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adhd-disaster-willie · 4 years

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Seventeen and strung out on confusion; chapter 1/4

Summary: Just some snippets of backstory for the one and only Alex Mercer; aka my comfort character. Each moment will have a date attached so you can understand the timeline. Angst with fluffy found family moments :)

Warnings: Homophobia, swearing

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As I’m sure you could guess, there are numerous problems that come with being the only out gay kid at your school in 1994. It’s not so bad if you keep your head down and persuade your friends not to get into a fight with everyone who throws a slur your way, but regardless. That pink hoodie that you’ve been wearing since you were 14 and is honestly too small at this point but your parents refuse to buy you another one? Well it’s a target on your back and apparently everyone at the school is now a professional archer. Or at least, they’re all very proficient in the art of unoriginal insults that cut deeper than they should. All of this is to say, don’t come out to your religious parents in 1994. Ever.

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Alex Mercer was born into a perfect nuclear family, in a two story house with a white picket fence, brick columns, and a clean cut yard that was unsettlingly green. His parents were as religious as anyone could get; straight-laced, good Catholic parents who kept their hands tight around Alex’s shoulders. He went to church every Sunday and tried to ignore the way his neck itched from the too-tight collar and his mother swatting at his hands until he had to sit on them to refrain from drumming on the nearest surface. He was good at hiding the way he payed undivided attention to his little sister’s ballet classes, good at pretending to stare at the girls in the hallways that all his friends drooled after, and especially good at convincing everyone that he drummed and sang to… impress said girls. Right. But unfortunately, Alex was even better at accidentally outing himself a day into the New Year, consequentially losing all of his parents’ affection.

He didn’t even exist to them anymore. Maybe it would’ve been better if they’d given him a million restrictions and curfews and basically chained his hands together, because this was unsettling. And lonely. Family dinners were a thing of the past, and he’d really begun to sympathize with Reggie and his microwaved, half-cold meals every morning and night. But it could always be worse. They hadn’t kicked him out… yet.

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January 25, 1994

“Alex, dude!”

Alex flinched upon realizing Reggie’s hand waving in front of his face. He looked up and smiled guiltily, realizing the way he’d frozen, spaced out staring at the wall and absentmindedly hitting his sticks against his legs with a beat that didn’t at all match the song they were supposed to be rehearsing.

Luke sighed, wiping the pout off his face. “Alex, come on man! We aren’t gonna get any gigs if you keep…” He waved his hands vaguely and slapped Alex’s shoulder. “Just, pay attention dude.”

“Right,” Alex replied, his voice strained. He was staring down at his shoes and he could feel his bandmates having a silent conversation above his head which he could only deduce Luke was not happy with, probably meaning they were stopping rehearsal. He didn’t want them to stop for him; it made him feel like a burden, and Luke was right, if they were gonna make it anywhere, they had to be all in.

“Alex, you okay?” Reggie asked, his eyebrows knit together in concern.

Alex nodded briefly and kept his gaze trained on his feet. His sneakers were too small and he had to curl his toes in for them to fit but he was afraid of the reaction he’d get from telling his parents he needed something.

“It’s not one of those homophobic jackasses again, right?” Bobby asked, moving closer, his eyes narrowing. “I swear, this time I will cave Josh’s fucking face in-”

“It’s not!” Alex clarified, finally lifting his head. “It isn’t…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look it’s just my parents alright? They…”

Reggie’s eyes widened and he began fiddling with his flannel sleeves. “They didn’t… they didn’t hurt you did they?” He asked, his voice small.

“No, no they didn’t hurt me… not physically at least.” He laughed ruefully. “They’re just being stupid, alright? Ignoring me like they have for the past 3 weeks.” Alex stood up, well aware that at this point band practice was a thing of the past. He walked to the couch, the other three boys in tow.

“Hey!” Luke elbowed Alex’s side before throwing an arm over his shoulders. “That new Green Day album is coming out in like, a week.” He grinned, eyes lighting up. “I’ve been saving up to buy it, and we can use that new cassette player I got for Christmas to listen to it.”

Alex nodded, smiling softly and letting his head relax on the back of the couch. “Yea that sounds great. Promise you won’t listen to it without us?”

“Of course ‘Lex; we all gotta be there to find which songs we’re gonna cover.”

Reggie wrinkled his nose in confusion. “I thought you said we’d moved past being a cover band?”

“It’s Luke, he’ll make an exception for anything if it involves Green Day,” Bobby chuckled.

Several beats of silence passed in which the sun seemed to get increasingly lower in the sky, before Bobby sighed in resignation. “You’re all staying here tonight, aren’t you?”

Luke beamed, clapping Bobby’s shoulders. “You know us so well.”

“Sleepover!” Reggie laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “Does it count as a sleepover if we all basically live here at this point?”

“Shhh ‘Lex, don’t ruin our fun,” Luke responded.

Alex smiled hesitantly. Yea, he was okay.

---

May, 1994

Michael Williams had dark hair brushing the tips of his shoulders, eyes that were almost golden in certain lights and a smile that gave Alex butterflies. Not to mention he was in theater and had a reputation for flipping off the homophobic jocks that were constantly on Alex’s tail. Not that he did it specifically for Alex, but still. The only problem was that talking to cute boys that he hadn’t known since 3rd grade was far from Alex’s strong point.

“Come on Alex!” Luke groaned, sliding into the last open seat at their lunch table. “Just talk to him before I literally combust.” He punctuated his sentence by waving at Alex with a cold french fry.

Alex grumbled something, his face in his arms in a futile attempt to hide the red dusting his cheeks.

“Hey Luke, if you explode because Alex refuses to talk to his crush, can I have your CD’s?” Reggie quipped, a lopsided grin on his face.

Luke gasped in mock offense. “Reginald-!”

“Still not my name.”

“I will be buried with my music,” Luke said. “Both of my guitars too-”

“Even your amp?” Bobby questioned.

“Yes.”

“Seems like a waste of space. Can you even fit all that in a coffin?”

Luke shrugged. “You guys can figure it out. Don’t betray my dying wish.”

Something that would’ve been silence had Luke ever been taught how to chew like a normal person passed over the table, in which Alex’s attention drifted lazily back to Michael Williams, who was chatting enthusiastically with one of the girls in his theater class. Alex didn’t know her name but they had biology together and she never gave him dirty looks, so he liked her.

“10 bucks if you go talk to him,” Bobby said, nudging Alex and waggling his eyebrows.

“No. No,” Alex said. “Not happening.”

“15.”

“Where is this money coming from?” Alex squeaked, although the prospect of $15 was all too tempting. He could get some decent shoes for that.

“20,” Bobby continued, grinning maniacally.

“Dude!” Luke laughed. “How are your parents gonna like you asking for money to fulfill a bet?”

Bobby slapped a hand over Luke’s mouth.

“I’m gonna regret this,” Alex sighed, already moving to stand up.

Reggie giggled like a child and offered a shit-eating grin to Alex, who promptly flipped him off before heading across the cafeteria.

---

December 17, 1994

Alex was screwed. No. Alex was completely fucked. Alex Mercer was likely seconds away from living in a ditch. Because of course it had to be his sister who caught him making out with a guy after school. And of course she was too young to understand why she couldn’t tell Mom and Dad. Because she would’ve done the same if he’d been kissing a girl because kissing is gross and it’s funny to tell your parents that your big brother was kissing someone.

“Hey Mom, guess what Alex did today?” Angie asked, giggling. She was perched on the counter, licking frosting from her fingers while their mother brushed cookie crumbs from her dress. And Alex was frozen at the top of the stairs, crouched down, his heart pounding so loud he was sure it could be heard downstairs. He dug his nails into his palms and prayed that his mother would pretend he didn’t exist when he wanted her to. It was one thing, them knowing. But this? This was something else. Alex’s parents lived on the philosophy that homosexual thoughts got you an eternity in hell, but homosexual actions got you shunned and thrown out. So yea, he was screwed.

“What did Alex do today?” His mother asked, plastering a false smile onto her face, her voice sounding like she was already packing his bags. Alex wanted to get up and run. He wanted to go to his room and jump out the window and fly away. But it was like the sweat on his palms was superglue keeping him stuck to the carpet, and his brain had short-circuited.

Angie laughed again, trying to get it out through her snickering. “Alex was kissing someone today.” She sang, her small feet swinging back and forth, the noise of her heels against the counter like knives in Alex’s ears. “That boy Michael that used to go to our church.” The innocence in her voice made Alex ache.

“Angie.” His mother’s voice was cold now. “Leave please.”

Angie’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she scurried up the stairs anyway, giving Alex a tearful hug on the way because even at ten, she knew that that voice meant trouble. “Sorry ‘Lex. I shouldn’t ‘a told your secret,” She whispered, before sprinting to her room and leaving Alex wondering if he’d get to see her after tonight.

“Alex Mercer, please come downstairs.” Her voice chilled him to the bone, like shards of ice penetrating his skin and seeping into his blood. But he walked down anyway.

Alex tightened the muscles in his hands and feet, willing himself to stay still and planted to the wooden floor, facing his mother head-on, as if the look in her eyes wasn’t terrifying him to the point of tears. But he wouldn’t let her see that she was getting to him, he wouldn’t. So he bit his tongue and counted down from ten inwardly.

“What is this nonsense?” She hissed, reaching out and gripping his forearm, her nails a millimeter away from digging into his skin.

Alex swallowed roughly. “I- I don’t know. Angie’s just… she’s-”

“Don’t lie to me!” His mother snapped. She brought her hand back, curling her fingers in with a look of disgust, as if she’d been touching fire. And then she was speaking again, but Alex couldn’t hear her over the pounding in his ears. He tightened his jaw and shut his eyes momentarily. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

“Get out.”

His eyes snapped open. Alex stood still in front of her, searching her eyes for the slightest bit of remorse. But there was nothing but ice. So he left. He left with tears running down his face and he couldn’t even bring himself to say goodbye to Angie. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the block when he realized that he had nothing but the clothes on his back and a backpack full of everything he could fit, and no where to go. He collapsed on the ground, the cold night air finally hitting him, seeping into his bones. He looked up and wiped his eyes, sniffling. It was odd, the way that the Christmas lights were able to look so beautiful when he felt so broken inside. It felt almost unfair that everything outside of him was moving at a normal pace like nothing had changed. But Alex knew better than that. Everything had changed.

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These are the people who expressed interest in reading this when I posted about it a few days ago :)

@edgeofgillespie @herequeerandcantdrinkbeer @lookingthroughmirrors

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #can you tell i wasn't born in the 90s lmao #alex mercer #alex mercer jatp #jatp fic #jatp fanfic #reggie peters #luke patterson #bobby wilson #trevor wilson #willow writes

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adifferenttime · 4 years

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Honest Hearts: A Rough Rewrite

Hey! I’ve been working on an Honest Hearts rewrite-type-thing for a bit and figured I’d solicit feedback/assemble a post to store some of these ideas.

A detailed explanation of the premise is under the cut, but I’ve made this as a more interesting reintroduction to major locations, along with the characters who live there. I also have some lore consisting of letters, scripture, and holotapes that’s still in the early stages, along with a complete companion wheel for Salt-Upon-Wounds (he’ll follow you around for a little if you decide to help him out). Endings are now finished as well. I’m not planning on expanding this into a full mod, but I’m assembling everything in Twine so I can utilize branching dialogue and mimic skill checks.

I want to keep adding to and editing this because I’m having fun with it, so if you have any input, let me know!

Essentially, the story proceeds as written up until the point where Daniel sends you to either kill the White Legs or destroy their war totems. You quickly realize that their camp is deserted, at which point Salt-Upon-Wounds ambushes you, convo-locks you, and tells you that there’s an entirely different side to things here that you might not have considered.

Factions

The Mormons have established a theocracy in the Utah called Deseret, with New Jerusalem - what was once Salt Lake City - as its capital. Large numbers of them survived the initial apocalypse due to their pre-War focus on strong community ties and disaster prepping; over time, they have returned to the model of self-sufficient agrarianism that characterized the historical Mormon state of Deseret that existed in Utah in the 1800s. Their President, who wields supreme executive power, is also their Prophet. The Mormons believe he communes directly with God, but there’s some discontent in New Jerusalem over his hands-off approach to foreign policy and unwillingness to assemble a standing army. The Elders of the Priesthood are pushing him to allow for some kind of formal military to oppose what they see as revived versions of their ancestral enemies: America, Rome, and the “Lamanites” (this is what Mormons call Indigenous Americans; the “Lamanite” idea has historically been used as a justification for racism, and I’m reflecting that here because it’d be kind of heinous not to). In more than a few respects, Deseret serves as a mirror to the Legion and an exploration of the other side of the coin re: the tactics utilized by colonial empires to present themselves as legitimate while still claiming territory and steamrolling the opposition.

The White Legs are now more explicitly Shoshone, and I’m relying most heavily on the Timpanagos Band for names and historical inspiration (apparently the question of whether they’re Ute or Shoshone is pretty controversial, but I’m sticking with what the Timpanagos have said about it until someone corrects me). After migrating south in the wake of the Great War, the White Legs eventually settled in Ogden, about a day north of New Jerusalem. Initial interactions with the Mormons were friendly, but as New Jerusalem grew and its need for farmland and resources increased, tensions rose before culminating in open violence in around ‘76 or ‘77. Deseret’s party line is that the White Legs conducted a “raid” on one of their settlements and had to be driven away from Ogden; the White Legs claim the violence was not a raid, but a revenge killing after a Mormon killed a young man and was found not guilty by Mormon legal authorities (this is a theocracy, so “legal authorities” here can be understood as indistinct from “the church”). The Mormons established a new settlement on the ruins of Ogden, which they called New Canaan, and the White Legs fled to Salt Lake, where they have been dwindling in number ever since. Salt-Upon-Wounds’ plan to seek entry to the Legion is a last-ditch attempt to save his people from eradication when their neighbors and the land itself seems intent on killing them (not that that makes all the war crimes ok, which is a sentiment you’ll be able to express to his face if you engage him in conversation).

The Dead Horses are a pastoral society from out of Dead Horse Point, and are split almost down the middle along political lines. The more conservative, religious side opposes intervention in Zion. Graham desecrates the corpses of his enemies as an intimidation tactic, and because the Dead Horses’ religion is so eschatological and heavily focused on properly cleaning, preparing, and interring the dead, a big chunk of the religious leadership opposes him on that basis - they think his tactics are ungodly. They’re also worried that any Dead Horses who die in Zion and are interred there will be severed from their connection to Dead Horse Point and doomed to a separate, lonely afterlife. The younger, more progressive elements of the tribe are less traditionalist, sometimes less religious, and overall not as concerned about Graham’s treatment of the dead because of the potential benefit they might be able to derive from him. Follows-Chalk is their de facto leader, and while the Dead Horses don’t formally allocate political power, he’s among the most influential people in the informal tribal leadership. Most of the Dead Horses who’ve come to Zion have done so either because they support Follows-Chalk politically, or for practical reasons - namely, Graham’s access to a dizzying number of guns and his willingness to give them to anyone who’ll fight for him.

The Sorrows are now a terrace-farming agrarian society instead of hunter-gatherers (Zion has a lot of agricultural potential, and there’s already a few farming plots in the Sorrows camp you see in-game, so it’s not a huge departure from the canon). I’m keeping their Mexican heritage, but I’d like to give them some Ainu influences as well - partially for selfish reasons, but also because bears are extremely important to our culture and theology, which gels well with the elements of Sorrows culture and religion that appear in the canon. I’d like to keep the Survivalist because I like him, but I want to expand on their faith. One of the ways I’m doing that is by deciding they can still read English, even though they no longer speak it; it’s basically their equivalent of liturgical Latin. They’re also rigidly matriarchal and in contrast to the Dead Horses (who eschew formal political hierarchies) or the White Legs (who elect a chief who serves until he dies, is deposed, or voluntarily abdicates), leadership positions are allocated through matrilineal primogeniture; Waking Cloud inherited her position from her mother. Religious leadership, likewise, is only available to women. You’ll be able to talk to Waking Cloud about some of the ways this framework is incompatible with the Mormon perspective, and can appeal to her desire to retain power.

Characters

Canon Characters

Joshua Graham and Daniel are largely unaltered except through the addition of lore that gives insight into their cultures, motives, and pasts.

All three tribal leaders (Follows-Chalk, Waking Cloud, and Salt-Upon-Wounds) are either given new backstories, a different set of motives, or different approaches to one another/Graham and Daniel. They’re also explicitly leaders now - what power Graham and Daniel have, they derive from whichever tribal leader they’ve managed to attach themselves to. Of those three, I’m altering Waking Cloud the least and Salt-Upon-Wounds the most. Like I mentioned, I have a companion wheel for him so far and the bones of two other conversations - one, where you meet him for the first time, and the second, where you speak to him before the final battle. Will link as I finish them.

Original Characters

Each tribal leader now has a rival or right hand within their tribe so I can reflect the different ways the values of a specific community can express themselves.

Follows-Chalk’s primary rival among the Dead Horses is a man who refuses to tell you his name. That’s because using someone’s name in casual conversation is considered unspeakably rude, and the fact that Follows-Chalk is willing to share his own with you is, to Mysteriously Named Old Man Character, yet another sign of how disrespectful and laissez-faire Follows-Chalk is about their shared traditions. Old Man Character is suspicious of you initially, but if you speak to him more he starts to warm to you. The goal is to give you a sense that this he’s pretty xenophobic but for good reasons, and despite his political conflicts with Follows-Chalk, has a lot of love for him. He just wants what’s best for his family, and Follows-Chalk is part of that, even if Mysteriously Named Old Man Character thinks he’s making the wrong choices.

Kiiki is Salt-Upon-Wounds’ right-hand woman and intended as a contrast re: the approach to war and its costs. Salt-Upon-Wounds has done some horrible things and gets a fair bit of dialogue about that, but Kiiki is willing to go even further than he has with very little prompting. Her chief copes with what he’s done by trying to assure himself that the ends of war are worth the cost; Kiiki deals with it by trying to convince herself that the means weren't so bad, actually, and that anyone who isn’t nailing corpses to walls is being naive. All of that makes her sound pretty shitty, but she’s nowhere near as devoted to the idea of a Legion alliance as Salt-Upon-Wounds is. It only takes one very low Speech check to convince her that going Legion is a bad move, and one of the paths involves assassinating Salt-Upon-Wounds and installing her as the new leader as a way to stop the White Legs from joining Caesar. I haven’t added this path to the ending Twine because I’d like to finish Kiiki’s dialogues before I do that.

I’m replacing White Bird as the Sorrow’s spiritual leader with a woman named Imekanu. She’s incredibly old, savvy, and knowledgeable - she’s never been outside Zion, but has a store of books in English, Spanish, and Japanese that have allowed her some insight into what caused the war, if not the current state of the world. She’s also aware of the Survivalist’s origins - not because she’s entered any of his hideouts, but because she’s read over the scriptures and has correctly identified them as letters. Her perspective is that the Father in the Caves was a human being, but that doesn’t diminish his religious value. She sees him as analogous to the Buddha or a Catholic saint: human, sure, but still with access to some deeper truths about the purpose of man and the nature of human goodness. You’ll discover that this idea (that the Survivalist was a holy man rather than a literal god) is the most common perspective among the Sorrows, and you can talk to her about how this departs from Daniel’s perspective that the archetypal Father is divine, not human.

Quests

Each tribe has a specific quest that will either lower or bypass some of the penultimate checks that will determine your ending (people are more likely to believe what you’re telling them if you’ve already won their trust).

The Dead Horses: Joshua Graham has been putting the heads of the fallen up on pikes across Zion. The Dead Horses’ religion is deeply concerned with proper treatment of the deceased, and Graham’s decision to desecrate the corpses of his enemies goes against virtually everything they believe. The old man who won’t tell you his name asks you to take the heads off of the pikes and bury them deep in Zion, and to bring Follows-Chalk with you so you’ll have someone to tell you how to treat them properly. Over the course of the quest, Follows-Chalk will share some of his own beliefs about death, and you’ll have the opportunity to share your own. If you complete this quest without sabotaging it, Follows-Chalk will be willing to betray Graham to the White Legs before the final battle.

The Sorrows: This is basically just Ghost of She, but after defeating the Yao Guai you’ll discover a holotape revealing that the girl wasn’t killed by the bear, but by one of the murderers from Vault 22. Waking Cloud will speculate that maybe the Yao Guai wasn’t the ghost of the little girl at all but some other force that wanted to push you to discover the truth. If you wait until the end to tell Waking Cloud about the death of her husband, you’ll have to pass a Speech check of 75 to convince her you’re telling her the truth; completing this quest drops the check to 50.

The White Legs: Salt-Upon-Wounds will ask you to help him sabotage the Mormons’ preparations for the battle. If you help him with this, it’ll drop the Speech check for you to convince him to leave from 100 to 80. It’s not necessary at all to get the tribal confederacy ending, but a new note will appear in your inventory if you finish it and meet a couple other requirements (asking him certain questions, not attempting that one Speech check about religion, etc).

Endings

I’m trying to incorporate as much variety as possible, but there are three main ending paths: siding with the White Legs, siding with the other two tribes, and peace. The basic idea is that the outcome is predicated less on your direct intervention, and more on how other people act based on the facts they have available to them. Most of your influence is through your choices to hide or reveal key pieces of information, and the skill checks you need to access certain endings are less you convincing a character to do something and more convincing a character to believe you’re telling them the truth. There’s one major exception to this, it requires maxed Speech, and the ending it gives you is markedly bittersweet because you’re trying to get a guy to act against his own best interest. I’m writing all the endings up here, and will probably edit them as things change. The post where I explain them in more depth can be found here.

And that’s the story so far! Thank you for reading, and again: if there’s anything here you think is poorly-conceived, let me know. Thank you to @baelpenrose, who’s a grad student in the history of the American West, for helping me workshop a lot of this stuff. If you’ve got expert knowledge on any of the concepts I touch on or are personally a member of any of the groups I’m describing, please feel free to hmu: anon is on, and you’re always welcome to DM me. I’m just doing this for fun, but I still want it to be as not-shit as possible.

#fallout new vegas #fnv #honest hearts #honest hearts rewrite #probably should have started with initial conversations but oh well lmao

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villainsblog97 · 5 years

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Stray Kids Reaction: Kissing a Stranger on New Years

Summary: What's so bad about kissing someone on New Years? Well... it helps if you know who they are...

Warnings: some language and use of alcohol

Scenario: Pure Fluffy Balls of Fluff!!!

Bang Chan

"What's your name?" The aussie asked you.

"Where's the fun in that, if I leave you to keep guessing... you'll stick around a little longer" you smirked.

To say that he was enchanted by you would be a total understatement, you were definitely driving him insane, and the more you two hung out the more he wanted to know you.

"Countdown in 15 guys!!!" A guy called out.

You two met at a new years eve party, you had to help Chan get lose, he told you he didn't really do a lot of partying, but you helped change his mind, when he saw you it was like time froze, you were the only thing on his mind, and thanks to Jisung and Changbin, he finally got up the courage to talk to you (okay more like Jisung and Changbin pushed him towards you).

3 hours lead you to here, you found out he was producing music with his friends and hoping one day to make it big, you told him that you came from a small town and were a city girl stuck in a country world, so you packed it up and followed your dream.

Now you stood beside him, with 2 minutes left on the clock.

"You ever kissed anyone on New Years?" He asked.

"Its so overrated..." you yelled over the music.

The song ended and the Hyped up DJ began to start the countdown.

"Ten...Nine...Eight....Seven" your eyes drifted off to Chan's lips who were counting down with the crowd, they looked so soft and plump, made you really curious of the taste of them.

"Five...Four..." Chan looked down at you and caught you in the act, his mind went blank, maybe it was the rum and coke in his hand or maybe just the way you looked, but his eyes met your lips, and he couldn't take them off.

"Three....Two....One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!"

"What the hell" he smiled as he pulled you in for a long 2020 kiss, you stomach flipped as you kissed him, he knew what he was doing, and it was driving you wild.

"Now will you tell me your name?"

"(Y/N)", "I'm Chris... but everyone around here calls me Chan"

Lee Know

This boy was already a tease, constantly hinting how badly he wanted to kiss you, but he also had a couple shots, so he was feeling pretty good.

"You know... you're suppose to kiss someone on new years...." he hinted.

"You don't have to..." you rolled your eyes.

"Its tradition!" He protested.

"Its lame..."

However as the alcohol set in, he was looking more and more delicious.

"I will admit, you are freaking hot" you smiled.

"Oh really?" He smirked.

"Little bit"

The guy called out the countdown was about to begin.

"Three.....Two....ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" you looked over and put your hands on his face and leaned up on your tip toes and planted a big kiss on him.

His eyes widen as you pulled away, but he'd be damned if he was just gonna let you go.

Changbin

After the fourth short joke, he was getting tired of being near you, but somehow everytime he tried to leave, he'd always run right back into you.

"Following me now pip squeak?" You smirked.

"Quit with the short jokes you're not that much taller!"

"Yes but I'm still... taller"

"Whatever!" He threw his hands up and walked away again.

Forty minutes later, he saw you again, he tried to avoid you but it was no use.

"Hey! Quit following me Amazon!" He glared.

"Amazon!?"

"Yeah! AM-A-ZON!!!!"

"You're starting to piss me off!" You yelled out

"That makes two of us!" He agreed.

"Five...Four...Three...Two...ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" you yelled at him.

"Yeah! Same to you!" He said before pulling you into his lips for a harsh, yet satisfying, kiss.

You both froze in your tracks... (talk about sexual tension)

"Instead of Pip Squeak....why don't you call me Changbin"

Hyunjin

He was a flirt, no doubt... he could get any girl he wanted, except you, you were a challenge, and he liked the challenge.

"What is it about you that is so different?" He asked.

"Maybe I just don't fall so easily..."

"That you don't... but still..."

You gave him one last smile before walking away, because truth was, he was getting to you... and you couldn't have that, but at the same time you wanted to.

He was unlike anyone you've ever met, totally gorgeous, funny, and that smile.

Girls kept coming over, hanging all over him, he would politely deny their request, he knew what he wanted.

"Let's start the countdown!!!" A girl started cheering.

Everyone started the countdown, you looked around for the mystery guy, kind of hoping you could start your new year with him, but he was out of sight.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!" the crowd cheered as people started to share a kiss with their significant other, you felt a hand on your shoulder and spun you on your heel, you met his eyes for only a second before he pulled you into his sweet, perfect lips.

"Call me Hyunjin"

Han

Jisung was a shy little bean, he didn't usually talk to girls because it would come out more incoherent gibberish than anything.

But he saw you and wanted so bad to know you, absolutely beautiful was what he saw and he really wanted to know more of you.

"Just go talk to her!" Felix said

"Yeah right... unless she understands jawa..."

"You don't sound like a star wars creature when you talk!"

"No it just comes out h-yo-ah-go-na- bye!"

"Okay so maybe that is a little Jawa..." he shrugs, "look mate... 2019 is almost over! Go now or forever hold your peace!"

A few minutes later, He was up talking to you, not doing too bad when talking to you.

Drinking has helped.

You couldn't help how adorable he was, and how he just melted your heart everytime he smiled, you two spent pretty much the rest of 2019 together, laughing, talking and occasionally staring into each others eyes.

You were falling.

And so was he.

"Ten...Nine...Eight...Seven...Six....Five...Four....THREE...TWO....ONE!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!" Jisung looked down at you with nervous hands and a shaky voice.

"Can I kiss you??" He yelled over the loud music and equally loud cheers.

"Yes!" You yelled back, with that His shaking hands reached your face as he leaned down and kissed you ever so softly.

"I'm Jisung" he smiled

"(Y/N)"

Felix

Felix was having fun, spending new years with Chan at a local little club in Australia.

"2020 resolution!" Chan said as he sat the shot glass down.

Felix downed the shot and sat it beside him.

"Awe why mate... those never happen!"

"Come on come on, just play along!"

"Okay I..... holy..." his eyes widened

"More....religious?" Chan asked

"If my religion is her..." he sighed out as you approached him.

"Nice hair" you smiled.

"Hair.... " he was in a trance by you.

"What my good mate here was trying to say was, thank you! And I'll leave you two to it then!" Chan slipped away leaving you and Felix to talk, you told him you just moved here a few weeks ago and saw him around a couple days ago, you blushed as you told him he had an enchanting presence that made you want to get to know him more, he blushed a bit too.

Few hours later, you two were hitting it off well... Chan stood back and watched his friend like a proud mom.

"So any new year resolutions?" You asked as you took a drink.

"Nothing I can think of... I'm not really a new years resolution kind of guy"

"Oh come on.... everyone has a new years resolution" you laughed.

"Well let me get back to you"

"Countdown in Ten.....Nine...Eight!!!" The DJ called out.

"We better get over there!" You called as you grabbed your drink in one hand and took Felix's hand in the other, dragging him to the crowd.

He grabbed a hold of his drink as he followed you.

"Five...Four..." you both chimed in.

"Three...Two...One... HAPPY NEW YEAR!" without even thinking Felix leaned over and placed a sweet kiss on your lips, you weren't complaining, he was gorgeous, and his lips were the perfect taste.

"You know how I said I'd get back to you on that resolution?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I just found it..."

Seungmin

From the get go Seungmin was hypnotized by you, he pretty much ditched all his friends to go talk to you, but it was worth it, he found you exceptionally beautiful, and couldn't take his eyes off you.

You two were talking and enjoying each others company, when you unzipped your jacket to reveal a Day6 T-Shirt.

Seungmin then knew he found his soulmate.

"You like Day6!??!?" His eyes lit up.

"Of course! Die hard My Day since day 1!" You smiled.

"I love them! Their music is so..."

"Amazing!" You both said in unison

"Whos your bias!?" He smiled.

"Oh hands down Jae! He cracks me up!"

As if you two weren't already getting to know each other, now it was getting serious, Seungmin was falling for a total stranger, he didn't even know your name.

"Hey... I'm Seungmin" he smiled as he held out his hand.

"I'm-"

"Start the countdown!!!!" Everyone cheered as they counted down to the new year.

You and Seungmin joined in counting down with the crowd.

"Three....Two....ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!" Seungmin leaned down and kissed you, then froze.

"I'm sorry... I was....lost in the moment"

You leaned up on your toes and returned the kiss to him.

"Its okay... also... (Y/N)" you smiled.

I.N

When it came to Jeongin, girls were the last thing on his mind, he wasn't exactly scared of them... he would just... run away from them.

However you were different, he was talking with you all night at the party his friends dragged him to.

It wasn't so bad when you started talking to him.

You found out he was the same age as you and only a couple months older than you, but he was adorable, and his smile killed you.

You told him that some of your friends dragged you along too, you were the youngest of your little group too, you both had a lot in common and the countdown got closer and closer.

"Anything you wanna remember from 2019?" You asked.

"Well... definitely you!" He grinned, your heart shook, no one ever said that to you.

"I wanna remember you too" you smiled.

"Let's start the countdown!" Everyone cheered.

"Jeongin! Let's go!!!" Some of his friends came by and pulled him along, he made sure you followed him.

You two stood close and slowly laced your fingers together.

"Three....Two....One! HAPPY NEW YEAR"

Jeongin looked at you with those soft, heart melting eyes, you nodded a little, knowing what he was asking for, he held both your hands and leaned in to give you a new year kiss.

"THATS MY BOY!!!" you heard one of the members call out.

"So... I'm Jeongin" he smiled, light pink dusted on his cheeks.

"(Y/N)"

"Happy New Year (Y/N)"

#straykids #happy new year #happy new decade #reaction #scenario #bang chan #lee know #changbin #hyunjin #han #felix #seungmin #i.n

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stressedoutteenager · 5 years

Text

5 Time’s a Charm

Surprise, @livinonaflyingcarpet ! I’m your Yousana Exchange gifter again :D

This is actually the first time I am writing anything about Mazzouk so I hope you like it.

Amira and Mohammed see each other around campus everyday; they see each other more than they see people they study with.

__________________

Amira likes her routine.

Well, not always. In particular settings. University is one of those. She likes knowing that she can go to her classes and have spare time to go get a snack in between each of them somehow. She likes knowing that she’ll see her friends from school at least a couple times a week when their routines overlap. She likes knowing how manageable her routine makes her day to day university life. It can get hectic, with all the studying and all the classes. But at least she knows what she can expect at what time; it makes her be able to relax more.

In any other setting, her friends and family would say, she’s very spontaneous. She is, she really is. But she takes her studies way too serious to mess it up by ditching class or missing the beginning of a lecture because she took the long way to class instead of the one she always takes.

Amira knows that if she was the one listening to someone explain this to her, she might roll her eyes. In a loving way. Maybe. Still, she likes her routine.

Some time in her second semester at the university, Amira notices that someone else also sticks to their routine religiously.

On her way from her first class to her second class on Mondays, she sees him walking the direction she came from. His dark hair wet, gym bag on one shoulder, a backpack on his back. It took her a while to notice that it’s the same guy every single Monday, walking past her at the same time each Monday. It is week five of the semester when it clicks.

Tuesdays she has ten minutes to get from her 8 am class to her 10 am class and she needs to get something to eat in that time. 8 am classes and Amira are not the bestest of friends. She’ll get up somewhat easily, get ready and be there on time each Tuesday, but she won’t have time for breakfast and by the time she’s done with the first class of the day, she’ll be starving. Someone else is also always at the cafeteria at the same time each Tuesday. The first time she notices him is when he’s the person buying the last couscous cup, which she usually likes to eat. Her face crumbles and her eyes run over him quickly. She notices the dark hair and tall frame from the day before. Though, Amira thinks nothing of it. There’s plenty of people she runs across more than once during the semester.

Amira has never had a problem juggling a side job and her studies. She did it during her last year of school to earn money to do her year abroad. She did that easily. While university is on another level than school, she manages. After classes, before classes, sometimes in between classes she tutors students. Not other university students though, kids from schools nearby that take up tutoring lessons from this university. Every Wednesday, at 3 pm, Amira helps Elias with his biology studies. He’s in his second to last year of high school and that stuff is still in Amira’s brain, after all that studying she had done. After every session, Elias and Amira leave the room in the corridor assigned for tutors and their students at 4:15 pm. Every time someone tall with dark hair and broad shoulders leaves the room at the far end of the corridor when Amira is almost at the door to the elevators. Him and a girl in a hijab, similar to Elias’ age, are too far behind for Elias or Amira to wait for them in the elevator without it being awkward. Elias once tried and it took so long that the elevator doors stared closing again and he let them.

Amira sees her friends a lot. She’s really happy that they all make it work even though their schedules can be so different from each other’s. They meet up more than once a week, mostly on short notice, but they plan to get lunch together each Thursday. For that they go to a little, somewhat hipster, café really close to the university two out of five friends attend. Amira goes there straight after her class and usually arrives before her friends. Who she sees even before her friends, pretty much every time, is the tall, dark-haired guy. He leaves the café when Amira arrives. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, with his phone in his hand. Sometimes he’s halfway to the subway station Amira comes out of, but every time she sees him. She notices this on week five of the semester, as well.

Having one single class on Fridays, in the morning, should be outlawed. It’s inhumane and nobody should be forced to endure it. Well, it’s a lecture and nobody checks attendance but there will be a big exam at the end of the semester, she cannot mess that up because she wants to sleep a little longer. Easily understood that she walks to the subway station looking like a zombie, after her class. She walks past the day care for the children of lecturers or any employees or students of the university on her way to the subway. Through the floor to ceiling windows she can see the kids play, even this early in the day. She can also see their teachers. A now familiar head of dark locks is always in the first window she walks past. Sometimes with a kid on his arms, sometimes sitting on the floor playing with a kid or two, sometimes chatting with the other adults in the room, but always in that first room Amira walks past at around 10 am every Friday.

Towards the middle of the semester it’s getting ridiculous. How is it possible that she keeps seeing that one guy every. single. day? She sees him more than people she’s studying and has classes with. He keeps crossing her path and it’s only a short moment in her day but she knows she can rely on him walking past her once a day. Somehow, that has become a part of her weekly routine.

Now, when she’s in the cafeteria on Tuesdays, walks out of her tutoring lesson on Thursdays or past the day care on Fridays Amira’s eye wander around until they land of that dark head of hair. Then she looks away quickly. She doesn’t know him; she only sees him every single day of her university week. It sounds contradictory but it is the truth and that is completely fine. She is now just very used to this tiny part of her routine. However, she only notices this when this routine is suddenly broken. When she gets to the cafeteria on Tuesday and looks through the options in the display, she frowns until she finds something good to eat and when she looks up at the line in front of her, she’s missing something. Or someone. She looks behind her and again, she can’t see the person she is so used to see here by now. Most times he is in front of her in line, sometimes behind her. Today, he is not there at all. Hmm, weird. She has seen him every day this semester until now. That’s … weird.

The same week, she doesn’t see him on Wednesday either. Though, she hears a deep voice just as the elevator doors are almost closed so she can’t be sure if it’s him. She then realizes, she doesn’t really know what his voice sounds like. Sure, she has heard him talk to his tutoring student sometimes but not enough to be able to tell his voice from someone else’s. A weird feeling spreads in her stomach for a second until Elias distracts her with some random fact about some Youtuber he is watching so she turns her full attention to him.

Amira feels like such a weirdo. Why is she worried? Worried about a complete stranger. Just because he did not keep to his routine as strictly this week. She hasn’t seen him leave the café yesterday and now that she cannot see him in the day care makes her stomach drop. For a short second she thinks something bad might have happened until she catches herself. It is so creepy that she knows this strange dude’s routine, or at least small parts of it, to become aware when he’s not doing what he usually does at the time he does it. Walking slowly, so slow that she could just stand in one point as well, she keeps her eyes on the window but casts her eyes down finally. What is going on with her? She needs to get home and sleep; the lack of sleep is getting to her.

Monday she doesn’t see him either. Amira realizes that she expected him to walk past her, that she expected the last week to be an exception. Now it’s dragging into the next week and she needs to get over it. This is horrifyingly dumb of her.

Still, Amira can’t help her relieved sigh when she gazes the familiar frame in the front of the line at the cafeteria. She quickly chooses what she wants to eat and catches his eye, when she stands behind him in line. This does happen sometimes, not often at all though. To her own surprise and horror, Amira says: “You’re alive.”

The stranger looks at her again, checking if she’s actually talking to him and laughs. He doesn’t give Amira enough time to panic over her stupidity of saying something like that to a literal stranger. “Barely.”, he says smilingly and looks away, “Thanks for noticing.”

This should be weird. It should feel weird. She doesn’t know him, he doesn’t know her. Why does this feel … normal. He moves along the line after he pays and Amira thinks he’ll just go about his business as usual but he just stands there as she is paying for her food. After Amira puts her wallet back into her bag, she looks at him again and instinctively smiles. He smiles back and Amira’s mouth moves again and she feels like she has to explain herself a little.

“I’m not a stalker, I promise.”, and holds up her hands in mock defense.

He laughs and Amira takes a second to appreciate that sound. They start moving towards the door together.

“It’s alright, no worries.”, he answers, “If I hadn’t noticed that we keep crossing paths every single day that would be a random thing to say..” Amira doesn’t know if he means her first or second utterance but it’s probably both. “…but I see you more frequently than some of the people I study with so I get it. I was under the weather the last couple days.”

“Oh, I hope you’re better.”, Amira says as they step out of the building and lets her eyes run over his face once. He is very attractive, but she knew that before.

“Thank you.”, he says with a smile, “I am.”

Amira smiles back and then looks at her phone to tell the time and jolts upright. She doesn’t have much time to get to her class on time. The guy notices her change in demeanor and quirks his eyebrows in question.

“I have to get to my class now. Good to hear you’re feeling better.”, Amira says and starts walking towards the next building. She turns around suddenly, after three steps, when she remembers that she’s really curious to match a name to the face, so she stops and sees him still looking at her. That makes her smile involuntarily, but she keeps smiling when she says: “I’m Amira, by the way.”

He smiles broadly and Amira really does not want to leave now. “I’m Mohammed. Nice to finally meet you officially.”

“Same, but I really need to go now.”, Amira says and jogs away, the name going through her head until she’s in class and sits down a few seconds before her lecturer arrives.

His name suits him.

Amira is in deep discussion with Elias when they step into the hallway. Amira listens to him explain to her why he should not have to revise until next week because he studies better with Amira helping her and guiding him. He is trying to butter her up and grins at her charmingly but Amira is unfazed. She tilts her head slightly to the left and looks at him with one raised eyebrow.

“Elias, stop bullshitting me. You’re going to revise what we went over today and next week we’ll start with the next part of the chapter.”, she says calmly. He opens his mouth to argue but she shuts him up with a pointed look. He has become like a younger brother to her, which is really interesting since he’s pretty similar to her younger brother Essam.

“He always does this at school too.”, Amira and Elias hear from behind them. It’s the girl Mohammed tutors. Next to her he watches their interaction with an amused look on his face. For once they caught up with Amira and Elias. Were they faster than usual or were Amira and Elias slower? Who cares. Amira looks at Mohammed for a second but quickly turns her head to Elias again.

“Elias, does that work at school?”, she asks.

Grinning, he shrugs. “Sometimes.”

The girl adds: “Most times. He has a way of charming the teachers and I really don’t get why anyone would fall for his antics.”

“Dude, I’m loveable. It’s no wonder.”, Elias says smugly.

The girl glares at him while he just grins. I watch their silent interaction and they seem to know each other pretty well. He had not even indicated that when we saw them for a split second every other week.

“Leyla”, Mohammed speaks up for the first time now, “Amira doesn’t seem to be fazed at all so he’s not as charming as he might think.” He says that with a cute smile and talks to Leyla like one would talk to their younger sister. Leyla looks up at him and nods and holds her hand up for a high-five. Amira can’t help but laugh at that, which makes Elias look at her like she betrayed him.

“Okay, if we’re all done hating on me, can we get going. I have to be at football practice in like half an hour.”

With that they all get into the elevator together and stand there, not talking. Amira finds herself drawn to look up at one of the people in the elevator more than once but checks herself before he notices. Her face grows hot when she thinks he might be looking at her but she is not willing to check for now.

Elias breaks the silence when they walk out of the building. He’s talking to Leyla. “You going home?”, and nods towards the subway station. She nods. “Okay, let’s go then.”

And Leyla looks up at Mohammed and then Amira to explain: “We’re neighbors.”

“Get home safe.”, Mohammed says, as Amira says, “See you next week.”

Once the kids start walking away, the turn to each other. He draws a hand over his beard and Amira can’t help but follow that movement. His hands are nice too. She’s distracted for a second too long because she misses what he said just now. She looks at him questioningly, leaning a little forward as if she can hear what he said earlier now.

“Are you going home now too?”, he repeats himself to which Amira shakes her head. She notices his eyes roam over her face and tries to keep a straight face. “Do you maybe want to go grab a coffee or something? I’ve seen you like every day for the last I don’t know how many weeks … might be nice.”

“It would.”, Amira answers straight away and shakes her head at herself. Way to go, that was way to fast of a reaction. He just smiles at her so she thinks she’s good. “But I actually have a class in ..”, she looks at her phone, “… in ten minutes.”

His face falls a little but he recovers quickly and nods. “Sometime else then?”

Amira nods and smiles up at him. “I’d like that.”, and then points into the direction she has to go. “I should…”

“Yeah, sure.”, Mohammed says quickly. “Mind if I walk with you for a bit?”

Now that they have talked two days in a row, Amira expects Mohammed to talk to her when she most definitely sees him in front of the café. But as Amira is leaving the subway station, he is walking towards her, his eyes trained on his phone. He’s almost past Amira when she decides to speak up. She says his name and startles herself, it’s the first time she is addressing him by his name.

She startles him as well and has to laugh when he jumps a little.

“Sorry.”, she says sheepishly and Mohammed cocks his head at her and narrows his eyes playfully.

“Are you? Are you really?”, he asks and tries to refrain from laughing, Amira notices his lips twitch but immediately looks away and shakes her head, laughing.

“How are you?”, he asks her, as she says, “Am I keeping you from something?”

Again, they answer at the same time. “Good and you?”, Amira says. Mohammed answers: “No, all good.”

Then they both shut up and start laughing. His laugh is really cute, Amira thinks. His eyes crinkle which makes him look even cuter. They slowly get quieter and just look at each other, which makes Amira’s stomach feel weird … in a good way. When he smiles at her, she can’t keep herself from answering with a smile of her own and she doesn’t want to.

They have only exchanged a couple sentences in total but Amira feels like she knows him already, at least a little. She has seen him five times a week for several weeks now. And she realized, it’s been a while, that she would like to get to know him better. Or at all, if she’s being honest here.

“Are you eating here each Thursday?”, he asks after several silent moments of just smiling at each other.

Amira nods. “I’m meeting friends from school every week. To not lose contact and all. What about you?”

“Not meeting any old friends but my mom works here part time so I come see her when I can, to see how she’s doing.”, he answers and Amira melts right then and there. He comes here, apparently more than just Thursdays, to check on his mom when he could just go eat somewhere closer to university.

“Aww.”, Amira says without thinking and bites back a laugh when she sees Mohammed blush. He really blushes and looks even cuter, Amira didn’t think that that was possible.

“Okay, okay.”, he then says and straightens his posture a little. He has been leaning down a bit, he is quite a bit taller than Amira. “As nice as this is …”, Amira’s shoulders sag even though she knows that this conversation had to end some time soon. “ … would you maybe like to do this some other time? I mean, meet me for a meal or something.”

Oh. That’s what he meant with “As nice as this is..”. That’s not what she had expected. Though, she likes that he is being straight forward. She does not really have time for anything else. Still, she is taken a back for a second which Mohammed understands wrong.

He takes back a step and does not look at Amira anymore. “I mean … it’s obviously okay if not … eh, yeah.”

“No.”, Amira says in a serious tone she did not intend to use but it is fitting. It makes him look up and she smiles. That seems to relieve him. “I’d like to meet you for a meal or something.”, she echoes his words and he laughs at that.

“Oh, that’s great.”, he says and his smile brightens up his entire face. How adorable. “Does tomorrow afternoon sound good to you?”

Amira nods: “It does. Can you give me that?”, she asks, pointing at his phone. “So I can give you my number and we can work out the details.” He unlocks his phone and hands it to her. She quickly types in her number and hands his phone back to him.

“Alright. I’m looking forward to it.”

She walks past the day care again. And again she sees Mohammed in that first room. The only different thing from every other time is that he is looking out of the window, with a kid in his arms. He looks around and when he meets Amira’s gaze he grins. And he makes the toddler in his arms wave in her direction. She likes kids enough but seeing Mohammed like that with a kid in his arms? Makes her like kids a little more. She waves back and is soon out of their line of sight. Amira finds herself smiling to herself and shakes her head at how giddy she is. Good thing nobody sees her likes this right now.

She is going to see Mohammed in a couple hours again. Again, she starts smiling.

Okay, she might have dressed up a bit. It makes her feel more confident sometimes. And she needed it today. She did not expect to become so nervous about meeting Mohammed. She’s excited but also very nervous.

However, when she sees him looking at her with big eyes and unable to take his eyes off of her as she is walking towards him, she relaxes. Head high and a smile on her lips, she meets him halfway and sees that she is not the only one that dressed up. He looks really nice in a button-down shirt and he seems to have done something different with his hair.

“You look really nice.”, he says what she thought about him to her. She thanks him and returns the compliment. A couple seconds later he motions for them to start walking.

They start walking through a park and meant to go to a restaurant straight after but once they sit down on a bench and start talking and getting to know each other, neither of them want to get up.

Amira learns that Mohammed is studying to become a teacher. Tutoring was meant to be a short time occupation to get some exercise in teaching but once he did not want to stop and make his two students look for a new tutor. He works in the day care because he has several younger siblings and has always been caring for kids, as long as he can remember, so he thought it wouldn’t be too hard.

“I admit, it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. But most kids are really easy to handle and I like being surrounded by them. I’m very used to it, I guess.”

Amira nods but says: “Honestly, I’m barely around kids. I have one younger brother and we’re only one year apart, my other brother is older and most of my cousins are older than me.”

Mohammed listens attentively. “Oh wow, that’s so different from what I am used. Must be nice to be the youngest though.” Amira looks at him for a moment too long when thinking about what he said. Apparently it makes him think he needs to explain himself: “I just mean being the oldest has its perks but it makes me somewhat responsible for the younger ones, which I don’t mind but .. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I get it, I think.”, Amira replies. “Even if my brother is just a year younger than me, I feel responsible for him more times than not. So I can imagine it becoming a lot sometimes when there’s more than one younger sibling. Especially if they’re like my brother.”

That earns her a curious look from Mohammed so she tells him about her younger brother and his weird antics. About all the times he annoys her and how Omar and Amira have to get him out of stuff a lot but apparently Mohammed sees that she’s not just annoyed.

“You seem to enjoy having him around though, even if he annoys you a lot.”, he concludes and she nods.

Amira also learns that Mohammed speaks in a different Arabic dialect than her when he talks to his mom on the phone for five minutes. Apparently she couldn’t find her keys and called him to ask if he knows and then just kept questioning him about different things. Amira tries not to listen but it’s basically impossible when they’re sitting next to each other. And then he says something that makes her eyes widen.

“Yeah, I’m out with the girl I told you about.”

He told his mom about her? Why does this make her smile and panic at the same time. It’s not a good combination. He hangs up a minute later and looks at Amira again and smiles.

She can’t keep it in. “You told your mom about me?”

“Was somebody eavesdropping?”, he asks back laughingly.

“You’re sitting right next to me, it was impossible not to hear you talk.”, she admits and looks away.

She hears Mohammed laugh again and rolls her eyes but starts smiling again and her smile gets bigger when he says: “Yeah, I’ve told her about the girl I kept seeing every day since the beginning of the semester.”, and then he nudges my shoulder with his and asks, “Wanna know what she said when I told her I’m out with you right now?”

Amira nods.

“That it’s about time I asked you out.”, he admits, which makes Amira look at him again. That means he talked about her more than once.

“She might be right there.”, Amira responds, feeling more confident than a couple seconds ago.

“Oh, is that so?”, he asks leaning a little towards her, “You also saw me every day, you could have been the one to ask as well.”

She shrugs. “Yup, I could have but up until this week I didn’t even know if you noticed me or if I was being weird noticing you everywhere.”

“Are you kidding?”, he asks but Amira doesn’t know what he means.

“What?”

“Of course, I noticed you. Right at the beginning of the semester. You were wearing a light blue hijab and walked past me in a hurry and I thought wow, what a shame that I won’t see her again.”

That makes Amira take a deep breath. Okay, she did not expect this at all. And he is so straight up about everything. She likes that.

“Little did you know you’d see me so much that you’d think I’m stalking you.”, Amira says and laughs. She didn’t know how to respond otherwise.

Mohammed gets up from the bench and stands just one step in front of Amira. She has to put her head back to look up at him. She raises her eyebrows in question.

“Let’s go get something to eat and we can talk about you stalking me more then.”, he teases.

Amira rolls her eyes, standing up. She glares at him jokingly and answers: “Let me remind you that you’re the one remembering what I wore the first time you saw me.”

“You got me there.”, he shrugs, “You’re not easily forgotten.”

That makes Amira gulp, especially because his eyes roam over her face and linger a little.

“You couldn’t even if you tried, we crossed paths five times a week.”

“Five time’s a charm, I guess.”

#Yousanaexchange #mazzouk #I hope you like it #it got a little longer than intended #hopefully you like it #i loved writing something for you again

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neverisalongtime-ja-blog · 7 years

Text

Anastasia’s Interview!

I already told you all on Anastacia’s IG profile that this week things are going to be a little bit different. Instead of a full chapter I used my journalist skills to write an interview, the one we’ve been talking about on past chapters.

I thought it was a fun idea and many of you don’t know that I’m actually a journalist so it was a great oportunity for my to put my knowledge to the test.

I hope you all like it and don’t forget to give feedback!

Thank you all for reading this crazy thing that I’m writing!

“We want to step out of the Chili Peppers’ shadow”

A new album and the same old attitude give Dead Curse all the elements to finally reach the long way to the top of rock and roll

The music world these days is weird. It’s constantly changing and many – too many – styles adjoin at the same time. You have a huge variety to choose. Some musicians play safe finding a beat that works for them and stick to it forever, others are not afraid of change and keep renewing their sounds from time to time. I’m about to have a conversation with a musician that belongs to the second group, a girl who is always testing new ways to show her talent and creating new melodies. Maybe that’s the reason she is one of the most valued producers in the last 10 years, being responsible of creating massive hits for artists like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons and even pop queens like Britney Spears and Madonna.

You would have thought that she takes the stage with over elaborated choreographies, but her personal music style is far from that. She leads a rock band, quite a famous one, a very original group that mixes sweet melodies with powerful lyrics and helps bring back the sensuality of old rock and roll acts.

She definitely exudes a sexy vibe. She takes a seat in front of me wearing a sports bra with the phrase “Not your babe” in the front and high-waisted leggings. You could think she’s coming right from the gym but her face tells a different story, no makeup and a smile after a yawn show her tiredness, “Sorry, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a while”, she says, her big blue eyes shine and everybody in the press room at the Meadows Festival turn their heads to her. I’m in the presence of a star.

It’s been a wild year…

“Tell me about it!” She laughs. “We’ve been doing a lot of things and this tour took forever”.

But I imagine it must’ve been fun.

“Oh it was. It definitely was. We are close to the end now and I’m gonna miss everyone, but we are ready to take the lead, do our own thing now and kind of step out of the Chili Peppers’ shadow”

The Chili Peppers are big shoes to fill.

“Yeah, but we are not trying to fill them. They are who they are and we are a completely different band”.

How did this happen? Who’s idea was it of touring together?

“I think it was Anthony’s. Last year we did our usual festival tour, we played on some of the same festivals and I have known Anthony, Flea and Chad practically since I moved to Los Angeles back when I was 12. Anthony was my sister Barbara’s neighbor – He still is – and they are very close friends, so, you know, they were always together and hanging out at our place and they are like family to me. I’ve known Josh for a long time too, almost seven years now so there was a precedent there for sure. We started hanging out – they were on the finishing stages of planning their own world tour, and it was probably Anthony the one that had the idea to put us as an opening act. I was shocked.”

Why?

“Because our styles are very different, our audiences couldn’t be any more different so I thought it was a crazy idea but, at the same time, it was an incredible opportunity for us to gain new fans.”

And you did.

“Yeah, it feels really good to know that although they don’t attend the shows to see our band, their fans still support us. At first we were just going to do the Europe leg, but people started to request us in other places. That was a great feeling.”

But here you are, tired of touring.

“Not like that,” she laughs again. “It’s just that the schedule is crazy. Two weeks on, two weeks off. We should do all the dates together and finish this shit in six months, you know? The say that it’s because they want to spend more time with their families but, if we shortened this huge amount of dates they would all have even more time to spend with their children. You start touring for two weeks, you get used to that tour routine but then you have to back home… you get used to your home routine and then you have to go back to tour, again and again, and you don’t know what to do. My sleeping schedule is fucked.”

You would think that touring with the Chili Peppers is a wild experience.

“But it’s not, at all! I imagined Flea would be running around naked at every venue, but they all act like responsible adults now. They are grounded men that demand veggies and a variety of teas in their dressing rooms; they are quite boring to be honest. Chad’s the man for us in the other hand; he was always up for a drink every day off. Overall, it has been more like a religious experience, they have taught us a lot about this side of the music business and we will be forever grateful for that.“

You have a new album that will be released soon and you have said before that it’s a new age for Dead Curse.

“I’m so happy and proud of this record. It’s totally different from everything we have done before and is heavily influenced by this whole touring experience. We never really planned to put out another record so soon. We wanted to finish the tour, get some rest and then go back to the studio but we, as a band, were having such an inspirational rush and making all this amazing songs that we didn’t want to put it on hold, we wanted everybody to hear the new material.”

What makes it different from your other work?

“Musically, it’s a ground we haven’t covered before. It’s an album that was made to be played live, it has a big stadium anthem vibe, and at the same time it’s the perfect record to blast on your car or in your bedroom. It’s powerful, it’s pure rock… We have never sounded as tight as a band before. We have finally found a way to highlight each one of our talents. Nick plays incredible guitar solos, Mandy came up with the catchiest bass lines and at the same time Eric has never played those drums as hard as he did on this album. I’m proud; I think we reached the place we always wanted to be at as a band. We always, well… I always liked to adorn our melodies with a lot of extra instruments like trumpets, harps, violins, mostly because I started as a classical musician and I thought that was what made us different from the rest, but in this one we ditched all of that. We kind of started that in our last album, but here it’s just us with our instruments; I may have included some piano notes or maybe a synthesizer or two, but it’s mostly us showing what we can do with the basics”.

The recording process was different too.

“Yes, because we would usually enter the studio and start from zero there, but in this case we were making songs since the beginning of the year while we were touring, we would record in bathrooms in hotel rooms, and then we had some free time so we decided to enter the studio just to organize what we already had. We kind of recorded this album live because we would play all the instruments in one take and then I would add the vocals, while before, we used to make each sound separately. We also went out of our comfort zone and recorded the album in the desert. We did some takes in an amazing place near Joshua Tree called Rancho de Luna, and we also recorded at the Battle Born Studios in Las Vegas. So all of that influenced the sound vibe for this record.”

Why Las Vegas?

“I went to Las Vegas for a while because it’s this big show city and I wanted to translate that vibe into the album. I wanted it to be a big show album.”

Lyrically, is it different?

“Yeah. The last album we made was sort of a cathartic experience for me. I turned the pen to my experience and it was a whole album about me. This time I went back to diversity and I shared my experiences, but I wrote about Mandy’s, Nick’s, and Eric’s experiences as well, and even experiences of some dude we met in Russia, you know? It’s different and I’m glad that I went back to that. I don’t really like to write about me and that made the last album so hard to make, so I’m more relaxed this time because it doesn’t feel like my album but a band’s album.”

Why did you pick Josh Klinghoffer to produce the album?

“I know how much Josh likes to be in a studio. We developed a big friendship over this tour and he was dying to do something different than the Peppers at that point, so we thought he was perfect for the job. It was a challenge for him too, because he wasn’t comfortable with the kind of music we wanted to project, and although the original plan was to produce the record on our own, we realized that we needed an outsider’s opinion. Josh is a close friend and someone we trust with our guts. He has an amazing music taste and he brought all these British band influences that can be heard on some songs. Each member of the band, as individuals, has very different tastes in music: Nick is more punk, Mandy is all about what’s new and the R&B scene, Eric likes the old rock and roll, I’m a fan of soft rock melodies so we definitely needed someone that glued all of that together, and that person was Josh.”

With all those different styles you may think yours is a tough band to be part of.

“We are so different from each other. In the beginning, many people thought that we weren’t gonna make it. The age difference plays an important role too, but we managed to overcome it and the idea of doing what we love and expressing ourselves through music is what moves us. We know how lucky we are everyday for being able to do what we love and making a living out of it. Many fail on the way but we are keeping strong, even with our differences.”

Don’t you want to kill each other all of the time?

“Oh! Every day” She laughs.

Does it bother you when people say the success of Dead Curse is attached to your last name?

“It used to bother me, but not anymore. I came to terms with it. I won’t lie to you, I do think that being Nick Truman’s daughter helped us gain notoriety in a very short time, but if it wasn’t for our talent and passion for what we do we wouldn’t have come this far.”

In the past, you’ve said that being in this business while suffering from chronic depression could lead to suicide. Do you still think so?

“Yeah, every day. But luckily, I have an amazing support group around me that helps me when I’m down.”

How have you coped with such a long tour?

“Surprisingly, I haven’t had a panic attack or a full-on depression episode during this tour. I’m in my element, doing what I love and that helps a lot. I know it sounds cheesy but without music I wouldn’t be here today. I was having a lot of trouble keeping myself afloat back when I was 14, and entering a studio and starting to make music for such a big part of my life gave me the push and have a purpose to wake up every morning.”

Some can’t do that. Lady Gaga just canceled her tour because of her health issues.

“Mental issues, they aren’t just issues. I love what Lady Gaga is doing, erasing the stigma from mental illness. She is strong and we all need time to heal to give the audience the best version of ourselves.”

Do you give yourself to your audience? Do you care what other people think of your music or not, as long as you are happy with it?

“I think when you have talent and passion and you are so sure of the way you express yourself, it translates into what you offer to the public and they embrace things well done. I think that saying ‘I don’t give a shit about what other people think’ is such a strong statement. I just like to express myself, not thinking if people are going to like it or not, so… yeah, in a way I just don’t give a fuck” She laughs.

Dead Curse has been cataloged as a festival band, are you okay with that? Was that the road you all wanted to take?

“When we started the band we never had any goal of being as a certain thing, we just wanted to play music and to express ourselves through it. Everything that happened from there was organically done. I love to play at festivals. First you get to play to such huge crowds, you also get to see friends otherwise would never encounter and you get to discover new bands and artists, that is something I love to do. Festivals are all fun and games. We just had the best experience ever headlining Glastonbury which was something that never in a million years I would have thought we’d do.”

How did that feel? Do you think you reached a peak as a band after that?

“It’s all downhill from here”, She laughs. “As I told you, we never had any goals as a band to do things like that, but Glastonbury was definitely a dream come true for me. I attended so many editions of the festival and I always found myself watching a certain band play and thinking ‘One day it’s gonna be us up there’ so making that dream a reality stills feels so surreal. I still can’t believe we did that. I cried the day before, I cried during the set and I’m still crying today.”

Now let’s talk about style.

“My favorite subject besides music.”

You have a quite unique fashion sense with your stage outfits. How do you manage not to repeat a single one with so many shows?

She laughs “Anthony was always joking about that. About the fact that we don’t repeat outfits on stage while they are always wearing the same, but I don’t know, fashion sense is a extension of this express-yourself thing. I grew up in a very fashionable environment with my mother being a model and my sister Barbara being a huge clothes lover. I kind of adopted that taste for looking my best. It doesn’t happen all the time, look at me now, I’m a mess,” She laughs, “But with time, I’ve learned to wear what makes me feel comfortable. I ditched the heels long time ago unless I’m just performing one song. I don’t know how to answer to your question… if I like it I’m gonna wear it.”

What do you do with your stage outfits afterwards? Because I can’t see you doing grocery shopping in thigh-high Union Jack boots, encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

“You might be surprised! I have a room just for my stage outfits at home. It’s crazy and totally unnecessary.”

What’s the next step for Dead Curse? What can we expect?

We are going to release our record. ‘Live Action’ is going to be available on October 31, my favorite day of the year. We are going to be releasing our first single with the video next week, it’s called ‘Flesh and Bones’ and we’ll probably do a couple of promotional shows and maybe have our own headlining tour next year.

What’s the video about?

“Well, ‘Flesh and Bones’ is a powerful song about owning yourself, having confidence in your own skin and being able to kick any ass that gets on your way, so we wanted to take that and show it with the immigration issues in this country, showing that no matter where you come from you can have the life you’ve dreamed about here.”

Getting political…

“We have never gotten political before, but with everything that’s happening in this crazy country right now you must step out and have a voice.”

What are you going to do now? How do you see yourself in five years?

“I’m gonna get myself a husband!” She laughs.

“Live action” the new studio album by Dead Curse is out on October 31 and available for pre-sale on October 7.

#Josh Klinghoffer #fanfic #fanfiction #josh klinghoffer fanfiction #josh klinghoffer fanfic #Anastasia Truman #Interview #Music #never is a long time #JoshAn

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pinkchronicles · 5 years

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2019 Recap

So, eto na naman po ako sa super-duper, ultra-mega late blog post ko noh! Hahaha! I was supposed to write something about my birthday but this year has been super crazy kaya naman failed ang goal ko to post here every month! Hahaha! And I'm not complaining ha! I'm actually super grateful because this has been one of the best years I've had. The best year I've had in a decade to be exact! I know sinabi ko din ito regarding my 2018 but tinalo talaga sya ng 2019. Hehehe! Today, I will try my best to go into details about the things that happened this year in every aspect of my life. So, let's start!

RELIGION

I want to start with this part because this is where I sucked at the most. And I admit it, okay. I've set myself a goal on finishing the Bible this year and well, I DID IT! August 26, 2019 was the date to be exact. And I finished it with the help of an app named Bible Reading Schedule. Not promoting the app. Ginamit ko talaga kasi sya. Kinda weird that I had to schedule things like this, I know. I'll explain why later. When it comes to my faith and such, walang nagbago. I'd like to say it has improved but I couldn't feel it nor tell myself na I've been more religious than the previous year. Hindi ako kuntento sa part na ito because I know I could've done better.

FAMILY

Best part of my life this 2019! I have nothing much to say here sa true lang kasi we all had a busy year. But despite of it, I can say na this is one of the best years for our family. Wala kaming naging major issue or problem, walang nagkasakit ng serious sa amin, our Tita was declared cancer-free, we did our first major travel together so yung bond namin this year is kinda different from the previous years. We're travelling again next month. This time mas madami na kami. I'm still super close to my parents. To sum it all up, very peaceful and balanced ang family life ko.

HEALTH

Another area where I always sucked at except this year. I honestly don't know if I am right in saying it because it's how I feel about it. The years of me being a super obedient patient is finally starting to pay off! I didn't have any serious problem about my health this year except for one thing that I don't really like discussing but fiiine, I will! I wanted this post kasi to be as raw and unfiltered as possible. I almost sunk into depression during the first quarter of this year. Keyword is ALMOST. Ayoko mag-open up about it because I know it's such a sensitive topic to discuss specially now that everyone seems to claim that they experience it at ayoko din namang ma-label as "bandwagoner". But I did a test last year. Ayoko na i-divulge kung anong test but it has something to do with radiations that brought a negative side effect sa body ko. That's where it came from. Thankfully, I was born a fighter. I'm not being arrogant or what but I guess through the years, I've learned how to take better care of myself. The moment I noticed that something is wrong with me or my body, I instantly go berserk. Hahaha! No kidding! Yun ang initial reaction ko all the time. That's why people say I'm maarte or that I'm always over-reacting especially when it comes to health stuff but that's MEEE! I don't think I would've survived and lived this long if I wasn't too paranoid about my health. Of course, another factor din na meron akong crazy but super supportive na family who are always there for me.

LOVE

Okaaay... Here we are with what I think is the biggest plot twist of my 2019! I won't try to sugarcoat things. There is a new person who makes me smile. Surprised!? Me, too! Hahaha! It feels weird kasi never in my wildest dreams did I ever think na I will like someone again. I mean, alam ko naman na dadating yung time na yun but I never thought it will be this year. I was giving myself kasi a 3-5 years of rest in the love department. But anyways, we are not in a relationship. NOT YET! Hahaha! And honestly, I prefer things this way. I know it's weird and people might say na I'm too old for the "no label" kind of relationship but I enjoy being single. Yung tipong hindi ka na-i-stress at umiiyak because your boyfriend is playing the ignoring game that goes on for days, weeks, months and so on. Nakakaloka! I may sound bitter (even if I'm not) but being single made me appreciate the stress-free life. And even if nakaka-miss having someone special in your life, I don't think I am fully ready to be in a relationship again. Feeling ko may kailangan pa akong i-confirm at ayusin sa sarili ko before I enter a new one. Actually, hindi lang naman para sa akin but for both of us (me and the new person). Gusto ko 101% sure ako sa feelings ko at sa kanya kasi ayoko namang maging unfair. Luckily, he's also in the same page as I am. We're both content and secured enough to know that we feel the same way about each other. That's the most important thing. WE BOTH FEEL SECURED KAHIT WALA KAMING LABEL. And even if there's no exclusivity in that situation, we both know we're exclusive to each other. Hahaha! Plus point yun for me because I don't like sharing noh! Bonus na lang yung knowledge nya about my medical history (he's my doctor) so he knows what he's about to get if ever we both decided to take things further.

MONEY

I won't go into details sa part na ito ha but this has been a very abundant year for me. Yung mga sales lang talaga ang naging problem ko dito eh! Hahaha! Yun na yon!

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

2019 has been a year of growth for me. It taught me a lot of things and I mean A LOT! I've learned to invest more in myself. To love myself more. I know it sound cliché but it's true. I've rebuilt myself this year. I'm slowly gaining my confidence back. I've always felt like I should adjust for other people but now I am slowly learning to ignore those whom I know isn't really good for my well being. I finally started mastering the art of dedma! Hahaha! Thanks to my special someone. Siya talaga yung palaging nagsasabi at nagpaparamdam sa akin na it's their loss for losing someone like you. Aaaw! At syempre naniniwala naman ako noh! Hahaha! Because of him I've realized that it's okay to leave and let the people that you love go. Like if the person that you love doesn't treat you well at puro stress and toxicity ang binibigay sayo, LET THEM GO. Walang mabuting maidudulot sayo ang pag-hold on sa mga taong ganyan. They'll just going to drain you. Why sacrifice your sanity and put your energy to people who doesn't give a fuck about you diba! I've honestly lost around 5 people in my already small circle this year and honestly, I never felt any regret that I lost them. Hindi ako bitter na nawala sila but life has been a lot easier since they left. As in nabawasan talaga yung problema ko sa life! Hehehe! If I knew this would be the effect of not being around their energies, I would've stayed away from them 4-5 years ago. Like seriously.

I've also learned to detached from people who only know me when they need something. The people who come to me when they have a problem but ignores me the moment they're doing better. I don't know how and why I've let myself get attached to them. Parang naging collection ko na nga sila sa dami nila! Hahaha! I don't know why I attract those kind of people kasi hindi naman ako ganon. But honestly, wala naman akong problem with those kind of people. Happy ako na I was able to help them in my own little way but unlike before where in sobrang affected at invested ako sa problems nila, hindi na ngayon. I've learned to put boundaries when it comes to my emotions. Kaya sometimes I kinda feel bad for Joven (my doctor) kasi this could also mean na he's in big trouble pag naasar ako sa kanya diba! Hahaha!

They say that you get what you put out into the world and I am now a firm believer of it. I believe in karma kahit ano pang sabihin ng iba. And I know I've been good this year kasi I was showered with good karma. But I've also seen a lot of people getting their bad karma served to them this year. I don't want to sound mean but it is what it is. I'm not happy about it. It's just that sometimes when they asked me for advice or help or when they come to me, all I wanted to tell them was to reflect on their past actions because it could teach them something. I'm not saying I'm clean and all but most people overlook these things. Or maybe it's just me because that's how I assess my life. Like if something bad happens to me or whenever I go through something, I know it's because I did something bad to other people. Yun yung parang wake up call ko na: "Girl, umayos at mag-behave ka!" Hehehe! But then again, I've learned not to meddle with other people's business and I've learned it the hard way kaya I prefer to zip my mouth.

Anyway, I also meditate now. The chakra healing, essential oils and stuff, I do and use all those things na. I know it's weird and very Tita-ish but it works for me. Para kasing nag-reset yung system ko after I started doing meditations. I couldn't function or stick to my goals without scheduling them kaya I now use scheduling and habit apps. Effective naman sya sa akin. Na-finish ko nga yung Bible diba! Hehehe! I've ditched the bullet journal because hindi sya fully nag-work for me. Like no matter what I write in there, nakakalimutan ko because I had to scroll pages pa just to find it. Naging visual ang brain cells ko this year. Sort of like out of sight, out of mind ako when it comes to stuff. And I've been super productive this entire year. I'm starting a new business soon (next week, actually) and I'm excited about it kasi ang daming positive feedback. Ayoko sya i-pre-empt kaya I won't talk about it na.

I celebrated my birthday in a very simple way again. Nag-mass lang ako then had dinner with my family. Pero parang 1 whole week tumagal yung birthday ko. Weird how people has been giving me food out of nowhere. I saw the old lady (the one I wrote about last year) in the church again. And she sat right in front of me again. As in parang naulit lang yung nangyari last year. Christmas has been amaziiing! First time ever ko nanalo ng bongga sa Bingo. There has been a running joke about me kasi when it comes to Bingo. They say I always pick the charity cards because I never ever win. Hahaha! This year I was able to finally say, "GANITO PALA ANG FEELING NG NANANALO!" Hahaha!

I think that's all I'm going to post about this year. As always, medyo hesitant na naman ako sa papasok na taon but I'm also excited for the new learnings, experiences and opportunities this 2020. I'm half-claiming it will be a good year for me kasi Rat is my Chinese zodiac sign and 2020 is Year of the Metal Rat. Para ano pa't naging Year of the Rat person ako diba! Hehehe! Anyways, as the new year begins, may we all use this chance again of pressing the reset button in our lives wisely.

Wishing everyone a Belated Merry Christmas and A Prosperous Wonderful New Year!!! Xoxo - Ayie

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artificialqueens · 7 years

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Death becomes her (Sashea) ~ Hobnob

A/N: Hey so yeah I’m in Canada at the moment and its ok. Im by a lake so thats cool because in England if you went in a lake you’d die. The only thing is the graveyards over here are shit. Like, really bad. Its about 8 pieces of stone with names slapped on them. Thats it. The graveyards in England are gr8 they’re all fancy with big ol chapels and local dog-walkers its rite good. Theres one right outside our tesco extra so you can have a fag and a discount grab bag of monster munch

I suppose what I’m saying is i miss England but only mostly graveyards so heres a sashea grave digger au.

A crisp Sunday morning. A group of twelve people stood around a ditch, 6ft deep.

Shea stood beside it, a neatly piled heap of dirt to the left of her. She gripped the handle of her shovel and allowed a shiver to wash over her. Each drawn out breath would hang in the air as everyone clung to their thick coats, toes and fingertips frozen numb.

The grass beneath her was speckled with last nights downpour, buttercups sprouting sporadically in every crevice of the yard. Each grave was maintained regularly on weekends, but this didn’t stop lichens spreading across the surface of the stone, creating spools of rusted orange and brown.

This wasn’t uncommon for Shea, she’d dug graves for countless amounts of the deceased. What was unusual is the fact she stuck around for the vicars sermon. Shea was paying her respects to a lost friend, who was in the coffin not a metre away.

Sasha velour, born 1987 died at the age of 30.

The funeral was going pretty much as expected, nothing more nothing less. It was all extremely respectful; but Shea knew Sahsa would be rolling in her grave. She was so full of colour, energy and life. To have all her friends stood around a ditch holding back tears would of caused her such pain.

She would of wanted her body to be stuffed with the feathers of a dove then covered in paint or something outrageously artsy like that.

The church bells chimed the tune of ‘Westminster Quarters.’ The schoolchildren playing football in the street peeled off one by one as they were called in for lunch, their knees covered in bruises and scrapes.

The ringing ceased and there was only silence; even the occasional cars making their run to town seemed to stop completely.

The vicar brushed some lint off her robe and cleared her throat. She was clad head to toe in black apart from her clerical collar which shone white in contrast. Vicar Brown was well known amongst the townsfolk. She knew almost everything there was to know about the town and its residents. Any social event, any formal, and she’s be there with her signature tray of rice krispie cakes and a grin.

Vicar Brown was dedicated to her work no doubt. Her knowledge helped when it came to writing eulogies and giving the dead a respectful burial. There were no secrets in this town.

Part of Shea found that unsettling.

The service began and as usual, Farrah was the first to burst out into tears. Valentina gave her shoulder a small squeeze, but mostly in an attempt to shut her up.

The standard funeral ensued. Tears, boredom, last words, goodbyes. Funerals are painful, regardless of if you knew the deceased. Everyone bowed their head as Peppermint tossed a rose on the casket.

“We now commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life…”

Farrah began to cry again.

The casket was lowered and the sky was spitting. Everyone was eager to pop into a local café and stave off the cold with coffee, but for Shea the hardest part was just beginning. She still had to fill in the entirety of the grave.

Some mumbled some personal goodbyes to the lowered coffin, some put on a brave face and left with no words. Shea sighed and gripped at her shovel again as everything seemed to go back to normal almost instantaneously.

“You okay girl?”

Shea jolted at the voice. She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around. Trinity Taylor was stood directly ahead of her with a sympathetic smile. They had been very close at one point.

“Jesus Christ Trinity you scared me for a moment” Shea strained, balling a fist into the fabric of her coat. She wasn’t dressed in the most funeral-ish attire but she had dirty work to do. “Im ok i just…me and sasha were speaking just the other day-”

“I know right?” Trinity cut in. “She seemed fine! I’d be more sad if i wasn’t so shocked.”

They both stood in silence for a moment. Shea turned her attention to the coffin as the rain began to bead up on the varnished wooden surface. She reached for the shovel again and frowned at Trinity.

“They wouldn’t tell me how it happened…all i got was one phone call telling me my best friend was dead and when the funeral was.” Shea said, beginning to fill in the ditch.

“Well thats what i was going to ask you, how it happened, you really don’t know?” Trinity asked in confusion everyone had been in the dark about Sasha’s death, even her closest friends.

Shea was hoping to get the phone call about Sasha. How it happened, where it happened, why it happened. Shea couldn’t help feeling information was being withheld from her for a reason. She felt sick.

“You don’t need to stick around girl, i got it covered” Shea said mustering the most sincere grin she could. “I’ll call you if they tell me anything else.”

“Not if, when. I’ll get to the bottom of this myself if i have to.”

Shea nodded and gave Trinity a tight hug. She admired her optimism in such a bleak scenario, but still, she just didn’t feel right.

“Stay strong Shea.”

And with that, Trinity was gone. Sasha’s closest friends had paid their respects and were probably eating a cheese and onion pastie in Greggs by now. She carried on shovelling the dirt over the woman she had spoken to just 3 days ago, playing every possible scenario in her head, over and over.

The heap of soil got smaller as the grave got fuller. The coffin was no longer visible, nor the rose placed on top of it. Sasha would’ve loved the symbolism of that. The situation was setting in and Shea’s breathing was becoming erratic.

She couldn’t finish burying the coffin, she just couldn’t. Shea dropped the shovel in the grass and stood over the half filled grave, her eyes brimming with tears. The rain wasn’t letting up as she crossed her arms in an attempt to keep any kind of warmth.

in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life

Shea needed to get inside. She couldn’t carry on.

Her attention turned to the church. Its stained glass glowed a fuzzy tinted red from the candlelight inside. Shea stepped in the archway and felt her breathing return to normal. She shut her eyes as she felt the wooden door behind her slammed closed. The steady beat of raindrops pounded against the windows.

“Done already?”

For the second time that day Shea jumped. She scrambled against the doorframe clasping at her heart. It was the vicar, clutching a small bible, possibly preparing upcoming services for the more religious townsfolk. Shea didn’t fall under that category. She gathered herself before speaking.

“Ah-just taking a small break vicar” Shea admitted, her eyes red tears that had been held back. “Im sorry it was cold i just wanted to-”

“Oh please, call me Tammie,” Vicar brown began, shaking her head. “You were good friends with Sasha, no?”

Shea tried to speak, but her whole mouth felt like it was shut together, all she could do was nod.

“It cant be easy having to bury one of your loved ones, its hard enough saying goodbye…” Tammie sighed, putting down her bible and casting a distant glare over to the other side of the church. “Have they told you how she passed?”

She paused for a moment and looked to the floor, trying to muster coherent words. “They-they just said there had been an accident.”

Tammie gave a sympathetic look and patted Shea on the shoulder. She was being patronised. Shea shrugged off the vicars touch and furrowed her brow. The entirety of Tammie’s eulogy seemed almost impersonal, and the last thing she needed was the pity of others.

Nobody knew Sasha velour like she did.

Vicar brown continued. “Thats a shame, isn’t it? Im sure they’ll find out more soon, hm? Chin up duck.” She said with a grin. Tammie picked up her pockett sized bible and flicked to a page almost systematically. “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”

Shea let out an internal sigh. She knew it wasn’t her god given right to know everything at all times, but when it came to the death of her best friend a bit of information was the least she deserved.

“i was actually thinking of doing some sleuthing?” Shea admitted. She had found some confidence, as evident in her tone of voice. “maybe ask a few of her family membe-”

“Shea” Tammie cut her off. Her tone was less cheery than before, more intense. “That verse is one i hold very dearly to my heart. Its never steered me wrong before.” She said, tapping her head.

“I’ll…keep that in mind vicar.”

“Please, Tammie.”

“I’ll keep that in mind Tammie.” Shea corrected herself. She had to finish her work and get out of there as soon as possible. Tammie was a nut-case, and Shea was hardly in the mood to be recited christian teachings. “Don’t let me keep you, ill go back to my work.”

Tammie nodded, her face easing up a little, “See you around miss Coulée.” she spun on her heel and made her way back into the confides of the church. The flickering of candlelight casted a silhouette as she left Shea’s line of vision.

Shea couldn’t leave the church quick enough. The rain was hardly a concern at this point. She grabbed the handle of the shovel and inspected her work. Still around half way to go…shit.

“Need some help?”

Shea spun around! Crikey! The ghost of Sasha velour!

“Sup cunt im back.” She stood there in her ghostly glory.

“Sasha you dick pig give us a hug!” Shea said happily.

“Cant, im a ghost.” Sasha shrugged, covering herself in honey mustard and trail mix as an art statement about famine.

Shea was over the moon, this was like, well unexpected. She threw the shovel through the stained glass window and did the electric slide.

“Want to go get a pint?” Sahsa asked, checking her casio sports watch.

“Yah, but how did you die?” Shea said. She had to know the entire story had been building up to this.

“Global warming.” Sasha retorted, breaking momentarily to cough up a bunch of roses.

“Fuck me, i could’ve sworn it was Tammie brown.”

Sasha shooketh her egg head. “Have you even seen scooby doo? Its never the person you expect ya uncultured swine.”

“Have you come to haunt me?” Shea said spitting out her gum into sasha’s grave.

Sasha shrugged. “Good story writing is a construct, tear it apart.”

Shea nodded. That all wrapped up very nicely. Niiiice big ol bow slapped on top. Very conclusive.

“Lets go get you that pint then you cheeky slag.”

And with that they went down to the local tappie for some larger. Not long after they got married in wales at a Dixy Chicken after going on a 3 week bender.

Happy Halloween!

A/N: Bit shit, mediocre, liberal stuff Class is a construct, eat my muff Horrible shit and tolerable shit Cameron made england for the brits This maccies, this is fine Don’t need a nando’s, roadmen in lines For a revolution with naff intentions Brexit was called to fuck generations Yeah man, lend us a quid Student loans and atm im skint :( I’m in so much pain, NHS is whack Theres a lot of politicians, but they all know jack Chavs, roadmen, meddle in gangs Blocked off the alley, can’t get to my nan’s Bar’s, pubs, Underaged drinking England is shit, and LONG LIVE THE KING

#hobnob #sashea #death becomes her #au #sasha velour #shea coulee #tammy brown #trinity taylor #farrah moan #valentina #peppermint #rpdr fanfiction #submission #crack fic

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pacificbigbangblog · 7 years

Text

Writer/Artist Pairings!

All right guys, the time has finally come to announce the writer/artist pairs for the Pacific Big Bang 2017! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at [email protected] or just shoot us an ask!

After each story summary we have included the tumblr url for that story’s writer and artist. (There is an artist who has bravely taken on two stories, due to a drop out. This is not a typo.) Please find your writer/artist and introduce yourself if you don’t already know each other! If you’d rather communicate with your author or artist via email, let us know and we’ll put you guys in touch that way. As the challenge continues, we hope that you’ll become a source of inspiration, motivation and support for one another.

One more thing! Now that claims are over, you can post as much about what you’re working on as you want! Writers, please feel free to post snippets from your stories as you write! Artists, give us glimpses of what you’re working on as your pieces take shape! We’re a small fandom, so the more excitement we can generate about this, the better!

Good luck to everyone, and thank you again for participating! We are really looking forward to sharing this experience with you all!

STORY 1

Writer: @acesparson

Artist: @irr-fullmetalheart

Rating: Mature (some sports violence, possible off-screen death)

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Andrew ‘Ack-Ack’ Haldane/ Edward “Hillbilly’ Jones & Eugene Sledge/Merriell ‘Snafu’ Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: There may be some other HBO War cameos, but The Pacific will be the main POV.

Summary: Captain Haldane’s team clinching the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs had almost been a given. Staying in the race was a whole 'nother matter .

Additional Details: Dealing with hyper-masculinity, ambitions & expectations, & queer themes within sports. It’ll be mainly realistic, but this is fictionalized NHL, and through the eyes of an experienced vet hockey player.

STORY 2

Writer: @waterdeer

Artist: @baksun-n

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Wilbur “Runner” Conley /Lew “Chuckler” Juergens

Side Pairings/Characters: Robert “Lucky” Leckie/Bill “Hoosier” Smith, Lew “Chuckler” Juergens, Sidney Phillips, Ronnie "Kid” Gibson

Summary: Runner is home for the summer after his junior year of college. He’s not excited to go back to his sleepy, tiny town. So far, in the first few weeks, his best friend has been ditching him for this new guy, his parents don’t care about him and haven’t spoken more than two words to him since he came home, and he feels like his life is a dead end. More alone than he’s ever been, he ends up meeting this weird guy from the woods.

Additional Details: Summer Vibes - it’s got the “home for the summer” feel, going out into the woods exploring, summer love kinda feel; Loneliness - Runner is a lonely guy and there’s areas of the story that are sad and down because the story focuses on him; Fantasy - Chuckler is not entirely human (still deciding on what mythical creature he is)

STORY 3

Writer: @warriorgays

Artist: @hoosiersblanket

Rating: General or Teen and Up

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Bob Leckie/Vera Keller, John Basilone/Lena Riggi, Ray Person/Brad Colbert, and Josh Lyman/Donna Moss

Side Pairings/Characters:

Summary: Robert Leckie is a reporter with the White House Press Pool. There’s no such thing as a normal day, but today is a particular challenge as Leckie bounces around in an attempt to get an inside scoop–to put a personal face on working in the White House. Will that personal face be his old friend and current Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, grumpy but coffee-addicted special assistant Hoosier Smith, rival pool reporter David Webster, pissed-off mad genius Deputy Communications Director Ray Person, energetic and impossible-to-locate Deputy Press Secretary Chuckler Juergens, the new IT guy known only as Lurch, or the Holy Grail of interviews, Secretary of Defense Lena Basilone and her husband, Head of Secret Service John Basilone? Who knows? In the end, it could be any one of them. Probably not Webster, though. [A crossover with The West Wing.]

Additional Details: Mood is realistic, quick-moving, and snarky, as close to the tone of The West Wing as I can get.

STORY 4

Writer: @antiquecompass

Artist: @charlesanthonybruno

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Andrew 'Ack-Ack’ Haldane/ Edward “Hillbilly’ Jones

Side Pairings/Characters: Snafu Shelton, Burgie, and various other cameos

Summary: Andy Haldane leaves his home and job in Boston to help his Aunt Mae run her country store in a small town on the Pennsylvania/Maryland border. He loves his Aunt Mae, her store, and the town he used to spend all his summers in before school and work got in the way. Being back brings up all kinds of memories and sees Andy making quite a few reunions, especially with the Jones family, and particularly the eldest son, Eddie. They’re not kids anymore, but Andy already knows he could fall in love with Eddie Jones all over again.

Additional Details: Pretty much a romance novel, with hardly any angst. Lots of nostalgia as both Andy and Eddie reminiscence about their childhood summers together. Country music is definitely a favorite of the entire Jones family and features in the fic. Many scenes of family and friends bonding. Just a general happy, calm little fic.

STORY 5

Writer: @bullrandleman

Artist: @scramjets

Rating: At most, Mature

Warnings: Possibility of some violence. Horror.

Main Pairings/Characters: John Basilone, JP Morgan, Manny Rodriguez

Side Pairings/Characters: John/Lena Riggi, other characters by mention

Summary: The crew of the rebel fighter craftship take refuge on a Class I planet in an effort to escape the Dictatorship hunting party. They need to recoup and repair, patch up some injuries, and send word for help before they’re discovered. The Alliance depends on the plans they’ve stolen. But the planet is Class I for a reason. The ghosts that inhabit are ancient and angry, and the crew are faced with the decision of exposing themselves for help, or dying.

Additional Details: Very mild crossover with Changi, though it’s not necessary to have watched the series, and it’s not a huge aspect of the story. I’m happy to answer any questions regarding this aspect.

STORY 6

Writer: @spoondragon

Artist: @ramimalekeyes

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Prostitution/Sex work, Period-typical Language and Attitudes, Mention of Childhood Abuse (physical), Possible Mentions of Drug Use (OC’s), Off-Screen Death of OC

Main Pairings/Characters: Eugene Sledge/Merriell “Snafu” Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: Sid Phillips, RV Burgin, Bill Leyden, Jay De L’Eau, Sledge family

Summary: After the war, Eugene gets dragged to a brothel during Sid’s raucous New Orleans bachelor party. While there, he runs into a familiar but wholly unexpected face.

Additional Details: Featuring prostitute!Snafu, jaded post-war!Eugene, misunderstandings, love letters, road trips, a wedding or two, family drama, learning to love yourself and learning to accept the one you love.

STORY 7

Writer: @ramimalekeyes

Artist: @generoes

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Violence, Emotional Manipulation, Issues of Consent, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Homophobia, Religious Themes

Main Pairings/Characters: Merriell “Snafu” Shelton/Eugene Sledge

Side Pairings/Characters: Merriell “Snafu” Shelton/Orginial Male Characters

Summary: After the war, a dispirited Shelton returns to the life he left behind to find a man looking to take what Shelton owes him. In the chaos of trying to settle debts, Eugene shows up at his door to confront him about how they parted ways and comes face to face with the men threatening Shelton’s life. Through quick thinking, Eugene earns them some time to make an escape but also complicates everything further. On the run with Eugene, Shelton is forced to deal with his feelings for him while they both try to stay alive.

Additional Details: Dark tone and Ominous mood. Aesthetic? Southern Gothic meets Drive.

STORY 8

Writer: @bornearliernix

Artist: @joeliebgottmyheart

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, very vague mentions of sex

Main Pairings/Characters: Eugene Sledge/Merriell “Snafu” Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: Sidney Phillips

Summary: Eugene Sledge and Merriell Shelton board a train, both headed to homes they haven’t seen in years. In a last effort to bring some familiarity with him, Eugene asks Merriell to come with him to Mobile- at least until he’s settled in. Despite his instincts telling him to leave every part of the war behind him, Merriell does.

Additional Details: This work would best be described as melancholy, reflective, and cautiously hopeful.

STORY 9

Writer: @ackackh

Artist: @muminbarn

Rating: Mature (for language and non-explicit sexual content)

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Eugene Sledge/Merriell “Snafu” Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: Andy Haldane/Eddie Jones, Robert Leckie/Hoosier Smith, Sidney Phillips, Bill Leyden, R.V. Burgin, Jay De L'eau, Chuckler Juergens, Runner Conley

Summary: When the Earth’s Sun began to die, most people decided to get the hell out of dodge. But others stayed, determined to stick with their only home until the very end. Thousands of years later, when the Sun had gone and taken most of Earth’s life with it, five men were sent on a mission to go back and study the home mankind left behind. But upon arrival, they were faced with the impossible: a boy in overalls.

Additional Details: Rural Science Fiction, Finding Beauty in Science, Some Rural Fantasy Elements, Space, Themes of Existentialism and Humanity, Soft and Colorful Characters/Settings

STORY 10

Writer: @moontowers

Artist: @red-hot-moon

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Period-Typical Attitudes, Canon-Typical Violence

Main Pairings/Characters: Merriell "Snafu” Shelton/Eugene Sledge

Side Pairings/Characters: Sidney Phillips, others probably

Summary: AU where Sledge and Snafu meet as teenagers in Alabama and grow closer in spite of themselves. War looms, but in the heat of summer 1941 it still feels as distant and inconsequential as thunderstorm, the kind that blows up in the afternoon and spins out by dinnertime. Eugene gets this feeling when he looks at Merriell and that…feels like a bigger fish to fry.

Additional Details: Magical Realism, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Canon

STORY 11

Writer: @armypeaches

Artist: @irr-fullmetalheart

Rating: Teen and Up (for language and canon-levels of violence)

Warnings: While there won’t be anything sexual in this story, I will warn that the actual werewolf biting is non-consensual (the other guys have zero knowledge or warning before the event, and the results of that drive some of the plot), just in case that turns anybody off.

Main Pairings/Characters: No pairings, but a lot of homosocial behavior.

Side Pairings/Characters: Leckie, Chuckler, Runner, and Sid

Summary: Hoosier has never had any interest in turning someone else into a werewolf. He has also never been in a war zone before. When faced with the option of giving his friends a better chance at survival, he barely thinks about it before taking action. He should have given it more thought though, because now they’re all tied to each other forever, through instincts and injury, war and separation, and whatever comes next. Together, they’re all going to learn what it means to be a pack – whether they like it or not.

Additional Details: Team Leckie canon-era werewolf AU. Story will closely follow the events of the miniseries through a werewolf lens. The narration will follow Hoosier (other pack members are Leckie, Chuckler, Runner, and Sid).

STORY 12

Writer: @wolfandwildling

Artist: @liebgotts

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Edward “Hillbilly’ Jones/Andrew 'Ack-Ack’ Haldane

Side Pairings/Characters: Bob Leckie/ Bill “Hoosier” Smith (plus possibly references to extremely minor other pairings)

Summary: It’s Eddie’s last months of high school and all he wants is to have a good time with his friends on the soccer team and maybe win the trophy at the end of the season. However, changes in how players are grouped shake up the team as five new guys take the spots of old teammates. Instead of being a distraction from Eddie’s other major problem in life - does he tell Andy about his feelings or would that be a waste of time since they’ll be going to different colleges soon anyway and Eddie might 'get over it’ then? - it makes it even worse, because you can’t bond with your team without spending time with its captain, which means that if Eddie’s crush was bad before, it’s now beginning to reach epic proportions.

Additional Details:

STORY 13

Writer: @snafu-is-dying-sledge

Artist: @all-of-the-ships-are-sailing

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Eugene Sledge/Snafu Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: OC’s for both Snafu and Sledge but they will be minor

Summary: After Snafu misses Burgie’s wedding, Sledge gets concerned. He visits New Orleans but he finds a very different Snafu. Distant and basically a wreck. Sledge will come to understand his feelings for Snafu as he tries to help him, even though Snafu really doesn’t want to accept any kind of help.

Additional Details:

STORY 14

Writer: @gettingthatyellowjaundice

Artist: @everbodyhateselliot

Rating: General

Warnings: No archive warnings anticipated to apply.

Main Pairings/Characters: Eugene Sledge/Merriell “Snafu” Shelton

Side Pairings/Characters: Dr Edward Sledge, Mrs Sledge, Edward Sledge, Jr, possibly Eugene Roe

Summary: There are approximately 144 miles between New Orleans and Mobile, and Merriell Shelton will drive every single goddamned one of them if he has to. There’s nothing left for him in Louisiana, no place for him at his mother’s dinner table, not after everything he’s seen, everything he’s done. And hell, so what if Eugene’s parents act as if he’s come down to Alabama to dirty their baby boy’s perfect little soul? So what if Eugene’s squeaky-clean, god fearing neighbors look at him like he’s trash? Well, according to Sledge, it means one helluva lot. So two weeks after Merriell shows up at Eugene Sledge’s door like the lost mutt he is, the two of them pack their bags and drive to California. No, they don’t know anybody in California. No, they haven’t got any jobs waiting for them in California. But Eugene says it’ll work out, and, well, Merriell has always been so ready to trust Eugene with everything he’s got.

Additional Details:

STORY 15

Writer: @ailendolin

Artist: @alexpenkala

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Off-screen character death of OC’s

Main Pairings/Characters: Andrew 'Ack-Ack’ Haldane/Edward "Hillbilly’ Jones

Side Pairings/Characters: None

Summary: Andy/Eddie Modern AU. Andy is a first semester biology student with flatmates who like to party every night. Trying to find a quiet place to study Andy stumbles upon a diner around the corner where Eddie is working as a waiter. They become friends over the following weeks and when he realizes that Eddie’s life is more troubled than he lets on Andy makes it his mission to help him.

Additional Details: The story is pretty light and humorous mostly, but will deal with sad themes at times. It’s meant to be a hopeful story with the focus on helping someone in need, so it’s not going to be too dark.

#woohoo!#writer/artist pairings

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kingdoms-of-fate · 8 years

Text

Darjrick

Setting:

Mordeadus - homebrew

Country:

Darjrick

Race:

Human, Mutants

Terrain:

Heavily forested hills and marshland.

Thick strangle vine, a thorny weed, grows wild here; more on this in the issues section

Settlements:

There are many cities, towns and villages.

There are only two classes in Darjrick, the upper class or the pure - these are not mutated human, nobility, merchants and soldier all tending to be wealthy, while everyone else, the taints and mutants are lower class, destitute on the verge of homelessness. More on mutants in Issues.

There is almost nothing of a middle class.

Each town or city is divided by walls forming upper and lower class districts. Checkpoints exist at each gate and are monitored closely by dozens of guards, checking for mutations in anyone who passes. While not mutated taints can enter, the mutated are always turned away.

The most infectious and dangerous mutants are forced into the quarantine zone, an area of the city sealed off from everyone, nothing more than a prison made of sewers and gutters, Any mutant who enters is never allowed to leave and many die from starvation and thirst. No one is allowed to enter except the Order of the Pure Body when conducting a surge. More on them in Issues.

Along main streets, outside public buildings and at every gate, large lanterns can be found hanging from metal poles. The lanterns are stuffed with incense and always kept burning by the town guards. It is illegal to touch or damage a lamp post, often punishable with death. More is explained in Issues.

This often makes the streets smokey and from afar they appear to be burning.

Architecture Style:

Quarried from the hills, all structures are built with a white or black stones called blood stone that has a veiny red quartz deposit running through it. Fromm afar these structures appear to have blood veins.

The lower class use black stone while the upper class uses white stone - it is a symbolic gesture between the pure and the tainted.

Strangle vines loves blood rock and will often become attracted to the cities like a moth to flames. Despite how destructive strangle vine is, nearly every building in the country is covered by it as it is almost impossible to eradicate. However, the rich can afford to replace the damaged stone of their building while the poor cannot, often living in collapsed, hallowed out structures.

Inside each room or every not mutated home bowls of incense burn. This often makes buildings smoky and smell pungent.

Clothing Style:

Standard medieval. The upper class carry pouches of herbs like bandoleers across their chest, along with a burning incense stick that is always lit on their belt.

The lower class dress mostly in rags, a patchwork of cloth left over from the upper class tailor shops.

The not mutated taints will often wear rags over their face stuffed with any burning herbs.

Both classes believe burning incense keeps the air clean around them and help against contracting a mutating illness.

Because the citizens of Darjrick appear to be smoldering from the burning herbs they carry, they are often referred to as the smokers - or “Hey look, it's one of those smokers.”

Religion:

There is no central religion, although a few necromancy sects exist in the hills, and there is the Order of the Pure Bod.

Government:

Lead by a powerful monarchy who has complete control of their nation.

Only the pure, those with a family line not corrupted by mutation can be nobility or hold jobs as merchants or soldiers.

While many of the lower class are not mutated, they may have fathers, mothers or a past in which their ancestors have become mutated, hence why someone can be tainted even though they are not mutated.

Because of the threat of a family losing its status as pure, any mutations within the family are often dealt with quietly. Pures are also not above infecting a rival with a mutation to keep an entire family from prospering. Maybe a merchant wants to corner a market or a noble wants more land or a soldier wants a to be in command of a garrison. While it is illegal to mutate a pure on purpose, such cases are often hard to prove.

This puts most of the upper class on edge with each family, often aligning themselves to a barracks in mutual self-protection. The nobles or merchants will pay the garrison handsomely, lavishing them with all assortments of goods and in return the garrison assures the family is watched over and protected at all times.

Economy:

The region is an economic powerhouse with a strong merchant class.

Darjrick has trade deals with almost all nations of Mordeadus. This keeps the upper class rich and very seldom do they share it with the lower class.

The nation of Darjrick's main import is herbs, any and as much as they can get their hands on. Although many herb farms do exist, it is not nearly enough for the insatiable appetite Darjrickians have for “clean air”.

Issues

Mutations

Disease is rife in the gutters and marshlands of Darjrickians.

The disease, while sometimes causing illness and death, usually causes mutation.

The mutations are fast and irreversible except by magic. They can be extra limbs, eyes, mouths, teeth, etc.. Mutants can grow tails, hooved feet, gills, have terrible bulbous skin tumors, limbs can atrophy, necks can grow and twist into odd shapes. Anything is possible as long as it is hideous and painful.

The source of the disease is uncertain as no one has ever been able to find a cause.

Note 1: The marshlands are magically radioactive and it is what causes the mutations.

Note 2: Anyone who enters the marshlands must roll saves every day or become sick and mutate. All mutations have a 10 percent chance of being infectious. Infectious mutants can cause others to become sick and mutate with enough time in close proximity - from a few minutes of the most infectious to days.

While most mutants are harmless and those that are, are only with extreme exposure, the upper class refuses to mingle with them, barring them from almost everywhere but the slums and ditches of cities. The worst, those known to be infectious for certain, are forced and sealed into the quarantine zone and forgotten.

The lower class or tainted have learned to live with mutants, mostly because every tainted family has at least one mutant relative. However, the tainted are no less cautious as being a taint is still better than being a mutant and therefore even mutant relatived who live in the same house are often forced to spend time in one room away from everyone else.

Mutants often regarded as little more than animals, although it is still technically illegal to kill them, and therefore many will often band together in the frontiers, forming colonies and secret societies away from the cities. While most are looking to live in peace, others have decided to make war on the pure, attacking merchant caravans, spreading their disease to merchants or raiding towns in roving band. More on that in the order of the pure body.

Order of the Pure Body

A religious order of purity whose entire goal is to purge the mutant infestation.

They worship Purity, a deity of bright white light whose main focus is the purity of the human body.

People in the order must always remain fit, abstain from alcohol and tobacco and clean themselves daily. Anyone who refrains from these ways are filthy and untouchable.

While the overweight, blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, the poor and those who use drugs are regarded with disdain, it is the mutants who disgust the order the most, a blight on the greatness that is mankind

The order will not compromise, will not feel sorry for nor will every back away from killing a mutant.

Everyone in the order wears a medallion of a gender-less haloed naked human, and wears a metal mask with a long snout full of incense.

The order can be found in each city at the temples of light, a building topped with dozens of burning braziers and human effigies built with wood. The effigies are replaced daily.

They often work with the city guard and for the nobility in purging the mutants, their goal: wiping every mutant from their nation with zealous tenacity.

While the soldiers' jobs are defensive, protect the upper class, run security, keep mutants at arm's reach, the order's job is offensive, to find and purge mutants wherever they may be.

While killing a mutant is still considered murder and technically illegal, most guard and nobility look the other way when a purge is happening. Because murder is illegal, little can be done when a mutant defends themselves and wins, although many have tried. This has caused a perpetual war between the lower class and the order that the upper class can do little to stop.

The monarchy who wishes nothing more than to be rid of the mutants understands that by making killing mutants legal, they would in fact be making war with the entire lower class, so this is the unofficial compromise.

The Order of the Pure Body often work with the Order of the Pure Mind in Ravien, with each order having representatives and working battalions of soldiers in each nation.

Strangle Vine

The thorns are razor sharp and capable of burrying into any material, including metal, eventually strangling the object and crushing it as the thorns devours the substance.

The strangle vine can grow anywhere and is considered an infestation, but mostly is drawn to bloodstone. The thorns of the strangle vine are capable of absorbing the essence of any object, slowing reducing it to powder.

It is a magical plant and considered by many to be the back hairs of a mammoth demon living in the depths of the earth. It is extremely tough and durable - it counts as having the toughness of steel, can regenerate 1 hit point a round and has D4 hit points per meter of vine.

Any vine that wraps around a person requires a strength check to remove, adding plus 1 to the difficultly per round as it digs itself in. After a day, if the vine is not removed or destroyed, the player loses D6 CON and 1 limb atrophies.

Any vine that wraps around a non-living thing absorbs D6 hit points a day - keep in mind, most structures can have 100s to 1000s of hit points and can take years to destroy.

Because of the dangers and difficulty of removing strangle vine, most leave them on their buildings, only repairing structures when needed.

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ironemblem · 8 years

Text

GURPS Encounters: Domum Inretio, Shrine to Mechanics

A sorta steampunky inspired trapped temple at its simplest, full of very little in combat (at least at first) but quite a few nasty tricks. This is also the first GURPS post where I kind of use some Thaumatology (just got the book a few days ago)! So take a step, a very careful step into....

Domum Inretio, Shrine to Mechanics Description

General Layout: Unless otherwise stated assume that the ceiling height of the complex is seven feet, the walls being made of impeccably crafted white cobblestone (perhaps some kind of magic), with the ceiling and floor being of smooth marble. The only universal distinctive feature throughout the structure would be the presence of exposed machinery, chunks of wall missing revealing large turning gears, and many moving chains (see Animate Chain for more info). Doors are assumed to be made of thin sheets of bronze (1 in. thick) standing about 2 yards and 1 yard wide.

Room 1 (Entrance): Essentially a room of warning, long and thing, the walls are covered in a warning, etched hundreds of times over in different languages (preferably at least one in a tongue that a pc can understand). “Only the clever may walk these halls, each pull calls you further, the dullard need not look.” Pretty straight forward, but shows that the creators meant business and sets a definite ‘challenged’ tone.

Hallway 1-5: This section has not one, but two traps in it (see Traps and Machinations for more info)! The important part connects room 1 and 5, but all rooms are linked by this main hall.

Room 2 (Roaring Archway): Where the first lever lock can be found, a small prayer area, with many wax coated candle ledges about. The lever is past a trapped archway into a former storage area (some treasure can be found at GM discretion, possible around 2d$ worth of some religious items).

Room 3 (Rest): Where the second lever lock can be found, once something akin to a breakroom. The remains of rotted chairs is scattered about, this room’s door has a bar, so perhaps a last ditch safe room too!

Room 4 (Shocking Vault): The most dangerous of the lever locks, the entire room is trapped, from floor to ceiling, to get past this one will require some serious smarts, or quick feet! Many silver rods stick out of the wall and ceiling, each about two yards long.

Room 5 (Fountains): This room has what appears to be an incredible fountain of pristine water, tapped from far below. The walls of the fountain are covered in scenes of people choking after drinking from a river however, seemingly warnings against itself! It really is just a plain old water fountain though, drawing on a pretty well-made pump system.

Room 6 (The Altars): The final room, where the rewards await the “oh so clever” adventurers. First all of the lever locks must be pulled, as a thick stone wall (at least four feet thick) depicting three such devices stand in the way! And since magic is much crueler here this might be quite the challenge.

Unfortunately the treasure is rigged as well! Each of the three surviving items should be quite worth the trip (see below for some suggestions on these). Grand altars hold the relics, stone covered in only slightly tarnished bronze. The western altar is decorated with a screaming horned demon’s maw. The center shows strange scenes of gear like flowers, connected by vines of chains. The eastern takes up a great portion of wall, tall tablets of stone covered in seeming gibberish, but quite pretty gibberish perhaps worth some money to art collectors! Alternatively some secret spells/ritual/whatever could be hidden within it, either way transport of four hundred pound tablets is almost a quest in and of itself.

Traps and Machinations

Mana Level: If your campaign doesn’t use something akin to mana levels (or doesn’t access those variants in Thaumatology) feel free to ignore! Otherwise the entire structure is under the effects of Twisted Mana, with standard campaign amount. This is the most devious of the shrine’s defenses, a space of permanently scarred and corrupted magic.

Traps Note: Unless otherwise mentioned assume standard skill levels apply, possibly consider giving bonuses to those with any high mechanics skill as well (maybe +1 or +2 effective skill).

First Trap (Darts o’ Annoyance/Hall 1-5): Found in the first few yards in Hall 1-5, this trap is meant mostly to irritate would be dungeon delvers. Triggered by a very obvious pressure plate (+4 effective skill to find/disarm). The highlighted area is filled with tiny flying darts, all passing through (or staying within) are subjected to a skill-10 attack every second, dealing 1 point of small piercing damage.

Second Trap (Roaring Archway): Much more carefully crafted than the first trap, this trick can also be lethal! A set of tiny nodules (normal skill to find/disarm) is set in the steps just on the other end of the archway, which causes exposed pipes around the arch to let loose a blast of flame in the other room. In effect it slays the intruder’s friends! All in the highlighted area are subjected to a skill-14 attack, dealing 2d burn damage and most likely igniting flammable materials (the attack itself isn’t innately ‘sticky’).

Third Trap (Shocking Vault): Two traps in total, but the first activates the second! The entire floor is a massive series of pressure plates (almost impossible to disarm, maybe -10 effective to skill on any such attempts if allowed at all, failures triggering the trap by bumping another plate). When triggered the door behind them slams shut (not locked) and the room fills with static! Every second those in the room must make a HT roll or suffer 1d burn damage as the lightning courses through them, those in armor have a -5 effective HT for this (or if particularly cruel no roll is allowed at all), this penalty applies to those attempting to open the door as well! The effect itself lasts 3d seconds.

Fourth Trap (Crushing Points/Hall 1-5): This trap is a bit different in trigger, whereas the rest had pressure plates or other floor based mechanism this one is a bit more eccentric. A curtain of chainmail hangs from the ceiling, if walked through, one step past is pinched by six spears (three on each side of the highlighted area) essentially RoF 6. Attacking with a skill of 14, each hit deals 2d-1 imp. Located just outside the fountain.

Fifth Trap (The Altars): Despite the various designs the altars all have similar traps, yet another layer of trickery and pressure tech. If the particular treasure is taken off its pedestal something very simple happens, a ringing bell, somewhere deep in the structure. This activates the Animate Chains throughout the Shrine (see The Guardians). Further activation does little more, becoming louder each time, if only to increase tension.

The Guardians, Rattling Chains: The custodians of the temple, and guardians if the altars are so disturbed, these lengths of chain reset traps and slay! Many of the busts are the active work of the chains, who use them to outflank intruders and of course quick travel about. If the fifth trap is triggered place an appropriate amount of Animate Chains about the temple, for some randomness make it 1dx1/2 pcs.

Animate Chain

A length of chain of some unknown silvery material, about three yards long, that moves of its own accord through some strange magic. They attempt to use constriction attacks to kill their prey, and when not in combat stealthy reset traps and the like (or at least try to).

ST 14; DX 12; IQ 4; HT 10

Will 4; Per 4; Speed 3.00; Dodge 6

Move 3 (Clinging)

SM +1; 50 lbs.

Traits: Automaton, Body of Metal, Clinging, Constriction Attack, DR 5, Noisy 3, Vermiform

Skills: Brawling-15; Mechanics (Domum Inretio)-14; Stealth-12

The Treasure of the Temple; the Clockwork Heart

A most macabre item, separated into three pieces, and placed within this temple. When fully assembled (with a DX-3 check or default Mechanics; as the device almost whispers its instructions) it seems to be a small bronze orb. With many gears and tubes! If the device is used to replace a creature’s they are granted many a boon, the only downside? The possibility of dying with its installation. Every point of the Clockwork Heart advantage is essentially “earned” through the Surgical Modification rules, which in most pseudo medieval settings might be hard to get done.

Clockwork Heart 45 Points

The Heart at its most basic increases the ‘hardiness’ of the benefactor, and even will save them from death. Character points earned after installation can be put to further abilities of the Heart (without surgery), such as more Extra Lives, ST/HT, and even things like Extended Lifespan. This may take certain events, or an inward journey at GM discretion.

Advantages: Extra Life 1 [25], Immunity to Heart Attacks [5], Very Fit [15]

#GURPS #gurps encounters #temple #it's a trap!#steampunk #fantasy #rpg #tabletop

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roccorrios · 4 years

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How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found (Legally, Without a Trace)

Can you disappear without a trace?

Yes, you can.

But, it all depends on one thing. Proper planning.

Today, you’re going to learn effective approaches on how to disappear completely and never be found.

But, knowing how to disappear completely is one thing – actually doing it is another.

Resources for disappearing: Ultimate Bug Out Bags & Survival Kits – Click Here

How do you disappear legally?

Is it illegal to disappear and never be found?

If you’re asking how to disappear completely for the first time, here are some things you should take note before going.

Currently, the law only forbids people who have committed a crime to completely disappear.

That’s why credit card companies and banks have the right to hire private investigators and track down default loans. They help find people who never want to be found.

The government can allow you to assume a new identity if you’ve been directly affected by the following situations:

· Witness Protection Program

· Political Asylum

· Spouses in physically abusive marriages

· Survival

· Victims of sexual abuse

We’ll expand on what each of these mean below.

Helpful resources:

101 Bug Out Bag List Essentials: The Ultimate SHTF Gear Checklist

Wilderness Survival Kit List: 10 Supplies & Essentials You Should Always Bring With You Outdoors

Witness Protection Program

This program is designed to help key witnesses disappear legally and never be found by people who are after them.

However, once you opt for this method, there’s no turning back. In this case, the government will relocate and assign you a new identity.

The main criteria police look at are…

· Credibility of the witness statement

· Level of imminent danger facing the witness

So, how does this work?

The Marshals will relocate you to a different state as they process most recent identities.

You’ll get a job that pays at least $60,000 annually as well as schooling for your children.

Armed officers will also protect your home during court appearance dates.

Political Asylum

Political asylum applies to people who would need refuge in the United States and never want to be found by those who have malicious intent toward them.

The right of asylum allows one to seek protection when he or she fears prosecution due to social, religious, and political stances.

After a successful application, the government will provide you with a green card. This ensures that you won’t need to renew a visa or apply for a work permit. Plus, it allows you to travel back to your home country when things cool down.

Spouses in physically abusive marriages

The government does not facilitate this program, but you won’t face any charges if your case is credible. They may even give you pointers on how to disappear completely if you fall under this case.

Credibility in this case means filing police reports of domestic violence against your spouse. You can produce medical reports of injuries sustained directly as a result of physical abuse.

Most of these cases play out in favor of the abused.

Survival

This would be similar to witness protection due to the nature of circumstances and another instance where the government may help you understand how to disappear completely.

You might be trying really hard to part ways with a criminal gang and disappearing is the best option.

In this situation, running away won’t get you in trouble with the police. As a matter of fact, they may even help you understand how to disappear.

Some areas are hostile to someone with different sexual orientation. Often, victims would end up suffering from consistent physical abuse while others experience death threats.

In addition, there might even be stalkers who make it impossible to live in peace.

Helpful reading:

22 of the Best Survival Rifles & All Around Survivalist Guns

Best EDC Knife – Everyday Carry Knives for Self Defense

Victims of sexual abuse

Some high profile sexual assault cases, such as Leaving Neverland often cause lifetime impact.

In addition to the physical trauma, victims would have to readjust in communities where everyone knows about their sexual abuse. This can be pretty difficult and cause problems if you don’t know how to disappear completely.

This also brings about additional frustrations in the form of embarrassment or struggles with self-esteem.

A victim in this situation can relocate to a fresh city and even change their name.

Doing this enables them to start over in a conducive environment where there’s no fear of judgement or sexual predators.

How do you disappear in America?

According to a 2017 security report, there are approximately 85 million CCTV cameras in the USA. This is a road block for someone in America wanting to know how to disappear completely.

In addition, Google and social media companies are also gathering your personal information from your electronics every single day.

With all these eyes on you, is it possible to disappear and never be found?

In this section, we’ll look at how to disappear without a trace.

How do I disappear online?

Have you ever seen a friend suggestion on Facebook that made you wonder how it happened? Think of it that it can be a huge road block for someone pondering on how to disappear completely.

For instance, you might see your favorite bartender’s profile yet you don’t have mutual friends.

You might have never attended the same schools and this leaves you wondering how Facebook made the connection. If you want to disappear completely, it is a must to sever your ties with social media.

Social media companies use artificial intelligence to map out your daily routines and you don’t want your escape plan exposed accidentally online.

So, let’s learn how to disappear completely from the internet.