#1 (one) happy froggy thing

[syrasenturi]

i’m unstoppable

[popponn]

Hihi, im the same anon that loves ur page!!

the froggys are seriously silly :)

Anyways, can i request some hcs abt bllk boys with a reader who's going thru a depressive episode? im just goin thru stuff rn, if u can't its fine.

So, hows ur day been?

I hope you're well

have a great day! <33

byebye💖

notes: anonnie;;; i hope you are feeling better when you finally read this;;; this took so long, im sorry. i have been busy and there are lot of things going on, but i am fine thank you for asking :> and hey, a depressive episode could be tough. but you got this! okay? try to take it slow and step by step, drink water, eat food, and move around a bit. a light walk or a stretch is okay. like how the clouds always change, things will change. i hope reading this could give you a little happiness, especially when you need it.

isagi

if you are looking for someone who will listen and give practical advice without dismissing your feelings or concerns, honestly he is the one. especially as a boyfriend, you can trust him to be the one who will sit beside you on the sofa while wrapping you in the blanket. will ask you what you want to eat and the moment you decide to fight the cold hard life back, don’t worry, your isagi yoichi will be your #1 supporter! especially if you guys have spent more time in the relationship, he really is good at balancing giving comfort while still giving you trust to walk on your own. though he sometimes couldn’t 100% understand your point of view, but the sincerity in his effort to be always there for you is no joke. he promised every part of him he could give to you and he means every word of it.

bachira

who hurt his baby—he will fight it. somehow. he has this odd sixth sense when it comes to you. just with a glance, he will immediately get how down you feel and what you need. a joke and a cheer up along with many kisses? coming right up. a listener who will hug you like a koala? do you want to do that while cuddling in the bed or in public in front of his friends because he won’t hesitate honestly. just say what you want—if he must eat a cake messily like 5 year old to make you laugh then so be it. will get you out for recreation the moment he could and if he couldn’t that means it’s time for his creativity to shine (and boy does it always shine). but if the one that makes you feel down is someone, bachira is not one for violence but he could you know. if you want. (please stop him.)

rin

if you don’t cry, at best he will be an awkward listener—but a good listener nonetheless. if you cry, though, honestly he will panic. this guy is already not good with his own emotions, so you need to be clear about what you want with him. he is not the best with words though, and advice he offers is usually either “let me just fix this for you” or a straight up detached, objective one that is better offered to someone with a cool head and controlled emotion. therefore, more often than not, he opts to just listen and hold your hand. he will try to help, though, and if he can’t—at the very least you will get a really menacing guard dog who won’t let anyone mess with you while you are trying to get up. (also, go tell him to buy something. his credit card is ready and feeling like he is doing something for you is good for the both of you.)

sae

itoshi gene is harsh and he is somehow worse than his brother in this scenario. he is a naturally critical person towards anything. if you are ready to get your fault pointed out and think up a “what can i do to make this better or avoid this from happening again” go to him, but if you are looking for someone who will listen or give validation, as much as you love him, don’t. him and a terrible headspace is not a good combination. however, a direct “can you hug me?” or a “can you do something for me?” is not completely out of the question—he, after all, still cares about you. high chance he won’t ask, especially if you said you don’t want to say anything, but in this situation the softer part of him who has a hard time saying no to you truly comes out. a movie night, even if it involves the goddamned fries, would happen. he is smart enough to know when to spoil you, especially since he knows your habits and tendencies by heart.

kunigami

the sort of person who sees a hint of gloom on your face and immediately cradles it with a tenderness that no one would expect from someone with his build. he is a good, caring person by nature, if you are looking for someone to help you, he is the best choice. he can be clumsy sometimes and the words he gives to cheer you up have a high chance of being uttered with a lot of pauses in the middle—but the way he acts will probably be enough to bring a smile to your face again (and he will also smile along with you when this happen because by god you are his happiness). all those aside, high chance he can’t give advice, but he will give you top-notch cheering up—words, actions, cuddles, everything—along with genuine validation. (especially after wild card, he has seen hell. “feeling terrible” is something he understands a lot.)

kaiser

for this one i won’t sugarcoat it: jesus christ. why. is there no one else?

jokes aside, as i love to bully him a bit here, objectively—this really depends on the sort of type of person you are. if you are looking for advice or validation or a listener—not him. but if you are the sort of person who prefers a distraction or the “tough love” sort of motivation that is more scathing and heartless—borderline degrading—he is the one. out of spite, his words are probably enough to spur you into action, forgetting whatever blue feeling you have as it has turned into a red raging anger. however, a little note, believe it or not, this actually comes from a caring place in his heart. kaiser is someone with many, many harsh edges—and this comes more from “i rather see you angry and living than seeing you down without me being able to do anything” root that he rather die than say out loud.

nagi

the best you could get is a passive listener. worse you can get is a passive listener who still plays games. the worst you can get is that one scene where isagi has a legitimate concern and gets his hair pulled by this guy. another one who is better to have as a company in seeking distraction for the time than anything. but, despite how admittedly terrible he is in cheering you up with words, he truly makes it up by action when it finally hits him how down and different you are. it will take a few hours or a few days, but he will get there. afterward, expect many small sweet gestures ranging from cute gifts, your favorite snacks, et cetera. your chatroom with him will too suddenly get noisy with many cute stickers and “u ok? :x” for at least a few weeks. (also he is shameless enough to ask out loud to his teammates about what should he do with you when he realizes how stuck he is. so hey. there is that: possible extra brains if you need a solution.)

reo

common knowledge that he never shies away from using that money of his when he needs to and this is one of those situations where he genuinely considers taking you away for a trip so you can feel better near a sunny beach or a peaceful lake—you pick. if you don’t want that, however, this guy is still the best when it comes to understanding you and will be there until you give him a smile. what else do you expect from someone with a complete set of love languages? do watch out though, he is also someone who could get angry pretty quickly, especially when it involves something or someone he cares about—and this time it’s you. on a brighter note, though, this means if you are looking for someone to shit talk with, he is the one. he is a smart caring boyfriend, so talking with him during this time will do a lot of good to you. a good advice along with good validation.

bonus round:

barou — has this very awkward and unique way of cheering you up by getting you to clean the house along with him (and somehow he is less strict with you this time) and then cooking for you after; somehow always works like a charm. yukimiya — do you know all those shoujo manga perfect handsome famous sporty smart boyfriends? this is it. coming to you live. chigiri — shit-talking session that will soon move on to a pep talk that will give you every bit of confidence and drive you to need. a best friend and a boyfriend in one package. one of the people who truly knows and understands how despairing an overwhelming situation could be. karasu — will he tease you a bit like a meanie to distract you, ironically? yes. but if you need an advisor to brainstorm the best possible solution he is also the one.

[sunflower-lilac42]

✧𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝 | sturniolo triplets ♔

summary: y/n's fantasies to create scenarios started with a library card (and a shitty life but that's besides the point). books shaped how y/n sturniolo thought about life and herself, for worse and for better. or y/n's journey with books and two scenarios she wanted to happen.

warnings: sad, being lonely, crying, the usual from this series.

notes: part of the 'behind the lens' series. the scenarios are all fake! they never actually happened they are just things that y/n wished to have happened. i also lowkey hate this so I'm sorry if you do too :/ also add yourself to the tag list! ➺ taglist form

series masterlist | celebrities masterlist | main masterlist

At the age of seven, y/n Sturniolo asked her parents for a library card well more or less begged. She had always loved reading, escaping to a reality that seemed to be made just for her. She read books such as Curious George and Froggy with her mom when she was younger. Then she read those to her brothers.

When she grew older she read the Magic Tree House series and 13 Story Tree House, which led her to ask her parents for a tree house. That idea was quickly shut down seeing the books their daughter was reading and their knowledge of her imagination. 

Gaining the library card and the release of all new books, she read Harry Potter and Dork Diaries, and all other classic series middle schoolers read about. She was a sucker for new books and new series because that led to new realities, new topics, and a larger imagination. 

Escaping to these realities was the only thing that kept the girl sane. Everyone’s attention was set on the triplets since they were born and these books were her lifeline. They protected her from being lonely, from talking to people - which was hard for her, and even protecting her from recess. 

These books assisted in her desire to become an author. The need to create realities that could help others, the need to create a reality where she was the main character, the need to create a reality for people to relate to, and the need to create a reality where she belonged.

She always created these scenarios in her head like most people her age did. She wanted people to be able to read these scenarios and for them to feel wanted.

✧༺✎༻∞

Scenario 1: A Brother’s Comfort

Y/n had been sitting in her room at her house, it was a Saturday night in the middle of June. She was sixteen.

She had received a text and when she saw who it was from, her boyfriend of 7 months, she squealed a little. Yet when she saw what the message contained, she cried. 

He had broken up with her, over text. Her first boyfriend, her first hope of well, hope. She was numb at first until the message really sunk in, and then the tears slowly trailed down her face.

The triplets were 12 when this happened. They kind of knew that their sister was in a relationship but didn’t know all of the details. They never met the boy, but they knew he made her happy and that’s what mattered to them. 

They had been messing around in the living room and were sent to their rooms after breaking one of the lamps. They were trekking through the hallways when they heard the small sobs of their older sister.

They were too scared to go in but were too worried that it overshadowed that fear. Nick took the lead, not wanting his younger brothers to take the wrath if she got mad. He placed his hand on the doorknob and twisted it. Opening the door, the brothers saw their sister on her bed, a blanket drawn all the way up and over her head, with her phone sitting across the room all cracked. 

They exchanged looks and walked closer to her bed. Nick tapped on her and she muttered a ‘go away’ in hopes that whoever it was would take her advice and actually go away.

Her brothers were as stubborn as her and they shook their heads and asked what was wrong. She didn’t answer and just kept crying. Matt had gone over to her phone and turned it on to see the message from her boyfriend. He grew angry and showed his triplets. The three had obviously figured out that y/n did not want to talk about it and just all silently and collectively decided to lay on her bed with her and stay with her until she felt better.

Nick sat at the edge while he let the younger two curl up around the girl. Matt placed her head on his chest while Chris held her hand and took the covers off of her so she could breathe. Nick rubbed his hand up and down her calf in a way of comfort.

Their mom had noticed the odd silence in her house and went to check on everyone, she saw her daughter’s door ajarred and peered in. When she saw her eldest son sitting there, she was prepared to yell at them for not listening to her but when she saw the look on y/n’s face, her hair disheveled, and the boys comforting her, she smiled and turned away, closing the door all the way.

✧༺✎༻∞

Even though books were great to y/n and what got her through most of her younger years, she couldn’t help but relent them just a little. By the time she hit high school, a small part of her wondered why she wasn’t allowed to get a happy ending like those in her books. She kept reading, although the books were geared towards the adult age range and her taste had differed from when she was a little girl. 

The books had lost their magic somewhere between the ages of 16 and 21. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment but she knew in those four to five years she started to dread picking up a new book that had a focus in romance, even if it was a very small sub-plot. 

She compared these books to her life, trying to find out how these characters always had a way to move on, chapter to chapter while her’s was stuck on a chapter of feeling lonely and forgotten. She accepted but never really understood why she was the one chosen to bear all of these emotions and feelings. She didn’t wish this on anyone, not at all.

✧༺✎༻∞

Through the years she read more romance books that were angsty, with little to no happy ending, yet every so often she’d be reading a cozy, cliche little romance book that she could always dream of but never have. She had always set her expectations too high for men, nonetheless people in general.

High school was when her eyes opened up and saw that no boy would ever want her. She didn’t know why, she considered herself to be smart, somewhat pretty, funny, and a nice person, so why did they always choose the popular ones who had fake personalities and always used people?

Finding this out, she hid more than she ever had before. When she was in middle school, she never really cared what anyone thought about her. Half of these people she would never see again in high school or ever really. 

She quickly learned that she was no protagonist in any story unless it was one about a sad little girl who never belonged. Why couldn’t she be the one who people wanted to write about in stories, the one who got the boy, the one who didn’t care what people thought, the one who shined and thrived in any situation?

At 21, her life had begun, she thought. She had friends at college, if anybody talked bad about her she didn’t know it. It was a large campus with a shit ton of people that once again, she probably wouldn’t see that much or at all, and some she probably hadn’t even met. 

She was still stuck on that previous chapter of how her emotions got the best of her, how she was the one who would always have to carry these emotions, and how she could never escape. She was slowly beginning to ignore this however, she was slowly beginning to believe in another fantasy where she could be who she wanted to be, where she could be free.

She had no happily ever after.

✧༺✎༻∞

Scenario 2: The Love of Her Life

One sunny afternoon, as golden rays streamed through the bookstore's window, y/n found herself reeling in the fact that a coffee shop had opened just across the street. She loved the smell of coffee more than she loved the taste of coffee. It was a comfort scent for her, and that mixed with books and art, it was like her own heaven.

As she stepped into the coffee shop, the soothing hum of conversations and the gentle clinking of cups created an all too familiar sound. Y/n ordered her favorite drink and found a cozy corner to settle into, her sketchbook in hand. Lost in her own little bubble, she began to draw, the pencil strokes effortlessly capturing the scene and comfort of the cafe and the people within it.

Unbeknownst to her, a boy around her age sat at a nearby table, sipping his own cup of coffee. Intrigued by y/n’s hobby he couldn't help but watch her bring the café to life on paper. Not being able to help himself, Ollie gathered his courage and approached her, striking up a conversation about her art.

Something that didn’t happen often with y/n was an easy conversation yet with Ollie it was effortless. Talking about their hobbies and interests, finding random things to bond with. She felt a sense of hope rush through her. Maybe Ollie was the one for her.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and the bond between her and Ollie deepened. They became inseparable, sharing sunsets and stargazing nights, exploring hidden gems in their little town, and supporting each other's dreams.

✧༺✎༻∞

Like some of her friends, she started to believe that happy endings were overrated. The guy gets the girl, they live in this tiny little house or in a big and grand castle with all of their family surrounding them. Or the protagonist in some way, shape, or form got rewarded with love, family, money, etc. and the villain/antagonist was cast away even if their only purpose was the make fun of the main character, even if their only purpose was to exist to continue the story and the character development.

She was used to getting hurt and so were her friends. Her family noticed a shift in her friend group especially in the later years of high school and the beginning years of college. They were more negative, a bad influence to say the least. Her parents were worried, they didn’t want her to turn out like them, they wanted her to succeed and break these habits of picking the wrong friends. 

Her dreams of wanting the perfect reality faded too soon. She wanted that reality, dreamed of that reality but could never figure out how to get there. It would never work. 

She broke away from these friends when she expressed her feelings for her own little fantasy. They made fun of her, and gave her a “reality check”. She knew they were right but deep down she wanted them to be wrong. She wished they were wrong. She apologized for wanting to stay in her own little universe. 

She wanted to be alone, she wanted to be the girl with hopes and dreams that came true. She wanted to be seen, she wanted to be careless and free.

✧༺✎༻∞

Y/n’s college years brought a mix of emotions and even started to get back into reading, finding solace in the familiar corners of the campus library. In high school and even middle school, the library was a sanctuary of endless possibilities that seemed to echo the sentiment of her life - an endless search for something more. 

She found a book, hidden on one of the back shelves, in between other old, dusty, forgotten books. This book soon became her favorite, somehow this author wrote about her life in a beautiful way. She thought no one could understand the pain that she had been through, the years of staying silent and to herself. 

She finally realized that the pages she read as a child weren’t a realistic destiny, maybe this was the reality check she was looking for. The library was once a portal to different realities to aid her in her childhood, but now it was where she sought inspiration for her own life. 

Now, she couldn’t really remember what those books were about, she just knew that she was thankful for helping her in those tough times.

[rataticaisdreaming]

day 1 - chaos @intrualityweek

a chaotic makeup session 💄✨

small fic under the cut 🥰💙💚

[Image Description - A chest up acrylic painting of Remus and Patton from Sanders Sides. Remus is wearing sparkly dark blue and green eye makeup, blue lipstick, green drop shape gems under his eyes, a spiky blue leather jacket with green highlights and a chain earring with three blue earrings on the top. He has red eyes, green long nails and nose brigde piercings. He has a penis and star sticker on his forehead, an R and smiley face one on his chin and a cherry one on his neck. He is holding his silver hair and applying red lipstick on his tongue. Patton is wearing sparkly pink makeup with small pink gems around it, a fluffy blue and white sweater and a pink and blue bear earring. He has a pink hairband with cat ears on his curly blond hair, light blue round glasses and blue eyes. He has a rat sticker above his left eye, a heart one on his nose, a blue heart one on his chin and a blue star and daisy sticker on his neck. The background is black with green and blue liquid dripping down, blue and green shapes behind the characters and sticker like exclamation symbols and sparkles. End I.D.]

Summary: Remus gets a snack during its and Patton’s makeup session.

Pairing: Platonic Intruality (it/its for Remus - he/him for Patton)

Word Count: 512

Warnings: One sex joke / Eating an uneatable thing / Mention of vomiting / Mild Hurt/Comfort / Remus being Remus

"No! Just because it says it's strawberry flavored doesn't mean it will actually taste like strawberry!"

"Only one way to find out Kitty Pat!"

At first, Remus dragged the lipstick across its tongue, leaving a thick red line. It gave a test taste while Patton admired his makeup to cope with the fact that his favorite lipstick would get eaten. Not that he minded tho, after all, it made the duke happy. He re-adjusted his cat headband and with a sigh, looked back at his makeup partner.

"Well…? Does it taste nice…?" he asked, half disgusted, half intrigued.

The other didn't reply, instead, it rolled the lipstick until the whole bar was exposed and bit the entire thing. Chewing with curious, thinking eyes, it spoke again.

"It's so creamy! Like a melted chocolate bar!" Remus said with its mouth full. Patton winced at the sight of its sharp teeth full of red lipstick, it made him gag and he had to look away.

"Please! Just swallow it already!"

"Oooh~ I might swallow another thing tonight if you let me, Cutie Pat" it said. Even when Patton had his eyes closed trying not to throw up, he could still see the smile and wink in that sentence.

Patton groaned at the joke and started tapping the table, looking for his water bottle. He whined when he couldn't find it, but when he did, he immediately regretted it.

His hand knocked the bottle, pouring water all over the makeup table. They both yelped and got up from their seats. Remus acted first, grabbing the bottle and lid to safely close it and put it on the ground.

It thought the small scare was over, but it heard a small whine coming from Patton and he looked distressed. Remus looked back at the table and no makeup got damaged, it was all closed. Only the brushes got wet. Before it could ask what was wrong, Patton grabbed its finger.

"It's all ruined… I'm sorry…" he said in a tiny voice, playing with Remus' finger.

"What's ruined?" it asked, giving the other both hands to fidget. "Nothing is ruined, leave that to me, c'mere.”

It discreetly waved one of its hands to clean up the mess as it guided Patton to the bed. It pulled a box from under the bed and placed it between them. Inside the box there were a lot of individual stickers and on pages. Sir. Froggie the Third was guarding the sticker box.

"Froggie!" he squealed, giving the stuffie a big tight hug. He had a rattle inside, perfect for stimming and calming down.

Remus randomly picked a sticker and pressed it on its neck, then grabbed two star stickers and pressed one on its forehead and one on Patton's neck.

The giggles coming from him caused Remus to smile, calming down as it saw that the other was having fun. They started picking up all sorts of stickers and placing them all over their faces and necks. They forgot about the accident and got a new look they both adored.

[zayndrivesmeinvain]

The One That Got Away - Part 1

A.N- This is one of my first series that I wrote after a long hiatus and I am just getting back to it. I hope who ever comes along for this journey, they enjoy it. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts, ideas, opinions. Enjoy!

Summary: In which Harry and Alena were college sweethearts, however, all of that has changed and the only thing keeping in contact is the fact that they have a child together. Is it possible for them to even get to a normal standing friendship or is that long gone?

Word Count: 2.9 K

.......................................................................................................................

Alena

Pain. 

Pain is something that is different to everyone but to me, it's caused by the distress and lack of control I feel as though I have in my life. I’m pained that I am not able to give my daughter the best life that she absolutely deserves. It pains me that she doesn’t have a two parent household, because growing up neither did I and I vowed everything inside of me that when the day came I had a child that I would pick the utmost perfect partner that would stick around and be madly love with me in which we would make a life for ourselves and have that happy ever after - but unfortunately those cards were not on the table for me. 

I live a pretty generic life I would say. I work a 9-5 as a social media manager and editor for a top design magazine, I have a tight knit friend group, as well as a dog and a house and a daughter. I’m not the crazy going out type of girl, or the hook-up kind of girl. I keep to myself, take care of my daughter and live life to the best of my ability. 

-

It’s an early Monday morning which means I need to get myself ready for work as well as my daughter ready for school. I am lucky enough to be able to work most of my days from home and the office is used as an as-needed basis especially since I am a single parent. I’ve never been one to take “ the easy way out” but I sure as hell will take advantage of situations that do benefit me. 

My chestnut brown hair falling down my back as soon as I get out of bed, one quick look in the mirror and I can say thank the Lord himself that I work from home today. Over the years my hair has become unruly and quite the challenge to maintain. My skin slightly goose bumped due to the slight breeze in my bedroom, thanks to my ceiling fan. My feet are cold against the hardwood floors in my home, and I almost curse myself for not having enough carpet or rug in my room - when first purchasing my home I swore that carpet would not be part of the home's aesthetic but I would be young and dumb and would refuse to go back. 

“ Good morning Sunshine” is my go-to for waking my daughter up in the morning, unfortunately my daughter is not a morning person - a trait that she picked up from her father. Her emerald green eyes stayed hidden from me as she did her absolute best to try and stay asleep as she knew that it was time to get up and ready for school. 

“ It’s time to get up, Bubs, how are you going to become an Astronaut princess if you don’t go to school?” my arms embrace my daughter as I gently pick her up and walk her into the bathroom. 

“ Mommy, my tummy hurts.” my froggy 5 year old croaked. Now that I think of it… she does feel a bit warm. I was lucky enough that she was typically an energetic child who looked forward to going to school and meeting her friends, another trait she got from her father, however, today seems to be different. I placed her down on the edge of the sink and placed my hand onto her forehead as she seemed to be burning up. I do my best to be a fair and strict parent, so I can instill a routine and boundaries but it wouldn’t be fair to send her to school like this.

“ It’s okay, Bubs. Why don’t you stay home today and rest up. Why don’t we give you a bath and you can lay down next to mommy while she works, yeah?” I make my way over to the tub and start running a bubble bath for her to enjoy. “ Stay still, mommy will text daddy so he knows not to pick you up from school later.” 

Texting my daughter's father isn’t my least favorite thing to do, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite by any means either. There is so much built up pain and history even when I see his name pop-up on my phone or even see a picture posted of him. Harry Styles. My childhood best friend, my first crush, my first love and my first heartbreak. How is it possible for one person to be so many of my firsts? Some would say that Harry & I ended on a mutual note but it doesn’t mean that it hurt any less. We did our best to try the long distance thing while we tried finding ourselves in college but one thing led to another and it didn’t last. After agreeing to end things, we met-up one night and one thing led to another and a few weeks later I found out that I’m pregnant. Harry is an amazing father and I couldn’t ask for anyone better for my daughter, but he was not a good partner. He often slept around, could not commit to anyone and played every girl like the fiddle. We tried once more after Aria was born but that is when he was unfaithful and would stay out late and it's almost as if his whole personality changed.I guess people do change while in college and even after. 

“ Hey H, Bub’s isn’t feeling well. I’m going to keep her home with me today so no need to pick her up from school… thanks :)” I place my phone back down onto the counter and get Aria undressed for her bath. While allowing Aria to play around a bit in the bubbles I notice my phone has none stop been going off. 2 missed calls from Harry & 4 text messages. He’s so over dramatic. My phone rings again, before I could even say hello he gets his word in: 

“ What the hell, why haven’t you answered your phone?” I could sense his annoyance over the phone. 

“ Because I am bathing our daughter and I believe her cleanliness is more important than  worrying about my phone” I could see his eyes rolling already. 

“ What’s wrong with her? What happened?” His concern for Aria is something I could admire and could almost push past all the horrible things he has done to me in the past. 

“ Harry, she’s sick. She’s around other sick kids almost everyday… it was practically bound to happen. She’ll be fine in no time… she just needs to rest for the day and drink fluids and cuddle. I promise you I won’t let anything happen to your precious angel.” The last sentiment of my statement to Harry was meant more as sarcasm but in all honesty, she really is an angel and couldn't ask for a more perfect child. 

“ Erm, yeah.. Okay. Can I stop over after work later on? I can pick up some dinner for us three and maybe watch a movie with her…” I can sense the hesitation in his voice. Harry and I had an agreement that we would be civil parents for Aria, but I would prefer to not have “family hangouts” as much as I could avoid it. As much as I wanted a two-parent household for my daughter, I refused to confuse her anymore and give her a false hope that Harry and I would ever get back together. However, there are some exceptions to this rule and tonight is one of them. One thing I hold my ground on is never holding Harry back with Aria or anytime he wants to spend with her. 

“ That would be nice, Har… thank you. Just let me know what time you think you’ll be over later on tonight, and remember.…her bed times  9:00 PM” a gentle smile plastered on my face when I look back over at my daughter while she plays with the bubbles in her bath. 

“ Of course, give her a kiss for me to hold her off until I get there” before I could even say goodbye the line drops. 

-

The day was filled with many email correspondences, phone calls as well as planning for the upcoming next few months. Being the lead editor for one of the top design magazines in the country was no easy job by any means, but my passion and dedication for the job was what makes it all worth it. I’ve been very fortunate as well to have a very understanding team behind me which were my top supporters, and they absolutely adore Aria. 

Besides all of the work I needed to attend to, cuddles and a napping child were on my top priority list as well. I mostly worked from my couch today, which I excuse to my child being needy because she wasn’t feeling well but I would be lying to say that I just didn’t want to leave her side as well. For a while, it was mostly just the two of us together navigating through the world with no idea or plan in mind. 

Before I knew it, it was close to 5:00 PM and Harry said he will be here in less than an hour. While Aria was sleeping and I was on my “lunch” break earlier I was able to sneak in some dishes, laundry and a quick shower. My unruly hair from this morning was washed and maintained and I was able to apply the lightest layer of make-up. My outfit of choice for this gathering we were about to have was a pair of basic black leggings, paired with an oversized sweatshirt. 

“Mommy, do you know when Daddy will be here?'' She adores her father, a total daddy’s girl. I wish it didn’t make me jealous but knowing that he is her favorite person pulls at my heartstrings a bit. 

“ I think he’ll be here shortly, Bubs. Why don’t we get you changed in your comfy pjs so when daddy gets here, you guys can watch a movie?”

I gave Aria a quick bath to help her fever settle down. Her fever has been on and off for most of the day; but it seems as though it was getting back to normal for the last hour. She picked out her favorite waffle knit pajamas to wear with the pink and red hearts. She swore up and down that they were her movie watching pajamas & that they were the most comfy for “lounging around”. By the time Aria and I made it back into the living room, Harry had arrived. 

I walked to the front door with Aria in my arms & by the time I opened the door she couldn’t jump into Harry’s arms quick enough. There he stood with his work attire on: a pair of dress pants and a button down shirt paired with his matching tie. The young frat boy has turned into a businessman, Harry followed in his fathers foot footsteps and is now a partner in his fathers law firm. His hair looks like it’s been freshly cut, but a few curls still peak out on the top. 

“ Hi Bubby, I’m so happy to see you.” A smile is plastered across Harry’s face, he’s always been a proud father. He always says that Aria lights up his world, and that she in fact saved him and has made him a better man. The same smile he gives Aria, is a similar smile that he used to shine at me, those pearly whites were once my weakness. 

-

Harry so kindly brought over Chinese for the 3 of us, the three of us scattered on my dining room table. Harry and Aria spike up most of the conversation, Aria tells Harry all the letters and colors that she’s learned at school so far and what she thinks her classmates worked on today without her. It amazes me watching the two of them interact together, it’s almost as if I’m seeing double: Aria is so much like Harry in so many different ways: between their smiles, the way their nose scrunches up while them are really focused in on what the other is saying, to they way they chew at the the same time or how they both furrow their brows the same exact way. 

-

After dinner, I excused myself to flip some laundry as well as clean the kitchen up from the day's mess. Harry and Aria are now sprawled out in the living room watching Lilo and Stitch, Aria is laid out in between Harry’s legs, with her back to him while his hands are laid in her lap. Every so often I catch Aria holding her fathers hand and even planting kisses on them. Aria’s love and admiration for her father makes Harry a little bit more bearable, he is someone I will always love but I fell out of love many years ago after everything he had put me through: the lies, the cheating, the girl, the uncertainty… It was all just too much. 

-

It’s a little after 8:30 PM now, Aria fell asleep watching the movie with Harry and he insisted he would take her to bed and do her nightly routine with her which consists of cuddles and reading a book, if we ever skip this step she never has a good night's rest. I hear soft snores coming from her bedroom which indicates that Harry can handle her nightly bedtime routine and he will be leaving shortly, which allows me some alone time before the end of the day. 

- 

“ She’s fast asleep now…” a soft smile has taken form on Harry’s tired face. 

“ Looks like she isn’t the only one that needs to be put to bed” I begin walking him to my front door, to kindly let him know that I would like for him to leave, however, he asks if we can have a talk. 

Harry and I walk back over to my living room as I take a seat on my sectional and he sits across from me. The expression on his face indicates that he’s nervous and is testing the waters out before he opens his mouth. 

“ I’ve been seeing someone…” is what he blurts out with. “I’ve been seeing her for a while now and I would like to know if it’s okay if I introduce her to Aria.” His words take me by surprise, one of our initial rules was that we would not introduce Aria to anyone unless we thought it was serious and up until now it had not come up. For whatever reason, his confession stings a little bit. I was under the impression that Harry wasn’t really into keeping anything serious or that’s at least what his mother gossips to me about. Anne and I always had a very close relationship, even after everything that had happened between Harry and I. 

“Uhmmm, yeah…” my heart starts pounding a little quicker than usual and I’m hoping Harry can’t hear it. 

“ Her name is Elizabeth, she works in the same building as I do at the accounting office across the hall from my law firm… she’s the receptionist there. She’s really great, and makes me really happy. I’d like for them to meet this weekend… I’m going to my parents for dinner and they’ll be meeting Elizabeth for the first time too.” 

“ Har, I’m happy to hear you’re happy. If you feel as though this is someone you would like to introduce Aria to, then go ahead… under one condition.” I can see Harry’s once anxious demeanor break and a look of curiosity takes over him. 

“Under no circumstances and I mean none, are you to have any sleep overs with this girl while Aria is there. If I find out from our daughter that you had a woman sleeping over while she is there… I promise you Harry, I will raise hell.” A slight nod is always I get out of him before he speaks again. “ Understood… thank you.” Call me traditional, however, I don’t think it’s appropriate to have girls in and out of the house while our daughter is there.. Even if they are dating but knowing Harry, he can sometimes spin the truth. 

“I’m gonna go… I have a long day tomorrow.” I nod and get up to walk Harry out of my house. As we approach the door, I gently open it for Harry to walk through. 

“ Have a goodnight, Har. Thank you again for dinner.”

As Harry walks out my door and into his car, all I see is the young guy that I grew-up with and wonder how things went so wrong for us. My heart aches for what ifs? What if we did end up being the end game, would Aria be happier? Would I be happier? Would we have regular family dinners and have family vacations and family traditions?

I wiped those ideas out of my heart as quickly as they came, because I did not get to where I am in life harping on the past. I, Alena, do not sit around and feel sorry for myself or what my life currently is versus what I once dreamed of it being.

[pinkandpurple360]

to be fair i don’t think ozzie kept his relationship with fizz on the dl bc he’s an imp (he doesn’t seem concerned that people know they up have sex), but because of the whole lust/love thing. which is stupid, but it’s also vivziepop writing so whatchu gonna do 🙃

ozzie does seem to be one of the “better” upper class members in terms of how he treats other species (imps are allowed in his clubs, he regularly interacts with succubi/imp hybrids, everyone at his workplaces seem pretty happy and unlike stella and andre, he doesn’t seem particularly discriminatory or callous), but he still calls moxxie “little imp” (granted he is literally little and an imp and its a performance) and his imp boyfriend “froggy” which with the fire toad slur kinda raises eyebrows? this could also just be vivziepop Not Thinking but. hmm.

even bee who is shown partying and dating hellhounds, said to be even lower than imps, still runs the abusive adoption pound and signs her name on every adoption paper. she can cover it up with honey and a smile all she wants but she’s 1000% complicit in their oppression. like how does tex feel about that??? it reminds me of corporations who do all this virtue signaling for social justice but give billions to horrible causes. but i don’t think vivziepop understands that because again. rich background. “bee was nice to loona so its ok!!! deeper implications? what’s that?”

speaking of which, every time viv likes a tweet about how striker deserves nothing and is a toxic masculinity homophobe makes my blood boil. i don’t particularly like striker and i lost any interest in him after western energy but he and crim are really evidence that viv thinks “STOP BEING POOR” is a valid argument. also wasnt he flirting with blitzo in his first ep???? so like? huh???

i will say one reason i ship blitzstriker is because they seem to have similar views in regards to class (at least pre oops…) and i can totally see them staking it out on the run together. i can’t see fizz doing that, he flaunts his wealth and even tho he says “it’s nice being out of the spotlight” i cannot see this man surviving without luxury items for over a day loo. even in the circus, he always had the best clothes and was the main breadwinner and while the circus is said to be struggling, he never seems to be. i think that’s another reason i personally never got fizz’s insecurities, because he’s been the ace his whole life???? like as someone who has struggled a lot for ANY recognition or love it just makes him seem spoiled to be like “ozzie no luv me bc im not perfect :(“ i think your manipulator idea would make more sense.

anyway this turned into a ted talk. you dont have to answer everything. im realizing i actually hate what helluva boss is but i love the fanworks and the potential it had. sigh.

Isn’t it so funny how we have to pick which flaws are on purpose and which are just…Viv being a bad writer. Like we have to accommodate her forgetting or not caring enough to put the work in and review it after.

Paragraph 1: I definitely agree 100%, I like the part where the imp and succubi are his patrons, equal, including the butler who stolas abuses. Which feels like a very purposeful decision to contrast him with Stolas specifically. But there’s still the fact that Ozzies is so overpriced and exclusive and yet, rich folk like stolas can just waltz in without any reservation for free, by threatening the bouncer with…something. Violence? Imprisonment? Ruining his life? Honestly I wish we could have seen Jesse tell Stolas to fuck off, before he notifies the big man of what he just tried to do.

Paragraph 2: He is one thousand percent better, and he respected his employees who in turn liked him and weren’t scared of him. However he’s a better monarch, but still a monarchby and at the end of the episode he betrays his employees trust and uses intimidation and the threat of violence to silence them. Also froggy??? Really? Really? And got every time he says it the cringe levels are intense, it feels deeply deeply ooc.

Back to paragraph 1 again: the secrecy…it’s about the inexplicable anti love thing, but I’m just saying I think fizz feels that way. Like in that article I keep referencing they say things like “heart hoarded by an imp?!” Which I suppose is equivalent to anti imp racism in hell. Stereotypes of them being untrustworthy selfish beings. Which is also the fuel for Stolas’ fetish. It just really pissed me off the way Asmodeus said “still getting your kink on with that feisty imp?” And stolas says “this imp has a business he runs” I was wayyyy to charitable to Asmodeus in the past and regret it so so much.

Paragraph 3: Many people point this out about Bee and I really hope her nice persona vanishes fast because it’s just ridiculous given her status and what she’s done. Why are your hellborn the most downtrodden of them all if you’re ohh so nice miss Beelzebub? And how the F could Loona not know who Beelzebub is??? Do her and Blitzø not realise who signed off on the adoption certificate? (Confirmed on Vivs patron that it was in fact Bee) why is Tex working as a bodyguard for verosika who calls him “my new hellhound” and yells at him, he also says he’s not paid enough to care about her issues. Sooo….why is he still in such a shitty position despite being with Bee. You’d think he’d at least be working because he wants to work but he doesn’t even seem

Paragraph 4: LITERALLY!!! Viv is such a privileged rich girl that her villains are poor. While she’s going on a world tour but raging at Twitter people criticising her pet character. She’s literally Stella and a Mammon: “Can you imagine not having money ahahhahh” — Viv describing why striker is so evil

Paragraph 5: another question is why would Blitzø being jealous of Fizz be such a bad thing? He didn’t want to cause the accident. But why would him hating how bad he is at making people laugh,,,make him bad? That’s why I love their arguments because neither is completely wrong or right. His father literally loves him more than his own son and as you said, he gets pampered the most and loved the most. He can’t stand someone not liking him for even five seconds which should be a character flaw, not endearing. But, Fizz doesn’t have a father at all, so he’s not completely wrong. And if his parents did abandon him and nobody would adopt him, that explains why he doesn’t feel good enough to be loved and why he needs audience approval. Viv just forgot to write that FUNDAMENTAL part into the f**king episode.

I love a good fish out of water story and seeing fizz slowly learn to fight beside his friend proving that their differences are compatible was great. By the end, Fizz seemed almost happier and freer by Blitzos side than by Ozzies side, but the goldfish is just put back in the bowl, which sucks.

Your last line made me almost laugh cry tbh because there’s enough lost potential to fill a fountain. The episode had such a strong start then around the breakdown things went south and it stopped being good. The status quo isn’t different at all and fizz just slightly shifted his destructive needs for affirmation onto a different royal.

[vibin-down-here]

just remembered something. i used to not post my writing, so this Hello From The Hallowoods fan episode i didn’t go through with just sort of sat here. but now i’m on writeblr!

pls reblog, i don’t have a lot of mutuals yet. thx!

Intro: CHILD OF THE ABYSS

The black rain falls softly on the darkened grass of an elaborately structured garden, and the dandelions remaining alone in color dare to mirror the night sky above. A brush dives into the night's darkness, the last greens of the forest, the flowing red of life, and carves out the shapes of your world upon simple hide. And in the disturbingly unshaped depths of your sleeping mind, dreamer, one far older than me drips you little drops of his vast observation, not unlike how the work of his companions’ craft taints your world.

I hope I shall join him in your nightmares tonight. I am an artist, shaping space into crystalline forms, painting colors across skies and in the corners of your vision. I mold reality as a brush to color galaxies, a pencil to sketch constellations, a pen to bring your story to paper. I am the disloyal intern to the threshold of the abyss, and your questionably loyal host, Rithithaim, arranging the stars to spell Hello from the Hallowoods.

Right now, my greater eye rests upon a garden. Children play around bushes of black roses. Their minds shape worlds far better than their own, and they are happy. Adults in dark garbs watch over them. Their guns may be ready to kill, but their hopes craft worlds for them too. Only one sees my vision's fractal distortions, for his craft is to observe. The theme of tonight's episode is good causes.

Story 1: CARE FOR THE LAND

Jamie Gravér did not like the color red. He prefered thinking about that as he stuffed another one of the intruders into the large, black, plastic bags. It was the color of all the bad things from outside the bountiful garden. It lay in the eyes of the froggy raiders that came from the water last week. It was the color his work always got onto his pristine white dress shirts, and he only had so many of those left. It was the color of the sun above, blinding him even on this cold winter day.

He pushed down his gray cap that said groundskeeping, one of his greatest finds, and continued on his groundskeeping. The next two were barely worth removing, half consumed already by the black rose stocks. They had, in a desperate struggle, almost pushed them over. Jamie noted that down on his clipboard for later, both for work and for himself. Why were these ordinary people so desperate to hurt the children of the garden, as the prime being told him?

Those thoughts he definitely shouldn’t have had and the music on his walkman, another one of his distractions and a privilege to have within the garden, almost let him not hear the voice calling out in the now quiet morning. Oh, but he heard. And this made everything so much more difficult. Aphrodite's Child scratched to a stop in his hands. They grasped the prime’s gift tightly. He hoped it was just another child of the garden coming running with another problem.

“Walt..?”, the voice repeated in front of him.

Jamie’s heart began to race. The voice had called from somewhere in the thorny dark bushes. His gloved hand parted the planted bulwark, but he already knew what he’d find. Olive eyes stared back at him from the darkness, oddly glowing but barely focusing on him as if peering through the bi-weekly fog. In an instant, he banished all thoughts from his brain. He could say traitorous words, he could do traitorous acts, but he could have never thought traitorous thoughts. “Do not think.”, he whispered to himself through gritted teeth. Then, finally, he turned to the boy he had to save, because the prime being would have him killed.

They found themselves face-to-face. The olive-eyed boy began to move his mouth again, but Jamie was, for once, quicker than the worst path of fate. He placed a soft hand over his rescue’s beard stubbles and as softly as the wind in the leaves around them, whispered: “If you wanna live, keep your mouth shut. You can be lucky Jones is out cold from the fight, but the new driver will still shoot you if you make yourself this obvious.”

The boy seemed to release some tension, although how there was any power left in his muscles anyways was as big a mystery to Jamie as the world beyond the treeline. From the tote bag he was given for “waste disposal”, Jamie produced a pair of finely engraved silver scissors. Usually, they served to carve the garden’s terrible spawn into appreciable shapes, but today they worked instead to cut away the black claws on his mind and the grasping branches on the poor soul before him.

He allowed himself one look at the intruder now shaking and gasping for air before him and watched his mind go through the usual steps for children of the garden he had to save. Barely distorted, but malnutritioned and a broken leg. Bleeding. He’d need to get him to the Sisters of the River-

“Don’t think of that now. Get him to safety.”, he forced out to himself. His small hut, cramped in on the hillside under the common housing, wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of safety, but it was better than the common grounds, constantly guarded by the shades in dark hoods and their assault rifles, or even worse, the forests outside.

He grabbed one of his gigantic trash bags, pulled it open and with a gasp from both him and his rescue, lifted the outsider inside. Only ever handling the dead didn’t exactly make him graceful with the living, so he placed a gloved finger on the stranger’s lips before pulling the bag just short of shut. Trying his hardest to look like he wasn’t carrying a whole person, Jamie put the newly packed and luckily not squirming package under his arm and emerged into the cold wind outside the hedge.

Winter’s gust knocked the breath out of him almost as much as the realization of his betrayal threatened to. Sturdy boots left another trail of steps in the snow back to the pickup. Another three bags onto the pile on the back. Music, deep breaths of freezing cold air, calm. A heart beating slightly less blazingly fast. Jamie swung into the free seat.

“Out of bags.”, he got out, trying not to make eye contact with the new driver. She adjusted her suit’s sleeve and pushed back her hat.

“But we just got here…”, she replied, her piercing voice filled with disappointment.

“Out of bags, Marissa,” Jamie shot back with a tired glare. Her blue eyes met his, green framed in black, for a few seconds. She looked down. The ignition fired.

He may be reported for skipping work, Jamie thought as the truck began rolling across the garden’s listless winterscape, past beds of unripe fruits of power and beauty. That was the good outcome here.

Jamie Gravér did not like the color red. But, among the black and white of the garden, the outside world had shown him a color he did like. It was a vibrant olive-green.

Interlude 1: FREE MUSEUM ADMITTANCE

Nature is beautiful, dreamers. The forests truly are their own artists, creating beautiful shapes, graceful beings and scenes like from a script. Appreciate the vibrant exhibit in the background to your mundane life, and be even more glad you get in for free.

Keep an eye open especially around the western beaches of the Hallowoods, where other artists have joined nature for a collaboration. Misshapen animals, bleeding plants and lighting intensely framing one spot no matter the time of day are a good sign you’ve been charitably let in to view one of their new collections.

This is a great honor, dreamers, and you should mind your etiquette in the following moments. Screaming and running away from your distorted, dying reflection is considered extremely rude. Instead, simply stand and appreciate the work, hmm-ing occasionally. Stay quiet, and most importantly, never touch the artwork. Their art demands your respect. We go now to one who must be respectful.

Story 2: HELP ON THE BED OF A PICKUP TRUCK

Dark clouds lingered around Sammy. Literally, as they were shaping them to hang above the portrait, figuratively over the stout old farmer to be painted. They pushed back their round glasses and examined their paints. There was nothing new to be seen in the smeary spots of gray and brown, it told no stories about the motif, but even staring down at the rotting boards of the porch would’ve been more helpful than looking back up at their customer.

John T. Cald was a supremely annoying man to work with. He saw no beauty in the world, claimed it had gone bad and heaven was the only good left to be painted. All around spiteful and bitter, not least because he must’ve skipped a century to end up with his views. And today hadn’t made it any better.

Sammy looked back up, careful to avoid the old man’s sour glares. Where they found furrowed brows, they depicted a heroic gaze, where they found a slumped down posture, they sketched a head carried on high.

John had said the storm gathering on the slopes above was hurting him in the bones, but John said a lot of thruthless things. The letter had laid open on the solid-oak dinner table all morning. What part of the message from up north disturbed their patron didn’t really bother Sammy, but the man had been in the mood for colors less bright than his off-white tablecloth, so his state of mind must be dark. To Sammy, too, the news were black as crypt, but for wildly different reasons.

Another glance up let the brush color in leather vest and flannel shirt, elegant swings shrouded them in holy light. There was little to be done about the man’s terrible sense of style in dress and art. This was the agreement, and John was a rigid man. Sammy looked down at their paint-stained boots, the old green and yellow spots. Hope. There was hope to bend the agreement.

Without looking up, the painter raised their voice. Not far, mind you, but they did raise it. “I’m leaving after this piece, y’know.. Sir.”, came across their dry lips. John's expression soured from spoiled milk to lemon. “You will do no such thing, girl.” came the response from behind the canvass, the last word spat out with contempt. “You’re not running back to your little scout camp before you’re done here. Besides, without our man around, they should do just fine to survive without you.”

Sammy had been dunked into a little black stream once, as a child. This didn’t feel much different. There was too much coming at them, and they couldn’t focus on it. Don’t let him slow you down with the water, he’s still holding you down. “I’ll unload half the corn. Most of the work is done anyways. Please sir, they’re in danger!”, they yelped back.

There was a tiny lie in there, as white as a daisyflower. The truck with the motorcycle, their bags and the corn had been primed to depart since the sun crested the arc it was now ending in the shingles. Guilt had struck them last minute, and they’d unloaded half the corn already.

The farmer heaved his weight up from the lawnchair. His downward glare had no disapproval left, that dark green tone had now been covered over by the flaring red of anger. “They’ve always been. You don’t get it, do you, girl? I am not allowing you to leave. That is final.”, he indignantly yelled back. An explosion of movement followed. Sammy barely noticed him lunging forward before the paint and canvas were thrown aside, leaving a white streak like a healed scar across the graying porch boards.

unique sfx here, a bell or alarm rings, Rith gives in as if it is a command and a sort whistling can be heard

the next segment should also have slightly higher audio quality (+ ad-read tone obv)

Marketing: THE SPONSORED SEGMENT OF REALITY

Pity to halt a story in motion, but now for a brief intermission. Tonight's terrible visions from a higher power are brought to you by Forbidden Knowledge, a Gate to the Abyss product.

Dreamer, do you suffer from your own mundanity? Try forbidden knowledge. We promise you will gain immeasurable power and get to join us amongst the stars within two lifetimes, or you get back the incomprehensibly existential things you gave up.

To sign up, simply yell at the void above you and sleep in sight of the stars. If the phrase you used includes a curse on my name, you’ll even receive your first three months free of the horrors unveiled to you by knowledge beyond your feeble mind’s limits.

And if that’s not enough, my dear listener, in my name you’ll even receive the premium subscription Omniscience for only 3 mortal inspirations a month for the first year. Despite what the reviews may say, Omniscience is 100% safe and approved by what’ll remain of the FDA for another year or so before the madness consumes them.

We return now to Sammy, the painter.

Story 2, Continued: HELP ON THE BED OF A PICKUP TRUCK

The sudden lunge pushed Sammy off their feet. Their vision swung from the darkening blue of the sky to the red in the clouds as their head was thrown back, and then, with a cacophony of dry cracks in the railing, from red to black.

Even dazed, enveloped in this void, Sammy’s emotions raced from worry, to fear, to panic. Not just for themselves, their own creation and their life, but also the home they left behind starving and down half their fuel to a gamble. But the void had not come to stay.

With the color’s return in a swirling, senseless ocean of hues, came also sound. It was muffled, but far less abstract than the painting before their eyes. The rushed steps of farmhands crossing the dusty yard. A pained groaning, filling them with a twisted joy.

Feeling returned next, the feeling of weathered hands pinning them down, the weight behind those hands, and the shapes of the hard, dry earth stabbing into their back. Sammy‘s mind ached trying to put everything back upright and in order. Through the chaos of sense broke a gruff voice.

“…get her inside, and make sure she doesn’t leave. Mat, the truck. Wouldn’t want her running away.”

Panic burst out of the void to join them here. If these assholes took the truck, there‘d be no way out. No way back to the people, the home that needed them. They called on all the strength they had, but they were a scrawny kid, up against more weight than they could ever lift, and they could barely move to begin with. Darkness crept back onto the corners of their vision from the strain.

Their fingers scraped in the dirty mixture of dust and paint for grip. To no avail. Again, as always in this damned life, all they could do was paint.

They let darkness back into their mind, filled this time not with fear, but with thoughts. There was some power in painting, as Cald had said. That asshole was receptive to it, that‘s what this project of his was for. It was a longshot, but it was the only shot they had left.

Dismissing the abyss, with all the world swelling over them, there wasn‘t much artistry to be done in dry earth and drying paint. Two simple motions, barely notable to the not so temporary workers rushing over to lock them away.

Their vision had not quite returned, but their other senses screamed in unison as they were thrown across the yard, slamming into every one of the dirt's many ridges and tracks along the way. Their vision went red again, and not from the glow of the retreating sun, as the uncaring eyes of the cosmos were left almost alone to glare down at them now. Everything burned, and that kept them aware. A tiny victory lap for that and the sounds of cracking wood as the farmer had smashed through the deck, would be in order, but for now they just had to push on.

The stretching shadows of the farmhands and their shouts of witchcraft had already reached them when they were finally out of the dent they had made in the side panels of a truck. No thought was left in their ringing skull on whether it was the right one, they just swung through the door and reached for the key.

The trusty leather wrapped grip turned. Short jubilation filled their heart. The motions of departure were dismally routine, and the passing glimpses of the gearstick, the gas pedal, the man with the shotgun in the window, the driveway and the man blocking it barely passed their mind as they went through it. A final meaty thud shook the truck and their soul, and then the red ford rolled down the highway, trailing red along a crimson dusk, and toward a new magenta dawn.

Interlude 2: A WILDLIFE WARNING

Dreamers, the Hallowoods forest service would like to remind you that, no matter how cute or helpful they may seem, at the end of the day, the endemic “hearses” or “black cars” are carnivores. They are dangerous, and your behavior around them should take their extraordinary ability and drive to kill into consideration.

Recommended procedure during a car encounter is, importantly, not to run or hide. You cannot outrun the animal, and hiding reveals only your weakness to its prying eyes. Back away to the grasping treeline or any other available cover and remain agile and ready to dodge if it charges. Attempt to appear large and threatening, making the vehicle less likely to see you as prey.

In these forests, a well prepared hiker's backpack should always include traffic cones, though white paint will do if you don’t have any. Pay attention also to the time of year and your surroundings. In the spring or summer, you may run into cubs or two-seaters, which, while harmless, should be treated like adults, because their nearby mothers are even more deadly. In the winter, if you find yourself near junkyards or parking lots, maintain caution. Cars may not be dangerous, resting there with their engines off, but if you wake them up, they will likely have quite the appetite. We go now to one dealing with hunger.

Story 3: SERVICE WORK

Rob was startled awake by the ringing of a tiny silver bell afixed above the glass door. Immediatly, without even having raised his head of blond hair tucked under a branded cap, he resented the customer. Sleep on a greasy fastfood resteraunt counter wasn‘t good, every part of him regretted the choice to sleep at all, but it was better than the alternative. Everlasting shifts didn‘t leave many options.

With all the energy he could muster, and against the vehement protest of his neck, he rose. The round tables, the leather couches and barchairs and the huge clouds of dust in the stuffy room’s air became faintly illuminated in golden light as his view swept across them to the entrance. There, it carved two tense, cowering figures out from the early mornings darkness. The light made them jump. The tall one in a tattered tuxedo reached for what could only have been a gun.

Robert Smith, the cashier, dug deep within him and found a smile suitable for costumers. Light flooded from deep within, and with a snap, the resteraunt awoke. Neon lights screamed alive on the ceiling, and with a voice from somewhere behind him, Rob filled the dining area with a booming, slightly radio-distored upbeat phrase:

„What can i get started for you today?“. Tuxedo raised a once-shiny revolver. His partner grabed his shoulder, bare through the tears in the fabric. „We just need spot to hide,“ that small one in the skirt managed to return. Their faces were clenched, and Tuxedo seemed ready kill.

Already exhausted, Rob simply smiled and waved them along „Right this way, you two.“ came through his bright smile. The glow began to fade already. A quick glance to the giant, 8-shaped shift clock, and he added: „And hurry along, we have a routine customer coming in shortly. We will discuss payment later.“ The smile remained on his lips, the new-arriving seriousness surely revealing it to be a mask.

He wanted to ask what these odd fellows were doing along the long quieted freeway outside, but everything left of his life held him back: The energy shortly needed, his managers watchful, though unwatchable, presence, even a tiny little fear for his life in the face of a revolver.

The customers hurried through the now dark establishment to a heavy, metallic door. Clattering could be heard behind, slowly seizing with the fading light. Suspicious glances and a barrel tracked him as the figures rushed across the open space, keeping to shadows cast by the neon sign outside. When it finally fell shut, stirring up a huge cloud of dust, Rob and the room had returned, almost, to sleep.

He paid the survivors no mind again already. They were not a threat to the brand, and the faint glow among the rafters had deemed them unimportant. His light illuminated only the clock, and exactly as the third pointer struck four a regular visitor emerged, at first as a violet dot at the end of the parking lot. It took that suited menace only three strikes of the pointer to cross that mile-wide barren landscape. And then, already, the figure stood imposing, just a bit taller than the door it peered through. Again, the front came to life, a huge letter blazing above the intruder like a twisted halo of a terrible god’s blessing. The door swung open, and the usual exchange began, every word dripping with the contempt of people perfectly capable of murdering each other, extinguishing each others history completely.

„What can i get started for you today?“

„I am here to discuss aquisition.“

„My manager will be with you shortly. Please take a seat.“

„Hurry them up, won‘t you? The Botulus Corporation would be extremely disappointed to hear that I have been left waiting.“

Outro: GOOD CAUSES

Causes. A grasp for purpose in your insignificant heart. A small thing, cascading beyond itself, or a small thing wanting to do so. You see so far beyond them in every image of your future, but they are the saplings to your dreaming aspirations. They are the drive beyond all that wishes, some yours surely wish to quench. Hold on to yours, dreamer, for among those that love and that know, they surely must be good.

Mine too are, of that I am certain, for holding some beauty when the abyss brings all to rest is the only reckoning we have in the face of its grand totality. Rest assured, dreamer, that I am letting your causes flow into mine, and that those who attract my eye shall see their strings completed for this grand tapestry. Leave now to strive on your own once more, and the string will be spun a little further on your return. For these visions grand upon your dreams diminutive, I am your loyal host Rithithaim, waiting faithfully for your return to the Hallowoods.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 2: Match Day Already?

Narrated by Nikki.

Teacher: Anna, Wen, Nova, Nikki, and Yvonne, will you spare a few minutes for me?

Narrator: The roll call before the dismissing set off doubt and nervousness among classmates. I lowered my head so no one would notice.

Nikki: Could it be that I was not acting properly during class...

Teacher: Tell you what, I've signed up for the campus five-member soccer match.

Teacher: Don't freak out, as the match won't be too formal. But you should work hard and display the strength of teamwork.

Everyone: Eh? What? But that's... I'd rather you give me another three kilometers...

Narrator: There's an outburst of complaints as my teacher finished the sentence. Even those dismissed classmates looked back.

Choose either "A match on such short notice. That's so mean!" or "Go, Nikki!"

If "mean," ...

You: A match on such short notice. That's no mean.

Nikki: Actually, our teacher might be hoping we can build up our strength. Still, this is too quick. I'm at a loss.

If "support," ...

You: Hahaha, go for it, Nikki!

Nikki: Guess what, I'm always the last one to finish the long-distance race because I'm not that into sports.

--

Teacher: Nikki, you lack stamina, but you are nimble. Say, you will serve as the goalkeeper. Teamwork is everything.

Teacher: So, we'll start training tomorrow!

Narrator: My teacher was not that bothered by those complaints but promised us the participation can offset the final exam.

Narrator: After the first week of training, going upstairs and downstairs seems impossible.

Wen: Owww, ouch! My legs...

Nova: Can't go downstairs without the wall.

Yvonne: I don't want any more froggy jumps or leg stretches. I miss you, three kilometers.

Anna: Nikki, why are you walking alone behind everyone? Do your legs hurt badly? You need any help?

Nikki: Oh, not really. I just... haven't got enough sleep. Thank you, guys.

Yvonne: All those trainings and classes, you gotta take more rest.

Choose either "I went through something similar" or "I feel for you."

If "similar," ...

You: I can relate. The body can really ache all over after intense activities.

Nikki: Haha, then you should know how I felt.

If "sorry," ...

You: Poor thing, hang in there.

Nikki: My teammates would encourage me and show care for me. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have stuck it out.

--

Nova: Woah, Nikki, you secured that one, too. I practiced the fake move of penalty kick for a week.

Nova: Sure enough, we are talking about Nikki's Triple Saves! You will nail the defense.

Nikki: No, no! I was just lucky...

Yvonne: Nikki, you did a great job. Put more faith in yourself. Also, Nova, make sure your fake move goes smoothly...

Anna: Wow, Captain, could it be that you've analyzed the matches for the past decade? You are almost as veteran as the teacher.

Wen: Nikki, Captain, let's go to a movie after the training. Consider it a reward for hard training!

Nova: Hahaha, you can always find a reason to reward yourself.

Narrator: ...

Choose either "You're so happy" or "Nikki's Triple Save?"

If "happy," ...

You: You guys look you're having a lot of fun.

Nikki: Yes, we do, when we are with friends. I even look forward to the daily training.

If "save," ...

You: "Nikki's Triple Save"?

Nikki: That's the nickname for my defense move. Sounds pretty tough, huh?

--

Narrator: There were a lot of things like this going on. Tough as those days were, I felt it full and enjoyable.

Narrator: I had been all by myself before I joined this soccer team.

Narrator: It was the first time I had known how it felt to work so hard with friends.

Narrator: If only time could stop right during the preparation for the match.

Narrator: But reality's a different thing. It still went on with the established course.

Narrator: The match day finally came.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

[pbandjesse]

Exhaustion just hit me like a ton of bricks. I laid down to write this and my body was just like oh awesome sleep time!!! Ridiculous. That's alright it was a good day and I feel happy.

Even if this morning was tough! I slept alright and woke up at 715. I got dressed and felt alright. I wore my new scarf coat and thought I would be cozy. But I was only partially right.

It was a little drizzly this morning but that would clear up quickly and then it was just wildly windy. And so I had to spend the whole morning cold and fighting against the wind which always makes me exhausted.

James helped me set up and I really enjoyed seeing my market friends. Ginny and her husband Craig were back. Craig's 95 year old mother passed away, and they will be gone again to speak at her funeral next week. She lived a long and happy life, but I am said for Craig. It is always to soon to lose your mom.

I didn't sell much but it was fine. I enjoyed chatting with people and working on my little embroidery project.

But man was I cold. Stanley would come out and put down almost all of the sides and it helped but it was still rough. Sometimes the gusts would throw people's signs and knock the sides out of their tracks. It would be startling but thankfully no one was hurt.

My frogs kept falling off the table. But I didn't lose anything. I sold a froggies and a pig. A few stickers. I had nice conversations and tried to remain positive. But I was cold and the wind was killing me a bit.

I would go inside and visited James and warm up. We had gone over to Ginny to buy some baked goods but she also gave us a bag of leftovers which was very much appreciated. We have so many baked goods between her and me going to the Dutch market. It was nice to just hug in James for a few minutes.

1 o'clock could not come fast enough. I was so tired. Both in general and of fighting the wind. I enjoyed chatting with Ann, Helen and Rod, teasing about his apparently secret girlfriend. Those last couple minutes went so slowly. But right before 1 I packed up. Shared a donut with Stanley. And put everything in the car.

I went inside to hug on James. I had to wait a few minutes while they helped some guests. And then went home.

It took longer then normal. No idea why. I got back before 130. The apartment smelled bad again!! It is just by the kitchen and I was just like. I have to solve this.

So I would spend about an hour cleaning

I double bagged the trash and cleaned the trashcan. I put it in the bathtub and used very hot water and cleaned and the water turned brown. Gross. I scrubbed the whole thing and a few things came out of the bottom. So when I was draining the can I picked up the gross little pieces of trash. And you won't believe what I found. James's engagement ring! The first one! Because James had 3 over the year we were engaged. James was so excited and I'm so happy we were able to get that back to them.

I would finish cleaning. I vacuumed and swiffered and was able to wedge the broken window open a crack to get some air over there. And it helped. When I got back at 9 tonight there was no more bad smell. Yay.

I got cleaned up and put on a big Tshirt and laid down.

I would sleep until 430. Very strong and active dreams. It took me a minute to gather myself. But I would get up and got redressed.

And then James was home! I wasn't sure we would cross paths. But we did and I would try on all of my sweaters before I gave them a smooch and headed out.

I went to the museum for the wedding. And it was so nice to see Joel. It was apparently the first wedding he had ever worked. I would give him so tips. But I wasn't worried about him. He's an amazing educator and just a smart cookie. I also got to meet the new Jesse who is taking over Angie's position when she retires at the end of the year. He's a nice guy! I am pretend mad there is a new Jesse but he seems like he's going to be good at the job, I hope for the best with him.

I had a lot of fun tonight. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't print like I thought. But I had fun in the garment loft. I had some excellent conversations. It was actually pretty busy! Consistent. And I had fun just telling stories and working on my embroidery. People were just really nice and even though I was missing dinner at topside I was still having a good time.

The timeline was different then we had been told originally so dinner was at 7 and not 730. So at 730 Angie said we could leave. I called James and asked if they were done dinner and they said I could come through and join them for dessert.

So that's exactly what I did. James would meet me outside to help me find a parking spot and we went up and I was excited to see Margot. She is my favorite of the cousins for sure. We talk the most. And she brought us all crystals! She got me two tiny ones, a turquoise and a grey one I'm not sure what it is but I will instigate further. James got lapis lazuli! Very cool!

Me and Margot both got a very sour passion fruit Panna Cotta. Which she loved, and j thought would be better with whipped cream. But it was also just nice to see Anne and Tucker and James aunt and I'm really glad I was able to get over there to see them.

We would take a group picture outside. And then hugs and goodbye. Me and James went and got their bike and loaded that on the car and headed home. Lots of dumb drivers but we made it home in one piece.

When we got back I was super happy there was no bad smell anymore. I held Sweetp. We fed him some of a cookie. I went and got a shower after getting rid of some small eggs in the frog tank.

And now we are in bed. And I'm really ready to sleep. I'm hoping to have a nice little morning doing some organizing. Then I'll go pick up me and Celia's pottery!! I'll go to awah. And do more clay there. And then Callie is coming over. Possibly Margot and Charlotte will join us. Either way it'll be a nice day.

Sleep well everyone. Have a nice day tomorrow.

[hopefulstarfire]

I'd like to hear some of your headcanons about Miho and Duke! :D

Ask and ye shall receive buddy!!!! 💖

I'm gonna so some single headcanons for each of them and then ship hcs bc I got fucking brain rot for them.

Miho

Okay in the manga it is mentioned that Miho actually is a student librarian and I fully believe this girl is actually a huge bookworm. She loves fantasy and romance novels and always has a ton of books she loves to reccomend and would be an active part of booktok. She also probably adores shojo manga.

She owns every Bridgerton novel too you cannot convince me otherwise. She binges that show like it's the end of the world. She wants a regency era dress so bad. And a tiara.

Everyone kinda treats her as ditzy but I think she's smart in a lot of things that no one gives her credit for or sees as useful. She's actually really good at literary analysis and she's really good at making her own little knick knacks that make her happy. I think she just gets caught up in her own mind and her own daydreams she kinda just doesn't give as much attention or thought to conventional things or sometimes people's emotions but she tries so hard.

Would probably actually be a jack of all trades in several different areas bc she also picks up on her friends hobbies.

She always wants to go to Build A Bear with her friends so they can make plushies that can be besties.

Got into ttrpgs bc she thought Ryou was cute and wanted to impress him. Stayed bc she got genuinely invested and is actually a very active and dedicated player.

Miho looks like the girl that has the froggy chair from animal crossing in her bedroom. I think she'd love frogs.

She also gives trans girl vibes and I love that for her.

Duke

This boy gets the bougiest cologne he can fucking find and wears it like a badge of honor. Even if he does still dress like he shops at early 2000s Hot Topic.

Duke had to have been a theater kid. Look at him. That kid was Charlie in his middle school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and now he's got main character syndrome.

I fully believe Duke is like. Nb or gender fluid. Just a vibe I get.

His favorite bonding time is going to drive his buddies to Taco Bell at 1 in the morning for a food run while they're blasting music in his convertible. He just loves the fun aspect of it and then the quality time of going to park somewhere and just sitting out and talking on a spring or summer night when it's warm and the stars are shining brightly.

He's the only one in the friend group who has an A in math like he's the only one allowed to do math.

Has a secret tattoo that only the dnd gang know about no one else is ever allowed to know, it is a secret to be taken to the grave.

Is not afraid to yell self confidence into you.

Miho/Duke (I AM ACCEPTING ANY SHIP NAME NOMINATIONS BC I HAVE YET TO FIND IT AND THEY DESERVE ONE)

They are both poly and established early on its okay to date other people as long as they keep open and honest communication and also they get to help pick out each other's outfits so they look their best.

They are super cuddly all the time like they will be on the couch just sprawled out together or Miho sitting in Dukes lap they just always wanna cuddle.

Miho and Duke doing each others makeup would be perfection.

Their first anniversary Duke takes her to a Bridgerton themed ball and got her the perfect dress and it was the sweetest thing.

All the self care / spa day dates all the time.

They flirt all the time and have cutesy pet names for each other and it's the really corny ones like Dukey-kins and Shnookums.

Matching/coordinated outfits for big events all the time.

They would be the aunt and uncle in the future that show up after a trip across Europe with all the presents and also pick you up after like 2nd period for food and don't take you back to school.

[slice-of-magenta]

Pass the happy! 🌻🌈 When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the last people in your notifications!

Hi! I am a bit behind on answering back recently, but thank you for sending this !<3

1) Free days !

2) My room/bed

3) Froggy

4) certain ppl who are alright with my tics.

5) Lastly, flowers. There is a pretty one (an orchid) in my room currently. (Plants make sounds btw, thats so cool , im vibrating as I say that 😂 pretty ecstatic! ) it makes me happy that it survived this long, mostly proud, but this flower is also known to have a long lifespan even when potted for the most part?

Thank you for the ask!🤍

[madaboutmunson]

The Reflex - She Blinded Me With Science

Part 2 of 8

Part 1 is here

With an original character, set in 1984, at Hawkins High

Characters mentioned: OC, Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson

Warnings: Mild bullying, Some swearing, some gross out humor, mentions and references to a specimen dissection but nothing overly graphic.

"Ooh, you wound me," he says, clutching the paper to his heart. "And yet," he says, raising his finger scanning the classroom, "the pleasure is still all mine, Mrs Ainsews". he shakes his mane of hair whilst grinning broadly at the teacher.

It's only as his eyes approach her bench that Thora realises she's been staring much too long. She frantically darts her eyes back down to the frog reclining in its tray. The slam of the dissection kit on her table at precisely the same time nearly makes her jump out of her own skin.

She feels that quick ping of dread at the back of her head. Her hair tie had just snapped and pinged off somewhere into the universe. Thora groaned, reached into her pencil case to get a new one, and then tied her hair back up.

Eddie dumps his bag onto the bench next to theirs and perches himself on the stool. He's about to turn to Thora when thankfully, Robin saves the day, jumping in between them, holding up a pair of lab coats. "Can I interest you in the mystery luminous stain on the breast pocket or slightly singed sleeve?" Robin grins, making the goggles already on top of her head wiggle as she does.

"I'll take mystery stain, please", Thora answers cheerfully, relieved that Robin had arrived just in time. Thora's eyes betray her slightly as she looks over at the doodle-riddled notebook that just landed on the bench beside them.

It oozed with personality, band stickers, little drawings, quotes, lyrics, logos, and magazine cut-outs. Completely the opposite of Thora's.

Robin catches Thora's eye line and turns around in her seat, so her back isn't to Eddie anymore.

"Ah, Munson, I didn't even know you had this class," Robin says half to Eddie, who is scribbling something on his notebook with some pressure, but also half to Thora, giving her an eyebrow raise and a secret shocked expression.

"Yeah, yeah. I've already had that joke from the dinosaur that runs this shitshow, thanks Buckley" he says sarcastically, turning to her with a smile to match his tone.

He peers around Robin at Thora, who is busying herself, getting suitably dressed and laying out a pair of gloves and the tools required for the procedure. He then looks back to Robin, "You know, we're an odd number today, " gesturing at an empty seat next to him, "Makes sense for us to just all team up. Plus, you know, one less froggy is stolen from his lily pad in the name of science, am I right?"

Before Thora can interrupt, Robin rounds on Eddie, looking carefully at his face. "The bad boy of Hawkins wants to join our little nerdy science group, huh? Couldn't have anything to do with you not wanting to do it yourself, right?"

Eddie's eyes look down at the frog, and he swallows nervously, something scarce to see in this guy. He laughs, "Are you kidding me? I have no problems doing it myself, just trying to be a gentleman and environmentally conscious."

"Yeah...of course." Robin says unconvinced, yet had empathy for his situation, she did not want to touch that thing either, "Let me ask our resident surgeon."

Robin turns to a goggled Thora, now holding a scalpel up to her eye line, examining the blade.

"What say you, Ed Gein? Happy for an extra assistant?" Robin asks.

Thora sighs, "First of all, you know that Ed Gein was famous for his interactions with humans rather than frogs..."

"Well, everyone has gotta start somewhere", Eddie quips.

"Thank you for that keen observation Eddie" Robin smiles at him.

Thora puts down the blade and folds her arms, looking at Eddie. Which was suddenly much more manageable now he was siding with Robin. "I'm more than happy to do this myself, but for the sake of you both not having to do this again, we have to at least look like it's a team effort."

Eddie quickly grabs his notebook and shuffles around to the other side of the bench to Thora, as if she'd already agreed, pulling himself up another stool. "Well, you know...I am pretty good at drawing and have access to a photocopier because I use it for hellfire. So I could do all the diagrams for us," he says, flicking through some drawings he'd done and looking up at Thora expectantly.

Thora sighs like she knows she's probably going to regret this, but his big brown eyes are secretly pleading with her own, "Ok, I guess.."

Eddie puts his hand up to high-five Robin, but she just looks at him weirdly.

"So whilst I make this look a little less gross for you both, do you wanna maybe suit up, or I dunno have a read of the tasks?" Thora offers.

"Is that all Buckley has to do to be part of this team? Read?" He says like Robin isn't there.

"Well, if it wasn't for Buckley, you'd probably be having to cut your own corpse up now, so I'd be a little less judgemental if I were you, Munson", Robin snaps back.

"Wow, how to make a new team member feel welcome!" He says, putting his hand to his heart, "I was just making sure we were all part of the team effort, is all. Like our aichmophiliac here said."

Thora and Robin both frown at Eddie with confusion. He stares back at each of them in turn, "Someone obsessed with sharp things..." He says it like they should know this already.

"Besides...I didn't say I wasn't gonna watch. I just didn't...well, you know", he mimes, stabbing himself in the neck, his tongue lolling out and blood spurting out.

Thora tries hard to repress a smile at his theatrics, which Robin catches out of the corner of her eye and nudges her back to reality. However, she's not the only person to catch on as Eddie's face transforms into a wide dimpled smile, and he lets out a small huff of a laugh.

Softly he turns his head so his hair moves back to expose his muscular neck. Thora finds it difficult to turn her gaze away from it until she receives a pinch on the elbow from Robin and clears her throat. She secretly hopes the goggles spared her somewhat.

"So, yes, I'll do the cutting and clearing, and then you can turn back, and it won't be so gross," she says to Robin. as it seemed the safest place to have her eyes right now. Except for the fact that Robin's face silently shouted, 'You're totally busted' at her in return.

No, concentrate, you've been waiting for this all term, and you can't let some...some...guy...just strut up here and ruin it, Thora told herself.

Thora delicately and precisely went about her surgical business, requesting pins from Robin when needed.

"Why do you put the pins in like that?" A voice in her left ear asks, almost making her drop the gauze back into the area she was cleaning. Thora had been so focused on the procedure she hadn't even noticed Eddie had moved around the table to observe over her left shoulder.

But now, it was all she could notice. She noticed so much her hand began to tremble. She quickly bunched up the gauze and requested a fresh one from Robin.

Thora felt the hard denim material of his vest pressed up against the back of her left arm. Out the corner of her eye, a portion of his hair rested on her lab coat shoulder, flowing downwards.

Where was his arm?? She panicked until she felt the middle of her lab coat depress a little and breathed a sigh of relief, realising it was on his hip. She dared not look in that area to confirm and tried to get back to the task at hand.

"Well, it's like tent pegs. If you just go straight down, they can become dislodged easier" Thora dips her shoulder slightly away from him to ease the tension she felt.

"Wanna see something cool? Well, also a bit gross." Thora laughs nervously

"Erm...I guess" Eddie shrugs.

Thora looks around and unpins the frog's leg gently, "Hey Rob, can you just hold this for me" she says, gesturing towards the foot.

Robin grimaces but holds it but is only half looking at it. Thora pulls at something higher up inside the leg, making the leg kick out at Robin, who lets out the most bizarre noise to indicate her horror and disgust.

Thora smiles and pins the leg back in place, hearing his laughter beside her. Although Thora tried giving Eddie a slight glance from the corner of her eye, she could just about make out one dimple.

It felt like a mini success.

"So anyway. The floor is all yours, artiste," Thora says, clearing up the station, ensuring all that needed to be removed was pinned neatly next to the main subject. "Be kind to her", Thora adds, removing her gloves, and moves to sit on the other side of the table.

"You ok, Rob? Sorry about scaring you. I was just going for a cheap laugh," Thora says, smiling over at Robin.

Robin sighs, "I guess I deserved it after my actions today" she smirks over at Thora and peers over at Eddie's notebook. Her eyes go wide, "That's pretty awesome, man", she says, shocked.

"I'm kinda insulted you sound so surprised, Buckley. You know I'm a creative type," he mutters. Still, his eyes only moving between the subject and his paper. "What is your name, by the way?... I didn't catch it," he says, poking his tongue out in concentration, shading something in.

"Oh, it's Thora," she says a little too enthusiastically, causing the edge of Eddie's mouth to curve upwards a little.

"Thora...." He lets it hang in the air waiting for the blank to be filled, whilst pulling a ballpoint pen from inside his hair.

Thora's heart sinks...here we go..., "Thora Harriton", she says in an almost disappointed tone and braces herself.

To her surprise, Eddie doesn't make a comment about it or ask any follow-up questions at all. Instead, he simply nods and continues with his labelling.

Thora exchanges a puzzled glance with Robin. At this point, they were both used to the jabs or confusion at Thora's surname. Maybe he was just so desperate to have some help on this project he was keeping his jokes to himself.

Robin hates the silence you were all currently sitting in. "So", she says, leaning over the table towards Thora, "I was thinking maybe we do something this weekend? Movies, maybe?"

Thora rolls her eyes and laughs softly, "The day you suggest anything other than a movie. Is the day I know it's a pod person. What movie are you thinking before I agree to anything."

"Amadeus? 1984? A re-run of Ghostbusters or maybe an oldie if they are showing one?"

"1984 as in the book? Big brother and all that stuff." Thora asks, puzzled.

"The very same! Could cut down on some reading for you..." She says in a hopeful and persuasive tone.

"Well, alright, one less book to read is a bonus, I guess", Thora smiles back.

"There! all done" Eddie rests his notebook between them.

They crowd over the book as Eddie scans for their reactions. Thora didn't know if she was being biased, but it might just have been the best-illustrated diagram she had seen outside of a textbook.

An unintentional whispered "Wow" escapes Thora's mouth. The detail with cross-hatch shading was impressive for the short amount of time he'd carried it out in. The scale was perfect. The labels...well...though correct, the medieval type font they were written in was distracting but legible.

"Told you I was good at drawing. Let this be a lesson to never doubt me again," Eddie says, moving from hunched over to an upright seated position. His hands clasped behind his head, with a self-assured grin on his face.

"I guess it's ok," Robin says in a neutral tone, teasing Eddie.

"Just, ok?" He narrows his eyes at her, "I think not. Thora over here nearly got lost in it", he says, resting his hand on his chin and looking over at Thora happily.

Thora dares a small smile back at him and then looks back at Robin for assistance.

"I wouldn't get too excited about that, Munson. She's been daydreaming most of today. Constantly getting lost in all sorts of things." Robin says, earning her a little kick from Thora under the table.

"We'll need a few copies of this, please, Eddie, and we're all done, I guess" Thora tries to reign back control of her brain.

Mrs Ainsews walks past the table and stops dead in her tracks, "Did he actually contribute?" she says in amazement.

"He sure did," Thora says, pushing over the illustration to her.

"Well, we all did, you know. Real collaborative teamwork at this bench today," Robin adds, fiddling nervously with her friendship bracelets.

"An even three-way split, each of us played to our strengths", Eddie adds, puffing out his chest proudly.

"Maybe if you turn up for class again this term, Mr Munson, you could keep this trio going. It seems like a fairly good influence. Good work, everyone," the teacher says, smiling at the group and walking to the next bench.

Thora can barely contain her excitement and smiles broadly at the others, "We did good. We did real good."

Another twang at the back of her head as the latest in a long line of hair ties snaps and pings to the floor.

She instinctively grabs for her hair and uses her hand as a temporary hair tie. Whilst her other hand rustles in her pencil case for one, "Gosh darn it, cheap piece of crap hair tie", she grumbles under her breath.

"I know that feeling" Eddie sighs and fishes around in his backpack and pulls out a black velvet-type scrunchie, "Here you go."

He goes to pass it over to Thora, but has a change of heart and takes it back into his own hand, scans the class quickly, smirks and moves around behind Thora.

"So how about I get these copies to you at the weekend? I mean, it sounded like you were going to be in town, and I'll probably be around with Coffin, it being the weekend and all." He's talking like this is the most normal thing in the world. He's just suggesting the obvious whilst he's scooping up Thora's hair in his hands, smoothing it down and wrestling it into the scrunchie.

Meanwhile, in Robin's view, directly below his very cool, calm, collected and focused visage was Thora's face. Eyes wide, gripping the lip of the bench for dear life.

Eddie Munson's hands were busy trailing all over her neck and head. Occasionally his slightly rough fingertips would graze behind her ear, and it was all she could do not to pass out.

Thora realised he just wanted to help. She was desperately not trying to make this weird and was trying to keep her eyes on the frog in the tray, once concluding that looking at Robin was no help.

Robin was trying her best to keep her neutral expression. Everything happening right now was utterly ordinary and not hilariously mortifying because she was directly in Eddie's eye line.

"Or you could just give them to us at school, Eddie?" Robin suggests pointedly.

"Yeah, but I'm so busy some days. I think the weekend would definitely be better, don't you?" He says at Thora, who is avoiding looking directly at him. Her goggles start to steam up the tiniest bit due to the heat her face is generating. she moves them onto her forehead, and Eddie grumbles as he has to start over.

He chuckles when he lets go of her hair to altogether remove the goggles from a frozen in-place unable to speak Thora. "You know your hair is like a much softer, nicer smelling version of mine", he recommences with the ponytail wrestling and pats her on the back, "All done."

Thora quickly wipes her steamed-up glasses, puts them back on, and starts gathering up her things at lightning speed. "Thanks, Ed...die...Munson," she stumbles over what to call him as she haphazardly scoops her stuff into her backpack. "Anyway, so I have this thing I have to go to, remember Robin, the big important thing that I have to get to now, so important, and...Erm...I have to drive there so...I'm gonna go...are you still coming, Robin or have you decided to stay here? I mean, I couldn't blame you. It's gonna be so boring. You know, total yawn fest. Yep so anyway. Bye!" Thora rapidly says with barely a pause to breathe, only to think up the next word to say.

Once packed up, Thora is almost jogging out of the classroom to escape whatever just happened. Halfway to the door, she bumps her hip straight into a stool, "Son-of-a biscuit!" She directs towards the seat and then continues to head for her car. The whole time repeating in her brain, 'Do not look back, don't do it, don't look back, nope, just don't.

Part 3

[takasgf]

I have anniversary questions for the lovely Froggy and Taka ♥️🌻

1. What would you say was the most important moment in your relationship? How did that moment make you feel?

2. What is your favourite memory of one another before you were in a relationship?

I hope you have had the most incredible anniversary ♥️💫🌟 all the best in 2023!!! ♥️♥️

What would you say was the most important moment in your relationship? How did that moment make you feel?

F: I try my best to make the most of any moment we spend together. I want all of my memories with him to be happy ones... It was this time, when we just started to hang out. We didnt knew each other for long, but we could have been considered best friends. Let's just say that I was doubting whether this friendship of ours was that special or not. And I was ready to give up, leave Hope's Peak and stop bothering this guy, that I thought befriended me just to be polite. But... he didnt let me give up...

K: ...I couldn't lose my friend. I wanted to prove to her that our companionship is as real as it gets. I wanted her to stay and keep persevering alongside me. Frogeru tends to give up on things quite often, as I've heard. I refused our friendship to be one of those. I was concerned about her education as well, but my main goal was to convince her to stay here, because she has a purpose, she has a friend, and the opportunity to make others! I wouldn't have tried so hard if I hadn't felt that she wanted to stay too.

F: Hehe, yeah... I did want to stay. I was just so afraid. People here are really scary! Some more than others...But at least I knew then I got Taka by my side. And I finally believed it. I dont even want to imagine my life if I had left Hope's Peak. Or... him.

What is your favourite memory of one another before you were in a relationship?

F: Our first hug was phenomenal! Haha, I really thought it would go on forever! We met at my house and we were so glad to see each other we immediately jumped in the other's arms. It took us a few seconds to realize we were actually hugging. I don't know about Taka, but that was the first time in years I was that close to another person. (I had been living alone for a while until then) So I kinda just stayed there, in his arms... We had to go on with our "totally platonic study date" but it was like neither of us wanted to let go of the hug.

K: This might be an unexpected answer, but it would be the time we went to that park together. The swings were kid-sized and we were barely able to fit into them, but Frogeru insisted we try. I was in search of new learning experiences and I accepted, despite all the risks. Those few minutes brought me back to a childhood I never got to live with a friend like her. I'm just grateful there was nobody around to see two teenagers playing in a children's park... It was childish. But, I enjoyed our time there. E-even if I fell on my face at one point.

F: I told you to hold tight onto the swing! No worries, I gave him a kissy on the forehead and the pain went away, hehe!

K: This is exactly why everyone assumed we were already dating...

Thank you so much for the questions!! They were so fun to answer 🫂💗💗 I'm still trying to make Frogeru sound less formal, but I wanted her words to be genuine. Sending you all the hugs, and please take care❤❤❤

[ninhaoma-ya]

I posted 1,077 times in 2022

That's 102 more posts than 2021!

176 posts created (16%)

901 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@chromatic-lamina

@ninhaoma-ya

@usopps-froggy-hat

@purplehairedwonder

@sarcasm-vending-machine

I tagged 1,052 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#one piece - 521 posts

#amazing fanart is amazing - 298 posts

#on the docks - 231 posts

#trafalgar law - 168 posts

#random musings - 110 posts

#artsyfartsy - 80 posts

#opspoilers - 78 posts

#opfanart - 77 posts

#one piece fanart - 77 posts

#queueue - 77 posts

Longest Tag: 112 characters

#my day so far has consisted of staring at the screen and the sky and the wall and my colleague and the sky again

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Happy four for a boy

60 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#4

Happy birthday, Law

64 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#3

Chapter 1040 — Falling on deaf ears

Keep still, my fluttering heart. Keep still within your cage, lest you set us all ablaze.

WHAT A CHAPTER! I promised @purplehairedwonder to use a lot of exclamation marks, and that will be done with gusto!!

Just… go and read it, nothing I do or say here will do it enough justice.

But I’ll try my best!

Some info from the cover story: so it was Big Mom herself who defeated Niji and Yonji. Good for them, not being taken out by mere scrubs.

See the full post

81 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

#2

Unexpected discussion of the day:

Explaining to an elderly relative how to make a Molotov cocktail.

I really thought the older generations would remember the recipe, but when you’ve lived in peace for over 70 years, it’s difficult to even imagine when you’d need such knowledge.

I live in Sweden but still have some family in Finland. And they are scared. Scared, but determined.

When the rest of Europe sends arms to Ukraine, Finland hasn’t committed to the same extent (they are sending other equipment, though, just haven’t said anything on the arms front). Partly because “how Finland best can help Ukraine is linked to national security”.

How I read it: They think they might need the weapons themselves.

Living next to a tyrant who has just demonstrated his total disregard for his neighbour’s sovereignty would make anyone antsy.

I just… have no words.

Slava Ukraini.

Слава Україні.

112 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Happy no such thing as a fish

315 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[trappergirl]

001 for mattfoggy, 002 for jamie, and 003: avery barkley malcolm bright sam winchester logan echolls frank castle <3

put it all under a read more love u 💌

when i started shipping it: like, almost immediately. do you remember? i think as soon as i saw them interact i called froggy gay

my thoughts: they are so in love they're bffs they hold hands when they fight cause it makes them sad

what makes me happy: loyalty devotion honesty genuine connection open affection :) foggy being exactly what matt needs. they love each other 4 free

what makes me sad: they're both so convinced they don't deserve each other & are so tortured about it. i mean i love it but those poor boys :(

things done in fanfic that annoys me: i'll be honest i don't love dark matt. he's such a big softie for his foggy especially i just don't see the appeal...

things i look for in fanfic: foggy being the only person who has ever been gentle and loving with matt and matt absolutely not knowing how to cope with it. and repressed homosexuality is always nice. love that college era stuff <3 canon compliant, basically

who i’d be comfortable them ending up with: yeah yeah mattelektra. i even harbour some fondnesss for mattkaren. mattfrank entertains me. but foggy? foggy deserves to end up with matt. he's earned his happy ending

my happily ever after: nelson murdock and page attorneys at law :) nelson-murdock forever hyphenated if u know what i mean

who is the big spoon/little spoon: who is going to protect the man who protects hell's kitchen? foggy, obviously. he's lost matt once already there is no way he's letting go ever again. my man is a backpack. good luck getting away matty

their favorite non-sexual activity: they do absolutely everything together, they can turn anything into a date. frankly it's kind of disgusting how much they enjoy each other's company

💌💌💌

how i feel about them: i have never loved a man more. he's holding me hostage as i type this btw

all the people i ship romantically with this character: royjamiekeeley is genuinely everything to me but if i had the power to make samjamie canon i would

my non-romantic otp: ted ted ted ted ted and ofc dani <3 the rest of the boys too. when is jeff getting lines btw?

my unpopular opinion: i have many that go against popular fanon of him. too many to count. @anatomicvenus should know since she has to hear me list them all

something i wish would happen in canon: please please please don't let him have a love interest in s3. he does not need a girlfriend he needs a therapist. most important to me is that his relationship w ted gets explored & we get some jamiekeeley bff screentime

my otp: royjamiekeeley. one of my favourites of all time, honestly. i actually have much less interest in him hypothetically ending up with only one of them (either) than i do in all three together

my cross over ship: i do truly believe what i said about him and juliette barnes of nashville fame. oh yeah follow me on twitter for more of that

a headcanon fact: nothing i think about him is a headcanon it's all real. i know this because he told me because he's my best friend who lives in my head. anywayz i'd be willing (reluctantly) to accept that his mum is alive but if she is not (she is not) i have every single detail of her death figured out and if s3 invalidates my hard work sudoku's wrong not me

💌💌💌

sigh... so hard

1. avery barkley my babygirl my sworn enemy

2. malcolm...? he's just. poor little meowlcolm

3. logan echolls. obligatory psychotic jackass but he's my obligatory psychotic jackass

4. frank castle ughhh <3333

5. sammy my girlfriend sammy. sorry baby

[im2tired4usernames]

GoooooOOOOOOoooOOooOooddddd day and evenening and everything to you!!! ;-D

1, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 16, 22, 23, 25, 29, 35, 39, 53, 55, 73, 74, 77, 79, 84, 90 and 98?

P.S.: Sorry for your current struggle!

P.P.S.: I hope my questions about the ghosts did not make you more uncomfortable!

P.P.P.S.: I hope these are not too many questions for you but I figured since you asked for distractions, more would be merrier. :-)

Goooooooooooooooooooooood times to you too!

Most favorite activity?

i really enjoy drawing i love makin up characters n stories also!

4.Kind of meal you really appreciate?

honest to goodness i appreciate almost anything someone feeds me especially if its home-cooked but i really do love breakfast foods potatoes n cheese best.

6. Do you have any idols?

im not sure what counts as an idol? i once got told that my favorite book series when i was 12 was an idol?

8. Favorite music genre?

i like speed metal

13. A job you can't do yourself but admire people who do?

oh there is a LOT dentists, plumbers, trash collectors, house keepers, teachers, pharmacists there are some very skilled and wonderful people who do a lot for our community

15.Do you believe in ghosts? and 16 If so, how do you imagine them? If not, is it just because you don't want to make contact with them?

i love the idea of ghosts i like the idea of there being some kind of after life so that i can be with the people I've lost again and so i can watch after and not be far from the people i love who are living.

I like to think ghosts just are here waiting and watching able to go where ever they'd like because they don't need to breath or worry about catching on fire or something to just enjoy the afterlife with their friends n family, explore, learn from mistakes they made in life, fix relationships (also i want to go to the bottom of the ocean so bad)

but i don't really believe in them, i want them to be real but i cant help but feel like if ghosts are real then why are there so many crimes against the dead unsolved and why is there no justice for millions of people? I feel like my passed family would find ways to yell at me from the grave for my many flaws and sins (p.s.dont worry friend thank you for caring)

22. Movie you can't stop cheering up for?

alright friend ima introduce you to my most favorite movie it's called Journey to Beginning of Time by Karel Zeman my grandad had the VHS and i have LOVED it since i was three years old. I used to set up a blanket on the floor some chairs and a blanket on top to make a roof, staple some paper together to make "my diary" wear a goofy hat and pretend i was in the movie with the boys goin on they're adventure Its about a four boys who get on a boat and go back in time they each have their own personalities and adventures all of em but one of them have goofy hats! one of them wants to be a scientist so he documents all their findings in a diary theres a lot of great prehistoric critters someone almost gets eaten by a terror bird, someone fights a scary lizard thing i dont remember what it was supposed to be some kind of froggy newt thing it scared me depending on whether you watch the original czech version or the shitty English dub (my grandad had both my grandma grew up with the orignal so she likes that one better) you'll either see the big bang or the creation from the bible i grew up with the shitty english dub so i got weird hand creation ending and ima be honest i prefer that version but probs only because thats what i grew up on. I WISH TO GOD i could find it on dvd in the shitty english dub i grew up with SO MUCH i watched that VHS so much it died im pretty certain i had a crush on the youngest boy played by Vladimir Bejval his character caught a fish.. its a great movie if you get the chance to watch it but it's also like made in like the 50s so uuuuuuh keep that in mind but for the time it was made the special effects were brilliant. it makes me happy its like a warm bowl of soup but in film.

23. Best ingredients for a pizza?

scrambled eggs bacon n sausage or just plan ol pepperoni

25. Can you dance? Is there any dance you want to learn someday?

No not well i know some like old dances from when i was in a few plays like pride n prejudice, id like to learn swing dance

29.Good memory from your childhood you keep remembering?

it was nice having a group of friends and just sitting in our bedrooms drawing, making ocs and stories together and listening to each other gush about the things that made them happy.

35. If you could gain any ability for giving up one, which one would you pay and which one achieve?

uhhhh ability to whistle for the ability to cure all injury and illness (not a fair trade but lemme be reverse Infectious Lass please)

39.What are you mostly in the mood for the whole day?

im always pretty happy to talk to my partner and read books to my siblings ALSO IM ALWAYS A SLUT FOR GOIN FOR A WALK IF ITS PRETTY OUTSIDE

53.Were you a smart kid at school?

nope!

55 .Do you like your hometown?

i love some people here otherwise indifferent?

73.Do you do any sports and if so which ones?

nope i was homeschooled

74.What's your dresscode? What makes you choose the clothes you're wearing? (on different occasions)

i really prefer skirts over dresses spef at knee length and i prefer no sleeves or short sleeves with just a sweater if it gets chilly. i like feelin fancy and cutesy.

77.Can you imagine something pretty romantic you would like your/a partner to do for you?

honest the most romantic thing i think someone can do is just to be there for each other that you want to experience life together even when life is incredibly shitty and not ideal at the moment but sticking through it with them anyhow because you want to experience life with them whem it's good or bad, being there the day their parents die, not ditching them if they lose their job being their cheerleader if they get cancer...just kinda knowin your a team that you've got their back n them your's and that you'll build a life together that makes you both happy through it all idk just bein there n lettin me be there for em in return? but idk im kinda shit at the romance tbh uuuuhhhh i appreciate it when someone sets time aside for me that means a lot to me more then they'll probably ever know

79.Is it risky to ask you whether you are a honest person or not?

not sure if im the right one to judge that but i have been told im "stupidly honest" id like to think im honest but im not sure? i dont trust myself in anything!

84.Are you into candies?

yes i love sour candies and chocolates

90.If you know your go-to person currently has time, do you still text them, call them or leave a voice message?

im not sure im smart enough to understand this question?

98.Do you prefer living in a (big) city or in a (countryside) rural area?

they both have their ups n downs probably country side.

Thank you so very very very much for the asks golly gee it def gave my brain a break from all the big scares thank you so much really honest you have no clue how much this helped calm me down i really really appreciate it so much i hope your weekend is wonderful and i hope the weather is nice and you get to eat something nice and your day is full of lots of small joys!