#tori: (chokes and DIES)

[mixelation]

Does Kushina Jr. know Spanish? If so, did Tori teach her kid or did Kushina Jr. learn it through other means?

I..............

..............what other places would they learn spanish?!

[st44rkeys]

KISS OR SKIP.. - rafe cameron smau

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“Just once please?”

Emi groane rolling her eyes. “I’m not calling you a good boy. What the hell is wrong with you?”

The man on her screen let out a pitiful whimper. Without hesitation, she slammed the skip button. Freaks.

She sighed, slumping back in her chair. Maybe logging onto Omegle tonight wasn’t her brightest idea. But she was bored, and everyone else was busy. Well except for JJ, but he was elbow deep in engine grease, and there was no way she was about to ruin her day messing around with oil and whatever else he worked with.

Scooping up her cat she hugged her close. “At least you don’t have to deal with men like that, huh angel?” she murmured pressing a soft kiss to her fur.

She grabbed the beer beside her and took a huge gulp letting out a quiet sigh. Day by day, she was turning into John B.

With a shrug she hit the call button. The screen lit up and suddenly, two ridiculously attractive men appeared. Her brain froze. Her throat did, too.

She choked- literally nearly spitting out the soda as she scrambled to sit down coughing to regain her composure.

Their eyes widened. “Are you okay?” one of them asked, concern lacing his voice.

Emi waved a hand nodding quickly. “Yeah yeah. I’m fine. Just-" She cleared her throat, cheeks burning. “I’m good. Totally fine.”

She wasn’t fine not even close. Not when her eyes landed on the man on the right. Blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, utterly flawless.

She felt the urge to cry.

Rafe wasn’t doing much better. He hadn’t expected her, a stunning woman staring back at him through the screen. He’d been seconds away from telling Topper to stop the video already tired of this and its endless weirdos.

But now? He couldn’t bring himself to look away.

He shifted in his seat, settling in a little more comfortably. “What’s your name?”

“Emi" she said with a small wave. “What about you two?”

“I’m Topper, and this is Rafe" Topper answered, motioning toward his friend.

“Cute names" she replied with a faint smile.

“Wait your hair is so cute" Rafe said gesturing toward her pink locks.

Her smile widened. “Thanks I know, I’m gorgeous" she replied with a playful grin.

Rafe chuckled his laughter easy and genuine.

“So Rafe and Topper" she said with a sly smirk leaning in a little closer to the screen. “On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your singing?”

“I need your touch, imma scream and shout for what I love-" the pink haired girl paused, waiting for them to join in on the next line. But they just stared at her dumbfounded.

“Seriously? You don’t know needy" She rolled her eyes. “Ugh fine. I’ll pick something more popular.”

“Thought I’d end up with Sean, but he wasn’t a match, wrote some songs about Ricky—”

Topper immediately picked up continuing "Now I listen and laugh, even almost got married, and for Pete, I’m so thankful. ITS THANK YOU NEXT

Emi’s eyes lit up. “YES” she giggled

“W-wait no pick something else- something we all know" Rafe stammered clearly hoping she’d choose a song he could actually follow. “Pick the weeknd”

Emi rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling "Pack it up Tori Vega"

Emi was still giggling at a joke Topper had just cracked when she suddenly paused. “Wait, how old are you guys?”

“We’re both 23" Rafe answered now a lot more relaxed than before.

Emi’s eyes widened. “I’m 20!” She grinned her flirty side making an appearance again. “See? We’re perfect for each other.”

She shot Rafe a playful look, but he just shook his head, laughing at her confidence.

Topper flashed a smirk. “Am I bothering you two? Should I leave you alone?”

Emi pouted dramatically. “I thought you’d never ask Topper.”

“So what made you come here?” Emi asked, her curiosity piqued as she looked at both men.

Topper hesitated, not wanting to tell her they were just filming for a YouTube video. He figured it might freak her out and make her skip. Especially when Rafe was practically making heart eyes at her. “We were bored. He didn’t want to at first.”

“Yeah, but I’m not complaining now" Rafe smirked, his gaze lingering on her. “What about you?”

Emi let out a dramatic sigh, and Rafe noticed the flair for the dramatic. Not that it bothered him—he actually found it kind of cute. “I needed to vent to someone.”

“Why?”

She picked up her white cat, cradling it in her arms. “Some people called my cat ugly.”

“Aww wait, she’s so cute" Rafe said and Emi couldn’t help but smile.

“Right?” she agreed her smile widening.

Topper glanced at his friend, surprised. He’d never heard Rafe say “aww” before. The fuck

“Okay staring contest" Emi says with a grin, and Topper immediately passes the challenge to Rafe.

“I’m terrible at that stuff" Topper lies

Rafe shrugs then locks eyes with Emi on the screen. He can’t help but notice the way her long hair falls around her face, the soft curve of her nose, the almond shape of her eyes, and her pouty lips.

She was literally perfect.

Then she suddenly laughs, a sweet laugh, covering her face with her hands. “Stop looking at me like that!”

Rafe raises an eyebrow smirking. “Like what?”

Topper still watching the exchange bursts out laughing. “Man you were literally drooling.”

An hour had passed and they were still talking well, Emi and Rafe were talking more now, with Topper just there, grinning as he watched the two of them. Emi had grown even more flirty as she got more comfortable but you could say the same about Rafe

The girl couldn’t help but think that she might’ve just found the love of her life. How could a man like him be so perfect?

“Okay, so-" she started to say, but if she’d been paying more attention to her laptop, she would’ve noticed the battery icon turning red.

Before she could finish her sentence, the screen went black. Her mouth dropped open in surprise as the laptop shut off completely. She let out a shriek as Angel jumped up, instantly bolting from the room in a panic.

Rafe’s jaw tightened as the call in front of him abruptly disconnected. “Did she just skip us?”

Topper shook his head, his expression baffled. “No way- she was in the middle of talking.”

Rafe groaned, running a hand over his face in frustration. “Man can’t we see her username or something?”

Topper shook his head again.

Rafe cursed under his breath, slumping in his seat. He’d been so close, so close to asking for her socials. Now she was gone, and he probably wouldn’t ever find her again.

[tkwrites]

I'll Be Proud For You - Quinn Hughes x ofc

Photo from Pinterest via Bauer Hockey

Title: I’ll Be Proud For You - Quinn Hughes x ofc

Author: Tory / @tkwrites 

Relationship: Quinn Hughes x Sarah Roberts (OFC) 

Summary: When an opportunity for Quinn to meet her uncle arrives, Sarah jumps at the chance, and they attend a St. Patrick's Day party at her uncle's house on Salt Spring Island. On the ferry ride back home, Sarah finally explains why she had to be close to family after her mothers death, necessitating her move to Vancouver. 

Warnings: Mentions of depression, grief, and meeting new family. Talks of suicidal thoughts and suicidal ideation. No attempts or methods are described or discussed. 

Word Count: 5,600

Comments: I’ve been working on this fic for a long time. In many ways, it's extremely self-indulgent. I loved writing the banter between Sarah and her uncle Travis, and it was very healing for me to write about Sarah’s experiences after her mothers death. 

Sarah’s experiences are very similar to the experiences I had after losing my father. My dad died three years ago in September, and I have not experienced any kind of suicidal ideation for over a year and a half. While I was in the thick of it, it felt like I was always going to be stuck in that darkness. The other side of that chasm is so beautiful and so worth the work it took to get here. 

I was very lucky that I already had a therapist who could refer me to a specialist and friends and family who cared very deeply about me and my mental well-being. Seeing a psychiatrist to get on medication was one of the best decisions I ever made.

If you are having or have thoughts like these in the future, please, please talk to a friend and a professional to get help. The world is such a better place with you in it. xx

I’ll Be Proud For You 

A Quinn & Sarah Snapshot

Sarah grabbed Quinn's wrist as he walked toward the kitchen. “Do you have plans for St. Patrick's Day?” 

“I think Garly's having a party. Why?” 

“My uncle Travis always hosts a dinner party since we’re Irish, and I wondered if you wanted to come with me.” 

“Sure.” 

A smile took over her whole face, and he was instantly glad he agreed. 

Internally, though, his heart was racing. Her uncle was the closest family she had nearby. When she first moved to the city, she'd lived with him for a year. She still went to his house at least two Sundays a month. Quinn knew they were close.

At least he had a while to mentally prepare. 

“It’s a bit of a drive - they live on Saltspring, so we have to take the ferry.”

“Just means I get to spend more time with you,” he said with a shrug. “Plus, I like it over there.”

Her smile got bigger, and he swore his knees got a little weak. God, what wouldn’t he do for that smile?

“Is there anything I should do to prepare?” he asked, sitting next to her.

“Just wear something green. And don't wear anything that says 'Kiss me, I'm Irish' unless you actually want to be kissed.”

“Wouldn't mind being kissed by you,” he said with a wink. 

Laughing, she leaned over and obliged. 

He instantly wished they weren't at the dining room table so he could lay her out and kiss her like he meant it. 

A few minutes later, the nagging feeling of neglecting her studying won out, and Sarah pulled away. “I'm sorry,” she said, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, “I really need to finish this. Give me thirty minutes?” 

“Then you're mine for the night?” 

She nodded. 

“Okay.” He kissed her forehead and wandered to the kitchen to make dinner. 

As she left school for the aquarium the next day, Sarah called her uncle Travis.

“Hey, Sar, how are you doing?” 

“Good. How are you, Trav?” 

“Great. Samson started crawling on Tuesday.”

“What? No.”

“Yep.” 

“I refuse to believe he’s crawling already.” 

“I know. It’s the worst. What’s up?” 

“I just wanted to let you know I'm bringing someone with me on Sunday.”

“One of your roommates?”

“No, someone I'm seeing.”

He actually seemed to choke on whatever he was drinking and coughed a few times before asking, “I'm sorry, what?”

“We've been going out for a while, and I want him to meet everyone.”

“How long is a while?” 

“Two and a half months.” 

“And you were going to tell us when?”

“I was waiting to see how serious it would be.”

“And it's serious?”

“I think it’s headed that way. I want to see what you think of him.” 

“What's his name?”

“Quinn.” 

“How did you meet?”

“At the aquarium,” she said,  “he asked me out to lunch, and we've been dating ever since.” 

“He lives in the city?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Is there anything I should know about him?” 

“Just that I really like him. Please promise you won't embarrass me.”

“No can do. That's what uncles are for, but I can promise I won't pull out your baby pictures.”

“You don't even have my baby pictures.”

“Precisely. Otherwise, I probably would.”

Rolling her eyes, she asked what she could bring to dinner. After deciding she would bring the soda bread and butter, they hung up, and she sent the plan to Quinn.  

Great. When should I pick you up?

I'm driving, so I'll come get you. 

You have a car? 

Technically, it's my uncles, but I haven't driven in forever, so I’m calling transportation on this one.

He laughed. Tocc canceled practice tomorrow so we can leave whenever. 

I'll pick you up at 1 then? 

What time is dinner? 

5, but the drive over is 2 and a half hours, and I like to be there a little early to help out. 

“Why does your uncle keep a car here?” Quinn asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

“I have parking included with my apartment, so it just made sense. I drop it off at the Ferry terminal once or twice a month for Trev when he has to come to the mainland for work.” 

“I didn’t know that. Let me know next time and I’ll give you a ride home.” 

She shot a grateful smile at him before looking back to the road.

It was a strange thing for Quinn to be a passenger. He was usually the one driving, and rarely got the chance to watch her for such a long period of time uninterrupted.

He was taken with her. With the constellation of freckles on her cheeks and the button of her nose, and the round swell of her bottom lip. He wondered if anyone would notice if they just made out on the ferry ride over. She didn’t have tinted windows. Probably not the best idea.

She was wearing the same green dress she’d worn when Brady came to town. It still looked beautiful and soft, and he still couldn’t stop the fantasies of stripping it off her from clouding his mind. 

“How was your morning?”

“Fine.” he scrubbed his hands over his face, “It’s nice to have a day off.” 

“I bet,” she said, reaching over to entwine her fingers with his. 

They held hands until they hit traffic and she had to get back to the gear shift.

He’d never driven a manual transmission, and he was impressed by her seamless shifting, despite the fact that she was a bit of a terrifying driver. He found himself reaching for the door handle more than once as she weaved in and out of traffic and went a little too fast for his liking.

“How was your day?” he asked to distract himself.

“Good. I did some reading and finished up some assignments I’d put off from earlier in the week.” 

“I didn’t know you were capable of putting things off,” he teased. 

She snorted and threw him a sarcastic look. 

“You’re so organized, I didn’t think you could.”

Quinn had seen her planner once. It was the size of a college notebook with a column for every day of the week. Each of her classes was assigned a different color, and every day was an organized riot: hours blocked for class, work, assignments, tests, and readings to be completed. He didn’t know how she got it all done. He was exhausted just reading it. Then, he’d smiled when he realized he was there. She had all his games and their plans and dates written in sparkly blue ink. 

“I still miss things. Sunday is my catchup day,” she explained. “Usually, I sleep in and do my homework on the ferry over and back, but I wanted to have it done early so I could spend the time with you.”

“It would have been okay,” he said. 

The smile she gave him made his heart patter against his lungs. That, along with a stop so sudden, the seatbelt engaged to snap him back, made it a little hard to breathe. 

“Thank you, but I would rather spend this time with you.” 

His heart warmed at the gesture, and her willingness to give up her one morning to sleep in to spend time with him.

Once on the ferry, they stayed in the car and talked instead of going up on deck. He told her about practice and trying to push aside his nerves about making the playoffs, “Everyone keeps talking about it like it’s a guarantee.” 

“Well, you are second in the league.”

“Yeah, but so much could change. I don’t want to get my hopes up, and the media asks about it practically every day. I’m getting so tired of telling them, ‘that’s what we’re aiming for, and we have a group that can get there.’” He threw his voice into a self-depricating, exaggerated version of itself. 

Despite her attempt to stifle it down, a giggle spilled out of her mouth. “I think they’re probably asking because it’s going to happen.” 

“We don’t know that. Demmer’s out, and we haven’t been doing great…” he trailed off. 

“You’re still first in the Pacific by almost 10 points, Quinn. Can’t you celebrate that for a minute?” 

He sighed, “it’s just… so much can change in a month, and I don’t want to be the guy who talks about how good it will be to play in the playoffs only to have his team not make it. I’d be a laughing stock on the internet for the rest of time and a lesson to all other captains to not jinx it.”

“I’d never considered it that way.” 

He made a noise of ascent in his throat. 

“You can celebrate it with me, though, right?” she asked, lacing their fingers together.

Quinn wanted to agree, he really did, but the superstitious part of his mind went to war against it. The result was a kind of half-hearted grimace.

Laughter burst from her. “Fine, fine. You don’t have to talk about it. I’ll just be proud for you,” she said, bringing his hand to her mouth so she could kiss his knuckles. 

His stomach did a jerking little jig, and a real smile spread over his face. 

Eventually, their conversation turned to her uncle. 

“Trav is a sound engineer, and he toured with Brooks & Dunn for a long time. He moved to Vancouver because he said it’s the most beautiful city he’s been to.” 

“I would agree with that,” Quinn said. 

“Now he stays at home with their kids. Trevor is a copyright lawyer.”

“Oh, your uncle’s gay,” he said with a spark of understanding. 

“Is that a problem?” Sarah asked, raising her brows. 

“No, of course not. I was just confused. You mentioned Trav and Trev, and I wasn’t sure if I was hearing his name wrong or what.” 

When they pulled off the ferry, Sarah turned onto a small two lane road, running away from town. It didn’t look like anything was out here except forest and pebble beaches. 

Sarah had an incredible inherent sense of direction - the kind he had to rely on his phone GPS for - so he knew they weren’t lost, but he couldn’t see anything that looked remotely like civilization.

When they turned onto a small driveway tucked right into the woods, drove up a hill, and pulled in front of a home that looked more like a cabin than a house, Quinn wasn’t too shocked. 

“What a view,” he said as they got out of the car. 

Despite the drizzly weather, the horizon was still stunning. The gray blue water of the Salish Sea seemed to melt into the rolling, gray clouds, making them indistinguishable except where pine covered islands rose out of the water, vibrantly green against all the neutral colors. The city skyline cut a dark, jagged edge across the water. If the commute wasn’t so long, he would live out here, too.

“I know, right?” she said, picking up a tote bag and taking his hand to lead him up to the front door.

“Hey Trav,” she said, embracing him as soon as the door was opened. “Trav, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my uncle Travis,” she introduced when they broke apart

Other than the fact that he had her same bright blue eyes, her uncle didn’t look anything like he’d expected. Quinn had braced himself to meet a middle-aged man who was around his dads age. Instead, Travis looked no more than ten years older than Sarah. The oldest looking thing about him was his gray hair, which was casually swept back in that effortless way Quinn’s hair could never quite manage. He wore jeans and a green band t-shirt without socks or shoes. His toenails and fingernails were painted various shades of green. 

 “It's nice to meet you, sir,” Quinn said as they shook hands. If he wasn’t so used to seeing it, he would have missed the way Travis’s eyes widened slightly in recognition.

“Just call me Travis,” he said with a snort, trying to cover his shock. “No one has ever called me, sir in my life. Come on in.”

Trying to catch her eye as they passed, Travis wondered how, when he’d asked if there was anything he should know about this guy she was bringing, Sarah didn’t think the fact that he was Quinn Hughes was something he ought to know. She didn’t notice, and he dropped it before Quinn did.

“Beara!” a little girl yelled as she ran toward them. “Beara! Beara!”  She had curly pigtails, each tied with a green bow that flopped as she ran. 

“Sawyer!” Sarah caught her before they collided, picking her up and swinging her around. “I missed you,” she said, pulling the little girl against her chest. 

Putting her hands on Sarah’s cheeks, she said, “missed you more.” 

When she noticed Quinn, she turned her face away from him and put her thumb in her mouth, suddenly shy.

“Sawyer, this is my friend, Quinn,” she said, turning so they could make eye contact. 

“Hi, Sawyer,” he said. “I like your ribbons.” 

She smiled around her thumb at him. She had those same bright blue eyes, though they were slightly wider than Travis or Sarah’s. 

“What do you say to that?” her father coached gently.

“Thank you.” she didn’t take her thumb out of her mouth when she said it, so it was a little garbled, but he got the idea.

Sarah set her down, and she ran back to the kitchen, squealing when Travis chased her down the hallway. 

“Beara?” Quinn asked, humor in his eyes as she took his hand, following after them.

“My whole life, my nickname has been Sar Bear. When she was younger, Sawyer had a hard time saying her S’s, so she started calling me Beara instead of Sarah, and it just kind of stuck.” 

He snorted, “oh god, the guys are going to have a heyday with that.” 

“With what?” 

“You know how they call me Huggy Bear sometimes?”

She nodded. 

“Huggy Bear and Sar Bear?” He snorted, “I mean, come on.” 

The house, while rustic on the outside, was homey on the inside. Neutral gray walls and a modern, light kitchen. It seemed the whole back half of the house was made of glass, giving a perfect view into the misty forest. It was beautiful, but Quinn wasn’t sure he’d want to be here at night to see what came out of those woods.

Sarah was laughing as she entered the kitchen, hand in hand with Quinn. The shock of Quinn Hughes being in his house, of Quinn Hughes dating his niece, who had always been more of a little sister to him, still had him reeling. 

Even through that startling revelation, Travis wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her so relaxed and happy since her parents died. The protective part of him held himself back from reading too much into it. The last thing Sarah needed in her life was more heartache.

“Quinn, this is my uncle Trevor.” 

“It’s nice to meet you. I’d shake your hand, but I’m a little busy,” he said, gesturing to the meat he was fishing out of a marinade. “I hope you like beef stew.” 

“Sounds great.” 

“And this,” Sarah picked a pudgy little boy up from his high chair, “is Samson.” 

Quinn held a hand out to the little boy, who wrapped his tiny fingers around one of Quinn’s as he smiled and babbled. Samson looked more like Trevor. He had dark curly hair, dark eyes, and smooth olive skin. Quinn wondered if each of them had fathered an embryo for a surrogate. 

“Can I get you a beer?” Travis asked. 

“Sure.” 

“We only have Guinness today.” 

“I wouldn’t expect anything else. It’s the Irish way, right?” 

Laughing, he handed the can off to Quinn before turning to Sarah. “Hey, can you help me find the barley?” 

He knew he was being obvious as he pulled her into the pantry, but he hoped this was a little less obvious than pulling her back into the living room would be. At least he had an excuse for her help this way. 

As he shut the door behind them, he heard Quinn ask, “is there anything I can help with?” 

Travis clicked the light on. They were standing nearly chest to chest in the tiny room, baby Samson squished between them. He didn’t seem to mind as he continued to babble, reaching out for the brightly colored packages. 

“You didn’t tell me you were dating Quinn Hughes!” he hissed. 

“You know who he is?”

“Everyone in this entire province knows who Quinn Hughes is, Sarah.” 

“I didn’t when we met.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me.” 

“Why not?” If she didn’t have a baby in her arms, she would have folded them over her chest. 

“You’re too busy learning stuff to pay attention to things like that. He was all over the news for three weeks when they put him in as Captain this fall. Plus, you only care about football.” 

“I do not. Well, not anymore, at least,” she said, catching Samson’s hand before he could pull a box of pasta off the shelf. “Anyway, why does it matter that he’s Quinn Hughes?” 

“He’s - I mean,” Travis blew a harsh breath out of his nose. “When you said you met at the aquarium, I thought he was some guy who works there, not the captain of the fucking Vancouver Canucks!”

“He's just a guy, Trav. He just happens to play hockey for a living.” 

His mouth opened and closed as he seemed to realize he couldn't argue against that point. “He’s a pro athlete, Sarah.” 

“So?”

“So, they’re gone all the time, and the money fucks with their heads and pretty soon they’re all cheating on their partners.”

One of her eyebrows arched up, “do you only watch reality TV, or do you sometimes deviate to Lifetime?” 

Despite himself, he laughed. “I just mean,” he paused, glancing down at his green fingernails. Sawyer had insisted on painting them and pulled out every shade of green polish in the house, determined to use them all. “I don’t want you to get hurt. He treats you well?” 

“Yes. Very well. I wouldn’t keep dating him or bring him to meet you if he didn’t. He's actually the best guy I've ever dated,” she added. 

Travis's eyebrows shot into his gray hairline. 

“Just spend some time with him. You'll see. He’s really thoughtful and nice.” 

“Okay, but I’m having a talk with him by the end of the night.” 

“No.”

“Listen, I just need to make sure he’s good enough for you.” 

“Don’t you think that’s something I can decide for myself?” 

“I’m just going to have a chat with him, man to man. You’re the one that wanted to know what I think of him,” he said. “It's happening whether you like it or not. I'm just letting you know.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but don’t embarrass me. And none of that asking for permission bullshit. I'm not a possession.”

“Dont insult me,” Travis chided, smiling, loving seeing pieces of his oldest sister in Sarah. He was glad Becky had instilled those same, strong feminist values in her children. “Of course he doesn't need permission. I just care about you.”

“Thanks, Trav,” she said, touched. 

He pulled her into a hug, smooshing Samson between them more. He let out a tiny grunt.

“Here, take your baby,” she said, handing him off and grabbing a box of cookies as an alibi as she left. 

If Quinn thought anything was suspicious, he didn't let on, continuing to chop the lettuce Trevor had set him to preparing. 

“Teddy Graham?” Sarah asked, offering the box as she stood next to him at the long island.

“Sure.”

“Hey Sar, we were thinking about coming into the city for your birthday. I have to be in that day for a few meetings, so Trav was going to bring the kids on the ferry. Do you think that would work? We thought we could take you to dinner.” Trevor said, looking up from braising the beef. 

“Yeah, I would like that,” she said with a big smile.

As he walked back into the kitchen, Travis caught Quinn’s wide-eyed expression. 

“When’s your birthday?” he asked, tipping the lettuce into a bowl.

“On April third.” 

He gulped. It was a gesture Travis immediately recognized as a man grappling for a purchase with new information.

 Quinn pulled out his phone and quietly breathed, “we’re in Arizona that day.”

“I know,” Sarah said with a smile that tried but didn’t totally succeed in covering her disappointment. 

Something about it made Travis’ hackles rise. Quinn wasn't actively hurting her, but his lifestyle was.

Quinn saved her birthday in her contact card and put his phone back in his pocket. “I guess we’ll celebrate when I get back.” 

“That would be nice,” she said with a smile that was genuine this time.

Travis got her a can of Guiness, and she wrinkled her nose. “Can I have whiskey?”

“You hate whiskey.” 

“I’d rather it than this tar,” she said, pushing the can back to him. “At least whiskey can be mixed into something palatable.”

“Here here,” Trevor said, laughing. 

Travis mimed pulling a knife out of his chest. “You’ve insulted our ancestors, Sarah.” 

“Listen, the Irish invented a lot of really great things: boycotts, modern chemistry, the stethoscope, the submarine,” she said, counting them off on her fingers.

Quinn gave her a surprised look. 

“I did a presentation on Irish inventions in high school,” she explained, flipping her hands, “the point is, is that their alcohol is not one of them.” 

Travis laughed, taking the can for himself. “You want a ginger highball then?” 

She beamed, “I think you know the answer to that.”

“What is that?” Quinn asked. 

“It’s whiskey and ginger ale. It’s delicious.” 

 

Before other guests arrived, Travis asked Quinn if he'd like to see the vintage shelby Mustang he was restoring.

Quinn agreed and gulped when Trevor asked if Sarah could help him find Sawyer. This was one of those talks. He shoved his hands in his pockets and followed her uncle out to the garage. 

“Listen,” Travis said after they admired the beautiful white car, “Sarah isn't my daughter, but she means a hell of a lot to me, and I want to make sure she’s not going to get hurt. She’s gone through enough heartache already.” 

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Quinn licked his lips before responding, “the last thing I want is to cause her more pain. I know she’s been through too much. I don’t know that I can guarantee she’ll never get hurt, but I can say that I would never hurt her intentionally.” 

“Do you think your job will get in the way?” 

“The travel definitely takes a toll. But I really like Sarah, and I think we have a lot of potential.” Times like these, he was glad for all of his media training. Not that this was anything like a press conference, but they did get him used to thinking fast and answering hard questions.

“She’s not really a model NHL girlfriend.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Quinn demanded, barely keeping a glare off of his features. 

“Just that most of your lot date models that don’t have normal jobs and aren’t in school,” Travis said, fighting to keep a smile off of his face. That defensiveness answered a lot of his questions. 

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” he agreed, biting down the urge to correct him. Most of his teammates were married to their high school or college sweethearts. “I like that Sarah has her own stuff and that she’s so independent. Before I met her, I dated a girl like you described, and I was always a little worried about what she was doing while I was on the road. I don't ever get that with Sarah.” 

“What do you do on the road?”

“Mostly, I sleep or hang out with the guys. We don't have as much free time as people think.” 

Travis was still looking at him appraisingly over the hood of the car. Had he not been exposed to Sarah’s blue, blue eyes, he would have found her uncles stare incredibly intimidating. 

“Look, Sir - Travis,” he corrected quickly, “I really -” he stopped himself, not wanting to say that to her uncle first. “I really like Sarah, and we really get along. I know it’s not an ideal thing for me to be on the road during the season, but it seems to be working well so far. I want to be with her, and if she’ll let me, I’d like to be in her life for a long time. I just want to make her happy.” 

Travis nodded. “What’s your favorite thing about her?” It was a question his mother-in-law asked him when he met her. It wasn’t until this moment that he realized what a telling question it was. 

“She treats me like a normal person,” Quinn admitted. Even though he knew it made him sound conceited, it was his favorite thing about her. She’d never treated him like anything else than a normal guy. “And she’s interesting and easy to talk to and really respectful to people around her.” 

“Okay,” Travis said, nodding, glad to see Quinn saw the same things he did. “Okay.” His face split into the natural smile he’d given Sarah when he first opened the door. “I can see why she likes you.” 

Despite his attempt to stay cool and collected, Quinn felt a blush splash onto his cheeks as relief relaxed his shoulders.

“I'm not going to say I'll kill you if you hurt her, but just know she has me and Trevor in her corner.” 

Quinn smiled, “I get it. I would want to hurt anyone who hurt her, too.” 

The dinner party was small - no more than 10 people, and only one of them, their friend’s teenage son, Jace, gawked when he walked in to see Quinn in the kitchen. Quinn took it in stride and talked shop with Jace for a while before dinner was served and he took his seat next to Sarah, who had been watching him with a secret, proud kind of smile on her lips.

Halfway through the night, Travis looked over at them to find Quinn watching her as she talked with someone, with this quiet, infatuated look on his face. A few more of his fears were put to rest.

As he stood at the kitchen sink with his niece, drying the pots and pans she was washing by hand, he leaned closer to her, “I can see what you see in him,” he said, conspiratorially. 

“See,” she said, nudging her shoulder into his as she handed him a knife, “I told you.” 

“How did you manage going to school from here for a year?” Quinn asked as they pulled onto the ferry for the ride home. 

“When I lived with them, they lived in the city. They needed to move into a bigger house when Samson was born. By that time, Trevor was working from home most of the time, and I was okay to live with roommates. So, I moved into the apartment I'm in now, and they moved onto the island.”

He waited until the car was parked before asking, “what do you mean you were okay to live with roommates?” 

She pulled in a heavy breath. It was bound to come out eventually. May as well tell him while they had a solid hour and a half boat ride to talk about it. 

“After my mom died, I really struggled.” 

“Wouldn’t anyone?” Quinn asked. 

Sarah pushed the seat back to give her enough room to turn and face him. Her right knee pressed up against the center console. She needed to be looking at him when she said this.

“I mean… I really,” she paused, trying to find the right words. “I remember I flew back to Hawaii a week after the funeral, thinking it was going to be so nice to get back into my routine, but I had this massive gulf in front of me and a literal ocean between me and my family. My roommates were kind of party animals, and they had no idea how to support me, and I had broken up with Kaleo, my boyfriend, before I left because he didn't want anything to do with her funeral or my grief. It felt like no matter where I was, I was just so…alone.” 

It felt like someone was reaching down Quinn's throat and wringing his heart. 

“I called my sister one day - I think I woke her up, which was really shitty because she had a six month old who was teething.” She laughed a little, but there was too much sadness in it for it to be convincing.

“Anyway, I called her crying because I…I started having these really intense thoughts about killing myself.” 

A steep breath stuck in his lungs. He wasn’t totally sure what he thought she would say, but he hadn’t expected that.

“She flew out to be with me, and I moved home two days later. Just packed everything up and left. I didn’t even tell my boss - I was still on FMLA for the funeral, and she had to call me when I didn't show up to work the next Monday.” 

 “Did you ever…” he trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.

“Attempt?”

He nodded, and Sarah shook her head, “no, but the thought of it was really terrifying. Like, I saw for the first time how someone could get into that headspace where they might take their own life. I just remember ruminating on those thoughts and thinking, ‘I don’t wanna die.’” She pressed the heel of her hand under her eye to catch some of the tears that slipped.

“How did you get out of it?” Perhaps she was just really good at hiding it, but she didn’t seem that depressed in all the time he’d known her. 

“I stayed with my sister for the next nine months. I got on some meds and started seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist, and we talked through what was bringing those thoughts up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d already gone through the grief process with my dad, so I knew how awful it was. I never expected to have to go through another big death while I was still single. I thought by the time my mom died, I would have a consistent partner in my life - maybe even a family - and I just kept thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this again.’” 

Quinn wanted to go back in time and make it better. Somehow make sure they met before she was in the city so he could be there for her when it all happened. 

“Anyway, my psychiatrist told me our brains are basically just big problem solvers. You give it a problem, it wants to fix it. So when I kept telling myself, ‘I don’t want to do this again,’ my brain was just coming up with the swiftest solution for me to not have to do it again. When I changed the way I was thinking about it and started giving myself some more grace, those thoughts lessened a lot.” 

God, she was even stronger than he thought. 

“Even with all that stuff, I still really wanted to go to grad school, and my therapist and my psychiatrist agreed that it was best for me to have a goal to work toward, even if it meant moving away from home. I was really scared that if I moved out totally on my own, those feelings would come up again, and no one would be around for me to talk to about them, and I might hurt myself. But I couldn't study the ocean in Nevada. My brother actually suggested UBC and living with Travis. I called him to see what he thought. I hadn't even applied, but I didn't want to if I didn't have a plan for when I got in. I pitched that I could be a nanny of sorts when I wasn't in school. They told me they’d love to have me stay with them. I applied and by some miracle was accepted on the first try, and the rest is history,” she said, shrugging.

“Do you…” he paused, not totally sure how best to ask this. “Do you still think about it?” 

She shook her head, “not much anymore. Every once in a while, it comes back when a big grief marker comes up, or I get really, really stressed or anxious, but the thoughts are always  really fleeting.”

Even though it meant the console was pressing into his stomach, and she was pitched back slightly, Quinn leaned over to gather her against him. “I can’t believe how strong you are.” 

“It’s not like I had any other choice.” 

“Clearly you did,” he said, reluctantly settling back into his seat. 

“I didn’t,” she said, voice quiet but firm. “There was no way I was going to put my family through another death, and like I said, I didn’t want to die. I wanted to not be in pain anymore, and those are very different things.” 

“I just think you should be proud of yourself, that’s all.” 

“I mean, I am proud that I got out of it, and proud that I know how to ask for what I need now, but being strong in the face of death is just something you have to do. There’s no way out but through.”

“Fine,” he said, repeating her action from earlier and bringing her knuckles to his lips, “I’ll be proud for you.” 

Want more Quinn & Sarah? Check out the Snapshots Masterlist

To read all my fics, check out my Fanfiction Masterlist

[ettraxx]

Broken Mirror

Tori’s breathing came in short shallow gasps. She was exhausted but she still needed to stay hidden. The masked slasher was still stalking the blood splattered house.  

She never in a million years saw this happening, her friends and classmates being hunted down by a psychotic killer, and she couldn’t stop thinking about Jade. 

Miss too cool for all of it, decided to throw a party. A party full of teenagers while a slasher was praying on them all. Tori initially refused to come. But as soon as she heard that Robbie and Cat were on their way to the hospital in critical condition, she had to make sure that Jade was safe. 

Being a cops daughter finally seemed to be paying off. She had access to her dad’s back up gun, and she knew the police frequencies so she at least got a request for help out. They still weren’t here, because she was not that lucky. She had pushed inside the front door as soon as she saw the bloody handprint. 

The power had been cut so it was dark, but she could already see the damage and the blood. The living room was torn up, but empty, and a long hallway lead her to the kitchen. The blood inside the kitchen was enough to choke Tori up. But she still didn’t see Jade. 

She followed a bloody trail out the back door and towards the pool house. Inside she found the bodies of Burf and Sinjin. Burf had done his best to drag Sinjin to safety but it was too late for the bespectacled blonde. Burf himself bled out cradling his best friend. 

Returning to the kitchen she spotted the missing butchers knife from the block. She listened carefully, but couldn’t hear anything. She decided to take the back stairs and crept up as quietly as she could manage. Once upstairs she had to hold back tears and vomit. 

Three bodies were scattered down the hallway. She couldn’t even recognize two of them they were so badly sliced up. One was trying the reach the very stairs she had just climbed when they died. One was just exiting a room and was sliced up. 

The third, who she recognized as Ryder, stared up at the ceiling with an expression of terror. His throat was split open and his chest and stomach were covered in stab wounds. Tori carefully stepped around the bodies and down the hall. She saw no signs of life, and no sign of Jade. 

Reaching the master bedroom she pushed the door open with her left hand. Her right gripping her father’s revolver so hard her knuckles were white. She could see signs of a struggle and flashed up bedding. The window was ajar, and the door to the bathroom was splintered. 

Making her way to the bathroom, she spotted movement from under the bed in the reflection of the shattered mirror. She froze mid stride, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked at the bed but couldn’t see what caused the blur of motion. Drawing a deep breath she jumped away from the bed and dropped to her knee. 

With the gun trained on the hiding place she spotted the pale face of the girl she came for. Her eyes were filled with terror, and tears streaked her cheeks. Tori sighs and gasped in relief upon seeing Jade blink at her. She scrambled over to her and reached for Jade with her free hand. 

Jade was clutching a corkscrew in one hand and holding her thigh with her left. Once Tori pulled her out from beneath the bed she hugged her once rival. Jade even hugged her back with no prompting. Tori couldn’t forget about the existence of a crazed killer loose around them.

She broke the hug and used a piece of torn sheet as a makeshift tourniquet. She pulled it as tightly as she could on Jade’s upper thigh to cut off and bleeding. The dark haired and black clad girl almost slapped Tori in response. Instead she pulled Tori into a very quick kiss. 

Well Tori knew that Jade wasn’t mad anymore. At least not with her, so a small victory. The pair left the master bedroom hand in hand, Tori taking the lead with her revolver, and Jade refusing to let go of her own weapon. They made it halfway to the front steps when Tori stopped abruptly. 

Standing on the landing halfway up the stairs was a lone figure. Clad all in black, they held the bloody butchers knife. It didn’t take much to realize that they were looking away from the pair. Jade’s body shook involuntarily with recognition and fear. 

Tori had mere seconds to make a decision. She did not hesitate, raising the glistening silver revolver and taking aim at the killer. With a soft squeeze of the trigger a single shot screams out. Before the killer could acknowledge the shot, they were struck by a burning hot bullet. 

They dropped not only their knife but to their own knees. Tori did not hesitate to fire a second shot. This one struck as the man in the chest dropping him to the floor. Only then did the impossible register. The killer was none other than her friend and Jade’s on again off again boyfriend Beck Oliver.

The look of pure shock on his face as he registered the searing pain of the bullets and began to bleed on the hardwood floor. She could see his lips moving as he tried to speak as one of his lungs filled with crimson. What surprised Tori next was the warm sensation of Jade wrapping her arms around Tori and holding on to her for all she was worth. Tori instinctively wrapped her own arms around Jade who cried as she held her. 

All the while a Tori stared at Beck as the life drained from his face. As his final breath gasped out of his lips, she saw the red and blue light flashing through the windows. Jade refused to let go of Tori as the police entered and took in the grisly scene. Even after the paramedics arrived Jade wouldn’t let her go. 

Jade finally relented as she was having her leg examined. She obviously needed to go to the hospital. The words of the paramedic stuck in Tori’s ears. “You’re lucky, a quarter an inch to the left and he would have hit an artery.” 

Was she lucky, or was it intentional? Did Beck actually want to kill her or was it some kind of plan on his part? She rode with Jade in the ambulance, their hands locked together as the paramedic in the back monitored her. Her father’s cruiser was right behind them. 

Jade didn’t end up at the same Hospital as Cat and Robbie, they were attacked outside of school, and Jade’s dad lived in a wealthier neighborhood. She did finally hear that Cat was out of surgery, but Robbie was still under the knife. Jade called Tori her hero, as she lay in her hospital bed. She had a few dozen other minor cuts and some bruises all over. But for the most part she still looked like Jade. 

Tori studied Jade’s face as she gazed up at her. And she realized two things. Jade was so damn pretty that it twisted her up inside. And that her story sounded like a perfectly crafted horror movie. 

Jade had seemed genuinely upset when Tori refused to come to the party. But now she had to ask herself, was it because she just wanted to have fun with Tori, or was it because it ruined her carefully crafted narrative? The thought that Jade was the mastermind of the bloodbath that was the last few days, threatened to tip her heart in half. Could she really be in love with the woman who started all of this off by orchestrating her sister’s death?

No, of course not. She loved Jade because despite her dark interests, Jade was a good person deep down. And Jade loved her back, she had told her as much after Trina’s body was found. She was the one person who kept her from falling apart. And now Tori was going to help Jade keep it together.

*****

My attempt at a short horror story for spooky season. I found one of a million October prompt lists and this is what came out. I've never really written horror before maybe ill make this a full fic one day.

[deerabigailhobbs]

Youre stuck on a deserted island with your 5 favorite people and your 5 least favorite people. What goes down? Whos dying first? What order are you cannibalizing them in? /hj

Oh boy, what a question to get on a quiet Thursday evening! I think realistically, I'd be the first to go. I'm terrible at survival situations and plus, have an abhorrent resistance to hot weather. Anything above 15°c (59F) and I melt. So yeah, I'll be on the Barbie first.

But let's say that the powers that be grant me extra strength and heat resistance in these trying times...

I'm not sure whether you meant real or fictional people, but let's do a mix of both shall we?

Most favourite:

Abigail Hobbs (for reasons which are obvious)

My best friend (hi I know you're reading this)

Adam Stanheight (I love a man who looks pathetic)

My mum (love my mum <3)

Ashley Graham (the previous fictional woman I was obsessed with)

Least favourite:

Hannibal Lecter (for reasons which are obvious)

Rishi Sunak (fuck the tories)

Young Sheldon (it's a long story)

Next door neighbour (too loud)

The twat that humiliated me during sports day training (he was a twat)

Introductions out of the way, here's how it goes down:

Rishi Sunak dies first due to being unable to fuck over the British people, and therefore having no purpose in life. Also having to mingle with commneners? Yeah no, he exits the situation himself. We don't dare eat him, he may have been infected by absolute wanker-itis, which can be deadly.

This is followed closely by Young Sheldon, who is adamant he can find a way off this island. He creates a small makeshift boat (which is quite impressive) and sails out to sea. Unfortunately, the idiot forgot he doesn't know how to sail, so aimlessly drifts off, s shakey "Bazinga" the last thing to leave his lips.

Next up is Ashley Graham, who without Leon Kennedy to help her, dies from getting her foot stuck in a bear trap. What's a bear trap doing on a deserted island, I hear you ask? My answer; uhhhh, island bears. She is our first meal.

Alas, Abigail dies next because Hannibal just cannot help himself in making sure this poor girl is murdered. This is quickly followed by me killing him painfully and slowly with my two bare hands <3. I eat Abigail, because I won't let her go to waste unlike some people.

Best friend is next up on the chopping block. He realises that he missed the Hades 2 full launch, which causes him to go into a deep depressive state and die from sadness. Rip bestie, I made sure you were cooked with extra seasoning.

The twat that humiliated me dies from mysterious reasons. Wow, who knows what could have caused his death... We eat him and he's delicious.

My neighbour decides they haven't been shouting at the top of their lungs in a while, and does so during the middle of the night when the rest of the us survivors are asleep. Unfortunately the island isn't like back home, and their massive gob catches the sight of a massive eagle, which snatches them up by their shoulders and flies them away into the night sky.

Adam decides to explore the island deeper, and finds a cave which could be a great use of shelter. Unfortunately, he didn't move the massive boulder far enough away from the entrance, and it moves, sealing him away forever. He is left to starve in darkness.

I choke on a peanut.

My mum wins as she deserves to, found and taken away to a huge mansion where she lives the rest of her life in peace <3

[middleearthpixie]

Seven Days ~ Chapter Twenty-Six

Seven Days -  Modern Tolkien AU

Firefighter Frerin Durin died in a fire set deliberately. But after he helps his brother, Thorin find happiness, Frerin is offered a second chance. He has to prove himself worthy by righting the one major wrong in his life. Otherwise, history will repeat and he will die for good this time. The catch? He has seven days in which to do this and isn’t even certain what his major wrong is.

At least, he doesn’t know for long. 

Syd Prescott has known Frerin since high school. She spent one night with him and then he vanished from her life. Now, he claims he wants to make it up to her, to right was he realizes was his major wrong. But can she trust him? And can he prove to her that she can before it’s too late? 

Pairing: Modern!Frerin x OFC Syd Prescott

Characters: Frerin, Syd, Alex, Nico, Tori, Dave Brewer,

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Word Count: 3.6K

Tag List: @mrsdurin @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @arrthurpendragon @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knittastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell @jotink78 @frosticenow @quiall321 @dianakc @msjava1972

If you’d like to be added (or removed) to the tag list, please just let me know!

Previous chapters can be found here.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Syd shook her head as she and Alex sat in Alex’s Bug, staring up at the outside facade of Bloomingdale’s at the Cranford Falls Mall. “No, I don't know if it’s a good idea or not, Lex. All I know is Frerin swore one of the women working at the Galleria was Tori.”

“So, we’re going to what? Confront her? Drag her out behind the dumpsters and kick her ass? What?”

“I don't know,” Syd snapped, her stomach twisting into knots. “I’m sorry, Lex. I—I just don't know what I’m going to do. I don't know if I’m going to do anything yet. I just want to see her for myself.”

“You know what she looks like?”

Syd nodded. Tori’s image was burned into her brain, the smug smile she offered Syd as she knelt alongside Frerin’s body in that smoke choked warehouse forever seared into her memory. “Yeah, I know what she looks like, but she won’t look like her.”

“So, how will you know, then?”

“I just think I’ll know. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I also know you know what mean.”

“Yeah,” Alex said with a sigh, “I do.”

They sat there in silence for a few more minutes. Syd didn't want to move, didn’t really want to go into the mall because she didn't doubt for a moment Frerin saw Tori and she didn't doubt for a moment she would recognize Tori even if she wasn’t the same woman Syd remembered from the fire. As she told Alex, she would just know. 

“Syd,” Alex shifted on her seat to look over at her, “what are you going to do if we see her?”

“I have no idea. I just—I need to see her myself, to see what I have to deal with.”

“You gave Frerin a nazar, right?”

“Gram gave him hers.”

“What?”

Syd nodded. “That’s how I know she is taking it—and Frerin—seriously. She didn’t hesitate, Lex, but took us upstairs and gave it to him.”

“And did he put up a fight?”

“No. He wears a St. Florian medallion.” Syd paused for a moment. “You know, he told me the night he died, he wasn't wearing it. So, I’d say he believes.”

“Thorin has a St. Michael medallion in his truck.”

Syd looked over at her. “Frerin never takes it off. He sleeps in it, showers with it, it’s always around his neck.”

“So, why did he take it off that night, then?”

He glanced down at her as he tucked it back beneath his shirt. “She didn't like when it hit her—” He stopped, mindful of Gram’s presence—“I just took it off.”

He’d looked so uncomfortable when he’d said it, with Gram offering up that knowing look Syd had seen so often and having met Lisa, she could hardly say she was surprised by his reason. “His girlfriend at the time didn't like when he wore it during sex. It’s on a fairly long chain and it… swings kind of wildly at times.”

“Syd?”

“It’s hit me a few times, but it’s not like it hurts or anything. It just kind of bounces off my chin or the end of my nose. No big.” She shrugged, then turned back to look at Bloomie’s once more. It was probably only her imagination, but she could almost see the darkness descending upon the mall. How on earth did Tori find her way to heaven, as Syd assumed that was where Frerin had been? He was a firefighter, a selfless occupation according to the power he referred to as the Big Guy. Where else would a firefighter go?

Her thoughts slid to Frerin and she hoped he was all right. He was on the opposite side of town, but the haze from it was visible in the distance. A sigh touched her lips, but she held it at bay. She couldn't wait for this to be over, for them to be rid of Tori and able to get on with their life.

“He asked me to marry him, Lex,” she said softy without looking away from the mall. 

“I know. You told me this.”

“No, I mean, he just wants to do it now.” Now she looked over at her sister, whose expression remained neutral. “And I do, too.”

“You’re going to elope?”

“I think so, yeah. We can do a wedding and all that later if we want, but I kind of like the idea of him and me going to Aruba and getting married on a beach or something.”

“Syd, you’ve been a couple for like ten days.”

“I know, but it’s weird, because it just feels like we’ve been together forever. And it feels right.”

“When something is right, it’s right.”

“It is.”

“That’s what Thorin said when we first started seeing each other,” Alex told her. “And I know what you mean about feeling like you’ve been together forever. I felt that way with him as well.”

“You promise you won’t say anything?”

“I promise, Syd.” Alex reached over to clasp her hand and gave it a squeeze. “You ready to go in?”

“No. But I have to.” Syd squeezed back and then released her hand to open her car door. The wind sweeping the parking lot was a frigid blast that nearly yanked the door from her grasp and as she climbed out of the car, her hair whipped about her face, wrapping about her head. 

She swept it back, then closed her door. Alex climbed out as well, dropping her keys into the pocket of her too-big Lands End coat. “So, what are we even doing?”

“I don't know just yet.” Syd peered at her over the Bug’s roof. “I think I first want to see if she is even here today. Frerin said she was working at Harper’s.”

“Why was he there?” Alex shot her a knowing look.

Syd smiled. “Christmas is coming and he is a guy. He thinks jewelry is the law. But, that’s really not important now, is it?” 

“No, I don’t suppose it is.” Alex glanced at the mall’s innocent pale stone exterior, a frost cloud forming as she exhaled. “I’m kind of scared, Syd. I mean, what if something happens?”

“We run?” Syd came around the Bug’s nose and slipped her arm through her sister’s. “I really don't know. But, let me just give you a heads’ up—don't let her touch you.”

“Why?”

“I think that might be how she is able to take someone over.”

“Like that movie? That old one that was on television not too long ago? With the demon?”

“Kind of. Only, that wasn’t a demon, he was an angel and that’s why I think she can do it as well.”

“She’s an angel?”

Syd nodded, giving a tug on Alex’s arm to start them toward the mall. “Frerin died, right? And he’s a firefighter, so that’s a selfless profession by nature, which means he’s already got a leg up on most people, so to speak. So, I think had he not been given the chance to come back, he’d have been made an angel as well. And that’s what I think Tori was supposed to be.”

They stepped up onto the sidewalk, which was gritty with salt scattered all along it, leaving jagged whitish outlines and markings all along the concrete. “Frerin told me she was a teacher who died in a school shooting, but what if it wasn't the sacrifice people think it is? What if she died trying to keep herself from getting shot and not one of the kids?”

Alex had been reaching for the door handle and stopped halfway, her arm still extended, and stared at her. “What?”

“What if she wasn't trying to shield her kids, but get out of the classroom or wherever she was?”

“Damn, that would be cold.”

“Yeah, and it would probably get you into heaven—if that’s what it is—at least at first. And he said he thought she was his guide, but it turns out he was hers. So… my guess is she’s a fallen angel or a fallen angle in training or whatever she’d been called before officially achieving angeldom. And yes, I’m pretty sure I just made that word up.”

“A fallen angel moves through people by touch.” Alex sighed softy as she grabbed hold of the door and tugged. “So, we can’t let anyone touch anyone. Do you know how difficult that could be?”

“Yep. Be careful.”

“Be careful, she says.” Alex rolled her eyes. 

“I know. I know…But try, okay?”

They made their way through Bloomingdale’s, avoiding any and all contact with any other people. When they stepped out into the main walkway, Alex looked over. “Harper’s?”

Syd nodded. “Harper’s.”

“Okay.”

The mall was relatively empty, mostly young mothers pushing strollers and old people power walking, and avoiding them all was simple. Still, as they neared the entrance to Harper’s, Syd’s heartbeat sped up. Frerin didn't tell her what Tori looked like now, but somehow, like she’d told Alex, she had the feeling she’d just know. 

As they neared Harper’s, the nazar nestled against the hollow of her neck seemed to grow warmer, which gave Syd pause. That had never happened before, just as it had never felt like it hummed against her.

“I promise you, Syd, I won’t take it off. Hell, I took off St. Florian and died in a fire. I’m not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.”

St. Florian. St. Michael. Nazar. All amulets to ward off harm and she wondered how many firefighters and cops wore them, but never gave a second thought to them having any sort of power? She knew the power they were supposed to have, but always considered it with a bit of skepticism. After all, she and her sisters wore nazars on a regular basis, and yet, she’d never stopped to think it was anything more that superstition.

But now, the small glass disk had grown warmer still and she knew the same happened to Alex’s when her sister looked over and said, “You feel it, don’t you?”

Syd nodded. “Be careful, Lex.”

“You, too.”

Harper’s was quiet at not quite eleven in the morning. Three saleswomen stood at various intervals behind the long rows of glass displaying glittering stones of every color and substance. Syd’s mouth went dry as she and Alex crossed the store’s threshold. The nazar went hot then, humming hard enough that the vibrations rippled through her.

At the far end of the displays, nearest the mall’s interior, stood a willowy woman with a mass of curly dark hair and intense dark eyes and as Syd caught those eyes, the nazar grew almost unbearably hot.

Tori.

The woman’s nameplate identified her as Christina, but Syd knew those eyes, for they were the same ones that had locked with hers in the smoke-choked second floor of a warehouse and the smile that Christina offered up was almost identical. Her aura was a smeared mess of grays and shades of black. Syd had seen it in the warehouse, but at the time attributed it to the smoke and haze of that massive fire. But now she saw how wrong she was.

They were the colors of evil.

Those dark eyes widened and an almost lupine smile curled Christina’s lips. “Do you ladies need any help?”

Alex looked over at Syd, and then to Christina and Syd knew Alex felt the nazar’s reaction, because her hand almost moved toward her neck. She caught it in time, saying, “I think we’re just browsing, thank you.”

“Well, if you change your mind,” those dark eyes slid in Syd’s direction, as flat and cold as river rocks, “just let me know.”

“We will.” Alex moved closer to Syd and under her breath, muttered, “I don't like it here. There’s something… off… about her.”

“That’s Tori.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.” Syd looked back at Christina. “We’ll let you know.”

“He didn't buy anything, you know.” Christina’s voice was almost oily. “You’ll be disappointed.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Syd caught Alex’s elbow. “Let’s go.”

“Thank you,” Alex whispered as Syd steered her toward the mall’s interior.

“Sydney…” Christina’s voice, sickly sweet and equally malicious, floated across the store toward them, “you little fool…”

Alex’s arm stiffened beneath Syd’s fingers and Syd whispered, “Ignore her.”

“Syd, she—”

“Ignore her.”

“Sydney, don’t run away… you know it’s pointless, don’t you?”

Syd ignore the sweet singsong voice, steering Alex out of the store. They didn't look back, didn’t slow their pace, but instead hurried back through Bloomingdale’s and it wasn’t until they were back in Alex’s car that they spoke.

“What the fuck was that?” Alex burst out, staring at the building once more. 

“That was Tori.”

“How did no one else hear her? How do they not think she is completely nuts?”

Syd shook her head, Christina’s taunts still ringing in her ears. “I don't know. I need to sit down and talk to Gram to figure out what we do next.”

“We need to drive a wooden stake through her. Or shoot her with a silver bullet maybe.”

Syd shot her a look. “She’s neither a vampire nor a werewolf, Lex. I don’t think either one’s going to work.”

“Maybe we do both.” Alex turned over the Bug’s engine. “Then we cut off her head. And then set her on fire for good measure. I bet Thorin would shoot her for me if I asked.”

“You’re insane,” Syd told her flatly. “She’s already dead, remember. Not undead. Dead.”

“So why hasn’t some reaper come and dragged her sorry ass back to Hell?”

“I don't know. And that’s why we need to talk to Gram.”

****

It was almost noon by the time the fire was out and Engine Two rolled into the Felix Number Nine Diner where Frerin sank into the booth with a tired, “I need coffee.”

Nico ran a hand through his hair and winced. “I need a shower. And so do you, Durin.”

“Yeah, I know.” Frerin glanced over at him. “A nice hot shower, with my girl.”

“Oh, now that sounds like a plan.”

“You know it.”

“What sounds like a plan?” Brewer dropped into the booth across from them, and slid to the far end to leave room for Holly.

“We’re gonna take a shower with Durin’s girl.”

“Yeah, I don't think we need you there, Zarelli,” Frerin told him with a tired laugh. “Syd and I will be just fine on our own.”

“Well, that’s no fun.” 

“Cry me a river.” Frerin shook his head and turned his attention to the menu.

A waitress came over to their table then. “What can I get you all?”

Brewer and Holly ordered full breakfasts, but Frerin and Nico only wanted coffee. None of them said much as the waitress brought first coffee, then breakfasts, and that general quiet held out until they returned to the station.

In the locker room, Frerin peeled off his smoke and sweat-stained turnout, and the clothing underneath and padded into the showers to stand beneath a hot, needling spray. 

“You okay, Frerin?” Nico joined him in the showers, thrusting his face into his own spray. 

“What?”

“You okay? You seem a little out of it.”

Frerin ran the bar of soap over one arm and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just up late with my girl last night. I was supposed to be on the bench until next week, remember.”

Nico grinned. “Must be nice, having a warm body to cuddle up to.”

“It is.” Soap foamed across his chest and down the other arm. They were the only two in the showers, although he could hear Brewer and the others as they came into the locker room. A few minutes more and each shower head would be taken. “Can I ask you something?”

“What’s that?” Nico set his own soap on the ledge and reached for a bottle of shampoo to squeeze a small amount into his open palm.

“Do you believe in angels and demons?”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Frerin ran the soap along the back of his neck, then his underarms, “angels and demons, ghosts and spooks and things that go bump in the night. You believe in that stuff?”

“I’ve seen things I can’t explain,” Nico said, his hands going still in his hair. “So, yeah, I guess so, why?”

“You think Syd and her family are a bunch of charlatans?”

“Truth?” Nico shook his head. “No. My sister had a reading done by the oldest one. What’s her name?”

“Teddy?”

“Yeah, Teddy. And when she came to dinner that Sunday, she told us Teddy knew stuff no one else outside our family could possibly know.” He thrust his head under the spray to rinse the shampoo, adding, “And she talked my mom into having a reading done and the same damn thing happened. So, yeah, I I think they’re doing something over there.”

He straightened shoving his wet hair out of his face. “Why?”

“Because, I—”

Brewer and two others came into the showers at that point and Frerin bit back the rest of his sentence. Nico gave him a puzzled look, but let the matter drop as they both finished showering and reached for their towels.

Back in the locker room, Nico sank next to him on the bench before their lockers. “What’s going on, Frerin?”

Frerin shook his head. “Not here, man. Too many ears.”

“Something to do with your girl?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“Everything okay?”

“With Syd?” Despite the weight on his mind, Frerin smiled. “Everything’s great with her.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Not here. Swing by later and I’ll fill you in.”

Nico looked puzzled, but nodded just the same. “Yeah, what time?”

“Let me talk to Syd first. Riley and I are staying with her for the time being.”

Nico’s heavy dark brows pulled low. “What?”

“It’ll make sense later. I promise.” Frerin looked up and for a moment, wondered if he was making a mistake in telling Nico any of this. For all he knew, it wasn't even Nico sitting there beside him, but Tori instead.

His gut twisted. Damn it all, he hated this. He just wanted this over with for good. Wanted it over for good and to begin the next stage of his life, with Syd. 

“Frer?”

“Let me talk to her first.” Frerin dragged his navy blue henley over his head and bent to tug on his boots, all the while feeling the weight of Nico’s stare burning into him. “What?”

“You’re sure everything is okay, because you’re not yourself, man.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got a lot going on.” He stood and rake his fingers through his damp hair. It was getting too long and annoyed him. Same with his beard. Maybe it was time for a change. Normally, he’d wait until spring to shave off his beard, but maybe it was time to do it a little sooner. 

“Frerin, you sure—”

“I’m sure.” He slammed his locker shut, twisted the combination lock, and tossed his towel into the laundry bin. “Let me just talk to Syd about it, since it’s her family’s house and I’m just a guest there and I swear it will make sense when I tell you. Just… humor me, okay?”

Nico shrugged. “Sure, man. Let me know.”

“You just have to promise you won’t think I’ve completely lost my fucking mind.”

Nico snorted. “Not a promise I think I can keep, Frer.”

“Try.” Frerin shrugged into his jacket. “I’ll see you later.”

“Hope so.”

Frerin dug his keys from his jacket pocket and made his way out into the frosty air. He was dead tired, the exhaustion seeping into his bones, but Christmas Eve was ten days out and he looked forward to it, despite everything going on around him. It was the first Christmas in a long time he looked forward to, actually.

It was a clear, sunny day, the light sparkling off the snow that still covered the ground. More snow was predicted in the next coming days, so it looked like they’d have a white Christmas. In spite of everything, that brightened his mood a little. Ever since he was a kid, he loved when it snowed for Christmas. There was just something about seeing everything white and magical.

Magic.

He sighed as he tugged open the Jeep’s door and climbed into the driver’s seat. Before he was given this second chance, he’d planned to spend Christmas with Lisa. He’d thought about proposing to her, she’d definitely been hinting at it, but something kept stopping him. Of course now, he knew what that something was, but then, he couldn’t explain it. Couldn’t explain the hesitation. The reticence. The feeling that it just wasn't right. It was the universe telling him to be patient. To wait. That Lisa was not the woman he was meant to be with, but in time, he’d cross paths with the one who was.

He’d correct his greatest mistake.

He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and his fingers brushed velvet. He caught the small box between his thumb and forefinger and tugged it free, then finagled the small clasp on the front. 

The sunlight sparkled off the ring tucked into a bed of black velvet inside the box. The tanzanite set in white gold split that light into flashes of red and blue and white, sent them bouncing off the Jeep’s interior. 

This was what stopped him from asking Lisa to marry him. She wasn't the one for him. That woman was Syd and this Christmas, he was not only going to ask her to marry him, but if all went well, they’d spend New Year’s on a beach in Aruba, exchanging vows and moving on to that next stage as a married couple. 

If all went well.

And he hoped like hell it did. 

[crimsonblackrose]

.

OOoh I like how we're starting this. I wonder if this is the actor they're planning to get for the Miyagi spin off. So here's a thing that confuses me. All the people in the tournament are under 18 right? Like the Sekai Taikai is an under 18 tournament. So how on earth did Mr. Miyagi participate in it after his wife and son died? After the war? Likes yes his age is a bit wonky, but he was well over 18 by the time he was out of the army and back in order to fight in this tournament. This is such an artsy metaphor. Daniel has spent pretty much the entire series of Cobra Kai looking for Mr. Miyagi and being lost because he no longer has him to guide him through life. Like he's been grieving through most of the show and trying to do what he thinks Mr. Miyagi would recommend, or to live a life Mr. Miyagi would approve of but now he's literally fighting Mr. Miyagi whose not this version he recognizes and thus a version that doesn't recognize him. He's literally fighting his internal understanding of who Mr. Miyagi is and was.

And he's holding on so tight to everything he thinks and believes to the point he's choked up when saying:

Oh what is this? Also I feel bad for Daniel because a lot of this is his fear. Learning from Chozen that he wasn't taught all of the Miyagi-do fighting styles. Realizing that there was this entire life Miyagi lived that he doesn't know, including the death of an opponent. It's probably stirring up all the grief 10 fold and making it worse. What a nightmare. Poor Daniel.

Glad that Daniel's double checking for sure to make sure it's real and brought support for this situation. So why are all the kids in the lobby with suitcases? Are they leaving? Looks like Tory is anyway. But aren't there more fights? Miguel just a continuous wtf. Maybe Axel is hoping if he stares enough you'll both adopt him into your relationship???? No clue what's happening there other than brooding stare. Oh Tory. I'm fascinated that they translate some of the Korean, but not all of it. Usually Kwon's curse words/disses they don't translate. Someone give Tory a hug. Robby, tag team it, get Sam in there. Did Robby get his hair cut between the last episode and this one? Where'd his little mini man bun with it's ribbon go? Miguel: It's pretty sweet knowing Cobra Kai's not going to be a threat anymore Pans to gramps sharpening his knife in the dark in his room. Also completely forgetting about Silver. Kreese are you literally going to murder Silver? Come on man. Why? It's your oldest buddy on the planet. Saved by the bell. Also fascinated Kreese was going to go for it even with Sensei Wolf and Dennis there. Well of course Cobra Kai is back in. Cobra Kai never dies. Do you think this hotel hates that they're hosting all these fighting teenagers? Like they just took up the entire lobby for a good 20 mins. I like that to continue to ruin this hotel's ability to flow they've taken up the stairs.

Chozen having to pull things together since Daniel is out of it and Johnny's out for blood. It's good they have him around. Chozen out here lecturing Daniel and Johnny. He's right.

Ayyeeee they've returned to the beach. Not the beach where they first met with a soccer ball, but eh we're close.

I like the job of these two extras, just jog slowly past in the background. Daniel is so lost, help him find his way Johnny.

Miguel: Omg dad's I can't take you anywhere. Also Miguel why aren't you at the gym practicing with Chozen and everyone else? Did someone go: Those two idiot sensei's of ours seem pretty low someone go keep an eye on them before their dumbassery gets them into trouble since the meter seems to be nearing red. And Miguel drew the short straw? (I also like how like nearly empty the beach was until it panned to Miguel and the cafe full of people watching behind him) Kreese this is not war. This is a tournament for teenagers.

I love that Miguel put them both in time out. Omg I love it. This is very Johnny style training. But also just very them. A lot of their training is non-traditional and that's what makes it so good.

Have someone drive you and chase your students through the market as training. Sam you wanted to see Barcelona with Miguel, here's your chance. (I love that Miguel is training with them)

Ah a beautiful homage to the movies. Very Miyagi style

Honestly this is better than studying in a gym. They're actually getting to spend time with their dad's out in Barcelona. So even if they lose this is still amazing.

I love this training montage so much. I also am super curious what everyone else is doing. Using melons as weights, training in old places, using the city as their gym. This is how Johnny has pretty much done it and it also is how Miyagi did it.

Plus like it makes a good tour video of Barcelona. (Something I'm used to happening more frequently in kdramas) Aww their little rocky run and Johnny and Daniel hugging in the background. Honestly this is what these kids wanted. They wanted to see Barcelona, spend time with their dads and kick ass. Pretty sure they've checked them all off.

[thunderclaw100]

Favorite color:Orange

Personalities:Caring,Courteous,Faithful,Honest,Friendly,Perceptive,Self-conscious,Trusting.

Cause of Death:Heart attack over stress.

Torien(Tori for short) is the only one in her sworm that is a heavy set smeet. She would always get the side eye from others, and bully from her siblings. She likes cooking. All she ever do is eat. Especially when it’s wi to her parents, who work as chefs to the Irken military. Torien has been told many times that her weight will make her a liability to her comrades once she’s drafted.

It was half true on that part. She did have some time struggling to keep up with everyone in her group but kept going to show that she was able to carry herself as a warrior. Due to her large size and hefty hands. Her commander placed her on standby and guard duty. Believing that this will scare away rivals form her hive. Torien felt detached from everyone else. Even her closest friends. Torien grew more in size and after her training in the academy was over, she took a job as fry cook.

Working alongside her parents. Making them proud with her progress and fast learning in the kitchen. Torien has supplied her hive with many dishes. Some were inspired from others. Tallest Zork was even impressed. Even more after the drone saved him from a choking hazard during his celebration. She took part in a cooking challenge against other hive’s chef masters and won in the first round. After Zork died and she became tallest, after some long debate over it. Torien let it be known that any big or fat Irken can do the same about of work as a skinny irken if they want to. She read up on past tallest and their achievements.

The one that stands out and has become her favorite is tallest Kaylee. If it weren’t for her first decree. Females of all shapes and sizes would not stand on the same level like their male counterparts. Even allowing one to become a tallest. Torien thank the stars for that and hopes to live up to her predecessor. Years passed and tallest Torien made some new developments during her reign.

The inventions of battle tanks, blaster cannons, land mines, charge beams and vending machines that is laid out across the hive. There was a demand in territory claims and Torien refused to share. Especially from the hive that got her predecessor killed. She obtained some knowledge from her researchers that there are foreign aliens on nearby planets that have resources that the Irken people can take in. The tallest had to think this through. She isn’t too fond of trespassing onto unknown territory.

Let alone a planet they have yet to venture onto. Seeing as there are still problems with the neighbor hive, that is in a desperate state and crossed into her hive’s turf. Torien decided to send out a few exploration teams to scope it out. And with the newly improved spaceships, they’ll have plenty of time to check if there are other planets that need seeing to. A little over a century, Torien’s parents have retired and are living a simple citizen life in the apartment complex. She rarely sees them unless it’s a special event happening.

The tallest lounges around in her chambers and will only leave if there’s something important. She misses being a fry cook and making her own food. Now she has others bathing her with their dishes, while waiting to be praised for their effort. Tallest Torien is a kind but firm Irken leader. She wouldn’t turn away someone that needs her help. Not even an outsider from another hive. There were some doubters about her leadership because Tori is a pacifist. She had never been to war with another hive and would always find an excuse to avoid them. Other leaders would mock her for cowering sea like that and seemed her unworthy of the title, tallest. Torien may have took it to heart and it stressed her out. She hears mutters from her drones and they repeat what was told to her from the other hive. She closed herself in her chambers and stress eat until she dropped.

Though her death happened after having her wardrobe crew present at the time. Her personal medic didn’t revive her because she was far too gone. This leaves a scathing marks on them. How will they tell the public about this? A tallest who died from eating too much food at once ? That will leave humiliation to their hive. So as a show of respect, the wardrobe crew and medic kept this a secret other than telling the council members.

They rewrite this as tallest Torien dying from a lethal accident from food poisoning due to having a sensitive stomach and weak immune system, and wasn’t able to save her in time. People believed it and questioned no further from it. Torien will be remembered only for her achievements in the tech sector as well as her cooking. Some of her famous recipes are still at the top of the menus list and is an addition to the next tallest celebration event.

*EXTRA*

•Torien got her looks from her father.

•Torien has a friendly demeanor at first glance.

•She was one of the hefty weapon welder in her unit while training up her ranks.

•Her fear is losing the respect of her drones.

•She’s the first of many tallest to have mega machines for the military to be built and used.

•Torien best weapon is a large sludge hammer.

•All of her clothes are customized for her size.

•She lost her siblings after becoming the tallest. Her parents are active in the city.

•She had a huge crush on a blacksmith worker.

•Torien has always had a health problem, but her parents kept it hidden because if it were to be known to everyone else. Torien would be treated as an outcast and her chances of finding work will be down.

*DIALOGUE*

“I have decided your punishment. You will be stripped of your rank. You will be exiled from the Irken empire, and if I ever see your face again. I will have you hunted and slaughtered like animal!”

“My size may not be to your liking but I’m proud of it. Did you know that I’ve outgrown all my seniors in under a year? And outmatched those who were more experienced than me?”

“I want a full report in the next two days, soldiers. Let’s see what those other planets have to offer before to make our next move.”

“Those other leaders made a mockery of me at the meeting. Said I’m too soft and too fat to carry on the duties of a tallest. I can’t help the way I am! They won’t take my words for their values, and now my own drones doubt me.”

“I don’t know how my predecessors can wear such squeezy clothes like this. I have to find materials that can stretch out for my size. This ain’t it. Where is wardrobe?!”

“I’m not fat. I’m just big bone. When I get measured as tallest, I’ll make sure no one of my weight will be pushed aside ever again!”

[taughtcruelty]

[ TACKLE ]:    sender physically tackles the receiver during a fight.

THERE’S TOO MANY HUNTERS, TOO MANY CORPSES OF ALLIES & ENEMIES ALIKE strewn across a blood-soaked parking lot. tory can smell blood, gunpowder, death, anger & fear. the sharp acrid tastes of wolfsbane, mountain ash & mistletoe choke her senses, making it hard to focus. the choking smoke from the fire nearby doesn’t help make anything better, either.

at this point, she’s knee-deep in multiple warm corpses of their enemies. no one important from their pack has died, but a handful of wolves from the darst pack (an ally of emile’s) have died, & so have a handful of chris argent & johnny’s hunting friends. there’s blood soaking in her shoes, stained on her ripped, gunpowder-streaked clothes. her claws & fangs are bloodied, aching, but she’s not on the ground in pain. there’s blood caked in the roots of her hair from being kicked in the head earlier in the fight, but nova swooped in to rescue her from that. the teen boy who kicked her is dead on the pavement a few feet away, his jugular ripped out by ciro, his face charred by his hellhound’s fire. tory’s training thanks to emile & her sharp instincts are keeping her alive. her friends & mates are fighting for their lives - & for each other.

despite this, their pack still remain surrounded. allison’s hunters just keep appearing. it’s like they’re fighting a damn hydra - one dies, two more take the dead’s place.

tory’s been doing her best to keep an eye on sam, miguel, nova, scarlett & cosima. nova roars from somewhere off to tory’s right, & miguel bares his fangs as he kicks away a hunter with all of his might, elbowing another one in the face when the hunter tries to grab sam by her shoulders. their pack is hellbent on killing allison, her hunters, & their fucking deranged fur traders. ethan’s somewhere inside of the abandoned-warehouse-turned-slaughterhouse, but the complex was set ablaze under the top brass’s - allison’s - orders. everyone can sense that ethan’s bond with them has been waining. it’s making both tory & miguel incredibly fucking nervous. they don’t know if he’s stuck somewhere, unable to get out. it’s why theo, charlie, emma, icarus & emile’s werewolf pack are closest to the building right now, only about a football field’s length away from the side door because the front door is practically melted, trying to get in to rescue ethan & the handful of other innocent, kidnapped werecreatures. but they’re locked in a bloody battle with allison herself & her family’s hunters right now. tory can’t see tell who is winning that fight & who is losing right now.

the sound of a pistol cocking goes off from tory’s left, & the blonde doesn’t have any time to spin around before she feels someone tackle her, a snarl of anger leaving her lips instinctively. her world briefly careens to the side, & she winds up landing on her back on the pavement, but the gun goes off in that next millisecond, the bullet whistling through the air over their heads. her clawed hands immediately press against a pair of shoulders, ready to throw the assailant off her with all of her strength. she’s working purely on adrenaline & fear. she settles down enough to realize that it’s @taughtpain. her mate’s eyes are wide, & so are her anger filled ones. she instinctively checks him over for any life-threatening injuries, even with all of the chaos erupting around them. ethan wouldn’t be able to calm himself down if any of them got hurt. once he gets out of the complex okay ( & he will, he has to ), & after they’ve fought off allison & her band of hunters, he’ll immediately want to make sure that they’re all okay.

a pathetically soft whimper of pain sounds from where she’d been standing seconds ago. tory looks over. embedded in the forehead of one of allison’s hunters is a wolfsbane-laced bullet. the girl is about her height. tory’s eyes widen slightly. she feels nausea well up inside of her. if robby didn’t tackle her, that dead wolf could have been her. suddenly, nova appears behind the hunter who’d fired off the gun, & she punches her clawed fist clean through the teen’s chest, killing the boy instantly. her sister doesn’t even wait for the body to fully drop before she pulls out the heart, dropping it onto the ground, only adding to the blood staining the pavement. she quickly checks on tory to make sure she’s okay. tory’s eyes are still wide, but she’s unharmed. nova looks relieved, then she spins around, jumping right back into the battle with a newfound sense of rage filling her entire body.

❝ robby, i-i- ❞ tory begins shakily, staring up at one of her mates with wide eyes, but miguel’s growl of alarm cuts her off. miguel is standing back-to-back with sam now, & tory watches as his sharp claws arc down one of the hunters’ shirts with a brutal swipe, kicking the man’s leg out from underneath him. his eyes are glowing yellow, mouth full of fangs.

❛ ethan just told me he’s trapped in one of the back rooms of the complex. the fire is keeping him from escaping, & it’s getting worse. ❜ miguel tells his partners telepathically, barely taking a breath. tory’s eyes widen with pure fear at the news, & she quickly stands up on shaky legs. ethan’s bond wavers badly, & tory feels like throwing up. ❛ fuck. ❜ she curses, then leaps forward to knock a crossbow out of an approaching hunter’s hands. she doesn’t hesitate to punch that same man square in his face with all of her strength. he stumbles back in pain & tory doesn’t hesitate. she rips the man’s throat out with her claws in a messy, brutal display of speed, accuracy & strength. the man dies with a choked gargle, & tory shoves the dead body away from her & robby. the blonde quickly accesses her telepathic bonds with the whole pack.

❛ i’m going in there to get him. ❜ there’s immediate protest from nova, scarlett & cosima, along with scott & derek & a handful of others too, but tory ignores them. ❛ i’m faster & more agile than most of you combined. i need to save my mate. ❜ she explains, like it’s the only option - & it sort of is. because of her jaguar side, she’s one of the fastest members of the pack as a whole - she knows she’s the only logical choice. nova, too, but she’s more brutal when it comes to fighting, even more so than tory herself. the pack needs her here, defending the pack & taking care of their enemies. tory can rescue ethan.

❛ i’ll go with you to get ethan, tory. ❜ ciro immediately speaks up. tory doesn’t protest. hellhounds are immune to any type of fire, even their own that they can naturally generate. they’re also much stronger than the average werecreature, which makes him perfect to clear any burning debris in the building that tory wouldn’t be able to get near, let alone pick up even with her strength. ❛ the building’s unstable, so we need to not focus on fighting anyone, just getting there. icarus, emma & charlie can cover us if anyone tries to stop us. ❜ he urges. the three in question suddenly teleport next to them, where they’d been fighting allison’s hunters seconds before. tory nods, then quickly turns towards robby.

❝ i’ll be okay. ❞ she blurts out to him, confident in her abilities despite the daunting task ahead of her. even in the middle of battle, tory thinks that robby’s never looked more handsome. she doesn’t hesitate before her hands come up, claws quickly flicking back into her nail-beds, leaving her regular human fingertips. she cups robby’s cheeks gently, looking into his eyes. ❝ i love you, robby. ❞ she murmurs, then surges forward to crush her lips against his own for a brief moment, the blood on her lips & her own resting in her own mouth be damned. just in case. she thinks to herself, then quickly pulls back. ❝ i’ll be back as soon as i can. with ethan. ❞ she promises him just as ciro makes his way over to them. his eyes are glowing orange, & he’s unharmed. the hellhound nods at robby, silently letting him know that he’ll protect tory no matter what.

[cyberspaceoddity]

Aight I've just seen the bojo update on covid in the uk

So many people are going to fucking die

[mylifetherant]

10 days in and this month is already off the shits, so lets have a recap shall we?

1) Boris Johnson finally buries himself under one too many lies and controversies, resigns in the most embarrassing and unprofessional manner possible. The Tory party then proceeds to eat itself alive as over 50 of its members resign as well. Despite this Boris refuses to fucking get out of the office, so england flat out discusses forcing him out.

2) ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe dies to the most batshit assassination since jfk, as some ex-navy nutter with an ax to grind builds a duct tape shotgun in his basement, wields it in broad daylight, MISSES HIS FIRST SHOT, and still manages to murk poor Abe while his security guards presumably take a nice well deserved nap. They later find a 5-barrel and a 9-barrel variant of these home depot hand cannons in the guys house, as his next target was presumably God.

3) Joe Biden, seeing assassinations are back in fashion, quickly drops an executive order to attempt to defends womans reproductive rights in a mediocre gesture thats probably too little too late. But its the thought that counts….right?

4) Elon Chunk loses 62 billion in Tesla stocks and tries to weasel out of his deal to buy Twitter, whining about the fact that they wont just hand him thousands of units of user data just because he asked them while waving around a few twenties. They respond by suspending his own account (the very thing he tried to buy them to protect), and reminding him that he signed a contract promising to close the deal, and theyre not letting him off that easy. Hilariously the ensuing lawsuit may actually end up bankrupting him.

5) Sri Lankan citizens storm their capitol and actually push out their corrupt government, and proceed to just throw a huge ass party and take selfies in a despots hot tub while eating all the food in his fridge. Leaders the world over are suddenly getting a strong reminder that they really should've payed more attention to A Bug's Life.

6) Despite how objectively hilarious it would be, Donald Trump refuses to complete this lovely shitstorm cascade by choking to death on his own spit. And frankly i think hes just being a poor sport about it

[visixnaryx-archive]

.

[cobrakaisb]

Imagine a Robby Keene x sister reader (and Miguel) taking care of the reader, that's has just had her first heart break (the person she was dating cheated)

y/p/n = your partner's name

"hey are you doing anything tonight?" robby asked, as the two of you stood around the kitchen table. "um i don't think so why?" you asked, raising an eyebrow at his question. "no reason. but tory and i are going on a date with miguel and sam if you and y/p/n want to come too," he said casually.

your breath hitched in your throat as tears welled up in your eyes. you tried to blink them away, biting down hard on your bottom lip to prevent you from letting out the sob building in your throat. you recently broke up with your partner, or well ex-partner now, since you caught them cheating on you. it wasn't pretty, and the break up was anything but mutally, but you weren't going to stay with someone who broke your trust. the breakup was still pretty recent, and basically an open wound.

"i think we're good," you managed to choke out before leaving the table and heading into your room. robby watched your retreating figure. he noticed you swiping at your eyes and the way your shoulders shook, but he wasn't very good at comforting people, that was your job, so he did the only logical thing, called miguel.

"and she just walked out?" miguel asked, trying to get the full story from robby. the two were stationed in the living room, trying to come up with a possible reason for your "crying" (because they didn't really know if you were crying, it was just an assumption). "yeah. right after i mentioned the triple date," robby explained. miguel nodded, eyebrows furrowed as he thought about a possible explantion for your behavior. as far as he knew, you and your partner were happy, but maybe that changed? "let's just go talk to her," miguel suggested, and robby agreeed.

when they apporached your bedroom door, with all intentions of knocking, they momentarily froze. inside they could hear the quiet, muffled sobs, proving the crying theory. immediately they were on high alert, they hated to see you cry. "y/n? can we come in? it's robby and miguel," miguel said, gently knocking on the door. they heard a gasp, and the sound of scrambling feet as the door opened.

"hey guys! what's up?" you asked, trying to seem cheery and casual, but your bloodshot eyes and tearstreaked cheeks gave it away. "everything okay? we know you've been crying," robby blurted out, and miguel hit his shoulder, giving him a look. "i," you started, but stopped when a new wave of tears came over you. "no. y/p/n and i broke up," you said, wiping at the tears streaming down your face. miguel and robby frowned at your words, miguel immediately pulling you into a tight hug. "i'm so sorry," he mumbled. "yeah y/n/n, that really sucks," robby added, rubbing your back in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

"getting cheated on really sucks. i just don't understand. was i not good enough?" you sobbed. miguel and robby stiffened at your words. "no. you're perfect. they're the problem not you, okay? you're amazing and anybody would be lucky to have you," miguel assured, pulling back just enough so that you could see the sincerity in his eyes. "yeah. they're an asshole for doing that," robby agreed, fist clenched by his side. you nodded, sniffling as you wiped at your eyes and running nose. "please y/n, don't feel like you aren't good enough because you are. you're kind and funny," miguel started and then robby continued, "and so smart. you're also the best friend and sister anyone could ask for." "so the real problem is y/p/n, not you," miguel finsihed.

you were overwhelmed by emotions. they were both so sweet and the best brothers you could have asked for. "thanks guys," you mumbled, pulling them both into a tight group hug. robby and miguel smiled. they knew you weren't going to forget everything overnight, but with time you'd heal. and if robby, miguel, and hawk paid y/p/n a little visit, then you didn't need to know.

[yamahex]

Not The Right Time Pt. 5

Summary: You and Jack go out for the first time in six years.

A/N: Ooo drama yall…

The energy in the room shifted at the presence of Tori.

“How the hell does yo ass manage to pop up everywhere, damn.”

She put her hand on her waist.

“Y’all know you love me.” Everyone in the room looked at each other with a awkward expression.

“Now you know damn well, none of us has ever said that shit Tori.” You choked out a laugh breaking the silence. She turned to you and walked over.

“Now who’s this little lady?” Riah clung to your leg, almost as if she could pick up some negative energy from her.

Jack stood next to Tori.

“Our daughter.” Her head snapped towards Jack then you.

“Daughter?” You nodded. And a fake smile appeared on her face.

“How cute. What’s your name sweetie.”

“Riah…” she said lowly.

Everyone in the room felt awkward making Jack escort Tori out.

“Alright Tori it’s time for you to go.”

“Kicking me out again Jack?” He nodded and they both turned, making they’re way to the door. “I need to talk to you before I go.” Jack groaned and followed her outside.

“So does anyone else thinks she weird or is it just me?” You asked making the group laugh.

“Hell yeah, ever since Jack and her had their little thing she’s been on another level for real.”

“What do you want Tori?”

“So this is the reason you broke shit off with me? You got another girl pregnant?!”

He sighed and rubbed his hand over face.

“God Tori what the fuck is wrong with you?! Tell me you’re not being serious right now. Riah is six years old, I was with Y/N way before I even met you. On top of that I ended things with you months ago!”

Tori began to cry making Jack scoff.

“But Jack I-“

“You’re crazy as fuck and I don’t want anything to do with you.” He turned back and went into the room.

Upon walking in he noticed you in the recording booth, hold Riah as she sang into the microphone. He watched from the outside and laughed along with everyone.

A couple hours went by and you and Jack sat on the couch while the guys played around with Riah.

“Let me take you out tonight.” You turned to look at him shocked. “You being for real?”

He chuckled.

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be?” You shrugged.

“I mean it Y/N, let’s go out to dinner. You can dress up real fine and we’ll have a nice night.”

“What about Riah?”

“We can watch her.” You turned to look at the guys.

“Really?

“Yeah we’ll be fine Y/N.” Urban reassured you. Your head turned to look back at Jack.

“Okay then, I’d love to go out with you.”

You and Jack walked out to the lobby, after saying goodbye to Riah and the guys.

“Send me your address and I’ll pick you up in a hour.”

“Sounds good.”

When you arrived back at your house you gave your mom a brief rundown about the introduction and how Jack wanted to take you out on a date. This would be the first date you’ve been on since having Riah and you were honestly a little nervous.

You decided to wear a simple red dress with black heels and your hair down. Not wanting to go overboard you did a simple beat with matte red lipstick.

The door bell rang and your mother opened it.

“Hello Jackman.” He became nervous and flashed back to the first time he took you out.

“Hello Miss L/N.”

“Please take care of my girls this time.”

His heart hurt.

“I will, I promise.”

You walked out to face Jack and was met with his lustful expression.

“You look-wow.”

“Must be good if you’re at a loss for words, but thank you. Shall we?” You grabbed onto his arm and he nodded.

“Have fun!”

The car ride to the restaurant was filled with you two bantering and catching up for the millionth time.

“So your mom never settled down again?”

“Nope she mainly focused on taking care of me and Ri. When grandma died she left us her house along with a good amount of money, that allowed me to put Riah into school.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing Jack. You’re here now.” He took his hand off the wheel and held yours.

Once you made your way to the restaurant the evening went perfect, y’all had good food, good dessert and throughout the night, his eyes never left you.

“ I wanna get back together.” You almost choked on your drink.

“I’m serious, I never stopped loving you and being with you and Ri this past week have really confirmed it.” He reached across the table to hold your hand.

“Please just give us a chance, and I swear I’ll make up for everything.” You looked in his eyes.

“What about your career? I don’t want to be put on the back burner again.”

“You won’t be, you and Riah can stay here in Vegas or move in with me. I’ll fly you guys out, bring you on tours. I want us to be a family, for real.”

You processed his words.

“I want us to be a family too, let’s do it. Let’s get back together.” Jack got out of his seat and hugged you. A couple tears spilled from your eyes, making him cup your cheeks and wipe them with his thumbs.

“Hey now we don’t want to ruin this pretty makeup. At least not this way.” The both of you chuckled and he leaned down to kiss you.

After paying the both of you drove back to the studio excited to share the news.

“Urb we bout to head out and get some food to bring back real quick, you good?”

Urban looked up from playing with Riah.

“Yeah we’re good, don’t forget to bring us back something.” Nemo nodded then the group of boys left.

“This just means I get to be your favorite uncle!” Riah laughed as he tickled her. Urban really felt the urge to smoke real quick, and usually he would just do it in the studio. But he didn’t want to do it around Riah.

All the sudden Tori walked in to the studio again.

“Man Tori what are you doing here?”

“I forgot my damn wallet Jesus.” She bent down to pick up her wallet which was under the recording table. She looked at Urban seeing he was itchin to smoke.

“Urb you look like you’re feining right now.”

“I’m cool, I just want to smoke but I’ll wait till to the guys get back.” A devious idea appeared in her head.

“I’ll watch her.”

“No absolutely not.”

“Jesus Urban I’m not gonna kill her or anything. Just take like 2 minutes and come back.” Urban looked down at Riah feeling guilty. “I’ll be back in 2 minutes, okay Ri?” She nodded, letting him get up and walk out of the room.

Tori walked up to Riah.

“Hey sweetie.”

“Hello…”

“You wanna go get some snacks out of the vending machine?” Riah’s eyes lit up having been hungry for a while.

“Okay!”

Tori peeked her head out of the door to see Urban outside. She held Riah’s hand and led her to the vending machine.

“So where’s your mommy and daddy at?”

“Daddy took mommy on a date.” Tori bit her lip in anger.

“A date, how sweet!” Once they got to the vending machine Tori pulled out some dollars from her wallet. “Pick whatever you want.”

Riah reached up and touched the buttons.

“Hey Riah, how would you feel about having a sibling?”

You and Jack pulled up to the studio and saw Urban outside. “Hey y’all, how was date night?”

Jack grabbed your hand and placed a kiss on it while looking at you.

“That good huh?” All three of you chuckled.

“Where’s the guys.”

“They went to bring back food.” Something wasn’t right.

“But someone’s with Riah right?”

“Yeah I left her real quick in the room with Tori.”

“Tori?! Urban why the fuck would you leave my baby with a stranger?!” You ran into the building.

“It was only for a couple minutes I didn’t think it would be that bad.” Both the men trailed behind you and waited as you opened the door to the room.

Nothing. No one was there. Your anxiety rose and tears threatened to fall.

“Where are they Urban?!”

“They were in here a minute ago!” The three of you turned around to the sound of steps. Tori held Riah’s hand and walked up to the group.

You ran up to Riah and held her in your arms.

“Mommy what’s wrong?”

“Baby you can’t walk off and not tell anyone, especially with strangers!” Tori scoffed and Jack walked up to her with anger on his face.

“What the fuck are you doing here Tori?”

“I forgot my wallet.”

“So why the fuck are you walking around with my daughter.” Her arms folded over her chest.

“She was hungry so I got her some snacks from the vending machine.”

“Stay away from us Tori, I mean it.” Jack turned around and you picked up Riah then started walking to the exit.

“Jack!” They two of you turned back to face Tori.

“I’m pregnant.”

To Be Continued…

Tags: @nye18 @moody4world @slut4jackman @kalaharlow @skybridgerton @yonduismarrypoppins @divalicious-jessa-blog @primadxna-girl @letmebeyoureuphoria

[day-dreamsinthedark]

just some thoughts on Robby Keene

specifically robby/sam, robby/tory, and robby/miguel

because I'm lacking the inspiration to work on the numerous fics I should be writing

I LOVE that Robby is just a big softie. VERY traumatized Golden Retriever energy!!

Robby and Sam??? Robert Swayze Keene was so soft for that girl!!! All she did was smile at him and he was weak!! Even after he found out about the kiss!! ALL HE WANTED TO DO WAS PROTECT HER!!!

And then he hurt someone, really fucking hurt someone, because for the first time in his life he's had something that felt real and big and more important than anything ever (because he's 16 and first love is oh so heavy at 16 and it feels like the world is ending when you experience that first loss) and he doesn't know how to process it, because he's never had anyone show him how.

He is soft and gentle and deserving of all of the love in the world okay???!!! The boy needs therapy and a quality parental figure, and also probably needs to apologize to Miguel, because I refuse to believe that the thought of almost killing the other boy isn't eating him alive.

----

Robby and Tory!?!?!?! She's literally miss "I hate everyone including myself, don't talk to me." BUT ROBBY KEENE IS SOFT AND CARING AND COULD PUSH THROUGH ALL OF HER ANGER AND HURT ANYWAY and oh boy he did!! Tory Nichols is the type of girl to sleep with a knife under her pillow and keep a wall around her heart and mind at all times and Robby Keene managed to infiltrate it all just to offer her the safety she deserved!!

They were SO HAPPY at junior prom!! They were just being kids and having fun and dancing and flirting and honestly I am BIG MAD at Sam and Miguel for being so annoying at prom. It should have been an opportunity for everyone to just HAVE FUN.

----

For all you Kiaz shippers out there (I am working on a Kiaz request rn and it's taken me forever but I've finally found a spark and it might be ridiculously long lol sorry) ANYWAY I have a lil head canon that:

Robby and Miguel, with all their history, would be a super interesting ship, you know? I can just fucking imagine:

When they've finally admitted their feelings and it's been a while and it's the first time they've ever really been close. Nothing too adult, just kissing and cuddling--REAL cuddling because Robby's got issues with proximity and he's not sure why, but he's desperate to fight them off-- and suddenly he's crying and it feels like his body is swelling with guilt at a rate that HURTS and Miguel just pulls him in closer and shushes him quietly, because Robby likes to pull away and all Miguel wants is to be close and to show him that in his arms there is safety. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. What's wrong?"

But Robby can't answer that because the answer is "I almost killed you and we've never really talked about it and I don't know how to bring up that I still hate myself."

So then he just lays there with his head in Miguel's chest, embarrassed about the growing wet spot on his boyfriends shirt and trying not to choke on what he wants to say. "You almost died."

And Miguel chuckles for some reason and Robby looks up at those big brown eyes that aren't sad or angry or God forbid, disgusted. They're creased at the edges with a joyous expression and that itself almost makes the deep hole in his chest melt away because what the hell is he laughing at?

"I forgave you a long time ago, babe. It's time you forgive yourself too."

So Robby shakes his head in a silent agreement and tucks himself back into the spot where he'd just been crying. Miguel understands why the gentle sobs go on for a little longer, but his heart fills with content when he realizes that it's the first time that Robby has ever really settled in to their cuddle session.

----

ANYWAY GOODNIGHT (I take requests if anyone happens to be interested ♡)

accidentally wrote myself into a kiaz mood so hopefully that request will be done soon

I have 2 atm and I swear I am working on them!! sorry school is beating my ass

[dastardlydandelion]

So...what kind of horror movie would you write featuring the Hargrove/ Mayfield family? (That you haven't written already lol)

oh boy, u may regret asking me this bc i am indecisive af and i can’t pick just one!

two that i'm actually writing are max as (g is for) ghostface killer in the abcs of neil’s death and also the max + tory nichols werewolf movie fic outlined here. also some more misc gorror junk bc i’m a demon and esp horny for susan wearing blood splatter. but more ideas commence below:

horror movie #1: another creature feature! awhile back @lucdarling sent me an ask abt max + billy hiding smth from susan and her like, playing along, pretending she doesn't know, and one of the scenarios that popped in my head was them keeping a baby bat as a pet. max finds it and she’s only like six or seven, and she thinks it’s going to turn into a vampire. so here is that scenario except horror edition: baby bat is actually a vampire type creature. not rly a vampire like, what’s prolly popping into ur head, like an undead human like dracula or smth, but like a bat monster that sucks blood.

billy being a lil older doesn’t actually think the bat is going to turn into a vampire. he makes fun of max for believing this, but he helps her take care of it anyway bc he thinks it’s cool. susan, like in the non-horror version, knows abt the bat but plays dumb bc she’s feeling a lot of guilt abt max’s difficulty adjusting to the blended fam (as of rn tho, neil has yet to reveal his abusive nature. the red flags are not yet red, more of a brownish maroon, and he is on his best behavior almost all the time, showering susan + max with affection and keeping the swears out of his mouth when he scolds billy in front of them) and knows the lil furry baby makes her happy. she tacitly cleans up after the bat whenever the kids miss a spot (bats poop a lot, dude) and distracts neil, deterring him from discovering it whenever he gets close.

baby bat gets rly big rly fast. and the older it gets, the more it starts to look monstrous. it still has bat features but it’s just like, different. its fangs grow suspiciously long, its hooks grow suspiciously long. its feet are elongated. a dorsal ridge emerges from its spine, spikes at first just flesh but soft fur rather like peach fuzz eventually sprouting. billy catches on that smth is strange abt this animal when it's as long as his forearm after two wks and still growing. he nearly shits a brick when the bat is clinging to his sweater one day and he steps in front of a mirror and only his reflection looks back at him— no bat.

max laughs at him all like, “stupid brother, ofc there’s no reflection. nosferatu is a vampire, vampires don’t have reflections.” 😂

susan catches a glimpse of the thing when nosferatu crawls out of the home max built it in her closet the same wk billy realizes it doesn’t have a reflection, and also almost shits a brick. she doesn’t know what it is, but it’s NOT a fucking bat. not a normal one, anyway! cue a comedy scene where she’s chasing it around the house with a butterfly net and it’s always one flap *ba dum tss* ahead of her, flying just out of reach. she suddenly regrets not getting rid of it sooner, scolding herself for ever allowing her daughter to keep a wild animal.

she can’t catch it. max comes home, susan tells her she needs to get rid of it. max cries, flips her the bird, refuses. billy tho…billy has mixed feelings. he loves nosferatu but he’s worried it’s going to get dangerous. he loves his dad and his dad is dangerous too. he’s stressed out enough, always on edge, knowing that one way or the other, neil is going to hurt him again. he’s already waiting for his dad to hurt him, he doesn’t need the added stress of waiting for nosferatu to hurt him too. and while max is 100% nosferatu’s favorite, it likes billy too. billy’s been handling it since it could fit in the palm of his hand, it trusts him much more than it trusts susan and doesn’t know any different when billy takes it out of the closet when max isn’t around.

billy frees nosferatu at an abandoned farm. there are always bats flying out of the old silo adjacent to the dilapidated barn. while he knows nosferatu isn’t a *normal* bat, it’s still bat like enough that he thinks it might make friends and be happy here…

yeah, that doesn’t stick. before long, nosferatu is feasting on that colony. leeches the blood out of a couple bats nightly. the number of bats increases with nosferatu’s size. meanwhile, max mourns her missing friend. she’s sullen af and won’t speak to susan at all. she thinks susan is the one who got rid of nosferatu. billy never fesses up and susan doesn’t contradict max’s assumption bc she wants the step-siblings to get along.

neil, meanwhile, is getting more comfortable. those maroon flags are slowly but surely brightening to scarlet. he starts sabotaging susan’s plans with her friends, trying to keep her around the house more and more, quietly but steadily eroding her relationships with other people. he’s getting more visibly aggressive when he disciplines billy. he curses him out with a virulent venom that dunks susan’s stomach in ice water and scares max so badly, she runs to susan and hides behind her even though she’s still so mad that susan got rid of her beloved baby vampire.

nosferatu’s appetite surpasses what the bat colony can offer. it’s like the size of a ten yr old human child now. fucker’s big. it doesn’t just have fangs on top, but tusks on bottom. it can’t go out in the sunlight anymore, the sun sears its flesh. it misses max a lot and before, it wasn’t strong enough to fly back to her house. but now it is. it’s extremely strong, actually.

so bc it's hungry, nosferatu grabs a snack along the way. some nameless rando, it swoops down and sucks dry. nourished and much happier, nosferatu makes its way back home. patiently waits outside of max’s bedroom in the moonlight, tapping its hook against the window until she wakes up. initially max is a lil startled— nosferatu looks so different, there’s a beat before she recognizes it— him?? yk, ig it’s male, the og nosferatu was a guy. sure, why not, nosferatu is a boy now.

once she realizes who it is, she is so! happy! max opens the window and embraces her friend. she isn’t freaked out by the blood on its fangs. she’s always known nosferatu is a vampire, albeit, she was thinking he’d look more like dracula than this bat-monster-thingy.

nosferatu moves back into max’s closet. it hangs upside-down from her rod by its weird, elongated feet. we get more shots of nosferatu sucking rando ppl dry at night, tho he remains gentle with max. when max drags billy in to show her he came back, nosferatu is less friendly with him. he’s not aggressive with billy, but he is standoffish. nosferatu’s thought process is somewhere between human and animal. he doesn’t quite cognitively understand that billy took him to the farm with the intent of getting rid of him, but he does understand that the last time he clung to billy, billy left him alone and never came back. max puts two and two together, and realizes it was billy who “stole” her friend. she yells at him a lot, he yells back, she then ices him out.

billy acts out bc he’s upset. runs away, thinks he’s going to find his mom…the cops find him first and call neil. neil is rly embarrassed and pissed abt the whole thing. he breaks down and beats billy in front of the mayfields for the first time. nosferatu smells the blood and it’s time for the main event! we love dead!neil, yes, we do.

nosferatu flies out the closet and right into the living room where billy’s bleeding and teary but biting his lip so they don’t actually fall. susan’s covering max’s eyes but so shocked and tbh, FRIGHTENED, she doesn’t move a muscle beyond that. neil’s got the belt raised, preparing to bring it down again, and nosferatu smashes right into him. neil stumbles, turns back to see this freaky monster looking thing. proceeds to whip the belt at nosferatu. tries to fight him off with the belt and it doesn’t accomplish much beyond pissing him off more— nosferatu, like most classic vampire types, has a healing factor!

max rips her mom’s hands off her face in time to see her pet sink its fangs into her stepdad’s throat. nosferatu sucks neil dry. billy’s a little dazed, not quite frightened. susan is just dead ass frozen, too scared to scream, even. nosferatu crawls over to billy and nudges at him, making sure he’s in once piece and forgiving him in the same go. max darts over and that snaps susan out of her stupor, but she isn’t as fast as our blood-sucking bat monster.

nosferatu stretches his wings out and with a truly impressive wingspan, hugs both of the kids. <3

horror movie #2: a haunting! this one opens with a bang. it’s a tragic horror, beware. we’re in hawkins post s3. billy died at starcourt mall. neil’s obvi had a longstanding abusive mindset and abusive behavior, but he rly takes his grief out on susan and max. mostly susan. she does her best to protect max however she can, whether that means shielding her w her body, sending her out of the house, getting neil’s goat to inspire his ire in max’s place, etc. but sue simply isn’t around all the time and when she isn’t, but max is, well. yk.

one day neil comes home early (bc he lost his job for a violent outburst, tbh) and discovers susan packing a suitcase.

sue fights hard. she rly does. but neil is bigger, heavier, crueler, and to boot, he caught her completely unawares. he kills her. and no, no it’s not some accidental thing where neil makes one bad move rage-blind. he strangles her with his belt. she’s clawing at his arms and making these horrible choked, trapped animal noises. thrashes and twists her body with everything she has trying to get him off but he’s so strong, his grip is unrelenting, and she's growing weaker, lightheaded with the lack of oxygen. strangulation can induce incontinence and when susan blacks out, her piss streams to the hardwood— neil hears that as much as he felt the clawing and heard the noises, even now he could stop, but he doesn’t. he just. doesn’t think his wife has the right to leave him, esp not after his son just did.

neil burns the body and the suitcase in the woods while max is at school. max has been spending as much time as she can (and often with sue’s prompting) outside of the house, so it actually takes her about two days to realize her mother isn’t around. neil tells a pretty convincing story about how susan abandoned them, voice saturated with apology and sorrow. he takes her out for a fancy dinner and promises he’s going to be a better father-- that being a better father is the least he can do now that her mother abandoned her and they are alone in their grief.

max doesn’t know what to think. she’s been preoccupied with her own grief and pain. she finds it hard to believe her mother would just leave her to neil’s wrath. she has a lot of hangups with susan and anger toward her for marrying neil and not getting them out sooner, but she’s also old enough to realize there would be risks involved with that. it’s hard to reconcile the memory of her mother just last wk pinning max to the wall to protect her from neil’s blows with her own bod just abruptly taking off without a word in the middle of the night. but hey, maybe that’s why susan left. maybe she got sick of protecting her, maybe the pain got to be too much and she turned tail.

but also…it’s early october now, abt three months after billy’s death but still fairly warm outside. yet neil is wearing long sleeves. neil never used to button his collared shirts all the way up, and yet. every collar is buttoned. also, mom’s car is still here. why would mom leave without her car?

that ceramic pelican she loved so much is still here too, on the mantle in the living room. it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing she would leave behind, she's had it since max was a baby.

max almost wants to believe neil because she’d rather her mother abandoned her than be dead somewhere, rotting in a storage locker or a hole in the ground. under the earth with the worms, just like billy. max has the worst feeling low in the pit of her gut. she thinks she knows the truth. she thinks abt going to hopper and hesitates bc she’s not sure she could handle it if he actually found smth. or what would happen to her if he did, where she would be sent, who she would end up with.

this movie would be more on the ambiguous end of things. an arthouse horror, if u will.

the days turn into wks and neil is crawling in his skin. the viewer isn’t sure if the shadows he’s seeing, always, always susan-shaped shadows, are of a ghostly nature or if he’s just hallucinating out of guilt. but the signs gradually point to the former— that smth paranormal is indeed going on. bc those scratches and bite marks susan left in his skin?

they do not heal. they do not get infected. they do not become necrotic. but they do not heal, either. days turn into wks and the wounds still look fresh, like she just left them moments ago. neil can’t wear light colors anymore because his wounds weep red into the fabric. he isn’t just seeing susan’s shadows either, he’s smelling her.

he washes his sheets and pillowcases a dozen times and the scent of her shampoo, her lotion, it’s like it’s woven into the fibers. he walks into the hallway and chokes on the aroma of susan’s perfume. he wonders if max is screwing with him, if max figured it out and she’s trying to torture him into a confession. one day he stomps off to max's bedroom, furious, adamant on confronting her. he grabs her doorknob, prepared to yank it open and then lets out a yelp, jerking his hand back with a sudden sharp pain.

it feels like a bee sting (which would be esp bad for this fucker in anything i write, bc i headcanon him as being allergic). but there’s no stinger. no injury. nothing. neil is freaked out enough that he backs down.

max, on the other hand, is getting gentler signs. when she turns the radio dial in the camaro, it’s somehow always her mom’s favorite songs that come thru the speakers. when she goes to pull clothes out of her drawers in the morning, she discovers that the things she’d just shoved inside in wrinkled balls are perfectly folded, neat as a pin, exactly like how susan always folded. susan was always fond of cardinals and suddenly max is seeing cardinals, pretty red cardinals, in just abt erry tree and shrub.

neil wakes up one night to his wife’s voice whispering “boo” right in his ear. he throws the covers off and discovers ashes in the bed. he doesn’t smell susan’s shampoo or lotion anymore, he smells the kerosine he’d poured all over her body.

his wounds still won’t heal. whenever he looks in the mirror, he catches a glimpse of susan walking past behind him, peering at him from her peripheral. he whips around, heart hammering, but there’s never any tangible person there.

max is almost certain her mother is dead at this point. neil’s been so bizarrely nice to her lately. she never believed in ghosts but her experiences with the upside-down broadened her perception of reality. she doesn’t know how else to explain the songs, the cardinals, the folded clothes. the way that these days, whenever she does feel fear toward neil, it just fades away. her fear melts like popsicles in the sun, immediately replaced by the sensation of a warm, maternal hug, as if arms she can’t see are trying to reassure her she truly doesn’t need to be afraid of him anymore.

in fact, max feels so unafraid of neil and brave, that one night she calls him out on it. he’s grizzled and unshaven in his recliner, beer in hand. she steps in front of the television he’s vacantly fixated on and folds her arms across her chest.

“you killed my mom, didn’t you?”

quick as a flash, neil leaps to his feet. he brings his arm back like he’s going to strike her and susan’s ceramic pelican on the mantle explodes into shards. the lights flicker, the television program cuts to snow with a static roar. every other knickknack on the mantle rattles and framed photos tumble off the wall.

neil very wisely lowers his hand. he slumps, boneless. he doesn’t say a word. max sees the answer in his eyes. it’s the dead of night and she snatches the camaro keys off the hook, marching out of the house, slamming the door behind her. it’s the dead of night and she doesn’t care. she’s going to blow past every stop sign and pound on the chief’s door until he opens up. and fuck, i just realized if this is post s3 he’s supposed to be in russia. shit. i don’t watch this show, but i know abt russia bc i DID watch the clips of that demogorgon that i rly hope isn’t stuck in captivity!! okay, but let’s pretend that didn’t happen?

it’s an au?? i mean, errything i write is always technically an au anyway, bc when i write stuff susan has an actual personality and billy isn’t *completely* abhorrent. okay, so it’s an au and mr. hopper didn’t blow up and un-blow up in russia. he’s still here. so max drives to his house.

she pounds on the door so hard this guy snaps outta bed, thinking someone’s trying to bust it down. she tells him neil confessed to killing her mom. it isn’t true, exactly, but he didn’t have to. so it’s a helluva grim drive back to cherry lane, this time in the cop car.

but when they go inside, chief prepared to arrest neil, no need. neil’s hanging from the belt he strangled susan with, shirtless for the first time since that night, erry seemingly fresh furrow and bite mark on full display. below his dangling feet is a map, the area he burned susan’s corpse in circled in red marker. did he kill himself or did the ghost do it?

up to u, we soundlessly cut to credits without a concrete answer to that question.

horror movie #3: crossover special! stranger things meets the chilling adventures of sabrina. sequel to that fic i wrote where susan makes out with lilith, queen of hell, and lilith kills neil for her. sue officially joins the church of lilith. bc in this ‘verse the church of lilith actually happens after caos s2 instead of the nonsense that was s3 and the inconceivably godawful migraine-inducing shit-fest that was s4.

killing neil was lilith’s only freebee. susan isn’t a witch, she’s a mortal, so in order to reap the other rewards of worshipping the one and only mother of demons, she has to fornicate with the witches and participate in the sacrifices!!!

this is, uh, well. it’s p much a porno, dude, sorry. 😅

this is just an excuse for susan to have sex with lilith, zelda, marie, hilda, big witch orgies + susan. witches bathing in the blood of their sacrifices, susan so nervous and timid but unable to deny her desire. the witch’s dressing her in their gothic garb.

how does the rest of the fam get it on this?

max joins the church too. she has more age-appropriate conduct with sabrina and the weird sisters, and what have you. just smooches and over-the-clothes groping, and whatnot, even tho the weird sisters, at least, would be interested in going further if given the opportunity.

billy dies in starcourt again, so he gets revived in the cain pit! hilda is the one who goes to him after bc she’s been in the cain pit many a time (i am still BIG side-eyeing zelda for repeatedly murdering her sister since childhood). hilda understands how jarring it can be to come back. suddenly alive!billy is freaking tf out but she brings him inside the mortuary, wraps him up in a big blanket burrito and they have a talk. hilda explains that he’s going to be okay and rubs his back while he tentatively sips the hot chocolate she made.

after billy’s calmed down, she brings max and susan in. max and susan can’t do as much magic as the caos witches— they’re mortals, after all, it’s not in their nature —but they’ve gained some abilities thru being in the church, following the rituals, and being carnally involved with the immortal witches. max happily shows him some of her new magic tricks.

horror movie #4: another crossover with caos. heavily inspired by creepshow episode s2e1, model kid (which i already v blatantly referenced in the last axe snafu update and i’m not ashamed, bc it’s a good series i love v much).

billy picks max up from the byers’ place rly late one night. it’s dark and the weather is bad and okay, yeh, he might be a little high. and a little concussed. he pissed neil off pretty bad the other day and okay, actually he’s defo concussed bc he doesn’t even remember what he did wrong!

needless to say, they take a wrong turn somewhere. they end up in greendale. at first max is pissed. she yells at him a lot! yells so loud hilda can hear them thru the walls of dr. cerberus’s comic shop/diner. she goes outside to see what all the fuss is abt, hilda never rly ignores youth in need. we love hilda, she deserved so much better…i’m getting distracted, okay, back to the story.

hilda ushers them inside. max is like, “ooh, comics? horror junk and comics? nvm, i’m not mad anymore.” she pats billy’s arm and wanders away to go check stuff out! hilda makes billy sit down. caos canon established that she’s psychic, at least when she wants to be. she smells the weed but she also sees his life, his trauma. billy doesn’t remember what he did to piss neil off or the abuse that followed, but hilda sees it clear as day.

he’s rude and cranky w her when she probes a little too much for his liking. hilda gently but firmly reprimands him and gets him a milkshake on this house. then she goes to check on max. she steers max to a v particular section of the shop, the one that sells model kits. now, max isn’t *huge* into model kits BUT they are p neat and she enjoys them well enough. more so when the weather is nasty and she can’t go outside. or when she needs smth to do with her hands (a trait she shares w susan) to distract herself and ease some of the anxiety when she hears her brother being beaten or her mother being shouted at.

max is actually rly impressed by the array of models. vintage ones and newer ones. monsters, slashers, final girls, tiny accessories like knives and bloodied heads. but when she gets to the paint-your-own shelf, her jaw drops to the floor.

there’s one that looks just like neil. unpainted, plain gray vinyl, but undoubtedly her stepdad. the expression on the five inch figurine is one frozen in fear.

“i think that one’s calling to you,” hilda prompts her, with the softest smile.

max blinks away her bewilderment altho she still can’t speak. she turns to hilda and turns her empty pockets inside out. hilda just waves her hand. she tells her it’s on the house. that it wouldn’t be fair if she gave billy smth on the house, but not max.

speaking of billy, when he finishes his milkshake, he’s suddenly totally sober and healed!! no more high buzzing in his blood. no more pounding headache or concussion fogging his mind. he doesn’t feel his bruises anymore, rolls his sleeve up, and realizes they simply aren’t there anymore. like they dissolved off his skin.

albeit it’s muttered under his breath, but billy does thank hilda. then he and max are on their way. max shows him the suspiciously familiar figurine in the box. this night cannot get weirder.

max knows what to do with the model kit. she does. she isn’t sure how she knows, but she does. she grapples with it for a long time. neil’s the closest thing she has to a dad these days. and things aren’t bad all the time, ofc.

sometimes neil gives max a ride when mom and billy aren’t available. sometimes he brings her ice cream entirely unprompted. neil’s the one who picks max up off the sidewalk when she wipes out super bad on her skateboard, carries her inside and then later to the car when her cut doesn’t stop bleeding and she ends up needing stitches.

but most of the time he sucks. she can’t rly be herself around him. he's indifferent to her interest at best, scornful at worst. he would hate all her friends. he scares the shit out of her when he’s angry. he doesn’t have a problem belittling her mother in front of her, tearing susan to shreds and making her out like she’s lower than dirt, the most worthless person on the planet. doesn’t have a problem beating billy in front of her or glaring at her with the promise that she’ll be next if she dares to voice her dissent.

max doesn’t always want to do what she knows she’s meant to do with the model. bc she's kind at heart and bc on the good days, she genuinely does have mixed feelings toward neil. never enough to hope he'll be better, he's proven he won't...but maybe enough to hope he won't get worse, either.

then comes the night neil breaks ribs. bad, like we’re talking, a-sharp-spear-of-broken-rib-punctures-billy’s-lung-and-he’s-coughing-up-blood-bad. that’s a trip to the emergency room. in the days that follow, at her next dnd meeting w the party, max places the fully and attentively painted model of her stepdad on the table. normally her pals would protest her derailing the intended game, but they can sense it, yk, that smth is different.

max takes over as dungeon master to the protest of no one, all other mouths sealed as if bewitched and spellbound. she narrators a scene where the demogorgon devours neil and uses the demogorgon piece and the model for demonstration.

when max returns home, neil is strewn across the house in gory chunks and torn wallpaper curls around massive claw marks.