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kitchenscissorbangs · 6 months

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Magnetic - chapter one

Reincarnated as a roadman in another world?!

"This time, I want you, you, you, you, like it's magnetic"

On a seemingly normal morning, you wake to find your JoJo merch gone and run into a familiar group of weirdos. So now you have to worry about getting them home and not failing your GCSEs. Presented as a series of vignettes detailing your bizarre adventures with your new and old friends.

ao3 (prev) (masterlist) (next)

wc : 1,759

a/n: they aren’t actually roadmen but you get it

Waking up at 6:50 to catch the 7:30 bus is never a good idea. Especially not if you stayed up so late it feels like someone is hitting your head with a hammer. But who really cares? It had been Y/N’s routine since year 8 and it was too late to change. She did consistently arrive 30 minutes early to school so maybe whatever she did worked. School… Some part of her wondered how St Daniella’s school (or STDs as the students referred to it) kept its status as a top 50 private school. Many of the classrooms in the older buildings were being held together with duct tape and the school had gone through six heads in less than a decade. It really was a sinking ship.

With a long sigh, the girl got out of bed. You had already missed the first week of school after spending all summer with her grandparents abroad and you couldn’t miss anymore . Though she mostly hung out alone in the room she shared with her brother… Sure she had friends but she had found out that her phone was the best company.

After going about the rest of her morning as usual and skipping the skincare routine she promised herself she’d do everyday to look like her bias, she threw on your uniform. Her trousers were fraying and she desperately needed a skirt after baking in last year's heat. She shrugged and decided she would worry about that in summer. While the girl was changing, she noticed something odd. The copious amounts of JoJo merch she dedicated her life to collecting had seemingly disappeared overnight. Even stranger, it had all been replaced with a mix of csm and jjk merch. At first, Y/N suspected her mother had finally lost it and threw out all her merch, but then why would it be replaced? The fact bugged her. She must be dreaming.

The fact gnawed at her thoughts as she made her way to the station, with the sound of kpop blaring in her ears. It wasn't until a voice interrupted her thoughts that she snapped back to reality.

“‘Scuse me lady but ummm, d’ya where we’re meant to be going” spoke a boy with strawberry blond hair which ,by the looks of it, he spent a lot longer styling then the now very ticked off teenage girl. He had a thick southern accent and was wearing the same ugly green uniform as the girl.

The girl pulled down her headphones. “To school..” Y/N replied with boredom lacing her voice. Like most people, she was not interested in entertaining some clueless American at 7:25 am.

“Yeah but where is tha-” he was cut off by another boy pushing him aside. Boy 2 was taller than boy 1 by about an inch. He also had blond hair but a golden shade. Boy 2 was also wearing the same school uniform.

“I’ll take care of this, you idiot . Miss it’s our first day of school and noticed that we’re the same uniform as you so we thought that you could help us?” Boy 2 had a smooth accent not too dissimilar to Y/N’s.

“Use google maps or something I dunno,” Y/N replied growing even more agitated. Both boys shared a confused look. As they stared at Y/N in joint perplexity, she noticed that both boys shared an eye colour reminiscent of the lanky man with white hair who stood on her windowsill instead of her precious Giorno figure.

“Santa Maria, both of you are helpless. That’s not how you talk to pretty girl.” You guessed it, another even taller blond boy said to the two boys. He turned the teenager, who was currently debating how an anime character look alike could find her pretty. “Hey bella, wanna see something cool?”

“Go ahead. As long as it's not your penis though,” Y/N said. Boy 3 gave her an amused look and then dug around in the deep pockets of his Superdry coat for something. ‘So he’s gonna show me a dumb vape trick’ Y/N mused to herself. Nothing could have prepared her for what boy 3 did next.

He had pulled out a green steel ball not unlike the weapon of a certain Italian jockey. Boy 3 spun on his finger then threw it at the hedge near the bus stop. The ball trimmed off most of the branches before returning to him. The other six people at the stop didn’t even seem to notice. Y/N however seemed to have her whole reality flipped on it's head.

Y/N gave him a slow clap with a false sense of composure. She was either dreaming or had finally lost it. Her post-pandemic JoJo phase had driven her crazy. She was hallucinating anime characters or seeing them in her dreams. It was hard to decide which one was worse.

“That’s great Gyro Zeppeli. Now can I wait for my bus in peace?” Y/N responded sarcastically. The three boys’ jaws fell slack.

“How’d’ya know his name lady? Who the fuck are ya? You’re not working with Valentine are ya?” boy 1 lunged forward and grabbed the girl’s shoulders with enough intensity to confirm whatever was going was real and leave a nasty mark. He seemed the most distressed out of the group. Recalling the manga she had spent many a night reading and re-reading, the group did look strangely familiar.

“Hold on a second. You’re Johnny Joestar,” Y/N turned to boy 2. “And that’s Diego Brando. What the fuck is going on?” They both nodded as the girl said their names.

“We don’t know either. We were chatting at one of the checkpoints and then there was a loud bang. Next thing I know I’m in some futuristic city and I’m 5 years younger and Joestar can walk again and I’m wearing a hideous green uniform” Diego concluded with a frustrated scoff. He had turned his gaze away from the girl and now started down at his uniform with a look of disdain. Y/N couldn’t help but relate.

“At least the blazer’s not mandatory,” the h/c girl sighed.

Gyro gasped. “Wait a moment. HP was there too. Where is he?”

The trio of disorientated jockeys started murmuring among themselves while occasionally glancing back at the teenage girl. She was just happy that they left her alone. She glanced up at the bus times. Still another 4 minutes. ‘How the fuck did this happen?’ the girl thought to herself. Y/N's mind immediately jumped to the cast of SBR. Maybe it was the surreal feeling from seeing the Gyro use the spin with such precision or the way Johnny introduced himself, but it felt like she was living out a scene from her post-pandemic JoJo phase. She half expected Valentine to crawl out a bush or find a corpse part in her bag.

“That fat slag! I’m gonna kill the bitch the second I see her!” Y/N jumped. The yelling of a fellow teenage girl yanked her out her thoughts. Those words sound like they were being screamed down her ears. Y/N whipped her head around. No-one new had come by. Though there was another teenager across the road yelling into her phone… Y/N couldn’t have heard that… She shook her head.

A shiver ran down the girls back as though something had touched her. There had to be something there. "I didn't get the job. I don't know if I can keep going like this." Another voice spoke. This time a man. Something had to be going on.

“Are you OK, miss?” Johnny asked the girl with a flash of concern in his eyes. As he rest a gentle hand on Y/N's shoulder, she realised that e wasn’t that much taller than her.

“Y/N. That’s my name. Y/N L/N”

“Pleased ta meetcha.” He stuck his hand out. “Name’s Johnny Joestar. But ya already knew that…” He added with an awkward chuckle. For some reason, Y/N found this kind of… cute.

“Oh umm… The bus is nearly here. D’ya have a zip card?”

“A what?”

“One of these.” The three boys looked at Y/N while she dug around for her wallet. She then gestured to the green photo card. The boys did the same before wordlessly getting on the bus with the girl and copying whatever she did.

The group sat in the four seats in the back facing each other.

She found herself caught in the middle of an unexpected and bizarre situation, surrounded by the boys who were bickering and bantering. While they seemed to occupy themselves in their own company, Y/N found time to text Louis some of the situation.

Pookie

You: Pookie guess what?

Pookie: what..?

You: I’m surrounded by teenage boys on the bus

Pookie: are they gorgjoes

You: *gorgeous And yes, they don’t smell like toes—

Pookie: That’s what matters most, right?

Pookie: I love toes

read 07:39

“Flattered you think that Y/N but what is that? And who’s that?” Diego pointed to your phone and the photocard.

“It’s a phone. You use it to call and send text messages. The guy is Yeonjun. He’s a singer ”

“Cara, what’s that around your neck?”

“These are headphones. You can listen to stuff on them” Y/N unpaused the song and gave the headphones to Gyro.

“What kind of witchcraft is this?”

“Bluetooth”

“Gyro, give me a turn!”

“Just wait Johnny, Jesus.”

“It’s not that deep, just give it to him."

“Fine. But only ‘cause a pretty girl asked me to.”

“Idiots.”

“So you don’t want a turn Dio?”

“Not what I said Joestar.”

The boys quickly began squabbling among themselves while the girl laughed. Y/N snapped a photo of the boys for Louis.

Pookie

You: >delivered

Omg

sent 7:43am

“Can I have my headphones back?”

“Oh yeah, of course.” Diego took them off and handed them back to the girl. "So about before. How'd you know our names?"

Y/N sighed. She hoping this conversation wouldn't happen. The thought of everything being fake would probably give them an existential crisis so it was best to save this for later. "Lucky guess."

He gave the girl a questioning look. Fortunately for her, the boys had found their own phones and somehow knew the passwords. She didn't really question it as she put back on her headphones and let herself be drowned in the music.

a/n : i think i made the song reference for the readers stand too obvious. the fic was originally meant to be called who really cares but that didn’t match the vibe and the photocard was meant to be felix but his toes deterred me from that idea

taglist: @lv11sawrr open if you’re interested

#anime #jojo no kimyou na bouken #diego brando #diego brando x reader #gyro zeppeli x reader #gyro zeppeli #johnny joestar x reader #johnny joestar #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo x reader

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slippinmickeys · 1 year

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Proof of Life

(AU, MSR)

TW: This is an AU idea I’ve been playing with for years, and while this does not take place there, in light of the recent atrocities in the Middle East, the situations presented herein may cause discomfort for some readers. I’m posting a trigger warning for those who may want to stay away. There are mentions of violence in this work, though nothing graphic. I’m using an archive warning on AO3 out of an abundance of caution. Please take care of yourselves and each other.

1. When she’s shoved into the hotel room, it is on a scorching dump of adrenaline; dry-throat, sphincter-clenching, pure terror. She’s sure this is It. But the door closes behind her before she’s finished stumbling forward, and no one has followed her in.

The relief she feels is short-lived, as she looks up to see a man sitting on the floor opposite her, legs out straight, head propped lazily against the wall behind him, days worth of beard stubble growing unevenly over his jaw. He is holding a mid-century Nikon, which he slowly raises with one arm. A squint through the viewfinder. Click.

Ten floors down, on the street below, there is the rapid insect-chitter of gunfire. He doesn’t so much as flinch, but does lower his camera.

“Cable is out and room service hasn’t showed in over a week,” he says in an American accent. “The service here is terrible.”

Her producer Murray, who also acted as her translator, is dead. Mikey was shoved into a different van, along with his camera and the soft-sided bag of cables and equipment. That communication won’t be a struggle with what she now assumes is her new cell mate feels like a holy deliverance.

Before she can formulate a response, he introduces himself.

“Name’s Mulder,” he says, the distant fireworks-like concussion of an explosion punctuating his statement and rattling the room’s single window.

“Dana Scully,” she says, feeling an odd compulsion to cross the room and offer the man a handshake.

“Scully,” he repeats, her surname rolling off his tongue like honey out of a jar. “Welcome to the Hilton.”

2. He’d let her take the bed, which was pretty chivalrous, all things considered.

It was a queen, and had been shoved up against the wall on the far corner of the room, leaving a soft rectangle of plush, clean carpet upon which Mulder slept, surrounded by flattened, trodden paths of grime. The headboard was still affixed to the wall where the bed had previously sat, giving the room a tilting, off-kilter feel. As Scully exits the bathroom in the morning, she nearly stumbles from the vertigo.

There is still a trickle of water from the bathroom sink, and the toilet tank takes about an hour to properly fill, but Mulder informs her that he has yet had reason to use the slop bucket the militants have helpfully left just inside the door. She imagines the small relief she feels now will likely grow bigger as the days pass.

“Morning,” Mulder says, stretching elaborately, the soiled henley he’s wearing lifting up enough to show a few inches of lean muscle sprinkled with dark hair.

“Morning,” she greets him, wandering over to the window to peer out at the gray, post-dawn light. To the west, part of the city is burning, a dull orange glow on the horizon.

After a moment, she feels a gentle hand on her arm.

“I’d stay away from the window,” Mulder says, and when she turns to him, she discovers that he’s tall, far taller than she is, and his hazel eyes are soft as he leads her away from the square of flat light. “There are snipers all over the city.”

She swallows, nods at him, and he gives her a soft smile as he turns to head into the bathroom for his own morning ablutions. She lowers herself to the bed, and looks to the shoes she kicked off before crawling under the covers. There is a spatter of blood covering the canvas upper of her left shoe, all that remains of Murray Underwood. She tries to feel something other than numbness, but nothing comes to the surface.

When Mulder comes out of the bathroom, he asks if she’s hungry, and produces a slender yellow box of crackers from somewhere in the room, pulling out a cellophane-wrapped column of pale disks dotted with black seeds that he hands over when she says she’s famished.

She has finished the sleeve before she thinks to offer him one, but he smiles and says he’s fine.

3. It has been three days since she was shoved unceremoniously into room 1055 and they have not seen so much as another human other than those darting between buildings on the war torn street below.

She has learned that Mulder is a freelance photojournalist from Massachusetts who has photographed conflicts everywhere from Burma to the Congo and that he was taken two days before she and her crew were ambushed and taken hostage themselves.

He does not have an apartment or permanent mailing address, traveling from conflict to conflict with only a backpack and his camera, and is far more comfortable with the disturbing noises outside the hotel than Scully ever will be, no matter how much she fancies herself a war reporter.

He has just gotten her to laugh for the first time since her arrival when the door to their room bursts open and three militants carrying assault rifles trample in, all three of them shouting words Scully can’t understand, their guns up as if they are about to shoot.

Mulder, who had been sitting on the bed next to her, is already up, spitting out words in rapid-fire French and positioning himself in between the gunmen and Scully. The militants either don’t understand him or don’t care and through a haze of adrenal tinnitus she can finally make out one thing they’re saying:

“CNN! CNN!”

She raises her hand meekly.

“I’m CNN,” she says, and the men shove Mulder aside and grab her by both arms, pulling her from the bed and shoving her up against the wall.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Mulder says, making a move to intervene, only to be cold-cocked by the butt of the third man’s rifle right in the face. He staggers to the side before he too is grabbed by the arms and shoved up against the wall next to Scully. All three men swing up their rifles and Scully is certain they’re about to be executed when a fourth man appears, dressed in an actual military uniform and shoves a newspaper into Scully’s hand, gripping her arm in annoyance when she turns it to stare at the headline, which is printed in a language she doesn’t understand.

The man barks something at her and yanks on her arms again, so that she’s holding the paper in front of her like a con holding up a booking ID in a mugshot. He whips up a beat-up disposable camera and takes a picture, the little flash blinding her.

By the time her vision clears, the room is once again empty but for she and Mulder and they are both breathing hard in the silence. Mulder is the first one to find his voice.

“Don’t worry,” he says, putting a hand on her arm. “They’re clearly after a ransom. They’ll keep us alive. Are you okay?” She turns to him dumbly, still holding the newspaper.

The sight of blood knocks her back into the present.

“Jesus, Mulder, you’re bleeding.”

There is a rivulet of blood running down his face from a laceration at his temple. He raises up a hand and touches it to the stream, looking down at the crimson smudge with a wince.

“I’ll be alright,” he says.

“Let me see,” she says, trying to get a closer look, but he gently swats her hand away.

“I’ll be fine.”

“That likely needs stitches,” she says, and he makes a face. She sighs. “I’m doctor, Mulder. Please let me take a look. Sit on the bed.”

He finally relents, lowering himself to sit and giving her a look askance. “I thought you were a reporter for CNN.”

“I contain multitudes,” she says, stepping in close and tilting his chin up with her finger.

He hasn’t showered in days, hasn’t done more than a few hasty washcloth seam cleans, she knows, but the smell of him up close, the smell of his skin – sun-warmed and woodsy – is so familiar to her that she has to blink a few times before she can refocus on the task at hand.

“It needs stitches,” she proclaims after a moment, saying it in a crisp, no-nonsense way that brooks no argument.

“It’s too bad we don’t have access to-”

“I saw a sewing kit in the bathroom,” she interrupts, and she can see the moment he resigns himself to her ministrations.

He complains loudly as she splashes the cut with the small bottle of complementary Listerine, but remains silent as she sutures his wound closed, leaning in close to bite off the thread when she finishes. As she pulls back, she can see a thought flit across his face, but he merely thanks her softly when she’s done and then stands to go clean up in the bathroom.

That night, she invites him to share the bed, and they sleep on opposite edges, though in the morning their fingers are only inches away from each other and her feet have found their way under the warm meat of his leg.

4. It was inevitable really, she says to herself; forced proximity, the bonding of shared peril, two healthy middle-aged sex drives… And it’s not like there’s anything else to do. She thinks of Ethan, probably losing his mind with worry back in the newsroom, but can only muster a finite amount of regret. After two weeks of carefully skirting around the issue, she pressed her body into Mulder’s side one night and it was as if a floodgate had opened, and they were all teeth and tongues and hands everywhere; the most lustful and sensual sex she has ever had in her life.

They have not been disturbed since the Proof of Life incident, other than food of some sort or another being shoved through a cracked door every few days, and so they have taken to not wearing much — their clothes mainly hanging up over the shower curtain in the bathroom, perpetually drying from their feeble attempts to wash them with a credit card-sized, ever-shrinking flat of generic soap that they also must use on their bodies.

Mulder is a generous lover, and affectionate, and now that he has carte blanche to touch her, it seems like it’s all he wants to do. If they’re not lazing away, curled up together in bed, he’ll find a reason to touch her arm, her back, tapping her with the back of his finger to get her attention. She has come to crave his touch, the physical manifestation of a pair-bond that grips them both so tightly it feels sometimes like a vice around her heart.

5. The fighting has moved to a different part of the city from where they are, and the sounds of the chaos seem almost a far-away afterthought. She is standing in the window, something she finally feels safe doing, when she hears a telltale click.

She turns to find Mulder propped up in the bed, bare chested, his beat-up Nikon held up to his eye. He reaches forward with his other hand to adjust the focus, and takes another snap.

Scully smiles at him shyly and he returns her grin.

“The light is perfect,” he says with bedroom eyes, using his thumb to advance the film. He has already gone through three rolls since she arrived, every picture he’s taken since day five all featuring her as the subject.

“You’re beautiful,” he says.

She reaches up self-consciously to touch her hair. They are long-since out of shampoo, and it hangs in limp, greasy clumps. She is more embarrassed by this than by the state of her undress; she is not wearing a stitch of clothing.

“Something tells me this isn’t the kind of picture Newsweek generally pays you for.”

“Fuck Newsweek,” he says. “You belong in the Louvre.”

She shakes her head at him as a sound they have not heard in a while begins to build from outside the building. They both pause and cock their heads, attuned now to the odd sounds of a city under siege. From the distance comes the deep tucka-tucka-tucka of a helicopter. They share a look.

The militants who control this part of the city do not have a helicopter amongst their resources, and now that the sound is getting closer, they can tell there’s more than one approaching.

Without a word they both make their way to the bathroom and quickly don their stiff clothing.

“Shoes too,” Mulder says, as Scully puts her arms through her slippery jacket — it still has a large patch on the back that says “PRESS.”

The helicopters are almost on top of them now, and they can hear shouts from the hallway outside their room and the muffled thump thump thump of boots running in both directions.

“Into the tub,” Mulder instructs, and she sees the sense in this, nodding at him, her pulse beating quick as a rabbit’s beneath her skin. “I’ll get in first, you lay flat on top of me, okay?”

“Should we grab the mattress?” Scully asks, thinking they could pull it on top of themselves like she’d seen covering tornado-stricken parts of the Midwest.

“I don’t think there’s time,” Mulder says, his Adam’s apple bobbing as a spate of gunfire erupts from several floors above them.

He lowers himself in and she scrambles in after him, pressing her face into his chest and listening to the tight thump of his heart. The tub isn’t really big enough for both of them — Mulder couldn’t even fit his long legs all the way inside of it — but she feels safer than she has in months, with Mulder’s arms wrapped around her tightly, and his voice softly mumbling words of comfort into her ear.

There is an awful CRACK! from very close to their room and then an eruption of noise and chaos as the door to their room is blown apart, shards of wood from it blowing into the bathroom. Her ears are ringing and voices are shouting, but all she can focus on is Mulder’s arms around her and the soft steady sound of his voice in her ear saying “I love you. I love you so much,” over and over and over.

And then Mulder’s camera bag is sliding off of her legs (because of course he’d brought it into the tub with them) as strong arms lift her up and out of the tub and the next thing she knows, she is being frogmarched between two black-clad militants up an emergency stairwell and all the while she is calling desperately for Mulder but her voice or his is eaten up by noise and confusion.

In a further burst of sound and light, she is pushed through a door and onto the roof of the hotel where two muscular helicopters sit, blades spinning, surrounded by operatives crouched and bristling with all the sophisticated military might of a first world nation. She pulls up short in surprise.

“Ma’am! Ma’am!” It takes her a moment to register that the voice was coming from one of the soldiers holding her arms. She swings her head toward him, dumbfounded.

“Ma’am,” he goes on, having to shout above the cacophony of the rotor wash. “I’m with the United States Navy. We’re here to rescue you. I need you to board the aircraft immediately!”

Scully nods and then lets herself be swept along with the tide of soldiers surrounding her up and into the Blackhawk, where she is deposited onto a bench, buckled in, and handed a pair of bright orange foam earplugs which she is instructed to insert into her ear canals post haste.

Before she can think to ask a question, her chopper is airborne, tilting itself and veering south and the last sight she has of Mulder, for months and months, is the back of his body being hoisted into the other helicopter, his arms wrapped around his old camera bag as they’d been wrapped around her body not five minutes before.

#the x-files #fanfic #my fic #alternate universe #msr #war correspondent/photojournalist AU #please heed trigger warnings

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greazyfloz · 2 years

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Bend Til We Break

Chapter 1

It is hard to move on from someone you thought would always love you. It’s harder to let someone go that you just got back. Maybe people do change, but I always hoped it was for the better.

I met Quinn on my very first day of University. Not only was I new to the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor but the country. I was here from Canada so I didn’t know anyone really except for my roommate, Hanna. Until we heard of a frat party that was pretty close to the dorms.

Hanna and I decided to go.

The frat party was themed school colors so I got dressed in a blue tennis skirt, a Calvin Klein bra matching the skirts color, and a yellow tee with Michigan in varsity lettering across the chest that I cut into a small crop top. I wore white air forces with one yellow sock and one blue sock that both showed slightly. Hanna wore a navy mini skirt and a yellow michigan tee she tied into a tube top.

We arrive at the party and Hanna finds a guy she met earlier in the day at one of the frosh activities. She pulls me over to a tall-ish guy with light brown hair. He was around only one other guy, shorter than the one Hanna knew, maybe 2 or 3 inches taller than me. Before even meeting him, I knew there was something about him.

“Hey!” Hanna says to the taller one, “This is my roommate, Y/n. You guys look as lonely as us” she says laughing.

“Hey, I’m Josh” Hanna’s friend said with a charming smile

“Quinn” Josh’s friend said

“Hi” I say, blushing a little bit

As the night went on and the drinks were poured Quinn and I got to know each other a little better. He ended up walking me back to my dorm, and getting my number that same night. About a month later, we became inseparable and we officially started dating in November.

We dated for a year and a half before he left for Vancouver. I wish I could say we broke up, officially, but he just left. I texted and called him for weeks until I eventually gave up. It was hard to think back to what we had built. To think about not only saying goodbye to him but his family that welcomed me with open arms, or all the memories. Quinn had sincerely told me he loved me for the first time only two weeks before he left.

We were laying on his bed talking about the future. Where he wanted to be, Where he wanted to go. Our conversation was pretty deep compared to most

“Do you think we will be together in 3 years?”

“Yeah I do” he answered taking my hand playing with my fingers as I lay on his stomach

“What about marriage, do you see yourself getting married to someone?”

“Honestly, I can’t see myself ever marrying or growing old with anyone other than you” he says making me smile

“What happens when you go to Vancouver?”

“We’ll make it work”

“How do you know that though?” I ask and Quinn laughs a little

“Why are you interrogating me?” Quinn looks down smiling at me

“Because I feel like we are pushing away the fact you are leaving me here”

“Brutally honest?” He asks me sitting up and I as well sit up to look at him

“Please” I say and he grabs my hand again.

“Y/n, I’m not worried about us. I know this will work, I know we will get married, I know we will have kids, I know that we will travel and see the world. There isn’t anything to worry about, I know all this is true because I love you”

Now it’s almost 4 years later and I have been living in Vancouver for a year. I only took the job because it was too good to pass up. Luckily in the year I have been here I have not run into Quinn. Vancouver is a big city so obviously it would be hard to bump into someone but not impossible.

I am on my way to work one morning, and decide to stop at a Starbucks. Since I worked inside the city I had to park and go inside. I ordered my coffee and waited for it over to the side. The line began getting bigger and bigger after I had ordered and I counted my blessings that I beat the rush.

“Y/N” the barista called out and I walked up and grabbed it from her.

“Thank you” I say and she smiles back at me.

As I turn around I am faced with someone I thought I would never hear from again.

“Y/n?”

#quinn hughes #nhl writing #nhl imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl smut #nhl fic #hockey imagines

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probsnothawkeye · 6 months

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At midnight Central Daylight Time on Friday, March 29, 2024, @athansmusic released his debut album. Limbo, the album in question, is a story of hurt, addiction, regret, healing, recovery, and content. Over the course of three years, Athan worked to create this album, pouring his entire heart and incredibly personal experiences into each of the songs. I originally intended on doing short form reviews of each song, trying to fit all of my thoughts into a tweet or less; but Limbo deserves far more than that. Each song tells a story and each story has a parallel; to reduce that to two hundred and eighty characters would be a disservice to the album and to you, the person reading this. Before we begin, I should make a few things clear:

Things I am not:

A trained musician

A professional critic or reviewer of any sort

Things I am:

A lover of music

Someone who was deeply moved by this album

With this out of the way, we are ready to dive into the world of Limbo and the stories Athan has weaved into it.

Song 1 - Limbo

The album opens, as you might expect, with the titular track. Limbo immediately gives you the sense of being stuck; stuck in life, stuck in your emotions, stuck in your own mind. “I’ve been stuck here / Stuck in limbo for days” is the line at the heart of the chorus and this sentiment can be felt in every inch of the song. The instrumentals of this song start with a simple beat that grows over the course of the first verse and bursts into a full life in the chorus. Athan has a propensity for voice modulation that works so perfectly with the instrumentals that are being layered. What is especially noteworthy is the way the chorus progresses from one of finality to one of hope. “I don’t think I can / I don’t think I will / make it out of here / Maybe I never can” becomes “I don’t think I can / or maybe I will / Make it out of here / Maybe I can”. Despite this sense of being trapped, being stuck, there is still hope. It’s that hope that will become a thread throughout the album as it goes from one of pain and regret into growth and relief.

Song 2 - Chronic

There are two sides to Limbo. Side A deals with pain and that is seen very clearly in Chronic. As a person with pretty severe depression, I latched onto Chronic right away; it’s the kind of song that reflects exactly what I’m feeling without the song or its creator knowing what I’m feeling. The lyrics portray a sense of listlessness and a lack of belonging that digs deep into the heart and squeezes it from the inside out. “Hold on tightly / to what excites me / Otherwise I might drown, shit, it’s tempting.” I have felt this exact thing multiple times in my life; hell, multiple times in this past week. There is an incredible amount of relatability in Athan’s lyrics– something that clearly comes from his personal connections to the songs he’s writing. You cannot fake that kind of emotion and it is emotion that anyone can latch onto and relate to. Couple that with the slow, almost reverberating beat of the song and you get the masterpiece that is Chronic.

Song 3 - The Valley

The Valley is one of the shortest songs on the album, however that doesn’t stop it from being an emotional punch to the stomach. It’s a song about family, about the pain that family can cause and the ways that it impacts a person. It’s about the excuses that people make for themselves, for their families; how even when you know it is an excuse, you still end up craving it. It’s a song that both minimizes its own pain and allows itself to feel it fully. “And my problems are small / But they’re taller than me”. Two lines that encapsulate an emotion that I cannot name but have felt time and time again; two lines that help drive that punch to the stomach that this song provides. Athan has a way of creating these songs that have a beat to them that doesn’t feel like it matches with the emotionality of the lyrics, and yet it all blends together so well. The Valley is short. But it does so much with its runtime that you forget that it’s a short song.

Song 4 - WhatDoIDo

WhatDoIDo is one of my favorite songs on Side A. It hurts me in a way you might not expect when you listen to it yourself. That’s the beautiful thing about this album; its relatability makes each song hit differently for different people. “Well maybe I don’t know what I need / Maybe I’m running on empty” is a line that hits me square in the chest and pulls thoughts of my current depressive episode. This is different than what it might mean for you, it’s different than what it means for Athan, and yet it still hits all the same. WhatDoIDo is another song with a very heavy beat to it, similar to the reverberation of Chronic. It adds a level of depth to the song that makes it feel like it's dragging you down with it in the best imaginable way. Mix that with Athan’s love of voice modulation and effects that he used in this song and you create something absolutely incredible.

Song 5 - Chameleon

“I've got about / 50 different hats that I have to wear. / One for my mom, one for my job. / One for my friends, one to survive.” Once again I have to applaud Athan for the relatability of his lyrics. The first time I heard this, I paused the song and stared off into space for a minute before restarting the song and letting it hit me again. Chameleon is a song about fitting in, about finding your place in the world and how hard it can be to be yourself. “Who am I without you around? / Maybe I can blend in somehow.” How well do we really know who we are? So much of a person is influenced by those around them; what happens when all of that goes away? What happens when it’s just you? These questions don’t have answers, but Chameleon asks them anyway and puts a fun beat to it while it rips your heart out.

Song 6 - Distance

Distance is another song with an incredibly fun rhythm to it that punches you in the face with the lyrics. I boxed to this song recently and it’s perfect for a high energy/fast boxing session but it also has lyrics that break my heart in half. “I’ve been treading water for so long / It feels like I might just give up” – another set of lines that pulls an emotion I have felt for my whole life right out of my brain when I didn’t have the words for it. This is a song that I pick up on a little more each time I listen; different lyrics will stand out, or different ways that the instrumentals hit will pop to the forefront of my listen. One thing that I always think about is how this song feels like a race. You can feel the distance growing and growing as the race is run but you’re so far behind the song. You’re so far behind everyone else, and that’s what the song is trying to do. Athan has managed to space the chorus and verses in a way that it feels anticipatory, like you’re waiting to catch up to what is being said. “The distance it feels like it’s growing / but I will not grow”; the instrumentals perfectly make you feel that line in the pit of your chest, growing and crashing over you before simplifying during the verses as though Athan can’t keep up with the instrumentals themselves.

Song 7 - Moon

Moon starts out with these lovely and light instrumentals and soft singing that make you feel like it’s a love song until you listen to it. In some ways it is a love song, but the root of the song itself is actually in insecurity, selfishness, and feeling that you aren’t enough for the person you care about. “I’ve been staring at the moon and it feels like / I don’t need you for forever, just for the night / I don’t care if it’s only temporary / I’d rather be happy for a moment of your time” – This section of the song is the chorus and it starts and ends the song as this beautiful mirroring that misses all of the turmoil that lies in between them. There is a point in this song where everything drops and that sense of insecurity and fear and darkness seeps all the way into the lyrics. You may not know this by looking at him, but Athan can scream just as well as any metal artist out there. And you might not expect this song that I described up top to have screaming in it, but it does and it hits so incredibly well. There are a variety of different talents that Athan shows off with this album; screaming just happens to be one. It adds to the depth and darkness of this section before it flips back into the light and lovely chorus that rounds out the song as if that drop never happened at all. It’s a beautiful song that uses its catchy chorus and light beat to lull you into a false sense of security so when everything drops it hits that much harder.

Song 8 - DNR

This is another one of my favorite songs on Side A. It’s one of my favorite songs on the whole album. The first time I saw the title I thought to myself “DNR as in… Do not resuscitate? Or is this going to stand for something else– Nope! Do not resuscitate, cool cool cool.” This is one of the many songs that made me say “Jesus fucking christ Athan” out loud in my room while listening. And yet these darker tones to the song are part of the reason I love it so much. It’s a song about death that doesn’t feel like it’s about death. Sure, the words “Do not resuscitate me” are kind of blatantly obvious in their being about death; but the instrumentals and beat of the song itself are very fun and punchy. It starts out with these lightly strummed guitar notes that pair perfectly with Athan’s gentle singing and then it grows into something that decides it wants to hurt you in the best way. I also need to be a Classics major on main again and talk about the line “I can feel the coins of gold and silver resting on my eyes” because it’s one of those lines that just constantly sticks in my brain. Athan is ready to pay the ferryman to take him to the Underworld; it’s a nice little reference that makes me so happy I have cast him in a mythology themed podcast.

Song 9 - Break

It’s time to talk about horns! As in the instrument, not as in the thing on animals/demons/etc. You don’t expect them to show up and when they do you’re there like “Hell yeah horns!” Now you may be wondering why I am bringing this up now and all I will say for now is: it’s about the parallelism. But until we get to that part, let’s talk about the lyrics for this song because they do severe emotional damage to me. As I’ve said many times at this point, Athan is absolutely masterful at lyrics and relatability; this song is no exception. This whole album has a tone of parallelism from Side A to Side B, but this song in particular also parallels itself nicely. The first verse serves as a groundwork for the second verse to flip in answering. “Well I think you may have had it right / I’m tired of living in this life” versus “Well I think I may have had it wrong / Maybe I’m right where I belong”; “Mentally, I don’t think I can feel anything” versus “And yet I feel everything”. The way Athan’s lyrics speak to each other always ends up squeezing my heart in ways that are hard to put into words. Which might seem surprising given how long this is. The emotionality of it all feels so real because it is real. Athan has said time and time again that this is a very personal project for him and it bleeds into every second of the music in the best way imaginable.

Song 10 - Persephone

We’ve reached what might be my favorite song on the album. It’s definitely my favorite song on Side A. This song is slow and soft and dark and beautiful; it is the musical equivalent of the John Everett Millais painting Ophelia. “Lay me down in the flower bed / Let it pull me undertow / I feel the darkness close around me / But I kinda like it though”. Something I haven’t talked about much yet is Athan’s vocals. Not only is he writing absolutely stunning lyrics and putting together these songs with a wide variety of different feels to them, he’s also an incredible vocalist. His vocals on Persephone are part of the reason I love this so much; there’s a point where his voice breaks just the slightest bit and it makes the song feel so much more real and poignant. It squeezes my heart in the best imaginable way. This song also includes a medley of all of the songs on side A which is absolutely stunning. The way the medley allows the different songs to speak to each other and in response to each other creates this beautiful picture of everything that came so far.

Song 11 - Diáleimma

We’ve officially reached the end of Side A! This song is the shortest on the album and also one of the most beautiful in my opinion. It represents the transition point between the two sides of this story; from pain and loss and regret into growth and love and recovery. The through line of the song is this idea that “I gotta be a better me”. The song itself is slow, almost reflective in the way it’s presented; it’s as if the song itself is thinking about how it is being perceived and is striving to be better. Diáleimma closes this chapter of the story, turning the page for us as it does so.

Before we move on to Side B, we’re going to take a brief moment to talk about the album art for Limbo. It was painted by NataliesDreaming, who also happens to be Athan’s wife. Natalie is an incredibly talented artist and has produced an absolutely gorgeous cover for the album. The colors used feel like an extension of the songs themselves, tapping into the hope that grows throughout the album. Natalie’s work also allows you to feel the movement of falling; everything about it is absolutely stunning. This has been the brief intermission to talk about the album art and also to say that Natalie is super cool. Back to the album!

Song 12 - AmIDoingThisRight

Athan opens the second half of the album on an unanswerable question: AmIDoingThisRight? As we discussed previously, this is an album in parallels. If Limbo is about being stuck, AmIDoingThisRight is about trying to get yourself unstuck and the fear that still comes with that. You never know in life if you are doing things right, if the decisions you are making are the ones that you need to make. The bridge of this song lives rent free in my mind: “Cause I don’t think I appreciate everyone in front of me now / And I don’t think I recognize everything that’s detrimental to my health”. The voice modulation Athan does on that part specifically is so fucking good.

Song 13 - Pocket

Pocket is one of my favorite songs on Side B (You’ll be seeing this phrase a lot coming up because I love so many songs). It’s a song about addiction and relapse which punches into that idea of relatability again. As someone who has struggled with self harm (albeit in a different way than Athan has) this song reached into my heart and pulled me back to my relapse, but in a way that felt healing rather than concerning. It’s a sad song that disguises itself as a soft song but it’s so beautifully done. The chorus makes me feel every emotion under the sun: “I feel so low / I swore that I’d let it go / It’s not a broken promise / I don’t know, I found it in my pocket babe”. This song feels so close to my heart in ways I cannot explain so I won’t try to. I will simply tell you that this song is beautiful and heart-squeezing.

Song 14 - (Good) Goodbye

Athan shared the context of this song and it punched me in the face. This song parallels The Valley and takes that song about family to a more heartbreaking level. One of my favorite lines from this song is “I’m so scared that my last memories / Will be made from my bad days”. Again, it’s about the relatability; that fear is very real, especially when dealing with family while depressed. The pain from Side A still stays in Side B, it just gets grown around and expanded upon to let the hope into it. (Good) Goodbye works very well with this idea; it’s a song that hurts but also leaves room to heal.

Song 15 - Feel It In My Chest

Another one of my favorite songs on Side B! It is the first song on the album to make me cry; if you know me, you know that that is surprising since I cry at most things. “But your soul is destructive / And you’re gonna end up alone” did lasting damage to me personally and I did cry about it. Despite that, this song is hopeful and full of love. It parallels WhatDoIDo and the answer to that question appears to be: you love anyway. “Feel it in my heart / Feel you in my soul / Held you in my hands / The greatest thing to hold”. The first half of the album feels like someone struggling on their own whereas Side B feels like someone learning how to open up and ask for help. Feel It In My Chest feels like opening up despite the fear of it all; the fear of ending up alone doesn’t outweigh the love that can be found with someone.

Song 16 - Concealer

Concealer is one of my favorite songs on the album. It also punches me in the chest in ways that make me cry. This song parallels Chameleon and both songs are about the masks that people put on. Where Chameleon asks how to be someone without the influence of another person, Concealer asks how much of yourself do you need to hide to get help. “I’m struggling / Under the weight / Well I don’t know how much more I can take. / Could fade into the ether / Or maybe I’ll wear concealer now”. The way Athan sings “I don’t know how much more I can take” haunts me in the best way possible. It’s raw and real and it hurts so incredibly. The instrumentals on this are light and soft so the weight of the lyrics can fully sink into your bones. It’s a beautiful song that makes room around the pain to facilitate growth.

Song 17 - Growing Pains

Growing Pains has sections of whispering which honestly make me uncomfortable but in a good way. It’s partially the misophonia of it all, but it’s also just the pain of it all. It is, as it says, growing pains. It’s the growth that Concealer made room for, the space needed to heal and become more. “Why the fuck am I comparing / All the lights in the distance to yours? / You’re all I need” – Remember how I mentioned the idea of Side B being about learning how to ask for help? This song helps to dig into that idea; it’s a form of growing. The instrumentals of this song are light and airy and a little spacey; I’m fully obsessed with them.

Song 18 - Inside

The parallelism between Moon and Inside is some of my favorites. Moon is a sad song disguised as a love song; Inside is a love song disguised as a sad song. “Well maybe it’s supposed to hurt / This love it feels like work / But fuck it I know; it’s worth it to grow / Into the dirt”. This song is enhanced by the fact that Natalie (the aforementioned artist and also Athan’s wife) is also featured on the track. Athan has said that this is the first duet they’ve recorded together and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Their voices compliment each other so nicely and Natalie has a lovely singing voice. You can feel the love that they have for each other in the song, even in the sadder lyrics of it all. This brings me back to the parallelism: Moon is about something temporary, something that is thought not to last. Inside is about someone who has stayed, someone who will stay and will help and will always be there. It brings the hope back into this story because it proves that people stay. That help can be given.

Song 19 - Motionsick

This song has a lot of religious symbolism that I fully missed until Athan mentioned that it had religious symbolism. And once I had that context, all of the plays on words and phrases were just. So incredibly well done. “Why don’t I know you / Why don’t I know you anymore? / Why, why, try? / I fight this devotion Feels like I’m motion sick” – You might look at that and go “Pine, that’s pretty obvious isn’t it?” To which I say yes, it is, I just missed it because me and religion haven’t exactly gotten on very well. This also has a parallel I love with it’s Side A counterpart DNR: “I’m throwing punches / Battle what’s inside of me” in DNR which becomes “I’m boxing with my shadow but I keep on landing punches / It seems I like to bruise” and this does things to my brain that I cannot stop feeling.

Song 20 - Bend

And we have reached the other contender for my favorite song on the album! This is my favorite song on Side B for sure, but I cannot figure out if Bend or Persephone is my favorite. Bend is such a hopeful song; it’s bright and beautiful and we’re back to the horns! Athan played the horns for Bend and they are always always in my mind. He didn’t play the horns on Break (this song’s counterpart) but that’s okay because he has played the brighter version of the horns and I’m obsessed with them. This song rounds out that idea of learning to ask for help even when– or perhaps especially when– it’s difficult. “Opening up doesn’t come easy for me / For me now / But I gotta learn how / Cause I don’t think I can help myself up tonight” – a line that perfectly encapsulates that idea. Part of the reason this song ends up feeling as bright and hopeful as it does is because it tells you that when you ask for help it will be given– “Oh, I know that it might have been a bad fall / But you’ll be there to catch me at the bottom after all”. This song has only been in my life for a week but it has made a home in my heart that it is never going to leave. It means so much to me already and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Song 21 - ESC

ESC has a very space-y vibe that feels like it is built for escape. The entire song feels like it is floating and then the lyrics pull you back down to earth again. It’s one of the shorter songs on the album, but it has a gentle beauty to it that leaves it lingering in my mind. “And I’ll fall / Down in insecurities/ I; I’m buried in shit surrounding me” is another one of those lines that really does things to me as someone who has been depressed for most of my life. That’s one of the most beautiful things about Athan’s music: short, beautiful lines that can make anyone feel connected to them.

Song 22 - Telos

And we return to the line introduced at the end of Side A: “I gotta be a better me”. Where in Diáleimma it feels like a judgement, like an impossible command, in Telos it feels like it’s something that is just around the corner, almost within grasp. Telos is bright and full of life as opposed to the darkness of Diáleimma. They compliment each other so well– as was Athan’s design. It also includes another medley of things from the entire album and it’s incredibly fun. It’s the perfect way to round out the main portion of the album– it closes the story and feels like a celebration of the whole album. And it’s an album very much worth celebrating.

Song 23 - Chronic (Piano Version)

You get a brief reprieve from my ridiculous amount of words since this one is a piano cover. It’s a very beautiful version of the song though.

Song 24 - Intertwined (Acoustic)

This is an acoustic version of one of Athan’s older songs. It has beautiful instrumentals and lyrics that feel like they grew into some of the songs that are on the album as a whole. Athan didn’t put the lyrics on Bandcamp so I can’t pull examples for you but trust me they’re good.

Song 25 - Chronic (House Version)

There’s not much that I can say about this version that I hadn’t said about Chronic originally. But it is a fun additional version!

Song 26 - Hallelujah (feat. The Grotto)

This is one of my favorite versions of Hallelujah that I have ever heard in my life. The style is different from the other songs on the album, but fits perfectly into the music that Athan did for his podcast The Grotto. The Grotto is a liminal horror podcast about grief and it is absolutely incredible. The reason that this song is listed as ‘feat. The Grotto’ is partially because it’s Athan using that style of music but also because he included some of his screams from The Grotto in it. Don’t look too closely at why he was screaming. It’s not important. But this version of the song– because of the style that it’s done in– feels so unique and has a depth to it that can only be achieved in this medium. Athan had originally released it for The Grotto patreon and I listened to it after a bit of an emotional breakdown. It is as close to a religious experience as I am capable of experiencing. Hallelujah is the only cover Athan has on Limbo– he does more covers for The Grotto which are also excellent. Of all of the covers that he could’ve included, this one feels like the perfect fit. It mixes with the content of the songs Athan has written so well and showcases another style that he is able to pull off.

Song 27 - Bend (Acoustic)

Athan called it the acoustic version but I think of it as the silly version. There is a levity to the song that is palpable– it feels like a test run of the song but in the best way possible. It also gives a bit of insight into what the process of creation was like for Athan. In the original version of Bend, there is the line “I don’t think I will reach thirty if I’m lucky now”; the acoustic version follows up with Athan laughing at the fact that he’s much closer to 30 than he was when he wrote that. “I’m so glad to be alive”, a small little bit of this version but such a big change from the original words that were written. If you couldn’t tell by the amount of words I’ve put into this, I’m also glad Athan is alive. He’s written absolutely incredible music that he has shared with the world despite (or perhaps because of) the intense emotional weight of the content.

Limbo is an album that longs. It grieves. But it also hopes. It hopes so much and shows that healing and recovery are possible. Athan spent three years working on Limbo and now it’s here; it exists in the world to be listened to and shared and written about and loved. This album has so much heart to it. The lyrics are beautiful, the instrumentals brilliantly crafted, and the vocals are stunning. It is an album that deserves to be spoken about in depth. It’s an album that deserves your time and attention. As far as debut albums go, this album showcases so much of what Athan can do while still leaving room for growth and new ways for him to surprise and delight anyone who is listening to his music. It also punches directly into the heart in the most amazing way, letting you know exactly what he can do with music moving forward. I feel very fortunate to be able to listen to this album and to know that I will be following along with whatever else Athan will be doing next. I’m also fortunate enough to get to collaborate with Athan on projects– he’ll be in my next podcast and I will also be paying him to do music for the show. Getting to work with someone so talented is a wild feeling, but I’m so excited for it.

Thank you for joining me on this very long, very in depth review of Limbo. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the album!

#I may have gone a little more feral than intended with this #Several thousand words more feral #This is five thousand words #this album is just that good #athansmusic #he's the dude who did The Grotto!#pine throws thoughts into the void of tumblr #im pinning this because i need everyone to listen to this #long post

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tomorrowsgardennc · 1 month

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looking into growing sunflowers rn! so i have a question, if u dont mind! :33 what variety and/or tips would u recommend to someone who has semi limited gardening knowledge ? ive grown tomatoes and cucumbers but not especially well, and this is my first year rlly putting full energy into gardening! im a little intimidated tbh lol :p theyre just so stunning

ooooh sunflowers 😍😍 good news! they're super easy to grow! BUT... but but but... always a catch: sunflowers suck out a lot of the nutrients in the soil - or put toxins in the soil. depends on who you ask. the internet isn't really sure which one it is. the point, though, is they do NOT want to be planted alongside any other plant!! any type of sunflowrs all next to each other, don't care. happy as can be. but the second you want to put any sunflower next to anything else... anything else gonna struggle. SO! with that in mind... i would recommend the sunniest spot in the entire available area and grow a biiiig patch of them suckers! make them all nustled in to each other, 4 to 6 inches apart is just fine and that way they will hug each other and not fall down on their own. and the soil doesn't matter. around here there is clay, and they grow fine in clay too. sand is okkkk... just need a little extra watering. and sunflowers do love water - so if it hasn't rained in about 2 days then give it a good watering.

also - if you are able - start the seeds indoors. squirrels and mice and birds love sunflower seeds to eat just as much as we do, so if you direct sow them into the ground then they could be eaten! find a pot and fill it with the seeds, cover with soil about 1 inch deep, keep it moist, and once they sprout in about a week and they're about 2 inches tall, transplant outside! they don't mind getting roughed up, so don't freak out if your first time starting from seed -> transplant.

as far as varieties... to be honest whatever one looks the prettiest to you!! they all have the same needs, it's just more how they were bred to look rather than how to grow. my favorite is the mammoth sunflower, simply because they live up to their name and get taller than our one story house!! either visit a local hardware or garden store or go online and just look at sunflower varieties! if you can't choose then do what i do and close your eyes and pick 🫣👉🌼

hope that helps!! 🌼💚🌱

#ask me about seeds #gardening #home garden #food not lawns #homestead #nature #homegrown #homesteading #food #grow food #gardenblr #garden blog #suburbia farming #suburbian agriculture #suburban agriculture #suburban farm #sunflower #how to grow #sunflower seeds

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honeytonedhottie · 1 year

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hi, can you give me any tips to increase height by manifestation? have you ever tried it? ty💗

actually yes i have tried changing my height with manifestation and it worked. i was able to grow 2 inches. my desired height would be 2 inches taller but its not something that im in a rush for.

some tips i recommend;

listening to subliminals to submerge ur subconscious in the desired state

visualization helped a ton when it came to manifesting height

when i manifested a height increase i wrote it down once and then thought about it for 2-3 days and then i forgot about it 😭 and it manifested two weeks later.

#self concept #law of assumption #manifesting #loa tumblr #neville goddard #success story

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daliyla · 2 years

Text

Healing together (Nobleflower, muggle!Au, part 1/2)

(sorry if I do some mistakes, english is not my first language

Thanks to my beta @lujaninmydreams )

"one new plush unicorn"

"Two"

"One and an icecream"

"Two"

"One and you can invite Neville and Harry to a sleepover this weekend"

Little Draco seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Okay, but we'll watch the minion film Neville likes"

"We'll see if we can find it on netflix or disney+"

Draco nodded "okay. deal"

Narcissa sigh. Sometimes talking to her son was like doing business. No surprise that he was Reg's favorite cousin.

"Repeat the terms of the deal"

"I will not tell daddy that you and Alice kissed and you'll buy me an unicorn and an icecream and we'll invite Harry and Neville and we'll watch the minion movie"

"I thought you said no to the icecream"

Draco made puppy eyes. Such a business man. Regulus was definitely a bad influence.

"But muuuuum. I want an ice cream. "

Narcissa laughed.

"Okay, maybe next time you'll go to uncle Reggie and uncle James' house, if you'll be a good boy, I'll buy you an ice cream."

"Okay!"

"Deal?"

"Deal"

So they shook hands and the deal was made.

"Oh, honey..."

"Yes?"

"I wouldn't tell daddy about Harry neither."

"I can't tell him he's my friend?"

"Of course you can, I was talking about the engagement part."

"Oh. Why?"

"Uhm, well..."

Because he's a little bit homophobic

"Because he might be sad that he wasn't able to see it."

"Oh" Draco thought about it, then he nodded "Okay".

The "engagement" happened two weeks before. Narcissa will never forget the moment her six-years-old son ran to her after school and told her that he was engaged and that Harry would have been soon his bride.

Sirius, when they told him a few days later, laughed so hard he almost choked and said it was nice to see Draco was following Black's family tradition.

That day there was Mary to pick Harry up from school, so the two women had to explain to the two children (and Neville, who would have been the officiant) that no, they couldn't marry at the moment because they were too young but yes, if when they will be older they still would have want to marry they would have.

Still, after two weeks, Draco kept calling Harry his bride. Alice thought it was cute and... well, she was right, it was.

"Mum" asked Draco after a while.

"Yes, honey?"

"When will I hug daddy again?"

Narcissa sighs. That was a question her son asked a lot, and every time she wished she could give him another answer.

"In some years, honey"

"But why? Have I done something wrong? Daddy doesn't want me?"

"What? No no, darling, no. See, daddy did some bad stuff, we've talked about it, do you remember?"

"Yes... You said that people sometimes do bad stuff but that doesn't mean they're bad people"

"Exactly. Daddy did some mistakes, and now he's paying for it in jail. In some years he'll be out and you'll be able to hug him as much as you want"

"Okay"

Narcissa smiled at him. "Now, why don't we decide what you'll wear? You want to be beautiful for daddy, mh?"

"I want the green T-shirt! The one with the dragon!"

"Of course, dear"

"Oh my, you're so big now!"

Draco looked smug. "I'm four inches taller!"

"You'll be taller than me in a few days if you keep growing this way" replied Lucius, smiling.

Narcissa, sitting with Draco on her lap, forced a smile on her face.

"Are you taking care of your mother, Draco?"

"Of course! She would be lost without me"

"And how is the new school?"

"I like it. I don't have to wear the uniform anymore and the teachers are very kind"

"Do you have any new friends?"

"Yes! There are Harry and Neville! And Harry is friend with Ron, but I don't like Ron very much, I think he's a little bit an idiot"

"Harry? The son of James and Lily? That Harry?"

"And Regulus and Mary" added Draco.

"What?"

"He has four parents, daddy. Two mummys and two daddys"

"Oh. Yeah, sure"

"And the teachers are planning to bring us to a farm in may! It'll be so cool! I want to see a unicorn! Sirius says that they don't exist, but Sirius is stupid and I don't listen to him"

"Oh, so you see him?"

"Mh, yeah, sure. He's Harry's godfather and sometimes he picks him up from school. He has babysat me sometimes. "

"And this Neville? How is him?"

"Oh, he's kind and quiet. I think that without him Harry and I would argue waaaay more"

Lucius laughed "really? You two argue a lot?"

"Yes! Because he's so stupid sometimes. He thinks lions are better than snakes and that red is better than green and that chocolate ice cream is better than the strawberry one"

"Well, yes, that's pretty stupid"

Draco nodded.

"Daddy, I've learned how to write! So I'll write you letters and you can write me. I also know how to read, you know"

"Really? You're so smart"

"Thank you! Harry has some problems with it. Uncle Reggie said that he's dy- dysle-"

"Dyslexic" said Narcissa. Draco nodded.

"Yes, that, like uncles James"

"That's unfortunate"

"Nah, uncle Reggie says that Harry will learn, just with a little bit more effort. But I'm not, so I can write and read"

"Draco, dear" said Narcissa "why don't you go with Marlene to the vending machine to buy you some snacks?"

Marlene, a prison guard who James was friend with, heard her name and came to take Draco.

"They have M&M" Marlene added, smiling to the little boy.

Draco's face brightened. "Yes! Can I buy them, mum? Pleeeeease"

"Sure. There, take the money" she gave him some coins and, after Marlene was gone, she turned to Lucius.

"Have you signed the divorce papers?"

Lucius sighs.

"Are you sure you want to do it, Cissa?"

"Yes I am. Have you signed it?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I have"

"Don't do that face. You know exactly why I'm doing it"

"Because I'm in jail"

"No. Because you used our son's money to try to pay your debts without telling me anything. Those money were supposed to be for his college"

"I'll repay"

"That's not the point. The point is that you lied to me and you put our son's future in danger. If you think I can forgive you for this, you're wrong"

"I told you I'm sorry"

"I don't care"

Draco came back, with a pack of M&M's and a pack of chips in his tiny hands. He gave the chips to her.

"Your favorite" he said, and Narcissa kissed his cheeks and thanked him, then she thanked Marlene. Draco didn't try to buy something for his dad. He already learned that he can't give him anything there.

When they came back home, Regulus was there. The moment Draco saw him, he dropped his mother hand and ran into his uncle's arms. Yeah, Regulus was actually his cousin, but Draco called him uncle and no one ever corrected him. Funnily enough, he never called Sirius "uncle" and he refused to acknowledge the fact that Sirius and Regulus are brothers.

"Uncle Reggie!" he screamed "is Harry here?"

"No, darling, he is with his mothers this afternoon. I'm here for you"

"Yes!"

"I bought you a surprise" Regulus said, smiling. "It's on your bed. Go to see it"

In a second, Draco was running upstairs.

"Don't run!" Narcissa scolded him, knowing it was useless. She sighs "I didn't give you the keys to my house to spoil my kid"

"In fact, I'm here for you. How was it with Lucius?"

"As usual. Draco talked a lot, Lucius listened and talked to him and I was mostly silent"

"Have he signed the papers?"

"Yeah"

"And Draco knows it?"

"Yeah. He seems to have taking it well"

"Congratulations then. You're a free woman now"

"Yey" Narcissa replied, with zero enthusiasm.

"So" Regulus continued "you can legally be with Alice"

Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Oh yes you do. Harry told me that Neville told him that he and Draco saw you two kissing"

"That was... a mistake. "

"Cissa, I'll be honest with you, 'cause I love you and you know it" Regulus took her hand "you need to fuck"

"That's- that's not your fucking business"

"Yes it is. Sirius is also worried. He even offered to babysat Draco for a night"

Narcissa tsks "it's not that bad"

"Oh yes it is"

Sirius loved Draco, even if he would've never admitted it. But he babysat him a few times and... Yeah, well, it was not a good idea. They were both too stubborn and too different to work together.

"Sex is not that important"

"I know, but you want to do it, and Alice wants to do it, so go to a fucking date with her and fuck her as if it were your last chance"

"Alice is a widow, she still loves Frank and you know it"

"I... Well, yes, okay. But Frank died years ago and now she's ready to move on"

"How can you know it?"

"'Cause she told me so"

"She... What?"

Regulus smiled "I might have talked to her before coming here"

"You piece of..."

Draco came down the stairs in that moment and he gasped.

"Mum! Was you about to say a bad word?!"

"Of course not, honey. I was saying that uncle Reggie is a piece of... cake for buying you a gift. What has he given you?"

Draco showed her a green pajamas with dragons printed on it.

"Wow, that's amazing, honey"

"And" added Regulus, the bastard "I was thinking that maybe tonight you could wear it at a sleepover at my house, with Harry and Neville. Alice already said yes"

You little piece of shit though Narcissa.

"Yes! Mum, mum, mum, can I go? Pleaaaaaaase! Please! I'll be good. I'll do all my homeworks and tidy my room, I swear. Can I go? Can I? You promised me I would have done a sleepover with Harry and Neville! Can I? Please!"

Narcissa sigh and forced a smile "sure, darling"

"Yes!" he hugged her "thank you thank you thank you!"

"Now go to pack your bag, mh?" suggested Regulus, the traitor.

"Sure!" and the child ran again upstairs.

"I told you not to..." Narcissa rolled her eyes "I don't know why I keep bother".

"Alice will come to pick you up at seven"

"I hate you"

"You'll thank me. Wear the dress you wore at my birthday, green is definitely your color"

"I hate you so much"

"Sure, keep telling you that" Regulus started to go upstairs, probably to help Draco "oh, and don't do it on the couch. I sit there"

"I'll do it there just to bother you"

"Your son sits there"

"He'll never know it"

"I'll throw flowers at your future lesbian wedding"

"Fuck off"

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gothamslostboy · 2 years

Text

Fine Dining 3

The Lost Boys

male reader

PART 1 PART 2

After a ride that felt both torturous and weirdly peaceful, David pulls his motorcycle up to my garage door before flipping the kill switch and helping me off the bike.

“So this is yours? Seems like somewhere Y/N Y/L/N would live.” He leans against his bike, watching as I enter the code. “Oh?” I don’t say anything else as I duck under the rising garage door, stopping once I reach the interior door.

“Yeah it’s small, semi secluded, but the shade of blue you’ve painted the outside makes it impossible to ignore, even if it’s the worst blue I’ve ever seen.” His face breaks out into a smug grin, eyes locked onto my face once again as he looks for a reaction.

“Small? You’re three inches taller then me at best and that’s when you wear heels David, not exactly the tallest either. Besides I didn’t choose the house color, just like I didn’t chose to be stuck with you tonight, things just happen that way.” Maybe that will bring that cocky bastard down a peg. I don’t break eye contact with him as I twist the knob of the interior down, satisfied with the quick glimpse of shock that passes over his face. David quickly composed himself, moving to stand with his arms crossed in front of the open garage.

“Wow, feeling feisty tonight kitten. For the record, the heels only add an inch, so I’m still taller. But I guess things like that are why a cocky bastard like me hasn’t been invited to come inside yet? I did drive all the way out here, it’s the least you could do for my efforts.” He has an annoyingly cute tight lipped grin on his amused face, scrunching his nose quickly at the end of his sentence.

“Get out of my mind,that shits invasive. And Oh yeah? What happened to it being no trouble puppy?” I turn to face the darkness of my house, praying that he missed at least one time I blushed tonight.

“Puppy? I don’t think you can pull off calling me that Y/N. Just let me come in, for a moment.” I take a deep breath before turning my head back around, body freezing for a moment when he once again finds my eyes.

“Yes I can David, and if you’re so desperate, I guess you can come in for a second. But you still need to work out what ever problem you had with Dwayne earlier.” He walks past me silently, quickly starting to examine my belongings. Thank god the house isn’t a mess. I turn on the lights in the kitchen and sit down at the dining table as I watch him move around the room, neither of us making any sound for a while. Opening the pantry, he breaks the silence; “so what’s the point of this plan anyway Y/N? Pretending to date him can only lead to two things, neither of them are options you’d like.” He pulls out a bag of plain chips, holding them up with a questioning look.

“Ok first of all, I eat them with dip. Second, what are you talking about? It’s one awkward dinner with Max, a few weeks of little white lies and we can say it didn’t work out. Done” I walk to the fridge and pull two waters and the dip out, going back to the table as David sits in the chair across from mine opening the bag.

“ you forgot somethings Y/N. Max isn’t stupid but he is an asshole. He’s either gonna know you lied, resulting in either death or turning as a punishment, or he believes it and forces you to turn so his son keeps his boyfriend forever. Are you really willing to be stuck with Dwayne as a boyfriend?” He dips his chip and settles into his chair. Probably already thinking of taunts for being right.

“What’s wrong with Dwayne? He’s a nice guy, kinda cute, and isn’t he like your brother? Why are you being mean?” My eyes widen a little when David growls, the icy blue I’m used to looking at becoming yellow. He moves to box me into my chair so quickly I couldn’t even see it, voice coming out deep and raspy when he speaks.

“He’s not right for you kitten. Don’t say there’s a possibility you’d like him ever again, you’re not his.” My confusion only grows, I don’t know David extremely well but I do know that he doesn’t let emotions or little things get large reactions out of him. I try to put some space between us, but he pushes my chair closer and turns my head facing him, only now I see what I assume is his full vampire form. Any other day behavior like this and seeing a transformation would freak me out, but something in his eyes is drawing me in, giving me the same butterflies his human face does.

“Hey, calm down David. I’m not gonna date Dwayne for real, he’s not my type. Why are you so pissed, we barely know each other.” He hesitates to answer, taking heavy breaths but staying in the same position as before, maybe a bit closer. Deciding to take a bold move, I hold the side of his face and it begins to return to normal. Only yellow irises remain, and with one final deep breath he answers my questions.

“Vampirism is a fascinating thing Y/N. It has many benefits that take a long time to learn and experience. There’s this thing, very rare thing, where a vampire will see someone and everything will click. Apparently, if this happens it means he has found his fated mate. The two will then be tied together if they continue to interact. Do you understand what I’m telling you Y/N?” I keep staring in his eyes, piecing together all the little things that now make sense. Him avoiding interacting with me when we first met wasn’t disinterest, it was him trying to ignore this pull, the same one I felt.

“Why’d you wait to tell me?” I rub my thumb against his cheek, going over every second I’ve known David for more clues I missed.

“Because you don’t want my life Y/N. Human emotions and thoughts are so easy to read, even if we weren’t mates. I can feel every time your stomach twist when Marko jokes about feeding. The second of panic you feel when one of us missed a spec of blood when washing off. You’re scared of us kitten. You’ve made it clear you don’t want to turn.” His eyes are like a pool, sadness and empathy swimming lap after lap.

“When you feel everything,” I lick my lips and try to calm my racing heart before continuing, “ do you also feel the shivers when you say my name? The electricity when you grabbed my hand?” I move our faces even closer, resting my forehead on his before whispering, “the desire to learn more, to know you David. I want to try this, I want to try us.”

Within a second David connected our lips, shrugging off his jackets before pulling away for only a moment.

“What my boy wants, he shall receive”

————————————————————————

END OF SERIES

@2525sc

#tlb #the lost boys #tlb 1987 #the lost boys 1987 #tlb david #david tlb #david the lost boys #the lost boys david #david x reader #tlb david x reader #glb fan fiction #glb tlb

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goblinbugthing · 2 years

Text

Currently just thinking about just how weird Kirby’s process of growth is.

When he first arrived on Popstar at a few weeks old, he was tiny. 8 — 10 inches, to be exact. That’s average for someone his age.

By the time they defeated Nightmare in the anime at a year old, they were 3 feet tall, and already had horns and fangs growing in.

When he defeated and purified Void at 3 years, he was 5’9”, his horns were almost fully grown, and his wings were way too big for someone his age.

Now, in modern day, at 4 years old, he’s 6’1”, his horns are fully grown, and his wings are well on their way to the end of the final growth stage.

That is… not normal, like at all.

Kirby’s height when he first came to Popstar is understandable — after all, he was only a couple weeks old. However, the fact that he grew to 3 feet tall in 1 year is concerning, considering how Star Warrior growth and aging works. Meta Knight, Hano, and Empress were pretty confused when his horns started growing — that happens at about 2 years of age — but they put it off as a random growth spurt.

Then Kirby’s wings started growing in. At 2 years old.

That is the furthest thing from normal.

Wing growth is Star Warriors typically starts at 5 years, not 2. And their wings were growing fast. 6 months later, they were bigger than them. At this point, Kirby was about 4’9”. That is abnormally large for a 2-year-old Star Warrior.

His height began changing drastically, too. After 9 months from his wings starting to grow, he was 5’9”, and the storyline of Star Allies was just beginning.

Void predicts that, if they continue growing the way they are now, they’ll be fully grown by the time they’re 6.

That is the least amount of normal something could be.

For reference, Galacta Knight was 7’3” from 22 to modern day, and he won’t be getting any taller. Star Warriors in general are typically in adult stages of growth by 16 or 17 years, and average height for those ages is about 6’5”. Star Warriors are usually fully grown when they’re 20 — 22 (the latter being Galacta Knight’s case).

In other words, Kirby grew alarmingly (and unsurprisingly very painfully) faster than is normal. He somehow ended up in the final growth stages at 4 years old instead of the expected 16, and will be done growing by the time he’s 6.

That is terrifying.

Void estimates that, since his parents were both over 7 feet tall, he is going to end up at the very least 7’9”, at most 8’3”. He is expected to grow 1-2 feet in 2 years.

Many people are, understandably, incredibly concerned. Including Void, and especially Galacta.

Even Elfilis is alarmed. They didn’t understand at first (they thought kirby was, in fact, a teenager when they met), but now that his situation has been explained to them, they are actually starting to freak out a bit.

Fumu has been trying to research Star Warrior growth and come to a conclusion as to why this is happening, but she hasn’t found any leads yet. There isn’t much documentation as to Star Warrior growth, unfortunately.

Hano, Meta, and Galacta have absolutely no clue why they’re growing so fast, and they are the most knowledgeable people in Dreamland when it comes to Star Warrior biology.

They’ll find out eventually, but until then, they just have to remain confused and scared.

sucks to be you ig lol

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alvisthefox · 7 months

Text

Alvis Fact 2

This boi has all the ability to be a super villan or super hero. But he dosnt wanna be in charge. But can if need to

As mentioned Al has been changed so much that he now has powers and he became purple..

If he wants changed by eggman. He would be short fully grown. 3'1"

Main Al fully grown grows to 3'7" (4 inch taller then sonic)

And my universe of alvises. Prime! (New yoke) carbine. He is the 2nd tallest at 3'5" with cybernetics limbs

Alvis was born during the time between in sonic forces about 2 weeks after Sonic was captured *spoiler* and the start when the main part takes place (AU vertion that is)

Al is immortal part of his DNA being mixed with shadows.. an sonic, knuckles and tails

Al has mommy problems. Big time

#my oc character #sth oc

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oh-he-grows · 8 months

Text

After two weeks of stressing and planning and screwing around in chief architect, I came to the obvious conclusion that I should just make raised beds out of basic-ass pine boards. Here's all the research I did so you don't have to agonize over your potential project. All prices are from Lowes. Below is a cost analysis of my project, which would be for 512' long of raised beds (for a growing area of 1,000 sq ft). I had in-ground beds last year but a massive influx of bunny rabbits ate everything that they could, so I'm looking to lift my plants off the ground a bit.

I was originally planning on using pressure treated 2x8s, but soon got sidetracked into cedar fenceposts and pressure treated landscape timbers, so here's what I eventually found:

Cedar fenceposts are great for a small scale garden. If you need 1 or 2 raised beds, I would recommend cedar fenceposts for cost and longevity purposes. If one piece gets damaged somehow, it's cheap and easy to throw in a replacement. They're incredibly cheap relative to other options, resistant to rot and moisture, beautiful, and can easily fit in almost any vehicle which can't be said for the dimensional lumber. Here's a build video for the most elegant fencepost raised bed I found. Downsides: the fenceposts are very thin, barely half an inch thick-- you can't sit on them or put too much pressure on them. They also require more bracing on the corners and in the middle, as well as a top-strip, as shown below. This is factored into the "Specialty Hardware Cost", and is calculated with pressure treated pine- using cedar for these pieces would look nicer (as below), but are much more expensive and some dimensions are out of stock. They're also a lot of work at scale. For my plan (to look good), I would have to cut off the dogear notch at the top for 280 boards individually, and put four screws each into 280 boards individually, which is an obscene amount of labor and hardware.

Next up are Pressure Treated Landscape Timbers, which I first saw from a Millennial Gardner video where the tagline was "lumber dealers HATE this trick!". Which may be true, but screw manufacturers LOVE this trick. They look really pretty and the wood is extremely cheap, but they're short individually, so you would need to stack 3-4 on top of each other to get the look I'm going for. Most importantly though, these need long screws (50 cents to a dollar each) to connect two boards to each other every 24-48 inches PER layer, and additional rebar if it's being used as a retaining wall, which would be another $4 on every side. The wood is cheap and rot resistant, but the hardware costs creep in.

Cedar boards are too expensive. Flat-out, they cost so much money it's insane. nearly $50 for a single 8' 2"x8" is inordinately expensive for a project like this. For the price of one miniature cedar bed, you could get multiple metal beds that will last decades instead. The final deliberation was between Yellow Pine and Pressure Treated Yellow Pine, and I'm deciding to go with regular untreated pine. The price is an extra 30% - 50% cost, and untreated pine should last (outside of the pacific northwest or florida) for 3-5 years without issues, while pressure-treated could last 10 or more depending on the conditions. Pressure treated boards leaching their chemicals into your food is mostly overstated, as arsenic hasn't been used in the process for 20 years now; although, I understand the reservations about using any chemical so close to food supply. The modern process apparently uses copper-based solutions and various fungicide for copper-resistant strains. I've included two cans of boiled linseed oil in the hardware costs for this to help protect them further, and I might find some kind of plastic or other barrier to protect the wood from direct soil contact to keep them going longer. I think I'm going with the 2x12s as well over the 2x8s, just because I like the idea of a taller bed if I'm just using one board. It's more expensive for sure, and the only thing I'm still deciding on. For the most part it's purely aesthetic, but some plants would prefer a bed larger than 8 inches, so that's why I'm leaning towards 12". It turns out that with the bulk discount that comes with 50 boards, 68 2"x8"s are the same price as 34 2"x12"s, but 4 inches taller. I might have to get some additional 2x4s for corner bracing, but this might be the way. I hope this info helps someone build a raised bed and start gardening, or help their garden become more successful (for cheaper). If I got anything wrong or if there are alternatives let me know, I'd love to hear anybody's thoughts.

#gardenblr #organic gardening #time to grow #raised bed #garden #container gardening #gardening

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j-graysonlibrary · 1 year

Text

Fort Heaven Chapter 2

Title: Fort Heaven

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 69K

Genres: Suspense, investigative, drama, LGBT+

Available on: Kobo and my website

Synopsis: Some call it a hoax. Others claim it’s a cult. But, to Evon and his friend Yasmine, two online journalists, Fort Heaven is the subject of their latest story. Along for the assignment is cameraman and not-so-secret crush of Evon’s: Russet. With a drunken, murky night in their recent history, things are especially tense between them but, of course, personal matters take a backseat when the interviews start. The trio speaks to ex-members of Fort Heaven and, while some of the accounts are shocking, the job remains just that: A job. That is until one of the women they interviewed, along with her daughter, goes missing. It soon becomes clear that not only is Fort Heaven a real threat but Evon and his friends are being watched. And what started as a simple cash-grab article is now a matter of life and death.

Full Chapter 2 under the cut

Chapter 2

Evon’s townhouse was in a decent part of town, surrounded by a few buildings with a similar look. As far as he knew, his landlord was the same as everyone else’s but he’d never actually asked either. He was friendly, sure, but he tried not to be nosey.

He parked his sedan beside Trinity’s car which hadn’t been driven in a few weeks. Mentally, he noted that he needed to take her car to work soon.

“I’m home,” Evon announced as he passed through the threshold. He kicked his shoes off at the door and tossed his messenger bag close by. He’d worry about work later.

“I’m in the kitchen!” he heard his sister call back.

He walked down the short hall and turned into the kitchen where Trinity was cutting some potatoes. It was rare to see her making anything from scratch so he felt the need to ask.

“What are you…doing?”

She turned around and smiled but didn’t put the knife down. Either it was her intention to creep him out or she simply forgot she had it.

“I saw this recipe for potato soup!” Trinity answered enthusiastically. “It looks really easy and delicious—plus it’s cold out so…you know…soup weather.”

“Right.” He slowly agreed and then leaned against the nearest counter. It was half a bar—not enough to actually seat a person but rather add a few inches of counter space. Nothing in the town house was bigger than it needed to be but that was something Evon actually liked a lot about it.

“So,” Trinity said and regained his attention. She finally placed the knife down beside the cutting board. “How was your day?”

Her expectant face was earnest and even hopeful which made him feel more like the older sibling in the dynamic. Though he had been feeling that a lot since she moved in. It was more than fair however—she did a lot for him when he was young.

In many ways, they looked similar but each took after one parent more than the other. Most could tell instantly that they were related but not everyone could guess siblings right from the start.

They were about the same height but Trinity often made herself taller with heels much to her brother’s irritation. Each had dark skin, round eyes, and curly hair—Trinity’s was just longer. Evon sometimes thought about growing his out to see if anyone would mistake them as twins but he could never grow his hair past his jaw.

“Um…” Evon mumbled before clearing his throat and proceeding, “It was interesting? Me and Yasmine are working on a new story finally.”

“Oh yeah?” She grinned.

“Yup. She and the boss think it’ll get money so…I don’t see any issues.”

“That’s good,” Trinity said and sighed in relief, “We need the money.”

Her wording was particular and Evon didn’t miss the dip in her tone. “…we need money? Like…badly…?”

She didn’t look directly at him which, in itself, told him all he needed to know.

“It’s a bill.”

Evon clasped his hands together and wrung them together for a second. He let out a forceful breath before he asked, “What’s it for?”

Trinity shook her head in disappointment that was undoubtedly misplaced in herself. “The last doctor’s visit. Apparently my insurance didn’t cover it and they tacked on costs that really added up…”

He was afraid to ask further but it was going to mostly be his money in jeopardy so he had to.

“How much?”

“Twenty…” she said with a low voice, “…twenty thousand…”

It wouldn’t do any good to react the way he wanted to so Evon hung his head. He only had around half of that in his bank account. Paying it would certainly be impossible.

“When’s it due?”

Trinity reached over the counter with a pained expression and touched his hand. “I’m going to contact my lawyer and let her know. She’s already working on those other times I was overcharged and mistreated.”

It was a lot to take in—especially with the deadline for the story hanging over his head as well. “Even if she can’t do anything…” Evon said after a long pause, “I’ll figure it out. I’ll make the money you need off of this piece.”

“Sure?” Trinity asked immediately, only slightly shaking the confidence in himself. “I mean…your articles make good money but…”

“This one is going to be different,” he said without thinking. Internally, he cursed. Why was he making so many promises that he couldn’t keep? What was with this sudden and alarming self sabotaging behavior?

There wasn’t time to mull the questions over since he had to get straight to work researching. He wasn’t sure where to start so he opened a few tabs to take the story in a couple of directions.

First there was the Ford line of questioning that had to do with his involvement in Fort Heaven and whether or not there was any merit behind the replacement theory. Then he had a tab dedicated to the history of Fort Heaven since he didn’t know all that much about it aside from the rumors. Lastly, he had a site where members could anonymously (or not) post their accounts of being mistreated within the church.

The information on Ford and his ex-wife was limited and quickly turned into meaningless ramblings. Evon moved onto the history—at the very least he could start to get the foundation of the church on paper and it’s history in his own words.

His eyes scanned across the screen quickly as he speed read the text.

Fort Heaven was founded in 1969 by Harold Bartlow and was impressively popular for years. That only lasted until there were many money scandals and Harold was revealed to be the greedy fraud most people already suspected he was. At that point, the church should have logically died but Harold’s son, Simon, stepped up to the mantel.

Simon’s reign kept Fort Heaven as more of an underground organization where those who wanted it could find it but where they would also stay away from the public eye. From what Evon could tell, Simon actually cared about the religious aspects of Fort Heaven as opposed to his father’s love for money.

That was the time period in which the Ford scandal occurred but it was hard to find definitive proof that Ford was ever in Fort Heaven.

Evon rubbed against his forehead and closed his eyes tightly.

The history was fascinating but it wasn’t anything that people couldn’t just look up on their own. Every lead that he knew Yasmine wanted to follow seemed to be a dead end.

After a few minutes of staring blankly and slightly dissociating, Evon pulled up the video chat so he could call his friend and see if she was having any better luck.

Her image appeared in the next few seconds and it was clear that she’d been at it for a while already.

“Please tell me you’ve got something good.”

That was the exact opposite of what Evon wanted to hear. With a frown he replied, “Not really.”

“Damnit.” Yasmine ran a hand through her hair and looked off camera for a second. “I sent an enquiry to Ford Hyland but I haven’t gotten anything.”

A laugh came out of him before he could stop it. “It’s only been a few hours; give it time.”

“What if he doesn’t want to do the interview though?” Her voice was thick with worry and it made Evon wonder if she had a financial crisis bothering her too.

“I was starting to think…” He spoke after a second, somewhat disregarding her question, “maybe if we can track down ex-members of Fort Heaven that they can give us a unique inside look and we can relate that—without the interview—to Ford Hyland.”

The idea came to him as he spoke it and the second he was done a new hope was born in him. Sometimes he impressed himself and it was definitely one of those moments.

It seemed to give Yasmine some life back as well. A smile crept across her face and she started to nod. “That could work…I’d read it…”

“Film,” Evon added, still on a mental role. He wasn’t going to question it but rather let the ideas flow. “We can film some interviews with ex-members about their experiences with Fort Heaven since no one ever talks about what it’s like.”

“Did we just…” his friend paused, let out a dry laugh, then continued, “make our conspiracy click-bait story into an actual, dramatic story?”

“Maybe…” He chewed over his lip for a second as his idea played over in his head as a final product. If they filmed and edited it correctly, they could have a real hit on their hands. “How much do you know about filming?”

“I can use my cell phone?” Yasmine suggested and shrugged.

“That can only get us so far…”

She crossed her arms and leaned away from the camera. “Didn’t Trinity go to film school?

“Yeah a long time ago,” Evon answered with a huff. He knew what it was he would end up doing and while he was secretly excited about it, he didn’t want to seem too eager to suggest it.

“Then her film buddies. Aren’t some of them camera men—directors too, right?” Yasmine asked and led them straight down the path Evon was looking forward to.

“I can ask but I think Kate and Lawrence are busy…” he mumbled just loud enough for her to hear. It was true that Kate and Lawrence were both friends with Trinity and also working together on a short film. Other than them, there was one friend that his sister had from long before college who just so happened to also be an excellent director, producer, and camera man.

“So Russet?” Yasmine said his name with a smirk.

Almost since Evon could remember, Russet had been around. He and Trinity met in school and became instant best friends, spending every moment they could together. Trinity was the one person outside of family who stuck by Russet when he began taking puberty blockers at age twelve. When everyone else distanced themselves from the strange kid, Trinity’s bond only tightened.

And then there was Evon on the outside looking in.

He had always found Russet to be especially cool and tried every moment he could to inject himself into his and his sister’s conversations. It never worked and seemed to only cause Russet to become more and more irritated with him.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Yasmine asked and brought Evon’s thoughts back to their current conversation.

“Um…” he paused and had to really think on it. “He’s been by since Trinity moved in here with me but it was a few months back. Maybe…three months?”

The woman chuckled and rested her chin in her palm. “Did he stay for long?”

Evon couldn’t help but smile. If it was anyone besides Yasmine, he’d probably be irritated by the invasion of privacy. Yet, with her, it was always comfortable to share his inner thoughts and be open. She usually had some good advice too.

“No. He came to get Trinity and then left. Dropped her off at the entrance.”

“Dick,” Yasmine scoffed.

“Hey!” Evon raised his voice to defend the man who couldn’t defend himself. “He’s not doing it to be a jerk—he’s trying to shield me.”

“You seriously still think that?” She responded, “He just doesn’t want to have any kind of emotional conversation with you.”

“It’s an unspoken thing.”

Yasmine rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna say something to him when I see him.”

“You were so excited about it a second ago!” Evon pointed out.

“That was before I learned he was back to ignoring you. I figured with Trinity being with you now that there would be some forced interaction.”

He frowned, trying not to think about the fact she was right. That didn’t mean he had to say it aloud or concede.

“I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

“For twenty years?”

“Well…” Evon started and tried not to think about the negatives. “He’ll be ready to talk eventually. Either that or he’ll pretend nothing’s amiss.” Even his words sounded like lies and it was very clear that his best friend wasn’t buying a single second of it.

Whatever he felt or thought didn’t matter—with their story on the line, he’d have to face Russet and be prepared to not back down. He’d have to be upfront and logical—not giving any emotion away which would, for Evon, be much, much easier said than done.

#fort heaven #my writing #writeblr #lgbt writers

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