“He does!” James cooed, scooting over and reaching out.

Remus narrowed his eyes. “I swear to god I’ll bite you.”

Sirius cupped his face between his palms and kissed his nose, then pinched both his cheeks gently. “Ta-da!”

“How many of these do we have?” Remus asked, though his voice was a bit muffled by Sirius’ hands.

“Just one more for you, and it’s my personal favorite.” Dorcas assured him. “I love how the team probably had no impulse control until Loops joined.”

Sirius let go of his face and dissolved into laughter as Finn nearly fell on the floor. “Oh my—you think he has impulse control?” Talker slapped the edge of the table as he shook his head. “Absolutely not. Hell no, Loops is the first person to do stupid shit with us.”

“Yeah, I just don’t get caught,” Remus added around his own laughter. “Everyone thinks I’m such a hardass goody-two-shoes and it lets me get away with so much more than you delinquents.”

“Speaking of delinquents,” Dorcas continued. “This one is from our ‘Taste Testing Sexy Alcohol’ video: ah, yes, now I know how to do a body shot. 10/10, very educational video.”

“Do not take educational advice from us,” Finn blurted instantly. “I know this is a joke, but please exercise caution. That video was a ton of fun but a nightmare to recover from.”

Sirius winced at the memory. “I took two naps and then wished for death for a full day.”

“On a lighter note, who’s ready for some Knutty appreciation?” Dorcas smiled at her cards. “I've only had Leo Knut for a season and half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.”

“Big mood,” four of them said simultaneously.

Leo turned to the camera with a concerned look on his face. “That’s a meme reference, but are y’all okay?”

“No,” Dorcas answered. “Especially not this next person: Sometimes I do something productive and then I remember @LeoKnut is a 19 year old professional athlete who radiates happiness and with two of the hottest boyfriends the good lord has made, and then my bowl of packaged ramen seems less impressive.”

“I’m proud of your ramen,” Leo said, even as the corners of his mouth twitched in a smile. “And I appreciate the note about my boyfriends, because they are definitely the hottest people the good lord has made.”

Talker stuck his lip out in a pout. “Rude.”

“Sorry, Talkie, I’m biased.”

“Last one before Marlene comes back, so you’d better enjoy it!” Dorcas announced. “Did the Lions effectively utilize girl power when they wrecked toxic masculinity, yes or yes?”

“Can we utilize girl power?” Remus wondered, resting his shin on his hand. “Isn’t that exclusively for, y’know, women?”

“We can utilize himbo power,” Finn suggested.

James gave him an offended look. “Not all of us are himbos!”

“Okay, but you definitely are.”

“I am not!” James held up his fingers to count. “There are only, like, three qualifications, right? I might be strong, hot, and respectful, but I’m not dumb so it doesn’t count!”

“Pots,” Remus said quietly, hiding his smile for half a second. “Buddy, that was four things.”

James paused, then sighed in resignation. “Ah, fuck, I’m a himbo.”

“You really are.”

“At least we don’t promote toxic masculinity.”

They raised their waterbottles in a ‘cheers’ motion as Marlene and Dorcas switched spots; Marlene stretched her arms over her head and grabbed the new boards. “I’m back, beloved himbos. Talker, Leo, you are beloved by the people and have no mean comments. Cap, we’re starting with you.”

“Are they actually mean mean?” he asked.

“Sirius Black seems like a little bitch. Not in a bad way, necessarily. He just. Seems like he'd be a little bitch."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Oh, okay. That answers one question.”

“He’s not a little bitch,” Leo said. “Pouty on occasion, but not a little bitch.”

Remus gave him a long look, then shook his head. “Yeah, I mean, you teared up a little when Hattie got a splinter in her paw but didn’t even yell when you almost sliced your finger off while making dinner.”

“Duality of man,” Finn said sagely.

Marlene cocked an eyebrow. “Finn O’Hara’s hair kind of reminds me of Garfield the Cat.”

“Alright, that’s just rude.”

“It does not!” Logan gasped at the same time Leo made a noise of agreement.

Finn turned to him in utter betrayal. “Nutter Butter, I thought you liked my hair!”

“I do!” Leo defended. “But they’re not entirely wrong. It’s very orange in the sun.”

“I’m never going to forget that,” Finn muttered, staring at the floor.

“Ugh, it bothers me so much that Lupin just objectifies Black all the time!” Marlene read in a high-pitched, nasal voice. “No respect in that relationship!”

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “Pardon?”

Marlene stared at it for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, I have no idea what videos they were watching. Do you feel objectified in your relationship, Cap? I know the opinion of total strangers really bothers you a lot.”

“I’m really glad you picked up on that,” he said with false gravity. “Yeah, it’s such a bummer when my hot fiancé says I look nice. Such a blow to my self-esteem.”

“That was supposed to be a roast against me,” Remus said, looking amused. “Talk about backfiring.”

“Are you ready, Pots? This one’s pretty brutal,” Marlene warned. James nodded and Finn linked their hands for moral support. “James Potter is a swiftie and you cannot tell me otherwise.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “…yeah? That’s true? T Swift is a regular occurrence on the locker room playlist.”

“Also, James Potter looks like someone who would think black pepper was spicy.”

“Now that one is mean,” he complained as the others burst out laughing.  “It’s not my fault I have sensitive taste buds!”

“Oh, honey,” she said under her breath as she took a new card. “Get ready, Tremzy. This first one is short and sweet: Logan Tremblay looks like a lesbian.”

“That is not an insult,” Logan laughed. “Every lesbian I know is rad as fuck. I wish I looked that good in a leather jacket.”

“I just realized Logan doesn’t look short cause he’s next to bunch of hockey players, he’s short cause he’s 5’9.”

The smile slipped off his face in a millisecond as the others roared with laughter. “Quoi?”

“Oh, she got you good,” Sirius gasped, patting his shoulder clumsily. “Holy fuck, can I frame that?”

“That’s not what it says.” An edge of distress appeared in Logan’s voice. “Marley, that’s not what it says.”

James sat on the floor with the heels of his palms pressed against his eyes. “You’re fucking—whoever sent that in, you are my new favorite person. Jesus.”

“Do you need a second to recover before we move on?” Dorcas asked as she draped her arms over the back of Marlene’s chair. “The next one is our biggest section by far.”

“It’s the sweet ones, yeah?” Leo asked.

“Right.”

“It might be a good idea to do those before Lo spontaneously combusts.”

“Agreed!” She swapped with Marlene and hauled a short stack of posterboards out from their hiding place with a smile. “A hug from Dumo can probably solve any issue.”

“Facts,” Logan said. “I could really use one right about now, too.”

“Has anyone noticed how blue Leo Knut’s eyes are?”

“Yes,” the six of them chorused.

Finn gave him a dreamy look. “Every single day.”

“When I first read this one, I thought I wrote it,” Dorcas said with a snort. “Someone give Marlene a raise. No reason why, I just love her.”

“Can we do that?” Sirius asked, looking toward the camera crew. “Can we lobby to give you guys raises? Because you definitely deserve it after all the bullshit you deal with to make these videos watchable, and Marlene, you’ve drawn the short end of the stick ninety percent of the time.”

“How?” she called off-screen.

“You have to actually talk to us and try to get answers.”

“Fair.”

Dorcas finished scribbling something down on her notepad. “Just making a note of this conversation for future reference. Moving on! Sirius Black and James Potter are a prime example of hockey husbands, and I adore them.”

“The ironic part of that is that we’re both in committed relationships, but we’re basically married,” James mused.

Remus shook his head. “You guys are so married. Lily wanted to get you matching rings for your birthday, Pots.”

“That would be so cool!” they said in perfect unison. Remus turned to the camera and spread his hands in a case in point motion.

Dorcas stifled her laughter before moving on. “This one is cute. Give Remus Lupin all the hugs! I feel like I could tell him he’s an inspiration and he’d be so nice about it—” She paused to glance up at them. “—this next bit is in parentheses: all the LGBT Lions give me that vibe, but Cap and Knutty are super intimidating so I wouldn’t have the guts.”

Leo’s face fell and Sirius’ eyebrows pitched. “I’m not intimidating!” Leo protested. “I thought we already went over that! Loops gives fantastic hugs, but I want some, too.”

“He definitely deserves all the hugs in the world, but I promise I’m nice,” Sirius said, a bit softer than usual. “Is it because we’re tall?”

Dorcas half-shrugged. “Probably. It’s a little startling at first. Oh, I could’ve written this one, too: The Venn diagram of men I trust and the Gryffindor Lions is a full circle.”

Talker beamed at the camera. “Thank you!”

“So many hockey guys are such douchebags,” Logan said with a shake of his head. “I’m really glad we don’t do that shit.”

“Me, too.” Dorcas slid her old card under her chair. “Sirius Black’s hair looks so soft and I just want to touch it so bad.”

“It is so soft,” Remus agreed immediately. “You have no idea.”

“Everyone wants to touch Cap’s hair,” Finn said, sighing. “It’s so majestic.”

“I need a haircut.”

“No, you don’t,” Remus said as he tugged a stray curl. Sirius hummed.

“This one is from the interview some you did with Jules and Katie: these hockey boys being so soft with kids is my aesthetic! Like, it’s just so adorable to see these big, intimidating dudes be so, so sweet! Love them all!” She turned the card for them to see. “And then they added a heart at the end.”

“It’s impossible to be around those kids and not be happy,” James said. “They’re just too cute and wonderful.”

“Yeah, I love kids.” Finn nodded. “Especially the Dumais and Jules. They’re a hoot.”

“Jules would die if he heard you say that,” Remus laughed. “The hero worship is still going strong with most of you.”

“This one made me laugh when I first read it, but it’s really sweet,” Dorcas informed them. “Anyone else feel like we were deceived these past five years into thinking Cap was this hard-ass man, when in reality he's a cuddle bug who definitely captures and releases spiders instead of squishing them?”

“You weren’t deceived, I was just closeted,” Sirius said. “Also, I absolutely squish spiders.”

Remus gave him a look. “No, you do not. That’s my job. I’m the catch and release person if I can get away with it.”

James shook his head. “The third week of practices you saw a spider and threw me at it.”

“You did what?” Finn asked.

“There was a spider in my stall,” Sirius sighed, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else. “And Pots and I were talking so I didn’t see it until I almost sat on it, and my brain decided the only logical thing to do would be to grab him and shove him toward the spider.”

“That was after you shrieked,” Talker added. “Like, literally shrieked. I’ve never heard anyone make a noise like that.”

“Alright, alright,” Sirius grumbled. “We get it, I don’t like spiders.”

Remus shrugged. “But you are a cuddle bug. They got that part right.”

“We’re in the final two!” Dorcas announced. “This one has some pictures to go with it, so it’s on my phone. Fuck Romeo and Juliet, I want what these bitches have.”

“It’s us!” Leo cooed as the phone made its way down the line. In the upper corner of the screen, the photo appeared—it had been taken in New York, and Logan’s whole face was alight with happiness as Leo and Finn each pressed a kiss to his cheek. The camera caught him mid-laugh, so his eyes were closed and his chin was tucked slightly into Finn’s Strand hoodie.

“That’s my screensaver,” Finn said with a grin, pulling his phone out and turning it toward the camera without moving away from Leo. “One of my favorites.”

“I forgot you took that one,” Logan murmured. He hooked his chin over Leo’s shoulder and kissed his cheek; the four others at the table gave soft are you seeing this? looks to the camera and Dorcas smiled.

“Pots, I think yours is next. I hate to break it to you, Talkie, but they didn’t get any of you and Noelle.”

“We don’t take a ton of pictures together,” Talker said as James took the phone. “I mean, we take a bunch of selfies, but we don’t live close enough to each other to actually post that often. What picture is it, J?”

James was staring down at the picture with an unbearably sweet expression. “It’s our wedding. That’s my favorite one, actually.”

Like Logan, they had been captured while laughing—Lily was bent slightly at the waist as James clapped, his glasses just as askew as the flower crown on her head. It was impossible to tell who had told the joke originally, but they were both radiant in the sunset.

“That’s a really good one,” Sirius said with an unreadable look on his face.

“Well, well, well, fancypants, you two got a video.” James wiggled his eyebrows and Remus leaned in to see.

“What kind of video? One of our tikt—oh. Oh, this is so cute.” He shifted his chair over as the short edit began to play. “D, who made this?”

“A fan.”

“It’s really impressive,” Sirius said without taking his eyes off the screen. The edit was a series of photos, both on and off the ice; Sirius knocking their helmets together, then Remus looking back over his shoulder, then both of them in the water playing chicken in the sun. It was a slideshow of their life and their love.

“Can you send that to me?” Remus asked when it was over. “Cause that’s super cool.”

“Sure thing. Are you guys ready for the last one?” When they all nodded, she drummed her fingers on the posterboard and cleared her throat. “Arthur appreciation hours. He deserves it after managing to control the team.”

A cheer went up—all seven stood and applauded, half-laughing and half-whooping. “Miracle worker!” Sirius called.

“Best coach in the league!” Finn added.

“Most tolerant man to ever walk the earth!” Remus raised his water in a toast and they tapped the plastic edges together, nearly spilling all over the table.

Dorcas’ eyes crinkled in a smile as she turned to the camera. “That’s it for today, Lions! Tune in next time for more content of our boys, and thank you for such wonderful comments!”

[anneimaginesundertale]

Spooky Space Boys Collection Day 10

Heartfelt Compliments — Sweets; requested by @isnt-that-something

More with my favorite boy? Don’t mind if I do!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something you and Sweets had in common was your love languages. You both showed you cared for people through gifts a lot of the time. You found that out early in the relationship and the two of you courted each other with muffins and cookies and cinnamon rolls (and with crocheted items and little doodads you found at the grocery store, and with random sleepy cats plucked from one spot in the house and gently placed in a lap…) What you found out later, though, was that both of you also enjoyed words as a love language.

It started with the pet names. You called him sweetie and love and honey. He called you My Love, My Darling, Dearest, and My Heart. (That one got you for sure. You kissed him the first time he used it.) You added more names—sweetness, precious, baby, love. He added more name—My Sunshine, Rainbow, Sunflower, Beautiful One…You started writing notes to each other. Every time you opened your lunchbox, you found a small note in his shaky handwriting, calling you all sorts of wonderful things. It made you feel all warm and fuzzy, and often his notes were the high point of your day. You reciprocated and he started a collection of your notes, taping them in a heart shape on his wall.

People (his brother especially) teased you about the sweet talk. “Oh honey lovey dovey sweetie baby,” Sansy would coo with a shit-eating grin. “I love you so much, my little human snuggamuffin!” You learned to ignore him. It was just how you showed your love. Sansy didn’t seem to mind the food as a love language. He stopped teasing quite so much when you threatened to cut off his cookie supply.

The love notes and pet names became so normal to you that you were shocked when there wasn’t one in your lunch one day. You looked through all the little containers. Not in the sandwich, or the fresh grapes, or the carrots. Not in the chocolate muffin for dessert. Not stuck to the ice block. Not in any of the pockets or in your car. You felt a little pang of sadness. Had Sweets forgotten? It wasn’t like him…

Worried, you texted him. Hey, I don’t want to complain, but I can’t find your note…

His answer was confusing. Nyeh Heh Heh! Do Not Worry, My Darling! I Have A Note For You! I Just Didn’t Put It In Your Lunch Today! See If You Can Find It!

You texted back a question mark and a confused emoji and spent the rest of your afternoon hunting through your bag and your workspace to find the missing note. What was Sweets up to? You didn’t find anything before it was time to head home. You checked the car again. Still nothing. You headed home with the intention of finding your boyfriend and asking him what kind of jape he thought he was up to.

Your intentions vanished when you pulled into the driveway. There was a trail of sticky notes—heart-shaped sticky notes, in your favorite color—leading from the garage door to the front door. You read each one and picked them up as you went.

You Are My Sunshine! I Love How You Brighten My Days!

You Are My Sweet Marshmallow! Holding You Feels So Wonderful!

You Are So Kind To Me!

You Are Beautiful! I Love Every Part Of You!

You Make Me Feel Strong.

You Make Me Feel Needed.

You Make Me Feel Good.

That one led you to the door. You opened it, sticky notes in hand. “Sweets?” you called out. “Honey, where are you? What’s going on?”

No answer. There were more sticky hearts on the coat rack and the table where you put your keys and your bag, and on the wall leading to the living room. You followed the trail. Your cheeks flushed as you read more and more sweet words.

You Are So Clever! Your Mind Astonishes Me!

You Always Know When I Need Help, And You Help Me.

Your Kisses Are Sweet And Your Hugs Are So Warm.

I Love Hearing Your Voice.

I Love The Way You Look In The Morning! You Are So Cute!

I Love Spending Time With You. No Matter What We Are Doing, It Is Always Better When We Are Together!

I Love Sharing A Home And A Bed And A Life With You, My Sweetest, Dearest Darling!

Tears stung your eyes now. He was so sweet! Where was that skeleton? He was about to get kissed within an inch of his life! The second trail of notes led you through the living room and into the kitchen, but he wasn’t in there either. Instead, there were more notes, leading to the back door.

I Always Feel Better When I Am With You.

I Want To Take Care Of You And Make You Happy.

I Want To Keep Sharing My Life With You

Forever…

And Always…

If You Are Agreeable To That…

Then All I Need To Hear From You Is One Word, My Darling, My Dove, My Heart And Soul…Please…

You felt a lump rise in your throat. Was this really—was he—? You threw open the back door. Sweets was kneeling there, holding a small velvet box with a beautiful ring inside.

“Will You Marry Me, Y/N?” he asked.

You jumped on him, knocking him backwards onto the porch steps. “Yes!” you sobbed, peppering kisses all over his skull. “Yes, yes, yes!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn’t intend this to be a proposal story, but it took on a mind of its own! Not that I’m complaining! More fluff! More fluff for me!

(What do you mean, is this the way I’d want him to propose to me? What do you think? Would I write a proposal with my favorite boy that I didn’t imagine was for me? (Probably, if I needed to. But you know this month is about self-indulgence, so…))

(What do you mean is this canon Anne x Sweets? What do you think? (Should it be???))

[silent-dragon]

And finally! Part 3, and my final one's so you aren't overloaded with me! I'd love to see more from them. (人*´∀｀)

Admetos for 1, 14, and 19? Joy with 4, 5, and 18? And Ann with 23, 24, and 25?

1. Who makes up your family? How close are you to them?

Admetos: Here drawing I made of me & my dad for my desk since others have pictures like that i don't understand cameras... Daymon is his name. He is soft old sleepy chihuahua man. He came with me when I came to NRC for job interview and held onto me mostly as was scared of getting lost.

He lives on the island and pup sits Pepper my adopted puppy daughter a lot. He likes naps,hot apple tea,and talking dog movies. He doesn't understand alot of modern stuff like I do. People often think he is a lady which he doesn't understand but I take as they calling him pretty which I agree! My dad is pretty dog.

14. What's your favorite music genres?

Admetos: I am not sure but I like music with a lot of beats in them. Pepper seems to like pop music as she starts to dance when a student has one of those trendy pop songs on. I sometimes do the same.

19. What makes you sad?

Admetos: Oh I'd normally say nothing but if Pepper is sick I get concerned or my dad tells me someone has been mean to him as he is mistaken for a lady a lot. He is an old dog despite not looking so. I do feel sad like emotion when I learn such things have happened.

4. What's your least favorite childhood memory?

Joy: Being the odd child of my family. I have 12 siblings so 13 of us but im the only single birth so i am considered the odd,cursed,or special one..

5. What's your favorite thing to do in your free time?

Joy: Plan my work time of course. If it is really good free time I respond to my text messages from my 8 little siblings who speak to me via mostly with emojis wanting to know what i'm doing. They are between 3-10 ages. Im fluent in emoji speak conversations.

18. What's the best way to cheer you up?

Joy: Showing me your tardiness record. I'm kidding,showing me it will upset me not having one would cheer me up.

(Ann speaks in a third person were Ann never refers to self. Lilia tends to have to explain modern logic to Ann so is here to assist.)

23. Have you ever had a crush on someone? Do you have a crush now?

Ann: Ann doesn't crush people.(Lilia explains) Oh Ann understands now..Ann has had a crush before. Ann has crush on the soft kitty on broom who plays spelldrive! Ann wants to crush him!(Lilia interjects again) Ah Ann doesn't not want to crush him like that Ann want to other crush him. Ann wants to pet him,give muffin,and comb his hair. Ann is crushing right?

Lilia: More like a mother..

Ann: Ann not his mother!...but he free to?

Lilia: No Ann don't steal him he not free.

Ann: Ann gonna pet still...

24. What would you consider your main love language?

Ann: (After Lilia explains) Ann loves with actions. Ann will give food when hungry,give massage when tired,shine shoes when not shiny! Ann does things for you! Ann shows love that way.

25. Freebie! Come up with your own question for the character to answer.

What is your favorite thing to do at NRC?

Ann: Ann enjoys watching the students have fun and laugh with one another. Ann never seen so many from different lands together like family. Ann wishes this was back home but home people are divided.

Ann also likes to watch spelldrive! Ann likes how they go Wooosh and Swooooo in the air. Ann likes to see where the disc thing goes as its files too! Ann enjoys watching so much. Ann gives muffins to the teams after a game cause Ann knows they must be hungry.

[krys-loves-otome]

🥞 💐 🙈 ✏️ for ophelia, abigail, and miri!

🥞 Favorite Comfort Breakfast Ophelia She'd never admit it, but cake donuts that are baked with cinnamon sugar and honey (fried if she's feeling extra naughty)

Abby Oatmeal with cinnamon, apples, and dried cranberries. Preferably made with milk rather than water. Makes for a creamier texture.

Miri Strawberry Pancakes! Or really any sort of fruit pastry. Pancakes, Crepes, Muffins, and all manner of bread and berries are her go-to.

----

💐 Create a bouquet for them! What do these flowers mean? Are any of these their particular favorite?

Not a florist nor a gardener, so these might not make any sense but I just chose flowers and other greenery that I would associate them rather than it making a nice and/or possible in reality bouquet, lol. Also took meanings from this and this website, because, while reading, found out there are no hard and fast rules about what means what, so I just picked and chose from which version I liked best.

Ophelia Cranberry-Cure for heartache Lily of the Valley-Return to Happiness (this one is her favorite) Snapdragon-Presumption, Deception, Gracious Lady

Abby Daisy-Innocence, Purity, Loyal Love (this one's her favorite) Hibiscus-Delicate Love Sweet Pea-Good-bye; Departure; Blissful Pleasure; Thank You for a Lovely Time

Miri Fern-Magic, Fascination, Confidence, Shelter Amaryllis-Pride, Timidity, Splendid Beauty Honeysuckle-Generous and Devoted Affection (she likes the smell of this one)

-----

🙈 See no evil-What's a side of your oc that they don't want to show to other people?

Ophelia How scared she really is. Scared for her family's future, especially her younger siblings. Being accused of a crime she didn't commit and yet still blamed for it. Taken out of her element when she's wormhole-d to the Sengoku era and all the fears that came with that.

Abby How starved for affection and love she is. She didn't have a loving family situation growing up and ending up at Comte's mansion, while scary at first bc holy shit vampires are real!! It was in the mansion that she genuinely laughed and smiled for the first time in a long time, picked up painting again as something for fun and not as something that looked good on a resume, and got to hold hands and give and receive warm hugs from everyone, felt like a human being for once in her life. She still wonders if she's still dreaming some days, even cuddled up with Vincent as he whispers how much he loves her.

Miri How deep her insecurities run. Ostracized for most of her life because she could see and talk to ghosts, demons, angels, and other supernatural beings, and how the normal humans around her didn't like that (like her parents, teachers, classmates, etc), she isn't in the best place mentally when she's whooshed suddenly to Devildom. How once she came to Devildom, she started learning things about herself that she never knew, like about her ancestor, and how strong her powers actually are and have the potential to be (the fact that she (accidentally) pulled down six demons at once (including Lucifer) without breaking a sweat unnerved her so badly.)

-----

✏ Is there a particular quote/lyric you associate with them? (Time to embarrass myself by exposing my music tastes because my brain can't quotes rn!)

Ophelia "I cannot fight how I feel If angels ever were real They'd take this broken heart out of my chest" -Land of the Living, Jonathan Young

Abby "Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonely. You showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind me." -Only Yesterday, Carpenters

Miri "Well, you showed me how it feels To feel the sky within my reach And I always will remember all the strength you gave to me Your love made me make it through Oh, I owe so much to you You were right there for me"

-There You'll Be, Faith Hill

[motherlifesucher-archives]

a million like you l Shawn Mendes.

(a/n): so, here’s this singer that I really dislike because we “know” each other through mutual friends and long story, but she’s featured on a song by a singer that I really like, and the name of the song is “un millón como tú” which translates in “a million like you”, and it’s super sad and raw, and the live performance is pretty great, so it inspired my to start 2021 with a cute piece of angst <3

summary: if there’s a million like you, why can’t I sleep? 

You knew the end was imminent when he came back from tour. 

There weren’t many signs, because he was just too good to give you the cold shoulder, ignore you, belittle you, all while using the excuse of falling out of love with you. 

No, he was just as loving as he always was ever since he became yours, but you just knew him too well to recognize they were sinking fast because his love for you was fading. 

You tried to be indifferent, to trick yourself into thinking that this was just another relationship and he was just another man who crossed paths with you, because there were many more to come, and the last years with Shawn were a beautiful space of time where you got to call him yours. 

So you didn't even wait for him to unpack his things; you just sat down with him and said you knew he wasn’t happy anymore and that it was okay as tears fell down your cheeks, while his lips seemed redder and his cheeks flushed, he apologized a million times, reassuring that it wasn't your fault, it was all on him.

“Please don’t cry, you know it’s all on me.” He said on a low voice, almost like a whisper, as his hands restricted themselves from touching your cheeks lovingly. 

“It’s not on you, Shawn. This is what happens, but we’ve been happy and I’ve learned so much from you.” Your voice came out shaky, making Shawn give you a sad smile. 

“You’re just too good.” Shawn said shaking his head. 

You let out a small chuckle. “So are you, and I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too.”

Even when your journey together was ending, he was trying to spare you the suffering. Did that make it any easier? You wanted to trick yourself into thinking it did, but it wasn’t of much use, because even if his feelings for you weren’t there anymore, yours were very much alive.

Your friends were the happiest when you broke the news. Yes, they were understanding and listened to your rambling about your feelings, gave you their shoulders to cry on, fed you all the Ben & Jerry’s you could possibly eat, but they didn’t mask the fact they were happy the relationship was ever. Yes, they liked Shawn, even considered him a friend, but deep inside they knew you could do better than months by yourself while he traveled around the world, always showing up alone to important events or asking them to be a plus one, knowing there was someone who should be there for you whenever you needed them. 

Yet, they never talked badly about him, always being respectful of your process and heartbreak, but reassuring you that he wasn’t The One, he was one of millions, where someone would be right for whatever your heart desired. 

That’s how you convinced yourself that there were a million like Shawn, because, at the end of the day, he was just another human being with his high and lows, his good and bad; he was just a part of your story and you were a part of his. 

Three months went by and you didn’t hear from him. You silenced him on social media, unfollowed every Shawn account, and deleted every trace of him from your Instagram profile. 

Changing his contact name was the hardest, simply leaving him as Shawn M., with no emoji and no trace of feelings behind.

Your friends were respectful of your healing time, but were very aware that you hadn’t had a proper breakdown, a moment of catharsis and grieving of your four-year relationship with a good man; it was as if he never really existed and everyone knew it wasn’t healthy, yet were respectful of your process, even if it wasn’t the normal one. 

A glimmer of hope appeared when you met Ben, a cute British PhD student that was renting the apartment next to yours, and you didn’t hesitate to say yes when he asked you on a date. 

But, it was when you saw yourself in front of the full-length mirror, touching the fabric of the dress, when Shawn’s touch and first stolen glances came alive. 

“Does this even count as a first date?” Shawn asked you laughing, as you ate blueberry muffins from a bakery near the arena he was playing. 

“I don’t know, a girl could do a lot worse than the parking lot of the Staples Center, I give you that.”

You both laughed as the time for his first show on the Staples Centered neared, but neither of you really cared as you enjoyed the warm breeze while sitting outside, disguised by his tour bus and the movement of his crew and fans. 

“Then... Maybe we can think of a second date?” He asked you, trying to look all nonchalant, but it was so easy to look right through it. 

“I think we can arrange that.”

That was the thing about Shawn... He was always able to hit all the right buttons; to be shy and to be flirty, to make you laugh and make you open up your heart to him like you never had with anyone. 

He was so pure. 

He was so unique. 

He was the one in a million; in your eyes he could walk through fires, he could turn everything he touched into gold, he was the big deal, yet he had fallen out of love with you and there was nothing to do about it, because the battle was already lost the moment you weren't worthy enough to be with him. 

When the tears started running you remembered his warm embrace, his calming words, his loving kisses on your temple. 

“It’s okay, I’m right here when you’re ready.” He whispered on your ear as your body trembled and tears wet his shirt. 

Neither you or Shawn knew how much time went by as you finally separated your body from Shawn’s. His hand was still resting on your leg, letting you know he was there for whatever you needed and anything you asked from him. 

“Look at me, I’m a mess.” You said trying to eliminate any trace of tears from your face, but Shawn’s hands gently stopped you. 

“You’re the prettiest mess I've ever seen.” He said with a soft smile. 

You hid your face. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true! I mean, you are my girlfriend, you have seen me cry! I get all puffy and sound like a fucking hyena. You’re still the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

That didn’t stop your tears, but now they were tears of knowing you were loved and understood. Everything seemed small if you had him, Shawn made you feel invincible, always knowing he was walking right beside you. 

“You’re too good.” You said hiding your face in the crook of his neck, hearing his heartbeat and breathing. 

He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yeah... That’s a possibility” He sad making the both of you laugh before sharing a kiss; the kind of kiss that flies you to the moon and back, that makes your heart flutter and the butterflies sing inside. 

And that’s when you knew.

There weren’t a million like him.

[botwstoriesandsuch]

[Image ID: A screenshot of an anon asking saying “I just wanna say that your tags whenever you rb art and fics are so cute 🥺 you reblogged something of mine the other day and the tags were just so nice and innocent??? It’s like watching a little kid at an aquarium 😝so as an artist I thank you, hope you don’t take it as cringy” End ID]

- - - - - 

Cringey?? nonononono I may be a young kid watching the pretty fish swim aimlessly in the aquarium but I will

recklessly enjoy other people’s content don’t test me

I try to keep it in the tags cause I don’t wanna take away from the op’s original work, plus it makes it easier for other people to rb it from me, but I will amp up the love and appreciation when the situation calls for it. You could straight up come into my inbox or messages and just ask me to give you a reblog and I will do it, I do not care I love you, content creators.

Cringe Culture is dead it’s time to gush plus if I do this often enough people might do it more for me so it’s a win win hehe

Legit, I got a super sweet comment on one of my fics quoting something I wrote and it made me so happy so I was like “huh, guess I’ll do that more often then” and now I’m doing that, that’s how impressionable I am asdfghjk

Also hello?? specifically *my* tags helped you out?? I am a nobody, CLEARLY not enough people are doing this smh, allow me to teach the masses for a sec here

How To Make A Content Creator Happy: the world’s simplest guide to spreading serotonin through a keyboard

Step fucking one) You reblog it. I mean, that’s a given. You’ve all seen those “reblogs help creators out and likes do nothing” posts so I won’t rant too much. Likes are good, but reblogs are like handing someone a stack of a hundred dollars and all it takes is one click! 

(PRO TIP: Hold down the button and swipe for mobile, and hold the left alt button and click once for computer [though it will only rb to your main blog. if you want it for a side-blog then you’re stuck with two clicks but HEY two clicks to help out a creator you like is nothing!])

You share it! Just share stuff. Share the ao3 like, please do it. Don’t repost, don’t just mention it, give the links especially when you’re just in conversation or talking about it around plz I swear it does wonders

Ok moving on to the super simple stuff for commenting and putting stuff in the tags because I guarantee that the op will read them

write A N Y T H I N G and I literally mean anything just fucking:

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sdjflksdjfkjh

?!?!?!?!!?

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghghhhhhhhhh

:OOOOOOOOO

prettyyy

<33333333333333333

just fucking go ham, go nuts, it doesn’t need to be coherent it just needs to EXIST the very existence of someone enjoying someone’s content gives so much serotonin so stop being silent cowards and give us a smiley face from time to time

uh what else what else....hmm [golden rule is treat others the way you want to be treated, so if you’re a creator yourself, just give whatever you would want seen in the comments of your stuff! I mean that’s how I came up with all this...]

Point out the details! I mentioned earlier about quoting stuff from fics (that stuff is just 👌👌👌 so delicious) but I’m pretty sure (I’m not an artist myself don’t quote me) that the exact same effect is present when you talk about details in art or something. So talk about that pretty snowflake in the background! Or that piece of dialogue that made you laugh. Just a simple nod to the details is a big difference between saying “I like this” versus “I like this thing that you took the time to make the effort you put into the details did not go unnoticed”

just ALL the feedback please and thank you

this might vary from person to person, though personally I love when people are like “The way you write imagery is so good please do more!!” so just give a little nod to someone like “The way you draw this character is amazing please do more” or something like that

I wouldn’t go as far as to give criticism (although personally I’m the type of person that loves the occasionally critique for future reference, cause it means that you care as much as I do about the quality of my work) 

But along the same lines as the details thing, a nice nod to a creator about what they’re doing right is sooooo good! makes the butterflies flutter

                ~~~~~~Did that post give you emotions?~~~~~~

   G   O   O   D

 ~~FUCKING TELL US~~

THE ACT OF SOMEONE WRITING A SET OF LETTERS, OR SOMEONE SKETCHING A BLOB MADE ANOTHER DISTANT HUMAN BEING DEVELOP CHEMICALS IN THEIR BRAIN?? SURE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT BECAUSE WOW THAT’S AMAZING!?!??

just go “I’m so happy” or “I’m so sad” just “TT__TT” just fucking “:OO” or just “I hate this” [HUMOURISTICALLY] and “I can’t believe you’ve done” just give it yes tell us the emotion that you have felt we love it

I don’t think enough people understand how amazing that is???? You were once in a normal, neutral state, and then a piece of content that I created just made you smile or laugh or cry like WHAT that’s amazing omg

Ok so that’s pretty much the simple stuff right, that’s your elementary classwork right there

Just give something, literally anything and just go “I love this so much!!!!!” bam done, you just murdered the op with your love, great job

So yeah, that’s that. Pretty simple stuff, no?

...but you wanna graduate to master class?

You wanna fucking go ape shit

you wanna just

g o    t o    town?

I said this was gonna be a simple guide so don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell you that you have to write a full length essay on every post that you come across

[BUT IF YOU WANT TO DON’T LET ME STOP YOU THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE AMAZING?? HELL WRITING OUT A PARAGRAPH OF A COMMENT IS ALREADY JUST *CHEFS KISS* MASTERCLASS OF MURDERING THE OP WITH LOVE JUST ANALYZING THE SHIT OUT OF THE COLORS AND SHADING AND FRAMING OR JUST POINTING OUT THE THEMES AND SUBTEXT AND CHARACTERIZATION --part of the reason I love betaing stuff so much because I can analyze shit and shower it with premature love while also helping fics to be even better than they were originally ugh so cleansing for my literature heart-- SO YEAH GIVE CREATORS A PARAGRAPH, DARE I DREAM OF PARAGRAPHS, BECAUSE WOW YES PLEASE YES]

...ahem anyway

the way to graduate from good to great as a receiver of content is

to do all this

any of this

any of this simple stupid amazing shit

and just

put it in an ask or message

that’s literally it

Let me tell you why that’s so amazing, it pumps up the already amazing dopamine dosage of these actions alone, and multiplies it by a hundred, let me tell you why

Let’s say you read a drabble. You loved it, you reblogged it, you gave it hearts and emojis and ranted for a few tags about how it made you drop your muffin on the ground. Fantastic work, you just made the op pass out.

Then you go about your day and that’s the end of that.

BUT

if you do all that

and then put it in an ASK

dare you even a direct message?? (probably not most of us on here are cowards I get that)

but an ASK, anon or otherwise?

The message you just sent to the op was “I interacted with the post you made, and I loved it so much that I went the extra mile of going to your blog to make extra extra sure you understand how much I liked your thing”

There’s a wordless wall with every post! You like and reblog the thing and move on with your day. 

But the fact that YOU sent a HEART a SINGLE sentence about how you liked a thing? the fact that you BREACHED that wall and just fucking keyboard smashed in the inbox? the fact that you did that is the most amazing thing in the world

you just ambush the op with good vibes. we were expecting the bare minimum in the comments and tags, but the fact you when out of your way to make it a message or ask???? superb, outstanding, the sheer SHOCK of it will shift tectonic plates

you’re my fucking hero if you do this. you’re a godsend. I would kill for you,👏people👏would👏kill👏for👏you.

AT LEAST THEY WOULD KILL FOR YOU IF THIS ACTION DIDN’T ALREADY MURDER THEM

BE A MURDERER, NAY, A SERIAL KILLER. MURDER CONTENT CREATORS WITH LOVE

BE RECKLESSLY KIND AND LOVING YOU PIECE OF SHIT, ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE CRINGY TO STARVING AND DYING WRITERS AND ARTISTS WE WILL TAKE IT ALL GOD DAMMIT

YOU ARE A CHILD STARING UP AT AN AQUARIUM IN WONDER.

MAKE YOUR HAPPINESS STIR THE TIDES, LET YOUR PRESCENCE BE KNOWN PAST THE REFLECTION OF THE GLASS.

THE FISH ARE LOOKING FOR YOUR SMILE. 

[muffinmelloww]

me rn

[thebirdandhersong]

Fairy tale retellings! because I couldn’t help myself (under the cut because I got carried away and remembered my fairy tale retelling phase from middle school........ oh boy)

Cinderella 

Cinderella (2015 Disney live action): beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFUL (the music! the script!! the Hope! the costumes! the dress! the gentleness at its heart! the overall design and the colours!) (I still believe it’s the best live action re-adaptation they’ve come up with so far) (then again they DID have one of the Rogue One writers and Kenneth Branagh--both of whom understand story AND fairy tales--on the team, and possibly the best combination of actors and costume designers)

Cinderella (Disney animated movie): like a dream. Can’t remember it that well because I haven’t watched it in over ten years, but I remember that I loved it

Cinderella, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical featuring Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana: Laura’s Cinderella is so lively and hopeful and bright and affectionate and I Love Her!!! The script is also surprisingly funny, and the little changes they made (like the fairy godmother being an old beggar woman in the village, the subplot with her stepsister, the scene at the ball where she suggests that they should all be kind to one another, the fact that the prince is called His Royal Highness Christopher Rupert Windemere Vladimir Karl Alexander Francois Reginald Lancelot Herman (HERMAN!) Gregory James....... iconic) added rather than detracted from the themes they chose to emphasize

A Cinderella Story: possibly one of my favourite films. I loved the fact that they knew each other before the ‘ball’. Loved the way the fairy tale was ‘translated’ into the 2000s. The friendship was strong with this one. I had the best time watching this movie. (Dress-wise, Hilary Duff’s dress is my least favourite, but that’s a minor quibble, and is also due to the fact that it has Lily and Laura’s gorgeous fluffy ballgowns to contend with, and that’s not fair competition)

Persuasion, by Jane Austen: does it count?? The way I see it, Persuasion is like Cinderella gone wrong (we discussed this in class, and my prof called Lady Russell a fairy godmother who means well but fails her protege before the story even begins. We talked about Anne’s ‘Cinderella’/makeover moment taking place over a longer period of time, about the ‘evil’ stepsisters, etc. etc. I’m not entirely sure I agree with every single comparison he made, but he made some Very interesting points).... at least the first time :)

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer. Oh, the images!!!!! Marissa Meyer is WONDERFUL at them. You wouldn’t think they’d translate well into a futuristic sci-fi (almost steampunk) world, but she did it SO brilliantly (the slipper! the ‘dress’! the whole family situation!)

Rapunzel

Tangled (Disney animated movie): an absolute joy. Rapunzel is an Ariel-like character who has hopes and dreams of her own, and I love how warm and vivacious and endearingly transparent she is. The dance scene is so, so lovely. (I stand by my opinion that very few little went right with Disney’s fairy tale retellings after Tangled.)

Cress, by Marissa Meyer: once again. Images. I can’t believe she managed to pull Rapunzel-in-space off so well. (Plus she’s a hacker, and such a sweetheart!!)

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (Disney animated movie): Amazing. Gorgeous. Brilliant. The buildings and the music and Belle (Belle, my darling!!) and the darker, more Gothic feel to the art and the design...... Yes

Beauty, by Robin McKinley: knocked it right out of the ball park, right through the atmosphere, right into outer space... The language is so lush and atmospheric, and even though I knew roughly what was going to happen, I loved every moment of it. She puts a special emphasis on family and on human connection and I Loved that so much.

Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley: also gorgeous!!!!! Beauty is still my favourite of the two, but this one was also a gem. (Again: the emphasis on family and sisterhood!!!)

Beauty and the Beast (the Broadway musical): Susan Egan’s voice is SO lovely. And Home deserved more than just an instrumental reference in the 2017 version.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Princess of the Midnight Ball, by Jessica Day George: the Best. The sisters are easier to distinguish, the changes/things she added (the war, the queen’s past, etc.) make the story even more interesting, and Galen is fantastic (courteous, kind, brave, AND likes to knit?? NICE)

The Barbie movie: I loved it when I was a little girl (it is also Muffin-approved!)

The Princess and the Pea

@fictionadventurer​‘s Wodehousian one :) which is an absolute delight. Every once in a while I remember it and then can’t stop smiling

The Goose Girl

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale: the Best. And by the Best, I mean the absolute Best. Her writing is so beautiful and her characters are so real and distinctive. The worldbuilding is fascinating. It’s so simple and so beautiful, and is near-perfect as a retelling and as a novel. The rest of the Bayern series is also wonderful!!

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (Disney movie): can’t remember it very well, except for the chef who wanted to cook Sebastian and also Ariel’s very cool sisters.... the music and Ariel’s character are lovely :)

The Little Android, by Marissa Meyer: genius. The first time I read it, I cried furiously. What does it mean to be human?? Marissa Meyer loves to talk about this in her other books (through malfunctioning robots, androids, werewolves, etc.). And the conclusion she comes to is always the same (and always done so beautifully): it’s about love and sacrifice (and tbh even though she’s talking about this through robots and werewolves, she’s got a point!!! When you act with love and self-sacrifice, you reflect the character of the Maker and His love and self-sacrifice, which is what makes us in that moment the most human--or at least human in the sense that that’s what we were made to be and to do towards our neighbours and enemies)

Ponyo (Studio Ghibli movie): this counts, doesn’t it?? A film that is an absolute joy through and through. It doesn’t completely stick to the original fairy tale but it also talks about compassion, kindness, and love as a choice

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog (Disney animated movie): can’t remember it very well, but Anika Noni Rose has a fantastic voice, and I loved Tiana’s practicality, optimism, and kindness

The Prince of the Pond, by Donna Jo Napoli: can’t remember it either (read it in third grade) but basically it’s about how the prince turns into a frog and starts a family with another frog (the story is told from her perspective). I do remember that the ending made me so sad, though

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty (Disney movie): can’t remember it at all either, except for: 1) Once Upon a Dream (a brilliant song) and 2) forget pink or blue. I liked her grey dress the most

Spindle’s End, by Robin McKinley: the story was told in such an interesting way (the animals! the way she wrote about love and protecting the people you love and self-sacrifice in familial and platonic relationships!) with Robin McKinley’s beautiful style

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

East, by Edith Pattou: I was obsessed with this book in elementary school. Obsessed. I kept rereading it over and over again because I just loved it so much. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but I can remember certain scenes (Rose entering the ballroom for the first time, the white bear’s hulking figure in the doorway, the architecture of the hall where she washes the shirt, her fingers running over the wax, the reunion scene) so vividly as if it had been a movie instead of a book, or if I’d actually been there, experiencing what Rose was experiencing

Orpheus and Eurydice (which kind of counts)

Hadestown (the Broadway musical, the original cast, AND Anais Mitchell’s original concept album): I’ve talked about it so much I probably shouldn’t even start slkfjsdl;kfjlk; I just wanted an excuse to mention it again

Tam Lin

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones: I loved it when I first read it but I was so confused and so fascinated by it.

The Snow Queen

Frozen (Disney animated movie): no (insert heart emoji)

And contemporary(?) books that are considered modern classics, if not modern fairy tales (depends on how you look at it, really):

Peter Pan

Peter Pan (Disney animated movie): a childhood favourite!!!

Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry: the whole series is so much fun (and they’re among some of the funniest books I’ve read). This one serves as a sort of prequel to Peter Pan, but it’s safer to say that Dave Barry reimagined the whole story.

Peter and the Starcatcher (Broadway play adaptation of the book, which is a reimagining of the original Peter Pan..... yeah): the source material is incredibly funny, so naturally the play adaptation makes you laugh until your sides feel ready to split (I mean!! You have Christian Borle as Black Stache, Adam Chanler Berat as Peter, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Molly..... they’re all brilliant) The script, the way the cast makes use of the set and props, the perfect comic delivery....... love it

Finding Neverland, a musical adaptation of the movie (the A.R.T. production with Jeremy Jordan as James Barrie): the music is so good, and the way they write about the value of looking at the world through the eyes of a child?? of seeing the beauty in everything?? of hope and imagination and wonder?? If it weren’t for the way it handles adultery (even emotionally cheating!) and divorce :( but Laura Michelle Kelly is absolutely enchanting, and the script is also incredibly funny and heartwarming

Tiger Lily, by Jodi Lynn Anderson: a twisted fairy tale... it was quite disturbing at times, but it was also beautiful and heartbreaking. It’s a darker take on the story, which I tend not to like (at all), but the way it explored Tiger Lily and Peter was quite interestng

The Wizard of Oz

WIcked, the Stephen Schwartz musical--I haven’t read the book: as far as retellings-about-the-villain-of-the-original-story goes this one is my favourite. It is another twisted fairy tale, though, and there’s a constant undercurrent of doom and dread, even in the motifs Stephen Schwartz uses... the ending is not completely happy, but the music is FANTASTIC (Mr. Schwartz also did The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Prince of Egypt!!)

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland (Disney movie): another childhood favourite... I also haven’t seen this one in over ten years, but I can still remember specific scenes very clearly in my head

Alice by Heart: a musical about a girl called Alice Spencer whose coping mechanism (quite literally) is Alice in Wonderland. She knows it by heart (again. Literally) and she dives into the world as a form of escapism (LITERALLY. There’s even a song at the end where the characters acknowledge how unhealthy this is). There’s a lot about growing up, losing a loved one, learning to let go... about self-deception and grief and the control one has over one’s life (unfortunately it IS subtly antagonistic towards Christianity at times)..... i do wish that writers didn’t have to treat sexual maturity as the most prominent/interesting part of coming-of-age stories, though. The characters, the set and lighting and costume design (BRILLIANT, by the way!!!!)... all wonderful. But the strangely sexual references can be a bit uncomfortable. (Really!! You can tell a coming-of-age story WITHOUT that stuff, you know!!!!!)

That Disney Movie directed by Tim Burton: wouldn’t recommend. Alice doesn’t need to be a warrior. (At ALL.)

Would also like to mention: Princess Tutu :)

[coralsgrimes]

So, let me see if I can be semi-coherent tonight, despite the stubborn cold. I've been thinking about my little theory, but should probably have taken notes, to remember it all. Oh well.

Anyway. Huff grew up Mormon, and as we all know, they have very strict rules you need to follow. Her parents divorced, and J moved to London, where she was tutored in dancing/performing arts, so it's safe to say the rules got a lot slacker over the years, but she still spent most of her formative years governed by very strict rules made by God (their words, not mine). Then she/her family cut ties with the religion, and this is where I start to speculate. When you remove yourself from something that takes up so much space in your life, rules so much of it, it leaves a huge, gaping hole. You need to fill it with something. Former addicts often find religion, but former religious people need to find something else. I don't think her London coaches were Mormon, but being part of a tight knit group, like in a small school/her dance academia, is, in some instances like being in a cult. You're surrounded by the same people doing the same things, thinking and doing the same stuff. Then she left London, and loved back the US (LA?), where... she didn't have that anymore either. So there's this hole that needs filling, and that's when she probably first gets interested in this new age stuff. Astrology, spell books, new moons, energies, flows, all that stuff. And now she's got her kinrgy thing going, which is just the same old crap in not-even-new-wrapping. The only new about it is that the money goes to her, all the moving, dancing, energy flows etc are all old news. I think she's insecure, uneducated, and so afraid of not being liked that she's open to ANYTHING, so wide open that common sense has fallen right out, while a whole lot of other stuff has fallen right in. Basically, I've probably not reached any ground breaking conclusions, but I've tried to sum it all up. And, because I've sent in a bunch of asks, I'm gonna claim 🌼 as my signature (or Daisy, if you prefer letters over emojis).

Well Daisy it is muffin!

Gonna add that I have gin at hand (classy as fuck I know) so my rambling gonna be incoherent and bad, at the very best <333 hope I wont write down some questionable shit lol

What ye saying makes sense? I kinda alway attributed her quirks and bullshit to the fact that she comes from money and has no like us lowly peasants experience or any bothers other than what she fancies today? It all adds to what you are telling me and the picture is getting worse with every new detail. Lol sorry for another movie ref but in trainspotting (T2 to be exact I think?) there's some talk about how to get yourself out of one addiction ye need a new one. And the new age stuff is so fucking sketchy and cultish…

Plus she is uneducated, what other way she can present herself thank saying pseudo science stuff of which most was disproved? (not that folks without formal or higher education are lesser kind of people or anything. her lack of education and knowledge turned into search for it later in life but the pathological celebrity culture, life choices and/or people around her turned it into ill-information, that's it) Some things never change ;c

She just seems so fake in all aspects of herself, looks and personality. Try hard she is. Sometimes I wonder if I should pity her but she is so deep into the wormhole and never looked for a way out? Only how to go deeper? And coin it on the way too.

The story ye gave me is a sad one, at some point tho she could have chosen to get herself out but did not. And when ye look at her fam rn (the sisters and brother and momma it is) they are all the same as her? In the sense of them being this happy show offs and serial fakers… Family thing I suppose? Maybe the parents' ambitions got passed onto them kids? The dancing from the youngest of age especially? The need to perform maybe? That shit stinks ngl. And they all surround themselves with friends or associates who have similar traits and ambitions. Yeah def not sorry for people like them, now i'm thinking. The religion angle is good thinking tho. Never knew bout that.

So what ye said explains a lot but still… its so fucking strange. Lowlifes like me cannot comprehend I guess x.x

THANK YOU! lol I would never put myself through Jules research ;c and go take care of yourself muffin 😘 lots of fluids for ye… and for me tmrw mornin probably lol

[boymeetsparadise]

masterlist

contains and mentions: female reader x jung hoseok/ female reader x kim taehyung.

>language, break ups, angst, anxiety, brief mention of a loved one’s passing, alcohol, children. exes to strangers au, (please let me know if i missed anything)

Word count: 2k

an: i had the sad music playing, its one of those moments.. this came to mind and hopefully you all enjoy! angsty hobi? tragic but sign me up! (◠‿◠)

listened to while writting: 2 soon - keshi

A weary sigh left your lips as you toed off your shoes, a soft nudge to close off the door as your hair fell down your back from having been up all day. A late night at work and you finally had the weekend to look forward to, it dawned that your energy wasn’t the same as before. You worked from home most of the time unless it was a big project or a mistake had been made, then you’d spend hours away from home. Rare but dreaded. 

The small apartment was quiet as the soft patting of your tired feet on the wooden floors brought back life. Bag set on the dining table, you looked over into the kitchen as the under cabinet stove hood glowed into the dark home, leftovers waiting. You opted to eat it at room temperature, trying to keep the silence aside from the soft drags of cutlery.  Washing dishes could wait until the morning as you made sure the windows were properly locked around your home. 

The soft thuds of clothes hit the floor before you let out another sigh. Arms around yourself, massaging your sore neck before changing and letting the soft, cool material of your pajamas welcome you even further. Doors and wooden floor panels softly creaked before you slid into bed, another sigh as you stared at the ceiling, dinner finally settling. You reached over to your phone on the nightstand, mindlessly scrolling through your social media. Looks like a high school acquaintance got married, double-tap, and type out a quick congratulations with excessive emojis. Your cousin posted a selfie and she looks breathtaking, double-tap, and comment that you miss her. You continued for a few more posts, catching up on the people around you. A tired yawn and you were giving in to sleep. A small stretch and click of the phone, you turned over, a small smile on your lips. 

Only a couple minutes in before your eyes shot right open. Your phone was on low volume but the vibrations had it motoring across the small table. Probably a late-night telemarketer as you couldn’t quite recognize the phone number. A spam risk? You pressed the accept button, whispers ready. 

“Hello?” There was a small gasp.

“[Y/n]” and then a small sigh of relief.

You sat up in bed immediately, shock and confusion written all over your face.

“Hoseok?” You whispered, questioning whether or not it was really the voice. 

“Yes!” He sighed, “It’s me..” He bit his bottom lip as his index finger mindlessly circles the finish of the glass bottle. To him, it felt so good to hear your voice again and he thanked his angels above for remembering your number. 

You sat up in bed, wide awake with a sudden pang in your heart. Silence followed as you tried to find the words to say. There wasn’t any- so serious yet awkward as it used to be so easy to talk to one another.

“Long time huh?” Hoseok let out a nervous chuckle as he adjusted his phone. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been..” You paused, and quickly pulled away to glance at the time, what was going on? “It’s two a.m, why?” 

“It’s late I know. But I just had to call. I had to just hear your voice again.” He pleaded. You rolled your eyes, he wouldn’t know that though. 

“But why?”

“Can’t I just call to catch up?” He played casually.

“No.” You snapped at his attempt as your mind began to wander at his intentions. 

“I couldn’t sleep. I thought I should call you.” He confessed.

“It’s been-”

“I know how long it’s been.” He cut you off. “But you were always the best remedy.” 

You sighed, his words sending another chill down your spine.

“I tried to hard to find your number, I thought you would’ve changed it.” Silence. “Relieved that I’m not blocked.” He tried to chuckle but failed awkwardly. You don’t tell him that you just unblocked his number about a year ago because the missing contact name confused you. 

“Let’s just talk.” He licked his lips, adjusting in his seat. “How are you? How’s your dad?” He tried, hands shaky. 

“He passed last November.” You deadpanned.

“Oh…” Hoseok felt a wave of guilt. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too.” You’ve missed a lot Jung Hoseok.

Another moment of silence followed. 

“...Cut to the chase Hoseok” You ran your free hand through your hair again, looking over your shoulder, “Why’d you call?”

“I think you know why [Y/n]..”

“ I don’t know anymore.” You paused. “You don’t call someone up at two am after you haven’t been able to do so for over three years.” 

“I’ve missed you. And I’ve realized how much of an idiot I am.” He played with the bottle some more.

“You had three years Hoseok.” You stared off into the distance of your dimly lit room, the moon shining in through a small crack in the curtains. 

“And I regret not calling sooner.” He let his head fall, tears burning his eyes.

“Have you been drinking Hoseok?” 

“Would that matter?” He cocked a brow.

“Considering you could never be honest with me when sober, yes.” For a moment you felt like you had gone back in time, a younger you picking up the phone because she had yet another fight with her boyfriend and he called to apologize like always. At three am as his lips slurred the truths he wished he would say while sober, but you knew that already.

You’d believe every word and then he would stumble to your place, pebbles at your window before you let him in, embracing each other as you sat on your roof, looking at the sky.

“I’ve changed.” He rubbed his eyes, drunk sincerity in every word he spoke. “So much.” He sighed. “And I’ll never be sorry enough on that it took me so long to do so.”

“It shouldn’t have taken years.” You shook your head. “I’m sorry but I don’t see the point in tonight’s-”

“Can I come see you?” His voice was shaky. “Just this once, please? I have so much I want to say.” Another desperate sigh, “And I want to do this face to face.”

“Hobi-” You shuttered from letting his old nickname slip.

“You still stay in the same place right? I’ll be there in 15.” He downed a prepared shot, eyes wandering for his jacket- ready to head out. You took a deep breath, a soft cry could be heard across the hall.

“Hoseok stop.” You swung your legs off the edge of the bed, the anxiety making you fidget. 

“Let me stay the night. I’ll leave in the morning, I swear.”  He tried to convince you and himself, his mind blocking out sounds that weren’t you. “Just let me be in the same space as you. Please?”

“You had time Hoseok.” Pity in your tone, you continued, “You won’t remember this in the morning.” Too distracted to feel the movement on the other side.

“I can come by in the morning if I can’t right now... How does nine am sound?” He bit the inside of his cheek, avoiding your pleads. “Would that be fine?’

“Listen-” 

 “I can pick up your favorite muffins and we can talk over some coffee-” Hoseok tried.

“Hoseok.” You repeated, tears ready to slip at any moment as he heard the crack in your voice, his heart breaking with it. 

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you. Trust me I tried so hard to forget. To move on. But I couldn’t. I can’t.” Another heavy sigh. 

“Stop it.”

“Just a bit of time, please. I know it isn’t fair of me to ask this of you. I’ll always be that selfish but I can’t help it. I have to ask for more. I’m sorry.”

“You missed so much. I’ve-”

“Please. At least let me see you for the last time.”

“Three years.” You reminded him, it hurt so bad. 

“I know.”

Another silence. Memories of you two flashed in your mind. Moments of joy and love now hurt so much, pushed away to the depths of your mind, buried underneath new ones.

“I have to go.” 

“Please don’t hang up.” His voice broke.

“I have to. Please don’t call again.”

“I’ll call every day. I’m serious.” He spoke, his free hand rubbing at his burning eyes. “I want another try at us. I’m tired of the games I played. I’ve changed and I’ll prove that [Y/n].”

“Don’t do this.”

“Don’t you love me anymore?” Hoseok’s vision went blurry. “It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, true love will always come back to one another.” He tried to reason as the grip on his phone tightened.

“I don’t love you anymore.” You jumped right in, cutting him off from rambling any further, teeth clenched. “Don’t start spewing your bullshit when you’re the one who walked out on me Hoseok. We could’ve had it all but you fucked up. I got tired of waiting and hoping. Obviously this isn’t true love if it took you this long to realize. I found my happiness Hoseok.” 

You were bitter. Fed up. You sat, heavy breathing, the man who once gave you butterflies was now asking for pity and forgiveness as if that wasn’t a constant in your time together.

“You don’t mean that.” Hoseok pleaded. “Please.”

“I do and you’re drunk Hoseok. Bye.”

“[Y/n]-” 

“You’ll find someone one day, and you’ll thank me for this.” Your eyes fluttered shut as you pulled the phone away. 

Hoseok’s lip started to quiver, his calls were always enough and now you were here ready to hang it up for good. 

“Baby?” 

Hoseok raised his brows, eyes wide with confusion. Was there someone with you? Should he hang up? 

“Sorry love, I tried my best to put them back down to bed but I think someone misses their mommy.” Your lover pouted as he made his way over to you. He avoided mentioning he’s been awake since he heard you come home, the muffles of the other line peaking his interest.

Hoseok let his tears fall like an overflowing sink. He recognized that voice. The voice of someone he once considered an old friend, now calling you baby. Did you have a child?

“It’s fine.” You took your head with a slight grin, taking the infant in your arms as he sat down next to you. The smalls cries halted as they recognized your motherly scent. “Why hello little one.” You coo’ed, finger softly stroking the tiny plump cheek.

“Did you miss me?” Your face lit up with joy as the tiny infant stared back at you, mouth round as they let out soft coos.

“Wow that’s so interesting, tell me more!’ You smiled as Taehyung sat right next to you stretching to see the interaction between you and his child, heart bursting.

Hoseok listened to the entire conversation, a pain in his chest. Your voice full of love and excitement. You meant what you said. You had found your happiness. 

Taehyung looked over to your phone, forgotten on the bed, the screen lighting up momentarily- Hoseok hung up. He sighed, relief washing over him. Hopefully- he heard everything. “I’m so proud of you.” He softly spoke against your temple, inhaling your perfume and leaving a small kiss. 

“For what?” You knitted your brows before looking back at the child in your arms.

“Everything you do.” He smiled, not ready to admit to his eavesdropping. “You amaze me every day. You’re so strong and such an excellent friend, lover, mother, human being. I love you and our little family.” His eyes now teary as he looked down at your ring finger- the diamond still shining even in the dark. “I just think I should remind you any chance I get.” He shyly smiled before looking away. 

Heat spread across your cheeks as you stared at him for a good moment, taking in his appearance. His honey toned skin looked absolutely mesmerizing in the moonlight as his dark waves bounced with every movement. His hand came up to stoke your child’s hair before they enveloped his thumb in their small hand. The small interaction had you bursting at the seams. 

“I love you too.” You smiled before giving him a soft kiss, a smile on your face  now focused on the child before you. A very heavy sigh you didn’t even know you were holding escaped, happiness was this very moment.

“She...” [name] stared off into space, struggling for word, bringing the bottle to his lips. “How could he do this? ” He threw his head back, taking a swig. His best friend and the love of his life. The word ‘mommy’ rang through his head. 

She was right, a lot can happen in three years and he had just realized how long that time really was. He bit down on his lip, drawing blood. He hated himself completely as the bottle rested on his lips, another swig as it burned the fresh punctures. 

Silence filled the messy room, bottles and cigarette buds littered the floor as he looked through his photo gallery, fresh tears landing on an old photo he took of you. You both changed and this time the roads didn't cross. His phone calls always set everything right. He promised himself to call again one day. 

 “I may hate this now but I hope I find what you have [y/n]. Then maybe I’ll thank you.”

[othercat2]

Jam: Egg fic with worldbuilding but no title 1/?

So this is a thing I’ve been putting up on the homestuck gang discord. I decided to play with the “oviparous trolls” au thing. As you do. As usual, I have no idea of what I’m doing, and there’s a lot of worldbuilding.

_________________________

He's fussing (he is not fussing this is his first clutch okay) with the temperature controls of the incubator. Four eggs was  a reasonable sized first clutch and they were all on the small end. (But perfectly acceptable Zahhak!) Karkat snapped pictures of the speckled eggs and sent them to their genetors with his usual message of "red and blue slurry still does not make purple grubs." In honor of some of the most idiotic questions he'd  been asked by someone supposedly not a subadult. (Zahhak was lucky his matesprit put up with him.)

After egg coddling was breakfast and waiting for his attendant to arrive with his schedule. (And check his work.  Fucking up temps for a clutch could alter their projected caste or render them nonviable.) Karkat was hoping Kanaya was going to be bringing him good news from the medics; he's been on rest for what feels like forever and wants to get back to his work out. He checks the news feeds and catches up to social media. He also does a lot of shit talking at various internet hate friends. He's  doing some online shopping when Kanaya turns up. He's about to offer her a muffin and some coffee but...

"Kanaya are you okay?" She did not look okay.  "The Cavern Matre called me into her office," Kanaya says in a numb little voice. "Something terrible has happened."

Karkat felt a little thrill of panic at that. "Did something happen to my genitors?" He asked. “Zahhak doesn't  message too often but usually I'm exchanging stupid smilies and emojis with Megido by now."

Kanaya shook her head. "No this is something else. Worse."

"Worse?" Karkat asks. Kanaya nods. "The other attendants are speaking to their genetrices," she says.

"The Matres felt this would be better than simply announcing this during assembly."

"Announce what Kanaya?" Karkat asks.

Kanaya takes a breath. "Despite the strictest security measures we've discovered there's been trafficking of a genetrix bloodline."

"Holy shitfuck." It was easy to see why it hadn't been announced during assembly there would have been a fucking riot. "How?" Cavern security by necessity was tight for the very purpose of preventing kidnappings. Genetrices were trained to fight or take more extreme measures if taken. The punishments for attempting a kidnapping were gruesome.

"We don't  have all the details yet. The Church hasn't been very forthcoming."

"Of course. Mother Grub forbid they give a full report to the ones it's  relevant to." Kanaya gives him a look of reproof. Or tries to. Karkat's pretty good at staring her down.

"I'm sure we'll know more soon. There could be a reason behind the with held information."

Karkat did not agree but also didn't  want to argue. The reproductive and attending castes relative independance was hard won. It was also fragile. He knew that in the early days of his castes creation there had been total chaos until the early prototypes, led by the Signless had proven  it was more trouble than it was worth for the highbloods to try to keep their own little pet genetrix. The idea of an entire bloodline having been stolen was an immense blow. ( And horrifying purely from a stance of compassion. ) After breakfast Kanaya checked on the eggs temperature and the development of the embryos.

She checks his notations and makes a few of her own. Karkat tries not to fidget too much. They go to assembly next. Karkat takes his sickles. Out in the corridor are other adult genetrices and their attendants, all armed. The mood is too tense for the usual greetings and shit talking. Everyone heads into the assembly hall.

The Matre of the Cavern, flanked by the Matres of Medical, Education, Support, Assessment, and Genetics were on the stage. As a group they bowed. "By now you've been informed of the crime," the Matre of the Cavern says.  "We still don't have the details.  What we do know is that since  our Cavern is closest the genetrices will be brought here."

There was a flurry of questions, but the Matre of the Cavern signaled for quiet and  the Matre of Assessment stepped up. "The line has three living members. A third molt adult, a gravid adolescent and a two sweep old child. We don't  yet know if there were others that were sold elsewhere or culled."

"What's going to happen with the traffickers?" one of the older genetrices asks in a hard voice.

The Matre blinks. "They're ours of course. As always."

"Clowns," the genetrix points out as if this alone was an argument.  (It probably was. Fasces' most frequent genitors were a kismesis pair who were deacons in cult of the twin messiahs.)

The Matre's mouth twitches like she's  trying not to laugh. "I don't  think convincing them to turn over the criminals or what's  left will be a problem," she says.

More questions were asked about the situation and plans for the bloodline. Most of them were deflected, though Support indicated plans for housing and integration if possible were being discussed.  Karkat knew he wasn't the only one to shudder at the "if possible."

Assembly turned to other subjects such as the graduation of the most recent brood from the trials, the up coming Ascension for the next brood, and the Fete of the Last. (Karkat was on the decoration and planning committee for his sector of the Cavern.) There was also an announcement that due to the discovered theft, the Caverns had called off the Lottery and all genitors who hadn't taken vows were being asked to leave early. No one was especially happy about this.

After assembly was a doctor appointment where Karkat was approved for "light exercise." The doctor from long experience with her patient told him that extended sets with his sickles did not constitute light exercise. Twenty minutes a day, with a three minute increase over the next twelve weeks. "This is a monumental load of feculence in the backed up sewers of stupid bullshit I have to deal with," Karkat griped.

"I don't caaare," Zheydh almost sings. "This is what you get for over exerting yourself while gravid! You fainted and probably traumatized the class you were teaching Vantas. Then you wouldn't take my advice because quote 'you're not the one whose a waddling troll turducken.' Now I get to have my revenge."

"I hate you so much," Karkat says. "Shut up Kanaya."

"I didn't say anything," Kanaya says, amused.

"I can hear your I told you so," Karkat says, giving his attendant a glower.

"I doubt you're developing telepathy Karkat," Kanaya says teasingly.

 After the doctor appointment Karkat teaches his Lit class and goes to lunch. Then he attends  a section meeting where the main topics are morning assembly and the next environmental failure drill. (They were past due for a bolide emergency procedure. There was also strong argument for an actual raid drill.)

The meeting ran over, but he didn't get into very much trouble with his supervisor in the creche over it. The wigglers however were very sad he was late and manipulated extra story time out of him. After creche was dinner, which he shared with Kanaya.

The next few days were much the same except for an underlying simmer of anger for the traffickers. They still hadn't found out how it had happened, still weren't sure if the clowns were going to turn them over. Assembly was generally full of shouting that the Matres couldn't quite mediate.

The clown ship finally docks in the Cavern bay. It's surprisingly small and sleek and for a Church ship. (The cult had its  own shipyards and from what he'd heard their ships tended to be much bigger than standard Imperial ship  classes.) It's  painted with multicolored eyes and wings that spiral from bow to stern, and it's  maybe a quarter  the size of a cathedral ship. The ship is disturbingly named  Dance of the Angel.

Karkat is very very surprised when the Cavern Matre sends him a message that he's been asked to come with her to the ship and meet with the   Grand Highblood. "What the fuck?" Karkat asks. He waves his shelltop at Kanaya. "What is this? Am I reading this right?"

"I...it would seem so," Kanaya says. "The Grand Highblood wants to meet you."

“Why?" Kanaya gives him a look as if he's being deliberately obtuse. "Perhaps for some reason he feels is related to your Ancestor?" she suggests.

Karkat stares blankly back. "My Ancestor and nine caegars can get me a vaguely historically accurate romance novel."

"Karkat," Kanaya says. "I don't know whether you're being prickly about your Ancestor or you really believe that."

"It can be both!" Karkat says. "It's not like I have any special rank or responsibilities. Isn't it even in his will? 'If I should have a Descendant or if such should still exist in the future generations, put no burdens on him he doesn't take up.' I mean I'm  pretty sure there was a whole thing about it."

Kanaya smiles at Karkat. "Maybe that's something you could bring up with him.

 Karkat snorts. "Right I'm sure that's going to go over well," he says. There's a certain amount of fussing and preparation before Karkat is judged presentable for his meeting. Despite Kanaya's best efforts, he's never had much in the way of formal attire. There are some festival clothes, casual clothes, clothes for socializing or meeting with his genitors. But nothing really formal.

Kanaya ends up putting him into his favorite black velvet divided skirt, bright red long sleeved tunic, and a darker red robe with a wide black fabric belt. Also included were low leather boots, and a veiled hat. His only jewelry are some steel rings, and an ear cuff. He arms himself with his electric dart device (concealed) and his sickle (very much not concealed). Kanaya of course, is already dressed and perfectly made up. Her colors are the traditional jade green and black, though with  accents of genetrix bright red. She has no obvious weapons, but Karkat knows she's carrying.

"Ready?" she asks. Karkat nods, and  they both head out the door. They're met at the ship by the Matre of the Caverns, and a huge indigo, obviously a Church deacon.

"Karkat," the Matre says by way of greeting. "And Kanaya."

"Matre," Karkat and Kanaya chorus, and give a salute. They give another salute to the deacon.

"All y'all follow me," the deacon says, and heads up  gangway of the ship.

The Matre heads up first behind the deacon, followed by Karkat, with Kanaya taking up the rear. The inside of the ship is decorated much the way the exterior is. Eyes and feathered wings and spirals in rainbow hues. There are more indigo crewmen, who step aside as they pass. Karkat can hear conversation, and music, many voices singing.

The deacon leads them down several passages, and into something between an office and a sitting block. There  are low chairs and multicolored cushions everywhere, and a small dais where the Grand Highblood is sitting on more cushions in front of a low desk with books and readers scattered everywhere, along with a high end computing device. He's huge, and his paint is strangely simple. Flat, blank white, which seems to mean something to the Matre, because she gasps.

The three of them start to bow, but the Grand Highblood waves. "Sit yourselves down," the Grand Highblood says. When they've done so, (with some hesitation) he continues with, "Let me give you the full debrief," he says. "My word to your ears. There were rumors of undocumented crew and false papers. It was the legislacerators game at first, thinking it was stolen eggs or stolen grubs and wigglers, subadults. But it turned to something more heinous. A high barrister brother was bribed with a genetrix, and being not an idiot called on the church. We took over and rooted them out."

"You found only three?" The Matre of the Cavern asked. It was an oddly blunt question.

“That's on me," the Grand Highblood says. "The traffickers killed most of them, trying to destroy evidence, like they thought we wouldn't wring the truth from them. There was just the oldest of the line, the one the oldest  locked himself in a bitty room with, and the wiggler given to the barrister."

As he speaks, there's movement by the Grand Highblood's lap, behind the table. What seemed like another pile of colorful cloth turns out to be a troll. An adult genetrix, with white hair wearing what looks like second hand Church motley. He's long limbed, and skinny instead of the usual blocky build of most genetrices, and if he were standing, would be almost as tall as the Grand Highblood. He blinks sleepily at them.  "Sup."

There is a look of unmistakable fondness on the Grand Highblood's face. "You went and fell asleep on me again, thinking I'm a relaxation platform."

"No, I'm being sultry as fuck," the genetrix says.

"More like a underfed purrbeast," the Grand Highblood says. "We're at the Cavern. These are all to being your kin." The gentrix's eyes flick from the Matre, to Kanaya and Karkat. "I'm Matre Markstar, the Matre of this Cavern," the Matre says. "This is Kanaya Maryam, and Karkat Vantas, how should we call you?" "

Dhuvid Straid," the genetrix says.

"We're still in pursuit of some of the traffickers, who went on with a whole cloning lab and canisters of frozen tissue, but the most of them we'll be handing them over," the Grand Highblood says. "All mostly in one piece."

The Cavern Matre bows where she sits. "We thank you for rescuing our charges."

The Grand Highblood's mouth tilts in a slanted smile that reveals the curves of his fangs. "All I did was do my duty toward the children of the Mother, didn't I?" he casts a glance toward Karkat, deep indigo-purple eyes have a certain gleam to them. "Clever motherfucker, your Ancestor," he says to Karkat. "We the last children of the mother have a duty to each other and the future He was all sneaky talking about the castes outside of his newly formed one. You have his miraculous way with words? You've been quiet enough."

"With all respect, Highblood, if you want an argument with my Ancestor, you should hire a necromancer," Karkat says in a flat tone. The Grand Highblood laughs quietly. "It's the Descendant I wanted a word with," he says. "I promised Dhuvid his kin would be safe and together, and I won't turn them over to anyone who'd keep them apart or harm them."

Matre Markstar looks momentarily offended by that,but she recovers. "Sir, are you implying you want Teacher Vantas to mentor or take custody of the genetrice line?"

"Sister, I want him to have the care of Dhuvid's little brothers," the Grand Highbllood. "As I promised him."  A beat. "There being a matter of serendipity between us, such that I would take over his care."

"Frail and wilting flower, that's me." Dhuvid says. "I need the gentlest and sweetest pale pity."

"You speak more true than you know, rattle bones," the Grand Highblood says, amused. "With your permit I'd get to doing that, jade sister. My Descendant's taking over the hunt for the traffickers and all Church duties so I settle Dhuvid in."

 "Accommodations may be arranged, Highblood," Markstar says. "I will have the Imperial suite prepared for you."

"I'll be put up with Dhuvid by wherever Vantas is," the Grand Highblood says.

"The genetrice apartments are separate from the genitor and admittance suites," Markstar says. "Genitors generally do not go there, for obvious reasons." "Quadrants and the genitors that take vows do," the Grand Highblood points out.  "I want to see where you'll be mewing up my diamond, and see all how you'll be treating him and his kin. I'll take whatever vows the genitors that don't leave do."

"That would mean you don't leave," Karkat blurts over whatever probably more polite version of "what the fuck," Markstar was about to voice. "It is not actually like Servitors of the Genetrices down in the genetrice apartments," Karkat says, naming a series of porn videos that everyone has been warned about. (Since genitors often got weird ideas, especially the older high caste trolls still around from the last Mothergrub's broods.) "The imperial suiteblock is supposed to be all fancy and shit, according to your station. Dhuvid and his line are probably going to be in the infirmary getting checked over before anyone gets moved anywhere, anyway."

"You think I don't know what I'm asking for?" The Grand Highblood asks, voice hard."I'll stay by him, where ever he's put up."

"Enduring great privations and all that shit," Dhuvid says. He's leaning up against the Highblood's side, and despite the bland tone, there's a certain amount of tension in his shoulders. "Boss, explain me a thing, what's this argument about?" a beat. "You said it was goinng to be safe here."

"So I did,"  Grand Highblood says. "And it is, there's just these little particulars."

[augyshit]

🐰💋🍼🌧🍃🌸🍯🍪🎂💖🍰🐝💌☕

🐰- do you believe in soul mates?

Like I said, I do believe in soulmates. But not just one romantic soulmate. I believe there are plenty platonic soulmates you meet in your life.

💋- kissing in the dark or kissing in the rain?

Ngl both. Kissing in the dark when it's raining, please?

🍼- what is your favorite memory?

Uh, this is a hard answer. I can talk about a memory with a certain person or not. Hm, I got it, hehe. It was 24th of December, 2018. I was calling with this person and I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up on Christmas, I saw that we were still on call. Idk what makes this memory so special but somehow it's special for me and I wanted to answer the question with this one.

🌧️- favorite thing to do on rainy days?

Idk, they're just normal days now. And that sounds sad.

🍃- would you rather live in a sea with mermaids or a forest with fairies?

I'd rather live in a sea with mermaids. Mostly because I love water, hehe.

🌸- what is your favorite flower?

Honestly, I love tulips.

🍯- describe your favorite smell

The smell of my baked cookies or muffins.

🍪- cookie dough or cookies?

Ahhh, this is a hard one too but I'm gonna go with cookies. Now I want cookies :(

🎂- if you had 3 wishes, what would they be?

Be sure about everything. Ability to teleport. This might sound silly but black cat.

💖- have you ever been in love?

Have and probably still am.

🍰- strawberry or vanilla?

Strawberryy but if I can, I'd go with both.

🐝- describe your aesthetic in emojis

How do you spell nonexistent in emojis?

💌- diary or journal?

I can't keep writing in a diary or a journal, so neither? But if I have to choose, then diary.

☕- coffee or tea?

I don't drink coffee at all, so definitely tea.

Honestly, this was quite fun, thank you so much for chosen questions 💕

[anotheronechicagobog]

The Heroic Heralds of the Hectic Hermann Horde -2- What Is It With Janitors Making Meth In School Basements?

written by: @anotheronechicagobog​

Warnings: swearing, coming out, mention of meth lab, canon compliant action, fire safety

A/N: I hope you guys like it, please comment what you think! :)

A/N 2: Can I coin Matt Casey’s disappointed face as the ‘Disappointed Captain America’ face of One Chicago? Pretty please?

Annabelle has a date. With a boy. Granted, she was twelve, and so was the boy who asked her to go with him to the winter dance which would be taking place during school hours with chaperones, but that did not make Christopher feel better. What made it worse was that she hadn’t even told him or Cindy, they had to find out when Kylie came over to see her instead of Lee. Hell, even Lee knew about this boy apparently, so Christopher and Cindy were sitting in their bedroom, completely bewildered, and a little sad that their daughter felt like she couldn’t talk to them about dating and love and sex. Annabelle had gotten the sex talk from school and her mom, she still shuddered when she thought of either, but now her parents were wondering if they needed to go over things again now that she was going ‘out’ with a boy. Were twelve year olds even having sex? They were only in middle school.

Annabelle and Kylie were in the room she shared with Max, going through her clothes. “Do I need to go shopping? I don’t think I have anything good enough. Oh god, what if I look like-”

“Okay, no. Deep breath, calm down. You are very pretty and have very pretty clothes. We’ll find something. I know that the first anything in a relationship is a little nerve-wracking, so just control your breathing and take everything one step at a time. I know that this feels like the biggest deal in the world right now, but you’re twelve, Belle. There is going to be so much time in life for relationships, good and bad, so you don’t need to worry about pushing as much stereotypical perfection as you can into the year before summer ends, okay? Life will and does extend beyond this dance, it’s okay to feel excited but your existence and reality as you know it don’t hinge on this dance. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good, now, dress, skirt, or pants?”

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

After settling on a flowy dress adorned with purple flowers and low wedges, Kylie managed to talk Annabelle out of makeup. “Just letting you ladies know that dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

“Great, thanks, dad.”

“So, uh, how are things going up here?”

“... Things have been going well, Kylie was just helping me get some things ready for tomorrow.”

“Right, for the dance. That you’re going to with a date.”

“Yeah...”

“Mr. Hermann, would you mind if we got some privacy? Girl stuff, you know?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, sure, I guess. And you can call me Christopher, if you want, Kylie.”

“Okay, I will.” The awkwardness in the room was palpable, Christopher was changing his weight from foot to foot, clearly looking for a reason to stay. “Dad.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” He twisted around and exited the room, his heart fracturing a little. He knew that this would happen eventually, he just hadn’t been prepared for it, and he thought that Cindy would be in the loop. Instead it was Kylie, Severide and Kidd’s foster daughter, and Lee Henry’s crush. “Dad,”

“Yeah, Lee Henry? What’s up?”

“She’ll be fine. I know that you worry, but she knows how to handle herself and I’ve met Alex, nothing bad is gonna happen.”

“How come you knew about all of this before I did?”

“Easy, you don’t understand emojis.”

“Are you saying I’m old?!”

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

Annabelle wasn’t out of her room by the time Cindy had to drive Christopher to the station. Something that deeply disappointed them both. “Okay, Belle, they’re gone.”

“Thanks Max.”

“No problem. You look really pretty today.”

“Thanks.”

“Come on, mom made muffins and Lee said we need to get going.”

“Is he going early to meet Kylie in the library again?”

“Yeah. Could he be anymore obvious?”

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Annabelle was jittery all day. This wasn’t just her first date, this was the first time she was going to publicly acknowledge that she might be a lesbian. She was only twelve, almost thirteen, so she wasn’t going to label herself definitively just yet. Her classmates were relatively progressive, so were her parents, but there were still bad seeds and hidden doubts. Her dress was soft and she was doing everything she could to resist bunching her hands up in the cotton skirt, or run her hands through her styled hair. She chewed her lip, tasting the grape chapstick on her lips. The words of her science teacher fell on deaf ears. When the bell rang she jumped out of her seat, she fumbled, embarrassed, for a moment before she realized that most of the class was acting the same way. The only thing left between her and the dance now, was lunch. Her stomach was so coiled and heavy from nerves that she didn’t think she’d be able to eat. She didn’t feel like just sitting with her friends either, they didn’t know who she was going with and Annabelle knew that they’d know something was wrong with her the second she made eye contact. So she decided to sit by herself at the small old desk in the back corner of the library. The usual smell of musty books, old wood, and 80’s carpet weren’t the only ones to greet her. She was also met by sweat and spices. “Hey Belle.”

“Hey Lee... What are you doing here?”

“I know that you’re nervous, and I know that when you get nervous you feel like you shouldn’t eat, but you only ate half a muffin this morning. So Kylie and I thought we’d bring you your favourite takeout.”

“Curry?”

“Of course.”

“I love you guys.”

“We know. You don’t have to be nervous Belle, I’ve met Alex. She’s sweet and very obviously has a crush on you. Just take a deep breath, okay? Everything is gonna go well. Just take a deep breath and eat your food, we don’t need you fainting while you’re on your first date with ‘the most beautiful girl to have ever existed’ now do we?”

“Hey! I told you that in confidence!”

“Lee stop teasing your sister.”

“But-”

“Ha! You heard Kylie, your girlfriend says you can’t tease me about mine.” Annabelle stuck her tongue out and began to eat, secretly delighted in how red Lee’s face turned.

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Annabelle was still wracked with nerves but she felt better after eating with Lee and Kylie. Partly because her brother was right and she did need to just eat something, and partly because Kylie helped fix her hair and dress before they returned to their high school a block away. Annabelle walked into the darkened gymnasium. The decorations were cliche, a little tacky, and visibly worn, probably used year after year. She waited in the far right corner, where she and Alex had agreed to meet. As cheesy as it sounded, she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Alex. Alex looked beautiful. Annabelle had thought about this moment, she thought she’d fumble, be awkward and stutter. Instead, she felt confident for the first time that week. When Alex got close enough Annabelle smiled and wrapped her arms around a shy Alex and kissed her on the cheek. “You look amazing.”

“You too, Belle, wanna dance?” Annabelle nodded enthusiastically as High Hopes started blare through the old glitchy speakers. But neither Annabelle or Alex cared, they jumped and danced and twirled, the skirts from their dresses swishing around them, never unclasping their hands. Smiling and panting they broke off to the side after dancing nonstop for forty minutes. They walked over to the water fountain jovially with their pinkies intertwined. The cool water helped control their hot faces as they talked about their mutual love of the Percy Jackson series when- boom. There was a small explosion below them and everyone was knocked off their feet. Alex and Annabelle’s eyes met, horror and fear building inside of them was interrupted by the fire alarms going off. Annabelle jumped up, face heard and eyes calculated. “Go out the fire doors and call the fire department when you get outside.”

“Belle, you can’t stay-”

“Go Alex, and don’t look back or stop for anything!” Annabelle shoved the other girl towards the door before moving back into the gym to direct an evacuation. She gave orders with a commanding voice and firm stance. She began directing her panicked peers, to prevent trampling, outside through the gym’s fire two doors and through the doors outside of the gym on each end of the hall all of which lead outside. Though the doors at the end of the hall each lead into a small alcove/entryway lined with windows that had the doors that actually lead outside. Annabelle darted in and out of the bathrooms quickly, to make sure there weren’t any stragglers. She knew she was smart to do that when she found three boys from her math class huddled together on the floor. “Get up! We need to evacuate the building!” A couple of the boys scrambled to get up but one had to be dragged to his feet by Annabelle and hauled out the door by her as she led the boys to one of the gym’s fire doors because the door to the exit they’d been closest to was really hot which meant the fire was near. Just as she was about to test the temperature of the door with the back of her hand, uncle Matt burst in, with Gallo and auntie Stella behind him. “Stella take Annabelle and the boys straight to 61. I’ll radio Hermann and let him know she’s safe.” He turned to her and levelled her with his ‘Disappointed Captain America’ face, “you are in so much trouble.”

“The- uh- the doors to exit the building near the track, they have a door to the basement in the same alcove as the second doors that actually lead outside. We were gonna leave that way cause it’s closer but the doors were hot, we didn’t stick around to see if there was smoke.” Her voice was quiet and she hung her head in shame for a moment before following Stella and the boys to ambulance 61. Auntie Sylvie met her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, ask how she was feeling no doubt, but was interrupted by her father wrapping her in a bear hug. “Damnit Annabelle Sarah Hermann! What were you thinking?! Why on earth would you stay in the building?! You should have evacuated with the others-” Hermann cut himself off, tensing and slowly turning to level each of the boys she’d rescued with a glare. “Is one of them Alex? Did you stay in a building you knew was dangerous because of a boy?!”

“What? No, dad, okay first of all, I stayed only long enough to make sure no one was hiding in the bathrooms. You’ve told us a thousand times that people think it’s a good idea to hide in there when it’s really not. Second... Alex is a girl. She, uh, I actually can’t see her... I made her leave first, but I don’t see her- what if-”

“Hey, hey, hey, we’ll- uh, we’ll find her.” Hermann helped her find Alex, she was sitting with a bunch of students on the track field and tackled Annabelle when she came into sight. Their hugging on the ground was interrupted by the principal announcing that everyone was being taken to the hospital because the small explosion came from a meth lab in the basement of the school, and everyone needed treatment from exposure to the chemicals, both from the explosion and from vapours that were created during the process and had been around long-term and explained the increase in asthma attacks at the school. While the staff was arranging for the bus to come transport the students and for the parents to meet everyone at Gaffney, Hermann signed Annabelle out and had her ride with Engine 51 to the hospital. “So... You’re gay?”

“I don’t know, I mean I am really young, but I definitely feel some romantic attraction towards girls... Is that okay?”

“Of course! I admittedly don’t know much about discovering sexualities, but I do know that it’s completely normal. I just, I’d like for you to know that your mom and I love you no matter what and that this won’t change anything.”

“Thanks dad. I love you guys too.”

“... So... Alex seemed nice, when are you gonna invite her over for dinner to meet the family?”

“Ugh dad!”