#wright week 24

[benasabrina]

It’s time for some Wright family shenanigans!

Day 1: welcome to the family~

Phoenix and Trucy are welcoming Apollo with open arms :D

@wrightfamilyweek

[thediaryofaurora]

𖦹Kinktober Lineup𖦹

CW: NSFW, f!reader

A/N: I’ve never done Kinktober before, but in honor of my account’s first October I thought it would be a nice treat. At the bottom of this post is an end of Kinktober poll, if you’d like to cast your vote please do!

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Week 1

Day 1 - Bondage / knife play - Jeff the Killer

Day 2 - Virginity loss / gentle fucking - Homicidal Liu

Day 3 - Car sex / stranded - Ticci Toby

Day 4 - Sex tape / double penetration - Tim Wright & Brian Thomas

Day 5 - Dry humping / hot boxing - BEN drowned

Day 6 - Breeding / monster fucking - Eyeless Jack

Day 7 - Pillow princess / praise - Bloody Painter

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Week 2

Day 8 - Sneaking out / rebelling - Ticci Toby

Day 9 - Face sitting / scissoring - Clockwork

Day 10 - Sensory deprivation - Jane the Killer

Day 11 - Cockwarming / Public sex - Jeff the Killer

Day 12 - Secret admirer / voyeurism - Hoodie

Day 13 - Pool party / mutual masturbation - Nina the Killer

Day 14 - Corruption / mentor - Masky

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Week 3

Day 15 - Shower sex / handjob - Homicidal Liu

Day 16 - Controlled vibrator / public - BEN drowned

Day 17 - Seven minutes in heaven - Kate the Chaser

Day 18 - Medical play / marking - Eyeless Jack

Day 19 - Hate sex / rough - Jeff the Killer

Day 20 - Stress relief / assistant - X Virus

Day 21 - Party / roof sex - Bloody Painter

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Week 4

Day 22 - Threesome / setup - Ticci Toby & Jeff the Killer

Day 23 - Sleepover / experimenting - Nina the Killer

Day 24 - Overstimulation / toy use - Brian Thomas

Day 25 - Orgasm denial / gentle praise - Jane the Killer

Day 26 - Rebound / 69 - Clockwork

Day 27 - Sneaking in / forbidden love - Kate the Chaser

Day 28 - Tentacles / choking - Slenderman

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Week 5

For the finale (Oct. 29 - Oct. 31) I will be posting a miniseries rather than the usual one shots! The poll below determines what the mini series will be about/ who it will be with. The results will be in after a week!

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[insanityclause]

National Geographic is freshening up its programming slate.

The network has ordered four new series including The Real Finding Nemo and Surviving Pompeii with Tom Hiddleston.

It is the first slate of programming since it emerged that a large number of Nat Geo titles including Life Below Zero and Wicked Tuna were coming to an end.

Surviving Pompeii with Tom Hiddleston is a historical exploration about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and the preserved Roman city it left behind. Hiddleston, who studied Classics at Cambridge University, exec produces alongside his Loki executive producer Kevin R. Wright.

It comes from Plimsoll Productions, which is behind Nat Geo series including A Real Bug’s Life and The Devil’s Climb. Grant Mansfield, Alan Eyres, Helen Flint and Tom Barbor-Might exec produce for Plimsoll and Carolyn Payne exec produces for Nat Geo.

Hiddleston is the latest celebrity to front a Nat Geo series after Chris Hemsworth, who hosted Limitless and Will Smith with Welcome To Earth.

The Real Finding Nemo (w/t) comes on the back of A Real Bug’s Life. It will explore dynamics of life on the reef and beyond via a clown fish.

The series comes from Our Great National Parks producer Freeborne Media, whose James Honeyborne exec produces alongside Tracy Rudolph Jackson for Nat Geo.

Elsewhere, Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and BBC Studios Science Unit have teamed on Meet The Planets (w/t), an astronomy series that brings the galaxy’s most famous family to life, with the sun as the matriarch, surrounded by her unruly planetary children. It will feature comedy and animation.

Andrew Cohen exec produces for BBC Studios Science Unit alongside Betsy Forhan for Nat Geo.

Finally, the network is expanding its One Day In strand with Diana: One Day In Paris. The three-part series will explore the tragic death of Princess Diana on the 30th anniversary of that paparazzi car chase through a Parisian motorway tunnel.

It follows 9/11: One Day in America and JFK: One Day in America and comes from 72 Films.

It will feature rare archives and interviews with witnesses who have never spoken publicly as it looks at the 24 hours before and after Diana’s death and follow the story through to her funeral one week later.

David Glover and Mark Raphael exec produce for 72 Films alongside Carolyn Payne for Nat Geo and TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay.

All of this comes after Nat Geo axed Wicked Tuna earlier this summer. The Pilgrim Media Group-produced series, which follows a group of fisherman from Gloucester, Masschusetts as they rod and reel fish bluefin tuna, had been airing on the network since 2012 and 13 seasons.

Nat Geo’s Emmy-winning series Life Below Zero is also ending after its 23rd season, per star Chip Hailstone. Spinoffs including Next Generation, First Alaskans and Northern Territories are also ending.

Other titles not returning to Nat Geo include The Incredible Dr Pol, after 24 seasons, and Dr. Oakley Yukon Vet, after 12 seasons.

“These new unscripted series epitomize everything National Geographic stands for — bold, captivating storytelling rooted in world-class research and expertise,” said Tom McDonald, EVP of Global Unscripted and Factual Content. “National Geographic is building on its reputation as the home of the most distinctive factual series from the very best storytellers in the world.”

[nicoleshifting]

my small town dr

✿ silver park, massachusetts ✿

about me:

name: violet elisabeth sterling

age: 24

birthday: september 30th, 1971

location: silver park, massachusetts

friends: my closest friend is sam winchester (yes, that one). we've been friends for years and he lives in silver park working part time at the black cat bookstore while finishing up law school.

my older sister, jessa, is very close to me as well, although she is traveling most of the time (fc elizabeth olsen).

my other friends are serenity lawson, who has been friends with me since college (fc elizabeth lail), and carter wright, who is my bff at work (fc jenna ortega)

s/o's: mikey madison (ex gf, but we are still on good terms), jefferey danes (extremely slow burn friends to lovers, fc jdm), sam winchester (messy situationship)

when I first shift to this dr it is september 2nd, 1996.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

some songs I associate with this dr:

✩kiss me- sixpence none the richer

✩there she goes- the la's

✩suddenly I see- kt tunstall

✩you're so vain- carly simon

✩life goes on- the sundays

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

main info:

the town of silver park sits perfectly between boston and new york city in the state of massachusetts. extremely idyllic and reminiscent of stars hollow, every spot is walkable and the town is built for people, not cars (although I do have one for traveling outside town).

I have worked for the past couple of years at a relatively popular magazine called the sun and the moon where I write the advice column titled 'violet's corner,' which is the most popular section in the magazine and has gained a bit of a cult following.

now, because every reality I shift to must be magical in some way or another, I do have very light magical abilities, as does my sister (runs in the family). I can mostly just do very light glamor magic as well as make it easier to keep my house clean (spells to keep things tidy or have messes automatically clean themselves). jessa is more of a medium, and often finds work doing tarot work and predictions for others.

I live alone in the cutest cottage style two story house. picture this house but with a large porch with a seat swing that goes past the bay window and wraps around the other side of the house.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

my favorite spots in town:

✿the silver dollar diner: my most frequent haunt other than my job, the sun and moon magazine. ran and owned by jefferey danes, this is my go to spot for breakfast, the occasional lunch, and my most lazy dinner spot

✿the black cat bookstore: otherwise just known as the black cat, this is the only bookstore in town and really the only one you could ever need. owned by the sweetest older woman named bethany james, I can often find sam working here part time for some extra cash while grinding through his last year of law school

✿the paper crane: stationary store

✿moonlight cafe: cutesy little cafe that really only serves coffees and light breakfast/lunch food

✿the light at the end: my absolute favorite clothing store in town. sells very whimsigoth/ann ferriday type of clothes

✿the raven: most popular bar in town, does karoke ever other tuesday night

other major locations in town:

✿an eye for an eye: the other bar in town, a little run down and not very popular but this is the place to go if you don't want to run into those you know

✿vertical stare: nightclub about 20 mins outside silver park town limits

✿witches brew: classier nightclub

✿posie's: the only grocery store in town, catch all store for everything you could need

✿1 hour photo: photo development store, I go here most every week

✿love letter: high end clothing store in town

✿something borrowed: thrift store

✿rose's antiques: antique store

✿thai elephant: most amazing thai place. has pad thai that is to die for

✿angelina's: classy italian and pizza place

✿stardust bakery: cute little bakery, has the best bread ever

✿in the mood for love: chinese restuarant

✿final call: movie theater

okay bye that's all for now!! will definitely be making more posts about this dr <33

[cherrywhite]

TSV Fan Favorite Survey Results

Last week I made a small TSV survey for the heck of it and ended up getting way more results than I originally expected!! Wanted to share the results.

When I'm in a "Who's your favorite TSV main character" competition and my opponent is Carpenter 🤯 (Okay but.. is anyone surprised?)

Fun fact: for a while Hayward had only one or two votes and idk why that surprised me so much. Though I'm shocked he got more than Faulkner overall

Top 5 minor characters, as voted: Val > Shrue > Sibling Rane > Gage > Sid Wright

Also unsurprising! Though I regret that I didn't word the question as "Pick up to 5" instead of top 5. Val almost got 100% of the votes in this category... off by 4.. I respect you but also who are you 4 I just want to know

Top 5 side characters, as voted: Acantha > Nana Glass / Greve > Charity / Elgin > The Homesick Corpse > Chuck Harm (though Cross came very close to tying!!)

Acantha at the top is also unsurprising! Though.. looking at the top one.. looks like we all have a thing for old ladies, huh? Definitely my mistake in that I didn't add Em and Vaughn in there to begin with💦 Shoutout to the one person who voted Helen. Also, we love to see that Daggler got 0 votes.

Favorite God, as voted: Th Cairn Maiden > The Many Below > The Trawlerman > The Watcher in the Wings > The Saint Electric

The Beast that Stalks in the Long Grass and The Last Word each got one vote. Also, The Chitterling got a vote. Henge, the god Hayward mentions in s1, the one that takes things people wish to lose, got two votes! :D Idk why, but it's such an unexpected pull to me, it makes me happy to see it was remembered!

Top 5 s1 episodes, as voted: Chapter 4 > Chapter 7 & Chapter 15 > Chapter 1 > Chapter 13 > Chapter 3, 8, 11, & 12 (tied with 3 votes)

Fun fact: of season 1 episodes, only 4/15 episodes weren't picked as someone's favorite!!

Top 5 s2 episodes, as voted: Chapter 24 > Chapter 29 > Chapter 19 > Chapter 17 > Chapter 23

Also not surprised because chapter 24 is also my favorite (probably my most relistened to episode and it still makes me cry). Though, I will say, I was surprised chapter 20 didn't have more votes since that one also seems to be a favorite writing wise!

Fun fact: of all s2 episodes, only 1 episode wasn't picked as someone's favorite! (okay, idk why it's important to me to point out, I just think it's interesting!! Though I can admit I could probably phrase it better. I think the fave episodes are spread out pretty evenly for each season though, which is really neat in my opinion.)

Top 5 s3 episodes, as voted: Chapter 46 > Chapter 38 > Chapter 37 > Chapter 36 (we are not immune to a good tragic love story, I see) & Chapter 43 > Chapter 44

For a while, Chapter 38 had the most votes which I thought was.. idk how to better phrase it, but.. sweet. Because Carpenter's returning home episode was the fave of s2 and if Faulkner's returning home episode had also been the fave... something something we sure do love these terrible siblings, huh? But! Unsurprisingly the finale is the big fave of the season. How many of us have recovered from it??

Fun fact: Of season 3, only 3 episodes weren't chosen!

Boooo I shouldn't have given y'all the option to abstain from picking!! "Don't make me choose," you cowards!! /lh

mandatory link to this recommendation

Favorite episode title:

Hi. So, um. I'm an idiot. And didn't realize that Google Form automatically turns short answers into a bar graph. So unfortunately, the results for this one is..well

And half of these are the exact same title with slightly different phrasing 🙃

BUT I'm nothing if not determined so I went through and organized everything though I didn't make a pie chart. Needless to say. I think we all know the favorite episode title (care to make a guess?)

Favorite episode title: But We'll Never Be Rid of Each Other (25%)

Its Wrath Shall Scald the Sun came second with only 9% of the vote. We sure do love our doomed siblings, huh?

[webhead010]

-Creepypasta dating hc-

[ And Marble Hornets]

Author's note: This is what I think It would be like, you don't need to agree

Divider: @cafekitsune

Characters: Toby Rogers, Nina Hopkins, Jeff Woods, Tim Wright, Brian Thomas, Liu Woods,Kate the chaser, Ben Drowned, and Jane Richardson

۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ ִ ˑ ּ 𖥔 𓄼 ࣪⠀ ִ ۫ ּ ֗ ִ

❥ Toby Rogers:

– Let's be honest, he would NOT be abusive like some people say 😞

– I see him as a serious but lovely person

– He would probably not accept he was in love (and he believed that he wasn't loveable)

– If he was the first one to confess, he would have a big difficulty and would probably stutter a lot

– Now If the person confess first, he will be the most happy person ever

– BUT! Nothing is perfect, he would be always worried with his s/o because of Slenderman, and he wouldn't let his s/o close with the other proxies afraid that they could hurt them

– If he is on a mission, I can see him bringing something as a little gift (Ex: Like pretty rocks that he saw and thinked of them, or little flowers, maybe a candy...)

– If he is stressed, no, he wouldn't hit them or punch them or hurt them, he would probably get out of the place and wait until he is calm (please, remember, his father was an abusive person, he don't want to be like him)

– And If he accidentally hurt them, he would apologize sm, and would stay away from them at least for one week thinking how wrong he was for do that

– I think he craves touch but is too afraid to ask for that, and at the same time he don't want to be touched, it's complicated

– I think he would hyperfixate on them, I mean, he doesn't have very much funny on his melancholic life, so when he finally got something that bring him happiness, he would totally focus on that

– One of his ways to show affection is literally talking. Seriously, I totally see him chatting with his s/o like there's no tomorrow, and If he is talking with them, is because he trust them sm

❥ Nina Hopkins:

– You will NOT put in my head that she isn't a good girlfriend

– She will totally be jealous with them but she wouldn't be a bad girlfriend

– She would paint her and their nails (It doesn't matter If It's a boy or girl, she would do that while chatting with them)

– I don't see her as a stressed person, so I don't think she would fight with her s/o

– Totally has BPD, they will have to be patient with her

– Is a lovely person, kinda sarcastic, but lovely

– Always caring for her s/o, making or bringing little gifts, will have matching rings, would make sleepovers, will always protect them

– If someone mess with them and Nina discover (she will always know everything), the person will be 7 feets under the ground before even think to beat her

– Hugs, kisses, affection towards touch 24/7

❥ Jeff Woods:

– At first, his s/o and him would probably just be best friends (he has NPD, so his best friend would or be his chosen person or his equal person)

– After he notices that he falled in love, he would deny too, but after a while he would just start to flirt with them

– If the s/o don't show any interest, he would be pretty upset, like, he is amazing! How they couldn't even have an attraction towards him?

– But If they show interest, he will probably ask they to be his partner

– If they say yes, yipieee

– If no, he will be in a depressive mood (he failed, and he can't fail!)

– I see him as a neutral, he wouldn't be the best but would at the same time

– They're HIS equal/choosen person and HIS s/o, so he will do anything for them

– He would show more his sympathetic side, he has low empathy, but is very sympathetic with who he loves! (Wich are only his s/o and Liu, maybe friends like Ben?)

– Would buy things to them because he wants It to be special

– Isn't a very touching person but craves It (just like Toby)

– Would take some weeks for the first kiss, but It would start with holding hands, cheek's kisses and hugs

– Loves when they caress his hair! It makes him feel comfy and safe

– Feel like they're the only person that he can show his true self

– Doesn't matter what happens, he will always comes to them, and If they need something too he will be there

– If they lost someone, he wouldn't care about the person, but would care for the fact that It made his s/o sad, so he will try everything to make them better

– Show affection by acts

– In the deep, he is afraid of what his s/o thinks of him, he wants to be the best, he wants, he need to be PERFECT, and he needs his s/o to show him that he is amazing, so he will be more calm

❥ Tim Wright:

– Is complicated, a loveable person, but very anxious

– Is always worried with everything

– He totally needs a calm s/o (and he needs lots of hugs and kisses, please, give this man some comfort)

– When he has seizures, he would probably cry and look around for his s/o to make him better, and If his s/o is around, he would be embarassed but they would hug him and be there with him to make him feel comfortable

– About his hallucinations, his s/o would need to make him feel calm, saying things like: "I'm so sorry for what you have seen, that was kinda scary right? But i'm here! I will protect you, okay?" This would make him the most happy person ever because he knows that he is safe around them

– He is the type of guy to be shy at first, he would probably buy flowers for them, would hang out, ect...

– He would try his best to protect you from the Operator, and would be desesperate If something happens with them

– Loves everything about them, EVERYTHING

❥ Brian Thomas:

– That Guy, my friend that guy is... Is something

– Not something bad, something AMAZING

– He would always try to make them smile, would buy gifts, buy flowers, Go on shops, walks... Anything

– I can't see him dying!! He would force himself to stay alive for them

– Hugs, kisses, Hugs, hugs, hugs, and more kisses

– I think he can cook, so he would make something special for them

– He is the type of guy to make a heart with his hands If they're mad with him (Depends of why they're mad too)

❥ Liu Woods:

– When he dissociates, I think Sully would be neutral with them, If they make Liu happy, they make Sully happy

– Liu is always trying to make them happy

– He lost a lot, he can't lost them too

– Liu loves Jeff, and would probably say about his partner with him, but Sully would be scared of what Jeff can do and would be a little paranoic

– When he is on a dissociating situation, his s/o would try to make him comfortable, Sully and Liu would be very grateful

– If he has amnesia with what happened on a random day, they would try to help him to feel better and say what happened, again, Liu and Sully would be grateful

– He would buy roses for his s/o, Go on walks in the forest, read books with them, even read books for them

– Loves to be hugged with them, in silence, eyes closed, just him and his loved one, nothing more

❥ Kate the chaser:

– First of all, she would take a long time to trust them

– After finally trusting them, she would always talk with you

– "Am I being a good girlfriend? Do I need to be better? I love you so much, If you need anything, i'm here"

– Is afraid of Slenderman, and don't want them to be around when he is close

– Like Toby, she would bring little gifts from missions, but would make drawings and made by hand gifts!

– Not very touching but doesn't care with hugs or holding hands (but If they're too clingy, she will take a time to get used to It)

❥ Ben Drowned:

– He is a teenager, teenagers are the different of adults or almost adults

– Very flirty, but can suddenly become the most melancholic person ever

– Loves hugs and kisses

– Likes to play some games with them (But doesn't have patience for teaching)

– Sometimes he has nightmares with the drowning, so he will come to them but just saying he missed them (He actually feels more safe around them)

– I don't see him as a dating relantionship, more like a platonic relantionship

– So he will probably be more like a bro then a boyfriend

– Literally "friends with benefits"

❥ Jane Richardson:

– That woman is perfect

– Wants gifts? Here It is. Wants to Go on a walk? Around on the walk. Needs to talk? She is here to listen to them. Food? Theirs favorite is on the table

– Will do anything to make them happy

– Hugs, kisses, affection, everything

– Would be worried with her appearance, but soon they reassure her, she will be more comfortable

– Doesn't fight, she is a very calm person, and If It happens, would probably the first to apologize, even If she didn't did anything, she just want them to be happy.

ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ ִ ˑ ּ 𖥔 𓄼 ࣪⠀ ִ ۫ ּ ֗ ִ

[thegazettejournalmirror]

GREENDALE'S 2nd TUMBLR ISSUE OF THE GAZETTE JOURNAL MIRROR!!

March 26 . 24. - a Quality publication of Greendale Community College

This issue's hot topics:

The REDSTREET SMACKDOWN: Greendale students' midnight brawls and mega bans

Leaked: timeline travel method: Vent, vent, voom?

1st Horrors Humans Answers

Notices we had to put in or the paper wouldn't run this week

THE REDSTREET SMACKDOWN

The owner of the popular bar on L Street has said it will be permanently banning all the Greendalians involved in the brawl late last night. 

The numerous bans follow a review of the situation which identified them all as equally responsible for the damages, losses and brutal attack of the bartender on shift that night.

Allegedly, the bartender, who came from the night with a severe black eye and several cuts, has also been banned as well as being fired outright. 

Separately, another bartender, ‘Jean’, has said he didn’t witness the entire event, just the final moments where they all "acted as part of the group". 

Other witnesses suggested a redheaded girl with ‘too many darn piercings’ was ‘vicious’ in her screaming match and was the one who took the first swing. 

An on scene reporter wrote that the bartender on shift argued back equally as viciously and threatened the crowd to take further action. All in all the row was said to have lasted no more than five minutes and yet the effects of it would cost the owner greatly. Our reporter counted a total of eight present during the dispute. This included Greendales’ own Troy Barnes, Abed Nadir and Vanessa Wright. It’s suggested that the others were also students but they were unable to be identified at the time. 

Total damages are said to be cash register breakages, several broken glasses and dents on a couple of chairs. The assailants also stole several bottles of wine and two shot glasses. 

Redstreet’s owner claimed he will not be pressing any charges on this occasion. He commented “if i went apeshit on every stupid drunken fool, I’d never have time to actually run the damn bar. It’s all show business.” 

He also told the team that Redstreet is opening a ‘Tapas Tuesday with ten percent taken (off the total price of the order, not including discounts and other offers and limited only to tuesdays)’ All are welcome except the blacklisted, including the newly banned assailants of last night. 

Leaked: ‘timeline travel method’, Vent, vent, voom?

Sources have suggested that the more surefire way to travel between the ‘timelines’ are by crawling through Greendale’s vents.

The ‘timelines’ themselves were discovered late last year upon the discovery of the ‘other timeline’, (also been dubbed the ‘superior timeline’ by some) rendering this the ‘prime timeline’. It was quickly realised by the sci-fi society members, namely one ‘Abed Nadir’ that there are possibly infinite other timelines out there. It was also discovered that Tumblr is a rare medium through which all the timelines are able to converge. 

While many claim to have undertaken this method to travel between them, the Gazette Journal Mirror stresses that this is still hearsay, and has yet to be directly confirmed by the paper. 

Although, with this new information to light, we urge you to keep a keen eye for the evil timeliners who have been sighted around campus and tumblr alike! 

Horrors Humans Answers 

hi! i have a crush on a girl, and i know she's gay, or at least queer, and she's been dropping some hints, but then sometimes she also says we're just friends and does friend-zone-y kind of stuff, and i'm not sure what to think or to do. please send help!

- angel lover

ANSWER: Hey, Angel Lover! This horrors human knows exactly how you feel! The lovesick feeling is bittersweet. But hang tight! Here’s my advice. Scenario One: You bite the bullet and just ask her out, you never know the outcome until you try - and as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Scenario Two: You ask a mutual friend if you know who she likes! That’s a sure way to know if it’s you, or someone else. Horrors Human wishes you the best of luck!

what’s the deal with the dude hanging in the east stairwell - scared student

ANSWER: Hi there, Scared Student! I’m here to say - Fear Not! You’re probably seeing things. Have you been eating funny brownies recently? There’s no one hanging in the east stairwell, silly! There’s no one there, see? No one there. No one there. No one there at all. anymore. In fact, we’re going to put a nice new vending machine right there next week! Enjoy! 

How to stop having gay thoughts -person in a study group who totally isn’t gay

ANSWER: Hello, Study Grouper! Sounds like you’ve got a classic case of denial. Though this may be tricky for you to come to terms with, my advice here would not be to try and stop yourself from having these thoughts but to take a step back and allow them to be there. Indulge yourself a little! Perhaps there’s a celebrity you’ve never openly admitted to liking, or maybe you’ve got a crush you flirt with? Get comfortable with yourself, Study Grouper! 

Notices (we had to put this in because otherwise they wouldn't let us run the paper this week)

GREENDALE’S THEATRE DEPARTMENT:  We are excited to announce their upcoming performance, ‘Anti Death Macbeth’, the tickets of which will be going on sale this Friday from the drama studio and reception. Don’t miss it. This will not be an ado about nothing! 

TEACHERS PAY: INTERVIEW WITH THE DEAN TO BE PUBLISHED SHORTLY.

NON-GLUTEN FREE RUMOURS: ‘Who on earth would trick people into eating bread with gluten in it?' Greendale's head chef and meal planner commented, insisting on speaking directly from rehab. And there you have it, human beings! We’re here to remind you that, no matter the rumours, the cafeteria’s Gluten-Free bread is indeed gluten-free!

[saltlesspotatochips]

For Narumitsu week, I present to you, the drawing I stayed up till 3 am to make.

Its Narumitsu.

Top left is present day Edgeworth.

Bottom left is 24-26 year old Edgeworth.

Top right is present day Edgeworth's face.

And the bottom right is nighttime Edgeworth.

Theres text in a thought bubble above Phoenix Wright's head that reads, "✨️Miles Edgeworth✨️"

And there is Phoenix standing in the middle, surrounded by hearts as he thinks of Edgeworth, his husband, as shown by the ring on his finger.

[brothermouse]

Sunday Doodles 4/21/24

Doodle is late because I been sick.

Elder Wright was more than a little surprised when his mission call told him he was called to serve “where so ever in the world where the evil forces of darkness plot”. After a few weeks at the secret MTC in the Granite Mountain Vault, though, he was ready to face whatever weirdness came his way. He didn’t even bat an eye when introduced to his new mission companion, Elder Malice, a demon working to repent of his pre mortal sins.

[avatarnarumitsu]

Pandora

Phoenix Wright is 24 years old when he signs the final line of paperwork, agrees to ship himself off to another planet, lightyears away. He’s grown up hearing about the planet, of course, its mystery capturing the hearts and minds of people around him; it had always felt like a distant fancy, something he could dream about but would never act on.

After all, he had everything he could ever want right here on Earth, right? He’d graduated top of his class, with glowing recommendations and a promising career in xenobiology to look forward to, a loving partner to settle down with - it’d seemed perfect. And for a few months of graduate school, it had been. He’d clawed his way through his degree, struggling to keep a roof over his head and make time to study.

But it was just Phoenix’s luck that once he had found some semblance of balance in his life, things would come crashing right back down on his head once again.

All it had taken was a few choice lies from the person he had trusted the most. It had been all over the papers too: “Up and coming scientist silences colleague!” and “Microbiologist accused of murder, University investigates!”. Phoenix protested the accusations, he would never, could never, commit such a heinous crime. Murder? The thought makes him sick.

The trial went on for weeks,the prosecution team badgering him on the stand, throwing any motive at him that they thought might stick. In the end, the truth had come out, and he was found innocent, but at that point it was too late.

He remembers sitting at his kitchen table that night, the lightbulb above him flickering dully, holding a single letter within sweaty hands, reading the words over and over again. Mr. Wright, we regret to inform you that we must rescind your offer- 

No lab would take him anymore, no institution on Earth would hire him. 

But even then, there had been a single glimmer of hope. His invitation from Dr. Fey, a renowned biologist and former teacher still stood. She was the head of the Avatar program, and years ago had invited him to ship out and join her on the ground in Pandora. He had said no then, and didn’t really answer when she renewed the offer some months ago, but now?

He had sold just about everything: his furniture, his bike; had used the money to end his lease early; and finally, signed that dotted line that would take him away from whatever mess of a life he had left on Earth. 

5 years later, Phoenix is still 24 when he takes his first steps on Pandora.

[scotianostra]

On 17th September 1910 Andrew Blain Baird, working as a blacksmith in Rothesay, made the first flight by an entirely Scottish designed and built aeroplane.

Andrew Blain Baird was born in 1862 in Sandhead on Luce Bay in the Rhinns of Galloway, Scotland. One of three sons, his father was a fisherman and handloom weaver. He became an apprentice to a blacksmith in Sandhead, worked as a lighthouse keeper on Lismore, then as an ironworker at Smith and McLean’s on the Clyde shipyards before finally setting up on his own as a blacksmith at 113 High Street in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, when he was 25.

Baird was a daring thinker, a pioneer and innovator. He created many improvements to the plough, built a unique model of the triple expansion engine powered by electricity and was one of the original members of the Scottish Aeronautical Society.

Eager to expand his knowledge of aviation, Baird corresponded with the early aviators Louis Bleriot and S. F. Cody and exchanged information about construction of aircraft and their flight. Inspired by a visit to Blackpool for England’s first ever Aviation Week in October 1909, he returned to Rothesay ready to design and build his own sophistocated monoplane similar to Bleriot’s but with an engine built by the Alexander Brothers in Edinburgh that was 4-cylinder, air-cooled and with water-cooled valves. The control system he would design for his aircraft would be unlike anything that had been developed at the time. His wife sewed brown trussore silk for the wings.

The Baird monoplane, once completed in his own shop in the summer of 1910, went on show at an exhibition in the Esplanade Flower Garden at the front of Bute. and then to the amazement and excitement of all it was moved to the Bute Highland Games on 20 August 1910.

From there it was taken for storage and readying directly to a barn owned by Willie Dickie at his farm at Cranlasgvourity, Bute.

Scottish aviation history was about to be made when in the very early morning of 17 September 1910, the Baird Monoplane was taken by a Mr Scott on his horse-drawn wagon to Ettrick Bay - with its wide expanse of sand reminiscent of the Kitty Hawk N.C. site chosen by the Wright Brothers for their historic flight.

In the sunshine and amid the wide golden sands of Ettrick Bay the first entirely Scottish designed and built plane sat ready to make history.

Andrew Baird was, on that day, assisted by his friend Ned Striven who was an Electrical Engineer with the Burgh of Rothesay and who had assisted him with the engine and related design considerations.

There on the wide expanse of Ettrick Bay beach, Baird and Ned Striven started the engine. All was ready. Hearts raced with anticipation. A small crowd looked on in amazement. And the flight into history began.

Flight Magazine on 24 September 1910,[1] described it as follows:

“Mr Baird was seated in the machine and on the engine being started the plane travelled along the sands at good speed. Naturally, on clearing the ground, the swerving influence of the axle ceased and the influence of the steering wheel brought the machine sharply round to the right causing it to swoop to the ground. The contact was so sharp that the right wheel buckled and the right plane suffered some abrasion by scraping along the beach.”

Andrew Blain Baird had realised his dream - he had flown in an aircraft of his own design and construction.

His was the first entirely Scottish flight of a heavier than air powered craft.

Noted pioneer aircraft manufacturer Tommy Sopwith sailed his yacht into Rothesay Bay in 1910 to visit the Marquess and to attend the Highland Games and there viewed the on display Baird monoplane. Very impressed, he was given permission to incorporate some of Baird’s innovations into the aircraft he was designing and which would have such a great impact on the course of World War I. Over the years, many others from around the world involved in aviation consulted Andrew Baird and learned from his pioneering experience and innovative mind.

[weltato]

Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None Category: Gen, M/M

Relationships: Mitsurugi Reiji | Miles Edgeworth/Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Ayasato Mayoi | Maya Fey & Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Ayasato Chihiro | Mia Fey & Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Ayasato Harumi | Pearl Fey & Ayasato Mayoi | Maya Fey, Ayasato Harumi | Pearl Fey & Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright

Characters: Mitsurugi Reiji | Miles Edgeworth, Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Ayasato Mayoi | Maya Fey, Ayasato Harumi | Pearl Fey, Ayasato Chihiro | Mia Fey, Mitsurugi Shin | Gregory Edgeworth

Additional Tags: Other Characters Are Mentioned, NaruMitsu Week 2024, Inspired By Certified Weirdo, Inspired by Fanart, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Language of Flowers, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merlin (TV) Fusion, Pictures, Photographs, Growing Old Together, Cute, Happy Ending, Time Travel

Chapters: 7/7

Words: 9,584

Series: Part 1 of 'NaruMitsu Week 2024'

Summary:

7 "mini-fics" I wrote for NaruMitsu Week 2024! Posted here as one fic and soon to be uploaded separately.

Each chapter is for each day.

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

I saw Certified Weirdo's art for days 1, 2 and 4 and got inspired, then decided to do the whole week in like 3 days lol. Day 3 gave me the most trouble bc I had zero idea what to do, then @burtrice1 gave me a reminder about the rps we've done in the past and then Day 3 became the longest fic out of all of these. This is why I'm late ^^;;

Might do this again next year, who knows? :p

I'll be posting the fics separately later, for the people who don't want to have to sift through 6 other fics just to read the one they want :)

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 24/02/2025

Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room

Season 4 Episode 2 No Album Release (Read More) Recollection ~ The Bitter Taste of Truth - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations

Ripped by adumb

Requested by crickqt! (Tumblr Form)

Quite a while ago, I was requested to cover a rip of any kind using Juice WRLD's Lucid Dreams; a source that has been stealthily used decently often despite me not finding out about said prominence until years after its introduction. I've made it no secret on here beforehand, be it on Riki Ricch or Sweatpants Select, that I have a general unfamiliarity with the rap scene and its music – unsurprisingly, then, it was through discovering its usage in rips that I was first made aware of both Juice WRLD and Lucid Dreams. And despite being quite late to the party to celebrate its uptick in use, the song's utilization has now become an understated favorite of mine on the channel and one that I believe Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room uses to excellent effect.

First, though, I feel it needs to be established just why Lucid Dreams' use on SiIva consistently has a sense of...respect, carried with it. The song is already a notably vulnerable, open song wherein Juice dissects his conflicted feelings after having undergone a breakup, and the sentimental feel the song conveys has only been emphasized through the rapper's unfortunate passing in late 2019. Like with Lil Peep covered back on Shopping on Star Road, the usage of his music in rips is one that feels done in large part to pay tribute to how much Lucid Dreams (and the rest of his music, of course) affected them, to properly convey just how much he ultimately meant for the independent rap scene. A scene that, I remind, I have far too little knowledge to really be making such claims about; writing about rips of this nature immediately becomes a lot more difficult knowing that I'm effectively enjoying these rips as, well, a tourist, to the genre they're from. Not only have I arrived far too late to properly appreciate Juice WRLD's contributions in his time, but I remain an outsider to the scene that his music has most closely touched. Nevertheless, though, I view that unfamiliarity as much as a weakness as I do a strength; due to said unfamiliarity with the genre, I've been able to be surprised many times over through its utilization on SiIvaGunner, and am in turn given the chance for an emotional connection to the music that I otherwise wouldn't have. Chance's Return to Dreamland, Door into a Hundred Summers and many more now inspire emotion and nostalgia in me, nostalgia both for SiIvaGunner itself, but just as much for songs I would've otherwise never stumbled onto.

It is with similar feelings, then, that I continue to approach Lucid Dreams all these years later. The source rings, quite obviously, as more recent in my mind than the aforementioned Season 1 favorites, yet I've nevertheless grown very attached to it in large part through the journey I had uncovering its usage on the channel for myself. I didn't touch upon it back when writing about Beautiful Dreamer, but the Touhou song Lucid Dreamer's frequent appearances on SiIva was hugely sparked by ChickenSuitGuy making the obvious connection in title between it and Lucid Dreams, combining the two in the excellent rip simply titled Lucid Dreamer. From there, rips using Lucid Dreams and rips using Lucid Dreamer would begin referencing one another as an ongoing running gag, featuring snippets of one another as either a main focus or secret little easter egg, being done consistently yet without ever feeling overdone or played out. This gradual, understated iteration on the song's usage is just one of those many fun little wrinkles that make the SiIvaGunner channel so fun to follow thoroughly, one along the lines of what I described back on go home youre drunk man, a background gag that continues to grow only in service to those who have followed its progression. Moreover, though, it was hearing Lucid Dreams continue to show up in rips I'd otherwise just clicked on for their usage of the Touhou song (its quality being something I DID cover on Beautiful Dreamer) that gradually endeared me to the source despite my complete lack of familiarity with Juice WRLD's legacy. Even without basic knowledge of the scene he'd most closely affected, the joke of Lucid Dreamer = Lucid Dreams was easy enough to understand to where I was able to still follow along; and soon enough, taking part in that joke made the latter song just as meaningful to me as the former had already been.

That establishing connection, that emotional tie to music you'd never otherwise have a reason to be attached to, is a huge part of the magic of SiIvaGunner for me; the stuff I've already made a huge point on before on posts like Bowser's Finale and everything surrounding The Reboot. I had no prior knowledge of Lucid Dreams before the channel introduced me to it, the same way I had no prior knowledge of Snow Halation, Goodbye to a World, The Nutshack, YANKIN', and so many others; yet through their utilization on SiIvaGunner, and through the narratives big or small that said usage held, I and those who follow the channel have formed an understanding of the meaning and emotions that these song convey; tricked into having attachment to melodies through their Trojan Horse-application onto lovable video game music.

That, then, finally brings us to Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room, which puts all of these pieces together into a wonderful, cohesive whole. Because really; few franchises have music that's so consistently endearing, pleasant and emotional as the Ace Attorney franchise; its previously been covered on here through Neo Castelia, Brothers ~ The finale is afoot! and Week 4 ~ Wanting to Funk the Truth, and with the latter two examples I made a pretty clear point of highlighting just how prominent the rippers' love for the game franchise and its music could be felt through the rip. Ace Attorney is able to effortlessly tie its music not just to its individual characters, but also to individual games, to where a rip like the latter-most mentioned one felt like a big effort of love from its ripper made specifically toward Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit and the impact that game had on them. The cat may well be out of the bag already at this point; Week 4 ~ Wanting to Funk the Truth and Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room indeed both share a ripper, adumb, whose love of Ace Attorney can be felt throughout both rips; and on today's feature, you see that love extend toward Juice WRLD's music to boot.

Indeed, as was pointed out in the rip's own comment sections, Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room feels very deliberate and thought through when considering the character its theme is attached to. The third entry in the Ace Attorney series, Trials and Tribulations, endeared many a fan to the all-new character Godot, a mysterious, romantic yet conflicted soul living with the burden of a lost love hanging over him throughout the game; similarly, Lucid Dreams itself is, as previously described, a vulnerable piece about Juice reminiscing about his conflicted feelings over an unfortunate breakup. The rip, then, arranges the instrumentation of its source game, utilizes the thematic ties of the source track's character, and evokes the melancholic, bittersweet sound of Lucid Dreams, to form a remarkably cohesive whole; pulling from multiple sources of emotional investment at once althewhile making for a wonderful listen. There's a certain sound that's quite unique to Trials and Tribulations in particular for the franchise, one led by a more typical "chiptune" lead than the rest of the series' soundscape, which contrasts beautifully with the acoustic guitar and shamisen plucks in the background, the sound of a past in conflict with the present.

I realize myself that this is, perhaps, a whole lot of hot air to pump into an arrangement that mainly just succeeds in its simplicity. Without Juice's vocals, without the intensely bass-y beat of the original song, and without the two songs featured even being in the same BPM, Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room boils the appeal of both its sources to the barest essentials; an air of melancholy and quiet reflection. The rip wasn't part of any sort of greater event paying tribute to Juice or the Ace Attorney franchise, yet nevertheless evokes emotion just from one's attachment to both; the slower rearranging to fit Recollection ~ The Bitter Taste of Truth's tempo giving Lucid Dreams an entirely different texture whilst still being immediately recognizable as soon as the melody kicks in. Like with a prior piece of adumb's arranging work, Margaret Faces Herself, it's a remarkable rip that's hugely elevated through my emotional attachment to the works featured.

Ultimately, I suppose this post has been far more nebulously about Lucid Dreams and my relation to it than about Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room in particular; but I only focus so much on that context because it helps elevate the rip so many degrees further. Juice's legacy is one that I'll never be able to wholly comprehend the weight of – yet through my investment in SiIvaGunner, through the attachment one can feel through the work made by its rippers, and through my own attachment to Ace Attorney and so many more of the games ripped, I'm able to have a strong emotional response to hearing that same melody despite having such a hugely different context. It's thanks to SiIvaGunner's box-of-chocolates design, paired with the passion that goes into every one of those metaphorical chocolates, that so many of us have gained newfound love to music we'd never otherwise have heard of; reinvigorating interest for the old whilst creating a wholly new kind of emotional bond in the present. The mixing of new into the old, like the soundscape of synths and plucks that define the sound of Recollection ~ The Bitter Taste of Truth itself, like the blending of pure espresso with milk and sugar to introduce the beauty of coffee to a less-savvy, latte-favoring audience.

Coincidence or not, Lucid Dreams ~ The Bitter Shadows In My Room all just comes together nicely; the perfect reminder of the power the SiIvaGunner still holds.

[russenoire]

Getting to Know You Meme

tagged by @ygodmyy20! thankee kindly.

01) are you currently in a serious relationship? nope. can't say i miss it.

02) what was your dream growing up? i had a new one every month. the one that stuck around the longest was 'astronaut' until i learned that NASA's manned space program hasn't done much since skylab, outside of testing the limits of human endurance in low earth orbit. still cool! but i'll keep my unnaturally dense bones, thanks.

03) what talent do you wish you had? the talent to work any job i wanted without medication.

04) if someone bought you a drink what would it be? a cocktail of some sort. most likely a gin and tonic, a negroni or a mojito.

05) favorite vegetable? too many to count. easier for me to tell you what i don't like: green beans. if they're only palatable tempura-fried, i don't need them in my life.

06) what was the last book you read? currently working through your brain's not broken, by tamara rosier, ph.d.

07) what zodiac sign are you? virgo. and no, i don't wanna hear about how virgos are hyper-organized control freaks. i am neither of these things.

08) any tattoos and/or piercings? five in a single ear, one in the other. two make up an industrial piercing. i have no tattoos but want one of the kageyama brothers from mp100 someday.

09) worst habit? getting too hung up on the 'right time' to do things.

10) what is your favorite sport? to play? dodgeball. to watch? either figure skating or tennis.

11) do you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude? recovering pessimist here. i'm optimistic about some things and nihilistic about others.

12) tell me one weird fact about you. i never learned to ride a bicycle.

13) do you have any pets? no. i love cats and regularly-washed dogs though.

14) do you think clowns are cute or scary? i don't have a strong opinion about clowns, tbh.

15) if you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? nothing. anything i can change is changeable.

16) what color eyes do you have? brown.

17) ever been arrested? nope.

18) bottle or can soda? bottle. though i don't soda very often.

19) if you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? pay off my student loans and save the rest.

20) what's your favorite place to hang out at? a vedanta temple in the foothills here, or a park on a hill with a historic frank lloyd-wright-designed home.

21) do you believe in ghosts? maybe. i know people who can see them.

22) favorite thing to do in your spare time? singing. or learning.

23) do you swear a lot? very much so.

24) biggest pet peeve? how long you got? we could be here all week.

25) in one word, how would you describe yourself? iconoclastic.

26) do you believe in/appreciate romance? *shrug* i believe in and appreciate love, wherever it comes from.

27) favourite and least favourite food? does anyone have a single favorite? anyone? i do not. least favorite food is canned vegetables, except for beets and corn.

28) do you believe in god? i believe in the divine, a Self that we are one with and all have access to. whatever you choose to call that is up to you.

29) what makes you happy: soft fluffy things, palpable texture in weaves and knits, sweet or creamy fruits, singing and/or listening to music, my friends, learning something new.

30) currently listening/the last thing you listened to: hiroko suzuki, 'bara wa utsukushiku chiru'.

31) favorite place to spend time: at home.

32) favorite lyric: 'love is like the scabs from sunburn' from the OP to kenda master ken.

33) recommend a film: at random? good morning, by yasujirō ōzu.

34) recommend a book: oranges are not the only fruit, by jeannette winterson; islands, the universe, home, by gretel ehrlich.

35) Recommend a band, a song, or album: uchikubi gokumon doukoukai, 'shufu no michi' (way of the house-husband)

36) recommend a TV show: rose of versailles. soapy as hell, but great if you love historical dramas and anime. it's fairly well-researched too.

37) where are you from, and do you still live there? Where have you lived? the pacific north american coast; i'm still here. i've lived in texas and georgia, USA.

38) do you have any pets or animals in your life? how did you find/get them? no pets.

39) what's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten? bull penis. 0/10 do not recommend. the most unusual thing i've actually enjoyed is probably fried crickets.

40) how did you 'find' fandom? got obsessed with a story and wanted to share that love with other people. didn't happen until my mid-thirties though with steven universe.

41) make a list of 5 things that you see without getting up. a heat gun, a soldering iron that i have never used for actual soldering, the laptop i'm typing this on, the laptop connected to my projector, a plastic mask.

42) how do you style your hair? usually a tall bun. my hair is long enough to sit on and this keeps it out of my way.

as always, no pressure: @yaraneechan @eshithepetty @impmansloot @gumy-shark @sukunekatano

@cheese-enjoyer9471 @sulfurousmirrorscapes @creativenicocorner or anyone else who sees this and wants to!

[la-alert]

🚨 Breaking News

LOS ANGELES — It looks like rising R&B singer Sin Wright may have learned “Why Not More?” the hard way. Sources tell LA Alert the 24-year-old artist was found unresponsive at her Hollywood Hills home early Monday morning, just four days before the release of her highly anticipated debut album Why Not More? According to insiders, she was rushed to the hospital by her manager after failing to appear for a scheduled feature on NPR’s All Songs Considered which was a key stop in her debut rollout.

Sin had been active on social media over the weekend, interacting with fans and even releasing the official tracklist, but fans noticed she went completely silent Monday. With her first album dropping this Friday and her tour set to kick off in two weeks, some close to the situation say the pressure may have pushed her too far. “She’s been going non-stop,” one source shared. “Rehearsals, press, no sleep. She hasn’t let herself breathe.”

At the time of publication, there has been no official statement from Sin or her team. Fans, however, are already flooding her socials with concern.

We are wishing her a speedy recovery.

[tomhiddlestonfanfic]

He Loves Me Not Chapter Twenty-Four

Ch.1 - Ch.2 - Ch.3 - Ch.4 - Ch.5 - Ch.6 - Ch.7 - Ch.8 - Ch.9 - Ch.10 - Ch.11 - Ch.12 - Ch.13 - Ch.14 - Ch.15 - Ch. 16 - Ch. 17 - Ch.18 - Ch. 19 - Ch. 20 - Ch. 21 - Ch. 22 - Ch. 23 - Ch. 24

Summary & Chapter Index

TITLE: He Loves Me Not

CHAPTER NUMBER/ONE SHOT: 24/?? WHICH TOM/CHARACTER: Actor Tom OTHER CHARACTERS: Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott PAIRING: Tom Hiddleston/OFC GENRE: Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Romance, Teen Angst, Coming of age

FIC SUMMARY: Norah is a troubled teenager who is secretly and obsessively in love with her sister Sarah’s boyfriend, Tom. Sarah constantly worries about her younger sister, who is struggling with depression and anxiety, and one night, after a long evening at a charity event, Tom decides that he has had quite enough of Norah’s at times reckless and what could be considered rather selfish behaviour. He reveals a new side of himself as he desperately tries to help Norah break her vicious circle of self-destruction and open her eyes to the beautiful things in life. Could he be Norah’s knight in shining armor? Or will his efforts prove to be all in vain? Is his mere presence actually doing more harm than good? Could he ever love her the way she loves him?

WARNINGS: This story contains potentially triggering subjects such as Depression, Anxiety, Self-Harm, Self-Destruction, Eating Disorders, Talk About Suicide and Suicidal Ideation. It also deals with the subject of Grief and contains Previous Character Deaths. Other potentially upsetting subjects this story contains are Spanking Fantasies, Sexual Fantasies, Masturbation, Dirty Talk, Age Difference and Age Play.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"She seems to regress a little around you"

The next day at breakfast, James tried his best to make Norah feel better about what had happened the previous night. Lexi was no longer seated next to her, but had changed seats with another patient, clearly wanting to avoid Norah after what happened. The girl who now sat next to her was called Jasmine, and she was one of the girls who had gone horseback riding with them earlier that week.

“I was such an idiot, James,” Norah told him dejectedly. “I was so naive to think that Sarah would actually help me, but I didn’t even manage to get a hold of her. According to Tom, at first she was in the shower, and then she was suddenly sleeping. I think he was lying and he was very bad at it. It was so strange to me that he made it so painfully clear that whatever I had to say, it simply wasn’t worthy of Sarah’s attention,” she explained with a puzzled look on her face. “Something’s really off here and at home it seems, and I’ve just made everything so much worse for myself. Lexi is also not even talking to me anymore. I think she might have gotten into trouble for letting me borrow her phone to make that call. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“That does sound really off,” James agreed and frowned slightly. “Your sister seemed so invested in your well-being when I met her, and that was only a few days ago. Something must have happened or maybe she’s just ill in some way, like the flu and Tom only wants to protect her from getting stressed out.”

“Maybe it’s something more serious than the flu,” Norah realised and suddenly stood up from her seat, leaving her half-finished breakfast behind.

“Where are you going?” James asked her and stood up too, considering whether or not he should go with her.

“I just need to do something. Stay here,” Norah told him and walked towards the staircase leading to the ground floor.

“Norah, what are you doing here?” Samantha, one of her contact persons asked her with a slight frown. “You don’t have any meetings scheduled right now, have you?”

“I need to talk to the psychiatrist. I can’t remember her name, but it’s the woman who’s in charge of the Wooden Anemone,” Norah told her. “How do I get in touch with her?”

“Doctor Wright is no longer in charge of the Wooden Anemone. She’s now in charge of a different section here at Willow’s Creek,” Samantha explained.

“And who’s the new sheriff in town?” Norah asked with a sigh, although she was pretty certain that she already knew the answer.

“He’s standing right behind you,” Samantha told her with a gentle smile.

Norah slowly turned around to look at the very psychiatrist she had grown to hate so much in less than twenty four hours.

“Did you want to speak to me about something, Miss Collins?” Doctor Sharpe asked her.

“So you didn’t just make up that part about taking over this section,” Norah established.

“Of course not, why would I lie about something like that?” Doctor Sharpe questioned. “Come,” he then added and placed a hand on her shoulder, steering her towards an office down the hall. The doctors, nurses, psychologists and other professions working at Willow’s Creek had their offices in another building that was within walking distance from the houses the patients were staying in.

“Whose office is this?” Norah questioned, noting that the nameplate outside the door was blank.

“I’m intending to use it as my office while I’m in charge of this section. I thought it might give me more insight into what my troubled little patients really are up to,” Doctor Sharpe told her and shut the door behind them as Norah curiously looked around the high ceilinged room she had never been to before. It was very big for just one doctor’s office and it even had a library loft. She walked up to the ladder leading up to the loft and paused right next to it, staring up at all the books that had been neatly placed in their shelves up there.

“This must be the extension part of the building,” Norah concluded as she thought about the layout of the building.

“Indeed it is,” Doctor Sharpe confirmed.

“For how long have you been planning on taking over this section?” Norah wondered.

“A while,” Doctor Sharpe told her. “Not that it’s any of your business, young lady.”

“Okay,” Norah said and walked up towards one of the windows, looking out through it. She frowned and turned around the room, realising that he had windows on three sides facing the immediate surroundings of the building. Which meant that when Doctor Sharpe was in his office, he would be able to more or less spy on his patients and the staff. “It appears that you have built yourself a surveillance room of sorts, rather than an ordinary office. Are you a control freak?”

“What did you want to talk to me about, Miss Collins?” Doctor Sharpe asked her.

“I want you to tell me the truth about what’s going on with my sister,” Norah told him. “I have every right to know if she’s ill or if there’s something else going on with her.”

“It’s not really my place to tell you about such things unless I’m asked to do so by the person it concerns. Tom will be here tomorrow night to see you. He will tell you everything he thinks you need to know right now,” Doctor Sharpe informed her. “It’s important that you don’t lose focus on fulfilling your treatment goals during your stay here, Miss Collins.”

“If my sister is in fact seriously ill, to hell with my treatment here! I want to be with her and support her if that’s what’s going on!” Norah told him angrily.

“In your current mental state, you would probably do more harm than good by insisting on being in her presence,” Doctor Sharpe told her firmly. “I’m not saying that your sister is ill, so don’t jump to any conclusions. I’m simply presenting you with a different perspective. If your sister were to be seriously ill and hasn’t asked you to come there to see her, do you really think she would want you to be there to see it? Don’t you think that she would want to protect you from that? Just like she has spent the last five or six years of her life protecting you from all kinds of things? Don’t you think it’s about time to finally relieve her of that burden and let us care for and protect you, until you’ve matured enough to look after yourself?” he asked her. Norah felt overwhelmed by the guilt his words awoke within her and sank down on the floor, covering her face with her hands to hide the tears. “If your sister is going through a hard time right now, the best thing you can do right now is to let her know that you will be okay and that she doesn’t have to worry about you. That would be the right thing to do, rather than burdening her with problems that she’s not currently in a position to solve anyway. Do you understand what I’m saying, Miss Collins?”

“You’re really heartless to take advantage of such a sensitive situation as a means to fulfil your own goals,” Norah told him angrily.

“And what exactly are my goals, Miss Collins?” Doctor Sharpe questioned.

“To get the results you want, no matter what. You want me to keep up appearances in a way that will have people convinced that this place actually helps people,” Norah told him.

“This place does actually help people, Miss Collins. That’s the goal,” Doctor Sharpe informed her. “I want you to be successful for your own sake, because I want to help you. Me and my colleagues didn’t come up with this concept for profit, but to help people like yourself get their lives back on track. We don’t specifically target wealthy people, but people of all socioeconomic classes come here for help and we don’t make them pay any fees they can’t possibly afford,” he said. “I’m not the villain you try so hard to make me out to be.”

“Every villain is a hero in their own mind,” Norah told him and her words nearly elicited a smile from the man. “Of course you don’t think you’re a bad person, but you’ve shown me your true colours. I know who you really are and it’s certainly not some charitable samaritan.”

“You can think whatever you want about me, Miss Collins, but don’t let that get in the way of your own success,” Doctor Sharpe told her. “I suggest you take my advice and act more civilised from now on, because keeping up this kind of behaviour is really not working in your favour.”

“I’m not acting that uncivilised,” Norah argued and stood up from the floor. “I’m understandably upset about not being told whether my sister is seriously ill or not.”

“You speak more confidently now than you did yesterday,” Doctor Sharpe remarked. “But we still have a lot more work ahead of us. Tell me something, Miss Collins. Do you prefer the carrot or the stick?”

“Would anyone not pick the carrot?” Norah questioned, frowning at his words.

“If you really prefer rewards to punishments, I suggest you step up and start behaving properly,” Doctor Sharpe told her. “I don’t care about what methods I need to use in order to get you where I want you. If punishment proves to be a more efficient method for you than rewards, then that’s what I’m going to use.”

“You haven’t really given me a chance to prove that rewards are more efficient on me than punishments,” Norah told him.

“How about I offer you a carrot then, and we’ll see how that works out?” Doctor Sharpe suggested.

“What do you want me to do and what would I get in return?” Norah asked him.

“If you behave perfectly for the rest of today and tomorrow, I will allow you and your friend James to go horseback riding tomorrow afternoon,” Doctor Sharpe told her. Norah looked at him with genuine surprise.

“Are you serious?” she asked him confusedly to which he nodded. “And what exactly does behaving perfectly entail in this case?”

“That you follow your treatment plan, adhere to the rules, do your chores and whatever else is expected of you. I also expect you not to be rude or talk back to others, not the staff or your peers. Just be well-behaved and you’ll get what you want,” Doctor Sharpe informed her.

“Okay,” Norah agreed, trying to hold back a smile to hide her eagerness. “I suppose I should get going then. Thank you, Doctor Sharpe,” she said and left his office, running back upstairs to the second floor.

“What’s going on?” James asked her with a puzzled expression as she hugged him.

“We might be able to go horseback riding tomorrow afternoon after all,” Norah told him excitedly. “I made a deal with Doctor Sharpe.”

“You made a deal with Doctor Sharpe?” James asked confusedly once they broke the hug. “What was the deal?”

“Compliance,” Norah said with a shrug. “If I do everything they want me to do here without talking back or questioning it today and tomorrow, we will be able to spend more time with the horses together.”

“Did he really say that I could go as well?” James asked her confusedly. “But I took for granted that he will remove that privilege during my disciplinary meeting with him today.”

“He said you could come. So if I were you, I would probably just answer his questions and do whatever he asks of you during the meeting. So, no more sassiness for now, James,” Norah told him mirthfully.

“You’re the sassy one!” James laughed and glanced down at his digital watch. “I need to get going so I don’t get late for the meeting.”

“Just go already then,” Norah told him smilingly as she pushed him playfully towards the stairs. James flashed her a smile over his shoulder before descending the stairs.

“You were right,” James whispered to Norah as he took the seat next to hers in one of the rooms on the ground floor in which they usually occupied themselves with schoolwork. Those rooms were mostly used during weekdays, but would be opened at weekends for those who needed to catch up on their studies. Each patient had their personal study plan that they were expected to follow closely.

“What did he tell you?” Norah whispered back as she kept looking down at the schoolwork she was doing. Mathematics had never been her strongest subject, so she was stuck.

“We can talk about it later,” James told her and quickly opened his own schoolbook once he noticed that the teacher, who was actually a professor and highly overqualified for his job of teaching pupils their age at Willow’s Creek, approached them.

“How’s it going, Norah?” the teacher asked her and looked down on her calculations.

“I’m too dumb, Will. I can’t do this,” Norah told him dejectedly. She was glad that he was a relaxed enough teacher, well, professor even, to not insist on using any titles but instead asked his students to address him with his first name.

“You’re most certainly not dumb, Norah. So don’t even try using that as an excuse not to put in an effort, because I’m simply not buying that,” Will told her and sat down next to her. “You’re doing extraordinarily well in the other subjects we have been working with this far, so it’s not your intelligence that’s the problem here.”

“What about dyscalculia then?” Norah suggested almost hopefully, eliciting a smile from the tall lanky man in his mid thirties.

“That won’t work either,” Will replied. “Because you’re not struggling that much with arithmetics. You’re not even bad at mathematics, Norah. From what I’ve seen, you’re just having a really hard time staying focused when it comes to subjects and tasks that you find less interesting and more difficult.”

“Can’t we just skip the boring stuff and focus on the fun then?” Norah suggested.

“Nope,” Will told her with a gentle smile and glanced over at James who seemed to solve his own maths problems with ease. “James, could you try to help Norah with her problem? Explain to her how you would go about solving it. I would like to hear how you think when you solve a problem, because you seem to do a lot of the calculations in your head instead of writing them down as you’re supposed to be doing.”

James looked down in Norah’s calculus book and smiled at the angry marks she had made with her pen to cross over her mistakes as she had gotten frustrated with herself and her own inability to solve the task.

“It’s not funny, James,” Norah told him.

“I never said it was,” James told her. “I can see where you went wrong,” he said and pointed with his own pen at the different numbers on the page. He explained to her what she had been doing wrong and then explained how she was supposed to have done it to solve the problem. He then made up a similar problem for her to solve to see if she understood the mechanics behind the calculation at hand.

“Like this?” Norah asked him as she tried to solve his made up task.

“Yeah, just like that,” James confirmed with a smile and went back to resume his own tasks.

“Well done Norah and you too James,” Will told them encouragingly and walked up to look over James’s shoulder. “But you still need to write out your calculations, James,” he reminded the student, who groaned in response.

Norah had moved on to the next task and seemed to have finally understood the principles of how to solve it, so Will moved on to check on the other students’ progress with their studies.

The day went by faster than usual now that Norah found herself to be in a relatively good mood. Inspired by James’s ability to put on a mask and act mirthful even when his heart was breaking had inspired her to try to do the same, because there really was no point in being miserable about something she had no power to change anyway.

When it was time for James and Norah to cook together, they asked the chef, who was supervising them and preparing the non-vegetarian option and sides that day, if they could listen to music as they cooked. The chef was a bald, muscular man with a lot of tattoos who didn’t seem to take himself too seriously. He rode his motorbike to work everyday and had a pretty relaxed approach to teaching the youngsters about how to properly prepare nutritious meals.

“Sure,” he granted with a charitable smile and allowed them to use a music streaming service on his phone and queue up some songs they wanted to hear.

Norah smiled amusedly as she hurried over to aid James by the stove after he had clearly put on too much heat and risked ruining the bechamel sauce for the lasagna.

“You can’t use that much heat, you’ll ruin the sauce,” Norah nagged him as she quickly pulled away the saucepan from the stove and poured some more milk into the angrily bubbling mixture to cool it down. “Hopefully you didn’t burn too much of it. If we don’t stir it in the bottom, we might be able to use it without getting burnt parts in it. Don’t touch the sauce anymore, James.”

“It was taking ages to warm up and absolutely nothing happened until I turned up the heat,” James defended himself.

“You need to be more patient when it comes to some things, James,” the chef told him amusedly. “Norah seems to know what she’s doing. You should follow her lead.”

“Maybe I should just stay out of the way? I’m a bit of a kitchen disaster,” James said.

“Which is why you need to practise,” the chef told him. “Come, help me cut the vegetables for the salad. And don’t even think about stabbing the vegetables,” he warned him.

“Why would anyone stab vegetables?” Norah questioned amusedly as she proceeded to apply the different layers on the vegetarian lasagna.

“The first time I handed James a knife, he proceeded to stab the perfectly good Christmas ham we were preparing. It wasn’t pretty and it was much harder to make sure the meat didn’t go dry because of all the holes it had in it,” the chef explained, shaking his head disapprovingly at James at the memory of his misendeavor.

“Did you wrap aluminium foil around it to preserve some of the liquid?” Norah asked the chef who smiled warmly at her.

“Of course I did,” he told her. “How come you knew that? I thought you were a vegetarian.”

“I’m a pescetarian, so I eat fish whenever my sister forces me to do it,” Norah told him. “My sister’s boyfriend Tom is pretty keen when it comes to cooking and he insists on teaching me new things in the kitchen. About how to cook meat as well. I guess he wants to prepare me for the future, but he also likes talking a lot about things he knows a lot about or is interested in. He could easily have been a teacher if he wasn’t an actor.”

“It’s always nice with people who know their way around the kitchen,” the chef told her with a smile and then grinned teasingly at James. “People tend to find that attractive in a partner,” he told James and smiled cheekily at him.

“I’m good at other things,” James defended himself as the chef adjusted his grip on the knife handle and instructed him on how to cut a bell pepper. Norah watched the technique and gasped.

“That’s the coolest life hack I’ve ever seen!” Norah exclaimed and then covered her mouth with her hand, feeling embarrassed about her spontaneous outburst.

“You see?” the chef asked James and laughed heartily.

They continued with preparing the food and once the lasagnas were in the oven, the chef frowned at the song that came on.

“Who picked this song?” he asked them amusedly.

“I’ve never heard it before,” James replied and looked intriguingly at Norah.

“Well, it’s a song my dad used to put on whenever we had someone from the upper class over for dinner,” Norah explained. “It makes me smile, even though it’s a bit silly. I think it’s kind of clever once you really listen to the lyrics. They’re making fun of rich people by very deliberately being cheeky and provocative.”

“True,” the chef agreed. “So your dad put this on for his fancy guests, huh?”

“Yeah, mom absolutely hated it, but he was very insistent,” Norah said with a smile.

“That’s ballsy,” James commented with a mischievous grin and laughed as he listened to the lyrics.

‘Some balls are held for charity

And some for fancy dress

But when they’re held for pleasure

They’re the balls that I like best

My balls are always bouncing

To the left and to the right

It’s my belief that my big balls

Should be held every night’

“Wow, I really didn’t know you were so dirty minded, Norah,” James teased her amusedly. “You seemed so prude until you called that girl a cocksucking slut the other day, and now this.”

“She called another girl what?!” the chef asked surprisedly.

“It’s not really my proudest moment and I apologised for it,” Norah said sheepishly.

“And the girl punched her in the face for it,” James added amusedly and inspected Norah’s left cheek bone. “Where’s the bruise? Did you cover it up with makeup?”

“Of course I did. I don’t want to go around looking like a fighter when I’m about as far from it as you can get,” Norah replied as she watched James finish up making the salad.

The day ended on a positive note after Norah, James, Mandy, Jasmine and another patient called Paul had played a board game together in the big common room.

“You seem a lot calmer today, Norah,” Clay commented and walked up to her as she stayed behind to make sure everything belonging to the board game got back into its box. Norah flinched and instinctively backed away from him as she recalled how he had wrestled her down on the floor the night before. “You don’t need to be scared of me, Norah. I’m sorry I startled you and I’m sorry about what happened last night. I didn’t enjoy doing it.”

“You didn’t have to hold me down like that,” Norah told him as tears filled her eyes. She had felt so utterly powerless and humiliated as she had been forced to lay face down on the floor like that. “I hated it so much.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Clay told her. “It wasn’t personal, Norah. I was just trying to do my job. Let’s try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“How, though?” Norah asked him. “I wasn’t even violent or anything. I just didn’t want to let go of the phone and then you grabbed me and didn’t let me go.”

“I would have let you go if you had just calmed down and not tried to hurt me,” Clay told her.

“But it took too long,” Norah argued. “If you had let me go right away, I wouldn’t have panicked and tried to break loose.”

“I needed time to assess the situation, Norah. How would I know whether or not you were going to go after my colleague after you just fought with her for the phone?” Clay asked her. “I don’t think you realise just how violent and out of control you appeared to be at that moment, because if you did, I think you would understand why I decided to hold onto you for a bit longer.”

Norah frowned. “I wouldn’t have gone after her.”

“What would you have done then?” Clay asked her.

“Probably run off to my room,” Norah told him with a shrug. “I’m not sure. But that’s what I usually do in confrontational situations or when I get overwhelmed. I withdraw and avoid people as much as possible.”

“Okay, that’s very good for us to know,” Clay told her. “If something similar happens again, would you prefer being taken to your room to talk, if that’s deemed appropriate?”

“Yeah, I suppose that would be preferable to what happened last night,” Norah replied. “I really think what happened was completely uncalled for.”

“I understand that and I appreciate you telling me that, Norah,” Clay told her. “If you want to avoid having that happen again in the future, you will need to calm yourself down and communicate with us. Do you understand? If you get upset and someone holds you to prevent you from being violent and you don’t like it, try to calm yourself down and ask them if you can go to your room or somewhere else where you can calm down. Let them know that you need space and assure them that you won’t become more violent if they let you go. It’s really important that you communicate about what you need, Norah. Even if it’s difficult.”

“Would you have listened to me if I had done that?” Norah questioned.

“I’m pretty sure I would,” Clay told her. “That’s why having conversations like this after something like that happens is so important. We get to know each other a little bit better and what you’re saying right now helps me and the other staff members get a better idea on how to better approach you in the future when you get upset. Different people react differently.”

“I doubt that anyone would appreciate being held down and being drugged like I was,” Norah told him with a frown.

“Some people actually don’t find it as bad as you did,” Clay told her. “And there’s really no right and wrong when it comes to feelings.”

“I don’t understand why anyone would be okay with that,” Norah said with a frown.

“Some people feel safe when they’re being held and feel like they’ve lost control over themselves. Some people who can get really violent and have a history of physically hurting others when they’ve lost control, feel safe when they know that we will stop them from doing that again and that we won’t let go of them until they’ve calmed down,” Clay explained.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Norah replied. “If I thought I would actually hurt someone, I suppose that would be better than actually hurting someone,” she reasoned. “Unless they deserve it, of course,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” Clay asked her with a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Unless they deserve it? Is that what you said? Are you a vengeful person, Norah?”

“I don’t know,” Norah replied. “I think I have more self-control now than I did when I was younger. Because when a girl here punched me the other day, I didn’t punch her back. I definitely thought about doing it, but I didn’t do it. I held back long enough for someone to intervene and help me sort out the situation in a more peaceful way. So I don’t think I’m that vengeful.”

“That’s good to hear,” Clay told her with a smile. “I read about that incident in your records. Apparently, you handled the situation in a very mature way. You showed great compassion for the person who hit you and even requested that the staff should be more lenient with her. That’s really commendable, Norah. I hope you realise that. It shows character and gives a better idea of who you really are as a person,” he praised her, causing her to smile and blush as she avoided his gaze. Then her smile faded a bit as she thought about how she had taken advantage of Lexi by talking with her just to get her hands on her phone to make a call to Sarah. That had been manipulative of her, and that wasn’t really the kind of person she wanted to be. 

“I should really apologise to Lexi for convincing her to give me her phone,” Norah said.

“I believe that’s an excellent idea, Norah. I’m very glad to hear that,” Clay told her with a smile. “I think you will get to learn a lot more about yourself and get a better idea about who you really want to be during your stay here. I realise it must be really difficult for you to be here, but try to see things from the bright side. This is an opportunity for you to grow more independent by facing challenges and eventually make mistakes in a safe environment and learn from them. Some attendants here make really strong friendships, because this situation is in itself very unique and sometimes that brings people closer together. You might make friends for life here, or just for the time you’re here. It doesn’t matter which, because no matter how long the friendships last, they will still be important. Just feeling a connection with other people can in itself be a very healing experience.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Norah told him and put the board game back into its spot on the shelf. “I will try to approach this in a way that takes me forward in life. I’ve been stuck in the same spot for a really long time now and I think it’s time to move forward, so that’s what I’m going to do. Thanks for bringing things into perspective, Clay,” she said and smiled at him before leaving the big common room. Maybe she was overplaying her politeness, because it didn’t feel completely natural, or even that genuine to her. It felt exaggerated, perhaps even sarcastic, but she truly wanted to be able to go horseback riding with James the next day.

The next day, Norah and James sat next to each other in one of the classrooms as usual. Will looked pensively at them from across the room for a long moment before approaching them.

“How’s it going over here?” Will asked them and sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“Fine,” Norah told him with a smile. “We’re planning our research projects. Could we make a bigger project together or does it have to be two separate ones?” she wondered.

“You can make a bigger project together, but you will still have to write your own, individual reports on it. Maybe you could approach the project from different angles. That way it will be like two projects but with more data,” Will suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” James told him. “Because then we can both focus on the aspects we find the most interesting.”

“Which aspects do you find the most interesting?” Will asked James.

“The statistical analysis of the data,” James replied, causing Norah to frown at him.

“Nerd alert,” she teased him.

“That’s how serious research is done, Norah!” James told her.

“Not all research. There are different methods. I want to focus on what people actually say, not only numbers on a screen,” Norah said. “People shouldn’t be reduced to numbers.”

“Then James should have a quantitative approach and you Norah, you should have a qualitative approach,” Will concluded. “When it comes to your strengths and difficulties in different subjects, you really do seem to complement each other,” he reflected and smiled vaguely at the two students as he stood back up. “Good luck on your research project and just let me know if you need any help.”

“Sure, thanks, Will,” James told him with a smile.

Will left the room and was on his way to one of the other rooms used for school work when he saw Doctor Sharpe in the hallway.

“How are they doing education wise?” Doctor Sharpe asked him and nodded towards James and Norah who were visible through the open door from where they were standing.

“Extraordinarily well,” Will told him. “This week, they’ve been like two completely different people compared to last week.”

“In what way?” Doctor Sharpe queried.

“Last week was disastrous. They both kept causing distractions or just stubbornly refusing to do their work, even when I separated them. I even had to give them written warnings, and I usually never do that, because I really don’t like it. I understand that punishment is sometimes necessary, but there’s been so much of it here. Especially for James,” Will said. 

“So they were causing disturbances last week?” Doctor Sharpe asked Will, steering the conversation back to what he really wanted to know about.

“Yeah. That’s why I eventually put them in that room, separating them from the others. To stop them from disturbing the other students who actually tried to focus on their own studies. I don’t think it’s right that one or two students should ruin it for those who do behave, so I thought that would be for the best,” Will explained.

“What happened when you put them together, separated from the other students?” Doctor Sharpe asked him.

“I did that on Monday morning and they actually stopped goofing around and started talking to each other,” Will said. “When I checked on them, I started talking to them too and they actually listened. They gradually started doing their school work after I told them I wouldn’t let them leave the room until they had made some progress,” he continued. “Yesterday, they both did great. I asked James to explain something he was really good at to Norah, and it really helped. She finally got it and was able to work a lot faster after that.”

“So there haven’t been any misendeavours in the classroom this week with those two?” Doctor Sharpe wondered.

“No, none at all,” Will replied. “I get the impression that they keep each other in check. No one wants the other one to get into trouble, so they remind each other to stay focused, or keep their eyes on the price, as they tell each other.”

“Good,” Doctor Sharpe told Will. “It appears that positive reinforcement is more efficient on those two than I anticipated,” he mused. “Can you tell them to come see me in my office when it’s time for their lunch break?”

“Sure,” Will replied before they went separate ways.

Doctor Sharpe agreed to let Norah and James go horseback riding that afternoon, but was very insistent on Norah wearing the same kind of watch that James always had on. Apparently it had a GPS tracker in it and would set off an alarm and send a location signal to the staff if she took it off without having a staff member authorising it on an app first. Reluctantly and feeling a bit uneasy by the degree of surveillance, Norah eventually agreed to wear it. When she questioned whether or not the staff was using the watch to spy on them and eavesdrop on their conversations, Doctor Sharpe had gotten rather impatient with her.

“That kind of surveillance would be highly unethical and not to mention illegal, so no. We don’t listen in on your private conversations, Miss Collins,” Doctor Sharpe had told her. “We’re not refusing you the right to privacy and integrity for as long as we can avoid it. If we deem that an infraction of those rights is in your own best interests, we might limit them to a higher degree, but in that case, you will be informed about it and it won’t be a matter of any covert surveillance of you. The watch is meant to keep you safe, that’s all there is to it. There’s even a button you can press for five seconds that will send a distress signal along with your location to the staff if you end up in a situation where you need some help.”

Norah was sitting next to James in the minivan and fumbled with her watch. She wasn’t used to wearing it, so it felt uncomfortable.

“Whatever you do, don’t take it off,” James advised her. “The alarm signal is really loud and everyone will get pissed off at you.”

Norah sighed and stopped fumbling with the watch around her left wrist. “Have you taken it off a lot of times and set off the alarm?” she asked James.

“More times than I’d like to admit,” James said sheepishly. “Mostly when I’ve been about to take a shower or go to bed. I’ve woken everyone up in the middle of the night several times since I started wearing it. They got so angry with me and must have thought I did it on purpose out of defiance or something, but I truly didn’t. I just forgot about it.”

“Did you never do it on purpose?” Norah asked him with a smile.

“Okay, once. When I was pissed off about something and Doctor Wright wouldn’t stop nagging me about it, I took it off in her office, jumped out the window and ran off into the woods,” James told her. “The look on her face was priceless. It almost made it worth it.”

“I can imagine. What was she nagging you about?” Norah wondered.

“Umm, I ran away and got pretty far before I got pulled over by the police,” James said with an embarrassed smile.

“Pulled over?” Norah questioned with a frown.

“Yeah, the little shit drove off with the van,” Dmitri said from the driver’s seat.

“How did he get the keys?” Norah wondered.

“I pickpocketed them from Dmitri,” James said, causing Norah to laugh.

“You have to teach me how to do that,” Norah told him.

“No, he’s not,” Dmitri told her firmly.

“I meant how to drive, not pickpocket,” Norah clarified.

“He’s not allowed to teach you how to drive a minivan either,” Dmitri informed her. “Legally, he’s not even allowed to drive a minivan himself yet. He should be happy we didn’t file a report for motor vehicle theft against him and managed to convince the officers to let him off with a verbal warning so it wouldn’t end up in their system.”

“I am grateful for that, Dmitri,” James assured the man in the driver’s seat. “I really appreciate what you did for me that day. You know that.”

“It wouldn’t look good for Willow’s Creek if one of their patients got reported for criminal offences when under their care,” Norah pointed out.

“That’s not why I did it, Norah,” Dmitri told her. “I didn’t want James to get his future opportunities ruined. I personally don’t care that much about the facility’s reputation, but I do care about the attendants and their futures.”

“Okay,” Norah replied. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Dmitri. I’m sorry if it sounded like it.”

Norah really enjoyed the time with the horses and experienced something she would describe as a natural high. It was like she could forget all about her troubles for a moment.

When they were heading towards the parking lot by the stables Norah frowned at the sight of Tom standing there talking to Dmitri. She glanced down at her watch confusedly and noted that it was only six PM. He hadn’t been expected to arrive until after seven.

“Hi Norah,” Tom said and walked up to her, taking her in his warm embrace. It was like the wall she had worked so hard to build up for the last couple of days just came crumbling down into pieces the moment she was in his arms. She was safe. “It’s okay, darling,” he hushed her and began walking with her towards his car. “It’s going to be alright, Norah. I’m here.”

Norah sat down in the passenger seat and Tom put the seatbelt on for her when she was just staring blankly out the window through her tearfilled eyes.

“I’m sorry, Tom,” Norah told him after a few minutes of silence between them. “I didn’t mean to cry like that. I know I should be more stoic and not burden the people around me with how I feel.”

“What makes you think I want you to do that? Why would I not want you to let me know how you feel?” Tom questioned confusedly. “I don’t think you’re a burden for showing your emotions, Norah. It’s okay not to be okay. You don’t have to put on a mask for me, darling. Please, don’t do that. I want to know how you truly feel, okay? Just be honest with me about your feelings.”

“Are you going to tell me about what’s going on with Sarah?” Norah asked him.

“We’ll talk about that with Doctor Sharpe when we get back,” Tom told her.

“Has he demanded to be a part of the conversation?” Norah questioned.

“No, I asked him if he could be present when we had that conversation,” Tom replied.

“Why? What’s going on? Is Sarah dead?” Norah asked him anxiously. “Is she dead?!” she shouted at him and pulled the steering wheel, almost causing them to collide with an oncoming car before Tom managed to regain control of the car at the last moment. He pulled over to the side of the road and stared at her in shock.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he yelled at her. “You could have had us both killed! Do you even realise how close that was?! How do you think Sarah would react if we both died?!”

“I didn’t mean to,” Norah told him as tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she said and opened the car door to get out. She went to the side of the road, got down on her knees and threw up. She cried and shivered from the cold. She felt Tom’s arms wrap around her and she leaned into his warm embrace. “I’m so sorry, Tom.”

“Never do that again, okay?” Tom requested, his voice breaking a little. “Don’t do anything dangerous ever again, Norah. We can’t lose you.”

“Okay,” Norah told him.

“Let’s get you settled in the backseat, just in case,” Tom decided as they went back to the car. “I understand that you’re under a lot of pressure, Norah. But what you did just now was really dangerous and completely unacceptable. Do you understand that? Do you understand that the people in the other car could have gotten hurt too?”

“I understand,” Norah told him quietly as she sat down in the backseat. “I don’t know why I did it. I got upset and lost control over myself. I didn’t mean to, Tom. I swear, I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry.”

“I know you’re sorry, Norah,” Tom told her and sighed as he leaned over her to put her seatbelt on. “Let’s not tell Sarah about this.”

“So she’s alive then?” Norah asked him with tears in her eyes.

“Yes, she’s alive, Norah,” Tom assured her. He looked sad for some reason as he looked into Norah’s eyes.

“Then why didn’t you just tell me so?” Norah questioned irritably and looked down at her hands in her lap.

“Because I didn’t really get the time to, Norah,” Tom told her. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t have time to answer your question before you suddenly pulled the steering wheel.”

“I’m sorry, Tom,” Norah said again. “I won’t do it again. I didn’t mean to.”

“I believe you when you say you didn’t mean to do it, Norah. But I’m really concerned about the fact that you did do it,�� Tom told her seriously. “I never thought you would do something like that. I really don’t understand it.”

“Me neither,” Norah told him sadly. “I really don’t know what happened. I have no idea why I did it. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, at least not consciously.”

“Let’s get back to Willow’s Creek and we’ll talk more there, okay?” Tom suggested and she nodded wordlessly in response.

Once they got back to Willow’s Creek and had parked the car, Norah frowned upon noticing that she couldn’t open the car door from the inside. Tom opened it for her from the outside and she stepped out of the car while staring at him like he had lost his mind.

“Did you activate the fucking child lock on me?!” Norah demanded angrily.

“I was worried that you might do something dangerous again,” Tom explained to her.

“I can’t take this anymore!” Norah shouted at him and angrily pulled off the watch and threw it on the ground before running off into the woods to the loud noise from the alarm sounding behind her.

Norah didn’t get far before Tom caught up with her and held her tight in his arms.

“You’re not running off again, Norah,” Tom told her in a collected voice. “I understand this is difficult for you, but you really need to stop running and hiding whenever you’ve done something wrong. If I let you go, will you walk back with me of your own accord?”

“I’ll go with you,” Norah replied and he let her go.

“Where were you headed?” Tom asked as they started walking back towards the building.

“I don’t know,” Norah replied. “Just away, I guess. From everything. But I can’t seem to run away from myself no matter how hard I try. Like everyone else does. Run away from me.”

“People are not running away from you, Norah,” Tom told her. “You are pushing them away or locking them out. We’re not running away from you by taking you here. We’re trying to help you and we’re trying to keep you safe.”

“Safe from what exactly?” Norah questioned as Tom opened the door to the house and stepped inside. He turned around to look at her with concern in his eyes.

“From yourself, Norah,” he said solemnly. “We’re trying to keep you safe from your own self-destructiveness.”

“I’m not that self-destructive, Tom,” Norah told him anxiously. “Please, just take me away from here. I’ll do anything you ask. Please!”

“Come,” Tom told her and she reluctantly walked inside, closing the front door behind her. He gently placed an arm around her shoulders and led her up the stairs. “Are you okay to take a quick shower and change into new clothes?” he asked her once they had reached her bedroom.

“Okay,” Norah told him and mechanically took out a towel, her vanity bag and a change of clean clothes.

“I’ll be downstairs waiting for you,” Tom informed her as she went inside one of the small shower rooms. She didn’t reply, just shut and locked the door.

Norah showered until the water gradually started getting colder and sighed heavily as she turned the water off. It was something that always happened whenever she showered for more than about seven minutes. According to James, it was some kind of setting to prevent them from showering for too long and using up all the hot water. He had also told her that he would sometimes move between the different shower rooms if he wanted a long shower.

Norah sighed heavily as she dried herself on the towel and got dressed. She went back into her room where she hung up her towel on the room divider to dry and dumped her riding clothes into the already full laundry basket.

There was a knock on the door, but Norah didn’t bother to answer it. She just stared at the laundry basket with her back towards the door. She could hear someone open the door and walk inside the room.

“Norah.” It was Dmirtri. He gently grabbed her left hand and put the watch back around her left wrist. “You seem to have dropped this,” he told her with a gentle smile.

“Yeah,” Norah replied with a sad smile as she looked at him. “I didn’t even notice that I dropped it,” she said, eliciting a laugh from Dmitri.

“Everyone else did, though,” Dmitri pointed out with a smile. “Come,” he told her and took her by the hand, leading her through the dining area and to the stairs leading to the ground floor. “You’ll be eating your dinner with Tom and Doctor Sharpe tonight,” he said and brought her to one of the rooms downstairs she hadn’t been in before.

Tom stood up from his seat when she arrived and pulled out the chair next to his for her.

“Come,” Tom told her. Norah reluctantly walked up to him and sat down in the seat.

“What’s going on with Sarah?” Norah asked him, completely ignoring Doctor Sharpe who was sitting across from her.

“Sarah is going to be okay,” Tom told her.

“So she’s not okay right now then,” Norah concluded. “What’s wrong? Is she ill? Is it anything serious? It is, isn’t it? It’s something serious.”

“We’ll get to that,” Tom told her. “But first we really need to talk about what happened earlier. Do you want to tell Doctor Sharpe about it yourself, or should I do it for you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Norah told him dismissively. She felt really frustrated about the situation, about not just being informed about how Sarah was doing.

“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about, Norah,” Tom told her with a frown.

“Does he really have to know? He will only use it against me, Tom,” Norah tried to explain. “That’s what he does. He’s manipulative. He finds ways to use whatever information he has on someone as a weapon against them to get them exactly where he wants them.”

“Norah,” Tom told her seriously and made her look at him. “You’re safe here. Doctor Sharpe is not trying to hurt you or brainwash you in any way, he’s just trying to help you, and in order for him to be able to help you, he needs to know about what happened earlier. It’s better if you tell him about it yourself, Norah.”

“He’s the one who told me to stop being a burden to Sarah by not showing how I truly feel,” Norah said to Tom, causing him to frown slightly and look at the doctor questioningly. Doctor Sharpe didn’t look bothered at all.

“Is this a tactic she often uses? Changing the subject and directing attention at others, away from herself?” Doctor Sharpe asked Tom. “It’s a common tactic called deflection.”

“You’re using deflection yourself right now!” Norah told the doctor angrily.

“I’m not falling for your tricks. I understand that this is all very upsetting to you, but try to calm yourself down, please,” Doctor Sharpe told her. “We can talk about what I said to you later, but first we’re going to finish talking about what Tom just brought up.”

“I’m not falling for your tricks either,” Norah told him irritably. “You’re going to distract us in some way and make us forget all about it.”

“If you don’t trust me, we can write it down,” Doctor Sharpe decided and wrote something down on a paper which he handed over to Tom.

Norah looked at the paper and sighed at his wording. ‘Sort out misunderstanding about being a burden and masking emotions.’

“It’s not a misunderstanding! He’s just trying to smooth things over now that I called him out on what he actually said! He’s a coward and a hypocrite!” Norah said angrily. “Why should I take responsibility for everything I do, when he doesn’t? Isn’t he supposed to be a good role model and teach what he preaches?”

“Aren’t all priests sinners?” Doctor Sharpe asked Norah in return. “We are all flawed and I’ve never claimed to be perfect. We will talk about what I said later. Now, do you want to take this opportunity to tell me yourself about what happened earlier, or do you want Tom to do it for you?”

“I don’t remember what happened,” Norah sighed wearily, pushed her plate of food aside and dejectedly buried her head in her arms resting against the table surface.

“Norah, sit up properly,” Tom told her and pulled her up by the shoulder. “Norah, please,” he said and pulled her closer towards him in a hug. “I love you and I care for you so much. You know that, right?”

“I love you too,” Norah mumbled and hugged him back. “I’m so sorry, Tom. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“I know, darling,” Tom assured her. “I know. It was a mistake and we all make mistakes sometimes. That’s okay. Can you tell him about what happened so he can help us both understand it better?”

“I thought that Sarah might be dead. When I asked Tom about it and he didn’t answer me right away, I pulled the steering wheel,” Norah said and couldn’t bring herself to look at the doctor. “I don’t know why I did it. I know it was dangerous and I wish I hadn’t done it. I can’t really remember why I did it. It felt like it just happened. I got upset, but I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear.”

“How is your memory from that moment?” Doctor Sharpe asked her. “Do you remember pulling the steering wheel, how it felt in your hands?”

“No, I don’t remember that. I just know that I did it, but I don’t really have any sensory memories of it,” Norah told him.

“Was it like a blackout? Do you experience memory loss?” Doctor Sharpe asked her.

“Yeah,” Norah confirmed. “I don’t know what happened. But it’s like I disconnected and I can’t remember it.”

“Okay,” Doctor Sharpe said and wrote something in his notepad. “Thank you for telling me about it. It’s really important that I know things like this so I can help and understand you better. How are you feeling right now? You look sad.”

“What if I would have killed someone?” Norah asked him.

“You didn’t. You need to focus on that and we need to find a way to avoid that anything like that happens again,” Doctor Sharpe told her. Norah had not expected him to be so understanding about it. “Do you want anxiety medication?” he asked her and she nodded in response. Doctor Sharpe reached into his pocket and pulled out two different packages of anxiolytics she was familiar with. “Which one?”

Norah pointed at the one she experienced the most effect from and the doctor took out a pill from the blister pack for her. She immediately took the pill and swallowed it with the cold water from her glass.

“When you pulled off your watch and ran into the woods, was that because you were upset about what happened?” Doctor Sharpe asked her.

“I felt guilty, and angry because Tom activated the child lock on the car door,” Norah explained. “He made me sit in the backseat after the incident and it made me feel diminished. When I noticed the child lock being activated, I lost it.”

“It’s very good that you’re communicating about your feelings right now,” Doctor Sharpe told her. “Can you understand the reasoning behind Tom’s decisions in the situation?”

“I can, but I still don’t like that he did that,” Norah replied.

“Is it because you don’t want to be treated like a child?” Doctor Sharpe asked her and she nodded. “Then what do you need to do to change the dynamics?”

“Act differently. Act more responsibly,” Norah told him despondently. “I’m trying to.”

“Then you need to keep trying. It’s okay to have setbacks. Now it’s time to move forward from that,” Doctor Sharpe told her.

“Okay,” Norah said and was starting to feel really tired. “Can we talk about Sarah now?” she asked urgently. “Please?”

“Are you okay, Norah?” Tom asked her concernedly. “You look exhausted.”

“She really needs to rest,” Doctor Sharpe said as he looked at Norah who was barely able to keep her eyes open.

“Should I come back some other day?” Tom wondered. Norah wanted to protest, but felt so overwhelmingly exhausted that she couldn’t even think straight. “Is this from the meds?” she heard Tom ask the doctor.

“No, they shouldn’t have an effect this quickly. I think she’s exhausted physically and mentally. It’s been a very long day for her,” Doctor Sharpe said and watched as Tom pulled Norah into his arms. “Her being so upset must have taken a lot of energy as well.”

“Is she eating properly?” Tom wondered and frowned slightly as he felt her bones through her clothes. “She appears to have lost weight.”

“I’m not sure. It’s quite possible that she hasn’t eaten enough in relation to how much energy she has been burning. She hasn’t refused or skipped any meals altogether as far as I know,” Doctor Sharpe replied. “I’ll check her physical health status tomorrow when she has rested properly. If it turns out that she hasn’t been able to take enough responsibility regarding her food intake, she will be provided with the extra support she might need for some time before we let her try to do it more independently again,” he explained. “It’s important that she starts taking responsibility and is given the opportunity to show us that she can do that, but the main principle here is freedom under responsibility. So she will be given more restrictions if she can’t act responsibly. It’s for her own good.”

“When it comes to other things than eating, how has she been doing in the last couple of days?” Tom asked Doctor Sharpe.

“I’ll send you a copy of the reports so you can read for yourself, but she has made progress,” Doctor Sharpe informed him. “She’s actually thriving with her school work, which you can read about in Will’s report. Socially, she’s been showing that she can take responsibility and show compassion for someone who has done her wrong, which you can read about in Max’s report. She’s also learning very fast how to take care of and ride horses, which you can read about in Peo’s and Dmitri’s reports.”

“That sounds great,” Tom said and looked down at Norah who appeared to have fallen asleep in his arms. “How does she seem to be doing emotionally?”

“It’s difficult to tell. I just took over this section and I really don’t know her all that well yet,” Doctor Sharpe explained as he noted how small Norah looked in Tom’s embrace. “She appears to feel safe around you, like she can let her guard down when she’s with you,” he commented. “But she also seems to regress a little around you. She’s acting younger and making herself small both physically and mentally. There’s a change in her body language and mannerism from how I’m used to seeing her. Maybe she sees you as some sort of father figure. Would you say that you tend to be a bit paternal with her?”

“I’m trying not to be,” Tom replied, seemingly a bit self-conscious about it. “But I suppose that I am sometimes. Especially when she acts out and does dangerous things.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s quite a natural response. Some people, like Norah in your case, have a tendency to bring out that side in others. Some people subconsciously give other people, in this case you, the role of being a caregiver. Just like she’s given me the role of being a villain,” Doctor Sharpe told him. “It’s just that it would probably be better for her independence if you both tried to change your dynamics. It’s easy to become a caregiver with someone who is ill in some way, and sometimes you need to do that. But maybe while she’s here, you let us be her caregivers and you try to focus on being her friend and brother in law.”

“That’s what I want to be for her,” Tom said. “I want to be more like a friend and a peer, rather than like a parent to her. I don’t want to feel the need to put my foot down and correct her when she’s acting out, and I don’t want to make her feel small. I want her to feel more confident and independent. I want her to take responsibility so I can feel that I can trust her.”

“That’s good,” Doctor Sharpe replied and looked at the sleeping figure in Tom’s arms. She truly looked child-like at this point. “Let us work on that then.”

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