#to christen this shitshow

[kuroyuki-kokuyoku]

Random TCF Related Thought - Fairy Tales

In canon proper, we know that fairy tales do exist in Nameless 1, or at least, fiction geared towards children.

Well, I was reading some TCF React fics and found a hilarious moment where Heni!KRS was explaining fairy tales to Cale's kids and was shooketh to find out that Cale had butchered some of Earth's classic fairy tales into loosely-based-on stories (to put it gently) cuz apparently the "princess-in-distress" trope would not be relatable if every princess IRL they know could easily save themselves in a simailar or same situation. Therefore, Badass Action Girl!Princesses FTW.

Where am I going with this?

So my shower thought is that Cale one day decided to invoke his inner Brothers Grimm and published his own book series based off of Earth's classic fairy tales.

But here's the twist: He uses the Walt Disney versions but made every Disney Princess BAMFs.

Sorry, Mr. Walt Disney. Your own versions of Earth's classic fairy tales were a product of your time, but your 50s sensibilities won't fly when all of the princesses Cale knows can easily break a full grown man man in tiny little pieces, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Besides, he wants little girls like On and Lily to have strong female role models to aspire to be even if it's in fiction.

Sleeping Beauty? Aurora is based on Roselyn. She finds out that she got cursed by Maleficent, who is a whole Dragon that her father had offended by failing to invite her to his unborn daughter's christening like he promised, so she threw away her status as crown princess to become a mage out of spite and break the curse on her own. In the end, she succeeds and managed to tracked down Maleficent to her lair. Maleficent is so impressed by her moxie that the Dragon took her on as an apprentice. By the time, Prince Phillip shows up hoping to slay the Dragon and take Aurora back to his kingdom so they can be married, the story is already over.

Beauty and the Beast? Belle is the village chief's daughter and the most beautiful girl in the tribe. Belle is a Tiger and Lion mixed-blood Beastman and also pining after the cute human bookworm named Adam in the next village over. Dorph the greater value Gaston can go fuck himself for all she cares. TLDR: Role Reversal AU and Belle is Dark Tiger!Alberu.

Cinderella? Cinderella is a secretly a Shaman. Everything is the same up until the whole dress ruining scene. After that, Cinderella invokes the spirit of Queen Jopis, stopped giving a shit, and turned the rest of the plot into a shitshow. Her evil stepfamily is given the OG!Brothers Grimm treatment.

Pocahontas? Everything is the same except the Powhatans are all Elves. Ratcliffe is the White Bitchless.

Hunchback of Notre Dame? The plot is the same, but Esmeralda is a Dark Elf, and Quasimodo is half-Dark Elf. Frollo is replaced by Adin just so he can fall off the roof a second time.

Aladdin? Jasmine is also a thief. She looted what should've been her dowry from the Sultan, her annoying suitors' wealth, Genie's lamp, Carpet from the Cave of Wonders, Aladdin's heart, and Jafar aka the White Hobo Looking's dignity and respect, not in that order, then whisked Aladdin off of his bare feet and away to her own personal kingdom. Basically, Cale reimagined her as Fem!Hong Gildong.

The Little Mermaid? Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending where Prince Eric is a Whale Prince and Ariel is still a Mermaid, and both their families got scammed into finally burying the hatchet by Ursula.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? Snow White is a Dwarf too, and the plot is basically an otome where she has seven suitors from different tribes, and the Evil Queen (*couch*Elisneh*cough*) is, of course, the jealous villainess.

Brave: Everything's the same except Sayeru gets abused more than Mor'du in this book.

Frozen: Everything's the same except Prince Hans is swapped out for Sir Bernard cuz Hans the goodest butler doesn't deserve to be associated with scum.

Tangled: Everything's the same except it's Adin who takes a swan dive off of the tower.

Mulan: Everything's the same except the Huns are replaced by Arm.

[hardtchill]

People have short term memory, they all forgot about the trinity and mal stuff form a couple of years ago.. I get it why christen said she wanted to be in that one camp, because it must have been such a shitshow. Idk, we know the 2019 23 best friends was bullshit but this new gen squad is overall quite unimpressive and icky to say the least

Juuuupp. Also people always seem to forget how she showed her true colors when it came to kaiya mccullough (in case anyone needs a reminder https://www.tumblr.com/hardtchill/667955191646191616/can-you-sum-up-what-happened-on-twitter-with)

[lunarnightt]

So about multifander: essentially she got blocked by a few folks for odd behavior (i forgot what) then had a breakdown over it and somehow equated it to antisemitism (she’s jewish) despite the blocks happening bc she was annoying 💀

a friend of mine blocked her and she started obsessing over it, asking if the person was antisemetic and shit. was going into mutuals asks asking why she was blocked, commenting on old posts about them asking why, it was a whole shitshow breakdown over internet fighting.

i’d say it’s best to ignore her/block her and just carry on.

I blocked her because I thought that was really weird. I’m christen but I am no way shape or form homophobic or racist(I am pansexual and mixed) and completely stand with Palestine so I have no idea why she is so pressed and messaging me “bye” lmao. Like girl, pipe down 😭😭

[uswnt5]

gonna go back to staring at the pic of Tobin and Christen and ball because I need something to sooth me to sleep after that shitshow

we got that TODAY! We, as a society, moved on much too quickly.

[good--merits-accumulated]

@violetfudge re those prev tags, yeah T_T but can you imagine how much of a shitshow graduation would be? like they leave a seat free for Charlie because they're ALWAYS living around his presence even when he isn't there. Cameron tentatively tries to go up to Meeks only to be told, "I'm not shaking your damn hand, Richard". someone mentions Neil in a speech offhandedly and Todd disappears into the bathroom for a while and Cameron hears crying, but when he goes to talk to him Todd looks very, very pale, and so coldly furious he turns around and leaves. does Cameron have any other friends he can retreat to? i mean, i don't know if Welton likes a snitch. i think Cameron puts away his graduation gown and won't look at it, even when his mother insists. i think he feels kind of uneasy in a theatre for the rest of his life. i think years later he sees Todd on the street or Pitts across a traffic light or - once, Charlie, getting off a bus as he gets out of his car. they see each other as they cross. he looks good. they keep going. they don't turn back. (this is a very old story, there is no other version of this story. but you can't leave first if you never meet.) i think when Cameron's first child is born he puts aside five invitations for the christening, and his wife asks in her puzzled way, Richard, who are those for? Richard, I thought I knew all our friends. and as he moves to the stove to drop the invitations inside and watch them curl and burn he says Yes. You do.

do you think Cameron ever sat in a church afterwards and thought for hours about what he had done

[leahwilliamson]

Christen was at the game! I knew she was there, I heard her and just thought I was going crazy then there was a photo of her in the stand😂

Oh cool!!!!! Must mean she’s not actually ill anymore and just has to build up her fitness again

[nightslain]

Send me a ☕️ and a topic and I’ll talk about how I feel about it lol: People hating Leon because he is a crusader. Or other reasons people hate Leon. (I had no idea people hated him. Also, can I be an emoji anon with a tag? I want to be 📈 anon.)

Send me a ☕️ and a topic and I’ll talk about how I feel about it lol

This is a multi-layered topic if there ever was one because I have observed so many hateful, vindictive and downright petty remarks about Leon as a character that consistently drain me of all will and life since most of which are not even deserved or educated for that matter. So let’s tackle with the complaint that you’ve actually emphasised and the one that holds some considerable water--the fact that Leon was supposed to be a part of the crusades.

This is was obviously a pretty profound historical event that should NOT be swept under the rug, ignored or excused by any means, and truly I do understand people’s discontent with this aspect of his character and the connotations of a person involved with these events being portrayed as a protagonist of all things. However, my usual rebuttal to this complaint when raised in context with Leon is threefold. Firstly, the game got its dates confused and actually placed the events of Lament of Innocence in the year 1094 whereas the crusades didn’t begin until a year later, at which point Leon had already abandoned the church and set down another path entirely. 

While the game claimed it was taking place during the era of the crusades, their dates were a little out of whack (along with numerous other factual inconsistencies, though it’s not like I was expecting exact historical accuracy from my campy vampire fantasy games where women’s souls turn into whips and everyone is unbearably beautiful.) In my canon especially, I do not play Leon as ever having been part of the crusades when they were actually in full swing because of this fact, even if he has been an integral component to numerous wars in Europe and beyond.

And secondly, everyone seems to conveniently forget a large part of Leon’s character arc is abandoning the church and its self-serving behaviours in the game’s opening act, and with this Leon was stripped of his ancestral home, his title, his wealth, everything that he had accrued for himself in the course of his life and everything that has quite literally defined him since the day he was born. As soon as the church proved themselves to be more concerned with vapid, intangible ideas of moral purity instead of actually protecting the citizens from literal monsters, Leon abandoned their path to instead set out and accomplish what they were too cowardly and too selfish to; devoting his entire life--nay, his entire bloodline to that cause henceforth. Yes, Sara’s kidnapping was part of the driving force behind this conflict, so I don’t claim that his intentions were entirely philanthropic and unselfish, but I find it difficult to believe he would be this willing to openly disown the church and all the privileges he enjoyed as their most valued and decorated pawn if he did not also fundamentally disagree with the way they conducted themselves at this point. I also find the fact that he took on this massive burden of protecting humanity instead of being a part of its ugliest problems to suggest an act of penance for the lives he has taken as much as it is to honour Sara’s wish.

Leon wants to protect people. He was raised to believe that what he was doing was good and just and for the protection of his people, indoctrinated with the beliefs of the greater systems of power of the time and was reared to serve the needs of which at threat of punishment and consequences for failure to comply. He is not a vindictive, cruel or bloodthirsty murderer contrary to what some people like to believe. He did not kill people for honest-to-God hatred and malice. He does not enjoy killing, nor celebrate it, and speaking from my interpretation, he never enjoyed it even when he was a soldier--it was just a grim and necessary evil he was expected and conditioned to carry out (I have many headcanons about how he would pray even for his enemies and had engravings on his sword related to this.)

And lastly, do you ever notice how people love to complain about Leon being a crusader, but not a word of that same criticism is launched against Mathias/Dracula even though he too would have been a crusader by that logic? I don’t see a word raised about a literal genocidal monster being “problematic” to the degree that Leon is positively crucified for this online, even as a very vocally repentant man whereas Mathias becomes wholly unrepentant and kills even more people than he would have as a crusader after the fact; this telegraphs to me at least that people just don’t have the faintest idea what they’re talking about or otherwise are singling Leon out for clout to join in with the constant shitting on his character people love to do.

This though leads me into another point of contention in that I always see people on twitter and tumblr making their snarky comments about the fact Leon must be a horrible person because he was a church-serving knight and must be the kind of hateful individual that would use derogatory slurs, despise other races and likewise bear an inherent disgust for LGBT+ people. This in particular grates deeply on my nerves for the simple fact that it’s beyond me how people can look at Leon, his speech, his behaviour and his actions in the course of the game and assume he would be a man of so much pure vitriol and intolerance for other people, especially when he literally abandoned the church and their extreme beliefs guys would you just fucking FOCUS YOU ABSOLUTE DUNCES. I do strongly believe the people spitting this kind of rhetoric are just ignorant sheeple following the trend of whatever’s popular to clown on for clout, because even with his christian roots, people conveniently always forget that Leon takes his life into his own hands and rebels against the primary oppressors involved in which that would have enforced those beliefs and behaviours. Needless to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if these people didn’t even read the wiki or play the game and are getting their information from other people with their heads stuck up their ass putting this false information into circulation. Leon is so sorely, wrongly characterised by the fandom at times it physically pains me.

Speaking of, can we talk about the people who love to headcanon Leon as being stupid and illiterate? I cannot stand these ignorant, unfunny, uneducated fucks who constantly bark about this opinion unironically, because as a knight of all things, Leon would have been subjected to a very rigorous system of education, including writing and reading (among many other miscellaneous and desired abilities) as well as performing academic studies beneath chaplains and priests--for the standards of the time, knights were very well educated, and Leon is no exception. The game is perhaps to blame in part for this for scripting Leon to sound very naive and bumbling to a degree, which I believe was an attempt at imparting the quality of purity and innocence that was intended for his character (which also lmao is at odds with people’s desire to shit on him for being a bad person.) But people just take that at face value and assume Leon is a complete idiot when he is quite the opposite and would have to be to even ascend to his position of knighthood as it is. Let’s not forget he would have to be incredibly exceptional too to have ascended to knighthood five years too early! Leon is not stupid, and I will fight anyone in the pit who tries to tell me that he is, you absolute imbeciles.

[wososage]

Left Out: USWNT x Reader

This was not requested but it is in my head so i wrote it out. Please ignore that this was written and finished over a year ago and i never posted it. Anyways send requests so i can attempt to ignore the shitshow that is my life.

Summary: Reader is allergic to gluten and feels left out

Warnings: none

Word Count: 791

It’s Pinoe’s birthday dinner. This is the fourth time we have had cake in 5 days due to all of the birthdays and the fourth of July. Everyone is enjoying the cake, while I sit here watching. I’m used to this though, seeing as no one really ever remembers that I am allergic to gluten. Somehow, the years of not being included still don’t completely stop this from hurting.

Is it too much to ask to be allowed to have a single piece of cake after everyone else has been eating cake for days?

At some point, I’m not completely sure when, the team moved on from eating cake to just hanging out with each other.

“I’m telling you guys that funfetti is better than any cake we have had this week,” Sonnett says. 

“Dasani, the cake we had for Alex’s birthday was way better than funfetti,” Lindsey replies.

“I think the cake for the fourth of July was pretty good myself,” Becky comments.

I zone out again but after a little while, I notice that Tierna is staring at me with a look of confusion on her face. I try to look away and hope she is just thinking too hard about her cute science things, but apparently, luck isn’t on my side.

“Y/n I have a question,” she says, which gains the attention of the whole team.

“Y/n doesn’t have an answer,” I say, trying to get out of whatever is about to happen.

“Have you eaten any cake when we have had it?” She asks. Of course, bringing up the one thing I do not want to talk about.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, trying to get out of answering the question.

“Well I know for a fact that you did not eat any cake today, because you sat there looking like a sad puppy the whole time, but I thought that maybe you did not have any because of how much cake we have had in the past few days, but then I started thinking about the other times we have had cake, and I don’t think I have seen you eat any at all.”

“No, I’ve had some cake,” I lie, hoping no one catches me.

“You obviously just lied,” Christen says, to no one's surprise because she is the most observant person on the team. “But if you don’t want to talk about it we can drop this.”

“There's not much to talk about,” I say while staring at the ground. “I just haven’t had any cake.”

“But why?” Pinoe asks. “It’s okay to have cake once in a while, you don’t need to eat healthy all the time. You work your ass off, you can enjoy some junk food every once in a while.”

“There’s probably still some cake left kid,” Alyssa says. “I can get you a slice.”

“You don’t need to get me any,” I say hoping no one can hear that I am about to cry.

“Y/n, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t eat the cake because I am allergic to gluten. It just sucks to be left out. It feels like I’m not important.”

I get up and leave because it turns out I cannot keep my emotions in check and I do not want to cry in front of the team right now. Thankfully, everyone gets the point that I want to be alone and no one tries to come to find me. I end up staring out of the window of my room as I’ve done every night since training camp for the Olympics has started. Eventually, I fall asleep, feeling entirely alone.

The next day, no one brings anything up. Which seems completely out of character of this team. I make it through the day, which has been seemingly impossibly hard lately. At dinner I mind my business, just hoping to get to my room to go to sleep, but then suddenly there was a slice of cake in front of me, and everyone was looking at me. 

“We are sorry that you’ve been left out,” Becky says. 

I shrug, just hoping that someone will draw the attention away from me, but I receive no such luck.

“Y/n,” Tierna says, getting me to look at her. “Are you doing okay?”

“Not really,” I mumble. “I’ve just felt so alone since training camp has started. At least when we were in America I could still text my friends. Now I am just staring out of my window for hours every night until I can fall asleep. Not much anyone can do about it though.”

“Of course, we can do something about it,” Becky says. “We can be better teammates. We can be better friends.”

[purgatored]

" OKAY , I DON'T NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT YOU INDULGE IN IN YOUR SPARE TIME ." cherry replies with an arch of her brow, lips twitching despite herself . some part of her thinks that maybe growing up with three brothers was preparing her for charlie . he's frankly somehow both better and worse than all of them combined . it's almost comforting . familiar or whatever . cherry points to him with the neck of the bottle again as she leans her forearms on the motel desk, near sprawled over it as she adds a pointed, " you keep that shit to yourself ." cherry decides to christen the bottle by taking a sip herself, and yeah, it tastes something awful but she prides herself in not flinching . instead her eyes light up at the request, a grin flickering wide over her features . it likely matches charlie's a bit too well . " oh, yeah ? any requests ?" cherry moves to hand charlie the bottle as she prepares to hop on the counter, already more than ready to perform . ready to do almost anything to take her mind off this shitshow, really . " i gotta say ," her brows waggle as her grin broadens . " i do a mean american pie ."

‘   oh  yeah?     this  is  the  good  stuff?   ’     there’s  a  rained  edge  to  his  tone:   puddles  of  blued  leisure  in  his  laxed  posture.     in  a  blank  moment,   he’d  laugh.     for  now,   he  has  to  live.     and  a  warm  bottle  in  his  sweaty  hand  suits  that.     like  turning  yourself  inside  out,   feeling  your  own  blood  in  your  skin-bound  fingertips.     his  voice  is  coarse,   smoked  in  age.     ‘   think  i’d  prefer  a   wet  bag  of  piss,   with  a  dash  of   ( … )   sewage  water.     but  i’m  all  outta  piss.     so  this’ll  just  have  do,   huh?   ’     the  grin  is  not  shy,   not  even  when  it  rounds  to  the  clamouring  heat  behind  that  window.     twenty  paces  in  front  of  them,   up  to  his  left.     out  of  sight   /   toothed  mind.     it  only  widens  his  mirth.     but  she  flickers,   like  a  bothered  wire,   and  he  decides  to  extend  his  latent  gaiety.     how  to  enjoy  the  chorus  of  a  thunderous  rainstorm.     ‘   gimme  a  song,   cherry  pop.     gimme  a  round  of  karaoke.   ’

[georgiaphoenix]

what bi-panic looks like: my life story

richard madden & gemma chan’s friendship. yes, the eternals may have been a shitshow but those red carpet appearances that resulted from it, man, the casting director knew what the fuck they were doing. 

sophie and howl. this movie was everyone’s bi-awakening and not just mine, right?

ashley loren & derek klena in moulin rouge. that’s it.

françois arnaud & holliday grainger in the borgias. it’s been a bajillion years since this series aired but i still feel guilty for shipping this.

hayden christensen and natalie portman in the star wars movies that should have never happened. yet, 12 year old me couldn’t stop watching the madness and obsessing over that one teen people magazine with them on the cover.

the entire cast of shadow and bone. the entire feels.

timothée chalamet & saoirse ronan in that entertainment weekly photoshoot and basically anytime they are in the same room together because i would like a bit of that chemistry too, please. 

tessa virtue & scott moir. doesn’t matter if it is mahler or fucking anthony hopkins. I DIE EVERYTIME.

quinn & megan rapinoe (and also tobin heath and christen press and kadeisha buchanan and sophie schmidt and kelley o’hara....the list is quite extensive). anyone who knows me knows this is the only real reason i watch this sport.  

emmy raver lampman and daveed diggs and also their house that i wouldn’t mind living in with them. 

[evoluant]

Seeing a lot of *hot takes* on here and I just wanna make something clear. We all saw the absolute shitshow of what happened to Pinoe when she first kneeled in 2016. If a WHITE woman could've lost 6 months worth of callups and relentless media lashing I can only imagine how much worse it could've been for 2 black women to kneel for themselves. The culture around black lives matter was slightly different then, it wasn't an easy choice to kneel at that time for anyone, much less black women who not only risked losing their jobs, but essentially becoming targets for racial violence that non-black people will never understand. I completely stand by Christen and Crystal's choices in 2016 to do whatever they felt was necessary to survive in the world. As a non-black person it is NEVER your place to tell actual black people how to navigate our own oppression period. They did what they had to do to continue to make change on the field playing the sport they love. As I previously mentioned, the culture is different now. Kneeling is literally the bare minimum for non-black people and to see folks on the team still not understand that is disappointing but not surprising. White liberalism and performative activism is nothing new to me. At the end of the day I'm suppprting those that support my community and look forward to the future of this team

[uchihasakurawrites]

Until Next Time

Rating: T

Summary: When ghosts from the war come back to haunt Sakura, Sasuke's there to try his hand at warding them off. A story of comfort, growth, and realization. (Blank Period)

Word Count: 3,777

A/N: Long time, no see everyone! Thank you for your patience as I’ve worked through some writer’s block the past few months. I know many of you are waiting on the next chapter for A Lesson in Practicality, but I hope you’ll still enjoy this piece. Please let me know your thoughts if you have the time! Otherwise, thank you for taking some time to read my work. ^_^

Warning: This story contains depictions of panic attacks, PTSD flashbacks, and some alcohol abuse. Nothing too dark in here since it's mainly a comfort fic, but please be cautious if any of these topics are triggering for you.

Cross posted on Ao3 and Fanfiction.net

____________________________________

Her day begins and ends the same way every other day the past year seemed to - with Sakura walking into the hospital with a confident spring to her step and a brightness in her eyes and dragging herself out (on the rare day she had the energy to pry herself from her desk) with antiseptic or blood or a mix of the two staining her hands and the lab coat she'd forgotten to peel off.

Tonight, Sakura consciously decides not to make the effort to drag herself out of the hospital. Leaving means she'll be roped into the birthday party Ino's been planning for Sai for months, and she doesn't quite have the energy to even shower, let alone paste a convincing smile on her lips.

She spares a glance at the old clock posted right above the chalkboard in her office as she shuffles in and locks the door behind her.

8:00PM.

Fourteen hours since Naruto shook her awake and thrust her straight into a day from hell.

It's still a little too early for anyone to come looking for her yet. Naruto will notice that she's not at the bar right when he arrives, but Hinata will patiently remind him of the shitshow that was today and reason that Sakura's still probably dealing with the aftermath. (In much less colorful terms, of course; Sakura's only heard her friend curse a handful of times, none of which were in front of Naruto.) That'll buy her about an hour before Ino starts making a fuss and sends Sai or Kiba out to Sakura's apartment.

If she's not there, they'll assume she's still at the hospital, and they won't come back until it's close to midnight. Not today. Not after seeing the hallways lined with burn victims pleading for someone to find their loved ones. Not after returning home and finding that the stench of charred skin and blood isn't so easy to wash out of their clothes.

Sakura didn't get to leave. Her role just changed from a kunoichi dispatched on a rescue mission to the de facto head of the hospital the moment she crossed the threshold.

She pulls the shades in hopes of convincing her friends that she isn't here if they do decide to come looking but stops short in front of the light switch. The migraine between her temples screams for her to turn the fluorescents off, but she doesn't trust her mind not to see death in the shadows of her office tonight.

She turns them off anyways.

It isn't until she's sitting criss-cross on her floor with her too-full bookshelf at her back and a bottle of sake in her hand that Sakura realizes her hands are trembling. A splash of sake makes its way onto her carpet instead of into her cup, and she curses because it's good sake - the expensive kind that Tsunade bought her a case of after the war and no no no.

She cuts that thought there because violent memories of the war, or rather the days immediately following the war, have been intruding into her mind all day and she just can't.

A case or so of sake should knock her and those thoughts right out (or so she hopes). Years of honing her skills as a medic nin have given her a certain resistance to toxins, including alcohol, and it's why she doesn't bother to drink most of the time; social drinking is more of a waste of money than anything else. She figures that's precisely why her mentor gave her an entire case as a gift.

It isn't until she's two bottles in and there's a buzzed lightness to her body that she realizes she's crying.

Her breath seems to come faster and faster, shallower and shallower, and she wonders if the buzz and creeping, cold numbness in her fingers is because of the alcohol or the lack of oxygen. She's shivering, muscles tensed to the point of pain, but she blames it on the chill of the hospital.

Another glass will knock the cold right out. At least, that's what Tsunade used to say when she drank away the ghosts that forced themselves a little too close to the front of her mind.

It's a few glasses later that Sakura starts seeing the eyes of the dead staring back at her from the shadows at the edges of her office. She's back on the battlefield, the same smell of burnt skin and the mournful cries of shinobi finally processing the deaths of their comrades hanging in the air. She's been healing for days, but she continues to push. The fighting may be over but there are still identities to confirm, survivors to heal, and families to be notified.

Sakura knew that death was part of her job description from her days in the Academy; protecting the interests of the village often required it. Tsunade had let her figure out that the same was true of her job as a medic on her own, when she lost her first patient at fifteen. She'd learned to put the deaths she dealt with in a neat little box which she deadbolted and tossed on a shelf in the deepest recess of her mind she could find.

But death was a uniquely stubborn bastard that didn't always like to stay in that box.

She'd been awake for the full three days the war had drawn on, but the medical corps was tasked with the brunt of combing through the miles upon miles of dead shinobi for another forty-eight hours or so. They'd had help, but medics were the ones needed throughout to organize, heal, or in the worst possible cases (which Sakura and Shizune handled) show mercy to the shinobi who were alive but long past the point of saving.

Sakura nearly vomits and washes the bile down with more sake. One glass. Another.

The quiet tears have turned into sobs that scratch at her throat and squeeze her lungs. Her nails cut thin crescent moons into her forearms, and her shoulders hunch as if she can ward off the prying eyes. Sakura barely has the presence of mind to activate the silencing seal in her office - the one she keeps on hand when discussing particularly sensitive cases - before her sobs grow into half screams. She can't get enough air to manage much more than a hoarse cry, but if she can just drink fast enough, it shouldn't matter.

And so she cracks open another bottle and brings it directly to her lips, trying to focus on the burn of the alcohol on her throat and Naruto's bright smile reassuring her that everything would be fine when he first found her clutching a bottle of sake in the corner of her disaster of a bedroom.

What she doesn't count on is the alcohol making it increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from the memories that have escaped from her mind and seared themselves into the darkness around her. They become more real, more tangible, until she swears she can hear the fresh widow of a shinobi from Cloud shouting about how Sakura hadn't done enough. Another voice joins until there's a chorus telling her exactly what she feared most:

There shouldn't have been so many casualties. She should have been able to do more.

She was weak.

Her tears stop for a moment when she looks up and sees Sasuke standing in the doorway. For a fraction of a second, she almost feels relieved and tries to move to go to him, but she's reminded none of this is real, and she can't be sure which Sasuke this is. Given her current state of mind, it's probably the one who haunted her nightmares for months after the bridge and still longer after his genjutsu in the war. She takes a swig from the bottle she clenches in her fist and curls back into herself.

Sasuke's repeated calls of her name fall on deaf ears.

For his part, Sasuke is at a loss. He's never seen Sakura like this (and he'd witnessed her tears firsthand on many occasions as genin). Sure, she's always worn her heart on her sleeve and been far too open with her emotions by standard shinobi rules, but she has never seemed so broken.

Looking at the scratch marks that trail down her forearms and the far too many empty bottles of sake for someone of her stature littered on the carpet, Sasuke realizes he doesn't know this woman - and in retrospect, he never should have assumed otherwise.

From her confessions both during the war and when he made the decision to leave her behind yet again, Sasuke knows she's still fiercely loyal and has a light bright enough to forgive and heal anything it touches without her needing to make the conscious choice to do so. Her skills as a shinobi have grown to the point that she could give him a challenge if they were to spar, and he's seen her heal an entire battlefield for days on end while still fighting on the front lines.

She's become more than worthy of the title of the "New Sannin," as the original Team 7 has now been christened, and she still loves him (unreasonably so in his opinion, but he's come to realize that maybe he doesn't want her to change her mind - even if he thinks it would be better for her in the long run). But that's all he knows, and he finds himself wanting to discover more of who Sakura is now.

He has years of absence and cruel actions to make up for, and far more growth beyond that to become someone who deserves the steadfast love she's always been ready to give him.

At the moment, however, he needs to get her to let go of the liquor bottle she clutches onto like a lifeline and refocus on the present. He's been trapped by his past more times than he'll ever admit, and though he hasn't had real comfort since his mother (and Sakura, he amends), he owes it to her to at least try.

Sasuke approaches her slowly, intentionally making his footsteps heavier so that she can hear him approach. Whatever nightmare she's trapped in - he confirmed it wasn't a genjutsu the moment he broke the lock on her door after an unnerving spike in her chakra - she hasn't seemed to notice he's actually here. He bites back the guilt that surfaces at the thought that he could be part of her nightmare, but that's something they can work through later.

He crouches down in front of her, taking a firm hold of the hand that clutches the bottle to try to coax it out of her grip. She jolts at the touch, peeking hesitantly up from her knees with red-rimmed eyes and a mix of tears and sweat coating her cheeks.

"Breathe, Sakura."

Her grip loosens as she meets his eyes. He sees uncertainty waver in her gaze as she hiccups in a short breath, but then the panic snaps back down and tightens her hold on the bottle yet again.

"I- I can't."

The words are stilted, as though forcing out those two words causes her physical pain. Sasuke, however, considers it a small win as it means Sakura's decided he's real. Her breathing is still far too fast, and he knows he needs to stabilize it before she's ready to explain what's happening.

It's awkward - both because Sasuke has never done this and the fact that he hasn't completely sorted through his feelings for his teammate - but he eventually pulls Sakura far enough away from the bookcase that he can shuffle in behind her. He secures his legs around her sides and arranges Sakura so that her back rests on his chest.

It's almost annoying just how snugly Sakura fits against him, her head tucked just below his chin. A part of his mind notes how her curves seem to melt into his frame only to be ruthlessly shoved down. There are priorities, and noting how the boyish (yet annoyingly charming) Sakura has clearly blossomed into a young woman is not one of them.

Where the Sakura from his memories smelled of strawberries and artificial sweetness, the woman in his arms tonight seems as though she's been doused in a pungent blend of antiseptic and ash.

"Breathe, Sakura."

Sasuke repeats Sakura's name to ground her as he starts regulating his own breath: six counts in through the nose, hold, eight counts out through the mouth. He's sure to exaggerate his breaths a bit so Sakura can feel the movement against her back. Hesitantly, his hand comes up to trail over the marks on her forearm. His hands have always been cold, so he figures the one he has left might be able to relieve some of the sting from her nails.

He makes a mental note to pick up some basic medical ninjutsu and doesn't bother to pretend it's just for field injuries.

It takes about ten minutes for Sakura's breathing to return mostly to normal. It still stutters every now and then, but she's matching Sasuke almost breath for breath. She doesn't move away from him, and Sasuke doesn't move to shift her.

As they sit in silence, save for their own breathing, Sasuke realizes he's put himself in a position where he needs to actually start the conversation. There's no bright chatter, no smile to coax him into talking. Again, he's at a loss.

It seems this new Sakura has retained a talent for doing this to him.

Annoying woman.

"Tell me about it."

Sakura immediately shakes her head, breath trembling yet again. Sasuke sighs and guesses he should have known she wasn't going to make this easy for him. He can't blame her. If someone asked him to do the same, he would have told them to fuck off.

"Sakura."

She turns to him with a dangerous look in her eyes, a cold jade that threatens to cut him if he pushes too far. Sasuke's always been the best at serving the very same look, but it's unnerving to see it etched into Sakura's soft features.

"Dammit, Sakura. Just talk to me."

Her gaze grows warmer, but not in the way he wants. She's angry, and Sasuke isn't really sure how he could have pissed her off in just six words. Sakura being Sakura, she of course makes the reason for her anger clear immediately.

"And why the hell do I need to do that, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nearly winces at the dropped suffix on his name and tries to remember how his mother handled it when he refused to confide in her.

"You haven't been here" - even Sakura knows this is unfair as she says it, but the confusion, grief, and alcohol clouding her mind make it difficult to acknowledge how much the man she loves has grown to be able to offer this to her- "and you never told me anything when I asked you to. So fuck off, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure Naruto's expecting you."

Naruto most definitely wasn't, but Sasuke doesn't see the value in pointing that particular fact out. By the time he got to the village and was promptly dragged into the bar he had made the mistake of walking past on his way to the Hokage Tower, the idiot was already drunk off his ass. Ino was as well, so Hinata asked Sasuke if he would mind going to check on Sakura at the hospital since she and Sai needed to stay to take care of their significant others.

Sakura finally moves to get up, tipping over a half-full bottle of sake in her efforts, but Sasuke can still see the tremors in her hands and the familiar strain of a jaw clenched against tears. Her eyes still dart towards the corners of the room.

Sasuke's well aware of the ghosts that can haunt those shadows and resolves to help Sakura put hers to rest, even if it's just for the night. His legs tighten around Sakura before she can fully pull away from him, and she falls back against his chest with a huff and a glare that's more tired than venomous.

Sasuke sighs and lowers his head. His bangs cover his eyes as he decides to voice at least part of the feelings he's managed to process regarding Sakura. He's not sure exactly how to categorize how he feels about her yet (mostly because his mind still can't comprehend why someone so bright has loved him through so much darkness), but he wants to help and that's about all he can offer her at the moment.

She deserves more, so much more, but he hopes it's enough for now.

"I'm here, Sakura."

He wants to add that he's not going anywhere because someone who will stay is only a fraction of what Sakura deserves, but that's not a promise he can make.

He feels Sakura's surprise as she stiffens against him, and her breath stops altogether for a few worrying moments. Sasuke wills himself to stay relaxed at her back, still maintaining a steady breathing pace should she need the rhythm again.

Sakura's thoughts are a whirlwind that she tries to grab ahold of but slips right through her fingers. She's torn, half of her mind shattered glass that urges her to open up and share even a part of her pain so that she can just stop breaking. Sasuke's here, showing his own vulnerability (however slight) in hopes that she'll trust him enough to do the same, and she's not sure when she'll experience this side of him again.

The other half, near-solid stone with only spiderweb cracks, whispers that voicing the memories that haunt her will only confirm her weakness in Sasuke's eyes. Instead of seeing the warrior who destroyed the ground and healed thousands in the war, he'll see the wisp of a girl who had trailed behind him as a genin.

It's the gentle, unconscious stroke of Sasuke's thumb across her forearm that makes her decision. Sasuke can sense the shift in Sakura as her head drops back onto his shoulder and her eyes squeeze shut. She's tired, so tired.

"I killed them."

Her voice breaks in the middle, and Sakura hisses out a quiet dammit at her traitorous voice. Sasuke's hand tightens where it rests on her arm.

He's quiet for a moment. Outside of discussing strategy or the details of a mission, talking isn't something Sasuke has much practice in. That, and his plan may have ended at getting Sakura to calm down enough to breathe properly.

He spends another minute in silence, growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to find the words he needs to comfort the woman who has always known exactly what he needed to hear. Sakura, however, doesn't seem to mind the silence as she relaxes against him. Green eyes crack open, and though they're still muddled with pain, he sees a steady glimmer of trust and contentment behind them that immediately quells his frustration.

The open trust in Sakura's gaze reminds Sasuke that she's never expected him to be anyone other than himself. She's always been patient, meeting him more than halfway as he seemed to take one step towards her and two or three back.

He suspects it's the same now, as there's no expectation in her eyes, no tension in her body that suggests she's irritated by his silence. So instead of pushing himself to think of the correct words to fill the empty space, Sasuke pulls her more firmly against his chest and shifts her so his chin rests lightly atop her head.

It's more affection than he's ever shown, and it's far from comfortable for him, but Sasuke knows that Sakura's worth a bit of discomfort.

Just as Sakura has spent so many years steadfastly waiting for him to come to her, he settles in to wait for her to tell him - whether that time comes tonight or later down the line.

That time doesn't come tonight. Though she trusts Sasuke with her life, Sakura can't quite break through the insecurity that he'll find her weak the moment she says anything more. Maybe it's not a fair assumption to make, but most of her memories of them together on the battlefield ended in Sakura being treated as fragile - something to be left behind and protected.

Even if they made progress during the war, Sakura's not quite ready to test the durability of the picture of strength she painted as she threw herself at Madara or took on a goddess at her team's side.

Instead, she's happy to just let his presence ward off the shadows in her mind. The voices are silent at his touch, so she decides to just enjoy the rest and wrestle with them when they inevitably come back after Sasuke's gone again.

Sasuke feels Sakura's breathing even out and watches her eyes flutter closed as she falls asleep against him. It's an interesting thing, having someone trust you so fully that they're willing to be at their most unguarded.

And he's done nothing to deserve it. He knows this, and it merely strengthens his resolve to continue his journey of atonement so that he can become someone who's at least a fraction deserving of Sakura and all that she's willing to offer him.

As he maneuvers himself out from behind Sakura and shifts her onto his back, Sasuke realizes with a tinge of bitterness that this is something he could have every day - Sakura's presence and everything bright and loving that entails. But as much as he wants to be there when she wakes up and finally say yes to taking her with him, he's not quite ready for that step.

There's more growth to be had, more relationships to mend, more emotions for him to reconcile within himself. While he knows having Sakura by his side would expedite the process of mending bridges and healing his own wounds, she needs to keep some of her light for herself.

When he leaves this time, it's out of consideration not just for himself, but for both of them. He can just make out the time when he asks Sakura to join him on his journey in the near future, but it's not now. They both have steps they need to take before they're ready.

He leaves Sakura tucked under the nest of far too many blankets she's always stubbornly kept haphazardly strewn across her bed, with a simple note on her nightstand:

Next time, Sakura.

[the-dc-killjoy]

4x12 - Old Souls

Wynonna Earp's over. I'll do pretty much anything to get another season, but shows (not that I think that this show could ever get to that point. id still love WE even if it turned into whatever Grey's Anatomy's doing rn) shouldn't overstay their welcome. If this is the end, than it was a damn fine ending!

-

The cute.

I've been watching Martina sing since I was 11 years old, and it still puts a smile on my face. Rachel was iconic as always, and I'm gonna miss the most recent addition to the Earp family. I can just imagine the chaos of her, her not really but kind of boyfriend, and Randy Nedley on a tiny boat in the middle of nowhere. Poor Nedley. Let's hope Chrissy remains the only one of his many daughter figures to catch mono.

Speaking of mononucleosis- that's such an awful transition that i'm keeping it, I believe that Wayhaught has officially christened the entire homestead. Bedroom, The Stairs, kitchen floor, barn- short of just going to pound town (i'm not getting any better with sex references tonight. am i) in a patch of grass outside, they've got everything covered. Or nothing covered if you know what i mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Am I getting better now?

-

The random.

Nedley walking Nicole down the isle, Wynonna walking Waverly down the isle, Doc being Waverly's best man, and Wynonna being Nicole's best friend (no she will not take a secondary title. best friend will go on her tombstone)- sigh, i'm so gay. i can't really explain what that has to do with these circumstances, but i am and this makes me happy. Rachel and Nedley (and Billy was there somewhere right?) being the only people in attendance made this the perfect pandemic wedding even though there wasn't actually a pandemic in Earp land. I was the living embodiment of the pleading face emoji when they panned over the chairs. Doll's chair hurt me. like deeply. like i'm still suffering. there aren't words. fuck, i miss him.

On a lighter note, Waverly said fuck (like eight times)!!! She technically said it already, but chainsmoking-angelic possession doesn't count, right?

I'm glad that Jeremy has this new thing with Damon, but I kinda wish things had worked out with him and Robin. He officiated a wedding, got promoted, and got a handsome date in one afternoon, so I can't be too sad about his adorable self.

Charlotte Sullivan, the jilted dress shop owner/witch, played one of the earliest (in my knowledge at least. this show was my brother's thing not mine) representation of a bi woman in Canadian media. I don't know too much about her Rookie Blue character, but if you can have tolerated the will-they-wont-they, end of the world romance of the main character's kinda mediocre relationships for a couple more seasons, I'm sure you'll find out! By the nature of Canada having 16.87 actors in total, I tend to see a lot of overlap, and I have to infodump about that somewhere. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Earping callbacks! Wynonna's truck, her motorcycle, the bullet proof vest, Nedley and Nicole's father-daughter thing, Waverly never saying the f-word (and subverting that), i'm all in, even Rachel always being stuck with juice while the adults are drinking- perfect! We had a little bit of the usual supernatural insanity, but this episode was wall to wall fanservice, and it was perfectly in-character fanservice. That's the way to go! It didn't feel forced or awkward and the edited mailbox will make me tear up on rewatch

-

The relationship. (aka i wanna talk about wyndoc and had no outline when i started this thing)

The Wyndoc goodbye was beautiful. I'm not into the whole you need one person to complete you kinda thing, but the implication that it didn't have to be romantic (implying that Wynonna's person was Waverly) was great. I felt that the scene worked perfectly, and might have been fine leaving it there if there was another season clearly on the horizon. With the fact that this was the series finale (i sighed so hard typing that. my poor lungs), I'm glad that they got their own happy ending.

-

The analysis.

Nicole's and Wynonna's as individual characters mirror each other in so many ways, but I'm just gonna wax poetic about one: their relationship with the GRT. Wynonna was hurt by the town, badly. She grew up with a steady stream of shitty adults and a few who told her to shake the demons out of her head and embraced the tough love mantra. It made a lot of sense that she left as an adult. Waverly was most likely the only reason she didn't skip town before that.

Nicole had a negative integer of adult role models in her life, with the murdered aunt and uncle and the whatever-the-fuck her parents were trying to be. Sure, a little trip to the Ghost River Triangle left her with trauma that she spent a lifetime repressing, but what's a little surviving a massacre under the six year old girl bridge. Am I right?

In their early lives, these characters had nothing but negative experiences in the aptly named town of Purgatory. Wynonna was drawn back into town by Curtis' letter just in time for her 27th birthday, and Nedley applied for Nicole to start working as a cop. Neither of them directly chose to come back to the Ghost River Triangle, but both of them did have the final say.

Wynonna decided pretty early on that she was going to stay no matter what. She already abandoned her sister once. How could she do it again with all of these monsters lurking in the shadows. As time went on, her circle of people expanded, but Waverly has always been the person that fight through hell and high water for. Even when fighting wasn't necessary, when it hurt her much more than it helped anything, she did it anyways because it was the only thing she could do to protect her sister. Wynonna thought it was the only thing she could do at all. This entire season, she's been fighting a war with herself, and her leaving, Waverly telling her that it was okay to leave, was the first time that took a break, took a breath since she arrived in Purgatory on her 27th birthday. Her child and the man she loves are out in the world, but she will be back with them at her side. Maybe after a quick road trip, maybe after a few years, but she will be back.

Nicole spent a majority of season 1 and 2 feeling like an outsider. Season 3 came with the realization that these people were her family and the Ghost River Triangle was her home. Early season 4 kinda shat all over that, oops. The rest of this season has been her finding her footing again. Nicole was a wandering soul, but she voluntarily staked herself to the land, vowing to protect it and the people within its borders for the rest of her life without the ability to leave, and she doesn't regret it. Her wife, her family, her people are all in this one not-so-sleepy Canadian town.

Nicole found her place, after a lifetime of searching, and Wynonna left, temporarily, after a lifetime of feeling trapped. They might seem like opposites, but both women call the same place home.

-

Originally, I watched this show was to cope with the ending of Agents of SHIELD (which I kind of used to cope with the ending of Killjoys, which featured Emily Andras as a writer in season 1 and has near identical humor, found family, and a healthy serving of gay and wow this is turning into a bit of advertisement isn't it), but it wormed its way into my heart. I've never quite seen a show like this. Never seemed interested in a western, even a sci-fi western. Never saw the gay couple reach OTP status both in fandom and canon. I've never seen so many fan conventions dedicated to just one show. I usually stay for just one character (and Wynonna has become one of my all time favorite characters), but I find myself connecting with so many of the beautiful people being brought to life on my screen. Wynonna, Waverly, Nicole, Rachel, Dolls, Jeremy, Doc, Nedley and so many other hilarious and heartbreaking characters make this show, and every single human who played a part in this self-proclaimed shitshow deserves a round of applause and a swig of whiskey.

The end.

[that-soccer-guru]

The importance of kneeling right now has to do with using the platform to take a stand against police brutality against black people. Its important for white people specifically to show solidarity with the cause. I understand Kelley’s family is a military family and of course we should respect that, but the flag doesn’t cover Crystal, Christen and Mal the way that it covers Kelley, Sonnett and Julie, and thats the point. No one is saying Kelley is horrible for not kneeling (except for some assholes on twitter), but its uneducated. Youre on a team with people of color that up until a few months ago, werent even ALLOWED to take a knee for people who look like them getting choked on the ground for 9 mins, or killed in front of their children, or shot in their sleep...and to go on and on about how the team is a family and then not stand in solidarity with them...again, I get Kelleys misunderstanding of it, but it’s simply not about stand for the anthem if you love the military...and I find it extremely privileged to see the shitshow this year was for black people at 30+ years old and not know that. Sonnett is not some moral compass, obviously. All of us will tell you that! And I am sure its so frustrating to poc that it is common for a shit ton of people to have a “racist phase”, thats so shitty and I cant even imagine. But I think kneeling right now is an indicator of if people DO understand what it is about and are standing in support with that currently and judging based on that.

Good take here. I also have nothing to add.

[uswnt5]

Did Christen just follow the NWSL? I blinked once and saw that yes, she did. How long before she unfollow the chaotic shitshow? Lol

did she? I give it a week.

[rookno]

@ghostinbone   Tell me more about Staci and the Judges. Bunker, post-bunker, the whole shebang.

I plan to write a long, long thing about Staci and his wolf family eventually so have some points that I've figured out.

- The bunker that Pratt made his way to was planned to keep animals away from radiation - it's full of small herbivores like rabbits and guinea pigs. Although not as big as the bunkers meant to house families or congregations like the Seeds' bunkers it's pretty damn big.

- The Judges were cooped up in tiny mesh cages when they were hauled in. I'm talking the kind of slapped together holdings a rescue organisation might put together when they hear that 40 odd dogs are coming in on late notice. The heavy black fabric thrown over them is nearly completely shredded by them pulling it through the mesh with teeth and claws. Most of them have lost incisors from gnawing at the metal by the time Pratt gets around to them. 

- Staci's not sure why he starts feeding them. The bags and bags of dog food piled up in the larder is the logical reason he tells himself. It's got nothing to do with him sitting in one of those cages, starving and desperate.

- The Judge's room fucking stinks of piss and shit. Staci wishes that he could pour bleach over the floor and call it a day but that potable water needs to be saved.

- That said he ends up spending as long as he can stand in the Judge's room - It's the biggest female that manages to break out of her cage. A whole wall of the cage gives out and she's suddenly got access to her neighbors' cage and the open space next to it. Her neighbor eats his way through a 20kg bag of dog food and then pukes it right back up. Mayhem occurs.

- When Staci comes in to feed them...he opens the bulkhead to crashing noises and 6 very snarly wolves huddled in the corner. Pratt refuses to bolt back to the door, terrified that they'll give chance. A long staring contest ends with him slamming the bulkhead shut and the wolves chow down on the food he bought them.

- The judge that overate and made himself sick is named Dumbass even while Staci tells himself not to get attached.

- This continues for a long, long time. In the end it's the stink that forces Staci to keep the bulkhead open and try to lure the group out. Even while opening the bulkhead he's muttering 'stupid, stupid, going to get yourself eaten then everything down here will die' under his breath.

- The big female, Sheriff, very clearly works as the group mother and is the first to check out the larger space. With the rabbits and cavvies closed off in their own room she patrols the new area and straight out steals some of the bundled sheets Staci can't wash. Several of those sheets get shredded before Staci can try and pull them away but at least the wolves aren't just pacing in their room anymore.

- Dumbass is the one that steals into Staci's room the one time he leaves it open. He gets a can stuck on his head. Staci laughs for the first time in what feels like forever when Dumbass tries to howl through an empty peach can. He's also the first judge that lets Staci touch them. To get the can off.

- Although all the judges are skittish Dumbass is the most inquisitive - possibly the youngest, or had the least time under Jacob. Sheriff is slower to trust and is not afraid to use her larger size to get what she wants. Ginger has a touch of auburn in her fur around the ruff and is highly food motivated, she leaves scratch marks on the concrete near the herbivore room. Scaredy Cat refuses to have his back toward an open room and is full of territorial aggression, backing himself into corners and showing teeth. Teddybear shows his belly at the smallest sign of aggression from the others.

- At this point even though the judges and Staci are sharing a few small rooms they're not friendly at all. Staci tries his best to herd them into their old room to feed them since human vs 6 food motivated wild animals = a shitshow.

- Sherrif gets pregnant and Staci just doesn't know what to do. She plants herself under his bed and open mouth lunges at anyone who tries to get close. Staci spends quite a few nights huddled in the herbivore room.

- When the two tiny cubs grow a little they're much more human friendly. They're born black with blue eyes and tiny little paw pads and Staci can't help himself when they toddle over to him. He holds his hand out like he's greeting a dog. Sharp little milk teeth sink into his finger and he yelps. 'Welp, I'm fucking dead' Staci thinks. But rather than the attack he was suddenly expecting Sheriff knocks the little one on his ass like he's saying 'Hey that one has thin skin, no teeth.'

- Once it's obvious that Staci is expected to do his part in raising the babies the rest of the pack relaxes a lot. Dumbass pushes his nose into everything Staci handles to the point he's a tripping hazard, even if he has to climb Staci to get there. Staci gets a little more relaxed about sleeping around them when the two cubs take to multiple naps a day on some part of his body.

- The cubs get christened Sweetheart and Bumble. Staci has no idea what sex they are but they're precious. Bumble breaks into the herbivore room and slaughters 4 guinea pigs before Staci drags them out. Staci swears that Dumbass looks proud.

- When the cubs hit that super hyper puppy stage they get super destructive. There's not a lot of fabric left without huge holes left in it by Sweetheart's teeth and Bumble has worn grooves into the concrete where he has run in circles. 

- Sheriff is clearly in charge. She has a second and third litter, 2 and a whopping 5 pups each. 

- Ginger has a secret litter of 3. It's not really a secret but Staci bodily puts himself between her and Sheriff for about a month. Ginger lets Staci have a bigger part in her pregnancy and takes to his room much sooner than  Sheriff did. Staci can't even be mad since she seems more tolerant of him using his bed to actually sleep.

- Years go by. Staci cries for days when each of the original wolves die. Sheriff is the first. One of Ginger's litter steps up as the new mother figure. Her name goes from Bitey to Mama. 

- The reason Staci opens the bunker is simple: they're almost out of potable water. Turns out the Peggies weren't planning to stay in this hole forever. 

- Bumble proves himself Dumbass' son by figuring out how to climb the ladder out while the rest of the pack bays at him. Staci can't even be mad. It takes all of five seconds for a very careful scouting mission turns into chasing a grinning Bumble around the super bloom.

- Although the bunker stays their base of operations the pack quite happily runs out to hunt when Staci makes a way the non-acrobat members can climb out. Staci builds up a smallish area above the entrance like a deer blind to keep it hidden from...whatever would try to harm them.

  - A second generation male from Sweetheart and Ginger's male pup Rust' litter ends up leading the hunts for the most part. He stays black from the second he's born. If he's named Elijah well...it's not like there's anyone to judge Staci's choices.

- Despite Jacob’s teachings it turns out that animals who are well fed and cared for will beat natural selection in the nuclear wasteland. The new wolves tend to stay in smaller groups and are much easier to spot. Eli and the pack quite easily drive them out of their new territory. A red male hangs around Eli’s sister Apple and the pack makes sure he knows that Staci is friend not food.

- Staci puts together a rifle and a silenced pistol from scrap. He’s mostly a stealth hunter and would really rather kill things with a knife than spend ammo. 

- The first time the pack sets eye on a raider...well, let's just say the raider should not have tried to grab Staci. One or two wolves they might have taken, but the pack? Well the man should have kept a hand on his rifle while he laid hands on their human.