#Because I got a bunch of dinosaur stickers from a friend in like. One of those packs you'd buy off Amazon.

[stick-by-me]

A nap in the shade...

New follower sticker for: @wyrmsweven!

(Design likely from here!)

[princesssmars]

a few ellie headcanons bc i like her c: sfw.

she is a backpack lesbian. always has a tiny backpack. they are always black or a dark green. will sometimes get a patterned one. maybe has bananas on it. wants to put stickers on basically all of them but won’t because she gets paranoid they’ll get ruined.

i can’t find the post and ong i don’t remember what type of snack girlie i said ellie was but yes. this bitch loves snacks. always snacking. had a four month long addiction to jello it was a little scary.

she can cook for herself! she can make a damn good burger. hates tomato’s because she’s a baby 👎🏽

feel like she likes the weirdest cereals ever…like bae why are you eating kit kat cereal

runs super cold and always has a blanket. lovesss those super thick fluffy blankets that make you wanna fall asleep immediately. begged joel for one of those full body blanket snuggie things and he kept forgetting so she bought a matching dinosaur set with jessie and she loves it.

despite running cold her bedroom fan has not turned off in thirty years.

loves trivia. likes to play are you smarter than a fifth grader because you are NOT gonna catch her fuckin lackin.

likes mixmatched socks. her dryer is always eating half of her pairs so she grows to like it.

calls things pretentious and overrated as a joke bc she is annoying. watching a popular movie? she hates it the author is trying too hard. if she has a letterboxd she is either giving the most in depth review you’ve ever seen or a five star rating with a “cool”.

super nervous at the start of relationship yo show affection but when she’s locked in she is always on you…cuddles all the time. if you’re getting up to do something she is gripping around your waist. it’s cute until you need to go to the bathroom and she is insistent on going with you. once when she was high she told you she’d get a second toilet so you could go together 🫤

playstation girl yawn. she was hyped for elden ring then got her ass beat and didn’t play for a month before randomly deciding to finish it in two weeks.

whoever said she loves spongebob first was right…binges regular show when high. loves breaking bad. will act like she doesn’t like romance shows but if you make her watch the first episode she hasssss to finish it she can’t help ittt… sorry not sorry i’m making her watch bridgerton.

secretly watches those family guy adhd tiktoks

has a habit of watching movies through tiktok

and those space tiktok’s… comparing the gravity of different planets, what’s it’s like to fall through jupiters atmosphere.

likes orcas… watches marine life documentaries and gets emotional.

would know ur birth chart. ever forget ur big three signs? she knows. kind of scary. weird talent. doesn’t believe in astronomy buts knows every basic fact about every sign?? 😭

has two instagrams. her main is for her art and to post pictures with her friends and you. second she posts anything. and i do mean anything. will go from an introspective into idk why hoodwinked is underrated to

loves green it’s literally her color. needs some green in her dorm/apartment. thinks about this ahead of time so when she’s in middle school she starts buying tiny plants to take care of. at the start they’d die in like a week but now she has a dozen and they’re all healthy <3

bunch of posters on her bedroom walls. hates bare walls.

likes to try new hobbies every so often! is lazy about working out but when she does she gets on the treadmill and doesn’t break a sweat no matter how fast. kind of scary.

likes to go on the most random dates. you’ll be sitting on the couch and she’ll show you some random restaurant she saw on like instagram and be like let’s go. right now.

likes when you touch her hair. rest her on top of you while watching a movie and run your fingers through her hair? she’s out like a light. if you want to try different styles on it at home she will let you. doesn’t care if she has stupid looking like stubs everywhere she’s like c:

jesse told her she had a fuck ass bob once and she almost hit him :c

such a bike girl omg. i know she used to put water bottles in the back to make it sound like a motorcycle.

who first came up with that she loves spongebob because you’re so right. tried to act like she’s grown out of it but when she’s high and you’re trying to go to bed she’ll whisper “twenty five” to herself and laugh for five minutes straight.

spider-man girl because she’s cool.

pretends to hate all the dumb nicknames you give her when she does stuff. she makes a pb&j? shes now 'ellie jellie' for the rest of the week. has a stomach ache? now she gets to hear 'ellie bellie' for a month.

links for palestine, sudan, drc

[youcouldmakealife]

SOTM: Lourdes Family, David; family traditons

For the prompt: Jake's sisters slowly warming up to David

The problem with Nat and David, Allie decides early on, is that they’re too alike. Not in most ways, really — she doesn’t think they’d agree on much when it comes to their taste in media, or hobbies, or any of that, and she’s sure they’d both be surprised if she said they were similar at all.

But Allie knows Nat better than she knows herself, probably, and she’s made an attempt at getting to know David, because she knows how important it is to Jake, and some of the things that make Natalie Nat to her seem to be pretty similar to the things that make David David.

They’re both quiet, but it’s not shyness with either of them, though it can seem like it unless you know them. As often as not, Nat’s quiet because silently dismantling whatever’s being said in her head, about to spring it on whatever poor unsuspecting person just claimed they ‘could care less’ or called a pterodactyl a dinosaur or something that matters to nobody but Nat. 

Though mostly she doesn’t actually say it to them — unless they’re family, she corrects Allie all the time, and poor Jakey doesn’t stand a chance — she’s saying it as an aside to Allie, or recalling it later ,‘my co-worker thought Babylon was a mythological place, and when I said 'oh yeah, like Bethlehem?' he said 'yeah, exactly!'’ or ‘If I hear someone use literally when they mean figuratively one more time, Allie, I swear I'm going to snap’. 

She’s quiet, and sometimes she seems checked out, but she’s always paying attention to what everyone else is saying. Allie’s learned it’s the same with David — she’ll mention something and then nine months later David will have gotten her a Christmas present based on her offhand comment. Or he’ll ask if she wants the same drink as last time, last time being like, six months ago. Allie doesn’t know if he’s got that kind of memory for everybody, or if it’s just because she’s Jake’s sister, and he’s still trying to impress all of them, but, well — consider her impressed, she guesses.

But also, she’s pretty sure he’s also picking up on the mistakes everybody else makes, except instead of ‘Allie, let me tell you the misspelled bumper sticker I saw today’, she isn’t hearing shit from him. She doesn’t think Jake is either, at least if the people making mistakes are them. And they probably are. Allie has no illusions that she makes no mistakes: if she did, Nat would have beaten that belief out of her by now.

“He thinks he’s better than us,” Nat complained once, and Allie pressed her lips together very tightly, and she didn’t say a thing, and frankly, she thinks she deserves a medal for that.

As similar as David can be to Nat, he’s absolutely nothing like Jake. If Allie was asked to list their similarities, it’d be like — ‘very athletic white dudes around the same age’, and then a bunch of hockey specific things. Beyond that, she’s got nothing. It isn’t just their personalities — they have completely different taste in everything. Different priorities, outside of similar career ones. Some overlapping friends, but Allie just attributes that to Jake being able to make friends with a table leg if he wants to. They could not be less alike.

Allie’s never been a big believer in the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing, but honestly, maybe she should be: mom and dad are a pretty good example of it, and Jake and David seem to bring out the best in each other.

It took Allie a little while to come to terms with them getting back together, but she can’t deny that Jake seems to grow when he’s around David. Maturity wise, but he also just seems to stand up straighter, like just being around David makes him more alert, or aware, or maybe even self-confident, though that’s never been something he's lacked.

It probably isn’t just David he’s like that with — Allie hasn’t seen him around the Panthers too much, but he is the captain, after all — but either way, it’s a nice thing to see Jake grown up.

He’s still the baby to her, will probably always be the baby to her — anyone she put in pigtails and pulled around in a little red wagon while telling everyone to look at her pretty little dolly is going to be a baby to her forever, let’s face it — but for all that he’s been taller than her since he was twelve, he felt like a kid to her the whole way to the show, and for awhile after. He doesn’t feel like a kid anymore. Baby, sure, he's always going to be that, but not a kid. 

If anything, David feels more like one. Not that he’s childish, or immature, or whatever, because Allie suspects he wasn’t even childish when he was an actual child. Maybe more someone suddenly immersed in a foreign culture — he doesn’t know where he’s supposed to be, what he’s supposed to do, what the hell is up with the wishbone thing. 

She’s seen Jake explain things to him, the traditions she thought everyone did, and the traditions that are very Lourdes specific, the way mom gives extra mashed potatoes if you're a suck up, and how if people don’t take turns opening presents it turns into a free-for-all, and how nobody actually eats the cranberry sauce.

When Jake isn’t there to do it — rare, but the dude does need bathroom breaks — Allie figures it’s no skin off her nose to do it instead, and she even overhears Nat doing it once, though  she might have just been venting about someone saying dumb shit again. She does love to do that. 

The important thing is that he keeps showing up, even though he’s uncomfortable every single time — though maybe Allie’s imagining it, but she thinks he’s reached the ‘almost comfortable’ stage this Christmas, like, maybe feeling a little awkward, but no more than anyone else would, spending Christmas with his boyfriend’s family.  Maybe more than someone typically would if they’ve been doing it every year, but Allie knows they can be a lot, that most people have trouble keeping up with the rapid back and forth — even Jake gets left behind sometimes, then pouty when they start tease him about it.

David was a wide-eyed spectator, the first few times he saw that. Jake told Allie later that he didn’t hear the fondness in it, just the mockery, got defensive on Jake’s behalf. Allie doesn’t know how he’s survived locker rooms for so long — their love language is basically just mockery and punching each other in sensitive places, at least judging by Jake and his teammates back in the day. Probably now too. She’s met Cody Gallagher, unfortunately.

He takes it better now though, even joined in yesterday when everyone was shit-talking Jake’s recent stab at growing facial hair, while Jake tried and failed to defend himself through giggles. On the one hand, Allie’s just glad it isn’t a mustache, but on the other hand, maybe he’d do a better job with that. This morning, Jake comes down to breakfast clean-shaven. Allie isn’t delusional: he didn’t shave it because his sisters gave him shit. That was all David.

“High five,” Allie says when David joins them downstairs, and she’s half expecting a quizzical look, maybe even the ‘what the hell are the Lourdes talking about now’ one that surfaces sometimes, but instead she gets a tiny smile and a high five.

“I’m sitting right here, guys,” Jake says, but once again, he’s laughing.

[badlydrawnmanic]

more stuff from my paint folder under the cut with varying levels of explanation

my owlfolk rogue d&d character as a shitty little baby because baby birds look miserable and it's funny

shut up

a square full of bugs

weird arcade cabinet thing from a dream i had. i didn't draw it on here but it had sonic underground decals and stuff and as prizes it'd print off stickers and random screenshots from the show that'd come out that side thing. i don't know why but it had a trackball

i was doodling a bunch of critters for some reason. i think it was low-key inspired by @mossworm's art and in my head it was for some kind of critter collection game idea

i forget what this is about but i think it speaks for itself. despite being in the paint folder it was very clearly not drawn in paint

dinosaurs in love

again not a paint drawing but a manic i drew on drawception

tails lost in the sauce (a plant poofed a fuck ton of pollen right in his face and he is not having a good time)

i drew this while sleep deprived and proceeded to break down into a laughing fit. no i don't know what it is and it's called god.png

a miscellaneous character i have named gordy gatorman. he's gay and owns a bakery

the same doodle of my owlfolk rogue plus two more things (she hates everyone)

i don't have an explanation for this one i just thought the belt attached to scourge's coat was stupid (you know this is old because of my "colored lineart only" phase)

i think the original text for this was slightly nsfw but this is funnier actually

"hjpt ;leg.png"

one of my many interpretations of a human sonic, this one leaning more into "grumpy teenager" than anything else. i usually don't draw humans so this is surprisingly nice looking

there's 3 more panels to this but i just wanna acknowledge those sad lobsters in the dirty ass tank at the grocery store. they looked so sad and i always wanted to take them home

it me

me and my @kinslee-the-normal-human's oc. we used to rp a lot and they'd get into all sorts of bullshit with mr. tall echidna always being like i told you this would happen and being generally upset about it but his teeny tiny girlfriend could not care less. this time it was about vampires but he's just vibing

one of my ocs just kinda turns into fire when he goes super and i thought the idea of his clothes burning off was hilarious

hard to explain but my friend made an au where like every possible fusion of two characters that could exist did exist all at once in a weird little sci-fi society and we roleplayed it a ilttle bit. my main character for it was an amy/manic fusion named pippin and they had anxiety

in the background you can see salyut (he was actually made for this au as a shadow/biolizard fusion), maroon (a shadow/knuckles fusion), and... man i forget his name but he was a sonic/shadow fusion. the character in the second to last panel is a mephiles/tikal fusion who was part of the evil sci-fi government or whatever and she scared pippin a lot. i might repurpose pippin because they're very cute

@kinslee-the-normal-human told me that you can tell if someone is a furry based on how they draw dogs so i drew a dog and she said i was a furry based on how i drew the back legs. she was right but i don't get the test lmao

one of my ocs sort of got sucked into amy's family unit and he's in a sort of younger-ish sibling role to her (despite being older) and she makes him very happy and he loves her very much. they are friends :)

pov you are talking to razor on discord and he is happy to see you

this is called "scourge peep.png". i don't know why it's holding a knife

me and my friend drew pokemon from memory at a sleepover. i think from the different art styles you can tell which ones i drew nsjkdgs

i was playing the sims and made a version of gyro on it and he just kept getting abducted by aliens. i couldn't stop him

[purpleturtle9000]

*slowly edges in under your door like a piece of wayward paper*

Hiiii today I come with gifts of dino stickers (and Clever Girl questions/comments bc I FINALLY beat my adhd into submission to read it >:3) (also I don’t know jackshit about bayverse so my apologies for any goofs)

What made you choose raptors? Also I love horse raptor girl Raph and would kill for him he’s good boy and deserves to keep his buddies

I am choosing to believe they didn’t like Casey bc Acab they can smell the cop on him XD

Were the raptors genetically modified in any way? Cus they seem incredibly intelligent, although that could just be the training and their natural state bc bird Smort af

Okay I think that’s all I got (for now) but also if there’s anything I didn’t ask that you wanna ramble about PLEASE DO I am in love with the Dino’s and their turtle friends :3

*flutters off in a breeze*

I will be putting stickers everywhere immediately, thank you!

I choose raptors because they were my favourite in Jurassic Park from the very beginning. Also I've had a Utahraptor OC for nearly a decade, and Raptor Red is one of my favourite books. So when the idea came of a dinosaur fic, there was truly no question in my mind that it was going to be raptors instead of anything else.

Also anything bigger than Utahraptor would have been an absolute nightmare, logistically speaking. It would take a lot more work to feed, be harder to house, might not have fit on the plane in the first place, and that's even without accounting for there being four of them. Having some big dino like Rexy would be all fun and games until she realises she can fit a whole ninja turtle in her mouth!

Raptor girl Raph is an absolute delight and I support him and Sierra in all their nonsense. (Donnie doesn't, because he's the only one with any real sense, but tbh that's his problem and I have nothing to do with it.) They're going to have a great time terrorising the local bad guys, and probably also the local wildlife.

Casey being a cop is such a stupid decision in Bayverse, it's like the only thing that really gets me 😒 The girls can smell the ACAB now lmao, new canon developing right here. Also Casey is a stranger, and they've always been territorial. Plus Raph is kinda passive-aggressive at Casey and Sierra picks up on that as regular aggression (and by extension, so do the rest of the girls).

The raptors were not modified! They are very smart though, cause bird is Smort af. Parrots can do shit you would not expect from an adult and I love them for it but also sometimes stop that you over-intelligent little shits! Also they have been trained pretty much their entire lives, so they have a baseline for human interaction that can also be applied to turtles.

Also part of their intelligence is based on observations of crocodiles in captivity! Cause they're smarter than you would expect, I got a bunch of books to try to research their behaviour, and I have a whole new appreciation for them.

Okay so obviously there's a lot of things to love in the fic itself, but I also really loved writing the care guide. At first it was just going to be a reference doc for myself, but then I decided to write it as a kind of 'in-universe' thing, from Donnie's POV.

About 90% of the raptor lore is based on what's been observed (and published) about birds of prey and crocodilians. Besides the physical stuff, which is based on fossil records (and some assumptions based on fossil records). Side note, why is it so hard to access some of the academic papers? Let me read!

And a few of my favourite lines from the lore doc:

Sierra shows the same body language when biting the top of Raph’s shell as she does when playing with her sisters. She seems to consider this a form of play as well, and for reasons beyond my comprehension, Raph agrees with her.

The vast majority of aggressive behaviour happens in fights over food, or in an attempt to frighten away things that frighten them. Such things include a loose dog, a butterfly, a plastic bag, and a smoking car engine (the latter also frightened Leo and Mikey).

I have never seen nest squabbles turn violent, unlike our most recent fight for the tv remote.

As shown by Raph and Sierra, to my and Leo’s displeasure, a raptor can pick a meatball from an open palm without injuring the palm.

Raph insists Sierra would attempt to predate a moose if she saw one, as she is, to quote him, ‘braver than Vin Diesel’. I hope he is wrong about her behaviour but assume he is not.

When Raph suggested providing them with a live lobster for enrichment, it locked its claws onto Tango’s lower leg and now all four regard lobsters with suspicion and occasional alarm calls.

Quebec in particular loves liver and will knock Leo over if he’s holding a sheep liver, a habit I have fortunately been able to record for further evaluation.

[emoryinaboat]

!! !! !!

TYSM Does this mean introduce 3 ocs??? Idk it does now, just for u bestie <33

(Also important info, all my OCs are magic like it started as a Harry Potter thing but then we obviously transferred them to our own thing and here we are, gay idiots at magic schools)

Cassidy💫

(Bby ur my -inhale- aNGELLL)

Name: Cassidy

Age: 17

Pronouns: She/her (cis)

Sexuality: Omnisexual

General description: The sunshine in the biggest sunshine x stormcloud relationship we have

TRIVIA:

- She has spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy, she can walk independently but not for long so she uses crutches most of the time, wheelchair on low energy days

- All her mobility aids are covered in sanrio stickers or is otherwize bedazzled somehow

- She actually always has beads in her braids, picrew is just a bitch and never has her hairstyle :')

- Has an angsty autistic Kaz Brekker core boyfriend named Booker (my S/O made him) and they are disgustingly in love it's very cute

- She's really good at making origami and she's constantly making little lotuses and dinosaurs for Booker and little frog hoppers for his little sister Bessie

- Talks to her stuffies, she has s o many of them.

- Has been keeping diaries since she was 6, never doesn't have it on her. She's painted a bunch of little white rabbits on the cover because they're her lucky animal

- When she was 9-12 she put those bicycle beads that go click-click-click when you turn the wheel on her chair

- Adores puzzles, riddles and brain teasers. Her rubix cube record is 31 seconds, she's very proud of it

- Idk man she's just really pretty in an aesthetic way, like she always has cute patterns painted on her nails, she has hearts in her edges and eyeliner, she wears cute pajamas to bed, she's just very cute-

- Feels love pains in her arms, needs to squish something

- Love languages are physical touch, gift giving and quality time

Milan⚡

(Bastard./affectionate)

Name: Milan

Age: 18

Pronouns: He/him (cis)

Sexuality: Bisexual

General description: Leading man but he's a little fucked up actually/lh

TRIVIA

- Lead singer and frontman of a famous pop-punk-kindof boyband, at first me and wifey dearest(/lh) couldn't think of a name for the band so we started just calling them Guys Being Dudes but that's what they're called now.

- Is dating his other bandmates, Ruben (mine), AJ and Zach (both my S/O's). Won't shut tf up about them in interviews

- Early diagnosed with bipolar disorder after very nearly decimating their careers.

- Had a really traumatic fanmail incident when they were really starting to break it big. Has some issues with their fans now but he's working on that-

- Has a therapy rat named Eddie (after Venom, not Stranger Things). The band also has one of those crusty white woman dogs/lh named MJ

- He will tell you his favourite movie is Back to the Future. This is a lie, his favourite is How to Train Your Dragon

- Best friends with an Olympic gymnast named Evangeline, she's had to hear his pining for his bandmates for years now

- Was really emo when the band was just starting out. Like bottle blond smeared eyeshadow Set It Off Band-T over striped shirt emo

- He gave Ruben his first haircut and thus saved Ruben from the "Awful First Trans Haircut" narrative because he's been cutting his own hair since he was 11

- Kind of emotionally distant Catholic family. Didn't outright say they don't like his lifestyle but by god they made it known. He only sees them around holidays and he only attends church loosely or for special occasions

- Really loves interacting with fan content, his twitter is a constant spam of fanart and fanfic, he follows back content creators, he reads and hypes up fanfic, all the time

- When he's scared (like harmless horror movie viewing kind) he doesn't scream or jump or anything, he just tenses up and starts crying-

- Colours his nails in with sharpie

Caio 🏁

(I promise you he is not as threatening as the picrew shows he's just got a ~persona~)

Name: Caio

Age: 18

Pronouns: He/him (Cis)

Sexuality: Bisexual with a bigg male preference

General description: We're genius for this ship trope.

TRIVIA

- Drag racer, his cars are his fucking babies

- Yes that's cars plural, his adoptive parents are RICH rich and are away for work a lot so they give him and his sister Genesis more allowance than they know what to do with. So what's an ND adrenaline-seeking teenage boy gonna do? Drag racing of course.

- Autism and ADHD and enough people-pleasing trauma to power a small nation. Most of his past relationships were his partners not communicating their relationship expectations and him wanting more than casual hookups and kinda being used :/ and now he doesn't really know how to value his own needs he's working on it-

- But he has a boyfriend now and they are also disgustingly in love and they're gonna make it everyones problem. His name is Keanu (S/O's) and he's a drag queen and I told you we were geniuses for that

- HoH and always forgets to wear his hearing aids, he mostly relies on lip reading. He has a walkie-talkie-radio-thing in his car that flashes when Genesis needs to contact him mid-race (cos like. Cops)

- When he has meltdowns it creates these magic power surges, he's been known to blow out lightbulbs. Once broke down so hard that he cut off the whole house's power

- He used to be on the cheer team and he can still do the flips and stuff, still super flexible

- Has like. No actual friends-

- He acts big at races and stuff but he is just the embodiment of the autism creature. He is just an excitable affection puppy who intensely autism stares when he's hyped

- Is an awful gossip, he needs to know everything about everyone at all times

- He makes rly good coffee-

- Him and Genesis are both fluent in ASL but his parents never bothered to learn. Genesis goes nonverbal sometimes though so Caio acts as translator when that happens

- Love languages are quality time, physical touch, verbal affection and late night drives

[that-one-weeb-but-it-transformer]

Can you do tfp ratchet bulkhead and Starscream human s/o with POTS(or just a chronic illness if that is to specific)crying because they’re tired of family and doctors telling what is and isn’t wrong with their body and giving them unhelpful advice.

I’m sorry if this is too much but I’m going through this right now and I really just need some comfort. It’s cool if you don’t feel like doing this one though.

The Bots with a S/0 that has POTS

Notes: I'd love to do it for you! And homie if you ever need a hug. I got you. I can understand how difficult things like this can be so if you ever just wanna talk even if its a hello how are you. I'd be happy to talk to you. Also have a hard time writing Starscream I never know why

Characters: Bulkhead, Ratchet, Starscream

⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

⊷⊶⊷⊶Bulkhead⊷⊶⊷⊶

Doesnt exactly understand POTS no matter how much you explain it to him

He knows though, if you go up. Theres a possibly of you going down hard

He's a sweet soul so he's always asking how your day was

And some days. Its just bad

Some days when he picks you up he can already hear the arguing before you even get out the house

"Take your meds!"

"They don't work!"

"Be reasonable Y/n!"

"They don't work!"

Bulkhead even knows they dont work. And you're brusing easier.

So what does he do to try and cheer you up?

"Hey why don't me make your bruisies into drawings! Miko does that with my battle scars!"

It makes you feel happy that someones actually trying to make you feel better

He acts like you dont even have anything wrong with you

Well he accomidates the best he can. Like sticking his foot out when you start to fall over to atleast catch yourself on something

Miko recommended him they should tucktape pillows to his peds

You called him crying just wanting him to pick you up after a mentally abusing day

You're doctors are trying to put you on a Home IV and you heard your parents talk about simply just admitting you to the hopsital

Bulkhead gladly picked you up and you dont wanna talk about it

Okay thats fine

"Oh! Miko picked up your favorite! Its in my glove box!"

Chinese hot dog buns with a bottle of water. Full of salt. And a great comfort food for you

Two in one

Especially when you've been crying alot

"Are you gonna stop being friends with me if my family puts me in the hospital?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

"People dont like being friends with problem people..."

"Ah! That's a bunch of scrap." He defended, "You're awesome!"

He's text book defenition of emotional support

He checks up on you regularly as you often take naps

Knows your whole medication list by the dinosaur stickers you label them with and your whole when you gotta take what

He helps you decorate your medicane bottles, makes them less intimidating some times

You actually draw little deerpy bulkheads on your medicane caps now

When you have to go get refills he'll drive you and the pharmacist thinks the bottle Decor is cute

Calls you a good influence to the little kids who get scared of medication

Its all thanks to Bulkhead really: he's there for you

⊷⊷⊶⊷Ratchet⊶⊷⊶⊷

Actually

He had to find out himself, or more of force it out of you.

All the brusies and the suddenly going pale. He knows your secretly taking pills too

He doesnt exactly know what your doing

But he knows you're hiding something

"What are you taking?"

"What? Nothing." Y/n spoke dry swallowing the pills as quick as Y/n could, no one had to know.

"What are you taking."

"Nothing Ratchet."

"Y/n."

Y/n eyes rolled, "its medicane."

"Are you sick?"

Y/n looked at him and nodded shortly, "in a way yeah"

And thats how he learns about you having POTS

He ask how your doing physically and not much about you mentally

He tends to stay away from connection in general due to the past but with you he wants to be invested but doesn't completely at the same time.

But once you call him real late at night crying he's emotionally invested.

He's a doctor yeah but knows squat shit about human bodies, so it's more of you see Ratchet as a "friend" (yeah right your invested) than a doctor

"They wanna put me on a home iv." Y/n told him, all curled up in his passenger seat, "I already know it won't work. I've tried it before."

"Perhaps diffrent Medication?" Ratchet suggested.

Y/n shrugged, "I...I'm tired of med's Ratchet."

"I know." He spoke, "Are they giving you any other options?"

"Service Animal. More Meds or an IV." Y/n told him, "Dad just wants to leave me at a hospital."

Ratchet's in silence, he sitting in thought, "Perhaps that's for the best. Perhaps not a hospital. But to leave."

"You mean like take a break from my family?" Y/n questioned, "I guess..."

So Ratchet let you room with him for a few days.

Its kept secret.

You're very happy that you're not as bad as you usually are. And was happy to see Stress was making your dizzy spells worse and more frequent.

Luckily you're relaxed with Ratchet and he asked genuine questions about what your illness truly is

So he makes sure you eat, drink lots of water, always keeps tabs on you.

And to enforce you eating and drinking, he forces himselves to take scheduled breaks

Those forced breaks allow both of you to relax and even allow Ratchet to work better.

But sometimes you still gotta just like lay down.

Even if its on his work space.

"Are you alright?"

"Just a bad one is all."

And he leaves it at that. Sure he still watches over you but he's not gonna baby you

Not over something he knows you have in control

But occasionally he does become helicopter mom

⊷⊶⊷Starscream⊷⊶⊷

Could absolutely careless to be honest

The veichons probally cared more about you than anything

That was in the beginning of course

Until he realized alot of the veichons started taking random ass breaks with you

Litterally sat in the hallway with you while you're tryin to even out

High altitude on the nemsis especially if your on the dock makes it worse

He teases you about it: saying fleshies are scared of height

But like no bro. Your about to litterally pass out

Thanks Breakdown for atleast be like "ayo. She's litterally dieing."

He finally sees this is a bit more than a height issue

No shit

He finally starts taking notice seeing you napping alot in Knockouts medbay

"Great. A screamer and a neglecting mech is in the medbay." Breakdown grumbled.

"Ignore him," Knockout spoke waving off Starscream.

"Excuse me-"

He's basically ignored by the others.

Breakdowns basically your big brother and Starscream being neglectful of Y/n's health does not make him happy

Starscream finally comes around to ask you what the hell is actually happening.

But it turns into and arguement: you dont wanna tell him, and you're tryin to just keep tears back from before he picked you up w/ a ground bridge

"Doesn't matter."

"It quiet obviously does if you're little medbay group is all over it."

"Oh please." Y/n grumbled the stopped, Y/n feeling Rocky, "shit..."

Y/n immediately takes a seat, right there in the middle of the hall.

"Becoming Dizzy?" A passing Veichon spoke.

"Yep."

Food was tossed a packet and a bottle of water by the veichon, both being terribly thrown Y/n's way.

"Thanks." Y/n spoke leaning over to grab the bag and water then looked up at Starscream and sighed, "I have POTS."

"You have what?"

So there you are explaining it to him

He's upset you didnt explain it to him sooner.

You shrugged as you ate the pretzels

No he's like genuinely upset

He's been watching over you this long and just now knows about this

How does he even research POTS? He did search it up but he just got pots you cool with

Soundwave helps, in the side research

Though he doesnt have much space to store you snacks, he knows the medbay has snacks for you

He also knows that you're most comfortable in the medbay as you're often sleeping more than 1/2 the day

So. He's often visiting the medbay even more than usual now

Even if your sleeping alot more and he doesn't get to talk to you as Much as he wants to, your health is more important

Keeps you away from the flight deck

Because if you suddenly get dizzy and tip the wrong way well.

He doesnt need a spark attack

[bestiesenpai]

Recess - Nanami Kento

Don’t mind if i do~ femme reader no content warnings, it’s just a little fluff :) 2.1k words

"Papa, do you like Miss (Y/N)?" The young voice of Kento's son sounded next to him as he walked the young boy to his second grade class.

"What do you mean?" A blush tinged Kento's ears; it was embarrassing his son could figure it out so easily.

"Well I always catch you lookin' at her when you drop me off...and you talk to her a lot sometimes..." The child didn't really have a lot to go off of and he squeezed his fathers hand as they came to an intersection.

"I like her a normal amount, Yuji." Just a few more blocks and Kento would be free from this.

"What's that mean?"

"We're just acquaintances." Kento picked up his pace just a little, eager to drop him off and staunchly avoid eye contact with you.

"What's that mean?" Yuji echoed again, looking up at Kento curiously.

"I don't like Miss (Y/N) like how you say I do.” Finally they were at the school and Kento could ease up the hold he had on his son's hand. There was a swarm of other kids all in their little uniforms, matching tops and shorts for the upcoming summer weather.

“Miss (Y/N)!” Letting go of his hand, Yuji ran to you, latching onto the fabric of your sundress as you stood outside the school and made sure the kids were going to the right places.

“Hello!” Rubbing the back of Yuji’s head, you smiled down at him. “Are you ready for school today?”

“Yeah!” Today was a special day, after lunch they got to watch a movie about dinosaurs. Opening his mouth to speak again, Yuji saw something else that caught his eye. “Megumi! Nobara!” And off he ran to say hello to his friends.

Kento stood awkwardly where Yuji had left him, clenching and unclenching his fists. Should he talk to you? It wasn’t like Yuji dictated what he could and couldn’t do, but he didn’t want the kid to get any more impressions. Or would not talking to you make it even more obvious?

“Have a good day at work, Nanami.” You called out to him, waving and smiling at him with such ease it made his heart swell.

“Y-you too.” Clearing his throat, Kento waved back and scanned the crowd to see where Yuji was one last time. Spotting his son walking into the building with his friends, Kento nodded toward you and started to walk away. “See you after school.”

“Bye!” Waving again, you turned your attention to another student, and Kento went about his way.

Except he didn’t see you after school, he saw you much earlier than that. Yuji had forgotten his lunch despite swearing up and down that he’d packed it all by himself, so Kento was tasked with delivering it.

Going into the school and walking past brightly decorated classrooms, he quickly found the class Yuji was in. Peeking in through the window to see them all still sitting down, Kento leaned against the wall until the bell rang and they were let out.

“Yuji.” The rich timbre of Kento’s voice cut through the shrill sounds of children, easily reaching the intended recipient.

“Papa, you came!” Setting his sights on the lunch box in Kento’s hands, the little seven year old leapt to grab it. “Sorry I forgot my lunch!”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad I caught it in time.”

“Thanks papa!” Once he got his hands on it, Yuji gave Kento a quick hug and scampered down the hall.

“Hello again, Nanami.” Turning his head, Kento saw you leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed as children filtered out of the classroom.

“Yuji forgot his lunch.” Kento felt a little silly already trying to justify why he was there. You’d probably seen the whole interaction take place and knew exactly what transpired.

“Mhmm, he mentioned that at the start of class today.” Nodding to yourself, you flicked your head behind you. “He told me not to call you, said he ‘for sure’ had a feeling you would come and bring it.” You grinned and pushed yourself away from the door, slyly giving Kento a once over in his business attire. Despite working from home most days, he still chose to get dressed up like this.

Kento could only nod in agreement as he watched you walk back into the room and to your desk in the corner of the room. Letting his eyes roam over the room, Kento could see clearly where his son was sitting, in the middle of the room with a bunch of stickers on his desk.

“Ah, Nanami?” Your shy voice cut through the internal dilemma Kento was having about how to smoothly exit the room.

“Yes?” Taking a slow step into the room, Kento could see you were looking at your computer screen in apprehension.

“Are you good with technology?” A sheepish laugh accompanied your question and Kento thought it was cute you were embarrassed. “I can’t seem to get any video playing on the projector and we’re supposed to watch a movie today.” Gesturing to the device on the ceiling, you worried your lip and looked at him.

“I know a thing or two, I can try.” Committing to coming into the room, Kento walked briskly over to your desk. There weren’t a lot of things that Kento couldn’t do and fixing a computer was surely not one of them.

“Thank you so much! I tried some stuff but it was no use!” Pushing your chair away from the desk and to the side, you let Kento take up the space you were previously in.

Grabbing the mice and beginning to click through applications, Kento wasn’t sure he could fix your problem. Not because he didn’t know what was wrong, he knew exactly what was wrong, but this was the first time he was alone with you and this close. He could smell the light perfume you put on and feel the heat radiating from your body. It was harder to focus than he thought it was.

“I clicked that one before and it didn’t work.” Your arm shot out to point at a few icons, making sure Kento didn’t waste his time on them.

“Really?” He mumbled, clicking on it anyway and chuckling when you grunted in mock annoyance.

“Yes really.” Sticking your tongue out at him, you watched him work intently, eager to know how to fix the problem should it ever come up again.

“Miss (Y/N), I think your computer is opening the wrong application to play the video.” You’d told him before to just call you (Y/N) when no kids were around, but Kento couldn’t bear to drop the formality; he didn’t want to get too comfortable with saying your name like that, it would only spur on the daydreams he had of you.

Mumbling something about how simple the fix was, you stood up and grabbed a remote off the desk, turning the projector on and watching as the opening credits to the movie played on the classroom wall.

“Thank you so much, Nanami!” Clapping your hands together excitedly, you turned to him. Your back was to the large windows, warming you up and casting the sun all around you.

“Happy to help.” Kento nodded, fighting to remain his stoic self and not take notice of how easy it would be to push you against said windows and kiss you. Your class was on the first floor of the building, anyone could walk by and see it if he did it, and that kind of risk had Kento’s heart beating a little faster.

“Yuji is so lucky to have a dad like you, I bet you’re great around the house!” Setting the remote down, you pat Kento on the arm. He really had no choice in the matter, his wife running off shortly after Yuji was born and leaving him with sole custody. Feeling the touch of your hand reminded him how long it had been since he’d had any physical contact with a member of the opposite sex.

“Mi- (Y/N).” Turning sharply to you, Kento took a deep breath through his nose, nostrils flaring as he drank in your form. Summer really suited you, breezy clothes and longer days, the warmth in the air meshing well with the warmth in your personality.

“Yes?” Blinking owlishly at him, you shuffled just the tiniest bit back out of surprise.

“I want to show you how good I am around the house.” The line, coming out stilted and spoken with uncertainty, had your brows coming together a little.

“W-what do you mean?” Your breathing was coming out shorter now, nerves beginning to prickle your skin the longer you and Kento stood looking at each other.

“I want…” Licking his lips nervously, Kento knew this could be a reach. He could be ruining the good relationship the two of you had, the professional relationship you had. He could make you uncomfortable, and while that was the last thing he wanted to do, he couldn’t stop himself from taking a step forward and making you back up into the windows.

“I want to take you out. On a date.” Saying the words all in one big rush, Kento watched your face closely. Your lower lip trembled and your fingers curled into your dress as you thought of a response.

“I’d like that.” Your cheeks were burning intensely and turning your head to look at the wall beside you was the only saving grace you had. The silly little crush you had on Kento, the one you tried to stamp out and ignore, was finally allowed to take shape.

“Really?” Smiling loosely like an idiot, Kento put his hand on the window panes, leaning forward and almost touching you as he exhaled in relief. “I’m glad.” Peeking at you through his lashes, Kento tried to ignore the fact he could see right down your dress and to your breasts.

The longer he looked at you though, the more he realised how close he actually was to you. Your breath reached his face, if he wanted to Kento could drop his arm and easily envelop you in a hug, or perhaps-

“May I…?” He started to ask as he leaned in to kiss you. Hovering over your lips, he brushed the tip of your nose with his as he waited for you to squeak out a yes and nod before proceeding.

Touching your lips gently, Kento forced himself to go slow. There wasn’t any need to rush, he told himself, but the excitement of finally getting to kiss you was threatening to steamroll the control he had over himself.

Reaching a hand out, you rest it on his shoulder, your fingers slowly curling into his collar and holding it tightly. Tilting your head and deepening the kiss slightly, you breathed a little harder through your nose as Kento shuffled closer.

“I knew it!” The overjoyed shriek of Yuji surprised both of you, enough so that you pushed Kento as hard as you could away from you in shock. He was standing at the door to the classroom, his fellow classmates behind him staring in awe and confusion.

“Damn, lunchtime is over already?” Running past Kento’s dazed form, you wiped your lips off furiously as you collected the kids and ushered them into the room.

“I was right, papa! I was right! I was right! You do like Miss (Y/N)! You don’t like her a normal amount, you like her a lot! You were kiss-” Yuji was shouting at the top of his lungs, silenced only by Kento sliding a hand over his mouth.

“Be quiet, don’t yell like that inside the classroom.” Kento groaned, already feeling a headache form at having to explain himself to Yuji later. When he asked you out, he already had a vague plan in the back of his head on how he was going to hide it from the young boy, but that was completely out the window now. “Go sit down, we’ll talk later.” Nudging him toward his desk, Kento tried to ignore the whispers from the other students about what they’d seen.

“Yuji, is Miss (Y/N) your new mom?” Nobara whispered loudly, looking obviously between you and Kento.

“Not yet, they have to get married first.” Megumi whispered back, pointing at his ring finger.

“Married?! I wanna come!”

“I think it’s best I leave.” Straightening his tie, Kento nodded curtly at you before giving Yuji a lingering look. “Don’t make any trouble.”

“Yeah, okay.” Yuji was definitely going to save all the questions he had, saving them for the most opportune time. “Bye papa.”

“See you after school.” He was talking to you just as much as he was talking to Yuji, taking a sneaky glance at you before turning on his heel and walking out of the classroom.

“Miss (Y/N), are you going to live with us now?”

Dinner time was going to be pretty awkward tonight.

[rachaeljurassic]

Head canons, AU's and fic ideas

These were ideas I threw out in a dm but never posted here so I thought I'd post them for Jenny Calendar Day :)

1. Jenny spent their entire second date asking Rupert when the kids were going to turn up just to see how many ways Rupert knows how to say 'I'm sorry'. Half-way through the main course his three adoptive kids burst into the restaurant.

2. When Xander spills something on a book in the library he runs off to find Ms Calendar because he knows when Giles finds him he’ll become totally distracted and won't remember why he was mad at him anymore.

3. AU - One day at Jenny's she put on a video. Rupert was confused, he wasn't really a fan of....was this R&B? It took a while before he recognised one of the dancers. Later he would deny that he sat there, mouth open, through the whole song...or that it influenced his sudden decision to 'screw dinner'. Nor did it have anything to do with his new-found love of Prince.

4. Jenny's running joke was leaving the corkscrew earring in ever increasingly crazy places for Rupert to find (where upon he would dutifully return it to her). The worst/best had been when he'd been called in to Snyder's office and noticed it on his bookshelf, poking out from between the Staff Handbook and a heavy tome titled, simply, 'Leadership'. He'd had to break out his lock picking skills late that night to get it back

5. On that first date, at the Mexican restaurant, Giles said he was OK with hot food because he was OK with curries. He did not realise that Mexican food is a WHOLE other kind of hot and spent the entire meal trying to pretend his mouth wasn't on fire. Jenny noticed, as he turned redder and redder, so started offering him increasingly hot chillies to see if he'd crack. "No, no, I'm fine," Rupert lied. Eventually Jenny took pity on him and ordered an enormous ice cream for his desert.

6. Jenny purposefully rearranges items in Giles' kitchen cupboards. The first time was an accident (all the cutlery was in the wrong slots). Rupert became 'irrationally pedantic' about it, insisting he could 'reach for a fork and cut a finger off'. Jenny couldn't resist teasing him about it until she wound Rupert up good and proper...which unsurprisingly led to some supremely good sex. This did almost back-fire once. Jenny had swapped the teacups for the mugs ('I mean, who segregates their cups, Rupert?!'), and they were working there way towards the supremely good sex portion of the argument, when Buffy walked in. The slayer was a little confused when neither of them could keep a straight face and Rupert had to excuse himself. 'I'll explain' Jenny called out to his retreating figure.

7. Giles and Jenny in lock down AU. Giles is super cautious and spends most of his time trying to stop Jenny climbing out of the window to 'run in the park' - 'you're not a puppy, Jenny'. Jenny's cutlery rearranging takes on mammoth proportions. Giles runs out of books 'I didn't think that was possible Rupert....stop chewing your sweater, dear'. They reaffirm their very different tastes in music when Jenny hides all his records. Buffy makes a shopping run for them and is shocked to find that Jenny is now living in a fort she built in the living room and Giles appears to have locked himself in the bathroom. Giles runs out of tea. There may have been an unmanly melt down. Jenny suspects Giles is trying to raise a demon, just to have something to do. Giles suspects that Jenny is hiding his socks, just to have something to do. Both of them think it would be better if they lived in separate apartments for a while but neither of them want to bring it up because while it might be for the best neither of them actually want to have to think about not seeing the other one every second of every day. And, of course, lots of making up making out and a realisation that if they can forgive each other for demon possession, lying about curses, and all the crimes committed during two months in one small apartment, then they can get through anything.

8. A friend of Jenny's gave her a bunch of stickers when she took up teaching, the usual stuff like 'good job' and 'keep it up' but some that she just never used because they seemed like they were for little kids. That was until she met Rupert. The first one she stuck on his jacket lapel was a picture of Mickey Mouse saying 'Awesome' after he suggested going out for dinner. Rupert tried not to smile and failed. The second was 'magical work' because it seemed appropriate. One day she marched into the library and stuck 'learning objective achieved' on his shirt when he successfully replied to an email. After a bit of an argument she used 'correct and return', it broke the tension and they ended up almost getting caught kissing by her grade 11 computer class. Then there was the one of a dinosaur 'I am a workosaurus' and a thumbs up 'great reading' and a big star with 'I listened' written on it which was possibly a little sarcastic because she'd slapped it on his tie in the middle of a fight about whether or not the library needed a website. Eventually she ran out of stickers and forgot all about it until one evening in early January when she was staying over at Rupert's. She'd asked if he wanted to throw away his 1997 calendar. "Oh...er.....well..." And then she noticed that he'd stuck every one of the stickers she’d given him on the back. Giles tries to pretend he's exasperated by it all but he's secretly thrilled. He's never got a sticker before.

@dreadfulcalendarwoman

[sciencevillain]

Grunkle Stan’s Commentary on “Land Before Swine”

Alex Hirsch, like the absolute treasure that he is, recorded a second commentary on “Land Before Swine” which was told in Grunkle Stan’s voice, in-character the whole time. This is by no means a complete transcript. It just includes some of the highlights. 

So, if you wanna learn some classic grifts, hear about Stan’s typical morning routine, and learn a horrifying fact about Old Man McGucket (among many other things), look no further than below the cut!

“So apparently my grand-nephew Dip Dop was recording with Soos’s camera for the entire summer, like a little weirdo. Like every single thing we did, he was recording. It’s kinda creepy. He gets that from Ford, I think. That, and his inability to make eye contact with women. Anyway, he wanted me to, I guess, give commentary on this day he recorded, for, I dunno, a school project or something? So here I am. Here’s my voice. Crank up the volume. You really want to hear the gravel. Your neighbors do too. It really takes a lot of bad living to make your voice sound this way, so I’ve earned it. Enjoy.”

(On the title sequence) This is very professional. Frankly, it’s embarrassing that [Dipper] spent this much time on it.

“So yeah this was just a regular day in my life. Little bit of scamming people, little bit of punching dinosaurs in the face…”

“Y’know I heard on AM radio one day that vaccines let the government read your thoughts. Nice try, Uncle Sam! Go back to Russia!”

“I’m partially deaf because my ears are next to my mouth, and I’ve been diagnosed as having no indoors voice.”

“Dipper’s mom said to keep them away from cliffs and cemeteries and keep an eye on them, but she didn’t say anything about monsters, so I think I’m covered, honestly.”

“What did I do that day? Let’s see… I got out of bed, I did 300 push ups, I ate some steamed carrots… [laughs] no, come on, what do I look like, a sucker? You only live once, friends. Here’s a real routine for Grunkle Stan. I got out of bed, ate a basket of cold cinnamon rolls I’d found in a drawer, laid on the carpet for about an hour until Soos came and poked me with a stick, y’know that’s basically how most of my days start up. And then I went into the basement to work on that darn portal. I mean, I can talk about that right? Cat’s out of the bag now. I was trying to teach myself high school math so I could get the thing up and running. I also did a lot of punching the portal.”

“This unicorn made out of corn, I bought that at a rummage sale. I shoulda known someone would eat it. I had a running bet with Wendy on if it would get eaten by Soos or Dipper or Mabel… forgot about the pig. Probably shoulda bet on the pig.”

“Here’s the kid up in the attic in the dark like a creep. Like a weirdo. Y’know, I think all photographers, there’s something wrong with their heads. They’re passively observing life, not like me, grabbing life by the horns and making money off of it.”

“I’ve never seen a bumper sticker that didn’t make me laugh.”

“This is a tale I told Mabel to help her see the real me. Because you know, sometimes the truth is hiding within a lie.”

“You wanna hear about the real Grunkle Stan, right? You all see this paragon of attractiveness and virtue, but you probably want to hear about the warts an all. You probably want to hear about my ex wife, right?”

“Everyone in gravity falls has run over old man mcgucket at least once”

“This is the dream. To charge saps to literally look at sap. Like, I’m always scamming people, but pun-based scams, that’s the sweetest plum. I coulda made that happen! Sadly I lost the chance when the place caved in.”

“I suppose Sixer might be able to make some kind of drill that could get me back down to the dinosaur cave, but y’know, his inventions always backfire.”

(Tells story) “…he was still more popular than me. Y’know, not my fault, I just have an excess of personality. Some people get jealous. Dad always taught me the best way to get people to respect you is to punch the biggest person in the room, the first time you enter that room. But if you do that in school, then apparently you have ‘rage problems’, according to the school counselor. Darn hippie.”

“But push comes to shove, I’m not a bad guy. Right?”

“Alright if you’ve got popcorn, now’s the time when you should eat it, because prepare for some heroism.”

“Eh, I don’t need kids. Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, those are my children. My children is money. I could, maybe I dunno, glue them together in the shape of a child or something.”

“I do have, and I don’t mean to brag, but I do have an obscene amount of money.”

“You wanna learn some classic grifts?”

“Okay, here’s the Grunkle Grift. You pay a bunch of hobos a fish head a piece to dress up as a barbershop quartet. And then you need to get six — not five — six live bats, and a little guy dressed as a baby. Now here’s the really important part: don’t use an actual baby in this grift. I learned that the hard way. Wait, sorry, interrupt that thought… I can’t remember how we got out of this one. Did we die? Am I in the afterlife right now?”

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #229

“goddamn, need some help, ‘cuz my girlfriend’s in love with someone else.”

What would you consider to be the worst television channel out there? Idk. I don't watch TV. Are you currently sitting on your bed or some other place? Where? I'm lying in my bed. Have you ever had anyone drop off animals at your house? What kind? No. When was the last time you were somewhere that offered free Wi-Fi? Today/technically yesterday but w/e. My school offers it free, but the connection isn't strong. Do you know anyone who is on drugs? Are you personally on them? I mean, I know people with prescriptions of course. If you mean illicit drugs, yes. I don't take them. Name one interesting fact about yourself that people might not know about? Uhhhh I used to be a dancer. Do you ever have to write down a phone number to remember it, or not? Oh yeah, I don't even have my own phone number memorized. Who was the last person you talked to on an instant messaging service? Hm. Oh, Facebook says the friend of my sister whose wedding I shot. I did it like, two or three or so years ago and she wanted to know if I had the raw photos I took, and I'd literally JUST cleaned out my OneDrive a couple days ago, so they were deleted. Talk about bad timing. What color are your curtains? Are you satisfied with this color? Maroon. Yeah. Does your phone have texting? How many times a day do you text, estimate? Yeah, and I don't have a clue. Sara and I generally text all throughout the day. When was the last time you were stung by a bee? What kind was it? Uhhh over a year ago or something. Was the only time. It was just a bumblebee. Do you know anyone personally who had their house burn down before? Yes. Do you think the media can further manipulate our teenagers anymore? Ohhhh, I'm sure it could get even worse. Who would you consider to be your favorite American Idol on the show? I've watched so little of that show. Do you know anyone who has their septum pierced? Does it look painful? I know two, off the top of my head. And I mean, a piercing is a needle shoved into your skin. It's obviously painful to a degree. I'd imagine the septum to be more painful than a lot considering the thick cartilage. Has anyone ever complimented you on your singing? Did you believe them? Yeah, and I dunno. I don't generally like my singing voice, but I think I sing some songs okay. Do you know someone who constantly tries to embarrass you on all occasions? Omg no, I could never handle someone like that with how poorly I handle embarrassment. Has anyone ever kissed you in the rain? Did it seem romantic at the time? Yeah, and I guess, only really because it's an "accepted" thing as romantic. Something you're taught young. What is one part on your body that hurts at this moment, if anything? Nothing, at the moment. What was the last song you listened to? Did you enjoy this song? This metal medley I adore of Shadow of the Colossus pieces is on rn. What is your heritage? Do you have a bunch of mixed heritages? German, Irish, and Polish. When was the last time you listened to a genre of you music you despise? I didn't really *listen* to it, but some ass was blaring his rap music in FYS today. Have you ever tried the cinnamon challenge? NO, do NOT. That shit is noooot a joke. People have died. Do you ever countdown to anything? Not really, at least not seriously. Who was the last person to visit your house besides family? A friend of mine and Mom's, Randy. My rat Mitsu apparently fell or something, and her teeth were knocked crooked, and they became grossly overgrown and had to be clipped. He works at a wildlife rehab clinic and is overall just real experienced with animals. It was so awful though, seeing her like that. He's coming over about once a month now to keep them clipped; he's quite sure she has... damn, what was it? Metabolic bone disease (very common in rats), I think, that will push her teeth to keep growing. I can't remember exactly what he said, but. Are you allowed to watch rated R movies? I'm... nearing 24, lmao. How many bedrooms are in your house? Two. Do you see more of your mom or dad’s side of the family more? Mom's. I see both very rarely since they live states away, but yeah, Mom's. I haven't seen anyone in Dad's fam since I was a little kid. Are there any tattoos that you really want to get? lol got a few hours to talk? Do you really believe that everyone has a soul mate? Definitely not. You are compatible with sooooo many people. Do alligators scare you? I mean I wouldn't walk in front of one or anything, but as animals themselves, no. I think they're cool as fuck. Dinosaurs, man. Do you have abs? *ugly wheezing laughter* Have you ever been in detention? Twice I think, but only for too many tardies arriving at school. Do you believe in vampires? Uh no. Can you play the guitar? Not anymore. Have you ever kissed someone while they were dating someone else? Wow, no. Do you like hot dogs? Sadly. Are glasses a turn on or turn off for you? I don't care. Do you have a hot tub? Darling we poor. Would you ever try one of those dating websites? I like to pretend that one time NEVER fucking happened. I very much doubt I would again. Do you like to be tickled? Ew no don't. When’s the last time you flew a kite? Not since I was little. Do you ever take a bath and eat food at the same time? ... Does anyone do that?? Do you hate long surveys? No, I prefer them. I just do them over time. Gives me something to do... and I also don't spam where I share them. Do you like the taste of blood? UM no. Has anyone ever given you flowers? Yeah. When was the last time you swam in a lake? Wowie, I couldn't possibly guess. Who was the first friend you made in Junior High? That's a good question. Maybe Hannia? If you could learn any language, what would it be? GERMAN. I wanna be fluent. When was the last time someone asked you your age? Uhhh idk. Have you ever been on a train? No. Has anyone ever tried to physically fight you? No, but one girl literally told me she almost punched me. I used to hate her more than anyone in the world because she's Jason's ex and really hurt him, and yet now we're friends, lmao. Oh, how things can change. When was the last time you were angry? Last night because my headache wouldn't fuck off. What’s your worst subject in school? Math. I'm failing like, badly. What’s your favorite genre of music? Metal. Have you ever been called too skinny? OH MOST DEFINITELY NOT. Do you prefer analog or digital clocks? Analog clocks are way more aesthetically pleasing, but digital are more convenient. Do you have any stickers decorating your computer? Bruh I have tape, get on my fckng level. Tell me about the last nightmare you remember having. It was about seeing my grandma, who's really beginning to suffer from her chemo. What snacks do you usually get at the cinemas? Popcorn and a drink, then rarely a candy. Usually Sour Patch Kids. What scent is the deodorant you use? That's. A good question. I haven't payed attention. What did you last receive in the mail? The book Sara sent me. What is your favorite kind of fruit? Strawberries. How far away do you live from your place of birth? Like... 10-ish minutes? Have you ever been in a police car? Only when being transferred from the ER to psyche hospitals. How do you mark through your word search puzzles? I draw a line through them. Or circle them. Depends on the font and size, really. Have you ever sewn something? Idk how to sew. Name a CD you have or one you would like to have. Ha ha, the very first CD I personally bought was the "You're Awful, I Love You" album by Ludo. When I knew like, only three songs, ahaha. Have you ever watched an episode of Barney? I loved him as a kid, so, y'know. Can you name more than five U.S. presidents? Yeah, but I definitely don't know a lot. Are any of your neighbors’ yards in desperate need of a grass cutting? No. Do you still have your tonsils? Yessir. What does your mother’s wallet look like? What about your dad’s? Idk. I don't pay attention to Mom's and I very rarely see Dad. Who was the last person you cried in front of? My mom and one of my school advisors. And people who walked into the library. Do you think your last ex will eventually want to be with you again? He may still want to be, idk. It doesn't matter though. Does your ex hate you? The only ex I have that I think might is Jason. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex that you can talk to? Girt. Does anyone call you babe? Sara sometimes. Is your school’s mascot an animal? Yes. All my schools' were, lol. What would happen if you were stuck in an elevator with the person you’ve fallen the hardest for? I don't want to imagine it. Do you think that hair extensions and colored contacts make a person fake? Oh my god. Where do your hands go during kissing? I mean that. Depends. Generally just around a person's sides. Conservative or liberal? I'm such a mix. Do you have unlimited texting? Ye. Were you ever in the spelling bee? Never been a part of one. Do you dress suggestively? No. A very explicit song you’ve listened to recently? Ahaha, "Love Rhymes With Fuck You" by Jeffree Star is on right now and it is. Intense. When did you last see someone you know in public? Errrrr good question. Do you think you’d survive if zombies took over the world? Hell no. If you were to write a novel, what would it be about? The meerkat RP I've done since I was 10. My friends and I have made novels upon novels worth of stories. Are you currently pretending to be someone’s friend? No. Are you an impatient person? YEP!!!!!!!!! Are you afraid to watch movies that have sex scenes with your friends? Friends, no. It's awkward with family, though. Who sings the last song you listened to? Jeffree Star. Have you ever had a serious issue involving your eyes? No, other than being a blind mfkr. Have you ever watched South Park? Who’s your favorite character? Yes. Don't have one as I don't really care for it. Do you have sensitive teeth? Yes. Does it bother you to get shots in the mouth? Does it hurt? Nah. And I mean at the dentist they numb you, so not really. When did you last talk seriously with one of your parents? I have no clue. Does anyone ever say they miss you often? Sara. I mean we talk all the time, but she means like, physically being there. Would you rather become a wizard or a vampire, if you had the choice? Idk. I like vampires more, but a wizard sounds funner. Have you already moved out of your parents’ house? I've talked about the apartment situation enough. Are your parents divorced, married or separated? Divorced. Have you ever thought you might just have obsessive compulsive disorder? I'm diagnosed with it. Do you think it’s rude to text someone else while on a date? YEAH. What is the funniest movie you’ve ever seen? White Chicks never fails to get me. Has one of your websites ever quit operating or shut down? Were you sad? Recently the site I used to upload large .gifs I needed to use online shut down & I'm still mega tilted. There's probably others. Who is the person you talk to the most in your house? I only live with my mom. Is there a television show out there that you never miss? No. What movie have you seen too many times to be healthy? Ha ha, The Lion King I & 2 and Finding Nemo. What is your biggest responsibility in your household? Take care of my pets. How cold did it get where you live, last winter? Idr. Very, for NC anyway. Do you ever wonder what your exes are doing? I only ever wonder about Jason. Have you ever been caught in a huge lie with your parents? Never told a biggie lie to 'em. Ever ride in a limo? When did you last do so? No. Are you sober at the time being? Yeah. Have you ever lied to someone & said they could sing when they couldn’t? Possibly? Are you more tolerant of hot or cold weather? Describe a time when you were extremely cold? Describe a time when you were extremely over-heated? I handle the cold far, FAR better. I physically cannot last very long in like, even 80 degrees. The coldest I've probably ever been was when Sara and I were walking once up at her house and it was really windy. I think the absolute most over-heated I've been was when I was taking bridal shots of my sister's friend outside in the summer for a long long time. I was nearly to the point of tears and was absolutely soaked in sweat. When we got back in the car, I literally finished at least three water bottles in a very short period of time. I think I even downed half of another. What was something weird that you did as a child? Did anyone make fun of you for it? Were there any other children you knew who did the same thing? I actually created this trend in elementary school of digging tunnels in the sandbox with my hands because I wanted to feel like a meerkat, lol. No one made fun of me, I think? And as stated it kinda became a thing, so yeah, there were others. What has been the hardest thing about growing up? What was the easiest thing about it? Was there ever a time when you wanted to stay young forever? Was there ever a time when you wished that you could be older? Accepting my mental illnesses was by far the hardest. Easiest, uh... idk. Enjoying more freedom? There was definitely a time I wanted to be a kid forever; I remember I criiiied when I got my period for the first time because I didn't feel like one anymore. Simultaneously, there were certainly times I wanted to be older. Who was the last person you yelled at? Do you often yell at this person? Are you on good terms with them again, or are you still upset with them? I practically roared at Mom for pulling the rudest shit on me like a month or so back. I definitely don't yell at her a lot. We're on good terms now, yeah. If you work, do you get along with your coworkers? Which one of them have you known the longest? Is your current place of work somewhere that you plan to stay for a long time? Sadly no, so these questions are N/A. Name three items that have much sentimental value to you. Who gave you these items, and for what occasion? Do you ever have a harder time throwing away things that people have given you? My pebble from Holly Hill, my childhood plush moose Brownie that I got in Ohio, and the stuffed meerkat Jason gave me. It's not really because of it being from him, but rather because it comforted me deeply after the break-up. The little guy is so worn from all the love I gave it. I do have a hard time getting rid of things people give me. Who do you speak with more often: your online friends, or those that you see face-to-face? Of which type of friend do you have more? Which of those friendships do you value the most? Online to all three questions. Are you often misunderstood, or do you think that people can get where you are coming from pretty well? Do you think that you have a good ability to understand others? If yes, explain? Eh, idk, really. I feel like I don't communicate how I feel well enough, but I think people understand me decently. Most, anyway. I know I'm pretty good and relating to people. When was the last time that you had a headache? What did you do, if anything, to help it feel better? Which is worse for you: headaches or stomach aches? As previously mentioned, last night. I took medicine, but it was sleep that actually helped. AND I CANNOT DEAL WITH STOMACH ACHES. Gimme a headache over that shit any day. Have you ever had a crush on someone you met online? If yes, what happened between you and that person? Do you think that online relationships are legitimate relationships? Yes, and we're dating now lol. And of course I do!! Out of all of your past friendships and romantic relationships, which one was the worst? If that person were to show up at your place, would you be willing to talk to them? Friendship: Colleen. No, I wouldn't talk to her. Romantic: Tyler, but I mean sure, I'd talk to him. Well, Jason was the traumatic one, but the *relationship*, on my end, was a fairytale. It was the breakup that was... yeah, y'all know. Yeah, I'd be willing to talk to him, but quite honestly I'd probably end up collapsing into a sobbing heap because yeah PTSD. If any, how many friends have you made in the past year? How many have you lost? Is making friends something at which you are good, or does it take you awhile to form friendships? I've made a couple friends online, and I lost none, I think anyway. I can be someone's friend very easily, but it's the trust that really takes a while. If you are 18 or older, did reaching your 18th birthday make you feel like you were an adult? If not, what moment (or moments) made you feel like you were finally maturing? I don't remember, honestly. As a kid, did your parents force you to eat everything on your plate? If you had them, how did you feel about family meal times? If you were to have children, would you have structured meals with them? Well, Mom tried, but my picky ass usually won, lol. Some days I miss family dinners, other days I'm glad to do my own thing. If I were to have kids, I'd probably want to have family dinners, really. What was the last new thing that you tried? What is something you did a long time ago that you might like to do again? I don't know. I don't try new things often. From my past... I dunno. It's too late to think of all this stuff. What is your least favorite part about going to the doctor? What about going to the dentist? Which of those people would you rather see? THE GODDAMN WAIT. My dentist is usually pretty quick, so that's not typically a problem there. Instead, I fucking hate when I have to get x-rays done because I have a very small mouth, and the things they stick in your cheeks to bite down on are always way too big for me. I have to use a size down from adults. Do you ever take care of anyone younger than you (ie. babysitting, watching a younger sibling, etc)? Do you like doing this, or does it get to be a hassle? No, and hell no.

[ultxmately]

The group at Conventions

Lance:

- his first impression of them were that they're just for major nerds and the whole thing was pretty pointless and dumb

- newsflash Lance, you're a fuckin nerd too

- went with Pidge and Hunk for the first time to see a Marvel panel and kept going back after that

- loves buying plushies and jackets

- seriously it's a problem

- hes always wanted to cosplay but he always holds it off to the last minute so he'll usually either end up going decked out in merch clothes or a costume he bought online

- he still really wants to make his own costume one day tho

- one time he met Chris Pratt and almost cried (totally cried) when he signed his shirt

- Pidge has pictures of him in the center of a bunch of Spiderman cosplayers

- Lance claims it was the closest to a cult he will ever get to see in person

Hunk:

- is mostly there for comics, he loves going to those booths to buy new issues

- is perfect for navigating through crowds because people kind of part the way for him

- is of course the mom of the group

- "ok so we have that panel at four and the meet and greet at five. It might be cutting it close but we should be good if we take a bathroom break beforehand. Speaking of which we should probably take one now, too. Also whens the last time you ate, Pidge? I say we have lunch in about half an hour before it gets packed"

- has thought about bringing a baby leash for Lance and Pidge because they like to wander off so damn much

- doesnt like to cosplay much but he'll do it in a group setting

- hella good at spotting those good deals on merch (which is good because otherwise Lance would go into debt)

Pidge:

- total nerd but it's great

- mainly comes for video games and the occasional anime

- once cosplayed as a Homestuck character and Matt will never let her live it down

- (she got horns stuck to her head)

- is really good at making fake weapons or masks for cosplay so she'll normally set up an etsy shop a few months before the con to rake in some extra cash

- matt has suggested to open a booth but she'd rather walk around with her friends

- pin hoarder. As in,,, she literally only buys pins,,, maybe a sticker for her laptop here and there but you get the idea

- "Pidge at this rate you're gonna run out of clothes to put them on" "I am an innovator, Matt, I will find a way"

Matt:

- isnt it obvious that hes an anime nerd?

- never cosplays the same character twice

- cant wait to meet up with his fellow nerds and freak out over new seasons

- Pidge is his impulse control

- She's put a limit on how much merch he can buy

- it's mainly spent on prints and figures

- theres a video floating around on the internet of him dressed as Narruto dancing to Africa by Toto with one of those inflatable dinosaur costumes

Keith:

- he and Shiro met the group at a con

- Keith sets up booth every year to sell prints and zines

- He's actually a fairly well known artist

- He and Lance got into a lot of fandom related arguments at first until Hunk told him that Lance has bought like three of his works online in the past

- Lance will never forgive him

- On the days he isnt running his booth, he likes to walk around and look at all the cool weapon replicas

- shiro has stopped him from buying a sword or knife on more then one occasion

- knows a couple other artists and likes to meet up with them

- his bedroom walls are pretty much covered floor to ceiling with posters and art

Shiro:

- mostly there for Keith but still freaks out over DnD stuff

- Has gone to several tournaments and gotten in the top three

- If hes cosplaying, it's as his DnD character

- Hes actually fairly well known in that community

- Like Hunk, hes also there to make sure everyone doesnt die

- "Keith did you eat lunch? I told you to take a break an hour ago here drink some water weve been walking around a lot. Actually let's all find somewhere to sit down for a few minutes. Did we lose Lance again? I think he said he was gonna go check out that booth over there but let's all agree to meet back here in half an hour before we go to that panel"

- a lot of people ask if his scar and prosthetic are real and Keith wants to murder them

- Shiro just rolls with it and incorporates it into his DnD character

Allura:

- loves cosplaying as Wonder Woman or Stevonnie from SU

- She also loves studio ghibli, it's all she spends her money on

- She once entered a raffle and won a signed book full of concept art

- it is her most prized possession

- Coran almost spilled soda on it once and it's a miracle hes still alive to this day

- little kids like to come up and take pictures with her and she loves seeing how excited they get

- every once in a blue moon a guy will come up and start quizzing her about certain things and without fail everytime she'll purposefully spoil something for them and watch the life drain from their eyes

Romelle:

- didnt actually know what Comicon was until Allura brought her to one

- She automatically fell in love and now she and Allura have it down to a science

- they both come in with a game plan and schedule down to the second

- Shes a huge fan of cartoons like Steven Unirverse, Bee and Puppycat, Adventure Time, you get the idea

- Cosplays as Sailor Moon or some other older anime character

- Shes often asked to pose in group photos and she happily agrees

- her bed is covered in plushies that even outnumber Lance

- loves buying fan made clothes and going to panels

[donutpwns]

Little Brother Blues - Part 2

Part 1 - Part 3

Two days pass relatively quickly and Ford comes to a few conclusions about his future.

The first is that the Shack is nice. He's sad that they don't have the Stan O War; Old Stanley says it just didn't work out but won't explain how. Grown up stuff, he says, and Ford hates that Stanley can say that now. But the Shack is nice. He likes the attractions, even if most of them are fake. He wants to draw them, wants to draw new ones too but he doesn't know where to start with that. Stanley was always good at making up monsters; Ford pretended to be mad about it sometimes but really it was just fun. And Stan made money with them, which was super neat. Maybe they could buy a boat! It wouldn't be as cool as building one, but they could still go on a sea adventure together. That would be fun; he needs to ask Old Stanley about that later.

Old Stanley was weird but Ford still liked him a lot. He looks like their dad but he smiles way more, except sometimes when he looks at Ford and just stops smiling. That hurts but Ford would probably be sad too if Stanley forgot everything they ever did together so he doesn't get mad about it. He wants to be big again so they can be best friends again, like they're supposed to be. Old Stanley also has to work and tells people what to do all day and it's so boring. He never wants to play with him, even when he's not working and sitting in his chair in front of a huge TV. It's been two whole days and Stan still hasn't played with him once, not even checkers and Stanley loves checkers because Ford pretends not to notice when he flips pieces over to be kings even though he didn't cross the board. He wants Ford to be big again too. It's very boring.

His niece and nephew aren't boring though. He learns that they're two years older than him but they're not like the big kids back home. Mabel is really nice, even if she hugs and yells too much, and he really likes the sweaters she makes for him. It's been forever since he had new clothes or even clothes just for him. Usually he and Stanley just share hand-me-downs. Heh, guess Stanley’s too big to share now. His shorts and sneakers are from Dipper though so still hand-me-down but at least he doesn't have to share. Dipper is really cool and knows a lot about real monsters. He even has these books that talk about all the monsters in the town. They look through them to try to find out why Ford got turned into a kid again but he keeps getting distracted by other cool things in the books.

Like the gnomes. He found the page on the gnomes and has to see them in person. Getting older can wait because gnomes. Mabel calls them bearded jerks because they apparently tried to marry her, which is gross, but agrees that they can go on an adventure to see them. He thinks she likes adventures just as much as Dipper does.

“What about Old Stanley?” he asks while they load up backpacks with snacks and cans of Pitt Soda. He doesn't want to go on his first real adventure without Stanley, even if he was old. It just doesn't feel right. They probably had lots of cool adventures together but Ford doesn't remember them so they don't count. They were supposed to be the greatest adventurers of all time; the New Jersey Kings. He can't go without Stanley now.

“Grunkle Stan doesn't usually adventure with us unless we know it might try to kill us.” Dipper is packing extra notebooks which Ford thinks is a great idea. Dipper is really smart. “Like with the dinosaurs or the zombies.”

A gasp escapes him and he can feel energy bubbling up inside him. “You guys have seen dinosaurs?! And zombies?! That’s so cool! Can we go see those later?” he shoves his glasses back up his nose when they slip down; they fit a lot better after the kids shrank them with a magic flashlight but still slide down his nose when he gets too excited.

Mabel grins wide as anyone he's ever seen. “Yeah, but the coolest part was Grunkle Stan! He beat up a dinosaur,” she punches the air, “and a bunch of zombies for us! And then we made the zombies head explode by singing!” she makes an explosion sound with her mouth, throwing her hands out and falling back against Dipper.

Stanley is the coolest ever, no matter how old he was. Ford is gonna make him tell him all about it later because he has a right to know about how awesome Stanley is. “I want Old Stanley to come.” He decides with a nod and turns to the door. Finding gnomes with Stanley! What could be better? When Stanley was his age, he'd never have believed it. Stanley didn't believe in monsters but Ford is happy to know he did now. They studied them together! Oh, he hoped he'd been cool too when they fought the zombies.

Stanley’s in the museum, right inside the doorway that connects to the gift shop; Ford doesn't notice that a group of tourists are in front of his until he's already called out to him. In an instant, a dozen pairs of eyes are on him and he's shoving his hands behind his back. His face feels way too hot. Right, Old Stanley did tours because he worked.

Old Stanley laughs and that thankfully gets the attention off of him. “Sorry about that, folks! My nephew is a little excitable. The gift shop is right this way; make sure to grab a bumper sticker! Free with every shirt you buy if you donate five extra bucks!” he ushers them through the doorway to the gift shop, many of them talking about what a deal that was. The bumper stickers were only three dollars on their own though, Ford is pretty sure. Also he's not Stanley's nephew; Old Stanley lies a lot. Stan lied a lot when they were kids too but it feels like a bigger thing when a grown up does it.

He stiffens when Old Stanley turns to him, his smile disappearing with a sigh. Ford wants to squirm but makes sure to straighten his back. You gotta stand up tall, that's what their dad and boxing coach said, when you want something. And he wants Stanley to come with them really, really bad.

“You guys find anything in the books, Sixer?” Stanley asks while shutting the door that connects the museum to the shop. The sounds of the tourists chattering is quieter through the door and muffled enough to ease some of the tension out of his shoulders. Ford really doesn’t like crowds; that part of the Shack wasn’t very cool.

“Gn-gnomes!” he stammers out then winces. Okay, bad start. He clears his throat and shakes his head before looking up at Stanley with determination. New Jersey Kings! First adventure! You can do this, Stanford. “There are gnomes in the forest, Stanley! I wanna see them so we're going on an adventure to find them. And then we’ll look more into why I’m a kid again but first gnomes!”

Stan looks unimpressed as he flips his eye patch up. Ford thinks the eye patch is neat but he doesn't understand why Stan wears it. “What's there to find? They live in a clearing like thirty minutes from here.” He jerks his thumb towards the back of the house. “They go through our trash a couple times a month. Once they stole one of my attractions and I had to chase them back.”

Ford puffs out his cheeks in frustration; why does Stan have to make it seem like it’s not a big thing? Maybe he’s used to it, but Ford has never seen a gnome before. Well, not that he can remember, at least. But still! Magic should never not be special. “That means you can show us how to get there!” he grins and bounces in place. “You can show us and I can see a gnome!”

“I’m working, Ford.” Stan frowns down at him and Ford stares back. He wins the staring contest; Stan looks back towards the gift shop and crosses his arm. “Why do you even want to see one so bad? Isn’t all the info you would want to know in that stupid book?”

Ford huffs because the book is not stupid. Stan is being extra grumpy today. “I don’t want to just read about something cool, Stanley! I want to see it!” he clenches his fists and pushes up onto his tiptoes, “Remember when we camped out on the beach all weekend in the Stan O War because we thought there was a sea monster coming up and stealing our snacks?” Ford knew it was actually Stan eating them all when he wasn’t looking, but that hadn’t been the point. It was about the adventure. “We stayed up all night trying to catch it!” Stan had stolen a pocket knife from their Dad’s shop and they’d carved their names on the inside of the hull. They’d both gotten the belt for that but it had been worth it.

Stan actually laughs at that and shakes his head, which makes Ford grin even harder. He rubs at his forehead, “Ma was livid about that. She sprayed us with the hose so we wouldn’t track sand inside.” This time when he looks at Ford, the smile stays in place though he still looks a little skeptical. “Wouldn’t you rather have an adventure to fix yourself?”

“We can do that later! I want to have some fun first!” he reaches up so he can grab Stan’s arm; he has to dig his heels in and tug extra hard but Stan does take a step forward. “Old me has got to have all kinds of fun with you guys, it’s my turn now! C’mon! We can see the gnomes and then I promise I’ll work extra super hard to find out what bit me!” he wraps his arms around Stan’s arm when he tries to pull away; he yelps when he’s lifted off the ground. Holy Moses, Stanley was strong. “Pleeeeeease, Old Stanley! I’ll double pinky swear to work on it!”

“And here I thought the kids got it from me.” Stanley mutters before putting Ford back on the ground. He kneels so they’re on the same eye level, which Ford greatly prefers. He doesn’t like Stanley being taller; Ford is supposed to be the big brother, after all. “Okay, okay. You can go with the kids to see the gnomes but then—“

“You gotta come too!” Ford holds up his right hand and sticks out the last two fingers. “All of us! Kings of Gravity Falls! And Queen too, I guess, since Mabel is a girl. We’re all gonna go together!”

Stan sighs but he still hooks his pinky around Ford’s two. They shake their hands up and down twice and give an extra hard squeeze. “Double swear. We see the gnomes and then we focus on getting you fixed. Got it, Sixer?”

Ford nods and feels like a hundred bucks when Stan musses up his hair like he’s seen him do to Dipper before. This was going to be the best ever!

 -----------------------

So this wasn’t exactly the best ever.

The ropes around his wrists chafe really badly and it’s worse every time he tugs on them. He keeps bumping into Dipper’s back as they’re marched through underground tunnels. Normally he’d find the large expansive network of tunnels, and the cool glowing mushrooms, very fascinating but the sharp spear that keeps poking him in the back anytime he stops to try to get a good look at them is kinda soiling the whole thing. Man, Mabel was right, gnomes were bearded jerks.

The tunnels are bigger than Ford would’ve expected for gnomes, though the ceiling is low enough that Stan has to hunch where he’s walking ahead of Dipper. Ford winces at the thought of the lecture he was probably going to get if they made it out of this. Stanley seems like he lectures now when he’s not being fun. Man, this whole thing was a bit of a bust.

They’re lead to a giant central chamber with a tall ceiling from which what looks like hundreds of glowing orbs are hanging from. There’s enough passageways lining the walls to make Ford think they could get lost forever in them. He should’ve brought some of Mabel’s yarn; it could’ve been like the story of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth! Though it might be difficult to leave a trail of yarn with his hands tied up. Hm. He’s going to have to brainstorm that later. See what Dipper thought of it.

There are two thrones set up side by side against the far wall. A gnome with a brown beard that looks a lot less bushy than the others he’s seen is sitting on the left one while the other sits empty aside from a pillow with a tiara on it. There’s a picture of a girl with long blonde hair and more makeup than even his Ma wears hanging on the wall right above the empty throne. The gnome that had been sitting in the other throne seems to notice they're all staring at it because he looks back at it and quickly throws a blanket over it.

“Pacifica.” Mabel says it the same way Stanley used to say Crampelter. She’s at the front of the group and has even more rope around her wrists than any of the rest of them. Also one of the gnomes put a flower crown on her head so that’s weird. They also smashed the leaf blower she’d brought with her when they captured them.

“Heh, pay no attention to that! We weren't thinking about making her our new queen after you broke our hearts or anything!” he laughs nervously, moving to stand between Mabel and the now covered painting. He clasps his hands in front of him and makes gross gaga eyes at her. “We still only have eyes for you, Mabel! And we’re so happy you decided to finally accept our proposal and become our queen!”

Mabel’s response to that, because she is awesome, is to kick the gnome right in the face. “Stop kidnapping girls, Jeff! It’s creepy!” she kicks another gnome that tries to jab her with a stick. “Also, I thought you guys lived in the forest?”

“We live lots places! You don’t know!” Jeff brushes himself off. “And maybe we thought our new queen would like this better than the forest. We’re working on our pitch!” he hops back onto the throne. “Oh well, that doesn’t matter, because you’re here!”

Dipper and Mabel groan at the same time. “No girl is going to be happy if you kidnap them!” Dipper scowls and moves to stand next to his sister. “Geez, why do all the creeps like you, Mabel?”

“Because I’m adorable and awesome and the best anyone could ever have and I also have a pig.” Mabel says it so matter-of-fact that Ford’s not sure anyone can dispute it. “And I’m not going to marry you and your giant colony of jerks, Jeff!”

Jeff waves his hand like he’s trying to wave away the statement. “You’ll learn to love us! And, hey, we’ll let you keep your family! That was the deal breaker before, right?” he reaches into his beard and pulls out a rose that looks like it’s been stepped on. “C’mon, just say yes!”

Mabel tries to kick him again but the gnome manages to jump back against the back of the throne before her foot connects. “The deal breaker is that I hate you!”

“No marriage is perfect!” he screams when she jumps up onto the throne to kick him.

Stan lets out a loud yell that has everyone looking at him; Ford’s eyes widen when Stan pulls his hands out from behind his back, length of rope held in his right hand.  The rope wasn’t even broken! How in the world—Stanley whirls, grabbing a spear that was being jabbed at him right below the point and jerking. The gnome holding it manages to hold its grip, though it probably regrets that when Stan swings the spear and gnome both to slam into another one that was running towards them. That one drops the spear and Stan picks it up.

“Dipper! Catch!” Stan yells and Dipper, somehow, manages to turn and actually catch the spear. He fumbles it but it doesn’t drop; it’s small enough for him to slip it down and start rubbing the point against the ropes around his wrists. Oh! That’s so smart! “Mabel—”

“On it, Grunkle Stan!” on it for Mabel was apparently chasing Jeff and kicking him repeatedly.

Unable to do much, Ford ends up just trying to dodge spears while he watches his family fights a quickly growing group of gnomes. Dipper has his hands free before too long and quickly moves over to get Mabel free; once she’s got her hands she is taking a page out of Stan’s book and punching. Jeff tries to jump on her only to scream when he gets an eyeful of what looks like glitter and fall to the ground.

Four stack on top of each other and try to attack Stan; they topple with a single left hook. Wow, Stan really learned a lot from their boxing lessons. Ford’s starting to regret not paying more attention. Maybe their dad was right about knowing how to fight being important.

“Catch, Great Uncle Ford!” Dipper calls and Ford turns in time to get smacked in the face with the spear; it clatters to the ground and nearly knocks his glasses off too. He tries to squat to grab them but another gnome is running at him so he screams and runs away instead. He hears Dipper yell “Sorry!” but is much too busy trying not to die by gnome to respond.

Crap crap crap crap!

This wasn’t supposed to happen! Ford just wanted to see some gnomes, not fight them! Oh crud! He needs to get behind Stanley, Stanley is good at fighting! Yeah, Stan will keep him safe and then they can escape. Oh, he was going to get Stan so many bags of toffee peanuts for this.

That’s when he sees Stan grappling with what looks like a person made of gnomes, standing a little taller than Stan himself, with four more gnomes stacked up behind him. Something electric shoots through his gut at the sight of it; how can they attack someone from behind like that?

He runs forwards before he can really think about it, ducking his head so the back of it and his shoulders take the majority of the hit as he bowls into the stack behind Stan. It’s enough to collapse them before they could hit Stanley. Stanley lets out another yell and turns to slam the gnome-person into the ground, where it shatters and all the gnomes scatter back.

Stanley’s hair is sticking to his temples with sweat and his chest is heaving but his eyes are about as wide as his grin that Ford has to mirror. Ford wonders if this is how Stan feels whenever he punches bullies and if so, he suddenly understands why he likes punching things so much. He wonders if they ever learned to fight together when they got bigger; he hopes they did.

“They’re forming Gnome-tron!” Mabel yelps as her and Dipper reach where Ford and Stan are standing. She’s also got hair sticking to her face, cheeks even more flushed than normal. Dipper is panting with a hand on his knee while the other points to where all the gnomes are starting to pile together. The pile starts taking the shape of the gnome-person Stanley had been fighting but much, much bigger.

“Hot Belgian waffles.” Stanley says it under his breath and then all of a sudden Ford is off the ground.

He grunts as his stomach hits Stan’s shoulder, quickly sucking back in the breath that was knocked out of him. He kicks his legs; why hadn’t he caught the stupid spear to untie his hands?! Dipper is tossed on Stan’s other shoulder and they share a brief moment of solidarity at how much this sucks. Stanley locks an arm around his back to keep him in place while they run. Mabel runs behind Stanley while he takes off down a tunnel. Ford wants to be offended as she keeps up with Stanley but it’s really hard to once he sees a hand made of gnomes reaching for them down the tunnel.

Dipper laughs from his place on Stan’s other shoulder and cups his hands around his mouth. “Forget that you’re underground? Stupid gnomes!”

“Yeah, bearded jerks!” Mabel throws another handful of glitter over her shoulder.

“Kids, escape, then taunt the enemy! Basic rules of capture!” Stanley yells as he takes a sharp left turn.

Ford tries to take in as much as he can while being jostled by the running and while his heart is pounding in his throat. The mushrooms glow without any other light source, there’s different colored moss littering the ground. He recognizes a few things, like specific groupings of mushrooms or a scratching of different names x Queen in the walls, that he saw when they were being led in. Did Stan remember the way they were led in?

Ford was never happier to see the sun than when they burst through the branches and such that were covering the entrance to the tunnels. Stan drops Dipper who scurries over to where their backpacks were left. He takes his and tosses both Mabel’s and Ford’s to his sister. Ford kicks his feet again but Stan just tightens his hold so he doesn’t fall off.

By the time they reach the treeline within sight of the Shack, Stan is drenched in sweat and coughing from how bad he’s panting. He does finally drop Ford though; as soon as Ford is off his shoulder, Stan his hands on his knees much like Dipper next to him. Mabel stretches to be able to pat both of them of the back at the same time.

They pant for several minutes, trying to catch their breath and waiting to see if the gnomes chased them all the way back. The only sound is their labored breathing and the sounds of Mabel untying the ropes still binding Ford’s wrists. He rubs at the red, raw skin. Slowly their breathing evens out and there doesn’t be any sign of the gnomes.

He doesn’t know why it happens, maybe it’s all the energy still buzzing in his chest, but laughter bubbles up from inside him. He grips his stomach, unable to stop the peals of laughter that tumble out. It seems to be contagious; Stan start’s chuckling next to him and then the twins are covering their mouths while they giggle. Ford doesn’t even mind when Mabel tugs him into a tight hug, her face sweaty and hot when she presses their cheeks together. He even manages to get an arm around her to hug her back.

Stanley wipes his eye under his glasses, chest still shaking with laughter that won’t stop. “Holy cow that was a stupid idea. I say we have a treat after all that, yeah?” he moves his hands to muss up Mabel’s hair and shove Dipper’s hat down over his eyes. “You kids are gonna be the death of me.” His hand moves to muss up Ford’s hair next, “All three of you. C’mon. That’s enough for a day right.”

Mabel grins and sticks her hands under her hair to lift it off the back of her neck while she follows Stan towards the door. “We should probably let Pacifica know to look out for gnomes that want to kidnap her.”

Dipper nods next to her. “Last thing we want is to have to rescue her.”

Ford moves to follow but freezes in place; the hairs on the back of his neck are standing on end as the feeling of being watched hits him. He frowns and looks back towards the trees. He could’ve sworn he just heard someone else laugh. He looks over the trees, trying to spot any gnomes that might’ve followed them.

Dipper yells from the porch, “Great Uncle Ford! C’mon! Grunkle Stan’s busting open the ice cream freezer!”

A grin takes over Ford’s face and he takes off towards the porch. Oh well, it was probably nothing.

[12setsofchopsticks]

TOKYO DISNEY

So now let me tell you about Tokyo Disney:

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG POST!!

OK SO, there are two parks at Tokyo Disney, Disneyland and Disneysea. Disneyland is basically the Orlando equivalent of the Magic Kingdom and Disneysea is kind of like the other three parks combined (I have never been to Disneyland in California so I can only relate to Orlando). Shota and I chose to go to Disneysea, and it was a blast! I wasn’t totally sure if he knew exactly what he was getting into by going to Disney with me, but he kept up so it was all good! 

^Some of the scenery from Disneysea.

It was lucky we decided on Disneysea because a few days later I would end up going to Disneyland with my senseis 

^They are so cute, I love them. 

We went after work with the “After 6 Passport” so all of the fastpasses were gone (SAD!) but we still had so much fun.

First let me talk about the things that were the same:

Attractions: Many of the rides have an Orlando equivalent, like Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror although they do a little bit of a different spin on them (at least Tower of Terror, we didn’t get a chance to do Toy Story).

Some of the rides are the same but with different theming, for example, the Indiana Jones Adventure is the pretty much the Dinosaur: Countdown to Extinction ride in Animal Kingdom. However, there were also things like Aladdin’s magic carpet and the teacups just to keep it classic. Also OMG I was walking around Disneysea just minding my own business when I saw a whole area themed around CAPE COD. I could not believe it!! I was like SHOTA THIS IS WHERE I AM FROM.

I thought it was so crazy that, of all the places in the world, Tokyo Disney decided to highlight the charms of the good ole’ Cape! 

Apparently there is a bear character named Duffy that is from there, why I didn’t know that is totally beyond me. Anyways. Disneyland was almost exactly the same as Magic Kingdom. There are the three mountains (Space, Splash, and Big Thunder), It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc. Interestingly enough, it was all located in the same general areas too. My senseis were super surprised when I knew exactly how to get from Space Mountain to Big Thunder, without a map, despite having never been to the park before. Cinderella’s castle sits in the middle of the park (it is said that the story of Cinderella resonates in Japanese culture due to her hardworking attitude) but unlike in MK, you can actually go inside and walk around inside the castle! Unfortunately, this was closed by the time we got there.

SIDENOTE! The park music was also the same, at least for Disneyland, I didn’t even realize it until I was in Frontierland humming along to the music and my senseis were like “oh, have you heard this song before?” and I was like “oh, yes I guess I have, LOL!” Then when I got to Tomorrowland I realized that it was indeed the same and I got all kinds of fuzzy feelings. And, of course, in true Disney fashion, there are also fireworks every night.

Fastpasses: Yeah, so they still use the paper fastpasses which, for me, is a bit of a throwback. But I think Orlando is currently the only park that uses the magic bands/MyDisneyExperience FP right now though, so it’s not too different from other parks. When the magic bands come though, you better believe I’ll be ready for it. One thing to note here is that the fastpasses run out MUCH faster than in Florida. We went to Disneysea on a “slow” day and FPs for Toy Story were gone after two hours.

That being said, Shota and I did a really good job organizing our fastpasses and got on a whole bunch of rides at Disneysea. As I mentioned earlier, when I went to Disneyland, it was late so the fastpasses were already gone. So even though it goes against everything I believe in to wait for Space Mountain for nearly TWO HOURS, I did it. It actually wasn’t so bad though because we got Mickey-shaped cheeseburgers and ate them in line, which was one of the best ideas of the night.

Anyways. Kind of related to fastpasses is the ticketing. Like I mentioned above, Tokyo Disney does not yet have the magicband technology so everything is still paper. You *can* get your ticket online and print it out or buy it directly from the ticket counter, but what a lot of people (read: tourists) may not know is that you can actually buy your ticket from the conbini. Have I talked about conbinis yet and how awesome they are? Holy moly, more on that to come later I guess, but YES! There is a 7/11 that is maybe a stone’s throw from my house so we hopped on over the night before and bought our tickets right then and there. Boom, done. How cool is that??

Monorail: There is a monorail that takes you around from the parks and resorts. It was much cuter than the Orlando ones because all the windows and handles were shaped like mickeys.

HOW KAWAII, RIGHT???

One difference here is that you have to pay to use it. This is most likely due to the sheer number of people who come to Tokyo Disney via public transportation.

Staff: Every staff person I encountered was really friendly and helpful. Some more good news here is that most of them speak English really well, too! Someone even gave me a sticker for my birthday and drew a picture with my name on it :3

^ FYI that’s my name. Also my BiRtHdAyYyYy!

Also all of the performers were great! Every show I saw had really talented dancers and their costumes were certainly on point. Not that the WDW parks don’t have good talent, but boy these people really take their job seriously and their hard work shows!

Okay, now let’s talk about the things that were different:

The Crowds: Holy moly, we got to Disneysea around a half hour before the park opened and this was the line to get in:

Keep in mind that it was 7:30 am on a random Monday. The crowds were like nothing I have ever seen before. It should have been madness, but actually…it wasn’t. This was one of the major differences between Disney world and Tokyo Disney that I noticed; that, despite the sheer numbers of people, things were still neat and orderly. However, there were many staff members holding up signs (especially in the morning) that said “please do not run!” The temperament of the crowd was generally considerate, which I think was partly due to Japanese culture and partly also that it wasn’t 95F with 100% humidity. On a slightly related note, I didn’t see any toddler meltdowns (MIRACLE??)

Shopping: Anyone who’s ever been to Disney knows that the shopping is a big part of the experience and Tokyo Disney is no different. However, what they have in the souvenir shops are really different. A big part of Japanese culture is gift giving, especially in the form of small souvenir snacks or おみやげ (o-mi-ya-gay), which literally translates to “souvenir.” I noticed that, instead of the things that you usually see in the Orlando shops—like pins, mugs, snowglobes, etc.—there were a lot more snacks in fancy tins for people to take home and give to their friends, families, and coworkers. It seemed like many of the items that were being sold were marketed as things that people could give as gifts for others, rather than items to take home for themselves, which really reflects the omiyage culture that is the desire to share experiences with your peers through souvenirs. I got these two, look how CUTE the frozen one is!!

Among the omiyage, I also saw tons and tons of apparel. Ears galore!! One hilarious thing I kept seeing were these giant hats of characters like the aliens from Toy Story or Olaf from Frozen.

Especially when kids in groups wore them they looked like the real aliens, I wish I got a real picture cause it was really funny to see. Another interesting trend is these things that people buy to hold popcorn (more on popcorn below). It’s basically just a big plastic bucket in the shape of a character and people wear them around their necks. I saw them EVERYWHERE, like they were literally the coolest thing since corn first popped.

Food: I’m almost tempted to say that the food wasn’t as good, but I feel like that’s an unfair statement because Orlando has so many world-class restaurants and I only ate park food. HOWEVER, I can definitely say that the food was different. Like WTF is this thing:

Have you ever seen any food item that looks more like a giant isopod? But actually this thing was delicious. With a name called “gyoza sausage bun” how could it not be, right? Still, it looked so alien.

Speaking of alien food, I also saw these lil guys:

I didn’t eat them, but I did take a picture and laugh about them for a little bit. Another big thing in Tokyo Disney is POPCORN. Holy moly, if I didn’t see over 12 flavors of popcorn. There were definitely normal flavors like butter and caramel, but then there were things like soy sauce & butter, strawberry, cappuccino, and curry! I didn’t try any though. PROBABLY CAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE ONE OF THOSE AWESOME POPCORN CONTAINERS. Ugh, next time. One thing I DID definitely have though, was a churro!! Yes, churros!!! However, they were not exempt from the strange flavors either. While I enjoyed a cinnamon sugar one, they had sweet potato and strawberry as well. They also had turkey legs but they were like, half the size as the ones in Orlando. Shota COULD NOT believe it when I showed him a picture of the turkey legs I had in Magic Kingdom, he was like “IS THAT EVEN REAL?? DID YOU ACTUALLY EAT THAT?” Yes, I did. And I learned my lesson, which is why I’m not getting another one ever again.

Also look at this adorable Mickeyburger:

Language: I guess this one is pretty obvious, but pretty much everything was in NIHONGO!! 

Because Disney is an American entity, there was still a huge amount of English around. Mostly these were things like ride and store names (or anything that was trademarked, really) and various warnings/disclaimers (think “please stand clear of the doors/por favor….”). But! Almost all of the character voices sounded the same. It was super strange to hear Mickey Mouse in his Mickey Mouse voice say something like “僕のたもだちが大好き!” (I love my friends!), it was like those stories you hear of someone waking up from like a coma and suddenly being fluent in another language. Bizarre!

Also, the songs would switch back and forth between English and Japanese. I guess I knew that they would translate songs to popular movies like Frozen, but it’s still strange to hear “雪だるまつくろう? ( yuki daruma tsukurou)” instead of “do you wanna build a snowman?”.

At the same time, it’s a little disorienting to finally have gotten used to Japanese Disney only to realize that what I’m *actually* hearing is English. It’s a really hard feeling to describe, but it kind when you snap out of a daydream and you know that someone has been talking to you but you have no idea what they just said.

OH WELL, WHO CARES!

So in conclusion, I still think that Disney World is better than Tokyo Disney (it’s hard to compete, especially given the size), but I’m really glad I got to experience both parks! I think they did a really good job taking an American theme park and blending it with Japanese culture. I will definitely go back before I return to the states!

[sgtbuckyybarnes]

“Not everyone is out to get you. Stop thinking that. It’s annoying.” Ava and Klaus again

(I put both of these together)

“How about these?” Ava said as she appeared in the biscuit aisle holding up a twenty four pack of crisps “Do tiny humans like these?”

Klaus rolled his eyes as he turned away from the chocolate he was staring at in confusion “Briar sent me out with you because she said you would know,” he said with a sigh as he leaned on the handle of the shopping cart and watched her shrug.

“I was a kid in the seventeen hundreds Nik we didn’t have these fancy shops with millions of different things to choose from,” she replied dumping the crisps into the cart “I don’t think I ever even had a birthday party.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Klaus said as he plucked a few different packed of biscuits off the shelves and dropped them in beside the crisps “My siblings and I didn’t even really do birthdays when I was a lad.”

“Oh you mean back when dinosaurs were still a thing?” Ava asked before dodging out of the way when he sent her a glare “What? It’s not my fault you were the first set of people after the cavemen!” she added innocently as she sent him a smile and a couple of teenagers behind them laughed when they wandered passed “See. I’m funny.”

“Humans have an odd sense of humour,” he said before his eyes lit up as they reached the alcohol aisle.

“Eight year old’s birthday party,” Ava reminded him in a singsong tone as she noticed him practically drooling at the sight of the many different selections of whiskey lining both sides of the shelves.

“I feel as though we’re going to need it,” he said stepped back slightly and tapped his chin with his pointer finger, regarding the alcohol with more thought than when he’d been checking out the chocolate biscuits “Here we are,” he said as he plucked two bottles of his favourite brand and gently placed them into the corner of the cart “We’re going to have an entire class of eight year olds running around the compound Ava we’re going to need these to stay sane.”

“I’m not sure this is how normal parents handle things Niklaus,” she said with arched eyebrows as she folded her arms over her chest.

“They’re just…they’re just so loud,” he said leaning his head back and letting out a sigh “They’re so tiny and they’re so young but they make the most noise I have ever heard in my entire life and I have lived a long time Ava.”

“Welcome to fatherhood ey,” she chuckled as she nudged his side with her elbow “Luckily for me aunts aren’t expected to stay for the entire party.”

“This aunt is,” Klaus replied in a grumble as he sent her a pointed look “And don’t pout, if I can’t leave you can’t leave,” he added as he dug into the pocket of his jeans to find the list Briar had written for them before they’d left the house “I want what’s best for Hope of course but a bunch of human children and their parents having free range of the compound?”

“I know it was a little bit of a crazy idea but it’s gunna make her, Bekah and Briar very happy,” Ava said her well rehearsed line with a smile. She knew how much of a crazy idea it actually was, Klaus knew, Kol knew, Hayley knew and even Elijah knew but once Hope, Briar and Rebekah had got the idea into their heads that they were going to throw an eighth birthday party it had pretty much spiralled out of control from there. Wanting to give the little girl a life as normal as possible they had enrolled her into a local school and, as her birthday was fastly approaching, decided that the best idea would be to invite all of the kids in her class, along with their parents, to a party.

The duo, used to tackling witches and werewolves together, managed to complete the round trip of the supermarket, dumping different things they assumed humans would enjoy into the cart, without any serious incident. No one lost a head like Klaus had threatened when someone cut in front of him bumping his cart with theirs, no one’s spleen was ripped out like Ava had grumbled beneath her breath when a middle aged woman had pushed in front of her to take the last packet of sausage rolls and they had even managed to pack the bags while compelling the lady behind the counter to think they had paid without anybody around them noticing.

They’d picked up Hope’s cake on their way back and even offered to help decorate the place once they were back home.

“Can you believe me and Klaus did all this,” Ava said with a grin, gesturing to the table of food before her, as Kol appeared at her side and slung his arm around her shoulders “Like we chose all of this food.”

“To be honest darling I still have issues with remembering you and my older brother are actually friends now,” he replied as he raised his drink, encased in a travel mug so no one could see what was inside, to his lips.

“Are you…drinking blood?” she hissed digging her elbow into his side when he sent her an innocent look “Briar is going to kill you.”

“You’ll never prove it.”

“Give me some of that,” Klaus said as he trudged over to where Ava and Kol were stood and stole his little brother’s drink before either of the couple could say anything “Hmm,” he continued after he had taken a sip “I had assumed it was some of my whiskey but this is also good.”

The trio all stayed stood back slightly, passing the mug of blood between them, watching the mayhem going on before them. Briar and Rebekah seemed in their element as they organised party games while Hayley almost looked in pain as she stood and entertained a few of the moms, Elijah stood close with a gathering of his own, all of them hanging on to his every word.

“See the guy in the grey?”

“Uh huh,” Ava replied to Klaus’ whisper, Kol moving his head slightly to show his brother he was listening.

“I’m concerned about him,” Klaus whispered watching as the man made his way through to where Hayley was stood “Feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before. The supermarket earlier.”

“People often see other people at the supermarket brother,” Kol said with amusement “I thought we were being normal today.”

“We’ve gathered a bunch of people to our home to celebrate the birth of our powerful Hope who knows who is going to crash.”

“Do you really think B wouldn’t know if there was someone here off the guestlist?” Kol asked arching an eyebrow “No one’s more powerful than your other half she’d be able to sniff out an imposter in a second.”

“She’s distracted,” Klaus replied with a shake of his head, craning his neck slightly as he watched the man in the grey laugh at something Hayley had said “And I keep getting odd looks. It’s almost like they know. They know what we are and they’re here to run us out of their town.”

“Oh for God sake,” Ava sighed reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose “They’re staring at you for the same reason they’ve all be flocking around Kol and Elijah…you’re hot!” she said with a roll of her eyes before she reached up and plucked something off of his back “Plus Hope put this on your back earlier,” she said as she pressed the sticker decorated with some kind of cartoon into his palm “Y’know when she hugged you?”

Pursing his lips Klaus narrowed his eyes as he stared down to the sticker “Surely that’s not it there must-”

“Okay I know you, both of you, have had a tough time in life but seriously??” Ava said with a huff “Not everyone is out to get you. Stop thinking that. It’s annoying,” she continued with a roll of her eyes as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“I just-”

“Stop it,” she said raising her finger up to shush him “Stop it or I’ll tell Briar you’re trying to ruin the party,” she said folding her arms over her chest.

Both Kol and Klaus exchanged glances “I’m going to get rid of the rest of this,” Kol said holding up the mug with a small bit of blood left in the bottom “Then maybe I can help you sort the food out?”

“Good idea,” Klaus said with a nod “I’m guess it’s time for me to go and play,” he said as he caught Hope’s eye and she waved for him to come over.

“Everything okay?” Briar asked as she appeared next to Ava, looping her arm through her friend’s she sent her a grin.

“Yup,” Ava replied leaning her head against Briar’s “Our boys are so whipped.”

[dahsyi]

i wrote a short story for my creative writing class

Life-Sized Mirror

I watched as she shivered to the sight of me holding the knife towards her. Anne was wearing an all-black outfit today, with her favorite black choker bracelet on her right wrist. “This shows that metal, rocker gal side of me,” was her usual justification when I rolled my eyes to her same option of accessories despite the other fancy bangles I bought for her.

We were alone that night, in the bedroom. Our bedroom, to be exact. I ignored her trembling self at the corner of the bed as my eyes trailed across the room. About a year ago, the whole room vibes herself- the fairy lights hanging around our bed posts (not before I claimed it’s too childish of her to have ridiculous fancy lights to sleep), the life-sized mirror standing next to the left side of the bed, the petite-sized laptop, just like her, with an assemblage of stickers of her interests on the cover and Anne’s go-to casual American show, Friends displayed on-screen. I rarely saw her watching it these days, she seemed a bit too caught up with her work lately. That’s for the best too. Ross annoyed the hell out of me with his dinosaurs and lame-ass self. And a bunch of adults hanging around a coffee shop in the midday? Not a good example for a growing, developing teen adult like her.

You know what else went extinct apart from Ross’ dinosaurs? The ancient carving of Anne’s sweet, warm intoxicating smile. In the early years of knowing her, that smile was the additional organ of her anatomy. She was the typical girl-next-door, a bit shy but very friendly and enjoys the company of people. After we have been together for quite some time that she preferred times with me alone.

I glanced over her as her fearful eyes striked through mine. There was never a time that our eyes didn’t meet each other, except for the times she was too absorbed within her interests that she totally ignored me, and I would whisper words to her to remind herself that I needed attention, too.

“I don’t wanna die today..” all of a sudden the sentence came out as if it’s one of her remaining last breaths.

I re-adjusted the knife as it gets slippery on my sweating left palm. It must be done today. I had to end her today. She suffered enough. She had nothing to appreciate, not even her life. She was average in everything she does despite the talents she was being told she possessed. Physical traits? Mediocre. Yes, she dressed up nicely but the most she did was just to distract people from focusing her actual physical self. At least it did not work on me. 

“Don’t do this,” her voice cracked through her lips. “How will Ma and Ayah cope when I’m gone?” I smirked as I heard the mentioned names. 

“Aren’t they the same people, ought to be called your own parents, who ruined your childhood? And those separated Eid celebrations? Should I remind you how much conflict there is? For fuck’s sake, it’s supposed to be a joyful day for everyone. No one else knows how you cry your eyes out, deciding who needs you most.”

First day of Eid, 2019. Anne told Ayah about Ma’s worsened health condition. He’s concerned, as usual. That constant smile that he wore on his face managed to hide his actual emotions from most people, but her of course. Well that was how the majority of this family operates anyway. They rarely expressed their feelings, far to actually sit down and talk about it.

“Losing her appetite. Not getting out of bed for days. Mama fell down too. Right in front of my eyes. I was too surprised, I even had to help her get up because she was unable to move herself. She overworks herself, you know her well.” Anne mumbled. Ayah nodded in agreement.

“Was she okay though for you to spend the Eid with me?” he asked.

Anne went silent, before continuing, “Well, we rarely got the chance to meet. Yet I got so much things to share to you.” 

The emotional connection Anne had with her dad was undeniable compared to her mother. Unlike Ayah, they didn’t have much of heart-to-heart sessions. After all, Ma kept herself busy, having to single-handedly raise Anne on her own throughout the years.

“Yet you didn’t call me. You replied to my text a week after, if you had the sense to actually read them.” Ayah said as he laughed coldly.

Well, that was partly me to be blamed. Anne got too immersed in her work that she had been neglecting calls and messages from her beloved ones. Pardon, ours. Somehow I indirectly instilled the negative thoughts and endless list of what-ifs for her to return the calls which leads to her procrastinating being in-contact with her parents, let alone her closest friends.

Anne awkwardly grinned when her phone suddenly chimed. It was her aunt texting. ‘Ma’s warded.’ Anne’s heart dropped.

“Should I tell Ayah?” she whispered to me when Ayah wasn’t looking.

“You know how Ma is. She’s not fond of people sympathising her, let alone her ex-husband. And what do you expect from Ayah? He’s going to be super worried and he might even show up in the ward.” I answered blankly.

But being the hard-headed person she was, she blatantly told Ayah about Ma’s condition. And guess what? Of course Ma exploded in madness. I was the one to receive that hurtful and full  of hatred (probably the only thing she ever dedicated her expressions on) message Ma sent, but Anne deleted it, which I thought to keep herself sane. I was surprised she still had them the moment she saw Ayah’s disappointed but understanding eyes.

I got too caught up with the flashbacks that I didn’t realize Anne’s right hand had reached for the knife. Her scream filled the entire room as she flung it away. Shit, I cursed as my eyes darted across the nightstand to find anything, really, that could gut the soul out of her. 

“Trust me on this, I can stop the ache.” I said, grinning as my sight fell on the shiny metal piece laid on its own on the nightstand. Lately it had been our new companion every night. I wonder where Anne hid the rest of blades, probably inside the drawers. “I was there by your side the entire time, and I know what you went through.” I continued.

My left hand reached for the blade, with struggle this time. Wow, she’s getting stronger. I know scrolling those Reddit posts from her supportive ‘friends’ did her no good. 

“Stop struggling, Anne.” I went furious. “This is what has been lingering in your mind for the past few weeks, isn’t it? You know I can’t do this alone.”

“They help me see what’s beneath all these. Somehow I know despite how the world sucks, it’s built beautifully,” she sobbed.

“I don’t see you admiring the beauty of life in the nights you play with this ‘knight in shining armour’.” Ironically, the armour wasn’t going to shield or protect her tonight.

I picked up the blade and instantly skimmed it through her wrist. Trickles of blood appeared, and every drop of them was like infused adrenaline rushing through my soul. I was quite surprised the bracelet remained intact after the fast cut.

Anne winced in pain, which made me even more excited. I sliced her thin skin repeatedly like how a mistress swipes her sugar daddy’s credit card. More blood gushed through the wounds, seeping through her black shirt but remained invisible due to the deep dark colour, transparent blood.

“One…” Oh, this counting trick again.

“You know you’re not going to reach fifteen today. Not today.”  I taunted.

“You know the rules. Let me finish counting. Then you do whatever the hell you want with us.” I didn’t know why I agreed to that rule in the first place, but a promise was a promise I guess. “Make it quick then.”

“Two.” It was a childhood trick she taught herself back then. It was her Tylenol for her stage-fright moments, or when she was about to do crazy things. “Three.” Like how she explored Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the night, walking, just her and her best friend. I remembered how free she felt that night. How her soul reached out to the silence of the city. She really let her guard down during the moment, she didn’t really care about the suspicious old man that seemingly to sneak around them wherever corner they slipped. Or the shady street clubs with drunkards scattering. All that she knew, she fed on that enthusiasm. It was her nutrition.

“Eight.” Hell, it was already eight? Hahaha I better not let myself missed the count again. Funny how easy she came up with this count alternative, it was from Troye’s Heaven song. 

‘So I’m counting to fifteen’ was the specific sentence. Troye said it helped him when he’s coming out about his sexuality. Anne, was very heavily influenced by music. It beat her passion for the Arts. The music itself, the culture, the live crowd being in the same place letting themselves go to the beat of the drums. Oh we lived for the moments. Good Vibes was the first music event that she experienced music as something more than just an arrangement of words and tempo and rhythms, or metal rock was more meaningful than merely a long-haired dude screaming  trash on the mic accompanied by heavy, fast-paced drum beats that drives the heart insane.

“Fourteen.” And at that instant, the exact sentence by Slipknot came across our minds.

‘You cannot kill what you didn’t create.’

“Fifteen.”