#— noah is so pumped to perform again

[justmochi]

Born Pink

pairing :: eden x friends

word count :: 3.6k

synopsis :: the start of blackpink’s world tour.

time :: october 15, 2022

warnings :: minor angst, nothing too bad. also highkey long but c’:

taglist :: @cafemilk-tea @cixrosie @moonlight-additions @cosmicwintr @astraw-astro @ateezjuliet @fromfreesia @succulentmom​

She wanted nothing more than to greet every single person in the arena tonight. She was only one person but being able to say hello to the 15,000 people attending their concert tonight would be a dream for her.

It was a very special night for Eden. Not only was her boyfriend going to be in the crowd tonight, but so was her family. It would be the first time since her debut that her parents would see her perform. Even Evelyn and her husband didn’t miss a single concert once they moved to Korea.

Eden’s parents were skeptical about her choice of career. Part of it was resentment due to her leaving out of the blue. Her father practically disowned her when he heard the news. So she made it her personal mission to practice like her life depended on it. She truly wanted to give her parents something to be proud of. Her mother at least tried to rekindle their relationship, but her father still had a difficult time putting his grudge aside.

Her eyes skimmed through the crowd, attempting to lock eyes with everyone. That was until she found Seokmin and Seungkwan in the crowd, widening her eyes as she perked up quickly.

She waved at him, watching him smile back at her with his phone in his hand to take a picture. She held her hand up, making half a heart and waiting for him to complete it. She then noticed Evelyn sitting right next to them, along with her husband. She couldn’t contain her smile, wanting to kick her feet and dance around happily. 

Jennie and Chaeyoung snuck up behind her, squeezing her shoulders as they spotted Seokmin and Evelyn too. She looked back between them, watching how they interacted and feeling her heart pumping in her ears.

Lisa joined for a few before pulling them all back for their queue. She felt her cheeks turning red knowing that some of her favorite people were watching her and her group.

The girls had so many guests. So many friends and family members came to see each of them. She started to believe they would be taking pictures all night. Everyone was occupied, allowing Eden to slip away and collect herself.

She chugged on some water before running her fingers through her hair, watching her members being social. And then she heard a squeal. Looking in the direction of the noise, she saw her sister running to her with her arms open. She almost fell over by how abrupt Evelyn came in.

“Ah! You guys were amazing!” She hugged her tight before pulling away, squeezing her cheeks between her hands.

Eden hugged her back, trying to dodge all her kisses as she giggled. Evelyn looked her up and down, making sure she was healthy and in good shape before her eyes.

Past her sister was her husband, following close behind her. She moved out of the way, letting him give her a quick hug before wrapping his arm around Evelyn’s waist.

“Good job out there, Kiddo.” He raised his hand into a thumbs up, nodding at her.

“Thanks dude.” She bumped her knuckles against his chest.

“And you’re gonna be leaving soon.” The older woman pouted, pushing Eden’s hair behind her shoulder.

“I know I know. We’ll be fine though, promise.”

“Oh Eunhye!” Seungkwan made his presence known, raising his hands in the air as Evelyn and Noah stepped aside. She snickered, approaching him and holding out her hand.

He shook her hand, almost bumping shoulders with her as he giggled. “Congratulations! Did you have fun?”

“Of course. But are you okay? Aren’t you tired?”

“We slept once we got in. We’re all good.”

“Did Seok come with you?” Eden looked past his shoulder before locking eyes with him again.

“Yeah, he had to get something so he’ll be here in a second.” “Don’t worry, he wouldn’t leave without seeing you first.”

“No, I know that. I just hope he didn’t get lost.” She grabbed Seungkwan by the wrist, pulling him over to where her sister stood. “I want you to meet my sister, Evelyn.”

“This is my friend, Seungkwan. He is Seokmin’s member.” She introduced him to her sister, watching her eyes light up like she was reminded of something.

“I know him! He’s on tv a lot. I see him on Amazing Saturday.”

Seungkwan’s ears got red, nodding his chin. “That’s me.”

“Small world,” Eden smirked, patting the back of his neck.

She then noticed her sister pointing behind her, quickly turning around and seeing a man enter the room with several bouquets of pink roses in his arms.

“There he is!” Seungkwan clapped his hands, walking up to Seokmin to help him empty his arms. His member helped him pass out the bouquets to her group, watching as bright smiles and scattered laughs echoed through the room. He was such a people person and one thing she adored about him was his ability to bond with her members. She couldn’t have asked for a better partner.

She watched Jennie and Rosé thank them with huge smiles on their faces and pointing in Eden’s direction. Seokmin bowed politely to the girls before Seungkwan pushed him to approach her.

She tried not to make it seem like she was stalking him, so she stood up tall and covered her mouth as her boyfriend came up to her. He looked all bundled up from the weather getting cooler, causing her cheeks to get red.

“Hey beautiful,” He smiled, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I got you something.” He held out the bouquet, Eden taking it from him to smell the pink roses. It smelled refreshing and it was absolutely fitting given her group's colors

She gave him a hug with half of her body, the flowers taking up space in her arms. “Thank you, Minee.” Seokmin gave her a peck on the top of her head. “And thank you for coming. I know you’re all exhausted.”

“You know we wouldn’t miss this.” He patted her shoulder, rubbing his hand up and down her arm with a smile. “How do you feel?”

“Excited, kinda nervous. I didn’t want to mess up because you and so many other people I know came tonight.”

“You did amazing.” He nodded, raising his eyebrows to reassure her. “I’m almost mad that I have to share you with the world.”

She rolled her eyes, playfully punching his shoulder. Her eyes wandered to Seungkwan who was laughing it up with her members. “Now that I think about it, this is the first time you’ve seen your girlfriend perform like this.”

He wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her into his chest with a grin. “But no one is cheering for you as loud as I am.”

She pursed her lips, stepping back and admiring the roses before squinting. “How come you still have your voice?”

His mouth hung open, pressing his tongue to his bottom lip. “Uhh,” His eyes wandered before grabbing her free hand and pressing it to his chest. “I have really big lungs. Strong lungs.”

She couldn���t help laughing at his excuse. It made her all the more happy that he came. “You’re a dummy.”

He brought her hand up to his lips, kissing her knuckles and gently letting go. He tried his best to restrain himself, but he couldn’t do it any longer. He quickly pecked her against the cheek, watching her eyes grow twice their size and smiling. She turned her head to the side, hiding her face as she squealed into the sleeve of her shirt.

A security guard approached the two, not wanting to disturb the couple's moment. “Miss?”

Eden’s smile quickly faded, turning her attention to the man. She raised her eyebrows and hummed.

“There’s two more people here to see you.”

Her face was puzzled, trying to look past him. “Should I let them in?” 

“Can I come with you? To see?” She smiled nervously, watching the guard nod.

Eden turned towards Seokmin, holding out her flowers. “Can you hold these for a sec?” He nodded, taking them from her.

She followed the security guard to the door, nervously fiddling with her fingertips before he opened the door, revealing both her parents. She knew they were coming tonight, but she didn’t expect them to want to see her after the show.

“Oh Eden!” Her mother quickly enveloped her in a hug, Eden putting her hand up to let the security guard know they were okay to let in. She awkwardly hugged her back before pulling away.

Her mom pressed her hands to her face, analyzing her features like she hadn’t seen her in years. After she was done investigating, she ran one hand through her hair while the other held her chin. “You’re so beautiful, oh my.”

Eden nodded, pursing her lips as her cheeks began to flush red. “Thank you for coming. What do you think of everything?”

“It was crazy. I’ve never been in a place so loud, my ears were ringing.”

“Domes are very different from the outdoor concerts you’re used to.”

Her mother looked past her shoulder, seeing her group members talking with each other and looking the happiest ever. Eden held onto her arms, relaxing and taking a deep breath. “How do you feel?”

It could’ve been the same question to a normal person, but Eden asked it with different intentions. Before she got insecure, she wanted to know her parents' headspace, yet she didn’t even acknowledge her father yet.

The question circled in her mothers head for a few seconds before kissing the girl's cheek. “I’m so proud of you. This is so amazing.”

A lump formed in Eden’s throat, taken back when her mom engulfed her in a big hug. She almost didn’t hug her back due to the shock, but she did nonetheless. She closed her eyes, burying her face into her neck and inhaling the maternal scent she longed for for so long.

When her mother finally let her go, Eden looked towards her father. He looked glum, in defeat.

“Dad?” Her mom stepped to the side, letting the two have their moment. “Is Korea treating you well?”

He nodded slowly, not giving into her so easily. She grew tense, knowing that either all of him was angry or there was a tiny part of him that was proud of her.

“Was it enjoyable?” He shrugged his shoulders, his wife quickly slapping her hand against his chest.

“Honey, don’t act so cold!” The woman was a bit too loud than Eden would have liked her to be, slyly putting her finger up to her lips.

“It’s okay. Not for everybody.” She began to wonder if it was difficult for him to express his feelings with a sober mind.

Her mother was determined to get him to put down his walls because she knew that he had a lot more to say and he couldn’t keep up the cold front forever. Eden tried to keep her quiet, reassuring her that it was really okay.

“Mom, it’s okay. Please.” She held her wrist, pleading with her eyes. The couple bickered back and forth, her father mumbling and not speaking clearly.

Despite all her efforts to keep them contained, Jisoo still was able to hear most of it. It was hard to get anything past her. After she assessed the situation, she was making her way towards an Seokmin who was awkwardly standing to the side as Seungkwan was chatting it up with Jennie.

She pinched his wrist, pulling him away from the group. He looked confused and concerned, leaning down to her height to be able to hear her if she was speaking to him.

“I would butt in, but I think it’d be more appropriate for you to.” She nudged her head in the direction of Eden and her parents.

“Is that-“

“Her parents. Not to put you on the spot or anything.” She joked only to not be given a reaction. “It’s a big night for her. You know that better than anyone else here. I’m sure you could lighten that conversation up.”

She watched the paranoia fill up in his face. She patted his back, giving him a little push. “It’s okay, you got this.”

He takes a deep breath, getting the courage to finally walk up to the family. He had no idea what they were talking about prior to his entrance. He tried not to spook her, so he bowed to her parents before resting his hand on her back.

“Hey.” He smiled nervously, looking at her parents before his eyes met Eden’s.

“Hi.” She was offered a little bit of comfort when he showed his face, but not enough for her mind to quit racing.

“Who’s this?” Her mother smiled, looking between the two.

Eden looked for the okay, Seokmin nodding as she made contact with her mom again. “This is Seokmin. He’s my… boyfriend.” She squeezed his hand, hoping to tell him it was okay if he wanted to escape if he got the chance.

Her mother gasped, slapping a hand to her mouth. “Boyfriend?”

“Nice to meet you.

Seokmin held his hand out, the woman wasting no time in shaking his hand. “Eden, he’s so handsome!” He then offered his hand out to her father, watching him hesitate before finally giving in.

Eden nodded, watching him blush at the compliment. “He’s an Idol too.”

“Is that how you two met? How long have you been together?”

“3 years.” The couple looked at each other, blurting out the answer at the same time and holding back their giggles.

“3 years? And we didn’t know?”

“I’m sorry. A lot of people didn’t know, and it was just better that way.” She apologized as her arm locked around Seokmin.

“Are you two happy?”

They nodded, Seokmin glancing in her direction before she asked another question.

“Is he good to you?” She raised her eyebrows, her eyes stern while almost forgetting he was right next to her.

“Yes, mom. He’s very good to me.” She smiled, feeling his eyes on her.

“And is she good to you?” She winked at Eden before speaking directly to Seokmin.

Eden turned her head towards him, always having the tiniest bit of uncertainty when it came to him. She wondered if she was too dependent on him. “The best.”

She tried to hide her smile, looking down at her feet and feeling her heart swell.

“Then that’s all that matters. I’m happy for you baby.” She patted her shoulder, bringing her hand up to brush through her hair. “I’m so proud of you. Your father is too, but he’s feeling a little shy tonight.”

Eden really couldn’t read him. It had been years since they had a real connection so she decided to take her mothers word for it. She knew him best after all these years. And even despite all the hardships they faced, they stayed together.

“We really should be heading out considering how late it is. You’re probably exhausted too.” Her mom had a sly grin on her face as she tried putting an end to their meeting.

“Are you sure?” Eden grabbed both of her hands with a pout on her face. “Where are you guys staying?”

“Evelyn booked us a hotel for two weeks. We’ll be in the area for a while so you should show us around some time.”

“Yes, I plan on it.”

“And maybe your boyfriend can tag along too.” Her mom winked once again, Eden rolling her eyes as her cheeks turned red.

“He’s more busy than me, so I’ll have to check with him first.

“I’d love to.” Seokmin butted in, “I am very busy but I’d be glad to make room in my schedule for this.”

“I love him. He’s perfect.” The woman whispered under her breath, hoping for only Eden to hear.

Her mother leaned in to kiss her forehead, giving her a hug before pulling away and nudging her husband. Eden held her arms open as her father hugged her. She expected it to be awkward and cold, but it felt oddly welcoming. She held her tightly, like he was eager to tell her something. She patted his back, feeling something get caught in her throat.

When pulling away, she pressed the back of her hand against her cheek trying to keep herself calm and collected. She watched her boyfriend say goodbye to her parents, feeling her cheeks grow sore from how much she was smiling.

The men shook each other's hands until her father pulled Seokmin in close, whispering into his ear. “Treat her well.”

Seokmin nodded, flashing him a grin. The couple sent off her parents, watching the security guard escort them out. Eden exhaled loudly, like she had been holding her breath the entire time she was talking to her parents.

“Thank you for coming when you did. I was so sure my dad was gonna rip her head off.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her for a hug.

She held him back, cuddling her head into his chest and smiling. “I think they like you.”

“I think they do too.” He played with her ear, cradling her head close and kissing the top of her head.

She pulled back a little, turning her head and signaling she wanted a kiss on the cheek. He obliged, blowing raspberries on her skin. Eden giggled, turning her head back quickly to kiss him on the lips.

“Okay okay. I have a few things to finish up here. How about I come by your place after I’m done?” She stood on her tippy toes before clasping her hands around his neck.

“Can you sleep over?” He did that thing where he used his puppy eyes with his lip pouted.

“Well duh.”

“Then I’ll be waiting.” Seokmin smiled, kissing her temple as he squeezed her a bit more.

“I won’t be too long.” She stepped back, holding onto his hand before he eventually slipped from her fingertips. He nodded, twirling around in place as he wanted to squeal from how his heart pounded.

Eden met back up with her members, doing her best to blend into the conversation. The girls had lots of friends that attended the show and she felt herself getting exhausted with each person they said goodbye to.

She found herself at Seokmin’s doorstep, letting herself in the front door and slipping her shoes off. She took off all her makeup and hair accessories at the venue and was now in her sweatpants and a bare face.

Reaching his bedroom door, she knocked quietly before pushing it open and revealing him under the covers on his phone. He raised his eyebrows, turning off his phone and smiling at her.

“Hey love.” She set her bag down on his desk chair, skipping towards his bed and launching herself onto the mattress. “Sorry, it took longer than I had hoped.”

“No worries,” He opened his arms wide with a wholesome pout, Eden wasting no time in crawling into his arms and kissing his neck.

He snorted, feeling the tickles on his neck as she scooted her legs under the covers.

The two laid in each other’s arms, the sound of their breathing and heartbeats filling the space. He brushed his fingers through her hair, while his other hand traced circles against her sweater.

“Seok?” He quickly hummed, looking down at her. She made eye contact with him, his favorite smile making its way onto her face.

“I love you.” She put it simply, smirking until he leaned down to press his lips to hers. “Thank you for coming tonight. I know you guys are busy and exhausted so I really appreciate it.”

“You’re always there to support me. I wasn’t going to miss anything else of yours.”

She nodded before placing her head against his chest again.

“I love you too, E.” As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt her chest getting tight and the tears began to pool. They weren’t tears of sadness or anger. They were tears of happiness. She couldn’t remember one time in her life, if at all, where she cried from being so happy.

He felt her clutch his shirt, squeezing her shoulder before she turned up again. He looked down to see the tears falling down her cheek.

“No baby, why are you crying?” He pouted, using his thumbs to swipe away her tears.

“Shit.” She quickly used the back of her hand to wipe her face. “I’m fine. Really.”

He wasn’t fully convinced. “You wouldn’t be crying if something wasn’t wrong. Talk to me.”

“I’m just happy.” She laughed at herself for crying over something so good. “This is the first time in my life where my parents have been supportive of me. I’ve always wanted their validation and I think they’ve finally come around.”

Seokmin smiled at her as she talked, brushing hair behind her ear and making sure to wipe her tears away when they’d fall from her eyes. “I’m so proud of you. You deserve everything and more.

“And they like you. They’re not upset that I've kept it from them or didn’t get their approval first.”

He chuckled, his thumb running along her earlobe. “It’s hard for people not to like me.”

She rolled her eyes, knowing that what he said was true. She held his face in her hands, breaking into a smile when meeting his eyes. He leaned in to peck her forehead, letting out a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad things are finally looking up for you.”

Her lips quivered again, unable to halt the tears. “I love you.”

“Always.”

[foxgloveinspace]

hellooooo!!!

it’s been a hot minute since i’ve popped in here lol

life has been kinda crazy lately. a lot of intense ups and downs. i had a very busy/stressful week off of school (it’s partly my fault because i am the worlds worst procrastinator and leave work until the last minute and then cry lol)

my car also got broken into!! so that’s fun. had some really random shit stolen, but it was all either worthless or replaceable at least.

on a happier note, i am officially going on my first date! we picked a day last night. i did the stupidest little happy dance in my kitchen when he asked, i did not expect to like this guy as much as i do! i can’t wait to meet him in person

now for the really fun part! lol.

the dreaming is back. it’s been a hot minute since i’ve had a dream i can remember. last night was a really good one, dream me truly lives a much cooler life than real me lmao

i dreamt that i was in a band! i miss my band days from high school so that was fun. the best part though was that my band was opening for bad omens! one of my faves! we crushed it, got the crowd so pumped up. i cried a lot of happy tears and also cried because it was the last show of tour. but my mom had been in the crowd and saw me perform which was awesome. and i got the best hug ever from the singer of bad omens.

what a good dream. anyways, i’m off to the grind, lots of work today. i hope you have a good day!!

sorry this took me a little while to get too!!

sorry about the stress, and I'm so sorry about your car! I'm glad it was replaceable stuff, but still that freaking SUCKS.

I'm still so excited for you about your date!!! <3 <3 <3

thats a really fun dream!! I swear, I never get dreams like that I mostly have nightmares, or like weird as fuck dreams. it was really sweet that your mom was there, and a hug from Noah (is that his name?? I haven't listened to Bad Omens haha), thats so nice??? Idk, i love it when brains are nice and give good dreams haha. I hope you can be in a band again one day Exie! <3

[vandalizedai]

HEXA DIVER PHASE 02 TRANSLATION

nothing to note this time, enjoy!

HEXA DIVER ―The crazy Circus―

A dream-like system that allows you to experience various scenarios and stories in virtual reality.

Rasis: Hawawa…!? The circus simulation area has gone out of control and everyone seems to be very excited that I can’t talk to them! We need to calm them down… Please, please! Please lend me your strength!

“Release your confined friends.”

―― STORY ――

Music player:

Grace: “Let’s begin! Now, raise the curtain!”

“Fufu-n♪It seems I am on stage, there is definitely more to come!”

“This is getting exciting! Let me make you feel higher. I won’t forgive you if you don’t stare at me!”

“I am always the most shining person! Fufu… I feel amazing…!”

Rasis: “Grace〜! I didn’t know you were so good at juggling♪… WAIT!!! That´s not iiiiiit!!!!!! we have to go home together!!

Harutsuge Kouchou:

Hirosegawa Miyako: “Hey hey hey, attention pl-eeease〜! We’re going to like, pump this party up now〜↑”

“Huh? Do you have any idea of what ‘mizugei’ is? Really now? Well, I’ll just throw more water theeeen〜↓↓↓”

“Our ‘wazuma’ is kinda different to like, anything you’ve seen… So, like, be careful to not get swept away by the waves〜!”

“How about we give it a shot〜? How’s this♪?”

Rasis: “Hawa〜! The traditional arts are a whole type of illusion now with Miyako’s super-duper exciting performance! It’s really beautiful and I felt captivated the whole time, I almost thought I was going to be swept away!”

Яe:son D'être:

Near&Noah: “All of you, isn’t one circus not enough!?”

Near: “Near and her friends invite you to a more fun and happier circus♪”

Noah: “Noah and the rest are going to practice their magic! Of course there is no trick!”

Near&Noah: “Great! This is so fun! We´ve catch all of you under the spell! ★☆ミ”

Rasis: “Hawa〜! Both of you are very cute magicians…! This is… Real magic…? No… Maybe you´ve got there that can restore this back to normal…!”

GEMINI LA2ER:

Tsumabuki Right: “Ahahaha! This is very fun! Hey, Left!”

Tsumabuki Left: “Yes, Right! We as brothers make a very good combination!”

“Hehehe, Rasis, you should come here too!”

Tsumabuki Right: “Ahahahaha! It looks like I can fly, isn’t that awesome?!”

“Let’s go let’s go! This is so much fun, you REALLY have to join! It would be a shame I you missed it!!!!”

Tsumabuki Left: “Hehe, Right, you always manage to say the right things… Let’s hype this up!”

Rasis: “Hawawa〜 It looks like the both of you are really flying! You guys seem to be happier to be together than usual… It looks fun but you still have to come down here!”

LubedeR:

Bonkichi: “Wow! The public is looking at us! Look! They see us! They are seeing us!”

Ms.DD: “Attention! It’s time for the Inevitable Fire Ring of Death! *”

* Of death was added for convenience.

Ms.DD: “I wanted to be less severe so the number of rings today is the usual instead of doubles.”

Bonkichi: “Thank you very much…”

Ms.DD: “Hey Bonkichi, it’s time you make the audience happy♪”

Bonkichi: “Everyone has seen me go through this misery…”

“Oooughhhhh!! Today the miss has been so kind!!!!!”

Ms.DD: “Good job, now, try again♪”

Rasis: “Ms.DD! Is she… A beast tamer? What? Why does she… What is going on…? I… I really don’t think much has changed actually.”

Redshift 2nd Ignition: 

Sekishi Soul: “Ladies an… This is so annoying, let´s do this, Rain!”

Aosame Rain: “Could you please just end the sentence…?”

“It is not raining yet but I’m very excited! This is going to be very fun! I hope everyone feels the same!”

Sekishi Soul: “The color is very pretty, almost like candy! Although it is programmed to do that, and that, and that other thing right there and- “

“Wait, did you say candy, or rain, or… In this world… what does it mean… WAIT, RAIN!”

Aosame Rain: “Eh? Soul? Are you okay? What happened to you… Could it be… No way…”

Rasis: “It is something like juggling but with LED lights… So pretty… Hawa! Sorry I just happened to stop by! Hey! Both of you! Listen to meeeeee…!!!!”

OLPHEUX:

Satan-P*L-Iblis: “Stab a blade to your prey… It is great for entertainment.”

“Kukku… Fear… Shudder…” 

“Like a dragon would, I will start a frenzy with these knots.”

“Kneel before me…”

Rasis: “The radar has detected an unknown response! It seems like we have been baited to this place… The knife-throwing is getting out of hand! We better stop this now!”

VVelcome!!:

Lyric Rishna: “Rishna’s Circus! It’s Showtime!”

“Nishinippori! Dance! You move beautifully〜!

“Maxima, nice muscles! Gor sir, you look happy!”

Nishinippori-san: “If doing this means I’ll fulfill the dreams of a poor little girl… I will help with no doubts!”

Voltenizer Maxima: “You can join in too! This is my VVELCOME, from the bottom of your ★TEACHERS HEART★”

Rasis: “Hawawa〜 The leader of the dancing march looks so cute… I would go with all of you but… I will get caught up in there!”

Ending section: 

Rasis: “Hawa… I’m really tired… But at least everyone seems to be safe!”

Sherry F. Arresters: “This was such a hustle to go through together, but at least I had fun! ♪”

Furitsu Hiiro: “Huh? How did this happen again? Didn’t you fix it back then?”

Prof. Shion: “Oh? Well, it seems like I made a little miss on the adjustment! Sorry★”

Espoir: “Prof. Shion, please summarize a report on the incident and submit it as soon as possible.”

――To be continued…――

[elmidol]

Propane Nightmares [NSFW]

Pairing: Tyki x Reader x Earl

Warnings: Noncon; dubcon; loss of virginity; aphrodisiacs; canon-typical religious elements; fingering; double-penetration; oral; potentially other elements?; some verbal humiliation; probably some blasphemy

Notes: Originally Written April 25, 2011. Titled after “Propane Nightmares” by Pendulum. word count is a little over 8k.

reposting for @maskedjoker because I saw that tag on my Earl and Tyki thirst post~

Propane Nightmares

 Originally, you had been appointed the task of gathering more information on the Noah after rumor had circulated regarding formal meetings between them and the folks of high society. Such was your job as a finder. No one had bothered the divulge, however, that the Noah had been tipped off on the Order’s intentions; there had been no cancellations on your orders, and, subsequently, no means for your knowing that your drink would be laced with drugs. It had been a sleeping drug, which had caused you to wander off from the other guests prior to passing out. When you had awoken, you had found yourself chained to a chair, your feet snug against the legs of the chair, and hands bound behind your back. Tyki Mikk sat in front of you, straddling a second chair, whose back was facing you. You watched his lips twist upwards upon his noticing you had awoken.

 Your eyes wandered around the room, taking in all of your surroundings. It was a study of some sort, from what you could tell; a few bookshelves, a desk on the far wall, and an assortment of chairs. Upon returning your gaze to the Noah, you released a small gasp and your eyes widened—a second man stood behind Tyki. This gentleman you had previously believed to be one of the Earl’s many brokers. His current presence, however, allowed you to realize that he had a more intimate connection with the Family Noah. I wonder what his powers are, you thought to yourself; the Order already possessed information regarding Tyki Mikk’s abilities. Due to this fact, you jumped half an inch in your seat when Tyki leaned forward.

 “Don’t be scared, girl~” Tyki said calmly, his smile a mockery of innocence. You shuddered at how well he pulled off the nice-guy façade. “We just want to ask you some questions.”

 You swallowed hard, stiffened, and then took a deep breath. “I…I’ll die before I tell you…anything.” Despite the stutter and hesitance, your tone held true to the courage you were feeling—you were willing to die before handing over any sort of information to these men; no, they were monsters.

 Tyki reached past the back of the chair and placed his hand on your knee. His fingers gently rolled the muscles surrounding your kneecap, the actions reminiscent of a massage. “The Order has made sure you won’t talk even when pressured by torture, right?” You narrowed your eyes slightly, your teeth gritting together behind your frown. Tyki’s voice dropped in volume, growing husky. “That’s why I’m here~”

 “So what, you’ll remove my organs one by one?” you ground out, jerking your knee away. Your joint hardly slipped out of the Noah’s hands before the chain prevented you from venturing further.

 Tyki smirked, swung his leg over the side of the chair, and stood in a fluid, graceful movement that left you blinking. You shrank into your seat a little. He, on the other hand, closed to distance between the two of you and there knelt. His eyes locked with yours; you held his gaze with eyelids half-closed. Your heart beat faster in your chest as you fully expected him to reach within you—his hand slid closer, fingers travelling up your leg—and you were waiting for him to go for a kidney. Without removing your clothes, his flesh met yours—in a much different manner than what you had expected.

 You released a loud gasp prior to biting down on your bottom lip and averting your gaze; his fingers danced along your inner-thigh, travelling upward until just their tips met with your lower lips. You shifted your hips away from his touch. Tyki, an amused grin spreading at your retreat, only thrust his hand forward, and slipped his middle finger into your depths. Your eyes widened, and your legs began to shake.

 “St-stop.” Tyki only stuck his tongue out at you. You stared at the organ, a deep flush settling on your face as he waggled it suggestively. He started thrusting the single digit in and out. He cupped your entire pussy in his hand, rubbing your outer lips while continuously withdrawing and plunging his finger inside of you. You squeezed your eyes shut and attempted to cross your legs. The chains prevented you from accomplishing this task; all you had managed to do was trap Tyki’s arm between your thighs. Your breathing grew labored, and you flinched when a second finger was added.

 The Noah gripped your legs with his free hand and spread them once again. He pushed his torso closer to you, making sure you would be unable to shift too much for his liking.

 The Millennium Earl, meanwhile, had shifted position in the room; he stood so where he was able to better see what Tyki was doing to you. At the same time, he made certain he was able to view your face. His lips twitched upward upon seeing you begin to rotate your hips in time with the Noah’s sinful fingers.

 Just as your body was beginning to grow warm, just as you could feel the tingling waves of pleasure coursing through yourself, Tyki’s fingers retreated. Your eyes snapped open. You continued to pant, unable to tear your gaze away from the sight of Tyki’s tongue lapping against the digits that had previously been inside of you.

 “How many days have you been here?” the Noah asked, cocking his head to the side. Through with speaking, he sucked his fingers into his mouth and released a husky moan that sent fire shooting through your loins.

 You only shook your head in response.

 Tyki sighed, seemingly disappointed, before straightening himself up. He stood in front of you at that point, his hands working at the front of his pants. You swallowed twice as saliva gathered in your mouth, your breathing growing heavier by the minute. This sensation was foreign to you; having been recruited by the Order at a young age, you had been discouraged from participating in any act remotely sexual. In fact, education on sexual manners had been so censored that your eyes grew wide as saucers the moment Tyki tugged his pants halfway down his hips. The sight of his penis enthralled, disgusted, and repelled you at once.

 You could not tear your eyes away even as he reached forward with on hand, gripped the back of your chair, and with the second hand took hold of his cock.

 “That was an easy one too,” Tyki said with a laugh, his breathing growing rigid as he began to pump himself. He watched you, and was overly amused by the fact that your eyes were glued to his growing erection. “Ah, that’s right. You were probably raised by the Order, huh? You’ve never seen a dick?” He shifted his fingers to allow you a better view.

 You bit down harder on your bottom lip and forced yourself to look away; fascinated though you might have been, you were still convinced of the Order’s teachings that premarital sexual activities were wrong—sinful.

 The second male moved into your line of sight. You stared at him, still unsure of his abilities as a Noah. His presence also made you highly uncomfortable knowing that he was watching every dirty deed Tyki had performed—and would likely perform—with you. Tyki’s hand stopped mid-stroke and he muttered out ‘Duke’ when the man stepped between you and the Noah of Pleasure. Your eyes widened considerably at the revelation—the Millennium Earl had a human form, and said form was currently standing before you. He removed the hat from his head, set it off to the side, and stood erect once again. Your eyes were locked with his as he repeated Tyki’s previous question: how many days had you been there?

 “You…you can go suck a dick!” you said with a hiss.

 The Earl and Tyki both laughed a single, baritone chuckle and locked gazes with one another. Tyki’s hand ran up his length while the Earl motioned towards the Noah of Pleasure’s erection. “That one?” They both watched your face; the expression of pure and utter shock, of morbid curiosity and disgust as it crossed your features. Your eyes flickered between the Earl’s motioning hand and Tyki’s shaft.

 “Th-that’s….”

 Before you could finish your sentence, the Earl interrupted you, supplying an ending, “A sin?”

 “A handful of sins!”

 He cocked his head to the side, suddenly interested. “Oh? Not just the homosexual aspect, I see. Has the church taught you that oral sex is a sin? Then…if I were to…” With each word he moved closer to you, knelt between your legs, and had you literally trembling as his hands reached into the hem of your pants. He tugged them down, your panties in tow, and blew lightly on your exposed pussy. The warm air had you gasping and closing your eyes tightly. “…do this…” He pushed his face into you, his tongue wiggling out of his mouth and lapping at you. Your mind swam with a multitude of emotions as the sensation of immense pleasure filled you. His tongue retreated long enough for him to finish, “…are we sinning together?”

 Your bottom lip slipped out from between your teeth, a chunk of shaky breaths erupting from your mouth. The Earl, meanwhile, began nibbling your inner lips, his tongue flicking along and tracing the entrance of your vagina prior to slinking in. You looked away from the Earl, trying to force the sight of him eating you out from your mind—the feeling alone was enough to boggle your brain. This, however, only resulted in you catching a glimpse and thus becoming entranced by Tyki’s hands pleasuring himself. One hand rolled his balls around, the other running up and down his shaft, fingers caressing the head.

 You spread your legs wider just slightly without realizing what you were doing, and the Earl grinned at the obvious invitation. He left you disappointed; though amused and pleased with the fact that your body was responding so nicely to his ministrations, he drew back. Tyki, likewise, stopped masturbating, and your gaze fell away from him to the Earl’s face. You stared at the head of the Noah clan, your face flushed with arousal, embarrassment and anger, and your breathing coming out in deep pants.

 “How many days have you been here?” You shook your head. Your mind, though blurred with pleasure, served just as well to remind you that you were not to divulge anything to the enemy. To this, the Earl only shook his head. He leaned forward, gave your pussy a single lick, and withdrew his tongue once again. You gasped, your hips bucking to meet the organ. “Was it one?” You bit your bottom lip yet again.

 Tyki’s eyes were focused on your face, searching for any hints. “No.” The Earl nodded, leaned forward, and thrust his tongue into you deeply.  You threw your head back, moaning, the sound muffled by your closed mouth. A whimper then escaped you—the Earl had pulled away. “Not quite,” Tyki commented. Again did the tongue assault you, that time trailing from your lower belly into your folds. You shook your head, and the Earl repeated the action in reverse.

 “Oh God, yes!” You hated yourself for saying it, despised the fact that the Noah were laughing at you.

 “Four days,” they said in unison. The Earl looked up at your face from his position between your legs. “Is that right? Four days?” You could not meet his gaze. “Or was it more? I could keep going.” You felt yourself growing wetter with his words. His mouth returned to your pussy, and he began suckling. You could no longer hold back the moans; a single finger had joined the Earl’s tongue—Tyki’s finger. The Noah of Pleasure knelt beside the other male, both intent on driving you over the edge it seemed.

 Simultaneously, they pulled out. “It was four, right?” Tyki asked you. Before your mind, so filled and blinded by pleasure, could function correctly, you found yourself nodding. Then you stiffened, realizing what you had done. You bowed your head in shame, tears forming in the corners of your eyes. “Don’t cry~” Tyki and the Earl spread your legs apart as far as they could go while bound. You winced slightly at the pain this caused you, and stared at the two men through watery eyes. “We’ll make you feel better~”

 Your jaw dropped, and you could not even fathom what to think when the two Noahs’ tongues met—they failed to kiss one another fully, instead opting to not only rub their organs along one another’s, but also inside of your wet pussy. You gasped, swallowed, and fought for breath at the sensation of the two tongues battling for dominance against one another while still buried in your folds. Tyki’s was the first to retreat, and he blew lightly against your entrance, which was still being fucked by the Earl’s tongue. The Earl then moved away, having felt your walls tighten around his organ in a sure sign you were close to orgasm.

 “Doesn’t this feel nice? The three of us sinning together.” Tyki chuckled off to the side, running a hand through his hair to push back his bangs.  The Earl made light, small circles on your ankle as he spoke.

 Swallowing the saliva gathered in your mouth to keep yourself from drooling, you forced yourself to take a single, shaky breath. You were doing all that you could to calm yourself, to bring your body under your mind’s command. Regaining most of your normal composure, you were able to once more glare at the Millennium Earl and Tyki Mikk with pure defiance in your eyes. Seeing the challenge this posed for gaining future information from you, the Earl grinned widely. You barely managed to fight off the shudder that threatened to run down your entire frame. This was a battle of wills, and you refused to allow yourself to be defeated, especially by the likes of the two present Noah.

 The Earl stood before you and then walked behind your back. You felt his fingers dancing along your wrists, tapping against the chains that bound you. You turned your head to see what he was doing, however your attention returned immediately to Tyki when he raised himself as well. His dick stood painfully erect before you, and you eyed the organ warily while listening to the Earl’s next question.

 “Did you recognize anyone to be Noah here?”

 Inhaling deeply, you allowed your eyelids to drift close and outright refused to answer the question. To this, the Earl only gripped the chain one your wrists, tugging lightly so where the metal bit into your flesh. Used to this sort of pain from your training, you made no noise of complaint. Your heartbeat was beginning to return to its normal rate as well, your body completely unperturbed by the metal slicing through several layers of skin. The Earl shifted to where his mouth was directly beside your ear. Again did your heartbeat increase its rhythm; the feeling of his breath on your ear reminded you of the sensation below, of how skilled his tongue had been. You clenched your hands into fists and fought for control over yourself, almost winning when he asked:

 “They water-board you as part of your training, correct?” You stiffened slightly. It was true that you were no stranger to being water boarded, however that in no way indicated that you enjoyed it. You twisted your torso a fraction of an inch to look up at his face. The Earl peered down at you, his expression one of pure indifference. “Does drowning scare you?” You blinked once. “What about choking—did they shove anything into your mouth, hmm?” Your eyebrows furrowed, and the Earl smiled in self-congratulations.

 He moved to where he stood in front of you and motioned to Tyki. The Noah of Pleasure took up the position the Earl had previously held, his hands then seizing the restraints. You tensed your legs upon feeling your hands pulled back, and you knew full well the moment he used his power to push your hands and the chains past the back of the chair.

 “Do you know what we’re doing?” You were too absorbed in what Tyki was doing to make note of who asked the question. The Noah of Pleasure released your hands, once more returning to the Earl’s side.  The two men shared a look prior to the Millennium Earl grabbing you by the shoulder and literally tossing you onto the ground. He caught the chair before it was able to follow suit and collapse onto you. You winced as your shoulder then face smacked into the floor. A small whimper escaped from you, however you fought back any other noises.

 You groaned as the Earl rolled you onto your back then sat on the chair, staring down at you. He placed his feet on your legs, which were twisted slightly due to the position you were currently in. You shifted, attempting to alleviate some of the strain, and were stopped by both the restraints around your ankles, and the Earl pressed down on you. He asked again if you knew what was going on, and that time you shook your head.

 The Earl nodded, his eyes drifted towards Tyki, who recognized the signal immediately. The Noah of Pleasure straddled your chest, the tip of his erection touching your lips. Catching onto what they were planning, you swung your head to face the far wall. Your eyes were widened in horror, your heart beating loudly and quickly in your chest. You were certain Tyki was able to feel your pulse.

 “Don’t even think about biting,” Tyki said. He then looked skyward, rubbing his chin. “Not that you really could.” The Earl and Tyki laughed at your expense. At the same time, Tyki gripped you by the hair and forced you to face him. He shifted his hips forward, the head of his penis flush against your lips. You could smell his musk, could feel the precum dripping onto you. All you had to do was keep your mouth shut, you told yourself. That’s all you had to do. Tyki grinned down at you, his teeth and eyes reminding you of a monster—you trembled at the sight of the trademark Noah-grin. You remembered at that exact moment that it did not matter if you opened your mouth or not—his ability made you completely vulnerable even should you successfully keep your mouth shut.

 But that was not what he wanted, and you realized this upon feeling the Earl’s foot stomp down hard on your ankle. You whimpered and gasped, feeling the bone break, and instantly regretted it as Tyki thrust his hips forward, his penis entering your mouth. He did not stop there; the Noah made certain that his dick hit the back of your throat, and you gagged around the organ. Tyki slowly withdrew then rolled his hips again. You felt tears forming in your eyes, rolling down your cheeks, as the sensation and thoughts of dying from asphyxiation clouded your mind. Above you, Tyki moaned. His fingers tangled themselves in your hair, and he forced your head to bob up and down his length while he fucked your mouth.

 After thrusting into your throat several times, he withdrew from your mouth. Still seated on the seat behind Tyki and above you, the Earl repeated his previous question: Did you recognize anyone to be Noah here?

 You, however, were busy coughing and gagging. Fighting to catch your breath, you sobbed. All the while, Tyki continued to run his hand through your hair, rocking his hips, ever ready to resume. It seemed to them that you took too long; you screamed around Tyki’s erection as it entered your mouth and once more hit against the back of your throat. The vibrations of your scream caused Tyki to groan loudly in pleasure. You attempted to jerk your head away from him, but were unable to due to the fact that Tyki still held captive your hair. He did, however, relent slightly; the Noah no longer pressed himself to where he hit your throat, but instead ran the head of his penis against your tongue. You tasted the precum, at the same time your nostrils were filled with the scent of his musk. For a second time, Tyki withdrew from your mouth without cumming. He stared down at you while, for a third time, the Earl asked the question.

 “J…just…” More tears spilled down your cheeks; you did not want to betray the Order, but it did not count if the information was harmless, did it? No, you told yourself. It wasn’t betrayal if it didn’t hurt the Order. “…I only…I only recognized the ones…that the Order…” You swallowed hard, your throat sore. “Only the ones that the Order already knows of…”

 The Earl nodded, but you barely saw the action past Tyki’s body. The patriarch of the Noah family shifted in his seat, his own pants becoming unbearably tight. In his next question, you heard his voice deepen, grow husky: “What Noah do the Order know about?”

 Your legs were growing numb, and you attempted to move them to get the blood flowing once more. The Earl allowed this, and even aided you just a little by pushing against your shins. Your gaze flickered to Tyki, then darted to the Earl, and finally settled on the Noah of Pleasure’s face. He was staring down at you lovingly—it was all about lust, you well knew.

 “I…I don’t know,” you said quickly, hoping this would satisfy the two. Tyki only sighed, gripped your head, and ignored your protests as he entered your mouth against. This time, his moan was loud. It echoed in your head as his hips rolled forward, the head of his dick sliding against the roof of your mouth. It tickled somewhat, and you shuddered in response.  He moved, alternating between running the upperside of his shaft against the roof of your mouth, and the underside along your tongue. Your throat constricted the moment he ventured to move in that deeply. You hardly heard his hiss of ‘Oh, fuck yes’, your vision growing blurred from the lack of oxygen. You attempted several times to breathe through your nose, however were assaulted and overwhelmed by his scent.

 His thrusting grew more frantic. You felt his hand hit against your chin, and your brow furrowed before you realized that he was cupping his sac while he continued to rape your mouth. You shut your eyes tightly, knowing what was coming—knowing that he was about to cum. You hoped and prayed that he would go ahead and thrust once more into the back of your throat so that you would not have to taste him. Those prayers remained unanswered; Tyki made certain his seed spilled on your tongue and filled your mouth. Upon pulling out, he slammed a hand over your lips, preventing you from spitting out the semen.

 You swallowed several times, fought off the urge to gag, and sobbed pathetically when Tyki removed his hand. A handful of tears slipped down your cheeks; you were completely and utterly disgusted with yourself, were sure that you were going to Hell for what you had been forced to do—that’s what the Order had told you would happen. Tyki moved off your chest, and both Noah watched you cry. The younger Noah ran a thumb up and down your cheek in a semi-comforting manner. You could only shake your head in response.

 “But…but I really…I really don’t know that,” you said, sobbing loudly and voice breaking several times during that short sentence. “I just…only ….the list…”

 The Earl hummed in response; it was a bit late for him to be agreeing with you, to be accepting that answer, you thought. Tyki had already had his way with you.

 Standing, the Noah patriarch took out a piece of paper from his pocket. You recognized it immediately as the list you had mentioned. If he already knew about the list….then why would they do that…? You sobbed yet again. He then knelt between your legs, reaching backwards and snapping the chains off with a brief summoning of dark power. You yanked your limbs away from him, curling in on yourself in an attempt to hide your lower half from his wandering eyes. Tyki watched with vague interest as the Earl seized your hips and pulled you into his lap. You cried into his chest, his hands crossed behind your back and unlocking the shackles on your wrists.

 Your arms, sore and tender from the position they had been trapped in for so long, flopped lamely to your sides for a minute. Blood pulsed through your limbs in an aching speed that had you tensing and hissing in discomfort. At the same time, you were not oblivious to the Earl’s own growing discomfort, to the erection pressing against you from under his clothing. His hands were lecherous, venturing to touch and rub first your arms, then your hips, and finally your chest. He squeezed your breasts, causing you to gasp and attempt to retreat. Pulling away, you landed on your back against, only to have the Earl roll on top of you. One hand remained on your chest, pinching a nipple through your shirt and bra, and the other rested beside your face in order to prop himself up.

 You grit your teeth together, shutting your eyes and gasping as he rolled the nipple between finger and thumb. His hips pressed into yours, his erection pressing tightly against your wet pussy. You whimpered beneath him, and felt tears running down your cheeks yet again. He began licking up the salty-water that fell from your eyes, his lips pressing gently against your eyelids after following the trail.

 “Were you able to gather any new information on the Noah?” he asked, the hand abandoning your breast to trail between your two bodies—down, down, running over your abdomen, next your pelvic bone, and finally a knuckle slipping between your folds as he gripped the zipper of his pants. You heard him tug the metal down, and felt his hand move against you as he undid the button as well.

 You opened your eyes and stared at him, horrorstruck as he pulled himself out of his pants. His hips shifted lightly, however he made no mood to penetrate you. “I….I…” He ran his tongue over his lips, and you stared, hypnotized by the pink organ. He slipped his hand back up your body, first cupping your thigh and slowly massaging up. You were growing wetter the higher he went, panting as his thumb hooked for just a moment into your pussy, massaging your clit prior to venturing higher. Subconsciously, you spread your legs further for the Earl and he rewarded you by pressing forward. Your body tensed upon feeling the head of the Earl’s erection brush against your lower lips. “Please…d-don’t.”

 “Just answer the question,” he told you, although he obliged in the slightest by shifting to where his penis was not so snug against you.

 “Y-y-yes.” You looked away from his face, staring instead at one of the bookcases in the room. This was getting to the point of betrayal, you told yourself. Anything further and you would be damned if you answered their questions. At the same time, you told yourself that you were damned if the Earl or Tyki had their way with you; premarital sex was immoral! You sniffled, chest heaving with yet another sob. “Just pl-please don’t.” You pulled your hips away from his, your hands moving to cover yourself. The Earl watched this with fascination, and Tyki also observed your actions with growing interest.

 “You’ve already told the Order the information?” the Millennium Earl asked, placing both hands on either side of your head and moving to where he was on all fours over you. You sobbed in response to his interrogation. That was enough of an answer for him. “What information did you give to them?”

 “I…I can’t…I can’t…” You felt as though you were suffocating; the feeling of weight on your chest, of air not able to get into your lungs was worse than when Tyki had fucked your mouth. Your throat was still sore from the abuse, and every ragged breath you took only made things worse. You gulped in a mouthful of air, fear clenching your heart as the Earl started to undo the buttons on his shirt. You shook your head, hands flying up to grab his, to stop his actions. He paused for only a moment as your fingers curled around his hand, and stared down at you. His erection throbbed painfully at the sight of you sputtering out nonsensical words, of you begging him to please wait. Then he resumed undressing himself, that time with more fervor, his eyes half-lidded with lust.

 You pulled yourself out from underneath his body successfully just as he was shrugging his shirt off of his shoulders. However, you had completely forgotten about Tyki’s presence, and were startled when the second Noah’s arms wrapped around your waist to stop your escape. While the Earl finished pulling off his pants, and while you tried to tear yourself from Tyki’s grasp, the Noah of pleasure peeled your shirt from your body with his ability. You covered your chest, which was then covered only by your bra, and thus left yourself open to Tyki’s hands removing your pants and panties completely from your body.

 Crossing your legs, you turned your body halfway away from the two men, trying to hide yourself. The Earl sighed in contentment at the sight, and Tyki made quick work of removing his own clothes. He used only one hand, the second squeezing between your thighs, two fingers rubbing against and then into your vagina. You gasped, yours hips initially jerked away from the contact before Tyki began curling and uncurling the digits. At that point, you could not stop your body from responding to the touch. It did not help either when the Noah of pleasure tugged you closer, your back against his torso, or when the Earl moved to where he had better access to you. His hands gripped you, forced your legs apart, and he thrust two more fingers into your depth. You released a small scream at the pain that flooded through your mind, unused to such stretching and pressure in the lower regions of your body.

 “Stop! That hurts!”

 “Oh~?” Tyki peered down at your pussy from over your shoulder, watching as his and the Earl’s fingers thrust in and out of you. A few drops of red and pink came out as he jerked his fingers away for a moment. “You really are a virgin.” The fingers returned, and you jumped at the intrusion, bouncing against Tyki, accidentally causing the fingers to thrust into you harder. The Noah of Pleasure kissed the top of your head, his lips and kisses trailing down the side of your face, until he arrived at your neck. He nibbled at your flesh, tongue flicking out and teasing.

 You were starting to moan as the fingers wiggled and danced within you, as Tyki’s tongue lapped at your neck, as the Earl’s free hand squeezed and tormented your breasts. You threw your head back, sobbing and moaning at the same time. It was getting hard to breathe, it was getting—so fucking hot. You felt sweat running down your body as you moved your hips in time with the fingers. Tyki’s hand joined the Earl’s and started to play with your other breast.  The Earl, likewise, moved forward and started to lick the other side of your neck. You felt several times their tongues meet as they licked every inch of your neck. Tyki’s erection pressed into your back and you gasped, your tongue lolling in your mouth.

  The Earl withdrew his fingers first, running them along your body and trailing upwards until he was able to lick both your neck and your juices at the same time. He then shifted and ran his tongue down your body, over the line he had previously smeared on you. Your tears seemed to have dried up, and you could only manage a shaky breath and a weak sob as the Earl’s mouth engulfed you. He sucked at your wet pussy, his tongue running along Tyki’s fingers and your inner walls.

 Tyki withdrew his fingers, caressing the Earl’s face for a moment before moving both hands to your hips. You watched the action, confused. “Duke, we’re still going to ask her, right?” Tyki asked, pressing closer to you. The Millennium Earl kissed back up your body until his face was above your head and he looked Tyki directly in the eyes. You looked up to watch the pair, your mind and body still coming down from the high that the two Noah had given to you. You leaned your head against Tyki’s shoulder, and continued to pant. The pair of men gazed down at you, watching you watch them.

 “That’s correct.”  Your teeth clamped down on your bottom lip as he moved to where his forehead rested against yours. “What information were you able to give the Order?”

 You shook your head, closing your eyes tightly as you released your lip in order to say, “I’m not…not allowed…I won’t…”

 The Earl seized your hips, his hands directly above Tyki’s. Both Noah forced your hips forward, and you scrambled against the feeling of the Earl’s erection against your entrance. He slammed his hips up, burying himself in you immediately. A scream ripped from your throat at the sudden intrusion. You jerked your body, attempting to remove yourself. The Earl, meanwhile, groaned loudly and whispered a multitude of words regarding how tight you felt.

 “Oh, God!” you whimpered. “You…I’m…”

 “Were you saving it for your husband~?” Tyki cooed, nuzzling you while dropping his hands from your hips to your ass. You stiffened as he began to knead your flesh, and you stared at the Earl, who had yet to move since he first entered you. “We’re very good at destroying innocence~” The two Noah laughed, and you shuddered.

 “Are you going to answer the question?” the Earl asked, lifting his hips further into yours. You wiggled against him, unable to remove yourself from him as his hands held you in place. Tyki continued to massage your butt, his fingers  running over your cheeks and seeking a different entrance. You tensed upon realizing what he was doing, your head whipping around to look at him. He smirked at you in response. “You have five seconds….four…” With wide eyes, you looked at the Earl. Tyki’s fingers wiggled into you, causing you to buck your hips. This resulted in your gasping and the Earl moaning lowly in his throat. “…three…”

 “Wait, wait…”

 “…two…” Tyki positioned himself, the tip of his erection pressing tightly against your anus.  You opened your mouth then closed it. “…one…” Eyes impossibly wide and mouth hanging open as you prepared to beg once more for him to wait, you felt the wind get knocked out of you as Tyki thrust forward. A handful of screams tore from you, and once more you found yourself sobbing as your mind was filled with a searing pain.

 “I hell need going stop trouble,” you said. The two men looked at your face, both blinking as you sputtered nonsense. The Earl was the first to laugh, and Tyki followed this by a chuckle. Both shifted their hips, attempting to establish a rhythm. You grit your teeth and hissed in pain.

 Tyki looked at the Earl past your shoulder and suggested, “Maybe you should lay down?” The Millennium Earl obliged, shifting to where he was on his back and you were on top of him. Tyki moved forward at the same time, making sure he did not slip from your tightness. The new position did help to alleviate some of the pain you were experiencing.

 You placed your hands on the Earl’s chest when you felt as though you were about to collapse from the slight discomfort that remained. The Earl and Tyki rotated their hips another time, and you shifted as a hint of pleasure washed over your body. Not again, I can’t be enjoying this—not again, you screamed at yourself in your mind. All the same, you could not prevent the ‘mmm’ from escaping you. You ran your tongue over your lips, the room suddenly feeling hot beyond all reason. You felt the heat start to center around your belly before it shifted lower.

 The first time you rocked your hips in time with Tyki and the Earl’s thrusting, your mind hardly registered it. The second time, you cursed yourself. On the third occasion, however, you were growing so hot that you hardly cared. The phrase ‘I’m going to hell’ repeated itself in your mind over and over, and still you continued to ride the two Noah. You ran your hands up and down the Earl’s bare chest, trailing your fingers by the tips only down the Earl’s abs. They shuddered under your touch, and the Earl gave an appreciative moan, jerking his hips into you. You rolled your hips against his in return, making sure to wiggle against Tyki, who started suckling at your neck in response.

 Suddenly the two paused, and it was you alone who was riding the pair. They both fought the urge to resume, seeing how eager you were growing. Tyki and the Earl steadied your hips with firm grips. You stared down at the Earl questioningly, mind in a boggle from the pleasure you were receiving. Your teeth started to saw through your bottom lip—it was so hot in the room! There was so much pressure in the lower half of your body, pressure that demanded you move against the dicks that were buried within you.

 “What information did you tell the Order?” the Earl asked. You groaned in response, your hands shoving against the limbs that were holding you in place. Below you, the Earl rotated his hips a second before Tyki also swiveled himself. You moaned as a result, eyelids fluttering closed. “Did it involve our abilities?” This time, Tyki thrust forward, forcing the Earl deeper into you.

 “Oh…mmm…” You were breathing unevenly, your hands running along your own body. One hand cupped a single breast. You pinched and rolled a single nipple, kneading the breast as your other hand wormed its way to way you were able to thrust a single finger into yourself. You moved it up and down the Earl’s shaft before focusing on pleasuring yourself.

 Tyki pulled out of you right before the Earl flipped you onto your back, his hips withdrawing until his dick left you with a slick sound. Then he slammed himself forward, reentering you. You wrapped your legs tightly around his waist, bucking your hips into his. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head as he started to fuck you from his kneeling position. You removed your finger from yourself and grasped at the Earl’s balls, rolling them and touching them. All too soon, the Earl reached behind himself, unhooked your legs, and pulled out; you cursed as he regained control of the situation.

 “That’s a pretty strong aphrodisiac you put in her drink,” you heard Tyki say as your focus swam. “How much did you give her anyway?”

 You were unable to hear the Earl’s response. You had once more buried your finger into yourself, adding a second as you started to scissor yourself. The two Noah watched you for a minute as you brought yourself to the pique of pleasure—and then the Earl seized your hands , securing them behind your back. He forced you backwards into his lap. You wiggled against him, trying to position yourself over his erection before noticing that Tyki had moved in front of you.

 “I shouldn’t have given her that much,” the Earl muttered as you spread your legs for Tyki. The two Noah smirked; you threw your head back as Tyki entered you. Your hips were immediately moving against his, your legs wrapped around the man in order to force him closer, deeper. You were panting heavily by then. Tyki chuckled, moving in and out of you with skill. “Hmm.”

 The Earl pushed you into Tyki’s arms, releasing your hands. You grasped the Noah of Pleasure’s shoulders, still riding him even as the Earl thrust into your anus. You groaned out an ‘oh yes’ and shifted to where you could enjoy them both in full.

 Tyki’s hands were on your thighs, and the Earl’s on your chest.  You had your legs wrapped around Tyki’s torso and arms draped behind you around the Earl’s neck. You pulled him closer, pressing your lips against his in such haste that your teeth collided. The Earl growled in response, his tongue forcing its way into your mouth. Simultaneously, Tyki started to nibble once again at your neck. Your lips left the Earl’s and you seized Tyki’s, your tongue running along his. Not allowing you much of a chance to get away, the Earl leaned further into you, his mouth joining. The three of your tongues fought for dominance, slipping on occasion into someone’s mouth, although you were never quite sure whose.

 For a second time, both men pulled away and out of you. You whimpered; they had grabbed your limbs and stretched you out to keep you from pleasuring yourself.

 “Did it have anything to do with…” The Earl paused, breathing heavily. “Did the information regard the Noah’s abilities?”

 “Oh fuck…” You could feel that you were so close to cumming. Your body was screaming for the two men to enter you, while your mind battled with the effects of the aphrodisiac and the knowledge that you should not reveal anything to the two men. You swallowed hard, eyes wandering over Tyki and the Earl’s naked bodies. The sight of their erections alone was about enough to make you cum. “It was…how…the looks…”

 The Millennium Earl whipped you onto his lap, where you immediately wrapped your legs securely in place; while he thrust inside, you pushed yourself onto him. The Earl reached past you, gripping Tyki’s hips and forcing the Noah of Pleasure against you. Tyki obliged without complaint, moving to where he was able to reenter you. He gripped your hair and harshly yanked your head back, literally shoving his tongue towards the back of your throat. You whimpered then moaned in response, moving your hips in time with theirs.

 Your hands were running up and down the Earl’s chest, until you found his abs again. Releasing your hair, Tyki reached in front of you, his hands gripping harshly at your chest. You shuddered in slight pain and noticed that his rhythm was increasing, that he was getting close. You continued to kiss him, your hands seizing the Earl’s wrists and bringing them to your chest as well. The Earl groaned lowly, leaving one hand on your right breast while the other grabbed you by the back of your neck. He jerked you forward and claimed your mouth. You felt yourself tighten around him as he thrust his tongue in and out of your mouth, mimicking what was going on below. You came for a second time, and this caused the Earl to cum only a few seconds following. Tyki continued to thrust into you even after the Earl pulled out.

 He then paused, realizing what had happened, and forced you onto all fours while pulling out. He positioned himself at the entrance of your vagina and then thrust forward. He had one hand on your back, keeping you in place while he fucked you as though you were an animal. Not that you minded in the least at that point—you were rocking your hips back into his.

 You reached forward with a single hand, gripping the Earl’s shaft as it softened, and leaned until you were able to lap up the semen and juices that had stuck to him.

 “Fuck, that’s hot,” you heard Tyki say. He pulled all the way out and then thrust forward, forcing your face further into the Earl’s lap. A moment later, Tyki came with a loud groan. He continued to thrust into you until his shaft had fully softened.

 At that point, you were so hot once more that you rolled onto your back and, not caring who was watching, started to fuck yourself with your fingers. Tyki licked his lips, an action that the Earl mimicked.  Both of them spread your legs and buried their tongues within your depths. “Oh, fuck yes,” you hissed jerked your hips into their faces.  Tyki licked a trail from your pussy up to your neck then back down again, while the Earl forced your finger away and started to roll your clit between his teeth. When you felt Tyki slip his tongue into you again, you moaned. You felt your walls tighten around their tongues, almost sobbed in pure ecstasy as they continued lapping at you even as you came. You were left gasping for air when they moved away from you. Tyki wiped his chin with an arm, all the while licking his lips.

 “Still can’t believe the Order was dumb enough to send a girl~” You blinked at him, your mind not fully registering what the Noah was saying.

 The Earl took a deep breath, stared down at you, and made a noise of agreement; in the back of his mind, he wondered if the Order had expected this, but then dismissed the thought immediately upon reflecting on all the information he was able to gain from you. He then pushed himself into a standing position and crossed the room, where he retrieved a cup of water. The Millennium Earl sat beside you, helped you into his lap, and pressed the rim of the cup against your mouth. You greedily started to drink the water, whimpering as he would pull the glass away then replace it. He seemed to be purposely spilling some of the water on your chest.

 Again he took the cup away from you. That time he did not give it back, instead taking a sip himself. You reached for it, but were unable to retrieve it as Tyki took the water and sucked down what little remained.

 “Do we kill her?” the Noah of Pleasure asked, rubbing a hand down your back. He stroked you as though you were a house pet. You stiffened at his question, looking between him and the Earl. “She might tell the Order what you look like.”

 The Earl brushed back some of your hair. “I’m not worried about that.” He captured your bottom lip between his teeth, caressing the area of flesh with his tongue. He released you, looking at Tyki. The Earl then shifted his gaze to you. “I wonder—what is the Order going to do to once they find out everything?” You shuddered at the thought; even if they did not put you to death for your acts of heresy, you were certain you would not be welcome amongst your comrades. “I suppose we’ll just have to return her.” You did not like the way he grinned as he said that. Your mind screamed as he once more moved atop you, as your body, under the influences of the aphrodisiac, responded to his sinful, lecherous hands.

 *****

 You crossed your arms over your chest as you stared at your superiors. The way quite a few of them were eyeballing you left a wave of chills running through you; quite a few of them were leering at you in the same manner both the Earl and Tyki had. This fact alone made you wish that you had been able to leave out the information regarding your debauchery, however the Order had made it clear that they would tolerate no editing or omitting to your tale. There was a mutual agreement amongst your superiors that your body would need to be cleansed; at that, you shuddered. All the while, they admitted that they were thoroughly pleased with the information you had provided—especially that regarding the Millennium Earl’s human appearance. Really, he shouldn’t have allowed you to live.

[ddixons-angel]

Fated: Season 5

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff),major character death

A/N: Monday is here and that means a new chapter~! I must warn you though, as I said in the last chapter, the next few are going to be on the more depressing side... but it gets better, I swear! Let’s get straight to into it!

Chapter 6 

It was the day after they had lost Beth. Gloria had made sure not to let Maggie see her sister in that state as they buried her. After her funeral, Rick, Tyreese, Glenn, and Michonne had gone off with Noah to his old neighborhood. They wanted to see if there was anything worth scavenging, and Noah needed to try and find his family. They agreed as they knew Beth would have wanted to go with him. 

Now, the others who hadn’t gone with Rick and Noah stayed behind to watch the area they had planned to camp for the night. Daryl was sitting on watch and Sasha as well but on the other side of the camp. Gloria was going around to make sure everyone was doing alright, given the circumstances. She had made her rounds with everyone except Daryl and Maggie. She walks up to Daryl with a water bottle and reaches out to him, offering him a water bottle.

“‘M okay.” he says, looking away from her.

“No, you’re not. Take it, Daryl.” Gloria insists.

“‘M fine!” he snaps, then he walks away from her without even glancing at her.

Gloria sighs as she watches him walk away from her. She knew he was hurting from their loss so she didn’t hold it against him for using that kind of tone with her. She knew how he was and he needed time and space to be alone. Gloria doesn’t chase after him and makes her way to the centre of their camp where Maggie was seated, her back leaning on the side of a car, tears staining her face. Gloria carefully sits down close to her and offers her the water bottle, part of her expecting Maggie to snap at her like Daryl did.

Deep down, Gloria felt that possibly Daryl and Maggie both resented her and hated her for not being able to get Beth out of Grady Memorial. They depended on her to get her out safely and she had let them both down. She let everyone down. She couldn’t even do anything when Dawn shot Beth. She’d reached them too late and Beth was already gone. This was all her fault. 

“Thank you...” Maggie whispers softly, but she hadn’t taken the bottle.

Gloria furrows her brows in confusion. Maggie stayed in her place, not looking at Gloria but it seems that she felt her confusion as Maggie took a deep breath.

“Thank you for trying... trying to protect me... trying to get Beth out...” Maggie says, her voice thick and full of emotion.

Gloria looks down and bites her lip to keep from crying, “I’m sorry...” 

Maggie only shook her head at her words, “you did your absolute best...” 

“But it wasn’t enough...” Gloria whispers, barely audible. 

Maggie reaches out and puts her hand on Gloria’s, making her look at her sister-in-law. She gives Gloria a tearful smile as if to let her know that it was going to be alright. Gloria forces a smile back at her, wanting to reassure her as well. The two sit in silence for a while until they hear the rumble of a vehicle in the distance then a car door opening and slamming shut in a matter of seconds.

“Gloria! Gloria!” Glenn shouts, his voice in a panic. 

She gets up at her brother’s call and rushes over to him, worry pumping through her veins. By the sound of Glenn’s voice, she knew that something must have gone wrong on their run to Noah’s old neighborhood so she grabs the bag of medical supplies before heading over.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Gloria asks once she meets up with Glenn. 

Glenn doesn’t answer her in words, instead he looks back towards the car they had taken for their run and Gloria follows his line of sight. Rick, Noah, and Michonne were carrying an unconscious Tyreese out of the car, his left arm was cut off from just below his elbow. Gloria curses under her breath as she rushes past Glenn to get to him.

“He got bit, we had to amputate... he’s lost a lot of blood,” Rick tells Gloria once he sees her.

She nods at the information and kneels down beside him, examining his wound once the man is on the ground. Gloria sees that they had tried to stop the bleeding as best they could with the resources they had. She removes the bedsheets and towels wrapping the stump where his hand used to be and to her dismay, she sees that it was still bleeding out. Gloria puts her middle and index finger on Tyreese’s neck to check for a pulse. 

“It’s weak, but there’s still a pulse, once I stop the bleeding we’re going to need to do a blood transfusion right away,” Gloria says, pulling out gauze from the medical supply bag, “does anyone but Sasha know Tyreese’s blood type? Or does anyone have negative O blood?”

She looks up at Rick as she presses the layers of gauze hard on Tyreese’s wound. She sees him look around at anyone who might have an answer but then he shakes his head at her when he doesn’t get one. 

“Glenn, ask Sasha what Tyreese’s blood type is but don’t let her come here, she can’t see this.” Gloria tells Glenn and he nods, following his sister’s instruction right away. 

After a while, the bleeding seems to have stopped but Gloria becomes frantic as she sees that Tyreese’s breathing had stopped as well. Rick seems to have noticed this as well as he frowns and feels the man’s neck for a pulse.

“Tyreese? Tyreese, stay with us!” he shouts.

“No... no no no...” Gloria sits up on her knees, “we’re not losing another one...’

She begins to perform CPR on Tyreese. The atmosphere is tense and frantic as the others watch on. Gloria hears Glenn calling out something in the background but doesn’t pay attention, she doesn’t stop even when she hears her name being called. They couldn’t lose another one, not like this. Sasha had already lost Bob to a bite, she couldn’t lose Tyreese too. 

Gloria didn’t even notice that Rick had moved from his spot by Tyreese’s side until a hand that was not his grabs hers, stopping her from continuing. She looks up to see Sasha looking down at her brother’s lifeless body. The look on her face broke Gloria’s heart and she lets out a shaky sigh. 

“He’s gone..” Sasha whispers, looking at Tyreese’s face as she pulls out her knife.

“You don’t have to...” Gloria says softly.

“I do...” is all Sasha says before she pushes the blade into his temple to prevent him from turning.

Grief looms over the group as they have lost yet another one from their group. After burying Tyreese and putting him to rest, they decided to follow Eugene’s words and continue towards Washington for a chance to survive and find refuge. The group knew that there was no cure or anything to bring the world back to how it used to be, apparently Eugene lied about that. However, he was still certain that there was a place for them there. Without many other choices, Rick decided that that was where they would head. 

As days turned to weeks, the group gave up on their cars as their fuel ran completely dry. Their sources of food and water also became scarce, Daryl had been having trouble hunting anything in the dry conditions everything was in. It appeared that it hadn’t rained for weeks on end. Now the group’s main source of food were the acorns Gloria was able to dig up. She made it her mission to keep the group as well fed as possible since she seemed to be having better luck than Daryl when it came to food at the moment. He still hadn’t spoken to her ever since he brushed her off the day Tyreese died. 

Gloria was having an internal struggle with herself. She wanted to help the group as much as possible since she feels like she failed them all. First being unable to get Beth out of Grady Memorial, and then being unable to save Tyreese. She hated herself and she felt completely useless. Her inner demons told her that Maggie, Sasha, and Daryl hated her as well for letting them down. Gloria didn’t want to talk to them about it, she didn’t want to make it all about her and how she was feeling. She didn’t want to be selfish that way, if they hated her and they felt better hating her then she would take it, even if it killed her inside. 

“Leave me alone.” Daryl says as Gloria tries again to get him to drink some water. 

“I’m not leaving you alone until you take at least a sip,” she persists, urging him to take the bottle, “when’s the last time you had any water, huh? You can’t keep going on like this!”

“I said leave me alone!” Daryl snaps, hitting the bottle away from him.

Gloria gasps as Daryl had hit the bottle a little too hard, causing it to fall out of her hands. She misses the regret that flashed in his eyes as she looks at the bottle. He sighs deeply then storms away from her. Gloria bites her lip, trying not to cry as she picks up the bottle. She walks back over to the group and sees Glenn looking at her worriedly. She gives him a tight smile as she throws him the bottle then signs to him that she’s going out to scavenge for food again. Without waiting for him to respond, Gloria turns around and escapes into the woods. 

She’d been out in the woods for at least an hour now. She had actually managed to dig up quite a few acorns despite the dryness in the dirt, at least she was able to provide them all something. 

Gloria was now making her way back to the camp, still looking out for any potential squirrel-dug holes. She’d been so immersed in looking on the ground that she hadn’t noticed anything behind her until she heard the crunch of dried leaves. Gloria turns around and gasps, stumbling back as a walker snarls at her. It reaches out to her, grabbing her right arm while she pulls a dagger out from her belt. Before she was able to kill it though, she falls back as she trips on a rock. The walker falls with her as its grip on her is tight. Gloria lets out a cry of pain as she feels something sharp cut into her left forearm from her fall. 

“Gloria!” she hears her brother’s voice call as he rushes towards her.

Glenn quickly pulls out his knife and sinks it into the back of the walker’s head, roughly pulling it off his sister. He carefully grabs her arm and pulls her to stand up. Gloria picks up her dagger that she dropped when she fell, placing it back in its sheath.

“Are you okay? Are you bit?” Glenn asks, his eyes full of worry.

“No, just cut myself on some sharp rocks or something,” Gloria says as she examines her now bloody left forearm, “what are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you, you’ve been gone for a while,” Glenn says then frowns at the sight of her injury, “are you okay?”

Gloria tightens her jaw at his question then nods to let him know that she was physically fine, “yeah...”

“Let’s get you back to camp and fix up that cut,” Glenn says, then he turns around to start heading back to the camp. 

The mention of the camp and remembering what happened with Daryl earlier threw her off. She couldn’t even go out to the woods on her own anymore without anything happening to her. Gloria hated that she had become so weak and useless, constantly needing people to save her. Her emotions were getting too overwhelming as she remembers how she sees everyone looking at her, or rather how her mind made her think they were all looking at her.

“Glenn...” Gloria calls out in a soft voice, making him glance back at her, “I’m... I’m not okay...” 

“Hey...” Glenn walks back up to Gloria and carefully wraps his arms around her as she begins to cry, “it’s okay... let it out.”

Gloria clings to Glenn as she weeps, all of her emotions that had built up from the last few weeks catching up with her. Glenn’s hand cradles her head, his other stroking her back soothingly.

“They hate me...” she whimpers, “they all hate me...”

“What are you talking about? No, they don’t,” Glenn tells her, his voice still soft.

“Yes they do! You don’t see how they look at me... I’m a useless, shit doctor who can’t do anything right... I couldn’t help Beth and I couldn’t save Tyreese... I let them all down...” she sobs, her body shaking.

“Gloria, look at me,” Glenn says, pulling away from her and his hands are on her shoulders, making her look at him, “you’re not useless, and they don’t hate you. Trust me, they don’t. You know that I can’t lie to you.”

“You can’t lie, period...” Gloria sniffles and looks down, “I... I thought about just leaving...”

Glenn frowns at her, “what?”

“I didn’t think anyone needed me or wanted me around...” Gloria says, embarrassed and ashamed at her own confession. 

“You really don’t see how important you are to the group, do you?” Glenn sighs, “listen, you and Rick are the only ones holding this group together. If it weren’t for you and your weird knowledge of squirrels, we'd all be starving. This group needs you, I need you.”

Gloria looks up at Glenn, “really?” she says in a small voice.

“Really.” Glenn smiles at her reassuringly, “are you ready to go back to the camp? I can bring you your kit if you aren’t.”

Gloria shakes her head then wipes her tears away with her good hand, “I’m good.”

“You sure?” Glenn asks.

“Yeah, plus I want to see the worry and regret on Daryl’s face when he sees I’m hurt,” Gloria says as she starts walking back to the camp with Glenn, she was only half joking as she wanted to put up a strong front for Glenn.

Glenn chuckles at that, “don’t be too hard on him.”

Gloria hums in agreement, knowing that Daryl was going through a lot. It still hurt her that he was shutting her out and snapping at her whenever she was trying to help. When the siblings got back to the camp, they saw that the others had gathered wood for the campfire that was to be lit when it got dark enough. Gloria grabs the bag of medical supplies and sits on a part of the road that wasn’t too far from the group. She noticed that Daryl was sat by Carol, neither of them saying anything to one another. 

She takes her focus to her injury, she grimaces at the look of it. There was a gash on her forearm, thankfully it wasn’t too deep. Gloria guessed that she fell on a broken bottle as she began to take out small bits of green glass from her skin surrounding the wound. After removing the fragments, Gloria gets a swab of alcohol and gently dabs it on her wounds, hissing at the sting from the alcohol. On the plus side, the wound wasn’t bad enough to need stitches. 

“That looks painful,” Carol says once she made her way over to Gloria, sitting down beside her, “here, let me help.”

Gloria isn’t able to say anything before Carol reaches over and carefully takes her hand, letting it rest in her lap as she gets a bandage from the medical supply bag. Gloria smiles at Carol as she helps her bandage up her wound, appreciating the care she was receiving from her friend.

“You know,” Carol starts, “Daryl’s sorry for how he treated you earlier.”

Gloria nods and looks down, she was slightly embarrassed that the others saw what had happened, “I know, can’t help but be a little upset by it though...”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be upset by it, but you know Daryl and how he is. Just like you, he’s going through a lot. Beth’s death... it took a toll on him.” Carol points out, “give him some time, he’ll come back to you.”

“Thanks,” Gloria says, smiling at Carol after she had finished bandaging her forearm. 

Carol smiles back at her and pats her shoulder. Gloria then remembers that she hadn’t given the others her collection of acorns yet. She passes them to Carol who helps her take them to the campfire for roasting. Gloria looks around the camp and her eyes catch Daryl’s for a split second as he turns away from her once she looks his way. She sighs but then she notices that he was chewing on a twig. Suddenly, a thought pops in her head and she jumps up and goes over to Glenn.

“Glenn, give me an empty bottle,” Gloria tells him. 

Glenn furrows his brows at her but gives her one anyway and no one is able to stop her from running off into the woods again. She looks around at the trees then walks up to one, pulling a dagger from her belt and wedges the blade into the bark. She pries the outer bark off the tree then proceeds to dig into the centre of the tree until a thin liquid begins to ooze out. Gloria then takes the bottle Glenn had given her and tries to get as much of the liquid inside as possible.

“Why’d you run off like that?” Glenn asks her once he finds her in the woods, he approaches her, “what are you doing?”

“Gathering tree sap,” Gloria says simply, “it’ll really help with our water situation, it’s healthy and apparently very nutritious.”

“Where’d you learn that?” Glenn says with a smile as he crosses his arms, he felt proud that his sister was able to snap back to her normal self so quickly.

“You remember the little girl I took care of at the hospital? The one with all the nature books?” Gloria asks, “she taught me that, said that it would be useful if I ever went camping but for some reason had no water.”

“She must be prepared for the outbreak,” Glenn chuckles, he walks up to her, “need any help?”

“I got it, you go back first, I’ll head back right after I get at least half a bottle,” Gloria tells him. 

Glenn nods, trusting her word, he goes back to the camp. Gloria waits for the bottle to fill up as much as possible before the sun goes down then takes the bottle away from the tree, screwing the lid on then heads back to the group. Rick looks at Gloria expectedly and she assumes that Glenn had told him about the sap. She gives him the bottle and he smiles at her, thanking her silently before she heads back to where she had put her things by Glenn. As the sap was getting passed around, Gloria started to finally feel a little more useful than she had. Maybe she was wrong about how the group saw her. 

---

Next Chapter

As I warned earlier, a rather depressing chapter with the loss of Tyreese, then Daryl just pushing everyone away, and Gloria having a breakdown. I’m pretty sure I gave you all a heart attack when Gloria fell with the walker on top of her and she feels a sharp pain xD if I did, I’m sorry!! I have reasons for it , I swear! Also, sorry for not having any good Daryl Gloria moments (can I come up with a ship name? Gloryl? Daria? Haha) but that will change soon!!! 

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, even if you hated how depressing it was, I’d love to hear it from you ^^

And as always, I would really appreciate any comments left for me! I’ll be replying to any comments in a new post because this is a sideblog!

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

@twdeadfanfic​ | @fandomfanatic97​ | @crossbowking​ | @watchmeaspire​ | @spidergirla5​ | @kamieshep​ | @letsstarsfalling​ | @molethemollie​ | @alicewinchester99​ | @neilox​ | @womanup22​ | @jodiereedus22​ | @theonlyone-meeeee​ | @theunofficialduke​ | @inlovewdxx​ | @delightfullykrispypeach​ | @mrsfortune1306​ | @wolfkg​ | @funeral-7​ | @wnygirl2012​ | @alispaceme​ | @themihala​ | @aavocadocloud​ |  @polkadottedpillowcase​ | @felicisimor​ | @depressedfrog2​ | @ spacexkiddo0

[djchika]

RNM fic: 5 Times the Malex Squad tried to intervene and one time when Kyle Valenti, self-proclaimed best friend to Alex Manes, had enough.

1.  

Kyle hadn’t been too proud to admit he was hurt Alex hadn’t said he was playing at the Pony. He’d stared at Alex all wounded and betrayed when Greg had gone on and on about how Alex’s song made him cry.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Alex gave him a look then mockingly repeated, “I really hate Open Mic Night.

“I meant country music and crappy spoken word poetry. I don’t mean you!”

“For the record Forrest is an organizer and he does spoken word. Maybe don’t say that around him if you’re serious about coming next time.”

Kyle had grimaced. Someday he was going to stop inserting his foot into his mouth, but it had not been that day. He did however, concoct a great plan to make up for missing Alex’s performance and accidentally dissing Alex’s new boy wonder and that was grabbing a table front and center during the next Open Mic Night.

He was even there early which was nice cause he was able to hang out with Alex and Forrest. What was unfortunate was that they had to excuse themselves the moment the program started – Forrest to host and Alex to do whatever musicians do to pump themselves up before a game. Unfortunate, because Isobel arrived dragging a surlier than usual looking Guerin and commandeered the empty seats.

“Um, someone’s sitting there.” Kyle pointed out.

“We’ll move when they get back,” Isobel said, “We’re just here for one song.”

Kyle scowled. Fine. He could just ignored them. He was gone after Alex’s anyway. There’d already been one guy singing about dusty roads and pick up trucks and that was already one song too many.

The moment Forrest said Alex’s name Kyle hooted embarrassingly loud grinning brightly when Alex rolled his eyes at him. He didn’t miss the softer smile Alex aimed at Guerin.

Kyle also didn’t miss Isobel’s soft “Oh no,” when Alex called Forrest up to perform with him.

It was a new song. One about hope and new beginnings. Alex sang and played the piano with Forrest reciting bits of poetry during the refrain. It would have been cringe-worthy if Alex’s music didn’t turn Forrest overly dramatic words into something heartfelt and beautiful.

Kyle could almost say he was enjoying it.

What he was not enjoying was the furious whispering between Isobel and Michael.

“This is stupid,” he heard Isobel hiss. “You should be the one up there singing with him.”

“We’ve talked about this.”

“Yeah, yeah. That was before you spent the last month and a half moping. Tripp and Nora never got their chance at happiness. I don’t want you to lose yours too.”

“You know what would make me happy? If you two shut up while Alex is singing,” Kyle interjected quietly. He trained a glare at Isobel. “Regardless of who’s up there with him this is a big deal for him singing with a guy and you’re ruining it."

Isobel huffed, but stayed silent.

Michael stared at him for a second looking like he’d swallowed curdled milk, before finally gritting out the word “Thanks.”

Ah. Apparently, that sour look was him experiencing gratitude towards Kyle. Figures.

2.  

“Your doctor said you can go back to work slowly. That doesn’t mean jumping straight into a 12-hour shift.” Kyle gave Maria his sternest doctor face, but Maria just brushed him off.

“It’s been two months. I’m not doing anything excessive. I was doing paper work, but Max needed a break.”

The fact that Max was now a bartender still broke Kyle’s brain sometimes. Not because there was anything wrong with bartending, but nerdy Max Evans was no bar hound.

“I said I could watch it for him,” Guerin grumbled from where he was brooding like a gargoyle on a bar stool.

“If I left you to watch over the bar, I’d be out of business and your liver would be one big alcohol rag.” She paused, then whispered low, “Wait, do you have a liver?”

“They do,” Kyle confirmed. He’d been intimately acquainted with Noah’s for a while.

“And we all know you really have a heart,” Maria said, poking Guerin in the chest. “Although why you enjoy breaking it, I have no idea.”

Kyle turned when he saw that Michael was no longer paying attention to them and was in fact, staring across the room where Alex and Forrest were alone in a booth.

Nope.

He gave Maria another stern look, this time coming from the guy who was fast considering Alex Manes as his best friend. “Your doctor definitely advises against meddling in other people’s affairs.”

Maria rolled her eyes, but didn’t press further. The pained grateful look Michael threw at Kyle was still hilarious.

3.  

“Valenti.”

“Evans. Guerin.” Kyle said, eyebrows up to his hairline. The two of them showing up at his doorstep at any time of day meant trouble.

“We need your help,” Max said, pushing Michael gently forward. The two of them showing up at his doorstep with Michael’s hand wrapped around a bloody shirt definitely meant trouble.

Trouble in this case was thankfully not of the alien variety. More like Guerin was apparently a genius who turned into a clumsy idiot around Alex. Kyle had known that for a long time now, but he’d figured after half a year of the whole tortured unrequited love schtick, Michael would at least learn to be less self-destructive.

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Michael said, when Max pointed out the same thing.

“You’ve been fixing cars for how long?” Kyle asked as he wrapped a proper bandage around Michael’s hand.

“Since I was thirteen.”  

“And you accidentally slammed the hood of your truck on your head then on your hand because?”

“Alex was out jogging shirtless,” Max said when instead of answering Michael huffed petulantly. “Which I still don’t understand, man. You’ve seen him shirtless before.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have some acetone, would you?” Michael asked Kyle, completely ignoring Max. “And another bandage to cover his mouth.”

Kyle ignored the second request, leaving to grab a bottle of acetone from the stash he’d started keeping for alien emergencies.  

When he got back to the living room, Max still seemed to be ragging on Michael. “He doesn’t even know how you feel.”

“He doesn’t need to know. Not right now.”

“You keep saying that. It’s been more than ten years of waiting for the right moment.”

“Then what’s a couple more?” Michael snarked back.

Jesus. This again. His friends needed more hobbies aside from going after alien murderers and prying in people’s love lives.

Kyle thrust the bottle of acetone at Michael then told Max, “The patient needs to rest. You need to leave.”

“I drove him here.”

“You can come back for him after a few hours when I’m sure he doesn’t have a concussion,” Kyle said, practically pushing Max out the door.

“Thanks,” Michael said, resting his head against the back of Kyle’s couch and grimacing slightly.

He wasn’t sure if that face was because of Michael’s injuries or because he had to thank Kyle again.

"I’ll get you some ice for your head,” he stopped halfway to the kitchen and turned to Guerin. “You know whose side I’m on in this, right?”

Michael gave him a small lopsided smile. “I still hate you for what you put him through, but you’ve been a good friend to him lately.”

Kyle nodded. Yeah. It took him a long time to stop hating himself for that too.

4. 

True to her character, Rosa didn’t even try being subtle.

She gave Alex the stink eye when he walked into the Crashdown with Forrest in tow. “Wait, I thought Isobel said you were soulmates with Gu—”

“—Guh-regory.” Kyle blurted out, then backpedaled quickly when all three of them gave him confused looks, “and she said service mates, not soulmates. Which is wrong because Greg was in the Navy.”

Rosa raised her eyebrows then proceeded to sip noisily from her milkshake.

When Alex and Forrest moved on to their own booth, Rosa eyed him suspiciously. “Are you trying the protective older brother thing on Alex too?”

“I’m not trying to be anyone’s older brother. And you’re both older than me. Technically,” Kyle added. “Besides, Alex doesn’t need protecting. He’s happy. People should just let him be happy.”

“Whatever,” Rosa said with a roll of her eyes. Then she grinned. “You’re totally on Team Malex though right?”

“Malex?”

“It’s what Isobel calls them.”

Kyle shook his head. “People in this town have way too much time in their hands.”

5.

The last straw was Liz literally lifting a straw from Alex’s leftover milkshake.

She had barely arrived back home updated on all the gossip thanks to Maria and Rosa and had apparently not changed one bit.

“No,” he said, grabbing the straw from her and grimacing at the sticky mess now in his hand.  

“Rosa said Isobel mentioned a cosmic connection. If I checked for proof then maybe—”

“No,” Kyle repeated bringing the straw with him when he left the Crashdown.

Seriously, was he the only adult amongst his friends? This was getting out of hand.

+1

“What’s the big emergency?” Isobel asked the moment the three aliens arrived at their newest secret bunker. Maria, Rosa and Liz were already sitting there, waiting impatiently for the reason Kyle had called the meeting.

Michael looked around, then froze. “Wait, where’s Alex?”

“Oh god, did he get kidnapped again?”

“No, he’s safe!” Kyle clarified quickly when six pairs of stricken eyes stared at him.

“Then why are we here?”

Kyle paused then said gravely, “This is an intervention. You all need to lay off Guerin and Alex. I know lately he’s been more sad, pathetic cowboy than angry cowboy, but he did the right thing walking away. It would have been a dick move rejecting Alex then going after him again just when he started going out with someone else. He’s right to wait until they’re both ready. So leave them alone.”

“You called us here to tell us to mind our own business, but aren’t you also technically minding their business by telling us to mind our own business?” Isobel asked, obviously faking confusion.

Maria and Rosa giggled, while Liz tried looked like she was trying not to smile and failing miserably.

Kyle crossed his arms, mustering his dad’s patented disapproving look and giving them all a good dose. “Alex has made his choice. If it’s the wrong choice then it’s his wrong choice to make. If we’re really his friends we need to respect that.”

Pulling out the friend card quickly sobered up Maria, Rosa and Liz who looked at each other guiltily. Max just sat there quietly seeming unsure why he was there in the first place, while Isobel finally huffed then finally nodded.

“Good,” Kyle declared. “No more pushing. No more meddling. Now we’re all going home, and Guerin is going to drown his heartbreak at the Wild Pony.”

“You really think Alex is that into Forrest?” Isobel asked, when everyone else had left and it was just her and Kyle.

Kyle let slip a small smile. Now that he had her word she wouldn’t interfere; he had no qualms in telling her what he knew. “Alex said it’s been fizzling out for weeks. They finally called it quits a few days ago.”

“What? Why didn’t you say anything? Michael could have rushed off to wherever Alex is and declared his undying love, black cowboy hat in hand.”

He gave her a look because 1.) they just went through this and 2.) Isobel was clearly watching too many soaps.

“Right. No meddling,” She pouted, then brightened immediately. “Doesn’t mean we can’t still watch in the sidelines. Where did you say Alex was again?”

“I didn’t,” Kyle paused and then added casually, “But we’re supposed to have drinks at the Pony tonight.”

Isobel gasped seeming to remember Kyle directing Michael to the same place. “You are such a hypocrite.”

“It’s not meddling if they just happen to be at same place at the same time at the right moment.”

She grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the door. “You and I are going there right now. We deserve to see this pay off.”

Kyle didn’t resist. As cheesy as all this was, he’d love to see Alex’s epic happy ending too.

[sleekervae]

Suck It And See [0.1]

Masterlist

"Attention all passengers, next stop is:"

"Sheffied Station,"

There was a notable shiver that ran through the air as the soft, feminine introduction was cut short by the blunt, robotic voice that muffled out the train's next destination. The pit of jitterbugging nerves in Jade's stomach reached a new boiling point as she felt the mobile car gradually begin to slow. She pulled her earbuds out and grabbed her luggage case, yanking it through the tight aisle with all the might she had in her tiny body. The conductor was kind enough to hold the sliding door open for her as she came into the pass and hopped out of the side door. The smell of burning coal and engine oil wafted into her nose and made her shiver in disgust.

The station was teaming with people, all of them buzzing back and forth in order to catch their departing train or eager to head home for the day. Jade reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper; it was a portrait of the family that was supposed to be taking care of her. Her mum's sister, Aunt Joy, as well as her Uncle Cosmo, and her cousins, Oliver, Noah, Charlie, Alfie, and Flora; relatives whom she hardly knew growing up as they lived roughly three hours away by train.

They're faces in the photo were off to her, perhaps it was the fact that nobody was smiling? Perhaps it was that the photo was about five years old and the faces were younger? Regardless, Jade's eyes scanned the crowd until she was able to just make out the familiar face of an older, but gorgeous, well-dressed woman standing by the turnstiles; looking absolutely appalled to be standing so close to the mechanisms. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter was sitting on a bench as she flipped through some random fashion magazine.

Pulling her luggage behind her, Jade tentatively approached the older woman. Once her eyes landed on the teenage brunette, her face lit up.

"Oh, my stars! Jade!?" she exclaimed, seemingly enthusiastic to see her. Jade nodded slowly and cracked a shy smile.

"A-Aunty Joy?" she stammered back.

The older woman wrapped Jade into a tight hug, engulfing her in her pungent, suffocating rose-scented perfume. The teenager -- Flora, she presumed -- was reluctant to put away her magazine and stand up, but she did anyhow and forced a smile onto her face. Flora was wearing tight, ripped jeans and velvet sweater with a black tank top underneath. Her long, honey blonde hair was tied into a tight ponytail atop her head with pom-pom elastics keeping it in place. She had shimmery, silver eyeshadow dusting her eyelids and shiny pink lipgloss smeared over her lips. To Jade, she looked like a washed up circus performer.

Aunt Joy meanwhile held herself with pride. She was dressed in a fine black pantsuit and three-inch pumps. Her voluminous, mousy brown hair was loose and curly, brushing over her shoulders, and every inch of her face was covered in fine, sophisticated makeup. Needless to say, this woman stood out like an onion in a bean dip within the station.

Aunt Joy released Jade from her bone-crushing hug and held her face in her hands, seemingly studying her. Her semi-wrinkled hands were surprisingly soft against Jade's skin, "Aw, you look just like your mother," she gushed, but the soft, kind expression in her eyes suddenly shifted to something more... indifferent, "We'll have that fixed before you leave, dear,"

Jade wasn't sure how to respond to that, besides an awkward "okay,". She turned and looked at Flora, who still had her nose buried in the magazine. Aunt Joy snapped at her.

"Flora!" her posh accent boomed at her, "Put that trashy thing away and say hi to your cousin," she requested -- no, demanded.

Flora rolled her eyes and stood, then she wrapped her weak little bird arms around Jade. Flora wasn't much younger than Jade, only by a few months. Regardless, she was short enough to be confused for a twelve-year-old.

"You've grown up," Jade forced herself to say, hoping that Flora might take her as genuine. Instead, she quickly dropped her arms from the hug and stood back. She glared down at Jade's chunky, dirt stained, white converse sneakers and snared at her.

"Why are your eyebrows so big?" she asked.

Jade, once again, wasn't sure how to respond. She subconsciously ran her fingers over her right eyebrow, feeling at the little hairs that brushed against her skin. They were only a bit longer than  Flora's smaller, nearly bleached blonde eyebrows.

"Whatcha' mean?" she could only reply.

Aunt Joy glared at her daughter before she turned on her heels, "Flora, there is nothing wrong with Jade's eyebrows. If wants bushy eyebrows, that's her prerogative,"

Jade wasn't sure whether she should thank her Aunt for standing up for her, or shudder at the sly insult.

Nevertheless, Aunt Joy lead the two girls out of the station and into the parkade. There they all walked towards a silver, classy Mercedes Benz. Aunt Joy popped the trunk and rounded to the driver's side door, while Flora went for the shotgun. Neither of them helped Jade as she struggled to pick up her luggage and put it into the car's small trunk. Once she slammed the door shut, she jumped into the backseat just as the engine roared to life.

The car ride was mostly silent, the only exception being when Joy would asked Jade about her mother. Ruth Carswell was sick, too sick for a few doctor's visits here and there and drug store prescriptions for a quick-fix. Jade didn't like to talk about it much; hence why she chose to come to Sheffield to continue her school. With the medical bills piling up, as well as some bills left over from her parents' divorce, Aunt Joy and Uncle Cosmo were kind enough to take Jade into their home and pay for her school, right up until she would graduate.

"She needs a stable home environment!" Uncle Cosmo would say over the phone. Ruth Carswell was gracious to her sister for taking in her only daughter, while Jade's father, Peter, wasn't as ecstatic to have his fifteen-year-old daughter living three hours away from home.

Jade continued to stare out the window, glaring at the passing dull brick buildings and wet streets. Few people were out; cycling, smoking, sitting on benches and not doing much of anything for entertainment. At least in Newcastle, there was some life that was always breathing its way into the city; this town seemed half-dead.

As they passed a large sign that read Rotherham in white, cursive lettering, the dark, boring brick buildings soon emerged into flatter plains and larger townhouses. They were regal, conservative, and clean, as though just built and painted in a fresh coat. But just as before, nobody was on the streets. It was eery to Jade.

Aunt Joy turned into a cul-de-sac and pulled into a driveway just as the end of the ring. Before them was a beautiful, victorian-style dark green and red house. Its colours matched in tandem with the bushy coniferous trees and bustling flower gardens. The curtains were all drawn open and the grass was a gorgeous, rich green, still damp. On the porch was a darling little bench swing built in rustic, varnished wood. It appeared as a happy home, to Jade and the rest of the world, at least.

Aunt Joy marched up the small staircase while Flora hopped behind her; again, neither of them bothering to help Jade. Luckily for her, Uncle Cosmo opened the door, puffing on his pipe with a big, joyous smile on his face.

"There she is!" he awed. He swept passed his wife and daughter and went right up to Jade, wrapping her in a bear hug. Unlike Aunt Joy, Uncle Cosmo's hug was comfortable, familiar to Jade. His expensive, subtle cologne mixed with his pipe smoke, delicious and bubbly as the scent wafted up Jade's nose. Despite how little she did get to see Uncle Cosmo, she enjoyed spending time with him. He was a kind man with a heart of gold and a hand that was constantly open.

It made Jade wonder why on Earth he would've married Aunt Joy.

"Yeh're growing faster than a weed, darlin'!" he exclaimed, "Last I saw yeh, yeh was just knee-'igh to a grass'opper,"

Jade finally felt herself relax in Uncle Cosmo's embrace, "It's been a while, hasn't it?" she replied.

Uncle Cosmo took the luggage from her and hauled it up the stairs with ease with Jade following. Flora had long disappeared inside her home with Aunt Joy stood off to the side of the door, watching her husband with a derivative of adoration. Her gaze followed them inside before she slammed the door shut, making Jade wince at the sudden cacophonous calamity. Aunty Joy and Uncle Cosmo gave Jade a brief tour of the large house, the sitting room, the kitchen, the basement, rooms she could and could not enter due to 'privacy reasons'.

Her uncle excused himself to his office soon after, his pager had gone off. That left Jade alone with her Aunt. She struggled to pull her luggage up the two flights of stairs Aunt Joy was leading her. They descended down a brightly lit hallway with gorgeous, crisp white panelled doors. One of them was covered in Hot Wheel and Transformers stickers, no doubt that room belonged to her youngest cousin, Alfie.

"The boys are just out at their lacrosse practice, dear. They should be back by dinner time and you can all get reacquainted," Aunt Joy said to her. The older woman turned the corner in the hallway and came to another white door, seemingly decayed and left abandoned by the the passing of time. She wrenched the knob and turned it with a loud creak and pushed it open.

"And here we are. Home, sweet home," Aunt Joy seemingly sang. Jade followed her in, and she found herself standing in a small bedroom. It was perched in the back roost of the house, with dull, beige walls, stained and scratched floorboards, and a single window that overlooked the backyard. The bed was turned down with plump, freshly cleaned sheets and linens, and in the corner was a small desk, chair, and lamp. In the opposing corner was a four-foot long clothing rack. To put bluntly, the room lacked any personality whatsoever.

Jade looked around the room, finding disturbing patterns on the floor. They were boxy in shape and a few shades lighter than the rest of the floorboards. The room smelled of mothballs and lemon pledge, as well as something stuffy. Perhaps it would have been better once she had opened a window?

Jade didn't dare ask her aunt, but she had a creeping suspicion that she had placed her in what was once the attic.

"Now then," Aunt Joy stood by the door as Jade looked around, "House rules: no running down the halls, no loud noises, and if you're going to have friends over, you must approve with myself first. Oh, and no smoking in the house,"

Jade felt her nerves fizzle as she turned around, seemingly dumbfounded, "I'm sorry?" she quipped.

The older woman simply giggled as though she had told a silly joke, "Oh please, dear. I know nicotine when I smell it. You get that awful habit from your mum," she said, "Nevertheless, I'll let you get yourself settled. Dinner's at seven-thirty, I expect you to be downstairs by seven-fifteen. You need to use the bathroom, it's just down the hall. Just be sure you knock first; Flora likes to experiment with her makeup in there," she said.

"Alright," Jade replied tentatively, "Erm -- is there somewhere for me to plug in me phone?" she asked, noting that there were no outlets in the walls. Perhaps, since this was really the attic, the family figured they wouldn't need any electrical outlets.

"Oh," Aunt Joy brought a hand to her face as she looked around in thought, "Well -- I'm sure Cosmo has one in the office you can use. He shouldn't mind too much," she said.

Jade only nodded in reply. Aunt Joy left the shut the door behind her, giving her time to get herself settled. Jade looked tirelessly around the joyless room, figuring out ways in which she could liven it up. Perhaps with some old movie posters or art pieces? Jade placed her luggage at the foot of the rickety-looking clothing rack, pulled off her jacket and let it fall to the floor, and she took a seat on the bed. Despite the plush linens, the bed was hard, creaky, and uncomfortable. Cold and uncomfortable -- just like the rest of the house.

She let out a heavy sigh and laid back on the bed, immediately her eyes landed on a crack in the angled ceiling. Maybe by luck, a poisonous spider would come down from said crack, bite her, and take her out of this wretched situation? Because the Lord only knew how badly she wanted to be at home, with her own loving, but broken family.

[the-writing-owl]

Blank

This has absolutely nothing to do with any of the WIPs, but I found this slam poem I wrote and performed in grade ten and thought I might as well share it. Since it’s a slam poem there’s some written in pauses so just ignore that haha.

Blank 

At my computer screen I stare.

The night before I have to present a project I haven’t even started yet.

I remember years ago,

Staying up all night to work on a project I put off until the very last minute.

I remember years ago that night,

Saying that I would never let it happen again.

I guess I’ve made a liar out of 8 year old me.

But it’s not my fault, I swear!

It’s not my fault that inspiration didn’t strike me,

Coming down like lightning,

Or exploding like the electric light inside a bulb.

Not to worry though,

I’ve always worked best when under pressure.

I hope.

Alright Noah just concentrate!

Breathe and concentrate.

Wait, No! 

Don’t do that!

You get too into your own head if you do!

I get self conscious if I focus.

I wish there was some kind of hocus pocus spell,

To save me from this writer’s block hell.

Maybe if I distract myself,

Clear my head staring blankly at a wall,

I could pump out some sort of condensed ball of gibberish.

A kind of somewhat coherent but still lackluster dribble.

A collection of words that bear no meaning to me or anyone else.

Maybe if I can meet the bare bones minimum I’ll get by on the skin of my teeth.

But no!

That would be inconsiderate of anybody who spent more than-

(pause)

3 minutes on this.

I’m a normal guy.

I don’t have any lofty dreams to reach towards,

Or any burning frustrations burrowing into my soul.

I have absolutely nothing to write about.

Well, maybe except for-

Wait.

I guess I could write about that.

I’ve got maybe-

(pause)

18 minutes, if I’m lucky.

But hey,

I’ve always worked best under pressure.

[r3b3lgrrrrrrrl]

A LunaTic and her Gunn (Part 109 1Xs2) "Welcome To The Hotel Diablo"

@crystalbaby12 @5sosfam1dlover @backoftheroomandnotbelonging @rosefilledhearts-blog

Luna and Ashley may have a strangle on the #1 slot with Nightmare sitting tight for it's seventh week but Colson continues to control a vast majority of the Billboard Top 20 Pop Charts as Hotel Diablo debuts at #5. Not only with the two hits he has with Luna and Dom but also including a few of his own singles.

I Think I'm Okay has been holding strong at #2 for the last four weeks. Keeping the #1 position on the Alternative Charts for it's third also. Bad Things having it's own place at #3 on the Pop Charts for it's third week. Hollywood Whore is up three slots, grabbing the #5 spot this week while THAT Type replaces it at #8. El Diablo is sitting at #11 for it's own consecutive week while Bebe's climbing back up alongside THAT Type as Candy makes it's entrance at #19.

------------------------------------------------

Landing in Cleveland, everyone is pumped. Luna, Pete, Sam, Benny, Ashley and Dom excitedly passing Congratulations to The Boys over Hotel Diablo's immediate success. Everyone's coming in to town tonight. Meeting up for a full performance of the album at the Agora Ballroom for fans then another more intimate performance at Velvet Dog for the album's release party.

Dispersing from the hanger, Slim heads to his own Ohio home, Baze taking Sam along with him to his. Pete, Ashley, Rook, Dom and Benny dipping out to Colson's Cleveland House to meet up with Bullet while he immediately goes over to Emma's with Luna to see Casie.

------------------------------------------------

"Oooh, Sugar... I'm so fucking proud of yooou!! You have FIVE top 20 hits right now... We're gonna have to look some shit up, Buns, because I don't think anyone's ever done that before!" Luna gushes in the back of their Uber as she sprinkles his grinning face with kisses.

"No way. I'm not breaking any Beatles or Micheal Jackson records...." He pauses. "You really think it's possible?" Colson asks with hopeful look twinkling in his brilliant eyes.

"I do...." Luna reassures him as she pulls out her phone. "Here..." She says after a quick internet search. "You haven't broken anything yet... But you're close as fuck." She shows him her phone.

Only The Beatles out rank him with six Top 10 hits from February 29 to May 2, 1964. It's actually incredible and nothing he ever expected. For one of the first times Luna watches Colson go silent.

"I can't believe it fucking debuted at Five, Baby." He lowly admits with a slight hint of red to his sweet cheeks.

"Ohh, I can. You're whole soul is on that record." Luna replies with love.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." He says even lower.

"People always resonate with honesty, Bunny." She tells him, giving her opinion. "Why you think your fan base is so strong? Because you've always been honest." She pulls his cheek over to kiss it with her words.

"I love you." He turns to grin at her again while meeting her mouth.

Somehow, Luna always knows what to say to Colson. Whether he's at his most shittiest, pushing full confidence or the lowest of his lows, she never fails on telling him the truth in how she sees things. Colson doing the same for her. Neither being aware of deeply they truly take care of each other mentally.

------------------------------------------------

"PEANUT!!!" Colson shouts with a bellowing laugh as he scoops Casie up and spins her around.

Luna and Emma watch the two of them with their hearts oozing after they had greeted each other. Without thinking, Luna laces her hand inside Emma's and lays her head against her shoulder. Slightly catching her by surprise as she easily accepts Luna's affection.

"I love the way he loves her..." Luna sighs wistfully. "He's such a great dad."

"It's one of his best qualities." Emma agrees with a smile as she holds Luna's hand a little tighter. "Think you guys'll have kids?" She asks with a genuine interest.

"I... I don't know...." Luna trails off honestly as she lifts her head up, not bothering to mention Colson or Casie's wants from her.

"I think you'd make a great mother." Emma says, looking directly at Luna. "I see you with Case and how you make Colson a better man.... Not that that's any reason to have a baby... I'm just saying... Should it come, I think you'd be really good at it."

"Wow.... Thanks. That means a lot." Luna smiles thoughtfully.

Squeezing Emma's hand, she nestles back on top of her shoulder with Emma resting her head onto Luna's. Any jealousy or disparity from NY's lunch having already dropped away. Both thankful to have the other in Casie and Colson's life above all else.

Once Colson's finished with her, Casie greets an ecstatic Luna. The young woman dipping down to squeeze the little girl with love. Coaxing her inside with the promise of a new present to her parent's amusement.

"You didn't have to do that." Emma says after Luna gives Casie the new Nikon and tries to show her how to use it.

"Photography is my first love and she mentioned how she wants to learn, so how could I not?" Luna asks with a shrug and a bright smile. "Oh... And thanks for hooking me up with Bonnie. She's been beyond wonderful!" Going on to express her gratitude over Emma's connection and friend.

"Yeah, no problem. She had mentioned last week that you guys have been in contact. I'm glad to have helped... I can't wait to see how it turns out." Emma smiles warmly at Luna.

Colson's been watching all the important females in his life intently. Truly appreciating how easily Luna and Emma have gravitated towards each other while also attending to the youngest. It's easy to see the deep respect and enjoyment they hold for each other. Even in another life, they could easily be genuine friends also.

Grabbing Casie around the neck, he wrestles her around. Many shoutings of DAD escape as she tries to wiggle away to no avail.

"Wanna come to the show tonight?" He asks her as he slightly loosens his grip. "Don't play with me." He lightly shakes her when she hesitates with a sarcastic Uhhhhmmm.

"YEAH I wanna come!!" She grins up  at him. "Mom, can I?" She asks looking over.

"Yeah, Ma. Please." Colson pleads with her as he smirks.

"Ash gonna be there?" Emma asks to Colson's nod. "She'll bring her home after the show?"

"Lemme check." Colson reassures her as he let's go of Casie and digs into his pocket.

While Colson's on the phone, Luna chats with Emma about an array of things. Tonight's shows and the upcoming weddings along with Casie's findings and her adventures during the tour. Their conversation flowing easily while Luna continues helping the little girl figure out how to take pictures with her latest, prized possession. Her attentiveness not being lost upon the mother just like her dad.

"Ash said she can drop her off tonight before the album release party and then I'll just pick her up tomorrow before the Pop Up." Colson interupts them when heading back into the kitchen.

"And you'll keep her until when?" Emma asks.

Colson looks at Luna. "Uhhhh..." He hesitates.

"My girlfriend Deanna is flying in on Monday to try to finish up the wedding fittings... So Tuesday by the latest if that's okay?" She shrugs at Colson before looking at Emma.

With Casie's eyes pleading and her body hopping around her, it's hard for Emma to resist. Not that there's any reason to. Laughing, she says Yes to her daughter's excited hugs and kisses.

After Luna convinces Casie to leave her camera at home tonight, they hug and kiss Emma GoodBye. Arrival texts being promised as always before the trio wave GoodBye from inside the Uber.

------------------------------------------------

Back at The House, Colson's stoked to find Mod, Noah, Phem and Caroline. Along with a ton of packages and everyone else. Opening the boxes, he starts to shout for The Gang.

"Yo!! Pull up!!" He hollers. "I got one for you. And one for you. One for you and for you...." He says, handing the small boxes to Caroline, Phem, Mod and Noah before calling the others over that aren't within his long arm's reach.

A box goes to Slim, Pete, Baze, Casie, Rook, Dom, Benny, Bullet, Ashley and even Sam. He sets two boxes to the side for Ashleigh and Dub. Along with a handful of other's, amongst them are ones for Naomi, Trippie and Skies. Pulling Luna close, he hands her hers.

"Aight, bitches open 'EM!!" He shouts with a huge chuckle and grin.

Inside the box is a beautiful, thin, platinum and diamond encrusted Double X pendant on a slim rope chain.

"You're determined to have yourself all over me, hunh?" Luna asks with a snicker as she looks up at him.

"You fucking know it! Two rings, two tattoos, two necklaces. Two times, Kitten. Two times!" He grins wider at their inside joke while scooping her up to kiss her as Thank Yous explode all around them.

"GANG!! GANG!!" Slim shouts as he throws his arms up into an X.

Colson puts on Luna's necklace as Ashley helps Casie with hers. Everyone else assisting one another. Walking into the kitchen, Luna grabs a can of Sprite and an armful of beers. Passing them around, she opens Casie's soda before cracking her own beverage.

🎼Mothafuckas//KNOW//Who rides wit THIS Gang//By the way we be rockin'//Our Double X chains//They too soft//To know//HOW HARD UP WE CAME// Still swangen' around//Keepen' that//Bangen' A Rang thang//Got the baddest bitch//Locked wit tattoos and a rang//Checkin' into HOTEL DIABLO//You know shit's gon' be//FUCKIN' INSANE🎶

Colson shouts, bouncing around as they toast to Family and Hotel Diablo. His intimate circle hooting at his epic freestyle while Luna rolls her eyes and kisses his jawbone. In his soul he is still very much a Wild Boy.

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"Oh, Bunny..." Luna coos as her thighs tighten around Colson's waist.

They're upstairs in the shower getting ready for Colson's Big Night. He grips her ass as she clutches the back of his neck, thrusting him deeper inside of her. Both are panting in the steamy air as they suck on and fuck each other passionately. Pulling on the other's hair as their bodies throb and they pound themselves into one another.

"Fuck Kitten, you ready?" Colson gasps when he feels himself tingle from the upcoming explosion.

"Mmmhmmmm...." She moans as she bucks against him faster, giving them both permission to let go.

"Fuuuuuuuck....." They both sigh out in content as Colson continues to hold Luna and they rest their faces in each other's necks.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"I have something for you..." Luna says while they're both still naked from their ShowerFuck, offering up her black portfolio case after finding it amongst their luggage.

"What's this?" He asks with intrigue, remembering the last gift the leather casing had held for him.

"Fuck.... I gotta get that framed." He suddenly thinks. "It'd be perfect in The Brownstone...." His mind drifts as he begins to muse to himself.

"Open it..." She encourages him with a gleaming smile. "I've been working on it for a minute..." She says as her lips drop into a tiny secret.

Unzipping the case, Colson is presented with another canvas. This time displaying an oversized painted replica of their punked out bunny. The background is a deepish purple with edgy whisps of creams and light colored violets flowing through out it. Making the hints of color in the white cartoon animal pop out of it's heavy black outline. The feeling easily representing Hotel Diablo's black and purple atheistic.

Arranged around their matching tattoo, with some items being embedded into the canvas, are physical pieces from The Tour. Their key card from The Watergate, the crumpled receipt from their coffee order in Detroit, a ticket stub from the planetarium in Texas. Amongst them is also the peeled off lable from their bottle of SpringBack 1919 they had shared in the San Francisco speakeasy and her BackStage pass from the Pittsburgh show. All secured and decorated with a slight black outline to showcase each of them.

A little larger than his huge thumb are eight small, intimate pictures of the two of them sprinkled throughout. Some are selfies but other's aren't. Luna breaking her own rule and using other's photography in her art. Angled in the the bottom right corner, in a black and light purple twist, lays a mutilated copy of Luna's lips spelling out Bad Things. Dotted in an iridescent paint to make it sparkle in dark wonderment. Fully tying the whole piece together.

Luna's art is truly like no other's. Combining multi-medias and dimensions with her muse's soul lingering inside of it. Colson's eyes are wide the way they were the night she gave him his first gift.

"Ready?" She asks, popping the switch sitting underneath as he stares silently holding her work.

Their bunny's eyes light up in a low, blue glow from the tiny bulbs buried deep inside the canvas. Colson's heart stops. Reminding him exactly of the night they met.

"Holy fuck, it's beautiful." His heart explodes once it begins to beat again. "How the FUCK does she do this shit...." He thinks in admiration as he continues to look it over.

"Wow." Is all he can say as he stares at his gift.

Luna watches as Colson takes his time absorbing the new piece. Her soul gleaming as he excitedly points out all their little memories. Once he's fully taken it in and sets it down, Colson pulls her in with one strong arm by her waist. Giving her a meaningful kiss.

"You like?" Luna asks with soft eyes and a loving smile.

"I fucking LOVE." He easily declares.

"Cool." Luna smirks, replying just the same as before as she kisses him back and wraps her arms around his waist.

"Thank you." He tells her as he runs his long fingers along her wet skull until his large hands cradle her head.

Colson kisses Luna with a passionate gratitude. Dipping their naked bodies onto the bed, he slowly and sweetly makes love to her. Taking his time as he softly kisses her while overfilling her body with himself. Running her hands lightly along his body, Luna enjoys their tenderness.

"Oh SHIIIIT..." Luna lowly moans as he kindly gives them both exactly what they want.

Sighing contently, wrapped in each other Luna and Colson let their kisses linger on each other's lips. Genuine and truthful I Love Yous being passed between them as they enjoy their quiet, intimate moment together.

Finally gathering themselves, they proceed to burn and chatter together as usual while they get dressed. Colson still railing his preference of Adderall while Luna pops her own three percs. She's trying hard but the gaping hole that ripped her shoulder muscles in two REALLY fucking HURTS.

Colson's dressed in all black while Luna pulls on loose, ripped jeans and a white crop top. A red and black flannel loosely tied around her waist as her hair flows wildly with a touch of natural curl.

"Make sure you wear your ring tonight." Colson tells her as he pecks the top of her head.

"Always do..." Luna gives him a weird look as she tosses up both hands, wiggling her fingers to display each of her beloved rings.

"Fucking better." He taunts her, slapping and jiggling her ass cheek to her pleased giggles as they walk out of the bedroom.

------------------------------------------------

The Agora Ballroom is sold out and jam packed. Colson is putting on a special concert to debut Hotel Diablo in full to ONLY his hometown.

Everyone is there. Colson, Ashleigh and The Boys. Luna, Casie, Pete Ashley, Dom, Sam and Benny. Mod's there, so is Caroline and Noah. Trippie Redd, Naomi Wild and Lil Skies all coming through along with Phem to perform their features. Backstage easily overflowing with artists and friends as Dub and Johnny come trickling in with a few other long time Cleveland friends. Sporadic industry pals making their way around also.

"What's happenin', My Dude?" Colson happily greets his friend with a dap and huge hug.

"Nutten' man... Worken' on the album, taken' care of Baby Girl. You know how it be.... What's poppin' wit 'chu?" Dub asks nodding in Luna's direction.

"You talk to Slim, hunh?" Colson shakes his head with a grin.

"More than your bitch ass." He replies with a joking tone.

Colson can see Luna but with the crowded room it's hard to get her attention. "Thanks Tommy." He thinks, smiling to himself, knowing exactly how to grab her.

"Hold up." He tells Dub before cupping his mouth with is hands and hollering "BROOOOKLYYN!!"

"This man..." Luna's mind laughs as she looks for Colson. Catching his eye quickly, she smiles brightly at him. "FUCK, I love his stupid ass." Her brain continues to tease her as she makes her way towards him.

"What's up, Ya Nut?" She chuckles once she reaches him, standing on her tippy toes to kiss his lowered cheek.

"Kitten, this is one of my bestfriends Dub. Dub-O... My Bitch, Luna fucking Smith." Colson beams with pride as he introduces the two.

"It's so nice to finally meet you! The way Colson talks about you, I feel like I already kinda know you." Luna says warmly as Dub loosely accepts her hug.

"That's funny because he ain't told me shit about you." He answers her with a snide look at Colson.

"Oh. No pleasantries? Straight to the Gate? Aight. What's good?" Luna's tone changes immediately as she pops her chin out with her last words.

Colson starts to laugh when Dub's top lip snarls at her fierce response. Cocky in his own right, Dub doesn't hesitate to hit back.

"You tell me, seems you always got my boy caught up in some shit." He cuts.

"Excuse me?" Luna draws back with her eyebrows furrowed.

"What the fuck you talkin' about Dub-O?" Colson jumps in with a slight attitude, just as confused as Luna.

"The streets speak, Kells." Dub says turning to Colson. "Word is Eminem's gunnen' for you even harder after whatever YOUR bitch pulled in Detroit." He continues as he shoots a glare at Luna.

"Motherfucker, you're out 'chour mind." Luna laughs at him. "And your streets don't know SHI..."

Colson cuts her off before she can finish, questioning his friend "What the FUCK you talken' about, Dawg? Luna held shit down as always and fuck that little bitch ass pussy. Let him come see me. I'll fuck his punk ass up again." Colson spits out.

"Bunny, don't." Luna says as she slips her hand into Colson's, both knowing she's trying to hit that natural anxiety reducer. "Look, I don't know what you heard and honestly, I don't care because it ain't right." She says directly to Dub before looking up at Colson then back at him. "But you better believe..." Luna continues looking straight into Dub's eyes as she points at him with her free finger. "Imma give you a legit reason not to like me if you fuck up his night... Because bestfriends don't do that shit." Luna states coldly before grabbing Colson's chin, planting a solid kiss on the side of his jaw and stalking away.

"WHAT THE FUCK DUB-O?" Colson balks angrily.

"I had to see if she could hang." Dub smirks at Colson bewildered confusion. "Slim said she rides hard for you, I had to see how hard." He laughs lightly with a shrug.

"You're a fucking DickHead." Colson snickers once he realizes what his friends play was. "Yo, you better get correct with her, she ain't nothin' to be fuckin' wit." Colson begins to laugh as he shakes his head.

"I see... Something tells me she can take a joke though." Dub laughs louder with amusement along with his old friend as he Buddy Slaps on the back.

"Actually, her fucked up ass probably would appreciate your stupidity." Colson continues laughing as the two of them turn towards the BackStage madness.

Luna's grooving. She'd love for all of Colson's friends to like her but unlike him, she doesn't give a flying fuck if they do. Honestly, she could give a flying fuck if anyone likes her. The less people that like her, means the less people that she has to unwillingly talk to.

Oddly enough, she's a hypocritical social butterfly. Floating around as she hangs out with their friends and kindly introduces herself to Naomi, Trippie and Lil Skies. Meaningfully gushing and talking to each of them regarding their personal contribution to Hotel Diablo. Going as far to tease Trippie about his Plan B, yeah. She loves the whole album, how could she not express her adoration and appreciation towards their work on it.

"Kitten..." Colson calls for her.

"You're on in 20." Ashleigh says, trying to redirect him.

"Hold on." He says putting up his index finger. "BROOKLYN!!" He says a little louder catching her attention.

"Hmmm?" Luna asks once she reaches him.

"I FUCKING love-LOOOOVE YOU!! He declares as he wraps a long arm around her waist and plunks a heart felt kiss onto her lips.

"Love you, Bunny." Luna giggles in sheer content as she pulls him in for a tight lip lock. "Fuckin' kill 'em." She grins as she squeezes his ass and sends him OnStage.

------------------------------------------------

The Band had been teasing his unknowing fans all throughout June with Sex Drive as they waited for his set to begin. Those who had experienced it, make the connection immediately and are going wild. As Cara's voice floats over top of them, welcoming them to The Hotel Diablo, the venue erupts into an excited explosion.

Colson is electric and in rare form tonight. The success of his album finally sinking in has him running, dancing and jumping like an overexcited puppy.

Luna's SideStage with Casie, Ashley, Pete, Ashleigh, Sam, Dom and a few others kicking out the lyrics to El Diablo as they bounce to the contagious hit. Jumping and pumping their fists as they pass bottles of Jamison and rattle along with Colson.

🎶I KNOW//PEOPLE HATE ME//JUST BY MY APPEARANCE//YOU MOTHERFUCKERS//CAN'T BE SERIOUS//EH🎶

Luna and Ashleigh shout as they bop together and thrust their fists into the air. Dropping their curled hands as they continue spouting about throwing dice and keeping their circle tight. Spinning their fingers in the air as they groove and grin at each other laughing. Pete headlocks Luna making Ashley shove him as AJ opens up with Hollywood Whore. Stopping them all in their tracks as the sweet reminder of Chester radiates through their souls.

Riding the riff side by side, they recite the lyrics alongside Colson. Happily joining them is Mod, Noah, Caroline, Phem, Johnny and Dub. Whose intently watching Luna. There was only a half truth to his rudeness towards her. He don't trust THAT Bitch at all. He also hasn't spoken to Slim in a week either.

As the bass kicks in the group of them slam into each other. Luna holding Casie's hand and protecting her with her body as they continue to sing along and bash into one another. The crowd is insane. Shouting the chorus along with Colson as he raps about two faces trying to fit in to his world when there's no new space while wanting to get him to commit third degree murder. Undercover exposing those who tried to play him like a Hollywood Whore in the City of Danger. Watching Colson rip into his guitar makes Luna's nipples hard as her pussy begins to salivate for him. He's fucking hot. On and off stage.

Colson talks to his family about the relevance of the song as the main chords to Glass House lowly play behind him. He mentions how he misses too many of his friends. Chester, Nipsey, Mac... Too many to list. Luna can hear his voice break slightly as he asks the crowd to sing along with him and Naomi.

Luna doesn't sing. She can't. It's one of the many songs on this album that breaks her heart too much. Holding Casie against her, she wraps her arms around the little girl's shoulders as she tries to hold back her tears. The ballroom is shouting along with Naomi as she begs to be thrown into damn flames and to be buried with gold chains. Luna braces herself and Casie for the most gut wrenching part of the entire album.

🎶Lately//I've been sick of livin'//And nobody knows//How I'm really feelin'//I always hated to smile//But I keep//What is killing me//Hidden inside//I didn't sign up//To be the hero//But I don't want//To wind up a villain//I put my daughter to bed//Then attempted//To kill myself//In the kitchen//Yeah//I should've screamed//But//Nobody listenedSo I passed out//With the blood drippin'//In this glass house//Feelin' like a prison//Me and death//Keep tongue-kissin'//I just fell out//With my lil' bro//The life gettin' to us//The drink gettin' to us//The drugs gettin' to us//It's highway to hell//And everybody knew//What the fuck//Were we doin'?🎶

Colson runs the bars flawlessly. Luna can't help the tears that drop from her eyes as her breath shudders. The truth of his lyrics are too painfully as she holds Casie a little bit tighter. With her mind flashing back to Justin's blank eyes she can't help the range of emotions she feels while thinking of Casie dealing with Colson in the same situation. Luna closes her eyes as she holds the little girl close and wishes for the song to end.

It does. The context of the next song isn't any easier though as Burning Memories kicks in. Colson's words shattering Luna's heart into a million pieces. The recording is nothing compared to his live voice finally asking his mother how she could leave him for another. Luna can only slightly vibe with everyone else as they sing about him dying before he wakes. Lil Skies comes out to the crowd's cheers to ask for Love and Truth before Luna's soul flips with the liquor in her stomach as Colson sings along with his fans about their dark days coming in the summer. Feeling the rumble of their voices, Luna finds it both amazing and soul wrenching that the album only dropped this morning, yet almost the whole venue knows all of it's intimate words.

Ashleigh grabs Luna's loose hand as she watches the blood drain from her face and tears drop from her unknowing eyes. Her touch and Pete's voice asking about More Dracula as him and Colson laugh and recreate the skit OnStage pulls Luna back to her senses.

"You okay?" Ashleigh asks her friend with concern.

"Yeah... It's just harder to hear it live." Luna sighs.

"I know..." Ashleigh squeezes her hand.

The lead up beat to Floor 13 starts flowing through their blood and Luna is quickly out of her wicked head. Smiling at Ashley, they rapid fire the lyrics at each other along with Colson. Luna laughs when he mentions what will happen upon a physical run in and Casie's hands. Rocking her good shoulder into the tiny Baker, Luna grins at her. Shooting finger guns at each other as they let off with her daddy.

🎶I heard that//They call me//Yeeeah//Let 'em in//I got somethin'//For 'em//Yeeeeah//Please forgive my sins//Blood on my//Ralph Laureeen//I can't wash this shit//Wake up//Say//Good morninnnn//Like I forgot🎶

Laughing, Luna swings Casie around from behind after singing the chorus together. Whispering Hotel Diablo along with her ASMR into her ear with a giggle. Casie cheeses while squealing and squirming out of Luna's grasp. Grabbing Pete and Ashleigh's hands as her dad kicks into Roulette.

This is Luna's favorite song on the album. She happily dances, sings and raps along with Noah, Mod, Ashley and everyone else about that Mothafucken' Rida Music. Sliding her thumb along her latest gift, Luna keeps her body rolling as she drags the double X along it's shiny string. Her and Noah grinning at one another as they share another bottle of Jamison and ask the other how many times they're gonna play with death before their 30yrs old. Cause they're chosen.

Things lighten up as The Boys joke around about Baze being Truck Norris. They were so fucked up the night Slim drunkenly tried to compare him to Family Guy skit with Chuck Norris's beard that none of them would have even remembered if it wasn't recorded. It's Benny's laugh that highlights the inside joke placed track, bringing a much needed lightness to the heavy album.

Naomi comes back in as her voice haunts the crowd. Taunting them as she sings about death in her pocket and how she feels so alive. Luna and Casie are holding hands again as they recite the lyrics along with Colson as he reminisces about him and Slim trappen'. Before he can mention his worry about passing down his addictive genes Sam scoops Casie up from behind. With so many people SideStage, this is the first time Sam has been able to make her way over to her smaller friend.

"What up, Homie!!" Sam laughs as she kisses Casie on the side of the cheek.

"SAMMY!!" Casie shouts excitedly as she turns to hug the dark haired drummer.

"I missed YOU!" Sam exclaims as she sprinkles kisses all over Casie's face. "I got you something..." She says as she digs in her pocket.

Candy is floating through the back Luna's mind as she watches Sam present Casie with three small band pins. "Who is this person?" She laughs to herself. "I wonder if this is how it felt with me..." She thinks of how six months ago she wouldn't have touched a child with a 10ft pole but now couldn't imagine not loving Casie. "Life is so fucking weird..."

"Shit Loons, I'm so sorry!" Ashleigh interupts her thoughts. "You're on in like 10 and I know you're not dressed."

"5:3666 is up after this, then me?" Linda asks as she hears Colson's opening chords to I Think I'm Okay.

"Yeeeeah..." Ashleigh answers sheepishly.

"Fuck it, how do I look because I'm not missing this song." Luna grins as she displays herself to Colson's manager.

"Great as always." She sighs out a laugh of honest relief.

"Then let's FUCKING GOOO!!" Luna shouts, grabbing her hand.

Pulling Ashleigh along, she rallies Casie, Sam and Ashley. Easily pushing their way to front right stage. Holding hands, jumping and screaming along with Colson, Dom and their fans, the group of girls rage.

🎶Watch me//Take a good thing//And fuck it all up//In one night//Catch me//I'm the one on the run//Away from the headlights//No sleep//Up all week//Wasting time//With people I don't like//I think//That something's//FUCKING wrong with me🎶

Everyone goes ballistic as Dom sings his solo. The venue is throbbing as they continue to rip through the pop punk song. Dropping their guitars, both boys jump into the ocean of waiting hands as they continue to sing together.

Climbing back OnStage, they grab their guitars again. Finishing out the song with multiple layered, intense GoodNights. The voices singing along with them so powerful, Luna swears she can feel the stage shake.

"Give it up for my brother, YungBlud!!" Colson shouts to the crowd's roars.

Phem joins The Band OnStage. Her moody voice wrapping around Colson's equally dark lyrics perfectly. His EST Fam chanting word for word with him. There is not one person in that building who isn't a Machine Gun Kelly fan. As the song comes to an end the ASMR of Luna and Colson in the studio plays over the speakers, making the walls shake in anticipation.

Dub continues to watch Luna as she swigs the bottle once more before disappearing. Like most people, he's not quite sure what he thinks of her.

------------------------------------------------

"Meh... Ash and Case seem to like her and she definitely ain't a member of The Slut Squad...." Dub thinks to himself while observing Luna. "Maybe she ain't as bad as Slim made her out to be.... She definitely got an attitude." He chuckles to himself. "Kells needs that though. Fuck... I don't know... who am I to judge.... Especially if Case and Ash bang wit her... Guess we just gonna have to see..." Dub decides as he watches Luna head OnStage.

------------------------------------------------

They start off as they have the many times before. Luna opening up delicately at the piano before Colson leads her out and The Boys kick in heavy behind them. Slaying his guitar, he raps about giving one another life while suffocating in the other's kiss. Bouncing around the stage, buzzing and teasing one another while promising each other how they'll want them forever and take them where ever.

🎶I'm just a LunaTic//With her Gunn//When we're together//Bad Things happen//The way you touch me//Is better than ecstasy//When we're not together//I still feel you//Coursing through me🎶

Luna and Colson hit the second chorus again together as Rook slams into his kit and Colson continues to shred his guitar. He tosses it SideStage as he joins her for last few verses. Pulling her in close as their bodies rock together and rush for the other. Grabbing her hand The Band drops away as they harmonize the last lyrics together.

🎶I'm all in//There is no maybe🎶

As they finish, Colson twirls her out. Letting go of her hand, Luna stops. Drops her head back with her arms at different angles and pops one knee. The response to their performance is volcanic. The crowd erupting for an ENCORE as the lights begin to go down.

Colson can't hear them, just his one thought. "I am going to FUCK the shit outta her..." His mouth salivating as he scoops her up to invade her willing mouth.

"You're so fucking hot." He pants as he continues to kiss her. "I wanna run an encore for El Diablo. What do you think? We'll get everybody OnStage?"

"Fuck YEAH!" Luna agrees kissing him back. "You tell The Boys, I'll grab everyone else." She grins.

"I fucking LOVE YOU." Colson tells her with a light laugh as he kisses her once more before they seperate for their missions.

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Word Limit 1 of 2

To be continued....

[this-is-a-podcast-fanblog]

PENUMBRA LIVE

I just got home from seeing Juno Steel and the Train From Nowhere Live, and I have SO MANY EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS AND THINGS I WANT TO TELL YOU GUYS 

so full reaction under the cut. Obviously, massive spoilers for the live show, so don’t read if you plan on buying the recording and want to experience it for the first time that way. 

Something you guys should know: AS I WROTE THIS, Alice Chuang (whom I met at the show) DM’ed me on Twitter and we have been chatting back and forth for a while now, I am LITERALLY TEXTING ALICE CHUANG AS I WRITE THIS. 

Okay. Holy cow. First of all, the obvious: the show was amazing, the actors were all crazy talented, the energy of the crowd was great, I had a fantastic time and am so happy I went. The music, sound, and lights were really cool, minimalist, but conveyed the show tone beautifully. 

And THE COSTUMES!! Not sure who picked them, but they were perfect. Joshua had the same trench coat/white shirt/jeans combo from the last liveshow, but for Dahlia Rose he wore a lacy white blazer that also had pink flowers on it. It looked very good on him and his face when Juno says “You bought me clothes?!” was hysterical. Engstrom and Valencia were elegant and totally creepy. M Sutherland had a red and grey suit and waistcoat; he also had eye makeup but it was a little more subtle. Valencia was in a gorgeous shiny red dress and lounge singer black gloves up to her elbows. Those were all cool, but nothing is EVER gonna top Noah’s Nureyev outfit, which was a pair of black pants, white shirt, black tie, and a black and white striped corset with the tie tucked into it. You may be thinking, “oh, HG, that just sounds like a waistcoat” nope!!!! It was like actually a corset! He also had killer eyeliner. For most of the show he wore a black blazer, but as Duke Rose he wore this crazy glittery golden blazer covered in sequins. It was gaudy and he rocked it, it suited Duke so perfectly! 

Those four made up the main cast, but there were two other actors - first of all, Kate Jones, obviously, as Miasma. She had ghostly white makeup and covered her face and head with a white shawl. That, plus the fact that the lights turned red whenever she stepped on stage, made the perfect creepy vibe. She had a lot more lines in this than the original - Juno would refer to her voice in his head a lot, and every time, she came out and said something creepy. She was on a little raised stage behind the rest of the cast so she was glaring down at him and it was just asdggkfj;fldj a it was so cool. 

Then there was another cast member I totally did not anticipate - Melissa DeJesus (Quanyii) played the Ruby7! She also worked props, so when Juno was talking about Nureyev’s coat, she held it up, when the bell rang during the card game she rang it, and she also played Miasma’s assistant pointing the gun at Nureyev (it was a cardboard rifle, they also used it when Juno had to shoot out of the car). For the Ruby7 she held a steering wheel and stood in front of Joshua and Noah making the car noises into a microphone or with a whistle. Also she had a necklace shaped like a license place that said “Ruby7″. It was such a cute way to show the car, which some of you may remember was something I was speculating wildly about when I first bought the ticket. Every time Nureyev mentioned how great the Ruby7 was she would vamp and at one point she blew him a kiss and he blew one back it was so adorable.

i’ve been typing for a half hour and I haven’t even gotten into the actual show yet

Before the show even started, there was amazing energy. I bought two posters from Kat Buckingham, who was working the merch stand, found a great seat, chatted with the people sitting near me, and just felt the excitement. There were so many amazing costumes, and like a third of people were wearing ear cuffs with chains in honor of Peter (I was among this number). Kevin Vibert made some announcements about emergency exits and whatnot, and then the lights dimmed. There were two curtains on opposite sides of the performance area, Joshua and Noah FLIPPED OPEN the curtains on different sides and just did this power walk to the mics in the middle while all of us audience members screamed and cheered for a solid minute, it was glorious. 

Almost immediately I noticed a change to the script - they added a subplot about an additional Martian artifact Miasma had stolen, called the Key of something I don’t know how to spell, which apparently locks away any concept, like locking away sound around a person (this was revisited during the assassin bit). When Nureyev mentioned the key Juno said something like, “Wait, I don’t think that’s how this is supposed to happen” which was a cute way to acknowledge the changes they were making. Then he started mentioning some Season 2 stuff (”I dreamed I only had one -” “We all  only have one life, detective!”) and Nureyev cut him off and then launched into a recap of the events of 2Murderous2Mask. He brought up audience members to reenact it, and it was really funny and I loved it a lot. 

One of my favorite changes was that a couple of times when Juno was internally monologuing, Nureyev would be there too. At one point Juno acknowledged it like, “I do this thing where I just talk, and usually it’s just me.” Nureyev was really energetic, Noah got super into those parts and would take the mic down from the stand and be gesturing and hopping around while Juno watched. They also went into a lot more detail about the Throne of Arkuthusis (I probably spelled that wrong) and Samantha Carthwright (now called Sammy), who was played by an audience member. Juno explained that anyone who sat in the chair could have infinite knowledge and people would ask them questions. Nureyev then asked the audience member a bunch of questions in different accents which A.) was really funny B.) was crazy because apparently Noah can do an insane range of accents C.) cute because Juno just let him do it for a while before cutting him off. It had a very “petulant married life” vibe when Nureyev shared Juno’s monologues, and I’m not sure if it was supposed to be some significant commentary that Nureyev was “in Juno’s head” or just fun staging. Either way, I loved it. 

For the card game, there were a few changes. Engstrom asked Juno if he knew how to play Rangian Street Poker and Nureyev-as-Duke said “Don’t say no!” through his teeth right as Juno said “nope.” and then an explanation followed. After a while Juno lost track and got annoyed and before Engstrom could get mad back or explain the whole thing again Nureyev-as-Duke covered Juno’s mouth with his hand and then when he pulled his hand away he fucking caressed Juno’s cheek with his knuckles while Juno glared at him and the audience went feral. 

Hey by the way Noah Simes? Is just fucking incredible like his mannerisms as Duke were so over-the-top but amazing, when he reverted back to Nureyev there was an IMMEDIATE shift just in the way he talked and the way he stood, like with Duke everything was all exaggerated and he drew out all the “you’s” (So in the phone call he basically went “See youuu SooooOOOOnN!!! :D”) but then for Nureyev he was a lot more reserved, and he had this smug little half smirk for most of it. Just like, what does it feel like to be that talented, wish I could relate. 

They didn’t actually play cards, but Noah did rip a piece of paper to be the dueling wargoats card. Even so, the tension was strong and you could feel the suspense even if (like me) you knew exactly what was coming next. Also, I forgot to mention, there were a lot of sound effects! When Juno heard someone’s thoughts (he heard Valencia’s and Nureyev’s a few times) that would be a voiceover, the train noises were all played, gunshots, etc. The assassin wasn’t actually shown, but you could hear the voiceover for that as well. 

You’re all probably wondering: THE DOODLES. They were actual crumpled balls of paper that Juno pulled out of Nureyev’s coat; later when they were back in the hotel room, Nureyev took off his jacket and said he was going to bed (Noah just kinda stood there with his eyes closed) and Juno threw one of the notes at his head and literally went “Nyeh” as he threw it. We all laughed for quite a while. 

Jupeter jumping through garbage chutes was great, Noah sort of pushed Joshua and then they pantomimed jumping down - but apparently I’m supposed to believe that Peter backflipped into the garbage chute, from the way Noah gestured, and I’m HERE FOR THAT, he’s just that much of an extra bitch. (Nureyev was very much an extra bitch throughout this entire show, as you know if you have ever listened to The Penumbra Podcast).

The whole getaway chase was awesome. Not sure if I mentioned this yet, but they had one mic that could be taken away from the stand and walked around, which is how they did the phone calls, the person on the other end of the line would stand off to the side with the wireless mic and perform like that. Once Juno, Nureyev, Valencia, and Engstrom got on the train they did all of those lines, but a nice new addition to the script was Valencia threatened Juno with a gun and Nureyev pushed Juno slightly behind him with a hand on his chest (actually I can’t remember if this scene happened here or in the casino, suffice it to say it happened and it was gay and wonderful) and said basically “if you even so much as warm his skin” and followed that up with a threat, I forget exactly what. Then when Nureyev pumped the brakes of the train he grabbed Juno and pulled him to one side, and Valencia and Engstrom’s actors left. 

For the tight room they ducked into to hide, Noah and Joshua sort of pressed together back to back and tilted the mic stands so they were still able to talk into the mic. There was a great line where Juno said something like, “Is there a reason why you keep shoving us into tight spaces together?” and then they got out and Noah took the wireless mic and went up to one of the curtains on the side of the stage, then he sort of fell through with a shout and Juno was locked in the room with Valencia. She took the other wireless mic and circled him, which was soooo creepy and really cool, especially with the moody lighting they had over the whole scene. When Juno pretended to faint Joshua just like,,,, threw up his arms and dropped to the floor in the most dramatic swoon possible it was great, and when Valencia died she fell through the curtain on the side of the stage and someone caught her. 

The showdown with Engstrom was tense and great. M Sutherland has a great presence and because he’s really fucking tall he seemed very menacing next to Jupeter (especially earlier when they were in their crazy suits and he was just all polished). With his suit and beard and eyeliner he sort of looked like a younger president Snow ala The Hunger Games, perfect villain vibes. Nureyev did the whole pin-him-by-the-arms thing as Juno described it in his monologue and oh god Noah did the most PERFECT fox smile throughout the whole thing, but what’s weird is I can’t actually remember how Engstrom’s death went?? I assume he fell through the curtain but I just,,, genuinely can’t remember?

Right after that they seemed to have a technical issue with the train sound effects so Joshua and Noah adlibbed it for a few seconds, then it started working again and they grabbed each other’s arms and did the whole jump-off-the-train thing. When Juno asked where the Ruby7 was, Melissa DeJesus came out with her arms tied in ropes, I guess to show the car had been captured and then BOOM KATE JONES AS MIASMA. She’s so scary and intimidating, and her voice sounds even cooler live than on the show. 

Then!!! The gun is pointed at Nureyev!!! and oh god Noah’s face in this scene first he looked a little panicked, but then resigned, and the lights went BACK AND FORTH BACK AND FORTH from regular to Juno’s monologue, and this super scary layered clip of Miasma saying “I will have what I want” played and oh god it was just so totally incredible and I loved it and by that point I was aware the show was about to end but I never wanted it to, I wanted to sit there and watch this forever, and I knew I couldn’t which made me a little sad. 

and oh wow wow wow...

then we got to the part where they got in the car, and Juno had his monologue, and Nureyev was watching him for the whole thing with the sweetest loving smile on his face, and then he told Juno not to give up on him yet and then Noah and Joshua reached into the space between the microphones and took each other’s hands, so they were holding hands and the crowd went WILD. Obviously this episode didn’t have a kiss, but the ROMANCE of that moment was just PEAK it was so freaking phenomenal, and when Miasma said the whole “There it is, your final resting place,” they didn’t even look at it, for a while they were just looking at each other for a few long seconds, and then they both turned to look at the tomb and they just stood there holding hands looking ahead all resigned and determined, and then the lights went down and it was over. 

(the cutest thing about the whole hand holding though was Noah kept glancing over like either he was trying to show Peter’s intense desire to hold Juno’s hand or else he wasn’t sure when he was supposed to grab Joshua’s hand and he was trying to make sure they did it at the same time. Either way it was sweet and looked really good.) 

They did the curtain call, I screamed so loudly for each actor, and then anyone who wanted to meet the cast went and lined up in the hallway outside the theater. The staircase by this hallway was also the staircase into the bar, so all the bar and restaurant, so all the restaurant patrons were very baffled to see the Penumbra-goers in our cosplays, (and me wearing the pride flag around my shoulders.) While I waited to meet with the cast I got to chat with Kat Buckingham! I also talked to her when I bought merch, and I told her I thought she was talented - she said “I bet YOU’RE really talented!” and I almost cried, then she told me I was free to DM her, also encouraged me when I told her about my podcast, and was all around just the sweetest. 

The cast were at a table, sort of like a convention, and we just went down the line and got our stuff signed. I got to talk to all of the actors and they were SO! VERY! SWEET! I hadn’t thought at all about what I was gonna say, so I just kind of mentioned whatever. I told Noah that I write Jupeter fanfiction and said, “So that means I have your voice in my head a lot”, and he said like “That’s... somewhat unusual to hear, as I’m sure you can imagine.” I told him he was really talented and he signed my poster and was very friendly, thanked me for coming even though literally I was thanking him because HOLY FUCK HE WAS SO AMAZING. Also, Kate Jones asked me what my shirt said (it said “I am too emotionally attached to fictional characters” and thought that was cool. 

I told Joshua, Sophie, and Kevin that this podcast inspired me to start my own podcast, and they were so incredibly encouraging and supportive about that! Joshua asked if I had fun (as if I could have not had fun!) and thanked me for coming - like both of these amazingly talented stars of this hit show are thanking me for coming to see them, that’s so humble and kind and ugh I just stan this cast so much. @rudzik-art made some amazing artwork, which I turned into prints to give to Sophie and Kevin, and they really loved it! Sophie even signed both my poster and the one I got for Robin, even though their rule said only one item per person. Then they both thanked me for coming, and I headed out to catch my train home.

Overall, this show was phenomenal. There was only one thing in the whole production that I disliked: they took out the “It’s not polite to tell someone his gift means nothing to you” line, and I’m not really sure why, because that line forms a lot about the characters? But artists’ choice, of course. Personally, I would have loved to see it, but the pacing was just as good without it. 

I’ve been looking forward to this for so long, and now that’s it’s over I’m experiencing some pretty strong post-show depression, not gonna lie. I just want to come back and see it again every night for the rest of my life, even though that would not be good for the cast. I want to go out and make art and share my work and maybe someday inspire someone anywhere near as much as this inspired me. 

TL;DR THE LIVE SHOW WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE. 

If you weren’t able to make it to either live show and you have some questions about it, feel free to send them to my inbox!

[ghostcat3000]

11 questions asked and answered – SKAM and SKAM remakes edition

Rules:

1. Always repost the rules!

2. Answer the questions given to you by the one who tagged you!

3. Give 11 questions!

4. Tag 11 people!

I was tagged and asked by the lovely @irazor. Thank you for including me! I am one of those lunatics who has seen AAAAALLL the remakes so I’ll try and touch on those too. Please forgive my typos, I didn’t really draft these answers. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESSSSSSS-stylee.

1. Name a favourite scene from each season.

SKAM:

One: The break-up scene with Eva and Jonas. It was unexpectedly touching and bittersweet.

Two: The scene in the car where Noora is talking about her parents and she turns her face so we don’t see her cry but her voice cracks.

Three: The kitchen scene and the incredibly vulnerable expression on Isak’s face as he tells Even that he, too, has never felt that way for anyone before.

Four: The moment Yousef tells Sana that of course he brought food to their date and her joy.

SKAM remakes (I won’t do all seasons for all of them):

SKAM NL: Isa licking her phone because relatable yo, Noah and Liv’s date at the church

Druck: Jonas singing Sam Smith to Hanna, Mia and Alex and the Hotel Hardenberg, Matteo’s eyes filling with tears when David tells him that Laura is his sister

SKAM Spain: Viri waiting for the bus and hugging herself after telling everyone she was taking a taxi home

SKAM France: Lucas admiring Eliott’s lovely drawings and asking what he’d draw him as

SKAM Italia: Gio, Elia and Luci in their dumb suits, jumping up and down trying to get Marti pumped

SKAM Austin: Zoya saying OKAY, RUN UP THEN, BITCH during the girl fight, Megan being a drunk disaster at that party mumbling about new best friend meeting her old best friend

wtfock: Zoe’s takedown of Senne which was the least performative of the Nooras, she felt that ice

2. Did you watch Skam in real time?

No. Which is really for the best because I would not have fucking survived Isak’s Hell Week in real time. I am weak, weak, weak and a nervous fucking wreck.

I’ve watched most of the remakes in real time. It’s a tricky format and some are more skilled at using it than others. 

3. Have you watched any of the remakes?

ALL OF THEM. Running a little behind on wtfock but yes, I love adaptations and transformative work, so I’m super duper curious about how each country chooses to adapt the show. I see them as fic AUs of the original and love when they deviate from script to explore other aspects of their versions of these characters.

4. Which is your favourite character, and why?

Isak Fucking Valtersen. Because he’s hilarious. And breaks your heart. He’s got secrets, unexpected attributes and contradictions inside contradictions. He’s loyal and manipulative. Cunning and hopelessly out-of-his-depth. He’s the great pretender who learned how to be the realest of the real.

SKAM is a show obsessed with time, real time, and each and every minute that makes up a day and the audience watches Isak grow up in real time, seemingly. Going from impish sneak witnessing other people’s travails from a safe remove to the confident, stalwart friend who doesn’t hesitate to get in the mix. A boy who hides who he really is to a young man unafraid to love and confront what he’s most afraid of.

Acting-wise, Tarjei Sandvik Moe was my instant fave in season one with his sly expressiveness. He’s a very present actor who never let the audience forget that Isak was the main character of his life always, no matter whose season it was. I expected him to deliver on Isak’s story in three but I hadn’t expected him to go so damn hard. He’s helped by having a narratively tight season and a clear-cut character arc. The audience > main character identification is really strong because Isak shows us, time and again, things no one else sees so we become complicit in his story. Almost as if we were him. We know who Isak is, we know what he's going through and even when he moves past us--he continues living his life and we want to follow. It’s one of the most “alive” characters I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing in a television show.

5. Two characters that didn’t really interact on the show, but that you would have liked to see on screen together?

Elias Bakkoush and Isak Valtersen. I think that if they became friends, Sana would be so fucking annoyed and I would love to see that. The very idea of her much loved but annoying brother having a friendship with her much loved but annoying science bro is too wonderful to contemplate.

6. Your favourite musical moment in Skam?

Robyn’s Call Your Girlfriend used in Bånder. I’m not a fan of on-the-nose musical choices generally and that song, with it’s chirping lyrics about breaking up with your girlfriend because “now it’s gonna be me and yoooou” is *very* on-the-nose. And yet, it’s more than those prophetic lyrics, it’s the dirty grinding bass of this particular Sultan & Shepard remix that kicks in as soon as Isak watches Even across the dancefloor, with his neon bandana and his laser beam eyes, embodying everything Isak wants. They aren’t together yet but they’re gonna be because people can’t stare at each other that way for long without something going down. In the background, the song’s cymbal hits punctuate the tension as it rises and rises and cuts out.

*runner-up Sana hearing I Feel It Coming playing outside her window

7. Your favourite slo-mo scene?

Even Bech Næsheim‘s slo-mo walk to Radiohead’s Talk Show Host. Everything about that moment is so earned. The costume, the song, the instant Isak’s eyes spot him, the look he sends back his way. It’s danger and promise. It’s a thrilling bit of theatre. 

Ha ha ha, I feel like the answers to 6 and 7 could be swapped, given my mood.

8. Name a friendship that you would have liked to see explored further in the show.

Chris Berg and Vilde--they have such a deep bond and we got a taste of that in the finale but I would love to see more. Particularly more of Chris in Vilde’s eyes.

9. Has there been a remake made in the country where you’re from? If so, how did it feel watching it in your own language and/or setting?

There isn’t!?! I was joking around with a fellow Chilena that SKAM Chile would be impossible to do because no one could get through a single sentence without cursing up a fucking storm. Not. One. Character. But would I love to see a SKAM Chile? FUCK SI. I think it would be so powerful.

10. You get to take one character with you to a deserted island. Which one?

Okay, it’s a deserted island with a fully-stocked manse with a home theater in it and Even, of course. We’d watch all the movies and argue about which Biggie rhyme is the best.

Let it be noted that Isak and Sana are my faves but they are both tough nuts to crack and I want a more chill experience.

11. Whose season would you have wished for the most?

Imma cheat and say I would be so happy to just get their last year of school and have Vilde’s season (season 5) and Chris Berg’s (season 6). Vilde’s because so much of her story is about observing others and trying to mimic their choices in an attempt to get at “the right way” to do things. And yet, she’s always learning, she’s always strong. 

Also, from day one Russ was her main objective; I wanted to see her get there and have that be the least important thing.

With Chris, I was so intrigued by her mini main story and this unexpected fear of hers that she’s a frivolous, inconsequential friend. I think she would have been a great person to take us out of high school into the question of “what comes next?” after that. She’s someone who I can see being afraid to lose touch with her friends, who all seem to have a clearer sense of what they want to do with themselves.

Bonus: Chris didn’t give a fuck that she wasn’t skinny. I would love to see a season of her continuing to not give a fuck and having a plotline that had nothing to do with her weight.

***

here are my 11 questions (I have an answer for all of these), can apply to SKAM and/or its remakes:

1. A memorable outfit

2. Song discovered via the show

3. “Unseen” scene you would have liked to have witnessed

4. Wishlist Main for Next Season

5. Thing that made you fall for your favorite character

6. Line of dialogue that stuck with you

7. Best laugh-out-loud moment

8. Biggest surprise

9. Most relatable situation

10. Favorite bit of acting

11. If you think of the remakes as SKAM parallel universes--what aspects of the original do you consider “constants”? i.e. things that cannot change

I’m tagging @nightlocktime, @itsallnoncents, @etal-later, @haemoglobinheights, @thatteenagefeeling​, @lion-from-the-north​, @lightsandlostbells​, @froutopia​, @ardentlyendeared​, @cleareyess, @timothee-soft-boy​, @skathm​, @ohana, @folerdetdufoler

and any of my followers who are SKAM/SKAM remakes fans that I failed to tag because I can’t remember if you’re down to clown

[queenattheopera]

Opening Number

Masterlist

Prompt: This is the story of the band that skyrocketed beside Queen and how their singer was fated to be with one of them.

Warning: Mentions of SMUT and some light cursing

April 1970

I was getting ready to perform at the bar near my university with my newly formed band. We practiced for hours just for this one gig, we really wanted to get a following. As much as each of us enjoyed our classes we would rather play music together.

We’re about to go on and I get really nervous all of a sudden. Noah, our drummer, puts his arm around me and offers me a shot. “C’mon y/n, take a shot with me. Maybe it’ll help you chill out a bit.” I laughed and thought about how I met the tall brunette.

“Today you will be partnering in a project described on your handout. This will make up 30% of your grade and must be completed by the end of the term. You have been put into pairs, the list is posted by the entrance. You’re dismissed.”

I walk over to check the list but there was a large crowd around it. I hang around the back and hope I got a good partner.

“Hey, y/n.” I stare blankly at the guy wondering what his name is, “umm hey..” This is awkward I don’t know his name, I started to get a little flustered and I can’t help but be embarrassed.

He just laughs, “Chill dude, it’s Noah”

From that fateful day we slowly became best friends. Not long after we started a band together, that’s what brings us here. Without another moment of hesitation I take the shot from him and begin to hum our set. He hums with me, terribly out of tune.

“There’s a reason I’m the lead vocalist and you sit in the back without a mic bud.” He just smirks, “Funny that I sit in the back but I still have more attention on me.” This is what’s it’s always like, us making fun of each other, he knows that this helps me relax and get outside my own head.

“The women fawning over you don’t count they just want your hot ass in bed.” He laughs out loud and looks at me with his strikingly hazel eyes. “So you think I’m hot??” He wiggles his eyebrows, I push him off and begin to make my way to the stage.

“We’re on in five!!”

“I’ll take that as yes shortie!” I flip him off and look for the other band members. I spot our bass player right away, Charlie. He was an English major and we usually work together to write our songs.

Then there's Emily, our guitarist. She’s an all around badass who looks like she could kill you with a glare. She really elusive. But once you get to know her she gets even more confusing. I love her to death but I feel like she knows more about me then I’ll ever know about her.

I strut out onto the stage and grab my mic, “How’s everyone doing tonight?? Well I don’t know about you but I’m pumped. So let’s blow the roof off this place and get shitfaced. We’re The London Strippers and this is our song Have you met Sally?. As I sing the first few lyrics I begin to feel self-conscious. Suddenly my skirt is too short, my top is too tight, my jacket is mismatched, and my fishnets are ugly. I don’t let my thoughts affect me and soon I’m moving around the stage and the crowd is dancing along.

We finish our set and I’m on an adrenaline high, the crowd seemed to like our music. It’s more punk and isn’t what is typically heard but we got good reactions.

We pack up everything and head to our van. Before I knew it I saw everyone back inside sitting in a booth. Since I was last I had to grab everyone drinks. I approached the bar and ordered everyone’s favorite drinks.

“I liked your show darling. You have an amazing voice.” I turn to see a darker haired man with the biggest smile ever, it was extremely contagious. Since I felt no malice from him I smiled, “Thanks, Mr….”

“Call me Freddie, and what may I call you love?” He had such a calming voice, any other guy I would have just shrugged off. “Y/n, let me buy you a drink Fred.”

He laughed at my casualness, “That seems like something I should be offering you, not the other way around.”

“Well if you’re going to offer, who am I to say no to a free drink.” We take a shot together and he follows me back to the booth. “Guys the is Freddie, Freddie that’s Noah our drummer,” Noah nods in response, “That’s Emily our guitarist,” she does a small wave, “and this right here is Charlie our bassist” He shakes Freddy's hand. Everyone warms up to him really quickly, we all spend the next couple hours drinking and talking. Once the next band finished performing Freddie excused himself to go speak with them.

“He’s really cool isn’t he??” I look at the band for reactions. Emily nods, “Does someone have a crush?” Noah quickly adds. “We just met him! I mean yeah he’s hot but we know nothing about him..” I get slightly flustered by his teasing.

“Well we know he wants to be a rockstar, just like you. He’s not from the London again like you. He’s outgoing like you. I mean it already seems like a match made in heaven” He arches his eyebrow and stares at me waiting for a response. I put my face in my hands to hide my blush.

“I hate you” It’s barely audible over the music and my hands. “What was that?? You love me?? Awww I love you too bestie.” Noah mocks me again. I was too flustered to bicker so I excuse myself to the bathroom

I should have noticed the moans coming from there but my mind was on our next gig and on Freddie. Then it was too late, I walk in to the bathroom to see a girl with her skirt hiked up sitting on the sink and a some blond guy on his knees in front of her. I knew in that moment that my face had gone fully red and my eyes went wide.

I instantly walk out and head to the back exit of the bar.

I was embarrassed and I needed air. Without looking I ran into someone, quickly apologizing I realize it was Freddie. He looks concerned, “Love, are you okay?”

I avoid looking at him and answer yes. “There’s no need to lie to me, darling. Are you sure you’re alright?”

I take a deep breath and look him in the eye, “I’m fine Fred. How did your business with the band go?” He doesn’t seem to believe me but he can’t seem to help himself. He really wanted to announce his big news.

“You’re looking at the new lead singer of Smile!” He is gleaming with pride. “That’s great news!!” I hug and praise him. I could have sworn I saw him blush but I thought nothing of it.

“Let me introduce you to the band!!” He holds my hand and takes me through the crowded bar towards another booth. There I see a curly haired brunette and a blond guy. It took my a second to realize it was the guy from the bathroom.

“Darling, let me introduce you to Brian and Roger.” He motions to each of them and I could feel blondie staring at me. He smirks, “This elegant creature is y/n” Freddie boldly motions towards me. I wave and smile.

“Oh I believe we’ve briefly met already, haven’t we?” Roger adds. I glare at him, “Yes we have.” I try to end it there and look towards Brian. Before I can say anything Fred is asking us what we would like to drink. I ask for a beer and sit myself next to Brian.

“It’s nice meeting you, I saw your band play earlier. But I’m a little confused, I thought you had a lead singer. Why is Freddie joining?” Brian looks a little upset.

“Our old singer, Tim, decided to leave us for another band, but that doesn’t matter because Freddie seems to be a great addition.” We continue to talk and every now and then Roger would comment. Fred came back and we all proceeded to get shitfaced.

This led to Roger becoming very handsy. To avoid this I continued to drag Freddie to the dance floor. Not long after that all of us were outside attempting to head home.

“There you are, I’ve been worried sick about you!” Noah runs up to me and covers me up in his coat.

“Chillll.” I slur in my best imitation of him. He rolls his eyes and excuses us from the other 3 men. He was ready to take me home but my new friends were also completely wasted and the sensible half of me didn’t want to ditch them. That’s how we all ended up spread around my flat.

I woke up feeling like complete shit. After I showered and took my pain medication I walked around my flat to find Brian and Roger spooning in my guest bedroom and Freddie in the couch with a note on his face.

You owe me big time. -Noah

Part 2

[goodforsomeone]

All This and Heaven Too

Word Count- 1925

Chapter- 3/? (For required to read first two to read this)

Read on AO3- https://archiveofourown.org/works/19898899/chapters/48031564

Summary-

The first of many in a sense. 

Demons weren't to be trusted after all, for they were tricksters, evil. When they gain your trust, they go and stab you in the back.

It's odd when the one who stabs is actually an angel.

People liked having beginnings, middles, and ends to things. It helped with organization and kept things neat and tidy. For instance, saying the universe was created with a big bang, a definite beginning, continued to be a thing, a definite middle, and would one day swallow itself up again, a definite end. These made things a lot easier to process and kept people from going insane with the idea that things would continue to go on with or without them, for humans were self-obsessed like that.

Things had beginnings, middles, and ends too of course, going by this rule. A friendship for instance had a beginning, meeting at some point and being happy for it, a middle, continuing to meet for no other reason than enjoying the other’s company, and an end, when the two cannot meet anymore for the joy of meeting.

An angel and a demon met one day, neither truly remembering if they ever met before this, and chatted a bit. They both were not sure if they messed up or did the right/wrong thing. It couldn’t be said they were happy to meet, but the conversation definitely went better than either could ever expect. It’s not to say this was definitely the beginning of a friendship, but it was the beginning of something.

The next time they met was quite different. It had been about a thousand years, with many events that happened that affected both in different ways, and it couldn’t be said if it was for the better or worse. They were not alone in this meeting, they stood in the middle of a crowd of people, adults and children alike who didn’t know what was going to happen to them. They weren’t allowed to know of course, for if they knew, they could try to prevent their own demise. They could fish and hunt, gather plants, make boats much less grand than Noah’s Arc but would float all the same, and no one would have to die. That was against this Great Plan, so it wasn’t allowed to happen.

The archangels didn’t trust what the humans were doing, slowly becoming more and more corrupt as they were allowed to do what they will with the gift that they had stolen. The knowledge of good and evil meant that they could choose evil, which wouldn’t work with heaven’s plans, for those who chose evil could end up in hell. So the archangels had to plan. They sent their earth-bound angel, Aziraphale, to ensure the plan went smoothly. This area would flood at God’s command, and it was expected Her chosen family would stay safe throughout the days and nights of downpour. It was part of the Great Plan, to ensure that the corrupt would perish before they could corrupt others and ensure heaven would receive those not full of corruption yet.

Aziraphale had questions, any reasonable person would. He didn’t want anyone to be murdered, and especially those who committed no crime. He tried to argue his points, for he witnessed humanity grow and shift over the years, but he was told to keep his arguments to himself. Wouldn’t want to fall, would he?

There were many children who would perish with the sinners, and could children who were still learning about the world truly be sinners? Were their parents’ choices enough to condemn a whole generation? None the less, Aziraphale stopped voicing his concerns and helped prepare Noah’s family for the trip, ensuring that all the animals on the list he was given were accounted for, that the family would have enough food and clean water for both themselves and their animals.

He didn’t account for a wily serpent to make an appearance though.

“Hello Aziraphale!” If the angel hadn’t known better, of maybe if he had, he would’ve called the demon’s greeting cheerful, happy to see a familiar face when they often die before your eyes. He couldn’t give into temptation though, for he received quite a lashing last time he let the demon get pass him right under his nose.

“Crawley,” came a stiff reply, a barrier between them. Couldn’t get close enough to betray him if he kept Crawley at arms length to begin with.

Their conversation quickly shifted from one about a sword to one about the big boat not too far off, then to the topic of killing children. Aziraphale tried to reassure the demon that it wasn’t everyone, just some. This wasn’t too pleasant to talk about, especially to a demon who condemned the actions, even with the promise of a new “rain bow.”

“How kind,” Crawley said in a voice that was soft, but not at all kind. He looked like he was planning something, and Aziraphale knew he would have to make sure it didn’t affect the Great Plan, even with his heart crying to do something about this. He was on earth to thwart the demon’s temptations after all, so Aziraphale would have to regardless of what he personally thought. Even though he agreed with him.

“You can’t judge the Almighty, Crawley.” He told the other firmly, trying to wash away the doubts being planted in his mind. They were only due to the demon, not his own voice whispering in his ear about how this didn’t match with the God he believed in. He was being tempted once more, and he must be stronger than his tempter.

It devolved from there, with Crawley being distracted by a rogue unicorn. At least that’s what appeared to happen. Aziraphale forgot about his plans to keep an eye on the demon, to make sure nothing would interfere, having run off to discuss what should do happen with one unicorn, and if it were possible to get the other back. Such a deep discussion was happening that neither party noticed an addition to the animals, a long black snake with a red underbelly.

Weeks went by, and Aziraphale didn’t hear from the demon again. Crawley was gone as far as he could tell, and all for the better. Now he could focus on Noah and his family.

It could’ve even worked, housing just over a dozen children of sinners in the depths of the ship, if Aziraphale couldn’t feel the evil energy coming from below. If there weren’t flashes of demonic energy coming from the animal pens. He knew it couldn’t have been the humans, for they were either in God’s graces or dead. Perhaps it would’ve been a mercy if he hadn’t had to investigate.

Aziraphale descended into the ship, passing countless pens filled with pairs of animals. Some were already gravid, preparing to repopulate this area of the world once more with purity. He left the humans above, for they were no where near prepared to face a demon, even one who seemed on the weaker end of the demonic scale. Just as he passed the last pen, empty for it was supposed to house the unicorns that escaped, he saw movement. There would be no infestations or fear of spreading of disease, so it couldn’t be vermin. Well, of the rodent verity.

“Crawley what in the name of Heaven are you doing down here?” Aziraphale was shocked he didn’t notice them before. Perhaps he didn’t want to, maybe he was distracted. There was a stash of food and water in a corner, just over a dozen children who couldn’t have been older than twelve, and a long, black snake whose eyes shone with too much intelligence to have belonged.

The snake hissed at him, slithering to be in front of the children who looked terrified. “Well, it’ssssss againsssst Her plan to ssssssave them, sssssso I mussst.” Crawley circled the angel, never letting him get too close to the children. “Sssssso angel, what’ssssss your move?”

Aziraphale felt the emotions in his chest, expanding, so full he could barely stand it. He didn’t have a heart that needed pumping, or lungs that needed breathing, but he could feel them strain with what the dread of what he must do. He wished more than anything he could pretend he didn’t see this, didn’t see the demon surrounded by the children of sinners, if Aziraphale didn’t witness something, it meant he could deny it. He would’ve been able to look the other way and pretend he was foiled, and the children could live. Aziraphale couldn’t though. He saw, he witnessed, anyway you could say he knew of them, and he had to do something. He was already in trouble with heaven for the whole sword business, and he would be in worse trouble for something like this.

“They must go Crawley.” The angel said it in a much firmer voice than he believed he could muster in this sort of situation. Aziraphale stood firm, trying to hide the doubt as the children backed away from him, whispering among themselves over what he meant. Where they could go in the world. There was no where. They knew of course, but it was a hard, terrible, truth. “Other angels will be coming around and your cloaking of this area is very poor. I could feel the demonic energy from the top of the arc, and it’s even worse when you perform your, your temptations.” He refused to call them miracles, for those were something only angels could perform. Demons were far too corrupt for miracles of any sort.

“Sssssso? What’re you going to do about it, Azzzzziraphale?” The tempter stopped in front of the children, eyes filled with something, something Aziraphale didn’t know how to place. He wouldn’t call it love, or care, or altruism, when he looked at Aziraphale, it was much darker, hatred. It was so different when Crawley looked at the children, his eyes softened and he whispered kind words. It couldn’t have been kindness, or care, or altruism. It couldn’t have been love for something other than himself. It was obviously just temptations, something to put doubt into Aziraphale. “Are you willing to kill children for your causssssse?”

“Why are they even here? They should’ve drowned with their families, you’ve only delayed the inevitable. Their parents made their bed, and their children must lie in it.” Aziraphale steeled his heart, refusing to let the tears fall down his cheeks, despite how much he wished them to. “I don’t like it anymore than you, but it is all part of something much greater than you or I.”

“Her plan is bullshit. Why create thingsssss only to have them sssssuffer?” Crowley bared his fangs, posturing as if ready to strike if Aziraphale came any closer. “Do you hear what they ssssay about Her? How benevolent She isssss, how kind. Their faith isssssssooo ssstrong. How do they feel knowing Her will isssss to kill?” The angel stepped forward, ignoring the words that were meant to hurt, place doubt, stepping past the invisible barrier that was pure imagination, and killed the demon where he laid. The children’s cries were harder to ignore, the terror palatable in the air at the sight of their savior so easily defeated. He didn’t want this. Aziraphale only ever wanted what was best for humans, their funny little ways and all, but they must go.

This was all for the best, and Aziraphale must believe in this. If he didn’t, if he began to doubt, he’d fall.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, letting each child die painlessly, as if only falling asleep. Aziraphale only let the tears fall when the last of them let out their final breath. It was over.

[julia-highstorms]

If Jane Was Here (Noah’s POV) - Ch. 11

Summary: ILITW by Noah’s point of view. Previous chapters here

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Pixelberry Studios and some dialogues are from the game. Gender neutral MC.

Author’s Note: I know I said back in July that IJWH was back from hiatus and then... I stopped posting. What a joke of a person I am, I won't even be surprised if y'all hate my guts by now BUT IN MY DEFENSE, I was just delaying Noah's betrayal as long as I could because I was so not ready for it lol But after all that angst in the latest PM chapter and after listening to my playlist of sad songs over and over again, I'm ready to go back to writing this fanfic. AND I'LL DO MY BEST TO FINISH IT BEFORE IT LIVES 2 RELEASES!!!!!!!!!! And I'd like to thank @hippiekiyay, without her I wouldn't had been able to finish this chapter literally!!!! Thank you so much Sam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words can't express how much I am thankful

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Pairing: Noah x MC

Word count: 5236 (longest chapter so far. Don't kill me and I hope it will be worth the wait lol)

Tagging @kurbqa-deactivated20180730 @miragemeister @yertletheturtle04 @mysteriouslady4 @klaudiana-beaumontkkreal @katiehawkeyebishop @melchann @hippiekiyay @lovethemarshalltwins @jadedpixiescribbles @gameofstrangerwars @american-duchess @blackheartdreams @indiacater @nuttatulipa @lcnelywclf @sazanes @mmmmmmyyyah @ietss

Chapter 11 - You Again

The gang of teenagers stood frozen in front of an old wooden shack, face-to-face with a snarling, mossy creature with burning eyes. Her dog?! That thing was her dog?!

"Nobody… moves..." - MC whispered.

"We can't just stand here! We've got to do something!" - Stacy said back with a rushed nervous tone.

"Do what?! That thing is huge!" - Lucas tilted his head slightly to the growling monster.

Behind the creature, Cora Pritchard, also known as 'Pritch the Witch', glared at them with arms crossed:

"Well? You punks going to explain what you're doing here in the middle of the damn night? Or are we doing this the hard way?"

"I-is the hard way getting eaten by your creepy skeleton monster?" - Lily asked the question that popped in everyone's minds.

"Don't be simple. Ugly thing ain't even got a stomach. He'll just chew you up and spit you out somewhere. Somewhere off my property."

"Super. We finally have a lead, and now her creepy pet is gonna kill us." - Ava scowled, less than pleased.

Andy looked to each of his friends' face in doubt. "If we scatter, it can't kill all of us… right?"

"Let's get out of here!" - Noah was trembling in fear from heads to toes, but somehow he found his voice and still hadn't shit his own pants. - "If she can control that monster, she's probably in league with him."

The old woman frowned in confusion. "'Him'? What nonsense are you… oh." - she stopped short and realisation seemed to fell on her. - "Oh hell." - then, she whistled sharply, and the mossy creature backed down to her. - "It's you, isn't it? You're the idiots who went and woke up Redfield."

"So you do know about him!" - Stacy ignored MC's statement and murmured:

"Please, we're sorry for trespassing, but… we need your help."

Lucas nodded and took a small step towards the with. "We're kind of desperate, actually. Any information you have about Redfield's history or his powers would be incredibly helpful."

"History? I'll do you one better than that. I'm gonna tell you how to lock that bastard away for good." - and then, she simply turned and stepped inside the old cabin.

The teenagers looked at each others' faces, still not believing what had just happened. Pritch the Witch  was actually going to help them?

Summoning all their courage, MC followed the old woman. Their friends did the same, entering the house. Dark shelves lined the walls, neatly packed with strange stones, dusty tomes, bottles of herbs, and skulls.

"Whoa… this is… interesting." - MC commented, trying to sound kind. Ava leaned in closer to Noah and Lily and whispered with a grin on her lips, eyes sparkling with the sight of all those old and creepy things:

"I want this house to be my house."

"Don't touch anything." - Cora's tone was almost a threat. Lucas grimaced, examining a jar with some kind of preserved organ floating inside:

"Fine by me."

Then, the old woman poured several cups from a cast-iron teapot and handed each one of the kids one. MC sniffed the cup, wrinkling to their nose at the bitter aroma. "Um, is this... Earl Grey?"

"This look like some kinda princessy tea house to you?" - Cora snapped back at them as she eased into a well-worn armchair, her creature settling to the floor beside her like a faithful hound. - "Drink your damn tea. Or give it to the dog. I don't care."

Silence stretched as all of them sipped the tea, staring back at each other with unsure looks. Noah was so nervous that he thought it was better to just drink his tea instead of saying anything stupid and risking annoying the old lady. He still felt a little terrified by her. Though her tea was damn good.

"Um… Miss Pritchard? I can't help but notice… it sounded like you know who we are." - Lily finally spoke up.

"'Course I do. Power's been sleeping quiet these past ten years, but I knew someone had broken the spell that bound it."

"If that's true… why didn't you come find us?" - Stacy asked. Andy agreed with the cheerleader.

"Yeah, why wait 'til we came to you?"

"'Cause the Power knows me, boy. I've only survived this long because I know how to hide from it. How'd you finally find me, anyway?"

"We found this at the library..." - MC pulled Cora's picture book out of their bag.

"Took ya long enough. I published that damn book eight years ago. Won an award and everything. Figured as soon as you recognized the creatures in there, you'd come running. Guess I overestimated you."

"Uh… sorry."

The woman grunted, sipping her tea. Ava tossed back her own tea in one swallow, holding out her cup for a refill. "Okay, you said the Power knows you. What does that mean?"

"This one pays attention. I like her." - the witch was almost smirking.

"Teacher's pet." - Noah whispered teasingly to Ava, who flashed her middle finger at him while Cora poured her another cup of tea.

"Most of my life, I've been part of a group that watches over these woods… and the Power that lives inside." - she started explaining. - "We guarded the Power and kept it secret. In return, it took care of us."

"You mean it gave you abilities?" - MC asked. She nodded.

"You catch on quick, kid. We were able to take a little of the Power into ourselves, granting us certain skills… but only if we followed the rules."

"Well, that explains Twiggy over here." - Andy pointed to the moss creature, which growled back at him. Stacy's mouth fell open.

"Hang on, you made that thing?!"

"Do you have other powers too?"

"Absolutely not. I make constructs, like this ugly beast here… but only one at a time." - Cora answered MC's question. - "Others could levitate things or talk to beasts and whatnot, but there's only so much power a person can hold without going…" - she scowled into her teacup. - "...strange."

"...Someone got greedy, didn't they? Someone tried to use too much of the Power."

"Idiot… we told him what would happen. He saw the shadows wandering the woods at night… leftovers from other greedy idiots. But no, he thought he knew better than us. Now look at him. Fused with the Power itself, not a scrap of humanity left." - MC shuddered beside the Noah, rubbing the still-tender bruise on their wrist where Redfield grabbed them. He squeezed their shoulder, trying to make it seem like a reassuring gesture, though he still felt a little nervous on being in that old creepy-ass cabin. Cora watched them intently, one eyebrow raised. - "Looks like things are worse than I thought. We've got to move quickly." - she suddenly heaved herself out of her chair and started bustling around the room, taking down jars and bunches of herbs. - "Someone find the jar of powdered bloodstone. And you, put those goblets on the table." - she pointed to the boy with the beanie.

"Oh, uh… these?" - he retrieved a pair of ornate goblets from a nearby case and set them on the low table. The witch shooed them aside, then started mixing various powders and herbs into the two goblets, the teenagers gathering around her, watching what she was doing intently.

"Okay… I get that we're 'moving quickly' here, but maybe can you pump the brakes for a sec? How are we gonna stop Redfield." - Andy broke the silence.

"Yeah, I'd like to know what exactly we're getting into." - the Class President agreed with the Asian boy. - "What's the plan? Will you be assisting us?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? Making a casserole?" - she scowled as she added a pinch of ash to each goblet, then started scribbling furiously on a notepad. - "I can tell you how to bind Redfield, but you're gonna have to go into those woods and perform the spell yourselves."

"What? But we can't… I mean, how are we supposed to do that? We're not witches or whatever."

"Speak for yourself." - Ava told the cheerleader.

"We might not have powers… but Cora's right. We have to do this ourselves." - MC's determination look back onto their face and Noah felt slightly inspired by it, ready to face Mr. Red. Well, almost.

"But why? Why does it always have to be us?" - Lily asked with a low whine.

"It's because we're connected to him. Something about being near us gave Mr. Red power. Especially once he managed to lure us down into that cave. Maybe… that same connection can give us some kind of power over him."

"Huh, you're not as dense as I thought you'd be. Maybe we're not doomed after all."

MC stared at Cora, clearly unsure if they should take it as a compliment or not.

"...Thanks." - they said after all.

"The Power's truth strength comes from the connection it forges with its followers. Both sides are bound by the rules and rituals they agree upon. After the… incident, the few of us who weren't bloody smears on the ground figured out a way to exploit that connection." - the woman finally tore the page free from her notepad and handed it to them. - "With this spell, we sealed that bastard inside the old meeting house."

"Old meeting house… wait, those creepy ruins? How old are you?" - Noah asked before he could realise that it was an inappropriate question.

"None of yer damn business." - MC took the paper, scanning Cora's cramped handwriting.

"This… this is it? We just follow these instructions?"

"Seems a little anticlimactic." - Ava stated, reading it over her friend's shoulder. Stacy looked at her.

"You did hear the part where we have to go back into the woods, right?"

"Where I assume Redfield will try to stop us?"

"That's right." - Pritch the Witch answered the boy with glasses. - "Once he sees what you're doing, he'll do everything he can to interrupt the spell. You're going to have to-- HEY! You drop that! I SAID DROP IT!" - the gang jumped, following the woman's accusing finger… to where her creature was chewing on its own leg bone. - "Stupid thing… all the arcane powers in the world couldn't magic a brain in that half-rotted skull of yours." - the moss creature barked happily back at her. - "Don't suppose you'd like to take this damn ugly beast with you? All he's doing here is chewing up my nice furniture."

"Um, YES. Yes we would like." - Ava was almost jumping with excitement.

"Redfield will probably send tons of these creatures after us… it'd be nice to have a monster on our side for once." - MC pondered a little. - "We'd love to take him."

"Hear that, ya dense beast? You're going with these kids for a while." - Cora snapped her fingers, and the creature got up, bony feet clacking across the floorboards.

"Does it, uh… have a name?" - Lily asked.

"Never bothered to give him one. Call him what you like." - the old woman shrugged.

"Hmmm… what about…" - MC looked over to Andy. - "...Twiggy?"

"Haha, hell yeah!" - the short boy jumped, fisting the air.

"This is the most stupid name I've ever heard." - Noah stated as Twiggy trotted over to them, grinning.

"Shut up, you're just jealous that you didn't gave him a dope name!" - MC hesitantly reached down to scratch the creature's mossy head.

"That's… surprisingly soft. And weird. Definitely weird."

"Who's a good undead boy? Is it you?" - Ava played with the beast while Cora grabbed a plastic lighter from the kitchen and tossed it to MC. Then she handed the two goblets to the Beanie Boy.

"Don't spill those. There's a clearing with a big stump in the middle, about a mile in from the road. You know it?" - he nodded at her.

"Yeah, that's where we found our friend Dan."

"That's where you'll do the ritual, tonight."

"Tonight? Why can't we wait until morning?" - Lily shouted, startled.

"Because Redfield's got to be inside the clearing for the spell to trap him, which won't happen if it's full of sunshine." - huh, it made sense.

"Got it." - MC nodded. - "There's something I wanted to ask about... our friends in the hospital."

"Our friends, Dan and Tom, got… Redfield got to them. They've been unconscious in the hospital for days."

"There are others, too…" - Lucas joined Andy's explanation. - "If we manage to bind Redfield… will they wake up?"

"Hm. The Power does feed on people sometimes, consuming their life force until they're just empty shells… But… if you do this spell right, that connection will be broken. Your friends should recover, in time."

"One more reason to win this thing."

"Now, unless you have any other silly questions, it's time for you to go. There's work to be done..." - and then, Cora rushed them out of her house.

"This is it, then… we're really going to face him." - Lucas murmured with an uneased look, as the gang made their way out of Cora's garden.

"At least we'll all be together this time." - Noah said. There was safety in numbers and for the first time in a long time he felt like he had his friends' backs.

"Plus, we've got Twiggy." - Ava patted the moss creature's head, who growled happily at her. Stacy looked to each one of their faces:

"Everyone ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be..." - Lily answered, hugging herself against the night wind. A hug grin spread on Ava's face.

"Creepy moonlight ritual to save the town from evil? I was born for this."

"Hell yeah, let's kick some monsters in the face!" - Andy shout, kicking the air around him. MC held him by his shoulder, preventing him from entering the woods.

"Not yet. First, there's one stop we need to make...."

They all drove to the hardware store downtown and parked outside. Twiggy even tried to go with them, but they thought it was better to stay inside the car. The door chimed, announcing their entrance, and Stacy's brother glanced up to them. He looked less than pleased to see them, especially MC.

"Stacy, what are you all doing here?"

"Don't be a jerk, Connor. We're just here to buy supplies."

"Supplies for wh-- Actually, you know what? I don't want to know. Store closes in five minutes, so just… get your stuff and get out." - he said, returning to the back of the counter.

They all split up to browse the store, only MC stayed back, to go talk to Connor. Noah walked towards the center aisle.

"Yo."

"Hey." - he greeted the Asian boy back. They browsed it in silence fo a couple minutes until Andy spoke up:

"So… we're finally going to kick that bastard's ass." - the boy with a beanie smirked.

"Technically, we can't kick his ass because he's a ghost. Ghosts don't have asses."

"Of course they have! They have a… ghostly ass."

"Which we can't kick."

"Well, how can you be so sure about it? Have you tried to kick a ghost's ghostly ass before?" - Noah laughed to that boy's stubborness and fierceness. - "You won't know if you don't try!"

"Right. You tell me later if that worked or not." - Noah laughed a little more. The Asian boy just rolled his eyes.

"Hey, do you think this will be useful?" - he asked, pointing a hair dryer to him.

"For what? So you can dry Redfield's ghostly ass?"

"You're no fun, Noah." - Andy pouted, putting the object back into the aisle, while the other boy chuckled. MC approached them.

"How's it going?"

"Andy is having way too much fun with this."

"Hey man, I'm just trying to live out my cheesy action movie dreams here. Don't ruin it for me." - Andy's eyes suddenly lighted up. He set down a jar of nails and turned to them both grinning. - "You know what I just realized? This is gonna be over tomorrow!"

"Yeah, assuming we don't all die." - MC smiled back at him.

"No, that's what I mean! Fists of Thunder 6 comes out next summer, and there's no way I'm missing that. So we're definitely gonna win!"

"I… what?" - MC shared a look with Noah, as if to confirm that they heard right. The Beanie Boy tried really hard to not laugh. 'Fists of Thunder 6'? Seriously?

"I'm serious! What are you guys looking forward to? What have you been waiting for so hard it proves we're gonna live?"

"Dunno, I haven't had much to look forward to, lately." - Noah answered. He just wanted it all to end. To Redfield go. To get some answers.

All he wished was to know was where Jane was? Was she safe? Was she trapped somewhere? In the ruins? What Redfield meant when he said that Jane was here?

If Jane was here…

"There must be something." - MC elbowed him, a playful smirk spreading on their lips. - "What about homecoming?"

"I'm probably not going. Seems kinda pointless without a date, doesn't it?" - his eyes locked with MC's for a second. He thought he almost saw their eyes shining. He quickly looked away. - "And I'm… really not in a good place for that. Dating. I mean." - he stuttered, feeling his cheeks getting hotter.

And that was true. He couldn't think about dating. Not yet. Not with Redfield around. But if things were different… If they were all safe and sound… If Jane was here… Would things be different?

He felt Andy squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

"That's cool, dude. If it's not the right time, then it's not the right time."

"You shouldn't let that stop you from enjoying homecoming, though. We could all go together!" - MC proposed. Andy punched the air excitedly.

"Dude, let's all rent a limo! I've always wanted to do that!"

"That sounds… fun. I'll think about it." - Noah couldn't hide a smile from appearing on his lips. Their excitement was contagious. He turned to MC. - "What about you, MC? Gonna ask someone to homecoming?"

To be honest, Noah didn't want to know. He felt awkward imagining MC dating someone, even if this person was one of their friends. He watched them putting their hand on their chin, pondering for a little while, before turning to him with a bright smile.

"I don't think I want to ask anyone specific. I just want all to go as friends."

Noah fought the urge to grin.

"Okay… as long as I don't have to dress up." - he said, trying to maintain a stoic face. It was stupid, but he was kind of happy to know that MC didn't liked someone in a special way… and that he was going with all his friends to the party. Together.

"That's the spirit!" - Andy shout, clapping his back (a little too hard), then wandered off to look at another aisle.

Noah turned to look at MC, whose eyes were already on his face, small grin on their lips. He blushed again under his friend's gaze and cleared his throat before asking: "Huh… so, you gonna buy anything?"

"I'm not sure… What kind of weapon do you use against an army of undead plant monsters?"

Beanie Boy looked around the store, when something caught his eyes.

"I mean… that, probably." - he pointed to the wall behind MC, where a 'Now in Stock' sign hanged next to a pole saw. He saw the smile widening on his friend's face.

"I forgot about this thing!" - they exclaimed as they took the pole saw off the wall and examined it. Noah approached them.

"What is it?"

"I think Connor said it's called a 'pole saw'?"

"I'll tell you what it is." - Ava said as she came around the counter, practically bouncing. Noah still wasn't get used to the vision of Ava Cunningham excited, almost happy. - "It's a chainsaw… on a STICK! Please tell me you're gonna buy it!"

"You should totally get it. This thing'll tear through those plant monsters like nothing!" - he agreed with the witch girl. - "Way better than my weapon idea. I was just gonna grab one of the big sticks I saw in the parking lot..." - cash was running low.

"Yeah, no way I'm passing this thing up." - MC stated, clearly enjoying the sensation of holding the pole saw on their hands.

"Yesss. You're gonna let me borrow it sometime, right?"

"For what? You got some landscaping to do?" - Noah asked Ava.

"If it means I get to swing stuff like that around, I will find something to landscape." - she said as they joined the rest of their friends at the front of the store. MC got in line behind Andy as he paid for a large crowbar. Turning, the Asian boy asked, stopping short when he saw them holding the pole saw.

"What?! Where do they keep those?"

"Sorry, think I got the only one."

"Everybody set?" - Lucas asked, looking to each one of them. He seemed a little more confident than before.

All of them nodded in agreement and walked out into the night.

They followed the back roads out of town until,once again, they found themselves standing at the edge of the dark roads…

"This is it..." - MC murmured, holding the pole saw tightly. Noah nodded beside them, staring the woods in front of them.

"Hope this goes better than last time."

"It will. It has to." - they said, that determined frown on their face again, and then clutched Cora's instructions, reading them through for what it seemed like the tenth time. - "We've got to leave one goblet at the entrance to the ruins. Ava and I will take care of that, then meet the rest of you at the clearing."

"Sounds like a plan." - Lucas commented. Stacy wished them two to be careful.

"You guys too. Watch out for gross skeleton monsters." - Cora's mossy creature seemed confused. Ava grinned at him. - "Of course you're not gross, Twiggy! The other skeleton monsters are way less cute than you.

One by one, the teenagers walked into the trees. After a quick detour to the ruins, MC and Ava rejoined the rest of them in the clearing.

"Run into any trouble?" - Andy asked them. MC shook their head.

"Nope. First goblet's ready to go." - and then they set the other goblet down on the stump.

"So… um, what exactly do we do?" - Lily still seemed a little anxious with everything.

"Looks like two people need to read the incantations written here." - Ava replied, reading Cora's instructions. - "As soon as we start the spell, Mr. Red will be drawn toward this clearing."

"Hooray..." - Noah felt a shiver running down his spine by just imagining facing that monster's face again, all the confidence he was feeling soon leaving him. Ava ignored him:

"We light the goblet on fire, which somehow lights the other goblet. The two flames become a bridge that channels Mr. Red into the ruins. Then… boom, the flames go out and he's sealed inside."

"So… who wants to read the words? You'd have to read through the whole spell, and Mr. Red will do whatever he can to stop you." - MC asked their friends.

"I'll do it. Stacy? Do you..." - Lily trailed off as the cheerleader dumped her purse out on the ground, refilling it with large rocks, then giving it a few experimental swings.

"Nope. I've got some anger to work out."

"I'll read." - Lucas volunteered himself. - "Just… try to stop anything from ripping our heads off, okay?"

"Don't worry. We've got your backs." - Andy clasped his hand on the Class President's back.

After MC's signal, everyone arranged themselves in a loose circle around the stump, with Lily and Lucas at the center.

"Is everyone ready?" - she asked. Andy gripped his crowbar, Stacy hefted her rock-filled purse, Noah clutched his branch, and Ava drew a long knife from her boot.

"Bring it on." - MC yanked the started handle of their pole saw, and the small engine thrummed to life. - "One last thing… No one's allowed to die. I mean it. If even one of you dies, I'm gonna be pissed." - they all grinned a little to MC's words.

"Right back atcha, MC." - Andy smirked at them.

Lily took a deep breath… then began to read. "'Power of the ancient trees, glorious song of all that grows...'" - Lucas stood tall beside her, one hand resting on her shoulder as he picked up the next line. "'by right of our covenant, we summon thee'."

They all tightened the grip around their weapons as a frigid wind whipped through the clearing, carrying the sounds of growls and gnashing teeth...

"Remember… we have to protect Lucas and Lily, or else all of this will be for nothing." - MC alerted them.

"Got it.." - Noah felt his heartbeat speeding up. Beside them, Twiggy's mossy hackles raised and he bared his teeth. Lily kept reading.

"'...come before us...'" - dark shapes began to move in the undergrowth, amber eyes burning in the trees…

"'...come before us'." - Lucas repeated, his eyes widening as another shape, larger than the rest, moved to the edge of the clearing, moonlight illuminating his face.

"Wait a second, is that…?" - Andy's voice died as they recognized who was standing right in front of them.

"No..." - MC murmured, shock in their face too. The figured grinned.

"Looks like I stumbled into a loser convention." - Cody said with a wicked smile.

"Cody… You're not him!"

"Yeah, I know. But I'm still gonna kick your ass." - shadows writhed in the trees behind Cody, and they caught a darker figure, barely visible but for its glowing eyes. - "Remember what I said at Brit's party? How I was gonna make you pay for all your smartass remarks? Your little friends threw me out that time… but this time… I brought some friends too."

The bushes all around them exploded, a snarling wave of skeletal creatures charging towards them.

"Here they come!" - MC yelled, dropping to a ready crouch as three of the creatures charged toward them. Along with Andy and Stacy, they started fighting the monsters.

"Crap!" - Noah shout, swinging his branch wildly, hitting the skeletal creature that attacked him.

"I've got you." - Ava lunged towards him, shredding vines and chunks of bones flying everywhere.

Through the chaos, Lily and Lucas's voices rang clear and strong, reading from Cora's spell.

"'Power of the earth and the stone, furious wind and rushing creek…'"

"'...by right of our covenant, we bid thee, listen…'"

"'...heed our words…'"

"'...heed our word--"

"LOOK OUT!" - Noah yelled as two creatures managed to dodge around him, heading for Lucas and Lily.

MC attacked the creature that headed to the Class President, their pole saw blade shearing clean through the creature's spine. He and Ava immediately tried to sprint after them, but another creature leapt in front of them.

"Holy crap, how many of these are there?!" - Noah asked, struggling to hold the thrashing creature.

"I don't know, but they're starting to get on my nerves!" - the witch girl replied, slashing at it  with her knife. - "Could use some help over here!" - she yelled to their friends, who seemed to be okay, though Lily's arm was bleeding. MC sprinted towards them. - "Damn it, Noah! Hold it still!"

"I'm trying! It-- Aah!" - the creature slipped out of his grasp, lunging for her.

"Oh f--"

"Hey, ugly!" - MC stabbed their saw blade through the creature's skeleton, pinning it to the ground. Ava winded up and kicked it in the head, sending its skull flying into the trees.

"Huh, maybe I should take up soccer."

"Thanks, MC. That one got away from me." - Noah said, the three of them panting with all the action.

"No problem, Beanie Boy."

As they continued to struggle against the skeletal creatures, they heard slow, sarcastic applause from the clearing's edge.

"Damn, not bad, MC. Maybe you nerds are tougher than I gave you credit for." - behind Cody, Redfield seethed, hovering just outside the boundary of the clearing, hissing at them.

Steeling themself, MC pointed their weapon at the creature wearing Cody's face.

"Come over here. I'll show you how tough I am."

Redfield reached out one clawed hand, resting it on top of Cody's head, who grinned at them.

"I thought you'd never ask." - and, before their eyes, Cody's flesh began to warp and bulge, his skin tearing and falling away, revealing the dirt and stone beneath.

"Holy crap."

"What he said." - Noah agreed with Andy's remark, the stone creature advanced on MC, seeming taller with every step. MC seemed to be handling it pretty well with their pole saw.

"MC!" - Stacy shout.

"Back off, creep!" - Ava tried to threaten the stone creature, all of them trying to run to them, but more vine creature surged forward. - "I'm gonna make you boney freaks wish you were never… summoned, or whatever.” - the witch girl said as she and Noah brandished their weapons at another group of snarling beasts.

“I am not letting it end like this… not when we’re so close…”

They kept fighting the skeletal creatures until, suddenly, they all fell to the ground, the lights in their eyes winking out. Ava and Noah shared a confused look, before looking at the center of the clearing, where MC, Lucas and Lily stood. There was no sign of Redfield, the goblet on fire.

“...We did it.” - MC murmured. Trembling, they got to their feet as the flames inside the goblet flared high, ten vanished.

“Wait… really? It actually worked?” - Beanie Boy asked, as he and Ava walked towards them.

“It would appear so.” - Lucas looked around them. Everything seemed so suddenly calm.

“Are… are we sure? Is he actually…” - Lily couldn’t finish the phrase. Ava walked over, retrieving Cora’s goblet.

“One way to find out.”

A short walk later, they all cautiously stepped into the familiar clearing.

“It’s so… peaceful.” - MC commented, staring at the ruins.

“Yeah… I guess.” - Noah murmured, feeling a strange sensation in his chest.

He kind of… kind of was feeling… disappointed. That was it? After all that hell they went through… he had hoped that he would get some answers. Things would get fixed. Jane would be here.

Where was Jane? What Redfield meant when he said that she was here? If she was here, then where she was? Was Jane still here?

If Jane was here…

Ava walked right to the ruins, quickly snatching up Cora’s goblet before backing away again. “Ugh… I can definitely feel something in there. And it is pissed.”

“Can you blame him? Who’d wanna spend eternity trapped in that crappy place?” - Andy pointed to the old ruins.

“This could be a trick…” - Lily still couldn’t believe the spell worked. To be honest, neither could Noah.

“How do we know the spell did what it was supposed to?” - Lucas asked and MC crouched to pick up a small pebble.

“We test it.” - they tossed the pebble at the house. It sailed straight over the threshold… then stopped in mid-air.

“No way…” - Stacy murmured, her eyes widening. The pebble hanged in the air for a moment, then dropped straight down.

MC’s knees suddenly buckled and they sank to the ground, tears welling up to their eyes as they started to laugh.

“It’s... over.” - the gang kneeled beside MC, pulling them into a warm embrace. - “Wh-what the hell do we do next?”

The cheerleader laughed, squeezing all of them tighter.

“Seriously? Next comes the most important thing of all!”

“The SATs?”

“No, dummy…” - Stacy rolled her eyes to Lucas, a huge grin on her lips. - “Homecoming!”

[a-butterfly-on-his-tummy]

Dancing, Kisses, and Poppies

“I’ll be seeing you…” The beautiful voice of Billie Holiday pours through the speakers of Harry’s black Range Rover.

“What are you doing?” I giggle in shock as Harry throws the car in park in the middle of the road and pushes pause on the song. He doesn’t answer me. Jumping out of the car, he runs around the front of the vehicle and opens my door.

“Come on.” Grabbing my hand, Harry pulls me out and around the car.

“Harry. What is going on?” I’m confused as he leads me into a field of beautiful orange poppy flowers. Harry showed up this morning looking adorably cute in his torn black skinny jeans, white tee shirt and pink bandana around his neck. He was almost giddy with excitement, bouncing on his toes as he explained we were going to one of his favorite spots in LA for our second date. We drove for about an hour and a half until he randomly stopped at this poppy field.

“Trust me. Stay right here.” Harry holds his hand up before running back to the car. The volume is turned up and the song has started over. The piano begins to play as Harry jogs towards me. “Will you dance with me?” His face is so tender and sincere that I don’t wait a second to answer.

“I would love to.” I reply. Resting my hand on his shoulder, I relax when his arm is placed on my waist. My body tingles at the closeness when he draws me closer, clasping our hands together. His fingers are warm against mine; his thumb rubbing softly against my skin in the same rhythm as our rocking back and forth.

I'll be seeing you In all the old familiar places That this heart of mine embraces All day and through In that small cafe The park across the way The children's carousel The chestnut trees The wishing well

Harry sings softly along with the music that is being pumped through the valley of beauty that was created just for us.

“I love this movie.” I say gently after he spins me and guides me back into his embrace. His arms feel safe; I am protected and calm with them around my body.

“The Notebook is one of my favorites.” He hums against my temple. “You know, I’ve always wanted to do this. Dance like Noah and Allie. To this song.” His breath brushes across my skin, and I feel tingles erupt like bumblebees who have swarmed after their hive has been attacked.

“I’ve always hoped I would be able to experience a type of love like theirs.” I say. The music continues in the background as our chests come close to touching. The sway of our dancing is sweet and the moment tender. The pause after my comment feels like I confessed something that isn’t really second date material, until I sense him opening his mouth.

“I love their relationship. Noah and Allie are always honest with each other; they have fun; they overcome the forbidden love; they fight but they always make up, and they have a love that is unconditional. But my favorite thing about Allie and Noah is that even though they had bumps along the way, they loved each other until the end.” His thoughts on their relationship are deep, and I long for a love like theirs. “I hope that someday, I can experience a love like that. One that lasts. No matter what.” He pulls away from my temple, looking me in the eyes before turning my body around so my back is against his chest.

My body fits against his perfectly as we float back and forth, finishing out the song. His voice sings the final lines, and it makes my heart melt into a massive puddle.

I'll find you in the morning sun And when the night is new I'll be looking at the moon But I'll be seeing you

Harry spins me out before bringing me close one more time for the final move of our little performance. He leans me back, dipping me towards the ground. The move is sexy, until my foot slips and Harry attempts to grab me. His body looks like Bambi learning how to walk as he scrambles to help keep me from hitting the ground.

“Oh sh.. are you okay? Elizabeth. I’m so sorry.” We land on the ground, our bodies intertwined, and I burst into a ginormous fit of giggles.

“That was fun.” I giggle as we lay surrounded by the beautiful poppy flowers.

“May I kiss you?” Harry asks. His eyes pierce my soul as he asks the simple question. A question I had never been asked before. Typically boys just kiss me. But there is something about him asking that is respectful, sweet, and extremely endearing. I bite my lip before nodding my head yes.

His hand cups my cheek as he steers his face closer to mine. Harry allows his lips to hover, pausing before placing his mouth against mine. Our first kiss begins softly. His lips are warm against mine, and I’m nervous as I feel the need to impress him. His thumb caresses my jaw, and it causes my body to immediately relax. My mouth opens, granting Harry access to explore the uncharted territory. His tongue runs along my bottom lip before it begins to search every inch of my mouth. I’m able to suck his bottom lip, and it pulls softly between my teeth as Harry retracts slightly.

“Hey. I like you.” Harry rests his forehead against mine, rubbing our noses together. “I really, really like you.” His voice melts my soul like butter in a hot skillet.

“So I guess it’s a good thing I like you too?” I smile, closing my eyes as he scoots his body closer to mine.

“Mmm, a very good thing.” He replies before taking my mouth in his once again. The fireworks that explode when our lips connect are a bigger show than the 4th of July. Our tastes meld together as we allow our tongues to tangle in a rhythm that follows the beat of the newest Adele song now playing through the speakers.

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” I say, quoting my favorite line from the movie as we disconnect for a moment, allowing us to catch our breath. “And Harry, you have awakened my soul.”

“Elizabeth, you have planted a fire in my heart.” Rolling me over. Harry brings our lips close to each other, hovering, but not touching. “And I can’t wait to see if you will by my Allie, and if I will be your Noah.” Entwining our lips together, creating a moment that stirs my soul, planting a fire in my heart, bringing a peace to my mind that is unlike any type of serenity I have ever experienced.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I have had a crazy week. Thank you @whoopsharrystyles for dropping everything without question to read my writing. It makes my soul happy. YOU make my soul happy! I love you butterfly much and so much more. 

Read NOW on Wattpad!!!

[thesweatycollectiontyrant]

110 in the Shade

I decided to make it as pleasing as possible for myself to just profile each musical in alphabetical (and numerical? hence 110 in the Shade) order, starting with a gorgeous classic, 110 in the Shade.

Background Info

This is a musical that opened just after the Golden Age. It’s kind of in that area of musicals that people don’t really know how to refer to. Others in the area are a lot of Bock and Harnick musicals, like Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me, also, Jerry Herman favorites, Mame and Hello, Dolly!

Writers

The show has music and lyrics by the team of Harvey Schmidt who actually died exactly a week after my 18th birthday and Tom Jones who did not die exactly a week after my 18th birthday. Schmidt and Jones wrote other works together including, The Fantasticks (one of the longest-running shows in history), and the marriage profile, I Do! I Do! starring the likes of Robert Preston and Mary Martin (with a low Db), who were quite the duo, if you’d ask me. The book was by N. Richard Nash, who actually wrote a play called The Rainmaker, that was produced a few years prior.

Da System

The way I’m going to do this is that I’m going to write while listening. I’m always going to include the cast recording I chose to listen to.

Side note: Most of the time, I’m going to choose especially with classic musicals cast recordings that I feel have the best voices. ALSO, while I do listen to the entire show, I’m gonna just talk about highlights.

Who’s Singing?

For 110 in the Shade, I decided to go with a studio recording from 1997, starring Karen Ziemba as Lizzie Curry and Ron Raines as Bill Starbuck.

Time to dig into this loaded show.

Let’s Do This

For a while, I listened to the recording with Audra McDonald (one of my favorite voices of ALL time, period) as Lizzie, but eventually, I noticed that they transposed a lot of songs for her. Which by all means is okay although a bit surprising for a soprano, but I wanted to hear the way it was intended. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Steve Kazee’s voice as Bill Starbuck (choppy vibrato), so I searched for a recording for something that is true to the original material, but recent. Thankfully, this recording served everything I was looking for. Another thing that’s funny listening to Karen Ziemba sing this instead of Audra McDonald are these two things: When I think of Karen Ziemba, I think of her phenomenal dancing and the fact that she’s an alto. When I think of Audra, I think of her amazing acting and the fact that she’s a soprano. It’s funny to me that they had Karen Ziemba do the part. Maybe, she was a soprano back in the day. However, despite her alto-ness, she really has quite the range and went OFF in this recording. Very pleasantly surprised.

As I listen to the score, I can say that it is incredibly picturesque. The Overture is both riveting and solemn. It reminded me a lot of Rossini’s William Tell Overture with the whole Morning section mixed with some Fireball. The orchestra is phenomenal. The orchestrations are very lush; something like a mattress that eats you up, but doesn’t make you sink. It’s very full for such a Western-esque score, and it’s perfect to me. It’s a lot like Copland’s Rodeo.

During the opening number, you find out from the Greek chorus (kinda) of townspeople. There’s a drought and it’s gonna be Another Hot Day. The opening number is special because it introduces many themes that happen all the way through the show. The interesting thing is that they introduce them in a way that it doesn’t get annoying to the listener. The motif is formed in many different ways all the way through the show. Also, most of the singing in this number is unison or counterpoint between the men and the women on different themes. The unison singing (while it can be beautiful at times) really gives you that bored sense of I Don’t Care What Happens Today Get Me a Palm Tree I’m Hot.

“Lizzie’s Comin’ Home” is very fun and gives you something you don’t get to hear as much. A trio between three men ("Sincerely, Me" anybody?), Lizzie’s father, H.C. Curry, and her two brothers, Noah and Jimmy. Nice harmonies at the end, and definitely something that could be performed in a concert/cabaret setting.

A few things happen: Lizzie gets her “I Want” song, addressed to Love, so she can get her a mans. The dudes sing about poker and stuff (which is actually a fun number, and a great example of a “Blow High, Blow Low” male ensemble number).

Then the male lead is introduced. Bill Starbuck(s)(?) claims to be a rainmaker (what about a coffee maker? wow now I need caffeine). He leads all the townsfolk in a SUPER DUPER FUN ensemble number that I honestly love, simply titled “The Rain Song”. It’s so exciting and something that you can listen to to get your blood pumping. WOW Ron Raines’ voice. Ooft. Love it.

“You’re Not Foolin’ Me” is a fun duet between Lizzie and Starbuck where they are doubting each other to the point that it’s comical, sort of Beatrice and Benedick meet “Anything You Can Do”.

“Raunchy” is the ultimate definition of a hoot. I don’t need to say anything else. Just watch Audra McDonald do cartwheels at Radio City Music Hall.

“Old Maid” serves as Lizzie’s nervous breakdown that she truly might never find love. She’s just met this guy who she thinks she might like, but she’s not sure, because she’s never really had a chance before, and now he comes along and she doesn’t know what to do, so she just resorts to imagining the thought of being alone forever. This is a fantastic example of amazing songwriting, from changing meter, repeated themes, chord voicing, orchestrations, character arc, everything. This is a great example of a song to give a superstar Soprano who has some fantastic acting chops.

Act Two traditionally opens with an ensemble number *squeals in excitement* called “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night”. It gave me some “Clambake” vibes, as it was written in waltz time, and has some really beautiful and interesting harmonies that just fed my musician soul like I had some Cracker Barrel. Then there’s a fun dance routine with either tapping or softshoe that sounded like tons of sweat, or as my high school theatre teacher called it, success.

Starbuck gets a really nice solo called “Melisande” which is a sort of tale he tells Lizzie. I’ll have to listen again to get specifics yikes but y’all know.

“Simple Little Things” is a nice little (kind of redundant, but still beautiful and necessary) solo for Lizzie.

Kristin Chenoweth made a little appearance in “Little Red Hat” which is more or less of a throwaway duet with one of Lizzie’s brothers, whom she is dating.

The Finale culminates in an enormous celebration by the ensemble when the rain finally comes and the temperature drops from 110 while they’re in the shade to a melancholy 100 in the shade. RIP I guess. The number has some fun A-flats for the Tenors and Sopranos. An interesting ending to a genuinely fun show.

Audition Songs

Cool thing about future posts. Most of the shows that I post about, I have access to vocal scores for, so if you’d like PDFs of songs for auditions or anything, just let me know, and I’d be more than happy to send to you! YouTube links will be posted with the title of the song.

Regarding this show in particular, while I mentioned that this is not in the Golden Age, per se, this is still a perfect show to take to an audition that asks for a Golden Age song.

“Love, Don’t Turn Away” - Lizzie, D4-F5

The song has a charming quality. Good idea for auditioning for a Rodgers and Hammerstein show, like Cinderella. It’s for a Soprano, but can easily be sung by a Mezzo, as it doesn’t go too high.

“Raunchy” - Lizzie, G3-Ab5

This song is so so so so so funny. Coincidentally, this would also be good for a Rodgers and Hammerstein/Bock and Harnick/Lerner and Loewe audition. Maybe something along the lines of Amalia Balash or Eliza Doolittle. The song is for a soprano. The situation is that she’s explaining to her dad how she’s gonna get her mans. There are some harmonies at the end between her and her dad that could easily be cut for an audition. That’s where the high Ab happens, so if you choose to cut the section where they sing the “Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo”s, the song goes up to a G5, which is only a half-step difference.

“Old Maid” - Lizzie, B3-G5

This song is featured in the infamous The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology: Soprano, Volume One. Disclaimer: I’m not hating on the series of books; I’m hating on the idea that many voice teachers across the country simply choose the same songs for their students to sing. While this is in the anthology, It is more of an unpopular one. Which is good *maniacal laugh*. This is a great song to show your dramatic acting ability, ladies. It’s an awesome song to take to a Weill or Bernstein audition because of its opus nature, but also it’s great to bring to an audition for the composers and roles mentioned in the above paragraph. This is a fantastic song.

“Melisande” - Starbuck, G2-G4

This song is pretty range-y, but it’s a story-telling song. It’s a good song to have fun with. Very appropriate for a Baritone or Tenor.

“Simple Little Things” - Lizzie, B3-E5

Not much to say about it other than I think it’s really pretty. Starbuck has a weird line at the end you can cut if you use it.

To Wrap It Up

This is actually a really fantastic show. I love the plot. Lizzie really grows up over the show, and shows that even people who are a little silly can find love too. This show is a really good choice for high schools. You can cast it as big as you need by adding to the townsfolk. Not sure if they have a lot of individual lines, but it could be solved easily. The revised version, offered by Tams-Witmark only has twelve characters. Crizzazy. I know the original version, also offered by Tams-Witmark has a similar get-up, but gives the option to add more to the ensemble. If you’ve got a dynamite soprano who can act really well, this is the way to go. It’s a very accessible show, and something that could really bring a group of people together.

Get it.