#im running away in a zig zag pattern

[hockeypuckk]

like and run away. run far. as far as you can. run. run!!!!!

[timeoutforthee]

Like it or Not-Chapter 16

Taglist: @itsausernamenotafobsong, @sea-blue-child, @iaminmultiplefandoms, @princeanxious, @uwillbeefoundtonight, @zaidiashipper, @arandompasserby, @levyredfox3, @falsett0, @error-i-dunno-what-went-wrong, @scrapbookofsketches, @podcastsandcoffee, @helloisthisusernametaken, @amuthefunperson, @michealawithana, @yamihatarou, @heck-im-lost, @unlikelynightmareconnoisseur, @idkaurl, @bubblycricket, @fnp-alizay,

Summary: Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil are all struggling in their recovery. Their doctors, Thomas Sanders and Emile Picani think they can help each other out.

Aka Group Therapy AU

Trigger Warnings: overexercising, ignorance

Roman creates like it’s the cure for his sickness.

He isn’t sure what his sickness is, if it’s the eating disorder that weighs him down, if it’s all the darkness swirling in his head that he pretends isn’t there, if it’s the smog in his environment that feels like poison in his mouth every time he breathes it in. Whatever it is, he feels like if he has something-a pen, some markers, a script, something-then he can hit the ground running and leave it in the dust.

“So I have one good coping skill?” he asked Picani when they first started working together.

“Hey,” he replied, “It’s more than some people have.”

Ever since he cut theater out of his life, he had felt a sort of emptiness. It was almost as if he had been holding on to something for years, and he finally let it go. He didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, he didn’t have time for a moment of emptiness, or of silence.

Which lead them to the current discussion.

“Does your aunt always pick you up late?”

Logan and Patton had already left, leaving Virgil and Roman alone. Usually the group would be too emotionally exhausted to talk after a session, but for some reason, the silence seemed unacceptable today.

“Uh, actually,” Virgil lifted his hand to rub his neck. “My aunt is right there.” He jerked his head in a general direction. Roman looked over and squinted. There was one woman sitting in a silver car. Even from a distance, Roman could see that she and Virgil had similar ice blue eyes.

“Then why don’t you…?”

Virgil groaned, “Like, don’t make it a thing? I just like to make sure you guys get into your cars okay.”

“Wait, so you wait for us to get in our cars and drive off before you go home.”

“I said don’t make it a thing. You’re making it a thing.”

“I didn’t make it a thing, I think it just is a thing,” Roman tried to hide a smirk, but he couldn’t help it, “You secretly looooove us.”

Virgil groaned and tugged his hood down over his eyes. “Can you not?”

“I’m telling Patton.”

“I will leave you, I swear-”

“Noooo, don’t leave me alone,” Roman says.

“Yeah, where are your parents anyway?”

“I guess they’re busy,” Roman says, and there’s a little, anxious voice in his head that whispers they forgot you which is stupid. And he knows it’s stupid. So why is it not going away. “They’ll be here soon.”

As if on cue, a loud horn blares from the opposite side of the parking lot. Virgil jumps (just Virgil, definitely not Roman, nope.) and turns his head. A tall, muscular guy gets out of a stupidly shiny red car and waves at Roman. He waves back, even though his eyebrows are furrowed.

“Who-?”

“That’s my oldest brother, Maximus,” Roman says, cutting him off.

“That’s your brother?”

“One of them, yeah,” Roman shrugs, “Aw, guess I can no longer grace you with my presence.”

“Tragic,” Virgil deadpans, turning to head to his aunt’s car.

Roman walks over to Max, wrinkling his eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?”

“Good to see you too, baby bro.”

“Please don’t call me that,” there’s no bite to it. Max knows Roman doesn’t mind and Roman knows Max won’t stop calling him that. It’s been that way for as long as Roman was actually a baby.

They both get into the car. Roman glances up to the window and sees Virgil pulling away. He sends him a quick wave, and Virgil throws him a little two finger salute back.

“So you’re...making friends at your…” Max does a little circle with his hand.

“What is that?”

“You know...the…” Now he’s making a zig zag pattern.

“You’re making no sense. If you’re trying to ask if I’m making friends at group therapy, yes.”

Max lets out a breath, as if he’s grateful that part of the conversation is over.

“So what are you doing here?”

“You know, I do sometimes just want to check on you guys, you know.”

He really means check on you but neither of them need to say it.

Max is a personal trainer at a gym one town over, putting him basically forty five minutes away. The whole family knows this, because it was something their mother obsessed over when he was moving. People said she did such a good job raising her sons, especially since they wanted to stay close.

So Max and the other oldest, Alexander, stayed close by and visited on the weekends. Key word being “weekends” and not picking Roman up during his therapy appointment. In fact, everyone in his family preferred to stay far, far away from his sessions.

“So, did you draw the short straw this week?”

“What?”

“Well, I assume, since it’s a such a harrowing task, that everyone gets together and draws straws behind my back to see who’s stuck taking me to and from therapy. Did you lose this week?”

“That’s not fair, Roman,” Max says, in the same voice their father uses, “Of course it’s not fun. Do you even like it?”

Roman, for once, keeps his mouth shut. He feels like this is a trick. Say yes and they’ll think he’s going because he enjoys it. Say no and it’s a perfect segue into “great! Guess you don’t have to go anymore!”

Max sighs, and steadies himself, as if he’s been dreading what comes up next.

“You’re my baby brother, Ro. I just wanted to check and make sure you’re okay,” he pauses, “Are you okay?”

Roman turns to look at him, but Max keeps his eyes on the road. So, Roman summons his brightest smile, and just says “Of course!”

^

“You know, they’ve started yoga classes at the gym,” Max tells everyone at dinner, “It’s really enlightening, and we can take part for free.”

His dad scoffs and he frowns at him. “I mean it, Dad. It’s really cool.”

“Oh, are you opening your chakras?” Philip asks sarcastically, taking a bite of his steak.

“No, but I’m practicing mindfulness and being aware of the present-”

“You can be plenty aware of the present without yoga,” his dad says. Max sighs. He’s not winning this argument, and it’s not worth fighting, so he lets it drop.

“Any interesting clients?” his mom asks, quick to change the subject.

“Well, I’ve gotten a few people in, just some people who started school recently and want to drop ten or so pounds,” he pauses, “But actually...there’s this girl who I’m training.”

“Yes?” his mom prompts.

“She’s recovering from an eating disorder.”

Suddenly, Roman is choking. His family turns to stare at him, which makes everything worse, so he tries to drown the tomato he just swallowed whole with water. After a while, it works.

“You were saying?” he asks, voice strained.

“Huh? Oh, yeah-so this girl has been struggling with extreme dieting a binge eating and such her entire life, and a year or so ago it escalated into anorexia. She’s just now been allowed to start exercising again, and we have to really ease her into it.”

“Why?” his dad asks, “You know what they say-dive in head first, sink or swim.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just what you say,” Max jokes, “But her body has been neglected for so long that she really needs to build her strength back up. If we help her do that, then she can keep growing. If we just push her in, she won’t be strong enough to ‘swim’.” Max does air quotes around that last word.

“Hm. Tragic how girls can get to that point,” his mom says, taking a bite of her steak.

“Always did find that strange,” his dad adds, “You really wanna know a girl, then take her on a first date to an all you can eat buffet. She gets some steak, she’s a keeper. She wants a salad, she ain’t worth it.”

Roman is suddenly very self conscious of his own little salad. But it doesn’t matter, because no one is looking at him.

“So,” Philip says, leaning back and looking at Max, “Anyway I could convince you to help me out on some workouts? I need to get ready for football. The coach has some workouts for us, but you know. They don’t really compare to one on one.”

“Sure, I can spare an hour or two.”

“You want to get in on that, Roman?” his dad asks, raising his eyebrows, “You don’t have theater anymore, you could always sign up for-”

“I don’t think I’m going to sign up for anything,” Roman says quickly, cutting him off, “But I would like to join, if you guys don’t mind.”

“Sure,” Philip says, shrugging.

Roman turns to see Max staring at him. Not just staring at him, analyzing him, with narrowed eyes.

“Uh, earth to Max?” Roman smiles, and he hopes it’s as dazzling as it always is. Max blinks and shakes his head.

“Of course,” he says, but his eyes are still burning into Roman’s.

^

When Roman can’t create, he destroys.

He pounds away at the punching bag in his family’s home gym, until it shakes.

“Baby bro,” and why is Max’s voice so gentle? So quiet? “You need to slow down.”

“Maybe,” Roman says, accenting every word with a punch, “You. Need. To. Catch. Up.”

Suddenly, the punching bag is moved back, out of his reach.

“Hey!”

“Try some weights,” Max says.

Roman doesn’t want to try weights. The thing with weights is you could clearly see the numbers. He knew he wouldn’t be on the level of Philip, who needed to stay in shape all summer for football, or Max who was a personal trainer for a living so all he would see was how he was less than, less than, less than.

Instead, he got on the treadmill, and ran. He could hear Max through his headphones, lecturing him about a proper warmup and increasing slowly, and just to spite him, he pushed the button as high as he could stand it.

He could not create, so he tried to outrun. Outrun the sickness, the darkness, the poison. But as his sneakers hit the ground, he knew he wasn’t really going anywhere.

[dramallamadingdang]

Before-bed replies. :)

For @emeraldfalconsims, @tamtam-go92, @scibirg, @didilysims, @penig, @ssatinn, @immerso-sims, and @fuzzyspork...

emeraldfalconsims replied to your link “ModTheSims - (Updated!) Mood Swing + Midlife Crisis”

Tbh, I looked at those and was immediately turned off by the terrible English in the popups. I wouldn't care if it was just the post itself, but I'm the kind of person who wants mods to fix the EAxis grammar errors, soooo...

I get you, but...Really, that's all easily fixable. One just needs to find and rewrite the text strings. I've done that often, especially when I used to use custom careers in my game, many of which included chance cards littered with badly-worded and grammatically-incorrect text written by obviously-not-native-English-speakers. This particular modder is obviously not a native English-speaker and obviously not fully fluent in the language, but I'm all kinds of tolerant when that's the case. With EA? Not so much, but even with them? We all make mistakes and typos from time to time that are missed in the editorial process, even when that process involves multiple people. Also, I'm well aware that my own grammar when yakking online and in forum/blog posts and things like that is far from perfect -- often deliberately so because, let’s face it, “speaking” with perfect grammar just “sounds” weird and/or unbearably pretentious -- so I try to be neither a pedant nor a hypocrite on the subject.

Anyway, yeah...Text strings be totes fixable, m'friend. ;)

tamtam-go92 replied to your link “ModTheSims - (Updated!) Mood Swing + Midlife Crisis”

Those Sound like really great Modus but im always a bit nervous about adding stuff like that to my game...

I am, too, mostly because I already use hundreds of mods in my game, so the outcome of adding new ones, especially those that alter lots of things, is always uncertain. 

So, what I do is have a testing neighborhood that I don’t care about. Its associated downloads folder contains a copy of just the Mods folder from my “real” game. I put the new mod in and play with it a bit in debug mode, see if I get error messages or if menu options go missing or any other stuff that’s a symptom of mod conflicts. If I do, I change loading order to see if that fixes the issues. If it does, then I copy the testing Mods folder back over to the folder in my “real” game. If it doesn’t, then I either don’t use the new mod or, if it’s something I really want, I run the Hack Conflict Detection Utility to see if it can tell me what the conflicting mod(s) is/are, and then I decide which I want more. And if the HCDU doesn’t give me any useful info, then I 50/50 until I find the conflicts and then decide between mods. Anyway, this way I find out if I can use the new mod along with those I already have without the possibility of doing any damage to any neighborhood I care about.

tamtam-go92 replied to your photoset “More random captioned pics because, basically, this is a household...”

Hopefully the girls will be old enough when Amalia dies...

Margo was like a day or two away from teenhood when those pics were taken, so no problem. :)

scibirg replied to your post “I'm excited about the olympics too! Especially ski jumping. I love to...”

Did you see the ladies ski jumping? Brave girls!

Honestly, most of the winter events involve bravery. Well, except curling, I guess. *laugh* I guess the worst that can happen with that is you drop a 40-lb rock on your foot or maybe slip and fall on your butt. :) And I guess the cross-country skiing is more physically-taxing than actually dangerous. And I guess the figure skating isn’t that risky, although some of those things that the pairs skaters do look more than a little scary for the female partner. But yeah, the ski-jumpers and downhill skiers and sliders and speed-skaters and snowboarders are all completely nutty in adrenaline-junkie ways that I totally identify with. :D

scibirg replied to your post “dunne-ias replied to your post: I’m excited about...”

Slalom is from Norwegian, meaning ski track with turns. In Norwegian cross-country skiing is called "langrenn" meaning long slide. Probably due to it being used for travelling long distances.

ssatinn replied to your post “dunne-ias replied to your post: I’m excited about...”

We call Nordic skiing "längdskidor" - direct translation would be "long ski". Alpine skiing we call "slalom", no idea where that word comes from though..

Hm, interesting! So in Swedish, any type of downhill skiing is called “slalom?” Because in English that word is reserved for the type of downhill skiing where you’re zig-zagging in a pattern through gates -- as the Norwegian word would imply -- not the kind where you’re just shooting straight down the hill. Or does Swedish have a different word for that, too?

I don’t know why I find stuff like this so interesting, but I do. :) Maybe I shoulda been a linguist or something...

didilysims replied to your post “I'm excited about the olympics too! Especially ski jumping. I love to...”

Woo Olympics! I find just watching the events gives me an adrenaline rush. Watching luge reruns today had me all "oh my-ing" and "oh no-ing" and actually jumping out of my seat a few times. Love those crazy dangerous downhill events. :D

OMG, that poor American luge-slider today! Did you see that? Quite the wipeout she had. Even so, I sooooooooooooooo want to luge. Like, if I could just go and do it once, like how people go skydiving, I totally would. Buuuuuut I suppose it’s something you actually have to learn how to do before you lay on a minimalist sled and zoom down a track of ice at ungodly speeds... :)

emeraldfalconsims replied to your post “I'm excited about the olympics too! Especially ski jumping. I love to...”

It's too bad that marksmanship is so tied in practical applications to killing. It was so empowering for me when I discovered a sport I was actually naturally good at.

That's not really the case, though. I mean, maybe it is in the mind of Joe Q. Public that's been fed a daily diet of crazy people killing other people mixed with glamorized violence in "entertainment," but beyond that, the practical application of marksmanship isn't killing (either people or other animals) but rather marksmanship competitions. Aside from niche things like biathlon, there are all sorts of local, regional, state, and national marksmanship competitions that happen throughout the year, regulated by their own governing bodies. I used to do 3-gun competitions, myself. 

Marksmanship isn't about killing anything because when you get down to it, hunting animals -- or even killing a person, if that’s your goal for whatever reason -- doesn't require sharpshooting levels of accuracy, certainly not with automatic weapons. (With those, you just kind of squeeze the trigger and try to hold on while pretending the thing is a garden hose. I don’t like them; I like precision.) Killing just requires doing enough damage, and you can do that without being at all accurate. Marksmanship's about consistent accuracy, often under pressure. Which can have applications in killing things, and can make you better at killing things (ideally things that are legal to kill, of course) but that's not what it's about. I wish more people would realize that. And I wish the NRA would GTFO, but that’s an entirely different subject.

penig replied to your post “Do you know why some custom doors and arches doesn't work in apartment...”

Custom content that was made before AL came out doesn't update and confuses the already-confused apartment code. To reduce annoyance I tend to use Maxis doors and arches inside exclusively. Windows are no problem.

Good to know. :) I guess I never really noticed because I don’t build apartments all that often. Mostly because I think furnishing them is mind-numbingly boring. :) And even when I do build them, I mostly use Maxis interior doors, often add-ons like centered-on-two-tile versions of a Maxis door, but since those use Maxis coding, I’m guessing they don’t present a problem in this regard.

immerso-sims replied to your post “The feel-good song meme. :)”

Thanks. I tried searching for happy songs in my iTunes collection, but I realised I am a total sad/dark/melancholic/whatever songs lover, so I'll pass on the meme :D

HAH! :) But hey, if a sad/melancholy song makes you feel better, I suppose that actually counts as a feel-good song! :)

fuzzyspork replied to your post “Big long reply post about...lots of stuff”

I've had both the high witches (excluding the neutral one because they are apparently very anti-social) on a community lot at the same time several times. If a Sim interacts with whichever arrives first then when enough time passes the other witch will usually show up. I think they must have negative relationship by default, so I've seen them fight! Fisticuffs style though. This is where magic would have been awesome. :/

Really? I don’t think I’ve ever had more than one high witch on a community lot, even when I’ve had playable stay on them for multiple days at a time, like when I send them on a weekend camping trip or what-have-you. Maybe it’s because I pretty much never have Sims interact with the high witches, since I use other means to have Sims become witches? Maybe I should try interacting with them... Although if there’s just fisticuffs as opposed to zapping each other with magic, I suppose there’s not much point. Then it’s just yet another fight between non-playables.

[absyoung55]

It's Not Worth It

Part 2 

Part 1

 A/N: I threw the Scottish accent out the window sorry.

The jeep ride was silent both Stiles and Y/N seething with anger. “Aren’t you supposed to be at a party?” Y/n glared at Stiles “I saw you leave Heathers Birthday party. Why were you there?” Stiles kept his eyes on the road but was gesturing spasticly “I was there to protect You” Y/N mumbled propping her elbow on the window ledge and putting her hand in her face “protect me from who!? My friends?!” Stiles screamed at you “Your friends weren’t the only ones there!” You snapped at him. “Yeah I know YOU were there” Stiles looked at you for just a second his expression one of hatred. His comment boiled your blood your fists heated and glowed red hot you held them up to not burn anything. You had saved that fucking girls life. You had allowed Heather to live you could have let the Darach take her. But she was Stiles friend.

At Heather’s party: Y/N had followed Scott and Stiles trailing behind out of ear shot so Scott couldn’t hear you. Or smell you. You observed a short blonde girl kiss Stiles you nearly burned the front door down peeking through the side window. Then they left Scott and disappeared into the house the girl reaked of lust. You could smell Stiles a mile away his chemo signals off the charts. Y/N rounded the corner of the house to peek through a window and there it was. A hideous human being no lips to cover her teeth nor eyelids to cover her bright blue eyes her face mauled and scared. Power rolled off her, supernatural Power, a power you had felt before a long time ago. She was a Darach. Once a druid but was now on a dark path. She started messing with the girl alone in the cellar. A growl ripped through your chest and the thing turned you couldn’t tell if she was shocked at your presence. She waved her arms about; to use her power on you. Y/N crouched and your own power burned bright your eyes glowing violet locked on the hideous thing. Springing forward on your heals you tackled the disgusting thing, wrestling her to the ground straddling her you gripped her forearms and shoved your knee into her wind pipe and incinerated her. Within minutes the Darach was a pile of ash. The blonde girl was released from its spell. Just then Stiles returned with something, and the girl screamed at him and stomped away. Stiles followed after her trying to understand what happened in the 5 minutes he was gone. You kicked around the pile of ashes to make sure there was no evidence of murder. Then you looked around for witnesses thankfully there were none. That’s when you heard it. An Alphas howl. Loud and strong really strong. Curiosity consumed you, Scott could protect the Stiles right? With that comfort you headed to the source of the Alpha cry.

Back To Now:

 “Stiles pull the fuck over NOW” I was furious. My fists burst into flames as Stiles swerved to the side of the road “ What are you gonna do WALK home?! woah.” Stiles was just as furious until he saw my blazing fists. “A-are you okay whats happening?” my eyes glowed violet and I stared at his heat signature “ I dont have control” what is happening I’ve never lost control. Black stripes zig-zagged across my body. I slammed open the Jeep door and fell into the gravel on the side of the road. My claws dug into the cool rocks charring them upon touch. My tail whipped wildly around my legs. I felt pressure on my back and I looked up, Stiles had gotten out of the Jeep and was in the ditch besides me. “ Y/N look at me” I met his eyes “Calm down” like a well trained dog I obeyed, the glow left my eyes and slowly the black stripes receded. God damn what is this boy doing to me? I collapsed on to the gravel, earning a laugh from Stiles. “I have a way with calming out of control werewolves” Stiles looked at his finger nails and pretended to shine them on his hoodie, I rolled my eyes and rose from the gravel. “Im not a werewolf, I’m part werewolf part werelion with a whole mess of complicated” I put my hand on my hip and z snapped my fingers. It was Stiles turn to roll his eyes, I smirked at him. We both got back into the jeep, “Hey um so whats with the flames I mean Scott doesnt have flames… and Malia definitely doesnt have flames..” I looked down at my lap playing with my fingers, I peeked over at Stiles, He was looking at the road then me then the road then back to me. “well its a long story” we just then pulled into his drive way. I pretty much lived at the Stilinski house the sheriff, even though I was thousands of years older, treated me like a daughter, I loved Stiles, I tried to love him like a son, considering our age but its difficult, so right now I’m settling for friends/ roommates, It wasn’t hard to convince the sheriff and Stiles to let me stay with them, I cleaned, cooked, did laundry fixed things, and worked on the jeep. In return I slept on their couch. Stiles shut off the jeep and turned to look at me “Well we have all night” I looked at him in disbelief that he wanted to know. Stiles hopped out of the Jeep and opened the door for me. “Thank you sir” I sarcastically hopped out of the jeep “M'Lady” Stiles pretended to tip a hat. We walked side by side up the side walk and I shuffled to the side so Stiles could unlock the front door. Once we were inside I felt awkward, “I dont know where to start…” I plopped down onto the couch and Stiles sat quietly next to me. “I guess start at the beginning” Stiles shrugged his shoulders. I let out a long heavy sigh “well my father was a bitten werewolf and my mother was a purebred born Lowenmensch- er werelion. My mom was an alpha but she died giving birth to me so I was actually born an alpha. My mother’s sister; who was not a werelion, but a banshee, raised me because my father hated me for killing my mother and wanted to kill me to become an alpha. Anyway Lowenmensch are different we um this is kinda bad, but most Lowenmensch only live on a diet of pineal glands,” I looked over at Stiles to see his reaction but he had a neutral expression “its a part of the brain Stiles..“ I searched his face for disgust but there was none. “I’ve heard of worse Y/N” Stiles slowly reached over and took my hand in his and began running his thumb over my knuckles. “Don’t worry about what I think it doesn’t matter” Stiles attempted to comfort me “ Stiles what you think means the world to me ….” I couldnt look at him so I looked at the floor memorizing the pattern of the wood. “But why?” Stiles sounded concerned “it’s a part if my story if you want me to continue…” I looked up at Stiles and he raised his eyebrows and nodded his head for me to continue “I lived with my Aunt until she passed away when I was 20 years old, she died from a mysterious disease at the time but now I know it was a vitamin c diffidence. Anyway she wanted me to have her pineal gland be my first and it was, after eating it my senses were heightened, my roar was more powerful, and my eyes glowed purple and I came to learn that I could heal the sick and wounded. After she was gone for a few weeks my father came looking for me. When he found me his intentions were clear, he was going to kill me. He never even laid a finger on me my roar scared him into submission, and I never saw him again. I stopped ageing at about 18 so when I turned 50 and still looked like a teenager I knew I had to leave my village before they lit the torches” Stiles laughed and let go of my hand and relaxed into the couch “I left Scotland and traveled to Europe, my first stop was to help the tribes build Stonehenge. Then I made my way to Rome, I fought in the Colosseum and became an undefeated champion. They moved me to Greece to fight their gladiators and beasts. Thats where I met Plato and Aristotle and started studying to be a philosopher. Eventually I had to leave Greece because of the apples.” Stiles looked confused “apples?” He lifted an eyebrow at me and I laughed a little “at the time to throw an apple at a woman was a propose of marriage, I was young and beautiful then so I was constantly bombarded with apples” Stiles looked like he wanted to say something, he opened and closed his mouth a few times searching for words “you still are young and beautiful” Stiles mashed his lips together and looked at the ground “thank you Stiles” I leaned over so my face was under his as he looked at the floor a huge smirk plastered on my face. He thought I was beautiful. “No problem” Stiles smiled crookedly. “After Greece was the renaissance so that was horrible, I spent weeks painting with artists all over Europe specifically I was an assistant to Michelangelo painting the Cappella Magna - er Sistine Chapel. I was the one who would bring him meals and more paint and other disgusting things I don’t want to talk about.” I shuddered and Stiles gave me a look “Chamber pots” and that’s all I had to say for his eyebrows to shoot up. “Anyway I moved around a lot, I never really connected with anyone until my first visit to Beacon Hills. There was a Phoenix here at one time, phoenix are evil creatures they set anything the touch on fire they look pretty much like burnt crispy zombies, I murdered one of the last ones in front of a little boy it was going to kill, after the phoenix died I took its pineal gland. Since then I’ve had a problem with my temper and my animal transformed into a tiger, and I have an affinity for fire.” Stiles hand had settled on my clothed thigh. “You saved someone? From the phoenix?” I felt a sadness weigh on my heart “I only wish I had been there sooner to stop others from loosing their lives, I only saved one boy” Stiles stood up “One boy can make all the difference that one boy could have grown up to do amazing things” you thought about Elias …. Elias wow I am so stupid Elias was the man from your squad in Vietnam “Elias Stilinski” the name left your lips the same time the front door opened. “Hey dad how was work” Noah entered the house “Boring but I’m not complaining” I stood suddenly startling both of them “Noah, … were you named after anything?” The wheels kept turning in my head pieces clicking into place “My father named me Noah after his sergeant that lead him through Vietnam untouched He said he was the most noble and selfless man he had ever met and hoped I would be like him his name was Noah..” “O'Mally” both boys looked at you “the men always called me Ma'am” both boys faces were shocked and their jaws fell slack “Elias. How is Elias I know he’s not dead” I looked at Noah hopeful “He’s.. He’s… growing old effects everyone different” I nodded my head slowly a tear escaped and rolled down my cheek and I wiped it away and sniffled. “He is a good man I ran into him a few times in life, Stiles he was the boy I saved from the phoenix.” Stiles looked at his dad and his dad stared at Stiles. “My father named me after You?” I laughed really hard so hard I crumpled to the floor clutching my gut. I heard Stiles snicker and I looked up to Noah with a grin plastered on his face. 

 I made spaghetti for supper the whole time I was cooking Stiles and I talked I told him all about little Derek and Vietnam with his grandfather how I left the Hales and came back and they were gone and what I had done after to cope then I got to the part with Lydia “Stiles something happened to me that night,” I let out a heavy sigh “have you ever heard of an imprint” I stirred the noodles “You mean like a baby duckling when it hatches?” I giggled “well sort of, a werewolf imprint works differently, it’s kinda like you’ve found your soul mate you would do anything for them you would die for them, it’s an extreme kind of love.” I looked at Stiles he was looking down lost in thought his bottom lip trapped between his teeth with his eyebrows mashed together. “It’s very rare and only happens every thousands of years… It’s happened to me… I- I imprinted … on you.”

[diddlesanddoodles]

DUMPLING (g/t fantasy)

CHAPTER TWELVE

She had the feeling that perhaps it would be wise to be somewhat, even just a little, concerned about her current state and its potential ramifications, but whatever had been put into her tea was making her feel just so fantastic and dandy, she was having a difficult time caring. 

Her muscles demanded to move, her mind was abuzz, and she just wanted to run around and find a big hill to roll down. But since she found herself in the tunnels inside a giant castle, she did the next best thing. Running to one wall and pushing off from it and running to the other wall in a vaguely zig-zag pattern. Jae was muttering to himself behind her, but she mostly ignored him, not understanding what he had to be so glum about.

Why wasn’t he having as much fun as she was? Maybe he should have put some of that purple stuff in his tea too.  

“Turn right,” Jae instructed when the came to a new corridor. She hoped into the new tunnel with a laugh and heard him curse and mumbled behind her. “...what the hell was in that potion?”

“I do not know!” Nenani replied, twirling in place. “But it’s fun!”

“So fun,” Jae replied sarcastically and shook his head. “Especially when Farris sees you.”

When at last they reached the door to the kitchens, Jae stopped her and placed his hands on both of her shoulders to keep her still. He looked at her with a serious expression. “Okay, kiddo. Here’s the thing. I’m gonna pop in first and...explain things. I need you to stay inside here for a bit...and try not to bounce away. Can you manage that?”

“Okay!” she giggled.

Jae glared at her dubiously and hung his head, resigned. “Alright,” he breathed. “Here goes nothing.”

He pushed the door open just a bit and slipped through. The smell of food wafted in through the crack, the familiar and increasingly comforting smell of bread and cooking meat. She was mildly surprised at her lack of appetite. Usually she was starving by now. Maybe it had something to do with the potion?

After a moment, Nenani heard Avery’s voice call out, muffled by the door. He sounded annoyed.

“There ya are! Dammit, Jae. Cuttin’ it a bit close ain’t ya?”

“Wait a bit,” said Kol. “Where’s the Dumplin’?”

“O-okay,” began Jae, stammering. Not a great start. “So...I can explain.”

There was a series of rapid shifts, the squealing of wood on stone, and several angry stomps.

“Where is she?” Avery sounded very unhappy.

“First off: don’t get your pants all in a twist. She’s perfectly fine!” Jae was not very good at keeping the panic out of his voice.

“Again, lad,” Avery growled. “Where. Is. She?”

“Just here,” replied Jae, his nerves beginning to show in earnest now. “But...you should know. She’s a bit more...bubbly than before.”

“If you don’t bring her out right now,” growled Avery. “Yer gonna become intimately acquainted with the inside of a roasting pan, ya little fucker.”

Jae scrambled back inside the tunnel and grabbed Nenani by the arm and pulled her close. “Do me a favor and convince them not to eat me, please? I’m very allergic to being dead.”

“Okay!” she giggled and then wondered why Jae was not laughing at his own joke. It was a good one.

Jae pushed her through the door, standing behind her as though she were some sort of shield. Both Avery and Kol were standing near the hearth mantle, their angry and worried faces filtering away once she stepped into view. Bart was hanging back at the far end of the table with Herit and Quinn, arranging plates and breads onto trays and such. Several well dressed footmen stood nearby. They had all paused in their work to watch. Nenani waved at them.  

“So what’s all the fuss over?” Avery said. “She looks fine.”

“Right!” Jae agreed with alacrity. “She’s perfectly fine. See?”

Nenani giggled and raised her hands above her head. “Jae says that you please not eat him because I am fine!”

Kol’s face dropped into bewilderment and Avery quirked an eyebrow.

“Uh-huh..?” Avery asked. His expression was very funny. Nenani snickered, covering her face and bouncing on her heels.

“I mean...uh,” she said, “I don’t know what I mean. But don’t be mad at Jae!”

“...you feeling alright there, Dumplin’?” Kol asked, real concern peppering his voice. “Ya seem a bit...loopy.”

“I feel,” she said, her light bouncing turning into a spin. “...great! Oops...” Her foot met empty air and she fell off the mantle. Thankfully Kol’s reflexes served him well and he reached out and caught her.  

“FUCKIN’ SHIT!” Avery cursed.

Kol looked down at the breathlessly giggling human girl in his hands and then up to the very alarmed young human standing stiff on the mantle with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open in shock. “IS SHE BLOODY FUCKING DRUNK?!”

“NO!” Jae yelled, matching the baker’s volume. And then paused, seeming to consider it. “Actually...”

“YOU GAVE HER ALCOHOL?”

“No! Maevis did!”

Both Avery and Kol looked horrified. “WHAT?!” they chorused.

“Ugh, what I mean is – Fuck. No! It’s wasn’t alcohol! It was a potion!”

If there was any way of calming the two giants down from their fury, that was certainly not the right way to go about it. Avery looked like he was trying very hard not to break something and Kol was starring flaming daggers at the young human.

“Why... the fuck,” he said. “...did that loony old git...give the Dumplin’... LOOPY JUICE?!”

Jae opened his mouth to defend himself but only managed to stammer out a string of nonsense. So Nenani decided to help out.

“I was sleepy and Maevis was nice and put some pretty purple stuff in my tea to make me not sleepy,” she explained. “But it made the tea taste gross and kind of ruined it. Maevis makes really yummy tea!”

Kol shifted his grip on her and held her up to his face, conflicting emotions shifting his expression from worried to very mad to something along the lines of possible amusement.

“He’s also gonna get a right arse kickin’,” Avery growled and then turned to Jae who had been trying to disappear through the door. “Oi! Where’dya think yer goin’? Yer gonna explain this shit to Farris ya fucker!”

Jae leaped into the tunnels with a yelp with Avery reaching an arm in after the human. “No I’m not!”

The giant cursed as he pulled his arm out, sans human, and angrily slammed the stone door closed. He turned to face Kol and shook his head as though in shock. “I’m gonna kill ‘im. I mean it. I think I’m actually pissed enough to kill ‘im this time.”

“Get in line,” Kol muttered. They were distracted from their anger by the sound of Bart loosing his composure and laughing loudly from the other side of the table.

……………………………

“I got it!” Kol exclaimed, clapping his hands. He and Avery were standing side by side at the table with Nenani standing between them on the table’s surface, pulling and twirling Kol’s apron strings. “Okay, so she’s all hyped up on magic loopy juice, bouncing around and giggling like a fucking idiot.”

“Yup.”

“And we need her to not be all hyped up, bouncy, and giggly, right?”

“Right.”

“So, we burn off all that energy, tire her out. Before Farris comes back.”

“Brilliant idea,” drawled Avery with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Why did I not think of that?”

“Shuddup and fuckin’ watch,” Kol snarled. He tilted his head down to see Nenani spinning his apron strings, laughing to herself. He gently pulled the strings from her hands, ignoring her disappointed moan, and bent down to peer at her. “Okay, Dumplin’. We’re gonna play a game, alright?”

She nodded, bouncing up and down. “Okay. I like games.”

“Good! Looks like you enjoy that bouncing quite a bit as well, aye?”

“Yup!”

“Fantastic. So here’s the game: I want to you bounce for as long as you can without stopping.”

“Okay. I can do that!”

“Some rules though: You cannot stop until you reach one thousand bounces or ya lose. That’s rule one. Understand?”

“One thousand. Got it.”

“Good. Now, the second rule – and this is very important – ya gotta stay on the table. If ya fall, ya lose. And...probably die. But you’re not gonna fall off the table, right?”

“Nope!”

“Because you wanna win the game right?”

“Yes!”

“And if ya do win….uh, Quinn and I’ll make ya yer very own sweet roll. Just fer ya. How’s that sound?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Because the game starts now.”

“Okay!”

“And ya gotta count out loud.”

“Okay! One...two...three...”

Avery was pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen...”

“Well, stupid’s all we got, so snap yer yapper.”

Bart was still laughing at them from the other side of the kitchen.

…………………………………………………………….

Farris and Yale walked down the short steps and into the kitchen, carrying the spoils of their outing to the markets, to a very peculiar sight. Footmen and servants were actively taking away the platters and bowls for the upstairs’ dinner service, but the majority of the kitchen staff, those who should have been getting the kitchen cleaned and cleared, were clustered around the far end of the long table...counting out loud.  

Bart was hanging back near the wall next to the archway, chortling quietly to himself and wiping a hand down his beard. When he saw Farris and Yale come down, he just shook his head at their questioning expressions, grinning. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Good or bad?” Yale asked.

“Can’t rightly say,” he replied. “But it’s funny.”

Farris’s tired face sharped under narrowed eyebrows. The Spice Master and his assistant made their way to the table to see for themselves what everyone so curiously counting aloud. Nenani was jumping up and down, her face flush with exertion, while those gathered around her counted each jump.

“...one thousand two hundred forty five...one thousand two hundred forty six...one thousand to hundred forty seven...”

Farris’s green eyes searched for Avery, finding the black haired man standing behind Kol, looking as though he were suffering from a headache. He caught the Spice Master’s eyes and gave a helpless shrug in response.

“I have no idea how to explain this,” he replied.  

“Well someone’s gonna be wantin’ to tell me why yer all standin’ around when there’s plenty of work to be done,” Farris said, a vaguely warning growl creeping into his words. He looked down at the still happily jumping human child who, when she saw him, waved. “And what the fuck is the lil’un doin’?”

“Trying to tire her out. She made it passed one thousand and she’s still goin’,” Kol said blankly, as if the idea had made had fried his brain. “She should be spent, but nope. She’s barely winded. What the fuck was in that tea?”

Farris’s growing annoyance exploded into outright anger and he growled, suspicious eyes looking back down at the bouncing human girl. “What was in what tea?”

“Jae came by,” Kol explained in the same blank manner, not seeming perturbed by the very unhappy man standing nearby. “Took the Dumplin’ to visit Barnaby. Maevis gave her something to keep her from noddin’ off, or something like that. Now she can’t stop bouncin’.”

“And Kol said he’d make me a sweet roll if I made it to a thousand!” Nenani replied, sounding only a bit out of breath and in high spirits. A bright smile was plastered across her flushed face. “If I make it to two thousand, does that mean I get two sweet rolls?”

“She made it passed a thousand,” Kol was saying in disbelief. “I wasn’t even sure she could count to a thousand!”

Yale had been oddly silent beside him and the younger giant’s copper eyes drifted to Kol and down to Nenani and back to Kol as the baker explain. And then he burst out laughing, covering his eyes with one hand and head shaking. His hand lowered to try and muffle his laughter, but one glance at Nenani had him giggling like an idiot. Farris was not so amused and drew a hand slowly down his face in exasperation, shaking his head.

“Do I fuckin’ stutter?” he demanded of the room, shooting an accusing glare at Avery. “When I say watch the Dumplin’, I mean keep yer fucking eyes on ‘er! Don’t go pawning ’er off to someone else!”

“Figured she’d be safer,” Avery replied. “And I could actually get some work done.”

“Are you trying to add another day to pit duty?” Farris growled. “Or are you really that fuckin’ stupid?”

“The whole point of me watchin’ ‘er was in case Thrist came lookin’ fer ‘er,” Avery replied in his own self defense. “Which he did not. A little disappointed actually. But if he had come by, her not being here was a better plan.”

Farris listened to Avery’s retort with his arms crossed. When he was done. Farris gestured down to Nenani. “This be that better plan then, is it?”

“Maevis slippin’ ‘er loopy juice was not part of the plan,” Avery replied hotly. “Seriously, how do ya even account fer that possibility?”

Yale was still giggling helplessly, but he seemed to finally catch his breath. “This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.”

“That’s what I said!” Avery said, irritated by the whole ordeal.  

…………………………………………

Yale was left to watch Nenani as the others dispersed to go about their work cleaning up the kitchen and getting everything ready for their own supper time. Bart helped Farris put away the things they had bought at the market and seemed to do his best to convince him not to murder Avery. Because after all, it was a better idea of sending Nenani up to the library to spend the day with possibly the least dangerous pair of folks in the entire castle. Lolly was more dangerous than they were. So long as Maevis kept his magic to himself.  

Kol had declared that Nenani had won the game so she could stop counting, but she continued to bounce, much to Yale amusement. She told him about visiting the library and how Maevis had been able to tell her with definitive assurance that was she not cursed, which she was very happy about. And she told him about the shrinking tea cups.  

For a small bit of time, as Nenani would jump up, Yale would catch her, bringing a broad smile to his face as the little human giggled. He would let her drop the small distance back onto the table top and they would repeat the process. Over and over as the kitchen staff all gathered for a well deserved meal. Nenani noted that it was the first time since she had been there that dinner was not some sort of soup or stew. Sausages with hot mustard and potatoes. The sausage as long as she was tall, she noted with amusement.

“She doesn’t seem to be any worse fer it,” Yale said as Farris sat heavily into his chair at the head of the table, his knuckled turning white as he gripped his mug of ale. A small cup of some dark liquid sat beside him.

He took a long drink from his ale before replying. “We’ll be seein’ the truth a’that when she crashes.”

“What do ya mean?” Yale asked as he caught Nenani again, looking down at her with a smile as she squealed in delight. “When the potion wears off?”

“Aye. I know the potion he gave ‘er. Know it very well. Use to practically live off th’damn stuff when I was about yer age,” Farris replied acidly. “She’s gonna crash. And hard. Best be belivin’ me, boy. Ain’t gonna be fun fe ‘er and she certainly won’t be laughin’.”

Nenani was having far too much fun to really pay attention to Farris’s warning. Everyone was settling down to eat, their eyes still filtering to her every once in a while. She left Yale alone so he could eat in peace and Nenani came up with a game of her own. Which was to run down the length of the table, tagging everyone’s mugs. Gjerk tried to lift his out of the way, but she managed to tap it anyway. On her third pass down the table, a curious feeling came over her. A tightness in the pit of her stomach that quickly turned into an ache. Her limbs began to feel heavy and her chest started to hurt. The smile that had been perpetually plastered on her face for several hours fell and she stopped in the middle of the table, her arms coming to cradle her increasingly sour feeling tummy. She turned around to face Farris, finding the Spice Master staring at her knowingly.

“Done already?” he asked.

“Uh-huh” she said, miserably. “I...I don’t feel so good.”

“Don’t suppose ya do,” he replied, beckoning her over with a crook of his finger. “C’mere, Dumplin’.”

She grumbled, holding her middle as she ambled unsteadily back towards the other head of the table. She stumbled and tripped, but Yale was quick to catch her before her face met wood.

“Easy there,” he said gently. “Yer looking a lil’ green ‘round the gills.”

She groaned in response.

“Give ‘er here, Yale,” Farris instructed. Yale carefully passed her to the Spice Master who gently sat her down beside him, keeping one hand on her back and pushing the small cup of something to her face. “Drink.”

Farris held the cup up for her to drink from as it would have been far too large for her to pick up herself. She sniffed it and pulled her head back with a groan, her stomach roiling. She could smell the bitterness.

“Not gonna be repeatin’ myself, Dumplin’,” warned Farris, but there was no real heat to his tone. The cup edged further into her vision and she obediently leaned forward and took a big gulp of the dark liquid. It was incredibly sweet, but all that sweetness could not mask the very familiar taste of Cayne leaf. She sputtered and gagged, but managed to still get the vile drink down her throat. She shuddered and pushed back, shaking her head as though she could shake the awful taste from her mouth. She ignored the accompanying snickers from the others.

“Blech!” she exclaimed. “Yuck! Yuck, yuck, yuck...”

Farris hummed as he set the cup aside and leaned down, fixing her with a pointed, though amused, look. “I want ya to remember that taste next time Maevis or anyone tries t’give ya some strange potion, eh?”

She groaned, leaning back against his hand.  

[darleneablog-blog]

Writing prompt:

Again I’m caught in the same situation. Sitting on the cold hardwood floor in the corner of my room the size of a closet. Pressing my back against my white stained walls.

Everyday I come to this place. It’s like my quiet place , well as quiet as it can be excluding my dads violent tendencies .

Irritated is how he feels and he takes it out on me . He’s irritated because the milk ran out . Such things like that trigger him to go on a rage and destroy everything in sight . I’m often the one in his site.

Ouch I whisper to myself as I accidentally rubbed the fresh bruise on my cheek. If I say it too loud , he might come back and try to inflict more pain on me . Not physically but mentally . “I should’ve killed you when you were a baby “ runs through my head like a record on replay . How can a father say this to their own child, I think to myself .

Unlucky is how I feel . So many bad things happen to me . This whole day was just a bad day . I missed my bus for school, I got put in a group with people who don’t do their work and now I come home to my dads wrath . Why today does he have to act like this?

Broken is how I feel , inside and out . But I’m fine . I just have to push through it . Put on my fake smile that I always show. It’s funny how I can act so happy hiding behind this fake smile and no one knows what really happening.

*crunch crunch crunch * is all I hear. I hear my dads footsteps crunching on the fall leaves that have just started falling . I hear him descending away , probably going to the pub down the street .

Destruction and disaster will happen as soon as he comes back home . I get up from the corner of my room and go out into the living room. The dirty green carpet meets my foot as I walk across it to the kitchen and open the fridge .

“Empty”, I angrily whisper to myself as I bounce my eyes around the fridge . A half eaten apple, spoiled orange juice and a moldy cucumber is what I’m met with . I slam the fridge close and decide to walk down to the grocery store to get some groceries.

First I have to cover up my bruise with my cheap makeup that I stole from the store. The rough makeup runs across my cheek with the brush. I tell myself not to cry. I should be used to this . I do this 3 times a week.

Getting up from my chair is even a chore . My whole body aches .

Hide behind that smile. Don’t show anyone the real you . Keep your head down and don’t engage in unnecessary conversation is the mantra I tell myself before going out .

It’s weird I love my dad despite everything he’s done to me . I just can’t leave him , especially with mom dying a year ago . He’ll be too alone . Only god knows what can happen to him .

Just a year ago mom died. Everything was as good as it could be between my dad and I considering what happened , but recently he’s been out of it and thinks that I had a hand in killing my mom, I’m guessing that’s why he hits me .

Killer! You’re a killer! Is what he half yelled half spat at me two days ago

Lost for words . I just let him yell and punch me until he exerted his energy . I find it’s easier to let it happen than fighting back . His abuse lasts quicker this way .

Moving towards the door . I reach for the doorknob and immediately get hit with the fall chilly breeze and beaming sun . I take in the fresh air and feel a glimpse of happiness .

Noodles , cheese string, chips, fruits, eggs is what Im thinking to get as I walk to the grocery store .

“Oh and oats! How can I forget those . That’s dads favourite”, I say to myself as I enter the dimly lit small store . That always smells like moth balls and slightly like spoiled milk .

Produce section is where I go to first . I pick up the green grapes which are 50cents . Perfect for my budget.

Quickly I scan for more fruits that are 50cents . And all of a sudden I get an uneasy feeling, something tells me to look behind my shoulder and when I do , I immediately feel a chill run down my spine .

“Run back home “, I half yell -whisper to myself as I take in who’s 20 steps behind me dressed in all black with a dark grey cap on . Having an unreadable expression on his face .

Shoot, I think to myself as I leave the produce section trying to disguise the shaking of my body. I walk faster down section

Turning to the right to go into the other aisle . I need to quickly get out of here without him noticing me leave.

Unspoken words between me and that man . I didn’t want to do what I did but I had no choice . I needed the money , badly .

Violence is something I don’t want to resort to but if he tries to pull something . I’m going to have to defend myself. Wait but how , I think to myself . I start to panic and hyperventilate. Thinking about how I stole his money and hoped to never have to see him again .

*whack* is what I hear , besides my heart beating in my ear . I realized I dropped my grapes . But I don’t care about that . I just need to get out of here . I walk quickly towards the exit not caring if I look suspicious or not . The uneasiness comes back so I start briskly walking home.

Xenons randomly pops in my head . If I was a xenon, life would be so much simpler. I could just fly away and be carefree just like them .

Yo! I hear someone angrily exclaim . Instant chills courses through my body . I quickly turn my head and meet the angry gaze of the man from the store . All I can think to do is run. I run towards the alley, stupidly taking this dangerous shortcut thinking that I could lose him there . I turn my head and see that he’s picking up speed

Zig zag zig zag zig zag I think to myself . I once heard that if I ran in a zig zag pattern it could throw the person that’s chasing me off. Caught up in that thought . I feel my body slightly slowing down, all of a sudden my body jerks back , as if someone pulled on my hoodie. I fall back and am met with the man from the store . He looks me dead in the eyes and pulls out a knife...