#I mean maybe she had a much different teenage experience than I did but he was very much like. an Acceptable™ celebrity crush to have

[musical-chick-13]

Sometimes I periodically think of that one "article" about how Doctor Who finally has an attractive cast again(???) so it's easier to Care™ now(???????). For a variety of mocking reasons, but mostly because the woman who wrote it had this whole thing about her teenage shame at being attracted to DTen. and how Embarrassing™ that was for her when he was like. The most BASIC celebrity crush you could have.

[biblio-smia]

blood runs thicker than water — one.

first series!!! woooo!!! this will be an eventual ethan landry x reader but will start with scream 5 because i wanted to set up the reader as part of everything from the beginning — i hope you dont get too bored agkngjsk

masterlist | requests are open!

pairing: eventual ethan landry x reader

warnings: mentions of substance abuse/alcoholism, brief mentions of violence.

[one.] [two.]

You were eight years old when your parents give you the Talk.

They sat you down with grim looks and tense statures that made your small fingers fiddle with your shirt.

Your eyes dulled in fear and the nerves in your body could barely be contained; the feeling that you did something to cause this, to upset your parents was unshakable and your eyes watered before they even began.

Your parents exchanged a glance and then your mother's voice spoke — the quietest you'd ever heard her — and the small world you lived in began spinning out of control.

When you were twelve years old, your family picked up and moved from the suffocating city of Woodsboro to New York City. The attempt to run away failed and within months you were back.

There was no one to miss you when you left and no one to celebrate your return. The city was small but your circle was smaller, the change in you after that day when you were eight changing your friendships, too. The house and the white picket fence could not hide the innate differences between you and every other child in Woodsboro and while many tried to look past them, you could not. A piece of you died that day, innocence about the world gone with it.

When you were thirteen, your father come home — to the trailer you now lived in — drunk out of his mind.

And you spoke to him, asking him the questions he always danced around with avoidant eyes and clammy hands as he changed the topic. Maybe it was awful, but you were a fresh teenager who had to google how to take care of a drunk person at four in the morning.

It was that day you found out you were an accident and the weight of the truth never left you. It was a truth that only solidified your beliefs created over the years as you watched the love in your parents' marriage fizzle out.

Their relationship had been built on a shared, life-altering experience, broken down, and built up again on the same premise. And then, they were held together by something much bigger than that; you. But you were a mistake your parents never meant to make and were either too afraid or not afraid enough to take back. Their worries had eased over the years and they no longer lived shrouded in fear. Your existence defied the odds and your parents put their faith in the low chance of your birth meaning something; a sign to begin something new with the lives they had been graciously given.

Though, as you got older, the looks of love and adoration towards each other slowly became ones of resentment and anger. Your mother dreamed of more and your father, no matter how hard he tried, could not give it to her. But the raised voices and the arguments could not be hidden from you and wordless blame sat on your shoulders each time; you could tell by the look in their eyes they were only together because of you.

So when your parents had decided to divorce, you were relieved. Maybe they would finally search for their own happiness and the burden of preventing it would be lifted from your shoulders.

You had reached a year back in Woodsboro and your mother was desperate to see you. Thus began the arrangements for you to fly out to New York each summer — which worked until the summer you were fifteen, when your mother became so busy she rarely saw you. Your trips became shorter and shorter until you did not see your mother at all and spent your days travelling into the city.

High school began with stares and whispers beginning the first day. People talked and rumors floated as you entered the school that produced the original killers and a few of their successors. The comments grew worse as you neared the age of the killers, but none were ever made to your face. People knew who your parents were and those who didn't care learned to.

However, your progression through high school didn't come without a looming fear of danger. It was one you would never admit to your parents, who, that day, prepared you on what to do in the case of a Ghostface attack as if it were a commonplace emergency like fires or break ins. You’d reassure them that the attacks were over; yet you engraved their advice in your memory, the hint of paranoia taking over.

Time passed by and with the changing of the seasons came the start of senior year. The color of the world changed you along with it. Dull colors of dead leaves sparked a childish joy in you, bright smiles and increased energy making your dad suspicious and teasing. Something had changed, not caused by any particular event. The wilting of old leaves promised a fresh start for you and your father; you were sure of it.

Perhaps the last year of high school made you care-free, encouraging you to step out of your shell and make your life worth living for once. Maybe you'd finally realized that being alive was a gift, the jar of your aunt's ashes and the scars littering your father's body a constant reminder.

There was a skip in your step on the way to school and an aura surrounding you, warm and inviting even to strangers.

And then, the light went out.

Your father had his issues and his way of dealing with them. You would never understand the former, so you never questioned the latter — but September was always a hard month. Your father had his episodes but he always pulled himself together for you. But now, alcohol was used as a crutch and any optimism you had for your future disappeared as the bottles of liquor drained. The nights he'd come home drunk became more and more often, leaving you to take care of him each time. And though he had good days and bad ones, he never hurt you. He never raised his voice or got angry.

You found him one night, coffee table flipped over in the small space the two of you shared, laying in a puddle of his own vomit. He was sobbing so hard he'd woken you up.  He was muttering something over and over, choked out so roughly you could barely understand him.

"I'm sorry."

His tone haunted you, bringing goosebumps to the surface of your skin and tears to your eyes. Yet you cleaned the mess your father sat in and guided him to bed as he reached unconsciousness, pressing a shaky kiss to his forehead. The two of you never spoke of the incident and you weren't sure if he didn't remember or if he didn't want to remember.

But that night pulled you out of your daydreams; you had no choice but to grow up from any childish fantasies you once thought you could live in.

「 … 」

The Woodsboro High halls were filled with hushed whispers and disapproving looks from teachers that made your skin crawl. The tension in the air made your heart beat a little quicker, waiting for the right words to float by you.

The moment came in your psychology class when an empty desk and lack of response during attendance made the room mutter, half in excitement and half in pity.

"Didn't you hear? Tara's in the hospital. She got stabbed, like, a million times."

You froze. Your stomach churned unfavorably at the poorly whispered words and an alarm in your head went off. There was no confirmation, but there was speculation; Woodsboro seemed to be due for another Ghostface attack. But it didn't make sense. All the previous Ghostface killers were mainly tied through blood relations and as far as you knew, all family members of the previous killers were dead. But the fans... they would always have fans.

You didn't know Tara personally but you knew her circle of friends because it was impossible not to. As you left school with the announcement that classes would be canceled trailing behind you, you couldn't help but stop and stare at the table where Tara's friends sat. If it was Ghostface again, it had to be one of them.

You came home that day expecting information from your dad. If your suspicions were correct, he had to let you know. Despite his retirement, he had been Sheriff. He had been attacked by Ghostface. Four times. If anyone in this town knew the truth, it should've been him.

An empty fridge save for condiments greeted you, forcing you to eat instant noodles for the fifth time that week. You headed straight to the couch with a groan. Silence engulfed you for hours, leaving you alone with nothing but your thoughts. They were suffocating.

The mere idea of the return of Ghostface left you haunted, sitting there with an empty ache in your chest. Your mind traced every possibility of what could follow, a shudder passing through your body as your imagination wandered. Your hands rubbed shakily against your thighs as you tried to grasp back onto reality, pulling yourself out of outcomes you couldn't predict. But with a nod of your head came a silent decision; you would stay by your father's side, no matter what.

The sky behind you darkened, orange hues turning black through the small gap between the blinds. Sleep helped you pass the time. Next to you, your phone buzzed in an attempt to notify you of an incoming call, vibrating until it fell off the edge of the coffee table. It wasn’t enough to wake you; you remained uninterrupted until your eyes blinked open at the sound of the door of your home squeaking open. Your father was home, you realized groggily. Too late — your father had gotten a call and left once more, before you could break the haze of your sleep.

It wasn't until later, once you had rubbed the tiredness out of your eyes, that you realized what the voice over the phone told him.

The stabbing of Tara Carpenter did not strike you as a coincidence. Your dad knew it wasn't a coincidence; but he didn't want to admit it, so he got a drink and pretended it wasn't happening.

You waited on the couch as the hours of the night crept on, the hint of a headache threatening to take over if you didn't get proper rest soon. You slipped in and out of unconsciousness with your body in an uncomfortable position. With a developing stiffness in your neck and a far-fetched dream contained in your mind, Dewey Riley entered your home with a grim look and a developing bruise decorating his face.

[yellowocaballero]

At this point you've written at least four different roleswap AUs, so I was wondering if you had any thoughts or takes about how a roleswap AU should be? - someone who's planning on making a roleswap AU

Please don't remind me. I'm embarrassed about this. I know I need to write other things. I don't know why the AU concept is so incredibly fun to write. I can't explain it. Roleswaps are very easy to write and a lot of fun and involve being a freak about everything. Who wouldn't write 10 of those bitches.

But yes, as someone whose roleswap AUs are like 9 out of her 51 fics, I feel qualified to talk about this. These are just my own opinions and takes, and other people might do it differently - if you write roleswaps too, feel free to add in your two cents!!

Before sitting down to write literally anything I always figure out the rules of the story. Writing is little more than a nonstop series of decisions, and if you abide by the rules of your story or characters then your decisions will be coherent and cohesive. By rules I don't mean worldbuilding - I mean the internal logic of the story and the characters. "X character will never explicitly say how he's feeling" or "the leads have to both win and lose every encounter".

I find establishing writing rules for roleswaps especially important - it's figuring out exactly how the roleswap works. Here are the ones that I find important, and kind of the process:

Decide what is swapped. Is it more of a universal swap, personality swap, backstory swap, chronology swap, or alignment swap? No matter which one you choose, all of these things are probably going to change anyway, but there has to be one central point for each character that guides your decisions. Are you actually swapping the narrative role in the story, or are you just changing it? You have to be really precise and have a very good idea of what exactly is swapped, and it has to be consistent throughout the story. It can't just (just) work on what you'd like to see, it has to be exactly the same between characters.

Decide the point of divergence. Sometimes that point is pretty abstract (She's a teenager in the 90s instead of the 20s). Sometimes it's much more specific, just one moment (He developed his superpowers at this moment instead of that). The point doesn't have to be immediately obvious, but you should know it - I did a backstory swap ages ago, and it seemed like a complete change, but like 150k in I dropped that a character dropped out of the police academy instead of completing it and that her entire life changed from there. If the swap is more abstract, then maybe it's just a series of smaller decisions - character A has these seminal points in his story, and I'm swapping him with character B, so here's what character B did during these seminal points instead, and how it changed him and his narrative.

Decide who the character is. This might be more personal, but for me, I think of the character as...there is a central tenet of them, of who they are as a person, that does not change no matter what. That's three or four traits of who they are, that you will not change, and that's what makes their swapped life their own instead of the OG dude's. But there's a lot of traits and behaviors around that core personality that's the result of their environment, backstory, and experiences. That's what should change. It's about figuring out how these essential traits + what is swapped + the point of divergence = an entirely different character and story. The roleswap you'll end up with will be a combination of all of these things: how the essential aspects of a character mix with what's swapped to create an entirely new environment and set of behaviors, which cause a chain reaction to create something new. As a writer, you sit down and say, "I'm keeping these parts of the character, I'm swapping out those parts, this new mix changes these points in their backstory, this results in this new person".

This is more of a guideline, but it's the most important to me: your characters have to be recognizable as the character. The reader shouldn't go, "this OC is making some weird choices". The reader should go, "I don't know how, because he's the exact opposite of his canon self in every possible way, but somehow he still feels like my favorite character". This is why you isolate those basic traits before changing the rest - so long as your character is still who they are deep inside, then they still feel like that character. And that's the fun of the story. You're selling something insane, and the reader is buying it.

It's a lot of really heavy character work. You have to really understand the characters you're writing - the less I get the original character, the more issues I'm perpetually having. I tend to fly fast and loose with characterizations, but when writing roleswaps I have to refer back to canon and the source material a lot ("In canon he did X thing, with his newly different backstory how would that decision change?"). The more you're rooted in canon, then the funkier and more divergent you can get.

Personally, I like to play a fun little game I call: how exactly opposite can I make this character until he stops feeling like this character? I Sometimes my goal in writing is "how deeply can I ruin this story". This is not a good game and people should not play it. I find that the lazier I get about getting in touch with the canon character, about keeping track of the canon decisions, and about following these guidelines, then the more difficult a story is to write. If you structure a story well then it's easy to write, and roleswaps are pretty easy. Thanks for the question!

[a-queer-seminarian]

Hey Avery, I love this blog and the binary-breakers blog. They’ve both been a great help to me as I reconstruct my faith. But I’m struggling with something: my fiancé and I are scheduled to light an advent candle during the Sunday morning service at his church. Initially I was really looking forward to it, but by chance I was curious about how old Mary was when she bore Jesus, and when I looked it up I learned she could have been anywhere from 13-16. Moreover, some traditions put Joseph as being much, much older. It’s just hard not to think in a very . . . sinister direction when considering that context, especially as far as God’s role in this is concerned. What did you learn about this topic in seminary, if anything? Is there any hope that my “problematic” interpretation is unnecessary/invalid?

Hi there! I think it's lovely y'all are going to light an advent candle tomorrow, and I hope it's a meaningful experience! I also totally get your dismay about Mary's age at Jesus's birth.

To start with the facts: yes, Mary was almost certainly a teenager when betrothed to Joseph. The Bible doesn't give any confirmation of her age, but in both ancient Jewish culture and Roman culture, girls were usually married off not too many years after they started menstruating.

When it comes to Joseph's age, I do have some slightly relieving news — he's unlikely to have been the old man he's often depicted as in medieval art. (I actually had a fascinating conversation on this topic with queer Catholic art historian Amy Neville on my podcast that you can read or listen to here!) He almost certainly would have been older than Mary, but it's uncertain how much older.

In ancient Jewish culture, the "ideal" marriage was actually one between a man and a woman who were both in their teens, with an expectation that a man marry by age 20. Being able to support a wife & kids was a key indicator of manhood, so men were expected to get married as young as they could. But in practice, it was more common for men to marry in their late 20s / by age 30, which does mean that their wives would often be a good ten or fifteen years younger than they were.

The Bible doesn't tell us what age Joseph was when he and Mary were betrothed, but it's unlikely he was older than 30, just as it's unlikely she was older than 18.

So maybe that's not quite as discomfiting as the image of a much older Joseph, but by our modern standards, it's still pedophilia. So what do we make of that? And what did God think of that??

__

I believe it is an act of faith to be troubled by elements of scripture that should be troubling, rather than shrugging them off as being "God's will" just because they're in the Bible. I highly recommend Rachel Held Evans' book Inspired on this topic, which has a whole chapter on grappling with difficult biblical texts (you can read a long passage from it here).

While exploring our emotions and giving them holy space, it is also important to accept that biblical cultures are two thousand or more years old — the ancient world had completely different understandings of morality from us. That doesn't mean we shrug off displays of sexism or xenophobia in scripture — bigotry is bigotry, whether an ancient iteration or what we have today — but learning about biblical cultures enriches our understanding of why certain things, like slavery or women having little say in whom they marry, are present in the Bible (and often completely taken for granted by its human authors). It can help us distinguish between what is truly God-ordained, versus what the humans writing down their experience of God presume is God-ordained.

I appreciate how womanist theologian Wil Gafney explores the complexity of appreciating the Bible as an ancient human text while looking for Divine truth "between the lines":

“There is liberation in the gospel even though it is sometimes obscured by the structures of power that benefit from holding people captive. There is also a story in and between the lines of and behind the text we hold so dear that points to a liberation that not even the authors and editors of scripture were able to see clearly or, see their way to record.

Jesus was a rabbi, he would have never wanted us to cling to the letters and syntax of these texts as though they were his very body and blood but rather, his spirit and the Spirit of God, blow through them, ruffling and disturbing them and permitting us to read new truths in and out of them and, not lose sight of the ancient stories that are also part of our shared heritage."

___

When it comes to Mary's young age when betrothed to Joseph and approached by Gabriel to request her "yes" to carrying God's child, your question of God's "role" in that is a vital one to ask.

In Mary's world, a woman without a kyrios, a man to be her protector, was in a very precarious position. Mary has to be betrothed to someone in her teens. We don't know whether God "approves" of this cultural practice, but we can see how God works within this custom to ensure Mary's security throughout her life:

when Joseph plans to divorce her after she becomes pregnant with Jesus, God sends an angel to persuade him to stick by her;

when Jesus is dying on the cross, he ensures that his beloved will protect Mary after he's gone.

Throughout scripture, God largely seems to operate within a people's cultural expectations (with key exceptions, like how God insists Their people treat foreigners the same as members of the group, or when God warns against giving the people a king just because that's what all the other nations have). That's what I see here. Mary must have a husband to be secure in her culture, and I imagine God ensuring that that husband will be one who will treat her well.

__

Then there's the question of God espousing Mary — of the Holy Spirit "overshadowing" her so that she conceives Jesus. What exactly is this "overshadowing" act? Why is God getting a teen girl pregnant?

Again, Rev. Wil Gafney provides words that wrestle out the good news with this complexity. When reading Luke 1, she urges us to sit with our distress at the image of a powerful "male" figure (Gabriel) approaching a teen girl to tell her what's going to happen to her body:

"Sit with me in this moment, this uncomfortable moment, before rushing to find proof of her consent, or argue that contemporary notions of consent do not apply to ancient texts, or God knew she’d say yes so it was prophetic, or contend that (human) gender does not apply to divine beings, Gabriel or God, and the Holy Spirit is feminine anyway. Hold those thoughts and just sit in the moment with this young woman."

Our distress is holy; it shows our connection to a fellow human being, our thirst for justice. Honor what you feel, don't discard your emotions, even while you join them to sociohistorical understanding.

I highly recommend you read Gafney's whole article, but here's a little more from it that balances ancient culture with modern ethics:

"Yet in a world which did not necessarily recognize her sole ownership of her body and did not understand our notions of consent and rape, this very young woman had the dignity, courage, and temerity to question a messenger of the Living God about what would happen to her body before giving her consent. That is important. That gets lost when we rush to her capitulation. Before Mary said, “yes,” she said, “wait a minute, explain this to me.” ... Did the Ever-Blessed Virgin Mary say, “me too?” Perhaps not. A close reading shows her presumably powerless in every way but sufficiently empowered to talk back to the emissary of God, determine for herself, and grant what consent she could no matter the power of the One asking. And yet in that moment after being told by someone else what would happen to her body, she became not just the Mother of God, but the holy sister to those of us who do say, “Me too.” "

Because Mary was a teen girl, an impoverished Palestinian Jew living under empire, she can extend solidarity to people across all time who experience similar oppression, whose bodily autonomy is equally precarious. Just as her son, God in human flesh, extends solidarity to all who have ever been arrested or executed under an unjust state through his crucifixion. Divine power is expressed in and through those whom the world denigrates and discards — that's why God chose Mary, and why Mary in turn chose God.

Sorry this got so long and has a lot of complex stuff to wrestle with. I honor your courage to ask the hard questions, and I hope you are able to take time throughout Advent to keep pondering! There are no easy answers, but wrestling can yield a blessing.

[galaxymagitech]

Don’t know if anyone still cares about spoilers for this, but…

SPOILERS FOR TEEN TITANS (2003)

So I finished TT03 season 2. And cried. I was NOT expecting a teenager to die. When Terra defeated Robin, I thought “this can only end in a last-minute heroic sacrifice.” But it still took me by surprise that she was actually just gone. They make her a gravestone and she never comes back as Terra. It was shocking.

I tend to see most characters in the most sympathetic way possible, and that applies to Terra too. She did terrible things and she knows it. She made really bad, perhaps irredeemable, mistakes. But she also didn’t deserve the way her story went. Doing bad things and experiencing bad things don’t cancel each other out. Being hurt doesn’t justify hurting people, although you can certainly experience empathy for someone like that. But also—just because someone, especially a 15/16-year-old teenager, hurts people doesn’t mean it isn’t sad when they get hurt too.

Looking back on Terra’s story, I don’t know what the Teen Titans could have done differently. Fixing one mistake would’ve just delayed the inevitable. Slade was cunning enough to manipulate Terra and unlike Robin she didn’t have an established support system—Slade got to her before she could build one and undermined all her successive efforts. Terra says she’s looking for control, but I don’t think she’s right about herself. If she wanted control then she would’ve left Slade as soon as she got control over her powers. I think she was looking for safety and she considered herself a threat. She wanted to feel protected and secure, after so long on her own, and Slade offered her the opportunity to take the storm inside of her and channel it outwards. He offered her a place she didn’t have to fight him for, and Terra had never had that before. The Teen Titans couldn’t give her what she needed—and neither would Slade, but you can see why she thought he would. And Terra keeps repeating that she’s in control, that she wants this, as if trying to convince herself, and it was honestly horrifying to me.

I don’t want to take away Terra’s agency here. She was manipulated, but she still chose to betray the Titans. She isn’t a good person. But I don’t think she’s a bad person either. It’s not a dichotomy, it’s a sliding scale. She was just a person and she was trying but it wasn’t enough.

And Terra was a kid. She was a teenager who was lost and confused and scared and made the choices that seemed best to her in the moment. She changed her mind again and again. She gave up the best thing she ever had. In another world, she could’ve been happy. She could’ve even been “good,” maybe not in the profoundly heroic person at heart way, but in the “doing good things” way. If Terra hadn’t had out of control superpowers, if Slade hadn’t noticed her, Terra wouldn’t have turned “bad.” If she’d gotten a normal life, she wouldn’t have been “bad.” Terra was just as deserving of a good life as a normal person.

So I found myself with literal tears in my eyes over an animated TV show, because it just sucked so much that Terra’s story ended up like this and this was way darker and more horrifying than I expected.

Some of this goes for the comics character too. I think she’s genuinely a bad person in the comics, and a lot less sympathetic. But also—without getting into the specifics—her life really sucked. She did bad things and bad things happened to her. Deathstroke manipulated her, and although it was clear that she’d kill people/be evil on her own, the way her story went was really sad. And of course she’s still responsible for her own evil actions, but…any time you’ve got a teenager whose life is like that, whose mind is so messed up that killing people seems like a good idea, it doesn’t matter where the blame is assigned—it’s a tragedy.

I can’t help but have sympathy for Terra, in both forms. Because no matter how awful she was or how many cruel things she did, she was a kid and her story was sad.

(Me: Terra is a kid! 15 or 16 years old! A kid!!

Also Me: I’m…practically an adult.)

[thestupidhelmet]

I get that Red was trying to help Eric from making a mistake by marrying too young. He and Donna were too young to get married (it’s my opinion they could’ve still been engaged and waited till after they graduated high school to marry). But I think Red was going too far by taking away everything that Eric earned— especially his job! That was vindictive and completely unnecessary. I hated how he did that to try to prove a point he couldn’t make by “demoting” Eric back to a ten year old. Red wanted Eric to be an adult TM, but by taking away his son’s responsibilities, he wasn’t doing that. Eric was really trying to prove to his father and everyone else he could handle supporting himself (and by extension Donna, even though she’d be working too), but Red took away all his chances.

I don't like how Red or Kitty reacted to Eric and Donna's engagement, either. That being said, I also understand their point of view.

Eric and Donna are only seventeen. While the planned length of their engagement is never explicitly stated or discussed in season 5, Red and Kitty's behavior implies that Eric and Donna plan on a relatively short one. Otherwise, Eric and Donna would've told them to chill because they don't plan on marrying until after college.

They never communicate that intention, however. If they had, the storyline would have fallen apart. The writers purposely never define the planned length of the engagement so that all the conflict between Eric and his parents can happen.

Red and Kitty fail to dissuade Eric and Donna verbally, including asking them simply to postpone the engagement by one year -- which, again, implies that marriage would soon follow.

Red tries to give Eric a dose of reality by firing him from PriceMart, that once married Eric wouldn't be a kid who could rely on his parents to fix or find solutions to his problems. Problems that would now be adult in nature: being financially responsible for his adult family, living expenses, future children (T7S prime canon, not T9S AU canon).

Neither Red nor Kitty want Eric to grow up unprepared, foregoing college because the responsibilities of marriage and maybe kids at a young age means he'll have to work full-time. We know from "Hunting" (season 2) that Red very much wants to prepare Etic for taking care of himself in a much less kind environment than his home -- i.e. the world.

Red and Kitty are desperate to get through their determined, stubborn, teenage son, who doesn't yet have the wisdom borne from experience to make different choices. He has an arrogance that many teenagers have about their choices. It's part of the growth process.

So Red pushes Eric and Donna to get married right away, at seventeen) to scare them into postponing engagement/marriage.

The one act that I believe goes too far is Kitty sabotaging Eric getting the bank job. Again, I understand why she does it. She's right to believe if he gets that job that he'll delay college or never go. And if I were in her position, I might want to make a similar choice (I wouldn't necessarily act on it).

But Eric will live and by his own choices as an adult. He's made his decision at seventeen, and in a year -- at eighteen -- he's legally an adult. Getting that bank teller job is another indication that he and Donna planned on a short engagement.

Red and Kitty are parenting Eric the best, imperfect way they can, trying to protect Eric from his own dumbassery.

I do think that an in-character Donna, at least, would have insisted on a long engagement that lasts through college. Eric would have agreed to it, too, even if he were eager to be married during college. But the T7S writers began manipulating the characters in season 5 to manufacture conflict and put plot first.

[sapphire-weapon]

A little outsider's rant to the EagleOne fandom... particularly you younger fans.

Y'all are really getting upset about your ship because Leon and Ashley possibly never being shown together again? After all that wonderful material you got in re4 remake? Guys, most ship survive on crumbs... and y'all had a pretty decent meal there!

Like!! At least she's fucking alive! Look at how strong Serrenedy is... and Luis is fucking dead! Doesn't stop them from writing a ton of fix it fics and AUs and what if scenarios.

You guys aren't Aeon! You don't need the fucking "kiss make canon and valid" mentality. YOUR SHIP IS FUCKING VALID AND GOOD!

"But... I wanna see them together..."

WRITE THE FIC THEN! DRAW THE FANART! MAKE THE EDITS!

"Oh, but I'm not very creative."

SHUT UP AND DO IT ANYWAY!

Flood the world with it! Show everyone what the ship means to you! You'll get better at it the more you practice!

And you know what? Maybe Leon and Ashley don't ever see each other again in canon... but maybe some of you get real good at writing and maybe someday, more original stories starring characters with their archetypes start showing up... and being together. All because y'all knew a good thing when you saw it.

So don't roll over and die so damn soon. Yes it fucking sucks possibly not seeing Ashley in the games again.

So keep her alive and present outside of them.

you know @godtier and i were actually talking about this earlier today, and it's this whole thing that's like

kind of like what leon is going through in my fic, where he thinks that it's worse to have had it and lost it, because he now knows how good it was for him and how good it made him feel and that he can't have it anymore -- so now, he wishes he'd never had it at all, because then he wouldn't have to mourn it.

like, serennedy fandom operates under no illusions. they know exactly how that connection started, progressed, and ended. same thing with metaltango fandom. and, being slash ships, they never expect to become canon anyway, because that's unfortunately not the world that we currently live in.

and then you have something like jilleon fandom, who never anticipates their ship becoming canon, so there's no reason for them to get super invested in how the canon portrays them, because the heart of that fandom has always been fanfiction to begin with.

but with eagleone fandom, it's like...

people feel like something is being taken away from them. especially the eagleone people who came into RE through RE4make. because they did have it. for that one game, they had this ship that meant so much to them and was clearly written to be taken as romantic...

... and then to learn, no actually, you don't get to have that?

that sucks. it feels like a breakup.

like, there's a big difference between old guard like me, who looks at it as: "holy fuck i can't believe we actually got this, are you kidding me????" because i understand just how shocking and unexpected it is, considering how the rest of the series goes -- and new fans who are going "wait, what do you mean she gets written out of the series?"

i went into RE4make already knowing that leon's character progresses into the future without ashley. and so i'm just delighted that they got to have what they had for the time that they had it.

new fans are coming in and seeing a canon romance and not understanding why someone would say that it won't be followed through with, because that runs antithetical to their personal experiences with the game.

and that's why i don't fucking feud with aeon fandom, man. i mean, other than the fact that i'm a 34 year old adult who has better things to do with my time than argue with teenagers about fictional relationships.

they're dicks, but i feel bad for them, because they're going through a breakup, too. and theirs is way harder than eagleone's is because the relationship lasted a lot longer. they've had this for so long, but now it's like "fuck you, pack your shit, we're over."

now, with that all being said

there's no excuse for either side of this to be fucking toxic the way that they've been, either. i get that you're disappointed and you need some time to mourn and it feels even shittier to have someone from the other team go "YOU NEVER ACTUALLY HAD THAT THING YOU'RE MOURNING IN THE FIRST PLACE" but like

basically just this

[justalonelyslytherin]

Game Day

Pairing: Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x female Reader

Summary: When his girlfriend finished school early and moved away for college it was hard on both of them. Now Jake is about to be surprised by her after weeks of not seeing each other.

Warnings: none. fluff. highschool!au

Wordcount: 3.2k

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider leaving a comment or reblogging. I don't allow for my content to be copied, translated, or reposted on other websites/apps. Please don't steal my work.

A/N: This is part of @flufftober's Flufftober 2022. Dividers were created by the lovely @/firefly-graphics

“Your brother has no clue?” She asked, leaning back in the car seat as she looked out of the window. Ellie - Jake’s younger sister - laughed beside her in the driver's seat.

“Not one bit.” They both chuckled in unison, a big excited grin spreading over their lips. While it was her surprise, the younger Seresin shared the anticipation. 

“And you are sure we aren’t going to run into him before the game?” There was this concern still left, as she didn’t want the surprise to be spoiled for him. Jake and she hadn’t seen each other in weeks, she was excited to see her boyfriend again but even more, she was excited for him to be surprised by it. Even more than for the surprise to be spoiled, she wanted him to be able to focus on his game tonight.

“Nah, we got him distracted. His teammates are in on the surprise,” conspiratorially Ellie grinned over at her, “His coach too.” “Even his coach?” She was impressed to hear that, smirking to herself about the dedication. His family had gone all out with the surprise she had planned. What originally had been meant to be just a small sweet surprise for her clueless boyfriend had turned into an elaborate game plan involving first his family and as it seemed now also his team. The moment she had told them about her idea they had been on board.

“I can’t wait to see his face!” The youngest Seresin sibling snickered, more than excited to see the face her big brother would make once he saw his girlfriend again.

“So how is it? Over there I mean?” Smiling over at Ellie she thought for a moment.

“It’s not Texas,” she said and chuckled as Ellie rolled her eyes, muttering a ‘duh’. “It’s different but nice. I miss you all very much, I know that is all you want to hear anyways.” “No! That’s not true,” Ellie protested, “okay maybe. But I really want to know how it is. You know I’m going to be stuck here for at least two more years. If I even manage to convince mum and dad to let me go to college somewhere further away.” 

“You make it sound like that’s something bad.” Beside her, Ellie groaned and pouted. 

“It isn’t…I’m just saying it’s not what I want.” And she knew that. She remembered how Ellie had even begged to take her with her. The youngest Seresin had always wanted to leave their home state and explore the outside.

“I know El. But believe me, once you are away you are going to miss it here.” She definitely did. Moving away on her own to a new place wasn’t easy. As much as she loved it, as much as she wanted to fulfill her dreams, it was hard. Leaving the one place she knew and called home and with it, everyone that played an important part in her life was one of the hardest things she had to do.

“I wish you could have stayed for the summer still. One last summer with both of you.” Ellie murmured as they pulled into the driveway of the Seresin family ranch. A heavy pit formed in the depth of her stomach. The younger girl's words held a heavy truth. 

“Yeah,” she mumbled solemnly, “I wish that too.” As much as she loved getting a headstart for college and to have even been offered the opportunity to intern at a place for work experience even before starting her undergrad, it caused her to miss out on so much. She was missing out on the last year of her teenage years. Her last summer of high school. And most importantly her last summer with Jake before he’d leave to go to the Academy.

She was grateful there wasn’t much time for her to wallow in those thoughts as Jake’s mother came out of the house the moment she heard the engine turn off. Ellie and she exited the car at the same time, the smell and view of the place hit her instantly. It felt like home. The smile that spread over her face was so bright it pulled at the corners of her mouth, there was even a slight dust of wetness along her eyes.

“Oh, dear! I’m so happy to see you again.” Getting swept up in one of mama Seresin’s bear hugs was one of the best feelings in the world. That she had decided the moment she had met the woman. Jake’s mother exuded motherly warmth like no one else and maybe - even if she would never tell that to Jake - she was her favorite person in his entire family.

“I missed you!” She mumbled, nearly overwhelmed with the relief and heartache of being home again, of seeing the people she had so dearly longed for.

“We missed you too dear. Jake especially.” The corners of her mouth wavered slightly, still smiling but not as brightly as before. While she knew they all meant well, it hurt to hear them remind her that he missed her. It hurt because she was the one responsible for it. 

Jake didn’t let her notice that he missed her, even if she knew deep down. He tried to be tough before her - for her really - never showing or talking about it, always putting on a brave face and being his happy self whenever they talked or facetimed. 

It had taken a toll on both of them. This was the first taste of separation and long-distance they had gotten. They only knew what was still to come and that with Jake entering the Navy Academy they would be even more restricted in seeing each other.

Before she knew it she was sitting in the big and open kitchen of the ranch house. The light interior had always been welcoming to her and the scent of freshly baked pie and other goods always made her mouth salivate. Ellie came bouncing down the stairs and plopped down in the chair beside her with a smirk. She leaned over to her, hand before her mouth, and whisper-shouted into her ear. “I brought your bag into Jake’s room.” 

She had to laugh over the exaggerated smirk the younger one shot her before she glanced over at the matriarch of the family. Their eyes briefly met, making her cheeks heat up. It wasn’t like she hadn’t stayed over before, then too, they’d shared Jake's bed. He was a good boy, raised well by his mom so he wouldn’t dare to do something unjust under her roof. She would never dream of doing anything with his parents in the house either. But the implications were there.

“Are you hungry dear?” 

“No, I ate before the flight but thank you.” She was much too nervous for later, to eat something right now. All that she wanted was for the time to go by faster so it would be time to go to the game. Luckily catching up with the seresin women made the time run by. When the front door opened with a loud pop all three of them looked up.

“Savannah!” Ellie jumped up and smiled seeing the oldest seresin sibling. She too smiled at seeing Jake’s older sister. 

“Hey! Why aren’t you all ready yet?” Savannah looked questioningly at them, worming her way out of Ellie’s embrace before she walked over to her to hug her too. “It’s so good to see you! Jake’s going to be so happy to see you.”

“I hope he cries and I can get it on film.” “Ellie!”

“Sorry, mum.” 

Both Savannah and her laughed at Ellie’s absolutely unapologetic tone. Her mischievous grin matched as they pulled out of the hug. 

“Are you ready to go?” Savannah asked once more, alerting them of the actual time. They had talked so much and so enthusiastically that they hadn’t noticed time rushing by. Glancing at each other, she nodded at both Mrs seresin and Savannah. It was not before Ellie shouted loudly, “Wait!”,  stopping them from walking towards the front door. She rushed up the stairs, feet stomping loudly which made Mrs seresin roll her eyes.

Not long after Ellie came running down the stairs again, this time with something in her hand that she held out towards her now. Confused, she took it, unfolding what she discovered was a clothing item.

Not any clothing item in fact. As she unfolded it, the first thing to catch her eye was the large number sprawled across the back and then right above it in bold lettering ‘Seresin’. Looking up again she smiled at Ellie, thankful for the younger ones' genius.

“Isn’t that the one he kept looking for earlier?” Savannah asked, pointing at the jersey to which Ellie nodded.

“Yep. His lucky jersey.” She smiled proudly at all of them again.

“Ellie!” Mrs. Seresin scolded once more, shaking her head in disbelief. “You could have taken every other jersey. Not his lucky one.” Ellie just shrugged her shoulders once more innocently, while her mother watched on exasperated.

“Poor boy nearly went crazy looking for it earlier,” Mrs. Seresin mumbled, which made her bite her lip. She knew how important his lucky charms were for Jake. He wasn’t very superstitious but this was the exception.

“But what better lucky charm does he have than his girlfriend?” Ellie argued, pointing at her, who still held the jersey in her hand. While she had listened to the argument between them, her thumb had started to softly rub over the printed name on the back of it.

“It doesn’t matter anymore does it now? Now it’s already too late to still bring it to Jake, mum.” Savannah intervened, fearing they would be late if mother and daughter kept arguing.

“I’m sure he won’t mind the jersey,” she piped in, smiling shyly at all of them. Jake wouldn’t even bat an eyelash at the jersey once he saw her. Mrs. Seresin smiled at her and nodded and Ellie grinned at her too, nodding wildly.

“Put it on, put it on!” Ellie encouraged her. Smiling, she nodded and shrugged the jersey over her head. It was much too big on her, hanging off one shoulder and the sleeves covered her hands. The three Seresin women all took a moment to look at her. The intense looks made her neck and cheeks heat up once more.

It was Savannah then once more, who began to speak, ushering them all out of the house so they could leave. Right now. Ellie and she took the lead, walking out of the front door first to get the car(s). Which left her with Jake’s mother to leave the house and while they walked out of the door, mama seresin spoke up too,

“You know I hope one day Jake will make you a real Seresin.”

The stadium was already quite full when they arrived and continued to only fill up even more after they had found some good seats in the stands. Ellie had instructed some friends to save them good but inconspicuous seats so Jake wouldn’t see any of them while playing. It warmed her heart how everyone jumped at the opportunity to help her make this surprise be good. 

“Oh, it’s starting!” Ellie gushed, pointing towards the field where the players started to run up. 

Her heart started to rapidly beat as her eyes landed on one certain blonde player. His face and hair were mostly covered by the helmet he was wearing but it was still him. She would recognize Jake everywhere. Seeing him, even from such a distance, had her feeling lightheaded. For the longest weeks, she had only seen him through her phone screen, in a rather grainy and pixelated version - thanks to the weak internet her accomodation had - so seeing him in person was special. It made the butterflies in her stomach sprout again, just like the first time she had seen him.

Her eyes never wavered from his form. Not one moment during the game did she glance away. She couldn’t. No game could be more interesting to her than Jake. Even if it was a very gripping and thrilling game. Both teams fought tooth and nail to get the lead, the scores head to-head for most of the game until finally, in the end, they got the upper hand.

The stands erupted in loud cheers and whoops as the team won. Savannah, Ellie, and she started screaming and cheering, the two sisters embraced, before Ellie turned around and pulled her into a crushing hug. The way she jumped up and down shook her a little but ultimately made her laugh.

“I think that’s the best game they played this entire season,” Savannah said behind the two of them, a happy and proud grin lighting up her face. She didn’t miss the glint in her eyes as Savannah winked at her with a hint of suggestion.

“Come on! Let’s go down!” Ellie prodded at the two of them, pointing towards the lawn where the team was huddled together to celebrate. It was a mess of players, all high-fiving and hugging and cheering together.

She felt a shove on her shoulder, “Let’s go surprise him now,” she suggested with another nudge. “Okay okay, don’t shove me down the stairs!” She laughed at the younger one's enthusiasm as she wiggled her way through the crowd and took the stairs downwards. Many people already made their way out of the stadium which meant they were walking against the flow of the mass.

The closer they came to the lawn, the more her nerves acted up. She hadn’t been nervous during the game. Maybe a little while she had been engrossed in the match, rooting for her boyfriend's team but that wasn’t anything to compare to now. She felt her throat close up in anxious anticipation, making swallowing much harder. 

Behind her, she heard Ellie fumble around with something. When she glanced back to make sure she was alright, she saw her looking down at her phone. Right, she had wanted to film the surprise.

Down on the lawn, her nerves skyrocketed once more. From the stands above the field, she had had a much better view over the different players but now Jake had vanished in the sea of jerseys. Her eyes swept over the group, and many familiar names on the jersey’s stuck out to her but not the one she was looking for. Sometimes she met familiar eyes that recognized her. But more than a fast exchange of a smile was never in. She had a mission.

Finally, her eyes landed on the blonde mop of hair and the tan, strong neck flowing down into the broad shoulders she loved so much. The printed ‘Seresin’ in white on his back shone out to her. There was excitement bubbling up in her stomach once more and a grin spreading on her face.

One last time she looked back towards Ellie and Savannah, smiling at them and giving them a thumbs up. They smiled back at her just as brightly, Ellie waving her away. With a small laugh, she turned around and made her way through the crowd toward her chosen one.

Jake had no clue, he stood with his back to her and was talking to some of his friends and fellow teammates. One of them looked over his shoulders and when his eyes met hers, she held her finger up over her lips, signaling for him to keep quiet. It worked and less than a minute later she finally stood behind him.

The clearing of her throat he didn’t hear, so she tapped him on the shoulder, hard enough so he would feel it. Jake turned around almost instantly and when he did he had to do a double-take. His expression slipped off his face and was replaced with shock.

In a matter of seconds, he had thrown his helmet to the floor, carelessly away so his hands were free before he jumped forward and tackled her. She was swept up in his arms, her feet lifted up from the floor as Jake held her in his arms and hugged her tightly. And while she was pressed against him, she laughed - albeit a little wetly as tears of happiness gathered in her eyes - happily, clutching his shoulders.

“What- Are you real?” She heard him mumble against her neck, where Jake had pressed his face. The tears choked her up so much she couldn’t speak and instead just nodded, while her hands softly rubbed over his back and his neck.

For most of the hug, they stayed quiet, just enjoying the moment and holding each other close. It felt so incredibly good to be back in his arms, to feel him against her, to smell his shampoo in her nose.

At one point Jake slowly put her down again. He did so more reluctantly, because truly he didn’t want to let her go but the game had exhausted him, his arms and shoulders were starting to throb from holding her up. When her feet touched the ground again, he looked at her. Up and down, he eyed her intently, zeroing in on her face as if he still couldn’t believe she was there. Softly she smiled up at him and reached one hand out to caress his cheek.

“I’m really here,” she softly mumbled. The brightest smile she had ever seen on his face broke out at that. It made her heart flutter once more with happiness. 

Jake swept in once more, this time kissing her. He kissed her with a might that made her dizzy and had her nearly stumbling back. A giggle erupted between them, as their lips stayed connected, his nose softly nudging against hers. Her fingers brushed through the short her at the nape of his neck while his hands wrapped around her waist once more securely pressing her against his chest.

Cheers erupted all around them as his team caught on to what was happening. There were a couple of wolf whistles and suggestive yet encouraging shouts centered around spurring Jake on. But all of that didn’t bother them one bit. They were so focused on each other that they could not have been there at all.

“I love you,” he mumbled against her lips once they parted for air. Jake pressed another small kiss against her lips before he pulled away further, eyeing her once more with that happy glint in his eyes.

“Surprise.” Hearing him laugh was one of the greatest sounds the world had to offer. It was warm and hearty and it made her stomach tingle whenever she heard it.

“You,” he pointed his finger at her, softly tickling her side a little, “are the best Darlin’.”

“Alright, enough smooching! You can do that later when you are alone!” Ellie interrupted just as Jake wanted to lean down for another kiss. He looked up and shot his little sister a dirty look. One she pointedly ignored. When he spied the rest of his family he straightened up. 

While they left the lawn altogether Jake kept one arm casually thrown over her shoulder. She was comfortably pressed against his side, one arm wrapped around his lower back. They trailed behind his family, sneaking glances at the other and smiling like lovesick fools. At one point she felt a small tug at the bottom of the jersey, before Jake spoke up, “So that’s where that went.”

[gribok-art]

Hi!! U are the one of my favourite artist and tofu artist also! I really like ur works and wanted to ask if u have any headcanons for this ship and if u have than may u tell them ?👉👈

Thank you, this makes me so happy to read <3 !!

I have so many, bear with me for this long post. And they're just ones I remember at the moment. Sometimes I have headcanons I relate to that I think would fit them well, other times they're just ideas that suit them.

I’ll say a bit of everything, character and ship headcanons.

About Byakuya

- I like to think Byakuya is asexual, as for the romantic part, he'd be unsure.

- To add to it, he hasn't had the chance to explore his emotional side and feelings unlike most kids during teenage years. So it would happen during adulthood. I can imagine for simple situation he'd run it through his head or mimic but not for deeper/more complex situations. 

- I like to believe he was quite rebelious, stubborn, aggresive as a child, for a few reasons. One, with no parental attention, and having to fight for it against many other siblings (even outside of that killing game the Togami were doing), it could be one way to get it. Two, he'd experience things that are unfair, unjust, mean in his eyes, and it would upset and frustrate him. As an example maybe, honesty is important to him, yet his father would present himself differently in front of other people and talk about them badly behind their back. Also if as a child he never learned to express his feelings, they'd throw tantrums.

- Then his father's education would influence and shape him too much that it'd be normal for him, that nothing's wrong, and he'd bury those values and feelings inside, letting in his god complex. Of course they’d be resurfacing after DR1.

- I love to think about what kind of relationship he could have had with his butler. For short I’ll say it has the same vibes as Iroh and Zuko from ATLA.

About Toko

- Before DR1, during their years at Hope’s Peak, I like to believe Aoi and Sakura had more time to approach Toko, and outside of the killing game context, it was easier for her to trust them over time. They wouldn’t be best friends, Toko wouldn’t go out of her way to hang out with them, but she wouldn’t mind if they came around. Unfortunately they’d be witnessing her fantasy moments, and failing to show that Byakuya uses her. 

- I think she’d have an opposite path than Byakuya. After Despair Girls she would assert herself more, have little patience, stand up for herself as a woman, for instance hating when men talk over her, mansplain, not take her seriously etc. - I like to think since Byakuya's butler is still alive that he'd be her parental figure. Like a grandpa she's never had. He'll love and protect her and lecture Byakuya like a ten year old if he doesn't treat her well.

I have a little less about Toko I realize

And as a ship

- While Byakuya would be a perfect model to help her gain confidence and assert herself, speak up, be more “selfish”, Toko, as a romantic novelist, who I think has a great knowledge about emotions and relationships (maybe not how to deal with it, but know about it. I mean, how did she so precisely pointed out Komaru’s brother complex ? how would she even know this term ?) would help him get in touch with his feelings, put words on it, not judge and without viewing him differently.

- They’d be each other’s best confidents. Beside what I said before, they’d be the ones to relate the most to each other among the survivors (bad parents, high expectations, no friends/loneliness, trust issues, murders).

- If Toko is hypersexual and puts a lot of importance into the sexual part of love and relationships, Byakuya is the opposite, thinking it’s a waste of time, disgusting, not considerate of his person. They’d have to balance each other out if they really love each other. Toko learning to be loved for her personality and love him for his, Byakuya learning to be loved through physical non sexual touch. - With time and healing they could also be best friends. The kind that would tease and embarass each other. Changing Byakuya’s pen to a glitter one before a meeting, putting her favourite cup on the highest shelf.

Those are the big lines I follow to find stories for the ship.

For lighter/more fun headcanons

- They’d be both out of touch with memes. But Toko would know some from Komaru and show them to Byakuya. She’d slowly get better at picking ones he’d understand. And she was the only one so far who found one that made him chuckle.

- If he reads an interesting book he’d buy a copy and give it to Toko as recommendation. - They’d gossip/vent together about people they don’t like and saying the best one liners.

I don’t have more in my mind at the moment. I usually draw it whenever I come up with something if it’s short enough.

[thought-about-it]

I'll start off saying that I don’t really ship Wednesday with anyone in the new show. Even though she went through some character development, I think she still needs to value and experience friendship more before moving on to romance. And even though I didn't think it was romantic, I also didn't hate the kiss between Tyler and Wednesday because it shows that she's really not above it all and still a regular teenager in the end.

That brings me to the point of this post: I actually really like the idea of whatever it was between her and Tyler. (Ramblings and spoilers ahead, though some disclaimer, I've only watched each episode once.)

First, their banter was pretty fun. Even in their first conversation together, they matched each other's sarcasm without offense. I could almost forgive Tyler for thinking that she was sending him signals instead of just being herself because he doesn't know that this is how she normally acts, and that their (one-sided, maybe) playful conversation didn't constitute as flirting for her. (Bantering is a love language, fight me.) It's so clear that he doesn't know what she's actually like when he's fooled by the heartfelt note from Thing and thinks she was only being coy before.

The twist about Tyler wasn't mind-blowing, but it was certainly more tragic than I expected. He's not just a monster, but also a victim that was chained, drugged, and brainwashed by someone older that he trusted. His situation is on the edge of something darker than what the show might be willing to explore, but anyways, despite all that, he seemed to act as a “normal” person. After that revelation, there becomes many different, contradicting explanations for his character and behavior.How much of his romantic interest in Wednesday is an act? I don't think that he's totally psychopathic. He's shown to be hurt by her apathy and bluntness. Like with the aforementioned note,  he smiled softly when he was reading it. It's not like there was anyone around he had to act for, so that smile must have been real. But maybe the smile was actually a smirk, and he thinks he's caught her in his grasp. It's weird that he'd consistently offers help trying to get her out of town when he knows that she's needed for his Master's ritual. I mean, he keeps bringing it up even when she’s run off on him on several occasions.So, I dunno what’s up with him.

Second, did he really enjoy killing? I feel like a lot of people took that jail scene at face value, and believe that he's a cut-and-dry psychopath. Yes, I realize that he said it himself. But no, people don't always say what they mean, especially when they are angry, upset, or trying to impress the person they like. Maybe he thinks he should be the monster she thinks he is. (When he's been chained up and tazed, treated like a monster.)  Maybe he doesn't want to kill but is deluding himself into thinking it's a good, enjoyable thing or else he'll go mad. (Sadly, a common coping mechanism in victims)  Maybe he thinks that she thinks psychopaths are attractive. (Even after... 2 dates, I don't think he fully understands who she is as a person, but he'd like to get to know her better, or wants her to be attracted to him. He's a misguided teenager too, okay?) Or, perhaps, he really is just evil. (Boring, in my humble opinion).

And what about Wednesday? She obviously interested in him, be it teenage hormones or whatever. She didn't turn him down for the dance, even though she made previous plans with Eugene. She went all the way to the coffee shop to kiss him, right? But what does she think of him now? Is he too deranged even for her? Or does she realize how alike they both are, in the way that they are both outcasts among outcasts?  I don't have a great grasp of her character in this iteration, but I know she's a lot more emotional than she pretends to be. (Sidenote: why are Hydes banned from school? It's wrong to punish victims of circumstance for something they cannot control.)

Anyways, this is sort of my inconclusive thoughts on the Wednesday/Tyler pairing. Something about all this could make for a very interesting romance, if explored properly. At the very least, it'd make for a great enemy-to-friend story line. Give me more character development and communication between these two for the next season!   I also hope we could at least get more insight on who Tyler is. Now that his Master is gone, he might be able to be his own person again. Think of the social commentary opportunities to go with his redemption arc! It'll be a sad, missed opportunity if they ignored all that and instead relegate him to a big bad psycho monster that Wednesday needs to defeat once and for all.

[invested-in-your-future]

You mentioned not liking the idea of Blake having parents in general, I would love to hear your thoughts on how Blake’s family should have been handled! And the rest of team RWBY too if you have any more ideas for them! Personally I think Jacque should’ve had a noticeably different color pallet than the “Schnee” colors.

For me, personally, the way Blake is written just does not mesh with her family or her backstory that MilesWBY adds to it.

It either reflects really badly on Blake or on her parents OR both. And to such a degree that I don't think you can really fix.

All the times Blake actually managed to chastise Weiss? It's suddenly reframed as hypocrisy. All her talk about focus on survival? Pointless because she grew up in an equivalent of tropical island castle. Blake suddenly becomes "some dumb teenager who threw a fit at her parents and ran away to join a terrorist cell a continent away". Why does that happen and why are her parents like "oh geee well, what can you do maybe after few years she will come back randomly due to tragedy and we can just act like nothing"?

Intentionally or not, Blake becomes just like the right wing strawman about how "all the people who campaign for equality and justice actually just have been living life of privilege and thus shouldn't".

Everything in terms of how Ghira is written though? Boondocks epitomizes well on how I feel about it:

So yeah... I'd just throw entirety of Menagerie portrayal away because yeaaaah...the show does enough weird decisions in regards to faunus portrayal in it's first three volumes already.

Menagerie is getting completely redone. Most of faunus population just have conflicting hearsay about what the place is actually like (since there's no communication tower of its own, Menagerie solely relies on Mistral relays) and Blake never actually really even had a chance to go to Menagerie ever. In my draft, Menagerie is many things - a propaganda topic, a historical event, a reminder of hardship, but its not an "escape" and its not a tropical resort. A lot of Faunus have NEVER been there and at the same time officials in Mistral government REALLY want to ship everyone off to there.

In my outline right now, Blake was born in Mistral. Due to specific circumstances and experiences, she ended up joining the White Fang and then slowly over time grew disillusioned. Her views on Vale overall are influenced by her experiences growing up. Blake did not have the easiest childhood - life wasn't exactly fair and in part her love of books comes from an aspect of escapism that books can deliver. She is someone who formed her ideals her head in a book, but facing the cruel and dangerous reality around her makes her feel like merely "wanting to do good" means absolutely nothing without a more practical "how". However, she doesn't like any of the "hows" presented by people around her because it makes her feel like she can't ever live up to her own expectations she set for herself. And thus she runs. Again and again. And while enrolling at Beacon worked as a wish-fulfillment/escapism of sorts too (she gets to be a Huntress and help people!), her experiences here still gnaw at her conviction and ideals. In my set-up of Remnant, Vale is considered to be "less" dangerous for Faunus, but even here she can't really escape sights of inequality and discrimination, as well as reminders that she has absolutely no idea how to make her dream come true and if it's even possible. What does Fall of Beacon and her experiences there mean for her? She left everything and tried to live an entire new life for herself and it only made her go back to the start all over again. What does that feeling like she is stuck in a cyclical routine that always ends without her taking a single step forward mean for her?

As for Weiss, honestly I think it's fine to use Blue as Jacques color. Given, I also don't think its that fair to separate the Schnees and Jacques as much - he is a parasite but does he really not represent SDC? Weiss might have her own thoughts on what SDC "was/could be" and her own idealized vision on what came before her father married into the family, but there's no such thing as "benevolent/good corporation". Corporations are always profit driven and I don't think its fair to write off everything bad as "Jacques was that one bad apple". In reality though - Jacques is the worst because he really does epitomize everything wrong and bad about SDC and corporations and rich people overall. He is a very "efficient" at being a "rich person". Jacques is everything like that taken to the ultimate extreme end. How many years has he run SDC now? SDC is what SDC is and it makes sense that Schnee name is associated with his actions now and thus his color. Also I don't quite think blue was ever truly SDC color before. He introduced that element of aesthetic. Before that Schnee name was associated with white like snow, but now Schnees are blue like ice. Different levels of coldness and different implications and metaphors.

Even if one were to carry over the idea of Weiss looking up to her grandfather as a hero, I don't think its fair to completely whitewash her grandpa either - he merely was "better than Jacques", but Schnees are still Old Money rich family with a legacy and history and whatever her grandfather's views were, he was still basically a nobility at the head of a well-oiled machine that has extreme influence over Atlas (and before that Mantle).

I think its pretty important that Weiss SHOULD re-evaluate her overall views and which parts of her worldview are merely based on wishful thinking or ignorance. What should "being a Schnee" mean for her? Should she define herself by her family history(good or bad) or should she rebuild herself from scratch? She spent quite some time away from Atlas and those experiences in Vale, meeting Ruby, Blake, etc, her viewpoints and thinking being challenged by others, should absolutely make an impact on how she sees Atlas. The way I see it, her return to Atlas at the end of V3, SHOULD make her see everything in a new light. Not just as an abuse victim, but also as someone who is forced to take a look inside and re-evaluate her experiences and memories. It's not JUST about Jacques, its about getting to re-experience her "routine of usual" but with new experiences making her view things differently.

So yeah overall Blake and Weiss both would have to have very different journeys from the ones MilesWBY present. In a way its pretty interesting parallel, because its the case of two characters from very different backgrounds and with very different experiences (beyond both having suffered abuse) having to essentially reinvent themselves (and to find themselves again) after a tragedy.

[canonically47]

I need a full review of this episode please? SO much shit went down

based on popular demand and people coming in my asks with thoughts similar to mine, here is a full review of DCAS episode 2!

also, i love you guys for knowing how many thoughts i would have about this episode

right away, i had many thoughts about the magenta team’s dynamic, some more negative than others. jake and ashley became friends fast and i liked that! and james, my love! but then hunter and ally’s drama came in... hunter, i agree that you can’t memorize ALL games, but it was something she was talking about ON THE WAY HERE. i hate this guy and i feel like he’s kind of dumbed down compared to his original season, which he somehow winged until getting 4th place. (beta nick moment.)

i think fiore was more truthful and vulnerable this episode than we’re used to seeing her. and i am so happy alec stood up for her. i really think these two are going to get to merge and then make up and dominate the game.

tom is avoiding jake... i really wonder why. i was hoping he would have contacted him between seasons but nada. it’s sad to see tom, jake and miriam’s trio all split apart, and imo also somewhat of a bad choice. i think miriam should’ve been on tom’s team to talk some sense into him and get his side of the story, but maybe they’re going for something else.

it was very exciting to see the cyan team in action. tom and aiden bounce off each other so well, i love tess, gabby and ellie with all my heart and my sweet lake is doing so well <3

let me preface my thoughts about yul by saying i don’t like him because he’s a homophobic & racist asshole. that being said, i like that he and grett actually care about each other. i was worried he might be toxic - and there still is time for him to be, so i’m keeping an eye on him - and so did many people in my asks so i’m glad that’s not the case. still grett deserves better than him.

i strongly strongly STRONGLY DISLIKE how dumb jake & tom/hunter & ally are when it comes to their relationship issues. THEY ARE ADULTS. i think tom is 29 now, TWENTY-NINE, people! it’s laughable how much they act like teenagers in their first relationship and not like adults with life experience. i mean, sure, we all mature differently, but you would think they know how to communicate. apparently that is too much to ask. (and hunter is a little bitch.)

i agree with the jake anons. i didn’t think jake’s insecurities would be a big plot point until much later, to be totally honest. or rather i was hoping so. the fact that he got james out just for being a little bitch is insane. i knew fiore couldn’t go because, writing 101, she is very important to the story as an antagonist and we still need to see her growth and possibly make up with alec, even though logically she should’ve been the first to go; so i was very much hoping jake would be out. that way, both miriam and tom could see who they were on the show without having to worry about him. sadly we couldn’t get that.

i am however excited to see what aiden will do without james. they weren’t on the same team, but i’m curious how his performance will be affected by his boyfriend getting out.

side-note, i love how confident and trustful is james. he is so sure of aiden and knows he would never cheat on him, unlike jake who is a little bitch. my god i miss james so much already. he, fiore and ashley carried the team, now they’re down to only fiore and ashley.

alec has big plans and i like him for it. i just 1) don’t know what they are yet and 2) was hoping this was a good opportunity for jake to shine and stop doubting those he loves and instead those he hates. but no of course he still trusts his enemies. what an absolute dumbass. as i said in a discord server, human brains seek patterns and all of jake’s enemies telling him tom is cheating on him somehow is a pattern... so jake probably doesn’t even have a brain at this point.

i hate connor and riya’s romance subplot so much. riya is so annoying and hateful, and connor is old enough to be her dad. i dunno, age gaps just aren’t for me, even if it’s two consenting adults it’s just weird to me sorry.

cyan team carried. yellow team is somewhat of a mess but i can deal with them. magenta team is just mental and hard to watch. i really hope cyan team is the new team amazon, win challenge after challenge, and they all make merge. they deserve it. (maybe except tom. i’m still debating on whether i like him or not. he’s on thin ice.)

summary: fuck jake, fuck (???) tom, magenta team is a mess, yellow team is fine but connor and riya are hard to watch, cyan team carried, ALEC AND FIORE PLEASE MAKE UP I MISS YOU, yul is an okay boyfriend, a shit person and a fun character and i have mixed feelings on him and oh my god i cannot stress this enough: FUCK!!! JAKE!!!

[van-yangyin]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

Thank you @honeybeenrw and @stargazer-sims for tagging me 🙇💕

If it seems like a lot of text, don't force yourself to read it, you can simply ignore it. Sometimes I write too much, I know.

1.- What’s your favorite sims death? Sims eaten by cowplants, although there is an anecdote from when I was little that is very funny because I had a little "trauma" with that death. When I first played The Sims Take the Street on PS2 (the first sims game I played for the first time in my life) together with Lea, we made sims from Fushigi Yugi and we put them to live in a house… They all ended up being eaten by mutant plant (a plant similar to cowplant in that time), being the last one Amiboshi just after his twin brother Suboshi… It was one of our first games so adding a mutant plant was like, "What is this? Let's put it in, it sounds fun" and it ended up being a bit of a shock since at that time we had no internet, no guides or anything and everything was new, from that time for me at the end, after that experience it's ended up being fun, so being eaten by a (cow)plant it's one of my favorites sims death.

2.- Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Maxis Mix, I absolutly like more Maxis Match for hair, but with clothes I usually use both Maxis Match and/or Alpha, same with makeup or skin details, so yes, I'm consider myself Maxis Mix more towards Maxis Match.

3.- Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Why? When it comes to my/our OCs (Lea's and mine) we leave them as they wish to be, because they've gained or lost it by themselves because they have so wished, in fact one of our OCs, Carla, when gained more weight even became much more beautiful than when she had less weight, at least from our point of view.

4.- Do you use move objects? Yes, quite a lot when I have to place a lot of clutter together or I have to place in a special way the constructions to do what I want and look for.

5.- Favorite mod? I would say MCCC, but there are many times it causes me a headache.

6.- First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? Get to Work on realease. (Lea bought it, not me, but he likes to share, I mean it's stupid to buy the same thing twice when in gameplay we play together)

7.- Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? I pronounce "Modo Vivir", but if it's in English then like aLIVE.

8.- Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? I have quite a few… They're all my cute babies, Ryuuya, Luka, Aris, Jack, Kyle, Kyla, Noah, Icaro, Carla. Lux, Kaoru, Ainosuke, Rin, Haruka, and many more but the list would go on and on... Sorry I can't choose... (And yeah we have a lot of original sims that we don't show here yet 😆)

9.- Have you made a simself? I did it once, when toddlers came out, I made myself into a toddler for a contest, but I have never done it again, and that simself no longer exists.

10.- What sim traits did you give yourself? With pack Growing Together that came out I can officially add more than three, right? Creative, Socially awkward, Ambitious, Music lover, Geek and Perfectionist. (The limit is 3 more traits, so I can't put Cat fan, Dog fan and Animal enthusiast [although these three should be considered more likes and dislikes, I don't understand how it can still be in traits], so I have them present but didn't add them, because I consider more as likes and dislikes).

11.- What is your favorite EA hair color? Red. I like black, but it changes and varies so much between different hairs and many of them look gray or bluish that they're no longer my favorite.

12.- Favorite EA hair? The two hairs that were added when Incheon Arrivals Kit came out and the hair from Snowy Escape that has two little clips on it.

13.- Favorite life stage? I don't have any favorite life stage, because all life stages are special in one way or another and I try to create sims of all kinds of ages, although maybe the ones I have the most are teenagers/young adults because I usually create a lot of sims based on video games/anime/shows if that makes sense, so people may consider those to be my favorite kind of stages.

14.- Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Let's see, I would consider myself mixed, or versatile. During the day from time to time I would consider myself a builder, especially when I make constructions with references that help me to locate myself (although there are times that I also make them without a base, but it takes me a long time to finish them and I consider myself a noob, Kitta's house, Dope Sketch I look at all of you just now). On the other hand, during the night before going to sleep and after dinner I'm more of a gameplay person and I have a lot of fun playing together with Lea.

15.- Are you a CC creator? Yes, I love to create CAS CC (hair, clothes, shoes, accessories, etc…), construction CC (furniture, clutter, whatever I need depending on the moment), small modifications in the sims, I'm usually very versatile, I do recolors and frankmeshing too although most of the things I love to do are from scratch (with references that aren't mine or concept arts that I draw previously which are usually mine) to learn even more, so I usually take a lot of time but I have a lot of fun. Although around here what I usually share with everyone, are hairs made from scratch, some other skin details, poses and conversions from other games.

16.- Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? Not that I know of. The person I interact with the most around here is Lea but that's because we are family/best friends and spend a lot of time together, so for me it's like day to day. I would love to be able to have a constant energy and mood so I can interact more to make and keep friends around here. I write from time to time with people and would like to consider them friends but since we don't interact much or very constantly, I don't know if they consider me friends or if they would just consider me mutuals. I know of some people that we consider each other friends but we don't talk much either lately because I'm in my stage of writing little with people. But I don't refuse anyone or anyone who wants to interact with me and in the future something might come out of those interactions (friendship or... what's a squad? srsly I don't know it), I'm quite social/asocial and insecure, sometimes I write a lot and sometimes I write very little with people, so I don't know what they currently think of me.

17.- What’s your favorite game? Have a lot, Kingdom Hearts (yes, I went through the time when you needed different consoles to play the whole saga), Final Fantasy series, The Sims series, Life is Strange series, Resident Evil series, Tomb Raider series, Tales of Zestiria, Arc the Lad series, Minecraft, Spyro series, Crash Bandicoot series, Genshin Impact and I'm sure there are many more games that I haven't tried yet that I could add to the list in the future.

18.- Do you have any Sims merch? Nothing.

19.- Do you have a YouTube for sims? I don't have one, but I would love to, although I don't think anyone would be interested. I mean if you share something it's for someone else to see it and if no one would be interested then it would be like exposing yourself to the world but without being seen. I don't know if I make myself clear. I know that stories of your own sims/anything you do in the community have more room for other people when you do it as video, because when you talk they feel more empathetic with your stories/what you explain but my English is not very good and talking in general/talking to my sims is not my forte (that's something Lea is better at)

20.- How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? Pictures speak louder than words. I don't have sims screenshots I took in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 because I can't access the external USB drive were on, so I'll limit myself to The Sims 4 screenshots.

A written summary would be that I currently use more sliders and presets, use 3D eyelashes and natural nails for all my sims and use eye makeup to give more volume to the "eyelashes" and give them more "life". And try to make more different types of noses, faces, eye shapes, etc…. Besides adding natural lips as "make up" (when they don't wear makeup) to make them more "realistic" within my sims realism.

21.- What’s your Origin ID? I don't have anything shared, so I don't know if it's really important to say.

22.- Who’s your favorite CC creator? I have a few and they're the ones I use the most in my gameplays shared with Lea in our sims. They're all amazing so allé voy, @/pralinesims, @/simandy, @/happy-misanthropist (although is currently retired), @/obscurus-sims, @/raccoonium, @/falsogod, @/iowaisms, @/saruin, @/xxxtaiyaki, @/kijiko-sims, @/acha-sims, @/simmireen, @/lea-heartscxiv (yeah is with whom I share my sims game and he makes recolors mainly for me and him) and myself (self-esteem should never be lacking).

23.- How long have you had a simblr? Since last year, end of April 2022.

24.- How do you edit your pictures? So far the only things I use are Photoshop and Clip Studio, but I don't retouch pictures so much, I just "improved" problems with scratches that appear in some parts of sims, eyelashes that are displayed wrong, etc… And then I put one or two tonal change filters in Photoshop, but out of CC I use on sims, it's pretty vanilla the final pictures. If I were to do something else at some point, I would probably put unretouched edit under the cut line to see the differences.

25.- What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? If I had to say one for how the world is shown, CAS, objects and gameplay I would say Snowy Escape.

26.- What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Seriously writing, refreshes. I would like to see refreshes and improvements of base game, an impossible dream, I know. Especially refreshes of Realm of Magic and Get To Work. Since Lea and I were forced to switch to EAAppsh*t we haven't bought anything from them anymore.

I know. It's only 26 questions and I've almost written a book just answering them, sometimes I get too excited writing when I know what I'm talking about 💦 Now time for the tags:

I'm tagging @lea-heartscxiv, @falsogod, @freedomending, @pralinesims, @saruin, @the-daydream-archives and @dizzyrobinsims

If you already done it, please ignore and if you have it handy tag me in the one you already did so I can see it, because maybe I missed it or wasn't connected the day you did it. If you don't feel like doing it, you can just skip it. And to anyone who wants to do so, feel free to tag me. If you share as a favorite death the cowplant one, don't wonder anymore if you should or shouldn't do it, do it, for all the sims who have fallen eaten by cowplants.

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 16 of Harrow the Ninth

That diary was probably full of evidence of Gideon's existence, so obviously it had to go. It's a shame, I would have liked to have gotten to read it

"Whilom" is an archaic word for "formerly", I guess to go with the use of "hight" in the first book in e.g. "Lord Priam hight Noniusvvianus" from the letter in Chapter 3. But I think "hight" actually has some decent recognizability (or at least it does to me, maybe mainly/only because I read Le Morte D'Arthur as a teenager), whereas I wonder how many people would actually recognize "whilom" or even parse it as an archaic word, since it frankly looks kinda goofy

I guess this is intended as a visual metaphor for "the Hand of the Emperor"? I've seen Lyctors referred to as Hands now several times, and I think once someone referred to themselves as a finger. Hands seem a little odd, since there were seven original Lyctors (or at least seven who were Saints), unless only the first two are actually considered Hands? But I think I've seen Harrow and/or Ianthe also being referred to as Hands

The narrator continues to criticize Harrow's lack of sword vocabulary. This black rapier was probably Anastasia's, I guess?

I wonder how much of Ianthe's behavior in this book is actually Naberius?

This whole conversation is very interesting. What I get out of this:

Mercy and Augustine have some shared secret from John, and it sounds like they'd both love to tattle on each other but that would mean telling on themselves too, and they absolutely hate each other but are stabilized by a threat of mutually assured destruction

Harrow isn't actually just hallucinating that Cytherea's body has been moving, or has been moved, but neither Mercy nor Augustine are doing it

Augustine thinks Mercy might be planning to tell John whatever the secret is

I'm guessing this refers to the war against BOE and not his struggles with the Resurrection Beasts, indicating that he cares about them more than he's let on to Harrow, and also has a more aggressive role in that war than he's admitted so far

Was A.L. a bodyguard? I'm curious what happened to her. I don't think he absorbed her the way Lyctors absorb their cavaliers, because he already had all of his powers before the Lyctor experiment, if I understand the timeline correctly

I know she's forgotten about Gideon, but didn't her family value her highly? I mean, they also kept reminding her, over and over again that she was 200 dead children and drove her almost to suicide, but I did get the feeling that as far as they were concerned, she was the best, and as far as I'm aware she hasn't lost the memory of that

The narrative again criticizes Harrow's unfamiliarity with swordfighting?

I gather Ianthe is still internally fighting with Naberius?

Did Anastasia have some big disagreement with them over something, and that's why she never came to the Mithraeum? Did she actually die, or is she still around somewhere else?

That's kind of interesting, Harrow's experience of deceiving people for her entire life is quite different than Ianthe's experience of deceiving people for her entire life. Harrow's deception relied on appearing stronger than she was, while Ianthe's relied on appearing weaker than she was, it's not that surprising that Ianthe gets along better with Augustine and Harrow is at more of a social disadvantage here, regardless of the fact that she's also at a necromantic disadvantage as well

So earlier, John said that people die by their souls osmosing into the River, and I wondered why that wasn't happening constantly. Is this the whole reason it doesn't happen constantly? Because Augustine specifically has built a barrier? Obviously people managed to live before Augustine was around, but is there something about living on a thanergenic planet that makes you like, I don't know, closer to the River, or something?

50,000 km in diameter is about the size of Neptune, or Uranus. So if that's meant to be unusually large, this obviously isn't the soul of Neptune or Uranus, let alone Saturn or Jupiter. If the Resurrection Beast numbers match up with the House numbers, Number Seven should be the soul of Venus. I'm not entirely sure that when Augustine says it's 50,000 km in diameter he actually means that there is a planet Venus out there that is that big, or if he's just talking about the diameter of like a swarm of ?heralds? or something, but Ianthe is assuming it's a physical planet and is worried about its gravity well, so let's see if that's actually worrying:

The mass of Neptune 1.024e26 kg, but its density is only 1.64 g/cm^3, because it's a gas giant, whereas Venus's density is 5.24 g/cm^3, over three times as much. So how massive is a planet that's as dense as Venus and as big as Neptune? Neptune's volume is 6.254e13 km^3; so 5.24 g/cm^3 is 5.24e15 g/km^3 is 5.24e12 kg/km^3, multiplied by 6.254e13 km^3 is 3.277e26 kg. But Jupiter's mass is 1.89813e27 kg, that's still like five or six times the mass of this hypothetical Venus-but-its-as-big-as-Neptune planet. I think if they can navigate around Jupiter without issues, they would not have any trouble with this hypothetical planet. It's not like they'd be dealing with something as massive as a star or a black hole, here, and I don't think it's going to be flattening any galaxies, either

I remember when John was explaining about planet souls to Harrow at the beginning of the book, it sounded like conquered planets would eventually die, but would die slowly rather than suddenly. So, I guess sending down the Cohort to kill a lot of people just starts the process of the planet dying, just basically a slower method of how Harrow killed the planet? So it's not just that they're killing people to fuel the necromancers, but actually the whole planet, too. I don't think Harrow's all that unique, it sounds like every necromancer in this universe is also 200 dead children

Ok, so this is all going to be eusocial insect hivemind terminology, then

Is this is the narrator finding Harrow irritating?

Right, so this is why they need to be able to fight

I think this kind of contradicts stuff from earlier? If Lyctors projecting their souls in the River can't be hurt by the ghosts, and the Resurrection Beast is projecting its soul there the same way, then it also shouldn't be able to be hurt by the ghosts, and also, he's saying that the ghosts don't go near the Resurrection Beasts anyway. But previously, we learned that Cassiopeia tried to bait a Resurrection Beast deeper into the River so it would get attacked by ghosts, and she herself was also attacked by the ghosts and died. So can they, or can't they be harmed by the ghosts in this scenario?

[depravity-n-savagery]

Sunshine's Sinners

Ch 3 - Pity Party

[ Ch 2 ]

🥨Pairings: Billy Hargrove x (fem)Reader / Eddie Munson x (fem)Reader / Mungrove x (fem)Reader

🥨Summary: You spend some time with Eddie, avoiding Billy after what happened outside your house the other night.

🥨CW: Mild bullying, sibling arguments

🛑 18+ MINORS DNI 🛑

🥨Word Count: 2k

🥨A/N: We're back!! ♡ I'm coming out the sickness AND my writer's block 🤣 So I'm feeling good ♡

Nope. No way. Not touching that today. Mothers could really be clueless sometimes. Or maybe it was a ruse, and they were actually pushing you towards something. Your mother was the 'pushing' type. She pushed you into several different hobbies as a child. She pushed you into social situations, like the night you walked Billy and Max back to their house. Now she was suggesting an option that had you burning with embarrassment.

"He seems like a sweet boy." Billy's charm really won her over, if that was her image of him. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a ride to school. I mean, you go to the same school anyway. It makes sense."

"Not happening, mom."

She knew that tone of voice was a brick wall going up, shutting out any further arguments. Her hands went up in passive acceptance. Leaving the subject alone for now. "Well, be careful on your way to school. I'm gonna try to catch up on sleep." Just saying the word 'sleep' made her yawn. "I finally have a day off today."

No amount of sleeping in during the day was going to fix her body's clock. All these overnight shifts made her basically nocturnal. Wouldn't be surprised if she was secretly a vampire or something.

A cheek kiss and a sideways hug later, you were turning the knob of your front door. Happy to see that the lock was still secure and hadn't been tampered with. "Will do. Catch you later."

After the events of last night, you were more careful than you've ever been. Especially as a teenager. A span of life experience practically made for reckless behavior. Like the idiotic way you walked up to a grown stranger and questioned him as if you had any chance of defending yourself against him. God, and to make it even worse, Billy was a witness to the whole thing. Your family's dirty laundry strewn across the lawn for his eyes to see. So much for being a perfect princess. He made a term of endearment sound like an insult, but it somehow still made your insides fluttery.

Walking the halls felt like tip-toeing your way into a guarded facility. Every careful step held the risk of setting off an alarm. Alerting a certain head of curls that you were stupid to think you could avoid for long. Any amount of time would have to do. A day. A few hours. Or… ten seconds. The ten seconds it took for you to reach your locker, and look in the direction of the gymnasium's big double doors.

As if his stare put a bright spotlight over your head, his teammates followed his line of sight. Busted. You couldn't see pity or annoyance in his eyes. No matter how deeply you searched the ocean for it. The waters were calm. Unusually void of life for something so vibrantly colored. Like his pink lips mouthing something at you, too fast for you to read. Too far away for you to hear. All you could make out was your name, and it pissed you off how quickly your mind conjured up a fantasy of him moaning it. The more you tried to wish it away, the more detailed it became. Filling in the spaces with his warm breath and the smell of cigarettes and mint gum. His sticky sweet cherry chapstick.

By the time the bell rang, you took the long way to class. One tardy wouldn't harm your grades. Walking past Billy would. "Hey!" You heard his booming voice shoot over the crowd and kept walking. Doing what you did best in a mass of hurried students. Becoming just another face in the crowd. A privilege that your next target would probably never have.

Eddie always stood out like a priest in a whorehouse.

That just made it easier to find him once lunchtime came around. Follow the rambunctious laughter and wild gesturing; there was always one Eddie Munson at the end of that rainbow. You were one of the first few people to enter the large room. Looking over rows and rows of empty tables until you saw the tell-tale shag and denim vest. He was quiet without his usual group of club members surrounding him. Elbow propped up on the table so he could rest his face in the palm of his hand and slowly stuff pretzels into his mouth from a small ziplock bag. Pretzels? Everyone else had a tray. You had one. Wasn't he hungry?

With a little extra motivation in your step, you approached Eddie's table and put your tray down beside him. He lazily shifted his focus up towards you. "You uh…lost?"

"Nope." To emphasize that point, you plopped down into the seat. "Just wanted to sit here." Eddie was hard to read, but he was probably thinking the same about you. He watched the doors, looking for either one of his friends or someone that could be in on a set-up. "I wanted to thank you. Gave me some quality shit." An honest-to-goodness smile formed, and even Eddie was no match for it. He gave you a smaller (and confused) smile in return, turning in his seat to face you. His fingertips ran over the salty ridges of a small pretzel and you wondered if the skin there was rough.

"So you risk social suicide to thank little old me?" Eddie fluttered his eyelashes like a Disney princess. Comedic intentions aside, he was pretty. Unexpectedly. A wildflower in a cemetery. "I don't usually get a review from my customers, so thanks." He leaned in, like it was a secret. As if everyone didn't already know that he deals.

Then the silence came. He looked you over quizzically, hiding it less with every minute that passed. "Hungry?" Just to ease the tension, and quiet the nagging voice in the back of your head, you slid your tray closer to him. "Think Jeanette has the hots for me or somethin'. She always loads my tray with fries." You pluck a few from the pile and nibble on them, hoping he'd feel more open to sharing instead of feeling pressured to eat it all himself.

Hesitantly, he dipped his hand into the warm pile and ate one fry. Somehow finding the one with the most salt sprinkled over it. His stomach gurgled loud enough for you to hear, demanding to be fed more than his ziplock bag would've given it. You kept on as if you heard nothing. Don't know what's the situation with his eating, but he clearly needs it more than I do. It was enough to share food in comfortable silence. That is, until the usual suspects started coming in.

"Check it out, The Freak's got a new little friend!"

Freak. You've heard them harass him in the hallways over the years, and it sort of faded into the background. All part of the high school ambience. Now you noticed how ugly it felt, and you weren't even on the receiving end. Eddie dropped the fry he almost put into his mouth, instead using his salt-dusted fingertips to give a dainty wave towards the couple of jocks that stood beside the table. "Awe, Andy what's wrong? Feel replaced?"

Two jocks became five, and you were starting to feel a bit nervous. Where the basketball team was, there was usually their newest star Billy. So far he was nowhere to be seen. Just 'Andy' and the anger he spewed towards you after Eddie's teasing comment. "Fuck off, Freak! Don't get bold because you've got some bitch giving you the time of day."

A loud, masculine voice parted the gathering cluster of team jerseys and basketball shorts. "Hey! Cool it, Andy." Despite your mission to avoid him, you wanted to catch a glimpse of him. Sunny curls coming to your rescue once again. Sadly, the closer he got, the more you saw that it wasn't your neighbor. It was Steve Harrington. "Leave em'. Got a game coming up, and we don't need you getting into any more trouble."

You hadn't spoken to Steve since Barbra was still around. Since Nancy still considered you someone worth entertaining a friendship with, instead of an ugly scar leftover from having Barb ripped away too soon. There was a soft thanks on your lips for him that died when you saw the way he looked at you. Shaking his head like a disapproving parent before leading his teammates away to their table.

Right after they cleared, a familiar bunch entered from the door farthest away from you. Three boys wearing shirts just like Eddie's. He cleared his throat, saying your name just above a whisper. "You don't have to pity me, y'know. Most of the people who buy from me either act like I don't exist or throw me into a locker when they get the chance. I know the way it works."

"I don't pity you, Eddie." You try to brighten his spirits with another smile, but he wilts. "I wanted to sit and chat with you. You're cool to hang with." As his friends get closer you see him tense, so you stand. Leaving the tray behind.

"I'll save you a seat tomorrow. If- if you want."

"Thanks." You throw him a wink for good measure. That puts the color back in his cheeks. "See you then."

"Y/n! Over here!"

There he was. You had made it through the day without seeing him, it was a shock to hear him call you directly. Standing there beside his Camaro as Max came over on her skateboard. He must've been waiting for her. And you.

"Get in the car. I'm taking you home." He said plainly, turning to open the driver's seat door once you were a couple feet away. Even Max looked at him in shock, but kept her questions to herself. "Backseat, Shitbird. You know the drill." I guess it wasn't the first time he had a girl along for the ride. Already? He's only been in Hawkins for like, five seconds.

Long enough to have you swapping spit with him in the middle of the night. Maybe you weren't as special as you stupidly let yourself believe. Whatever. Special or not, you regretted your stubborn insistence on walking to school this morning. If he was offering a free ride, then who were you to turn it down? It's not like he'd bring up the situation in front of Max.

Instead, he'll argue with her. From the moment he pulled out of the parking lot. Bickering about whose turn it was to do whatever chore, when to be back home from the arcade, and most of all… how much he hated moving here. "Watch that fucking tone with me. You don't like it, then you shouldn't have done what you did. Whose fault is it that we had to move here?"

"Yours…" Max grumbled, folding in on herself with a hope that he didn't hear her. The snap in his neck as he turned to her made her curl up even tighter.

"What was that?" Billy was full-blown yelling, lurching the car forward with increased speed. "WHOSE FAULT, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"

The trees along the road were becoming a blur. Zooming by so fast you were starting to feel sick. "If I say it was my fault will you calm down?? You're gonna kill us!"

"Mind your goddamn business." He lowered the volume, but all the ice remained. Being on the receiving end of Billy's anger was starting to be one of your least favorite occurrences. "You don't even know what she did.."

Home in one piece, you leaped up from your seat and exited the Camaro before he came to a complete stop. The grass did look greener, when you feared that you'd never see it again. "Thanks." A ride is a ride. Deadly or not. Maybe you should walk more often. 

Somewhere in his grumbles were sounds that resembled 'your welcome'. Heavy-footed, he charged on toward his front door and slammed it behind him. 

"Thanks.. for helping with Billy." Max said, spinning the wheel on her skateboard. She hurried after Billy to avoid another altercation. You couldn't blame her. It was scary being yelled at like that, but Billy had a point. Whatever issue he's so upset about was in the making before they even moved here. There had to be something stirring up all that rage.

Masterlist , Series Masterlist , Ao3 ☆

Taglist: @sidthedollface2 , @bontensbabygirl , @killing-gremlin

[sweetbillwriting]

A Thousand Leaves

Part 4 - Mama's Boy

Description: A local news reporter wants to know everything about the young man that has been found imprisoned in a basement. While she searches for answers, her relationship with the young man becomes more and more complicated.

Characters: The character Henry is inspired by several of Bill Skarsgård's characters but mostly The Kid from Castle Rock. The rest are my own original characters.

Setting: The story is set in the early 90s in a nameless town with several smaller villages surrounding it.

Warnings: 18+, abuse, age difference, jealousy, victim blaming, smut, religion.

Notes: Henry Deaver is back! I noticed I changed the perspective in the middle of this story, and I'm sorry for that and I hope it doesn't affect the experience too much. It's a good idea to read the earlier chapters again before this because it is names and other things that can be hard to understand without the background.

"Where are they??" Irma said to her father angrily. She didn't think she could be so angry at him and especially not because of such a thing.

Eric Kiehl gave her a strange look and crossed his arms. They stood in her parents' hallway but it was only one of them who was mad.

"They are at one of her friends' houses. It's your mother we're talking about, honey."

Irma looked at him in annoyance. He didn't understand a thing. How would he, he was a man.

"Which friend? What are they doing there?"

"Sharon, they are cutting his hair, I think."

Her dad shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He couldn't believe his daughter was this controlling and did not even trust her own mother.

Irma clenched her jaw before she ran out the door. It was just a ten minute walk to Sharon’s and she felt like she nearly ran there. She knew what an impact Henry had on women, even some men and she wanted to protect him from middle aged women. She was also worried her mother had a bigger interest in Henry than she had pretended to but Irma wasn't comfortable really thinking about that. It would mean her mother thought about cheating against her father. Sharon lived in a big house similar to her parents. Irma didn't have time to calm down, to collect herself and knocked hard on the door. She felt it took ages for someone to open and when someone did it was her own mother.

"Oh thank God you're here!" She said it in panic and dragged her daughter into the hallway.

"Has something happened? Is he okay?" Irma said in just as much panic and looked around the house. She could hear several women talking from the living room but they were not happy, it sounded more like they were fighting.

"What's happening?" Said Irma confused while listening.

"They're fighting. About Henry!" Whisper Bea. "Take him away! I thought he would like being in our New Age meeting. Instead they started to ask him the most Inappropriate questions."

"Like what??"

"Susan even made him show his… Penis in the bathroom for her! I think she even touched it!"

Irma just stood and looked at her mother in disbelief. Her mother and her friends were calm new age women, talking about tarot and star signs but seemed to have gone crazy from meeting Henry.

"Where is he now?" Irma was calmer now but not because she felt calmness, more that she was scared that Henry felt awful. He had been abused before.

"He is with Edie in the backyard. He has it better there."

Edie was Sharon's teenage daughter. She was a bit boring and virginal and wanted to be a doctor. Irma had many times tried to talk with her but she was both shy and without social competence. Henry probably was safe with her. Irma walked through the house carefully, hoping to not get caught, instead she caught Henry on the porch. Maybe her mother's friend had been on him but it was obvious it was he that leaned into Edie, with his fingers in her hair and kissed those untouched lips.

Irma just stood and looked at them where they sat on the porch steps with her heart in her throat. Henry kissed Edie again, leaned his head to the side and let the tip of his tongue drag over her lower lip. His other hand played with her short plaid skirt.

"Henry?" Irma said his name with a low voice. She was close to tears but instead of getting an answer he bit his lip when Edie moaned. He worked his lips down Edie's neck while his hand dived in under her skirt. Edie just moaned, leaned her head back and bit her lip. She was beautiful. Really beautiful and looked so erotic. Irma had never thought she was anything special before but now it was painfully obvious why Henry had chosen to be close to the teenager.

"Henry!" Irma almost screamed with a voice full of hurt feelings. Henry looked up at Irma fast with big innocent eyes. He didn't watch her with shame, more like he didn't understand her anger.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked with his smooth voice. His hand was still under Edie's skirt.

"Don't use those… 'Little boy eyes' towards me! Come! Now!" She said determined but tears had broken free from her eyes.

Both Henry and Edie looked at her confused then at each other. Edie took his hand in her's, dragged her hand up the back of his hand and took a vise grip around his wrist. Henry looked at her with big eyes, like he was in love.

"Henry! She's a fucking teenager! She is seventeen years old!"

"I'm nineteen actually." Edie's voice was much harder than her usual shy voice.

"Who the fuck cares! Henry is my boyfriend!"

It wasn't like they had decided that but he was more or less her boyfriend.

"Am I?" Henry said confused while playing with Edie's hand.

"Just come now!" Irma stomped her foot and it finally made Henry stand up.

She took his hand forcefully and dragged him away from the porch, through the house. It felt like she had a fire in her heart, burning of rage and jealousy.

She continued to drag him home but slowed down when she realized Henry followed her without force.

"Have I done something wrong?" He whispered. He looked at her with those big multicolored eyes and blinked slowly. He really looked like a confused boy. Irma stopped and looked up at him while he played with the edge of his dark blue sweater. He swallowed dryly when he saw Irma's hurt look.

"I thought… I thought we were a thing," she said and lowered her eyes.

"A thing?"

"Yes."

Henry stood quiet and looked at her up and down.

"What do you mean with 'a thing'?"

Irma raised her head and looked at him. She drowned in his eyes and sighed. He really was confused. He didn't get it.

"What you did with Edie… With me… You should just do that with one person."

"Why? It's really nice… Why not… With more people?"

Irma didn't know how to answer his question. He didn't seem to have that sort of romantic feelings for her so why would she tell him about her own? She shouldn't even have those feelings, she should write an article about him.

Irma continued to walk in silence with Henry one step behind her.

"Why can't I kiss a teenager?"

Irma bit her lip and closed her eyes. She didn't want to talk about this with him but she had chosen to take care of him.

"Because you're too old. You're an adult, she's still a child."

"I thought we didn't know my age?"

Irma sighed in anger and continued to walk. She was tired of him. Maybe he didn't understand but it was still awful behavior.

×××

While Henry was reading in one of the armchairs in the living room, Irma sat with Bea, her mother, in the kitchen. They both sat quietly, stunned by everything that had happened. The awful questions to Henry, the fighting, the abuse but then also his cozy meeting with Edie.

"He was probably in some sort of shock, the poor thing. He is such a beautiful man with an amazing aura and gets awful treatment because of it," said Bea and shook her head. Irma knew it wasn't that easy. It was obvious Henry was a sexual person, maybe even liking to degrade and manipulate people but he didn't seem to have any knowledge about boundaries. He was a confused, traumatized man but probably with a background very different from the person her mother could see.

"Was he hard?" When Susan… abused him?"

Bea swallowed hard and looked down at her hands. It was obvious she didn't want to answer.

"He was, wasn't he? Maybe he actually even wanted it?" Irma shook her head of distaste. "He wanted it, right? You also saw it, his other face."

"He's just confused. He doesn't know what he wants. It happens to many abuse victims. They don't feel like they own their own body."

Bea laid her hand on her chest like she felt pain for him. Irma just looked at the backyard, the orange and brown leaves lying on the ground. Maybe she was the one in the wrong here. Henry was such an innocent creature, probably just taking after the person, or people who had abused him. He didn't know better.

She heard Henry's dragging footsteps coming into the kitchen. His eyes were big, glassy and he looked like he was in panic.

"What is it, honey?” Asked Bea worriedly and stood up. She blocked Irma's view of him and they talked with low voices. Irma wondered what it was all about and wanted to ask but didn't want to make him more upset. Henry turned and walked out the kitchen and Bea looked at her daughter with a sad look.

"He had fallen asleep and urinated himself. Because of his nightmares… It’s happened a few times before. You must see that he is a victim in this?" Said Irma's mother, upset before walking out from the kitchen, to Henry in the bathroom.

×××

Irma decided to stay for dinner that day, not really because she wanted to be with her parents but because she really wanted to show Henry how sorry she was. She had acted like he was any other guy even if he was far from it. He had probably lived in a cage for years, gotten abused and lost his memory because of the trauma. Who knows how he had been placed in that cage, maybe that was one more traumatic reason. She couldn't think of him as a regular guy because he didn't even know how to be one. She sat and looked at him while he ate. In the beginning he had just eaten white bread, now he ate a pasta salad. His stomach was still sensitive and acted up if he ate too much fat or spices. He ate carefully and slowly with a low gaze. Bea gave her daughter a disappointed look and shook her head. She knew Henry didn't eat that carefully anymore and blamed her daughter for making him uncomfortable.

Irma cleared her throat and tried to find Henry's eyes but it was so hard she gave up.

"Henry? I'm sorry I… Got mad at you. I know it can't be easy for you to know how to act."

Irma thought back on the memory of him on Halloween.

"I was just the person they wanted me to be."

Had he done the same to her? Played a role as the sexy guy because that was what she wanted? Maybe it was a thing he had been taught in the cage. She looked at his brown hair that was shorter and his big hands that weren't at all as skinny as when he was in the institution. Irma made a sob and looked down at her plate. Her mother had really cared for him and she was so occupied trying to sleep with him, seize him to really care for him. Irma looked at her mother with tears running down her cheeks.

"And I'm sorry mom… I know you want his best."

Henry looked up at the two women and then at the man of the house. Eric smiled pleased, especially when Bea first looked at Henry then smiled at their daughter. She took her hand in her's and squeezed it.

"It's okay, honey."

Irma looked at Henry who watched her but didn't smile.

"You can be with Edie if you like. It's none of my business." The word pained in her mouth especially when Henry smiled a little and looked down at his salad.

"Thank you," he said with a low voice and fixed his hair.

They sat silently for a while in the dining room. There wasn't an empty chair anymore and Irma looked at the man who had filled it. He was a part of the family now and maybe she should see him more as a brother.

"Would it be okay if I stay over? It would feel so empty going back to my apartment," she said and looked at her father. He licked his lips and looked at her mother instead. It usually was her father who decided in their home but it seemed like it had changed. Irma looked at her mother who looked bothered.

"I think Henry needs some rest… It has been an eventful day."

Irma looked shocked at her mother and furrowed her brows. She was their child, not Henry. Wasn't she always welcomed?

Irma made a sound of offense and looked at Henry sitting at her brother's chair. Her brother Isaiah had been the favorite child when he was alive, ambitious and liked by everyone, it seemed like her parents had a new golden child and it wasn't even their own.

"It's okay… But… but can I have the bed?" Said Henry carefully to her. Bea watched her daughter worriedly then Henry.

"Of course honey, she can't kick you out of your bed. You need it because of your back."

Irma didn't know if she should laugh or cry. The situation was bizarre and she thought about just going home but she needed to take back her family. If she would go home he would become even more of the child.

×××

Irma got to sleep in the guestroom. The bed in that room was the smaller one she had had when she was ten, the one in her room was Isaiah's old one that she had inherited after he had passed away. The bed Henry slept in now. The small bed wasn't comfortable at all so maybe it was also that, that made her walk into her room in the middle of the night after a toilet visit. She hadn't meant to go to Henry, it was probably just an old habit that made her walk into the bigger room.

Henry laid on his back in the bed. He was snoring lightly but it wasn't what Irma's attention was on, it was his body. It had changed drastically since the last time she saw it undressed. He layed in just a pair of bright red boxers that enhanced his bulge. He had lean muscles in every body part and she could see them move when he changed position. She wondered if he had worked out or where the muscles had come from. She walked closer and looked at the abs and muscular chest. Her mother hadn't said a thing about him working out. His hand moved but Irma didn't think about that until it took a hold of her hand and he laid it on his abs. She looked up at his face in surprise and he smiled at her.

"It looked like you wanted to touch…" He said softly and stretched out so she could see his body even better.

"Have you… you... Ehh.. Like have you worked out?" She said embarrassed and let her fingers drag over his stomach, down to the elastic of his boxers.

Henry smiled and shook his head.

"I'm just this way."

Irma looked down at his body again and giggled a little. He was too perfect. She dragged her palm over his body to feel everything better, chest, stomach, v-line but also down over his bulge. She continued her movement over his boxers when she got a reaction and Henry dragged them down when he was fully hard to show off his impressive size. Perfect. Just perfect.

Henry sat up on the edge, leaned back on his hands and gave her a smirk. Irma wouldn't be able to say why she knew, but in that moment she knew what he wanted. Slowly she took off her clothes and let him watch intensely, then she crawled up in the bed and took her position on all fours. She couldn't see Henry anymore, just felt his movements on the mattress. He crawled up behind her, on his knees and stood there a long time without touching her. Maybe he touched himself. Maybe he just enjoyed seeing her position with her butt in the air. Irma just waited patiently but hoped he would penetrate her soon. He did after a while but after having spanked her five times. He didn't make a sound about it, just did it like it was the most natural thing. Irma giggled in surprise but just waited for his cock. When he pushed into her she was so wet he slipped in with ease but still she could feel every vein, every twitch.

×××

The house was old but we'll maintained but the house's natural sounds they couldn't do much about. When it was windy the sound became worse so that night Irma woke up from the house stretching and banging. She looked around confused but remembered her embrace with Henry. She could feel his cum all over her back but also how sore she was on the inside, her ass and her hair roots that he had pulled on hard but Henry was gone from the bed. The house made a loud bang but that wasn't everything she heard, she could also hear voices. Whispering voices, close but still a bit away from her. She turned towards the door and her eyes met a dim light from the doorway. It took a while for her eyes to get used to the light but when she did she could clearly see Henry, dressed in only his boxers and her mother in a robe. They stood close together and her mother laughed. Even if it was dark could Irma see how her eyes twinkled while watching Henry, how her eyes shifted between his face and his body. Henry wore an innocent smile and took her mother's hand in his. Irma couldn't hear what they talked about but she doubted she wanted to hear it. Once again it didn't seem like her mother thought of Henry as a son at all.

×××

It was obvious something was weird with Henry. Not just what has happened to him but it was something else. Irma had her article to write and she knew it could be an interesting article, nothing anyone had expected. The only thing that had stopped her from digging was her feelings for Henry. Henry, with multicolored eyes and a velvet voice. She still had feelings for him, maybe more than ever but she also had more questions than she had ever had.

The next day she left Henry to her mother's care and took her parents' car to the town Luna had lived in. The town of The New Church of The Glorious Light. She left her sunny town, in orange and red and went to the gray corner a few hours away. The trees there had already lost all their leaves and the houses didn't look like they had gotten love in a long time. Irma didn't know where to start and parked her car by the church. Or could you even say it was a church? It had lost most of its roof and it seemed like birds and bats had moved into it. Irma couldn't see a person, it looked like the whole town was abandoned. She sighed to herself and dragged her hand over her soft suede jacket. She must start somewhere, she thought to herself and looked at the biggest house on the street. It was much bigger than the rest and had two cars by the garage. She would start there, ask them about Henry Deaver, the church musician and hope that they weren't new in town. She looked at the sign by a dead bush while she walked up the driveway.

Kevin, Esther & Ewe

The Munro Family

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